Top Gun Rooster

Chapter 1: Danger Zone

Headin' into twilight
Spreadin' out her wings tonight
She got you jumpin' off the deck
And shovin' into overdrive
Highway to the danger zone
I'll take you
Right into the danger zone

"Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins

There were two more bolts to remove on the engine, and fighter pilot Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw and test pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell had promised Penny, Pete's girlfriend, that they would be done in time for dinner. There was a good amount of work to be done on Pete's P-51 Mustang airplane, but they should be able to get what they had planned done in time. If not, there would be next time. This plane was a vintage fighter-bomber, a single propeller plane used during World War II and the Korean war.

Bradley had heard that although there were about 15,000 of these produced in World War II, only about 150 of these beautiful historical planes now existed. Pete kept this one in handsome condition, the engine running smoothly, and polished to a spotless gleam. Pete flew it regularly, and even after the last mission, after the intensity of flying that mission, he took the plane out for more flying as a form of relaxation. Flight. It was at the core of who Pete was. Bradley supposed that flying the P-51 after a mission was like a musician who had just performed a concert, relaxing back stage by quietly strumming his guitar and singing. To be honest, he could imagine doing the same, if he had a plane like this one.

It was an honor for Bradley to be working on it, as he revered this plane nearly as much as Pete did. He knew that it was Pete's pride and joy, and that Pete wouldn't let just anyone work on it. Sure, bolts could be replaced if they weren't up to Pete's standards, but this plane was Pete's baby.

It was a strange and different feeling for Bradley to be hanging around with Maverick, who had been the focus of Rooster's anger for so long. The resentment stemmed from two things.

The first was the fact that he blamed Maverick for the death of his father, call sign "Goose". Rooster's father had died when Bradley was four years old, and he had held Maverick to blame for more than 30 years. Despite the military's conclusion that it wasn't Maverick's fault, Bradley still held Maverick to blame. Maverick was the pilot after all, and he was the one who had lost control of the plane, which had spun out of control. When Goose had ejected, the propulsion of his chair had propelled him into the canopy which hadn't cleared yet, and Goose had died from the impact. On some level, he knew that the Navy's conclusion that Maverick couldn't have done anything to prevent or stop Goose's death was probably correct, but he had still blamed Maverick. Didn't someone have to be responsible?

Then there was the second thing. The second thing was that as an insult to injury, Maverick had pulled Rooster's papers when he applied to the Naval academy and set his career back 4 years. Since fighter pilots usually retired in their early 40's, Rooster had resented any time taken away from flying. Maverick had never explained why he had done this. He suspected, of course. Maverick was frequently around as he grew up. Maverick and his mother Carole had been friends, and Maverick was frequently there. There had been no romantic involvement between Maverick and Carole, although Bradley had wondered about it at times, when he was growing up. But Carole hadn't shown any signs of interest, in Maverick or in any other man, for that matter. She showed no concern other than as a friend when Maverick was gone for weeks or longer, on missions or simply because he had other things to do.

He could have guessed that it was some sort of agreement between Maverick and his mother, to prevent him from going to flight school. Carole had made her opinions clear that she was against Bradley becoming a fighter pilot. Although Goose hadn't been a pilot, being a pilot would put Bradley in the same situation, and the same risk. It wasn't as if Bradley wasn't aware of that. He was all too aware of that.