Borrowed Time [Bradley Bradshaw]

And neither is you

"Attention!" An officer exclaimed, making the pilots stand up to salute their superiors. The Admirals entered the room, and both Crystal and Maverick followed behind, standing side by side a step behind Cyclone as Warlock took his place up front.

"Morning. Be seated." He said. "As you may have noted, we have a new face in this classroom." Warlock motioned at Crystal for her to take a step forward. "This is Lieutenant Commander Kazansky, callsign Icebreaker. She has vast experience as a fighter pilot and has gone through dogfights before. From today on, she'll be aiding Captain Mitchell in your training.

Warlock takes his place beside Cyclone so Mav could take his place at the front of the class to explain the mission parameters.

And so it begins.

Rooster brought you out of your reverie when he spoke up. It was the first time you had good luck with him. There were lots of photos of Goose, his wife and his kid at Pete's home, as there were many photos of your father and your family, you were certain there was a photo of his graduation from the Top Gun Academy right beside yours. Looking at him right now it was impossible to deny the resemblance. Bradley Bradshaw was the split image of his father.

And he was right, the parameters are insane, and you weren't even sure if they were achievable. In your experience and personal knowledge, pilots are essentially competitive and for this mission, they would have to work as a very tight team.

"So for today's lesson, we're gonna take it easy on you. Max ceiling: 300 feet. Time to target: Three minutes. Good luck."

Both Admirals go back to their duties when the exercise starts and you watch as each of the teams gets shot down.

Scarce communication, ability to fly at the parameters, lack of teamwork. It didn't matter, the result would always be the same: there was little to no hope of getting them all back alive, and there was no guarantee that they could complete this mission.

Cruel as it might sound, she could understand Cyclone's dilemma: giving everything to destroy the secret uranium enrichment site or worrying about how these pilots would return home.

At the end of the day, Crystal had to admit that Lieutenant Seresin was a good pilot, but his arrogance took the best of him, making him forget about anyone but himself.

On the other hand, Lieutenant Bradshaw knew how to work as a team with the other pilots but seemed overly cautious to you. Yet, he was the only one to successfully get to the target, late or not.

There was more than worry about the mission in Mav's eyes and, for a moment, you questioned yourself about the probability of someone having caught on to that.

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"Why are you dead? You're team leader up there. Why are you, why are your team dead?"

"Sir, he's the only one who made it to the target." Phoenix reminded Maverick.

"A minute late." Maverick sighs. "He gave enemy aircraft time to shoot him down. He's dead.

"You don't know that." Rooster pushes back.

"You're not flying fast enough." Hangman emphasizes. "You don't have a second to waste."

"We made it to the target." Rooster says.

"And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out." Maverick insists, his voice an octave higher.

"Then it's a dogfight." Rooster states.

"Against fifth-generation fighters." Maverick reminds him.

"Yeah. We'd still have a chance." Rooster answers.