ℳ𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝒩𝓊𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒 | Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 4: Time is your greatest enemy

Snow-white sat down in the new classroom. She was sitting in the second row on the left, Rooster was sitting in the second row on the right. Hangman was in front of her whilst Payback and Fanboy were behind.

"Time is your greatest enemy." Maverick began and she turned to face him. "Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress. Attacking in two-plane teams." The board turned into a highly detailed presentation of what they were going to face. "You'll fly along this narrow canyon to your target. Radar-guided surface-to-air missiles defend the area. These SAMs, they're lethal. But they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below."

"That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them." Rooster interjected and Mav turned to look at him.

"That's exactly what I'm gonna train you to do. On the day, your altitude will be 100 feet maximum" They all looked at each other with shock and fear on their faces. "You exceed this altitude, radar will spot you, and you're dead." On the board you could now see a plane getting hit by a missile for flying too high, simulating what would happen to the pilots.

"Your airspeed will be 660 knots minimum. Time to target: two and a half minutes. That's because fifth-generation fighters wait at an air base nearby. In a head-to-head with these planes in your F-18, you're dead. That's why you need to get in, hit your target and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you. This makes time your greatest adversary." He then proceeds to explaining how the training works.

"You'll fly a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon. The faster you navigate this canyon, the harder it'll be to stay under the radar of these SAMs. The tighter the turns, the more intensely the force of gravity on your body multiplies. Compressing your lungs. Forcing the blood from your brain, impairing your judgment and reaction time. So for today's lesson, we're gonna take it easy on you. Max ceiling: 300 feet. Time to target: Three minutes. Good luck"

╚»★«╝

Training starts and Coyote, Phoenix and Bob were the first to go.
But during training Coyote stopped suddenly causing Phoenix to go above the ceiling.

"Why are they dead?" Mav asks Coyote.

"We broke the 300-foot ceiling and a SAM took us out. "Phoenix answered for him.

"No, why are they dead?" Mav asked him again.

"I slowed down and didn't give her a warning. It was my fault."

"Was there a reason you didn't communicate with your team?" Mav asked him sternly.

"I was focusing on-"

"One that their family will accept at their funeral" Mav cut him off.

"None, sir."

He then turned to Phoenix "Why didn't you anticipate the turn? You were briefed on the terrain." Phoenix tried to answer but he didn't even let her begin the sentence "Don't tell me. Tell it to his family." He said pointing at Bob.

Then it was Payback, Fanboy and Hangman's turn.

Hangman would not wait up for them and that caused Coyote and Fanboy to crash against a mountain in the simulation.

"What happened?" Mav asked Hangman.

"I flew as fast as I could, kind of like my ass depended on it."

"And you put your team in danger, and your wingman is dead." Rooster shot back at him.

"They couldn't keep up."

Now it was time for Snow-white, Omaha and Halo to fly.

"Omaha, are you with me?" Snow noticed that her wingman was a bit behind.