I sat at my seat. I can't see Maverick. 'That's odd. Where is he?' Cyclone instructs. Warlock is there too. "Time to target is now four minutes. You'll be entering the valley level at reduced speed. Not to exceed 420 knots." My eyes narrow. "What the fuck is this?" I whisper to Rookie. "Sir, won't we be giving their planes time to intercept?" Bob pointed out. "Well, Lieutenant you have a fighting chance against enemy aircraft. What are the odds of survival in a head-on collision with a mountain?" "Now you will hit the target from higher altitude, level with the north wall. It'll be a little harder to hold your laze on the target but you'll avoid the high G climb out." Fanboy whispers to Payback. "And be sitting ducks for enemy missiles." I nodded at his comment. The screen behind him shows a jet approaching a mountain range. Trainees are, distracted. Cyclone turns. "Who the hell is that?" Maverick's black F-18 screams across the landscape, dropping lower as mountain peaks loom...Maverick's at the stick, gunning it for the mountains... "Maverick to Range Control. Entering at Point Alpha. Confirm a green range." He said. "Nice..." Phoenix whispers. Rooster, his expression was hard to read. Cyclone does not take his eyes off the screen. "Bring all the screens up." He says. Hondo hits a few buttons and all screens come on with the P.O.V's from Maverick's F-18. "Aircraft calling range control, range is green, but I don't see an event scheduled for you. Say your range event number." "Make one up for me." He replies. Maverick's pushing. Afterburner roars as Maverick slices ahead, studying the three routes on his display, as he locks in his focus. I watched Maverick's screen P.O.V lining up for a run. "Setting time to target at two minutes... fifteen seconds." The class was shocked. I was shocked. "That's impossible." Payback says. Maverick's jet roars into the course, dipping dangerously low, skimming right above the riverbed floor. "Final attack point, inbound." The watches his timer and altitude levels. Maverick's F-18 hugs the tight twists and curves, seeing the Final Canyon final narrow notch now looming ahead. As he knifes through the final ridge gap that stymied Rooster.
He yanks back on the stick and climbs out of the valley. The class watches him climb out. "He's backing off. Nobody can do it. Nobody." Reactions of disappointment from all but two: me, leaning in, waiting...And Cyclone, who nods ever so slightly, in a way that says he will deal with Maverick permanently. "Tell the tower to order that man to land that aircraft." When he hears no response, he turns to Hondo. "Now." Hondo snaps out of it and reaches for the phone. "Maverick... You are ordered to land immedi-" Maverick shuts off his radio. Maverick resets the clock, cranks the stick hard and dives, coming back around for a second pass. He repeats the same maneuvers. Cyclone turns, noticing the class staring at the screens, enrapt. "Shut them off. Shut them all off" Cyclone tells Hondo. "He's going again..." Bob says. Cyclone turns to face the screen as everyone else leans in. "He's less than a hundred feet off the deck." Hangman remarks. "And dropping." Bob checks his watch, hits the timer. Silence. An empty sky. Barely a breeze. A black spot on the horizon growing larger by the second until the gates of hell explode and Maverick's F-18 blows right over us at 920 knots and twenty feet off the deck. "Popping in three... two... one." Maverick says through the radio. He swoops into his pop-up climb, pulling severe G's as he tops out, rolls and plunges into his bombing dive. "No wingman to laze the target. Dropping blind." He struggles to put the shuddering steel drum target in his cross hairs. "Bombs away." He says. He drops a training round as he dives, and swoops into a climb at the last possible second. As the smoke hits. "Bullseye. HOLY SHIT. BULLSEYE." Fanboy says astonished. Bob checks his watch. "Time on target: Two minutes fifteen. To the second." Maverick battles the jet, pulling 10 Gs on his egress, impossibly steep. Fighting hard to clear the "virtual mountain". "Target is destroyed." Maverick is RTB. The team can see the readout on their screen. 10 Gs, far beyond the accepted limits of the F18. "10 Gs... Damn."The trainees react. They'd cheer if Cyclone weren't here.Cyclone stares at the screen, his expression impossible to read. Warlock eyes the trainees. I sit back, and look down. I'm the only one not celebrating. I have too much to think about now.
Phoenix and I were on the carrier talking. "Who do you think he'd pick?" She asked me. "If anything you, Bob, Payback, Fanboy, and probably Rooster." "Roster?" She asked. "I thought he had some tough beef with Mav." "Did. Rooster says he sorted it out." "What's with Rookie?" She asks. "Cyclone won't let us be a Foxtrot team. He wants me to be ready in case I'm called for wingman." She nodded and stood up. "We should get going." "Yeah. Be there soon." She walked away and i pulled out the photo.
In the breifing room: "Your target is a clear and present threat: a secret uranium enrichment site under rogue state control." Warlock explains. Maverick, Myself and all of the pilots. Hondo is off to the side with Cyclone. All eyes are on Warlock at the head of the room. On a screen behind him, a detailed map of the target valley highlights the flight paths of various elements. "It's an underground bunker tucked between these two mountains. Your route of ingress is heavily defended by surface to air missiles, backed up by fifth generation fighters. Once your F-18 strike team crosses the border, Tomahawk Missiles from the USS LEYTE GULF will be launched in a synchronized strike on the enemy's airfield... here.(points)The moment those Tomahawks hit, the enemy will know you're coming. Your time to target will be two minutes and thirty seconds. Any longer than that and you will be exposed to any aircraft the Tomahawks may have missed." Warlock says. "Most importantly, remember coffin corner. On the climb out of the valley, you'll be exposed to enemy missiles. Remember, get low as fast as you can and break for home." Warlock takes a beat, looking over the faces of the pilots.I cannot believe this any more than Maverick. "Captain Mitchell, select your two Foxtrots." Cyclone says. "Payback and Fanboy... Phoenix and Bob."Phoenix and Bob are understandably moved. "And your wingman?" Hangman straightens, ready for the job. I look down. "Rooster." Everyone is surprised. "The rest of you will standby on the carrier in reserve." Warlock says. "This is what you've all been training for. Come home safely. Good luck to you all. Dismissed." Cyclone says walking away. As the pilots fall out, Maverick steps to Hangman. I stay seated staring at the floor. Thought swirling in my head. Hondo approaches Maverick as he shifts attention to me . "Is he ready?" "He'll have to be." Maverick's eyes meet mine. There is nothing to say.
3rd person P.O.V
F-18 silhouetted against the morning sky, rising to the main deck. A green helmet edged the frame. A yellow Jaguar is painted on the side. In the front painted to look like the words hanging from vines bears the name: Jaguar. "Talk to me dad. Talk to me..." "Jaguar." Maverick said from a distance. Jaguar turned to look at Maverick. "Yes sir?" "Let's go." He nodded and followed. A ballet of controlled chaos as various flight crews prepping all the aircraft involved in the mission. Rooster, Phoenix, Bob, Payback and Fanboy step onto the deck. It's for real now. No more training. They trade determined looks... and head for the planes. Waiting by Jaguar's F-18 is Phoenix. "I'll see you when the missions done." "You'd better come back. I don't break promises." He replied sounding scared. "I'll make it back. You owe me a date." Jaguar cracks a grin. "Yes I do. I promised." She smiles and walks off. Phoenix and Bob are sweating, psyching themselves past the anxiety. "Dagger Two, up and ready." Phoenix says. Rooster shakes off the nerves. "Dagger Three, up and ready." Rooster says. "Dagger Four. We read you, sir." Payback says. "Dagger spare is up and ready. Standing by." Jaguar says through the radio. "Dagger one up and ready." Maverick says.
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Jaguar ~ Top Gun Maverick
Fanfiction~The missile smashes into the tail of the F-18. It sets fire and Jaguar pulls the ejection handles. They don't budge. "No..." he says scared. The F-18 spirals toward the ocean. It crashes into the waves and begins to sink.~ Phoenix x Male OC If you...
