The pieces of my puzzle.

Ten.

A/N: I'm being nice and giving you a double update today😉.

(Azara's POV)

I was sitting at my desk in my office, going over the student's progress. The only pilots that had succeeded in completing the course so far was Phoenix and Bob.

Hangman always went way too fast, Rooster was too careful and Fanboy and Payback were relying to munch on their wingmen.

So in other words it was not going well.

I sighed as I put my head in my hands. I had no idea how I was going to teach these pilots how to complete this simulation.

There was a knock at the door, but I didn't look up. "Come in." I called, only raising my head when they entered.

"Hey kiddo, how's it going?" My dad asked as he took a seat in the chair in front of my desk.

He placed a chocolate protein, peanut butter and banana smoothie in front of me. "I figured you hadn't eaten anything today so I brought you this."

I smiled at him. "Thanks dad." I took a sip, closing my eyes as the yummy drink filled my senses. "You remembered."

"Of course I do, you drank that every morning before school when you were little." He smiled, his eyes reflecting a certain warmth as he reminisced about the past.

"It's not going great. I have no idea what to do." I stated, answering his previous question. "Everyone has their issues that hold them back."

"Maybe we should use some of the techniques that we used to train them for the Uranium mission?" Mav suggested, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk.

"But we already did team building football and we can't do the course and show them that it can be done because they already know that. They just have individual things that hold them back." I told him, letting out a frustrated breath.

"What if we help them overcome that problem? Like take them individually and work with that person's problem?"

"That could work, but how?" I questioned, leaning back in my chair and putting my feet up on my desk, just like my father had done. "We Could go through the course with each individual person and see what's holding them back and try to help them through it?"

"That's an idea." My dad agreed, picking up my cup and stealing a sip of my smoothie.

"Hey!" I protested, slapping his leg playfully. We both looked up as the door opened, revealing Adm. Simpson.

Mav and I both froze in our seats, it felt like we had been caught red handed.
I hope that Cyclone didn't find the way we were sitting unprofessional.

But instead he said. "Like father like daughter, I see." With a smile. I was slightly surprised at his calm demeanor, but then again he did barge into my office without requesting permission to enter so I guess it doesn't really matter at the moment.

Me and Mav visibly relaxed at the Admiral's calm reaction and decided to stay in our positions.

"There is an opportunity to retrieve the stolen aircrafts a few days later, so the mission is rescheduled by a few days. That is all I have come to say." He said. I breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of delaying the mission by a few days, we would need all the time we could get for the training.

"Thank you sir, we appreciate it." I responded. He nodded and left the office. Me and my dad slowly made eye contact and then burst out laughing.

  ***

"Okay guys, Hellfire is already in the air and waiting for you. First up is Hangman."
Maverick announced. He would be watching from the control room today while I work with the pilots.