Ranger ~ Top Gun Maverick

Up Up and Away

≫ ──── ≪ • ⭙ • ≫ ──── ≪

3rd Person P.O.V

Admiral Cain sits behind a desk, turns page after page of a file. Ranger waits, sweating in his flight suit, quietly snapping his fingers. Cain looks at the file one last time before speaking.

"Ranger... Top Gun Graduate... almost 10 years of service... a combat medal... citations... the only man to survive the Alpha attack squadron sent to Iraq to wipe out an enemy base..." Cain closes the file and stares.

"Yet you can't get a promotion or a new wingman. Why is that?" He asked.

"Good question, sir."

"Don't be a smartass. I asked you a question." He stares, waits. Ranger's smile flickers ever so slightly. This is the end of the line.

"I'm where I belong... sir. I don't need a new wingman."

"The Navy doesn't see it that way. Not anymore." Cain stands and stares out the window at the future.

"These planes you've been testing, Captain, one day they won't need pilots at all. Pilots that need to sleep, eat, take a piss... Pilots that can disobey. All you did was buy time for those men out there." He pauses and turns back to me.

"The future is coming. And you're not in it."

Without taking his eyes off me he speaks to one of the other men in the room.

"Escort this man off the base... take him to his quarters... wait with him while he packs his gear. I want him on the road to North Island within the hour."

"North Island... sir?" Ranger asks

"A call came in with impeccable timing. Right when I was driving here to ground your ass once and for all. It galls me to say it, but for reasons known only to the almighty and your guardian angel... you've been called back to Top Gun."

Cain turns, sits back at the desk.

"Sir."

"You are dismissed, Captain."

Ranger stands, hesitates, can't help himself.

"On behalf of the team..." He plants the wings for the alpha team on the desk.

"The mission was not a success. The file is incorrect. We lost 3 planes and 5 men."

"Viper you mean."

Ranger winced.

"Move on son. Reality is moving and you need to catch up."

Cain never looks up. Ranger turns to leave, stopping on:

"The end is inevitable, Ranger. Your kind is headed for extinction."

"Maybe so, but not today, Sir."

"You're like your father." Cain notes.

"I hope not." Ranger replies coldly.

And with a sly grin, Ranger is gone.

* * *

Ranger rips down the taxiway on his BMW R 1200 GS as an F-18 Super Hornet takes off beyond. He watches it soar. He can't believe he's back. Ranger rides along an entry drive, stopping to look up at: An old F-14 Tomcat displayed on a museum pedestal like a relic from a bygone era.

The faded name just under the canopy: LT. PETE "MAVERICK" MITCHELL. Ranger glared at the photo. Under that are the silhouettes of three planes, all X'd out. Ranger enters the North Island NAS Headquarters. Photos of faces that Ranger recognized from another photo.