𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃 | 𝐛.𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄: 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐧

"Time is your greatest enemy." Maverick looks around the room.

"Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress attacking in two-plane teams.

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.

That's exactly what I'm gonna train you to do. On the day, your altitude will be 100 feet maximum."

One hundred feet? Someone forgot to mention that in the brochure for this mission.

"You exceed this altitude..." The radar starts beeping. "Radar will spot you and you're dead."

"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-18s, you're dead."

Mav goes on, talking about how we'll die if we don't do this right. I zone out, thinking about my conversation with Rooster yesterday.

He went back up in the air after we flew together with Hangman as his wingman. Of course, he left him and Bradley got shot down. Surprise surprise.

I walk out to the tarmac and I can hear Hon telling Bradley that he's done with push ups but he just keeps going. Hon walks away shaking his head and I walk over to him.

I squat down to be on his level before speaking.

"Bradley. What're you doing? You're done."

No reply.

"You broke the hard deck and you were insubordinate up there." I say.

"Don't worry about it." He grunts out.

"I'm going on this mission. If you get kicked out, I'll be flying with Hangman. If I fly with Hangman up there, I can pretty much count myself dead now. Get it together."

He finally stands up from doing push ups and I follow his lead.

"You want me to get it together? You won't even talk to your dad, Scarlett. You'll barely even talk to me."

"Can you blame me?! You pulled away from me Bradley. Why would I want to relive that by talking to you? Because I'm already reliving it just by seeing you! I can't, I won't go through that again." I scoff.

"Did you ever stop and think that maybe I've changed? Maybe if you give me a chance, you'd realize that." His voice goes quiet on the last sentence.

I stare at him for a moment, taking in his words.

As I'm about to speak, I hear Phoenix's voice yell out from inside.

"Whiplash! Rooster! Get in here, we're all needed."

I turn away immediately because I'm thankful for that distraction.

When I snap out of my memories, I hear Maverick finishing up his speech.

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