FIREBALL

Chapter 3

the sky was pretty much free of clouds, and the sun was a beautiful yellow in the bright blue sky. it wasn't unbearably hot yet, but thalia knew when the sun reached it's peak, even the slight breeze would be boiling. 

unlike the rest of the crew, her sleeves remained rolled down as she carried her helmet to her designated aircraft. thalia heard maverick calling to rooster behind her and paused momentarily. this can't end well, she thought to herself grimly. 

she continued on to where the sparkling clean jet was stood, glinting gently in the soft sun. after placing her purple and gold helmet and her flight vest on the floor, the young woman ran a hand along the smooth surface of it's front, before climbing up the small ladder to the cockpit.

after checking everything was ok and a comfortable fit, thalia moved on to checking the wheels and the engine, nodding to herself once everything was secure and safe. she made her way back to the front, her tan boots making a dull thud with every step on the grey concrete. 

she moved her clear-framed glasses onto her head, replacing them once again with her sunglasses. 

as thalia looked around, she noticed everyone was nearly finished with their inspections, and made her way over to maverick, quietly humming the tune to 'fireball' as she did.

maverick saw the copper haired pilot walking towards him and smiled boyishly at her. "so, sergeant now, eh? that must have made ice happy." 

"hey pete," she laughed. "it sure did. when i saw your face in my files it was a bit of a shock, y'know? a heads-up would've been nice."

"sorry kiddo. and you got files? lucky bastard. you weren't even on the presentation board i was shown yesterday," the captain playfully joked.

thalia rolled her eyes sarcastically in retaliation, before seeing the rest of the student ambling over. "mav, don't let rooster get to you, yeah? he's clearly hurt. let's keep the altercations to a minimum." 

maverick didn't get a chance to reply before the aviators stood in a clump in front of him. "ok, rooster, fanboy, payback, you three are up first. the rest of you, go wait up by the radio." 

the class split and headed to where they were instructed.

---

"good morning aviators, this is your captain speaking. welcome to basic fighter manoeuvres. as briefed this morning, today's practice is dogfighting. we do not go below the hard deck of five thousand feet. working as a team, you have to shoot me down, or else."

maverick's voice crackled through the antique radio. everyone was listening closely to what maverick was saying, absorbing every word and storing it in their minds. even hangman was hanging on to every word.

payback's voice came through next. "or else what, sir?"

"or else, i shoot back. if i shoot either one of you down, you both lose."  

thalia watched bob's eyes widen as he looked up at his pilot, phoenix.

hangman picked up a model jet that was on the table next to him. "this guy needs an ego check."

"you're one to talk, lieutenant sersin," thalia scoffed. his file had been horrific to read. always leaving his wingmen behind, never communicating, flying too fast for other pilots to catch up. he was a team leader's worst nightmare.

he glared at her, but kept silent. phoenix snorted at his silence and stood, walking over to the brit. 

"natasha trace, callsign phoenix," she smiled.

"i know," thalia smirked. " we considered you for the dark souls, but you flew too well in your unit to pull you out. your admiral practically told us off at the idea that we wanted you."

"wait- your're in the dark souls? the UK-US communication aviation team?" bob hurried to them after overhearing the beginning of their conversation. 

"yeah, team leader really. surprising considering i've only been flying for two years, but here we are." 

phoenix raised a brow at her words. "shouldn't you still be in flight school?"

"what takes most people three or four years i did in one. it helped i already knew the military and had done campaigns across seas." 

"bates mentioned you'd been in the marines before. what was it like?"

"i joined at eighteen. it had been my dream since i was eleven. i was there for five years, in the 40 commandos, until my squadron got into a sticky situation. after that i was given the opportunity to be honourably discharged, but chose to go into the RAF instead. flew through flight school and was offered a place in the dark souls because my title looked good. then they realised i was the best bloody pilot they had there and got made team leader."

the duo in front of her could see there were parts of the story that she'd omitted, but moved on.

then natasha did the math. "that must mean you're what? twenty five? twenty six?" 

"twenty five," thalia replied. 

"that's a kill." 

maverick's unmistakable voice cut through their conversation, calling up the next group. 

group after group went, each one failing miserably and going to hondo for the two hundred pushups payback and fanboy had bet maverick on at the beginning of their flight, until finally their names were called.

"fireball, phoenix and bob, you're up."

thalia stood and nodded to her new acquaintances. "see you in the sky, butterflies."

------

thalia soared through the air, the mask attached to her helmet hangin by the side of her face.

"phoenix, bob, you see anything?"

"negative, i don't know where he is." bob's texan accent was clear. any nerves he had on the ground seemingly disappeared when he was in the backseat. 

"watch below you too. we know what stunt he pulled with the others."

agreements came from the other jet, then the radio went silent. thalia looked around for their instructor craning her neck to peer behind, but suddenly her view went dark.

"shit! he's on top of me! phoenix, any ideas?" the young sergeant made a sharp turn, but that only made the situation worse as he managed to get behind her. "phoenix? help would be nice right around now! i'm alone and he is on my tail!" 

she pulled up suddenly doing a small loop before pulling up in the direction of the sun. 

phoenix's voice finally broke through. "on our way, fireball. comms went out. keep doing what you're doing, we're on our way."

"copy that." 

once thalia had led maverick far enough into the sun's path, she pulled up, doing another loop to get on his tail. phoenix and bob's jet was just behind her. "ready for back up?" she asked, not waiting for confirmation before soaring away to get missile lock on mav.

she could see the pair following, waiting to lock on him if she couldn't. his jet was right in front of her, but he clearly didn't see her. she pulled forward once again, trying to get a lock.

"how's it looking, fireball?"

"one sec. calibrating, calibrating, calibrating..." she muttered to herself quietly as she adjusted her angle slightly. "that's a lock!"

-----

the tone came through loud and clear on the ground radio, leaving the group stumped by the girl once again.

"nice one, sarge." 

"what can i say, mav? i'm a fireball."

1193 words- as always, hope you enjoyed! leave a comment/ vote to let me know!- C xox