An Old Love Story ~ Bob Floyd

**Chapter Four**

**Chapter Four ~ Outed**

Katelyn walks back along the beach, lost in her thoughts. Her mind keeps going back the training. The earlier argument.

"Not at the Hard Deck tonight?" A voice pulls her from her thoughts. Her head snaps up.

"Oh Bob. No. I don't feel up for it tonight." She says, looking down at the sand on her feet.

Bob puts on a concerned expression.
"Something happen?" He asks, gently lifting her chin up with his hand.

She looks him in the eyes for a moment before speaking.

"I messed up in training. I left my wingman and Mav got them. Payback yelled at me when he got back and we argued a bit."

Bob smiles softly at her. "We all make mistakes..." He reassures before realising he's been looking into her eyes for too long. He breaks eye contact and clears his throat.

"What I mean is... is that just because he's mad at you today, doesn't mean he will be tomorrow."

Katelyn smiles at him. "Thank you." She hardly whispers. He nods in return.

*~*

Another day. Another training session. Katelyn feels Payback's eyes on her as Maverick walks towards the front of the class.

The main screen shows a rapidly ticking timer as he turns it on. Looming larger on it are the schematics of the mission.

"Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress, attacking in two teams." He starts explaining the mission. The training has finally gotten real.
"You'll fly along this narrow canyon to your target. Radar guided surface-to-air missiles defend the area."

The screen shows a schematic of all surface-to-air missiles in the area.

"These SAMs are lethal, but they were designed to protect the skies above. Not the canyon below."

Maverick looks around the room at all the pilots before Rooster speaks up.

"That's because the enemy knows no-one is stupid enough to fly below the radar or navigate that low at high speeds."

The two men lock eyes.

"That's exactly what I'm going to teach you to do."

The screen shows two aircraft navigating the canyon.

"Your altitude on the day will be one hundred feet... Max" Maverick continues.

"Exceed this altitude, the radar will spot you and the SAMs will shoot you down."

As the planes of the screen bank, one goes too high. A missile fires and destroys the higher aircraft.

"Speed on the day will be 860 knots minimum. Time to target; Two and a half minutes."

The pilots all exchange concerned glances as Maverick continues to explain the mission parameters.

He points at the screen.
"That's because fifth generation fighters are waiting at an airbase nearby. You need to reach and destroy the target before they can get in the air."

He pauses for a moment.

"Of course, there's the chance that there will already be aircraft in the air. By the time the Tomahawk missiles hit the airbase, aircraft already airborne will redirect to defend the target."