Top Gun: Phantom

Chapter 6.

30 May 2024

After a long night at the Hard Deck, I arrived bright and early at Top Gun. Today was a training activity I was terrified of. Though they would be flying normal F-18s they would be diving from a high hard deck to a low hard deck in a mountain terrain. One of the things that caused the mission back in 2016 to be so difficult. We weren't prepared for the odd terrain.

The terrain was so unpredictable you didn't know what was to come, the bogeys had the upper hand on that mission. Now we will have the upper hand as well. We will know the terrain almost as well as them. We will train them to be some of the most vigorous fighter pilots to name. They will not have to deal with the surprise attack we dealt with that day.

I walked into the room to see most of the pilots were already there. Rain was there staring me down profoundly. She knew I couldn't say anything, and she was gonna use that against me. I sat in my seat beside Hondo as my dad appeared in the room. Looking at my text from Cyclone, yesterday he said he was running background checks, and a multitude of other searches and keeping it on the down low.

"Today, we are gonna be training you to prepare for the terrain. You will be around the hard deck of 10,000 feet to 200 feet in seconds. For this mission, you will need to be able to hit those hard decks while being within the rough and unpredictable terrain ." Maverick looked at me to see if I had anything to say.

"You will be pulling approximately 8gs and possibly more at some point to just stabilize yourself." I stood up, "You will be in some of the roughest terrains you will ever work in. These conditions will alter your survival ability and it will make your targeting system confused."

"Is that what happened in 2016, ma'am?" Rain asked, she was smirking.

"Yes, that's what happened to the squadron I was talking about previously. The terrain interfered and the pilots weren't prepared for such rare terrain. Plus, they were unfamiliar with their aircraft. This caused many of the pilots to lose their life. This is why we are teaching all of you some maneuvers to avoid this situation from happening again." I sat back down. She definitely did her research into the mission. Rain knew a lot more than I thought, but she didn't know everything. She didn't hear and see everything either.

"Thank you, AJ." Mav looked out amongst the pilots, "Does anyone have any questions?" Rain raised her hand.

"How do we know that she isn't making up everything she saying? How do we know she isn't lying and sending us on a suicide mission?" a few of the pilots muttered agreement and disagreement comments.

"I trust AJ with my life. So does the Pentagon and they don't only trust her, they respect her. She is more educated about these planes, aerodynamics, engineering, and many other things than we are. So, it's an honor for all of you to work alongside her. If you disagree then a death wish you may see." My dad preached. No one disagreed or even decided to argue back, "Good, now gear up. We're up in the air in five."

Maverick turned to Hondo and me, "There is something up with Rain, you were right, AJ."

"Usually am." I barely muttered.

"Hey, you okay?" Hondo asked.

"Y-yeah. Just some memories are conjuring back to my mind."

"Are you sure you can be here? Are you sure you're ready?" Maverick asked.

"I rather have flashbacks here than in the air," I whispered. Both of the men agreed with my statement.

Once all of the pilots arrived in their gear we set up all of the radios and got the planes ready to launch. Dad walked over to me with a box.

"What's that?" I looked between him and the box.