CHAPTER THREE
YOUR GREATEST ENEMY
[03]

song: Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat
by The Ink Spots

==========

"all at once a storm blew us apart,
and left me drifting alone."

"Time is your greatest enemy." Maverick started to the class.

Celia sat behind Phoenix and next to Rooster. She'd like to think they've been hitting it off lately.

"Phase one of the mission will be a low level attack. Two teams and a backup." The screen behind Maverick changed to a view of the canyon. "You'll fly along this narrow canyon to the target. Radar-guided surface to air missiles defend the area. The sams are lethal. They were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below."

From beside Celia she heard Rooster speak up, "That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below."

"That's exactly what I'm going to train you to do." Maverick said to the class.

Celia turned to Rooster in shock, receiving a look of disbelief in return.

"Today your altitude will be 100 feet maximum. If you go above this altitude, radars will spot you and you're dead." Maverick instructed. "Your speed will be 660 knots minimum. Time to target is two and a half minutes."

Maverick continued, "The time is two and a half minutes because fifth generation fighters will wait at a base nearby. Going head to head with your F-18s, you're dead. That's why you need to get in and get out before these planes have a chance of catching you."

"This makes time your greatest enemy." He finished.

=====

Celia flew with Coyote, Phoenix, and Bob for the training.

"Time to target is 1 minute, 30. We are two seconds behind." Bob stated. "Increase speed to 490 knots."

"We need to speed this up, Coyote." Celia said over the comms.

Coyote said over the radio, "Copy. Increasing speed now."

Celia and Phoenix increased speed, but Coyote didn't, forcing them to fly above him. Flying above him resulted in being spotted by the sams.

"Fuck." Celia hissed.

=====

"Why are you dead?" Maverick asked.

Phoenix was the first to answer, "The sams took all our planes out."

"We flew above the maximum altitude." Celia answered.

He shook his head and then turned to Coyote. "Why are they dead?" Maverick asked him.

"I slowed down and didn't give them warning. It's my fault." Coyote replied.

"Was there a reason you hesitated?" He questioned Coyote more.

"I was focusing on—"

"What excuse will their families accept at the funeral?" Maverick cut him off and took a step closer.

Coyote's face faltered before answering. "None, sir."

Maverick turned to Celia now. "Why didn't you just slow down?"

"I didn't anticipate it so I followed—"

"Why didn't you anticipate the turn?" Maverick cut her off and turned to Phoenix. "You were briefed on the terrain."

Phoenix opened her mouth to reply but Maverick cut her off too. "Don't tell me." He pointed to Bob. "Tell his family."

=====

"What happened?" Maverick questioned Hangman, Payback, and Fanboy with a confused face.

"I flew as fast as I could." Hangman said cheekily. "Kinda like my life depended on it."

"Yeah, and in turn you put your team in danger and your wingman is dead." Rooster spoke up.

Hangman turned to him and smirked. "They couldn't keep up."

Maverick turned to Rooster now. "Why are you dead?" He asked. "You're team leader, so why is your team dead?"

"Sir. He's the only one who made it." Celia said, confused as to why he was reprimanding Rooster.

He turned to Celia, "One minute late. He gave enemy aircrafts time to shoot him down." Maverick turned to look at Rooster. "He's dead."

"You don't know that." Rooster protested.

"You're not flying fast enough." Hangman spoke up.

Rooster gritted his teeth in annoyance. "We made it to the target."

"And the enemy intercepted you on your way out." Maverick finished.

Rooster shrugged, "Then it's a dogfight."

"Against fifth generation fighters?" Maverick said in disbelief.

"We still have a chance."

"In a F-18?"

"It's not the plane, sir. It's the pilot." Rooster said.

"Exactly." Maverick snapped harshly.

Rooster looked taken aback. "There's more than one way to fight this mission."

"You don't get it," Hangman said. "A man's either got to fly like Maverick here, or a man doesn't come back."

He looked to Phoenix, Halo, Celia. "No offense."

Bob leaned forward in his chair to face him. "And yet, you always manage." Celia snickered at his words.

"We're going to combat soon, on a level no living man's ever seen," Hangman continued and turned to Maverick. "Not even him." He turned back to Rooster. "It's no time to be thinking about the past."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rooster questioned.

The tension in the room was escalating quickly and everyone could feel it. Celia just hoped they'd calm down soon.

Hangman smirked. "I can't be the only one who knows Maverick used to fly with his old man. And that Maverick was flying when his old man—"

Before Hangman could finish, Rooster sprung out of his seat to lunge at him. Everyone quickly jumped out of their seat to hold them back from each other. Thankfully they succeeded in stopping a fight from erupting.

"You're just not cut out for the mission." Hangman told Rooster. Celia continued to hold Rooster back. Hangman turned to Maverick. "And you know that."

"Everyone dismissed." Maverick announced to the class. Rooster was the first to pull away and left in a hurry.

=====

Celia followed Rooster and called out to him. "Hey Bradshaw!" He stopped and turned around, letting Celia jog to catch up with him. "Are you alright? I know Hangman can be a dick sometimes."

He scoffed at that. "Sometimes? All the time." Rooster said. "And yeah I'm alright. I just snapped when he brought up my dad."

She nodded in understanding.

"My... my dad was Maverick's wingman." Rooster confessed. "He died in an ejection accident. Maverick always treated me like a son, but then he pulled my papers from the Naval Academy and it sent me four years back. He said it was because he thought I couldn't handle it."

"Do you forgive him now?" Celia asked.

"I think I'm starting to..." Rooster gave a small smile.