Below The Hard Deck | A Top Gun Fanfiction

CHAPTER I

~1986~

Just like every night, the Hard Deck bar is filled to the brim with people. In the background, music blares so loudly that it is almost impossible to hear someone else speak. I guess with the bar being so close to an airfield, they don't have much of another choice. While everyone else mingles, or at the very least tries to, I remain in my corner, occasionally sipping my beer and counting down the minutes until I can find an excuse to get out of here.

"I have truly never seen a sadder sight," my friend, Charlie, yells over the sound as she leans next to me. The two of us had met when I first entered the academy, when she was just starting her time as a civilian contractor with the Navy, and had kept in contact on and off ever since. When I told her I had coming to Miramar, she was insistent that we'd go out to catch up. "Why did you agree to come with me if you were just going to mope around all night."

"Someone needs to keep an eye on you," I respond. "Besides, you're paying. I'm not about to turn down free alcohol."

"You should be celebrating. You're going to be the first woman at Top Gun for Christ's sake!" She isn't wrong. I should partying like I never have before. Come tomorrow, there would be one less glass ceiling hanging over the world, etching my name firmly into history. I have every reason to be happy, yet something is missing.

"I should be going as a part of the first all female team." When I was extended my invitation to Top Gun, it came with a catch; my RIO, Valkyrie, would not be coming with me. My commander had to fight tooth and nail to even manage to get me in. It would be too much of a distraction to the other pilots if the two of us were to come. One girl, Top Gun claimed, was enough for now. When I arrived for my first day, I'd meet my new RIO.

When I told Valkyrie the situation, I expected her to be angry. Yell, throw a fit, demand I not go, anything to make the choice easier. But, she did quite the opposite. She jumped up and down screaming with joy as if she was the one who got the offer to go. Never once did she entertain the idea of me staying behind with her.

"How am I supposed to fly with someone I've never even met before?" I argue, pacing back and forth across the room.

"Lucky, really? The first time we flew together, we had only met five minutes before taking off."

"That's different. We were each others first partners. I can't just up and leave you for someone else."

"You can, and you will," Valkyrie responds with a bite I have never heard out of her. As I stop in my tracks, she grabs both my hands. "You have the opportunity to make history, Lucky. By you going to Top Gun, your making the possibility of there one day being an all girl team closer to a reality. As your best friend, I will not allow you to stay behind because of me." I open my mouth, but she cuts me off. "So help me, I will kidnap you and take you to that damn place myself if I have to."

I laugh a bit, pulling her into a hug. "I'm going to miss you, Valk."

"I'll miss you too, girl." She pulls away, giving me a smirk. "Make sure to give all those guys hell for me."

Even with Valkyrie's blessing, I can't help but feel I was betraying her by flying with someone else. It's almost like I'm cheating on her. Of course, when I told her this, she knocked me upside the head and told me to quit being ridiculous, but the guilt never did go away.

"You know what you need to do?" Charlie says, breaking me from my thoughts. "You need laid."

I scoff. "You're one to talk."

"I'm being serious! Starting tomorrow, things are going to get a whole lot more stressful. Might as well let loose tonight."

"You have any suggestions?" I take a sip of my beer.