Kalliope 》Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter 8

"Good morning," Warlock begins standing at the front of the hanger. "The uranium enrichment plant will be operational earlier than we thought. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in 10 days time. As a result, your mission has been moved up one week in order to avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation." All the aviators look at each other in disbelief and slight nerves.

"Sir, no one has successfully flown a low level course," Coyote explains.

"Nevertheless, you've been ordered to move on," Warlock continues. "Captain," he calls Maverick up to the podium.

"We have one week left to focus on Phase Two," Maverick begins solemnly. "It's the most difficult stage of the mission."

Gesturing to the screen behind him, he continues. "It's a pop up strike with a deep dive requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles."

Looking around the room, the faces all read nerves, but not scared.

"Two pairs of F-18s will fly in a column formation. Teamwork and precise coordination of these aircraft is essential to the mission success, and your survival." The screen begins to show the path that needs to be flown.

"As you know, the plant rests between two mountains. On a final approach, you'll invert directly into a steep dive. This allows you to maintain the lowest altitude and the only possible attack angle," he continues as the screen zooms in to show the target.

"Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide. The two seat aircraft paint the target with a laser bullseye. The first pair will reach the reactor by dropping a bomb on an exposed ventilation hatch. This will create an opening for the second pair. That's miracle number one." He holds up his pointer finger.

All the pilots look at him in disbelief, not quite believing what they are hearing.

"The second team will deliver the kill shot and destroy the target. That's miracle number two. If either team misses the target," he pauses to make sure they know the severity of his next words. "The mission is a failure. Egress is a steep, high-G climb out to avoid hitting this mountain."

Doing the math in his head, Hangman chimes in. "A steep climb at that speed, you're pulling at least 8Gs."

"9 minimum," Maverick corrects him.

Rooster also points out an important point. "The stress limit of f-18s airframe is 7.5."

Needing to stress the importance of this plan, Maverick contests back, "that's the accepted limit. To survive this mission, you'll pull beyond that, even if it means bending your airframe."

Cyclone doesn't look happy at that statement. Warlock simply looks like he's accepted this fact.

"You'll be pulling so hard youll weigh close to 2000 pounds, your skull crushing your spine, your lungs imploding like an elephant sitting on your chest. Fight it with everything you have just to keep from blacking out." Maverick pauses, preparing to give out even more near impossible news.

"And this is where you'll be at your most vulnerable. This is Coffin Corner," he warns them all.

Continuing on as if he hadn't just dropped multiple figurative bombs on the group, "assuming you avoid crashing into this mountain, youll climb straight up into enemy radar while loosing all of your airspeed. Within seconds you'll be fired upon by enemy SAMS."

Gesturing to the simulation on screen, "you've all faced sustained Gs before but this, this is gonna take you and your aircraft to the breaking point."

Everyone kind of looks too stunned to react. Taking in all of this information, finally having the full mission set in front of them. It's daunting and scary. This is different from any mission they've ever done before.