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09: WHY ARE YOU DEAD? Leah
“Time is your greatest enemy. Phase One of the mission will be a low level ingress attacking in two plane teams along this narrow canyon to your target. Radar Guided Surface to Air Missiles defend the area. These SAMS are lethal. But they were designed to protect the skies above - not the canyon below.”
Bradley spoke, “That’s because they know no one is insane enough to try and fly below them.”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to train you to do,” Maverick had the best intentions in mind for us and this mission, which is why I trusted him.
“On the day, your altitude will be one hundred feet maximum.”
Wait, what?
I leaned forward in my chair, curious and wondering just how far his sanity has dropped to think that that’s possible without any of us going straight into a canyon.
“You exceed this altitude, radar will spot you, and you’re dead. Your airspeed will be six hundredd and sixty knots, minimum. Time to target: two and a half minutes. That’s because Fifth Generation Fighters wait at an Airbase nearby. In and head-to-head with these planes in your F-18s, you’re dead,” Maverick turned back to us, “that’s why you need to get in, hit your target, and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you. This makes time your greatest adversary.”
I could feel what Maverick was talking about as I flew. I had gotten used to the weight of an F-18 years ago and it normally felt like nothing, But maintaining the one hundred feet made my lungs feel heavy, like someone was lying on my chest and making it concave in. I gasped for air, forcing my eyes to stay open as I was behind Hangman.
“Why are they dead?” Maverick moved to Coyote.
“We broke the three hundred foot ceiling. A SAM took us out,” Phoenix replied.
“No. Why are they dead?” Maverick repeated at Coyote.
“I slowed down and I didn’t give her a warning. It’s my fault.”
“Was there a reason you didn’t communicate with your team?” He pressed.
“I was focusing on-”
“What will their family accept at the funeral?”
Oh shit.
Tension arose with that question. We weren’t invincible, which is something I’ve almost forgotten, and that death awaits around every corner. It made me sink back in my seat, worried that one or more of us could be in the ground trying to achieve the impossible.
“None, Sir,” Coyote said.
“Why didn’t you anticipate the turn? You were briefed on the terrain,” He moved his attention back to Phoenix.
