Fight or Flight: Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 1 - A Fresh start

Breathing in deeply, Leia closed her eyes, letting the warm, California breeze wash over her tan skin. She stood on the steps of the small, city home the Navy had provided her when they had asked her to join their Navy Fighter weapons school, known to the locals as "Top Gun".
She opened her eyes, light filtering through her tinted sunglasses to her hazel eyes. She twitched her fingers as she made her way to the small car parked in front of the house. Her whole nervous system was a wreck, every part of her body tense with anticipation and stress. She wasn't exactly what you would call and extrovert and certainly wasn't one to socialize often. Yet, here she was, headed to her first meeting, about to meet a bunch of strangers who she would end up spending a lot of time with.
Turning the key in the ignition she started up the car, turning the radio to her favorite 70s  station. Surfin USA by The Beach Boys played softly as she pulled out into the street, headed towards the hangers.

They were required to park a ways from the hanger but Leia didn't mind. It gave her time to think and prepare her brain for ✨socializing✨.
"Jeez" she thought, "It's just more pilots. We all share something in common so you shouldn't be stressed this much right?". As much as she wanted to believe that, she knew she'd have a hard time fitting in. After all, not everyone had been the cause of their co-pilots death...not everyone had watched as a missile came hurdling towards their plane, missing the main body but clipping the left wing....not everyone had watched, horrified as their partner screamed "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday..." as their eject lever failed time and time again....

"You okay?" A voice breaks though my thoughts. I blink as I look around, confused. A female figure stands besides me, an expression of concern etched on her sharp, beautiful face.
"Yeah, I'm alright" I manage to get out, actually sounding more normal than I felt.
"I'm Phoenix" she says, sticking her hand out. I take it, shaking it and managing to bring a smile to my lips.
"I'm Leia. Most call me Kestrel though" I smile at her. Socializing wasn't so hard when the person was the same gender as you. She grins back at me before turning slightly in the direction of the hanger.
"We should get to our meeting" she says. "Don't wanna be late to the first one!" I smile at her attempt to make come conversation and follow her towards the building.
"At least I won't be the only girl" I thought before I pulled the door open, following Phoenix inside.

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Hey y'all, sorry this is a small chapter. Just getting started (:
Kinda wrote this late at night and needed a good stopping point so I kinda had to make it short. I'll be spending more time on the next chapters to come but for now I just wanted to get the first one done (:
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