killshot (bradley bradshaw)

XVII

1̶5̶ 8 DAYS UNTIL THE MISSION

Since the mission got moved up an entire week, they didn't waste any time. Maverick put the pilots into pairs and the first team headed out to get their flight gear on. Today, Jenna was paired up with Payback and Fanboy. Phoenix and Bob got assigned to Rooster. When she get up to join the boys, Phoenix tapped Jenna on the shoulder.

"You want me to talk to him?" She asked quietly, gesturing to Rooster.

"No, that's okay Phoenix," Jenna said. "Whatever his deal is, I don't want to put you in the middle of it."

"Alright," She agreed. "Good luck with those two."

"Thanks," Jenna smiled. "You too." She left her behind with Bob and headed over to her teammates for the day. Jenna sat down in an empty seat behind them and they both turned their chairs around to face her.

"Hey Killshot!" Fanboy said, holding out his fist for her to bump. "You ready for this?"

"Born ready," Jenna said with a grin, tapping his knuckles with hers. Payback smiled at her, and they began strategizing for the exercise. Today, the single-pilot F-18 was the mission leader during the exercise, which means Jenna was responsible for today's outcome.

The pilots settled back into their chairs as they heard Mav's voice come over the radio, starting the first team. They missed the target, but successfully underwent the sustained G's during the simulated climb out. A few of the next teams came close, but no one had hit bullseye yet. When Phoenix's team went, Bob's laser malfunctioned and Rooster waited way too long before releasing his missile. Finally, it was Jenna's turn to go up. She went down to the locker room to pull on her flight gear. After meeting Payback and Fanboy on the tarmac, she headed to her plane and got ready for takeoff.

Up in the air, Payback slid slightly behind and to the right of Jenna, pulling into the welded wing formation that the mission requires. They waited until Mav gives us the go ahead, and then switched on their nav systems.

"You doin okay back there?" Jenna asked Payback over the coms.

"Yeah, we're with you," He responded. "Increase speed?"

"Increasing speed to 750 knots," she confirmed, and pressed forwards on the throttle.

"Fanboy, how's my laser?" she asked as they prepared for the pop up.

"She's good, we're ready," He responded.

"All right, here we go," Jenna said. She flew her aircraft upwards, following the simulated path. When she reached the top, she pulled into an inverted dive and headed towards the hard deck. Jenna flipped her plane over again so she was upright and readied her hand over the missile release. Beeping came over the coms and she knew that Fanboy had painted the target with the laser. Jenna released the missile and immediately pulled her plane vertical.

"Bombs away," She said over the radio. "You boys with me?"

"Yep," Payback grunted. As they flew almost directly upwards, Jenna felt like her body was pushing in on itself. She glanced at her dashboard and noticed that she was already pulling 7 Gs and increasing.

"Al-most. There." she gasped as the edges of her vision started to darken. Jenna heard one of the guys say something but was too focused on fighting to stay conscious to understand the words. Finally, she heard the nav system indicate that she'd completed the simulation, and she levelled out her aircraft as quickly as possible. Jenna was covered in sweat from clenching her muscles against gravity.

"How'd we do?" she gasped, trying to catch my breath.

"Missed." She heard Fanboy say.

"Damnit!" Jenna yelled. None of them had been successful today. Suddenly, a beeping sound filled her cockpit, startling Jenna in her seat.