I Know You ~ J.Seresin

30

2 years later

Tate and Bradley were later stationed in Hawaii temporarily. Only to test fly the new aircraft that were being made. Not only were they testing out the new aircraft, but they were also teaching new recruits in the Aviation academy, the basics of flight.

They had been over in Hawaii for the last 6 months and were getting ready to go back to Virginia Beach. They had one more aircraft to test before they were cleared to go back home.

All the aircraft they had flown, flew smoothly with no problems. So this was gonna be easy to get done.

"Ready?" Bradley asks. Tate looks up at him through her heart-shaped sunglasses.

"Always,"

The two walk out from under the hangar and over to the Admiral that waited for them by the last aircraft.

"Lieutenant Ghost. I want you to test-fly this last one. All routines will be the same, everything in the cock pit is the same as your own aircraft. The only thing that is different is the eject handles,"

Tate nods as she puts her helmet under her arm. "Where are they?" She asks the admiral. He nods his head in the direction of the aircraft.

She follows the man to the aircraft and motions for her to get in.

Tate climbs into the aircraft and adjusts herself into the seat before she buckles herself in. She puts her helmet on and looks down at her Admiral.

"The eject handles are on the side of your seat. On the left. The engineers are trying a different style from the one you are used to. Safety precautions,"

Tate nods as she starts up the aircraft and her Admiral takes a step back.

Bradley watches as she drives the aircraft slowly to the taxiway, the canopy of the jet closing slowly.

As he watched her prepare to take off, something didn't sit right with him. He chewed on his lip as he approached the Admiral.

"Admiral Hyde?"

The Admiral had gotten his call sign when he was first enrolled in the academy. He was known for being a very calm, sweet man when sober.

But when he was drunk he was very loud and outgoing, hitting on all the ladies in the clubs or bars.

His fellow pilots all said he was a lot of the legend of Jeckyl and Hyde. They preferred Hyde better than Jeckyl, and that was when his call sign was given.

"Yes, Rooster?" he asks looking over at the mustached man. "I don't have a good feeling about her being in that jet. Something seems off,"

The Admiral frowns as he looks at the pilot who had now just taken off into the air.

"All we can do is get this exercise over with. She's in the air now, nothing we can do besides get the test done,"

Bradley purses his lips as he looks at his friend who is now in the air doing basic flight maneuvers.

Tate felt confident on the other hand.

"Pushing to 3.5 knots," She says into the headset.

Tate pushes slightly on the throttle causing the jet to increase speed. She takes a deep breath as she steers her jet, making it go higher up into the clouds.

"Ghost, increase to 4 knots. Do flight maneuver 360,"

Tate pushes her jet to 4, then twirls it into  360 rotation. Everything going smoothly, and it was flying smoothly.

She relaxes slightly as she straightens herself out in the air.

"Foreign Relations. Push to 5,"

Bradley frowns at his Admiral's orders. He could tell by the structure and the dynamics of that aircraft that it was not built to do a move such as that.

The aircraft was not made to sit in an inverted motion such as that.

Tate obliges to her Admiral's orders and begins the rotation of her aircraft while pushing it faster.

But with the two motions going in as one, the hood of her aircraft begins to smoke, causing the cock pit to ring out with alarms.

"Admiral Hyde, I believe my front engine is smoking," she says worriedly as she steadies her aircraft in the air, not continuing the rotation.

"Bring it down Ghost. This one is not ready for the full test,"

Tate nods, pulling back slightly on the throttle, trying to slow it down, and turns around to head back to the landing strip.

But with both movements, the aircraft begins to spin, causing the cock pit to sound multiple alarms all at once now.

She grips the throttle, flipping switches and turning on her backup engines to try to level it out.

"Lieutenant you're going to hit the Hard Deck, eject!" her admiral yells over the headset.

Bradley watches in fear as his jet goes out of control, hearing her struggle over the coms as she tries to steady it. "Eject!"

"Ejecting!" Tate yells. She lets go of the throttle and reaches for the ejection handle underneath her seat.

"Shit," she says. The handles weren't placed there, they were in a new position.

"I can't find the handles!" She yells into the headset.

Tate tries to keep her composure, but deep down inside she was scared.

She couldn't leave Bradley or her family. She wasn't ready.

"On the side! On your left!" Hyde yells into the headset.

Bradley bites his lips as he watches it all unfold. Tate's aircraft getting closer and closer to the Hard Deck.

"Ejecting!" she yells as she grasps the handle. Just as she pulls it, the exterior of the aircraft catches on fire.

Bradley watches as the woman is ejected out of the cockpit. He watches as she partially hits the canopy of the jet, and is pushed through the flames that had now engulfed the jet.

Her parachute instantly deploys, but her body is limp as it begins to float down slowly. Her jet crashed into the ground, causing more flames to erupt.

"We need medical attention. Lieutenant Ghost is airborne, with no movement from her,"

Bradley's blood runs cold as he watches her fall slowly to the ground, the only thing holding her is the straps from her parachute.

His eyes well up with tears as he bites his lip.

How is he gonna tell Tom about this?