Call Sign: Love

Chapter 1: Operation Swoon

Morning Brief | 0700

"You all may be seated" Admiral Solomon better known as "Warlock" announced as the Dagger Team took their seats in one of the main meeting rooms. By the look on Maverick's face, something good was about to happen.

The room was dark and the only light was from the projector screen that had the Top Gun logo in the middle of it. Jake was still trying to wake up, sipping his morning coffee as if his life depended on it.

"As you may have heard, after the last mission, we have noticed further actions being taken to recreate a new bunker for uranium. Thanks to our intelligence, we have discovered a second bunker located about 50 miles from the previous one. Unfortunately, this one is located in a dense forest valley with now much heavier guarding." Warlock explained as the screen turned to show the location of the new bunker.

"We are expecting this mission to be more combat heavy than the previous one. This is why we are bringing in new recruits from our east coast division to help bolster the team. We will have two teams. One will be a distraction and the other will be the hit team. Maverick will decide the teams." Warlock explained looking back at the team of recruits who were all watching him with great interest.

Warlock continued his mission brief as he looked amongst the team who all were as bright-eyed as kids on Christmas morning. Dagger Team had been, at least for now, permanently stationed here seeing as there were a few more missions on the horizon that might require their skills.

"We will have each coast division compete against one another. The final test will be one on one dog fights in a bracket system. The top two pilots will be assigned to the hit squad. As I expect, all of you should be aiming to fill this spot." Warlock chuckled to himself a bit before continuing. He could start to feel the excitement building amongst the team. Ever the competitive group.

"Now many of you might not know about our east coast division of Top Gun. It is a more secluded base but operates smaller missions, many of them providing security for foreign diplomats and inter-continental security. They have been invited to send their finest team to join as recruits for this mission and represent the east coast against the west coast team, which will be represented by Dagger Team." He barely got the words out before there were some excited mutterings among those in the room.

"While I expect this team to excel in this match and represent the west, I must warn you that the east team, named Thunder Team, has recently earned themselves a new accolade that was only previously awarded to Hangman here," Warlock announced making eye contact with Lt. Seresin as he finished. "One of their aviators earned herself an air-to-air kill this past month." Warlock explained as he hit the slide that pulled up the team's roster on the screen behind them.

There were seven of them. The first six were men. All varying in race and height and at the very end of them was the only person who stood in a special category as Maverick and Hangman.

You.

And boy did you catch Jake's attention right away. Maybe it was a bit of curiosity. Maybe it was a little bit of ego. Maybe it was just Jake's interest in someone who stood among a short list of 21st-century pilots to have a confirmed kill. The other two are himself and Maverick. What kind of woman, he wondered, would you turn out to be?

"They will be arriving next week. You are dismissed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had never been one for the heat. You always joked that you should live in the North Pole because you and the heat just didn't mix. Having grown up in the great state of Indiana, you were used to only having to suffer through a few months of summer before you got the nice cooler weather for the better part of the year. You also got snow, which you had always loved. Despite it grounding you when it came to flying. When you began to pursue your aviation career, you had suffered through each of the bases located on the west coast, including your class at Top Gun. But when the opportunity came up to represent the Top Gun Academy on the east coast, you snatched it up quickly. It took a bit of convincing from your teammates to agree to go back to the main branch. But you also wanted a break from things back home and this seemed like the perfect excuse.