Sincerely, Yours

Chapter 6

"Morning..." Warlock addresses the class. "The uranium enrichment plant that is your target will be operational earlier than expected. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days' time. To avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation, your mission has been moved up one week." Elliot and Ria share a look, the latter biting her lip. "Sir, no one here has successfully flown the low-level course," Coyote spoke up from his seat beside Hangman. "Nevertheless, you have been ordered to move on. Captain." As the class absorbs this, Warlock nods to Maverick to take over. "We have one week left to focus on phase two - the most difficult stage of the mission: a pop-up strike with a steep dive requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles. Two pairs of F-18s will fly in a welded wing formation. Teamwork - the precise coordination of these aircraft - is essential to both the mission's success and your survival," Maverick said looking them all in the eyes before a simulation of the mission begins to play out in slow, deliberate motion.

"As you know, the plant rests between two mountains. To maintain the lowest possible altitude, you'll invert directly into a steep dive. Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide." The aircraft in the simulation climb a mountain and roll onto their backs at the peak before diving, upside down. They roll upright and dive steeply. "The two-seat aircraft will paint the target with a laser bullseye. The lead single seat will breach the reactor by dropping a laser-guided bomb through an exposed ventilation shaft on the surface. That's miracle number one." In the simulation, the first team's bomb hits and the planes pull out. "Second team delivers the kill shot." The second team's bomb hits and the target is destroyed. "Miracle number two. If you can't hold your dive, if you lose your laser lock, you'll miss. If either team misses... You fail. Egress is a steep, high G climb out. And this is where you'll be at your most vulnerable," Maverick says. "This... is coffin corner," he continues pointing to the point at which they'd have to start climbing again. The class of aviators shares looks. This is bad. "Should you manage to avoid this mountain, you'll climb straight up, into enemy radar, losing all your airspeed. Within seconds, you'll be fired upon by enemy SAMs." Animated planes climb into a hailstorm of SAMs. They take evasive action and dive immediately. "How fast you can dive back down into the canyon, will mean the difference between life and death."

"A climb like that, at that speed, we'll be pulling at least eight Gs," Jake spoke up. "Nine. Minimum," Maverick corrected. "The stress limit of the F-18s airframe is 7.5," Bradley said staring at Maverick. Neither man blinks. "That's the accepted limit. To survive this mission you'll have to pull beyond that, even if it means bending your airframe." He points to the animation of lethal-looking SAMs firing on climbing F-18s on the screen. "Climbing out of that canyon, you'll be a sitting duck, with SAMs coming at you from all directions. You'll weigh close to two thousand pounds, fighting with everything you have just to keep from blacking out, your lungs imploding like an elephant is sitting on your chest - your skull crushing your spine." The reality of this hits home in all of the aviators. There's a high likelihood that one of them would not be coming back. Maverick points to the canyon map on the screen. "Your only chance of survival will be to get what's left of your aircraft below radar again. Then follow this canyon back to the carrier. That's if you strike the target on time. If you don't, you may have an even bigger problem to contend with." Maverick clicks the remote and on the screen, the enemy's vaunted fifth-generation fighter appears. "You'll be flying in a damaged F-18 against one of the most lethal fighter planes ever produced." A heavy silence settles in the room. "Sir... is this even achievable?" Natasha asks after a moment. "In the end, the answer to your question will come down to the pilot in the box," Maverick tells them, looking each of them in the eyes again.

First up was Rooster with Pheonix and Bob. The rest of the aviators watched on the screens in the main room as they headed toward a U-shaped cluster of rusted-out shipping containers that were being used to simulate the target. Hangman with Payback and Fanboy followed them, flying at the same target, a small steel target drum behind the containers. Both teams' aircraft fly in tandem mimicking the maneuver Maverick had shown them. They climb the fake mountain, rolling onto their backs at the imaginary peak. The teams dive toward the shipping containers that guard the target. Hangman and Payback miss the target and begin the flight back to base. Rooster curses to himself when he sees his missile miss the target by almost a hundred feet. "That's a miss. That's a miss." Rooster sighs and flips off his mask. "Sorry, Bob. That's on me," he says as the pair begins the journey back to base. After that Maverick decides to try only one pair at a time. "Tempest, Denver, Coyote, you're up," Maverick called out and the three aviators looked at each other before nodding and moving to get their flight gear on.

"We're twelve seconds late on target. We gotta move, we gotta move," Denver called out. "I'm going as fast as I can," Coyote replied. "Blue team, you are spotted," Maverick calls out as the radar beeps. "Bandit, Bandit. Radar contact. 20 miles left, ten o'clock. He's coming fast. 700 knots closure," Denver relayed. "Shit, it's Maverick," Coyote cursed. "Stay focused," Ria reminded them. "He's swinging around to the north," Denver informs her. "What do you want to do?" Coyote asked. "Continue. We're close. Stay on target. Be ready on that laser, Denver," Ria ordered. "On it..." Denver responded, reaching for a knob, constantly working. "Popping in 3-2-1," Coyote and Tempest say together. They arc into the sky, rolling over to begin their 45-degree dive down the invisible mountain. "Talk to me, Denver. Where is Maverick?" Coyote grunts out. "I'm a little busy right now," Denver replies, focused on readying the laser. "We got this Coyote," Tempest encourages. "Captured!" Denver exclaims. "Got it. Bombs away," Coyote replied but as he hits his payload trigger a warning light flashed. "Malfunction," he informs them and tries again. And again. "Damnit! Hung bomb. Hung bomb." Coyote curses under his breath before pulling out of the steep dive and starting the dangerous climb to coffin corner. Tempest and Denver were close behind him, straining under the intense Gs. Suddenly, alarms blare in their cockpit. "Maverick's got tone on us!" Denver informs her. "Shit, we're dead," Ria sighed pulling out of the climb. She levels out waiting for Coyote but see's he's continued the climb. "That's a fail, return to base, Coyote," Maverick orders. He however keeps pulling, harder still. And they realize something is wrong. "Coyote, do you copy?" Maverick asks. They get no response but then watch as Coyote's near-vertical jet begins to nose over. "Coyote! Level wings!" Maverick ordered. Back in the classroom, the others watch as Coyote's jet starts to roll. Cyclone steps closer, knowing something is wrong. Coyote's jet fully inverts and begins heading for the ground. "Oh, god, He's in G-loc! He's going in," Ria warns. Maverick curses, "I'm going after him." Maverick dives left after Coyote, targeting his jet. "Come on, come on... gimme tone, you sonofabitch," Maverick mutters. "Snap out of it, Coyote. Come on! Come on!" Ria sent up a small prayer to whoever was listening. Coyote is half in, half out of consciousness as alarms blare in his cockpit. "Damn it! Coyote! Coyote!" Maverick yells. Coyote yanks back hard on his stick, pulling up as hard as he could and breathing heavily. "Coyote, you okay? You okay?" Maverick asks as Skywalker and Maverick move into formation beside him. "I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm good..." Coyote manages to say and Ria lets out a deep sigh of relief. Back in the classroom, Jake slumped in his seat a little, relief flowing through him at his best friend's words.

"Good. Good. That's enough for today, let's head back to base," Maverick said. "That was close," Ria says. "Too close," Maverick echoed. There was a loud bang. "Bird strike! Bird strike!" Maverick calls out as another loud bang sounds and feathers fly around their canopies. Alarms blare and Elliot's instrument cluster lights up as their jet shudders. "Engine Failure, left engine is out. Tempest, climb!" Elliot ordered. "Climbing," she responds, pulling up on her stick. Jake freezes in place, hearing but not quite processing what he was hearing. Elliot looks over his shoulder to see the left engine is on fire. "We're on fire, we're on fire," he tells her. "Throttling back. Shutting off fuel. Extinguishing fire," she says, her training kicking into gear. She pulls back on the throttle and activates the fire extinguisher switch. "We're losing the right engine," Elliot informed Ria. "It's still spinning. I'm gonna try to restart it," she tells him. She flips the APU switch and pushes the right throttle forward. Nothing happens. "Shit. Trying again." She tries the APU and throttle again but suddenly, with a bang the right engine now catches fire. "We're on fire again, Tempest!" Elliot informs her. "Damnit!" she hisses. "Oh, my god," Maverick mutters. Everyone back in the classroom looks at each other, worry present on all faces, helpless to do anything but listen. Jake's eyes are blown wide as he stands, powerless. "I've got every warning light lit up back here," Elliot tells her, and Ria can hear the panic creeping into his voice. "Tempest, Denver, punch out, punch out!" Maverick calls out. "We lost hydraulics. I can't control it," she told Maverick. "We're going down, Ria! We're going in! We're going in!" Elliot yells as the two watch their altitude begin to drop. "You can't save it! Eject, eject!" Maverick ordered. "Eject, eject, eject!" Ria repeated, reaching down and grabbing the handles. The canopy blows. She and Denver are ejected one after the other seconds before their jet collides with the desert floor and explodes. Maverick watches the two chutes drift, seeing the past flash before his eyes... He pulls off his mask, shutting his eyes. He let out a shuddering breath before calling it in. "Maverick to tower. We have a plane down. Send a helo."