Sophie frowned as she sat in her flight suit tapping a pen on her notepad, Roosters pad below it. Her eyes darting across the screen as she read the data displayed. Her and Rooster had arrived earlier than everyone else this morning, Rooster taking the time to organise his gear while she'd headed to the briefing room to analyse some data to do with weapon response, only for her to get distracted eyeing the screen set up with a terrain map. She'd set her data aside and had been trying to work out the significance of the map, praying it was to do with a simulation of low flying and not to do with the overall mission. The depth and narrowness of the canyon concerning her slightly.
It wasn't long before Rooster had come to join her, throwing a chocolate bar he'd found in a pocket at her. Sophie frowned, twisting the bar in her hand only to smile as she worked out why he'd taken it up to her.
It was her favourite chocolate that she couldn't get in America, and had always picked up when she'd been on shore leave. She'd loved the stuff so much, Rooster had taken to making sure he always had one on supply for her more moody days. He'd been sending it to her in bulk when she'd been in recovery, and still had a supply at her home.
"How long was this stashed in your pocket?" Sophie asked, setting the bar on top of her book on the floor.
"Who knows." Rooster shrugged, sitting down beside her. The girl snorted.
"That must have been the emergency emergency bar." She muttered, knowing full well Rooster stocked it for her too. Rooster smirked, nodding as he took the notepad from her.
"Hmm, have you ever," Rooster started when the door opened.
"Good morning bird squad." Hangman smirked as he walked in, Coyote, Payback and Fanboy following.
"Hangman." Rooster and Hawk responded as one, unamused with his entrance. Payback and Fanboy nodded their hellos before continuing their conversation with the other two.
Rooster remained quiet, not wanting to give Hangman any bait by talking to Hawk. He'd noticed what Hangman had been doing yesterday, angering him by pushing Sophie and he wasn't going to give him any ammo for this morning. When he'd picked up Sophie this morning she'd been happier than she'd been in a long time, and he didn't want Hangman ruining it by saying something stupid.
Sophie noticed Bradley demeanour change as Hangman entered the room but said nothing on the topic, knowing how frustrating the other pilot could be and not blaming him for not wanting to talk. They sat in silence, only opening their mouths to say good morning to Phoenix and Bob as they walked in.
It was about 45 mins after Rooster and Hawk had first arrived that Maverick walked in, Hondo behind him. All the graduates stood to attention, waiting until they were told to stand at ease before they sat back down. They all watched with baited breath as Maverick got set up, clicking the screen to bring up a 3 minute timer.
"Time is your greatest enemy." Maverick started, eyeing Hawk and Rooster who were both staring at the screen, determination over their faces as he turned to the screen, "Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress attacking in two-plane teams. You'll fly along this narrow canyon to your target. Radar-guided surface-to-air middles defend the area. These SAMs, they're lethal. But they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below."
Sophie watched the simulation as it tracked their supposed route through the mountains and shared a concerned look with Rooster.
"That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them." Rooster commented, looking back at Maverick and the simulation.
"That's exactly what I'm gonna train you to do." Maverick countered, turning back to face them. Rooster looked away as Maverick looked at him, trying his hardest to stay calm. Sophie tapped the back of his hand in comfort.
"On the day, your altitude will be 100 feet, maximum. You exceed this altitude, the radar will spot you... and you're dead." Sophie lifted her right hand to rub over her mouth as she digested this information, "Your airspeed will be 660 knots. Minimum. Time to target: two and a half minutes. That's because fifth-generation fighters wait at an air base nearby. In a head to head with these planes in your F-18s, you're dead. That's why you need to get in, hit your target and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you. This makes time your greatest adversary."
The group all shared uneasy glances as the mission perimeters were read out, Hawk scribbling down the numbers and underlining them. She glanced back up at Rooster who was sharing a challenging glance with Hangman.
"You'll fly a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon. The faster you navigate this canyon, the harder it'll be to stay under the radar of these enemy SAMs. The tighter the turns, the more intensely the force of gravity on your body multiplies, compressing your lungs, forcing the blood from your brain, impairing your judgment and reaction time. So for todays lesson, we're going to take it easy on you. Max ceiling: three hundred feet. Time to target: three minutes. Good luck."
Maverick issued the schedule for the flights. Sophie biting her lip as she saw they were third to go out. The graduates filed out the room, the ones heading into the air heading down to get their gear as the rest headed towards the the break room to listen in over the radio. Sophie took her usual perch beside the window, Rooster leaning against the wall beside her. Not much was said as the group silently recounted their mission brief, all thinking about how they'd pull this off.
"Group one is a go." They heard over the radio, Sophie watched Phoenix, Bob and Coyote take to the sky in formation.
"This won't be easy." Sophie muttered to Rooster as they heard the signal for the timer starting. Rooster absently nodded his head, watching the jets weaving through the sky over the simulated maps.
"Time to target is one minute thirty. We are two seconds behind. Increase to 480 knots." They could hear Bob instructing. Sophie bit her lip.
"We got to move, Coyote." Phoenix ordered the lead jet.
"Copy. Increasing speed." Coyote reported, before suddenly slowing. Sophie winced as they watched Phoenix having to perform evasive manoeuvres and a blinking sound indicate she was dead.
Maverick was quick to call the next group up into the air, not wanting to waste valuable time. Seeing that it could be their turn in a matter of moments Hawk and Rooster left to get into their gear. It was a silent walk down as both mentally tried to prepare themselves for the onslaught that would be their next three minutes of flying. Sophie silently performed her ritual, sparing a smile to Rooster who tapped his locker twice for good luck. The two of them headed out onto the tarmac as the next two planes took off, Hangman, Payback and Fanboy inside.
Sophie climbed up into the cockpit as Rooster performed his usual checks, her eyes darting to the skies as she watched Hangman in the lead jet going very quickly and breaking away from Payback. She glanced down at Rooster who had also stopped his checks to watch the planes travelling overhead.
"He's going to get them killed." She observed, seeing Payback struggling to keep up and follow the pattern that Hangman had been following.
"Same old Hangman." Rooster called up, before climbing up the stairs himself to get in his seat.
The two connected themselves into the plane, closing the canopy as they prepared for take off. Sophie pulled her helmet on, instantly doing up the mask and pulling down the visor so she could focus on the route and timings once she was in the air. Rooster took point on Yale and Harvard as they took off, Hawk focusing on setting up the route and beginning the timings with command.
She waited until they were coming up to the start of the course, taking a breath as she tried to mentally prepare for the forces and calling in for mission command to begin the timer. Rooster dived down to three hundred feet at the call, flying along the planned route as just below the recommended speed. She tried to keep her breathing even as they twisted over the tight terrain, trying to keep her focus on her displays.
"Time to target, two minutes." Hawk called, glancing between the timing and the route with a frown, knowing they should be further ahead than they were.
"Rooster, we're twenty seconds behind and dropping." Yale called to them.
"We're fine. Speed is good." Rooster replied, not wanting to get them killed by the SAMs or crashing like the previous two groups.
"Increase to five hundred knots." Yale tried again, Hawk turning her head to get a check on them.
"Negative Yale. Hold your speed." Rooster responded.
"Rooster, we're late!" Yale countered.
"We're alive, we'll make up time on the straightway." Rooster shrugged off. Hawk returning her focus to her instruments.
"Time to target one minute thirty." She called, frowning at the map as she realised their best time would be over three minutes if they survived.
"We are not gonna make it." Yale called angrily.
"Just trust me. Maintain your speed. We can make it." Rooster ordered back. Hawk let out a small grunt at a particularly high G corner, and shook her head to try and keep her focus.
"Straight coming up." She warned Rooster, the pilot calling back an affirmative and called to Yale to increase to five hundred knots. Hawk watched the timing screen as they approached the end of the course, letting out a sigh as she noticed their time to target.
"Total time to target 4 minutes." She breathed, knowing Maverick probably wouldn't be happy with that and count it as a fail as well.
"We survived." Rooster reminded the group as Yale started complaining over the radio.
They wasted no time in returning to base, the next group already taxiing down the runaway as they landed. Hawk saluted across to the other group as they passed, smiling as she got the gesture returned. Her smile soon fell as Rooster silently opened the canopy and hoped out the cockpit once they had stopped. She stood up frowning and tugging off her helmet as she watched Rooster starting to walk away. She debated her options before her eyes caught sight of her pencil, she picked it up and silently launched it at his back. She watched as he froze when it hit him and slowly turned to look up at her.
"Did you just…" Rooster questioned, an amused smile trying to breakthrough his frown.
"I did and I'd do it again." She shrugged, twisting to climb out of the cockpit as he came back over.
"Care to explain why you thought throwing a pencil would be a good idea?" He asked, standing over her with a raised eyebrow. Hawk looked up at him, rolling her eyes.
"You were being hormonal." She supplied, earning a scoff from Rooster, "either that or you were seriously upset about surviving a course designed to kill us, which is stupid." She shrugged.
"That's not how Yale or Mav will see it." Rooster sighed, taking a step back. Hawk shrugged her shoulders, offering him a supportive smile.
"We survived Roost. We can work on the timings." She offered before shrugging, "I'd rather a dogfight than a SAM any day."
Rooster nodded at her, taking her helmet from her hands in silent thanks as he led the two of them back to the gear room. They silently took off their gear and put their helmets away, Sophie taking a moment to redo her bun, trying to capture as many of the stragglers as she could. Rooster waited for her by the door, only calling over when she'd missed a section from the back of her head. Once her hair was up, she followed him out the door.
They heard Maverick order everyone back to the briefing room and made their way up, glancing at the screen to see the route the first group had taken on repeat, ready for debriefing as soon as all of them had returned. Sophie bit her lip as she watched the missile simulation hit Phoenix and Bob, showing how small a mistake could cost the mission and lives. Everyone took their seats, Maverick the last one to enter the room, his eyes watching the display before he turned to the graduates.
"Why are they dead?" Maverick wasted no time in questioning, eyeing Coyote.
"We broke the three hundred foot ceiling, and a SAM took us out." Phoenix relayed, shaking her head at her stupid mistake. Maverick shook his head at her.
"No. Why are they dead?" Maverick redirected again at Coyote who looked down.
"I slowed down and didn't give a warning. It was my fault." Coyote admitted, looking up at Maverick as he reported his mistakes.
"Was there a reason you didn't communicate with your team?" Maverick continued, frustrated with the textbook answered that he viewed as them not realising what was at stake.
"I was focusing on-" Maverick fixed coyote with a hard look and shook his head, interrupting the man.
"One that their family will accept at the funeral?" Sophie looked away at the harsh questioning, staring down at her notebook as she worried how Rooster would take that line had it been aimed at him, worried her dad was starting to take their safety too personally.
"None, sir." Coyote admitted, Maverick nodded seeing his words having the desired affect they needed before turning to Phoenix.
"Why didn't you anticipate the turn? You were briefed on the terrain." He asked the woman who shook her head as she tried to come up with an answer, "Don't tell me. Tell it to his family."
Sophie glanced up, eyeing her father knowingly as the rest of the group shifted uncomfortably at the thought of explaining what had happened at their friends funeral. She knew Gooses death ever since Bradley and her had become friends had been haunting her father, always asking about Rooster and how he was, wanting his best friends son to do well. She'd heard all the stories her mom knew about Goose, and had asked her dad about the man. No one knew Goose was the reason she was a WSO. All she'd heard about how great he was, how he'd saved her dads ass countless time, how could she not want to be like him?
Maverick paid Sophie's stare no attention and played the next clip of the second group. They'd gone well up until Hangman had requested they go quicker and Payback seemed to have lost control.
"What happened?" Maverick asked, looking between the three men that had been in the air at the time.
"Well I flew as fast as I could. Kind of like my ass depended on it." Hangman shrugged back with a smug half smile. Rooster glanced at Sophie before letting out a sigh.
"And you put your team in danger, and your wingman's dead." Rooster surmised from the graphic and the action they'd seen in the sky before they'd gone up. Hangman glanced at him with amusement before focusing back on Maverick.
"They couldn't keep up." He offered the man, Sophie biting her lip to keep in her disgust at the idea of abandoning the team 'because they couldn't keep up'. Maverick said nothing about the answers, frustrating Sophie all the more as he turned his gaze instead to Rooster and her.
"Why're you dead? You're team leader up there. Why are you, why is your team dead?" Maverick continued, trying his hardest not to sound disappointed with Rooster and Hawk and their decisions.
"Sir, they're the only one who made it to the target." Phoenix defended. Sophie averting her eyes from her father to glare at the chair in front of her.
"A minute late." Maverick sighed, looking away as he shook his head slightly, "He gave enemy aircraft time to shoot him and his team down. He is dead."
"You don't know that." Rooster argued shaking his head. Hangman rolled his eyes at his defensiveness.
"You're not flying fast enough. You don't have a second to waste." Hangman added in, glancing back at a glaring Hawk.
"We made it to the target." Rooster repeated.
"And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out." Maverick reminded him angrily, his disappointment growing as both Hawk and Rooster seemed to have accepted that. Hawk refocused her gaze on the back of the chair in front of her trying to keep her mouth shut.
"Then it's a dogfight." Rooster argued back, Sophie's point from earlier ringing in his ears.
"Against fifth-generation fighters." Maverick reminded him.
"Yeah we'd still have a chance." Rooster shrugged.
"In an F-18." Maverick angrily reminded him.
"It's not the plane, sir. It's the pilot." Rooster burst out. Hawk lifting her eyes to meet her fathers with a warning look as the phrase she'd heard so often from her father was thrown back in his face unknowingly by her best friend.
"Exactly!" Maverick responded angrily back. Hawk let out a frustrated breath and glared at her father as he looked away, regretting the implication he'd just made about Rooster. Maverick hearing her breath looked at Hawk, the two of them having a stare off.
"There's more than one way to fly this mission." Rooster eventually replied, his voice steady as he tried to keep it professional in the room filled with pilots. Maverick turned his gaze from Hawk to Rooster, working out how to respond.
"You really don't get it." Hangman sighed, turning to look at the other pilot. Hawk glared over at him as Rooster turned his head to look away from both Hangman and Maverick, "On this mission, a man flies like Maverick here, or a man does not come back. No offence intended." He offered to Phoenix who glared back.
"Yet somehow you always manage." Bob added, shaking his head at the pilot.
"Look, I don't mean to criticise. You're conservative, that's all." Hangman continued, Rooster leaning back to look up at the ceiling as he tried to maintain composure.
"I'd rather that than dead." Hawk bit out, her anger beginning to trickle over. Seeing this Maverick tried to break up the situation.
"Lieutenant."
"We're going into combat, son, on a level no pilots ever seen. Not even him. That's no time to be thinking about family ties or the past." Sophie's eyes widened at the insinuation her eyes darting to her father who was just watching it happen, Rooster taking a breath before looking over at the blond pilot.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rooster asked, his eyes narrowing.
"I can't be the only one that knows Maverick flew with his old man." Hangman smirked, ignoring Maverick breaking in to tell him it was enough, "or that Maverick was flying when his old man—"
Hawk wasn't sure who jumped up first, her or Rooster. The whole room filled with chaos as they jumped for Hangman, her only managing a few steps when she was grabbed by multiple arms trying to hold her and Rooster back. She let out a string of threats, twisting to try and get out of the hold as Hangman continued to smirk. Rooster and her both tried to get free even as Maverick called for them to settle down.
"I'm cool, I'm cool. Hey, hey, hey. He's not cut out for this mission." Hangman smirked at the two, sophie struggling again to get out of whoever's grip she was in.
"You're a sack of shit bagman." She hissed at him, ignoring her fathers warning.
"You shouldn't even be flying Collins, or is it Mitchell? Was it your dad that give you your wings back?" Hangman teased, his eyes flickering between Hawk and Maverick. Rooster forgot his anger for a moment, pausing to look back at Sophie who'd frozen at the insinuation.
"You asshole." She breathed, her eyes flickering to Rooster who stared at her.
"What?" Rooster asked, his anger replaced with pure confusion as he looked between Maverick and Hawk, as if suddenly noticing the similarities.
"And it just gets better! Rooster didn't even know! You've been flying with Mavs daughter, son." Hangman continued to push. Hawks anger returned, catching the group holding her off guard as she managed to get close enough to nearly land a hit before being grabbed again.
"That's enough." Maverick broke in, pushing his daughter back from Hangman as Rooster stood there in shock.
"Neither of them are fit to fly this mission, you know it." Hangman pressed, digging the knife in before smirking at the two and leaving the room. Maverick looked around, trying to work out what to do as he watched his daughters deflate and Roosters pain and anger.
"You're all dismissed." Maverick breathed, knowing he'd gone too far in his debriefing and had caused this.
The group filed out the room slowly, watching Hawk and Rooster as they seemed too in shock to move. Maverick eyed the two about to say something to try and offer help when he saw Hawk shaking her head, her eyes clearly telling him to say nothing. He nodded to her, eyeing Rooster with concern as his left the room. The two of them stood in silence, Sophie looking down at the floor as Rooster stared at her like he'd never seen her before. She tried to take a step towards him to explain but froze as he took two steps back.
"You're his daughter." Rooster bit out, shaking his head and laughing dryly as if everything all suddenly made sense.
"Bradley it doesn't change anything." She offered, not denying it, "I'm still Sophie Collins."
"You're Sophie Mitchell." He corrected before glaring, "did he want you to keep an eye on me? Are you the reason he pulled my papers?"
"No, he didn't even know I wanted to apply, didn't know until I'd been accepted." She explained, "You were the year above me, there was no way of knowing we'd meet" she pointed out, Rooster continuing to shake his head at her.
"I trusted you." He breathed, "I've told you everything. Have you just been telling him?" Sophie shook her head, taking another step only to wince as Rooster took another one back.
"Rooster you're my best friend, I wouldn't just betray you like that." She tried to explain, her gaze dropping to the floor as her decision not to say anything came back to bite her.
"You're his daughter." He breathed one final time, before glaring at her with such hatred she took a step back. He shook his head at her one last time before disappearing out the door. Breathing heavily she paced back and fore along the room, trying to work out what she could do, how she could fix this.
It was a few hours later when Maverick returned to the briefing room, needing somewhere he could think about the events of the day and work out what to do. He felt himself frowned as he noticed a pair of combat boots dangling over the end of a set of chairs. He walked over quietly, sighing when he realised it was Sophie. She clearly hadn't left, her flight suit still on as she lay across two chairs, the only change being her hair out of its bun. He watched as she twisted her head to see who'd come in, only to sigh and let it fall back onto the cushion. He took a seat in the chair across the aisle from her, waiting silently for her to start talking.
"Did Goose ever hate you?" She eventually asked. Maverick looked at her seeing the worry and guilt in her eyes, before leaning back in his chair.
"Not while he was alive." Maverick answered honestly, fully believing his best friend would be having serious issues with him and how he was treating his son.
"Did Carole ever hate you?" Sophie asked, tilting her head back to look at her dad. Maverick eyes met his daughters before shaking his head.
"No, she understood." Sophie nodded her head, before sighing.
"Mom was wrong. Rooster hates me." Maverick let out a breath, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut at the hopelessness of her voice, before frowning as she lifted her hand, a two folded pieces of paper in it. He gently took it from her, eyeing her with concern as he opened both.
"You can't." He breathed, seeing one offering her resignation from the programme and the other a request for a change of pilot due to personal circumstances.
"I filled in the resignation first, but then I thought about Goose and what he would have done. I still want be there, to save Roosters ass if he needs it. I'm, I'm his backseater dad, it's my job, but I know he won't want it, especially now. So a swap is my only option." Sophie admitted to him. Maverick eyed his daughter, seeing how much concern there was for Rooster and sighing. He took the pilot change request and stuck it in his pocket, ripping up the resignation.
"You could have requested a new tutor." He pointed out as Sophie threw him a small smile, that didn't reach her eyes.
"You wouldn't be allowed to fly." She shrugged, pushing herself up to a sitting position and turning to face her father, making Maverick frown.
"How'd you…" he started when Sophie chuckled unamused.
"You hated TopGun tutoring the first time you tried it. Only reason you'd come back is if you'd pissed of every admiral and this was your last option. Iceman can only do so much." She explained, Maverick shaking his head at her as he was suddenly very much reminded of Julie.
"You're so your moms daughters." He breathed.
"I'm yours too. Planes, bikes, speed. It's kinda what's landed me in this mess." She breathed, before shaking her head, "Well no, I landed me in this mess by lying."
"He'll come around." Maverick tried, earning a small smile of appreciation from Sophie.
"Thanks for trying dad." She offered before picking herself up, "I'll leave you to think, I should probably get back to the barracks."
Maverick watched as she silently headed out the door, a dark cloud hanging over her as she left on her own. He let out a breath, not for the first time, wishing her mother was still around to talk to and wishing he'd taken more time to get to know Sophie when she was younger so he knew how to help. He'd always been the fun parent that turned up once in a blue moon and taken her for motorbike rides, messed around, never taken anything seriously and now he was paying the price. Julie had been her rock and had been everything he couldn't be and now here he was, struggling to help her make up for something that was his fault in the first place.
He made his way to the window, frowning as he noticed Sophie's familiar form walking slowly away from base, frowning as he saw an unfamiliar car picking her up only to sigh as he recognised Phoenix. He shook his head, taking a seat again and leaning back, closing his eyes for a moment.
"I wish you were here Jules."