Don't Fear the Reaper Top Gun

My alarm blared in my ears the horrifying beep, beep, beep of the device made me angry. I slammed the device with my palm and sighed, sitting up in bed and turning on the light. I let my eyes adjust to the brightness that flooded the room. I listened intently to the noises around me. The jets from the day shift were landing and it was our time to shine. The swaying of the ship used to make me nauseous, I was not used to its incessant movement. I tried so hard to get used to the movements as my job had moved me onto this infernal boat. But each day it felt as if I was going to puke if I was on it too long. That's why I enjoyed the air, the more time in it, the less time I spent feeling sick to my stomach. Of course, Dramamine helped, but I couldn't use that when I was flying, which was just about every day. The medical specifications for pilots were stringent so I dealt with the issues that being on this death trap gave me. I was one of few females that had ever made the attempt to the Navy. I graduated from the Naval Academy as a top aviator and continued my time flying on these stupid ships when I was on assignment. When I wasn't, I was happily teaching young students about airplanes and helping them earn their private pilot licenses. Of course, higher command hated the idea that women were on their precious boat. But I had many people vouching for me and my Radar Intercept Officer (RIO). Her name was Crystal Harris, but everyone just called her "Doe" It was her call sign, every pilot and RIO had one. It was the easier version of our own names that was granted to us by other pilots and command. She had gained this name because she had doe eyes and she had a lovely personality. I looked over to my flight suit which hung on my closet door, to the left of my bed, and sighed happily.

I wasn't due in the hangar until 6 pm, and it was just around 4 pm currently. I needed to get out into the air and start my pre-flight check before Crystal got there. I rolled out of my comfy bed and walked over to the closet door, shrugging into my flight suit, I normally wore a white shirt and shorts underneath my pressure suit and the canvas suit. It was a lot to wear, and I knew that these clothes would be disgusting by the time I was done flying today. I threw my hair into a Navy-regulated neat bun, put on my boots lacing them up tightly, and put my canvas suit above them, blousing them caringly. I opened the door to a bustling corridor, everyone was ready for dinner as they were all heading to the mess hall on the ship. I slowly made my way to the flight deck. Bumping into a few friendly faces and smiling at them as I went. I figured I would get my briefing from the day shift pilots, as they landed. But as I arrived on the deck I was pointed towards the Air Traffic Control Tower by all personnel I could see. A truck pulled over to me and I jogged over towards it.

"What's happening?!" I asked the man who pulled up to me.

"I'm not sure, I was told when you arrived to bring you to control. Your aircraft has already been pre-flighted by another pilot." The guy said. I nodded, it must be bad if they needed me, generally, they wouldn't send me out unless completely necessary. The man drove me over to the other side of the runway, dropping me at the elevator for the tower. I thanked him as he drove off, I pushed the button to the elevator which opened immediately, and pushed the down arrow once I got inside, before the doors closed I saw Crystal smiling as she jumped in with me.

"You know what's going on?" She asked me as she took off her aviator sunglasses.

"No, mum's the word around here, must be a situation with day shift," I told her, as we rode down together, as the door opened we walked down the corridor and to the right. In here were radar operations and en route controllers. Which is exactly as it sounds, these were who handled communications when you were in the air. Tower controllers were those who dealt with aircraft when you were in the range of the ship ready to take off or land. I saw Commander Jardian also known as 'Stinger' was down here with one of the controllers. I listened to the radio before making myself known.

"He's got missile lock on me, do I have permission to fire?" I heard Cougar ask.

"Do not fire until fired upon," Stinger replied to the nervous Cougar. It must have been his first time being engaged.

"Sir, you requested our presence?" I stood holding my hand to my forehead in a salute to our commander, he nodded, letting me know that he had received my appreciation. I dropped my hand back to my side. His eyes moved up towards both Crystal and me, away from the radar screen he had been watching.

"Yes, Maeve, I did. I'm thinking I'm going to need you in the air in about 10 minutes. Normally, I'd put another crew on it, but your shifts are about to start anyway. It's not worth paying another crew overtime." He told me. I nodded,

"Yes sir, what's the situation?" I asked, I had preliminary knowledge of it already from listening to the radio but decided that this wasn't enough.

"I have Maverick, Goose, Cougar, and Merlin in the air right now, looks like they've run into a couple MiG-28's. If this goes to shit, I'm going to need you in the air immediately to bring him home."

"Cougar your tail is clear, MiG 1 has bugged out." I heard Maverick's voice on the radio.

"Cougar, this is Maverick. We've had enough fun for one day, don't you think? I'm getting a little low on fuel, so we're heading home. We'll see you on deck." Pete chided him again, something wasn't right. Cougar wasn't talking and I knew that could only mean one thing, this interaction had shaken him to his core.

"Cougar, we're running low on gas, we gotta get out of here... We're on vapor Cougar, let's do it... Cougar, come on Cougar. Let's take it back to the ship, man. Come on Cougar" I heard Merlin his RIO say. He was starting to lose his cool with Cougar too.

"Get him on deck as soon as possible. He's gotta be low on fuel. You two get outside and get flying, I need to get Maverick and Goose back on the ship, hopefully, they'll listen this time." Stinger told the controller and us.

"Yes sir, gladly sir," I told him, briskly walking with Crystal at my side down to the lockers to grab my flight bag and helmet. I walked out to my beautiful F-14 Tomcat. That had my name painted just underneath the canopy, Lt. Maeve "Reaper" Ford. The canopy was already open ready for us to jump in. I stepped up on the ladder and worked my way up to the cockpit sliding in and starting the before-start checklist as Crystal got in securing her helmet and doing her checklists as well. I went through my flow, shut the canopy, and started the engine, waiting for the clearance to take off. I watched the ground crew ready the catapults connecting the tow bar to our gear, and the gear to the shuttle. The crew then lifted the blast deflector and we were ready. I waited until we heard the clearance, just needed to wait until the crew was clear of our take-off zone.

"Reaper, you're cleared for take-off, wind 175 at 12." I heard ATC come through my headset. I latched the strap for my helmet and took a breath of oxygen before replying.

"Cleared for take-off, wind 175 at 12. Thank you." I replied as I pushed the throttles into the full position and waited for the catapults to send us on our way. Immediately, we were rushing through the air and I used my rudders to keep us on the center line. I watched my knots and waited until I saw Vx speed, which was for our best angle of climb to get off the ground and gain altitude quickly in a shorter horizontal distance.

"Reaper, fly heading 090, you should be seeing Maverick off your left wing any moment now. Approximately 150 miles to closure." ATC riddled off in my ear.

"090, 150 miles out, will advise when in sight," I told control.

"I have radar contact, you should be seeing them in a couple of seconds," Doe told me from the back seat. I nodded, watching out the window, pulling back the throttles to cruising speed.

"Ladies, fancy seeing you here." I heard Maverick in my ears, I looked to my left seeing him going in for landing.

"Traffic in sight, Mustang. Maverick, Goose how lucky we are to see you. Land that plane we'll rescue your buddy." I told him, mocking his attitude. Maverick was an egotistical bastard at times, but well I did enjoy his company when he wasn't trying to impress everyone that walked. I hoped dearly that it would fade with age, but who knows military men always had some sort of ego on them. Especially, Mavericks type.

"Cougar, we have got to land this thing, we are way low on gas. Do you understand me? You all right man?" I heard Merlin tell his pilot.

"Hang on boys we're closing in on you, we have you on our radar. We'll be there soon." Doe told Merlin and Cougar reassuring them that we were going to help them in.

"Maverick, you're at three-quarters of a mile, call the ball." I heard ATC tell him.

"Roger, Maverick has the ball." I heard my fellow pilot say.

"Cougar, it's time to land. Let's do it." Merlin yelled at his pilot. He was completely shaken, it was hard to get out of these types of emotions. That's why when it happens you have to be on your feet and shove the feeling away when you're piloting a damn rocket with wings.

"Merlin, Cougar, it's Reaper, we're right here, coming up on your left side. We're going to do this together, okay?"

"Reaper, we got a little problem up here. That MiG really screwed him up. I don't think he can make it back." I watched Merlin in the backseat glance towards Cougar who was staring at us.

"It's okay, Cougar, take a deep breath with me all right?" I breathed in and out slowly, watching him do the same. I hoped this would kick-start his brain.

"Just stay on my wing, and we'll take you all the way in, okay? It'll be easy, then you can go get some cake in the mess hall with the rest of the crew." I told him.

"What kind?" Merlin pipped up from behind Cougar. I rolled my eyes at him and he chuckled dryly. I turned us around at a 30-degree bank, heading back towards the ship.

"Beautiful, see this is a walk in the park, buddy," I told him encouragingly. Noticing his altitude fading, he needed to be higher when we saw the ship his glide path would be off.

"You're a bit low Cougar, can you pull up on the stick for me, very gently? Straighten out when I say." I watched as the plane reacted to his movements. He was almost perfect,

"All right, straighten out. That was lovely, now let's smoothly descend, look for a descent rate of about 400 feet per second." He did as I said a bit late but it was working, he was going to land this fucker.

"Cougar, you're on glide path, just keep that descent coming, three-quarters of a mile. Call the ball." ATC told him to follow my lead, trying to make sure they didn't upset him.

"Roger, ball." I heard him say through the mic. I decreased my own speed and watched him all the way to the flight deck. He was okay, it was a shaky landing, but hey, a good landing is one you can walk away from. I smiled,

"Great job Reaper and Doe." I heard the commander through my headset.

"Thank you, sir. We both replied to him.

"We'll see you in a bit, Mustang, we'll be departing to the South for recon and awaiting our counterpart," I told ATC happy we were able to help Cougar to the deck.

"Roger, Reaper, we'll send them your way." I heard them acknowledge through my headset.

I watched as the darkness started to surround the plane, the last bits of daylight fleeting. I flew calmly, not much happened at night which is why I was all right with being put on a completely opposite schedule, I sighed as I looked at the stars above us. I maneuvered us above the clouds at around 12,000 ft to get a clear look. It was the most soothing atmosphere to be in and I knew Doe felt the same. We had perfected our nightly routine, watching for bogeys and basking in the silence of the night. There were always new horizons to take, but I was completely at peace here, in the air listening to my own engine. I smiled as the time passed slowly, after about 30 minutes of relaxing and waiting for our partners to arrive at our position, I looked to Crystal.

"You ready to have some fun?" I asked her.

"Always." She replied. Immediately, I started to pull G-forces and maneuver the plane in nearly impossible ways. This was our heaven.