[ Chapter One ]

Every Minute Is A Long Time

Slamming the doors shut, Kate made her way through the corridor. One more meeting. That was it. Just one more, then she'd be done, thankfully, the next one was short.

She rolled the sleeves of her jean jacket up, taking a deep breath before opening the doors with her free hand. The other hand was holding her coffee. In everyone's eyes, she was late. Jester sent her a tired look as everyone else just looked at her. "You're late." He mused.

"I'm not, everyone else is just early." Kate remarked.

Viper stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "Everyone, this is Capt. Kate Maxwell, call sign: Kerosene. She is here to assist with training." Viper introduced. She walked to the front, wishing it was the backdoors.

Part of her wanted to just get kicked out right away so she didn't have to do this. But she knew some admirals who'd prefer her to leave, so she was going to do this out of pure spite. Kate sat down on a stool, one knee brought up to her chest, she looked at Viper and Jester.

"Carry on..." Kate said, gesturing for one of them to continue.

Two people in the front seats looked at her, but one kept his eyes completely on her. Kate subtly tapped her fingers on her leg. Her mom used to say that Kate was made purely of energy, sarcasm and spite.

"Gentlemen, you are the top 1% of all naval aviators. The elite," Viper looked at the aviators, "the best of the best. We'll make you better."

"Fly at least two combat missions a day, attend classes in between, and evaluations of your performance. Now, on each combat sequence, you're going to meet a different challenge. Every encounter is gonna be much more difficult. We're gonna teach you to fly the F-14 right to the edge of the envelope, faster than you've ever flown before and more dangerous." Viper took a pause before continuing.

"Now, we don't make policy here, gentlemen. Elected officials, civilians do that. We are the instruments of that policy. And although we are not at war, we must always act as though we are at war." Viper continued on.

Kate didn't pay much attention. She had heard the introduction so many times that she should have it memorized by now. She had a sip of her coffee in the to-go cup. She just hoped it was almost over.

"And they have the option to come back here to be TOPGUN instructors. You think your name's gonna be on that plaque?" Viper asked.

One of the guys in the front row, the one who had his eyes on Kate, answered. "Yes, sir."

"That's pretty arrogant, considering the company you're in." Viper noted.

"Yes, sir."

"I like that in a pilot." Viper responded, walking around. "Just remember, when it's over out there, we're all one the same team."

It was almost over. Viper said a few more things before announcing that they were dismissed. But of course, he pulled Kate back.

"Dismissed," Kate got up, a sigh of relief escaping her lips, "Captain Maxwell, a moment..."

There were still a few of them that stayed, looking at the plaque. They could only see Viper and Kate's side profiles. It meant that they couldn't see the annoyance in Kate's eyes. "What is it, sir?" Her tone came out harsher than intended. It was crystal clear that she had barely gotten any sleep.

Viper just sighed. "I figured you should know about Charlie being an instructor." Was that all-

"And I need you to keep an eye on Maverick." Viper instructed. Kate rose a brow, waiting for him to tell her who the hell Maverick was.

"The arrogant pilot, I'm guessing." He nodded in reply.

Kate sighed. "Is that all, sir?" Once again, he nodded. With that, she walked past the other pilots and out of the room. She threw her coffee cup out and went to her truck.

She started up her truck, hearing the engine start. She swore, knowing it really needed to be fixed.

—

After starting to fix the truck, there were far too many swear words used to continue. In conclusion, she decided it would be best to just leave the rest for tomorrow, although she wanted to finish it. She took one of the old cloths and wiped her hands and changed out of her white t-shirt that now had oil and grease all over it. The white shirt was replaced with her black t-shirt and she changed into a different pair of jeans that were clean.

To get to the bar or club or whatever the hell it was, she had to walk since it wasn't too far. Sure, she still had her motorcycle under the tarp, but it hadn't been used for a while and it was old, it'd take forever to start and would stall 50 times.

As soon as she walked in there, she regretted it. There were too many people. But she did need alcohol and she had none at her place. One guy who she did not recognize at all from the introduction meeting today tried talking to her, but she ignored him. She didn't see him again after 5 minutes, thankfully.

Kate started with a glass of whiskey. With all the places she'd been overseas to and went to, American beer tasted like piss. She saw Charlotte, who seemed to subtly avoid her. Kate didn't blame her in all honesty.

One guy with blond hair flirted with her, yet again, she had no idea who he was. She knew that he had zero flirting skills and was most likely an asshole. She was about to clock him when two familiar faces came into view.

"Oh, come on..." The blond trying to flirt with her started. "You're clearly attracted to me, why don't we just date?"

Kate scoffed, "first of all, not attracted to you in any way, shape or form... and secondly, I'm attracted to alcohol, doesn't mean I feel the need to date alcohol." She responded.

"Alright, buddy, let's go." Goose told him, practically kicking him out of his seat. Both Maverick and Goose sat on either side of her.

"I had it under control. And I could've kicked his ass." Kate told them both.

"We know." Goose responded. Kate hadn't heard a word from Maverick.

She ordered another glass of whiskey. The three of them sat in pure silence, the only sounds were from others shouting and possibly yelling out lyrics to the music. Kate looked at her glass and Maverick looked at her. Every time she'd look at him, he'd look away. Eventually, she got tired of it, "what?" She questioned.

He shrugged his shoulders, "nothing." He looked at Goose, who got up and left the two alone.

Kate turned to her left to face him. She stared at him as if they were having a staring contest. "Are you waiting for me to tell you the truth?" He asked.

"No, I'm waiting for you to spontaneously combust into flames..." She took another sip of her whiskey before finishing her sentence. "Of course I'm waiting for you to actually answer."

All it took was her sarcasm and Maverick had to hide his small smirk. "I'm Mav-"

"Maverick. Lt. Pete Mitchell... Viper told me. I read your file, you flew inverted in an F-14." Pete's smirk only grew, until she continued. "You also pissed off many Admirals."

He nodded, confirming it. Kate looked at him again, "we both did." He looked at her.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Maverick asked.

"Yeah, sure." She answered.

Pete furrowed his brows. "I thought-"

"I'm getting a free drink, I'm not complaining."

He really didn't expect her to say yes, but he paid for her drink regardless. "So, why are you drinking whiskey and not beer?"

"'Cause it tastes like piss." She said as she took a sip of her new round of whiskey.

"Can I ask you a question?" Pete asked.

"You just did." Kate replied, sarcasm filled in her voice.

A small smile appeared on his face. "Why is your call sign Kerosene?" It was a mystery to so many people, including him.

"I might have a reputation of accidentally setting things on fire or the planes getting caught on fire, but I put it out quickly." Kate answered. As they continued to talk with each other, she started to wonder how and why she was comfortable talking with him.

They looked at each other. The eye contact broke when Goose- or Nick came back. She had read both of their files, Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw... Two others walked over, she recognized them as Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky and his RIO, Ron 'Slider' Kerner. "Lieutenants." She greeted.

Pete got her another whiskey, which she silently thanked him for. Ice looked at her, "you have a little," he gestured to her right eyebrow, "oil or grease..." He didn't have an ego fueled tone, he just pointed it out. Pete then passed her a napkin, Kate was confused as to why Maverick was doing all of this for her, but she didn't refuse once. She wiped it off her face, looking back at Ice, Slider and Goose.

"Is there a problem, boys?" She questioned.

Ice shook his head, "just wanted to meet the famous Captain."

When she went to the introduction meeting, she noticed the competitive looks between Ice and Maverick. She already knew that the future training sessions were gonna be fun as hell.

Kate took a shot of her whiskey, setting it down on the bar right after. "Well, great meeting all of you... Unfortunately, I have shit to get done at home, so, bye!" Everyone there sensed her sarcasm. She also was not lying. Kate was going to finish fixing her truck.

Kate. That's it, that's the author's note.

She must be protected.

Okay, bye!