CHAPTER SIX Am I Looking For You?

"The bogey has good position right here. Alright, freeze-frame. Moment of choice. The F-14 is defensive. He has a chance to bug out right here. Better to retire and save your aircraft than push a bad position. Charlie, jump in here anytime." Viper explained.

Kate was sat in the back, silently observing with the rest of the pilots.

"Now, you stay in that diamond another three seconds, the bogey's gonna blow you out of the sky. You take a hard right, select zone five, you can extend an escape." Viper took a pause before looking at Pete, "you made a bad choice. Charlie."

Kate didn't miss Pete looking at either the floor or his lap. Everyone observed the radar demonstrating the play. Viper was the one who noticed that Kate took a few seconds to look away from Maverick, and bring her attention to the front.

"Aircraft one performs a split S? That's the last thing you should do. The MiG's right on your tail. Freeze there, please." Charlotte requested.

"The MiG has you in his gunsight. What were you thinking at this point?"

"You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead." What Pete said, Kate had to agree with him. Thinking up there gets you killed.

"Well, that's a big gamble with a $30 million plane, lieutenant." Silence. Kate had a feeling he was pissed, and if he wasn't, he would be soon. "Unfortunately, the gamble worked. The MiG never got a clean shot." Charlotte said furthermore.

"Maverick makes an aggressive vertical move here, comes over the top, and he defeats the bandit with a missile shot. The encounter was a victory, but I think that we've shown it as an example of what not to do. Next." Charlotte stated.

She moved on, "now, then, this is a perfect example of a textbook maneuver." Charlotte looked at Pete, then at Kate.

—

Charlotte walked up to Kate when they were outside. "Kate... I thought that it was good move—"

"But it's too dangerous, right? Too risky? Realistic?" Charlotte's silence was all of the answers Kate needed to confirm her assumptions. "Look, he's right. If you think up there, you're dead." She had the first-hand experience of that, except she was what others saw as lucky, she lived. But her RIO, her backseater, her WSO died, because Kate took one extra second to think.

Kate walked away from her. She wanted alcohol, but the thought of it made her partially sick. She noticed Pete's motorcycle leaving the area, she got in her truck, and drove off, following him. She knew he could see her in the mirror.

Both of them stood on the side of the road, neither talking. They didn't need to, until a few seconds later. "You're not wrong." Kate told him.

"I know, but about what? And could you repeat that sentence, and let me get a tape recorder..." He joked. She shot him a death glare.

"You're right, if you think up there, you're dead. And yeah, the play was a little too dangerous, but it was realistic in a way... moves can't always be by the textbook." She said. "I shouldn't be encouraging this." She added, mainly saying it to herself.

"You're gonna be flying with us tomorrow, right?" Pete changed the subject, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, why?"

He shrugged, "I just want to fly with one of the absolute best pilots, and the best captain in the world." She just rolled her eyes, starting to walk away from him when Pete pulled her back. His eyes went back and forth from her eyes to her lips. As he kissed her, his hand moved to her jaw.

Reluctantly, Pete watched her walk away, back to her truck. He wished they could have just stayed there for a little while longer. "See you tomorrow, Cap." He hollered. Kate responded by saluting, to which he returned.

I rewrote this chapter multiple times.

:]

Okay, bye!