The Chase Intensifies ~ 4.1
The next morning, Iceman is waiting in the parking lot for Karma to get there. Much to his surprise, she pulls up in a 1970 Dodge Charger instead of her bike. Iceman quickly walks over before opening the door for her.
"You do not give up do you?" Karma asks with a slight smile as she gets out of the car.
Iceman is slightly distracted as he checks out her toned legs that are exposed due to her wearing shorts.
"Not until I get what I want," Iceman responds with a smirk that causes Karma to shake her head while widening her smile.
"I'll see you in class, Iceman," Karma says as she walks away from him, so she can go get changed.
Iceman sighs as he watches her walk away once again. As Iceman walks inside, he decides that he needs to try a different approach if he is going to win the bet.
"Now, you'll also be trained and evaluated by a few civilian specialists," Jester reveals as he stands in front of the class, who are sitting in desks that are on tarmac in a hanger bay.
Maverick and Goose sit in the front row of one of the rows of desks while Maverick clicks his pen and Goose has his aviators on. Karma sits in the front row of the other row of desks with Iceman and Slider sitting behind her.
"The civilians are here because they are our very best source of information on enemy aircraft. One of the most qualified is our TAGREP, callsign Charlie."
Charlotte walks in behind the class where no one can see her besides Jester.
"She has a Ph.D. in astrophysics and she's also a civilian contractor. So, you do not salute her but you better listen to her because the Pentagon listens to her about your proficiency."
Karma smiles since there will be another female around. Charlotte makes her way down the middle of the desk rows to the front, causing the men to start whispering amongst each other. This catches Maverick's attention which causes him to see Charlotte, who he had flirted with the night before.
"It's all yours, Charlie."
"Hello," Charlotte says as Goose takes his sunglasses off in shock while Maverick looks down in shame. "We will be dealing with F-5s and A-4s as our MiG simulators." Maverick picks up his own aviators before sliding them on. "Now, then, as most of you know, the F-5 doesn't have the thrust-to-weight ratio that the MiG-28 has." Maverick leans his head on his hand in an attempt to hide his face. "And it doesn't bleed energy below 300 knots like the MiG-28. However, the MiG-28 does have a problem with its inverted flight tanks. It won't do a negative-G pushover. The latest intelligence..."
"Are you gonna tell her?" Goose asks as he leans over to Maverick, causing Karma to glance over at them from where she is leaned back with her feet propped up on her desk.
"Excuse me, lieutenant," Charlotte says to get Maverick's attention since he was responding to Goose. "Is there something wrong?"
"Yes ma'am, the data on the MiG is inaccurate," Maverick answers, which causes some of the other pilots to glance over at him.
"How's that, lieutenant?" Charlotte asks with a fake smile while Maverick takes his sunglasses off.
"Well, I just happened to see a MiG-28 do..." Maverick starts to explain.
"We, we," Goose quickly corrects him.
"Sorry, Goose," Maverick apologizes before he continues. "We happened to see a MiG-28 do a four-G negative dive."
"Where did you see this?" Charlotte asks as she has a hard time believing him.
"It's classified," Maverick repeats as Iceman and Slider try not to laugh. "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."
"You don't believe him?" Karma asks in a whisper as she looks back at Iceman with a raised eyebrow, causing him to fall silent.
"So, lieutenant, where exactly were you?" Charlotte asks once again.
"Well, we..." Maverick says to correct her as he glances over at Goose.
"Thank you," Goose thanks him for the recognition.
"We started up on his 6 when he pulled through the clouds," Maverick explains as he adds in some hand motions before looking up at Charlotte. "Then I moved in above him."
"Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?" Charlotte asks as she thinks she has found the hole in Maverick's story.
"Because he was inverted," Karma answers for Maverick since she had caught on to what Maverick was saying as he puts the backs of his hands near each other to signify the planes.
"Bullshit," Iceman coughs in an attempt to hide what he said.
"What? Like it's hard?" Karma questions as she looks back Iceman with a challenging look because she has gone inverted on a few occasions just not as close as what Maverick is describing.
"Yeah, he was, man," Goose quickly defends Maverick while agreeing with Karma as he looks back at Iceman as well while Maverick stares Charlotte down. "It was a really great move. He was inverted."
"You were in a four-G inverted dive with a MiG-28?" Charlotte asks with her eyebrows raised in doubt as she sees if Maverick is serious.
"Yes, ma'am," Maverick answers with a nod.
"At what range?" Charlotte asks as she attempts to prove him wrong.
"About two meters," Maverick responds as he looks over at Goose to confirm.
"It was actually about one and a half, I think," Goose corrects with a nod. "It was one and a half. I've got a great Polaroid of it."
"It was a nice picture," Maverick agrees as Iceman and Slider share a look of disbelief.
"Lieutenant," Charlotte says to get Maverick's attention. "What were you doing there?"
"Communicating," Maverick repeats what Goose told him to say with a nod. "Keeping up foreign relations. I was, you know, giving him the bird."
"You know the finger," Goose explains as he holds his hand up to show Charlotte while unintentionally flipping her off.
"Yes, I know the finger, Goose," Charlotte says as she narrows her eyes at him.
"I'm sorry, I hate it when it does that," Goose apologizes as he uses his other hand to push down the hand that is flipping her off which causes the class to chuckle or giggle in Karma's case. "I'm sorry. Excuse me."
Iceman is distracted by Karma's giggle and smile so much that he forgets the snarky comment he was going to say to Maverick.
"All right, gentlemen and lady, we have a hop to take," Jester announces which causes the men to stand up. "The hard deck on this hop will be 10,000 feet. There'll be no engagement below that. Move it!"
Maverick smirks as he continues to stare at Charlotte while putting his sunglasses back on which causes her to shake her head.
"So, have you really gone inverted before?" Iceman asks as he holds the door open for Karma before walking beside her.
"Not with a MiG," Karma answers as they walk up the stairs. "But, yeah, on a few occasions." Iceman looks at her in shock, causing her to lightly smile.
"Karma, you're up first," Jester announces as he walks past Karma, who nods before following after him.
Iceman waits for Maverick as he thinks about how he is kinda excited to be able to catch a glimpse of Karma flying, since it would reveal whether she really deserved to be at Top Gun.
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