INVERTED TRUTHS ~ 6.1




"Now, you'll also be trained and evaluated by a few civilian specialists," Jester reveals as he stands in front of the class the next morning.

Everyone sits in desks that have been placed inside a hangar. Maverick and Goose sit in the front row of one section of seats while Chaos and Hades sit in the other front row which is in front of Iceman and Slider. Maverick clicks his pen out of boredom and Goose has his aviators on. Hades takes notes while Chaos doodles in her journal.

"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. Helping Charlie will be one of the instructors here at Top Gun, callsign Destroyer."

Charlotte and Jensen, who is in uniform, walks in behind the class where no one can see them 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."

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.

"Destroyer is on the same level as I am, so act accordingly. It's all yours."

"Hello," Charlotte says as Goose takes his sunglasses off in shock while Maverick looks down in shame.

"Holy cow," Hades whispers in shock as she recognizes Charlotte and Jensen. Hades nudges Chaos, who finally looks up to see Jensen.

"Shit," Chaos whispers as she grabs her aviators before sliding them on.

"We will be dealing with F-5s and A-4s as our MiG simulators," Charlotte continues as 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?" Hades asks in a whisper as she leans over to Chaos while Goose glances over at them expectantly.

"When the time is right," Chaos responds to Hades in an attempted whisper, which catches Jensen's attention.

"Excuse me, lieutenant," Jensen says to get Chaos' attention as he crosses his arms across his chest with a pointed look. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yes sir, the data on the MiG is inaccurate," Chaos answers with an emotionless face, which causes some of the other pilots to glance over at her.

"How's that, lieutenant?" Charlotte asks with a fake smile while Chaos takes her sunglasses off.

"Well, I just happened to see a MiG-28 do..." Chaos starts to explain.

"We, we," Goose and Hades quickly correct her while Hades taps Chaos' arm.

"Sorry," Chaos apologizes before she continues while motioning to her brother and their RIOs. "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 her.

"That's classified," Maverick replies with a slight smirk.

"It's what?" Charlotte asks to see if he is serious.

"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."

"Lieutenant, I have top-secret clearance," Charlotte reveals as she grows tired of Maverick's game. "The Pentagon sees to it that I know more than you."

"Well, ma'am, it doesn't seem so in this case, now, does it?" Maverick sarcastically asks with his smirk returning.

"So, lieutenant, where exactly were you?" Charlotte asks once again as she glances over at Chaos.

"Well, we..." Chaos says to correct her as she glances over at Hades.

"Thank you," Hades thanks her for the recognition.

"We started up on his 6 when he pulled through the clouds," Chaos explains as she 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?" Jensen asks as he thinks he has found the lie in Chaos' story.

"Because I was inverted," Chaos answers as she puts the backs of her hands near each other to signify the planes.

"Bullshit," Iceman coughs in an attempt to hide what he said.

"No, she was, man," Goose quickly defends Chaos as he looks back at Iceman while Maverick stares Charlotte down. "It was a really great move. She 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 Chaos is serious.

"Yes, ma'am," Chaos answers with a nod.

"At what range?" Jensen asks as he attempts to prove her wrong.

"About two meters," Chaos responds as she looks over at Hades to confirm before glancing over at Maverick and Goode to see if they knew.

"It was actually about one and a half, I think," Hades corrects with a nod. "Yeah. It was one and a half. Goose and I each got a great Polaroid of it."

"It was a nice picture," Chaos agrees as Iceman and Slider share a look of disbelief.

"Lieutenant," Charlotte says to get Chaos' attention. "What were you doing there?"

"Communicating," Hades quickly tells Chaos an answer that hopefully will not get them in trouble.

"Communicating," Chaos repeats 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. "I'm sorry. Excuse me."

"So you're the one," Jensen says as he stares Chaos down, having heard the story but would never have guessed it was her.

"Yes sir," Chaos responds with a nod of her head.

"All right, gentlemen and ladies, we have a hop to take," Jester announces which causes them all 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.


"Lieutenant," Jensen calls out as he follows Chaos and Hades into the building.

"Okay, well, don't be late again," Hades tells Chaos as she pretends to fix Chaos' flight suit and hair. "You look great, honey."

"Thanks, dear," Chaos says as she jokes with Hades. "See you in preflight."

"Lieutenant, why didn't you tell me that you were a famous MiG insulter?" Jensen asks as he stands in front of Chaos.

"I doubt it would have made a difference," Chaos responds with a shrug.

"I'm an instructor at this school and it would be against policy," Jensen explains as Chaos barely pays attention. "Look, Lieutenant. I'd just really like to hear about the MiG sometime."

"Charlie has security clearance," Chaos retorts with a taunting smile, which causes Jensen to frown. "I'm sure she can read it and tell you all about it."

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