Top Gun 3: Chapter 1

Chapter One

Dronefight

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell groaned as Amelia Benjamin hit yet another hole in one.

Amelia lifted the plastic golf club, so it was level with her mouth and blew as if it were on fire.

Maverick lined up on the put-put course and gave his red golf ball a little tap.

The ball rolled a few inches to the left of the hole and bounced off the wall.

Maverick walked to where his ball lay and tapped it again.

This time, it landed with a plop in the hole.

“Final hole,” Amelia said, as Maverick jotted down the score on the sheet of paper.

“Don’t remind me,” Maverick mumbled.

Amelia laughed.

The next hole featured a miniature fake horse with a cardboard cutout cowboy sitting on the top. There was a small cowboy hat sitting in the middle of the course. Along the wall of the course was a long fake cowboy lasso that curved at the end. There was a small hill in the middle of the course and in the middle of the hill was the hole.

“There’s no way you beat me in this one,” Maverick declared.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

Amelia hit the ball so that it bounced off the cowboy hat and rolled back to her feet.

Maverick aimed at the lasso and tapped the ball.

The ball rolled along the rope and at the end it moved as if the curve was a ramp. The ball rolled straight for the hole and clunked in.

Amelia’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide.

“And that’s how you play mini golf,” Maverick said.

“That was pure luck,” Amelia said. The corners of her mouth twitched.

Maverick laughed.

Amelia lined up and knocked her ball into the hole.

Maverick wrote the final score.

“Who won?” Amelia asked.

“You,” Maverick answered.

Amelia pumped her fist.

“Are you ready for me to drop you off at your house?” Maverick asked.

Amelia nodded.

The two walked to Maverick’s motorcycle. Amelia hopped on the back while Maverick sat on the front.

Soon they were flying down the highway. Maverick took an exit and turned into Penny Benjamin’s neighborhood.

Maverick parked in front of Penny’s house and killed the engine.

Amelia hopped off the bike and walked into the house.

Maverick followed her in.

Penny was making spaghetti and cooking veggies in a pot.

“That smells delicious,” Maverick said.

Penny turned around and smiled. “You don’t have to say that, Pete.”

“I’m dead serious,” Maverick said, fighting a smile. “That smells way better than my ramen dinners.”

Amelia burst out laughing and Penny smiled as she stirred the spaghetti noodles.

Maverick checked his watch and then bit his lower lip.

Penny noticed. “What?” she asked.

“I’m supposed to be at the base in an hour.”

“What for?” Amelia asked. “Or is that classified?”

Maverick chuckled. “I’m supposed to have a competition with a drone.”

“Dinner should be ready in fifteen minutes,” Penny said.

“Fifteen minutes until dinner, twenty to eat, and twenty five to get to the base,” Maverick counted.

“Can you make that?” Penny asked. “You forgot an extra ten minutes to get your sunglasses. You seem to lose your nerve when you don’t have them.”

Maverick pretended to be insulted. “The sunglasses don’t do anything. I don’t even need them, plus I can’t fly with them, anyway.”

“What’s in your pocket?” Amelia asked.

Maverick sighed and pulled a sunglasses case out of his pocket.

Penny laughed triumphantly.

Maverick slid the glasses back into his leather bomber jacket.

“How much homework do you have?” Penny asked Amelia.

“I have to write an essay on a hero from the first world war,” Amelia answered with a grimace.

“Oh, may I suggest Lieutenant Frank Luke Jr?” Maverick said.

“Pilot?” Amelia asked knowingly.

“Yes, he went on a streak and shot down fourteen enemy aircraft in eight days,” Maverick said.

“How many have you shot?” Amelia asked.

“Nowhere near that many,” Maverick laughed. “I’ve only shot down five enemy aircraft.”

“So he shot down almost triple how much you have,” Amelia said with wide eyes.

“He shot down eighteen in his whole career,” Maverick explained.

“But you just said that he shot down fourteen,” Amelia said, confused.

“He shot down fourteen in eight days,” Maverick corrected. “In his twenty day long career he got eighteen victories.”

Amelia let out a low whistle.

“You could also choose Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a racecar driver but then he became a pilot and won twenty six victories.”

“That’s crazy!” Amelia enthused. “I wonder if I could do half of my essay on Frank Luke and half on Eddie something-or-other.”

“Rickenbacker.”

“Yeah, him,” Amelia said.

“Who won mini golf?” Penny asked.

“I did,” Amelia answered.

“Maverick must not have been wearing his glasses,” Penny said.

“You’re right,” Amelia agreed. “If he had, I would’ve been toast.”

“Exactly. I went easy on you,” Maverick said, playing along.

“Sure you did,” Amelia said, rolling her eyes.

“I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure I noticed some sarcasm in your voice,” Maverick said.

“You should,” Amelia replied. “I laid it on pretty thick.”

Maverick and Penny laughed.

Penny pulled down three plates and put some spaghetti on them. She looked at Maverick. “Veggies?”

Maverick nodded.

When Penny finished dishing out the food, the three of them sat down at the table, said grace, and then they began to eat.

Maverick had just finished eating when he had to leave. He rode his motorcycle as fast as he could to the base.

When Maverick rode into the F-18 hangar, Hondo stood there with a couple of engineers.

“You ready?” Hondo asked.

Maverick nodded.

“I’m not sure whether he’ll win,” one engineer commented. “He doesn’t have his sunglasses.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Maverick cried.

Hondo and the engineers laughed.

“What?” Maverick demanded. “I can do stuff without my sunglasses.”

“Penny called us before you got here,” Hondo explained. “She told us to say that to you.”

Maverick laughed.

Chester Cain walked into the hangar. “Are you ready?”

“Your drone doesn’t stand a chance,” Maverick said coldly.

“We’ll see,” Cain answered.

Hondo handed Maverick the latter’s helmet and Maverick put it on.

Cain walked out of the hangar.

The canopy opened, and Maverick climbed up into it.

Another man walked in and started doing the standard preflight procedures.

Maverick scratched his neck as Hondo and the engineers walked out of the hangar.

When the plane was ready, Maverick taxied the jet onto the runway and spoke into the mask hanging from his helmet. “This is Maverick, to range control. I am prepared to take off when given the signal. Over.”

A crackling came in Maverick’s headset and then a voice. “Maverick, this is range control. The runways and skies are yours, over.”

Maverick pushed the throttle forward, and the plane started rolling down the runway. The aircraft started picking up speed and Maverick pulled back on the yoke, causing the plane to lift off the ground.

It only took a couple of seconds for Maverick to pass the clouds and turn away from the base.

When Maverick altimeter read twenty thousand feet, a second jet rocketed up toward him. The drone.

The drone flew the same direction from where Maverick had flown, thousands of feet below.

When the drone was right under him, Maverick dove and started aiming his guns at the drone. When the green box aligned with the jet, it turned red and it made a high-pitched tone sound.

The tone meant that Maverick had a lock on the drone. If Maverick could keep the plane locked in his targets for five seconds, he won. Same for the drone if it got tone on Maverick.

The drone started spiraling down to the ground as if it had been shot to smithereens. Black smoke flew out from the back of the jet.

“Um, I think there’s something wrong with this drone,” Maverick said. “I didn’t shoot at it, but it’s spiraling down as if it can’t fly anymore.”

No one answered.

Maverick flew after the plane. If he could destroy it before it hit the ground, he could stop some of the destruction that would be caused.

Suddenly, the drone pulled out of the dangerous situation and turned around straight toward Maverick.

Maverick was so stunned by the sudden save that he didn’t pull out of his own dive until he heard the tone that meant that the drone had a lock on him. Maverick pulled out and started spiraling higher into the sky.

The drone accelerated and started pelting after Maverick.

Maverick stopped his spin and pushed on the yoke so that he straightened out.

The drone lined up behind him, and it wasn’t long before Maverick heard the tone.

Perfect, Maverick thought. He pulled up a couple feet, killed the engine and yanked on the yoke so that the jet went vertical.

The drone zoomed under Maverick, not pulling up in time.

Maverick pushed the yoke down again and pushed the throttle forward. Now the drone was in front of Maverick.

Maverick aimed and the digital square went red.

The drone started turning, but Maverick was too quick for him and kept the box aligned.

“That’s time,” Maverick said. He pushed the yoke sideways, causing the jet to start rolling. He then pulled on the yoke to pull out of the fight.

“Okay, Maverick,” Hondo’s voice came through the helmet. “Come below the clouds, fly around for a moment. This round the drone will have the time to hide.”

“Where were you when the drone was going into that spiral?” Maverick asked.

“Cain told us not to answer,” Hondo said sourly.

“Why?” Maverick demanded.

“Because that was a new technique,” Cain’s voice answered.

“What?” Maverick asked sarcastically. “Maybe we can destroy our plane remotely. Wouldn’t that be great?”

“That’s exactly what we want the enemy to think,” Cain answered smugly. “Then they fly away and the drone flies back up and shoots them from below.”

“I still won,” Maverick pointed out.

“I doubt the enemy would chase after a destroyed plane,” Cain answered.

Maverick didn’t answer. Instead, he flew below the clouds and waited until Hondo said, “Okay. Go ahead.”

Maverick gained only a bit of altitude and looked up through the top of the canopy and through the thin clouds.

The drone was nowhere to be found.

Maverick pulled up on the yoke and the plane flew above the clouds.

Almost instantly, Maverick heard the ringing that meant that the drone had a lock on him. He pushed the nose forward and flew below the clouds again.

He hadn’t seen the drone in front of him, so he was pretty sure that it was behind him.

Maverick turned the plane around before he crept above the clouds again.

Again, he couldn’t see the drone.

It only took a couple of seconds for the tone to ring.

Maverick dove below the clouds again. He thought for a moment before he realized what was happening.

The drone knew that Maverick would think that the drone was behind him, so it knew that Maverick would turn around and fly the other direction. So the drone flew the other direction and turned around too so that it was still behind Maverick.

This time, Maverick didn’t turn around. Instead, he flew straight. If he was right, Then, when he popped above the clouds, the drone would be right ahead of him.

Maverick gained a few yards in altitude and saw the drone dead ahead. He popped up and started aiming at the drone. The square went red and the high-pitched tone started ringing.

The drone spun upside down and inverted so that it was diving toward the ground.

Instead of following, Maverick flew into the sun.

When the Drone popped above the clouds, Maverick flew up and above it. He flew, so that he was behind the drone and then dropped so that he was flying right behind it.

The square went red, but the drone pulled straight up and flew higher into the sky.

Maverick tried to chase the drone, but couldn’t get another lock on it.

All of the sudden, the plane started slowing down. Then it fell backwards as if it were out of control. It was heading straight for Maverick.

“I’m not falling for that again,” Maverick growled. He evaded the drone before stomping on the rudder pedal so that he went from going straight up to going straight down. He chased after the drone and quickly got a lock on it.

Suddenly, the drone pulled out of the plummet and flew up and behind Maverick. The tone came and no matter how hard Maverick tried, he couldn’t shake the drone.

“That’s it,” Cain said triumphantly.

Maverick flew toward the runway and landed. He taxied to the hangar and opened the canopy. He took off his helmet and climbed out of the plane.

Hondo walked into the hangar. “Since it took the drone longer to beat you than it took you to beat it, you won.”

Maverick nodded, relief flooding his mind.

“Go get some rest,” Hondo suggested.

Maverick nodded again and climbed onto his motorcycle.