Charles Parnell credited as playing...
Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. His exploits are legendary. What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death. I give you Captain Pete Mitchell, call sign Maverick.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: Your reputation precedes you.
- Maverick: Thank you, Sir.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: It wasn't a compliment.
- Maverick: I have to admit I wasn't expecting an invitation back.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: They're called *orders*, Maverick.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: You have put me in a difficult position, Captain. On the one hand, you have demonstrated that this mission can be flown, perhaps the only way it can be survived. On the other hand, you did it by stealing a multi-million dollar military aircraft and flying it in such a manner that it may never be airworthy again. Iceman is no longer here to protect you. I have everything I need to have you court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. So what do I do? Risk the lives of my pilots, and perhaps the success of this mission, or risk my career by appointing you team leader?
- Maverick: Sir...
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: I think the Admiral is asking a rhetorical question, Captain.
- Lt. Javy 'Coyote' Machado: Sir, we're receiving a signal from Rooster's e-set, but there seems to be a malfunction.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: Have you lost him?
- Lt. Javy 'Coyote' Machado: No, sir. He's supersonic.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: He's airborne!
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: In what?
- Comms-Crew Tech: Sir, Overwatch reports an F-14 Tomcat is airborne and on course for our position.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: Can't be, it can't be!
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: [In disbelief] Maverick.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: The hard deck is 5,000 feet above ground level, a perimeter set not just for the safety of our pilots, but for the safety of their aircraft. 5,000 feet is not just a rule, it is a law, as immutable as gravity.
- Maverick: The hard deck will be much lower for the mission, sir.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: And it will not change without my approval, especially not in the middle of an exercise! And that Cobra maneuver of yours? That could have got all three of you killed. I never want to see that shit again!
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: What exactly do you suppose you were teaching, captain?
- Maverick: As good as they are, sir, they still have something to learn.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: You are talking about the best fighter pilots on the planet, captain.
- Maverick: And they've been told that their entire career, while they've been dropping bombs from a high altitude with little to no dog fighting. The parameters of this mission call for something they have never encountered, something...
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: You have less than three weeks to teach them how to fight as a team and how to strike the target.
- Maverick: ...and how to come home. And how to come home, sir.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: Every mission has its risks. These pilots accept that.
- Maverick: I don't, sir.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: Every morning from this day forward you will brief us on your instructional plans in writing and nothing will change without my express approval.
- Maverick: Including the hard deck, sir?
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: *Especially* the hard deck, captain.
- Maverick: [Maverick places a folder on Cyclone's desk] Sir.
- Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson: What is this?
- Maverick: It's a request to lower the hard deck sir, to practice low level bombing per the mission parameters.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: You can learn a thing or two about timing, captain.
- Maverick: [On the bombing run] Dagger attack!
- [Tomahawks launch from USS Leyte Gulf]
- Naval Officer: Tomahawks airborne.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: No turning back now.
- Maverick: Daggers, assume attack formation.
- [Planes line up in single file]
- Maverick: [Approaching coastline] Daggers set. Proceeding to target. Two minutes and thirty seconds in 3... 2... 1. Mark.
- Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw: Two mark.
- Lt. Natasha 'Phoenix' Trace: Three mark.
- Payback: Four mark.
- Maverick: Going in.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: You two have something in common. Cyclone here was first in his class back in '88.
- Maverick: Actually, sir, I finished second. Just want to manage expectations.
- Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates: Your target is a clear and present threat. A secret uranium enrichment site under rogue state control. It's an underground bunker, tucked between these two mountains.