In the Cockpit
You scramble up the small ladder and brace your feet on the small steps that fold flush with the fuselage once airborne, right behind your RIO. The familiar feel of the cockpit greets you; home sweet home. The plane captain follows you and your RIO up, and assists you in strapping in. You're always careful about this part; underneath you is the Martin-Baker GRU-7A ejection seat, which is designed to save your life in case something goes wrong.
You check the shoulder and lap harness twice, snap in the leg restraints (to make sure your legs are firmly up against the seat in case of an ejection, so that they aren't left in the cockpit when you make your noisy exit), and finally connect the hoses and wires that hook you into your airplane. You gesture to the plane captain; he yanks the pins out of your ejection seat to arm it. Those yellow handles above your head and between your legs are hot now; pull 'em and you're in for a wild ride.
You do a fast intercom check to make sure it's working, as the plane captain wishes you a good flight and disappears below. Your RIO's a pro; already he's into his alignment and avionics test procedures. Good alignment is vital; in essence it tells the F-14's onboard navigation systems exactly where on earth you are. It's a big ocean, and knowing where you are is useful.
You've got your own things to do. A flip of a switch and the canopy whirs down, locking forward, sealing out some of the noise of the flight deck. The relative peace doesn't last, however; with a brief notification to your RIO and a wave to the deck crew, you rev up the engines.
The Pratt & Whitney TF30 engines have taken their share of abuse from just about everyone, including you -- they're underpowered, unreliable, awful, etc. But despite everyone's complaints, the noise as those engines wind up is still pretty impressive, and so is their performance. In a few minutes, they'll be able to deliver over 40,000 pounds of thrust, no figure to sneeze at. While the more powerful F110s in the F-14Bs and Ds are positively amazing, the TF30s, for all their faults, will perform when required.
You run your eyes over your instrument panel, going down your checklist, while outside the blue-shirts "break your airplane down," unfastening the chocks and chains that tie your bird to the deck. In a few minutes, you're free. A yellow-shirted flight director appears under the nose of your plane and signals for you to release the brakes; its time to taxi.