“It’s not enough for it just to be able to fly. The Fand II is a fighter. It has to be able to evade an enemy attack and then launch its own. There are two schools of thought on fighter plane development. One is to have multi-seat fighters, on the theory that having the second crew member minimizes errors made during combat. That works for visual range dogfights, but it’s becoming less relevant. The FAF believes the other approach, the single-seat fighter, is the more successful one. What we saw Yukikaze do this time is a good example.”
“Let the combat computer handle it instead of a human?”
“It can process information much faster than a human brain can, and if it can draw on directly linked sensor data to feed its decision-making abilities, well then... To be honest, sometimes I’m amazed at the capabilities of Yukikaze’s central computer. Its potential is far beyond anything I imagined.”
“Even though you developed it?”
“I didn’t develop it — I just put on the finishing touches. A lot of hands went into designing her systems, and I don’t know what’s in each individual one. But Yukikaze’s grown so intelligent now that you can’t compare her to what she was when she was first developed. She’s been learning. And you’ve been the one teaching her, Rei. In the near future, she probably won’t need you anymore.”
“If that happens, what happens to me?”
“You go home and go back to being an ordinary citizen.”
“I have no home to go back to.”
“How long have you been on Faery again?”
“Four years.”
“Don’t you want to live?”
“I don’t want to die.”
“You only have about another two years as a pilot. Your body won’t hold out beyond that.”
“And so what then? You’ll just cut me loose?”
“Why not help me with my work? I can arrange for you to become a combat technique advisor.”
“I can still fly. Yukikaze needs me.”
“That love of yours is unrequited. She’s becoming independent. And someday soon she’s going to dump you.”
“Jack, you sound like a nervous old man. You running out of fight?”
“Maybe,” Booker sighed. “You have no idea what it’s like for me when I send you and the others out on missions. Day in and day out, air force pilots keep getting killed when we don’t even know what it is that the JAM are really after. If it turns out that they’re not at war with humanity at all, then all those soldiers will have died meaningless deaths. And I can’t accept that anymore. I want it to end, no matter what it takes.”
“You’re saying let the machines fight the JAM for us?”
“There’s a danger there too. We don’t know what the JAM’s aims are. However, we don’t know what the Earth-side defense forces are thinking either. At this point, I wonder what we’re even doing here.”
“We’re fighting a war.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. The battle here on Faery may be nothing but a decoy operation designed to keep our attention occupied while the JAM are already worming their way into every part of Earth. And then they’ll close the hyperspace corridor and leave us stranded here. I’m starting to believe wild ideas like that.”
“Maybe that’s true. But so what? What happens on Earth doesn’t matter.”
“You never change, do you? Still, you should prepare yourself.”
“For when the JAM finally kill me?”
“Rei, you’ve been ready for that for far too long now. No, what I meant was that you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that Yukikaze might one day become your enemy. An enemy of humanity.”
“Bullshit.”
“The possibility exists. Yukikaze isn’t your lover. She’s your daughter, and she’s grown up. She won’t obey you forever, and you have to be ready for that. One day, she won’t need her dumb, stubborn dad anymore.”
“Jack... Major Booker, are you telling me to stop flying Yukikaze?”
“I just don’t want to add any more names to the KIA list. That’s not the job I came here to do.”
Booker didn’t look at Rei as he began organizing the intelligence file.
“You may go, Lieutenant Fukai. Report to the central medical facility for a complete checkup.”
“I’m fine. I’ve already been patched up.”
“I’m ordering you to submit a medical certificate before you can fly again. Dismissed.”
Rei got up, saluted, and left without a word. He walked down into the maintenance bay and stood looking up at the enormous fighter for a while.
“You wouldn’t betray me... would you?”
He reached up and touched his beloved plane’s radome. The metal was cold.
PER THE FAF Medical Corps diagnosis, Lieutenant Rei Fukai would be completely recovered and fit to resume duty in two weeks. But in the meantime, he was grounded.
At the next TAF mission staff meeting, it was decided that the new Fand II assault fighter would undergo a combat flight test in order to get it deployed as soon as possible. Major Booker was placed in charge of this test, and in this capacity he made a proposal that was approved: Yukikaze would accompany the Fand II on its flight. She would go up in full automatic mode and would monitor the performance of the Fand II’s prototype optoelectronic systems in flight.
Of all the units in the 5th Squadron, Yukikaze had experienced the most combat with the JAM, had managed time and again to slip through their traps and make it back. In Booker’s estimation she was therefore the FAF’s best chance for detecting any JAM combat reconnaissance and protecting the Fand II, since the aliens were bound to be interested in the test flight. The major’s second, equally important aim in sending Yukikaze on the flight was to verify whether she could carry out her missions unmanned. If she could, it would open the possibility that one day he wouldn’t have to send his men up in the squadron’s planes anymore, that he would be relieved of the awful tension of waiting for them to return.
Over the next three days, Major Booker wrote Yukikaze’s flight program and refined the test plan.
The major was frank about his desire to wholly automate Yukikaze’s operation.
A bold smile played across Rei’s face as he spoke. “You’re wasting your time, Major. She can’t fly without me.”
“We’ll give it a shot,” Booker replied, although he too had his doubts that Yukikaze’s hardware and software configurations would allow her to be converted to a fully functional unmanned aircraft in such a limited amount of time.
In the end, the combat flight test plan called for the Fand II prototype to be flown by Captain Hugh O’Donnell, an ace pilot in one of the Tactical Air Force Flight Test Center’s squadrons. Yukikaze would fly wing, unmanned. An electronic warfare systems control plane would follow, with Rei onboard to provide support if needed.
Upon hearing this, he didn’t bother to hide his irritation. “So I’m going to just sit pretty in that control plane and pilot Yukikaze by remote control?”
“Yeah, and it was a royal pain to arrange,” Major Booker replied. “But General Cooley insisted on it. You keep banging on about how you want to get back in the air. So now you’ll be back in the air. And you can just sit back and relax. Take a nap, even.”
“Has the Fand II’s central computer system been finalized?”
“Tentatively. A lot of brand-new technology has gone into the build, so we don’t have a firm gauge of its reliability yet. Anyway, if something goes wrong, Yukikaze will automatically link with the Fand and control it.”
“Let me go up in Yukikaze. C’mon, Jack. You know this is gonna drive me nuts.”
“Can’t. Your body wouldn’t be able to take it. Don’t worry, the control plane will be flying in secure airspace. All you have to do is watch. Yukikaze will make it back just fine.”
Booker clapped him on the shoulder. Rei put a hand to his bandaged chest and smiled. A sad smile, the major thought. As though his heart had been broken. Not for the first time, a keen curiosity seized him.
>
“Rei, why do you feel so strongly about Yukikaze?”
“I... Aside from you, Yukikaze’s the only thing I trust. I don’t have anything else. Nothing.”
A drop, a raindrop, a mote. Zero. That’s the meaning of your name, Rei. Suddenly recalling those words, Major Booker reached out and gripped his best friend’s hand.
YUKIKAZE AND THE first combat-ready Fand II unit waited side by side in the SAF’s maintenance bay. The Super Sylph’s huge shape and sleek, menacing lines seemed to embody all the enormous power that lay dormant within her. The Fand II by her side was smaller and lighter, yet also magnificent.
Major Booker met with Flight Test Center personnel who were taking part in the Fand II test to brief them on the plans. Afterward, he had a one-on-one meeting with Captain Hugh O’Donnell, the Fand II’s test pilot. The captain was a relaxed, good-humored man, and Booker — who was used to dealing with the cool, inscrutable pilots of Boomerang Squadron — found this cheerfulness almost dazzling. He felt none of the cold tension he got from his subordinates, which paradoxically gave him the impression that O’Donnell might be slightly unreliable.
But the difference is to be expected, the major thought. Rei and the other Boomerang pilots were constantly fighting on the front line. The captain was a noncombatant test pilot, not a soldier. Danger was nothing new to him, but he didn’t fight in actual battles and wasn’t constantly confronted by a strange, irrational enemy like the JAM.
There was one other thing that differentiated Captain O’Donnell from the Boomerang pilots: he was one of the elite. The soldiers here were mainly those who’d been sent to Faery because they couldn’t fit into Earth society, but the captain wasn’t like that. Back where he’d come from, he had been a top-ranked test pilot in the air force. He had chosen to come here. He’d wanted to be a pilot for the FAF so that he could help defend Earth and his homeland. This bloke, the major thought as they continued to talk, is a straightforward person. He isn’t a man like Rei, his heart maimed by the wounds life’s given it. Not like Rei. Not like me, either.
Captain O’Donnell always brought an aide with him, which was unusual for someone of his rank. Lieutenant Eva Emery reported directly to the captain and was an engineer trained in the field of aviation optoelectronic systems. Her official role was to liaise with the engineering specialists involved with his flight tests, and she performed this duty well, but the captain used her for various odd jobs beyond that, making her essentially his personal assistant.
As Captain O’Donnell attended to the briefing and cheerfully cracked jokes, Lieutenant Emery sat behind him, taking notes. She’s probably the reason he’s in such a good mood, thought Major Booker. In public, she addressed him as “Captain O’Donnell” and did so curtly, as though to give the impression there was nothing more between them.
However, some hours after the briefing had ended, when Booker went down to the dark and now abandoned maintenance bay, he witnessed a scene that made it clear their relationship was more than just a professional one.
“Listen, Hugh,” Lieutenant Emery said, speaking in an intimate tone, “I’m worried about this.”
“Don’t be,” the captain replied. “The Fand II’s a good plane.”
“But they said the tests on the central computer still weren’t complete — ”
“It’ll be okay. If anything happens, I’ll have this Sylphid to act as backup. And it isn’t just any old Sylph. It’s a Super Sylph. It’s a fantastic plane, and Unit 3 here is the very best that Boomerang Squadron’s got. Its avionics hardware may be outdated compared to the Fand II’s, but it’s actually more powerful. In truth, I envy the guy who flies it. He’s ended up in the strongest fighter there is.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever understand why these fighters appeal to you so much. They’re just machines.”
“We need the best planes possible to counter the JAM.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“What, are you jealous, Eva?” O’Donnell teased.
“No, I’m worried about you,” Lieutenant Emery snapped. “I worry all the time.”
“No need. I only have eyes for you. If another woman ever touched me, she’d turn into a pillar of ice and shatter.”
“I’m being serious,” Emery said, stamping her foot. “Don’t make fun of me.”
“Honey, I’m always serious,” he replied, grinning, and pulled her into an embrace.
“You’re only serious about whatever’s new. That’s why you became a test pilot, isn’t it? Am I just one more thing you’re testing out?”
“Eva, you’re not like a plane. Believe it or not, I can tell the difference,” O’Donnell said with a hint of exasperation in his voice. “Why are you being like this?”
She stiffened for a moment, then suddenly collapsed against him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I want to go home,” she said in a small voice. “Back to Earth. With you.”
“You mean run away? The JAM are still after Earth. I have to — ”
“Stop it! Please, just stop...”
“Maybe you’re right,” he said, stroking her hair. “But just calm down a little, okay? My term of duty’s almost up here. If you want, I’ll resign from the FAF. But as long as I can still fly, I’m going to keep doing this job.”
“But being a test pilot is so dangerous. You can’t trust these machines like you do. Please. Please, Hugh.”
O’Donnell was silent for a bit, then said gently, “Okay, think about this: my term’s up in two months. In two months... let’s get married.” He cupped her face in his hands. “I love you, Eva.”
They shared a warm kiss, and then Lieutenant Emery let go of the captain and informed him in her professional tone that she’d processed the day’s schedule. He gave her a wink and turned to go.
He froze at the sight of a figure standing in the shadow of Yukikaze’s radome.
“Who’s there? State your identification.”
“Lieutenant Rei Fukai.”
O’Donnell looked at the name stenciled beneath Yukikaze’s canopy and nodded.
“Ah, I’ve heard about you. The ace pilot of Boomerang Squadron. That’s an excellent fighter you’ve got there in Yukikaze. What’s that name mean, by the way?”
“‘Snow wind.’”
“‘Snow wind’? Like a snowstorm?”
“No, a snowstorm’s different. A snow wind is a snow wind.”
Rei looked at the two lovers without any expression. As Captain O’Donnell made to approach Yukikaze, he stopped him with a sharp “Don’t touch her,” then climbed up the boarding ladder and opened the canopy using the external manual control. Settling into the cockpit, he turned the master test system on, set the built-in test system selector to interleave mode, and began running the diagnostic routine for Yukikaze’s electronic instrumentation.
“I’ve flown Sylphids before,” O’Donnell called up to him. “But the Sylphs you guys in the SAF fly are another beast entirely. I’ve never gone up in this one, but I’ve heard talk of what it can do. Go easy on me tomorrow, okay?”
Rei remained silent. The captain gave him an easygoing salute anyway, and put his arm around Lieutenant Emery’s shoulder as they exited the maintenance bay.
“First Lieutenant Fukai.”
“Jack. Don’t scare me like that. Where’ve you been hiding?”
“I forgot something down here... Rei, Yukikaze’s modifications have been perfect.”
“You’ve put new systems into her. She’s changing. She’s slipping out of my hands.”
“The system outline is just what I explained to you yesterday. We’ve got an early day tomorrow. Get to bed.” “Yeah.”
Rei nodded, but didn’t make any move to climb down from Yukikaze. Booker sighed. With the combat flight test plan documents bundled under his arm, he left Rei behind in the silent maintenance bay.
Rei was a Boomerang soldier. I should be used to that attitude by now, the major thought. But after seeing the hu
man feelings shared by Captain O’Donnell and Lieutenant Emery, Rei seemed unusually tragic to him. Yukikaze was indifferent to the expectations that her pilot or any other human held for her. She was the heroine of her own story. A spirit of the air who ruled the skies of Faery. The queen of the wind.
0620 HOURS. CLEAR skies. The Fand II’s combat flight test got underway. After the preflight briefing, first the control plane trundled out onto the runway, with Rei aboard it. Next came their escort, 5th Squadron’s Unit 6, Minx, on launch standby.
The Fand II’s engines started up. Captain O’Donnell felt the vibrations with his entire body and sensed nothing out of the ordinary. All caution lights were clear. Standing well away from the plane, Lieutenant Emery asked him through the headset how things looked.
“All systems normal. Okay, I’m raising the output to military. Detach the comm cord.”
“Be careful up there.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ve got a present for you when I get back.”
“A present?”
“Just make sure you’re not wearing anything on the ring finger on your left hand.”
“Oh my god... Hugh...!”
“This is Fand II, O’Donnell. Ready for takeoff.”
The control plane made a leisurely takeoff, trundling down the runway and hauling its bulk into the sky. Minx followed, lighting its afterburners in a combat climb.
The Fand II initiated its takeoff sequence. Rotation. Landing gear up. Trying not to stress the plane, O’Donnell guided it along a normal ascent and then banked into a 3G turn. Orbiting the airspace around the base, he waggled the plane’s unique forward-swept wings. He could see Lieutenant Emery below him, a tiny figure on the ground. Yukikaze was not out on the runway. O’Donnell brought the Fand around to the correct heading and opened the throttle, accelerating toward the flight test airspace.
After completing the preflight checks, Major Booker switched Yukikaze’s auto-maneuver system on, closed the canopy and moved away from the plane. Her twin Super Phoenix engines roared to life. The air shook. She accelerated down the runway at terrific speed and lifted off using only 80 percent of the usual length. Pointing her nose skyward, she quickly hit full vertical climbing speed, moving at over 9 Gs.
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