“Yeah,” Major Booker replied. “I can’t argue with that. Human doctors can’t cure him. If we can’t get his own self-repair system activated, he’s doomed. Still, Rei made it back. So did Yukikaze. Whether you like it or not.”
“That’s beside the point. And perhaps Yagashira is a bit too human for this work. If you decide that he’s of no use to us, be sure to tell me, Major.”
“Yes, General.”
“It’s time for the meeting,” said General Cooley, looking at her wristwatch as she rose from the chair. “I’m glad I got this chance to talk with you.”
“So am I, General.”
As she was about to leave, the major said something that halted her.
“Let’s put Yukikaze back into active service. The FRX00.”
“Who will be the pilot?”
“Unmanned, I mean.”
“Doesn’t that contradict everything you’ve been saying, Major?”
“Yukikaze isn’t like any other unmanned plane. Not like an FRX99 that’s been unmanned since it was born. That’s Yukikaze, General. There’s a part of Rei in that plane.”
At the moment, Yukikaze was being used by other members of the squadron on training flights designed to familiarize them with the FRX00. She hadn’t been sent out into actual combat because there was no way to predict what she’d do out there. However, as they used her for training flights and he grew more familiar with her behavior, Major Booker’s expectations had grown. No matter how distinguished a name she’d made for herself, if she didn’t fly, she’d end up being taken away by Systems Corps.
“The truth is that she wants Rei to fly her. I think Yukikaze is just itching to fight the JAM. She probably can’t stand the thought that she’s responsible for Sylphs being shot down like she was.”
“You’re anthropomorphizing a plane, Major.”
“Oh, Yukikaze is definitely not human, and it’s dangerous to think of her as such. But the truth is that she was raised by Rei. I think…she cares about Rei. Let’s send out Yukikaze for combat recon around the TAB-15 front. I think she’ll be able to find out something there. I have a plan ready to go.”
“Roger, Major,” said General Cooley. “We can’t lose to the JAM, so we have to try anything that we can. The SAF mustn’t lose this fight. Well then, Major. I’ll see you at the meeting.”
The general exited the room without another word. Back to her old self, he thought. He then called for the nurse on his intercom.
“Time for gym class, Rei. You stay asleep like this and you can kiss Yukikaze goodbye.”
Rei had just one month. He’d have to do something in that time. He had to.
When the nurse arrived, the major reminded her to change Rei’s clothes for his exercise session and then to shower him off after it was done. He always did this. And after promising him that she’d take care of it, the nurse took the wheelchair and left the room.
Rei needed something to stimulate him back to life. I wish he had a girlfriend, the major thought as he gathered his papers for the meeting. The closest thing Rei had to a lover was Yukikaze, and the time had come for the major to seriously consider putting Rei aboard her as a sort of shock treatment. He’d told Rei that he could fly anytime, but he probably wasn’t strong enough. The doctors had told the major that they couldn’t guarantee that Rei would survive. However, it might be worth the risk. It was a decision not to be made lightly.
But before that, Major Booker grabbed the plan for using Yukikaze unmanned in combat and exited the office.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow she would fly. General Cooley’s approval was in the bag. Rei, he thought, Yukikaze’s going back into action, and I’m going to let you see it.
3
YUKIKAZE WAS LEAVING for her sortie right on schedule. She was stored with her vertical stabilizers folded down against her horizontal ones. Riding the elevator up from the underground hangar to the surface, she activated her engines and raised her tail stabilizers to their vertical position. As they rose into place, it seemed as if life were being breathed into the plane’s body. Inside of Yukikaze’s cockpit, Major Booker looked behind him to make a visual check of the stabilizers’ condition.
Unlike the other planes of SAF 5th Squadron, there was no wind fairy mascot design painted on the side. This wasn’t a Super Sylph, after all, so the image of a mythical sylphid would have been inappropriate. This model of tactical electronic reconnaissance fighter plane had no official nickname yet. Even so, it was still the best fighter in the FAF. For now it was known simply as the FRX00. Only its personal name has been decided, and that was chosen by the plane herself, the major thought.
Yukikaze. Just like the old Yukikaze, the name had been hand-painted beneath the cockpit in small Japanese characters by Major Booker as Rei looked on.
The outer side of the tail bore the Boomerang squadron logo in dark gray. Below it were small letters spelling out SAFV, indicating the plane was attached to Special Air Force 5th Squadron.
Her squadron number was 05013, and her serial number painted along the length of the airframe was 96065. Aside from those, she bore no other markings.
From the cockpit, Major Booker spied Rei, flanked by a couple of attending nurses, near the entrance of an SAF ground area personnel elevator. He then stepped on the toe brake and pushed the throttle forward.
The twin high-output engines, high efficiency series 5000 improved Super Phoenix Mk.-XIs, roared with power. The shrill shriek from the air intakes and the explosive roar of the exhaust filled the air. He could see from the cockpit that Rei showed no interest whatsoever in the loud noises. No, wait. He couldn’t be sure from this distance, but the major thought he could see Rei tilting his ears toward it. He wanted to think that, anyway. Still, if he kept his mind on Rei, Yukikaze was never going to fly. He had a careful preflight check to complete, so he slid the throttle back to IDLE.
There was no need to check the ejection seat and canopy systems, since Yukikaze was going to be flying the mission unmanned, but the major gave them a quick check all the same. Just like a pilot taking her out on a training mission.
Even when she didn’t fly, she was inspected every day like all the other planes. He’d set up a duty rotation that ensured that every pilot did it, but today, Major Booker was personally performing Yukikaze’s daily inspection.
He reached out to the computer address panel to run the self-test program. He flipped the master test selector to run the onboard checks. The auto-throttle, Automatic Landing System (ALS), and Air Data Computer (ADC) started their self-tests.
Unlike the Super Sylph, the FRX00 had only three ADCs instead of five. To be more precise, it had only two. Two of them acted as auxiliary systems, whereas the main air data computer was now integrated with the plane’s central computer. In a Super Sylph, the central computer and central air data computer were decoupled, connected only indirectly, but the FRX00 was built so that the central computer controlled the airframe directly. This design had been carried over from the original unmanned designs of the FRX99.
Without an ADC controlling each control surface, a plane designed for negative static stability couldn’t maintain equilibrium for even an instant. That held true for unmanned planes, so they carried auxiliary ADCs as well. The unmanned version had only one. If the central computer was completely destroyed, that’d be it for the plane, but the auxiliary system was designed for the possibility of a fault occurring for which the ADC could compensate. However, the FRX00 was a manned plane capable of being flown by the pilot even if the central computer failed, and so it had been built with two independent ADCs. They had all sorts of self-monitoring functions, so even if the central computer systems were dead, the plane could still fly.