dark greens, but rather pale blues — were faithfully conveyed to his eyes. The forest ended abruptly before the ocean of pure white sand. The contrast was beautiful. Sugar Rock glittered in the sun. Looking down on the forest side, Rei could see a sea of clouds mounting up in the distance, with storms likely blowing beneath them.
The area was mountainous, though the heights were less like mountains than like enormous geological waves that rose and fell three thousand meters. Seen from this high up, the ranges really did look like waves. Since the dominant plant species on the mountainsides varied between the heights and lowlands, you could roughly estimate the altitude from the color of the vegetation. It grew more and more purple the higher you got. Faery Base was beyond the horizon, past those waves. Beyond it was the Passageway, and beyond the Passageway, Earth.
“Is it time to go home yet, Lieutenant?” Rei asked his EWO.
“Still... sixty-three minutes to go.”
They flew on silently for thirty more minutes, not even talking during the in-air refueling. Just as Rei was wondering if the JAM would ever show up, a call came from the control plane.
“All units, attention. This is AC-4. We’ve picked up the JAM. Map point D31-49, flying on the deck. Multiple contacts, speed of zero-point-nine and closing. They look like cruise missiles, three large groups. All units, prepare to intercept. Commence intercept.”
The interceptors rolled in, automatically guided by AC-4 into their dive. Yukikaze followed after them.
“Targets confirmed,” Lieutenant Burgadish said over the intercom. “Range of one-five-zero. At current speed, they should pass just under us in two minutes. Picking up scrambles from TAB-15 and 16.”
“What vector did they come in from? What about the Flip Knights?”
“Still haven’t launched,” answered Burgadish. “Three groups targeted, each group approximately forty units. Total of 120, closing range.”
“B-3, this is MK-1,” called out Colonel Guneau’s voice. “We’ll draw them off.”
It was rare for the Systems Corps to be participating in actual combat. The colonel’s confident voice now gave Rei a different impression than it had during the flight test. Back then it had seemed to him merely unpleasant; now, it had the tone of childish boasting.
“MK-1, launch the Knights at once, then withdraw the carrier plane.”
The colonel asked why, probably suspicious of Rei’s reasons for requesting guidance authorization for the Knights.
“Lieutenant, one group of targets has begun to climb rapidly,” Burgadish warned. “Range nine-zero.”
“Colonel Guneau, this isn’t a flight test. The JAM are headed for the carrier plane too. You think they’re just going to turn off or pass by you?”
“I don’t take orders from you.”
The enemy was drawing closer, and Rei dismissed the colonel from his thoughts.
The JAM penetrated the Early Warning Line.
Yukikaze’s central computer automatically began gathering data. The positions of the JAM, the positions of the interceptors, tactical guidance data from the airborne control plane, the comm chatter between each plane, interception results: the computer voraciously sucked in all of it. If it noticed any data overlooked by the control plane that could be deemed a possible threat, Lieutenant Burgadish would inform the control plane or the interceptors, but they’d take no further support action beyond that. They would simply watch over the scene. The missiles Yukikaze carried were for her own defense, not for any sort of proactive attack. The interceptors could withdraw from the combat zone at full speed after releasing their missiles, but Yukikaze didn’t have that option. It hadn’t a single missile to spare to defend the other planes.
Burgadish’s analysis showed that the vanguard within the three clusters of JAM aircraft appeared to be anti- interceptor assault units.
“They’re all giving off the same radar emissions and are all the same size. Can’t ID them, though... The main force is to the rear, surrounded by escort units, possibly dummy planes. Their target points are our frontline bases, Faery Base, and if they break through, they might even try diving into Earth itself.”
“They’re unmanned?”
“Considering we don’t actually know what the JAM really look like, I can’t say for sure. But they may be autonomously functioning units, like the Flip Knight.”
No human had ever made direct contact with the JAM, and so nobody knew exactly what sort of life-form they were. A strange thought suddenly crossed Rei’s mind: Maybe they weren’t living creatures at all. Maybe they were something that defied all human comprehension.
“Lieutenant, two bandits, closing fast. Range three-zero, bearing 1-6-R.”
“Engaging.”
Medium-range air-to-air missiles set to attack mode. Auto intercept system, activated. The intercept computer automatically acquired the two approaching targets. After releasing two missiles simultaneously, Yukikaze rolled away from them.
Switching the throttle control to auto mode, the computer opened up the throttles to MAX. Analyzing the situation, it calculated the optimal withdrawal course, then automatically cancelled the intercept system as the threats were terminated.
“Main enemy force passing directly below us... Flip Knights, launching!”
Gun mode didn’t activate the auto intercept system, and Rei wondered whether he would have been able to beat the Knights if he’d used it. Maybe, but in a way, it would have only confirmed the colonel’s theory. There was no time to think about it now. He pursued the moving battle line of the JAM invasion. The Knight’s carrier plane retreated before them.
The JAM had lost close to a third of their number at the Early Warning Line, but the main formation penetrated C-zone unscathed. Command and control passed from AC-4 to AC-3. Faery Base’s intercept control computer was probably working at full capacity.
Yukikaze was flying at high altitude, looking down on the targets from thirty thousand meters, using its powerful pulse Doppler radar to monitor the JAM flying ahead and below at a line-of-sight distance of seventy klicks. Rei maintained this distance as they flew. The JAM were on a straight-line course for Faery Base. The invasion was on.
The multidisplay was lit up like a Christmas tree. The interceptors launched by the frontline division bases were fighting hard. The JAM reassumed their V-shaped battle formation, with the main force splitting into smaller formations on the left and right. They seemed to be headed for frontline bases TAB-15 and 16. Rei adjusted his own course to starboard. MK-1, the Flip Knight’s carrier plane, was on course for TAB-15, the JAM’s main objective.
“Enemy, increasing speed,” said Lieutenant Burgadish. “Speed of one-point-seven. Just under four minutes out from TAB-15.”
“B-3 to MK-1. Withdraw.”
On the display, the JAM were quickly closing in on MK-1. Five Flip Knights prepared to intercept them. The symbols on the display were so close together now that they were almost merged. But Rei decided that it was all right. The JAM were slipping past the carrier plane two klicks to its side —
“EMP, confirmed! Nuclear detonation!” Burgadish shouted. “Looks like the Knights destroyed a JAM missile in the middle of the formation.”
A warning tone sounded and a readout suddenly appeared on the stores control panel. RDY FK I II V.
“The carrier plane’s gone. I estimate that nuke was in the fifty kiloton range. Eight targets now closing on TAB-15.”
“MK-1. Colonel.” There was no reply. “MK-1, this is B-3. AC-3, respond.”
“This is AC-3. MK-1 has been destroyed. B-3, provide guidance for K-I, II, and V. K-III and IV have been shot down.”
“How much longer can the Knights stay in the air?”
“About three-zero more minutes. Indicating attack targets. B-3, don’t get too close to the JAM.”
“B-3, roger.”
Rei flipped the Knight guidance switch on the stores control panel, establishing a command link between
