“What the hell is this?” he wondered aloud.
A huge amount of data was being transferred from somewhere.
“What is it? What’s going on?” the pilot said over the com, his voice tight with tension. “I don’t have control. Major, I thought this couldn’t function as an unmanned plane.”
“Could be the JAM. Kill the flight controls.”
“They won’t disengage.”
“Can we eject?”
“No way. We’re going way too fast.”
Far away, at a distant point in the forest that spread out below them, Major Booker saw black smoke rising.
“Can that be Yukikaze...? Get us over there, now.”
“It’s not responding to anything I do. We might have a fatal defect here. And what’s with all this data input?”
The FRX00 closed rapidly on the three JAM fighters, passed them at full power, and then banked steeply into a high-G turn. The maneuver sent Major Booker and the pilot into GLOC.
It continued its turn around the three JAM aircraft, plotted an orthogonal attack line to their course, and took that heading. It flew direct abeam toward the JAM at supersonic speed. An instant later it was veering up and away, the three enemy aircraft disintegrating behind it, ripped apart by highvelocity fire.
The FRX00 rolled out of its loop and dove toward the forest. It centered Yukikaze in its gun sight and fired a short burst. The rounds impacted precisely on the area of the fuselage housing Yukikaze’s central computer, silencing it forever. The fuel tanks ignited and an orange fireball blossomed on the forest canopy. Metal fragments torn off in the blast danced in the air, reflecting the twilight glow of Faery’s twin suns.
The FRX00 picked up the rescue beacon signaling the position of Yukikaze’s ejected pilot and relayed this information to TAB-15, the nearest frontline base. However, it did not respond to the inquiries of the search and rescue team regarding the condition of the survivor. As though it wasn’t interested in human life and death.
It took a return course for Faery Base, flying in auto mode. Opening a communications link with the Tactical Air Force SAF control room, it relayed the following: DE YUKIKAZE. ETA 2146. AR.
Yukikaze, having obtained a new body for herself, flew on at supersonic speed.
Major Booker and the pilot, still unconscious, didn’t see her transmission to Faery Base of her estimated time of arrival. Neither could they see the setting suns, the sky of Faery as its colors shifted to night, nor the forests below.
Yukikaze landed back at Faery Base and informed control that her mission was complete. Six TAISPs had been successfully dropped at the targeted sites. Mission success rate: 100 percent.
The Faery Air Force acknowledged Yukikaze’s mission completion. Or, at least, the computers did, if not the humans. And there was no doubt that the JAM recognized it as well.
Yukikaze taxied over to the SAF’s section and was towed onto the elevator platform. She descended, vanishing into her lair to prepare herself for the next battle.
And, however briefly, silence returned to the planet Faery.
YUKIKAZE FACT SHEET
Aircraft Serial Number
79113
Division Attachment Number
SAF-V-05003
Development Number
FRX47
Model Designation Number
FFR31-MR
Model Name
Super Sylph
Attachment
Faery Air Force
Tactical Air Force
Faery Base Tactical Combat Air Group
Special Air Force 5th Squadron
Personal Name
Yukikaze
The Super Sylph’s principal role is to carry out tactical electronic surveillance. To meet the requirements for supersonic cruising and high maneuverability, it is equipped with twin Phoenix Mk-X (FNX-5010-J) engines.
The main airfoils are fixed, backswept clipped delta wings. However, the wing cross-section can be adjusted by the flight control computer in order to compensate for varying flight conditions and thus achieve optimal configuration. A ventral fin is attached to the underside of the fuselage, with a shape different from that of a mainline combat Sylphid in order to facilitate high speed over maneuverability. Its twin vertical stabilizers contain speed brakes, the deployment of which is limited according to CAS (calibrated air speed), altitude, and aircraft attitude. Speed brake deployment in dogfight and auto-maneuver mode is handled by the flight control computer but can be used to effect a sudden attitude change when in manual mode.
The aircraft has two seats, with the pilot in the front and the electronic warfare officer/flight officer in the rear. Both seats recline to relieve the flight crew’s burden during high-G maneuvering. Directly in front of the pilot’s seat is the HUD (head-up display). Below that is the multi- function display, flight instrumentation, and the BIT (built-in test) system display. On the pilot’s right is the side stick flight controller. On the side stick are mounted the dogfight switch, gun trigger, missile release, side force/pitch controls, and G-limiter switch, all of which enable the pilot to control the plane without removing his hand from the stick. On the pilot’s left is the throttle, on which are mounted the target management switch, radar mode selector, and armament selector. The rear seat has no flight control instruments and is equipped instead with the ECM controls, ECM display, electronic data collection controls, IFF display, and communications/ navigation display.
The engine air intakes and exhaust ports utilize a two-dimensional design. Their cross-section shapes can be automatically manipulated by the air intake and nozzle controllers. Variation of the exhaust nozzle area is used to steer the plane and to improve maneuverability. High- maneuverability mode is selected by turning the dogfight switch to ON.
The Sylphid’s static stability margin is negative. The pilot’s instructions, as input via the side stick controller, are input into an integrated avionics system that includes the flight control computer, the aircraft’s central computer, and the direct control unit. Under normal flight, the flight control computer combines the input from the side stick with the flight data from a multitude of sensors to control the hydraulic actuators of the aircraft’s control surfaces. If the flight control computer is rendered inoperative, the central computer and direct control unit will compensate, controlling the direct control assemblies set on all control surfaces. The direct control unit can also operate independently of the flight computer and central computer so that flight stability may be maintained even in the unlikely event of a central computer failure. In this case, advanced flight control of the automatic landing, tactical guidance, and supersonic bombing protocols is impossible. However,
