Two SAF planes had been shot down at the same time, and Llanfabon was left on her own and in danger. The command center fell silent, but only for a moment.
“This is Carmilla. Control, please respond.”
“Control, Major Booker here. What’s up?”
“Skymarks III and IV are designating tactical fighter groups approaching from Troll base as enemies. We’re confirming that the approaching planes are FAF, but Skymark’s still judging them to be enemies.”
“This is Lieutenant Tang aboard Chun-Yan. Control, the approaching aircraft aren’t just fighters from Troll. They’re coming in from the other main bases. They must be coming to attack Faery base, sir. It looks like they think that we’ve been taken over by the JAM.”
“This is Zouk. Dozens of alert fighters launched from Faery base to mop us up are moving to intercept them. We’re saved.”
The strategic computer cut in on the display.
This is a war between the computer systems of the FAF. It’s possible the bases surrounding Faery base think a coup has occurred. The FAF humans are getting caught in the middle.
“You could describe it as a panic from false rumors,” General Linneberg said. “A common tactic in an information war is to exploit normal fears and frustrations to produce a state of panic. Now it’s been done to our computers. This must have been exactly what Colonel Rombert was trying to achieve.”
This is SSC. Carmilla team, I am also recognizing the approaching planes as JAM. I believe this is the result of a JAM deception. Will correct error based on your data. Send data. If possible, visual confirmation by onboard crewmen is preferred.
“This is Carmilla, roger that.”
This is STC. I anticipate actual JAM forces will be closing from behind. Do not overlook this.
“Kill or be killed,” said General Cooley. “Carmilla team, keep watch on the other planes taking off from Faery base and divert them. We’re sending out Yukikaze now. Cover her takeoff. If anything tries to stop her, even an FAF plane, destroy it.”
“General, you’re sending him out?”
“Go, Captain Fukai,” she said. “Find the real JAM out there, then report back to me in real time. We have to keep the SAF from falling into a panic as well.”
“We need accurate information inside and out in order to stop this panic,” said General Linneberg. “The SAF are the only ones who can stop this.”
Rei nodded as he entered the flight plan from Major Booker into Yukikaze, then left the command center to suit up in his flight gear.
“Rei, look at this,” said Major Booker, stopping him in his tracks. “You’re going out, even now? If you jump into that, you won’t be coming back alive.”
The tactical display was stained bright red showing the enemy offensive under way.
“Why? Because you’re ordered to?” Booker said.
“You always ask me that, even when you already know the answer, Jack. See you. I’m borrowing your watch, though. Don’t worry. I’ll return it.”
He raised his arm lightly in a rough salute, just as he always did. And then Rei headed for Yukikaze. Her repairs complete, she’d been moved to the armament loading area for her final inspection. Wearing his flight suit, helmet in hand, Rei walked in to see the normally unmanned area crowded with maintenance personnel hanging all over Yukikaze, making their final checks on her. Some of them were carrying machine guns. Then Captain Foss approached.
“Edith. What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on your state of mind.”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to come along with me.”
“I honestly wanted to, but General Cooley won’t allow it. But I think being aboard Yukikaze is the safest place to be at the moment.”
“So do I.”
“Or, rather than safe, maybe I should say it’s the most comforting place to be. I’m sure that’s how you feel. But it would be wrong for me. I shouldn’t come between you and Yukikaze.”
“I still don’t like you,” Rei said to Captain Foss. “You’re an annoying tag-along who just makes my life difficult. But I have to admit that you’re good at what you do. There’s one thing I have to ask you, though.”
“What’s that?”
“My relationship with Yukikaze. You said that simultaneously viewing her as a separate person while also acknowledging her as a part of me wasn’t that rare in people, that people have that ability. You said that it wasn’t an illness.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“What does that mean, specifically?”
“You know perfectly well. Isn’t that what you said to Major Booker before? You ask even when you know the answer. Still, I can understand why you might be shy about saying it, so I’ll lay it out for you,” Captain Foss said. “It’s what happens when you love someone. It’s an ability that’s been born of the love between you and Yukikaze, between a human being and the artificial intelligence of an SAF fighter plane.”
“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?” Rei said.
“Yes. When I take a step back and think about it, the truth is that I want to laugh. But it’s the truth. Love can take this form. It’s the ability to feel as though another person is a part of you. It’s not the transient passion of infatuation, but the intense love that would drive you to willingly sacrifice yourself for their survival. We need to teach the JAM about that. The JAM don’t know love. If you wanted to express what the JAM don’t understand about the SAF in a literary way, that’s how I’d put it.”
“There’s no need to teach them.”
Rei put on his helmet and switched places with the maintenance man running the preflight checks in Yukikaze’s cockpit.
“Why not?” Captain Foss asked Rei as she clung to the side of the plane on the ladder. “Are you afraid that the JAM might love you back?”
“Maybe I am. Once the JAM understand that, the war will bog down into a quagmire. We’ll be reduced to a nasty mudslinging contest, and an even stronger hatred will be born of it.”
“Better to keep things as they are, is that it?”
“Yeah,” Rei said.
“Such a typical answer from you. But I predict that the JAM will evolve to understand it in order to match us. I’d even go so far as to say it would make them even more powerful.”
“And us too?”
“The two sides will continue to change. Assuming you live through this, I’m interested in seeing how you’ll continue to change. Be sure to make it back.”
“I was planning to, even without your asking me. Now, if you don’t mind, get out of the way. And have them pull all the safety pins out of the missiles. I’m taking off as soon as I’m topside.”
Captain Foss silently climbed down from the ladder. As Rei watched her, he thought that surviving the JAM wouldn’t necessarily mean he’d return home. But he didn’t say that. Instead, he felt for Major Booker’s watch on his left arm and took it off. And then, after telling Captain Foss to catch it, tossed it to her.
“Give that back to Major Booker for me, will you?” Rei said. “Good luck, Edith. You fixed me up well.”
Captain Foss nodded.
“Like you guys fixed me.”
And, as if answering him, Yukikaze scrolled a message onto the main display.
Everything is ready... Capt.
As they began towing Yukikaze toward the elevator, Rei was no longer aware of Captain Foss as an individual. She, the maintenance teams, the humans and the AIs of the SAF... the SAF had tuned both himself and Yukikaze to perfection, and as they sent him out, all he felt now was satisfaction.
He started the engines as soon as they’d exited the elevator. This was already a battlefield. On the runway, several FAF planes were burning. Three Super Sylphs, Carmilla, Chun-Yan, and Zouk, were speeding low, barely
