and linked up to her front landing gear. The sortie sequence began automatically.
Rei instinctively grabbed the flight stick. It felt unnatural to him, likely because he was touching it with bare skin. In flight, he’d be wearing flight gloves. At the moment, he wasn’t wearing a flight suit, G-suit, or his escape chute. Without a helmet on, he couldn’t connect his oxygen hose. He had to tell Yukikaze that he wasn’t in any condition to fly. She must have already known that. But there was no way to stop the takeoff sequence at this point.
Yukikaze began moving toward the elevator. Rei could still climb down out of her, but he didn’t. There would be more opportunities to get off along the way — when they stopped to take on arms and ammunition and again when they reached the surface. If he got off, Yukikaze could sortie unmanned. He didn’t want to let her do that, but he couldn’t fly with her as he was now. She would have to wait until he was ready.
But would Yukikaze wait for him?
He had to be at that lunch meeting. Not showing up for it would be a serious act of insubordination. But Yukikaze had been cleared for sortie, so what exactly was going on here?
A voice suddenly sounded from the speakers in the headset he was wearing around his neck.
“Rei, what the hell are you doing?!” Major Booker demanded. “Are you taking Yukikaze to the picnic?”
“Rei, answer me. Captain Fukai, I know you’re aboard Yukikaze.”
Rei pulled the headset up to his ears. It was plugged into Yukikaze’s onboard communications port, making him look like he was probing Yukikaze with a stethoscope. The message he’d just received had been an external signal. The display showed that it was originating from the terminal in Major Booker’s office.
“This is B-1,” Rei responded. “Mission ID 20908107. Making preparations to sortie and execute special mission to observe Llanfabon. Sortie sequence engaged.”
“What are you babbling about?” Major Booker said. “I ordered you to attend a lunch meeting. I never said anything about observing Llanfabon.”
“This is the result of Yukikaze wanting to find out about the mission Llanfabon is flying out on. You gave her clearance to sortie, Major.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Then who did? The tactical computer authorized this on its own? I thought the machines couldn’t make operational actions without human consent.”
“Are you telling me you’re not just doing this on
“Jack, I don’t know what’s going on here either. What does it show on your end? Does it say that I requested sortie clearance?”
“Yeah. The tactical computer says Captain Fukai issued an urgent sortie request, and that they initiated an on-the-spot mission plan due to the high-level nature of the emergency.”
“Then who gave the final clearance?”
“SSC: the SAF strategic computer. The name on the orders is General Cooley, like it ought to be, but the general says she never issued them.”
“Which means that Yukikaze shouldn’t be able to take off. The thing is, she’s engaged in a sortie sequence right now. That’s reality. So who’s in charge of this mission?”
“You, Captain Fukai. Rei, this is all on you.”
Yukikaze had now been towed completely into the elevator. The fire door closed behind them and they began to ascend.
“Of course,” Rei whispered. “Now I get it.”
Yukikaze sending a request to sortie by herself wouldn’t have gotten clearance, which was why she’d been so insistent that he, her pilot, should request it. At the same time, she’d been telling the tactical computer that Captain Fukai was requesting permission to sortie. Now he understood what that Get permission to sortie... Captain FUKAI business had been about.
“What did you agree to do on your own? This is gross insubordination and completely unauthorized. Just how do you expect to take responsibility for this? Answer me, Captain Fukai!”
The reception was crystal clear, even inside of the elevator.
“Yukikaze can take responsibility. She made the sortie request in my name.”
“You’re telling me Yukikaze used your name to trick us?”
“Yukikaze knew that I’d agree with her flying out there.”
“You just told me you didn’t know what was going on!”
“I do now, and I need to sortie. Yukikaze doesn’t like not knowing what Llanfabon’s mission objective is. That’s all she wants to know. The tactical computer agrees with her, which is why it’s sending her out. My theory is that they’ve made it out that a human — me in this case — is making the demand so that they’re technically not ignoring us and doing this on their own. The tactical computer in HQ is probably doing this so that it can amend the mission related to this lunch meeting of yours and add in a mission outline at least. That’s probably what’s going on here.”
“Amend the mission? You’re saying the tactical computer would just arbitrarily amend the contents of a mission?”
“It’d have to add it as an amendment to the special mission related to the meeting,” Rei said. “There are times when pilots on a mission have to request changes to their mission details. It’s never happened before a sortie, but the tactical computer must have judged that Yukikaze was facing that sort of situation. It was able to initiate the sortie sequence by following that protocol. This all happened because you were treating this mission as special and didn’t behave the way you would normally. In other words, your secrecy is to blame for this, Jack. If you’d just told the computer about the meeting, Yukikaze would have accepted it. So what do we do, Major? Try to forcibly abort this takeoff? That won’t be easy, since Yukikaze’s set on doing this. Even if we explained things to her now, she’d still want to check it out herself. In other words, she
“Roger,” Major Booker replied.
“Roger? Are you saying I can get ready for takeoff?”
“In regards to Yukikaze’s sortie, headquarters recognizes that it accepted a request from you, Captain Fukai. I just need you to confirm that the request came from you. That way, there’ll be no problem. You’ll be at that lunch meeting, as scheduled, and that you are Captain Rei Fukai. Do you get what I’m saying? Now, reconfirm that for me, Captain Fukai.”
“This is Captain Fukai,” Rei replied. “I will be attending the meeting. I made the request for Yukikaze to sortie. Reconfirmation, over.”
“Very good.”
“I’m going to send Yukikaze out in automaneuver mode. Is that okay, Major?”
“There’s nothing else we can do. We can’t predict what she’ll do out there, but we can analyze this and figure out how to deal with you after the mission’s over. Stand by in there and then deplane once you’re on the surface. I’m sending Captain Edith Foss up to meet you. Follow her instructions. She’ll show you where you need to go.”
“Captain Foss? Do I really need a doctor to chaperone me to this meeting? Or is she invited to it too?”
“I have no comment about who’s invited, what it’s about, or any other details. Just follow the tactical computer’s plan for Yukikaze’s weapons and fuel loadout. I’ve checked it out and it’s basically the same as Llanfabon’s. Don’t interfere.”
“This is B-1, roger. Captain Fukai, over and out.”
“Okay. Over and out.”
B-1 was Yukikaze’s sortie code number. The B was for Boomerang, the SAF’s nickname, while the number one indicated that it was Unit 1 in the squadron. Captain Fukai referred to Rei himself, of course. It was the first time he’d ever used this particular classification response.
Exiting the elevator into the weapons loadout bay, Rei watched from the cockpit as she was armed and fueled. It was the same as the usual procedure to prepare a plane for sortie, except this was the first time he