Good Luck, Yukikaze

chatting about it on the comm lines. The JAM may have shown up by coincidence; perhaps they thought something interesting was happening out here. Llanfabon and Yukikaze both must have recorded the data on them. We’ll know for sure once it’s analyzed.”

“I think this may have been the first time the JAM have specifically targeted human beings.”

The major paused. “I feel like running back home,” he said.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you complain about anything,” Rei replied.

“There’s no place we can run to. All we can do is rise and accept the challenge, like you said, Rei.”

The skies had suddenly grown quiet. Yukikaze’s fuel had probably run out, Rei figured. This was confirmed a moment later when she silently swooped down, now visible to his naked eye. She executed a wide turn and then got on approach for a glide-in landing.

Yukikaze touched down safely onto the ground. As though that was a signal, the strength left Galle Murulle’s hand.

“Jack, did you hold this meeting because you figured the JAM might come and wanted to find out if somebody was leaking the information?”

Major Booker didn’t reply.

“Well, Major Booker?”

“And what if I did, Rei?”

“Because Murulle lost his life because of it. It should have been me. It should have been...”

“Tough luck. He had a bad break.”

“Is that all you’re going to say?”

“Rei, we aren’t the only ones here who risk our lives,” Major Booker said. “He was a soldier too. He was one of us. Do you think I don’t feel anything for him?”

Rei couldn’t think of an answer to that. He tightly held the dead chef’s hand as an SAF spotting dolly moved in to tow Yukikaze. As the dolly approached, Yukikaze flashed her landing lights three times.

“The mission accomplished sign,” Major Booker muttered to himself. “The one Llanfabon used to confirm that they understood what I was saying. Holy shit... Yukikaze’s conscious of us. Of you.”

Yeah, she probably was. But she didn’t mourn Murulle’s death. Not at all. And she wouldn’t. Yukikaze was different from him.

“I am...” Rei said. “I am... human.”

“And never forget that,” Major Booker replied quietly. “Don’t let Gallee Murulle’s death be in vain, Rei. Human lives can’t be replaced once they’re lost.”

V STRATEGIC RECONNAISSANCE — PHASE 1

1

THE REAR SEAT, where the flight officer would be in charge of electronic warfare duty, had been empty ever since the old Yukikaze was shot down.

Naturally, Major Booker planned to rectify the situation. Now that Rei was fully recovered and ready for combat, a new flight officer had to be chosen, and fast. But at the moment, he was so shorthanded that he could find nobody qualified for the position.

The job of the flight officer riding in the fighter’s rear seat was to conduct tactical reconnaissance and electronic warfare duty while in the combat airspace, and it was a job even more exhausting than the pilot’s. Once they were in the combat zone, he would be so busy confirming the plane’s position and safety while giving guidance instructions to the pilot, selecting and operating a variety of radar systems for tactical recon, and confirming in real time the transmission sources of the massive amounts of comm traffic being collected in the background that he had no time to even look out past the cockpit bubble. And all the while he was locked inside of this insular environment, he’d have to endure violent maneuvers as well.

The SAF currently had eleven electronic warfare specialists. As they had twelve fighter planes in use, not counting the unmanned Rafe, in the event that they conducted an operation requiring all their planes, the mission would be a man short. The SAF normally would never send all of their planes out at once, but now, even if such a deployment ever became necessary, it would be impossible because Yukikaze was missing essential personnel.

As a general rule, you try to pair up a pilot and a flight officer who’ll be able to work together as a good team, thought Major Booker. However, with Rei back in combat, the major was having to assign him a different flight officer for each individual mission, which was only increasing the burden on the electronic warfare operator. That was something he wanted to avoid.

He needed a new man assigned to the squadron immediately. If he worked well with Rei, then all of his problems would go away. And even if he didn’t, another man in the talent pool meant he wouldn’t have to increase the burden on his EWOs. If Booker couldn’t get a good team formed and had to keep assigning a flight officer for each mission, he could still have Captain Foss, the doctor charged with their psychological care, do something about the mental strain it was causing. In any case, he wanted a new man, and had gone to plead with General Cooley for one.

“It can be anyone,” he said as he stood in front of her desk. He’d come to her office to make a direct appeal. “Just please, get me somebody to use.”

“You know perfectly well it can’t be just anyone, Major,” she replied.

“Okay, yeah. Yeah, you’re right. If they can’t be used immediately, then there’s no point in even discussing it. Our unit doesn’t have time to carefully train anyone. One person, though. All I’m asking for is one person. Please, transfer someone in from somewhere, from some other unit. Anyone, as long as they’re not a JAM duplicate. You know, I wouldn’t even mind one of them at this point. We’d probably be able to learn about their strategy.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying anymore, do you? We don’t have an EWO we can throw into battle immediately, and it’s suddenly all you can think about. You wouldn’t mind having a JAM? What kind of nonsense is that? If you want the numbers to balance out, I could do it for you easily. Back when Captain Fukai was still a lieutenant, if he hadn’t made it back and had been killed by the JAM along with his flight officer, Lieutenant Burgadish, we wouldn’t have this problem now. If that had happened, you would have complained about losing two men and a plane, but you’d have said you would deal with it somehow.”

Major Booker couldn’t speak for a moment.

“General,” he said at last. “I can’t just let something like that pass. Are you saying you think it would have been better if Rei — if Captain Fukai hadn’t made it back, because if you are —”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. This whole matter is giving me a headache too. Personnel selection is my responsibility. I’m just saying that this isn’t simply a matter of throwing a warm body into the unit. Major, take a moment and calm down a little. This isn’t like you.”

General Cooley rose from her desk and motioned to Major Booker to take a seat on the sofa in her lounge suite.

“I don’t have much time, and there’s something I’d like to consult you about,” General Cooley said, her tone changing slightly, becoming a bit friendlier.

“Yes, General.”

Although she’d said she didn’t have much time, she rang her secretary on the intercom and ordered tea and cocoa for them.

“We both do this so often that I know what you like, don’t I? It’ll be here soon.”

The general usually drinks tea with lemon. The cocoa must be for me, Major Booker thought as he sat down, preparing himself for the worst. Whenever she does this, it means the general has a little problem for me to deal with.

“How are things with Captain Fukai?” she asked.

“Like I reported to you a few days ago, he’s recovered about 85 percent of his physical strength, so no problems there.”