“His mental state still seems unstable. I’ve heard he has some anxiety about his plane, Yukikaze.”
“I put down in my report that his relationship with the plane would better be described as psychological growth for him. Captain Foss agrees with me. In my judgment, he should have no problem in combat.”
“You’re saying he’s developing a pleasant personality?” Cooley asked.
“Personality doesn’t change. He’s not an obedient soldier and never will be. Considering the duty the SAF has to carry out, that’s for the best.”
“In other words, we can still use him, right?”
“Exactly.”
“You still haven’t submitted a report on the conclusions of the investigation into Yukikaze’s unmanned sortie. How is that proceeding?”
“The investigation’s tentatively complete, but we’re going to need to keep a constant eye on how our combat intelligences behave,” Major Booker said. “I’m not sure if they’re going to be willing to accept it. We can’t use the computer network to distribute the report, since the CIs will be able to read it. Of course, I can’t say for certain they won’t overhear us talking about it like this either.”
“You’re studying what to do if that happens, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, although, on my part... At first glance, I think taking a hostile stance toward the CIs will just backfire on us. It’s the JAM, not humanity, that’s the enemy. We know that clearly enough. All we have to be on guard for is whether they’ve been contaminated by the JAM or are being manipulated by them. Of course, the final decision in this matter will be yours, General.”
“The SAF depends on its computers. If we can’t rely on them, we can’t fight the JAM. Are you saying, for now at least, that their reliability hasn’t been compromised?”
“Yes, in my judgment.”
“I trust you, Major, so I’m leaving this matter in your hands. I’m sure you’ll handle this without getting our own computers pissed off at us.”
“Thank you, General.”
“It seems strange to me to be asking you not to piss off some computers. Do you think so as well, Major?”
“You have a point there,” the major said. “You know, if we hadn’t been paying attention to the relationship between Rei and Yukikaze, we probably never would have thought to pay attention to the combat awareness of the computers as well. I doubt it ever would have occurred to me. Yukikaze has changed radically. Or, rather than changed, I think —”
“You think that she’s revealing her true nature?”
“I think she’s grown as a combat intelligence, and we humans are seeing that manifested in her behavior. It’s possible that we’ll see more incidents similar to the one that just occurred, and Captain Fukai is the only one who can control her. We have to make sure that he doesn’t fail at that task. If they can build a relationship of mutual trust, then through Yukikaze we can build a similar relationship with our computers. Whether we try to curry favor with the computers or not, we’re still at war with the JAM. But there’s no doubt in my mind that doing so will be much easier if we can establish mutual trust with each other. The only hitch is that we’re trying to build trust with things that aren’t human. These are autonomous ultra-high speed computers. You can express reliability with a number, but you can’t do the same for a concept like mutual trust.”
Even as he was speaking, Major Booker thought that Rei and Yukikaze wouldn’t have been able to fight the JAM unless they already had a perfect level of mutual trust beyond that which could be expressed through numbers. That trust was immediately reflected in the way she maneuvered in combat. There was no time to wonder what would happen if a maneuver didn’t work. Rei fussed and worried over his relationship with his beloved plane so much that it made other people laugh, but that was because his very existence depended on her. Nobody could laugh at that, any more than they could help. It was a question that operated on a different level than just being satisfied with the SAF maintenance staff putting enthusiasm into maintaining Yukikaze’s airframe and electronic hardware perfectly.
“You’re right,” replied General Cooley, nodding. “I’ll try not to forget that.”
The usual tea and cocoa arrived, the cocoa with lots of whipped cream and moderate sugar. The general’s secretary, a young man who looked quite dashing in his uniform, set the drinks down, saluted, and then left the office. After he did, General Cooley’s tone changed again.
“We are getting replacement personnel, but we can’t wait for a new flight officer to be assigned to us. I had a list drawn up of several candidates from other units that might be ready for duty with the SAF and tried to grab one of them for us.”
“Our forces are shorthanded everywhere. Nobody wants to lose a good pilot if they have one. Besides that, even someone with superior skills may not be suited for duty in the SAF. I put out the word that we’ll take anyone, no matter how disliked they are, but when I checked into the candidates, none of them had the skills we need. After this went on for a while, my list was whittled down to nothing.”
“So, I guess I’ll just have to wait a little longer then,” Major Booker said.
“We can’t just wait for new talent to arrive. I hate not knowing exactly when we’ll get someone as much as you do. Besides that, in two months the SAF is going to lose an excellent EWO, Captain N’mudo, when he retires. He’s already extended his military service out to nearly six years. I want to let him go, and he wants to go. Same thing for Captain Kozlov in seven months. We know which people we’ll be losing, but no replacements are scheduled to come. Sitting around waiting for them isn’t an option.”
“I’ll try to find some candidates from my end again,” the major replied.
“Right, and I hope you’re always on the lookout for those, but another unit contacted me with a man they hope we can use. In other words, he’s a giveaway. What I wanted to consult with you about was whether or not I should accept him. I’d like to hear your opinion on the matter.”
“Who is he? Does he want to join the SAF? Does he have any personality problems? I’d welcome a guy with a personality like Captain Fukai’s, but people like that don’t usually offer themselves to us.”
“He wasn’t the one asking us to use him. It was Colonel Rombert.”
“Colonel Rombert? From the Intelligence Forces?” asked Major Booker, the cup of cocoa up at his mouth.
“Right. Ansel Rombert. He says that if we’re shorthanded, to please use one of his men. The candidate has electronic warfare experience and doesn’t seem to have any problems as far as competency goes. But he comes with another problem.”
“Yeah... the Intelligence Forces probably want to find out what’s going on in the SAF and maybe get some intel from us as well. I think Colonel Rombert sees our situation presenting itself to him as a chance to get some quid pro quo. Did he say anything like this guy he’s offering wouldn’t be an SAF transfer but just an Intelligence Forces member on loan to us?”
“Yeah, that’s basically the impression I got from him. Rombert’s attitude toward us will probably change depending on what moves we make. For now, though, he seems to be friendly to us,” General Cooley said.
“The colonel seems to be planning to start openly collecting intel on what goes on in the SAF. This personnel recommendation may just be a bluff. In any case, I think this is a declaration from him that the Intelligence Forces aren’t just going to leave the SAF to its own devices. We should take it as a warning.”
“I don’t want Colonel Rombert and his forces interfering with what we do here. The last thing we need is them breathing down our necks. I want to avoid anything that endangers our autonomy. Normally, I’d reject the offer out of hand, but right now, we’re really hurting for personnel, so I’m thinking of accepting it,” said Cooley.
“Accept an intel forces guy with strings attached, huh? All combat intel will end up getting passed straight to Colonel Rombert. Are you saying you’re okay with that?”
“So says the man who was just saying he wanted anyone, even a JAM.”
“That was just a figure of speech, General.”
“I didn’t think so. You sounded pretty serious to me when you said a JAM human could get us info on the JAM.”
“A JAM human. What Colonel Rombert refers to as a Jammy. Well, maybe this would be better. If the colonel’s recommending this guy, it’s pretty much a guarantee that he won’t be a Jammy,” Booker said.
