“Has Yukikaze ever warned you to knock off the chatter?”
“Well... yeah, actually. Now that I think about it, there have been situations where that’s happened. I wasn’t aware of her talking to me, but —”
“That’s because you always just thought of her as being an extension of yourself. You wouldn’t have considered it communication from someone else.”
“I’m reconsidering that.”
“I may need to do a psychobehavioral analysis on Yukikaze as well.”
“Having a disinterested third party doing that for her would be useful. Major Booker doesn’t seem that concerned about it, but it’s of vital importance to me,” Rei said. “She’s been my partner for a long time, after all.”
“Let’s give it a try. If we can get Yukikaze to complain to us, it might relieve some of the stress she’s under.”
“I never thought of her having psychological stress, but she probably does. The same as the maintenance teams, or Major Booker.”
“So while I’m profacting the JAM, I’ll also be working on stress reduction for a fighter plane named Yukikaze,” Captain Foss said, taking a deep breath. “You people must have really hooked me deep into your environment, because that doesn’t seem nearly as asinine to me as it should.”
“But it doesn’t feel bad either, does it?”
“No. I used to be scared of you and the SAF, but not anymore. That change in itself may be something to fear though.”
“That’s my fault. I took you into battle in Yukikaze. I figured if you were one of us, you wouldn’t be scared. However...” Rei stopped in front of the hangar bay entrance and turned to face Captain Foss. “I want you to stay a neutral party in all this. Stay on guard to see if I and the rest of the SAF are just crazy. I know this is a selfish and difficult request, but... it’s hard for me to explain, but somehow I think I can trust you more that way.”
“Basically, you want me to become a standard for objective reality.”
“Exactly. Like a spy operating on her own, observing enemy movements.”
“I’ve had training for stuff like that,” Foss said.
“You’ve had spy training? That’s amazing.”
“No, as a psychologist. It’s training designed to prevent me from assimilating a delusional patient’s fantasy world. It’s difficult because unlike other illnesses, like infectious diseases, you can’t take precautionary measures like getting vaccinated. Still, I’ll try my best. If I go crazy, then there’ll be nobody to help you with your rehabilitation. This business I’m in is all about cause and effect. If I fall in love with my partner, it’s all over.”
“That’s up to you to judge, but if you’re going to say that, then I’ll say this — I don’t like your personality,” Rei said as he touched his hand to the entry ID plate by the blast doors. “But I respect your battle skills.”
“Battle skills... Just the way I’d expect you to put that.”
NO “ACCESS DENIED” warning interrupted Captain Foss’s entry into the hangar bay. The two of them stepped side by side through the blast doors. As the doors shut behind them, a second set of doors leading to the hangar opened automatically.
“Looks like I’m still welcome to enter,” she said.
“Maybe you still are,” Rei replied. “Or maybe you were granted new access. Still, it shows that you are considered necessary around here.”
Grabbing two headsets in the prep room, he handed one to Captain Foss, and they climbed aboard Yukikaze.
Captain Foss looked like she was having a hard time climbing in, loaded down as she was with folders full of documents, so Rei gave her a hand. Once she was settled into the rear seat, Rei opened his own folders and asked what they should do first.
“I’d like to access Dr. Lecter, my personal computer in my office. How do I do that from here?”
She said it like she thought it was the most natural thing in the world. Of course, she could do it, but it wouldn’t be that easy. Rei first indicated for her to plug in her headset, then switched the onboard comm system on.
“You’ve had training on how to use the electronic warfare systems in front of you, in case you have to go into combat. Do you remember it?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Rei flipped the master arm switch to ON. The electronic warfare system in back activated, indicating to Captain Foss that she could use it.
As he did, Rei saw MISSION UNKNOWN flash onto the main display. It was a kind of warning from Yukikaze, asking what he was planning to do. He’d already experienced what would happen if he ignored her hint.
Rei contacted the tactical computer in SAF HQ and from it called up a catalog of past missions and orders on the display. He looked for any orders from Major Booker regarding the task he’d handed to them today. He found them next to the current date: personality analysis of Lieutenant Katsuragi and prediction of future JAM behavior. Each had been assigned a mission ID number, with Captain Foss and Captain Fukai listed as leading them. Since these had been entered, explaining the details to Yukikaze would be easy.
Rei opened a voice line to Major Booker’s office. The response came quickly.
“Captain Fukai, I just got another alert from STC. What are you doing, prepping Yukikaze for combat?”
Rei read aloud the mission numbers displayed on the screen and asked that Yukikaze be added to the column indicating the personnel with command responsibility. When he explained that Captain Foss thought that Yukikaze would be interested in these missions as well, the major agreed.
“I’ll authorize it,” he said. “It’s in your hands now.”
Just as Major Booker had said, the tactical computer informed Yukikaze that she’d been added to the mission. She quickly confirmed the change; the MISSION UNKNOWN display vanished from the screen. Preparations, complete.
Rei called out to Captain Foss.
“Use the emergency tactical link. Activate the SAF super linker. You can do it, Edith. It’s on the menu in front of you. Just select it and hit execute.”
“Executing,” she replied. “Confirming SSL startup. I did it!”
“Right now, you’ve got a direct voice line to the SAF tactical computer. Just tell it your request. Call it ‘STC’ when you’re talking to it.”
“STC, call up my computer and have it link with Yukikaze.”
Denied, came the brusque reply from STC.
“Okay, first, it doesn’t know what ‘my computer’ is,” Rei said. “Second, you don’t make a request from your computer to Yukikaze. You have to say Yukikaze is making the request. First, you have to make a declaration like ‘This is Yukikaze, emergency,’ or even ‘B-1, emergency.’ If you make that declaration, you don’t have to tell it who you are. A request like that coming from aboard Yukikaze during a mission can be confirmed by both STC and headquarters, and they’ll give you top priority in executing it. In order for STC to know which personal computer you’re calling and want to access, you have to give it either its registry number or its personal name. That’s all.”
“STC, this is Yukikaze. Emergency. Requesting access to personal computer Dr. Lecter in the office of SAF flight surgeon Captain Foss.”
This is STC. Roger. Initiating emergency enforced linkup. Link, established.
“Tell it ‘roger.’ Say ‘This is Yukikaze’ first, though.”
“This is Yukikaze. Roger.—Okay, Captain Fukai, I know we’re connected, but how do I use Dr. Lecter from here?”
“You can bring up a soft keyboard on the EW display in front of you.”
It was meant for making it easy to program the programmable systems on board as well as to enter established orders, but wasn’t functional during flight.
