“That’s your business,” Rei said. “Even if your life ends, ours will continue. That’s all. If you want out of this, then I’d like you to say so. Tell us that we no longer need your permission.”
“You can’t end things that easily,” said Major Booker. “If you renounced your command of the SAF, your will would still remain after you left. In other words, we could still resist the JAM even without you as our commander. Even if you said that you wanted the SAF to self-destruct, it wouldn’t be that easy to do. That’s the difference between us and the other units in the FAF. And you were the one who made the SAF like that, General Cooley.”
“And there’s your answer,” she replied.
“What do you mean?” said Major Booker.
“Major, if you’re saying that the SAF reflects my will, then there’s no need to keep asking me what I want to do, is there? I want to beat the JAM, that’s all.”
Seeing Major Booker’s questioning look, she continued.
“But I understand your wanting to know my evaluation of the JAM’s moves. The information Yukikaze brought back, Captain Foss’s prediction, and the presence of JAM agents in the Systems Corps are all developments I never anticipated. If I misjudge this situation, it will endanger you as well, Major Booker. You’re worried about that. You don’t know what to do, isn’t that right, Captain Foss?”
“Please, I can’t answer something like that out of the blue, but... I think we’re all concerned about this, General. Even Yukikaze is showing signs of instability, so in a way, everyone involved is nervous about this.”
“I feel no nervousness at all,” said General Cooley, cutting her off. “Rather, I prefer the JAM to be ambiguous entities. The reason I joined the FAF was to declare my existence to creatures like that. I didn’t want to do it to other humans. If the JAM had turned out to have humanlike consciousness, to be easily comprehensible, I probably would have been disappointed. In any case, what I want to do is make something simple and clear to them: that the SAF is a threat to the JAM. As for how specifically to do that, I want to borrow your wisdom. That’s why I’m asking for your opinions. However, Major Booker...”
“Yes, General Cooley.”
“As I am not, as I said, troubled by this, I’m leaving this to you. Determine which strategy and tactics the SAF should adopt. I’m going to get some rest. Come up with some executables before Yukikaze’s repairs are complete. Then I’ll make my final decision.”
“Understood.”
The general stood and turned to Major Booker.
“Major, there’s one thing I want you to pay attention to.”
“What is it?”
“How the JAM respond to the SAF in this situation should not be overestimated.”
“What do you mean?”
“The JAM’s enemy is humanity, and we’re only one part of it,” Cooley said. “You mustn’t forget that. I’m saying that if you think they’re giving us special treatment, you’ll make the wrong judgment.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
With a stiff nod from Major Booker, General Cooley made a quick exit, followed by her secretary. Captain Foss was the first to open her mouth and break the silence.
“What was that all about? That attitude of hers.”
“You’re the specialist at predicting how the human mind works,” Rei said.
“That was me completely screwing up,” said Major Booker, rubbing his face with both hands. “I pissed her off.”
“It didn’t look like that to me,” said Lieutenant Katsuragi.
“She was furious,” the major said. “I might as well have told her that she was incompetent and should take herself out of the game. That we’d be able to fight the JAM if not for her. And for that, I got to feel the queen’s wrath upon me.”
“If you’re going to call that anger, then it’s a quiet and deep anger. You’d have to call it a rage against existence,” said Captain Foss. “But I never knew she felt such intense rage.”
“Somebody once said, when confronting God and the universe, ‘I am here!’ ” said Major Booker. “The response they got was ‘So what?’ General Cooley has always been in that situation. This is the first time I really understood.”
“So what?” said Rei. “It’s not our problem.”
“Captain Fukai, that’s not what you’d say now, is it? Or are you reflecting on those words? How that attitude you used to have would hurt the general —”
“I mean it’s literally not our problem. Our flattering or speaking badly about the general doesn’t concern her at all. The only thing that she’s afraid of is having the JAM tell her, ‘You don’t matter at all to us.’ Jack, there’s no reason for you to feel depressed. If anything, it should have motivated you.”
“All it did was remind me of what a complete wanker I can be at times,” Booker said. “Still, I suppose I should be glad that she told me exactly how she felt.”
“The general’s last point was vital,” Captain Pivot said. “If we make a mistake in judging how much interest the JAM have in the SAF, this could all end up with us simply being seen as a mutinous unit within the FAF.”
“We can’t move carelessly,” said Major Booker. “To General Cooley, we’re all just her pawns on the board. But I don’t see it that way. I don’t want to lose a single man or machine.”
“General Cooley doesn’t want to lose her people meaninglessly, either,” said Rei. “Jack, Yukikaze and I work the way you think we do, but we’re also individual beings. If you get hung up on one particular piece on the board, you’ll lose the whole game. If you’re going to play chess that badly, I don’t want to be in the game with you.”
“Hmm... Like that saying ‘A poor player cares more for his rook than his king,’ right? Before all else, you have to think about your own survival.”
“Taking this to its logical conclusion,” said Captain Pivot, “each individual should do what they need to do. Maybe that’s what the JAM are predicting we’ll do.”
“No, they’re not,” said Captain Foss. “I don’t think the JAM are expecting us to do that at all. I think that they expect the SAF to change. I predict that the JAM will try to alter our behavior through some method of attack and will observe our status here.”
“Not doing anything is another measure we could try, but I doubt it would work against the JAM,” said Major Booker. “They’ve likely worked out every possible contingency and are provoking us to act, which is probably why they sent in the duplicates of those dead men. The thing is, it may be too risky to come out and face them. Defense can be a lot harder than offense.”
“What we need to know is what’s happening with the FAF as a whole,” said Lieutenant Katsuragi. “What strategy are they currently following?”
Captain Pivot ordered the strategic computer to display an FAF tactical map on the main screen.
“The FAF has determined that Cookie and Richwar have been wiped out,” said Captain Pivot. “The next pair of bases targeted are Rakugan and Kanworm. Currently, our main fighter forces are being moved to the front-line bases nearest them, beginning with Faery base, as well as those from Siren, Troll, Sylvan, Brownie, and Valkia. They’re probably planning to launch simultaneous attacks on both enemy bases. There is no JAM resistance to this at the moment. No skirmishes. Nothing at all for the last few hours. It probably hasn’t been this quiet since the war began.”
“This is a very dangerous situation,” said Captain Foss. “I can feel my spine tingling.”
“General Laitume is requesting tactical recon on both bases from us,” said Captain Pivot. “Scratch that. It’s not a request. It’s an order. General Cooley’s been delaying him by saying we’re tied up analyzing the new data, but that’s not going to hold him off forever.”
“Let’s run for it,” Lieutenant Katsuragi suddenly said.
Everyone stared at the young lieutenant.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” he said. “I’m proposing a strategic movement. Would you prefer me to call it a withdrawal? If we don’t want to get uselessly wasted in battle, I think that’s the only option. We should let the JAM know the SAF is leaving the battle zone, and then retreat our planes to some prearranged airspace.”
“I can’t think of any way for us to escape,” said Major Booker. “You couldn’t call it a strategic withdrawal. That’s desertion in the face of the enemy. We’d never get away with it. It’d be taken as a tactical operation against the FAF. Besides, where would we run to?”
