Read Online YUKIKAZE by CHŌHEI KAMBAYASHI - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: CHŌHEI KAMBAYASHI
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and followed his CO out of the hangar.
“Jesus, Rei. Don’t I have enough to do around here without you dumping this crap on my plate, too?”
“What’re you talking about?”
“This thing with Colonel Guneau. And yes, I know it’s not your fault. I know that without even asking. A Boomerang pilot would never go looking for a fight like this. And you in particular. You meet flattery with a blank look, insults with indifference, tears with a cold heart, and threats with a cool head. You’d just say ‘Not my problem’ and leave it at that. But General Cooley isn’t a Boomerang pilot.”
“You mean Colonel Guneau talked Super Granny into it?”
“He said it would be ‘the perfect test of aerial combat technique.’ He came to see me, too. That bloke’s a smooth talker. Seemed more like a salesman than an engineer. Anyway, as much as I’d like to tell the higher-ups to back off, I’m being forced to do this. And you’re the pilot who’s going to handle it for me.”
“I don’t want to have anything to do with this flight test.”
“And I don’t want to completely cock up the sortie schedule I’ve already put together. This is classified, but…there’s a big attack operation coming down. Believe me, I have no desire to be playing these games right before that.”
As he walked shoulder to shoulder with the major, Rei realized that the rumors he’d heard were true: they were probably going to hit the JAM’s largest forward base. In fact, it had practically been an open secret, so if the JAM had any spies in here, they probably already knew about it.
“We’ll be launching all of our squadron’s planes for that operation,” the major said as he opened his office door and stepped inside. “I finally get a schedule drawn up for the overhaul rotation for all our planes, and they hit me with this operations flight test. Now it’s all gone to hell.”
“So just refuse,” said Rei as he closed the door.
“Why don’t you go to the general’s office and refuse for me?” Booker gathered up a sheaf of papers from his desktop and handed it to Rei. “You can hit her with these.”
It was an operations manual for the Flip Knight system.
“I don’t think that would persuade her.”
As far as Rei was concerned, fighting a mechanical knight was a whole lot more appealing than having General Cooley snarling at him.
Major Booker kept Rei standing as he leaned on his desk and told him about the Flip Knight system.
“Listen carefully, Rei.”
The Flip Knights were small, unmanned fighter planes designed for dogfighting. They were to be loaded onto a carrier plane and launched in midair after arriving at the battle zone. They would then fight under the command of the carrier’s control staff.
“People operate them from the carrier?” asked Rei. “So much for humans not being necessary.”
“No, the RPVs have the ability to fight completely on automatic. The problem is the armament.”
The major indicated a schematic of a metal cylinder that was about 300 mm long and 40 mm in diameter.
“This is an energy charge for a laser gun. One of these is capable of generating a beam of 0.7 second’s duration. The Knight is equipped with a high-powered laser cannon which is practically unaffected by weather conditions.”
According to the data in the manual, the barrel of the gun could move 1.95 degrees in any direction, the major explained as he gestured at the document. When a target entered a thirty-four-meter circle within a thousand-meter radius in front of the fighter, the gun barrel would be slaved to the targeting radar to keep it constantly centered.
The major said that he had read the research thoroughly. “I think the accuracy rate for this thing is nearly a hundred percent. That’s because it doesn’t fire physical ordnance that can be put off course. Once it locks on to you, unless you get out of its firing range you’re almost surely a goner. You can’t outrun a beam of light.
“Jesus, Rei. Don’t I have enough to do around here without you dumping this crap on my plate, too?”
“What’re you talking about?”
“This thing with Colonel Guneau. And yes, I know it’s not your fault. I know that without even asking. A Boomerang pilot would never go looking for a fight like this. And you in particular. You meet flattery with a blank look, insults with indifference, tears with a cold heart, and threats with a cool head. You’d just say ‘Not my problem’ and leave it at that. But General Cooley isn’t a Boomerang pilot.”
“You mean Colonel Guneau talked Super Granny into it?”
“He said it would be ‘the perfect test of aerial combat technique.’ He came to see me, too. That bloke’s a smooth talker. Seemed more like a salesman than an engineer. Anyway, as much as I’d like to tell the higher-ups to back off, I’m being forced to do this. And you’re the pilot who’s going to handle it for me.”
“I don’t want to have anything to do with this flight test.”
“And I don’t want to completely cock up the sortie schedule I’ve already put together. This is classified, but…there’s a big attack operation coming down. Believe me, I have no desire to be playing these games right before that.”
As he walked shoulder to shoulder with the major, Rei realized that the rumors he’d heard were true: they were probably going to hit the JAM’s largest forward base. In fact, it had practically been an open secret, so if the JAM had any spies in here, they probably already knew about it.
“We’ll be launching all of our squadron’s planes for that operation,” the major said as he opened his office door and stepped inside. “I finally get a schedule drawn up for the overhaul rotation for all our planes, and they hit me with this operations flight test. Now it’s all gone to hell.”
“So just refuse,” said Rei as he closed the door.
“Why don’t you go to the general’s office and refuse for me?” Booker gathered up a sheaf of papers from his desktop and handed it to Rei. “You can hit her with these.”
It was an operations manual for the Flip Knight system.
“I don’t think that would persuade her.”
As far as Rei was concerned, fighting a mechanical knight was a whole lot more appealing than having General Cooley snarling at him.
Major Booker kept Rei standing as he leaned on his desk and told him about the Flip Knight system.
“Listen carefully, Rei.”
The Flip Knights were small, unmanned fighter planes designed for dogfighting. They were to be loaded onto a carrier plane and launched in midair after arriving at the battle zone. They would then fight under the command of the carrier’s control staff.
“People operate them from the carrier?” asked Rei. “So much for humans not being necessary.”
“No, the RPVs have the ability to fight completely on automatic. The problem is the armament.”
The major indicated a schematic of a metal cylinder that was about 300 mm long and 40 mm in diameter.
“This is an energy charge for a laser gun. One of these is capable of generating a beam of 0.7 second’s duration. The Knight is equipped with a high-powered laser cannon which is practically unaffected by weather conditions.”
According to the data in the manual, the barrel of the gun could move 1.95 degrees in any direction, the major explained as he gestured at the document. When a target entered a thirty-four-meter circle within a thousand-meter radius in front of the fighter, the gun barrel would be slaved to the targeting radar to keep it constantly centered.
The major said that he had read the research thoroughly. “I think the accuracy rate for this thing is nearly a hundred percent. That’s because it doesn’t fire physical ordnance that can be put off course. Once it locks on to you, unless you get out of its firing range you’re almost surely a goner. You can’t outrun a beam of light.
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