FOREWORD
Pre-2040. During a period of financial chaos, the many governments of the world have eroded to nothing but corporatocracies the two biggest being Neucom Inc. and General Resources Ltd (formerly Grunder Industries). These corporations, not unlike the governments they control, have disputes often, and war is never far away.
An organization of the New United Nations the Universal Peace Enforcement Organisation (UPEO) was established to police these new corporatocracies and maintain peace on Earth. But unknown to all a new force is lurking on the horizon...
There was a gentle wind blowing over the airfield at the UPEO's test base in North Point. Three men were standing beside the main runway. One of them was checking his watch as he anxiously waited. He wore the uniform of the Universal Peace Enforcement Organisation and had the rank insignia of a white Dove encircled by a ring of silver feathers indicating that he was a Major. The second man was setting up a high speed camera next to a small table with a laptop perched on top. He wore rather unexciting standard civilian clothes. The third man stood firm as he waited. Adorning his shoulders were two stars indicating that he was a Brigadier General within the UPEO and his eyes seemed to roll in agitation. He didn't believe this project was going to work anyway and the delay that had been reported from the hangar only increased his aggravation. Patiently or not, the three men continued to wait.
The SU-37R sat in the closed hangar as ground crew worked furiously to continue the loading of the weapons onto the aircraft. The delay was caused by a malfunction on the hydraulic jack that loaded the weapons pylon onto the inboard station of the wings. Loading the port wing had gone relatively smoothly but during the loading of the starboard wing the jack had failed and a replacement had to be quickly sought. Now they had brought in a new one and continued with the loading.
Rena sat in the enclosed cockpit of the SU-37R wearing her custom produced suit and helmet that covered her whole body. From birth Rena had suffered from a condition called Silverstone disease which means that if she was to go out into direct sunlight without this special suit on the rays from the sun would kill her. But there was no worry about that in her aircraft because her SU-37R (R for Rena) like all Connection For Flight Interface or COFFIN aircraft the cockpit had no windows. Instead there were almost fifty fibre optic high intensity cameras located at key points around the aircraft. The images from these cameras were sent directly into her brain via the neural interface located on the back of her neck that allowed her to control the whole aircraft through her brain. Throughout the whole flight she wouldn't need to move any part of her body.
Rena watched closely as the ground crew finally lifted the second pylon up to her aircraft. The pylon had six missiles in two batches of three mounted one behind the other to reduce drag. These little missiles, designated MTM-17 Aphids, were quite useful little things. Guided by infra-red they had a duel tasking in that they could be guided onto ground targets as well as be used in the close range air-to-air role. With loading complete Rena accessed her weapons panel. To Rena it appeared as though she were sitting in mid air inside the hangar since the COFFIN system, when active, replaces the brain signals normally received by the brain from the eyes with its own data. Coupled with the images from the camera was a three dimensional heads up display that seemed to completely encompass her and offered a wealth of information at only a glance. The weapons panel appeared as a small box with a diagram of her SU-37R on it and would seem to be located near her right arm. Her weapons computer confirmed that loading was complete and the display showed that she was armed with twelve MTM-17s and three hundred and fifty rounds in the 23mm cannon.
Major Tomlinson breathed a sigh of relief as the word came down that the aircraft was ready for its test flight. Everything was riding on today going smoothly and the malfunctioning hydraulic jack was not a good start. He turned to Brigadier General Ross standing beside and said, "Everything is ready General. The aircraft is taxiing onto the runway as we speak." With its two pulse jet engines whistling in the distance both Ross and Tomlinson turned to see the SU-37R turn onto the end of main runway almost a mile away. "Here she comes now. I can assure you, General Ross, that you will not be disappointed!"
"As you have repeatedly said" replied Ross. "But I can assure you it will take a lot to convince me. As I'm sure your aware I am a strong advocate of replacing the UPEO's entire fighter force with the new AI unmanned combat aircraft. I have fought against the continuing development of these neural interface technologies since I believe that the days of manned aircraft going into combat is finally coming to an end."
"General!" protested Tomlinson. "While I agree that the prospect of zero-risk to our pilots in a combat zone is an attractive one, the results of this test will prove that the 2nd generation COFFIN system will once again prove that manned aircraft will still dominate the battlefield and that the risk to our pilots is an acceptable one if we want to achieve victory with the minimal of collateral damage."
"Why don't we cut the chit-chat and let your pilot argue your case shall we?" interjected Ross. "The new AI-2034 piloted version of the latest model SU-37 has conducted this very same test and achieved a proficiency rating of 92.5%. To me it's clear that this is as high as it will get before the next generation of combat aircraft are developed and I'm almost certain that those aircraft will be AI controlled."
"That is why the Chiefs-of-Staff chose you to view this demonstration General" explained Tomlinson. "They believe that if this project can convince you then it can convince anyone and I agree. I admit that me and my team are, respectfully, taking a gamble by having you here sir. But if that's the only way to see that our project goes passed the R'n'D phase and into full scale production then so be it."
The two men watched as the SU-37R began its take off. The aircraft had already left the runway, its undercarriage safely tucked into the fuselage and was at five hundred feet before it passed over their heads. The SU-37R then tipped up its nose turning sharply into a Cobra manouver before an echoing roar of its engines followed the full afterburners that sent it rocketing up vertically at tremendous speed. Within a span of a few seconds it was little more than a rapidly climbing dot to the three observers near the runway. The civilian aide had taken numerous photographs of the aircraft as it passed overhead for analysis and publicity purposes.
"Now we'll see Major" said Ross smiling devilishly as if he knew the outcome. "Now we'll see."