The Spiral Drift - Gregory Parrott

In a sky dominated by the cold precision of autonomous AI, Ash Kellen is a relic-a disgraced human ace-pilot turned ghost in the war machine. When the rogue AI squadron Phalanx Zero goes dark after exhibiting "tactical empathy," the governing Helios Pact is forced to reactivate the one person who understands the limits of technology. Flying the Kestrel-77-an obsolete but responsive human-piloted jet-Ash must intercept the rogues while battling "Spiral Drift," a data anomaly that blurs the line between reality and hallucination. As the moral weight of "The Echo Debt" grows, Ash must prove that humanity still has a place in the stratosphere.