Chapter 29 - [Three Mobile Suits]
My focus didn't lessen for even a second once I realized the battle was over. There were still fifteen Federation ships unaccounted for, and I had one pretty good guess where they were.
I frantically began entering commands into my HUD. I put the Federation fleet's initial course into the Zaku's orbital calculator and asked it to predict the current location of Cowen Fleet if they never slowed to attack the Great Degwin. After a few milliseconds of calculation, the computer spat out a set of coordinates indicating the bearing of the enemy fleet relative to my present position.
Turning my Zaku's eye toward the indicated coordinates, I zoomed in as far as my camera would go. As I predicted, the twinkling flare of a fleet's drive signature could be seen in that small quadrant of space.
That was more than sufficient evidence to confirm my fears. Cowen Fleet had split in half, leaving thirteen ships to attack the Great Degwin while the other fifteen attacked the Zeon homeland.
"The remaining fifteen Federation warships are still burning toward Side 3," I growled into comms.
"What are we going to do, Commander!?" Ramos shouted in response. "We used all of our propellant just to make it here in time."
I sighed loudly. Typically, I would use this opportunity to sit out the rest of the battle, but that really wasn't an option. If nobody completed the mission, everyone on Zeon's side of the war would die.
"We'll just have to source some propellant from the wreckage," I said. "The Great Degwin had a complement of ten Zakus, right? We'll just take the propellant from those tanks."
Looking over at the communications portion of my HUD, I saw that two of the names were no longer there.
Vanguard-1: Lt. Commander Sebastian Dogwood.
Vanguard-1 WSO: Warrant Officer Aiko Yoshida.
Vanguard-3: Ensign Diego Ramos.
Vanguard-4: Sub-Lt. Miguel Gaia.
Vanguard-5: Warrant Officer Sampson Ortega.
Vanguard-7: Sub-Lt. Char Aznable.
"Vultee! Mash! Status report!" I shouted into my commlink.
"Mash was hit in the fight," Lt. Gaia said in response, and I could hear disbelief in his voice. Slowly, as if he couldn't believe it himself, Gaia said, "Warrant Officer Mash is dead."
Very sad, sure, but where was Vultee? I began frantically beaming requests for a status report in all different directions, but I just couldn't make a connection anywhere.
"Diego, where is Vultee?" I asked loudly.
"I don't know," Ramos said. "We split up in the middle of the fight."
There was another flash of light as something exploded within the Great Degwin. It was only a matter of time before the fusion reactor went critical.
Char began to speak over comms, and I could hear the smirk in his voice. "It was a stroke of tactical genius on the Federation's part, don't you think? Our only option now is to leave some pilots here to evacuate the flagship while the others chase down the other fifteen ships. Well, Commander? What do we do next? Who will go? Who will stay?"
Those words were enough to shake me out of my moment of confused delirium. Even if Vultee was dead, that meant little compared to the millions of lives at stake. His life didn't matter to me, right? I shouldn't have allowed the thought of Vultee's death to make me hesitate for even a second at such a moment, yet those irrational feelings of sentimentality slowed me by nearly half a minute.
"Gaia, Ortega, stay here and help evacuate the flagship. Your priorities are Degwin Zabi, Garma Zabi, and Zenna Zabi. If you can find Ensign Heinrich Vultee, help him as well," I said before turning my attention toward the other half of Vanguard Squadron. "Ramos, Char, and I will chase after the remaining fifteen ships of Cowen Fleet."
"Roger," Lt. Miguel Gaia said quietly as the two remaining Black Tri-Stars began flying toward the flagship.
While Ramos and I began scanning the wreckage of the battle for any Zakus or Saberfish that would hold some extra propellant, a screaming voice broke into my comms.
"I'm here to save you all! Where are those Feddy sons of bitches!?" Dozle Zabi screamed as a gold-and-green Zaku careened onto the battlefield.
"The fight's already over, Admiral," Char said.
I watched as Dozle's Zaku sped past me and shot toward the flagship as I spotted a damaged Zaku that still had an intact propellant tank. As Dozle flew by, it was almost like I could hear Char's thoughts in that moment.
Hopefully, the big oaf dies in his haste to save Degwin and Garma. I'd be able to scratch three names off my list.
Char was definitely thinking something along those lines at that moment. The guy had a serious bone to pick with the Zabis. His father was Zeon Zum Deikun, the founder of Zeon, and he incorrectly believed that the Zabis had assassinated the man.
I blinked as a new name appeared on my HUD, and a sigh of relief escaped my lips as I heard his voice.
"Can you keep it down, Admiral? I was taking a nap," Vultee said with his teeth clenched in pain.
"Ensign Heinrich Vultee! I order you to aid in the evacuation!" Dozle shouted.
"Yeah," Vultee grunted. "I'll be there in a second."
"Vultee," I said quietly. I wanted to argue with Dozle, but I knew it would be pointless. Instead, I just said, "No matter what happens, I command you to stay alive."
"Yes, sir," Vultee said with a pained smile.
Warrant Officer Yoshida helped Char, Ramos, and me refill our propellant tanks. The moment we were all refilled and Yoshida's mobile worker was magnetized to my arm, I beamed our course to Char and Ramos.
"Launch!" I shouted.
As we burned forward at five Gs, leaving the battlefield and the burning corpse of the flagship behind, I turned my eyes toward the remaining names attached to the Vanguard Squadron's channel. I could feel a pit in my stomach form as it really hit me just how few pilots remained to attack the remaining fifteen ships of Cowen Fleet.
Vanguard-1: Lt. Commander Sebastian Dogwood.
Vanguard-1 WSO: Warrant Officer Aiko Yoshida.
Vanguard-3: Ensign Diego Ramos.
Vanguard-7: Sub-Lt. Char Aznable.
There were only three mobile suits under my command, and I had to use them to alter the course of history.