Chapter 31 - [Lepanto-class]

As we approached Cowen Fleet, I took a quick inventory of the enemy forces. There were fifteen ships. Among those, 1 was a Magellan-class battleship, 6 were Salamis-class cruisers, 2 were Columbus-class supply ships, and 6 were Lepanto-class missile frigates. That was good. Only seven of the warships had more than one particle cannon, which was by far the most dangerous weapon fielded by the Federation Navy as far as mobile suits were concerned.

The frigates were probably more dangerous to the colonies than any of the other warships. Those ships' missiles would be much more effective against large heavily-armored targets than they would be against small mobile suits. A single Lepanto-class would be sufficient to wipe out enough of a colony's emplaced guns to let a warship approach a spaceport unharmed.

I opened a call to Ensign Hemme. Once his face appeared on my HUD, he said, "I'm sorry, Commander, but you're out of the Jormungand's range."

"Thank you, Ensign," I said quickly. "You've been an immense aid to the war effort." I cut the call.

Even before I communicated with Hemme, I figured that would be the case. I was presently more than a hundred thousand kilometers away from the Jormungand. Any weapon created by man would have serious difficulty over such an immense distance.

I set a mission timer that would reach zero when the remnants of Cowen Fleet would start burning. We had ten minutes, so it was -600 seconds until we had to magnetically clamp our mobile suits against the enemy warships.

"Sub-Lieutenant Char Aznable," I said, pausing for dramatic effect. "Should I attack the front of the fleet, or would you like the honors?"

"I have claimed more than enough glory for myself today," Char said, "but I won't turn down another accolade. They shall call me the Savior of Zeon before noon tomorrow."

I decided to take that as a yes. Char had a serious ego problem, so I knew he would accept before I was even finished talking. All I had to do was frame attacking from the front as a position of privilege, and he jumped at the opportunity.

At the same time, I noted with some trepidation, Char wasn't an idiot. It was only a matter of time before he figured out that I was manipulating him. I would have to hold back from manipulating him in such a way in the future.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Ramos, you attack from the side while I attack from the rear. Everyone, focus on taking out bridges or drive cones. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"As the Gray Demon commands it, so it shall be."

"Warrant Officer Yoshida, are you ready?" I asked.

"I won't disappoint you, Commander!"

Char's tone was starting to unsettle me. He spoke in a very similar way before he killed Garma Zabi in the original timeline. He had no reason to kill me, right? I wasn't a Zabi, and I wasn't holding him back with my orders. The only thing he could hold against me was the fact that I was probably going to get more credit for this mission than he was.

Oh God.

I made a mental note to keep one eye on the Red Comet at all times before saying, "Be ready to fire on my mark!"

I aimed my bazooka at the enemy fleet, putting the bridge of a Lepanto-class missile frigate in my sights. After taking a deep breath, my hands automatically led my aiming reticle to one of the ship's side-mounted missile launchers. The missiles would be easy to detonate, so I decided to target them.

"Three, two, one, fire!" I shouted into my commlink.

Two nuclear warheads and three 175m rounds began careening toward Cowen Fleet before the three remaining ace pilots of Vanguard Squadron scattered in three different directions. As I shot toward the rear of the enemy fleet's formation, I witnessed the effects of our initial salvo. The missile frigate I targeted detonated in a cascade of fire as the exploding missiles set off a chain reaction that eventually reached the fusion reactor. The other nuclear warhead struck a cruiser, destroying its bridge in one shot. Moments before the nuclear warheads exploded, three of the guns on the deck of the battleship exploded.

[READY TO FIRE]

As I pulled up behind Cowen Fleet, they began their evasive maneuvers. The ships pulled in several different directions at unpredictable and varied rates of acceleration. At my distance of ten kilometers, the tracking function of my computer was insufficient to predict the ships' movement, so I had to eyeball it.

My second shot hit the drive cone of a cruiser that was burning away from me at full speed. There was a secondary explosion as the engine was destroyed, and the cruiser began hurtling out of formation.

[READY TO FIRE]

My next shot went into the side of a Columbus-class supply ship. The ship's weak armor was no match for a nuclear warhead, and it exploded in a balloon of superheated steel.

[OUT OF AMMO]

Four warships were down.

A sharp crack informed me that a 60mm round had struck my chest armor. In response, I accelerated away from Cowen Fleet as fast as I could manage.

As I fled, however, three Saberfish followed me through the emptiness of space. My teeth clenched in fear as I realized that the small 25mm guns of the Saberfish would be more than enough to punch through Yoshida's armor.

"Demagnetizing now!" I shouted as I hit the button on my HUD to detach Yoshida's mobile worker and my last rocket magazine from my armor.

"But Commander, the…" Yoshida began to say, but I didn't hear the rest. The Saberfish were on me, and all of my mental processing power was spent on combating the enemy fighters.

I released my bazooka and grabbed the MG held at my waist while I accelerated toward the enemy Saberfish. The only chance Yoshida had to survive was if I kept their attention and finished the fight quickly.