Chapter 32 - [Surrender Now]

They approached me from three different directions, attacking like a pack of wolves. On that first approach, I killed one of the Saberfish, and the other two were able to finish their attack run. I tried to dodge, but two of the missiles hit me. My Zaku shook from the impact, but I was fine otherwise.

One of them tried to send me a call, but I was, frankly, not in the mood. Dealing with Zeon was annoying enough. I didn't want to add the annoyance of a screaming Federation pilot.

I sprayed 120mm bullets toward the Saberfish as they spun through space in wild and unpredictable orbits. I didn't want to give either of them enough time to turn and attack Yoshida's mobile worker.

They made another attack run, and their 25mm rounds scattered against my armor harmlessly. This time, I was able to dodge the unguided missiles. As they accelerated away from me, I killed a second Saberfish, and some of its scattering debris damaged the last remaining fighter.

I turned my attention toward the last Saberfish, preparing to dodge another kamikaze attack. That was basically the only thing they could do to meaningfully damage me. To my surprise, however, the damaged Saberfish turned and began to slowly accelerate back to Cowen Fleet. The damage had slowed it significantly, and my targeting computer activated, showing me exactly where to shoot.

On muscle memory alone, I put the sights of my MG on the Saberfish. I was a second away from pulling the trigger when an unexpected wave of sympathy washed over me. The pilot just wanted to live.

There was no reason for me to hesitate. If he escaped, he could just come back and kill Yoshida. Hell, even if he made it back to Cowen Fleet, he would just die when somebody else destroyed his warship. The man was already dead. It didn't matter who pulled the trigger.

The Saberfish got far enough away from me that my computer stopped tracking it, and I lowered my machine gun. Captain Singh was definitely going to mention that during my debriefing.

I flew back to Yoshida and found her three-meter mobile worker dragging my bazooka behind her.

"Your bazooka is reloaded, Commander," Yoshida said eagerly, but I could hear the fear in her voice. She recognized the immense danger to which she had just been subjected.

"Thank you, Warrant Officer," I said as I magnetized my machine gun to my waist before grabbing my weightless bazooka.

[READY TO FIRE]

As Yoshida returned to her spot, magnetically adhered to my Zaku, I said, "We're almost there. Just one more push, and we'll be able to take a long break."

I looked over to Cowen Fleet. The battleship and one missile frigate had been destroyed while I was fighting the Saberfish, leaving just 10 warships remaining. They still had just enough materiel to breach all five of Zeon's colonies if we weren't able to destroy any more warships.

"Ready to go!" Yoshida said.

I paused for a moment, taking a second to plan my next move. Char had almost certainly burnt through all of his rocket magazines, and he would have switched to his MG by this point. This meant that the three warheads in my magazine were the only anti-ship ammunition available to us.

In total, there were 5 cruisers, 4 frigates, and 1 supply ship in Cowen Fleet. Every ship held a fusion drive, so they were all comparably dangerous to the colonies.

My Zaku returned to the engagement range as the mission timer reached -200 seconds. I had a bit more than three minutes to do everything I could to incapacitate as many ships as possible.

My first shot hit the side of a Columbus-class supply ship, and it detonated with little resistance.

[READY TO FIRE]

My second shot hit the drive cone of a Lepanto-class frigate. The thrusters were damaged by the explosion, but the ship didn't completely lose its ability to maneuver. Eh, it was good enough for government work. I wouldn't count it on my kill tally, but the frigate would overshoot Side 3 with its engine like that.

[READY TO FIRE]

My third shot took out the bridge of a cruiser. The ship remained functional, but the cruiser's helm should have been located on the bridge. Hopefully, that would be enough to take the cruiser out of the fight.

[OUT OF AMMO]

As I tossed my bazooka away and drew my MG once more, I tried taking stock of the situation. There were now 7 warships remaining in Cowen Fleet, and all of its battleships had been completely destroyed. Admiral John Cowen was certainly dead by that point, and this suicide mission was completely pointless with so few warships. They were now unable to destroy all five of Zeon's colonies no matter what they did.

The voice of Char Aznable spoke over comms, "By my count, we have depleted all of our nuclear warheads, correct? Should we approach the enemy fleet now?"

"Affirmative," I said quickly. "Engage at close range."

As three mobile suits burned mercilessly toward the limping remnants of Cowen Fleet, I beamed a call request to one of the frigates. To my surprise, somebody answered.

"It's him…" a Federation flag officer gasped as his face appeared on my HUD.

The smallest twinge of jealousy appeared in my chest as I saw the officer's reasonable uniform. The Feds dressed like actual soldiers, and we had to dress like James Bond villains.

I cleared my throat before saying, "This is Lt. Commander Sebastian Dogwood. Your mission has already failed. Surrender now, and I promise you will be treated with respect and dignity as prisoners of war."

That request was out of character for the Gray Demon of Zeon, but I knew the importance of incentivizing desired behavior and punishing unwanted behavior. I wasn't sure if I had the authority to assure their safety, but I fully intended to follow through on my word to the best of my ability.

"I… We'll… We won't…" the flag officer said, trying several times to come up with a rebuttal to my request. I could tell that he wanted to deny me, but the fear he felt trapped the words in his mouth.

"Lieutenant! Cut the call immediately!" Someone shouted from off-screen.

"Surrender or die," I said with a completely even expression. "Those are your options."

"I… I…" the flag officer began to say, and a man in a captain's cap appeared in the feed for a second before the call ended.

"Death it is, then," I said as I raked the side of a cruiser with a barrage of 120mm bullets.