Chapter 2 - [Out of My Hands]

January 15th, 0079

1815 hours

The Cyprus

Three hours later, I was sitting in the med-bay of the Cyprus. With Lt. Commander Volkov's announcement of surrender, most of the fight had left the medical personnel and injured soldiers stationed there. I spent the next ten minutes pressed against a corner near the intercom with my service revolver trained on the crowd.

Despite my outer appearance of tension, I was the most relaxed I had been in about twelve hours. For the first time since the Battle of Loum began, there was no organized opposition standing against me. The most I might have to deal with was a crazed gunman or two, and I had proven to myself that such a thing would not be much of a threat to me.

I watched as the doctor finished wrapping Aiko's wound with tight gauze and checked the tube infusing blood into her body.

"You know I'll shoot you if you try anything funny, right?" I asked the doctor casually.

The doctor flinched back noticeably before saying, "The patient is recovering as well as possible currently, but there's always the chance of a complication. Even the best surgeons in the world lose patients."

"Sure, I know that. I might still shoot you, though," I said, waving my revolver threateningly.

The intercom came on at that moment, and Volkov's voice began broadcasting through the ship. He said, "Lt. Commander Dogwood, a group identifying themselves as the Vanguard Squadron are asking for confirmation that you're still alive. Do you have something to confirm your identity?"

As soon as Volkov's broadcast ended, I fished my dog tags out from under my shirt and read the text stamped into the metal.

DOGWOOD

SEBASTIAN A.

421770499

A NEG

CATHOLIC

Ever since the first time I had read my dog tags, I had been wondering if the person originally inhabiting this body was Catholic, but that wasn't necessarily the case. That just meant I would get a Catholic burial in the event of my death.

I pressed the intercom button and said, "Yeah, my identification number is four-two-one-seven-seven-zero-four-nine-nine. That doesn't really prove I'm alive, though. It just proves you guys have my dog tags. How about this? Send the message, 'Ramos, if you don't pick me up right now, I'll give you another black eye,' over all frequencies. Got it?"

Volkov's voice, now filled with uncertainty, played in the med-bay once more. "Okay. If you're sure."

I waited there for more than an hour. Nothing changed in that time period. Sven and Aiko remained stable, and none of the Federation soldiers drew a gun on me.

Eventually, the sound of more than a dozen men approaching the med-bay filtered through the halls. I took cover behind a corner and kept my hand on my concealed revolver.

"This is the Zeon Space Attack Force! Surrender at once!"

Several men in Zeon uniforms pushed into the med-bay with their weapons drawn. Tension tightened their shoulders, and I was afraid that they could start shooting at any second.

"Friendly!" I shouted, showing the Zeon soldiers my empty palms. "It's me, Dogwood!"

Much of the tension disappeared from the soldiers' posture, and they all lowered their shotguns to low-ready. The squad leader saluted me and said, "Excellent work, Lieutenant Commander!"

"Thanks," I said as I rotated my neck in an attempt to relieve the growing ache there. I really had to get to sleep. "Let's just get me and Warrant Officer Yoshida back to Zum City."

"Sir," the squad leader said. "Could you please tell us where you planted the explosives? We haven't been able to find any of them."

"Have you secured control of the fusion reactor and bridge?" I asked.

"Yes, sir."

"There are no explosives," I admitted.

"Excellent plan, sir."

"Let's go," I said, gesturing for the doctor treating Aiko to come with us. "And, Warrant Officer," I said to the squad leader, "I promised that the crew of the Cyprus would be treated with respect and dignity. Please try your best to uphold my oath."

"As you say, sir."

We boarded a massive Zeon craft made for transporting troops through space. It was large enough to transport several mobile suits, so it was able to hold a company of soldiers easily.

As we flew through space toward Zum City, I witnessed the after effects of the battle between the four Federation warships and the three Zeon aces. The warships had been reduced to little more than scattered detritus, and Zum City was completely unharmed.

One of the soldiers passed me a civilian bomber jacket for me to wear in place of the Federation jacket. I thanked the man as I put the jacket on. It would be a cruel joke if some overzealous Zeon civilian killed me after the Hell I went through during the battle.

For the first time since I woke up that morning, I let my shoulders relax. There might have been a fight ongoing way out there in space, but it wasn't my problem. My job at that moment was to regroup with Vanguard Squadron, debrief with Captain Singh, and then go to sleep.

The large transport shuttle reached Zum City, and they took Aiko away to a hospital. There was nothing left for me to do for her. Either the doctors would save her, or she would die. It was out of my hands.

I headed to the spaceport's broadcast station while the others went to the hospital. For the first time since I had appeared on Island Iffish eleven days before, I was able to move around without a Zeon soldier watching me. Being around civilians was strange. They almost seemed like real people and not cogs in a great and terrible machine of war.

As I passed through one of the spaceport's many lobbies, I saw that dozens of TV screens lined the walls. Each TV screen was broadcasting the same program. It was a news program reporting on the results of the Battle of Loum.

FEDERATION FLEET CRUSHED

SOVEREIGN DEGWIN ZABI KILLED IN COWARDLY ATTACK

I took note of Degwin's death with a grimace. Things were about to get really difficult with Gihren in charge.