The entrance to the spaceport was a square that measured one kilometer on each side. When Vultee and I floated into the port, it looked like a mixture between a Borg cube and an airport. Broadly, the spaceport was built in the shape of a gargantuan metal cube measuring one kilometer on each side, and nearly a dozen docks of various sizes provided mooring points for any ships that did business with Wathort Colony.
Four large ships were docked there at that moment, though none of them carried any weapons. After a moment, small arms' fire began plinking off our Zakus like rain on a car windshield.
It shocked me that they didn't have any anti-ship guns inside of the spaceport. Sure, there were some dangers involved in keeping particle cannons inside of the colony, but they were completely unprepared for an attack by either warships or mobile suits. Wathort Colony had no enemies a month ago. Perhaps the simmering tensions between Side 3 and the Federation had made Side 5 complacent. Who would attack Side 5? Well, we had our answer. It wasn't personal. Zeon just needed bait to draw the Federation into a major battle.
I fired a rocket into one of the civilian ships, and it cracked open like an egg. An invisible force pushed the ship into the port's wall as its atmosphere vented into the surrounding atmosphere.
Those were the orders.
[OUT OF AMMO]
While I loaded my last magazine into my bazooka, Vultee began firing his MG on full-auto. One of the ships was breached as more than a dozen 105mm shells crashed into its hull. A moment later, Vultee turned and began firing at the far end of the spaceport.
I was confused for a moment before I realized what he was doing. The armor between the colony's atmosphere and the vacuum of space was at its weakest there.
[READY TO FIRE]
My next shot struck one of the two remaining civilian ships. A bright fire burned in the center of the ship for several seconds before it detonated in a bright flash. I must have hit the fusion reactor.
Some unseen force began to push me backwards, and I had to use my thrusters to stop myself from being pulled out of the spaceport. An instant later, I realized that the fusion reactor's explosion had caused the colony to breach, and its atmosphere was swiftly flying out into space.
My thrusters were strong enough to hold me in place, but the debris and half-destroyed ships littered around the port also started flying toward the hole into space. It was like I was standing in the waist-high water of a flowing river. I could hold myself in place, but I couldn't stop any nearby rafts from knocking me on my ass.
In order to prevent a collision, I was forced to retreat out of the spaceport's main entrance as the giant kilometer-long blast doors slowly shut. Two destroyed civilian ships were jettisoned out into space along with me. In my haste to escape from the port, I lost track of Vultee's Zaku.
"Oracle-2, leave the spaceport!" I shouted into my commlink.
"Yes, sir," Vultee responded, though his voice was filled with panic.
I watched the closing blast doors with my breath stuck in my throat. At the very last second, Oracle-2 flew through the small slit that remained open. Half a second later, those city-sized doors slammed close.
I let out a sigh of relief as Oracle-2's legs clamped down on the colony's hull. As he got closer, however, I realized that he had sustained serious damage. The head of Vultee's Zaku was completely gone, yet he was still able to maneuver the mobile suit. That should have been impossible, since all of a Zaku's camera equipment was stored in the head.
When Oracle-2 was within arm's reach of me, I realized that the hatch of Vultee's Zaku was open. He was only able to maneuver because he was looking out using his naked eyes.
"Vultee, are you okay?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah," Vultee said through his crackling helmet microphone. His voice was muffled due to the vacuum in his cockpit. "I think I took a hit from some debris, or something. I couldn't see, so I opened the hatch."
"You crazy bastard," Ramos said, and it was clear from his tone that he was smiling.
It was, frankly, an insane move to open your hatch in such a situation, but it was the best move at the time. If Vultee hadn't opened his hatch, he probably would have been killed by bigger pieces of shrapnel.
It was easy for me to forget, but Vultee and Ramos were ace pilots as well. Instinctually, I wanted to attribute our victories to Zeon's technological advantage and the fact that the Federation was not ready for mobile suit warfare, but Vultee's quick thinking reminded me that he was actually good at his job.
"Good thinking, Ensign Ramos," I said over the commlink.
"Thank you, sir," Vultee said, and I heard a clink as he smacked the glass of his helmet in a salute.
There was a flash on my HUD, and the image of Admiral Kellerne appeared. With a smile, he said, "Good job, Commander Dogwood. I see that Wathort's emergency blast doors have deployed. All we gotta do now is destroy those blast doors. Can you…?"
It was hard to get the words out, but I cut the Admiral off. My instincts were telling me to stop, but I continued, saying, "I'm sorry, sir, but we can't do that right now. Oracle-2 has sustained critical damage."
"Okay," Kellerne said, frowning. "Return to base. The Red Wolves will finish the mission."
"Thank you, sir," I said as Kellerne cut out.
I quickly switched over to the frequency for my squad's channel. Once I knew I had connected, I said, "We're returning to base."
"Come on, Commander," Vultee said in a disappointed voice. "I can keep fighting."
"That's my call to make," I said harshly. "Now follow me and Ramos. We'll burn back to the Gidoru at 5 Gs. Can you handle that?"
"Of course. My thrusters weren't damaged," Vultee said.
Oracle Squad flew back to the 1st Combined Fleet of Zeon at an oblique angle. Just like always, we made sure to stay out of the fire lines between the fleet and its target. It took much longer than usual, since I slowed down to check on Vultee several times, but we reached the Gidoru in a few minutes.
After helping Oracle-2 into its docking bay, I brought my Zaku into its dock. The arms clamped down, holding me firmly in place.
As the massive exterior door closed, I checked my watch.
1022 hours. The Federation fleet would arrive in less than an hour.