"What does that mean?" Ramos asked. "I thought the Federation fleet was retreating? How are they mounting a counter-attack so quickly?"
Singh's teeth clenched in fear and anger as he said, "We didn't see them until we were already engaging with the first Federation fleet, but there's a second fleet commanded by Admiral John Cowen. They were just observing the battle until a moment ago, but now they're moving toward our colonies on Side 3."
I blinked, scouring my memory for any pieces of information I had forgotten. There was a second fleet at the original Battle of Loum, but it fell back to aid the retreating ships once the battle was over. I recalled that Admiral Tianem had the opportunity to make a suicidal attack on the Zeon homeland, but he decided against it.
God damn it! Admiral Tianem wasn't in command of the reserve fleet anymore! This attack was my fault. Without Revil and Tianem, the Federation had been taken over by madmen. It was a suicide charge, pure and simple. Admiral Cowen was willing to sacrifice the millions of soldiers remaining under his command to bring an end to the war.
"They're insane," I muttered.
"So what's their plan?" Ramos asked with confusion in his voice. "Do they intend to take Side 3 hostage? Surely, they're too weak to occupy all of our colonies."
"No, it's worse," Singh said as he scrolled through a text file. "We've intercepted some of their communications. They intend to detonate their fusion engines and breach the colonies."
If the Federation succeeded, a hundred million people would die, and the Zeon homeland would be destroyed. It was a monstrous act, and yet I could not claim the moral high ground. I had done far worse.
"What? W-We have to stop them!" Ramos shouted.
"Of course we do," Singh said, "but Cowen Fleet is burning too hard. Our fleet won't be able to catch up before they reach Side 3."
"What are we going to do, then!?" Ramos asked loudly.
"The mobile suits can catch up," Singh said.
"There's no time to lose, then," I said as I pushed myself out of the briefing room.
The absolute worst case scenario was here. If the Zeon homeland was wiped out, my chances of survival would immediately drop to zero percent. In that scenario, I wouldn't even have an opportunity to flee to Axis. That plan relied on enough Zeon soldiers fleeing to Axis that I could hide among them.
Ramos and I arrived at the observation deck as Yoshida and Wei spoke to one another in frantic tones.
"We need the custom Zakus ready to go in five minutes, Warrant Officer!" Wei shouted.
"I can't control physical reality!" Yoshida shouted back. "Full repairs on the two Zakus will take another forty minutes."
I looked out at the three gray mobile suits docked in the launch bays. The left arm of my Zaku had been completely removed, and the armor of Ramos's Zaku was half repaired. Most of the armor on Vultee's headless mobile suit had been removed and was being transported over to Oracle-3.
"How long will it take if you stop repairs and prioritize rearming the Zakus?" I asked while pointing at the mountainous mobile suits in the background.
"It would be much faster," Yoshida said, grimacing, "but it wouldn't be safe. The most we can do in five minutes is get the bazookas ready and refill the propellant tanks."
"Do that, then," I said.
"One last thing." Lt. Wei cut in. "Vice Admiral Dozle has ordered every custom Zaku to sortie, no matter how damaged it is. Ensign Heinrich Vultee will deploy aboard Oracle-2."
"What?" I asked. Dozle clearly didn't understand how mobile suits worked if he was sending an order like that. "Oracle-2 doesn't have a head! How is…?"
Lt. Wei cut me off. "The lives of millions of loyal citizens of Zeon are at stake here, Commander. Any danger to Ensign Vultee's life is irrelevant compared to the absolute importance of this mission. Yoshida, Dogwood. Figure it out."
My teeth clenched in anger as Wei left the observation deck. The fact that he was completely correct did nothing to ameliorate my anger.
After slamming the emergency release button on the airlock and venting a significant amount of oxygen into the vacuum of space, I boarded my one-armed Zaku as Yoshida's team frantically refilled its propellant and attached rocket magazines to its shield. My repairs were nowhere near complete, but it was the best Yoshida's team could do under the circumstances.
I received a call and accepted it on instinct. By the operating procedure of Zeon, you were only supposed to send calls to those equal or below you on the chain of command. Squad leaders were allowed to call other squad leaders, but they weren't supposed to call wing commanders.
In an instant, my HUD was filled with half a dozen of the most important people in the Zeon military. I had just been attached to a call with Vice Admiral Dozle Zabi, Sub-Lt. Char Aznable, Sub-Lt. Miguel Gaia, and Rear Admiral Yuri Kellerne.
"Sir!" I shouted to no one in particular as I pressed my hand to my helmet in an awkward salute.
There was a grim look on Dozle Zabi's face as he said, "They caught us off guard, men. The cowards of Cowen Fleet have launched an attack on the Great Degwin and our homeland. The Great Degwin holds my brother and father, and the seven custom Zakus are the only machines that can reach Cowen Fleet fast enough to give Garma and Degwin any chance of survival. As a son, brother, and admiral, I order all of you to do everything possible to save their lives."
"Yes, sir," I said.
"As you command, Admiral," Char said with a subtle smile on his face.
"You can count on us!" Gaia shouted.
"Good," Dozle said gruffly. "I knew I could count on all of you. I am hereby reorganizing Oracle Squad, the Black Tri-Stars, and Char Aznable into a single unit under my direct command. For the duration of this mission, you shall be called the Vanguard Squadron."
"Yes, sir," I said once more, and the video feeds disappeared, replaced by a persistent audio-only call that listed the participants by their position on the squad.
Vanguard-1: Lt. Commander Sebastian Dogwood.
Vanguard-2: Ensign Heinrich Vultee.
Vanguard-3: Ensign Diego Ramos.
Vanguard-4: Sub-Lt. Miguel Gaia.
Vanguard-5: Warrant Officer Sampson Ortega.
Vanguard-6: Warrant Officer David Mash.
Vanguard-7: Sub-Lt. Char Aznable.
Hold on a second. I was the squad leader!?