I took a deep breath and leaned back in my crash harness. For a brief moment, there was silence, and I was safe. No one would send a call to my commlink until I sent the first call. I stretched my neck from side to side and massaged the bruises under the straps pulling me against the crash harness.
With a single button press, I began a call and said, "Warrant Officer Yoshida, I need all repairs and rearming done within fifty minutes! The enemy fleet will be here in less than sixty!"
"How do you know that?" Yoshida asked. "Has high command begun tracking the Federation fleet?"
"No, it's just a hunch," I said.
"Yes, sir," Yoshida said. "We can be done with Oracle-1 in less than ten minutes. The repairs on Oracle-3 will be tough to finish in that time frame, but I can do it if we can get some help from the maintenance crews for the Red Wolves and Midnighters. As for Oracle-2…" she paused, not wanting to finish the sentence, "it would take days to fix even if we had the original head. I'm sorry, Commander, but Oracle-2 is out of the fight."
"I understand, Yoshida," I said.
Vultee's voice came through the commlink, saying, "Just send me back out! I can still fight!"
"Not in a headless Zaku," I said like a stern father chastising his son. "Yoshida, are there any leftover Zakus that Vultee could borrow?"
"Not on the Gidoru, Commander," Yoshida said sadly.
"Okay," I said, pausing for a moment. "Yoshida, arm the two functional Zakus with the anti-ship loadout. Meanwhile, the three of us will try to scrounge up an extra Zaku."
"Just to make sure, you want to arm both Zakus with bazookas in the right arms and 120mm MGs magnetized to the back of their waists?" Yoshida asked.
"Exactly," I said as I hit the emergency release on my hatch and the atmosphere surrounding me was swiftly jettisoned out into the surrounding vacuum.
The three pilots of Oracle Squad entered the observation deck through the airlocks before floating deeper into the ship. As soon as there was no one else around, I lightly tossed my helmet to Vultee before asking, "Hey, Ramos. Can I see your helmet?"
"Yeah, why?" Ramos said as he passed his helmet through the air to me.
I lightly tossed his helmet back to Vultee before saying, "'Cause I don't want to crack it."
I grabbed Ramos by the collar and violently slammed him into a nearby wall. Something in his posture told me he was about to take a swing at me, so I blocked his arm with my free hand. The blow was deflected harmlessly away from my face.
"Do you want to die!? What you say to me in private is one thing, but you need to keep your damn mouth shut when we're on missions!" I spoke at a conversational volume, but my voice was filled with authoritative anger.
"This is bigger than us, Dogwood!" Ramos shouted. "They're people, aren't they!?"
"Do you really think that their lives matter more than yours? If you disobey orders one more time, they'll execute you before the end of next week," I said, my voice lowering with concern and anger as I spoke.
"Of course their lives matter more than mine," Ramos said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If I could give my life to save a million others, I would do it without hesitation."
I drew my service revolver and pushed its barrel against the bottom of Ramos's chin. In a low voice devoid of all emotion, I said, "Say that again. Say that you would gladly give up your life."
Fear dawned on Ramos's face as he realized what was pressing against his chin. I would recognize that look anywhere. It was the look of a cornered animal seconds away from death.
"Heinrich, help me! Please!" Ramos shouted as Vultee watched fearfully.
"He won't help you, Ramos," I said quietly. "Under Zeon's code of military conduct, I am well within my rights to execute you for what you have said today. That would solve our Zaku problem, wouldn't it? Vultee could just take yours."
Ramos reached for his own gun, but I got there first. I ripped the revolver out of the range of his grasping hand and threw it at full force in a random direction.
"Would you gladly die to save millions of lives, Ramos?" I asked.
"N-No. I was lying," Ramos said, tears forming under his eyeballs.
"Who would you rather live? A million innocent people, or yourself?"
"M-Myself. I want to live," Ramos said.
I pushed myself away from Ramos a moment before I returned my service revolver to its holster.
"W-Why?" Ramos asked with a faltering voice.
"If you disobey orders one more time, you will be killed. Someone else will hold a gun to your head just like I did, but they'll actually pull the trigger," I said, pausing for a moment. "Here are the new ground rules, Ramos. You can say whatever you want when nobody's listening, but if you step out of line when we're in our Zakus one more time, I'll have you kicked out of Oracle Squad as soon as we're back at base. I don't need a suicidal man in my squad."
"I-I'm alive," Ramos said, gasping for air.
"Stick with me, and we'll be able to keep you alive. Remember how you felt when I held the gun to your head, and remember what punishment awaits you if you disobey," I said quietly. "Now come on, and leave your revolver where it is. I don't trust you not to shoot me in the back right now."
With that, we made our way to the bridge. Admiral Schneider wasn't there, so we spoke with some other logistical officers. Apparently, there was one extra MS-05B Zaku I on a Musai-class cruiser called the Hell Hawk. The pilot had tried to defect. When Ramos quietly asked what had happened to the pilot, the logistical officer offhandedly said that he had already been executed.