I considered the abundance of targets surrounding me as I flew into the center of the Federation fleet's formation. Saberfish deployed from half a dozen nearby Columbus-class supply ships, and the empty spaces between the gargantuan warships were soon filled with the buzzing forms of Federation fighter jets and Zeon mobile suits. In the three seconds I spent scanning the battlefield, I saw a Saberfish fire several rockets at a speeding Zaku. The two machines were out of view before I could see if the missiles hit their intended target.
Speaking into my commlink, I said, "Oracle Squad, engage at will and regroup at the southwest edge of Hawkins Fleet in five minutes."
"Roger!" Vultee and Ramos said, but I could hear a distinct tone of excitement in Vultee's voice.
The three aces of Oracle Squad scattered in three directions as I frantically scanned the tapestry of violence unfolding around me. I had to track the hostile particle cannons, Saberfish, and friendly Zakus at the same time just to stay alive. If I wanted to counter-attack, the number of things I had to track simultaneously suddenly doubled. It was complete chaos, and the utter silence gave the entire battle an eerie quality.
A Saberfish zipped by, only entering my view for the better part of a second. On reflex, I tilted my Zaku to put the firing cone of my Vulcan Gun on target and squeezed the trigger, causing my chest-mounted gatling gun to vomit more than a dozen 60mm bullets in its direction. One round hit its intended target, and the Saberfish scattered into hundreds of small pieces.
Less than a second later, a squadron of four Saberfish began following my Zaku at a high speed. They fired at me with 25mm rounds and a fusillade of unguided missiles. I dodged the missiles with a few frantic adjustments of my vernier thrusters and just let the low-caliber rounds hit my armor.
In response, I shot another cloud of VG bullets at the squadron. They were more skilled than I expected, and the Saberfish I targeted was able to dodge my attack with a frantic evasive maneuver.
To my shock, somebody suddenly started beaming me a call request over laser communication. It was on an unknown frequency, and my HUD told me that the call was coming from the squadron of Saberfish that were following me. Were they really trying to start a conversation with me while we were in the middle of a dogfight?
I had seen this a thousand times in various Gundam series, but it was really strange to actually experience. We were trying to kill each other. What could we possibly gain from talking? Personally, I was just happy that I had the opportunity to deny the call.
Either way, I was intrigued at the prospect of holding a conversation with the people trying to take my life. Plus, it was probably polite in that world to accept such opportunities for smack talk.
I accepted the call, and the scowling face of a dark-skinned man in his late twenties appeared on my HUD. With anger clear in his voice, he said, "You're him, aren't you? You, in the unpainted machine."
They were like a pack of pomeranians chasing after a bear. They had no real chance of killing me, but I could end up with some minor scratches if I played things wrong. A 25mm round could damage my camera, and one of those missiles could hurt one of my limbs if it hit me.
I decided to play along. Not taking my eyes off the pursuing Saberfish, I asked, "What do you mean?"
"You're Sebastian Dogwood, the Gray Oracle of Zeon," the enemy pilot said with certainty in his voice.
"Maybe I am," I said as I dodged out of the way of three missiles. Utilizing that brief opening, I unleashed another cloud of death in their direction. One of the Saberfish exploded. "What's it to you?"
"You'll pay for that!" the Fed pilot shouted. "I am Warrant Officer Sanders, and I will take revenge for the countless people you and your ilk have killed!"
"Yeah." I destroyed another Saberfish. Sanders' face was still on my HUD, so that one wasn't his fighter jet. "Good luck with that." I sighed. "You can't beat me, Officer Sanders. My machine is better, and I'm a better pilot than you."
As Warrant Officer Sanders glared at me with naked hate in his eyes, I suddenly remembered where I recognized him from. He was a character in 08th MS Team who served under Sub-Lt. Shiro Amada. I remembered that his primary character trait was his crippling survivor's guilt.
All of a sudden, every hair on my body stood up on end, and a massive feeling of fear shot through me. I felt like I was about to be hit by a train, but the rattling tracks and blaring horn were completely soundless.
I did a 180 degree turn just in time to see a Saberfish less than 30 meters away from me. The bigger problem was that it was flying toward me at hundreds of kilometers per hour.
There was no time to dodge, so I held my left arm up to block the attack. The Saberfish exploded against my forearm, causing my whole body to shake violently. My Zaku's forearm was crippled by the attack, and the left hand immediately stopped following my commands.
"Crazy bastards!" I shouted through the pain.
"Watanabe! Attack now!" Sanders shouted into his comms. My teeth clenched as I realized the kamikaze run was all part of his plan. They were already resorting to suicide attacks!?
Both surviving Saberfish fired their five remaining missiles in my direction. The blunt force had shaken me, and my reaction was slowed by a fraction of a second. Even with all of those factors stacked against me, my hand still got to the controls for my thrusters before it was too late.
I accelerated upward, and ten missiles flew underneath me.
"No!" Sanders shouted in despair.
My Vulcan Gun spat another cloud of 60mm rounds forward, striking with perfect accuracy. Both of the Saberfish erupted into scrap metal as my bullets struck true. Sanders disappeared from my HUD with a pained scream and a flash of light.
Grimacing and trying to shake off the blow I had just taken to my head, I muttered, "Those little dogs had a Hell of a bite."