"What happened to you two?" Ramos asked over comms.
"Suicide attack," I muttered in response.
"I got hit by a glancing blow from a particle cannon," Vultee said, and his voice was absolutely exhilarated. "I still managed to take out the cruiser's bridge, though."
"You did? How?" I asked.
"I hit 'em with the knuckle shield," Vultee said, gesturing to the dented spikes attached to his remaining arm.
"You're a madman," Ramos said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
"It seems like we've hit a lull in the action," I said, stretching my shoulders. "This question's for Captain Singh's benefit. What's everybody's kill count?"
"Four ships in total so far," Vultee said.
In an annoyed tone of voice, Ramos said, "I only managed to take out a single cruiser before the Saberfish swarmed me. In my defense, I took out five Saberfish."
"Three ships and six Saberfish on my end," I said quickly. "That puts our squad at 8 warships and 11 Saberfish killed in this mission."
No one in the Zeon high command could hold those numbers against us. A typical Zaku squad would be lucky to take out two or three warships throughout the entire battle. Between the three of us, our contribution to the Battle of Loum would be even higher than Char Aznable's (of course, there was just one of him).
More importantly, those numbers would be enough to take the heat off Ramos. A moment of lapsed judgment was nothing compared to the blow he had struck against the Federation in this battle. It would also help divert any heat off of me, as well. There was going to be some punishment for the stunt I pulled with the Jormungand, I was sure. The effectiveness of the mobile suits would be undercut somewhat by the fact that the flagship was destroyed by a giant space laser.
Three fast-moving machines approached Oracle Squad's position, and all three of us turned quickly toward the unidentified heat signatures. After a moment, the approaching machines resolved into three black mobile suits.
"They're friendly!" I shouted into the comms to prevent a friendly-fire incident, and Ramos quickly lowered his MG.
The other three-man Zaku squad pulled up a few dozen meters away from us, and I received a beamed call request from the squad leader.
I recognized this squad, of course, and I was sure that Vultee and Ramos did as well. They were the only Zaku squad in Zeon who were allowed to paint their mobile suits black in reference to their squad name: the Black Tri-Stars.
I accepted the call, and the bearded face of Sub-Lt. Miguel Gaia appeared on my HUD. After a moment, he said, "If it isn't the Gray Demon of Zeon. How's your hunt going, Dogwood?"
Gaia had the bearing and cadence of a brutish warrior, though it worked for him. It was as though he was a viking in a past life, and that disposition followed him into the era of space combat.
"I can't complain. I managed to take out four warships," I said before pivoting to the subject that interested me more. "Gray Demon? Where did that one come from?" I asked. Honestly, I liked that nickname the most of all I'd received thus far. It would serve the purpose of keeping my enemies away from me, at least.
A low whistle played over the comms before Sub-Lt. Gaia said, "Oh, yeah. That. We've been listening to the Fed frequencies, and they kept saying, 'Oh no, it's the Gray Demon!' And then they died." Gaia gave an impression of a terrified Federation soldier as he quoted them, and I could hear the laughter of Ortega and Mash in the background. "More importantly, three ships is nothing to sneeze at. The brass might have been on to something when they made you the war's posterboy."
"Thanks," I said sarcastically, though Gaia did not pick up on it.
"Anyway, I didn't come here for that. The brass likes you, right, Dogwood?" Gaia asked. "What was that big attack earlier that took out the warship? I heard from one of the other squads that it was the Ananke that was destroyed."
"That was the Jormungand," I said quickly. I felt the need to tread lightly around the question of the Jormungand, since I didn't yet know how high command would react to my actions.
Clearing my throat, I asked, "Wouldn't our time be better spent elsewhere, Sub-Lieutenant? Surely, Zeon can't afford to have two ace squads sitting around wasting time."
"You haven't heard?" Gaia asked.
"No," I said. "We haven't been in communication with Admiral Kellerne ever since the ambush. What is it?"
Now I was worried. Gaia could be referring to anything.
"Hawkins Fleet is in full retreat," Gaia said with a self-satisfied smile. "Our job is over now. All that's left is for our ships to hunt them down."
I let out a loud sigh of relief. The bastard really scared me there.
"We did it!" Vultee shouted into comms, reminding me that he was still attached to this communication.
I cleared my throat before saying, "One last thing, do you know how much damage the Federation fleet has sustained?"
"You'd have to ask your wing commander," Sub-Lt. Gaia said with a shrug, "but I'd guess that about half of Hawkins Fleet has been destroyed so far."
That would put the enemy casualties comparable to what they were in the original timeline. The mobile suits must have sunk around 150 warships throughout the whole battle. A few days ago, somebody told me that the average warship held ten thousand people at full capacity, so more than a million soldiers had died on the Federation side alone.
"Thanks," I said.
"Let's talk more back at Zum City, posterboy," Sub-Lt. Gaia as his thrusters began to heat up.
"We'll see," I said.
We returned to the 1st Combined Fleet of Zeon, and I was immediately shocked by the casualties we had sustained. Most of the fleet was seriously damaged, and nearly half of the Zeon warships were destroyed or disabled.
Did this happen in the original timeline, or had my decisions changed things significantly? I could have sworn that less than a dozen Zeon warships had been destroyed in the battle, but my knowledge was incomplete on the matter. I knew that the Federation fleet had lost 70% of its ships, but my knowledge of the Zeon casualties was much more limited.
The Gidoru had sustained a few hits from particle cannons during the fight, but it was still functioning. One of the guns had been destroyed, and some of the decks on the port side had been breached.
We were able to dock without incident, and my damaged Zaku was clamped into its launch bay with no resistance. I let out another sigh. I was safe for the moment, but I didn't dare to let my guard down.