January 15th, 0079
With nearly three thousand mobile suit pilots in the fleet, I was barely able to schedule any training for Oracle Squad. Due to our status as an ace squad, we were able to train for thirty minutes from 0030 hours to 0100 hours on the day of the battle.
We spent almost all of those thirty minutes training with our Vulcan Guns. Ramos spent a small amount of that time training with the recoilless rifle, and he figured out the targeting system pretty quickly.
I threw a Dopp-sized piece of metal into space, and Vultee immediately put four 60mm rounds into its vulnerable hide. One shot would have been enough. The small piece of metal was immediately torn into more than a dozen ragged shards.
"Remember that the Jormungand needs targeting data from two different angles to hit its target. That's why Oracle-3 will hold back while Oracle-1 and Oracle-2 engage the enemy fleet at a close range," I said over the laser-guided communications network.
"Am I Oracle-3, or is that the name of my Zaku?" Ramos asked.
"Both," I said. "When you're in the Zaku, you're Oracle-3."
"Okay, Oracle-1," Ramos said.
I turned to look at the two Zakus floating near me in space. On one of the Zakus, a large 2 was written on its shield and chest armor in thick white paint. On the other, a 3 was painted on in the same way. This would help us differentiate each other in case we were separated on the battlefield.
Vultee threw a bus-sized piece of metal into space, and I took it out in a quick spray of bullets. The Vulcan Gun fired at a rate of 23 bullets per second, so the faintest trigger pull caused a torrential downpour of 60mm lead to rain upon the enemy.
Warrant Officer Yoshida had shown me a single round of 60mm ammunition, and it was larger than my forearm. A hit from one of those things could vaporize an elephant. Hell, at close range, a few 60mm rounds could probably kill a Zaku. Why didn't every Zaku have a Vulcan Gun if they were able to install three in just a few days?
In the next battle, I was going to show off the Vulcan Gun, and the high command would see how effective it could be. If I did really well, the Vulcan Gun might become a standard weapon on the MS-06F Zaku II.
"How did the meeting with Admiral Schneider go, Lt. Commander?" Ramos asked with clear anger in his voice.
"Not well," I said, ignoring his tone. "The Zabis won't accept a treaty until we have bases on Earth."
"Why are we even bothering with the colony drop, then?" Ramos asked.
"It's just a diversion to get the Federation fleet's attention. You know, I realized something when I spoke with Lt. Wei. I realized that you're right, Oracle-3. I need to just focus on the things I can control as a field officer. There's no point in trying to stop this war. It will keep on going no matter what I do," I said, my anger causing the last sentence to come out as a growl.
"How could we possibly win, then?" Ramos said. "In a war of attrition, the bigger side always wins."
"Who knows?" I said. "That question is above my paygrade. We might be able to win enough battles that the Federation just gives up." Even as I spoke, I knew I didn't believe my own words.
After getting six terrible hours of sleep, I woke up at 0800 hours and immediately donned my spacesuit. The Zeon fleet would reach Wathort in an hour, and the attack on the colony would begin two hours after that.
I made an immediate beeline for the pilot briefing room and took my seat at the front of the chamber. There were ten seats in the briefing room split into three groups. The seats set aside for Oracle Squad were the closest to the door, and the other two squads were called the Red Wolf Squadron and the Midnighters Squadron.
As the other pilots filtered in, I could tell that anxiety and excitement ran through them in equal measure. The leader of the Red Wolves and only woman among the pilots, Lieutenant Iria Solari, arrived at the same time Ensigns Vultee and Ramos entered the briefing room. Ramos was trying to spark up a conversation with Solari, but she clearly wasn't that interested. Vultee, on the other hand, was clearly just following Ramos.
"Vultee, Ramos, come on over," I said, waving my two squadmates to Oracle Squad's seats.
As my two squadmates took their seats next to mine, I had the strange feeling that Lt. Solari was glaring at me. She was probably glaring at Ramos, and I just happened to be sitting next to him.
At exactly 0900 hours, the wing commander for the Gidoru entered the briefing room. Captain Kamal Singh, my immediate superior, looked out at the ten gathered pilots and said, "I know it doesn't need to be said, but you ten are some of the best pilots in Zeon. People will talk about the Oracles, the Red Wolves, and the Midnighters in the history books for centuries to come. Command of the mobile suits for this operation will be handled at the fleet level, so I have no specific orders for you. All I have to say is stay alive and sink as many ships as you can."
"Hell yeah!" Vultee shouted out, and Cpt. Singh smiled appreciatively.
"Thank you," Singh said. "Now, here's Rear Admiral Yuri Kellerne with your mission briefing." He pushed a button on the central podium, and a video was projected on the back wall.
Admiral Kellerne, a muscular man in his mid-twenties, appeared on the screen. As soon as I saw his face, I knew the orders would be straightforward.
Pointing directly at the screen, Admiral Kellerne said, "Pilots, your orders are to close to visual range of the Federation fleet until I give the command to fire. Once I give the command, you may fire nuclear weapons at will for 120 seconds. When that time period elapses, switch to conventional weapons."
After that thirty-second clip, the video stopped. With no further fanfare, we began heading off to the Battle of Loum.