The fleet of Federation ships loomed in the center of my vision. I knew that my chance of survival would be maximized if my vector changed constantly and my acceleration was irregular, so I made liberal use of my ancillary thrusters. Once I was close enough for the ships to take up a third of my vision, they started firing at me. A wall of small-caliber bullets was sprayed toward me by a few nearby cruisers like a frightened octopus spraying its ink at a predator.
Due to my frenetic path through space, the vast majority of the bullets fired in my direction missed their mark. I could tell that the gunners were trying to lead their shots, but I would always alter my trajectory before the bullets could reach me. As I got close to the enemy fleet, my eyes were drawn to a small swarm of missiles as they erupted out of an enemy cruiser and began flying in my direction.
I swiftly altered my trajectory and began flying away from the swarm of missiles. No matter what evasive maneuvering I made, the missiles stuck to me. As I flew into the tight space between ships, the missiles wouldn't stop their dogged pursuit. Performing a quick 180, I pressed the recently-installed button in my cockpit, and the LMG welded to my head began spraying bullets at the missiles. One of the missiles took a hit and detonated, causing a chain reaction that detonated the entire swarm.
When I flipped back around, I found myself face to face with the bridge of a battleship. On muscle memory alone, I fired a rocket into the ship's command center before pushing down on the throttle and burning away from the battleship.
The bridge had been reduced to little more than melted slag and burning metal. It would have been easy to finish the battleship off, but I had a bigger prize in mind. Once I put the battleship behind me, Vice Admiral Tianem's flagship was less than a kilometer away.
[READY TO FIRE]
Between me and the flagship, a cruiser was floating through space and firing its point defense in my direction. As I watched, it began to turn its main guns toward me, and my stomach lurched. A few shots from the point defense guns would just scratch my paint, but a shot from the main guns would send me to my next reincarnation pretty quickly.
I put the cruiser's main guns in my sights and took the shot. The rocket made contact, and the guns exploded in a massive fireball. With that same erratic tempo, I spun around the cruiser and aimed my bazooka at the drive cone.
[READY TO FIRE]
The last rocket in my magazine shot forward as my HUD flashed red like it had several times before. I couldn't dodge all of the point defense, and I had probably taken five or six hits during the battle.
The rocket struck the drive cone, and a chain reaction began erupting through the ship. After several internal explosions, the fusion reactor within cooked off, and the entire cruiser was split open from the inside.
"All right!" I cheered through grit teeth.
I was actually enjoying the fight! As I fought and realized I was actually good at this, the sense of satisfaction in my own skill and exhilaration at overcoming a dangerous opponent quickly overcame any moral aversion I had to the violence.
I loaded my last magazine into the bazooka as one other Zaku pulled up next to me. It was impossible to tell which of my squadmates was in the Zaku, and I felt some concern in the back of my mind that one of them could be dead. After we killed Admiral Tianem, we could regroup and find out what happened to the other member of the squad.
With another series of motions, I pushed my Zaku forward. It was starting to slow somewhat, and I began to wonder if the joints and rotors were starting to break down. I flew toward the flagship, and my HUD flashed red twice more as the flagship's point defense scored two more lucky hits on me.
My first rocket of the last magazine hit the Titan's top-mounted guns. A few of the guns were immediately knocked out, but some of them remained. Seconds later, another rocket from my wingman - whoever he was - annihilated the other top-mounted guns.
[READY TO FIRE]
That was enough to create an opening in the space above the flagship. The Titan couldn't hit me, since it had no remaining guns there, and the other ships couldn't hit me for fear of hitting the flagship.
Using this opportunity, I put my second rocket into the flagship's bridge. The entire spire holding the bridge was destroyed, and I was thoroughly convinced that anyone inside the bridge was dead.
[READY TO FIRE]
I put my last rocket into the flagship's drive cone. To my disappointment, the Titan did not explode, but it did stop accelerating. Hopefully, it would explode eventually.
As I magnetically attached the bazooka to my Zaku's back, another squad of mobile suits shot past, drawing the point defense fire away from my wingman and me. Apparently, they had the same idea as me. Most of the ships were unwilling to fire their main guns when they could accidentally hit one of their allies.
From the underside of the Titan, small spacefaring vessels began shooting out. It was only after a few seconds that I realized these were escape pods. As I drew my Heat Hawk, the pesky husk of what remained of my morality once more showed itself.
I flew toward the escape pods, and a feeling of disgust washed over me. Why!? Why did I feel so disgusted by this!? I helped kill ten million people just a few days ago!
It was different this time. I gassed the population of Island Iffish because I had no choice. I fired the nuclear warheads at the 4th Fleet because I had no choice. This, here, was entirely my own decision. I could return to base at that very moment, and I would still get a medal.
Just as I was about to make my decision, another escape pod ejected out of the Titan. This one was different from the others. It was purple, and its design was much more ornate. It tried to escape, but I swiftly grabbed it in my empty hand. Bringing the escape pod up to my one giant red eye, I could see the people floating within.
Vice Admiral Tiamen floated there, helpless in my grasp.