"So, how am I going to survive my meeting with Gihren?" I asked. A few days before, the news that I was in danger would have terrified me. After thirteen days in the Earth Sphere, my life had been endangered so many times that one more threat to my survival wasn't even enough to make me blink. Even if Gihren wanted to kill me, I wouldn't make it easy. With my empathic sense for violent intent, I was confident that I could handle a few guys with guns.
"He knows you've already met with Garma and Kycilia," Wei said. "There will be a test of loyalty of some kind, and you must pass it if you want to live."
"What kind of test?" I asked with my eyes lingering on the rear view mirror.
"He might have you execute a political prisoner," Wei said with a shrug. "If he's in a particularly good mood, he might just make you announce your support for him on camera."
"That's easy enough," I said with a shrug. "The prisoner wouldn't be the first person I've murdered unjustly. Is that it? I just need to be ready for Gihren to test my loyalty?"
"Not quite," Wei said. "That would be sufficient to ameliorate one Zabi, but there is another with demands of her own. Once you survive the initial loyalty test, Gihren will give you a choice to command either a fleet in the Space Attack Force or a brigade in the Earth Attack Force. Kycilia needs you to take the posting as a brigade commander for the EAF's third division, which will be led by Garma Zabi. Brigade 3-3 still doesn't have a commanding officer."
"I'll take that one, then," I said.
"Considering the timetable, tomorrow will be the only time you'll have an opportunity to make special requests for the 3rd Brigade," Wei said, and his voice took on the tone of an overworked office worker. "Basically, we'll need to organize the brigade completely before tomorrow. If we work efficiently, this will only take eight hours."
My face tightened into a grimace. I said, "Uh, I'm supposed to go on a date in a few hours."
"Can you cancel?" Lt. Commander Wei asked.
"Today could be my last day off for months, so I'd rather not," I muttered.
"You can do paperwork on a date, right?" Wei said.
"Sure," I sighed.
"Who's the lucky girl?" Aiko asked.
"Her name is Helen Whitesmith. We've been seeing each other for about half a year now," I said.
With a look of surprise and a smile on her face, Aiko said, "You're still going on dates after half a year? I didn't know you were such a romantic, Captain."
I was not.
"I'm sure she'll understand, then," Wei said automatically. "So, Captain Dogwood, do you have any special requests for this new brigade? Are there any pilots you've met in your career that you want under your command?"
"Actually, yeah, there are a few," I said. "Write these names down: Cucuruz Doan, Anavel Gato, Iria Solari, Shima Garahau, and Norris Packard."
Those were the best pilots presently serving in the Zeon military that weren't named Char Aznable. Getting any one of them in my unit would increase its effectiveness significantly. I highly doubted that I could get Garahau or Packard on my team, since Garahau was slated to command her own fleet in space and Packard was the same rank as me.
"If possible, I want those officers and their squads in the 3rd Brigade," I paused as a thought occurred to me. "Now that I think about it, there are three more names I want you to add to the list. These three are probably not in the military yet, but I want them in the 3rd Brigade if they enlist or get drafted. Their names are Daryl Lorenz, Annerose Rosenheim, and Alma Stirner."
The three people I had just listed were Newtypes, but none of them knew that yet. If I could increase the number of Newtype pilots in the 3rd Brigade from one to five, we might even be able to survive this damn war.
Perhaps by requesting them specifically, I could save those three from the unfortunate fate they faced in the original timeline. Annerose and Alma ended up
With one raised eyebrow, Aiko said, "Annerose Rosenheim? Did you make that up?"
"Nope, her name's actually Rose Rose," I said. She was just a teenager, so I felt guilty about making fun of her name before even meeting her.
"Okay, I've put the names down," Wei said with a frown, "but a lot of these names are ace pilots. Zeon can't afford to have eight ace pilots in one brigade. You guys are a limited resource." He paused for a moment, deep in thought. "If you could only have one of these pilots in your brigade, who would it be?"
"Doan," I said with no hesitation. In the original timeline, he was called the Char Aznable of ground combat. If I was going to be stuck on Earth, I wanted somebody like that watching my back.
"Noted," Wei said.
The car pulled up to its destination, and the Yoshida family residence stood in front of me.
"This is it," Aiko said
"One more thing before you go," I said. "Wei, I want you to put Aiko Yoshida down as my direct Technical Advisor."
"Sure. That job's typically held by a lieutenant commander, but it won't be a problem if you request it specifically," Wei said as he scribbled something down on a piece of paper.
"Thank you, Captain," Aiko said with an emotion somewhere between gratitude and sadness in her voice.
Wei and I helped Aiko into her family home and departed once more a few minutes later. In an attempt to find somewhere more comfortable to talk, we stopped at a nearby park. Wei, Stradivari, Ramos, and I sat at a picnic table far away from anyone else as we went over the plans for my new brigade.