Over the next few hours, I wrote out my plan. I called it Operation Wen-li based on a half-remembered maneuver from Legends of the Galactic Heroes. The plan was essentially for half of the Zeon fleet to punch through the Federation fleet with the aid of the amassed mobile suits, and then the rear fleet would depart from the ships working on the nuclear pulse engines to surround the enemy fleet. With that, the Federation fleet would be crushed, and Zeon would have an opportunity to drop Wathort on the Earth.
After seeing a diagram of the nuclear pulse engines, I recognized that they were the operation's key vulnerability. One shot from a Federation cruiser would be enough to render the pulse engine completely inoperable. Our only route to success was to keep the pulse engines out of the range of the Federation's guns.
I rose from my crash chair and began moving out of the common room. Before I could reach the entrance, however, Ensign Diego Ramos entered the room.
"Commander! How'd the date go?" Ramos asked with a smile and a wave.
"That's none of your business," I said.
"Hmm," Ramos said, squinting. "Is that lipstick?"
Reflexively, my hand went to my neck. I brushed my fingers against the area before scanning my fingertips to see if any lipstick had adhered there. An instant later, I remembered that Garahau hadn't been wearing lipstick.
Looking up, I saw Ramos's self-satisfied smirk. I would have preferred it if he just punched me in the face again. God damn it. I was getting outplayed by my own subordinates now.
"It went well, I see," Ramos said.
"Shut up, bastard," I said in an annoyed tone.
I left the common room, and Ramos started following me.
"Think you're gonna introduce her to the squad?" Ramos asked with a boyish grin.
"We need to survive the next battle first," I said, glaring.
"Right," Ramos muttered as his mood became slightly more sullen. "Are those papers a suggestion for the next battle?"
"Yeah," I said. "I'm heading up to the bridge now."
Ramos frowned. "Commander Dogwood, I know you're a hero and all, but that doesn't mean that Admiral Schneider will listen to you."
"It's the only way," I said. "We won't be able to move the colony with our current plan."
"Do you really intend to help them drop a second colony on Earth?" Ramos asked with a grimace on his face.
"Why not? I'm an officer of Zeon, aren't I? Plus, you're here too. How is this any different from what you're doing?"
"It's different," Ramos said, clearly conflicted. "There's a world of difference between doing what you're told on a battlefield and planning a mission that would result in the death of millions."
My teeth clenched as I said, "Every day this war keeps going, there's another chance that people close to us will die. We barely survived the destruction of the Nordhausen. Roth and Donnelly didn't. I'm just trying to keep us alive."
"Another colony drop is too high a price for safety," Ramos said.
"Shut up," I said, and I meant it that time. "Leave me. That's an order."
"Yes, sir," Ramos grunted angrily before turning around and disappearing down one of the Gidoru's many hallways.
For the first time, I wished that Vultee was nearby. I could really have used someone with unflinching loyalty to Zeon at that moment.
I reached the entrance to the bridge. My hand reached for the access console, but the significance of the moment gave me pause. If I showed Admiral Schneider my plans for Operation Wen-li, that would be my first step at a new moral low point. I hesitated to destroy the escape pods that ejected out of Admiral Tianem's flagship, and this action would be a billion times worse than that.
Wouldn't it be better for everyone if I ended the war earlier? No, that justification didn't follow logically. Less than a billion people died in the war after the Antarctic Treaty was signed in the original timeline, and this second colony drop could very well cause many more to die.
I wrote Operation Wen-li for much more selfish reasons. Yes, my primary motivation was my own survival, but it was more than that. I wanted to protect the people I had come to know ever since I arrived in this timeline nine days ago. Ramos, Vultee, Yoshida, Wei, and Garahau would end up dead if I made too many mistakes. Protecting those close to me was the only good thing I could really do for that world.
Still, my hand would not move any closer to the access console. No matter how much I tried to justify it in my mind, I could not get over my instinctual rejection of the colony drop.
Just as I prepared myself to attempt another push forward, the door opened, and I stepped backward quickly to get out of the way. From inside the bridge, Lt. Wei appeared. He held an unlit cigarette between his teeth, and he blinked a few times when he saw me standing there.
"Lt. Commander Dogwood," Wei said in surprise. "Do you have business on the bridge?"
"I, uh, I guess so," I said as the security door slid closed behind Wei.
"What's that in your hand?" Wei said, gesturing at the papers I was holding.
"Nothing much," I said automatically. "It's just a suggestion for an alternate fleet arrangement in the next battle."
"Do you want me to look at it?" Wei asked. "I happen to know a thing or two about ship combat."
"Sure," I said, handing the papers over. That was the only physical copy of Operation Wen-li, but I still had the electronic document. If Wei took the papers, I could just print them out again.
"Hmm," Wei said. "Mind if I read this at the smoking station?"
"That's fine."
We floated over to the flag officers' smoking station, which was about thirty meters away from the entrance to the bridge. Wei and I smoked as some of the Gidoru's highest officers filtered in and out.
After a few minutes of silent reading, Wei looked at me with a serious expression and said, "We need to talk in private."