Next thing I knew, I was on the bridge of the Gidoru facing the commander of the 2nd Zeon Fleet, Rear Admiral Nicodemus Schneider. The bridge was packed with gun-wielding Zeon soldiers, Vice Admiral Tianem's men, and the men of Oracle Squad. Add on the flag officers who usually stayed on the bridge, and we had nearly forty men in an area designed to hold twenty.
Physically, Vice Admiral Tianem was a slightly overweight middle-aged man with a square jaw and a thick mustache. Though he was surrounded by Zeon soldiers, there was no sign of fear in his eyes. Tianem stood with his back straight and his eyes resolutely forward.
With vitriol in his voice, Tianem said, "My capture means nothing, rebel swine."
"You will speak when spoken to!" The soldier nearest Tianem pulled his shotgun back and prepared to strike the admiral with the butt of the gun.
"Stop," Admiral Schneider said, holding his palm outward. The soldier stopped his attack and bowed his head apologetically to the Zeon admiral.
"I am just as replaceable as any other soldier in the Earth Federation Space Force," Admiral Tianem said, finishing his sentence.
"You undersell yourself, Tianem," Admiral Schneider said. "I think the capture of a Federation fleet commander will send quite a strong message."
Rear Admiral Schneider was an older man with a pure white beard covering much of his face under his naval cap. The look would have been fatherly or erudite on any other man, but Schneider managed to maintain a fierce intensity as he traded verbal barbs with the Federation admiral.
"Are you really planning to crash Island Iffish into the Earth!?" Tianem began shouting. "You people are insane!"
"Insane?" Admiral Schneider asked rhetorically. "If you ask me, it is more insane to deny a people the right to self-determination for decades when their independence would cost you nothing! We tried the peaceful route. This is the only road you have left us."
"Sieg Zeon!" Vultee shouted, raising his fist into the air.
This prompted Ramos and the Zeon soldiers to respond with their own loud declarations of loyalty. Of those on the bridge, the only Zeon soldiers to not join in the chant were Admiral Schneider and me. The Federation soldiers watched the display with fear and disgust on their faces. After the third chant, Admiral Schneider held up a hand, and the chanting stopped.
The stoic mask beginning to fade, Admiral Tianem said, "You were a loyal officer of the Federation, Nicodemus! What happened to you?"
In response, Admiral Schneider said, "Realpolitik. I knew that the Federation would always view Spacenoids as inferior, and I knew their chains would remain around our necks until we forced them off. Take him away."
The ten-man squad of Zeon soldiers escorted Tianem and his retinue out of the bridge. Once Admiral Tianem was out the door, Schneider floated back into his chair that was attached to a long mechanical arm. The chair must have made it much easier for him to navigate around the bridge.
"He's so cool," Vultee whispered to me.
Officer Vultee had a point. Admiral Schneider was clearly a skilled public speaker, and that was the first time I had heard someone explain Zeon's point of view since I took this body. Fundamentally, Zeon was rebelling against a tyrannical regime, and the Federation never would have granted them independence without a war. The people of Zeon believed their cause was just, and their belief was so strong that they were willing to end billions of lives.
Turning to us, Admiral Schneider said, "So, you were the squad that took out the Titan and captured Vice Admiral Tianem. Very well done!"
"Yes, sir!" I said, and I couldn't stop the edges of my mouth from curling into a smile.
"I must speak to Lt. Dogwood in private. Before you two leave, Heinrich Vultee and Diego Ramos, I must congratulate you. The two of you have just earned your commission," Admiral Schneider said with a smile.
That was quite the reward. Ramos and Vultee were going to become commissioned officers, meaning they would gain the rank of ensign. In the army, this would be the equivalent of rising from corporal to lieutenant.
"Aw yeah!" Ramos shouted, pumping both his arms in the air.
"Yes!" Vultee shouted.
"We're still in the bridge, you two," I said tersely to my squadmates.
The two men quickly bowed their heads and stopped talking.
"Lt. Dogwood," Schneider said to me. He turned to my squadmates with a smile. "Follow me to my office. Ensign Vultee, Ensign Ramos, you're dismissed."
"Yes, sir," they both said before leaving the bridge.
I followed Admiral Schneider to an office adjacent to the bridge. The captain's chair carried Schneider to the office's entrance, and he floated into the office under his own power.
Inside of the office, there was a large desk and several metal chairs that were bolted to the ground. Schneider took a seat behind the desk, and I took a seat across from him.
As the door slid shut behind us, Admiral Schneider said, "Lieutenant Commander Sebastian Dogwood, Hero of Operation British. How does that sound?"
I wanted to vomit. That was absolutely the last title I wanted attached to my name. If the colony drop still had the same effects as the first timeline, Operation British would be a failure that caused billions of deaths. It was imperative that my name not be tied publicly to the operation.
"Sir, I'm really not much of a hero," I said, trying to sound as undeserving as possible. "All I did was attack the enemy's flagship when I had the chance. Anyone could do it."
"Exactly!" Schneider said, and my frown deepened. "That is the beauty of heroism. Anyone can do it. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time."
"Either of my squadmates fit the mold better than me," I protested. "I'm not a true believer like Vultee, and I'm not charismatic like Ramos. Make one of them a 'hero.' I'm sure they'd accept."
"Dogwood," Admiral Schneider said, his voice darkening. "This isn't a request. Wars need heroes. We need to put someone's face on the broadcast next to Vice Admiral Tianem when we tell the Federation that we captured him. That face is going to be yours, whether you like it or not."
"Yes, sir," I said with a sigh.