The two of us moved to a secluded meeting room near the bridge. It was a public room with glass paneling on the door, but it had a lock. The purpose of the room must have been to allow flag officers to have conversations in private.
Once inside the room, Wei said, "I'm sorry to say it, Lt. Commander Dogwood, but you wouldn't be able to get this plan past Rear Admiral Schneider."
"What?" I asked, offended. "Doesn't my word hold any weight after I found the fault in Island Iffish?"
"Sure," We said, "but you're still just a pilot, and that's just the 'ethos' side of things. There are certain pieces of information that you aren't privy to."
"And what are those?" I asked.
"Information regarding the present political situation. Let me ask, what do you think our primary objective is in this current deployment?"
"Dropping Wathort on the Earth, obviously," I said, though I didn't like where the conversation was going.
"That's the first objective listed in the briefing, and the second listed objective is the destruction of the Federation fleet. The objectives' positions on the list aren't necessarily the same as their mission significance. Our primary objective is to cripple the EFSF."
"What? But, why?" I asked, confusion and anger circling the interior of my mind in equal parts. "They can just build more ships. If we can drop another colony on the Earth, that will force the Federation to sign a peace deal that's beneficial to Zeon."
Wei's expression hardened. "Even if we managed to launch Wathort at the Earth, it would just be a symbolic victory. One way or another, there won't be a peace treaty with the Federation. Not yet."
"What!?" I shouted.
"Just think about it," Wei said. "Play the peace talks out in your head. Let's say that we're able to drop Wathort on Sahara Base and the Federation comes to the negotiation table. We'd be able to get independence. We might even be able to get war reparations and a promise that the Federation won't militarize for twenty years. We would be able to create a world where the Zeon and the Federation are equals."
"That sounds great to me," I said.
"High command disagrees, and I understand where they're coming from," Wei said coldly. "Our only move to reach a lasting peace is the complete vassalization of the Earth Sphere."
"Why?"
"We've already killed a billion of them. At this point, there can be no deescalation. Even if the Federation follows this theoretical treaty, what do you think happens in twenty years? They'll attack Side 3 with their own mass-produced mobile suits and crack our colonies open. We need to put bases on Earth, and that can't be achieved at the negotiating table. We need to launch a ground invasion."
"What about rebellion? They still outnumber us 100 to 1. How are we supposed to control them?" I asked.
"Crushing rebellions is much easier than fighting a unified force," Wei said with a shrug. "Plus, we'll have Zakus, and they won't."
I paused for a long moment, considering what Wei had just said. My fingers gripped the bridge of my nose, and I sighed deeply before saying, "So that's it? There's no reason for me to bring this to Admiral Schneider?"
"You're a rank above me, Commander. I wouldn't deign to give you a command, so you should just consider this advice. Schneider would reject this plan immediately," Wei said.
"I understand," I said quietly. "Thanks."
Lt. Wei departed the small conference room, leaving me alone once more. I looked at the papers held in my hand, and my fingers began to crumple them in an empathetic reaction with the rage roiling in my heart.
"God damn it!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, throwing the papers against the wall to punctuate my oath.
Every time I tried to take the initiative, the high command of Zeon would shut it down. In one awful moment, I realized that there was nothing I could do to end the war before the Antarctic Treaty. Zeon and the Federation would keep escalating this conflict until one side was dead.
I couldn't affect the war in any meaningful way, so I came to a decision at that moment. I would need to narrow the scope of my goals. While it was true that I couldn't change the war, I could at least protect my subordinates. That would be my new goal: to keep myself and those beneath me alive through the war. We'd fight as hard as possible through the war, and then we'd inevitably flee to Axis when the idiots in the Zabi family cause us to lose.
There was another option. I could have tried to assassinate Gihren, Kycilia, and Dozle Zabi before the end of the month. That was an option I knew I wouldn't take. No matter how well I planned out the assassinations, I would have to leave a lot up to chance. If one person spotted me at the wrong moment or some super detective was able to link my footprint back to me, I'd be dead.
I didn't care about my life so little to risk it in such a way. The assassinations of the Zabis could be left to Char Aznable. Thinking about it, maybe I could subtly help Char kill the Zabis.
That was a consideration for later, however. At that moment, I would need to get through the Battle of Loum. I sighed. Why was I even there? The battle would inevitably end in a massive victory for Zeon one way or another. I was just going to risk my own life in a battle that was already won.
I remembered a short series of CGI episodes I watched a long time ago. Maybe there was some good I could do even if I couldn't affect the war as a whole. Perhaps I could save a few lives and start to make up for the blood already on my hands.
When I returned to my room, I picked up my tablet and searched for a ship that I knew would be traveling with the 1st Combined Fleet: the Jotunheim.