A burst of light like a star exploding came into view from the distance and in an instant the Lieutenant was taken several years back. He remembered the sequence as vividly as some might recall their wedding. The striking moment, the first crescendo of Operation Stardust when an entire fleet was crippled by one nuclear blast. The words uttered with absolute pride stemming from a soul forged in the crucible of Zeon.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"For the rebirth of the ideals of Zeon. . ."</span><br/><br/>The words echoed in Romav's mind for a moment, a passion swelled within him one that had been absent for some time. He briefly acknowledged the first blast was ultimately a failure deflected by a well-executed counterstrike but the second blast struck its mark and crippled one of the Salamis leaving it hanging dead in space causing a disarray among the troops and just as quickly as that happened his wingman Garrou was off after the crippled vessel completely ignoring the battle and going after the cruiser. Were their numbers any stronger he would have left the fool to his own stupid charge and continued the plan but they couldn't afford to split at this time.<br/><br/>"Garrou! Focus on the functional Salamis! They're the threat now!!!"<br/><br/>His teeth clenched in frustration but the Kämpfer fell in line behind the Gelgoog. One of the 360mm bazookas was in hand and several Quels were now blocking their path and several beams burned through the ether. Tiny micro-bursts from his vernier pushed an erratic but bordering on muscle memory zig zag pattern that had preserved the Lieutenant in the fragile but nimble Kämpfer. The only thing he could do now was to try to eliminate the Salamis as quickly as possible and move on. He fired two rounds in quick succession at one of the Quels that had taken up position between him and the Salamis. Either the Quel would explode or dodge them only to have them strike the Salamis. He turned again and as he turned fired three more missiles in a sweeping pattern over the main body of the Salamis.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Half magazine. . .</span><br/><br/>His only turn now was to eliminate the crippled salamis from play and to heavily damage the other ship. Hopefully they could take the artillery units unharmed and move on. Any time wasted was time for them to be more quickly discovered.<br/><br/>"Everyone focus on the other Salamis! Take it out of play!"<br/><br/>The LTG would be furious for the mistake but he was an experienced pilot that wouldn't let it cloud his judgment. He'd get it done.