May 7, CE71, morning. Earth's synchronous orbit. The Aries had reached its designated position above the Pacific Ocean.
Although Reid was descending alone to carry out the mission this time, the Aries would remain on standby in synchronous orbit, ready to retrieve him from Earth at any time.
However, the only Mobile Suits aboard the Aries this time were the Hermes Zero, the Mystic Lightning, and the NT-X.
As for MS pilots, only the Xia sisters were brought along. After rigorous training, Xia Yufang's MS piloting skills had finally reached elite level, so the NT-X was now assigned to her. Meanwhile, Xia Yulan took over the Mystic Lightning, which Reid had temporarily set aside.
Xia Yulan's pilot profile originally showed exceptionally high combat attributes, making the Mystic Lightning a perfect fit for her. Reid had initially assigned her to the NT-X simply because, at the time, the only individuals with elite-level system evaluations and Awakening Values were Reid himself, Ange, and Xia Yulan.
At this moment, in the Aries' hangar, Reid was preparing to descend to Earth with his old friend Major Li.
However, the Xia sisters were visibly unhappy about this. Xia Yufang even spoke up bluntly:
"Commander, just take me with you. When it comes to combat and infiltration, I'm stronger than this East Asian Republic's Major Li."
Her words were delivered without any tact, leaving Major Li in an awkward position. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to argue with the young girl. After all, her bluntness stemmed—at least in Major Li's eyes—from his nation's failure to protect her family.
Indeed, the East Asian Republic had already located the ruins of the enhanced human research base fabricated by the system at the provided coordinates. Since the system could conjure entire nations out of thin air, a single enhanced human facility naturally appeared completely authentic.
No valuable intelligence was found inside, but it was confirmed that the base's structures had been built around 50 years prior, originally serving as an observatory.
This coincided with the time when news of Evidence01 (the winged whale fossil) discovered in the Jupiter system's Europa satellite reached Earth. It was humanity's first confirmation of extraterrestrial life, sparking a surge in amateur astronomy. The observatory had likely been constructed during this period.
Further investigation revealed something startling: this Pacific observatory had actually been built by the Atlantic Federation.
Thus, in the eyes of the East Asian Republic, the Atlantic Federation had already shouldered the blame for kidnapping the Xia sisters and conducting enhanced human experiments on them.
The East Asian Republic even launched a series of retaliatory operations, with their special forces raiding several illegal Atlantic Federation enhanced human labs in South Asia. Shockingly, they discovered missing East Asian Republic citizens inside.
This not only forced the Atlantic Federation to bear the system's fabricated blame but also left them swallowing their grievances in the face of the East Asian Republic's accusations. After all, they couldn't possibly admit that the destroyed enhanced human labs were theirs.
Reid paid no attention to the East Asian Republic's subsequent investigations. Even if he had known, he would have simply reveled in schadenfreude—after all, the Atlantic Federation's habitual misdeeds meant they deserved every bit of this karma.
However, the Xia sisters still needed to be appeased. Bringing someone along was out of the question—this was a covert infiltration mission. Having a young girl tagging along would draw unnecessary attention even if no one suspected his identity, needlessly increasing the risk of exposure.
So Reid patiently patted her head and said,
"Yufang, don't say that. It really isn't convenient to take you down there this time. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. And if something goes wrong, I'll be counting on you to send a signal into space (by firing the Buster Beam Rifle upward, creating a Plasma Storm Cloud visible even from orbit) to come rescue me.
Alright, be good and wait here for me. It's time for me to go."
With that, Reid led Major Li into the Hermes Zero's cockpit.
The moment the hatch closed, Major Li's demeanor instantly shifted from an unapproachable, hardened soldier to that of an overly curious child.
Gazing around the Panoramic Cockpit with envy, he exclaimed,
"Reid, when are you going to export this Panoramic Cockpit tech? The cockpits in our country's Mobile Suits are ridiculously cramped—nothing like yours, where there's even room to stand. The Celestial Soldiers modified theirs to carry extra ammo, to the point where two grown adults can't even squeeze in.
Also, what are those two protrusions near your head? I didn't see them in the Mystic Lightning or other Mobile Suits. Did you redesign the seat?
And lastly—I'm just wearing a spacesuit, no seatbelts or anything. Are you sure it's safe to make a solo atmospheric re-entry in this thing? I won't end up bouncing around the cockpit like a springball, will I?"
Reid could only sigh at Major Li's sudden transformation from a stoic soldier into a chatterbox—one who was clearly fishing for intel.
"Relax. You don't have to trust my piloting skills, but you have to trust my Mobile Suit engineering. Once we launch, we'll experience weightlessness for a while—just hold onto the back of the seat during that time. As for re-entry, you'll have to trust my shock absorption design.
And these two protrusions? That's called art. You wouldn't understand."
Major Li conceded that Reid's Mobile Suit engineering was indeed impressive, but those two weird protrusions had to be hiding something—probably related to the suit's special capabilities. He'd have to keep a close eye on them later.
So he just chuckled awkwardly, tightened his grip on the seatback, and fell silent.
Seeing that Major Li had stopped pestering him, Reid wasted no time having the Aries eject the Hermes Zero, which then transformed into MA Mode and plunged into the atmosphere.
From inside the Panoramic Cockpit, the view during re-entry was spectacular—the unfiltered sight beneath their feet made it seem as though they were descending through a sea of flames. The red glow of atmospheric friction made the entire planet appear to be burning.
Fortunately, the flames dissipated after a few minutes, and the Hermes Zero fully entered the atmosphere.
Reid then piloted the Mobile Suit toward the designated large MS transport vessel anchored in the American-side shipping lane of the Bering Strait and landed smoothly.
This ship was transporting Mobile Suits for the East Asian Republic's Celestial Soldiers and Celestial General to the Alaska Base. According to Major Li, the Atlantic Federation seemed hell-bent on expanding its space fleet, so they had outsourced most of Alaska Base's defense operations to the East Asian Republic and the Eurasian Federation.
Moreover, the Atlantic Federation had recently detected signs that ZAFT forces were gathering for an attack on the Panama base, so ground defenses had been shifted there. The Alaska base had been receiving defense reinforcements from the East Asian Republic lately.
Reid knew this was the Atlantic Federation setting up the East Asian Republic and Eurasian Federation for a brutal trap.
ZAFT's acting was quite convincing (since even their frontline troops believed Panama was the real target—there was no pretense at all). Without access to classified intelligence, the East Asian Republic also genuinely thought ZAFT's attack would target the Panama base.
Once the elite forces of both nations—especially those from the East Asian Republic—were wiped out by the Cyclops System, the Atlantic Federation's influence within the Earth Alliance would skyrocket instantly.
After all, in conflicts between nations, being morally justified isn't enough—what really matters is who has the bigger fist.
With PLANT looming on the sidelines, the East Asian Republic and Eurasian Federation wouldn't dare to openly break ties with the Atlantic Federation. They'd have no choice but to swallow their bitterness, unable to voice their grievances. In fact, they'd even have to publicly support the Atlantic Federation in the media.
But now that Reid was here, the Atlantic Federation's plan wouldn't go off without a hitch.
Of course, Reid wasn't planning to expose their scheme just yet. He intended to gather irrefutable evidence and reveal it to both factions before the Archangel made its escape.
Not only would he earn massive favors from both sides, but the desperate breakout attempts by the East Asian Republic and Eurasian Federation would also divert a significant portion of ZAFT's forces, easing the pressure on the Archangel.
In the end, the surviving troops from both factions would despise the Atlantic Federation. If Reid ever clashed with them in the future, the East Asian Republic and Eurasian Federation—mindful of their military's sentiments—would at least remain neutral. A perfect three-for-one deal.
So, for now, Reid played the fool, simply following Major Li's arrangements. The Hermes Zero was loaded into a cargo container, hidden among crates filled with Celestial Soldiers.
Before long, Major Li brought Reid an Earth Alliance Forces captain's uniform to change into, along with forged (yet authentic within the Alaska base) identification papers.
Then Major Li grumbled,
"Reid, why'd you pick a generic name like Wang Lei for your alias? Do you have any idea how many soldiers named Wang Lei there are in the military? We ran a search—there are literally thousands."
Reid took the uniform and slipped into it with practiced ease before replying,
"That's exactly why it's perfect. The Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation won't know where to start looking. Haven't you heard? The best place to hide a grain of sand is in a desert. Besides, posing as a soldier from a European division—do you really expect them to come up with culturally profound names?"
Major Li had no comeback for that. He handed Reid a map of the Alaska base, pointed out the areas where their allies were stationed, and left.
The rest of Reid's time was spent memorizing the layout—he couldn't afford to pull out a map mid-operation.
The cargo ship arrived at the Alaska base by evening that same day.
Reid's entry into Alaska went surprisingly smoothly. After all, the documents provided by the East Asian Republic were completely genuine—only the person wasn't the original one, with just some photo manipulation involved.
Moreover, Reid had learned Char's disguise techniques and simply wore oversized sunglasses to look cool (since wearing shades in space obviously wasn't for concealing his appearance). The checkpoint officer at the port figured this kind of show-off young man was a dime a dozen in both the Eurasian Federation and the Atlantic Federation, so they didn't even bother making Reid remove his glasses before letting him pass.
As for the cargo containers, Mobile Suits from the East Asian Republic weren't subject to thorough inspections by other nations anyway, so they only gave a cursory glance at the first few before sending the entire batch into the base without checking each one.
On his first night at the Alaska base, Reid didn't engage in any sensitive operations. He merely took a casual stroll to scout the prison area, then located the underground entrance based on his memorized map, confirming its position before returning to sleep.
The next morning, May 8th, Reid woke up early and climbed onto the roof of the warehouse storing the Hermes Zero to watch what would be the last sunrise visible from this base.
As the sun rose on the horizon, black dots soon appeared in the sky. Before long, the entire base's air raid sirens blared—war had begun.
The moment the alarms sounded, Reid rushed straight into the Hermes Zero stored in the warehouse and said to the East Asian Republic staff present:
"Tell Major Li I'm heading out on a mission. He doesn't need to look for me."
With that, he piloted the Mobile Suit out of the warehouse under the bewildered stares of the ground crew, vanishing into the sky with its stealth systems activated. Reid then descended near the prison block deep within the base, landing in a small grove. Without shutting down the system, he had the suit crouch halfway, engaged the Electronic Camouflage System, locked the cockpit with a biometric passcode, and sprinted to the prison's perimeter wall.
For this wall, Reid opted for direct explosives. After all, ZAFT was already engaged in combat with the Alaska base's defenders—artillery fire and alarms were everywhere. No one would care whether the prison wall was shattered by stray fire or a deliberate blast.
Sure enough, after the explosion, no one came to investigate. The prison guards with any connections had long fled under various excuses, leaving behind only those who had been abandoned. They were still scrambling to understand the situation, frantically calling non-existent superiors for instructions like headless flies.
Thus, Reid smoothly infiltrated the women's prison. After knocking out two female guards along the way, he found Murrue, who had been imprisoned for six days, in the depths of the facility.
Murrue's mental state was clearly not great. She sat curled up on the bed in a daze, her spirit utterly drained—not from lack of rest, but more from overthinking and emotional exhaustion.
As for physical injuries, there didn't seem to be any. She hadn't even been forced to change into prison garb, still wearing the same officer's uniform from the Archangel. It showed no signs of damage, and even her stockings were intact, though slightly frayed.
Of course, this was still a prison. Eating, drinking, and relieving oneself all happened in the cell, and after six days without a shower, the stench was overwhelming, making Murrue appear even more listless.
But Reid didn't mind the smell. Having climbed his way up from the bottom ranks as a soldier, he had endured far worse environments during survival training—places a hundred times more grueling than this.
Reid took off his glasses and spoke to Murrue in the cell,
"Captain, snap out of it. ZAFT is attacking."
Hearing his voice, Murrue flinched reflexively at first, then shook her head, probably thinking she was hallucinating.
But in the end, she glanced at the cell door—and instantly snapped back to reality. She leaped off the bed, rushed to the bars, and asked with a mix of shock and faint joy,
"Reid?! What are you doing here? And why are you wearing an Earth Alliance Forces uniform? What's going on?"
Reid gave the disheveled Murrue an exasperated look.
"What else? I'm here to break you out and drag you back to Star Palace.
You haven't forgotten how much money you owe me, have you? If you really get sentenced to death or life in prison, my money's gone for good. No way. Absolutely not.
Alright, step back. I don't have time to search guards for keys and try them one by one. I'm going with the violent approach."
With that, Reid pulled out a pistol loaded with high-powered armor-piercing rounds and fired two shots—bang bang—straight at the lock.
The electromagnetic lock shattered instantly, and Reid yanked the door open.
But even with freedom right in front of her, Murrue didn't move. Instead, she looked at Reid with concern and said,
"Reid, no—this is Earth Alliance Forces headquarters. The place is crawling with Atlantic Federation troops. I can't escape. I'll just drag you down with me."
Seeing that she was still worrying about him, Reid grinned and reached out his hand.
"Don't worry, Murrue. There were barely any Atlantic Federation troops on my way here. Seems like they left the East Asian Republic and Eurasian Federation forces behind to hold off ZAFT's full-scale assault.
If you don't believe me, I'll take you for a walk outside. Only a handful of Atlantic Federation soldiers are left in this base. You—and they—are all disposable now.
Oh, and Murrue, I'll ask this as usual—are you ready to work for me for the rest of your life?"