Lacus ultimately failed to get an answer from Reid about the timing of peace.
In the end, Reid simply "pinned" Lacus down to sleep, and after a few hours, he left her alone.
With her mind unusually clear after resting, Lacus realized Reid was avoiding her and understood his message.
At this stage, Reid wouldn't stop until he achieved his goals.
Fortunately, Lacus had gained valuable insights from this trip—most importantly, the confirmation that Reid wouldn't actually attack PLANT's homeland.
Thus, after waking up, Lacus immediately boarded a shuttlecraft and returned to PLANT. She was likely already discussing with conservative lawmakers how to seize the opportunity to rebel and oust Patrick Zala.
However, Patrick Zala remained oblivious to the crisis brewing behind him, as all his focus was fixed on the enemies ahead.
In the command room at Yakin Due, Patrick Zala stood before the electronic sandtable and asked,
"What's the status of the Earth Alliance Forces? When can we expect their attack?"
The officer in charge of reconnaissance promptly replied,
"Reporting to the Chairman, the Earth Alliance Forces are still replenishing supplies. However, our reconnaissance indicates their supply ships are nearly all in position. If they attack immediately after resupply, we estimate they will advance toward our homeland in three to four hours."
This time, Patrick Zala didn't erupt in fury—at least not visibly. No matter how volcanic his emotions were internally, his expression remained cold as he continued,
"How are the preparations for Genesis's launch progressing?"
The officer responsible for Genesis operations in the conference room answered,
"Launch preparations are complete. We can fire at any time."
As soon as the officer finished speaking, Creuset, who was also present, raised his hand and asked,
"Chairman, I have a question. For Genesis's first strike, are we targeting the Earth Alliance or the New Miserly Kingdom, which is closer to us?"
Patrick Zala glared at Creuset, annoyed that he would bring up such an inconvenient topic. Even now, many PLANT citizens criticized him for declaring war on the New Misurugi Republic, claiming that ZAFT's decline from victory to defeat began with that decision.
But Patrick Zala knew he had few capable subordinates left, and Creuset was still useful. So instead of outright berating him, he replied gruffly,
"Of course, we're targeting the Earth Alliance. The New Miserly Kingdom has only a token force, and their position offers no strategic advantage. Using Genesis on them would be overkill—like using a cannon to swat a mosquito. I've prepared another 'welcome gift' for them. Creuset, you just need to be ready to defend Genesis when the time comes."
After answering Creuset, Patrick Zala immediately issued orders:
"Aim Genesis at the Earth Alliance. Optimize the firing trajectory to wipe out their entire force in one strike—especially the Atlantic Federation. Not a single nuclear missile must reach our homeland! Understood?"
At Patrick Zala's command, his subordinates uniformly responded, "Yes!"
However, at that moment, an officer entered the conference room and handed Patrick Zala a confidential report.
After reading it, Patrick visibly reddened with rage, his hands trembling in fury.
Patrick Zala finally slammed the intelligence report onto the electronic sandtable and roared:
"Those bastards from the Clyne Faction! They actually sent shuttles to contact the New Miserly Kingdom! Who the hell do they think they are? Still scheming to overthrow me at this critical juncture? Has it really come to this? The Clyne Faction wants to surrender! Even the neutrals are hiding things from me now, while the radicals remain silent! Every councilor in the PLANT Supreme Council is a spineless, disloyal coward!"
Patrick Zala's furious tirade against all councilors naturally displeased the officers present in the conference room.
While it was true that those gathered in Yakin Due's command center were mostly high-ranking ZAFT hardliners, not all of them served directly under Patrick Zala.
Having heard their superiors collectively insulted, one officer stepped forward and said:
"Chairman, please calm yourself. I cannot allow you to insult councilors who are still fighting for PLANT's survival—especially those fully committed to war preparations."
Patrick immediately realized he'd overgeneralized, but his rage remained unabated as he continued shouting at all officers:
"The Clyne Faction are traitors to PLANT! They have no honor! Do they think becoming councilors gives them the right to dictate terms to me? A bunch of spineless worms who've never spent a day in military academy, yet scheme with our enemies to overthrow me—could they even fire a gun if their lives depended on it?
The Clyne Faction has done nothing but obstruct my every move! Always finding ways to sabotage me! I should have followed the Atlantic Federation's example—rounded up all dissenters, used them as bait, then destroyed everything with self-detonation!
Are they blind? Under my command, ZAFT has driven the Earth Alliance into retreat, establishing multiple bases on Earth itself!
Traitors, all of them! The Clyne Faction planned to betray and deceive me from the beginning! This is treason against all PLANT citizens. But every traitor will pay! They'll drown in their own blood!"
While the officers present had no objection to Patrick targeting the Clyne Faction, his current bloodthirsty rhetoric about purging them posed serious problems.
Another officer immediately interjected:
"Chairman, PLANT's homeland defenses are currently manned by former conservative faction troops. We cannot afford internal conflict now. If we imprison or execute those conservative councilors, PLANT will truly be finished. Earth Alliance's nuclear missiles could strike our homeland directly. I implore you to remain calm!"
Finally, Patrick's last shred of reason restrained his fraying sanity. He collapsed weakly into his seat, massaging his temples as he muttered:
"Hah... no purge then... They're only this brazen because of the current situation. Why can't they understand? If we lose this war... Coordinators will have no future..."
Patrick Zala's helplessness left all the officers present in silent resignation. Seeing this, Patrick Zala didn't expect any constructive suggestions from them and waved his hand dismissively.
"Enough. This strategy meeting is adjourned. All of you, return to your duties. The Earth Alliance's attack is imminent. This is our final battle—victory or death."
At Patrick Zala's words, the conference room quickly emptied as everyone dispersed, leaving him alone to brood over their grim situation.
Time passed swiftly, and soon the Earth Alliance Forces had completed their resupply. Though their Mobile Suits couldn't be restored to peak condition, they had regained about 70% of their operational capacity.
The Atlantic Federation had gone to insane lengths, cramming every available space on their ships with nuclear warheads.
They even reached out to the East Asian Republic and the Eurasian Federation, requesting that their surplus storage capacity also be used to carry nuclear weapons—even permitting the use of their own domestically produced warheads against PLANT when deemed appropriate.
The East Asian Republic naturally refused, citing severe violations of international conventions. For them, while they couldn't stop the Atlantic Federation from deploying nukes, they could at least ensure they wouldn't participate in such actions themselves.
As for the Eurasian Federation, they too thought the Atlantic Federation's reckless nuclear proliferation was madness—unsurprising for the stronghold of Blue Cosmos, whose leadership viewed Coordinators as subhuman, undeserving of any rights.
Nevertheless, the Eurasian Federation agreed to transport the Atlantic Federation's nuclear stockpile, likely planning to claim the unused warheads had been "expended" post-war and simply never return them.
Thus, the Earth Alliance's formation shifted. The Eurasian Federation merged its fleet with the Atlantic Federation's to accommodate the nuclear payload, while the East Asian Republic, unwilling to be complicit, advanced as an independent fleet.
The plan was set: the combined Atlantic-Eurasian forces would strike directly at the Jachin Due Fortress and PLANT itself, while the East Asian Republic attacked Jachin Due from another flank. With the New Miserly Kingdom's fleet already confirmed in position after bypassing PLANT, victory was assured!
With their battle formations adjusted, the Earth Alliance Forces surged toward PLANT.
Meanwhile, PLANT's defensive forces had rotated Yzak Joule into the role of frontline commander. All units withdrawn from the Boaz Fortress were now under his command.
Moreover, Yzak was no longer piloting the Duel—instead, he now manned the Reborn Gundam, which had been severely damaged on the first day of the Boaz Fortress battle.
After being transported back from the frontlines, ZAFT was shocked to discover Ash Gray still clinging to life and immediately rushed him to PLANT for emergency treatment.
The half-wrecked Reborn Gundam was also sent back for repairs. After three days of nonstop work, the machine was reborn once more.
Now, Yzak was the only pilot qualified to operate it, so he swapped out the Duel—gaining access to a nuclear-powered Mobile Suit four years ahead of schedule.
At that moment, Yzak and his defensive forces were stationed at PLANT's periphery, deploying the Temporary Anti-Air Missile Launcher Array. As they worked, he used the squad comms to check in with his old comrade Miguel Aiman.
"Miguel, do you think these anti-air missile launchers are sufficient? As someone who fought in the Boaz Fortress battle, you should have a good idea."
Miguel Aiman immediately gave Yzak a decisive answer:
"Absolutely not enough. The Earth Alliance is utterly treacherous—they'll remove the nuclear markers from their nukes and mix them among regular missiles.
Our real objective must be intercepting every single Earth Alliance missile simultaneously, or else some nukes will inevitably slip through.
Moreover, Earth Alliance soldiers fear death not at all. Even knowing they might get nuked, they'll stubbornly cling to our interception forces. That's exactly how Boaz Fortress's defenders were ground down."
Yzak broke into a cold sweat upon hearing this. If the Earth Alliance employed the same tactics during their attack on the homeland, his current forces would likely last only an hour or two at most. They'd be doomed.
Yet despite knowing death was probable, Yzak showed no hesitation. With PLANT's homeland behind them, there was nowhere left to retreat.
Fortunately, Yzak's troubled state didn't last long—the Earth Alliance's main force arrived soon enough.
Having distinguished itself at Boaz Fortress, the Archangel now served as command ship for the Atlantic Federation's central fleet.
Furthermore, with Muruta Azrael aboard, the Archangel was tasked with leading one-third of the combined Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation forces to assault PLANT's homeland.
The remaining forces, naturally commanded from the flagship, would attack PLANT's last defensive stronghold—Jachin Due Fortress.
After all, if Genesis had truly been completed by now, it would undoubtedly be at Jachin Due. This fortress had to be taken.
Reid didn't need any notification to know when the battle between Earth Alliance and PLANT's homeland defenders began.
The glow of nuclear explosions could be detected even from across PLANT's entire breadth. Moreover, having pledged not to attack PLANT's homeland, the twenty-plus Laurasia-class battleships before him had now become over thirty damaged vessels—some with unrepaired cannons—with no standard GINNs remaining, only Training GINNs. They alternated between ship repairs and exchanging long-range fire with the Mobile Dolls he'd sent over.
Reid could only sigh at this point. Did these PLANT moderate council members truly trust him, their enemy, this much? They weren't even putting up defenses anymore—practically rolling out the welcome mat. Just how stretched were their forces?
Fortunately, Reid had no intention of breaking his word. He issued orders directly:
"All ships disperse—maintain at least ten-kilometer intervals. Mobile Suits deploy, advance on Jachin Due Fortress."
With that, Reid himself exited the Argama-class bridge piloted by Hoshino Ruri, telling her:
"Ruri, the troops will follow Mr. Brian's commands from now on. But remind him again—we can't rule out Genesis firing directly at us, so ships must maintain spacing to avoid being wiped out in a single strike.
Moreover, Mobile Suit forces are our strength, so there's no need for aggressive advances. Provide support with missiles and long-range main cannons instead."
Hoshino Ruri remained obedient as ever. Seeing her nod, Reid boarded the Hermes Zero and led his forces out.
Reid intended to finish this quickly. Immediately after deployment, he assembled an elite spearhead unit.
This squad was exceptionally formidable, composed of the Hermes Zero, Immortal Aegis, Mystic Lightning, NT-X2 Gundam, Delta Gundam Kai, and five Delta Plus units.
Even the least capable among them, the Delta Plus, was a top-tier Mobile Suit of this era that could hold its own against the Atlantic Federation's second-generation G Weapons like the Forbidden, Calamity, and Raider. As for the rest, at full combat capacity, every unit except the Delta Gundam Kai could overpower ZAFT's nuclear-powered machines.
Thus, Reid was brimming with confidence about breaking through the Yakin Due Fortress's defenses.
However, during the assault, Reid noticed that the fortress's defensive forces before him retreated almost immediately upon contact, as if luring him deeper inside.
This sight made Reid uneasy. Could Patrick Zala truly be insane enough to forgo firing the first Genesis shot at the Earth Alliance—who had bombed PLANT's homeland with nukes—and instead target his own forces?
Fortunately, Reid soon stopped worrying, as the Earth Alliance forces had already arrived, and Genesis had deactivated its Mirage Colloid System.
Now, Reid could see with his own eyes that Genesis's barrel wasn't aimed at his troops. But... why did this Genesis have a pair of "wings" unfolding?
The next second, Reid realized what those "wings" were—Patrick Zala had installed two small, backward-folding Solar Ray Systems on either side of Genesis during its construction! And judging by the sunlight refraction, they were now targeting his fleet.
The quantum computer instantly calculated the Solar Ray System's attack trajectory, prompting Reid to shout into the comms:
"All units, evade! Stay clear of the Solar Ray System's firing path!!!"
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