As Reid successfully neutralized the Solar Ray System and prepared to rally forces to capture the Yakin Due Fortress, the Earth Alliance finally overcame its chaos and began assembling its remaining strength for one final push.
However, the situation within the Earth Alliance was far worse than that of the New Miserly Kingdom's fleet.
To understand what had transpired, we must rewind to the moment when the Earth Alliance first engaged PLANT's homeland defense forces, with their main fleet advancing toward Yakin Due.
Unlike the original timeline, the Earth Alliance's fleet was significantly larger this time. Even after diverting a third of the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation's combined forces to attack PLANT's homeland, Yzak's defensive forces nearly collapsed under the first wave of assaults.
Yzak now fully grasped just how vile the Atlantic Federation's nuclear ambush tactics were. What baffled him even more was why Atlantic Federation soldiers willingly charged forward, knowing they would be obliterated by nuclear blasts.
The only silver lining was that the Atlantic Federation refused to risk losing its elite pilots to nuclear strikes. Thus, none of their aces—including Canard Pars, Olga Sabnak, and Emilio Broderick, whom Muruta Azrael viewed as expendable—were deployed.
Bargiruel had insisted on sparing them, and Muruta Azrael had obliged as a courtesy to her.
The reason for the Atlantic Federation soldiers' suicidal determination was simple: their leadership had disclosed the existence of Genesis to the rank and file.
Faced with the knowledge that Coordinators possessed a weapon capable of targeting Earth, the Atlantic Federation soldiers had no choice. Those with families back home fought with desperate resolve.
Meanwhile, Lacus, having returned to the Three Ships Alliance, remembered Reid's words. With PLANT's homeland under dire threat, she could no longer hesitate—even if it meant fighting on two fronts.
Each of PLANT's homeland Colony Satellites housed roughly 400,000 to 500,000 people (official records state PLANT's population at 60 million, with twelve cities each containing ten Colony Satellites. Accounting for war casualties and varying population densities, this estimate holds).
A single nuclear strike could annihilate an entire Colony Satellite. Thus, the Three Ships Alliance's intervention under the pretext of preventing such humanitarian disasters was justifiable.
As Reid had predicted, PLANT's defense forces were in no position to challenge the Three Ships Alliance. Moreover, the arrival of Freedom Meteor and Justice Meteor significantly alleviated the missile barrage from the Earth Alliance.
Seizing the moment, Yzak pragmatically ordered:
"All units, cease fire on Eternal, Archangel, and Kusanagi! Our enemy is the Earth Alliance!"
With that, he piloted the Reborn Gundam toward Justice Meteor, opening a furious comms channel:
"Athrun! What the hell is your game now?! Don't think helping us means I'll forget you're a traitor!"
Athrun, well aware of his childhood friend's tsundere tendencies, replied firmly:
"I'm here to break the cycle of war and hatred. Enough talk, Yzak—work with us to defend PLANT. That's what matters now!"
Yzak naturally knew what was more important and could only retort verbally,
"I know! Don't you dare order me around, you traitor!"
Meanwhile, Miguel and Dearka, who had been watching the entire exchange between Athrun and Yzak, were also bantering over the internal comms.
Miguel directly teased,
"Dearka, I never thought someone as straightforward as you would defect to Miss Lacus' side. You and Yzak were the closest in the squad, and now you're not even standing with him."
Hearing this, Dearka fired back without hesitation,
"Hah, Miguel, you're one to talk. Athrun saved your life twice, and yet here you are, not siding with him either."
After their mutual jabs, both fell silent, cursing how twisted fate could be.
But banter aside, the four former teammates from Creuset's squad didn't slack off in the slightest.
Moreover, Athrun's leadership potential gradually shone through. Within minutes, he began directing PLANT's local defense forces on how to hold their ground.
Though Yzak kept cursing at Athrun for giving him orders, his actions spoke otherwise—he obediently relayed Athrun's commands like a loyal adjutant.
As for Kira, he couldn't break into this tight-knit group and could only follow the Three Ships Alliance's orders alongside Jiang Kelly and Praya Reveley.
However, their cooperation was destined to be short-lived. As the bulk of the Earth Alliance forces entered the Ray Axis prepared by Genesis, Yzak was the first to receive the evasion directive.
Without hesitation, Yzak immediately forwarded the data to Athrun, shouting,
"Athrun, evade now! ZAFT's secret weapon is about to hit!"
Naturally, Athrun receiving the intel meant the Three Ships Alliance got it too. Everyone was aware of Genesis' existence, and the moment they saw the Ray Axis, they pushed their engines to full throttle without a second thought, veering away from the deadly path.
The next second, Genesis deactivated its Mirage Colloid System. A blood-red gamma-ray beam, dozens of kilometers thick, instantly pierced through the Earth Alliance fleet. Every Mobile Suit and ship caught in the firing axis exploded instantly under the terrifying gamma-ray beam, their fragile internal structures reduced to ashes—only fragments of armor remained.
Moreover, Genesis' gamma rays possessed extreme penetrative power, punching clean through the Earth Alliance fleet without losing any destructive force before vanishing into the vastness of space. The only silver lining was that no other artificial structures lay within Genesis' firing range in that direction. (Research confirmed Genesis' range matched the Earth-Moon distance.)
With that single shot, the Earth Alliance fleet was effectively crippled.
Only the capital ships of the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation's combined fleet—such as the Archangel, which had been positioned at the edge of the Ray Axis and possessed superior mobility—managed to escape. In the end, less than one in ten warships survived.
The Mobile Suits fared slightly better than the warships. Those entangled with PLANT's local defense forces were still alive, as Genesis' firing axis had deliberately avoided their battle lines.
Unfortunately, the pilots of these remaining Mobile Suits were utterly terrified by Genesis' attack. With no mothership to return to, they could only flee in panic.
The sole consolation for the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation's combined fleet was that their supply ships, positioned further back, were outside the firing axis and suffered almost no losses. The Mobile Suits and nuclear-equipped Moebius units aboard them remained intact.
Moreover, when tallying the survivor list, several aces were still alive. The ships carrying Mu and Morgan Chevalier hadn't been destroyed. Although Edward Harrelson's vessel had malfunctioned, at least it hadn't exploded.
As for the East Asian Republic's fleet, positioned on the flank of the combined Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation fleet, roughly half their ships managed to evade the attack.
However, losing half their expeditionary fleet outright was enough to make the East Asian Republic's forces furious. To make matters worse, their commanding officer was among the lost half. With most senior officers gone, the crippled fleet was left leaderless.
And that wasn't all—the Jachin Due Fortress suddenly deployed a massive wave of Mobile Suits. A small portion attacked the New Miserly Kingdom's fleet, while the rest charged straight at the Earth Alliance forces. After all, the Earth Alliance had drawn far too much hostility this time.
The remnants of the Earth Alliance fleet could still observe the New Miserly Kingdom's fleet being struck by the Genesis' Solar Ray System, though the extent of their losses remained unclear. Still, with Jachin Due's forces moving in to mop up, the damage was likely severe.
Thus, the East Asian Republic's surviving fleet didn't even consider requesting aid from their closer ally, the New Miserly Kingdom, opting instead to retreat while fighting a rearguard action.
As a result, the Earth Alliance's forces collapsed in utter defeat, relentlessly pushed back by Jachin Due's forces until the East Asian Republic's remnants regrouped with the combined Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation fleet.
At this point, Bargiruel stepped up to demonstrate her leadership. Though temporarily assigned, as the commander of the fleet attacking PLANT's homeland, she was now the only officer in the combined Atlantic-Eurasian fleet qualified to take charge.
So when Bargiruel stepped forward to salvage the situation—dispatching the three Gundams from the Archangel to retrieve some of the Mobile Suit units that had attacked PLANT—she assumed command of the remaining ships in the combined fleet.
Shortly after, the East Asian Republic's remnants withdrew, forming the largest remaining force in the Earth Alliance. Bargiruel immediately proposed merging the three fleets.
Though the East Asian Republic's fleet no longer had a commander who could command universal trust, they refused to submit to Bargiruel's authority due to their distrust of the Atlantic Federation. Nevertheless, they still regrouped with the combined Atlantic-Eurasian fleet.
After brief discussions, both sides agreed to cooperate in a counterattack against Jachin Due.
After all, the three factions had to stick together now—otherwise, PLANT's pursuing forces would annihilate them all. Moreover, after witnessing Genesis' first shot, everyone reached the same conclusion: it absolutely could not be allowed to fire toward Earth.
Thus, the Earth Alliance's remnants clashed fiercely with PLANT's homeland defense forces and Jachin Due's pursuing units.
At this point, the Three Ships Alliance found themselves in an awkward position. The Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation's nuclear strike teams had been nearly wiped out, and until reinforcements arrived, the Alliance technically had no reason to engage.
But Lacus, remembering Reid's request, gave a direct order: the Three Ships Alliance would attack Genesis. They absolutely could not allow it to fire a second shot.
Thus, the Three-Ship Alliance and PLANT's homeland defense forces, who had been fighting side by side moments ago, suddenly became enemies.
Fortunately, the Three-Ship Alliance did not actively attack PLANT's homeland defense forces but instead began assaulting the pursuing forces from the Jachin Due Fortress.
This left PLANT's homeland defense forces dumbfounded, unsure whether to engage the Three-Ship Alliance.
Luckily, Yzak reacted quickly and directly ordered:
"What are you all standing around for?! Attack the Earth Alliance fleet! Can't you see such a huge target? Why are you fixated on these three ships?!"
The MS pilots of PLANT's homeland defense forces snapped out of their daze at Yzak's shout, immediately bypassing the Three-Ship Alliance to attack the Archangel and the allied forces behind it.
However, inside the Archangel, a minor internal conflict had just erupted.
After regrouping the fleet, Bargiruel wasted no time and immediately ordered all MS units to sortie, coordinating with the East Asian Republic's fleet to counterattack the Jachin Due Fortress.
But Muruta Azrael aboard the Archangel seemed to have snapped, descending into madness. The moment Bargiruel ordered full support for the East Asian Republic, he vehemently objected:
"No! Forget about Jachin Due for now—the entire force must attack PLANT's homeland! Bring down every last cursed hourglass! Deploy all nuclear-equipped Mobile Suits and fire every warhead we have! Destroy PLANT's homeland—then Genesis won't matter, no matter how powerful it is!!"
Bargiruel immediately countered:
"Director Azrael, the East Asian Republic will never cooperate with a nuclear strike on PLANT's homeland! We don't have the resources to split our forces now!"
But Muruta Azrael was in no mood to listen to any argument against attacking PLANT. He roared furiously:
"Who cares about the East Asian Republic?! Let them counterattack Jachin Due if they want—it'll help intercept forces from the fortress! Lieutenant Commander Bargiruel, attack PLANT's homeland now! That's an order!!"
His rage escalating, Muruta Azrael even drew his gun—though he didn't aim it at Bargiruel but at the CIC communications officer, glaring as he barked:
"What are you waiting for?! Relay the order now!!"
The officer, not daring to disobey, hurriedly transmitted the command.
For the sake of avoiding further conflict, Bargiruel remained silent, tacitly allowing Muruta Azrael's actions.
Satisfied that his orders were being carried out, Muruta Azrael holstered his pistol, his gaze filled with murderous intent as he stared at PLANT's homeland.
"Captain Bargiruel, the stage is yours. Go—annihilate PLANT completely."
Meanwhile, the other forces of the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation were utterly confused.
They had just received orders to assist the East Asian Republic in counterattacking Jachin Due and had already deployed their MS units—only to receive new orders minutes later, recalling them to attack PLANT's homeland.
Such erratic changes in orders are a major taboo at the command level. However, considering that Bargiruel was also thrust into this position abruptly, the captains of the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation said nothing. After relaying the orders to the deployed Mobile Suits, they turned their ships around with the Archangel to attack PLANT's homeland.
But these orders weren't as effective for the Mobile Suits already deployed, especially for officers capable of independent thinking.
Upon receiving the orders, Mu immediately vented in the squad comms:
"What kind of order is this! Why attack PLANT's homeland now? Isn't that Genesis the bigger threat? If it fires a shot at Earth, what's the point of taking PLANT's homeland? And changing orders on a whim isn't Bargiruel's style."
At this moment, Morgan Chevalier, who had long been partnered with Mu, cut straight to the point:
"Clearly, the second order came from Muruta Azrael aboard the Archangel. Only Blue Cosmos would still be fixated on attacking PLANT's homeland now."
Hearing this, Mu understood immediately and asked,
"Morgan, what do you think we should do now?"
Morgan Chevalier replied bluntly,
"What else can we do? Battlefield comms are chaotic—delayed or missed transmissions are perfectly normal. Look, that kid Edward Harrelson gets it. He's already charging his unit into the East Asian Republi
c's forces. Later, we can just say we were engaged and couldn't withdraw."
Seeing Morgan Chevalier's stance, Mu grasped his intent and announced over the squad channel:
"Let's move out. We're going to support Edward Harrelson. Can't leave our allies fighting alone."
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