After confirming that the Boaz Fortress remains were solid metal, Reid could only have Kira destroy their thrusters first, then have the Gran Chaos fire a shot at the Jachin Due Fortress as well.
The result was naturally the worst-case scenario. Because the Jachin Due Fortress, abandoned after self-destructing, still had a relatively intact outer shell, the metal block stuffed inside was even larger than the one in the Boaz Fortress remains. Reid had no choice but to first pilot the Hermes Zero to destroy its thrusters.
Once all the thrusters on both fortress remains were destroyed, Reid spoke directly into the team voice channel.
"Liuli, the penetration missiles are useless. Arrange for the Mobile Dolls to head to the Boaz Fortress remains and plant demolition charges. We'll need several detonations to break this metal chunk apart.
"While the Mobile Dolls are dealing with the Boaz Fortress remains, the Gran Chaos and the Archangel are to pour all their firepower onto the Jachin Due Fortress remains. We'll blast that fortress apart with everything we've got.
"Also, Liuli, inform the Balkis of our situation here and have them confirm what's happening elsewhere."
After Reid gave his orders, everyone sprang into action. Dealing with both fortress remains simultaneously was indeed the most efficient method now. All of the Gran Chaos's Mobile Dolls were launched and began heading toward the Boaz Fortress remains to start work.
Planting a demolition charge wasn't difficult. All they had to do was slash the surface with a Beam Saber to create a fissure. The cold of space would quickly cool the red-hot metal, and then they could insert the explosives.
Thus, the Mobile Dolls from the Gran Chaos looked like terrorists, covered in all sorts of bombs as they set off to work on the Boaz Fortress remains.
Kira's Strike Gundam lacked heavy firepower, so he was also part of the construction crew. Even Lacus, piloting the Diva Gundam, joined the transport team to help the Mobile Dolls carry the demolition charges.
The Boaz Fortress remains still needed some construction time, but things were heating up over at the Jachin Due Fortress.
Reid had ordered a full-scale assault, so a rain of various missiles and beams was currently pouring down on it, punctuated by occasional shots from the Shipboard Buster Beam Cannon and the Positron Cannon.
However, even under such a ferocious bombardment, after one round of fire, the Jachin Due Fortress's surface was merely battered and torn, while the metal block inside only had two large craters and several smaller ones.
Seeing the state of the Jachin Due Fortress, Reid understood why there wasn't a single defender here.
With these two solid metal chunks, it would take him at least an hour or two to break them apart. Furthermore, he would then have to ensure that the large shattered metal pieces didn't turn into meteorites and crash into Earth. He couldn't possibly handle these two fortress remains in under three hours.
At this moment, intelligence from the other debris sites came in.
At the Yggdrasil Fortress remains, they had encountered a situation similar to the two fortresses here; it was filled with various metals. Moreover, they lacked heavy firepower, and the penetration missiles they carried were designed for rock, unable to pierce pure metal. So, they had begun to focus their ships' fire to shatter the outer shell, then resort to physically scraping it away with Beam Sabers.
Meanwhile, at the Junius Seven remains, the Heliopolis remains, and the two L4 Colony Satellite remains, they had all encountered unexpectedly strong resistance from various armed terrorists.
When Reid inquired, the battle at the L4 Colony Satellite remains had already concluded. Although they had faced a large force led by the Prototype Savior and Prototype Chaos, with both sides having a similar number of Mobile Suits, the Xia sisters and the Black Tri-Stars, knowing time was short, went all out from the start.
Faced with the Psycho-link system and the Trans-Am System, the two enemy units were instantly broken through and their lines torn apart without a shred of suspense. They were then wiped out by the swarming forces of the New Misurugi Kingdom.
The subsequent handling of the two L4 Colony Satellite remains was also proceeding smoothly. There were no strange metal blocks inside. A volley of penetration missiles would shave off a good chunk of the debris. It was estimated that they could complete their demolition mission in less than an hour.
However, the battles at the Junius Seven remains and the Heliopolis remains were still raging when Reid asked for an update.
At the Heliopolis remains, they had encountered a large group of space pirates. The forces Mina brought were relatively weak and outnumbered.
They were temporarily in a stalemate against the space pirates guarding the Heliopolis remains. However, according to Mina, she could definitely end the battle within two hours and detonate the Heliopolis remains within the safety time limit.
As for Junius 7, they had encountered an enemy force ten times their number—and this was after factoring in the Minerva and the Joule Team that had rushed to the scene.
According to the news from Ange, the forces at Junius 7 weren't just hardliners from the former ZAFT Zala Faction, but also included anti-government terrorists from all over Earth and space pirates. It seemed that aside from the extremist Blue Cosmos members, every named terrorist group in the Earth Sphere had sent people.
Moreover, the 47 mass-produced experimental Zakus that Armory One had reported missing were also here. This directly led to the later-arriving Phantom Pain Unit being mistaken for terrorists by the uninformed ZAFT forces. The Minerva's main team once again engaged in battle with the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss Gundams.
Therefore, even with the vast performance advantage of Ange's and the others' Mobile Suits, they could only advance slowly against an enemy force ten times their size and couldn't get close to the Junius Seven remains for the time being.
After learning of the situation everywhere, Reid took a moment to think while the Hermes Zero's Destroyer Beam Cannon barrels cooled down. He had to admit, Durandal had made a grand move.
To orchestrate this incident, he had secretly united so many terrorists. But this was also the consequence of the constant warfare in the CE Universe over the past few decades (ever since the birth of Coordinators, regional conflicts in the CE Universe had never ceased, and the subsequent collapse of religion caused by the discovery of the Winged Whale fossil on Jupiter had led to an unknown number of deaths). As a result, he, a successor, had to bear some of the fruit.
However, Reid had no choice but to accept the challenge now. He issued an order.
"Notify the Balkis. Have it depart immediately for the Yggdrasil Fortress remains to help the forces there destroy the metal blocks inside the debris.
"The Tekkadan forces at the Yggdrasil Fortress remains are to immediately head to Junius 7 to provide support. The two locations are not far apart. They must arrive within an hour.
"After the Xia sisters and the Black Tri-Stars' forces destroy the two L4 Colony Satellite remains, they are to return directly to geosynchronous orbit and stand by. If all seven colony remains are successfully detonated, a large amount of debris will inevitably be captured by Earth's gravity and fall. Intercept these falling fragments with all your might. Even if you can't destroy them directly, break them into the smallest pieces possible."
There was no other way. After estimating the progress of each front, this was the only way Reid could redeploy his forces.
By the time he finished dealing with the Boaz and Jachin Due Fortress remains, it would be pointless to rush to the other debris sites. If they hadn't been destroyed by then, they would have already been captured by Earth's gravity and be hurtling toward the planet. At that point, it would be better to return to Earth's vicinity for a final stand.
As for the Heliopolis remains, Reid decided to trust Mina. Firstly, as Orb's former shadow strategist, her combat command abilities were not to be underestimated. Since she guaranteed she had enough time, he would believe her.
Moreover, it now seemed that the defended debris sites were likely the ones that hadn't been modified. As long as Mina didn't lose all her ships, it shouldn't be a major problem to detonate the relatively small Heliopolis remains within the time limit.
The Yggdrasil remains would no longer be a problem once the Balkis arrived. Even if the metal block inside was larger than the one in Jachin Due Fortress, the Barge Cannon could swiftly shatter it, and then they would just need to clean up the debris.
After all, Flay's Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ and Neil's Dark Hunter Gundam were on the Balkis. One specialized in area-of-effect attacks, and the other in precision sniping; they were absolutely perfect for clearing debris fragments.
As for Junius 7, once Tekkadan's forces arrived, they should be able to quickly resolve the remaining battle. The penetration and demolition equipment Yzak's Joule Team brought should be enough to break apart the Junius Seven remains. If worst came to worst, Reid's forces would have returned to the Earth Sphere by then, and they could just use heavy firepower to forcibly destroy what was left of Junius 7 from outside the atmosphere.
With the forces redeployed, Reid began to do what he could. The Boaz and Jachin Due Fortress remains had to be dismantled slowly; rushing would be useless.
So, the scene now cuts to Junius 7.
Bargiruel felt as if she had returned to the time of the First War. There were ZAFT Mobile Suits to her left and right. Oh, no, now there were also a good number of Strike Daggers used by terrorists to pad their numbers.
But her task remained the same. Bargiruel was the commander of this battlefield, and she calmly and continuously issued orders.
"Fire the Destroyer Beam Cannon. As it fires, yaw the bow thirty degrees to sweep the enemy forces in front. Notify our ZAFT allies to evade the attack axis.
"After the cannonade, immediately use the Positron Cannon to strafe the enemies who dodged downwards. Use high-explosive Hell Dart missiles to attack the enemies who evaded upwards.
"After the attack, all Mobile Suits will charge and push the front line forward again, clearing a path for the ZAFT demolition team."
Bargiruel's tactics were executed perfectly. After being taught by Arnold, Richthofen Dahl's helmsmanship had improved once again. He could now make the 400-meter-class Mystic Angel perform a 360-degree horizontal roll in-atmosphere. Firing the main cannon while simultaneously countering the immense recoil to yaw the bow 30 degrees was difficult, but he managed it.
The beam swept across the enemy forces in front, directly blowing up a line of them. The Mobile Suits that dodged up and down were then ravaged by the Positron Cannon and a barrage of missiles, leaving less than one in ten.
Ange's Ice Phoenix Gundam, leading the Gundam Eclipse and the Z Plus, charged forward. The real Delta Plus and the remaining three Jegan squad members tore open the flank, and just like that, another defensive line was broken.
At this time, in the rear, behind the Mystic Angel, Yzak turned to Athrun, who had followed the Minerva and was now temporarily part of the demolition escort team.
"Athrun, this new warship from the New Misurugi Kingdom is so fierce. You've been staying in the New Misurugi Kingdom for a while, so give me a little inside info. How many of these ships do they have?"
Yzak, having fought too many intelligence battles in August City, was half-jokingly asking for information as soon as he opened his mouth.
However, Athrun was now a professional spy himself and naturally wouldn't reveal what he knew so easily. He replied, "I've mostly been living in Orb and haven't been to the New Misurugi Kingdom much, so I'm not clear on their current military strength."
Hearing this, Yzak thought, You're trying to fool a ghost, Athrun. Not even a ghost would believe you haven't investigated the New Misurugi Kingdom's military strength. But he didn't plan to press further, merely saying with his usual sharp tongue, "Tch, I should just arrest a spy like you and have a good chat in a private room at the bureau. I'm sure after some... rather enthusiastic exchange, you'd tell me everything."
Seeing Yzak's inexplicable competitiveness flare up again at the sight of Athrun, Dearka quickly interrupted.
"Alright, Yzak, look at the rookies behind us fighting that unknown ship. Are you sure we shouldn't go support them? They look like they're about to lose."
Indeed, the battle between the Minerva and the Girty Lue-class ship was about to be lost.
Captain Talia, concerned about Durandal being on board, had not engaged the Girty Lue-class in a close-range firefight.
But in the Mobile Suit battle, the Minerva's trio was truly on the verge of defeat.
This time was different from the original story. Back then, only one piece of Junius 7 was falling, and the arms-dealing conglomerates of the Atlantic Federation knew that the nations of Earth wouldn't actually let such a huge object crash, so they could remain calm.
Now, with seven pieces of debris, even though the New Misurugi Kingdom had dispatched forces to do their utmost to destroy them, these arms dealers could no longer stay calm. If even one of them crashed, they might have to spend the rest of their lives as rats in underground nuclear fallout shelters, which was unacceptable to them.
So they gave the Phantom Pain Unit a kill-or-be-killed order, which roughly meant, "If this debris falls intact, you can stay in space as debris too. Don't come back."
Thus, facing a Minerva that gave him no chance to explain, Neo Roanoke could only choose to break through their blockade with all his might. As long as he engaged the real terrorists, the ZAFT and New Misurugi Kingdom forces would temporarily stop attacking him.
So, could Heine's Impulse Gundam, along with Rey's Mirage Zaku and Lunamaria's Custom Artillery Zaku, take on the combination of the Exass Aegis, Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss?
The result was obvious. The Exass Aegis alone could basically fight the Impulse Gundam and the Mirage Zaku to a standstill.
Asking Lunamaria's Custom Artillery Zaku to fight the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss Gundams was asking far too much of her.
This was also because Neo knew he couldn't deepen the animosity with ZAFT any further. He had ordered Stella, Sting, and Auel to only disable, not destroy, the Minerva's three Mobile Suits. Otherwise, they would have been shot down long ago.
However, when the Custom Artillery Zaku lost its arms and legs again, losing its combat capability, Heine and Rey knew they couldn't fight on. They could only try to fight a retreating battle, escorting the Custom Artillery Zaku and trying to lure the enemy near their mothership to use its firepower to turn the tide.
However, the next second, seeing that the three MS were no longer blocking their path, the Exass Aegis led the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss Gundams straight toward the flank of the forces guarding Junius 7 and began a pincer attack.
Since the four Mobile Suits had proven their stance with their actions, no one went to attack them anymore.
After all, in the current situation, destroying the Junius Seven remains was the top priority. Everything else could be put aside and discussed later.
One had to know that for PLANT, anyone who dared to slack off or drag their feet at this time would be like falling into a pit of yellow mud—even if it wasn't shit, it would be treated as such.
Although this incident was indeed planned by Durandal, the Chairman of PLANT, the PLANT homeland was truly unaware.
(End of Chapter)