Silver Lightning's Full Burst Mode delivered genuine fleet-level firepower: one Super Positron Cannon, two GN Rocket Cannons, two Destroyer Beam Cannons, two Long-blade Beam Cannons, four Wired Heavy Particle Beam Funnels, and countless missiles.
Except for the Absolute Zero Bullet—which Flay deemed excessive against small Mobile Armors like the Euclid—everything was unleashed upon the Euclid squadrons. The brilliance of these beams was observable even from the Daedalus Base on the lunar surface, let alone the hellscape faced by the Euclid units.
It must be said that while the Positron Reflection Shield was specifically designed to counter positron weaponry, it still had its limits. In the original series, the Zamza-zah barely withstood the QZX-1 "Tannhäuser" Positron Blaster from the Minerva—the Mobile Suit nearly being blown away by atmospheric backlash and its cockpit arcing with electricity. So how could the Euclid, a mass-produced version of the Zamza-zah, withstand an enhanced Super Positron Cannon?
Thus, any Euclid attempting to survive by holding position with shields activated would inevitably perish. Those activating thrusters to flee stood a sliver of hope—but this hope was literal. Fleeing Euclids either exposed their flanks or backs to Silver Lightning. With mere Composite Armor—not even Laminated Armor—a direct missile hit would blast gaping holes through them. Against Silver Lightning's sweeping beams, these armors offered virtually zero protection.
After a series of explosions, three Euclid battalions could be declared annihilated.
Only four Euclids—originally positioned at the edges and fleeing toward the flanks—escaped immediate destruction, but they soon encountered encircling Ghost Jegans. Artemis had deployed veterans from the previous war, and two squads easily overwhelmed the two panic-stricken Euclid pilots.
Two Mobile Suits engaged the Euclids head-on, baiting them to activate their Positron Reflection Shields. Once shielded, the Euclids became stationary targets with unprotected rears and sides. The remaining units simply flanked them, delivering one-shot kills with either Beam sniper rifles or Super Rocket Launchers.
Thus, the three Euclid battalions from Daedalus Base were wiped out. Witnessing this, the remaining Astray Reverse Red Frame immediately fled.
Yes, Sting Oakley had run away again.
Besieged by six Kihar II Kai units utilizing Kamille's combat data, Sting was utterly overwhelmed. He couldn't comprehend why unmanned Mobile Suits moved so agilely. Despite their rigid maneuvers, the six-on-one assault left him no room to analyze patterns. Only his enhanced reflexes and sheer luck prevented his demise.
Given Sting's current state—his mind deteriorating from reckless physical enhancements—it was questionable whether he could even discern patterns. Yet, he hadn't completely burned out his brain. Like all Enhanced Persons, he feared death. Seeing the Euclid forces annihilated, he fled without hesitation toward Daedalus Base.
Sting Oakley was well aware that Daedalus Base still had numerous forces, and he needed to regroup with the main army to continue fighting. Staying here now would be suicidal.
It must be said that Sting Oakley's decision was resolute. By the time Flay had finished dealing with the Euclid and turned her attention back to him, the Astray Reverse Red Frame had already put some distance between them.
However, while the monk may flee, the temple remains. The Silver Lightning had just unleashed a Full Burst Mode, and its weapons required recharging. Seeing that the Astray Reverse Red Frame had moved beyond the firing range of the Kihar II Kai, Flay did not order the Kihar II Kai to pursue (the Kihar II Kai could operate far from its mother unit, as they were equipped with independent batteries—as long as the batteries held, they could travel as far as needed). Thus, Flay did not continue the chase.
After retrieving the Kihar II and waiting for the four squads of Ghost Jegans to regroup behind the Silver Lightning, Flay piloted her Mobile Suit into a dive toward Daedalus Base, preparing to assault the facility.
Meanwhile, Daedalus Base had no time to concern itself with the Silver Lightning.
Long before the Euclid had taken off, Reid had already mobilized his forces.
Two Argama-class ships led the way, with the Gran Chaos positioned in the center, flanked by two Constellation-class escorts on each side, followed by four Antietam-class Freighters loaded with Mass-Produced GM Astrays.
Reid had brought out roughly two-thirds of the lunar base's combat strength. If the Earth Alliance fleet were to launch a surprise attack on the lunar base now, it would likely struggle to hold out for even half an hour.
However, Reid was certain that once the Joyeuse Gundam appeared on the battlefield, the Earth Alliance fleet would charge recklessly toward his position.
Although this marked the Joyeuse Gundam's debut in the CE Universe, it wouldn't take long for the Earth Alliance to realize that Reid was piloting the Mobile Suit.
The specifications of Reid and Ange's Mobile Suits were significantly superior to all other MS in the New Misurugi Kingdom.
From the Earth Alliance's perspective, Ange was clearly stationed in the New Misurugi Kingdom, so the one appearing on the Moon could only be Reid Isaac. Moreover, the Gran Chaos, which had served as the flagship of the New Misurugi Kingdom's fleet in the previous war, was also present.
Therefore, the Earth Alliance would not risk splitting its forces to attack the New Misurugi Kingdom's lunar base, especially with the threat of the Cyclops potentially annihilating them. Instead, they would focus entirely on encircling and eliminating the Joyeuse Gundam, at most blocking the retreat route to the lunar base.
However, the forces coming to encircle Reid were precisely the ones he intended to strike hard. It didn't matter how many came—even if the entire Earth Alliance lunar base forces showed up, with the Silver Lightning in hand, Reid was confident he could inflict heavy losses and withdraw unscathed.
After all, Reid still held his ultimate trump card: the ability to unleash unlimited nuclear strikes via the G-Coin shop—or rather, now it should be called the Particle Annihilation Bomb system (the special bombs Shinn had used in two missions).
Additionally, the Gran Chaos was actually carrying missiles armed with Particle Annihilation Bombs. Though the quantity was limited, unleashing them on the Earth Alliance fleet would be more than enough to cause significant damage.
For now, however, Reid's mission was to breach Daedalus Base and completely destroy the Requiem.
A fleet of this scale launching from the New Misurugi Kingdom's lunar base could not possibly go unnoticed by Daedalus Base.
Though the appearance of the Gran Chaos greatly surprised the Daedalus Base Commander, the tasks the base needed to accomplish remained unchanged.
The Daedalus Base Commander issued orders with unusual seriousness:
"As expected, the New Misurugi Kingdom's lunar rear base has sent out its entire force! Notify all units: all base Mobile Suits are to sortie, only gunboats from the warships need to deploy. After sortie, do not advance recklessly—coordinate with the base's defensive fortifications and hold for two hours. The Earth Alliance's lunar base should already be deploying reinforcements by now. The enemy forces don't outnumber us, we just need to hold for two hours."
The Daedalus Base Commander was being exceptionally cautious here. As he said, the forces emerging from the New Misurugi Kingdom's lunar rear base didn't actually outnumber the garrison troops at Daedalus Base.
However, considering the Gran Chaos's super-heavy main cannon, the commander didn't want his forces venturing beyond the base's defensive perimeter.
In fact, the current Daedalus Base was far more formidable than its original counterpart. It housed significantly more garrison troops than before, with various Mobile Suits and Mobile Armors differing from the original specifications. The base was even equipped with a Photon Wave Barrier obtained from the Eurasian Federation.
Once activated, the Photon Wave Barrier would envelop Daedalus Base in a green protective dome. This fortress-grade defense system was powered by multiple ultra-large laser fusion reactors—even the Gran Chaos's main cannon couldn't penetrate it.
What the base commander didn't anticipate was that the war had actually begun the moment the fleet from the New Misurugi Kingdom's lunar rear base set out.
Without the troublesome Neutron Jammers to contend with, Hoshino Ruri seized the initiative first.
Having been neighbors with Daedalus Base for so long, the wireless communication network frequently used by the base had long been mapped out by VEDA Unit 1 stationed at the New Misurugi Kingdom's lunar rear base.
Previously, Reid hadn't wanted to alert the enemy before the attack, so VEDA Unit 1 had never disrupted Daedalus Base's operations.
But now, under Hoshino Ruri's direction, electronic warfare commenced even before the two fleets engaged in combat.
The Daedalus Base Commander had been careless. Seeing the New Misurugi Kingdom's fleet still at a distance, he didn't immediately activate wartime electromagnetic interference.
Thus, VEDA Unit 1 collaborated with VEDA Unit 2 aboard the Gran Chaos, leveraging their overwhelming computational power to successfully infiltrate Daedalus Base's communication network and rapidly seize control.
It must be said that Daedalus Base's control permissions and distribution were quite professional—base functions were divided into several isolated military local area networks. While this made daily operations somewhat cumbersome, it proved highly effective against cyber attacks.
What Hoshino Ruri had seized control of was merely Daedalus Base's communication network. The base's fire control, life support, and completely independent Requiem control systems remained beyond her reach.
However, losing the communication network was devastating enough. With Daedalus Base's Mobile Suits queuing for launch, Hoshino Ruri only needed to alter the launch commands. Instantly, several "traffic accidents" occurred at the main Mobile Suit launch bays and warship operation nodes, while some elevator platforms jammed midway due to erroneous instructions.
However, Hoshino Ruri was not content with merely controlling the communication network. Using information recorded in the communication network servers, she quickly located the network port controlling the base's gates and access points and infiltrated it once again.
But this was as far as Hoshino Ruri could go. The network technicians at Daedalus Base realized they couldn't prevent the base servers from being hacked. To avoid further system breaches that could lead to complete loss of base control, they opted to physically disconnect all module networks.
This decision would cause significant delays between command room instructions and field operations, severely hampering coordination among different units. Now, the entire base could only communicate through a few emergency communication devices connected via landlines.
Still, this was preferable to losing all access permissions and having defensive turrets turn against their own forces. Moreover, if the life support system—the most critical system—was compromised and the enemy decided to vent the base's atmosphere, everyone would suffocate.
With all base gates and platforms under enemy control, the defensive turrets that had been raised at Daedalus Base were now lowered, and those not yet deployed couldn't be activated.
These turrets required manual disconnection from their network-controlled elevators and manual activation to rise—otherwise, they would remain grounded for the duration of the battle.
But Hoshino Ruri had no intention of letting Daedalus Base easily deploy its turrets. She took extreme measures: the moment she gained control of the gate systems, she lowered all partition gates throughout the base, locked every door, and sealed the MS and warship launch bay gates, effectively trapping everyone inside.
Hoshino Ruri's actions were drastic, but the Daedalus Base system management team responded even more severely. With command communications cut off, they decided that court-martial concerns could wait until after the battle.
Following emergency protocols, the team stationed at the server room shut down the communication and gate control servers, activated backup systems, and began restoring control.
However, rebooting the systems of such a large base wasn't a matter of one or two minutes. It would take technicians at least ten minutes to restore the programs—plenty of time for the New Misurugi Kingdom's fleet to position itself directly above the base.
Currently, only a small fraction of Daedalus Base's forces had been deployed. Relying solely on these units against the New Misurugi Kingdom's fleet would be like offering them easy targets.
As for whether the Photon Wave Barrier could hold off the New Misurugi Kingdom's fleet for two hours, every staff officer at Daedalus Base would unanimously answer, "Absolutely impossible."
It was crucial to remember that Artemis was under New Misurugi Kingdom's control. Reid Isaac had undoubtedly studied the Photon Wave Barrier thoroughly and would have countermeasures. Even the Eurasian Federation possessed technology to counter the Photon Wave Barrier—otherwise, they wouldn't have traded it to the Atlantic Federation.
Daedalus Base had installed the Photon Wave Barrier not to counter the New Misurugi Kingdom, but against PLANT. ZAFT's research into the Photon Wave Barrier wasn't particularly advanced.
The difference between an ordinary Beam Shield and the Photon Wave Barrier was akin to the gap between a medieval heavy shield and a fortified city wall.
However, the Atlantic Federation forces at Daedalus Base proved worthy of their elite reputation. Even though the command center couldn't transmit any orders at the moment, when they saw the fleet's launch gates locked, veteran captains of high prestige quickly stepped forward and ordered the direct destruction of the harbor gates to allow the stationed forces to deploy.
Thus, even before the New Misurugi Kingdom fleet arrived, successive explosions occurred across Daedalus Base's surface. All visible and hidden ports were blasted open one after another.
The "traffic-jammed" passageways were swiftly cleared, allowing a portion of Daedalus Base's forces to emerge before the New Misurugi Kingdom fleet's arrival.
However, these forces now operated without command center guidance, having to rely solely on the final orders issued by headquarters.
All units arranged themselves in artillery formation like ancient warfare, awaiting the arrival of the New Misurugi Kingdom fleet.
Now, let's explain why the server room personnel didn't cut power immediately.
The author doesn't know what protection level military server rooms maintain.
But having visited commercial large-scale server rooms, the author can confirm that server power cables there feature bidirectional locking mechanisms. Power can only be cut by pressing the switch on the server rack, designed specifically to prevent accidental disconnection or knocking loose of power cables by staff.
Moreover, using the power-off switch on server racks requires dynamic authorization codes from superiors - another measure to prevent accidental shutdowns by employees.
Presumably, military systems would only be stricter in this regard. With complete communication failure and no dynamic authorization codes available, the only remaining option would be system shutdown.
But system shutdown also requires time - the more complex the system, the slower the shutdown process.
This time window would allow invaders to expand their breach, hence the need to physically sever connections with other modules before initiating shutdown.
As for managing multiple modules separately within one system - this represents a very common management model.
Only those server rooms prioritizing convenience or cost reduction would integrate all functions into a single serial server.
Once such servers get infected by viruses, they'd have to shut down all systems and perform rollbacks - even for smaller systems, this process could easily take one or two days.
(End of Chapter)