"Are they coming? The crucial moment is next."
The garrison commander of Boaz Fortress felt his heart in his throat. For this battle, one of the two most dangerous moments was about to arrive.
Undoubtedly, the most likely times for the enemy to deploy the Goddess of Love were either at the very beginning before engaging the enemy, or at the moment when ZAFT Forces were on the verge of victory.
"Will they use it?"
Although the fortress's air conditioning was running at full blast, everyone, including the garrison commander, held their breath as they stared at the screens.
Not just them—in fact, all ZAFT Forces soldiers around the fortress were holding their breath, silently praying to the gods that they wouldn't see a pink light blooming in space the next moment.
"Whew!"
The tense and thrilling wait was over. The Coordinators saw the scene they most wanted to see: the East Asia Fleet had formed a cone-shaped formation, led by the incredibly exaggerated Ying Zheng, its entire surface covered with gun barrels.
"The opportunity has come!"
The officers in the fortress, seeing this, excitedly clenched their fists and waved them wildly in the air, as if only this could vent their passion. They embraced each other and patted each other on the back, making uninformed observers think the Boaz Fortress defenders had already won the battle.
There was a time when they, triumphant on the battlefield and brimming with confidence, would never have imagined being reduced to having their emotions dictated by the enemy.
"Calm down, calm down!"
The garrison commander allowed the officers behind him and the cheering soldiers on the battleships to revel for a while. On the battlefield, anyone in their army could freely release their emotions—except him, because he was the overall commander of the ZAFT Forces in this battle.
His gaze fixed firmly on the screen showing the orderly advance of the East Asian army, he waited until the enemy's large fleet entered the predetermined firing range.
"Strike, begin the attack!"
With a forceful downward sweep of his hand, the garrison commander sounded the horn of attack.
"Attack, attack!"
"For PLANT, for the glory of the ZAFT Forces!"
Having received the attack order and seeing the enemy that had come from afar, the ZAFT soldiers, now transformed from attackers to defenders, prepared to fight desperately to protect their Homeland.
Just as General Zheng and Chief of Staff Jiang had predicted, the first to unleash firepower upon the East Asia Fleet was indeed the Boaz Fortress, modeled after the Nova Fortress. From within that massive artificial structure, the Coordinators had deployed a star-studded array of firepower points, leveraging the asteroid's own volume.
The energy system installed inside the fortress, no less powerful than those typically installed in Allied Forces bases, provided a continuous supply of energy to these countless firepower points.
The Positron Cannon, rarely installed on ordinary battleships and even when installed, required careful timing for firing to avoid burdening the ship's engines, was now mounted on the Boaz Fortress.
The most powerful conventional weapon on an individual basis was actually being used by the Coordinators as ordinary artillery.
With firepower sufficient to sink a battleship in a single strike, the City Breaking Cannons fired relentlessly from the fortress.
Accompanied by the crimson glow of the City Breaking Cannons were dense beams and seas of missiles, a sight that could make one turn pale.
No wonder in the original timeline, when the Atlantic Federation Army's reinforcements arrived in space,
they procrastinated and held back until Creuset, the double agent, delivered the key to unlocking the Light of Peace.
Only then did they dare to assault the Boaz Fortress head-on, immediately deploying the Light of Peace
to destroy Boaz!
Otherwise, just chewing down this fortress that the Adjuster takes pride in would have been enough to cost the Atlantic Federation half their teeth, let alone continuing to attack PLANT's homeland.
In this regard, the Coordinators undoubtedly succeeded in copying the East Asian Alliance's homework.
"Chief of Staff Jiang, the enemy's welcome ceremony is quite grand."
Chuckling lightly, since he dared to follow the Coordinator commander's wishes, how could General Zheng of the East Asian Army be a fool?
Aside from the Goddess of Love, the East Asian Army's weapons development department had pulled out all the stops for this battle,
bringing out their best kept secrets
and having General Zheng bring them to the battlefield.
Remember the Eurasian Federation's Artemis Fortress?
The fundamental reason it was known as the impenetrable fortress was its Umbrella of the Moon System - an extremely energy-intensive system that, once deployed, could theoretically block the vast majority of attacks as long as energy supply was sufficient.
During the Second War, the Atlantic Federation had adapted this system for large Mobile Armors!
And now Wang Hu had brought this technology back much earlier - could East Asian researchers possibly lag behind the Atlantic Federation's?
The East Asian Alliance would only enhance this technology, handling it with greater vision than the Atlantic Federation's petty approach!
"Focus fire! Shoot down the Naturals' warships!"
When Boaz Fortress initiated its attack, ZAFT Forces warships and Mobile Suits distributed on the periphery also began closing in on the East Asia Fleet.
According to their plan, after the fortress firepower delivered a head-on blow to the East Asia Fleet,
their suicide squad's warships and Mobile Suits would seize the moment to charge into enemy formations during the momentary chaos,
penetrating as deep as possible into the enemy fleet array to mix with the East Asian Army's vessels.
This would, to some extent, restrict the East Asian Army from using superweapons like the Goddess of Love -
unless they were willing to destroy their own forces with indiscriminate attacks!
Then the ZAFT main fleet and MS units would transform into wolf packs hunting the enemy,
stripping away the East Asian Army's peripheral fleet layer by layer.
Through patience, perseverance, and fearless sacrifice,
they would gradually establish the opportunity for victory.
Tactically speaking, there was nothing wrong with the Coordinator ZAFT Forces' arrangements.
Their only mistake was choosing the wrong opponent.
As all Coordinator soldiers watched the battlefield, when the first wave of attacks from Boaz Fortress was about to hit the East Asian Army's vanguard,
suddenly, in their field of vision, brilliant light screens rose from the bow of the East Asian Army's Emperor Qin Shi Huang-class Ying Zheng.
Following closely were the Wuan-class heavy cruisers. All the leading warships of the East Asian Army deployed what appeared to be a thin, fragile-looking light screen. Yet it was this very light screen that effortlessly intercepted the Coordinators' first wave of attacks, upon which they had pinned their highest hopes.
The Coordinators' spear clashed with the East Asian Army's shield, ending with the shield declaring victory.
"Impossible!"
"The Umbrella of the Moon from the Eurasian Federation's Artemis Fortress?"
"How did the East Asians mount this thing on a warship?"
"Wasn't it said this requires an absurdly powerful energy core?"
Blinking in disbelief, the ZAFT Forces' suicide squad found themselves unable to brake. They had accelerated to maximum speed only to witness an outcome completely contrary to their expectations. Instead of causing chaos among the East Asian Army, they nearly fell into disarray themselves.
They racked their brains but couldn't comprehend how the East Asian Army had achieved this. Fortunately, being suicide squad members, they were undoubtedly desperadoes with their lives on the line. After all, if extremist groups like Blue Cosmos could exist within the Earth Sphere, why couldn't there be similar fanatics among PLANT's Coordinators?
"Don't be afraid! The enemy merely installed Umbrella of the Moon generators on their bows."
"Their port, starboard, upper, and lower hull sections remain unchanged."
"Right! Such an energy-intensive system—how long can their power core possibly last?"
"Charge through! Break through their lines and victory will be ours!"
"These paper-thin warships—our Mobile Suits will pierce them through in minutes!"
"Victory belongs to PLANT! Glory to ZAFT!"
One observant and bold Coordinator soldier from the suicide squad quickly analyzed the situation and roared encouragement to his comrades through the internal comms channel. "They make sense! The East Asian Army only has these tricks—don't be intimidated!"
At this point, everyone preferred to believe what they wanted to believe. Like self-hypnosis, the Coordinator soldiers tried to will their fantasies into reality—that once they breached the enemy fleet formation, the scales of victory would tip in their favor.
Yet these Coordinator soldiers' fantasies were doomed to remain unrealized. To put it bluntly, had it not been for the significant performance gap between Mobile Armors and Mobile Suits, the Coordinators would have struggled severely even against the Allied Forces' box formation. This time, the East Asian Army had not only upgraded their warships but also equipped them with Mobile Suits that matched or even surpassed Coordinator performance. How could their formation possibly be shaken by such assaults?
In an instant, the East Asian Army raised their hunting rifles against these charging Coordinator desperadoes. Beam Cannons adjusted their angles while missile bay hatches slid open. One moment they were still as virgins, the next they moved like fleeing hares. It resembled the East Asian New Year celebrations of the old calendar year 2008, when fireworks lit enough to blanket the entire Eastern continent were set off.
The attacking Coordinators lost sight of the East Asian fleet, their vision completely occupied by a web of fire enveloping the entire armada. The fact that they could no longer see the fleet through the barrage demonstrated the sheer density of this defensive fire network.
Attempting to breach such a fire net was clearly beyond the capabilities of the Coordinator suicide squad in their current state.
The Coordinator suicide squad members were like driving a small car, expecting to effortlessly smash through the electric vehicle ahead.
Only to suddenly realize that what lay before them was no mere electric vehicle with flesh wrapped around steel.
It was essentially a grimy, mud-covered dump truck loaded with construction debris!
"No!"
As mentioned, these Coordinator suicide squad members had charged forward with unstoppable momentum. If they couldn't brake initially, it became even more impossible as they drew closer to the East Asian Army fleet.
Thus, it was no different from moths flying into flames.
Wide-eyed with desperation yet powerless, the Coordinator soldiers of the suicide squad crashed headlong into the East Asian Army fleet's fire net.
They became part of the dazzling fireworks display, adding their own brilliance to the spectacle and declaring the end of their life's journey.
"How could this be? How could this be?"
The fortress's attacks proved ineffective, and the suicide squad's assault seemed more like collective suicide.
Limbs trembling uncontrollably, the morale of the ZAFT Forces suffered a heavy blow.
"The enemy hasn't even used the Goddess of Love yet. Is the gap between us really this vast?"
Countless Coordinator soldiers began seeking answers from those around them.
"Are you still warriors of the ZAFT Forces?"
"Are you going to retreat, surrender, and halt your advance over such trivial setbacks?"
(End of Chapter)