With help from an insider, the Landing Force easily infiltrated the GAT factory. Although Orb would cooperate in this operation, only a small number of people knew about it. To the outside world, and even to most people within Orb, the seizure of the GATs would have nothing whatsoever to do with Orb. Orb itself would also become one of the victims.
After all, Orb did not wish to step forward and join either side of the war. In the future, Orb could deploy troops against the Alien Beasts or against Glast, but it would never deploy troops against the Earth Force.
The current Orb still had no way to become strong. Just as the Earth Force was now using Orb's Heaven's Pillar as a transit station for travel to and from space, and Orb had no way to refuse. But once Orb became stronger, or the Earth Force became weaker, Orb might not take military action against them, but it would at least be able to firmly reject all of their demands.
However, this was not yet the time for Orb to become strong. After all, ZAFT and the Frie Force still could not match the Earth Force, which had ruled Earth for many years, in terms of military strength. Before they achieved phased results against the Earth Force, and before the Earth Force truly weakened, it still posed a major threat to Orb.
Making Orb a victim in this operation would also allow it to distance itself from the matter and temporarily preserve peace in Orb proper on Earth.
The Landing Force soldiers infiltrated the factory, while Xiao Ran openly entered the Living Zone inside the satellite with Athrun, Rusty, Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol. According to the reports, neither the Earth Force nor the Nadeshiko had arrived at