Whether Xiao Ran had moved too quickly or the three-nation allied forces had moved too slowly, by the time Xiao Ran, due to the angle at which he had entered space, had nearly circled half the Earth along an arc to reach the Ptolemaios, the three-nation allied forces had only just been detected by the Ptolemaios.
The Ptolemaios had always remained near Earth rather than venturing deep into space, concealed at the edge of the outer orbital ring. This was why Celestial Being could respond to any emergency within the Earth Sphere as quickly as possible. Although the outer orbit seemed far from the inner orbit, for the space transport ships of the three nations, it was only a short trip through space. Perhaps one could board a transport ship after lunch and arrive at the outer orbit from the inner orbit before long.
It was precisely because Christine had gone to eat lunch and handed her work over to Lichtendahl for that brief period that the Ptolemaios had been exposed to the three-nation allied forces. However, unlike in the original plot, the Humanity Federation now had AEU's assistance. Not only had this allowed them to produce more detection equipment with a wider coverage area, but the Ptolemaios had also been discovered much earlier.
Moreover, five units aboard the Ptolemaios were currently undergoing maintenance. Some were even having their Outer Armor replaced due to damage sustained over numerous operations. The only units able to sortie were Exia Gundam and Kyrios Gundam. Arios Gundam and Arios Gundam were under maintenance, with many parts removed, making a sortie completely impossible.
Gundam Kyrios was fine, but setting aside whether Lockon and Hallelujah had authorization to operate it, the most important question was whether they could pilot it properly. Without being able to use