Plan
In space, a lone Shuttlecraft sped toward the fleet gathering in the distance. After receiving Xiao Ran's message, Durandal immediately began mobilizing the ZAFT fleets stationed in space, gathering all patrol fleets around Earth as well. Warships converged on the assembly point from every direction.
Twenty-four hours was neither long nor short, and nearly two hours had already passed. The fleet assembly had not yet progressed far enough for battle to begin. Meanwhile, the Orb Fleet at Heaven's Pillar was advancing toward the same location. Farther away, a large force led by ZAFT's large Space Aircraft Carrier was racing toward the rendezvous point at full speed. The Shuttlecraft carrying Xiao Ran was headed for the large Space Aircraft Carrier personally commanded by Durandal.
As for ZAFT's Messiah Space Fortress, time was simply too tight for it to reach the designated assembly point before the battle began. Just traveling from in front of PLANT toward the Moon would take several days, given Messiah's mass and speed. Thus, the Messiah Space Fortress could only remain behind to defend PLANT and could not participate in this battle.
Xiao Ran had originally allotted three hours for all Silver Hand members to enter space, merely so the team and its combat strength could be consolidated as quickly as possible. However, after discussions between ZAFT's military commanders and Mina of Orb, and after considering every factor and consequence involved in gathering the forces, they extended the consolidation period to eight hours, leaving sixteen hours to launch the attack on the Moon Base on schedule.
Xiao Ran did not learn any of this until he reached ZAFT's large carrier and met Durandal. Still, he had no objections. Mina was indeed no slouch when it came to command and combat deployment; otherwise, she would not have earned