"Felix, let's go rescue the escape pods!"
Heine's voice rang through the comms.
Hearing him, Felix said in a low voice,
"If we both go, we'll be less able to engage the enemy. I'll stay here and keep fighting them. Heine, go rescue the escape pods."
"Fine! I'll do as you say."
Heine understood Felix's reasoning and didn't say anything more. He acknowledged him, then piloted his Ginn toward Junius Ten.
Seeing Heine move, the Moebius units prepared to intercept him.
Felix piloted his Ginn, firing from a distance to clear a safe route for Heine.
After Heine piloted his Ginn away, Felix focused all his attention on fighting the Moebius units. Gripping the controls, he maneuvered the Ginn through space.
He dodged the incoming bullets.
He raised his weapon and fired. Bullets burst from its muzzle.
A Moebius happened to move into the spot Felix had predicted. The bullets pierced its propulsion system.
Its thrust plummeted!
"Damn it!"
He cursed, his face twisted in a scowl.
As his voice rang out, Felix's Ginn launched a second attack, this time hitting the cockpit dead on.
The Moebius exploded instantly!
After destroying that Moebius, Felix turned to fight the others.
PLANT
District One, Aprilia City
Ministry of Defense
Inside the Chairman's office
Watching Junius Ten get blown apart, Patrick clenched his fists tightly. His eyes were bloodshot, and anger twisted his face into a grimace.
"What the hell are the people we assigned supposed to be doing?"
An angry shout rang through the office.
As soon as his anger spilled out, the office door opened. He looked up and saw Eileen standing in the doorway.
"Is something wrong?"
After calming himself a little, he tried to keep his voice even as he asked Eileen. She nodded and entered the office, holding a report.
She walked up to Patrick and set the report down in front of him.
"We've received a preliminary report about the bombing of Junius Ten," Eileen said, looking at Patrick.
Patrick reached out and picked up the report to read it.
Eileen continued,
"Although we made preparations to respond, the battle to intercept the attack, PLANT's nearly ninety colonies, and the current size of our ZAFT forces meant that, while our preparations were theoretically thorough, there were serious shortcomings in practice.
Those shortcomings led to the tragedy of Junius Ten!
It'll take some time to organize the detailed findings before we can submit them."
At this, Eileen took a deep breath and continued,
"But fortunately, our emergency procedures inside the colony went smoothly, without any major problems!"
"Even though the emergency procedures went smoothly, according to our earlier projections and calculations, the best-case scenario would only keep the death toll below thirty-five percent.
But, as you said, reality never matches the best-case scenario. The death toll will exceed thirty-five percent."
As he spoke, Patrick clenched his teeth, his anger rising visibly across his face. At last, he slammed a fist hard against the desk.
"Damn Naturals!"
He snarled furiously.
Patrick also slammed the report in his hand against the desk.
Eileen watched Patrick's fury in silence, but her bloodshot eyes and clenched fist at her side spoke of the anger and grief she felt.
February 14, 16:35
After a long battle, the Earth Alliance Forces attacking PLANT were completely annihilated.
On the battlefield near Junius City
Felix gazed at the now-silent expanse of space and piloted his Ginn toward the mothership.
Inside the battleship's hangar
The Ginn Felix had piloted came to a steady stop. Once the automated machinery had secured it in place, the hatch opened, and Felix climbed out of the cockpit.
The battleship's hangar doors were now closed.
Looking around the hangar, Felix finally turned his gaze to the Maintenance Crew chief.
Noticing Felix's gaze, the chief spoke in a calm voice tinged with sorrow.
"Besides you, only Heine survived on this ship."
"What about Captain Hawkins?"
Felix was taken aback. He looked at the chief and asked urgently. The chief pressed his lips together, paused for a moment, then replied,
"Captain Hawkins was killed while intercepting the missile attack coming from the direction of Junius Seven!"
Hearing this, Felix opened his mouth, as if about to say something, but then closed it again. His eyes lowered, and he quietly walked away.
Seeing Felix's state, the chief said nothing. He led the Maintenance Crew members over to begin servicing the Ginn Felix had piloted.
Two hours later,
After its repairs, Felix piloted the Ginn out again and joined the rescue operation.
The Ginn moved near Junius Ten. Looking at the colony, now blown apart, Felix gripped the controls and clenched his teeth, burying his emotions deep inside.
"Felix, why didn't you get some more rest?"
Heine's voice rang through the comms.
His voice pulled Felix out of his emotions. Felix replied over the comms,
"I've already rested for two hours, and I'm feeling fine. I don't need to rest any longer. You should get some proper rest, Heine. Your MS needs repairs, too.
So leave things here to me. Go get your MS repaired!"
"I can still keep going!"
He had only just insisted when the Ginn's energy warning began to sound. Seeing the low-energy alert, Heine stopped trying to tough it out.
"I'll leave things here to you for now."
With that, he piloted his Ginn away.
District One, Aprilia City
Inside the Council Chamber
The PLANT Supreme Council members had gathered together. Everyone seated wore faces marked by both anger and grief.
A heavy silence spread through the Council Chamber.
After the atmosphere had lingered for a minute or two, a voice came through the comms with a report.
"Speaker, the statistics are complete!"
The voice drew everyone out of their silence. Siegel was the first to speak.
"How bad is it?"
"Junius Ten suffered 175,500 deaths. Of those, 74,800 died because there weren't enough escape facilities, 75,000 died because they couldn't reach the shelters in time, and 25,700 died because their escape pods were destroyed.
A total of 124,500 people were rescued aboard escape pods."
The report came through the comms. The person delivering it was overcome with grief and choked up several times, but their professionalism allowed them to hold back their emotions and finish the report.
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