After reading the operation orders, Felix contacted Miles and Phipps over comms.
"Captain!"
The two men saluted Felix on the screen and greeted him. Felix returned their salute, then lowered his hand and spoke.
"I've received a new set of operation orders from the Ministry of Defense."
"Are we going into battle again?"
Miles, the more excited of the two, asked for confirmation.
Watching Miles's excitement, Felix gave a slight nod and replied.
"That's right! We're heading into battle again."
With that, he sent each of them a copy of the documents for the Victoria Spaceport airdrop operation. The two men read through the contents carefully.
A few minutes later,
Phipps was the first to speak.
"Captain, this is our first airdrop operation, and we'll be directly responsible for drawing the defenders' strength away from Victoria Spaceport to support the ground forces. Can we really take it?"
"It'll certainly be difficult. But given the circumstances, the plan laid out in these documents is already the best option available. If we airdrop the ground forces first and the enemy discovers them, those troops will be put at risk, and our operation could very well fail.
"So the pressure on us is immense. If we withstand it, the operation succeeds. If we can't, it fails."
Felix answered Phipps with a grave expression. After hearing him, Phipps said nothing more and quietly continued reading the documents in his hands.
Seeing that he had fallen silent, Felix asked,
"Do either of you have anything else you need to ask?"
"No."
The two men shook their heads and answered in unison.
Felix then gave the order.
"All MS pilots in Griffith Squad are to start adjusting their MS parameters for Earth's environment today. Make sure there are no problems when we're fighting on the ground."
"Yes, sir!"
The two men saluted in reply.
Felix reached out and ended the call, then explained his orders to Heine and the others aboard the Sebastian.
A few minutes later,
Inside the Hangar
In the cockpit of a White Ginn
Felix sat inside and used the adjustment keyboard to modify the MS's various parameters.
The most important adjustments were to the output of the MS's attitude-control thrusters.
In space combat, there was no air resistance, so the attitude-control thrusters could maneuver the MS with relatively little thrust. On Earth, things were different.
Air density varied with altitude, and different air densities meant different levels of air resistance. To ensure that not a single unit of energy was wasted, the MS had to be optimally adjusted for each altitude.
The keyboard clattered continuously inside the cockpit as Felix adjusted one parameter after another.
Once he had finished the final adjustment, Felix began calibrating the MS's Automatic Ballistic Correction Program.
By entering basic information about Earth, the program could use the added data in its database to correct the MS's trajectory based on information transmitted by its sensors.
March 8
A ZAFT attack force made up of twenty squads arrived in orbit above Earth's equator.
Of the twenty squads that reached low Earth orbit, ten were assigned to guard the surrounding area and escort the transport ships carrying the ground forces, ensuring they could carry out their airdrop missions safely. The MS from the remaining ten squads would descend in Drop Pods.
Aboard the Sebastian
Felix and the others put on their combat suits and climbed into their MS cockpits.
"We'll be spending the next little while inside the Drop Pods. It won't be long, but use this time to get yourselves ready and into the best possible condition."
Felix reminded the others over comms.
After giving them these instructions, Felix was the first to pilot the White Ginn out of the Hangar. He flew out of the ship and toward the Drop Pods, then entered one alongside two squadmates.
7:30 a.m.
When the time for the airdrop arrived, all the Drop Pods began descending from Earth's low orbit.
The Drop Pods scraped violently against the atmosphere, but the Heat Shield Tiles kept out the terrifying heat, leaving the inside at a comfortable temperature.
The Drop Pods continued their descent, drawing closer and closer to the ground.
Ahead of the Drop Pods carrying the MS, a space capsule carrying a Neutron Jammer descended rapidly. The Neutron Jammer would go ahead and descend to a designated altitude, where it would activate and interfere with the radar and other equipment at Victoria Spaceport on the ground.
This would prevent the airdrop force from being ambushed by Anti-Air Missiles.
African Continent
Near Victoria Spaceport, close to Lake Victoria
Radar vehicles deployed nearby detected objects rapidly descending from high altitude. The radar operators quickly gathered information about the situation and, once they had finished, sent it to the command center.
At the Victoria Spaceport Defense Force command center
"Commander, we've received a report from the radar unit!"
"Read it!"
"A large number of objects are descending at high speed above Victoria Spaceport. Our analysis suggests they're most likely an airdrop force from the ZAFT Forces."
The soldier reported to the commander based on the contents of the document.
Hearing this possibility, the commander's expression grew grave. He gave his order in a steady voice.
"Launch the Anti-Air Missiles!"
The order went out!
The communications operators quickly relayed it to the missile crews.
After receiving the command, the missile crews rapidly locked onto the aerial targets with their radar! Once the targets were locked, the crews pressed the launch buttons, and the Anti-Air Missiles on the launchers ignited one after another.
Propelled by the energy generated by their rocket engines, the missiles accelerated rapidly, broke the sound barrier, and raced toward the upper atmosphere at supersonic speed.
Above Victoria Spaceport
The Drop Pod carrying the Neutron Jammer broke apart, releasing the device inside. The Neutron Jammer activated successfully, interfering with neutron activity as well as radar and communications.
The missiles surging toward them from below were affected by the Neutron Jammer, and the tracking and targeting radars mounted in their noses failed instantly. Without radar assistance, the missiles had no idea where to go.
At that moment, in accordance with the operation plan, the first batch of MS left their Drop Pods.
As soon as the Drop Pods broke apart, the MS inside powered up and began carrying out their assigned missions.
Felix's Griffith Squad was among them.
Under Felix's control, the White Ginn raised its Heavy Assault Machine Gun and aimed ahead. Following the image transmitted by its optical sensors, he pulled the trigger.
The Heavy Assault Machine Gun opened fire!
Muzzle flashes burst forth as bullets tore across the sky toward the missiles.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
One powerful explosion after another rang out in the sky.
With their targets gone, the missiles were blasted apart one after another.
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