After shooting down the missile and seeing that the Neutron Jammer hadn't been affected, Felix breathed a sigh of relief. If it had been affected, the operation ahead would have been much more difficult.
"Everyone, stay close to the Neutron Jammer and descend toward Victoria Spaceport."
Watching the screen, Felix used the modified laser communications system he had installed to notify the others.
After sending the message, Felix turned his attention back to the screen.
Meanwhile
At the Victoria Spaceport Defense Forces Headquarters on the ground
"What's going on?"
Watching the equipment in front of him suffer interference, Lieutenant General Humphrey questioned the others in the command center. A soldier turned and stood up, raised his hand in salute, and reported,
"Commander, our radar and other equipment are being heavily jammed. They've lost their effectiveness and can no longer be used."
"Commander, our communications are being jammed too. We can't contact the other units by radio."
The communications officer turned to report to Humphrey.
Humphrey's expression darkened at the news. He recalled some reports he'd heard about the recent defense of the World Tree. Rumor had it that the ZAFT Forces had used some kind of device in that battle that could disrupt radio communications, radar, and reactors, causing them to suffer heavy losses.
Three fleets had been beaten down to less than a third of their strength before escaping the battlefield. The Second Fleet had been completely wiped out; not a single person had made it out.
Now that they were facing the same situation again, he couldn't help feeling uneasy. A sense of foreboding continued to spread through him.
Shaking his head, Humphrey suppressed the feeling. His face remained grave, but his voice was calm and firm as he gave his orders.
"Have the units use wired communications. Assign communications officers to set up wired equipment for every unit where we can establish a wired connection, and make sure all units can stay in contact with one another.
"With the radar equipment down, send up optical reconnaissance aircraft equipped with fiber-optic communications to survey the skies. Make sure we don't lose control of the air!"
"Yes, sir!"
The communications officer answered, then switched the communications over to the wired network and used it to contact the nearest units.
After confirming the situation with them, he connected the communications network to the communications troops and sent officers out with their equipment to set up a wired communications system for all the units.
On the tarmac inside Victoria Spaceport
Reconnaissance aircraft equipped with fiber-optic communications and optical sensors were pulled out of their hangars. Under remote control, they took off and headed to the airspace around Victoria Spaceport to conduct reconnaissance.
At the Defense Forces Headquarters
"Order all Vanguard Fighters into the air and prepare them for battle. Send a small number to the other airports where we haven't established wired communications yet and notify them to get their fighters airborne as well."
Humphrey looked at the screen, which had temporarily restored their ability to monitor the skies, and continued issuing orders.
The communications officers relayed the orders to the Vanguard Fighter squadrons.
The Vanguard Fighters already on standby on the tarmac began taking off in formations of three as soon as they received the order.
One formation after another took off. Before long, the four hundred Vanguard Fighters stationed inside Victoria Spaceport and at the four nearby airports were airborne.
The densely packed fighters filled the sky, and from a distance they looked like a swarm of locusts.
At the Defense Forces Headquarters
"Commander, all the airports we've been able to contact have successfully launched their Vanguard Fighters."
The communications officer relayed the report from the units.
Humphrey nodded slightly and asked,
"Have any Vanguard Fighters gone to notify the other airports?"
"According to the images captured and sent back by the optical reconnaissance aircraft, a small number of Vanguard Fighters have already left the main force and are heading in the assigned direction."
The soldier looked at the information displayed on the main screen and put it into words for his report.
In the air
The airborne Vanguard Fighters split into two groups. One continued climbing to an altitude of ten thousand meters to prepare for defensive action, while the other shot farther upward.
At an altitude of twenty thousand meters
The Vanguard Fighter pilots gripped their control sticks, their expressions grim as they stared higher into the sky.
The optical sensors relayed images back to them. After seeing what was on the screen, the pilots brought their Vanguard Fighters into combat.
Meanwhile, on the ZAFT side
Felix piloted the White Ginn as he and the other ZAFT Forces descended to an altitude of twenty-one thousand meters. Just as he was about to release the Gau Flight Support Craft and connect it to the Ginn, he caught sight of the situation around ten thousand meters below through the optical sensors while leaning forward.
Seeing the fighters already moving into action, he put that plan aside and made no unnecessary movements. He squeezed the trigger. The White Ginn raised the Heavy Assault Machine Gun in its hands, and he pulled the trigger.
Bullets burst from the muzzle.
The experimental shot failed to hit an enemy, but the Automatic Ballistic Correction Program quickly used data from its database to make an adjustment.
The instant the second shot was fired, the bullet hit a Vanguard Fighter flying through the air with pinpoint accuracy.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted in the sky.
After blowing up the Vanguard Fighter, Felix saw another one maneuvering on the screen.
Judging its movements, the White Ginn adjusted its posture using the attitude-control thrusters mounted on its body.
The rapid, instantaneous adjustment subjected Felix to G-forces that made him frown.
"Earth combat really is a pain!"
He muttered his complaint, but his hands didn't stop moving.
The White Ginn turned around and fired. The bullet sped toward the Vanguard Fighter.
The fighter's pilot saw the attack and paled in alarm, quickly maneuvering the aircraft sharply.
The sudden maneuver subjected him to G-forces beyond the protection limit of his Anti-G Suit. A horrible sensation spread through his body.
It was excruciating, and he wanted to give up on the maneuver. But he knew that if he gave in to his body's instincts now, what awaited him would be worse than pain.
"I have to hold on!"
He gritted his teeth and urged himself on.
He had barely managed to endure the sudden high-G maneuver. He had only just dodged the bullet and hadn't even had a chance to relax when another bullet pierced his fighter.
The explosion swallowed the aircraft in an instant. To his dying breath, he never saw where the bullet had come from.
Inside the White Ginn's cockpit
"That's one downside of fighters!"
Watching the Vanguard Fighter he'd blown up, Felix sighed and commented on the aircraft. At that moment, as he compared the differences between fighters and mobile suits, Felix seemed to have forgotten that, as a Coordinator, his physical abilities far surpassed those of Naturals—and that he could withstand far greater G-forces than they could.
Under Felix's control, the White Ginn turned around. Its thrusters shifted angle, and a slight movement was enough to dodge the incoming bullet.
He raised his gun and fired!
The bullet streaked through the air toward the Vanguard Fighter.
The fighter's pilot maneuvered to dodge. Felix fired again.
Bang!
The bullet pierced the Vanguard Fighter.
The pilot, who had desperately tried to dodge, died to the second shot.
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