Echoes of the Descent Operation

"Athrun Zala is going to fall with them."

Fifty-three hours later, the Archangel entered Earth's atmosphere.

May 1, C.E. 71. Intelligence Analysis Room, 811 Institute.

Twelve minutes before the Archangel's descent window opened, Ye Qingluan's listening buoy array intercepted the last usable data packet. After that, the signal was swallowed by atmospheric ionization interference.

Sheng Lan projected the decoded results onto the analysis room's main screen. The timestamps flickered frame by frame as fragments of ZAFT internal communications were assembled into an incomplete yet readable combat trajectory map.

Lin Yuan stood before the screen, holding a cup of tea that had already gone cold.

"How long did the final exchange before descent last?"

"Seven minutes and twelve seconds." Sheng Lan flipped through the analysis logs on her terminal. "The Rau Le Creuset Team deployed three Ginns and one captured Buster Gundam. The Archangel unleashed all its anti-missile firepower for cover, while the Strike Gundam engaged alone."

Her finger traced an arc across the trajectory map.

"In the final ninety seconds before entering the atmospheric boundary, Strike completed two equipment changes, shifting from Sword Striker to the Aile Striker configuration. It used turbulence in the atmospheric friction layer to shake off the pursuit lines of two Ginns. Athrun's unit disengaged at the high-heat layer separation point, while the remaining Ginns were forced to return due to insufficient thermal shielding windows."

"Was Strike's descent trajectory stable?"

"Unstable. The Aile Striker configuration had limited attitude control in the high-heat layer. Strike made at least three roll corrections during descent. Its final landing point was approximately forty-seven kilometers from the Archangel's landing coordinates."

Lin Yuan set his teacup on the edge of the analysis console.

"Forty-seven kilometers. A sixteen-year-old student slammed a prototype machine with no complete atmospheric descent test data down from orbit, rolled three times, and still managed to correct it."

The duty officer in the corner of the analysis room paused with his pen in hand upon hearing that description.

Sheng Lan offered no comment and continued reviewing the data.

"Director, although Athrun Zala disengaged in the high-heat layer, there is a segment in his communications worth noting."

She played an audio clip that had undergone noise reduction.

In the fragmented transmission, Athrun's voice was broken up by atmospheric interference, but one sentence had been restored clearly enough.

"Kira, why are you standing with them?"

The audio ended, leaving only the low hum of equipment running in the analysis room.

Lin Yuan's gaze remained on the red marker indicating Athrun's disengagement point on the trajectory map.

"He recognized Strike's pilot."

"Based on semantic analysis of the transmission, Athrun Zala had already confirmed Strike's pilot's identity before this descent battle. This call directly addressed the other party by name."

Lin Yuan zoomed the trajectory map out to a global view. The Archangel's descent endpoint lay within the Libyan Desert war zone in North Africa, right between ZAFT and United Army forces facing each other.

"Sheng Lan, this ship fell from orbit right into the middle of the African standoff between ZAFT and the United Army. Neither side's ground forces will let it go."

"How does the Director think the Archangel will proceed?"

"It has no choice. The Archangel's destination is the United Army headquarters in Alaska. Starting from the African desert, it will have to cross the entire war zone. It will pass through the Desert Tiger's control zone under the ZAFT Africa Front, then cross the Mediterranean Sea into Eurasian Federation territory before detouring through the Pacific Ocean toward Alaska."

Sheng Lan wrote down a string of place names in her memo.

"Director, has there been any response from the supply beacon you deployed earlier in the Desert Tiger's control zone?"

"The beacon is passive. It won't transmit a signal on its own. But Ye Qingluan's people reported an anomaly this morning."

Lin Yuan picked up another classified document from the table.

"Beacon C-07 was moved three hours ago. Its original deployment coordinates were near an abandoned gas station. Its current coordinates have shifted twelve hundred meters, into a rocky hill area bearing signs of human activity."

"A desert resistance group?"

"Most likely. There are quite a few guerrilla forces in North Africa resisting ZAFT occupation. Their equipment is poor, but their intelligence networks have broad coverage. The fact that they intercepted the supply beacon means communications scanning frequencies in this region are higher than estimated."

Sheng Lan closed her memo.

"Director, once the Archangel lands in the desert war zone, what value will its movements—and Kira Yamato's—have for us?"

"Two things." Lin Yuan returned to the analysis console and projected the descent battle trajectory map alongside the Africa war zone map. "First, I need data on Kira Yamato in a ground combat environment. Orbital combat is one thing; MS combat under gravity follows an entirely different rhythm. Zhou Boyuan's Jiachen needs that data."

"And the second?"

"The Desert Tiger. Andrew Waltfeld, commander of the ZAFT Africa Front. He is not an extremist like Zala. He fights methodically, and his administration of occupied territory is not particularly brutal either. The Archangel will have to pass through his territory. The two sides will definitely fight."

His finger drew a circle beside Waltfeld's name.

"After the battle, no matter who wins, this man's attitude and tactics will become samples for my assessment of ZAFT's ground combat capabilities."

Sheng Lan saved screenshots of the two maps' projections to her terminal.

"What about the Archangel itself? Should we establish indirect contact through the supply beacon?"

"Don't touch it." Lin Yuan's tone was exactly the same as it had been three weeks earlier. "Every step the Archangel takes in the desert is watched by ZAFT and scanned by United Army satellites. If I reach in now, I will only expose East Asia's intelligence deployment."

Sheng Lan slipped her pen into her pocket.

"Director, what if the Archangel cannot hold out in the desert?"

Lin Yuan walked toward the analysis room door.

"It will hold out."

Sheng Lan followed after him.

"Based on what?"

"That sixteen-year-old pilot rolled three times after falling from orbit and still survived. In the desert, he will only roll more, but he will get back up every time."

He pulled open the door. The corridor lights were piercingly white.

"Tell Ye Qingluan to raise the monitoring priority for Africa by one level. I want to review, hour by hour, all communications data from the Archangel's passage through the desert war zone."