Attack Countdown

January 25, C.E. 71.

The artificial sunlight inside the Heliopolis colony satellite operated as usual. Beneath the blue dome, students with backpacks crossed the commercial district, while advertising screens outside fast-food restaurants looped popular music from Orb.

A brown-haired boy passed a vending machine, gripping a can of coffee in one hand, his earphone cord hanging from the collar of his school uniform.

His name was Kira Yamato.

Ye Qingluan stood inside a communications equipment repair van across the street and glanced at him through the one-way glass.

The boy did not know that in less than five days, he would sit in the cockpit of a machine capable of rewriting the course of the war.

The voice of Team Two came through her headset.

"Team leader, the database at Dawn Society Factory Three changed its encryption protocol early this morning. It was raised from standard Level C to combat-readiness level, with dual biometric authentication and a physical key."

Ye Qingluan withdrew her gaze.

"When was it changed?"

"3:17 a.m. The duty system logged it automatically. No engineers were on site; an encryption package was pushed remotely."

"Did you trace the source?"

"The Atlantic Federation mainland, a military communications node at Alaska Base."

Ye Qingluan unscrewed her bottle of mineral water, took a sip, and tapped her fingers twice against her knee.

Combat-readiness encryption.

This was not a routine security upgrade. Someone had smelled danger.

"What about Team One?"

"Team One completed its second round of topology collection in the perimeter pipeline area around Factory Five. All power nodes and emergency lockdown gate locations have been marked. Also, Team Leader, the three people aboard that Middle Eastern-registered bulk carrier did not disembark today."

"Keep watching them."

Ye Qingluan switched off her headset, slid into the driver's seat, and activated the repair van's encrypted communications console.

The connection went through in three seconds.

"Director, the Dawn Society database's encryption level was upgraded to combat readiness six hours ago. The push came from Alaska."

Lin Yuan's voice came from the other end of the encrypted channel, accompanied by the faint rustle of turning papers.

"The Atlantic Federation has gotten wind of something."

"Do they know ZAFT is about to move?"

"Uncertain. But for Alaska to remotely push an encryption upgrade at this moment means the G Project's security chief has raised the threat level by at least one tier."

Ye Qingluan tightened the cap and set the bottle of mineral water on the armrest.

"Director, combat-readiness encryption will affect our data acquisition channel. The internal network maintenance port we planned to use may have been isolated again."

"It won't."

"What?"

"Combat-readiness encryption targets the core mobile suit parameter database. That is an independent system under physical isolation. But the engineers' personal terminals and secondary backup servers are still connected to the internal network, using the same maintenance ports."

Lin Yuan paused for half a second.

"The Atlantic Federation's security upgrade protected the crown, but not the table holding it."

Ye Qingluan's brow relaxed slightly.

"So our point of entry remains the same?"

"The entry point remains the same, but the method has to change."

"Please explain."

"Disguise your data upload channel as an emergency damage-control backup protocol."

Ye Qingluan leaned forward slightly.

"Damage-control backup?"

"The colony satellite's standard operating manual has an emergency provision. When the satellite suffers a physical attack or structural damage, all non-core servers automatically initiate damage-control backup procedures and push data snapshots to the nearest maintenance terminal."

"You want us to plant a trigger in the maintenance port ahead of time, then have it activate automatically once the fighting starts and the system descends into chaos?"

"Correct. The vibrations and power fluctuations caused by combat will trigger the colony satellite's damage-control response. In the system's eyes, your terminal will be a legitimate backup node. The data will flow to you on its own."

Ye Qingluan closed her eyes briefly, running the chain of logic through her mind.

"Smart. Even if someone investigates the data flow afterward, all they'll see is an automatic backup under standard damage-control protocol, not deliberate theft."

"On the condition that your trigger is deployed before ZAFT makes its move."

"How much time do we need?"

"Team Two has a pipeline inspection work order this afternoon. The window is between Dawn Society Factory Three and Factory Five. Have them complete the deployment during the inspection."

"Understood."

"One more thing."

"Go ahead."

"If the people aboard that bulk carrier still have not disembarked today, then ZAFT has already entered its pre-operation silence period. The raid will come within five days."

Ye Qingluan fell silent for two seconds.

"Five days."

"You have enough time."

"Director, what about the civilians in the colony satellite?"

The channel fell quiet for a beat.

"Your mission has not changed."

"I know." Ye Qingluan's voice was level. "I was only asking."

"Are you done asking?"

"I'm done."

The communication cut off.

Ye Qingluan locked the encrypted communications console into its mount and put her headset back on.

"Team Two, add an operation to this afternoon's pipeline inspection. I'll send the technical details to your terminal through encryption. Do not reply once you receive them. Execute directly."

"Received."

She gave the street one last look.

The brown-haired boy had already gone far away, vanishing into the crowd of students leaving school.

Five days.

Five days from now, this street would be filled with gunfire and corpses, and all she could do was carry away someone else's spark.

The communications van slowly pulled away from the curb and merged into the sparse traffic inside the colony satellite.

At the same time, on Earth, in the capital of the East Asian Republic.

The underground command room of the Special Equipment Bureau.

Sheng Lan stood three steps behind Lin Yuan, holding a freshly printed casualty estimate report.

She waited until Lin Yuan ended the communication before speaking.

"Director, the Heliopolis colony satellite has a permanent population of roughly 250,000, including a large number of Orb technical workers and their families. If ZAFT's raid is on the scale we estimated, civilian casualties may range from several thousand to over ten thousand."

Lin Yuan did not turn around.

"What are you trying to say?"

"We can send an anonymous warning to Orb through unofficial channels without exposing East Asia's identity. If Orb begins evacuation in advance, we can reduce noncombatant casualties by at least thirty percent."

Lin Yuan turned his chair around and looked at her.

Sheng Lan's expression did not change, but the knuckles of the hand clutching the report had gone taut.

"How would you word the warning?"

"Say that unidentified armed forces may launch an attack on Heliopolis, and recommend that civilian emergency evacuation procedures be initiated."

"And then?"

Sheng Lan did not answer.

"Orb receives the warning and begins evacuating. Dawn Society goes on full alert. The Atlantic Federation sends additional escort warships. ZAFT's surprise attack fails or is delayed. The G Weapons remain in the Atlantic Federation's hands, our damage-control backup trigger loses the condition needed for activation, and the Spark Project is scrapped."

His voice remained utterly flat.

"The Atlantic Federation will trace the warning's source, and East Asia will become the prime suspect. ZAFT will discover the intelligence leak and reassess every operational plan. Our entire intelligence network in the L3 Sector will be exposed."

Sheng Lan's lips moved, but no sound came out.

"Sheng Lan, I understand your goodwill. But goodwill placed in the wrong place kills more people than war does."

She set the report on the desk and lowered her hand to her side.

"Director, my report is complete."

"Mm."

Sheng Lan turned and headed for the door, her footsteps echoing through the underground corridor.

When she reached the doorway, she paused.

"Director."

"What?"

"After the Spark Project is over, please remember those casualty figures too."

The door closed.

Lin Yuan sat alone in the empty command room, his fingers motionless on the armrest.

At the lower left corner of the tactical display, a live image of the Heliopolis colony satellite rotated slowly, its artificial dome lights simulating the hues of dusk.

Of course he remembered.

He remembered everyone who had died inside this colony satellite in the original story.

But he also remembered that if East Asia failed to obtain the G Weapons' technical data, the Alaska Defense Line would collapse six months later, and 120,000 East Asian soldiers would be used by the Atlantic Federation as fuel to ignite the Cyclops System.

One hundred and twenty thousand.

He reached out and switched off the image.

The instant the screen went dark, the perimeter monitoring network in the L3 Sector captured a cluster of faint thermal signatures.

Three Nazca-class destroyers had shut down their main engines and were approaching the colony satellite's security perimeter on inertia.

ZAFT had arrived.