MS Seizure Operation Begins

At the same time.

In the space near "Heliopolis."

Two warships were on standby behind a small asteroid: the ZAFT Nassau-class "Vesalius" and the La'Lia-class "Gamov."

Actually, there was only supposed to be one warship.

However, due to incorrect intelligence on January 24th, stating that the Earth Alliance Military was building a new top-secret military satellite at L3.

Cruze's team had to deploy their entire force, only to discover the intelligence was false upon arrival.

Just as they were returning, Noer's intelligence came in. Since the L3 satellite was not far from Heliopolis, they arrived in just one day.

It had to be said, everything was truly a coincidence!

Cruze sat in the command chair on the bridge and smiled at Adis, who had a tearful face beside him. "Don't look so glum, Adis."

"Yes... but..."

After hearing Cruze's words, Adis's brow furrowed even deeper. He looked at Cruze, hesitating to speak, and said, "But we could have waited for the Council's reply before taking action, Captain."

It wasn't that Adis was a coward. It was entirely because the mission this captain had assigned was too much. He had directly ordered Athrun and the others to enter Heliopolis to plant explosives, and even to deploy MS to attack Heliopolis from the outside as cover.

One had to remember that Orb was a neutral country.

Directly dispatching soldiers to sabotage a neutral country's satellite and deploying MS to attack it was tantamount to declaring war on Orb.

Although Cruze had received the Nebula Medal and was a member of the special forces (FAITH), possessing a certain degree of wartime autonomy.

That didn't mean he could directly attack a neutral country. If the intelligence had been correct, it would have been fine, but if the intelligence was wrong... this would lead to a court-martial!

Cruze chuckled upon hearing this, slowly floated up from his seat, and said, "I believe Noel Cassia's intelligence!"

"But..."

Adis wanted to say something more, but before he could speak, Cruze interrupted him, "Moreover, it's too slow!"

"Too slow?" Adis looked confused, not quite understanding Cruze's meaning.

"My intuition tells me that if we miss this rare opportunity, we will eventually have to pay the price with our lives in the future."

After speaking, Cruze flicked the photograph in his hand with his finger.

Even from the blurry photograph, it was still possible to discern that it was part of a giant humanoid mobile weapon.

"Therefore, we must seize this new weapon before the Earth forces transport it away!"

Inside a factory in Heliopolis~

"Captain!"

A rough voice suddenly came from a trailer.

Marlue Lamias, dressed in a worker's uniform, looked over when she heard the call.

She saw Sergeant Kojero Maduk's unshaven face sticking out of the window, shouting at her, "We're heading to the ship first!"

"Thank you for your trouble!"

Because of the cargo being moved, it was very noisy all around, so Marlue naturally raised her voice as well.

This was a ground facility of Akatsuki Industries.

The men around, busy with their work, were all full of vigor, and the comings and goings were very noisy.

Among them, although Marlue wore the same work clothes as the men.

Her shoulder-length chestnut hair and outstanding appearance still made her stand out.

At the same time, she was an officer belonging to the Earth Alliance Military, twenty-six years old, with the rank of Captain.

"Captain, after things are done here, can you come for a drink with us? Consider it your last night in Heliopolis." A young subordinate not far away looked at Marlue's face and couldn't help but tease her.

"Do you want to spend your last night in the brig for insulting a superior officer?" Captain Marlue was not angered by this. This situation had happened more than once or twice, and she was already used to it.

Hearing Marlue's reply to the young subordinate, Lieutenant Hamana next to him burst into hearty laughter, "Silly fool, you want to chase after this big sister? Come back in ten years!"

"You guys should hurry up and get back to work!"

Marlue said, smiling and shaking her head, then turned to look at the busy workers around her.

After today, the mission would be almost complete.

"What a long few months..."

Captain Marlue's heart was filled with emotion.

Although the top-secret "Project G" had only been initiated for a few months, its significant importance had forced her to remain constantly on edge. Now that it was nearing completion, she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

All that was left was to transport the new secret weapon codenamed 'G' to the warship 'Archangel' that was built alongside it.

Then, secretly transport it away from Heliopolis, and her mission would be complete.

"But it's finally coming to an end..."

Thinking this, Captain Marlue couldn't help but stretch. Her proud figure made the subordinates not far away stop their actions.

It was all just wishful thinking.

"Beep beep~"

Inside the warship Vesalius, a notification suddenly sounded.

Addis couldn't help but look in Cruze's direction.

"It's time."

Cruze said slowly, looking at Heliopolis in the distance.

"Weigh anchor! Vesalius! Activate!" Although Addis felt a little uneasy, a soldier's duty was to obey orders.

Moreover, his loyalty to Cruze and the PLANTs was enough to suppress his unease.

Boom~

As Addis's order fell, the Vesalius's thrusters emitted white light, and the immense thrust carried the Vesalius towards Heliopolis.

"Wuwuwu~"

The moment the Vesalius activated and entered Heliopolis's radar range, alarms suddenly blared in the Heliopolis control room.

Piercing alarms echoed throughout Heliopolis.

On the radar screen, two icons marked as space warships were rapidly approaching Heliopolis.

"This is Heliopolis!"

"Approaching Z.A.F.T. warship! Please respond!"

"Repeat! This is Heliopolis!"

"Approaching Z.A.F.T. warship! Please respond!"

In the control room responsible for vigilance, the announcer opened the public language channel and loudly hailed the approaching Vesalius.

However, the only reply they received was silence.

Despite this, they had to call out again and again, issuing warnings repeatedly.

Yet, their voices grew more and more uneasy with each call, and even the arm holding the public voice channel began to tremble.

"Control Chief!"

Just then, the control chief of the vigilance control room floated over. The man who had been calling out shouted excitedly, as if he had seen a savior, "They're not responding at all!"

"Calm down!"

"You there, turn off the alarm!"

After speaking, the control chief snatched the microphone and reprimanded, "Issue a warning to the Z.A.F.T. warship approaching here. Your actions have... seriously violated... Please... stop immediately and leave!"

"Z.A.F.T. forces! Please stop immediately and leave!"

However, by the time his voice reached the Vesalius, it was barely audible, filled with intermittent static.

Cruze chuckled upon hearing the voice from the public channel.

Addis's forehead was covered in cold sweat, but his expression remained unchanged. There was no turning back now!

"Con... Control Chief!"

"Strong radio wave interference detected! It's coming from the Z.A.F.T. warship! This is undoubtedly a clear act of aggression!"

A subordinate monitoring signals ahead said to the control chief with a pale face.

"They... are they trying to start a war between Orb and Z.A.F.T.!"

The control chief looked at the slowly approaching warship with a look of horror. This was just an ordinary colony, utterly incapable of confronting a full Z.A.F.T. fleet. The strength of the two sides was not on the same level at all.

Seeing the warship reach the designated distance, Addis couldn't help but glance at Cruze.

Cruze didn't reply, merely extended his arm and pointed two fingers towards the distant Heliopolis.

"MS! Launch!"

"Kaka kaka~"

The warship's doors slowly opened.

"Ding~"

The MS, already prepared inside, suddenly looked up at the vast starry sky in the distance. Their infrared sensors lit up, and with a rumble of metal colliding, the MS launched from the rails of the warship.