At 10:23 a.m., the first wave of airships crossed the western districts of Paris.
They had originally belonged to the Free Iris aviation industry reconstruction project, and their hulls still bore civilian freight markings. When their cargo doors opened, high-altitude winds scattered millions of slips of paper.
The front of each sheet showed a freeze-frame of Leila lifting her head in the interrogation room.
Below it was just one sentence.
[I am still alive.]
The reverse listed the names of personnel confirmed dead or missing in W-0's previous operations. Only a few hundred had been selected, and at the bottom were the words: [Do not put her on trial to declare the system innocent.]
The leaflets dropped by the second airship were even more direct.
[Let those who bear the consequences join the committee.]
[Release Leila Malcal.]
[W-0 is not stateless ammunition.]
Students were the first to look up in Paris, followed by factory workers changing shifts, families in the refugee administration districts, and wounded soldiers recently withdrawn from the Eastern Front. At first, people merely picked up the leaflets. A few minutes later, public screens along the streets simultaneously began playing footage of Lin Cuo admitting his attraction to Leila and Leila rejecting him in court.
The political slogans immediately acquired a host of voices that had appeared in no operational plan.
"Give Major Marukal back to the E.U.!"
"Keep that eastern Regent away from her!"
"Release her first, then talk about your mother!"
Someone even raised a hastily written sign: [An E.U. officer cannot let the Great Han Regent win her over first.]
Citizens who had previously had no interest in military or political reform began stopping to watch because of this international romantic scandal. Some sympathized with Leila, some simply wanted to hear what other nonsense that