Meanwhile, on a low-altitude flight path west of the Yellow Sea, a Britannian formation absent from every public flight plan had completed its final turn.
The whole world had seen the Landing Unit plunging toward Kashgar from beyond the atmosphere.
Public channels in Pendragon, Paris, Luoyang, and Area 11 were all broadcasting it. Only Suzaku Kururugi and the others remained unaware.
To evade radar in Liaodong and Goryeo, Operation White Chrysanthemum had entered strict radio silence immediately after takeoff.
Twelve long-range transport aircraft skimmed the sea, while six Heavy Escort Aircraft were tasked with suppressing any interception forces that might appear. Eight Sutherlands were secured to low-altitude airdrop racks, their hulls stripped of all imperial insignia, their temporary identification codes set to activate only just before landing. The Hover Unit Lloyd had rushed to complete on Lancelot's back was running at low power. The white machine kept its limbs tucked in, holding position several dozen meters beneath the transport formation.
The newly installed Luminous Generators on both arms had yet to complete their endurance testing, and even the independent cooling circuit was only a provisional version, but Britannia had never lacked technology in reserve.
The battle at Luoyang had proved that flight, shields, and tactical data links would define the next generation of KMFs, so Lloyd had installed everything he had originally planned to test in stages all at once. Had Cecile not insisted on limiting the output, Lancelot could even have briefly deployed a Light Screen providing almost full-body protection.
Yet all Suzaku had before him was the Mission Briefing: an illegal exile organization in southern Goryeo was exploiting Great Han's protection to organize extremist forces, transfer classified imperial technology, and hold a dangerous Strategic Sample. If it were allowed to continue existing, Area 11's underground organizations would regain