The next day, military personnel arrived with transfer orders at the eight noble families. Amidst wails and protests, they forcibly took away the young masters and ladies of each household. The family heads could only watch helplessly in resentment as their sons or daughters were taken away—they knew their families were finished.
Some remained naive, believing Yang Hui would spare them after this. But reality proved them wrong.
Assets being transferred were frozen before they could leave Orb, and various industries were seized based on solid, irrefutable evidence.
The members of these eight families were left clinging to their remaining possessions, confined to their homes with nowhere to go.
Yang Hui had given Uzumi a satisfactory resolution—no lives were lost, only vast amounts of wealth confiscated. Meanwhile, the idle young masters and ladies were provided with "suitable" positions to showcase their talents—a carrot after the stick.
Of course, this was contingent on them working diligently. If they dared to scheme, Yang Hui wouldn't hesitate to act. The opportunity had been given—it was their fault if they failed to seize it.
A week passed, and everything proceeded in an orderly fashion. Batch after batch of elite personnel were relocated to the Mass Driver and Papua New Guinea. As Orb's territory expanded, more secretly cultivated talents were entrusted with key roles, dispatched to newly occupied lands to oversee various departments.
This was all done covertly, however. Orb still needed rebirth—it couldn't afford to let the Earth Forces and PLANT recognize the newly occupied territories as part of Orb. Only then could its vital forces be preserved when Orb eventually fell.
Dawn Company, Orb's most crucial military-industrial enterprise, now retained only the most basic maintenance staff under Erica Simmons' leadership. All technical personnel had been evacuated alongside dismantled large-scale equipment, sent to either the Mass Driver or Ame No Minashira—one a planned ground military fortress, the other a space-based stronghold. If they weren't moved in advance, as in the original timeline where they were divided between the Earth Forces and PLANT, there would be no chance for regrets.
"In Papua New Guinea, aside from scattered resistance, there are no longer any ZAFT Forces present. Our dispatched personnel have smoothly taken over operations, and reconstruction in Port Moresby is underway, though the resource shortage is severe," Sumeragi reported.
Present were not just Yang Hui and Wang Liu Mei, but also Uzumi, Yang Hongyu, Old Sahaku, and two other clan leaders. Even Mina joined via video conference.
"Tell them to slow down. We have no resources to allocate right now," Yang Hui sighed. The efforts of the first and second phases had indeed secured vast resources and funds for Orb, but it was still a drop in the bucket for the White Dove Plan.
Port Moresby's reconstruction needed resources. The construction and retrofitting of the Mass Driver needed resources. The space fleet being built in Ame No Minashira needed resources. Orb was stretched thin everywhere—robbing Peter to pay Paul wouldn't cover the gaps.
"Mina, how's the situation on your end? Is the Qilin-class completed?" Yang Hui asked. Mina's work was crucial—it was currently the highest priority. After Orb's fall, the space battlefield needed a powerful warship to replace the Kusanagi or to form a new four-ship alliance.
After all, it was an elite force intervening in the war between the world's two strongest factions—a battlefield that had already descended into madness. No amount of preparation was excessive.
Thinking back to the original plot, the Three Ships Alliance's victory relied heavily on Kira and Athrun, the chosen ones who exploited their protagonist plot armor to the fullest. The others' performances were far from impressive. If Mu hadn't sacrificed himself to take a hit for the Archangel, the ship would have been lost!
The fact that the Three Ships Alliance survived could only be described as a miracle.
Even so, they paid a heavy price. Asagi, Mayura, and Juri were among the casualties. The Kusanagi carried more than just three M1 Astrays, and those three were already considered elite pilots. If even they fell, the fate of the others was predictable.
Yang Hui understood that war inevitably brought sacrifices. He had mentally prepared himself, especially since his first-phase mission was to ensure the survival of the Three Ships Alliance members—including unnamed soldiers who might not even appear on-screen.
Thus, every additional ounce of strength meant an extra layer of security. The MS units were already operational; the only missing piece was a space warship.
"Hah, go to sleep. Maybe you'll dream it into existence," Mina scoffed. Was he joking? Did he have any idea how many resources and how much time it took to build a Qilin-class carrier? Had he forgotten how few resources he'd sent to Ame No Minashira?
"Uh... What about the White Tiger-Class then?"
"One is completed and has undergone test voyages."
"That's good enough." The Qilin-class had indeed been a stretch. Settling for the White Tiger-Class—with one ship already ready—was satisfactory. If even the White Tiger-Class hadn't been finished and only the Unicorn-Class was available, he'd have been truly desperate.
"Since things have stabilized in Papua New Guinea, can we start relocating our citizens?" Uzumi asked.
"We don't have a pretext yet. It'll be hard to convince the people..."
Beep beep beep—
At that moment, Wang Liu Mei's PAD chimed. Seeing it was a high-level encrypted file, she opened it immediately, even mid-meeting. Her expression darkened as she read.
"The ZAFT Forces have launched an attack on Panama."
"What!?" Uzumi and the others shot to their feet, staring at Yang Hui in shock. Once again, he'd been right. It had only been about half a month since the Alaska battle, and ZAFT was already mounting another large-scale operation—this time targeting the heavily fortified Panama Spaceport.
"Do we have details on their forces?" Yang Hui asked.
"No, but intel suggests the attacking units are the main forces from Gibraltar Base, plus remnants from Alaska Base that retreated to Gibraltar."
"No descent troops?"
"No, the fleet remains stationed at their original position with no signs of deploying ground forces, but..."
"But what?"
"The battleships have prepared drop pods, but our agents confirm they aren't carrying MS units, and the numbers are limited."
"..." Upon hearing this, Yang Hui accessed his personal database, searching through stored intelligence. The Celestial Being's intelligence network first filtered information through Wang Liu Mei, who then relayed critical data to Yang Hui for storage in his personal database.
"Could it be this?" Yang Hui pulled up a file and projected it onto the conference room screen.
"This is—!"
"Gungnir—an ultra-powerful electromagnetic bomb. If our assumptions are correct, this must be it."
"...If that's truly the case, then we must begin evacuating our citizens immediately," Uzumi said gravely.
The electromagnetic storm triggered by the bomb wouldn't just disable all electronic equipment within Panama Spaceport's vicinity—it would also destroy the Mass Driver. If Panama's Mass Driver were lost, the Earth Forces would be completely stranded on Earth.
The Earth Forces would have only two options: either amass troops to retake Victoria Port or Kaohsiung Port, or target Orb. Between the two, Orb would be the easier target, especially since they had already rejected the Atlantic Federation's demands. An attack on Orb was inevitable.
"No need to rush. Let's wait for Panama's outcome," Yang Hui stated. The result of the Panama battle was crucial. If the ZAFT Forces won as in the original timeline, the Atlantic Federation would undoubtedly move against Orb. But if ZAFT lost, the Earth Forces wouldn't miss the opportunity to launch a full-scale assault on ZAFT's occupied territories.
This would buy Orb more preparation time and eliminate the need to persuade citizens to leave their homes prematurely.
"Agreed."
"Should we inform the Archangel crew about this?" Sumeragi asked.
"Yes, notify them. After all, they haven't yet shed their military uniforms."
"Understood."
As expected, once notified, the crew of the Archangel and the accompanying ships grew restless.
"What did you say? Panama?"
"Correct. The attack began at dawn, but details remain unclear," Kisaka explained to Murrue, Natarle Badgiruel, and Mu.
"Is this about the Mass Driver?"
"The Earth Forces' main troops are currently deployed in Panama. ZAFT is fighting desperately. Given the situation, your feelings must be complicated."
"Damn it!" Mu muttered under his breath. "After so many died in Alaska..."
Complicated was an understatement—it was a whirlwind of emotions. Though they had decided to stay in Orb, they hadn't yet joined the Orb Military, and the escalating war left them deeply unsettled.
...
Meanwhile, at Panama Spaceport, the ZAFT fleet's relentless bombardment allowed their MS units to land successfully, overwhelming the Earth Forces' ground troops in a fierce assault.
But the moment the Earth Forces' MS units appeared on the battlefield, that momentum was swiftly halted.
GAT-01 Dagger, a mass-produced MS developed by the Earth Forces after obtaining data from the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam. Utilizing the Strike's combat data, they also developed an Operating System that allowed Naturals to operate it with ease.
To reduce costs, the Strike Dagger eliminated the Strike Gundam's most distinctive feature—the Striker Pack system. Its armaments were simplified to basic configurations: one Vulcan Cannon, one Beam Saber, a Beam Rifle with a grenade launcher, and a dedicated shield. Additionally, the Phase Shift Armor was omitted, resulting in significantly inferior attack power, defense, mobility, and versatility compared to the Strike Gundam.
Despite the drastic performance cuts, the low production cost and the proven reliability of the X100 series frame allowed the Earth Alliance to mass-produce this model rapidly—a crucial advantage when they urgently needed a Mobile Suit capable of countering ZAFT's mass-produced MS. The simplified OS also enabled numerous fighter pilots transitioning to MS pilots to adapt quickly. With its easy operation, modest yet reliable armaments, and numerical superiority, the Strike Dagger managed to hold its own in subsequent MS battles against ZAFT.
"Heh, don't think you can run wild anymore!"
"Don't get cocky, you damn Coordinator!"
(End of Chapter)