Earth, ZAFT Earth Forces' Carpentaria Base.
As ZAFT's first base on Earth, Carpentaria Base was regarded as the strategic heart of ZAFT's operations on the planet. Thus, it was equipped with every conceivable defensive artillery, including large armor-piercing anti-aircraft guns specifically designed to target descending orbital drop pods.
At this moment, the base commander was listening tensely to reports from his subordinates about the New Misurugi Republic fleet approaching geosynchronous orbit.
Due to the presence of Neutron Jammers on Earth, ZAFT's outer orbital fleet had long since withdrawn to defend their homeland. As a result, Carpentaria Base had to rely on the Oceania Union's astronomical telescopes to observe the movements of the New Misurugi Republic fleet in space.
Fortunately, the weather today was clear and cloudless, allowing them to roughly track the fleet's actions.
In truth, the Oceania Union wasn't the only one doing this—every nation on Earth was monitoring the New Misurugi Republic fleet's movements. After all, when such a massive fleet passed by Earth, any country that didn't pay attention must have nerves of steel.
However, none of the nations were particularly tense, as this fleet was heading to attack ZAFT, not Earth.
That was, until the New Misurugi Republic fleet decelerated over the Atlantic Federation's geosynchronous orbit. At that point, Earth's nations sensed something was wrong. And when the fleet finally positioned itself above the Oceania Union, everyone realized a terrifying truth.
Upon receiving this news, the commander of Carpentaria Base immediately roared:
"Sound the base's air raid alarm! All forces, switch to wartime status immediately! The New Misurugi Republic fleet's target isn't PLANT—it's us!!!"
The commander's orders were issued swiftly, but they could no longer change the outcome.
Once the Barge reached its designated position, its cannon immediately turned toward Earth and fired the Barge Cannon directly at Carpentaria Base (this cannon was originally designed for orbital bombardment of Earth, so this isn't the author adding new lore).
Since Reid had already conducted high-altitude reconnaissance of Carpentaria Base's surface deployments during his first return to Earth, the locations of the command building and all the openly positioned anti-aircraft artillery were crystal clear to him.
After confirming the Oceania Union as his landing point for Earth's reclamation, Reid had personally replayed the Atlantic Federation's future "Operation 8-8" in his mind countless times.
At that time, ZAFT's Earth Forces were at less than a third of their peak strength (the Gibraltar Base had been abandoned, and the Second Battle of Casablanca had further reduced their numbers), yet they still managed to defend the Oceania Union. The cooperation of the Oceania Union's own forces and Carpentaria Base's professional command played a crucial role.
In their desperate struggle for survival, the two sides coordinated as if they were a single nation. The Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet was held at the border by Carpentaria Base's forces.
Meanwhile, the forces that dropped into central Oceania Union (the Ayers Rock region) were overwhelmed by the Union's own military.
Though the Oceania Union's troops were poorly trained, their equipment was no worse than the Atlantic Federation's. Combined with ZAFT's expert command and numerical superiority, the Federation's airborne forces were gradually divided and annihilated.
In the end, the Atlantic Federation's strategic objective to capture the eastern and northern coasts of Australia failed. Their Pacific Fleet suffered heavy losses and was forced to abandon the assault on Carpentaria Base, retreating to Orb territory instead. As a fallback, they opted to contain ZAFT's Earth forces within the Australian region.
Thus, Reid concluded that to conquer the Oceania Union, they must first eliminate Carpentaria Base outright.
Once Carpentaria Base was lost, the inherent weaknesses of the Oceania Union's military—poor training and low morale—would be laid bare. Without professional command and the perceived invincibility of ZAFT forces shattered, their fighting spirit would plummet into the negatives.
At that point, the Oceania Union's military threat would drastically diminish, making surrender negotiations far easier.
Of course, Reid believed that during Operation 88, the Atlantic Federation had certainly considered destroying Carpentaria Base first before annexing the Oceania Union—they simply couldn't pull it off.
After all, only sixty-odd years had passed since the Reconstruction War (briefly mentioned in Chapter 4's author's notes, so no further elaboration here). The Atlantic Federation absolutely dared not use nuclear weapons on Earth, as doing so would immediately fracture the Earth Alliance. The East Asian Republic and the Eurasian Federation would undoubtedly unite to retaliate. (The Cosmic Era calendar was established precisely to prevent nuclear weapons from being used in terrestrial warfare again, with all nations agreeing to ban Earth-based nuclear arms due to their catastrophic environmental impact.)
Truthfully, Reid also hesitated to deploy nuclear weapons on Earth. But now, he had found a loophole: large-scale beam cannons were not prohibited. The destructive power of a Positron Cannon rivaled that of a tactical nuclear warhead, yet nations continued using them without restriction.
Thus, firing the Barge Cannon from space to strike ground targets with beam attacks did not violate any treaties (this was also why Durandal later dared to use Requiem against Earth nations).
A massive beam from the Barge Cannon pierced through the atmosphere, directly striking Carpentaria Base's command tower before sweeping across its defensive artillery emplacements.
Both Reid and Une agreed that even if Carpentaria Base required complete reconstruction afterward, there was no need to preserve it now. The mass driver here could be salvaged if possible—otherwise, it was expendable. The primary objective of this battle was to eliminate all remaining ZAFT resistance within the base.
In an instant, the command tower and surrounding facilities of Carpentaria Base were reduced to smoldering debris by the Barge Cannon's blast. Wherever the beam swept, chain explosions erupted in its wake.
By the time the Barge Cannon's bombardment ended, the center of Carpentaria Base had been gouged into a crater over ten meters deep. Flames engulfed the area, with the entire base consumed by fire and secondary detonations.
At that moment, hundreds of crimson "meteors" streaked across the skies of northern Oceania Union territory—the first wave of descending fleets and MS Entry Pods.
A small portion of these "meteors" landed at Carpentaria Base: three warships, over thirty Underwater Automaton Soldiers (Kapools) deployed via Entry Pods, and one massive Entry Pod exceeding fifty meters in size.
Leading this force was Reid's flagship, the Aries. Though Reid was the only ACE pilot aboard the Aries this time, the enormous Entry Pod carried the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ.
Reid's mission here was simple: eradicate all remaining resistance at Carpentaria Base.
After the attack by the Barge Cannon, Carpentaria Base's anti-air facilities were almost completely destroyed, and surface vessels were wiped out. When Reid descended, he only encountered sporadic attacks from the peripheral areas.
However, upon actual landing, Reid still faced attacks from the remaining Mobile Suits of Carpentaria Base. Many Voskhod-class Submersible Carriers had been stationed underwater at the base, most of which survived the bombardment.
But Une had anticipated this situation—those thirty-plus Kapools were precisely prepared for the underwater forces.
The remaining operational Mobile Suits at Carpentaria Base were mostly stored in peripheral warehouses. Even if they were all activated and deployed now, their numbers were pitifully small.
Reid looked at the twenty-plus DINNs, forty-plus GINNs, and scattered missile launchers on the fringes and immediately lost interest. He then issued an order:
"Flay, use the Mobile Suits in Carpentaria Base for some target practice. I'll cover you for now."
Hearing this, Flay responded excitedly,
"Roger that, Commander. Just watch my performance!"
With that, Flay maneuvered the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ to open its massive Entry Pod and drift out.
The ZAFT soldiers had never seen a giant Mobile Suit before. At this moment, they had no time to wonder how such a colossal machine could fly—the sheer size of the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ made them feel like elementary school students trying to fight a towering, muscular adult.
However, the ZAFT forces at Carpentaria Base were now in a desperate, vengeful state. The New Misurugi Republic had deployed weapons of mass destruction from the outset, clearly intending to leave no survivors. Faced with certain death, they chose to go down fighting.
Thus, the DINNs fired all the small missiles from their chest launchers at the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ, while the GINNs on the ground—lacking heavy weaponry—could only desperately spray their 76mm heavy assault machine guns.
Confronted with the attacks from the DINNs and GINNs, Flay, in her first battle, exhibited an eerie excitement. She stared manically at the airborne DINNs and shouted,
"Die!"
The next moment, the three [Siren Beast] Multiple Array Phase Energy Cannons mounted on the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ's chest unleashed crimson beams of death, instantly sweeping the DINNs from the sky and obliterating their missiles.
Seeing this, the GINNs on the ground discarded their pitifully ineffective 76mm heavy assault machine guns and frantically drew their heavy cleavers, attempting to physically slash at the enemy's leg joints.
Flay showed no mercy. Using the Psycommu System for multi-lock targeting, she unleashed a full barrage from every weapon port on the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ.
The GINNs on the ground were wiped out in an instant, triggering another chain of explosions.
After dealing with the GINNs, Flay then used the Mobile Suit's 125mm High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannon to snipe the remaining turrets on the base's periphery, swiftly eliminating every last source of resistance in Carpentaria Base.
Now, standing amidst the flames of Carpentaria Base, the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ resembled a monstrous entity clawing its way out of hell—as if this entire base had been laid to ruin by this single machine alone.
Moreover, just as Flay had finished dealing with the resistance forces at Carpentaria Base, the underwater battle also came to an end.
The thirty-plus Mobile Doll Kapools engaged the surviving Guerrillas and ZOnos underwater at Carpentaria Base in a stalemate. After all, Mobile Dolls were not human-operated, making their tactics rigid and inflexible, and the enemy still had Mothership support.
However, the primary objective of these thirty-plus Kapools was to confirm the enemy's underwater positions. Upon locating the enemy Mothership, they immediately launched signal buoys to the surface.
The three Motherships led by the Aries in the sky promptly dropped high-powered depth charges on the buoy locations. There was no fear of friendly fire—Mobile Dolls had no crew.
Carpentaria Base's harbor was small and shaped like a deep U, leaving ZAFT's Voskhod-class Submersible Carrier with no room to escape. In sheer panic, it was obliterated along with over twenty Kapools by the depth charges.
The remaining Guerrillas and ZOnos, who had survived by sheer luck, fought desperately against the dozen or so remaining Kapools.
In the end, both sides were nearly annihilated—nearly, because one ZOno surfaced, likely the sole surviving Mobile Suit, trying to assess the situation above. Naturally, Reid, who had been waiting in the air, shot it down with a single blast.
The pilot's final sight was probably the iconic scene of the Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ standing amidst the flames.
With this, Carpentaria Base was utterly destroyed. The Mass Driver had already collapsed during the first wave of Barge Cannon attacks, and now the area was nothing but burning ruins. Even if survivors remained beneath the wreckage, it wouldn't affect the larger situation.
Reid had plans to rebuild a military base here later, but for now, it was better left completely destroyed. After all, without occupying the Oceania Union, there was no point discussing reconstruction.
With Carpentaria Base dealt with, the first wave of airborne troops also completed their missions.
Reid's solo mission to Carpentaria Base meant Noin, the Xia sisters, and the Black Tri-Stars were all assigned elsewhere.
Noin was part of the first airborne unit, tasked with a simple objective: commanding troops to seize key northern towns of the Oceania Union.
Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, and Cairns were all targeted.
However, the local Oceania Union forces, deprived of ZAFT's command and support, put up only sporadic resistance before collapsing. There were even instances of a single Mobile Doll chasing seven or eight GINNs.
The primary reason for this outcome was that the Oceania Union's wired communication network had long been restored with PLANT's material support, so every city learned of Carpentaria Base's destruction immediately.
Thus, after initial skirmishes ended in defeat, the Oceania Union forces, terrified despite numerical superiority, turned tail and fled. The airborne troops captured these cities with surprising ease.
Meanwhile, the second wave of airborne fleets descended, securing the northeastern coastline of Australia. These were defensive forces, positioned to prevent a surprise attack by the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet from Orb.
Finally, the third wave of troops landed directly in the Oceania Union's capital, Canberra.
Here, the forces of the Oceania Union put up fierce resistance for a while. However, faced with the assault troops of the Black Tri-Stars and the Xia sisters, coupled with the nearby military base being hit by a Barge Cannon after its location was confirmed, their defenses quickly collapsed without support.
The urban defense lines were soon breached. In the ensuing street battles, the Oceania Union's GINN units stood no chance against the impervious Mystic Lightning, Amazing Kampfer, and NT-X Gundam.
By 23:00 midnight, the capital city of Canberra fell to the New Misurugi Republic. Earlier, Reid had piloted the Hermes Zero across Australia to reach the capital. After the battle concluded, he delivered a nationwide address via the capital's television station.
He announced that Canberra, the capital of the Oceania Union, had been captured by the New Misurugi Republic, and that the Oceania Union government had collapsed due to their foolish declaration of war. He called for the surrender of cities and military bases in the western and southern regions of the Oceania Union.
Any city that had not surrendered by 06:00 the next morning would be deemed by the New Misurugi Republic to have chosen resistance, and troops would be dispatched to eliminate them.
In the original work, the Atlantic Federation also conquered the South American Union in a single day. However, their so-called "conquest" was similar to the protagonist's approach—capturing the Panama base and deploying airborne troops to occupy the capital before declaring the nation annexed.
Pitifully, the South American Union had just sent a batch of food supplies to Plant and gained nothing in return before being declared defunct.
(End of Chapter)