With Reid and Mina reaching an agreement, tensions between both sides naturally eased.
The fleet of the New Misurugi Republic descended and docked around the island where the orbital elevator was located, beginning their resupply (primarily charging the Union Flag Automatic Soldiers). Flay also stepped out of the massive Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ to relax and enjoy the sea breeze.
Meanwhile, borrowing Mina's temporary command post on the island, Reid directed his subordinates to deploy all sixty Kapool Automatic Soldiers from the two Antietam-class Freighters into the water.
The main force of the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet stationed in Orb still consisted of surface vessels, and since they had previously been attacking Orb, they likely didn't carry many large-depth MS-targeted bombs.
Moreover, the Strike Daggers lacked flight capabilities, so Reid estimated the Pacific Fleet would turtle up in the port and fight defensively.
Before long, Mina arrived at the command post with her subordinates, bringing intelligence on the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet.
Mina activated the electronic sand table in the command post and marked a port on the southeastern part of Orb's main island, saying,
"Reid, the main force of the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet is currently concentrated near this port. Call it fate—they're practically right next to us."
Reid checked the port's location and realized it was the very same port he had used to evacuate civilians before. He couldn't help but mutter sarcastically,
"How ironic. I used this port to help Orb evacuate civilians, and now we're about to fight our way back in through it."
Mina ignored Reid's remark and continued seriously,
"It's actually quite logical. During the previous battle for Orb, the island where Dawn Company was located was completely bombed to ruins. Now, the only thing left there is rubble.
"The other ports on the main island were destroyed by the Atlantic Federation during their assault. The only intact one is the large port the New Misurugi Republic used to evacuate civilians. So, they simply stationed their main fleet there, sending ships to patrol other areas once a day.
"Besides, this port is on the main island, surrounded by abundant facilities and industries. Over the past month, the Atlantic Federation soldiers—posing as peacekeepers—have been having the time of their lives."
As she spoke, Mina's voice carried obvious resentment, her fists clenched tightly. The staff officers around her also wore expressions of anger.
Reid didn't need to guess—he knew the Atlantic Federation soldiers must have brutalized the surrounding Orb civilians, while Orb's provisional government could only grovel, not daring to speak up.
So, Reid swiftly changed the subject, knowing that dwelling on it might invite unseen consequences. He said directly,
"No matter. We'll make sure they have an even hotter time in the flames later.
"Mina, prepare to declare war on Orb's provisional government in the name of Orb's rightful successor. With me here, the provisional government will likely just hide behind the Atlantic Federation's military and engage in a war of words. Play along with them for a while.
"As for my forces, we'll participate as mercenaries. The attack will commence at 3:00 AM tomorrow."
Reid chose 3:00 AM for a reason—even with shift rotations in place, without active combat, the hours between 3:00 and 4:00 AM were when people were at their most exhausted.
Being awakened at this hour to rush out and pilot Mobile Suits into battle would leave most non-elite soldiers somewhat mentally drained, resulting in a noticeable decline in combat effectiveness.
On Reid's side, however, his forces consisted mostly of Mobile Dolls that didn't require sleep. As the attacking party, they could rest in advance.
When it came to military operations, Reid was clearly more professional. Thus, Mina directly agreed to the night assault plan. She stated that as an Orb citizen, she would lead her subordinates to reclaim Orb before joining the New Misurugi Republic—this way, she could honor the nation that had raised her.
Reid had no objections. Since Mina had already been recruited, there was no worry about betrayal. Letting her fulfill her wish before severing ties with Orb was perfectly acceptable.
Seeing how easily Reid relinquished the title of Orb's savior to her, Mina felt slightly moved once again.
After all, she didn't want to be labeled as someone who abandoned her homeland for wealth. If she were to announce her immediate allegiance to the New Misurugi Republic, there would inevitably be Orb citizens who wouldn't understand and would gossip.
With the plan finalized, Mina quickly took her people to rest. Her subordinates would handle the war of words with Orb's provisional government.
Reid also synchronized the operation time with his troops, ordering everyone except those on duty to rest. He then set the Mass-Produced GM Astrays and Union Flags to automatic patrol mode, circling the island in continuous surveillance.
The declaration of war from Mina's faction—representing Orb's former government—against the current puppet regime soon reached Orb's mainland.
Neither Orb's provisional government nor the Atlantic Federation forces were surprised.
When Reid's fleet publicly announced its destination as Heaven's Base, military analysts had already deduced the New Misurugi Republic's intentions.
Clearly, the New Misurugi Republic's fleet wouldn't linger at Heaven's Base just to flaunt wealth or chase women.
They must have noticed the unusual supply shipments from the Atlantic Federation to Orb recently—or perhaps Reid's intelligence network had struck again—prompting them to strike first.
Thus, the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet had already prepared for battle, consolidating all forces on Orb's main island.
Rear Admiral Dreiss's reasoning was simple: the fleet returning from the Moon would take at least twelve more hours to reach synchronous orbit above Australia and deter the Balkiel Mobile Fortress.
Until then, sending his Pacific Fleet out of port to engage the New Misurugi Republic would be suicidal. The only option was to gamble that the New Misurugi Republic wouldn't dare use that terrifying Beam Cannon to bombard Orb's main island—unlike sparsely populated Australia, a single shot here could easily kill tens of thousands of civilians.
As for a sneak attack, a quick glance at the New Misurugi Republic's tightly coordinated patrol units made it clear there were no gaps to exploit.
In truth, Rear Admiral Dreiss's gamble was correct. Since Reid was leveraging Mina's reputation, he couldn't easily justify using the Barge Cannon against Orb's mainland.
However, in Reid's eyes, the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet didn't even warrant the Barge Cannon. After all, their Mobile Suits were mostly Strike Daggers, and with Muruta Azrael gone, they theoretically didn't have a single custom unit left.
Although the Strike Daggers held an absolute numerical advantage, their quality was far inferior. Reid even suspected that a single Psycommu Gundam MKⅢ could wipe out most of these Strike Daggers.
As for air power, the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet currently only had F-7D Spearhead fighters, which would undoubtedly be crushed by the Union Flags.
Underwater forces... To Reid's knowledge, the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet had zero underwater capabilities. Perhaps some submarines had been deployed by now, but a pure submarine force against Kapools would be nothing more than floating coffins.
Time passed quickly. At exactly 3:00 AM on July 22, Reid officially ordered a surprise attack on the main force of the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet southeast of Orb's main island.
Mina boarded an Antietam-class Freighter with her thirty-three blue M1 Astrays, preparing to deploy as the first wave during the landing operation. These M1 Astrays were equipped with Shrike Flight Packs, allowing them to fly within the atmosphere—though their speed was rather mediocre. The reason they were chosen as the first wave was mainly due to the strong insistence of Mina's subordinates.
Reid couldn't have been happier to have volunteers acting as cannon fodder—at least he wouldn't have to use his own Mobile Suits to scout enemy firepower.
Still, cover was necessary. The Union Flag Automatic Soldiers naturally arrived on the battlefield first.
Reid had equipped these Union Flags with high-yield aerial bombs and flare dispensers. Their mission was simple: conduct high-altitude bombing runs on the port's ships and structures to give the Atlantic Federation a rude awakening.
For the Atlantic Federation, the only silver lining was that Rear Admiral Dreiss truly knew how to command discipline. None of the personnel on duty had let their guard down. Less than ten minutes after the New Misurugi Republic's fleet set sail, the port's anti-air alarms blared. All fighters scrambled to intercept the Union Flags.
However, these fighters couldn't even hold their own against DINNs, let alone Union Flags—they were practically free kills. Moreover, Reid had deployed all two hundred Mobile Suits at once, leaving the Atlantic Federation's fighters outnumbered as well.
The outcome was clear. The Atlantic Federation's fighters fired a salvo of heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, but the moment the missiles left their launchers, they were precisely intercepted by the Union Flag Automatic Soldiers' rapid-fire electromagnetic cannons.
Immediately after, the Union Flags pierced through the explosions like eagles hunting pigeons, wiping out the Atlantic Federation's fighters in mere minutes.
There was no second wave of fighters. The entire port was subjected to indiscriminate bombing. Each of Reid's large aerial bombs left craters over ten meters wide upon impact. The rear airfields couldn't withstand such devastation.
As for anti-air weaponry, the Atlantic Federation's homeland had never anticipated an attack on Orb, so the supplies sent were all geared toward beach assaults—there wasn't a single anti-air gun among them.
Now, the Atlantic Federation was forced to rely on captured Orb mobile anti-air gun trucks and Strike Daggers wielding beam rifles for air defense. Their barrage was pitifully sparse, and with the Union Flags being AI-controlled high-altitude bombers, their so-called "air defense" was utterly futile.
That said, the Atlantic Federation wasn't entirely defenseless. While they had lost air superiority, they currently held the advantage in the underwater battle.
There was one thing Reid hadn't anticipated—the Atlantic Federation had transferred part of their still-experimental underwater Mobile Suit forces to the Pacific Fleet.
Shortly after entering the harbor, the Kapool Automatic Soldiers encountered the Atlantic Federation's underwater MS units.
One GAT-X255 Forbidden Blue (shown above) and ten GAT-706S Deep Forbiddens (shown below).
Although the Deep Forbidden's performance was slightly inferior to the Kapool, the Forbidden Blue clearly outperformed it.
Both models utilized TPS Armor, though here the PS Armor primarily functioned as a pressure-resistant hull for underwater use, lacking the invincible defense against physical projectiles it had in atmospheric or space environments. Under powerful attacks, failure of the pressure-resistant function could directly cause the Mobile Suit to deform.
But this was shallow water near the harbor, where the pressure-resistant function wasn't needed at all—even if a Strike Dagger fell in, it wouldn't deform from water pressure. Thus, the Kapool's primary underwater weapons—its eight all-terrain chest missiles and mechanical combat claws—were nearly useless, leaving them to be chased down.
Upon learning about the presence of Forbidden Blue and Deep Forbiddens underwater, Reid lamented cutting costs. Adding thermal modifications to the Kapool's mechanical claws wouldn't have cost much, yet now the automatic soldiers were helpless against PS Armor.
So Reid decided he'd have to personally fill the hole he'd dug by saving money. The Hermes Zero had underwater combat capabilities—though it couldn't achieve top speed underwater, surpassing the Forbidden Blue's 100 knots would be effortless.
Moreover, the Hermes Zero's electromagnetic gun had been modified for waterproofing. While its range and power would diminish underwater, it remained functional.
But Reid's main weapon this time was still the Beam Saber. Thanks to the AC universe's black-tech particle restraint technology, Beam Sabers could operate underwater.
The moment Reid piloted the Hermes Zero into the sea, the battle turned. He immediately ordered all surviving Kapool Automatic Soldiers to retreat and attack surface ships while he handled the eleven underwater MS units.
The Deep Forbidden pilots of the Atlantic Federation clearly hadn't expected the New Misurugi Republic to enable Beam Saber use underwater.
Moreover, the Lambda Driver's physical defense was absurdly strong—and Reid had long since mastered its capabilities to perfection.
As the Kapools scattered, Reid activated the Lambda Driver to churn the seawater, instantly creating a massive whirlpool. Over a dozen Pacific Fleet ships on the surface and seven Deep Forbiddens were immediately swept into the vortex.
But protected by the Lambda Driver's shield, the Hermes Zero could move freely within the whirlpool.
Thus, the seven Deep Forbiddens couldn't even resist before Reid pierced their cockpits with his Beam Saber, turning them into scrap metal swirling in the vortex.
Then, the Hermes Zero burst from the whirlpool, charging straight at the remaining three bewildered Deep Forbiddens and the Forbidden Blue.
These three Deep Forbiddens fared no better than the previous seven—their pilots had to focus entirely on maintaining thrusters to avoid being dragged into the whirlpool, leaving their immobilized units as easy targets for the Hermes Zero to bisect.
But the last remaining Forbidden Blue stood apart—both its pilot and machine were clearly far superior to the ten Deep Forbiddens.
As Reid piloted the Hermes Zero charging toward it, Forbidden Blue immediately assessed that the enemy's capabilities were unknown, its speed was high, and it was armed with beam weapons—making close combat unfavorable for itself.
It fired two supersonic torpedoes at the Hermes Zero (supersonic torpedoes don't refer to torpedoes traveling underwater at supersonic speeds, but rather to a type of [cross-medium torpedo] that can launch out of the water and fly at supersonic speeds before diving back in to attack targets at 200 knots). Then, it turned and fled toward the complex underwater reef terrain, intending to use the landscape to offset its disadvantage—after all, the Hermes Zero clearly didn't seem like a Mobile Suit designed specifically for underwater combat.
However, Reid shot down both torpedoes with precise shots from his electromagnetic rifle.
Forbidden Blue didn't even make it to the reef area before being overtaken by the Hermes Zero.
Left with no choice, Forbidden Blue's pilot attempted to counterattack with its trident weapon.
But beam weapons are unforgiving. The Atlantic Federation's developers couldn't have possibly equipped Forbidden Blue's trident with beam-resistant defenses, so the moment the two clashed, the trident's head was cleanly severed by a single slash.
Immediately after, the Hermes Zero closed the distance and, with three swift strikes, reduced Forbidden Blue to a limbless suit.
Reid chose not to destroy the Mobile Suit outright because he wanted to take Forbidden Blue back for reverse engineering. After all, as an underwater MS, its performance was outstanding.
With some modifications after cracking its technology, they could develop their own underwater MS. Australia's extensive coastline couldn't rely solely on Kapools—they needed some high-end units as command units for a balanced force composition.
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