After meeting with Haman late at night at the Side 1 Colony Satellite, Reid left Side 1 and returned to the Gran Chaos to begin discussing subsequent combat plans.
Meanwhile, the events of Char's Counterattack continued to unfold along their original trajectory.
The death of Codename Amelias clearly would not affect Char's plans. On the contrary, Char was now even more determined to carry out the Earth Cooling Operation, forcibly driving humanity into space.
Char believed that Reid was most likely a member of some powerful family faction on Earth, as only those rotten to the core would show no trace of regret or sorrow after their daughter was shot dead.
Even though Reid was an exceptionally powerful Newtype, Char still believed that no matter how strong this man's soul was, it was useless—bound by Earth's gravity and adhering to outdated rules, he would ultimately rot.
Thus, after bribing Earth Federation officials and promising to surrender at Luna II after obtaining Axis, Char returned to the Sweetwater Colony Satellite as in the original story, delivering a declaration of war within the Neo Zeon Army.
The only change in this segment was that Char did not label Haman as a remnant of the Zabi family or call her a clown.
Because in Char's eyes now, Haman was too pitiful—she had earned his full sympathy.
To console Haman, who had just lost her daughter, Char arranged for her to meet Mineva.
Watching the two embrace after five years apart, Char even felt he had done a good deed.
At this point, Char's wariness toward Haman had significantly diminished. Many of Haman's former subordinates at the Sweetwater Colony Satellite now knew she was still alive.
However, Haman clearly had no intention of recruiting them again, as Codename Amelias had not transferred the authority to summon people from another world—not even for a one-time use.
So after meeting Mineva, Haman retreated back into her reclusive state, shutting herself in her room unless Mineva sought her out.
Haman knew that Reid was surely searching for the New Danann Child, so even though the New Danann Child remained near the Neo Zeon forces, Haman could not contact them, as doing so risked exposure.
Unless Teletha initiated contact with Haman, Haman planned to continue consuming Char's resources aboard the Neo Zeon ship.
In fact, Haman was not mistaken. The Rewloola, which Char was aboard, was monitored by the Gran Chaos throughout its journey to the Sweetwater Colony Satellite. Only after entering the colony—a Neo Zeon stronghold with substantial forces—did Reid dare not approach too closely, easing the surveillance.
Since the Gran Chaos had followed all the way to the Sweetwater Colony Satellite, Reid and the others naturally observed Char's mobilization speech to the Neo Zeon forces in its entirety.
It must be said that Char, having reclaimed the Deikun name, still held considerable prestige among space colonists. Even through surveillance footage, Reid could see that the soldiers below were loyal to Char.
This was something Haman's Neo Zeon had lacked back then—half its members were merely going through the motions.
Unfortunately, a significant portion of these soldiers would meet their end before achieving their goals. Reid had come to Sweetwater not as a spectator but to prepare for a surprise assault on Neo Zeon.
Regarding Haman's scheme, Reid didn't discuss it much after returning to the ship because it was too obvious—Amuro and Char, the two top combatants of the Universal Century, were clearly meant to tie down Reid's forces.
From Reid's perspective, there wasn't a single person on his side who could simultaneously take on both of them while ensuring his own safety.
Amuro fought in underhanded ways, and when he teamed up with Char, who knew what kind of bizarre synergy they might unleash.
Moreover, Amuro piloting the Nu Gundam could trigger miracles. If Amuro truly unleashed a miracle, Reid would have no choice but to counter with a miracle of his own.
In this corner of space, Amuro held the home-field advantage. On the battlefield, more people would undoubtedly support Amuro than Reid, making the final outcome uncertain.
As for the new Nu Gundam and Sazabi, both were equipped with beam weaponry, so Iron-Blooded Mobile Suits could be deployed to counter them directly.
From Reid's standpoint, even if Haman and the others hadn't revealed the secret of the Nano-Laminate Armor to Amuro and Char, it wouldn't be difficult for them to prepare a few physical weapons. It was unlikely they could exploit the two Mobile Suits' lack of suitable countermeasures.
Therefore, after discussion, Reid's side decided to abandon concealment and take the initiative, splitting their forces to break the enemy apart.
This was because Salamandine pointed out that continuing to hide was a losing strategy since the New Danuu's Child hadn't been located.
Reid's forces were far stronger than the New Danuu's Child—if anyone should be afraid, it was the other side.
If the Gran Chaos hesitated out of fear of a surprise attack from the New Danuu's Child, it would only give the enemy more time to build up strength.
After careful consideration, Reid agreed with Salamandine's reasoning and planned an assault on the Neo Zeon forces at Sweetwater Colony along the way.
The reason for targeting Neo Zeon instead of the smaller Londo Bell force was, of course, that Reid considered Amuro's potential too high and preferred to save the tougher challenge for later.
Moreover, Reid had plenty of methods to deal with lesser troops. At worst, he could follow the Atlantic Federation's example and simply purchase nuclear bombs from the G Coin Store to clear the path.
Additionally, since Haman was with Neo Zeon, the New Danuu's Child was likely there as well. If this battle could force the New Danuu's Child to reveal itself, it would save a lot of trouble.
Of course, the idea of using nuclear bombs to clear the way was an exaggeration on Reid's part. For this operation, the Gran Chaos wouldn't appear from the start. The goal was to make the New Danuu's Child cautious, ensuring that even if it showed up first, it wouldn't act too aggressively.
As for how to carry out the assault without the Mothership, the answer was to implement the "Bakiralulu Tactic."
Sweetwater Colony was one of the rare Colony Satellites built by combining open-type and closed-type designs.
This structure was highly unstable for a Colony Satellite. In the event of war, even moderately intense combat could easily split it in two.
The Earth Federation had constructed this Colony Satellite to house refugees from space wars, so simplicity and cost-effectiveness were prioritized.
Given this design philosophy, Sweetwater Colony's location was hardly ideal—it was surrounded by multiple asteroid belts.
According to the Earth Federation, these asteroid belts served a dual purpose: they provided raw materials for constructing the Colony Satellite at reduced costs, and after completion, the Colony Satellite could sustain itself through space mining. It was a win-win situation.
The Earth Federation never considered the dangers of constructing a refugee-housing Colony Satellite in such a hazardous location. If the asteroid belt were affected by the gravitational pull of a passing asteroid, causing a massive shower of meteors to strike the Colony Satellite, the consequences would be catastrophic.
However, this geographical advantage also facilitated Char's covert military development. With the ability to source materials locally, Char's Neo Zeon was able to construct a large number of Mobile Suits and Musaka-class Battleships.
Now, this same advantage made it convenient for Reid to hide various delayed-fire missiles within the asteroid belt.
First, Reid concealed the missiles needed for each area inside Decoy Balloons disguised as large asteroids. These missiles could all be remotely controlled.
The actual combat zone this time was near the Sweetwater Colony, and the Minovsky Particle signal interference did not extend to the more distant asteroid belt.
When needed, the missiles could simply be activated to puncture their asteroid disguises.
As for the addition of several hundred extra asteroids within the densely packed asteroid belt, no one would be able to detect anything amiss.
These disguised asteroids weren't deliberately positioned close to the Sweetwater Colony, and Neo Zeon had no reason to count exactly how many asteroids were in the belt.
Moreover, Reid had specifically avoided areas with active mining operations.
After completing his preparations, Reid launched a surprise attack while Char was finishing his speech and Neo Zeon was preparing to deceive the Earth Federation with fake vessels.
Over a hundred large missiles suddenly fired from the asteroid belt surrounding the Sweetwater Colony, heading straight for the Colony Satellite.
Under Char's leadership, even though Neo Zeon had not yet officially gone to war with the Earth Federation, its soldiers were already in combat readiness.
As soon as the missiles appeared, enemy attack alarms immediately sounded inside the Sweetwater Colony.
At that moment, Char, who had just finished his speech and was resting, jolted awake and quickly summoned his assistant, this world's Nanai Miguel, asking,
"Nanai, what's going on with the alarms? Who is attacking us?"
Nanai Miguel herself wasn't entirely clear on the situation yet and could only report truthfully based on the satellite outpost's intelligence:
"Supreme Commander, over a hundred missiles have suddenly appeared around the Sweetwater Colony. No battleships or Mobile Suits have been detected so far. The Colony Satellite's Defense Laser Cannons are already intercepting these missiles, and the escort fleet's ships and Mobile Suits have also been dispatched."
Hearing this, Char immediately sensed something was off and ordered,
"Assemble all forces. An enemy trying to attack the Sweetwater Colony wouldn't use just over a hundred missiles. Also, tell the external forces to be cautious. I suspect these missiles might not be as simple as they seem."
Upon hearing this, Nanai Miguel thought of something, her expression turning grim as she said,
"Supreme Commander, do you suspect these missiles might be Nuclear Bombs?"
Char shook his head and replied,
"If it were the Earth Federation, they most likely wouldn't use Nuclear Bombs first, as it wouldn't benefit them.
But if it's another force, then it's hard to say. Nanai, prepare the Sazabi. I'll sortie as well. It's a good opportunity to test the new Mobile Suit's combat performance."
However, just as Char finished speaking, all external Detectors on the Sweetwater Colony suddenly emitted sharp electronic malfunction sounds, and all corresponding electronic screens displayed scrambled images.
This attack wasn't Hoshino Ruri's electronic intrusion. The Sweetwater Colony was already in a state of combat readiness, with low-level Minovsky Particle Interference being routinely dispersed.
From the position of the Gran Chaos, while it wasn't completely impossible to connect to the internal signals of the Sweetwater Colony, the network speed had been reduced to something akin to dial-up internet over a telephone line.
This phenomenon occurring in the Sweetwater Colony was the result of the contents inside the first batch of over a hundred missiles deployed by Reid.
These missiles weren't actually loaded with explosives, nor was their purpose to destroy anything.
Inside these missiles was an Iron-Blooded specialty: Nano-Disruptor Chaff.
During the last scavenging operation in the Iron-Blooded Universe, Reid had acquired a large quantity of Nano-Disruptor Chaff.
In the Iron-Blooded Universe, Nano-Disruptor Chaff was mass-produced. Although it was somewhat troublesome to use, its actual effectiveness was quite good. As a result, Codename Amelias used McGillis's funds from that universe to purchase it in bulk, with most of it eventually ending up in Reid's hands.
In the Universal Century universe, most electronic devices were designed to resist interference from Minovsky Particles.
Nano-Disruptor Chaff, which works by generating massive signal echoes and overwhelming detectors with sheer volume of junk signals, was something the UC universe had little protection against.
Thus, when the interception lasers detonated the missiles, the devices set to automatically disperse the Nano-Disruptor Chaff upon explosion began to operate.
As a result, over a hundred missiles created a massive cloud of Nano-Disruptor Chaff in space, directly enveloping the area around the Sweetwater Colony.
It should be noted that Nano-Disruptor Chaff from the Iron-Blooded Universe also had severe communication jamming capabilities. This immediately caused all external warships and Mobile Suits to lose all detection functions—they could see nothing, and communications were instantly cut off.
Fortunately, those inside the Colony Satellite and the warship bridges could still identify what was attacking them through other means. After all, the glass was transparent, allowing them to see through it that the enemy's missiles were releasing vast amounts of pink mist, like smoke grenades, obscuring their vision.
Once metal detectors identified these as ultra-small metal foils, the Colony Satellite command center immediately responded, using wired communications to order several unaffected ships in the port to launch High-Explosive Missiles.
These ultra-small metal foils were highly flammable, and with such high density, a single spark could quickly burn them away.
The Neo Zeon ships in the port immediately carried out the orders upon receiving them.
Although they were also immediately jammed upon exiting, causing many missiles to be fired toward friendly ships and Mobile Suits, the problem was ultimately resolved.
Warships had decent protection against high-explosive rounds, so a single hit wouldn't sink them. The few unlucky ones hit by friendly missiles were in the extreme minority—only one or two units in total, and even those were merely damaged, not directly destroyed.
However, once the Nano-Disruptor Chaff was burned away, everyone discovered that the second batch of nearly five hundred missiles was already very close to the Sweetwater Colony.
Moreover, the enemy's main Mobile Suit force had also appeared and had already flown near the escort warships.
Thus, as soon as the detection equipment of the first wave of Neo Zeon warships and Mobile Suits deployed to defend the Colony Satellite was restored, alarms began blaring incessantly.
The Tekkadan and the Black Tri-Stars, leading the vanguard, didn't even need to engage. Over a hundred Virgo IIs, with a single coordinated volley of missiles, took out three Neo Zeon warships and more than forty Mobile Suits. The Sweetwater Colony itself also came under missile attack.
Fortunately, this wave of missiles mostly struck near the port, so the Colony Satellite did not collapse from the attack.
Seeing that the Colony Satellite had been attacked, the Neo Zeon forces naturally began to retaliate, pouring fire from Beam Machine Guns and ship cannons toward the Virgo IIs.
Unfortunately, after a series of explosions, the Virgo IIs, which had deployed their Eight-Linked Circular Magnetic Mobile Defense Shields in rows, remained completely unscathed. They counterattacked once again, taking down two more Neo Zeon ships and over a dozen Mobile Suits.
This pained the Neo Zeon commanders immensely. With the limited resources Neo Zeon possessed, losing five ships and nearly sixty Mobile Suits in just the enemy's first wave of attacks made the battle seem almost impossible to win.
However, Sweetwater was currently Neo Zeon's main base, home to a wide range of talented individuals, so they quickly analyzed the secret behind the Virgo II's defense.
Thus, Char, who had just boarded the Sazabi, soon received two messages.
The first was that the enemy Mobile Suits possessed a highly specialized electromagnetic defense shield, rendering ordinary long-range attacks ineffective. Only high-powered MEGA Particle Cannons or close-quarters combat could penetrate it.
The second was that Haman requested the allocation of a Mobile Suit for her to sortie, stating that she wanted revenge.
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