After the battle on the far side of the Moon, Reid had returned to his office in Star Palace City, New Misurugi Kingdom, following three pleasant days of journey back.
Yes, those three days traveling from the Moon to Earth had been genuinely enjoyable for Reid.
Though during the first half-day after leaving the Moon, Reid remained tense and on high alert, only eating enough to replenish his energy, worried that the Earth Alliance Forces at the lunar base might grow desperate after losing contact with all four fleets and chase them beyond the Moon.
But after flying for half a day, with the Gran Chaos nearly exiting the lunar space zone, the Earth Alliance lunar base still hadn't sent any pursuers.
There were only two possibilities: either the Earth Alliance lunar base was still trying to figure out what had happened and was busy rescuing people at the Daedalus Base, or they had become too cautious after losing four fleets and were afraid to send more ships, worried that Reid might have further plans to attack the lunar base directly.
Whatever the reason, no pursuers was good news—Reid couldn't have handled another battle anyway.
So, after having Hoshino Ruri confirm with the New Misurugi Kingdom's far-side lunar base that everything was fine and the Earth Alliance was indeed focused on rescue efforts at the Daedalus Base, Reid finally went to sleep.
Exhausted as he was, Reid had no energy left for romantic thoughts. When Flay tried to tempt him into letting her stay the night, he firmly sent her away.
However, the next day, having regained his energy, Reid found himself unable to resist the temptation in the conference room: Flay in black stockings, with the top two buttons of her blouse undone and nothing underneath.
He barely heard a word of Flay's report.
Whether she was naturally seductive or had spent the past two years learning how to tempt men, Reid couldn't tell.
All he knew was that facing a mature, voluptuous woman who could switch between an elegant older sister and an innocent college student at will—a "flower" right outside his window that he was allowed to pick—he couldn't hold back.
If he could resist under those circumstances, Reid felt he might need to see a urologist.
So, failing the test of his resolve as a leader, Reid decisively indulged in Flay.
Of course, once back in Star Palace City, Flay went straight to the palace to get a pass from Ange and never sought Reid out again, leaving him to reflect that he had ultimately benefited from Ange's influence.
Fortunately, Ange didn't comment on Reid's involvement with Flay, as she had expected it to happen sooner or later. That Reid had held out for two years was somewhat surprising to her.
But Reid's easy days ended there. In the following days, he felt even more exhausted than during the battle on the far side of the Moon. He had to review combat reports from various fronts, manage the allocation and deployment of the nation's military forces, and handle daily alliance negotiations with PLANT—the work never stopped.
Thankfully, Une took charge of resource allocation and munitions factory production plans; otherwise, Reid would have been stuck in meetings with accountants.
From the compiled reports, it was clear that the nearly month-long conflict between the New Misurugi Kingdom and the Earth Alliance was filled with one word: "victory."
In Europe, the Eurasian Federation had launched multiple amphibious assaults during the Pacific naval battles, attempting to break through the New Misurugi Kingdom's old capital base defenses and secure a route to the Suez Canal.
However, the naval assaults were repelled by ZAFT's Gibraltar Base forces, while the ground offensives were driven back by the New Misurugi Kingdom troops.
It goes without saying that ZAFT intercepted the Eurasian Federation's reinforcements for the Suez Canal, as they were still contesting control over the canal with the Eurasian Federation.
As for the ground battles, Reid was deliberately provoking the Eurasian Federation.
After all, without an overwhelming numerical advantage, it was nearly impossible for the Eurasian Federation to defeat Tekkadan in land warfare.
In the eyes of the Eurasian Federation, both the Gundam Barbatos Lupus and the Garibaldi Rebake were virtually impervious to conventional weapons. Coupled with the heavy firepower deployed at the old capital base, the Eurasian Federation's Mobile Suits were consistently decimated in every engagement. With aerial combat remaining evenly matched, the war effort became utterly unsustainable.
Nevertheless, on the Middle Eastern front, ZAFT's offensive was eventually contained after the Eurasian Federation received support from the East Asian Republic.
By the time the Pacific naval battle entered its latter phase, East Asian Republic forces had already crossed the West Asian continent to reinforce the Suez Canal region.
When the East Asian Republic deployed five of their independently developed successor units to the Strike Gundam—the Thunderclap Gundam—on the battlefield, ZAFT's ground forces were caught off guard.
Since these units utilized PLANT's version of the Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactor (one of the incentives the Atlantic Federation provided to persuade the East Asian Republic to declare war early), they could essentially be considered customizable versions of the Freedom Gundam.
Moreover, the East Asian Republic's troops demonstrated exceptional combat proficiency, with veteran Celestial Soldiers and Celestial Generals from the previous war appearing alongside the Azure Dragon Gundam and Black Tortoise Gundam.
ZAFT never anticipated encountering the East Asian Republic's elite forces at the Suez Canal, suffering two consecutive defeats before retreating all the way back to North Africa.
This development left Reid somewhat exasperated. Despite having helped ZAFT cut off European reinforcements, they still failed to capture the Suez Canal by defeating the Eurasian Federation's Middle Eastern contingent.
Had ZAFT secured control of the Suez Canal, Reid's phased objectives would have been achieved in due course.
While ZAFT refused to directly invade Europe and risk being labeled aggressors, they could have landed in North Africa as "relief forces" to support Gibraltar Base. This would have pressured the Eurasian Federation into initiating hostilities, allowing ZAFT to counterattack into European territory.
Ultimately, Durandal merely needed a fig leaf—no matter how transparent it might be, revealing ZAFT's true intentions and motives—but it had to exist.
Reid had already heard that ZAFT was deploying the Minerva to North Africa to organize another offensive around the vessel.
Meanwhile in South America, ZAFT was clearly waiting to reap the rewards without effort.
The conflict between the New Misurugi Kingdom and the Atlantic Federation had left the latter with no capacity to attack South America.
The outcome of the Pacific naval battle now posed a threat to the Atlantic Federation's homeland, making it certain they wouldn't prioritize a mass driver over their own territorial integrity.
Once the Atlantic Federation forces at the Panama Base were inevitably withdrawn, ZAFT could simply wait to seize the facility effortlessly.
As mentioned earlier, the Pacific naval conflict had already concluded during Reid's journey back from the Moon to Earth.
After the two Hashmals cleared all northern coastal artillery emplacements and made landfall on Hawaii Island, the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Command had no choice but to leave behind a force composed of half-destroyed vessels as rearguard while withdrawing the remaining ships and Mobile Suits back to the Atlantic Federation homeland.
As it turned out, the remaining defeated troops voluntarily surrendered after being encircled by New Misurugi Kingdom forces.
After taking headcount, Noin packaged all wounded personnel and sent them back to the Atlantic Federation. Aside from those who succumbed to their injuries during transit, most returned home alive.
However, the fleeing units encountered particularly brutal misfortune.
Jane Houston's underwater forces and Mu's aerial units engaged in a surface-level slaughter of Atlantic Federation vessels.
Just as Noin predicted, less than five percent of the Atlantic Federation Pacific Fleet ultimately survived to return home.
These survivors almost exclusively consisted of crews whose vessels managed to miraculously evade detection by both the aerial and underwater search teams of the New Misurugi Kingdom.
Following the Pacific naval battle, the New Misurugi Kingdom did not immediately launch an invasion of the Atlantic Federation mainland.
Noin occupied the former Atlantic Federation base on Hawaii Island, establishing it as a forward outpost for the New Misurugi Kingdom.
She understood perfectly well that invading the Atlantic Federation mainland wouldn't be easy - with the entire North American continent under Atlantic Federation control, while the New Misurugi Kingdom could easily breach one point, they would subsequently face encirclement and suppression by Atlantic Federation ground forces.
Moreover, the New Misurugi Kingdom had suffered devastating losses to their Mobile Dolls in this battle, essentially trading Mobile Dolls for enemy lives. Therefore, the Pacific forces needed time to recuperate and replenish their Mobile Doll inventory before considering an invasion of the Atlantic Federation mainland.
Reid agreed with Noin's assessment - invading the Atlantic Federation mainland appeared difficult, and indeed wouldn't be straightforward.
Although atmospheric combat Mobile Dolls were now being batch-upgraded to Murasames, the New Misurugi Kingdom still lacked a powerful land-combat Mobile Suit.
The Atlantic Federation was completely different from the Oceania Union - fighting the Oceania Union didn't require specialized ground-combat MS since they lacked independent MS production capability. Destroying the units ZAFT provided them eliminated their effective resistance weapons.
But under existential threat, the terrifying production capacity the Atlantic Federation could unleash was beyond Reid's estimation.
After all, even in the original timeline, Durandal never seriously considered invading the Atlantic Federation mainland after defeating the Eurasian Federation, instead resorting to inciting public opinion to focus anger on LOGOS, then funding other Atlantic Federation factions to attack LOGOS members' estates.
One could only say it was the boomerang effect of LOGOS's long-term misdeeds finally coming back to haunt them, and Atlantic Federation citizens genuinely needed an emotional outlet at that time.
However, in Reid's plan, the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation had no place in the future. A triangular structure provided stability - if humanity required competition to progress, three world superpowers (New Misurugi Kingdom, East Asian Republic, and PLANT) would suffice. (Don't ask why not rule globally - I still want my book published)
Moreover, Reid had no intention of letting the three factions continue fighting, but rather wanted them to engage in peaceful competition for space development under certain rules.
After all, if Reid were to become a system administrator in the future, he certainly wouldn't focus solely on this single world. Although he would show some favor to his home base where he started, no one should expect him to actually become this world's babysitter.
So the Atlantic Federation was doomed to destroy itself, but this needed to be a gradual process. This battle might last longer than the original timeline's Second War.
As for the powerful land-based Mobile Suit that Reid had his eyes on, it was naturally the Virgo.
However, Reid didn't plan to use the handless Virgo, but rather the Virgo II.
Coincidentally, during OZ's campaign against Libra in A.C. 195, there were large numbers of Virgo IIs. Reid planned to take them ready-made - he would have Hoshino Ruri directly hack into the Virgo II's control systems and seize control. The Gran Chaos would take as many as it could carry.
But to go to A.C. 195 during OZ's campaign against Libra, Reid couldn't go with his forces currently scattered.
The problem was, with the current battlefield situation, Reid really couldn't recall all his elite troops scattered across various locations, especially Tekkadan in Europe.
If the old capital base lost Tekkadan, the Eurasian Federation would quickly break through the defense lines set up by the New Misurugi Kingdom.
And having Tekkadan return home definitely wouldn't be something that could be completed in just a day or two - he needed to find the right timing to create this window.
Easier said than done. At this point, Reid was even considering sending troops to directly occupy the Suez Canal to let ZAFT forces through.
Unfortunately, Reid didn't want to form an alliance with ZAFT.
Precisely because both sides were currently fighting their own battles openly, the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation temporarily couldn't label the New Misurugi Kingdom as pro-Coordinator to increase Blue Cosmos supporters' hatred toward Reid Isaac and stop them from fixating on the clone issue.
If Reid openly ordered assistance for ZAFT's entry into Europe, that pro-Coordinator label would stick, which wouldn't benefit Reid's subsequent plans.
Because Coordinators weren't the future - Reid was absolutely certain of this. Coordinators had to change their attitude of looking down on Naturals, otherwise the spark of racial conflict would never be extinguished.
But this was the current situation. Not to mention Tekkadan in Europe, even Noin in Hawaii couldn't return now.
The only ones who could return were the Black Tri-Stars from Balki Fortress, Belfgang, and Neil. (Salya and Hilda couldn't be recalled as they were Noin's guards, and Reid didn't trust anyone else to protect him)
With so few people, there was no hope for the remaining two G Invasion Campaigns. Those were major battles where they would also face Code Amelias's team - having too few people simply wouldn't work.
So Reid decided to recall everyone currently available to complete the assessment mission.
Reid declared that after days of handling official documents, his brain was about to explode and he needed a break.
But during wartime, when was there time to rest? So Reid needed to rest in another world.
The assessment mission happened to be set during a banquet, and facing off against Ribbons - whom he had already thoroughly deceived - seemed like something that could be quite enjoyable.
As for the battles caused by Otherworld Entanglement, Reid thought that the Mobile Suits from other worlds surely weren't as troublesome as the endless pile of documents on his desk. Right now, he just wanted to escape these papers.
So Reid acted on his thought and went to find Ange, who naturally agreed with both hands raised.
For the past half month or so, everyone had been out fighting battles, leaving Ange alone in the Royal Palace to meet with various envoys every day.
Ange wasn't fond of political activities either, so when she heard they could go rest in the AD Universe, she naturally didn't refuse.
In fact, Ange was somewhat looking forward to what enemies this Otherworld Entanglement might bring, since staying in the country had long made her hands itch for action.
The only complication was that Neil was on Hawaii Island - it would take him a full day to return, plus he needed rest time.
Therefore, it wasn't until the day after Reid spoke with Ange that they gathered all personnel and set out.
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