As everyone busied themselves with their respective tasks, time quickly arrived at the day of the operation.
Fred's route to Heliopolis did not depart directly from PLANT. Instead, he first traveled to a cylindrical colony satellite jointly funded by several neutral nations near L4, where he assumed a new identity before proceeding onward to Heliopolis.
The journey went smoothly. After two days of transfers, Fred, aboard a civilian vessel, finally caught sight of the iconic cylindrical structure.
Though it was the young man's first time visiting Heliopolis, his prior experience at Mendel, combined with the extensive materials he had reviewed before arriving, meant the sight held no sense of unfamiliarity.
His gaze was steady as he calmly reviewed the operation plan in his mind.
According to the intelligence Ken had sent back, they had roughly three days left before the scheduled departure.
If he arranged things now, he could intercept those Mobile Suits—or even the Archangel—ahead of time.
As for the fact that the timeline had slipped past the original date, he paid it no mind. After all, he had changed so many things that it would have been stranger if they had departed on schedule.
Of course, he had also already positioned Orphee and the others near an asteroid close to Heliopolis, ready to provide support once the operation began.
"I wonder how Athrun and the others are doing."
"This is their first field mission, after all."
Beside him, Alec voiced his concern with a somewhat mother-hen-like worry.
"Grades are fine, mentality is fine, and Hawk and the others are watching over them. There's no major problem."
Fred shrugged in response.
The two of them hadn't accompanied the pair on their mission. Instead, they had slipped into Heliopolis quietly under different identities.
Thanks to ORB's strategy of appearing lax on the outside while remaining vigilant within, at least obtaining identities for entering Heliopolis had been easy enough.
Besides, those few could dodge bullets if it came to that.
With a more detailed operation plan than what he remembered from before, and having accounted for every factor he could think of, Fred couldn't guarantee everything would go smoothly, but he at least had a baseline of confidence.
And even if things deviated from the original plan, he had Plan B, Plan C...
As his words trailed off, Fred shot Alec a look, signaling him to keep quiet.
Though it was unlikely anyone here could understand them, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Fair enough."
Seeing this, Alec didn't press further. He simply took a deep breath, turned his gaze toward the steadily enlarging Heliopolis, and his eyes regained their resolute gleam.
While they advanced toward Heliopolis, on the other side, atop PLANT, Patrick and Siegel had just returned to their office after a meeting of the Supreme Council.
"By my calculations, he should be just about reaching Heliopolis by now."
Patrick glanced at the time displayed on his watch, his expression still taut.
"If we can secure those potential Mobile Suits, our MS technology will advance as well."
Siegel nodded.
"Quite straightforward of you. You have a good relationship with ORB, don't you?"
"If this matter gets exposed, whatever thin veil ORB has left will be torn away entirely."
Patrick let out a cold laugh.
His words were sharp, showing no mercy whatsoever.
What came back was a bitter laugh from Siegel on the other side.
"If that's the case, then there's nothing we can do."
"Consider it a warning to them."
In truth, he didn't mind them developing their own strength.
After all, any capable nation would try to develop its own power—that was an objective fact.
But the fact that they had chosen to cooperate with the Atlantic Federation meant they had already crossed ZAFT's bottom line.
"Prepare to launch the Neutron Jammers at ORB."
Siegel let out a sigh, but still gave the order.
"They're already prepared, but their air defense density isn't low. We'll need saturation coverage."
Patrick let out a cold chuckle.
"Mm."
Siegel didn't refuse.
Still, this kind of action was only basic retaliation. In reality, ORB wasn't heavily dependent on nuclear energy—they relied more on undersea geothermal power.
Of course, the stance still had to be shown. As for those geothermal power plants, as long as ORB didn't continue making other moves that leaned toward the Atlantic Federation, they naturally wouldn't touch them.
Hearing this, Patrick didn't linger. He simply turned and walked out.
He had already gotten the answer he wanted.
As long as things went smoothly on Fred's end, they could naturally begin to make their move.
With Fred there, Athrun should be safe, right?
Thinking of Lenore's nagging in his ear lately...
With that thought, Patrick's disgust for ORB deepened even further.
If not for their meddling, the Atlantic Federation's technology wouldn't have been able to complete its iteration so quickly.
They were like a stick stirring shit in the pot—damn them.
...
On the other side, in distant Heliopolis, the weather was clear and sunny. Fred had smoothly entered this peaceful nation, where people came and went, looking quite lively.
"It really is peaceful."
Looking at the scene before him—the relaxed smiles on the faces of the passersby, and the pigeons flying in the sky—Alec couldn't help but sigh.
The expressions on people's faces don't lie.
Once upon a time, they too had such beauty on PLANT.
But even after the war began, even when they held the moral high ground, the smiles on PLANT had gradually been disappearing.
War was like an unshakable dark cloud, forever hanging over their heads.
Thinking of this, Alec's resentment toward the ORB authorities grew even stronger.
"Completely unthinkable that ORB would cooperate with the Atlantic Federation."
"Why couldn't they just stay neutral like before?"
"Did their citizens all come here for world peace? What a joke."
Alec couldn't help but complain repeatedly.
ORB was itself an immigrant nation built on the foundation of neutrality.
Neutrality meant greater stability—not being dragged into war.
That was also the main factor behind why people chose to immigrate there.
If you tried to tell ordinary ORB citizens that their ideology was about world peace and universal harmony, who could possibly understand that?
The people who came to ORB weren't there for world peace—they were there for their own peace.
Not to mention that this ideal of universal harmony was itself quite ironic coming from ORB, which still maintained family rule.
"They're digging their own grave."
Fred shrugged.
They claimed to act for their ideals, yet they violated their own principles—truly laughable.
However, Fred had no intention of delving into any philosophical questions, and the two of them didn't say much more. Compared to that, the Mobile Suits and the Archangel were the real key—this operation had succeeded, and naturally, it would give him more leverage in the future.