The Earth Alliance's surprise announcement didn't shock Reid, as he had long anticipated they would pull such a stunt—all to sever any possibility of him defecting to PLANT.
The meager severance pay for a mere captain was nothing to the Eurasian Federation, yet it served their strategic goals perfectly. Why wouldn't they take the opportunity?
While Reid remained unfazed, the announcement stirred up protests in PLANT, with demonstrators demanding punishment for the New Misurugi Republic and Reid's arrest.
Fortunately, Siegel had prepared for this. In a televised address, he condemned the Earth Alliance for deliberately sowing discord between PLANT and the New Misurugi Republic.
He explicitly pointed out that Reid Isaac had only been a sergeant at the time, and the attack on Junius Seven had been carried out by Atlantic Federation vessels. Whether Reid had participated in that operation would be investigated by PLANT—but they would not accept the Earth Alliance's unilateral claims as fact.
Siegel's rhetoric had been coordinated with Patrick in advance. The investigation into Reid would be handed to ZAFT, ensuring that as long as cooperation persisted, no damning results would emerge.
However, if the New Misurugi Republic ever truly aligned with the Earth Alliance—or when the timing was right—this would become PLANT's perfect pretext for an attack.
PLANT's populace largely accepted Siegel's speech, especially since the investigation's lead was Patrick Zala, whose own family had perished in the Junius Seven tragedy.
Thus, no matter how much the Earth Alliance's spies tried to stoke PLANT's anger afterward, their efforts were futile. Still, the Earth Alliance now confirmed that the New Misurugi Republic harbored a pro-PLANT faction, likely led by Princess Angelise, and that some level of cooperation existed between them.
Unfortunately, George Allster ultimately failed to persuade Reid to return to Earth. Reid firmly stated that Princess Angelise was his savior, and even if their ideals diverged, he could not betray her kindness.
This excuse was unassailable, leaving George Allster with no rebuttal. Once the first batch of supplies and funds arrived, he departed with the diplomatic delegation.
Of course, Reid and PLANT still had one final act to perform.
As soon as the Earth Alliance's delegation rendezvoused with the Fifth Fleet and left New Misurugi Republic's space, ZAFT launched its assault.
In truth, Reid and Siegel didn't even need to coordinate this—Patrick had never intended to let the delegation return. Now that the New Misurugi Republic had secured its gains, annihilating the delegation and denying the Earth Alliance any benefit aligned perfectly with PLANT's interests.
Patrick wasn't putting on a show—he was dead serious. The Lunar Lorentz Crater Force was mobilized to cut off the Fifth Fleet's retreat, while a third of PLANT's defensive fleet was dispatched as reinforcements. The four Nazca-class ships stationed near the New Misurugi Republic immediately launched a full-scale attack.
Seeing ZAFT's genuine aggression, the Earth Alliance didn't hesitate—they ordered the Eighth Fleet, patrolling near PLANT's territory, to rush to the Fifth Fleet's aid.
The Third Fleet of the Moon's Ptolemaeus Base immediately launched an assault on Lorentz Crater to prevent ZAFT forces from cutting off the Fifth Fleet's retreat.
Thus began the Battle of Grimaldi Crater on the Moon (which was originally a contested zone between the two factions) in this timeline, though the causes were entirely different from the original worldline.
Yet the outcome remained unchanged. The Earth Alliance's Third Fleet was nearly wiped out, but its surviving remnants successfully lured ZAFT's main forces to Endymion Crater, where they detonated the Cyclops System, taking out the bulk of ZAFT's lunar forces. Both sides suffered devastating losses, resulting in a brutal stalemate.
With ZAFT's blocking forces eliminated, the Earth Alliance's diplomatic delegation managed to retreat to Earth—though only because the Fifth Fleet literally shielded them from enemy fire throughout the escape. By the time the pursuit ended, the Fifth Fleet was also crippled. Had the Eighth Fleet not arrived as reinforcements, they too would have been annihilated.
Of course, while the Earth Alliance suffered heavy casualties, ZAFT didn't fare much better. The loss of their main lunar forces was enough to make Patrick reach for his heart medication. During this period, he railed incessantly against the Earth Alliance's "dishonorable tactics," cursing them for resorting to traps when they couldn't win outright.
(Though traps are a perfectly normal strategy in war.)
With no other outlet for his frustration, Patrick pinned the blame on Reid—after all, without his leaked MS technical data to the Earth Alliance, the lunar conflict wouldn't have escalated so quickly.
Had Reid known Patrick's thoughts, he would've cried foul: What the hell? I just told ZAFT to put on a show and apply some pressure! You're the one who turned it into a full-scale war and took the L—don't pin this on me!
Meanwhile, while chaos reigned elsewhere, the Misurugi Empire remained relatively peaceful. The influx of supplies allowed Reid to massively expand his factory operations, achieving self-sufficiency in conventional ammunition production—no longer reliant on the system. He could even independently manufacture E Carbon Steel and ceramic composite armor based on acquired technical documents.
To improve his MS piloting rating, Reid took to mercilessly hunting down pirates in the Fifth Orbital Zone under the banner of the Crimson Wings Mercenary Group.
The Union Flag's attack range far surpassed that of the Iron Ball, and Reid had also procured a civilian-grade large transport ship from another Colony Satellite, enabling him to strike pirates in other orbital zones.
Each time he sortied, Reid would bring either Angie or Noin, leaving the other to guard their base. With two Union Flags dominating the battlefield, their enemies stood no chance.
For the pirates of the Fifth Orbital Zone, this was nothing short of a massacre. To Reid, they were both "experience" (his own term—the system had no such mechanic) and G-Coins. If they dared to counterattack or ambush, they'd merely add an extra Merit Point or two to his mission rewards, incentivizing him to crush them even harder.
At this point in time, the pirates hadn't yet acquired the flood of refurbished military hardware from junk dealers that they would by mid-to-late CE71.
Most pirate "warships" were just retrofitted civilian transports armed with small-caliber railguns. Their mobile suits were almost exclusively Mistrals, with only the strongest groups fielding a Moebius or two. Any faction with a Coordinator piloting a GINN was practically a legend among them.
So any Mobile Suit that dared to face Reid in battle would inevitably be shot down due to overwhelming performance disparity, without even scratching his paint. If GINNs were involved, Reid would bring Angie along—he'd fight first, and if he couldn't handle it, Angie would step in to clean up.
Even if enemies hid in their bases, Reid now had a transport ship at his disposal. Since it wasn't a warship, the base's original inhabitants could pilot it, and it could carry over a dozen Iron Balls.
Here, Reid treated the Iron Balls purely as construction machinery, with the pilots all being the base's original inhabitants. They weren't even required to fire weapons. Whenever they encountered a fortified base, Reid would first eliminate the outer defensive weapons, allowing these Iron Balls to swarm in and cut through the pirate base with their saws.
Being space pirates, their so-called "bases" were usually just large asteroids hollowed out or clusters of abandoned Colony Satellites.
For Reid, as long as it was metal, he wasn't picky—he'd take every scrap of dismantled plating he could carry. He'd also confiscate all the pirates' loot. Those who surrendered peacefully were spared; Reid would instead deliver them to nearby Colony Satellites or interstellar merchant guilds to collect bounties, as many were on wanted lists.
Thus, the Crimson Wings Mercenary Group didn't gain fame as mercenaries—Angie, Reid, and Noin became renowned as bounty hunters instead. This was especially true after they single-handedly took down several Coordinator pirates piloting GINNs.
Angie, with her additional status as a princess and national leader, was further glorified as the "Galaxy's Strongest Woman," "Ultimate Female Leader," and "Paragon of Female Empowerment," amassing a massive following both on Earth and in space.
This large-scale anti-piracy operation lasted until August, only ending after ZAFT and the Earth Alliance's "Nova" offensive and defensive battles concluded.
Of course, it wasn't because Reid suddenly found piracy suppression boring—after two months of continuous combat, his MS piloting rating had finally upgraded from "Beginner" to "Elite."
It could only be said that the early piloting ranks leveled up absurdly fast under Reid's "Super Rookie" skill (which doubled ability growth rate). Now, following his own plan, it was time for Reid to use the G-Invasion Module and explore other worlds to truly understand how this module worked.