8th May C.E 71
Today, the ZAFT forces finally started the operation Spit Break, and all the officers were given the old operational plan, which had been made and confirmed by Patrick Zala and the other members of the defense council, who are his supporters. The descent forces who received the news that the target of the operation was not Joshua but Alaska were surprised but more eager, as they thought that with this operation, they could cause massive damage to the EA even if they didn't end this war with this victory. Every one of these ZAFT soldiers was an elite and a very important force for the preservation of the plants.
Everyone was watching this operation, as it would be an important event in the war, which could significantly impact the outcome.
In Plants
At the Clyne villa, Kira, Lacus, and others were in the garden having some simple snacks when suddenly they were interrupted by the council member Eileen Canaver, saying that the target of operation Spit Break is Alaska, and how Patrick deceived them, while also saying that the supreme council never permitted such action against the EA headquarters.
Siegel Clyne, who got the news, called the others to call for a supreme council meeting to ask for an explanation, while he also arranged for the evacuation of his family, as he was worried about what Patrick Zala might do, as he had already received a warning and was worried. Kira, who was nearby and heard the news, thought of the Archangel and his friends, which caused him to feel very sad and worried about what might happen to them.
Lacus, who noticed Kira's situation, talked to him, easing his worries, then took him to the Freedom Gundam and sent him away after giving him the new MS while also helping strengthen his ideology. As Lacus leaves the place with her helper without knowing that the place has been under strict surveillance since Alex told Patrick about the situation.
In his office after Patrick saw the situation he immediately went to the communications to check if the communications links are working properly so that he can order his men out of the Alaska base when needed and since he knew from Alex it was fine till Kira reached the battle he decided to hit the people as much as possible and then wait for the EA to kill themselves.
After everything was arranged, the operation began despite the opposition of some members in the plant's supreme council.
Ashford Colony
Here in the Ashford space colony, Alex was also seeing the ZAFT forces filling up the space above Alaska. After watching for some time, Alex went to the Crimson Moon, which was prepared for the journey to the debris belt, where Junius 7 is located. As for the worry about EA or ZAFT attacking by mistake, which he was worried about before, it won't happen anymore. As the battle on the day of the Ashford space colony's beginning was observed by both EA and ZAFT. ZAFT, who saw the Indomitable and Crimson Moon fight against the pirates who are actually EA in disguise, understood that the Ashford group might have obtained the data for the EA MS and battleship secretly, and the EA had lost a large number of people; they cannot take care of the Ashford group now.
Once on the Crimson Moon, he saw that his MS is the only one in the hanger as for the rest, they are currently in the Indomitable, as only Alex is going to meet Lowe, and the other can help in case the EA attacks again. Alex's MS is now carrying the option shield on its left shoulder joint. Although Alex felt it was a bit troublesome with the shield affecting his high speed raids, he still had to use it or be unable to fight in an MS.
The Crimson Moon started its engine and left the space port after a few mins while avoiding the ZAFT forces. They set course to the debris belt and specifically Junius 7. The ship is also carrying the newly made Katana which will be traded with Lowe. The Crimson Moon is moving at the fastest speed towards the location where Lowe is. And because of the battle, they are in the ZAFT forces choose to ignore it while the EA doesn't have anyone worth tacking care of the Crimson Moon.
While the battleship was on the journey to the point of the location where they received the last communication coordinates. Meanwhile, the battle was going on in the Earth sphere, and it was in full swing, when the Freedom Gundam, using extraordinary speed reach the sky above the Alaska base and contacted the Archangel.
On the other side once Patrick noticed the Arrival of the Freedom the battle zone he order a steady withdrawal from the Alaska base while attacking in full force without letting the people of the EA realize that the ZAFT forces are withdrawing the battle area as more and more MS and MA's only attacked from the outside with all the troops leading in the base have been called back and most land based MA who are slow and difficult to leave on their own were the first once to be retrieved while most MS were near in their Guuru's by the time Kira had opened all channels to asks them to leave. And once they heard Kira, they only quickly retreated as their orders were to leave, and if there really is a cyclops system, then they cannot be slow and cause unnecessary casualties here.
In the Archangel, Murrue Ramius and Mu La Flaga were also surprised by the ZAFT's swift retreat, but Mu only thought it was because Creuset had returned and they were leaving because of his information, but little did they know that currently, Creuset was the one who felt very bad about how all these people might survive more. As he felt that there were more deaths, it could escalate the war further, which would help him achieve his goal more easily.
As the war was over Kira and the members of Archangel meet and after thinking for some time they decided to go to Orb as they are considered deserters and more over because they know that now despite the EA's move of sacrificing their own people in large scale and still fail to cause a major blow to ZAFT will make them very unhappy and if the Archangel and it's crew were to go to EA now they would be the ones to bear the negative consequences and be dealt with.
Back in the Plants, once Patrick saw the range of the cyclops system, even though he knew Clyne's were not the ones responsible for the leak of information, he still ordered their capture and put them on the wanted criminals list for stealing the Freedom. What irritated and surprised Patrick was that despite all the people he arranged to watch over the Clynes, they still escaped from the sight of his people and disappeared.
During this time Athrun who had just arrived at the plants also learned about the battle situation and was very happy that their forces escaped the trap of EA but when he heard about Lacus he refused to believe it and even thought that she would never betray plants and so he went to his father who just told Athrun to accept that Lacus was indeed the one who stole Freedom and to forget about the engagement. while also ordering Athrun to take the Justice to go and capture Freedom or destroy it in case of failure to capture it.