As Anaheim was expanding on Earth in space, it was quite a similar situation.
SWORD stations originally were around 300 metres long. But that grew to 600 metres, and with refineries with assembly lines, swiftly caused the designs to balloon out of control.
Especially when Marcus assigned Anna and Nina to space.
Anna's research on the design caused the initial design to expand to quite staggering numbers by Earth's standards when it comes to construction.
The numbers ended up around 20 kilometres for the 'doughnut' where the colony should be.
There will he four pillars at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock that support the doughnut-shaped rotation around the sword stations.
When the girl came up with her numbers, she expected that Marcus would flip, because these numbers are… huge.
The asteroids they brought from the asteroid belt would not be enough for these constructions.
But Marcus' reaction was short and to the point.
It was simple: 'Okay, do it.'
The reason for such a huge size was that she wanted the colony to imitate the Earth's weather. Meaning it would have rain and all that… actual weather, including thunderstorms.
Though such a thing would require some work.
Especially since Marcus wants all types of experiments, as later on they will have terraforming work done on Mars, Venus, Titan, and other moon worlds of Gas Giants.
"Miss Clement. We have the data." One of the scientist girl's assistants brought over a tablet to Anna as they were in space.
It was something else to work in a legitimate space station.
While she still needs to work in a suit, it was a novel experience to run experiments on colony construction.
"You have my thanks."
The girl thanked the scientist as she checked the tablet.
'The first segment will soon be finished. The pillar to support it will be approximately 5 kilometres long…
The numbers are insane…'
The nerdy girl was sweating behind the helmet as even the smallest mistakes would cost tons of resources.
While she complained to Marcus, all he said was that they could always bring more asteroids over to mine.
Especially that it's becoming easier for them to be mined with new mobile workers that are adapted for mining.
Only thanks to them can they spiral out to these sizes.
'The mobile workers can build these kilometre-long structures in a matter of days.
Our research can barely keep up with how fast they are doing it.
'The one thing that I still haven't decided is the dirt that I will be using for the colony.'
But that is slowly becoming irrelevant with how quickly they are conquering the land.
Anna can barely keep up with the news. Most of China will soon be theirs, and the conquest will shift to taking over Siberia and then finishing Euro Britannia as Marcus wants his Constantinople.
Whatever he wants…Anaheim follows; that's how it is.
~~~~~~Meanwhile, on Earth~~~~~~
Charles looked at the sky; it was nighttime, the stars were up, and the Emperor could see in person how much the sky had changed.
Lagrange positions allow a stable orbit, meaning that when you look at the sky, you can see the new colonies. While not as big…yet, they are visible from the surface of the planet.
Especially at night, when the sun reflects the sunlight from the hulls of the colonies.
'If people move to space, the whole Ragnarok Connection would become…chaotic… would it even affect the space?
None of this makes sense… why can't you be like the rest of them, Lelouch?'
He saw the numbers… millions of people want to move out into space. It makes no sense to him. That place is chaotic, dangerous… but if technology is there…
Could it become possible to claim those hostile worlds for themselves?
The longer this continues, the more advantages Anaheim will have.
Orbital…
"...Your Majesty…" One of the Emperor's followers walked over.
"What is it?"
"...My Emperor… the Order… It's gone." The man looked pale as he tried to explain what he had just learned.
"...What are you talking about?" Charles looked confused. What does he mean by 'gone'?
"T-The… order stopped responding, the last known message was a light from the sky."
"..."
"And we had reports that Anaheim took Chinese bases in the area."
The Emperor immediately made a connection to what this meant!
"LELOUCH!!!"
The man clenched his fist. If the order is gone… and the Thought Elevator destroyed… he would need one extra for his plan! That means even more conquest!
That's another setback!
His fist trembled from growing anger.
"Where is Schneizel!? I need to make another call!"
He was feeling like a sitting duck! There were no proper communication lines here! On top of that, it was freezing cold here!
"...Your Majesty… we got a message from His Highness the 2nd Prince, he is on route as we speak." The assistant trembled at the sight of the angry Emperor.
"Not good enough!" Charles complained as he was getting tired of being at the losing end of the stick!
~~~~~~A Few Minutes Ago, in Solomon's Base~~~~~~
At the command centre of Solomon's base, where people were running operations and organising troops, resources and tracking movements of everyone, extra people have gathered to witness something that would give a permanent edge for Anaheim in the race to dominate the planet.
"Beginning first test run for Giga Electromagnetic Particle Cannon."
The main holograms shifted to direct streaming from space, as SWORD ONE's lower tip moved to face the Earth.
"How is it going to hit the spot that we need?" Cornelia asked him, as she was here to witness this in person. The Orbital Bombardment was her personal request, so she was here to see it!
"The station is close to 100 thousand miles away from Earth…"
"These." Marcus used his holograms to show what was in Earth's orbit.
"...These are satellites…"
"The very same satellites that I released a while back. They got a makeover.
Well, more like an upgrade. The old satellites are still there, they are only wearing a new set of armour."
He showed her how small satellites that could be carried by a human became the size of a large truck.
Basically, the smaller satellite slides into a bigger frame that works like a booster and a reflector.
"....They have some sort of glass panels?" The Princess and the rest were a bit confused.
"These satellites reflect the particle cannon into Earth… if that is true… Marcus… you can hit any nation or any target on the planet's surface." Leila realised what this meant.
How did he sneak this into the plans!?
'Wait… he added this the moment the technology was developed with Morrigan…'
Cornelia looked at him with wide eyes. If what Leila said is true… then they could hold the whole planet hostage…
"Yes. That is the case." He said while showing a simulation how this works.
The particle cannon shoots at Earth, and the satellite moves to the angle needed to blast the target.
"However, we need to reposition at harder angles. So it would take time. The current design is flawed, as I need to add more reflectors and build a separate orbital cannon for precise bombardments.
These cannons in the colonies are built to be more like a self-defence weapon." He explained to them.
"Still… a deadly combination nonetheless," Euphemia commented as she was there as well. She is a bit terrified to see this.
"Your machine will be a literal miniature version of this dear little sister. You can't deny that when you have a feral animal, you take it down for the sake of protecting others.
This is no different. We shall remove people who don't want to accept or even negotiate with us." The Exiled Prince replied to her comment.
'Yes… but your terms are basically force capitulation.' The Princess commented to herself.
"My Prince, we are reaching critical charge." The operator said to him.
"Adjust the reflector to the marked spot." He ordered as on the screen, the location of the Geass Order appeared. It was a satellite image of the specific area.
"Adjusting the closest satellite to this location, calculating the trajectory… possible shot in 2:42 minutes."
The gathered people watched the countdown.
The time was ticking on the screen as everyone watched patiently.
[00:03]
[00:02]
[00:01]
[00:00]
"We can shoot, My Prince."
"Fire."
The blue and yellow beam blasted out from the barrel of SWORD ONE and rushed towards the planet.
Considering how far it was, it should take a considerable amount of time. But this was pure energy shot from an electromagnetic cannon.
It travels approximately 10 thousand miles per second.
That means it would reach the planet in… ten seconds.
Upon contact with the satellite, the glowing panels whipslapped the beam into the planet below.
~~~
The five Gundam pilots looked at the sky that burned a dark tint of blue with whisps of golden yellow. It looked like a version of Judgement Day.
Followed by a pillar of light that struck the area where the Geass Order was.
There was no explosion, no other light show… it was a simple… erasion. The whole area was erased from the face of the Earth.
"...Holy…" Suzaku wanted to swear at such a sigh, but he controlled his mouth. Instead, with trembling eyes, he looked at the location where the Order should be.
But it's no longer there.
It was simply gone, doesn't exist anymore! There is a huge crater in its place!
"What incredible power! This is the technological might of Anaheim!"
"...Terrifying."
"...As expected from the Prince!"
While fellow Gundam pilots were awed and terrified at the same time, Suzaku was more or less blown away by this.
Such power…
'Shouldn't be given to a single man… Lelouch, you are a crazy bastard!'
"Go on, check the crater. We need to see if a code bearer is still alive. We need to confirm the theory that they are immortals, as C.C. says they are." The Inventor Prince's face appeared on the screen.
"Lelouch! What the hell!? You created a hole the size of Tokyo Settlement!" Suzaku exclaimed that he was a bit terrified.
"I know."
"You know? Holy shit, man!" The guy couldn't control himself.
"You do realise that there was a whole city there? We need to be sure that they didn't escape, by any means necessary." Marcus explained to his childhood friend.
"..."
"I know that it looks bad. But draconian actions were needed to deal with people who can kill you in thousands of different ways.
Especially, we needed to deal with V.V." The Prince frowned while saying that.
"I know… but still… the view…"
"Kururugi, you must accept that we need to do what needs to be done. Empathy has its place, but it's not now." Jeremiah's image appeared next to the Prince's.
"Jeremiah, take it over from here. Check the crater, let's see if the code can survive the radiance of a sun." The Inventor instructed before ending his call.
"Yes, My Prince!"
~~~
Maya was more than spooked by the demonstration of the Giga Cannon. But part of her was…relieved. She was part of the force that would end the craziness of the Britannian Empire.
That was until she saw something crazy in the crater that was around 4 to 7 kilometres wide. Half of the Gundam pilots were out of their machines, checking a specific area.
What they dug out was the skull of a child with a red tattoo on its forehead.
"What the hell is that?" She mumbled under her breath.
The black haired girl watched from inside her Gundam as the pilots talked about the skull.
"I think this one belonged to V.V." Jeremiah said while looking at the skull he was holding.
"You mean to tell me the Particle Cannon could not erase that bastard?" Kewell replied with disbelief.
"This is ridiculous." Villeta looked horrified by this realisation.
"Yes. But shouldn't he regenerate? I assume there is some sort of requirement?" Suzaku replied as his eyes were on the skull.
"It could be. We should return to the base."
With that said, their first deployment was done, it was quite something else…