In a certain living room aboard the Gwamel, deliberately arranged to resemble a familiar and intimate 'fireside chat' and filled with a traditional aristocratic atmosphere, Luther began his Cosmic Era debut.
"To everyone on Earth and in space, I apologize for this sudden intrusion.
We are the Private Armed Organization, 'Celestial Being.' We are dedicated to realizing the Newtype philosophy of my father, Zeon Zum Deikun, and guiding all of humanity into a new era.
It is with great regret that the current war between Plant and the Earth Alliance undoubtedly runs contrary to my father's ideals, and it shows signs of escalating further.
Just a moment ago, the unrestrained battle between the two sides completely destroyed 'Heliopolis,' a space colony belonging to the self-proclaimed neutral nation of Orb!
Before you listen to my words, please first witness this unbelievable reality for yourselves!"
As 'bait' to keep all viewers watching, the Luther Fleet's all-channel broadcast first displayed the wreckage of Heliopolis as 'seen' by the Gwamel's main monitor. Although completely disintegrated, its original silhouette was still discernible.
After the live footage, timestamped with the current standard time, had sufficiently piqued the 'audience's' interest, Luther then posed a question on their behalf—one that everyone desperately wanted an answer to.
"So, who is responsible for this appalling tragedy?!
Is it the Earth Alliance, which perpetrated the similar 'Bloody Valentine' tragedy last year, causing the war to rapidly intensify?
Or is it Plant, which responded excessively to the 'Bloody Valentine' tragedy, using Neutron Jammers to trigger energy shortages and famine that swept across the entire globe?
Regrettably, whether it's the Earth Alliance, Plant, or even Orb, the owner of Heliopolis—all of them are murderers this time!"
The 'Bloody Valentine' and 'April Fools' Crisis' incidents that Luther mentioned, both of which occurred on their respective dates last year, were undoubtedly the landmark events that led to the war's drastic expansion and brought its chaos to virtually every corner of the Earth Sphere.
Naturally, this immediately stirred up painful memories for everyone, regardless of whether they were on Earth or in space, Naturals or Coordinators.
And now, 'Heliopolis,' which could be said to have been the only place to have escaped the aftermath of those two incidents, had also been destroyed in the fires of war, becoming a new sacrifice, an offering, a tribute to this conflict.
After Luther framed and connected the events in this way, the 'Collapse of Heliopolis' incident, and by extension the Luther Fleet—or rather, 'Celestial Being,' which was the first to broadcast information about it—had undoubtedly captured the attention of everyone in the Earth Sphere.
Considering that the Cosmic Era's Earth Sphere, aside from the main belligerents of Plant and the Earth Alliance—namely the three major powers of the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, and the Republic of East Asia—also included multiple neutral entities with varying circumstances and stances, it was certain that after Luther's initial release of this 'explosive news,' his ongoing speech in the name of 'Celestial Being' would be accessible in its complete, uncensored version to all interested parties.
Next, to further substantiate his assertion that 'all three parties are murderers' and to enhance the credibility of 'Celestial Being,' Luther began to patiently present carefully selected evidence.
The first piece of evidence presented was, naturally, the one that could drag the seemingly most innocent party, Orb, into the mud.
In this regard, the evidence Monica had previously been tasked with collecting, the Astray Gundam series recovered by the Gwamel, and even the surveillance recordings from Luther's 'Time Observer' ability all provided corroborating proof from various angles. After careful selection and editing, it formed a highly persuasive chain of evidence.
This included the obvious mobile suit production facilities within Heliopolis;
Partial design data for the G-Series and Astray Series Gundams extracted from those facilities;
Footage of actual machine tests before the collapse of Heliopolis;
And the surveillance recorder data from the four Gundams that had fought Luther, surveillance footage of the Strike Gundam fighting inside Heliopolis, and the physical Astray Gundams recovered by the Gwamel.
Relying on this complete chain of evidence, Luther began his explanation and deduction.
"As you can all see, the supposedly neutral Orb was secretly designing and producing the Gundam G-Series for the Earth Alliance in Heliopolis, located at the remote Lagrange point 3.
Among them, the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam has already escaped along with the newly built warship LCAM-01XA Archangel, which was designed alongside it. It is believed to be heading for the Eurasian Federation's Artemis Fortress, also at L3.
Meanwhile, the GAT-X102 Duel Gundam, GAT-X103 Buster Gundam, GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam, and GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam were seized by a special forces unit led by ZAFT's ace, Rau Le Creuset, and are believed to be returning to Plant.
As for Orb's reason for assisting in this development, it was presumably for the Astray Gundam series, which they were building in a secret factory behind the Earth Alliance's back."
With detailed physical and video evidence, Luther irrefutably proved Orb's transgression as a neutral nation developing new weapons for a belligerent state.
He also used the physical units of the once-hidden Astray Gundam series to propose a motive that was convincing enough for the vast majority of people.
Through these two lines of argument, he first pulled Orb from its seat as a simple victim.
Under this premise, the subsequent display of the Archangel crew's counterattack, as members of the Earth Alliance's Atlantic Federation, transformed them from 'flawed victims' to 'home-wrecking villains and murderers.'
Of course, in his explanation, Luther certainly did not spare Creuset, the mastermind behind the scenes.
"So, how did Plant, or rather ZAFT, or even just the Creuset Team on the scene, react to this situation?
Let's not even question how our resourceful Nebula Medal recipient, 'Captain Creuset,' obtained such classified intelligence. He was able to grasp the timing so precisely that he arrived on the very day the Atlantic Federation—a faction of the Earth Alliance that kept this a strict secret even from its allies, the Eurasian Federation and the Republic of East Asia—dispatched an elite unit, including Captain Mu La Flaga, the 'Hawk of Endymion,' to receive the units.
Moreover, when faced with what were merely experimental machines whose specific performance should have been unknown, and which at most represented a possible future threat, 'Captain Creuset' was not only decisive and ruthless, ordering an attack without hesitation;
His team was also conveniently configured with extra pilots, as well as the personnel and equipment needed for special operations, allowing them to complete a full infiltration, demolition, and seizure right under the noses of Heliopolis's vigilant security. Truly, they are always prepared for battle.
Of course, it is quite obvious that the ZAFT 'Captain Creuset' had not a shred of hesitation in his heart about the fact that this series of actions might place the civilians on Heliopolis in grave danger.
And on the opposing side, although we do not know the thought processes of the Earth Alliance soldiers, it is clear that they also did not value the safety of Heliopolis's civilians more than their own secret new weapons.
Yes, yes, this is war. I understand, I understand."