In the aftermath of the shocking events at JOSH-A, Blue Cosmos and the Atlantic Federation effectively dominated the Earth Alliance and began a campaign to force the remaining super states and minor nations to join their war against the PLANTs and “humanity’s true enemy”, the Coordinators.
One such nation was the Orb Union, which had stayed neutral during the Bloody Valentine War. On June 15, CE 71, Blue Cosmos leader Muruta Azrael, acting as “negotiator” for the Alliance, issued an ultimatum to Orb: join the Alliance and grant them access to its Mass Driver or be declared an enemy and face military occupation. With both sides knowing Orb would never accept these terms, the Alliance launched a full scale invasion against Orb.
Orb fought back against the Alliance as best they could, unleashing recently developed Astray mobile suits, but even with the help of the Archangel and ZAFT defectors, Orb’s best was simply not enough. In the end, Orb fell to the Earth Alliance, but not before the Archangel, accompanied by Orb’s remaining forces, fled into space. Orb’s leaders stayed behind and destroyed the Mass Driver, sacrificing themselves to keep the Mass Driver from the Alliance.
Orb would be occupied by the Atlantic Federation for the remainder of the war. While Orb would regain its independence after the war, memories of the fall of Orb would lead the nation to officially join the Earth Alliance at the beginning of the Second Alliance-PLANT War. The new leaders decided that Orb must not be burned again by the Alliance, even if it meant siding with the devil himself.
Had the previous leaders survived, the second war might have taken a very different path indeed, as Orb would never have worked alongside the Atlantic Federation forces that subjugated their country.
