Gundam Seed

PHASE-01: FALSE PEACE

The story begins in year 71 of the Cosmic Era, eleven months into the conflict between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance. One of the Alliance's member nations has secretly developed its own mobile suits at Heliopolis, a space colony which belongs the neutral nation Orb. But, just as the five experimental Gundams are on the point of completion, a ZAFT commando team enters Heliopolis to seize the Alliance's new weapons.

Heliopolis is home to many people who seek to avoid the ongoing war, among them a young Coordinator named Kira Yamato. Fleeing for shelter as ZAFT's forces attack the colony, Kira instead stumbles upon the secret factory where the Alliance's Gundams were developed. Here he confronts one of the attackers, who turns out to be his childhood friend Athrun Zala. As explosions consume the factory, Kira and a wounded Alliance officer take refuge inside the prototype Strike Gundam.

PHASE-02: ITS NAME: GUNDAM

The Strike Gundam, with Alliance officer Murrue Ramius at the controls, emerges from the chaos of the burning factory and squares off against a ZAFT mobile suit. Kira takes over the Gundam, rewriting its operating system in mid-battle in order to take down the enemy suit. He and a handful of his friends are then forcibly recruited by Murrue, who refuses to let them go now that they've seen the Alliance's secret weapons.

Outside the colony, ZAFT commander Rau Le Creuset fights a running duel with Alliance ace Mu La Flaga. And elsewhere in Heliopolis, Alliance officer Natarle Badgiruel gathers the few crewmembers who survived the ZAFT attack and takes charge of the carrier Archangel. Just as Le Creuset disables Mu's mobile armor and turns his attentions to the Gundam, the Archangel blasts its way out of drydock and enters the colony's interior.

PHASE-03: COLLAPSING LAND

Combining their firepower, the Strike Gundam and Archangel manage to repulse Le Creuset, and the Alliance survivors gather to plan their next move. Though the soldiers are disturbed to learn that Kira is a Coordinator, the modifications he's made to the Strike Gundam's software mean that nobody else can operate it. Kira and friends, for their part, are locked out of the colony's shelters and now have no choice but to try and escape Heliopolis aboard the Archangel.

Determined to capture or destroy the last of the Alliance's Gundams, Le Creuset dispatches a team of heavily-armed mobile suits into the colony. Athrun joins the attack in his Aegis Gundam, hoping to convince his friend Kira to join his cause. But in the battle that follows, Heliopolis itself sustains so much structural damage that it breaks apart around them.

PHASE-04: SILENT RUN

Drifting in space amid the wreckage of Heliopolis, Kira rescues one of the colony's lifeboats, whose passengers include his former schoolmate Flay Allster. The Archangel, having momentarily shaken off Le Creuset's pursuit, sets course for the Alliance's Artemis asteroid base. Cutting the ship's engines to avoid detection, the Archangel's crew begin their silent run.

Le Creuset, anticipating this decision, deploys his ships Vesalius and Gamow along the Archangel's probable route so as to trap his quarry between them. As the ZAFT ships close in, Kira decides to protect the ship by piloting the Strike Gundam once again, while his friends show their support by volunteering for bridge crew duty. Le Creuset dispatches Athrun and his comrades in their stolen Gundams, and the battle begins.

PHASE-05: PHASE SHIFT DOWN

Kira and Athrun skirmish and argue, until Duel Gundam pilot Yzak Joule cuts in. Yzak and Kira begin dueling in earnest, while ZAFT's other Gundam pilots target the Archangel. Meanwhile Mu has maneuvered himself into position to ambush Le Creuset's Vesalius, and Le Creuset is forced to order a withdrawal.

Despite Le Creuset's order, Yzak continues battling the Strike Gundam. Soon Kira has used up the Strike Gundam's energy battery, and the ZAFT pilots attempt to seize the powerless Gundam as a trophy. With timely assistance from Mu and a replacement Striker Pack, Kira is able to break free and return to the Archangel, and the battered ship limps to safety behind the impenetrable "Umbrella of Artemis."

PHASE-06: THE VANISHING GUNDAM

The Archangel has found safe harbor at the asteroid fortress Artemis but, upon their arrival, the crew are detained at gunpoint. Though Artemis is an Earth Alliance base, it's controlled by a different member nation than the one that developed the Gundams, and its soldiers are eager to seize the Archangel and its cargo for themselves.

Meanwhile, Le Creuset and Athrun have been recalled to the PLANTs, leaving ZAFT's other Gundam pilots to ponder how they can get through Artemis's defensive barrier. The team's junior member, Nicol Amalfi, proposes that they use his Blitz Gundam's stealth capabilities to launch a surprise attack on the base. In the ensuing chaos, the Archangel's crew escape captivity and flee Artemis.

PHASE-07: THE SCAR OF SPACE
Le Creuset and Athrun return to the Coordinator homeland to report to the PLANT Supreme Council regarding the captured Gundams and the destruction of Heliopolis. They arrive during the anniversary of the "Bloody Valentine" tragedy, in which Earth Alliance forces destroyed a PLANT with nuclear weapons. Athrun's fiancé, the pop star Lacus Clyne, has been sent to visit the PLANT's remnants as part of the memorial delegation.

The Archangel makes a detour through Earth's orbiting debris belt in order to salvage some desperately needed supplies. Here the crew discover the remains of the PLANT which was destroyed in the "Bloody Valentine" tragedy, as well as a recently wrecked civilian vessel. Kira then spies a drifting lifepod, which he brings aboard the Archangel.

PHASE-08: THE SONGSTRESS OF THE ENEMY FORCES

The lifepod's occupant turns out to be Lacus Clyne, daughter of the PLANT Supreme Council chairman. The crew are unnerved by the presence of a real live Coordinator, even one as friendly and gentle as Lacus, and Flay's especially vehement reaction verges on open hatred. The tension aboard the ship is relieved when they at last contact an advance force from the Alliance's 8th Fleet and arrange a rendezvous.

Once news of Lacus's disappearance reaches the PLANTs, Le Creuset and Athrun are dispatched to search for her. When they reach the debris belt, Le Creuset once again picks up the Archangel's trail, and decides to resume his pursuit.

PHASE-09: THE FADING LIGHT

The Archangel crew eagerly anticipate their rendezvous with the 8th Fleet advance force - none more than Flay, the daughter of an Alliance minister, whose father insisted on accompanying the fleet to greet her. However, their impending reunion is disrupted as Le Creuset dispatches his mobile suits to intercept the advance force.

Kira and Mu set off to aid the advance fleet, but the ZAFT mobile suits hold them at bay. Aboard the Archangel, Flay comes up with a desperate scheme to save her father by holding Lacus hostage. While the Archangel crew try to calm her down, Le Creuset's Vesalius finishes off the advance fleet flagship, and with it Flay's beloved father. Natarle, the Archangel's combat commander, carries out Flay's plan and forces the Vesalius to withdraw.

PHASE-10: CROSSROADS

By threatening Lacus's life, the Archangel crew have saved themselves from Le Creuset's forces, but they're troubled by their own craven tactics. Flay is inconsolable after witnessing her father's fate, and blames Kira for failing to save him.

Learning that Lacus is engaged to his childhood friend Athrun, Kira decides to make amends by helping her escape from the Archangel. With the aid of his friends, Kira arranges to hand Lacus over to her fiancé. The Coordinator idol is returned to her people, but Kira again rejects Athrun's pleas to change sides, and the two old friends part ways as sworn enemies.

PHASE-11: THE AWAKENING SWORD

The Archangel's officers conduct an ad hoc court-martial to discipline Kira for releasing their hostage, and acting captain Murrue decides to let him off with a stern warning. Meanwhile, taking no chances after the loss of the advance force, the Alliance's 8th Fleet is coming in its entirety to escort the Archangel.

Le Creuset has called in reinforcements of his own - the warship Gamow, from which Yzak and his fellow Gundam pilots launch a surprise attack on the Archangel just before it joins the 8th Fleet. Kira and Mu struggle to defend the Archangel, and the stress of battle triggers a strange reaction in Kira; with the vision of a bursting seed, he enters a berserker state and cripples Yzak's Duel Gundam. The ZAFT pilots retreat as the 8th Fleet approaches.

PHASE-12: FLAY'S DECISION

The Archangel has successfully joined the Earth Alliance's 8th Fleet, and its crew are warmly greeted by Admiral Halberton, the chief proponent of the Gundam development program. Halberton and his fleet will now escort the Archangel down to Earth, so that it can complete its journey to the Alliance headquarters in Alaska.

For Kira and his friends, the struggle appears to be over; they can now leave the military and return to Earth with the other Heliopolis refugees. But Flay, intent on avenging her father, decides to enlist in the Alliance forces. One by one, Kira's friends tear up their discharge orders and follow suit, and at the last minute Kira decides to remain aboard the Archangel in order to continue protecting them.

PHASE-13: STARS FALLING IN SPACE

As the 8th Fleet approaches Earth, Le Creuset dispatches his mobile suits to attack the fleet. The assault is spearheaded by ZAFT's Gundam pilots, among them the wounded Yzak, who is spoiling for a rematch with the Strike Gundam. But Admiral Halberton, determined to get the Archangel safely to Earth, is keeping the ship and its pilots out of the fray.

While the Archangel crew watch from the sidelines, ZAFT's Gundams proceed to wipe out the entire 8th Fleet. At last Kira and Mu sally forth to aid Halberton's embattled flagship, but Kira is instead drawn into a fierce duel with Yzak. As the Archangel and the battling Gundams enter the atmosphere, Yzak releases his frustrations by shooting down a troublesome distraction - a shuttle filled with Heliopolis refugees, the very people whom Kira has sworn to protect.

PHASE-14: WITHIN ENDLESS TIME

In the aftermath of the battle with the Alliance's 8th Fleet, Rau Le Creuset reflects upon the events that led up to this point. We see how, after the "Bloody Valentine" tragedy, the PLANT Supreme Council was split between moderate and radical factions. Now the appearance of the Gundams has given new support to the radicals, and the war is likely to escalate as a result.

Le Creuset then recalls the tale of the first Coordinator, George Glenn. This genetically-engineered genius sought to usher in a new era of space exploration, but by revealing the secrets of his creation, Glenn instead split the human race into two branches - genetically-engineered Coordinators and unmodified Naturals, each regarding the other with fear and distrust.

PHASE-15: THE RESPECTIVE SOLITUDES

The Archangel has safely reached Earth thanks to the 8th Fleet's sacrifice. However, the ship went far off course during its chaotic entry into the atmosphere, and instead of Alaska it's landed in the deserts of ZAFT-controlled North Africa. Meanwhile, Yzak and his fellow Gundams pilot Dearka Elsman have descended to ZAFT's Gibraltar base.

Kira, laid up in sickbay after the ordeal of re-entry, is being tended by - of all people - the Coordinator-hating Flay. Though Flay is engaged to Kira's good friend Sai Argyle, she maintains that the arrangements made by their parents are now null and void. Kira, agonized by his failure to protect the refugees, collapses into Flay's waiting arms.

PHASE-16: BURNING CLOUDS OF SAND

During the night, the Archangel encounters a new threat - the forces of Andy Waltfeld, ZAFT legendary "Desert Tiger." Kira rushes into battle to protect his comrades... to the delight of Flay, whose intention is to use Kira as a tool to avenge her father.

Kira struggles to adapt to the desert conditions, even after he once again enters his berserker state, but the watching Andy is impressed by the skill of the Strike Gundam's pilot. With his Gundam's energy dangerously low, Kira receives some timely help from a band of resistance fighters, who lure the ZAFT mobile suits into an explosive trap. And among these resistance fighters is a mysterious young woman whom Kira helped escape from Heliopolis.

PHASE-17: CAGALLI RETURNS

As dawn breaks, the Archangel crew confer with the resistance fighters, who rescued them from Andy Waltfeld's attack. In order to resume its journey to Alaska, the Archangel must make its way past Waltfeld's forces, and so the crew decide to join forces with the resistance fighters against their common foe. Meanwhile, Kira renews his acquaintance with the young woman he met at Heliopolis, who gives her name as Cagalli Yula.

While the Archangel crew prepare for the coming battle, Sai presses Flay to explain her recent behavior. Flay goes running to Kira, who physically overpowers Sai with his Coordinator abilities. The argument is interrupted as Andy Waltfeld's forces launch a retaliatory attack on the resistance fighters' home village.

PHASE-18: PAYBACK

Andy Waltfeld's forces launch a full-scale assault on the resistance fighters' home village of Tassil. After warning the village's inhabitants to evacuate, the ZAFT mobile suits proceed to burn Tassil to the ground. The resistance fighters arrive to find their home in flames, and their families huddled on its outskirts.

Though Waltfeld has spared the lives of Tassil's inhabitants, the resistance fighters vow to avenge this attack, and recklessly set off in pursuit of the departing ZAFT forces. Kira goes to the rebels' aid, and finds himself engaged in mobile suit combat with the dreaded Waltfeld himself.

PHASE-19: FANGS OF THE ENEMY

The Archangel crew and their resistance allies make a foray into Andy Waltfeld's stronghold, the ZAFT-controlled city of Banadiya, in order to obtain weapons and supplies. Kira and Cagalli take the opportunity to do some shopping, only to run into Waltfeld himself.

After escaping an attack by the anti-Coordinator group known as Blue Cosmos, Kira and Cagalli find themselves Waltfeld's unwilling guests. Though the dreaded "Desert Tiger" has figured out that Kira is the Strike Gundam's pilot, he lets them go to fight another day. Meanwhile, the distraught Sai tries to demonstrate that he too can pilot the Gundam, but proves unable even to move it from the Archangel's hangar.

PHASE-20: ON A CALM DAY

Back in the PLANTs, Kira's old friend Athrun pays a visit to his fiancé Lacus Clyne The two discuss their mutual acquaintance Kira, and Athrun is both touched and disturbed to learn that his friend still cherishes the Birdy robot that Athrun gave him as a keepsake.

While Athrun and Lacus talk, their parents attend a meeting of the PLANT Supreme Council, in which they debate ZAFT's upcoming terrestrial offensive, codenamed Operation Spit Break. And back on Earth, the Archangel crew and the resistance fighters prepare for an all-out confrontation with Andy Waltfeld's forces.

PHASE-21: BEYOND THE CLOUDS OF SAND

The Archangel resumes its journey, putting it on a collision course with Andy Waltfeld and his fleet of land warships. Yzak and Dearka arrive from the Gibraltar base to join forces with Waltfeld, and as battle is joined, Waltfeld and his partner Aisha enter the fray themselves in a two-seater mobile suit.

As the fighting continues, Cagalli takes the controls of one of the Archangel's fighter craft to aid Mu, while Kira battles Waltfeld himself. Waltfeld's forces are gradually wiped out, and he orders the remainder to retreat, but the "Desert Tiger" intends to stay behind to finish his duel with Kira...

PHASE-22: THE SEA DYED RED

Having defeated Andy Waltfeld, the Archangel crew bid farewell to the resistance fighters and set off across the Red Sea to begin an ocean voyage to Alaska. Cagalli and her bodyguard Kisaka remain aboard the Archangel, and her growing friendship with Kira begins to inspire Flay's jealousy.

The Archangel's journey is interrupted by a new threat, a ZAFT submarine force commanded by Marco Morassim which attacks the ship with aerial and underwater mobile suits. Even as Kira wages an undersea battle against Morassim's mobile suits, Athrun and Nicol are on their way back to Earth, as ZAFT gathers its forces for the upcoming Operation Spit Break.

PHASE-23: FATEFUL ENCOUNTER

Athrun and Nicol arrive on Earth, and ZAFT's Gundam team is at last reunited. The four Gundams and their pilots are loaded onto transport planes for transfer to the Carpentaria base in Australia.

Meanwhile, Marco Morassim's submarine force continues to pursue the Archangel across the Indian Ocean. During the battle Cagalli's fighter becomes separated from the ship, and by sheer accident she ends up intercepting Athrun's straggling transport plane. Both aircraft end up crash-landing and, by sheer chance, Athrun and Cagalli now find themselves stranded on the same deserted island.

PHASE-24: WAR FOR TWO

After their midair skirmish, Athrun and Cagalli find themselves stranded together on the same uninhabited island. Thanks to his Coordinator abilities, Athrun is easily able to overpower Cagalli and take her prisoner. While they wait to be found and rescued, the two young warriors have little to do but talk, and they begin getting to know each other better.

Eventually, search parties from ZAFT and the Archangel are able to locate the stranded pair, and Athrun and Cagalli return to their respective sides. But while the two former enemies don't necessarily part as friends, they've nonetheless come to a degree of mutual understanding.

PHASE-25: THE LAND OF PEACE

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the Archangel is attacked by all four of ZAFT's Gundams, and the ship sustains severe damage from their ongoing assault. During the battle, the ship enters the territorial waters of the neutral Orb Union, and an Orb naval fleet sets out to intercept the intruders.

With the Archangel in a state of dire emergency, Cagalli at last reveals her true identity as the daughter of one of Orb's leaders. Thanks to her help, the ship is able to establish contact with the Orb forces, who drive off the enemy Gundams and escort the battered Archangel to a safe harbor.

PHASE-26: MOMENT

PHASE-27: ENDLESS RONDO

The damaged Archangel has at last found safe haven at one of the islands which make up the Orb Union. While the ship undergoes repair at Onogoro Island, Kira is called upon to assist the engineers of Morgenroete, Inc. - the civilian company which manufactured the Alliance's Gundams at Heliopolis, and is now developing new mobile suits for Orb.

One of Morgenroete's engineers analyzes the Strike Gundam's combat data, reviewing Kira's previous adventures. Meanwhile, Athrun, Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol have come ashore at Onogoro Island to search for the Archangel.

PHASE-28: KIRA

Kira's friends are joyfully reunited with their parents, who all made it safely back to the Orb homeland following the destruction of Heliopolis. Flay, who has no parents to welcome her, wanders the Archangel and finds that Kira has also chosen to remain aboard the ship rather than meeting with his family. Taking Kira's friendliness for pity, she erupts with fury.

Nearby, Athrun and his companions are searching for evidence of the Archangel's presence. Kira's robot pet Birdy flies out of the Morgenroete facility to greet its creator Athrun, followed by Kira himself. Athrun returns the robot, and then the estranged friends once again part ways.

PHASE-29: THE TURNING POINT

With its repairs and resupply complete, the Archangel departs Onogoro Island and resumes its voyage to Alaska. Cagalli's father refuses to allow her to go with the ship, and she is forced to stay behind in the Orb homeland.

Now that the Archangel is once again at sea, the ZAFT Gundam pilots resume their pursuit. Kira and Mu struggle to protect the ship, with Kira's friend Tolle Koenig taking Cagalli's place as a fighter pilot. During this fierce battle, Nicol intervenes to protect his friend Athrun from Kira's attack, with tragic results.

PHASE-30: FLASHING BLADES

ZAFT's three remaining Gundam pilots retreat, and the Archangel's mechanics praise Kira for destroying Nicol's Blitz Gundam, but the young pilot is distressed by his own actions. Athrun, meanwhile, resolves to take his old friend's life rather than watch any more of his comrades fall in battle.

The ZAFT Gundams launch another attack on the Archangel. Kira and Athrun resume their dueling with even greater ferocity, and Kira's friend Tolle is slain when he attempts to intervene. Athrun grapples the Strike Gundam and then bails out - leaving his damaged Aegis Gundam to self-destruct, seemingly taking Kira with it. And meanwhile, Dearka and his Buster Gundam are captured by the Archangel.

PHASE-31: GRIEVING SKIES

Having lost contact with both the Strike Gundam and Tolle's fighter, the badly damaged Archangel has no choice but to hurry onward to Alaska. Since they are unable to search for their missing pilots, Murrue contacts the Orb Union and asks it to dispatch a search party. The crew continue their voyage with heavy hearts, especially Tolle's girlfriend Miriallia Haw.

Cagalli and the other Orb rescuers find the scattered remains of the Strike and Aegis, and retrieve the unconscious Athrun, but can find no trace of Kira. When Athrun awakes, Cagalli confronts him over his actions, and she is horrified to learn that Athrun has done his best to slay his own childhood friend.

PHASE-32: IN THE PROMISED LAND

The battered Archangel at last reaches the Alaska base, the Alliance's main headquarters. The Archangel crew, ordered to stand by aboard their ship, become increasingly anxious as they're left to wait for further instructions. The grieving Miriallia tries to attack the captive Dearka, but ultimately saves him from Flay's own assassination attempt.

The injured Kira awakens and finds himself in the PLANTs, under the care of Lacus Clyne. Meanwhile, Yzak and Athrun have returned to ZAFT's Carpentaria base. Rau Le Creuset congratulates Athrun for his accomplishment in destroying the Strike Gundam, then moves his forces into position for ZAFT's long-awaited grand offensive...

PHASE-33: GATHERING DARKNESS

After the attacks on Dearka, Natarle is harshly critical of Murrue's leadership, and Murrue admits her shortcomings as a captain. Miriallia pays a visit to Dearka's cell, where he confirms that he wasn't the one who shot down Tolle's fighter.

Meanwhile, the Archangel's senior officers are summoned to a hearing conducted by Captain Sutherland of the Alliance's general staff. Sutherland subjects Murrue to a relentless cross-examination, arguing that her decision to place the Strike Gundam in the hands of a Coordinator led to the destruction of Heliopolis and the 8th Fleet.

PHASE-34: SEEN AND UNSEEN

As the Alliance gathers its forces at Panama in anticipation of a major ZAFT attack, the Archangel is reassigned to the Alaska base's defensive garrison. Natarle, Mu, and Flay receive transfer orders and bid farewell to their comrades aboard the Archangel.

The long-awaited Operation Spit Break begins, and the true target of the offensive is revealed: rather than attacking Panama, ZAFT is striking directly at the Alliance headquarters in Alaska. Le Creuset enters the base ahead of the main force, confronting Mu and taking Flay prisoner. Back in the PLANTs, Lacus entrusts Kira with a powerful new weapon.

PHASE-35: THE DESCENDING SWORD

As the Alaska defense forces fight desperately to hold back the ZAFT assault, Mu returns to the Archangel to tell the crew that they're being used as bait for a deadly trap: the Alaska base has been abandoned, and its lowest levels house a Cyclops System, a massive microwave array that will destroy everything within ten kilometers of the base.

Suddenly, a new combatant enters the battlefield. Kira descends to Earth in the mighty Freedom Gundam he received from Lacus, and quickly clears a path for the Archangel. While the ship races to escape the Cyclops System's area of effect, the Alliance leaders activate their trap. The Alaska base vanishes in an inferno of destruction, consuming Alliance and ZAFT forces alike.

PHASE-36: IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE

News of the Alaska catastrophe has thrown the Coordinator homeland into turmoil. Athrun's father Patrick Zala, the radical new chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council, launches a purge of his political opponents and orders the arrest of Lacus and her father for their treason against the state.

Athrun is summoned by his father and given a new mission. He is to return to Earth and track down the stolen Freedom Gundam, which contains ZAFT's most vital military secret - a Neutron Jammer Canceler that enables the use of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Before his departure, Athrun encounters his former fiancé Lacus, who reveals to him that Kira is still alive and challenges him to question his father's orders.

PHASE-37: DIVINE THUNDER

Once again, the battered Archangel finds refuge in the Orb Union. Kira and Cagalli are reunited, and Cagalli's father Uzumi Nara Athha updates the Archangel crew on the current political situation. The events in Alaska have spurred both sides to escalate their war efforts, and the Alliance is pressuring Earth's remaining neutral nations to join its crusade against the Coordinators.

Meanwhile, ZAFT launches an assault on Panama, the site of the Alliance's last remaining mass driver. The Alliance deploys its own mass-produced mobile suits to defend Panama, but the ZAFT forces disable the defending forces with an electromagnetic pulse weapon and proceed to massacre the Alliance survivors.

PHASE-38: DECISIVE FIRE

With the fall of Panama, the Alliance has lost its last mass driver, and thus its access to space. At a meeting of the Alliance leadership, the industrialist Muruta Azrael - leader of the anti-Coordinator group known as Blue Cosmos - proposes that they obtain a replacement mass driver by forcing the Orb Union to join the Alliance.

Uzumi rejects the Alliance's ultimatum, and Azrael launches his attack. The Archangel fights in Orb's defense, with Mu now piloting the rebuilt Strike Gundam. Even Dearka, released by Miriallia on the eve of the battle, comes to the Archangel's aid with his Buster Gundam. But the defenders are hard pressed by Azrael's secret weapon - a trio of powerful new Gundams and their artificially enhanced pilots.

PHASE-39: ATHRUN

The battle for Orb has been interrupted by the arrival of a new player. Athrun, at the controls of ZAFT's new Justice Gundam, joins the defenders and helps them repulse the Alliance assault. With their pilots in dire need of medication, the enemy Gundams are forced to withdraw, and Orb is given a brief respite.

While the defenders prepare for the next wave of attacks, Athrun takes the opportunity to exchange a few words with Kira and Cagalli. However, the young soldier is still torn between his loyalty to his nation and his love for his friends.

PHASE-40: INTO THE DAWN SKIES

As the Alliance launches another assault, Athrun and Dearka again join the battle in Orb's defense, until the enemy Gundams exhaust their energy supplies and withdraw. But Uzumi knows that their cause is lost, and during this pause in the battle he gathers his forces for a last stand at Orb's mass driver.

The final attack begins, and Uzumi carries out his desperate plan. Putting Cagalli aboard the Orb warship Kusanagi, he sends her into space along with the Archangel - then blows up the mass driver and the Morgenroete factories, sacrificing himself in the process. While the Alliance takes control of her homeland, Cagalli soars up into space, carrying with her a mysterious parting gift from her father.

PHASE-41: TREMBLING WORLD

Having made it to space, the Archangel and Kusanagi now set off for the abandoned space colonies of Lagrange point 4, where they hope to scavenge supplies. Athrun, having accompanied Kira and friends into space, feels obligated to make a final visit to the PLANTs before choosing a side. And Cagalli shows Kira the photograph her father gave her, which suggests a surprising connection between the two youngsters.

Meanwhile, the Alliance has captured the Victoria spaceport in Africa, regaining access to space. Already, Earth forces are gathering at their lunar base, and a former Archangel crewmember receives a prestigious new assignment.

PHASE-42: LACUS STRIKES

In the Coordinator homeland, Lacus has gone underground and begun waging a propaganda campaign against Patrick Zala's aggressive tactics. Zala is further aggravated when his son Athrun, returns. Rather than reporting the whereabouts of the stolen Freedom Gundam, Athrun challenges his father to justify his conduct of the war, and is arrested at gunpoint for his pains.

Just as Athrun is being taken away for interrogation, he's rescued by Lacus's followers. With the unexpected help of one of Kira's old adversaries, Athrun and Lacus make a daring escape aboard the newly built ZAFT warship Eternal. Making its way to Lagrange point 4, Lacus's ship joins forces with the Archangel and Kusanagi.

PHASE-43: WHAT STANDS IN THE WAY

The Archangel and its companion ships have found a safe haven in the abandoned space colony Mendel at Lagrange point 4, but their enemies are closing in. Rau Le Creuset is dispatched to pursue the Eternal, while the Alliance's new Archangel-class warship, the Dominion, is assigned to capture the Freedom and Justice Gundams in order to extract their Neutron Jammer Canceler technology.

Arriving at Mendel, the Dominion challenges the renegade Archangel. Murrue and her crew are shocked to discover that the Dominion is commanded by their former comrade Natarle Badgiruel, and personally supervised by Blue Cosmos leader Muruta Azrael. As the Dominion and the Alliance's dreaded Gundam trio begin their attack, Le Creuset and Yzak Joule enter Mendel to search for the Eternal.

PHASE-44: SPIRAL OF ENCOUNTERS

The Kusanagi, which became tangled in drifting cables on its way out of the Mendel colony, finally frees itself and joins the battle against the Dominion. Now outnumbered, and with its trio of Gundams running low on energy, the Dominion makes a temporary retreat.

Sensing Le Creuset's presence, Mu enters Mendel with Dearka in tow. Mu and Le Creuset fight a running duel inside the colony, until Mu's Strike Gundam is finally shot down. Kira then joins the battle and swiftly dismembers Le Creuset's mobile suit. Le Creuset flees on foot into an abandoned genetic engineering facility, goading Mu and Kira to follow him.

PHASE-45: THE OPENING DOOR

In an abandoned genetic engineering lab inside the Mendel colony, Rau carries on a running gunfight with Mu and Kira, all the while taunting them with revelations about Kira's origins and the connection between Mu and Le Creuset. Elsewhere in the colony, Yzak and Dearka have a face-to-face reunion of their own.

Meanwhile, the Dominion arrives to launch another assault. Le Creuset returns to his own ship and orders the ZAFT forces to attack as well. But just before the battle is joined, he contacts the Dominion with a surprising offer...

PHASE-46: A PLACE FOR THE SOUL

A fierce three-sided battle begins outside the Mendel colony. While the Archangel takes on the Dominion, the Eternal and Kusanagi attempt to fight off Le Creuset's ships. In the midst of this chaos, Le Creuset sets Flay adrift in a lifepod, entrusting her with what he claims is the key that will end the war.

Though Flay calls out to the Archangel for rescue, in the end Kira is unable to prevent her falling into the Alliance's hands. Meanwhile, the Archangel and its companion ships fight their way past the enemy forces to safer territory. Flay, too, finds refuge aboard the Dominion, where Azrael is delighted to discover the nature of the so-called key she has brought them.

PHASE-47: THE NIGHTMARE REBORN

Azrael presents his prize to the Alliance leadership - the specifications for the Neutron Jammer Canceler, which enables the use of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The Alliance leaders want to use this technology to address Earth's ongoing energy crisis, but Azrael insists that they devote all their resources to a nuclear strike on the Coordinator homeland.

Two months later, the Alliance has driven ZAFT off the Earth and gathered a massive space fleet at its lunar base. The Alliance launches its offensive with a nuclear attack on the space fortress Boaz, one of two asteroid bases that guard the PLANTs. The Alliance fleet continues on to the Coordinator homeland, but the Archangel and its companions intervene to stop its nuclear attack. Then Patrick Zala unveils his own ultimate weapon...

PHASE-48: DAY OF WRATH

At Patrick Zala's order, the devastating gamma-ray laser known as GENESIS strikes the Alliance space fleet, wiping out half its vessels. The Alliance fleet pulls back, but Azrael, terrified that ZAFT will use its new weapon against Earth, orders his forces to renew their attack.

While GENESIS prepares to fire a second blast, and the Alliance fleet launches another assault, the Archangel, Eternal, and Kusanagi fight to prevent both sides from using their weapons of annihilation. And Rau Le Creuset, at the controls of his own new Gundam, enters the fray to ensure that the war builds to a crescendo of destruction.

PHASE-49: THE FINAL LIGHT

GENESIS fires again, this time annihilating the Alliance's lunar base and the reinforcements en route to the battlefield. Crazed with desperation, Azrael orders another nuclear attack on the PLANTs. While the Archangel intercepts Azrael's forces, the Eternal and Kusanagi head for the ZAFT space fortress Jachin Due, where GENESIS is being readied for one final blast.

As Mu and Le Creuset fight their last duel, the Archangel and Dominion meet in battle once more. Natarle at last decides to defy her insane leader, trapping Azrael on the Dominion's bridge while Flay and the rest of the crew abandon their damaged ship. But while Azrael may be cornered, he remains a lethal threat.

PHASE-50: TO A FUTURE THAT NEVER ENDS

The battle between the Archangel and the Dominion is over, and the Alliance fleet has been decisively defeated. Nonetheless, Patrick Zala is determined to see the war through to its conclusion by turning the power of GENESIS against Earth itself, thus exterminating all Naturals.

Athrun and Cagalli fight their way into the asteroid base Jachin Due, only to find that they're too late to prevent GENESIS from firing its final blast, and that their only hope is to destroy the weapon from the inside. Kira confronts Le Creuset, whose manipulations have brought humanity to the brink of annihilation. And Flay Allster rushes to a fateful rendezvous of her own...