Chapter Summaries

After ZAFT’s attack temporarily ended, the survivors aboard the Archangel assessed their losses and recruited Allen as a mercenary. Kira resisted returning to combat, while Teresa expressed interest in piloting Strike as the Archangel prepared to continue its journey toward Earth.

• The damaged ZAFT MS retreated after ZAFT captured four new Orb-developed machines and their data, while Murrue preserved Strike and Nataru restarted the Archangel.
• Allen and Kira emerged from their machines, and Mu recognized them as Coordinators, prompting tense reactions from the Earth Alliance soldiers until Murrue identified Allen as a core researcher.
• Allen agreed to fight for the Archangel in exchange for a generous reward, and Nataru promised the Earth Alliance would pay him.
• Murrue asked Kira to remain on standby as Strike’s pilot, but Kira said he needed time to think, so she sent him and his friends to rest.
• Nataru organized the transport of supplies, while Allen told Teresa they were taking the Archangel to Earth and offered her the chance to try piloting Strike.

Rau Le Creuset’s squad analyzed Allen’s unusual mobile suit and prepared to attack Heliopolis with heavy weapons, while Sakura began to doubt ZAFT’s righteousness. Aboard the Archangel, Allen dismissed warnings about the coming battle and told Kira that soldiers had to kill enemies on the battlefield, leaving Kira shaken.

• Rau Le Creuset’s squad reviewed footage of Allen’s mobile suit, and Sakura pointed out that it had avoided every attack and became sluggish after a collision.
• Rau Le Creuset ordered an investigation into the Dawn Company and commanded ZAFT’s forces to attack Heliopolis in ninety minutes using Type-D Equipment.
• Sakura watched the squad celebrate the order and began to question whether ZAFT was truly righteous.
• Aboard the Archangel, Mwu La Flaga warned Allen that only his unit and the Strike might be able to sortie, but Allen remained unconcerned.
• Kira asked Allen whether he felt sympathy for the Ginn pilots he had killed, and Allen described soldiers as parts of a violent military apparatus who had to eliminate their enemies.
• Kira was left shocked and confused after Allen finished his meal and walked away.

Allen and Teresa deployed to defend the Archangel against ZAFT’s attack, with Teresa piloting the Strike in place of Kira. Allen charged the four G Project Gundams and began overwhelming them, while Teresa stayed behind to protect the ship.

• Murrue learned that ZAFT was approaching with four Heavyarms Ginns, the stolen Gundams, and an unfamiliar pale-purple mobile suit, then sent Allen out to meet them.
• Teresa took Kira’s place in the Strike after he refused to fight his childhood friend Athrun, and launched alongside Allen.
• The Ginns attacked the Archangel with heavy missiles, while the ship used its weapons and defenses to withstand the barrage.
• Allen dodged Diego’s shots and charged the four Gundams, then split Storm Gundam’s cannon with his Anti-ship Sword.
• Yzak rushed in to attack Allen, but Allen struck Duel Gundam’s cockpit with the flat of his sword, damaging its electronics and sending a powerful current through the unit.

Allen overwhelmed Yzak, Athrun, and Nicol with his Mechanical Neural Network machine, while the Archangel came under attack from heavy-weapon Ginns. Sakura then engaged Allen in close combat as Rau ordered the remaining ZAFT pilots to attack the Archangel.

• Allen badly injured Yzak and threw Athrun’s Aegis into Nicol’s Blitz, leaving the three ZAFT pilots’ machines crippled.
• Murrue explained that only Allen could operate his machine, and she and Nataru worried about the Earth Alliance mishandling its technology.
• Ginns struck the Archangel while Teresa struggled to hold them off in Strike, prompting Nataru to order large missiles and Murrue to warn that they could hasten Heliopolis’s collapse.
• Sakura attacked Allen, recognized him through their mental connection, and accepted his offer to grant her a wish if she won their duel.
• Rau ordered Athrun and the other pilots still able to fight to join the attack on the Archangel while Sakura kept Allen occupied.

Heliopolis collapsed during the battle, and Allen and Sakura called their duel a draw after their units were crippled by the explosion. Back aboard the Archangel, Allen earned the crew’s admiration, while the officers debated his motives without realizing he was monitoring them.

• The fighting between the Archangel and ZAFT helped trigger Heliopolis’s destruction, and the explosion scattered the combatants and damaged their units.
• Allen and Sakura agreed to call their contest a draw, and their companions towed them back to their respective warships.
• The Archangel crew applauded Allen’s performance, and Nataru Bagiru promised to fulfill his compensation.
• Teresa asked Kira to help modify the Strike Gundam, but the repair crew first removed its damaged weapon modules.
• The technicians discovered Allen’s unit relied on a fragile neural network, and Mu said Allen’s design and piloting talents were beyond comparison.
• Murrue, Nataru Bagiru, and Mu decided to observe Allen for possible ulterior motives, unaware that Allen was monitoring them.

Rau Le Creuset assessed the Archangel’s damaged forces and ordered his crew to wait, while Kira’s unauthorized rescue of refugees led to a reprimand and left him questioning where he could go. Allen warned Kira that Orb’s neutrality would not protect it from the Earth Alliance, as he continued repairing his machine aboard the Archangel.

• Rau Le Creuset criticized the Red Uniform Elites for failing to defeat the Archangel, and Sakura described Allen as a monster-class opponent.
• Rau Le Creuset predicted the Archangel would use a jamming shell to escape toward the Moon base and ordered his forces to wait for repairs.
• Kira secretly brought a damaged escape pod carrying Heliopolis refugees, including Frey Alsta, aboard the Archangel, and Nataru Bucky Lululu reprimanded him.
• Allen reminded Kira to consider the consequences of his actions and advised him to seek refuge in Orb if he wanted to avoid the war.
• Allen predicted the Earth Alliance would eventually attack Orb, leaving Kira troubled about where he could find safety as a Coordinator.

The Archangel and ZAFT ships raced toward a confrontation after Rau Le Creuset chose to pursue the Archangel toward the Moon. With both sides preparing to fight, Yzak burned with hatred and a desire for revenge.

• The Archangel launched a decoy missile, but Rau Le Creuset chose to gamble that the real ship was heading for the Moon and ordered both ZAFT warships to pursue it.
• Nataru Bagiru warned that the ZAFT ships were closing in, and Murrue learned Allen's unit had been repaired with fragile substitute parts.
• Teresa struck Mu after he made a lewd comment about her, then boarded Strike while Mu prepared to sortie in his repaired Mobius Zero.
• Allen and Teresa eagerly prepared to fight, while Mu volunteered for support as the Archangel's crew shared a brief moment of laughter.
• Rau Le Creuset ordered the ZAFT ships to maximum speed as their pilots readied their units, and Yzak focused on avenging his humiliation.

The Archangel engaged ZAFT warships while Allen and Sakura fought using their custom units, and Allen ultimately disabled Sakura’s machine with a concealed electrical counterattack. Sakura returned safely to the ZAFT mothership, promising to challenge Allen again.

• Murrue ordered the Archangel to turn and fire its main cannons at the ZAFT warships, beginning a fierce exchange of fire.
• Allen’s unit, Teresa’s Strike, and Mu’s Mobius Zero deployed as the approaching ZAFT Gundams moved to attack the Archangel.
• Yzak charged Allen in the Duel Gundam, but Allen dodged his attacks and severed the unit’s shield-bearing arm before Sakura intervened.
• Sakura used steam and Frost Magic to freeze Allen’s unit’s arm, forcing him to cut it off to protect the rest of the machine.
• Allen extended neural cables from the severed arm and sent a high-voltage current through Sakura’s whips, disabling her unit’s controls and sensors.
• Sakura repaired her spacesuit, escaped her cockpit, and returned to the ZAFT mothership while threatening to defeat Allen next time.

After Sakura’s machine self-destructed, its magnetic storm disabled Allen’s machine and left him vulnerable to Yzak’s Duel Gundam. Allen escaped into space and dismantled the Duel by cutting its exposed cables and components, while both sides ended the pursuit battle damaged and in need of supplies.

• Sakura’s machine self-destructed, and the resulting magnetic storm disabled Allen’s machine as Yzak charged at him.
• The Archangel fired its Plasma Cannons to slow Yzak, while Athrun tried to pull him back and Mu’s Mobius Zero attacked the Duel Gundam.
• Yzak repelled Mu and attacked Allen, but Allen escaped his Beam Saber, landed on the Duel, and used a laser cutter to disable its sensors, arm, and thrusters.
• Allen returned to the Archangel after carving a dog into the Duel’s cockpit hatch, while Nicol’s Blitz Gundam’s surprise attack was driven off by Teresa’s Strike Gundam.
• The battle ended with Sakura’s machine destroyed, the Duel and Mobius Zero badly damaged, and Allen’s machine nearly scrapped; Rau Le Creuset had the advantage of ZAFT’s nearby supply network.

With the Archangel running low on water, Murrue and Mu discussed Allen’s unusual composure and his machine’s potential upgrades. Meanwhile, Sakura and Rau reported to the P.L.A.N.T Supreme Council, where Patrick Zala argued that the Earth Alliance was preparing to prolong the war, and Chairman Siegfried Klein asked Sakura to assess Allen and his machine.

• Murrue and Mu discussed the Archangel’s dwindling water supply and noted that Allen never seemed to sweat or show fear in battle.
• Mu described Teresa’s rapid improvement as a pilot, and they found Allen studying his damaged machine in the hangar.
• Allen explained that he planned to upgrade the machine’s neural network so that Naturals could operate it, though the Earth Alliance would have to pay for the design.
• Rau Le Creuset, Athrun, and Sakura presented the battle footage and their account of the operation to the P.L.A.N.T Supreme Council.
• Patrick Zala and Yuri Amalfi condemned the Earth Alliance’s weapons development as evidence that it intended to continue the war.
• Siegfried Klein asked Sakura for her assessment of the Earth Alliance’s new machine and its creator and pilot, Allen.

Sakura urged P.L.A.N.T.'s Council toward extreme retaliation against Earth, and the hawks won a vote for a targeted strike as the conflict continued to escalate. Patrick Zala then assigned her to accompany Lacus Clyne to Junius 7, while the Archangel crew gathered ice there and Allen teased Murrue and Mu.

• Sakura told the Council that ZAFT needed to strike Earth with thermonuclear weapons, prompting Rau Le Creuset to defend her and Siegfried Klein to object.
• Patrick Zala proposed a targeted strike against Earth Alliance hardliners, and the Council voted overwhelmingly in favor.
• Patrick asked Sakura about the Coordinator serving the Earth Alliance, and she confirmed the enemy pilot's identity and strength.
• Patrick arranged for Sakura to accompany Lacus Clyne to Junius 7 for the Bloody Valentine anniversary, and Sakura agreed.
• At Junius 7, the Archangel crew collected ice for water while Allen teased Murrue and Mu about their flirtation.

The Archangel encountered a P.L.A.N.T. delegation near Junius 7, and an accidental clash between the Strike and its Ginn escort led to Sakura and Lacus Clyne being captured. After learning Sakura’s background and connection to Allen, the crew considered how to interrogate the two prisoners.

• As the Archangel prepared to leave Junius 7, Sakura and Lacus Clyne arrived aboard the Silver Wind to mourn the Bloody Valentine victims, but the Strike and the Ginn escort mistook each other for enemies and fought.
• Sakura told Lacus that the Strike belonged to the Earth Alliance and criticized her for hiding her political instincts behind an innocent persona.
• After the Strike destroyed the Ginn, Kira brought Sakura and Lacus’s escape pod aboard the Archangel, where Sakura accused the crew of attacking a diplomatic delegation.
• Allen recognized Sakura as the pilot of the purple machine he had destroyed and revealed that they had known each other before the war; Nataru Bagiru detained Sakura while Lacus was held separately.
• Allen told Murrue, Nataru Bagiru, and Mu that Sakura had joined ZAFT after losing her family and friends in Bloody Valentine, prompting Mu to condemn Blue Cosmos before Murrue silenced him.
• Nataru Bagiru redirected the discussion toward interrogating the prisoners and noted that Lacus’s surname was important in P.L.A.N.T.

Murrue confined Lacus Clyne and Sakura aboard the Archangel, fearing the political fallout if either prisoner were harmed. Allen spoke with Sakura about the world’s political failures, then met Lacus and challenged her assumptions about Coordinators and Naturals.

• Murrue ordered Lacus Clyne and Sakura confined separately and worried that their presence would expose the Archangel’s route to ZAFT.
• Mu suggested that the prisoners might discourage ZAFT from attacking, and Murrue learned that Allen had gone to speak with Sakura.
• Allen and Sakura discussed the Coordinator-Natural conflict and the possibility of Lacus leading political change, though Sakura doubted Lacus could prevent another war.
• Allen introduced himself to Lacus as a Coordinator and former Dawn Company engineer who piloted an experimental unit for the Earth Alliance.
• Lacus asked why Allen supported the Earth Alliance rather than his compatriots, and Allen rejected the idea that Coordinators and Naturals were meaningfully different while criticizing Coordinator superiority and forced genetic matching.

Allen explained to Lacus Clyne that the war between Naturals and Coordinators arose from competition over resources and social opportunity, not merely Blue Cosmos’s influence. He left Lacus considering the conflict’s possible solutions and urging her to seek a better one.

• Lacus challenged Allen after he condemned Blue Cosmos and argued that its members deserved collective punishment.
• Allen told Lacus that laws could not deliver justice against powerful interests and that eliminating Blue Cosmos would only bring temporary peace.
• Allen explained that Coordinators’ advantages threatened Naturals’ resources and opportunities, making renewed conflict likely unless the underlying inequality changed.
• Allen proposed either eliminating Earth’s Naturals or modifying future generations into Coordinators, while acknowledging that Lacus might find another solution.
• Lacus realized that exterminating the Coordinators was a possible answer from the Naturals’ perspective, and Allen left her to discuss the problem with her farsighted mentor.

Rau Le Creuset’s ZAFT fleet confronted the Archangel near Junius 7 and attempted to negotiate for Lacus Clyne and Sakura, but the arrival of the Earth Alliance’s Eighth Fleet escalated the standoff. As both forces prepared for battle, Allen teased Kira about Lacus and Athrun, leaving Kira questioning what his childhood friend had become.

• Rau Le Creuset arrived with four warships and told Athrun that Patrick Zala demanded Lacus be recovered alive or dead, while Sakura had to be brought back alive.
• Rau contacted the Archangel, and both sides deployed forces as the sight of Junius 7’s victims stirred anger among Coordinators and Earth Alliance soldiers.
• Nataru asked whether Allen could sortie, but Allen said he could not, while Teresa refused to let anyone else pilot Strike.
• The Eighth Fleet, led by George Alsta aboard the Montgomery, arrived to reinforce the Archangel, and Frey excitedly greeted her father.
• George ordered the fleet into a defensive formation, while Teresa launched in Strike and Mu prepared to fight.
• Allen teased Kira about his feelings for Lacus and suggested Athrun might want freedom from his arranged engagement, prompting Kira to go speak with Lacus.

Allen took command of Archangel and used its weapons to turn the battle against Rau Le Creuset's ZAFT forces, which had nearly destroyed the Eighth Fleet reinforcements. Archangel's Plasma Cannon devastated the exposed ZAFT units and warships, leaving its crew stunned by the change in combat strength.

• Rau Le Creuset ordered the ZAFT forces to attack the Eighth Fleet reinforcements, and their mobile suits rapidly destroyed MAs and warships.
• Yzak, Athrun, Diego, and the other ZAFT pilots pressed their attacks while the Eighth Fleet suffered more than half its force in casualties.
• Murrue asked Allen to sortie, but he said his unit was too damaged to move and reminded her that Archangel could fight as a fortress.
• Murrue handed Allen command of Archangel, and he ordered missiles and Anti-Beam Flares loaded before targeting the ZAFT force beside the ship.
• Allen's missile barrage blinded and damaged Ginns, while Anti-Beam Flares weakened incoming beam fire and Archangel's PS Armor protected the ship.
• Allen fired Archangel's Plasma Cannon, destroying damaged Ginns and ZAFT warships and shocking the crew with the sudden reversal.

Allen took command of the Archangel and used its weapons and stealth tactics to disable all four ZAFT Gundams. He told Murrue and Nataru that the Earth Alliance’s outdated military thinking, rather than its technology, was its greatest weakness.

• Allen ordered the Archangel to break formation so it could maneuver freely and draw ZAFT fire while giving George Alsta’s rescue fleet a chance to retreat.
• Rau Le Creuset sent the four Red Uniform Elites after the lone Archangel, and Allen hid the ship inside smoke while shutting down its engines and communications.
• Allen launched missiles that split into smaller warheads, blinding the Gundams’ sensors and giving the Archangel an opening to attack at close range.
• The Archangel’s main guns severely damaged Aegis Gundam, Duel Gundam, Blitz Gundam, and Buster Gundam, leaving all four unable to fight effectively.
• Allen explained to Murrue and Nataru that the Earth Alliance’s outdated tactics and resistance to change were its fatal flaw.

Allen and the Archangel survived Rau Le Creuset’s assault, but the ZAFT forces destroyed the Eighth Fleet flagship Montgomery and captured its escape pods. The battle ended with a planned hostage exchange looming and Frey fearing that her father had died.

• Rau Le Creuset ordered the ZAFT forces to abandon their attack on the Archangel, bombard it continuously, and target the Montgomery so they could capture escape pods for a hostage exchange.
• The ZAFT warships struck the Archangel, killing soldiers and damaging its port side, while Allen resumed command and Teresa warned that the Ginns were attacking the Montgomery.
• The Ginns crippled the Montgomery and destroyed several escape pods, then captured the surviving pods; Frey watched in horror as the flagship carrying her father came apart.
• The battle ended with the ZAFT Army losing a warship, four G Project units, and about twelve Ginns, while the surviving Earth Alliance fleet retreated toward the Moon base.
• Allen, Murrue, and Nataru discussed exchanging the two delegates aboard the Archangel for the captured escape pods, while Frey remained devastated by the uncertainty over her father’s fate.

Rau Le Creuset arranged a hostage exchange with the Archangel, and Allen personally returned Sakura and Lacus Clyne. The exchange ended in violence when Frey shot at Lacus, revealing how the war’s spreading hatred had reached the people caught in it.

• Rau Le Creuset negotiated to exchange captured Earth Alliance soldiers for Sakura and Lacus Clyne, and Murrue agreed.
• Allen piloted a repair craft to return Sakura, while Rau Le Creuset questioned him about helping the Earth Alliance.
• After the first exchange went safely, Allen brought Lacus to return her in the second batch.
• Frey grabbed a pistol and fired at Lacus, but the bullet struck the seat beside her.
• Frey accused Lacus and ZAFT of killing her father, and Lacus realized how deeply the war’s hatred had spread.

Allen returned Lacus to Athrun after the hostages were exchanged, then went back to the Archangel as it hurried toward the Moon base. Meanwhile, Sakura urged Rau Le Creuset to exploit a forty-eight-hour window before Allen’s damaged unit could be repaired, planning a renewed attack on the Archangel and the Eighth Fleet.

• Frey was taken to solitary confinement after trying to shoot Lacus, while Allen explained that the Earth Alliance soldiers hated Lacus because she was a Coordinator and Patrick Zala’s daughter.
• Allen delivered Lacus to Athrun, rejected Athrun’s challenge about fighting for the Earth Alliance, and told him that Lacus was more prepared to discuss the conflict rationally.
• Lacus told Athrun that Allen had discussed the conflict between Naturals and Coordinators and how to end the war, while Rau Le Creuset’s belief that Allen would become ZAFT’s greatest enemy gave Athrun pause.
• Allen returned safely to the Archangel, and Murrue ordered it toward the Moon base while Rau waited for supplies before resuming the pursuit.
• Rau inspected Sakura’s new PS Armor-equipped unit, and Sakura judged that the Archangel would have about forty-eight hours before Allen’s unit could be repaired and proposed attacking during that window.