PHASE 1-10 | PHASE 11-22 | PHASE 23-34
PHASE-11: THE CHOSEN PATH
The conflict continues to escalate as Earth Forces fleets encircle the ZAFT bases at Gibraltar and Carpentaria, and the PLANT Supreme Council decides to strike back in the name of self-defense. Despite her best intentions, Cagalli yields to her ministers' demands that Orb ally itself with the Atlantic Federation. The Minerva receives a warning message and prepares to leave Orb before it is too late.
In the PLANTs, Athrun visits the grave of his old comrade Nicol Amalfi. He is escorted by Yzak and Dearka, who urge him to return to the ZAFT forces. And back in Orb, Cagalli faces a fateful decision of her own.
PHASE-12: BLOOD IN THE WATER
The Minerva crew find an Earth Forces fleet waiting for them outside Orb's territorial waters, leaving them no choice but to somehow break through the enemy lines. While Rey and Lunamaria guard the ship, Shinn fights an aerial battle against the Earth Forces mobile suits, but the tide turns against them as the enemy deploys a huge mobile armor whose positron deflector shield can withstand even the Minerva's Tannhauser cannon.
Meanwhile, Athrun has finally decided to rejoin ZAFT. Chairman Durandal makes him a member of the elite special forces organization known as FAITH, and Athrun departs for Earth in the Saviour Gundam.
PHASE-13: RESURRECTED WINGS
Thanks to Shinn's fighting prowess, the Minerva has overcome the Earth Forces fleet. As the ship continues on to Carpentaria, the Orb government concludes its alliance with the Atlantic Federation. Yuna Roma Seiran, the son of Orb's prime minister, pressures Cagalli to accept his marriage proposal in order to unite their nation.
Now that Orb has aligned itself with the Earth Forces, Kira and his friends are considering leaving for the PLANTs. But their plans are disrupted when their home is attacked by Coordinator special forces who have been sent to assassinate Lacus, and Kira is forced to enter the battlefield once again.
PHASE-14: FLIGHT TO TOMORROW
In the wake of the assassination attempt on Lacus, Kira and his friends realize that they have been targeted by the government of the PLANTs. Kira then receives a letter from his sister Cagalli, in which she tells him of her intention to marry Yuna and asks him to return Athrun's ring on her behalf. At last Kira decides on a course of action.
Though she is still haunted by thoughts of Athrun, Cagalli has resigned herself to a loveless marriage. But as the ceremony begins, Murrue and her comrades launch the rebuilt Archangel, and Kira takes flight in the Freedom to save Cagalli from this grim fate.
PHASE-15: RETURN TO THE BATTLEFIELD
Aboard the Archangel, Cagalli berates the crew for abducting her in the middle of her wedding ceremony. Kira gives Athrun's ring back to her, and gently asks Cagalli to join them in seeking a better answer to the world's problems.
After learning that the Minerva has left Orb, Athrun at last rejoins the ship at Carpentaria, bringing with him new orders from Chairman Durandal. Talia is surprised to learn that Durandal has made her a FAITH member as well, and by the details of the Minerva's next assignment. Their new mission will take them into western Eurasia, where ZAFT is launching a campaign against the Earth Forces' Suez base.
PHASE-16: STRUGGLE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
As the Minerva makes its way through the Indian Ocean, it draws the attention of an old enemy, Neo Roanoke of the elite Phantom Pain taskforce. Neo calls in support from the nearby Earth Forces and launches an aerial assault on the Minerva. But while Shinn and Athrun battle the enemy in the air, the Minerva and its submarine escort come under attack from the water as well.
Shinn is drawn away from the battlefield and discovers the construction site of an Earth Forces frontline base. He is outraged to realize that the Earth Forces are using the local civilians for forced labor, and begins wiping out the enemy soldiers in a destructive rampage.
PHASE-17: THE SOLDIER'S LIFE
The fugitive Archangel is now hiding underwater in the neutral Kingdom of Scandinavia. Aboard the ship, Kira and his friends ponder their future plans. Despite the crimes of the Earth Forces, they can't bring themselves to trust Chairman Durandal, and Cagalli wonders what has become of Athrun since he returned to the PLANTs.
The Minerva arrives at the Mahamul base in the Persian Gulf. The local ZAFT forces are trying to isolate the Suez base by capturing the Earth Forces' Gulnahan power plant. However, they have been unable to get past the Lohengrin Gate, which is guarded by a huge positron cannon and a powerful mobile armor. Talia realizes that the Minerva must clear this obstacle in order to continue its journey.
PHASE-18: ATTACK THE LOHENGRIN
As the Minerva approaches the Lohengrin Gate, Athrun explains the battle plan to the other pilots. While the Minerva and the soldiers of the Mahamul base draw the attention of the Earth Forces, one pilot will attack the positron cannon via a hidden tunnel. Athrun selects Shinn to carry out this vital mission, and the hotheaded young pilot agrees after one of the local resistance fighters begs for his help.
Using data provides by the resistance, Shinn flies the separated parts of the Impulse Gundam through the darkness of the narrow tunnel. As he does so, his comrades fight a diversionary battle against the enemy's superior forces.
PHASE-19: THE HIDDEN TRUTH
The Minerva continues on to the shore of the Black Sea and docks at the city of Diocuia. Recently liberated from the control of the Earth Forces, Diocuia is now the latest stop on Meer Campbell's morale-building concert tour. Chairman Durandal himself is also visiting the city, and he invites the Minerva's mobile suit pilots to a personal meeting.
In his conversation with the Minerva pilots, Durandal reveals the dark secret behind the current conflict. He blames the fighting on the secret society known as Logos, a group of industrialists and arms dealers who incite war for the sake of their own profits.
PHASE-20: PAST
This episode recounts Shinn's personal history. During the previous war, Shinn and his family lived peacefully in the neutral nation of Orb, but eventually even Orb was drawn into the conflict. Clinging to its ideals, Orb refused to submit to the demands of the Earth Alliance, and Shinn lost his family in the invasion that followed.
Once the war was over, Shinn emigrated to the PLANTs and enlisted in the ZAFT forces. Still haunted by the fate of his family, he is determined to gain the power to protect those who are important to him.
PHASE-21: WANDERING EYES
After their meeting with Chairman Durandal, the Minerva pilots are treated to a day of vacation and given rooms in one of Diocuia's hotels, and Athrun receives an unexpected guest. The pilots also make the acquaintance of Heine Westenfluss, a FAITH member who has been assigned to the Minerva as an additional pilot.
Wandering by himself, Shinn sees a young woman falling into the sea and dives in to rescue her. This woman is in fact Stella Loussier, one of the "Extended" soldiers who attacked Armory One. Shinn calms the frantic Stella by promising to protect her, little suspecting her true identity.
PHASE-22: SWORD OF THE BLUE SKIES
Yielding to pressure from the Earth Forces, the government of Orb has agreed to join the fight against ZAFT. An Orb expeditionary fleet commanded by Yuna Roma Seiran is dispatched to back up Neo Roanoke's Phantom Pain taskforce.
Meanwhile, the tensions among the Minerva's pilots have begun to ease thanks to the influence of the cheerful newcomer Heine. Though Athrun is troubled by the prospect of fighting against Orb, he now has a better understanding of Shinn's feelings toward his homeland. The Minerva leaves the Black Sea to intercept the approaching Orb fleet, and the two sides meet in battle in the Dardanelles.
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