By As Junius Seven continues its movement towards Earth, Sato and his GINN forces continue to attack the helpless GuAIZ Rs. Yzak has beam rifles sent out for the GuAIZ Rs, and he tells Dearka to hold them off while he launches in his own unit. Nearby, Shinn’s Core Splendor docks with the Chest Flyer, Leg Flyer and Force Silhouette Flyer to form the Force Impulse. On the Minerva, Talia discusses with Durandal about how their enemies are using GINN HM Types. Cagalli comes to the bridge and asks where Athrun is, and Durandal explains that he went to help Shinn and the others. Elsewhere, the Chaos Gundam, Abyss Gundam and Gaia Gundam launch from the Girty Lue and head for the battle at Junius Seven. The GINN pilots continue to prey upon the helpless GuAIZ Rs, and Yzak launches in his Slash ZAKU Phantom. He destroys some enemy units and meets up with Dearka, but they immediately come under attack from the three Gundams. At the same time, Shinn, Athrun, Rey and Lunamaria arrive on the scene. Lunamaria says they’ll get back at three stolen Gundams, and Athrun reminds her that’s not their mission. On the Minerva, Arthur suggests attacking the Girty Lue, and Durandal wonders if the Girty Lue‘s crew thinks they caused Junius Seven to move. Arthur thinks that’s crazy, but Talia says if it were Dagger Ls instead, they would immediately suspect the Alliance. Talia and Durandal decide to contact the Girty Lue using the International Distress Channel. Meanwhile, Shinn fights Auel while Lunamaria fights Stella and Athrun fights Sting. Athrun destroys both of Sting’s gunbarrels, leaving Sting to wonder who his opponent is. Auel dodges Shinn’s attacks, and Lunamaria jumps out of the Gaia Gundam’s way and kicks it around. Nearby, Yzak continues to destroy GINNs while trying to protect the GuAIZ Rs and the meteor breakers. In Washington D.C., the Atlantic Federation President Joseph Copland holds a press conference regarding the movement of Junius Seven. In Orb, a government representative says that Earth and the PLANTs are working together to destroy Junius Seven. In the Marshall Islands, Kira sits by himself while Lacus Clyne plays with a group of children. Elsewhere, Djibril pets his cat while watching all the news broadcasts from around the world.
At Junius Seven, the GuAIZ R units install the meteor breakers and begin to break pieces of land apart. Nearby, the Girty Lue receives a message from the Minerva asking for a cessation of hostilities so that the Minerva can assist in the effort to break apart Junius Seven. More meteor breakers bore into Junius Seven, causing the ruined PLANT to break into two large pieces. While the rear piece slows down, the forward end continues to move toward Earth. Athrun says they need to do more, and both Dearka and Yzak are shocked to hear his voice. Yzak demands to know why he’s there, and Athrun tells him he hasn’t changed. As the three of them transport a meteor breaker, they come under attack from several GINNs. After destroying them, they are attacked by Sting and Auel. Athrun tells Yzak to watch out, and Yzak yells back that he doesn’t take orders from civilians. He attacks and slices off one of Auel’s legs, along with some of Sting’s armor. Athrun uses his beam axe to destroy Sting’s beam rifle. Shinn watches dumbstruck at the abilities of veterans from the war, until Rey reminds him they have more work to do. Talia asks Durandal to transfer over to the Voltaire because she intends to take the Minerva into the atmosphere and fire the ship’s main cannons at Junius Seven. Durandal asks Cagalli to come along, but she insists on staying. The Girty Lue sends out recall flares for the three Gundams, and Durandal wonders if they believed their message. Talia disagrees and thinks that they simply don’t want to get caught in the Earth’s gravity well. Dearka, Yzak, Rey and Lunamaria return to their ships, leaving only Shinn and Athrun. Shinn finds Athrun anchoring a meteor breaker and asks him why he’s with Orb. He flies over to help Athrun, and the two come under attack from Sato and two other GINNs. Athrun attacks Sato, and Sato accuses him of forgetting about those who died. He says that ZAFT has become weak and that the policies of Patrick Zala were the right ones for Coordinators. Athrun thinks about his father and his doomsday weapon, GENESIS. Sato slices off the right arm of Athrun’s Blaze ZAKU Warrior and latches onto him. Shinn destroys the other two GINNs and slices off Athrun’s leg to break him free of Sato. He then kicks Sato, who crashes into Junius Seven and explodes. The pull of the Earth’s gravity becomes too strong, sucking Athrun and Shinn down with Junius Seven. On Earth, Kira watches the large fragments of Junius Seven in the sky.
Well, there’s quite a lot happening in this episode. First, is it just me, or has the GuAIZ R become a piece of junk piloted by idiots? In SEED, the original GuAIZ was a powerful suit, but now its successor is mere cannon fodder piloted by fool pilots. We learn that Sato and his men are radicals within ZAFT who support Patrick Zala’s ideals. The question is, are they one small, isolated group, or is there a bigger rift in ZAFT between moderates and radicals? Yzak and Dearka get to fight in this episode, and it looks like Yzak has decided to copy Kira’s techniques and slice off Gundam legs, which is something that used to happen to him quite often. Although Sato and his men want to show the grief of ZAFT, their actions are playing right into the hands of Djibril and Blue Cosmos. It doesn’t look like the remaining fragments of Junius Seven can be destroyed, and ZAFT will naturally be blamed. Kira and Lacus make brief cameos in this episode. Will Kira be drawn back into the conflict like his friend Athrun?
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