Gundam SEED DESTINY Phase 9: Bared Fangs

At the Alliance’s Arzachel lunar base, preparations for war begin. Nuclear weaponry is loaded aboard battleships, along with the new mass production mobile suit Windam. At Aprilius One, Durandal presides over a meeting of the Supreme Council. They are currently debating the strange demands made by President Copland, including compensation, disarmament, and the resignation of the Supreme Council. Some of the council members think they should mobilize the military, but Durandal thinks if they do that they’ll simply be repeating history. One of the members counters that they have to do something because of the activity at the lunar base. Durandal thinks that mobilizing their military will aggravate the situation, but by the same token the horror of the Bloody Valentine incident is still too fresh in many people’s minds. Although he wants to continue negotiating for peace, Durandal reluctantly decides to mobilize ZAFT. He thinks that if another war begins, the terrorists who dropped Junius Seven will have gotten what they wanted. In space, ZAFT ships and mobile suits begin to coordinate their formations. Yzak and Dearka come aboard the massive carrier ship Gondwana. Athrun arrives at a PLANT and meets with a representative who briefs him on the grave situation. Elsewhere, dozens of battleships begin to launch from the Alliance’s lunar base. From his compound, Djibril opens a hotline with the White House and asks Copland how much longer until the attack begins. Copland tells him that they can’t rush into anything because there are quite a few nations opposed the the Atlantic Federation’s most recent actions. Djibril doesn’t think anyone can oppose them, but he also thinks that Copland is afraid of Orb. He explains that the world is a system that must be managed like a garden, and the appearance of weeds detracts from its beauty. They must remove the weeds so that no one will oppose Logos’ plans to create a new world system. Elsewhere, photojournalist Miriallia Haw takes pictures of dead dolphins on the shore, along with several other devastated areas. In Orb, Shinn sleeps with Maya’s cell phone in his hands and has a dream about playing with his sister in the forest.

In space, the Alliance fleet receives the order to commence the operation. As the fleet moves out, Copland makes an announcement to the world and space. He says that ZAFT has not met the Alliance’s demands and is harboring the terrorist group responsible for the drop of Junius Seven. Because of this, he is labeling the PLANTs as a threat to Earth and declares war. As both forces move closer to each other, GINNs take the first action by firing heavy missiles at the approaching Dagger L units. On the Gondwana, Yzak launches in his Slash ZAKU Phantom, followed by Dearka in his Gunner ZAKU Warrior. With the battle joined, a secret Alliance attack fleet emerges from behind an asteroid and heads for ZAFT’s capital PLANT Aprilius One. The secret attack fleet launches several squads of Multi-Striker Windams equipped with nuclear missiles. A hidden GINN Recon Type spots them and relays the information back to ZAFT. Yzak and Dearka realize they’re fighting decoys and hurry to intercept the Windams. As the Windams approach, a specially equipped Nazca class ship charges its Neutron Stampeder. The Windams fire their nuclear missiles, and Yzak is afraid he won’t be able to stop them in time. The Nazca class ship fires the Neutron Stampeder, which irradiates the area and causes all the nuclear missiles to detonate prematurely. The blast from the Neutron Stampeder also causes the missiles carried by mobile suits and battleships to explode, wiping out the entire fleet. Durandal is relieved that they were able to stop the nuclear attack, but unfortunately the Neutron Stampeder only has one shot. Djibril is furious when he is informed that the Alliance fleet has pulled back to the lunar base for the moment. While waiting to meet with Durandal, Athrun goes to the bathroom and runs into a busty Lacus lookalike and her red Haro. The fake Lacus is happy to see Athrun, and he asks her what she’s doing there. After she leaves, Durandal walks by and remembers he has an appointment with Athrun. He asks Athrun what’s wrong, but he says it’s nothing.