ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam

Following the Bloody Valentine War, ZAFT unveils its Second Stage of advanced new Gundam mobile suits. One of these designs was the high speed transforming ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam. As with other new Gundam designs, the Saviour Gundam was equipped with Variable Phase Shift armor that blocked conventional weapon attacks. Because the Junius Treaty banned the use of N-Jammer Cancelers in mobile suits, ZAFT developed the deuterion beam energy supply system to replenish the battery’s energy on the battlefield. When the Saviour Gundam’s energy ran low, it could receive the incoming energy beam from its mothership Minerva and recharge its battery. In its mobile armor mode, the Saviour Gundam was fast and highly maneuverable in both space and the Earth’s atmosphere. The Saviour Gundam was equipped with a wide variety of armaments for use in its two modes. Its main armament was a pair of “Amfortas” plasma beam cannons which could be used in both configurations. The Saviour Gundam’s other armaments included two beam cannons, vulcan guns, a beam rifle and two beam sabers.

When the Second Bloody Valentine War broke out in October C.E. 73, PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal assigned the Saviour Gundam to Athrun Zala after reinstating him to ZAFT as a member of the elite FAITH (Fast Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters). Durandal gave Athrun free reign to act as he saw fit with his authority as a member of FAITH, but he requested that Athrun join the crew of the Minerva and help it play a role similar to that of the Archangel in the previous war. After a brief encounter with the Orb Union’s military, Athrun joined with the Minerva at ZAFT’s Carpentaria Base and participated in battles in the Indian Ocean and Middle East. The Saviour Gundam was heavily damaged while engaging Kira Yamato’s ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam in a naval battle near the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. Following the battle, the damaged mobile suit was declared a total loss. Durandal assigned Athrun to pilot the new ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam, but Athrun defected from ZAFT soon after, so the new unit was instead given to Rey Za Burrel.