Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray

Gundam SEED Astray is a collection of gaiden (side-stories) set in the Cosmic Era of Gundam SEED.

Whereas the main story of Gundam SEED focuses on the struggles between the Earth Alliance, ZAFT, and Orb Union, the Astray series is focused on the three MBF-P0x mobile suit prototypes and their respective pilots and organizations, who mainly exist on the outskirts of the main SEED storyline. The MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame is piloted by Lowe Guele of the Junk Guild, and the MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame is piloted by Gai Murakumo of the mercenary group Serpent Tail. The third Astray, MBF-P01 Astray Gold Frame, is piloted by the primary antagonist of the Astray story, Orb nobleman Rondo Ghina Sahaku, and later by his twin sister Rondo Mina Sahaku. Astray R follows the adventures of the Red Frame's pilot Lowe and his Junk Guild associates. It is in manga format, and is set to be released in the US early 2005. Astray B follows Gai Murakumo and his fellow Serpent Tail mercenaries. It was released in Dengeki Hobby modelling magazine as a "photo novel" (illustrations using custom-built plastic models accompanied by text), and it is highly unlikely it will make it over to the US.

In addition to Astray R and Astray B, there are three other Astray manga series. Gundam SEED Astray follows both stories, but primarily focuses on Lowe and the Junk Guild. Gundam SEED X Astray is about Canard Pars, who is a failed experiment from the Ultimate Coordinator program. Canard is searching for Kira Yamato, the successful Ultimate Coordinator, so that he can defeat him and prove he was not a "failure". During his search, he fights anyone he comes across. This brings him into conflict with Lowe Guele and the Junk Guild, who finds a young boy named Prayer Reverie. Prayer has with him a powerful ZAFT prototype mobile suit, the YMF-X000A Dreadnought, which was built on a heavily modified GuAIZ frame and was the testbed for the DRAGOON (Disconnected Rapid Armament Group Overlook Operation Network) System of the ZGMF-X13A Providence.

The sequel to this series is Gundam SEED Destiny Astray.

Kisato Yamabuki
Natural, fellow Junk Tech with Lowe, Liam, and the Professor. She has the hobby of collecting memorabilia of the First Coordinator George Glenn. She lacks self confidence and easily frightened when there is fighting, pilots a custom Kimera and later a modified version of the BuCUE Andrew Waltfeld Custom.

8
Artificially Intelligent quantum computer found by Lowe on a drifting space shuttle; named for the only visible writing on its casing; serves as a co-pilot for Lowe Guele's Astray Red Frame and later Jess Rabble's Astray Out Frame.

Liam Garfield
Coordinator (he is a Coordinator with gene modifications while his twin brother is a Natural, since the Garfields wanted to bridge the gap between Naturals and Coordinators); because of his unique background he has a habit of observing the Naturals' behaviors (especially Lowe); a member of the Junk Guild, pilots a customized Kimera and a Works GINN.

Lowe Guele
Natural; engineer, pilot and technician, pilots the MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame; first operated from the HOME, with the Professor, Kisato Yamabuki, and Liam Garfield; later transferred to ReHOME.

The Professor
Natural; real name and her past unknown; brilliant scientist and captain of the HOME, and a close friend of Morgenroete's Erica Simmons; creates a holographic body for George Glenn so that she won't have to bother with commanding the ReHOME.

Yoon Sefan
Natural; the clumsy former Morgenroete Inc. engineer, joined the Junk Guild after being left behind during the evacuation of Orb before its destruction at the hands of EA forces; designer of the MWF-JG71 Raysta civilian-use mobile suit and pilot of a custom Raysta. Encountered Courtney Hieronimus and the ZGMF-X999A ZAKU Trial Type but was saved by Barry Ho.

Kazahana Adja
Coordinator; 6 years old, highly intelligent daughter of Loretta; because of her background she has adult-like judgement and mental toughness, and she serves as liaison to Serpent Tail's clients.

Loretta Adja
Natural; the only woman among members of Serpent Tail; explosives expert and tactician; mother to Kazahana Aja; very popular among the mercenaries. former member of EA, left to have coordinator child (kazahana).

Elijah Kiel
Coordinator/Natural; Gai's wingman, pilots a custom ZGMF-1017 GINN and later a ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom, each with a blade-like head crest; before joining Gai he was with ZAFT alongside his best friend Goud Veia (whom he killed as Goud begged him as a friend to end his suffering due to the split personality); he has a very handsome look; although he is a Coordinator he does not possess the superior physiology of Coordinator, so his MS maneuvering skills are poor; through the experiences he gained on the battlefield as a mercenary, however, he polished his maneuvering skills, and has improved substantially. On his mobile suit "2" is incorporated on its Serpent Tail emblem. Elijah's GINN has great sentimental value, since he used parts from Veia's GINN to repair it; this is why he continued to pilot the GINN even as it became greatly outdated, switching to his new ZAKU only because his GINN was badly damaged.

Gai Murakumo
Coordinator, a shrewd mercenary with excellent battle sense and the leader of the Serpent Tail mercenary company, and pilot of the MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame, first meets Lowe Guele at the remains of Heliopolis; he goes where the money takes him, and is friends with fellow pilot Elijah Kiel; nobody knows his past, when he was actually a Combat Coordinator developed by the group "Socius" of the Earth Alliance for combat use. His combat ability was completed at a high level, but his mental control was incomplete when he escaped the research facility. On his mobile suit "1" is incorporated on its Serpent Tail emblem.

Reed Wheeler
Natural; captain of Serpent Tail's Laurasia-class frigate; former Earth Alliance intelligence operative and still has contacts with the EA; known alcoholic.

Rondo Ghina Sahaku
Coordinator; co-head of the Sahaku royal family of the Orb Union; desired Orb to rule the Earth Sphere; killed in July C.E. 71 by Blue Frame pilot Gai Murakumo. Highly aggressive pilot of the Gold Frame.

Mikhail Coast
He was a physician before joining ZAFT; while he has no interest in social or political matters, he joined ZAFT because he is interested in war; he became a physician not with the goals of saving patients but just to satisfy his curiosity about the human body; always put his own interests as the highest priority and distrust others; with his observation skills and mobility he controls the mobile suit controller like a doctor uses scalpels; he treats battles like the progression of a disease, and likes to speak with medical terms during battles, such as referring the enemies as "tumors" that requires operations for removal; nicknamed the "Doctor" because he can determine the core of the enemies like infected areas and quickly deals with it and is feared by the enemies; pilots the ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Type.

Shiho Hahnenfuss
Elite pilot, wears the red uniform of the ZAFT ace pilots; she was doing research on the beam weapon systems on the new CGUE Deep Arms because there were many problems and with help from Yzak she was able to complete the mobile suit; also nicknamed the "Housenka" (Balsam) by Yzak Joule because of her combat skills (since beams are shooting out in all directions like a blossoming flower), and she wears the balsam as her personal mark; piloted the ZGMF-515 CGUE and YFX-200 CGUE DEEP Arms.

Un No
Un No trains Lowe on sword forms. Tells Lowe that his form is wrong because the katana doesn't use it's weight to cause damage. Shows Lowe the proper form to slice something apart with just one cut.

Volume 1
In C.E. 71, Junk Guild pilots Lowe Guele, Kisato Yamabuki and Liam Garfield use their Kimera mobile pods to approach the ruins of the space colony Heliopolis. Kisato is worried because the Earth Alliance and ZAFT were fighting there several hours ago, but Liam and Lowe assure her they're fine. Lowe calls his ship the HOME, and a woman known as the Professor tells him he should find a factory nearby. As they explore the ruins of the factory, Lowe spots something and brings the Kimeras over to dig. The result of his dig is a gold colored arm from a mobile suit. Lowe begins digging wildly and falls into another area where he makes an even bigger discovery: two Gundam Astray mobile suits, Red Frame and Blue Frame. Lowe uses his personal computer 8 to analyze the Blue Frame and finds that it's fully functional. The Professor calls to inform him that a Moebius piloted by a mercenary is approaching him. Kisato wants to escape, but Lowe decides to take the Blue Frame into combat. As he activates Blue Frame, he asks Kisato and Liam to haul away the Red Frame for him. On the HOME, the Professor is held hostage by Serpent Tail mercenary Elijah Kiel, and she tells him her crew already knows about the attacking mercenaries. Lowe fires his beam rifle at the Moebius, but it dodges and fires back at him. He ducks into another corridor and gets out of the Blue Frame to set a trap. When the Moebius approaches, Lowe has 8 fire the Blue Frame's beam rifle. The Moebius is hit, but pilot Gai Murakumo escapes and attacks Lowe. He pulls out a gun and tells Lowe that his mission is to destroy the Astrays and eliminate witnesses. Lowe struggles with him and says he won't give up the suits. Suddenly, Elijah calls Gai and tells him that their employers have betrayed them and are attacking. Gai seizes the Blue Frame and heads out into space to support Elijah. In space, Elijah's GINN is outnumbered by many Moebius units, but Gai arrives and destroys most of them. As he is about to destroy the HOME, Lowe appears with the Red Frame and destroys the last Moebius. He then pulls out his beam sabers and tells Gai he won't touch the HOME. Gai and Elijah come aboard, and Lowe tells Gai he should keep the Blue Frame for himself. Gai accepts and says they may meet once again as enemies.

After leaving Heliopolis, the HOME heads for the Alliance space fortress Artemis. Following the departure of the Archangel, pirates have begun to attack the crippled fortress. Liam explains that without the Umbrella shield, Artemis is completely defenseless. The Professor says that many of the pirates approaching Artemis have come under attack. Liam wonders how Artemis could retaliate, and Kisato doesn't want to find out. Lowe wants to investigate and simultaneously sell parts to the damaged pirate ships. Lowe launches in the Red Frame and examines the pirate ships. He notices that they were all taken out with a single shot to their engines. He detects something approaching and sees that it's Gai's Blue Frame, armed with a bazooka and heavy equipment. Lowe asks Gai what he's doing at Artemis, and Gai warns Lowe to leave immediately. Lowe realizes that Gai must be working for Artemis and is responsible for attacking the pirate ships. Lowe refuses and says he wants to sell parts to the pirates. Kisato tells Lowe he doesn't stand a chance because Gai is a mercenary and a Coordinator. Liam suspects that Gai is allowing the pirates to live so that they may spread the word that Artemis is still defended. Suddenly, a missile launches from Artemis and nearly hits Gai and Lowe before destroying a pirate ship. Gai calls Artemis and asks Admiral Gerard Garcia what's going on. Garcia says he is ensuring the survival of Artemis, and Gai tells him that their contract is voided if he isn't consulted for an attack. Garcia says that's fine and reveals that he is holding Elijah hostage. He wants to make up for letting the Strike Gundam escape, so he orders Gai to capture the Red Frame. Gai fires his bazooka at Lowe, and Lowe responds by firing back his beam rifle. Gai easily dodges all of Lowe's attacks and fires a missile that blinds him. Lowe loses his beam rifle and switches to his beam saber. Kisato wants to help Lowe, but the Professor tells her that Lowe is pretty lucky and could survive. Lowe asks 8 for advice, and 8 suggests using willpower. Lowe then reroutes all power, including life support, to the beam saber. He charges and attacks, but Gai dodges again. Gai captures the Red Frame and brings it to the window outside of the control room. Lowe then steals Gai's beam saber and rams it through the window. In the confusion, Elijah grabs a gun and takes Garcia hostage. Afterwards, Lowe feels good about himself for fighting a Coordinator like Gai.

At the Actaeon Industries satellite, Gai meets with an executive who wants to buy the Blue Frame. Gai refuses and says they only way they'll get the Blue Frame is if they steal it. The executive answers that he wouldn't try such a thing, so he wants Gai's help to capture the Red Frame. Gai again refuses and warns him that Lowe is no typical Junk Guild scavenger. On the HOME, the Professor informs the crew that Actaeon wants to buy mobile suit and armor parts, along with inoperative suits. Lowe thinks something is suspicious, but he believes it could be a good opportunity to dump all the junk in they have in storage. The HOME arrives at the Actaeon satellite, and the crew begins unloading salvaged GINNs, Moebiuses, Mistrals and BuCUEs. After unloading everything in a domed room, 8 informs Lowe that N-Jammers have been activated, cutting off contact with the HOME. The door then closes, and the executive tells Lowe that he would like to buy the Red Frame. Lowe refuses, and the executive says he is serious and can wait days for an answer. Liam examines the walls and discovers they are heavily shielded because the room is used to test new weapons. At the moment, Lowe only brought his beam saber with him, which isn't powerful enough to cut through the walls. Lowe has an idea, and three hours later he begins to cut through the door with his beam saber. Defensive vehicles fire at the door, but Lowe uses a wrecked ZuOOT to shield himself. When the executive rushes in to see what happened, he discovers that they connected all the dome's power cables to an energy converter supplying the Red Frame with extra power. Lowe then gives the executive an invoice, and Kisato asks if he has any George Glenn memorabilia. On the HOME, the Professor explains to Lowe and the others that she was just about to attack the satellite to strip it down for parts.

Later, Gai and Elijah discuss what happened at Actaeon, and he has the feeling someone is plotting against them to seize the Astrays. In space, Lowe salvages a small ship and brings it back to the HOME. Kisato yells at him for drifting out of sensor range and tells him she was worried about him. The Professor then jumps in and tells them they're late for their next job, which involves the entire Junk Guild converting the space colony Litilia into spaceship. Because Litilia is in a strategically useless area of space, it is considered neutral and is ignored by both ZAFT and the Alliance. Inside the colony, Lowe and the others encounter ZAFT and Alliance officers who have come to escape the war. A ZAFT officer then introduces them to one of the heads of the project, Liam's brother Sinisto. Lowe and Kisato learn that the Garfields wanted to bridge the gap between Naturals and Coordinators, so they left Sinisto as a Natural and had Liam modified as a Coordinator. However, Sinisto ran away from home years ago and hadn't been seen since. Liam asks Sinisto why he ran away, but Sinisto doesn't want to talk about it. Sinisto's adopted son Hanon brings him a drawing of Evidence 01, and Sinisto explains that they want to move to Jupiter and establish a peaceful colony where George Glenn discovered the winged whale fossil. Liam thinks such an idea is ridiculous, and Sinisto asks him to come along. Elsewhere, Lowe shows off by using his Gerbera Straight katana to slice girders in half. Liam joins up with him and says he will be piloting a construction mobile suit because they don't have enough Coordinators to man them. In space, Liam pilots a Works GINN and is joined by Kisato in her Kimera and Lowe in the Red Frame. As they work to attach parts to the colony's exterior, they hear Lacus Clyne's famous song. On the HOME, the Professor realizes that Serpent Tail is in the area when she picks up Elijah's custom GINN on sensors. While working, Liam thinks about the offer that Sinisto and his Coordinator wife made. The Professor calls them to tell them that several Alliance ships are approaching. Lowe asks Liam to help with the final preparations for takeoff so that he can distract the Alliance. Liam returns to the colony to tell Sinisto that he won't be able to come along with him. The Alliance ships chase Lowe and follow him away from the colony, and Lowe grabs a linear gun for his Works GINN to head into battle.

Volume 2
At the Actaeon Industries satellite, the company executive hires a mercenary to steal Lowe's Red Frame. At the Barnacle space dock, Lowe argues with 8 about upgrades to the Red Frame. Kisato and Liam meet Marlin, a bouncy young Junk Guild intern. Marlin introduces herself to Lowe and thinks that he's cute. Lowe shows her around, and she spots her target: the Red Frame. Marlin sees the right arm of the Gold Frame and asks Lowe where he found it. Lowe explains that he found it at Heliopolis, but he doesn't think the rest of the suit survived. Later, the HOME leaves Barnacle. Kisato and Liam are suspicious about Marlin, but the Professor says she might have a good reason for being on the ship. She asks what Marlin is doing, and Liam tells her that Marlin is performing maintenance on the Red Frame. The Professor wonders if that's a good idea because the Red Frame just broke out of the cargo bay. Marlin tries to become accustomed to the Red Frame's OS, and Lowe chases after her with his Kimera. He demands that she return it to him, but she tells him she's taking it back where it belongs. Lowe attacks Marlin, but he tries to avoid damaging the Red Frame. Suddenly, 8 detects an incoming mobile suit. The mercenary from Actaeon approaches with his GINN and attacks the Red Frame. Marlin tries to fight back with the beam rifle and performs miserably. The GINN pilot knocks away her beam rifle, but Lowe smashes his Kimera into the GINN. He tells Marlin to connect 8 to the Red Frame's OS, which causes the cockpit hatch to open. Lowe jumps out of his Kimera without a normal suit and lands in the Red Frame's cockpit on top of Marlin. The GINN pilot breaks the arms of the Kimera, and Lowe responds by cutting off the GINN's right arm. Marlin screams and complains to Lowe that he's squeezing her breasts by sitting on top of her. The mercenary attacks again, and Lowe blocks with his shield. Marlin wants to finish him off and routes power to the Gerbera Straight, but Lowe drops it because it isn't a beam saber. The energy discharges through the hand and destroys the GINN's head. Later, Lowe and the others send Marlin away. Kisato wonders if Marlin regrets her actions, and the Professor thinks she may have completed her mission. Marlin, aka Juri Wu Nien, reports to Erica Simmons that the OS used by the Red Frame allows Naturals to pilot mobile suits. Erica is pleased and knows that she can almost complete the mass produced M1 Astrays now.

In an asteroid field, Gai meets with an informant named Kenaf Luchini. Gai demands to know why Kenaf called him out and if it's some attempt at extortion. Kenaf explains that he only has some free information to give. He says that people in high places want Lowe dead and that only Gai can save him. Gai doesn't believe Kenaf and says that Lowe can take care of himself. Even if Lowe is in danger, he doesn't see why he would have to help him. Kenaf tells Gai he's wasted valuable information, and two GINNs appear from behind asteroids and attack Gai. He quickly destroys both of them as Kenaf escapes. Elsewhere, the HOME lands on a large piece of debris from the PLANT Junius Seven. The crew attempts to pull the piece out of the debris belt before it enters Earth's atmosphere and becomes dangerous. Lowe feels something and stops working. He feels that something is calling the Red Frame and flies off. He searches the area and finds the one-armed Gold Frame waiting for him with a hyper bazooka. Gold Frame pilot Rondo Ghina Sahaku attacks Lowe, and he doesn't understand why. Although he's running low on power, he pulls out his Gerbera Straight to fight the Gold Frame. Liam wants to give Lowe his beam rifle, but the Professor tells him that Lowe would only have enough power for one shot. Lowe dodges Rondo's attacks and finds that he's being pushed towards the Earth's atmosphere. Liam shoots out several pieces of debris as a distraction and tells Lowe that the beam rifle is in one of the pieces. Lowe grabs the beam rifle and asks 8 to reroute its power to the Red Frame's hand. He fires the beam rifle and produces little effect. Rondo approaches to finish him off, and he attacks with his hand energy discharge. He reroutes all power to the hand, which causes the right forearm to explode. Rondo is knocked towards the HOME, but the Professor pushes him away with a Kimera arm. Rondo retreats, but Lowe is left without power and is forced to enter the atmosphere. The HOME pulls in next to him with the debris and grabs hold of the Red Frame. The HOME survives atmospheric entry, but it is damaged beyond repair after crashing.

At Onogoro Island, Erica meets with Kazahana Adja, a 6-year-old representative for Serpent Tail. Their conversation is interrupted with the Orb forces detect the Lesseps approaching Orb territory. Orb sends a fleet of Aegis class ships and Helis to surround the Lesseps. Kisato is worried because they are on a ZAFT ship, but Liam assures her they're safe because the ship is covered with Junk Guild symbols. Lowe doesn't care if they attack, because it will give him a chance to test out the new Gold Frame arm he installed on the Red Frame. The Lesseps is given a warning message from Orb, but the Professor knows it's her old friend Erica having fun with them. The Professor explains to Lowe that Erica is a top developer on Orb's Astray project. Lowe takes the Red Frame to the Morgenroete facility and is amazed when he sees all the M1 Astray units. While having a look at them, Cagalli Yula Attha comes up to him in a fancy dress and asks him why he always has such a carefree look on his face. She complains about the M1 Astrays before running off to talk to her father. The Professor meets with Erica, and Erica says the information she sent was useful. Lowe, Liam and Kisato realize that they didn't find the Red Frame by accident. Lowe then meets Kazahana and asks about Gai. She can't tell him anything, so he figures the Blue Frame landed on Earth too. Lowe is then introduced to M1 Astray pilots Juri, Asagi Caldwell and Mayura Labatt. Juri jumps all over Lowe, but he doesn't recognize her until she takes off her glasses. Erica explains that "Marlin" was sent to gather data on how a Natural could pilot a mobile suit. Erica asks Lowe and the others if they could repair the Archangel for her. After working on the ship, Lowe, Kisato, Liam and Kazahana walk through the streets and are lost. Lowe asks four suspicious young men for directions, but they don't know anything. They are actually ZAFT pilots Athrun Zala, Dearka Elsman, Yzak Joule and Nicol Amalfi. Nicol lies and says they're new employees, and Lowe eventually finds his way.

Lowe returns to the mobile suit facility and is beset by Juri once more. She shows him her M1 Astray and asks him if he wants to test it out. She is happy about being with him again and brags to Asagi and Mayura that Lowe was all over her before and touching her breasts. Kisato walks off in a bad mood, and Kazahana tells her she can't mope around. She tells Kisato that she has to fight for love and is willing to help. Lowe rides in the M1 Astray with Juri, and Erica asks him to switch to the Red Frame for a test battle with an M1 Astray. Lowe attacks an M1 Astray piloted by Rondo and realizes that he's fighting a Coordinator. Lowe tries to use his energy attack on Rondo, but he blocks it. He knocks Lowe away and attempts to finish him off. He uses his Gerbera Straight to slice Rondo's shield apart. He attacks once more, but Rondo stops the Gerbera Straight with his hands and steals it from Lowe. Rondo then knocks him away and slashes at his cockpit before stopping. Lowe gets out of the cockpit and is impressed that Rondo won. He tells him he should repair her M1 Astray because it can't handle the Gerbera Straight. Just then, the M1 Astray's left arm falls off. Lowe finds Kisato crying and tells her not to worry about him. Lowe asks Juri about Rondo, and she explains that Rondo is a high-ranking person responsible for the Astray project. Erica offers to repair the Red Frame, and Lowe asks if he can take some M1 parts. While taking a rest, Lowe says that the Archangel has left and that he hopes it doesn't get so damaged again after he fixed it. Later, the Professor tells everyone they have a new job to build the Gigafloat, an artificial island meant to help stop the loss of space boats. She tells them to contact Father Malchio, a blind peace activist who runs an orphanage. Lowe asks why, and the Professor explains that the Gigafloat project is his idea. Liam wants to go with Lowe, but the Professor tells him she wants him to go to space and find them a new ship. At Morgenroete, Rondo asks Erica about the flight pack she installed on the Red Frame. Erica asks Rondo if he planned on killing Lowe, and Rondo says he just let him temper get the best of him. He tells Erica that he needs to have the Gold Frame upgraded immediately because the future of Orb depends on it.

In the Marshall Islands, Lowe stumbles upon a battle between Athrun's Aegis Gundam and Kira Yamato's Strike Gundam. When the Aegis Gundam self detonates, Lowe uses the Gerbera Straight to cut away the energy waves from the blast. Afterwards, Lowe goes over to the beach and examines the ruined Strike Gundam. He opens the emergency hatch and pulls Kira out of the cockpit. Later, Lowe stumbles into Malchio's house and finds Kisato waiting for him. She tells him she was worried after seeing an explosion so she came to see if he was okay. Lowe asks Malchio to help Kira and explains he had to carry him over after the Red Frame ran out of power. Malchio remembers hearing Kira's name from Lacus. At the Kaguya mass driver, Malchio prepares to take Kira into space to deliver him to Lacus. As Lowe prepares to leave, Juri tells Kisato that Lowe is all hers now. The next day, Gai and Elijah arrive at Orb and find that Lowe has already left for the Gigafloat and is heading straight into trouble. In space, a young space pirate named Portia and her crew search the Graveyard area for valuables. They find a strange old man named Un No, who created the Gerbera Straight. He threatens them with a BuCUE hanging from the ceiling, and Portia pretends to faint. Un No's dog Denpachi comes out of the BuCUE, and Un No tends to Portia. She tells her crew that the Alliance would probably pay a lot of money for a dog that can pilot a mobile suit. She then grabs Denpachi and tries to start up the BuCUE. Un No yells at her and says that Denpachi can only open the hatch, not pilot the suit. Lowe then shows up with his Red Frame and threatens Portia with his Gerbera Straight. Portia leaves and decides to quit the pirate business.

Volume 3
At Morgenroete, Erica tells Rondo about the Gigafloat project, and he isn't pleased to hear about the mass driver. He says that with mass drivers being destroyed in battles, Orb's mass drivers are now a premium commodity. He tells Erica that he is going out with the upgraded Gold Frame Amatu, which is only 70% complete. At the Gigafloat site, Lowe uses Red Frame to assist in the construction. Kisato is amazed that they've built so much, but Lowe tells her they need to stabilize the core to prevent it from coming apart. Elsewhere, Reed informs the other members of Serpent Tail that Lowe and Malchio are helping build the Gigafloat. Gai says that he'll head out to the Gigafloat once he completes his work on Blue Frame's scale system. The Gigafloat is rocked by an explosion, and Lowe sees that the culprit is Gold Frame. Lowe sees Gold Frame still has no right arm, so he attacks the weak spot and is knocked away. A right arm suddenly appears, and Rondo explains that it was salvaged from the destroyed Blitz Gundam. Rondo then activates the Mirage Colloid and vanishes. He attacks Lowe from various directions and grabs him from behind. Rondo knocks Lowe down and is disappointed that Lowe went down so quickly. He prepares to kill Lowe with his "Trikeros" beam rifle, but Kisato jumps onto Red Frame's cockpit and begs Rondo to stop. Suddenly, an energy blast comes out of the water and knocks Rondo into the sea. He spots Gai's Blue Frame, which has been equipped with a scale system. Gai fires torpedoes at Rondo, and Rondo realizes he is at a disadvantage because he can't use the Mirage Colloid underwater. With his mission to damage the Gigafloat accomplished, Rondo escapes. Kisato wakes Lowe up, and he acts quickly to help save the Gigafloat. Lowe works with the other mobile suit pilots to stabilize the Gigafloat's core and falls into the water from exhaustion. Gai pulls him out of the water with Blue Frame, but 8 is washed away.

On a small island, a young girl finds 8 washed up along a beach shore. The young girl and several other children play with 8 and run over to an area where an Alliance officer is forcing men to work in a mine. The girl uses 8 to electrocute the officer, and he chases them across the island. The young girl places 8 inside the cockpit of an old GINN, and 8 activates the mobile suit and chases away the officer. Later, the young girl falls asleep and Lowe arrives on the island to pick up 8. At the Gigafloat, Malchio and the Serpent Tail crew say goodbye as Lowe and Kisato's shuttle takes off into space. Malchio thanks Gai for protecting the Gigafloat, and Gai says he was just doing his job. Reed and Elijah say that ZAFT could target the Gigafloat, but Malchio assures them it will be constantly moving. Lowe and Kisato meet up with Liam and the Professor to see their new ship, the Re.H.O.M.E. Kisato is amazed by the size of the ship, and the Professor says they've prepared a surprise. At Orb's space station Ame-no-Mihashira, Rondo plots his next move. Although Uzumi Nara Athha is dead, Cagalli poses a problem for Rondo's plan to rule Orb. He debates with someone whether he should attack ZAFT or the Alliance, and he decides to attack ZAFT first because Blue Cosmos leader Muruta Azrael gave him a Sword Calamity unit along with a pilot. On the Re.H.O.M.E.'s bridge, the Professor introduces Kisato to the ship's captain- George Glenn. Lowe wonders how that can be if George has been dead for several decades, and the Professor explains that the GG unit they acquired contained George's brain. She extracted the memory engrams and created a holographic version of George. The ship takes off, and Kisato is shocked by how corny George is. Lowe asks George what he thinks about the war, and George asks Lowe for his opinion. Lowe explains that he doesn't mind the existence of weapons as long as they're used to protect people instead of just for pointless destruction. George explains that Coordinators had a special purpose, which was to coordinate the natural evolution of Naturals. However, things didn't turn out that way and George feels that he made mistake.

Elsewhere, the Laurasia class ship Amzen is destroyed by an unidentified foe. The commander of the ZAFT fleet orders all ships and mobile suits to retreat. A GuAIZ is captured by Rondo's Gold Frame Amatu. Rondo uses his Maga-no-Ikutachi claws to destroy the GuAIZ's head and then destroy the mobile suit. Rondo spots several escape pods from the destroyed ZAFT ships and destroys them. The Re.H.O.M.E. picks up the ZAFT distress call from nearby and moves in to investigate. Kisato begs Lowe not to fight Gold Frame Amatu, but Lowe tells her his mind is made up. Lowe launches in the Red Frame, and Rondo is surprised that Lowe is back in space. Elsewhere, Elijah informs Gai about a transmission from one of their informants. Lowe asks Rondo why he wants to destroy things, and Rondo says it that people exist to sacrifice themselves for the ambitions of those in power. Rondo says he will construct a new world, and Lowe tells him all he will create is fear. He says people have to work together, and Rondo calls him a fool. Rondo then activates his Mirage Colloid and sneaks behind Lowe. He attacks Lowe with the Maga-no-Ikutachi and begins to suck power out of the Red Frame. George moves the Re.H.O.M.E. in closer to help Lowe, and Rondo fires missiles at the ship. Lowe breaks free and attacks with his Gerbera Straight, but Rondo blocks with the Trikeros and breaks the sword in two. Kisato wants to help Lowe and launches in the BuCUE, which George is controlling remotely. She smashes into the Gold Frame Amatu, but Rondo knocks her away. Suddenly, Gai appears with the Blue Frame Second L and joins Lowe. He unfolds the Tactical Arms backpack and gives it to Lowe in its sword mode. Lowe asks Rondo to stop because Gundams aren't made for destruction, and Rondo again calls him a fool. Lowe slashes at the Gold Frame Amatu's right arm and disables it. He tells Rondo to think about what he said and flies off with Kisato. Rondo chases after him, but Gai appears from behind and stabs Rondo's cockpit with a combat knife.

Gai decides to leave when the Orb battleship Izumo approaches. A Sword Calamity piloted by Four Socius retrieves the damaged Gold Frame Amatu. Aboard the Izumo, Rondo's twin sister Rondo Mina Sahaku mourns her brother's death and vows to carry on with his plans to rule the world. Later, the Re.H.O.M.E. receives a new job to fix a mobile suit at the Mendel colony. Kisato is worried because there was an incident on Mendel involving biological weapons, but Liam assures her that the colony has been decontaminated. Lowe launches in the Red Frame, followed by Kisato and Liam in the BuCUE. They explore the colony and are confronted by a GOOhN Underground Test Type piloted by Diller Rojo. Diller thanks them for coming out to fix his GOOhN's malfunctioning scale system. They ask him what he's doing, and he explains he's on a job from PLANT to find George Glenn's DNA samples. Kisato tells Diller they have such samples on their ship, but Diller says he'd rather search for things on his own. Lowe agrees with Diller's attitude and wishes him well on his search.

Five months earlier, Rau Le Creuset's battleship Vesalius searches for the culprit behind the destruction of ZAFT supply stations. GINN pilot Miguel Aiman spots the culprit, who is actually Gai in his custom GINN. Athrun watches the fight and concludes that they can't find the enemy mother ship because Gai's custom GINN is equipped with a large fuel tank. Gai and Miguel run out of ammunition and fight each other with melee weapons. Miguel stabs Gai's torso with his sword, but Gai manages to cut off Miguel's right arm. Gai flies towards the space station and ejects just before his GINN crashes into the station and destroys it. Miguel isn't happy about the battle, but Rau tells him they've accomplished their mission. Later, Rau hears about a secret Alliance mobile suit project on Orb's space colony Heliopolis. He tells Miguel he'll have to use a regular GINN for the assault. Elsewhere, Erica secretly contacts the Professor and tells her she wants to save the Astray prototypes. A mysterious man hires Gai to destroy the Astray units and any evidence of their existence.

Junk Guild

 * Kimera
 * MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red Frame
 * TMF/A-802 P-Mod.W BuCUE Waltfeld Custom Type
 * ZGMF-1017 Works GINN

Serpent Tail

 * MBF-P03 Gundam Astray Blue Frame
 * ZGMF-1017 GINN Elijah Kiel Custom
 * ZGMF-1017 GINN Gai Murakumo Custom

Orb Union

 * MBF-M1 M1 Astray
 * MBF-P01 Gundam Astray Gold Frame
 * MBF-P01-Re&lt;AMATU&gt; Astray Gold Frame Amatu

ZAFT

 * AMF-101 DINN
 * GAT-X102 Duel Gundam
 * GAT-X103 Buster Gundam
 * GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam
 * GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam
 * TMF/A-802 BuCUE
 * UMF-4A GOOhN
 * UMF-5 ZnO
 * ZGMF-600 GuAIZ
 * ZGMF-1017 GINN
 * ZGMF-1017 GINN Miguel Aiman Custom
 * ZGMF-515 CGUE

Earth Alliance/Blue Cosmos

 * GAT-01 Strike Dagger
 * TS-MA2 Moebius