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The Retaliation of the Desert Dawn is a conflict of the First Alliance-PLANT War, featured in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.

Prelude[]

Seeking revenge for the Attack on Tassil, several Desert Dawn members requested their leader, Sahib Ashman, to order a retaliation. However, Sahib refused, knowing that the ZAFT forces outgunned them and that a counterattack would be suicidal. However, several Desert Dawn soldiers disobeyed Ashman, taking four Half Trucks and charged after the BuCUEs responsible for the attack. Sahib went after them, with Cagalli Yula Athha, Ahmed el Hosn and Ledonir Kisaka joining the fight. After receiving news about the counterattack, Lieutenant Commander Murrue Ramius deployed Ensign Kira Yamato in the Aile Strike Gundam to reinforce the Desert Dawn soldiers.[1]

The Battle[]

After catching up with the mobile suits, the Desert Dawn soldiers mounted a desperate and ultimately futile attack. After avoiding a rocket fired by Cagalli, Commander Andrew Waltfeld reluctantly ordered his three BuCUEs to fight back. The missile launches of the Half Trucks and their own portable rocket launchers cause only superficial damage to the BuCUEs. Following the initial attack, the three Mobile Suits made quick work of the Desert Dawn soldiers, destroying four of the attacking Half Trucks in quick succession. Just as one BuCUE was about to attack Sahib’s Half Truck, Kira arrived in the Aile Strike, causing the BuCUE to break off its attack. Noticing that the aim of his beam rifle was off due to the hot climate of the desert, Kira quickly adjusted the OS to account for that factor. He successfully restored his weapon’s aim, and after dodging a volley of incoming missiles, he shot off the missile pod of the attacking BuCUE.[1]

Witnessing this, Commander Waltfeld was impressed with the Strike pilot’s quick adaptability. Seeking to battle the Strike himself, Andrew ordered one of his BuCUE pilots, Kirkwood, to exit his machine so he could take control. Just as Kira was about to destroy one of the BuCUE’s, the Aile Strike was hit in the back by a missile fired from Andrew's BuCUE. Andrew and the other two BuCUEs formed up and charged directly into the Aile Strike. After the first pass, one of the BuCUEs attacked the Aile Strike with missiles. While Kira jumped into the air to avoid the attack, another BuCUE followed suit to push him back down, accompanied by Andrew’s BuCUE continuing the missile attack, pushing the Aile Strike across the terrain.[1]

However, before the next missile salvo could hit, Kira activated his SEED Mode, and quickly decreased the Aile Strike’s speed, avoiding the missiles. Afterwards, Kira increased the Aile Strike’s speed and charged directly at the BuCUEs, releasing the Strike's shield just before rushing past them, allowing the shield to slam directly into one of the BuCUEs. Andrew tried to counter with another salvo of missiles, however Kira used the Aile Strikes thrusters to gust up the sand, creating a shield to protect him from the attack. Unable to locate the Aile Strike because of the resulting smoke cloud, one of the BuCUEs jumped over the smoke to search for it. However, using the smoke as cover, Kira positioned himself underneath the belly of the airborne BuCUE and fired a direct hit with his beam rifle. Seeking to avenge his fallen subordinate, Andrew charged at the Aile Strike, however, in the clash, Kira used one of the Aile Strike’s beam sabers to slice off the left leg of Andrew’s BuCUE. Following this, Andrew ordered a retreat back to base.[1]

Aftermath[]

After the battle, Kira chastised Cagalli for the attack, accusing her of trying to get herself killed in an ultimately pointless battle.

His experience against the Strike Gundam in this battle ultimately lead Andrew to conclude that the Strike's pilot was a Coordinator. Something he confirmed when Andrew brought up the subject with Kira during a discussion at his residence following the Blue Cosmos Attack in Banadiya.[2]

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Appearances[]

Television Series

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