GUNDAM 0083
Mobile Suit
Gundam 0083: Story
On the last day of the apocalyptic One Year War, the bloody Battle of A Baoa Qu draws to a close. Learning that Zeon leader Gihren Zabi has been killed, Colonel Aiguille Delaz decides to withdraw his forces from the battlefield and fight again another day. With him goes Anavel Gato, the ace mobile suit pilot reknowned as the "Nightmare of Solomon."
More than three years pass, as the victorious Earth Federation rebuilds its shattered fleet and launches a secret Gundam Development Project to create advanced new mobile suits. Meanwhile, damaged space colonies are transferred to Side 3, the former Principality of Zeon, to ease its overpopulation. And at the asteroid base Axis out beyond the orbit of Mars, and at Delaz's hiding place within the Earth sphere, the remnants of Zeon begin planning their revenge against the Federation...
Eastern Australia
The Federation assault carrier Albion arrives at the Torrington test base, near the shore of the immense impact crater that was once Sydney, Australia. Aboard the Albion a pair of prototype Gundam mobile suits developed by the lunar cartel Anaheim Electronics. Test pilot Kou Uraki and his comrades ooh and aah over the new Gundams, but are rebuffed by snippy systems engineer Nina Purpleton.
The Gundam Unit 2, specially designed for nuclear warfare, is loaded with a warhead from the Torrington base's stockpile - and then immediately hijacked by former Zeon ace Anavel Gato, who has been smuggled aboard the Albion by an Anaheim spy. Declaring the revival of the Principality of Zeon, Gato hacks his way out of the ship and escapes towards the Australian coast, while other renegade Zeons cover his escape with a missile bombardment.
The surviving Torrington test pilots pursue Gato, foiling his attempt to escape into space and chasing him to the shoreline. Kou, piloting the Gundam Unit 1, battles the enemy ace but is unable to prevent his retrieval by a friendly submarine. The Albion receives reinforcements, including a trio of veteran pilots who challenge Kou's worthiness to use the Gundam, then sets off for Africa in pursuit of Gato.
Eastern Africa
Arriving in Eastern Africa, the Albion spends a fruitless week in search of the stolen Gundam Unit 2. The Kimberlite base, a leftover Zeon hideout housed in an abandoned diamond mine, welcomes Gato and prepares to send him and the Unit 2 into space using a vintage launch vehicle. The Anaheim spy is accidentally unmasked, and flees towards Kimberlite with the Albion in hot pursuit, but Gato's allies fight a ferocious delaying action and buy him enough time to escape.
The Shoal Zone
In Earth orbit, a Delaz Fleet cruiser recovers Gato and the Gundam Unit 2, then sets off towards Aiguille Delaz's hidden base in the debris-strewn shoal zone once known as Side 5. Upon his arrival, Gato is dismayed to find that his leader has recruited the notorious Cima Garahau and her private fleet to aid in their struggle.
Delaz broadcasts his declaration of war on the Earth Federation, showing off the captured Gundam Unit 2 - whose nuclear capability is a violation of Antarctic Treaty - as evidence of the Federation's duplicity. The Albion follows Gato's trail into the shoal zone and is intercepted by Cima's forces, who destroy the Albion's escort ships and batter its mobile suit contingent. Kou defies orders and launches in the Unit 1, even though it hasn't been properly calibrated for space combat. He manages to fend off Cima's attack, but pays a heavy price for his pride as the Unit 1 is badly damaged.
Von Braun City
The Albion limps into port at the lunar metropolis of Von Braun City. Here, the ship receives repairs and supplies, the wrecked Gundam Unit 1 is returned to Anaheim Electronics for reconstruction, and the crew are given shore leave. The dispirited Kou is ambushed by street toughs, and rescued by a one-armed junkyard operator named Kelly Layzner. Kou soon discovers that his rescuer is a former Zeon pilot, who is even now rebuilding the vintage mobile armor Val Varo for the Delaz Fleet. He nonetheless helps Kelly complete his repairs, recovering his own confidence in the process.
Kou returns to find that Nina has completed the Unit 1's reconstruction, but again strikes out when his shyness prevents him from confessing his obvious feelings for her. The soap opera is interrupted by the appearance of Kelly and his renovated Val Varo. Having discovered that the Delaz Fleet intended to buy his mobile armor from him, rather than allowing the maimed veteran to join their battle, Kelly now intends to go out in a blaze of glory by challenging the Gundam. After a fierce battle, Kou defeats the Val Varo, inadvertently killing Kelly. He then rushes to aid Nina, who was caught in the crossfire, and finally blurts out his love for her.
The Sea of Solomon
Departing Von Braun, the Albion heads for the asteroid base Konpei Island - known, during the One Year War, as the Zeon fortress of Solomon - for an immense Federation naval review. While patrolling the area, the Albion stumbles across a clandestine meeting between Cima's fleet and a Federation general. Battle is joined, and the Albion's mobile suit team leader recovers a mysterious briefcase from one of Cima's wrecked ships. Just as he is about to discover the secrets of the Delaz Fleet's "Operation Stardust," his mobile suit explodes from lingering battle damage.
The naval review begins, even as the Delaz Fleet and other renegade Zeons harass the Federation fleet with sporadic attacks. Suddenly, the Delaz Fleet's main force arrives, spearheaded by Gato and the stolen Gundam Unit 2. Gato launches the Unit 2's nuclear warhead into the thick of the Federation fleet, destroying or immobilizing three-fifths of its ships. Kou intercepts the retreating Gato and the two Gundams duel, ultimately destroying each other and providing the escaping pilots with a brief but intense face-to-face encounter.
Colonyjack
Elsewhere, a pair of reconstructed space colonies in transit to Side 3 are seized by Cima's fleet. Manuevering the colonies into a collision, Cima sets one of them on a course towards the moon. The Federation's leaders are unimpressed, dispatching the remaining fleet from Konpei Island to intercept the colony. The Albion's captain is more concerned, and orders the ship to rendezvous with the Anaheim Electronics docking ship La Vie En Rose to retrieve a third Gundam prototype.
Meanwhile, Gato meets with a delegation of renegade Zeons from the asteroid base Axis. Though the Axis Zeons are officially neutral, they provide the Delaz Fleet ace with a powerful new mobile armor, the Neue Ziel. While Delaz's and Cima's fleets escort the moon-bound colony, Gato uses the Neue Ziel to fend off the pursuing Federation fleet. As the colony draws near the moon, an Anaheim Electronics executive - prompted by the Delaz Fleet - uses the company's laser launching system to activate the rocket engines attached to the colony, boosting it out of lunar orbit and sending it on an Earth-bound course. The Federation pursuit fleet, having exhausted its propellant, is unable to follow the redirected colony.
The Albion arrives at La Vie En Rose, only to find that the general to whom it reports has been relieved of his command, and that La Vie En Rose and the Gundam Unit 3 are under the control of a rival Federal Forces faction. Learning of the runaway colony's course change, Kou realizes the true dimensions of Operation Stardust and decides to steal the Unit 3. The Albion crew come to his aid, and, Gundam in tow, they set off in a desperate attempt to intercept the colony.
The Critical Intercept Point
Escorted by Delaz's and Cima's fleets and guarded by Gato and his Neue Ziel, the colony hurtles inexorably towards the Critical Intercept Point, beyond which it will be impossible to prevent its impacting on Earth. The Albion is in hot pursuit, and Kou, now piloting the immense mobile weapon that is the Gundam Unit 3, tries again and again to fight his way past Gato's equally powerful mobile armor. Rather than aiding the Albion, a Federation fleet controlled by a sinister cabal of high-ranking conspirators gathers behind the Critical Intercept Point.
As the colony passes the point of no return, all seems lost. But now the conspirators play their hand. Cima, revealed to be in cahoots with this cabal, captures Delaz and orders a ceasefire. The Federation's orbital fleet unveils its secret weapon, a Solar System mirror array like that used in the Battle of Solomon, which will be used to destroy the runaway colony. The captive Delaz commands Gato to fight on, and is immediately killed by a furious Cima. An equally furious Gato destroys the bridge of Delaz's flagship - narrowly missing Cima - and then attacks the Solar System array just as it's activated, allowing the colony to break through.
Last Blitz of Zeon
Chaos ensues, as Cima's forces and the Federation fleet collide and clash with the remnants of the Delaz Fleet. Kou goes after Cima and her fleet, wiping out these ostensibly friendly forces, then goes in search of Gato. As it turns out, the Delaz Fleet ace is inside the colony making last-minute course corrections. Kou confronts Gato in person, but is prevented from killing him by the unexpected intervention of - Nina! Holding Kou at gunpoint, Nina confesses that she and Gato were once lovers, and insists that she won't allow the two men to kill each other.
Gato repays Nina poorly for rescuing him. Knocking her out and handing her over to one of his loyal comrades, he squares off against Kou's Gundam for a final duel. Just as Gato is about to deliver the coup de grace, the reassembled Solar System is activated once again. The combatants and the colony are consumed by a blinding light...
Conclusion
The Solar System attack is too little, too late. The colony crashes onto the Earth's surface, not on the Federal Forces' subterranean headquarters at Jaburo, but on the agricultural lands of North America. Gato, his mobile armor scorched and battered, leads the remains of the Delaz Fleet in a doomed final charge against the Federation fleet. And, in the aftermath of this bloody affair, Kou Uraki is court-martialed and sent to prison.
Soon afterwards, politics intervene to Kou's benefit. Using the calamity of Operation Stardust as a pretext, the Federal Forces conspirators create an elite military organization - the soon-to-be-infamous "Titans" - to combat terrorism and anti-Federation rebellion. The truth about the colony fall and all details of the Gundam Development Project are erased, and with them the basis for Kou's punishment. Kou is released from prison and returned to duty at a testing base in North America. Here, to his amazement and joy, he is reunited with his closest friends from the Albion crew... and with Nina.
|
