| The
Gundam Wing Story
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It's the year AC (After Colony) 195. Over the past century,
humanity has established a number of space colonies, giant wheel-shaped constructs that
are home to millions of people. These colonies are grouped in clusters at the five
Lagrange points, areas of relative stability in Earth orbit. For decades, while the
Earth's surface was wracked by war and civil strife, the peace and quiet of the space
colonies presented an attractive alternative for war-weary settlers. When the terrestrial
wars ended, a new world government was established, a "United Earth Sphere
Alliance" committed to bringing about peace through force of arms. In the name of
peace and justice, the Alliance seized control of the colonies. To lobby the Earth's
nations for autonomy, the space colonists chose a man named Heero Yuy as their
representative. The charismatic Yuy united the colonies, and his message of
demilitarization and non-violence was well-received by the people of Earth. But when Yuy
was assassinated in the year AC 175, the colonists' hopes were crushed and the colonies
thrown into turmoil. Under the pretext of restoring order to the colonies, the
Alliance staged a second military intervention, using humanoid fighting machines called
mobile suits to crush all opposition. The colonies were placed under martial law, and all
communication and cooperation between colonies was prohibited. Even terrestrial nations
sympathetic to Heero Yuy's philosophies, like Europe's pacifist Sanc Kingdom, were crushed
by the Alliance's overwhelming force. Behind the scenes, the Alliance is being
manipulated by the Romefeller Foundation, the powerful industrial combine that develops
and manufactures its mobile suits. The Alliance's elite mobile suit corps, the
"Specials," is trained and staffed by the Romefeller Foundation. In fact, the
Specials are nothing but a front for OZ, a Romefeller subsidiary which has been recast as
a secret society. Answerable only to the Romefeller Foundation, OZ has infiltrated the
highest levels of the Alliance military. After two decades of oppression, a network
of rebels based in the space colonies decides to strike back at OZ and its puppet
Alliance. Resistance groups at each of the five colony clusters work independently on
their part of Operation Meteor, each retaining the services of one of the scientists who
helped create the first mobile suits. Using the super-strong armor material Gundanium, the
scientists construct advanced mobile suits called "Gundams," entrust them to
five highly-trained, resourceful young pilots, and dispatch them to Earth to wage guerilla
war against the Alliance. Of the five Gundam pilots, the L5 colony cluster's
Chang Wufei, L4's Quatre Raberba Winner, L3's Trowa Barton and L2's Duo Maxwell reach
Earth without incident. But L1's Gundam pilot, a grim youth codenamed Heero Yuy after the
martyred colonial leader, is intercepted by Specials ace pilot Zechs Merquise and forced
to temporarily ditch his Gundam at sea. Staggering ashore, Heero encounters Relena
Darlian, daughter of the Alliance's foreign minister. Heero promises to kill her to
conceal his identity, but it soon becomes clear he can't bring himself to carry out the
threat. Terrified of the unstoppable Gundams, the Alliance generals send
Relena's father to open negotations with the space colonies. Specials leader Treize
Khushrenada is determined to thwart these peace overtures, and dispatches his trusted aide
Lady Une to sabotage the diplomatic mission. Relena's father is assassinated by Lady Une
and, with his dying breath, reveals Relena's true identity - she is Relena Peacecraft,
princess of the Sanc Kingdom that was crushed by the Alliance thirteen years ago. What she
doesn't yet know is that her long-lost brother Milliardo is in fact Specials ace Zechs
Merquise. The Alliance generals meet and decide to make peace with the colonies.
When the Gundam pilots attack the meeting, cunning Treize evacuates the peace-minded
generals in an OZ shuttle, making them irresistible targets. With the Alliance's leaders
slain, OZ discards the "Specials" moniker and seizes power under its own name,
launching Operation Daybreak to wipe out all resistance from the Alliance's terrestrial
forces. The coup serves a more private purpose for Zechs, the erstwhile Milliardo
Peacecraft, as he avenges his father's death by slaying the Alliance general who conquered
the Sanc Kingdom. With Earth under its complete control, OZ readies for the conquest
of the space colonies. For this purpose the Romefeller Foundation has developed unmanned,
computer-controlled mobile suits called "mobile dolls," faster and more lethal
than any human pilot. Ordered to prevent these new weapons from being sent into space, the
Gundam pilots find they've been lured into a trap when Lady Une orders them to surrender
or witness the destruction of defenseless space colonies. Breaking off a duel with Zechs,
Heero defiantly self-destructs his Gundam and buys enough time for Treize to overrule Lady
Une's unsportsmanlike plan. The mobile dolls are delivered on schedule, as Trowa carries
Heero's battered body to safety. Compelled by honor, Zechs rebuilds Heero's ruined
Gundam, then tracks down the wandering Gundam pilot and challenges him to a rematch at a
remote Antarctic base. Zechs' activities do not escape the attention of the Romefeller
Foundation, which dispatches a small army to the Antarctic to eliminate the rogue ace.
Holding off the Foundation's hit squad, Zechs allows Heero and Trowa to escape. The
five Gundam pilots hijack shuttles and launch into space to defend their home colonies.
But OZ uses its dreaded mobile dolls against the Alliance occupation forces, rather than
the colonies themselves. After twenty years of the Alliance's tyranny, the colonies are
easily persuaded to welcome OZ as a liberator. Submitting to OZ's benevolent guidance, the
colonies begin arming themselves - thus funneling more money into the Romefeller
Foundation's coffers - and brand the Gundam pilots who fought on the their behalf as
troublemakers and subversives. Manifesting an unexpected split personality, Lady Une
becomes OZ's saintly emissary to the colonies. In her more familiar persona, she orders
the capture of the five scientists who created the Gundams, and has them brought to OZ's
lunar base to develop new mobile suits under her supervision. Infiltrating OZ's ranks,
Trowa is teamed up with the captured Heero; the pair are put to work as test pilots to
gather data on the new mobile suits. In their first combat foray, Heero and Trowa
intercept Zechs Merquise as he launches into Earth orbit. Claiming to be an ambassador
from the non-existent Sanc Kingdom, Zechs has come to make a goodwill tour of the space
colonies and urge them to reject OZ's militarism. While he begins his diplomatic tour, Duo
and Wufei also attempt to attack OZ's lunar base and are captured in turn. All this is
according to the plan of the five scientists, who have gathered all but one of their
Gundam pilots while secretly using OZ's resources to rebuild Duo's and Wufei's ravaged
Gundams. But one Gundam pilot remains unaccounted for... Quatre has returned to his
family's factory asteroid. Here, he sees his pacifist father's civilian employees pledge
their allegiance to OZ, killing father Winner in the process. Temporarily unhinged by this
traumatic experience, Quatre digs up the blueprints of the ancestor of all the Gundams -
the never-completed, hideously destructive Wing Gundam Zero - and begins a one-man war
against OZ. But the Wing Gundam Zero's brainwave control system turns out to have
mind-warping side-effects. Sliding into madness under the "Zero System"'s
influence, Quatre extrapolates his father's pacifism into a mandate to punish the colonies
for subscribing to OZ's militarism. Lady Une dispatches Heero and Trowa to stop
Quatre's rampage. In the course of the battle, Trowa sacrifices himself to save Heero;
Quatre is shocked back into sanity, and returns with Heero to OZ's lunar base. But while
they were away, the political situation has taken a turn for the bizarre. To protest
the Romefeller Foundation's plans - in particular, its increasing use of mobile dolls,
which he considers dishonorable - Treize resigns his position as OZ's leader. OZ promptly
splits into two factions, one loyal to the Foundation and another following Treize. The
Romefeller faction takes over OZ's lunar base. Lady Une is shot, but not before saving
Duo, Wufei and the five scientists from termination at the Romefeller faction's hands.
Heero and Quatre, finding themselves caught in the middle of OZ's civil war, abandon the
madness-inducing Wing Gundam Zero and flee to Earth. In order to eliminate the
Treize faction, the Romefeller Foundation launches Operation Nova, a massive invasion of
Earth using new mobile dolls based on the work of the five scientists. Zechs attempts to
intercept the Foundation's forces, but he is just one man against legions. On Earth,
Heero and Quatre find their way to the Sanc Kingdom, resurrected under the leadership of
Relena Peacecraft and dedicated to the principle of total pacifism. Accepting Relena's
invitation, they soon find themselves busy fending off the Romefeller Foundation's
incursions. They must also contend with the devious and conflict-loving Dorothy Catalonia,
an "exchange student" from the Romefeller Foundation. Ostensibly there to study
Relena's pacifist philosophies, Dorothy is actually the eyes and ears of her grandfather
Duke Dermail, leader of the Romefeller Foundation. The Foundation concludes
Operation Nova with a massive assault on Treize's headquarters in Luxembourg. Heero
arrives at Luxembourg just as Treize's forces collapse, and the former OZ leader gives him
a dubious gift - the mysterious Gundam Epyon, equipped with its own Zero System.
Meanwhile, in space, the Romefeller faction attempts to lure Zechs to his death by using
the Wing Gundam Zero as bait. The trap fails, instead giving the rebel ace a sorely-needed
hardware upgrade. With the Treize faction defeated, the Romefeller Foundation
turns its attention to the pacifistic Sanc Kingdom. Heero, Quatre and the other defenders
fight fiercely, but Relena surrenders rather than see her kingdom turned to rubble. Heero,
driven to a berserker frenzy by the Gundam Epyon's Zero System, fights on until Zechs
arrives from space, too late to save his family's kingdom from a second conquest. Zechs
and Heero duel each other until they collapse, trade Gundams, then gather their Zero
System-addled wits and fight their way to freedom. Now a captive of the
Romefeller Foundation, Relena receives a surprising offer from Duke Dermail. To legitimize
its conquest, the Foundation plans to declare the establishment of the "World
Nation," and Queen Relena Peacecraft would make an excellent figurehead. Relena
accepts, and then readies her address to the Romefeller Foundation's members. Amazingly,
her appeal to the assembled executives - that, with total power now in their hands, they
can afford to be magnanimous and strive for peace, justice and enlightened coexistence
between Earth and the space colonies - is enthusiastically accepted. The Romefeller
Foundation's members pledge to reject Dermail's empire-building and become good
guys. Just as the Romefeller Foundation dedicates itself to peace and justice,
a new faction enters the fray. Masterminded by the wizened, enigmatic Quinze - the man
behind Operation Meteor - rebellious OZ members and colonial resistance fighters form a
militia group called "White Fang," dedicated to total independence for the space
colonies. In short order White Fang occupies the lunar base, captures its mobile doll
production facilities, and seizes the Foundation's ultimate weapon, the nearly-complete
space fortress Libra. Just as the Romefeller Foundation sought a figurehead,
so too does White Fang. Quinze recruits Zechs Merquise as White Fang's token leader, and
he proves to be just as difficult to control as his sister. In a worldwide broadcast,
Zechs declares that, since Earth and the space colonies can never peacefully coexist, he
will destroy Earth. As Zechs declares his intentions, the Romefeller Foundation's hapless
Duke Dermail, attempting to reassert his leadership by personally leading an offensive to
recapture Libra, is vaporized by White Fang's forces. With the magnitude of
the White Fang threat now apparent, the Romefeller Foundation's members are
panic-stricken. Taking advantage of their abject terror, Treize stages a coup d'etat and
seizes control of the World Nation. The deposed Relena leaves for space with the intention
of talking some sense into her brother. Dorothy follows suit, with quite the opposite
intention. While all this frantic realignment is going on, Quatre and the Sanc
Kingdom's other defenders have returned to space. They discover that Trowa is still alive,
albeit temporarily amnesiac, and convince Duo to join their ranks. Wufei,
meanwhile, has seen his home colony destroyed and launched into a suicidal rampage. In the
depths of his despair he encounters Heero, and the mind-warping effects of the Wing Gundam
Zero's control system actually serve to straighten out his tormented mind and reveal the
solution to the current crisis: Both Treize and Zechs must be eliminated for the sake of
world peace. Soon all five Gundam pilots are gathered at the space fortress Peacemillion,
ready to intervene in the escalating conflict. As Treize begins fighting back
against White Fang, Zechs employs his ultimate weapon, blasting Earth with Libra's
powerful main gun despite Relena's attempted intervention. The Gundam Team attempt to
fight their way through White Fang's legions of mobile dolls to Libra itself, but Zechs
holds them back by adapting the Gundam Epyon's Zero System into a remote control system
through which Dorothy can coordinate mass quantities of mobile dolls. Treize
gathers the entire forces of the World Nation for an all-out assault on Libra. Before
sending his soldiers to their doom, he attempts to resolve the situation by challenging
Zechs to a one-on-one duel, but the no longer honor-obsessed Zechs responds by blasting
him with Libra's main gun. Though Treize is prepared to let Zechs kill him, the comatose
Lady Une awakens just in time to race to the scene and shove Treize out of the way of the
lethal beam. With no other option, Treize orders the World Nation into a hopeless battle
against White Fang's hordes of mobile dolls. As the battle rages, the Gundam
Team's allies physically ram Libra with the space fortress Peacemillion. The collision
destroys Libra's main gun, but since its engines are still intact, Zechs orders Quinze to
set Libra in motion toward Earth and thus create an impact large enough to render the
planet uninhabitable. Breaking into the damaged Libra, the Gundam Team destroy the mobile
doll control system and locate the five scientists. Treize is killed in mortal
combat with Wufei, whereupon Lady Une promptly declares the surrender of the World Nation.
But though the war is over, Zechs is still determined to carry out his threat to destroy
Earth, and Libra's descent continues. Now Zechs has one last loose end to
attend to - his long-delayed showdown with Heero. The two rivals fight on and on
throughout Libra's crumbling innards, while Lady Une has their pointless duel broadcast
worldwide as a case study in the futility of war and hatred. The five
scientists attempt to use Peacemillion's engines to reverse Libra's course. Quinze,
appearing too late to stop them, disappears along with the scientists in the explosion of
Peacemillion's engines. Though the gambit is successful, a large fragment of Libra snaps
off and continues its inexorable descent. Now it's up to Heero. Dealing a
crippling blow to Zechs' Gundam Epyon, he proceeds to the main engine of the remaining
Libra fragment but discovers he's used up all his ammunition. Just as Heero is about to
self-destruct in a desperate attempt to destroy the engine, Zechs appears and takes it out
for him, promising they'll meet again as he's enveloped by the blast. As the falling hulk
enters Earth's atmosphere, Heero recovers the Wing Gundam Zero's mighty rifle and
demolishes the last fragment of Libra with one final, desperate shot. With
Zechs and Treize out of the picture, peace is indeed at hand. Representatives of the space
colonies make peace with the World Nation, establishing the Earth Sphere Unified Nation.
Relena and Lady Une take their places in the new world order and devote their energies to
serving humanity, while the Gundam pilots quietly retire... for now.
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