Earth Federation
Amuro Rey
Bright Noah
Chein Agi
Keyla Su
Astonage Medosso
Haro
Adenauer Paraya

Neo Zeon
Char Aznable
Nanai Miguel
Quess Paraya
Gyunei Gass
Rezun Schneider

Civilian
Hathaway Noah
Mirai Noah
Cheimin Noah
Cameron Bloom
October Saran

In UC 0093, the brief peace is shattered by the reappearance of Char Aznable. Son of spacenoid martyr Zeon zum Daikun, most famous Zeon ace of the One Year War, and charismatic spokesman of the AEUG, Char is loved by the spacenoids and feared by the Earth Federation. Forming his own Neo Zeon movement, Char plans to cripple the corrupt Federation and liberate the spacenoids by bombarding Earth with asteroids. With vast amounts of dust and debris cutting off sunlight, Earth will freeze, forcing humanity to complete its stalled migration to space. As the story begins, Char's fleet is just completing the first phase of his plan...

5th Luna

Char's Neo Zeon forces are moving the asteroid 5th Luna out of Earth orbit, aiming it at the Federation capital in Lhasa, Tibet. The London Bell try to stop the falling asteroid, but they're hopelessly outnumbered, and the Neo Zeons are able to complete the operation and withdraw. Char himself enters the fray to retrieve his top pilot, artificial new type Gyunei Gass, who is being hard-pressed by London Bell ace Amuro Rey.

As 5th Luna plows into Lhasa, the Neo Zeons set a course for their home colony of Sweetwater. The London Bell pursue them, while Amuro makes a side trip to Anaheim Electronics' lunar factory to collect his new mobile suit, the Nu Gundam. Equipped with a psyco-frame - a cockpit-surrounding shell composed of microscopic psycommu circuits - the Nu Gundam will enable Amuro to fight the Neo Zeon newtypes on their own terms.

Decoy Attack

The London Bell summon Amuro back to the fleet as the Neo Zeons launch a sudden attack on their pursuers. Departing the moon with Federation technical officer Chein Agi in tow, Amuro arrives just in time to chase off the enemy. Meanwhile, undetected by the London Bell, Char and his top aides slip away and head for Side 1's Londenion colony.

In the aftermath of the battle the London Bell come across a damaged commercial shuttle, who occupants include Federation official Adenauer Paraya and his alienated daughter Quess. Also aboard is Bright Noah's son Hathaway, who is in the process of falling for the ill-tempered Quess. Adenauer commandeers the London Bell fleet to take him to Londenion.

Londenion

Arriving at Londenion, Adenauer, Char and their accompanying bureaucrats begin secret negotiations. Char offers to make peace, promising to disarm his fleet if the Federation sells him the mobile asteroid Axis (see Z Gundam and Gundam ZZ). Thinking they've secured peace in their time, the Federation representatives happily accept Char's solid-gold down-payment.

The negotiations complete, Char unwinds with a bit of horseback riding. He promptly runs into Amuro, who is babysitting Quess and Hathaway. The two old rivals fall to blows, but when Amuro gets the upper hand, Quess intervenes to protect Char. Gyunei shows up to retrieve Char, and Quess is invited to accompany the Neo Zeons on their return trip to Sweetwater. As luck would have it, it turns out that Quess has great newtype potential, and the Neo Zeons soon begin training her as a mobile suit pilot.

Back at Londenion, Federation treasury official Cameron Bloom meets with Bright and tells him about the deal. Suspecting the worst of Char, Cameron sneaks some museum-piece nuclear weapons into Bright's hands... just in case.

Luna Two

Their paranoia turns out to be justified. The Neo Zeon fleet shows up on schedule at the Federation's Luna Two asteroid base for a formal surrender, but instead bombards the base, wipes out the Federation garrison and captures its stockpile of nuclear weapons. In her first combat experience, Quess destroys the bridge of a Federation ship - as it turns out, the one on which her father Adenauer is standing.

Meanwhile, Char leads a smaller force to claim Axis and begin moving it out of orbit. When his main fleet returns from Luna Two, its captured nuclear weapons will be loaded onto Axis for a little extra kick, and the huge asteroid will be dropped on Earth to complete Char's master plan. This will be the ultimate victory of the spacenoids, as well as Char's final revenge on his old enemy Amuro.

Axis

The London Bell attack Axis with their own nuclear warheads, but Gyunei and Char are able to intercept the missile attacks. The London Bell are forced to withdraw when the main body of Char's fleet arrives from Luna Two. Axis begins its earthward movement, with Char's entire fleet guarding it, and both sides gear up for a decisive final battle. Bright has drawn up a desperate plan; he will lead a small group of men to plant explosives inside the asteroid and blow Axis apart.

Meanwhile, Char's underlings are at odds with each other. Quess has developed a huge crush on Char, while the jealous Gyunei taunts her by telling her about Char's fixation on the dead Lalah Sun. Char attempts to play his pilots against each other, telling Quess that she's made him forget all about Lalah, then assuring Gyunei that he has no interest in Quess.

As if Char's motives weren't murky enough, the London Bell now discover that the Nu Gundam's psyco-frame technology was supplied by Char himself. Is he setting all this up just so that he can duke it out with Amuro one last time, beat his rival and settle the score for Lalah's death? Even Char's own followers are beginning to wonder...

The Final Battle

The London Bell's second assault begins, and Quess intercepts them in the huge mobile armor Alpha Aziel. Amuro manages to drive her off and shoot down Gyunei, then heads toward Axis to disable its engines. Chein swipes a damaged London Bell mobile suit and goes to aid Amuro. Hathaway does likewise and sets out to locate Quess, hoping to talk her out of fighting. Chein interrupts and kills Quess, and is then gunned down by the furious Hathaway.

Amuro finds a Neo Zeon cruiser unloading its nuclear cargo onto the Axis and destroys it. The resulting explosion rocks the Axis, ravaging the Neo Zeon fleet and drawing Char's attention. Amuro and Char begin a running duel, which Amuro breaks off to enter Axis and finish readying Bright's explosives. Resuming the fight, Amuro defeats Char and captures his mobile suit's escape pod. The explosives detonate and Axis breaks in half, but Char smugly points out that one of the two halves will still fall on Earth and trigger the new Ice Age.

Conclusion

Wedging the gloating Char's escape pod into the asteroid fragment, Amuro vainly attempts to push the falling rock away from Earth. Dozens of mobile suits join in - London bell, Federal Forces and even Neo Zeon - but Amuro pushes them away with sheer psychic force, lest they burn up as they enter the atmosphere.

To their last breath, Amuro and Char continue to argue. Amuro accuses his foe of being an arrogant elitist, while Char mocks Amuro's faith in humanity; Amuro accuses Char of turning Quess into a killing machine, and Char in turn blames him for the tragic death of Lalah. The two rivals are enveloped in the glow from their psyco-frames, a glow which envelops the entire asteroid and slowly, but surely, deflects it...

Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Gundam 0083: Last Blitz of Zeon, Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Gundam W: Endless Waltz are copyright Sotsu Agency and Sunrise. V Gundam, G Gundam, Gundam W, and Gundam X are copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and TV Asahi.