Cagalli tries to prevent her country from joining the Earth Alliance but the Orb council, especially the Seiran family, is against her wish to stay neutral. In the PLANTs, Athrun meets Yzak and Dearka and remembers the past while ZAFT prepares to send troops to Earth. The Minerva is warned by Andrew Waltfeld that they should leave Orb at once, because the country will ally itself with the Earth Alliance soon.