Patrick Zala is a member of the PLANT Supreme Council and the father of Athrun Zala. He lost his wife in the Bloody Valentine Incident, which led him to blame the Earth Alliance. At a council meeting in Aprilius One, he made it clear to Chairman Siegel Clyne that no Natural should survive; they must be eradicated for the sake of all Coordinators.
Zala's ascension to the position of Chairman of PLANT granted him significant military power, which he utilized during Operation Spitbreak. Officially, the operation aimed to destroy the Alliance's last mass driver at Panama; unofficially, Zala redirected his forces to attack the Alliance headquarters JOSH-A without informing the rest of the PLANT Council. However, Rau secretly leaked information about this attack to the Alliance, leading Blue Cosmos to sacrifice Eurasian forces using the Cyclops system to eliminate half of Zala's attacking force. This resulted in near madness for Zala. Believing the moderates had betrayed him, he ordered their arrest and execution, including killing Siegel Clyne. He became even more enraged when his daughter Lacus allowed Kira Yamato to use the new Freedom suit, whom he presumed to be an Alliance spy. He sent his son, Athrun Zala, after the suit but shot Athrun when he returned empty-handed and refused to divulge the location of the mobile suits Freedom and Justice. Athrun was rescued by members of the Clyne Faction, who stole the Eternal for their escape.
Eventually, news reached the PLANTs about the Alliance's destruction of Boaz using Neutron Jammer Canceller technology. Patrick cursed the Naturals for their barbaric actions. During the Battle of Jachine Due, Zala unveiled GENESIS, a superweapon designed to end the war. The first shot destroyed most of the Alliance fleet, while the second eliminated reinforcements and the lunar base of Ptolemaios. However, Patrick became furious that the Alliance continued fighting and that even ZAFT couldn't stop the Three Ship Alliance from preventing such genocidal actions. He instructed the Jachin staff to target GENESIS on the Atlantic Federation capital, Washington. His actions indicated that Patrick wasn't content with mere conquest but sought to annihilate all Naturals to make Coordinators the "new" mankind. Ray Yuki protested against this plan, warning it would wipe out half of Earth's life and destroy the surface; Patrick responded by shooting him. He justified his troops' actions by stating that their enemy still existed and must be destroyed. When one of his aides pointed out their space forces were still in danger, Patrick declared that all their forces fought for victory. He was then shot by Yuki, who died. Athrun and Cagalli entered the control room to find Patrick's floating body. With his dying breath, he told Athrun to fire GENESIS to create a world for Coordinators. However, Athrun chose not to and detonated the Justice inside the superweapon. Patrick's body was then obliterated by Jachin Due's explosion. Afterwards, Eileen Canaver took over and opened negotiations with the Alliance.
