Gundam Unicorn: Narrative of Truth

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Unicorn, Gundam Narrative, or the Gundam franchise. Chase Lee, Antares, and Johann Revil are among my OCs. Seph Matthews, Tina Hendricks, Dr. Lombardi, and Dr. Ming belong to Titanic X.

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Magallanica, Side 3, Republic of Zeon

Now things were getting serious. Mineva was completely silent, not knowing whether to believe these two strangers making claims about her family history. But... they seemed to be truthful and sincere.

Riddhe however, was the first to voice his disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me!" he blurted, "what dealings could any of my family have with such a twisted and demented brood of people!?"

Banagher shot a disapproving glare at Riddhe."Riddhe!" Banagher called out his friend and wingman, thinking of the kinder and younger Zabi in the room. However, Riddhe was too caught in the drama of the revelation.

"This has got to be some kind of a joke!" Riddhe shot back.

Darcia, the former Zeon prime minister, shook his head. "You'd wish it were," he muttered, "but it is true."

Riddhe's eyes went wide at hearing this. "Just... How can it be true...?" he whispered.

Darcia then produced a flash drive. "Take a look at this and see for yourself," he said.

Ford chimed in. "If you won't believe our words alone," he said as he looked intently at the Zeon princess and her two elite pilots, "then maybe the documents in this drive will prove it."

Mineva pursed her lips, then took the drive. "If this proves your claim, then there is more to this than we know."

"I'm afraid so, your Highness," Darcia said with a bow. Otto and Zinnerman stared at the former prime minister. The group wasn't sure of what to make of this. The only way now, it seemed, was to verify their claim by looking at the flash drive.

Mineva then looked to Zinnerman. "Keep an eye on them and make sure they stay close while we look at this," she ordered.

"Of course," Zinnerman affirmed as he got up from his seat. "Come with me," he told the two newcomers. The two men followed him as he started to exit the room.

"Captain Otto," Mineva asked, "can we have our guards and mobile suits inspect Magallanica for other entry points? I want to know how these two got past our defenses, and no more surprises."

Otto nodded. "I'll get right on it," he said. With that, he stood and exited the room.

Mineva was now alone with her boyfriend and her one-time suitor.

"Mineva?" Banagher asked.

"What now?" Riddhe asked with a weary expression.

"We see whether those two were telling the truth," Mineva said as she held up the drive to her computer. Banagher and Riddhe stood to her sides as she sat down at her seat and brought up the large monitor. The Princess proceeded to put the drive into the USB port on her computer. As the USB uploaded, the screen showed a series of files, each neatly organized and in order.

Riddhe could not help but hum in approval.

Mineva scanned over them before her eyes landed on one labeled 'Zabi Family'. She then clicked on the folder. Up came several documents, each one labeled accordingly. There was one starred brightly in particular. It read 'Heinrich Zabi'.

"Heinrich?" Banagher muttered. He never heard of this particular Zabi in his history classes. Mineva brought up the document, and her eyes widened.

'How foolish I was,' the letter read, 'we were fools. Both of us. We thought the world would be better. We thought that it would bring about peace. Our goal was not to instigate a forced exodus. No. It was different. We sought to give people in space a chance. But those at the top... the real enemy... they had different ideas. Different goals. And they took our dream... and twisted it for their own selfish gain. 'In our naivety, we formed the Federation in hopes of unifying the world's most powerful nations to accelerate the recovery from the last series of global conflicts and chaos. Little did the both of us realize how much power we had given to cynical and tyrannical men who exploited our ideals to form a global elite hierarchy without a powerful rival nation to check it.'

'When we discovered the truth, it was too late for my old friend. He died due to the selfish actions of his son, who was an agent for the global elite. And in my shame, I tried to act, but was made an accomplice in his murder. I was framed and exiled, cast out and ordered to never return. I fled to Side 3, where my family set up shop. But... I had no idea what was to come... I hoped to rally the Sides to independence, to check their ambitions. But... it was all for nothing...'

'The people who financed and backed Marcenas and my Earth Federation initiative posed as humanitarians and philanthropists, tongues laced with platitudes and praise for humanistic values and global brotherhood. Yet as my friend became the first Prime Minister and I his Minister of Colony Development, they showed their true colors: tyrants and manipulators, who while enabling our rise to positions of power, at the same time bankrolled the very dictators, bureaucrats, rogues, and militants that threw our world into chaos to pave the way for our Federation. They promised us responsibility, power, and wealth to reshape the world, but it was all with strings attached. We were nothing but pawns to cover for the greed and cynicism of these elites... these Noblesse...' 'We has been played. So my friend came up with the idea to give the colonies real power. Power that they feared. He put it into the charter, hoping that it would be seen as legal, and for a moment, it seemed as if it would work. But unbeknownst to us, we had been observed, and thus, the terrorist attack happened. The original charter was lost, and it was altered to fit the Noblesse agenda. The colonies were seen as inferior, and this became the backbone of their policies... to keep those cast out and later born in space as a political and economic underclass they could abuse and use. The Earth became something to be worshipped, as they oppressed those deemed undesirable and sinful against the Earth.'

'My family, the Zabis, and the Marcenas family are now cursed with the knowledge that we helped to bring about this oppression and tragedy. In toppling the nations and empires of old out of misguided optimism for global governance, we gave birth to an even more sinister form of empire and power extending into the cosmos.' 'So it is my goal now to create a nation of colonies to stand against them. Even if I shall fail to recognize justice in this time, others shall rise to challenge the stagnant and oppressive vassal system the Noblesse maintain through their Federation cronies. They shall rue the future where the people rediscover their liberty and independence in the reaches of space, as did the empires of the Enlightenment Ages when their settlers forged their destinies in the Western Hemisphere and threw off their chains. May God fill the future pioneers with swift and terrific resolve against this Second Babylon, and grant them blessings untold of in the stars beyond that they may liberate our home planet of this globalist scourge!'

Mineva's eyes were wide in shock. So those two men had been telling the truth...!

"What is this?" Riddhe questioned, "and who on earth is Heinrich?" Mineva scanned the files again, and her gaze landed on a newspaper article. She clicked on it. It was dated just the day after the Laplace Incident in UC 0001... 'Colony Development Minister Accused of Assassinating Federation Prime Minister.'

"This...What is this?" Riddhe repeated, reading over the article. As he read it over, it detailed how the influential Federation minister of the Zabi family was Ricardo Marcenas' closest ally until the day Laplace was destroyed. "So that's who he was..." the former Banshee pilot murmured.

Mineva herself was digesting the news of who her ancestor was. "He was once friends with Ricardo..." she murmured. On top of that, one of the founding members of the very government her immediate family would later seek to overthrow.

Mineva scanned through the article in disbelief. The details were extensive, with Heinrich's complete background, the trials he was subjected to, and his exile into space.

Her eyes drifted to another file, this time labeled "Meeting timestamp." She clicked on it, and up came something downright disturbing. It was a list of minutes detailing a meeting between Ricardo's son George... and a group of unknown individuals. However, the names of those people were missing, as well as the majority of the text. Some parts looked like they had been filled in by hand, in very detailed writing. Attached to the bottom was an addendum. "I could not find the complete details, as many of them were erased. However, some things I was able to fill in and piece together based on the events that have transpired thus far. I know you can find the rest and put the true story together."

"Mineva..." Banagher muttered as he read it, "what could all this mean?"

"It means there is a deeper conspiracy afoot," the Princess remarked, her eyes narrowing.

Banagher's gaze hardened in realization. "We were foolish..."

Riddhe sensed what Banagher meant and nodded. "We threw in the towel too soon..."

Mineva closed out of the main folder before she brought up another one, this time labeled 'Marcenas Family'. The folder was loaded with documents.

Riddhe was now hooked on.

Mineva scanned through the documents, this time picking one that read 'Ricardo's Will'. "A will?" She looked to the Marcenas heir in the room.

Riddhe's eyes were locked onto it as he reached out to touch the screen. "Click it..." he whispered.

Mineva hesitated, but then did as he asked. Up it came.

'To those who come after me,

I am sorry to say that we have been played. Our ambitions and drive were used against us. In our foolish haste to work alongside the richest of the rich to finance colonization of space, we had no idea they were only seeking to further enrich themselves and deprive the colonists and other inhabitants of their free rights. If this has come to pass, then I can only fear the worst. The hypothetical race of space-adapted humans, those with enhanced perception, will be the one hope we have left... to break down everything they have worked so hard to build up for themselves...

If God willing that He should bend possibility in favor of the oppressed in space... the Noblesse shall see their best laid plans scattered into the dust of space.

May this will guide our hopes to the true future we all seek.'

Riddhe's head swam with thoughts. The young man looked back at his companions, stunned.

Now Banagher was beginning to understand his great-grandfather's decisions surrounding LaPlace's Box.

"He knew..." Riddhe voiced, "he knew what would happen all along..."

The three were now beginning to understand just how deep things went. It was clearly a conspiracy designed for a sinister purpose. But as to what that purpose was, they needed to know. And the biggest question was... who could they even trust at this rate?

Ra Cailum, Docked at Von Braun EFSF Base...

Aboard the Ra Cailum, things were getting... interesting, to say the least. "What now?" Chase groaned as he marched into the hangar.

"I can't believe he managed to get out of the cradle again!" a technician grumped as he eyed the restraints, which had, much to Chase's relief, not been torn off their framework, but looked like they had been forced open instead. "How did that kid do it?! And without anyone noticing to boot?!"

Chase then glared at the active Dracon.

"Sorry," Seph shrugged as he stood up rather relaxed, "I thought I needed to move my servos... and the locks just came undone." He flexed his wings a few times, obviously relishing in being able to get them moved a bit.

"How? You don't even have the codes for the cradle," Chase pointed out.

Seph looked down. "Uh...I..." He pressed two fingers together. "I just was experimenting..." he squeaked.

"It had better not be what I think," Chase tapped his foot, arms crossed. The Gundam flinched. Chase turned to the Dracon technician. "Did anyone see how it happened?"

Tina looked up from where she sat beside the monitor. "I did," she remarked.

"Hendricks?" Chase prompted.

Tina gestured to the monitor. "Somehow he managed to use the Dracon's wireless connection to crack the code," she mentioned. The screen displayed the code right there, flashing.

"Hmm..." Chase mused, "a result of the psycommu?"

Tina shrugged. "Maybe," she said.

Chase then looked around. "Where is Dr. Lombardi?" he asked.

"He's off trying to analyze what happened," Tina told him, pointing to where the engineer sat, looking at the data on a laptop. The Londo Bell commander then walked over to the doctor next to the cradle.

"That kid is a fast learner," Dr. Lombardi remarked. "He already figured out how to use the ECM..."

"What did you say?" Chase chimed in, surprising Lombardi.

"I said he already figured out how to use the ECM," the man said. "He's a fast learner."

"The psycommu?" Chase then looked at the sentient Unicorn unit. Seph glanced back, giving a small nod.

Lombardi glanced to Chase. "I can only theorize as to that being the case," he explained. "After all, this has never happened before, so there's still so much we're learning."

Chase pursed his lips. He was NOT keen on Seph going through random systems with electronic warfare capabilities willy-nilly. He turned to the dark colored Gundam as he stood there, looking like a kid who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Look, I didn't even know I could do that," Seph defended.

Chase folded his arms as he stood before the Gundam. "That may be, but you should not be going through your own systems willy-nilly!" he scolded.

"Remember what happened the last time you nearly lost control," Chase reminded, "and it's even more imperative that you stay cool while we are here on base." Seph winced at the memory.

Chase then turned back to Lombardi. "Doctor, care to give me a more complete rundown on the psycommu and the ECM? I need to know more about what we're dealing with here."

Lombardi nodded. "Right away," he said. The doctor brought up the schematics. "The psycommu, as you know, is designed to function with the power of human brainwaves. But since the kid's mind is within the Gundam itself, it appears that the system is more or less starting to affect other systems like they were a part of his body already. The ECM is one such system," Lombardi explained.

"Similar to what the Unicorn could do with funnels?" Chase referred to reports concerning the prime unit's battle with the 'Quad-Wing' around Palau.

"Yes," the engineer remarked.

"This thing's a real monster in terms of its weapons suite," the Ra Cailum hangar crew chief remarked, "if anyone else got their hands on Ensign Kyle and his unit... who knows what havoc they could wreak?" Seph shifted a bit nervously at that comment.

"If that's the case," Chase remarked, "then we'll have to nip this in the bud."

"I take it you have a plan, then?" Lombardi asked.

"We'll need to expand Seph's ability to control more of his systems consciously," Chase said, "let's get him hooked back up here so we can assist him." He looked to Tina. "Hendricks, can you bring him back here?"

Tina nodded. "Sure." She turned to the Gundam. "Seph, we need you back in the cradle for a few minutes." The winged Gundam flinched, but did as he was asked.

"Lombardi," Chase prompted, "can you assist Seph with some programs to better control his weapons systems more consciously?"

The engineer nodded. "Yes. I can."

Seph jerked his helm to Chase in confusion. "Wait, what?!"

"Seph, you have to trust us," the Londo Bell veteran said, "we can't have your weapons going off at random like this."

The Gundam shivered at the implications. "O-Okay..." he whispered. "I-I'll trust you."

Tina smiled up at Seph to reassure him. "This will help you in the long run," she told him. Her hand landed on his shoulder guard, and he looked to her, his visor glowing faintly. The mere sensation of her hand on his frame made him shiver a bit, and he relaxed. "Okay. I'll do it," he said.

Seph walked back towards the crib and steadied himself into it.

The cradle gantries swung back into position over his frame, and he had to keep from flinching.

Chase nodded in approval, but something in the back of his mind to him that there was still the possibility of something going awry. He decided to pick up the intercom phone on the console, and dialed in the bridge. "Bridge, connect me to Captain Bright," Chase requested. As Bright was meeting again with Revil, Chase also figured that Revil would hear this too.

The connection to the captain was established a few minutes later. "Captain Bright," Chase said.

"Ah. Commander Lee. Care to explain why you're calling me?" Bright asked. "Did the kid get into some trouble again?"

"Not really, sir," Chase decided to give Seph a break, "but I'm giving you and the Colonel a heads up that we are conducting another systems test in-hangar with his MS. I'm letting you both know as a precaution."

"Understood, and thank you for the heads up," Bright said. "Just make sure he doesn't have another near meltdown incident."

"I'll make darn sure of it," Chase reassured. The young commander hung up. With that, he turned to face the team as they gathered around Seph. "Hope this works Lombardi."

The doctor nodded. "You are not the only one." He then faced the Gundam. "You ready Seph?"

Seph nodded, although his wings twitched with worry. "I-I guess so," he squeaked.

'Here we go...' Chase thought.

"Let's try with something simple. Try and activate your psychoframe, but remember to try and keep it under control," Lombardi instructed.

The Gundam nodded, feeling worry fluttering in his chest. Seph mentally focused on accessing his psychoframe functions. His optics dimmed a shade, and then something happened. The psychoframe lit up a purple hue under the armor. His armor began to shift and open, his frame seeming to grow in height and bulk up a bit. His helm also changed, his faceguard withdrawing into his helmet and his V-fin opening to reveal his true Gundam features. The cradle strained a bit from the change in proportions, but it held.

Chase watched the whole thing apprehensively. Within mere moments, Seph's frame was in Destroy Mode.

"Doctor?" Tina questioned in a concerned tone.

"So far things are looking good," Dr. Lombardi assured her. "He seems to be calmed down..."

"Seph, how are you feeling?" Chase asked.

The Gundam looked up, shifting a bit in his cradle. "I..." He paused, hearing the changes to his voice. "This is so weird..." he muttered. "Why's my voice so different in this mode?" Chase shrugged in response.

The Gundam turned his head, looking at his frame, slowly flexing a hand. "Wow... So this is what it's like..." he murmured in awe. Seph never really took time to appreciate the Dracon's function and design. But now, he could. He flexed his hands a bit, feeling the sheer power as it surged through him. "Man... This power is amazing!" he breathed. He arched his back a bit in the cradle, tilting his head back a bit.

"Be careful, Seph," Dr. Lombardi warned, "that's still a lot of power at normal operating levels, we don't know-"

"I feel in control!" Seph said as he got carried away, increasing his output. However, that's when things went... awry...

Warning alarms went off on the cradle computer. "What's happening!?" Chase had really bad vibes now.

Tina's eyes landed on the alarms, and her eyes widened. "Oh no...!" she muttered. "He activated the jammers!"

"Jammers!? Shoot," Chase turned towards the glowing Dracon, "Seph, shut it down!"

The Gundam didn't answer. He was too drawn in by the power he was feeling. He clenched his fists, feeling the power coursing over his frame before something tapped his shoulder guard. He looked to the person who had rapped her hand on him and his optics flickered in surprise at seeing Tina with concern on her face. "Seph, shut it down!" she repeated.

Seph was surprised at her request, but upon hearing the alarms and seeing panic on the faces of the technicians, he grasped the situation immediately and forced the psychoframe to shut down, converting him back into his base Unicorn Mode.

However, the lights suddenly went out.

"What the heck?!" one of the technicians blurted. Seph looked around. "Uh... oops..."

"What's going on, Lombardi?" Chase forced himself to keep calm, though the strain in his voice did betray his shock.

"It appears that the jammers on the Dracon are far more powerful than anticipated," the engineer explained, straining his eyes to try and see in the dark.

One of the hangar guards tried one of the intercoms, but got nothing. "We've lost communications! All systems are down!"

'Not good...' Chase thought. He then asked, "what about our life support systems!?"

"The life support is operational, but it's running on emergency backup power," the guard replied.

"I-I didn't mean to do this!" Seph squeaked.

"Nice going kid," the crew chief was irate.

"Enough!" Tina barked. "He's sorry about this, and as it stands we have to get the ship back up and running."

"She's right," Chase concurred, "we need someone to get word down to the reactor room and get the power for this ship back on at least. Let's do this people!"

"Yes, sir!" came the reply. Then Chase turned back to Seph. Although the room was dark, he could see the way the Gundam was shivering and his optics glowed beneath his face guard.

Chase thought to himself, 'I just hope this ship was the only casualty...' Sadly, he was wrong...

Revil's Office, two minutes before...

Colonel Joseph Revil glanced to Bright. "So the kid's undergoing more training," he mused, having been informed by Bright.

"That's what Commander Lee told me," Bright said as he got off his com.

Joseph nodded. "I see. That's good, then."

Bright exhaled as he sat down with the young Revil. "So this mysterious gold mobile suit everyone's been talking about is Unit 3 of the Unicorn series?" Bright continued the initially shocking discussion over Joseph's source revealing the mystery unit that had been perplexing the entire Earth Sphere.

Revil nodded. "Yes."

The captain sighed. "I can't believe there's a third one out there."

"There is, and you'll have to find it and fast," Colonel Revil said, "while the military is trying to keep the rest of us in the dark, I was able to gleam information regarding the secret dispatch of the Army Special Forces to capture the Phenex. I guess they don't want Londo Bell in on this."

Bright pursed his lips. "I see..." Already he was getting a bad feeling in his gut.

"I'm guessing that after the stunt you've pulled in storming Cheyenne," Revil deduced, "the Federation has even less reason to trust you. You've made yourself known as a wildcard, Bright." Bright did remember that. But given the situation, what other choice did he have?

"If I may be frank," Revil added, "it's a miracle that you haven't been imprisoned or worse, given how you seem to end up in these sorts of positions."

Bright nodded. "Yes. But however the cause, I'm grateful for that."

Revil smiled at that, but then resumed his serious talk. "I must warn you though," Revil said as he poured some tea, "whatever happens next will not be like anything you've had to do, whether it was the AEUG or being independent as Londo Bell." He then offered the cup to Bright. "You're about to go against the chief conspirators themselves. They're out to get all the Unicorns for themselves, and they will absolutely show no mercy to those who know the truth." The Londo Bell captain accepted the cup.

Bright's mind reflected back on the Unicorn they had in their possession. "I'm well aware, seeing as how we have one in our hands already," he said seriously. "And seeing as how it has a human's mind within it..." He grimaced a bit at the implications.

"But first off, the moment you set sail," Revil indicated, "you must go to Side 3. If my source and mentor is right, the Noblesse and Monaghan are about to make their move to seize the Unicorn and Banshee for themselves. They'll also eliminate their riders and the Princess in the process."

Bright's eyes narrowed. "I'll make sure they're unharmed," he stated.

"But... if we do recapture all Unicorn units," Bright inquired, "what next? I doubt the Noblesse will allow them to go so easily."

Revil sipped his tea as he focused on what he was going to say next. "There's something else you must know," he began.

However... the lights suddenly went out. The two men looked up, surprised. "What the heck just happened?" Bright asked as he pulled out a flashlight and turned it on.

Revil went to try the desktop. Nothing happened. "Power's out."

"What do you think caused it?" Bright inquired.

Revil had no answer, but looked outside of the window to see a shocking sight. Outside, he saw as several lights across the lunar city started to flick out. What was even scarier was that several ships and shuttles, even Federation warships started to drift aimlessly as their thrusters lost power. Escort mobile suits around the warships were nothing more than rag dolls as they floated aimlessly. The whole section of the city that included the military base they were in was without power. Some of the ships that were too close to the lunar surface drifted for a while, before running aground on the rocky surface. Others distubringly scrapped against one another, with no control.

Bright came over as well, and his eyes widened in horror. A Salamis-class was drifting closer to the window... on a collision course.

"Let's get out of here," Bright said as he rushed towards the fire exit. Revil grabbed his secure tablet with all its important files and rushed towards the fire exit with Bright. The fire exit was, like every other door in the city, equipped with a manual open handle so that meant it could be opened in the case of an emergency such as this. The two officers scrambled down the stairs, trying to get down before the Salamis completely demolished the upper part of the building. They barely managed to make it out of the stairwell and seal it just before a harsh rumbling and explosive boom signaled the Salamis ripping through the upper floors. Bright and Revil stumbled from the impact. "Too close," Revil sighed.

The two glanced up at the stairwell's door, unsure of how well it would hold.

"What the heck happened?" Bright mused openly.

The answer was clear to Revil however. "The Dracon... Ensign Ray must have triggered its Psycommu ECM." And that was worrisome.

"Psycommu ECM? You're saying the Dracon can do that?" Bright did not like that.

Revil looked to the captain. "The Dracon has a monster of an ECM suite... it can disable all non-Unicorn units and electronics within a 500-km radius."

Bright's eyes went wide. "Are you serious," he breathed out.

"That must have been the test your mobile suit commander was talking about," Revil deduced, "he probably was unaware of how powerful it is."

Bright gritted his teeth. "Darn..."

Revil pursed his lips... he knew this sort of event would not escape media coverage and the Noblesse's ears. "We have to get out and back to the ship... now."

Bright looked at Revil for a while, before growing serious with a realization. "You could be in trouble," he mused.

"More than that," Revil said, "they'll find a convenient excuse to deal with you too. We should get underway before that happens."

The captain nodded. "Let's go then." The two men then carefully moved throughout the darkened hallways to reach the Ra Cailum.

Magallanica...

Banagher, Mineva, and Riddhe sat together as they met with Darcia Bakharov and his pilot, Ford Romefellow.

"Everything that you have told us is true," Mineva began. "As not even I had expected this to be so deep..."

"Even your grandfather, Degwin, admitted that much," Darcia said.

"Not to mention my great grandfather actually foresaw this coming," Riddhe muttered, still in shock.

"Yes he did," Darcia affirmed, "and both he and Heinrich carried those regrets to their graves... bless their poor souls."

"I'm more concerned what really happened to my ancestor, though," Mineva continued. "What exactly happened, because most of what was shown in the drive's contents has been redacted. And the note that came with it said much has been destroyed."

"Much of the Zabi family libraries and archives were lost during and after the war," Darcia answered, "but he is the reason why the Zabis attempted to build their powerbase in Side 3 after their exile from Earth."

Now she understood what led to the rise of the Principality of Zeon. Not only had the Laplace conspirators killed Ricardo Marcenas and sealed away Laplace's Box, they gave rise to the restless Zabi ambition to overthrow their own creation by persecuting her ancestor. And all this... just for insatiable greed and power. Mineva turned to the two men who had come to see her. "What is your plan now?" she asked.

Ford and Darcia turned to one another. "I believe Mr. Romefellow here can answer that question," Darcia deferred politely.

The pilot nodded. "Yes." Ford leaned forward. "Another part of the reason I'm here is to warn that Magallanica, and all of your crew, are in danger, Princess Mineva," Ford explained.

"..." The princess was silent as she frowned. "I see..."

"What sort of danger?" Banagher asked, though he had some inkling of what it could be. Ford looked Banagher dead in the eyes at this.

"Monaghan Bakharov is making preparations to seize Magallanica," Ford indicated.

Mineva pursed her lips tightly. This was not good, she knew. "I already guessed that much," Mineva clarified.

"So you have to be ready to leave or prepare for the coming seizure," Ford stated.

"You mean escape to Federation airspace," Riddhe deduced, as the Mineva faction had secret arrangements with the Federation.

Ford shook his head. "That's leaping from the frying pan into the fire." Banagher raised an eyebrow.

Darcia then explained, "Monaghan... my very own son, is a Noblesse member, just like the Federation admiralty and the current prime minister of the Federation." Now that was a shocker.

"He has his own ambitions," Darcia added, "but as a member of the Noblesse, he, the Republic of Zeon, and the Federation have a common interest in seeing all of you here disappear, and to take possession of all of your psychoweapons."

Mineva's eyes hardened. "So then we have nowhere to turn to, is that it?" she asked.

"No one... except his boss," Darcia gestured back to Ford.

Ford nodded. "Yes. My boss is someone that can be trusted..." He paused, hesitating before he spoke again. "Because he developed the psychoframe." That was the bombshell right there.

"Developer!?" Riddhe was now wary.

Ford nodded. "But he was the developer of the true psychoframe: The Type Genesis... the very same psychoframe equipped to the Unicorns." The former Federation pilot even glanced Banagher's way. "And he was your great-grandfather's and your father's secret, but closest ally."

Banagher was speechless. Mineva herself found it hard to believe, but then focused on something else. "You said something about the psychoframe being a Type Genesis... what is that?"

Ford's eyes hardened. "The truth is that there are two types of psychoframe. The Type Genesis and then the Type Oblivion. That second one is more powerful, but at a steep cost in that it attracts negative emotions. Type Genesis is the counter to that, and the type that the Noblesse fears, and for good reason," he began. "In short, Type Genesis draws on the power of compassion and love and understanding for its true strength." This was all news for the three powerful Newtypes in the room.

"Two types of psychoframe..." Banagher was horrified.

"Unfortunately, the vast majority of the pyschoweapons in existence, use Type O psychoframes," Darcia added, "the developer of the technology himself has verified this as you probably can see in the drive I gave you." Mineva did recall seeing that.

"He also said that Noblesse intend to either capture or destroy all Type G psychoframes and wipe all traces of the technology to keep it from neutralizing any of their own Type O psychoframes," Darcia added, "the ban on all psychoframe technology they had you agree to was but a cover and a distraction. Sorry to say, Mineva... but you were played for a fool."

Mineva's eyes narrowed. "I see. And you intend to tell me that the truth about the Unicorns will be exposed? That they were only sealed away?" she asked.

Darcia nodded. "Your true battles have only just begun, my Lady..."

Mineva did not like the sound of that. While she could see the point, yet at the same time... she was not about to be simply manipulated into a futile cause... she wanted verification before blind trust. "I need more proof before I am to make my decision," she stated. Just as she said that, her terminal beeped. Her gaze snapped to it and she walked over, pressing the button. "Yes?"

The screen showed Nahel Argama operator Mihiro in the Magallanica operations center. "Lady Mineva."

"Hello, Mihiro," Mineva responded. "What is it that you had to call me about?"

"We've got a situation developing on the Moon."

"What?" Mineva asked.

"I'll send the news feed to you now."

Mineva's terminal beeped and within minutes, the scene came up, and her eyes widened. "Oh my..."

Banagher and Riddhe looked up on the big screen to see absolute pandemonium on live feed from Von Braun from a news ship above the lunar surface.

"...around three forty five this afternoon, an unexplained energy surge struck Von Braun City and left a third of the city without power. Authorities are still trying to find out the source of the surge, as well as get power back online to the city and Federation ships and mobile suits. Casualties are expected to be very high, but estimates are still unknown at this time," the news reporter said. There were several craft that were either adrift in the space above the city, while others crashed-landed. Some of them rammed into parts of the outer city facilities, causing damage.

Mineva was shocked. "What in the world...?"

"What the heck happened?" Riddhe rubbed his head, distressed at the carnage.

"Apparently something caused a massive power outage over a third of the city," Mihiro's voice replied over the video footage. Emergency ships and Federation vessels unaffected by the blackout initiated relief and rescue operations, as they launched MS and shuttles to put out fires, seal off atmospheric breaches, and find survivors from the crashes.

"Do you know what caused it?" Mineva asked.

"It's unclear," Mihiro said, "we're unable to pinpoint the source."

"Try and find it as soon as you can," Mineva said. "We have to know what caused this."

"Commander Haagensen and Flaste are doing their best," Mihiro said.

The Zeon princess nodded. "Thank you," Mineva said, "tell them to be careful."

"Yes, Lady Mineva." Mihiro's voice disappeared as the news feed shut down.

Ford then felt his phone vibrate from inside his pocket. The pilot reached in and pulled it out. The number was one he knew. Confident that his and the other person's scramblers were on, Ford pressed on the messenger app. The screen popped up.

'Made contact?' The text from the other end read.

"Yes," Ford replied via text.

"Massive blackout at Von Braun... detected massive psychowave spike," was the next text.

"I see... Did you identify the source?" Ford typed back.

"The Dracon, located inside the Ra Cailum," the guy on the other end came on.

Ford narrowed his eyes. "Any movement from the enemy?" he asked.

"EFSF is occupied with clean up, but it won't be long before their handlers catch on. Be on alert on your side as well."

"Understood. Will be prepared." Ford cut the communications as he pocketed his phone and looked at the Newtype trio before him. There was a serious expression to Ford's face.

"I take it you learned where the energy surge came from?" Mineva asked.

"Yes... and it's not good for any of us."

"Then where did it come from?" Mineva inquired.

"It seems that the crew aboard Londo Bell's Ra Cailum got their hands on one of my boss' new Unicorn units, and attempted a test with its systems," Ford clarified.

Now Mineva was beginning to understand. "And it went wrong, right?"

Banagher's eyes narrowed a little. "Wasn't it supposed to be illegal to obtain new psychoframes?"

"It was... but this Unicorn model was developed beforehand for the next step in your great-grandfather's plan.," Ford answered.

"Hm?" Banagher cocked an eyebrow.

Darcia narrowed his gaze at his escort. "You do know though, that this Unicorn is now within the belly of the Federation," he reminded, "if the Noblesse discover it , they will most certainly seize it."

Banagher's gaze hardened at the implications. "So then we have to get it back," he mused.

Ford smiled. "I think my boss has that handled... my job here is to help you all here get back on track."

Ra Cailum, Von Braun Base

"What's taking so long," Meran groaned as he entered the ship's reactor control room.

"It's not easy, given how complicated this is," one of the engineers remarked as he shifted on his knees.

"Great..." Meran sighed as he looked around at the reactor crew.

"Hey. At least we're trying our best," a second engineer stated.

"I know... but what the heck was Lee thinking?" Meran thought aloud.

"Heck I should know," the first engineer said. The engineer looked for the circuit breakers to the ship's power grid. He held up his flashlight and swept it around the room. "There they are." He proceeded to make his way towards the circuit breakers. "Let's see how bad it is..." The engineer grasped the cover of the breakers and pried it open. He flashed his light as he set his tools down. "You there," he pointed at a technician, "help me with this."

The woman nodded and scampered over. She grasped the flashlight and held it up for him so he could see the damage.

"How does it look?" Meran called out, expecting some bad news.

The engineer sighed in relief as he looked at the breakers.

"Not too bad," he remarked. "We can easily fix this."

Meran smiled and exhaled at ease. "Get us back online, please."

The engineer nodded and went to work.

Then Meran turned his thoughts back to the Gundam in the hangar bay.

That ECM of his was incredibly powerful... especially in Destroy Mode, he realized.

'Commander Lee... you'd better pray that you keep your job,' the XO earnestly thought with a mixture of exasperation and concern.

Back in the hangar, though, Seph was getting chewed out by Lee for his stunt with the jammers and ECM.

"I can't believe you just blacked out the entire ship," Chase scolded, "we could both get into soup for this, and it's not Bright that we have to worry about!"

"How was I supposed to know I activated the jammers?!" Seph exclaimed.

Chase fumed and exhaled as he composed himself. "Now we've got some serious explaining to do when Bright gets back, if he can get back..."

Seph's wings twitched as he looked away in shame. "I'm no good at this..." he moped. "I can't even control my own psycommu..."

"It just takes time," Tina said gently. "Not everyone can just control their machine right off the bat. I mean, look at Amuro Ray. He couldn't really control his machine, and it was only through experience that he became the ace he was."

Seph looked at her. "So?"

Tina pursed her lips. "What I'm saying is you can do it. It just takes time. When you go into Destroy Mode next time, don't activate the ECM."

Seph managed a nod, but he still felt a bit nervous of the sheer power he held within himself.

Chase looked upon the interaction with a sympathetic and understanding look, thinking of the talks he had with Amuro as his instructor. 'I wish you were here to help, Amuro...' he thought, thinking of how he would deal with young rookies, especially those showing Newtype potential.

Meanwhile in the brig, Seph's friends and colleagues found themselves stuck in darkness.

"Dang... now what?" Martha asked.

"I can't see jack in here," Hunter complained as he could barely even make out the outlines of his own hands.

One of the others chimed in. "I think something caused the ship's power to go out."

"An EMP maybe?" Another suggested.

"I dunno," Martha mused. "Otherwise we'd've felt a tingling."

Hunter scratched his head in frustration, until he felt something in his sleeve. His hand reached for it and he pulled out the small objects. He smirked... he had forgotten about them! "I think I can get us outta here," he said.

"Lock picks? You had them this whole time?" Martha was incredulous.

"Yeah. I forgot about them until now," Hunter remarked as he held up the case. He opened it to reveal the two pieces of wire. Hunter grabbed them and inched closer to the door. He reached around the bars and inserted the wires into the lock. Hunter's eyes narrowed as he started to pick at the lock, which while electronic, had mechanical locking mechanisms as well.

Hunter's fingers worked deftly as he adjusted and angled the picks, trying to spring the mechanism within. "Come on..."

A soft click came seconds later, and he smirked. "Got it!" Hunter then slowly slid the door open. He inched his way out, keeping his eyes and ears open for any guards that came their way to check on the prisoners.

"Finally," Martha sighed as she inched her way out behind him. She stretched her limbs after feeling stiff and locked up for days. Martha finally looked around, groping for any sort of light on her person. She pulled out a small flashlight before flicking it on, covering it with her hand partially.

"Hey guys," one of their teammates waved from behind the bars, "can you get us out?"

Hunter made his way over with the lockpicks with a snicker. "What makes you think I wouldn't?" he joked as he went to work. The lock clicked open.

Slowly, Hunter made his way down the line of cells, opening the locks while Martha kept an eye out for the guards.

"About time to blow this joint." One of the PMCs said as he rubbed his limbs.

Once free, the group gathered near the door, allowing Hunter to pick the locks.

Another teammate looked to Martha. "Martha girl, what's the plan?"

"Once we get out, we make our way to the hangar," Martha said. "This way we can find and bust Seph out as well."

"And just how are we going to do that with an entire ship full of Londo Bell jokers and marines?"

Martha pursed her lips as she tried to think.

Hunter just shook his head. "We'll just have to be as quiet as we can," Hunter remarked, "and hopefully we can beat it before the power comes back on..."

Martha nodded in agreement, "let's not waste time then." The group left the darkened cell block, unaware of the drama they were about to walk into...

End Chapter 8