Archive of Our Own

As the camera pans through the black of space, somberly heroic music began to play, and a theatrical voice echoes out through the darkness...

"And as the trials and tribulations of the Pegasus, Alternia, and Milky Way Galaxies spun their civilizations closer and closer towards unity... an unfortunate situation arose in that there's always one troubling outlier." 

The camera panned through space, coming upon a familiar solar system... Earth's.

"Yes. Earth. That troublesome blue ball that always throws a wrench in everyones plans."

The camera shook suddenly as a massive Wraith Megahive barreled down towards Earth.

"It's always drawing unwanted attention."

The Megahive transformed into the monstrous Wraith Banshee- a mobile suit that glowed with glowing orange lines of Zero Point Energy across its armored frame.

"And it's always causing trouble for the people who just want to live a day in peace."

A massive metallic fist smashed into the Wraith Banshee's face.

The Astro-Delta Megazord stood, interposed between Earth and the Wraith Hive-zord.

"Years ago- many many years ago for some, and yet not but a few short ones for others, depending on the perspective of ones choosing- Earth stood at a crossroads."

The battle fell out of focus as the camera panned down towards the Earth below, showing the reactions of various people gazing upwards.

"The Wraith came to cull Earth of its population for food, using an untested piece of technology to superpower their greatest weapon."

The common citizens gazed on horrified as a massive space faring City-ship suddenly interjected into the battle. 

"Standing defense, the Atlantis Coalition- a gathering of those aforementioned unifying heroic seeming people."

The music cut suddenly as the Banshee exploded- and a shooting star of a megazord head flew off from the explosion.

"They won, of course, but not as strongly as could be hoped. The end result was that the Earth itself was lost within a maze of overlapping dimensions."

As the camera gazed upon the space where Earth was- a golden portal tore open.

"Alas, Earth's problems did not end there. For an even greater foe found the planet in the depths of space and time, and returned them."

With a flare of light, the portal pulled backwards, retrieving Earth from where it had been lost.

"Now possessed by the ghostly armies of the Demigod Gilgamesh, Earth's people became a scourge on the universe- attacking planets across the galaxies without stopping."

A wave of malevolent darkness flowed forth from Earth, spreading across the Milky Way, and then through the gap between galaxies, towards Alternia and Pegasus...

"That is, until a counter force arose to stop them."

A flare of light chimed forth from a planet in Pegasus- and rainbows of energy rocketed out, pushing the waves of darkness back.

"Teams of Heroes pushed back the dark, but it was six in particular who finally brought about Gilgamesh's end."

A rainbow of Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, and Silver rocketed across the universe, and plunged towards Earth.

"Heroes of glimmering potential, whose very shine and sparkles were signs that they were heroes who could change the future."

The light crashed down upon the golden throne of Gilgamesh, and the wave of darkness was shattered like breaking glass.

"You would think that Earth would learn its lesson from there and rebuild as peaceful people, yes?"

As the camera focused on Earth, we see buildings being rebuilt, and rockets being put into space, becoming colonies in orbit near and far.

"You would think that, given everything they had seen, and been put through, Humanity would change something beyond a mere resetting of the calender!"

A digital clock flared- erasing the "Anno Domini" moniker, and replacing it with "Ad Stella" instead.

A zero, turned to a one. Then a two. Then a three, slowly incrementing forwards, and forwards...

Until it stopped on "AD STELLA: 101."

"You would be dead wrong."

The camera cut to black.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM:

CURSES AND WITCHES:

THE WITCH FROM ATLANTIS

In the darkness of a mobile suit cockpit, a single gleaming screen illuminated the visor of the pilot, who announced, "Beginning Permet Call Test."

"Roger," came the reply from over the radio.

"Starting from Layer 10, calling to Layer 30." 

"Callback from Layer 30."

"Calling to Layer 31."

"Callback from Layer 31."

"Calling to Layer 32."

The pilot breathed heavily- this was it. This was the moment of truth.

"Calling to Layer 33."

"...Error, No callback."

"Falling back to Layer 10 and attempting again- calling to Layer 30."

"Callback."

"Calling to 31."

"Callback."

"32."

"Callback."

"33."

"Error, no callback."

With a deep, gripping breath, the pilot requested, "Permit me to raise the Permet Level."

"No, Elnora. That goes against this test."

"If I can just-" the pilot started.

"The test is over. Open the cockpit."

The Mobile Suit powered down, and the cockpit hatch opened, flooding light into the cockpit.

The Pilot took off her helmet- Elnora Samaya glared forth with her blue eyes, framed by sweat matted red hair. "Doctor Cardo, if I could just-!!" Her sharpened wolf ears were slicked backwards in anger.

"No, Elnora," the elderly woman said- cybernetics clinging to her scowling face- almost as if holding it together. "We cannot risk your life at this stage." And then, a kindness broke through, sad, and yet hopeful. "Besides. I wouldn't want you to work overtime, not when your guest is here."

"Huh?" Elnora stepped out of the cockpit, and looked around.

"MAMA!"

A cry from above made Elnora look up- and there, hovering in the space above clad in her own environmental suit, was a young girl with wolf ears of her own. Beyond her skin being somewhat darker in hue and her eyebrows being superbly bushy, inherited from her father, the girl was almost an exact clone of who Elnora had been when she was a child.

"Eri!" Elnora smiled.

"Mama!!!" The little girl kicked free of the railing she'd been clinging to. "Work time's over! Dad's making cake! CAAA~KEEEE!!!"

"He's making a cake? Really?" As Elnora kicked up to meet her daughter, the elderly Dr. Cardo smiled, as did most of the work technicians. "This I have to see!"

Belmeria Winston couldn't help but laugh as the mother caught her daughter, and they giggled to themselves. "Is it your birthday today, Eri?" She called up.

"YEAH!" The girl, one Ericht Samaya, held out her gloved hand, closing her thumb over the palm as she extended her figners. "I'm FOUR today!"

"That's so great, Eri," Dr. Cardo smiled.

"Is Luffy awake yet?" Ericht asked, glancing at the mobile suit before her- a white thing with pink highlights, and a head with twin bunny ear antenna. The eyes were silent, but they gleamed with a faint pink-green reflection of the laboratory around them. 

"Unfortunately, no," Elnora said, looking towards the Mobile Suit. "Lfrith still is asleep."

"Sleepyhead!" Ericht complained. "She needs to wake up and come to my party!"

"Maybe the better metaphor would be she's yet to be born," Dr. Cardo said, considering the Mobile Suit. "After all... she has a lot to live up to as the world's first True Gundam."

The camera pulled outwards, revealing a satellite station built into a floating asteroid somewhere in the dark of space. Several crimson Mobile Suits of a familiar Ruby Lancer type design floated in perimeter guard around it.

A familiar Pegasus-in-chevron logo lay plastered on the side of one of the buildings, alongside a logo featuring an owl's face within a chevron of the same style, indicating to all who claimed rights to the facility Folkvagner.

The camera cut to static, and then resolved, showing a TV broadcast.

"Ochs Earth's near purchase of the Vanadis Institute continues to haunt them as their attempts to apply the GUND-Arm format to their Mobile Suits continues to result in mounting casualties, and growing industrial costs." The newscaster was saying as the camera showed a recorded protest.

Signs reading "NO TO GUNDAM" and "GUNDAM KILLED MY CHILD" could easily be seen among the various international languages on display- echoing the same sentiments in other tongues.

"The Vanadis Institute's head researchers of the GUND-Arm format continue to advise that the adoption of the GUND-Arm system into popular use for Mobile Suits should not be attempted at this time until they approve its safe usage in Mobile Suit Technology." The newscaster continued.

The feed cut with static to another broadcast.

Video of Dr. Cardo standing at a podium, talking to a crowd of reporters from a previous incident can be seen on screen.

A group of five figures seated at a talkshow table were talking openly now, about the clip. A logo reading "THE TRUST TV" rested in the corner- an image of a Goa'uld symbiote curled in place of the S. 

"Look, just because the OWL Corp- and what an obvious front for the Atlantis Coalition by the way- swooped in at the last moment because the Gundams have the- you know- potential to solve their own inability to make Mobile Suits that don't fry the brain of the pilot when they synchronize one on one-" a pale skinned man with a funny haircut was saying, voice booming with clear modulation. "Without that fancy Kiramuh Stone shit getting in the way, I mean." 

"It's been what, a hundred years now since Alternia made the first transforming Mobile Suit?" A white faced woman with stereotypical blond hair laughed- her blue eyes gleamed in defiance of the studio lighting. "You'd think the greyskins would have figured it out by now. Guess they're not so smart, huh?"

"Yeah," the first man said. "Like, just because the Atlantians think Gundams will solve their problems doesn't mean they have a right to swoop in and buy out an entire Earth-sphere born and raised company like the Vanadis Institute, or the Mercury Permet Mines for that matter, and tell us we can't use them for our own advancement when they've got a whole universe to exploit!"

"Yeah," a somewhat pudgy looking fellow with orange-tinted hair remarked, his voice sounding totally human and not at all being hijacked by a parasitic personality. "It's a total sham. We've done perfectly fine without Alternian, Atlantian, Jaffa, or Tok'ra influence on our own for the last ten thousand years!"

"Let's not exaggerate to the point of losing credability now," said the guest speaker, one of the remaining two people, was a well dressed man with brown hair and a bushy beard. His nose had clearly been punched in at one point due to its sharp shape. Many would recognize him as Philip Wittebane, founder and CEO of BELL OS, one of the prominent Mobile Suit Operating Systems on the market. "Earth would not be where it is now if not for Atlantis' repeated interventions. That we are alive to debate this is thanks to them. That much is true and should not be forgotten. Nor should we forget that Atlantis got its start because of an Earth based initiative, the Stargate Program. Without those initial forays from Earth into the greater universe, the universe as a whole would be poorer."

The fifth speaker, a dark haried older woman, snorted. "Of course not," she said, human sounding. 

"So it's hypocritical of them to cut us out!" the first man started.

"I disagree," Philip said. "It's not hypocritical at all. Earth has proven time and time again we cannot meet the very standards we introduced into the universe."

"What do you mean by that?" the first woman asked, eyes flashing with annoyance.

"What I mean is our current divides between Earthian and Spacian," Philip said. "We treat our own people differently based on whether or not they were born on one chunk of rock in space over another. We take offense for being treated like children by the wider community our planet resides in, but we cannot maintain our own house to the order others in the universe do, and we throw a childish fit when we're told we cannot do the things we wish to do- things that would have far reaching consequences for the others."

"Yeah, right," the second woman snorted. "Next you'll be saying we screwed ourselves over somehow!"

"We did," Philip said simply. "When, fifty years ago, we met the conditions to be reintegrated into the wider community and be granted a Stargate again, Earth resoundingly rejected the offer and declared that we would never be installed into the Stargate network again. We've gone down hill since then. Every time the wider community offered aid in some situation we faced since then- need I remind you all of the Drone Wars?- we've resoundingly rejected it like children, and we throw tantrums when told we're being childish- because we are."

The other four hosts seemed all affronted by what Philip Wittebane was saying, to the point the second man said, "I think it's time for a commercial break."

Static buzzed, a click, and the channel changed.

A question poll was onscreen as an unseen woman talked about the results.

"The latest results from the Earthian and Spacian block polls show the growing concerns over the Atlantis Coalition's continued meddling in local affairs as the top issue, and that's ontop of the concerns regarding-"

Static buzzed, a click, and the channel changed again.

"The simple fact is," An archival recording of one Dr. Rodney Mckay played on screen. "You've got a tiny organic body that's now trying to move a massive multi million dollar piece of equipment that's going to be moving as speeds far faster than an organic mind can process on its own. So the solution we came up with was to- uh- share the load, basically." he smiled at the camera. 

"And that works?" the interviewer asked, the camera cutting to face the face of one Emmet Bregman.

"Of course it works," Dr. Mckay said, affronted. "We've been safely fielding Mega-PLA's and Megazords with teams of two or more ever since the first solo flight wound up nearly killing its pilot in the Karfin Outpost battle. If it keeps working, I don't see why it should be changed as a standard."

"But what if there are situations when one person is required to pilot a Machine on their own?" Emmet asked. 

"You mean like with Earth?" Dr. Mckay asked, tone growing a bit cold.

"You said it, not me," Emmet raised his hands in dismissial of blame.

Dr. Mckay just shook his head. "While I think we should totally strive for ensuring that a solo pilot can be 100% safe, we shouldn't break up the tried and true team mechanics. A team piloting a machine can pick up the slack where a single person can't."

The screen cross-faded to an Alternian woman identified as "General Joey Claire," who chuckled bitterly.

"Yeah, this cane?" She held it up and shook it at the camera. "I got this because I burnt out half my DNA trying to power an Ultrazord- solo- during the final fight with Caliborn. He had us in a time stop bubble and the only way to get us moving again was to..." she considered her words for a moment. "To put my soul into the machine, essentially, and power it with my own will. I got us moving, and kept us moving while my team drove us to victory. In the end, putting out that much power nearly killed me. I wouldn't recommend it."

Off screen, Emmet's voice asked, "Do you think this is a problem that will keep happening?"

"If Callie and Dammek can't figure out a way to make it safe for a single person to pilot a massive machine on their own in the next hundred years? I'd take it as a safe bet it's impossible." Joey answered, as the camera cross-faded to a lab where two alternian scientists were working with a room full of floating crystals.

"Kiramei stones are essentially a hyperactive, super morphological, and totally sentient version of the mineral the Stargates are made out of," Dr. Tyzias Entykk said, sipping at a coffee mug. "When turned into 'Mashin' Zords, they're essentially taking on the same mind-load split a second partner takes on."

"What about Kiramei Silver?" Emmet asked. "He pilots his own zord solo."

"Kiramei Silver proves the point that the Mashin could, in reality, form Megazords all on their own without input from a pilot." Tyzias said, raising an eyebrow. "He's basically his own Zord to begin with."

"Then why do they even need partners to pilot them?" Emmet asked.

"Because they're stronger when they work with a partner to help share the load," Tyzias answered. "Look, do we have to keep doing this or can I get back to work helping Callie get these rowdy gem-kids to settle down for a nap?"

The screen cut to black with a click, as Philip Wittebane called out, "Enter."

Into the office of BELL OS's CEO walked one Delling Rembran. "I don't understand why you're insisting we delay signing the Cathedra Treaty."

"No 'Hello, Philip,' or 'How are you, Philip?'" Philip remarked causally. "Just straight to the 'I don't understand's!"

Delling Rembran took the seat across from Philip, and narrowed his eyes. "Gundams need to be stopped."

"No, what need to be stopped is Ochs Earths' attempts at foolishly forcing untested, knock-off GUND-Arm technology before the primary researchers on it have even decided if its possible or not," Philip reminded his friend. "And that is exactly why we wait for a decision to be made. Forcing the issue gains us nothing but more enemies. Enemies the Earth Sphere cannot afford to have."

Delling crossed his arms. "Every star in the sky is our enemy."

Philip snorted. "How many times have we had this argument, Dell?" He stood, and went to his liquer cabinet. "This song and dance grows tiring, you know. You insist we are at war with the universe, and I remind you that we're not taken seriously because of stances like that." He drew out glasses, and a bottle of 2001 'Chateau California Confidance.' With his back turned to Delling, his facial expression turned dark, as he said, with a chipper tone, "And then we argue back and forth over the last hundred years of Earthian History and where it all went wrong, when we all know the truth of the matter is that we continue to stick to a stubborn capitialistic, puritan mindset that keeps us locked on a course of our own design towards destruction." He poured the wine as he said that, and then returned the bottle to the cabinet as he took the two glasses over to the desk. "Let's skip that nonsense and cut to the heart of the issue, shall we?"

"Yes," Delling accepted one as it was offered, and sipped at the drink. "I think if we allow this delay to happen, Atlantis will take the GUND-arm technology, and leave us with nothing."

"And if we ban GUND-Arm technology in its entirity, that same future will happen, Dell," Philip pointed out the obvious, sipping at his drink. "You think too limited in terms of this chess game."

"If we-"

"I'm *Not* finished," Philip stressed. Delling shut up. "If we were to ban this technology, do you really expect any of the Mobile Suit development companies in our sector to stop developing it? No! Of course not. We can't enforce a ban on the entire Universe either. Banning it is a stupid idea, Dell. The Cathedra Treaty as it currently stands is nothing but a pointless facade. I can count on one hand several companies that I know will ignore the ban and work on it in secret anyways, and they'll get away with it because they're too profitable to do anything but get pay away the slap-on-the-wrist fines that are there in the Treaty."

Delling snorted. "I doubt there's that many."

"Peil," Philip raised a finger on his right hand. "Grassley." A second finger. "Jeturk." A third. "Ochs Earth won't give up on their foolishness either," a fourth. 
With each name, Delling flinched, knowing it to be true. "Even so..."

"Even so, there's probably more who'd pursue it regardless! Some no-name comapny like Anaheim or Sony could pick up the tech, develop it under a new name, and skirt the regulations," Phlip said, then took a large swig of his drink, finishing the drink off entirely. He leveled Delling with a firm gaze and said, "The smart move isn't to ban Gundams, Dell. It's to *Regulate* them. As far as we can tell the most obvious issues from Ochs' Knockoffs appear at Permet Score Four and higher. If a solution isn't found at Vanadis, my immediate solution is to build a hard stop in the OS to prevent a linkup beyond Score Three! Make any company that Allows a Gundam to go to Permet Score Four or Higher pay a substantially higher fine so that companies like Jeturk and Grassley and Peil and Ochs *can't* just pay it off like a slap on the wrist."

"And you'd be the key master locking that functionality, I presume?" Delling quirked an eyebrow upwards.

"Unless you'd rather play Dictatorial King to three hundred different child-level mentality Mobile Suit Production Companies?" Philip snorted. "The Cathedra Treaty is a bad move, Delling. If you continue on this course something bad will happen to us all. Never mind the optics of it all."

"The optics?" Delling asked. "I don't understand what you mean by that."

"Let me put it this way, Dell," Philip steeped his hands together into a pyramid, and rested his chin against his thumbs, blocking his mouth from sight. "Right this very moment, if we signed the Cathedra Treaty and put it into effect, what's your first move?"

"We move to secure the Vanadis facility and destroy all Gundams in production," Delling said.

"A facility that is heavily armed and protected in case of outside assault." Philip countered. "What is your move?"

"Bring Anti-Gundam Mobile Suits, and destroy any resisting forces," Delling said.

"Congratulations, Dell, you've just committed a War Crime by assaulting a facility owned by a company incorporated outside of our Solar System, nevermind our Galaxy!" Philip countered. "That war you claim we're already fighting is now at your doorstep because you just made the first move of aggression against a Soverign State's Resources. What's the most likely outcome then?" He pressed on. "That you're hailed as some kind of war hero, or that you're framed as a Terrorist and thrown to the wolves to prevent our entire solar system from being forcibly taken over in retaliation for your act of aggression?"

Delling opened his mouth... then closed it, his teeth clicking against each other. "...I don't have the kind of political power to not be thrown at the wolves, I suppose. Not yet, at least."

"Yes, you start to see now, don't you?" Philip smirked beneath his hands. "The first people to make a move against Vanadis and OWL are the first people to openly declare war on Pegasus and the Atlantis Coalition in over forty years. And you remember what happened to The Neo Lucian Alliance, don't you?"

Delling closed his eyes, and sighed. "I remember."

"Say it," Philip's eyes narrowed.

"It was fast, brutal, and extremely efficient," Delling answered. "The Neo Lucian Alliance's war against Pegasus lasted only a month once they began open hostilities."

"And?" Philip's eyes narrowed. 

"...And the survivors were exiled to an uninhabited world without a Stargate or Naquadria deposits from which to build new space ships," Delling grimaced.

"Exactly," Philip pulled his hands away from his face, and leaned back into his chair, smiling kindly. "You see, Delling, I want only your best interests at heart here. Activating the Cathedra treaty Now? Before Vanadis' deadline is reached? It reeks of childish impatience and a critical lack of understanding about the universe we live in." He offered a hand across the desk, pleadingly with the palm up. "We want to be taken seriously on this galactic stage, don't we? This is how we do that. By showing we're not going to throw a childish tempertantrum the moment we don't get our way."

Delling sighed. "Fine. You've convinced me to accept the delay for now. But I doubt the others will."

"And if they make a foolish move, that's their head on the line, and not yours," Philip shrugged. "Be grateful, and let the fools behead themselves willingly."

"I don't understand," Nadim Samaya said over the secured pont to point long distance broadcast between the Folkvagner Facility and Atlantis. "How can you NOT know whether or not we'll be attacked?"

The Alternian woman on the other end, Atlantis Mayor Civete Ayano-Adalov, just sighed. "Ever since Seer Pyrope's ambassadorial shuttle went missing in Earth Sphere's space five years ago, we've been growing increasingly blinded to the events happening in your neck of the woods. The Seers of Diaspora liken it to the uncertainty that clouded their visions when Gilgamesh's armies rampaged a hundred years ago."

"I'm aware of that," Nadim said, massaging the bridge of his nose. "But what does that mean for your sudden call and saying we should prepare for an assault?"

"It means that as of six minutes ago, the entirety of the Earth Sphere suddenly became a black-out zone," Civete answered. She sighed, closing her crimson speckled cerulean eyes, and looking every bit the descendant of her grandmother, Keiko Ayano, in that moment. "And that applies retroactively, as well. Everything going back the last hundred years has suddenly, without reason, become impossible to see by Psychic means, and the future blackout remains just as perplexing." Her eyes opened, and she said, "But just before this blackout happened, the Seers of Diaspora predicted something major will happen at your facility today. Something that itself was ambiguous, but something important, never the less."

"Was there a prophecy?" Nadim asked.

"May the Daughter of Witches rain hell upon the False Emperor." Civete answered.

"...Witches..." Nadim sighed. "The term people have started using to talk about hypothetical Gundam Pilots."

"Which would put either your daughter, Ericht, or the Lfrith Prototype into the crossfire," Civete said.

"So, in summary, what you're saying is that we're suddenly in the dark, and we should prepare for the worst?" Nadim asked, closing his eyes in contemplation.

"That's the gist of it, yes," Civete nodded.

Nadim opened his eyes. "So why tell me, and not Doctor Cardo?"

"The same reason we only gave You and Elnora the breakthrough Dr. Entykk made, and swore you to secrecy about it," Civete answered.

"The prediction about traitors?" Nadim stared at the screen, frowning. 

"We still haven't been able to perform a proper audit of everyone working in the Institute due to the clouded predictions even before the blackout," Civete said, sighing. "Look, Nadim. I consider you and Elnora my friends and think of little Ericht as a niece, so I've got two things to say from two perspectives. As a leader: Do with this information what you need to do and make the call you think is best. As your friend? Get the Hell out of that facility with the Lfrith as soon as you can."

Nadim nodded. "I'll talk with Elnora, and we'll make a decision together."

"Give me a call when you do," Civete said.

Nadim said, "Of course."

They ended the call, and Nadim walked out into the apartment, decorated with simple, cheap decorations for Ericht's birthday. A small cake sat on the table, four strawberries resting atop it. Real ones, grown from a farm in California, not the cheap, synthetic stuff that Earth's space-based food factories put out.

He took a deep, sobering breath, and exhaled slowly. 

Then, there was a click at the door, and Elnora and Ericht's voices echoed in from outside.

"Gods damn it all," Nadim muttered.

Ericht tapped her hands against the dining room table while her parents talked in the office.

Her cake sat quietly, candles unlit. Her mother's spare arm was on the charging station when it didn't need to be. 

They were trying to be quiet, but she could hear them anyways, in snipits.

"-Taking the Lfrith-"

"-Have to go-"

"-Leaving this place-"

"Without Cardo?"

Ericht slapped her hands on the table and pushed away her chair, pouting.

If the Lfrith was going to get more attention than her on her Birthday, then she was going to give the Lfrith a piece of her mind!!

"So... we're in agreement then?" Nadim asked of his wife.

"Yes," Elnora sighed. "We'll take Ericht, get in the Lfrith, and leave now before things get worse." She locked eyes with her husband. "But I'm telling Cardo this was an order from Atlantis."

"Alright, let's tell Eri then," Nadim said.

The two exited the office, and found the room empty, and the front door open.

"Oh damn it all," Elnora swore.

Philip sighed to himself once Delling finally left his office and closed the door behind him. The clock on the wall toned with the time, just now passing 1800.

"Good help is so hard to manufacture these days," Philip remarked to himself, then pressed a device to his throat, and opened a communication line.

Then, he spoke with Delling Rembran's voice, the device modulating Philip's vocal chords in the moment. "Rajan Zahi, this is Delling."

"Yes, sir," Rajan asked. "Your orders?"

"Cathedra has been signed. The treaty is in effect." Philip smirked as he completed a startling smooth lie. "Begin Operations."

"WAKE UP ALREADY!" Ericht shouted into the darkened room- triggering a light to come on over the Lfrith, highlighting its white and pink armor. "Papa and Mama only care about you!" She swam through space towards the Mobile Suit. "It's supposed to be MY birthday today!"

And then, the cockpit hatch for the Lfrith opened.

Ericht stopped in place, staring. 

There was nobody inside.

"...Are you awake?" Ericht asked, floating towards the hatch.

The cockpit lit up at her presence, and Ericht settled into the seat. As she did, the outside machinery shifted, bringing the control console and control grips forwards from behind the seat, locking them into position.

"If you're awake then why won't you wake up for Mama then!?" Ericht asked.

The control screen infront of her prompted a credential login screen. 

Ericht poked at it, but the screen didn't respond. She frowned, huffed, and took off her gloves before touching the screen again.

This time, a flare of blue lights ran up the screen, and she felt a tingle in her hand. Then, it announced "Your Internal PMET System is Linked."

Ericht had no idea what an internal PMET system was, or why linking it was important, but--

Then, the screen vanished, replaced with a black field, with a blinking white cursor. A curstor that pushed forwards across the screen, forming two words.

[>> I'm Scared]

"You're... scared?" Ericht asked. "Is that why you're not waking for Mama?"

The cursor moved to the next line.

[>> Who is Mama]

"My mother!" Ericht said. "She's the one who was trying to wake you up earlier today." 

[>> Who are you]

"I'm Ericht Samaya," Ericht said. "Everyone calls me Eri though!"

[>> Eri What is a birthday]

Ericht blinked. "You don't know what a birthday is?" She frowned. "A Birthday is the day you're born! You celebrate it every year with a cake and candles!"

[>> What is Born]

"Yeah!" Ericht said, nodding. "Granny said I came from a tube but Mama said I got delivered by a Stork!"

[>> What is a Stork]

"I don't know! Some kind of bird?"

[>> What is a Bird]

"They fly!"

[>> I think I can fly am I a bird]

"No, you're too big to be a bird."

[>> Okay]

[>> What is a Cake]

"A cake is a thing you eat! Mine has strawberries on it!"

[>> What are strawberries]

"You eat them! They're pink and red and kinda round but pointy? They have lots of seeds!"

[>> Sounds weird]

"They're really tasty though!"

[>> What is pink]

"Pink is..." Ericht pulled the stuffed bunny off of her back. "This color!" She smiled. "You're pink too!"

[>> I am pink where]

"Umm... Shoulders and hips and feet?" Ericht let the bunny drift out of her grasp as she pointed to the places on her own body

[>> I am pink]

[>> Pink is a good color]

That was when red lights suddenly clicked on outside in the hangarbay, and alarms began to sound.

[>> What is that]

"It's the emergency alarm?" Ericht's voice grew quiet. "It only happens when something bad happens."

Lfrith immediately closed the cockpit.

"Huh?" Ericht asked. "Hey, why'd you close it for?"

[>> I'm Scared Don't Want To Be Scared]

"It's- it's going to be alright!" Ericht said, trying to keep calm. "It's probably just-"

The facility shook suddenly, and Ericht shrieked as she threw herself backwards into the seat. The wire connector in her spacesuit latched into the Lfrith's receptical in the chairs back.

Lfrith's cockpit screens flared to life around Ericht, showing the outside world as more tremmors and quakes rocked through the facility- and an explosion was set off inside the laboratory the Gundam stood in.

Ericht clung to the control console, and began crying. Around her, Lfrith's own nascent personality panicked as well, engraving every moment into her memory.

Time passed, how long, neither could say for certain in that moment, until Lfrith's cockpit hatch was opened from the outside, and Elnora Samaya stared in surprise at her Daughter's distraught state.

"Eri!" She gasped.

"MAMA!" Ericht reached up and clung to her mother as she entered the cockpit.

Lfrith closed the hatch immediately.

Elnora paid it no mind as she settled into the cockpit, switched her connection to the seat, and got Ericht on her lap. "Alright let's get Lfrith working and-"

She stopped as the cockpit lit up around her- audio and video feeds from around the facility and beyond showing on the screens as Lfrith hacked into everything to gain a sense of understanding.

"...A callback from Layer 33?" Elnora asked. "But how-?" And then she stopped, seeing the screen infront of her showing a name on the user login screen.

ERICHT SAMAYA.

Elnora's heart raced, horror racing through her mind. 'No- No, this is-! She can't have--!'

"Mama?" Ericht said. "She's was scared, that's why she didn't wake up."

Elnora didn't hear it, even as words wrote on the screen infront of her.

[>> I'm sorry]

"Mama?" Ericht asked.

Elnora's panic wasn't helped as she heard a broadcast from the soldiers, announcing that Dr. Cardo Nabo had been killed.

Another tremor, another explosion outside.

"She's scared too!" Ericht said. "We need to get out of here!"

[>> Run Away]

"YES!" Ericht shouted.

And so Lfrith Moved as the room around them began to explode further. She tore free from the hangar restraints, and then engaged the thrusters in her backpack, and they fled the facility as a hole exploded in the ceiling above them, venting atmosphere into space.

And they saw a massacre.

The Atlantis owned Mobile Suits guarding the facility were being decimated by a squad of unknown suits and an Ace Unit in white and purple with butterfly wings on its back. Twin blades of green sprung forth from its wrist gauntlets...

They could hear the pilots scream. And then... they were silent. Then, the attacking forces turned towards the Lfrith.

Lfrith saw this happen, and the shell units on her head and chest glowed crimson for a moment.

[>>Eri what do we do]

Ericht didn't reply verbally, however, her face beginning to glow blue as she thought, [Block it!]

It was only as the Gundbits on the backpack detached and began to activate that Elnora whispered, "No...!"

The bits formed into a shield as the enemy units opened fire, their blue beams splashing harmlessly against a projected energy shield projected from the shield itself.

Ericht pointed at the incoming suits. "One, Two, Three!"

[>> Lock on]

The shield split apart into bits, and launched forwards, spearing out blue beams from their emitters that blasted apart several of the enemy suits in mere moments.

Two of the bits flew back to the Lfrith as one of the enemies survived, and they combined with the beam rifle as the Lfrith took aim...

[>> LOCK ON]

And fired a devastatingly overpowered beam that pierced through the enemy.

Elnora watched as her daughter became a murderer thrice fold within a minute.

And then in came the ace unit, firing beams at them- the shield was reformed, blocking the attack as the Lfrith took aim at the enemy ace, firing back, but it dodged.

It closed in fast, and Lfrith engaged the beam rifle's blade mode- blocking a sword strike.

The beam and shield blocked the twin blades, as the unknown unit's alien face gazed at the Lfrith's...

And Elnora recognized the manufacturer of that suit.

"Beguir-Beu?" She whispered, startled. And then- "Antidote!" She shrieked.

The non-kinetic pods on the Beguir-Beu's wings detacted, and pulsed with bright blue light that--

PCHBOOOM!

--Failed to do anything as a beam from the far-left of the battle pierced through one, destroying it and disrupting the system.

"GET AWAY FROM MY WIFE!" Nadim shouted, in the LF-01.

The Beguir-Beu was rammed off of the Lfrith by the LF-01, and carried away from that battle.

"Nadim!" / "Papa!" 

"You have to run, Elnora!" Nadim radioed over to the Lfrith. 

"I can't-!" Elnora started to cry.

"Papa...?" Ericht asked, unsure of what to do...

The Lfrith, however...

[>> Four]

She unleashed the GundBits as a shield, and rammed them forwards.

They flew into the gap between Nadim's LF-01 and the Beguir-Beu, and then split apart, forcing the two Units apart.

The ones pinning to the Beguir-Beu then unleashed beam blasts point blank into the Beguir-Beu's cockpit, and core reactor.

The explosion that ensued gave the LF-01 time to get to the Lfrith.

[>> Run Together] 

"We'll run together!" Elnora declared, and then took firm control of the Lfrith.

The two Gundams took off into space, heading for an emergency rendezvous point, with plans to escape the system.

They weren't pursued. A confusing thought, until half an hour of flying later, they saw the facility they'd worked at and called home erupt into a burning light of flames.

Philip Wittebane picked up his office phone as a familiar caller ID showed up on its screen. "Yes, Delling?" He asked, causally even as he smiled and tilted his head to hold the phone against his ear with his shoulder.

"Folkvagner was assaulted." Delling reported. "You were right. Someone was foolish enough to attack them... and tried to frame me in the process."

"That's concerning," Philip said, sounding concerned, even as he picked up an apple off of his desk and a jagged, Z-wave angled knife to peel it with. "You've already been cleared if you're making this call, though, I take it?"

"Not yet," Delling said. "They said they'd let me go if someone could alibi my where-abouts at the time the fraudulent call was made. That would be you, when I was in your office today."

"Ah, yes," Philip hummed, finishing the first row and starting on the next row down. "What time did they say that call was made?"

"1800," Delling said. "I was in your office until then. I couldn't have made that call."

"1800 you say?" Philip made a sad sound. "I'm sorry, Dell, but I can't verify that fact."

"What do you mean?" Delling asked.

"You see, you left just before my office clock rung 1800," Philip answered. "If you were to have made a call right after you left here... I'm not much of any use to you in securing your freedom." A pause, and Philip had to resist the urge to laugh as he carved off another ring from the apple. "In fact, I'd dare say I'm the worst character witness you could ask for, considering I'd just finished telling you how dumb of an idea it would be to attack them."

"...That... is very true," Delling whispered. "Oh, god, Philip. What am I going to do?"

"I'd start by getting yourself a very good lawyer," Philip said. "And then..." he closed his eyes and smiled as he cut off the entire spiraling ring of apple skin, dropping it to the desk below. "I'd consider getting out of the politics game."

Hours later, the LF-01 and the Lfrith arrived at what seemed to be a lifeless chunk of rock floating in space. The two Mobile Suits moved around towards the dark side of the asteroid, shaded by the distant light of the sun, and landed.

The LF-01 stepped forwards, reaching a hand out towards empty space, the light from its eyes and GUND-arm shell lights reflecting against nothing until the hand brushed against something, and a flicker of a cloaking field dispersed, revealing the shell of an ancient Goa'uld Freighter ship- a troop transport, in another life.  

It had seen better days. Large scars of burn marks covered its outer armor, its engines seemed burnt out, and to anyone who would have seen it in this state, the active cloaking field would have seemed to be an oddity of a broken ship rather than anything important.

Still, touching the armor revealed access hatches, ostensibly for large squadrons of Jaffa to enter or exit in bulk, but sized reasonably well for a Mobile Suit to duck inside.

The LF-01 sent a pairing signal, and the main hatch before the two Mobile Suits opened. 

They stepped inside, and the hatch closed behind them, air pressurizing into the ship, and then, once the atmosphere was normalized...

The Two Mobile Suits opened their cockpit hatches, and the pilots exited.

Elnora flew towards Nadim, floating in the low-gravity of the asteroid. They embraced, hugging, and then removing the helmets to their normal suits.

"What happened?" Nadim asked.

"Eri activated the Lfrith- I think," Elnora frowned. 

"You think?" Nadim asked.

"I checked the activation logs, once Eri fell asleep," Elnora answered. "She... the Lfrith let her In before she registered her biometrics to it."

"How's that even possible?" Nadim asked. "The Lfrith wasn't supposed to be able to activate on its own without a pilot."

"I'm not sure," Elnora shook her head. "It might be the core, or..." She shook her head again. "We need to contact Atlantis and get out of here. Run tests once we get to Pegasus."

"You get Eri settled into bed and I'll get the ship ready to fly," Nadim said. "If we can get out of the system before they lock things down..."

Elnora nodded, and they parted without further words. Elnora went back to the Lfrith, and floated inside, peering at the sleeping Ericht. The poor girl had cried herself asleep once they'd escaped from the place they'd called home.

The Lfrith had activated on its own.

The Lfrith had acted on its own to save Nadim.

Ericht had killed people today.

Elnora picked her daughter up, and made to leave, when motion on a screen caught her attention.

[>> I'm scared are we safe]

Elnora closed her eyes, and took a shaky breath. 

"Not yet." 

Soon, the Goa'uld ship powered on- the damage to the exterior and engines seemingly only superficially decorative- and lifted off of the asteroid, recloaking itself as it took off into space.

Elnora settled into the co-pilot's seat next to her husband, a video screen tablet in her hand.

"Checking the news?" Nadim asked.

"Yeah," Elnora answered, scrolling through the feeds. "If this was an official act then..." She stopped. "Oh my god."

Nadim didn't have to ask, for his wife tapped at the screen and audio began to play.

"We are now live at the Press Conference held by Bell OS CEO Philip Wittebane, regarding the recent act of aggression against Atlantis allied Facility, Folkvagner," said an announcer.

Then, came Philip's voice. 

"Welcome, everyone," he said, sounding sorrowful. "It is with a deep heart that I speak before you today."

He paused, and Nadim frowned.

"As you know, just after 1800 Yesterday, a Dominicus Task Force was given orders by a person claiming to be Delling Rembran to secure the Folkvagner Facility owned by Vanadis and the OWL Company." Philip began. 

"Can it really be a new day already?" Elnora muttered.

"Atlantis has already begun asking pointed questions about the massacred security units posted at the facility, as well as the murdered civilian workers," Philip continued. "Needless to say these activities are not standard Dominicus procedure, and that the men performing these grisly tasks were either killed in the fight, or have since vanished from custody, taking with them a vast majority of the confiscated equipment and technology."

"Heindrees," Elnora said suddenly, tapping the video, pausing it.

"What?" Nadim asked. 

She showed him the screen- frozen wreckage of their attackers. "Heindree Mobile Suits. Those were with the Beguir-Beu."

"Grassley," Nadim grimaced.

"I didn't recognize them before..." Elnora paused. "Before they were destroyed."

"Dominicus uses Grassley suits almost exclusively, so that doesn't say much of anything," Nadim said. 

Elnora didn't say anything in response as she unpaused the video.

"These members of the Dominicus Force that have died or gone missing," Philip continued, "have various ties to mutliple companies. Grassley, Peil, Jeturk, to name a few. It was deduced by the development council that they could not self regulate in the investigation of this matter, and so, the creation of a neutral third party auditing company was decided upon."

"Neutral?" Nadim asked. He sincerely doubted that anyone other than the man himself had proposed the idea given he was making this announcement about-

"It is of no surprise then that I, Philip Wittebane, have been appointed by the Mobile Suit Development Council as the administrator of this new Auditing Company, Benerit, to oversee the investigation of this Assault. To oversee the investigation into the allegations Delling Rembran has made that someone impersonated him to illegally order the unauthorized use of Dominicus Strike Soldiers against a facility owned by parties non-native to our system, creating one hell of a messy diplomatic incident." Philip smiled sadly on the screen. "And it is also my duty to oversee the regulation of Gund-Arm based technologies within the Earth System until such time that the culprits behind this heinous act of diplomatic suicide are brought to justice."

"And there we go," Nadim muttered as applause filled the air.

Philip's hands went to the air, and the applauding went down.

"I do not take to this task with any relish," Philip said. "For the time being, I am calling on the immediate halt of any active research into the GUND-Arm system formatting within the Earth Sphere. Any Mobile Suit company that claims our system as home must immediately stop their development, and report to us should any information come their way that seems to have been stolen from the Vanadis facility Folkvagner. We must catch these villains before they use the imperfected Gundam technology to disastrous ends. I will now take questions."

There was murmuring off screen, and Philip motioned his head towards someone. "Yes, sir?"

"Perry Porter, Bonesborough News. What if the thieves have taken the Gund-Arm Technology materials out of System Already?" A reporter asked.

"We will be leaving that part of the investigation to the Atlantians, as it was their facility that was assaulted," Philip said.  "Ma'am?"

"Kinue Crossroad," a woman announced, needing no further introduction beyond that. "Early reports indicated that there were survivors of the attack, can you elaborate on that situation?"

"Yes, there were survivors. Several members of the Vanadis facility were taken into custody safely," Philip said. "We believe atleast two mobile suits, prototype Gundams, were also taken from the facility, but we are unsure if they were stolen, or used by staff of the facility at this time. If they are survivors, we expect they will reach out to Atlantis and OWL sooner rather than later. It's too early to tell, but I'm inclined to believe they were survivors given the state some of the assaulting Dominicus Suits were found in."

To that, he looked at the camera. "If there are survivors out there who managed to escape the facility in addition to those two Mobile Suit, please reach out so that we can receive your side of the story. It will help with the investigation. I want to stress, if you are a survivor of this assault, you are NOT in trouble with the law. We are not going to engage in a paranoia induced witch hunt against people working to make a technology safe for use. You will be safe, and you will be protected."

Philip looked towards the audience. "Yes?"

"Shawn Doe, Health Inquiry Magazine," said a man, "You're saying you're protecting the GUND-Arm researchers despite the health risks associated with the technology?"

"Health risks that have been pursued by a company told repeatedly to cease its use of the GUND-Arm technology until it was either proven safe at Mobile Suit scales, or proven impossible," Philip answered. "And yes, we are looking at Ochs Earth as possible instigators of this attack and theft of intellectual property. Their snubbing in having Vanadis bought out from under them and their subsequent attempts to create their own bootleg Gundams proves to be a valuable motive for-"

Elnora stopped the feed, freezing the image as Philip's eyes caught a blue light reflection off of something behind the camera, and it took all of her restraint just to let the thing float free from her hands instead of tossing it to the ground.

There was silence for a long moment.

"He did this, didn't he?" Elnora asked. "Philip Wittebane. He did this."

"Seems likely if you ask me," Nadim grumbled. Then, he tapped at the controls. "Alright, we've hit the jump point at the edge of the system. Auto-nav says we're cleared for hyperspace." He looked towards his wife. "Last chance to finish that video."

"I've seen all I need to." Elnora said, and turned off the tablet with a flick of her right hand across the screen. "Let's leave this rotten hellhole of a system behind us."

Nadim nodded, and then activated the hyperdrive.

A window of spacetime tore open before the ancient Goa'uld vessel as it dropped its cloak, and accelerated to speed into the hyperspace wormhole before it closed.