I'm going to try and put this from a new character's POV. Just for a fun new angle.

Still being revised.

"Oxygen levels are dropping…" I couldn't help but mutter to myself dismally. It had just been me and this machine for a couple of days. and I was starting to notice the ill effects it was having on my mind. The platform I stood on reminded me of a dais. I was the speaker and the host of blinking lights and screens was my audience.

"Oxygen systems operating at: 40 percent." the mobile suit announced monotonously as more warning lights flickered on. There was a terrible throbbing in my head, and my chest was beginning to feel tight. 'Oh my God…' I thought suddenly. 'I'm going to die. I'm drifting around in space and I'm going to run out of air. No one will even know what happened.' The horrible revelation made me grip the bar the wrapped around the platform where I hovered. No one would know what happened…

Even though it wasn't till C.E 69 that ZAFT's mobile suits made their debut, rumors of such 'monstrosities' had been circulating for the past year and a half before. That was when he became obsessed. The whispers of things… He knew that he could make them better.

My uncle was a mad fool, even then. When he heard of Commodore Halberton's proposal for a mobile suit development project not too long ago, he began to plan again; for what, I didn't know. He planned and sketched and researched anew. Before his obsessions with warfare, he had been a respected scientist. Respected enough that when news of his meddling with mobile suits leaked out, the Earth Alliance pounced like the power hungry tyrants they are. All of their plans had failed. Whispers… Whispers that a coordinator had taken the GINN and modified its capabilities and general appearance began to spread. They could bring him to their side. But how?

The idea of bringing the coordinator with possible plans for a mobile suit took hold as more prototypes failed in the frenzy to have something comparable with the GINN.

So they got my uncle to design some for them.

No wait, let me rephrase that. They coerced my uncle into designing it.

My uncle had a wife- or, had one until they were divorced and she moved out of neutral territory. To the West Coast of what used to be the United States. That was Earth Alliance territory, and more importantly... it was Atlantic Federation. It was at the dawning of the Cosmic Era, where we now live, when the nations on earth joined together to form several superpowers.

There is the Eurasian Federation; which consists of the former Europe, Russia and some of Asia. The Republic of East Asia is made up of what was China, Japan and other countries in their area. The South African Union- made up of most of Africa below the equator. And the Atlantic Federation; undeniably the most powerful of the Earth Alliance nations is madeup of North and South America, and the former United Kingdom.

The African Community, which makes up the portion above the equator, is aligned with the PLANTs. And the former nations of Australia, and New Zealand make up the PLANT-aligned Oceania Union.

What was once India, Thailand, and the many other countries below the Republic of Asia and above the Oceania Union, form the neutral Equatorial Union. Other neutral nations are the Kingdom of Scandinavia, and the Aube Union.

Back to my uncle. He and his former wife had a son; my cousin Theirry. Don't ask me, I didn't name him. The only problem was that my uncle was a coordinator, while my aunt was a natural. When Theirry was born through natural conception, everybody loved him until the truth came out…. Except for my parents who always loved him, they loved my cousin dearly. They said that he 'bridged the gap'. I guess that my uncle hid the fact that he was a coordinator from my aunt until Theirry was born, and when she found out, she simply left him. I still don't understand it. My cousin was still a baby at the time, and people simply called him a half-breed. My aunt and cousin Theirry left Aube (that was where they had been living) and moved to the West Coast. My uncle, heartbroken and bitter, left for the PLANTs. That was years ago though…

When the Atlantic Federation found out that he had family living in their territory, I can only imagine that they were overjoyed. I don't know much about what happened... only bits gathered from my uncle's delirious mumbling while he slept.

From what I pieced together, the Atlantic Federation took his ex-wife and son. They held them for ransom… and the payment? My uncle's mobile suit designs. Though he had been slipping into madness for the past couple years, he still loved his son…. And would do anything to save him.

As for me? The old fool wouldn't do a damn thing if I were in danger. Then again, I was only his niece. My mother- his estranged sister, and my father both lived on Junius Seven. I was visiting my uncle on MaiusThree at the time it happened. Since I was already there, he was given custody and I became his ward. Not that it mattered, I would be able to live on my own in a few years anyway.

Back to my uncle's 'sad' life. So, he went to Aube and gave them his designs. They sent him to Aube's research satellite, Heliopolis. It appears that the neutral nation of Aube wasn't so neutral after all. Apparently Aube's munitions company, Morgenroete, agreed to produce the G series for the Earth Forces. In return for his 'assistance' my uncle was given a fine sum of money and the promise that his familly would be released after he left. But his wife and son were killed once he returned to the PLANTs. They were a liability… and so was my uncle. Any assassination attempts were foiled by the fact that my uncle was safely back in Maius City, enjoying his new fortune. I can safely guess that the Earth Alliance wouldn't have given him so much if they thought he was going to live to spend it. Their lapse in judgement was to our gain.

But soon after, guilt began to fester in his heart.

He began to do things in secret… leaving for days on end and returning haggard and exhausted. I began to wonder what he was up to, but figured that since he was leaving me alone, I was alright with it. Pity on my foolish naiveté

Chapter Five Teaser

"He said something about how, 'diamonds and rubies danced over deadly secrets in the house where madness dwelled." I muttered, resting my head against the wall. "That's it!" I stood, holding the access cards in the air...

The Mastermind, Part II