"What are we going to do Rose?!" Bismuth yelled, her large hand nearly breaking the table it came down on. Her wild eyes searched the quartz warrior's worried face.
"We will do what we always do. We will fight and we will win."
"How? As long as those Home World Elites are calling the shots, they will keep making pop-up quartz to fight."
"Yeah," Crazy Lace said as she came forward next to Bismuth, "and they're making Jaspers now! We have so few Amethyst and most of them got shattered in the last battle. You can't tell me that wasn't deliberate. Home World's doing its best to leave us with nothing more than Pearls and spoiled aristocrats to fight."
"I'm more than just a Pearl," Pearl said, her indignation bleeding into her voice, " and I could take on anyone, any day including you, Lace."
"This is a war meeting, not a war field," Rose said softly to Pearl, "we're not fighting each. Stand down." The pale gem blushed but said nothing, reveling in the feel of Rose's warm hand on her shoulder.
"I saw Jaspers in the last battle," Crazy Lace said, her voice sounding eerily far away as she looked off at something unseen in the distance. "They were the ones who were shattering the Amethysts. How are we supposed to fight Jaspers?"
"We take the war to Home World, that's how."
"No Bismuth," Rose said, not even entertaining the idea of heading back to the planet of the Diamonds, "our fight is to liberate the Earth, not cause a revolution on Home World."
"Rebellion, revolution, what's the difference? The tyranny of the Diamonds must stop and we can't stop them from here."
Pearl's lip curled into a sneer as she stepped in front of Rose. "Rose is our leader and we follow her. If she says stay here and fight than that's exactly what we do."
"What do you think?" Bismuth said, turning to Garnet who was standing near to Rose.
"An attack on Home World wont end well. We need to think this through."
"I wasn't talking to you Blue Girl," Bismuth said, her voice filled with equal parts disdain and dismissiveness. "Aristocrats don't know the first thing about battle, unless you count sending others to fight their battles for them. I'm looking for Ruby's military expertise. She's the only actual soldier among us."
"Tough," Garnet said, her voice hardening, " you get us both or you get neither of us, take your pick."
"There she is," Bismuth laughed, clapping her hands together loudly, "hey, what's up Red? So back to the question, what do you think we should do?"
Garnet sighed and adjusted her shaded glasses. "An attack on Home World is ill-advised but from a military stand point, we need to start cutting off the heads of a couple of those higher up and the body of their soldiers will fall. Jaspers, Amethysts, Rubies, most are useless without receiving commands from a superior. Get rid a few of them and we wont need to worry about fighting any quartz at all."
"Well there you have it," Bismuth yelled with a smile, feeling as though her point had been made.
"It's not that simple," a new voice said, and everyone looked to the corner where it came from. Snowflake, a Clear quartz, stood with her arm folded over her chest as everyone stared at her. It was no secret that Rose had sent her a on a mission to spy on the Home World Elites but she had yet to say what she'd learned.
"Tell us Snowflake, what are their plans?" Rose said and everyone, even Bismuth, remained silent.
"White Diamond is mad at how long the rebellion is taking so she has put pressure on Pink Diamond to end it immediately. There have been new orders given. No more Crystal Gems will be captured, but shattered on sight."
Rose clinched her fist, anger entering her face. "That White Diamond, living high in her palace with no concern for anyone else. She has no respect for life or for those who have the audacity to live in a way that she didn't prescribe. When will she finally understand that she can't control everything!"
"It wasn't White Diamond that gave the order," Snowflake said softly.
"What?" said Rose.
"It wasn't White Diamond that gave the order."
"Then it must have been Blue Diamond. Yellow is too conceded to bother in Earth affairs and she has another whole solar system that she's conquering. Blue Diamond loves to play the Elite card, never wanting to get her own hands dirty but always ready to order someone else's gem turned to dust."
"It was Pink Diamond who gave the order, Rose, Pink Diamond."
"No," Rose said shocked, her heart seeming to stop within her. "No, that can't be, I know Pink Diamond, she's kind and gentle, and would never order the shattering of anyone. Blue Diamond is behind this, I just know it but she using Pink Diamond's name as a way to make her younger sister sound more vicious."
"That's not all," Snowflake continued, "Sapphire is a rare gem. There are only three in the whole universe and Blue Diamond wants hers back." Now it was time for Garnet's fists to tighten at her sides. "Pink Diamond has ordered the fusion be caught and separated. Then, once both gems reform, Sapphire is to be made to watch as Ruby is shattered to dust before her as was the original order of her Diamond. Afterwards, she will be brought back to Blue Diamond to be used at her discretion."
Everyone watched as Garnet's body shook uncontrollably with a mixture of Sapphire's fear and Ruby's anger. "No one is going to hurt Sapphire," she said, her voice rising, "and no one is going to shatter Ruby. I'll shattered myself before I'd let that happen."
"No one is going to be shattered," Rose said, placing a hand on the shoulder of one of her closest friends.
"Yeah," Bismuth walking over to Garnet and jabbing her in the arm playfully, "no one is gonna break up the Power Couple. We'll all see to that. What's our next move Rose?"
"I need to speak to Pink Diamond and figure out what is really going on. You, Garnet and Pearl will come with me."
"No we're talking Bismuth," Bismuth said as she rubbed her hands together enthusiastically, "where are we headed?"
"To the only place that Pink Diamond could be, the only place that she's ever felt safe. To the shrine on the Moon Base."