She heard it in whispers, at first.
That the old Earth colony still had regular gems.
That they were free to live and be whatever they pleased.
"Hey, Amy, Misty. You think any of it's true?"
Amy stopped running her fingers through Misty's hair. "What's true?"
"About... that lost colony."
"Pshh, nah. No way." Amy waved her hope away like a speck of dust. "They said they got everybody off that lonely little planet, and whoever's left is toast by now. We've got better stuff to worry about."
"Yeah, T. We're sparring tonight and then heading out for TL29 tomorrow." Misty rolled her shoulders, summoning her whip. "Can't wait to clobber some... what was the species on TL-whatever, again?"
"Don't remember, don't care." Amy nudged Misty. "It'll be fun, though."
"Yeah," Thistle agreed, the pads of her fingertips massaging the knuckles of her right hand. "Fun."
Day after day, the same thing.
"Pearl, clean this room and then prepare the sitting room."
"Yes, mistress Spinel."
"Oh, fix your hair. You look a mess and it reflects badly on me."
"Of course, mistress Spinel."
Cleaning the same four rooms and herself, over and over, for cycles and cycles.
"Hello, mistress Spinel will see you now."
"No, I was specially created for mistress Spinel, not bought from the order book. However, those Pearls work just as nicely as I do- it's my color she wanted, you see."
"I live to serve my mistress."
Neutered words, keeping her appearance calm, polite, every inch the obedient servant.
When her mistress was out she ripped her hair and stabbed herself to regenerate and keep up the appearance of being fine, collected, perfect.
If she wasn't fine, she was defective, and, well, defective pearls weren't of use to anyone.
Except the renegade.
She'd been made since the lost colony rebellion, but she heard rumors, whispered from pearl to pearl, about a renegade who fought, who lived her own life, who loved and was loved by her mistress, and whose mistress treated her as her own gem.
She hoped that the renegade still lived.
She cared for her crew, but the missions got old.
Watching Elbie and Palmer shoved out of their physical form for the third time by the wild animal that seemed so set on keeping them out of their ship was getting old.
"Rubies! Combine!" Her leader, a ruby whose gem was on her forehead (although a bit to the left) called, and she jumped into the fusion with Shouls and their leader, the only three rubies currently left. They managed to lift the animal (one of them thought the four eyes looked interesting, but none of them were sure which it was) and toss it away before defusing.
The leader (really, the rest of them had taken nicknames for ease, why hadn't she?) grabbed Elbie and Palmer's gems and tucked them in her elbow.
"Mission success, right, gals?" The Ruby smiled. "Oh, I can't wait for our next mission!"
Well, she could. It was either protecting important elites or missions that were too petty to send Quartzes on. Rubies were the most replaceable of all gems, it seemed- send four on a mission and one returns? Throw the one into another squad and send her off, she won't even notice it's not her old squad.
She bet that things weren't like that on the lost colony.
She bet there were fifteen rubies and all of them got to do something they wanted and the Spinels and Nephrites and Tourmalines talked to them like they weren't one of a thousand.
It didn't happen in one day, or a hundred, but the little things built up for all of them.
For Thistle the Amethyst, it was watching Misty delight in the fear in the eyes of whatever species they happened to be fighting.
For Coral Pearl, it was the little impatient taps of her mistress's fingers if she didn't perform a task with a believable spring in her step.
For Chessie the Ruby, it was watching her crew, one by one, be cracked and abandoned and replaced, until she could barely remember who the original ones were.
One day, Thistle's crew was watching a spar at an Arena, and when she wandered around for other entertainment, she found a ship.
One day, Mistress Spinel had told her she was going to be gone for three days, so if one dust speck was out of place when she returned, Coral would be put in a box. She snuck out anyway, to enjoy the view for once, and found a ship.
One of the screens that reported mission status glitched, and reported that on the last mission Chessie had been on, five rubies had left, and three had returned. Four had returned, but who was she to question a temporary break? She strolled along the street, looking for something new, and found a ship.
Unfortunately, they'd found the same one.
Coral instinctively dropped her gaze, but her fist tightened. She'd been so close-
"So, I'm going to try and bust out of here. Considering you're without your mistress, Pearlie, I'm guessing you want out too. What about you, Ruby?" Thistle smiled, but her teeth, sharp even for a gem, weren't reassuring.
"Yeah, actually." Chessie set a hand on her gem, placed on the left side of her chest. "I want to go to the lost colony."
"Earth?" Coral perked up, and a smile split her face. "That's... you want to go there too?"
"I guess that makes three. I'm a quartz who doesn't want to fight anymore. What's wrong with you two?" Thistle chuckled uncomfortably, starting up the escape pod.
"There's nothing wrong with me!" Coral shot back immediately. "I'm-" She slumped. "I don't want to take orders."
"I don't want to be a foot soldier anymore." Chessie reached for Coral's hand, and squeezed it so hard that the pearl winced. Chessie didn't notice, too caught up in excitement.
"What a crew of undesirables we must make up. A gaggle of misfits. Group of cracks. Cluster of clods." Now that she was in like-minded company, Coral's words spilled out like an unfurling sail. "Oh, what would the diamonds say?"
"At this point..." Thistle slammed her foot on the pedal and they shot up into the sky. "I don't care!"
All that mattered was the lost colony was out there, waiting for them.
A/N Here we go! I originally posted this on AO3 as a oneshot, but it got such a good response and I was having fun with these characters that I'm making it a full-fledged multi-chapter! I'll do my best to make the characters interesting, and I'm looking forward to having them interact with the Crystal Gems.