"Defense ship Beta reporting, can confirm the objects are of artificial origin." The captain of one of the Gem ships sent to Earth, "Attempting to contact as per Pink Diamond's instructions. Will report back soon."
The entire gem crew stared on in awe of the giant space ships, even the smallest of which was twice the size of the largest Gem ships. Instead of clearly being built out of panels and welded together, the ships appeared to be single, seamless pieces.
Once they were finished gawking at the wonders of engineering, the captain called out to a Peridot, "Communications array, attempt contact."
The Peridots didn't realize they were being spoken to until a nearby Ruby roughly nudged one, "Wha- Oh! Yes ma'am, right away!" She saluted the captain and got to work.
While the crew was busy at work, the captain realized something, her whole life, she was told that organic life was incapable of traversing space; in fact, she was told that organic life was incapable of even having the mental capacity to even think about traversing space... And yet, here she was, staring at evidence that proved that wrong...
"But the Diamonds.." She wondered, "They're the one's who told us.. The Diamonds wouldn't lie to us though..."
"Right?" The captain accidentally whispered out loud; in a normal setting this would have been inaudible, drowned out by the idle conversation of the crew or the sounds of this ship.
However the bridge here was silent, and nearly everyone heard her. "Sorry ma'am, what was that?" One of the nearby Rubies asked.
Realizing her mistake, the captain quickly responded "Huh?- Oh uhh, nevermind! Sorry just.. Thinking out loud."
The crew, regardless of their suspicions, decided it would be a better idea to return to their duties.
Happy that the crew had dropped the topic, the captain returned to her thoughts "Would the Diamonds lie to us? But if they did, what would they have to gain from it? Am I missing something? Did they not know?"
The captain was getting increasingly confused, but her train of thought was ground to a halt as the communications Peridot announced that she had established contact. The captain made a mental note to think about this later, and ordered the Peridot to put the video feed on the screen.
The captain smiled as she realized she would be the first Gem to make contact with another space-faring species.
"Captain, we're getting a signal! It appears they're attempting to make contact!" One of the crew members announced.
"Answer the call." The captain ordered.
Once they answered the call, they were greeted with an image of a Gem clearly exited to make first contact.
"Greetings, fellow space travelers! I am Nephrite Facet-98H7 Cut-9VY, for now I will be the ambassador of the mighty Gem Empire until we can arrange a proper meeting."
Clearly surprised to have received so much information at once, the captain hesitantly responded, "Uhh, hello Nephrite F.. Facket-96 Uhh, is it alright if I just call you Nephrite for simplicity sake?"
Not affected at all, the now deemed 'Nephrite' gladly accepted her new nickname, "Yes, that is alright. What is it that you call yourself?"
"On my homeworld, Shash-Prime, I am referred to as Nufonirah Un Colifraa, conqueror of Worlds; but my crew calls me Nufon." (Pronounced nuu-fon)
To say they looked anything like what Nephrite expected would be a lie, mainly due to her lack of expectations. However, even though she was ready for anything, she was still surprised. The species greatly resembled Gems; two arms, two legs, the strange part was their face which had three eyes. They had two human-like eyes in roughly the same locations, however on their forehead was one large compound eye, very similar to an insect's eye. If one were to look at one of them from a distance squinting, they could possibly mistake one of them for a very strange looking Gem.
"Nice to meet you Nufon, I am pleased to have been able to be the Gem to have made first contact with your species. Now, I-" She was cut off by her communicator going off.
"Oh! Pardon me, I need to take this." She picked up the communicator. "This is Defense Ship Beta, who is this?" Her eyes widened as she realized who was calling her, "P- Pink Diamond! Sorry for not updating you on the situation sooner, we were making first contact with this species as per your orders. And if I do say so myself, I'd say that-"
The entire crew noticed that Nufon was slightly blushing, as much as a Belloggan could. And frankly who could blame him? Were Nephrite one of their own, she would be one of the most beautiful women among their grand empire. The gem on her head even resembled one of their third eyes, she could easily pass as one of their own species. Nufon's silent admiration of Nephrite was cut off once she responded to her superior.
"B- b- but my Diamond, they are clearly peaceful!" The Belloggan crew was clearly not supposed to hear this, and they silently began to worry.
"M- my Diamond! I can't do that! This is the first space-faring species that we've discovered! This is possibly one of the most important moments of Gem history!" She was silent once more, "No, I'm n- not questioning your authority. I simply don't understand why we would.." She looks at the screen and whispers something into the communicator.
At this point the crew was on the brink of panic, at least until she spoke once more. "Y- yes my Diamond, I'll patch you through to them right away!"
A moment later, the screen changed. On it was now the one and only.. Pink Diamond, who quickly asked, "Is this the non-Gem fleet my ship was communicating with?"
She irradiated authority, yet her voice betrayed her, clearly showing that she was young and inexperienced. "Yes, this is the grand Belloggan second fleet, who are you?"
She scoffed, "The 'grand Belloggan second fleet' huh? Grand my gem... This is Pink Diamond. Was one of my Nephrites communicating with you?"
This confused Nufon, what did she mean by 'my Nephrites?' Did she own her? Regardless of his concerns, he hesitantly responded, "...Yeeesss?"
If Pink diamond noticed his hesitance, she did not show it, "Alright she will be properly dealt with. That will be all."
Nufon jumped at the screen, "Wait! What do you mean 'dealt with?'" Was all he managed to get out before the communications feed closed.
Nephrite was silently panicking. She was just a captain! She's not supposed to initiate first contact with aliens! But yet she did, and she can't help but feel that she wanted to see this 'Nufon' again. She thought it was a yearning for knowledge, but she quickly ruled that out. She attempted to pin it to something else before she realized it was pointless. She attempted to do the job of another Gem, she would be shattered for sure.
She was quickly proven right once Pink Diamond showed up on the monitor, "Defense Ships Alpha and Beta, destroy the alien fleet. And Defense Ship Beta, your captain is no longer your superior. Put her in the brig, you'll follow the orders of Defense Ship Alpha's captain."
Nephrite was apprehended and didn't put up any struggle, not that it would have made any difference, she was going to be shattered either way. She had a long time to think, but every topic she thought of slowly brought her back to Nufon. What was it about this alien? Whenever she thought about him, she couldn't help but blush; not that she knew, there were no mirrors in the cell.
She couldn't help but hope that the Gem ships lost, but she couldn't tell why. And she likely never would...
And there's chapter 3! Now you all know the character's names. And the name of this mysterious alien race: "The Belloggans!" I hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope that I can keep the chapters at this length! See you all next week!