Chapter 7: Purge
The time had finally come for the first wave of Gem warriors to go to the surface of Praxiz. All soldiers present, great and small, donned their armor and summoned their weapons. Captain Red Beryl warped first along with four other Gems. The rest of the first wave also warped in groups of five. Rubellite warped with the final group, which included Jasper, who wasn't thrilled about being grouped with the chain smoking lieutenant, but she managed to put her misgivings aside to focus on the mission.
Soon the first wave was in place. They surrounded the perimeter of the Kindergarten site. Captain Red Beryl dispatched the Scouts to search for signs of any Praxians. Several of them returned with intel that the natives had established an encampment northwest of the inactive Kindergarten. After taking in all of the information gathered by the Scouts, Red Beryl and the first wave made their move. The Praxian encampment was fairly quiet with only a couple natives on watch. The Gem soldiers quickly dispatched them. Unfortunately there was a third Praxian on guard further within the encampment who managed to sound the alarm seconds before being decapitated. The Gem soldiers moved swiftly through the camp slaughtering many of the natives who were still disoriented and groggy from sleep. Some of the Praxians managed to fight back using metallic projectile weapons. While these weapons could cause devastating injury to organic lifeforms, they were nothing but a minor annoyance to the Gems. A few of the Praxians were desperate enough to use knives and blunt objects to try to fight off the more powerful sentient beings. Very few of the natives escaped the massacre, and the few that did didn't escape unscathed.
Even after the Praxian soldiers were driven away from the Kindergarten site and into the more populated civilian areas, the Gems didn't stop there. They had orders to carry out a purge, which meant wipe out as many of the local residents as possible to prevent future interference with Homeworld's plans. Gem warriors were known for taking any orders given by their superiors very seriously, and to carry out those orders thoroughly. The Homeworld military campaign went on for months with consistency due to the rotations of the first and second waves of invasion. The Gem's superior weapons, lack of a need for sleep or food, and the apathetic way they dealt with the Praxians had driven the native inhabitants into hiding underground in fear. Once the Gems concluded that there would no longer be interference with their plans, Homeworld resumed building the remote Kindergarten. About half of the Gem soldiers were ordered to remain on patrol around the Kindergarten until the time of Harvest.
The completion of the remote Kindergarten was progressing fairly well with no interference from the Praxians. At least it seemed that way. Most of the soldiers weren't concerned about any type of retaliation, but a few of the Gems remained vigilant and refused to let their guard down. One was Lt. Rubellite. Even after the purge she had continued to send out Scouts to gather intel on any activity by the locals. The Scouts had tried and failed to gain access to the Praxian underground facilities. One of those Scouts was crushed when she fell into a trap while trying to go through a false door in a cave nearby. Rubellite suggested to her partner, Red Beryl, that they beef up security in and around the underground control room for the Kindergarten.
For a few more months things were quiet on Praxiz until one fateful day when the Gems on the surface saw something strange in the sky. An odd looking projectile was launched into the atmosphere where it exploded with a loud boom followed by eerie silence. Moments later a strange, black substance rained down from the sky. Red Beryl gave the order for the soldiers to take shelter before being drenched in the black rain. Those who were exposed to the black rain immediately cleansed their body constructs, not sure if the weird substance was harmless or not. None of them were aware of the horrors that were to follow that brief exposure.
It was business as usual for three weeks until a few Gems started to display strange behavior. Several of the engineers would be going over the site specs when they would suddenly start babbling nonsense. Other Gems would shapeshift for no apparent reason into strange, contorted, and often unidentifiable forms. Things got so disturbing that Capt. Red Beryl and Lt. Rubellite spent much of their time investigating the strange happenings. After six weeks things took a horrific turn. Gems were turning up with strange dark specks in their gems. Capt. Red Beryl examined the gem of one of the engineers working on the Kindergarten. She called her partner over to have a look as well.
"Ru, do you see that?"
"Yeah, I see it Ree-B. What the fuck is that thing?"
"I have no idea…." Both soldiers recoiled at the sight of the dark spot moving inside of the engineer's gem. The engineer flinched in pain as the pair back away from her. "What the hell was that?"
"The hell if I know!" Rubellite shouted. "Babe, we gotta report this to White Diamond. This is some fuckin' crazy shit right here!" The Captain agreed and sent the infected engineer to her temporary quarters and made an emergency report to her superior. Things got progressively worse as they awaited orders from Homeworld about what to do. More and more Gems were turning up with that dark thing growing and wriggling within their gems, causing discomfort, which evolved into stabbing pain, and then outright torturous convulsions until the dark, wriggling things shattered gems from within. Eventually the Homeworld Research Institute contacted them with orders to warp directly into the facility, and to bubble any shattered Gems.
Capt. Red Beryl immediately gave the order to shut the Kindergarten down and evacuate the facility. The rest of the engineers were sent back first, and then the troops were sent back in groups of ten. Lt. Rubellite kept an eye on her partner as the troops warped back to Homeworld. By the time the last group of troops boarded the warp pad, Red Beryl was gripping her left shoulder in pain.
"Ree-B, what's going on?" Rubellite rushed over to help her partner back to her feet.
"Ru, you're gonna have to finish evacuating the rest. I can't take this pain anymore!" When the Captain collapsed on the ground Jasper started to go help the pair, but Rubellite ordered the Ensign to get on the warp pad and leave with the rest of the group. Jasper hesitated for a few seconds then obeyed the order. Right before the last of the troops were caught up in the warp stream, Jasper glanced back at the pair of partner's in distress. Rubellite held the now incoherent Red Beryl in her arms until the Captain's construct collapsed leaving nothing but a shattered and marred Gem in her shocked partner's hands. That horrifying image and the sorrowful sound of Rubellite mourning was forever seared into Jasper's memory.
All of the evacuated Gems were immediately quarantined in The Institute. Those who clearly showed signs of infection were immediately crushed and disposed of. After all tests were completed and all Gems that were discovered to be infected were destroyed, 80% of the Gems that had served on Praxiz were destroyed. It was a devastating loss. The whole time Jasper spent in quarantine her thoughts were on Tiger-eye. If she didn't make it through this quarantine process she would never see Tiger-eye again, and the pretty Gem would most likely never know what happened to the soldier. However, if Jasper did survive this ordeal, there still was no guarantee that she would be reunited with Tiger-eye. It seemed hopeless either way, and it was tearing Jasper apart inside. As her mind reeled as she tried to figure out what to do, an Institute worker showed up at the door to her quarters. Jasper assumed that the document in the Gem's hand was her test results. As the white Gem entered the room, Jasper stood and looked her directly in the eyes, steeling herself to receive whatever news she had, whether good or bad.
"Today is the end of your quarantine, Ensign Jasper. Also, your results are in. You tested negative for the Praxiz Parasite. Congratulations. You're free to go."
Jasper took a moment to determine if she was hearing things right. It was only a brief moment, because after that she didn't waste any time getting out of that place. It turns out that out of the hundreds of Gems that were sent to Praxiz only fifty survived. Jasper, Carnelian, and several other survivors from their squad returned to the Western Military Complex with understandably low morale. The whole ordeal was a heavy blow to the troops, and its effects could be felt throughout the whole platoon. Those who survived developed a close bond and would comfort and support one another to cope with the psychological damage. The emotional support sometimes led to more physical expressions of connections for Jasper and several other Gems. Those interactions didn't last very long because the encounters never felt quite right to her. Her thoughts always went back to that red Tiger-eye. At the same time those thoughts made Jasper feel irritated, mostly at herself, because she had no idea how to find Tiger-eye. If she dared to go back to the Cloisters Master Jet would most likely do whatever it took to destroy her. And Jasper definitely doubted she was prepared for another encounter with Onyx. That encounter was just one of many she'd rather forget. Yet there was still a part of her that was determined to see Tiger-eye again, no matter the cost. That part of Jasper truly frightened her. She wondered what it was about Tiger-eye that that had such a hold on her. Was it her smile, or her sweet voice, or how she would become shy whenever Jasper complimented her, or her thoughtfulness…? Or maybe, just maybe it was all of that and more.
Jasper wasn't the only one who had a certain Gem on her mind. Back at The Cloisters, Tiger-eye was in her quarters tending to a tender spot on her right breast. After some extreme psychological testing (which she viewed as just torture) Master Jet had branded her with the official seal of the Dark Cross Guild. Tiger-eye hadn't been so sure she'd make it through the process since it had such a profound effect on her. Master Jet had taken her and her teammates to the dreaded Institute to further test their ability to have complete control of their emotions. The trio had no idea what to expect when they were escorted into an observation room. Milky Quartz appeared to know what they were about to witness on the other side of the thick panes of glass. The large open room was equipped with piston-like machines arranged side by side. One by one white Gems wearing hazmat gear entered the room carrying bubbled Gems. Tiger-eye watched with a growing sense of dread as each bubbled Gem was released from her container and placed in a cylinder. Soon, one by one the helpless Gems were crushed within the cylinders by a piston. Tiger-eye could feel herself trembling as it took everything within her to hold in a horrified scream. After the remains of that batch of Gems was disposed of, the next group of bubbled Gems was brought in and the process was repeated. Once the Gems were un-bubbled Tiger-eye just about fainted when she saw a Gem with a very similar shape and color to a certain soldier she had grown quite fond of get crushed into shards. Fortunately she managed to stay on her feet while the Guild Master observed all of their reactions closely.
After the teammates went through that extremely uncomfortable and just plain horrible experience, Master Jet asked each of them point blank if they were still willing to become official members of the Dark Cross Guild. Each of them said yes, each for their own personal reasons. Tiger-eye knew that if she turned back now she would be sent back to the Tiger House, and there was no way in hell she was going back there. That very day Jade, Milky Quartz, and Tiger-eye received the brand of a Dark Cross Assassin on their right breasts. The branding process was very painful. Tiger-eye managed not to scream in pain, but it was impossible for her to hold back her tears. Now that she was branded she knew there was no turning back. At any moment in time she could be summoned to put her weapons, two tessen (metal war fans) to use to assassinate defective Gems marked for destruction. It was a heavy price to pay to be able to live her life free of the constraints of the Tiger House. She couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in her gut though. What would Jasper, the one Gem that had become dear to her, think of her now?
Next chapter: Dirty East Shuffle