Chapter Sixteen: Broken Soldiers
"Come on, the armory's down this way!" called Tenrit. The Valurian had been trapped onboard this facility for centuries, so he knew the way around it better than anyone, even if he hadn't personally walked the halls. He currently led Emerald and her Citrines down to where their weapons were being held.
As Tenrit lacked any sort of weaponry in his new robotic frame, Emerald stuck close behind him in case they ran into any Interlopers on the way there. "Wait, they have an armory?" said Nines. "I thought they had their blasters built into their bodies. What do they store in there, anyway?"
"They just call it an armory because it's where they store weapons," explained Tenrit. "And that basically means anything that they find from the Gem territories they invade. It's where we'll find your equipment."
Upon rounding a corner, the team reached the armory. Due to the station being under attack, there were no guards, and Emerald was able to slice a hole through the sealed doors. Indeed, everyone's things were inside. The Era-2 Citrines re-equipped with their armor and blasters.
"Hey, Tenrit, you got any cool features in that new body of yours?" asked Nines.
"Unfortunately, no," he said. "There were some firewalls, so I had to work quickly to make it. I'm lucky I got to customize it as much as I did!"
"In that case, you'd better take this," she said. She handed him her blaster. "Just until we get out of here, at least."
"What about you?" he said. "Wouldn't that leave you defenseless?"
"Nah, I got something else," she said. She reached down to her gem, and produced her khopesh. "Now let's go!"
"Let's go, indeed," said Emerald. Taking point, the Beryl led her troops down the halls of the station. She followed Tenrit's directions to the docking bay, hoping he would be able to hotwire an Interloper cruiser. All the while, she and her team slashed and blasted their way through any Interloper that got in their way.
On their way to the hangar, they passed by a large window to the outside. In the space just beyond the station, a fierce battle was being waged. "My Emerald, look! Out there!" shouted a Citrine. Fighting the Interloper forces and firing on the station's automated defenses were two very familiar ships.
"I don't believe it, that's the Soul Evaporator!" cried Emerald. "I don't know how, but it looks like the rest of the gang managed to find us! And is that the...Xenocide? Goshenite's here, too?"
"Heh, these metal-heads don't stand a chance now!" said Tenrit, before looking down at his new form. "Er, well, you know what I mean."
Meanwhile, in the station's upper levels, Pythoriax was not happy. "Not one, but two Gem warships!?" he exclaimed. "We don't stand a chance now!" He wheeled around, returning to his ship. "The station's lost. We have to fall back." With a nod, he urged Serpentine and Zirconium to follow him.
"Hold on, we can't leave without Onix!" said Zirconium. "She's one of my best!"
"And if she is indeed one of your best, she will give us ample time to escape," said Pythoriax. He tried to continue on his path, but some invisible force blocked his way. He turned around to see Zirconium with her palm outstretched.
"Topaz was a liability, and Serpentine is replaceable." The Gem in question looked down, but hardly reacted otherwise-almost as if she was used to these comments. "I can even live with losing Amber. She was too naive for our own good. But I will not abandon as great a warrior as Onix!"
"We have no choice!" shouted Pythoriax. "Those warships are going to tear this whole station apart with or without us!" He turned towards Serpentine. "You, the cannibal! Even you have to admit our odds are terrible, yes?" When she refused to comment, he added "Unless you think you can take Emerald in a rematch?"
Serpentine pondered for a moment. "He's right," she said to Zirconium. "This place is finished. Onix knew what she was getting into when she went to go fight them."
Reluctantly, Zirconium released her hold. "Fine," she snarled, walking past Pythoriax. She leaned down to add "But next time, I decide the fate of my clanmates. Understood?" With that, she made her way onboard the Pandora's Box. Serpentine followed.
Pythoriax glared at Zirconium as she left, not uttering a word. Then, as he glanced at Serpentine, something crossed his mind. He walked after them onto his flagship.
"Come on, they've gotta be around here somewhere!" shouted Onyx, leading a team of Citrines of her own. The squadron bulldozed through the Interlopers guarding the station as they combed it in search of their missing commander. Onyx herself crushed swathes of Scavengers with her rocket-powered hammer.
Soon enough, one of the Citrines spotted her. "Eyes on Emerald, two o'clock!" she said.
"Aha! Good spot, R4X!" said Onyx. "Cover me while I make contact!" By 'making contact,' Onyx meant running over to the catwalk, and calling out to the other team. "Yo, Mera! We found you!"
On the lower level of that same room, Emerald looked up at the source of this call. "Onyx!" she called back. "Glad to see you brought the cavalry! How did you find us, anyway?"
"I'll explain later," said the black Quartz. "Right now, we gotta focus on getting back to the Soul! Dropships are back at Bay 9, we'll meet you there!"
"Bay 9, that's just a few rooms away!" Tenrit informed Emerald inbetween firing his blaster at incoming Interlopers. "You clear a path, I'll lead the way!"
"Hmm, who's that?" Onyx mumbled to herself. "Looks familiar somehow…"
"Onyx?" said a Citrine. "Don't look now, but I think we've got company!"
Onyx looked up, expecting to see a Carnivore or some such threat, but was instead greeted by the sight of another Onyx, this one quite off-colored. This was the same Gem Emerald had shown her, which she had dubbed 'Onix.' This rival Quartz held a massive blaster in her hands, aiming it directly at Onyx's group.
"Incoming!" yelled Onyx as a large bolt of plasma was hurled from Onix's cannon. The resulting blast destroyed the catwalk they were standing on. The Citrines caught in the blast that weren't destabilized fell down to the levels below. Onyx herself had avoided the projectile, but wasn't about to run away from another one. She charged the enemy Gem, leaping from her level and tackling her just as she was about to fire again.
Both Onyxes smashed through a door in a heap, ending up in a separate hallway. The two of them quickly scrambled to their feet and began grappling. Despite Onix's frail appearance, she was just as strong as her foe. Likewise, her cloudy eyes did not necessarily indicate poor eyesight, as she was able to dodge quite a few of Onyx's blows.
"You and your posse ain't getting out of this one!" said Onyx. "No way you can fight off all of us!"
"I know that," said Onix. "We have no hope of defeating you at this time. I am merely providing a distraction so they can escape."
"You little…!" Onyx redrew her hammer, swinging it down onto Onix's head. Before it could hit, Onix drew her cannon, using it to block the weapon.
"It didn't have to come to this," said Onix, as she struggled against Onyx.
"You just keep telling yourself that," said Onyx, pulling her hammer back to swing again. This, too, was blocked by Onix's cannon. "And you off-colors always wonder why you're so persecuted. It's because Gems like you are always trying to make life harder for rule-following Gems like us!"
"We only want to survive!" said Onix, pushing Onyx's hammer to the side. A momentary lull appeared in their fight. She continued. "I gave centuries of my loyalty to Homeworld, and what do I get for it? I'm cast underground, forced to hide under penalty of shattering! All because of what my own Gems made me out to be."
"But siding with the Interlopers?" said Onyx. She swung her hammer again, but Onix was prepared. She parried it off of her cannon, sending it against the wall. "Doesn't that seem like you're going a bit too far?"
"I do," Onix replied. "If I was given a choice, I would never have done it, swear on my life. But Homeworld would not give us a choice." She ducked another of Onyx's swings. "Don't you see? All we want is to be treated fairly!"
"Some of Onix's words were starting to sound pretty sensible to Onyx. "Shut up! What do you know about fair treatment?"
"Are you so blinded by your stigmas that you are deaf as well!?" exclaimed Onix, dropping her guard. Normally, Onyx would have taken advantage of this, but something about her demeanor made her stop and listen. "As I said, I used to be respected! I was a great warrior and a noble captain, respected by subordinates and superiors alike. I fought in many battles, even in the Earth War. The more I fought, the more my gem was damaged. But where any other Gem would have been shattered, I persevered! My gemstone held together with nothing but force of will, my physical form became scarred. And though I fought harder than ever, all the others could see was what I was, no longer what I did. And I was ostracised for it, and eventually, I would have been shattered."
Onyx had been listening intently. She had even lowered her hammer, something she had never done during a battle. "It can't be...what's your designation?"
"Onyx, Facet LM96 Cut P7K," said Onix.
"P7K..." Onyx said. "C-captain?"
"Hmm?" said Onix.
"I-it's me, P7J," said Onyx. "You probably don't remember me...all this time, I thought you had been shattered!"
"P7J?" said Onix inquisitively. "It was long ago, but I believe I recall-"
Onix was cut off when a barrage of lasers suddenly were poured into her back. She recoiled, holding up her arm to block the blasts. A bunch of Citrines, from both Emerald's and Onyx's group, had rendezvoused, and were laying into the off-colored Onyx. She lifted up her cannon to return fire. Onyx herself didn't move, almost as though she was in a stupor.
Emerald made an appearance, bounding towards Onix. Onix was prepared to fire her cannon, but Emerald disrupted her aim with a slash to the arm. The cannon fired a blast which collided harmlessly with a distant wall.
Onix swung her cannon at Emerald like a club, preventing her from getting closer. "Onyx, what are you doing!?" yelled Emerald. As her own blasters would be ineffective against the Quartz, Emerald instead discharged a stream of electricity into her. Onix was stunned, but still holding on. "Onyx, take the shot!"
Onyx was still not moving. "Well, cadet?" said Onix, strained. This roused Onyx out of her trancelike state. "Do what your commander tells you!"
Reluctantly, Onyx swung her hammer at full force. As soon as the weapon collided with Onix, her physical form dissipated. Her gem, which looked as though it had been shattered and stuck back together several times over, clattered to the floor. Onyx reached down gingerly to pick it up.
"Nice work," said Emerald. "But what was all that about?"
"I'll explain later," she said, before handing the gem to Emerald. "Here. You wanna do the honors?" Emerald took the gemstone, placing it a bubble and sending it away to join her fellows.
"That was a real headache," said Nines. "But anyway, it looks like we took care of the rest of 'em."
"How can you tell?" said Emerald.
"Because Pythoriax's flagship took off," said Tenrit. "My guess is they're headed back to their hideout."
"So, uh, who's the 'bot?" asked Onyx. "And why does he have horns?"
"Well," said Emerald. "Long story short...you remember Tenrit, right? From Valuris?"
"Vaguely," said Onyx. "I might need a few reminders, though."
"So, Tenrit," said Nines. "You said Pythoriax is headed back to base. You wouldn't happen to know where that base is, though, would you?"
"Not for certain, but I have a theory," he said. "And strap in, because you won't like the answer."
"Consider us strapped," said Emerald.
"Well...if my intel is correct, Pythoriax's whole operation has been operating from out of a Gem colony, with the locals none the wiser."
"The Interlopers working right under our noses!" exclaimed Onyx. "Let me guess: Auragh-18?"
"No, an already-existing colony," said Tenrit. "I think it's called 'Modius,' or something like that."
Emerald's face went slightly pale. "You mean Moridius?"
"Yeah, that's the one," Tenrit said.
"You okay, Mera?" said Onyx. "Is something wrong with Moridius?"
"No, it's just that...Moridius is where I was formed."
