Chapter Seventeen: Us and Them


Bridge of the Soul Evaporator.

After launching their attack on Research Station Corvus, the Gem battleships had completely purged the station of Interloper forces. However, the station itself had been so utterly gutted by them that it was unusable for its original purpose, at least by anyone other than them. Upon being told of the Interlopers' possible presence on Moridius, Goshenite urged Emerald to take care of it.

"Don't worry about this," she told her. "I'll handle cleanup, you go investigate."

"If you say so," said Emerald. And so, Emerald and all the rest of her crew, plus Tenrit and a few of Amethyst's Citrines, boarded the Soul Evaporator. Speaking of Amethyst, Emerald's first action upon reaching the bridge was to send a transmission to Auragh-18 to contact her.

While waiting for Amethyst to respond, Emerald was greeted by her crew members who had missed her, most notably Pearl and Tanzanite. Emerald emphatically greeted the two of them. While she expected Pearl to be sentimental like this, Tanzanite's excitement was much more surprising. What had changed since she had been taken?

Amethyst received the message. "Well, look who's still alive!" she exclaimed. "When that ship took off, I assumed the worst. Glad to see you're still in one piece!"

"Glad to still be in one piece," Emerald responded. "Everything's been really chaotic over on my end, so I'll give you the shortened version: we fought off the Interlopers for now, but we believe that they're holed up on Moridius." She left the part out about Interlopers having allegedly created the Gems. She wasn't sure others were ready to hear this quite yet.

"Moridius, eh?" said Amethyst. "Huh, you'd think someone would've noticed them by now. Well, if that's where they are, you'd better go after them!"

"That's the plan," said Emerald. "Should we stop by first to bring back your soldiers?"

"Tempting as that is, something tells me you'll need them more," Amethyst said. "Consider this a temporary loan. Diamondspeed, Emerald. Amethyst out." The transmission ended.

"All right, I guess this means we get to spend some more time together!" said Nines. "It's my pleasure to serve you, My Emerald."

Emerald grinned slightly. "Alright, alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We don't even know if Tenrit's info is accurate."

"I mean, I'm pretty sure it is," he piped up. "When you're stuck basically being a living database with nothing to do but listen in on others' conversations, you have quite a bit of free time for fact-checking."

"If you have acquired that much information on the Interlopers over all this time, I advise you to share it with us," said Tanzanite. "It will likely prove indispensable towards halting their operations."

"You did say you would," said Nines. "We've got a while before we get to Moridius, so why not tell us the stories?"

With confirmation from Emerald, Tenrit agreed to tell them everything he had heard. "Okay, where to begin...how about at the beginning? So, the Interlopers don't call themselves 'the Interlopers.' It's pretty obvious in hindsight, but oh well. No, they refer to each other as the-"

"The Koh'i'Noor," said Emerald.

"Yes, exactly," Tenrit said. "So, then, you know that…?"

Emerald nodded. "What? Know what?" asked Pearl.

"I'll tell you later, Pearl," said Emerald. "Tenrit, could you tell us a little bit more about what the Interlopers are planning currently?"

"Right, of course," said Tenrit. "As I mentioned before, the reason they were so interested in research stations, as well as myself, was because they wanted to learn more about Gems. Despite...knowing quite a bit in the past, they had since forgotten. With the information they found, they started working on new technologies, new ways to better facilitate their annihilation of Gemkind."

"And what did they find, exactly?" asked Onyx.

"Oh, tons," continued Tenrit. "For example, they figured out how to use this thing called 'geo-transference' to absorb the powers of Gems. But I think the most important one they found was 'bio-venom.'"

"Uh...is that at all related to bio-poison?" Nines asked.

Tenrit nodded. "As you may or may not know, Research Station Corvus was a pretty big manufacturer of bio-poison before the Interlopers took over. But now, with it gone, much of that production has been moved to Moridius. This was exactly Pythoriax's plan; to move it somewhere they could sneak in and take over without much notice, to manufacture bio-venom instead of bio-poison.

"You still haven't explained what bio-venom is," said Emerald. "I feel like that's pretty important to this story."

"I was getting to that," said Tenrit. "So, they reversed bio-venom from bio-poison. Unlike the latter, it's incredibly volatile and dangerous. While bio-poison is an inert pink goop used to thin out organic presence on a planet, bio-venom destroys it completely. It looks like this thick black smoke that eats through anything organic in seconds. And it spreads fast, too. Just a few decaliters can strip an entire planet clean of biotic life in under a day."

"And if it leaves nothing behind, then the planet would be unfit for colonization," Emerald said, the sheer gravity of the situation dawning on her.

"Exactly." Tenrit continued. "You see, they know they can't beat Gems in a one-on-one fight, so they're trying to starve them out. Their mission now is to destroy, or at least clear out, every colonizable planet they can find. They've been doing this for, I dunno, millennia now. Since before the Earth War."

"Wait, do you mean...the Interlopers are responsible for the entire research crisis?" said Onyx. "Even-even before we made contact?"

"I'm afraid so," said Tenrit. "Their original methods were to hurl asteroids at inhabited planets to wipe out the locals. But after that method didn't work too well, they tried to find something else. Hence, bio-venom. If this stuff is allowed to be produced in bulk...there isn't much we'll be able to do. The devastation that this stuff can do is unheard of; we won't stand a chance."

"Why do you phrase your statement as 'we?'" asked Tanzanite. "Do you consider yourself a Homeworld Gem now?"

"Well, I'm certainly helping you guys now," he said. "Besides, most of my planet now is...well, it's been so long. I probably wouldn't even recognize the place now." Tenrit looked troubled for a moment, but quickly bounced back. "But yes, I do consider myself on your team, at least!"

"I can't believe those off-colored freaks!" said Nines. "How could they team up with these monsters!? How could they betray their own home!?"

"Nobody really knows how off-colors work," said Emerald. "There's no telling why they thought this was a good idea."

"Uh, Emerald?" said Onyx quietly. "Weren't you considered an off-color when you first emerged? I would have thought if any Gem had some insight into how they work, it'd be you."

Emerald turned towards the black Gem. "Onyx, what's the matter?" she asked. "Usually you'd be siding with Nines on a matter like this. I thought you hated off-colors."

"Well, 'hate' is a strong word. But yes, I didn't really find them...agreeable. But that was before I knew that they, y'know, were just Gems."

Emerald shook her head, surprised at Onyx's seeming complete one-eighty. "Surely you don't mean you sympathize with these traitors," she said.

"Maybe not all of them, but they do have a point," Onyx said, still speaking softly. "The one we just fought, Onix...I knew her. I knew her before she became an off-color. She was my captain before I joined your unit. I-I always looked up to her. And if she can become an off-color...who's to say anyone can't?"

"Onyx, please, listen to yourself!" said Emerald. "We need to focus on the mission, and this rambling isn't helping us."

"Um, My Emerald?" said Pearl. "Didn't you tell me once that some Gems have it rough? You were talking about off-colors, right?"

"That was then, this is now," Emerald grumbled. "Back then, I didn't realize they were capable of such treachery."

A sigh came from Tanzanite's direction. "And we are back to arguing…" she said.

"What was that, Tanzanite?" said Emerald.

"I said we are arguing again!" said Tanzanite, more upset than Emerald had seen her before. And Emerald had never seen her get emotional at all, let alone upset. "Do you know who has insight into how an off-color feels? I do. Because, while I may not be one, I know what it is like to be persecuted by Homeworld."

"What? You?" asked Nines in disbelief.

"Hang on, let her finish," said Onyx.

"Tanzanites are not supposed to feel, they are supposed to be logical," she continued. "So that is all I have been, holding in my feelings for the sake of our missions. But I still felt. Every time I felt afraid, or sad, or angry, or even happy, I had to hold it in. But I cannot do that anymore." Small beads formed in the corners of her eyes. "My Emerald...you have always been one of my greatest friends. I always admired you, not because of your tactical abilities, but because of your ability to care. You cared for Pearl when you first found her, you cared for me when I came to you broken and alone, you even cared for your enemies, like the Crystal Gems. So...what is different now?"

Emerald was silent for quite some time. Slowly, she made her way over to Tanzanite. She wrapped her arms around the blue Gem, who was unable to hold her emotions in any further. The small tears that stung her eyes became full-on weeping as Emerald embraced her.

"You're right," said Emerald. "I guess I just got so caught up in this war, I...I forgot about those around me." She gestured towards Pearl and Onyx, who joined them in a group hug. Tenrit and Nines then walked over to join them as well. "My hatred for the Interlopers became stronger than my love for my friends. But no more." She broke off from the hug. "Once we get to Moridius, we'll stop them. Together. And then, once the Interlopers are dealt with...we'll fix things at home."

"How do you mean?" said Tenrit.

"Tanzanite's right," Emerald said. "I should have cared more. It's time I spread some of that care to those who don't get enough of it. Starting with off-colors."

"That's certainly noble of you," said Nines, "but somehow I doubt everyone else will be so willing to go along with that plan."

"Then we'll do it in secret," said Emerald. "Like Serpentine said, I'm part of the problem. So I'll have to do what I can to lessen that problem.

"Excuse me, My Emerald?" said Tanzanite. "We have arrived."

The Soul Evaporator disengaged warp, emerging in front of the Gem colony Moridius. From orbit, the planet appeared almost entirely blue, covered mostly in water.

Emerald stared down at the familiar sight. "Moridius. I'm back, after all this time."