The Elsewhere Saga: Emerald Rising

Book Three: Resurgence

Chapter One: Goshenite

Homeworld, Capital District. Era 2, Year 4,725.

The white Gem sighed. Try as she might, she found it impossible to reign in her comrades before her. Although she technically held sovereignty over this council, being White Diamond's chosen Supreme General, the other Beryls refused to listen to her, no matter how loud she shouted. Most likely because they were shouting as well, too loud for her to be heard.

The circular table in between the five Gems bore a holographic image of several ships, shaped like giant knives. They seemed far too sharpened to be Gem vessels, and indeed they weren't: these belonged to the Interlopers.

Homeworld had had many enemies over the eons, but few of them were as persistent as the Interlopers. Taking the form of an entire race of mechanical beings, they had been attempting to destroy all of Gemkind since the Earth War had ended. And no matter how many crippling blows had been dealt against their advance, they just kept on coming, their planet-sized base of operations, the Oculus, creeping ever closer to Homeworld. And, if Emerald was to be believed, they may have been behind the creation of Gemkind itself.

Emerald. The white Gem couldn't help but groan as she stared at the empty seat across from her. Her relations with the green Gem had been...strained, but she had to admit, not having her around anymore was beginning to have an effect on morale. And her replacement was not helping matters.

"And for that matter, where is the Supreme Admiral?" asked the red Gem. Easily the largest of the five in the room, she was covered head-to-toe in armor, with her gemstone located on the palm of her left hand. "She was supposed to arrive twenty minutes ago!"

"She's...busy," said the pink Gem, searching for the right word. Dressed in a lavish ballgown, her gemstone was on the back of her right hand. "Apparently, her prize ship was stolen by a band of off-colored pirates, and she's been chasing them all across Gem space trying to retrieve it."

"All of that for a single ship?" said the yellow Gem. She was dressed in a labcoat, her short hair covering one of her eyes. Her gem was located on her chest. "Isn't that sort of a waste of Homeworld's resources? Why would the Diamonds approve that?"

"There are rumors that Rose Quartz is among the pirate crew," said the blue Gem. She resembled a slightly-larger Aquamarine, and she wore a light blue kimono. A teardrop-shaped gem sat on her forehead. "Ever since she escaped all those months ago, they've been jumping at every opportunity to track her down, even ones with very little logical backing."

"And why was I the only one not informed of this?" asked the red Gem after a slight pause.

"Because, Bixbite, you never read the briefings!" snapped the yellow Gem, Heliodor.

The white Gem finally spoke up, getting to her feet to do so. "That's enough!" she said. She was a tall and slender figure, and something about her full form exuded authority. "If all we're doing is arguing pointless semantics, we might as well not even be having this meeting at all!"

"Seconded!" said the pink Gem, whose name was Morganite. "This all feels a bit pointless if you ask me, dahlings. The current Supreme Admiral is shirking her duties, the Interlopers are drawing ever closer, and we cannot even decide on a simple course of action!"

"That isn't what I meant," growled the white Gem. "Yes, the current Emerald isn't present. Yes, the Interlopers are mobilizing. But that is exactly why the five of us should be getting our act together! Now, can we please focus for five minutes, and at least go over what little information we have?"

The other Gems looked around at each other. "Of course, Goshenite," said the blue Gem, a Maxixe. "Please, proceed."

"Gladly." Goshenite pressed a key on the table, changing the display from that of several Interloper ships to an extended view of multiple galaxies. Roughly half of the map was tinted white, while the other half was tinted red. "Now...what you see here is the current state of Interloper-controlled territory. And this…" Pressing another button, a bright red dot appeared at the precipice of the two colors. It bore a resemblance to an eyeball. "Is where the Oculus is currently located. Just a few months ago, it's advance on Homeworld was completely halted by Bixbite's blockade."

"Void yes it was," the red Gem muttered.

Goshenite gave her a glance before continuing. "Anyway, recently, it has begun moving yet again. Slowly, but surely. Maxixe?"

"Of course." She brought up a holoscreen, reading off of its contents. "Evidence suggests that the Oculus' movement and the Interlopers' increased tactical capabilities both coincided with one-another. Roughly three months ago, just as the Oculus broke through Bixbite's defenses, we observed that the Interloper forces were acting far more strategic than they had been before. They hadn't been acting this coordinated, in fact, since they first appeared after the Earth War."

"I see. And what does this signify?" asked Goshenite.

"I can tell you that," said Morganite. "Back then, the Interlopers were being led by individuals specifically selected to act as Generals, who oversaw their attack efforts. Selected by whom, we can only speculate, but the fact remains that it is highly likely that someone is back in command. Finding and destroying this individual is our best bet to slowing them down."

"I have no interest in slowing them down!" said Bixbite. "What can be done to stop them entirely?"

"Bixbite, if we had a way to stop them once and for all, we would have used it by now," Goshenite said.

"Er, I hate to interrupt," said Heliodor, "but that isn't...entirely true…"

All eyes were turned towards the yellow Gem. She looked around at her fellow Beryls, perturbed at the attention she was receiving. "Go on…" said Maxixe.

"Yes, please enlighten us," said Goshenite. "You mean to say that you have some way of permanently destroying the Interlopers?"

"I...well…" Heliodor stammered. "The short answer is 'yes,' but-"

"Why didn't you bring this up earlier?" asked Morganite, trying and failing to hide her exasperation.

"Everyone was yelling earlier!" she said. "And besides, My Diamond informed me that this project is strictly on a need-to-know basis."

"Heliodor, as this involves the future of the entire Empire, I think that qualifies as 'need-to-know,'" said Maxixe.

"Sorry…" Heliodor said quietly. "I can't give you any more details unless My Diamond approves."

"Hmmph. So much for this strategic meeting," Morganite said huffily. "If we don't have anything else to discuss, may we please wrap this up?"

Goshenite was about to say something to object, but could think of nothing. If nobody had anything to say about the current situation, then pointlessly arguing about nothing wouldn't do any good. Not that it would do any good if they did. "Very well," she said. "I see no point in continuing. We will continue this at a later date."

She had more she wanted to say, but once all the others stood up to leave, she decided against it. Goshenite stayed seated as the other Gems shambled out the door. Only Bixbite remained, who turned around before she left to offer a few comforting words to her friend.

"Worry not, Goshenite," she said. "We have held our own against the Interlopers for thousands of years. Homeworld is mighty; I'm sure we have what it takes to destroy them for good."

"But how can you be certain?" said Goshenite. "The Oculus is getting closer by the day. We don't have any weapons that can stand against it. We can't hold them off forever."

Bixbite had never seen her friend so disheartened before. She struggled to find her words for a moment. "True," she was able to say eventually, "but what of the Cluster? Or this new project Heliodor spoke of?"

"I'm starting to believe the Cluster is a lost cause," Goshenite said solemnly. "It is too far beyond schedule; I'm beginning to suspect it may never emerge. As for Heliodor's project...you may be right. All we can do is hope whatever she is working on is capable of dealing a critical blow to their forces."

"Indeed!" affirmed Bixbite. "Adamantem in Eternum."

"Adamantem in Eternum."

Bixbite then stepped out, leaving Goshenite behind. The white Beryl sat still in her chair, leaning back ever so slightly. She uttered a heavy sigh-keeping morale up in these trying times was taxing beyond belief. She knew that this was technically Morganite's job, but as Supreme General of Homeworld, she nevertheless felt that protecting her planet was her responsibility. And while it certainly was, she worried that doing so was detrimental to her own wellbeing. It was exhausting, in any case.

Goshenite's Residence. Minutes Later.

The door to her home slid open, and the white Gem slowly stepped through. With her eyes closed, she navigated through the building purely on memory-not that this was difficult, as she did not have too much in the way of furniture. A few tables or places to sit here and there, but the place was mostly empty. The colors were similarly stark, with only whites, greys, and blacks covering the walls and floors.

Gems, being inorganic beings requiring little more than cosmic energy absorbed by their gemstones to function, did not need sleep. Despite this, it was entirely possible for them to become exhausted due to overwork, like Goshenite currently was. Over the past few months, she had been working tirelessly, doing everything in her power to ensure that Homeworld and its territories were kept safe from Interloper attack. Even if that meant personally flying or warping to every single colony, outpost, or research station that was possibly at risk.

Goshenite needed a pick-me-up, and that was exactly what she was going to get. She strolled into an adjacent room, where a large, smooth countertop sat in the center, and several windows overlooked the city just outside. Leaning against the perfect rectangle, Goshenite pressed her hand down on a spot near one of its corners; from a circular indentation that formed, a hidden canister rose up, containing several metallic cylinders. Whatever was inside of them emitted a dull but harsh buzzing, like an old lightbulb.

Goshenite removed one of the cylinders from its container, but something to her side caught her eye: a brief flicker of light, reflecting off of something brownish-orange in color. She knew all too well that nothing in her home was normally that color, so it could only be one thing. She removed a second cylinder.

"You know," she said seemingly to nobody, walking over to a window, "when you leave your gem exposed like that, I can still see you." No answer. In fact, it seemed that there was nobody around to answer. Despite this, Goshenite tossed one of the cylinders over her shoulder in the direction she had seen the flicker.

Rather than collide with the wall and clatter to the floor, the cylinder suddenly stopped in midair. With it, the object that had reflected the light in the first place also appeared: a light brown gemstone shaped like a hexagon, seemingly floating in midair.

The origin of both of these happenings was revealed when a figure began to appear. A ripple of light appeared first at her hand, travelling down the rest of her until her entire form was visible. This new Gem stood only slightly shorter and slightly less slender than Goshenite, and had skin only a slight bit darker brown than her gemstone. Her light grey hair curled down to her shoulders, on the left of which her gemstone was placed. A blue diamond emblem was located on her chest. "Aw, man! I was trying to surprise you!"

"You didn't fail in that regard," Goshenite said, her gaze still on the city's skyline. "I was not expecting a visitor. How did you manage to get past my security?"

The brown Gem strolled closer to Goshenite, pulling up a seat next to the counter. "Oh, Topaz let me in," she said. "I just told her I wanted to see you."

"Figures," mumbled Goshenite. She twisted the top of the cylinder in her hand, which caused a dull green glow to emanate from inside. She held the glowing canister up to the gem on her lower back, and immediately seemed to become more relaxed. "Aah… Now, what exactly is the purpose of your intrusion, Cairngorm? Or, excuse me, your 'visit?'"

"I just wanted to see you!" the Gem called Cairngorm said. "Why, can't a Gem come and say hey to her best bud every once and awhile?"

"Cairngorm, I wouldn't exactly describe us as 'best buds,'" Goshenite said. "Besides, we don't even belong to the same court. Speaking of which, I would have thought Maxixe needed all of her spies in the field at a time like this."

Cairngorm's playful and jovial demeanor suddenly shifted into one much more somber. "Goshenite, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be here right now. I'll never forget what you did for me back on Alboreas, and I'll always be grateful to you. My Maxixe can afford to wait for me for a few minutes."

"Whatever you say," groaned Goshenite. She placed the cylinder, which had apparently been drained of its contents, on the counter, before removing another one from the canister. "Would you like another?"

"Naw, too much radiation gives me a headache," said Cairngorm, holding the glowing cylinder up to her gemstone. "But anyway, are you going to be going on any missions soon?"

Goshenite took a seat. "Nowadays, you can consider me always on a mission," she said. I'm never between missions, merely on a short break."

"Wow. You're really a hard worker, you know that?"

The white Gem held the cylinder up to her gemstone for a few moments, before glancing out the window again. "Someone has to…" she growled.

AN: Hey-O, it's part three! Now, I know some of you might be wondering, but yes, even though this is part three of Emerald Rising, Goshenite will be our main viewpoint character for this story. But anyways, I hope you enjoy!