Chapter Three: Emergency Landing
Chiron Beta Prime.
One of possibly hundreds of asteroid mines owned by Yellow Diamond, Chiron Beta Prime was also the site of an annual strategy conference between several high-class Gems in the sector. Usually, the Emerald that served as the Supreme Admiral was required to oversee the proceedings, but as the current one was busy chasing down a gang of rogue Gems that had stolen her prized starship, Goshenite had volunteered to attend in her stead.
"Okay, because you're here with me, you've been given free reign of the above-ground facilities," Goshenite explained to Pearl. The two stepped down the ramp of the Xenocide onto the asteroid's surface, accompanied by Topaz and flanked by a troop of Milky Quartzes. "You sure you're okay running around unattended?"
"I'll be fine!" Pearl assured her. "I'm much more independent than I used to be."
"That's good," Goshenite said. The group approached the central hall, from which the materials mined up from within the asteroid were counted and distributed. Many ships were already present, indicating that the conference was about to begin. If it hadn't already. "This should only take about an hour or two. Keep yourself occupied until then."
"Will do," Topaz said.
"Not you!" replied Goshenite. "You're standing guard."
"Like this place needs guards," Topaz mumbled. "Even if it did, you have more than enough Quartzes!" Goshenite ignored her remarks, stepping through into the next room, where the meeting had already begun. Topaz turned to Pearl; "Well, that's that, I guess. Try and stay out of trouble!"
"Don't worry, I will!" said Pearl. The pink Gem waved to Topaz as she clambered off through the hallways of the facility.
Although the rooms of this asteroid mine were well-lit, the distance from any star gave the impression that it was constantly night. Pearl was unbothered by this; in fact, she found this place rather pretty. She passed by various Agates and Jades as she roamed, the sounds of Ambers toiling away in the mines travelling up to the surface as Bismuths carted up ores and minerals to be processed.
This was not the reason Pearl had requested to be taken along to this asteroid. Because this was where the meeting between many of Yellow Diamond's top agents, it of course meant that they would be bringing their Pearls with them. And some of these Pearls she was familiar with.
After a few minutes of searching for them, Pearl finally found who she was looking for. A trio of Pearls stood at the far end of a room, talking amongst themselves. "Oh, hello!" Pearl exclaimed, waving as she hurried towards them.
"Well, look who it is!" said one of the Pearls, a light shade of green in color. The two Pearls embraced when they reached one another. "Glad you could make it, girl!"
"I am, too!" said the pink Pearl. "Once I heard you all would be here, I begged Goshenite to bring me along."
"No! The Supreme General?" said another Pearl, this one colored baby blue. "You never told us you belonged to her!"
"That's because I don't," Pearl clarified. "My actual owner is...well, she couldn't make it today. But she does know Goshenite, which is how I know her."
"She must be very important to be acquainted with the Supreme General," said the third Pearl, who was bright scarlet.
"Oh, she is," Pearl answered. "Or, she was… But let's not dwell on that right now! I'm so glad we're able to see each other again! I'm relieved you were able to make it off of Moridius okay!"
"I'm surprised you're okay!" said the green Pearl. "What exactly happened after you left? Where did you go?"
"I, um…" As much as Pearl wanted to tell them of her exploits, and as much as she trusted these three, she felt it wouldn't be such a good idea to tell them she had fused with her Emerald. "Well…"
"She ran away, that's what she did!" Another voice, one Pearl also recognized, came from behind her. She turned around; it was another Pearl, this one pitch black in color. More specifically, her Gem, clothing, and hair were all black, while her skin was dark grey. "After all that bluster about fighting for Homeworld, all she did was run."
"Oh, you again," Pearl said. She sounded more surprised to see Black Pearl, rather than angry at her remarks. "You're here as well?"
"Of course I am," she said, as though it should have been obvious. "All of our Jades are, so obviously we'd be here as well!"
"Pearl, drop it!" said the green Pearl, clearly not in the mood for her fellow Pearl's attitude. "You don't know that."
"How else could she be alive?" the black Pearl said. "Do you honestly believe she could survive an encounter with the Interlopers?"
"Didn't she have a blaster with her?" said the blue Pearl.
"That's right!" Pearl said. "My master gave it to me, so I could protect myself."
Black Pearl rolled her eyes. "Fat lot of good that did you," she said. "What, did you liberate the whole of Moridius on your own?"
No, Emerald was with me! Pearl wanted to exclaim. But for her own good, she figured it would be best to remain silent.
"Ah, that's enough out of you!" said the red Pearl. She ushered her pink friend away from Black Pearl, the green and blue ones following. Black Pearl simply turned up her nose and walked over to her own group of Pearls; two of them, mocha and silver in color.
"Don't let her bother you, hon," said the green Pearl. "She just thinks she's better than everyone else because her Jade always brags about her pedigree."
"It's fine, really," said Pearl.
"Hey," said the blue Pearl, trying to change the subject to something more pleasant. "Want to see something cool?"
Pearl was instantly intrigued. "What is it?" she asked.
The green Pearl snickered. "Pearl, you've been going on and on about this little secret of yours since we got here! Is it really all that?"
"It is!" the blue Pearl said, taking off into the distance. "Come on, I'll show you!" The other three Pearls followed after her.
She led them towards a large tower; Pearl instantly recognized it as the command station for this outpost. This was where every ship had to check in before landing. "Is this the place?" she asked.
"Yeah, but come over here!" said the blue Pearl. They all convened towards the back of the tower, where none of the other Gems could see them. Not that they would have paid any mind to a few Pearls, though. "Here, look at this!"
A panel at the tower's base was torn loose, creating an opening large enough for a Pearl to crawl through. "Pearl, did you do this?" asked the green one, accusation in her voice.
"No, of course not!" the blue Pearl said. "Okay, maybe a little." Both the green and red Pearls raised an eyebrow. "Alright, yes I did! But the panel was already loose! I just pried it loose! I was following her example!" She pointed at the pink Pearl.
"Don't try and blame this on her!" said the green Pearl.
"I'm not! I'm just saying that-nevermind, just follow me!" With that, the blue Pearl crouched down and entered through the panel. "The cool thing is through here!"
Pearl, with her natural curiosity, was the first to enter. She was excited to see what could possibly be hidden within. The red Pearl followed behind her, with the green Pearl bringing up the rear, skeptical of the whole endeavor.
The hole appeared to lead into the tower's ventilation systems. The four Pearls crawled through the ducts, climbing higher and higher to the very top. "Okay, make sure to keep quiet from here on," warned the blue Pearl. "We're not supposed to be up here."
"Then why are we up here?" the green Pearl hissed.
"Because it's neat!" answered the blue Pearl.
Soon enough, they arrived at the tower's top. A vent was located at the back of the room, allowing the Pearls to peer into it. A single Peridot manned the numerous computer terminals within.
"See? Look at all this!" whispered the blue Pearl. "Every ship that passes through this sector shows up on one of those screens. Nothing even gets near this station without her knowing about it!"
"Wow. That's a lot of responsibility," Pearl said.
"Is this really it?" asked the red Pearl. "This is all you wanted to show us?"
"What?" replied the blue Pearl. "There isn't a lot to do here. It gets boring, so sometimes I have to invent my own entertainment."
"Whatever," said the green Pearl. "If this is all, can we go back before we get in trouble?"
"I don't think there's any harm in staying," said Pearl. "That Peridot can't see us up here. And even if she did, what's the harm in us staying up here?"
"'What's the harm?'" repeated her blue friend. "The harm is that we're Pearls. If we get caught being somewhere we're not supposed to be, we could get in serious trouble!"
"But...surely this can't be that serious," Pearl answered.
The green Pearl looked at her, pity in her eyes. "Hon…"
Before she could continue, the Peridot within the control center began moving. "Shush, she's doing something!" said the blue Pearl.
It soon became apparent that a ship had entered Chiron Beta Prime's airspace. "Attention vessel, this is the Chiron Beta Prime control tower," the Peridot said into her radio. "Identify yourself to be cleared for landing."
"Greetings, Chiron Beta Prime," a voice responded. It was slightly staticky, but the Pearls could just barely make it out. "This is Sapphire, um...Facet 2X7 Cut 8I aboard the Sun Incinerator. Our ship has sustained heavy damage, and we are requesting landing permission for emergency repairs."
"Understood, Your Clarity" the Peridot said. She pressed a few buttons on the terminal in front of her. "You are cleared for landing at dock seven. Engineers will be sent to you to assist."
"Thank you, command, but that won't be necessary," the Sapphire responded. "We already have a repair crew onboard. We only require a few parts."
Pearl could tell that the Peridot was skeptical, but she agreed anyway. "Very well, Your Clarity. Out." The transmission ended.
"Ooh, a Sapphire!" said the red Pearl. "I've always wanted to meet one. I heard they can tell you your future!"
"Maybe not your future specifically, but they can indeed see into the future," said the green Pearl.
"Well, you all wanted excitement, right?" said the blue Pearl. "Come on, let's go and say hi!" Before anyone could respond, she had already begun her descent.
"Pearl, hang on!" said the green Pearl. But her blue friend was already gone. She groaned; "Honestly!"
"I think that sounds like a good idea!" said Pearl. "Shall we?"
"Yes, let's!" said the red Pearl. The two of them looked at the green Pearl to see if she had any objections. When none came, they all headed towards dock seven.
"How do you think their ship got damaged?" asked Pearl as they walked.
"Who knows?" replied the green Pearl. "Maybe they ran into some Interlopers. Or maybe they went through an asteroid field."
"Maybe we can ask them," suggested the blue Pearl.
While the other three talked, Pearl pondered something in her head. The Sun Incinerator: that was a name she had heard before. But where? Maybe she had overheard it from Emerald somewhere.
"Ooh, there it is!" said the red Pearl. Standing just beyond dock seven, they were given a clear view of the ship. It even looked familiar to Pearl, too. Where did she know this ship from?
The ship's occupants soon emerged to greet the small group of Bismuths waiting for them on the platform. A pair of Ruby guards went first, followed by the Sapphire. She was accompanied by a Pearl of her own: this one was also pink, only her gemstone was on her chest.
"Hey, she sort of looks like me!" Pearl observed.
"She does," said the green Pearl. "But I wonder why she's with that Sapphire. I figured a Sapphire would want a Pearl the same color as her."
"Maybe they met somewhere else, and she took her in," Pearl suggested. After all, she knew from experience that this was a possibility.
Though they couldn't hear what was being said, the Sapphire was conversing with the Bismuths. Soon, the larger Gems walked away, leaving the owner of the Sun Incinerator behind.
"Hmm. Is it just me, or does she seem nervous?" said the blue Pearl, referring to the Sapphire's Pearl.
"It's likely," said the green Pearl. There was a touch of cynicism in her voice.
"Hang on, they all do," observed the red Pearl. "The Sapphire and her Rubies, too. I wonder why?"
"I suppose there's no harm in asking," said Pearl. "Come on, let's go say hello!"
AN: Hi all. Sorry I haven't been posting as often as I usually do. It's not that I'm losing interest in these stories or anything, it's just that I've had some bad writer's block lately. But I can assure you, even if this story is a bit slow coming out, you can bet I'm still doing my best to get it out to you! Anyway, that'll be all for now. Stay tuned!