Chapter Eighteen: Beneath Giants

Calceus Spaceport, Low Homeworld Orbit.

The Lone Nephrite's eye looked down at the planet below, which was just beginning to crest over the sun. Only a slim crescent was illuminated as the station's endless rotation continued.

"Nephrite's log, entry number...ah, frack it, I'm the only one who listens to these things anyway," she said into a datascreen. She leaned back in her seat, looking out the window with a bored expression. "Homeworld continues to be beautiful, just like the last couple hundred times I saw it. There's, uh, no problems here, or any day, so uh… Unless you count some Rubies getting into a fistfight a problem. Yeah, me neither. It's not that I'm bored or anything, it's just...actually, scratch that. I am bored, bored out of my gem. Sometimes I wish something would happen around here-"

Just then, an alert started ringing out on the nearby console. Without giving it much thought, the Nephrite rolled her chair over to the console, tapping a button to bring up a screen. An unknown ship without the proper clearance was approaching.

She tapped another button to send a message. "Uh, attention unidentified vessel, you are not currently registered to the database. Please send over your registration numbers so we can, ah, get this show on the road, or whatever…"

The ship, still too far to make out, didn't stop, or even slow down. And no message was sent in return; all that came through the other end was a strange staticky sound. Nephrite continued trying to contact the mystery ship, to no avail.

"Oh, for...Probably irradiated, I'll bet," she muttered. She brought up the video feed, turning the cameras towards the rogue vessel. "Hopefully she at least has the sense to slow down, or else the cannons will...o-oh...oh my stars…"

There was no mistaking now that it was not a Gem ship, but an Interloper one. The Nephrite felt herself freeze up as it sped closer and closer to the planet. The Interlopers had never even attempted to send a ship this close to Homeworld before! Not since the war had begun, at least. Was it lost or something? As she scrambled to contact her superiors about this worrying development, the Nephrite continued talking to herself.

"Alright, so this is a first, but it's no big deal! It's just one ship, it's not like it can do a whole lot of damage!" She noticed that its path seemed to put it on a direct course for the Capital District. And given how fast it was going, it had no intention of slowing down. "Is it trying to crash? But what...no, it's fine, it'll be fine! The cannons will stop it before it gets there!" She ran over to the window to see this for herself.

Some time after Era-2 had begun, an array of defensive satellites had been placed in orbit around Homeworld to prevent any further Interloper attacks. As the carrier drew closer, all nearby satellites automatically aimed their cannons towards it, opening fire. The ship didn't shoot back, or even take evasive maneuvers, only barrelling on forwards. The satellites' weapons tore through its hull, and before long, it was destroyed.

Nephrite watched as the vessel exploded under the sustained barrage. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, she realized that the danger was not past. Out of the explosion came a pair of unidentified objects, which shot past the satellite array and towards Homeworld's surface. Nephrite ran back to the console to contact someone, anyone; the ship hadn't been trying to reach Homeworld, it had been trying to get those objects, whatever they were, down to the planet. This was not going to end well.

Homeworld, Capital District. Surveillance Headquarters, Grand Spymaster's Office.

Nobody spoke. Pearl, Onyx, Tanzanite, and Cairngorm all sat in silence, as Maxixe stared at them from behind her desk. She didn't look angry, per se, but Maxixe rarely did. She certainly looked disappointed, however. Much of this was directed at Cairngorm.

Finally, Maxixe broke the long-lasting silence. "If I could, I would bring this matter up to the Diamonds," she said.

"Um, thank you for not doing that," said Cairngorm, unsure of what she really meant. It means a lot that-wait, why can't you?"

"Because at this moment, they have other things to worry about," Maxixe said. Matters pertaining to the Cluster. It has taken far too long to emerge on its own, and Blue and Yellow Diamond are debating whether or not to go to Earth to retrieve it themselves."

"So...where does that leave us?" asked Pearl.

"It leaves you as my responsibility," said Maxixe. "Of course, by that, I mean I will discuss matters with Goshenite once she returns from her current mission."

"Oh yeah. Speaking of which, where is she?" asked Onyx. "We haven't heard from her since Chiron Beta Prime. Is she doin' alright?"

"We haven't yet contacted her," said Maxixe. "But once we do, or she contacts us, we will decide what to do with-"

A light rumble shook the room. All five of them noticed, looking around in confusion when they felt it. It wasn't that strong, but it was definitely noticeable-like there had been some sort of distant explosion, or an impact of some kind.

"What was that about?" asked Pearl.

"I'm not sure," said Maxixe. "Maybe a quake?"

"Highly unlikely," said Tanzanite. "There has been no recorded evidence of seismic activity on Homeworld for eons." She stood up. "I propose we go investigate."

"Oh, very well," Maxixe said, getting up as well. "But don't think you aren't out of trouble."

"'Course not, 'course not," said Onyx. All of them stepped out the door to see what was happening. A collection of Gems stood around the window outside Maxixe's office, murmuring. They all seemed to be fixated on something going on in the distance.

"What seems to be the issue?" said Maxixe. The Gems were either too transfixed to hear her, or whatever was going on was more important than their superior. Now as curious as they seemed to be, Maxixe glanced out the window to see what they were staring at. "Oh, my…"

At two separate locations in the distance, roughly a mile apart from each other, two gigantic plumes of smoke billowed upwards. "What on Homeworld happened out there?" asked Tanzanite.

"It was the strangest thing," said a Peridot near her. "Everything was normal, and then, all of a sudden, a pair of meteors just falls from out of nowhere!"

"Meteors, huh?" said Pearl. "They must have been pretty big to cause that much damage."

"This doesn't make any sense," said Maxixe. "The defense array should have destroyed any approaching meteors. Something here doesn't add up…"

A gasp of terror from a nearby Gem. "L-look!" she stammered. "S-something's standing up!"

"'Standing up?' What do you mean, 'standing up?'" said Cairngorm.

Looking closer at the impact site, something did indeed seem to be rising up through the smoke. As it slowly became more visible, a head and arms could be clearly seen. Four glowing red eyes shone through the smoke, accompanied by a pair of deep, reverberating groans.

"Holy shard…" said Onyx in disbelief. "T-that's an Apex! What's an Apex doing on Homeworld!?"

"That's not just an Apex, that's two Apexes!" said Cairngorm, pointing over to the second impact site. Pandemonium had more or less broken out in the building, as Gems scrambled to get to safety. The Apexes were still a good ways away, but tall buildings such as this would certainly be their first target.

"Everyone, stay calm!" cried Maxixe. "Quickly, head downstairs and get to a bunker!" She turned to Cairngorm and the others. "You four go with them, I need to gather my forces."

"Wait..." said Pearl, staring out the window. The pair of Apexes had already begun to destroy everything in their path, smashing buildings and swatting at nearby ships. "We need to get over there to help."

After thinking about it for a moment, Onyx agreed. "She's right," she said. "We gotta defend our home. I, for one, can't sit back and watch while these things tear apart the capital!"

Tanzanite and Cairngorm said nothing, but it was clear that they agreed as well. "If you're sure," said Maxixe. "There is a monorail station on the fifteenth floor that should get you closer into the city. Be careful."

"Thanks. Make sure everyone here gets out okay!" said Cairngorm, calling over her shoulder as she and the others hurried downstairs.

"And don't think you're out of trouble just yet!" Maxixe called as they ran.

"Onyx?" asked Tanzanite. "Rushing into danger as we are doing is undeniably brave, but how are we supposed to do any damage to an Apex?"

"Hey, don't look at me, you're the smart one!" said Onyx.

"We'll figure something out!" said Pearl. "We always do, right?"

Nines stared through the ship's viewscreen in horror, watching the destruction below. "We're too late…" she muttered. The Apexes tore the cityscape apart, bashing through anything that got in their way. Ships had already arrived to fend them off, but nothing Homeworld threw at them seemed to do any damage.

Tenrit stepped forward, placing his hand on Nines' shoulder. "No, it's not too late yet," he said. "There still has to be something we can do. Can we get in closer?"

"You want to?" said the Peridot piloting their handship. "If we get close to those things, we're as good as dead! We have to find somewhere quieter to set down."

Topaz examined the console. "This thing's got weapons, don't it? So let's use 'em!"

The Peridot groaned in irritation. "This is only a scout ship! Anything we can throw at it will only get its attention, and we don't want that!"

Down on the surface, specifically on the rooftops, something ran by them, too fast to see anything other than a blur. "Wha-? What was that!?" asked Tenrit. Everyone turned towards the blur, which became easier to see as it rushed towards the Apex.

"T-that's Yellow Diamond!" exclaimed the Peridot. "She's running in to fight that thing herself!"

Sure enough, the unmistakable form of Yellow Diamond, charged with an aura of electricity, sprinted across the rooftops towards the titanic machine. Moving far faster than a being of her size would be expected to, faster even than one much smaller, she hurled herself at the Apex like a bullet; the Apex reeled back when she made contact, a large dent appearing in the side of its head.

Of course, such an impact created a sizable shockwave. A surge of electricity shot through the air, momentarily scrambling the ship's controls. Peridot stabilized it before it could fall to the ground; "Let's find a place to land before this whole city gets torn apart!"

"Agreed!" said Nines. She scanned the ground as the handship hurried away from the destruction, along with many other ships. However, her eyes caught something strange on the ground: four very familiar figures grouped together on a nearby rooftop. "Huh? Is that…?"

She looked closer. Sure enough, the large black shape was undeniably Onyx. The two smaller ones next to her were no doubt Tanzanite and Pearl, but she wasn't sure who the fourth one was. Nevertheless, she called the others over for a look.

"Guys, c'mere! Look isn't that the rest of Emerald's crew? Peridot, hang on, stop here for a moment." Tenrit and Topaz looked down at the rooftops below.

"Yeah, that is them!" said Tenrit. "What're the odds of that?"

"Considering the Interlopers are involved?" said Topaz. "I'd say pretty high, actually."

Nines ran over to the ship's controls. "Peridot, you gotta set us down here! Something tells me those guys have a plan to stop those things!"

The Peridot input some commands into the console. An escape pod appeared behind her. "You can go down there if you want, but I'm going down to the Scorpio district until this all blows over!"

"I'll take it," said Topaz, getting inside the pod. "You two comin', or what?"

Meanwhile, Onyx and the others watched from afar as the Apexes continued their rampage. One of them was locked in combat with Yellow Diamond, but it was too far away to tell how the fight was going, only that massive lightning strikes were coming from that direction. The other Apex ignored its partner's situation, instead focusing on continuing its destruction.

"Alright, let's just assume that Yellow Diamond's got that one handled," said Onyx. "That just leaves us with one Apex to deal with. Which is still a lot, 'cause it's, y'know, an Apex, but it's better than two."

"We are still only four Gems," said Tanzanite. "We have no ship, an Apex is far beyond even our collective powers to damage, and we have no plan. Are you certain we should even be here?"

"It's not like hiding will make it go away any faster," Pearl said. "We have to do something, even if it doesn't help much…"

"Hey, guys? I think we've got incoming," said Cairngorm.

"Eh? What sort of incoming?" asked Onyx. Cairngorm pointed up at a handship hovering overhead, out of which came an escape pod. The pod hovered down towards them, landing on the same rooftop.

The orb split open, revealing Topaz, Nines, and Tenrit within. "You guys look like you could use a hand!" said Topaz.

"Oh, it's you!" said Pearl. "Thank the stars you're here! Right now, we could use all the help we can get!" She looked at them for a moment. "...wait, where's Goshenite?"

"Probably still back on Gozyos-IV," said Tenrit. "We ran into some trouble there, that's actually where those two came from. We followed them here, and Goshenite stayed behind to deal with the others."

"It's been an interesting couple of days," said Nines. "You wouldn't believe some of the stuff we've been through!"

"Yeah, same here," Cairngorm said. "But right now, I think we should probably focus on more pressing matters…" She pointed with her thumb at the twin Apexes.

"Good idea," Nines said. She and the others joined Onyx's group, looking at the chaos going on in the distance. "So, what's the plan?"

"Funny you should ask," said Tanzanite. "We were attempting to formulate one just as you arrived."

"You mean...we don't have a plan?" said Topaz. Pearl shook her head. "Well that's just great! How're a couple o' Gems like us supposed to deal with an Apex!?"

She raised a good point. Not even the sustained barrage from the ships were doing much to slow the titanic Interlopers down. There wasn't much the seven of them could do, even with a plan.

"I mean, just look at that!" Topaz continued, gesturing towards the furthest Apex. "If even Yellow Diamond is having trouble killing one, what're we supposed to do!?"

"Look, we'll think of something," said Onyx. She didn't sound too sure, though. "If we all work together, we can-"

"We can do what, exactly?" snapped Topaz. "You wanna just waltz up to that thing and blast it with the giant laser you don't have? You're not White Diamond, you know!"

Suddenly, Pearl was struck with an idea. "White Diamond," she said quietly. Her gaze turned outward into the city, onto a building not far from where the Apexes were rampaging. The Diamond pavilion, where three of their ships resided. And that included White Diamond's, which she never left. "Guys, I know what to do! We're not strong enough to beat them...but I know who is!" She pointed towards the ship.

"What, White Diamond?" Cairngorm said skeptically. "She probably could, but she never even leaves her landing pad."

"Which is why we'll lure the Apex up to the pavilion!" said Pearl. "That way, she'd have to take care of it!"

"...Unorthodox, but I suppose it is worth a try," said Tanzanite. "How do we proceed?"

"Yeah, we don't even have a ship," said Tenrit. "Prooobably should have thought of that before we jumped off the old one…"

Pearl smiled. "Where we're going, we don't need a ship!" Her gemstone lit up, and she produced the bubble containing Emerald's gem. She popped it, and Emerald's body began to reform. Before long, the Supreme Admiral-turned-monster stood before them.

Emerald let out a mighty skyward roar upon being freed. Topaz, being unacquainted with Emerald's transformation, staggered back away from her. Nines and Tenrit seemed similarly apprehensive, only less so. Once the sight of the Apexes in the distance caught her eye, Emerald growled, looking like she was going to run towards them.

"My Emerald, wait!" said Pearl. She stood next to her, gently stroking her mane. "Calm down, it's okay, it's okay." Gradually, Emerald calmed, but never took her eyes off of the distant Interlopers. "There, that's good."

Cairngorm, like the others, had retreated to a safe distance. "Uh, Pearl? What exactly is your plan here?"

"Step one: get it's attention." Pearl, moving slowly so as to not upset her, climbed onto Emerald's back. "Step two: lead it towards the pavilion." She sat down near Emerald's neck, holding on to her mane. "And step three: let White Diamond take it from there!"

"Pearl, wait!" Nines ran up to her. "You can't just throw yourself into harm's way like this! You need a backup plan!"

"Here's the backup plan," Pearl said. "The rest of you go and get the Soul Evaporator. If I can't stop this thing, the Decimator can."

"You cannot be serious!" said Tanzanite. "This is not a strategy, this is a diversion, one destined to end in failure-Pearl, I implore you to reconsider!"

"Sorry, everyone," said Pearl. "But I've made up my mind… My Emerald! Go!" Emerald ran down the roof, leaping towards the next one over.

"Wait! Don't do this!" Onyx ran after her, but Emerald was too fast, travelling nearly a block by the time she got to the other end of the rooftop. Pearl hung on as tightly as she could, but Emerald was careful to keep the ride as smooth as she could. Not that leaping from roof to roof was smooth, but she was making an effort.

The beast and her rider flew closer to the Apex. As they traveled, Pearl could see the battle going on in the distance: not only lightning strikes, but now also waves and beams of blue energy kept the machine at bay. It would seem Yellow's sister had joined the fray. Blue and Yellow are destroying one, and White will destroy the other, Pearl thought.

At last, they had reached their target. Now all that remained was to get it's attention. That, and leading it to the pavilion without being smashed, of course. "Okay, My Emerald, we need to get it to notice us," Pearl said. "Do you think you can do that?"

Emerald growled in reply. She made her way up to the tallest building in the area, where she whipped a flurry of spines from her tail towards Apex's head. Despite being unable to pierce through its armor, the spines did make it pause. Emerald let out a loud roar just to seal the deal.

Sure enough, the Apex turned to face them, a booming drone splitting the air as though in reply to Emerald's roar. "Now go, Emerald!" shouted Pearl. "To the Diamond pavilion, as fast as you can go!" Emerald took off running, and not a moment too soon, as the Apex reached up to smash the building they had been standing on. A cloud of debris filled the air just inches behind them. Pearl clung to Emerald tighter than ever as she rushed to their destination.

While she didn't quite slow down, Emerald did pause momentarily to fire more spines towards the Apex, but only when she felt they were at a safe distance, to make sure it didn't lose interest. It certainly didn't, throwing buildings aside and crashing through bridges to crush the pesky Gem who kept poking it. Pearl quietly hoped it wasn't smart enough to catch on to their plan.

And while it may not have been, it was certainly smart enough to realize that Emerald was faster than it. The Apex opted for a different strategy, raising its arm towards the pair. A blaster had taken the place of its hand, glowing steadily brighter with red energy. A powerful pulse was shot towards them.

The rooftop exploded just seconds after Emerald had leapt off. Although the initial blast had missed, the explosion hadn't. Pearl felt the heat wash over them, throwing them onto another rooftop. Emerald took the brunt of the impact, turning herself so that she cushioned Pearl as the pair landed.

Pearl looked up to see the Apex preparing to fire another shot. Its cannon glowed as it charged up. Emerald struggled to her feet, but there was no chance she could make it in time. Pearl closed her eyes. But while she heard an explosion, she didn't feel one. She opened her eyes, seeing that something had impacted the Apex from behind. She looked towards the source, and…

"Goshenite!" she cried. There, in the skies above them, was the Xenocide, looking quite banged-up, but still airworthy. The ship's main cannons fired another volley, blasting away at the Apex. "My Emerald, it's Goshenite!" She leapt up and down, waving her arms to get the white Gem's attention. "Over here! Goshenite, follow us!"

Emerald, having gotten back up, scooped Pearl back onto her back once more, before sending another barrage of spines towards the Apex. She resumed her journey, continuing to lure it towards White Diamond's ship. Thankfully, as it now seemed to be more interested in the Xenocide, Goshenite followed in the same direction. The Apex gave chase. It fired more blasts, but all of these were at Goshenite rather than Emerald. She had ample time and space to dodge.

"There it is!" shouted Pearl, pointing up. "Just a little longer, My Emerald!" The corrupted Gem continued on her path, but soon found that there was no easy way up. The wall before them was too tall to climb, and there were no footholds to grab onto. Behind them, the Apex grew closer and closer. Emerald grew agitated, trying futilely to ascend the wall. "Hold on, My Emerald, we just need to…" But Pearl wasn't sure what they needed to do. That was until she heard a noise behind them.

She turned around to see the Xenocide hovering beside them; or rather, just a small bit below them. From this angle, it would be easy for Emerald to climb on…

"My Emerald! There!" said Pearl, directing her with a point. Emerald quickly jumped on top of the vessel, which ascended over the wall to the next layer of the city. The Apex was close behind, taking a swing at the ship, thankfully missing.

Goshenite was careful to keep the ship level so her passengers wouldn't fall off. Unfortunately, this meant that she had to move slower. This, of course, meant that their pursuer was able to catch up. The Apex easily climbed over the wall up to the next layer, and like that, it was upon them. It swung its giant arm, swiping the ship out of the sky like a gnat.

In truth, it had only clipped the back of the Xenocide, but that was enough to send it into a tailspin. Pearl clung to Emerald, and Emerald's claws raked down the length of the ship as she desperately tried to avoid being thrown off. As the ship careened down, Emerald, seeing an opportunity, leapt from the falling vessel to a nearby rooftop. It was a rough landing; she and Pearl rolled to a stop, thankfully before they reached the edge. The Xenocide flew past them, back towards the lower levels.

"Goshenite!" cried Pearl, reaching an arm out towards the falling ship. But she had bigger problems to worry about: the Apex grew nearer, its eyes fixed on Emerald's fallen form. Pearl tried to pull her up; "My Emerald, we have to go, now! Please, please, stand up!" Emerald struggled to do so, having taken quite a bit of damage from the two falls. Pearl looked up at the approaching giant. But, just behind it, she was something else.

They had made it to the city's upper level. Which put them parallel with the Diamond pavilion. Behind the Apex, Pearl could see White Diamond's ship slowly turning, rotating its head to face the Interloper. As the Apex raised its arm towards Pearl and Emerald, a bright white glow appeared on the ship's forehead. Pearl shielded her eyes from whichever came first.

A loud drone split the air as a flash of light illuminated the city for miles around. Pearl could hear metal rend above her as White Diamond's attack tore through the Apex. When the light subsided, she looked up just in time to see it, much of its upper body now vaporized, stumble back, and fall down to the lower levels.

For a few moments, Pearl simply sat in silence, catching her breath after their harrowing escape. Which is when Emerald, lying beside her, gently licked her cheek. Pearl laughed, throwing her arms around the beast. "Yeah, I'm glad you're okay, too!"

Down in the lower levels, Goshenite crawled out of the Xenocide. "And I just got this thing repaired, too!" she groaned. "Not well, but still…" She looked up at the fallen Apex, content that Homeworld was at least safe. For now.

Speaking of which, she noticed that the other Apex had fallen not far from where she had landed. Blue and Yellow Diamond stood atop its inert form, arguing about something. Goshenite was never one to eavesdrop, not that she could hear them very well at this distance, but one thing she could make out was Yellow saying that she was going to retrieve the Cluster herself. Given that the argument stopped just then, it seemed that Blue agreed.

Goshenite's Residence.

"...And you're certain that it obtained this information?" asked Goshenite.

"Positive," replied Maxixe, seated across from her. "According to Cairngorm, the Raptor was able to successfully break through our firewalls. She managed to destroy it before it could download everything, but it was able to send what it did to the Oculus. Heliodor has already recorded that the Interloper activity in the Mieren system has increased drastically."

Goshenite shot an angry glance over at Pearl, Tanzanite, Onyx, and Cairngorm, who stood at the other end of the room. "Have they gotten close to Giganova's actual location?"

Maxixe thought for a moment. "Not close enough to warrant a panic, not yet," she said. "But I fear that it may soon come to that."

"And what is it that you recommend I do?" asked Goshenite. "Going there myself might give away its position."

"I recommend we wait for Heliodor to contact us," Maxixe said. "If she needs your assistance, she'll say so. Of course, something like that will probably be a last resort."

"Most likely," Goshenite said, nodding. "Of course, there's still the matter of Teptromina's tracking of my location."

"Oh?" said Maxixe. "You neglected to mention anything about a tracker. What is that about?"

"Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure," Goshenite said. "Somehow, in addition to that little episode on Chiron Beta Prime, Teptromina was somehow able to find me twice afterwards. I had the Xenocide combed for any tracking devices, but nothing was found." She stood up, walking towards the other room. "Zoisite did mention that she found something, though. I should ask her."

Before Goshenite could do so, however, the front door slid open, and one of her Milky Quartzes entered. "M-my Goshenite!" she said, sounding near-hysterical. "I-it-we…"

Goshenite, taken aback, turned to face this new visitor. "What is this about?" she asked. "You can't just barge in here and-"

"I'm sorry, My Goshenite, but it's urgent!" said the Quartz. She sounded shaken up, and stared ahead with unfocused eyes. "I-it's about t-the Diamonds, and Earth, and…" She trailed off into silence, seemingly lost in thought.

The other Gems present, curious, made their way over. "Easy there, Quartz," said Maxixe. "There's news? Can you tell us the news?"

The Milky Quartz nodded. "W-W-White Diamond just r-recieved a communication from them," she stammered. "They…"

"Did they retrieve the Cluster?" asked Goshenite.

"No…" she said, falling quiet again.

"Then what did-"

"Goshenite, please!" said Maxixe. "Now, what did the communication say?" she asked the Quartz.

"I-it said...they found Pink Diamond."

Everyone was silent. "What…?"

"Pink Diamond. T-they found her. She's alive…"