I don't think I've been this excited for the upcoming chapters since I started writing this thing.
When Rose travelled to the small human hamlet, the Gems learned of a "cursed place". A deep trough in the rolling hills emerged with the departure of the winter; the local humans believed evil would flow forth from its gaping maw. This place would devour those foolish enough to go near. At first, Pearl and Rose believed the cursed hill to be Homeworld mischief, but it was not so.
After a good deal of persuasion, a few humans led Rose to the place-a hole 20 feet wide, nestled amongst strange stone carvings. A strong draft issued forth, scraping against the rough tunnel sides, creating eerie noises. Squeaks, chirps, and a steady low-pitched howling-Pearl could see how a superstitious human might think the hole led to a demon's nest. Rose entered without a thought. Pearl followed, and that marked the discovery of the Grid Cave.
Pearl suspected that unless entered by Lion's teleportation or by the hole in the ground, the Grid Cave did not exist where it should. She had sent a probe down into the ground above where the cave system should have been, but found nothing but good soil.
Down an impossibly long, impossibly vertical shaft, the Grid Cave opened up into a system of gray rock paths on either side of a massive black chasm. Unseen lights always illuminated the cave, casting an even light that seemed to remove the shadows from the paths. Every here and there, strange copper and bronze-colored machines lay embedded into the walls. Pipes snaked between the machines, diving in and out of the cave walls. Rose had never elaborated on the machines' purpose, although Pearl knew she wanted to investigate someday.
Rose sealed the tunnel with one of the strangely-carved stones flanking the hole, and applied a sealant and lock to ensure only Gems could open that hole. The humans celebrated the removal of the evil, and Rose celebrated the discovery of a new means of transportation-unlike a warp pad, this cave's teleportation did not leave a detectable trace and could teleport a great many more objects than a warp pad at once.
At the end of the cave lay a dazzling white hole. All one had to do was think of a destination, and one would be ejected at that place. You could exit to wherever you pleased. Rose doted upon the dreary cavern. Sometimes, she would station whole battalions at the sealed entrance of the cavern, to be teleported into the middle of Homeworld's armies.
pOutside of Rose's pyramid (the humans had built one just for her), Lion had arrived to teleport away Pearl and her fellow Commanders to the Grid Cave. Just before they set out, Garnet asked Lion: "Is the informant waiting for us?"/p
Lion nodded. Pearl scowled. "Of course she is! She's completely trustworthy! I trained her myself!"
Garnet said, "I wasn't doubting your informant, Pearl. I meant to ask if Lion had teleported her and her materials to the entrance yet."
Pearl let the matter drop.
Once inside the cave, Pearl brought up the rear of their party, brandishing her spear and a stabilizer case. Most often employed by spies, a stabilizer could be used to assume and maintain a detailed transformation for a long time.
At the end of the caverns, her informant awaited them. Accompanying the informant, only just behind her, lay several gray blurs, obscured by the white fog pouring from the exit. Pearl did not need to know what the things were to realize there lay the vehicles to victory.
Such an opportunity would never arise again. The Crystal Commanders had met Pink Diamond once in battle, and she had laid waste to the lands, flora and fauna, ignoring the soldiers and the commanders. The appearance of Pink Diamond had been alarming. Up until now, Blue Diamond the Aristocrat had been heading Earth operations. Her activities on Earth mainly revolved around defeating the Rebels as quickly as possible, without destroying the colony.
Blue Diamond had made several mistakes, however, chief among them allowing the Rebels to steal away a prized Sapphire and losing many Homeworld-grown soldiers. Did Pink Diamond's personal appearance on Earth mean she had taken control over the Earth Rebellion?
Pink Diamond's appearance on Earth could foretell a change of leadership, one which would make defending from Homeworld all the harder. The Rebellion had enough trouble with Homeworld's soldiers; a Diamond herself could not be allowed to enter the fray. Whatever Rose's personal attachments and mixed feelings were, Pink Diamond needed to be dealt with. Perhaps killed, perhaps not. But she could not be left with free rein.
Pearl felt disgusted. Thinking back to before Rose and Pearl had broken away from Homeworld, Rose had been very close to Pink Diamond. She more she dwelled on the subject, the more instances she could draw up from her memory. Rose carrying around Pink Diamond's stuff, Rose just tagging along as Pink Diamond gave orders and made personal visits to the soldiers (who all were emso happy/em to their beloved emtyrant/em), Rose just standing around and gazing at Pink Diamond just as Pearl gazed at Rose.
Garnet did not wish to believe that Rose had any more loyalty to Pink Diamond, but knew this was not exactly true. She chose a middle ground-though Rose may still love Pink Diamond, Rose would always do the right thing in the end. After all…her love for Pink Diamond had not stopped her from punching holes in Blue Diamond's rule over Earth or from rebelling in the first place. Therefore, Rose had another reason for being hesitant to strike against Pink Diamond directly.
Biggs Jasper did not have any opinion. There was never a doubt in the stolid Agate's mind-whatever Rose decided, she would do. And that was that. Surely, as Rose's trusted Commanders, they could solve a problem that Rose could not bring herself to solve.
Crazy Lace felt happy from the bottom of her heart. Rose had always been such a softie, easily pushed around (in her opinion, at least). Although Crazy Lace did have to give her Commander some leeway. The disappearance of Bismuth had hit them all hard-Crazy Lace especially. The two often thought alike.
Antimony, leading the party, knew that Rose and Pink Diamond had been very close. Like Pearl, she had tagged along behind Rose for the longest; unlike Pearl, she had followed Rose and Pink Diamond one night. She had heard how Rose tried to persuade Pink Diamond to join her against the other Diamonds.
Of course it did not work.
In any case, Antimony reasoned, it is easy to avoid a problem, but when the problem goes thundering through your camps and excavates a chunk of Earth the size of a meteorite blast, it can be avoided no longer.
Bismuth had once told Antimony of a special weapon she had been making. "We'll give those Diamonds another taste of what's coming to them!" Bismuth had said. Antimony had expressed her severe doubt that Rose would sanction such a plan-Rose did not enjoy killing. Bismuth had scoffed, and told Antimony to just wait. Bismuth had died before she could finish her project.
Her death had affected all the Crystal Gems, especially Rose, and Pink Diamond's sudden appearance had exacerbated the problem. Rose had withdrawn deep into her pyramid, trying to come up with a way to triumph against Homeworld without killing her "dearest friend" or needlessly destroying Homeworld soldiers.
The Commanders had let Rose stew by herself. Now, though, Pearl and Antimony proposed to them all that they take matters into their own hands. Rose would thank them later.
One morning, Antimony and the other commanders clustered at Rose's pyramid, to force her to make a decision. Rose had once tried to assassinate Blue Diamond, and had been driven back. Rose had infiltrated the heart of Blue Diamond's entourage, but Pearl had learned of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a clear shot at Pink Diamond.
In light of this, Pearl made their situation clear to Rose: Pink Diamond could no longer live. No other Diamond had ever descended personally to ravage the Earth. Pink Diamond's first attack had destroyed a massive chunk of the Earth, and dealt a terrible blow to the soldiers' morale. The Crystal Gems would not tolerate any more blows against the planet they swore to protect. It was time for Pink Diamond disappear.
Rose shot that down immediately. "No. If I have more time, I can think of a way to capture Pink Diamond. We don't have to shatter her!"
Antimony sighed. "Rose, you know that's not feasible."
Garnet uncrossed her arms, and asked Rose: "Why do you not want us to kill her so badly, Rose?"
Rose ground her teeth together. "I don't want to capture her out of any softer feelings. My chief concern is that if we assassinate Pink Diamond, the Diamonds will retaliate against us. Their desire to kill us all will outweigh their desire to keep this colony intact."
Rose continued, "I believe that the Diamonds have something else up their sleeve, a last resort."
Pearl proclaimed, "No matter what ace they have, we can still destroy the Diamonds and win this war!" An idea popped into her head, and she continued: "Pink Diamond has come down because Blue Diamond has been suffering a string of defeats. We can't afford to let this opportunity go!"
Rose sighed. "I can't help but feel like this is the wrong thing to do."
Antimony poked Pearl in the ribs. Time for Plan Two. Antimony stepped right under her Rose's nose. She was so short, Rose had to bend her head down to properly see her. Rose's shaded eyes bored into Antimony's compound eyes - from up close, Antimony could see how tired and miserable her Commander was. "Let us capture her, Rose! We will try our best, but if we can't, we'll just hurt her so bad, she'll have to return to Homeworld! After all, didn't you and Pearl nearly capture Blue Diamond?"
Rose thought a minute. "Pink Diamond and Blue Diamond are two different Gems, with different strengths and weaknesses."
"Besides, we don't know when she will return to Earth. Didn't she leave Earth after her rampage?" She looked to Crazy Lace for confirmation. "I find that to be odd."
Pearl decided to reveal their new information. "Rose, we have a chance to gain access to Pink Diamond all by herself, without her normal bodyguards or retainers. I have an informant, very close to Pink Diamond, My informant has told us that Pink Diamond is coming to Earth again, and will arrive within ten hours."
"What?" asked Rose, sharp as a whip.
Garnet spoke, "Exactly! No matter how powerful Pink Diamond is, we can still capture her if she's by herself! A Lone Diamond is no match for all Crystal Commanders at once."
After an hour of deliberation, Rose allowed all the Crystal Commanders to capture, cripple, or at last resort only, kill, Pink Diamond. Rose herself elected to stay behind in her pyramid. Pearl had wanted to surprise Pink Diamond-the Diamond had to have as little time to prepare for an attack as possible. Therefore, if Rose had gone herself, Rose would have approached Pink Diamond, occupying her while the rest of the Commanders jumped Pink Diamond.
That was eight hours ago. Now, the Commanders had mobilized, and were ready to infiltrate the base Pink Diamond would be landing at.
To be honest, while Pearl favored killing Pink Diamond without too much fuss, she didn't mind entertaining the idea of capturing her. The Tyrant Diamond did not have to die for Rose's sake, although Pearl would happily shatter her at a moment's notice.
The informant marched up to Pearl, addressing her directly. Arriving at the end of tunnel, the informant concealed them all in her cargo, and escorted them out of the Cave. On the informant's signal, all of them would leave their hiding places, and approach Pink Diamond.
Whether Pink Diamond died, sustained crippling wounds, or fell into their hands, it would surely be a crushing, humiliating defeat for the Diamonds.