Missing Peace: Chapter 9
Immediately after Rose Quartz's transmission:
The White House, United States of America:
James Dalton's mind was racing. His members of staff were running about like headless chickens, fielding constant phone calls from various panicked international officials. In a single message, this 'Rose Quartz' had thrown two planets into disarray. In the time since then, Dalton had received no word from the Diamonds. Had Earth been excommunicated in response to what this Russian had done? Or, perhaps more terrifyingly, did the fact that this message had been sent at all mean that the Diamonds had been overthrown?
A good few scenarios were too terrible to consider, so he focused on what was within his influence. He had his staff begin drawing up a public statement to be made later that day, and then turned to bark an order to the nearest person within reach. "Get me Azarov, now."
The Kremlin, Russia:
Sevastien Azarov sat with his head in his hands. He had thought Rozhenko more skilled than to allow himself to be caught like that, and it had blown up in his face. While the agent had at least had the sense to stay silent to the end, it was still blatantly obvious where his orders had come from. Azarov's visit to Homeworld had been public knowledge, meaning the international community was now fully aware that he was responsible for potentially radicalising a powerful alien race against them.
As the pager on his desk sounded, he lifted his head and answered it. "What?" he said irritably.
"Sir, you have a call coming through from the American president".
Azarov sighed. Time to try to salvage this disaster. "Put him through" he said.
Yellow Diamond Control Room, Homeworld:
Yellow sat rigidly at her console, seething with a mixture of rage and apprehension. She allowed her body to loosen up slightly only once she realised she was gripping the arm of her seat so tightly that it had begun to crack under her strength. She and the other Diamonds had taken Steven's advice and released the Rose Quartz, and THIS was how they used their freedom? Taking action behind her back?!
Attempting to calm herself, she let out a deep breath, and then turned to her Pearl. After the Diamonds had agreed to begin reinventing Homeworld's society, Yellow had offered her Pearl the chance to go anywhere on Homeworld that she pleased, but the dainty Gem had expressed a desire to stay with her. Whether that was a genuine desire, or just the result of the extensive mental conditioning Pearls were made with, Yellow didn't know, but she valued still having her assistant around, especially in situations this tense.
"Pearl, try to trace that signal, and bring up the footage from all surveillance robonoids within range."
"Yes My Diamond" her Pearl said obligingly.
"Good, we'll need to-"
Yellow was cut off by the ringtone of her console. She answered the call, and Blue's face appeared on the monitor. Blue never had been one to handle pressure all that well, but today she looked particularly rattled. Before Yellow could get a word out, Blue started talking:
"Yellow, did you see that transmission?!"
"Of course I saw it Blue, it played on every monitor in this fragment". Yellow tried not to snap at Blue when she was obviously so distraught, but it was a stupid question.
"Right, of course." Blue said apologetically. "What do you think we should do? We need to make some sort of statement to our Gems, but I don't know what we could say without making things worse."
As much as Yellow often rolled her eyes at Blue's defeatist attitude, this time she had a point. In the old days, any descent was met with immediate retribution, and a public statement was made making it clear that any other Gems who followed suit would be punished as well.
Now though, Homeworld was a different place. Although it had only been a few weeks since the Diamonds had started loosening their grip on the populace, a great many Gems had already come to enjoy their newfound freedoms. Yellow knew that if she gave the impression that those freedoms might start being curtailed again, she risked amplifying this rebellion to a planetary scale.
On the other hand, if she came across as too weak, and gave the impression she couldn't prevent the humans from breaking the terms of their peace agreement, she risked proving Rose Quartz right in the eyes of any Gems who might be on the fence.
After the millennia the Diamonds had spent demonising the Rose Quartz class, Yellow realised that there must have been many among the Gem people who would be inclined to view Rose as just as powerful and dangerous as any Diamond.
In any case, she had to stop second guessing herself. She had to try something. Calming herself as much as she could, she at last replied to Blue:
"I wish I could give you a concrete answer Blue. Come to my station and we'll put together a plan."
"Alright, I'll see you there" said Blue, deactivating her screen.
Before Yellow even had a chance to gather her thoughts, she heard a rumbling from outside. Walking over to her window, she got there just in time to see White's head ship taking off, and jumping to gravity drive.
"Hmm." Yellow said out loud involuntarily. White must have been going to get Steven involved. "Without bothering to tell us", Yellow finished the thought silently. It seemed that some old habits died hard. Still, perhaps it was good that she was fetching him. He seemed to have a knack for turning seemingly impossible odds into victories. Hopefully he had a better idea of how to fix this than she did…
Author's notes: Well, Rose Quartz's message certainly had an impact, didn't it? How will Earth and Homeworld cope? Can Steven fix a problem this big? Feedback as always is appreciated. I'll see you in the next chapter!