Missing Peace: Chapter 18
Facet 31 hideout, Homeworld:
Ruby was led down a series of narrow passages between the towering buildings of Homeworld. The route made so many twists and turns in the few minutes they were walking that she couldn't tell how far they'd actually travelled.
After a while, they came to a hatch, hidden in an isolated alleyway. Clambering down into it, she saw that it led to a series of dim tunnels, cut into the crystalline earth. She stared at her surroundings for just a moment, before being pulled along by the rest of the Rubies.
After a few more minutes navigating the tunnels (and having taken a few wrong turns due to Rubies not being especially good navigators), they finally came to their destination. The tunnels opened out into one large chamber. The sight was unmistakeable. This was one of the huge underground kindergartens which had spawned the first known generation of Gems.
A large crowd was gathered in the centre of the chamber. The crowd was made up of about half Rose Quartz, half other types of Gem. Some were wearing Facet 31 uniforms, and others, more recently recruited, were still in their Diamond jumpsuits. Once Ruby and her group had pushed their way to the front, she was able to see what the crowd had gathered around. A stage made out of old mechanical parts had been erected, with banners displaying the Facet 31 emblem hung on the wall behind it.
The crowd fell into silence as Rose Quartz approached the stage.
"My fellow Gems" Rose began, her voice amplified by some piece of unseen technology. "Thank you all for coming. I know many of you must be scared, what with the changes our world has been undergoing these past few weeks. But fear not, for Facet 31 will put a stop to this degradation of our empire!
We gave the Diamonds millennia of our service, and what did they do in return? They stabbed us in the back in favour of some organics from an insignificant colony world! I know that everyone is this room came here because they feel the same way."
A ripple of mutters and nods of agreement moved through the crowd. Steven could see and hear it all through Ruby's surveillance device. He had known that befriending the Diamonds wouldn't change the minds of all of Homeworld, but it still wasn't easy to actually see a room full of Gems discussing their shared hatred of humans.
Rose continued: "So I ask of you: who will join us in the fight to return our world to its former glory?!"
Approving roars erupted from various parts of the crowd, including the group Ruby had come with, but various Gems throughout the crowd looked a lot less sure.
One piped up "You're actually suggesting we fight the Diamonds?! That's suicide!"
Rose didn't seem fazed. "The Diamonds have lost their teeth. Surely you've all seen that over the last few weeks. They're too scared to use any force out of fear of driving away their new human pets." She practically spat that last word; there was that much disgust in her voice. "Besides, I'm not proposing a war of attrition. We'll get in, strike, and get out before the Diamonds, or the Humans, have a chance to stop us."
Again the crowd erupted in cheers. Rose clearly knew how to command a room as easily as she commanded an army.
"If anyone still isn't willing to trust me on this, I won't blame any of you for leaving now, but to those who stay: know that Facet 31 will keep you safe. So, make your choice."
She paused for about a minute. A few Gems trickled away, but the vast majority remained, with eager looks on their faces.
"Why would she let them leave like that?" Pearl wondered out loud. "Surely she must know any one of them could potentially tell the Diamonds what she's planning."
White had already been sitting curled up to get a look at the screen, but now she curled herself even more tightly into a ball. The look on her face was a mixture of understanding and terror. Steven looked up at her concerned. Meeting his gaze, White finally answered:
"It means they're making their move right now."
On the screen, Rose turned to her new recruits. "Thank you all for joining us. Now, let's waste no more time. We'll send you all where you need to go."
The screen became almost blindingly bright as everyone in the kindergarten was enveloped in a warp column and disappeared.
"Where did they go?" yelped Connie.
"Ruby, can you show us where you are?" Steven said into his own earpiece. He knew she couldn't answer without being exposed, but she could at least look around to show them her surroundings.
As the image showing Ruby's view scanned across her metallic yellow surroundings, Pearl gasped:
"That's the inside of an era 1 Gem ship."
Just then, the ground began to rumble. The second screen which showed the city around them told them that this was happening for miles around. Before they even had the chance to wonder what was going on, large cracks began to open up throughout the city, exposing portions of the kindergarten beneath.
On the screens, Steven and the others watched as the ship emerged from one of the cracks. It was joined by dozens more; mostly beaten-up yellow era 1 saucers, but with a few more modern ships, including a green Destiny-class destroyer.
"They were amassing an entire fleet under our noses" White said quietly in disbelief. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and quickly brought up another screen to her left.
Yellow's face appeared on the screen. "White, what's happening?. We-"
"Get Blue and scramble both of your fleets, now!" White blurted out.
"What? What's happening down there?"
"Just do it!"
Yellow looked shocked, but gave a quick nod and closed the transmission.
The Facet 31 fleet was hovering over the city, waiting as the last of its members freed themselves from the kindergarten. Sapphire grabbed Steven's hand.
"Steven, Ruby is on one of those ships. We can't let them leave the system!"
"I know" replied Steven, trying to take command of the situation. "White, can we follow them?" White nodded as a layer of light formed around her head, and her ship lifted off.
The Facet 31 fleet was now climbing higher into the sky, preparing to leave the atmosphere. White laid in a pursuit course, as Yellow and Blue's ships (as well as a sizeable fleet of hand ships and roaming eyes), fell into formation behind them.
This was exactly the situation Steven had wanted to avoid. He was sick of everything always ending in fighting. But he wasn't about to let Facet 31 accomplish whatever they were planning to do, and he certainly wasn't going to leave Ruby with them.
The view of the Facet 31 fleet grew larger on the monitor as the Diamonds' fleet caught up. One way or another, this had to stop here…