Missing Peace: Chapter 37
Yellow Diamond arm ship, somewhere in space:
Yellow sat, hunched forward in her chair, staring intently at the viewscreen. She and the rest of the fleet were lying in wait outside of the Human Zoo's star system at Steven's request. He hadn't wanted them to get any closer out of fear of alerting Facet 31 to their approach, so he and his ship had gone in alone. Yellow kept telling herself that should he call for help, her ships could be there to assist him in a matter of minutes, but somehow that didn't make the sitting around any easier. She hated waiting, especially when there was a potential threat sitting just a few billion miles away.
Absent-mindedly, she took another sip from the cup of coffee which she had stored in a small depression in the arm of her chair. Steven had introduced her to the liquid during the visit to Earth to cure the corrupted Gems, and, when she had taken a liking to it, had given her a large supply to take home (along with a cup that fit her size, which his Bismuth friend had thrown together). Since then she'd been pretty much living off the stuff. She understood that humans often used the substance to stave off the lengthy period of unconsciousness that they had to take part in on a daily basis. Of course, as a Gem she didn't tire like humans, and so had no need of this effect. Still, she did enjoy the buzz it gave.
She was relieved when she received a signal from the vessel Steven was using. For one, it meant he was still in one piece, and secondly, it meant that she might actually have something to do. Ordering one of her bridge officers to put the signal through, she rose from her chair as an image appeared on the main viewscreen. Steven had tapped the fleet into what his ship was seeing, and it was a bizarre sight indeed. The Human Zoo had been…modified in some way. About 40% of its surface was covered in clumsily bolted-on additions, which looked as though they were all derived from components of Gem ships. But why? What point was there in upgrading a floating zoo?
Sun Incinerator, approaching Human Zoo:
"Alright, it doesn't look like they've detected us yet. How're we gonna do this?" Lars asked, turning to Steven. Steven wasn't sure why everyone still seemed to turn to him with these questions, but this time he did have an idea.
"Pearl, didn't you say that with the power off, Gem ships in the rings wouldn't show up on sensors?"
"Well, yes…" replied Pearl, "but I don't see how that helps us. We can't exactly fly in there with the power off."
"Maybe we can" said Lars, a grin forming on his face. "Rutile twins, do you think you two could pilot us through the rings on minimal power?"
The two Rutiles looked at each other for a moment, before nodding and turning back to the group. "We should be able to do it." "We can use the asteroids' gravity to direct us through the rings; only use thrusters when we have to."
"Good" said Steven, "because we're gonna have to get close enough to get on board that…thing." He wasn't sure whether to even call it the zoo anymore; he sincerely doubted that Facet 31 was planning to use it for conservation. Either way, he and the others would have to get on board. Whether he could get through to Rose Quartz or not, they still had to save the human hostages, and, ideally, retake the entire zoo. If worst did come to worst, and they ended up having to destroy the zoo, he and the others would just have to ferry the humans back to Earth, and hope they could adjust somehow. But the zoo's humans had spent generations there; it was their home more than Earth was, so Steven wanted to avoid having to relocate them if possible.
"Ok" said Rutile, "taking us in." "Switching to minimal power settings." The twins put the Sun Incinerator on an entry trajectory, and then shut down the vessel's generator. The main lights shut off, and the bridge was bathed in the dim brown light of the planet outside. The Rutiles piloted the small craft deftly, using the gravity of the various objects in the rings to turn the ship. Li held on to the wall firmly. Luckily 'minimal power settings' still allowed for the ship's artificial gravity to stay on, but it did feel a little lighter than it had. He wondered how long it was likely to take them to complete their navigation. If all the ship's systems were set to minimum, then that would include the life support, so he sincerely hoped that the pilots could complete their task before he and the other humans on the ship started running low on heat or air.
As the Incinerator drifted silently through the ring system, its occupants stared out at the sea of metallic rocks outside the viewing ports. Every once in a while they would pass a Facet 31 ship, powered down and floating statically in the rings. They were acutely aware that while the Incinerator was invisible to sensors for the moment, all it would take for them to be spotted is for the occupants of one of those other ships to look out of the window. Fortunately, it seemed unlikely that many of the ships were occupied at all. Many seemed to be missing armour plating, or even their thrusters. Clearly much of Facet 31's fleet had been scavenged to augment the zoo. Steven was once again unsettled by the thought of it. What could be so important that Facet 31 considered it worth crippling their own defensive capabilities over?
As the Incinerator came close to the zoo, the Rutiles bumped the ship into one of the asteroids as gently as they could, bringing it to a stop and knocking everyone off their feet. Once he had got back up, Steven stared out of the main viewscreen. The zoo loomed over them so closely now that it wasn't possible to see it all.
"Alright, that's as close as we're gonna get." Said Garnet authoritatively. "Everybody who's boarding get ready to head over."
As everyone busied themselves getting any equipment they'd need, Li took the opportunity to grab the necessary items from his briefcase, making sure that no-one's attention was on him. Connie meanwhile, fetched her sword from a large duffel bag, and Peridot snatched up her tablet and Velcroed it onto her arm. Dalton examined a rather scuffed pistol. It had accompanied him through many a dangerous situation before, and while he doubted it would be of any use against Gems, it felt better to be safe than sorry. He slipped it into his jacket and went to join the others.
Once everyone had their things, everyone except Lars and the Off Colours (who were staying behind provide a getaway if necessary) made their way to the Incinerator's exit hatch. Steven formed a bubble around himself, Connie, Dalton, and Li. "Ok Lars" he said into a rather childish-looking walky-talky, "now!" On his order, the rear hatch slid open, and the gang were blown out towards the zoo.
The trip over wasn't much more fun than the first time Steven had attempted it, during the battle with Facet 31's fleet, but it was the only way anyone could think of to get over. They couldn't exactly dock with the zoo right now; not without alerting Facet 31. They collided with the side of the zoo with a gentle thud, everyone grabbing on to any piece of metal they could in order to stop themselves. Garnet and Bismuth caught Steven's bubble to prevent it from bouncing off into space. They had positioned the Incinerator so that their trajectory would bring them close to an airlock, but they still had to crawl precariously along the side of the zoo for a short while to reach it. Once they had made it, Peridot crawled up to the airlock's outer panel.
"Peridot" asked Steven from inside his bubble "you got this?"
"Of course!" Peridot shot back confidently, as she plugged her tablet into the panel via what looked like a USB cable. "What sort of genius would I be if I couldn't hack some archaic Era-1 tech?" She tapped a few commands into her tablet and the airlock slid open. Peridot was almost blown away as it did; presumably she had forgotten to depressurise it first. Lapis caught her by the leg with her free hand, and pulled her back to the wall. Peridot gave a nervous laugh and looked sheepishly at the others. "Er… right this way!"
Once they group had packed themselves inside the airlock (very tightly, given how many of them there were), Peridot pressurized it, and Steven finally released his bubble. Connie, Dalton, and Li slumped to the floor, grateful that that particular part of the mission was over. As the airlock's inner door slid open, Pearl briefly poked her head out to scout the hallway, before giving the all-clear to the group. They all knew what they had to do, and where they were going. Thanks to schematics provided by the Diamonds during the planning of the mission, they knew the layout of the zoo, though there was no guarantee that Facet 31's modifications hadn't altered it somewhat. Pearl was to lead 'team 1', consisting of herself and Amethyst, to rescue the human hostages. Dalton and Li would accompany her, as the UN had made matters concerning humans their priority. Garnet, meanwhile, was to lead 'team 2', consisting of herself, Lapis, and Peridot, to seize control of key areas of the zoo. Steven's 'team 3', naturally consisting of himself, Connie, and Bismuth, was to directly confront Rose Quartz, once they received the signal from team 1 to indicate that the hostages were out of harm's way.
The three teams split off in the corridor, gave each other a final, earnest nod, and headed off to their separate targets. As Steven ran through the pink metallic corridors; corridors he had seen through Rose's eyes not too long ago, he resolved that things would go differently this time. This time, he would get through to her. This time, nobody else was going to get hurt…