Retrieval
Homeworld Retrieval Fleet
"The retrieval fleet is operational,"said Blue Diamond proudly.
The two Diamonds were in the bridge of the flagship. Though it was the largest ship in the fleet it was by no means roomy for the tyrants. The ship had been designed for much smaller gems like quartzes. The two Diamonds belying the dignity of being matriarchs of an empire were hunched over.
Blue Diamond stood as tall as she could. Yellow Diamond was hunched over inspecting the stations on the bridge. Because of her large size she was on her hands and knees. Still what Yellow Diamond did see didn't please her one bit. The only thing that looked acceptable was the soldiers. Her contribution, the rest was all Blue Diamond's work.
Fuming Yellow Diamond crawled onto the warp pad and warped herself to White Diamond's throne room. She stretched up to her full height. White Diamond was waiting for her.
"How is the fleet?" asked White Diamond in a neutral tone. The leader of all Gems including her two younger sisters sat on a large white throne. The throne and its occupant were spiky. White Diamond looked to be made entirely of crystal.
"Excellent, my Diamond," replied Blue. Yellow Diamond didn't notice her warping in.
Yellow Diamond scoffed"Excellent? The fleet is less than half its intended size. You have artwork scattered throughout halls. You seen to be paying more attention to the color scheme than the fleet's weaponry. Your ship are more like art pieces than battleships."
"Yet they are spaceworthy. Are yours?" Blue Diamond peered down her nose.
"That's beside the point."
"No it isn't," countered White Diamond. "Blue Diamond I am pleased that you have finally risen to the occasion. You may leave."
Blue Diamond gave a low bow and warped back to her home. Once she was gone White Diamond turned to Yellow Diamond.
"You realize this is all your fault," hissed White Diamond.
"Those Peridots were mine to use in whatever manner I deemed fit," replied Yellow Diamond.
"But not to torment," White Diamond's voice rang harshly throughout the throne room."Even as Diamonds there are limits to our power. Why did you really torture those Peridots?"
"A Peridot rebelled against me. The entire cut deserved to be punished."
"Really? Because I have been looking onto the history that Peridot, the one you abandoned on Earth. She was on Earth for months. She sent out a distress signal which you ignored. I can only imagine what she went through being hunted down so, yeah I can see why she called you a clod. Then you have the gall to get angry.
You tortured your entire cut of Peridots. I never associate the gems you commission with intelligence but those Peridots were intelligent. Is it any wonder they rebelled?"
"You have done worse. If I remember clearly."
White Diamond said sharply, "May be so but I was never caught! Now our infrastructure and labor force is decimated, we're practically defenseless and we have no decent replacement for the Peridot caste. What a mess. The only good thing to come out of this is that Blue Diamond is finally out of her depression."
Earth, Rossmore
After making love to Peridot, Steven was sleeping in a warm afterglow when he heard the phone ring. He felt Peridot shifting as she sat up.
"This is Peridot," his wife said in a businesslike tone. "It finally happened. I'm on my way."
Before Steven's eyes Peridot materialized a jumpsuit, the same kind she wore when she served Homeworld. She turned to Steven her expression grim. "Steven get dressed and pack a bag for Jenny. Pearl has called in an emergency meeting."
When Pearl stood at the battle room, her body tense. The top ranking Crystal gems came in one by one into the room designed particularly for this event, the day when Homeworld would return. In they came, Apatite, Bismuth, Amethyst, the Magnificent Toaster- a Peridot gem, Nephrite 13m1970 and Snowflake. When Peridot finally came in with Steven, Pearl was taken aback.
"You brought a baby into the battle room?" blurted out Pearl.
Peridot looked unmoved, "We couldn't get a babysitter at 3 am. Now let's get down to business."
"I thought that," Pearl looked at Steven. "Never mind. We have just received word from the lunar base that a fleet has been sent to retrieve the Peridots. I have sent over Apatite to report on her findings."
The greenish blue gem cleared her throat, "The transmission came surprisingly in a public broadcast. From what we can tell Homeworld was devastated by the Peridot rebellion and exodus."
"Can you tell us how long we have until Homeworld reaches Earth?" asked Bismuth.
"Actually faster than light ships were after my time I have no idea," admitted Apatite.
"I might be able to help with that," said the Magnificent Toaster. She was a Peridot like Steven's wife. Unlike Peridot this gem still had her limb enhancers. She also had a lot of colorful barrettes and combs in her blond hair.
"Hacking into the satellites around Earth and the primitive space probes, I have created a surveillance network. This will give us ample warning when the fleet should arrive."
"Still I repeat the question. When will the ships arrive?"Bismuth asked.
"I can answer that. With a fleet that size it is safer to emerge just in Jupiter's orbit, We have less than 24 hours once the ships have arrived in the Solar system,"answered Peridot.
"And how large is the fleet?"asked Pearl.
"From what I can tell about 10 ships," said Apatite.
"That's 10 more than we can deal with. The last ship that came to Earth totaled our defenses," said Amethyst.
"That was then. We've been working on modernizing our defenses. I myself have weaponized the robinoids," said Nephrite.
"Well we know the first thing those ships will do is look for any gem based activity and we know the first place they will look is at the temple. How goes our defenses there?" asked Pearl.
"And the reconstruction of the temple is almost complete," added Bismuth.
"Still that only deals with the event that when the ships land. With 10 ships and modern weaponry the effects will be devastating to the Earth," said Pearl.
"Well I have a little diversion that will help with that," said Peridot.
"Whelp, I recommend that we round up all the gems and take them to the safe house," said Amethyst.
"Agreed, we'll inform the parents of the young Peridots to come to Beta right away. A skeleton crew will remain for any last minute preparations and Amethyst you will stay behind in your New York office to deal with the public," ordered Pearl. "It is not enough but it will have to do."
"If I might make a suggestion," said Steven as he raised his hand. "We already have a weapon ready to deal with the fleet at our hands."
"Steven you're in no condition to contact the Cluster" said Pearl in a motherly tone.
"I'm well aware of the risks but this my home too. Look as it is we are essentially defenseless. Let me contact the Cluster. They're designed to be a super weapon let's use them on the fleet."
Pearl could see the resolve written on Steven's face. The man was not going to budge. Reluctantly she agreed to the proposal and dismissed the meeting.
Beach City
Since Pearl moved out with Spunky, Beach City was a lot quieter and he had to admit much safer too. William Dewey would be lying if he missed the monsters, the alien abductions and the property damage associated with the gems. Still there was one thing that bothered the Mayor of Beach City.
The temple was covered in scaffolding. All day and night a group of Peridots worked tirelessly. They kept to themselves, only going to the boardwalk for an ice cream run. The temple was away from town so the noise was kept to a minimum. Still Dewey felt uneasy. Which was why he was now at the door of the Beach house.
Before he could knock on the door, it burst open and a line of cheering Peridots, limb enhancers in the air, ran out. Dewey stepped inside.
"Hello?" he called out.
The Beach house had changed as well. No longer a family home. The entire house had been stripped of its furnishings and converted into one large break room. It was also completely empty but not for long. The temple door at the back of the house opened and out stepped Bismuth.
"Wait you forgot- oh Dewey what brings you here?" asked Bismuth.
The man actually preened, "The temple actually, now that Pearl has moved out things have gotten a lot quieter but my constituents are feeling very uneasy. You guys are doing a lot of work on the temple . It goes on round the clock, day after day. So why the home improvement kick?"
Bismuth laughed nervously, "I guess it's time you should know. You remember the news broadcasts of all those Peridots coming to Earth? And how Steven told you that the Crystal Gems were actually rebels in a civil war? Well it is only a matter of time before Homeworld comes looking for us and that is why we're working on the temple. To make it fully operational when the Homeworld ships comes for them."
"So you're saying Beach City is about to become a war zone?"asked Dewey. Bismuth nodded. "But- but this isn't fair. The invasion of the hand ship, the roaming monsters and the kidnappings haven't we suffered enough? Couldn't you have moved the temple or something?"
"Mr. Dewey I know this is a lot to take in but the temple was here long before Beach City. Homeworld knows about the temple. They will be coming here like it or not."
"How much time have we got?"
"Honestly I don't know but as soon as the fleet is spotted in our Solar System you should evacuate right away. I just sent out the Peridots for one last ice cream before taking them into hiding."
The mayor of Beach City was speechless. He left the Beach House in a fugue.
Meanwhile at Scary Hairy's Greg was kept very busy. With over hyper 20 Peridot clones milling around Greg had to call in Peedee to help. They were like children, shouting out their orders.
"I want a sardine sundae," shouted one.
"Sorry that flavor is no longer available," said Greg. He had to think of his human customers.
"I want a vanilla cup," said another. "With iron filings and motor oil topping." That he could serve.
"Toasted marshmallow cone!"
"Peach!"
Through it all human bystanders looked on. Some of them even took pictures. Finally Greg had had enough. "Ladies, please one at time. Now line up single file and the nice Mr. Peedee will serve you. Ooh boy!"
His phone rang. What could it be now? "Scary Hairy's, we walk on the wild side."
"Greg put on the news right now. There's something you need to see right now!" It was Vidalia.
"Okay keep your britches on," said Greg. He could hear the panic in her voice.
Since the Peridots were frequent customers and like to hang around the shop, Greg had installed a TV. He flicked on the screen. It was already on a news program.
"- more on the alien ships now approaching the Earth," said a young man in a suit. On the screen was a fleet of body parts. The young man continued, "This just in-one of ships just sent this transmission."
The TV showed the image of a blocky yellow gem, "People of Earth this is Grand Admiral Topaz of the Diamond Authority. The Peridots are our property. Return them to us or your planet suffers."
For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence. The Peridots stood still staring at the screen. Then it happened. The Peridots burst into a flurry of activity.
"Evac, evac!," they shouted. Before Peedee could react they swarmed the counter, pulled Steven's father out and carried him out of the shop.
A few minutes later, two large men wearing dark suits and sunglasses stepped into the ice cream parlor. One of them turned to face Peedee.
"We're looking for Greg Universe," one of the men in black said softly.
Peedee in the process of cleaning up, stared blandly at the man, "You're too late. He just got abducted by aliens."
The Peridots in the meantime ran straight back into the Beach House where Bismuth was waiting for them. The young Peridots put Greg down and looked at Bismuth fearfully.
"Oh you brought Greg that's- good. Now all of you take Greg and warp to the safe house. Go, go go!" ordered the rainbow haired gem.
They all ran onto the warp pad. In a series of flashes Greg and the Peridots were gone, except for one. She was one of the younger ones her limb enhancers appearing too big for her body.
"What about you?"asked Clover.
"Just get Snowflake. I'll handle things here. Now go!" Bismuth shoved the young Peridot onto the warp pad. With a flash the Peridot was gone.
Meanwhile at the Beta Kindergarten Pearl looked on as Peridot supervised the evacuation of her sisters. The young gem was confident and in charge.
"Is that all the gems from the nursery?" asked Peridot.
"All accounted for and the human staff too," replied a Nephrite she was the head of the children's home.
"Excellent what about the ones adopted out?" asked Peridot.
"We have 4 gemlings and their families missing," said the Nephrite. "The Angstroms, the Kingsleys."
"They're across the pond. UNIT can take care of them," said Peridot.
"The Dodgsons and the Drumphs in the White House," continued the Nephrite.
"Those idiots they think they can hold off an army of Quartzes? Have you contacted the White House?"
"No they're not answering our calls,"replied the Nephrite.
"Give me the Dodgsons' address I'll pick them up," sighed Peridot.
"Oh no you won't, let me go," said Pearl firmly.
Meanwhile at the United Nations in Empire City. Amethyst was doing her best to calm down the panicking politicians inside. She was up in the podium with a picture of the fleet on the screen behind her.
"Why didn't you tell us the Peridots were the property of Diamond Authority?" shouted the representative of Bulgaria.
"Er guys, we already did when the Peridots landed on Earth. Remember?" soothed Amethyst.
"Nevertheless we have an alien fleet demanding the return of their androids. We are in no way prepared to deal with an alien invasion," shouted the French representative.
"Guys, I have told you again Peridots are not robots, they're children. They were slaves kept in the worst conditions imaginable. Now even you guys can admit that slavery is wrong," Amethyst replied. More than anything she would love to bop those bozos on the head with her chair.
"Still we have no idea what those ships are capable of," pressed the British representative.
"Dudes it's okay. We've taken measures into effect. Don't believe me? Here's Emerald a prominent scientist from Homeworld."
The tall green gem with her split haircut stepped up to the podium. She stood proudly. "Okay this shot was taken with the Hubble telescope. And it is indeed a fleet of 8 ships consisting of Hand ships and Red eyes, gem war ships."
The hall filled in an uproar as the politicians panicked. Emerald continued "But the news is not all bad. First off the fleet is severely damaged with the remains of 2 ships detected in your asteroid belt. Without their technician caste, the remaining gems are poor pilots at best and they crashed into your asteroid field in a hurry to get to Earth."
"But the Crystal Gem's technology is over 5 000 years out of date. How do you except to defend us with outdated technology?" asked the Indian representative.
"Simple from the day the Peridots came to Earth we knew this day would come. The first thing the retrieval fleet will do is scan for any gem based activity. They will come to the Beach City temple where we have prepared for just such an event."
"And what is that exactly?" pressed the British representative.
"That is top secret and we have other weapons into play," replied Emerald.
"What sort of weapons?" shouted one man.
"Are you planning to take over the planet yourselves?" shouted another.
This was getting bad. Amethyst knew she had to stop this as Emerald left the hall. Amethyst let out a sharp piercing whistle. The purple gem had lost her patience.
"Alright listen up you pansies," bellow Amethyst. The hall was silent. "We the Crystal Gems fought a long hard war defending the Earth. Over the last 5 000 years we could have easily conquered the planet 10 times over but we didn't. So when the Homeworld soldiers have the gall to step onto the Earth they will face the wrath of over 1 000 seasoned war veterans armed with the latest gem technology. Any questions? I'm going back to my office and convene with the American Secretary of State. Everybody keep calm."
With that the purple gem left the hall.
Back at the Beta kindergarten Peridot was supervising the last minute preparations of the upcoming invasion when the Beta warp pad flashed. On it was the First lady, little Alice and the Pearl nanny assigned to the White House. The Pearl had in her hand a bloody frying pan.
"What happened to you?" gasped Peridot. "Never mind I don't want to know."
A few hours earlier White House Cabinet room was in a state of panic. Drumph being the President took charge.
"Alright there is some really, really bad stuff going on here. Thanks to those alien gems we took in, we have an alien fleet coming right here to our soil," announced Drumph.
"Sir I recommend we contact the Gem Prime Minister or at least the Gem Ambassador," said Smithers the Secretary of State.
"I'm not interested in the squawking of that pointy nosed geek. We'll fix things by ourselves," snapped Drumph.
"Sir I can tell you with utmost certainty that we are not prepared to defend ourselves against an alien invasion," added General Cowell the only black man in the room.
"An invasion on American soil will cause catastrophic damage to our economy," added the Secretary of Commerce. "We must work together with the gems to come up with a defense plan."
"No we don't," boomed the President. "Gentlemen for too long these things have been eating a free lunch at the expense of the American people. Costing us millions of dollars caring and educating them and for what a bunch of little girls who will steal our jobs one day? That is why I have arranged Colonel Powers in Area 52 to contact the alien fleet. We are going to make a deal people. We will hand over the Peridots to them."
"Handing over the Peridots? But your daughter is one." said the Minister of Education.
"It is a sacrifice I am willing to make to protect this country," said Drumph proudly.
Several cabinet members grumbled. This was no sacrifice and they knew it. Then one of the secret service agents stepped up.
"Sir I'm not going snatch a child from its mother. None of my men are prepared to do that sir," said the goon.
"You're fired. Very well I'm just going to do that myself," announced the President.
Marla was playing with little Alice on the floor while the nanny another gem prepared some breakfast. With one eye on the news and the other on Alice, Marla tried to keep on a happy face for little Alice's sake. Suddenly the door burst open and her husband stepped in follow by some secret service agents.
"Marla step aside. This men are taking Alice into custody," the President.
Marla felt a surge of protectiveness. She held Alice and stood up, "Whenever you're taking my daughter I'm going too."
"Marla, she's not a real baby," shouted her husband. "Boys grab the baby."
To their credit the men stood still. They wouldn't follow his orders but they couldn't stop him either.
"Fine," said Drumph in disgust. "If you want something done, do it yourself."
He stepped forward and pulled at the baby in Marla's arms. Marla was a small woman but her grip was firm. The baby cried in fear and pain. Finally Drumph losing patience struck his wife, stunning her. What happened next shocked even the agents.
The nanny some sort of Pearl struck the President of the United States on the head with a frying pan. As Drumph tried to get up the nanny struck him again this time knocking him out.
Gently the nanny let Marla up, "We are going to the safe house. Don't anybody stop us," said the nanny in a tinny voice.
The Secret Service men let them pass to the warp pad installed in the White House. A few seconds later they startled a rather busy Peridot.
Moments later Peridot handed Marla and Alice over to some caretakers when a frightened looking Peridot approached her. Hastily the younger Peridot gave a Diamond salute.
"My Lady, the fleet is within the Moon's orbit,"said the younger gem.
"I guess it's time to get Steven ready," said Peridot.
Later Steven was dressed in a pair of pajamas and laying down in the most comfortable bed. Peridot looked down as she placed the covers over him.
"Now Steven contact the Cluster as soon as you can?"said Peridot. Steven laughed. "What's so funny Steven?"
"It seems like I do my best work in bed. Wouldn't you agree Peri?"said Steven playfully.
"True but you must focus on the task at hand. So I'm going to leave you now."
Steven lay back on the bed and tried to clear his mind.
Homeworld Flagship
Topaz peered down her nose at the primitive planet before her. The natives still hadn't evolved beyond burning fossil fuels and the planet was crawling with disgusting organic life. She hoped the Peridots weren't contaminated with some weird disease when she picked them up.
"Your brilliance," croaked an Emerald demoted to technician caste. "The Red Eyes are finally within sensor range of the planet. We are now detecting two sources of gem based activity."
This Emerald was a poor technician. No wonder why she took credit for her Peridot's work.
"And where are they?" prompted Topaz.
"We have the site of the rebel base on Facet 5 and the second one is actually in orbit and heading our way," sweated the Emerald.
"What is it? Some sort of ship?"
"I'm not sure, Grand Admiral the thing is massive."
Topaz did the most unexpected thing. She smiled, "So the slaves want to fight? Good, it will be fun breaking their spirits. Order the fleet to converge on these coordinates. We'll smash their little ship."
"Your brilliance I don't think that's-" Topaz cut the Emerald off with blow to the head.
Topaz leaned forward on her chair in anticipation. She smiled as she stared at the screen. The smile faded when the ship came into view. Except it was no ship. There floating above the undamaged Earth was the cluster.
It was the stuff of nightmares. The mashed up remains of shattered gems lay inside an amorphous form several miles long. From its center large multi colored limbs formed, grew and dispersed. It seemed to be reaching for them.
"Red eyes converge on the Cluster and fire at will. Hand ships put a line of suppression fire,"shouted Topaz.
The ships obeyed. They fired over and over at the Cluster. The Cluster gave at good as it got. It rained down blows on the Red eyes, reached out for the Hand ships and crushed them. In her mind, Topaz could hear the Cluster scream. Topaz saw a Red eye cleaved in two shattering the crew inside. The ship lurched. The Cluster had caught the flagship in one of its arms. The flagship's engines overloaded as they tried to escape the Cluster's iron grip but it was no use. The flagship and most of the war ships were stuck fast. The Cluster slowly crushed the flagship. Topaz's crew screamed as the hull buckled there was nothing Topaz could do.
"Computer self destruct sequence Grand Admiral Topaz code 001 destruct 0," shouted out Topaz.
The computer answered"Confirmed self destruct will occur in 20 seconds, 19 , 18.."
"Emerald send out an order for the fleet. Proceed to the Rebel base on facet 5," this was Topaz's last order.
The flagship exploded taking out the Cluster and shattering all but 3 ship who managed to get out of range in time.
Back at the safe house Steven sat up screaming as he felt the death of the Cluster. His wife Peridot rushed into the room.
"It's the Cluster. I felt them die," sobbed Steven.
"Then it's up to Bismuth and Snowflake at Beach City," said Peridot grimly.
Beach City
Deep in the temple Bismuth and Snowflake watched through the temple's eyes. The 3 surviving ships were heading right towards them. Soon they would be in range. It was time to get ready.
"Snowflake, strap me in. It's time," shouted Bismuth
On the Beach outside the temple Mayor Dewy stared at the temple. His son Buck tried desperately to pull him away.
"Dad. Come on! The alien fleet will be here any moment," pleaded Buck.
"I'm not going son," said Dewey firmly.
"Dad that's messed up. You could be shot by space lasers or something."
"I said I'm not going!" his son stepped back in shock. "Son, we Deweys have been the Mayors of Beach City since it founded. Generations of our family spent their blood, sweat and tears protecting Beach City. And now Beach City is going to end. Now I failed to protect her. The least I can do is be with her as this great lady meets her fate. I'm passing the torch son. Go lead the citizens of Beach City to safety."
Buck opened and closed his mouth. Finally he turned around and walked away. For awhile Bill Dewey stared into the sky. The old mayor saw not 1 but three hand ships approaching the Beach City. Suddenly there was a a loud bang and a beam of light from the temple's eyes blew off one of the Hand ship's fingers. The two other hands moved moved forward covering the injured ship. They pointed their fingers and started shooting back.
Suddenly the temple, a giant statue thousands of years old stood up. Behind it the cliff crumbled. The scaffolding that covered the temple fell around its feet. The dust raised up made William Dewey cough. The ships fired. The temple from somewhere produced a shield. It wasn't enough.
The rays pierced through the shield and blew up on the temple's torso. The temple staggered back, stepping on the boardwalk, flattening the Big Donut. Steven was not going to like that. The Hand ships flew closer heading in for the kill.
It was a mistake. The giant sword the temple was holding sliced through the injured ship. The ship exploded. A piece of debris the size of a car landed right next to Dewey. The two remaining ships flew in closer. The temple's eyes glowed , using its many arms it grappled and punched the hand ships as it crawled over it. This time Dewey wished that he was in a boat as the temple and the stumbled all over town. The temple flipped one hand over destroying an entire block. Vidalia and Yellowtail could kiss their house goodbye.
Inside the temple's control room, Bismuth was strapped into a harness and wearing goggles. Her limbs covered in sensors Bismuth piloted the temple now revealed to be a giant robot. Long ago during the war Bismuth built the temple as a war machine. It was her greatest creation. The room shuddered as a hand struck the temple. Bismuth roared and punched the air, making one of the many limbs punch a hand. Another shudder and fires blazed throughout the control room. The enemy had breached the heart chamber. Bismuth could feel one of the hands reach into the heart of the temple and slowly crush it. She didn't have much time.
"You wanna go? Fine let's go!" shouted Bismuth.
The Blacksmith punched though the hull of a Hand ship. Using the temple's energy beam she pierced and blew up the engine core. Bismuth disappeared in a ball of fire as the engine core exploded destroying the ship, the temple and the town. Still one badly damaged Hand ship managed to survive.
The captain of the surviving Hand ship, Citrine, looked at the screen in grim satisfaction. The Rebel base was destroyed.
"Nephrite, scan for any survivors," barked Citrine.
"I am detecting over 1 000 lifeforms," said the Nephrite smartly.
Gem life was far superior to organic life but even Citrine couldn't see how anything could be alive after this. "Where?"
"Right below the cliffs Captain," answered a Ruby this time.
Suddenly the ground exploded and another Hand ship burst out of the ground. The ship was severely damaged, missing two of its fingers but Citrine recognized it as the missing ship that carried Jasper to earth.
"So the cowards decided to flee? Good, follow them," ordered the captain.
Garnet reformed with a splitting headache. She surveyed her surroundings and saw she was on the bridge of Peridot's ship. All around were the bubbled remains of forced fusions, gem shards and the corrupted gems.
"Hello Garnet," said a figure sitting in the bridge's chair. The chair turned around revealing Snowflake.
Garnet's vision blurred. Did Pearl crack Ruby? "What's what's going on" Garnet croaked.
"Hmm I guess your still groggy from the beating Pearl gave you," Snowflake smiled smugly. "I'll tell what is going on though I think with your future vision you would have figured it out. Homeworld has finally come for us. Bismuth sacrificed her life operating the temple mech to defeat 2 handships but one survived. Now we are flying off into space with the shattered and corrupted remains of our friends in the hopes that last ship in the fleet will follow us."
"You're cracked. Do you think that think that you can outrun Homeworld?"
"I don't need to outrun them I just need to lead them away. You know it is ironic don't you think that the gems that you dismissed as hopeless have actually done a better job than you? A Homeworlder and a Blacksmith cured the corruption plague. We actually freed thousands of our fellow gems. All without your leadership."
The ship shuddered. Snowflake's smug expression disappeared. "Oh shards! I thought we had more time. No matter. Garnet goodbye."
"Your Shininess, we have the rebel ship in the tractor beam," announced a Ruby.
"Don't call me Your Shininess I work for a living," scolded the Homeworld captain. "Pull them in and prepare to board but don't let down the shields."
The ship shuddered and the Ruby's panel exploded, poofing her. The Nephrite took over.
"Captain the rebels are firing at us," reported the Nephrite. The ship shuddered again. "Still firing Ma'am."
Were these rebels mad? Firing their ship's weaponry at this close a range could destroy them both. Still the ship kept firing.
"Cut off the tractor beam. Reverse engine and fire at their weapons array,"barked Citrine.
The sonic torpedoes struck the weapons array. The rebel ship cracked.
"Full shields," shouted Citrine.
In a flash of light the rebel ship exploded. The blast wave poofed the crew of the Homeworld ship.
When Citrine reformed she straightened herself up, "Damage report!"
"Terrible Captain, there are hulls breaches throughout the ship. Shields have overloaded. The weapons are operating at 10 percent. And the reality warping engine is shot."
"Can the engines be repaired?"
"No idea, Nephrite is still poofed Captain."
"Scan the debris for any survivors."
"No gem life signals detected Captain."
"Were there any Peridot crystals in the debris?"
"Can't tell Captain."
Citrine sighed. Her ship was damaged, the fleet was gone and the Peridots were most likely shattered. At least when Citrine managed to crawl her ship back to Homeworld she could finally report that the rebels were finally shattered.
"Captain we're being hailed," shouted a Ruby. "It's from Earth."
"What could the natives possibly say that could interest me?" snapped Citrine. "Never mind respond to the hail."
"Hello, hello," a voice rang out. These humans were so primitive that their transmission was only audio.
"This is Fleet Captain Citrine. Who is this?"
"Ah getting right to the point. Well I am Colonel Powers, Commander of Area 52. We have the location of the fugitive Peridots."
"Really? And what do you want in return?"
"Some minor technology and the promise that you will not come onto our planet again."
It looks like the mission wasn't an entire failure, "Done, now where are they?"
"The Peridots are in an underground city by the Canyon of Souls. I'm sending over the coordinates."
"I have no idea of what you are talking about."
"Then maybe you know it by its other name the Beta Kindergarten at facet 9."
Citrine smiled, "Thank you Colonel, it's a pleasure doing business with you- Amethyst land the ship at these coordinates."