Betrayal
The Safe house
When Marla followed the guide she did not expect this. There in a huge cavern a small town with houses and an amusement park of all things stood by a small lake. Around her and Alice, families like hers milled around. The safe house was actually an underground town. A figure of the palest blue appeared on the lake shore.
"Welcome to the safe house. I'm Seaglass," smiled the gem. "We have built this place with your comfort in mind. The lake here is actually a small sea supporting fish and wildlife. In here, you will be safe from Homeworld's ships. In here you have all the comforts of home. The buildings are stocked with food and are fully furnished..."
"I know where we are," said a man gleefully.
Seaglass continued, "for the children there is a playground and a school. If you are bored there is a library. The amusement park is offline for now. We also have a chore list that you can sign in on the billboard. Any questions?"
Marla shot her hand up, "How long will we be here?"
Seaglass answered honestly, "I don't know."
Rossmore, Beta City
Thanks to the landing signals Citrine was able to land her crippled ship right next to the Beta Kindergarten. Her ship landed with a large thud. A huge dust cloud billowed out from the ship. When the dust had cleared and Citrine had disembarked there stood Colonel Powers and his army.
"Welcome," said Powers with an insincere smile. He put out his hand. Citrine looked at it. "I am Colonel Powers and this is my army. Our intelligence suggests that your Peridots are holed up in their underground city. When you transmitted your broadcast, all gem personnel and their families retreated into base. I will take your to one of their doors."
When they got to the door Citrine saw that it was massive. It was made of a durable gem alloy a little beyond the humans' technology but easy enough for a gem to break. Citrine turned to her Amethyst.
"Amethyst scan for gem lifeforms," commanded Citrine.
Amethyst scrunched up her face as she read the sensors, "No good, there's some sort of energy field blocking our sensors."
"Very well revive Nephrite and get the gem cannon here,"ordered Citrine. "Oh have any non quartzes revived yet?"
The Amethyst answered a negative. Without the technicians up and about, Citrine had no way of reaching home. Unless they were able to capture the Peridots. When the canon finally came, Citrine walked to a safe distance and gave the order to fire. With a flash of light the cannon burst obliterated the door.
"Now detecting a huge complex of caves," said the Amethyst.
"Excellent, Colonel since this is your discovery I invite you and your men to lead the squad," said Citrine coolly.
"What are you waiting for a written invitation you heard the lady, go, go,go," shouted Powers.
The humans with their pitiful armor and weapons charged right into the dark tunnels. All except for Colonel Powers.
"I am going back to my base to coordinate our attack. I believe that negotiations are in order now," said Powers smugly.
"You're not staying with your troops?" asked Citrine.
"This raid is just one of several missions I am involved in besides we have a Peridot already in custody," said Powers.
"Very well, Amethyst follow Powers to his base and begin negotiations. I will stay here. I have only one mission right now," replied Citrine.
The Dodgsons bunker
Pearl found it took much longer than anticipated to locate the Dodgsons. After finding their farm empty Pearl was forced to inquire from their friends about the possible whereabouts of the Dodgsons. It was much harder than expected.
The Dodgsons and their friends were survivalists who were skeptical of any government authority. Pearl would not have given a Peridot to them but the infertile couple seemed normal enough at the time and they were friends of Steven's. To top it all off, Rossmore was under marshal law making it much harder to move around let alone talk with the already paranoid survivalists.
Finally Pearl found out where the Dodgsons were from Roy's father Farmer Dan.
"Normally I wouldn't tell you where they were but I've seen the news. If that boy of mine thinks he can fend off an entire space army, he's fooling himself," said Farmer Dan.
And so Pearl found herself in the desert by a concealed hatch. She was prepared to rip the hatch off only to find it opened easily. Feeling uneasy she climbed down the ladder to the bunker below. The first impression Pearl got was the smell. It was sickly sweet. It was also dark and quiet, too quiet.
Using her gem, Pearl lit up the bunker. The bunker was a mess, furniture and debris were scattered about the floor. At the far end lay Roy and Silva Dodgson dead. Wrinkling her nose Pearl examined the bodies. The injuries were consistent with gunfire not gem based weapons. Pearl tried calling out Poppy's name but got no response.
No matter Pearl knew where she would find Poppy. She tried calling Amethyst, only to find the signal blocked. The rest of the gems were in hiding. She was on her own. That was nothing new. Pearl knew exactly what to do.
The Safe House
Marla needed to think about the future. Seeing as her husband pretty much tried to sell her daughter down the river, prenup or no prenup it was time to cut him loose. Mingling with the families Marla found much to her surprise just what she was looking for. There among the families was actually a lawyer. She found out from the wife busy with her 3 year old Peridot that her husband of all things was fishing by the small sea. Leaving Alice with behind Marla went in search of the man.
Her soon to be former husband, didn't like the way she dressed. But high heels and a designer dress was not the sort of thing to wear when taking care of a baby. So in jeans and sneakers she walked to the edge of the lake where 3 men were fishing. She went to the man sitting by himself.
"Excuse me are you Jacob Cotter of Cotter and Jackson?" asked Marla as she twiddled her fingers.
"I sure am what brings you here?" Cotter asked trying not to look at the bruise on the woman's face.
"I am Marla Drumph. I want to file for divorce with my husband, the President,"said Marla.
"Mrs. Drumph I specialize in family law. Besides this isn't really the time," said the lawyer as he put his fishing rod down.
"I know but I need something to keep myself busy instead of just waiting for the coast to clear."
"And what are the reasons you are filing for divorce?"
"It's quite simple. My husband tried to hand over Alice to Homeworld itself. He gave me this bruise for my trouble. If that isn't reason for filing for a divorce what is?"
Cotter thought about it for a moment. Drumph was a powerful man. Still what he did, "I'll do it but first tell me did you sign a prenuptial agreement?"
"I did it stated that if we were to divorce for any reason, he would keep every penny, no settlements or alimony. But I'm not doing this for the money."
"Granted but let's see if we can get you something anyway. How about we go discuss this at my house?"
Beta City
"It no use the tunnels go on for miles," said the Nephrite. Finally she had emerged. "The rock is impregnated with an alloy that makes it next to impossible to use scanners. We're going to have to search these one tunnel at a time."
"Who would have thought that a bunch of technicians would be able to think so strategically?Very we will split up into groups but let the humans go first," said Citrine.
In another tunnel a squad of human soldiers were convening. The tunnels were dark making it hard to see. The fact that they were hundreds of feet underground made the squadron uneasy.
"We've discovered a large door in the southern quadrant," reported Corporal Kress. "It appears to have an electronic lock."
"Okay use the disrupter Citrine gave us and then on my mark attack," ordered Sergeant Miller.
With a loud crackle the heavy door swished open. In the dark Miller could see some huddled forms. Some of them glinted like gems reflecting the light.
"Attack pattern, Gamma. Spread out give a round of suppressing fire,"ordered Miller.
Unnoticed by the men the door closed behind them. Suddenly rays of light shot out of the forms. Carter focused his flashlight on the forms. They looked silver balls on legs, some sort of robot. Before Carter's eyes the things hissed and mouths he didn't know existed opened. The things charged. The soldiers fired but there were too many of them.
"It's a trap, retreat, retreat," shouted Miller.
The door had shut fast behind them. In another tunnel Pohl and his group were checking out another room this time filled with some large equipment.
"Hmm this looks too large for us to search alone," mused Lieutenant Pohl. "Call up Sergeant Miller's squad.
"No use sir, I'm getting only static," reported Corporal Ashe.
"Damn tunnels, very well I guess we'll have to do it ourselves," said Pohl.
Unbeknownst to the squad, some small robinoids climbed over the equipment and hid just out of sight. Ready to pick the men off one by one.
The gems were not fairing any better. Even with their superior scanners, they were still almost as blind as the soldiers. The tunnels were dark. While they could use their gems for light not all gems were placed conveniently and the light emitted would make them a target.
An Emerald volunteered to turn on the city's power. She never came back. Citrine could here the screams of the human soldiers as they fell for whatever passed for an ambush. A squadron of rubies just disappeared. Unlike these humans Citrine was capable of learning. When the next scheduled meet up happened she ordered larger retrieval groups, scouts would wait for backup and no group of gems would enter an unmapped room unless Peridot gems were detected.
It was slow going but Citrine liked to think she was saving lives. Finally after eliminating several tunnels in their search they had a payoff.
"I am detecting gem life signs behind that door," said the Nephrite technician. The gem was very eager to get back to her old life and assignments.
"What sort of gems?" Citrine asked. After battling the temple mech she was well aware that Rebels were defending the Peridots.
"Peridots, Captain 20 of them."
It was nowhere near the 10 000 but it was a start. "Alright get the gem destabilizers we're going in."
A large Jasper pulled a sword out of her gem. On Citrine's signal she sliced open the door. The gems charged screaming into the room.
When they got into the room they noticed how quiet it was. The room was empty except for some assorted robinoids or various sizes. Of the Peridots there was no sign. Then Citrine saw them. Set on the far wall was some expired and cracked Peridot crystals. They only appeared to be alive by the current passing through them.
"It's a trap, retreat," shouted Citrine.
The Homeworld soldiers turned around. Only to find that the robinoids had sealed the door shut. Then the robiniods scrambled all over her soldiers screaming. Her soldiers, her crew forms wavered and disappeared as the sonic waves emitted shattered their gems. Citrine fought them off as best as could but there were too many of them. They swarmed over her and shattered her gem.
Area 52 Military Base
Pearl peered over the rock as she looked at the base. Using the tracking skills she had honed during the civil war, Pearl followed the tracks to Area 52. What a surprise. Still this solo rescue mission was something she was familiar with having rescued hundreds of such gems herself. Entering the base and subduing the soldiers would be child's play.
Turning herself into a small bird, Pearl flew over the base's gate and onto a building. Using her keen senses she scanned the area. Searching for any sign of Poppy. What she saw chilled her to her core.
In the window of what was clearly the command center Pearl saw a large Amethyst negotiating with Colonel Powers himself. How was that man still in the military after what he'd done? There were hundreds of armed soldiers here. No matter Pearl had done this hundreds of times before.
Never had Amethyst First Officer of the Grasping Hand hated Citrine more than ever. She had assigned Amethyst the theoretically safer job of negotiating with the human leader while Citrine went off on the more glorious job of retrieving the strays. Amethyst would rather put up with any booby traps the little nerds set up than spend one more minute with this human.
The minute they were on the base Powers proudly showed the single Peridot they had captured. It was a crying frightened premature gem that had been placed into the care of some humans. What a disappointment, the gem was not fit to work let alone train right now. Then the human took her into what was obviously his office.
"I believe it's time for some negotiations," Powers said smugly.
"We have some robinoids that you can reverse engineer," said Amethyst. She handed him a flask robinoid.
The human looked at it, "Nice, my niece plays with something like that."
"I assure you this is not a toy."
"Well those green freaks were selling them as toys. I have a dozen teddy bots being reverse engineered right now."
"Well I can get a Nephrite or one of our Emeralds to give you the formula for nuclear fusion."
"My government would not be interested in that. Besides Britain has just built a fusion generator."
"Are you stupid? I have just given you technology that would have put your planet ahead by centuries and you're rejecting it?!"
"It does not interest the American government."
"You mean you don't have a planet wide government? What is wrong- Alright what is it you want then?"
"Weapons technology."
"Colonel Powers our weaponry is designed to be used against gems they would have little effect on humans."
"That canon looked nice."
"Colonel I have neither the will or authority to give you that."
"Oh don't be so stuck up. How about we discuss this over dinner?" the human worm dared put his hand on her thigh.
The door blew open and there stood the renegade Pearl with her spear drawn. Amethyst was never so glad to see an enemy. The Colonel pulled out a gun. Only for Pearl to shoot it out of his hand. She turned to Amethyst. The gem was quick and pushed Powers in front of her. Just in time for the spear's ray to vaporize him.
For a moment they looked at the Colonel's ashes. Amethyst pulled out her destabilizer.
"You realize that I will shatter you anyways?" said the renegade.
"I know but spending one more minute with that thing was more than I can take," with that the Amethyst charged.
The era 1 gem and veteran of a thousand year war shot and shattered the large Amethyst. Not missing a beat she strode out of the office and to the aide's desk. A young man barely an adult cowered behind the desk. He pointed a pistol shakily at Pearl.
"Don't shoot. I'm just an aide," stammered the manchild.
"Which means you know everything that goes on here,"said Pearl as she pointed her spear right in his face.
Billy Cooms looked out the window. Outside glowing blue Pearl clones lay down a path of destruction. Occasionally a soldier would destroy one but there were far too many. A truck exploded in the courtyard.
"Okay, I'll take you there just don't hurt me."
The Prime Ministers of the Gems jabbed Cooms in the back as they left the building. A couple of soldiers pointed their weapons and fired. Billy dove to the ground as Pearl blew them away with her spear- gun. The pointy nosed gem jabbed the unfortunate man.
"Get up, take me straight to Poppy," ordered Pearl.
Gulping Cooms led Pearl to a small windowless building. When they entered the building Pearl quickly dispatched the guards. He lead the pale gem to the elevator. When they were inside Pearl jabbed him again. He stuck his hand on the scanner. The elevator went down.
When they were finally at the bottom, Pearl could hear little Poppy sobbing. Being careful she pushed her hostage/guide ahead of her. A mob of soldiers run towards her. Pearl blew them away while Coombs hugged the wall. Following the sound they came to a metal door with a panel beside it.
"I don't have the access code," admitted Cooms.
"I have it right here," said Pearl as she blew the panel away.
Pearl then kicked the door open. She heard Poppy crying. There sitting on an examination table was Poppy wearing a paper gown. A burly assistant held the child down as Priyanka Maheswaran herself examined the child.
"No needles," sobbed the child. Poppy was a very little gem looking to be about 2 years old.
Priyanka held onto the child. While the assistant backed away. Pearl shook her head.
"I wouldn't do that. You see not only I am like a brain surgeon with this spear. It is set to kill -humans," Priyanka let go of Poppy as if she burned. "How could you do this? You betrayed everything you stood for."
"The Hippocratic Oath only applies to humans." Pearl scooped up the sobbing child.
"I was referring to you as a parent."
"I want my Mommy," sobbed Poppy as Pearl strode out of the room.
When Pearl got to surface she blew up the elevator. Now any personnel in that horrible lab would be trapped for days. Giving a silent command she ordered her holograms to destroy this horrible place as she hotwired a jeep and drove off.
The Grasping Hand
The two rubies stood still at the ships hatch. Because of their simple minds they were not likely to be distracted from their simple task. At least in theory.
One ruby spoke out of the corner of her mouth, "It's been a long time and still no word. Do you think something happened to them?"
"The tunnels are miles longs. The Peridots are hiding. Besides do you think those weaklings can win a fight with a Quartz?" said the other.
"Well I heard that their limb enhancers can be used like blasters."
"Enough the Peridots are weaklings and cowards. There is no way they could stand up against us!"
"Well they destroyed most of our fleet before we even landed and if they programmed the robinoids to kill..."
"Enough! There is no way that they could do that. Let's just do our job and guard the hatch."
"Well I'm getting bored. I'm going on patrol around the perimeter."
Beta City
At the scheduled meet up both humans and gems were getting agitated. Many humans and gems had simply disappeared Citrine among them. The cavern filled with the babble of frightened soldiers. It was a human who ironically stepped in.
Lieutenant Parsons shot his gun up into the air, " All right ladies and gentlemen shut up and let's get our heads together. Now I know that several of our number has disappeared."
"It's game over man," sobbed Hicks. "They got this place all wired up. It's a deathtrap. We gotta go."
"We are not going anywhere. We need those Peridots," shouted a Jasper.
"You mean you need them. Man I knew this was bad news. I knew it," shouted Hicks.
"Hicks calm down. We have a mission. Now let's gather all our intel and make a map," ordered Parsons.
After a few minutes the lead gem a Carnelian sneered down at the paper map that Parsons made. It was so primitive. The human ignored her.
"Now we know that our squads went MIA here, here and here," said Parsons.
"You forgot to take in the time factor, clod," said the Carnelian.
"Yes, taking into time we can see. Oh God we're being boxed in. Did anybody see what happened? Anybody?"
"I saw some blood and rags. They're eating us man," sobbed Hicks.
"Hicks if you say one more word, I will shoot you myself," shouted Parsons.
"We still have most of our soldiers missing. I don't even know if the Peridots are even here. We should get out of these tunnels as soon as possible," said Carnelian.
"You heard the lady, time to bug out," shouted Parsons.
The soldiers used all their discipline not rush towards the known exit. When they got there they found not a door but a smooth stone wall. Hicks started sobbing again.
"We've been played by a bunch of little girls. Now we're trapped like rats. We deserve it man. Selling out a bunch of children."
Carnelian ignored the cowardly human. "We're not done yet. Agate scan for any warp pads."
The Agate calmly stared at screens, "I am detecting an active warp pad. 500 nings that way."
"Is that in the way of any disappearances?"
"Yes, but I think I can find a route avoiding any traps."
"Then do so. Humans our mission has changed we are going to hack into the warp pad and back to the surface. It is by no means a safe route but it is the best we've got. Now follow me."
The gems slowly stood up and follow Carnelian their weapons drawn. Other than the sound of the humans breathing and their footfalls it was silent. The walls were splattered with a strange red substance that made the humans uneasy. Agate whispered into Carnelian's ear and pointed down a tunnel.
There within a large chamber stood an active warp pad. Carnelian stepped forward.
The Safe House
Peridot was with Jenny in the playgroup when a young Peridot Clover came up to her.
"My Lady, the warp pad has activated," whispered Clover.
"Get the children and their parents to safety and bring the defense group to the pad with me," ordered Peridot. "Take Jenny to her father."
At the warp pad the defense force was already there. Various gems of all types had their weapons ready, including a few trained Peridots with their limb enhancers surrounded the warp pad. Peridot finding some nearby metal picked it up with her mind. She felt a familiar form behind her.
"Steven, go back to Jenny. She needs you,"hissed Peridot.
"And you're my wife. I'm not going to leave you alone in danger, not again," countered Steven.
The warp pad flashed. Steven stepped in front of Peridot and summoned his shield. When the light cleared there stood Pearl with a crying young Peridot.
"Don't shoot, I got Poppy," said Pearl.
Rossmore, Beta City
Carnelian didn't have time to realize her mistake. As soon as she stepped on the warp pad, the entire room filled with super heated plasma. If she had bothered to scan the warp pad she would have discovered it was linked to fusion generator. The heat equivalent to the surface of the sun vaporized gem and human alike. When the plasma cleared the Beta City was a scorched out husk. All the gems and humans that had the misjudgment to invade Beta City were dead.
Meanwhile at the landing site Ruby was jogging around the ship for a second time when she felt the ground rumbling. She ran to her companion Ruby when the ground beneath the ship opened up. Out burst robinoids of all shapes and sizes. Ruby never slept so she didn't know what nightmares were. The robinoids with mouths that Ruby never knew they had swarmed over the ship. Under the squirming mass Ruby could see the ship falling to pieces. As she ran closer she saw a robinoid tackle Ruby and shatter her.
Ruby ran the other way. It was no use. Before her feet another robinoid burst out of the ground. It launched itself onto Ruby finding her gem and shattering her.
The Safe House
Pearl stood watching a group of Peridot monitor a bank of screens. One of the Peridots turned to Pearl.
"Madame Prime Minister, the last ship has been destroyed as well as all enemy personnel,"announced the Peridot.
Marla was getting nervous and impatient. For two days she waited in this underground fun house not knowing what was going on in the outside world. She had tried to keep herself busy, taking care of Alice, filing for divorce even cooking and cleaning. But always in the back of her head was the fact that she was trapped in an underground bunker. She had taken Alice to the playground under the looming walls of the stone cavern when the Prime Minister and some of her aides stepped into the town square.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your wait is finally over. The enemy is finally destroyed," announced the pale gem proudly.
A buzz of excitement filled the cavern. Marla clutched Alice tighter.
Pearl continued, "As it is safe to leave the safe house we have opened the doors at the front but be warned we are not in Rossmore anymore. Instead we are in another country in the temple of the Guardian Mother."
"Can we go back home?" asked the man next to Marla.
A buzz filled the temple yet again. Pearl let out a piercing whistle, "I would not advise that. The military and the highest levels of government colluded to try and take your children. The Dodgsons stayed behind and paid the price. Rossmore and America are no longer safe.
Amethyst has been negotiating with the British government to house you and give you refugee status. There are aid organizations waiting for you outside."
"Wait what about my shop at Beach City," shouted an old man with long hair.
"I'm sorry Greg but Beach City was destroyed after it's citizens evacuated. We'll work on getting you a new shop and apartment," replied Pearl.
With that Pearl left the square. Marla saw a ray of sunlight, real sunlight as the door she didn't even notice opened up. She and several other families stepped out onto the white sand beach of Port Rush. They were safe they were free.
A few days later Peridot was watching the fallout as President Drumph worked hard to defend his actions.
"Mr. President, how can you even justify sending the military to kidnap children from their families," asked a female reporter.
"Those weren't children,"shouted Drumph. Not even his aides seemed to be backing him up.
"Is that why the First Lady is filing for divorce?" shouted another reporter.
"You went against everything the United States stood for how can you justify your actions?" shouted yet another reporter.
"Simple people as your leader I had to make the hard decisions. Yes we could have said no, we could have fought the aliens but what of the next fleet and the fleet after that? They would have still kept coming..."
Peridot turned off the ridiculous man on the TV. She looked out the window to see Steven playing happily with Jenny. It was time to make the hard decisions. She went into the small bathroom and shaved off her blonde hair. When she was bald she stripped off her clothes revealing a Homeworld jumpsuit underneath. Without saying a word she crept out the house and drove to her mothers' house.
When she knocked on the door Jet answered it. The black gem put her hands to her mouth.
"It is time. Fit me with some limb enhancers," said Peridot.
Crying silently Jet led Peridot into a workroom. Peridot lay down on a nearby workbench. Emerald already in the room pulled out an electric saw. Peridot tried not to flinch as her mother brought the spinning blade to her arm.
When they were done Emerald and Jet were holding each other crying. Peridot got up, the limb enhancers already feeling heavy.
"Thank you for everything. Please tell Steven what has happened," asked Peridot.
She walked out stiffly and drove to the nearest warp pad. Peridot warped to a small patch of desert just outside of Rossmore. The yacht in the shape of a foot lay in a ditch nearby. Peridot got into the craft and left the atmosphere. She looked at the Earth one last time.
"Goodbye, Steven," said Peridot as let a tear out of her eye.
She warped back to Homeworld and her destiny.