Chapter 1: Assignment

A/N: My friend on Tumblr, ask-onyxrose gave me this prompt for a drabble. I'm sorta satisfied with how canon it sounds! If people like this story, I may add more chapters. Reviews really matter!

Back in her offplanet Homeworld megacomplex compartment, Peridot tried to get her bearings. It was a tiny, cramped room by gem standards - full of equipment, badly ventilated, and only going up as high as the doorway itself - but this space accommodated the scout well enough. Dimly lit, with a gemlike glow coming from an opening in the ceiling, it was currently replete with the noises of crashing metal.

She dug through her storage banks to find several flasks of robonoid juice, then went searching for her electronic tools. Under her breath she muttered, chronically flustered. "Damn this Earth mission... they've got me running back and forth, rebuilding everything..." She pried free an electrostimulus cord from its socket. "Nobody giving me any help… they think this is just grunt work! But I'll show them - -"

"Sergeant Peridot."

"Huh!" The green gem turned, startled, to find an Era Two Bismuth in her doorway.

"I am here to deliver intelligence that a Lapis Lazuli was received at one of the loading docks." The Bismuth stood with her arms clasped behind her back respectfully, reciting data from a portable screen.

"Go on... what does this have to do with me?"

"The Lapis came from Earth. You are scheduled to meet with Imperial Topaz in three-point-oh time-units to resolve the matter."

"... What?"

The Bismuth closed her eyes. "That is all."

Peridot watched as the messenger hurried away down the corridor. "There's no way…" she said to herself. "Now a gem decides to show up?! Ugh, dusty ruddy shards! Clods!" She kicked an infoceiver sharply, and nearly dislodged her ambulatory limb enhancer. "Ack! ...Clods!"

At precisely 56:00 time-units, Peridot warped into the executive wing of the megacomplex. Her metallic footsteps were loud in this passageway, but the sound pleased her. She'd polished her limb enhancers till they reflected the steely hallways and neon lights. She'd even taken the time to rake her touch stubs through her hair, and form it into a perfect seamless triangle. There was no other option, than to look her best for the Commander of this database.

She had no time to prepare a dialogue. The massive door split in the center and melted, magma yellow, into the archway.

"Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG." Topaz's severe voice filled the room and took several seconds to die out, clamoring at the ornate walls and bouncing into the high ceiling. Hers was a curvaceous, yet severe figure, with a seamless curtain of burnt orange hair. She didn't even need any enhancement-tech to be ten feet tall. The diamond-shaped, nine-facet gem at the notch of her throat flashed like a solar flare.

"Yes, your luminescence." Peridot stepped inside and knelt, her forehead gem centimeters from the floor.

The towering auburn gem glared down at her. "Rise. Don't waste my time on formalities."

"Uh- -" Shooting upwards, Peridot focused zealously on the commander. The look on her intimidating, flawless face now filled Peridot with fear.

"This Lapis was brought to me from Earth - the same place to which you were dispatched recently." With a simple gesture, Topaz summoned a cage to drift forward into view. It was made of panels of antimatter - such that could destroy a gem's physical form. Inside, a dainty blue gem was struggling against her restraints; she was cuffed to the solid floor of the cage by all her limbs, bent awkwardly into a curled position so that her teardrop gem was exposed upward. Her dress was in tatters, and she was riddled with bruises. She screamed almost noiselessly at the ground, struggling against her constraints. The sounds were muffled- and dreadful.

"5XG. Exactly how many other gems are on Earth?"

The chartreuse gem could barely speak - her lips trembled, her eyes wide. Topaz rose from her seat and stepped forward with enough force to crush a human skull.

"Peridot!"

"Forgive me! I do not know what gems are present on that planet, at the moment-"

"How have you not ascertained this data?!" Her veil of calm had rapidly vanished, while the infoscreens behind her frenzied with activity; incoming messages.

"I have been searching, Commander! The Redeye data collector we deployed reported no gems are present as of this star cycle! And in the time that I have been surveying that planet, I have found no conclusive evidence as to what creature defiled the last active warp pads -"

"What?" Topaz' eyes viciously narrowed.

Peridot gulped. "My robonoids repaired the main warp channel. Once I arrived there over the stream, I found a strange symbol attached to the side with sticky adhesive!" She was on her knees, shouting to be heard above the echoes of the room. "Not long after, the main warp went down again. Whatever is there, it's been destroying my robonoids! Whenever I take inventory, less than twenty-percent return from their recovery missions!"

"How interesting that you have not located any gems. I thought Earth's creatures were feeble and harmless - do you think they broke the warp pads?" She didn't wait long for an answer, but it looked as though Peridot couldn't speak much anyway. "-And besides that, I don't see any motivation those weaklings could have for going to all that trouble. There is only one type of life form that could be responsible."

Topaz grimaced at her own thoughts, then turned sharply away, a look of pained displeasure in her eyes. "You know what you need to do. See that it's done quickly."

"Your Radiance-"

"Take this as your informant." She shoved the floating cage toward Peridot, who haphazardly caught it in her own electric force stream. "Round up whatever remains of that stupid rebellion, and reactivate the primary Kindergarten! GO!"

Peridot clambered to the executive warp in a panic, dragging the cage with her. As soon as they both were on, she activated the warp and teleported out.

The echoes of Imperial Topaz' cutting voice were still in Peridot's head as she began to collect herself in the warp stream. Putting on a brave face, she turned toward the prisoner, who was still hunched over in her shackles. Only now she was silent. She stared at the blue gem in her back, surveyed her slight frame.

"Why were you on Earth?" Peridot narrowed her eyes, then turned the cage around so that they faced each other.

No answer came. The lapis left her filthy bangs covering her eyes, and made not a single noise.

"How did you escape? Did you use the warp system?"

Still nothing. "Not gonna talk, huh?" She crossed her arms and scowled at the cage. This was pointless. Then an idea dawned on her. "What if I get you out of that cage? Will you talk then?"

She may have imagined it, but Peridot seemed to recognize a glimmer of interest in the prisoner's face.

Back in her storage cell, Peridot blew the dust off her frequency dispelling transmitter. "Here goes."

She pressed a tiny button, and a deafening explosion of sound came from the device. The cage flickered and then fell apart, its hinges and floor that had held it together crashing to the floor. Its occupant fell to her knees, then collapsed on her side. The cuffs, also made of energy, dispelled from her arms and legs.

The corner of Peridot's mouth twitched as she watched the lapis lying motionless, breathing shallowly. Her resolve was quickly wearing away at the sight.

Peridot began digging through her mountains of things again, creating a loud clatter in the corner of the room. In a moment she emerged with a clear flask of robonoid fluid. She glanced around and closed the main sliding door of her compartment, then took small steps toward the prisoner. Kneeling, she came right to the captive's side, and nudged her with a single floating finger.

The lapis groaned weakly. Peridot hesitated, then prodded her again. Lapis turned over, and looked up with dark, exhausted eyes. Tears ran off the side of her face and dripped to the steel floor.

Peridot froze and just stared at her for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"Here." Peridot set down the vial. "It only works on gem devices, for healing purposes. But it's... very soothing on the skin."

After a few seconds of quiet, The green gem rose to her feet and clomped back over to her storage units, and started retrieving the parts for another arm enhancer. She might need a spare for this next mission.

Only after the gem left her side did Lapis let her eyes move. She looked blankly at the vial, at its blurry, formless shape skewed by tears. A blotch of mint green surrounded by shining glass and stoppered with a triangular spike. This offering perplexed her. No gem had shown her even a hint of kindness, from the moment she was captured up until now.

Lapis looked at one of her inflamed wrists, touched it and immediately flinched. After struggling so much against her shackles, she was finally free and yet she had gained no comfort. Her defiance was all used up, and nothing seemed to matter anymore.

She slowly extended her shaking hand, and took the vial, uncorked it. Gingerly spreading the goo on her wrists, she relished the cold relief.

Peridot glanced over her shoulder, to find that the lapis was applying the robo-fluid to her burns and scratches. Something strange happened for a second - she thought she felt her gem glowing. Shuddering, she shrugged it off as she went back to her work.

A/N: Did you like it? The only way I'll ever know is if you favorite or review! Preferably both!

Thank you so much for reading. I think I wanna do an introduction story with Jasper too.