Chapter 1:
Iolite
"Where is Tourmaline? I demand to see her immediately!... I don't care if she's five star systems away! You bring her here now!"
The outburst from General Citrine echoed through the dull Crystal Gem encampment. Iolite walked alongside Tourmaline's right as they, Carnelian, Celestite, and Rhodolite headed for the command tent near the center of the camp. Thousands of Gems occupied the mud that permeated the land but not one of them said a word.
Tattered Gems covered in mud and rain stared at them as they passed with blank, emotionless eyes. The previous battle had left many of them exhausted and broken inside. Before the arrival of Tourmaline's brigade the Gems of Citrine's Fortitude Brigade had been fighting for nearly five hours. When the Coalescence Brigade joined the fray there were less than a thousand Crystal Gems left and still nearly two and a half-thousand Homeworld Gems. In the end most of the Fortitude Brigade had been wiped out. None of the Homeworld Gems survived. They fought to the very end.
For the past five months all the battles had ended like this. Thousands of Crystal Gems would charge in but only a few hundred would walk away. Every battle they called a "victory" was in reality a defeat. Homeworld could easily replace their lost numbers here on Earth. The Crystal Gems could not.
After the first half-decade of the rebellion, Homeworld lost several sectors on Earth to the Crystal Gems. It became very obvious that this once believed uprising would escalate into a full war. Homeworld feared that an incident such as this one would spark a chain reaction and lead others to begin their own acts of rebellion. In order to stop this from happening they gathered tens of thousands of Gems and trained them, not to fight, but to crush their enemies. Homeworld wanted to end the Crystal Gems quickly and mercilessly so that no one would dare to recreate such a stunt.
The first wave of Homeworld's new warriors: amethysts, exceeded expectations. They did not see the Crystal Gems as another army but a pack of disobedient vermin who needed to be laid to rest. Everything they stood for was the bane of these warriors. Their zeal and drive made them incredibly dominant on the battlefield and cause the annihilation of four-thousand Crystal Gems in their first confrontation.
"You would think she'd know that tent fabric isn't all that great at keeping in noise, huh?"
Carnelian danced around Iolite as they walked. The young, orange-red Gem was always cheery and full of bliss. Iolite could not help but have a feeling of joy and warmth as she played with her white hair; putting it above her upper lip like a moustache and making faces.
Despite their significant age gap the two shared certain traits in appearance. They were both somewhere around five feet and eight inches tall. Their physiques were thin and not very intimidating in the least bit. Apart from this the two differed in many ways.
While Carnelian's hair was long and white, Iolite's was short, purple, and appeared to be covered in glitter in the light. Iolite's gem was long and narrow; running the length of her spine. Carnelian's on the other hand was the shape of a diamond situated on her right forearm. Outfit wise, Iolite had on a light, silver chest plate, bracers, boots, and a deep purple waist cape. Carnelian was not affable towards the same gear as her elder and instead adorned a simple dark red dress with silver boots and shoulder pads.
As the group entered the tent the yelling momentarily ceased. A burly, yellow Gem glared at the newcomers before continuing her verbal rampage.
"There you are!" Citrine grabbed Tourmaline by the collar of her coat and pulled her in close. "You let my people die! We needed your help and you denied us! Now I have barely a fraction of the Gems I once had under my command left and it is your entire fault the rest are gone!"
The angry Gem stepped back as Tourmaline struck her. The rage inside of Citrine only grew because of this. With a threatening roar she drew a maul from her gem and charged forward. Just as she was about to strike her target a tower shield deflected her attack. Celestite stood in between her general and the attacker. Citrine raised her maul again but a blade was pressed against her throat before she could make another swing.
"You were right, Tourmaline," Carnelian said with an ecstatic laugh and smile, "She really is an idiot."
Citrine was restrained by Rhodolite and Celestite as Carnelian retracted the blade back into the gem on her arms. They tied her arms behind her back and pushed her down on her knees. She did not struggle, knowing full well that it would be futile.
Tourmaline went to the five other Gems in the tent who had been spectating in silence. Two of them were officers under Tourmaline's command. The other three belonged to Citrine. These three looked broken and exhausted. Their bodies were scratched, bruised, and dirtied. Their eyes were empty and jerked towards the slightest noise. Each breath was quick and shallow. One them even had her hands clasped together and was nervously twitting her thumbs.
Out of these four Iolite recognized only one. The other three were not commanding officers in Citrine's brigade. It could only be presumed that the previous commanding officers had perished during the battle and those present were somewhere far down the chain of command. The fact that they were here was not at all a good sign.
Tourmaline seemed to have noticed this as well. "Please, look at me. I want you to take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and clam your nerves. You're safe here. No one is going to cause you any harm. I am General Tourmaline of the Coalescence Brigade. Now please, introduce yourselves."
They started from left to right. The first was a short blue and white Gem named Kyanite; a warrior in Commander Talc's Peak Battalion. Next was a dark green Gem who went by Epidote. Before now she was a sergeant in Commander Agate's battalion. Standing next to her was a yellow Gem.
She did not immediately introduce herself and instead kept her arms crossed and stared straight at the ground beneath her. Tourmaline asked if she was alright but did not receive an answer. The Gem trembled as if she were freezing. As Tourmaline put a hand on her shoulder the girl jumped backwards with a frantic scream.
A short sword was pulled from her gem and wildly swung about. The paranoid Gem screamed with tears flowing from her eyes as she lashed out at unseen demons. A quick jab to the gut from Tourmaline incapacitated the crazed Gem who retreated back into her gem.
"Anyone know her name?"
Tourmaline held the gem as they went on with the meeting.
"Yellow Sapphire, Ma'am," The last Gem answered. Iolite knew this one. Her name was Aventurine and she was the commander of the Essence Battalion. It was a relief to see at least one of the Fortitude Brigade's commanding officers alive.
Aventurine continued, "She is the only surviving Gem from the Stalwart Battalion, Ma'am. We found her curled up in the mud after the battle. She was unresponsive and petrified. We carried her to camp where we looked after her. She only began to start moving less than an hour ago."
Iolite watched as Tourmaline silently pondered to herself. She let out a sigh before moving onto the reason they were gathered.
"Recount the events of the battle for me, please."
One by one, Kyanite, Epidote, and Aventurine spoke of the battle from their respective views. In all honesty, this was just an unneeded formality. The debrief only confirmed what Tourmaline and the rest of her group already knew.
"Citrine-" Tourmaline wiped some hardened mud off of the yellow gem she kept in her hand. "-You are being relieved of duty and detained on the grounds of insubordination and needlessly putting your soldiers in an impossible situation that nearly destroyed your entire brigade."
"We engaged the enemy in combat!" Citrine argued, "We did what we were supposed to do! We found the enemy; outnumbered them and fought them! My soldiers knew what they getting into the moment they joined the Crystal Gems!"
A blade sliced through Citrine's right arm; severing it from the rest of her body. She cried while Rhodolite and Celestite held her upright.
"We told you to stay within your defensive lines and wait for reinforcements. You were never going to win on your own, yet you tried and it cost the lives of almost four-thousand Gems."
Tourmaline punched Citrine. She did it again, and again, and again until the yellow Gem was nearly unconscious. "I've rescinded my former punishment." Citrine looked up at Tourmaline with tear stained eyes. "You don't deserve my grace."
Celestite grabbed Citrine by her hair and pulled her head back so the gem on her forehead was fully shown. Tourmaline retrieved her Estoc from the gem on her chest and pressed the tip to the revealed gemstone. Citrine's eyes widened as the sword slowly dug deeper and deeper.
"Wait! Please!" No amount of begging was going to save her. "I… I… I want to talk to Rose Quartz!... Bring me to Rose!" Tourmaline ignored her pleas. She tilted the blade from left to right and back again so that the blade could have an easier time piercing all the way through. "Please! Have mercy on me! Show me kindness!"
"…I am…"
Citrine's body exploded as the hole reaching from the front to back of her gem was completed. Tourmaline removed the gem from the tip of her Estoc and placed it in a pouch on her side.
"I'm taking control of the remaining Gems from Citrine's brigade," She told Aventurine, "You'll be placed into the Module Battalion for the time being and make a new company. We'll give you twenty four hours to rest. If you need anything speak to Commander Topaz. Dismissed."
Aventurine left with her fellows so that Tourmaline could speak to her subordinates alone.
"We need to push our plan forward more than ever," Iolite said, "We will not win this war if we do not act."
"I know that. Hopefully this will urge the others to comply… how long will it take?"
"Twelve weeks."
"How many?"
"One- maybe two-hundred. We can train five hundred at a time."
"If I gave you four hundred could you train more?"
"If you're willing then absolutely."
Tourmaline turned to Celestite and Rhodolite. "Get me a wailing stone. I need to call this in."