The Quartizine Chronicles
A History of Rose Quartz and the Earth Rebellion
Part 6: Second Chances and Surprise Attacks
"The second battle of the war for Earth, in contrast to the first, was a clear victory for the Authority. However, it must be said of the battle that our victory was due, in large part, to our vast experience in lightning warfare. Were Rose Quartz's forces as prepared for the second battle as they had been for the first, victory would almost certainly not have come as swiftly as it did. As well, our forces had the major advantage being backed up by some of the remnants of Commander Zirconia's first-strike battle company which had fled to the Sol system's secondary spaceport on Sol's second planet (known to humans as 'Venus'), which simultaneously lent invaluable insight into the kinds of tactics the Quartz army was likely to use and provided a serious morale boost to our army (vengeance is a powerful motivator, as students of tactical history would do well to learn and remember). Finally, our army had the tactical advantage of surprise, the importance of which in combat cannot possibly be overstated.
Now, to address the specifics of the battle. The second battle of the Quartizine Rebellion was fought not on Earth, but at a small base and warp terminal on the fourth planet of the Sol system (called 'Mars' by some humans). This base had originally been established as a scouting station to determine Mars's usefulness as a Gem production planet. Mars (unless it has greatly changed in the years since the rebellion), is a medium-sized, rocky planet, being by all appearances perfect for Gem production. However, upon analysis by our engineer-researchers, it quickly became clear that the rock and soil of the planet was comprised of potassium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride, and its surface lacked sufficient quantities of calcium and silicon, meaning Gem production on the planet, while technically possible, would be rather a waste of resources. Instead, the planet was turned into a small-scale military base, in the event that the need should ever arise within the Sol system for in-system military mobilization. The base went unused for more or less its entire history, and was eventually abandoned as useless. Rose Quartz, likely divining the potential strategic importance of the base, had decided to establish a presence on Mars by sending a small scout and engineering detail to determine how usable the base was, and, from there, repair as many of the base's automated systems as possible. This rebel scout team did their job quite well, as the base's systems were restored to nearly 90% of their pre-abandonment capabilities. The scout team did, however, miss one critical detail; the base contained a single functional planetary warp, linked directly to the warp terminal located in the Venus spaceport. Calling for backup, the Gem troops on Venus were joined by several battle companies stationed in the Hesperius system, approximately 6.59 lightyears to the galactic south of Sol (and luckily so; knowing what we now know about Rose Quartz's use of the system's early warning drones, the battle companies came in well out of their effective detection range). The events which followed are easily summarized. Our informant within the rebel army informed us of Rose's attempt to take the base, our troops blitzed the planet, and, emboldened by our previous loss, annihilated the rebel occupiers with next to no loss of life on our side. The lesson here is simple, young tactician-historians: play to your advantages, when given the opportunity."
-Excerpt from Tactical History of the Empire: A Primer for Chronicler-Class Gems
"Triple-encrypt entry, and set code to: 25099653.
I have met a like minded Gem among the ranks of the Hegemon Rose's army. She is a worker-fighter by the name of Feldspar, and she, too, tires of this. I think she fears I might be a spy for Hegemon Rose, as she seems unwilling to trust me with much information. All she will tell me is that she has received some communications from Homeworld. Unfortunately, she will not reveal what these communications were about, nor will she answer me when I inquire as to whether or not she has responded to them. Perhaps there is still a way to fix this. Perhaps only Lady Rose will have to suffer for the transgressions of this planet."
-Audio-journal entry by SH8242S
Archives of the Library of the Grand Imperial Institute of Technology
Category: Ship-to-Ship Weaponry
File: Mark VII warp torpedo
The Mark VII warp torpedo (to use military-class parlance, the "Crystal Queen's Fury"), has, since its invention by our Institute in Imperial Year 20,347, become the single most important weapon in modern ship-to-ship combat, and the cornerstone of almost all of the Imperial Star Navy's starship combat strategies. Its design and function are simple, yet exceedingly effective and efficient. To describe it thus: the missile itself consists solely of an ultra-miniature warp impeller beneath a body of solid metal, with the outer hull containing an impact indicator. When fired, the missile's warp impeller activates for as long as it takes it to register with the impact indicator that the missile has hit its target. As soon as this happens, the warp impeller's Musgravite Effect shield (which, of course, protects objects within its range from becoming infinitely massive while traveling at or above lightspeed), deactivates, causing the entire missile to instantaneously become infinitely massive, then collapse in on itself. The resulting implosion seems, to the onlooker, to simply "delete" starships from existence within mere moments of being fired.
Technical Specifications:
Length: .5 meters
Width: 16 centimeters
Total Weight: 9 kilograms