Chapter Two
Zigzag, you always zigzag when your running in battle. Aventurine repeated the words over and over again in her mind as she clutched hold of her Destabilizer Rifle in one hand and her hand held shield in the other. Around her, a trio of Jaspers, a Smoky Quartz and their group leader, Vermarine, all making a charge. Laser bolts were raining down from the sky, hitting the ground around them. Aventurine held up her small shield as one of the crackling, golden bolts of disruptor energy struck the shield with an impact that knocked her off balance. With her shield still held above her, she gripped her Disruptor Rifle tight and fired off some shots in response. The half dozen Gems slid behind a small wall.
"Flash grenades!" The Vermarine lead called out as the group all dug into their utility belts, taking out small, spherical grenades. They twisted the top half of the grenades as it began to flash red. They all threw the explosives over the side of the wall.
The explosion caused a crackling, ear ringing sound which caused Aventurine to grip her ears. After a few seconds, she saw the other five were already charging over the wall and followed behind them. They all charged up a walkway and reached their objective, a yellow flag atop a raised platform. Vermarine grabbed the flag and held it above her head.
"Training complete. Results, 87 percent effective." The voice of the Dumortierite operator rang out. There were some disgruntled moans from the other Quartz.
White Diamond watched from the viewing level and called down to the half dozen soldiers below her. "Your slipping. I expect 100% from you. If you got dead weight, loose it. Understood?"
"Yes, my Diamond!" Came the reply.
White walked down the steps of the observation level as the Quartz soldiers left the training room, with the exception of one. Aventurine was left alone in the training room, slouched over one of the raised barriers. White walked down the steps, hopping over the small streams of water providing obstacles for the training gems. Aventurine realised the Diamond was approaching and straightened up, saluting.
"My Diamond." She began, White held a hand up to cut her off.
"No need to stand on attention."
Aventurine still stood rigid and straight.
"How are you doing?"
White Diamond's interest in Aventurine concerned her. Clearly this was some kind of test. White Diamond was merciless and cold and unmoving. Why would she even care?
"I'll perform better, my Diamond. I promise you I'll..."
White interrupted, trying her best to look unthreatening. As the only other Quartz survivor of the Trilliant disaster, she was still shaken and the interrogation by the Sphenes didn t help.
"Why are you still afraid? You think because you've seen some pretty horrific stuff, it s made you incapable of being an effective soldier. Is that right?"
Aventurine didn't answer, but White knew what she would have said.
"Look, I've seen many Gems full of bravado run into battle full of self importance. Those Gems die pretty quickly. They think they re the best in the land and are untouchable. Next thing they know, a Crystal Gem s speared them in the back. I've seen what Amethyst Prime's said about you. You're not one of those Gems. That s why I think you ll go far. You actually use your mind, not your muscle."
She looked over Aventurine, she was considerably scrawnier then the average Quartz, she didn't quite come out right.
"Well, what muscle you may have anyway. Fighting with the grunts and the clod thick soldiers is not for you."
The green warrior was so taken aback by all this. She remained silent, lost for word.
"Which is why I've put in a recommendation to promote you to Minor Quartz leader. You d be much better suited with the thinkers, not the doers."
The warrior began to stammer.
"I...Thank you, White Diamond. Thank you so much. But Am I really the right Gem?"
White just responded with a nod.
"You go get rested up. I ll have you summoned when the high ups make their decision."
She was about to turn on her heels when she remembered something and turned to Aventurine.
"Where's Amethyst Prime? She was supposed to be here."
The poor green Gem was still lost in thought when White asked her. She snapped herself out of it pretty quickly though.
"I'm not sure, my Diamond. I've not seen her since her interrogation by the Sphenes."
A few hours had passed when Eudialyte agreed to go to the Prime Quartz's quarters. The Diamonds were already neck deep in work, Heliodor was reviewing evidence with the Sphenes and Kimberlite was among the soldiers. That just left the pink scientist Gem. She tugged nervously at the collar of her roll neck as she rang the chimes on Prime's door. There was no sound. She rang again. No sound. After a few seconds, she rolled up her sleeve and held out her wrist device.
"Over ride door locks." She spoke into it as the device beeped.
The doors slid open and Eudialyte peered inside. What she saw made the eyes behind her goggles widen. In the dingy, dark chambers, Amethyst Prime was bent over with a syringe in one hand and the other hand placed on her Gem. She watched as the syringe, full of metallic liquid dug into her Gem and the liquid was slowly pushed in. The Prime Gem's head shot up as she dropped the syringe and turned to Eudialyte. As the two locked eyes, the pink Gem tried to slowly move away, but Amethyst Prime rushed to her feet and dashed over, grabbing Eudialyte by the arm and throwing her inside her room, sending her to the ground with a painful thump.
"What in Goddess' name do you think your doing!?" Eudialyte yelled from the floor.
Amethyst Prime slammed her open hand over the door controls, resulting in them slamming shut.
"Stay out of this!" She barked back. Eudialyte scrambled to her feet, staring at the syringe.
"You better not be doing what I think your doing, Prime."
"And what if I am?" The purple Gem replied as she walked over one of the devices, shattering it under foot.
"Raw carbon injected into your Gem is highly dangerous, Goddess only knows how weak and brittle that thing must be now."
The commander stomped up to Eudialyte, dwarfing the scientist by about three feet.
"If I wanted your opinion, I'd ask for it!"
With a grunt, she used the back of her hand to strike Eudialyte, sending her crashing into the Prime s desk. She picked up Eudialyte by the collar of her pink roll neck and yanked the zip down, revealing her covered Gem, the pink and black Gem had a crack through it.
"Besides, your not one to talk."
Eudialyte pushed away from Amethyst Prime. She zipped up her roll neck.
"You forget your place. You may be Prime of the Quartz division, and while you have a seat at the Authority, I will always be your superior. Why? Because I stand in the Retinue next to my Diamond and in her absence I am in charge!" Her eyes narrowed. "You hate the very idea of that don t you?"
Amethyst Prime couldn't take it any longer. She reached into her Gem and pulled out her flail, the spiked ball hitting the ground wit great force. Eudialyte replied by summoning her crossbow.
"Don t even think ab .."
Before she could continue, she grabbed at her Gem and grunted in pain, she felt the crack start to worsen, as the crack grew ever so slightly deeper. This caused the pink scientist to go full berserk. Her once practical hair style now shot up and hung above her head and she pushed the goggles away from her eyes, revealing the pupils to be tiny. She kept her crossbow trained on Amethyst Prime. She was practically screaming her words now.
"Everyone in the Authority knows it, Prime! Your reckless, impulsive, you hate following orders! Your not fit to lead anymore then that Pearl that follows you around is!"
Amethyst Prime responded by raising her flail and bringing it down, where it not for a swift dodge by Eudialyte, she would have shattered the scientist. Eudialyte jumped into the air and hung by the corner of the ceiling. She fired a barrage of arrows at the Prime. While Amethyst Prime deflected the incoming fire, Eudialyte jumped from the ceiling and onto the ground. She dodged several swings of the flail and kicked the purple Gem to the ground by knocking her off her feet. The Prime rolled away to avoid more incoming arrows and got to her feet, taking another swing of the flail. Eudialyte jumped to avoid it as it took out the remainder of the desk. Eudialyte used her height in the air to take a kick to Amethyst Prime s head, which sent her staggering back, though it only stunned her as she quickly caught one of the arrows that had been fired at her in her hand and broke it in two.
"You could never be one of us!" Eudialyte shouted as she readied her crossbow with an explosive arrow. Before she could fire it however, Prime's flail struck her on the side of the face, causing her to hit the ground hard. Prime grabbed Eudialyte, who was clutching her face and brought her close to her head. Chunks of cheek were missing but were healing fast.
"You don t wanna admit it, but we re the cracking same, Eudialyte. We all have secrets, and if you don't want me blurting them to Yellow Diamond I suggest you don t ever talk of this again, do you hear me?"
She dropped Eudialyte and turned her back on her. The pink Gem picked herself up, her hair and goggles returning to their original state.
"Maybe your right, maybe we have similarities. But I'd never undermine one of my own Gems to the point of feeling worthless, unlike a certain Jasper."
The purple Prime turned on her feet and stomped back up to Eudialyte.
"And where is she now? Stuck on Earth with no means of getting back, so she proved me right all along. Now get out of my room. Now!"
Eudialyte gritted her teeth together. "We ll finish this later, Prime."
The brutish Gem's eyebrows raised. "You wanna duel this out? Lower Lustre City, tomorrow at dawn."
"Fine." Eudialyte picked up the remainder of her dignity as she swept back her hair and marched out of the room.
Yellow Diamond paced around her quarters. The sound of her heeled boots filled the large room as she was lot in thought. She passed rows or ornamental weapons and sets of armour, the spoils of war. While trying to organise the cluttered thoughts in her head, she picked up one of several egg shaped orbs that resided on the stands. What humans would call Faberge Eggs, Yellow Diamond would call a Spherical Containment Unit, a decorative prison for some of Yellow s favourite foes. Not wanting to give them the quick death of being shattered, they were fated to eternal imprisonment, their Gems encrusted into golden eggs, the perfect way for them to atone for their treachery. Elbaite, Hyalophane, Hiddenite, Xenotime. Yellow Diamond's face resembled a half smile as she placed the four prisoners trapped in the egg back on the display stand. The door controls chimed as Yellow pressed a command key on her wrist device, opening her quarters to Heliodor and Yellow Pearl.
"Progress?" The lead Diamond asked as Heliodor handed over a data pad.
"Kimberlite reports no identifiable defiance in the ranks. With the exception of Amethyst Prime, the Sphenes and my Interrogator Corps found nothing of note."
Yellow looked up from the data pad. Of course Amethyst Prime would never willingly put a lid on it , especially when something as important as an interrogation comes around.
"Amethyst Prime may be a brash, arrogant menace but she'd never think of rebelling. We only wanted to find out what she saw during the Trilliant incident. But no."
Yellow Pearl handed another data cube to Heliodor.
"This is Sphene 5D2X- 7VC s full psycho- analytical report on Amethyst Prime." Yellow took the data pad and sat at her desk, reading the hardly stellar report. "I would recommend she be relieved of command."
Yellow shook her head as she read through the report. "Given that emotions are running too high, changing up the command of the Quartz Battalions would only increase tensions in our largest division of soldiers. Now that sister White has elevated that defect Era Three Aventurine to Minor, putting her in command will only make things worse."
"Then what course of action shall we take?"
Yellow strummed her fingers on her desk. She looked at her two Gems for a few silent seconds. "Options?"
Heliodor felt her back straighten up. "There's always Anglesite."
The Diamond's eyes lowered, hovering over the data pad. She leant back in her chair and held the data pad up. "We'll need Anglesite to transmit the news of the Trilliant anyway. We can eliminate two problems. See the Pearls get to that."
"Yes my Diamond." Heliodor tried to think of her next words carefully. "Forgive me, but Anglesite will only be a temporary solution. Her voice may allow us a few days at most."
Anglesite, holographic singer of Homeworld s own creation, was a multipurpose entity. On one hand, the songs she sang contained a special code system. Through melodic patterns, Homeworld could send detailed reports without fear of interception. Transmitted through Wailing Stone, these complex signals could only be deciphered by Pearls.
Her other purpose was as a means for Homeworld to control it s population more efficiently. Lustre City, the capitol of Homeworld, where the Diamond Palace resided contained millions of Gems. They included the Gems who served the Authority, Gems who fulfilled supplementary roles and then there was the low life that lived under the surface of Lustre City. Diamond hating street rats, Blood Stones, Calcites and the likes. As a mass collective, they were fuelled by anti Diamond sentiment and were waiting for a chance to strike out.
With Anglesite, they had a way of snuffing out any insurgence before it started. Her voice was synthesised from White Diamonds, who, like all the Diamonds, possessed hypnotic powers. They manifested themselves in White s voice. Her vocal prowess had been unused since the war, hence why they were replicated into Anglesite. With this ability, Anglesite could calm Gems or stir them into a fighting spirit. The problem was however, that certain Gems began to develop an immunity. The desired effect was starting to lessen across the populace. This, Yellow Diamond knew all too well.
"A temporary solution. We can t afford a new rebellion to be born from this. Mining Colony Mandrel had the majority of their resources devoted to the Trilliant. The morale there will be terrible. The Jacinth there has her work cut out." She rubbed her forehead. Without shifting her gaze, she spoke to the other Gem in the room. "Pearl, your thoughts?"
Once again, the Pearl clammed up. Why her opinion suddenly mattered in the grand scheme of Homeworld baffled her. She d hoped it didn't. "W.. Well .. "She stuttered. "W...Why not investigate the Gems who we've conditioned since the war? If they have no leads then we wait for the real culprits to make the first move. We may loose a few Gems and have to make a sacrifice but...Well...Nothing we cannot fix surely? Then we can stop them before they inflict anymore damage."
Helidor stared at Yellow Pearl while Yellow Diamond looked up at her. She then turned to Heliodor. "Who are the Gems who have been conditioned?"
Heliodor quickly accessed a data pad and after a few seconds of retrieving data, she read off the list. "A Black Star Diopside, a Scapolite, two Tanzanites, a Cherry Quartz, an Aquamarine and an Iolite."
Yellow Diamond nodded as she stood up. "Get your Gems onto it Heliodor." She headed out of her office door and into the corridors of the Palace. "Call a meeting of the Authority in an hours time Pearl."
"Yes my Diamond."
The Diamond Palace sits at the end of Lustre City. In front of it, rows upon rows of tall buildings, connected by metal and glass walk ways high above the ground. Buildings included the barracks for the home guard Gems, record libraries and what is the Gem equivalent of a medical wing. Also lined up in this array are the buildings belonging to the Authority. The Carnelian Complex, a huge, red structure that houses the banks the Carnelians work in for example. But most importantly, the line of Embassies. They were run by the division heads of certain Gem types, including the Pearls and Peridots. Nacre s however, possessed a secret.
Behind a trap door in the polished white floors, a series of dark, gloomy tunnels built into the underground of Lustre City. A labyrinth where Gems that should be sent to the Refinery, defects in need of shattering and criminals thrived. Follow the tunnels far enough and you reach a hollowed out crevasse, full of these very Gems. Above the ground, a hole built into the side of the underground society, with a glass wall. Inside, a dark red room light dimly with red lights. A table seating several Gems was in the centre, with the leader at the head of the table.
This was the council of the leaders of the underground, the Five Pearls. At the head of the table, Mystic Black Pearl. She was stern faced, a deep scar slashed across her face. Her black hair was messy and long, her eyes were as black as her hair and was filled with malice. Sat around her, Mystic Black Pearl s number two, Baroque Pearl. Her skin was shiny and ranged in colour between off white, grey and sand coloured. Her grey hair was cut short and her outfit consisted of a black dress, straps covering her body and a pair of plain black shorts. Mabe Pearl had pearlescent skin which changed colour in the light, as did her cropped short hair and she wore a simple grey all in one suit. The penultimate member of the council was Keshi Pearl, a member of a vein of Pearls often discarded immediately (or so Homeworld thought) due to their malformed shape. Her appearance seemed to reflect it, with a large shard like Pearl in her neck, while her teal hair was filled with tangled knots and her outfit consisted of a scrappy dress and nothing else. Cave Pearl was the final member, who was considerably bulkier then her fellow Pearls, with muscles to match a Quartz soldier. Her head was closely shaved and almost devoid of hair while she wore a tight fitting top with the sleeves ripped off in a uniform black. Five bitter Pearls who watched over the whole of the Underground. With thousands of rejects, criminals and defective Gems living in the dark, their job was hardly a desirable one, but still, it was one fuelled by thousands of years of hatred for the Diamonds and their Authority. Nacre was not looking forward to speaking to them.
The door to the council chambers opened and Nacre slowly entered, welcomed by the probing gaze of five of her Pearls she viewed as special in the past. Despite their hate for everything the society she lived in and stood for, she still respected them dearly. They had succeeded in thriving where many Gems would not, and Gems as seemingly fragile as Pearls, being in a position of such influence as they were, she couldn t help but admire them. She gave a small bow to Mystic Black Pearl, a mark of respect, which was met with a nod from the Pearl.
"I have to admit, Matron Nacre, it s pretty brave of you to come here." She nodded to the glass wall overlooking the dingy underground. "Many a Gem out there would give up their facets to get a pot shot at a member of the Diamond Authority."
Nacre didn't show much of any sort of reaction to that, instead she remained calm and collected. "Which is why I have decided to pay you a visit."
There was a shimmer of white from Baroque Pearl as she let out a small growl, her teeth on show. "You d best not hang around, Matron. Gems will start asking questions. You may be missed up top if you hang around too long." Wow, that almost seemed like a threat. Once again, Nacre wasn't phased.
"So go on then." Called out Cave Pearl, a clenched fist on show on the table. "Why are you here?"
Nacre kept her gaze fixed on Mystic. "I want to know if you, or any of the Gems under your watch, had anything to do with the destruction of the Trilliant."
Baroque immediately got to her feet, looking positively enraged. Mystic grabbed her by the arm, shaking her head. This calmed the defect down as she sat back down.
Mabe spoke up next, a dreary tone was oozing from her voice. "What makes you think we had anything to do with it?"
Nacre was actually trying to shake off some fond nostalgia regarding the council, how they were all so small and afraid when she saved them and brought them down here. Now centuries of living in the dark has made them tired of the crack Homeworld spouting. "I do not mean to imply..."
"Well you did." Came the response, this time from Keshi, who seldom spoke.
Mystic spoke next. "We know what happened to that monstrosity of yours, word travels fast around here. No one left to go to the surface that night. No one leaves without our permission."
"Remember, we're the only ones who can grant access to the surface anyway, otherwise you d have an onslaught of undesirables on your hands, Matron." Baroque continued.
"I see. Well, thank you for your honesty." Nacre was about to turn on her heels but she stopped when she saw Mystic stand up.
"Nacre, you spared our lives from being shattered. Defects like us wouldn't have seen our second days if it wasn't for that. For that, we ll always be grateful. Don t take our resentment as hate for you, just the society you live in."
Nacre nodded slowly. "I understand, and I am still glad I took you all from Lustre City. I am very proud of you all, you've done so well to thrive here."
Mystic remained silent but she didn t need to say anything, Nacre could tell how she felt. "Now you'd better get going, you don't want anyone down here seeing you. Let s just say they won't take kindly to your presence."
She bowed to Mystic fire and walked through the door, leaving the Council's gaze. She stopped out of the door, just being able to hear them conversing behind the door. She may not have found any leads on the Trilliant disaster, but it made her feel good to learn her Pearls were thriving. Pride wasn't the word she was looking for, there was more inside her now.