Just so you know, the plot will be more solid from now on. I started watching a really good show about a space war a bit after last time I updated.
Rear Admiral Yellow Diamond stared up at the screen showing the movements of Titan Five, and Lazuli's movements within. Everything was going well-it was just an average practice. Mind-numbingly boring, took about three hours, but was vital for Humans in general.
"Sir!"
She turned around. A small, red-headed girl wearing the average non-combat uniform stood, her back straight as a rod, saluting her superior despite the fact that Diamond was hated throughout the galaxy.
"Yes, Sergeant Andromeda?"
"Sir, Commodore Crystal has arrived and wishes to review her assignment with you. What should I tell her?"
Diamond blinked. "Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes." Andromeda saluted once more. She stared after her for a moment. Oliver De Andromeda. Her parents must have been from the French colony on Earth's only ally planet, Ptolemy. She returned her gaze to the sixteen-year-old girl in the cockpit. How long had it been since she was that age? Ten years? Twenty? It didn't really matter. Age, after all, is only relative in this new world.
She turned, leaving the room. A few subordinates rushed to salute as she walked by-but most of the people she walked past were Kronos employees. They only noticed her a little, for most of them were busy with papers or chatting with friends. Diamond turned a sharp corner, ramming straight into a tall albino woman.
"Oh-oh! Are you alright?"
Diamond rubbed the spot on her shoulder where the woman had rammed into her. She looked down at her, taking in her appearance. Roughly five-ten, with big blue eyes, a blue-green zipped up jacket, a purple skirt, with pointy yellow-white hair with dyed pink fringe around her face.
"I am fine." Diamond circled around the flustered and birdlike woman. "I apologize for my misconduct...Mollusk." She squinted briefly at the nametag on the woman's chest. "Er, um, I..." Diamond left, striding swiftly through the hallway. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen Pearl Mollusk before. Something about her expression, probably. She got that a lot from Kronos employees.
Diamond stopped at the room where she assumed Crystal was. She opened the door and stepped inside, immediately biting her lip angrily. Commodore Crystal had her arms and legs crossed, sitting in a wheeled desk chair, staring at the ceiling. She was wearing the same uniform as Andromeda(who was standing against the wall outside), albeit with different markings on the collar of the red jacket. Her glasses reflected the light, hiding her eyes. Diamond had only met her once before-and hadn't seen her eyes due to the helmet she had been wearing.
The Commodore jumped up, saluting. Her glasses slid down her eyes, revealing her heterochromia. One bright red eye, one bright blue eye. Both seemed to pierce straight through Diamond. The Commodore's square hair was a bit of a mess-she had probably been rushed here, as usual with most transfers.
"Commodore Crystal."
"Rear Admiral Diamond."
She was snarky, it seemed, based off her tone. The twenty-five year old dropped her arm to her side. She maintained her expression, eyebrows pointing down to her determined, mismatched eyes.
"You are here to request your assignment information?"
"That is correct."
Diamond contemplated for a moment, trying to remember from the situation she had read the day previously. "As the status on other planets, is stable, and the interstellar and inter-galactic pioneering is going well...and of course, single-planet revolutions have been quieted down, you have no reason to be on the front lines, or otherwise. You are to be a backup pilot for Titan Ten, Coeus. If owrst comes to worse, you will be the temporary pilot of Titan Three, Atlas."
Crystal couldn't contain her surprise. "Uh-Yes, sir! Should I register today?"
"No. You have the week off."
"Yes, sir."
Diamond nodded briefly, turned, and left the room.
Ruby absentmindedly lay on the couch, propped up on her elbows, writing a report on the history of Mars.
"The first man-made item to be placed on Mars was the Viking Lander in one thousand, nine hundred, seventy-six, well over a thousand years ago...the first step towards the current population of-UGGH..."
Her turmoil was interrupted by a knock at the door, She glanced towards the bathroom, where Pearl was showering. Darn it. She hated answering the door. "Just a sec!" She tossed her notebook and pen to the side (why the heck was paper even still in use? they'd had a replacement since longer than light-speed travel, a relatively recent invention. Five hundred years.) She hopped up, unlocked the door, and opened the scraped-up and thin barrier. She stared in shock for a moment, jaw dropping.
"Whoo-hoo!"
She lunged forward, locking her arms around Garnet's neck in something between a choke-hold and a hug.
"Chill, little sis! It's only been like...okay, it's been three years. Whoo!"
Ruby continued to cling to her older sister's neck. "You saved me from the horrors of my inter-planetary history class..." She could practically feel Garnet's eyebrows raising. "Um, you don't like that? It's, like, the only class worth taking, next to PE..."
Garnet forcibly pushed Ruby away. "Anyway, where's Pearl?"
"Shower."
"Oh, right." She glanced around. "Say, is Sapph at one of her weird things? Doesn't she live with you now?" Garnet's expression returned to it's normal blank state at Ruby's expression. "...Did something happen, Ruby?"
Ruby rocked back on her heels. "Uh...Titan Three's security system activated on her, and...uh...she's in the ICU right now. Has been for about two weeks..." She looked up at her sister once more, unsurprised by Garnet's suddenly angered expression. The tall woman smacked her fist into her other palm. "Damn it! I swear, if I get my hands on that filthy Quartz's neck..."
Ruby reached out to Garnet's arm. "Sis, it wasn't her fault. It was just a system malfunction. If it's anyone's fault, it'd be Peridot Olivine's, or Sardonyx Towers...Or heck, the one who actually designed the program, Fleet Admiral Triangulum!"
Garnet's expression softened slightly. "You're right. I'm just a bit fired up right now, that's all."
Ruby smiled faintly. "Actually, I think everyone involved with this is right now. I mean, Towers and Minira are constantly at each others throats right now. Admittedly, that isn't surprising..."
Garnet grinned. "Just like their entire life. Man, even though we were in the same class, I sure turned out differently from Pearl, Dot, Sardonyx, Sugilite, and the rest..."
The conversation ended on a happy note, the same as it had begun. Eventually, Ruby recieved a three-hour lecture on the history of Mars over the past...while.
The rain continued over Beach City.
Okay, so, Garnet is usually a spaceship pilot who can also pilot Titans no problem. And the Titans have names. After the Greek Titans. And the oldest and ruler of the universe, Kronos(or Cronus, alternately) is the name of the orginazation. I actually think these things out now. Two of these characters are named after galaxies. (Fleet Admiral Triangulum and Oliver De Andromeda.)
R&R!