Garnet had always considered herself to be a good leader. She held the record of being undefeated in battle, always with minimum casualties. She kept a cool head in battle, constantly thinking of dozens of attacks and ways out, with her unit working like a brand-new machine, complying to orders perfectly. She always changed her position in the battle, darting around with her fighter plane. Unit January was always the first to attack-and always the first guarantee to a victory.

And then she had been transferred to Earth.

It was practically abandoned at this point, with the population constantly dropping. It was a valuable resource, of course. It was where she had been born and raised. But still...she hated it. It had taken her family. Her home. Her classmates. Her city. She had left for a year for military school when she was fifteen, and when she came back...all of New York City had been destroyed. Her home for ten years, and in just a few minutes it had been destroyed. Wiped off the map, never to be revisited.

And now Beach City was going to share the same fate. The place she had begun to call home, ever since she and all of her friends had been sent there as children. The huge fleet moved at a deadly slow pace over the metropolis.

Everyone she cared about was in danger, and instead of a proper fighter, she was stuck in this one-winged coffin. If she had to choose a place to die, it would be in her own little fighter, the Bellona.

Her hands tightened at the controls, her eyes narrowing. "Who's in charge of the fighter ship unit?" Garnet waited expectantly for a moment, before the voice of a young girl came through. "That would be me, Sergeant Oliver De Andromeda." Garnet's eyes widened momentarily, before she regained her composure. "This is Titan Ten pilot Commodore Garnet Crystal. I need you to send a message to the Orbit Fleet. Tell them that the Bellona and Gaia will rise in the stead of Zeus."

Not the best code ever by a long shot, but Triangulum knows nicknames and mythology like nobody's business. He'll figure this out.

"Yes ma'am."

Garnet turned her eyes to the monitor. She skimmed the situation, figuring out which ones were flagships. She could spot one, noticing the larger weapons, heavier armor, overall large size, and slightly different markings. "All pilots, aim for the flagship. The ID on the side is..." Garnet took a few large steps to the right, getting to a better angle to see the letters and numbers. "...8400BKA. I repeat, 8400BKA." She lifted her rifle, aligning the crosshairs over the middle of the ship.

"Fire!"

The beams, missiles, and the occasional rock, tree, or segment of a building (Garnet has learned not to question Earth battles) shot up at the flagship. The weapons bounced off harmless, instead destroying the ships in the surrounding formation.

She parted her lips slightly, thinking of a new plan and adjusting the controls calmly. The control panel was different from what she was used to-from a decade ago-and she had been through one simulation. In other words, she was having no problem doing this.

"Just like a fighter plane...ration your ammo, Garnet," she whispered, lifting her beam rifle at an average ship, firing. The beam went right through, going through another two other ships before dissipating. The explosions from the vessels knocked back a few fighter planes, destroyed a tank, and knocked someone's Titan onto the ground.

"Garnet, you doing alright?"

"Yes, Ruby."

She could sense Ruby's relief at this statement without even turning her head to look. She hated to worry her sister like this, but she didn't have a choice. She couldn't back down for a petty reason like that. "I'm shutting down communications with my Titan for a second. I need to talk to the people back at Headquarters." Garnet adjusted something on a screen, and the holographic images disappeared. She flipped a switch. "Commodore Garnet Crystal, Titan Ten. Kronos, I am requesting total evacuation of headquarters and permission to lure the enemy into low Earth orbit."

"This is Rear Admiral Yellow Diamond. We are in the process of evacuating all non-vital faculty, family members, and government officials. I will need more information on your strategy in order for permission to be granted."

Garnet nodded, although she knew that it was audio-only. "Yes Ma'am. I am suggesting leaking a set of false orders implying that all of Earth's main governmental figures have already been moved to the Triangulum Fleet that should be nearing here. Trust me to create the set of orders."

"And how do you expect me to get permission to do that? This is not my territory. I have almost no power here. This is merely an extended visit from Ptolomy." Yellow Diamond responded with that same monotone that Garnet had always despised. She recognized that she herself came off as emotionless, but still...she had to cooperate. "I am suggesting martial law. I've reviewed the officers in this area. You are the highest ranking within a two hundred mile radius. I will request your unoccupied Flagship to come with us as well, assuming that you are not on it."

Garnet overhead a few brief shouts. This wasn't a private conversation. Damn that Rose Quartz for those ridiculous laws...

"I approve of your plan. You will need spacesuits and a solid way to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. The Triangulum Fleet is within sight of the Lunar Colonies. You may take off as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I'll brief my comrades and begin the operation immediately. Shutting off communications." Garnet cut off her line to Kronos, switching back on the one to the other fighters. "All ground fighters, retreat immediately. Titans and Fighters, I am issuing false communications to leak to the Republic forces. We will lure them into orbit, where we will crush them with the aid of the Triangulum Fleet. If you are leaking any air, retreat with the ground fighters."

Garnet watched as all of the tanks retreated, along with Titan Five. Apparently, Amethyst had been in a fight that had damaged her Titan recently. Not surprising. She sent the false orders with ease, then sent t the actual ones-in Egyptian hieroglyphs that had word order scrambled-on a much tighter line with layer after layer of protective coding. She dodged the shots that the ascending enemy fleet sent raining them. She didn't think any of the hurried shots had hit-before she felt as though her abdomen had been partially cut out.

"Holy crap..." Garnet mumbled, realizing that her titan was flat on it's back. The force of a missile exploding in front of her had flattened the nearby area and knocked a chunk out of her titan. She turned her head, checking the communications system. "Anyone else hit?" She was met by a chorus of No's.

"Uh...Garnet? Are you okay?"

Garnet nodded, getting back on her feet. "I've had worse than this. Ever tell you about the time I shot into a moving spaceship?"

"Um, no," Ruby mumbled in a rather alarmed manner. "Yeah, I didn't really remember it until recently." Garnet looked up at the rapidly disappearing Fleet. "Titans, Fighters! Launch!"

Garnet manipulated the controls for a moment until she figured out the way to get off Earth. She shot straight up, knocked back into her seat by the G-force, despite the high-tech protection. She could feel the armor expanding, the overlapping plates widening and providing a slightly more aerodynamic shape. After a few minutes she had reached orbit-took a moment to admire the surprisingly dark surface of the Earth, despite the amazing technology Humans had developed.

"is everyone up?" Garnet asked. She was surprised to find that she was actually the last one up. Even the fighters, which didn't have as much power as the Titans, had beat her. Probably because of her inexperience with Titan piloting.

"Good. Retreat to the Triangulum Fleet. I'll lead the way." Garnet adjusted the controls for a second before moving forward rapidly towards the distant-but clearly huge-fleet. She looked down at the control panel, trying to figure the communication system. At long last(about forty-five seconds), she figured it out. It was a pretty simple hologram, it turned out. "Commodore Garnet Crystal. Triangulum Fleet, the Titan and Fighter units have successfully reached outer orbit and we are requesting your help."

"Fleet Admiral Walter Triangulum. I received your coded message. We will assist in any way we can." Garnet nodded briskly down at the holographic screen portraying Triangulum's face. "Thank you, sir. Ending communication."

After she was sure audio was off, Garnet let out a heavy breath and scanned her monitor for the Republic Fleet. After a moment, she caught sight of it. It was stationary, seemingly in much lower Earth orbit. She let the Triangulum Fleet envelope her tiny group. She silently cursed her lack of a proper fighter-Titans were powerful and all, but they weren't designed for space battles. It was possible, of course, but they were designed to battle Fae. Not humans. Everyone single one of the Titan pilots would be better off with a proper Fighter.

And then the battle began with a quickness unique to Space Battles. Completely silent, yet with enough destructive power to destroy colonies.

She maintained her blank facade, even as a shot grazed her hand.

Facade. Funny word. You can't sound it out unless you're some weirdo.

StevenBomb 3.0+1.0 (totally not) The End comes out soon.