Chapter Sixteen: Destination
So far, she had the message, she had the sender, now she only needed to verify the location. And seeing as the Diamonds were incredibly secretive about failed excursions, it was likely that all evidence of Moridius had been purged from their star maps. If Blue Pearl wanted to get to the bottom of this, it seemed she had no choice but to ask Her Diamond directly, something that could easily become counterintuitive.
But she still had to try. Even though Her Diamond might not be happy with her asking about that planet, there were still some Gems trapped, helpless, with the means to potentially aid Homeworld. The potential rewards outweighed any potential risks. She made her way towards the ship's bridge to pose the question, only to pause when she realized Blue was engaged in a video call.
The Pearl had expected her to be angrily negotiating with Moloq or one of his associates, or transcribing information to one of her own Gems. Instead, she was much happier. "Oh, you wouldn't want to be all the way out here. It's been sooooo boring!" she said, in a motherly tone Pearl only occasionally heard her use. "Surely things are much more exciting back on Homeworld."
"Things are never exciting on Homeworld!" Pink Diamond bounced around on the screen, unable to sit still. "That's why me and Pearl have to liven things up with our parties! Oh, that reminds me–today White and me went swimming in the Aquarius Sector! I think she thought I was lonely or something… But it was still really fun!"
Blue smiled warmly. "That does sound fun! I wish I could be there with you, but unfortunately, we all have our jobs to do. And right now, my job is getting matters settled with the Talu."
Pink lay down on her couch, looking at the screen upside-down. "I wish I could do something important like that. I feel like I hardly ever leave Homeworld anymore…I wanna know what else is out there! I wanna do more to help the empire!"
"You do help the empire, Pink," Blue assured her. "Your parties and balls and gatherings do wonders for us when the stress of running things gets too much. I know I always look forward to them!"
Pearl noticed that although Pink smiled, she still seemed slightly disappointed. "I know…but being a glorified party planner feels so pedestrian for a Diamond! When can I have a colony of my own, Blue?"
Gently shaking her head, Blue assured her sister her time would come. "Someday, Pink, someday. But you must remember, a colony is a huge first step for a Diamond. It takes a lot of responsibility to effectively run an entire planet."
"I've got plenty of responsibility!" said Pink, jumping up. "Whenever I plan one of my parties, I don't rest until everything's absolutely perfect! Remember when Yellow finally conquered Halvax-IX? My celebration was so much fun, it lasted for three days!"
Smiling, Blue reminisced fondly on that day–rather, those three days. "Yes, that was indeed some of your finest work. But it's important to remember, running a colony is quite a bit harder than planning a party. For now, I think you should stick to what you know best!"
Pink frowned. "Yeah, I suppose…" Pearl could sense that Blue already regretted her words. Indeed, she was quick to offer a compromise.
"There, Pink, party planning is an important job, too!" she consoled. "I believe you put it best: it's your job to liven things up! I truly do appreciate the effort you put in to cheering everyone up, and I'm sure Yellow and White do, too. Why, I would even go so far as to say Homeworld would fall apart without you!"
This definitely cheered her up, the smallest Diamond visibly swelling with pride. "I never thought about it like that! I am the beating heart of this empire…the lifeblood of Homeworld!" She let out a faux-evil cackle.
Blue couldn't resist giggling at the display. "Just don't let the power go to your head!"
"Never!" shouted Pink. She fell backwards onto the couch. "Not when I'm the most powerful Gem in existence! With a mere wave of my hand, I could–Oh, Pearl's here!"
Pink Pearl appeared next to Her Diamond on the screen. "My Diamond, let's go and play! …Oh, Your Radiance, hello!" she said, waving at Blue Diamond.
"Hello," said Blue, waving back. "Well, far be it from me to keep you from playtime. Have fun, you too! With any luck, I'll be back before too long."
"Bye Blue!" said Pink.
"Goodbye, Your Radiance!" said Pink Pearl. With that, the two hurried off, and the feed cut out. Blue turned off the transmission, sitting silently in her chair–this was her Pearl's chance.
She approached, waiting for Blue Diamond to acknowledge her presence before broaching the subject. Despite having just finished speaking with her sister, her happy demeanor had instantly been replaced with a tired, almost defeated one. "Pearl?" she asked, massaging her head. "Are we doing right by Pink?"
Pearl cocked her head to the side. "I'm…not sure I understand the question, My Diamond. We all have our purposes to fulfill, yes?"
"True, and her purpose as a Diamond is to lead her court," Blue said. "But by keeping her isolated from Homeworld, are we not depriving her of her purpose? We only want to keep her safe, but in doing so, I can't shake the feeling we're keeping her from her birthright." She stood up from her captain's chair, strolling over to a window.
To Pearl, a Diamond was a Diamond. Whether they had many colonies or none at all, whether they commanded their legions or organized balls, simply being a Diamond mattered more than their actions. "My Diamond, perhaps all she needs is time. If I recall, you yourself went for some time without a colony, did you not?"
Blue Diamond reminisced. "Indeed, I was so anxious for so long about having all that responsibility. In many ways, I had the opposite problems as Pink: she longs for a colony when she is not yet ready, while I didn't believe I was ready. It wasn't until White sent me out on my own that I truly learned to handle the responsibility."
"Then, perhaps what Pink needs is a chance to go out on her own?" Pearl suggested. "Maybe she will be able to rise to the occasion, as you did."
"Yes, perhaps," said Blue. "...I'm sorry, Pearl, it seems that I was wrapped up in family drama. Did you have something to report?"
Pearl stepped up to the ship's computer. "Yes, My Diamond. It seems that some time ago, we received a distress signal from a planet not on any of our star maps. After some searching, I believe I have managed to track down its origin."
Blue returned to her seat. "Hmm…a distress signal, you say? Why was I not informed of this earlier?"
"I believe you were too heavily involved with Imperator Moloq at the time," replied Pearl. "Not to mention, the source of the transmission is likely to cause you some displeasure. It originated from Moridius."
The planet's name caused a reaction of momentary shock in Blue, which quickly dissipated. "Moridius? You believe there is enough activity there for a distress call to be sent?"
Blue Pearl motioned towards the computer. "I can play it back for you, if you like." After receiving Her Diamond's approval, she initiated the recording of Tanzanite's call.
"...this is Tanzanite Facet M8L9 Cut 88C transmitting from Moridius…evac for four survivors…Emerald gestated successfully…" It was still as garbled as when she had received it, but the general message was sent loud and clear. Pearl could tell from Blue's face that this wasn't something she had ever considered as a possibility.
Her words when the transmission had ended proved this. "How…how is this even possible? How could we have missed any survivors? Moridius was deemed a complete failure of a colony, and everyone was evacuated…everyone still alive, at least."
"It seems some have managed to survive," said Pearl. "Including an Emerald."
"Yes, I heard. If this report is to be believed, Moridius is still rich enough in resources to be considered a viable colony. …How long ago was this received?"
Pearl checked the log. "Just a few days ago, My Diamond. Will we be attempting a rescue mission?"
This business with Imperator Moloq had been taking far too long. Not to mention, Moridius was only a quick jaunt away. Any threats that were still there could be easily handled by her. And if there really were still available resources on the planet, it would be more than worth it. "Yes, Pearl, I believe we will." She activated the controls, turning her flagship towards an unknown star system. "Contact the rest of the fleet; tell them to prepare for hyperspeed."
"Yes, My Diamond!" Pearl saluted, before running off to do just that. Next stop, Moridius.
The four Gems, though exhausted, pressed on across the land towards the base. They had been through void and back to make it this far, and none of them were willing to take even a momentary break, not when they were so close to salvation.
"Hey, um…Tanzanite?" asked Yooperlite. "What do we do when–if none of the ships in there work?"
"Then we fix them," Tanzanite replied, quite quickly. "If necessary, we will use multiple parts to repair the most complete ship, deconstructing the base's components if we have no other options."
"And…if there aren't any ships?"
Lefty interrupted. "There will be. A station this size, there's no doubt in my mind that something got left behind. We evacuated this planet quickly enough to forget a few ships."
She had been so quick to deny the hangar being empty, Emerald couldn't help but sense an uncertainty about her. That said, she still agreed–with how far they'd come, they had to find a way now. "Long shot, but do you think there's enough parts in this base to build a ship of our own? Just assuming we'd need to. I'm no engineer, but it's definitely big enough, right?"
"Don't even think like that," Lefty said. "There's going to be a working ship in there, or at least one we can get working."
"And if there isn't–"
"There is. End. Of. Discussion." Lefty walked ahead of the group, hopefully just out of eagerness to reach the base. If that was the only reason, none of the others could blame her. As they crested the hill, the building finally came into view.
To say it was much larger than they were expecting was an understatement. It made the monitoring station they had come from seem tiny, spanning what seemed like the entire coastline. It was so big, it needed a rail system to connect the various buildings. Hopefully, it still worked, otherwise they had a good deal of walking in their future.
Yooperlite whistled after seeing the place in its entirety. "Yanno, I'm starting to think you're right. As big as this place is, there's bound to be a ship in there somewhere!"
Lefty grinned. "Glad we could reach an agreement. Okay, I'll see if I can get the systems up and running, you three get started on looking for a ship. Everyone ready?" They were. "Then let's get started. We've got a lot of ground to cover…and not a lot of time to do it."
The four of them made their way into the base, unsure of what awaited them within. Or without–Votaq was still out there, likely planning their demise. There was no telling when he would find them, or what he would do when he did.
