Chapter Twenty: Escape Velocity
The Soul Evaporator continued up, and up, and up through the sky until the blue began to turn black. All around them was the vastness of space, speckled with stars that surrounded the ship. Looking back, Emerald could see almost the entire planet now, with the storm taking up a small, but not insignificant, portion of its surface. For it to be visible at this distance, it had to be big. And yet, from here, it looked like only a small patch of grey on a wide canvas of blue.
"It all looks so…small from up here," Yooperlite observed. "I'd forgotten how planets tend to do that. Looking down at one from up in orbit, you can forget that there's a whole world down there." She turned away. "Or, there was, at least."
Tanzanite kept her eyes on the controls. "It is hard to believe that these last few hundred years have all taken place on the same planet. All those memories, good and bad, and we have been completely cut off from Homeworld for so long. I cannot help but wonder, what has changed in that time, aside from the war with the Talu?"
"Yeah, I wonder too," said Emerald. Everyone carefully danced around mentioning Lefty. Right now, all any of them wanted was to get somewhere safe, somewhere they could make it to Homeworld. As the Soul Evaporator had no hyperdrive, that would likely take a while. They all knew they would have plenty of time to mourn once they had a game plan. "So, where to?"
"Once we reach the lunar elliptical sphere, I should be able to detect nearby Gem outposts," reported Tanzanite. "With any luck, we will be able to find a warp pad that can take us home. If not, I recommend getting comfortable–we will have a long flight ahead of us."
Emerald sat down. She took a look at the drive in her hand. "...Hey, Tanzanite?" she said. "Do you think we could take a look at this? I think…whatever's on it is important. It has to be."
She considered the data stick for a bit, before silently picking it up and inserting it into the computer. The three of them gathered around the screen as the data loaded, eventually showing a familiar structure. "What's it say?" asked Yooperlite.
"It appears to be a GNA sequence," Tanzanite said. "Likely Emerald's, based on what Lef–on what we know. It appears to be…oh?" She looked closer at the sequence. "This…does not add up." A further investigation revealed a number of discrepancies in the report, though neither Emerald or Yooperlite were familiar enough with Kindergarten terminology to tell. "Emerald, if these are accurate, I believe you are no ordinary Emerald."
"Y-yeah, Lefty said something like that before she…" Emerald trailed off. "She said I was unlike any Emerald, or any other Gem. I thought she was speaking figuratively at the time, but apparently not. What does this say?"
Tanzanite continued to stare at Lefty's findings intently. "No wonder she mistook you for an off-color," she whispered. "This level of deviation is…incredible. This explains everything: your unusual readings, your durability, your lone emergence…" Still staring at the screen, she stayed silent for a while as she took it all in.
"Well, don't keep us in suspense!" said Yooperlite. "What's the matter? There's not something wrong with Mera, is there?"
Tanzanite turned her chair around to face them. "Far from it–quite the opposite, in fact. How much do either of you know about geo-energy?" Both Yooperlite and Emerald looked at each other, confused. "I see. Though geo-energy is only one of its many names, it is the source of a Gem's creation, and the reason Gems can only gestate in the soil of inhabited planets. When deprived of this energy, a Gem will not form. But if there is plenty of geo-energy, and the Gems in the ground cannot form, at least not properly, it will remain. Unless, of course, only a small number of these Gems are capable of gestating."
"So…you mean…?" said Emerald.
"Indeed," she continued. "After your Kindergarten was flooded, only one Emerald was not rendered insufficient by the water: you. As a consequence, you absorbed all of the geo-energy present in the area. You are quite literally worth ten Emeralds, possibly more."
Taking this in, Emerald looked down at her gem. By some fluke, she had not only emerged, but became something much more in the process. Her gaze moved upwards to Lefty's data, presenting the entirety of her case. It was like she said: Homeworld would never cast her aside now. Down near the bottom, a small note had been added: "One in a million," it read. The sight of the message made her misty-eyed.
"So she's some sorta…ultimate Emerald?" asked Yooperlite. "A perfectly-formed epitome of her type?"
"I was unaware the word 'epitome' was in your vocabulary," said Tanzanite.
Yooperlite chuckled. "Hey, a girl's gotta do something to occupy herself flyin' from planet to planet!" she replied. "Even if it means readin' a bunch of boring reports!"
The pair's banter, combined with her own assured future, caused Emerald's worries to dissolve. She felt like she was home; it felt a bit emptier than usual, but it was still where she belonged. "Ultimate or not, I'm still just an Emerald," she said. "So don't get any ideas about treating me differently. Just because I'm special doesn't mean I'm special…er, something like that."
Putting a hand on her shoulder, Yooperlite laughed. "Hey, we wouldn't dream of it. Off-color, ultimate, you're still the same Emerald who crawled outta the water and into our tower." She looked around. "Shoot, I didn't bring a deck. What're we gonna do for all this time?"
"There are plenty of reports for us to read," Tanzanite suggested. "Or we can count stars. See what is on the…" She suddenly trailed off, staring at a part of a screen. "...radar."
All three of them crowded around the same screen. "What? What is it?" asked Emerald.
"Something is wrong," replied Tanzanite. "There are numerous ships approaching our location. There should not be any–" She suddenly sprang up from her chair, rushing towards the window. She stared out, stunned by what she saw. "No…"
Just like the thalassaraptors that had surrounded them back below the ocean, a pack of predators now closed in for the kill. Five, seven, ten ships, more appearing by the second, bore down on the Soul Evaporator. Emerald was no expert on the intricacies of ship building, but she could tell at a glance that these were Talu ships. And as for their allegiance…
The radio crackled to life, bringing a message from a thought-to-be fallen foe. "I told you that you weren't getting out of here alive," came the voice of Votaq. A small fighter craft zipped past, turning around to deliver a barrage to the bridge. It didn't do any damage, but the message was clear. "We anticipated every single move you could have made, including this one. So go ahead, try to run–you won't make it far."
Emerald didn't even bother responding, shutting off the radio. "Full speed ahead!" she shouted. Tanzanite activated the boosters, launching the Soul Evaporator away from the encroaching fleet. The TLM ships matched their speed, neither catching up or falling behind, chasing them at a leisurely pace. One got the sense they were merely toying with them, waiting for their fuel to run out. "Can't this thing go any faster!?"
"You did say 'full speed ahead,'" said Tanzanite. "I could reroute power from the shields, but–"
The Soul Evaporator suddenly shook as it was bombarded by the Talu's cannons. "Fire incoming!" The three of them braced, holding on to anything that was nearby. "Forget that! Reroute power to the shields!"
Tanzanite didn't wait for Emerald's okay, doing just that. Their ship slowed as power was diverted from the engines, but the shields held strong, blocking the incoming shots. "Okay. So, that takes care of that," said Emerald. "Unless they have any anti-shield torpedoes, we're fine. How much longer until we reach the nearest outpost."
"At our current rate of speed?" Tanzanite checked their star maps. "Twenty-seven years, give or take five months."
"Alright, that's not so bad!" said Emerald. "And how much longer can the shields hold out?"
Once again, Tanzanite checked the screen. "Assuming they don't have any torpedoes…twenty minutes."
Slowly, Emerald sat down in the nearest chair. The three of them looked at each other. "What kind of weapons does this thing have?" she asked.
"Uh, Mera, I get that we don't have a lot of options," said Yooperlite, "but I don't think we can stand against this many capital ships. Especially in this old relic. Yeah, it's a gamble, but I think we should employ evasive maneuvers."
"This 'relic' is not nearly nimble enough for evasive maneuvers," Tanzanite replied. "As far as weapons go…four unmanned plasma cannons, six manned energy turrets, and a deployable single-Gem fighter craft. We will have to turn around to utilize the cannons, though we do not have enough personnel for the turrets. We could potentially deploy the fighter, but–"
"I'll do it," said Emerald, immediately standing up. "Yoop, have the most experience when it comes to piloting, and Tanz, we'll need your help with the technical aspects. Just show me where it's docked."
Tanzanite glanced at her uneasily. "I am not sure this is the best idea," she said. "You have no experience when it comes to flying."
"Yeah, let me handle this one," Yooperlite said. "I'm more used to flying the big ships, but…this shouldn't be too different, right?"
Despite their warnings, Emerald stood her ground. "Hey, I'm an Emerald, right? Ultimate Emerald, at that. This is what I was made for! We can do this, guys…we can make it out of this. But we need to play to our strengths. So, where's the ship?"
After a moment of consideration, Tanzanite answered. "It is accessible via the captain's chair," she said. "But I must implore you to be careful. We do not know what tricks these ships have at their disposal."
"I don't need to worry about the big ships," said Emerald, sitting down in the chair. "I just need to take out Votaq." Tanzanite input a command into the armrest, which was when the entire chair descended down a level. Emerald looked around in slight surprise as pieces of the fighter ship were placed around her, the craft being built before her eyes. When the control panel was added, she placed her hands on the steering–though this was her first time in one of these, her programming would see her through. She hoped.
Finally, the completed ship was dropped out from beneath the Soul, its throttles firing and carrying her away from her allies. Emerald was pressed back into her seat from the force of it, but quickly gained control, circling back to chase after Votaq. Scanning the area for him, he was soon located when her ship was hit from behind.
"Brave of you to try and fight me on my own turf," came his voice over the radio. "I'll admit, I was only able to hold my own against you thanks to that metal arm. But up here, I need no such enhancements. I'll even give you a fighting chance–come and get me!" Votaq's ship sped ahead of Emerald's, with her giving chase towards the fleet.
"Hey, uh, I don't think that's such a good idea!" warned Yooperlite. "If you gotta go after Votaq, let him come to you! He's tryin' to drag you over there to get you killed!"
"I can see that!" Emerald replied. Thankfully, or perhaps not, most of the ships' weaponry was focused on the Soul Evaporator, slowly whittling down its shields with every shot. "But he's got another thing coming if he thinks I'll go down that easily!" She confidently flew straight into the fray, disregarding that it was probably a trap.
Emerald opened fire on the enemy ships' cannons, damaging and destroying a few to limit damage to the Soul. But there were many more where that came from, and many had taken notice of this new target. Several anti-fighter turrets took aim at Emerald and began firing. She dodged most of them as she maneuvered through the cluster of ships, still following after Votaq.
Yooperlite and Tanzanite were watching her from the bridge, tensing up each time she narrowly evaded certain death. "We can't just leave her out there to fend for herself!" said the former. "We have to turn this thing around!" She went over to the controls to do just that.
"Might I remind you that a full crew would be needed to properly pilot this vessel?" said Tanzanite. "We are a little short in that regard."
"Then we do what we've been doing this whole time: work with what we've got!" Yooperlite said with a smile. "As we go, redirect shields towards the top of the ship, then to the front. Ready?"
When Tanzanite nodded, Yooperlite pulled back on the throttle. The Soul Evaporator began to rise, slowly turning upwards. Tanzanite adjusted the shields to the proper location as the vessel gradually turned to face its pursuers. Before long, the Talu ships were in cannon range.
"Let 'em have it!" Yooperlite opened fire, catching many of their enemies by surprise with this unexpectedly bold maneuver. She prioritized the ones in front so as to destroy the aforementioned cannons taking out their shields. "Mera, just a heads-up, you've got fire coming your way!"
"I see it!" she said, watching as the TLM's offenses were rendered useless. "Keep up the good work, we'll be home free in no time!"
She stayed wary of the blasts from the Soul Evaporator, while keeping most of her focus on locating Votaq. She would catch a glimpse of his fighter, but when she gave chase, she found that he had disappeared. Occasionally, he would dart out from behind cover to shoot at her, vanishing once more just as quickly. But this time, she was prepared; Emerald waited for him to appear, immediately giving chase as soon as he made himself known.
It took every ounce of her concentration to keep up with him as he darted and swerved between all the ships. "Even with one arm, I'm a better pilot than you'll ever be!" he said. "Why don't you save yourself the trouble and tell your friends to lower their shields? It'll be easier for all of us that way!"
Emerald responded by opening fire on his craft. He rolled, avoiding most of it. "Why don't you tell your friends to come at us one at a time?" she asked. "Make it more of a fair fight!"
"So it's a fair fight you want, then, is it?" he said. "I think that can be arranged!" Just then, Emerald noticed a change in the ships around her. The turrets that were still firing stopped doing so, and returned to a neutral position. Several smaller craft appeared from underneath the foreward vessels, speeding towards the Soul Evaporator. No…those weren't crafts…
From the bridge, Yooperlite saw the incoming weapons. "Oh, of course they have torpedoes!" she groaned. She took aim with her cannons, trying to shoot down the torpedoes before they could reach them. "Mera, I know you're busy, but we could use some help! Those things'll go right through our shields!"
"On my way, hang in there!" Splitting off from Votaq, Emerald sped after the torpedoes, shooting as many as she could. Between her and Yooperlite, they managed to destroy them before they could reach the Soul. But the enemy ships had plenty more.
Emerald looped around for another run, continuing to shoot the incoming projectiles. Yooperlite did as well, but it was taking every last bit of her reflexes just to barely stay afloat. "I can't hit 'em all!" she cried. "They're gonna overwhelm us at this rate!"
With their survival on the line, Tanzanite knew what she had to do. It wasn't an ideal choice, but then, it was her only one. "Switching the Soul Evaporator into attack mode," she said, inputting the commands into the computer. The majority of the ship behind them began to split apart, folding around so that the sides faced forward.
"Huh?" said Yooperlite. "But I thought you said–"
"I know what I said!" Tanzanite shouted. "'A full crew is needed to properly pilot this vessel.' But as you said: we will work with what we have! And what we have…is me!" Composing herself, she extended her arms. Her fingers stretched out to their maximum length and then even further, into tendrils that spread out through the ship. Like branches of a tree, Tanzanite hooked herself into each of the manual turrets, something that clearly caused quite a bit of strain. "I am locked in!" she declared, her voice pained but determined.
Yooperlite and Emerald watched as the turrets began to fire, not only keeping the torpedoes away but raining plasma on the ships nearest to them. "Tanzanite, you legend!" Emerald cried. "We might actually survive this!"
Cutting her celebration short, she suddenly took several hits from behind. Votaq sped past her, circling around the Soul Evaporator. "You're surprisingly resourceful, for Gems," he said. "Guess we'll have to cut off your supply of resources!" He fired on the ship's unprotected rear, and although his blasters didn't do that much damage, he would still be able to wear them down if he kept at it.
Giving chase, Emerald shot down more torpedoes on her way after Votaq. The two of them rounded the ship, flying as though engaged in a deadly race. "You really should have taken me up on my offer!" he said. "Not only would your friends be on their way back to Homeworld by now, but that Peridot of yours would still be alive!"
In a bout of rage, Emerald accelerated to maximum speed. Blasters be damned, she shot forward to ram him. Not that it did any good, as his craft was much more agile than hers. Snarling, she fired wildly, seeming to hit just about everything except for him.
"Who knows? We might even have let you live," he continued. "But now, that luxury has long since passed you by. Look on the bright side, though: you'll all be able to reunite with dear old Lefty."
It was obvious that he was trying to rile her up, distract her from keeping the other two safe. But she fell for it anyway, her judgment clouded by anger. Not even Yooperlite calling for her help brought her to her senses.
"Emerald! We can't shoot all these torpedoes by ourselves!" The Soul Evaporator was taking hits, its shield flickering as the projectiles slammed against its hull. "Any more of this, and we'll be dead in the water!" One of the turrets was taken out. Tanzanite cried out in pain, retracting her burnt fingers from the wreckage.
"I have to avenge her!" Emerald yelled. She kept chasing after Votaq, who was able to not only keep dodging her fire, but also appear from the side to get a few shots on her. "He needs to pay for everything he's done!"
Tanzanite shouted loud enough to get her attention. "Emerald! Lefty was not murdered! She gave her life, so that we could escape! Votaq is to blame for her death, yes, but do not let her sacrifice be in vain!"
Her words managed to reach Emerald, calming her slightly. With her focus regained, she realized that continuing to go after Votaq like this was futile. She had to change up her tactics if she wanted to get anywhere, which is exactly what she did. Speeding past the Soul, she shot down a few torpedoes before firing on the ships launching them.
Although her craft's guns weren't able to do much damage, she was at least able to detonate some of the torpedoes prematurely, damaging their firing mechanisms. "You know what, Votaq?" she said. "We've both lost people during this. You killed Lefty, I killed Kiloq. Why don't we call it even?"
"Ha! I hope you aren't suggesting that Lefty was remotely close to the man Kiloq was!" Blasts rained against her ship from behind. As she hoped, their roles had been reversed, with him now chasing her. "Maybe after I've exterminated your entire species, then we can call it even!"
Emerald sped along, avoiding his fire as best she could as she navigated the enemy ships. Even if she couldn't outfly Votaq, she might be able to outsmart him. "Let's see if you can keep up with me!" She knew he very easily could, but was hoping he wouldn't recognize the taunt for what it was.
Just as he was about to catch up to her, she suddenly dove downwards. In the split seconds it took for him to find her again, Emerald had managed to round the ships again, making her way back to the Soul Evaporator. "Come on, come on," she mumbled, as Votaq sped after her again.
She zipped past the torpedoes, destroying some and narrowly avoiding others. With all the fire going both ways, the area was a veritable minefield. But her attempts to lead Votaq to his death only resulted in him gaining ground on her. "No more games. No more running. Allow me to put you out of your misery!"
Right behind her, Votaq lined up his shot. Emerald knew, as she could hear the warning that signaled an enemy was locking on. But rather than take evasive maneuvers, she kept on her course. She couldn't afford to move until it was almost too late. Until just before he took the shot.
He was fully locked on. Emerald waited until he opened fire before pulling back on the throttle and lifting upwards. She took a few hits, but Votaq kept on going…directly towards one of the Soul Evaporator's turrets. The exact moment he realized he had been baited, Tanzanite fired, obliterating his fighter. The flaming fragments of his craft collided with the shield, scattering as they ricocheted.
Votaq was finally dead. Emerald found that this didn't fill her with joy, though there was a definite sense of relief when his ship exploded. "Tanzanite, that was excellent," she said. "I was worried you wouldn't know what I was doing at first."
"Assessing the situation is my purpose," she replied. "And although our main enemy is dead, my current assessment tells me that we are still at a critical disadvantage."
Most likely spurred by the death of their commander, the TLM ships began to move. They spread out, aiming to surround the Soul Evaporator on all sides. "Just keep at it, they have to run out of ammo sooner or later!" said Emerald. Her fighter was on its last legs, but was still flying, for now. "Yoop, how are those shields looking?"
Yooperlite was anxiously watching the movements of the ships. "Almost at thirty percent," she said grimly. "Hull's not lookin' so good either. And we're down two turrets!"
She closed the ship's rear, bringing the two sides back together. "Equalizing the shield will only accelerate its decline," said Tanzanite.
"Better that than them ripping through us like paper!" Yooperlite replied. "Mera, can't you do something to take those things out!?"
"That's what I've been doing!" Neither Emerald's craft nor the Soul Evaporator itself had enough firepower to do more than surface-level damage to the enemy ships. As many turrets and torpedoes they took out, it seemed like they had twice as many waiting to take their place. "Don't give up! If we cut and run, they'll blow us apart even easier!"
Fleeing was certain death. Fighting was certain death. Surrendering wasn't an option. But if they had to go down, the least they could do was go down defiantly. "We had a pretty good run, didn't we?" said Yooperlite. "Almost made it, too."
"Indeed," Tanzanite said. "My only regret is that Lefty was unable to be here with us in our final moments."
"Maybe it's better this way," said Emerald. "Better she died for a good cause than at the hands of our enemies." She sped around the Soul, blasting as many torpedoes as she could, but even then, many got through.
The Soul Evaporator rocked as projectiles buffeted its sides. Alarms blared throughout the cabin, but Yooperlite knew she couldn't do anything about them. But among the alerts, there was one that caught her attention: the radar signaled the approach of several large ships out of hyperspace. "We've got more incoming from the rear!"
"Not more!" Emerald cried. She anxiously awaited, along with the others, for what she was sure were more Talu ships to appear and finish the job. But that wasn't what happened. With a hum and flash of light, the ships appeared. But they were Gem ships.
Not just any Gem ships, but the personnel fleet of Blue Diamond. The three of them merely stared in awe at the idea that one of the Diamonds had come to personally rescue them. In that moment, the battle had been all but forgotten. The majesty of the enormous flagship captivated all present.
The fingers of the massive hand spread apart, energy coalescing at the tips. Emerald only just realized what was happening, taking cover behind the Soul as beams of energy fired forth, tearing through the Talu ships like hot knives through butter. It was devastation, the entire fleet reduced to scrap in seconds. Only when every last ship was destroyed that the lasers receded, and the fingers curled up.
The three Gems could hardly believe what had just happened. They sat there in silence for some time, until a voice came over the radio. "So, Moridius does indeed have survivors." They were all further stunned to realize this was the voice of Blue Diamond herself. "Am I correct in assuming you sent that distress signal?"
Someone had got their message after all. To the others' surprise, Tanzanite burst into relieved laughter. She retracted her fingers, stumbling over to the controls. "Yes, Your Radiance, yes, we sent the signal!" Yooperlite began chuckling as well, while Emerald sighed in relief. "You would not believe everything we went through to reach this point!"
"I can imagine," she said. "I'll send down some personnel to retrieve you. You can brief us on exactly what happened here on our way back to Homeworld."
Only now did it dawn on Emerald: she would make it to Homeworld after all. "Thank you, Your Radiance," she said softly. "Thank you."
