Chapter Twenty-One: After Action


Homeworld Space. Era 1, Year 4,988245.

None of the three could believe it when they were personally taken aboard Blue Diamond's flagship. This was an honor usually saved for her personal attendants and closest advisors, of which they were neither. Needless to say, it was quite a change from the run-down settlements of Moridius.

Standing before Blue Diamond herself, they had told her their tale. They told her of how this colony, and others like it, had been sabotaged by the Talutar Liberation Movement. They told her how they narrowly escaped thalassaraptors, Kiloq and Votaq, and a giant sea monster. They told her of Lefty, and her noble sacrifice for their sake. When they mentioned her, Tanzanite made sure to bring attention to her findings regarding Emerald. After all they had been through, she was not willing to leave her behind for any reason.

Blue Diamond had listened to all of this, and when they were finished, she assured them that she would tell Yellow of their journey. "She will no doubt find your experience valuable," she had said.

Just as Lefty had assured them, their next destination was Homeworld. Blue and her entourage launched into hyperspace, carrying them lightyears in the blink of an eye. All of them were astonished by this technology, which was only utilized by Gemkind's elites. Even Yooperlite, who traveled the stars for a living, was amazed by the pinpricks of light zooming by. "It's like…millions of comets, all at once," Emerald said.

Whatever awaited them on Homeworld, at least they were still together now. One final journey before their destinies could split them apart forever. Though they hoped it wouldn't come to that, all of them knew it was a possibility, one they had to prepare for.

In only a few minutes, the fleet had arrived at its destination. Dropping out of hyperspace, Emerald was given her first view of Homeworld. The planet glowed with a brilliant light the likes of which she never could have imagined. "It's…amazing," she said softly. "It's easily ten times more spectacular than I pictured it." A small tear came to her eye from the world's sheer majesty. Not just because the planet was beautiful, but because this beautiful planet was hers. This was where she belonged, where she was meant to be.

"Yup, Homeworld's a pretty special place, alright," said Yooperlite. "I'm glad to be back, 'specially after all this time. Wonder what we missed out on?"

"A was with Talutar, for one," responded Tanzanite. "And considering our history with the TLM, I would not be surprised if our next assignment involves them as well. …Assuming we even get a next assignment…"

Yooperlite looked around uncomfortably. "I mean…we'd have to get a next assignment, right? They're not gonna just harvest us after all this time, especially after Blue Diamond went to all this trouble to bring us back. Back me up on this, guys."

Emerald was still enraptured by the sight of Homeworld. "I guess we'll have to see."

The ship began lowering towards the Capital District's port. "Yes," Tanzanite said, "I guess we will."


Homeworld, Yellow Diamond's Palace. Two Days Later.

Onyx stood just outside the massive doors, anxiously waiting for them to open and allow her inside. She wondered just what it was Yellow Diamond wanted to talk with her about. Was destroying that weather machine really impressive enough to warrant an audience with Her Radiance herself? Sure, she had saved all those Gems, but that was just her doing her job! While she waited for her big moment, she heard a few approaching voices behind her.

"Well…this is it," one said, which she instantly recognized as an Emerald. "The moment of truth. I hope I don't screw this up after all we've been through…"

"Naw, are you kidding?" replied another, with an odd accent Onyx couldn't quite place. "You've got this, Mera! Once YD hears what you have to say, there's no way she'd just cast you aside! Void, maybe she'll even make you the Supreme Admiral!"

The Emerald chuckled. "Let's not get carried away. Why don't we focus on saving our gems before we start thinking about promotions?"

"If they have not decided to harvest us yet, I doubt they will decide to do so now," said a Tanzanite. "Unless, of course, your interview involves you insulting Yellow Diamond to her face. Multiple times. But that is only a worst-case scenario."

"Doesn't make me feel much better…" said Emerald.

The three Gems approached the door, and upon seeing them, Onyx stood at attention with a salute. "Welcome, My Emerald! I, ah, assume you're here to evaluate my performance, right?"

They exchanged glances with each other. "Uh, no, no, I'm not here for that," Emerald quickly assured her. "In fact, I'm probably the one being evaluated! Until My Diamond says otherwise, I'm nobody's Emerald."

Onyx's rigid body relaxed at this news. "That's a relief! Guess we're in the same boat then…Mera, was it?"

"Just 'Emerald' is fine," she said, looking down uncomfortably. "And how about yourself? What did you do to end up here?"

"Oh, I, uh, kinda single-handedly blew up a TLM weather machine," she said. Emerald was unsure if she was bragging or not. "Yourself?"

"My friends and I here escaped from a defunct colony," Emerald replied. "Also, we killed a TLM commander in the process." She couldn't help offering a little brag of her own.

Onyx whistled. "Well, it's certainly an honor to be in your presence, Mera!" She offered her an unimpressed glare. "Right, sorry." She turned to Emerald's friends. "Onyx."

"Yooperlite, but you can call me Yoop." She shook the Quartz's hand. "Pleased ta meetcha!"

"Tanzanite, though I suppose that was obvious."

After the four of them had exchanged pleasantries, the massive doors began to open. They all took a step back as though by instinct, recognizing the sovereignty of just what lay beyond this threshold. Yellow Pearl stepped out to greet them. "Emerald Facet 9PX3 Cut B64 and Onyx Facet LM96 Cut P7J?" The two Gems in question stepped forward. "They're ready for you. Please come in."

Emerald breathed a heavy sigh. "Well…here goes nothing." She and Onyx walked past the Pearl into the large room, with Yooperlite and Tanzanite waving from behind. "Hang on, what do you mean 'they?'"

"She means them," said Onyx, pointing into the room. Emerald turned around, nearly gasping at what she saw.

She was only expecting Yellow Diamond to be present, maybe flanked by a few bodyguards. But in addition to this, six other Gems stood on either side of the room, immediately fixing their eyes on the pair. A closer look revealed them to not actually be present, being merely holograms, but that didn't make their gazes any less intimidating.

The Council of Beryls, here? But why?

From the other side of the room, Yellow Diamond loomed over all those present, seated on her throne. "Now then, I have a lot to get done today, so let's make this quick. Morganite, review the facts."

"Certainly, Your Radiance," said the pink Gem, her holographic form stepping forward. A similarly holographic screen appeared in her hand. "Approximately seven planetary rotations ago, Blue Diamond's flagship received a distress signal, which was determined to have originated from the abandoned colony of Moridius. According to the transcript, four survivors were indicated. Might I ask, then, why were only three survivors recovered?"

Onyx could see Emerald's body tense up. "I… There was a Peridot, we… I can't remember her designation. We just called her Lefty." Her voice affected a slight quaver that seemingly only Onyx picked up on. "There was a storm, and…she had to stay behind so we could escape."

The Beryls all waited in silence. "Onyx, this weapon you neutralized, it demonstrated the ability to affect the weather, correct?" asked Yellow Diamond.

"Oh! Y-yes, My Diamond!" she said, offering a salute. "We thought it was some sort of tower at first, but then it, ah, took off. It turned out to be some sort of ship. And yes, it could control the weather."

Yellow Diamond turned back to Emerald. "During the course of your…adventures, did you come across any structures of this nature?"

She stayed silent, as she couldn't answer. Luckily, the Maxixe broke the awkward silence. "Your Radiance, if I may? Examinations of planet Moridius done after the fact have revealed that such a machine does exist." A picture of the tower in question appeared. "We have reason to believe that it was only part of a larger campaign to destabilize the planet's viability for colonization."

"I think we should focus on what's most important here." The Goshenite stepped forward, scrutinizing Emerald as she walked around her. "I believe the report mentioned that this Emerald is an off-color? Why, then, are we standing around here, debating the merits of her experiences? Why have we accepted her into our midst, instead of harvesting her like so many others?" The two glared at each other. "Why is she still here?"

The situation was defused by a stern voice. "Goshenite, leave her alone." Another figure stepped forward–another Emerald. She had clearly been around for some time, as she was covered by battle scars and weathered by age. Her gemstone was located in the dead center of her chest, adorned with chips and scratches. "Did you read the report? If you had, I believe you would have found her to be no mere off-color. In fact, this Emerald is one of the most extraordinary specimens I have seen in quite a while." Her eyes met Emerald's, giving the younger Beryl a small smile.

Goshenite raised an eyebrow at this, but nevertheless backed off. "My mistake–I did not realize we had lowered our standards." She bitterly returned to her place.

"Now that we have that cleared up," said an irritated Yellow Diamond, "I would like to return to the actual matter at hand. Emerald, what can you tell us about Tchi-khol Votaq?"

"He's the, uh, was the leader of the TLM, as far as I understand," Emerald said.

Bixbite interrupted. "Hardly. He is merely one of many captains, and one distrusted by his own comrades at that. His death will affect the movement little."

"Oh, like you've done so much more than she has," Morganite retorted. "In her short time of service, she managed to take down a Talutar captain–can you say the same?"

Bixbite grumbled, so Emerald continued. "Anyway, he was accompanied by someone else–Kiloq, some sort of hired gun. But, there's something else…I don't think they were working alone."

The Helodor had been silently watching the interview with her single eye, and now spoke up. "We have suspected this for some time as well. The TLM is far too powerful for a mere separatist movement of a single world. However, their ally, or allies, has not yet been discerned."

"We have several ideas," said the other Emerald, "but we don't have anything concrete as of now."

"And seeing as efforts on Moridius began deteriorating long before the TLM was conceived, it's likely their allies are much more far-reaching than this little rebellion," said Maxixe.

"I believe that covers everything for now," said Yellow. She got to her feet, stepping down from her throne. Both Gems present had to crane their necks to look at her. "Both of you performed admirably under pressure, achieving victory in uncertain situations. I would like to offer you my commendations."

Momentarily stunned, Emerald saluted. "Thank you, My Diamond. For being less than a month old, that really means a lot."

"Yes, thank you," said Onyx, saluting as well. "I, uh…yeah."

"Does anyone have any closing statements before we adjourn?" Yellow asked. None of the Beryls spoke, although Goshenite looked like she was holding her tongue.

Emerald, that is, Mera, raised her hand. "Actually, My Diamond, could I say something?" Yellow Diamond nodded. "Despite their efforts to destroy Moridius, I found that the planet is still rich in resources. It may no longer be able to incubate Gems, but it would be a shame for all that hard work to amount to nothing. I propose we repurpose it for another…purpose."

Morganite looked over some notes. "That seems feasible, should Her Radiance decree it."

"We'll see," Yellow said. "Now, if that's everything, I declare this meeting adjourned." Each of the Beryls' holograms disappeared. Goshenite did so after glaring at Emerald, while the current Supreme Admiral gave her a nod. Morganite offered a friendly wave, and then, only those who were there in person remained. "You two are excused. You will be contacted in the near future to be given your next–in Emerald's case, your first–assignment." She sat back down on her throne, turning around.

"Of course, My Diamond. Adamantem in eternum." Emerald was surprised at how well everything went, and how quickly. She headed back for the door, with Onyx behind her, giving her Diamond a quick wave before leaving.

With that squared away, Yellow Diamond had turned her attention to a screen. "Now, where were we?" she said, examining the image it displayed.

"This was taken by Blue Diamond's team when they arrived to respond to the distress signal," her Pearl explained. The picture was of Moridius, showing the various storms and other weather anomalies that covered the surface. However, there was another anomaly present: namely, a strange black shape that seemed to hover just above the planet's atmosphere, as though watching from a distance. "We are unable to determine the object's nature at this time. Our best guess is that it's some sort of ship."

"There certainly have been a lot of unidentified ships lately, haven't there?" Yellow gestured for her to zoom in on the object, which showed it in slightly clearer detail. It almost looked like a knife, its blade waiting patiently over the planet. "Keep an eye out for objects like this. Report any sightings immediately back to me."

Yellow Pearl nodded. "Yes, My Diamond."

Meanwhile, Onyx and Emerald made their way out of the room, where Tanzanite and Yooperlite were waiting to greet them. "How did it go?" asked the former. "Are we clear? Did Lefty's research exonerate you?"

"Yeah," Emerald said quietly. "Yeah, everything went great. We're gonna get our next mission, and Moridius is all set to be re-colonized. Well, not exactly, but it'll still be used for something." She smiled a bittersweet smile. "Now they won't have died for nothing. Lefty, Righty, all those other Gems…now it'll mean something."

Yooperlite pulled Emerald in for a hug. "Of course she didn't die for nothing. We're here, aren't we? We made it home, because of her."

Even after all this time, Emerald had still been somewhat numb from Lefty's sacrifice. But now that she didn't have to worry about being recycled or rejected, it was at the forefront of her mind. She had saved her twice over, likely even more. But now, it finally hit her: Lefty was gone. Emerald couldn't stop herself from tearing up.

Seeing how upset she was, Tanzanite gasped. "Emerald! Are you sure you are okay?" She grabbed onto her hands.

"No–I mean, yes, but…" Emerald wiped her eyes. "It shouldn't have had to be this way. She should've made it home with us. We shouldn't have had to leave her behind."

All three of them hugged each other tightly. "We didn't leave her behind," said Yooperlite. "She gave her life so we could escape. And you're right, it shouldn't have been this way. But it is, which sucks, but there's not much we can do."

"And when did you become so wise?" asked Tanzanite. Emerald was certain she could see the hints of a smirk at the corners of her mouth.

Yooperlite shrugged. "Being stranded on a planet for fifty years does that to a Gem!"

Emerald could have stayed in that embrace for centuries, but she decided to pull back. "You're right. Both of you," she said. "We owe it to Lefty–no, to all of the Gems who died on Moridius–to give everything we have for Homeworld. We excel. We thrive. We Live." She held out her hand.

"We live." Tanzanite placed her hand on Emerald's.

"We live." Yooperlite placed her hand on Tanzanite's.

"We live." Onyx placed her hand on Yooperlite's, earning her some glances from the others. "Heh, sorry, got caught up in the moment! Speaking of…I know we only just met, but I'm sorry about your friend. Lefty, was it? She must've been a really great Gem."

Smiling, Emerald looked out the window at the sprawling cityscape just beyond. "You can say that again. She was more than special–she was one-in-a-million."