Chapter Twenty-Two: Shootout
Talu-controlled space. Era 1 Year 4,988,246.
Unfortunately, Emerald had been wrong. Despite Votaq's death, the TLM kept on going. In fact, despite the movement's setbacks, thanks to the determination of its members it became even stronger than before the more Homeworld dismantled their plans. Although nowhere near strong enough to take the fight to Homeworld, their war against the Imperium reached a tipping point. Eventually, Talu itself fell to their attacks. They controlled the planet.
Although this changed nothing for Homeworld as a whole, there was still one last order of business to take care of. Imperator Moloq had been a valuable ally for many years, and Yellow Diamond felt it would be a shame to let him fall into the hands of the rebels. This was where Emerald came in.
For the last few missions she had run for Her Diamond, she had requested that the Sun Incinerator be refitted with more modern equipment fit for modern times: she would be taking it as her flagship, after all. She sat in the captain's chair, waiting in front of the mass-warp station alongside her crew.
It wasn't just them that were present, either. "Does it seem kinda suspicious to you how much firepower Yellow Diamond called out for this mission?" Yooperlite asked over the radio. "Even I'm here, and I've got no combat experience at all! Not formally, anyway."
"Not suspicious at all," Tanzanite replied, observing the large fleet. "Imperator Moloq is an extremely high-value target for the Talutar Liberation Movement. We must expect them to use everything at their disposal to eliminate him."
"Good thing we're ready for anything!" Also present on the Soul Evaporator's bridge was Onyx. Yellow Diamond didn't want to leave anything to chance, and given her past experience with the TLM, she was one of the best choices for providing extra security. "I took down one of their superweapons, and you guys took down one of their leaders. I doubt there's anything they can pull that'd surprise us!"
"Focus, you lot," said the leader of this mission. Emerald was far from the only Emerald present for this endeavor. Among the others was the aged Emerald currently serving as the Supreme Admiral, overseeing the combined fleet's protection efforts. "We can't be prepared for anything when we're busy chit-chatting!"
"Will do, Supreme Admiral," Emerald said. "Tanzanite, any sign of the Imperator's warp signature?"
Tanzanite checked the scans. "No ships emerging from hyperspace detected, My Emerald. Is it possible something may have gone wrong?"
It definitely was possible, but considering how careful both Yellow Diamond and Moloq had been, it was unlikely. "If something has, we won't be able to know yet. Unless we hear otherwise, assume everything is going as planned." Although she projected an air of coolness, Tanzanite's question had her questioning if this was really going as smoothly as the Supreme Admiral had made it sound.
Sure enough, Moloq and his entourage arrived before too long, though a good deal later than was expected. An Imperial Talu cruiser emerged from warpspeed, accompanied by a small battalion of Gem fighters. Despite the cruiser's impressive size and luxurious appearance, it nevertheless looked extremely vulnerable with all the protection it warranted.
Even though things seemed to be proceeding on track, Emerald couldn't help but shake that feeling of unease. The communication shared between Moloq and the other Emerald only added to this feeling. "Imperator, glad to see you finally made it," said the Supreme Admiral. "Some of my Gems were beginning to think you'd been intercepted!"
"I can certainly see why that would be the case!" he responded. "It took this lot quite some time to smuggle me off-planet. It's quite the miracle we weren't shot down! Ah, but hopefully your direct subordinates will be a bit more competent, hmm?"
"Of that, I'm positive," she replied. "I can assure you that we'll get you out of here safely, Imperator. Fire up the gate!"
The gigantic ring soon began to come to life, lighting up around its edges. Slowly at first, a swirl of blue energy appeared in its center, growing with each passing second. Before long, it had grown into a portal that filled the gate, illuminating the surrounding ships with its glow.
"This warp-gate will take you to a colony in another galaxy, far out of the TLM's reach," explained the Supreme Admiral. "Ready to leave?"
"I see no reason to stick around," said Moloq. "The sooner we leave this place behind, the better. I just hope wherever you're taking me has basic amenities, otherwise–" All of a sudden, the Imperator's statement was cut off by the unmistakable sound of a gunshot coming from inside his cruiser. A loud commotion followed, along with more gunfire.
"Imperator? Imperator Moloq!" shouted the Supreme Admiral. "Something's going on! Get me in contact with that ship!" She had the Gems under her command rushing to do something, but without any boarding parties, there wasn't much they could do.
Emerald likewise scrambled to try and find out what had happened. "Tanzanite, what's going on!?" she shouted. It would seem her uneasy feeling was warranted after all.
"I cannot be certain, My Emerald, but it would appear that the Imperator is still alive," she replied, looking over every bit of data they were still receiving from his ship. "Lockdown procedures have been activated, signifying that they are still aiming to protect him."
"Send me down there!" Onyx suddenly exclaimed. "Someone's gotta do something, and it might as well be me! C'mon, we don't have much time to lose!"
She was right–whatever was happening down there, if the Imperator really was alive, their chances of saving him grew less every second they waited. "Okay, but you aren't going alone," said Emerald. "Citrines, to the airlock! I want eight Quartzes ready for a spacewalk ASAP!"
Onyx hurried toward the airlock, joined by a battalion of eight Citrines. "Are you sure about this, Onyx?" Tanzanite asked over the radio. "Not only is performing a spacewalk during combat incredibly risky, we do not yet know the situation on the Imperator's ship. You could very well be walking into a trap."
But Onyx wasn't worried. "Hey, if we don't know what's going on, how do you know it's really combat, huh?" Tanzanite gave her annoyed sigh away from the microphone. "Besides, one of those other ships'll catch us if we miss, right? It'll be fine!"
"Your funeral." The first hatch closed behind them all, and with a hiss, the second one opened up to the emptiness of space. Of course, it didn't seem so empty, what with the cluster of ships floating before them, trying to get a better view at the situation inside the imperial cruiser. "Welp, let's get going!" Onyx led the way, leaping out of the airlock towards the besieged vessel. The Citrines followed behind, drifting out after a jump. Unable to guide themselves, they had to hope they were accurate in their initial launch.
Complicating matters was the fact that they hadn't communicated their plan with the other Gems. Their ships continued to orbit the cruiser, with one drifting into their way. "Onyx, there is an obstacle in your path!" warned Tanzanite.
"I see it!" Onyx said. She twisted her body to land against it, doing so just in time. As the Citrines began to do so as well, she hurried over to the other side to jump again. "Couldn't you tell them to chill out?"
"This is out of my control." Onyx continued towards the Imperator's ship. Some of the Citrines had mistimed their initial jump, colliding with the passing ship. "You will have to navigate this yourself."
Onyx did so, managing to land on the top of Moloq's ship. A few Citrines landed beside her, though a few more had missed the landing, drifting past. "Uh-oh–hang on!" Onyx hurried after them, though a few had drifted too far out. She jumped towards one, reaching to grab her, but their hands just missed touching. Landing on the ship's edge, Onyx then drew her hammer, holding it by the head and extending the handle towards the wayward Quartz. She grabbed hold, and Onyx brought her back on board.
"Thanks, Onyx," she said, reunited with her fellows. "Looks like someone'll need to give those others a lift, huh?"
"We'll go and get them later," said Onyx, "but let's focus on Moloq for now. All units, on me!" She led her team made their way down to the airlock, which she pried open with her massive strength. Soon, every one of them was inside, finding the ship to be suspiciously empty. "Uh, hello? Anybody here? Tanzanite, are you still detecting life signs?"
"There are still Talu aboard the ship," came her reply. "Everything I am seeing indicates that the Imperator is still alive. What exactly went down is another matter."
Tanzanite would have continued, only for the sound of gunfire to cut her off. Onyx and the Citrines had suddenly been ambushed by a group of Talu soldiers, who, despite wearing Imperial gear, had immediately opened fire. "Hey, Tanz, I'm gonna have to call you back!" cried Onyx, blocking the shots. She threw her hammer, striking through several of the attackers, giving the Citrines an opportunity to advance. They carved their way through the hostiles, but had little idea of their end destination. Luckily, their target would soon come to them.
"The area's clear, go, move!" shouted another Talu, with another company filling the space left by the defeated one. Onyx and the Citrines raised their weapons in preparation for another fight, but the soldier held up his hands. "Woah, easy, we're friendlies!"
A confused Onyx relaxed slightly, but wasn't immediately sated. "If you're friendly, why did your other friends try to shoot us?" she asked.
The answer was provided when Imperator Moloq himself, being escorted by the soldiers, stepped forward. "I can assure you, they are no friends of ours. It appears that the TLM has infiltrated my personal guard as a last-ditch effort to assassinate me. Thankfully, I still have some loyal followers despite this."
They had an answer now, at least, but their mission was far from complete. "Great, so, what do we do now?" Onyx asked.
"We can only assume that the entire cruiser has been compromised," the leader of the guards said. "They'll have called for backup by now, so our only option is to get through that portal somehow."
"Hmm…does this ship have any escape pods?" Onyx said. "If we angle them right, we should be able to get through without much risk."
There was a response from Tanzanite. "And what would stop them from going through after you?" she asked. "You will have to get the Imperator onto one of our ships."
"And how will we do that when he can't survive in space?" replied Onyx. "Okay, new plan: back to the bridge, everyone. We're taking the ship."
None of Moloq's people, nor the man himself, seemed too keen on that plan. "And how do you suggest we deal with their reinforcements?" he asked.
Onyx shrugged. "Emerald'll do somethin' about 'em. I trust her. Now let's move!" Both groups moved as one back towards the bridge of the vessel, encountering more TLM soldiers as they did.
Back on the Soul Evaporator, Tanzanite relayed this plan to Emerald. "Onyx is going to get herself killed," she said blithely. "I recommend ordering her to stand down."
"She handled the situation on Djeroh, didn't she?" Emerald replied. "I trust her. Besides, we need to be focused for when the reinforcements arrive–" She was interrupted when an alarm began blaring from the console. "What is that?"
Tanzanite attended to the alarm, which turned out to be detecting something approaching from warp. "That would be the reinforcements you were speaking of, My Emerald. Numerous TLM craft are rapidly approaching."
Several battle-cruisers then materialized, turning their guns on the unsuspecting Gem ships. The Soul Evaporator took a hit, shaking from the blast. "All stations, open fire!" Emerald ordered. The vessel shifted into attack mode, aiming its cannons at the intruders.
The TLM ships deployed numerous fighter craft, and the Gems did the same. "Onyx, I hope you are making progress in there," said Tanzanite. "It would seem help has arrived, and not for us."
"Sure, almost there!" Onyx replied cheerfully. The bridge was heavily fortified, with the TLM infiltrators concentrating most of their numbers within. In particular, they had set up a turret to provide heavy fire, keeping even Onyx at bay. "Just gotta get past a few of 'em first!"
Some of the Talu fighters broke through Homeworld's defenses, speeding towards the cruiser. But rather than offering aid to their allies, they instead opened fire on the same ship they now controlled. "What are they doing!?" asked a Citrine, holding onto the wall as the ship shook. "Are you sure they aren't your allies?"
"We didn't call in any reinforcements!" said Moloq. "Even if we had, they wouldn't dare fire on their Imperator!"
Her eyes widening in shock, Tanzanite realized what they were doing. "They are trying to shoot down the ship!" she said. "Onyx, the TLM is willing to destroy the entire vessel if it means killing the Imperator! You must hurry!"
"Working on it!" With the gunfire holding them in place, Onyx knew they didn't have long. Remembering a move she had performed on Djeroh, she held her hammer tightly before hurling it down the hallway.
The turret fell for it, as she had expected, firing at her feint. Onyx herself rolled at the weapon, destroying it much as she had done before. But this time, she had taken a few hits in the process. Grinning and bearing her injuries, she smashed down the door to allow her units inside.
More guns answered her entry, but she powered through them as her allies entered. "Go, go, go! We've got a foothold now, let's use it!" Both Citrines and Imperial troopers fanned out, flanking the TLM soldiers that had taken the bridge. Throughout all of this, the fighters continued to rain fire down on the cruiser.
The Soul Evaporator, along with just about every other Gem battleship present, had moved to block the approaching ships. "Hold the line, just a little longer now!" said the Supreme Admiral. "Once they're through the warp station, we're in the clear!"
"B-but, My Emerald," a Nephrite on her ship asked, "what is there to stop them from following the Imperator through? Even if we shut it down, they could just turn it back on again!"
"We are!" said the Emerald triumphantly. "Our defense is an impenetrable stone wall they'll break themselves against! Keep firing, and don't stop until the battle is won!"
Although Emerald was very willing to follow her orders, she couldn't help but feel that there was a better way to accomplish this. "What if we…" she said to herself, before realizing that she had an idea. "Tanzanite, patch me through to the Supreme Admiral!"
"Patching."
The line opened. "What is it, B64? Is something wrong?" she asked.
"Not exactly, but we can't afford to keep this up much longer," said Emerald. "We could probably win, but we'd lose too many Gems. Once the Imperator is through, we have to destroy the portal."
"By that logic, you'd be trapping us all here with them!" exclaimed the Supreme Admiral. "Then we'd lose a lot more than a few Gems!"
Emerald thought for a moment. "Then we destroy the other portal," she said. "We pass through as well, and disable the connection from the other side. That way, they couldn't get to Moloq even if they seized this one!"
The Supreme Admiral expressed her approval with a noise of satisfaction. "I like the way you think, B64! Alright, new plan: everyone, get ready to follow the imperial cruiser! Once it heads through, so do we! But don't let those TLM goons follow us!"
"Onyx, your new orders are–" said Tanzanite.
"I heard ya, I heard ya!" she said. Onyx leapt out from behind cover, bashing several enemies aside with her hammer. Soon, she reached a control panel. "Alright, just gotta get this thing moving…how hard could it be!" She pushed a lever forward, and the cruiser shook as it began to move.
Tanzanite watched as the ship slowly tilted downwards. "At the risk of sounding redundant, whatever you did is not helping."
An irritated groan from Onyx. She tried wrangling the controls, ducking down as she was shot at. "I could use some help here!" she shouted to her comrades. "Okay, let's see, let's see…"
"Just push forward!" cried Moloq. "It couldn't be easier!"
"I'm not familiar with your guys' layout, okay!?" Onyx yelled back. After a bit more working, she managed to activate the boosters. Perhaps she activated them a bit too much, as the ship suddenly jolted forward, throwing everyone back.
The cruiser began to move towards the portal. "Follow that ship!" Emerald ordered. The Soul Evaporator turned around to do just that, its turrets firing at the fighters that pursued them both. "Onyx, how are things going inside?"
"Well, we're moving, so not as bad as they could be!" she replied. With the combined efforts of both teams, they were slowly whittling away at the TLM's efforts. When one tried to leap onto Onyx's back, she responded by yanking him off and throwing him at another. "Just focus on things out there, we're all good here!"
Both ships passed through the warp gate, traveling millions of lightyears away in an instant. In a flash of light and a surge of energy, they had reached another galaxy, out of the TLM's reach. That said, their fight wasn't over yet.
Emerald directed the ship to turn around again. "Keep firing on those fighters, but get ready to take down that station on my signal!" They weren't alone, as more Talu fighters followed them through. Even though they had already won the war, they refused to let him get away. Some of them even attempted to divebomb the cruiser, only stopped in the nick of time by Emerald's guns.
The Supreme Admiral's ship passed through first, followed by several more. "VIP is secure, I repeat, VIP is secure!" she announced. "All units, fall back!"
More and more ships came pouring through the relay; most of them Gem, but a few Talu. "We need to disable the station soon, My Emerald," said Tanzanite. "We risk being no better off than we were a moment ago."
"I know, but we need to wait until everyone's through!" said Emerald. "Supreme Admiral, we're ready to open fire, just give the word!"
From the bridge of her flagship, the Supreme Admiral held up her hand. "Hold…" Ships continued to pass through. "Hold…" The Talu battle-cruisers were bearing down on Moloq's ship. "That's everyone–now! Fire!"
The entire fleet concentrated fire on the mass-relay station, aiming for its fuel cells. After a mere few seconds of the sustained barrage, the station ignited, and the massive ring was torn apart from the force of the explosion. The portal shut with nothing to sustain it, bisecting one Talu vessel that hadn't yet completed its journey.
Cut off from their backup, the rest of the TLM forces soon fell. Before long, the space where the station had been was now a graveyard, or more accurately, a scrapyard. But beside all the floating debris, there was a victorious fleet. Each Gem either began to cheer or breathed a sigh of relief, with one doing both.
"We…we did it," Emerald said in slight disbelief. "I can't believe it, that actually worked! Onyx, are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm here, Mera!" she said. "Don't worry: we took care of those rebels, and Moloq is a-ok!"
The Imperator himself responded. "I have to admit, you actually came through, what's-your-name! And here I was, resigned to my fate!"
"Sounds like he had the utmost confidence in you," Tanzanite said.
"And speaking of confidence," came the voice of the Supreme Admiral, "I have to say, B64, I'm impressed. With a tactical mind like that, you have a real future here under my employ! Let's just hope Yellow Diamond doesn't mind the collateral damage!"
Emerald laughed it off, even though that was an actual concern. But then, another concern came to mind. "Yooperlite?" she called over the radio. "Yoop, are you there!? Did you make it out!?"
Much to her relief, Yooperlite replied. "Right here! Don't worry, Mera, I ain't going anywhere anytime soon! Metaphorically speaking, of course. I'll probably be headin' all over the place on my assignments."
"Me too, Yoop. Me too," Emerald said. Indeed, this was only one of many missions she would be running on behalf of Homeworld. Over the centuries, the Supreme Admiral, and even Yellow Diamond herself would take notice of her prowess. It wouldn't be long until she was considered as the next candidate for a seat on the Council of Beryls. But first, a spot would have to be opened. And there was only one Emerald on the Council.
