Morning dawned warm, with the promise of a hot sunny day. After a breakfast of barley meal mixed with honey and hazelnuts, the hares were ready to set off.

"Listen up, troop, we're marchin' due south," Perigord said. "Exercise extreme caution, an' keep your eyes peeled for vermin and mutants."

Perigord led the way, and the three Gems marched along beside him. Tammo was in the middle of the column, with Joshy next to him on one side and Pasque on the other. He couldn't believe he was actually marching with the famous Long Patrol! It was a dream come true!

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But elsewhere in Mossflower, a different scene was being enacted.

East of Redwall, a broad stream flowed through rolling hills. In a hollow not far from the streambank, a small spaceship lay on the ground. It had crashed there the night before, narrowly missing landing in the water.

A small green Gem with yellow hair stood by the ship, holding a wrench in her hand. She wore metal contraptions called "limb enhancers" on her arms and legs to make herself appear larger than she was. "Huh! This is another fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Peridot!" she muttered to herself. "Stranded on an alien planet! I'm gonna need to send out a distress signal. But first I'll see if I can fix this…"

She lifted the hood of her spaceship and started tinkering around in there with the wrench, but she just couldn't pinpoint what the problem was. However, it was clear that this ship wasn't going to be flying again anytime soon.

Peridot was unaware that two pairs of evil eyes were watching her from above. A weasel named Hogspit and a rat named Lousewort were standing atop one of the nearby hills, looking down on her.

"What sort of animal do you reckon she is?" Lousewort asked. "I never saw nobeast like her before."

"Doesn't matter," snarled Hogspit, brandishing a nasty looking cutlass. "She looks soft. We'll capture her and bring her back to Damug Warfang. It'll be as simple as shellin' peas."

He started swaggering down the hill, and Lousewort trailed behind. When they got near the bottom, Hogspit called out to the Gem, "Hoi, triangle head! Where do you think you're going? You're coming with us. Move lively if y'know wot's good for yer!"

Peridot looked up, noticing the two vermin for the first time. "Listen, ya clods," she snapped back. "If you know what's good for you, you'll back off! Don't you know who I am? I'm a Gem from Homeworld!"

Hogspit was amazed at her insolence. He swelled out his chest. "Well, I'm Rapscour Hogspit of Damug Warfang's mighty Rapscallion army. I'll carve yer guts inter frog meat an' dance on them!"

He rushed at her with his sword and stabbed her right through the heart. But she didn't fall. She didn't even bleed. Instead, Peridot just laughed. "You're gonna have to do better than that, clod. Us Gems don't die so easily. If you're the crème de la crème of this Rapscallion army, then they're all in trouble."

With those words, she delivered a kick to Hogspit's chest that sent him sprawling to the ground. But the force of the blow caused the limb enhancer on her foot to fall off. Peridot lost her balance and fell too.

Quickly she scrambled up and climbed back into her spaceship. She knew it couldn't get off the ground, but hopefully the laser cannons were still in good working order.

Hogspit got up and started running toward the ship. Peridot smiled and pushed a button on the control panel. A laser shot out of the ship's side and obliterated Hogspit where he stood. There was nothing left of him but one of his shoes.

Lousewort timidly stepped forward and picked the shoe up. It was heavier than he expected. When he looked inside, he saw why. Hogspit's foot was still in there.

"I've got plenty of ammo left," Peridot said. "If I were you, I'd run."

Lousewort turned and sped back up the hill. Peridot chuckled. "I can't wait to tell Yellow Diamond about this. If all the creatures on Earth are like those two, conquering this planet will be a breeze."

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The Rapscallion camp was in a valley a bit farther down the stream. The entire Rapscallion army, one thousand strong, was gathered there. When Lousewort arrived back at camp, he found his friend, another rat named Sneezewort, standing guard on the outskirts. "Where's Lord Damug?" Lousewort panted.

Sneezewort shrugged. "In his tent, I suppose."

"I've got news fer him," Lousewort said.

Lousewort hurried to the center of the campsite, where Damug Warfang's tent was. He made his way inside, where he found Damug standing in his armor. The warlord made a formidable sight. He was a Greatrat, twice the size of a normal rat.

"What do you want?" Damug snapped.

Lousewort gulped, then spilled out the entire story of how he and Hogspit had found Peridot. "She killed Hogspit, sir! Blasted him to nothing! This is all that's left of him." He held up the shoe with the weasel's severed foot in it. "She kept saying her name was Jim, but I always thought that was a man's name."

Damug shook his head in disbelief. "If brains were bread, Lousewort, you'd a starved to death afore you were born. She was probably saying she was a Gem. G-E-M! My father taught me all about Gems. He said they had magical powers and could live forever, unless their gemstone was shattered. Did this creature have a stone anywhere on her body?"

Lousewort thought. "Yeah, there was a green one on her forehead."

"Then Hogspit should've tried to stab her there. Stabbing her chest wouldn't have done any good. Come with me. We will gather a hundred of our soldiers and hunt this Gem down. I've always wanted to capture one…"