Planet F78
Communication Headquarters
In a room filled with air to air and space communications, Era 2 Peridots were at diligent work in transferring calls and working the radar system for the sky and outer space to a greater extent; the room began to become abuzz with activity as traffic in outer space within the reaches of the planet became a hive of activity as outdated ships swarmed in from their gravitational warp jumps.
Live footage fed from Ruby red-eye ships within the outer atmosphere of the planet allowed the communications center to know who was coming in, and hail the ships down for confirmation on who they were and their purpose. From within the communications room, the walls were translucent, allowing the Peridots to see the sky; It was night time for the planet, and with zero clouds to block the view, the peridots could even see bright shines of light from the ships in outer space coming in from their warp travels.
"Approaching Era 1 vessels, Come in, this is Commander Citrine's space and air control of planet F78, please identify yourselves." One peridot chimed in through her communications system. On a big larger screen at the end of the room, the live feed allowed all the peridots at work to see what looked to be Blue tinted spaceships with Era 1 designs.
While the first Peridot that contacted the approaching era 1 space vessel, all the while using her limb enhancer digits to tap her desk in patience, the other gems within the room gave a ponderous glance at the monitor that showed outdated ship that seemed to have not seen any action since the loss of Pink Diamond. "Huh." One of the other peridots mused with a curious expression on her face. "Is that what Era 1 ships used to look like?" she asked incredulously.
Sitting next to her, another Era 2 Peridot shrugged, "Well, at least they look in pristine condition…I think." she presumed.
Just then, a screen popped up on the large monitor, showing a Blue gem standing with her hands behind her back while standing at attention; around her were various other gems, all of which had clothes modifiers that signified that they all belonged to Blue Diamond's Court of gems. With a eyesight modifier on her one eye that seemed to be feeding her information, as seen by small letters streaming through it, the gem brought her hand up to shift it a bit before speaking in a posh accent.
"This is commander Sodalite, Facet w41 Cut 35. I am here on orders by My Blue Diamond." The Sodalite said without skipping a beat, "Recognition code 81u3 dash w4271m3." She continued to announce with a firm tone of no nonsense.
While the Peridot that hailed ships down conversed with the Sodalite, the other peridots whispered amongst themselves. Leaning over to her nearby Peridot, she ducked her head down and spoke over to the peridot nearby, "I don't know about you, but the gems from Blue Diamond court always seemed a bit…you know…uptight."
The peridot that she whispered to, shrugged and whispered back, "Comes with station, I hear, afterall, Blue Diamond's court is meant mostly for Diplomacy."
A third Peridot chose to chime in and whisper next to them, "Diplomacy of what though?" she questioned.
Back with the Sodalite and the Peridot from earlier, the Peridot smiled in relief as the codes of the ships checked out and the authorization checked through on the monitor she worked on. "Alright then." She began to say as she faced the larger monitor that showed Sodalite waiting patiently for the greenlite to come down and land her Era 1 ships next to Citrine's Warship Hand that temporarily dug itself into the ground. "You are all set, please follow the coordinates I've sent to land at the appropriate landing zone."
The Sodalite responded with an impatient scoff, "I'd comment on your timing to get your work done, and report your slack, but I suppose this is what I should expect from an era 2 peridot." The Sodalite lightly scoffed, while bringing her hand up once more, grabbed her blue shoulder length hair to hand behind her ear to get it away from her face. "That will be all then." she wrinkled her nose up in distaste, before the screen cut off to show all the Era 1 ships to begin descending down into the atmosphere of the planet.
"Stupid Clod, I'd like to see you try and do a better job!" a murmur broke out amongst the peridots spoke up with an annoyed tone.
After a few moments of silence passed, the room became filled with snarking chuckles from the era 2 peridots of the room.
Outside Citrine's Warship
Beside the enormous orange hand ship that had its fingers in the ground, a large landing zone was clear out for the incoming 'armada' of Blue Diamond's war ships; while in contrast to Yellow Diamond Military branch of the Great Diamond Authority, Blue Diamond still had hers to a smaller degree for conquering and colonizing planets. However, with the amount of years that Blue Diamond has spent mourning over the loss of Pink Diamond, her colonization ships and war armada was out of date by five hundred years.
Though her armada of ships are out of date, that did not mean they were any less dangerous in what they carried and offered in military power. Blue Diamond's Praetorian Guard of Prasiolite Quartz gems were the hammer so to speak, a hammer of force to bludgeon any all hostile organisms to make way for Blue Diamond to colonize a Plant; That, and to enforce her rule amongst her court and any malcontents, especially to rid her court of any…undesirables. As of recent centuries however after tragedy struck the emotional Blue Diamond, she hasn't doled out any orders as of late to shatter or rid any gems within her court that did not fit the Great Diamond Authority's image of perfection.
That all left Blue Diamond's court in a rather precarious situation, in which she had to order her own Praetorian Guard to finally shake off the dust off themselves, and aid Yellow Diamond's Commander Citrine on the planet F78.
From Tanya's perspective however as she stood just a ways away from a prefab headquarters for war planning, with a few of her own personnel behind her, one chief being her own Pearl; Tanya waited as the outdated saucer-like ships landed with a bit of a thump on the earthen ground. Shortly after, The biggest Ship out of all of them lowered its hatch to allow its occupants to walk down on it to the ground.
From the biggest ship, the Sodalite that communicated with the Peridots through the communications, descended down with her hands clasped behind her back; the gem had an arrogant air about her as she marched her way down and over across the ground towards Tanya atop the raised platform.
It had been centuries since she's conversed with this particular Sodalite, and Tanya could tell the Sodalite apart seeing as how her gem was located on her forehead in the shape of a tear, as well as her hairstyle and clothes modifiers that made her look like a french naval captain from the eighteenth century.
As Sodalite finally stood a few feet away from Tanya, the two were at an even height that allowed them to stare each other down. While Sodalite's own crew and army began marching out from their ships to stand at attention in front of the ships they exited out from to await further orders, Tanya's own forces began to form up as the two continued their little stare down. The tension was so thick between the two, one could practically cut it with a knife.
Breaking the tension between them first, was Tanya, as she initiated the conversation between them. "It has been a while, Sodalite, I'm sure you've been occupying yourself well over the last five centuries." she spoke with a simple indifferent tone.
Sodalite's brow twitched minutely, while within her mouth she grinded her teeth in anger but didn't show it; lifting her hand up to subconsciously move her monocle-like device over her eye a bit, the gem simply let out an annoyed huff. "Yes, occupy myself…it's hard these days to get anything done with My Diamond grieving over the loss of Pink Diamond." she responded with a clip to her tone.
Tanya gave a simple nod of understanding while she held her arms behind her back, "Yes, but I do wonder how it could have been prevented." She gave the Sodalite gem in front of her a look of suspicion.
Sodalite finally broke her character, and let out a growl of anger. "Do not insinuate that I had anything to do with the shattering of Pink Diamond! I was on the other side of the planet at the time!" she refuted.
After a few moments of silence passed after Sodalite's outburst, and Tanya's eyes giving the gem a scrutinizing gaze, Tanya broke the silence, "I'm simply making an observation, you see…" Tanya began to walk forward and circle around Sodalite, "I find it quite coincidental that you were on the opposite side of the planet at the time of Pink Diamond's shattering, a rather perfect alibi to have a clean case of any suspicion towards you." she accused the gem.
Sodalite had an indigent expression on her face, and losing her composure she went to turn and face the Citrine circling around her and grab her by shoulder, "Listen here you young speck of a gem!" she spoke with a heated tone as they stared into each other's eyes, "I was conquering planets and moons longer before Yellow Diamond had a concept of creating you, do not question my loyalty to my Diamonds in such a way!"
While Sodalite snarled into Tanya's face, Tanya simply stared back at Sodalite with a hardened gaze; after another moment passed, Tanya sighed and brushed the grip of Sodalite's hand on her shoulder off with ease, "You'll have to forgive my accusations, I'm simply trying to narrow down all the suspects." she responded with a firm tone.
As the two backed away from each other, Sodalite huffed a bit and smoothed out her dress uniform and moved her monocle a bit after getting a bit ruffled. "Hmph, keep your accusations to yourself." she responded and placed a hand on her chest, "My loyalty has always been to my diamond, the mere thought of a Gem shattering their own creator is tantamount to heresy." Sodalite then gave Tanya a suspicious look of her own.
"Wait, is this some task you were given by your Diamond?" Sodalite questioned the Citrine gem before her, "I should have been notified of some ongoing investigation." she spoke critically at Tanya.
"No." Tanya supplied an answer, before going into further detail upon it as they both looked at each other with wary gazes, "It's a side project of mine." She spoke, "I just find it rather too easy that a Diamond would be shattered like a simple gem, and not just that, how easy it was for a Rose Quartz to simply appear near Pink Diamond's Palanquin and stab her Diamond in the back."
Sodalite pursed her lip a bit, "...that's…" the gem furrowed her brow and brought her hand up to grasp her chin in thought, "...does seem…rather suspicious…" she mused with a confused look, as all gems were of the belief that Diamonds were superior to gems in every way.
"Yes." Tanya affirmed, "But for now, let's drop the subject, there's already much work to be done to quell the rebellion on this planet." she discussed with the Sodalite gem, "And we're on a time schedule by a quarter of a cycle."
Sodalite sputtered in disbelief, "Are you mad!" She backed up a bit, "It took us almost six centuries to even try and put a stop to Rose Quartz's rebellion! What makes you think we can get it done in such a short amount of time."
It was then that Tanya took the chance to preen a bit at her successes, she flashed Sodalite a rather rueful smile. "Oh Sodalite,While you were stuck doing nothing, I spent the last four plus centuries improving methods on gem warfare."
Sodalite did her best to withhold her grumbling, before turning in place to face in the direction of where her forces were lining up and standing at attention as they continued to exit out from the space crafts. "Pearl!" She barked out in a commanding tone, and the next moment a Misty Blue Pearl stumbled a bit from around the crowd of Gems under Sodalite's command, before carrying onwards towards her owner while holding a dataslate close to her chest.
"Ma'am!" Misty Blue Pearl responded as she finally stood before her Gem, "Pardon my tardiness, I was finishing up those assessments you ordered me to do." she said as she stood ramrod straight and bowed before her gem in respect.
From Tanya's point of view, the Pearl owned by Sodalite had hair like Blue Diamond's pearl with how her bangs covered her eyes a bit with two tufts of hair sticking out like tiny horns. The pearl had a translucent shawl over her upper torso with a turquoise leotard under the shawl with the same colored leggings and shoes. Tanya's eye wandered and took note that the pearls gem was on her hand, and watched as the Misty Blue Pearl converse with her Sodalite, while pulling out a stylus to write into her dataslate to confirm her gems next assignment after her duty was done on the planet they were done.
It was then Sodalite lifted her arms up with a bored look and clapped her hands to break her pearl's ramblings, "Yes, yes, we can continue this later, put away your thing and come along." Sodalite said with a crisp tone.
Misty Blue Pearl straightening up with a hint of blue on her cheeks, "Yes ma'am." she put away her stuff into her gem before staying close behind her gem.
Sodalite gave Tanya an expectant expression, "If you would, Citrine, this is your operation, lead the way." she said with some reluctance.
As Tanya led the way back into the headquarters with Sodalite following beside her, both of their Pearls did their best to stick behind their gems. While both Tanya and Sodalite were a bit ahead of the two Pearls, Misty Blue Pearl and Orange Pearl would occasionally steal glances at each other, until Sodalite's pearl spoke up. "I see the years haven't been harsh on you." she whispered over to her fellow pearl.
"That's one way of looking at it." Orange Pearl whispered back as their gem owners continued to walk, with Orange Pearl rushing up to open a dark orange hexagonal doorway to the headquarters entrance; once Citrine and Sodalite entered pass the open doorway, the two pearls followed suit and walked behind their gems a few paces away.
"It's been quite an up and down situation for my Citrine." Orange Pearl continued to converse as they traverse through the hallways of the headquarters.
Misty Blue Pearl let out a 'hmph' noise, "I see, at least your Citrine gets to do things, My Sodalite was ecstatic the moment Our Diamond finally contacted her. It's been too long since my Sodalite got to be deployed for anything." She softly whispered back with a bit of a soft smile of amusement at the memory when her Sodalite almost bounced with joy, before checking herself after realizing she was in the public eye of her other gems under her command.
As Orange Pearl rushed once more to another set of dark orange hexagonal doors for her Citrine and Sodalite to enter though, Citrine nodded to her before going in. "You can stay outside pearl, this will be confidential matters from here out." she ordered her.
Taking a note from Citrine's own order, Sodalite chose to do the same. "Hmm, this will be a private matter, stay outside till I call for you." she ordered her Misty Blue Pearl, prompting both pearls to bow in respect. "Ma'am." They chorused, before the two gems entered the room. Once the doors shut, Orange and Misty Blue Pearl were alone to themselves until they were called for.
After a few moments of silence of the two pearls standing outside the doorway, Misty Blue Pearl chose to break the silence among them with a soft voice. "So, what's Commander Citrine like these days?" she asked with a soft smile while glancing over at Orange Pearl beside her as they stood outside the doorway. "Is she still like she was on Pink Diamond's colony?"
"Oh!" Orange Pearl perked up, "Oh, she is quite overly busy these days with quelling rebellions, but she does find some time to take a relaxing nap as she calls it."
Misty Blue Pearl tilted her head a bit at the notion of a gem relaxing, "Relaxing nap?" she softly asked, "I'm not…aware gem can relax…or nap"
Orange Pearl let out a soft melodic chuckle, before responding, "Oh yes, she says she picked it up from the humans of Pink Diamond's zoo. She insists it helps her…um..I believe the word is recuperate." she mused with a rather amused smile as she looked back at the other Pearl beside her.
"I see…" Misty Blue Pearl murmured in thought as she looked down momentarily, before looking back up with a smile, "How does one relax or nap? Maybe it'll help my Sodalite in some ways." she pondered.
"It's rather easy for my Citrine to do it seems." Orange Pearl responded with a smile of amusement, "You just close your eyes after lying down, and allow yourself to relax into a mode called sleeping!"
Misty Blue Pearl nodded to herself with her hand on her chin in thought, "I see, and it helps her operate to her full capacity afterwards?" she inquired with an intrigued tone of voice.
"Oh yes!" Orange Pearl said in a cheerful tone as she stood on her tiptoes and clasped her hands in exuberance before standing back down on the flat of her feet. "Usually when she takes these relaxing naps, she awakes back up with renewed vigor!"
"Hm." Misty Blue Pearl expressed a satisfied small smile as she conversed with her fellow Pearl, "I'll have to ask if your Citrine can show my Sodalite how to perform these naps, I'm sure she'll enjoy a new method to increase her efficiency for our Diamond."
The two Pearls smiled between each other, before both noticed Blue Diamond's Blue Pearl come around the corner of the hallway and head their way. Neither Pearls said a word yet until Blue Pearl was within reach of the doorway, once Blue Pearl reached the doorways, she looked between the two Pearls. "I am here on my Diamond's orders to retrieve Commander Citrine and Commander Sodalite, once they have finished their business with each other." she softly spoke to the other pearls with her hands clasped in front of her.
Orange Pearl looked at Misty Blue Pearl, and vice versa, before both looked back at Blue Pearl; Misty Blue Pearl spoke up first as she pulled out a chronometer from her gem to check the time, before putting it back away, "It shouldn't be too long." she responded back softly, before putting her chronometer back into her.
"Very well then, I shall wait then." Blue Pearl calmly responded back, before she stood beside Orange Pearl, opposite of Misty Blue Pearl. After several moments passed amongst the pearls, Blue Pearl was the one to break the awkward silence as she turned her head a bit to glance at the other pearls. "It's been a while Misty…how has Sodalite been?" she inquired of the Misty Blue Pearl.
Misty Blue Pearl allowed a simple smile to once more grace her features, "It's been rather tough for my Sodalite ever since our Diamond has left the public eye after Pink Diamond's shattering, but she was rather ecstatic the moment our Diamond finally contacted her." she responded happily.
"That's good." Blue Pearl said softly with a smile, before glancing at Orange Pearl, "And how has Citrine been? I've heard gossip that Yellow Diamond seems to hold her Citrine gem in high regard from all her achievements for the Great Diamond Authority."
Orange Pearl allowed a soft whimsical chuckle from her lips before responding, "She does her best to not fail in any regard, and she's always seen to it that everyone else puts in as much effort as she does."
Blue Pearl nodded in understanding, before the three began discussing a few other matters between each other until Citrine and Sodalite finished their discussion and left the room.
Assembly Hall
While her Pearl was off to inform Yellow Diamond's Citrine and her Sodalite to come before her, and she was sure they were discussing a few private matters from prying eyes and ears, Blue wanted to make sure the plans they were coming up with were sound and within reason. She wasn't like Yellow in planning military strategies, but as a Diamond she was predisposed to at least know some matters of conquering a planet for the sake of expanding the Diamond authority across their home Galaxy.
Blue's gaze subtly glanced over from her spot on her impromptu throne towards the elite guards that arrived with her Sodalite Commander, she mentally chastised herself for getting too angry and caught up in the moment by using Pink's human zoo as a means to transport herself to the planet she was now on; as of now the zoo was up in orbit of the planet, as was now heavily guarded by a few of her Sodalite's ships. It wouldn't do for her conscience to let Pink's legacy come in harm's way while a battle on the planet was still ongoing, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was the cause of what remained of Pink's belongings, especially her Rose Quartz gems.
'Oh, if there was only a way to see if they are all defective like that…that…' Blue thought to herself, before stopping herself. She did not want to think too much about the past right now, she had a duty to finish, and she planned on seeing this rebellion to the end unlike how she left Pink on her own to deal with Rose Quartz and her own rebellion. She didn't care what Yellow said, the what if's on the matter of Pink's shattering haunted her every moment.
The sound of doorways opening and shutting, snapped Blue out of her thoughts, and prompted her to look back in front of her and see that Yellow's Citrine and her Sodalite finally finished their talks and was heading over to her with their respective pearls behind them with her own Blue Pearl leading the way towards her.
Once her pearl reached her, she bowed and spoke softly. "My Diamond." she said before walking over to stand to the side of her while Citrine and Sodalite stood before her with their pearls behind them. "Now that you two are here, indulge me on how you'll be approaching this mess of a rebellion." she spat the last word out with disgust.
Her Sodalite stepped forward first and spoke up while give her the diamond salute, "My Diamond, after some deliberation, we both found it prudent I take to the South East hemisphere of this planet with its vast plains, while Commander Citrine handles the mountainous North Eastern Hemisphere with her air supremacy to easily traverse the area and take out the rebels there."
Blue lifted an eyebrow up in question, "Oh? Air supremacy?" she inquired with a look on her face, she glanced over at Citrine with a critical gaze. "Are you saying my own forces are not adept with their own aircraft in air supremacy?" she questioned the Citrine Gem.
Not missing a beat, Yellow's Citrine gem stepped forward and gave her own salute as well, her eyes never wavering as she gazed up at "Your elegance, times have changed much since your seclusion, the art of gem warfare has changed drastically to combat the ever growing amount of rebellions popping up throughout the sectors of Gem Space." she responded back.
At the mention of 'Art of Gem Warfare', "Art…of Gem Warfare?" Blue questioned back with a confused look, "what does art have to do with Gem Warfare?" she asked the Citrine gem before her.
Not missing a beat once more, the Citrine Gem of Yellow spoke once again to answer her question. "Your Radiance, Warfare is much more than a battle of attrition, there's nuance to warfare."
Blue, not getting the gist yet, "Nuance? How does nuance have anything to do with war?" she inquired with a puzzled look as she looked down at the Citrine gem before her.
"If you want to get a simple concept of it, the nuance of warfare allows us to win with next to zero losses in our favor." Yellow's Citrine gem informed her without missing a beat, as if she was prepared for this sort of discussion.
"I…see…" Blue mused as she looked to the side in thought, Yellow did say they were now on the verge of low resources to great gems after they lost Pink and the Planet she was given to colonize. Were it not for that horrid war, they'd still have Pink and access to an abundant amount of resources. "Yes, I can see the reasoning behind this nuance of warfare." Blue began to smile in acceptance of the idea.
"Very well then, you may proceed with your plans, be quick about it too." Blue told the two commanders before her, prompting them to bow with their diamond salute up. "Your elegancy!" They both chorused, before exiting the assembly hall with their pearls in tow.
Blue smiled in satisfaction as she watched the Gem commanders leave, "Hmm…Art of Gem Warfare…I like the sound of that…art of war…" she mused.
