Chapter Five: Cheap Imitation

February 13, 2017. Abandoned CoH Hideout, Florida Island.

Red light washed over the room as Valdain scanned the chamber. He made sure to be as thorough as possible, picking up every imperfection in the stone, every trace of chemicals not normally present to the geography, even accounting for the wear and tear of whoever or whatever might have passed through. Nearby, Daniel and Ichigo waited anxiously for the result.

After a few moments of painstaking research, he returned to the pair. "After carefully analyzing the contents of this chamber, I can safely say…I have found nothing out of the ordinary." Both humans were crestfallen. "By all accounts, it appears to simply be a side room carved into the earth. Its purpose, I cannot say, but we cannot assume it to be anomalous."

One brief pause later, Ichigo threw up his hands. "Well, we tried. Thanks for stopping by, Val, meet you both back at base." He made to walk away, but Daniel stopped him.

"That's it? You can't come up with anything aside from it being a hole in the ground?" he said, holding back his annoyance. "I thought your technology was supposed to be eons beyond ours. Couldn't you have picked up anything more specific than that?"

It was hard to read Valdain's expression, largely because he didn't have one, but he seemed annoyed as well. "I was led to believe humans had access to laser excavating, yes? Surely it is not unreasonable for a motivated team to dig something like this out? Like it or not, there are still far too many unknowns for us to jump to any conclusions."

Ichigo was examining the stone once more. "So you said this was all carved by lasers…can you tell how long ago, exactly?"

"At least a month, by my estimate," Valdain replied. "Though it seems, especially judging by how it was sealed up, it has not been used in about as long. Either its architects had to abandon it for one reason or another, or it had already fulfilled its purpose."

"And that manhole cover being right under one of Polaris' supply lines–that can't be a coincidence," Ichigo said. "That, coupled with how quick this thing was dug out…"

"...all points to one of our groups of interest being responsible," Daniel finished. "But now the only trouble is tracking down the culprit…which we were already planning on doing. So, in essence, we're back at square one."

Valdain's processor was working overtime, trying to find the solution. "No, no, there must be something we aren't seeing here. Some small detail we've overlooked, that will cause everything to become clear…"

"Hate to break it to you, but it's entirely possible we've gotten everything we can from this place," replied Daniel. "We may have to start looking for leads elsewhere, like James suggested."

Not two seconds after he mentioned James' name, his phone rang. Lo and behold, it was James. "Hey, Captain, you know how I said it might be worth looking into Polaris' perspective on this? I think I found something."

Ichigo blinked. "That was uncanny! Seriously, did you plan that? Was he listening in on us, waiting for that exact moment to call?"

Daniel didn't have time to humor him. "Alright, you were right. Tell us what you found."

Earlier…

Although Daniel had insisted on waiting for Valdain, James was of the belief that they should take a different approach. If the nearby Polaris facility really had seen an attack recently, then they were their best source of information. Considering their history with BAINE, Daniel was certain they would refuse to offer anything, but James felt it was at least worth a try. Which was why he was now stepping through the front door.

It was a small operation, mostly for storage rather than R&D. Only a small group of people were visible, which were likely most, if not all personnel manning the place. Using his knowledge of the chain of command, James singled out the most likely candidate for the manager. "You the one in charge?" he asked him once he approached.

"I–Who's asking?" the man replied. He didn't seem alarmed by James' presence, only confused. This was a good sign. "We weren't supposed to get an inspector in here for another two months."

"My name is James Rook, I represent the Bureau of Alien Investigation, Neutralization, and Experimentation. I understand you've recently had some incidents involving unknown assailants making off with company property. Do you think you could tell me more about these attacks?"

The man looked uncomfortable, glancing first to another worker, and then up at what James assumed was a security camera. "Not sure how much I can help, but I'll tell you what I know. Why don't you come in the back so we can chat?" He slinked off towards another door, expecting James to follow him. With little choice, he did, taking note of the glances he was getting as he moved on.

The two of them stepped into a warehouse containing a variety of stored products, most of them derived from Gem tech. Given the man's anxious demeanor, James began to grow wary. He had just been taken into the back room by a man working for a company who was technically enemies with his organization. It was entirely possible he was about to be removed.

James remained on-edge as the man reached into his pocket, preparing to reach for his own weapon. Thankfully, he only pulled out his phone. "How'd you hear about that?" he asked. "You've been keepin' tabs on us, yeah?"

"Not directly," James replied. "Only enough to make sure your boss isn't up to anything. We only came here because one of our guys had a hunch that turned out to be on point. So you were attacked, then?"

Continuing to go through his phone, the man glanced over his shoulder. "Not us, but a convoy not far from here. I wasn't there at the time, but I heard the stories. They said that the trucks were sabotaged mid-drive, and then were attacked by…something. Whatever they were, they only seemed interested in raiding what was in the trucks. But here's the strange part: they didn't end up taking anything."

That was indeed strange. Perhaps they were looking for something in particular? "What else can you tell me about these strange…things?" he asked.

"One of the guards managed to get a good look at them, and sketched it out as best he could." The man held up his phone, showing a crudely-drawn picture of a strange entity. It was somewhat humanoid, possessing arms and legs, but looked almost skeletal, grayish-white with what appeared to be ribs making up most of its main body. It also didn't seem to have a head, only a raised mound which bore a single eye.

James had seen his fair share of Gems, robots, and aliens in his time, and it didn't look remotely familiar. "This guard…could I talk to him?"

"Management had him transferred," said the man, shaking his head. "Everyone involved got transferred to another location. They wanted to cover this up." Once more, he looked around nervously. "I'm not even supposed to be talking about this. If they found out I'm telling someone what I know, let alone sharing it with someone from BAINE, they'd have my head. But this…this isn't the only time something like this has happened. These things are still raiding our bases, making off with our transports, attacking our people."

"So this wasn't an isolated incident," James noted. "This might be a long shot, but do you think the reason for the cover-up could be that Polaris created these…whatever they are?"

The man thought about it for a moment. "I never considered that, but it's possible, in theory. St. Augustine keeps a lot of secrets from us grunt types, so I wouldn't be surprised if some secret project of his went rogue. Whatever they are, I don't like the idea of them running rampant."

"Neither do we," added James. Figuring that was all he was going to get, he turned to exit. "Thank you for your time. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone I was here."

"Hang on!" the man called. James turned around. "I…look, I get that Polaris and BAINE aren't exactly in each others' good graces. St. Augustine doesn't like you, and you don't like him. But we have a common enemy with these things attacking us. If there's anything else you need, just let me know–but try to make it discreet, yeah?"

"Yeah. I will." James made his exit, once more getting strange looks from the workers. It was a small comfort to know it wasn't him they were wary of.

He still didn't have the slightest idea of what those things were, but at least it was something. But if they really were some Polaris Industries project, nothing about it added up. Why would they only target the ones who made them? And what did they possibly want by stealing Gem tech? The answers were out there, but they'd take more digging.

As he made his way back to the CoH base, he figured he should update Daniel on what he found. He pulled out his phone to give him a ring. "Hey, Captain, you know how I said it might be worth looking into Polaris' perspective on this? I think I found something."

"...So, Polaris was attacked by weird, white skeleton thingies," Ichigo summed up. "Can't say that one was on the bingo card. You have any idea what he's talking about, Val?"

Valdain pondered the description James had given of the mysterious assailants. "They certainly sound Gem in origin, but I can't say I've ever encountered anything quite like that before. Indeed, it is highly possible they are the result of Gem technology reverse engineered by human hands. As for whose hands…that remains to be seen."

"There's certainly no shortage of candidates," Daniel said, thinking of all the enemies BAINE had made over the years. "Did this man offer you an account of what exactly had been stolen?"

There was a pause before James answered. "No, but I didn't ask. I don't suppose I should go back and ask, yeah? He did say he'd help me out any way he could."

"A good idea," said Daniel. "And once you're done, I think we should take this information to an expert. Someone who knows more about Gem tech than any of us ever could."

"Better yet," said Ichigo, "make that two experts."

February 17, 2017. Beach City.

For a long, long while, Peridot just stared at the drawing of the thing that had attacked the Polaris trucks. "It…almost looks like a zebra," she noted.

"You've been looking at that for the past five minutes," said Vargas, "and that's the best you could come up with?"

She glared at him. "Hey, I've come a long way in learning to recognize this planet's fauna! You're lucky I was able to come up with an answer that close!"

Pearl took the picture. "It isn't a zebra," she said. "Hmm…if I'm not mistaken, this could very well be a Rhinestone. But what one is doing active after all this time, let alone an entire battalion of them, I don't know."

"So, it's a 'Rhinestone,' huh?" said Ichigo, looking at the drawing over her shoulder. "Care to explain?"

"Certainly." She cleared her throat, stepping before Ichigo and Vargas to deliver her tale. "During the war against Homeworld, the Crystal Gems were vastly outnumbered, as I'm sure you've heard before. So, in an effort to bolster our numbers, several different projects were started with the goal of creating mechanical warriors who could engage Homeworld's forces, with the added benefit of keeping actual Gems out of harm's way."

Peridot raised an eyebrow. "So these 'Rhinestones' are just a type of robonoid? I find that highly unlikely. Wouldn't I have heard something about this project?"

"Considering everything else you knew about the war, I'm not surprised you hadn't," Pearl muttered. "Anyway, the Rhinestones were the most promising of these projects, with a stolen injector being used to produce entirely autonomous Gemlike beings, using byproducts of organic life, such as fossil fuels, as material rather than draining life from the planet itself. Ultimately, however, they proved too fragile to be effective against Homeworld's forces, and the project was abandoned."

"Until now," Vargas noted. "Someone got a hold of whatever was used to make those things, and they started it up again. Mind telling us where we can find it?"

"Unfortunately, that might prove to be something of a problem," Pearl said. "The modified injector's last known location was aboard a cargo ship called the Sunset Apogee, which was shot down over what would be southern Eurasia today. Even before the war was over, we searched for any sign of its wreckage, but haven't found anything to this day."

Not exactly the news they wanted to hear. "So, a lost spaceship, an army of robots, and some strange master at the center of it all," Ichigo summed up. "Sounds like a mystery that needs solving to me. Whaddya say, old buddy, ready to go on an adventure?"

"Mm. Not really," Vargas replied. He took his phone back, taking another look at the Rhinestone. "I think I'd rather find out where these things are coming from so we can put a stop to 'em."

"Aaaand, what better way to do that than going on an adventure?" Ichigo said. "Now, Pearl, I don't suppose you have any clues as to where this, um…cargo ship is?"

"Sunset Apogee, and no," she said. "As I said, we've searched for it several times, but came up empty time and time again. For all we know, it burned up in the atmosphere."

"And yet, these things have to be coming from somewhere," said Vargas. "Maybe if we catch one, we can have the guys in the lab figure out where it came from?"

Peridot thought about it. "That might not actually be a bad idea. Gems often contain trace amounts of minerals from the Kindergarten they were formed. Since they're created in much the same way, these Rhinestones shouldn't be much different. Maybe you can have your Interloper friend work his magic." This last sentence was added with just a hint of bitterness.

"That is a great idea, you two!" Ichigo said cheerfully. "Now all that's left is to find a way to track one down. Let's see…they've been attacking Polaris Industries in order to steal Gem tech…so all we need to do is set up a fake convoy to lure them in! They'll think they're ambushing us, but in reality, we'll be ambushing the ambushers! What do you think of my ambush plan?"

"Stop saying ambush…but I like it!" replied Vargas. "'S been too long since I've been able to shoot something! Let's get back to Bridge and see what he thinks."

The pair then headed off. "See ya! Good luck with all that Crystal Gem stuff you've got goin' on!" Ichigo said, waving to Pearl and Peridot as they left. "So, Varg…what do you think is going on?"

"Bein' honest, I don't have much of a clue," he replied. "All I know is someone out there thinks they can get the best of BAINE. How 'bout we show 'em how wrong they are?" He pounded his fist into his palm.

That was something they could agree on.