Chapter Twelve: Desperate Times

May 24, 2017. BAINE Headquarters.

Director Mills scrolled through a series of pictures taken of the carnage at Bunker #18. While the invasion had been halted, how exactly the Rhinestones had found out about Project Aftermath was beyond him. Worse still, everything within had been thoroughly damaged by the resulting clash–it could take months to get it up and running again. All that time and effort put into a failsafe, and it had fallen apart before Homeworld had even found out.

"Perhaps this truly was a doomed endeavor," he lamented, setting the tablet down. "I honestly believed we could find a way to prevent humanity's extinction in the event of Homeworld's return. Could there be some other way we just haven't found yet?"

Captain Steele was also present, hanging on the Director's words. "Aside from total planetary evacuation? No, I don't think it's feasible," he said. "What little we know about Homeworld's armies suggests we wouldn't have even a fraction of a chance in a direct conflict. But maybe some of Steven's findings could prove useful…"

If there was any good news these last few days, it was that Steven had managed to escape from Homeworld, unharmed. The exceedingly relieved Crystal Gems had shared everything he had learned during his brief period of captivity, including the unfortunate news that one Lars Barriga was still trapped there. But not only was he in good company, but he was also immortal now, so that was something.

"Indeed," the Director continued. "Let us quickly review what we know: firstly, doubt has been cast on the true nature of Pink Diamond's assassination. If we learn the truth, it may just give us an advantage, however slight. Secondly, there are others out there who reject Homeworld's totality, scattered though they may be. It is possible that Steven, through the Crystal Gems or Lars, may be able to rally them into some manner of underground resistance movement."

Steele cleared his throat. "No offense, sir, but it's starting to feel like you're grasping at straws here."

"Sometimes, old friend, straws are all you have," Mills replied gravely. "Mark my words, before long, Homeworld will grow tired of leaving the Earth's fate up to chance. It may take decades, it may be tomorrow, but sooner or later they will grow wise to the Cluster's failure to emerge. Aquamarine's mission to collect more humans for their zoo only shows that they believe our planet's days are numbered. And because of that, they are."

Breathing deeply, Steele took his time before answering. "Well then, that leaves just one more question: are we gonna lay down and die, or do we go out fighting?"

The Director sighed as well. "Just a few years ago, even a few months ago, I would have said we would fight to the last man." He rolled around to the front of his desk. "But now, I wonder if that would really be fair to any of them. If your fate is sealed, why fight if it won't make any difference? No, we should focus our efforts into finding a way to avert this tragedy."

"'Avert?' I thought you just said that the end of the world was inevitable," said Steele. "Project Aftermath didn't work, so what else can we do?"

The next few seconds passed by in agonizing silence, as both of them pondered just how they could survive Homeworld's upcoming onslaught. "You mentioned evacuating the planet," Mills said. "While a nigh-impossible task on our own, perhaps with some help from the Crystal Gems, or other aliens fed up with Homeworld's dominance, we may just be able to relocate the populace."

He shrugged. "Eh, it's as good an idea as any. We should ask Valdain, maybe he knows of some races who could help?"

"Did you need my assistance?" Just then, Valdain entered the room, a worried look on his face–not that it appeared any differently than usual, he was just giving off that vibe. "So sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid it's fairly urgent."

"No, no, not at all," said Mills. "What is it you have to say?"

He made sure the door was closed before continuing. "Just now, we received an unknown transmission from an unknown source. But it's no mystery who it is from: Mr. Echo has sent us a message directly."

This puzzled the two of them. "...How?" asked Steele. "You're supposed to have clearance to be able to do that, and she sure as hell doesn't. What, does he have our e-mail address or something?"

"We're still trying to figure that out," Valdain said. "But I really think you should listen to the message yourself. It is quite…illuminating." Mills handed him the tablet, and he plugged his finger into the port.

The visuals were extremely distorted, showing only static in the vague shape of what must have been Mr. Echo. "Hello, BAINE. What an apt name that is, truly. And not just because you've been standing in my way, no. Your efforts to protect humanity are only further weakening it. They can no longer fend for themselves. When an alien threat rears its head, their first instinct is to duck and cover, and let someone else handle things for them. Much like you tried to do with Project Aftermath.

You should know by now that security breeds complacency. You bow to the whims of the Crystal Gems, scraping together something out of nothing from whatever scraps they deign to throw your way. They claim to be our guardians, and perhaps they are even genuine, but all they do in practice is infantilize us. Relying too much on their help–and yours–has been holding us back.

Which brings me to Project Aftermath. I must say, Director, I thought you had integrity. I thought that when Homeworld came to our doorstep, you would at least try and muster up some manner of resistance. Instead, you built yourself a glorified burrow to hide in, like a frightened rabbit. This was the final straw for me. In order for humanity to truly be free, no Gem can be allowed to survive, and BAINE must burn along with them. As far as I am concerned, you are all traitors to your species. Consider this a declaration of war."

And that was that. Mr. Echo had just laid his motives and intentions bare, but this still left many questions unanswered. "...So, what should we do now?" asked Valdain.

"The only thing we can do is approach this as it unfolds," said Mills. "If Mr. Echo could see reason, he would recognize that Homeworld is a much bigger threat to us all, but I suspect he has already made up his mind. We can try to reach out for a potential alliance, but if he has not considered one by this point, I doubt he ever will."

"Considering how many times he's tried to take us down, just that we know of, that sounds about right," Steele said. "Still, now we gotta deal with Echo and Homeworld? That's gonna be a chore."

Valdain nodded. "I'll try and figure out how he was able to access our systems. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to reverse the signal so we can figure out where it was sent from."

"Good, good, get on that," Mills said, returning to his desk as Valdain took his leave. "Captain Steele, I want every Fireteam on around-the-clock patrols. We can't let Echo get the drop on us–I made that mistake once before, I don't plan on making it again."

"Okay, a little lower…" Dr. Xu directed. "Almost, now a little bit right…wait, stop, too much! Go back. Wait…wait…perfect! Go on in!"

Gina activated the tiny drill, which bored its way into the scorched Rhinestone. "Well, it's not an ideal specimen, but since an ideal specimen would probably be trying to kill us right about now, I'd say it's the best we're gonna do," she said. "Rhodes, how's it looking?"

At a nearby computer, Rhodes watched the scans of the gem's interior. "Coming along just fine," he said. "With any luck, these fancy alien algorithms Valdain wrote should decode just about everything we'd want from its hard drive."

"Hey, you all heard Echo's letter to us, right?" asked Hester, standing nearby. "He accuses us of ruining humanity because we use Gem technology as a crutch."

"Yeah, I heard," Gina said. "But who's he to talk? Does it not count when he does it? Last I checked, you can't exactly buy Rhinestones at…what's a place that sells electronics?"

"There's some place in Ocean Town–oh, wait, that went out of business," said Rhodes. "Anyway, people like him are too far gone. They're so lost in their own heads that they don't even know the meaning of the word 'hypocrisy.' As long as something suits their agenda, they're all for it, no matter who it hurts."

"And you can't hurt much more than devastating the whole human race," Hester said, getting a closer look at the Rhinestone's gem. "So you can really get everything you need off this burnt piece of plastic?"

"Sure can," said Xu. "See, when you boil it all down, Gems are basically just little computers. We use silicon in our computing, but they cut out the middleman and are made entirely out of the stuff! But this here does most of the same stuff, except on a might tighter budget. It's sort of a bargain-bin Gem, and as a result is much more easily produced. If the Crystal Gems had been able to make Rhinestones on a big enough scale, they might have been able to fend off Homeworld a lot sooner."

This idea greatly intrigued Gina. "You think so? I guess Earth is pretty rich in oil, even more so back then. With efficient enough manufacturing, you could make tens or even hundreds of thousands of these things. And with a way to transport them offworld…" She was lost in thought, already drawing up the battle plans in her head.

There was a ping from Rhodes' computer. "Got it! I should have all the data on here deciphered by…three weeks!?"

"What!? Three weeks!?" cried Hester. "By that time, Echo and Homeworld could've launched their attacks! We can't afford to wait that long!"

"Wait, wait, now it's down to one week," said Rhodes. "Oop, back up to two. Aaaand back to three. A month!? Oh, wait, two weeks again." The time continued to fluctuate for a while. "Ah, I give up. It'll be done when it's done."

"At least this'll give us time to analyze its composition," said Dr. Xu. "Didn't you say that the previous one led you to somewhere in the Middle East? Maybe with a second source, we can get a better bead on exactly where these things are being made."

"Sounds good to me," said Gina. With the drill still in place, she moved a spectrograph over the Rhinestone. "Let's just hope we're not too late."

Rhodes looked her way. "Too late for what?"

She looked at him in turn. "To stop whatever they have planned, obviously! It's like Hester said, we have no way of knowing when either of them could attack. And maybe…" She held her hands around the burned crystal. "...maybe these things could help us more than we realize."

The barracks were empty, except for Vargas. He was shaving with a pocket knife–and not bothering to use any cream. The results were far from professional grade, but anyone who saw would have been impressed he managed it without cutting himself. But Bridge had other things on his mind.

Making sure nobody else was hiding somewhere within, he entered. "Vargas," he said curtly.

"Bridge."

Daniel knew there was really no delicate way to introduce this topic, no easy approach he could use. So, he decided to be blunt about it. "Listen, Vargas, something's been hanging over this team for the past few months. I know it, you know it, and I think it's time we stopped ignoring it. There's a lot you haven't told me about your past."

He took a moment to examine his chin in his knife's reflection, before setting the blade down. "What's to tell? You should already know my life's story by now. When I was a young man, I fell in with the wrong crowd. Then I left the CoH to live the carefree life of a hired gun, which is where BAINE found me. That about covers it."

"And this 'wrong crowd,' how exactly did you meet up with them?" Bridge asked. "I don't think we've ever talked about that. Did you sincerely believe in their ideals, or were you just looking for an excuse to be violent?"

Vargas waved his hand. "Little of both. I was pretty disillusioned with the way the world was at the time, so I got to do something about it while also shooting at things if need be. Back then, I couldn't have asked for anything more."

That checked out. "So what changed?" Daniel asked.

"I wised up. See, after a while of putting up with those Gem-worshiping nuts, I realized they didn't actually have a plan to improve the world beyond hoping that Homeworld would show up. I figured the least I could do was fight for a cause I believed in, or at least one that paid well. So I left 'em behind. If you still wanna distrust me 'cause of my past, that's fine, but the least you could do is be consistent. Luke used to work for SEEN, remember?"

Daniel did remember, but that had never felt like as much of an issue. "Luke never kept his old allegiances secret," he pointed out. "And speaking of secrets, might I remind you that the Rhinestones had to find out about Project Aftermath somehow?"

A brief silence followed, during which Vargas slowly stood up, turning to face Daniel. "Gee, Captain, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were accusing me of colluding with Mr. Echo. But that couldn't be the case….right?"

The two stared at each other for a minute. "Well? Are you? They didn't find us on their own. Maybe your idea of helping humanity isn't too far off from his."

For a moment, Vargas seemed like he was about to attack Daniel. His jaw tightened, and he got his face up in his. "If you've got a problem, go talk to Mills. Let me remind you he's the one who made me a Quartzbreaker." Pushing past his captain, he stormed out of the room.

Left alone, Daniel scowled after him, unmoving. He knew he was most likely raising a fuss over nothing, but there was clearly something wrong, and this was the only lead he had. If he wasn't working with Echo, who was?

Or was anyone?