As the night hits midnight, Steven cuddles closer to Fionna on their bed, his arms wrapped around her gently, the silence of the room only broken by Fionna's soft snoring.

Suddenly, Steven's phone start ringing, dragging him out of his comfort bubble. He groans loudly and answer the phone. "Yea?"

From the other side of the line, Andrew's cold voice come through. "Steven, we need you to come here."

Steven pinches the bridge of his nose. "Urgency level?"

Andrew doesn't hesitate. "Serious."

Steven sighs, glancing at Fionna, who stirs slightly but doesn't wake. He carefully untangles himself from her, brushing a strand of hair from her face before sitting up. "Alright. I'll be there in ten."

He grabs his jeans from the floor, pulling them on along with his jacket. As he laces up his boots, he hears a groggy voice behind him.

"Steven…?" Fionna mumbles, rubbing her eyes as she adjusts her glasses. "Where you going…?"

"G.U.N." He replies, standing up and grabbing his phone. "Andrew says it's serious."

Fionna frowns, pushing herself up on her elbows. "Want me to come?"

Steven hesitates. He wants to say yes, he always feels more grounded with her around. But it's late, and she had classes all day. He shakes his head. "Nah, get some sleep. I'll be back before morning."

She studies him for a moment, then sighs. "Fine. But if you're not back by sunrise, I'm coming after you."

Steven smirks, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Wouldn't expect anything less."

He grabs his keys and steps out, the cool night air hitting him as he makes his way to the transport platform. With a deep breath, he steps on, and in a flash of light, he vanishes.

At the G.U.N Base, Steven walks up to the command room just to find Andrew waiting for Steven next to Peridot who is pacing nervously around the room.

Steven groans. "Alright, I'm here. What do you want?"

Andrew clear his throat to say something but Peridot interrupts. "We need to go to the Moon!"

Steven blinks. "Excuse me?"

Andrew sighs. "Peridot said that we would need the coordinates of the Cluster to stop it, and our best shot is a monitoring station that lies on the Moon."

Steven glances at them and groans. "And why are you telling me that?"

"You're the one who most explored this world." Andrew answers. "Peridot mentioned that it's possible to have an abandoned gem spaceship on the ancient Gem battlefields."

Steven stares at Andrew in silence. "... And what?"

"And we need someone to make sure Peridot won't escape from us with the transport platforms."

Steven sighs, rubbing his face. "Great. So I'm a glorified babysitter now."

Peridot huffs, crossing her arms. "Excuse me? I am a highly skilled technician! If anything, I should be the one babysitting you primitive organics."

Steven smirks. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't run off, okay? I don't feel like chasing you across the country."

Andrew clears his throat. "We don't have time for jokes. If there's really a ship out there, we need to find it fast." He turns to Peridot. "You're sure about this battlefield?"

Peridot nods. "Yes! Ancient Gem battlefields are littered with discarded equipment. If we're lucky, there might be a fully intact ship just waiting to be reactivated."

Steven stretches his arms. "Alright, let's get this over with." He glances at Peridot. "Hope you're not afraid of a little dirt."

She scoffs. "Tch. Unlike you, I am prepared for any environment."

Soon, Steven, Andrew and Peridot warp to a weird place in Tugunska Sea. The place is a small island with several smaller islands around. There are fifteen small transport platforms around a bigger one.

Steven steps out of the transport platform while Andrew holds his head and stumbles. Steven glances at the Colonel. "Uhm… You okay?"

Andrew nods. "Yeah… Just nausea. I'm not used to this kind of transport. Just… give me a moment."

Steven shrugs. Peridot analyzes the place until she realizes something. "Wait… this is Galaxy Warp!"

Steven stops and glances back at her. "Whut?"

Peridot gasps. "I can't believe you don't know Galaxy Warp. It was the central hub on Earth for interstellar transport through the galaxy to replace the colony ships. These Warp Pads connect to places on Earth while the main Warp Pad connects to Homeworld."

Steven looks at her in silence. "... What's a warp pad?"

Peridot widens her eyes. "Wait, what?! You don't know what is a warp pad?! We just used one to get here!"

"Ohhh, the transport platforms." He chuckles. "I must admit, Warp Pads are a way better name."

Peridot sighs and walks to the central pad, stepping on something. She looks down and sees a green, small, broken orb with a goop leaking from its inside. She widens her eyes and yells. "My Robonoids!"

Steven raises an eyebrow. "Your what-not?"

Peridot crouches, carefully picking up the broken device. The green goop oozes between her fingers as she inspects it. "Robonoids! They're small autonomous repair drones built to fix Gem structures. I've been sending these here to fix the Galaxy Warp, but I think the local fauna have been breaking them." She stands up. "Must have been one of these 'dinosaurs', like that 'The RX' you have here."

Steven crosses his arms. "First, it's T-Rex , not 'The RX.' Second, you're telling me you've been trying to fix this place before we even knew about it? Third… The dinosaurs were extinct like sixty million years ago, your info is outdated."

Peridot huffs, shaking the broken Robonoid. "Well, forgive me for relying on ancient data! But the point remains, something is interfering with my work." She tosses the useless bot aside.

Steven sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, so something's breaking your little fix-it bots. Any ideas what it could be?"

Peridot huffs. "Well, obviously it must be some sort of aggressive wildlife. I doubt a primitive organic like yourself would understand the intricacies of Gem technology, but Robonoids are programmed to repair structures automatically. Something is actively destroying them."

Andrew, having recovered from his nausea, steps forward. "Wildlife or not, we still need to find that ship. Where do we even start?"

Steven thinks for a while. "... Well, actually I remember seeing something like that…" He slowly walks to one of the Warp Pads and gestures to Andrew and Peridot to follow.

Andrew sighs and hops on the Warp Pad with Steven and Peridot.

Soon, they warp to a forest in the middle of somewhere. In front of them, a weird disc-shaped thing wrapped in roots and vines.

Steven chuckles. "There it is. I tried messing with the components, but I never understood the technology inside that stuff."

Andrew widens his eyes at the sight. "I can't believe the flying saucers are real."

Peridot groans. "It's not that 'sauce thing' , it's an Ancient Gem Colony Ship." She pauses and widens her eyes. "Wait, it's an Ancient Colony Ship. If we manage to fix it we might be able to reach the moon with it."

Steven crosses his arms. "So, can you fix it?"

Peridot scoffs. "Of course I can! Unlike you, I actually understand technology." She frowns scanning the ship. "But it's in horrible shape. It'll take time."

Andrew steps closer, inspecting the overgrown hull. "How long?"

She takes a moment to think. "With good resources, maybe a few days will be enough."

Steven stretches and sighs. "Alright, that's good news, I guess. Let's head back for now. No point in standing around in the dark while Peridot geeks out over circuits."

Peridot crosses her arms. "It's called engineering , you clod."

Andrew smirks slightly but keeps his focus on the ship. "We'll send a recovery team in the morning. If it's really fixable, we'll need to set up a temporary base here."

Steven steps onto the Warp Pad, gesturing for the others. "Then let's go before some ancient robot dinosaur jumps out of the bushes and eats us."

Andrew and Peridot follow, and in a flash of light, they reappear at the G.U.N. base.

Peridot stretches her arms. "I will need a secure workspace and materials. I expect nothing less than the highest-quality tools."

Steven rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we'll get you your fancy screwdrivers." He turns to Andrew. "So, we're heading back first thing, right?"

Andrew nods. "Dawn. Get some rest, both of you. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Steven salutes lazily. "Aye aye, boss."

With that, he turns and heads toward the exit.

As soon as he reaches his place, he steps inside quietly, slipping off his boots and jacket before climbing into bed. Fionna stirs slightly, her body instinctively moving closer to his.

"Hey." She mumbles sleepily. "Everything okay?"

Steven kisses her forehead. "Yeah. Just a bunch of nerd talk. We found a ship, gonna check it out tomorrow."

She hums in acknowledgment and buries her face against his chest. "Mmm. 'Kay. Glad you're back."

Steven closes his eyes, letting exhaustion take over. "Me too."

Tomorrow was another mission, another headache. But for now, he had this, warmth, peace, and her.

[TO BE CONTINUED]