Steven summoned a massive shield. Lars jumped behind it and unleashed a roar to launch the shield at the four Alloys. It was enough to knock them to the ground with the sound of crashing metal.
"Back to the ship!" Lars snapped.
Steven took Connie by the hand and the three of them rushed back inside the Sun Incinerator.
"Retreat!" Lars ordered before he was even seated in his chair. The ship buzzed to life and they zoomed out of the atmosphere before the Alloys boarded their own vessel.
"They want to destroy all Gems!" Rhodonite gasped, almost in tears. All four of her arms were wrapped around her torso in a self-soothing hug.
"Is that even possible?" The right Rutile twin asked Steven.
"It can't be…would it be worse than shattering?" her sister wondered.
"Oh no!" Padparadscha gasped. "The Alloys aren't going to listen to Steven!"
"Understatement of the darn century!" Lars huffed.
"We need to send out a warning to all Gem ships," Steven told Lars. "They can't fight, they just need to run. It isn't worth getting captured. We'll only use the Warps to travel. We'll-"
The ship lurched hard with a metal bending boom. "Damage report?" Lars demanded through his teeth.
"We're hit!" the Rutile sisters said together.
"Our shields had no affect!" Rhodonite gasped.
"Hyper jump us out of here!" Lars commanded.
"Hyperjump is down, Captain," Fluorite reported.
"Get it back up!" Lars snapped.
"Get the com back up," Connie said to Lars. "We can still talk."
"You guys have a load of confidence in these metal guys I just can't see," Lars grumbled, but pressed his control panel to open the com channel.
"Titanium!" Steven said through the com. "This isn't the way to get what you want. We can resolve this peacefully, I promise. If I can just talk to Magnetar-"
"There is no use for negotiations," Titanium interrupted over the com channel, "The Alloy race does not negotiate for less then what we are owed."
"How very humble of you," Lars growled.
"White Diamond will not talk to Magnetar if you keep attacking!" Connie shouted.
Titanium responded despite the threat, "Irrelevant. We will find White Diamond regardless."
The ship shuttered with another hit. Alarms wailed, but not as loud as Rhodonite's scream. "That hit was critical!"
"We're losing pressure!" the Right Rutile gasped.
"The thrusters are going to blow!" her sister added.
"If we shut down all functions," Fluorite began, "we can avoid the ship exploding."
"If we stop, they'll capture us!" Rhodonite reminded the group.
Steven looked to Lars. Lar's jaw was locked hard. "Fluorite. Put all reserve energy into the engines for a hyper jump."
"that will make us explode faster!" Rhodonite protested.
"I won't let them get you guys," Lars muttered. His crew watched his face as he glared at Titanium's ship. "We won't let them take us, dead or alive!"
"Not dead," Steven insisted, and he pulled Lars up along with Connie. "Everyone, group up before we hyper jump!"
The crew hesitated, until Lar nodded them over. The ship tilted with another hit, and the engines buzzed with great effort. Fluorite crawled up from the Engine room and surrounded the group in the center of the ship. "Hyper jump in five seconds, and ship's destruction in six…"
Steven took a deep breath and summoned a bubble shield around them just as the stars in the front window blurred in the hyper jump. They sped off from Titanium's ship as they shot off into a random faction of space. Light consumed them.
The bubble muffled the sound of the explosion. Steven held fast onto Connie and the crew around them. After the alarms and blasts of Titanium's ship's lazars, the sudden silence was terrified.
Steven risked a peek and saw the rose-colored tinge of deep space spread out before them.
"We're alive?" Rhodonite whispered in disbelief.
A piece of metal hit the bubble, but it didn't pop. Steven noticed they floated in the rubble of the Sun Incinerator. Lars remained stoic, his eyes trailing after the broken Crystal Core engine that floated away. He closed his eyes and shook his head, but words failed him.
Padparadscha floated over from her place on Fluorite's back and placed a small pinkish purple hand on Lar's shoulder. "Captain Lars, I am so sorry, but I foresee the Sun Incinerator will be destroyed."
"Lars," Steven muttered, he felt Connie squeeze his hand, and it gave him the strength to continue. "I'm sorry."
"I told you they didn't want to talk," Lars said coldly.
Padparadscha was the first to smile, "Oh Captain Lars, you are the greatest Captain!"
"How ya figure?" Lars whispered as the pieces of his ship continue to orbit their bubble.
"I foresee a first in this Alloy vs. Gem war! Your quick thinking is going to save your entire crew even though the ship is going to explode! Not one of us will be captured by the Alloys!"
Lars cracked a smile. He glanced up at Padparadscha, and then the rest of the Gems with a stray tear he blinked away. "That's way more important than a ship."
"We'll head back to Earth and regroup," Steven promised.
Lars looked at him sideways. "How do you plan on doing that?" He held up his arms in the small space they floated in.
"I managed to send out an SOS to nearby Gem vessels before we hyper jumped," the Rutile twins said together.
"But we aren't in Gem space," Lars pointed out. "Everyone in communication range would have fled from the Alloy attack."
The Rutile twins gave each other a worried glance, which the crew mirrored. No one had a solution.
Lars heaved a sigh. "Ok Steven, take everyone through me and Lion's portal back to Earth. Scoop me back up when everyone is safe."
"Out of the question, Captain," Fluorite stated sternly.
"We're in this together. It's either all of us or none of us," the Rutiles said with a shared smile.
Lars threw his head back and groaned with growing irritation. "Guys, this isn't the time to be sentimental. We're not stuck on a planet where we can hide or steal a new ship. We are smooshed together in a bubble that is floating through uncharted space. How much air will we even have in a few hours?" he asked Steven.
Steven hesitated to answer. "Um, probably not much. But Lars…"
"Someone may have heard the SOS," Connie offered.
Lars dismissed the claim, "No Gem in their right mind is going to be out here, let alone be so close to the Alloy fleet. Not unless they already knew we were out here."
The group remained stoic, ideas failing them.
Then a blinding light flashed in front of them. It was a ship, which snatched their bubble in a tractor beam.
"Oh good! Someone heard the SOS!" Padparadscha said with a clap of her hands.
Lars snatched his ray gun from his belt, "Whoever it is can't be with the Gems. We didn't pick up any nearby Gem signals before we hyper jumped."
"So, it's Alloys?" Rhodonite panicked and tried to swim to the other side of the bubble to put a small bit of distance between her and the new ship.
Steven squinted into the blinding light to decipher who the ship belonged to. He couldn't tell, and they were pulled aboard into a dark cargo bay.
"Everyone through the portal, quick!" Lars pleaded. His crew linked their multicolored arms around him to prevent this. "Guys! Not the time to be heroic!"
"We'll fight together," Connie said and drew her sword from it's scabbard.
Steven stood in front of them all to reinforce the shield. He threw an apologetic smile over his shoulder at Lars. "I'm responsible for your ship's destruction, I won't leave you by yourself either."
The lights in the cargo bay they had been drug into came on overhead. When Steven's eyes adjusted, he saw the walls were a crystal green. The cargo that surrounded them were Destabilizers and other Gem tech. In fact, the ship was armed to the teeth with Gem weapons. Indeed, it seemed they had been picked up by Gems, but Steven couldn't think which ship would be outfitted with such lethal tech after the dismantling of the Diamond Authority.
"What I would have given to drag you lot onto my ship before the Alloy's showed their ugly metal faces in Gem territory. Just my luck I guess."
High heeled boots stomped up to the bubble, and the Gem responsible for their rescue glared at Lars with one eye. The other eye socket contained her polished green gem.
"Emerald?" Lars gasped.
The once celebrated Homeworld Gem turned outcast crossed her arms and sneered down at the group at her feet. She found Steven among them, and after a moment of shocked hesitation she gave him a diamond salute. "Pink Diamond! I am glad to know you are well. I would have rescued you sooner if I knew you were onboard my commandeered vessel."
Steven let the bubble drop, "Steven will work fine. Thank you Emerald. You, haven't been seen on Homeworld in a while."
Emerald laughed with a hand over her mouth, "Of course, Steven Diamond! I wouldn't be caught shattered on that deserter world, not until you and the other Diamonds drop the act and call your true followers back to wipe up the filth left behind."
"It's just Steven, and um…what?" Steven asked.
Emerald gave him a knowing smile and what he thought was a one-eyed wink, "Oh, Just Steven my Diamond! I mean this whole test you and the other Diamonds came up with. Pretending the Diamond Authority is no more so you can see who is truly loyal. I am happy to report, I am among those who have never doubted you! But, the genius behind this plan has now been interrupted by those rust buckets that call themselves Alloys. They have spread across our conquered colonies like an organic virus and I won't stand for it!"
"So, you were fighting the good fight against the Alloys and just so happened to pick up our SOS?" Lars asked, unconvinced.
Emerald's glare found Lars once more. "Not quite. I always am a step behind you, off color filth. I have spent almost all of my time during the beginning of Aera Three trying to get back MY ship."
"Yet you saved us, even though you didn't know Steven was with us. I thought you hated us?" Lars pointed out.
Emerald snorted. "Make no mistake, I do hate you. But, I am loyal to the Diamond Authority, and these Alloys threatened the Gem matriarchy, tried to shatter Just Steven Diamond just now, and now they just blew up my favorite ship. I currently hate the Alloys more then I hate you. You should consider yourselves lucky because it is the only reason you are still alive!" She spun back around to Steven and gave him another obedient grin. "So, Pink Steven, what are your orders?"
"Please, Emerald. There is no Pink. Just me, Steven." Steven sighed.
Padparadscha, who only came up to Emerald's shin, had wondered from their group and gasped up at Emerald, startling the larger Gem. "Captain Lars! You won't believe who is going to save us. It's Emerald! She's going to help us against the Alloys!" she latched onto the larger Gem's leg and gave her a well-meaning hug. Emerald shuttered away from the embrace and pushed the smaller Gem back towards the others with her shoe.
Steven looked out a window of the Cargo hold, his thoughts returning to Titanium. The Alloy would still be looking for them. "We need to get to a Gem controlled world and use a Warp Pad to return to Earth. The Alloys can track your ship's Crystal Core Engines, so the faster we do this the better."
Emerald saluted him again, getting a direct order from a Diamond seeming to rekindle the life in her after a decade. "At once, my Pink Just Me Steven!"