IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTES: Here is an update for this story that I recently picked back up after like, five years. After this chapter, where we get to see the epic fight between the Alloy fleet and the rebel Gems still loyal to the Diamonds, which took place right after Steven and the gang manage to save White Diamond from Magnetar's clutches and then escape back to Earth. I've decided to update, heavily edit, and repost all the chapters leading up to this moment. Mostly because the old style of writing makes me cringe with my whole-body heart and soul, but also because I have punched up the plot points of this story and given it a far more cohesive flow, and what I intend to write no longer fits with the clunky old chapters. Things that characters will talk about will make little to no sense once I have added new themes, trust me, it all needs to change. Here's hoping it will be a change for the better! So please bear with me a little while longer while I "quickly" revise the story so I can finish it with the level of attention it deserves! Thanks again for all your support and love!
Through the view screen, Jasper watched the energy trail of Steven and the other Diamond's ship vanish in a hyper jump. She grinned as she set her sights to the mass of reflective ships before them. It was about time they had some action. Peace time had lasted way too long.
"Now just a reminder to every one of you lower Gems!" came the obnoxious screeching of the Emerald General through the collective Comm system. "This battle is for MY redeemed glory! None of you will get in my way!"
"Your redemption isn't the only one that matters here!" Shouted another Gem. Jasper glanced at the new screen that popped up. A very disheveled Holly Blue Agate appeared glaring through her own screen. "This will prove to the Diamonds that I am still a force worthy of respect!" she spun around to address the group of snickering Quartz soldiers behind her, "And it will HOPEFULLY remind those in lower standing to regain some respect!"
"If we are done acting like a group of smudged rocks," The posh voice of an Aquamarine huffed next, "I suggest we focus on the task at hand, which is-"
The little blue Gem was shoved to the side by a glaring Ruby guard, "Enough talk! Which button is the fire every laser at once button!?"
"I out rank all of you!" Emerald shouted, her voice almost cracking, "This day will go down in infamy as the day General Emerald of the 700th fleet-"
Jasper shut off her comm. She smiled in the silence that followed. Her grin soon turned into a sneer aimed at the incoming metal ships. "Just you and me. Now come to mama."
She gunned the thrusters. The first ship in her sights was the closest, only twenty seconds to impact unless she changed course. She was usually undefeated when it came to the game of chicken, but the ship she was coming down on was made of tougher stuff, so she knew better. It unleashed a barrage of cannon fire, and she evaded. Her ship, (she stole it from some Zircon shmuck on Earth) took two hits in less than vital places and she turned hard, scraping the edge of the enemy ship. She swung around, firing lasers of her own into the engines of her target. It didn't do much, and she had to evade in lieu of continued laser fire if she didn't want to be blown up. These things were fast… She wasn't used to ship dog fights. Hand to hand combat was always more her style.
She flipped through her borrowed ship's options, some weapons were stronger than others but would eat into the engine's core power… Eh, whatever. She locked onto her same target and punched it again, getting close enough it wouldn't be able to evade when she fired. The bones of the ship around her groaned in protest as she was hit three more times. Alarms blared and red flashed in her face. She didn't flinch, glaring at the screen as the image of that dull metal ship grew closer. She fired, the ship's lights momentarily shutting off, plunging her into darkness. Her engine's stalled, drives working overtime to recover the lost power. She leaned in, excited for the impact even as two more blasts shook her.
It hit, and the enemy ship was less then impacted.
She slammed her fist into the consol, which only made it complain more. That was this puny ship's strongest attack? Disappointing. Once the controls were back, she pushed the now limping ship forward. She left her original enemy to nip at her back, because she had a new target in mind…
Jasper grinned, looking beyond the sea of smaller ships until her focus landed on the BIG one. The size of a puny planetoid and heavily fortified to boot. The so called 'fathership' was busying itself with spitting out its tiny minions to do its bidding.
If her blasters were no good, then she would hit it with something bigger. With what processing power the computer had left, she had it scan for potential weak spots on the main enemy ship's hull. It took too long, more blasts hitting into her. Sparks and crystalline material flew all around her. The emergency lights came on and remained on. The view screen's focus landed on a portion of the massive ship. Not a weak point, but it was a large cannon that appeared to be charging a devastating blast. "Good enough," Jasper said to herself with a shrug, then she put all engine power into a forward charge.
Unbuckling from her chair she stood, stretched her neck back and forth, then cracked her knuckles. The 'impact imminent' warning flashed at her. She overrode the ship's command that would adjust course to keep the crash from happening. She squatted down and summoned her helmet to ingulf her head. Hand to hand combat, just as she liked it!
She dove into a spin, her body ripping through the hull of her own ship until she was out. Crystal panels and blaring alarms all ringing in circles in a symphony of chaos as she tore her way to freedom and into a peacefully silent space. Her momentum paired with the now escaping gasses of her dying vessel threw her upward through the once undisturbed vacuum of the void, giving her a bird's eye view of her ship as it smashed into an explosive mass against the enemy canon. An impressive explosion thanks to the air inside, but those flames spun into nothing within seconds, the wreckage careening off into the unknown with no force to stop it.
As the particles cleared, she saw the charge of the canon had stopped, the metal bent down. The sacrifice of her stolen ship had done some good. One down… She scanned the ship as she flew along its hull, similarly unstoppable from her original propulsion. From this vantage point, she saw about three hundred more to go. Meh, she had seen worse odds.
A piece of her own broken ship flying alongside her provided the perfect spring off point. She shoved herself at the massive ship, curling back into a whirling attack aimed for the next closest canon. She felt the ship's gravitational pull and she didn't fight it. That pull only amplified her momentum. She crashed into the next canon, and this time didn't have as much luck. It dented, but didn't cease firing at the fast-dwindling Gem fleet.
She snatched onto a jutting piece of metal and took a moment to observe her team. Emerald was holding her own it would seem, and that massive eye sore of a human Zoo was doing zigzags on the outskirts of the battlefield, confusing the smaller Alloy ships trying to follow the Diamond's ship. Looked like the ship that belonged to that annoying Ruby and Aquamarine was blown apart. Too bad they hadn't used it as a weapon like Jasper did before they got themselves blown up. What a waste.
She snapped her head back around when she caught movement in the corner of her eye. The closest canon was aimed dead center at her and was moments from firing. She grinned. About time they noticed her. She spun fast, connecting to the hull and screaming towards the charging canon. She made sure to hit it dead center, helmet first.
She felt the impact in her core, and the rendering of metal was satisfying, even if she couldn't hear it in the dead of space.
The light of the canon ingulfed her. It hadn't broken yet, and she was right in the line of fire. No where to bounce off from.
A blur snatched her out of the way. From her perspective, all she saw was the beam of destructive power blast from the canon, carry on under her feet, and smash through the buzzing ships surrounding it. Jasper rose a brow and glanced up. She was in the clutches of a mismatch Gem made of red and blue, flapping them through the debris field on watery wings.
"And you are?" Jasper snapped; her voice heard despite the vacuum surrounding them. Gems could communicate in space; it just didn't travel very far.
The short flying creature gave a gap toothed grinned, "Bluebird Azurite, at your service! You looked quite helpless from our perspective. Thought we'd take a break from singlehandedly winning this fight and lend a hand."
Jasper swatted up at her, "I didn't ask for the assist! And-" she paused as she noted the two Gems on the flying form's face. One in place of her left eye, and the other as a tear just under it. This was the Aquamarine and the Ruby, fused. They hadn't blown up after all. "Interesting combo," she commented with a snort. "How did you both stumble into this abomination you're wearing?"
The fusion's ugly grin turned into a glare, "Our mutual hatred of Steven Universe!"
Jasper bellowed a laugh, "Steven is technically my Diamond. You'll just have to bottle that hatred up while I'm around! But you do know we're fighting to help him, right? Or did you miss that part of the meeting between outcaste losers?"
Bluebird Azurite scoffed, turning hard to evade another blast from the ship's lasers. "Sometimes, the unthinkable must be done in the name of the greater good! We are helping the Diamonds, and if that happens to help Steven, then I suppose we'll just have to cry about it later!"
"Heads up!" Jasper swung around, flinging the fusion and herself out of the way of an incoming Alloy ship. It must have taken a lesson from Jasper, because it had attempted to smash into them with its own hull, even if it would crash into the larger vessel…
Jasper and Bluebird paused as the ship impacted, but didn't explode. It just sort of, melted into the hull of the larger ship. Once consumed, the larger ship shuttered, clicks and metal panels flipping into place until what was once the kamikaze ship's lasers appeared on the surface to continue shooting at the two.
Bluebird flew up, dragging Jasper along for the ride, "Well, you don't see that every day!"
Jasper scanned the surface of the father ship, then outward onto the battlefield. "Feel like being useful? I have an idea. Throw me down towards the closest canon, then you go encourage another ship to come slamming down. They say fusions are near invisible to these things. We're going to test just how invisible, so make sure to make yourself extra annoying to really draw their fire."
"Didn't you see what it did?" Bluebird huffed indignantly. "They just fused! No damage whatsoever! It doesn't matter how invisible I am! That still won't put a dent in 'em! Jaspers really are as stupid as they look…"
Unconcerned with the insult, Jasper smirked, "What I have in mind, we'll do some damage. Now go!" She yanked herself free, spinning herself back down onto the surface of the ship and just managing to hear "So rude!" from the fusion before she was in silence once more.
She landed, feet sticking as they did to whatever the largest gravitational force was. She scouted out the nearest canon, picking it out as it had already spotted her, and was charging. She spun out of the way of the blast. Whirling in mad circles to taunt whoever was operating this canon. She looked outward once more, spotting the red and blue blip.
Azurite was buzzing around the nearest small alloy ship, its sights locked onto a Gem ship in clear distress. She was totally ignored. What she heard about fusions being hard to see was either true, or Azurite was just failing to get the ship's attention. The little combo Gem finally slammed her body into the side of it, smacked it, then even waved tauntingly in the sight of the charging cannon. That last trick did it. It was having a hard time locking onto its original target with Azurite in the way. With a cheeky grin, the fusion flew back towards Jasper, an Alloy ship hot on her tail.
She grinned, then launched off the ship, aiming at Bluebird. The fusion's face reflected understanding, and she mirrored the smile before she snatched Jasper again and curved upward just as the canon fired, slamming right into the alloy ship once chasing her.
They both looked down, and the smaller alloy ship exploded into silver metal fragments.
"Then it can hurt itself after all!" Bluebird tittered in a victorious kind of way. "I suppose you're not totally worthless, for a Quartz soldier that is."
The emergency flashing lights came from the Human Zoo, and they both reoriented towards it. A cluster of Alloy ships managed to make it past the massive Zoo, trying to catch the last wisps of the Diamond ship's energy trail. "Speaking of worthless Quartz soldiers…" Bluebird grumbled.
"We need to disorient them so they can't track the Diamonds," Jasper said.
Bluebird flapped hard, dragging her along towards the Zoo. "Say no more! Just do try not to get blown up. So far, you and I are the most worthwhile things the Alloys have to shoot at. Hate to lose that edge."
They blasted through the sparking debris field and were soon upon the Human Zoo. There on the upper hull, cracking her whip outward and shouting at her Quartz soldiers as they zipped around was Holly Blue Agate.
"Keep formation! No, not that move, use the other- Carnelian! Get your red butt back here and stay in line!"
"Still not in the mood to listen, are they?" Bluebird snickered as they blew by her.
Holly Blue stomped her foot, "Just distract those brutes until the Diamond's ship is far enough away!" she screeched.
"So, what did you have in mind for this lot?" Bluebird asked as they approached the cluster of Alloy ships. "Not like we have the big ship's canons to use against them now."
Jasper scanned the battlefield. Their enemies were ignoring the Zoo in favor of whatever they were using to pick out the Diamond's ship from the other engine trails. They didn't know much about this group of metal headed freaks. Only what they managed to glean from the occasional reports sent out on the open Gem frequency. And now they knew the rumor regarding Fusion invisibility was true. It was why their ships were having a hard time tracking Bluebird, until they were right on top of her that is. "Hm…" Jasper spotted a piece of Emerald's ship engine, still flickering. That meant it still had an energy signature.
"I'll distract the alloy ships, you two get that engine piece and bring it back. We'll use it to muddy the trail even more!" Before Bluebird could relay a protest, Jasper launched away. She landed hard on an Alloy ship. She didn't leave a dent, but that didn't stop her from wailing her fists into it. "How about you come out and fight! I'll melt you metal freaks down into scrap!"
She tried finding a portion of the ship she could smash her way into. A port hole, anything. It was a seamless pod, probably didn't even have any of the Alloys in it. She headbutted the haul and did manage to make a small dent. "Now we're getting somewhere… Where the heck are you, Azulite?!" she looked up, and saw the still minuscule Gem fusion struggling to drag the engine over. Her little wings were able to propel herself through space, but apparently didn't have enough power to move much else fast enough to make decent progress. Because of this, it was taking forever. Jasper noticed the Alloy's tracking team started moving, maybe having locked onto a trail.
"Gah!" she growled before kicking off from the ship's hull and aiming at the fusion once more. "What's taking so long?!"
Bluebird glared at her as she landed on the engine. "You try shoving this big ol' thing where it needs to go with almost no propeller! Last I checked, the laws of physic still apply these days!"
Jasper rolled her eyes, again catching the Alloy ships starting to move. She glared back at Bluebird. Desperate times indeed. "Room for one more in there?" she asked, offering a handout.
The smaller Gem rose a questioning brow. "Didn't take you for the fusion type." She admitted.
Jasper smirked. "Yeah, I'm full of surprises. Though I doubt you and me will make the best fusion I ever managed." She said wistfully. But she put the distant thought aside as Bluebird took her hand. Her Gem glowed and the light ingulfed her sight and her mind. "It has been a long time," was Jasper's last thought.
A clashing agenda of Steven hatred and admiration with unorganized bitterness holding it all together. That didn't really matter. Chalcedony burst out of the light, bulky form snatching the engine under her six muscled legs.
So, this is what it's like to be a brute? Not exactly what I would consider classy.
I was always a brute!
You were a Ruby, hardly what I would call unique.
Would you both shut up! We have an army to crush!
"You three are a riot," Chalcedony snickered darkly, "Course I can't complain! I'm just along for the ride! And what a time to be born! Steven, you awesome jerk, this one's for you!"
She had two bulging arms, and on either side of her 'main' hands were two smaller ones, making up thirty fingers all together. And all thirty of the multicolored digits dug into the engine, assuring she had a solid grip on it. Watery wings tinted like clay murky water thrust her forward. Unlike Bluebird, Chalcedony had enough power to propel herself and the engine right into the fray of tracking alloy ships.
"Aquamarine! We could use your knowhow!" Chalcedony shouted at herself.
Somewhere inside, Chalcedony felt a shift. Ship knowledge she didn't know she knew until it was right there in the forefront of her mind.
Top control panel. Cross the yellow wire with the red. You're welcome, everyone.
Chalcedony slammed three fists into the engine and the panel bent then came off. There were the wires, and she ripped at them until she unearthed the two she was looking for. Yellow and red crossed, and the whole engine under her burst to life. She jumped off just as it spun out, crystalline energy blasting in all directions and weaving into the tracking alloy fleet. Their movement's stopped; it had been enough to muddy the trail!
"Maybe one more trick for good measure!" Chalcedony flapped her muddy wings, throwing herself forward into a spin. Jasper's helmet melted into Ruby's knife, making them a spinning blade of death that slashed through the Crystalline engine. She enveloped herself in her muddy wings as it exploded. Bits of Gem engine and all its trail hiding goodness spread in all directions.
She threw up all her hands in victory, "This is great! Really, Jasper, why didn't you want to ever fuse with smaller Gems? Look how awesome I am!"
To much weakness to put up with.
Chalcedony blew that off. "Excuses… But now, I think we may need to take this to go."
The Alloy ships, now having lost the Diamond's trail, were turning their focus onto her. Or at least they were trying to. "Let's see how invisible we really are," she snickered darkly. From Aquamarine's Gem, she pulled out the ribbon that would usually turn into her tractor beam wand. Instead, Ruby's knife came to attach to the end, and she lassoed it far until it cut into the Zoo's hull. She retracted it in a flash, yanking her out of the Alloy's reach until she crashed into the big pink surface, right next to a now very startled Holly Blue.
The Amethysts all cooed and pointed, stopping their fight to admire her. Chalcedony flexed, looming over them and beaming her most winning smile. "Can't blame you for looking! Strive for this kind of perfection, little Gems, and I can't imagine this fight taking much longer."
Holly's whip cracked, snatching their collective focus. "Enough of all this dawdling! Such lolly gagging and other rubbish is not becoming of my leadership!"
Chalcedony snorted a monstrous laugh, "Someone is struggling with small Gem syndrome still."
The Amethysts all laughed, and Chalcedony thought Holly Blue was about to explode. "I am your superior, the only one you all should be looking at and listening too! Now make yourselves useful and keep fighting!"
"So, can you still hear the three in you?" Carnelian asked, looking back up at Chalcedony.
"Only because they like to bicker," Chalcedony snickered, "I think I have almost come undone like, three times. But it's good for all three of them. Aquamarine and Ruby could use more time together so they aren't always fighting. And I think Jasper just wants to be a fusion again…"
Chalcedony almost didn't hear Holly Blue's frustrated scream over the internal shouting in her own body. Light flickered as she forced herself to remain together. "I'm not saying anything that isn't true, guys!" she grumbled at the Gems that made her up. "Ok little Gems, focus up! The Alloy's are weak to their own attacks! We need to draw their fire at their allies. They can't see past me easily, so I suggest fusion so you can use your own bodies to hide which ships you're trailing!"
Before any Gem could start pairing up to fuse, Holly Blue slammed her hands into Chalcedony, unwittingly pushing herself backwards when faced with the massive Gem. It made the surrounding soldiers laugh again. Holly blushed with a hilarious mix of embarrassment and rage. "These are MY soldiers! They will obey only MY commands! And another thing-"
Chalcedony didn't get to hear what the other thing was, because a blast from the void slammed into their team huddle. She managed to brace against the impact, the Amethysts scattering. But when the mess of haul and broken Gem tech cleared, Holly Blue Agate was gone.
Her Whip crackled before disappearing into shimmering particles. Chalcedony looked around, spotting the Alloy ship that had been the culprit. It was coming in fast, ready to unleash another devastating blast. Floating away and into the path of that attacking ship was Holly Blue. She was limp, and not poofed yet despite the crack Chalcedony could see in her Gem. She could probably get her, but that would leave them open to another attack. Well darn. If only Holly Blue had been more likeable, maybe she would have felt bad about rushing right by her to attack the alloy ship instead. She couldn't dent it, but she could move it!
Multiple hands gripped the ship by the front as its canons charged, and she threw herself and the ship into a spin. It's resulting laser sliced through one of its alloy allies, and Chalcedony hooted in victory as she road the spinning vessel. "Brave, strong and smart! I'm a keeper if I've ever known one!"
She caught the spinning of an Amethyst somewhere nearby. She paused to watch a group of the purple Gems propel into space. They weren't aiming for an Alloy ship. They were headed for… Holly? One Amethyst grabbed the finally silenced bossy Gem and used her spinning to propel them back towards the Zoo. "Hu," Chalcedony hummed. "Why save her? She's annoying."
A lingering loyalty to the Gem hierarchy I would assume.
Nah, probably going to use her for a body shield.
"I don't think either of those are it," she huffed. The silence from the third corner of her mind was interesting, and she focused on it. "What do you think it is, Jasper?"
More silence. But there was a strange feeling in her gut. Something akin to nostalgia, and maybe a little annoyance.
Steven would say, it's kindness.
EW.
GROOOOOSS!
Chalcedony grinned, slamming her collection of feet down into the ship to shove it away and thrust herself back towards the Zoo. "I have never wanted to both meet and punch someone in the face as much as this Steven guy! Aquamarine and Ruby, you sure you aren't just using him as an excuse to be mad and stay together?"
She didn't get an answer this time. She took THAT as a sign she was right! She landed next to the group of Amethyst as they huddled around Holly Blue.
The Agate was in shock, her light form struggling to hold itself together. But she was still somewhat coherent as she realized she was no longer floating away into the void of space. "W-why did you save me? This was your chance, to finally be done with me. Go off and be the traitors you always wanted to be…"
The Carnelian patted Holly's shoulder. "You're bossy and loud, but you're still family, Holly. We just wish you would see that. We're worth more than you think we are. And you're worth more then what you were made for too."
Holly's mouth hung open, much like her unblinking eyes. "But I don't… I don't understand…" she couldn't find any other words but those, and the Amethyst who held her stood, taking her back inside and away from the danger.
Chalcedony turned back out. Sure, there had been a few victories here and there, but the number of Gem ships had dwindled, and the Alloy fleet was still huge. "It may be time to wrap this up. You guys should skedaddle out of here. If I have learned anything," she grinned as her helmet returned, "I am a GREAT distraction!" she launched off, her sights set once again for the main ship at the metal fleet's center.
She glanced back, seeing the Zoo turning away, ready to flee. A few other ships were doing the same. Emerald was still gunning for targets. Interestingly, Emerald was utilizing a similar tactic as Chalcedony had been, using the Alloy ships against each other at least whenever they could.
"See guys? We're an inspiration for everyone!" she cheered, rolling faster at her target.
Something was different.
She felt… What was this feeling? Gravity. That didn't make sense, considering they were flying around space. And Chalcedony hadn't existed for very long, but she did know the weight of something downright diabolical when it lingered on her. She squinted at the Fathership, scanning for anything that would explain this unsettling chill that was somehow colder than the surrounding space.
A form stood on the top of the main ship. As she got closer, she saw it was an Alloy. The biggest one yet! She bet that was the boss and boy did he look MAD. He must have come out because their scanners couldn't lock onto her. So, he was here to lock his actual eyes on her personally. His mistake!
This is our chance to take him down!
Victory for Gem kind!
We'll rub it in Steven's face!
Chalcedony pulled out every weapon she had, her blade now spinning on a whip of blue ribbon. She dove back into her spin, red blade once again whirling in an impressive death spiral. "Nice to BEAT ya Magnetar! Should have never tried taking us on at once!"
It was hard to see when spinning, but Jasper had a knack for it. That allowed Chalcedony to make out the big metal guy raise a single scaled hand her way.
The blast was instant and all consuming, no time to even think of bouncing out of the way. Chalcedony turned her head, wings and arms and everything coming to protect herself. Everything in the way of the blast shattered in a flash of hot light. She heard the suddenly small, terrified voices within, blue and red hands gripping onto each other.
I don't want to shatter...
Get behind me, Aqua-
Chalcedony vanished from existence when the Ruby and Aquamarine that comprised seventy percent of herself smashed into powder.
By some strike of dumb luck, Jasper realized Chalcedony turning her head away had exposed the two smaller Gems and somewhat spared hers. Somewhat. She felt the web of cracking across the whole face of her Gem as she tumbled out of the fusion. She gasped on nothingness in the vacuum, her whole form numb. Star dust floated about her… Blue and red star dust. What was left of the two smaller Gems.
She blinked as it floated in a small spiral, orbiting each other like they were still trying to hold onto each other's hands.
Chalcedony had been right. It had been nice, being fused again. What an odd thing for her mind to wander too… The ocean waves and crushing darkness. The resolve on the Lapis Lazuli's face. Jasper hadn't given that any thought in years. But now she wondered, if she could have done it differently.
She was on auto pilot, like how she flew her stolen ship that no longer existed. She reached out and scooped up the dust into her fist. A few particles drifted away. She couldn't get them all, but it felt important to get most of it, at least. She didn't know why.
Light was coming again… She looked towards the Alloy ship. There he was. The metal idiot responsible for all this nonsense. Magnetar was poised for another attack aimed at her dead center, his glare promising death. No strength left to get out of the way this time. She exhaled, gripping the dust tighter. "Good luck with this fight, Steven." Then she reserved herself to fix Magnetar with a piercing glare of her own. For as long as she existed, he would know her hatred for him.
Something hit her hard, but it wasn't the shattering blast.
Her light form kept glitching, she couldn't really focus on what had her… She was sprawled out across the glass of a deep green ship. It had smashed into Jasper solely for the purpose of getting her out of Magnetar's blast. They had managed to avoid it by a hair. Through the haze of the view finder and her own glitching form, she made out the Emerald General's snarling face. "Are all you Quartz soldiers totally daft?! You saw that same blast rip through our fleet time and time again, and you take it head on!"
The fist not clutching the Ruby and Aquamarine's dust slammed into the ship's haul, "I was already one foot in the ground! Why didn't you attack the metal freaks while they were distracted?!"
Emerald scoffed at her, as if she had never heard something so stupid, "We never had any chance of 'winning' foolish Jasper brute. Unlike you lower foot soldiers, I know what a strategic retreat looks like, and we are currently executing one! We succeeded in our mission to buy the Diamond's time to escape. Now, we shall regroup and come back stronger!"
Jasper growled, turning to the best of her abilities to see the Alloy fleet, now reorganizing to give chase. "If I could just get the big guy down…"
Now Emerald was the one to slam a hand down on her own ship's console. "Didn't your Diamond not give you clear orders to come back ALIVE? Are Quartz soldiers just incapable of following the chain of command?"
Jasper bristled, but this time didn't have a comeback. Steven had told her exactly that. 'Just, don't get killed.' That was an order. Emerald made it so she was in a position where she could follow it, even at the expense of her own ego.
"What is the next step in this 'strategic' retreat, then?" Jasper grumbled. Her bitter attitude was momentarily forgotten when the ship stopped dead, causing her to be flung from the front of the vessel like a bug on one of those human car contraptions.
"We hyper jump out of the Alloy fleet's reach, of course! And I am unable to do that with riffraff smeared on my ship's bow! You're someone else's problem for the ride home!" Emerald said just before she was no longer legible. Jasper didn't tumble for long. The familiar buzzing zoom of a rolling Amethyst came up to catch her. The Zoo ship. It hadn't fled yet. One of the Amethyst's with a rope tide to her waist grabbed Jasper with a victorious "gotcha!" before they were reeled back in.
The once peaceful silence of space was replaced with the buzz of a busy ship's hectic insides. Quartz of all kinds were rushing around, alarms were going off, there were the domesticated humans too. She ended up leaned against a wall. More humans shuffled around her. One of them placed a blanket around her shoulders for some reason. One human was seated by her side, poking at her Gem and wincing. It probably looked as bad as it felt when it broke. But then that same human offered her an assuring smile before promising, "Do not worry big Jasper. Stee-van will fix it!"
Jasper closed her eyes and intended to tune out the noise for the rest of the flight. She clenched her fist around the dust. It was still airtight, so she was confident she hadn't lost any of it. Her own Gem was one thing, but she wondered if Steven could fix what was left of the two obnoxious Gems in her hand? Tiny and annoying as they were, the three of them hadn't made a bad team…
Now why the heck was she thinking of that little off color Amethyst back on Earth? First Lapis and now the runt? Apparently, when she was on deaths door, she got nostalgic. How annoying.