Chapter 1
Sol Arrival
On Earth, it had been mere moments after the transmission went through and Rose Quartz called for aid. Pearl had been watching for anyone wondering in on her little call to aid yet did not heard who she had called. When Rose was done she told Pearl to come with her to the location of their aid's arrival. On the journey to the destination Pearl noticed how it was far away from both sides main bases. It was odd but she figured Rose new what she was doing, however when Pearl looked at Rose's face she saw a tinge of doubt in her eyes.
"Rose, what's wrong? Did whoever you call not make it certain they'd arrive?" Pearl asked snapping Rose out of her trance.
"Oh nothing like that, I just fear how the others would react to them. Both our species have a colorful history." Rose remarked with Pearl giving a look.
"What type of history, who did you call exactly?" Pearl asked again.
"They um… The Enderians." Rose answered leaving Pearl stunned.
"The End… ROSE!? Why would you call to such beasts?! They are warmongers and tyrants!" Pearl exclaimed with venom in her words.
"They are survivors and defenders. They may have gem shards on their hands but we have plenty of their blood on ours, besides these guys aren't entirely with their empire." Rose defended with a stern look in her eyes.
"Well, that may be the case but, the Enderians shouldn't be trusted, I've heard how they treat gems, it would make the Diamonds wince." Pearl said looking to the sky.
"Not entirely, that is only select cases, besides they already agreed to help us, it would be silly to just turn them back now." Rose said.
"So is this why we are away from the base?" Pearl asked looking out to the field they arrived to.
"Yes, judging by your reaction, I fear the others will be just as hostile to this." Rose answered looking to the sky.
"When will they arrive?" Pearl asked.
"Not sure, but we should stay here and hope the come soon." Rose said walking to a rock nearby and sitting on it.
Pearl would stand watch looking to the sky again wondering many things. Mainly why the Enderians specifically? Meanwhile the fleet of Kala-Illiras had finished repairs refueling and left for the Sol System now, they had arrived very soon. Once exiting warp space the fleet had made it to the outer reaches of the solar system, hovering around the planet of Saturn. Meligal and the rest of the fleet was now antsy, as they were rearing for a fight when they entered the system. Yet, mercifully they remained unnoticed and went flying towards the asteroid belt. Meligal was wanting a fight, yet also wanted to avoid an early detection from the gems so came up with a plan.
"Keep our ships in the Asteroid field, we'll not be detected in their." Meligal ordered with all the ships following command. Once in the asteroid field Meligal got onto the comms of the ship and began to speak directly to the hangar.
"Endasen are our troops prepared?" Meligal asked.
In the hangar troops were marching in formation, many maintaining their weapons and armor, others getting their gear ready. In the main docks the transport ships were being fueled and filled with cargo, everything needed to build up a base. Endasen himself was ordering troops around and getting his higher ranked officers and soldiers prepared in their divisions. Endasen had already been ready for the war, dawning his armor his helmet being held to his hip as his cloak draped behind him. Endasen had heard Meligal's question and got to the device to call the bridge.
"Our ships are nearly ready and our troops waiting sir, we'll be planet fall within the hour." Endasen responded through the device.
"Good, I want you and a small platoon of troops to be first to land planet side. We will send an escort to keep you safe." Meligal commanded.
"Of course sir, gotta make sure our new allies are accepting of us." Endasen said.
"Yes and a few other reasons, look just pick a ship and prepare to go down. If you said most are ready, pick one that is prepared to go and go." Meligal retorted.
"Aye aye Captain." Endasen said with a mock salute before hanging up and turning to two commanders, both Sargent's and smiled. "Well you heard him, prepare your men and follow me, we meet with the leaders of this Rebellion." Endasen ordered with both Sargent's saluting and running off.
Endasen then looked to his helmet, an ornate helmet with a furrowed and angry expression on it. It's trims of bright yellow, and eyes shined valiant purple, he turned it around and put it on before heading to a drop ship. Back on Earth Rose was picking at flowers while Pearl was tapping her foot on the ground, amazed at how long it was taking these Enderians to arrive planet side. Pearl took in a deep breath before finally letting out her frustration.
"Oh face it Rose, your friends aren't coming! They lied to you and now we've got no help coming. This was a waste of time!" Pearl yelled with Rose looking up with a smile.
"Well, if you believe that maybe tell them off yourself." Rose said pointing up.
Pearl turned to where she was pointing and saw a dropship making land fall. It wasn't a Gem designed one either, it was Enderian, bulky and industrious at the same time. The pilots were in the front while the troops would stay in the back, yet could intermingle if need be. This one had a peculiar design on it, a decal of gems rising from flames around the cockpit. When the ship finally landed Rose, rose to her feet and began walking forward. The dropships cargo doors began to open, air hissing as it did so. What was inside stunned Pearl a little, Enderians, and a lot of them. Many of them had their helmets on keeping their facial expressions hidden behind angry furrowed brows. She knew who was arriving, yet was still taken aback by their presence.
The first to step out of the dropship was what was assumed by Pearl to be the leader of this group. He walked with authority, his sword by his side, gun on his back and cloak swaying slightly at each step. He stopped a few feet away from Pearl and Rose, as did most the other soldiers do so. He looked around the area and world before snickering a little that turned into chuckling.
"This be the world you want to save? Gotta say it does reminds me of own Birth world, the beauty is their." The leader said with the radio sounding voice from behind the helmet, Pearl cleared her throat getting the leaders attention. "Ah you must be the pearl, and YOU are Rose Quartz. Though if I may ask what is HER alibi?" The leader asked pointing to Pearl.
"Oh no alibi, she is a free Pearl with no master to her name." Rose answered with confidence. The Enderian troops on the other hand stared in disbelief.
"She can't be serious right?" one of the soldiers remarked to his buddy on his side.
"Hear that, they don't buy is Rose, though to be fair you never had to keep the truth from us." The leader said with Pearl giving a look.
"What does that mean?" Pearl asked with the Enderian Leader chuckling a little.
"Hehehe, no need to hide it we know who you are. MEN give the salute." The leader order with all soldiers holstering their weapons and giving the Diamond salute in unison leaving Pearl and Rose speechless. "We are ready to serve our Diamond." The Leader said boldly, doing the same salute as the soldiers behind him.
"*Sigh* I suppose that was to be expected, just don't reveal it to anyone else outside your forces." Rose said with a stern voice.
"Of course, it would be catastrophic if everyone found out one of their own Diamonds was fighting themselves in this little war you are doing. Still it will be one hell of a war regardless." the leader retorted.
"Okay I don't mean to butt in but WHO ARE YOU!?" Pearl asked yelling at the leader.
"My apologies Pearl, I am Lieutenant Endasen of the Kala-Illiras fleet Ground forces." Endasen said with a bow with Pearl tilting her head.
"And who is in charge of that fleet and are they not down here?" Pearl asked.
"Well Captain Meligal is in charge, and he chose to stay with the fleet, better to give commands up their with the fleet than on the ground. Plus in my opinion, it would be redundant to send a space commander to a ground operation, so he'll stay up their, is that a problem Pearl?" Endasen asked leaning to Pearls face which remained stern.
"None." She said coldly.
"Alright, now that you are here, and have agreed to keep the truth secret, please follow us to our base. We need the others to see who will aid us in the war ahead." Rose said turning heel and beginning to walk away with Pearl close to her side.
Endasen and the Enderian platoon by his side started to follow him, carrying banners and weapons with them. Out of all of the troops Endasen was the one who decided to walk side by side with Rose and Pearl, his steps steady and firm. As the troops walked, the rebel base was starting to become lively with activity Garnet leaning on the wall to the temple while others were roaming about or talking with one another. Everyone was curious about who Rose got a hold of to help them in the war. Soon though the Rose and Pearl made it to base with Endasen by their side of course. He stared at the base and was stunned by how few people were in base. He was expecting more, perhaps not everyone in base but at the current state he could only count the total number of people their with two hands. He tilted his head to the left before looking to Rose and asking his question.
"Tell me this isn't everyone is it?" he asked clearly concerned.
"Well… we did just start recruiting about three days ago so… yes?" Rose answered clearly nervous.
"THREE DAYS!? The Rebellion is LITERALLY just starting huh?!" Endasen exclaimed completely surprised by the answer.
He figured the rebellion was growing but he didn't think it was so early on. Only about a dozen or so gems made up the rebellion so far, with one particular one catching his attention. While Endasen's troops started pouring out of the woods Endasen himself started walking over to the fusion that is Garnet. She herself had begun walking to him as well and the two looked each other over, Endasen impressed with this stable fusion, while Garnet was perplexed by this rather strange looking figure.
"Who might you be?" Garnet asked hands to her hip.
"Lieutenant Endasen of the ground forces, what might your name be fusion?" Endasen asked.
"Call me Garnet, hmm. I thought Enderians disliked cross gem fusions." Garnet remarked catching Endasen off guard.
"We are not Diamonds, we see no need for uniformity among gems, so many in our empire can be many things, cross fusions are one of them. Though I do hope to learn more about… THIS." Endasen said gesturing to Garnet as a whole.
"Oh it is a long tale sir, I can tell you at a later date, right now we gotta introduce you to the others." Garnet said extending her hand out to Endasen.
"Right, of course, what IS apart of the revolt so far. I think it is safe to say we must find new gems for the rebellion or else this little war will be short lived." Endasen said slowly and deliberately.
As Garnet and Endasen walked across the base to introduce him to everyone, to Rose Quartz surprise most were merely curious at the Enderians arrival than afraid. It would ease her mind but she was still highly worried of what new recruits would think of these people. As Pearl and Rose watched as Endasen shook the hands of one of the gems and spoke with them with sincerity one of Endasen's soldiers walked up and decided to speak with Rose.
"Ya know, you and us aren't so different now, we never had approval from the council nor Empress to be here, when the empire hears of this we'll be branded traitors and rogues. So worry not Rose we'll stick with ya to the end." The soldier said with a smile.
"Well at least you guys will be a great help, I just hope newcomers to the rebellion will be as open as these folk." Rose remarked looking forward to the gems surrounding Endasen.
"Heh, any gem who hates the Diamonds shall take any ally, regardless of our history together. Now let us get Endasen, I fear the others are gonna crush him." the soldier remarked pointing to Endasen suddenly looking a bit more nervous getting surrounded by the gems.
Rose would come up to the gems and disperse them making Endasen relieved he wasn't about to swarmed by a bunch of gems. After that the Enderians and gems all discuss the matters of the location for the Enderian head quarters on the world and how to get new gems to join. Endasen pointed out how they could make offers and propaganda to sway certain gems over. Rose then said to send out gems to disguise themselves and gather new members, both sides agreed, though many Enderians feared the propaganda thing wouldn't work this early on, since gems rarely use such tactics to begin with. Endasen then had an idea, to go to the Kindergarten directly and gather new cut gems from their, after all in his own words "Why get off world gems, when we can get some directly from the source?" Rose and the other gems actually agreed with the idea. Eventually the two sides signed a peace agreement and alliance deal and soon more ships began dropping down, many with supplies to set up shop for a base on the world. In the slowly building up base some buildings were already up and ready, one being the supply building, another being the barracks. As troops were setting up buildings and small bonfires for rest later tonight, Endasen had been sitting on a table set up with a transmitter set for the Jirrunda II.
"You mean to tell me the gems had no issues with you guys?" Meligal asked surprised with the info.
"Yeah, it seems only Rose's Pearl was giving me the death glare. Yeesh and I thought Sapphires had cold stares." Endasen remarked shivering slightly remembering the meeting.
"Yikes, seems that Pearl has more biased info on us compared to the others. What was the name of this rebellion again?" Meligal asked with Endasen looking away before answering.
"They're calling themselves the Crystal Gems, many of them have stars on them." Endasen said with a smirk.
"Crystal… like the Crystalline drop troops and the Star breakers insignia. Heh I guess she really WAS nostalgic to us." Meligal remarked with Endasen nodding.
"yeah, still I'm starting to see why Rose would want to save this world. It, honestly reminds me of our species home world, vibrant with life and thriving in spite of the gems interference." Endasen said softly looking out to the fields of grass.
"The Diamonds and gems love to colonize such worlds, rich in resources and easy to conquer." Meligal remarked with Endasen scoffing slightly.
"Till they met us." Endasen said slyly.
'Right, well you said that the Crystal gems have incredibly few members as of now, correct?" Meligal asked.
"I can count the total of members with both hands and my damn tail, horns if I wanted to count the fusion as two." Endasen said holding up both his hands open palm and raising his tail to show what he was meaning.
"Yikes that's not even a rebellion, that's a strike force. Though I can already tell you and Rose came up with recruitment plans." Meligal said.
"Of course, getting gems straight from the source on this planet is a decent idea, though how many can be convinced even when born from earth is hard to say. Still I have thought of another solution, just wish I mentioned it in the meeting." Endasen said with a slight head shake.
"Well what might this other solution be?" Meligal asked leaning closer to the screen.
"Search and rescue in a sense, our scouts look for gems that are… different or could be more easily convinced, and the gems go out to get them on our side." Endasen answered.
"hehehe, not a bad idea actually, bound to be many gems hiding to be seen as perfect to the Diamonds. Gotta look for those minor things to get them on our side. Make sure to tell Rose that tomorrow, you still gotta finish up base set up." Meligal said with Endasen looking to the sky and away from the screen.
"Yeah, worried the Diamonds will find us on their colony, Pinks no less." Endasen remarked keeping an eye to the sky with caution.
"They'll figure it out eventually, just gotta prolong that from happening, so keep out of sight for now and make sure the base has the camo field up and running, don't want their eyes in the skies to find you from above." Meligal said smiling slightly.
"Speaking of, have any gem ships noticed the fleet in the Asteroid field?" Endasen asked with Meligal shaking his head.
"Thankfully not, most gem ships are going directly to and away from the planet, no need to explore out here." Meligal answered looking out the bridges window.
"Merciful at least, still though, once they find us down here all hell will break loose up their." Endasen said looking upwards without moving his head.
"Oh I think most the fleet knows that, we dread it, still keep low profile and get the field up, we shall talk more when you have good news to share on the recruitment process." Meligal said.
"Of course captain, rest easy up their." Endasen said.
"You as well, talk later." Meligal responded turning off the feed leaving Endasen shaking his head and putting his fingers to rub his eyes slightly.
"Oh by the divines, I just hope we got enough for this war." Endasen remarked to himself as he looked to the sky.
The night was starting to arrive with the sun setting leaving a wonderful orange glow around the soldiers. Once night arrived many soldiers sat by lit bonfires and talked of their plans for the coming weeks. Each itching for a chance to fight the gems, each wanting to test themselves against a real foe in some of their minds. Yet before that could begin, scouts would already be sent out to find good spots to search later on, Endasen stayed by the fire as most other soldiers went to sleep. He thought of the next plan, how to set up the rebels, train them. His mind made up, once doubt of the correct choice made, now a stern acceptance of his choice, error or not. The gems on the other hand were already going out to find new recruits, helping that they needed no rest. Yet as the gems went out in secret Rose stayed back contemplating her own next moves. She feared this may have been a mistake, perhaps she could've been more demanding of stopping this, perhaps only her and Pearl had to suffer at this, but it was to late now, for both sides. She gave a worried expression wondering if she really would be up for the challenge, yet now she must be ready for what was to come. Now, the war was beginning to brew.