Things have been… difficult ever since I was assigned to Pink Diamond. I was right about her not giving us any type of seriously equipped ship. We were a glorified navy, only existing to look pretty and to ward off other space-faring civilizations… With no weapons, of course.
Both Lemon and I were the most displeased about this outcome, Lawn Emerald (I figured out what color she was!) was content with just being a fancy piece. She wasn't a pacifist, but she was clearly not someone who wanted to engage in combat or in dangerous missions.
Lemon and I were different, and the monotony of just patrolling and watching ships going in and out of Warp Travel had grown increasingly boring and monotonous. Our Diamond didn't even send us to patrol the other planets in this system, or to set up Kindergartens in them! Oh sure, she said that having one would be more than enough, and any more would be too difficult to manage…
We have four logistics officers.
Ones that I personally believed were more than competent in managing the supply lines and the duties of managing a planet. Especially if its only purpose would be to be a kindergarten. We weren't even engaging in mining operations on the other planets!
We relied on asteroid mining! Asteroid mining!
With four solid planets sitting right there. Empty. She didn't even bother sending Lapis Lazulis to terraform the red solid planet! But… I guess there was something good about being assigned to this monotonous post.
I could interact with my crew, and even visit Spinel every year due to how lax things were here. Now, if only I didn't have to do paperwork my life would be perfect. For some reason, my forceful attitude, and probably all the complaining I did, Pink Diamond in all of her wisdom and to my detriment, made me the Fleet Admiral.
Yay.
Being responsible for my Batchmate's safety wasn't enough, I now had to worry about the safety of our entire system and our Shining Pink Diamond… WITH NO WEAPONS IN THE DAMN SYSTEM!
At least Yellow and Blue diamond fleets that idled around the system were armed and more than willing and helpful, to be under my command to organize a proper defensive formation in case of foreign invasion by pirates or organics, or whatever thought it could enter into our Territory. They were technically under my command, but not really. They had standing orders to cooperate fully with Pink Diamond Emeralds but had strict orders of not being capable of leaving the system.
They were, if I was being completely honest, more like orbital stations that could move. At least both their Fleet Leaders, Chartreuse Emerald assigned by Yellow Diamond, and Myrtle Emerald assigned by Blue Diamond were fantastic people to talk to. Oh sure, we were all formal before we quickly realized there was no point in upholding such niceties when efficiency and practicality were more important.
I even convinced both of them to engage in the hobbies that me and my batchmates developed. Myrtle had taken into great enthusiasm making what I could only describe as giant alien turtles minifigures. They were a foot tall, and some of them were quite fierce and silly-looking. But I had no say in it, as most of my minis were… Well, this is embarrassing to admit, but most of them were Pokemon or looked like what I remembered certain Pokemon looking like.
Oh, and dragons. Lots of dragons. And scales. Lizardfolk, kobolds, quetzalcoatls, anything that had scales I had a mini made of. A lot of them were actual Xenolifeforms that I found by navigating the… internet equivalent. It was just an information hub and didn't behave at all like the internet, but I enjoyed and checked on it every year to see what new species we have found. We sadly eradicate most species we find, except if you're under Pink Diamond she had for some reason rules against killing the native species of the planet.
Chartreuse, differently from Myrtle, instead went into model building. This meant she found my secret collection of WW2 planes that I half-remembered and took a violent interest in such archaic and outdated technology. I can only describe her creations inspired by my half-remembered creations as Dieselpunk aircraft mixed with Steampunk. Don't get me wrong, they were super cool, but I was still pissed she invaded my private chambers and just found my secret models stash! They were fragile!
At least she hadn't broken any of them, but still! It was my room, in my ship!
Oh! I almost forgot. I got an entire armada to command, but besides that, I also had my own personal ship, which I named the 'Stalwart'. It was partially due to its bulky size, and partially due to it being nothing but a giant ramming tool, as once again due to Pink Diamond's weird wishes, I couldn't put weapon platforms on the damn spacecraft.
I guess the increase in speed and longer-lasting shields was a nice… addition. But it still didn't justify us only having disabling weapons installed. Which! Were short-ranged. Meaning I had to either get close enough to ram a ship or just bloody ram it in the first place… Wait, was this why Celadon Emerald taught us the best ramming tactics? She knew from the beginning, didn't she!
With a groan, I dropped my holopad onto my table before getting out of my ''office''. I needed to stretch my legs and distract my tired mind. I really should get someone to do all the paperwork for me, but Empire laws didn't allow me to assign it to any other type of Gem besides an equal-ranking one. And all the Emeralds were busy.
''Maybe I should get a Pearl. Those are custom-made for their purpose, and owners. But I don't have the funds to afford one nor can I justify diverting the fleet funding into acquiring a Pearl for myself.'' I sighed as I walked through the Stalwart's halls, a patrolling Ruby or Jasper occasionally greeting me with a salute or nod, and me returning in kind.
I also lacked the prestige to earn a Pearl. Pearls were usually given or requested by high-ranking Gems, but not any Gem could order a Pearl for themselves. They had to have some achievements under their names. Which, considering I was assigned to be the Fleet Admiral of Pink Diamond's Colony, meant I was very unlikely to find or accomplish anything to earn myself a Pearl.
Myrtle and Chartreuse had better chances of getting a Pearl for themselves. They could be reassigned to another post, after all. I was stuck in being the decorative Fleet Admiral to ''scare'' away any of the local FTL capable species… Not that we had any in the first place in this galaxy. At least not any capable ones. Sapients existed in various shapes and sizes. Some are humanoid, some aren't.
Not that the Great Diamond Empire gave two shits about any organic species. Unless they held a resource-rich world. Then they'll call the Admirals to annihilate your fleets, and all the organics on the planet before turning it into a Kindergarten or a Forge World.
Forge Worlds were cool. Sometimes literally, as some of them were built on frozen planets. But they were really cool because they made a shit ton of equipment and materials that the Great Diamond Empire uses. They are one of the backbones of our economy and it was where many Peridots, Bismuths, and Lapis Lazuli were usually found and sent to.
Though if the rumors about Forge Worlds are true, they are quite brutal in conditions. Many Gems are shattered, by workplace hazards, or by not meeting the standards of the Great Diamond Empire. I'm pretty sure the small group of Peridots I managed to snag for the cheap, for the 'Stalwart' were traumatized by Forge Worlds. But damn if they didn't know how to work around a ship, or operate our orbital refineries.