''Well, from what the scanners are telling me, your Gem is in tip-top condition, my Emerald. Though I do see an increase of energy production and absorption. Whatever caused you to grow bigger seems to be completely beneficial. If you experience anything weird, you can report back to me. You're clear.'' The Peridotite fusion nodded to herself, and I released a sigh of relief at that.
''Thank you, Peridotite 35. I trust I don't need to tell you to keep this… private and off the records, right?'' I questioned as I rose from the exam table, and she nodded quickly.
''Of course, my Emerald. Your medical exams are strictly guarded and only viewable by yourself or a higher ranking Gem than yourself.'' I nodded at her words before I glanced at the rest of the room.
The infarmaries were… Overloaded was a soft term. But they were packed. Many of them had malformed Gems, many were groaning in pain and such. But I was just glad that the fusion solution seemed to be… Working. It was a slow process, as we only had so many intact Gems not affect by the radioactive particles from the Collission, and fusing wasn't a simple affair, but it was progress nonetheless.
Within a month or two, all Gems that haven't been cracked should be ''healed''. Or I prayed they were, otherwise I could do nothing but either shatter them or bubble them.
''Send me a report of how many Gems we have lost when you can.'' I ordered the Peridotite before leaving the medbay. I knew that number would increase as time passed, or when the Gems became corrupted. Stars know that the Jaspers and Rose Quartzes had their hands full containing the corrupted Gems in the secondary cargo bay.
…
I was in my office, sitting and using my new holo table when I received the alert. Now, I had become accustomed to the alerts, it was common to hear one blaring every five minutes to check engines or such, but this one was new. And by that I meant it was an emergency alert. Tapping on the alert, I immediately realized why it was an emergency one.
''What in the Stars name is happening in there?!?'' I questioned as I saw what I could only describe as a monster fusion. The eerily calm Peridotite just shrugged as she spoke, ''Nebula Storm?'' She replied and I stared at her for a solid minute, which seemed to melt her slowly.
''I know that our Diamond is a jokester, but please do not imitate her behavior Peridotite 37. Now, mind telling me why I am seeing a gigantic centipede made of multiple Gems?'' I questioned and she smiled wryly at me.
''Forgive me, my Emerald. We made a slight miscalculation and…'' She trailed off as she looked behind her, and flinched, before she turned to face me again, ''The corrupted Gems are untreatable. I recommend we either shatter them or bubble them.'' She said and I sighed at that, massaging my temples.
''Shatter them. We do not have the time nor the resources to try and find a cure for them. May Pink Diamond forgive my decision, but her mission takes priority over the crew's status.'' The Peridotite nodded at my words before the call ended, allowing me to be alone with my own thoughts.
It's times like this that I wish I had some wine. Or alcohol. Or sugar. Stars what I wouldn't give to taste swiss chocolate again. Though that's not happening in a few million years. I don't think Humans even exist in this galaxy as well. Or at least we haven't found any native species that fit with the description of humanity. Earlier ancestors or not.
''I miss bacon.'' I murmured before I got back to work, reading reports and giving orders throughout the entire fleet.
…
''Due to a few deviations in our route, and the delay with curing the Nightmares, we are only a few parcsecs out of course. It shouldn't impact our routine, or affect schedule too badly. The other Peridots think it'll only add a month or two, but they are still calculating the deviation we had to take to avoid that black hole.'' Peridot Facet-3K9L Cut-3J2 reported to me and I nodded at that.
''That is an acceptable delay to our mission. Tell me, have we received any messages from our Diamond or Homeworld?'' I questioned the peridot and she shook her head in reply.
''The light-communicator hasn't received any new messages. We did check it recently, and it is working accordingly. There is simply no news, or at least no replies from our Diamond or Homeworld at our findings of the Collision Particles.'' She replied and I hummed at that.
I would've expected a reply, maybe even an order to cancel the Mission due to the losses from the Collision Particles, but complete radio silence? It was suspicious, but we were receiving and sending signals completely fine. And the database still has traffic, meaning we weren't disconnected from the intergalactic communications hub, or the local galaxy communications hub.
''Peridot, am I worrying about the lack of reply needlessly? I feel like our Diamond would've replied back to us. Cancel this mission, or send a teary reply, but it has already been a week with no reply. What do you think?'' I questioned the Peridot who suddenly looked very out of her depth. I sighed at that before waving her off. ''Forget it, dismissed.'' She nodded before performing a salute and disappearing out of my office.
This entire mission has given me more stress than Pink could've ever given me. I wonder how she is doing? Spinel is probably still standing in place, and I did tell her I would be gone for a long period of time. I do worry for her, she is a great high quality Gem, and it's simply criminal to have her stand still for eternity just because our Diamond said so. Not that Pink would even entertain the thought, she would dismiss me immediately every time I brought up Spinel.
''Stars, I hope everyone is doing okay.'' I muttered to myself as I looked out into space, and the bending space as we Warp Travelled.
…
I was doing rounds around the 'Stalwart'. Observing my crew go about their duties, and the state of the 'Stalwart' halls. They were shining as if they were brand new, and that made me smile internally. I might show a lot of emotion to my crew, but I still had to be the serious. Be a beacon of hope, of something to admire and aspire to be. Something that was deeply needed in crisis like the Nightmares.
''Rah!'' The shout of anger, followed soon by the sounds of fighting distracted me from my thoughts, and I frowned at that.
Not at the fighting itself, many of the Quartzes spared with each other to pass the time or simply rough housed around. Shouts of rage, or shouting in general was common when you had Quartzes onboard. But I frowned at the fact it was coming from the strikecraft bay. An area I had strictly prohibited to be used for fighting, as while our strikecraft wasn't made of paper, a Quartz strength was still capable of denting the crafts.
Marching towards the bay, I frowned at the crowd of Nephrites, Peridots, Amethysts and Rose Quartzes that had formed. Though my frown turned worse when I realized they weren't cheering.
''Move out of the way. What in the Stars name is happening in here?'' I questioned and almost all of them flinched at hearing my voice, before they quickly opened a way for me to go through, I ignored their surprised shouts of, ''My Emerald!'', as I looked in confusion at what I was seeing.
''Nephrite Facet-300 Cabochon-001! What is the meaning of this! You're a captain, stop squabbling with that Nephrite like children and act like one!'' I reprimanded the Nephrite in question, as I saw two nephrites on the ground trying to strangle each other to death for some star's forsaken reason. I recognized the captain instantly due to her Gem being in her chest.
''Nephrite!'' I called out, yet they continued to ignore me. I took a deep breath, before I decided I didn't have time to waste by trying to be nice, Cabochon-001 is a captain. She should know better than to act like this or get herself into a fight. Especially since they weren't made to fight, they were pilots.
''YOU WILL CEASE THIS SQUABBLE IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL SHATTER THE BOTH OF YOU FOR SUCH DISGRACE!'' I shouted at them, and that seemed to do the trick, as both of them quickly separated from each other and got up saluting, with a guilty look on their face.
I glared at the two of them before I marched towards them. I stared them down before I started circling them. Their uniforms were ripped, their lightforms were damaged, and their hair was wild and if it wasn't made of light, would probably be missing a few patches of it.
''M-My Emerald, I can explain!'' Cabochon-001 said, yet I didn't stop circling them, only motioning her to continue. The other Nephrite was Cabochon-312, and from what I remember she was a rare perfectly made one. Her Gem was acting as her eye, just like my own.
So why would the both of them be fighting? And against each other at that?
Cabochon-312 seemed to grit her teeth, I could tell she didn't want her captain to speak. Was she guilty of starting this squabble?
''T-This malformed Gem dared to try and pilot my strike craft without my permission! And then she had the audacity to claim she would be a better captain than I could ever be when I reprimanded her!'' She shouted as she pointed accusingly at Cabochon-312.
I stopped in front of them and looked at them. Both of them were shivering, one from anger and one from indignation. I couldn't tell the cause, but I knew this wasn't as it seemed. Gems rarely assaulted their superior officer, or even spoke in such a way to them. Especially Nephrites. They weren't the tamest of Gems, but they weren't squabblers like the autocratic Gems, or the rowdy Quartzes. I only realized I had been staring at them in silence for a little bit too long when both of them began to look uneasy.
''Cabochon-312. You're a perfect form, perfect Gem. What would cause you to act in such a way?'' I questioned the gem, and I glared when Cabochon-001 tried to speak in her place, ''Are you Cabochon-312, Cabochon-001?'' That shut her up real quick and she quickly shook her head.
''Permission to speak freely, my Emerald?'' She asked, and I nodded. Good to know she still knew to follow protocol, differently from her captain. I might tolerate a lack of decorum every once in a while, we were Pink Diamond's Gems, after all. But it was still needed.
''I have done exactly as she said, my Emerald, but It wasn't intentional. I was simply performing maintenance on the Captain's strikecraft. Peridot Facet-4U8D Cut-4H9, can testify to this, as she was showing me how to repair a strikecraft using the Captain's as an example. We just had accidentally turned it on, and I had to pilot it to avoid damaging it against the hangar bay walls. My Captain came in angry, and she called me a malformed Gem. I simply replied back to her that I would like to see her try to perform the same feats as I did, and that I would be a better Captain than her, she didn't like that it seems.'' Her hand went through her hair as she fixed it a little.
I stared at her for a moment, before I looked at Cabochon-001. She looked as indignant as before, while Cabochon-312 seemed to be just nervous of any punishment I might give to her. However that would only happen if she was lying.
''Where is Peridot Cut-4H9?'' I said out loud, and from the crowd behind us came out a Peridot.
''Peridot Facet-4UD8 Cut-4H9 presenting herself as requested!'' She saluted, and I narrowed my eyes, my mind going through the thousands of peridots we had in the fleet before I had her placed. She was indeed Cut-4H9. Now, was Cabochon-312 telling the truth or trying to avoid punishment?
''Do you testify that Cabochon-312 was simply performing maintenance under your watch on the Captain's strikecraft and that the piloting of said craft wasn't intentional?'' I questioned her and she nodded quickly.
''Yes, my Emerald! Cabochon-312 simply made a small mistake in restarting the systems and it accidentally turned on the engines of the craft. If it wasn't for her quick thinking, we might've had an internal collision and detonation within our hangar bay. I take full responsibility! I should've kept a better eye on her maintenance!'' The Peridot was quick to responded, and I hummed in thought.
''Does anyone want to testify the words of Cabochon-001?'' I questioned the crowd, and most of them just seemed unsure, with a few of the other Nephrites shaking their heads no. Well, this appeared to be as it seemed. I'll check the video footage in the hangar later, but for now, punishment was necessary.
''Cabochon-312, your punishment will be of taking over the duties of Cabochon-001. I expect no mistakes in your new role, Captain. Do not fail me, or our Diamond.'' I spoke and Cabochon-001 tried once again to speak, but a glare from me silenced her, ''Cabochon-001, your ranking of Captain is stripped from you. If you perform adequately enough in these months and upon our arrival to the New Colony, I might promote you back to Captain and give you a different squad to command.'' I spoke and she deflated as she nodded weakly.
''Good. Now, stop meandering and get back to work!'' I shouted at the crowd, and soon everyone dispersed.