turned out that organic time was different than gem time, who knew? Emerald certainly hadn't. It did give some of Green's orders some context though. Especially his earlier days. He'd calmed down some since then, but that was likely because they were all focused on the newest diamond. She had no doubt that he'd keep doing things quickly when it suited him. Admittedly some things needed to be done quickly. Especially dealing with the enemy, whom they still had found nothing on.
Bi-yearly skirmishes with the Klingons had at least given them an idea of how cloaked tactics worked and had given them clues as to how to counter them with gem-style tactics. They'd even given the gems an idea of how fast organics could advance. Why in forty years they'd actually managed something that could damage their armor enough to be noticeable. That was downright impressive! They'd predicted it would take them a century for that.
Emerald was perhaps being a bit biased because her maybe friend Grovof was about to die. On one hand it was sad. On the other hand, she supposed it didn't register properly with her yet. She didn't get what this grandson thing meant either. The young, was that the word? The young lad was insistent on doing a duel in person as a matter of honor for his grandfather. Normally she wouldn't bother, because she was legitimately busy trying to keep gems on organic time, fixing logistical issues, and re-calculating tactics for these skirmishes, but then again, organic maybe friend about to die. She had waffled back and forth before clearing a few weeks for a visit to the Klingon world that had this grandson, and was apparently the Klingon capital.
Internally Emerald scolded herself a bit as she traveled there in her flagship. The organics themselves might have been hardly worthy of notice, but the capital was something she should be remembering. It was a valid and important military target if she needed to do something. She went through the process of notifying the organics she was there and heading down once authorized. The security was rather light, but considering the tech level it was probably enough? It wasn't her homeworld so it wasn't her job to secure it.
Externally she kept her smile on and face placid as she exited the shuttle to a rather large crowd. Why were there so many organics here?! To her side her pearl looked slightly surprised, but not completely caught off guard, so this was something somewhat expected. Emerald had landed here expecting maybe a few organics to escort her as would be proper. Instead she had a small army, though without weapons. She really just wanted to get that duel over with and maybe to speak to Grovof again. It felt like just yesterday she'd dueled him that cloaking device.
"Why are they treating me like a diamond visiting?" Emerald asked her pearl quietly as they walked down a cleared path.
"I believe they consider us almost as important. You do technically manage all relations with them and are in charge of the fleet in their area. Authority wise you are the most important thing from our people they'll see. To them, you are basically a diamond." Her pearl replied back as she restored her serenity.
"Huh." Emerald parsed that internally and then decided to throw any thoughts of doing something with it out of the airlock. Too complicated.
Instead the gem examined the area. There was a lot of red. The buildings had a sort of squat triangular look that made them look more like forts than buildings. Warlike but not in the way gems were. Yellow's fortresses were naturally quite yellow, and had high and thin walls as a screening element rather than defense. They were often more elegant than this as a matter of course as well.
Entering one of the buildings revealed more red. A lot of hanging elements with lights too. Very heavy and black there to accent the red. Emerald wouldn't say she was a fan to be honest. The clearance was just high enough to avoid hitting her head, which she appreciated. She did know that organics built to their size usually, which meant she'd have had to shrink herself early in other places.
She recognized Grovof almost immediately, and the other Klingon next to him was likely his grandson, Klaras. Organics didn't do things like gems, so he wasn't identical, but she could see the resemblance. Aliens were so strange to her.
Now that she was inside there were some formalities to exchange. Some banter. They were actually similar enough to gem traditional duels that she could do them on autopilot while her pearl handled most of the more finicky bits. Emerald half paid attention to them and the speech the Klingons gave in favor of examining Klaras. Superficially he looked like every organic. Something felt different underneath though. He was fitter and more confident somehow. The blade he was using was shiny too. The shine wasn't from polish. It was something dangerous she guessed.
Emerald could safely say she was thrilled as she shrank down and readied her hammer once the formalities were done. Hopefully this would be interesting. She would be so disappointed if it wasn't.
Her first strike was testing her guesses. She lunged forward with full speed, aiming for the weapon rather than the wielder. To her delight he blocked, and better still, the weapon held properly. Oh, the wielder vibrated from the strike, and it visibly shook him, but he held properly. She might have something like a challenge here.
"Good!" Emerald couldn't help but praise and decided this deserved her full attention.
Angles were calculated and she shifted her footing. Speed and strength harmonized, her hammer shifted and slammed forward with precise strength. The Klingon met her strikes with well honed precision. He'd trained to fight her specifically, she could tell. The little movements of his hands and how he handled her reach. She hadn't expected anything less for this.
A small sliver of suspicion hit Emerald a few blows in though. It was good that the organic could match her for just a bit, but had he focused exclusively on just her? She was meant to master all combat. That meant a variety of different weapons. Now that she was suspicious she needed to test it. A quick kick gave her space and she paused a moment.
Her hammer responded to her wish and shifted just a bit. The reach expanded by a hand and the hammerhead shifted into a slightly different form. Then she was back into fighting. The changes were just subtle enough to throw off any sort of careful training and would give her an edge, not that she needed it.
Emerald braced herself for being disappointed again as she readied herself to end this. One strike was dodged, she parried and heaved with all her strength to throw him off guard. The Klingon flinched slightly and her finishing blow flew in. Then, almost like magic, the devastating strike did not connect. The young Klingon's weapon tangled with hers briefly and he threw it upward with a grunt and a cry of rage. He'd surpassed her expectations and predictions.
Before Emerald could really praise him for it, the shiny and sharp edge of his weapon hit her neck. It slid through the pseudo-flesh and destabilized her. Like that she poofed.
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Klaras, grandson of Grovof, proud member of the house of Grargh stared down at the gem that had been his opponent with two thoughts in his head. One, he was proud to finally avenge his grandfather. Two, he was rather shocked. It was one thing to be told that the gem-like structures on their bodies was actually their core, it was another thing to see it. He was doubly thankful he'd deliberately avoided the possible weakpoint in the first place, though he'd been a bit tempted as the battle had gone on.
Fighting Emerald had been like fighting a force of nature. Klingons would have hesitated at points, perhaps fallen for a few feints, and conserved their stamina as the fight worn on. Emerald had seen through every feint, exploited every gap, and never ever worried about her energy. Her style had been simple, but unstoppable in that simplicity. Only the fact that she'd underestimated his ability to adapt had given him the leeway to win. A few more strikes would have broken his arms. They were likely fractured just from the blows he'd been forced to block.
"THUS PROVES THE MIGHT OF HOUSE GRARGH." His grandfather shouted in exhilaration to the cheers of their people.
Off to the side, the 'pearl' stood serene and unmoving. If he hadn't glimpsed the small amount of shock on her face at his victory he would have been sure she was just a mere automaton. They still knew so little about Gems as a race much to his regret. They were a warrior race to be certain. They were not robots, despite their mannerisms. They were arrogant to the extreme, and treated the Klingon race like children, but they had earned at least some of that arrogance.
Their least ships could likely outfight their Birds of Prey two to one if they weren't 'trying to refine their tactics.' The ship they called a Long-Legged Miner was so large their scientists were still baffled as to how it had been made. Their very forms indicated something impossible. Nothing about them made sense. It was almost like seeing gods in flesh, though they were fortunately not as cruel as the ones they knew, nor did they really press their superiority. Their bragging was often oddly childlike, like a child just becoming a warrior.
Though like those cruel gods, they were capable of defeat. The fight had technically been rigged in their favor in a way. Klaras had been trained and given the best enhancements they could conceive. His blade had been treated and forged specifically for this against normal traditions. It'd been controversial to have a fight like he was at all. He'd still done the fight honorably and with nothing but his flesh and bone, enhanced as it was, and that was considered valid. The argument was that they merely prepared themselves as best they could. This duel had been absolutely necessary and integral to show their people that the Klingons were still warriors and could still match these strange beings. They were not inferior to some foreign aliens. Their fights with the gems were merely showing them how far they had to go, not that they were weak!
"I will offer my congratulations." The pearl said in a melodic tune that almost made Klaras relax once the cheering stopped. "A very well earned victory. I trust your honor is satisfied?"
Klaras had rehearsed this, even if he wanted to go home and rest. His entire body hurt. "We still have the matter of the cloaking device taken long ago. It was honorably given, but my honor demands that I request something of equal value for the victory here in turn to balance out the scales of blood."
This was a bit of a gamble on their part. The Gems were not honorable in the way Klingons were, but they were blunt and honest enough that a demand like this would be honored in their own way anyway. The joint training sessions had revealed much about how Gems thought, even if they were still far too ignorant for his liking. Klingons, shamefully, weren't worthy enough to be more than a passing attention from the Gems normally. Klaras was actually just short of begging here and only the fact he'd won allowed him to swallow the shame of it. Pearl knew it too. Blunt and dismissive as the gems were, Pearl had shown herself impossibly perceptive when they spoke with her. This victory should demand their attention for once, and he was exploiting that all he could for his people. He would still need to do something to salvage his honor later.
"I could see about arranging something I suppose. We did have a few minor things we could offer, and I do agree with you about this being rather important..." Pearl made a device appear from her gem and she began to type at it. Another impossible thing done casually.
The Klingon almost missed it again. Only the fact that his house had become the 'gem house' so to speak let him see her expression shift. He'd been studying them all his life though, and he knew when one was shocked. Though even a layman would notice when that shock became almost frantic panic.
"Oh my stars. Please tell me this isn't happening. Really, personal attention like this?! I'm so totally unprepared." Pearl muttered quickly before turning to Klaras. "Give me a moment and forgive my rudeness. I need to go make something for you on command from my diamonds right now!" She dashed back to the shuttle they'd come on.
The young Klingon stared at her, then at the honor guard that had come with her. The blocky yellow beings, Topazes, apparently stared back placidly and without concern. He then looked at Emerald's gem, still laying on the ground.
"I'm afraid I do not know how to respectfully treat your uh bodies?" Klaras said with as much confidence as he could have in this situation.
One of the Topazes gave a small grunt that almost sounded like a chuckle before stepping forward and lifting up the gem. "She'll reform in a day or two maybe." The voice sounded so much like some of the annoyed guards that Klaras half wondered if they were all related.
If the ceremony had been as planned, they would have retired to the backroom to discuss deals and celebrate. The other officials here were already starting to look at one another with confusion on their faces. Klaras could see his other family members trying to reassure them but he feared a few fights would start to break out if Pearl did not return quickly. This had all the makings of a fiasco instead of a triumph.
Fortunately before that happened Pearl came running back in. Had she been a Klingon she would have been out of breath. As a Gem she just gave herself a small pat down to clear off some dust and straightened out. Then she looked suddenly very professional and formal. He could almost feel a few of the observes get jealous.
"Ahem," the Gem began in an oddly reverential tone. "In light of Klaras' victory, and the service the Klingons have done to us as a whole, we are offering two things as gifts and acknowledgements. First, official recognition from the Diamond Authority. Your homeworld, and certain designated planets are eternally yours. Should another race decide to attack them, you will have the gem's authority to prevent them from taking them. This does not apply to any planets outside those officially notated in this writ. Full notation of the gift is on the chart."
With that statement the gem produced a very large sheet of something. It wasn't paper, it wasn't metal. It was flexible enough to roll into a scroll, and it notated several stars very neatly in a star chart. Klaras felt a small fission of something akin to fear as he realized the Gems had neatly labeled all their main colonies and that the entire thing held more precision than the best of their 3d holo-displays.
"Secondly, to Klaras, for his and his family great victory in personal combat. This token." Pearl formed a small gem-stone like object made of something shiny. "This is a one time use item. Green Diamond himself will listen to, and attempt to fulfill your request to the best of his ability." She handed it to Klaras. "You may pass it on to whomever you desire. The favor is tied to the token, not you, since it is expected that you will die before using it."
Klaras stared at the token in his hand.
Behind him the officials that had deigned to attend the duel muttered over the first gift. On one hand, they were proud Klingons. This felt like a handout and insult in one. On the other hand, the gems were mighty, and this was almost like giving their non-combatants protection or perhaps a limited alliance. That was rather honorable. They didn't seem to understand, nor care much about the token. They didn't know Gems.
It burned horribly in his hand as he stared at it. He had a feeling that of the two gifts, this was significantly more valuable. His people as a whole didn't quite know Gems aside from them being an impossible powerful neighbor. He still didn't, but his instinct told him this was the most valuable thing he would ever get in his life.
"In addition to that, with your permission we would establish a..." Pearl paused in her confident speech as she searched for a word. "Ah, your word is embassy. That fits. Yes, we would establish one. A pearl will be made specifically to interact with your people, and while we have no need for anything from you, you may travel to some of our areas to view the glory of the Diamonds. One of our planets is being specifically designed for organics in mind, and you may perhaps enjoy some of the entertainment planned."
There were so many questions in his mind. Klaras steeled himself though and ordered his thoughts. He was the one being presented with these, and he was the one who'd studied gems all his life.
"I must inquire what you mean by make a pearl for this." He asked his most pressing question.
"You did get instructions on how we reproduce right? It's not the... Organic way." Pearl's words weren't quite offensive, but Klaras felt as if she was restraining a bit of disgust there.
"You were made by your diamonds. This embassy would have a pearl made for us though. What does that mean exactly?" The Klingon asked very carefully and reminded himself that these were an alien species. They were not another race being enslaved by gods.
The question made the Gem struggle as she attempted to explain. "Hmm. I suppose the best way to describe it is with me. I was made for Emerald. I am to serve her to the best of my ability. It is my purpose, and I would actually be very distressed if I could not achieve my purpose. It doesn't have an organic analog. Gems are made to do jobs, and we'll default to trying to do something related if we can't. For instance, I know of a Lapis, who do terraforming, she does sculpting when we don't need that."
Those didn't seem related at all, but Klaras was probably missing some context. They had noted that the translation sometimes glitched at strange times.
"We will have to negotiate more on this, but I believe we can gracefully accept these gifts. Your people have great honor." Klaras eventually said, completely out of his depth now and just agreeing with the general prospect. Refusing any of this would likely cause great offense.
Fortunately there were more official people coming in to actually handle this sort of thing and he could go back and nurse his fractures. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian, abdullacheeee and 1,058 others
One year. That was how long it had taken for Green Diamond to pick apart the cloaking device and produce a better one. By year two, his gems had reversed engineered the technology and could implement it wherever they desired. This had not changed much. Cloaking required specific strategies that Gems as a whole didn't much care for. Cloaked ships also required specific configurations and energy profiles that weren't compatible with their own ship designs. They could design a ship from the ground up with the technology, but that was up to Yellow. His diamond sibling had not seemed inclined to do that yet. That didn't mean it wasn't useful in some areas.
Green tapped at the tiny observation drone he'd built and watched as it flicked out of sight. It had now been almost forty years since he'd gotten the cloaking device now. The technology had proven less useful in some ways than hoped. It would be useful in niche applications at least. No more worrying about the Ogryn seeing the drones now as they were all now cloaked. Not that it mattered in much there. The Ogryn had not changed one bit over the time they'd been observed, and it had been awhile since they'd started observation. They might need to make a decision about that area at some point. Not now though.
Finished with the small almost toy-like creation Green stood and moved to look out the window to clear his mind for the next project and review his todo list. Implementing and exploring cloaking hadn't taken him that long, even on organic time. The rest of his time was organizing his court and his labs. They'd decided to take one of the empty planets for this and had already remade most of it for use. He could see little gem-plants set here and there for decoration, and more efforts to clean up the area and make it both habitable and comfortable. It'd likely be a long and ongoing project to keep the planet maintained, but it was worth the trouble. They needed a lot of space for some experiments after all.
Perhaps in time the view from the window would be spectacular. Right now it was just construction. Honestly, Green liked that too. Gems could throw up things incredibly fast when they had a plan to go off of. The slowest things were the gem-plant decorations. Those were still new to the empire as a whole. Hardy things meant to grow slowly and anchor the soil while looking good. They assisted some part in cleansing the atmosphere, but they used other things for that as well.
Bloodstone had done some good work with them nevertheless. From the first variant to a type that produced what amounted to fuel for their reproduction, to these decorative terraforming types. They'd proven so successful that there almost an entire planet dedicated to producing them. That didn't count the other things in progress too. An entertainment planet, a planet dedicated to White's gem production, and a planet for Yellow's wargames. They were properly expanding as a nation, though differently than most species would.
Yet there was serious work that needed to be done still. Even the drones had just been a distraction, though a welcome one. He'd need to do more minor things like that in the future to keep his mind focused.
Right on time the door opened and several new gems walked in. Wrapped in pseudo clothing and in darker colors, each gem was based loosely off the ninjas he'd remembered from so long ago. Gem-ninja so to speak. A new variant he'd thought about but had been missing something that made them unique enough to justify the cost. The cloaking technology had given him the clues he'd needed and White had taken some of her time to perfect the creation once they'd nailed the proper configuration.
There were only ten of them for now. They would be the first of what would be a rather rare type of gem. All of them dropped to one knee as programmed once they stood in front of him. Green looked them over with a critical eye without his glasses to be certain they were working correctly. These were dangerous gems. They were even more weaponlike than the military gems. Thus they'd needed more hidden controls. The kneeling and silence were two signs that they were functional properly. They were just a few of the checks practically hardcoded to verify integrity and mental health. Part of Green regretted making life with such stringent commands, but he was comforted that they'd take joy in their job, and they would not be casually used.
Satisfied that there was nothing out of order, Green nodded. "On your feet Shungites."
"Yes My Diamond." All of them said in unison as they stood and did the diamond salute.
"We will start with basic abilities. Cloak." The diamond ordered.
With his words the gems disappeared from sight. The inbuilt cloaking ability was working as expected then. He could still see them thanks to his eyes, but they were invisible to almost everything else. Good.
"Do a lap around the room as silently as possible."
Had Green not been able to see them with his vision he wouldn't have known that the gems were right in front of him. Again, as expected, and they'd likely been tested beforehand, but this was good. These Gems above all could not afford to make mistakes. They'd be taking the most dangerous tasks.
"Disable your cloaking and transform, take the appearance of my pearl." Green ordered once more.
The Shungite did so in a shimmer of light in unison. The replication was nearly identical, though there were tells. The body language specifically was very off. That was fine and expected. These were newborn gems, eager to please and unpracticed in reality. This function was really just a side effect of the cloaking technique. If you could make yourself invisible, you could make yourself look like whatever you like.
Assassins, killers, invisible police, spies, the Shungite were not going to be used for nice purposes. Both Green and White hadn't been particularly enamored with the idea after brainstorming them long ago. There had been no real need for them. Other gems could perform their duties. The enemy's actions had forced them to revive and implement the idea. He already regretted having them made just a bit, but only in the fact that it was necessary to have something like them. He and the other diamonds would be sure to treat them well.
"On the racks are two weapons, made specifically for you. You may use your inbuilt weapons, but these are meant to expand what you can do. You are expected to become proficient in all three." Green gestured to a small rack nearby him, well small to him. "Manuals are on the table. Familiarize yourselves with them."
The small straight swords on the rack were the simplest of the two items. They had a very special tazer like feature to them. They were guaranteed to poof a gem upon touch, and would very likely disable any sort of organic for several hours. They'd only be good for a few hits before needing recharging, but the blade itself was sharp and durable enough to be used like a sword without the effect. It would be good against most armors. The idea was they could stab through armor and disable someone if needed, or just cut through obstacles. The edges had been tested and could slice through most materials without trouble.
The rifles were unique. Probably the first gem-rifle in existence. Most gems used their inbuilt weapons and abilities. A Topaz could have easily crushed a tank from his organic life, and they only scaled up from there. They just hadn't needed weapons as a race for the most part. Even range had been covered by figuring out a few tricks from their natural abilities.
Green's rifles were made for stealth. They used a gem's inbuilt power to fire what amounted to globs of very fast, near invisible projectiles of superheated matter. They could shoot for about a mile, and one shot would essentially evaporate a fist sized chunk of nearly anything upon impact. They were meant to cover a very long distance and or give the Shungites another way to deal with enemies without exposing themselves.
"I expect you to customize these to your liking at some point. My Peridots can do so if I'm not available." Green said conversationally as the new gems picked up their weapons. "You have probably been told, but you answer directly to diamonds, no one else. Your first task will be working with Yellow Diamond. You will all be stationed at several outposts in an attempt to ambush the enemy."
They were doing a sting operation, and these new gems were key to that.
---
Shungite - An infiltration specialist. One of the rarer types of gems, just below Sapphires. Capable of turning invisible, or changing their appearance, they're considered a bit of a boogyman by Gems. Non-gems consider them utterly terrifying. Or adorable, if they're not infiltrating.Last edited: May 26, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian, abdullacheeee and 984 others
So, sting operation. It was in essence creating some enticing bait and setting a trap to catch the one who took the bait. It was a human term used in criminal cases mostly. In military terms it was simply setting an ambush, and Green had regretted using the terminology once he'd realized he'd done it. Fortunately Yellow didn't need advice on how to set a proper ambush. If anything, she'd be better at it than him, especially with the added tools. Shungite had barely been around and she already considered them extremely valuable. There was talk about making an exclusive ship just for them even, though that was probably going to be delayed until they had a better understanding of how their opponent worked.
One of the worst things you could do was underestimate the enemy. They had to assume that the species preying on Gems knew more than a few things about them. They also had to assume they could pierce cloaking technology in some fashion. The Klingon cloaking techniques were likely several generations behind their opponents. Anything based off of them was therefore outdated and could be potentially useless.
Right now they had an advantage on the ground. Shungite could spend years under cloaking without trouble, and had in fact several internal features to allow them to do that. Organic races would not and could not fathom the sort of patience involved in that. The enemy would be no different in this regard. Leaving a few baited outposts out for years would lure in one eventually. It would be an eyeblink for Gems.
Green himself had a minor issue with all of that. He couldn't start up another big project at the moment due to a variety of reasons. Most of his smaller projects didn't need his input at the moment. Interfering with anything in progress was just causing trouble, so he was actually just waiting for an ambush to succeed. This meant he had a few years worth of relative free time. Enough for a minor project, or to review his previous projects.
His first step was reviewing the court cases pending his say-so. It was one of the things that required a diamond's constant input. His modifications made it so that they didn't need to bring that many cases to him thankfully, but he still had to keep an eye on things. It was both good for the system and necessary as the highest authority in Gem society.
Most prominently on the docket were two things. A general ruling on fusions was still up in the air. Currently he had a good few hundred gems who'd done fusing outside of gem-type, or fusing out of caste as it was being called now. This seemed like a lot, but considering the timeframes involved, it was fairly small. Most of the offenders were in for other crimes but the fusing part made their punishment uncertain and they were mostly in stasis. Green set that in his todo pile and checked the other case, which was a more individual ruling.
That one was what to do about a pearl that had attacked other gems. Normally that would be a clear-cut case of assault, but it was a lot more complicated than just gem-on-gem violence It involved an accident, accusations, and was a properly dramatic courtroom case that actually had a few Gems following it.
Summarized, the Pearl's owner, a Morganite, had been inspecting a building site before a collapse happened due to tectonic activity. They'd been cracked due to being buried under several tones of rock. The pearl had been distraught and attacked other gems responsible due to the accident, accusing them of sabotage. The investigation had cleared them, somewhat. They'd been a bit less careful than they could have, and had a few minor demerits to work through, but were innocent of further wrongdoing according to the judge.
The Pearl was more complicated and why the case had been brought to his attention. She was guilty of violence against a Gem. The judge had decided that extreme circumstances merited his attention.
Ruling wise, it was fairly clear-cut in Greens thoughts. The Pearl did need punishment. However, she was also technically out of a job. Her Morganite was going to be cracked until they figured out how to fix cracked Gems. This meant she was already being punished basically, and was in serious distress. The report noted that she was literally just sitting in front of the cracked and bubbled gem and waiting for them. It was pitiful and sympathetic enough that no one wanted to do anything else.
Green looked up their medical techniques while he ruminated on what to do. They weren't encouraging. Cracked Gems were very rare for their species. Their central core was a very solid block of gemstone essentially. It took significant force properly applied to crack one. It wasn't like organics where a good hit could kill them. Morganite had had several tons of rock land directly on her, and the only reason she'd even cracked was because the rocks had pinched her gem just right.
This was relevant because they had very little subjects to practice medical techniques on. They had no idea what would fix them. There was no history at all, and just experimenting on cracked Gems was a bit distasteful when they had no serious clues. Using blank Gems was the current workaround, but it was slow going, even for Gem research. It was a complicated problem that just required careful experimentation and time. Green could theoretically accelerate the process if he looked into it though. His eyes could likely pick apart more than a few reactions and give them direction.
For a moment the diamond stared at the reports. That was the question. He had a few years. This would not be the worst thing to spend his time on. The question was, was that the best use of his time?
It felt a bit odd that this was the first real time he had to properly ask that question. Before he'd simply worked on big projects that had needed to be done in his eyes. Easy and grand fixes. He'd delegated where he could, confident that the smaller problems could be handled. All of it had been near inconsequential. What was a few years of delay for a Gem?
Now he had two projects that needed his direct attention and he couldn't just 'take his time' so to speak. These were hurting Gems. He either researched fusion, or researched gem-care. He also had no clue when their ambush would spring, so he couldn't commit fully to either as well. That ambush would require his direct attention immediately.
He'd been a bit spoilt hadn't he? Green mused to himself and picked up the reports again. He hadn't really had to choose before. His organic memories informed him that leaders typically made this sort of choice every day. Yellow probably had to do so. He, on the other hand, had the privilege to avoid that until now.
Looking at it cynically would be the best option barring another route. Through that lens it would be best to solve the fusion problem first. That was stalled without his direct input. Fixing cracked gems was being worked on. When he had time he could investigate further and perhaps accelerate it, but he could not guarantee things. He had to trust the Bloodstones could eventually find solutions without him.
That said, he could still rule on the Pearl case immediately and perhaps help some.
Easy parts first. The Morganite involved in the accident would be remanded to priority care. The gems involved in improperly handling the site had already been disciplined. There was no input needed there.
On the other hand, the Pearl required a bit more delicacy. Green had to be careful here, because he was basically making a new law. He'd wrote out his initial draft.
Considering the matter of 'The Diamonds vs Pearl Cut 203, Facet 041. I am ruling as such:
Pearl shall be cleared of all charges, and reassigned temporarily to other matters. In this case, as there's need for more gems in the building Klingon embassy, she will be assigned there. Should her service no longer be needed there, she may be assigned elsewhere as needed. This is not a punishment, nor it is a reward. She will do her duty as the Diamonds demands as a Gem of good standing should.
The reasoning for this ruling is due to two factors. One, Pearl's central purpose was damaged, and she therefore considered all those potentially responsible as hostile and responsible for this damage. Emotional violence is understandable due to these circumstances, and would warrant a lesser punishment provided the action was done immediately and due to being emotionally compromised.
Two, Pearl is technically already being punished. Again, her central purpose is service towards her Morganite. With Morganite currently cracked and needing repairs she has no current purpose. This is a considered a distressing and painful thing for a Gem. Further punishment would serve no purpose.
It was very informal. Green grumbled internally and began to revise it. You'd think that after all this time he'd be good at this part.Last edited: May 28, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:VVartech, EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian and 946 others
Fusions were complicated. That was the easy way to describe it. Green Diamond wished there was a way of elaborating more, but there really wasn't. Even the most basic fusion, inter-caste fusion, was a bit of mess despite seeming rather simple on the surface.
Taking it from the top, fusion was a Gem species trait that allowed them to merge their lightforms into an enhanced singular form. It was mostly beneficial. The new form's power was not the sum total of the parts, but instead a magnified version. It had formed a unique mind and allowed the unified being to exchange information between its parts, if it so chose.
Despite the attitude Gems had about the act, Yellow Diamond had done some small studies on it for military purposes. All of them were on same-caste fusions, as that was the most consistently stable, and acceptable at the time of the experimentation. Rubies had been the name subject of study due to being the most available and the ones benefiting most from the merger. Two Rubies fused together were roughly double and a half in power. Three fused were roughly nine times as powerful as a single Ruby. Four fused together were roughly twelve and a bit more. Anything past that produced diminishing returns, with six being the record. There was an addendum to the report that six had been very unstable and only worked for a few minutes.
Numbers wise, this magnification seemed significant. Yet Yellow's doctrine limited fusions to three. Past that number it was judged the loss of numbers and efficiency wasn't worth what the tool gave. Rubies and Topazes were the most common users of the technique. Emeralds the least common. (It was a military study.) A recent report detailed a pair of Emerald's fusing to do a joint operation, which noted that it ended with mixed results. The immediate exchange of information was useful, but there was a reason Yellow Diamond had subordinates. Being stuck to one place could be a very real problem when you needed to be in multiple places. The merged Emerald had been forced to unmerge to handle multiple fronts towards the end of the exercise.
This was the easy, readily available information that Green had available. Just based off that you'd think that Gem Fusion was a military tool. It was not. For some reason Gems kept fusing inter-caste. Not all of it was accidental either, and that was another strange thing. These blends were also observed to be strange by Gem standards. There were cases where some Gems had fused routinely for years before being caught. There were even times when the same fusion had different results. Same-caste fusion was consistent, the forms were consistent, the attitudes were consistent, and so on. Different caste mergers did not follow any real pattern. This combined with the tendency for these gestalt beings to rampage was why it had been very illegal before Green's ruling.
Green reviewed all of this and made his first decision rather easily. He needed a study to explore the mechanics rather than the military applications. Gather information and then decide the next steps. One of his labs was prepared, and he and his assistants went through all the legal mergers. The tests were rather simple. First fuse together, then unfuse. Then give one component a number and see if the gestalt personality could remember it. After all of that, power testing. They'd even made a standardized list so that the data was neatly organized.
The simplicity concealed a massive amount of work behind the scenes. They had to build custom sensors to identify what was going on in the background. They had to quickly throw up some custom rooms to contain and test. Green's sight was even picking up things they actually lacked words for, though that wasn't a new phenomenon. Diamond special talents were a step above everything else. He'd long since made peace with the fact that some things he could see would never be observable to anyone else.
Fortunately for Green's sanity, they didn't need to be able to replicate his sight for this project. Simple sight and general observations were getting most of the details relevant to the study. The custom sensors did prove worthwhile though. They could detect energies emitted in fusion, and could even diagnose some things about the fusion itself. Those were accomplishments. One of the things they could check easily was the theoretical power output of the gem. That was actually useful in more fields than just this.
Testing went on that vein for quite a while. The results lined up with what they already knew, but establishing a baseline was extremely important for further experiments. The conclusions were rather surprisingly clear once you defined things better. Fusions essentially created a new 'being' when fused. The fused being was a Gem made up of the component Gems. Mentally this gestalt was usually fine with being temporary. The power magnification effect seemed to partially come from the fact that the gem cores only had to maintain one lightform. That didn't account for all of the power magnification they were detecting, but it did count for some of it. There seemed to be a sort of resonance effect that was harder to define at the moment. It did establish what a 'normal' fusion should be.
With that baseline established they moved onto other fusions. The guilty parties were brought in and asked to merge while being monitored. They started with the most stable, a Sapphire Topaz pairing that had found work in the Investigation Department. When fused their power mutated into being able to see the past of local areas if they focused.
That alone had implications. What had more implications was how their forms mashed together after fusion. They looked like an entirely new gem after the fusion. Same-caste fusions resulted in bigger Gems. This particular transformation wasn't even a merger of the participating Gem's appearances. It had features from the pre-merger gems, but it's form and personality was completely different. Strangely so at that. The best way to describe it was that the new gestalt was an entirely new personality. They also indicated no distress from the component gems, and were able to stay merged far longer than any other test subject.
Other convicted Gems had less consistent results when ordered to fuse. Some fusions were stable. Some were unstable. Some of the fusions were stable once, then when asked to fuse again were unstable. The forms were different. Some of the mergers were so obviously distressed that the components were exempted from the study and remanded to examination.
By this point details were starting to come together. There was a significant mental component to the fusion process. Same-caste fusions had a significant leg up there. They were near identical. Two Gems from different castes had very significant differences. The most distressed unifications came from the most incompatible Gems. Some of it was distressingly similar to organic cases of abuse.
Since there was a mental component a new experiment was devised. Direct orders from a diamond were a serious unifying force, so they did a few experiments where Green was present and where he was not. This resulted in different forms and results.
More details became clear. Instable forms were notably more deformed to put it simply. Stable forms had more symmetrical forms. The instable forms had some sort of internal conflict that caused the gestalt to become distressed. Over time, if the fusion was held, they'd hallucinate, become paranoid, and often violent. This meant a lot of things, but most importantly indicated that the history of violent fusions was because of incompatible Gems trying to fuse together. Or perhaps one Gem forcing the fusion on another. Another behavior distressingly similar to organic abuses.
If Gems had a sex drive, Green would have likened it to rape. He was hesitant to assign that attributer to it without significantly more similarities. Fusion on the face of it had no organic analog. Some of the most successful mergers were work related. Simple and clinical, with consistent and pleasant results. No sex-like component at all to the act. There was a pleasure component to the process and in merging, but it was minor, akin to the rush you got from adrenaline in an organic. That could have been addictive, but that was just because some Gems lacked serious stimulation. When you felt the same thing every day a simple change felt significant. It was therefore theoretically possible that more entertainment would reduce the need some Gems felt to fuse.
Ultimately Green had to conclude that fusion was done repeatedly because it was a pleasant social act more than anything else. The best analog was working with someone on a project, though that fell short of the entire process. Gems were actually very social once you looked into their makeup. They could spend ages alone, but they also had significant social bonding behaviors. This was intentional. White had perhaps instinctively added it to their mental makeup. A species as a whole couldn't function without some sort of social cohesion.
Technically this was enough information for Green to make a ruling on that sort of merger. He wasn't satisfied with just that though, and he had time to properly explore the unique Gem attribute now that he'd defined the initial steps. He had a feeling that it would be something important for the rest of the race to at least make an attempt to explore their unique racial feature. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian, abdullacheeee and 931 others
When one thought of a lab, they typically pictured sterile environments. Beakers, test, tubes perhaps. Maybe some futuristic doodads. Green Diamond did have a few labs like that. Places where a clean environment was paramount. He even had a lab experimenting with gravity that had literal floating machines in it. He was not in one of them.
The fusion testing labs were spectacular messes. There were two reasons for that. One was that one section was meant to be destroyed. It was a place where fusions could break things under supervision. The other was the fact that half of the place was filled with one of a kind sensory arrays. The machines there were messes of parts jury rigged together that were meant to be reassembled almost daily as they tried out new combinations or repaired something that broke. It would have been a lethal mess to a non-gem just due to the radiation that was being emitted.
"Whoa boy." Lightning crackled into the air with a titanic crack. "Power's being overdrawn on sensor Nine-A!" Green Diamond called out as he stepped back from the device he'd been examining.
Electricity visibly crackled again around the sensor before it died down in a sizzle as the power was cut. Green stepped forward and gave the device a look over before shaking his head at its state. The thing was fried horribly, which was a shame, but not unexpected.
"Nine-A is crispy!" The diamond called out to the tech before sighing and turning back to the gem next to him. "We're going to have to avoid using that one for this."
"Understood My Diamond." The Sapphire responded rather serenely.
"All right everyone, we're doing a three point fusion with Sapphire, Topaz, and Ruby." Green said to the room at large. "Everyone's stations showing ready?"
One of the Peridot's raised her hand and shook her head. The diamond scowled at her with annoyance.
"Of course its that one. Can you get readings off it?" Green asked and sighed at the negative answer. "Hook up a data feed and see about fixing it while we use the others then."
When people thought of sensors and the like, they usually didn't think much about the mechanics involved in them. There were two types. Active, and passive. Active threw out something and observed the result. Passive just observed. They were both very important in different ways, and needed very different things.
Picture a thermometer. That was a passive sensor. It actually had a range depending on how it was made. Too hot or cold, and the thermometer wouldn't measure. A Radar was an active sensor. It used radio waves that bounced off an object to see something.
This was important to Green because there was no thermometer designed for fusions so to speak. Every sensor had to be custom made, and that meant significant teething problems. They were trying to get exotic information, and a significant portion of it had never had a sensor built for it. His eyes could tell them that there was something thanks to his eyes, but finding out how to see them conventionally was a different matter. He needed measurements, not something he had to eyeball.
"All right, subjects, you know the drill. Fuse when ready." Green Diamond ordered as he stepped several steps back. Some of the sensors were sensitive enough to pick him up if he was even close to the central area.
By this point in time everyone was quite familiar with the fusion process. These three in particular had become something close to the experts. Sapphire and Topaz were the most stable of the different caste fusions, and the ruby was one of several that did it routinely for fun. Despite this, there was a trace of hesitation as they joined hands and focused.
"Hold up." Green ordered and almost stepped forward before he remembered why he was keeping back. "We know there's a mental component. If you're uncomfortable, say so. We'll try some relaxation techniques."
"If I gotta listen to another serene soundtrack I'm going to explode!" Ruby shouted back with a half laugh before she gripped the other two gems hard. "Comeon!"
Glowing light resounded through the lab as the fusion happened. Green almost pulled down his shades but refrained. His gaze had some sort of active scan component that interfered with some of the more sensitive sensors. This wasn't normally an issue, but he wanted records rather than rely on his memory. Even this would have little he hadn't seen before.
After a few seconds the mix of gems stabilized. The resulting Gem was quite odd. Four arms, five eyes, and a very large body akin to a body-builder. Green couldn't tell if it was stable or unstable from a glance, which was interesting. You could typically tell with the two-gem fusion. Three Gem fusions seemed seemed to be just naturally chaotic.
"Alll right!" The new gem flexed. "The supreme Gem Volcana is here!" She struck another pose.
"That seems relatively stable then." Green observed to a tech.
"Energy readings are higher than your standard three-gem, but not fluctuating." One of the Peridots replied.
"Ready to flex My Diamond." Volcana saluted.
"Quite." Green replied with a small shake of his head and a chuckle. "First, you picked the name out of the list then?"
Suddenly abashed, the Gem scratched her head. "I don't know. It just came as I was formed."
"Well, it proves one theory." Green noted.
Gestalt personalities typically picked a name upon formation. How they arrived at that had been a mystery. It had also been a bit confusing, because they'd often pick a name from existing gem-types. Green had introduced a list to the three participants of basically random nicknames before this. Volcana had been one of them.
Bemused, Green ordered the testing to begin. Volcana flexed a few more times before she started to go through the strength and energy testing. That involved moving things, standing still, and attempting to use her special power.
"Huh. No future sight." Volcana noted almost clinically as she reached that part of the test. "No past sight either."
"So the talent further mutates." Green Diamond observed. "Do you have-" He was cut off as Volcana stomped.
It was a good thing that about half of the lab was meant for this, because a tiny volcano appearing in the center of it would have destroyed anything else. Volcana seemed quite entertained by her ability as she stepped forward and scooped up some molten rock, playing with it like one would clay. It provided good information, so Green allowed it, though he noted the lack of impulse control.
After several minutes though he noted a problem. "Volcana, the next step is for you to defuse. Step away from the molten rock so you can do so safely."
"Not sure I want to." The fusion noted.
Green's amused expression dropped. This had come up before. Sometimes the resulting personality was one that refused to un-merge. It was not a problem per-say, but the Sapphire Topaz combo had been notably stable and obedient.
"Sensor readings still showing as stable?" He asked.
"Yes My Diamond. Should we initiate containment and force separation?" One of the aids asked.
"No, not yet. The three would obey normally, and this one isn't violent so much as being immature." Green rolled his shoulders and firmed his stance into something very authorities. "Ruby, Topaz, and Sapphire. Your diamond orders you, un-merge." He said.
Volcana's expression twisted into a surprised face as she began to light up and almost seemed to struggle against something before starting to split. Green stepped forward quickly and grabbed at Topaz and Sapphire before the fell too far. They were visibly uncomfortable from the brief exposure to the heat that Volcana had been handling. Ruby flopped into the molten rock with a slightly uncomfortable expression but otherwise fine.
"Well then. Successful test somewhat. We're not going to do that one again." The diamond said with cheer as he set the two gems away. "Data all fine?"
"Some will have to be cleaned up due to your presence my Diamond, but all recorded properly." The main sensor monitor noted.
"Very good then."
Green made a note to increase the containment protocols. Three point Gem fusions were significantly more destructive apparently, and not as predictable as the two point ones. It made sense really. The gestalts took attributes from their base Gems and with three choices the combinations could hit upon something unusual. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian, abdullacheeee and 935 others
In summary, fusion has significant mental components that can contribute to the process, and is the main component that causes the destruction we have seen historically. It is in itself a relatively harmless process." Green Diamond finished his briefing over the video conference.
"You believe this is enough to change the current rules?" White asked imperiously.
"Honestly, I'm looking for your input now that we have confirmed information. The current rules are the Gems being bubbled, but that is due to me needing to study. We can continue the studies. There's enough there that we could likely spend centuries picking up things. Why I've already been able to develop a forceful fusion process-" Green cut himself off. "And I could spend hours rambling. You have my information. Do you have thoughts?"
"Ban out of caste fusion, reassign the subordinate gem, if there is one. Separate them immediately and harvest them if they continue." Yellow stated without mercy.
"I would simply have them harvested, but Green reminds everyone often that experience is very valuable." White said with a half smile as she reclined in her seat. "I will turn this back onto you. Explain your own thoughts."
"Sure, sure." Green grumbled and shook his head with a sigh. "As much as I'd love to give our Gems freedom to do what they will, they respond better to clear orders and consistent rules. I also do not want to encourage fusions out of caste. It can be stable, but unstable is far more common, and the results for that range from unpleasant to genuinely traumatizing. We have one or two Gems that have patterns consistent with psychological abuse."
Yellow made an interjection at those words. "I'm unfamiliar with that."
"It's from my organic memories, but our Bloodstones are researching it." Green noted and White spoke up then.
"Consistent mental stresses in certain scenarios produce specific harmful results." The tone was clinical and cold in a way that only White Diamond could pull off. As if she was discussing how to take apart a body piece by piece. "It is in essence hammering a mind into a shape that is compliant to the one doing the hammering. While on the surface it seems useful, psychological abuse is a proper term for it. Suppressing a Gem's personality is actively harmful to the Gem's ability to work, and decreases their power output significantly. There's some surprising variance in power due to emotions."
"We have more studies on it?" Green asked with mild surprise.
"There's a whole database on medical procedures that's being refined at the moment." White said as personality came back to her face and she smiled. "There's always been a certain percentage of Gems that come out imperfect. Addressing that is an ongoing, but fulfilling process. It has also helped significantly in smoothing out the newest Diamond's creation."
"We should get back on topic though." Yellow Diamond said with a tentative look at White. "We all have duties."
"Indeed. I have just a few minutes myself. So finishing your thoughts Green?" White asked.
"Haah. Ultimately I'd have to rule that we criminalize fusion while on duty unless it's needed. If a Gem is not working, they can fuse at will, but any sort of crimes they do will be applied to both Gems. It's messy, and lacks nuance, but it is the simplest ruling to state. Honestly, even if fusion were stable I'd say not on duty because we have multiple Gems for a reason." The diamond said with clear reluctance.
The leading authority in the Gem nation pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "Merciful, but the simplicity does make it memorable. I would not have a series of laws with a thousand little notes. It is quite simple. Obey us. Everything else is irrelevant. I would prefer an all or nothing ruling, but so long as I do not have to see an unsightly mess I can ignore it. The punishment for disobedience?"
"Reassignment, then demerits, then harvesting, in that order for just that crime." Green said before adding. "If they're being reassigned we can have them on the study for a few decades depending on the nature of the offense. I'm not stopping the investigation, just handing it off."
"Acceptable." Yellow added her input immediately.
"Still merciful, but according to your studies, fusion can be done by accident, so I will give my approval as well." White chuckled. "A Gem falling into another Gem can cause it if the mindset is right. That would explain one or two incidents I suppose."
With that the meeting drew to a close. Green signed off on the conference feeling a bit heavy. It was odd to think he'd just basically re-written the entire nation again with just a few years of study. Then again, this was just how Gem's worked. He'd already done something like this. Why did it feel different then?
Probably because he hadn't been able to find the best conclusion. Fusion was a messy social issue that he didn't have a good answer for. He'd likely run into more of those in the future, so he put it out of his mind.
Instead he decided to focus on wrapping things up. The lab itself would remain intact, as would the fusion studies. He'd personally stop being involved though. Perhaps something would come from it, perhaps it wouldn't. He deemed it necessary to investigate it anyway.
At the bare minimum he wanted the forced fusion device to be properly tuned and refined. The 'Harmonizer' was honestly a bit disturbing to his senses. The ability to forcefully join gems felt almost like forcing rape, or perhaps doing a body modification. It was still vitally important to understand why it was possible, and if needed find ways to prevent it. That was probably his biological memories influencing his thoughts there. The Gems who'd helped build and test the device seemed fine with it.
If anything the process had helped a lot with the studies. The Harmonizer had allowed them to smooth out some of the more unstable fusions, and even the stable ones had found it useful. Something about showing them how to mentally give and take. Some more investigation would be perfectly fine there.
He had a few hopes that they could condense it at the minimum. It'd be a good military tool on the face of it. Sometimes it took some time to fuse. If some soldiers could fuse with just a click of a button, it felt like a game-changer. Especially if they could force a inter-cast fusion quickly. The variety of powers available in that context were quite useful.
Thoughts for that would come later. First, wrap things up. Then focus on whatever came up next. Hopefully the ambush would hit soon. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian, abdullacheeee and 883 others
Shungite, the first of her line, stayed silent and unmoving. Still as they rocks around her, yet ready to move at an instant. A sentinel that would last longer than the ground she stood on. Only her goal existed in her mind. An endless serenity flowed through her as she waited. It was an odd sort of peace that was unlike anything another could understand.
As the first of her line, she had been given privileged information about her caste to better aid her job. The inbuilt greeting protocols, the quirks, even the theorized additional skills. She was to be the leader, if only because she was the first. She knew how they thought, how they learned, and how they stalked. The other gems, those not of her caste, they were not entrusted with such grand and deadly purpose.
It was why the other Gems spoke with carefree abandon when they were alone. It was why they laughed and played. That was perfectly fine. They were not Shungite. They were not tasked with such a deadly mission. She could not see herself doing those things even had she been free.
Watching them as less than a shadow, Shungite enjoyed their amusement even as she kept watch and focused on the surroundings. There was only one goal here. Capture or eliminate the enemy. There was nothing else. She was a shadow of a shadow, unseen, unsensed until the time was right. Her mind was still and she held her positioning with serenity and purpose.
Time passed. How long was irrelevant. She'd get her prey or her siblings would. They'd wait and watch until new orders were given, or the outpost was abandoned.
It was fortunate that Green and White had seen fit to include ways to handle time passing. Even a Gem would have been distressed at staying still and motionless for days and then months on end. Her line could theoretically stay for decades, though they had specific orders to not do that. Green had been very careful in explaining that they had to exercise judgement in their tasks. No spending decades doing nothing. They were given goals and the ability to fulfill those goals. They had to judge on each mission what a suitable timeframe would be and then, if necessary abort it. They were too valuable to throw away or be set on a shelf until someone remembered them.
The current goal was to capture or kill the one they knew as enemy. The pattern that enemy had was to attack vulnerable areas. This outpost was one of several that were technically vulnerable. Shungite judged her goal would be accomplished by waiting here and the years would be well spent. Her siblings had agreed and arranged themselves in appropriate areas around several possible outposts. They'd revisit the decision after a decade if needed.
More time passed. The outpost Gems were reassigned and cycled out as needed. Shungite waited as serene and quiet as when she began. Her only movement was occasional shifts to keep dust and debris off her form. It would not disrupt her cloaking, but if she had to move later the movement of the debris would cause a tell. The time would come eventually. Patience and stillness was made into her. She was a statue that would become a weapon when the time was right.
Years after she had settled into wait that time came. The tell was subtle. Extremely so for what it was. The signs were too large for one of her siblings moving. There had been no cloaked Gem ships or other Gem types in the works. Yet the signs were that something large and concealed was coming in.
It was cloaked scout ship of some sort, she judged after a moment of observation. The vehicle was hovering over the terrain very carefully on an approach course. Completely invisible to sight, it was only the dust of the barren planet they were in that gave it away as it came closer. The small swirl of dust and movement on the ground was not consistent with the wind. As that swirl grew closer an engine became audible. Far too quiet for any Gem built thing. This meant it was the enemy they'd been waiting for, and they were as stealthy as some of their worst case scenarios.
Shungite tensed but did not move. This was worrying in a way. Could they sense her? Was that why they were so close?
It turned out the answer was no. It was just that the best vantage point for them to land was close to her. The cloaked ship settled onto the ground gently enough that it was barely audible, for what was likely a multi-ton ship. The mechanical sound that came next brought to mind a ramp dropping, but it could have been other things as well. The thing was still not visible.
The gem did not move as she waited and watched. She didn't breathe. She was so utterly still and silent and blank she was a stone. She did not even think. She was a rock on the ground and utterly uninteresting. She kept this on her mind as she waited for more to show.
From one second to the next the enemy appeared as they stepped out of their ship's concealment. Hearing of them and seeing depictions did them no justice. They were massive, as tall as a topaz and far more broad. They slithered on a half a dozen tentacles, and had strangely horrifying mouth with teeth that were too gem-like. Something about them was predatory and deadly as well. Each beast looked like it hunted, killed, and enjoyed it.
An organic would probably have called them hideous and terrifying. Shungite looked for weak points with serene dedication. As she examined them, the ones that had disembarked moved towards the outpost with near silent slithers. She made a decision once their target became apparent and got to her feet. Her siblings assigned with her did so as well. She could spot the tells of their movement based off where she knew they'd been waiting.
A small scuff of her feet and a tap on the ground communicated her directions quickly. They split up with almost complete silence. Cold and calm she moved towards where the cloaked ship still sat. The cloaking seemed to be akin to a curtain drawn over reality. One step she could see nothing, and the next she could see the ship and still open ramp. It was oddly slick and covered in a faint liquid, or possibly mucus.
The organic residue would have disgusted another Gem. She just walked up it more silent than a whisper. The inside was relatively small compared to their ships. It was cramped, dark, and dripping with something unpleasantly liquid. This was either a scout ship or a shuttle based on the configuration. She knew not which, and she had little desire to investigate at the moment. Her priority was to take the ship, take the crew, and go from there. This was the thought she and the rest of them shared.
There was a single pilot waiting at what appeared to be the head of the ship. A lookout perhaps. As hideous as the rest of them. Shungite moved closer, blade drawing from the sheath without a sound.
Yet something gave her away. The enemy whirled before she could close. It's tentacles flexed and needles shot out in a wide spray. It was an obvious blind shot, but the quantity of the needles made them dangerous. Some sort of projectile weapon, likely dangerous to Gems based on previous actions.
Shungite had started dodging the second it started moving. Gem combat reflexes ranged from good to extreme depending on how much was invested in them. She was top of the line. The needles still barely missed her and embedded themselves into a nearby metal bulkhead halfway before discharging with some sort of electricity. A familiar sort.
She had no time to examine it or why they'd been detected. The enemy had multiple long ranged attacks. That meant they had to drop it now, which meant attack before it could reload or re-aim. She dashed forward practically horizontally to the ground. More needles flew out, this time hitting one of her siblings who poofed from the strikes. The thing screeched in such a horrible fashion that she flinched. A wide-range sonic attack? It didn't matter. The pain and unnatural feeling it caused was acknowledged and ignored as she reached melee and stabbed deeply into it.
The thing was wearing some sort of armor or padding that resisted the blade slightly. It did not matter to the work of Diamonds. Green's gift sheared through it, and the payload discharged. One of her siblings had gotten close and managed a strike as well. Despite this the thing still thrashed around momentarily as the blade charged and discharged once more on her command. That secondary discharge finally dropped it to the ground.
The gem paused as she stared down at the stunned creature. She'd tested the blade several times when she'd been given it. Even against large organic beasts prepared explicitly for it. Things twice this monster's size had gone out with a tap. This one had endured what was likely four separate hits of the stun inherent in her blade. That was positively worrying.
They had far too many unknowns for her to feel confident in ambushing more than one she concluded. At least until they could discover why they were detected. They would win just due to the fact they had the ship now, but the broader picture that she'd been told to consider made her worry. It was not a pleasant feeling. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, theImmortalGuardian, abdullacheeee and 958 others