Cherreads

Chapter 1611 - hh

Yellow had been mildly annoyed with Green Diamond after the awards ceremony. Mostly because it meant that she now had to do something for military honors. Fortunately for her, it was a less extensive affair. Their military achievements were less extensive. She hadn't had the significant backlog that Green had. White had scolded him for the wording but otherwise appreciated the fact he'd done something ceremonial without being forced into it. He considered that a good result ultimately.

Green Diamond had also decided that doing that had met his required social obligations and went back into science. There was a lot of that he had to deal with still after all. They had some significant wreckage to go through for instance. The Shambler's ships had each been carefully salvaged and they were going through it with a fine toothed comb. The counter to their damned needles still needed to be found and so on. All of this would take time. Time that they for once had precious little of.

After their initial clash with the Shamblers, the war began to start in earnest. Ships began to raid their territories and attacks began to happen wherever they could. Clashes did not happen daily, but it sounded like that sometimes. There were regular updates of losses and wins all across Gem territory. It was war, and it was an unpleasant mess. Cloaking plus FTL made it extremely difficult to establish proper battle-lines. Some strikes got unpleasantly close to the Gem homeworld, which set some Gems into a tizzy.

It was probably the first time the Diamond Authority had been properly challenged by anything resembling a peer. It was fortunate then that they rose to the occasion. Yellow in particular started to shine as she began to direct and coordinate their forces. This was, in a very real sense, her purpose for existing.

Perhaps amusingly, this meant that Green was in a supporting role for the duration of this conflict. He was to focus on things that would help with the war exclusively. This curtailed a lot of his side experiments, but that was fine. They could come back to them in time. Right now his duty would supersede his desires.

His first real contribution was actually rather simplistic in a way. He'd found the need for something that he could do quickly and so he made a command center.

This admittedly didn't encapsulate exactly what he did there. Before the war had really began Yellow had commanded from one of the Diamond Hands. They had a bridge that worked, and could move where the Diamond needed. There was little else she required to do her duties. This war needed more than that. Yellow was the central command point for their entire nation's war machine. She could not just sit in a battleship that was not designed for her work. The traffic alone had made the place a mess. Green had noted this and then created a space station explicitly made for command.

Called simply a Star Command Fort, the space station was a heavily armored monstrosity that was designed to be both a rally point, and hell to attack. It contained over a hundred internal teleporters, quarters for over a hundred thousand Gems, and multiple redundancies. It positively bristled with weapons, and the armor alone dwarfed anything they had in the fleet. To top it all off was the central command area, the crowning jewel of the creation.

This was the central point and where a particularly new addition to the Gem technology was used. It was one thing Green was particularly proud of, not because he'd made it, but because another Gem had instead. One of his Gems had used his work to create something new and that he'd never even thought of.

Called unimaginatively the Gem-Computer Interface, the device allowed a Gem to communication with a computer mentally. This negated the necessity of keyboards or monitors and had a multitude of different applications. It was in fact so groundbreaking that Green had been forced to create an entire team to work on it further, not the least because of security issues. Being able to beam thoughts into a Gem's head had worrying implications.

The core part of the concept was based off the Gem Harmonizer. The thought was that since Gems could feel the Harmonizer working, they could feel other inputs. Some testing and working on the various frequencies later, and they had a way of facilitating a connection. The GCI was then made from that experiment.

Green using it could trawl through a database in literal seconds. It accelerated his work by an extensive factor, though he still preferred having screens to see data. It was in essence the next way to work with computers. It also had more than a few flaws that led him to restrict it to just transmitting commands to the computer. (Receiving information was both unpleasant and gave him security concerns.)

The Command Center in the Star Fort had a thousand of the one way inputs combined with other tools to make the bridge capable of responding to anything near instantly. Testing indicated it could handle communications from their entire fleet at once if needed. It had an extensive computer backbone to handle all of this processing, and the best programmers Green had to program simulations and run predictions. Yellow's chair was probably the crowning part of the entire design. Green Diamond himself had calibrated it to handle a diamond's processing speed, which could be considerably higher than any other Gem's in the right circumstances. He'd even gotten a few designers who worked with Yellow to make it look exactly how she liked.

It was not out of the question to say that the command center was the most expensive and elaborate part of the fort.

"This feels excessive." Yellow Diamond observed as she examined the area upon his request.

A screen popped up in front of Green as he tested out one of the features. With a thought it moved to the side and he walked around the perimeter as it followed him. "This is one of those cases where it's better to have more options in my opinion. The bridge of your Diamond Hand was not designed to work with the entire nation. This is."

"On one hand I have to agree with you. On the other hand, our war will be won by our Gems and ships, not by a fancy communicators." The other diamond replied before making her way to the central throne and sitting.

"There are keyboards if you want, but the central computer will respond to thoughts. It has a blank Gem, so it's going to learn and be responsive with some coaxing." Green instructed his sibling.

Yellow gave a small nod of acknowledgement and then holographic screens popped up around her. "This is interesting and I can see the value in some cases at least."

"I do as well, but we're still working out good implementations. I'm actually leaning towards having that feature a secondary one with a physical input like a a touch screen or keyboard somewhere. The thought interface in intuitive, but I worry that in times of stress it won't be as useful."

"That's more of a secondary concern." Yellow muttered as data scrolled through the screens around her. "The tools matter less than me being out there on the line. I'm likely not going to use this much at all even with the advantages it brings. If we get a large scale battle I will be there in person to direct."

Green Diamond winced but cleared his disappointment quickly. "I understand. The titan class ship is still a few years out, I'd like you to use that instead of your Diamond Hand when it comes out. We'll use a similar setup for that bridge."

"Agreed." Yellow tapped at one of the armrests. "In light of that consideration I think I'll have my command here for now then. My court will find what works and what doesn't and we'll have the design adjusted. It does not escape my notice that we would likely become priority targets." She brought up the extensive armor of the ship on a screen and had it highlighted in a pointed fashion. "Are you trying to tell me something dearest sibling of mine?"

Green coughed slightly in surprise. "Er..." And he'd now confirmed it in her eyes. "Let me know if you need anything from me still. The designers should be able to change this and your future flagship quickly."

With that the diamond left, quickly.Last edited: Jun 14, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 769 others

Embarrassing misunderstanding aside, Green hadn't created the station out of some whim. He had identified a problem and attempted to fix it. That his fix had the implication that he was worried about his sibling had not crossed his mind in all truth. He'd just thought that having a big station meant for command meant that you needed a lot of armor. It doubled as a way to secure the planet some.

There were actually already a few stations around the other planets they had a lot of activity on. None of them were as extensive as Yellows, but they were all big armored beasts meant to provide some security for a relatively cheap cost. They had a significant amount of surplus metal that was just being stored. Using that metal for defensive structures would both free up their fleet some. They lacked the punch their fleet would have, but they'd prevent casual raids and function as a tripwire of sorts.

It was that added security that gave them the warning.

The day had started like any other day. There were a few promising leads on how to deal with the anti-infantry needles that the Shamblers used, and they were getting very close to reassembling some destroyed databases to get some proper information. A few more years and they'd likely have enough to identify a key Shambler supply point. It was as lazy a day as it could be for the Gems until about midday.

At that point an alarm started to go off. One Green was completely unfamiliar with. It was enough to make him pause and look up from his work before his bodyguards came in and literally began to shove him towards the teleporter. Green allowed it more out of confusion than anything else, because the Topazes had been more akin to decorations before then. He'd barely noticed them following most days, so them taking an active effort was notable.

Before he could really contemplate that, there was a sound at the edge of his hearing. It took a second to register what it was before Green hunched down on instinct. The Topaz threw themselves in front of him and fused in the same frantic motion. Then there were explosions all around him.

Walls rattled and cracked. Green looked around then and his eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation. He looked to the fusion. "The teleporters are now inoperable. I assume that alarm meant attack?" Sloppy of him to not know that.

The fused Topazes' eyes narrowed and she nodded before she seemed to make a decision. "The next most secured area would be the bunker near the explosive testing. By your leave we will take you there."

"Let's move then." Green straightened up and took note of who was with him.

At his side his pearl nodded shakily and stepped up to his side. It looked like his ever-present assistant had gotten hit by some of the rubble, but her enhanced durability had her still relatively pristine physically. She did not look happy though. A few of his techs looked rattled but fine. There were a few popped, but they were already being grabbed.

In another species this would have been a devastating attack. Gems all had an inbuilt protocol for combat though, and Green's court had all learned to summon their inbuilt weapon as a matter of experimentation at the bare minimum. They were not some hapless science group. They still not prepared for something like this though. Again sloppy, but in retrospect Green had been arrogant. A lot of Gems were already panicking, only calmed by his presence. This could be handled if they were careful. Which meant Green was going to follow along with his bodyguard's commands.

Stepping into the bunker for explosive testing Green took a seat in the center of it and looked at the gems that had gathered. "Do we have information?"

"A large ship has descended from orbit after bombarding the area. We have a lot of Shamblers inbound. They targeted the teleporters and the generators so most of our standard defenses are down." The fused Topaz said as she defused. "With what we have here we cannot defend against it." One of the Topaz noted grimly as the other moved to the door.

A few suddenly queasy looking Peridots, a Pearl, and him. Green Diamond did not actually fancy their chances either. That said, they had options.

"We had some Ogryn here for re-fitting and after-action examination. We have our experimental weapons, and we have the home field advantage." The diamond ticked off. "We need some sort of communication first." Green looked around and spotted a small entrance the size of his foot. "Pebbles, get out here!"

A few small, almost misshapen Pebbles came out after a moment, looking terrified, but obedient.

"I know it's scary. I need you're help ok? You can get anywhere. Bring..." Green paused as he realized something. "We have a spare tablet somewhere right?"

A tablet was passed to Green and he wrote quickly. He summarized their assets and authorized a few things. Then handed it off to the still frightened tiny Gem.

"Give this to the Emerald in the ship area." The diamond said. "I am counting on you all to pass messages. There's no one else that can." He said softly.

With a very terrified nod the Pebble ran into a small hole and off.

Satisfied Green stood up and flexed his hands. "That Emerald is our best military Gem. If she gets the message she has my full authority to handle everything. With our power out and the enemy jamming our communications we have few options. We can't get messages out fast, and we have no idea about the status of our forces. Topaz, if need be you have my permission to seal the door and do anything you believe is necessary to keep me safe."

"Yes my Diamond." One of the Topaz saluted with a determined expression.

Inwardly Green was torn between panic and rage. He didn't let that get to him though. Best case scenario they were fighting and clearing out the enemy right now, with reinforcements on the way. Worst case was that they were going to be overrun and he could potentially be captured or killed. Reinforcements were on the way definitely. The rest was up in the air.

"Actually one thing. What were we testing, and how much if it would be useful?" Green asked his group.

One of the Peridots responded after a moment of thought. "Thermal grenades, poison deployment, and a few biological agents. Only the thermal grenades might work. The others just had theoretical deployment. For safety reasons the more destructive munitions are in the secured vault."

"Of course." Green grumbled in response.

There was a crackle and then a voice came blaring over the speakers setup in the facility. "This is Emerald Nine-Nine. By order of Green Diamond I am taking control of the defenses. All Gems are to arm and gather at the nearest intersections. The enemy will be in the facility within minutes. Our Diamond is safe and secured, but we can assume that he is their target. We will not allow them to get even close!"

"Well that worked thankfully." The diamond breathed out.

"Backup power or re-routed?" One of the tech gems asked as the brought out their pad and poked at it. "Internal communication is still down. They must have used some sort of juryrig to get the speakers up."

"Either way works for us." Green closed his eyes and rested against a wall, shrinking himself as he did so. "Now we wait."

A pebble came out of the wall holding the pad he'd given them and Green took it from them. One eye opened and he scanned it before writing something on it and handing it back. Technically he could take command. More properly he was not military. He had no head for it, and this was one case where it was best for him to keep away from it all.

His best contribution at the moment was to wait. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:theImmortalGuardian, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 822 others

Emerald Cut Nine-Nine, Facet B-Three, was not having a good day. She was in fact having a horrible day. She could not show it naturally, but if she could she'd be complaining to everyone and everything. She'd be screaming it instead of just screaming on the inside. This was not how her day should have been going! She was supposed to be here for a debrief about her exploration, not handle a defense!

"Enemy has already breached the outer perimeter!" One of the Gems who'd formed the impromptu command center called out.

"Order squads three and nine to fuse and ignite the area." Emerald ordered.

They were going to be burning some actually precious assets, but she had little choice. This would both deny the enemy and force them to evaluate things. If she had to raze the entire lab to the ground she would do so, and be praised for it. That note from the pebbles had been quite clear. Do whatever it took.

She wished she had military communicators with her. The ones that didn't need a signal repeater. All they had was the standard ones, and those were only functional at short distances. The jamming plus the missiles made it so that they had to do everything by hand or runner. Thank Diamond the Pebbles were stepping up as messengers. Emerald had barely even known about the things, but their ability to get to places almost unnoticed was a blessing for this.

"Power generator is up in five!" Someone called out.

Emerald nodded. "Keep ready for that. Remember, we have ninety minutes before reinforcements arrive." She called out to her people before directing them again. "Send the Ogryn to the choke points nearby labs six-five and six-six. I know their armor isn't ready, but they can take hits better than we can! Have them fall back if they get next to the fires."

They'd likely die with this command. It actually hurt a bit knowing that, but whatever it took meant something. The enemy could not be allowed to get anything from this place.

"They're on the way here." A whisper had Emerald look to the side to see nothing.

"No theatrics right now." The Gem snarled at the Shungite who was still frustratingly invisible. "You're more useful elsewhere. See if you can sabotage their ship. We have a bomb in safe storage that might do it if you can transport it to the right area. We'll hold here. Do damage and make them bleed however you you can."

Emerald didn't even hear the Gem move, but she knew the Shungite was doing so. She had other things to do. flex of will summoned her weapon, a small fan, that she flipped open as she directed the other Gems. Minutes later there was an explosion as the room she'd commandeered for command was blown open. Several Shamblers slithered in and were met by warcrys and charging Gems.

What followed next was pure chaos. Gems as a rule didn't actually need ranged weapons. Some work and focus and they could usually do some sort of ranged attack. It was part of what Green called a 'War Package.' They were fully battle capable without tools, so when they charged at Shamblers they didn't just run, they used whatever unique techniques they had. Most of them were directed energy attacks of some nature.

The Shamblers met them with needles and warcries. Hundreds of small and thin needles flew threw the air. Several Gems immediately poofed due to the anti-Gem measures the needles had. Multiple Shamblers flinched, and one died immediately. Then they were in melee, and the battle was far more even.

Shamblers practiced a biological enhancement process that made them stronger, faster, and more durable. All of that made them just barely a match for a high level Gem in close range. Emerald had never fought one in person, but she knew this from their studies, and was ruthless in her exploitation of that fact. None of them were used to her abilities. Her little fan grew into a big bladed monster and bisected several tentacles before the Shambler realized that she was more dangerous. Her opponent flinched back and she brought the fan down, bisecting it before it could process more.

Blood spattered everywhere, but the Gem ignored it as she shrank her fan and threw it. The weapon impacted into the back of one of the Shamblers and it staggered before being ripped apart by another Gem. Emerald didn't pause, calling her weapon back and continuing to fight.

Not even a minute later the Shamblers were dead. Emerald didn't bother to wipe off her blood spattered form. "Reports!" She snarled out.

"Generator up!" Someone called out.

The communicators crackled as Emerald grabbed at the broadcast she'd used to talk to the base. "Coms are active! Report to Emerald Cut Nine-Nine, Facet B-Three immediately!"

All of the sudden Emerald's station got literally hundreds of messages. She parsed through them as quickly possible while she started to clean herself up the best she could. It wasn't much. They'd need to cleanse this area completely later. It stank.

Ogryn were holding fine, with casualties, but fine. The perimeter was on fire. Half the base was on fire, and some of it was flooded. The entire place was practically ruined. The enemy had also found where Green was.

Emerald panicked at that message. There was no other word for it. "All eyes and Gems to the explosion bunker!"

"Belay that!" Green's command broadcast back.

The video feed of the explosives testing area came up on her communicator. In it Green Diamond held a Shambler up in the air with one hand. His glasses were off and he looked extraordinarily pissed. Several needles were stuck in his skin. A normal Gem would have been popped from the attack.

"The forces attacking the Diamond have been defeated. They're not prepared for my capabilities." Green grit out and something cracked as his fist closed. The Shambler's head popped off with a small spurt of blood after that.

Emerald blinked several times at the screen. Had he even bothered to summon his weapon? She'd known intellectually that Diamonds were just that much better, but actually seeing it was something else.

Green dropped the body and adjusted what looked to be a pair of gloves on his hands. Off in the distance several more Shamblers were firing at him but most of the needles weren't even penetrating his skin. One held up what looked like some sort of tube. With a high whine it fired off a missle. Before Emerald could panic the diamond slapped the projectile away contemptuously and almost blurred as he stepped next to the attackers. A stomp squished one, and then the Gem gestured. A plane of light followed the motion. The last remaining Shamblers fell down in pieces as the light went through them.

Emerald had many questions. Her awe prevented her from voicing them. Then a part of her reminded herself that it wasn't time to praise her Diamond. It was time to kill the enemy.

Fortunately with the enemy losing an entire squad to Green, she had far more wiggle room to work with. That meant she could shift their forces to cut the enemy off. With increasingly more of the lab on fire, the enemy was having it hard to move. Their enhancements made it so that they could move through fire if they wanted to, but that didn't mean that it was a good idea for them. Pinning them down with her forces was only a matter of time now.

"Priority message from Shungite! The enemy is gearing up to leave, the sabotage was unsuccessful!"

"What did she- No, never mind that. What are they leaving with?!" Emerald shouted out.

"Unconfirmed. They might have gotten into some computer systems, and we can't know how many Gems they captured." Someone shouted back. "They very likely got something at least!"

"Do we have anything that could bring it down then?" The leader growled out.

There was a beat of silence then a flurry of communications. Eventually someone called out. "Possible four point fusion from the experimental group. That one was recorded to have very long range weaponry, but also unstable."

"Authorize it and any other ones." Emerald pulled up the outside camera feeds. It took a bit to find one that had an angle on the enemy's ship. It was a fair distance away and had destroyed a lot coming down.

On it, some ugly looking ship with too many spikes and black lines was slowly rising into orbit. Based on the fact that they still had forces around, the enemy had likely decided to actively cut their losses and abandon the ones she had pinned. Emerald looked at them and snarled to herself. They were just leaving after all that!

A flash of light illuminated the sky as a beam hit the ship. It shuddered and another beam shot out. The four point fusion became visible at this point, holding up a spear. They were a surprisingly unified specimen, likely because of their purpose if she recalled the experimental procedures right. The sheer anger in the face as the stared at the ship was quite obvious. The next spear was thrown. It turned into light mid motion and then pierced through the heavily armored ship as if it was nothing.

The large vehicle stated to tilt and the shudder as its engines failed. It began to list to the side before the propulsion completely gave up and it fell. Something sputtered inside and exploded out of the wounds it had taken. Emerald watched it happen with a sense of glee before she came to her senses.

"Establish a perimeter around the wreck!" She ordered. "Get the teleporters online as our next action. Salvage is last priority! We need our place secured first! Also get the Bloodstones to the Ogryn, make sure our losses are minimal there."

If everything went well the organics would be all the losses they'd get. For a surprise ambush like this, that was pretty good in her opinion. Emerald wasn't going to relax just yet, but she let herself untense some before she recalled one more thing.

"Put out the fires quickly too! We don't need more damage!" Emerald belatedly added.

She really didn't want to have all the labs destroyed. That'd be more than a little embarrassing. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee, KyleDaScourge and 889 others

Green Diamond nudged the wall with a foot. It teetered, tilted slightly, and then fell to the side with a loud crash. A few seconds later several Gems walked by, picked it up, and began to run it to the recycling area. Green followed their movement with a small look of amusement before shaking his head. The speed at which the Gems were working was just a bit hilarious. It was like they were all on fire.

"Well, the place is ruined." The diamond observed out loud.

"Initial estimates are that about half of the labs will need to rebuilt." His pearl replied.

Green Diamond nodded. It was actually mildly impressive how much damage had been done in such a short time. His lab space was the size of a rather large city. The entire battle had taken at most a few hours. From a study standpoint, the amount of damage was actually a rather potent datapoint in how quickly war could destroy a place. From a personal standpoint, it was extremely irritating. He'd been happy about getting his labs organized properly!

"How's the enemy cleanup?" He asked to distract himself from his irritation.

Pearl looked over her tablet. "No captures due to what we believe is standard suicide measures. Their computers had no relevant data as well. We're coming to the conclusion that they have some sort of automated wiping process they use to keep their flight paths secret. It's far from perfect though, and the explosion actually cut off some of the process. We may have a full language soon."

This was mostly as expected. Once the attack had failed it had been inevitable that all the attackers would die. The only real question was how much more damage they would do and how much the Gems would be able to capture. The answer had been little of each. The Shamblers left had tried to hide and do ambushes, but against prepared and enraged Gems it had been rather pointless. A full language would be a big boon though, it'd let them interpret a lot more.

Pleased, Green moved onto the next thing he thought of. "That will accelerate our work. Brain scans?"

His aid shook her head in a negation. "Inconclusive, but we have more data to cross-reference and compare."

That wasn't surprising. His brain scanning procedure worked best with live specimens. The Shamblers were very particular about not being taken alive though, so they'd been forced to work with dead bodies. That didn't work nearly as well, and after a few hours it was pointless to try. They'd been right next to a few labs though, so they'd given it a go anyway. The real prize had been the ship. That was already being gone over with a fine toothed comb.

Green Diamond looked up at the sky as he finally thought about what had actually happened. In the distance almost every fleet asset was in orbit, looking for anything that the Shamblers could have left. Literally every ship and Gem they could spare was now guarding the planet, and they were all absolutely livid. Yellow in particular had almost ordered him to leave. He'd denied that, but did know he had to make a few changes. It was a poor leader that didn't adjust after an event like this.

"I will be ordering that this site be decommissioned once things calm down some. Having it centralized was useful from an efficiency standpoint, but it made the target a bit too tempting. I'm thinking we'll use teleporters and have labs around the planet." Green eventually concluded.

"We're staying on the planet?" Pearl asked back with a small amount of surprise.

"It's already been developed some, and planets are big. If we don't have a big city-target, they won't know what to hit. We can't just abandon a planet because they know it's there." The diamond tapped a finger on his chin. "We'll just need to decentralize things and have defensive nodes and such. I also want backups in case the teleporters are down, and we'll need to develop planetary shields. We'll fortify it."

"I will make a list." The pearl replied and proceeded to do so on her pad. "Anything else?"

"More space stations. They don't have to be big, but they do have to give full coverage sensory wise. We'll need a few in the solar system with advanced sensors to give better warning. We're going to make a few underground labs for highly secured areas and defensive fallbacks. I do actually want to have some security features on the teleporters too. We already have some, but I'd like more for this area. Also, we'll have to look into hardening them against attacks." Green paused. "Do we have military style teleporters?"

"One moment." Pearl sent off a message, then paused and typed for a bit. "The answer is complicated and it will require some research. Apparently our current teleporters are more tied to positioning than the structure. A large enough strike destroys the calibration no matter how durable the base is?" The Gem seemed a bit confused by the explanation she was getting.

"I'll have to look into it..." Green started before recalling the list of things he needed. "When I have actual time."

"We might have some space in a century or so." The one responsible for the planning replied with a small smile that changed slightly as another message popped. "And Yellow wants to see you."

"I'd be more worried if she didn't." The diamond muttered before making his way to the teleporter.

It wasn't like they hadn't seen one another after the incident. It was just that Yellow had confirmed he was fine and gone on a paranoid rampage of sorts after she'd gotten the confirmation. The only place more secure right now was White's place of work. That she was actually meeting with him meant she hadn't gone into a thought spiral. Now he just had to worry about...

Yellow appeared on the teleporter and immediately moved to look over her sibling. She gave his body a once over, circled around him, and even picked him up briefly before setting him down without a word. Green allowed it with a mildly exasperated expression.

"I am fine." He finally said when it became clear the other Gem was still out of sorts. "No damage, and only annoyed."

"How can you be fine?!" Yellow demanded back. "You were just attacked!"

This was one point where Gems had a serious advantage over organics. Green hadn't had to deal with much aftereffects of the assault. No panic attacks, no suddenly feeling ill, he could recall what had happened and get some feeling, but it wasn't what an organic would deal with. He was more effected by the damage to his labs than the actual attack. There was also another thing.

"Being able to stomp on the attackers personally was quite cathartic." Green admitted to his sibling. "I didn't do it on purpose, but they were there and it seemed like the easiest way to kill one. I'd be more angry had they managed more than they did."

That statement seemed to trigger something in Yellow because she became all business. "Yes, I reviewed the after-action report. It seems I will be issuing more commendations..." Her face reflected some complicated feelings. "Not only to pebbles, but we're going to have to figure out how to handle those that died in service."

Green's mildly good mood dropped. "Ah." He didn't know what else to say there.

"Yes, nine Ogryn were killed and one Gem was shattered. We had a few cracked ones as well. The enemy got spiteful towards the end." The diamond looked both grieving and enraged as she explained before she turned to Green with a lost expression. "This is something organics handle right? What should we do? You make new things, not I."

Death was something he knew of. Green's organic memories had more than a few funerals. Dealing with death was just something they had to deal with. Gems were oh so very privileged to avoid that for the most part.

"It's not the first time we've had shattered Gems, but those were mostly criminals." Green muttered with a frown and continued before his sibling could respond. "I suppose it's different when they did something special instead isn't it? Allow me a moment to think."

Yellow stepped back and looked over the area as Green closed his eyes in thought. After a few minutes he opened his eyes and nodded.

"All right. First we have to harvest the shattered ones. Shattered Gems can be semi-conscious until their energy runs out, and we have indicators of pain from my investigations on them. Reassembling them is theoretically possible, but in my educated opinion not the best idea. We have no idea how, and there's a decent chance doing it will just hurt them more. Let them pass on and contribute to new Gems. We need to make a record of some sort though..."

Green turned to one of the non-broken walls. He gave it a look and then gave it a good tap. Finding it was still very stable he took a finger and carved a bit.

"Pearl, if you would, the names of the lost? Organics included." Green Diamond asked.

The gem nodded and began to recite the names. Green very carefully carved the names into the wall. It didn't take up much space. There was an extensive amount of room left once he was done. Each name was flawlessly written in neat lines right at the top. Green even added dates.

"What are you doing?" Yellow asked once he was done.

"This wall won't be touched. Have it preserved and do what's needed to be sure it will stay that way." Green gave his order, knowing Pearl would carry it out. "We will have more losses." He indicated the stretch of wall. "They will be remembered here though. I will carve them myself."

The other diamond stared at the wall a moment before turning back to her sibling. "I will do it too."

Left unsaid was the hope that they had a lot of room towards the end.

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Memorial of the First War - A wall in a ruined husk of a city. It is carved with numbers and names of those who have died or shattered in the war. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:VVartech, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 887 others

Klaras, proud member of the house of Grargh was conflicted. That was a normal thing he'd been told. New fathers were always conflicted about their children. The mix of worry and pride was going to be ever-present. He had to bet that most fathers didn't have to worry about aliens though. Ever since the embassy had been established it had been his duty to interact with it. His conflict was that at some point his wife had decided that it was perfectly fine for his son to accompany him. It wasn't like he was doing anything dangerous right? He'd actually agreed somewhat.

Then little Grem had started to speak Gemmish, and the Gems had been absolutely delighted. Therein lay the conflict. Grem was never going to be a normal boy, but now he was absolutely marked. He was the first Klingon that could actually speak to them without an interpreter.

It sounded a bit ridiculous on the face of it. The simple fact was that even with the Embassy, and the 'tours' the Klingons knew far too little about Gems. Each tour was carefully curated in a city built for them. Each interaction was carefully measured by the Gems. It had been a sterile, prepared demonstration that called forth more questions than answers. Even the head of the embassy, that sad Pearl had been oddly controlled and uninformative until they'd managed a few conversations.

And hadn't that been a bit of a cultural flashpoint. The initial Pearl staffing the embassy had been a 'criminal' by Gem standards and assigned there as a punishment. However, by Klingon standards she would have been considered a hero. The diplomats had been unsure if they were supposed to be insulted or gratified at the respect. Eventually they'd settled on them being aliens and decided to observe and wait.

It had taken years before Klaras figured out some of the reasoning for her assignment. The Gems simply hadn't cared. As a race they didn't need many things. Work was their purpose. Where a Klingon would long for battle, they longed for duty. They had had a Gem that needed work, and so she had been assigned to something. The posting had given a duty-less Gem a duty, no more, no less. That was the sad truth of the matter. The Klingon's feelings had not been taken into account. It was either enraging or relieving, Klaras could not decide which.

Fortunately the first Pearl, who had another set of numbers designating her, had not been intolerable at least. She'd been very morose frequently, but that was understandable once you got the context of why she was there. She basically just had a significant other in a coma to put it in Klingon terms. Understandable, though unpleasant to contemplate. She'd answered simple questions without hesitation, responded well, and while she'd been irritatingly passive, she hadn't been horrible to work with. Klaras would fully admit that there was friction with her, but it was something he was able to actively navigate around.

It had served as a large contrast to the new Pearl. The one made for Klingons. (Another insane thing to contemplate, one that they still had no idea how to approach.) That one had been able to fight, she'd learned how to taste their food, and she could and would answer duels with eagerness that surpassed any Klingon Warrior. She was not as spectacular a fighter as Emerald, but she was certainly learning fast. By the time Grem had been born she'd become a veritable darling of the city. It had made Klaras' job both easier and harder. It'd gone from Klingons trying to get information from Gems to him keeping them from just informing her about things because she was charming!

That brought him back to Grem. Grem liked Gems. They liked him. They didn't quite understand children, but they liked his enthusiasm and the way he picked up their language. He could discover things that his father could not because of this. Klaras' child could already be considered better than him at his own job! The mix of pride and worry had never been greater. He would not change that for the world naturally, especially when Grem spoke up one day.

"Gems are mad today." He said, matter of factly.

"And why are they mad little warrior? Did one of the Pearls get challenged for rejecting an advance again?" Klaras asked. He had no idea why the Gems kept getting courting duels after repeated orders to the contrary, but each time was a small fiasco that he had to smooth over.

"No, something about a-" Grem said a word in Gemish. "Being attacked."

It took a moment for Klaras to decipher that one, fortunately it was a very common one used. "That word translates as Diamond, and what did I tell you about your language? One or the other, and if you don't know the words, ask." The father advised while his thoughts raced.

"The Dia-mond got attacked. This is a big deal." Grem nodded seriously. "Pearl Five-Five actually cracked a table. She liked that table. It had to be fixed by Pebbles, who are special today."

"Pebbles?" Klaras asked, unfamiliar with the word in this context as he continued to weigh the angles of things.

"Oh, did you know that there are tiny Gems! They're like our pets back home, but they make things! There are even a few here to keep things tidy!" His child asked with great enthusiasm.

"No I did not, that is interesting, but I'd like to know about the Diamond attack." Klaras replied as he tried to keep his son focused. He was getting far too much. "The Diamonds are like their gods are they not?"

Grem frowned at his father. "No, that's not right. I asked. They told me never to say we should slay them again. It would be very, very rude and offensive. Diamonds are gems as close to perfection as possible according to the Pearls. They are big, and shiny. I saw pictures. I could fit on a finger!"

"Forgive me for being rude then. You are a very good warrior to tell your father this." The premiere Gem expert was rather bemused that his son was already lecturing him on etiquette but tried to keep him on the most relevant part. "So one of them was attacked. Was he wounded?"

"No. It was a glorious battle! There are recordings of it. The Diamond was big and Green, and he went slash slash and the enemy got cut apart without him touching them! He also went stomp and popped one of the evil god's heads!" Grem began to explain.

Deciphering the childish observations took a few minutes for Klaras, but he managed to get something. Most of it was worrying, but some of it was enraging. The old evil enemy, the false gods they'd slain, had been discovered by the Gems. The Klingons had been looking ever since they'd driven them off. To know that the Gems were fighting them and had not told the Klingons felt shameful.

Confronting the Pearl about it was not the wisest course of action, but sometimes one needed to act like a warrior and not a diplomat. Fortunately the Klingon Pearl understood their people enough to not be offended. Admittedly she looked angry too, and Klaras was not going to shy away from exploiting emotions for his people.

"You want information on the Shamblers?" The Pearl asked and then blinked. "I can forward you all our unrestricted information, but why?"

Klaras didn't even need to think about that, or ask his superiors for approval. "We would join you in glorious combat."

"Huh..." The Pearl paused and chuckled. "Ah, my apologies brave warrior, it did not even occur to me to involve you. We..." Her amused face twitched before she continued. "Well, I will not insult you by saying exactly what my superiors would say, but I believe you could guess. That said, if you are willing to be respectful, Yellow Diamond would likely speak with your generals. She is..."

"Enraged?" Klaras asked. It wasn't hard to guess. His people would be furious if one of their leaders were attacked, and in this Gems weren't that alien.

"The context doesn't quite translate. Klingons would take up arms and be mad. Yellow Diamond has commanded that the Shamblers will die." Pearl's expression at the end of it was devoid of emotion.

It was akin to seeing someone say the sun will set. A certainty of faith and belief. Klaras had initially evaluated it as rage, but it wasn't quite that. Rage was hot. This was the icy cold certainty of a warrior that would behead you even if you tore out his guts. He almost pitied their old enemies, but only almost. He was anticipating the glorious combat to come more. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:VVartech, EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee and 945 others

Despite what some would consider common sense, Klingons did do diplomacy. On the surface it resembled other races for the most part. Sitting there and talking. They might have been a warrior race, but they did not get to the stars fighting all the time. Sometimes they needed to speak and coordinate. Sometimes there was a mismatch in strength, or they needed something that fighting could not provide. So, diplomacy existed.

Underneath all of that speaking was the ever burning current of rage though. Diplomats typically got their place by fighting. They had to duel frequently to make points, socialize, or simply just because. There was an entire hierarchy involved that only got more complicated with more people. This unfortunately meant that they were very unsuited for the process of speaking with Yellow Diamond. You used what you had though.

"No disruptors. Everyone keep your bat'leth visible if you decide to bring it, but do not move towards the Diamond without their leave." Klaras ordered the people accompanying him. "The Gems will not hesitate to skewer you if you look dangerous. This is an extreme honor we're being given, and you will not shame us though idiocy."

"Their precious leader will not be harmed." One of the diplomats responded with a small chuckle.

"You don't get it. They're tense at the moment. The Diamond is their god, their parent, and their everything. There is nothing they will not do for them." Klaras took a deep breath and let it out. "You read the briefing right? Eusocial is the term used, it's correct, but it does not encapsulate the meaning. When a Gem says the Diamonds are the greatest of them, they are not saying propaganda, this is not some sort of blind belief, it is a fact. A Diamond is the center point of Gem society, and currently it was just threatened. We're going into a place where an entire family has just had its mother and father assaulted. We walking into a threatened Targ's den. It doesn't matter how actually threatening they are, do not chance it!"

There was some general grumbling and someone from the expedition decided to speak up. "So why are we doing this then?"

"It is an honor." Klaras stressed the words again. "This is the emperor and general in one. Yellow Diamond is the war-leader of the entire race. She could snap her fingers and order the annihilation of our people and the Gems will gladly do so. Her meeting with us in this context means she acknowledges us. We're unblooded younglings asking a grand warleader for a place in the next battle."

"And we all want that." One of he lead diplomats finally spoke up. "Anyone stepping out of line will be slain by me personally. We have the forces we can commit, and the generals have given us their input. We will have our glorious war, but only if we can get the Gems to agree."

Klaras let a smile grace his face and nodded before he led the way into the embassy. Inside the Klingon Pearl graced them with a searching look and a smile before straightening herself into a very formal stance. She walked through several security points to a room with a very elaborate pattern on the ground. A second later she disappeared in a small flash.

Honestly, if there was one thing that encapsulated how far ahead the Gems still were, this was it. Klaras stepped into the teleporter himself and seconds later was in another place multiple lightyears away. The travel time was less than walking to the embassy. It was both humbling and galvanizing. He wanted something like this for his people. This was why he'd dedicated his life to working with Gems instead of combat.

It took a moment for him to identify where they were in his terms. This was mostly because it was too familiar rather than too alien. A military installation was probably the last place he'd expected to be taken to, but in retrospect it made sense. Yellow Diamond was made for war. Gems as a whole specialized. It actually let him relax slightly. A warrior mindset was something he and his people had context for. He was thankful again that it was Yellow that was responding to his people. Green Diamond would likely have been more alien.

Once his people had appeared and orientated themselves, Pearl guided them through several corridors large enough that his entire entourage could walk side by side and still leave room. They then approached a set of metal doors that looked like it could take a shot from a warship and be unscratched. In front of them were a pair of guard-gems (Topazes his mind informed him,) and a pair of very large Gem-armored beings that he was unfamiliar with. He didn't have much time or mental capacity to identify them at the moment.

The security check went through without issues. Klaras noted with mild bemusement that it was less invasive than some of the higher level ones back home. The scans were brief, and the Gems seemed almost approving of the bat'leth some of the men were carrying. It was always entertaining to notice when they had similar values. A Gem literally could not be disarmed, so they actually didn't mind others carrying simple weapons. Klaras held onto that feeling as the giant doors were opened and he stepped into the next room. There he beheld a Diamond in person for the first time.

His first impression was that she was large. Everything was large really. The place they were in was obviously a command center, but was far larger than anything a Klingon would build. The reason for this size became obvious when one actually registered the size of the Gem at the head of it all. Yellow Diamond's size dwarfed all others. She was a living, moving giant of a Gem. One that could literally step on them like bugs if she was so inclined. Another race would have likely felt a fission of fear, perhaps even be terrified if they knew that she could fight a Bird of Prey and have a decent chance of winning.

Klaras was a Klingon though. His entire being wanted to fight her. It was an instinct. That instinct only doubled so when she turned to him. That was just how his people were. Threats were eliminated, not escaped. Fortunately he was no unblooded hot-headed youth, at least not anymore. He could suppress the feeling and be reasonable.

"I see the Klingons have arrived." Contrary to her size, her voice was surprisingly pleasant and modulated.

He'd half expected her to be loud enough to hurt based on her size, so that was on prediction gone. He had anticipated her expression and attitude though. She looked at them like they were nothing. To the Diamond, they were barely worthy of attention. Klaras had come here knowing that though.

"We are here yes! We have come because we share a common foe! We would aid you in crushing them beneath our feet!" Klaras replied with all his pride and warning look towards his compatriots.

"Indeed. That is what I was told. I am only entertaining the possibility because you would be another weapon aimed towards them." Yellow's expression indicated her thoughts on that. "I do not anticipate you being much of a threat though. Current estimations are that it would take a two to one advantage for you to achieve victory at a minimum."

Klaras let the words and the attitude wash over him. "Be that as it may, we would rather die in glorious combat than let our enemies live and fight another day." He replied with a thump of his fist on his chest.

Yellow Diamond leaned forward slightly in mild interest. "That is interesting to hear, especially considering how fragile you all are. That said..." She gestured to the side. "Your pearl has already argued your case and I have made my decision."

Several containers were brought out and set in front of the Klingons. One of them was opened to reveal a few pads.

"These will connect you to our network, pending authorization. Work with your Pearl to authorize the appropriate people. It will give you information on where we are planning on attacking, and a direct line to the Emerald on site if you join the attack. If you abuse it, or they're captured, the devices will self-destruct." Yellow Diamond explained succinctly before continuing in a lower tone and more contemplative tone. "Tactically we expect you to become a target once the Shamblers see you aiding us. I do not anticipate many victories for you. I have been surprised before though. In light of all you've done for us, I hope to be surprised again."

He had not known that the Klingon's Pearl had done so much work for them. Klaras wouldn't turn down an easy win though. "We will definitely surprise both you and our old enemy." He paused a moment at the signal from the diplomat next to him. "That said, we do have other things to discuss. We would request that you recover our ships and people should they fall in combat while your forces are in the area and that we can salvage the enemy's ships."

Yellow Diamond blinked and leaned back, looking almost embarrassed. "Ah, I did not consider that." A screen appeared and she glanced over it before it disappeared. "Since you are risking so much it seems polite to at least assist in that. We have a smaller shipyard that is low priority for us. I will assign you limited access and will have any damaged vessels moved there for repairs. You will get half the salvage, and body remains will be recovered and delivered for..." Here she paused and frowned. "I believe they're called funerary rights?"

"I will have the appropriate traditions forward to you." Klaras said promptly. This was actually one thing they'd discussed. "We shall naturally do the same. Though I believe that what you call poofing is just your forms being damaged enough that they need time to repair."

"Yes. Poofing is fully recoverable. Cracking is if our Gem is cracked. This naturally takes a lot of force that you won't see often. The Gem might still reform, but will often be in pain or behave erratically. If you encounter a Gem like that, poof them and deliver the Gem to us. We can handle the rest." Yellow paused and continued. "You can naturally guess the next level of damage. Shattering is if the Gem is in pieces. That is reportedly extremely painful. Try to gather up the shards and we can... I believe the word is euthanize them."

The men next to Klaras shifted. He spoke first as something occurred to him based on the phrasing. "You are still aware if shattered, that does not kill you?"

"Signs point to no." Yellow replied grimly and laced her hands in front of her. "I will say this as a matter of trust. It is the closest thing to dying for us, but it is not death. All we can tell is it's pain and inability to think. I believe it is hell in your words. We haven't made progress of fixing cracking, and shattering would be harder. We have ways to put Gems into stasis, but it needs all the parts to stop the pain. If it's shattered, we don't necessarily know if we have them all. Euthanizing them is the kindest thing we can do."

One of the diplomats saluted. "To be denied death in combat is one thing. That is another. You have my personal oath that we will not allow this."

"And mine!" Several others stated.

"That is gratifying to hear." For a moment the diamond looked actually pleased before her face went cold again. "There is one more thing that occurs to me. Your people might be better suited for ground combat than us at the moment. The Shamblers have extreme counters devised for us. You are amendable to aiding us in that area?"

Klaras felt a grin grown on his face that was matched by the others. "We would love nothing more."

"Good." Yellow Diamond's face matched them briefly.

With that, the rest of the meeting was in the details for coordination. Klaras was very happy to have it done with the other Gems and the people he'd brought along. As good as it went, there'd always been a distinct feeling of worry that he'd screw something up somewhere. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, abdullacheeee, KyleDaScourge and 870 others

History says different things of the Klingons entering the war. According to them, they single handedly turned the tide of the war. According to the Gems as a whole, their arrival was mildly useful but more of a headache than anything else. If you asked Yellow specifically, she would say that their arrival complicated things immensely. It made things better, but also worse in a sense. She would not clarify the matter if requested.

From a broad outside perspective the war the Gem's called 'The First War' had several phases. The first phase, where the Gems were unaware of the Shamblers was the longest phase. It lasted several centuries, during which the Shamblers carefully and deliberately abducted Gems. It went mostly unnoticed due to a variety of factors, not the least of which was that they actually didn't take a significant population of Gems. They picked up one or two a year, and were rather careful about their targets. As a whole the Shamblers considered the Gems high value but dangerous targets worthy of occasional hunting akin to the great whales they devoured back home. This phase ended when Green Diamond discovered their predation and immediately acted to curtail their attacks.

The second phase was relatively short in comparison. Lasting several years, it mostly consisted of Gems searching for the Shamblers, and the Shamblers in turn avoiding Gems as they hid and waited. This fit into Shambler instincts and lulled them into a false sense of security. This allowed the Gems to lay a trap that successfully captured the Shamblers and started the third phase.

This third phase involved the Gems hunting the Shamblers, and them reacting. This is also when the war actually began to resemble an actual war rather than random predation and raids. This was because the Gems were now the hunters instead of the hunted. Where before the Shamblers had full initiative, they were being threatened. This shifted their attitude from a casual, almost instinctive predator's mindset to a more focused military mindset.

On a strategic level this favored the Gems. They could absorb damage significantly easier than the Shamblers. If the Shamblers did not win in totality, the Gems would barely even suffer casualties due to their very nature. They were poofed in mass most certainly, but unless their cores were shattered or stolen, the Gems would recover with extraordinarily quickly. Anything less than total victory therefore favored the Gems.

The reality was more complicated. The Shambler tactics were superior at first due to cloaking and experience. Only surprise discoveries and tactics courtesy of Green allowed the Gems to break even. Breaking even again favored the Gems, and the Shamblers knew this, so they refined their cloaking and changed their tactics in turn. Abduction and shattering became their victory conditions. As did finding weak points. Directly attempting to destroy war material was deemed unfeasible. The Gem Authority had such a glut of resources that they could trade every ship twice over before having issues.

One of the most obvious weak points was very obvious. The Diamonds were core to Gem society. Losing one would absolutely destroy them moral wise. Gems also did not have the best operational secrecy. Green and Yellow had made some significant strides in addressing this, but they lacked the history and paranoia the Shamblers did. This meant that the Shamblers had far more knowledge of Gems than the Gems had of them. Combined with the way Gems tended to keep doing the same thing for years on end meant that they knew exactly where the most vulnerable Diamond was with an almost trivial amount of effort on their part. Thus an attack against him was arranged.

This was considered one of the biggest blunders in the war. On the surface it looked appropriately arranged. The Shamblers assembled an elite team of volunteers to raid deep into Gem territory. They equipped them with the most updated Gem-Capture tools, and gave them one of the largest cloak-capable ships they had. The ship itself managed to reach the target undetected and even better managed an alpha strike that destroyed most of the local defenses. They could not have managed a better start.

Even more, their goals were very conservative. Find, identify, and damage or eliminate Green Diamond, and raid the labs for information. Command was explicit to be satisfied with just information. Green Diamond, despite his importance, was considered a secondary priority. The assumption was that he would be hid and secured with some new Gem technology, and they'd have to be satisfied with just damage. This was the overarching direction.

Here was where their problem was. The Shamblers, like most species who first encountered Gems, had assumed that the information on Diamonds was half propaganda or exaggerations. To be fair, even the Gems themselves did not know all a Diamond could do. It was considered unthinkable for a Diamond to be even threatened. They were the shining stars, the pinnacle, and that was enough for Gems. Their actual abilities were shrouded in mystery. Only one person had an inkling of how powerful a Diamond was compared to another Gem.

As a quick aside, the Shamblers, and other species were not stupid. They could understand how Gems reproduced when it was explained. They could even understand the hierarchy. A Ruby had less capability in certain areas than an Emerald. This was observable, and you could even plot the power scale on a graph somewhat. Generous predictions would therefore plot a Diamond as perhaps twice as powerful as a high class Gem. This was categorically incorrect.

Green Diamond was the only one to seriously study it, and he kept his findings to himself. A Diamond wasn't just twice as strong. A diamond was several exponents stronger. He showed that extensively by outright eliminating a notable portion of the Shamblers alone within minutes. This decapitation of their forces single-handedly caused the raid to fail and a general retreat to be ordered, which also failed.

It also caused the Gems to go into a fanatic frenzy. This wasn't just a war now, it was a holy war of sorts. It was as if the Shamblers had attempted to destroy another race's home planet. Where before the Gems were committed, now they were enraged beyond reason.

Enter the Klingons. As a standard practice Gems left the race to themselves. They had been helpful, but there was no reason for more than casual communication between them. They were respectfully distant. With the raid on their Diamond the Pearl in charge of relations immediately suggested that the Klingons would be another weapon they could use. (The Klingons themselves were notably enthusiastic at the prospect.)

Here was where the fourth phase of the war started. The Klingons were not a match for the Shamblers alone. They were mostly capable of pinpricks and making the Shamblers' lives difficult due to their own experience with cloaking. Their cloaking was still inferior to their opponents, their ships were inadequate and an one on one fight, and their best contribution was live bodies on infantry actions.

They were in essence an obvious weak point. This made them perfect bait that the Gems exploited ruthlessly. The Shamblers would intercept Klingon ships, then the Gems would intervene, inflicting heave casualties. If they were jointly together, the Shamblers would target the Klingons first, and the Gems would allow it because they could attack freely. Ignoring the Klingons allowed them to use their cloaking to target critical weakpoints on the Shamblers, and Gem ships were built to take damage.

It was a cruel and ruthless tactic that both races deemed acceptable. The Klingons had the population and morale to absorb the damage that they were taking. Their biggest block was hardware, and that was handled by their allies. A shipyard was leased, and eventually the Gems simply produced more ships for them when needed.

On a more technical note, Klingon ships were considered primitive to both Gems and Shamblers. The Gems deliberately did not offer upgrades or improved technology. The offered advice, and would eliminate inefficiencies in the designs, but all the technology was Klingon. Neither race was inclined to share technology, and the Klingon focus on both cloaking and devastating firepower was distinctly different than the Gem focus. There was also a matter of pride and other factors that led to the Klingons gaining minimal direct aid. Indirectly they profited immensely in certain areas.

To contrast, Gem ships were best described as armored beasts. They had decent firepower, but they focused on distinctly exotic and hard to defend effects. The damage was relatively low but impossible to defend against comparatively. This came from the fact that their initial design, pre-Green was mostly geared towards durability. Green had not considered that worth changing before the war, and after he'd focused mostly on weapon development or increasingly larger ships. Fighting the Shamblers just made them increase the armoring and add wide area attacks, typically in the form of phasers or lasers rather than create new ships.

Shambler ships were similar to Klingons due to the latter being essentially stolen from the former. They had a higher focus on closing the distance at first. As the war moved on they switched to more energy based attacks that disrupted and confused, allowing them free reign to line up kill shots. This led to a more all or nothing sort of fight in most battles. The Shamblers would attack from cloaking and flee if the initial attack failed to do enough damage. It was reportedly infuriating.

The fourth phase of the war dragged on in this matter for roughly twenty years. Bloody battles, skirmishes, and destruction. The Shamblers attempted more raids in critical areas, but if there was one place Gems thrived, it was defensive battles. They only became more successful over time, which freed up more forces to identify where the Shamblers infrastructure was. Slowly and methodically the Klingon and Gem forces began to explore closer and closer to critical Shambler infrastructure.

Eventually they found something and a large force was readied to attack. This began the fifth phase of the war, and also the time when both the Gems and Shamblers committed their full might.

The Klingons called the battle the 'Battle of Screams.' (The Gems called it a numeric battle at first, but adopted the name once they heard of it.)Last edited: Jun 23, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:EzertTheLizart, KyleDaScourge, Everfic and 879 others

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