27The Elsewhere Saga: Emerald Rising
Book One: Allegiance
Chapter One: Exodus
Planet Earth. Era 1 Year 5,138,922. Late October.
The sound of explosions and shouts shook the once peaceful planet, now turned in its entirety into a battleground. What survivors would later go on to call "the Gem War," or, more descriptively, "the War for Earth," had raged for decades, and was just now on its last legs. The leader of a rogue terrorist cell of Gems had done the unthinkable: Rose Quartz had somehow managed to shatter Pink Diamond. The other Diamonds had ordered an evacuation of Earth, effective immediately.
Somewhere in what would later become Europe, one final skirmish raged. Humans armed with cannons salvaged from Gem ships pushed the Homeworld Gems back, away from the latter's camp. Dozens of Gems of all types raced to waiting dropships, taking them into orbit around the blue planet. Among these Gems, one was called Emerald. The green Gem stood a good eight feet tall, with a coffin-shaped gemstone on her right upper forearm. Currently, she was evacuating her subordinates.
"Everyone, we need to move now!" she shouted. "The Diamonds gave us twenty-four hours to leave, and that was twenty-four hours ago! Move, move, move!"
Emerald ducked behind a tree to avoid incoming cannon-fire. She activated a small communicator, asking into it,
"Tanzanite, are you there? What's the situation? Give me some good news."
A monotone voice answered. "Yes, My Emerald. Sensors have detected some manner of energy beam racing from Homeworld to Earth at seven times the speed of light. By my estimates, you have five minutes until impact."
"Ugh," Emerald growled. "They don't make it easy for us, do they? Keep those engines warm, we'll be right with you."
"Yes, My Emerald. Diamondspeed." the voice said, and the transmission ended. More explosions rocked the forest around the fleeing Gems. The humans, no longer content with only their ranged offensive, began sending soldiers to deal with the fleeing Gems in close combat.
Emerald was continuing to direct her troops, when a flash of something pink caught her eye. There, nestled beneath a fallen tree in a dry creek bed, sat a Pearl. Immediately curious as to what such a Gem was doing in a warzone such as this, Emerald rushed over to her, before the swipe of a broadsword blocked her path.
"Die, demon!" the human yelled. Two more of the organics flanked their fellow, all three of them decked out in armor and armed with weapons forged from Gem tech. No doubt gifted to them by the Crystal Gems.
Emerald snarled. "I don't have time for this!" Her gem began to glow, and a blade emerged, a foot or so from her hand in length, perpendicular to her arm. "Get out of my way before I run you through!"
As always, the humans didn't listen. The first reared up for an overhead swing, but Emerald blocked it and quickly disarmed him, moving on to his fellows. The second lunged, though Emerald sidestepped, grabbing the human by the shoulder. Before the third could react, Emerald threw the other towards him, sending them both to the ground.
Emerald turned and continued to walk towards the creek, but the same humans returned to block her path. With an irritated sigh, Emerald thrush her left hand outwards. Bolts of green electricity shot from her palm, arcing between the humans. The trio shook for a few seconds, before collapsing to the ground. With an angry snort, Emerald walked past them.
Emerald now had a better view of the Pearl; the small Gem was curled into a ball, flinching at every sound she heard. The poor thing was looking around wildly, tears welling up in her eyes. Her skin, hair, gem, and outfit were all pink. She wore a small skirt along with tights and slippers, with her hair in a bob. Her gem rested on her navel. Emerald jumped down into the creekbed, scooping the Pearl up in her arms.
"Hey, it's okay, I've got you. I've got you." Emerald tried to reassure the frightened Gem. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Where's your owner? Who do you belong to?"
"I...I d-don't know…" the Pearl answered tearfully.
"What?" Emerald asked, incredulous. "How do you not...nevermind, nevermind." The larger Gem carried the smaller one out of the creek towards the edge of the forest.
"Hello!? I found a Pearl! Has anyone lost a Pearl!?" Emerald shouted to passing Gems. "You there! Do you recognize this Pearl? Is she yours?" Emerald asked a passing Pyrope. The burgundy Gem shook her head, and continued running. Emerald followed suit, taking the Pearl to a nearby dropship.
"Here," she said, passing the Pearl to a Citrine in the ship. "Take her to the Evaporator. I'll be with you shortly."
"Yes, My Emerald," the Quartz responded. "Where are you going to go?"
"I have to make sure everyone else got onboard a ship," Emerald answered. "Make sure she's comfortable," gesturing towards the Pearl.
The Citrine nodded, as the doors to the ship closed, taking off towards Emerald's flagship. Now that the Pearl was safe, she headed towards higher ground to survey the situation. A handful of Rubies and Quartz soldiers were locked in combat with human combatants. A deep green Garnet, an Uvarovite, was overlooking the situation. Emerald approached her.
"General, we have to evacuate now," Emerald said. "Why are your troops still engaging the enemy?"
The Uvarovite responded, "My Emerald, we have reason to believe the humans have raided our armory and stolen the high-yield plasma explosives." A high-pitched whine followed by a flash of light and a deafening boom confirmed this fact. "Just one of those things would be enough to disable a dropship. We'll keep them away from the treeline while the rest of you escape."
More explosions rang out. "General, I can't let any Gems under my command get left behind," Emerald said sternly.
Uvarovite placed her hand on Emerald's shoulder. "If we leave now, all those dropships will never make it. Besides, you won't be leaving us behind, we're staying willingly."
As Emerald was still unsure, Uvarovite continued. "My Emerald, when I was added to your division all those years ago, I promised you that I would give my life for you. Please, let me keep that promise.
Emerald looked down. "You don't have to do this, you know."
"I know," the Garnet responded. "I want to."
"Very well then," Emerald sighed, turning to go. She briefly turned back, saying "It was an honor serving with you, Uvarovite."
"With you as well, My Emerald. Adamantem In Eternum."
"Adamantem In Eternum," Emerald echoed, as she hurried towards the dropships. Three bright lights, the same colors as the remaining Diamonds, appeared in the sky. This was Emerald's cue to start running.
One final ship remained on the ground, nearly empty aside from a trio of Amethysts. Just as Emerald hopped in, the lights in the sky grew almost as bright as the sun.
"Get us the void out of here!" Emerald shouted to the pilot. In response, the Nephrite pulled upwards, though the door to the ship did not close.
"Something's wrong, My Emerald!" the Nephrite called back. "I think the door is jammed!"
The lights in the sky were no longer in the sky, but had just made contact with the planet's surface. As Emerald pulled on the ship's door an enormous shockwave raced across Earth, reaching the ship just as Emerald managed to shut the door.
A searing pain shot through Emerald's left wrist, bringing her to her knees. Just as quickly as it had come, it had vanished.
"Are you alright, My Emerald?" one of the Amethysts asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, fine," Emerald grumbled, massaging away the residual pain. "Let's just get back to the ship and leave this nightmare behind us."
The Soul Evaporator was Emerald's personal flagship, from which she commanded legions of soldiers and starships. Shaped not unlike a modern train engine, there were six large turrets on each side, as well as four smaller ones towards the front. It currently orbited just outside of the Earth's atmosphere, and was the destination of the numerous dropships from the last few hours, now including Emerald's.
Emerald entered the bridge of the Soul Evaporator, where two Gems were waiting for. One was absolutely massive, standing a full head-and-a-half taller than Emerald, and much broader. She had grayish skin, a black jumpsuit, and long, white hair. It could not be seen due to her hair, but her gemstone, black, and circular with an octagonal facet, was on the back of her neck. Her name was Onyx, a Quartz soldier, and Emerald's personal champion and bodyguard.
The other Gem was Much smaller, roughly the size of a Pearl. Her dark blue gemstone, in the shape of a square, was positioned on the back of her right hand. She was quite slender, and was dressed in a tight blue jumpsuit, the same color as her gem and hair. Speaking of her hair, it was cut in the shape of a square, giving her the illusion of having a box-shaped head when viewed from the front. Her name was Tanzanite, and it was her who Emerald wished to see.
As she entered the bridge, Emerald asked "Tanzanite, give me a status report. What kind of damage are we looking at here?"
"Yes, My Emerald," Tanzanite responded, showing no emotion either in her voice or on her face. "By my estimates, just under four billion Gems were destroyed by the Diamond's weapon. Of them, roughly thirty percent were still loyal to Homeworld."
Emerald sighed. "This all feels so surreal. Just yesterday I felt the war was almost won, and now Pink Diamond…" She stopped herself, shaking her head.
"Don't worry, Mera," came the gruff voice of Onyx. "We've been through worse, we'll get through this."
In spite of herself, Emerald couldn't help but grin a bit. "I thought I told you not to call me 'Mera,' Onyx."
"My mistake, miss," the black Gem said, smirking. "But all kidding aside, what do we do now?"
"My Emerald, I would not risk returning to the Galaxy Warp," Tanzanite said. "Even if there is no residual energy from the Diamond attack, it has no doubt been taken by the inhabitants of this planet."
Emerald nodded in agreement. "Either way, it wouldn't be worth losing more Gems then we've already lost. There's a mass-warp point on one of Jupiter's moons, near Blue Diamond's Human Zoo. We'll meet up there, and warp back to Homeworld that way. Chart a course, now."
Tanzanite nodded, relaying the information to the Peridots and Nephrites at the helm. Emerald took her place at the captain's chair, and sent out a transmission.
"To all Homeworld-allied starships, this is Supreme Admiral Emerald of the Soul Evaporator. All ships receiving this broadcast, we will rendezvous at outpost Upsilon-Theta to warp back to Homeworld. End transmission."
Emerald reclined in her chair, as Onyx approached.
"Not to intrude, miss," the large Gem said, "but I was told you have a visitor in your quarters."
Emerald stood up. In all the excitement, she had completely forgotten about the Pearl. She hurried to her quarters to greet her new guest.
