Chrome Diopside crouched low to the ground, she was sat on a cliff overlooking a small clearing in the forest below, she held a pair of binoculars to her eyes and through them she could make out a group of gems below. Behind Chrome was her partner Morganite, giggling and snickering quietly to herself.
“Targets have been spotted, they appear to be setting up camp for the night." Chrome reported her observation to Morganite but she just continued laughing as if she hadn't heard.
“Are you listening to me?” Chrome twisted round to glare at her partner, Morganite’s hands quickly disappeared behind her back and her mouth was clenched shut, her cheeks puffed out like they were full. Chrome stared and Morganite tried to smile casually at her.
“Whatever it is spit it out right now.” Morganite did her best to appear both innocent and offended but the thing in her mouth decided that it wasn't too happy being trapped and it started squirming. Chrome could see it poking at Morganite’s cheeks and a leg poked out from her mouth.
“Spit. It. Out.” Morganite stared at Chrome for a second before she sighed through her nose and opened her mouth. She spat out bugs and spiders, some of were still moving but most were curled up and obviously dead. Morganite wiped away drool with the back of her hand, Chrome mimed throwing up and Morganite pouted.
“I didn't have them in there the whole time, I just figured that since you weren't using my mouth that it'd be good place to hide them." Morganite grabbed a spider that was crawling away and pulled off two of it's legs before putting down to watch it fall as it tried to walk.
“I sure as stars won’t be using your mouth until you wash it out." Morganite stuck her tongue out at Chrome before she returned to watching the clearing; it was getting dark, even with binoculars and no trees in the way it was hard to make out the gems below. Morganite quickly got bored of her crippled spider, she joined Chrome at the edge of the cliff taking the binoculars so she could see into the clearing herself. Chrome watched Morganite adjust the binoculars, even when Chrome crouched down Morganite was barely taller than her shoulder and the binoculars too big for her face. Chrome opened her mouth to repeat what she said earlier but she was cut off.
“They're camping for the night, I heard you. Do you know what gems are down there?” Morganite handed the binoculars back to Chrome, unable to get a better look for herself.
“Not really. Some of them have reformed into non-standard projections, they’re unknown, the rest all look pretty small, also unknown but probably not a big deal. Topaz should come back with something more definite.” Morganite nodded and sat down next to Chrome to wait. It took Topaz ten minutes to return, Topaz had changed into a small earth bird so she could move around undetected and she shifted back into her original form as she landed next to Chrome, she dropped onto her knees and pointed down at the gems below.
“We’re significantly outnumbered, even with the other four at the ship, couldn’t get an exact number but there’s a little under twenty gems in the clearing.” Topaz paused, waiting for Chrome to say something or offer some kind of advice, when she didn't Topaz continued.
“Good news though, most of them are morganites and pearls fresh off homeworld, no combat experience. There is at least one quartz and a few unidentified gems that could pose a problem, but otherwise should be easy pickings.” Chrome hummed as she processed the information. It was definitely much better than what she had been expecting, Chrome’s team easily outskilled the rebels and she doubted the numbers would be that big a problem but she didn't want to get too sure of herself, thinking up battle plans on the fly wasn’t Chrome’s strong suit.
"We'll head back to the ship and see what Pearl thinks, she'll know what to do."
***
When Chrome and the others got back to the ship they reported their findings to Pearl and she hurried off to inform Homeworld. Topaz skulked off further into the ship while Chrome and Morganite followed after Pearl.
Pearl was in communications, typing furiously at one of the consoles. Chrome leaned against the wall with her arms folded while she waited, Morganite sat down on the floor and lay back against Chrome's leg, her head resting against Chrome's thigh. Pearl turned to face the pair and brushed a strand of black hair away from her face, Pearl's expression was her usual frown giving nothing away about the nature of Homeworld's message.
"Well?" Chrome questioned, as Pearl flicked a switch on a different console. Pearl turned to Chrome, standing with her back straight and hands clasped behind her back.
"Nothing Homeworld hasn't told us already. More rebels than previously thought but the main objective is still the same: shatter all Crystal Gems." Pearl looked like she wanted to say more but Morganite made an over-exaggerated yawn, drawing Chrome and Pearl's attention to her. Morganite tucked her arms behind her head and folded one leg over the other.
"So we just run in guns blazing, tear 'em apart, report back, and leave. Easy peasy, we'll be off planet within the day."
"We're not doing that." Pearl stared down at Morganite with a glare that left no room for argument, Morganite looked up at Chrome with a pout on her face and her eyes pleading. Chrome gave her a small sympathetic smile.
"What's the plan then Pearl?" Chrome looked back to Pearl and Morganite groaned, in a huff now that they weren't going with her idea.
"I'll go into detail when the others get here but we'll be keeping the rebels alive a little longer." The others filed in not long after standing around Pearl while she explained her plan.
"We are on the doorstep of approximately twenty Crystal Gems who have been separated from the main force of the rebellion, Homeworld has sent us to eliminate them before they can rejoin but," Pearl paused, apparently for no reason other than dramatic effect. "I suggest that we infiltrate the group, follow them, and take out the entirety of the rebellion at once. Any questions?"
"Does Homeworld know about this?" Moonstone spoke up, twisting one of her dreads around her finger. Next to her Cinnabar raised her hand and then Serpentine after her.
"How long will this take?"
"How are we supposed to infiltrate the rebels?"
"Homeworld has approved the mission, provided we don't mess it up. This needs to be planned and implemented /tonight/ before the rebels move, after that it depends. For infiltration one of us will join the rebels while a smaller group of us follow after. It needs to someone who'll fit into the group and they wouldn't think could kill them." There was silence while they processed the information before everyone turned to Morganite. Morganite stared back confused until realisation suddenly hit her.
"Why do I have to do it?" She yelled, jumping to her feet, her fists clenched at her sides.
"There's morganites already there, what's one more? Plus, why would Homeworld send a morganite to kill them?" Topaz chimed in from the back of the room, Morganite glared at her before turning her glare on Pearl.
"Why can't you do it? Homeworld wouldn't send a pearl!"
"Without Pearl at the ship the team would fall apart. Not to mention, you're a better actor than her, you'll do better than she could." Chrome placed her hand on Morganite's shoulder and she looked at Chrome and frowned at her. Morganite opened her mouth as if to argue further but she failed to come up with anything.
"Since that's been dealt with," Pearl started, bringing attention of the team back to her. "We need to get ready, you've got five minutes before you leave."
***
The team walked to a cliff a little closer to the ship than where Morganite and the others were earlier, except Morganite didn't walk, rather she was carried on Chrome's shoulders. Halfway there Morganite knocked her shoulder against Chrome, a arm across her forehead feigning exhaustion.
"Oh Chrome, I don't think I can make it, you better go on without me." Morganite was about to drop to the ground dramatically when strong hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her up. Chrome sat Morganite on her shoulders and kept walking, now trapped Morganite sighed and pushed her face into Chrome's hair. Morganite hated missions like this, when they had to act all pally with the target, it wasn't even the fun kind where she would lure them in to be ripped to shreds, if Morganite had to act all nice at least let her have some fun after.
Also- and Morganite will never mention it out loud- she’s not sure if she can keep the act up for that long considering she hadn't done it for several thousand years, and that was back with Star Ruby, it didn't even count. Morganite didn’t want to give Pearl anymore of a reason to hate her. She didn't want to disappoint Chrome either.
They stopped and Morganite could see dim light coming from the camp, Chrome helped Morganite off her shoulders, even when she was firmly back on the ground Morganite kept a tight grip on her partner’s hand. Chrome looked down at their hands with a small smile on her face.
“Don’t worry, you’ll do a good job.” Morganite pouted and Chrome smile grew into a grin.
“If you behave we’ll let you shatter Rose Quartz~” Morganite’s face lit up and she flashed a toothy grin before skipping off. She joined the others all crouched around the cliff edge, staring at the ground and the light in the distance.
“Not to be a bummer,” Moonstone started. “But how do we get Morganite down there?” Pearl looked up to glare at Moonstone but didn’t provide an answer.
“She could… climb down?” Serpentine piped in nervously, When no one responded Serpentine seemed to shrink in on herself. Topaz stood up suddenly and walked over up to Morganite.
“I know how to get her down.” Topaz brought her foot up and smashed it into Morganite’s back. Morganite didn’t realise what was happening until she felt air rushing past her, smashing through a canopy of tree branches on the way down, she twisted her body and pain blossomed through her shoulder, she grasped her shoulder and felt blood trickling underneath her fingers. Morganite pushed herself onto her feet and glared furiously up at the cliff.
“You’re dead Topaz! When I get back up there I’m going to shatter you! Topaz you are so going-” A hand grasped Morganite’s shoulder- she whirled round, tripping over her feet and falling back onto the ground- a gem looked down at Morganite with concern in her eyes. Morganite’s hand dropped to her gem, about to summon her weapon before her brain kicked into gear. This was one of the rebels, Morganite needed this gem to trust her.
“I-i didn't mean it! I won’t shatter Topaz! I won’t shatter anyone! Don’t hurt me!” Morganite took up the role of helpless victim quite well- within seconds tears were welling up and spilling from her eyes, sobs and hiccups escaped her mouth she looked up at the gem as if she were terrified. The gem dropped to her knees, wiping away tears and holding Morganite’s cheeks in her hands.
“Oh my little star! Nobody’s going to hurt you now, you’re safe here.” Morganite sniffed and offered up a small smile- this was working better than Morganite thought it would, crystal gems are far too trusting.
“My name’s Nacre, who are you?” The Nacre pulled twigs out of Morganite’s hair and pushed a strand behind her ear. She peeled away Morganite’s hand from her shoulder and looked at, gently rubbing away the blood.
“Morganite. Um, what are you doing?” Nacre poked at Morganite’s shoulder and she let out a squeal that she wished was fake; Nacre’s hand began to glow, it burned her skin at first before becoming a comforting warmth that replaced the pain. Nacre pulled her hand away and Morganite’s shoulder was healed. That was impressive and potentially a problem. Nacre gently grabbed Morganite’s hands and pulled her to her feet.
Wholesale Demantoid garnet parcels We now have two wholesale lots of Namibian demantoid garnet crystals for sale in our etsy shop. Demantoid’s are a green variety of garnet known for its exceptional fire, almost unparalleled in coloured gemstones. Lot 1 23.8g Demantoid Garnet from Namibia 3mm – 20mm This lot is for 23.8g parcel of Demantoid Garnet from Namibia, they are green stones vary…
To catch up on parts 1 & 2 click here. We pick up the story 2 weeks into the trip having eventually managed to get the number of a main gemstone dealer. . . . . .
I gave the contact a call and we agreed meet at a service station on the way out of town later that evening. We were of course due to meet the pair of miners we had met yesterday, to drive them back…
