Keeping Up With the Fuscites Closed (Fuscite, Paddy, Soda)

[Sodalite]

Soda didn't even have the time to process everything Padparadscha had said, when the corrupted monster that made the sound earlier finally decided to make an appearance. The being that appeared before them truly lived up to the fear it had given Soda. It was huge, grotesque, and fit what little criteria Sodalite had for corruptions. She did nothing, backing up when the corruption arrived, as opposed to Padparadscha who had created some sort of glowing plasma out of her hands and was prepared to attack the creature. Within moments, Padparadscha had flung the plasma at the corruption, leaving Soda to watch as it slowly disappeared. Padparadscha was impressively strong, that plasma thing she did seemed to finish the corruption off after just one hit. "W, wow, you did it?" It was almost too good to be true. 

In fact it was actually too good to be true. Seconds later, more of the creatures appeared, seemingly out of thin air. "More!?" The fear that had just disappeared had already returned, leaving Soda cowering as the new creatures appeared to get upset at the loss of the first one. "How did all of these even sneak on board?" Her voice showed obvious signs of fear, not that everyone couldn't already tell that she was terrified by her body language. Even if she had the courage, there was nothing she could do. Her limb enhancer could fire a blast of sorts, but then she'd run the risk of damaging the ship, and she didn't have plasma powers like Padparadscha did. All she could do on her own was freeze liquid. Sure, she might be able to see how many invisible creatures they were dealing with if she froze the area and used the moisture in the air to create a thin frost layer over everything, but this wasn't going to work in the dark. Why did the lights go out anyway? 

Soda considered running out of the room and over to the control panel to see if she could turn it on, but the idea sounded crazy after she thought about it. For now, she wasn't going to be leaving Padparadscha's side, for her own sake. She made her way over to Padparadscha and stayed near her, she never flat out admitted that she was helpless in their current situation, but it was definitely how she felt.

[Paddy]

She peered with narrowing eyes as her foe was quickly ended. "It didn't have a gem," She remarked as the creature faded from existence. It had been surprisingly easy to deal with despite its shape, but she supposed that there were many stranger things she'd seen. "I'm not sure Sodalite, but but given that the first didn't have a gem, there must be a true corruption nearby who is producing these ones," She peered around, listening to the sound of chitin scraping. Within the room, the creatures materialized from the ether. She could hear their compatriots skittering feet in the holding cells, even in the gravity engine compartments. "The projector is either here, or within observation range...most likely. Our strategy should be to find the original, and dispatch of it before it can wear our endurance down," Despite the heft of corruption she'd been witness to, Padparadscha couldn't really say for sure. Every encounter was different from the last in some manner,"Stay alert, think on your feet," She reminded the team, and her eyes flicked to Sodalite as she closed in. 

Amethyst eyed the corruptions crawling down the walls with furrowed brows, gripping the curved blade in her left hand as she waited for orders. Her eyes were stuck onto the corruptions, waiting for one of them to make a move-- if they did, she hopefully be there before harm could befall the gems she was suppose to be guarding. A shaking Pink Pearl too took a moment to summon her own method of self defense, but like Sodalite, stuck near the sapphire and held her dagger close.

The advantage of this being her ship was that Padparadscha felt inclined to do whatever she had to in order to get revenge for her busted tech-- and she knew that most of the shuttle's interior was made of de-ionizing alloys that would cancel the effects of electromagnetic interference, as per her request. She pulled what remained of the live plasma she'd used before, and aimed it up at the nearest creature who had just touched its feet to the ground, then eyed the Amethyst and gave a nod. "Mind the heat," Padpara noted to the blue and pink gems standing so close to her. 

All at once, the guard rushed and swung her weapon at the nearest corruption, while Padparadscha's plasma lashed out toward the one she had been aiming for. 

[The God-Emperor of Gemkind]

Fuscite rubbed her hands together as the crew engaged with her holographic decoys, the pilot's aged eyes following the Quartz soldier. Her gaze was distracted, however, by a rather shrill shriek that one of her holograms had released as it pounced over the small blue gem. Moments before it landed, however, Fuscite dissipated the hologram and exhaled quickly. She just couldn't stand to see blue gems of a vertically challenged stature get hurt. Deactivating her suit's camouflage, Fuscite summoned her blade-gauntlets and adopted a more aggressive crouch on the ceiling - deciding that now of all times was a good place to end this little scuffle. As the horde of holograms closed in on Para, Fuscite angled her body and launched herself off of the ceiling, adopting a dive-like posture as the armored gem tore straight through the Quartz and rolled onto the floor, springing towards the Pearl and tackling the frail gem in an effort to pin her down.

[Sodalite]

"A true corruption?" Soda's eyes darted from one monster to the next, looking for any sort of variation between them. Sadly, none of the creatures stood out from the others, each one possessing an equally terrible appearance. "They all look the same!" The hopelessness of the situation was frustrating, making it harder and harder to think straight. The other three were prepared to fight, summoning weapons as they all gathered together. Soda on the other hand, was slightly less prepared. She didn't have the ability to summon a weapon, and wasn't honestly too sure what her plan was. She just hoped that Padparadscha and Amethyst could take care of anything before it got to her.

As the creatures closed in, Soda slowly started moving away from the group, dodging them as they flew in between the gems. Soon enough, each of them were preoccupied by their own problems, fighting off the corruptions the best they could. Apart from Soda, who was still doing next to nothing to contribute. She wasn't made for this type of thing, and was still unsure of how she could help. Then one of the creatures started approaching her, slowly at first, before letting out a loud screech and lunging directly at her. Soda ended up diving backwards, tucking her knees in as she curled up into a ball on the floor of the ship. However, the monster that was about to attack her never actually made contact. Soda wanted to pretend this wasn't happening, keeping her eyes tightly shut as she whimpered alone on the ground. While she was down, she heard a sound that bore a striking resemblance to a gem poofing. This and the monster that never landed peaked her curiosity, causing her to look up with concern.

Her eyes now had tears forming in the corners, as she assessed the situation from the floor. What she saw came as quite the shock, but not necessarily a good one. Padparadscha was fending off the entire horde on her own, Amythest was nowhere to be seen, but Pearl was being pinned down by some sort of alien. This had to be what was creating the monsters, the source gem as Padparadscha had called it, but knowing that wasn't going to help much with their current situation. This was bad, and it only seemed to be getting worse.

[Paddy]

Amethysts eyes snapped onto the form of the new entity in the room immediately, but before she could react, she'd been pierced, and her form went up in a puff of purple dust. Pearl let out a scream as she saw her quartz comrade so easily dispatched of, and the creature who had dealt the blow flew into a blur toward her, and she smacked back into the ground-- her dagger flew out of her hands. In the same moment, Padparadscha had sent a coil of plasma zipping toward one of the corruptions, just as her eyes were pulled into the direction of Amethyst's gem-core as it landed with a clink to the floor. Then, her eyes flicked to the foe who had trapped her pearl.

The movement of this enemy was far to precise and calculated to be that of any corruption she had seen before. The shape, despite the unfamiliar technology they were surrounded by, told that this enemy was more than she had bargained for. "Not corruption-- gem," She fumed. Her precious pearl, a gem who had been with her since the beginning, had been slammed into the floor and was likely about to be dispatched of in the same manner as Amethyst was. Her eyes flicked to the ground nearer to her, and her eyes widened as she realized Sodalite was crumbling under this high-pressure scuffle,"It's going to be alright, Sodalite! We still outnumber them, stay alert!" Padparadscha tried to reassure the chemist as she trained her eyes back onto the intruder. She latched back onto her idea that there must have been some sort of mutiny-- this was a rebel, and there were likely others around. Had they too infiltrated the ship? 

"Step away from the pearl," She held up an orb of coalescing energy, her lip pulled up into a sneer. But she also kept an eye around the room, she had no idea what to expect next. If they were all about to be pounced by invisible guerrilla soldiers, she wanted to be able to react on a moment's notice. 

[The God-Emperor of Gemkind]

Fuscite's grasp on the Pearl solidified after the initial pounce, and the explorer forced the cowering gem onto her feet. "Relax, Pinkie - you're only going to get hurt if your kommandante mucks everything up," she whispered to the Pearl as the red gem focused her attention on Fuscite.

"Step away from the Pearl." 

As those words escaped her mouth, the holograms began retreating out of the room and back into the corridor.  Craning her neck to face the commanding gem, Fuscite turned her hostage towards the Homeworld officer. "Put the goo down, officer. You and I both know that if you use that gunk this Pearl's taking a bath."
Exhaling, Fuscite hollered down the hall at her holograms  to turn the lights back on - which they did with a mechanical diligence. As the ship's illumination came back online, Fuscite's battered HOIMEA could be seen clearly; the old and battered Homeworld insignia from ages long past eroded yet faintly visible. Using her free arm to remove and hold her helmet, Fuscite shook her head to adjust her hair before looking the red gem dead in the eyes with an authoritative expression on her face.
"Now here's what's going to happen - I don't care whether you're one of those rebels or another Homeworld youngling, but that ship's crew thought it'd be a good idea to imprison and interrogate one of my loyal crew members - and unless you want your ship looking like theirs, you're going to get my compatriot out of the dungeon they have her locked up in. And if you so much as aggressively blink at me during this process, this Pearl won't be the only hostage  getting holes put in them. Are we clear?" 

[Sodalite]

"Gem?" Soda got to her feet again, holding her arms out in front defensively. This whole time it was just another gem? Why were they being so hostile? Soda settled on the fact that they must've been one of the rebel gems she'd heard about. They still outnumbered them, like Padparadscha said, but Soda wondered how much that mattered given her set of skills.

Everything about the scenario changed when the mysterious gem finally decided to open her mouth. It seemed as if she wasn't mindlessly attacking them after all, she had ulterior motives for what she was doing. While Soda tried to wrap her head around all of this, the holograms went away, and shortly after the lights flickered back to life, removing a weight from her shoulders. She was grateful, taking comfort in knowing all of her surroundings in the now lit room. There was just one huge problem remaining, the rebel gem. Although, upon removing her helmet and explaining the situation, Soda wasn't so sure that this was a rebel after all. She didn't have a clear idea what she was at all, but it seemed as if they were going to need to help this gem or the Pearl was going to get hurt.

At this point, Soda was just as upset as she was scared. As far as she was concerned, she'd been made a fool of by this gem. She really wanted to earn Padparadscha's respect, but the odds of that were probably pretty slim after the show she'd just put on. Now this gem wanted them to go help her with a crime, and because of the dirty trick she pulled grabbing a hold of the Pearl, there was nothing they could do but follow orders. It was just so infuriating. They seemed to be focused on Padparadscha, Soda wondered if perhaps she could get away with staying by the ship while they went to go free her friend. "Padparadscha, I think it might be best if you go with her and do what she says," Soda paused for just a second, she didn't really need to fake a terrified face, but she mustered up the most innocent voice she could when she spoke again "I'm just going to stay here for now, I need a second to recover after all that..." Soda kinda knew this plan had no chance of working on a gem who'd been smart enough to take a hostage, but she figured it was worth a shot.

[Paddy]

A jolt hit the sapphire as she realized this rebel didn't associate themselves with the surface rebellion, and it seemed as if they were, at some point, loyal, though though she found it quite clear that this was a fugitive. Her brows furrowed over her darkening eyes, lips pursed as she let the threatening sunburst draw out into the ether, the light shed by it disappearing as it was replaced by the shuttle's fixture grid. She didn't want to give in to the demands of rebels, no matter who they associated themselves with, but she also needed to look out for her own crew. Padparadscha eyed the Amethyst gem core that laid on the ground, then quickly shifted her gaze across her pearl, who whimpered as she held herself unnaturally still. The poor gem was never meant to be handled like that, Padpara grimaced as she racked her brain for an idea.

Then, Sodalite spoke up. The sapphire flicked her gaze to the small blue gem, and realized that she must've had some sort of plan. Without her holoscreen, Padparadscha wouldn't be as effective in any sort of covert take-down of this anomalous gem that had attacked them, but perhaps they could get the upper hand anyway. She wasn't sure if the captor would allow it, but the sapphire gave a quick affirmative hand gesture toward Sodalite. She feared any more communication than that might set off this stranger. 

She straightened out, and pursed her lips again. "Fine then, I'll see if I can't help your crew. Lead the way,"

[The God-Emperor of Gemkind]

Fuscite exhaled as the red gem's odd goo dissipated into nothing, her expression lightening into a more casual grin. Releasing her grip on the Pearl, Fuscite walked over to the purple gem core on the ground and picked it up, examining the gem in the ship's artificial light. Closing her fist and locking it within her armored grasp, Fuscite motioned for Padparadscha's crew to follow her as she strolled out of the room and towards the ramp. The holograms Fuscite had placed in the cockpit lowered the ramp before dissipating in clouds of green diamonds, leaving behind no trace of their presence.

"Everyone is coming along, small blue gem. You can take all the time you want to 'recover' after my compatriot is released."  

Stepping out of the ship, Fuscite rolled her head and let out a chuckle.

"Back in my day, Homeworld made our ships a lot tougher than these paper airplanes you kids are flying. It's embarrassing, how easily the first ship went down. Goodness."

Fuscite walked across the open ground towards the ship as three other Fuscites emerged from the rubble and ran to accompany their captain, brandishing antique Homeworld rifles. 

"What's Homeworld like nowadays, Officer?" the explorer inquired, tilting her head slightly as  she walked. "Haven't been there since..." Fuscite paused for a moment, the confident grin wavering momentarily. 

"I'm getting off track. Sorry." she resumed, hopping over a piece of debris. They were nearing the main chunk of the downed ship now, and two other Fuscites could be seen at the primary entrance her crew had been using. Upon seeing their captain, the two guards smiled and waved at Fuscite, hurriedly rushing inside the ship and out of view. Fuscite suddenly stopped walking several meters from the threshold and spun on her heels to face the three gems following her.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves to each other yet." She stated. "I am Fuscite, Facet..."  the green gem trailed off for a few seconds, trying to remember her designation. "Homeworld. The specifics escape me, but I was made somewhere on Homeworld. And, as you may have gathered, I am the commanding officer of this motley crew." Fuscite stepped in front of the small blue gem and folded her arms in a curious manner. "Who are you?" 

[Sodalite]

Sodalite's face quickly went from innocent to annoyed as her plan failed within moments of coming up with it. "Fine..." With her hands balled up and her arms held tightly against her body, she reluctantly followed the others out of the ship. She kept the same expression on the whole way, staring at the back of the gem who'd attacked them with complete contempt. With her eyes away from the ground, it only took seven steps before she tripped on another weed and face planted into the dirt. She stayed on the ground for just a moment, debating whether or not it was even worth it to get back up, before picking herself up. She resumed her upset stare when she got moving again, occasionally glancing down to make sure she wouldn't trip again.

It appeared this gem was trying to start small talk, but Soda wanted no part of it. They were probably trying to get info out of them or something of the sort. And what was with asking about Homeworld, how long had this gem been messing around on Earth? And more importantly, why hadn't she been there in a while. Soda had been staring at her intently, and noticed the slight shift in her expression at the mention of it it.

Then there was her introduction... What kind of gem forgets their cut and facet, and she expected them to introduce themselves to the traitor. Soda's mouth stayed shut, ignoring the question and hoping Padparadscha's answer would be enough.

[Paddy]

While they walked, Padparadscha kept a close eye on her surroundings. Particularly, her eyes swept over the ship, and wandered over their captor to keep track of her movements. She tensed as the fuscite began to recount the downing of the ship, and her henchmen sporting strange technology she'd never seen before shouldered up around them. Her suspicions seemed to be confirmed, but not having her holoscreen to document the evidence became a stabbing frustration in her. The sapphire's eyes trailed over the two gems who sent up their salutes, and she narrowed her eyes. It seemed that they were, in fact, out numbered. How heavily, she had yet to see. 

"It's magnificent and lustrous, as always," She responded, then pressed her lips together. It had been some time since she had been there herself. Though, she didn't have the spare focus to linger too much on those thoughts now, she kept her attention in the present. A brow went up as she realized this Fuscite was attempting some kind of casual conversation while the three of them were under duress, though the sapphire herself had tried similar tactics with captives in the past; if the right information could be extracted in the field, the subsequent interrogation would go much more smoothly.

Despite the possibility that this could be a data mining effort, she decided to give her introduction, so there would be no shadow of doubt about whose tech and crew had been incapacitated in this debacle. Not that rebels seemed to mind much-- but she would have her vengeance, and she rather liked it when her enemies could anticipate her return. "Padparadscha 10C8A 8QE, Pink Court affiliate, judicial investigator. I have to say, captain, you've piqued my curiosity," The sapphire tried her best to keep her frustration at bay as she eyed the Fuscite, but her low tone could hint toward it, as well as the warmed air that steamed off of her skin. For now she would engage in her own data extraction, "You say your comrade was apprehended by this vessel, do you by chance know why?"

[The God-Emperor of Gemkind]

Fuscite pursed her lips as the small blue gem pouted at her, quickly shifting her attention to the more talkative red gem. "No, Mrs. Judicial Investigator, I do not know why the crew of this ship nabbed Shamrock and tried to interrogate her. Might have something to do with how old us Fuscites are and how quick you newer Homeworlders are to pull the trigger at other gems - even if they are fellow loyalists," the explorer said as she poked a finger into Padparadscha's chest. "Doesn't help that the crew won't tell us why, either. Bunch of tight-lipped morons, the lot of 'em."

Fuscite then went on to ramble for several minutes about how much the Homeworld gems she had encountered since landing on Earth had changed since she left Homeworld and how she and her crew were starting to feel alienated by their own culture; the navigator's armor glistening in the sunlight as she resumed walking into the ship, strolling down the long, battered corridor and pausing again at an intersection. Several Fuscites bustled about as Fuscite turned around once more and raised up her hand.

"I've got two more questions. First off," Fuscite said as she looked down at the small blue gem. "Are you, perchance, an Agate?" Looking back up at Padparadscha, Fuscite made her second inquiry. "And earlier, you mentioned being in a 'Pink Court". Does that mean there's a "Pink Diamond" up and kicking it with the ol' trifecta as we speak?"

[Sodalite]

Hearing Fuscite's side of the story helped Soda cool off a bit, shifting from ticked off to concerned for just a moment. It could easily be a lie, but it seemed like Fuscite wasn't exactly a traitor, rather she was just a really old gem. Still, that wasn't reason enough for her to attack them like that. Here Fuscite was, talking about how quick they are to pull a trigger, when she just attacked them without so much as a word of conversation. If the past crew was greeted the same way, Soda could only wonder why they would've captured her friend.

As they walked, more and more of those gems started popping out from all over the place. Soda had never seen or heard of a Fuscite, but now all of a sudden there were a bunch of them. The sheer number of gems was unsettling, and it slowly began to set in that, in the event of something going wrong, Padparadscha probably couldn't fight all of them on her own.

Throughout the entire walk, from Padparadscha's ship to the crash site, Soda kept quiet. There was a lot she wanted to say, and a few times where she probably should've said something, but it wasn't until she was spoken to directly that she even spoke to this Fuscite. "An Agate?..." Soda brought her eyes up to look at Fuscite, trying to understand what could've possibly led her to think that she was an Agate. She was covering her gem with the limb enhancer glove she was wearing, but still, it was such an odd assumption to make. Soda removed the glove, revealing a small blue hand identical to the one on her right. She then turned her hand to its backside, and showed the sodalite gemstone to Fuscite. "Sodalite Cut 2JL Facet 8K2A" Was all she said, before putting the glove back on, the limb enhancer's fingers zinging to life as she did so.

[Paddy]

Her brow arched sharply as the fuscite addressed her without any sort of propriety, pointing a finger at her, with a stark lack of honorifics or respectful language. Though she'd grown somewhat use to being treated that way on the field, it still rankled her nerves, especially since this gem seemed to consider themselves a loyalist-- despite evidence to the contrary according to the sapphire. Her lips pursed as she continued to listen, eyes narrowing. With each dispatch, more and more she missed the way she was treated back on Homeworld.

Her small feet tapped lightly against the metal floor of the corridor, her eyes darted nervously as she realized the place was crawling with fuscites just like the ones that had her team detained. Her eyes flicked to the captain, and her unique set of armor. All of them seemed to have strange technology, though was it really as superior as this captain seemed to think? To be not only outnumbered, but out gunned, would make this situation many times worse. 

Then, the head fuscite's next words nearly knocked her off balance as the group came to a halt at the intersection. She halted with a final tap of her foot, brows furrowed with a disdainful sneer pulling at the corner of her lip,"What? Do you not realize whose colony you're standing on?" She snapped, her sharp tone carried down the hall as her irritation with the turn of events accumulated. Though, she wondered if this situation might be able to lend her some leverage-- she would channel her agitation into her commanding tone and aura,"Her grand luminosity has presided over this planet for millennia," She eyed this impudent gem, her gaze swept up and down then landed with a piercing focus on Fuscite's eyes, Her tempo quickened,"Captain I must wonder who is alienating who here. With current events, it's impossible to allow suspicious activity to be overlooked; are you suggesting that Homeworld let down it's guard? Allowing rebels to run amok? It would appear that you are the one who has left your sensibilities behind. If your crew member was acceptable to the Authority, they would've been cleared in the interrogation or subsequent trial. Instead, you raze a Homeworld vessel, and put a team of gems at Pink Diamond's direct authority under duress," Her hands swung around to clasp behind her back, and she gripped her hands, sorely missing her holoscreen. If it hadn't been destroyed, she could call for backup. 

She had realized Sodalite still had her tech as the small blue gem made her introduction. The sapphire's gaze slid over to her compatriot, though there wasn't a safe way to communicate effectively-- she wished she'd gone over her signalling system with this gem. Pearl had her tech as well as a knowledge of signalling, but the poor terrified gem was withdrawn into her own head, her entire body shaking.  

[The God-Emperor of Gemkind]

Fuscite frowned upon hearing that the small blue gem wasn't an Agate, but a Sodalite. Yet another new gem. Sighing, Fuscite ran a hand through her hair after Sodalite spoke her piece. The old pilot was beginning to lose track of how many new gems the modern Homeworld was hurling towards this dirtball. And then the Sapphire began speaking.

Fuscite's right hand began to twitch a bit as the officer lectured her - and, more importantly, insulted her personally. Fuscite had endured too much for her people to be talked down to by some newborn whelp with an ego problem. As the Sapphire went on, Fuscite became noticeably more infuriated, her anger culminating in a swift and powerful punch through the nearby wall. Pulling her fist out of said wall, the explorer stared down the officer with a gaze that held the intensity of a thousand suns. "I am Fuscite Cut 88 Facet 8 of the Homeworld Expeditionary Force's Outreach Initiative, sole remaining member of Cruiser 276, and I will NOT be talked down to by a self-righteous tangerine on a crusade for her newborn 'Diamond.' There is NOTHING acceptable about your Authority's treatment of my crew -" Fuscite shouted in a disturbed voice as she approached the gem and looked down at her.

"The sorry excuse of a captain on the ship I tore apart tortured her to such an extent as to traumatize her and crack her gem core - following their ambush and destabilization of her fellow crewmates, that is to be noted. You and your ilk aren't hosting questionings and trials - you're leading a bloody witch hunt, and we have sacrificed too much for Homeworld to be cast aside like used tools yet again. " 

Fuscite took a moment after the outburst to compose herself, glancing around at the several Fuscites who had stopped to stare. It wasn't very often someone upset their captain like that. Waving an arm, Fuscite sent the other Fuscites back on their way before looking down at Padparadscha once more. 

"I couldn't care less about this Diamond I've never met, child. All that matters to me is keeping my crew alive and taking care of them like Homeworld never did." Fuscite spat out at her as she resumed walking down the corridor.  "We'll be coming upon her cell on the right. You are to free my imprisoned friend, and then escort the crew of this downed ship back to whatever hole they crawled out of." 

As the captain spoke, a wall of Fuscites armed with rifles filled the corridor, a large mob of gems filling the space behind them, flanked by another wall of armed Fuscites. Upon seeing the trio of gems standing next to Fuscite, however, whispers rippled through the previously stone-silent crowd. Several rifle waves ended the commotion rather quickly. Gesturing expectantly towards the cell that contained the rather quiet prisoner, Fuscite arched an eyebrow at Padparadscha.