LOG-118.

  The makeshift control room I'd been ushered into was hidden deep within the Crystal Confluence, tucked away behind layers of disused maintenance corridors and falsified access logs.

  It wasn't much to look at, cables sprawled like tangled vines, screens flickered with intercepted feeds, and the air hummed with the low pulse of rerouted Imperial systems.

  But for the moment, this was the most important place in the entire district.

  Truce stood at my side, poised, but fidgeting. Across the room, hunched over a console with the lazy confidence of someone who lived in systems rather than outside them, was Glitch, apparently far more at ease in front of a computer than another Gem.

  And against the far wall, standing eerily still, were a pair of twins. Two Crimson Pearls with identical ponytails, indistinguishable except for the placement of their gemstones.

  They hadn't spoken since we'd all gathered here.

  Regardless, this was our part of the mission. Namely, ensuring everything went smoothly, intercepting signals, and keeping an unblinking eye on the operation as it unfolded.

  Truce had been the one to break the news to me. Apparently, Ardent had taken note of my effectiveness with the Fighters and had chosen to increase my role in active operations.

  She hadn't needed to explain that the decision hadn't been entirely hers, that my presence had been relayed through the diplomat's reports, my impact noted and logged. Even now, I could see her stealing glances at me, studying my posture like she was taking mental notes for later.

  A static flicker across the main screen pulled my attention back.

  If the official reports that had gone across Hessonite's desk were to be believed, the Harmony's Vigil was preparing to depart.

  Glitch made a small noise of satisfaction, fingers gliding across the console. "Visual's stable. No sign of interference from Confluence security. We're in."

  The hangar feed showed the prison ship lifting from its berth, engines flaring pale blue as it began its slow crawl toward open space. The Quartz escorts were clustered in standard formation. Predictable, structured. Exactly what we'd accounted for.

  Perfect.

  I turned slightly toward Truce. "You should be watching how they move." I murmured, nudging her shoulder. "You'll have to deal with Gems similar to them again."

  She perked up, a stylus of all things already poised over the datapad in her hands.

  "You mean the Fighters?"

  I nodded.

  "They're still Gems, even if they've gone against Homeworld's authority. And like all Gems, most follow their castes when living, whether they admit it or not. Military types…expect a chain of command. Especially the soldiers. They don't respect negotiation, they respect force. Not necessarily violence mind you, but definitely the willingness to use it."

  She scribbled something down, glancing up at me. "So, threats?"

  "Implied ones." I corrected.

  "And not just threats, certainty. They respond to someone who looks at them like a problem already solved. If you hesitate, they'll view it as a weakness."

  I brought up a hand to tap the side of my cheek.

  "Another option is always teasing them. Most Gems don't expect to get led along by a Pearl, in my experience. It messes with their programming or something."

  Glitch made a soft, strangled sound from her station, but didn't look up from her work. I blinked.

  Truce, on the other hand, was nodding furiously, absorbed in the lesson. "Okay. Okay. That makes sense. I think."

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  The twins didn't react beyond staring at me for a moment, before turning to continue watching the door leading into the chamber we'd appropriated for ourselves.

  Then Glitch inhaled sharply. "Got something."

  We turned as one toward the screen. The Harmony's Vigil had cleared the hangar, drifting toward the designated warp point. A necessity if it wanted to jump out without risking damaging nearby infrastructure.

  But it wasn't alone.

  A smaller vessel had emerged from the black, ghosting up behind the prison ship. Even through the grainy feed, I recognized the model from some of the Reef's history lessons as a Homeworld-class cargo saucer, just like Truce had said.

  Evidently, it wasn't running freight anymore. The sight of crude looking metal armour and what almost looked like artillery cannons haphazardly welded to the saucer's hull finally gave me a proper idea of what an Outworld-class gunship was supposed to look like.

  Namely the Gem equivalent of a fucking narco tank. Or maybe a Toyota Hilux.

  Regardless of its interesting (I honestly quite liked it, actually) design, we all watched in silence as the rebel gunship latched onto the side of the Vigil, gripping it with its three legs and what might have been a set of docking clamps just as the warp drive engaged.

  Then, in a flash of light, both ships vanished.

  Glitch let out a low whistle. "That's one way to get in."

  I leaned forward slightly, nervous.

  "Did anyone detect that?"

  She shook her head, inching back at my proximity.

  I sighed, bringing up a hand to rub at the bridge of my nose.

  "Good. Then it's in their hands now. We're done here."

  —

  Tourmaline 3C7G-7XL (or Red, it seemed to be all anyone was willing to call her ever since her emergence) sat in her cell, wrists bound together by humming restraints, the pale light of the destabilization field casting jagged shadows across the metal walls.

  She had been here for…an amount of time. It was difficult to tell. There was no light cycle in this ship, no sense of time beyond the occasional footfalls of guards marching past, the sporadic distant chatter of unseen voices.

  And besides, she had no interest in counting the moments, only in considering what came next.

  The green Pearl had told her to wait.

  She was to stay put, let these rebels, these 'Fighters' break her free, and then battle alongside them until she was beyond Homeworld's reach.

  It was a simple plan. A straightforward one. And yet, the simplicity of it felt foreign. Unfamiliar.

  Would they really come? Would they truly be strong enough to break an Imperial vessel?

  What if they couldn't? What if-

  Her thoughts were shattered by the sharp, gut punch boom of an explosion. The walls shuddered. The ship groaned.

  Red's helmeted head snapped up as the distant clatter of boots on metal filled the corridor outside.

  Naturally, she surged to her feet, muscles coiling beneath her plated form, striding forward until she stood just shy of the destabilization field. The hum of it buzzed against her outer skin as she peered through the shimmering wall of energy.

  She caught the moment the first guards fell.

  A pair of yellow Quartz sentries barely had time to register the oncoming force before a hulking form barreled into them. A Ruby fusion, all raw power and unrelenting force, a fiery chaotic blur of limbs and fury.

  They were still mid collapse when a second figure swept in behind her, precise where the fusion had been reckless, a dark blue blur with a gleaming destabilizer rod snapping up in a single, efficient motion.

  One guard barely had time to gasp before the weapon connected with her gemstone, her lightform winking out of existence in a rush of light. The second followed before she could even turn to flee. Both were bubbled as quickly as they had been discorporated.

  And then, the navy toned Quartz turned her attention to Red.

  The glow of the destabilization field reflected off of her navy toned skin, her features sharp, calculating. She let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Damn. You're a big one."

  The Tourmaline didn't respond. She merely watched as the Quartz lifted her destabilizer and, with a single, deliberate jab, drove it into the cell's control panel. Sparks spat from the impact point, and then, with a flickering pulse, the field collapsed.

  The Ruby fusion, still crackling with pent up energy, strode forward. She stopped just in front of Red, grinned wide, and without a word, seized the off colour enforcer's bound wrists.

  There was a beat of tension, a moment of locked gazes.

  Then the Ruby flexed, and with a sharp snap, the restraints shattered into sparking pieces.

  Red flexed her fingers, rolling her shoulders, reveling in the return of freedom-

  Just as three Quartz soldiers rounded the corner. Their expressions barely had time to shift from focus to shock before the Tourmaline was moving.

  Her summoned gladius flared into existence in a burst of crimson light, and then she was among them, all sharpened brutality and honed instinct.

  The first Quartz barely had time to raise her own weapon, a hammer of some kind, before Red's gauntleted fist crashed into her throat, sending her staggering back.

  The second lunged, only to be met with a ruthless downward slice that cut clean through her weapon and drove her into the floor with an echoing crash.

  The third turned to flee.

  Red caught her by the arm, twisted, and drove her knee into the soldier's midsection.

  She heard something in her lightform crack.

  By the time the third gemstone hit the ground, she was already lowering her gladius, exhaling through her nose.

  A slow clap echoed through the hallway.

  The Tourmaline turned her gaze back to the navy Quartz, who stood watching with open admiration, one hand resting on her hip.

  "Alright." She said, sounding thoroughly impressed. "I can see why Star wanted us to take you in."

  That name. Star. Red knew it for what it was now, after a second visit. The alias the green Pearl had taken among the rebels.

  The navy Quartz twirled her destabilizer between her fingers before sliding it back into its holster.

  "Name's Breaker. And I'd say you just earned yourself a proper welcome."

  Her grin widened. "How about we take the ship together? Call it a little revenge for all that lovely treatment Homeworld's given you."

  Red turned her gladius in her hand, letting the weight settle into her palm. The weapon had no give. No hesitation. It was an extension of herself, a piece of what she was meant to be.

  What she had always been, crimson or not.

  She looked at Breaker, then at the Ruby fusion, then at the gemstones of the fallen guards.

  A proper cohort, at last.

  She flourished her blade.

  "Lead the way."