LOG-018.

  The Citrine was now back in the convenient storage space that was my gemstone. Mostly because we'd all collectively decided that bringing her out here and now would cause more issues than solve them. Brim's simple logic of always being able to release her once we were somewhere safer was...well. I wasn't going to say anything about it.

  Instead, I was forced to raise a hand to cover my eyes as I glanced up at the brightening sky, my head barely peeking out from the edge of the crumbling wall acting as our cover. A short distance away, a crawler made its path up a tilted spire of some sort, tail lashing back and forth as it continued to climb ever upwards.

  "Huh, there's still sentinels around after all this time...amazing."

  Turning to stare at the Lapis Lazuli out of the corner of my vision, I tilted my head toward the rapidly shrinking metallic figure.

  "Sentinels?"

  Brim's expression was notably different from before, as if the blue Gem were lost in thought. The moment of silence allowed Vermilion to slip past the rock cutter, her lightform flinching slightly as the Lazuli shook her head loose of whatever memories she'd been lost in.

  "They were machines designed to detect and slow down invading forces. To give our people, of this world to be specific, time to escape to other areas before the invading armies overran them."

  Her arms shifted strangely, rising up to allow her knuckles to brush against her hips briefly. The gesture obviously meant something, but it was lost on me as Brim slowly stepped out into the sunlight.

  "We should be careful around them. They're programmed to try and claw apart any Gems they see. Though uh, I can protect you! Once I find some water anyway..."

  My lips thinned as I watched the drone clamber its way through what was likely a window at some point, that long tail the last indication of its presence before it fully disappeared from sight.

  Slowly, I began walking forward once more.

  "Duly noted. Why do they keep going in and out of the buildings?"

  As we made our way down the long abandoned street, Vermilion quickly moving to take my side and our not quite friend trailing slightly behind us, I continued to warily gaze around, half expecting a veritable swarm of the things to suddenly crawl out of the metaphorical woodwork now that I knew they were inherently hostile.

  "I wasn't ever told exactly how they worked, but...I assume it was to make them harder to root out by Quartz or Ruby soldiers. These models are much older compared to some of the support units utilized among the fleet, so I can only really guess."

  I let out a soft hum in reply, carefully stepping over the rusted wreck of some kind of...I wanted to call it a vehicle? It vaguely looked like a motorcycle...If motorcycles didn't have wheels.

  Meh.

  "So...did you escape in a pod? Might be useful, though I'm not sure I can contact any ships with something like that. Was never good at messing with technology like the Peridots."

  I blinked as I felt a hand brush just above where my own arm disappeared into my left limb enhancer, glancing down to see the terraformer smirking up at me.

  "I might just have to carry you back up to the fleet myself!"

  My unimpressed stare seemed to wash over the Lapis like, well...water. Even as I gestured to a disgruntled looking Vermilion.

  "And her. We're kind of a package deal. Regardless, you won't be carrying anyone today. We have a ship we can use, and I'm still not very certain I want to join your...fleet."

  That earned a blink from her, even as my Batchmate let out a soft titter, bringing back memories of nicer times back at the Reef.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The slightly panicked look almost was enough to garner sympathy. Almost.

  "W-well I'm certain you'd need somewhere to stay for a while at the very least! And time to recuperate! You're rebels to the Empire now, after all! You'll be hunted for sure!"

  Resisting the urge to bite the inside of my cheek, I considered the statement.

  Rebels to the Gem Empire. But Stars damn it if that didn't mean a lot for our forseeable future. A singular non-FTL equipped starfighter would only get us so far, and unless we wanted to effectively live on a dead planet for the rest of...forever (not my ideal retirement home, even discounting the ancient Gem hunting robots and possibly monstrous mutated wildlife), then we were going to need access to some kind of ship capable of getting us out of here.

  In an ideal world...maybe even back to Earth. Or whatever equivalent of Earth I could actually find in this bloody universe.

  If they could potentially provide that, then...well. It was just another risk that I'd have to take. Nothing new, as of late.

  "...Fine. But I'm afraid there isn't exactly enough space for all three of us. You'll just have to ride outside."

  Vermilion leaned around me, nodding quickly.

  "Exactly! So keep your grubby blue fingers away from the cockpit!"

  The rogue Gem's response was...well. Not too unreasonable, probably.

  "Grubby? Grubby!? They're not grubby! I spend lots of time cleaning, you know!"

  I couldn't help but roll my eyes as the two began to exchange either really shitty banter, or really tame barbs. One or the other.

  ---

  "You really weren't joking when you said there wasn't enough space, huh?"

  My lips quirked upwards slightly as I made my way over to the starfighter, taking note of the slight dust that had built up on its previously spotless hull. A consequence of the inherently dirty environment, most likely. Then I finally let the small expression morph into an actual smile as a certain red Pearl rushed over to the craft, annoyed noises spilling from her as she brought out a cloth from her gemstone.

  "No, no I wasn't. Vermilion, the dust will get knocked loose when we lift off. Quit cleaning."

  Stepping closer to the fighter, I sighed before hesitantly reaching for my elbow. The faux fingers at the end of my other arm waited for a second, then tapped against a small, almost impossible to notice button near the edge of the gadget attached to said elbow.

  Hiss.

  A brief bit of resistance, and then the limb enhancer came away with a quiet pop.

  Ignoring the feeling of two separate sets of eyes boring into my back, I repeated the process with the device's counterpart, before leaning down to undo the legs as well. Soon enough, all four pieces were back in my gemstone, alongside the scattered finger components.

  "...Has anyone ever told either of you that it's rude to stare?"

  It wasn't, actually. Not by Gem standards at least. However when I turned around, Vermilion was very distinctly glancing in a different direction, and Brim was merely staring at me with a now tilted head.

  "Huh...that makes more sense. And you look cuter now!"

  Huffing a small bit of air through my nose, I shook my head and leaned against the fighter's open cockpit, one hand beckoning my fellow Pearl over, even as I tilted my head right back at the Lapis Lazuli.

  "So, I don't suppose you have a way of leaving as well? Water wings, I assume."

  The question and subsequent statement brought a cocky grin to the blue Gem's face, even as her hand stretched out towards the pool of toxic sludge just a short distance away.

  I'd give her one thing, seeing a large mass of the stuff rise up into the air, only for seemingly clear water to disentangle itself from the now utterly dry mess of whatever the rest of the material was...

  Well. It was certainly impressive, to say the very least.

  Part of me tensed, still expecting some completely abrupt, last minute betrayal. My twitchy fingers only slightly relaxed as the water continued to flow through the air, passing both Vermilion and I to, predictably, settle into two large masses of vaguely wing-shaped liquid hidden behind the terraformer's back.

  The sensation of my gauntlets, on the verge of manifesting, withered and eventually died away entirely as the Lapis let out a happy flap of her wings.

  The weird, almost chirping sound that came from her throat was...something, though.

  Maybe she saw my sketched out look, or maybe she could just somehow feel my confusion. Regardless, Brim's eyes turned to glance at me, the sound slowly coming to a stop as a brand new dark blue blush made itself known.

  "Ah...it's a sound that indicates joy. Happiness. I picked it up during my time amongst the-"

  The next sound that made it out of her mouth was, to me at least, just another squawk. To Vermilion, it largely seemed the same. But in Brim's particular case, it probably actually meant something. The name of her adopted people, most likely.

  Crossing my arms, I simply nodded at the explanation.

  "You mean a laugh?"

  Her eyes widened slightly, before she brought up a hand, waving it up and down.

  "In a way, yes. But it's a bit more voluntary than that. Hence my use of it."

  Blinking, the Lazuli flicked her hand to the side, as if to sideline the topic.

  "But we can talk about that later. I'll start making my way upwards, and you two follow behind me, okay? Once we're past the atmosphere, I can lead you to where we set our last rendezvous point."

  My response was to gracefully (as a matter of course) flip my way over the edge of the cockpit, settling into the seat as Vermilian took up her position right behind me. Turning to glance at Brim, I offered her a short, hesitant nod.

  "...Please don't make me regret this."

  Please.

  A smile, smaller compared to the previous grins and smirks from before, made it across her face as she bowed her head once more.

  "You have my word that you'll be safe among my people."

  Staring at her for a moment, I finally sighed and began to bring the ship online, doing my level best to ignore the happy little dance (at least it looked like a dance, but it could be anything really, considering she'd been raised by fucking aliens) that the Lapis Lazuli was doing outside.