Authors note
[] Mean robot speech or notes
Outer Solar System
A small group of asteroids was huddled near Pluto. They were less than a meter in diameter and there were only 50 of them.
They kept their velocity as they sped past the dwarf planet.
They continued to make their way toward the inner solar system. Passing by Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter.
When they reached Mars 10 of them broke off and descended toward the atmosphere. The rocks entered the relatively think atmosphere and landed in the Martian soil with a crash that shook the ground, but made almost no sound in the changing atmosphere.
When the dust cleared the 10 rocks appeared to split apart and fracture, leaving basketball sized green orbs inside.
Four circles then appeared on the marbles. They then extended out four cylinders that split in half and extended. These cylinders then flipped them around as they stood on them like legs.
They took a quick scan of their sorrounding area. Noting the atmospheric data. They then took off in a group into the distance.
All the warp pads were destroyed on this planet during the rebellion, so they had to walk.
Their destination could be seen in the distance.
It looked like a large clear dome,. Made of some hexagonal clear material that spread out for miles across and one mile tall.
There was a large grey metal construct on one side that the marbles took notice of. It appeared to be a tunnel connected to the main dome that went out to a ship yard.
[One vessel docked. Size is of extreme note, sending drines to investigate.]
Four marbles took off toward the massive 8,000 foot Phoenix class colony ship.
They had to hide from both machines and humans in exosuits that were working on the massive construction and terraforming efforts all across the area.
[Evaluation, human technology far above expected levels.]
They made it to the one of the airlocks that went into the dome. The marbles were able to scan the materials and layout of the dome and airlock.
[Dome made out of 92% aluminum and 8% titanium mixture. Rest of the grey metal is molecularly hardened titanium, inlayed with other trace materials.]
[Notable stronger than expected materials. Further analysis needed.]
One of the marbles crawled up the side and found the pad used to operate the door.
[Time to open airlock negotiable. Code change and locks suggests monitor or AI.]
The airlock opened and the 6 marbles entered inside. The pad behind them staying blank for a few moments before blinking with an alarm.
They had entered into Demeter. The capital city of Mars.
_______
The other forty asteroids flew past the red planet and took off for the blue and green planet that held the vast majority of life in the system.
Earth
Still unbenounced to the people below hundreds of pictures and limits scans were being taken of the constructs in orbit and on the ground.
But this was not the only goal of the marbles contained within, so they plummeted into the atmosphere.
The rocks glowed a bright red and orange as they crashed through the upper atmosphere.
_______
Hermes control station
"Sir, I'm reading forty contacts on the scanner."
The manager of the station come over to check the monitor his employee was looking at.
"I want a through scan of those contacts now." Hammond said.
The monitor then started a scan of the objects, a mixture of invaded and x-rays beamed out from the station toward the asteroids. They scanned every nook and cranny of it's rocky surface.
"Scans show it is made of 32% iron, 16% nickel and 42 percent silica. With other elements that match up with space debris." He stated to the Man behind him.
"Give me a hologram of the targets." He said.
The monitor turned to look at the manager, giving him a confused face. "But sir, their just rocks?"
Hammond looked back down to the monitor, his cold brown eyes stared at him. He had been there long enough to know that look meant "do it or your fired". The monitor gave an audible gulp and turned around to pull up a hardlight hologram of the asteroids.
The center console of the large control room lit up with a blue light as Hammond walked over to it. There was a dull hum as blue whispers of light flickered only life above the console. They slowly pulled together into the detailed shape of the group. He tapped on one of the objects and zoomed in on it. He tapped the zoomed in asteroid again and everything from mineral info to estimated weight was displayed. He examined it for a few moments before turning back to the monitor.
"Contact the weather station. Looks like we're getting a meteor shower." He said gruffly as he continued to examine the meteors.
Something about them just didn't feel right.
"Sir, four of the contacts are on a course to hit the station." The monitor said.
The hardlight hologram changed to four asteroids in a group approaching the station.
He took a sip from his coffee mug next to him.
"Roger that sir." Said the monitor as he gave permission for the stations multiple 'Dumb' AI to Target the asteroids.
On the Titanium A hull multiple 50mm cannons turned to the asteroids and opened fire.
The rounds soared through space at several times the speed of sound. When they reached the asteroids they disintegrated into dust.
Hammond looked at it through the heavy-duty windows of the command center with a grin on his face.
______
"That was so cool the way you dealt with that monster. You were like why, bam, pow." Amythest said as she and the rest of the gems walked out of the tall grass by their latest mission.
"I don't know about that, more like swish, slash, stab." Will said as he walked out of (for him) waist high grass with Steven on his shoulders.
"Yes Yes, and the way you circled around it. That almost looked like strategy." Pearl complimented.
Amyhtest rubbed the back of her head with a slight blush on her face. "Well....huh."
Steven brought amythest out of that traincrash of thought.
"Sorry I wasn't much help on the mission you guys, I think the flowers are messing with my allergy's." He said from Will's armored shoulders with a sniff.
"You realize that spacesuit I gave you acts as armor as well right." He told the boy.
Steven looked down at him with confusion. "Really?"
Quasar appeared on the Spartans shoulder and looked at Steven. "The fabric layers can stop up to a half dozen rifle rounds before puncturing. That can be increased with the addition of armor plates. Not to mention the helmet would negate your seasonal allergies." He said bluntly.
Will set Steven rain on the warp pad and they went on their way home.
Steven looked like he was about to sneeze when they were still in the warp stream.
"Steven sneeze into your cubital fossa!" She said in a hurry.
"My wha...CHOO." he never got to finish as his head flew out of the warp stream.
He saw what looked like a dark void of space with clouds all around.
He then saw another warp stream open and a little circle shape fly through it.
"Huh?" He said as he was pulled back in the warp stream by Garnet.
"Steven, you must never go outside the warp stream. The area between is little air, and is very cold." She said as she brushed off some ice that formed from his snot.
"But I saw something in another warp." He told the gems.
"That's impossible, were the only ones that can use the warp stream for now. And there hasn't been anyone else for a long time." Pearl told him.
_sure it's not the pollen messing with you little dude." Amythest asked him with both concern and sarcasm.
"I can see perfectly ....Amyhtest."
"It's probably nothing Steven." Will reassured him.
______
Steven couldn't sleep. He just sat there in his bed wide eyed.
"Come on, it's nothing to be afraid about. It's probably just your imagination, or some kind of gem doomsday device." He finished with a bit of sarcasm.
He tried turning over in his bed to sleep when he was startled by Amythest.
"What are you doing?"
She ripped open a second packet of powder. "Eating the cheese dust, want some?"
Steven rolled his eyes and watched her leave back into the temple.
"What are you afraid of?" Steven jumped, but then calmed down and turned around to see Lapis enter the front door from a flyaround.
Steven sighed and turned to her. "I saw something in the warp today and everyone things I'm seeing things."
Lapis walked up the stairs and sat at the end of his bed. "Why do they think your seeing things."
He looked toward the ocean gem. "Because they all say we're the only things on earth that can use it and have been for a long time."
"Did you see another thing in the warp stream appear." Lapis asked him.
"Yeah...why?" Steven asked her.
"Well I may not know the science behind it, I do know what happens. The warp stream isn't always on. It only appears when something goes through it. So if you saw another one." She told him.
"Then that means there was something in the warp!" He exclaimed. "Lapis your a genius." He hugged the ocean gems causing her to blush a bit.
"Hee...well I wouldn't go that far, but thank you Steven. What do you plan to do now?"
He grabbed his Magnum from his nightstand drawer and marched down the stairs and leaned against the front wall. "I'm going to watch the warp pad. All night." He said with narrowed eyes.
lapis raised an eyebrow at this. But just chuckled when he almost immediately fell asleep. She walked down and put his blanket around him.
She was about to start keeping an eye an the warp pad when her attentionn was drawn to the kitchen counter.
"I can keep an eye on it. It's not like I need sleep either." Quasar said to the ocean gem.
"Besides, I'm pretty sure you want to go and investigate whatever was in there anyway." The AI continued.
"How did you..." She started but was cut off.
"I monitor everywhere in the house and temple but the bathroom. Believe me I SEE EVERYTHING." He said with a bit of a shudder.
Lapis nodded at the construct and walked out the door, taking a glance at the sleeping form of Steven as she walked out. She then summoned her wings and took off into the night. Off to find out whatever it was that was in the warp stream.
______
"Steven, Steven...wake up." Pearl said to the sleeping boy.
Startled he gasped and shot the Magnum toward Pearl. The thin gem kept back in surprise.
Although their was no shot.
"Why didn't you warn her." Will asked Quasar.
The AI smirked. "Because I knew he forgot to load it."
The Spartan stared at him with a deadpan expression. "Are you sure your not rampant." He asked.
"That's not funny and you know it." The AI narrowed his eyes.
"Was to me." He said with a smile.
"No cookies for you now." Garnet told him with a Stern look.
"Aw." He whined.
"Do I hear cookies." Amythest yelled from her room in the temple. She then ran full speed and dumped the whole pan in her mouth. She probably would've eaten the pan if Garnet didn't pull it away.
"He tried to stay up all I but after lapis come and checked on him." Quasar told them.
Pearl put a hand to her face. "Ugh, Steven how many times do I have to tell you. We're the only things on earth that can use the warp pads." She told him.
"Well...what if it came from space." He told her, his frustration slowly building.
"Calm down you two. Pearl is most likely right. But just to put your mind to rest well check all the warps." Garnet told him.
______
Many hours later
"See bud, there was nothing in the warp." Amythest told her little bro.
Steven simply huffed and went to watch some TV, putting his Magnum back in his nightstand as he passed by.
"Rrgh why can't he see that there is nothing there." She told them.
"Pearl, how are you sure he didn't see anything in there. Because Quasar filled me in on how he heard a warp pad worked from Lapis." Will asked her.
"Because I know how a warp pad works!" She told him as she stomped off into her room.
"Seem she's to stubborn to admit when she doesn't know something." He said.
"Who else does that remind me of." Quasar said with a smirk.
"Little shit." He told the AI as he entered his own room in the temple.
He set the chip down as his dresser as he went to change into his night clothes. Before he was interrupted by said AI.
"Hold on, I wouldn't get dressed just yet. Hermes is reporting strange readings from the on-site Warp." He told the Spartan.
Will paused for a second as he processed this. "God I hope Steven was wrong." He said as he changed into his armor and took Quasar. He then opened the temple door and went to do his own investigation.
_____
Mars
City of Demeter
Detective Morgan was doing the last thing he expected to be doing today.
It started off relatively normal for the first Martian city. The Phoenix class starship INDIGO was just finishing up unloading supplies from earth when something made it's systems go on high alert.
He watched at least 2 dozen swat members rush toward the airlock toward INDIGO when he saw something scamper by.
"What the hell was that?" He said as he went over to the alleyway where he saw it enter.
His police training took hold for a moment when he peered around the corner as if there was a shootout. But what he saw was something strange.
It was a green robot the size and shape of a bowling ball. It had four little cylinder like legs poking out from the bottom side. He put his hand in his M6C as he approached it.
"Now what might happen you be?"
It then crawled up the 90 degree Titanium wall that made up the skyscraper next to him. It pried open a batch on the side almost 30 feet in the air. He couldn't tell exactly what it was doing, but he knew one thing.
It wasn't good.
He pulled out his sidearm and fired a warning shot right next to it. The suppressed Magnum round scratching the wall right next to it.
It must've been startled by this as it took off up the wall.
Morgan yelled at it to stop but it showed no signs of slowing down or complying.
He again raised his sidearm and fired more shots at it.
"Down trying is slippery." He said to himself as the robot kept dodging his shots.
He held his breath as the Marble was about to enter a window on the 8th floor. He pulled the trigger and the last round in his magazine shot out of the barrel. It hit it's mark center mass on the marble. He smiled to himself as a small hole was punched in it before it started to fall toward the ground.
He reloaded a his spare magazine from his belt. He slid the bolt back to chamber it as he approached the marble.
He raised his pistol and put another round into it, just to make sure.
"Let's get you down to the station, shall we."
______
"Their all going to one place." Pearl said as they watched the half dozen warp streams converge on one spot.
The gems weren't all that surprised when they landed at the Hub. What they were surprised at was the fact that Lapis and Will were already there.
"Why are you two here?" Pearl asked.
"Finding what these things are." Lapis replied bluntly.
"We wanted to find out what their trying to do." Quasar said from Will's shoulder.
"And so far we've found that their trying to repair the warp pads." He said as the almost 40 marbles swarmed the warp pad and sprayed a white liquid over the Galaxy warp.
The liquid seemed to stick to the warp pad, covering it bottom to top in it. The marbles then backed off, it then flaked off the pad. Leaving one that looked brand new in its place.
"That can't be good." Quasar said as they heard the warp jingle, signaling the arrival of someone. Pearl, Garnet,Amythest and Steven hid behind one of the pillars. Lapis flew on top of one and will hid behind another with his MA5B ready.
The warp activated and they all watched with silent anticipation.
A tall green gem with lime/yellow triangle hair appeared. She seemed to be wearing some sort of prosthetics on her hands and feet from scanning.
"Peridot 5x1-39 reporting status check of earth warp. Pad seems to be in stable condition, although some robonoids appear to have been lost to unknown circumstances."
Suddenly a road of the air was heard getting louder and louder. Peridot scanned around the Hub. She then turned 4 of her fingers into a screen that floated over her right eye. She looked off into the distance. But by the time she found where it was it was already there.
"This is pelican 487-1 of the UNSC, you are ordered to lay down your weapons and surrender or you will be opened fire upon." The pilot of the pelican said over the loudspeaker.
Peridot unfolded her screen and turned her fingers into a blaster of some sort. She was about to fire on the pelican when Will popped around the pillar and opened fire into her prosthetic. The 7.62x51 mm AP round drilling deep into it's circuitry and rendering it useless. But before the pelican or him could open fire she dropped something with her other hand and warped away.
The device she dropped beeped and exploded. It sent out an EMP that made his shields flare as well as make the Pelican wobble before it figured itself.
The rest of the Crystal gems come out from their hiding spots.
"So, that was a Homeworld gem?" Steven asked.
"It would appear so bud." Will said to him.
"What are we gonna do now?" Amythest asked.
"Well, we can't just leave the Galaxy Warp around for any other gems to come to earth." Pearl explained.
"Permission to open fire on Central Warp pad sir." The pilot of the Pelican asked.
Will put activated his helmet radio. "Permission granted." He turned to the rest of the gems. "You might wanna back up for this."
The pelicans 70mm chaingun opened fire on it. The results were immediate as the warp was ripped to shreds. Pieces of Crystal were thrown for dozens of feet onto the Hub and ocean.
Amythest had stars in her eyes. "Wow, I gotta try that."
"NO!" Garnet, Pearl, and Will said simultaneously. Amythest then comically deflated as the Pelican turned around and angled it's bay doors toward the pad. They opened with the sound of hydraulics as a marine dropped out and ran toward the Spartan.
"Sir we've found out what these robots were doing." The youth man told him.
"We already know, they've been repairing the warp pads." Lapis said.
"That isn't the only thing. They've been trying to hack into our systems all over Earth and Mars. We don't know what they got but it wasn't much."
Garnet and Pearl went almost ghost white, Steven was confused, Amythest wasn't listening much and Lapis already and an idea of what they were doing.
Will walked over toward the nearest marble and let Quasar into it. "What can you tell me." He asked the AI.
It was silent for a few moments. That was eternity for an AI. "These systems are even more advanced than the covenant, the sheer amount of data their main processers can hold is on par . Although they are rather dull. But one thing I can tell you for sure is that they send the data as soon as they get it." The AI said.
"Which means Homeworld already has it." Garnet said with concern on her face.
"What do we do sir?" The marine asked.
Will collected Quasar from the Rob and stuck him back in his neck. He then out his rifle on his back and turned toward him. "Tell Demeter to get the Onager online and to get the Super Mac finished. Homeworld isn't leaving the Earth alone any longer."