Chương 184: LOG-175.

Another day in the Reef. Another day in which I felt an increasing tightness within my gemstone, as if the very core of my being could feel that things were coming to a head. Today, I stood outside a nondescript door, in a nondescript hallway, within a nondescript part of the facility, a datapad in hand and Azurite's messages scrolling across its screen.

Fawn's side of things was just about ready, and had I lacked the context given to me by the cell's Coordinator, I might have been surprised at just how quickly everything was moving. But we didn't have time to be slow. Imperial territory was practically saturated with patrols now, as distant armadas were recalled from their battlefronts to defend the inner reaches of Gem space in the face of newly emboldened organic raiders.

Just yet another thing that could potentially go wrong, particularly after we successfully extracted from the Reef. Alternative routes and plans should be prepared in the potential event that Azurite's forces prove unreachable for whatever reason. In the worst case scenario, we may need to use the Reef's transport shuttles to forcibly board and overtake any nearby Imperial vessels. So many variables, so many potential problems, predicting everything was getting harder and harder now…

Ugh, regardless, in turn, for better or for worse, the cold war between the Empire's Courts was estimated to go hot by Fawn's analysts within no more than a few months at max, assuming things continued to develop as they were currently. Whether that spark would fly because Yellow Diamond had finally chosen to make her move, or because a group of rebels decided to spark things off themselves with an early false flag attack was the real question. Fight were, predictably, the most likely to make the attempt.

They had the best resources for that kind of thing, and it wouldn't be too hard for them to get some Gems to impersonate Blue or even White Court agents moving against Yellow's interests. Shooting back a response that things were almost fully prepared on my end, I stowed the device back into my gemstone and sighed, staring at the door. It was an old thing, built in a visibly distinct style compared to the sliding things that dominated the rest of the Reef.

Covered in a mural of some primitive depiction of White Diamond, I almost would have mistaken it for just another piece of artwork, were it not for the fact that I could make out the seams around it. Narrowing my eyes at the visage of my former captor, I balled my hands into fists, claws just shy of stabbing into my palms, and held them for a moment. Then, I let out a soft breath, and turned away. Shell would be last. Once I deactivated the very heart of the Reef, there would be no going back.

And I still had some loose ends to wrap up. — I stared at the two Nacres anxiously standing outside of my office, having evidently been standing there for however long I'd been absent, and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. Not like it would do much anyway.

"You… ugh, now really isn't the time." I still needed to check up on 1A and make sure the Pearl wasn't getting up to some kind of trouble without Thulite to keep a half distracted eye on her. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After all, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that she was probably communicating with her Diamond (or some other intermediary) right now, given her absence from the more open areas of the facility, which meant I needed access to my office terminal to find and isolate any further outgoing signals, lest the misguided servant potentially send out a call for help or some other such nonsense once things really began to kick off. Regardless, it was something I would have done already…

were it not of course for the two Caretakers standing in my way, the older one shying backwards while the younger one stepped forward, raising her hands.

"If we could just have an instance of your time, Overseer. It won't take long. We would just like some… reassurances." Glowering at the Gem and earning a nervous smile in response, I pointedly stepped past the pair and opened the door to my workspace, glancing backwards and jutting my head towards the now empty doorway.

Obediently, the two shuffled inside, leaving me to cut off the light shining into my office by shutting the barrier behind me, folding my arms behind my back as I did so and shooting my counterparts a look that caused them both to stiffen slightly.

"I am busy. What possible reassurance could you need?" Surprisingly, it was Nacre One who took charge this time, raising a talon as Two crossed her arms.

"It has been some time since our ah…encounter. And we just…feel that a confirmation on where precisely you stand in regards to those activities is needed." She raised her other hand as I opened my mouth to make a retort, tone turning placating.

"I know you said you wanted nothing to do with it! And that's fine! But I… admit curiosity as to why you didn't seek to take advantage, considering the circumstances." Oh for the love of-screw it. I am behaving irrationally. More than likely due to slowly mounting stress symptoms. A level of attention should be kept focused towards this issue, lest I have a lapse of control at a potentially critical point. Damn it-yes, fine. Just another thing to watch out for!

But it was fine, because in this case I wasn't staying here long enough for it to be a problem. Thoughts reaffirmed, I stepped forward and extended a hand towards the two of them, ignoring their respective flinches and grabbing a firm grip of their shoulders before pulling them closer, their lightforms pressing against each other and allowing me to stare down both at once.

"Because I couldn't give a flying fuck about you two weirdos being masochistic lesbians. Because I don't care to play the stupid pseudo political games you Nacres like to engage in. Because I am in charge, and I am above needing to gain such underhanded means of leverage over the two of you." Pausing to let the duo process my words, I tilted my head, smiling.

"Does that make it any more clear for you?" Two hesitantly raised a hand, clearly resisting the urge to brush off my own extended talons.

"Ah…what is a lesbian?" … The Nacre quailed beneath the sheer weight of my stare, before I finally let out a breath, hanging my head.

"In your case, it is a Gem that feels a form of attraction towards another Gem. Likely categorised by feelings of affection, longing, and a desire to remain within the same space-""What does fuck mean?" The sheer speed at which my head whipped around managed to elicit a quiet "eep!" from One, even as I began to forcibly pull her and Two towards my door, twisting them around and beginning to push them in its direction.

"No more questions! Your dumb secret is safe with me and that's all you need to concern yourselves with regarding the matter. Take a few cycles to figure it out for yourselves! Now get out of my office!"

"But-!"

"Overseer-!"

"Out!" Getting the door open and practically shoving my fellow Nacres outside, I gave them a perfunctory farewell and got it to close back up, lamenting that I couldn't just slam it shut instead. Then I turned around and made for my desk, all but falling into my seat and bringing a hand up to desperately rub against my face, its counterpart busy accessing the series of bugs I'd set up around Thulite's quarters. A moment of searching and… ah, there it was.

An outgoing communications signal to somewhere far enough away that my systems couldn't identify its source. Ironic, really. 1A was, in an extremely roundabout way, using a method similar to what I had been using to contact Fawn. Distinctly sloppier, sure, but the principals behind it were still the same. It was just unfortunate that I couldn't listen in on the conversation itself. More info would have been nice to have… Oh well.

With a click of a holographic interface and a flash of light, I brought forth a spare datapad and connected it to the terminal's systems, information travelling between them for a moment as the device was integrated into the network through a series of tight beam signals. It was, in essence, a remote connection to the machine in my office, to be used when the time was right.

Once everything was in place and I was ready to move, I would be able to raise the digital equivalent of a wall, silencing any further transmissions and jamming anything else that might have been coming into the Reef. It would almost certainly prompt some level of alarm from both sides, which meant I would be on an even tighter timer from that point on. But that was alright. Soon, the Pearls of Batch Eighteen would be ready. I would be ready. And Fawn was in turn already right around the metaphorical corner.

Now I just needed to maintain course, deal with the source of the first voice I'd ever heard in this new, fucked up life of mine, and hold on just a little bit longer. Then things could really get started.