Chương 187: LOG-178.

I stared at the mural with clenched hands and narrowed eyes, the silence of the hallway I was in practically deafening in its totality. The Reef was quieter now. I had reassigned most of the Peridots to temporary maintenance runs of the facility's outer areas, leaving their posts unmanned. The Bismuths were gone as well, after I'd encouraged their Morganite to forgo her usual inspection of the place in favour of heading out to this or that colony to get some inspiration for potential architectural changes.

1A was still running around, naturally, but after I'd dropped the digital walls down around her little broadcast attempts, she'd ceased to be a factor I needed to worry about, save for any direct confrontations. In terms of those, there were the Storm Quartz guards of course, but they were quiet more often than not, and I'd purposefully changed their guard posts and patrol routes in such a way that, to any observer, it would look as if I was ensuring a more even spread of the Reef's security.

Anyone in the know, of course, would immediately realise that I'd simply thinned out their numbers when it came to the matter of potential obstacles to the hangar bays, landing pads, and Galaxy Warp respectively. This would have never worked at a human facility. Yes, a few reassignments here and there would have either been brushed off as the whim of the commanding officer, or gone nearly unnoticed entirely. A systematic sabotage? Someone would have noticed, especially with tensions as high as they were right now.

Someone would have said something, and not even to someone important. A casual observation would be all that was required for questions to start appearing. But this wasn't Earth, and these weren't humans. Gems were literally programmed not to question the orders of their superiors, even in private. To them, my actions and reasoning were beyond both their station and intelligence to question.

I even briefly considered leaving a mocking note to White Diamond, explaining how easy the 'perfection' of her Empire had made it for me to pull it all off. Regardless, everything was in place now. Azurite had reported that all of her assets were set to move the moment I gave the signal. Batch Eighteen were as ready as they were reasonably going to get, considering the time frame. Personal tablets loaded with communication protocols. Memorised routes and methods for escaping on their lonesome, if needed.

Combat training. The works. And I… was wasting time, staring at a mural of White Diamond. Closing my eyes tightly, I took a breath, opened them, and reached for the door, watching the plates and seams that made up the form of Homeworld's ruler begin to shake, opening up in my presence. — Had this been a human facility, I was fairly certain I would have been intercepted in the midst of my walk some time ago.

If not by living security officers, then at least by some kind of general defence or access restriction system. But no, there was nothing. No internal guards of any kind, at least not in this part of the facility, beyond perhaps Shell itself, with no objections from the latter being levied at me as a matter of course. Though that made sense, I supposed. To it, I was the grand Overseer of the Reef. My authority over the AI was unquestionable, and my will (save for when in the face of a Diamond) remained absolute.

Consequently, that meant that if I was approaching the inner sanctum of such an entity, regardless of whatever possible ill intentions I might have carried, it could only be necessary.

"Overseer, I have noticed your approach. Is there something you require?" Still, unsecure or not, the path to the Reef's heart was different compared to the rest of the facility. Older. More… primeval. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Where on the outside there had been shining metal, melded alloys, and polished crystalline structures, the interior I found myself in looked like it was made out of nothing less than carefully carved stone, as if I'd stepped out from the high tech facility I'd been running and into some flavour of castle. Or maybe a cave.

Glancing around as the slight incline I'd been walking down finally levelled out, I noted that in comparison to the hidden lighting sources scattered throughout the upper levels, the darkness here was banished by the occasional presence of a strip placed along the ceiling, the distant glow of its fellows serving as an adequate directional marker. Not that the change will affect anything. With my newly enhanced vision, I'll be able to pick out any potential opposition long before they can get the drop on me.

I'll keep scanning for surprises one way or another, though from what I can tell it mostly just seems to be power cabling so far. A distant part of me wondered who maintained this part of the facility, because it certainly wasn't any one member of my staff.

"Overseer? Is there something wrong?" Not that it was really needed, anyway. There were no side paths, no splitting corridors or junctions, just one long line forward. Eventually, I began to note the presence of statues lined up against the walls, spaced out every few dozen meters. Pearls. And rather old ones, judging by the fact that I could already hear Thulite's voice in my head, going on and on about how archaic and traditional their outfits looked compared to the modern Reef lineup.

Could they be some form of guardian robonoids, perhaps? Maintenance units? Golems? No, I can't make out anything that would indicate internal mechanisms. They're merely parts of the greater architecture. It was almost disappointing. Almost. Regardless, the walk itself continued for another few minutes, before I found myself standing in a massive chamber, barren save for a large thing of stone and metal shaped to look like a clam.

"... Not feeling very subtle, were we?" My question carried along through the dead air, even as I noted the occasional pulses of light pouring through the series of optical cables linking the back of Shell's casing to a series of ports set into the wall behind it. At the lack of a response from the previously talkative AI, I sighed and gave a cursory look at the case for any obvious opening mechanism, but found none.

Deciding that there wasn't any remaining point in being gentle, I brought out my hands from where they'd been folded behind my back, claws flashing through the air. And then I was gripping the bottom and top of the clam, arms tensing as I moved to wrench the thing open. I was done being subtle, after all.

"O-Overseer-please do not-" There was resistance, naturally, but the container evidently hadn't been built to withstand a Nacre doing her best to tear it in half. Soon enough I found myself stepping backwards as something finally broke, my target's top half swinging upwards and exposing… Eyes. Trembling as they flicked between me and the now torn open cage that had been containing their occupant.

I stared at the unusually large, pale Pearl in utter confusion for a moment, before slowly bringing a pair of talons up to pinch at the bridge of my nose, hissing beneath my breath as I did so. Because I'd fully expected, if not an outright AI, then something like a socketed gemstone acting as the Reef's core.

"Oh of course, of course they couldn't do something normal for once. No, that's Homeworld for you. Sure." What I hadn't expected was a fully formed and functional Gem strapped into the controls instead, but there she was, regardless of those expectations of mine. She squirmed slightly as I approached, her lightform weighed down by a variety of cables latched to the figure's…

to Shell's gemstone, the core itself about three times as big as what could be considered average, neatly embedded within the center of her forehead.

"I-Overseer, my apologies, this is not proper-what are you…you…" Abruptly, she took on a vacant expression, and I found myself stepping slightly closer as her voice grew panicked.

"... Incoming vessels." What?

"What?" Shell froze, staring at something I couldn't see, no doubt through her connection to the remaining surveillance systems within the Reef that I hadn't subverted.

"Incoming vessels, Overseer. Drive signatures and general profile indicate Golden Armada starships. Confirmed designs range from Roaming Eyes, Scarab-class robonoid fighters, and a Lux-class command pyramid. Imperial IFF identifies it as the Biaxial." She paused, hesitating even as my mind raced, trying to deduce just what the fuck was happening. I hadn't triggered the signal to get Azurite to deploy her cell. So this very obviously wasn't Fawn, particularly considering Shell had recognised them as…Golden…Armada…

"Overseer, the Biaxial is deploying stalagspike drop pods! What do we-" Before the Pearl could say anything else, I lashed forward, her eyes having less than a second to widen before my claws pierced through her. The robust cable attached to her shoulder has begun to glow, and she still hasn't discorporated despite adequate levels of damage. An emergency energy infusion meant to repair her lightform, most likely.

"Fuck." Betrayal briefly flashed across her expression as I brought a talon down, slicing through the cable in question before stabbing my other hand through the Gem's body once more. The end result was her lightform finally bursting in its entirety, leaving her gemstone to fall into my grip. I stared at it for less than a second before ripping up and away, tearing it free of the wires sticking to it and engulfing the oversized Pearl in a pale green bubble.

A moment later, I noticed a shrieking alarm sounding distantly through the tunnel that led back to the facility proper. And so in the midst of depositing Shell into my storage space, I turned and ran. Drop pods… I needed to get back to the surface, and back to Batch Eighteen. We'd finally run out of time, it seemed.