Melo was a bit shocked. "I...I just meant an escort to the ship outside." She gestures vaguely to the door. "I wasn't sure how much you all trusted me yet. If you trusted me to not go and call the diamonds the second I was away from you all.." Melo smiled awkwardly. "But I'd be willing to go with you To any other spy missions. My job was to infiltrate and get to the targets, then reveal myself and lure them out. It will be the same, I just won't reveal myself, and the targets aren't alive. I can just pick them up and get out." Melo shifted from side to side, then pulled herself together, and said "Anyone want to go look for files in the ship?"
"Why would we ever...?" Lavender didn't finish the sentence, confused. At Melo's question she perked up again though. "O-oh I can go! U-unless the others think it's better if I s-stay behind."
Gray squinted at the melon-coloured Pearl thoughtfully. "I suspect by this point anyone even tangentially involved with us is going to be at least disincorporated on sight. Whether or not Labradorite trusts your story will likely determine whether you're allowed to reincorporate and stay with her, or if you'll be destroyed. I'm certain she has some sort of in-ship surveillance, so your initial defence will be noted, but you didn't continue to fight. So it will then depend on whether she thinks that you stayed quiet to gain information on us - and why would a Pearl be smart enough to do that? - or whether you are in fact rebellious." She quirked a wry smile. "I don't like your odds, there, and I'm sure you don't either, so I suspect we will be fine in trusting you." The smile turned genuine, but then her eyes darkened and she frowned. "However, if that trust is misplaced, and you betray us, I'll be very tempted to disincorporate you myself." Gray went back to thinking, ignoring the slightly shocked look on Melo's face. "I think gathering intel from Labradorite's ship can likely wait until we are out of immediate danger. Those databanks aren't going anywhere. So, then, our targets are Onyx, Almandine, and Amethyst. I suggest we tackle Onyx's first since it will be the safest. She is incorporeal and with us, and she did not have any other servants. I doubt we will face any opposition." She began to pace again. "The next easiest will be Almandine. She doesn't seem the type to reincorporate quickly, so she will not be a problem. She may have other servants or guards, however. Amethyst's will be the most dangerous: she is corporeal and angry. Lavender, while infiltrating Amethyst's will be very dangerous for you, I think we will need your knowledge of the interior. Rose, the same goes for you at Almandine's. Rita, you've shown yourself brave and courageous in battle, and you're a quick study: as long as we get you a better weapon than a rock, I think you'll be an asset. And Melo, your decoy skills will almost certainly be useful." She stopped pacing and faced the group. "I would suggest that we five Pearls take Labradorite's ship. We stop at Onyx's first - myself and one other will go in and get supplies. At Almandine's, I suggest Rose and Rita go; at Amethyst's, I suggest Lavender, Melo, and Rita." She chewed on her lip briefly. "That is, of course, assuming that Rose and Lavender will be able to open what they need to: I would prefer not leaving the ship without a pilot unless strictly necessary." Gray blinked, and realized she had been talking at some length. She swallowed hard, blushed slightly, and looked at the ground, hands twitching. "Um. But. That's just my opinion."
Melo gulped a bit at Gray's words, then listened intently to her plan. "I think that works. You are a great strategist. Hopefully me, Lavender, and Rita should be able to infiltrate and leave without any backup or fighting, thats been half of my missions ever since i was formed, so it should work out well, if we costume up, and know the building, but with Lavender's personal knowledge of the structure, and servant, we should be fine. But just in case, i should probably try summoning my weapon without the bells, and with weights instead......." Melo paused and then said. "What are we trying to get from Amethyst anyway?"
"W-we're um... borrowing a few weapons. Just in case! A-and Amethyst only has a few couriers in regularly s-so... i-if we dodge those, and they are usually f-fairly loud and inattentive and impatient, w-we shouldn't r-run across anyone?" Lavender shrugged awkwardly, hoping this was enough reassurance for the others. "A-and that plan sounds very good, Gray! You're great at this." she smiled, brightly at the other Pearl.
"I should be able to open everything in Almandine's house--she never keeps anything locked, and I doubt she's reformed yet, so I doubt that will have changed," Rose said to Gray. Looking at Melo, she said, "Melo. Are you sure about this? If we're seen, or caught, you'll be at least added to the traitor list--or worse. Are you really positive you want to come with us? No one would blame you if you didn't."
"honestly, i dont think i could go back if i wanted to. Labradorite never wanted a pearl, she got me as a reward from the diamonds, you dont say no to the diamonds. But she didn't need me, and would use this as a reason to get rid of me." Melo sighed. "I'm sticking with this. It's my only choice, I'll be revealed as a rebel eventually, but if this goes well, that won't have to happen now. Especially if we costume up with some of the disguises in the ship. I did stealth missions, not all of that was gem illusions."
"Sneaking into Gem buildings isn't all that hard," Spinel says. "It's mostly just tedious, but most of the people on Homeworld don't put too much thought into security. Who would steal things, after all?" She gestures at her bags of weapon prototypes. "That's how I got most of those - only a few of them came through the proper legal channels. Most of them are failures and near-failures that I swiped from Development's bins." Not useful to Homeworld, but useful to the rebellion, because a failed attempt at something could still tell you a lot about what the successful version would be like. "Besides, you Pearls need someone with a bit more experience."
Gray nodded at Spinel. "Of course. It would be very foolhardy of us to assume we knew everything about covert operations. I think it would be very smart for you to lead all the heists."
"O-oh that'd be very nice fo you! Thanks!" Lavender said, smiling at Spinel. She was pretty direly underprepared for the thought of invading Amethyst's house after what happened and quietly panicking, but she was determined to be useful. And besides, Amethyst neither needed, nor deserved to have all these weapons she wasn't even using. And their rebllious group would actually use them! The weapons probably wanted to be with someone who was using them too!
Just then, a klaxon blared a short burst, and the entire group jumped (except the Hematites, who looked entirely unalarmed, and merely glanced around to find the source of the sound). Melon frowned, and went to a nearby console. Tapping at it, her frown grew deeper, and after a couple seconds of scanning the readout, she turned back to the group. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news," she said, "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to postpone my involvement in this little rebellion. My ship's been spotted by a monitor drone, and my point defense systems missed it by a hair. It will only be minutes before this area is swarming with Gems, and even if we take off now, it will be a tough chase. I highly suggest you all take the stealth ship and head out; I can draw their attention without chancing any of you being damaged or captured, so you can get away safely. Also, I do have to get head out of system rather quickly, so I can't hang around while you steal things. I will, however, ping Labradorite's ship with some locations of good caches and safe systems. No sense leaving you all entirely in the lurch." She quirked an eyebrow. "I also intercepted a copy of that message, as it happens." She grinned. "I'm very honoured to be considered an Alexandrite-level threat. I usually sit around Chrysoprase, and I've only ever gotten up to Amethyst before." Her smile turned a little sad. "It's been fun helping you Pearls. I hope you succeed in finding a better life than the dirt you get here." With that, she palmed a control on the wall, and the docking door slid open again. "You had better get going. It won't be long before your cloaking won't do you any good."
Gray felt fuzzy for a couple seconds. No Tourmaline? That was a serious blow to their resources. But. No time for woe now. "Thank you for everything, Melon," she said. "You've been a great help. I hope our paths cross again." She then booked it out the docking bay and into the stealth ship, leaving the door open behind her. She threw herself into the pilot's seat, strapped in, and started booting it up from low-power mode into uber-stealth mode.
"O-oh. G-goodbye?" Lavender looked around at the other gems. This was... not too bad, right? She ran after Gray, encouraging the others to follow suit, hopefully. In the ship she briefly considered staying near Gray, but the other Pearl looked so fiercely concentrated on piloting and she didn't want to distract her with her mindless chatter, so she chose a seat towards the back and strapped in as well.
"Oh...goodbye, Melon. Good luck." Rose sounded a bit sad and a bit worried as she spoke, but without further ado, she went after Lavender and Gray, heading into the ship and choosing a seat next to Lavender, strapping herself in. "I hope Melon will be all right..."
"I-i'm sure she will! She's tough!" Lavender said, as reassuringly as she can manage. She offers Rose her hand for holding just in case that might be more reassurance that they will all be fine. And maybe a tiny bit because she'd like to hold hands with the other Pearl. Just for a bit. A blush creeps onto Lavender's cheekbones.
"Yeah...she'll probably be okay," Rose agreed, nodding. She noticed Lavender offering her hand to Rose and Rose hesitated for a second, and then decided, yes, she wanted to hold hands with the other Pearl. It was reassuring to feel Lavender's hand in hers, comforting for a reason she couldn't quite place, but it helped, and she was happier holding Lavender's hand, even given the situation they were in.
Melo gets surprised by the sudden rushing, but hurries out to the other ship, and debates going to sit next to Rose and Lavender, but decides to go search Labradorite's living quarters for the files instead, and anything else they might be able to use.
Gold hesitated, getting on the ship and looking around and wondering where to sit. She noticed Lavender and Rose holding hands and promptly looked away, blushing slightly. That was something that Amber would have called 'indecent'. After a moment of further hesitation, she took a seat a bit farther away from the other two Pearls, strapping herself in and mentally trying not to panic. In order to keep calm, she started trying to recall the places Amber had cut off communication to, the rebel sites she'd seen the names of. Anything useful, anything she could do in this moment, would help her stay calm, but she knew better than to try and bother Gray or Melo--she'd just be in their ways.
Spinel gives the Tourmaline a nod as she gets into the ship with the Pearls. The pirate probably has her own crew and needs to get back to. As for Spinel, she feels nearly as responsible, somehow, for the Pearls as she does for the weaponry. "Don't worry about the ship weight for now," she says to Gray. "We'll all adjust mass once we're out of range of the planet, and we can probably steal a larger ship from some colony once we're out of range of homeworld. It'll be cramped and there's not room to teach anyone to fight in here, but we'll manage." She slams the door of the storage hull closed on her weapons packages before approaching the cockpit and settling in against the wall behind the pilot's seat.
Melo rummaged around in the living quarters for a few minutes, amassing her pile of stuff to bring out to the others. Wigs, paint, fake gems, accessories, and clothes. Now where was that hard drive? After some more searching, Melo found the hard drive, and another little treasure for them. Two personal communicators sitting in a pile. Putting all the costumes on table in the back room, Melo came out with the hard drive and coms to give to Spinel. Then she called out; "Hey i have my costume supplies in the back so if you want to get costumed up for your mission we can go do that now." and then she returned to the living quarters to start costuming herself.
