"That's crazy!" Lars exclaimed, in frustration.

"No, it is a choice," she said, evenly. "With no energy to power our navicom, we cannot escape this trap. But, we do explain what is asked of them, and they have the final word. We can do nothing. If one of the faithful accepts, then we are destined to continue our sacred work, if they refuse and we are arrested and shattered, then that is our fate, as well."

Lars shook his head. This was all too much to take in or accept. Giving the high-and-mighty Authority a bloody nose, every once and a while, was one thing, but he didn't sign up to serve his crew, his ship, or these delusional Gems up for suicide.

He turned and called out to the confused throng still standing in the middle of the circular floor, "Okay, everybody! Church is out! We did all we can do, here. Let's go back to the hangar!"

Reluctantly, the star-worshippers left the floor and gathered by the archway of the Hall, their souls lifted for a time, and wanting more of the same, but were, spiritually, held down, once more, by the intrigues of the Diamonds.

Lars and his crew joined the crowd, but then, he noticed that Padparadscha was still in the center of the room, next to Father, her attendants, and Azure.

"Padparadscha, c'mon!" Lars told her, as he approached to get her. "It's too dangerous. We can't stay here!"

"Wait," said the pirate Sapphire. "I am having a prediction."

"What? Can't this wait until we're on the Incinerator?"

"I predict...that you will do the right thing."

Lars rolled his eyes, heavenward, which seemed a lot closer, considering where they were. "C'mon, Pads, you said that the last time."

"I know. I am simply reminding you."

He thought back to those words and, in retrospect, understood their meaning as it applied to him, right now.

"Be reasonable!" he wailed, pointing to the Sardonyx, nearby. "She's asking too much of these people!"

"Maybe," Azure said, stepping up to Lars, and holding his hand to ease his worries. "But, not too much of me."

"What are you...talking about...Azure?" Fluorite asked from the archway.

"It's times like this that our faith is most tested," the Sapphire explained, solemnly. "Even though I was fooled by that spy, I knew that you came to our planet. I saw how you all saved us, and how I saved us. That's why I contacted you. I've seen my fate, and I know what I have to do, but not because my vision told me so, but because my faith did!"

"You might have a point, Azure," Lars sighed. "But, they're still asking too much! You have a life back on your world! It's too risky!"

"Every worshipper risked her life to come here, Lars, for what they loved and believed in," Azure expounded, emotionally. "Ifthey didn't think it was too much, what does that say about them? Or you?"

"This isn't about me," he said, almost sheepishly.

"It is," Azure implored him. "For your friends, here, or your loved ones, that I can see, on your world, what would be asking too much of you?"

The sheer weight of the Gem's impassioned words, and the number of people who cared for him, Human and Gem, struck Lars with a hard silence.

A silence that was broken, suddenly, by energized weapons fire that made the ponderous Temple shudder, under everyone's feet.

Father glanced out of the main window of the Hall. "They're here."

Lars screwed his pink face into a solemn mask of realization and resolution.

"Nothing would be too much. You're right. You guys weren't here to hurt anybody," he admitted, more to himself than to anyone present. "You have a right to what you believe in."

He turned to the little Gem. "If you need to do this, we'll help you." He was rewarded with a grateful hug around the knees from the Sapphire.

He regarded the High Priestess, next. "All right, Father, we don't have anything for your collection plate, but how about we buy you some time, instead."

The Sardonyx brightened and bowed. "You would do that? Thank you, Captain."

With a smile and a jaunty, gun-like point of his fingers, the captain and his tactical advisor rejoined the rest by the archway.

"Okay, Off-Colors, let's go get Rhodonite," Lars told them. "And then, we'll give that ship, out there, a bit of that old-time religion!"

The Authority warship was huge, a ponderous, mobile mass of geometric metal that entered high orbit with the Temple from long-range. It was gradually closing the range to its target, firing more for effect, to keep the criminals honest and to help them understand the predicament they were facing.

Two blips from the bridge's tactical sensors detected the launches of a civilian shuttle...and the Sun Incinerator, and the warship's commander eyes widened. The capture of both such prizes would make her a commodore or vice-admiral inside of a week.

And so, the order was given, move into a station-keeping orbit around the Temple to secure it from escape, until Quartz marines could board and capture the structure, and snag the pirate ship with tractor beams, after softening it up with strategically-placed shots to their shields, weapon ports, and engines, before they were boarded.

That only left the shuttle, chugging hard to re-enter Fristal's atmosphere, where the criminals inside would disembark and hide behind their civilian lives. A swift example of Authority justice awaited them, as gunners carefully tracked the slow target across the curve of the planet. One good salvo would end their escape and their crimes.

A barrage from the Incinerator spoiled their aim, at the last minute, as the corsair dared to buzz and strafe the far larger ship.

"That ship is tough, Captain," said Rhodonite from her station, studying the vessel's shield strength and weapon compliment. "Its shield's hardly buckled. It's too bad that we can't go over to Fristal's sun and use its energy."

Lars gritted his teeth, as a blast made their ship hop. "I hear you, Rho, but we have to give the Temple and the shuttle more time."

"That blast was just a love tap, low power," Rhodonite reported. "I don't think they're trying to destroy us."

"Of course not!" Lars grinned, grimly. "We're way too valuable alive, and we'll use that to our advantage."

He turned to his pilot. "Twins, can you keep baiting them and still keep us out of their crosshairs?"

"We'll sure give/It a try!" they said, dancing finger tips across directional keys and acceleration sigils, as the Incineratorbanked and moved among the warship's slower, wider arcs of fire.

In the quiet, nearly deserted Great hall, Father, her attending clerics, and Azure, were holding a private rite in the ironic shadow of a desperate naval engagement.

The little Sapphire stood before the majesty of the main window's view, thankful that the battle was not seen from there. It was impossible to try and take all of the vista in and understand its depth. It was like a cloud looking into the sky and trying to comprehend the weather that shaped it, or the wind that moved it.

Azure knew that she was the cloud, looking upon the infinite sky, and the intertwining of its beauty and simple truth moved her to tears.

"The stars are so beautiful," she whispered.

Smiling, Father sat down behind Azure, cross-legged, to enjoy the heavens, as well. "They are, my child, and we are all the more beautiful, because of them," the matriarch said. Then, she asked her, "Do you know why you are here?"

Azure gave a peaceful smile, saw the stars, her birthplace and her destiny, one final time, and answered, "I do. For the stars, I sacrifice...so others serve."

One of the attendants, silently, walked up behind her, and with a touch from an old-style destabilizer, Azure was transformed into a cloud, to take her first steps on a journey towards that infinite sky, as her sky-blue gem clattered to the floor.

Another attendant, reverently, picked up Azure, as another, who was walking towards the entrance, while the ritual was being played out, reached the archway and touched a hidden button there.

From the base of the immense view port, a section of the floor split in two and slid away, revealing a large computer bank with a smaller generator, crudely-wired into it. It elevated until it was level with the deck, and stood, like a shrine.

The Sapphire was carried to the generator, and then, placed lovingly, into the windowed erg-converter chamber through a small, hinged window in the generator's side.

From that window, the Fusion Priestesses saw a light flicker through, as if the gem, inside, was awakening for the first time. It pulsed, increasing its flashes, gave a steady glow, and then, suddenly, filled the Great Hall with the brilliance of newborn nova.

In the shadow of Azure's luminescence, the navicom's consoles and function lights twinkled with new power and purpose, automatically running random, auto-pilot, course calculations into the brain of the Temple's FTL drives, which began to roar, like a god, stirred to life.

A woman's voice came over the Hall's PA system. "High Priestess, this is the bridge. Do we have power? Can we continue?"

Father raised her head from the miracle before her and addressed the officer. "Yes, we still have a task to perform. Are you all right?"

"Yes. Some crazy Gem attacked the engineering staff, but they're coming around, now. Should we get under way?"

"Yes, Captain," the Sardonyx said, watching the new life of their cause surge with a blessed light. "We haven't a moment to lose."

Another hit jolted the corsair, almost tossing the crew from their chairs, as the Rutile Twins narrowly twisted the ship from a more determined cannonade.

"That was close! The shuttle is pulling/Away, Captain, and so is the Temple!" they reported after making another defensive bank.

"Good work, crew!" Lars crowed. "That hound can't catch three rabbits, at once. We're keeping that ship so occupied that her captain's getting desperate."

"That may be, but we can't keep doing this forever," Rhodonite advised. "Pretty soon, she might decide to cut her losses and shatter us."

Lars calmed down. His Strategic Head, ever the pragmatist, was right, of course. This David would continue to toy with that Goliath at their peril, and they were too far from the system's sun to strike a killing blow against the combat vessel. It would hound them until their destruction, if they didn't escape.

The Sun Incinerator shuddered and the ship's inertial dampeners and compensators gave the crew the grim sensation of sudden deceleration. A tractor beam had netted them, at last.

"Ugh! We're caught!/We're being pulled in!" the Twins exclaimed, as they frantically experimented with every angle and blast of the maneuvering thrusters to break them away.

"Rho, target that tractor beam," Lars ordered.

"I can't. That last few shots took out our weapons lock. I'd be firing from the hip."

"It's better than nothing! Do it!"

"Wait!" said a voice from the intercom. Fluorite's.

"What is it, Fluorite?" asked Lars, hoping for a miracle.

"Contact…the shuttle. Ask if anyone knew…if the Jade carried anything on board…when they left Fristal."

"What? What Jade?"

"Do it…Captain!"

Lars tapped a flushed button on the arm of his chair that opened communications. Selecting the shuttle's frequency, he asked Fluorite's question to its pilot, not expecting anything to come of it.

A few dangerous minutes later, the shuttle's pilot reported that a Gem, who was sitting behind the only Jade on-board, saw her store a bag under her seat. Opening the given bag, the pilot described a small handheld device with a central button.

"Did you get all that, Fluorite?" asked the captain.

"Yes! Tell the pilot…to press that button…and then, tell the Twins…to stand by to go…full reverse!"

"When?"

You'll know…the time," the Chief Engineer said, cryptically.

Befuddled, Lars shook his head, but did as he was told.

On the Engineering deck, Fluorite carried a familiar, round object into the outer chamber of the ship's airlock, put it down, and then retreated back into the innards of the level.

She crawled over to the airlock control panel, closed the inner door, opened the outer door, and saw the object shoot, silently, from the pressurized interior, like a bullet into the void.

Except that it didn't just enter space. Because of its tiny, relative weight and mass, the plasma bomb was snatched into the irresistible funnel of the tractor beam.

"Get...ready!" she said over the intercom.

"Captain, something small...was just jettisoned from our airlock," Rhodonite reported. "It was just picked up by the tractor beam and is moving away, fast!"

Lars put the events together, and suddenly startled the bridge crew with a howl of laughter at the outright, beautiful cunning of it.

"Fluorite, I'm gonna kiss you, you big, beautiful bug!" he called out, and then regarded the Twins. "Girls, get ready to go full reverse, now!"

The conjoined Gem look perplexed at the order. "But/Captain!"

"Don't worry," he soothed. "We'll be getting a speed boost in a few seconds. Rhodonite, boost power to shields. It's gonna get bumpy."

On board the warship, the commander gave an absent thought about the small object coming along the tractor beam, when it was reported by her bridge officer.

It was, no doubt, a message buoy, a last-ditch act of heroism to tell those who would come after them of their struggle against the Diamonds. Nonsense.

Her musings were halted by another report from a sensor operator. Apparently, the object, despite its size, was fitted with a Class-A micro-plasma converter.

That sounded familiar to the commander. In her earlier days, as a weapons officer aboard an Authority frigate, the only thing that carried that sort of technology was-

"A bomb!" she shrieked from her command chair. "Kill the tractor beam and raise shields to maximum!"

The orders were carried out with military speed and efficiency; however, fortune had not favored them.

Although the beam was deactivated, simple momentum carried the explosive the rest of the way, where it was now speeding so close to the hull, that the shields, that would have mitigated most of the blast damage and its effect, sprung over and around the bomb, as well as the ship.

The Twins pulled the freed Incinerator up and away, its engines singing a song of protest against the sudden change in course and velocity.

The corsair wheeled around and rocketed towards the shuttle and the Temple, both of which were now going their separate ways.

The shock-wave of an enormous detonation rattled the Off-Colors and their ship from astern. Light panel consoles sparked and a few winked off and failed, but the bridge's over-all functions still rode the brunt of the damage.

"Viewer, rear," Lars ordered. The view port switched to monitor, and showed the bulk of the warship, hulled and gutted from the initial blast, but then, a secondary side-effect was occurring.

The fires that defied the airless cold of space began to creep along the glowing surface and exposed decks of the craft, imploding and consuming the matter of the hulk, like a slowly burning ball of crumpled paper.

Soon, the Authority vessel, transformed into a glowing ball of newly made plasma, settled over Fristal, acting as a temporary, orbital, artificial sun.

An image of the Fristalan shuttle pilot, full of static from the background radiation of the blast, took the wreck's place, and crackled in the view port.

"Was that an explosion?" the shocked pilot asked. "Did...we do that?"

"Congratulations," Lars told him. "You just struck a blow for religious freedom against the Diamonds."

The nervously bemused alien cut transmission and continued to focus on bringing his charges back home, safely, while the view was now filled with the august presence of Father from the Great Hall.

"You have earned an ally in us, Off-Colors," she said. "If ever you need sanctuary from your travels, our door is always open."

Lars gave a respectful nod to the screen. "Thanks, Father. How is Azure, if it's okay to ask?"

"She is a true miracle and a revered member of our holy order. Although she knew what you all would do for us, she, nor we, shall never forget or dishonor your bravery."

"Nor we...yours," Fluorite acknowledged from the winding stairs that led from Engineering to the bridge.

"We must go, now, Off-Colors. Azure is lighting the path that we must follow, to serve those who still believe. May the stars forever shine upon you all."

The transmission ended, and the pirates were privy to the swiftly warping departure of the last Star Temple, and one of the first rays of hope for the people against the Diamonds' tyranny.

Lars slumped wearily in his chair. Cutting things close was always part-and-parcel for a buccaneer, but sometimes, things were shaved too close for comfort. Still, he got up, and walked over to the staircase. He had a debt to pay.

"Fluorite, I owe you a big one!" he said, kneeling down and giving her solid kiss on the bridge of her broad nose.

With the welcome levity the crew felt after Fluorite's reward, the polyfusion couldn't help blushing, giving her bluish coloration a darker hue.

"Oh...my, Captain!" she drawled, with a giggle. "I…haven't felt…like that since…my first fusion."

"Well, you deserve it," said the young captain, as he walked back to his chair. "I didn't even know you still had that thing. It's a good thing you put it to better use. Oh, and you don't have to give me a damage report, I think I can hazard a guess. Do we, at least, have propulsion?"

"We're...a little scuffed…but we can…leave the system," Fluorite reported.

"Good," Lars said, opening a channel, once again. "Time to call on a buddy."

The view port flickered, until the image of a scarred Bismuth with a rainbow Mohawk, filled the screen.

"Lars? Why you pink, troublemakin' squeeze toy!" the Gem exclaimed. "What do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"Hey, Spanner," greeted Lars. "We caught a little trouble out in Fristal, and we were wondering if you could patch us up."

The grey Gem guffawed, proudly. "I'll have it looking like it just came out of the shipyards, but I have to warn ya, the price'll be a little steep, because ya caught me in the middle of a ticklish situation."

"Ticklish, with skin that tough?" Lars quipped. "What's the problem?"

"It's my equipment. It's hard to get new parts when you're stayin' one step ahead of the law. I need money to buy a new power reactor."

"Hmm, that is pretty steep," Captain Lars considered. He didn't want to leave her in the lurch, since she did good work, and allies in the underworld were hard to find. "Well, let us come over, and maybe we can work out a deal."

"Captain," Rhodonite interjected. "Perhaps, we do have something that could help the situation."

"Whadaya got, Rho?" Lars asked, surprised.

From her seat, the officer reached down to the floor between her feet, and then, held up a clear jar, that contained a square, pink and greenish stone, before her captain and the black market shipwright.

Spanner recognized the container's occupant, on sight. "Hey! That's a Tourmaline. Spy Gems. I hate it when they start sniffin' around my operation. I've got no love for 'em, but if you're thinkin' what I think you're thinkin', then we might just have a real deal-maker, after all. Hmm, I think I'll put her to work for a little while, maybe a century or two."

Satisfied, Lars nodded to Spanner. "Good, then we'll see you, soon."

The Bismuth saluted, and then, ended the call.

Lars gave an impressed look towards his officer. "How did you come across an Authority Gem, like that?"

"It's a long story, Captain," Rhodonite sighed, as Fluorite chuckled to herself, and descended back towards Engineering to look after repairs.