Earth.  After several months of travel, it was finally in sight.  For most of the gems aboard your ship, this place has always been an ominous mystery.  The one thing you know of the planet before you for sure is that something unspeakable happened here thousands of years ago, a tragedy unparalleled before or since: the death of possibly the most beloved of the four diamonds, Pink Diamond.  You probably aren't terribly well-informed on most of the specifics of the war that led up to her death, aside from important names like the reviled Rose Quartz, but that fact alone is more than enough to earn this planet its vile reputation among gems.  You were sent here as part of a reconnaissance team to run diagnostics on a geoweapon unlike anything Homeworld has used before, the Cluster.  Upon landing, your orders are to use the equipment provided to reach the Earth's core and see that it has been developing as expected, then quickly leave before it emerges. If all goes according to plan, this weapon will finally remove Earth from existence.  


Unfortunately, your mission is currently decidedly [i]not[/i] going according to plan.  Either due to an undetected bug with the ship's programming or a navigational error, your pilot lost control of the ship shortly after you entered its orbit and you are presently heading toward the Earth's surface at an alarming rate.  A computerized voice sounds over the ship's comm system.  [b]Warning: Gravity resistance systems offline.  Prepare for impact.[/b]  An awful rumbling noise can be heard as your ship begins to catch fire in the planet's lower atmosphere, you are approaching the ground at speeds capable of damaging a gem.


The Chromite who had been sent as protection for the scientist gems began to panic.  [color=darkgray]"E-everybody remember your training!  Duck and cover!"  [i]Damn, was it 'duck and cover' or 'hit the deck?'  I'm probably not qualified for this![/i]  "Howlite, is there anything you can do?  It would be best if we landed on wet ground!"[/color]  Chromite, of course, was aware that Howlite already knew this and was probably already in the process of trying to regain control of the ship, but in this situation she needed to be absolutely sure.  Being that she was designed to take heavy amounts of damage, Chromite wasn't terribly afraid of what the impact would do to her, but she was terrified of the idea of losing any of the gems that she had been sent there to protect.  Chromite struggled to stand against the force of Earth's pull as she summoned her shield and placed it on the floor of the ship, motioning for any nearby gem to come and hide under it.  Hopefully, that would be enough to prevent any of them from being poofed or worse.  Chromite then took her own advice and crouched down with her hands over her head.