The Chronicles of Orion: Transitions
=0=At the substitute site for the school
Ironhide walked out with two sparklings. The school was under construction and for the next two orns infants and younglings would remain dispersed to satellite sites. Ratchet had finished his last surgeries earlier that afternoon and now only after care would be necessary. That would be handled by medics and techs while all the doctors of the city were given the remaining two orns to rest up for the next flood coming.
The city was filled with newcomers who were walking around looking at their new home. There was as much interest of the city proper as there was of Metroplex. Lines at the administration office of job seekers were getting shorter as more newcomers found work to do.
Entering the rec room he spotted the twins sitting with Bluestreak. Walking over he grinned. "What are you doing goofing around? We have an empire to build."
Sunstreaker leaned back in his chair and grinned slightly. "What makes you so happy?"
"Autobot soldier families and families with sparklings get a home in Metroplex," Ironhide said. "Ratchet and I have a new apartment there."
"What?" Sideswipe asked with a grin. "How do we get some of that?"
"Have a sparkling. One of you get sparked. That would help but Kaon will probably be enough with your family connections," Ironhide said. "Having another sparkling wouldn't hurt though."
Both of the twins looked at Bluestreak whose grin faded. "What?"
They looked back at Ironhide. "Where's Sunspot?"
"He's helping Mr. Terradive and I'm going to get him later," Ironhide said swaying gently with sparklings in each arm. "Right now I have to take the sparklings to the apartment. Ratchet moved all our slag but for mine. How about you three grabbing my slag so I can move it all at once?"
They looked at him with smirks and then the three rose moving through the tables to follow him to the hospital. It was quiet inside with only a skeleton crew on call. The rest were working shifts in the intensive care and recovery wards. Entering the corridor they walked to the quarters where Ironhide's slag was piled on the berth. "If you could grab all that we can walk over to Metroplex and I'll show you our first home."
"First home?" Bluestreak asked shouldering two of Ironhide's rifles.
"Yeah," he said watching as they shared out all the stuff. "We always were on the run or bivouacing in a ditch somewhere. Now we have a good home and I'm glad for Ratchet and Sunspot. Little mech gets his own room and old mech gets a nice place to live. Score."
They chuckled and everyone turned following him out and through the hospital. They continued onward outside and began to walk to the great city nearby.
=0=Ratchet
He stood in the living room of the apartment and looked at the small collection of slag lying on a couch. Looking around, he felt good. It was a nice place in a building that was going to be filling up with families and soldiers. Across the street were other high rises and around and behind their building the same was true. The streets were wide and sidewalks lined the edge of the buildings. Tall light poles would illuminate the darkness and make it feel like home.
The infant rooms were ready for the sparklings and Sunspot. A shelf held all of the sparkling's dollies and their toy box had a place in the corner, not underfoot. Sunspot's bulletin board with all his art and triumphs was already hung up. His bed held his blanket and his basketball was lying in the corner.
Their own room was pretty spare and off of it was the washrack that was theirs alone. All in all, it was awesome. The sound of voices outside caught his attention and he turned as the door opened. Ironhide and the sparklings followed by the trine entered and Ratchet took Orion who was tweeting, gripping his face so he could exclaim his dislike of the past few orns and cackling with umbrage. "Sparkling, you are killing me here," Ratchet said as he shifted the infant. "Well, well, well. Why am I not surprised you acquired an entourage now that work is involved."
Ironhide grinned and looked around. "This place is nice. Where do you want my slag?"
"In the bedroom closet on the right," Ratchet said nodding to the room on the left down the short corridor.
The trine carried it in and then Bluestreak returned. "This is great, Ratchet. Did Optimus give it to you?"
"He's giving it to families with sparklings, sparked families, the ill, injured and the elderly. Because Ironhide is so antique we got this place," Ratchet said with a smirk.
"It pays to be me," Ironhide said with a grin. He turned and sat on a chair settling Praxus into his lap. "Mech thinks he can make me feel bad. Ha!" Ratchet merely grinned.
"Are you still going to be coming to dine in the rec room?" Bluestreak said.
"Yes," Ironhide said. Ratchet nodded. "We don't want to lose community just because we have a great place to live."
Orion, looking from one genitor to another grinned. He flopped over in Ratchet's arms and hung tweeting to be down on the floor. Ratchet lowered him until he was on the ground sitting and looking up. He held up his arms to be picked up. They all looked at him and then Orion. "Nope, sparkling," Ratchet said. "I don't intend to play up and down with you right now."
"We have to talk to Optimus," Sunstreaker said sitting on the couch.
Sideswipe turned and grinned. He was standing at the window. "This is a great view. I wonder if you can see anyone fragging in another building?"
Ratchet snorted. "Fragging? What's that?"
Ironhide snorted and looked at Ratchet with a self satisfied expression. "Overwhelmed you did I? All that mechliness overpowered your short term memory?"
Ratchet snorted and grinned at him. "That's it. When we frag I don't remember it later."
"Runs in your family, Ratchet," Bluestreak said with a grin.
The twins looked at him and snorted. "You're lucky to have us, Babe. Trust me,"Sunstreaker said with a self satisfied smirk.
They looked at Sideswipe. He grinned. "Don't look at me. I'm staying out of this one."
"Get yourself an apartment," Ironhide said. "All you need is another sparkling to seal the deal."
"Kaon is so slagging awesome he'll get us a place all by himself," Sunstreaker said.
"I can't argue with that," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
=0=Nearby on a lower floor
They entered, their daughter hop-skipping in. Pausing to look around Silverbow grinned. "This is pretty. Why are we here, Atar?" she asked looking up at Trailbreaker.
"This is our new home, Silverbow," Hound said moving to the windows to look out. The view was stunning. "We will live here now."
She looked at him and then her expression crumpled. Staring at her feet she began to cry softly. Trailbreaker and Hound looked at each other and then Trailbreaker knelt. "Silverbunny, what's wrong?"
She looked up at him with a miserable expression on her sweet pretty face. "I won't see my friends. I can't go to my school. I don't want to live here if that happens."
Trailbreaker grinned and gathered her up, rising to stand. He walked to the window and turned so she could see. "See that? That's Autobot City."
She nodded, sniffling. "I see it. That's where my school is."
"It is. You will still go to school there. All families with sparklings and younglings get to live here. All Autobot soldiers who have families live here. All elders live here. We still will go to the city and we will still use things there. We will just come here to our house now. The apartment in the city we had will be given to a family with a sick sparkling."
She looked at him and then Hound. "Will my friends know I'm here and can they come over?"
"They will be living here too." Trailbreaker turned them both to the window. "I don't know where everyone is yet but over in that building," he said pointing to a very tall skyscraper across the street. "That is where Comet and Turbo will live. I was told Sunspot will be living in this building and so will others. There will be a lot of younglings here and I was told there is a little park nearby where you can also go to play."
She looked at him and then Hound. "Really?"
"Yes," Hound said gently as he swayed holding Rebel. "We will figure out where everyone lives and then you can visit back and forth."
"I'll go to school where I go?" she asked.
"Yes," Hound said smiling.
She looked at him and then looked around. "This is our apartment now?"
Hound nodded. "You get your own room."
She looked at him startled. "I do?"
Trailbreaker chuckled. "Do you want to go look?"
She smiled and nodded. He put here down and she stood a moment looking around. Moving toward the short corridor to the rest of the apartment she paused in the doorway of a bedroom. "Is this my room?"
They came and looked inside. It was a corner room so there was a window that looked outside to the cross street and all of the buildings on that side of their own. "Do you like it?"
She looked up and smiled. "I do."
"Then it's yours," Trailbreaker said with a smile.
It would take about a joor for them to clear out their old apartment for the new family and move their few belongings to their new place. By the time Silverbow was finished her berth had a flowered spread covering it and her bear had pride of place on the small chair in the corner. Spare though it was, she was totally happy and they watched from the doorway as she fussed making this thing just so and that thing just so.
=0=Orion
He sat on the floor poking at his 'belly button' join in his armor. The adults were sitting and talking about things that bored him sideways. Looking around at last he considered what he could do before anyone found out. Noticing a bag lying nearby he made up his mind to explore it. Working hard and as inobstusively as an energetic sparkling could, he angled and rolled his way to the satchel.
He sat up again and looked at the bag tugging on the ties as hard as he could. It fell open and out rolled munitions, some dummy grenades that Ironhide was experimenting with. He looked at them, at his genitors, at the grenades, at the table legs from the kitchen, at his belly button, at the ceiling, at the …
=0=On a lower floor
They put the sparkling room together and lay Rebel in his crib. Covering him with a blanket, Hound stood and rubbed the sparkling's back until he went to recharge. Turning and walking into the living room he smiled at Trailbreaker and Silverbow. They were sitting at the table working on her homework. She was reading a story that she wrote to him.
"And then they walked home to their house in the city. Comet and Sunspot said goodbye and Silverbow walked into her apartment. Rebel was recharging in his box bed and Ada was reading a datapad. It was almost dinner and so Silverbow did her homework, played with her toys and went to dinner with her genitors. It was fun."
Hound moved to the table and sat down. "What did you write, Silverbow. It sounded like you told a story about your day."
"I did. I have to write a story about my life," Silverbow said. "Mr. Terradive wants us to read them in front of the class."
"That should be easy for a smart little femme like you, Silverbow," Trailbreaker said with a grin. "You tell good stories."
She grinned and looked shyly at her datapad. "I try."
"We know," Hound said squeezing her servo. "Do you know that you will go to the same school with the same friends?"
She nodded. "I like this place." Rising, she walked to the window and stared out. "All of the houses are tall."
Hound chuckled. "This is Metroplex, honey. Get used to it."
Trailbreaker nodded with a smile.
=0=Orion
He sat in the new penalty corner in the new livingroom trying to see what was going on over his shoulder. He had gotten into a prototype ammo satchel that the twins forgot to put into the gun closet in Ironhide and Ratchet's bedroom. That is, the closet that held guns that was in there. He had been chewing on a hand grenade when Ratchet happened to glance over. The explosion of hysteria that erupted and lasted for about FOREVER resulted in detention. It was going to be a long evening.
=0=In the corridor
They entered the apartment assigned to them and marveled at the appointments. They had helped their genitors, both sets settle in their own apartments across the street. This one had three bedrooms and the privacy they wanted with their two tiny sparklings. As they moved the last bit of personal gear inside and closed the door behind them, another apartment door opened and the trine walked out laughing and joking with Ratchet. They chatted a moment and then turned to walk to the administration building to get the lowdown on the apartment they were just issued as a qualified family. Blondi had commed Bluestreak and they were excited to go. Ratchet watched them go and then walked back inside to monitor all of his many hoodlums. He closed the door behind him.
The door that was next to Ratchet's belonged to a former Decepticon family who had just been issued their own apartment. The apartment next door would house Revo, Heva, Han and his infant brother.
Some place in some dimension somewhere, Primus was rolling on the floor laughing.
=0=TBC
2011 (12)