Chapter 8: Chapter 8
The Diego Diaries: Christmas Surprise (dd5 8)
-0-Here and there around the colony
The party at the Central Labor Hall for bachelors and those without family or bonds was going strong as Riff and Rad-R stood near a doorway. There was food everywhere, lots of various things beautifully done. Someone was running a bar nearby acting as the tender for the soirée. There was laughter, dancing, tables filled with mechs and the odd femme all over the huge space along with decorations. They stood a moment considering their ada who was with friends who also had family doing time. Misery loved company but the two were tired of misery. They begged off to come here.
Bron-E was with Neo and Laret. They were here waiting for others in their band of (miserable) brothers to arrive. When they did they would enter and enjoy themselves, dancing, drinking and eating together with friends. It would be a lot of fun and they would be intensely surprised that they had enjoyed themselves.
-0-Earth 1, United Nations Sovereign Territory, Primal Colony of Mars
The party was going full blast. There was food and drink, dancing and games in the recreation rooms. Poker, billiards, darts and other pass times were going great guns. Families and friends were sitting here and there chatting and catching up with the news of each habitat. Even though they were all living in the same general area the habitats might as well be separate planets for all the time they spent together. Some of them made plans to rectify that.
There was a lot of commiseration with the scientists who had lost their battle against being subpoenaed to speak to committees both in the United States and the United Kingdom. Germany was still pending a ruling. All of the senior signatory countries of the treaties were wanting to speak to the scientists who were the senior humans on Mars behind the soldiers. More information was sought by just about everyone as the pressure built to have a larger more autonomous human presence on Mars.
Children ran here and there with dogs as cats sat on the laps of the inhabitants watching the show. Presents were piled under the trees for the children. Individuals were giving their own to each other and there was a 'secret Santa' exchange for all the adults the next morning as they had exchanged names for the transaction. None of the gifts given were from any other source but Mars. Part of the fun of this holiday here was finding an awesome gift from a guild store or any other place to give to someone.
-0-The Primal Residence
"Sit there, sparkling, or I will pat your servo," Ratchet said with irritation. He had dug out Orion and Miracle, turning to pass them onward to others by grasping them by their peds. They had hung upside down protesting their confiscation from their stealth operation. Ratchet dug out eight more infants including three laughing Seeker infants before turning to the group with a smoldering optic.
Kup heaved the tree back up and checked it over as Springer lay smashed flat on the floor. He looked up at Kup who was visibly concerned for the tree. "A little help here?" All he got was guff and guffaws. Sitting up, gathering his plate before him, he looked at Drift. "This was some of that 'for better or worse' stuff. Step in any time."
"Oh," Drift said as he grinned at Springer. "Sorry."
"Slagger. You won't be getting your present tonight," Springer said with a grin.
"You owe one to Orion, Drift," Sideswipe said with a grin. "And Springer? You're a cheapskate."
Raucous laughter and ribald remarks greeted that as Springer shook his helm.
"Don't feel bad. Little mech saved you from being arrested, Springer. Assault with a dead weapon," Hercy said.
Huge laughter greeted that as Springer shifted on the floor to a more comfortable position. "It must be slag Springer night," he said glancing at Drift with a grin.
"I never said a word," Drift said.
"No kidding," Springer said. "I think I need more pie to be salve for my broken spark."
"I'll get it. Let your old ma take care of ya, youngling, in your hour of need," Ratchet said rising. By the time he got to the kitchen there were half a dozen requests for half a dozen desserts to fill. No rest for the simple minded he thought as he began to slap huge slices of this and that on plates, then covered them with the requisite toppings and add-ons. He walked back in dropping them off before pausing before Springer. "Next Thanksgiving the contest thing will be cookies."
Everyone weighed in favorably as Ratchet sat. Glancing nearby, he noted more infants in the Seeker bed liner. "There's Scout. I wondered where he was."
"No you didn't," Alor said with a grin. Laughter greeted that. "When is the next infant from the House of Ratchet and Ironhide going to make its catwalk debut?"
"You've been watching E! teevee again," Ratchet said. "I asked Ironhide and he said book me in for next week."
"You're hallucinating again," Ironhide said as he worked on a piece of pie, a piece of cake and a pile of ice cream.
Laughter greeted that. Raptor grinned as he glanced down at the sparkling-filled bed liner in front of the fireplace. "Let's see … there's a mech from Wheeljack and Perceptor in there … Resolve. What a great name by the way," he said glancing at the two scientists who beamed. "Then there's Prima too, Solus who looks fantastic with that sensor net." Everyone nodded as Prowl's family and Prime's beamed with pride. "Sojourner is there. So is Prowler. I thought there were Seekers in there. Wasn't Swift?"
"He was until there was food. He's a bit of a browser," Sky Warp said glancing at his son cadging a bite from Miler's dessert plate.
"We have a lot of infants and a good number of older ones," Raptor said glancing at the older kids who were having dessert at the table. "Can't have too many infants. What about it, Ironhide?"
Gimlet optics of the deeply betrayed kind speared his grandpa like daggers. "What about you, Appa? What about you having a sparkling?"
Raptor grinned. "I did with your Amma doing the deed. His name was Blackjack and he was my magnum opus. The life didn't allow for more. The life here isn't holding your aft back and you want the football team. How about popping out a goalie or two yourself?"
"Nothing is holding you back now," Ironhide replied.
Raptor considered that, then sat back. "No. Nothing is." He grinned.
His entire family turned to look at him, at the prankster king of the family from Praxus. No one knew whether he was kidding or not, even Turbine. That mech looked at his sparring partner aka bond with a smirk. "You would do it to prove a point with the infant."
"I would. If he's going to make the bond do all the work the least he could do is try it for himself," Raptor said enjoying Ironhide's squirming.
"Ratchet and I have a plan. We have divisions of labor over the … the football team. He has them and I do all the work. Mostly. Usually when we … uh, when things happen. I do a lot of the work. Tell them, Ratchet," Ironhide said glancing at Ratchet who was enjoying himself way too much.
Ratchet nodded. "He's very hands on. He does a lot with the infants and keeps them playing hooky until just about sub adulthood. He can tell you the favorite munition of every one of them can't you, Ironhide."
Ironhide nodded proudly. "I can. No one would know without all the effort I put into them. Little mech," he said nodding to Prowler, "likes the mini-con bullets. They fit into his mouth."
"I like the little concussion canisters," Hero said as she walked to her big old pa to lean on his leg. "I used to like the mini-con grenades but the canisters are shaped like a cinnamon bun." She smiled brilliantly up at her old pa who visibly melted around the edges.
"Well, that settles it. Infants know what they need and all is well," Raptor said patting his lap. Hero ran over to him, then was lifted up to sit on the lap of her great grandfather. He let her have bites of his Danish.
"Speaking of infants," Ironhide said moving to shift the topic to another slagger, "how about Springer and Drift? You've been together about five or six human years. That's long enough," he said with a grin. The ball had been tossed into their end zone. They would have to be gang tackled instead of him.
SCORE!
Their smirks melted away as the entire room turned to them to stare expectantly. "Frag that," Springer said to universal score and derision.
"One of these orns. Those three little kids we had … they were great. Some day we will have our own. From the Well. Or from Specialty Fabrication-Sparklings," Drift said with a grin. They were buried in scorn. Then Ratchet turned his optics onto the femmes. Everyone settled warily.
"Chromia, what is there to the rumor that you're courting Maelstrom?" he asked.
She stared at him with her expressionless expression, the one that usually scared everyone else. There were almost no bots around that scared Ratchet. He could stare into the dark pit of just about everyone's spark without flinching. That was one of the millions of reasons Sunstreaker adored him. She shrugged. "What can I say? I like to arm wrestle."
Laughter greeted that.
"What are the prospects of him coming to his senses and maybe being let out to be an asset instead of an aft?" Ratchet asked.
She considered that. "I would say 2% with a margin of error of about 300% plus or minus."
Laughter greeted that. Then Springer grinned. "You need a gestalt. I think it's going to take one to be a good match for you."
"You're probably right. I don't respect anyone who can't at least beat me once in arm wrestling," Chromia said with a ghost of a grin. She looked at Bee who was sitting next to her. "You'd never have a chance."
A lot of mini-con snark greeted that as Bee weighed in. Ratchet looked at him and a smiling First Aid sitting on the floor next to Bee, an empty plate on his lap. "What about you two? When are you going to stop fragging around and bond?"
Bee grinned at Ratchet. "What makes you think we haven't?"
"Your aura, that smirk you have that's one of your many tells, the idea that I will kick your aft into orbit if you did and didn't tell me and a hundred other things that matter," Ratchet said with a smile.
"Oh. We aren't," Bee said smiling back. He looked at Prowl. "How about talking about how Praxus lost the championship this year? Where's the trophy, Prowl?"
Daggers greeted that from a winger in extremis as the entire room turned on Prowl and gave him a truck load of guff. He simmered as he looked at Bee, then the twins who were grinning at him with something akin to gloating. "Frag you, Bee. This time next year we shall see."
"See what? Praxus lose again?" Sideswipe said as Bluestreak elbowed him in the chassis. "You can beat me all you want but it won't change the singular fact that Praxus Science didn't even make the playoffs this year."
Prowl subbed a datapad, then began to make a note. "Sideswipe is stationed on Charon for the next seventy-five years," he said before scorn and derision scuttled that move. Prime who was laughing loudly was clearly enjoying himself. So were Tagg and Kestrel it was good to see.
-0-Earth 1
They sat by the window on a couch talking together in an intimate way. It was loud with conversation in the area and nearby there were couples dancing to music. Their heads nearly touched as they talked, their glasses in their hands untouched. Nearby dancing with his girlfriend, Carly Brooks-Spencer, Sam Witwicky watched with disquiet as his former girlfriend struck up a friendship with the brother of his current one. James Brooks-Spencer had arrived at last with his striker team, the SAS man qualifying easily for the latest Beta team to arrive. There were two openings, Sam knew in the garrison and James was aiming to gain one of the berths. Carly had told him earlier.
That would make James a permanent member of the garrison of which Jessie and the others were already part of. He felt the walls closing in on him as he swayed with his girl as nearby other N.E.S.T personnel danced, drank, ate and chatted with scientists, civilians and military citizens of Mars.
It was getting weirder by the minute.
Ho-Ho-Ho-Boy.
-0-TBC 1-10-16 edited 1-10-16
NOTE: Fig is here with the others. He and the others will be adding back in as the story goes. :D:D:D
