The Diego Diaries: Dodge This (dd2 20)

=0=Mid morning next day, t-minus five days before Operation Frag Shockwave

Shift had changed and the day loomed out before Ratchet. The sparkling was with Bluestreak and his body guard contingent. It was Blue's turn to watch the younglings and he had taken them, the two sparklings and the required armed guard down to the beach to spend time in the sunshine. It was warm, balmy and quiet.

The operation to chop off Shockwave's head was coming up and the base was gathering expertise together. Prime and Ironhide were finalizing alternatives to the alternatives to plans A, B and C, making sure that nothing was left to chance. He, himself, was free so he sauntered out the door of the Embassy wandered across the flight line and down to the fence at the shore.

The Aerialbots were sunning themselves preparing to transport mechs to the operation. A comment or two, a joke told and a laugh shared made the journey to the infants even more pleasant than it already was turning out to be. Sea birds called as Ratchet stepped over the fence, the blue sky almost as dazzling as the ocean itself. Ratchet paused to look at it, a vast incomprehensible expanse of water, dazzling diamond-like sparkles adding to the incredible beauty before him. He continued on unaware of a glint coming from another direction. It was faint and didn't repeat but it was there, far enough away to be hidden and close enough not to hinder what was to happen.

The sparklings were lying on a blanket, a small black one trying to grab the tiny wings of a little yellow one. Orion who was determined to have a wing in his servo was flailing in the arms of Bluestreak who was laughing as he held him, keeping him away from Kaon who was lying on a blanket on his little belly. Blue saw Ratchet and waved, glancing up at Hound who was standing nearby with his rifle in his servo. Trailbreaker and Smokescreen stood in other corners of the beach watching the younglings and enjoying the weather. They didn't see the glint either.

They did see the missile as it flew through the air.

Ratchet heard the pop of a weapon launch as did all the others. They were professionals with eons of experience and they knew the sound when they heard it. All of them froze, all of them looked toward Ratchet. The big white Autobot turned and saw the flash of something speeding right at him. Moving toward the left, he felt the glancing impact on the edge of his chassis, on the side of his body next to his right arm. The impact triggered the explosion almost instantly after and a white hot light fritzed through his optics. He felt himself pulled upward off his feet, flying through the air in a furious spinning motion.

It was incredibly hot, then cool overtook him as he landed in the ocean sinking toward the bottom. The blue sky wavered as he sank, water distorting the view. Then the blessed blackness of unconsciousness overtook him as he settled on the bottom in the soft yellow sand.

Bluestreak, Hound, Trailbreaker, and Smokescreen froze for a nanosecond, then exploded into motion. Bluestreak pulled the younglings into his body shielding all of them, fully expecting more shells to fall. Shielding them with his own body, he sent an SOS to Ops Center even as he watched Hound and Trailbreaker jump into the ocean to find Ratchet. Smokescreen covering them against the sniper turned and began to work his way toward the direction of the shot, his own weapon drawn and ready.

-0-Ops Center

They knew before the message was sent that something was wrong. A huge bellow from the command center went up and everyone froze, looking around. Ironhide, doubled over, looked up in agony. For a moment he couldn't speak and then he could. "Ratchet," he gasped, then he turned toward the door and began to run. As he exited the Ops Center, he was joined by mechs running from all directions with weapons drawn.

Outside they went, Prowl, Prime and Jazz joining him, heading as they did toward the beach. On the flight line the Aerialbots jumped to readiness, two of them lifting off into the air and one of them, Silverbolt roaring nearly straight off toward Mars following Prime's orders to bring back First Aid.

They reached the fence and turned toward the beach, pounding down the sandy stretch just as Trailbreaker and Hound dragged Ratchet out of the water. Ironhide skidded to a sliding stop and crawled toward Ratchet, holding his helm in his servos. Wheeljack and Perceptor arrived at the same time with medical kits in their grasp. They began to work feverishly, putting stop to the many energon leaks and shrapnel wounds that the missile had created when it exploded so close to Ratchet's body.

Sunstreaker rolling up with Sideswipe knelt beside Bluestreak who sat crouched on the blanket, younglings grasping him and infants in arms as he watched in abject horror. He looked at Sunny and found himself speechless as the three sat together watching the struggle before them. No one spoke but Wheeljack and Perceptor and as they worked orders were being given over internal comm lines by Prime.

Prowl and Prime stood together rooted in horror to the spot by the inconceivable sight before them. Ratchet's right arm was missing, part of his chest was torn and twisted, his right optic broken to bits. His spark chamber was intact and most of his right leg down to the knee but the hip structure was damaged and he was unconscious.

Ironhide was stricken, he was silent. He held Ratchet's helm in his servos unaware even that Orion was nearby fussing. Prowl turned with a jolt and gave orders to several mechs who walked to the younglings and sparklings to picking them up. With an effort to shield them, they walked up the beach toward the embassy with them.

Kneeling himself, Prowl looked at Ratchet with an almost unbearable expression of grief on his face, Prime standing behind him with the same expression. Bluestreak, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and the rest watched silently as the two mechs stabilized Ratchet. Looking up, Wheeljack nodded. "We can move him now."

By that time, a couple of mechs bearing a stretcher had arrived at the beach and with infinite care, they loaded Ratchet onto it. Lifting carefully, they walked toward the embassy, armed guards surrounding them as they did. Bluestreak rose and took the blanket into his servos twisting and untwisting it as he started forward. He paused to look back, spotting Sideswipe and Sunstreaker moving up the embankment heading toward the place where the shooter had to be. He watched them a moment, then hurried forward to catch up with the group.

When they reached the fence, half the base seemed to be there, femmes from the administration building, Epps, Lennox and Graham, Fulton and half his staff, civilians, soldiers, sailors, marines, and more Autobots. They watched as the silent group filed past carefully carrying Ratchet with them. It was deathly silent as the stricken assembly watched the Autobots disappear into their building. After all of them entered, the big sliding doors slid shut.

-0-Sideswipe, Smokescreen and Sunstreaker

They followed their instincts, finding the most logical place to snipe. There was evidence of someone having been there and they had been lying on their stomach as they waited. There were no shells, no discharge and the weapon was also missing. Following the most likely line of retreat, they lost the trail when they hit tarmac. This part of the base was normally empty of activity making the possibility of witnesses unlikely.

They scanned the area following the trickle of sand to a conclusion, sand that had been shed by the shooter as he retreated. It lead to a hanger, so they moved to it peering inside to see nothing but stacks of weapons and ammunition. They had found the source of the weapon and after a brief search found the weapon itself. They would guard it, Smokescreen and Sunny moving out and around the facility to look for clues until a forensics team could come and take possession of it.

-0-The Mole

He saw the mayhem out the window and like everyone lounging in the rec room ran for the door to the outside. People were pouring out of the Administration Building, especially the girls that were friends of the Autobots. Civilians drawn by the activity and soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines, and women in the hangars and shops stepped out to watch, then ran with them, all of them gathering in front of the Autobot embassy.

Autobots stood in and around the entrance armed to the teeth. By the time he reached the embassy, Autobots carrying children had arrived. They hurried past, some of the children crying as they disappeared inside. The faces of the guards outside became even more grim as they, too, watched. Jessie, a soldier that he had known from the Administration Building walked to one of them. The Autobot knelt down and they talked a moment before Jessie turned to look at her friends, her face pale and shocked. "Someone shot Ratchet," she said before bursting into tears. The others did too, most of them as crowd upon hearing it alternated between deep shock and tears themselves. Fulton, turning to the crowd, barked orders to his aides, the young men and women pulling phones to order the lock down of the base.

By the time the stretcher with Ratchet arrived, the crowd was rooted to the spot, horror the common feature on all their faces. Ratchet was in bad shape, signs of extreme damage all over his body apparent and to the Mole, he seemed dead. He watched as they disappeared into the hangar, the guards falling back, then the doors closing shut.

The crowd stood together, whispering and comforting each other. It took a time to disperse. By the time they did, Fulton had a full search and a criminal investigation underway. There would be a deep news black out on this event.

-0-Silverbolt

He raced at the top of his capacity toward Mars. A shuttle was flying toward him with First Aid and two of the field medics. They would rendezvous in space and Silverbolt would return as fast as he could fly, cutting precious time off the journey.

-0-Medbay

They walked through the corridor heading toward Medbay, the Autobots of the garrison lining the walls. They were coming to donate energon and to help in any way they could even if it only was by their silent presence. This was a strange occasion, the number of times that Ratchet had been hurt so few as to be hard to remember. He had constantly exposed himself to fire darting out into a battlefield to save them and there wasn't an Autobot in the garrison Prime included that didn't owe his life to Ratchet's bravery, skill and tenacity. But his luck had been phenomenal and there was almost no memory among the mechs of him getting more than minor injuries doing so.

The pall on the group was deadly in its intensity.

-0-Outside

Everyone stood together, little groups of misery as all of them speculated on who would do such a thing. There was only one person they all had in mind and everyone knew it.

Daniels.

Daniels and his mercs.

Fulton hopped in a hummer and took off, barreling toward the transient officer's barracks where they lived. By the time he was through, there they would be in lock down in the barracks, their phone capacity cut off and armed guards posted to enforce their confinement.

-0-The Mole

He watched Fulton leave, the hairs on his arms standing up with the tension of the moment. The others standing with him were shocked, upset and some were crying. Ratchet, the most accessible mech among them was extremely well liked. He stood with them, his arm around one and listened as they speculated. Mercs. They were blaming 'the other', the outsider. No one was blaming him. No one was blaming the insider.

-0-Medbay

They shifted him to a med berth as a groan escaped his lips. Ironhide, the picture of devastation moved to the front of the med berth to hold Ratchet's helm in his servos. He looked at Ratchet, stricken by the destruction visited upon him. Ratchet's optic was shattered, the optic that looked at him with love and humor, an optic that could stop him in mid stride with just a look. It was the warm blue that soothed him when he was upset, amused him when they sparred and always held wisdom and courage for him, for Orion and for the Cause. It was broken now and it hurt Ironhide so deeply he knew it would be permanent. He was witnessing things in Ratchet's condition that he had prayed never to see.

Ratchet's arm was gone. The arm that held his son, the arm that held him, the arm that held skill and used it to save lives … it had been blown off and was gone. The arm that was part of Ratchet's last protoform cycle was gone forever. His leg from the knee down on the right side was gone. His hip, the one that Ironhide loved to rest his servo upon when they lay together in their berth talking and joking, it was gone too. Energon, Ratchet's pure essence was everywhere. The flow was ended, stopped by Wheeljack and Perceptor but he was still covered in it. Ironhide resisted the urge to take a cloth and wipe it away, making his beautiful mech beautiful once again.

Ratchet was lying very still, his good arm laying off the table. Reaching out, Ironhide moved it back on, settling it gently against Ratchet's energon streaked chassis. The chevron was still there, whole. It was whole and Ironhide stared at it, this emblem of Ratchet's love for him. He had changed his paint scheme and physical design in response to Ironhide's dream, his description of Ratchet as a white medico. It was typical of Ratchet's humor that he would do something for him like this but it didn't give him comfort now. It only dug the knife deeper into his spark.

They had been at war, albeit, a lukewarm version of it due to Sunny's sparking but it had been their condition at the time of this obscenity. He had wanted something, his Ratchet. He had wanted another sparkling and as Ironhide stood there holding Ratchet's helm, he bargained with Primus. He'd be the carrier if Ratchet wanted it, he would have the sparkling himself, he would do anything that Ratchet wanted no matter how outrageous, no matter how contrary to his nature it was if Primus would allow Ratchet to stay.

Their sparkling, Orion's happiness and future was at stake. Everyone in garrisons on two worlds were at stake. He himself was at stake. A world without Ratchet in it healthy and well was a world not worth having and Ironhide knew deep in his spark that if Ratchet left this world he would be right behind him.

-0-TBC 2011 (2) edited 1-21-15 edited again 10-01-17