Sorry this took so long, but enjoy :)
Chapter 34
Today the embassy was being opened. The large grey compound had a large wall with a building inside and it was surrounded by onlookers and media. Rodimus, Optimus, and Sentinel stood on the top of the steps leading to the entrance of the compound. A few senators stood behind them. They were waiting for the arrival of the staff of the embassy who were heading straight from the dock. Considering this was the grand opening of the first embassy on Cybertron, celebrations were already in preparation.
Rodimus tapped his pede and turned to his sire.
"Sire, weren't they supposed to arrive an hour ago?"
Optimus checked the phone on his wrist. "Two to be exact."
Rodimus looked around, he saw the Elite Guard Band, blue and red uniforms plus the distinctive insignia and chevrons on their shoulders. They stood at parade rest and were starting to get antsy. Next to them was the Elite Guard Honor Guard, they were standing at parade rest, Cybertronian flag waving in the breeze and rifles on their shoulders. He could see the media section, loaded with news van mechs pointing cameras at reporters who narrated with microphones. He could also see the extremely large crowd behind them, wanting anxiously to get a view of the humans.
Before Rodimus knew it, a pack of black SUV's waving American flags from their antennas drove up. The Elite Guard Band immediately started playing The Washington Post on their instruments and large men with blue coats, white hats, and blue pants with red stripes exited the vans and stood in formation next to the column. They stood uniform; Rodimus further examined them and could clearly see their red chevrons on their shoulders, and metals and ribbons on their chests. He instantly recognized them as the Marines.
A Marine opened the door to one of the SUV's and the US ambassador exited. His black suit looked dull compared to the Marines. The Marine saluted him and the ambassador saluted back. The ambassador jogged up to the steps and shook hand and servo with Sentinel, Optimus, and finally Rodimus. He stood next to Rodimus while the band switched to America the Beautiful. The ambassador couldn't help but smile at the amazing talent of the band. The rest of the main embassy staff joined him including General Everly. Sentinel was personally grateful that Everly was still involved, while his son and grandson didn't share his pleasure.
A group of Marines pulled an American, and Marine flag from the back of one of the SUV's. Two other Marine's pulled shiny World War 2 vintage M1 Garands from the back. The Marines who took the flags, wore special harnesses and placed the bottom of the flag in them. They formed into a unit of four and marched to the front of the embassy to the bare flag pole. The Marine honor guard as well as the Elite Guard Honor Guard met in front of the flag and presented their rifles. Sentinel approached a podium speech on a data pad. The song ended and the Elite Guard Band put their instruments down.
:Today we open the embassy to our human friends from the United States of America: The crowd broke into a loud outburst of cheering and clapping. Sentinel smiled "This nation has been our friends, ever since they returned our crew of the C.S.S. Odyssey who crash landed in their country on Earth. We hope that by establishing this embassy, we can further tie that bond: Sentinel went on and Rodimus leaned into the US ambassador.
"Is it ok if I ask what all of that business was with the flag?" he asks
Optimus is about to punch him but the ambassador happily responds. "Its all about tradition, our people are fully confident that we can accomplish anything that challenges us and our history and our traditions is what keeps that spirt alive. I don't expect you robots to understand all of that." Rodimus feels offended but realizes this is the first time the ambassador has been to Cybertron.
"Oh ok, and for further reflection, were not robots"
The ambassador gave him a funny look "Then what are you?"
"Uh…a mammal." Rodimus looks away awkwardly
"hmm" the ambassador turns his attention back to Sentinel.
:And that this embassy shall stand until the end of Cybertron, and for a million years of diplomatic friendship.:
After the speech, the crowd went wild and everyone remained still for a bit. When the crowed quieted down, The Marines began to raise the flag and one of them began playing To the Colors on a bugle. The Marines stood still, disciplined. Rodimus couldn't believe how quiet the world had become as the flag was raised. The flag began to wave in the Cybertronian wind and the Elite Guard Band began to play The Star Spangled Banner. Rodimus turned his attention back to the Marines who were still standing still, maintaining the salute and the staff of the embassy who held their hands over their heart. The song concluded and the Elite Guardsmen switched to the Halls of Montesuma. The Marines all looked a little stiffer and prouder when it came on. When the song ended, the Elite Guard Band put their instruments down.
The crowd roared, and Sentinel stepped back motioning for the ambassador to take the stand. He gladly came over and stood on a stool behind the podium to look out at the crowd of Cybertronians.
:Good morning everyone: he talks through the intercom. :I would like to personally thank Sentinel Prime for this opportunity to establish formal diplomatic relations with your country. I'm sorry I don't know much about your people, your customs, or even your biology, but I hope to change that. We the United States, are glad to wholeheartedly accept you as our friends. The crowd erupts into a mix of clapping and cheering and the ambassador stepped down and rejoined the Primes.
When the opening ceremonies were in order the Americans took a tour of the new embassy. When everything was settled, the Primes sat down in a small living room area with multiple lounge chairs and couches. There is a fireplace to the left of the room and windows to the right. The room is almost completely white with the exception of the black chairs. In front of the Primes were the new ambassador, General Everly, and First Seargent Owens who is head of security. Next to them was General Ultra Magnus who arrived from Kaon on Optimus's request.
"I understand you to be a Marine." First Sergeant Owens, the American head of security leaned forward in his chair as he spoke to Ultra Magnus "Have you seen combat?"
General Magnus sat forward "Indeed, I served in the border conflicts with the Galactic Council. I was head of our force that retook Moonbase 31. You?"
"I saw action in the War on Terror, I served two tours in Iraq and two more in Afghanistan." The Marine smiled with pride
"I worked with you Marines before. During Mechanized Thrust, I had a detachment of my bots there working alongside NATO troops and I am fully aware of your combat capabilities."
The Sergeant raised a brow "I was a part of Mechanized Thrust. Nobody said anything about robots..sorry I mean bots there. Word spreads like wild fire, someone would have reported it."
The general laughed "That's because we posed as your vehicles" Seargeant Owens shook his head.
The group sat in a small moment of silence. "I was wondering" Optimus spoke up "I heard that your nation has been ending its wars in the region known as the Middle East. I heard it is now being taken over by perhaps a much worse force that you have been fighting? Are you going to return?"
The First Sergeant sighed "You're going to have to ask General Everly"
"In all likeliness" General Everly nodded his head.
Rodimus scooted a bit in his chair "What if we got involved? If the ultimate evil exists there, shouldn't we destroy it?"
"Rodimus, now is not the time for negotiations" Optimus spoke
Sentinel scratched his chin "No, he's onto something….What do you think ambassador? What if we embedded with your forces if they decide to redeploy to the region?"
The ambassador thought for a moment "That isn't a bad idea. But remember, we have to ensure your existence is deniable. We could maybe replace our vehicles with your bots, just like in Mechanical Thrust"
"It was Mechanized Thrust not Mechanical Thrust and I don't like the idea of my mechs being turned into IED magnets" General Magnus spoke "I've seen combat footage and I believe the aftermath is not in the best interest of the Cybertronian bots."
Everly nodded and the group sat in silence.
"Do any of you have family?" Seargeant Owens asked to General Everly, aiming to break the awkward silence.
"I have a wife and two kids at home" General Everly spoke up, "When I'm done my tour I'll see them again."
"Same here" Sergeant Owens smiled "Were all used to long deployments by now, I had to lie that I was being sent back to the fleet because I'm sure they would have wanted to come along."
Sentinel smiled "This is my son." He patted Optimus's shoulder, and this is my grandson he gestured towards Rodimus. He turned his attention back to the humans "All of us also have mates"
"Excuse me, Mates?" Sergeant Owens asked
"I think he means wives" The Ambassador whispered to the general
"They do" Ultra Magnus spoke up
"What about you sir, do you have family?" Rodimus asked Magnus
"Mate and daughter"
"Interesting" General Everly sat back in his chair
After the meeting, the group of politicians and soldiers walked by Marines loading large green metal crates into a room that had a safe door. The Marines saluted their superiors and the group saluted and stood there.
"What are they loading in?" Rodimus asked
"M16 Service Rifles, M4 Shotguns, tear gas, enough weapons, ammunition, and body armor to hold out for a century" Sergeant Owens observed his Marines taking out black M16 rifles from the green crate and leaning them on the armory wall.
"I'm interested by these weapons, could you show us one?" Sentinel asked
Owens turned to his side and pointed to a Marine "Lance Corporal, bring me an M16." and the Marine took one out of a crate and handed the rifle to the senior Marine. "This has been our general service rifle since the 60s. He cocked the rifle. Wow, finally not another hand-me-down."
"I see why you use these" Ultra Magnus held out a servo and the Marine handed the General the rifle. His digit barely fit into the trigger guard as he pointed the rifle at the ceiling, checking the sights. He turned the rifle to its side and cocked it half way. He examined the mechanism within the rifle and then let it slide in. "The caliber is a little small, what is it?"
"5.56mm"
"Small is correct" Optimus approached Magnus and he servoed the rifle to him
"We outfitted our weapons with API rounds that use depleted uranium. These new bullets were designed to punch through your armor." Everly spoke.
"API?" Optimus asked as he servoed the rifle to Rodimus
"Armor Piercing Incendiary" Sergeant Owens put a hand on his hip and the other by his side.
Ultra Magnus scratched his chin. "It pierces armor and then burns the target?"
"Yes" Everly spoke before Owens
"Interesting" Ultra Magnus said and then contemplated
Sergeant Owens glanced at Rodimus who looked extremely excited to hold the rifle. He pointed it at an empty wall and aimed and pretended to shoot at nonexistent enemies all over it. He then cocked it and then ceremoniously put it down by his side. Sentinel laughed
"You still got some youngling in you" he laughed and took the rifle and servoed it back to Seargeant Owens who walked into the armory and handed it to a Marine who put it on the armory wall.
The group proceeded to the banquet hall that had a huge amount of round tables with table cloths and flowers in the center and an elevated rectangular one in the back of the room with US and Cybertronian flags behind it. There were ornate chandeliers that reflected the tan color of the carpet and walls. A greeter servoed data pad of the evenings schedule and the group sat behind the rectangular table and caterers brought out some low grade energon and water. Just then, Marines, Elite Guardsmen, embassy staff, press, and other Cybertronian officials began to file in. Sentinel held the datapad and read the list of ceremonies.
"Hmm I have to servo it to Senator Sherma, he organized this event well. Supposedly were supposed to have some of the original CAS Odyssey crew do a brief speech and meet the ambassador"
"Cool" Rodimus said as he took out his phone and quickly texted Arcee. Optimus looked at Rodimus and that was all it took for him to put his phone away.
Senator Sherma approached the dance floor and he tapped on a microphone: Hello Everyone!: He happily said and the room became quiet in a few seconds. :I know we are all happy that today is grand opening of the first embassy on Cybertron. I know everything that can be said about this event has already been said but I would like to ask the crew of the CSS Odyssey to approach the dance floor: The Senator smiled and everyone clapped as a few mechs in white navy dress uniforms with rows of ribbons and nametags on their chests and Prime Shields with propellers behind them on their shoulders. The mechs looked old, they had to have been in their twenties when the Roswell incident happened. Now they were old, their faces worn and wrinkled, but in there optics there was happiness. Only seven of the original sixty four crew were able to attend the banquet. Most of them have long passed away.
Senator Sherma read off their names and ranks and the crowd clapped for each one. The highest ranking crewman, Admiral Neutron, was only an eighteen year old wireless operator when they encountered the Americans for the first time. Senator Sherma servoed him the microphone and the old mech gladly accepted it.
: Hello, my name is Admiral Neutron, I joined the navy after my general schooling, wanting to see the galaxy. I was assigned to the CSS Odyssey as their wireless operator on our mission to scout out a galaxy we believed to be the mythical Milky Way. We had engine trouble halfway through, and our flight engineer patched it up: he paused for a brief moment and began again.
The engines of the ship shut off
"SCRAP! FLIGHT ENGINEER What happened to the engines?" The captain, an autobot, yelled into a radio as he tried to steer his ship.
:Our engine is malfunctioning sir! Our ship won't make it back, were going to have to land so I can make repairs!:
"That's impossible, we had our engine repaired yesterday!" The Captain yelled
:It was just a patchwork sir! Im going to return to the bridge:
The ship started plummeting towards a planet mostly covered in water. The captain steered for dry land. The ship entered the planet's atmosphere and fire surrounded it.
:All crew this is the captain speaking, brace for impact, repeat, brace for impact: The captain spoke into the intercom. The fire died as the ship entered the atmosphere. The decepticon flight engineer held onto the wall as he found his way to his seat. The captain spotted the ship was heading for the desert, he smirked.
"Lovely, just lovely" he pulled a leaver back and balanced out his ship and it slid into the sand. The whole crew grunted as the ship vibrated harshly. It came to a screeching stop and the ship sat in the sand.
The captain gave a sigh of relief "Everyone alright?"
"Alright, frag" one of the crew members leaked energon from his mouth
"All good sir!" Another got out of his seat and stretched.
"Frag, I think I broke my hip" another crewmember got up and rubbed his sides. All of them wore light blue service uniforms that had their names, and serial numbers as well as Cybertron Navy on their chests. On their shoulders were their ranks.
"Alright, wireless operator." The captain looked to the mech across the room "Send out a transmission for our recovery"
The wireless operator checked the computer "Sir I can't, the antennas either broken or damaged" the young mech sadly stated
"Just great, we'll go outside and fix it. Docker and Neutron, you're with me. The rest of you, stay put" the captain collected the wireless operator and the flight engineer and went outside.
"Frag it's hot" The flight engineer sweared as his armor started to whirr as his cooling fans activated.
The wireless operator immediately started to sweat, he took out a towel from his subspace and rubbed his helm of sweat.
The group examined the desert; all they could see was sand, rocks, and a few cacti. The captain examined his scratched up and dusty ship. It had a large cannon on the front as well as a few CIWS systems on both sides of the main tower. The flight engineer found the half buried latter on the side of the ship and he began to climb it followed quickly by the others. Their pedes clinked and clacked as they made their way to the conning tower that resembled that of a submarine. There was radio equipment still sitting on top. The wireless operator slipped and almost fell but was caught by the captain. They made it to the conning tower and the flight engineer and the wireless operator began work on the radio.
They spent about an hour working on the radio, the captain came back and removed some energon cubes from his subspace and servoed it out to the crew members.
"I hate this heat so much" The wireless operator rewired some more radio equipment and then took the energon "thank you"
The flight engineer slowly took his lips from the cube and he listened.
"What is it Docker?" The captain asked and then he heard it too. It sounded like the hum of engines.
"Is it our mechs?" The wireless operator asked as he stood up.
The captain pushed a button on his helm and binoculars appeared over his optics. He saw a column of trucks driving towards the craft. A jeep with a huge machine gun on the back led green transport trucks with huge white stars on the front.
"Alert the crew, tell them to arm themselves"
The crew raided the ships armory and took as much weapons and ammunition as they could carry. They all posted themselves at every door on the ship and they watched as the trucks came to a stop and a flood of soldiers dressed in khaki uniforms charged out of the back of the trucks. The officer who jumped from the jeep began barking orders and they quickly formed into a line in front of their trucks. The soldiers aimed their weapons at the ship and they slowly approached. As they approached, the captain sighed, holstered his pistol and walked outside into the sun. The soldiers froze in place and then they all hit the dirt and continued to point their rifles at the mech. The captain raised his servos
"I come in peace, please lower your weapons" the Captain calmly spoke. A soldier with an M1 Carbine threw his weapon behind him and then stood up; he had a leaf on his helmet indicating he was either a major or LT colonel.
"Who are you, what are you, what is your affiliation and where did you come from" The soldier bravely stared into the Captains optics
"Captain Steelwing, Autobot Cybertronian, Cybertronian Navy, I hail from Cybertron. You?" The captain gulped, it wasn't a good idea to fire questions back and forth.
"Major Allen Everly, United States Army, and I come from Ohio." The soldier calmed down a bit. "Are you alone?" He kept professional and didn't show much emotion
"No, if your mechs lower their weapons I will order them outside" The Captain looked behind him and could see a few pairs of optics looking out at him.
"Agreed" The Major sighed "Everyone stand down!" He ordered and the soldiers hesitated and then stood up and they slinged their rifles behind themselves.
"Alright everyone, come out, unarmed!" The mechs inside of the ship looked at each other, some of them kept their sidearms on their hips but they all put their rifles down and went outside.
The US soldiers stood still and couldn't believe the amount of bots that came out.
"Keep in mind mechs, there more scared of you than you are of them" the first mate told the crew
Major Everly looked around and he walked towards the crowd of mechs. He felt the way he had when he stormed the beaches of Normandy, he was fearful yet optimistic. The Captain looked around at the stunned eyes of the soldiers and to his crew who stood by him as if they were protecting him.
Before anyone knew it, Everly stood within an easy ten feet from the Captain. He raised his hand and saluted the Captain. The Captain smiled and he saluted the soldier. He was followed by the wireless operator, and then the first mate, and then everyone saluted him. The American soldiers behind Everly returned the salute and then they started traveling over to their commander. Everly extended his hand and then the Captain smiled and shook hand and servo.
The media took multiple pictures of the leaders behind the rectangular table. After a while, their food arrived, trout fresh from the Iacon river basin as well as steak. After dinner, everyone began to get up from their chairs and talked with the other races. Rodimus stood with a group of lower ranking Marines and Elite Guardsmen. The Marines are about half the height of the Cybertronians making conversation somewhat a challenge.
"How do you guys speak English so well?" A Marine asked
"English? You mean common dialect?" An Elite Guardsman raised his optic ridge
"We adopted this language about a billion years ago so all of the states of Cybertron could share a common language." Rodimus stated "However some other languages are still spoken"
"What other languages are there?" A Marine asked
"There's Traditional Cybertronian, Imperial, Northern Tribal, Southern, and some more that I can't name off the top of my helm" Rodimus said
"You're, your planet's prince right?" One of the Marines asked.
"Yeah, but I have almost the same political power as my sire and grandsire."
"Sire and what now?" Another Marine asked
"A sire is the male creator of a sparkling" an Elite Guardsman spoke
"By attempting to clarify you only made it murkier" the Marine laughed.
The Elite Guardsman chuckled "Well when two creators love eachother VERY much"
A Marine laughed and his friends close behind
"So are you guys the equivalent of the Elite Guard?" Rodimus asked
"From what they've been telling us, yes. I heard you have your own corps that sort of act like our MEUs"
Rodimus watched enough movies to know what that meant "Yes, General Magnus is the head of a much larger version of those units and our best at that." Rodimus looked over and Magnus was chatting with Sergeant Owens.
"Haha, I thought you said MATTIS for a second" A Marine laughed
"Mattis for president 2016" Another smiled
"President?" An Elite Guardsman raised his optic ridge
"Yeah, our country a republic, we elect our representatives" The same Marine nodded his head.
"Sort of like the Senate, is this your head of state or something?" Rodimus crossed his arms, interested
"Yeah I guess you can call him that."
"So is your government like a monarchy with an elected parliament?" A Marine asks
"Yup, it's been the family business for centuries" Rodimus smiles.