The Diego Diaries: Wheelus Factor (dd8 102)
=0=Courtroom
A solemn even pensive Springer walked into the room glancing neither to the left nor right. He took the stand, was given the oath, then faced Coln. He didn't trust himself with Karyll or his group.
"Commander Springer, you're the Chief of Security for the Empire including this planet. You're the chieftain for the special operations unit called the Wreckers and have been an Autobot since before the war broke out when you joined it as a youngster. I'm assuming that you came from a life before that and would like you to tell the court a bit about it so we can understand any testimony that comes next," Coln asked gently.
Springer considered the request, one that required him to sift through memories that were precious and seldom disturbed. "I was separated in Polyhex which is my home town. My family were mid castes and had a store that we lived over. It started small but got to be big, big enough that it supported all of us so we made plans for another one. It was hardware and electronics. We sold things and fixed them. We were good and people liked and trusted us.
"My genitors owned it and had their siblings work with them to keep the family together and lift everyone up together. My genitors, their own and a few other elders weren't up to it though they'd step in if needed but it was a family enterprise, a great operation that felt like home even in the store. My cousins and I would play and help out. We learned the business young. We'd go to school, mid caste school, then come home, help in the story or upstairs with the elders. It was the best growing up possible. All of my family were tremendous individuals."
"Then something changed all that," Coln suggested.
It was incredibly tense in the room, tense like you were waiting to hear if you'd live or die from the doctors. He considered his words, then continued. "Brontine paid us a visit. He was the mech who worked for Karyll Wheelus who'd go around when a business looked profitable and steal it by making threats and using the courts to back him up.
"He came when I wasn't there but it really upset my family. We lived in the top three floors, all of us together. It was close and tight but fun. Everyone changed but they didn't talk about it in front of us kids. He told my family that they'd put all of the adults in prison on trumped up charges if they didn't sign the court order that Clamor made to give up our own company to Wheelus. We'd get to work there for crumbs and get all the bills but he'd take all of the profit.
"My fathers were livid. They wanted to fight back but the elders were afraid. We refused anyway and so another order came with Nova's signature on it, Nova Prime. They'd condemned the entire area and were going to tear it all down. We had no recourse in the courts because the courts were rigged, everyone kowtowed to Nova and no one could do anything. We were forced out."
"What happened then?" Coln asked.
"They came in and leveled the neighborhoods, three of them as old as Cybertron. There were families living there that were there from the Functionalist era and we were all friends. They were everything to each other, all of us to them. It was the worst thing I'd ever experienced to leave our home and find a place to go. All of us went. My fathers carried their genitors in their arms, they were so distraught. I expected them to die from it.
"The demolition was created, then warehouses were built to hold whatever the frag it was that Wheelus had stolen," Springer said bitterly.
"Objection," MaR-lo said.
"I've submitted documents to back up Springer's remarks, Lord Optimus, that Wheelus and his faction stored stolen and fenced goods in the warehouses built over those neighborhoods. Its part of the public record from a state investigation at the time," Coln said. "They are already introduced and both sides have read them. There were no objections made to their inclusion as evidence."
"Objection overruled," Prime said. "Continue, Springer."
"About that time, I was in the Autobots and there was unrest everywhere. I found a ship for my family and put everyone of them on it. I told them I'd meet them but I never did. Full blown civil war started and I was needed. I couldn't leave and my cousins and fathers were tough. They'd help everyone until I could. I'm still waiting," he said with real bitterness. "During a blessing of the Festival, they came to me and said they were coming. It was real and I'm living for it.
"I want to see them again and have them see my son and bond. They deserve this place. We can start another business if they want to. House of Striker and Sons Hardware and Electronics." He finally glanced at Wheelus and the others. "It might not seem to be a lot to you, fraggers, but it was my world. Our world. You have no idea how much I waited for this to happen. To see you all sitting there with no way out of this from your slagging friends and puppets, it makes a lot feel better."
It was silent a moment, then Coln stared at his datapad. "Were you aware of others being subjected to such things as this, Commander?"
"Objection. Speculation," MaR-lo said.
"Do you know a mech named An-10 who had a number of bars and restaurants in Polyhex?" Coln asked.
"I was. I used to play games in one of his bars near our house when I got older. My fathers and I entered tournaments. It was fun," he said bitterly. "They burned down one of his bars to get him out. He knew my fathers and told them about it. He has a bar in our town, Iacon, now. Its our favorite, the bond and me. We play in tournaments, some of the games," he said as emotion rose in him. "I'd give my right arm to play pool with my fathers again. My right arm."
He looked at the Wheelus group, then saw Ironhide and Ratchet sitting against the wall holding servos, their emotions for him clear on his face. "Ratchet and Ironhide made the difference for me from then until now. I'm lucky that way. When my family comes then all will be done and well for me. That's all, Coln. That's all it'll take."
"I have no more questions for this mech," Coln said. "Thank you, Commander."
Springer nodded, then hesitated before stepping down. "I dreamed of killing you but not now. I want you to live forever and remember me every day." With that, he stepped down, walked to the door and out.
Drift followed him and it closed.
Ratchet rose and walked to the door, stepping out into the corridor. Nearby, Springer and Drift were hugging tightly. He walked to a chair and sat. Down the way, everyone was studiously looking everywhere else but Kup and Hercy who looked solemn. It would be that way for a bit.
=0=Temple of Primus Pre-School, Temple District, Autobot City
She sat by herself away from the group looking fearfully around. Nearby, Lady Sela and two of the teacher aides were helping do a puppet show about a little femme going somewhere new and feeling worried about it. She sat on her little knees clutching her little digits as she watched them fearfully in this strange new place.
The other seven kids, four mechs and three tiny femmes sat enraptured as they watched the puppet show. They'd been dropped off, too, by their adoring families, all of whom were terribly grateful to get their babies placements in such a prestigious setting. It took a moment for several of them to fall into the rhythm of the place but they had. All of them were entranced by this place and its activities but Halo. She would take a bit longer to feel it.
=0=Courtroom
They took a break for a moment as new witnesses were called to come for the next round of accusations. Prowl and Optimus stepped into the corridor followed by No-A and Semi. The door closed, then they were gone.
=0=Elsewhere
They stared around themselves noting with shock, some of them, and a calm confidence, one of them, about where they were. It was a silver beach next to a silver ocean. It curved forward into a silvery sky, one that almost had a light blue tint to it. In the distance were the huge figures of planets and moons filling all of the view, all of them too close to the one they stood upon for the scene to be real.
No-A glanced at Prime. "Is this where I think it is?" he asked with a growing sense of amazement.
Prime nodded. "This is the Matrix. I have seen this place before but I cannot remember. Its more a knowing than a known."
Prowl glanced around girding himself to see holiness in the form of someone from the Pantheon that ennobled and enriched his inner life so much jump out of the surrounding area. Solomus was the patron of their family and House but the one who captured him was Thirteen. He was the one in which more Cybertronians than not found comfort. All that was missing from the moment was a deer stalker hat and a hand held magnifying glass. "Where would They come from? The tree line? The ocean? Maybe from one of those fake planets."
Prime grinned at Prowl who looked fiercely here and there, determined to see the Great Ones before they crept up and wilted his formal intentions to pay homage. "They will come from wherever They desire."
"Is this some kind of signal, Optimus, about what's going to happen?" Semi asked with a hushed sense of awe.
"It is hard to say," Optimus said. "They have Their own ideas and designs."
"I would say so," a voice said from somewhere.
Everyone turned toward it, then froze, everyone but Optimus. Standing before them was the herculean beauty of Prima Prime. It was deeply silent a moment, then Prowl dropped to a knee. Semi and No-A startled, glanced at Prowl, then joined him.
Optimus stared at Prima who grinned.
"They have lovely manners," Prima said.
"They do," Optimus said as he bowed. "What brings us here, Lord Prima?"
"I will tell you if everyone stands," Prima said.
The three glanced at each other, then rose swiftly.
It was silent again.
"We have a situation here not only with the Wheelus Faction but the Imperialis brothers and the Sun Base fiasco," Prima said. "I am glad that the miscreants are being caught and brought to whatever justice there might be. It will be an interesting venture watching the trials."
"Will you intervene?" Optimus asked, though he knew he would get no answer. The Pantheon were scrupulous about the rules and one of them would be to hold Their counsel given They had a role in the matters at hand.
"You already know that answer cannot be told," Prima said with a slight grin. "We are watching. We will continue. Do you intend to hold the verdicts until the Imperialis brothers are adjudicated?"
"I do," Prime said. "The Sun Base case is still being organized. These two trials are being held together so that if You wish to have a say You can."
Prima nodded. "Very well," he said. "I will leave you with a friend or two." He grinned. "One is true and the other is a work in progress." With that, Prima Prime disappeared. In His place appeared two individuals that all four of them knew well.
Three faces expressed shock and surprise while one didn't.
"Hello, Kudon," Prime said with a nod. He glanced at the other mech who still looked a wreck. "Hello, Sentinel."
=0=Lunch time at the Temple of Primus Pre-School
They sat at a table with tiny chairs as an elder brought out several little trays on a cart. Each of them had been meticulously prepared, think Bento box crafted and were being placed before each child. Another elder held a tray of tiny drinks in little glasses with their names on them. That elder set them down next to each tray.
Everyone stepped back as the children stared at them quietly. It was amusing and pleasing to Sela and the teachers, aides, Ammas and techs that the children waited politely. She grinned. "I think its time to eat your lunch, infants."
The children looked at their trays with little sandwiches created in puppy dog shapes. Fruit was cut out to resemble stars and little ships while other things there, all of them chosen by the elders to be tasty, balanced and beautiful were just that. They began to eat including Halo who was still coming out of her shock that she wasn't in the box bed in the Armory office having her mid morning nap followed up by a cookie with her old pa. They always did that, then chatted together.
He wasn't here.
This was all new.
She loved Lady Sela, a family friend but this was odd and new.
She ate her food silently as the other kids chatted away. It would be noted by the adults who sat nearby eating their own meal, too.
=0=TBC 02-28-2021 03-01-2021