The Diego Diaries: Immigrate (dd8 150)
=0=Bureau of Immigration
"I'm going to take him to the jail at the Courthouse," Winnie said to Springer as she exerted a slight pressure on Will-M's wrist.
He flinched, but began to walk with her toward the door down the room where it exited back out into the parking lot. As he began to go, the other two and Will-M's atar stepped forward.
Raptor put his big servo on Mik's chassis. "Nope. If you're done here go on the bus to your home. He's a big boy. He did the crime, he can pay the time."
The sound of clapping caught everyone's attention. They glanced toward Ratchet who was clapping briskly with a giant smile on his face. "POET!" he said with admiration and mirth.
Raptor snorted, then guffawed. He looked at the three mechs. "You either go home now or we'll drag you to jail with Will-M."
"You need to go home, Dok. You hit the jackpot getting to come here. You'd be living in that squirrel cage forever but you're now here and know the rest of the story. We won. You lost. Get over it," Hardie said.
Dok stared at him coldly. "I never approved of you, Hard Drive. You were a fool and soft. Its because of mechs like you that Cybertron fell."
"And what about you, fragger? What did you do? Anything?" Ironhide replied hotly.
"I am an Immortal," Dok said coldly. "My qualifications aren't at issue."
It was silent a moment as the group (of non elders) sucked that one up.
"Really," Springer said. "What are your qualifications and what are you trying to qualify for?"
"He's an Immortal but there's an asterisk next to it," Hardie said calmly. "I won't get into the details but his qualifications are based on his caste and little else. We could debate that all night. As for the job … I think King of Cybertron has always been his ambition."
"We already have a king," Drift said coldly. The idea of an Immortal who was also caste conscious was a new thing to him and bitter. His admiration of Immortals bordered upon the slavish.
"That's debatable," Dok said coldly.
"No its not, slagger, unless you want to honor fight Prime," Delphi said with a grin. "I'd pay large to see that."
"We don't expect anything from any of you. Its obvious that you stepped out of the right path a long time ago," Mik said hotly. "We won't be pushed around by any of you."
"I think he just made a threat and pushed against a Primal Decree," Springer said. "Just so you know, The System of Exception is dead here and everywhere that Cybertronians live. Not only does Prime say so, but also Primus. Go ahead. Create slag. I'll gather your armor with tongs when Primus is done with you."
Dok stared at Springer as if to memorize him, then glanced at his sons. "Come," he said, then he turned his back … a big insult in the warrior class culture … to walk out the back door that led to buses that were still waiting. His sons followed with glaring expressions.
Standing by the buses were armed mechs who climbed on after the slaggers were aboard, then they pulled out to take the newcomers to their new homes. It was silent for a moment, then Raptor glanced at Ratchet and the others with him. "We're going to eat together. Come with," he said.
"Done deal," Ratchet said. He squeezed Ironhide's aft. "You're cute when you get angry."
"I am, aren't I," Ironhide said as he fell in line with the others.
His elders grinned at him as they followed along.
With them, off duty at last ,was Jeen and Parable.
=0=At a crowded diner admiring food and a silent but smiling baby
"That group won't assimilate easily. We're going to keep an optic on that district. The beat cops are going to be briefed just in case," Springer said.
"Good idea," Prowl said as he was caught up about the group with Prime. They'd both joined the party after the difficult mission and were shooting the breeze with the Fam at this, mid afternoon on Mars. The kids were in school and all was well until they came home on the buses in a few.
"Tell me about Dok," Drift asked Hardie who he worshiped like a god. Hardie was calm, zen, brilliant and amazing, all the things Drift aspired to. "How did an Immortal turn into him?"
Hardie grinned. "We never got along. Some of us understood that growth is a process and when you aren't given opportunity then things can get fragged. Our road to sentience was long and hard along with learning who we were, what we were and all the rest. Just learning to read then was a death sentence if caught.
"When things began to come together, we all fought for our freedom. I wasn't around him but he did his part or so I was told. He earned the tattoo apparently. Then we all began to form a society and he wanted to be either Prime or Guardian's right hand mech. Guardian didn't like nor trust him so it never happened. We were the ones Guardian turned to because we came up through this together."
Jack nodded. "He was such a fantastic mech. The plot to kill him was never solved but I wouldn't be surprised if Dok was in on it."
"I thought he was killed in battle," Springer asked with surprise.
"Winners write the histories. It was suspicious how he died and those of us who knew Guardian like we did knew he would never end up where he was ambushed. It never set well," Jack said.
"Nor would I be surprised," Sun said coldly. "Guardian was the best mech of all of us and he was killed supposedly in battle when the fraggers began to undermine him and his government to bring back the slagging System. The number of collaborators in the government and military along with the moguls who were growing more and more powerful was never determined. The Functionalist fraggers blocked any inquiries into anything after they took over. If someone could prove Dok was one I'd not only believe it but I'd save you a Primal Hearing with Special Circumstances, Optimus."
"I can understand your feelings, Sun," Prime said.
"I don't know if they'll make trouble but I wouldn't be surprised. What do they do that might be useful, if anything?" Ratchet asked. "Wasn't he one of the mechs that hung around Reset?"
Prime nodded. "I noticed him in the back of the group, hanging back to watch and listen. I think he should not be underestimated for the potential for trouble. As for his skills, I do not know. What about you? What can you tell me about them? Him and Reset?" he asked the elders at the tables around him.
"I was going to be part of the Temple Governing Board at Simfur because of my clan but it was blocked in a private vote. The way that they voted, the Council in charge of the religious relics, shrines and temples was to cast votes with colored stones that were from the quarry that created the pad upon which the Temple stands. White ones meant agreement. Gray ones meant no. You were allowed to vote without anyone knowing because each of the Council were given two stones and they were allowed to toss the other one they didn't use into a box. Voting was allowed over a decaorn so no one could see when you came and determine the vote that way. The box they put their vote into was locked. My clan made it, of course," Turbine said ruefully. "I wasn't allowed to be on the Council."
"Fraggers," Raptor said. "Anyone who has you on their side is a side that wins. What was the vote then?"
"Its an odd system. It has to be unanimous. It was 33-1. That lone vote doomed me. I cried for orns," Turbine said. "My family has always served there and at the Monastery at Upper Tetrahex. Being blocked was the biggest disappointment, I assure you," Turbine said.
"Fraggers," Ironhide said darkly. "How about I pummel him until he gives?"
"How about you get me a fresh cup of tea?" Delphi asked.
Ironhide half rose in his chair before he remembered where he was, then he sat with a frown. "Slaggers. I DEFEND YOU AND THIS IS WHAT I GET!?"
"No. You can hug me when we leave," Delphi said with a grin. Every elder in the room was grinning at him like the wonder of the world that he was to them. Which he was. A wonder.
"Apparently it is," Ratchet said with a dazzler.
Snickers abounded.
"He always worked in the upper echelons of the military. He was a liaison for the Primes between that office and the munitions industry. They were wealthy like everyone in government then, accumulating their money by careers in and out of the military and business, the whole revolving door thing. I don't know that any of his kids are soldiers, they don't read to me that way," Hardie said. "I do know that Dok was, though what kind is unclear. No one lived to tell the story."
"He embraced the high caste lifestyle with a vengeance. I remember having to deal with him on the Special Forces budget and it was class conscious slag all the way. No one worked around him who wasn't high caste and they were the biggest bunch of fraggers. Sometimes you meet people who have a high opinion of themselves and its just awful to be around that energy. He surrounded himself with this. His kids were the same. A lot of dynastic bonds in his group."
"Another set of specimens for my research," Ratchet said with a grin.
"What research, Old Mech?" Ironhide asked.
"I'm trying to find out the ups and downs of dynastic bonding, both in actual bond bonds and in the civil ones without bonding. There's some individuals here that have as many as thirteen close bonds by union that have presented some really strange CNA mutations. Even the civil ones where no actual bonding occurred have caused convoluted thinking that can be charted. Its like nothing I've ever seen," Ratchet replied.
"I know that Dok's bond is a relative of Sentinel's grand genitors. Those slaggers were a pair to draw to in getting things done. They were highly invested in the munitions industries that supplied the military and also specialized tech for ships. Everything they made was good but it was enormously more expensive compared equally good tech by other companies. Who you knew, once again. If you trace the dynastic bonds through the commercial and military side of commerce, you're going to see a real cancer there," Delphi said.
"He nearly tried to outlaw the Elites," Jack said with a chuckle. "He worked overtime to try to get a few provisions passed to curtail our power and bring us under the domain of the Primes."
"How did that end?" Hardie asked with a grin though he already knew.
Sun and Jack grinned back.
"Since you asked," Jack said. He was sitting between the twins and they were listening to the gods of their existence dispense the wisdom from on high.
Bluestreak was staring at them with amusement. He was waiting for them when they arrived. It was a happy and loud sit down with nearly every senior Autobot and their spouse showing up.
"I went to his house, grabbed him by the neck and shook him hard. I told him that I was the first one who'd pay a call from the caste if this continued but I wouldn't be the last and he'd never see it coming," Jack said.
"Subtle isn't us," Sun said with a chuckle.
The twins grinned. It was love, love, love for them, the hoodlums.
"I told him to expect the unexpected if this continued. Our caste was sacrosanct and no one was going to do a fragging thing. If we'd fallen, then it would've been a hell hole a lot sooner than it was," Sun said. "I waited outside. No one was at the beach house at Mithril."
"He was doing some paperwork at the time. I gathered it up and tossed it in the recycler. I also rearranged his living room, his office, his kitchen and I had snacks when I left for the two of us. Great bakery in Mithril," Jack said.
"Which one?" Turbine asked with a snicker. "Big Boy Eats or The Charger?"
"Big Boy. For big boys," Jack said. "I loved every bite."
"What happened to Dok?" Sideswipe finally managed to say around his great and abiding love.
"He was laying on the floor. I think I unscrewed something when I shook him. His helm wobbled. We made an anonymous call after we ate his donuts and they put him back together," Sun said. "Those were good donuts."
"Did he drop the plan?" Springer asked with a little bit of awe himself.
"Do you need to ask?" Sun asked with a smile. "I wish I'd seen you do that, brother."
"Think about someone mixing paint," Jack said with a smile himself. "I will never forget his optics nearly unscrewing and falling on the floor."
"Frag. I hate doing optics," Ratchet said.
"We know," everyone there replied.
Dinner would be entertaining for everyone including Prime.
=0=TBC 04-28-2021