The Diego Diaries: Function Over Form (dd6 15)
-0-Around the colony, Mars
"When did your bond leave?"
"With the secondary fleet. He was called up and left when they did."
"What do you know about what's happening?"
"Nothing. They're on a news blackout."
"Is that normal?"
"It is. I don't know what's happening either."
-0-Temple of Primus Restored, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars, Cybertron and the Empire
Chevron called them together to discuss a conversation he had just concluded with Cyclonus. It was a top secret conversation and would stay within the walls of his office. Everyone sat waiting as the grim expression on Chevron's normally peaceful face percolated through them. "I just finished a conversation with Cyclonus. He's still with the armada. He told me things that I need to tell you that require a vow on your own honor, on the honor of our people and that of Primus. You will not tell anyone whosoever what I tell you."
Everyone glanced at each other, then Gravitas leaned closer. "You have that always, Master."
"This is a different level of event, my dear Gravitas. Thus, I must have your vow on the honor and dignity of the Matrix," Chevron replied. Lauren and Chrome who had listened into the conversation, but had no comment during it sat side-by-side. They were grim too. It was almost frightening to those gathered.
"You have it, Master," Vraz said with conviction. Everyone else murmured agreement.
"Very well," Chevron said. He glanced at the others who nodded. He looked at the group, his dozen senior priests. "There has been a calamity of astonishing proportions in the Benzuli that could drive a wedge between us and the Monastery if we do not rise to the occasion."
Everyone sat as if in attendance at a funeral which in some small way they were. Chevron continued. "Apparently, there were Functionalist settlements there which traded with aliens. They were the migration coming to us for rescue. There were about 4,500 refugees on the ships that had come from a pair of colony worlds of about half a million total individuals."
"The ones that the fleet is trying to find? They said a calamity happened ..." Lady Sela asked, her voice trailing off in dread.
Chevron nodded grimly. "Yes," he said. "There was a calamity. It happened like this in the past, the sort of catastrophe we are facing here. When the Functionalist Council tires of you or finds you without a logical purpose, they perform a 'recall'."
Sela straightened as memories of really bad elder times flooded in. "They killed them, the bulk of the population."
Chevron nodded. "Yes," he said.
"What? What does this mean, Master?" Gravitas asked without comprehension. "What … do you mean they killed everyone? How?"
"With chips in your processor," Sela said with bitterness. "They detonate them."
It was silent a moment, then Gravitas slowly stood with a look of horror on his face. "This can't be. This is so wrong. It never ends. How can it never end?" he asked as Eronus gently gripped his arm to pull him back into his seat.
"Evil never sleeps," Sela said. "Are you saying, Chevron, that all of the population remaining … half a million mechs, femmes, children, elders, babies … all of them were killed in the recall?"
Chevron glanced at her. "They were."
They sat together a moment in silent desolation, then Mraz glanced at Chevron. "What is it that the Master fears, Lord Chevron?"
"Cyclonus fears as an adherent to the teachings of the Guiding Hand that the backlash from the colony against the Functionalists will roll over onto their sect," Chevron said. "He fears that the differences between them won't be respected. He fears religious violence and strife."
"That cannot happen," Gravitas said with a startled expression. "We all work for the good of The One. No one can blame the Clavis Aurea. We cannot allow that to happen."
"No, we cannot," Lauren said. "We must work together. Cyclonus is coming back when the fleet returns, then we will meet. We have to be of one mind. For now, I want you to review everything that pertains to the Functionalist faction. Then familiarize yourself with the Clavis Aurea. I want to be able to discuss any concerns intelligently. We cannot have disruptions. We are one."
Everyone agreed.
-0-Out there
Cyclonus sat on a chair on the command deck of Xantium. He had a conversation in the back storage room with Chevron on a secured line explaining the situation and his own disquiet over the notion that sectarian violence might happen. Not since he was a youngster was he as happy and content as he was now. The absolutely devout expression of his younger practice was emerging once more. There were titans here and he was Master of the Monastery. Nothing in his life compared to the contentment he felt now. Then this happened.
The differences between the Clavis Aurea and the Funtionalists were obvious if one wanted to take the time to know them. The Functionalists were extremists, the reasonable beliefs and practices of his faith taken to the ultimate ends. For him, a broken finial was acceptable. What you were born with you lived without if it broke or was damaged unless, of course, it was necessary to functionality.
A broken finial was one thing. A missing servo another. You lived with one and fixed the other. Simple. The truth for everything and all time was hidden in texts, the collected wisdom of their people the greatest treasure they possessed. It hid from them, the knowledge, wisdom and the path forward divined by their people and the Pantheon in the masses of scrolls codexes, commentaries, books, and databases that they were housing along with other sites. It was up to the followers of the Clavis Aurea to find them. Sitting in a scriptorium parsing the sometimes obtusely dense passages of ancient writings was the ultimate rush for him now. Sitting with a text, holding a stylus to enter his thoughts and translations onto the clean white empty page of a commentary book made his life complete.
Discussing points of contention with other scholars, consulting each other on this or that word, this or that comment, analyzing what it meant then rather than now … all of it was his salvation. He sought truth and the resurrection of their civilization as diligently as Prime did through his path. Now the Functionalists had come to this place bringing their poison with them. It was a massive threat. Since they both held to the same pantheon and creation process, it would be almost too easy to conflate the two together.
He feared that deep in his spark. One of Twelve sat across from him almost like a statue. He stared into space with his single optic not betraying a thing. Cyclonus considered how little it might take to kill him. Rising, he walked across the space to sit down next to him. Turning slightly, he regarded the smaller mech with the kind of contempt only he could muster. "You bring your poison to our world again. You will make it hard for all of us who believe in the Guiding Hand."
One glanced at him. "I follow the dictates of my beliefs."
"You are a murderer and a sparkless void. I am going to make sure that the differences are clear. If anyone of my sect suffers because of what you did, I will come for you and nothing that the Prime can devise will save you. This is what I vow." Cyclonus rose, then walked to stand behind Prime.
One stared at him, then sat back focusing his gaze on the middle distance before him. There was nothing he could say or do that would not end in his brutal murder here on this ship so he kept silent.
-0-At Ops Center, Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean, Earth
Andrew Settles sat in his office working on the business of the base. Colonel Fulton was staying over on Mars and would come when 'things were sorted out'. He thought about the problem before the bots and felt the usual futility. Down the hallway in her own office, Lilly worked for the good of the order. She was the communications liaison right now for N.E.S.T. and the base.
They had been married since January 21, 2016. The hoo-haw of that event had only just died down a bit. They were still on the radar of every paparazzi and entertainment news organization on the planet. It was easier to go to Mars for downtime than to go home to America. They had a truce with the news organizations that pooled reporters here. They could chat once in a while but the privacy thing was sacrosanct.
Having reporters here at all was a compromise made in the interests of keeping information tight. Given the bots having their embassy here, it was considered ground zero for stories for everyone with a news outlet. Having the information officers on base supply what they were allowed to release ended up with hostile exchanges and a tightly negotiated solution. Three reporters could be here. They didn't have unfettered access but they could ask and get what was allowed. After all, this was one of the most secured and highly secretive bases on-world. That they were here at all was a miracle.
Outside, it was a muggy 81 degrees but felt much hotter. The rain had been intermittent all day long as they worked with the windows open. A slight breeze made it bearable as they toiled. They were handling intel from Mars, shaping it for sends to different capitals around the world. Right now, all they were told was that a refugee group was coming in through bad territory and that more would be made clear later.
Lilly Bolger-Settle sipped her coke as she worked on reports due to the Pentagon shortly. Budgets had to be made and projections calculated. Eventually, they would return to Mars for the opening of the new habitat, Earth2. For now, it was hard slog.
-0-Out there
"What is the word, Prowl, on the second planet?" Prime asked as he sat tensely in the command seat of Xantium.
"It's coming in now, sir," Prowl said. He was hunched over tactical as the data poured in. Then he turned to the cameras. "There are 397,002 dead bodies down on that world, Optimus. No one survived there either." He looked grim and pensive at the same time as he stared at the cameras gripping a datapad tightly in his servo. It was as awful as times in the long past when he had to tell Optimus that entire city-states were lost.
Prime stared at the screen sphinx-like for a moment, then sat back. "Open a channel to the aliens."
Blaster did then turned toward Prime. "You are on, Optimus."
["This is Optimus Prime. I wish to speak to your leader."] he said with a steeliness that signaled to those listening that he had made up his mind about something. They sat at their stations watching him tensely as did everyone on monitors from other ships.
["This is Fortune."] The golden alien appeared on the screen with his confederates from the first conversation between him and Prime. {"You will leave, Prime. We will fight you to the death if you stay."]
["I have appealed to your common decency to allow us to take care of our dead. You refuse. It is clear to me that you wish to pillage both planets for technology including the dead. They are our people, our sons, and daughters, elders and friends. I cannot allow that to happen. I am asking you one more time to allow us to gather our dead and make a decent ending for them."]
Fortune stared at him for a moment without saying a word, then shook his helm. ["You must go. Your kind is not welcome here. We will fight you and many will die, Optimus Prime. It is in your hands now. Stay and fight or leave and live."]
Prime stared at him, then spoke silently over the intracom with the big frames in the armada. After a moment, Prime sat forward. {"You will not have our people."} He glanced at Blaster. "Put Prowl through."
Blaster did as Prime stood. "Prowl, call for bridges. Get everyone out of here. The Titans and dreads go last. Make it happen now. Leave the bridges open for the big frames to follow last. We will be going fast, all of us. Tell them to move it."
Prowl nodded, then turned to make it so. Three bridges flared into sight, the two triggers and the Autobot City Spacebridge, the salvaged Decepticon device named by a child.
"Open a channel throughout the fleet," Optimus said as he stared at Fortune who watched him with a solemn and wary expression. "This is Optimus Prime. Everyone will be getting orders to leave through the bridges in order. When they arrive, leave swiftly. We will cover your retreat."
Fortune who was listening seemed to relax a tad. ["You are choosing wisely, Optimus Prime."]
Prime who continued to stare at Fortune didn't reply. All around his fleet ships were moving off heading into the bridges in groups or by themselves with clouds of Seekers in flight mode. Soon it was down to five Wrecker battle shuttles and the titans. The shuttles left and the big frames began to move slowly, forming up to exit. As Prime stared at Fortune, the ships began to move faster. The Supremes moved into a line formation as if to leave one after another. The dreads began to wind up for teleportation as Tennyson slowed beside Xantium. That big ship hadn't moved a muscle as if waiting to be last through as per Prime's leadership position.
["Fortune, you say that staying will be on me, the outcome of warfare between us. So be it. This I give to you for my people."] Prime made the call and as the Supremes flew for the bridges they fired their entire internal complement of missiles. Masses of them burst forward over and over, then were on their way. The big ships minus Xantium, the dreads, and Tennyson disappeared from view in the whirling fields of the bridges.
Prime turned to Tactical. "XANTIUM! FIRE ALL YOU HAVE, THEN GET US OUT OF HERE! TENNYSON AND TYPHOON! COMMAND FIRING OF YOUR GROUP, THEN TELEPORT! NOW!"
The jolt of multiple missiles leaving their tubes in the bowls of Xantium rolled through the hull as he complied. Flashes of fire burst from the dreads and Tennyson as they complied. When they did literally hundreds of rockets were launched from the enemy ships to strike them and their missiles. The enemy devices were flying swiftly toward Prime as Xantium made his way to the bridge left open. The other two were gone and as they entered, a burst of light behind them signaled teleportation by the dreads and Tennyson.
The missiles from the enemy flashed through space where Prime's armada once stood as several dozen ships flew madly after his missiles to destroy them before they made contact with their targets.
They would fail. The missiles had a head start, were sighted to their goals no matter what and so they did. Dozens of missiles punched into the atmosphere of two planets where hundreds of thousands of once living, once vibrant individuals had called home. When they struck the ground they exploded. Over and over, they did. When they did, the two planets began to come apart at the seams.
The aliens took damage from the huge blast ring and the endless stream of debris rocketing out at sonic speeds that were once planets circling a star. They would limp back to their own side damaged and injured to report their failure. It would create a rage among their leadership that would never be quenched.
-0-On the other side
They flashed through the bridges and came out at Mars. Falling into orbit, the bridge crew finally relaxed. Prime stared at the screen with an expression of desolation. Then he quashed it before turning to the others. "Take us down. Everyone meets at the conference room in the Ops Center for debriefing."
Rem nodded, then flew forward to the airfield where everyone from two flights would land. The crowds of the late afternoon would gather to watch. Xantium landed, then extended his ramp. Gee-Gee and her guard took One of Twelve with them heading toward the prison. Prime waited as his officers and friends gathered around him. Prowl who put out the call for a number of the civilian leaders to attend as well as those who were part of the Senior Autobot General Staff joined him as he turned toward The Fortress.
Standing on segways nearby, N.E.S.T. soldiers on their way to their headquarters for the evening chat with Earth watched grim-faced bots walk past. They didn't nod or say a word. Fulton glanced at Morshower. It had to be very bad what had happened. Prime was the epitome of dignity and manners. The humans stood on their rides watching as the big group of mechs and femmes walked past, Cyclonus included.
:Something terrible happened: Morshower said as he stood next to Bobby Epps. :Follow them. Maybe we can find out:
Epps nodded, then drove forward. The rest followed as they made their way to Ops Center and maybe a few answers.
-0-TBC 5-24-17 edited 5-31-17
NOTES:
Leoness chapter 14 . 17h ago
Man...this is one of the harshest arcs yet. Well done.
ME: Thank you, Missy. There is no easy path for anyone here. Their reputation in the galaxy is so bad no one wants them around. Prime settled it in the post I just made. However, this will have long term consequences for everyone. I can't forget that they had a terrible civil war, atrocities and they find the perps. :D:D
Guestf chapter 13 . May 23
Interesting to see how this will play. I was thinking about the football games you have going on in the story. I don't think we have seen the viewpoint of an Earth star player yet. I am more familiar with soccer and ice hockey and in them you have guys like Messi or Ronaldo or Crosby who are like gods in the field (slightly exagerated, but you get the drift). I'm sure the sports you are familiar with, American football or baseball or basketball have similar stars who think they are the greatest. How would they see the Cybertronian football and the way everybody follows it and loves it? Would they see the greatness or are they the egocentric little shits they seem like?
Just a though that popped in my head when I rereading the fifth part.
ME: Some of the best stuff I do comes from comments and suggestions of readers. I will have that viewpoint. I think it might be fun for the player humans to see the game up close and personal. LOL! I love the idea. Thank you, my sweetie. It's on the list. :D:D:D
Silverhornd chapter 13 . May 22 Hi, Please let the newcomers in those four new ships be on Prime's side or something like that. These aliens need to learn some matters. Their god should appear with the help of one the other primes and give them a big hard swat or two on the back of their sitting down place. All Prime wonted to do is to get his people, Plus didn't Solus said that there is some more of his people that could be alive and they could know that he is there now and come to help him. One question the aliens who are given Prime a hard time they are not part of the White Council are they.
ME: There is going to be a god portion of this story shortly. Solus wants Prime to do what he needs to do without self punishment. He's a decent mech, Our Optimus, and feels the failure. The Matrix was silent this time but he's going to have that conversation with the Pantheon. Right now, they have to figure out what comes next. I just posted. :D
optimus prime101 chapter 13 . May 22
Next chapter, please.i want to read what happens tell me they get their dead out of there and leave. Why don't they tell the aliens what they did to the ones still on the planet?
ME: No one likes the Cybertronians. They have such a bad reputation with their war and the atrocities committed during it. No one wants them around. The Functionalists had something to trade with them so they got to stay. More will come out during the next few parts to help explain. Telling the aliens won't change things. The aliens know everyone is dead but they don't care. Its never a winning hand with the Cybertronians when they come around. That's what the war did to them around the galaxy.
Guest chapter 12 . May 21
Is it bad that I really want Solus to pull OP to the Primal plain and ask Mr. Hu An to come by for a visit? I really want Mr. Hu An to speak with these people as a diplomat. Don't know why but I feel he might be key to turning the situation around so a war isn't started. Hugs I love this story so much. The characters just make you feel part of the story.
ME: No, it isn't. :D I think your idea is great but Prime keeps going his own way. I have this plan but when I write it the thing takes turns even I didn't plan. :D I am so glad you like the story. Writing it for me is my love letter to the universe. I send you hugs, Guest. This has taken a twist I didn't expect and I have learned as a writer to go with them. Sometimes, I think I have someone elses hands typing other than my own. Hugs, dear guest. :D