The Diego Diaries: Onward (dd6 92)
-0-Evening
Ironhide walked in just in time to hug everyone before bed.
"ATAR! YOU NOT COMED TO SHES!"
Ironhide stared down at his kids, all of them in a mob with Orion at his feet. "Bad Atar," Ironhide said with a grin.
They smiled almost as one. It was a noisy walk to the berth rooms with the kids and an even noisier moment or two getting them tucked in. Walking out, he sat heavily in his chair. Three big mechs grinned at him. "What's going on with the mission?" Quasar asked.
"We're going out tomorrow around dawn," Ironhide said. "We're taking a big group with more on standby. Some of them will come from the fleet on Cybertron."
It was silent a moment, then Ratchet nodded. "Sounds busy. Will I be going out too?"
"Not until we figure out who this is," Ironhide said. "Gypsy is going to handle the mission until we get a handle on things. When the shooting happens, if it does, then you come. That gives you some time with the family here."
Ratchet nodded. "I'll organize it here. You infants are going to have to help your ammas and appas."
"We will," Fireball said. They chatted, got caught up in the news, then the big boys walked to their rooms to turn in.
Ratchet glanced at Ironhide. "You're going out in force?"
"We are," Ironhide said. "I have operational control of the group with Atar. The others will fill in different roles in command. Prime wants to find out who it is and what the threat level might be."
"Well, I think we can postpone the rest of the conferences until we get back," Ratchet said.
"Thanks. I want to find out what's happening too," Ironhide said. "We're together on Praxus, right?"
"You want something to eat?" Ratchet asked as he nodded.
"I ate something at The Fortress," Ironhide replied. "We're leaving early so I think I just want to recharge."
Ratchet nodded, then rose. "Go ahead. I'll check out the infants and join you."
Ironhide rose, then walked to the berth room. Ratchet, after taking a tour, joined him.
-0-Partition, about the same time
He walked in, pausing to glance around. Lucien stepped out of his office. "Partition, where were you?"
"I was working. I'm going out with the fleet to find those settlements," Partition said as he gathered some food and a drink. He sat at the table and began to eat. "When they figure out who it is, then I go."
"What are you doing?" his father asked with astonishment.
"I'm going to be with the fleet and get our people back. Those slaggers have three settlements of our people and we're going out to get them," Partition said.
Lucien sat down across from his son. "You're not going. That's war out there. You could get killed."
"No," Partition said. "I went to see Springer."
Lucien reeled like he'd been punched in the face. "You did what?" he asked.
… a day or so before …
He walked to the door of the dojo, pausing a moment to glance around inside. At the other end of the room, a number of mechs sat on the lounge chairs and couches. He walked across the room to pause in front of all of them. Springer and Drift were talking about a mission of some kind along with a lot of big mechs who looked gnarly. They glanced up, then sat back.
"Hi," Springer said. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah. I'm Partition and I want to be a Wrecker," he said.
It was silent a moment, then Springer nodded. "Okay. What's your background as a soldier?"
"I'm in the Home Guard, I'm learning shooting and self defense, and I'm a diplomat," Partition said.
Springer stared at him, then Hercy. "Is this one of your kids?"
"It is," Hercy said appraising the youngling with his steely optics. "What makes you want to join the suicide squad, infant?"
Partition glanced at him, the nemesis bot of his current training schedule. "I want to go with the fleet and do my part."
Drift sat back. "There's a lot of groups that do that. The Wreckers are a high casualty, front-line group that has an attrition rate of about what during the war?" he asked glancing at Springer.
"About 95%," Springer said. "The rule is, we entertain soldiers who were regular army, Decepticon or Autobot, but not Home Guard. If you don't have this in your resume, if you haven't done it before, you could be killed right away."
Partition nodded. "I'm willing to risk it," he said. "Give me a chance."
"You'd need more training, infant," Hercy said as Kup nodded. "Lots and lots of it. Then you'd have to go only on those missions that offered the least amount of danger until we saw how you worked out. It would take a lot of work and discipline on your part. Do you have it?" he asked more with curiosity at the kid's boldness than out of a belief he could cut it.
"I do," Partition said with a determined expression.
It was silent a moment, then Hercy glanced at Kup. Kup nodded slightly, then Hercy stood. He gave the kid a stern once over with his calm blue optics. "You could get killed if we do this. You would have to give absolute obedience to me and Kup. You would have to work orn and night to get the skills. You'd have to zip your lip and shift your attitudes. You have to remember only one thing about what you're asking to do. War is democratic. It will kill you no matter who your atar is. If that doesn't straighten out your thinking, I don't know what will."
He nodded. "I still want to do this."
"There's no shame or foul if when you try it you don't like it. You can back out at any point and no one here will think the less of ya," Kup said as Partition nodded. "What will frag us off is anything that even gives the faintest odor of entitlement. Got that?"
He stared at Kup with an expression that shifted a bit, then solidified into rock hard determination. "You don't think I can do it?"
"I don't know. You'd have to show me," Kup said.
"I will," Partition replied. "What do you say?" he asked glancing at Springer.
Springer who had chatted during the exchange with Ratchet nodded. "You can try. If we boot you out you have to go. No whining, no arguing, no harm, no foul."
Partition grinned slightly. "Got it. What do I do first?"
"Get your gun, go to the firing range at Tarn and learn how to use it. I'll check your scores. I expect a steep learning curve. If you can work that out I'll help you with the rest. Understand? There's no shortcut to putting in the time," Hercy said as he sat again.
Partition grinned. "Deal," he said. He looked at the others, then spun on his heels heading for the door and the shooting range in Tarn. He would spend the entire afternoon there practicing all manner of shots, improving slightly as he did.
They watched him go, then glanced at each other. "Oh, frag," Springer said softly.
… at the apartment in real time …
"This is unacceptable, Partition," Lucien sputtered.
"Get used to it," Partition replied as he put the dishes in the sink. "I'm going to be working at the dojo and shooting for a few orns. I have to get proficient. The hub agent for weapons went over my score today and said I have a good optic." He paused on his way to his room, turning back to stare at his father. "I don't know why that felt so good to hear. He was a low caste but he made my orn. Good night, Atar," he said, then walked down the hallway to his room.
His father stared at the hallway for a while before walking to his office to continue his correspondence.
-0-Earth2
They sat together in Owen's apartment chatting together. The following day, the Beliveaus would arrive and the 'Tres Omigos' as some called them would be together at last. They had dinner at one of the restaurants in the commercial sector, then the letter from Prime was distributed. Rain sat with a pouty expression as the group read, then passed on the letter. Mariah frowned at her daughter. "You're jeopardizing your stay here, Rain. I don't want you to do anything out of line again. You could be sent packing. Prime is no one's fool."
Rain stared at her parents stonily, knowing from experience that saying anything only made it worse. She was set back, not defeated. There wasn't a school on planet Earth where she was a student that she hadn't managed to outfox.
"How do you like your apartment?" Rick asked as he sat with amusement at his sister's angst.
"It's very nice," Mariah said as Kyle nodded. "There's a nice office for Kyle to use for work."
"It's good to have you here. Louise is taking care of things for me Earth side so you can function here with more ease," Own said as he refreshed his drink.
"That's going to be good. I want to speak to the financial officers here. That's Venture, Caro and Ultra Magnus, right?"
Owen nodded. "It is. Their system is a lot different."
"Ultra Magnus," Rain said to needle everyone. "What kind of name is that?"
"Apparently, not all their names translate to English easily," Rick said feeling oddly offended for Magnus who was nothing but generous and helpful to his own needs.
"No doubt," Rain said as she rose to stand. The view from their apartment was of the empty wasteland behind the facility leading out into a very impenetrable darkness. Night had come to Mars and it was as dark as dark gets. "I'm going to Skype with friends." She walked off to her bedroom and closed the door.
"What a brat," Rick said. He looked at his mother. "I hope you brought a paddle. I think she's going to be a weak link."
"She's going to be grounded if she doesn't fly right. I won't allow her to attend Youngling Day if she is going to continue down this road," Owen said glancing at Mariah. "We're on the same page on that score, right?"
Mariah nodded. "I think I want her closer anyway. I want her somewhere that has atmosphere for us."
"We're going out tomorrow," Rick said. "Some of the locals are going to train us to be outside so we can train others. It's going to take a while for them to believe we're ready to be on our own out of facility. You can come with me."
"Who is our trusty local guide?" Kyle asked.
Rick grinned. "Judy Witwicky."
-0-At the Resort, earlier
"So, do we have them all divided up, the first group to go out?" Barbara Morshower asked as they perused the list.
"We do, Mom," Lois said. She glanced at Judy, then grinned. "I googled Mariah Davis. Former wife of Owen Harris, big society grand dame, likes to go to fashion shows, has a lot of chi-chi friends, Switzerland in winter, Paris in spring."
"Well," Judy said glancing at Lois with a grin. "We should be besties by noon then."
Huge laughter.
-0-Around the arsenal in the hinterlands
Roadie who came in that evening to help format and organize the ships called forward by Prowl's orders stood on the tarmac at the staging area that was miles from the colony. As far as the optic could see, ships of all type and manner stood ready to be called forward as needed. Some of the biggest ships they had rolled past to line up for their loads of light blue energon crystals mixed with light green. This combo was the best for long duration missions and the giant energon depot nearly a mile underground with its vast holdings and ultra sophisticated system of loading was working away.
They would load up, then lift off to the Military Airfield in Autobot City where they would take their places along the side of the numerous enormously long runways that fed into the airfield. A line of doom-bringing unseen before would gather. The same thing was happening on Cybertron as the first ever Cybertronian-Martian mission would be gathering to go. It would go long and hard into the dark night of two worlds as the armada of Optimus Prime began to come together.
-0-TB 8-14-17 edited 8-15-17