The Diego Diaries: War (dd6 107)
NOTE: I figured someone would remember Cassio Imperialis. :D He first makes an appearance in DD5, part 426. He is my character and a combination of all the kinds of thinking and actions that would be a person like him, the string puller behind the front men like Nova and Nominus Prime. :D
-0-On the line
Prime stared at the screen considering his options, then the monitor signaled an incoming message...
-0-Out there just before that
Ratchet stood in a room filled with light waiting for something to happen. The voice was back. "You were a naughty mech."
"I don't know what you're yammering on about," Ratchet said with coldness.
"You let the Prime know who I was."
Ratchet smirked. "Process of elimination. Fifty-fifty chance you were someone we already knew. Using our tech was a giveaway too."
"How would you know it was someone who you had already encountered? I didn't say anything that was a giveaway."
"Of course, you did, amateur. You asked about our colony. If you were just wandering by how did you know it was … what did you call it? A paradise?" Ratchet grinned. "Whatever you think or thought you were, Cassio, I was the Autobot's diplomat and I wrote the book about reading between the lines. You forgot that at your peril."
"You don't think I can withstand him?" Cassius asked as he stepped from the brightness to pause before Ratchet.
"Not on your sorry aft," Ratchet said as he stared at the smaller mech. He was exquisite in his paint scheme, appraising of optics and uninteresting in manner. Ratchet didn't know if he cultivated the plain way he showed himself as a tactic or if that was who he was. Either way, he was a fragger's fragger. "You forget … we have a bead on the size of your battle group from before and we can smash it flat seven times over right now without calling for backup." Ratchet leaned forward slightly. "You're no soldier either."
"But I have soldiers in my employ. I have allies too. I have many allies and they will help me move forward," he said as he walked to a chair nearby to sit. "I have plans, Ratchet. I want to have my own kingdom here and I don't want interference."
"That's the entitled aft speaking. You want to make a nuisance of yourselves with everyone around here and you want us to stay out of it. Prime has treaties and oaths to keep," Ratchet lied. "He was clear about giving you the settlements in exchange for the settlers but you fragged even that up. Not good. You appear to be losing your touch."
"I could kill you, Ratchet, and send your body parts back one at a time," Cassius said as he sat back. It was clear that he was enjoying the conversation.
"You could but you know that I'm part of Prime's inner court. If you kill me, you will never have a place to relax in this or any other dimension. Prime bears the Matrix. If he asks for help to find you, he will. You should know that by now. I doubt the Pantheon or The One has anything good to say about you and your antics over the past few zillion vorns. It would do you well to leave this place and not provoke. I can't underscore it enough how much you will pay for anything you do here. Get smart and cut your losses."
Cassio stared at him, then the door opened. A tall mech, gray with red highlights here and there entered, then walked to Cassio. Leaning down, they conversed, then the big mech turned to Ratchet. The two knew each other. This was Ebio, the older and even more murky brother of Cassio. He was called 'The Great Calculator', a mech without conscience but a searing ability to think things out to the nth degree. He had no emotions that could be discerned and therefore, there was nothing between him and an adversary but the mathematics of victory. He was the 'voice of reason' for Cassio and the two were a very scary and deadly combination. He stared at Ratchet, then his brother. "We have stalemate as long as Prime believes that the payment for aggression is too high. Given the commentary that has transpired thus far, I would suggest that we regroup and allow the settlers to leave."
He looked at Ratchet. "Listen up, equipment. Tell the Prime the following. It's in his best interests that we have a place to stay where we can live without interference. If we have to continue to travel then there isn't incentive for us to not gather more allies, especially those deeply disgruntled over their treatment at his hands. Whereas, we're merely affronted and irritated, many of those are ready to gather together and kill. We would be a moderating influence in the outcome of any alliances especially out here where the Decepticons have built so much hatred for anything and anyone Cybertronian that it would only take a spark to light their fires.
"Tell that mech that if he grants us these settlements as he stated he would, we would land here to live and he would know where we are. Otherwise, we have no incentive to make a life for ourselves and would be compelled to continue wandering, gathering allies, fusing relationships based on mutual grudges. You won't have a clue where we are otherwise. I'm sure even Optimus Prime can understand the reasoning behind that logic," he said coldly.
Ratchet grinned. "You fraggers. You think you're so high tone. Who did the Matrix actually choose? The Matrix for the first time since Guardian Prime actually CHOSE its bearer, Orion Pax. The others? You slaggers chose them because they were weak and pathetic. Malleable clay, right? You think you're better and smarter than Prime? Well, let's see. If you're serious about pulling out so we can take our people out of here, then so be it. I can make that happen. And consider this, fraggers … if you were really as high tone, pure and superior as you think you are, you wouldn't use the lives of our people to get what you want. Fuckers. That's a human word that fits. I'll tell Prime. You haul your sorry afts out of here and make it a good pull back. If you so much as sneeze without two sectors between us we'll send a slimline up your afts. Do you understand me?" Ratchet asked with fire.
Ebio stared at Ratchet with a cold anger. "Do what we tell you, dirt, and make it happen. We can always send bodies floating out in space."
"And Prime can come in guns blazing with the expectation that you're going to kill the settlers anyway. At least, you fraggers won't make it to the next Festival," Ratchet said equally forcefully.
Cassio grinned, then rose. "We're pulling back, then sending you out in a runabout. Tell Prime to get his people as fast as possible. If not, we might call in our allies and make a mess of things." With that, he walked to the door and left.
Ebio stood stock still, his fists balled. Ratchet turned to him. "Wanna fight, crybaby? I doubt you ever had a fist fight in your life, let alone one that wasn't rigged."
"I am a practitioner of circuit su and Metallikato," he replied.
"Is that so? I'm a practitioner of Greco-Roman wrestling and a good blaster round between the eyes. If you want a fight, then have at it. If not, go take care of your brother. He can't find his aft with both hands." Ratchet took a stance, bracing himself for the first punch. Unless one had experience fighting a medical mechanism, most didn't know that once they planted themselves it took the force of an incoming Seeker to move them. Many were the mechs who broke a digit or three putting a roundhouse right into Ratchet's chassis.
"You would like that," Ebio said with contempt. "I don't fight the lesser classes."
"I don't either. Send your brother in here. I would love to fuck him up as they say," Ratchet said. "I pictured him taller."
The door opened as Cassio re-entered with a grin. "Ebio, let's go. Ratchet has a mission to complete."
"Do it, slagger. Hope we never meet again," Ebio said as he turned to go.
"YEAH! I HOPE WE NEVER DO! I WOULD HATE TO SEE SOME OF THOSE FAMOUS SKILLS I'M SO TERRIFIED OF! DID YOU KNOW IN MY SPARE TIME I'M A METROTITAN! I HOPE I NEVER HAVE TO SHOW YOU *THAT*, FRAGGER! IT MIGHT HURT!" Ratchet bellowed as the door closed. He stared at it with deep satisfaction. "Frag with me? Frag you, high caste. The orn will never come again where some high tone fragger takes a shot at me without paying a price. FRAG YOU, EBIO!"
It was silent a moment, then it wasn't.
-0-Prime at the moment when the screen comes to life
"Prime. I'm sending your doctor back and will allow you to have your people. We will pull back including my many allies. You have four orns to get them out of here, then leave. When you pull out we will take over the settlements. We are going to settle here. If you do anything short of what you have asked for, then you will make a very, very bad enemy. Do not underestimate me, Prime. Out."
It was silent a moment, then Prowl turned to Prime. "What do you want to do? Return a message?"
Prime nodded.
"You're on, Prime."
"This is Optimus Prime. We are coming in with force," he said. "We will be taking our people and their belongings and if it takes more than four orns you would do well to stay back. I am waiting for my soldier and your removal. Prime out."
"We have a ship on sensors. Small, maybe a runabout. Its heading our way at top speed," Blaster said as he glanced at Prime. "One passenger. It reads as Ratchet."
Prime nodded. "Send someone to get him. Let Mars know that we're moving 120,000 civilians. We need to get on it. Have the dreadnoughts be bases for their transfer. When they fill up, they take them to Mars, then return. I want them to take what they need among their possessions. I want the dead retrieved as well. I don't want them punished for being in a bad situation."
Prowl nodded, then sat with his datapad to write the orders and send them onward. As he did, the little ship was rendezvousing with a vessel that pulled him on board. As that happened, the troops of Cassio Imperialis were pulling off the settlement worlds, heading toward a nebula that sprawled nearby, the victim long ago of a flashing rift of energy that took a star out in a spectacular explosion.
It was silent as the bridge crew watched the ship that held Ratchet come ever closer. It would arrive in moments, then Ratchet would hike up the elevator to the bridge. But before that, Ironhide would be waiting for him on the hangar deck.
The ship slowed nearby, then a bridge of light flashed on attaching to the hangar deck of Salton Sea. On it, walking with a grin and a couple of officers transferring back to Salton Sea, he ambled toward safety once more. Ironhide who was waiting stared at him with emotional optics. Ratchet stepped onto the deck, then flung his arms around the big mech. Ironhide squeezed him, lifting his considerable heft off the deck. They hugged and hugged, then looked at each other. Turning together, Ironhide's servo resting on the small of Ratchet's back, they walked to the elevator. Everything that had to say to each other now, they said off line.
The elevator opened, then the two walked out, Ratchet prancing and preening like a debutante to the applause, cheers and sass of the crew. Hugs were had from Hercy, Kup, Springer, Drift, the younger mechs, a few crew here and there and, from of all mechs, Prowl. Prime grinned at him from the command deck as the humans in the travel box whistled and clapped. Ratchet smiled at them, then Prime. "I see you brought your gerbils."
HUGE laughter from everyone and a slight smirk from Ironhide was had. Ratchet grinned. "I see you got the message."
Prime nodded. "Yes," he said. "Tell me what you can about Imperialis."
"Well, first of all, what about my kid, Partition?" Ratchet asked.
"He's in the sick bay getting a rest," Ironhide said. "He's fine but wound up."
"He did good," Ratchet said. He looked at Prime. "It's Cassio Imperialis and his much, much worse brother, Ebio."
"I never met Ebio," Prime said.
"I have," Prowl said grimly.
Ratchet grinned. "Did you know he knows circuit su and Metallikato? He said so."
"Puh-lease," Prowl said as he folded his arms in disgust.
Laughter greeted that, then Ratchet continued. "They wanted to smoke you out with lies and slag …you know … the usual high caste chorus. Ebio and I almost mixed it up at the end. He has no respect for anything lower than his chin. Slagger."
"He's militant about caste, that one," Prowl said. "Cassio, I didn't have to deal with but his brother was his emissary and he was often at the HQ in Iacon trying to make trouble. I loathe him and he loathes me."
"He also loathes Prime. TRIFECTA!" Ratchet said to loud laughter. "They're leaving for four orns to allow you to get everyone but they won't like it a bit if you break their settlements. They have a theory that if they can settle here you'll know where they are and not have to worry that they're out making allies to come to Mars and do Metallikato on our afts. Yes. He told me," Ratchet said batting his optical ridges at Prowl who rolled his optics.
"I will hate to break his pretty balloons, then," Prime said. "He gets nothing from these people. Its the least we can do for their suffering and fear."
Ratchet nodded. "I thought you'd say that," Ratchet said. "Well, my work here is finished."
Huge laughter and some whistles rounded out that bit of brio. Prime sat back almost giddy with relief. "Go get scanned, then we need you to help us. I'm calling out the rescue now."
Ratchet nodded. "Okay." He looked around. "So, is there anything I missed?" he asked as Alor tackled him. He was passed around the family, a number of mechs who worked and/or waited on the deck, then Ironhide dragged him toward the elevator.
"MOVE IT, OLD MECH! YOUR SCREWS ARE LOOSE!" he said as he shoved Ratchet into the elevator. Ratchet turned with a brilliant smile and a wave to everyone before the door closed on the two.
It was a moment to be savored by the crew and everyone else. "That's a relief," Prowl said. He looked at the screen. "The fleet will be organizing around the shock troops that are going to be going in first. The dreads will follow along with the Supremes. The rest of us will be taking in teams through the bridges while Mars organizes to receive refugees."
-0-On the way down
Ratchet and Ironhide embraced all the way to the med bay, then stepped off together when they arrived. Hoorahed down the corridor, embraced and applauded, he entered a suite and sat down. Plugs were placed as Ironhide hovered. Ratchet grinned at him as the all clear began to form in symbols on the screen above him. As that happened, a solemn-faced Partition appeared in the doorway nearby.
-0-TBC 8-24-17 edited 8-28-17