The Diego Diaries: Playah (dd6 223)
-0-On the airfield at Autobot City Prison
They had been captured in space, then brought to the ground. Walking from the ship, seething with contained outrage, Razorclaw had surrendered his weapons, those they could find, and walked to the Ops Center in a sea of rifles, all of them pointed at his helm. Behind him as he left, he could hear the orders for his mechs to step out and surrender or have their ship detonated. They would not be going back with him, the mechs or his ship. He would be bridged back to his base alone when he finally was returned.
They gathered on the line as a small femme gazed at them with a cold and appraising optic. They were sullen as fuck and in no mood to be nice. Gee-Gee and her mechs including Roadbuster gave none back as they sorted the group mentally. Blue Bacchus who had come along for the ride was beside himself, but he managed to tamp it down. She moved closer to them. "I'm Warden Gee-Gee, your new lord and master. This is my prison and I run it my way. I'm adding you to my collection.
"You will live here according to my rules and if things work out, you can have a chance to live in the colony like a mech. Until then, you live in the cage I give you and do what you're told. Otherwise, I will have to take measures."
"Like what, fragger?" a big hulking mech asked before he landed on his aft, his lower left leg bent at a strange angle. It took a moment for the big mech to feel the pain, so swift was the blow that landed, then he bellowed as he gripped his knee. "FRAG! YOU BROKE MY LEG!"
"Do you want more? I got an endless supply of broken bits for you. Just ask me," Gee-Gee said softly as she glared at all of them. "I AM THE QUEEN OF AUTOBOT CITY PRISON! I RULE IT LIKE A BENEVOLENT DICTATOR! FOLLOW THE RULES AND LIFE WILL BE BETTER THAN YOU EVER LIVED! DON'T AND I WILL BE YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!" She moved closer to the silent row of dangerous mechs, ones who required a less refined approach to check in. She wasn't afraid and they could see that. They weren't afraid themselves but they were very wary of getting slagged by someone who had incredible skills and speed wrapped in a deceptively slim and small femme frame. It was disconcerting, the difference between her appearance and the level of carnage she could deliver.
She stepped back. "You will do what I say. You will eat, sleep, work, and do what I say. You will be taken care of, fed and housed better than anything you ever saw. You will be entertained through the media system and you will be slagged into dust molecules if you break even one rule. You hurt yourselves, your cell mates, my crews and techs, or try to leave without permission, use and abuse substances or each other and I will be very unhappy. Roadbuster?" she asked.
"Yeah, Warden?" Roadie asked as he gazed at the warden like she was Solus Prime.
"Does that cover it?" she asked.
"I think so," he replied as he smirked slightly at the line of fragged off 'Cons who were hers to contain.
"Very well. These are my boys. They are mine. You will do what they say. Hurt them and you will regret it," Gee-Gee said. "Take these slaggers to their rooms, boys. Thank you."
"On it, Warden," Roadie said as he held his big gun up to the face of one standing at the end of the line closest to the cell blocks nearby. "Walk along, slagger. Don't make me break you, too." She glanced at Blue Bacchus. "Not you, yet."
He stared at the others, then her, but didn't say a word. The Decepticons who were seething began to file off, lots of mechs with big guns on both sides as they trudged onward. The mech on the ground watched them go, then glanced at Gee-Gee. "WHAT ABOUT ME!?"
"A medic is coming," she said as she watched a medic with several guards hoofing it with a stretcher toward them. When they arrived, she nodded to the mech on the ground. "He needs a repair."
The medic nodded, then knelt down beside the big seething mech. "Sit up," he said and when he did, the medic deactivated him. The 'Con crumbled into a pile. The medic looked up at the warden. "Had to show them who was boss?" he asked with a grin.
"Sometimes, you have to. I wish they would come in smarter," Gee-Gee said with a soft sigh. She looked at Blue Bacchus. "You, come with us," she said as she walked off toward Ad-Seg. Blue Bacchus would come along sullenly and find himself kenneled with Motormaster and Wild Rider down the row. "You will stay here until Prime speaks with you. Whenever that is," she said, then the lot of them walked to the gates and left.
Motormaster and Wild Rider watched them go, then turned to look at Blue Bacchus who was staring at her with murder in his optics. "What the frag happened to you? I thought you were with Razorclaw. How did you get here?" Motormaster asked with disgust.
Blue Bacchus turned to them. "I was. I was told that Black Shadow was here, that he'd been captured by Prime."
Wild Rider nodded. "He was."
"Liar. No one captures him," Blue Bacchus said of his partner and idol, one who would just as soon kill him for good or even no reason as look at him. Everyone knew that was true but Blue Bacchus. He wanted to be just like his idol who kept him around for amusement. That is, until he stopped being amusing.
The poor dumb fragger.
"Prime took him down. He's in stasis in the hospital security lock up last time I heard. He came here to blow up the place and Prime took him down. We were here. We saw it," Wild Rider said.
It would take a bit of time for that to percolate into his processor, then Blue Bacchus would spend the next few joors cursing and bellowing for Prime. It would be the most entertainment that Motormaster and Wild Rider ever had in Ad-Seg.
-0-Ops Center
They sat around the data map watching the lights of the group who had apparently consolidated into one and was heading toward a defensive position in the area near their meet up place. "We have another thorn in our afts," Raptor said as he sat beside his father. "The data indicates that they have maybe close to 90,000 troops and a lot of ships. They might not be as neighborly as Razorclaw," he said with a grin. "That is, Razorclaw was neighborly. He might not be now. What do you want to do with Blue Bacchus?"
Prime considered that. "I just received a message from Warden Gee-Gee that he's in administrative segregation and having an adjustment problem."
"He's probably howling at the moons," Springer said with a grin. "He's not going to like it that Black Shadow is here in stasis. Good thing its in the main lock up with Shockwave now. It's not safe enough in the Metro Femme Security Sector."
"We will continue to move the worst down there," Prime said. "We will move Arachnid there shortly. Jetta is getting it refit to hold more stasis pods. Black Shadow is already there and the Decepticon Justice Division will go there with Arachnid shortly. I do not want even the idea of a mistake happening that allows them to get out."
"If you didn't have so many scruples, Prime, we could part them all out and have a piece of them framed and distributed among the senior staff for Christmas Surprise presents," Blackjack said with a grin. "I have space on my trophy wall for a leg strut from Shockwave."
"I want his big red optic," Chromia said with a dark tone. Maelstrom snickered as he sat beside her. It didn't matter where she went now. He was there, too, enjoying himself.
"What do you want to do about the surveillance on the group now, Prime?" Starscream asked.
"We need to maintain it. Our arrays … what is their range out there, Prowl?" Prime asked.
"We have that area covered. It's a pass through for the pirates and others to go toward Razorclaw, so we built up the arrays out there. We can watch them very closely. In fact, the views on the datapads come from that set up," Prowl said. "It's also the direction we watch for Cassio Imperialis."
Prime sat back. "I think we can recall the group when they see where they settle. I do not want them to have contact with the Decepticons. I just want a pinpoint of their location. Then they can be withdrawn."
Starscream nodded, then leaned forward to watch the datapad. "They appear to be heading toward that large planetary nugget here," he said pointing toward a bright spot on the datapad. "It's a good area. Big planetary fragment, lots of debris in the area to scatter surveillance, plenty of free-floating energon, and lots of room to hit and run all our locations. Good thing we have bridges. It prevents a lot of confrontation."
Prime nodded. "They will gather anyone coming their way. They will grow. Razorclaw, less so. We need to do some long term planning to get this group out of here. They have only to stumble in the wrong direction to find Gliese." He looked at Wheeljack and Perceptor. "What is the plan for Gliese? How far are we away from doing something about it?"
"We're examining systems and stars, Prime. We think Tau Ceti is a good start. Given the unstable configuration of Gliese, we don't want to place it in an area of free-floating debris. Nothing like a lucky shot to cause havoc," Wheeljack said as Perceptor nodded. "We will prioritize it. Gliese is the same size as Caminus so the same programming with slight modifications should do the trick when we move it. Now, Cybertron is massive so that's a whole 'nother can of worms, as the humans say."
It was silent a moment. "I will be glad to see Cybertron, her moons and the inner planets safely moved to a place where there can be sunlight. I wish for sun to shine on my home world again," Optimus said as he stared at the lights as they passed into the mass where the planetary fragment was. They looked to be slowing. "It would appear that they found their base. Please, Starscream, when its determined what is happening here, recall the team." He looked at Wheeljack and Perceptor. "Are the dishes and arrays ready to read that sector of space?"
Wheeljack nodded. "They are. All we need is for them to land somewhere so we can dial in. When they do we'll be able to watch them to a great level of detail."
"Thank you, gentlemen, all of you," Prime said as he glanced around the table. "Ladies." They murmured back. He sat back thinking about things, then glanced at Springer and Drift. "Could you bring Blue Bacchus here please?"
Springer grinned, then rose along with Drift, Hercy, Kup, Lon, and Bezel. "Your wish is my command." They gathered, then left to go to the prison.
"He won't be a happy camper, Optimus," Elita said with a grin.
"That will make two of us," Optimus said with a slight grin of his own.
"I'll get some donuts," Ratchet said as he rose. "Come on, Leadbutt. I can't carry everything."
"I AM IRONHIDE! I CAN CARRY THINGS!" Ironhide said with a grin as he stood to follow.
"Need help, Daddy?" Elita asked.
"Frag yeah," Ironhide said. "Be a comfort to my old age."
"Speak for yourself, Ironhide," Ratchet said as he walked to the main doors that led to the buffet that was kept in the Rec Room for just such things. It would take a moment to bring Bacchus from his kennel.
-0-Prison
A big group walked to Ad-Seg to get Black Shadow's running partner from his cage. He stood at the bars with a seething expression of outrage. Motormaster and Wild Rider stood at the bars of their cages with big grins. "HEY, SPRINGER! TAKE ME, TOO! YOU KNOW YA WANNA! ME AND PRIME GO BACK A LONG WAY IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Motormaster said like the slagger he was.
"In your dreams, Motormaster," Springer said as the group halted before Blue Bacchus. "Prime wants to speak to you, slagger. Are you going to do this the right way or the idiot way?"
"Open the door and find out, fragger," Blue Bacchus said as he cricked his neck and cracked his knuckles.
"Okay," Springer said with a big grin.
-0-TBC 12-19-17 edited 1-4-18