The Diego Diaries: Roamin in the Gloamin (dd6 340)
-0-Airport
That was when the enormous figure of Optimus Prime appeared.
They stared at him, this incomprehensible figure who walked behind his troops, moving through them as they paused in a half circle. It was clearly planned, the maneuver, to intimidate and underscore his power and authority.
It was working.
The space was silent and filled with a deep tension. Some of the bots facing some of the humans were victims of their behavior and here in this place of ultra safety and remove, there they were.
It was going to be slagging fun.
It was almost too long, the silence, then Prime glanced downward at Lennox who was smirking slightly as he waited. "Major Lennox … would you do the honors?" he asked.
Lennox nodded. "I'd be honored to do that, Optimus." He turned to the group. "This is Lyle and Cassie Cutter with their kids Cora, Terri and Clay. This is Clark and Annie Walters along with their children, Barrett, Gina and Tinsley. You know the Daniels family." He grinned. "This is Commander Ironhide, along with Raptor, Hard Drive and Blackjack, all of whom are generals of the army." He grinned at Ironhide who smirked at him.
:Slagger. Rub it in: Ironhide said in a message he sent to Lennox.
"This is Commander Hercy of Helex, a member of The Immortals, Commander Kup who is a senior member of the Wreckers, Commander Springer who is Chieftain of the Wreckers and Commander Drift who with Springer runs security here, at the Embassy on Earth and all of the Empire including Cybertron. This is Commander Ultra Magnus who is Chief Administrator of the Empire, the Mayor of Autobot City and Administrative Head of Cybertron directly. Commander Prowl of Praxus is second in command of the Autobot Armed Forces and bond of the Prime. This, of course, is Ratchet who is Secretary of State for the Prime's Brief and is the chief diplomat for the Empire. Last, but not least, this is Optimus Prime, the Prime of Cybertron, Mars and the Empire, bearer of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, the Creation Matrix of Primus." Lennox grinned.
:It never gets old: Ratchet said.
Everyone agreed internally, though nothing showed on the outside. It was silent a moment, then Prime stepped slightly closer. He knelt, bringing his face closer to everyone. "I am Optimus Prime. I want you to remember that and know my authority here and on many other worlds of the Cybertronian Empire. Some of you have caused harm to my people and my command. Some of you were dangerous to the well being of your own people. Some of you are new to my understanding. However that may be, you will abide by the laws and conditions of your presence here. I want it deeply and clearly understood between us that any laws that any of you might transgress, you will face consequences here. You have no diplomatic status either in the habitat or outside of it. There is no place on world where you may commit offenses, then run for sanctuary." He glanced at Springer who stepped forward next to Prime.
"I'm Springer and I lead the policing forces, the Day and Night Watch along with the Wreckers and other specialized military forces. I also lead any military security forces that have policing responsibilities both here and in the Empire. Even Diego Garcia is under my authority. It's my duty to protect everyone in the Empire. You being here puts you in the Empire, too. Obey the laws, treat each other right and we'll be fine. Don't make me come to the habitat to arrest someone. I have already and I will again if the circumstances warrant it. Your status here is not diplomatic and even though there's a diplomatic unit here for Earth, they have no ability to grant immunity to you without Prime's consent. He doesn't consent." Springer glanced at Drift who smirked. "I think that takes care of it." He stepped back a bit.
Prime nodded in agreement. "Our law supersedes yours outside the habitat and even inside covering a number of issues. The charter of the Earth2 Habitat negotiated by both sides over a long period of time and signed in mutual agreement allows us to inspect everywhere under certain conditions and it also allows us to investigate any actions within that might be unlawful or unsafe that fall into certain categories of severity. The habitat belongs to the people of Cybertron and is only leased to you for 100 years at a time. If at renewal you wish to continue living there, it will be negotiated again and leased once more. Anyone who transgresses against the rules and laws that govern us and keep us safe puts themselves into my jurisdiction. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded, then Clark Walters stepped closer. "Sir, we're honored to be here. Since I was born I wanted to come here. Mars was my favorite planet. To come here to live and work, to bring my family along is such an honor and delight. I want you to understand my resolve to be an asset."
Prime nodded. "That is good to hear. Though, we have heard it before and have been betrayed. We have not always had good relationships with humans through no fault of our own. We will be watching," Prime said as he stood. "You will give to me your personal oaths that the conditions of your placement here will be upheld. Swear to me on whatever gods you hold that this will be your true intention."
Lennox and the soldiers glanced upward with surprise. Ratchet grinned at them, then nodded just slightly. They turned to the newbies and shrugged. "Your word of honor," Lennox said.
They looked at Prime, then Walters raised his right hand. "I promise on my honor."
The others glanced at him, then Prime, then raised their hand to pledge.
Optimus stared at them, then nodded. "You are on your honor. We have 25,000,000 of our people now with continuous migrations and more coming every day. We created this place as a refuge for them after the terrors of their lives. Do not come here to disturb that. A ban from this world is lifetime for you if you do. There will be no appeal." He glanced at Lennox. "Major," he said, then he turned to go. Magnus and Springer followed along with Hercy and Kup.
Ironhide and his family stared at the humans, then the soldiers who grinned at them. "What's up, Ironhide?" Jessie asked with a smile.
"I'm memorizing features," Ironhide said darkly, then turned with his elders to leave. As they all disappeared, only Ratchet was left.
"Ratchet, do you have anything to say?" Epps asked with a smirk of his own.
Ratchet knelt down as he looked at all of them. "This is a privilege. There's seven billion people on Earth who want to live here, too. Remember that and you'll be fine. I can do nothing for you if you frag things up. Look to those who've lived here for advice. No one has died from driving around and going about the colony. We want to keep it that way." He looked at the kids, then the adults. "What about these kids? They look school age. Everyone in the colony that's school age has to go. You have choices including very fine schools at Earth 1 and Earth2."
"We thought about sending them to your schools to get some life experience," Clark Walters said. "How do we do that, Mr. Ambassador?"
"You apply to the Autobot City Unified School District for evaluation and placement testing," Ratchet said. "If you qualify, you come. Understand that our schools are ten hour days, ten days a week, year round. We have days off here and there but they go continuously. There are no summer breaks and the holidays are infrequent but the education provided is beyond excellent. The Community Bulletin Board will help you with contact numbers."
"What about activities? How do we enter into them?" Lyle Cutter asked. "I'm told there's an organization for business and commerce like the Chamber of Commerce on Earth. How do we go about joining or seeking to join them?"
"The same way. Look them up, then apply. Every organization and individual has free will here and they will or not let you in. Remember. To get respect you have to show it." He looked at the Daniels. "I don't know if you ever expected to be here. How are you?"
"We're fine," Jason said. The others nodded. "We're looking for a place that's safe and reasonable."
"That's up to you," Ratchet said as he stood. "We're fine in spite of you. How you are depends on whether you have any honor or not." He looked at the soldiers, then grinned. "Have fun, tiny people." With that, he walked to the main concourse and disappeared.
Lennox turned to the humans. "That's the Senior Autobot Command, Prime's General Staff, though there are others on it as well. What they don't know about war and self defense doesn't exist. What they don't know about honor and keeping their word doesn't exist. You've been given a challenge. Now let's see if you're up to it." He looked at the others. "Take your passengers. Get them in order and let's go."
There was a flurry of action as the humans got their gear ready, then stepped through a door that led outside. A row of their jeep-like vehicles were waiting for them. One had a loaded trailer filled with luggage. As they walked toward the vehicles, marveling that they were on Martian soil, a disturbance nearby drew their attention. Grimlock and Slag were arguing.
-0-Nearby, heading back
"Do you think the Matrix has any hold over their oaths?" Prowl asked Prime.
Prime shrugged. "I doubt they get held to the same standard as us. Maybe they get to feel Its disappointment if they fail," he said with a chuckle. "What they do not know does not matter."
It was then that a call was made to Prowl about Grimlock and Slag. Everyone pivoted on a dime and hoofed it back.
-0-Lennox
:Move back inside. NOW!: Lennox shouted. The humans who were frozen in place jolted and ran for the door. They entered and ran to the windows to watch.
Outside, two big mechs were arguing, shoving, then blowing bales of fire onto each other. Their shrieks were deafening and terrifying to the humans who had never seen such a thing short of football or a war game in the Parkland on a television screen. There was no way to express how the difference being here was compared to safely sitting in your living room watching it on your flat screen.
No one working around there looked disturbed. Then a number of bots appeared around the corner running toward them. They passed the N.E.S.T. vehicle toward the two. Half of them looked like Ironhide and among them were Drift and Springer. Prowl and Ratchet followed the others while Prime paused near the corner to watch.
Springer and Drift walked to the pair and began an off line conversation. Apparently, there was no reasoning as Slag turned to Springer and blew a gale of fire in his face. He was enveloped and so was Drift.
:Whoa. Springer? Drift? You still alive?" Lennox said with a amusement over the general comm line.
:WE ARE AND FRAG YOU, LENNOX!: Springer and Drift who were falling back to pat out the fire burning on their armor.
Everyone in the group including the newbies were tuned into that channel to listen to the translated hoo-haw and hear the instructions of the soldiers as they were shepherded to their new homes. It was an astonishing sight to watch and the sounds were extreme. That was when a pair of huge bots stepped out of their apartments nearby followed by one that seemed able to fly. They watched, then jogged to Grimlock and Slag. A fiery conversation began between them.
Literally.
Ironhide who was pissed stepped closer. "What's the problem this time?" he asked and received a bale of fire for his troubles. As he stood burning in an inferno, the other two transformed and lined up with Grimlock and Slag. Ratchet ran forward and transformed a digit to spray fire suppressant onto Ironhide. It was then that he was charged by Sludge and Slag. Impaled on the triceratopsian horns of Slag, Ratchet was driven off his feet and straight backward toward a hanger where he was plowed into its hard sides by the big mech.
Sludge swung his long tail and swept Springer and Drift off their peds. They fell like several tons of bricks, then rolled to get out of the way of his feral breath. Rolling farther away, they stood up and took a stance. That was helpful but not particularly successful as both of them were plowed by bots. Sludge hit Springer in the chassis and drove him backward until they reached the windows where the humans were standing. The newbies jumped aside but the other humans stayed put as they hit the window. It didn't break or budge so secure and well made was it. Drift who turned to follow the two was blindsided by Snarl who charged him, driving him sideways toward the pile up that was Ratchet and Slag.
The Daniels who were holding each other glanced down the way to Prime. He was standing without concern or notable emotion as he watched. A red siren nearby went off signally all personnel to evacuate the area due to the situation but Prime was unmoved. It was shockingly raw and astonishingly intimidating to all of the newbie humans. The soldiers and Judy Witwicky were watching by the window unmoved by the mess outside as they discussed it and laughed together. It was shocking to see.
Prowl had turned on Swoop who was watching and was moving him backward by the sheer force of his outrage. Whatever Prowl was saying was effective because Swoop stayed put when Prowl turned to join the fray. With a speed even the oldster humans had never seen before, Prowl ran forward, leaped into the air, then kicked Snarl into the window. He flattened, then slid down, stunned by the move. Prowl stared at him with satisfaction, then saw the humans of which half were afraid and half laughing loudly. Hand claps from the soldiers and Judy Witwicky greeted him as he frowned slightly. Glancing around, Prowl ran toward Grimlock to defuse his ass with his bare servos.
He was grappling with Blackjack and Raptor as Hard Drive leaned casually against a transformer unit that was on a pallet nearby. He was watching with a slight grin as his son and grandson struggled with the behemoth who was phase six if he was anything. It was amusing.
"FRAG YOU, GRIMLOCK! FALL DOWN!" Raptor bellowed with a laugh.
"FRAG YOU, RAPTOR!" Grimlock countered as they grappled, then fire enveloped all three of them.
Prowl flew through the air like a ninja which he was and as he did, his ped connected with Grimlock's face. He flew backward into a stack of steel pallets waiting for shipping to be placed upon them. They clattered, then a few exploded sending shrapnel everywhere. Prowl rebounded, rolled, then came up in a battle stance as they all watched Grimlock burning on the ground. Ratchet who staggered toward them after Hercy dropped Slag came with his digit fire extinguisher and a hard knock or two. A harder kick in the codpiece, a slam in the face with the butt handle of Hercy's big ,big gun, and when Ratchet was clear, a jolt from his tazer in the nether regions did the trick and Grimlock was a smoldering pile on the ground.
Ratchet hurried toward Blackjack and Raptor, then covered them in fire suppressant. He laughed loudly as the two sat up covered in white powder and soot. Sludge who was standing nearby transformed back to root mode, then turned toward the three.
"SLUDGE! WHAT THE FRAG!?" -all three
Sludge shrugged. "Grimlock was fighting. We came to help. We're a team."
"Frag that," Ratchet said with a grin as he looked around. Grimlock, Snarl and Slag were on their faces. Sludge was the only one still standing besides Swoop who watched from the doorway of his apartment in the hangar nearby, the big one that housed the Supremes. "Who needs a tune up?" Ratchet called out as the local constabulary began to shackle and drag off the Dinobots.
"What gave you that idea?" Springer said as he and Drift limped toward him.
Ratchet grinned. "Come to the Med Center. I have a two for one sale going on."
Huge laughter greeted that as the group limped and walked toward Prime. They passed him, then disappeared from sight around the airport building. Prime turned to go, paused to look at the humans, nodded, then disappeared himself.
It was silent a moment, then Will Lennox turned to the humans. "Yes. How about we go now?" he asked as he led the way to the door. A very silent group of humans followed him and the others out to the vehicles.
-0-TBC 4-27-18
NOTES! NOTES!NOTES!NOTES! NOTE-Y NOTE NOTES! :D:D:D
****Misty Legionnaire chapter 339 . 57m ago
I'm curious if any of the humans on world in the trust/family may be called to be judges for human criminals? May make it seem more fair to the trespassers they did wrong since it's decided by both Cybertronian and Human together.
Looking forward to the next chapter and teen angst without their social media fixes.
I hope none of the on-world kids introduce them to the bot networks.
Have a wonderful night.
ME: That might be a good idea even if they're only there to observe and translate actions and deeds to the bots. It might make a difference. Perhaps a blended court. ON THE LIST! :D I love kids who want it all and can't get it. One of the many things they have to give up is their freedom a bit. They can die here. I'm also interested in the kids together, Rain and her group and this new one. It could be a lot of fun. LOL! All of them on Bullhorn … now that's an idea. :D You have one too, my dear Misty. HUGS!
****kattenbelletje chapter 339 . 16h ago
Can the suits be used to go scuba diving? I would kill for one of those if they can be. No carrying heavy gear, no worries about oxygen, no worries about temperature or pressure. Being able to talk to others. sigh.
Jason might think Prime won't see, but he is probably lit up like a roman candle.
ME: That's how they're designed. All they need is oxygen in the air or where they are for it to be magnified for breathing. The suits act like that because the Mall of the Tri Cities has humans swimming in the water park. It would be wonderful. Maybe in our lifetime. I hope. I might even do it that way. :D BWAHAHA! I bet they can see him on Pluto. :D HUGS!
****Ragemoose chapter 339 . 23h ago
It's funny to me that Jason thinks Prime or ANY of the bots, for that matter need to see his fear on his face in order to know he's scared shitless. These poor dumb bastards don't have a clue.
ME: They don't. Jason had a golden opportunity to make himself REALLY valuable by learning them and taking his time to know stuff but he never did. Given that all things are energy and they can read it like a book and know about others before they even see him, he has no way to hide or fool anyone anymore. The bots are also more savvy about the humans now. It's going to be fun. :D HUGS!
****Leoness chapter 338 . Apr 25
*gags* of course the instagram thing is real. Urgh...
ME: I had to go see it to believe it. Rude, entitled, malignantly narcissistic, overly sexualized at that age, even racist. I see them as babies and it makes me sick to see people like that because I can always imagine them as babies and pure little kids. It will be fun to watch the two groups compete … Rain and her group and this one sort of dominated by Tinsley. (That name is real by the way. LOL!) More to come, my dear Leoness. :D HUGS!
****Leoness chapter 336 . Apr 23
So does Halo have a favorite ammunition yet?
ME: Apparently, she likes the popgun bullets that micro-minis have in their little guns. :D A big Kewpie doll mentioned it in passing. ;) HUGS!
****Guest chapter 331 . Apr 22
The games are always so much fun! I guess now we get back to business? Big hugs thanks for keeping this going.
ME: We're back to business with the newbies arriving and a couple of other things that Prime wants to do to keep the whiners off balance. :D More to come. ;) Its my extreme pleasure to write this and have you along. HUGS, honey.