The Diego Diaries: War and Aftermath (dd6 361)
-0-Standing at a barrier on the corner near the crash site
"I wish I'd seen this."
The other mech with him nodded, then glanced at his partner, their leader by sheer grit and smarts whose name was Gravel. "Omega was a fragger but now he's out of commission for a while. I won't cry about it."
"No," Gravel said. "I wonder how hard it is to get on a team going to Cybertron. Once we're there we can disappear and pick up where we left off."
"I don't know. The plum jobs are given to long timers. Besides, what kind of skills do we have beside drugs and addictive games?" his partner, Perdo asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I'll ask Partition," he said as the two laughed.
"I think that might be problematic. Word is, he's reformed. He's going to bond into Ratchet and Ironhide's family any orn now. Not a good idea."
"Probably," Gravel said as they watched trucks fully laden rumble past heading for the Industrial Park Cities with their contaminated and broken loads. It was noisy a moment, then they were gone past. Glancing down the street, they watched for a while, then headed off to work. They would disappear back into the colony once more.
-0-The Hourly News
"Good afternoon. I'm Lim-Lee and I'm here to bring you the latest headlines and news, sports and weather. Today, we have updates on the battle going on 95,000 light years from here in the Bootes Barren. Optimus Prime and the Alpha Fleet are wrapping up the encounter that ended with more than half of the ships and crews commanded by a Decepticon named Shrike being destroyed or disabled. They were given the option of surrender or leaving and took neither one. The encounter that happened almost immediately was incredibly violent and swift. The forces of Prime, battleships, cruisers, fast heavily armed shuttles along with the air support provided by various veteran designations of Seekers brought to a close what could have been a very dangerous situation to the peace of this system.
"Shrike who was a danger during his civilian career as a long time criminal was attempting to link up with two quarantined groups here in the local group. One of them is Razorclaw near Epsilon Eridani and the other, the newer threat, is one led by a Decepticon of grim reputation, Ominous of Slaughter City. They were contacted by Shrike says Jazz, the Information Officer for the Prime and had been invited to parlay. That was when they bridge jumped in range of our deep space arrays and it was clear that given time Ominous and his battle group would be within striking distance of our system from that of Ominous's base a mere 12 light years from here.
"The fleet lifted off, engaged the enemy and prevailed. The casualty list has risen with 112 wounded, some seriously and 4 dead. Families have been notified and until they speak to Prime and give their wishes for the solemnities, no names will be released. The colony and Cybertron grieves with the families of our fallen heroes," Lim-Lee said with a solemn expression. "As for the casualties of the battle group, we are unclear. The operation is still underway and the full extent of the situation is not fully known, though Commander Jazz states that they took heavy casualties on their side of the conflict.
"The two quarantined groups are being heavily monitored and to help secure Caminus in the Tau Ceti system, two of our dreadnought platforms, Clipper and Dangerous have been deployed there to show the flag and keep the peace. Ominous and his group has made no moves toward them and it would be unwise for them to do so. There is no armament or platform in the Autobot or Decepticon armies that can stand up to a dreadnought, let alone two.
"As it stands, ships will be returning when the last two enemy vessels are cleared. It's requiring boarding and taking the vessels by hand. Two ships filled with prisoners have arrived at the airfield of the prison. Jacx is there and we will cut to him live right now. Jacx?" she asked as the screen switched to Jacx who was standing with Assistant Warden Colius.
"I'm here at the prison airfield, Lim-Lee, watching as the second ship lands with prisoners. The first did just now and is making ready to bring them off. These, I'm told, are soldiers that weren't hurt in the fighting or had only minor injuries. They're being removed to the prison here to keep the situation in control out there. Some of these prisoners, I am told, are extremely dangerous, some criminals from Cybertron while others are pretty terrible and violent Decepticon soldiers."
Behind Jacx and Colius, a line of mechs began to walk down the ramp to the mustering area for new arrivals which was flooded with light and guards. Gee-Gee stood in front of them, a small figure without fear as she watched. Jacx looked at Colius. "This is Assistant Warden Colius of Crystal City. What's going to happen now, Warden? Is she going to sort them or what?"
"The Warden, Gee-Gee, is going to give them the standard welcome and probably sort them out for violent/dangerous and dangerous/non-violent."
"Let's watch and listen then," Jacx said as the cameras zoomed into the sullen group and the heavily guarded little femme.
They gathered across from her, huge mechs, tall ones, the odd mini-con and glared. She didn't seem phased. "Who leads this group?" she asked.
No one answered.
"Line up on the lines shoulder-to-shoulder," Gee-Gee said in a quiet voice. "The faster you do this, the faster you get out of restraints."
They stared at her with insolent silence. She looked at a mech behind her, then took his long metallic pole. "This is a weapon that's set at level 2 and delivers a shock painful enough to drop you to your knees. If I turn it up like this to ..." She opened the control, set it at 3, then closed it. "If I turn it up to five," she lied, "and I just did, it sometimes is lethal. How about you lining up so I don't have to give you a love pat?"
They stared at her, some of them smirking with contempt while others looked like they wanted to kill her. Then she moved, a small blur that raced forward toward them. Before they could step back or aside, two of them were writhing on the ground as the sparkles of electrical current delivered with the weapon sparkled all over them. The crew watching grinned and did nothing, standing around with studied nonchalance while 'The Boss' took care of things.
The prisoners stared at the mechs on the ground, then her. They stepped back as she stepped forward and grounded them with a touch of the other end of the device. Stepping back, she leaned on the pole waiting for the pair on the ground to get up.
They did slowly, their murderous expressions and wariness amusing to see. They turned to her and stared with rage and silence. She stepped closer. "I need you on the line. I won't tell you again. If even one of you refuses, I'm going to taze everyone of you. Do you understand me?"
They stared at her, then glanced at each other. Most of them, big mechs, walked to a line to stand. Two didn't, the ones she had touched. The others turned to them, then her. "Get on the line, slaggers," a big mech growled.
One of the biggest glanced at Gee-Gee who was watching with a mild expression on her pretty face. "Are you going to stab all of us if they don't line up?"
She nodded. "Yes. Count on it."
The entire group turned on the two. "GET IN LINE, COMMODY! YOU, TOO, CENTER! NOW!"
The two stared at the group with deep hatred, then walked slowly to the line. Everyone looked at the line on the ground, each other, then Gee-Gee. She stood straighter, twirled the tazer in her hands, then planted it again. "I'm Gee-Gee of Stanix. I'm warden here. Before all this slag, I trained the army in hand-to-hand and defensive tactics. I helped develop the training manual for offensive and defensive tactics for the entire army. I can drop anyone. I know every weak place on your armor and fifteen different ways to break off every single piece of you one at a time or all at once. I'm afraid of nothing. No matter how big you are, I have tactics and I personally selected and hand trained my boys and girls here," she said as she turned to the amused group of mostly behemoth and heavily armed individuals ringing the group. "They are mine and they are perfect.
"You are now my prisoners and I own you and your orn. This place has good food, entertainments, jobs if you're smart enough to take one, and a zero tolerance for slag. ZERO! I'm the only authority here. My word is law. I've managed all manner of prisons including level nines and there isn't a con, scheme or stampede that I haven't seen fifteen times and have thirty counter measures against all of it. I'm fair but I'm your worst enemy if you fight, use controlled substances, abuse anyone, assault anyone, hurt anyone of my boys and girls who work here, hurt a civilian including the medical and mental health individuals who come here … I can't tell you what would happen if you hurt a priest. They come here, too. Understand me … that would be the end of you. You'll be going to cells for new prisoners so we can assess you. When we figure out where you go, you will go there. Understand me. There are phase sixers in my custody. I do not fear you. If you get along, you don't have to fear me. If you don't … I'll leave it up to you how that turns out. We have dog kennels in administrative segregation for you if you decide to test me or this place. Any questions?"
There weren't any from the grim seething group of miscreant children of a fallen god. After a moment of slag, they were turned to face the main road and marched forward under massive guard to the interim holding area. They did so to an accompaniment of prisoners in the cell blocks mocking and insulting them as they went past. It wasn't what any of them expected as they disappeared into the gathering darkness, heading toward the lights of the prison blocks nearby. As they did, the other prison ship began to unload.
"Colius, what level of prisoner do you think you see in this group?" Jacx asked.
"This is a level 4 group. They would kill you with their bare servos for sport. Right now, they're probably fantasizing doing that to their leader." Colius grinned.
"What phase sixers does the Warden manage?" Jacx asked.
"All of the phase sixers that have been taken prisoner are under her purview. All of them no matter where they're stored or housed are her brief. Shockwave, as you know, is held here. Even if he isn't in the prison per se, he's her responsibility," Colius said.
"What will happen to them and how much of a danger do they pose to the colony?" Jacx asked.
"They'll be in quarantine for a few orns as we sort them out, check them for warrants elsewhere, then put them in groups or alone depending on their temperament and history. Some of them will go to the special detention section here, the place where the most dangerous are being held away from everyone else. We have special protocols in place for that type of prisoner. As for the danger they pose … they'll always be dangerous but we've built this prison to house the worst of the worst. We have redundancies on our redundancies. Our personnel are spectacular and Warden Gee-Gee is an amazing individual. She sets the tone right away. This colony is in good hands."
"How many prisoners do you expect to add to the prison with this mission, Warden?" Jacx asked.
"Between 350 and 500," Colius said.
"Thank you, Warden, and good luck," Jacx said as he turned to the cameras. "Back to the studio, Lim-Lee."
Her sweet face appeared again. "Thank you, Jacx and Assistant Warden Colius at the airfield at the Autobot City Civilian and Military Prison. Word has arrived that the Seekers have been released and will return through the bridges shortly. The ships are surrendering all but for one battleship. The crew prior to the heaviest fighting had bridged off the ship before that capability was destroyed. The group remaining on the last ship number about 55. Commander Springer and Commander Drift of the Watch and Empire Security are leading the search for them now ..."
-0-Out there
The sound of running peds echoed everywhere as the Autobots gave chase. Ahead of them were a number of Decepticons, those that were sensed by Kappa and transmitted to the group giving chase. The shooting had been intense and when they reached a junction everyone halted. Hercy and Kup leading a few mechs glanced at Springer and Drift who were doing the same. "What now, infant?" Hercy asked with a grin.
"Dare I tell you? You never listen," Springer said.
"You sound like Prowl," Kup said with a grin. "How about you go that way and we go this way. When we find them, we shoot them. How's that for a plan?"
"I like it," Hercy said as his team nodded.
Springer stared at the little mech with a sense of the inevitability of futility as half his own group nodded, too. He glanced at them. They stopped nodding. "Fraggers. How about … you go that way and we go this way? When we find them, we shoot them. Does that sound like a plan?"
The group stared at Springer almost too long. Just before he was ready to climb the walls, Hercy grinned. "I wish I thought of it," he said as he and his group turned to the corridor, looked down, then began to run. They were gone in seconds.
"We better go, Boss," Roadbuster said. "They'll beat us to it." He then began to run down his own corridor. The others followed but for Drift. He grinned at Springer. "I like your plan."
Springer smirked. "Thanks. We better haul aft."
Drift nodded, then the two ran down their corridor, their peds echoing fainter and fainter the farther they went.
Then the shooting began.
-0-TBC 5-20-18 edited 6-2-18