The Diego Diaries: Trial and Tribulations (dd6 440)
-0-Courtroom
Rainmaker stood in the stand cloaked in his effortless majesty. He was beautiful and exuded integrity at the same frequency as Prime. He was the greatest of his frame, the unchallenged, ultra acknowledged and legitimately revered leader of Seekerkin wherever it existed. What made him unique is that he accorded to Prime something that had never been given by Seekers to anyone else, especially ground models. He gave to Prime his unqualified support and friendship. He gave to Prime the right to lead his people and he followed Prime's own, giving his own sons into support of his legitimacy, something never before granted to any Prime. They were cut from the same cloth, that was evident, and together they were a magnificent team in the redemption of their people.
"Rainmaker, Elder … which do you prefer, sir?" Coln asked with a bow of his helm.
"Elder is fine, Coln-2," Rainmaker said in his deeply masculine voice. He nodded back. Good manners to his frame were EVERYTHING and part of the new paradigm that Rainmaker treasured.
Respect. It was the only thing.
"Elder, could you please tell us about Seekerkin during the reign of Nominus Prime? I would ask about that of Nova but he's rather peripheral to the story at servo," Coln said.
"Would that he had been all along," Rainmaker said with a slight grin, exhibiting when he did a dry sense of humor that hinted at a bigger one, a huge sense of the absurd that stood him in good stead. Rainmaker had a cracking great sense of fun. "Nominus … what can be said about him? He did treat me with greater respect than Nova. I would have been insulted with Nova but for the fact that he treated everyone with appalling disregard. So did Zeta, though he wasn't as outwardly disdainful as others because he knew and needed our utility. All of them took us for granted which irritated me to no end." He glanced at Prime. "This Prime is the only one who has respect for all. He is the only one who has what it takes for greatness. At the time of The Fall, I prayed for him to prevail but things were too far down to have hope. I regret to my end that I couldn't support this Prime and I say so publicly. He is The One Who Comes. I have spoken."
A murmur of agreement arose in the room, then settled.
"Nominus was disrespectful? Did he ask you to participate in crimes against The People and the Clampdown itself?" Coln asked.
Rainmaker nodded. "He did. I got the sense of Nominus that he was alone … that he was without the influence of the Matrix and had little to no personal nor professional support. I felt he was a puppet of the Senate and the Councils, that he had no control but that which he could grasp or was given him by others. He was an enigma. I found him fascinating."
"How so, Elder?" Coln asked.
Rainmaker thought a moment. "He was a big mech and he wasn't a coward. He was, however, weak and malleable. Others controlled him but he always seemed like he knew something they didn't. He was quiet and kept his own council. I rather longed to talk to him mech to mech, to find out what he was, to learn what he knew and know what he valued. He never allowed anyone too close to him and he was without bond or other known family. He seemed to fall out of the sky, this mech who was opaque and unknowable.
"He began the Clampdown in earnest at the behest of the Senate. He began to organize the defense of the high castes and their privilege without couching it in camouflage any longer. He wasn't as forceful as some who would come but he had a rod of steel up his back strut that came out from time to time and he would stand up to others. I do recall a moment in a party, one where a drunk functionary of a Senator … someone from Nova Cronum I think … there was a conversation about the airbase there … he was talking with Nominus and then he disagreed with something.
"Nominus told him he was wrong in his opinion and the functionary actually mocked him. The room grew silent all at once. He asked Nominus if the Matrix supported his assumption. Then the fool laughed. He mocked Nominus saying that everyone knew that the Matrix he held was a fake. I don't know how that rumor started but it was always there from the time of Nova. In my opinion, Nova was the last Prime before Optimus that the Matrix allowed Itself to be a part. The other three … they bore fakes. Nominus, Zeta and Sentinel … they bore fakes, I believe.
"At any rate, the mech began to laugh at Nominus who stared at him with a small smile on his face, a knowing smirk if you understand me. He was looking at the mech with a grin, as if he knew something no one else could know. Then the mech stopped laughing and clutched at his throat. Everyone stepped back, I remember. The mech staggered, then smoke began to come from his optics, his audials and his mouth. He flailed as he burst into flames. He bellowed, then fell, burning furiously for a moment, then the flames went out all at once. There were no burn marks anywhere but on his body. It was deeply silent in the room.
"Nominus stared at the mech with a grin on his face, then tapped him with his ped. The dead mech's helm rolled away from the rest of his armor and it was evident that everything inside that armor had burned to dust. Nominus stared at him, then looked at everyone in the room. They were appalled and terrified of him. I think at that moment Nominus asserted himself in a way that had never been done before and it made them at least somewhat more wary and respectful of him. I also think he understood the Matrix better than anyone there would have thought he did.
"I remember glancing around at everyone, then spotting Sentinel Major standing in the corner with Kudon. He was as shocked as everyone else. It was an instructive moment. I think they were at that moment uncertain that the Matrix wasn't the fake that all of their expressions had prior to this suggested to me. It, however, didn't save Nominus in the end. It gave me a lot of thought, reconciling what I saw with what I knew was a fake Matrix in the chest of Nominus. Even if It wasn't with him, It maintained It's dignity from afar."
"How did you know it was fake, Elder, the one that the last three carried before Optimus Prime?" Coln asked.
He glanced at Prime, then Coln. "There were no miracles. There were no events. Nova was the last one to hold the Festivals in the proper way. Nominus and Zeta didn't. Sentinel canceled them at the first opportunity because it was becoming obvious that something wasn't happening in good order. The three of them didn't hold the Solemnities in the proper manner during their reigns. It was a deeply wonderful surprise to be here and see it done properly by Optimus Prime and feel the Blessings that originated from the relics Themselves. The Matrix delivered them from wherever It must have been hiding before but I was standing in view of Nominus and Sentinel during four Festivals, on the steps of the Temple with a view of them standing at the railing, and nothing happened inside. The AllSpark was there and the Well but nothing happened.
"Neither of them walked down to the Well to do it properly, as if they knew it would be futile to do so. The Blessings emanated out of the ether, not the relics. They didn't appear from the Temple but came to us from everywhere else." He considered that. "I never told anyone about that before. It made me afraid to have seen it. It seemed like we were being abandoned somehow and my anxiety for our people and planet grew exponentially. I believe I rather decided not to think about it, it was so … odd and unsettling." He thought a moment. "It was rather a portent to what happened, this lack of interaction with the divine."
"Sir, there are many charges against Sentinel Prime that had to do with Nominus. What can you tell us, if anything, about the two of them, the times things happened and the charges? I do believe you were briefed about them by my clerk," Coln said.
Rainmaker nodded. "I was. I was as leader of The People Who Fly as we were so waggishly called, a moniker that I rather like," he said with a grin, "so I had much contact with all the Primes. Most of them treated me with enough respect that it wasn't insulting but most of them were unimpressed with us beyond our utility. Did you know that Optimus Prime is the only one who speaks the six major dialects of our languages as well as our primary one, Sim-Keen? That may seem like a small thing but it isn't. He recognizes our existence as individuals of worth and none of the others did beyond our ability to serve their purposes. I never went around them when I wasn't on guard.
"Nominus wanted us to hunt down forces of The Resistance and I didn't allow it. I was threatened with arrest by Zeta and Sentinel. I laughed in their faces. I told them to enjoy their lives while they lasted if they decided to heap that insult on any of us who were clan leaders. They never did it but they wanted to. It was amusing how insulated they were from reality. The Senate was always offering me bribes of this and that, especially as it dealt with my people and I was careful not to allow it. I told them to take care of Seekers because they deserved it and we brawled many a meeting over it. I often had to threaten to strafe their homes before they did what little they did for my people. The Senate and Councils were rotten to the core and were led by extremely corrupt and evil individuals. It made Megatron inevitable."
"There has been testimony here that Sentinel Prime had Nominus shot, then at the hospital took the Matrix from him only to find It fake. Then it's alleged in testimony here that he killed Nominus trying to get information about the Matrix from him. What do you know, if anything, about that?" Coln asked.
"I was called to an emergency meeting that oddly enough," he said with a slight grin, "excluded Prowl for some reason. The leading senators were there including Decimus, Ratbat, Proteus, and Contrail … Halogen was there … as well as Sentinel and several Councilors. Kudon of the Ancients along with Traachon and Tomaandi of the Elders were there. Xaaron wasn't. He wouldn't be because he had honor. They told us that Nominus was dead and that the Matrix was in the care of Kudon and the Ancients who were the legal protectors of It. A box on the table seemed to be the one where the Matrix was held, the beautiful reliquary Temple Box that was its home in the Matrix Chamber. I remember thinking they were holding a fake Matrix but no one seemed to acknowledge that so I asked. 'You do understand that the Matrix Nominus held was fake.'
They stared at me and I remember Kudon and Halogen exchanging a glance. Kudon said I must be mistaken so I asked him why the Blessings didn't emanate from the Temple itself but from the air all around us, as if bypassing the Prime. They had no answer but redirected the meeting forward. They were going to place Sentinel as Prime, then crack down on the 'troublemakers' … that is, anyone who was oppositional. I argued that this was madness because some very dangerous individuals were gathering support around the planet including a mech from Tarn called Megatron. They said that was why they would have to crack down. They had no understanding of cause and effect, that if you pressed harder, the seams give faster. It was a futile and appalling meeting. Sentinel became Prime. It all unfolded and things happened without anyone really being in control. How can you control an asteroid speeding forward to slam into the earth?"
"Did you see Sentinel's ascension?" -C2
"No, actually. We were told to clear the room and leave Sentinel alone with the Matrix. I remember arguing that we needed to witness to make sure that the Matrix was real and to fend off any succession arguments and challenges," Rainmaker said, "but I was overruled. There would be no priests, no Lauren or Chevron. Just Sentinel and the Matrix. We walked out into an ante room, then waited. It seemed to take forever, then there was a blast of light. It lasted a nanosecond, not the length of time it should have taken as per the ascension of Guardian and even Nova which is part of the historical record. He was my first Prime personally known so I remembered how it was supposed to happen with the others but I didn't see Sentinel become one according to the pattern. I am convinced that lighting was rigged to convince observers gathered to add legitimacy to the event that the Matrix had chosen him and that instead, Sentinel merely placed the Matrix into his own chamber. He came out and I didn't see much changed. Then, he was less primal in appearance. He's had work done, I am aware, which you can tell with a progression of images. Sentinel Prime wasn't claimed by the Matrix. He claimed It instead. Having been present when Orion Pax was claimed, having witnessed the Matrix moment, there is no comparison. Orion Pax was a big mech but his frame wasn't Primal until the Matrix let him settle down again."
"Where was the Matrix in your opinion and why do you believe It wasn't present with these last three or so Primes?" Coln asked.
"Objection. Opinions are hardly relevant as evidence to the case before us," Highrode said.
"I will allow the answer, though I shall weight it accordingly. He was a witness to the process of Sentinel's ascension, thereby his comments will be less opinion and more directed toward evidence. If not, I will discount them, Highrode," Prime said.
Rainmaker thought. "I do believe It was hiding. I felt that there was no solemnity for a long time, since the end of Nova. The Matrix left Nova when he left us. It came by Itself to the Chamber of Ancients and found Its niche again, in my opinion. Yet, when It was given to Zeta, It didn't feel present. I was there as the Great Elder of The People to witness but I didn't 'feel' it, if you understand me. I didn't feel Its majesty present. It didn't choose Zeta the normal way. He took It and placed It in his chamber himself, something that would maybe be allowed by a placeholder. There was no display of Its majesty in the Claiming. It was so with Nominus, then Sentinel got a clue and hid away to place It in his chest, allowing a lighting display to add credibility to his ascension. I don't believe that the Matrix which is holy felt anything more than disgust for the Primes to follow after the wretchedness of Nova and thus, hid away in plain sight waiting for Orion Pax."
They discussed graft, bribes, a few of the crimes to which Rainmaker could attest to, then Coln sat. "Thank you, Elder, for your testimony."
Rainmaker nodded, then turned toward Highrode who looked drawn. "Lord Rainmaker, how often were you part of the direct council of Sentinel and his team?" he asked.
"Not often," Rainmaker said. "We did not agree on viewpoints and I found the meetings futile. He finally stopped calling me to come."
"Then what you might know about much of this is hearsay and rumor," Highrode asked. "You might not know the entire picture of events."
Rainmaker thought. "Perhaps on financial and governmental machinations, yes. But on the bigger issues of murder, the death of Nominus, the highjacking of the Matrix, and treason with Megatron, I was there to hear and see how it went."
"You were a partner with Megatron in the war and run up to it. You are partner to some of what happened that is cruel, destructive and against the good order and well being of The People," Highrode ventured.
Rainmaker stared at him for a long drawn moment, then nodded. "I am. I will bear it to my grave. But all through the disaster of our people's agony, I mourned that the best mech didn't win, that the right one was so undercut and buried under the avalanche of destruction started by Sentinel and the government that what happened was inevitable. I wanted Optimus Prime to win. Everyone did. I also had to defend my people who were given a choice … join or die. If you think Megatron's death order on us now is the first one, you are sadly mistaken. I cannot change the past but I can aid the present to save the future. All of us bear responsibility for what happened but I do NOT owe a debt based on corruption and treason. We all know who did."
Highrode stared at the list in his servos, then sat. "No more questions." Things were that fragged for Sentinel.
"Thank you, Elder," Prime said.
Rainmaker turned to Prime. "Oh, what we could have been had you won," he said, then bowed lowly. He rapped his staff on the ground, then walked from the stand to the door. He exited and was gone.
It was silent in the room. Prime glanced at Coln. "Do you have any more witnesses, Counselor?"
"No, sir. I rest my case." Coln sat.
"Highrode?" Prime asked.
He stared at Prime, then stood slowly. "I will not be calling witnesses, Lord Optimus. I rest my case." He then sat. Sentinel didn't show any reaction to that announcement.
"Coln-2, do you have a closing argument ready?" Prime asked.
Coln stood and bowed his helm. "I am ready, sir."
"Then begin," Prime said.
Coln glanced around, then stared at Sentinel. "Our people are great. Cybertron is holy. Between the two we became an acclaimed civilization. We are among the oldest and legion among us are the Primes who rule with the holiness of the Matrix and are charged with the protection, care and advancement of all of us. Not some of us, but all. Primus didn't fight Unicron for some of us. He gave up His freedom and life choices for ALL of us. Yet, somehow a great lie took root and never left. It would never be a tenet of Primus Himself that such a lie would be true and acceptable to Him. He loved us all equally and gave up His life for all of us.
"Yet, over and over it was forgotten that He loved all of us equally and wanted the greatness that some stole and horded for all of us. Slavery, exclusion, racism against different frames such as the Seekers and beast modes, mini and micro mini-cons and others … that was not what He gave up EVERYTHING to defend. It is astonishing to me to this day that we cannot seem to embrace and understand that simple truth. IT IS EVEN OUR CREED!
"We had Primes to protect ALL OF US but they didn't. Guardian and Prima were the template by which all others should have followed. But they didn't. Nova Prime, Zeta Prime, Nominus Prime, and you, Sentinel Prime were complete disgraces. Your corruption is so epic, your psychopathy so complete, your contempt so absolute, that you and your predecessors destroyed our world. Megatron was the symptom but you, your ideas and actions were the disease.
"We stand here now with the grave burden of examining the truth and presenting what small crumb of justice that we can to our people. A billion are dead. A billion live in agony and a billion are missing. It was under your command that The Fall happened, that the Clampdown reached its zenith, that our people were scattered to the wind. There is no justice that can be given that will assuage this but you are going to be held as accountable as you can be for what you did and allowed. Our people cry out from the grave for justice. Their families who will mourn forever do the same. Understand … what we do now will illustrate and define who we are forever. The future is unwritten. The present is all we have. Right now, we must open the Book of Justice and write the ending to this story for all who have suffered and died. May it reflect on its pages that justice was done, that it was served with truth and honor. Anything less than that is to kill our people and Primus all over again. Thank you, Lord Optimus, for the honor of assisting the truth to prevail." He bowed low, then sat down.
Prime nodded, then glanced at a pensive Highrode. "Highrode?" he asked.
Highrode sat a moment, then stood. "Lord Optimus and Those who watch from the Exalted Plane, I am Highrode and I have a mission of great difficulty to serve the needs of this mech as best I can. We have seen evidence that is hard to refute. We have heard witnesses that are speaking from their spark. All of it has piled up and even with all our efforts to find a way for Sentinel Prime to be exonerated it belies the evidence. All that I can do for him is to seek whatever mitigation I can. We seek for Sentinel Prime mitigation and mercy.
"We are aware that death is off the table and for that we are deeply grateful. I have sifted the information given me, talked to all the witnesses and read their depositions and statements. I wish it were different. I wish my client had helped me more but he seems indifferent to his fate. I find that worthy of study. Perhaps he cannot or will not defend himself because he clearly and truly sees nothing wrong in his conduct. If so, that indicates impaired reasoning and mitigation for his offenses and behavior. I have not been able to get him to agree to speak to Jarro so that we can know. If that is possible, perhaps you with your greater wisdom and influence, Lord Optimus, can persuade him to do so.
"In spite of all things presented and his unwillingness to disclose, there are things I do know about him, irrefutable things. Sentinel Prime loves Cybertron. He loves our home world with all his spark. He reverences our practices and beliefs and he loves Primus with all his spark. He was a great warrior in the service of our people for the duration of his life as a military mech and that is no small thing. I would like that accounted for in your decision, Lord Optimus. I would also like it understood that a lot of what happened was inherited by Sentinel. A lot of it was the machinations of the Senate and the Councils. I do believe that to make him the sole repository of responsibility even as Prime dismisses the great debt that others owe our people.
"I am asking you, Lord Optimus, to show the future what the face of compassion, of reconciliation and mercy looks like. I am asking you without shame to understand this mech who may not even know the motivations of his spark and accord him mercy. It will be a great and generous action on your part if you can do this for him. I am filled, oddly enough, with grief for him. I feel such grief for all of us but for Sentinel who is here in his oblivion, I feel a terrible burning sorrow. I thereby beg you to have mercy and to find in those of his achievements which are above reproach some mitigation for his actions. His spark is true to Cybertron no matter what has happened. At the bottom of it all, Cybertron is the one lasting and true love for Sentinel Prime. I am on my knees before you, Lord Optimus, seeking mercy and not vengeance. Thank you for hearing me and for considering the pathway to love and mercy in your decision." He bowed lowly, then sat heavily, his expression filled with grief and emotion.
Prime stared at him, then Sentinel. "Sentinel Prime, I am holding the sentence and findings for your actions until the trial of Ratbat is concluded. You are aware that this has special circumstances so I am going to conclude all of you at the same time. You may go. And Sentinel … you may find it somehow in your spark to thank Highrode for his service on your behalf."
Sentinel stared at him, then rose. With his cuffs glowing, he walked out with armed mechs as his law team rose and walked to the audience to sit with weariness and grief. Prime nodded to them, then looked at Prowl. "Please bring in Ratbat. Is his team here?"
"We are here, Lord Optimus," a grim looking mini-con mech said as he and a few others stood.
"Very well. Let us begin then," Prime said as the jail door began to open again.
-0-TBC 8-13-18 edited 8-13-18
ESL
wag: a wag is a humorous person and to be waggish is to be humorous Oscar Wild was a waggish individual
moniker: moniker is a name, could be a nickname or a name or something that describes someone else … The Great One is a moniker, Bob the Stupid is another one. :D
ascension: to rise to a higher position (ak-sen-shun) Victory became Queen of England by her acsension from Princess.
to portend/portent: to indicate something will come or happen