The Diego Diaries: Trials and Tribulations (dd6 442)
-0-The Pit Stop
It was somber in the diner as they sat as a group feeling the drain of the trials and testimony. The actual trials were concluded, but now it was the time for waiting. If the Pantheon were to directly weigh in, it would be sooner rather than later. They would all be on call, all who participated including the jury, to come when the time arrived for accountability. Everyone felt The Powers would come and that the verdicts would be Theirs given the nature and extent of the crimes at hand. No one wanted to be Prime right now.
"OWL!"
Prowl glanced down table to Orion who was standing in front of Appa Raptor. "What, Spud?" he asked with a grin. He had both Solus and Sojourner standing in front of him like slender little baby birds waiting for another bite. He gave them an onion ring split in two and they were delighted. He glanced at Orion who was getting another mouthful. "What, Boo?"
Orion smiled at him. "OWL CALLEDED ME BOO! I, ORION, BOO!"
Chuckles rounded the room as everyone relaxed a bit, feeding roving infants food from their plates. It was better having them here. It made things feel more normal. Life wasn't going to be normal for the four defendants who were moving toward evening quarters at the same time …
… Sentinel Prime walked with heavy guard to a highly secured cell in the high security section of the jail. He was walked inside and when everyone was clear, the bars went up and his bonds disappeared. He sat down without comment or expression and ignored them. Before they left, he called to them. "I wish to speak to Optimus. Tell him."
Dellitus who was jailer of this wing, a mountainous mech with more agility than one could imagine nodded. "Sure, slagger." With that, they walked out and the lights went down for evening.
Sitting on a table nearby, a platter of food fit for a king awaited him. He pulled it over, then began to eat silently as he waited for something to happen. Who knew what They would do but he felt somehow that They would let him know soon enough. It would be a long night for Sentinel Prime alone in his detention …
… Decimus and Contrail walked stiffly in silence to the jail cells they had occupied earlier. Food waited and they ignored it until the guards left. The lights came down a bit as they sat. Contrail pulled his food over and began. "You eating?"
"Maybe," Decimus said.
"Could be the last meal you eat, Decimus. The food is good. Let me know if you don't want yours. I'm suddenly ravenous," Contrail said as he continued to eat …
… Jarro stared at Ratbat who sneered back at him. He rose in his cell and strutted in his usual manner to the bars. "What brings you here, quack?"
"I'm trying to decide if you're faking it. I'm trying to decide if you're just a colossal fragger or really sick," Jarro said.
"Is that so," Ratbat sneered with a smirk.
"You better hope so. The alternative is giving you to the Pantheon," Jarro said as he walked back out to discuss the transfer after sentencing of the prisoner to Processor Health High Security Detention Wing across town in the hospital. It was part of the new addition upward ten stories. He would be among the first there if the Pantheon didn't jerk him out of their hands. The door closed quietly behind Jarro as Ratbat sat down on a bench in the slightly dimmed lights and had his meal. Nearby, out of view of anyone on this galactic plane Micronus Prime watched him with appraising optics.
-0-Home
They broke up the party and trudged homeward, the lawyers to a deserved rest and the others to various clubs, tours of security around the colony and apartments that seemed miles and miles away in some distant place. Entering, Ratchet and Ironhide were engulfed by Sunspot and the big kids. Hugging back, they sat and chatted to catch up on the important things in life such as a dance for the big kids at the Intermediate School gym in two orns and maybe you can be 'a chaperon, Atar', an overnight at Trypticon to watch a number of deep space quasars blow out of black holes and create havoc in their star cluster … that would take two overnight nights … speech therapy conferences for Orion and Praxus who by association had picked up a few cute but utterly unnecessary foibles of speech, date night scheduling for everyone it would appear, a renewed request by the infants to have a 'cow, a duck, a pony, and a birdie, Ada and Atar, a pink birdie would be best, right, Halo?' by all of the kids under 20 feet, going to the races for the next two weekends with 'our gang' so sayeth big kids because of the racing cards involved, scheduling maintenance detailing for everyone, visitation at the Shrine for Solus Prime on Her orn and closely following that, a visitation at the Shrine for the Thirteenth Autobot on His. There were other things but these were the big ones and were entered into Ratchet's household and scheduling datapad as they were outlined.
That didn't count all the begging for movies, 'swamming' and such that was a constant stream underneath all the other stuff. Ratchet and Ironhide went through the school notes … all of them good … noted a follow up meeting with the 'wardens' of 'prison school' to see how Imp was doing … that one … requests to go to the Valles and 'CAMPING, ADA!', and hanging out with their friends either at home or somewhere else, maybe 'THE KEEM THERE!'
The Confectionaire with about 18 sparklings led by Orion was swiftly discussed and placed in the WTF? bin for further discussion later on. Maybe. It was then that they all went to bed and after a lot of hugs, pouting, screaming, and chasing around madly, the house was finally quiet. Ratchet and Ironhide stood in the living room reverberating for a moment, then grinned at each other. With a hug, they staggered off to the berth room and a heavily uninterrupted recharge until morning.
-0-Upstairs
They entered, then put the infants to bed. Sitting on a couch together, Prowl's arms rapped around Prime, they decompressed. Prowl glanced upward. "Anything?"
"Not yet," Optimus said. "I feel a low level buzz, something that often happens when there is movement off this plane."
Prowl grinned. "I never thought in all the classes and the like in school that I would be this close to the Matrix. It always seemed so remote. Yet here it is," he said as he patted Prime's chest.
Optimus nodded. "I remember when It came to me. It was so fast and so intense that I did not know what to think or do about It. It became part of me almost immediately and now it would feel strange if It ever left. I am It and It is me to some extent."
"You can access the wisdom of the Primes and The People through It. Does that mean Its a conscious thing that you feel or hear or is It intuitive?" Prowl asked.
"Usually intuitive. It's more feeling than direct contact. They never directly contact me without good reason."
It was silent in the room for a moment, then Prowl rose. "Come on. You need to rest. Tomorrow is a long orn and we have to plan for millions. There won't be as much time for you to rest soon enough."
Prime stood, then hugged Prowl tightly. The two of them walked through the house to their room, disappearing into the darkened space almost immediately.
-0-Morning, the next orn
Ratchet and Ironhide ambled to the Ops Center after the mob dispersed. They hadn't eaten but would later at The Diner On The Corner at the behest of a large number of their older and taller progeny. They were going to check in with the Messiah of Their People to see what had transpired, if anything. Today, given that the trials were over for now, Ratchet would receive the remaining 1,500 humans at the Unidad habitat. Given the circumstances, they gathered everyone up who was going to work there along with their families, baggage and targs and were winging their way in about noon. He would show the flag, dance around the maypole and do his usual spiel. Then he would bolt to the office, catch up on slag, go to the strategic planning meeting in the sub ops center about the problem of the new refugees, and any number of other things backing up from the trials. That didn't even mention to enormity of Cybertron and the Empire.
Ironhide would schmooze Halo around the colony.
They walked in, then sat at the main table where Prowl was working. "Hi, Granny. How's the Messiah? Heard anything interesting yet?" Ratchet asked with a giant smile.
Prowl snickered. "Blasphemer. You really like to play with fire."
"I rode the Blue Line with Solus Prime." He grinned. "That sounds like a song." Sitting back with a smirk as he watched Ironhide cough up Halo for Prowl, he grinned. "I have a dope relationship with Herself."
Ironhide and Prowl researched the slang, then Prowl grinned. "If anyone knows dope, its you, Loon."
Prime walked out, then to the table where he sat. "What is the word?"
"Nothing. The word is nothing. No one is speaking about this on and off local social media so I guess the oaths are holding. What about you?"
"Nothing but the buzz of energy," Prime said as mechs came and went. It would be a mellow morning in the Ops Center for all of them.
-0-At a street corner on the way to the club
Smokey stood at the light waiting for it to change when a mech slowed to stand next to him. Glancing at him, Smokey frowned. His entire affect hardened into concrete.
Hot Rod who had paused next to him smirked. "You aren't going to say hi?"
"No," Smokey said coldly. "Why should I?"
"I don't know," Roddy said with a shrug. "You miss me."
Smokey turned smoldering optics on Roddy. "Is that so?" he said with all the teenaged angst he could expend. "In what dream world?" he asked as the light changed. He stepped off and walked onward to the club where he was going to play cards with friends.
Roddy watched him go, then grinned. He followed along behind.
-0-Post trial breakdown
The entire group of lawyers and their teams sat in the big conference room in the Courthouse with Barron. He had invited all of them to a catered lunch and now they were eating dessert with a light liquor. It was a nice moment during a long period of depressing testimony, even more depressing images and documentation along with witnesses with varying degrees of emotional control. The room was filled with light, the windows allowed a magnificent view of the airfield and all in all, everyone was unwinding.
"Mondo, I do believe you made a good judgment call for Ratbat," Barron ventured. "I don't know how you managed to maintain him as a client given his difficulty in cooperation. I know it didn't end like you wanted."
"Just between you and me, Barron, I didn't have much hope to get acquittal. The evidence was what it was. However, I do believe there's something non functional in that mech's processor that bares study," Mondo said. He was the oldest brother, handsome and dignified. He had a gravitas about him that was unusual for their frame and was a religious scholar who spent spare time working on scrolls about his patron, Micronus Prime, at the Monastery of the Clavis Aurea. It was his delight as a mentor scribe for the Guiding Hand in his village. It still was. "There's nothing that's good from prosecuting a damaged individual. That was their method, not ours."
"I don't mind finding out, Mondo," Coln said as he nodded in agreement. "However, when he's functional again, he will stand trial. That's how this process works. If he was incapacitated during the events he participated in and the decisions he made, then the process will take that into account for any kind of acquittal or mitigation. I don't personally believe he'll get much from the system for such a defense."
"Nor I, I'm afraid," Mondo said sadly. "I do, however, look forward to perhaps seeing the Pantheon. You have already, correct?"
Barron, Blackstone, many of the legal people there, and Coln nodded almost reverently. They would explain things to them as the afternoon wore on toward noon.
-0-Noon
They arrived, a big group of individuals who were now employees and temporary-permanent guest workers of Autobot Nation and the Empire. They gathered in a group, were divided up and packed into buses for the ride to Unidad Terra 1. Ratchet was on his way there already, leaving The Diner ahead of them. They would converge there in the Habitat Entrance and the fun would then begin.
Probably.
-0-In a utility room in the Central Labor Hall, down the way from the Club
Smokey glared at Roddy, then leaped on him driving him into the wall. They tussled for a while and when the smoke cleared, they smirked at each other.
"Fragger. You're a stone cold fragger."
"And what are you, Smokey, if not mine?" Hot Rod asked as he pressed Smokey into the wall, his servos gripping the younger mech's aft hard.
"Frag you, slagger," he said and then he didn't say anything else for a while.
-0-TBC 8-14-18 edited 8-15-18
ESL: dope is often slang among Americans for a stupid person