The Diego Diaries: Crader (dd6 495)
Sorry for the dry spell. I took care of my niece's slightly insane little dog and I think I have an actual headache from his tense and wild ass behavior. He just went home after a week with me. Only now do two thoughts fit together. Here we go …
-0-Next orn as everyone hits the trail following buses, cabs and metros, oh my ...
They walked to their jobs after getting things organized. There would be more tests to run on Crader, then a decision from Prime about transplanting the other nine individual's sparks into mini-con frames. The rest of that party was in prison and would be monitored remotely from Femme and on site to ensure that their rate of transmutation didn't suddenly bump up to high speed. They didn't need to even inadvertently create fifteen more to battle with that were what Wheeljack and Ratchet were humorously calling 'phase seven fraggers'.
Everyone off world was heading there by bridge including Alor who was to see what the timetable for the Tall White to reach the home stretch for his home world would be from his command in Las Vegas. They had been hauled past the temporal breech guarded by Tennyson and handed on their way. Given their little white round vessels were sleeper ships, they would never know that they had a detour. A drone was following at a distance sending back information with which they would locate the alien's home system. Then they would take it from there.
Among the outstanding features of the orn was Ironhide and Prime heading for Cybertron to see more details on a prefabrication process for raising towers that would cut down the wait time by a fourth. The concern Prime had was keeping the workmanship topnotch. Where shortcuts could be made that sped things up, that was welcome. Shortcuts that undermined quality was a huge no-no and he would make sure it was understood. There were entire swatches of Cybertron that were lightly settled or small habitations that were completed. They were miracles but they were small, generally less damaged by war and easier to fix.
Cities were coming along, some of them just now getting teams in to diagram the removal of millions of billions of trillions of tons of twisted steel, all manner of wiring and plumbing, building materials and glass of all kinds. It would have to be dug out and removed, most of it to recycling with a bunch shot into the nearest star through a series of four small bridge set up in space to handle just that. The amount and kinds of wastes that were being found, denatured and transported out was mind boggling. It was astonishing how dangerous some places were.
They were still housing individuals all over the planet and the outlying local group. Millions now had temporary home in tent cities from among the billion and a half estimated on world. Hundreds of millions, even. But it was still a major problem getting everyone under a halfway decent roof. There were no problems of note for food and medical. It was anxiety relieving on a scale hard to describe that this part of the critical care aspect was being met. There were still those being found, some who truly didn't know they were liberated and others hiding either through terrible fright or processor ill health that were hungry, ill and dying. Scans were being made, pockets searched out on the ground and miracles happening. It would take a very long time to make this catastrophe even close to right again.
The world wide road system, all the major train lines with a few of the more critical side tracks, airfields everywhere and depots were operational and supplying everything one could ask for to everyone, everywhere. Titans sat all over the world and now were doing so in pairs or trios. There were 2,257 metro-titan class ships settled and working around the world, deeply dug in, supplying every need possible for the operation. There were tens of thousands of them hiding in parallel universes. They were finding each other and pulling them in to safety. The desire to contribute among them made it easy to get what was needed to make the plates spin.
Given that many there on world, it would still be a catastrophic venture if they had to lift off to go to battle or to leave Cybertron. They were networked, their support systems operating independently as well as dependently among that number and their functional need overrode everything else. They were a major deterrent to anyone with a bug up their aft but if they did have to lift off, it would be a massive disruption. Many were the titans whose formats were now designed into the local rebuilds.
The big frames were going with Ironhide and Prime while the rest of Ironhide's family went to their districts along with Hound to run the show. A call for everyone who could to meet them in Praxus for lunch was agreed upon as they walked through bridges to Cybertron, the outlying bases and the DMZ.
Meanwhile at the same time ...
Prowl stood in Ops Center looking at the data coming in from hidden sensors that were scattered close enough to Razorclaw to give a clearer picture of his shenanigans in those sectors of space that were not part of the direct sphere of Prime. They weren't looking too good. He glanced at Ratchet who was ambling in to pause beside him. A sensor hit him, then Ratchet grinned. "So far, so good."
Prowl grinned. "Did you doubt?" he asked rather jauntily. Prowl of Praxus was a very happy mech at the moment in spite of the data flowing in. "What's the word?"
"Crader doesn't have any features that kick in to transmute his new protoform it would appear. Apparently, the new protoform has to be gene spliced to make it happen, though the process is unknown yet. He's just another loud mouthed mini-con slagger and we all believe he can go to the prison and rot without causing injuries to the good guys." He smiled brilliantly.
Prowl grinned. "Okay."
Ratchet turned to go. "They're having lunch in Praxus this afternoon. You going?"
"Sure," Prowl said though this was the first he heard of it. "Come by and get me. Some of us are essential equipment."
Ratchet laughed as he exited the room. Prowl grinned, then turned to the task at hand.
Figuring out what Razorclaw was up to.
-0-Metro Femme
"We need to put the others back together, then take all these mini-cons to a very short jail cell and put them inside," Ratchet said as he glanced at Crader who was SMOLDERING nearby. "Thank goodness we have cells with tiny furniture and the like."
Perceptor grinned slightly. "You always were a forward thinker."
"Why thank you, Percy. You always were a gent," Ratchet said as he walked to Crader. "Given that you need to work out your brilliant strategy for Caste Court, we're moving you out of here. Prison is awaiting. We'll bring the others when they get screwed back in. Take care," Ratchet said as heavily armed mechs and orderlies with a gurney walked in. "Take him away, boys. Warden Gee-Gee has been briefed."
"Got it, Doc," Roadbuster said as he watched the orderlies put him on the gurney. They wheeled him out, then Ratchet turned to the techs watching. "Come with me, infants. We have to retrieve some sparks. Are you going to get the protoforms up here?" he asked Wheeljack.
"Yep," Wheeljack said as he sat down on the med berth. He grinned at Ratchet. "Go get 'em."
"On it, slagger," Ratchet said as he walked out with the techs. He would return, then show everyone there how you replace sparks into protoforms swiftly. Given that he'd done it multitudinous times over his long war time medical career, it would be done well but quickly. By the time Ironhide called him to come to Praxus, the last one would be wheeled out to the runabout on the roof to go to prison.
-0-Prison
Warden Gee-Gee stood by the gate where the new prisoners would be locked up. They decided to put them into the cells formerly occupied by Sentinel, Ratbat, Decimus, Halogen and the like due to her own disquiet over Crader's former self. She was assured that he wouldn't morph but she wasn't the kind to ignore hunches.
It would be in the end a very good thing that she didn't.
-0-Praxus
They stepped out of the ship bridge onto the well cleared streets of Praxus. They were near the main city park where ships were setting down and leaving. Across the street at the City Hall, the Autobot HQ for Praxus functioned orn and night. The area was well cleared, slowly rising up and a shadow of the great and fabled beauty of The Old City as it was called. This was the center of learning and art, of the most ancient traditions and practices, of the highest castes known among their kind and gracious beautiful houses and buildings. Though the Seeker barrage … the Obliteration had been horrendous, there were still entire sections of the city that were still relatively intact. This was one of them. Apparently, Megatron wanted to keep the core intact there just like he did for Kaon and Tarn.
They walked down the street, noted the pot holes and pits that had been filled and cut across it to go to the sidewalk that ran along the park, a great central park that was filled with every kind of Cybertronian tree, bush and flower in the distant past. It was one of those places that if any Cybertronian saw it, they would know where and what it was. Now it was flat, filled with ships and individuals hurrying on the job and lit with light towers.
"I'll be grateful on my knee assemblies when this planet has a star," Prowl said as they cut through the ships toward a group gathered with Prime.
"You and me both," Ratchet said as they walked along the side of Prime's vessel. He was sitting on a crate talking with the mechs. He'd just completed the business here and was listening to stories, requests, new gains, a few more losses, the recovered dead count, what was coming next, what would have to happen first, the local criminal element situation, and on and on …
Everyone of Ironhide's family was here, two of them arriving as Prowl and Ratchet did. Hound was here as a district director and so were any number of Autobots that came with Prime to kibitz and hang around. "Looks like the prison let out for lunch," Ratchet said with a big smile.
"Speak for yourself," Kup said. "What did you bring for lunch?"
"Me?" Ratchet asked with a grin.
"You're risking the cosmic rust to eat his food," Prowl said before Ratchet slugged him.
"Don't slag him, Ratchet. We want the kid first," Alor said as he leaned against Blackjack who sat on a concrete piling.
"They're all mine," Prowl said. "All of them." He turned to the ship. "Did you have lunch or do we have to fetch?"
"It's being brought from Mars," Hercy said. "Hold your horses, mech."
"I have them, you know. A good dozen," Prowl said with a slight buzz of amused superiority.
"It helps him with the Autobot Scouts," Ratchet said before getting slugged by Prowl
Just then, mechs walked through the ship bridge behind them with food boxes and drinks. Pizza, sandwiches, some pocket type food peculiar to Cybertron and good beer rounded out the main course. Cookies and other treats in boxes rounded out the meal. They gathered food, then sat. Around them, ships landed and took off, the traffic on the roads began to pick up now that lunch was getting over and the place was humming.
"This is good," Hercy said. "Where we headed next, Prime?"
"We're going north," Optimus said. "More little towns are complete and I want to see them. We also have to pay our respects at the mass grave sites."
It was silent for a moment, then Ratchet glanced at Devcon. "What's the word on the grandson? Still invoked?"
Dev smirked at Ratchet. "Yes, nosy. Smokescreen is handling that with Moda. I think its going well but that's up to them."
Ratchet nodded. "We were told that some of the kids at Intermediate were making comments about Fireball and Lumi. I think they're just immature and not used to relationships yet. Nothing malicious but it makes both of them uncomfortable."
"Those two kids are stellar," Hercy said with a slight frown. Everyone nodded. "Want me to speak to them?"
Ratchet grinned, then glanced at Ironhide. "We did but you can. An infant never went too far wrong with a lot of good appa style advice."
"Those kids don't need a lot. They came out pretty first class, all of them. There's something really sweet and innocent about those two. I hope this isn't a big thing," Hercy said.
"I know. Growing up isn't for sissies," Ratchet said. Everyone agreed and then some.
-0-Intermediate School
Lumi sat at a table in the library looking at a picture book of Alaska. There were a number of big glossy picture books stacked up and he was going to take them with him. One was of the canals of Amsterdam, another of Paris and one of the ancient ruins of Rome. He was fascinated with the beauty of the three countries and their different kinds of history. Ancient places were interesting to see. Maybe he could see some of these places some fine orn.
A pair of mechs were standing nearby getting books when Fireball joined Lumi in a chair. Fireball leaned on Lumi's shoulder and slid his arm around his chair when Lumi showed him the Coliseum of Rome. It was featured with lights at night on the page. They stared at it, talking quietly together, their helms nearly touching. The two kids who watched grinned at each other, then the two. When they turned to go onward, they were halted before the slightly frowning figures of Santee and Saber.
-0-TBC 10-14-18 edited 10-15-18