The Diego Diaries: Dobbs (dd6 516)
-0-On their way
They stepped into a bridge in full gear that appeared at the Pentagon in Virginia. Glenn Morshower, two aides including a legal, John Fulton who was there with Andrew Settles to discuss the N.E.S.T operation at Diego Garcia and Joe Bowers who was with Fulton walked out of the inferno onto the deck of Impactor's Revenge. Hercy and Kup were waiting for them as they entered.
:Gentlemen, what's this about?: Morshower asked as the humans walked toward the two.
Hercy glanced at Rem who was pilot. "Take us out, Rem." He turned back to the humans. "Prime will tell you. We'll be there in a minute."
They were.
-0-Earlier with the forensics team
They walked along the road, Sky and his two partners on the far side of their tracker, Sirrio. It was cold and dark, though there were lights every Cybertronian mile that were solar powered and sensored to shut off when the light pf day reached a certain level each orn. Right now, they were about the only sight a human could see, the light towers islands of brightness going out into the endless night of Mars.
It would be a scary thing for humans to be here in the dark alone. This was inky darkness though the sky overhead was filled with the pure essence of the galaxy. Without the light pollution that plagued Earth, the entire view here was clear, almost a smear of light and hauntingly beautiful. The stray meteorite came through, blazing, then disappearing. Blinking lights of ships and satellites overhead could be seen moving steadily wherever they were going but otherwise it was deeply and almost sinisterly dark. It was something that triggered in a lot of humans the sensation of primeval fear, of the lives their ancient ancestors lived in amongst night predators.
They were hunting for any signs that might lead to a probably dead human, something that was certain to unleash the worst possible outcome for everyone besides Dobbs. That was his name, Lawrence Frederick Dobbs, Junior. He was from west Texas, living in a small town before getting the bug to be military by joining the army. He became a ranger, served here and there, then hired on with Intel-Martin to be a mercenary, something that was the lowest of the low among the Autobots. It was also so among most professional soldiers the galaxy over. What small rules warfare engendered, the mercs weren't either morally or temperamentally geared to uphold. They'd dealt with mercenaries themselves, some like Lockdown who was the scum of the galaxy. Dobbs had come here, a thing that startled everyone but hadn't been in trouble like his colleague, James Johnson. Now he was missing and everyone was filled with dread.
This could be the first suspicious death of a human on world.
Sirrio was finding the thin trail then it turned off into the desert. Pausing, he waved the other three over. "It goes that way into those boulders. I think I'm going to scan overhead. Stay here just in case." He lit his peds, then rose upward. Moving forward, he turned on his lights to look. His bright and strange form moved into the boulders, then came back again. He set down, then frowned. "I think we found Lawrence Dobbs, Sky. You better call Springer, Prime and Ratchet."
-0-Impactor's Revenge a bit later
They landed on the highway, then settled as the ramp came down. The mechs walked out carrying the humans, Hercy, Kup and Rem. Down the way standing on the side of the highway were Will Lennox, Niall Graham and a grim looking Bobby Epps. With them were Ratchet who was explaining things to everyone, Starscream and Rainmaker, Jazz, Springer and Drift, Elita and Jetta, Prime, Ironhide, Raptor and Hard Drive. There may have been others but they could see this group from their vantage point. As they neared, everyone turned toward them, a collection of grim faced and disturbed appearing individuals. The mechs halted at the group and put everyone down.
Optimus knelt. "General, Colonel … I am glad you are there. We have a very difficult situation before us. One of the mercenaries from Earth2 had disappeared for about 12 hours then was found here by our trackers. Lawrence Dobbs is dead. It would appear to be suspicious circumstances that he is here."
:What can you tell us about that, Optimus? Is he down there?: Morshower asked as he nodded toward a light source in the rocks.
"He is. He had spent the morning driving to all of the outlying habitats to visit. It was then when he left the Consulate that no one could remember seeing him. Ops Center at Earth2 reported him overdue and that the vehicle he was driving was also missing. Search and Rescue immediately launched and pulled a recall for him to be bridged back through his transponders and locaters, both on his suit and in his wrist and shoulder. Neither worked. Nor did the transponder/locator on the vehicle.
"Our tracker, Sirrio was able to ascertain that he was parked four miles from here, had perhaps removed the vehicle devises, he or someone else, then drove here. He went off the road, drove into the rock formation and somehow died there. He was outside his car, his helmet was lying folded nearby and the vehicle had been crashed into a huge boulder. Preliminary indications are that the crash did not produce his injuries nor cause him to be thrown that far. Someone pulled him out of the vehicle, marched him away from it, then removed his helmet. How, we are not sure. None of the tech here is designed to be this easy to circumnavigate." He glanced over his shoulder, then turned to Ratchet. "Tell them the rest please."
Ratchet knelt. "We've found that the transponders from the vehicle are missing. They're frag all to remove but they're gone. The transponders in his suit and in the implant in his wrist and shoulder are malfunctioned. Somehow, there's someone with tech that can do that. It makes their victim impossible to retrieve with emergency bridges or find if lost without sending search and rescue out to look. The victim has broken bones, arms and ribs. He was beaten with something to get him down on the ground, then his helmet was removed which led to his death."
It was appalling the silence, then Morshower nodded. :Can we see the scene? The body?:
"In a moment," Ratchet said as he stood. "Sky is processing it with his team and we want these slaggers. We found a few odd footprints but they disappear into the darkness. The winds through these rocks are brisk and covered things up quickly and deeply with sand slides and rocks. Its very muddled and not much help. We can ascertain that they, whoever they are hiked it back to the habitats from here. A fit human can make it back to the habitats or to a vehicle that they were using hidden somewhere out here for this purpose easily. This road is still light traffic and no scanners or detective devices are here yet."
:But the grid, Ratchet. How could someone do this without the grid noting who and where?: Will Lennox asked as the others stared at them worriedly.
"That's the interesting part. All of this implies a certain level of understanding of our tech and perhaps devices of their own designed to defeat some of it. They were masked signature wise and so were their vehicles. We can try and track them back but this is a well trafficked highway. They came out here, disabled the transponder and locator on the vehicle, had the ability to disable Dobb's devices, then ghost their way back. We have a real fragger on our servos and until we figure this out everyone is going to be confined to the habitats. We can't protect you until we figure this out."
It was silent a moment, then Morshower looked upward at Prime. :Owen Harris is at the bottom of this. There has to be a connection:
Joe Bowers nodded. :He has the jones for bot tech. He has the ability and all of that tech from Sentinel Prime is still unaccounted for. He could be working on whatever he's capable of understanding right now. What about Wheeljack and Perceptor? What do they know about this kind of end around? Do they have an idea what this tech is and how to find it?:
"They have that brief," Prime said as Sky walked up the slope to the road toward everyone. He paused beside Prime. "Tell me what you have, Sky. I vouch for everyone here."
Sky stared at the humans, this big bright white Seeker with an intellectual mind and science bent who ran forensics for Springer and the Watch. "We've discovered preliminarily that the devices he bore to be safe are fried. His locators and transponder … they're fried somehow. He was dragged from the vehicle, beaten, then died when the mask was taken away. The vehicle oddly enough was driven into the rocks to look like an accident, though why they would after beating him with blunt objects I don't know. We found a tire iron in the back that's the likely blunt object. We have Sirrio tracking the footprints leading away from here that appear to be made by two individuals but who knows? He can track anything but this is strange and going to be very hard if they drive away on the road. There's too much traffic there to keep it all straight in the end."
"What about the body?" Prime asked as Sky turned to Ratchet.
"He has broken bones in the chest, arms, neck and hands. Defensive wounds. He died nearly instantly when the mask came off. Its pretty ghastly. I wouldn't recommend that you go down there to look, humans," Ratchet said as he glanced down at them.
:What happened to him?: Joe Bowers asked.
Everyone stared at Ratchet, he glanced at Prime who nodded, then told them. "He was beaten badly and thus had no way to run away. Given that they pulled his mask, all of the surface water he had evaporated … tears in his eyes and that sort of thing. If you hold your breath, you get 20-30 seconds more life. He would begin to freeze to death immediately and if he took a breath which I'm sure he did, he would lose every drop of moisture there, his lungs would freeze and he would die instantly. I calculate he died in 30 seconds in this cold. He's a curled ball because the cold made him bring his extremities into his body. He looks … terrified and agonized. I wouldn't recommend anyone seeing him. I can make the identification because I know him. I will spare you that."
It was silent, then Lennox shook his helm. :My worst nightmare. That's no way for anyone to go. He must have been terrified:
Ratchet stared at Lennox raising him several notches more in his estimation at his comments, then glanced at Morshower. "I'm claiming the body and will do that autopsy. We have ways to look inside without cutting. The big problem is going to be keeping everyone safe. If you aren't outside you can't die like this. I rule this preliminarily a homicide, Optimus. Someone or someones brought him out here and murdered him for reasons unknown."
Prime nodded, then looked at Springer. "I am going to Earth2 to speak to Harris. I want you to go there and bring him to the air lock. Tell him I am going to speak to him. Do not tell him about this. We are going to hold the news until all of the evidence and interviews are completed." He looked at the humans. "I would like you along as well."
The humans nodded. :This is your purview, Prime. The Charters are very specific: Morshower said.
Prime nodded. "They are and I am exercising my rights of command given the circumstances. Where is Rick Harris?"
"He's at Earth2. I think his clients are going to be very disappointed to hear what happened given they have a couple of more adventures to go," Springer said. "When will we let the news out?"
"Not yet, Springer. I want this airtight and a bead on the culprit or culprits before it is announced. There will be a fire storm on Earth anyway. This cannot happen again. I also do not want any of our tech being used against us. If they can do this with their own, imagine what they can do against us?" Prime said as a big vehicle could be heard pulling up, then transforming.
Ultra Magnus walked toward him with Arcee who had ridden on his frame to the scene. They both looked grim. "What do you want to do, Optimus?"
"I want you to come with us. You are the Tyrest enforcer. We are going to enforce. I want all the habitats tossed. I will speak to Paribolus in the Operational Center myself. If there is or is not any tech there that is ours, then we go to the courts on Earth and get search warrants. I want it all," Prime said with a deadly tone to his voice. "This is not acceptable. I have no respect for what Dobbs did or was but he was also alive and in our care. This is not going happen again. No human in our community is going to suffer like this again. I gave my word that the human population would be safe and cared for here and I consider this a blow to my personal prestige."
It was deeply silent, then Prime looked around. "Have the coroner's office come to get him when the scene is released. Do you need more time, Sky?"
"No, sir. We have what we need. I want to rope off the area for the short term but right now, towing the vehicle and removing the body is okay. Do you need us with you?" he asked.
"Not at the moment, no," Prime said. "I would like you to coordinate with Barron and Sciences about this. No word is allowed out until I give permission. This is a very, very dangerous situation to our unity and we have killers running loose in our community." With that, he walked to the highway, transformed, then opened his doors. "General and Colonel, please ride with me."
Both humans hurried to comply as bots walked to Impactor's Revenge with the remaining humans for the ride to Earth2. Soon the only ones left were the criminologists and tracker waiting for the coroner and the tow truck to bring the vehicle into the big lab at the Watch Tower in Metrotitan for a thorough once over for evidence.
-0-On the way
Impactor's Revenge got there first and landed in the parking lot drawing hundreds of humans to the windows to watch. The ship was lit from end to end with lights forward and running along the sides and rear. It was lethal and looked extremely fast with its sleek lines and view ports. Guns were visible, big ones that signaled that this was a war ship. Given that everyone was conversant to varying extents with life here and the army that protected every one and had watched all the shows and done their own due diligence, they recognized this as a specialist battle ship for the Wreckers whose logo was on the side along with other markings and the ubiquitous Autobrand.
They watched almost silently as Owen and Rick Harris along with all the others of that group gathered in the habitat to wait for Prime to come. He had told them to be there, not making nice by asking and sounded extremely pissed. They were nervous but composed as they watched a line of trucks both heavy duty and light enter the lot with an amazing array of concept cars and mechs on horseback following. It was a surreal sight, Owen thought. He had never been anywhere that had held such a group of vehicles even among his fat cat friends and their gatherings.
They began to transform and dark shapes back lit from the ship began to form and turn toward them. The darkness prevented them from being fully visible but merely dark shapes with menacing light auras slowly walking toward the habitat doors. They felt it, the fear of 'the other' as the bots came closer. The light of the facility and light towers outside finally illuminated them but it did little to decrease their menacing appearance.
Prime reached the door with his mechs and among them sitting on servos were the head honchos of N.E.S.T. Global and Diego Garcia. Lennox and his coterie were there and so was Ratchet, Ironhide and his family. Other mechs including a grim looking Springer and Drift followed by Starscream and the Great Elder walked to the doors and halted.
This was going to be fragged, Owen thought as Prime rapped on the window.
He stared at Owen Harris, then leaned in slightly. "Open up," he said with an ice cold voice.
-0-TBC 11-8-18 edited 11-24-18