The Diego Diaries: Battleground (dd6 591)
=0=Bridge on Salton Sea
It was very quiet on the bridge as they waited for Pulsar and his group to arrive. That bunch were just entering the edges of their sensors, a big group with a lot of guns. Prime's group was poised for any eventuality having Typhoon and Tennyson in reserve to come forward and underscore the point that Prime was preparing to make clear to the intruders.
As Optimus stared at the forward screen, the strange woman walked to where he sat, then moved to stand in front of him. She stared up at him noting his remarkable charisma and universal good looks. Even though he was a different individual from her in all the superficial points of reference different extraterrestrial species used to measure each other, it was still obvious to her that he was a very handsome specimen of his own.
What was interesting if anyone could notice was that neither Prime nor anyone else saw her.
=0=Earth among the punters
"What do you suppose this might mean?" Mariah Davis asked her ex-husband, Owen Harris. "It would appear that they go out a lot in force. There must be something terrible coming our way. Again."
"They alluded to it and probably there is," Owen said noncommittally. "We have to take their word for it and given the size of the fleet going, this might be another really bad one."
"If they would leave then these idiots wouldn't come here," Hamilton Baker said as they sat together for lunch as they finalizing the plans for the business convention they would host for a week here in the habitat.
"That's a rather understandable but naive sentiment, Hamilton," Perry Beliveau replied. "We've been down this road before. There are forces frayed from Decepticon control who wouldn't be moved by Prime just leaving. They would come in for control of what was given up. Consider how many times your own country has done that to places and individuals on Earth and ask yourself, why would they be any different?"
Hamilton stared at Beliveau coldly. "You aren't getting soft are you, Perri? Don't tell me that you find merit in their arguments?"
"I find, my dear Hamilton, that when an enemy force comes toward me that provokes a response that big and powerful from a mech like Prime that I should count my blessings he's the one going out to face it and not me," Perri replied in his impeccably dignified but cold diplomatic manner.
"Right now, we watch and wait," Owen said. "We also put on a real show for the attendees and watch the investments roll in. We have a lot of good things ahead and we can't ruin our moment now by arguing."
Cynthia Tomas walked back into the room and sat down. "Well, we have the last confirmations in and it looks like we'll have 100 of the most innovative and powerful businessmen and women on Earth for our gathering. 100 on the nose." She grinned, then glanced at Hamilton. "What happened?"
"Nothing to worry about, Cynthia," Hamilton said to the one person everyone in the room liked without reservation. "Just a difference of opinion between Beliveau and me." He didn't bother to explain what it was to her. She was too honest and had no idea of the deeper intentions of this group. He glanced at Owen. "What about the meetings and events you wanted with the bots? Are they cooperating? The soldiers and long time civilians and scientists here as well?"
They would talk about all of that and more including asking to meet with the Hu-An leadership to discuss agriculture in hostile environments, the leadership of the Resort for business inside ball and the scientists, some of whom would be offered placements in company science divisions or support for their work on world. It was a comprehensive plan that was going to be waged across many fronts in four days.
The meeting would go on and on until everything was worked out to the last serving of dessert at the culmination dinner.
=0=Out there
"We have them firmly on radar, Prime," Devcon said as he glanced over his shoulder to the command seat where Optimus sat in thought. "They're coming at a good clip. One joor and they're here. We can open communications anytime you require."
"Very well," Prime said.
It fell quiet again as some lounged, others chatted both with the humans or each other while the essential operators worked at their stations.
Prime sat in his chair brooding as he considered the problems ahead. Then he felt it, the scrutiny of someone somewhere, someone close by. Given that he was energy at his core he could tell when others were about without much effort. All of them could. He felt energy, an ancient and extraordinarily powerful energy. Sitting up straighter, he glanced around using his sensors to locate it.
Nothing seemed to be around as he sat back again, then froze in place. Standing before him was a woman without environmental gear, older with graying red hair, a knit cap on her head who was wearing a long dress and sweater. She stared at him with a bemused expression and kindly eyes. They were blue, her eyes and it looked like they had seen a lot. She said nothing to him nor he to her. Then he leaned slightly forward. "Who are you?" he asked.
She didn't answer.
Prime glanced around but no one else seemed to notice her. They didn't seem to notice him either. Glancing at her, he remembered the apparition on Mars, the one the Seer had said wasn't a danger when they had gone to the chapel to find out what had happened to the chaplain. That being was just ancient energy and no threat, the Seer had said. He leaned closer again. "I know you from Mars. Why are you here? What do you want?"
The figure looked at him, then grinned slightly. "Right hand."
He stared at her mulling her remarks. He had enough unsettling and strange experiences with the Matrix to know supernatural things when they occurred. She didn't scare or alarm him. On the contrary, she was comforting in some unknowable manner. "Right hand?" he asked.
She grinned, then turned to the screen. "They come."
"They do but we are here to prevent them that out come," Prime said.
She turned back to him. "So it is."
"Who are you, lady?" Prime asked. "You were in the chapel on Mars. At Unidad."
She nodded. "Good. Right arm. Evolution." She grinned at him, then faded away.
Prime stared at the spot with a slightly unsettled feeling, then considered that she'd been kindly and calm. Her words to him made no sense but then he knew that such events often did that. It would take time and circumstance to unwind some knots, he knew. He filed them away, then sat back. Glancing around, he knew no one saw her but him. :Devcon:
Dev glanced over his shoulder. :Prime?:
:Scan the bridge. Tell me if there's anything odd going on:
Dev did, then rose to walk to Prime. Staring out the window a moment, he then looked at Prime. :There's no one here but us. Did something happen? You have that look on your face:
:What look?: Prime asked as he glanced up at the handsome figure beside him.
:No offense, Optimus, but I call it your Matrix Face. Its a sort of charged expression you have when you do something with that device. As a bounty hunter, I notice such things:
Prime nodded. :Have you heard that the Chapel in Unidad reported an apparition?:
:The grandson told me about it. Breathlessly: Dev grinned at the memory of it.
:That apparition was just on the bridge. She talked to me, odd jargon, then disappeared. I do not think anyone but me saw her: Prime said.
Dev frowned slightly. :No. I didn't detect anything. What did she say?:
:I asked her name but she did not say. She mentioned Pulsar coming, I told her that we would prevent their progress and she was glad and said so. Then she said things that did not make sense to me. She said, 'right hand', 'good' and 'evolution': Prime reported. It didn't have any hold on him, nothing sprang to mind and it didn't seem to register on Devcon either.
:I don't know what that means. You?: Dev asked.
:No. Its odd. I did not feel any alarm at seeing her. She seemed warm and sympathetic: Prime replied.
:Good. We could use the support: Dev said with a grin.
They chatted a moment, then Dev walked back to sensors. He would watch the ships making their way forward even as he devised a sensor to scan for ghosts. He would find a lot of activity on one and none on the other.
=0=Pulsar
"There's a big group ahead, Pulsar," Rabid, his main lieutenant said as he stood beside the big mech sitting in the command seat. "They could have brought a lot of back up."
"I'm not worried about that prospect," Pulsar said quietly. "They can throw their arsenal at me and it won't matter."
"What about Prime? Anything on him?" Rabid asked for the fourth time.
"You worry, Rabid. You should know better by now," Pulsar said with a grin.
"The rumors about Cybertron, that he has it and his other places … what about that?" Rabid asked.
Pulsar considered that and the mech who was speaking. Rabid was a genuine friend, one who helped him through the phase six process and Pulsar trusted him, no small thing. They were polar opposites. He, Pulsar was educated, an engineer, high caste, strategic, patient and tactical, fearless but smart and astute, knowing unlike most Decepticon leaders that sometimes retreat WAS the better part of valor.
Rabid was from the ghettos of Tarn, smart but cautious, loyal to a fault, willing to learn things that most of his class could care less about such as music and books, experienced, tough but not brutal and funny. Right now, the tough cautious side was in ascendance so he was more a 'Con commander than anything more. Either way, he was also formidable and together they were pretty hard to beat.
He was what Blue Bacchus wanted to be and would never, ever attain.
"Extend the sensors, Pilot, then open a channel to the ships ahead. How long, Rabid, before we reach them?" Pulsar asked.
"We're two breems away," Rabid said as he calculated the time and half a dozen other important aspects of the situation toward which they were heading. He was a good navigator and pilot, someone with a lot of skills and abilities only reached to their fullest with Pulsar.
"Very well," Pulsar said as he watched the tactical diagram on the forward view port that showed the map of this space and the situation of the two sides slowly coming together.
"You're open, Pulsar," his comm officer said.
"Good," Pulsar said as he considered his thoughts. "This is Pulsar and I'm coming in to talk. Please identify yourselves. I'm expecting Razorclaw and Ominous, one or both."
There was a pause before a voice replied. "This is Optimus Prime. Ominous and Razorclaw will not be attending any meeting with you, Pulsar. We, however, are here in force. If you proceed further, we will be forced to destroy you."
It was silent a moment, then Pulsar grinned slightly. "Oh, Optimus … you never, ever disappoint."
=0=Phobos
They sat at the window on the forward portion of the bridge listening to Prime speak to Pulsar. A good dozen doctors were with him, mostly young kids including Partition who was along as a field exercise. Everyone was solemn and some of them were clearly scared though they tried hard not to show it.
"What do you think will happen?" Partition asked Ratchet who stood at the window staring out toward the command ship with Prime.
Ratchet glanced at the kids watching, then Gypsy who looked comforting and confident for them as well. "I suppose we have a fifty-fifty chance that Pulsar will get the message and pull away. I don't know where he's going to go but he can't come forward. Prime won't allow it."
"Will there be shooting do you think, Commander?" a young doctor, one who specialized in protoform trauma asked.
Ratchet glanced at him, then patted his arm. "There could be but look where we are? They would have to destroy everyone out there before they reached us."
"I don't want anyone hurt," another kid said. "I'm a doctor. I fix things, not break them."
"Sometimes you have no choice, infant. All of you stay out of trouble. You aren't rated to fight," Ratchet said.
"I am," Partition said with a firm expression.
"I know. You stay behind me. What's a shoot out without back up?" Ratchet asked with a smirk.
Partition considered that, then stiffened with resolve. "I may be behind you, Appa, but I'm going to be there."
Ratchet grinned, then squeezed his arm. "I never doubted it for a minute."
=0=Salton Sea
Prime watched tensely as the silence from Pulsar was only exceeded by his forward progress toward them.
=0=Furious Storm
Prowl watched with great tension as he watched Pulsar's group advance. He had a million scenarios worked out as he stood at the command table on board and watched the forward screen. Pulsar was not slowing down.
=0=Pulsar's ship, the Harrier
He watched Prime's data on the view port ahead considering what he would do when both sides were in range. As he did, he didn't notice a small human female standing next to the forward screen watching him as he mused. No one else could either.
=0=A small town on Earth-Cybertron-Mars
She finished her job, then walked to her car. She wore a knit cap on her head against the cold as she started the engine to leave. She would drive to McDonald's to eat breakfast, then drive home to take care of her dogs. It would be a short break before she went to her other little job, one of two to supplement her retirement. She would answer phones and work in a warehouse helping get orders together for companies who required their wares. She wasn't morose about it but enjoyed her life and the arrangements that supported her.
When it was all over, she would drive home and go about her usually solitary business. At no time would she be aware that there was anything odd or different about her rather mundane life as she stuffed dirty clothes into her washing machine. Pandora would play music, she would feed her pets and then make dinner. All was well in her neck of the woods here on Earth.
=0=TBC 2-11-19 edited 2-10-19