The Diego Diaries: Hunt and Peck (dd6 593)
=0=In a nebula: Everyone that was anyone on both sides
"I remember that episode. They were flying around in a nebula hunting each other. It was hilarious," Springer said as he stared at the sensor screen of his shuttle, Impactor's Revenge. They were pursuing in pairs, the shuttles and smaller ships, combining sensors to pierce the static soup that they were swimming in as the Seekers put up a protective perimeter in free space beyond.
"Star Trek isn't a bad show. Now there's others that are slag," Hercy said as he chatted over the intercom with everyone else.
Springer glanced at him. "Lost In Space. What the frag was that all about?"
"Uh, danger, Will Robinson," Drift said as a dark shaped figure loomed outside, then arched away.
Springer glanced up. "Frag. That was close. Shoot him."
"Done deal," Sun said as he let 'er rip.
=0=Out there: Ironhide and Company/Familia
They sat at their gun emplacements as sensors scanned everywhere. There were echoes here and there but some of them were just the odd ice ball or pocket of super heated gas charged by the zillions of particles flying around unseen. Somewhere in this mess was a couple of cruisers, some wounded battleships and who knew what else. They had seen them go in and as they sat waiting to slag it out with one or both of them, one of the cruisers found them instead.
=0=On Salton Sea: Hard Drive
"Oh-oh. A cruiser just found City of Praxus," he said as the klaxons on a battle shuttle began to scream in Ironhide's audials.
=0=Ironhide and Company/Familia
It was startling how precise the incision was when the cruiser's wicked prow sliced The City of Praxus into two even sized pieces. It didn't even cause the ship's internal space bridge to blow up and scatter whatever was in proximity to it everywhere at once.
For a moment, both Blackjack the Elder and Younger, Raptor, Sideswipe, Sandstorm as pilot, Twin Twist as engineer and Hoagie, a massive hulking Wrecker who was a bouncer at Macadam's when he wasn't wrecking were doing their job, waiting to shoot the slag out of the bad guys. Then they were watching as the part of the ship they weren't in floated away from the one they were. Smack dab in the middle as it carving its way through was the dark hulking menace of a ship as lost in the soup as they were.
:What the frag?: Ironhide said as he got sucked out of the ship-let and found himself cartwheeling away into the mess.
Jack who saw him go unstrapped, then swan dived out of the section he was stranded in to follow him. That was when Blackjack the Younger and Raptor the One and Only joined him. Floating away at gathering speed in their sheered section, Sideswipe, Sandstorm, Twin and Hoagie watched helpless to join them as they sped away.
The five spiraled away swiftly themselves until they hit a big boulder roaring past and found themselves tossed out of the ship portion they were ensconced in, heading into the mess like billiard balls scattered in a break.
It was fragged.
=0=Salton Sea: Hardie, Prime and everyone else
"Half of the crew on City are tossed out, Optimus," Devcon said as he stood to go. "Its problematic that the other half were or will be as well."
"Find them, Devcon," Optimus said as he joined Hardie at Tactical. They watched him go, then looked at the screen. Only a couple of their ships could be detected and their signals were faint in the torrent of interference that was coming their way. "This is fragged. Have Tennyson and Typhoon move up and scan the sector, deep and hard."
Prowl nodded, then made it so.
Outside, two massive ships moved closer, one so big it seemed to dwarf the other, itself enormous on a cosmic scale and began. Everyone in the nebula would feel their combined scans beading on their exoskeleton.
=0=Out there: Ironhide and his Familia, minus his company
He careened away spinning with gathering speed as he flashed through the shimmering radiation that was part of the problem for both sides. Behind him flying like supermen without capes, the elders of his family followed. They passed a cruiser who didn't see them and an Autobot shuttle who did.
"Springer to Prime. I just saw Ironhide and his elders fly past. What the frag happened?"
Prime glanced at Hardie who was getting a bead on them by triangulating with Springer's signal. "Got them. Red Wing, get casualties on these coordinates. They're moving away with speed."
:On it:
Prime walked to the forward view port to look at the map being created by the big ships. As the titans scanned the area, data was being created and a map put together with it like a Lego fort. It was projected on the forward view screen so that everyone could see it. Optics were needed now. There were vast areas missing but the local area where the battle was being waged had begun to take shape.
:Ratchet to Prime: a voice said over the inter-ship comm line.
"Prime here."
:What's the deal with Ironhide? He's furious about something:
"Well," Prime began.
=0=Red Wing and a crew heading for The Great Out There
The Seekers flew into the maze and followed the trajectory of the coordinates for the flight path of the casualties. It was dense and fragments of snow and ice began to fill in the cleared zones where big ships had plowed through, missing others sometimes by inches as they did. Their sensors were fragged.
As they flew onward, they missed Ironhide, Jack, Blackjack and Raptor by a few yards. Ironhide had bounced off a boulder again and had taken a slight turn. His elders linking servos had managed to power their way his direction as all of them disappeared into the darkness again.
It was fragged.
=0=Phobos: Ratchet and Company
Ratchet sat on the arm of the command chair, his for all intents and purposes and listened. Ironhide's ship had been sheered into two pieces and he was free balling in the mess with his elders. He didn't feel too out of sorts about it. Ironhide was more mad and slightly titillated by his wild and woolly ride than scared.
Ratchet was more amused if somewhat furious, ready to take no prisoners but the idea of his elders going after Ironhide was comforting. Yes, Ratchet considered … / ... I've been at this too long .../
Ratchet glanced at the array of doctors and youngling Home Guard soldiers who'd gathered around him for comfort and explanations. They looked at him worriedly. "You look uncomfortable," he said to them as he projected his command calm and confidence.
"Aren't you, Commander?" a youngling femme Home Guard sniper and medic asked.
Ratchet considered that. "My old mech and his family wrote the book on this. We've done this so many times I've lost count. I want him back in one piece, all of them, but he's not worried so I'm not. We've learned to trust ourselves."
'Wow," a youngling mech Home Guard soldier, a specialist-electronics tech said. "This is hard. Does it ever get easier?"
Ratchet considered that, then grinned slightly. "No."
=0=Out there: Ironhide and Familia
Ironhide bounced off something again when an arm reached out to grab him. He was yanked inside, then the 'something' moved onward. When his elders passed by they wouldn't know anything was different than their little mech was flying away out here and they had to get him back.
=0=Out there: Springer and Company
They flew at the dark shape and opened up. Stitching the side of the big dark whale passing overhead, they watched as fires erupted, then died away immediately. That was when entire sheets of the hull broke off and flew straight at them.
"HARD A PORT!" Springer bellowed just as the shit hit the fan.
=0=Sideswipe and the rest of The City of Praxus
They linked up, hooking themselves together as they floated with gathering speed in the mess. Sideswipe ignited his flight capabilities, then headed for a giant ice ball with a rocky crater pointed their way, towing everyone as he did. It took a bit of time and a lot of slaggings from free floating stuff before they reached it to grab on.
They dug in with their servos, then sunk hooks into the rocky surface. They were safe from the free-for-all out there but they were now hostage to the ice ball which was heading for what looked like open space ahead.
Maybe they would get lucky after all.
=0=Salton Sea: Hardie and the High Commander
Starscream and his command staff had joined Prime. They stared at the map formulating on the forward view port. They'd located and tagged Springer and two other Autobot vessels along with four cruisers and what might be two battleships from Pulsar's arsenal. Starscream mused. "What about Devcon? Has he reported in?"
"Not yet," Prime said grimly.
"We can scan from the edges, Prime, linking in to power boost the titans. It's not normally known but our data techs have a number of less well known capabilities. I shall order them to the titans at once," Starscream said as he made the call.
Over 100 Seekers lifted off the hulls of ships to fly to Tennyson and Typhoon to power boost and refine the sensors the big ships fielded. They would do so by gathering in the hangar decks, linking up together, then having their nexus member plug into the titans. They would then be able to find everyone with more relative ease than before. It would be enlightening.
=0=Out there: Springer and Company
They pulled hard to port, then ricocheted all over the inside of their ship as a huge chunk of plating slammed them. Sun who was fastened in laughed loudly as the crew jim jammed all over the place, then settled with a stunned expression on their faces. "WELL DONE! NOW LET'S GET THEM!" he called out as Sim crawled back to the pilot seat.
Sim looked at things, then glanced back at Sun. "We're dead in the water, General," he said before another big sheet of hull plating slammed into them and the shuttle came apart at the seams.
It would be long discussed in the annals of Wreckerdom and among those mechs and femmes of arms that General 'Sun' Ironhide of the Immortals kept firing his big gun as he floated off into the darkness still strapped into his seat.
Springer and Drift who were falling away into the darkness watched him with wonderment as they bounced off ice balls and other debris with the rest of their crew. The two groups parted ways almost immediately.
=0=Salton Sea: Command Crew, et al
"Springer has broken up. It appears that debris disabled them. Sensors read that mechs are falling away in the darkness," Blaster said as Ratchet walked from the elevator.
Ratchet crossed the deck, then glanced at the board. "Well, all of my family are missing in the mess, two or three battle shuttles are down and everything is fragged," he said in summary. "What do you want to do, Optimus?"
Optimus who was silent in his fury glanced at Ratchet. "You do not want to know, Ratchet," he said as he ordered more shuttles into the mix.
Three more shuttles would go and with them would be the loudly jonesing Xantium of Wrecker fame. They would disappear into the mess almost at once.
=0=Elsewhere
He walked across the command deck of a battle cruiser in the gun sights of a lot of ugly mean looking mechs. Sitting in a chair watching the screen with a dark expression, Pulsar stared at the blur outside. Pausing beside him, Ironhide glowered.
Pulsar turned to him, regarding the big Autobot for a moment. "Well, we meet at last, Ironhide."
"Who are you, fragger?" Ironhide asked coldly. He wasn't afraid. He was just highly, highly pissed.
"Why, I'm Pulsar, your new host," the big mech said with a grin.
=0=TBC 2-14-19 edited 2-18-19