The Diego Diaries: Cybertron (dd6 648)
=0=Earth news
"In other news today, the security officers of Earth2 were returned to the facility yesterday by Commander Springer, Chief Security officer of the Martian Colonial Services, Cybertron and the Empire. Word was released from the Watch information office that the remaining mercenaries were taken to Earth2 and released back into the facility. They were not given any information about their status on world other than to be quarantined to the Earth2 Habitat until further notice. Consortium reporter, Willa Braithewaite has the story," the news reader of the Afternoon Report on the M.C.A. said as the screen switched to Braithewaite.
She was tall and slim, dark haired and had a cultured accent. She was British but had lived all over the world, shading her voice with nuance. She was standing in the main concourse of Earth2 and behind her one could see the business of living there going on as usual. "I'm standing here at Earth2 today. Earlier last night, the surviving members of a squad of former mercenary soldiers were returned from protective custody by Chief Security Officer, Commander Springer of Polyhex.
"Todd Baseman, Steven Anson, Sam Hedges and James Johnson were dropped off by the Day Watch. Commander Springer returned them with assistance from a number of his officers then left without giving a statement. They had been held in protective custody following the still as yet unsolved murders of Lawrence Dobbs, a former Intel-Martin mercenary like the others who had now been employed as a security officer by Owen Harris, director of the Earth2 Project and Silvio Lombardi, a former Intel-Martin mercenary from Italy.
"As you know, Lawrence Dobbs' family is suing the Earth2 Corporation, Owen Harris and his leadership group and the Prime of Cybertron for wrongful death. No word is known yet if the Lombardi family will follow suit. Both bodies were returned to Earth and the investigation is still under wraps. The most anyone will say about it is that the report will be turned over to the Prime shortly by investigators from the Colonial Day and Night Watch Forces.
"Owen Harris did give a statement but refused to be interviewed," she said as she read it off her phone. "It is a shock to the community of Earth2 that such things as the deaths of two of our people should happen. We all know that this is a no error environment and everyone works very hard to follow the rules and procedures in place. This, however, cannot be planned for. This is an aberration in conduct that we are still trying to solve.
"We are offering our full cooperation to the Prime and his team of investigators. It is part of the charters, treaties and conduct procedures that if a situation like this happens the jurisdiction for investigation defaults to him. We are waiting as is everyone else for the report that we were told is due shortly. We have extended our deepest condolences to the Dobbs and Lombardi families. We are as determined to find out what happened here as anyone else. Until then, we have to wait."
She looked at the camera. "No one in the facility is willing to talk on or off the record about this," she said. "I did talk to some of the long time locals and N.E.S.T. soldiers."
The camera cut to pre-recorded pieces.
A grim faced Will Lennox was shown standing in the Ops Center of the N.E.S.T Garrison on Cultural Center Road. Everyone was working around him as he was interviewed.
"What do you know about the investigation, Colonel?" Braithewaite asked.
"Nothing more than anyone else. Prime has discretion and he will brief me when the report is in. The investigators are close to finishing the report. The science part is what they need to get before meeting with Prime about this," Lennox said.
"What happened as far as you can tell? When did you find out and what can you tell us about the investigation itself? I am told that Optimus Prime and Prowl along with his senior officers visited Earth2 themselves when the deaths were reported," she said.
Lennox nodded. "He did. He went there to begin the operation. He and the senior staff work hard to keep everyone safe and this is a big thing for them that someone who comes here gets hurt. The investigation is Commander Springer's and his team. The Forensics team here is state of the art and when Sky gets it all worked out, they will present it to Prime. Other than that, I have nothing more. They called us to tell us when the bodies were found."
"Do you think its someone in the human community here on world with a grudge? Do you know much about the mercenary's backgrounds? How did they got along here? We're aware that they worked on projects together on Earth as mercenaries from time to time," she asked. "We were also told that there was some jealously toward Lombardi by those who've been here longer, among the former mercenaries that is."
Lennox considered that. "I didn't spend time with them. We didn't get along. Regular soldiers and mercenaries aren't a good mix, not for us, not for the bots. I don't know much beyond our experiences with them on Diego. I would assume that might be true but who it might be? I haven't a clue."
"Thank you," she said, then the location and interview subject changed. Carly Brooks-Spencer was standing on the street outside City Hall at Unidad with Braithewaite. "Thank you for speaking to me about this situation. I would like to know if there is any new information about it among the human community," she asked.
Carly shook her head. "No. The Watch detectives and forensic scientists are preparing a report for Prime. When he gets it he will go over it with them and decide what to do about this. As you may know, he has authority in the event of things like this and we have to give ground to him. It's part of the negotiation process that this was mutually agreed to. I know that Owen and the others want to know what happened. Everyone in the human community here feels the same way. We will be told when he knows."
"Did you know the two men? What was their reputation in the community like?"
Carly considered that. "I didn't know them. Some of them were at Diego when the Daniels situation broke out. They don't have a good reputation among the mechs who are regular army. But as far as things go, I don't know much. I know that Mr. Dobbs liked to come here, help at the dairy and hang out with the animals. Lots of individuals from other habitats do that and some of them who had farm experience like to come here. Dobbs came. I don't know about Lombardi. They never made a problem here when they came."
"How does this affect the coordination and rapport between the habitats?"
"It doesn't. We get along famously. We work hard to make community. Each of the habitats has their own service group. The Autobot City Ladies Auxiliary started as a joke and a way to help out where we could. Now its the biggest human service group on world with 534 men and women. We have Unidad's and others do as well. We coordinate together on projects.
"We have events together, several marriages have derived from being here and we have five babies born. We celebrate all of them, hold some events with the bots and get along. I'm proud of what we do here. This is hard to take and very sad but it hasn't thrown any of us off. We are very aware that we represent Earth and have an obligation that way."
"Then you feel things are still good here," Braithewaite asked. "What about the reputation of the community on Earth because of this?"
"We work hard here to make a good impression. We have a lot of ties to the bots. We love them and they love us. That's ours to lose. As for Earth, I just hope they know that we're pioneering for them and we know what's at stake here. We hope that they understand that we have them in mind always," Carly said. "When we know, they will know. I know there is an explanation to this somewhere."
"Thank you," Braithewaite said. The scene cut back to her live at Earth2. "That is how it stands at the moment. I have interviews scheduled with the women who run the Resort and will update when they're available. This is Willa Braithewaite at Earth2, the Primal colony of Autobot City on Mars. Back to you."
The reader in London was back and she was with three different individuals to discuss things including the viability of a lawsuit against the Prime of Cybertron by the Dobbs family. It would be an interesting conversation.
=0=Ops Center
Prowl frowned. It was endless the conversations on the endless joors of time that the news channels on Earth had to fill. It was still a major topic of conversation across the world. That was understandable if tedious to him.
Dobbs' family had hired a powerhouse lawyer to fight this case and there was gossip that they would go to the World Court to ensure that it was served and adjudicated. No word was had about the Lombardi family. That was always a good thing. Not hearing a thing.
Usually.
Sometimes.
Maybe.
The merc transfer was smooth enough and given that Springer had bopped Johnson doing it, highly entertaining.
There was that.
The news would run on and on even if they got the report and released some or all of it. Someone on world had killed the two. Some on Earth were speculating it was a bot. Prime and Company were caught in the middle because they were sure it was the two ringers who did it but to release that information would drive the Family and MECH underground again.
They were fragged three ways to Second Sunday. He stared at the data pad with the data on moving Cybertron. He would spend his remaining shift time studying it and putting the murder problem in the queue at the back of his processor.
=0=Skool
He stood on a chair reaching for the crayons in a big box. His teacher had been busy and even though he had asked, someone had come in and was asking about something with them. It was maddening to a little mech who wanted to color during the free period when he could choose what he wanted, then not get it.
Orion took a chair, then moved it to the art tower shelf. Stepping up, the crayon tub was still too far away. He looked at the shelves with things on them, then put his tiny ped on one. He gripped another shelf, then stepped his other ped up. Hanging there, he reached up and on the third try grabbed the next shelf above him. Pulling hard, the optimal sparkling rose up. He then began to climb the tower.
The crayons were getting closer.
Everywhere else around the room kids played, choosing what they wanted as the free joor play time continued. No one noticed the little yellow banded sparkling climbing ever upward to the big tub of baby sized crayons waiting for him. That is, no one did until Han looked up from nearby to find a shovel in the little tub of toys for the sand box and spotted him. He froze as he stared at Orion who was now about fifteen feet off the ground.
Han wavered, then rose and walked to Laret who was helping a child stack blocks. They had a missing arm so she was helping the baby play as she recovered from injury before the cycle of operations and repair began again. He paused beside her, then tapped her shoulder. "Miss Laret?"
Laret glanced up, then smiled. "What, baby?"
Han pointed, then Laret turned slightly to look. She froze in place. Orion was just getting ready to grab a tub of crayons on nearly the top shelf of the art tower nearby.
=0=TBC 4-28-19