The Diego Diaries: Copycat (dd8 558)
Sorry. Halloween. :D Lord God, my cats *HATE* Halloween. LOL!
=0=Inside the nebula
They'd flown into it a long time, this vast and 'new' stretch of space that held the remains scattered over eons of space of a large star that had supernoved a long time before. It was still strong and emitted energy in all directions, energy that had been flung here and there in a massive burst of radiation and heat. Now it was dispersing to the far stretches of its possibilities, heading back into the endless flow of star creation.
Somewhere in this signal bouncing mass was a flight of seven strange ships with their much stranger crews heading for the camouflage of this area to prevent tracking. It was doing a good job of hiding them. The only comfort for Prowl and Prime was it also hid them from Disson.
Unless Crader's group had tech no one had heard of before that allowed them to pierce the view here the playing field was equal.
Prime sat on the command chair of Tennyson watching the show. The humans had been gathered up and returned before they entered the breach, ensuring that the secret of this place remained 'need to know'. The noobs weren't on that list.
=0=On the deck at Autobot City
The short trip through Tennyson's bridge had been accomplished and the mechs bringing them home had left to go back. Standing next to their vehicles, Lennox gave the debrief.
:I don't think anything that you saw is classified but its always good to act like it is. Prime told me that he wasn't concerned because we left before the mission really took off. What you saw were veterans working out the location of a target, then preparing to chase it. Nothing else is problematic to the need to know. That's why we're home because it was going to change so I think you're good to talk about this:
The soldiers and civilians as well as the noobs for which this debrief was held nodded and listened. The newbies were stoked and ready to go again. The others were ready to go if the mission was interesting. Some of them had been on so many that they found themselves considering the mission's goals in deciding to come along or not.
:So we're heading back to the habitats. You can follow Niall. We're going to deliver the civilians here, then go to N.E.S.T. to check in. Thanks for coming along: Lennox concluded.
:Thanks for having us: Jackson Davis replied. :This was an amazing adventure. I hope we can come along on others. It helps to understand the nature of the threat and all the countermeasures to do so. We owe you one:
Lennox grinned. :There's always room usually. It depends upon the nature and security threat of the mission. We'll keep you in mind, Colonel: he said as he shook Jackson's hand.
They chatted, back slapped, then entered their vehicles to leave. It would be a quick journey to their destination, then homeward bound for the locals.
=0=The night before
They sauntered along the sidewalk in front of the main entrance into the Mall of Metroplex. Trick-or-treating had commenced and they were pulling in a great haul. They were also getting a lot of attention, pictures made and selfies with passersby. Ironhide and Ratchet's kids were especially cute given that all of them were an assortment of cookies. Their little faces stared out of the middle of Oreos, Thin Mints and macaroons.
The Prime kids were a varied assortment of puppies and kittens. The Sunstreaker et al kids were a collection of art supplies, crayons and pencils. They were gathered together to go with their elders, all of them combining to take them on a long roundabout.
Sunspot who was a pizza had gone with Bos, Co-D and Reflector as their families had glommed onto him and Spot for the duration of their stroll.
The nine big kids were at their club having a party. Dancing had just become 'okay' among the majority of the kids at the Intermediate Schools and thus, they would have a 'real band, Amma' to play. It was a first as the kids were slowly coming into their own all over the colony.
"I think that you did a stellar job, Scout and Trooper, in crafting all the costumes for all the children this time. Their little faces in the middle of their costumes are so cute," Ravie was saying as they paused before the Central Emergency Services doors where the big mechs and a couple of the office femmes were handing out treats and taking snaps for their bulletin board inside.
"I love the way their little arms and legs stick out and their faces are in the middle. We worked on the designs about six decaorns ago and it was so much fun making them for all of the children," Scout said as he took pictures of Solus and Sojourner waiting patiently with their little pumpkin containers. "They're such beautiful children. The funnier the costume the better."
"I wish everyone was here," Corr fretted as he held Possibility's leash. "I do hope Thanksgiving is going to be okay."
"I do as well, Ravel," Kestrel said. "Are we still going to luncheon at the usual place this First Saturday?"
"I hope so," Miler said as Stealth nodded. "I do so love to gossip with all of you."
Laughter greeted that, then they moved onward to cross the street to head for the City Hall and the lovely handmade treats that Blondi, Faun and the other femmes who worked there had made in great quantities.
The night was festive, the streets were filled with merrymakers and all was almost well in their world.
=0=Out there
They flew with the giants as they began to fan out and move forward in a straight line. The big mechs were interlinking their sensors and using some proprietary tech they'd devised to hunt pirates and others who liked to use debris like this to hide and kill their kinfolk. It was with extreme prejudice that they discouraged this behavior, though there never seemed a short supply of hunters. The giants just made sure that among them were none of those they found themselves.
"What do you think? Are we going to find them?" Tarn asked as he stared at the Autobots all around him. It was disconcerting to see them but comforting that they weren't like their own, killers without conscience or remorse.
'If anyone can find them these mechs will. Our titans and dreads are the greatest of our kind that exist in any dimension. I heard that yours were tiny," Roadbuster said.
Tarn grinned, a slightly sinister affect though he was all-in-all a handsome mech and oddly pleasant company. "If 44-50 feet is tiny, then they are. They don't have this mode. No one ever got that big before on our side of the line."
"What about Supreme mechanisms? Omega and Xantium? That bunch?" Kup asked.
"They're smaller than yours. About 30 feet on average. They're guardians for cargo runs or passenger shipping. They go with convoys and are armed to the teeth. They stayed with us," Tarn said. "They were close to us civilians and not the military. We were the ones who used them as guardians for our businesses and travel."
"Ours are up to nearly 700 feet in height," Roadie. "I guess that means we win."
Tarn glanced at him, then grinned. "You won't get an argument out of me."
Huge laughter greeted that.
=0=On Tennyson
Blaster sat at a jacked up computer looking for signals that could be from the group being chased. They'd discovered their energetic trail and were following it as it drifted in the still active eddies and floes of energy coursing around the junk that was already starting to come together to make things. Energy and solid matter formed inside nebulas and their gravity made small things bigger.
He scanned the frequencies on the several ships' arrays and used tech of his own he carried internally that was specialized for such things. There was a lot of white noise here, the sound of stars being born in the midst of a star that died so violently. He was was an expert at picking up even the faintest trails so he sat motionless and listened.
He would find them shortly.
=0=The Hourly News: TRICK-OR-TREAT!
"Good evening, all of you happy trick-or- treaters. Welcome to the 2200 joors edition of The Hourly News. I'm your host, Aleph of Iacon. Tonight, the colony and Cybertron are participating in an annual children's holiday, Halloween, which borrowed from the Humans of Earth. Tonight, children and even adults dress up and go door to door asking for a treat so they don't have to perform a trick. All over the cityscape of our colony families are out and about having a good time together as they wander here and there.
"Images and films of this wonderful event will be posted in the Event folders of IntraCom's website and all are invited to not only check them out for the creativity and fun had by all but to upload your own images and videos to the collection.
"As of now, all is well in our colony. The Watch who is out in force report no real problems other than a child being separated from their family and thus returned, or as the report says, 'a turnip was returned to its bunch'." Aleph grinned. "We hope all is well and it continues. Please drive safely.
"In other news the fleet that stood out earlier has reported they are in pursuit of an intruder group of seven large ships that refused to leave our security zone when challenged as they came down the migration trail. Lord Optimus and a number of titan ships are on their way to drive them out or get their surrender. Thus far, no fighting or shooting has been reported. Commander Jazz of Kaon, the Prime's director for the Office of Strategic Communications said more information would be released as it is received."
Aleph glanced at the camera. "Apparently, no news is good news. We'll be right back after this."
The Community Bulletin Board began to scroll.
Sitting in a chair with his wife, Will Lennox enjoyed a beer and snack. "When he gets those losers its going to be a big fight. Something's wrong with them." He glanced at Sarah who was lounging on his lap in the living room of their apartment in The Family Tower. "Do you remember about Crader and his party at the Port that time?"
"The nutcase that nearly wrecked the place? I heard that Optimus and Magnus together couldn't manage them," Sarah said.
"They couldn't. This bunch is the rest of them including his son, Disson. They have ships that are mutated like them, too. Someone told me that they're trying to make them sentient like the titans."
She glanced at him. "Sentient? Do they also transform?"
"No one knows yet but it sounds like a shit show. Ratchet told me that one of them can mop up the floor with Magnus, Optimus, Springer and Drift," Will said. He sighed. "I would've loved to see them take these guys down."
"I'm glad you aren't there. I don't know which is worse. Knowing or not knowing what you do. How did the other soldiers like the ride?"
"They're stoked," Will replied.
=0=At the United Nations Garrison
"That was an amazing thing. Being on a dreadnought … the size of the thing is so huge. You could land a plane on the command deck," one of the soldiers said to the others as they relaxed in the lounge.
"I want to go next time," a female soldier said. "I want to see the big ships."
The soldier nodded. "And all the time you know they're alive," he said. "His pretender gear is amazing. Tennyson was over 44 feet tall. They're the tallest in pretender gear of any mech or femme."
It was silent a while as they took that in.
=0=TBC 11-1-2022
HUGS!
