The Diego Diaries: Round Up (dd8 570)

=0=In The Fortress conference room after the prison visit

"And that's that." Prowl sat back with disgust. "This will be harder than it should be."

"They can't reason," Ratchet said. "Maybe we can trick them."

"How so?" Prime asked.

"I remember there were what are called sting operations on Earth where they sent letters to those who were wanted for crimes telling them that they won something and to come to a location at a stated time and date to get their prize. The only thing they got was arrested," Ratchet said.

"I've done that before," Prowl said with a smirk. "That's the first time I ever arrested Barricade. It turned into a game with him from that moment onward. On his part I might add."

"What could they possibly want to come for? What could be sent to them that would get that many of them to step into the trap?" Magnus asked as the big group, all of the senior officers sat together working out the problem.

"I don't know," Ratchet said. "What would they value that still has value?"

It was silent then Prowl leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table top. "Connections. Making connections."

"We have to do this to take out a significant number of the population involved. We have just under 5,000 individuals to assist. We can hit the others who do not fall for it with direct interventions at the same time perhaps," Prime said.

"Of for Primus sake," Ratchet said as he sat up straighter.

Everyone startled, then glanced at him. "What?" -everyone there

Ratchet thought a moment, then glanced at Prime. "Do you remember the exhibit in the Museum of the Functionalist era? All of the weird tech that they had? Only some of it is on display."

Everyone nodded.

"So," Jetta prompted.

Ratchet glanced at him. "They didn't just dead everyone that got in the way. They could drop them in their tracks by tuning into their transponders. Remember, they could track and watch us by utilizing our own optics without us knowing it. I heard from someone in University who was around then that the slaggers used our transponder numbers against us. They'd enter them into a device, then press the button after the required conversation and agreement. Everyone who was on the list would be off lined immediately. They were supposed to be a guard against riots, the mech told me."

"Who?" Prowl asked.

"A night custodian. Someone who'd been around since forever," Ratchet said. "I never really looked at all the tech those slaggers had on their ships when we captured them. Its stored in a safety vault in the Museum. We need to look at it and if they don't have one there make one. Its a forbidden and banned piece of tech, Optimus, highly outlawed for obvious reasons. We'll be lucky if there's plans or even actual devices around. He said that they were destroyed after the Functionalist War."

"Let us go then," Prime said as he rose to leave.

Everyone joined him as they headed for the Museum of Cybertron and Mars off Cultural Center Road. The walk there was swift and when they reached the Museum members of the staff were waiting for them.

Ratchet stepped inside to talk to the curator and the museum director. He then turned to the others. "Follow us."

The walk through the vast marble lobby lit by skylights overhead was an amazing experience. This Museum was designed to allow as much light as possible inside. They reached an elevator bank, entered a big one and watched as the director keyed in a code.

He turned to them. "We're going down to the high security vault that holds Primal objects and other either rare and important or dangerous items. The Functionalist tech and the rest of their baggage is kept in a vault. We haven't inventoried it so its all going to be for the first time when we look at it."

Down they went, then the doors opened onto an immaculate hallway that held at intervals giant vaults with blast doors and intricate locks with computer generated codes. Prime, Perceptor and the curator of the Department of Acquisitions and Inventory could open the vaults but no one else could. They walked onward twisting and turning through the maze that was the sub-floors of the enormous building. When they reached one on a wall in the back they halted.

The door panel read 'Functionalist Materials, Confiscated Items. Primal Permission Required. High Security.' The curator coded the door and it opened inward slowly. Lights came on as they walked inside. The room had cabinets lining an entire wall made of very heavy duty steel. They had lighted panels that told what they contained but half of them weren't in use because they were empty. This lot hadn't been sorted and locked up yet. Shelving held a lot of items in boxes and bags, cases specially designed for the contents and containers.

The curator turned to them. "I don't have a master list. We were opening the History Museum so this got pushed back. We're going to have to search their belongings. What are we looking for?"

Everyone glanced at Ratchet.

He shrugged. "I believe he said it was a black computer, a large handheld one with a lot of lights that flashed. He said he was cleaning a building when they were talking about it. He 'might' have listened in to what they were saying. He was sort of stuck where he was and afraid to let them know he was there. He lit out and didn't come back again."

"A black box with lots of lights on it," Magnus said. He glanced around, then pulled a box toward himself that was sitting on open shelving. He opened it and began to look at its contents.

Everyone began to do the same thing as they went through the items on the shelves. There were intriguing things, lots of document devices that Perceptor asked the director to send to Sciences for searching.

A joor passed before Raptor turned toward Ratchet. "Is this it?"

Ratchet walked over and stared into the bag that held it. Reaching in, he gingerly pulled out a large handheld device that was shiny black, had a row of lights along the top of its frontice piece, then a data screen that was dark. He handed it to Wheeljack and Perceptor who looked at it for a moment, talking off line as they checked it over.

Wheeljack turned to Prime. "This is an informational device where they load the transponder numbers for another device that sends them with a code, apparently, that shuts those entered down into a stasis condition that requires their codes to undo."

"What does that mean? Are you telling me that there's another part to this slagger?" Raptor asked.

"It would seem so," Wheeljack said. "We have to keep looking."

"For what?" Hard Drive asked.

"I don't know. If you find anything show us and we'll decide what it might be. Hopefully." Perceptor said. "Really, I expected them to keep their things organized together. They must have left in a hurry."

"I think they did," Magnus said dryly.

They began to search again.

=0=In a high rise building

"We have a client that wants us to represent them," a mech said as he walked into the conference room where his partners were sitting together discussing a case. "That new migration group, the one behind the last big one, they're in the prison being held on a Primal Hold."

"Why?" a mech asked, one who was tall and thin. He was a very good criminal lawyer and with his friends and brother operated one that specialized in high caste clients.

What they felt about things before the Convocation had been a deeply held set of opinions they kept to themselves. Their rather extensive client list were all former high castes who had legal business with them that sometimes strayed into criminal. They were part of the background team that researched Sentinel Prime for his team of attorneys. Since the Convocation, their opinions were evolving. It was hard to argue with Primus Himself over what He meant by the unity of their people.

"Apparently they had chips in their helms, Functionalist and Decepticon," the first mech said as he sat down at the table. "They had courier-traps in their helms. The only ones who are supposed to have them are Decepticons. Any civilians who have them are announcing themselves as collaborators."

It was silent a moment, then his brother sat back in his chair. "Sounds interesting. Who is the client?"

"A femme. Her names is Fila," the first mech said.

"I remember her," his brother said as the others nodded. "Really hardcore. Even more than some of the Senate. I thought she and her family were strange. They wanted it their way or the highway."

"Apparently there's a reason for that after all," the first mech said as he slid a datapad toward the three.

They'd study it, chat a bit, then take it. If nothing else, it'd be an interesting case to try.

=0=In a storage facility at the Museum of Cybertron and Mars

"What's this?" Jetta asked as he held up a metallic box with ports for plug-ins.

Perceptor took it, then glanced at the rest of the pieces in a case. "This might be it." He took the device to the counter nearby, then fished out the rest of the parts. Putting it together, it fit. "Its the missing piece."

"How does it work?" Prowl asked as he stared at the devices.

"Its old fashioned tech in design but in operation it appears to be very well made," Perceptor said. "We would have to try to figure out-" Perceptor glanced into the bag, then pulled out a small handheld. He clicked it on, then read several screens worth of data. "This is the manual that explains its use." He scrolled further. "It shows how to enter data, then what follows. It also tells you how to bring them out of stasis. This kind of stasis is code dependent."

"Code dependent means that it takes a specific code to undo what's done. We use it in the high security look ups and the Spark Chamber lock up at Femme uses it exclusively. I have every kind of code program we ever made. That's how I get my codes that no one can break," Ratchet said. "Some of the slag that I have locked up you don't want to know."

Everyone stared at him so he gave them his best smile. Snickers were finally had.

"What do we do now, Perceptor?" Prime asked.

"We go over this with a fine toothed comb, then work out how its used. We can then get the transponder numbers from you, Ratchet, or the Bureau of Refugees. Medical or the Bureau would have them. I would suggest after a few trials with volunteers from our younger scientists, we can give it a shot. I would suggest as well that we do this at midnight or early morning with really swift interventions. Most won't be doing anything then but you never know. We don't want anyone hurt," Perceptor said.

"That is imperative for me, Perceptor," Prime said. "Does this need a power source or is it ready to use?"

"I do believe we can use it for this. The power cell is a long term device and when it sends the message to go into stasis it does so over standard WIFI. Its old tech and less sophisticated so that's a plus," Perceptor said as Wheeljack nodded.

"Then please get onto it, gentlemen. We need to get them medical attention before all of us regret it," Prime said.

"The sooner, the better," Ratchet replied grimly.

=0=TBC 11-17-2022

The part where the Functionalists could spy on you and others by using your own optics without you knowing it was happening is canon. :D