The Diego Diaries: Operation Sleepy-Bye (dd8 571)

=0=Late night around

He drove down the highway heading for home after spending the evening playing cards and chatting with friends. Most of them were from his migratory group but a few of them were 'newer' older acquaintances who were rekindling the fires of friendship here. It was strained to speak of the new way of doing things between the two different groups. Those who were here a long time were seemingly resigned to the way life was going, though their bitterness was still a thing among a couple of them.

He was finding that the Convocation which he'd seen on screen was a huge impediment to their sentiments ever being expressed again in a manner designed to make them the rule again. Even as they discussed it, those of his migration and the others, nothing in his helm led him to believe that this could be true. The impairment that informed who he was couldn't give way to a reality that was less than what he believed it was even when the evidence was overwhelming.

Musing on the conversations, he didn't notice that he was being followed by an unmarked Watch car shadowing to collect him if the word came to do so. He drove onward in the pitch black night from pool of light to pool of light from the towers that led the way everywhere a highway or roadway was. They would disappear into the night together.

=0=At the Emergency Command Center, Fortress Maximus, The City

They gathered called by Perceptor to come to the Command Center at Fort Max. Working with electrical and design engineers at Sciences, Wheeljack, two of his brothers and Perceptor had figured out a work around for the device that would allow it to fulfill its function even as it used more advanced power than it had in the past. A few tweaks of the device had allowed them to make it functional, to deliver the 'goods' as someone there had said. Now they gathered around the grid map and the scientists to get the word on the mission.

"I have everyone that we're looking for from the lists the Bureau created when they went through Immigration and of the Medical Intake Registery input into the system," Ratchet said. "What we have to do now is see if this machine is going to work. The codes that you gave me to start this are programmed. Its all ready to go, Wheeljack."

Wheeljack glanced at Prime who nodded.

Perceptor walked to a console nearby that ran the Emergency System directly linked to the workers who were part of that porgram. "This is Perceptor. I would like everyone to check in to test the system before we begin. Ping me now."

Literally thousands of pings from Watchmen, soldiers and medical workers came in nearly at once. Teletraan sorted them, then spoke. "All have reported."

"Very well, Teletraan," Perceptor said. "We are going to activate the system at a count of five. Keep your focus on your target and be prepared to act. We are going live now. Five, four, three, two, one. Go. We are go." He glanced at Wheeljack who pressed a button that sent a coded message to every transponder code on the list. It was silent a moment, then the place was flooded by workers who were tracking the individual or individuals assigned to them.

=0=Highway

He nearly made it to Crater District 11 when the lights went out. He fell into stasis, then flew into the wasteland bordering the eight lane highway before landing in a heap. He transformed without consciousness landing on his back to roll before heaping up against a sand dune.

His follower transformed on the fly, then raced down the slight incline, across a broken area to where he lay. The mech pulled him gently back, checking his arms and legs before signalling that the target was acquired. He wouldn't be the only one who did.

=0=In high rise towers all over the colony and especially Crater District 13

Superintendents opened apartments to allow workers, Watchmen and soldiers to enter to find inside the occupants lying all over the place, dropped where they received the message. Sitting massed on rooftops all over the colony Seekers, heavy duty mechs all, waited to be called to transport the civilians to the prison where doctors waited to remove deadly devices from their helms.

They found them in clubs, restaurants, theaters, on the street, in their homes, in stores and on the roadways. Scattered all over the place, their trackers called in their capture and their names were marked against the master list.

"We're almost halfway through the list, Prime," Inferno said as he monitored the situation at the main console of the Emergency Command Center. Nearby, Red Alert hovered over the holographic grid map, a massive device that occupied a huge flat table in the middle of the room. All of the colony was on its surface and it was the master locator for anyone who lived here. If a human wandered off or got hurt, this device would alert their rescue.

For the colonials given privacy rules, they were only located on the map if there was just cause. If a person was missing, the Center would input their transponder number to find them. But they wouldn't have the numbers on the board for any other reason. In the past they would. Not here in this different paradigm. They wouldn't be the old Cybertron ever again.

Prime sat grimly nearby watching as the operation continued. They had a lot of them in custody and were taking them out of their homes and places discovered to the Prison. Medical had a major presence there to administer the removal of the devices. Sappers would work with them given the deterioration of the devices over time and their volatility.

All they had to do now was wait.

=0=Out there

They entered the restaurant where a number of patrons were hovering over a family that had fallen into their dinner for no reason they could detect. Partition led the team that arrived. He walked to the table and checked the individuals, then glanced at the others with him. "We can move them. Gently."

"What's happening?" a mech asked, one who was there to dine with friends.

"We have a group of refugees that have a slight medical malfunction. Its treatable but they wouldn't come in. They had a rough time and don't trust people in charge just yet," Partition said only half lying. "We're going to help them. When they get this corrected its going to be fine."

He helped them carry four mechs and a femme out of the restaurant, place them into a police van, then transformed to go to three other places waiting for him to arrive. The Watch medics would be working a long time tonight.

=0=At the Prison

They arrived, Seekers carrying individuals and vans carrying more. Ambulances drove in and runabouts landed to off load their bounty, then head out again. Doctors, orderlies, Marines and soldiers carried the individuals to places on the tarmac of the airport to lay them gently down. All along the line of silent patients, doctors, sappers and techs worked carefully to remove detonation devices from the helms of the stasis ridden individuals.

It all went well until it didn't.

=0=Emergency Command Center, Fort Max

Ratchet startled, then glanced at Prowl. "We had a detonation."

Everyone froze, then looked at Ratchet who appeared to be listening off line. He turned to Prime and Prowl who looked shocked. "An elder had one that came apart when it was removed. It blew their helm off and the servo of my medic."

Everyone stared at him, then Prime rose. "I am going to the Prison. Prowl, you are in charge. Ratchet attend me please." He walked out the door as Ratchet hurriedly followed him.

It was silent a moment, then everyone slowly returned to their jobs.

=0=Around the area

The medics listened to the message Ratchet sent. As they did all over the colony the oldest members of this group would be left for Ratchet to personally secure at the place where they were found. He would do so with a Seeker flying him to each place where the greatest danger existed.

=0=Prison

Prime and Ratchet hurriedly conversed outside of Fort Max as they waited for a big Seeker to fly in. Out of the dark Razor's Edge came thundering to slide to a halt before them. Ratchet ran to him, clambered on top and the two flew off into the night.

Prime watched them go, transformed, then beat it to the Prison nearby. He would arrive as Ratchet reached his first destination, two elders that had fallen down a flight of stairs to land on the marble floor of their lobby.

=0=At IntraCom

Jazz and Blaster worked to coordinate the information flowing in and the reactions of the public that were part of the fallout of the process. It was inevitable that they'd see this happen because there was really no way for it not to transpire in public. That it was 0312 in the morning was the only good part of this. Those that would be around would be few.

"We have a death," Blaster said as he listened to the feed from the Emergency Command Center. "An elder died when they removed a chip. It was corroded and fell apart when it was pulled out."

"What about the medic or the sapper?" Jazz asked with surprise and revulsion.

"They lost a servo. They were medivaced and the sapper is working the job," Blaster replied. "Frag. I knew we were having too much luck." He paused to listen again. "The elders are being left to Ratchet."

"Oh frag," Jazz said.

Blaster nodded. "I agree."

=0=Prison

Prime walked to the airfield of the prison pausing at the sight of literally hundreds of individuals lying in what appeared to be recharge in what seemed to be endless rows on the ground. Techs, soldiers, sappers, Marines and medical personnel were working carefully on the mechs and femmes of all ages and sizes to extract chips from their helms.

He walked closer to watch.

A medic pulled the last chip out of the femme's helm he was working on, then gently placed it in the lead lined box the sapper held out. He moved to the next individual waiting long enough for the femme and her helm plate to be moved away. Someone else would replace it while he worked on the next.

Prime saw Lim-Lee standing nearby with a datapad where she was tracking those who were already cared for so he walked to her.

She looked up with surprise. "Lord Optimus."

"Lim-Lee. What happened?" he asked.

She looked at him nearly tearfully. "Someone's chip was corroded and didn't withstand being extracted. It blew up. It killed them and hurt our medic. It was so awful. I don't know where Ratchet is." She looked around, then took another data wafer from an orderly who was carrying a small femme and her helm plate.

"He is working in the field. Do not worry about him," Prime said as he patted her arm. "Let us get this done as best we can. Its no ones fault that this happened. It belongs to those who put the chips in."

=0=Out there

Ratchet landed in the street of Crater District 13, City 2. Lying on the ground was a small femme and two mechs, all of them elders and all of them in repose. Their limbs were straightened to make them more comfortable though it was debatable if they would feel anything at all in their current condition.

Gathered around them was a small group of mechs who were on their way home when the elders walking their way fell down in a heap. They were then approached by two Watchmen who secured the scene, got the word about elders, then held everything until Ratchet arrived.

"Stand back, everyone," Ratchet said as he knelt down to scan them very carefully. He noted that two of the individuals would be okay to remove the devices but the other wouldn't be. He called for a runabout, then helped load a mech into it. He was flown swiftly to Autobot City Medical where he would have the chips removed by those with more time than Ratchet. He had a 50/50 chance for a successful removal .

Ratchet bent down, gingerly began to remove helms, then extracted 2 chips apiece, all of them Functionalist implants from the old orns. He fixed the plates on the femme and mech, then watched as the Watchmen loaded them on a van that had just arrived. When it left along with the chips, Ratchet turned to the silent grim-faced Seeker standing nearby. He smiled slightly. "On we go, my chariot. The games afoot."

Razor stared at Ratchet. "If you say so, Ratchet." With that he transformed and the two flew onward to attend to more.

=0=TBC 11-19-2022