The Diego Diaries: Going Forward (dd8 312)
=0=Ops Center
They walked into the Operational Center of the colony, a forlorn family heading for temporary quarters in the old space they once occupied in earlier simpler times. Walking through the busy vast room filled with mechs, femmes and all manner of tech humans could only dream about, they silently filed to the door nearby to enter the office corridor that led to The Residence of the Primes back in the orn. They walked into the big spacious place that was the most comfortable and remarkable living space in the colony at one time and the familiar feel of it was immediate tonic.
Prime put his son down, then looked at the silent group staring at him. "I wish I could tell you how I feel about what happened. I do not have the words."
"You have nothing to speak for, Orion," Kestrel said gravely. "We are so sorry that this happened to the Residence. It was such a beautiful and elegant home. It was our refuge, all of us and now we must make a new one. We can gather things back. All of us have to do that together now."
Optimus hugged his ada, wrapping the big anxious mech in his massive arms. "I am hopeful that we can have our homes back soon but until then we will live here. Your home is next door, Ada. Prowl has taken care to make it comfortable for you and the children will be your helpers with what you need."
"We can help you, Amma," Rambler said. "Don't worry about a thing."
"We will help you, Amma," Solus said as Sojourner nodded. She glanced at Prowl. "Why are we here, Ada?"
"Someone broke our house," Spirit said quietly. "I saw it."
"You shouldn't have, Spirit," Prowl said. "I didn't want you to see it like that."
He looked up at Prowl, then burst into tears.
Prime picked him up and cradled the little mech against his chest. "It will be made right. I promise," he said quietly.
They would sit together and talk for a while before Prowl would slip out and work on the situation from the huge center across the hall. It would be like old times if things weren't such a bitch.
=0=Around the colony
They began to file out, those places that were given the go. The Emergency Command Center was given the order to release the shelters a few at a time so that the Watch could be topside to direct and assist those who were coming up. They did, some to nothing changed and others to damage that ranged from mild to catastrophic. It was a muted group that climbed into the sunlight.
All over the colony they left the shelters in mostly orderly fashion, heading into the fading light of day two of their lockdown. Families and the odd individual caught away from home who had just run to the closest shelter walked out of the buildings into the controlled but noisy exodus.
Watch mechs and femmes directed them to go home, reminding them that the transport system was nonoperational and that the new interim law stated that they had to go to their homes and not loiter around. The temporary measure was to ensure safety while the initial assessments and any start of repairs were ongoing.
Crowds swarmed out of the shelters, took stock, then began to walk to home which was either nearby, the same building or far away. Those that had to go distances transformed when the traffic allowed space and joined long lines heading this way and that. Given that the power was off in some of the places around the vast colony, mechs from the Watch directed it at every intersection of the affected areas until emergency generators could be turned on. Pretty soon, long lines drove on highways, detoured around bomb craters and turned into this and that city to go home.
By the time that Aerie Hill, the four Seven Cities locales, the Metro Districts, the Terra Hub but for Terra and the Tri-Cities were fully released and on their way it was getting on toward early morning. The sound of crowds moving, traffic driving off into the night and the calls of Watch men thinned as the crowds slowly diminished.
Springer and Drift who were riding the circuit of the colony watched as people found their way home. Some needed assistance, mostly reassurance and a few who had been targeted for special assistance were met at their door by social workers who were there to help them inspect their homes given those places were the victims of crashes and shootings.
They'd been to the site of the worst damage to inspect it with the owners of The Pit Stop and some of the production managers of IntraCom. It was as grisly as expected especially among those whose homes had taken the direct hit of a fighter. They were on the rebuild list but it would take a priority item work through so no guarantee about time was given.
Half of the colony was dark. The Crater Districts in the distance were as were some of the other places hit and miss. The plan to swap out power every four joors was beginning so it was clear who had it and who didn't. It would take about three orns before it was fully restored to everyone through the temporary reroute that they hurriedly built before making it a permanent replacement for the destroyed infrastructure.
At the moment they were also digging through the rubble of the train center and the Consulate. Those would take longer and had to be made to exacting standards. Also, the entire above ground track and underground rail system had to be evaluated, about 25 percent rebuilt along with a number of Metro stations that had been damaged. Until then, no one was going to be going by mass transit but for those trunk lines that went out to areas from the center and back again.
It would be a long hard slog digging in the frozen earth to get things removed and begin the process of replacement.
=0=At a shelter door
Ratchet monitored their progress toward the elevators and the short ride to the first floor of the building. The individuals in their building were being met by Watchmen, social workers and those who were called out of their shelters to do these jobs as housing officers for the Bureau of Refugees and the Colonial Housing Administration.
About 1,000 families would have to be rehoused in the building where Ratchet lived including his own family. Though they were going to go back home shortly when the building was repaired structurally, those on the upper twenty floors wouldn't be. It was a sobering thing to be met by officials who were going to redistribute everyone affected all over the place. Half the building would be okay to stay. It paid to live below the magic marker cut off of halfway up the building.
When he saw them he waved. They waved back and made their way forward gathering around him as the crowds flowed onward with most of them garnered by workers. They looked upward, froze, then turned to him with astonishment on their faces.
Taking his ada's servo, Ratchet gestured for them to follow him. "We're going to a hotel in the Central Labor Hall. Our houses are not damaged but the building has to be repaired to allow us to return. Also, the elevators won't be operational for a few so we have to walk up the stairs. Its going to take time."
With that, Ratchet led them to the Central Labor Hall street entrance at the Metro 1 Station through the devastation of the battle. It would be a silent group amongst the rest of the silent pedestrians who were slowly wending their way home.
=0=Around
The cruiser was lifted and made its way to a place on the desert nearby where it would be stripped down, broken up and placed in the recycler for its many and sundry parts. It was a massive operation and a lot of the machinery that fulfilled that function was being brought in from Saturn Shipyard. It would take a lot of work here to break it down, remove not just tech and useful items but the huge catalog of liquids that all ships contained. Controlled burns would be undertaken at the crash sites by the Unified Fire Departments as training exercises.
The downed fighters already lay in the area, spread out so that machinery could be utilized around them. Hard Drive was supervising the process and stood by the M.C.C., Mobile Command Center of the Emergency Services Center from Fort Max. Inferno and Red Alert would direct the firefighters among whom were many Home Guardsmen learning a major aspect of home defense.
The shuttles were being stripped to make them lighter given their extremely battered condition. They'd be lifted carefully away while the fighters would be carried off by magnet ships. By the time the burning would begin it would be early evening of the second day after the battle.
The sky began to darken as they stood together, Hard Drive, Sun, Jack, Blackjack and Ironhide. It would be a fascinating and grim process to watch.
=0=Home: 26, Avor, Boe and Lil
They walked tiredly into their house and noted that the lights didn't come on. Outside in the sky, the sun was declining in potency as early evening began to take hold. The apartment though dark was still warm given the strength and measures taken to make them so even when the heat was off. It was held by the structure and small cells that stored it to be released when the power went out.
"Ada, our house is okay," Lil said as she turned to her genitors. She stared upward at them as they looked around. "That's good isn't it?"
"It's wonderful, Lil," Avor said as he petted her little face. "The lights must be out for us for a while. They said they'd be on four joors, then off four. Its rotating," he said as they walked to the big windows nearby to stare out at an unfamiliar sight, that of their entire district blacked out.
Down below they could see emergency lights running on the power grid that kicked on when things happened. It was independent of the main one. Street lights in the city and traffic were functioning. The lights of those still out, most of whom were probably going to their homes could be seen. It was oddly beautiful this way, though it wasn't what they hoped would last.
"There's families home already," Boe said as he pointed to other buildings. He could see the lights in some as their inhabitants got out their own personal emergency lights or adults used their vehicle format headlights. It was interesting to see the checker board affect on the inky darkness around them.
"There's no school tomorrow," Lil said.
"No work either. We can sleep in and stay home. The monitors run on emergency batteries built in. We can watch movies and keep up on things. We can make it a rest orn," 26 said as Avor nodded. "We missed a big one here. The least we can do is obey the Prime."
"He's a great warrior, Lord Optimus. Isn't he?" Boe asked as he glanced up at his father.
"He's the best one. The best mech ever," 26 said with spark felt emotion. "Let's get things organized. We can have dinner on our berth and watch the monitor there."
They did, happily and with great relief.
=0=Around: Vinn and Joon
They entered their apartment at last, then turned to each other. Joon stepped into Vinn's arms and began to wail. They'd stay that way for a while.
=0=Around: The Halls of Order with Heatout and his mechs
They stared at the grounds which had been the scene of intense fighting by groups of Decepticons who had bailed out of ships and ran this way under hot pursuit. It had been brutal and many were the signs of gunfire and energy blasts on the building and grounds.
"We won't have a lot of problem taking care of this," Heatout said as his mechs nodded.
"I can do the refacing of the buildings," Mico said. He was a mason and had great experience in creating exteriors on buildings. "It won't take much. The Monastery got bashed and I told the Gatekeeper that I'd come and bring a couple of masons with me. We can get this going again. Easily."
Heatout nodded. "Good. We'll see what we can do around the colony. The Temple missed any trouble, thank Primus. The Basilica and the cemeteries are alright as well."
That was received well by the big mechs as they inspected the gunfire that had dotted its way across a wall of the gigantic headquarters building of the Guiding Hand, Circle and Knights.
=0=Around: The Monastery of the Clavis Aurea
They walked across the plaza following a line of gunfire that had broken the beautiful hard stone of the steps down to the parking lot. A few windows were shot out and there were energy blasts that had scored the far side, the one that opened to the desert beyond. It was ugly but marginal considering the intensity of the fighting overhead.
"Mico of the Hand called and said he'd do the stonework and bring in help to do it," the Gatekeeper said as he stared at the damage with Cyclonus and others from the Monastery.
"That is good," Cyclonus said. He glanced at the plain which was darkening and then the Resort. "I am glad they missed the Resort. That would be a major repair otherwise. Sometimes windows can be problematic."
The Gatekeeper nodded. "I agree, Master," he replied as they continued their grim inspection.
=0=Around: A hotel in the Central Labor Halloween
They entered their rooms, beautiful and spacious to settle. Ironhide's family would have their rooms across the hallway but they were working. Ratchet would stay with the family here and get them settled along with the children. He would do so cheerfully even as he received the ticker tape, if you will, of the damage as it rolled in.
This was going to take a while.
=0=TBC 11-29-2021
