The Diego Diaries: Talk Radio (dd8 315)
=0=Around
A panel sat in the studio at New York, one in London and the lead site at this time of night, one in Brussels, Belgium. There had been a concerted effort by Prime to ensure that the main broadcaster of the evening news was diversified throughout the world, rather than just located in the usual centers of power. Every six months, three new cities were given the right of lead broadcasting by MCA to be the source of news for the three shifts worldwide, night, morning and day.
"That was the statement out of the Office of Strategic Communications directed to us by Commander Jazz of Kaon who is not only the Chief for Strategic Communications for Autobot Nation and the Empire of the Primes but a board and founding member of IntraCom, the parent company of the MCA News Consortium. With that disclaimer out of the way, lets discuss the statement itself.
"It was a rather startling statement given the circumstances. The Prime didn't hide the possibility of considerable damage to the colony by the invaders. The Consulate was destroyed and the consuls and their families and staff were placed in extreme danger," she said.
"That's the way it is in war," Colonel Mick Moran said as he sat at the Communications Center in the Global N.E.S.T. Alliance Command Center at the Pentagon in Virginia. "If you might have noticed, there's no place for any civilian in wars where the enemy comes for your home. We should have learned that lesson here on Earth and find by doing so no great surprise that it happened there. The greatest casualties in modern warfare are always the innocent and most vulnerable."
"What sort of damage can you glean from that statement, Colonel?" she asked, she being Maria Peeters, lead newsreader for the Brussels desk for the MCA.
"If you take what I say as speculation and how it might contradict the facts once they're established and published, I'll take a stab at it," Moran said. He thought a moment. "I got the impression that it could have been worse. It must be bad enough that the colony is to remain in their homes but for essential business for about two or three days. I was told just earlier during a call from the N.E.S.T. Garrison Commander on world, Lt. Colonel Lennox that the situation with power is necessitating this."
"What did he tell you if we can ask?" Liam Bakker asked. He was a consultant from The Netherlands on science and space for the MCA.
"I can tell you a few things. He said that the entire colony is in home confinement but for essential business until further notice. They're gathering ordinance that's laying on the ground everywhere, checking the structural integrity of some of the buildings that were hit by falling ships and working out the integrity of the power systems. The Consulate apparently, and this is preliminary, was destroyed by blow back from a power station being hit by a falling cruiser shot down by metrotitans and fighters."
It was silent a moment, then William Bellows, a military consultant from Scotland startled. "A cruiser? That's one step down from a battleship. One fell from the sky?"
"Apparently it was shot down when the Metro Districts transformed their towers into cannons. You can fly a battle shuttle into the maw of a titan's cannons they're so massive. Apparently, and I say it again, about 35 of them opened up on the intruders when they were lured into open country away from the colony itself. If any of those big vessels and there were several battleships and cruisers, cargo ships that can be enormous and battle shuttles … if they'd fallen on the cities there would be catastrophic destruction.
"Energon doesn't need oxygen to burn and those ships are loaded with it including weapons, ammunition and in some cases missiles that are nuclear in payload or worse. They had to lure them out and it was costly. But Prime is a chess master and he did it," Moran said with obvious admiration for the big mech. "There were about five ships that fell onto the plain. They've removed them to another place for study and strip down. When they get through no one will know anything happened there."
"What else do you know, Colonel?" Bakker asked.
"We do know that Terra probably took the worst of it behind the Old City. Downtown Autobot City got slammed hard. I was told that the block near the school in Terra which held a number of really beloved businesses like Full Circle was destroyed. That store included priceless heirlooms and other things that will be sorely missed. A shuttle was shot down and slammed into the ground floor of Sparkling Day School down the street. That place is being gone over with a fine toothed comb.
"Then there was the shuttle that was shot down and landed in the open parkland of the First District in the Mare Tranquilitatis. That building, Tower 1 held the apartments of nearly every member of Ironhide and Ratchet's family including their own home as well as the official resident of the Primes of Cybertron. Prime's own house got sheered off with the top four floors of the tower and nothing appears to be salvageable. It was a really terrible thing and hard to see."
It was silent a moment, then Moran continued.
"There was a lot of aerial combat and the best of the best took care of that. Cyclonus, the Master of the Monastery of the Clavis Aurea and his mechs along with Home Guard Seeker squadrons from Aerie Hill defended both the monastery and the city but also The Resort At Autobot City. No one was harmed there though the stonework will need help I'm told."
"Cyclonus was a trusted and close lieutenant of Megatron once upon a time," William Bellows stated. "An interesting turn of events going against his former comrades."
"I've met him several times and admire the hell out of him. He hates the 'Cons and he hates Megatron. He holds that mech responsible for the destruction of Cybertron. Cyclonus is a home boy and he will get his revenge. I wouldn't want to be Megatron if they ever meet," Moran replied. "The transportation systems are down around the colony. Roads have been repaired but the trains overland and below ground are wrecked. Some Metros are as well. The beautiful central train station they have that runs the system had a ship, the cruiser fall on it. Its over."
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Optimus Prime listened to the recount with Will Lennox appearing in a small box in the corner of his screen. The big monitor in the Ops Center was playing the panel's reactions. So far, so good.
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"This is Brian Carrew from Los Angeles, California. I was wondering what the state of the colonists is like? Do we know? Has anyone spoken to the humans of the different habitats? Did they get boarded as it were?"
Moran looked at his notes, then nodded. "They appear to be safe and sound. What they feel about this is unknown yet. Prima Station wasn't even approached such was the defense. As for the damages to the habitats, they were attacked by ground soldiers from the enemy ships.
"Earth2 and Earth 1 were entered and the first level has damage from vandalism. The environmental doors were thrashed but are now fully repaired. Unidad had an entry as well and because the mechs made it to the dome they shot out the windows of the Chapel in the Trees."
"Oh, no," and murmurs of dismay were heard from all the panels over the link up.
Maria Peeters shook her head. "I've been to Unidad and that chapel is the most lovely thing in the setting they made for it with trees, bushes and flowers all around it. Its the hub of the community for activities and religious expression. I attended a yoga class there myself. This is hard to hear."
Mick nodded. "I've been to three weddings and a christening there. Two hundred foot windows shot out. There's supposed to be footage of a small squad of them checking out the bulls that the farm holds. There's a huge bull bison, a Charlois and a Hereford bull that are nothing to sneeze at. You can't get around the Charlois without a pitchfork in hand. He's trained to it and will go lay down in the paddock until you get through cleaning it. They came there, walked up to them and got butted into the stratosphere. I hope Prime puts it up on the down link."
Huge agreement greeted that.
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"What about it?" Prowl asked with a slight grin.
Prime glanced at him, then nodded slightly. "I will let you know when. It might be helpful once we see how this is received."
:I think so, Optimus: Will said with a grin as he relaxed in the N.E.S.T. office at The Family Tower.
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"What about the damage to the other human habitats and areas?" someone off camera asked.
"The two habitats are picking up from vandalism and Unidad is as well though other than the chapel little was done there that's a big problem to fix. The Hu-An Habitat made it fine because Larc and her warriors thrashed the slag out of three onslaughts of mechs. All props to them. Facing Decepticons in battle takes a lot of guts.
"The N.E.S.T. Headquarters, however, is thrashed. It was so thrashed that the water mains broke and flooded everything to knee deep. The Sciences Habitat was attempted to be invaded but it failed. Changes of plans recalled the enemy and they left before they could do much harm. They never made it to The Mall of Terra or The Family Tower.
"The downtown, the Old City, however, got a lot of damage. The Pit Stop which is a really popular restaurant is destroyed. Club Cybertron got thrashed. A lot of the storefronts along the three Metroplex highways are damaged mostly by proximity to the airfield but the Temple District was spared. I don't know if they decided to do so or because there wasn't time but I'm relieved its so.
"The Military Airfield was demolished along with the Commercial District and Depot there. They were trying to enter the Courthouse when the Dinobots arrived and put stop to most of the destruction. They thrashed IntraCom pretty good as well. The Fortress was in lockdown though they tried to enter it through the Central Labor Hall and the Flight Center across the way from it was like Fort Knox so it wasn't entered.
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"A number of enemy fighters bit it around the airfield and some of them did so into towers here and there. There was intense hand-to-hand combat between Autobot soldiers, marines and the enemy on the ground. About 100 or so Autobots were hurt but none are dead, though I was told a small number were out of the soldiering business for good."
"No one died?" Bellows asked. "That's remarkable."
"Prime doesn't waste anyone and they're that good. The femmes and Jetta, they were on the ground leading the forces there," Moran said.
"Femmes?" someone off camera asked.
"There's about eight or nine female warriors who are as bad ass as anything or anyone you can put forward. During the Diaspora when Cybertron fell into the hands of the Decepticons, the femmes and Jetta stayed to fight them and protect The People. They helped build the network that keep mass starvation away and led to the linking up of every group that helped free the planet. There are no finer warriors in urban combat than them. In five million years on world, no one ever caught them," Moran concluded.
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"No but they came close a few times," Arcee said with a smirk.
Elita, Jetta, Magnus and Lancer with Partition were standing behind Prime and Prowl as they watched the panels talk together on the screen.
"Close but no brass ring," Prime said as he squeezed Arcee's servo. "No one could touch any of you, old friends. Not then and not now."
"They never will," Delphi said with a grim tone.
"Were there civilian casualties?" someone off camera asked.
Moran consulted his notes.
=0=TBC 12-02-2021
For those who don't know what Fort Knox is … its supposed to be an impregnable, perhaps the most secure place in the world. It holds a ton of the worlds gold bullion reserves for the United States and a lot of other countries. When a country makes or takes a loan, someone wheels the requisite gold from one locked room to another. The expression meaning that place is 'tighter than Fort Knox' means it can't be entered by any means.
