The Diego Diaries: The Next Orn (dd8 387)

=0=In a Sparkling Day School that mid morning

They sat on the carpeted stairs sitting in their little bean bags as they shared their comments and experiences. Then they would read their creative writing assignment after this. Terradive who was waiting with expectation leaned against the wall of the sitting area listening to the details of this and that as relayed by his students when the door to the classroom was heard to open.

Peds ran swiftly across the room followed by other footfalls, then Cardinal appeared in the archway. He was incandescent with happiness as he smiled at all of them, then ran down to pause in front of Terradive. "Mr. Terradive! Guess what?!"

"What happened, Cardinal?" he asked, though he already knew and planned for the counselor to be present in the classroom for a few orns.

Cardinal spun around, his fists clenched in excitement, then he pointed to the archway behind them. Standing there looking overwhelmed was a small femme and mech Seeker. With them were the counselor and social worker who cared for the trine. "THAT'S MY ADA AND ATAR! WE FOUND THEM! THEY CAME! I KNEW THEY WOULD!" he exclaimed, then he turned toward Terradive. "I told you they would come," he said before he burst into tears.

Terradive hugged Cardinal, settling him on his lap as the kids looked at him pensively. This was not the first reunion among their number that had left a child in disarray but it was the biggest one. Getting your parents back was a HUGE thing for children this age and traumatic condition who had lived alone and in such rough circumstances as Cardinal and his little trine.

Sunspot who was staring at one of his closest friends with concern glanced upward at the four who were watching, two of them awkwardly. Rising to stand, he boldly and with confidence walked up the steps to them, then took the femme's hand. Taking the servo of the mech, he smiled his sweet guileless smile. "I'm Sunspot. I was a Decepticon soldier, too. Cardinal is one of my best friends. Here," he said as he gently tugged on their hands, "come and be here." He then began to walk down with them. He found them a spot and they sat staring at their son with concern.

Sunspot wavered a moment in uncertainty in the mix of emotional energy, then he turned to the two who looked at him with emotional optics. "He and his brothers are our friends. This is our school and this is where we come to learn things. CARDINAL IS A GOOD LEARNER! He can read and his writing is so fun. Mr. Terradive," he said turning toward Terri, "he's the best teacher ever. RIGHT!?" he asked the others hopefully.

They nodded, then Rain Harris stood up. She walked to the pair, pausing before them. :I'm Rain and Cardinal is my classmate. I'm from Earth. I'm a human: she said.

They stared at her, then the femme nodded. She and her bond were getting the information Rain was saying over the translation line.

:Cardinal is a good guy. He's nice and cute. He missed you so much. He always talked about you and now you're here. I'm glad. We're all glad you're here: she said.

The others nodded, then Silverbow rose to walk to them. She sat down next to the mech, then leaned against his arm. "We're so glad you're here. Cardinal and his brothers need you. I came here in the first migration. I was an orphan. I was adopted by my atars and I have a brother now. This is going to be fun. Cardinal is so nice," she said as she patted the mech's arm.

The kids as a group rose and moved closer to the pair including the humans. They waited quietly as Cardinal sat up in Terri's lap. He looked at them, then his genitors. "I knew you would come," he said at last. "I knew you would never leave me."

It would take a while before they got back on track. His genitors would hear his creative writing drawn up the night before which spoke of his aching longing for them and his almost overwhelming happiness that they were here. He said that with them here he and his brothers at last felt like a real family.

=0=In a recovery ward in Autobot City Medical Center, Autobot City

Springer lounged in a chair with a sleeping Tell in his arms. The baby was almost but not quite used to the sound of sound, though he couldn't tell much about it beyond the voices of his fathers and his Amma Ratchet who checked him out every morning. "How you feeling?" he asked for the third time in the joor.

Drift who was feeling hella better glanced at him with a slight grin. "Better. Getting better. I don't feel the burning thing anymore."

"They denatured that when you came in," Springer said with a slight frown.

"The neural net ghosts the sensation for a while, Ada said," Drift replied. He was lying on a soft berth, one that circulated cool water in the mattress to help with the neural disruption. It felt better than it would have without it. This sort of munition was a learning experience all the way around.

"Oh," Springer said with a slight tone of anxiety.

The door opened as Sky peeked inside. "Hey."

"Hi," Springer said. "Come in and pull up a chair."

A tall handsome Seeker male walked in, one with a sleek slim chassis built for speed. He was a fighter format pure and simple, one designed to deliver maximum pain at maximum speed with minimum chance of retaliation. His reputation as a marksman and as a warrior was maximum and his good nature and intellectual brilliance was legendary. He headed all the Forensics departments in the Watch and Army by default. There was simply no one more analytical, experienced with figuring out slag and finding the truth at all costs. He sat, then grinned at Tell. "That's a handsome little mech."

"He is," Springer said with a genuine grin. "He's just getting his hearing back so things spook him but not as much."

Sky nodded. "My nephew had a would that caused hearing loss. He got it back but it was hard. He had it when younger but war is a bitch as the humans say," Sky said as he vented a sigh. "Sound felt like ice picks in his audials."

"Thanks," Drift said. "It sort of explains a lot."

"Therapy is key. He's going to be a champion one of these orns and you're never going to hear the end of it. I know. I have three," Sky said with a chuckle.

Springer snickered. "Now you tell us. What's up, Sky?"

"Well, we analyzed the residue of the wound scrapings and we found that its of alien origin. The materials aren't unknown but the combination and processing of it are. We can also assume given the range of Jhiaxus's interests that it could be some kind of maniacal new process of his but I'm leaning toward alien origin, at least in the refining and materials used.

"The field around the fluid is stronger than I've seen with our attempts at this using Jhiaxus's notes," Sky continued. "We confiscated fifteen rounds from a slagger on the ship you overtook, Chief. We have three of the munitions and Sciences has the rest. We need a speedy treatment for the wound at the impact site for the medics and for all of you, really. We also have to figure out defenses and try to trace this back to the slagger making and selling them. Our negotiator and Ratchet interrogated him last night."

=0=Last night in a conference room at the Maximum Security Prison at Rocky Point fifty miles north of Autobot City, Mars

He came in, a wary and sullen figure of a very big, very strong Cybertronian male. His gray had been washed off long ago and the remaining design reflected his state of processor to a tee. He was a muted grayish green from head to toe and the designs upon his body coiled around making a menacing sight as intended. They were images of the bogey man, of scary monsters and other things to frighten drawn from cultural nightmares. They were incredibly artfully applied with skill and the two stared at him a moment taking in his body art.

It would be interesting how many of the more dangerous mechs wore very little and the less scary but even more dangerous in their own way covered themselves with such things. A mech like Turmoil could send the message with just his aura. It proceeded him and cleared a path before anyone could even see him. The lesser beings had to front harder, sometimes striking when there was no cause because of their lesser abilities and some of them were very good at making a persona that gave them that air without really possessing the deadness inside to make it more real. Though they were lesser beings, in some ways they were more dangerous having to back up their artful boldness harder and more often than true menaces like Turmoil and Razorclaw. These guys in their own way were no one to mess with.

This was one of those guys.

Ratchet sat back. "Tinder. Nice art."

Tinder who sat with his arms cross over his big chassis grinned a humorless grin at Ratchet as he admired his beauty. "Thanks. I like it. I got it for mom."

Ratchet grinned, genuinely amused. There was nothing like sparring with a slagger who knew how to give as good as he got. This dude appeared to be that guy. "You're from Torus States. Anywhere I know?"

"Small town. You wouldn't know," Tinder said oddly calmly.

"Your boss made a big mistake going against Prime. He commands titans and dreads," the Watch negotiator/interrogator, Samson replied. "Sad, him."

"Yeah, well," Tinder said with a noncommittal shrug, "he never could play cards worth a frag."

Ratchet chuckled. "What do you think of Prime's colony? You do know that he also has Cybertron and the Inner Empire, right?"

Tinder considered that. "I heard about something concerning Cybertron. I imagine it was a brutal fight. I hope."

"Actually," Samson said with a slight smirk as he leaned back in his chair. This was going to take a while but it would be amusing. "We didn't fire a shot. The people took care of the slaggers, they were so poorly at the time."

Tinder considered that. "I can see it. How is it there?"

"We're about 27% rebuilt overall with some areas at 100%. There isn't a town in Torus States that isn't at 100% and that includes the shanties. All of them have been rebuilt to Prime's high standards," Ratchet said as he pulled up a screen nearby and tapped in a code.

A film came on with images of a small town in the Torus States. It was beautiful with tower habitations and happy mechs and femmes living there. It would take about half a joor to get the full measure of the area, all of it either finished or getting the finishing touches. It was clear where it was, the signage and other indicators bright and brand new along with the natural and now restored landmarks of the area. So was the happiness of the people, their health and their buy-in to the life they were making. It was impressive and would be to anyone, including the Decepticon sitting with them. It finally flickered off.

It was silent a moment, then Tinder glanced at Ratchet. "Good to see. I have no beef with our home world. The beef was with other things."

"You saw how they lived, the homes they have. Prime is making that happen everywhere," Samson said.

"High caste living standards without high caste frag all," Ratchet said. "You have to honor fight Prime to bring it back. It isn't coming back because if you live through an honor fight with Prime you have to fight Primus Himself. The Pantheon and The One have decreed it so."

Tinder mused on that. "That's good to know. Do we still get to kill the fraggers wherever we find them?"

"You'll have to ask Primus," Samson said with a grin.

Tinder actually grinned back. "What do you want? There's a lot of us and I ain't that special."

"You are, slagger," Ratchet said. "Besides being rather handsome even for a Decepticon, you had something that caught our attention."

"The charges," Tinder replied.

Both nodded.

"I suppose you want to know chapter and verse about them," Tinder said.

Both nodded again.

"Well, I suppose there's no harm in telling you," Tinder said with a slightly malicious smirk. "I got them from a mech who works for Jhiaxus."

It was cold and silent in the room

=0=TBC 03-12-2022

ESL

noncommittal: not having a care one way or the other, not taking a side or investing interest/emotion/etc in something