The Diego Diaries: Conclusion? (dd8 474)

=0=On the deck

Before Hardie's knee assemly hit the ground the big mechs stepped apart and joined him. All of them bowed their helms almost as one. The titans shifted to join him as those at stations rose from their chairs. All of them knelt down to bow their helms to Prime as the group brought in to help him with the problem joined them.

Ratchet and Prowl glanced at each other, then rose to walk to the front of the group to join them on the floor. Neo who was watching glanced at the tiny femme. "Come, daughter. Let's salute Prime." With that she gently knelt with the little femme joining her.

All around the room the mechs and femmes knelt as Prime sat like a stone Buddha in the command chair. It was thick, the energy in the room as he watched his friends and comrades of a thousand million encounters salute him. It made his spark light with love and emotion for them as they demonstrated to the tense group what was meant by real unity.

For a moment no one moved, then Prime stood. "My friends, my family," he said in his beautiful voice, "please stand."

All of them did, the entire group. It was silent as they stared at him, waiting for his wisdom to take this to the next step. Nearby watching as well, Kudon waited. This was 13, the Prime whose spark was identical to Primus and because it was, together They put Unicron into His repose. It was unclear to Kudon whether Prime was really clear on this matter but it was evident to him in the beauty of Prime's aura. Right now, that same aura was tinged with frustration.

He stared at Galio and the tense group with him, then Prime stepped closer to halt before them. "I am taking your name."

A gasp came from somewhere.

Galio and his group stared at Prime with puzzled expressions before the penalty hit them. Galio stepped back in shock a moment.

"I am taking your names. You will have none until I give them back. Your house, your name, all that you possess, I am taking it now. You were given every chance to accept the new paradigm but you persisted in your treason and your name is forfeit." Prime stepped closer. "You will live in the brig and you will work at menial jobs doing whatever your overseer tells you. You will have no rights because you are nil. When you have satisfied the penalty that is due for your treason to my sense of offense, you may be restored but only if you have learned from this. No one is to blame for this but you."

The tiny mini-con femme who was clinging to Neo's arm glanced upward at her. "Amma, what's happening?" she whispered.

Micro, General of the Army and second in senior status to Hard Drive glanced at her. "They've been reduced to what most of you were during their persecution, granddaughter. They have no status whatsoever. They exist and that is all. What happens to them lies in the servos of those who have dominion over them." He glanced at Galio. "Stop me if you've heard this before."

The tiny femme stepped toward Micro who towered over her like a mountain. "Appa, I don't understand."

Micro turned to her, this tenderly raised infant who'd suffered a great deal on the run, enough to not be as fully grown as she should have been. "What's happened, granddaughter, is that these individuals have persisted in defying the order of Primus that we love each other as equals. Even if love wasn't possible, manners, decency and the good of the order would have been enough.

"However, their sense of entitlement that they learned over the eons is so encrusted that they defy even Primus. Thus, they have to start over from scratch. No name, no House, no power whatsoever." He glanced at Prime with admiration. "An elegant solution to our intractable problem. I salute you, Prime."

A murmur crossed the deck from everyone there as Galio glanced around. He turned toward Prime. "I will never bow my knee. I encourage those with me to do the same."

"Then they will face the same penalty," Prime said. "I will remove what you have because you expect more than you deserve. Anyone in the migration who follows your lead will end up on their knees scrubbing floors for anyone you are told to serve. Perhaps in those circumstances you will find humility and unity."

"And if we don't?" a young mech said who had come with Galio.

"Then you will never get back what I have taken," Prime said. He stepped closer to the mech. "I have all that you possess. You have nothing that will be recognized by anyone because I have done so. You are lower than the lowest caste in The System because even the lowest caste possessed something. You have nothing." He glanced at the guards. "Take them to the brig."

Two big mechs stepped forward.

"You can do this the right way or we can dance. Your call," one of them said, then he glanced at Prime. "Wait. They have no right to decide. Correct?"

Prime who was staring at Galio with intensity nodded slightly. "Correct."

"Then move it along," the guard said.

Reluctantly, slowly, they walked toward the elevator and were gone.

It was tense as everyone stared at Prime, then Hardie walked to Prime. "Good call, Optimus."

The room relaxed almost at once.

"Maybe living the life most of us had will dislodge whatever ails them," Prime said. He glanced at Blaster. "Does the migration have this feed and audio?"

"They have. All of it, Optimus," Blaster said.

"Very well," Optimus said. "Thank you, Hard Drive, you and your brothers. Thank you, all of you who work so hard and make peace happen for all of us," he said glancing all around the room.

"It is our honor, Lord Optimus," Metroplex said as he bowed his helm. All the other titans followed.

The rest murmured in reply as Prime walked back to his command chair. He sat, then gathered his thoughts as everyone took their seats here and there. The titans moved closer to listen.

"Migration, I am Optimus Prime. I am the only lawfully chosen leader of our people that exists among us. It is my duty as Prime and even so as a Cybertronian mech to search for you and to bring you to safety and prosperity. It is my duty to protect you and everyone else from enemies both within and without our population.

"For eons, the poison of entitlement has driven us to the brink until all that was left was revolution and civil war. We have lost our home world because the few denied the many their hope, dreams, possibilities, freedom and well being. There are those here who have the same sense and are willing to defy the Will of Primus, the Edicts of The One and my own decrees to keep it.

"I will tell you once again that The System of Exception is banned both by Primal Decree and that of Primus Himself. It is banned here and there, both now and then. It is banned wherever any Cybertronian is, was and ever will be. For anyone to defy that is to invite conflict to our weary and reviving people.

"I will not allow that to happen. It will never happen again. Please take a moment to digest and learn what I have just said." Prime waited a moment, then continued. "If you come here ready to live and work for the good of all as almost every former high caste has since we began to receive refugees and to satisfy your personal goals and dreams, you will find a paradise in our efforts to create a place where that can happen.

"If you come here to sow discord, to seek privileges that even I as Prime do not have, to ban together with other malcontents to foment trouble, then you will be met with swift rebuttal. It is in your servos what happens next. I am telling you myself that I am ADAMANT about this and will not REST until it is over and DEAD FOREVER.

"I am in the debt of Hard Drive of Praxus, Chieftain of the Praxian Military Elites to be of such service to me and to the former high caste community who does not hold to the continuation of the System. You will find when you come to the colony that even though this former caste numbers many, few will be willing to follow you. As with every group that comes, the former high castes have conducted themselves with honor.

"The Diaspora was a hard school but many were the tall poppies that never felt its leveling hand. Its unfortunate that the death of a good third of our people in war and dispersal isn't enough to quell your sense of superiority and entitlement. Even Megatron issuing what amounts to a death order on you as you are herded toward me has not shaken you.

"Perhaps prison will. The System of Exception is dead, forever dead and unlamented. Study that idea. Muse upon it. Learn it. What happens to you if you do not is fully in your hands to control. I am Optimus Prime, the Prime of Cybertron, bearer of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, the Creation Matrix of Primus Himself. If you remember nothing of this encounter, remember that. I, Optimus Prime have spoken." He glanced at Blaster. "Tell the ships designated to handle the former high castes to begin transport. Have them arrest anyone who interferes on the spot."

Blaster nodded, then began to send the message. As he did the feed to the migration was cut.

The group turned back to their business as the Praxians walked toward Prime.

"We're here to serve, Optimus," Senior Commander Li said. "We'll stay and help with the malcontents. If they decide to rebel, we can go there and order them to comply. Any refusal invalidates The System so it could get interesting," he said with a grin. He glanced at Ironhide, a school companion from the old orns as children in Praxus. "How about it, Iron Butt?"

Ironhide grinned at him, then glanced at Prime. "He loves me."

Huge rude laughter greeted that.

"I accept your service, gentlemen. Thank you," Prime said with a grin of his own.

Nearby, a tiny femme watched them, huge mechs who would protect her with their sparks. Never at any time before or since would she ever feel more loved nor that she belonged anywhere else but here.

=0=Nearby

"Damn. Look at them," a soldier said as everyone sat down to relax.

Any number of the big mechs were drifting to the lounge to sit and relax, waiting to go where needed. Among them were most of the titans. One of the Praxians leaned toward the box to look at the humans inside. "Who brought their mouse collection along?" he asked to loud laughter.

More big mechs sat. All of them stared at the humans who stared back, most of the humans in abject awe.

"Look what the targs dragged in," Lennox said as he walked to the windows of the box to slag with the mechs.

"Yeah. Slagging handsome group, yeah?" one of them asked as everyone snickered. "What about you, Lennox, you and the rest of the gerbils? What do you think about things?"

"I think you're the shit," Bobby Epps said as laughter filled the lounge.

Micro who sat down with Sun grinned at Epps who he liked a lot. "They talk about that a lot. Seems kind of weird to me. Tell me more about your poo, big boy."

HUGE laughter after a bit of scanning for meaning.

"Tell me about yours, Micro," Epps said as soldiers began to join him at the window including Jackson Davis.

"I'd rather show you," Micro said to the immense approval of the group.

"General?"

Everyone glanced at a human soldier from South Korea.

"What, daughter?" Micro asked.

She smiled at him, someone who would become his cheerleader forever. "What do you do? Are you a full time soldier?" she asked.

Micro grinned. "A full time soldier, little Missy, and a full time bad ass about town."

Piro snickered. "He is. Ask my ada."

Micro glanced at his son, the love of his life next to his bond. "Sh," he said with a big grin.

Huge laughter greeted that.

"I'm so happy to meet you. I hope to see more of all of you," she said earnestly. "We want to learn how to live here and work with you."

"You will. Its going to be an interesting next few decaorns, infant. Make sure you go on missions and tour the hubs. You can meet soldiers there. As for us, we have a club house in the Central Labor Hall, The Veterans of Praxus Hall on 186th and Gentry. Come and we'll tell you lies."

"He will, the slacker. I, on the other hand am a living legend," a big mech named Taro said to the howling laughter of his peers.

=0=TBC 7-9-2022 7*24*2022