The Diego Diaries: Down on the ground … (dd8 20)
=0=Prime
He sat a moment considering the message he'd sent to the two slaggers that would in the end either give in to him or be booted. What he would do about Ominous and Razorclaw now was still a mystery, though the census confrontations certainly gave a good template if the orn came that they would have to go to them and shoot it out.
He stood, then looked at his crew. "We have to go to the ground. General, gentlemen, I would like you along. First, Prowl, have the shuttles settled down in strategic locations around the base and point their guns. Scan, Smokescreen, to see if anyone is out wandering. We will deal with loose wheels before we step out."
Smokescreen nodded. "On it, Prime." He worked a moment, then glanced upward. "Everyone is where they were told to be. I'd still go with guns blazing."
Prime glanced his way. "Thank you." He began to walk toward the elevator with everyone behind him.
Prowl glanced at Smokey on the way. "You have the conn." He walked to the elevator and went down with everyone. The titans had derezzed before the door closed.
=0=Down below on the ground …
They came in, big powerful ships loaded with guns and the promise of malice aforethought to settle on the ground all over the big base. They set down, shut down and pointed guns outward until the ten shuttles had the base covered six ways to Sunday as the humans said.
Prime had taken a runabout and landed near the operational center. The ramp opened and he stepped out with the others.
Mechs gathered around, big mechs with bigger guns.
Prime glanced at them, then Sun and Jack. "Would you like the honor?" he asked as he nodded toward the Center.
Sun chuckled as he unsubbed his big old gun. "Right neighborly of you to share, Prime," he said as Jack unsubbed his guns and followed his brother.
Springer watched them go, then glanced at Prime and Hardie who were watching them. "Do they need back up or what?"
Hardie glanced at them, then grinned. "Who? My brothers or the slaggers inside?"
Huge rude laughter greeted that as they all turned toward the building to watch and listen.
=0=At the door
They paused together, then Sun peered around the doorjamb at the Ops Center of Polity's base. There was no one there. It was empty. Or so it looked as he slipped inside. Sun followed and found a place behind a pillar across from one where Jack was hiding. They glanced around, then stepped out of the cover to check if anyone was going to shoot them. As they did, Ironhide peeked around the corner. He'd been sent by his Appa to 'get some learnin', Ironhide'.
He grinned as he watched the two walk forward with their guns up 'just in case'.
"If you're doing stealth, infant, you better pick up your peds," Sun said as he glanced back at Ironhide with a smirk. "It would appear that your keen sense of sneaking around is wasted this time. No one appears to be here."
The three of them checked out the facility, then sauntered back out, two big big mechs with a broadly grinning but slightly less big mech following. They walked out, then to Prime. "It's fragging empty. We looked but no one was there," Suns said as he held up a nice hand gun. "I did lift this. I'm keeping it."
Prime grinned. "Please do." He glanced at the titans. "I forget which of you is an expert at booby traps and other snares."
"All of us are," Ty said with a snicker. With that, about a good dozen titanic mechs began to enter the building to do their part of the stand down.
"I wonder what would happen to them if they blew up in pretender gear," Ironhide mused.
"Why don't we try it with you, infant," Jack said.
"Then I get the kids when you shuffle off to the Matrix," Springer said.
"Get your own, slagger," Ironhide said as he patted his carry hold. Then he froze.
So did everyone standing in the group waiting for the titans.
"WHAT IN THE UNHOLY FRAG!?"
=0=Moments later inside
She stood on an enemy command table eating bits of cookie handed to her by Uncle Owl. She smiled at all the mechs who grinned back as they watched Ratchet peel strips off Ironhide's aft.
Drift who was leaning against a console watching with Springer grinned. "This never gets old."
"No," Springer said with a snicker. "It doesn't."
Ratchet walked to the table and picked up Halo. "You're going to qualify for veteran's benefits before you get to school, little femme, WHICH IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN SHORT ORDER!"
"OH, THE FRAG *NO* IT ISN'T!" Ironhide walked to the table and purloined the baby stuffing her into his hold. "SHE ISN'T GOING TO SCHOOL!"
"The frag you say," Ratchet said calmly.
Ironhide who was thrown off by the new and somehow more ominous sounding calm tactic stepped back warily. "I do. Slagger."
"Are we done?" Prowl asked.
"No, actually," Prime said as he took the rest of the cookie Prowl held into his own servo. "I will have the rest of this." He ate it, then turned to the snickering hordes. "I think we should inventory our latest guests. I think we need some help from the Prison. I am unaware of how many slaggers Polity has here but his group was large."
"I think we can solve this problem by doing a makeshift set up on this rocky crag," Prowl said as he pointed to a very large fragment that seemed to be stuck in some kind of synchronous 'orbit' with this large planetessimal. "We can dump them there and throw them a bone once in a while. When they get through killing each other we can sweep them all up and send them through a chipper."
Everyone stared at Prowl who was making the suggestion in a reasonable tone, then they glanced at each other.
Springer stepped closer. "You serious?"
Prowl glanced up, then looked around. "Um … did I say something out loud?"
"BWAHAHAHAHAAAAA! PROWL DID A FUNNY! Uh … right?" -Everyone there including Prime though he didn't say the last part out loud
Prowl fairly preened as he took the applause of the crowd. "I think I need Jetta and Gee-Gee here. We can do a rough camp and put them there until we figure out how many, what kind and what will do for the long run. Tennyson carries the big tents that we use in the refugee camps in stores. If we figure out what we have we can set up camp here. This planetoid hasn't got any features to worry about and they can't get off when we set up shop. Its better than overwhelming the prison. I don't know how many of these slaggers have prior warrants from Cybertron and how many, if any, will be rehab material."
"Make it so, Prowl," Prime said. He glanced at his mechs and the titans. "I want to have this group inventoried and the officers, if any, brought to me. I want to know what we face, gentlemen."
Hardie nodded, then turned to the group to organize them. It would take a moment to get things sorted, then they would go off to the various hardened bunkers to see what the 'catch of the orn' was. They would do so with a shuttle pointing its big, big guns in the slagger's faces.
=0=Outside
They walked to a hardened bunker that was scanned by their shuttle. It was big and held a lot of mechs, some of them heavily armed. Springer had tapped into the system and was set to give them The Word™. He gathered his wits as his mechs and three of the titans gathered around him, then began to speak. "This is Springer, God of the Hunt and the Chief of the Wreckers. You might remember us from the last time we came and fragged you to the Pit. We're back and we want to have you do a few simple things for us so we don't have to put you down again.
"You're on sensors so put your weapons in a pile in the back of the bunker. I want every possible weapon removed and stockpiled or we're going to level the bunker, pile rocks on it and leave. If you have any questions, too bad. Just bang on the door when you're ready to come out one at a time for transport to your new accommodation, Camp Shit Hole. Knock when you're ready."
Drift who was standing next to him glanced at Springer. "Camp Shit Hole?"
Springer grinned. "One of the soldiers uses it. I thought it was a good word."
Everyone scanned it, filed it and grinned.
"I think it'll do just fine," Sandstorm said as he planned to get a tattoo of an outhouse when he got home again.
They'd wait a while for a knock.
=0=Half a joor later
"Uh, Chief," Twin Twist said. "I think they're too shy to come out. You know … us'n's not all properly introduced and all."
Tracks grinned. "They're shy."
Hammer of Primus glanced at Trigger and Ty. "Then maybe we should go inside and introduce ourselves."
Ty grinned, then the three derezzed.
Springer frowned. "I'm in charge here."
"You are," Drift said with a slight smirk.
"Then I should have given the go."
"You can."
Springer glanced at Drift. "I can?"
"Sure. I'll go with you," Drift said to howling wads of laughter and abuse.
Springer grinned at he stared at the door. "Fraggers. Everyone of you are fraggers.
"Me, too?" Drift asked as the sound of fighting and running broke out inside the building.
"Ask me if I live through the stampede that I'm afraid is com-"
=0=Ops Center
They began to come in, a few at a time, those who were officers of varying levels in the organization. Some of them looked 'normal', like mechs who had a crappy job and didn't like it but worked at it anyway because it paid the bills. Some of them looked smart and sneaky, like mechs who were good at what they did but couldn't be trusted. Some looked like criminals who made the calculation that life was good with Polity so they worked for him with reasonable expectations. The handful that looked like fragging Decepticons who would do the worst kinds of things and enjoy it were few but intriguingly easy to spot in the group.
They were corralled together as they were gathered, then Prime rose from the command 'throne', something that every Decepticon favored because they were megalomaniacs, to give them his attention. They stared at him sullenly as he considered their mangy future.
"I am Optimus Prime. I am glad that you did what you were told."
"Fragging NULL rays," one of the obvious Decepticon-looking fraggers say. "You used a null ray from a big ship on us. What did you fragging expect?"
"Compliance," Prime said. "Like now as well. I want all the details of this group that exist. Then we can handle what comes next better. You can either tell us what we want to know and have a better outcome or you can lie, make trouble and be a fragger which will get you dragged behind a ship all the way home."
Ratchet snickered, then stepped behind Prowl who frowned. He peered out a Prime. "Sorry. I just got a picture of that."
Prime gave Ratchet a rueful expression, then turned back to the slightly alarmed group before him. "Talk," he said quietly.
They did.
=0=TBC 11-21-2020 12-08-2020
NOTE: I would have posted this earlier but I had a conniption with my virus stuff. Had to take it off, download it again, sit through a number of LONG, LONG scans and stuff, then yell a lot before I could do this. SIGH! I think my computer is fixing to go to the Matrix. :D