The Diego Diaries: Duelist (dd8 32)
=0=Fort Borderlands
The arrangement of the artillery of Fort Borderlands was daunting and as Nitrate studied it on his sensors he got word from three different groups who had been heading his way for a long planned meet up. He grinned. Things had just now gotten interesting.
=0=Thundercracker
Ironhide grinned. "I don't have a change of command ceremony for ya but here," he said as he handed over a set of inserts, the Cybertronian form of keys, to the big mech.
Thundercracker grinned. "That's fine. You owe me."
"I probably do. Call me if you need me. Who's going to be your second and the swing shift second-in-command?" Ironhide grinned. "I haven't checked my email. That's what old mech is for."
"It that it?" Thundercracker said with a chuckle. "I was thinking Flashpoint for second and Night Terror for swing."
"Good mechs," Ironhide said. He nodded, then walked toward the door.
Thundercracker watched him go, then glanced at the keys. One of them was for the opulent apartment of the base commander, Polity. He grinned. "Ha. Take that, Sky Warp." He glanced around his domain, then sat at the command table to begin orn one of his first and most important command. Laying on a basket on the table next to him, his little brown dog, Buster, snoozed the snooze of the greatly loved.
=0=Nitrate
He sat on his throne watching as three big groups took a side trip to try to stay off the Autobot's sensor array as long as possible. Given the radiation of the area and the drift of all manner of debris, some of which emitted radiation of their own, it was fifty-fifty whether the Autobots could tell the size of the groups joining him. He, himself was very pleased and had sent Seekers to find suitable planetoids and other possibilities so they could settle and dig in. This was going to be a long game and he was prepared to play it.
=0=Ironhide
He walked into Ops Center and headed toward the command table. Here, it was morning and everyone was just getting set up. At the fort he left, it was heading into early evening. He walked to Prowl, then sat. "What's going on here?"
"Not much. Maybe. The Wheelus trial is coming up. We have gang sign in different places now and so far nothing is happening with Ominous or Razorclaw though intercepted messages between them indicate that they're aware of Nitrate. That can't be good but then the orn is early," Prowl said. "What's the report on Fort Borderlands and hand over Halo, soldier."
Ironhide frowned slightly, but slid a sleepy Halo out into the grabby servos of Uncle Owl. "Fragger. The base is up and on line. So far, so good."
:Thundercracker to Prowl:
"I/You spoke too soon." -Prowl and Ironhide at the same time.
"Prowl here."
:Commander, we're picking up ship traffic on the array. Its hard to discern because of the interference but it would appear that one or more unknown groups are heading toward the location of Nitrate and his group:
"Can you get any indication of what and who they are? We can assume he contacted others to come with him. Most of them do. Perhaps this is what's happening. What is the assessment of threat thus far?" Prowl asked.
It was silent a moment, then Thundercracker was back. :The data is inconclusive. I sent a group to find out more. I'd assume that its Decepticon in derivation, large enough to break through the noise to send a signal and I always consider it level three threat until it proves otherwise:
"Understood. Stand by, Borderlands," Prowl said as he put through a call for Optimus. Almost as he did a bridge sound was heard near the door as Optimus and Jetta walked through it to enter the room.
They walked to the table, were briefed by Prowl, then Optimus turned to the microphone node nearby. "Thundercracker, stand at Level 4 threat. Get a flight ready. I am on my way."
:Understood: Thundercracker replied. :Borderlands on standby:
Ironhide rose and with Optimus and a solemn faced Jetta walked toward the door to leave.
Prowl watched them go, did the math and decided Christmas Surprise was probably going to be fucked this year as he contacted the Football League office to speak to Password about the probabilities that there would be more game cancellations coming up.
=0=Cybertron
"There's more groups heading for Nitrate," Raptor said as he checked the message sent to him. They were standing on a hill looking into a big hole when it arrived.
"Do we join them, General?" Rockwell asked with some trepidation.
"I think we might," he said turning to his chief of staff. They conversed a moment, then Raptor glanced at Rockwell. "Come with, infant. You're going to see what we do when the threat comes to The People. You'll be completely safe with me." With that, he stepped downward toward the ground with a pensive Rockwell following.
The others watched him go, then glanced down into the hole.
"I'd rather go with them," one of Raptor's aides de camp said with a smirk.
"I think that's unanimous," his chief said as they began to climb slowly down into the hole where working sounds were heard loud and clear.
=0=Ratchet
Ratchet checked his file where everyone was supposed to dump any information about Banner for him. There were only slim leads from those ghosting over the communications lines that titans had created that were nigh on unbreakable. Only someone with the plethora of languages, many of them as old as the slagging universe could do it with any ease whatsoever.
It might take time but he'd decided no surrender when it came to finding Avalone. When the message came about Nitrate he considered the problem before them. Nitrate wouldn't be denied. They never were until the bullets ventilated their helms. More were probably already coming when he hit the wall here. More would come. They were facing a big problem here. A big one indeed.
Football was probably off the table.
He grinned as he walked to the bridge room at the Med Center to walk to Fort Borderlands and whatever the frag this was.
=0=Carly
She considered the message as she dialed into Ratchet's office.
"Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Commander Ratchet of Iacon. This is his assistant, Lee-Lee of Helex speaking. What can I do for you?" a youthfully happy voice asked.
"Lim-Lee, this is Carly Brooks-Spencer. I need information," Carly replied from the mayor's office in Unidad City as the downtown area was called in the Unidad Terra 1 Habitat.
"CARLY! How are you?" she replied.
"I'm good, Lee-Lee. I got a message that Ratchet is going to be at Fort Borderlands for an unknown amount of time. I was wondering how that would impact the speech he's scheduled to give for the agricultural convention we're holding here in a couple of days. Do you know?" she asked.
Lee-Lee checked Ratchet's schedule. A noon time speech was scheduled for Second Wednesday on the Grand Concourse at Unidad during a banquet luncheon. About 200 agricultural specialists, planners, scientists and businesses would be there. "Well, I got that message as well. Its not certain what the story is. It could be that he will come back in a joor or two or all bets are off. Hang on. Let me try and get him." She put Carly on hold, then dialed in Ratchet.
=0=Ratchet
He sat at the command table looking at the planning that was being formulated by the base command staff, Prime, Raptor, Hard Drive, Starscream and Rainmaker along with Warlord, a number of titans including Scattershot, their big gun here and Jetta. :Lee-Lee, what's up?: he asked when the call came through.
:I have Carly on the line. She got word of the meet up at Borderlands and wanted to know if this is going to mess up your speech in two orns with the farmers?:
Ratchet grinned at the characterization of the visitors. :I'm not clear yet but when the plan is organized I'll call you and let you know:
:Is there going to be trouble, Ratchet?: a slightly less sunny voice asked.
:Its not clear, infant. We're going to slag them to the pit, of course. How long it takes is the only variable. Don't worry. That's our job:
A chuckle was heard. :Alright. I'll tell her we'll get in touch later today?:
:Good call, infant. Hold down the fort. Mama is going to be out of the office for a bit:
A bigger chuckle met that. :I will. All of you be careful:
:From your vocal processor to Primus's audials. Ratchet out: He sat back as he listened and thought that he better write a speech for farmers before the orn was out. He grinned as the planning went on around him.
=0=Lee-Lee
"I talked to Ratchet, Carly. He said nothing is known yet but he'd tell me before the end of the orn and I'll let you know. Right now, things are alright," Lee-Lee said.
"I hope so, Lee-Lee. I hate war," Carly said with heartfelt emotion.
"You and me both. I'll call you later, Carly. This is secret information by the way. No one can be told about this until Lord Optimus says so."
"You have my word, Lee-Lee. Talk to you later," Carly said as the call ended. She sat back in her chair. "I hate it so much," she said softly.
=0=Razorclaw
He considered the message he got from Nitrate. He knew Nitrate and Nitrate knew him of sorts. None of this combiner were 'people persons' nor did they socialize much outside of their family or a few close fraggers who could hold their own with the five of them. They weren't the kind you made friends with but some became slight acquaintances and among that rare number was Nitrate.
They weren't friends but they'd worked together twice. Each time he saw the respect in Nitrate's optics even when the others weren't around. He knew that Razorclaw was the real deal.
Good, he thought as he mused on the situation before him. Fear me, he thought. They all do.
=0=Nitrate
Nitrate mused on the big combiner and Ominous as well. He had studied Predaking as he had others. He wanted to learn every kind of tactic and every kind of maneuver that was possible to win. He was interested in tactics and strategy and was helm and shoulders above even the very good commanders on their side. He was fearless but smart. He didn't stay around when there was no perceivable advantage. He could retreat without loss of face and come around another way to get what he wanted.
He was a fair commander, didn't mistreat the troops and because they were well taken care of and lived the Code of the Decepticon which he enforced ruthlessly, he was their undisputed acknowledged leader and they obeyed him. Most of them did with respect and appreciation. The empire was slackening without Megatron around and everyone knew their place and purpose with Nitrate.
There were three groups coming his way and with all things being equal would enter the broken field of radiation, planets, meteors, asteroids, mirages and chaos that was part of a sector of space where things collided, often with great violence. A transient churning section of a less dense area for space debris, planets on their way to roam unattached and the odd rogue star, this place was perfect for hiding. It even ghosted and disturbed really good sensors.
Like the Great Deep Space Array design that was mapping the area in a 360 radius as we speak.
That it gave three very dangerous ship captains cover to come to another one was a problem. A very big problem.
For the Autobots.
Another problem he was monitoring carefully were those stuck in the middle of his battle group, Decepticons and Seekers who wanted to leave. Who knew how many others, if any, were with the other three groups and what their configurations were.
It was perplexing.
But delightful.
=0=Prime
He watched the crew work to bring clarity to the signals that were coming from a vast mushy area of 'stuff' as Ironhide had put it. It could hide the empire it was so large but it constantly churned opening and closing signal windows as it did. It would make finding them harder until they got a good fix on their position more than a few times to locate where they were going to dig in. It would be a long evening here as they worked.
=0=Nitrate
He waited for them to be in deep enough cover that the several groups of Seekers escorted by a heavily armed heavy duty Autobot battle shuttle couldn't see nor scan them further before he called the newcomers to guide them in. He'd sent his own pilots to find out who they were, these three newcomers, by deep scanning their ship's signatures. They were a very tough group of ship captains coming his way, that is, if they were still the ones in charge.
Corso was a ship hit-and-run artist who helped provision the most outer rim of Empire at the expense of everyone and everywhere that wasn't Decepticon. Nothing bothered him when he wanted something. Not your age, gender, dependents or your life. He kept a trophy of every ship, settlement or convoy that they took over and rumor was that it included the heads or helms of the leadership of said place or ship attacked.
Ninlil was a hunter group captain whose sole job was tracking anything with an Autobot sigil and destroying it. He was a crack shot who was very good to his crew, most of which came from his town and civilian career, Slaughter City and a Road Rage gang that terrorized far and wide. He was obsessed with his bond, a mostly unknown individual named Sole who could stop him in his tracks with a glance. They were almost grafted to each other, so close was their relationship.
The last captain was an anomaly, a femme named Inana. She was a sharpshooter and bounty hunter for the Decepticons who had a huge talent for leading troops. She was as ruthless as the others, hard to know, a perfectionist who was good to her troops and liked to kill things out of boredom. She would be the one to watch because apparently she was easily given to boredom.
No matter, Nitrate thought as he sent his message to them through the communications fog. He was tougher than all of them
He actually was.
=0=TBC 12-05-2020