The Diego Diaries: Trouble (dd8 33)
=0=On the ground at Borderlands
Prime listened to the conversation around him as the group who was gathered sifted the information gathering and began to formulate plans for him to choose. Prowl had joined them along with a number of others including Drift and Springer. They were sitting nearby. Prime glanced at Springer. "How are your servos?"
Springer flexed them, then glanced at him. "Stiff. Getting better though. I need them detailed. Processor over matter maybe. They look odd to me."
Prime nodded. Few mechs of his age and experience over the course of the war could boast all their original equipment in order themselves. "Physical therapy assists."
"I'll pencil it in," Springer said with a grin.
Prime felt a grin, faint but present. "I know."
It would take a bit of time for them to sort through, piece together a picture, then make a number of plans to meet the threat before them. That they could do so from the comfort of an advanced highly developed base was a miracle.
Polity had actually done something good in spite of himself.
=0=Nitrate
He watched the sensors as three ships fast and fleet flew through the tumbling churning mass toward where he waited. They had a mutual place of gathering that would allow all of them to feel secure. None of them trusted the other and he was sure that they'd put a round into him if they thought a benefit would come of it so he suggested a runabout, easily scanned, parked in the density where they could meet and talk.
It had been his idea to call them together having heard a lot of rumors about Cybertron, Prime and the region where he'd built what was said to be an impregnable redoubt. It was said to be holding back marauders both there and in the inner empire of Cybertron. It was said that Cybertron fell without a fight or shot fired. It was said that there was a fountain of energon where Prime held sway, more than you could dream about in your wildest imagination.
Sitting on the runabout watching the lights speed toward him, he scanned them when they were close enough. Only one passenger per ship and their codes and designations matched. The three were on their way. He waited and calculated what it would take to come out of this encounter as the overlord of this group. It would be both fun and interesting to find out he thought as he waited for them and their approach.
=0=Inana
She walked to her runabout after a long conversation with her command core. Leaving with confidence in her team, all of whom were with her for a very long time over a very tough period of activities, she flew toward the meet up point noting others on their way as well.
They]d shadowed each other, all of them wary as they flew toward the meet up with Nitrate. She'd left the empire early on because new management wanted more control and she didn't like to give it. She was a hunter, a professional bounty hunter and by nature lone wolfed it to her great and everlasting ability to deliver the goods.
The last group to leave among the three, they made it just in time. The empire was tightening its grip and it would soon be next to impossible for someone to make a run for it without shooting their way out. They'd fled before the border arrays came on line, arrays that were put there because of Prime and his every growing arsenal. It was said that the number of titans that had come to his call was as grains of sand on a beach. It was even rumored that dreadnoughts had joined him as well.
If this was so then the action was here. She would hear what Nitrate had to say, then make up her own mind. She hated being under someone's command but she loved making them think that she accepted such a role. It was always fun to see the surprise on their faces when she put rounds into their helms.
She flew onward heading toward a meet up with three mechs. Though she was a femme, she was given no slack. She either met the moment or was brushed away. It wouldn't be because she was a femme because that sort of thinking didn't exist among the Cybertronians who considered there was only one gender, none. If there was a problem for her it would be because she wasn't able to make them fear her enough. The debris field bumped around her as she closed the gap to the small light blinking not so far away. Behind her, two other lights were following fast.
=0=Autobot City Municipal and Military Airport, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars, Cybertron and the Empire
The ship from Earth that had gathered two hundred individuals for a week long conference on agriculture and hunger management had arrived from their gathering points at New York, Beijing and Rome. They were experts in their various fields which weren't exclusively nor all directly involved in farming. There were plant scientists, researchers in many fields and policy makers. None of them were politicians though some did serve their various governments in advisory capacities.
The ship which was a yacht from the diplomatic fleet and thus a spectacular vessel with many creature comforts including those scaled to humans rolled toward the terminal where it paused and was attached to a transparent umbilical walkway. When it was secured, the hatch opened and the flight crew, all humans, helped the passengers onward.
They were the usual group of delighted and overwhelmed visitors who were venturing out into the universe, something that most had dreamed of since kids. They walked through, some pausing to look around, then entered the immigration side of the concourse. Waiting with Carly, Owen Harris, Brandon Clark and Sheila Conroy, two mechs who would get them through customs and immigration watched.
Carly walked forward and they slowed to gather around her. "Welcome to the Autobot City Municipal and Military Airport here in Autobot City. We're so happy to have you visit. My name is Carly Brooks-Spencer and these are my colleagues, Owen Harris of Earth2, Brandon Clark of Earth 1 and Sheila Conroy of The United Nations Habitat for Science and Research. That gentleman over there," she said pointing to a soldier who was leaning on the counter talking to a femme who worked here, "is Captain, now Major Niall Graham who is a N.E.S.T. soldier stationed here from the United Kingdom and was one of the first humans to come to Mars."
Everyone glanced at everyone, then turned back to Carly. They were bursting with questions but first they had to get to where they were going.
"If you follow me, I will help you get through customs and immigration. Please have your papers and identification in your hands," she said as she began to walk to the counter. "These lovely mechs here will take any luggage that you carry so it can be delivered ahead of us. We're going in N.E.S.T. trucks so room will be tight otherwise."
They chatted with excitement as they gathered their papers and made two lines at the desk. It wouldn't take much time to get them passed and when they were gathered together again, Niall Graham walked over to assist Carly. "Good afternoon and welcome to the Primal Colony of Mars, part of the Empire of the Autobots." He grinned. It would never get old.
"Will we get to see him or any of the others besides Commander Ratchet?" someone asked.
Graham glanced their way. "It depends. You're looking at a group of individuals who manage an empire that spans many dozes of planets and light years of space. Commander Ratchet is suppose to speak at a luncheon, I'm told," he said as he glanced at Carly who nodded. "It depends on what they have to do. Most times they enjoy stopping in to say hello."
=0=On a runabout in space
"Hello."
The three of them nodded to Nitrate. They were at the assessment stage at the moment, each of them looking over the others for intel and tics. Nitrate stood before his pilot seat presenting an image that was impressive. He was warrior class, about 25 feet all and broadly built. He wasn't huge but he was someone who looked like little made him fear. He was gray with white accents, not the Decepticon version of gray but the one his family chose for him as a baby. He grinned at them, then gestured for them to sit.
The three stared at him, then glanced at each other. One of them, a big brutal looking mech named Corso walked to the hull and sat on the bench there. As he did the other two joined him.
Nitrate turned the pilot seat around, then sat. It was silent a moment as they assessed each other without artifice. They were openly eyeing the competition. He grinned. "Thanks for coming. I'd have something to serve you but this is so sudden."
Ninlil was hard to read, a mech who had a very dangerous past as a road rage gangster before joining the Decepticons to do legally upon their ascendancy what would earn him punitive stasis in earlier times. He was ruthless and smart, obsessive about his bond, Sole and a good planner. He stared at Nitrate passively.
The next one, Corso, was dangerous in the extreme. He was a hit and run ship boarding marauder who helped supply the Decepticons and kept the fear ramped up so no one would fight back against their invasions and actions. He was a killer who kept trophies. They could be as small as someone's digit or as large as their entire frame. He was unpredictable which trophy he would take but no one wanted to see his collection. That was acceptable to him because for Corso it was a private obsession and pleasure.
Nitrate grinned though it showed no amusement. "Welcome to a new world," he said. "I've already spoken to Prime and he's none too happy to see us here. I was on my way to a base nearby of another freebooter, a mech named Polity. I was going to take over his base but Prime beat me to it. He did so with five Supreme and one titan mechanism. Thoughts?"
The three would think about it, then have some.
=0=Razorclaw
He tracked the outgo and incoming of Autobot fleets as they took off through bridges, then returned later. It was clear to him that Polity was probably in custody and they were building up his base against the newcomers, all of which he knew from personal experience and reputation. He discussed it over the comm lines with Ominous, though both knew they were being monitored. There was nearly no way short of transporting in and out of their bases for them to speak otherwise. Even then, Prime would know it and there would be words.
He considered the situation, then decided to mentally throw it back to Nitrate. If he made headway on Prime he would assist. If he didn't then nothing ventured, nothing lost. The fine balance they had, something that had been undermined by Prime coming for a 'census' had made him more wary of taking risks. He had patience and time. He would wait and see what happened.
=0=Prowl and Company
They gathered in the conference room, filling it with their numbers. Prowl turned on a screen showing the new star maps of the area. He glanced at everyone, then Prime. "This is what we know so far," he began.
=0=TBC 12-06-2020
ESL
impregnable: (im-preg-nu-bl) something that can't be entered or overrun.
redoubt: (ree-dow-T) something that cannot be scaled, usually a fortress. Some are on mountains and thus, they're impregnable. :D See what I did with that? :D
I like naming original characters with something that can't accidentally name a real character and create problems. The names here, Ninlil and Inana are ancient Sumerian names. :D:D:D