The Diego Diaries: Clean Up (dd8 36)
=0=On the command deck of Tennyson of Praxus
Optimus Prime sat in the command seat of the giant vessel as the Autobots began to do rescue. Having targeted the ships who held Seekers, they were moving through the wreckage to find them first. Everywhere in the heaving mass there were beacons from Seekers and Decepticons who wanted rescue and surrender as refugees from the 'Cons.
Seekers were flying in the mess, beaconing ships where they were for others to contact. Some of them were standing on the decks of disabled ships with their families waiting to be told where to go so they could fly them out of danger. There were mechs and femmes floating in the debris field who had fallen out of their vessels and others who had jumped.
"I have the report from Typhoon, sir," Prowl said as he paused in front of Optimus who was brooding as he watched the detailed shots of what was happening. "The pulse that was given when they teleported in was enough to disturb the forward momentum of their retreat but not enough to damage their ships physically beyond the inevitable collisions that provoked. What's stopped all of them in the water so to speak was the electrical charge they put with the surge that's shorted out all of their vessels and electronics. The only way that they'll be communicated with is by transponder."
"Very well," Prime said as he sorted through his personal files to find one for Seekers. He sat back, then opened the signal for Seeker transponders for the crew ahead, then linked it through the heavy duty arrays of Scattershot for broadcast. :This is Optimus Prime: he said in his helm, the text of which would go out to those he targeted. :We have disabled the ships that you travel upon and are ready to receive anyone who wants to defect. All you have to do is come without weapons. If you cannot come send a ping to me through this channel and we can locate you. We will then come get you ourselves: He glanced at Prowl. "I'm sending locator signals to Tactical."
Prowl nodded then walked there to begin to organize pick ups. Even as he did dozens and then hundreds of Seekers began to leave ships, some of them heavily laden with family and others who couldn't make it on their own. Many were covered with children, adults and elders who clung to them in desperation. There were those who were injured as well. As they began to fly away from the chaos, hundreds of Autobot Seekers swarmed out of ships to go help them.
A message came in as Prime watched.
Smokescreen turned to Optimus. "We have a message. Its 'Con. They want help defecting. They have families and they're desperate. Some of them are stuck on board in the middle of gun battles."
Prime glanced at Prowl who was already sending messages to shuttles to attend. He sat back filled with turmoil as this, the biggest interdiction they ever tried continued. There were literally dozens and dozens of ships and hundreds if not thousands of prisoners. He put in a call for the Beta and Secondary Standby fleets to come. He also called for the back up prison ships to bulk transport prisoners even as Gee-Gee and her crew burst out of a bridge nearby with the three usually used for such actions.
=0=Impactor's Revenge
"Well, we're on it," Drift said as they flew with speed toward a big battleship from one of the newcomer's groups. It was drifting and there was fire burning in the some of the interiors that still held bodily integrity. "Lissie and Hercy are coming. Kup and the others are going to those two cruisers," he said nodding to a pair that were cracked into each other in collision and seemed welded together like two crossed fish. A shuttle was already there and another followed commanded by Kup. One followed that was flown by a big mech named Tidal.
"This was anti-climatic in a way, though it looks like a lot of hand-to-hand ahead," Springer said as their destination loomed before them.
"I like handiwork," Sideswipe said as he stood up to check his guns.
Sunstreaker who was getting a medi-kit ready grinned. "Right," he said ducking a punch. "We can send them to Typhoon through the bridge. The medics there will help them and Typhoon is both our medical, refugee and prison transport destination."
"Good enough," Springer said as he stood, then walked to the windows that lined the shuttle. "There they are."
Sapo muscled the ship around, then drifted slightly toward a hangar bay opening where a mass of Seekers stood with children and obvious civilians in a protective circle. He came as close as he dared in the situation, then formed a tractor attachment to the vessel which was tilted away from them at a 45 degree angle. He slowly turned his shuttle to line up which they did given that there was no up and down in space. No one was going to fall changing ships.
Springer popped the hatch to come face-to-face with a big Seeker mech who looked as uncomfortable as he felt himself. :You ready to come across?:
The big mech nodded. :Our families first. We're holding the hatches inside. The 'Cons with us are trying to break through:
Springer glanced at Drift who leaped the divide followed by several others. They pulled their guns, moved gently through the group gathered, then walked to the hatches that several Seekers were guarding. The door mechanisms were fused and the sound on the other side were tools being used to break through.
:Frag: Drift said as the mechs stood with the Seekers, all of them ready to defend the doors when the Decepticons on the other side managed to break through. While that was happening, Springer was catching children, elders and other civilians as they jumped across to funnel to the rear of the shuttle to bridge to Typhoon who was in the distance throwing menace at everyone there.
=0=Kup and Company
They moved close to the ship's cracked hangar doors, then leaped across. As they did, the Seekers there kept stepping out with family to fly away.
Kup watched them, then walked to a group who appeared to be handling their escape. "Call them back. We can bridge them to a titan through our shuttle."
The big Seekers stared at him, then glanced out the door. He nodded to the others, then stepped out to transform and chase after the others who were slowing at different intervals in the dangerous carnage floating around outside.
"Start sending your people to our shuttles, the most vulnerable first," Kup said as Lissie jumped onto the deck. "We can get them straight to safety."
They would empty the ship, one that was commanded by Seekers that pretended to be loyal to Inana but were just buying time to get their people to safety. By the time the last one stepped through, the first cruiser was empty of occupation including the redirecting of those who had left earlier. Now Tidal and Kup had to take the other one which was filled with unrepentant Decepticon soldiers.
=0=Borderlands Ops Center
The data inflowing indicated that several hundred, nearly a thousand Seekers had been passed through the shuttle bridges to Typhoon and Scattershot so far. They were mostly in good condition though a steady diet of good food and some maintenance would enhance that level of fitness considerably. Their children and elders were in the best shape, something that wasn't the least bit surprising.
Rainmaker had left with Starscream to welcome two more clan chieftains back into the fold with his usual intense sense of delight. It would be a swinging time in Aerie Hill from now until the last Seeker was pulled off the last ship.
It would take a while.
The 'Cons were being welcomed back by reps from the Former Decepticon Association who were going to oversee their medical and law enforcement screenings, then handle them through Immigration to the Holy Land as some of them were calling it after watching videos of the colony on Mars while waiting their turn.
All was going well.
=0+In a place where it wasn't
Warlord and his brother, Saber stood on the hull of a ship with Springer and Drift. The others had been deployed around the vessel with a 'hull breacher' as the big ship boarding Seekers were called. They'd been given a spot and were waiting for The Boss to give the go.
Lissie aka The Boss stood beside Drift with an inexplicably big gun for a femme her size. She'd scanned the ship with specialist gear that the oldest mechs and femmes among them, the soldiering variety at least, always seemed to pull out of their afts. She had determined where everyone was, then commanded everyone to the places where they were waiting at the moment. She was cogitating on The Plan™.
:She's so small:
Springer glanced at Drift, then Lissie who was still cogitating. :So is Hercy and on a good orn when the weather conditions are just right I can still feel where he kicked me:
Drift chuckled. :Well, there is that:
:No kidding: Springer said. :By the way, I thought I was the leader of this wing of the field team:
:You are: Drift said, then grinned. :To me:
Springer guffawed in spite of himself, then Lissie glanced upward at him with a grin. He lost his as he stared down at her, a femme he loved and admired with the fury of a thousand suns. :What now, Amma?:
:Why, my darling angels, we blast them: she said with a smile as bright as Sunspot's. She pointed her big, big gun downward at an intersection of the ship's compromised outer hull, then let fly a few rounds.
Steel flew up missing most of them, then a gaping hole appeared. With a grin and a nod, she stepped forward then fell straight down through the hole. As she did gunfire opened up inside.
With startled expressions on their faces, it was a foot race to see who could drop into the hole next. Drift and Springer actually were stuck a short moment, then both fell through.
Sunstreaker who was frowning that they were down there first and there wouldn't be any left for him laughed loudly. :WHAT A PAIR OF DIP SHITS!: he said, then dived head first into the hole.
Sideswipe who was next laughed loudly. :WHO WOULD KNOW BETTER!?: Down he went after his brother.
By the time everyone at that point in the hull made it inside, the fighting would be extreme.
=0=Fire in the holey-O
They lay flat on the deck as someone with a big portable plasma gun blasted everything at their end of the dark corridor. Everyone finally glanced up when the sound of several mechs moving a heavy object could be heard running away from them.
Springer sat up. "Sound off!"
"FINE HERE!"
"FRAG! I HAVE A HOLE THOUGH MY ARM!"
"GOOD HERE! STOP BLEEDING ON ME, SLAGGER! THIS IS A NEW DETAILING!"
"FRAG YOU, SUNNY!"
A soft thud could be heard as in the glow of the emergency lights, Auntie Lissie dropped down from the ceiling where she'd jumped when the shooting was in earnest.
The mechs stared at her, silenced by her audacity.
"What … how did you do that?" Springer asked.
"Teach me." -everyone there
Lissie smiled. "They're getting away, my angels." With that, she spun and with guns, two now, pointing forward she beat the band for the corridor down the way.
They watched her go, glanced at each other, then ran forward together toward the hatch where she slipped from view. They almost made it through but for Sideswipe and Springer bunching up together.
"GET YOUR AFTS OUT OF THE WAY! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!" Sunstreaker bellowed as the two finally squeezed through. "WHAT THE FRAG, SIDESWIPE! SPRINGER, LOSE SOME OF YOUR ASS OR GET BEHIND ME!" He dashed through the door swiftly.
Drift who was behind him grinned. "That's my mech you're talking about and his ass is just fine." With that, he jumped through the hatch to follow the thundering herd.
"BLAMMA-BLAMMA-BLAM-BLAM!"
=0=TBC 12-09-2020