The Diego Diaries: Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' (dd8 39)
=0=Moments and a bunch of spent bullets later …
Prowl leaned against the bulkhead as he watched Ratchet triage Optimus with care. He was leaking from two bullet holes himself, one on an arm and another in the shoulder. Optimus had a shot in the ped and one along the side of his helm. Ratchet was in no good condition either, shots in the arm, leg and shoulder slowing him down just a smidge.
Inside the command module of the ship, Jack and Sun sat across the room from each other with their big big guns casually pointed at the Decepticons while a slightly perforated Ironhide ranted and raved at them. Half a dozen 'Cons stood more or less assembled on a line in all manner of broke and bent condition attempting as they did to stand at attention as best their many broken bits allowed. Three lying on the floor were also attempting to comply as Ironhide raved with his canons and such molten with death on each arm.
:Little mech is a caution: -Sun
:He is. Hardie puts great store in his potential: -Jack
:I can see that: -Sun
"AND I WANT YOU TO FACE THAT FAR WALL AND NOT MOVE A SLAGGING BLAH-BLAH-BLAH! OR I WILL BLUCK-BLUCK-BLUCK YOUR SORRY AFTS!" -Little Mech
=0=In the corridor outside
"There," Ratchet said. "You're going to do until you get to the ship and I'll have you go to the Med Bay for permanent treatment." He glanced at Prowl, then crawled on his hands and knees to the big winger who frowned at him.
"You're leaking, slagger. You're messing up the floors of our newest acquisition," Prowl said as Ratchet began to repair temp patches on his wounds.
"Frag you, Granny. If I could stand up I'd kick your aft through that wall," Ratchet said.
"In your dreams," Prowl said as Ratchet temp welded cut out patches of medicinal metal to Prowl's owies. Both he and Prime sagged a bit as Ratchet sent them pain scripts.
"When the medics get here, Ratchet, you will have your wounds tended to," Optimus said.
"Now, Dad," Ratchet said with a snicker. "Where's the fun in that?"
"Send Rung, too," Prowl said. "Who else is in this corridor but us, Loon?"
Ratchet glanced around noting that the crowd had thinned down but the polar bear with a monocle was still here. "Just the bear." He returned to the job just as the medics began to show up.
Partition knelt beside Ratchet. "You look awful. Let me fix that."
"There isn't enough fixer in the world," Prowl said with a snarky smirk.
Ratchet 'accidentally touched the torch of his welder against Prowl's arm enjoying the yelp and frown IMMENSELY. It would take a moment for Ratchet to be repaired, then all of them stood to allow the prisoners to go past including three stretchers with the fallen.
No relation to the other one. That one.
Ratchet gave them all a dazzling smile including Sun, Jack and Ironhide who followed out with the prisoners. "Well, THAT was fun. Who's up for round two?"
Slag was had by all.
=0=On the deck of Fort Borderlands a short time later
They walked into the vast room and took their usual places minus Ratchet who was in the mix again looking for trouble or wounded, whichever came first. Even a fog horn admonition from Ironhide couldn't budge his determination to "LAY THESE SERVOS! THESE MAGIC SERVOS ON!"
Sun volunteered to go with Ratchet as long as he came to his segment of the disaster with him.
Ratchet was down with The Kids™.
Partition, Lancer, Lon and Bezel were coming along as well, culled from the groups that had come to assist ADA! when the word was mentioned over the intercoms of ships and shuttles.
Out they went to do battle against the impure and the unholy.
"That mech is a disaster waiting to happen." Prowl grinned, then glanced at Optimus who was sitting in his chair with his ped propped up. "I put a tracker on Loon."
Optimus laughed. "Good move."
The beat went on but Loon would be easily located if he found another one of Prowl's former jailbirds floating around out there.
=0=Sitting on a shuttle heading for a big battleship where fighting was ongoing
They sat on the cowling at the front of the ship, magnetized to the surface as Sun and Jack flew their shuttles toward a huge battleship that was listing nearby. It was dark mostly but there was the flash of gunfire and a number of fires still burning in the parts that held hull integrity. It was a very interesting and intimidating sight.
They flew toward the hangar door where another shuttle was, then pulled up along side of it. The doors were gone but the space inside was lit by Autobot soldiers, the SeeBees who were engineers and helped with such things.
The hatches came open and everyone jumped to the deck, moving forward until both shuttles were on board. Sun took the sit rep, then turned to the group. "You go with Jack," he said to Jack's crew. "My crew comes with me. You kids, you get to do guard duty here for when we drag them out. This is hunting in the dark and requires specialized skills and experience. You're not going to be a part of this part yet," he said, then glanced at Ratchet. "You command the deck. Loon."
Ratchet flashed him a gigantic smile. "Sure, Dad."
"I can help, Appa," Lancer said. "I've done this before."
Partition looked unnerved but kept it to himself. Apparently, the two had had discussions about this sort of thing.
She looked at him, then stepped closer. "On the other hand, some of the slaggers coming out might need more guarding. I'll stay, Appa."
"That's my femme," Sun said with a grin. He glanced at the others. "We take this side, you take that one, Jack, and we'll meet up amidship. Unless, of course, they surrender."
The mechs with both generals, none of them new and all of them veterans of many a desperate battle chuckled. It was a good duty to get with either and now was no exception.
"Tally ho," Jack said as he began to walk toward the corridor that ran alongside the ship to the bridge unsubbing a big gun as he did.
"See ya," Sun said to Ratchet. "Wouldn't want to be ya." Then he set out for the corridor on the other side with his huge gun.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!? WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO BE ME!?" Ratchet called out as he spread his arms wide and dazzled the slaggers with his best smile.
Huge laughter greeted that as they disappeared down the corridors.
Ratchet turned to the kids, then grinned.
"I hope to be a lot like you, Amma," Partition said to Ratchet.
"Well, then," Ratchet said as he walked to a crate and sat, "Come sit next to me."
Huge laughter greeted that as the kids found their places while up the corridors the sound of shooting could be heard almost right away.
=0=Earth2
They arrived in buses into the habitat sector of the entrance, waited until the atmosphere was restored, then climbed out to take a tour of the facility. All of the bosses were there to greet them.
"Owen Harris," a big man said as he walked toward Harris from the group. He shook hands with Harris, then glanced around. "This is quite a place."
"I look forward to showing you around, Neil. You and the others," Harris said as the group walked toward the two.
Harris would greet them, show them around, then host a light feed toward the end of their visit. By the time they left, half of them would be lining up to do deals with Harris.
Score.
=0=Out there
They walked along the corridors trading shots with the 'Cons as they made their way forward. It would be loud and hotly contested but in the end inevitable. With a precision born of millions of years of experience, Sun and Jack pushed ever onward to the bridge.
=0=Hangar Deck down ship
"That's a lot of shooting," Partition said as he glanced at Ratchet.
Ratchet grinned. "Pity the Decepticons." He glanced at Lancer. "Miss going?"
"Not at the moment," Lancer replied. "The rest of the team are in the fighting somewhere."
"When will we be able to help more, Commander?" Bezel asked.
"Well, that depends. That you're here this far is a good sign that someone has decided that you can learn more and grow. Understand. This is a different level of threat and skill than rounding up drunks or chasing gangsters. This is so tied into teamwork and practice, even most of the time on the other side. Every time we go into battle, the whole thing depends on unit cohesion and learned team work. Some fine orn you might achieve that but know that we won't waste our kids."
"We can come when you need us, Ratchet," Lon said.
"We know and that's why the focus among most of us is to make you senior officers in the Home Guard. Someone has to take up the task," Ratchet said.
"Is that the plan?" Partition asked.
Ratchet nodded. "Yes."
The youngsters considered that, then Lon moved over to sit down next to Ratchet. "What do they really think about us as warriors?"
Ratchet considered the kids before him, anyone of which would die for their people and their empire. "They think, the mechs, that you kids have a lot of promise, that you're good and that they like you. You know … you can love anyone. Most of us do. But you don't have to like them. The mechs like you and think you have guts. They know they can count on you."
The expressions on the faces of the younglings around him would stay with Ratchet a long time.
=0=Gee-Gee
She floated to her ship, then walked to the console. Sitting down behind the barrier, she went over the numbers, then sent a message to Jetta. Rising again, she walked to the staging area, an encircled area of space near where her prison ships were where the mechs were being brought to be left to drift in the firing radius of a number of runabouts. They were cuffed, numbered, then would be towed to the prison ships and the several cargo vessels that doubled as prison transports during moments like this. She would be at it a long time. The number of criminals showing prior warrants from Cybertron and the Empire would be big.
This would be a marginal group at best for rehabilitation.
=0=Fort Borderlands, an outpost of the Prime of Cybertron and the Empire
They walked in, five individuals with malice in their optics. They were heavily cuffed and restrained though it did nothing for their expressions. They walked across the deck of the Operational Center, then were lined up in front of Optimus Prime.
Optimus had them on his radar from the moment the pick up ship landed but he made a show of disinterest and preoccupation for a moment. When he looked up at them, they were a silently smoldering group. "You should have left or surrendered."
No one spoke.
Optimus glanced at Springer and Drift who with several others picked them up out of the wreckage of the ship that Nitrate used to meet them. It had slammed hard into the side of an asteroid and splintered, spilling all of them out into the vacuum. It was as easy as picking berries to round them up, identify and truss them for transport. Optimus has asked for them to be brought to him. "Thank you for cleaning up the area."
Springer grinned. "No problem."
Optimus glanced at the four silent figures. "Identify yourself."
No one spoke.
Prowl who had downloaded the data into a file rose from the command table with pad in hand. He paused before them every inch the cop, then began to do the task for them. "Nitrate of Nova Cronum is a soldier in the special ops branch of the Decepticon Secret Police, a mech with an extensive criminal record before the war and someone without scruples. I'm assuming that you have an extensive record in the Decepticons for war crimes but I haven't taken the time to access that yet. It won't be a problem because after taking Cybertron without a shot we have the big mainframes now."
Prowl glanced at the femme. "Inana of Uraya. You're a sharpshooter and assassin. You were before the war and you were during it. You have prior warrants as well both as a killer for the government during the Clampdown and during The Fall. You have no emotions that anyone is aware of and no spark to speak of."
"Coming from you, Prowl, I'll take that as a compliment," she said as cool as could be.
Prowl stared at her with a cold expression of disdain, then turned to the next three. "Corso, you're a dangerous psychopath who boarded ships, stole everything, then either killed or abandoned the passengers and crew to a terrible fate. You're a killer who collects trophies of your murders and rampages. I will have your ship thoroughly searched."
Prowl turned toward two mechs left. "Ninlil, you're a marauder, a brutal Decepticon battle group commander who has priors as well from Cybertron where you pirated in the shipping lanes of the outer empire. Sole, you were his accomplice and often his alibi. All of you have warrants which I'm executing now." He glanced at Springer. "Personally escort them to the Prison on Mars. Have them taken into custody there. Arrangements have been made." He looked at the group. "Go. Make trouble and I give them leave to shoot you on sight."
It was deeply silent a moment.
=0=TBC 12-13-2020 12-28-2020