The Diego Diaries: Hostage (dd8 43)
=0=Ops Center
"Slag," Prime replied softly. "Does he need me to intervene?"
"Not yet," Prowl replied grimly.
=0=Out there
There was silence then the voice was back. "If I give you something, you're going to let me go? The two of us?"
"Sure. Why not? We have a lot of you now and letting two go means its safer back home without you. Besides, its a long way to anywhere that's safe. You can't go back can you? If we let you go on a ship, a runabout ship that can go distances, then that's on you. I'll will tell you if you hurt anyone with you all bets are off. Understand?"
It was silent for a long time.
Ratchet knelt down to relax as the slaggers beyond did the math. It would take a moment but then they were back.
"You give us a ship and we leave. We take a few of the civilians along, then jettison them. We're going to give them up but we need to get clear of here for the jump," the deep voice said.
"I'll do ya one better. I'll drive the ship and you can let me off at some point before hyper drive. That way we don't have to shoot you for messing with civilians. I'll go with you and you can get out of our way. We have enough slaggers in this bunch that losing a couple won't be much of a loss. Nothing personal you understand." Ratchet who was discussing things off line with Jack and Sun waited in the tense silence for a response.
"You'd just come with us," the voice asked. "Just like that."
"I have before. I give you my word. I've done this before," Ratchet said with a slight grin.
The silence was endless, then the voice was back. "You do understand that if you double cross us we're going to kill you."
"I know. As I said before. I've done this. Trade me for the civilians, then dump me in space before you leap. Maybe someone will shoot you with the civilians but they won't with me. If you want to blast off for who knows where, I'm your only ticket out of here," Ratchet said. "I already have Prime's permission."
"Let me hear it myself," the voice said.
Ratchet who had cut Prime and Prowl in on the conversation a moment before called to him now. :You're on maestro. Put it through the bullhorn in my servo."
A click was heard from the device, then Prime's voice. :This is Optimus Prime. I am aware of your situation and have agreed with the negotiator. The only warning I have is that I want him back without harm. You can go with him and I will be glad to be rid of you. If you cause him any harm or do not let him go, I will personally hunt you wherever you go. Prime out:
Ratchet grinned as he stood again. "Deal?"
It was silent a moment, then the voice was back. "Deal. Where's the ship and let's go."
"It's on its way," Ratchet said as he walked to the door, then ran for the battle shuttle outside.
Everyone watched him go, then turned to Jack and Sun who were grinning. "Where's he going and is he going?"
"He's going. Trust me, Ratchet is going," Sun said with a chuckle.
=0=moments later
Ratchet ran back in, then paused beside the doorway. He grinned at Jack and Sun, then leaned closer to the doorway. "I have a runabout. All you have to do it let all of the civilians go in an exchange. I'll go halfway down the corridor, then the civilians and anyone else can pass me by. I'll go to where you are and if things are good, I tell my guys to leave the ship. When they pull off, we go to the vessel I got for you and we leave. We can decide on the dump off spot when we get away from here but I'm going to have a shuttle follow at distance to pick me up. Agreed?"
It was silent a moment, then the voice was back. "Agreed. Start walking."
Ratchet moved to the hatch, then stepped through. He walked about halfway down the hallway, then paused by the bulkhead. "Send them out."
Voices could be heard, then a mob of individuals began to come out of the room they were held in. Holding children and each other, they walked forward with traumatized expressions. Glancing at him, they hurried past until they were all gone.
Ratchet watched them go, then glanced at the doorway ahead. "Is everyone gone?"
"They are and we have you in our sights."
"Good. I'm coming in now. Raider? Pull everyone out," Ratchet called back. Then he began to walk to the room where the desperadoes were.
=0=On the deck
"Who's Raider?" someone asked in the group as others helped the civilians to board the shuttle.
"Inside joke," Sun said with a chuckle. "Everyone on board. Let him finish this up."
"They could shoot him when they kick him out. If they kick him out," another said as they began to file back to the shuttle nearby in space. A speedy ship was parked next to it.
"They could," Jack said. "Might do it."
With a grin, the two mechs herded all of the soldiers onto the shuttle, then it pulled back to a good distance.
Ratchet walked to the door, then entered the room. Two big mechs were there with guns pointed at him. He grinned. "Ready to go?"
They glanced at each other, then him.
"How come you aren't afraid?" one of them asked.
"Why? We get rid of you. You get to take one of your own side's ship so we don't lose anything but the headache of your custody," Ratchet replied. "Come on. I have things to do." With that, he walked back to the door and left the room.
They stared at him, then crept out, their guns scanning every nook and cranny. When they saw the ship they used Ratchet as a shield to board, then settle inside. One of them took the pilot seat as Ratchet sat on a chair behind him. The other took the front seat with his gun pointing at Ratchet.
"You have bearings, I'll say that," the mech said.
"Well, The Jumble and all," Ratchet said with a grin.
"The Wilderness for us," the mech said.
"My sons, my adopted sons are from there. They ran a road rage crew. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe of Kaon," Ratchet replied as he relaxed in the chair.
They glanced at him, both of them. Then one relaxed slightly. "We know them. We grew up with them in the Youth Center. Slaggers are tough."
"They are," Ratchet said. "Sounds like none of us could catch a break. What are you doing with these slaggers?"
"What do you expect? We got to shoot high castes, got fed three times an orn and worked out a few problems on someone's aft for a change," the other said. He grinned. "It was fun."
"Did you know Prime took Cybertron from the 'Cons without firing a shot?" Ratchet asked as the ship began to move away.
"We heard the rumors. I don't believe them," the first said.
"Hit the switch there for the monitor," Ratchet said.
The big mech did as the other drove them slowly through the debris field of the battle.
"I'm linking in some video from Cybertron," Ratchet said. He did and a scene of Iacon was shown. It was aerial and showed the numerous titans that were sitting in the city and its environs helping the rebuild and the people. Skyscrapers were everywhere including many under way. The scenes changed from refugee camps, construction, different places all over the world and the like. Almost all of them included one or even six different titans who were there to assist. It was pause making.
The two watched it silently, then one sat back. "You're rebuilding then."
"We are," Ratchet said. "We have about 24% of the cities and towns rebuilt. It's slow but its working out. We lost a billion of our people but we're finding them in the Diaspora and bringing them to our colony down the way."
It was silent.
=0=Following
Jack sat in the co-pilot's seat as Rem flew the shuttle. Sun sat in the engineer's seat as the others sat around the back, some on the gun emplacements. It was quiet on the ship as they followed at a discreet distance.
"What do you think will happen, General?" a younger mech asked.
Jack glanced at him. "One of two things. They'll either get outfoxed or they'll surrender. I have my shanix on Ratchet pulling off either. I would be terribly surprised if they leave."
=0=On the fast ship
"I know it was bad. I didn't know it was that bad," the pilot said.
"Its bad but we just discovered an area where there's about 20,000,000 refugees that are dependent on this route being free and safe. That doesn't count 200,000,000 refugees out the other way found by returning battle groups. We have nearly 190,000,000 at our colony world down the way. We hope to recover a billion that are scattered. Its a hard job and this slag doesn't make it easy. Who knows how many are hiding in wretchedness because of groups like yours?" Ratchet frowned. "You could either stay away or join us. There's nothing more important than restoring Cybertron and saving our people. We don't have time for this slag. How many babies are still hungry because Nitrate is a psycho?"
"You'd never take us in," the one said.
"We've taken in about 17,000,000 Decepticons who live in our colony just fine and that doesn't count every Decepticon on Cybertron and the Empire that Prime has recovered. They're good and decent, work to make things better and serve, most of them, in the Autobot Army and Air Force. I did adopt the twins, you know. I don't believe in lost causes. I believe in second chances and fortunately, so does the Prime. We could've shot you down back there and took our chances but we didn't. It could just be that what you believe is slag. Considering who told it to you, I'd consider that the truth."
The mech flying glanced at his partner. "He does have a point. Those twins were maniacs."
"They still are," Ratchet said with a chuckle. "They have a good bond with Prime's stepson and have three infants. They're respected and work hard at the common good. Its a thing, doing that. It makes you feel just that much taller than you were."
"You aren't trying to recruit us are ya because it won't work," the first mech said.
"Why not. It worked for Rampage, Breakdown, Nitro and all of the Seekers. What's so special about you that you can't change and believe in something better than this?" Ratchet said.
"He has another point," the first said with a chuckle.
"You want to go over?" the second asked. "Cybertron looks like slag."
"Then you need to see Autobot City. Don't be put off by the name. Its the largest, best and most amazing Cybertronian city in the known universe and that's not an exaggeration." He tapped in codes into the computer on the wall, then sat back. "Behold. Autobot City, Mars."
The film all refugees get, one that was constantly updated began to play.
=0=Ops Center, Borderlands
"Loon is out of his processor."
"I do not know, Prowl. He might talk them into surrender. Where will they go? There is no place for them to go but here."
Prowl glanced at Optimus. "Maybe."
Prime grinned. "There is no direction they can go that has anything for them. This is the only direction, that and Cybertron."
Prowl considered that as he listened as well as Prime. "If he does this, we're going on the town. Just so you know."
"I never doubted it." Prime grinned. "I'll alert that police."
=0=Out there
They watched a metropolis unlike any they'd ever seen. It was as magnificent as a fairy tale and twice as big. They saw mechs they knew personally and others by reputation. They saw a cityscape that was incredible with commerce and industry. They saw the grocery stores and businesses, some of which were unbelievable. They saw children in school and mechs working, playing and waving at the camera. All of them looked happy.
It was incomprehensible to them.
It was just what Ratchet had hoped for.
=0=TBC 12-17-2020