The Diego Diaries: Thinking (dd8 44)
Sorry about last night. I didn't feel so good. My dogs get up and down all night. It catches up. :D HERE WE GO!
=0=Out there on a vessel
It was quiet as they considered the images before them. Ratchet could almost see them do the math. He waited calmly, slouching in his chair seemingly without a care in the world.
One of them glanced at him. "Prime would never take us in and if he did he'd never let us out of jail."
"That's where you have him confused with Sentinel or the others. This mech is one of us. He knows what it means to be in the gutter and try to find a way out with someone standing on your neck. We have all kinds of mechs living in the colony making lives for themselves who you might never believe could make it. Payload, Nitro and Breakdown are just some of them. You never know what could be possible if you don't try," Ratchet said.
The big mech sitting beside the pilot leaned back in his chair as he gazed at Ratchet with an appraising stare. "Our family couldn't feed us so they put us in the Youth Center so we could eat. They'd come everyday and look in on us, standing by the bars so we could talk. We never believed they didn't love us. They just couldn't keep us."
"What happened to them? Do you know?" Ratchet asked.
The big mech stared at him, then shrugged. "We don't know."
"Tell me their transponder numbers and I'll check. We have the mainframes from Cybertron and all the numbers of the refugee pool we've saved. We also have lists numbering into the millions from scouting teams that find them out there and the Knights as well," Ratchet said.
It was silent a moment, then he sent them to the big medic. He stared at Ratchet as he plugged into a computer console and sent the data with his search request.
Ratchet glanced at them. "I'm Ratchet."
"I'm Posse and this is my brother, Le."
It was silent a moment as Ratchet prayed for a good answer. So far nothing had come back. "Your family sounded like they loved you to death."
Le glanced at Ratchet as he nudged the ship forward through the debris field all around them. "They did. You seem surprised."
"No. I just love good stories. None of us deserved this. Prime knows. That's why he's trying to find everyone. He wants it to be different and we all work for that. That's why we came after you. We don't want the refugees hiding or suffering any more because slaggers make the routes unsafe."
They moved glacially forward toward open space when a ping reached Ratchet. He read the data, then glanced at Posse. "Who's CR-LO?" he asked.
The two flinched then glanced at each other.
Posse stared at Ratchet. "Our ada. Did you find him? Where is he?"
Ratchet read the rest of the report. "Funny you should ask. We picked up a mech who was trying to get to us who was held by Polity whose base we overtook a few ago. He told us about a cluster of settlements that numbered around 20,000,000 not far from here that'll depend on this travel zone being free to be rescued. Your ada is living there."
The two glanced at each other, then both turned toward Ratchet and leaned closer. "What about the others?" Le asked tensely.
Ratchet listened. "The request is still running. What are we going to do now? Does this end so we can go back and get your family? You might need to help them now. Or do we keep going and this turns to slag?"
The two stared at him, then each other in an obvious off line chat. It took a moment of tense conversation, then Posse glanced at Ratchet. "Can we talk to Prime?"
Ratchet nodded. "Let me get him." He opened a line, then said, "Prime. You there?"
:This is Prime, Ratchet:
"I have a couple of mechs who want to talk to you," Ratchet said.
:I'm listening:
Posse gathered his thoughts. "Prime, this is … Posse of Kaon and I'm with my brother, Le. We heard about your colony and found out our ada is in a settlement around here. We want to know what you'd do to us if we come in and help search for him and any other family we got. We heard you don't come down hard on Decepticons."
:We have millions of former Decepticons living freely in our colony. You would have to give an oath on the Matrix and keep it to be allowed to have that option:
Le glanced at Ratchet. "Our ada and ammas are religious. The rest of us … we didn't see a reason to be. No one ever gave us a break."
"Well, we're prepared to do that. Its up to you whether that's misguided on our part or something good," Ratchet said.
"Prime."
:I am here:
"If we give our oaths to you on the Matrix, then we can come in and help look for our family? Our family never had a break. We want to help find them," Posse said.
:Are you prepared to give the oath now?:
"We are," Posse said as Le nodded.
:Very well. Do you give your warrior and personal oath to the Matrix knowing that if you break it, the Matrix will find balance even if it means snuffing your sparks?:
"I do." Le glanced at Posse who nodded.
"We do," Posse said. He glanced at his wrist and felt it, the energetic link that accepted his oath. So did his brother. "We took the oath. Are we going to be arrested when we get there if we come back?"
:Empty your subspace of all but personal affects. No weapons or contraband. Then do what Ratchet shows you to do. I'm making him your interim sponsor:
They glanced at Ratchet who gave them a beautiful smile.
"Lucky me," he said with a chuckle. "Thanks, Optimus. I have this."
:Very well. Come to the base. Prime out:
"Turn this turkey around, boys. We're going home," Ratchet said.
The two stared at him a moment, then Posse spoke in a soft voice. "We never trusted anyone outside of each other and our family in our lives. We're trusting you."
"Then you came to the right mech," Ratchet said with a nod. "Let's go."
It would take a while to turn around, then make their way back to the battle group, a bridge to Fort Borderlands through a shuttle and a short walk to the Operational Center of the installation.
=0=Inside earlier
"Well, this might turn out alright."
Prime glanced at Prowl. "I hope so. We need to get those refugees. Could you ask Jetta to come please?"
Prowl did.
=0=Moments later
They landed the vessel and as they walked off, Ratchet turned to them. "Wait right here." With that, he derezzed from view.
Le and Posse stared at the empty space with surprise, then glanced around warily. At that moment a bridge opened up nearby and Ratchet ran out. "Here I am." He slid to a stop. "I had to do something. Let's go see Prime."
"What did you do?" Le asked with suspicion.
"I had to drop something off and get something else. See?" He pulled a box out of subspace and in it were a nice array of doughnuts. "Nectar of the Gods. Come on," Ratchet said as he began to walk toward the Center.
The two mechs followed warily.
=0=Seconds before The Fortress, Autobot City, Mars
Ratchet felt himself return to his body, then stepped back from the device that allowed him to send himself in pretender form without his own body being present. He looked at the managers running the device, then grinned. He grabbed their box of donuts, subbing them, then ran for the bridge that they opened to send him back. He jumped inside and disappeared.
"That slagger. He took our donuts," the bridge commander at The Fortress at Autobot City said. "How about getting us more?" he asked a youngling Home Guard mech.
He jumped up and ran for the door on a mercy run.
=0=Inside Ops Center, Fort Borderlands on the Bootes Chute
They walked in following Ratchet, two big mechs who looked very out of place. They reached the command table, then Ratchet gestured for them to sit. They did, hesitantly, then stared at Prowl and Prime without expression.
"I am Optimus Prime."
They both nodded. "What happens next?"
"That is always up to you," Optimus replied. "We have your oath so I know that part is a good start. What I want to know now is what you want next."
They glanced at each other, then both Prime and Prowl as Ratchet sat down and placed the box in front of him.
Le leaned forward slightly. "We heard our Ada is around here, somewhere in a colony not so far away. He wouldn't leave without the others. We want to find them and bring them to safety. Ratchet said you might be able to do that since you're looking for them anyway. We want a part of that."
Optimus nodded. "We are looking for and rescuing our people wherever they are. We will not be leaving one behind. But we have problems like this that slow things down. We cannot solve this problem and help our people when groups like yours come through my sovereign territory."
"Nitrate wanted to have a kingdom. They all do," Posse said bitterly. "We were worker bees. I won't say we didn't do hard things … things we wouldn't want to talk about, some of them, but we were worker bees."
Prime nodded. "What do you feel about sitting here with Autobots all around?"
Posse and Le glanced around, then gazed levelly at both. "We don't like it. It feels like the shot's going to come out of the shadows and kill us but our family is out there and we have to find them. We were put into a Youth Center so we could eat. Our family couldn't keep us but they came everyday outside the bars to see how we were and tell us we weren't dumped."
"We weren't," Le said with a defiant expression on his face. "They came every single orn. They didn't do so good but we did. We weren't hungry there but we hated it. We didn't owe Cybertron a thing and when the revolution came we joined the side with the wrecking balls. We got our family to a good place before it got bad and then we got separated. We want them with us. Its our turn to take care of them."
Prowl considered them, then glanced at Prime. "I called Nitro to come get them. He can help them settle." He glanced at the two. "The Former Decepticon Association handles you from this point. If you can follow the rules and stay out of trouble, you might find the new Cybertron we've built on Mars a place you want to live in. As for your family, we're going to get them and all the others once these slaggers are bagged. Stuff like this makes it harder and longer to do that."
"We want to come when you do. Both of us," Posse said as he glanced at Prime. "Both of us are going to come."
Heavy treads on the deck caught their attention as Nitro walked toward the command table. "You rang?" he asked with a grin.
"You have new clients," Ratchet said as he rose. "This is Le and Posse, brothers. They want a better life and they want to help find their family which is somewhere around here. When we get these slaggers swept up, then they're going to help us. I vouch for them."
"OLD MECH!"
Everyone turned to a screen where Ironhide was talking to someone in the Center from the deck of a ship.
"Ironhide," Ratchet said with a giant smile.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING VOUCHING FOR 'CONS!?"
Ratchet stared at him, then the two mechs who were glancing from him to Ironhide. He held out the box. "Donut?" he asked with a giant smile.
"Don't mind if I do," Jetta said as he came up behind the group.
=0=TBC 12-19-2020