The Diego Diaries: Tell It (dd8 61)
=0=On patrol that night
They reached the huge roundabout at Tri-Cities after tending to a possible brawl in the club zone of Retriarius. Things were rather calm around the colony though drunk and disorderly would be their biggest call out for the evening's rounds.
Waiting for them, Drift and Springer sat their steeds, chatting quietly together.
The group rode up with surprise, pulling up as they reached the pair.
Hercy grinned. "What are you doing here?"
"Our job," Drift said. "What's happening with the brawl?"
"It was easily settled. How did you manage to come on patrol? What happened to the imp?" Kup asked.
"Well," Springer said, "we went into the office and got run over. Maxi figured out how to have him there on our shift, keeping him in a crib in the office with Sefette taking care of him on her duty shift."
I was wondering how you'd do that," Kup said. "Good."
Springer grinned. "Well, lets go."
With that, they began to ride forward toward the human habitations beyond.
=0=The office about the same time
Sefette stood over the little bassinet to see if the baby needed anything. He was in recharge, his tiny servos clutching his teddy bear to his tiny chassis. He was small, very cute and very sweet. Glancing at the panel nearby with a running tally of calls and messages, she walked back to her console, plugged in and began to do her job.
=0=On the edge of the parking lot of Earth2
They stared at the building which was glittering with lights, albeit those of the nighttime spectrum. They were timed to come up slowly, be daylight for the required amount of time, then slowly dim out to evening. The lights that were still brightly on were those typically on at night for security or that of the 'downtown' which would be lit with traffic lights and other security illumination small towns could field.
"That Frazer slagger really chaps my ass," Springer said as he stared at the building with enhanced vision.
Drift nodded. "He's going to regret his remarks when Ada nails him. You know he's going to go to Diego in an orn or so anyway."
"He told us to be ready to go with him," Springer said. "I, for one am looking forward to it."
"Call us. We'll go, too," Hercy said.
Springer glanced at the regulars who were with him. "Maybe I will."
"You will, slagger," Kup said.
With a grin, Springer moved onward followed by his team. It would be a long and largely uneventful duty tour.
=0=Bosom of Love™
It took a bit of time to corral all the peewees for their berth beds but when it was accomplished and the bigger kids hugged and kissed, Ironhide and Ratchet wandered down to their own followed by Robby. He walked over to his big round bed by the window, climbed onto it, walked in a circle, then sat down heavily. He then fell over on his side and into recharge.
Watching him, Ratchet grinned. "That's a slagging fine cow, Ironhide."
Ironhide who was walking to the berth to crash glanced at the window. "That's THE slagging fine cow." He sat down, then fell backwards with fatigue. "I'm pooped."
"You and me both," Ratchet said. "Being the grand genitor is hard work." He sat on the berth, lay back and vented a contented sigh. "Ah. Rest."
It was silent a moment.
"Springer agreed that I need to have some quality time with the infant. Good move that. They have no idea what his favorite munition is and they don't know if he prefers the Metro or the armory train system for getting around the colony."
Ratchet grinned. "How would he ever be a fully rounded little mech without such experiences?"
"I told him that. He agreed. Why wouldn't he? I'm Ironhide." (grin)
(grin) "And no one does it better."
"No," Ironhide said with great contentment. "I knew it was only a matter of time for those two. You grow up and priorities change. Having those three little kids helped them decide this issue. I'd bet on it."
"Someone told me that they sometimes checked on them, stopping by the playground at Sparkling Day to watch them at recess," Ratchet said.
"That's sad," Ironhide said. "Now they get their own and they'll do a great job." He glanced at Ratchet. "No one would've thought either of us would do the family thing. No one probably expects them. But its a measure of their maturity that they gave this thought and decided to jump. Don't tell them that I said so."
(grin) "I won't."
(grin) "Good. Good night, Ratchet."
"Good night, Ironhide." (grin)
=0=The next morning
They rode into the barn to drop off the horses at the end of the shift. Laughter, jokes and conferences about who had to write which report were had, then they walked out to the street. Drift and Springer transformed, then sped out to go to Metrotitan to get Tell while the others watched them go.
Hercy grinned. "Let's go to the Diner and wait for them," he said as he stepped out to walk the mile or so distance it was from the stable to the junction that would lead to the Diner on the corner of Temple and Sports Center Road. They would go inside and hold a space for the two and an eighth of a whole.
So to speak.
=0=The Watch Tower at Metrotitan
They transformed, then walked into the building, pausing here and there to get information on this and that before taking an elevator to the top floor where their palatial office was located. The outer office was buzzing as Maxi got the orn going. She glanced at them, then grinned. Following them into the big office, she watched as the two big mechs walked to the bassinet to stare inside.
"He's the greatest baby," Sefette said as she picked him up to give to Springer. "He's taken care of and fed. Right now, he just wants to hang out."
"Thank you, Sefette. This means a lot to us," Drift said as Springer nodded.
"This makes night shift so much more fun," Sefette said with a chuckle. "I love babies."
"We all do," Maxi said with a big smile.
They chatted a moment, then walked out to go to the Diner. They would do so by Metro.
=0=A couple of joors later
They walked in, a passel of committee members heading for the conference room for the staff meeting and general councilor meet up where all the news and business of the colony, Cybertron and the Empire would be discussed. For some time, five different civilian individuals from Cybertron had been made members and came to the meetings via video conference. They were online now chatting with those already in the room.
When Springer and Drift walked in they were swarmed and congratulated. After a moment of pleased conversation, everyone sat while Springer pulled Tell out of his hold. He was wrapped in a blue blanket and no one could see him. Springer sat next to Drift, then lay the baby on the table. Pulling the blankets away, he moved the baby closer to the middle of the table so everyone could see him. He was dozing and his baby was tucked in beside him.
"Oh, my," Neo said. "What a beautiful child. One of these orns he's mine."
Huge laughter greeted that as more came including Prowl. "I see my latest infant is here." He got a load of slag for that as he sat and scattered datapads around the table. "They're all mine."
"Actually, Prowler, they're mine," Ratchet said as he walked in with Ironhide and a few of the elders. He sat down then reached for the baby to slide him over to smile at him. "My grandson. You're helping keep the Prowler in his place … last place."
"Care to wager?" Prowl asked with a smirk.
"How about a sack race instead," Ratchet replied.
Huge laughter ensued as the last came in and took their seats. Tell was slid back to his Abis and the games began.
"First of all, congratulations to Drift and Springer for their new son, Tell of Polyhex-Kaon of Cybertron," Prime began around the congratulations and applause. "We have a new Autobot and I find that very pleasing. Children are our future and everyone of them are precious." He looked at the datapad, then frowned slightly. "Unlike our agenda."
Chuckles rounded the room as everyone checked their place on the lineup. Until then, one could do any number of things off line and it would appear they were paying attention anyway.
Prowl frowned at everyone, then began. "Springer and Drift. Details on my newest son."
Huge laughter.
They glanced at each other, then Drift sat forward. "He was available. Thanks."
Huge laughter.
"MY TURN! I'M THE AMMA OF THE INFANT IN QUESTION! YES, I, RATCHET OF IACON AM THE AMMA OF THE SAID IN-"
A donut from a winger took care of the preamble.
Ratchet ate the donut, then began. "We have about 1,257 injuries with 233 critical or serious. There were about 1,672 fatalities among the slaggers and I expect all of the injuries including the worst cases to recover, though some of those might limp or twitch when they didn't before. On our side, there were about 14 injuries, none of them serious but accrued from ship-to-ship combat.
"It was amazingly easy as far as casualties because I, RATCHET OF IACON DID PROVIDE THE STRATEGY THAT MADE THIS A TEXTBOOK OPERATION OF IMMENSE EAS-"
Another donut down the pie hole.
"We have a lot of new cases of different things from dementia to missing limbs coming from the refugees but all of it is being met, needs wise. All in all, my department is performing at a stratospheric level of competence. I'd take the full credit but my personality won't allow it."
HUGE laughter and a few more donuts from several directions.
"Can someone get me a drink? It'd help with these," Ratchet asked as he piled up the donuts and began to eat them.
Even Prowl snorted. "Springer? Drift? Report?"
Drift glanced at Springer who was staring at Tell's tiny peds. He glanced up. "Uh, we had a few brawls last night. Nothing serious. Mostly inter-familial or old neighborhood grievances. We have the usual drunks, a few domestic but all in all, quiet given the partying that was going on. We've developed a fully operational gang database that can help Hauser and the Gang Squad track our now fifteen clearly identified gangs. We're building profiles of organization as well as individuals. Its coming along.
"The night was made real by the brawl at Earth2 during Christmas Surprise Eve. My hero and yours, James 'Big Jim' Johnson grabbed a girl he was stalking and got into a fight when others stepped in to protect her. She's moving to Unidad to get away from him and Big Jim is cooling his Johnson in the jail. I have the report. Did you get one, Ada?" he asked.
Ratchet nodded. "I have it. I was going to read it during the Good of the Order for the lulz."
Laughter.
"We were also given a thorough and comprehensive berating by the one and only, Cameron Frazer who also has a problem with femmes. He managed to humiliate himself in front of his parents and everyone else. Other than that, all is well in our neck of the woods. Mostly."
It was silent a moment, then Neo glanced at Ratchet. "You were there? What did he say?"
Ratchet nodded. "Cameron Frazer has a problem with aliens. He can't figure out how we work and why we don't give them everything we have, then leave this space. He's a nasty piece of entitlement and I confined him to the habitat. However, tomorrow he has to go to Diego Garcia to do requisitions for the human colony here and since I confined him, I get to see if he goes anyway. If he does, I expect Drift and Springer to go with me to bag and tag him." Ratchet sat back with a huge smile. "I only take the best looking mechs with me on these types of adventures."
"OLD MECH! QUIT FLIRTING!"
TBC 01-08-2021 01-12-2021