The Diego Diaries: 91 and 1 (dd8 175)
=0=About the same time as the trial
He walked from the ship to the jetway that connected his arriving vessel to the Autobot City Municipal and Interplanetary Airport, It was the biggest on Mars minus the military airport north of the city and the one through which all humans entered. It was the port of entry and held Immigration and Refugee offices that either permitted or not visitors.
The group he flew with were tourists coming for their stay while on the other side of a vast floor to ceiling wall as many were getting ready to leave for Earth. It was noisy, excited and as big a place as he'd ever seen. Pulling a suitcase and carrying a computer bag, Martin Polaski walked forward with the group as the flight crew advised them. Then he saw a man with a sign standing nearby that held his name.
Glancing at the crew, he walked toward the human who wore survival gear. Pausing before him, he held out his hand. "Jase Daniels?" he asked.
Jason Daniels shook his hand. "I'm here to get you. You have to go through Immigration so we have to get into line," he said as he walked with Polaski to join the end of the tourist group.
No one noticed Daniels so engrossed were they at being on another planet. It was fortunate. Everyone had seen him during his trial and there was no love lost for his family. It surprised Polaski that he'd been sent to fetch him. They moved rather swiftly making small talk about the weather when someone shouted. Both stared at him, then the window where he was pointing.
Outside, two massive bots were in an argument. Both of them were Dinobots and this was the first disagreement in AGES between Slag and Grimlock since their mental capacities were being enlarged. The sound of their arguing was sealed out by construction of the building but their gestures and growing rage wasn't. Everyone in the vast room halted in place to watch.
There were other mechs outside, some of them doing this and that who seemed hardly phased but kept an optic on them to know when to duck. It was then that Slag transformed and shot a bale of fire at Grimlock the size of a city bus.
Exclamations of surprise and fear roared upward inside as some of the visitors leaving and those going ran to the windows on their respective sides to watch and film the encounter. They did so in time to see Grimlock transform into a huge reptilian monster, then return the fiery favor.
This was about the most exciting thing those gathered had ever seen. The only one watching the show with anything but fear and excitement was Polaski. He watched it with an appraising eye and an almost mystic sense of calm.
=0=Central Emergency Services Command Center, Fortress Maximus, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars, Cybertron and the Empire, Postal District 2B
"I understand. Did you alert the security force at the Hangar District HQ? They're what? They didn't call about that. They're occupied then? Okay. I'll send someone else," the dispatch officer said. He listened some more. "I'll let the Chief know. Help is on its way." He punched a button, then two others. Waiting, someone finally answered. "Hi, Springer. Grimlock and Slag are at it at the airport and the intervention team is helping someone stuck under a sagging ship, something about gears giving way or something. Anyway, the ships can't leave until they get hosed." He listened. "Okay. I'll log it on. Caio." He noted the call, the time, then turned back to his partner to hear the rest of the story.
=0=At the office
They walked to the elevator, took it down, then hopped a bridge to the area in a pinpoint jump. With the two came Lon, Bezel, Hercy and Kup who were waiting for the both to get finished catching up on the overview and come to the dojo. The four had a two joor downtime left on their break and were going to eat before going back to the standoff after spending two full orns on duty. All of them stepped out at the scene.
Drift handed Tell to Springer out of his hold, then pointed to the sidelines. "Go."
Springer cursing his still bound servo took his son, then walked back to a safe margin with plenty of room to run.
"GRIMLOCK!" Drift shouted.
The two who were locked in bodily contact paused long enough to see who was calling. Then they let go of each other to charge the group.
"Oh frag," Drift said before the fire hit all of them in the face.
The humans inside were shrieking with horror and delight. The flight crews and airport staff watched with amusement. It wasn't their first rodeo.
=0=At a trial
Prime and the others waited in the hallway when Prowl received the call. He frowned deeply. "Grimlock and Slag are holding up ships at the airport. Springer and Drift took it. Didn't you say he was downed for a few orns?"
Ratchet who was also frowning nodded. "That slagger. Who wants to bet they have the baby with them?"
"Like father, like son?" Prime asked with a slight grin.
"He didn't get it from me. I wasn't the slagger that took two of them to Foofer" Ratchet said. "I'll be right back unless you need me right now?"
"No," Prime said. "I do not think this will be a trial. I want to know what Reset is made of."
"Most likely illness and early onset dementia," Ratchet said. "I already put him in to Rung for a full work up."
"I would like to know about Mik and Will-M as well, Ratchet," Prime said as Ratchet walked toward the door to leave. The two younger mechs had just been taken by cab with a house medic to the Medical Center after Ratchet had examined them in the hallway. They were both disoriented, Mik more so than Will-M which wasn't a good sign at all.
"ON IT!" Ratchet called as he raced away.
"Its a slagging madhouse around here. I *HATE* Dinobots," Prowl fumed.
Prime grinned slightly. "I know."
=0=Inside the room
It was silent for a moment as Reset fumed in his chair. His sons had stepped out and it had finally come back to him that they had in the muddled pool that was his processor. It had been always so, like he was seeing things through a film but it'd gotten worse since they arrived and all he wanted to do was fight. He looked at Blackstone who was staring at him with a pained expression and what he took to be sympathy. "What now? Can he do this?"
Blackstone nodded. "He can do more but he prefers to have the lowest possible control of things. We operate under Cybertronian law. I'm here to represent you, Reset, in all things. I'd like you to let me plead for you that you're impaired by your illness and that this is not the mech you would normally be otherwise. I'll ask for you to go to the hospital with your children and get help. That way no charges will be made and you can feel better. Fighting this is a losing game. I'll represent you through this entire process until you feel better and can live on your own without impairment."
Reset stared at him. "I'm impaired?"
"I believe you are," Blackstone said softly. "This illness can muddle things and it appears to me that you aren't the same mech you probably are otherwise. Give me a chance to set up a plan for you that will help you get better without anymore problems. Let Dok take care of the stand down and I'll take care of you," Blackstone said gently.
"I'm impaired?" Reset asked again as if confused. "Will I go to prison? He says I'm a traitor."
"Prime is a fair mech. When I tell him you're ill and you can't manage things now, he'll let me help you. He only wants everyone to be okay," Blackstone said.
Reset sat back looking suddenly frail. "My sons. Are they in the hallway?"
"They went to the hospital. Why not come out with me and I can explain. All you have to do is say nothing and allow me to help you. I'll go to the hospital with you and you can be with your sons. Is that okay with you?"
"Will you stay with us? You won't just walk away will you?" Reset asked as it seemed he was near to tears.
Blackstone squeezed his servo. "I'll stay with all three of you until you're well again and can take care of things yourself. I will get court permission to be your guardian ad litum. I promise."
Reset stared at him with rising anxiety. "Alright. My boys need me now."
Blackstone rose, then helped Reset stand. "Are you alright? Can you walk?"
"I think so. I feel so strange, like someone left me behind," Reset said as he walked slightly unsteadily to the door with Blackstone.
"The feeling that Meadow Lands gave you to help you; it might be going away now," Blackstone said as they both stepped outside. He glanced at Prime and the others who looked concerned. "I think Reset and I will go to the hospital to be with the boys. He's not feeling well."
Prime nodded, then called for a cab. "We can help you get him there," he said as he took Reset's arm gently. "Come, Reset. Let us get you to the Medical Center. They can help you feel better when you get there and you will all be safe."
It was a slow progress to the cab. Prowl and Blackstone entered it with Reset, then the others silently watched it drive away.
No-A vented a sigh. "I hate this."
Prime and the others nodded.
"At least they're safely with us," Hardie said as they walked toward the door to leave.
There was that.
By nightfall, Mik would be in intensive care, Reset would be in medical stasis in a high care ward sedated against the rush of situational dementia that came over him during the consult and Will-M would be sitting beside him holding his servo, alternating between his father and his brother as he sat in fear of the same thing coming over him.
=0=Airport
By the time Ratchet had arrived the fight was over. Kappa had been called. She came and gripped Slag ending the battle. Grimlock who was slightly in love with Kappa transformed to follow her to the big hangars where Slag would be put into a time out box in Xantium's hold, the one with the fireproof lining.
"Well, that was … something," Ratchet said as he turned to smile at his singed son and a few others. "You okay or do I get out my silly putty?"
Drift chuckled. "We're okay. Right?" he asked the others.
They nodded with smirks of their own. Then everyone turned toward the window to wave at the tourists and end up on their youtube reels.
By the time Martin Polaski was granted work status and passed over to Daniels for delivery, the terminal was nearly empty between the rushes. They walked to a vehicle after Polaski geared up, then climbed in and began to leave. It would be a long drive to Earth2. Daniels would learn the following.
1. Polaski was a security systems and communications expert, someone who was noted on his resume for 'advanced thinking and imagining of possible technology and its applications', something that had intrigued Owen Harris to the point where he was hired.
2. He was a skilled scientist who tinkered part time in weapons systems for 'kicks', was an expert at firearms and was someone who could manage a security team, aka Big Jim and the Boys like a drill sargent, something that sold Harris on his hire.
3. He was a big man who'd been in the military, had combat, both hand-to-hand and arms training out the wazoo. He could also fly helicopters and could land fixed wing planes if the pilot died. It was something that added cred to his blank slate for Daniels. Daniels liked to have muscle around for protection.
What Daniels would not learn was …
Even if the skills were true, the man wasn't. He as someone who had enormous skills, had spent two and a half years devising this persona to get on world and was here with his own agenda. Polaski was someone who'd gone through extensive facial reconstruction, tattoo removal and had learned to modify his voice with a small implant garnered from a trove of tech that had been captured by him in his relentless campaign to create a way to go to Mars in a capacity that gave him contact with the bosses so he could become an indispensable right hand man.
What Daniels didn't know was that 'Polaski' had planned everything for years during his time in federal prison for high crimes and misdemeanors and during the long silence of his unknown whereabouts after escape when he was taking what he needed from everywhere he needed to go for his next phase. When all was accomplished even his mom wouldn't recognize the man he'd morphed into, one who had a lot of ideas and a few paybacks to deliver.
As they drove onward through the colony heading for Earth2, the construct formerly known as Silas had foolproofed a new identity that had passed every inspection to get to the surface of Mars. He was back in business.
Leland Bishop was dead.
Long live Martin Polaski of of the south side of Chicago, Illinois.
=0=TBC 05-27-2021
ESL or anyone else, just in case: caio: (chow) Italian for buh-bye.