The Diego Diaries: Ahead (dd8 212)
(It took HOURS to mow my front yard the grass was so high. It comes up to my shoulders in the backyard and my cats LOVE it. :D I usually groom the slag out of things but this year was harder to do that because I'm a lazy old bag. I would have not done it but the neighbors came over from two houses and helped me. I think they were glad to get the eyesore fixed. :D:D:D (My mower died) The Festival of Primus always happens on July 16th but its going to be later than that day because of the refugee problem, my lawn and other slag. It always takes days to finish an event anyway. Just so you know … The Festival of Primus is Friday, always on July 16th if I were better organized. HAPPY FESTIVAL! I'll begin it at least on that day.) HUGS!
=0=Going on evening
The kids came and went, heading for their sleepover 'camping' with the elders. Their 'punishment' which was greeted with cheers and grins by both young and old was due to end the orn before the Festival of Primus or as its technically called 'the next day' so they were going to make the most of it.
Ironhide and Ratchet watched the last kid dance out the door and then it closed. It was silent, then Ratchet grinned. "I ordered everything that I could think of."
Ironhide grinned. "So did I."
=0=Everywhere else
"Do you want more chips with that?"
"I DO, APPA! I LOVE YOU!"
"MORE CHIPS FOR SPUD!"
"AMMA TUB TUB! I LOVE YOU!"
"BWAHAHAHAAHAHAAA!" Amma Tub Tub and Appa Rap-Pooh
=0=Elsewhere in the Everywhere
"So we're going to be here one more night, Amma."
"That's always a good thing, Fireball."
"Its like camping, Amma. I love being here but its going to be good to have home back normal again."
"I know, Quadrus. Can you help me set the table?"
"We all can, Amma." -nine big boys
=0=Elsewhere elsewhering
"You want me to read all those books to you, baby?"
"I do, Appa."
"For you the moon, Praxus."
{{{SMILE!}}}
=0=In the Bosom of Love™
A knock on the door let in a couple of kids carrying boxes from various takeout places that was being expedited by Speedy Delivery. They set them on the table, chatted up a moment, they went cheerfully off again to do their duty to Prime and colony.
Ironhide peered into the boxes, then grinned. "Here." He then exchanged a few items, then handed one to Ratchet. "This one is yours. This is mine."
Ratchet glanced into the box, then dazzled him with a smile. "It is."
They both walked to their chairs, then sat with a box on the floor and a beer in hand.
"What do you wanna watch?" Ratchet asked as he took over the remote.
"Surprise me but no chick flicks," Ironhide said.
"Ah, you're missing out on the elixir of life, Ironhide," Ratchet said though he didn't like rom-coms himself. They usually could be settled with a single honest conversation but never were. He flicked through the channels, then settled on Disney Plus. "How about we binge watch The Clone Wars?"
"How many parts?" Ironhide asked as he pulled out an entree that called to him.
"Well, there's seven seasons and each has twenty-two parts. That means we can watch 154 chapters of this book," Ratchet replied.
"How long are the chapters?" Ironhide asked as he dug in to eat the first of several entrees in the box.
"About 22 minutes. That makes this whole series about 56 hours long," Ratchet calculated.
Ironhide considered that. "Bookmark it and find another one."
"Rebels is about four seasons which means if they follow the other that there must be 32 hours of show to watch. Then there's Resistance with two years and 15 hours of shows to watch." He glanced at Ironhide. "Have you watched The Bad Batch yet?"
"Nope."
"We'll watch that. There's 11 episodes and we can kill it in a night. We'll have to catch the other five later. They haven't come out yet," Ratchet said as he located the show. They would watch it straight through.
=0=At the Ops Center, night shift
The night crew was commanded by a big mech named Stranger. He was a former Decepticon who was a crack Seeker flight commander and a very tactical calm individual. He'd been mentored by Rainmaker who considered him nearly a son and thus, he was wise and well trained. He walked along the console platform watching the screens as he took in the mood of the empire this evening.
Cybertron was in good shape without incidents around or on it. There was no need to reconfigure any of the security scenarios and operations that ran there to be the front line for anything that popped up with hostile intentions.
He continued until he reached the Strategic Sensor console which was the end journey of the design, this one here and one identical in the Operational Center on Cybertron in The Citadel for any information that arose from the vast and varied sensor grid that the Empire maintained everywhere. There wasn't a path toward Cybertron, its still related colonial and industrial worlds nor the solar system with Mars that was approachable without them noticing.
It showed the usual stuff plus a new configuration that was being arranged as close as they dared to get to the Burren without drawing attention. It was ordered into being by Prime when the last refugee group came and was being beefed up to an astonishing degree given the news brought by Wheeljack's family. Once they told their piece Prowl ordered the upgrade and new placements, such was the straight line in their operations between news and fixes. By the time it was installed in five different places they'd have nearly real time data from that area and the soundings of anyone coming out of there whether they came their way or not.
It was a huge upgrade in his sense of professionalism to have this kind of tech and resources at the beck and call of need. It was polar opposite to the struggle for good tech and plenty in the Decepticons. It was impossible to get anything let alone good or even reliable medical attention in the 'Cons, equipment that would give them the edge. Megatron started out with those goals but soon fell to whatever demons were eating at him.
He himself didn't care now. He was here with his family and friends living the high life and working at things where he was appreciated, consulted and needed. There would be no warrior life for his children. That was not going to happen again. Maybe under the old regimes and Megatron the Seekers were canon fodder and an asset. Here they were individuals who could pursue their dreams and rise by their abilities and desires to do what they wanted. His dream was simple.
Put Megatron and the Cause in their graves.
It was a quiet night in the Ops Center on two worlds as professionals worked quietly and competently to safeguard literally billions and billions of individuals who would never know what they did to do so.
=0=Pausing to clear clutter before digging out dessert
"Now let me see if I understand this …" Ironhide mused as he stuffed things in the recycle slot on the kitchen counter. "These Kaminoan aliens took DNA from a man, used it to create armies of babies, then raised them in a sped up manner to become docile warriors through gene manipulation. Ten years they were raised and trained to be soldiers.
"Part of their manipulation was to accelerate their aging process so by the time they were ten actual years old they were in their twenties otherwise They would go then directly to war. All of them being from the same DNA were brothers, no sisters until this one. They just fought and were what, sold or leased to the Republic to fight their wars?" Ironhide mused.
"I haven't seen Clone Wars yet though the boys love it," Ratchet replied. "They don't seem to understand the subtext though."
"They look like adults and are soldiers but they're all ten years old," Ironhide said as he sat again. "Ten year olds going out to fight in war. What the frag, Ratchet."
Ratchet rummaged in Ironhide's box to hand him one of several desserts before finding his own. "It's a slagging war crime, Ironhide. The Kaminoans are slaggers and so are the Jedi and the rest who go along with it. These are brothers, children who go to war and see their brothers get killed. Each of them look alike. What the frag is that?"
"I don't know," Ironhide said. "I like these slaggers though. They're different and … frag."
"What?" Ratchet asked.
"If you try to calculate how old the Bad Batch is … they're about thirteen in human years."
Ratchet stared at him, then the paused screen. "They're aged but so what? What the frag is that? I love this show though. I love the characters. No wonder Wrecker is such a child like person. He has a dollie, Ironhide."
Ironhide nodded. "I know. What a crazy situation. If I were anywhere near Kamino I'd go in there and ring everyone of those giraffe slagger's necks."
"Count me your alibi," Ratchet said as he turned on the show again.
They both watched it rapturously, it was just that good.
=0=Cybertron, Ops Center in The Citadel
The night crew gathered to change over to the morning shift. The night had been quiet and uneventful. Friends greeted friends as Cruz turned over the shift to the day commander, Lin. Walking out with his crew, they left into the night time of Iacon's early morning.
Settling in, Lin walked around the room getting a feel of the scene from the monitors. As she was approaching the sensor station, the operator turned to her. "Commander, we have a problem."
She walked over to look. "Explain in detail."
"The ship carrying the upgrade for the deep space arrays pointed toward the Burren has disappeared. It was here," he said pointing to the console that held a map. The map showed the line where the ship was going, then it ended.
"Oh frag," Lin said. "Download all the information and be ready to send it to Mars." She walked to the Communications station. "Hook me up with Ops Center on Mars, L-10."
L-10 did.
=0=At a penthouse apartment in Autobot City
Prowl walked to the office in the apartment, closed the door, then turned on the lights. The house was quiet and everyone was asleep. He'd gotten the internal text from The Citadel on his continuous feed line and was now seeking more information. He sat at Prime's home desk, then turned on the monitor. Toggling a few switches Lin's face appeared on the screen. "I am here, Commander. What can you tell me?"
"Sir, the science ship that was working out the deep space array was traveling on a fixed route toward the last installation spot when it went off the map," Lin said. "I'm sending you the information now."
Prowl nodded, then got the message. Opening it, he studied to the material. "Put a tracer on the path utilizing the arrays they already worked on. We haven't put the new things up. That was the cargo they carried to this point then."
Lin nodded. "They had the mount and some of the gear they'd need to hide it but the devices themselves are still being shipped from Mars. The orders you probably know about but they came from Prime. He ordered this gear up to meet the problem heading this way. That's why the shipments aren't together."
Prowl nodded. "Understood. Tag me in for the data feed from this problem. I'm going to discuss it with Prime and will get back to you. Please stand by and keep me updated."
"Will do, Commander," Lin said as she signed off.
Prowl sat a moment considering the possibilities, then rose to walk to the berth room to confide in Prime. The Festival which was being prepped everywhere in the colony and on Cybertron was in two orns. This was going to be a major fragger if this required Prime to attend to it.
He walked out of the room, silently through his house into the big berth room. He closed the door behind him.
=0=TBC 07-14-2021
expedite(r): there are many meanings for this word but they usually come down to putting something together out of many things. An aggregation can mean getting things from many places and sending them on in one shipment.
Happy Birthday, Dad (94) and Josh (44). Its amazing the coincidences with dates that have happened in my family. My brother was talking to our grandma on the phone on his 12th birthday when she died. (If something stupid like that happens with your little kids or you, discuss it with them. My brother thought for years that he'd killed her. Kids make erroneous connections sometimes and the regret they don't deserve can be heavy until its explained.)
Then my grandfather died a day after my birthday, my mother died a day after my sister's birthday and I was born on the same day that (I Love) Lucie and Desi Arnez had their kid, Desi, Junior. That might seem so whatever but that was one of the most heralded and anticipated births ever. It was the first time on television anywhere where a pregnant lady showed herself as such and the pregnancy was added into the story in a real way. It was revolutionary. :D
As for Josh and my dad, they share the same birthday fifty years apart. :D
ESL
rom-com: romantic comedy. 'chick flick' as they're often called. I don't care for them either. :D:D:D