The Diego Diaries: Mission Above and Beyond (dd8 216)
(The first few days after an accident are tough. Yesterday was so tough. BUT NOW! ON WITH IT! Also, its Bad Batch Eve! according to twitter. I love twitter. Sometimes.)
=0=Mission
Prime stood on the balcony of his apartment staring out at the magnificent cityscape spreading out in all directions. It was built with the willing hands and talents of their people FOR their people. No one was or ever would be excluded here. The siren had sounded and he was taking a moment to quiet the chatter in his helm.
A major mission hearing straight toward an unknown approaching threat was going on without him. Some of those going were integral to his personal well being. They wouldn't be here for the festivities but he would be there for them if they called. At least he would before he was needed at the Temple. Once he entered there he was free of distractions in his regular life.
It would have to be dire beyond dire before he could leave here in the middle of what the humans would call a 'high holy day'. He would have to trust to the brilliance of his command to do what the situation called for. They had to find their ship and maybe get lucky enough to find out who was coming. That they were Cybertronian wasn't the question. It was all the other questions that needed answered.
It was cold and dark in the sky around him while below the airfield was turning down their activity. Soon it would be only need that would drive anything in the colony and on Cybertron. For now, the siren told them that it was time for reflection and gatherings to decide what you've done, what's important and what you planned to do next. That they could do that, anything that they dreamed about was the blessing before the end when the Blessings from the Great Ones would seal the deal between the People and the Powers.
Prime would stand on the balcony a long time, then enter his home when the lights were off. He would pass Prowl in the office on his way to the berth room to relax his body if not his mind.
Prowl would join him eventually after securing every possible advantage for the armada carrying with him a sleeping little baby. He would place it on the berth between them and they would chat quietly for a while before drifting off to sleep.
=0=On a shuttle out there
"And that was the end of that."
Huge laughter greeted that as the mechs took a bite together. The humans who were in the boxes had food in a locker and facilities for the inevitable aftermath of eating. They'd improved the smaller boxes to make them more 'home away from home'.
The humans mostly sat in their chairs listening to the bullshit from the mechs as they ate what looked like burritos and drank what looked like beer. Apparently, their army ran on junk food rather than MREs, 'meals ready to eat' like everyone else.
Lucky them.
The women were chatting together about something they were going to do next week after Festival while the men watched the mechs. The mercs were impressed and some of it showed. The big metallic soldiers looked as dangerous as they were said to be. Everything about them said mayhem and danger.
The three new mercs had less baggage with the mechs so they were less hung up in their considerations of them and their prowess. They'd seen the episodes of Platoon and had gone to the practices for the Home Guard and some of the professionals when they had to hit proficiencies like like any other army requires.
The snipers were the ones who were drawing their eyes. Two of them had been professional army snipers before they went private and the idea of their proficiency over distance was a big topic among the three. Jim Johnson, Carlos Ortega and Sam Hedges listened but didn't say anything.
"Dealer."
The mechs paused their conversation to glance at the box of humans. Dealer who was a sniper leaned slightly closer. "What, William?" he asked. He was a nice guy, a very mellow and even tempered mech who liked his family, painting landscapes and teaching younger soldiers, especially Home Guardsmen how to shoot long and far.
Will who was speaking to the mike pickup in the box grinned. "What's the longest and most accurate shot you ever made?"
Dealer considered that as many were the mech around him who grinned.
One of them, a big mech named Tabular leaned forward to stare at Lennox. "All of them are accurate. The only better shot I ever saw was Bluestreak."
Helms nodded including Dealer's. He grinned. "I took out a signal light from a perch on a roof. The signal light was 75 miles away."
"Cybertronian miles?" Niall Graham asked.
He grinned at Graham. "I do believe it was."
"How far is that?" Luka Vesna asked.
"A Cybertronian mile is two of ours," Graham replied.
They stared at him, all of the newbies and the other non-NEST newcomers in the box.
Then Luka glanced at Dealer. "You took out a signal light at 150 miles?"
Dealer grinned. "The air was calm. My equipment is … modified and I don't miss. It was the longest best shot I ever made."
"Do you use booster bullets on those kinds of shots?" another mech asked.
"Sometimes." Dealer glanced at the humans and began to explain like the natural teacher that he was. "Booster bullets are a thing that the regular army doesn't use. These self propel if the velocity drops a certain level. The shooter has to place the shot. Most of the time my ammo reaches the mark. But on the really long ones like this, it helps to have a component that prevents drift and distance from messing with your math."
"Then the shot's not really real," Jim Johnson said.
The shuttle silenced as mechs turned to look at the box. Dealer was staring at Johnson thoughtfully but several of the others weren't.
One leaned forward. "Dealer is a legend as a sharpshooter. What are you, squishie?"
"Hopeless," Gavin Pritchard said with a snicker.
Johnson turned to him with a frown. "You just take someone's word? A 150 mile shot? Just like that?"
A thump on the case jolted everyone a bit as they turned toward the row of mechs sitting on both sides of the shuttle in the jump seats. A big mech, gnarly and a former Decepticon looked at Johnson with a frown. "If Dealer says it happened, it happened." He sat back, then glanced at Dealer. "I had a friend who was at that installation. He told me that some slagger must have had a lucky shot because a round took out the tower. There's no high ground around it for 50 Cybertronian miles." He glanced at Johnson. "You don't have a clue but its entertaining watching you be a fool."
Snickers rounded the room as the standoff between the gnarly mech and Johnson continued.
Then Johnson shrugged. "If you say so."
The mech, Convoy leaned into the box to eyeball Johnson more closely. "You have a fragged attitude, squishie. How about coming out here and show us how you shoot your little popguns? Maybe we're missing out on a new legend." He glanced at Lennox who he liked. "Is he a legend, Lennox?"
Will shrugged. "In his own mind, maybe."
Huge laughter greeted that but for Johnson and to a lesser degree, Hedges. Hedges was silent.
Johnson stared at the big mech noting the signs of violence that had accrued on his skeletal armor. "What was your specialty?"
Convoy stared at him with a gaze hard to meet. "I boarded ships, gutted them, then left everyone to die."
It was silent as a tomb on the vessel, then Hercy's voice came over the intercom. :Anyone home?:
Convoy glanced at the intercom. "We were just getting ready to part out a human. Wanna come?"
:Which one?: Hercy asked.
Convoy glanced at Lennox who grinned. "Why Big Jim Johnson of the Ohio Johnsons, of course."
That was when James Johnson jumped on his arch enemy, Will Lennox of California.
=0=Early morning
He walked into the office to check the morning's download. Short reports from every ship had been bundled and sent ahead. He glanced through them, then paused on one that was issued from Raptor's shuttle which was now commanded by Ratchet.
"The City of High Canyon, Shuttle 8, Ratchet, commanding: Hi, Prowler. I typed this up myself with these, these magic servos. VERILY! I laid SERVOS ON to the keyboard and yea, this short record came forth. Jim Johnson wised off to a couple of mechs on the ship (Convoy who was a 'Con shipboarding maniac and Dealer, a sharpshooter's sharpshooter and friend of Auntie Lissie). There were words, then Johnson jumped on Lennox and it was on.
I wish you could have seen it. The two were tussling in the worst possible space and the others, most of them the 'gals' and a few nice boy scientists were hustling around led by Rick Harris to stay out of the way. It was like putting an alligator in a gerbil cage. Needless to say, Lennox came out on top and Johnson is confined to his seat. Literally.
Otherwise, all is well. Ta! -R
Prowl considered the report, then smirked. "Slaggers. I want film."
He filed them, then walked out to tuck Tell into his hold and get ready to lead the Processional to the Temple.
=0=At the slag off
"GET HIM, WILL!"
"GIVE IT UP, JOHNSON!"
"FUCK YOU, LENNOX! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
They traded punches that really looked like they hurt as the mechs watched with fascination.
"That looks like it hurts."
"That one is leaking fluids from his nose assembly."
"Lennox has some good technique but I like Judy's. She has a nice punch."
Johnson found out that out when he came too close to Judy Witwicky who was standing in front of Barbara and Lois Morshower. A hard right to Johnson's face sent him back and allowed Will to get the upper hand. Round and round they went until some of the men grabbed Johnson and fell to bury him. It took a moment to pull him up, cuff him to a chair arm and stare at him triumphantly.
He glared back. "You're losing your touch, Lennox. It took a lot of men to do your job."
"He has a point, Lennox," a younger mech said from his seat by the jump door.
"FUCK THAT, TIMOR! I'M STILL THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!" Lennox said to applause, mockery and agreement. It would take a while to wipe up the blood from everyone and everywhere.
Ratchet who had just finished and filed his report for the journey sat back with a grin. "I just filed my flight report for the trip so far."
"You did?" Judy Witwicky asked. "Did you tell them I gave him one of his black eyes?"
"I did, though your ability with a purse will always be your signature move," Ratchet said to general applause on all sides along with a lot of blaspheming of Michael Bay. "I filed it with Prowl."
It dropped to silence in the room.
Then Dealer grinned at Johnson. "I wouldn't want to be either of you after this."
"Fuck Prowl," Johnson said.
A snicker from the back caught everyone's attention. They turned toward it to see Hercy leaning against the door to the bridge. "Shall I tell him you said so?"
"I don't care what you tell him," Johnson said as he yanked his manacled wrist. He was held fast.
"Someone likes to play with fire," Hercy said as he walked forward to sit down between Ratchet and another youngster named Colie. "What are we talking about?"
"Dealer's shot," Convoy said.
"That one I was told about? The one that took out a signal tower from the longest distance ever probably recorded?" Hercy asked.
"That one, Appa," Convoy said as he sat back to gloat at Johnson.
Hercy nodded. "Wasn't there. Didn't see it but I believe it. I saw Bluestreak take out a shuttle from the ground through a snowstorm at ten miles. I remember that one. It landed on my camp."
Snickers rounded the room.
"You seen it all, Appa?" a young mech asked. "You're an Immortal."
Hercy nodded. "Just about." He glanced at Johnson who glared back at him. "I suspect that we're going to have a spot of fun on this mission. Something tells me that we're going to have to shoot our way to our missing shuttle."
"Do you think its still okay? The crew and all?" the youngster asked.
Hercy nodded. "I do. But then, we could flush the fraggers out from where they're hiding. We would need bait," he said as he stared at Johnson. "Any volunteers?"
Lennox grinned. "Don't look at me. I'm too pretty to die."
HUGE laughter and some agreement greeted that.
Hercy stood, then glanced around. "Think on it," he said as he headed back to the bridge to return to his shuttle. "Let me know when you find the right volunteer."
They watched him go, then everyone turned back to the box to stare at Johnson.
He glared back.
Ratchet sent an addendum to his report to Prowl.
=0=TBC 07-22-2021
A question was asked, is Prime a multiversal singularity? I say yes. He exists here but like all of us living in a universe with dimensions that show the path not taken for every single thing we do or not, he also exists there. The aspect of him going to the Matrix and having all manner of personal adventures in all manner of realms and existences tells me that he is. Primus was and so were the Pantheon all but Unicron. Primus could exist in all places at the same time but Unicron could only be in one. He had to hunt Primus through all existence to find him. Since Prime is attached to Primus through the Matrix and because he is Thirteen who shares an identical spark with Primus, that seals the deal for me. :D:D:D