The Diego Diaries: Incident (dd8 235)
Sorry its taking a bit of time to bounce back. (Did you notice what I did there?) :D:D:D But I'm on it.
=0=Out there
They flew in landing on the deck of their commander's ship. Walking to the flight deck, they stood around his throne talking to him about what they saw and what had happened when they bridged into the heart it appeared of the Prime's domain.
Paladin listened feeling impressed at Prime's initiative. This was a big operation spanning not just Cybertron but entire systems. Ships of some force had met them and even though they'd scored first coup on the row of warships waiting on the flight line it was evident that Prime wasn't going to be much harmed by it.
The images they took, the recordings of comm chatter and broadcasts had shown them that Prime held a number of worlds which were being developed to enhance not just the quality of the life of their people but the power and prestige of the mech himself.
Paladin considered Prime, someone he had known back when they were both working class mechs on the docks. They were of a kind, both of them, though he himself was a darker, more dangerous mech than Orion Pax would be.
They were separated by one dock but they often worked together unloading and loading the big ships that crowded them day and night, endless slog and endless slag. Both of them had been managers for their respective docks and crews, sometimes they were in the meetings that management held to browbeat more productivity without resulting compensation.
Paladin had admired the intellect and skill Pax brought to the table with the slave drivers who were their joint management team. The owners hired slaggers of the lowest and meanest variety to work the docks which were a dangerous place to be to oversee the workers. It would be highly likely that if any of the owners and top managers showed up they wouldn't have made it out alive. So they were ramrodded on site by hardcore hard ass sociopaths who had no give nor concern for the workers.
When the thing that lit revolution blew up, when the docks were closed down, Paladin watched with a growing interest as the workers turned naturally toward Orion to be their leader and spokesman. It was amazing how many of the hard boiled longshoremen followed him, a young gangling kid with a huge processor and bigger bearings. Even though Paladin went with Megatron, he didn't discount Prime and he respected him immensely.
Optimus Prime was the foe no one ever wanted and everyone leaned to regret.
He listened, studied the images, then considered his next move. They were making their way through the worst part of the energy rifts but would soon be in less dense, less dangerous territory. By then he would have his first move planned out.
There was a space station on the arm that looked like a good base. It would be task number one when they made it into the clear.
=0=At a confab
He stood in the communications hangar with the screens set up on the deck that reached his optical level. John Fulton, Will Lennox from Mars and a number of suits from the visiting group were standing or sitting on the stage in chairs or pacing back and forth.
Prime waited stoically as they organized the conference call. Several world leaders, United Nations officials and lots of military including Global N.E.S.T. would be online.
Outside, the fires were out and forensics had signed off their removal. Huge vessels from Mars appeared through a bridge and were hovering over the debacle with their hoist arms ready to pull the burned out shells of ships upward to their holds. Huge magnets would be let down when they were removed to catch all of the debris that could magnetize, debris that had been picked over for bullets and bombs first.
Cleanup crews from Public Works on Mars and Army Corp of Engineers-Autobot version would be following up after them to clean up the spills and burns, then repair the pavement. When it was done with all the stripes painted and signal lights on the runway repaired it would look just like new including the replacement ships waiting to be called. What wouldn't be was the damage that went out over the airwaves.
The screens finally flashed on all of the participant's monitors, then Optimus stepped closer to begin. The conference call would last an hour and a half. It would be halfway between understanding and panic.
=0=On World
The streams of individuals who went into lockdown made their way back to the world again. The Metros which led down to huge bomb shelters were choked with individuals walking upward toward the streets. They were clogged with pedestrians, some of which walked to the curb, waited for the traffic to thin, then sprang upward to transform and join it.
Businesses who had bomb shelters below them by nature of having customers in at the time reopened and in less time than one could imagine the colony was back on the swing. However, there was a tension in the air that hadn't been there and it was felt by everyone everywhere.
The Port began to receive refugees again, endless streams of those who were fortunate enough to be found. Shipping and ship travel started up and the airports were busy.
Prima Station came out of their compartments, incredibly heavily armored self supporting cells that could survive the destruction of the station itself. They came into the artificial daylight of the vast facility and after a nervous gathering together, nearly all of them walked back to their lives again.
=0=Ops Center, Mars
Prowl sat tapping his stylus on the table top as he studied the map before him. It was unchanged but everything was. Someone with bridges had managed to make their way into the heart of their sovereignty and he had to figure out who they were, why they came, what they wanted and how to obliterate them down to their molecules.
Ratchet entered the room, then walked to where he sat to pull a chair and park himself. "You look happy. I have to go explain this, not you."
"Lucky you," Prowl said with a slight smirk. "Optimus is having a conference call on Diego with everyone involved with the operation, a few of the new civilians and some heads of state."
"I suppose I have to go to the United Nations and give information," Ratchet asked.
Prowl nodded. "We're not going to individual countries. We're fixing to get this done with the big group."
"Good. I don't want to argue about this. We promised to do good, not perfect work."
Prowl nodded. "I agree."
=0=Diego
Optimus Prime walked out of the comm hangar toward the Embassy. He had discussed what was known, listened to but didn't participate in speculation and was as unclear now who this was as before. Riding on his servo was Will Lennox. They entered the Embassy, then continued to the bridge room below where they were sent to Mars in seconds.
Optimus took him upstairs, then put him down next to his truck which was parked by the door to the Ops Center. "What is your opinion of the meeting and the subsequent fallout of this action, William?" he asked.
:The meeting went well. Most of them understand and support the process. The media have their own ideas and I don't think this is going to be a happy few days for any of us. Ratchet better be as good as he ever was for this one. This group made it all the way to Earth and it was serious enough to empty the colony into the shelters: Will said with a grim expression.
Prime nodded. "Understood. I have the same feeling about this as you. Thank you, William, for your support and guidance, old friend."
Will nodded, then patted Prime's ped. :It'll blow over probably. What is anyone going to do anyway? We need each other. They would've come to Diego whether you were here or not. Something tells me that there's a lot of freelancers out there looking for a place to land."
Optimus agreed. They chatted, then Will drove off to Nest HQ. Optimus watched him go, oddly mollified, then walked into the Ops Center.
=0=School, Centurion
They lined up to go, all the kids with their homework, book bags and good natures. The signal came for their class to leave so they waved, shouted their goodbyes and left to go down to the buses, parental units, cabs and metros for home.
Terradive watched them go, then glanced at Roto who was sitting on the counter nearby. "What an orn."
Roto nodded. "I know. Every time this happens my gears catch a bit."
Terradive nodded as he walked over to sit beside his bond. "I've been a soldier probably all my life until here. I never knew any other way of life. This is the only place that makes me happy when I think about it. Its the only place that has any light. Do you know what I mean?"
Roto slipped his arm around Terradive's shoulders. "I do."
"I keep weapons in subspace and in my locker over there. I have it double locked and I cleared it with Herling. I think he's glad there's so many teachers here who were soldiers and keep guns handy. I never thought there would be any other way but I don't mind being a soldier again if it protects this place."
"We have five million soldiers in the Ready Force, Terri and the Home Guard. You're in the Reserves and that's enough. I know its selfish of me but its how I feel. I got into this by accident, too. But there's no accidents in the end. This is what we're supposed to do. That being said, I need you to teach me how to shoot," Roto said. He glanced at Terri. "I want to come to school armed, too. Just in case."
Terradive nodded, then leaned in to kiss Roto. "You're not going to be a soldier. You can help us defend but nothing else. You're a civilian, Roto, and you always will be. This is not for amateurs no matter how skilled."
They chatted together in the sunny alcove before gathering up to go home.
=0=Earth2
"How was it?" Rick Harris asked his sister as he joined her for a snack at the cafe in the business sector.
"We were in the shelters for a while. What happened?" Rain asked as she began to eat ice cream with her brother and co-conspirator against Them™, their parents.
"Someone breached the system and flew over Diego Garcia. They might have been following the Omega Beam. They strafed the ready-go flight on the line and burned them all to the ground. Fighters came after them but they bridged out and were gone in seconds," Rick said.
They made it to Earth then," Rain said with a solemn expression.
Rick nodded. "The bots are good. Better than good. The best even. They just aren't infallible."
It would be a silent snack time between them.
=0=Ops Center, Mars
"We found that they bridged in from the Ruins," Wheeljack said as Timpani and Perceptor nodded in agreement. "They could be scout ships for the group we're monitoring or they could be freelancers. My shanix is on scouts."
"What do we know about them now, Prowl?" Prime asked as he considered the news.
"We know they're from the far edge of the Rim, the Frontier its called. Its a very dense area of stars and their systems. Its also very new and thus the populations there are minimal or emergent life forms. I can imagine that its a very rich source of whatever it is you need but its part of the Empire and thus it would appear that this group is leaving to strike out on their own without the inconvenience of orders and structure," Prowl replied.
"Then we have to start expecting this to continue," Prime said grimly. "We have to get to them fast and make it punitive that they continue to my sovereignty. If we can catch one of them to interrogate then all the better."
They would trouble shoot how to do that for joors.
=0=TBC 8-22-2021
mollify, mollified: (mall-ih-f-eye(d)) To make someone or something better. To sooth.
Infallible: (in-fal-uh-bl) Incapable of losing or being defeated.