The Diego Diaries: Incident: Dire (dd8 239)
HERE WE GO!
=0=At Diego Garcia
Ratchet and Prowl sat side-by-side plugged into the telemetry of the ships facing off against the intruders. They were feeling every moment of the dog fight that broke out over Helsinki. The city itself was shrouded in the inky darkness of night but the light show going on over it was streaking the sky.
The battle was furious, then a micro bridge whisked the intruders away. In the bright bloom of the bridge, the streets of the city were illuminated as the day. Given the racket of almost unbearable of proportions was heard by all, the streets began to fill up with astonished people even as the sirens of emergency vehicles wailed in the night.
The satellites over Earth had triangulated on the scene and were giving incredibly detailed images back to the Center as they silently witnessed the fighting. The skill of the ships leaving was topnotch, another bit of intel that would help at some point. The night returned to darkness as the ships chasing the bogies flew upward to disappear into the darkness of space.
Prowl sat back with a sour expression as he watched the ticker tape on his wrist panel count up the number of calls that were coming in to the Ops Center back on Mars. He glanced at Ratchet. "This is well and truly fucked."
Ratchet nodded. "I better get on the horn then? Maybe go to Helsinki?"
"I'll check with Optimus," Prowl said as he drifted away in conversation off line.
Ratchet stared at the street scenes of scared humans and their public defenders gathering to discuss the terror overhead. He felt pain for them in their helplessness. This was a higher order of fear based bullshit and they were ill equipped to defeat it alone even if they'd shown Megatron the door a couple of times. They did so in tandem with the bots.
"Optimus doesn't think that's going to help right now. Finland is pretty pissed off," Prowl said. "You're to stay here. He wants you to make a statement shortly and then he's going to go worldwide himself. We have to get on top of this shit." Prowl rose and left taking his unaccustomed human cursing vocabulary with him.
Ratchet rose to walk to the door. He paused there reminiscing about the simpler times in the space and rec room before walking to the door.
A crowd had gathered, one that was solemn and silent. A sergeant walked to him as he knelt in the big doorway. "What's the word, Commander? This is fucked up isn't it."
Ratchet considered the kid who was a volunteer in his army. He had volunteered to defeat all foreign and domestic enemies but this was out of his league. "We're going to get them. They have a strange new bridge technique but we're on it. Don't worry. We'll protect the Earth. We love it, too."
The crowd came closer, comforted by his presence.
"Yeah, we do," the sergeant said. "But the rest of them out there, the rest of the world. They might not see it that way."
Ratchet grinned slightly. "And that's why I'm the ambassador."
=0=Ops Center, Autobot City, The Fortress, Mars
Prowl and Prime sorted the messages, then delegated a number to Ratchet. Prime would himself handle the Finns. He glanced at Prowl. "I will be answering calls for a while. I want Ratchet to speak to this in a statement, then a few questions. Tell him to be as truthful as possible but not to speculate too wildly. They will ask him to do so and I want nothing to come back to bite us."
Prowl nodded, sent the message, then shifted a monitor screen to Diego. It wouldn't be long before Ratchet was on the air.
=0=0=Diego Garcia, a few moments later
He was standing in the communications hangar with the techs who would be broadcasting his message to the world via the MCA. He waited patiently chatting with John Fulton and Andrew Settles who were sitting off camera on the platform. They wouldn't be speaking but were there for moral and personal support. All of them were feeling it together.
"You're on, Commander," Lieutenant Paisley Hart said as he ran the production.
=0=Mars
They paused conversation to give their attention to Ratchet who was standing in the communications hangar. His face was on the screen and the cyron ticker tape underneath his image ran the banner stating another attack had happened in Finland and there would be information coming as discovered.
"Good evening, morning or afternoon wherever you are. I'm Commander Ratchet of Iacon, a member of the Prime's General Staff and Ambassador for Autobot Nation. I'm here to address the action that's just taken place over Helsinki, Finland and to tell you as much as we know about the intruders.
"As you may know, we've placed an iron curtain of security, alerts, patrols and sensors about this system that gives us a window over 200,000 light years away in all directions. We can find anything that we want and the alerts lists would ring Saturn in their length and complexity. We've been able to bring a stable period of peace here that's lasted years now. However, we're now facing a new challenge.
"You know that we can bridge to an infinite distance anywhere in the universe that we want to go. There's virtually no limitations on this with our several Trigger bridge arrays and other devices. Our smaller bridges can send items as large as ships as far as the limitations of their fueling can deliver. They aren't infinite like the Triggers but they're incredibly powerful. Some of our titanic ships also have a built in bridging ability as well.
"Bridging technology was created by Autobot science and we have the upper hand in that we have nearly all the living bridge scientists here with us. It was a priority for obvious reasons for us to find them and we did. That being said, some of the technology that powers this kind of equipment fell into the hands of Decepticons and other unscrupulous individuals over eons of conflict and its been transformed for better or worse because it has.
"Our greatest war criminal, a scientist called Jhiaxus had been working on a number of diabolical things in the past and this was one of them. We believe that either he or a protege of his is responsible for changing the normal process of bridging so that they can come swiftly, keep a micro bridge running without detection, then flee equally as fast.
"That's the problem before us. Our scientists are working on this problem now and we'll find a solution. Every problem has one and we've always found it with our talented and wise mechs and femmes.
"Right now, we believe that these intruders are part of a large battle group leaving the farthest reaches of the Empire that exists on the other side of a disrupted section of space called the Benzuli Expansion. Optimus Prime explained it as an ancient star nursery that had large stars in it that went supernova in the past, a great number of them at the same or close to the same time. The explosion has caused a rift in the fabric of space in which unstable energy floes are rife there.
"Its deeply unstable and dangerous so we never go there and never allowed anyone to travel through it. For the group that's coming, its the fastest and best way to reach Cybertron. Its highly likely that they aren't aware that Cybertron is in Prime's hands and that the war is over.
"They're using bridge tech to scout the lay of the land. Popping in, looking around for a second, then popping out is their modus. What we have done is throw a security net around the planet and Mars to catch them if we can. All it'll take is a ship or a crew and we'll have this locked up.
"The group coming is unknown and is very, very far away from here. We're building up our scanning possibilities out that way and traveling aliens have been giving us intel. The effort is huge that's being expended to ensure that even if we can't prevent them coming for now, we can wallop them when they do.
"We had an interdiction of the intruders over Finland. We run a grid pattern search over the Earth to ensure that if anyone comes we can be there in seconds. It worked perfectly and the intruder fled. The intruder was the one who fired the shots. Our ships are ordered not to fire over land but have full command over the oceans. The safety of the people affected was the first and only concern for us.
"Right now, everyone is afraid and worried. This is still new to many of you even if it isn't for us. We understand and appreciate your feelings and we hope you express them fully to feel better. Just understand, the old arguments that they'd stop coming if we weren't here didn't work then and they don't now.
"The level and kinds of energon that can be found in this system will always bring them. Its a rare mineral and its our food, fuel and is the foundational item of all that we make and use. If it was more common, then they wouldn't come but they know its here and they'll always come.
"Optimus Prime is speaking to leaders who've called in for a chance to speak to him. When he's finished with all of that, when all the information is presented to him including further modifications for the intruders, then he will speak to you world wide.
"Just understand … the worries you have for your families and towns match our own. We're defending our families, too. That's a highly motivational feeling, that our families are in the same boat as you. Nothing about this is being taken lightly and the groups involved with the solutions have been working around the clock to find a way to interdict these fraggers swiftly and solidly. We hope after all this time you'll have confidence in our ability to rise to the occasion. We're in the same boat as you."
He glanced at the two soldiers, then the screen again. "I can take a few questions, Leon," he said.
=0=MCA studios in Helsinki
"We have a number of questions for you, Ambassador. The first one is from the mayor of this city," Leon said as he began to ask the first of many from his location.
=0=Mars
Ironhide walked to Ops Center after putting everyone in school but Tell who he had in his carry hold. The baby was sleeping and feeling much better after being handed off by his solemn-faced fathers. He would stay with his old Appa for the next few while Drift and Springer took care of whatever the hell bothering everyone in the system was put down.
Entering the Ops Center, he walked to the desk then sat. "I suppose Prime is putting out fires all over the place?"
Prowl glanced up, then nodded. "He is. The baby. Now."
Ironhide snickered as he handed Tell over to Granny.
Prowl peered at him, then grinned. "Ah, a ray of light at last. How is he with the treatments?"
"He's good now. He won't get another one for a couple of orns. He has to let what he has work through. He's been a fussy baby for a while."
Prowl covered him back up gently, then settled him on his arm. "He feels like me. Fussy is a good word."
"We'll get them," Ironhide said. "The slaggers have to eventually come out of there and we can stomp their afts."
"Commander?"
Prowl glanced at the console nearby, one that ran the sensor intake from every array in the system as well as funneling it in real time to the maps on the table. "What?" he asked with a touch of dread.
"The battle group, the one coming through the Benzuli just disappeared off the sensor net," the Home Guardsman said with dread.
=0=TBC 08-28-2021