The Diego Diaries: Incident: Wrecking Ball (dd8 248)
=0=The United Nations, New York City, New York, USA, Earth
He stood outside waiting to walk inside the door that had been erected to allow individuals his size to enter the giant meeting room itself. The ride to Earth was short and sweet through the Trigger and the drive to the United Nations equally so. There was a huge police presence to keep the human's mixed emotions at bay so the opportunity to mess with the crowds that always came wasn't possible this time. There was a lot of fear and uncertainty among the humans.
He waited with Ironhide, Delphi, Springer and Drift. They would remain behind him along the wall to show strength and resolve while helping humans to remember that a lot of big powerful mechs were on their side. He, himself would do the song and dance, hopefully to the degree required to give everyone what they needed.
A man walked out so Ratchet bent down to talk to him. After a moment, the man led the way back inside where the entire General Assembly, many heads of state and the world's eyeballs would be watching. Springer led the way, edging inside to stand down the way, towering over everyone who took in his features, this oddly handsome and deeply relatable alien being. Drift followed, then Delphi and Ironhide. They arrayed themselves, then waited silently, watching the crowd even as they were watched.
Ratchet entered to applause, then waited to be introduced.
The Secretary General stood, walked to the podium, then began. "Welcome to this emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. We are here to listen to Ambassador Commander Ratchet of Iacon speak on behalf of the Prime of Cybertron, Optimus Prime. He will be updating us on the situation that recently occurred plus other information that is necessary for us to decide what we should do, if anything. I would like you to address your attention to the Ambassador," he said turning to Ratchet. He bowed slightly. "Ambassador, please speak to us."
Ratchet watched him, a slight figure who was leading a very unruly band of individuals all of whom had their own agendas. The United Nations was a good and old idea that had its own problems but there was no other body in the world in which he could speak that would include everyone. He moved closer, then knelt in front of everyone.
He grinned, something that was easy even for humans to see, though they would never be able to see it the way the Cybertronians did, as something beautiful and warm. "Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you on behalf of the Prime of Cybertron and the Empire of the Autobots, Autobot Nation and myself.
"I am Ratchet of Iacon, the designated diplomat for The People and its my duty to be clear and honest with you about all things that come up between us. We're of the idea that if you're honest you have less to explain later on. Having a good idea about something takes the power of fear away. You aren't waiting for the other shoe to drop if you know all there is to know about the situation.
"I know you're aware that Optimus Prime retook Cybertron and that the effective power of the Decepticons to wage war has diminished to nearly a zero sum game at the moment. Prime has at his command an armada and army, air force and science capability that's unmatched both in our own history and that of other species that we've come into contact with. No one has the power that Prime commands.
"That being said, the Empire of the Decepticons still exists as does its leader, Megatron. Its not as big or powerful as it once was but until it surrenders completely its still a problem. That's why we spend so much time and effort to create and build systems that allow us to know a great deal about them and what they do or might try to do.
"That ALSO being said, we never promised you perfection. We promised you deep and diligent effort. We've died to protect this system and all who are here. We protect you from two established Decepticon groups that have broken away and settled in what we call the local group. Though it may appear far away to you, its not far with the technology that both sides possess. A bridge jump is a shortcut to a destination and sometimes that happens to be here.
"We possess three Trigger bridges with two more being created. Two of them are in stationary orbit over Autobot City along with a standard space bridge that can transport within the system without much effort. The other Trigger is at the Saturn Shipyard and two more will be placed accordingly to enhance our security and commerce. The Trigger bridges have infinite capacity and can drop and pick up anyone or anything from one end of the universe to the other.
"We have a standing army of over 5,000,000 mechs and a Home Guard of 2,400,000. Our air force has a ready component of half a million Seekers with a large number in the Home Guard component or those who are in the reserves. This doesn't count the fact that most of us are armed at all times including civilians so the power we possess is nearly for all intents and purposes unlimited. That includes the firepower and material of Cybertron as well.
"The number and type of ships we utilize for all of our missions and needs are vast and varied. Both on Cybertron and Mars, we have literally hundreds of titan class vessels and on our demilitarized zone between us and the pirate group led by Razorclaw, we've posted adult dreadnoughts as well as adolescent metrotitans and dreadnoughts. Because they're adolescent doesn't make their missiles any less deadly nor their aim.
"I tell you this to remind you of the power at our disposal. I remind you of the massive surveillance system that has been built in this system out into the universe. We can find small clear details in sensor readings that surpass 200,000 light years in all directions. We fly missions to see any anomalies we find and we have standard surveillance flights every day. We're always updating our sensor grid and hardware as well as finding new places to put dishes and other gear so we can know well in advance what's out there and how to deal with it.
"All of this includes forward bases, many of them that are manned to help intercept anyone or anything that might come through including any Apollo bodies in space that might crash into any of the planets of this system. We've changed the pathway of many asteroids to make sure they don't strike Earth or Mars and will continue to do so.
"All of that matters when I tell you about this incident that was not unknown to us before they bridged in. We're always tracking someone, half of them just traders on what we call The Silk Road which is an ancient travel pathway in this sector of the Orion Arm. We detected a large Decepticon group heading through what we call The Ruins. Its a very dangerous sector of space that they used to escape the Decepticon Empire from the farthest reaches of their power. It's the only way forward for this group to escape so they used it but it has risks.
"Long ago, a sector of space was a vast and deeply brilliant star nursery. Apparently, and this is conjecture because the area is so strange it defies easy interpretation, some of the biggest stars lived their lifespans then went supernova together. The combined tonnage of the explosion was so vast and furious that it actually ruptured the fabric of time and space. The area itself is called the Benzuli Expansion and the localized area of travel for this group and anyone else that way is through The Ruins. It's also near a place called The Dead Zone which is absolutely forbidden because we're not sure if the universe we exist in bleeds into another, such was the explosion.
"No one has lived to tell the tale who went there to find out. No one has ever come back. Locals, that is those who are closer to it than us tell terrible tales of monsters and evil. I've been close to it on a couple of occasions and I'll tell you, that place is wrong. Just wrong. That's the area the battle group has to navigate to avoid going to war with their own faction over deserting.
"The battle group sent out scouts to look ahead because when it clears The Ruins there are two ways to go. One is away from us into what you call the Delta Quadrant, a place where we believe Megatron is. There are endless inhabited planets there and there's a species called the Borg that are bio-mechanical who ruthlessly dominate the area. That species is keeping Megatron occupied. The stories say this species is a malevolent marauder and as numerous as stars in the universe. We believe that Megatron is trying to conquer them and hopefully, they do the job to him that he deserves.
"In the meantime, his faction is splintering and this group is poised to make a choice. The scouts will help their commander who is unknown make the decision about where to go. Given that they came this way I suspect that this will be a factor in their decision. Not only is the solar system this way but so is Cybertron. This group has been gone from Cybertron for millions of years. One can never underestimate the power of home for a wanderer.
"During the battle to halt the intrusions we learned a number of things. Their bridging isn't much different than our own but the triggers and retrievals are much faster and thus, they have a slight advantage in popping in and out. We're working on nullifying that and we have the bridge tech scientists who invented it living and working on Mars.
"The battle group is very disciplined which is interesting. One can never go broke betting on the mendacity and backbiting capabilities of the 'Cons to mess them up as a unit. This group is very much not the same and have a lot better commanders than the usual menagerie. We don't believe that their attacks on our Embassy at Diego Garcia nor the Helsinki appearance were just bursts of rage. We believe that they shot up our ships as a tactic against us, perhaps from surprise at seeing them there but the rest was a scouting run to help their leadership make a decision.
"Before you worry about that, we have updates on the battle group and the scouting party. The area of The Ruins is filled with unpredictable energy floes that come and go without warning. You take the risk of attracting one to you when you go through that area and if they do you're as dead as an insect flying into a bug zapper. Its that quick and final.
"The battle group was slowly going through the area when a small floe burst out and sprayed a curtain of radiation across their path. They're stuck on the other side of it unable to progress until it diminishes in intensity. Their scouting party is on this side unable to contact them with their location or the information they gathered. They can't rejoin the group so they fled into a nebula, an old one with drifting and diminishing energy to hide and wait it out because we're after them.
"One of their ships was shot up in pursuit so four ships are hiding in the nebula with our own team after them. The problem is very simple. The 'Cons can't return to their group and our guys can't come back the same way for the same reason. Both parties are stuck in a nebula with each other. Both parties are out of communication with their bases. Its now a waiting game," Ratchet said.
The room was deeply, deeply silent.
=0=TBC 9-9-2021 NOTES ANSWERED TOMORROW! LOVE YOU ALL MADLY!