The Diego Diaries: Incident: Drift (dd8 253)
(Not edited. Barely posted. Having trouble with the modem.) :(
UPDATE: The modem won. I lost. I HATE MY INTERNET PROVIDER! THEY TOSSED ME OFF AND CAN'T EXPLAIN IT!
UPDATE: OMG! OMB! DKGOJSUEH! I FINALLY GOT IT FIXED! Sorry, my darlings. HERE WE GO AT LAST!
=0=Out there
They flew ever onward, heading away from the narrow gateway of The Ruins and the shimmer of deadly radiation left behind by a relatively minor energy flare up. A floe had blocked off the transitional pathway for the Decepticon battle group lead by the phase sixer, Paladin and cut off his scouting party with all the intel of Earth and Mars they had gathered. Flying along with them like a shadow, six battle shuttles from Autobot City armed to the teeth were in the same dire situation.
Hercy through the luck of the draw had been given the lead in dealing with the Decepticons who had shown no inclination toward violence yet. Having their captain turn out to be a fellow Helexian had been a lucky bonus. Sharing food, playing electronic games, bantering over the intercom between ships, the intensity was dropping though neither side felt more than just a bit more comfortable.
"Hercy," Rem said as he turned in his seat to glance at the antique who was relaxing in a gun turret. "There's a mass ahead that's huge but exhibiting nothing to indicate that its alive."
Hercy rose to walk to the navigator's seat. He began to type on the console, then sat back. "That's a huge ship. Lissie? Dev?"
:Here, Hercy: Lissie replied.
:Here, Appa: Dev replied.
"We have a big hulk of a ship up ahead. It doesn't appear to be live but you never know. I'm going to alert Cord," he said. "Hey, Cord."
:Cord here: a calm voice replied.
"We have the echoes of a big derelict ship up ahead. How about combining sensors to see what it is? I'm going to ask one of our best scouts to go and check it out. Deal?" Hercy asked.
It took a moment but Cord was back. :Sounds good. We're going to hook in. What about your scout?:
"Devcon will send intel to both parties," Hercy said as he waited. It might get interesting shortly.
After a beat the voice was back with an inherent shadow of humor in its calm spoken tenor. :Devcon is your scout. The bounty hunter:
"We only field the best," Hercy replied with a chuckle. "You got an open warrant?"
:I'm not saying: Cord replied as he linked up with the Autobots. He grinned. Devcon was actually someone he knew from way back when. They weren't truly friends but they knew each other. He wondered if Dev had said anything.
Dev had.
=0=Sciences, Autobot City
"Well, that's not going to work. All of our models fail. They have to go deeper into the nebula before we can feel safer about the bridge possibilities. How's the dart messenger coming along?" Wheeljack asked a young scientist working on the console nearby.
"Its coming, Doctor," he said as he glanced up. "If the sender is someone like Tennyson we can have high confidence that it will have the power to punch through the radiation wall without breaking up or coming through so static-filled that its unintelligible."
"That's good. Tennyson is the most powerful type of transmitter that we have. His array is incredible and he has the oomph to do it. We're going to use the geo bridge to boost the drone we're going to send. Hopefully, it'll survey and send before it blows up," Wheeljack said.
"It won't compromise the area if it does. One small device blowing up in that supernatural mess won't even leave a mark," Perceptor said as he rose from his station to walk to a console nearby. "Its just getting it in order to do it."
"They know they have to get to a bridging area. We just have to be ready to hear them when they can," Wheeljack said.
=0=Out there
They flew into the darkness for a while before drifting debris began to show up on sensors. It was black and part of something that had once been whole, like a very big ship or another non-naturally occurring thing. It drifted slowly around the area becoming more dense and recognizable to a degree the closer they got to the derelict.
As they flew forward, they began to slow, taking in a dark shape floating in the distance with surprise. It was a ship. A very huge, very menacing looking ship.
=0=Hercy
"Well, I've never seen a ship like that."
:I haven't either. That's huge. I wonder even more who could have destroyed it so completely: Dev ventured from his own ship. :I'm going out to see what this is and give it a cursory look over. Keep me covered and let me know if anything moves:
:Go ahead, Dev. We have your back: Lissie said from hers.
After a moment of watching things listing around in the thinning mush of the nebula, a sleek ship darted out and was gone from visual almost immediately. All ten vessels watched his light on their sensors as he flew toward the derelict at speed.
=0=Zooming on Mars
:Please give your name, rank and your role in this case before us:
Will Lennox stared at a phalanx of lawyers from two continents who were deposing him for the wrongful death suits against Autobot Nation. He had been subpoenaed to appear and was only marginally mollified that his participation was coerced this way. It wasn't going to be pleasant with his history with Lawrence Dobbs. "My name is Colonel William T. Lennox. I am Commandant of the Human Mission to Mars and the legal leader and ultimate authority of the entire community. My role in this case was in that capacity. I helped the Autobots search for Mr. Dobbs and Mr. Lombardi when they came up missing because I was in charge of them here on world."
:Mr. Lennox, your relationship with my client, Lawrence Dobbs wasn't a good one. I would like you to describe in your own words what that was, what you believed was the bone of contention and why it escalated to the level of animosity that it did: a lawyer for the Dobbs family stated.
Lennox stared at the group with loathing. "It wasn't a good relationship for a number of reasons. Mr. Dobbs was part of a mercenary group that was security for Jason Daniels who was arrested, tried and convicted of treason. He was instructed by Daniels to disrupt the relationship between the bots and us, to dig out anything that might be useful for his political and personal ambitions and he was involved in a number of incidents that were harmful to the mission."
:Describe them please:
"There was a rule that no pictures would be taken of the Autobots at Diego Garcia. It was a security rule to keep the Decepticons and Megatron guessing about Prime, the size of the garrison and its ability to protect Earth, including you, counselor, from getting killed in your beds. He concealed a lot of photos in a Bible on a camera that he had made during the course of his tour. He was going to sneak them out, sell them for a lot of money and benefit himself at the expense of everyone in the world. We concealed the bots for a reason.
"As for the animosity, I was disgusted with them. Real soldiers are with mercenaries. Mercs kill innocents sometimes for sport. They have no ethics or constraints like regular soldiers and hire themselves out to the worst people who can pay them what they want. No honor, no decency. That's my objection. That he was a jerk while there, always getting into trouble because Daniels provoked them to do that didn't help a bit."
It would go like that for a bit.
=0=Out there
Devcon flew onward dodging large portions of the ship that floated here and there. He thought he spotted free floating bodies so he markered them for his return. It was eerie and dangerous feeling to fly around the vessel. It was monstrously huge even for a bot though the decks looked tall enough to hold them, some of them, if they bent slightly.
He saw no lights, nor did he see activity. This ship had been dead for some time, floating out here all alone. No one had appeared to come for it which was odd. Most civilizations he'd met had looked for those lost to their fold. This one looked like it hadn't had a visitor in ages.
He flew toward it, then transformed as he landed on a deck. There was no outside wall here, either from being designed that way or having lost it in what appeared to be a savage fight. He walked into the space and looked upward. The industrial design and connecting ladders and elevators stretched upward out of sight. It also stretched downward as far.
Holes were blown into the sides of it, imploding toward whoever was in here. Mostly no one could be seen. He paused by a walkway to look down. "Dev to Hercy and Cord."
:Hercy here:
:Hi, Devcon. Remember me?: a slightly bemused voice said.
"I do," Dev said as he grinned faintly. "Come to my signal and take a look. I don't know this vessel but its pretty spectacular to see."
:On my way, Dev: Hercy replied.
:Yeah. On our way: Cord replied.
It would take a moment before the ships came into view. Two of them flew toward the open deck where they turned to the side to slide to a halt. The hatches opened as a mech each slid out and drifted toward Dev. They reached the deck, magnetized, then walked toward him. They paused together, three mechs on a dark deck.
"Well, here we are," Cord said with a grin. He glanced at Hercy. "Nice to see the face behind the legend."
Hercy snorted, then laughed. "Lucky you," he said then he glanced around. "Who could have done this to this ship and why don't we know about this species?"
"Maybe we do," Dev said as they began to walk inside to the corridors that ran everywhere. "Maybe we just need access to the big computers back home."
"Maybe," Hercy said, then he halted. "Look at that." He pointed.
The two turned to look, then glanced at each other. A couple of odd looking individuals were laying half concealed in the dark. They weren't from the same species, oddly enough.
"They've been dead a long time. What the hell kind of species is this?" Cord asked.
"I don't know but its a dead one here," Hercy said. "Most come looking for their lost ships. This one hasn't. I wonder why? I also wonder who could've killed them. Notice the size of the holes punched into it by someone else."
Everyone had. They continued inside seeing many dead, some fallen in a fight and others caught at their stations. It was eerie, this massive graveyard. At last, they walked back to the hangar deck and the two ships waiting to take them back.
Hercy glanced upward at Cord. "How long are you going to play a fool's game? I don't really take you for one."
Cord grinned. "Keep talking, Appa. You never know."
"There's nothing left for the 'Cons but a grave. Prime has it all sewed up and the firepower to put anyone down including the slaggers who ran this ship," Dev said with an edge that echoed his deep and unforgiving hatred of Decepticons. "Give in and live. Come into our space any other way and you'll die. That about sums it up."
"I'll consider it deeply because of you," Cord said with a smirk. "Thanks for the beer. That was a treat. My kids deserve it."
"There's more like it where we live and it doesn't cost a nickel. We're cashless now because Prime gives a damn. Tell me where Megatron does," Hercy replied.
Cord stared at him recognizing his face from celebration orns for Immortals and elders. He was the real deal and he knew that Hercy would never lie to him. "I'll think about it. I have a lot of mechs that are good guys. I don't know and I won't promise anything. None of us are stupid. We get the score. We're just tired of being played."
"Who's your leader then?" Dev asked.
Cord stared at him remembering the edgy billiard game they had in a saloon at a neutral bar. He waited until a big group left before leaving himself, such was the fear that Devcon inspired among the 'Cons. "I'll think about it," he said, then walked to his shuttle. He hopped in, then turned to the pair. "Let's stay hooked up. Whoever made that ship is no one to accidentally run into in the dark."
Hercy nodded, then watched him leave, pulling back into the group again. He and Dev did the same thing, then the ten ships began to move off leaving the derelict to float dead in space.
The spherical ship wasn't one they'd ever seen and the odd ball crew either. Fortunately, the Borg never made it past the Benzuli Expansion so they were a mystery to the bots. They weren't a mystery to Megatron. This was the first Borg ship and encounter he made entering the Delta Quadrant and it wouldn't be his last.
=0=TBC 9-14-2021 (This almost didn't go out. Damned modem. LOVE YA!) UPDATE! IT DIDN'T BUT IT DID NOW! BWAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!