What Makes No difference Is No Difference (WMNDIND 11)
-0-A Kansas field stretching into infinity in all directions
The light wind kicked up a dust devil nearby, a funnel of dirt swirling swiftly, then falling away just as fast. It was eerily silent as they stood around the hole staring at the bright shiny object inside. Prime knelt, then brushed away dirt to reveal the glyphs that he knew would be there. Reaching in, he gripped the object, then pulled up rising as he did.
The object was long, silvery to a degree that was almost unheard of and covered in writing. Prime brushed off the clinging remains of hard undisturbed earth, then held it up. "This is the Star Saber," he said quietly.
Sunstreaker glanced at Sideswipe who was staring at the sword with covetous optics. "Why would it be here?" Sunstreaker asked.
Prime shook his helm. "I do not know. Whoever was here was looking for it."
"They were hovering over it. They almost got it," Sideswipe said.
"It would make no difference if they got the sword. They would not be able to wield it. Only a Prime can," Optimus said as he tested it for balance. It was perfection. "I can not speculate why this is here but it is."
In the distance, the sound of sirens could be heard. Sideswipe turned to look spotting about half a dozen state trooper vehicles bearing down upon them. "Oh oh. Here comes the heat," he said with a grin. He glanced at Optimus. "We sort of speeded to get here."
"Then we better leave," Optimus said as he turned to watch several police vehicles turn off the road heading their way. "Ratchet, we require a bridge."
A funnel of eternity erupted before them, then settled. The three walked toward it, then entered. It blinked out of sight and by the time the police reached the spot where they had been standing and got out, all they would find was an empty hole.
-0-Back at the ranch
They walked out of the bridge tunnel, then gathered in the main room.
Ratchet turned from the bridge toward them. "Where did you get that?" he asked in surprise.
"I found it," Sideswipe said with a grin. "I get first refusal*."
"In your dreams," Sunstreaker said. "Only Primes can use that sword."
Ratchet nodded. "That's right."
"Who was the fragger looking for it? I didn't recognize the vessel beyond the Deceptibrand. It looked like a runabout," Sunstreaker said as the others began to join them in the great room.
"What are you doing with what looks like the Star Saber, Optimus?" Springer asked.
"Someone was looking for it and we got it first," Sideswipe said. "We don't know who it was besides being a 'Con."
"That's not good," Drift said. "Someone knew it was there then. How come we didn't? And more importantly … are there more relics out there?"
Everyone glanced at Drift.
"You're a ball of sunshine," Springer said with a grin.
"He has a point," Prime said as he stared at the blade. "We need to send a message to Prowl and find out what the rumor is regarding the relics."
Ratchet nodded. "We can ghost it out of the system on the NASA communications line for their deep space probes. They won't know its there."
Prime nodded. "Very well. I will make the message, then send it to you, Ratchet." With that, he walked into the installation sword in servo.
They watched him go for a moment, then turned to each other. "How many of the relics do you think require a Prime?" Sideswipe asked Ratchet.
"Not many," Ratchet replied with disquiet. "If someone finds them, theoretically, they can use them."
"Oh great," Sideswipe said. "Nothing like making a fragged thing worse."
No one had anything to say in reply.
-0-On a planet near enough but not too near
Prowl received the message which gave him pause. A Primal relic had been found on a planet that wasn't even on the star charts until Prime was located there. He considered the dire possibilities knowing full well that Megatron with a war ship and who knew what else was at Earth as well. This was bad. Really bad.
He walked to the doorway of the Ops Center of the camp. Scattered around the area doing things or relaxing were any number of hard core mechs he could send to back Prime up. He considered his list, then put in the call. Turning to walk inside, he began to make things happen.
-0-Nevada
Ratchet walked to the corridor tunnel that led into the back of the installation. Passing this and that bot, he turned into the quarters that Optimus had made his own. It was spartan and dignified, rather like the great bot himself. "Optimus, we have a reply from Prowl."
Optimus who was studying the enormous sword placed it on the sword niche on the wall. Its luminous seemingly sentient beauty seemed to make its own light. He turned to Ratchet. "What does it say?"
"Prowl is sending reinforcements including Perceptor to see if this is a fluke or a problem."
Prime nodded. "Signal back receipt and tell him we will be looking out for them. Did he say who they were?"
"He did. They are Perceptor, Nosecone, Ultra Magnus and Mirage."
Prime nodded. "Very well. We will wait for them. Mirage will be very helpful to the problem."
Ratchet nodded. "That was my thinking as well." He turned to walk back to Ops Center.
Prime watched him go, then turned toward the sword. "Solus Prime, I need your strength and wisdom now. If relics are here, we will have to find them first." He stared at the glistening 22 foot sword, then walked out. He didn't know if he'd been heard or not but it didn't matter. His was the burden to carry no matter what.
-0-On a plane of existence outside of reality
They stood together on a promontory that would not exist without Their presence. Surrounding Them like a background of soft murmurs, They listened to the prayers of Their own kind silently. All of the pleas and sorrows of Their scattered people reached Them, swirling around like fog over a pond at dawn.
"Do you hear him?" She asked.
"I do," He replied. "He found the sword."
"It is as it is supposed to be." She closed her eyes and concentrated on the pleas all around Her. "It will be good when he figures it out. I know he will. I am most pleased with him."
"He is the best one … the one prophesied. When he can, he will restore all that is," Vector Prime said even as he already was thinking of something else.
Solus nodded. "I agree." She stood with Him on the promontory point, then it began to dissolve until there was nothing left but space.
-0-At an Autobot stronghold
They left the briefing to walk to the vessel that Ultra Magnus used to hunt treaty breakers and other no gooders. They boarded, then the ramp closed as liftoff was almost immediate. Soon they were gone into the heavens carrying with them skills and hope that Megatron wouldn't find any more relics if they existed on that nondescript rock 100 light years away.
Prowl watched, then turned into the Center and his job of holding things together until Prime called for him to come.
-0-In space
Mirage sat in the co-pilot's seat as Ultra Magnus flew through super luminal or warp space. They were prepared to come into normal space at a point just outside of the solar system where Prime was located. Perceptor and Nosecone stood in the back watching the sparkling beauty of warped space flash past. At this rate it would be only a matter of minutes before they reached their point of departure.
-0-Megatron
He sat on the throne on his ship considering their options. He'd been told and had seen the data that indicated Cybertronian artifacts were here. That gave him a great deal of hope for finding the AllSpark whose energy signature had trailed off at this planet. He had flights scouring the planet doing deep searches at ground level when something appeared promising. Unfortunately, the liquid iron core of the planet gave false readings so the search was harder than it should have been. His patience was being tested. "Starscream, any word?" he asked in his low dangerous tone.
The Seeker turned toward Megatron expertly sorting out his posture and energy signature for mood and threat level. "Nothing so far, Master. I am sure we will triumph soon. We are doing a grid pattern over this benighted pebble and I expect results shortly."
"So do I, Starscream. Soon," Megatron said sitting back on the chair, his optics never leaving the screen nor Starscream.
Starscream turned back to the console, searching himself as their ship lazily traversed the skies, its signature hidden with cloaking technology. /... when I do, *master* you better watch your back …/ he thought to himself.
The afternoon would drone onward.
-0-Nearing the solar well
Ultra Magnus turned on stealth mode, then entered the roiling edges of the solar well of a nondescript middle range star with nine unprepossessing planets in gravitational captivity. Some of them were gas giants while others were frozen or baked dead worlds but for the one they were flying toward. That one was a miracle with an organic population and their Prime in residence.
Perceptor out of habit scanned everything that they passed and by the time they reached the insertion orbit of the third planet he had raw data that would tell them that the Decepticons had a rudimentary base under construction on the fourth planet, the one called Mars. It would not be noted until later when he showed the data to Ratchet for inclusion into their main computer. Only then would the situation's danger be imminently clear.
"Does anyone come up on sensors, Perceptor, or are they going cloaked?" Nosecone asked.
"They are hiding their signal," Perceptor said to the Technobot who stood quietly across the ship from him. "It wouldn't take much to hide one's signature from the organic species in residence. Their level of technology lies about 3 on the Industrial Scale of Praxus."
"Just enough technology to be an irritant but not enough to save themselves," Nosecone said.
Perceptor nodded. "It is clear to see why we will be 'robots in disguise' as Prowl put it."
"We're going in," Magnus said as the ship began to descend into the atmosphere. When it came out of the bright glare of friction into the blue sky of the planet proper, they were flying over a vast ocean of water. Onward they went heading toward a continent and a daunting desert where the base was said to be hidden. A carefully coded signal was sent, the reply met along with coordinates for them to come and soon no one would ever know an alien vessel came to Earth to stay.
-0-On the ground
Agent Fowler walked into the base from the parking lot inside the doors. He paused because the place was abuzz with Autobots and activity. He climbed to the mezzanine to pause beside Jack. "What's going on?" he asked.
"New bots. They're coming with a ship." Jack moved a bit to let Miko have a place to view.
Raf joined her as bots came back through the ground bridge. Then a rumbling sensation could be felt beneath their feet as in the upper story something was happening outside. It was disconcerting until they figured it was a friendly.
Up topside a ship was landing, then descending through the mountain on the huge elevator that took Wheeljack's vessel into and from the huge base. It made the walls rumble until it stopped. Then all was silent.
Bee ran for the elevator, then jumped inside and was gone.
No one spoke. It was intense as they stared at the elevator door watching as Bee went up to the hangar deck floor. It was still a moment, then the elevator began to come back down. When it stopped, the door opened. Bee stepped out, then four others as well. From the expressions of most of them, they were welcome bots. One of them was as big as Optimus while the others though tall were merely warrior class or shorter.
Conversation swelled as fists were bumped, servos shaken and greetings made.
Ratchet sent files to the bots for their disguise modes as all of the conversation was conducted in Cybertronian. Laughter, light and odd in their fashion filled the room as friends greeted each other once more.
One by one, they chose their format and made their transformation in a standing mode. They sparkled with energy, then appeared colorful and automotive in motif. It was at that moment that Miko ran down the stairs and across the floor toward Bulkhead. She paused at his ped to stare upward as eighteen bots stared down.
"Hi! I'm Miko! I'm Bulkhead's partner," she said with a big smile.
Eighteen pairs of optics, fourteen amused and four surprised looked at Bulkhead all at once.
Bulkhead glancing down at Miko grinned. "You got that right," he said to general hilarity.
-0-TBC May 18, 2014 edited 2-13-16 01=23-2021
NOTES: When someone gets first refusal, they get to decide to keep something or not before anyone else does. Old expression.
Also, TF: Prime is the framework. This story just took off on its own. :D:D:D
