The Diego Diaries: Trouble Brewing (dd7 78)
=0=In town
He walked to the office from lunch with the ball and chain. That is, his long time berth buddy who'd just gotten a general supervised leave from prison. He himself worked for an electronics firm that employed others like him such as A3. He came to work every morning to figure out and create models of intricate electronic schematics for the different projects he worked upon.
Entering the tower, Magec took the elevator upward to the fifteenth floor where his firm was based. Their building was on C and Kaon in Tyger Pax, Upper Deck, District 4. The roads in the upper tier wrapped around the towers allowing driving above ground and pedestrian traffic. He walked out of the elevator, then entered the lobby which was filled with workers waiting to go back to their jobs.
The light, bright and cheery outside streamed in through huge windows that made up the outer skin of the tower. This floor was a workshop space where intricate delicate engineering was done. He walked to the door of his business, then ambled inside.
The office staff were laughing together as one of them sat on duty to take calls. They were creating part of a sensor array that would be deployed in the hinterlands around Cybertron so there were always calls from Sciences and various other places during the office lunch period.
He grinned at them, then walked to the work room where his cubicle and work space waited. They were placed around the room with access to the windows which gave the huge room a warm welcoming air. Desks in cubicles with all manner of monitors and devices were part of the stations of the skilled workers. On his drafting table were the plans for the sensor array they were contracted to make.
He sat, then glanced to the left where his office buddy lolled in his own cubicle space. There were fifteen of them working here, doing a lot of things that were bid and contracted to them by government and private enterprises. "You're back early. I figured you'd be chasing your femme."
A3 grinned. "She's got duty."
Magec nodded. "She's nice. Keep her if you can."
A3 sat back in his chair. "I'm working on that end. What about you? I heard that Silo got his supervised release."
"He did. He's got tests today at the Employment Department in City Hall. He's got it narrowed down to aviation or communications." Magec laughed. "He didn't know about the last one. He's got a big mouth but it didn't occur to him to have an aptitude for that."
"Those tests are amazing. I didn't ever see myself doing this. How does he like being out of prison?" A3 asked with a smirk. "Slagger was in prison for six years. You should have moved on to someone else."
Magec grinned. "I know. There's something about him that makes me laugh."
Both of them did.
Others began to come back in, one of them with the donuts that were always brought to the office on Second Wednesdays. He set them at the table nearby with the energon 'tea' dispenser.
Rising to get some, A3 and Magec spent their remaining time chatting with their colleagues before the shift began again. It would be a very pleasant afternoon for them all.
=0=Elsewhere at the same time
Silo sat in the ante room of the Department of Employment. He'd just taken a test that would narrow down his skill set to find what he might want to do for his employment. It was odd for him to be out but to sit not forty feet from Ultra Magnus made it even more so.
He leaned back against the chair to consider his situation. They'd come, he and his gang, with a migration. They were going to slip out and head for Razorclaw when Prime overtook them. They were overwhelmed with the presence of so many guns, so many Supremes and Prime's implacable will.
They'd surrendered, had been asked to give their oaths, some of which did including Magec, then hauled off to the prison on Mars. It had been astonishing to see the colony when they arrived, something that was beyond what most of them had seen since The Fall.
Going to the prison, watching others take the oaths, he stood by the wires watching most of his crew and his second, Magec, walk out to another kind of life in the world beyond. They were domiciled together in prison at the start and while Magec went after a leave and peppered him reasons he should join, Silo wouldn't agree.
He was still steaming over losing his group, his leadership and crews and his hard boiled dreams about ruling his own kingdom. The days had passed into weeks, months and then years. Getting sucked into the system, hanging out with like minds who were as pissed as him, he'd offended enough to extend his incarceration longer and longer by breaking rules.
Finally in exasperation, Magec who'd been loyal and visited him regularly lowered the boom. "Either you get your slag together or I'm moving on."
Silo who'd been a berth buddy to the big handsome mech, then something more after a while was aghast. He stared at Magec who was secretly relieved that the big dumb slagger was actually showing something more than the usual banter. "You're seeing someone?"
"MAYBE!" Magec he'd said, then he rose to leave.
Silo stared at the door for how long, he didn't know. Then he walked to his cell. Sitting on the bench outside, he glanced around. The usual dumb asses were there. The usual slag was going on. The usual dullness was everywhere he looked. He'd sat here for six years getting into trouble, wearing out his welcome and Magec was having a life. He was even ready to leave him behind.
THE SLAGGER WAS HAVING A LIFE! WITH SOMEONE!
MAYBE!
He then walked to the fence catching the attention of the guards passing by. He called to them through the blazing energy streams. "HEY! I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE COUNSELORS!"
The guards stared at him for a moment, then each other. "Okay." …
Ultra Magnus walked to his office nodding to Silo as he entered it to do the zillion things he was tasked to do.
Silo felt his servo itch for a gun, an automatic reaction he was told by his mentor in the Former Decepticon Association, Claw Hammer.
A voice called his name so he stood. His tester was back so he walked inside with him to get the word on his testing. He would. He was determined to be capable of an aptitude in aviation along with a strong suit in communications. They sat together checking out the mentorship and apprenticeship programs available to him.
He would choose to learn engine design for aviation and pursue certification in aerodynamic engineering. That would require a lot of hands on and a few college classes.
That part was weird.
By the time he was finished, it was nearly time for Magec to get off work. He would take the Metro to Tyger Pax, wait in the lobby, then join him for dinner somewhere. They liked a steak house in the city, a place called Samson's. Walking together toward the elevator that would take them up to that elevated level, he told Magic about his plans.
Magec would be pleased.
He would also remind Silo to clean up the apartment when they got home, the pig.
=0=On the airfield
They came in through the bridge, then headed for Aerie Hill. The entire group would be met there with medical personnel, techs from the Bureau of Refugees, military debriefing experts and most of the civilian population. The arrival of a group now was a mass celebration as the population of Seekers planet wide had increased to nearly 1,233,000 individuals.
Aerie Hill itself sprawled in elegant fashion through ravines that allowed terraced housing on their steep sides as the city spread away from the original township. It wound along the ravines following the land to create a remarkably beautiful city.
They came in to land in the 'Old City' center as it was called by locals. The enlarged medical center there was waiting for them. The sounds of the crowd roaring their approval, stamping the ground and dancing was a welcome sight to the weary travelers.
Children were picked up by total strangers, carried with their genitors into the med center, others were hugged, pulled into dancing and greeted with joy and pride. Standing nearby watching with great dignity and happiness, the entire Council of Elders retrieved thus far were waiting.
Friends greeted friends among some of the newcomers. Others helped total strangers find their way inside. Food and drink were served to the newbies, traditional welcoming offerings from among some of the more formal groups.
Rainmaker slammed to the ground with his sons, then raised his staff over his helm. The roar could be heard for miles as guns were fired off and songs began to be sung. It would be a celebration all night long in Aerie Hill as the newest members of their community were taken care of and then feted to their new homes by their families, friends, clan members and fellow Seekers.
Over 700 new citizens found their way home again.
Two of them would be the genitors of three of the youngling mechs that were manufactured by Megatron to be fighters. It would be an astonishing thing to contemplate.
Those Seeker infants in adult bodies had been right.
=0=Conference Room
They sat in the room thinking about what the prisoners had told them. Cassio Imperialis was making moves. The group was big but not untenable. They'd beaten off Shrike and he had a big group. What they had to do was keep them from joining up with the others. Prime tolerated the current balance of power but anything beyond it would have to be dealt with.
"Cassio and Ebio are a pain in the aft. Maybe we better go back and slag them to the Pit," Ironhide said.
The others nodded.
"Since he wants to be a player, he's going to come at you eventually. If we neutralize the ones that are farthest away, we can manage the size of those close to home," Sun said.
"It would be easier to bridge in, blast the slag out of them, then bridge out," Blackjack the Elder said. "We're pretty good at that tactic. Served us well in the boondocks when we were surveying for our people."
"I am not opposed to that. They are too close to the local group near Cybertron for me to feel comfortable about them," Prime said. "I would like to take them out and then show them to the others as an object lesson. We know that Razorclaw is harassing groups in the space beyond Eridani. We are pledged to protect them and this might be incentive to encourage their better cooperation."
"He has a lot of mechs with nothing to do. At some point this will play out as it does," Hard Drive said. "I do think that a strike, hard and fast, then retreat is a good tactic. If we come back again nearly immediately afterward when they're still digging out, fast and decisive, we can gather up what's there and use it for display purposes."
Prime nodded, then glanced at Prowl. "We have two immediate problems. First, we have to deal with this new group. I want everything that can be found out about Particle. We also have to beef up the Bootes Expansion. No more groups winging in without early notice. Then we have to neutralize the Imperialis brothers. There is no telling what they are doing to the species that live past his fortress.
"Prowl, you have overall management of planning with Paragon. Name the teams, then get it done. I want plans in place to halt all of this. Tomorrow, I will be contacting Razorclaw and Ominous my way."
Ironhide grinned, "I get dibs to come with you."
"Stand in line, infant," Blackjack the Younger said with a smirk. "Infant can't get all the fun."
Prime grinned, then glanced at Prowl. "When will that group be a real problem for us?"
"At the calculation of travel they're on and the course extrapolated from their current trajectory, we have three orns before they cross the line of no return," Prowl replied.
"Then three orns it is," Prime said grimly. "Let us get to it then."
They would.
Particle and his armada would continue to make their way forward.
Razorclaw and Ominous would hear from Prime and his command the next orn.
His way.
=0=TBC 9-5-19
HI, FANCY! There are never enough Seekers. :D HUGS!