The Diego Diaries: Null (dd7 103)
=0=That was when all hell broke out …
Two fleeing shuttles flashed toward the 'Con group coming their way, then passed through it missing all of the ships involved in a show of audacious flying that would have impressed even Seekers. Behind them approaching the same group at speed and now clearly visible, an armada of ships appeared. It was then that that the 'Cons began to evade.
Kup and Hercy flew out of the enemy configuration, slowed, then began to turn back to get their piece of the pie. By then it was clear that they would do better staying out of the way. Both of their ships began to furiously back peddle as the combined fire power of three Supremes and six battle shuttles came in like a tsunami and began to take out the vital systems of the Decepticon ships all at the same time.
One ship blew up as an engine ruptured. Two others began to come alive with tiny escape pods flying off the mother ship like baby spiders off the back of their mother, evacuating ahead of someone's foot. They were tiny dark spots in the light of blazing fire and burning erupting ships. The attack was so fast that none of them could run nor fight back much. They were slamming into each other and some of them were rolling, falling away into the darkness trailing their guts behind them.
Prime who was watching the main screen showing all of it happening glanced at Prowl who had come over to run the show on Salton Sea. "We need a force to take this over. We cannot delay now."
Prowl nodded, then commed Ops Center back on Mars to send the stand by group to come pick up survivors, salvage what they could, blow up the rest and vacate the area before anyone else ambled in for a saunter around the sector. He glanced at Prime. "It's on its way."
Prime felt relief, then sat back to watch as the ships began to be boarded and crews rounded up to be held in space itself for the fleet coming to gather them up. Medics were already heading for the chaos even as the ships tried to put up resistance. They would learn the hard way that resistance this time was futile.
=0=Ratchet
He heard the news and took the call from Prowl He then released the Beta Crew to go and do 'clean up' for the armada so they could book it to their main objectives. He felt a tingle of regret that he wasn't there but it was overridden by Banner's need.
The big mech was compiling data showing errors for Ratchet though he didn't know it. He was still in stasis, his mental state upon awakening still uncertain. Given the depth of his energon bleed out, he could come out smiling or swinging. Ratchet hadn't told anyone that yet. He was saving it.
He grinned. "Yeah, that's a good thing to save. Banner," he said patting the console. "You better not come out of this fighting. There's a lot of individuals who might take offense." Then he commed Metroplex and Fort Max to come by for a chat about that very thing.
=0=On the scene
The ships that came through the bridge nearby were huge and filled with technicians, doctors and demolition specialists. With them were clouds of Seekers, some of them expert on post fight salvage and recovery. It would astonish a lot of human soldiers how specialized the service branches were with those who had technical expertise and backgrounds besides warrior skills.
Point one in the clean up was pulling everyone out and getting them to the prison ships and the three converted convoy vessels that were used during big enemy pick ups. They were container ships and thus had highly secured compartments for cargo into which to put prisoners. They would hold all of them easily until they reached the prison and could be sorted.
Point two was going through the ships, taking all the usual tech including anything that looked promising, data and computer nodes, anything that looked like maps, weird tech that was always on 'Con ships, anything that looked cultural and thus was probably stolen and personal effects that might be important such as plants and animals. It would surprise a lot of individuals how many bad guys had a pet or plant that they loved.
Cyber foxes anyone?
All of this would be taken back to the ships set aside for such things as tech teams overran the vessels once cleared to enter by the fire suppression teams and disaster specialists that always went first.
Point three would be allowing demolitions and their expert sappers to go in and mine the slag out of the ships, none of which were considered either fit nor interesting enough to take with. They would mine them, everyone would pull back, then KERPOW!
All in all, it would take only a few joors, then the debris field would be the only thing left to show someone's hard luck. All of those characters would be heading back to Mars and Warden Gee-Gee's tender mercies.
*cough*
The chat over the comm lines was as usual instructive, funny, abusive and filled with 'character' as his grandfather used to say about cussing and 'telling it like it is/was' among those who worked hard jobs. Prime grinned slightly at the memory of his giant grandfather, a beautiful and good mech who liked to take his grandson with him on walks about the city. He would tell Orion about the buildings, some of which his own father had helped build, the great grandfather he never met.
Sirius was the only grandfather he knew. Not even his ada's genitors had survived to see him as more than a small child and those were very old and faded memories. His grandparents were the soul of his existence and as Prime watched the show outside he wondered why he had this memory now. Sitting straighter, he concentrated on the wind down.
Prowl glanced at Optimus drawn by the slight turn down of his energy. He was aware that Prime was a genuinely good mech with balanced energy nearly all the time, so this kind of slag bothered him even now after all these vorns and it showed up on his aura. He was an expert at reading Optimus's energy. :What's up?:
Prime glanced at him. :Nothing. I just thought about my grandfather a moment:
Prowl nodded, then rose to walk to the command chair. He stood beside Optimus resting his servo on Prime's big shoulder. :I can imagine he would be terribly proud of his only little mech:
:He would be. I regret that you and the children never got to meet either of them. All of them. They were all very good individuals and decent:
Prowl grinned, then glanced down at Prime. :Can they be any other way given producing a grandson like you?:
Prime felt incredible warmth fill him, then pulsed it to Prowl. He gently squeezed Prowl's servo, then relaxed a bit. "This is going well. Having the Supremes along as combatants is very helpful."
"So is the element of surprise," Prowl said agreeably. "I estimate we can move forward in half a joor. The group is protected and most of the prisoners have been scooped up. I don't detect anyone getting away so our stealth should still be intact."
Prime nodded. "I want to leave as soon as possible. Anyone can come along this path."
"I'll send the word," Prowl said as he squeezed Prime's shoulder. He walked to the command table to sit. "Battle group, give me a text on time. We need to move."
They would tell him what they would need before relinquishing the group to Nitro who was leading the clean up mission. It would be just about half a joor.
=0=Banner's command deck
They sat on the command chairs to discuss the situation as it stood. Ratchet laid out the possible scenarios.
"He had massive energon loss which needs to correct all over his entire body including his command centers and all of his higher level functioning programming. He's rebooting his systems and a lot of work has been done to get him to a stable condition. There's trauma to boot. I can't imagine its a nice sensation to have slaggers running around inside you with knives cutting you to pieces. That seems worst case nightmare scenario to me."
Metroplex nodded as Max listened with a grim expression. "It is for us, Ratchet. That's why we help each other to escape. They disable our propulsion and steering, board us, then bleed us until we die in space or crash. They prefer space."
Ratchet frowned. "Fraggers. What my main concern and frankly a concern for all of us is that Banner wakes up dazed, rises and thrashes around. He can't be clear helmed and though I can account for a lot, I can't tell what he's going to do when he comes out of it. He nearly bled out. That means a lot of delicate intricate processor areas were hit hard. It could mean confusion as things sync back again. I can't predict it but I know its a really possible scenario."
It was silent a moment, then Metroplex sat back with a grim expression. "Then we better tractor him into the desert to let this happen if it does. At least there he won't break anything."
"I don't know about raising him yet," Ratchet said. "He's still in a state. We could keep working on him, keeping the transfusions coming and then see what the data says. I'm just giving you the heads up. I've seen them come out of stasis after a shellacking and its anyone's ball game how it turns out. I don't want him pulling a Metrotitan here in the middle of the colony."
"Let us discuss this, Ratchet. Can you send me data as it goes?" Metroplex asked. "We can sit down and work out what we can do. Banner is a very decent mech and he wouldn't handle it well if in a state he hurt anyone."
"Well, he sort of fits the general overall condition of your frame. You slaggers are an inspiration," Ratchet said. "I will."
They talked a bit longer, then the two derezzed to go confab with the rest of the titans on world and half a dozen specialist titans who buzzed in to help.
That is, they came via transmission to reappear in pretender gear.
=0=Out there
Hercy stood on a ship that was listing to one side as its guts continued to spill out into space from the stitching it got from Beta Supreme. The big ship was practicing it was clear. :Beta was a gent all his life. He was a good mech who did formal slag and transported different groups like politicians, sports teams and kids heading for this and that thing. This is new for him but he's a good shot:
:Xantium and Omega take them into space and they go to the debris field at the solar well to practice. He doesn't want them to be sitting ducks: Kup said.
Around them the hustle of clearing ships, transporting dead, wounded and captured as well as taking anything interesting that wasn't nailed down continued. They were giving armed support themselves so they took advantage of the lull to find a good vantage point and watch.
Seekers flew in towing lines of mechs who were chained together wrist to wrist. They were heatedly angry as they trailed their Seeker transport in a long line. It was amusing.
:What do you think will happen when we find the Imperialis Brothers, Abba?: Bezel asked as he and Lon stood beside Kup and Hercy.
They mused on it, then Hercy glanced at them. :We're going to read 'em from The Book:
:What book, Abba?: a young Home Guardsman asked as he waited with them. :The Chronicles of Primus?: he asked. He was watching here because he asked and the big mechs decided it was safe enough. Otherwise, he'd be back on the shuttle doing navigation again.
:Close enough: Hercy said.
They watched as Springer, Drift, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker climbed toward them with magnified steps and hand grips. They reached the little group then turned around to inspect the sight.
It was amazing. Ship lights lit things up as the last groups of soldiers were towed off. Ships were sparking, some fires could be seen inside as their own ships waited along side to take what gear and tech the mechs working inside decided to remove.
Seekers hovered here and there, some sitting on the Supremes. Beta, Xantium and Omega blotted out a lot of the view as they waited for the teams to come back. As they did the prison ship crews slid to a halt nearby to claim more and comm channels lit up. In moments, then original group would fall back to the armada nearby. This group would take over and the prison ships would begin to go back to Mars.
It was like clockwork, the sight before everyone. By the time the armada formed up again the Decepticons would be down one large group on their border defenses. Autobot City Civilian and Military Prison would gain about 5,500 new prisoners.
It would be a nice haul for a few minutes work.
TBC 10-06-19 02-27-2021
NOTE REPLIES TOMORROW! :D:D:D:D:D (Its my pleasure, Ragemoose) :D
I remember sweeping my sister's floor and there was a big black reclusive looking spider on the floor. I tried to be nice and sweep them into a pan to take them outside. The moment I touched it, it seemed to explode. About twenty or thirty spiders about the size of dust motes jumped off and landed on the floor. That's when I screamed, slammed them into a pan, took them outside and banged the pan on the ground a couple of hundred times. Sheesh. They won't even let you be nice. ;)
Did I tell you that arachnophobia runs in the family? :)