The Diego Diaries: Styre (dd7 141)
See note at the bottom about the name thingo, Stryker. Its now what its supposed to be, Styre. :D
=0=There
They stared at each other with differing reasons to be surprised. It was obvious to Prime that the mech before him never expected to see him in his lifetime. It was also obvious that this mech bore a supernatural resemblance in both appearance and aura to Prowl. He stared at Styre, then saw it on the mech's left cheek, a tiny mark noting his family, House and clan. This was one of Prowl's relatives.
"You are the leader of Homeland?" Prime asked.
The mech nodded. "I am Styre of Praxus. I am the leader of our colony. I never expected to see you, Lord Optimus. It is a miracle that you found us. We reside in a very out of the way place."
"We reside in a solar system that is a fortress and is home to nearly 100,000,000 of our people. We have also retaken Cybertron. Megatron still lives but we build from strength to strength. We found out about you when strangers breached our system, came to Iacon, then left. We traced them to this area. We saved a ship in trouble and they gave us information about the situation here. They are your people and they were being set upon by ships from Sun Base," Prime explained.
Styre's expression tightened as he listened. "We need to talk, Lord Optimus."
"Then come to this ship," Prime said. "I will send you a bridge if you keep this line open."
Styre glanced to the side, then back at Prime. "Very well."
The screen shifted back to their logo but the line was open. The sound of a bridge could be heard at that end, then was stilled.
Prime stood beside his command chair, then glanced at the others.
Ratchet mused on him. "He has the same etchings that Prowl has. He looks like Prowl. Coincidence?"
"I do not believe so," Prime said.
The elevator doors opened and a handsome winged mechanism with the exact scheme of Prowl walked onto the deck with escort. He crossed the big ship, then paused before Prime. Glancing at the others, he bowed low to Optimus. "Lord Optimus, I do believe I owe you gratitude for our ship and crew but also because you are here. We are in need of your wisdom."
The big mech stared at Prime who nodded.
Glancing around, Styre turned back to Prime. "I have not seen a ship like this in a long time."
"We have rectified a lot of things and everything is now different. We have a colony world, half the empire and Cybertron. We are looking for our lost people everywhere. It is good to find you as well," Optimus said.
Styre nodded. "I think so, too What a miracle it is to hear about Cybertron. There will be rejoicing in our colony when they find out this news."
Sun grinned. "We try."
The big mech grinned slightly, then turned back to Prime.
"We had a visit from a couple of mechs who appear to be Faber and his son, Fuller. I would like to know what you can tell me about them. They came without alerting our sensors and left before we could catch them utilizing what appears to be space bridge technology," Prime said. "They are war criminals and stand in violation at the least with the Tyrest Treaties."
Styre nodded. "They would do that. They trade with a coalition of different aliens who venture all through this area. They believe in the same god and rumor has it that a huge Functionalist colony has traded technology to them and they've modified it to their purposes. We believe that Sun Base trades with them and gets unusual tech back which they use for their own purposes. We've developed counter measure sensors to prevent them from appearing in our midst without warning which they can do. We will share it with you."
Prime nodded. "Thank you. We have much to discuss," he said as he offered Styre a seat at navigation.
The big mech walked gracefully to the chair, then sat down. He looked weary and hopeful. "I suppose you want to know what happened?"
Prime sat in the command seat. "It would be a good thing all around if we share what we know."
Styre nodded, then began. "We were a large group that got away together, a big one. We headed out because the world was burning. We left family behind which we couldn't retrieve. Its a lead weight on our sparks that this is so. We fled a long time with varying degrees of disagreement and some violence from time to time from those of us who saw that the caste system not only caused our difficulty to start with but didn't help us now.
"The divisions were baked in and they were only going to get worse as things went onward. We would find those along the way that were lost and have them join us. We were migrating toward the Ruins and the Rift because they were safer. We knew the Decepticons were all around us everywhere along with odd warlike aliens. Newcomers would side with us and soon the divisions were visible and festering.
"We reached this space and settled on a rocky world long enough to have a convocation. Ships waited in space and listened while those of us who were given or had risen to leadership positions met on a landed ship to discuss what to do. Scouts had found the worlds we inhabit now and we needed to figure out how we were going to live when the split was so obvious and entrenched.
"It didn't go well. We decided to split up and communicated to the entire group that we would live a new freer way and they, Sun Base … Faber and his group would follow The System. A good ninety-nine percent decided to come with us and after nearly coming to violence, we crowded up and headed out. We settled and began Homeland which is what we called it. We were scared, traumatized and missing Cybertron and our families. We began to thrive and made a settlement that reflected our needs, desires and dreams.
"We didn't hear from Sun Base for a while, then we did. We also heard from traders that whoever went there never left. They were building a huge city with satellites outlying that were home to the lower castes. It was appalling and we began to communicate with them to see what was happening and figure out how to warn migrants to come to us and not them. They were making hard deals with alien traders and we were told as well tha they were selling our tech. We saw some with a few things that were ours. It was a bad idea to give aliens our tech. Its also unlawful.
"Meetings were held. They were awful. I saw that Sun Base was becoming huge but it had a terrible aura. There's coercion there, Prime. People are being held against their will, lured there by the thought that there can be peace. They rule the colony in the Functionalist Council manner. That group is also trading our tech. We know they're somewhere around here but they're cagey about their signals and we can't lock on their location. The area doesn't help either. Its like their tech utilizes that instability to help them."
Prime nodded. "Please continue."
"Things got very bad then Faber and his Council declared war on us. We're bigger, stronger and prefer peace but it doesn't matter. We defend, they aggress. I would like to go there and free everyone. They have slavery as their core practice, Prime. We protested and told them we were going to warn off traders and migrants not to go to Sun Base or treat with them. That's when war was declared. Faber wants to wipe us out. He's even trying to ally with the Functionalist Council settlement near here if he can find it. The energy floes are terrible for instruments so its hard to find anything easily. I'm convinced that they practice caste slavery there as well," Styre said with conviction.
Prime considered the mech before him. "The Functionalist Council has left their settlements and headed into space where we intercepted them not so long ago. They left 500,000 of their fellows behind, all of them recalled," he said.
Styre sat back with a shocked expression. "Oh, Primus," he whispered. He shook his helm. "All of them? Babies and children?"
Prime nodded. "We have only a handful of them from our interdiction and the rest are with The Pantheon. I called a Primal Hearing with Special Circumstances for what they did. The Pantheon recalled the Councilors and their assistants."
It was heavy in the room as Styre digested that news. He sat back wearily. "It never gets better does it?"
"It already has," Sun said from nearby. "We have most of our territory back. We just need our people. We're hunting for them everywhere. We found you and we'll find the rest."
Styre considered that. "I lead a colony that has democratic rule. If you would accompany me to it we can sit down and talk. I'm thinking you're here to rescue us from this place?"
Prime nodded. "I have a duty to find and rescue all of our people. This is not a safe area. One wrong surge and all of you are gone."
"We've become very adept at monitoring the plasma but it's only a matter of time. We've been exploring other places to move but Decepticons or their collaborators are just about everywhere else. None of them will live here so we're a bit safe for now. We've had close calls but we made it thus far, thank The One."
Prime nodded. "Give us your coordinates and we will take you to your colony. Then we have to decide what to do about this. I have a duty to arrest Faber and his allies and family, then take them into custody. They are war criminals and thus have a debt to repay."
"I would love to see that and the freedom of everyone in the colony. I can only imagine how terrible life is there for everyone," Styre said as he programmed a data wafer that Rem handed to him.
Rem programmed the coordinates into the navigation computer, then set the course. "We are go, Lord Optimus."
Optimus glanced at Styre, then sat back. "Take us there, Rem. Quickly." He glanced at Sun. "Take the shuttles and make a defensive line. Extend your sensors. I do not want anyone from Sun Base to try to attack anyone again without advanced notice."
Sun nodded, then rose from his seat to walk to the elevators. When he was gone the ship was well underway. The Seekers and other parts of the battle group were left behind with the battle shuttles. No sooner than Sun arrayed them for defense, a number of bogeys appeared on the sensor screen.
"We have three ships, General," Hercy said as he sat next to the pilot on The City of Helex. "They're coming from Sun Base territory."
Sun stared at the screen, then toggled communications. "Three bogeys … this is General Ironhide the Elder of Praxus. What do you want, slaggers?"
Everyone on board grinned as they listened to the static. Then a voice could be heard. "Who are you? What are you doing here in the territorial space of Sun Base Colony?"
Sun considered that. "Who says this is your territory, slagger? I don't see any signs posted. And I already told you my name."
The ships kept coming and they appeared to be heavily armed ships of war. The voice was back. "Prepare to be boarded. Either give up now or we'll blow you to bits. This is by the order of Commandant Faber of Iacon, commanding Sun Base."
Sun grinned slightly. "Who's that slagger? Never heard of him. Is he with you or is he hiding under his berth like a coward?"
There was silence as the ships sped up, then the voice was back. "You have half a breem to power down and be ready to be boarded."
"You have half a breem to live before we blow you to slag on the orders of the Prime of Cybertron, Bearer of the Creation Matrix, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, you fraggers."
The sound of static filled the comm speakers as silence between groups was maintained. As the Autobots listened more ships began to appear on sensors. Sun Base was coming for a fight.
Sun grinned. "Come to Atar, slaggers … come to Atar," he whispered as he watched.
=0=TBC 11-25-19
NOTE: This was supposed to go out earlier but I knew the name of you-know-who was wrong. I just put Stryker as a place holder and looked-looked-looked forever for the name I wanted, Styre. I have it. Now you do. LOL! HUGS! Notes tomorrow since I won't spend a day looking through 8.600,000+ words for just one. :D:D:D :P~~~
ESL:
aggress: to attacked
interdiction: intervention