The Diego Diaries: Sun Dance (dd7 154)
=0=There
They were rounded up, gathered up by lists made from data sent to Teletraan on Mars. The sentient computer was asked to find the ones from the population data of the colony who benefited from the system in place, to locate, verify and send the information back to Sun Base including transponders numbers. Springer had techs from the Watch going over the information, locating verified individuals on the map of Sun Base. He then sent teams to pick them up. It was astonishing how hard and easy it was.
The tech part was easy. The round up wasn't.
^..^
On a street in the city, Sun Base, inside the ring that housed the high caste enclave from the outside world…
It was astonishing how beautiful the city was and the gardens that surrounded homes that were tall many storied standalones. There were gardens and parks all over the area and the streets were wide, tree lined and carefully maintained.
When the Autobots arrived and it appeared that things were going to go south, the worker bees had fled, some of them fighting their way through to flee toward their own areas outside The Ring as the high castes called it or The Cage as the rest knew it to be. The only ones left inside were high castes trapped by their own tech which was now under Springer's control and pools of worker bees being restrained from leaving.
Springer and Drift were facing that right now. They were gathered, a large armed team in front of a beautiful five story stone house. Someone from the third floor window was telling them to leave.
Springer listened to the mech yell down at them then tapped into his internal communications. :Just so you know … your leadership has surrendered and are in custody. If you don't come down to talk and work this out we're coming in and all your nice stuff is going to get smashed:
He just yelled louder.
"I don't think he believes you," Drift said dryly as they watched.
:Mister … Bard: Springer reviewed the listed information for this group. :Mister Bard, surrender. Bring your family or whatever down. Let the workers go and we can go to lunch. I'm hungry. Are you?:
He wasn't.
Drift glanced at a mech slouching behind them watching with amusement at the failure of Springer to 'work his magic'. "Seth."
"What, Boss?" he asked with a big grin.
"Can you make something happen here?" Drift asked a mech who had a rare special ability.
"Sure, Boss," Bard said. He handed his gun to Roadie who was jonesing for a fight. Then he disappeared immediately, the door to the house exploded and all the yelling ceased all at once. Almost instantly the man in the window was falling out to land on his back on the sidewalk. Peering out of the window to the ground below, Seth waved, then disappeared.
Everyone stared at the man on the ground, then up at the window.
Springer glanced at Drift. "Too bad he can't be that fast over a distance or Blurr would need a new name, the slagging slow poke."
"That's what I thought." Drift smirked slightly. "I hope you didn't think I was undercutting your authority or your negotiation," he said as two more mechs were flung out the window to land at their feet. "After all, they don't call you Slick for nothing."
Mechs snorted as Springer grinned at Drift.
"Who calls you Slick, Chief?" someone in the back asked as another mech landed on the ground.
No one answered.
Drift grinned. :I do:
Springer laughed in spite of himself then glanced at the others. "We need to pick up the trash. High tones probably have rules about littering."
A runabout was called, four groggy mechs were loaded, seven others and a pair of furious femmes were marched toward the road toward the detention center and half a dozen workers were set free to head for safety outside The Ring/Cage.
One down, a bunch more to go.
^..^
=0=Ops Center
The morning was moving along swimmingly for the worker bees who were moving out at a nice pace. The removal of the devices was going along well as Ratchet watched a sapper team put those removed by this team into heavily paneled metal boxes for transport to be detonated safely elsewhere. They were going to all the stations on a circuit to gather what was already extracted to take it away. They would do so for orns.
A call to Ratchet necessitated him leaving so he drove back to Ops Center. Prime and Prowl were there.
"I think Amma wants to get up. We have to get there, Ratchet," Prowl said. "I don't know how this is going to go."
"Lead on, MacDuff," Ratchet said as he followed Prowl and Prime to a ship to use the bridge.
It took them to the corner across from their tower and in no time they were stepping out of an elevator to enter the apartment. When they did they noticed that Venture and Styre were sitting in the living room chatting quietly.
They looked up, then stood.
Styre bowed slightly. "Good morning. Thank you … Lord Optimus for your hospitality," he said with painful formality.
"Appa, you don't use formality here. This is Optimus, your grandson-in-law. You'll get it in time," Prowl said as Venture nodded.
Styre looked at Prime with a pained expression. "I have a lot to unwind, Lor- … Optimus. Forgive me," he said.
"There is nothing to forgive," Prime said. "We are here to assist you with Stealth if he is ready to rise."
"I will go see," Styre said.
Ratchet stepped around Prime. "I'll help you."
He looked relieved as Ratchet joined him to walk down the hallway to the turn that led to the corridor of suites and berth rooms for visitors and family stay overs.
They watched him go, then turned to Venture.
"How is he, Atar?" Prowl asked.
"He's tired and strained. They changed a lot but its still … embarrassment. They feel embarrassment for the past. We talked today like we never did before," Venture said. "It was so wonderful, so freeing to me and I think to him, too. I think they will need a counselor."
"We'll have Ratchet figure that out. Right now, getting you a nice home and settled into a routine under care will be my big mission," Prowl said as everyone sat down to wait.
Down the corridor the two walked until they reached the suite that Styre and Stealth shared. Styre walked in to see Stealth sitting on the edge of the berth, his helm hanging from fatigue. Styre paused next to him, then looked at Ratchet who was already scanning him.
"He's tired, emotionally depleted and could use a lot of rest and relaxation. We can help him a lot here. I would recommend a full physical and tune up, a sedative that I'm going to send him now that's time released and a heavy schedule of counseling. I know who/d be best suited for that myself. I'll get that ball rolling. I assume you'll stay here for a while to get on your peds?" Ratchet asked as he dialed the sedative and sent it.
"I am … I think its what Venture wants," Styre said.
Stealth sat up straighter then rolled his helm. He glanced upward at Styre. "What … we're still here. Right, Styre?"
"We are," Styre said as he glanced at Ratchet.
"The sedative from last night was heavy duty. It makes things fuzzy but this one will turn that around," Ratchet said.
Stealth sat a moment then stood up. "Where's Prowl? He's here, right?"
"He is, Stealth. We need to go into the living room. We have someone you need to meet," Styre said then glanced at Ratchet helplessly.
Ratchet took Stealth's arm. "Come on, Stealth. I have a bunch of mechs you need to see. I'll tell you about them and we can have breakfast together." He stared for the door with Stealth while a slightly relieved but heavily anxious Styre followed.
Walking down the hallway, Ratchet paused before the corridor entered the living room. "Stealth, we get a lot of individuals every day. We have 100 million citizens here. All manner of folks show up."
Stealth nodded unaware that Ratchet had tapped into him and was reading his vitals. All was good so far.
"We had a group come in some time back and they had two mechs that you'll want to see. One of them was Venture and the other was Miler," Ratchet said gently.
Stealth stared at Ratchet blankly a moment, then it sunk in. He jerked his arm back staring at Ratchet like he had slapped him. Then he turned toward the living room door. "Where is he? My son?"
"Go straight ahead, Stealth," Ratchet said as the mech lurched forward heading for the living room with gathering speed.
He reached it then slid to a halt, staring at Venture with disbelief. Miler who had finally joined them with Prima stood by Prowl. The group was silent as Stealth took everyone in. Then he walked to Venture and threw his arms around his shoulders. That was when he began to wail.
The door opened as Kestrel and Tagg walked in with breakfast food and drinks. They halted in surprise glancing at their son fearfully. "Orion … is Stealth alright?" Kes asked anxiously.
Prime took the items, then nodded. "He is just surprised. It will be alright." He glanced at Ratchet who nodded. "Did you bring breakfast?"
"We did. We thought Stealth would rest longer. Are you alright, Prowl?" Kes asked the tense winger watching his family fall apart.
"I think so, Kes," Prowl said. He turned to Prime and took the box. "Why don't we organize some food for everyone? I think I feel better if I keep moving."
Kes followed Prowl as Tagg walked over to stand by his pensive son and Ratchet who was monitoring Stealth.
Stealth wailed as Venture hugged him.
Miler set the carrier with Prima on the floor, then walked toward the pair. "Stealth … all is going to be well. You're with us and all will be well."
"MILER! YOU'RE ALIVE! I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE EITHER OF YOU AGAIN! I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE MY LITTLE PROWLER! OH, MILER! ITS BEEN SO BAD! SO BAD FOR SO LONG!" Stealth cried, then he sobbed in his son's arms.
Prowl stood in the doorway of the kitchen staring at the scene in the living room. He was unable to figure out what to do. It was something that was never done in his world, scenes of emotion and grieving especially in public or mixed non-familial company. You swallowed it. You did it out of view. No one ever displayed their emotions for others to see. It might undercut your position. It was no surprise to Prowl at that moment why Madura shriveled away and Edict tried to kill himself.
Kes walked to his side. "Poor Stealth. I know how he feels. I have missed my son forever. I missed him when he became important to the hopes of our people. They never knew what it took from him to bear it all. This is the closest kind of burden that I can think of that comes close."
"Your son is a miracle, a living miracle. He's Pantheonic goodness made real. No one will ever come close to the son you raised, Kestrel. I will never have enough or the kind of words to express my gratitude for him to you and Tagg. You are my heroes," Prowl said quietly.
Kes put his arm around Prowl then squeezed him gently. His power was evident and resembled Prime's. "We only have love and each other. All the possessions and fame in the world will not hold you when you need love. You only have your own spark and those who love you … those you love in the end. That is the biggest lesson of our catastrophe, the sad bitter lesson.
"Even in our darkest orns, we knew that our son was somewhere alive. The Decepticons were too relentless about the Autobots to have anyone believe that they defeated him. That gave us hope that Orion was still alive and well. We also hoped that he was still with you. We knew you loved him. We knew he loved you," Kes said.
Prowl glanced at Kes with a startled expression. "You did?"
Kes grinned slightly. "We were a team, the three of us. We worked together to raise him, our ammas, appas and the two of us. We always gave him our time, our resources for his education … he was always special. It came to us how much early on. We just knew that he was going to be remarkable for our people and world. It was that evident. Orion was destined to be a leader and save our world. We always knew it. We also knew he would never make a life for himself.
"We knew that you loved him when we first met you. We understand the energy of love, Prowl. I knew that if you two were together long enough, My Orion would have a chance to have a personal life, one he would never give himself on his own. He is dedicated to his role and his responsibilities, all of which he was born to do."
Prowl stared at Kestrel. "I always loved him. I always admired him. We had our differences," Prowl said with a slight grin. "We had a few … disagreements."
Kes grinned back. "So I have been told."
Prowl's expression became solemn. "There was never another for me. I didn't know that for a while. I'm … backward that way, but he was the only one. He will always be the only one. He is mine and I am his."
"That is why I do not worry about him anymore. I know that and so does Tagg."
They glanced into the living room. Stealth was calmer as he stared at his son as if seeing his face for the first time ever. He turned to Miler and hugged him, then sat heavily.
"Ada, we have a surprise for you," Venture said with a slight tinge of anxiety.
Miler reached into the carrier then walked to Stealth. He leaned down to place Prima in his arms. The baby stared at his amma and his amma stared at the baby. "This is Prima. Ven and I have another son."
Stealth began to wail again. He sat rocking the baby who clung to his neck as he cried. Prima looked at everyone but he didn't cry. He just hugged Stealth's neck.
Prowl and Kes watched him, then walked into the kitchen to gather breakfast. They would all dine together but not for a few moments more.
=0=TBC 12-10-19
ESL
To 'go south' means when something you want to do not only doesn't work but takes a turn for the worse.
I have to upload this from my phone so I am going to post replies to notes tomorrow. I read them all. HUGS and HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE. Until tomorrow … ;)