The Diego Diaries: Nova (dd7 191)
=0=Airfield at Nova Cronum
Prime considered the disturbing news, then glanced around. The hatches on the ships were signaling that they would open any second and with them would come soldiers with guns blazing. "Prowl, check the databases. Find out what you can." He stepped down from the shuttle, then ran to a stack of large crates nearby with bills on their sides that indicated they were heavy machinery. It would be good cover. "Vice, this is the base commander for Nova Cronum. Identify yourself. Your name and ship match the crew manifest for Nova Prime's expedition."
A big figure stood in the hatchway of the ship closest to the crates where Prime crouched. He looked around, this huge heavily armed individual, then stepped out into view. "I don't know who you are but you might say that Nova Prime and I go way back."
"You have to put away your arms. You will not be allowed to come here with them. This area is high security and in the midst of a major rebuild. Those are the orders of Megatron," Prime said. He waited as the mech on the ship walked down to the ground.
"Show yourself, slagger," he said as others began to walk out of the two battleships and a heavily armed and modified cruiser nearby. "I only take orders from Megatron."
Prime stood up to stare at the big mech and when he did Vice raised his gun and fired. It was terrible the amount of firepower that returned to him and his mechs.
=0=Unidad Terra 1 about the same time
Lennox and his party entered the habitat, then hurried toward the concourse where the party was being held. In two areas of the huge space there were oversized monitors playing The Hourly News, one muted and the other farthest away from the party itself playing with sound. As he walked toward that monitor the crowd began to gather, follow and ask questions. "I don't have any more information than you. I heard there was combat. What does the news say?" he asked Owen Harris who was walking with him along with the leadership of all three habitats, Sciences and the consulate.
"It says there's combat at Nova Cronum. It says little else. We were hoping you had an inside line to the facts," Harris said.
They paused before the screen where Aleph was discussing the area of Nova Cronum with the former governor-general, a visibly upset mech named Velocity. They listened in.
"The area around the base itself is the home of about fifteen million refugees. Where is the camp located in relation to the fighting, Velocity?" Aleph asked.
"If they're using the main runways and staging areas, it can't be more than three Cybertronian miles," Velocity said. "There's an airfield there, the Old Airfield its called and I know they take problematic groups there to dismount."
"I see. That's six Terran miles for our human listeners," Aleph said. "What's the terrain like around those areas for those that don't know?"
"They used to border on a lot of warehouse districts both military and commercial. Shipping companies had their own designated zones. There are aviation repair and innovation districts there and a great deal of the Cybertronian Air Force was based there. It was a major station for Seeker squadrons of all type and configuration as well as major planning and administration for the military, all branches. There was a huge base hospital and a lot of depots for fuel and ammunition. All manner of munitions were there in great quantities as well as fuel and fuel distillation.
"The city itself was about ten miles Terran from the base and it was a huge hub for transportation for the military, a huge regional hub for civilian and commercial transportation as well as a huge urban space for population. It was a retirement area for former military and a very good cultural center for any number of things. Nova Cronum was an all business area but it was also a good place to live and raise your family. The amenities were many and the river was nearby. I'm so upset about this. It was majorly bombed and attacked over and over during The Fall. It didn't need this to happen, too," he said with emotions.
^..^ Unidad
"This sounds awful," Mariah Harris-Davis said. "What sort of group is this?"
"I'm not completely sure but it sounds like a mixed group, a collection of soldiers and criminals. They have ship boarding teams and road rage as well in the formation and that's never a good thing," Lennox said.
"What do they do?" Iris Baudin asked.
"They attack, board and gut ships. If they don't kill you at that moment, they leave you to drift in space until you die. Some of the worst mechs I ever saw were in those groups. Then," he said as he glanced at her, "some of the best mechs I ever saw were also in those groups. Some of them are the best and most upstanding mechs that live here."
"We have some of them here? In the colony?" Mariah asked with surprise.
"Sure," Epps said. "Prime's all about a good redemption story. No one is off his radar that way." He glanced at Harris. "Even you," he said with a grin.
Some snickered and a few looked offended. Harris himself smirked slightly. "That's good to know. Then I'm not hopeless?"
"That's up to you, Harris," Lennox said as Rick Harris joined them.
"What's the word, Will?" he asked as he joined the conversation.
Aleph glanced up to the camera from a data pad in his servo. "We've been given a news update on the combat at Nova Cronum. It would appear that the group has decided not to surrender and are currently engaged in a shootout on the airfield with forces of the Prime. Optimus Prime is leading the engagement and thus far there are no deaths and only minor casualties that can be determined right now. Apparently there are two Decepticon Class A battleships and one Class A cruiser heavily modified on the ground. The crews are engaged in a shooting battle with our forces.
"Rainmaker, the Great Elder of Seekerkin, Commander Starscream who is commandant of all air forces in the Autobot Army and Air Force along with Lord Silverclaw are directing the air effort that have pinned the bulk of the Decepticons inside their ships. Warlord, the son of Rainmaker is commanding that action in the field.
"Holding in space with a communications blackout are three more battleships, four more cruisers, an unknown number of fighters aboard three fighter carriers. There are support ships and munitions vessels along with four fast shuttles. The crew numbers are indeterminate but would generally run into the thousands. There is also a number of Seekers that could total over 200. None of them and these ships are aware of the situation on the ground. A null field was constructed around the base blocking transmissions while the fighting is going on."
Aleph glanced at another individual sitting on the panel. "Commander Jazz, what's the possibility of harm befalling the Prime in this shootout?"
Jazz considered the question. "Prime doesn't lead from the rear and he never asks anyone to do anything he wouldn't do. He's in the thick of it and he can take a hit. We all can. No one in this shootout is a shrinking violet on either side. We've done this for millions of years. He'll be on the front lines like everyone else. But he's also a primal frame and those are built to withstand punishment. We've never had a coward for a Prime whatever you might feel about them and all of them have been warrior class mechs. Prime himself in the greatest fighting Prime in our history which is saying a lot. No one can do what he does and no one is better and faster on his peds.
"You have Prowl doing the intel and designing the push back. No one is better than him either. Prowl has the capacity to look at a battlefield, locate everyone on it even into the thousands, and decide what each can separately and together four ways to Sunday as you humans say. He can then plan up to seven moves ahead to figure out the patterns that all of them present in any situation that can happen as a large or small group or individually. He can will devise a plan or several for each individual or group to counter them and transmit it to Prime and the others in seconds. This only takes him seconds to do start to finish.
"The mechs and femmes leading the soldiers are first class. All of the senior Autobots with Prime will be in the fighting. A huge number of Wreckers and other special ops were called up along with hardcore veteran soldiers and Seekers. I feel sorry for the slaggers on the ships. Prime will put this to bed. He's done is a thousand, thousand, thousand times. We all have. We never waste our mechs and femmes."
Aleph nodded, then listened off line again. "We've been told that air traffic into and out of Cybertron has been routed to Iacon for the duration. Ground and air transport into and around Nova Cronum for fifty miles is locked down and there are hundreds of soldiers, Seekers and police forces in place to defend the camps there. No refugees are in any danger. There have been local assets moved into place on the far side of Cybertron on standby that are on station in space. They're going to be called in if there's a shoot out in space with the Decepticon ships waiting there in orbit for landing instructions. Prime hopes to end this by capturing the head of the expedition."
"Do they know who it is?" Velocity asked anxiously.
"There is no information released as of yet," Aleph replied.
^..^ Unidad
"This is bullshit," Epps said. "This is bullshit pure and simple. The fuckers need to know they lost and give it up without a fight."
"If they knew that Cybertron was in Prime's hands I doubt they would have landed," Glenn Morshower said. "I wouldn't have."
They stood together as a group listening to the commentary as the clock inched onward. The party was going in full swing but it was subdued. Friends and a planet they loved were in trouble.
=0=On the ground at Nova Cronum
The firing began in earnest as overhead Seekers came screaming in under the leadership of Warlord, the eldest son of Rainmaker. He was burning with flames as the group strafed the mechs standing around the ship or on the ramps. They fell in all directions from the blast as a few made it into the ships again including Vice.
Prime ducked down as fire reached the crates and was absorbed by the metallic objects inside. All around him friends of his lifetime and a zillion firefights were shooting, ducking and fighting back. He looked over the edge and saw that the battleship bearing Vice was raising its engines for liftoff. :Prime to Starscream. They're going to try to go. Disable them:
:On it: Starscream said from the flight command building nearby. He sat beside Rainmaker and Silverclaw at the command table watching the giant flight and battle pad laid out in front of them. It had the usual data and on a screen opened on its surface were five views of the battle from cameras on base. A tense conversation was had between the three, then Starscream spoke. "Armada Red and Green, disable the ships. Watch their fuel zones but take them out. They must not lift up."
:Red 1, understood: -Red Wing
:Green 1, understood: -Warlord
As Prime crouched under withering fire and the growing sound of massive engines revving up to go, the sound of fighters screaming in could be heard. As fast as the optic could follow, a mass of Seekers, heavies and fast models flashed past and laid down a massive stripe of fire in three directions against the tail sections of the ships. They stitched them good, then explosions began to occur.
Prime watched and felt once again the power of Cybertronian will to protect rise in him. The Seekers were beautiful to him, comrades at last in arms and allies. They were friends, neighbors and expert soldiers. They were his to command and he felt pride in that and his people. They were a remarkable people, his own. He watched the ships bear a terrible beating from his position. The noise of all of it was remarkable. Then the Seekers flashed away into the darkness.
=0=Unidad Terra 1
He stood to one side talking to members of the Global N.E.S.T. network checking in on the situation which was playing on the screens of the MCA download world wide on Earth. It was a decision that Prime had made that case-by-case the Earth would know what was going on in the system and beyond. It wouldn't hurt them to see the dangers posed by the Decepticons and other aliens to dispel any absurd idea that they were able to protect themselves alone . It could only help.
"Right now, the only news we have is what the Hourly News is delivering. Jazz is handling the Prime's brief on the broadcast because this is happening on Cybertron and there's a lot of folks here from Nova Cronum and the surrounding area. They want everyone to have confidence in the situation by having him on the broadcast. He handles the Strategic Communications Office with Blaster anyway. All that we know is what they're telling now."
[Pause]
"That's right. Prime is leading the operation."
[Pause]
"That's the way he rolls, General. Prime is no one's fool. He's not a coward nor is he someone who talks a good fight, then lets others do what he won't do. Optimus Prime will get this done and when the word comes I'll send it on the strategic communications list. Keep your phones handy. Until Prime sorts it out we won't know the extent of this but have confidence in Prime. I do."
[Pause]
"Very well. I'll be in touch," Morshower said as he ended the call. Walking back to the monitor, he paused beside the other soldiers. "What's the word?"
"Its blazing in Nova Cronum," Epps said with a grim expression. "The Seekers just laid down the smack."
=0=Nova Cronum at the same time
They came in again and stitched the slag out of the ships on the ground. Fires were blazing, ammunition was beginning to explode and wounded were crawling, falling and running out of the ships which were highly damaged. As they did, a cruiser turned its forward guns toward the Autobots fighting with Prime and began to fire.
=0=TBC 1-25-2020 :D 2-6-2020
Prowl's ability to plan and think are canon.