The Diego Diaries: More Stuff (dd7 197)
=0=Cybertron
Tennyson held over Nova Cronum as he acted as the staging area for the recovery of the fighting that had now died down completely. The area was strewn with wreckage while Seekers and runabout vessels combed everywhere they could reach to find those who needed pick up, repair or burial.
The interlude between the Seekers and fighters was short and ugly. There were damaged Seekers being pulled aboard Tennyson to go to the Med Bay for repairs but they weren't serious injuries. Some of them were collisions between fighters and jets in the close quarters of the battlefield.
Prime sat on the command chair watching and listening through an inter personal feed from Prowl what was happening outside. All of the calls to him were routed through his frequencies as they came in from everywhere. He was completely deaf and the cocoon of silence that wrapped him in cotton was strange and comforting at the same time. It was interesting to feel the miss of sound but he would be glad when the repairs would be done.
Ratchet stepped off the elevator, then walked to Prime. He paused in front of him noting that it took his appearance for Prime to see him there. :You might try your sensors so no one will sneak up on you:
:I think they're damaged as well: Prime said. :I have the strangest array of things that either do not function or are slow to react:
:I'll take care of that. You'll be off duty for three or four orns so that the audials can seat themselves and work back into your systems. If there's sensor damage then that's something that requires resting up: Ratchet said.
:It might not be possible. Hard Drive mentions that a force is gathering to come our way at Homeland: Prime replied grimly.
:I was afraid of that: Ratchet said. :Those slaggers are vultures:
:You won't get an argument from me: Prowl said grimly as he joined them. :What's the situation medically?:
:We recovered about 2,600 parts of bodies from the ground blast. We're going by the ship data manifests that were recovered before things blew up. As for this outside … perhaps five or six hundred dead and many wounded. Most of them have surrendered. What the boys bag on the hunt is anyone's guess until we can comb the data. No one can find Vice, by the way. What he can tell us about Nova went up with him. If he was anywhere near the ship he's toast. I have wounded being hauled out and with them the sound prisoners. We're going to have to have a funeral for a lot of mechs, though most of them can fit in a moderate sized valise:
:You're a heathen: Prowl said. He paused to listen to a call, then turned to Prime. :The fighter carrier was engaged, then surrendered. It had been hit in the fuel cells. The ship is out of commission and the fighters have been rounded up. We can get it at any time but for now we're pillaging it and removing crew and other things of interest:
:What about Homeland, Prowl?: Prime asked.
:Give me a moment: Prowl said as he walked toward a station nearby to sit and call Hardie.
Prime leaned back in his chair shifting slightly as he did.
Ratchet scanned him, then considered his pain. Shooting him a script for it, he glanced at Prowl. :Granny is going to make you do the hoops. You're mine when this is completed. What about a message to The People? Are you going to let them know you were hurt? The news already reported it:
Prime frowned slightly. :I am not in favor of that information being released:
:I'm not in favor of you and Ironhide getting into the gutter with the slaggers. Its called being responsible and facing reality: Ratchet replied.
:Are you calling me too old for this?: Prime asked with a slight grin as the pain receded completely.
:That and non-expendable. You know it and so do I: Ratchet said as Prowl rose to walk back.
:The force is large and is beginning to come our way. Its going to take a while to get here. It'll be interesting if they can bridge a large force with any speed. Nothing I've seen thus far indicates they can: he said.
:They have three Supremes, three titans and the usual Seeker support. What about sending a dreadnought or two?: Ratchet said. :Let them face an iron curtain of a kind they've never seen before:
:I'll discuss it with them: Prowl said as he walked toward the group of titans and dreads working together nearby.
:I'll go then: Ratchet said. :When the decks get cleared then we can head out, right? Hardie could use the support:
Prime nodded. :I would like to know what the story is with Sun Base. Would you check in with Wheeljack and tell me what the latest is?:
Ratchet nodded, then walked to the console nearby and jacked in.
Prime watched him as he sat in his chair. He was tired and he was sure that there were things that needed fixing in his chassis that were important enough that Ratchet would insist in down time. He'd been injured all his life and carried onward as a worker in the docks and as a soldier. Some he had sucked up and others were repaired by Ratchet or other medics. It seemed that each time he was, given his age, it took a lot more to bounce back. / … you are getting old, Orion Pax … / he thought to himself. He grinned faintly as Ratchet walked back to him. :You have an update?:
:I do. They're shooting for noon. What's the time when the slaggers become a problem?: Ratchet asked.
Prowl walked to the two of them. :I called Hard Drive to be a part of the conversation. He expects them to start appearing given the range of their bridges about the same time. We're running Teletraan to go over the intervals they're using. It would have to be bridged intervals. They don't appear to have the technology to make it all the way there:
:We can hope: Ratchet said with a smirk.
It would be quiet on the bridge until Metroplex and Caminus rose from the table nearby to walk to the bridge room to organize the arrival of a dreadnought and two more titans at Homeland.
=0=The Hourly News: LATEST BREAKING NEWS!
"The latest data about the situation at Nova Cronum on Cybertron has been issued by the Office of Strategic Information. The ships who were involved in fighting on the ground have been overtaken and their crews captured. There are prisoners being lodged at the Military and Civilian Prison with others killed. Those numbers are being held pending finalization of the data. The dead are being retrieved and handled by the Coroner's Office at the Autobot Medical Center.
"The battles that were held in space over the planet are over and the soldiers captured being gathered for prison here. There are a number of destroyed ships and fighters in orbit that have been towed out of the range of the gravitational well of Cybertron. None of them are in any danger of falling to the planet. Those ships are going to be searched, then hauled off to be destroyed. None of them are salvageable.
"At the moment, there are at least four battle shuttles under pursuit by special forces teams that were allowed to leave the zone rather than be caught up in the fighting. That outcome has not been reported yet though we shall inform you when the information comes. None of our vessels were damaged more than nominally which is good news," Aleph said. "There were fighters launched from their mother ships which required Seeker intervention. There were some Seekers wounded in the fighting that resulted when they were launched but none of their injuries are considered serious.
"It was reported earlier that Optimus Prime was injured when a ship on the ground at Nova Cronum blew up when its fuel cells were breached. There's no further information available about his condition though we have a call in to Command Ratchet for an update. He was reported to have damaged audials and several small wounds but that it not confirmed yet. The Autobot Medical Center indicates that Commander Ironhide of Praxus is recovering and that the soldiers and Seekers wounded in the ground battle at Nova Cronum are also doing well.
"Commander Jazz is getting information and will be back after the weather report to fill us in with anything new that he picks up," Aleph said. "We'll be back in a moment."
A weather scroll filled the screen.
^..^
Will Lennox sat in the lounge at The Family Tower watching the news. It was late evening in The City and the diehards of N.E.S.T. were with him. They were drinking beer and eating snacks as the news continued to filter in. He glanced at Glenn Morshower who was here for the weekend. "I wonder if they'll let us go to Nova Cronum?"
"I don't know but I would like to see it. The camp there is said to be astonishing," Glenn said. "Their organizational skills are amazing. I wonder how Prime is?"
They all did.
=0=Homeland
They sat at the command table watching the lights far far away moving slowly toward the long narrow pathway to Homeland that was the only one that they could use without going around the other much longer way.
"Perceptor, they're on the move. You can start counting now," Hardie said.
Perceptor who was sitting at a console nearby linked in with Wheeljack at Sirius A glanced at Hard Drive. "On it, General."
He would watch the maps that would show their progress. When they began to jump, if they did, then he would be able to calculate how far they could bridge each time along with how many jumped, then calculate from that how many it would take to reach Homeland for all the huge group that was calculated present. From that, they'd be able to know with reasonable accuracy when the enemy would show up and the real battles would most likely begin.
=0=On it
"There they are," Rem said as he glanced at Springer in the engineer's seat.
"Open a channel, Rem," Springer said as the mechs behind him walked to the guns and began to get ready to shoot.
"Open," Rem said.
"Slaggers ahead on the four shuttles, this is Springer, God of the Hunt. I've been sent here to round you up and bring you back to our rather exclusive hotel for renegades. Why not cut to the chase and give it up? We have big ships coming behind us. They have really big guns and want to use them. Consider me the only one standing between you and getting slagg-"
Missiles were launched back at them.
"Oh frag," Springer said quietly.
Rem began to evade. So did the pilots of the other three ships.
=0=Autobot City Medical Center
Ironhide frowned as he watched the news. He'd burned through his buns. He'd enjoyed his meal which was incredibly good. All of the food cooked here was made by master dietitians and cooks. He had a few visitors and had face timed with the kids. Now he was waiting for Old Tight Aft to get back to let him out before he became berserk and went A.W.O.L.
A mech had to get out and do things especially when a battle was a hand. Sitting in a berth eating candy and whatever else the in-house 'candy stripers' brought on their carts wasn't good enough.
Though he did like their cherry fudge and the bark stuff that they had. Also, the popcorn was good. And the candy bars that had nuts in them. Those were good …
He vented a sigh, then called Ratchet. :OLD MECH!:
It took a moment to route.
:WHAT!?:
Ironhide considered Ratchet's tone.
Not good.
:Uh … when you letting me out?:
:Why, Ironhide … when I get a moment: Ratchet said with a dark tone. :Right now … I have a FEW THINGS TO DO!:
Ironhide considered that, then signed off. He would wait until just before shift change, then sneak out. He would be on Homeland before the new shift could notice. He lay back and grinned. Then he sat back up. The candy box had been behind him. It was now stuck on his back.
"Frag ..."
=0=TBC 2-1-2020 2-7-2020
valise: a bag that can hold a lot but is carried with a handle like a briefcase and which opens wide to show the entire insides.
A.W.O.L: absent without leave, a military term for desertion.
candy stripers: volunteers, usually younger girls who worked in hospitals bringing magazines, candy and other things to patients on carts. They usually wore red pinstriped dresses with little white aprons, 'candy striped'. Old fashioned. I don't know if they look like that or are called that anymore. :D
NOTES TOMORROW!