The Diego Diaries: Confront (dd7 205)
=0=There
They stood around the table staring at the data pad that was their battle map of the area. There were lights that had emerged together from the same spot, a likely bridge, who gathered, then continued onward toward the space where two planets used to live. They were a good sized group and appeared to echo signals associated with powerful ships. That echo included familiar Cybertronian associations and resonances.
Watching them work as they stood together under guard, Machlis and Faber looked defiant but stiff, the kind of stiff one got when fronting against fear. The mechs guarding them were calm but stern, their expressions and posture geared toward battle. Nearly everyone around them was a soldier or flier. This was something they had never encountered, the command deck of a ship of war in the middle of a battle that had real consequences. They fomented war with their media. They never fought themselves. The closest they ever came was to command shuttle sized ships to harass Homeland shipping and others who they felt weren't welcome in the area. Even then, they did so from the safety of their operational center.
"Well, we have a battle ahead," Hardie said. "I suppose you want them to turn back?"
Ratchet signed to Prime as Prowl leaned over the map to study strategy.
"I would prefer it. I can imagine they want to know where their scouting party is," Prime said.
"If you give me a shovel and a bag, I can return it to them, Prime, and avoid a conflict. At least we can give them that possibility, something they didn't accord us last time we bumped helms," Springer said grimly.
Prime nodded as he watched the ships gather into a Cybertronian-style flight formation for battle, then begin to come their way. He glanced at Tennyson and the other giants watching him from around the room or their own table nearby. "Please explain the ready battle formation and plan, gentlemen."
Metroplex picked up a data pad, then transferred the images to the forward monitors. An array of mighty vessels were poised in ship format in a line that closed off access to the area for anyone passing by. Their ranges overlapped and their forces inside, shuttles, fighters and Seekers would be able to do coordinated work. Their amazing guns were pointing in the direction of the approaching fleet.
"We have arranged our largest ships across the pathway to this area to prevent anyone from coming here. We are of the opinion you want the two planets transfer to be hidden from them as long as possible," Metroplex said.
"I do," Prime said.
"We want to show the flag and prevent them from taking any steps into our space. We have Beta, Omega and Kappa in reserve. If they want a fight, then we can send them after the ships along with the shuttle group here. It will depend, the deployment and tactics on what they have and how they want this to go," Metroplex said. "We have six titans here ... Slammer, Puncher, Sport, Camo, Clarity and Torus State. They came from the ready reserve in the area of the local group near Cybertron. All of them are warriors and heavies who make steel and other construction materials. We also have Clipper and Danny in reserve if needed."
"We have hope that they see us, then flee," Hammer of Primus said. "I doubt that they have anything in their arsenal that matches us."
"I would be enormously surprised," Prime said as he looked at Machlis. "Would you care to tell me more about that?"
"I wouldn't," Machlis said coldly.
"You aren't too bright, Machlis, so I'll spell it out slowly. Those slaggers out there are coming with guns. They will fire upon us. That means you're here in the line of fire. There's no way we can run or retreat from confrontation. You gave them the location of Cybertron. If they follow us they'll find Mars, too. They're going to catch up to us on technology, thus neutralizing our tech advantage. When they come with their ships and bombs no one will be safe. Given that they comprise a nearly 60% parity with us now, how long will it take for them to achieve equal strength and hardware?" Sun asked.
It was silent, maddeningly silent.
"How the frag did these idiots ever get control of a door knob let alone Cybertron?" Steiner asked. "You're the dumbest slaggers I ever encountered and I've seen it all. They will kill you, too. Maybe we can make a trade, Prime. Maybe we can put them into torpedo tubes and shoot them at the slaggers. I think that would be an amusing solution to all of this. No one gets killed but them."
Sun chuckled. "I like how you think, Stein. By the way, how is Lissie?"
"She lost a servo but she's going to be fine," Steiner replied.
"There goes her pretty calligraphy," Jack said. He looked at Machlis. "How about I print some graffiti on this slagger before we shoot them at the fraggers coming this way? I can think of a number of things I want to say."
"You have an obligation to protect us," Machlis said. "You aren't allowed to do anything of the sort."
"Magnus, that was epic having them come here on the hood. How about lending them to me for mine? We're going out there after them, right, Prime?" Sun asked.
"I want the battle shuttles to be there to assist if there is any close quarters fighting or someone gets past the others," Prime said.
"Then we're cleared for torpedoes?" Clipper asked. "We can calibrate them to strike only their ships. I sense that their vessels are slightly different chemically than our own so it can be done."
"I'd prefer it," Jack said with a chuckle.
Prime nodded.
"Alright," Jack said as he glanced at Hercy and Kup. "Which one is yours and which is ours?"
"I'll take old mouthy there," Hercy said as he nodded to Faber. "I used to have to hear your old slag on the monitor because someone I shipped with liked to listen. It made them stupid, by the way, listening to you."
"I'll take Machlis. First time I'm going into combat with a genuine old battle ax," Jack said as he gripped Machlis by the forearm. "Let's go."
Machlis braced himself, then looked at Prime. "Surely, this is cinema. You're not going to allow this."
Prime stared at Machlis without comment, then glanced at Hercy and Jack. "Go."
Both of them grinned then gripped Faber and Machlis. With the two of them struggling and screaming they walked out with their mechs for their shuttles nearby. It was noisy until the elevator closed.
Prime watched them go, then turned to Fuller. "If you have anything more to tell us, make it now."
Faber looked as if in an internal struggle. "I … they have great missile sighting systems and their torpedoes are as good as our slimlines. At least the ones during the war before we left."
Prime stared at him, then tapped a communications line. "Prime to Ironhide."
It took a moment before the call was returned. :Ironhide here. What the frag is happening?: he said as Ratchet signed and Prowl routed the line into Prime.
"I need to know countermeasures for slimline torpedoes roughly of the war era, but perhaps with improvements since. The Vergons have them," Prime said.
:Frag: Ironhide replied. :I'm on my way:
"The frag you are," Ratchet said. "Tell Metroplex how to do this and stay where you are. Your internals are still defragging."
"WHAT THE FRAG, OLD MECH! I GOTTA BE FREE!"
"YOU ARE *NOT* RELEASED!"
It was silent a moment.
"You are the –"
"Best thing that ever happened to you. I know, I know," Ratchet said with a grin. He glanced at a table filled with amused giants. "Talk to him. He can't come. He got laid up but good. I can't release him and besides the little bridge didn't make it all the way here as it was."
Metroplex grinned then walked to the table to sit with the others and quiz Ironhide long distance.
Fuller watched them hoping against all hope that no one noticed him sitting there.
Prowl did. "Escort him to the brig," he said to a Home Guardsman doing security duty on the deck. He watched them go with satisfaction, then turned to the window to watch a good half dozen battle shuttles head out into space ahead.
Ratchet walked to the table to stare at the data pad with everyone else. Prowl joined him. The dots of both sides were flashing toward each other. Both of them would have to cross a wall of steel and torpedoes to meet each other face to face. It would take a while before they would.
=0=Hospital
They signed off to go forward into battle. Fretting madly and filled with frustrated battle lust, Ironhide had limped into the room where his auntie was still laid up. Walking to the comfortable chair he sat in most of the orn, even when she was napping, he parked himself with considerable angst and gloomy energy.
Lissie glanced at him, then grinned. "Do I give you candy or would that not work this time?"
Ironhide glanced at her. "Do you have any?"
She chuckled. He'd just become a sparkling again. "I've ordered some things for us to eat. There's a football game on from Europe. I like soccer."
"I do, too."
It was silent a moment.
"Old mech is a pain in the aft."
"You just came to that conclusion?"
He glanced at her. "Nope. I've sorta known it since forever."
Lissie grinned as a youngling mech carrying a box walked into the room. "Are you Lissie of Iacon?" he asked.
"That's me," she said.
The kid put the box down, chatted a moment, then walked out to do more deliveries.
Ironhide rose to do the honors. He looked inside, then grinned. "You remembered all my favorite stuff as a little mech."
"You're always going to be our little mech," she said as he pulled out all manner of dishes, boxes and drinks that were things Ironhide had loved as a child and they all worked to ensure he had especially on special days.
He filled her plate, then placed it on the table that fit across the berth in front of her. He cut some items, handed her a beer, tucked in a napkin, then got his own stuff.
Lissie watched him with a grin. When he was little he would 'cook' for everyone, preparing for them whatever he could reach with his tiny servos. Given that he was so sweet and solicitous of his family elders, his ada made sure that a low drawer and cabinet in the kitchen held all manner of things that would constitute something good for him to find and use. Given his habit of opening things he didn't need to get into, this was a good compromise.
He looked like that now.
Walking back with a plate filled with dinner, desserts and a beer in servo, he sat, then grinned. "Old mech is a slagger. I wonder when he's going to be done there."
"Sounds like a big fight. I know that Wheeljack and Perceptor are doing their best," Lissie said as Ironhide turned on the monitor then found the channel. "Until then, let's camp out."
He grinned at Lissie, then nodded. Memories of 'camping out' with Lissie and Steiner in their backyard as a small child, in one of the spare berth rooms under a tent with Turbine and Raptor and out in the wild with Hardie and Delphi came to mind. He ate his dinner, chatted with his auntie and felt a warmth that had been missing a very long time. His family was close, very close and to him they were love.
Just love.
=0=Out there
They sat on their respective ships magnetized to the hull. Sitting across from Machlis, Ultra Magnus stared with his usual intensity at a mech he could hardly countenance. The mendacity that Machlis and Faber embodied was against everything he believed in and fought for.
He, himself was no shrinking violet and had done a lot of hard things in his orns. He could be brutal and had a reputation that put fear into the Decepticons. He was huge, unafraid, extremely intelligent, tactical and never gave up.
He NEVER gave up.
Ever.
They flashed past the first of the big ships which they could see through the view ports. They sat in space in ship mode, their lights flashing as they made ready to fight. They were the sensor net that the shuttles, Seekers and others would use to track the slaggers and miss their missiles. The ships were incredibly tactical themselves and would countermeasure anything that the aliens threw at them.
Still, it would be a very dangerous and unpredictable encounter. Magnus knew that. He wondered as they flew onward if Machlis and Faber knew it, too.
They would soon find out.
=0=TBC 2-11-2020 2-14-2020