The Diego Diaries: Getting There (dd7 241)
=0=Later that evening
"Hi," Sun said as he walked into Rung's office. He sat on a chair, then grinned at the small bot with the big round optics. "How's business?"
"Booming," Rung said as he sat back in his seat. "How did it go?"
"He's as hard helmed as ever but he's now my adopted son," Sun said with a grin. "I think he's going to fold eventually but right now he's digging in."
Rung nodded. "Then let's brainstorm a few more tactics."
They did.
=0=Home
"ADA!"
"WHAT!?"
"Going to me?"
Ratchet stared down at Orion who smiled up with a gigantic smile. "What? Where's Hero? TRANSLATOR!"
Orion laughed, cackling like a hen. "ADA! GO YOU ME?"
Ratchet stared at him, then picked him up. Away he went to the wash rack. Glancing at the little kid on his arm, he grinned. "Can you keep a secret?"
Orion stared at him, then smiled like the sun.
Ratchet snickered, then kissed his helm. "You can come with me tomorrow but you can't tell anyone. If you do, then you can't come. Everyone will want to come and there you'd be."
Orion stared at him, then smiled again. He held up a tiny digit, placed it alongside his cheek, then went, "sh". He smiled again.
Ratchet laughed loudly. "Close enough. You at least got your little digit to your face."
"I GO WIF LOU!?" Orion asked in a fit of absolute joy.
"Sh," Ratchet said as he peered into the berth room. "Don't tell anyone."
Orion nodded, so Ratchet put him on the ground. He danced out and was gone.
Ratchet smirked as he walked out to the living room to sit on his chair. Before he made it there four little kids were waiting for him.
"ADA! WE COME, TOO?" -Prowler as spokesman for the other three.
^..^ Several cookies and noncommittal answers later …
"Slagger. You yell at me about their schooling," Ironhide said as he turned on the monitor to The Hourly News and muted it. He had a beer and a 'cold plate' of this and that.
Ratchet had the same. "Slagger, my aft. Swift move of your uncle to bind Rockwell tighter to him, by the way. Did you know that he's working with Rung to do this because that slagger is such a hard helm?"
"No," Ironhide said as he glanced at Ratchet. "So we have to invite him to parties and slag?"
"Apparently," Ratchet said. "I wonder how his old appas and ammas are going to like being related to us? His genitors, too?"
"Those two are still in the prison, right?" Ironhide asked.
"I don't know," Ratchet replied. "I haven't been there lately for a check up run. I'll see when I do."
"You have to go to the station tomorrow. Don't tell me that you're taking Spud?" Ironhide asked with a tiny frown.
"I won't," Ratchet said. "I won't because you've been taking Halo to Cybertron as if I wouldn't find out." Ratchet shot him deeply aggravated optics. "So when does she go to school like a normal femme?"
"Who?" Ironhide asked with an equally aggravated optic.
"ADA!"
Both of them stared at the corner of the hallway where Orion was standing with an arm around Robby the Cow. He smiled, then put his little digit beside his cheek. "Sh," he said with a big cackle before dancing off with a cow following.
They stared at the doorway, then each other. They clinked their bottles together, then Ironhide turned up the sound for the news.
All was well in their world.
=0=Signing off (Ares Weather Station, Autobot City Unified School District Educational Center, Milepost 697, TransWorld Highway)
Fireball walked back to the bunkhouse portion of the educational facility on the TransWorld Highway that was used for overnight visits by students. "Ada and Atar say 'good night' to everyone," he said as he sat on his bunk.
"What's going on at home?" Santee asked.
"The kids are playing and everyone is getting back to the routine," Fireball said as the kids dealt him in. They were having a poker game with a few of the others, teaching them a game they learned from their soldiers day one on the stations. "All is well."
"Good," Quasar said as he tossed in pretzels for the ante. He grinned. "I wonder when we're going to go camping again?"
So did everyone else.
That included most of the kids there.
=0=Turbine and Raptor
"So you had a varied experience, did you?" Turbine asked as he cleaned the kitchen.
Raptor cooked, he cleaned.
Raptor snickered. "I did. There's something about slaggers who think they have the upper hand and don't know you 'know' that makes me laugh. Loudly." He grinned at Turbine as he helped put dessert on plates. "How was infant?"
"He was on time. He has such a good singing voice. The prayers were made even more solemn and beautiful with him there," Turbine said as they picked up dessert, drinks, then walked to the table to sit. "He has to have five chapters of The Chronicles read, analyzed and be ready to talk tomorrow when we go on our long walk to the shores. I'm going to have him shaped up in this respect at least. Little mech better never ask for something again. He just might get it."
Raptor chuckled. "He's one cute slagger, that one. We have a lot of them now. Scout and Orion. It even looks great on a femme. Hero is one pretty little femme."
"She's a charmer," Turbine said. "Ironhide is worried that Praxus will be accelerated. He's such a sweet soft little spark. I don't blame him for being concerned. Halo on the other servo is just about ready for school."
"Every time he trades one in, he tries to maneuver another one out of Ratchet," Raptor said. "I'm not complaining, mind you. I just think he's hilarious."
"He is but then he's been the baby in the family since forever. Who knew if that would ever change?" Turbine replied as Pudding stood beside him dozing slightly as Turbine rubbed his ears. "Set up the board, slagger. I feel lucky."
Raptor grinned. "Do you now?"
"Cribbage is my type of game," Turbine said. "I also put in a good word with You Know Who."
"Cheater," Raptor said, then looked upward. "Turbine of Praxus is a cheater. Just so you know."
"They know," Turbine said with a laugh.
=0=Sitting on a rock on a dimensional plane just out of phase with Mars
"I didn't know he cheated," Vector said as he sat with Solus for a while to enjoy The Show. Mars was nearly an obsession with many of Them.
"I suspected it but now its confirmed. I must say … the Elder Clan is really lightening up these orns," Solus said with a grin.
"I don't detect any difference in his shade from the last time you decided to entertain yourself with them," Vector said absentmindedly as he peered closer, then turned back to a time piece in his servo.
Solus grinned at him. "Don't worry, Vector. I'll keep track of such things for You."
"Yes, yes," Vector murmured as he watched a galaxy collide with another.
Two hundred million years ago.
=0=Out in the mess
They followed the engine trail of the Yautja ship through a dust cloud and particle field of an ancient collision between an asteroid and a large planetessimal. It was slow going. Fire had been had at the beginning but in the game of tag they were playing as the alien ship was proving adept at staying ahead and away from the two Cybertronian shuttles.
Flying ahead of them, the ship was taking information measurements from the shuttles following. Their speed, agility and firepower would be collected and collated before the vessel would disappear. It had a cloaking element that would serve them well when they fell off the sensor grids of the shuttles. They would head toward their base, a rocky planet where they also hunted another prey.
The shuttles would be searching for some time. They wouldn't find a thing.
=0=Prime
He stood in the shower as warm water soothed him. In the morning, he would return to The Fortress and a light ('but not too light, Prowl. I have much to do') schedule of work. It would be mostly catching up and a shit ton of final decisions. It didn't pay to be laid up when you were the pivotal authority of your people. It felt good right now to stand here and be warmed up and soothed by the patter of the water on his neural net.
Earlier ...
"You need to take a shower."
Prime glanced at Prowl who was clearing up the kitchen. The kids had run off to play and do homework/music practice and they were about to relax and watch the news together.
"Why?" Prime asked.
"I'm having a detailer come here to remake your paint scheme shortly," Prowl said as he hung up a towel. "I think you could use one. I notice that you seem fine with dings and scratches."
Prime smirked slightly. "It is unseemly, is it?"
Prowl paused his obsessive compulsion toward kitchen perfection to glance at him. He pretended to muse on Prime's appearance. "Not to me." He grinned, then tossed the towel. "It's good to be home and in the groove."
"Is that what this is?" he asked as Prowl began to gather up a hot drink and snack for both of them. He grinned as he watched. Prowl was nothing if not about the routine.
"It is," Prowl said as he put a slab of pie on plates for both of them. A hot drink later, they walked/limped into the living room, assumed the proper chairs, then waited for the news to come on with the screen muted. "How is your arm?"
Prime shrugged slightly. "Sore but getting there."
"Good," Prowl said. "We're heading out for dinner, bowling and probable night court on Second Friday."
Prime grinned. "There is word that the 'boys' are having a poker night at the Man Cave. I do expect that they will want me to come."
"You should," Prowl said. "We can get sitters. Take your father as well. Tagg is a good sport."
"He is," Optimus said. "Almost as good as you."
Prowl grinned. "I try," he said as both laughed.
Then the news came on.
=0=News
"The situation is being alleviated by the efforts of the planning commission to expedite the project and get it on line. When the development is finished it will be Crater District Five and will be the largest with a possibility of 25,000,000 inhabitants. The expansion of the Industrial Park City District 16 will be part of the project so that the materials needed are able to be produced for that site and others down the line.
"The expansion of the Park City District 16 refineries was approved before New Years and began preliminary development of the underground infrastructure required. The Colonial Industrial and Commercial Rail Authority will be expanding above ground and below system rail systems to accommodate the new refinery area and expedite delivery of what it will produce.
"Roads will be laid out as well and will circle around toward the Seven City areas as well as the Crater Districts. The system of roads and highways in the Autobot City metro area and outlying districts is designed to link every urban and industrial area in the colony. Trains to transport individuals to and from work in the Park area will be added as part of the design for the new district.
"More information will be forthcoming from the colonial engineer, Jetta of Iacon who is on leave attending to his genitors who were recovered shortly ago from a settlement that was retrieved to Omega Base by Dai Atlas and the Knights of Cybertron in conjunction with the Network. It would appear that they're doing well and we extend our congratulations to Command Jetta of Iacon, his bond, Commander Elita of Iacon as well as Jetta's brother, Mack of Iacon and their genitors, Corsair and Imaldo of Iacon.
"When we come back, we'll be discussing the educational expansion that will be including the human children that will be living at The Prima Station of Cybertron as well as business news, sports and weather."
The screen changed to a bulletin about road closures, reroutes and information about upcoming activities of culture and sport around the colony including a juried art show for the University.
"How are Jetta's genitors?" Prime asked. "I have not seen them yet."
"They understand. They're doing well. They live practically next door to Jetta and Elita. They're recovering from their traumas and have therapy every orn. Jetta is taking the time to get them back on their peds," Prowl said. "I told him to do it. He wouldn't be sorry if he did."
Prime nodded. "Corsair and Imaldo were wonderful and they helped raise me as did all the genitors and elders in the area. I had a lot of luck growing up."
Prowl glanced at him. "Luck isn't a part of your equation. Nothing about you is built on chance."
Prime grinned. Prowl was nothing if not loyal. "Thanks. I try"
"Don't mention it," Prowl said with a snicker as he sipped his drink.
"Okay," Prime said with a snicker of his own.
Prowl grinned, then glanced at him. "It seemed like it took months to come home and have a life again. You can't lead from the front again."
"If you say so," Prime said with a slight grin.
"ATAR!"
Both of them glanced at the doorway. Miracle was standing there with a grin and a broken box car from their group train set that had its own room it was so big. He walked over to them and held it up.
Prime set his plate down and took it into servo. He looked it over, then glanced at his son.
"It has an owie," Miracle said with a grin. "It falled from the tracks."
"It did?" Prime asked as he reset the wheels. Handing it back to his son, he smiled. "There. All better."
Miracle smiled beautifully, then ran toward the hallway and the train room.
They watched him go, then Prime grinned. "It is good to be home."
Prowl glanced at him. "Shall I show you tomorrow's agenda?"
Prime smirked. "Buzz kill."
Then the news came back on.
=0=TBC 3-27-2020 4-24-2020