The Diego Diaries: All Around the Watch Tower (dd7 273)
=0=Moving onward
He walked into the room and sat down on a berth. Scanning the two, Ratchet grinned. "Don't you just beat all. How do you feel?"
Springer glanced at Drift, then Ratchet. "Rough."
Ratchet frowned. "You're supposed to say something." He checked the data again, then sent them each a script of slow-releasing data that would dampen the pain considerably. It worked almost instantly. "We can't read your processors, though I'm sure it might be fun."
Springer who felt the cooling relief flood him grinned. "Could be you can't take it all in."
"Try me, baby boy," Ratchet said with an evil wink. "By the way, guess what Optimus just approved?"
They stared at him as he sat with a dazzling smile.
Ratchet smiled brighter. "Fraggers. I won't tell you then."
"Tell us," Springer said as Drift snickered. "You know ya wanna."
"I wanna do a bunch of stuff but I can wait. *LIKE FOREVER*!" Ratchet snickered. "Guess who just pardoned a bunch of slaggers just like last time."
"And?" Drift asked with a smirk.
"Our man, Owen Harris asked for one of them to immigrate here with his family. Guess which one." Insert another dazzling smile.
Springer glanced at Drift who shrugged slightly. Very slightly. "We don't know."
"Beau Weaver, former senator from the Great State of Texas™." Ratchet grinned. "Harris applied for the visas for them himself."
It was silent a moment.
"Optimus okayed it?" Springer asked.
Ratchet nodded. "I saw him do it and Magnus just finalized the paperwork. Beau, Muriel and their two kids are going to live and work at Earth2 or as we should call it, the Rehabilitation Home for Traitors."
"I'm guessing Optimus has some kind of strategic plan going," Drift offered.
"Beats me," Ratchet said with a dazzling smile.
Huge laughter greeted that.
"So you came to tell us? Anything else?" Springer asked.
"Cog is being tailed orn and night by Mirage and two other slaggers with that special feature. I have to dazzle about 2,000 newbie workers and about 5,000 of their dependents at Prima Station shortly, physicals at the prison are just about due and I smuggled in donuts," Ratchet said as he unsubbed a box. Placing it on the table between them, he rose. "Anything else?"
"Nope, Ma. You done good," Springer said with a grin.
"The children are supposed to show up tonight, those that didn't get grounded," Ratchet said. "I may check in about 1800 joors."
Springer snickered as the big mech swished out. It was quiet a moment, then he glanced down at the box. He could see several of their favorite donuts inside. "Want a donut?"
"I do," Drift said. "I can't turn my neck so ..."
"Let me get them," Springer said as he stiffly shifted to reach for the box. It would take a couple of tries.
=0=Up there
Steiner stood before Springer's desk staring at the blast hole. He was going to run the Watch until they were back on duty. It would be a daunting thing. The sound of peds behind him caught his attention. He glanced around to see a pensive serious looking Maxi standing nearby. "Maxi. I didn't know you were coming back this fast."
"I have to be here," Maxi said. "I can help you, Commander."
"I know," Steiner said. "Did you get hurt?"
"I got tossed from my chair and have a bump or two but not much more. My boys are very hurt though," she said as emotion welled up in her.
"They're doing well," Steiner said. "I saw them earlier. They're going to mend and come back. What I want to know is if you and the others in the outer offices are alright."
She considered that. "Bumps, knockdowns … nothing like them. We're going to be alright."
"I'm glad," Steiner said.
She stared at the desk. "I always put the mail there. Drift can get to it faster," she said, then grinned faintly. "He does most of the paperwork and data. Springer hates it and Drift does it for him." She stared at Steiner. "They really, really love each other."
Steiner nodded. "I know. They're fine youngsters."
Maxi nodded. "I'll get the master data pad and go over what we have going on, Commander. I'll be here and so will the others. We're going to help you all we can."
"I never doubted it, Maxi," Steiner said as he watched her walk out to the offices beyond. It was going to be a difficult thing for everyone.
=0=The Fortress in the Ops Center
Prowl watched the intel. Something was coming through the Benzuli that was sending familiar signals. A big Decepticon-like fleet was heading their way just outside the farthest range of their deep space satellites. They'd been there for some time and it appeared that they were in contact with Ominous and Razorclaw. Or at least, they tried. He'd managed to block all their messages, thereby either buying time or discouraging them. He wasn't clear on what they were doing but he was ever vigilant.
Officers walked in for the swing shift and signaled he could go. Paragon would run the rest of the shift while he worked in his office, then he and Optimus would head out for dinner and the kids shortly enough. That is, they would if the universe decided not to spank them tonight. He had things to do beyond work.
Optimus walked in from the Officer's Wing. He pulled a chair, then sat next to Prowl. "What is new, if anything?"
"Nothing so far," Prowl said. He leaned back in his chair. "I suppose that you feel Harris will make a mistake."
"I count upon it," Prime said. "Sometimes as well, its better to have them contained on our turf than running loose on theirs."
"True, that," Prowl said. He grinned faintly. "I find it poetic and ironic that after all this they end up here under your control."
"I do as well," Prime said.
=0=Later that evening
Annabelle Lennox worked on her last bit of home work as she sat in the living room of their family apartment in the Family Tower. Sitting nearby catching up on the chat from here and there, her grandparents were talking with her own father and mother. Grandpa Jonathan and Grandma Thelma Lennox were sharing a laugh with Grandpa Jay and Grandma Anita Crowder, the mother and father of her mom, Sarah.
The Grandparents Crowder came often, loved it dearly and were here now to visit their only Martian granddaughter. All of the family was close and great friends. The chat was funny and familial. Grandpa Jay glanced at his granddaughter. "What are you working on, Pumpkin?"
She looked up, then smiled a beautiful smile. "I have to finish up a report I'm doing with Spirit and Sunspot."
"What's it about, baby?" Will asked.
"It's about the geography of the Valles," Anna said. "We're trying to decide whether the Valles was created by a moon striking the planet becoming captured in Mars's gravity well like Phobos or Demos or if it was caused by the cooling of the inner planet thereby causing the cracks." She smiled at them again.
The adults grinned back at her. She was doted on as were her cousins, two of which were boys.
"That sounds exciting, Annie. You'll have to show Grandma and me the Valles," Grandpa Jay said.
"Are you going to stay?" Annie asked hopefully.
Grandpa Jay nodded. "Our immigration requests were honored by the Bureau of Immigration. We have family visas."
Sarah glanced at her mom and dad, then Will. "This is great! I'm so happy. You can work at the Resort. Most of the family does. Thelma and Jon help us there as well. That and doing whatever else you want to do."
There was excited chat as they went over the delightful news. Their applications had been 'in the works' for a while. Missions sometimes slowed down things like this, all of which had to be reviewed by Optimus who was the only one around who could grant citizenship or allow immigration of this nature by reason of being Prime.
"Now we can be here to see how things go for you and for our baby," Grandma Anita said as she grinned at Annie.
Annie grinned back. "I can't wait to tell my friends."
"I can't wait to meet them," the Grandparent Crowders said.
"You'll love them. When you meet my boyfriend, you'll really love him. He's so nice."
It was silent a moment as the adults glanced from one to the other.
"What boyfriend, Annie?" Will asked with surprise and no small amount of disquiet.
"Spirit," Annie said with a big smile.
Everyone stared at her, then Sarah leaned closer. "I thought Spirit was in a trine with Silverbow and Sunspot."
"They were but then they thought I needed a boyfriend, too, so Spirit said he would be that for me," Annie said. "We're all still friends, though. I just have a boyfriend and so does Silverbow. She has Sunny."
Will considered that. "They aren't in a trine now?"
"They are but they're going to not be in it for me," Annie said in perfect kid logic.
It was still a moment.
"Oh," Will replied.
"I'm going to be in the army, Daddy, too. I thought I would tell you," Annie said as she closed her data pad. Homework was now officially over.
"The Army? I don't think, that is … your mom and I decided that you shouldn't be in the army."
She looked at all six of the adults, then grinned. "Not that army. Not yours, Daddy. Ours. I'm going to be in the Autobot Army after Intermediate School. All four of us are. We're going to enlist together."
Will stared at her. "Annie … you're a human. They're bots. You can't join the Autobot Army. Can you?"
She stared at him, then the others. "I'm a citizen of Cybertron. I can. I asked Uncle Jazz."
"What did he say?" Sarah asked as she struggled not to laugh aloud at Will's dismay.
"He says there's no rule against it," Annie said, then she smiled brightly. "It's going to be great. I can join with my friends and boyfriend." With that, she stood and walked to her room to stow her school work in her backpack. She paused at the corridor. "I'm going to be a spy and saboteur like Aunt Elita, Daddy. Isn't that great?" She continued onward to her room.
She left a silent roomful of adults behind her.
=0=Later that night up there
They were in their beds again, both of them and all around the room were the kids who weren't grounded. Twenty-two of them were there with treats and company for The Commander and The Boss™. The rest of the missing fifty were on the screen nearby in a Zoom-like set up of one kid, one window. They were enjoying the company and vibe of the gathering, too.
Semper fi.
The kids had swept in with all manner of treat. They fluffed pillows, organized stuff on the little tables, then settled. After a moment of chat, Echo pulled out one of her Nana's romance novels.
Drift watched her with deep amusement as she got up on a chair with the data pad. "What is the book called, Echo?" he asked.
She looked at it. "It's called Love's Destiny." She looked at him with a huge smile on her tiny face. "My Nana really likes this one. Its her favorite. She made the green cookies for both of you."
Drift looked at his heaping treat plate, then grinned as four tiny green cookies were among the bounty. "Tell her thanks."
"I will, Commander," Echo said as she opened to the first page. "It was a sunny afternoon on Cybertron when Seelah walked into the theater. She was a small femme with enormous talent. She was the understudy to the greatest femme actress on Cybertron, Boere of Helex. She walked to the stage, crossed it, then headed toward the dressing rooms in the back where she hoped to see him."
"Who's him, Echo?" Springer asked with a barely suppressed smile.
She looked up at him and explained it in her tiny voice. "He's her lover."
Drift nearly choked on a donut.
=0=TBC 5-5-2020 03-03-2021