Chapter 280
The Diego Diaries: Hyacinth (dd7 280)
=0=About 1301 joors on the TMC
Everyone sat around the big conference room table for the meet up to work out the plan of action against Polity and his threat. Also on the agenda was a possible pre-emptive strike against Ominous and a push back of promised calamity toward Razorclaw. It was a quiet group that was waiting for the last bunch to arrive from Cybertron. Laughter in the Ops Center just outside the door alerted everyone. They glanced at the door.
Hard Drive and Delphi walked in with grins, then took their places. Steiner was already here so he pulled a chair for Jack as he entered followed by Sun. Blackjack and Raptor carrying cows came inside with a chuckle between them, then they sat with Steiner. It was quiet for a moment. Then Turbine entered with a grin to find his place. It became quiet again.
Prime glanced at Hardie. "Is Ironhide coming?"
"He's standing outside the door," Hardie replied with a grin.
Prime stared at Hardie, then the door. Something … AWESOME must have happened to him. "Ironhide, come inside. We have to begin." Just before he called out again, the door slammed open, banging hard against the wall. It was then that Ironhide stepped inside.
They stared at him, all of those present shocked at his appearance for a moment. Then Prowl glanced at Raptor. "What happened to him? What's going on?"
"I merely granted his wish," Hardie said as Ironhide glowered at everyone as he thundered around the table to sit down beside Ratchet.
Ironhide glared at his great grandfather. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I *EVER* MISSED YOU!"
"There, there, infant," Turbine said as he patted Ironhide's arm. "Tell Amma about what happened, then I'll get you a treat."
Snickers rounded the room.
"Can you be my amma, too? I could use a treat," Jazz said with a snicker.
Ironhide glared at him. "I AM IRONHIDE! YOU CAN'T HAVE MY AMMA!"
Ratchet chuckled. "You're rallying. What happened to you, slagger, and how much work is it going to be to fix this?"
Ironhide's optical ridges narrowed as he glared at his great grand appa. "Tell them, slagger."
Hardie grinned. "That's Grandpa Slagger to you." He glanced at Prime and the others with no small sense of pride. "He asked for it. We delivered. Don't tell me that I'm not a good Appa to the infants."
"I'M NOT AN INFANT!" Ironhide said.
"You will always be our little mech, Ironhide. It's my great hope that you remember that, divining all of the love out of it that it means to all of us," Delphi said in a soft tone that usually brought Ironhide to his knee assemblies.
Like now.
He sat back, crossed his arms over his chassis and glared at everyone in speckled silence.
"What happened?" Mirage asked.
"Paint ball," Hardie said.
A moment was had as everyone parsed that through the internet, then all of them grinned at Hardie.
"Wow," Chromia who was sitting with Maelstrom who didn't have to come but did anyway. "Awesome."
"FRAG THAT!" Ironhide said. He was covered in about ten different colors of paint shot at him by his elders. Hardie had called them to come prior to returning to Mars for the meeting to 'grant the infant his wish' to 'shoot' him. They had come back to Mars to a mall where a shop had a huge space with sets for warfare. They'd ganged up on Ironhide from the start and buried him in shots of paint that exploded and covered him from finials to peds in giant splatters that looked like flowers.
"You wanted us to shoot you," Sun said. "We obliged. Really, nephew … I'm unclear on what you expected or wanted."
Ironhide glanced at him with a smirk. "The frag you do."
Huge laughter greeted that.
"You remind me of that French painter … I think he's French who paints impressionism. Something like Monet or Manet. He uses colors like that, sort of looking through a rainy window effect. Was that what you were shooting for? Notice how I did that? Huh? Huh?" Ratchet said with a giant smile.
HUGE laughter greeted that.
NUCLEAR OPTICS AND HUGE WAVES OF BETRAYAL also greeted that.
Ratchet stood and hoppity-skippitied to the door. Ducking out swiftly, he returned nearly immediately with a huge plate of donuts and a hot tea. Setting it down in front of Ironhide, he sat back. "Eat and feel better. You know ya wanna."
Ironhide glared at him, then pulled all of it close to his chassis. "I DARE YOU TO TOUCH THIS!"
Raptor who was watching him with a big grin leaned over and took one. "Thank you, grandson."
"Frag all of you," Ironhide said in a low voice as he began to eat his way to the bottom of the pile.
"Is that permanent paint?" Prime asked with morbid fascination.
"I'm not sure for him. All of us stepped under a shower that laid down protection for our armor if shot but we weren't," Sun said. "I know that he didn't."
"YOU ALL COMMENCED TO FIRE ON ME UNTIL I WAS LAYING ON THE GROUND AND YOU CONTINUED SHOOTING EVEN THEN!" Ironhide said as he held a ganache covered donut in his servo.
Prime leaned over and took it from Ironhide. "Thank you, Ironhide. This is my favorite kind."
"I have a standing order from The Energon Basket for them to be delivered to our home every few orns," Prowl said with a smirk. "Some of us got it."
"And some of us get it handed to us," Ratchet said as he dazzled Ironhide with a giant smile.
Ironhide frowned. Deeply.
"Why are we here? I forgot," Arcee said as she sat next to a smirking Magnus who was admiring Ironhide's new detailing with an almost unholy delight.
"We have to discuss the plan for Polity and raising the threat level on the local crims," Prowl said.
"Crims?" Chromia asked.
Prowl sat back. "I keep up with the jargon."
"Granny is nothing if not thorough," Ratchet said.
"He's down with the kids," Starscream purred.
Rainmaker howled.
Prime guffawed, then swallowed the rest of his outburst along with his donut as he avoided Prowl's frown. "Shall we begin?"
"Metroplex?" Prowl asked with a slightly indignant tone.
"We have four titans and two dreadnoughts coming who will be here tomorrow," Metroplex said as he grinned at Ironhide. "The four titans are hunters with a lot of skill, modified weapons systems and fortitude. The dreadnoughts are two of the fifteen that were made, all of whom remaining have been found and taken to Soft Space. They need upgrades and a few repairs but they're ready and willing."
"That is very heartening," Prime said. "My plan is to throw muscle at the local groups, maybe even going as far as taking Ominous out. I want a progression of possibilities and that will be the main task of all of you for the next few orns. I am assuming, district commanders, that you have seconds who can run your districts while you are here?"
They nodded and murmured in the affirmative.
"That relieves me. Cybertron is progressing very well and there can be no hiccups to the process," Prime replied. "Right now, I see three things that must be planned for with multiple possibilities for each. First, we must either eliminate Ominous or show him the error of acting against us in any manner at any time here on out. Secondly, we have to scan Razorclaw down to the nuts and bolts to draw a map of his operation and have it ready to utilize if he is to be brought down. Thirdly, we have to go out to the Bootes and punch Polity hard. I know he's going to build a kingdom there and it won't be small. He can draw anyone who leaves the Empire from that direction without us knowing or knowing much."
"Do you think that Ominous can flee our way or up the refugee trail if we take him on?" Springer said from a monitor nearby. He was sitting in his hospital room with a fully braced Drift in the chair beside him. "By the way, Dad, nice detailing, you hippy."
Ironhide frowned at the monitor as the room scanned meaning, then laughed loudly.
At him, not with him.
"Frag you, too, Sonny," Ironhide murmured as he ate another donut.
Prime who was smirking at both of them considered the question. "Whatever we do if we decide to clean them out, we must make an impenetrable wall between them and all that we protect. Titans and dreadnought class ships will make that possible if we plan this the way I envision it. First goal after scanning each group will be to either neutralize Ominous or destroy him. If we do the first, its a message to Razorclaw and Ominous both. If we do the second, its a vision of Razorclaw's future if he acts up or aligns with Polity."
"He might come out swinging if he comes to that conclusion," Hardie said.
Prime nodded. "That is why I want the titans and the Supremes to scan his entire operation so we can have the data to flesh out or change the plans we make now. I am not going to tolerate their unsecured presence much longer. I know that Razorclaw is menacing planets that are not in our direct line of vision."
"If we do this, then the refugee flow will have to be curtailed until this is completed or settled, however it goes. The humans will have to be curtailed as well. I can't see inviting anyone into space, even between Earth and Mars while we do this with Razorclaw. I don't envision Ominous being that big a threat. But Razorclaw might want to swarm out and they could destroy anything in the flight lanes if they do," Magnus said.
Prime nodded. "That is why we have to get this organized. I want plans on plans. I have to give a message to the colony about the bombing tomorrow. I would like to have some framework in place before 1200 joors when I speak so we can work on it to refine what we do prior to scanning for more intel. It will take time and organization when we do this. Scanning Razorclaw, then Ominous … it will decide for us which way to go but the paths have to be many and planned out well."
Everyone considered that, then Sun leaned on his elbows as he thought a moment. "All of our big ships will be useful for this, especially against Polity but we also have to have maneuvering room. This will take a lot of fleet planning," he said as he glanced at Starscream and Rainmaker. "I'm not clear that Seekers should be included in these operations. There's going to be a lot of very heavy ordinance fired and it would be easy to hit a Seeker by accident. Maybe you can be held for ship boarding and anything that's needed to be support against them on the ground. Strafing runs are enormous assets in ground based fighting."
They considered that, then Rainmaker nodded. "We can go as ship board personnel and then be launched as the situation calls. I agree about the heavy fire if such an encounter happens. We would be hurt one way or the other in the blasts."
"We can design teams that complement the overall assault focus," Starscream said. "This will be very heavy and dense fighting if it comes to that. If we scan either of them, their level of alert will go up. The element of surprise is forfeit unless we plan a highly coordinated, highly complex bridge scheme if and when we decide to take them down."
"Wheeljack and Perceptor, you will design that," Prime said. "Right now, I want us to sit here and break this down into possible actions, organizational designs and then the various parts each commander and format will be handling. The more coordination and planning that goes into this, the better the outcome."
They would sit for several joors building a framework for the operation in its stages, all of them but Ironhide. He would be sent to the detailer to get himself cleaned up.
=0=Bus Stop
The sand was really blowing, blizzard-like in its intensity. Standing on the corner waiting for the buses and cabs to arrive, Ratchet's elders leaned in together. The sand was stinging against their armor, its crystalline sharpness a serious obstacle to human settlement of Mars without their help. It wouldn't take much time before the sand abraded space suits of human design to kill the occupant.
"Do you see the buses, Corr?" Ratchet asked as he sheltered Docker a bit with his own body.
"I can't tell, Ratchet," Corr replied.
The wind howled and the orange dust blew hard, then lights could be seen coming. Buses lumbered into view, then pulled over. Doors opened and babies stepped down, grabbed and stuffed into holds by their family members and sitters. Praxus, Orion and Prowler were confiscated and so was Hero when her cab came. Sunspot and Spot, the titanic kids and Prime's showed up and huddled with their elders as other genitors grabbed their own infants.
"I think we can go, Docker. We have all of ours. Do you?" Kestrel asked as he held Spirit. The others were in holds or huddled around their amma and appa.
"We do, Kes," Ravel said. "We better go inside."
With that, they walked together toward the door of the tower where they lived. The doors were closed today but automatically opened to let them inside. It was a huge relief when they were.
=0=TBC 5-14-2020