The Diego Diaries: Uh … (dd7 328)
=0=In the CMO's office listening to the news …
:HARDIE!:
=0=In the Citadel in Iacon, Commanding Officer's Office
After nearly tipping backward off his desk chair, Hardie replied calmly. :WHAT, RATCHET!?:
:Have you seen the news?:
:NO! WHY!? ARE YOU UNDER ATTACK!?:
:Uh, not really. Just look at the news:
"Varl, please turn to The Hourly News channel," Hardie said.
Varl, an aide from Upper Tetrahex did so and all of the mechs and femmes in his office stopped their work to watch.
Hardie did as well. "Oh, frag," he muttered. Sending a mass text to everyone, he got replies back.
General distillation: "WHAT THE FRAG!?"
=0=Moments later walking into the Ops Center
Ratchet walked to the table where Prowl sat, then pulled a chair to join him. "Uh, I have a question."
"Okay. Maybe," Prowl said as he glanced up.
"What does your internal chronometer say?"
Prowl stared at him. "Why?" he asked as he checked. "It's First Wednesday."
"On the human calendar?" Ratchet asked.
Prowl sat back, then nodded. "July the 14th."
"What does the chronometer on the wall over there say?" Ratchet asked.
Prowl glanced at it, then sat up straight. "July the 15th. What?"
"Your chronometer syncs with the ships. The ships took an orn backward in time because it synced with Caminus. The EMPS and null rays can interfere with them as well. You never reset." Ratchet said.
"Since when?" Prowl asked.
"SINCE YOU NEVER COME IN FOR YOUR AUTHORIZED FITNESS CHECKS AND SYSTEMS UPGRADES, THAT'S WHEN!" Ratchet's vibrato laden foghorn voice nearly peeled paint off the walls as everyone in the Center jerked with surprise. He smiled brilliantly, then sat back. "Slaggers. None of you EVER COME IN!"
Prowl stared at him. Then he flinched again. "Festival starts in eight joors."
"That's right. No boys night out. I'm WIFI-ing a makeshift fix for the chronometer to everyone. I suspect that no one checked the time and date given that Hardie was organizing the bar hop. Really, you should know better than listen to old geezers like that."
Prowl smirked. "Slagger. I'm out of here. I'm so far behind. I thought we had another orn."
Ratchet rose. "That's your problem, Prowler. You were thinking."
Prowl slapped him all the way to the door and out to the road.
=0=Grapevine
:WHAT THE FRAG, SUNNY! I CHANGED ORNS FOR THIS AND NOW I'M GOING TO REALLY HAVE TO PAY TO GET ANOTHER ONE!:
:No you don't, stupid. You would have gotten this one off anyway but for two joors on duty for the Festival. You can trade again later on:
[Silence]
:Don't call me stupid, stupid:
^..^
"OH MY WORD! IT'S TOMORROW!? I DON'T HAVE A SLAGGING THING DONE!" -everyone
^..^
"What was that and what was it about, Troop?" Scout asked as he sat at his desk checking dialog for a movie rewrite as Trooper took an off line call.
Trooper who was laughing glanced at his bond. "Apparently the away teams had a glitch on the mission and thought today was yesterday. They lost an orn when their internal clocks didn't reset to Martian time."
"Well, its like Ratchet says. No one will come in for physicals. That sort of tiny stuff can get off kilter easily. EMPs. Did they say they used EMPS and null rays on the mission?" scout asked as he glanced at his bond.
Trooper nodded. "They did. That stuff starts the moment it leaves the torpedo tube. You can't help but get fragged up with that amount of radiation and electronics interference."
Scout nodded. "No boys out for you tonight, buster."
Trooper grinned. "Nope."
^..^
The Temple was beautiful and ready for the Solemnities both here and on Cybertron. When the Blessings were finished on Mars, the party would go to Cybertron to hold a ceremony there and to consecrate the finished rebuild. The Temple was a testimony to the artisans and the determination of all to have it done in time for this and having Prime come to hail it was going to be a huge boost to the population.
The priests bowed to Lauren who had come to inspect things. "We are ready, Eminence, when you come with the Prime and his party."
"You are," Lauren said in his joyous manner. "I am so proud of you all. You have done us all such a splendid achievement. Blessings to all who come here and blessings to you who will greet them."
The priests were very, very happy and pleased as they stood in the giant room together. Nearby ready to receive holographic imagery, the spaces where the Allspark and the Well of Allsparks were supposed to be were strangely darken. It was a very lonely thing to see, the Temple without Them. Whether They would ever come back here again would be in the hands of The Powers.
^..^
"Tie, have you got the children's food ready?" Ravel asked as he and Docker finished the dinner all would share.
"Its in the cooler by the fridge, Ravie. We better eat. Everyone expects us at the corner in a short while," Tie said as Appa Ratchet nodded.
Appa Ratchet glanced at Tie. "I think we better stay sober. We're cutting it fine here with Festival and all."
"What do you mean, Tie?" Corr asked.
"We're clubbing," Ratchet said. "Hardie wants us at the corner tonight."
"But tonight is the start of the Reflections," Corr replied.
"I thought it was strange going out on this night but it sounded fun," Tie said as Ratchet nodded. Then the message arrived from Hardie.
"Oh," Tie said with a chuckle.
^..^
Ironhide walked into the apartment with a pile of take out that was hard to see over. The kids were there looking after the babies. The animals bounced off the walls as they watched Ironhide set the boxes on the table. As he did Ratchet walked in.
"What's that?" Ratchet asked as he walked to the table to look into the boxes.
"Dinner. Load up. The siren goes off at midnight and we can't eat again until the next night. Slagger. YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US!" Ironhide glowered at Ratchet.
Ratchet glowered back. "YOU PILE OF TIN PANS! HOW COME YOU DIDN'T NOTICE!?"
"FRAG THAT!"
Little kids stood on the floor or were held in the arms of big kids, all of them watching with their own solemn expressions their genitors argue. It was a strange sight to see. The aura of humor that always happened other times was buried under a pile of stress.
"Ada?"
Ironhide and Ratchet froze, then turned to the kids.
Fireball was looking at them with anxiety. "Are you mad at each other?"
Ironhide and Ratchet glanced at each other, then the kids. All of them were silent but Fireball looked scared. "No." -both of them
Moments later …
They sat on spread out blankets by the big window overlooking the airfield and in the distance, the prison. The room was darkened but the illumination was fine given the amount of it that streamed in from the outside. Food boxes, plates and cups were front and center as they 'picnicked' in the living room. Everyone was relaxing, eating and telling stories.
"Ada, I, Orion likeded this. Do this with shes?" he asked comically.
"Yep," Ratchet said with a grin. He was leaning against the couch with his plate in hand. "We have to eat up and a lot, your old pa and me. We're fasting. You infants will be fed during the orn. Ammas and Appas took care of it."
"We can fast, Ada," Quasar said as the other two nodded.
Fireball who was helping Halo eat glanced at Ratchet. "We want to honor Them, too."
"You do every orn just by being alive and happy," Ironhide said. He frowned at Ratchet. "Old iron pants here wants me to starve though. A MECH COULD STARVE WAITING FOR THE SIREN TOMORROW!"
"Aw," Ratchet said. He quivered his lower lip. "Aw." He glanced at the kids. "Aw?"
The kids getting the family joke immediately glanced at Ironhide. "Awwww." -all of them
Ironhide smirked as he helped himself to more food. "Slaggers. I'll remember that at Christmas Surprise."
Huge laughter greeted that.
=0=The Emergency Command Center at Fort Max
He walked in, the designated mech for the siren during Festival. He had pressed it on the tower of Fort Max from orn one and it was his until he wanted to retire the duty. Hell would freeze over before he ever would. It made him proud to be the one who did it. Walking to the command table nearby, he pulled a chair, then sat. "Looks like a cold night."
Everyone agreed.
"I heard a funny rumor. Someone told me that Prime and half his family were going on a pub crawl tonight."
Everyone laughed.
No one believed him. He didn't either.
^..^
Springer and Drift rode with their posse through the colony checking arrangements for those who would come to the Temple District and those who would go to the designated sites where it would be broadcast in holographic form. All was well in order including the traffic flow patterns. No vehicles would be allowed in The City from now until two orns after Festival to allow for pilgrim pedestrians.
"We'd be getting loaded about now," Drift said as they walked back to their horses after chatting with guards who would rotate like everyone else already was throughout the Empire. Two joor shifts, then off for the rest.
"My clock was stuck. Appa said EMPS and nulls at that proximity are likely the cause, that and skipping physicals. I'm leaning toward the bomb stuff," Springer said as he climbed back up on his horse.
"Sounds sexy," Drift said quietly as he mounted his.
Springer laughed. "Come on. I have someone coming over to detail us for tomorrow."
"At the house?" Drift asked as they began to ride out to the horse trail they used that paralleled the highways, one built for pleasure riders and the Watch.
Springer glanced at him. "Yeah. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."
Drift laughed as they galloped onward into the gathering, deepening night.
^..^
The last call was made to everyone coordinating everything for the next orn. Hoots were had for the glitch in the system and the plan revised to party the orn after Festival. It might make the deeply religious scandalized to see the First Disciple of Primus barhopping the orn after the holiest one of the calendar year, but that was their problem. A mech had to have fun.
^..^
He stood on the balcony staring into the night sky and the glorious lighted sights all around him on the ground below. The glittering miracle of Aerie Hill could be seen in the distance as well as the Monastery and the Resort. All was well, it was incredibly beautiful and he only felt traces of Them in his auric field. The Matrix was taking Its time but he felt something significant was going to happen the next orn.
Prowl slipped out after putting the last child to bed. He paused beside Prime waiting for him to say something. He could be at the Matrix for all he knew.
"Are they asleep?"
"Mostly," Prowl said. He glanced up at Optimus. "Anything?"
"Nothing but the feeling tomorrow will be an important orn," Optimus replied.
Prowl felt a thrill in his extremities. He gripped his servos to relieve tension, then turned to Prime. "Sorry about the field trip to jail."
Optimus laughed. "Stuff happens."
"I heard a much more vulgar version of that from Lennox a time or two," Prowl replied. "My family is beside themselves about attending. Amma and Appa are detailed to the maximum effect."
"I am glad they are and can come. This is about family, the bigger one and the smaller. Our people need comfort and possibilities. We have stirred the hornet's nest with our mission but it had to be done. Polity throw a cocked hat into the mix. We cannot be anything but vigilant anymore."
Prowl nodded. "I know." He turned to face the view beyond, his servo in Prime's as they waited for the clock to tick down.
=0=Fort Max Communications Tower #1
He climbed the steps to the platform in the dark cold night of Mars. This was home and he was a happy mech. His family was waiting for him, proud that he would do this. They made sure that everyone knew it was their boy that did. He grinned as he opened the box, counted the moments down, then pressed the button.
A siren rang out, rolling away to places close and far in the Colony of the Last Prime of Cybertron. Humans, Hu-An and Cybertronians both here and throughout their empire would know that the Reflections had begun. No one would eat again but those who chose to until this siren sounded again.
The Festival of Primus had begun.
=0=TBC 7-15-2020
HI, MOOSE HONEY! BON APPETIT! :D:D:D