The Diego Diaries: Flame (dd7 357)
NOTE: I am setting up a lot of threads for the next six months, some with tiny mentions and others like this one right out of the gate. I don't like someone winging out of the blue to do something in a story so I'm seeding this monster with stuff. HUGS! :D:D:D
=0=On a ship in a med bay
It was almost suffocatingly silent. It was deadening in a way most of the battle hardened individuals had never felt to that extent. It was as if Prowl had announced that all Existence was coming to an end in ten seconds.
Turbine walked to a comm station. "Turbine to Lord Lauren."
A moment passed as the communication was sent and linked up. :Lauren here, Master:
"I just heard what you told Prowl. The Matrix … it has no spark?"
:None, Turbine. I am so frightened. I have never heard of such a thing happening in all my life or in the documents in the archives:
Turbine considered that. "I would gather yourself, Lauren. If this was as negative as you fear we would not be here in one piece. Please stand by." Turbine keyed in Kaon Command Center on Cybertron. "This is Commander Turbine of Praxus. I would like a status report for Cybertron. Just the major details please."
:Stand by, Commander: a voice said.
They waited excruciating moments, then the voice was back. :Everything checks out green, Commander. Nothing is being reported that is out of the ordinary. All appears to be well in hand:
"Thank you. Good night," Turbine said, then he dialed another place. "Commander Turbine of Praxus to Simfur Temple."
A moment passed, then a voice was heard. :Good evening, Master. What may I do for you?:
"I'm just checking, Palladin. What is the status of the Temple this evening? Is all well? How do the relics fare?"
:I will see: he said.
It was sickening how agonizing it was to wait for a reply. When it came it was concerned. :Master? Is the Prime in contact with the Matrix? Our Flame is out:
"Yes," Turbine lied. "Do not worry. I was interested in making a donation of a relic case and thought I would check in. I don't get to Simfur as much as I like."
:We would be honored to have you. A relic case? That would be so wonderful. I will relay that to the Master. Is there anything more I can do for you?:
"No. Thank you. May you have a wonderful orn," Turbine said as he signed off. He turned to the group. "We can extrapolate something here. This is a localized situation between Prime and the entity. Even though the Flame is out in both places, that would be expected. What is baffling is the Matrix."
"No one can know of this," Prowl began. "No one can know that this happened. We must put a lock down on this information. The bridge crew appears to be the only ones who know and all of them are veterans that served Prime and me. We can order this to be held in confidence and they'll do it. I shudder to think what would happen if anyone heard about this."
Turbine nodded, then turned to the two grim faced mechs sitting on med bays while Ratchet silently pulled the plugs from them. "We need your cooperation. We need you to not let this situation get out. The colony and Cybertron are filled with millions of individuals who have had terrible experiences from a very prolonged civil war and this is the first peace they've ever had. Most of that sense of security rests upon you, Optimus, and your leadership. We cannot have them afraid again."
Orion Pax stared at everyone in the room, all of them known to each other but him. He recognized Jetta. That mech was still as handsome and recognizable as ever, though something in him had aged and showed the effects of time and experience. He was much more tense than he was even as a kid. It didn't show on the outside but it was evident to Orion through his aura. RC was completely different, something odd in her affect that puzzled him thoroughly but she still read as his friend. Magnus was still himself energetically if not completely physically, though it was much more grim and focused than he'd ever seen it. He nodded without comment.
Prowl looked deflated a moment, then turned to Perceptor and Wheeljack who were watching nearby in silence. "We need answers and a plan. We need it yesterday."
They both nodded, then Percy turned to the console. He downloaded Ratchet's data into a data wafer, then both walked out to return to their ships to work out what was happening and what the anomaly was. It was floating nearby, beginning to casually move away. It was going so slowly like an amoeba that it would be easy to track without getting too close. No one was going to touch it again for fear of what might happen but one could learn a lot without doing so. They were both masters at such things.
It was silent then Hardie turned to Prowl. "The chain of command is compromised. What do you want to do, Prowl?" he asked.
Prowl considered that as he stared gravely at Optimus.
That mech stared back silently.
"I think I defer command to you, General. You and I will share command but the majority will be under your power for the orn-to-orn. Emergencies will be a dual job for us. I'm going to ensure that Optimus is safe and work on this myself. We have a problem and we can't let it get out into the general population."
Hardie nodded. "I agree." He glanced at his brothers and the others with him. "Sun, I want you to take over my district. You and Jack will be co-commanders of the Cybertron Reclamation Command at the Citadel." He glanced at Prime. "You're confused and perhaps frightened. But I want you to know, Orion Pax, that never in the history of our people was anyone more important to our safety and well being than you. Some might say no one is so exceptional that their loss can't be overcome but I'm of the belief that this doesn't apply to you. You're that important and integral to all of us everywhere. You're among friends and family. We will protect you and find a way out of this matter. All you have to do is know that."
Orion Pax stared at the stranger, a Praxian Elite warrior. There were many in the room. He also noted that some of them were Immortals. He'd never met one before and all of this was awkward and strange. He glanced at the one called Prowl who looked distraught but contained. Others were there, a medic and soldiers he didn't know. He stared at Magnus, then RC and finally Jetta. "What do you say?"
"We concur, Orion," RC said. "There's a lot of stories to tell you but understand … we grew up together. We were family then and always ever after. None of us three would ever allow anything to happen to you. Don't be afraid of this. You were never more surrounded by love in your life than right now."
Orion stared at her, then Magnus who looked at him with emotion under iron control.
Jetta walked to him and placed his servos on Orion's broad shoulders. "All for one, Orion."
Orion stared at him, then nodded. "And one for all."
Jetta hugged him, then turned to the others. "What do we do now?"
Prowl glanced around. "We have to study this thing. I want security to accompany the science ships while we go back to the colony. The sooner we get this under control the better." He looked at Optimus. "We have a home and children. We have grandchildren. Your genitors are there. They will help you and allay your fears. What concerns me right now is the children."
"I hear you," Ratchet said grimly. He turned to Ironhide who looked at him with a wary sense of WTF. "You're a father of about 50 kids. We adopted and we have about a half dozen of our own. Some live with us but most don't. I had to trick your sorry aft to get a family started and you're the greatest father of all time. What do we do now that won't scare them?"
Ironhide stared at Ratchet, a ravishingly beautiful mech but a stranger. He'd seen him in the Medical Center and there was a lot of attention given to the beautiful but cantankerous, wildly amusing and unpredictable doctor by a lot of mechs. He was working out the plan to ask him out only a few orns ago during a boozy card game in the Citadel officer's lounge. He and a number of others.
Now this.
"Kids. I don't know about kids," Ironhide began.
"That's slag," Sideswipe said as he leaned on a doorjamb nearby. Sunstreaker with a tense expression on his face was beside him. "You know more than anyone I know. I'm your son. So is he," Sideswipe said nodding toward his brother. "So are those two," he said nodding toward Springer and Drift who were leaning against the counter nearby with worried expressions. "My three kids are your grandchildren. Arcee is your daughter. Magnus and Jetta are your sons-in-law. There's more but it'd take a joor to tell it."
Ironhide stared at him, then his amma who nodded.
"It's true, Ironhide," Turbine said softly. "All of it."
"Then what the frag happened?" Ironhide said. He turned to stare at Prime. "Who is this mech? If we're what you say we are, why only us? Why not anyone else?"
Ratchet was staring at Ironhide with a howling wind in his processor. He calmed it, then stepped forward. "Let's look at this logically. You were seated in the command seat, Optimus … Orion. You were there at command. You were next to him, right?" Ratchet asked Ironhide.
He shrugged. "I was at the Academy and now I'm here. I don't know what you're talking about."
"You were," Prowl said as he tuned into the deck recording system. He found the moment it all happened and played it. "Watch."
The scene showed Optimus and beside him with his servo resting on Prime's shoulder was Ironhide. They were leaned slightly together talking about something, then the light hit them. It lasted, then was gone. It was then that the confusion began. It was then that Prime became Orion, an only marginally smaller mech with a different paint scheme.
Ratchet considered the evidence. "You were touching Prime, Ironhide. You were next to him and your servo was on his shoulder. When the light touched Prime, you were touching him. Maybe the light came for Optimus and included you as well because you were touching him."
It was silent a moment, then Turbine turned to Ratchet. "That's a good start. We can add that as a premise. None of us were touching Optimus so none of us are affected."
"Why would it do that to just them? Why target Optimus?" Springer asked.
Ratchet turned to him. "Lots of reasons. Maybe. It could be that it targets leaders, thus he was changed because he was in the command seat. Or maybe … it targeted him because he had the Matrix. Ironhide was touching Prime and both are affected. The Matrix might have been the target, too. It might have been drawn by and aimed for the Matrix."
"Unbelievable," Prowl said near to despair. "The Matrix is holy. Nothing appears to be out of hand on Cybertron so Primus must be exempt from affect. And ..." he said as he turned to stare at Orion Pax, "we have no Matrix bearer and no Matrix. We can't tune in to Primus to know for sure."
"You can access the Matrix, Turbine," Hardie said. "I know you did once."
Turbine turned to him. "I can be invited. I have to be invited. I can ask and I will but it doesn't guarantee that They will answer."
"You always said that when you spoke to them or The One, They always heard you, all of us, too," Delphi said.
"They do. Every voice is heard. But sometimes the lessons before you must be learned by you alone. I can ask but if this is one of those things then They won't respond. They give us complete free will. Its a gift," Turbine said.
"If you say so," Prowl said bitterly. "Fuck that."
"It is, Prowl, a gift," Turbine said. "There's entire universes where there is no free will. Its the Functionalists everywhere always. We get to choose our path and walk it to the end by exercising our own choices. If this is considered one of those things, then we'll have to solve this ourselves. I will try and ask them. I'll do that."
"How?" Prowl asked. "When? Now? We have to get this reversed, Turbine. This is so dangerous for every possible reason."
Turbine nodded. "I know." He looked at the two mechs, Orion and Ironhide. "Its going to take time. Right now, we have to decide what to do with you two so that no one understands this is happening."
"What are you going to do with me?" Orion Pax asked.
=0=TBC 8-19-2020