The Diego Diaries: (dd7 399)
=0=Gathered in the Conference Room at the Ops Center, Mars
They came in quickly, drawn from several worlds and bases, gathering to discuss the new turn of events. When they were all there the door closed and everyone sat down.
Prowl sat tensely beside Orion. Prowl considered the data pad before him, then the group. "We just had an incident. Orion will tell us about it."
Orion who was sitting calmly in his chair was back in his pretender format and looked like Optimus in every possible manner. "I was here, then called to the Matrix."
Ironhide blinked with surprise. "You don't have a matrix."
"It's possible to be taken there without one. I can as well," Turbine said. "The Pantheon have powers and the ability to intervene where things are allowed. It was intentional that this happen. I'm also aware that Thirteen made it so."
A murmur rounded the room for a moment before subsiding. Thirteen was a very beloved Prime, especially among the warrior class and His presence was surprising.
"I was at a place I have never seen. I was not alone. Megatronus Prime was there, though I did not know he was thus in his own dimension. With us also was Thirteen Prime. I am now aware that He is the Prime of a dimension where all is peace, the Decepticons do not exist and we are what we all hope to become. That story I am made aware of." Orion sat forward to rest his elbows on the table. "I am aware that you are aware of that story."
Everyone nodded.
"We discussed the problem before us, the dimensional traversing Xylon and probable reasons he might have to do what he is doing. It might be that he has enough delusions to believe that no Prime in any dimension deserves to live. Thirteen stated that none of the Primes that would be targeted agreed on their life plans to allow this, so it is up to us to find a way to catch this individual."
Turbine considered Orion a moment. "Thirteen has then confirmed that free will is at work here and there will be nothing we can do to enlist assistance more than Thirteen has decreed. We have to find this individual. This could have long lasting negative consequences for a lot of different dimensional planes."
"What is the last indication of his whereabouts?" Orion asked.
Ratchet who was watching the big kid noted he was falling into his leadership role and everyone else was following. They might not have noticed it but he did. It was going to be an interesting progression if it continued.
"We have him until he jumped. We aren't clear where he is but we're working with Megatron's people to try to locate him. We've isolated particles that are not only an outcome of trans-dimensional travel but peculiar to his individual reactor. We can do that now. We can scan for it and know its him. We can pass that information on to the others … somehow with Thirteen," Perceptor said as he glanced upward toward Orion.
"He said he would 'bend' his way toward us," Orion said. "I am not sure what that actually means but He is one of the Thirteen so I imagine He has his own means."
Prowl nodded. "Are you going to calibrate our sensor grid then with this capability?"
"It's done already," Wheeljack said.
Everyone sat back to relax a moment, then Blackjack glanced at Prowl. "We have a game in two orns. What's the decision?"
Prowl glanced at Orion but Orion beat him to the mark.
"I think it will be a good idea to carry on as usual. The game should go onward," he said firmly.
The players in the room glanced at each other, then Prowl, then Orion.
"Do you think that's wise?" Prowl asked. "You don't have a matrix and you don't have any practice with the team and what it does as far as strategy and plays."
"No, but we were comrades on the field from youth," Ultra Magnus said. "I do believe that with adjustments Orion will play as well in this sphere as he did as a kid. You were a marauder as a youth."
Orion grinned slightly. "WE were marauders. I have studied the films of our games and RC gave me her playbook. I believe that I can adequately play. I would like to disrupt the colony and empire as little as possible and canceling the game would be hard to explain without creating fear."
Prowl stared at him for a moment, then glanced at the others. "Well?"
"Game on," Elita said with a grin. "There's a championship that belongs to us."
The others agreed.
Prowl glanced at Orion. "Do you believe you can do this? You're going to have an audience of nearly 10 billion individuals."
Orion considered that, wavering only a smidge before nodding. "I do."
"Then I guess the game is on. We also have the Galaxy Industries trial." Prowl replied as he enjoying for a moment a burst of the Optimus he knew. "That's a lot to do and think about."
"Then I have to. Megatronus told me to think like a Prime. He said it would make it easier to be one if I did. I do believe he is right," Orion replied.
"I've been saying that all along," Ironhide said. "Be a slagging Prime."
His entire family grinned at him, beaming at the mech who was just out of short pants in their line of sight and just as adorable then as he was all 'growed up'. He glanced at all of them, then sat back slightly defensively. "Slaggers."
After a bit more planning and discussion, they broke up leaving Orion and Prowl behind. Walking out together, Ratchet paused by the big doors. "You were pretty stand up in there about Orion."
Ironhide glanced at Ratchet, then grinned. "I was wasn't I?" he asked.
Ratchet grinned. "Then when are you going to do the same thing?" He stepped out and began to walk back to the city.
Ironhide watched him, then caught up. "What do you mean?"
"Well … there's a lot of kid stuff you need to pick up on. Then there's the school board, the boys night out stuff, fragging … there's that."
Ironhide slowed to a halt as he watched Ratchet walk off. "Fragging. Nothing wrong with that part." He frowned. "School Board?" He hurried to catch up with Ratchet.
=0=Megatronus Prime
He took the datapad from Magnus. It held the information for Xylon and how to track him. Glancing up, he sat back. "I suppose you have that well in hand."
"I do," Magnus said as he sat down on a chair. "What do you think about the situation with Optimus Prime?"
"Strange things happen in the universe. I discussed it with Prowl shortly ago and he told me to watch out for clouds floating about in space. Apparently, they are some sort of information gathering device from The One Himself."
Magnus considered that. "What about Festival orn. We have it coming up in a decaorn. Are you ready for that? First one and all."
"I am as ready as I can be. I am going to do my best," Megatronus said. "I am considering asking Optimus to come and take part but he is not himself. I do not know what to make of it."
"It might not hurt and it might help him to recall himself better," Magnus said. "Maybe seeing Optimus walking beside you to the Temple will help our people to come to terms with some of their suffering."
Megatronus considered that. "I shall ask."
He would.
=0=Ops Center, Mars
Orion sat at his desk going through the data for the trial. Sitting on the desk beside him was a datapad that held the playbook of the Crater Comets football team. He'd read it thoroughly, then ran the plays as sims so that he could get an idea of the many possibilities for each. In a few orns he would play. It'd been a long time since he'd played given that he worked long joors on the docks and the movement to free their planet was getting up to speed.
Sitting back, he considered the life he had just a few orns ago. He was a longshoreman, a member of a rough group that held the life blood of their world in their strong servos. Nothing got done or arrived anywhere without them and their allied brethren, the teamsters who moved the cargo they unloaded to where it had to go.
It marveled him once again that those with the most power weren't the small class that benefited most from their labor but those who labored. If no one came to do something it would never get done. All it took was for the workers to stop working. Putting your 'hands into your pockets' as the humans said would bring empires down. Yet most were reluctant to do this simple thing. They were waiting for someone to step up and lead them. Even then, it was a process of fear reduction to get numbers marching in the same direction.
Fortunately, he had an innate ability to convince others that the way toward freedom was toward the light. Cowering in the darkness hoping that your oppressors would change was a zero sum game in his book. Asking your oppressors to change was failure before the words came out of your mouth. What oppressor is going to agree if you have to ask for your freedom?
None in his experience.
The road before them was long and hard. Many were the groups that didn't see joining in on the general global strike that he was working toward and some of them reacted out of fear, informing against him or sabotaging what he did. Jail and a good sound beating were not isolated and rare events for him. They were the price he was willing to pay for freedom for himself, those he loved and his people.
Now he sat here in the endgame. He had prevailed though at enormous personal and societal cost. They had all survived to enjoy a revival, a renaissance. It was terrifying and exhilarating. It had all been worth it in the end.
The door opened as Prowl stepped inside. He walked to the desk, then sat. "How are you doing?"
"Well," he replied. "And you?"
"I'm good," Prowl said. "I chatted with Megatronus shortly ago. He wants you to walk with him in the Processional for their Festival of Primus in a decaorn."
Orion considered it, then nodded. "I do not hope a Matrix is necessary for that. I would be honored to go."
Prowl sat back. "You seem emboldened. You led the meeting earlier and those mechs and femmes don't lead easily."
"It felt right," Orion said. "I wish to be useful. Taking on my role here is useful."
Prowl grinned slightly. "It is." He stood and placed the datapad on the desktop. "I'm proud of you," he said as he walked to the door, then left.
Orion stared at the door as it closed behind a mech he felt enormous warmth for. "I hope so, Prowl."
=0=In the office of a doctor 49 stories in the sky
He sat on a couch kicked back with his peds on the low table before him. He was shoveling down candy like the kid he was. "This is nice. Nice perk."
Ratchet who was sitting at his desk with his peds up eating candy himself grinned. "I'm glad you like it. I designed it myself."
"Did you?" Ironhide asked as he peered into his suddenly empty candy can.
"Nope," Ratchet said as he tossed another to the big kid on the couch.
Ironhide caught, then opened it. Grinning, he dug some up and filled his face. "This is great. What's for dinner?" After he caught the stapler thrown at his helm, Ironhide sat up more wary and alert. "Uh, that was a joke."
Ratchet snickered, then looked at him with an appraising optic. "We're going to dinner, ba-bee."
"Oh," Ironhide said.
Warily.
=0=TBC 10-08-2020 10-24-2020