The diego Diaries: Cloudy With a Chance of Jail (dd7 404)
=0=In a courtroom
Springer saw Larken move toward Sandras but he was halfway across the room. Prowl reached him first, gripping Larken's arm and twisting it. Larken crouched in pain, then back stepped to his chair where he sat. Everyone settled, then it was silent.
Sheldon held Larken's other arm and was having a tense conversation with him off line.
Coln watched Sheldon worriedly as Orion stood.
Everyone turned to the big mech.
"Larken, you are in a court of law. I expect you to have enough self respect to act accordingly," he said in his deep voice.
"COURT OF LAW!? REALLY!?" Larken said hotly. "This is a kangaroo court and there will be no justice for me."
"HOW DOES IT FEEL!?" Sandras said. "HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE HELPLESS?!"
Prowl turned to him and Sandras stepped back, his fury unabated.
Orion glanced at him, then Larken. "You will act with decorum or you will step outside with me."
Prowl glanced at Orion with surprise, then Larken.
Larken backed down though the expression on his face didn't change.
"Lord Optimus, may I have a moment with my client?" Sheldon asked.
Orion nodded, then everyone watched as Sheldon and Larken walked to the door leading to judges offices to go to the lounge where Prime waited for trials to begin. Guards went with them. The door closed, then Orion sat down again. Everyone else did as well.
:Are you alright?: Prowl asked off line.
:I am, though that remark eludes me. I do not know where it came from: Orion said as he relaxed into his chair.
Prowl felt a slight smirk, then quashed it. :I'm always amazed at your patience. Your remark was sort of a refreshing change:
They chatted off line in the silent room while nearby the humans who were watching were gathered.
:That was close: Niall Graham said. :Optimus looked ready to punch him:
:This guy is bad. Ratchet's going to be a witness. He stole their family business: Will Lennox said. :The law they were talking about regarding hostile takeovers took over RTR Tools:
:Damn: -everyone there
The door opened to let Sheldon and Larken back in. Larken was still fragged and Sheldon was tense. Both walked to the table to sit. "Your honor, we can continue. Larken would express his regrets but he was provoked. It won't happen again."
It was obvious what Larken thought but he let Sheldon speak for him.
Coln turned to Orion who nodded. "Sandras, is there anything else you want to speak about? Any other incidents that are pertinent to the indictment?"
"He ran contraband. I had to organize the invoices. Given that there was no one to go to about it that wasn't on the take, we were stuck doing things that we didn't want to do and wouldn't have otherwise. There were drugs and addictive games, the ones they outlawed that hooked you hard from the first viewing. He also ran guns to others off world. They were all expedited through my depot. He double billed the government which the records you both have show. He stole anything he could in any manner he could dream up. For us, we were stuck. We had families to feed and when you got on his bad side, he'd follow you to make sure you never got a good job again. He did that," Sandras said hotly.
"Thank you, Sandras. No more questions at this time," Coln said as he sat.
Sheldon considered the witness, someone very hostile to his client. Given the written record he couldn't really win but he had to shake this mech a bit if he could. "Sandras, how long did you work for Larken?"
"From the time I was an emancipated sub adult. All my life, really," Sandras replied.
"You were very capable to rise to the rank in the company that you had. You could've worked anywhere else," Sheldon ventured. "You didn't."
"Everyone who ever objected to the situations he created was blacklisted. Some mechs I knew had to change their names and appearances to get work. This fragger followed you and got his revenge because he's small and petty that way."
Sheldon considered that, then sat back. "No more questions."
Sandras stepped down to head for the door. He glanced at Larken with fury. "I hope you fry." He reached the door, then left.
It was silent a moment, then Coln called his next witness. "I call Commander Ratchet of Iacon."
Springer leaned out, then back as Ratchet came into the room. He walked to the stand and took the oath, studiously avoiding looking at Larken.
Coln said, "If you can tell us a brief bio, Commander, it will help with context."
"I'm Ratchet of Iacon, C.M.O. of the Autobot Armed Forces and the Empire as well as the diplomat for the Autobots, the Secretary of State. My genitors were the master metallurgists that created and ran RTR Tools. What I know about tools, dies and making masterworks, both sentient and not, I learned from them."
"Your family is fabled for their work. What can you tell us about that?" Coln asked as he sat down again.
"My family understands metal and its properties like no one else who ever lived. Their formulas and techniques, even the special tools they make to do what they do are not equaled nor understood anywhere though many have tried. No one can do what they do, though many have tried to find out even by nefarious means. What they do is not going to be replicated by anyone. I grew up in that milieu and understand what they do. I learned it and can do it as well. Its part of why I got to go to medical school, my skill and understanding of such things. I owe it all to them."
"Their tools and weapons, the things they make … they're sentient aren't they," Coln said.
Ratchet nodded. "Only the Pantheon makes sentient hardware. Only Them and my family. Its something that they figured out, the technique and formulas. Only they can do it."
"How does that happen? How did they figure this out? I ask without seeking trade secrets. Its just that among the businesses of the Artisan Guild that they belonged to, none of them were as famous and sought after for their skills and product as RTR Tools."
Ratchet considered that. "Anyone can make a sword or hammer. Anyone can make them beautiful and special. But no one can make them like we do. They were allowed to know the formulas, my genitors. No one ever created this kind of thing but Solus Prime. My genitors have a very close mutual love relationship with Her. She blesses what they do. She helps them to do what they do. She told me during the last Special Circumstances.
"You don't just forge something to get this kind of outcome. You pray into it all the life that the Pantheon can grant. My genitors have a lot of techniques no one will ever know but its essential to the process to be right with Solus Prime. When you visit the store there's little forge figurines sitting here and there. There's also tiny shrines for Her around the store. It won't tell you what they do but it will tell you who cares and blesses what they create."
"Your family's works were in museums, collections and were highly prized. I imagine that it took time to make things, thus the controlled output," Coln said.
Ratchet nodded. "It takes a lot of time to breathe life into base metal. We never shirked a step nor cut corners. We always did it right remembering our patron as we worked. That's why their work is so prized. The Circle and Knights come in to get swords. Its a magical moment when they do. Most of them never dreamed they would ever have one."
"Its said that if a tool, knife, sword or other item they make doesn't like you, it won't go with you," Coln said.
Ratchet grinned. "The swords especially are picky that way. They only bond with someone who's worthy. If you try to take one against its will it'll shock the slag out of you. As for the tools, we've had them brought back by slaggers who could afford them but weren't worthy. They won't do the work for you if you aren't. The shocks you get when you fight them are powerful."
"Your family was working to make another business in which your grand genitors would do electrical and electronics work as a company. They would be able to control their own destiny rather than contract out as they were doing, right?" Coln asked.
Ratchet nodded. "We were saving up. RTR was going to help us get them an easier life where they could keep what they earned and not work with slaggers. That was destroyed with the law that legalized theft."
"What happened?" Coln asked.
Ratchet stepped through the memory hole he seldom if ever visited. "The law passed, then Galaxy began to raid the Guild. His excuse was he was helping to save endangered skills and artisan companies so they would survive. However, when he was finished all but a handful of us were alive. He sent some legal slaggers to the store and claimed it."
"How did that work?" Coln asked.
"They gave us a paper signed by the Commerce Department that transferred ownership to Galaxy. We would get to work, get about one sixteenth of the profit and have to pay rent. We owned our little shop but they made us rent our own space. We had to pay for it out of the pittance that we were paid for the work. All of the prestige of our brand would be his, Larken, and we would be his employees. He could claim our reputation as his own. They also demanded the formulas and processes saying that Galaxy now owned them."
"That must have been immensely upsetting," Coln said.
Ratchet nodded. "There was no recourse against this. We were nothing in the optics of the law and government at the time, it was so corrupt. Nominus was running amok. As for the slaggers, they made my genitors cry. I picked up a steel bar and began to swing it. They ran but they carried dents. Even when the police showed up, I didn't give a frag. I gave them lumps as well."
"What happened to you?" Coln asked.
"I was going to be arrested but a mob who'd heard about this gathered at the store and it was decided that the riot that would happen wasn't worth the arrest. It was instructive that when the fragger who collected the rent and profits came around he came in with a heavily armed bodyguard and an armored car. I never wanted to kill someone so much as I wanted to kill you, Larken," Ratchet said as he looked at the silent mech with pure hatred. "You shouldn't have lived through the war. It was your fault, you and everyone you bought and paid for that made it happen. You should have died. Slowly."
"Objection," Sheldon said. "I won't say I understand your pain, Ratchet, but this is a court of law. Please, try to contain the rhetoric."
"You're right. You can't understand. My appas and ammas never got their dream. They had to do contract work for nothing. They never had a chance. My genitors worked hard for nothing. My ada cried for months. My atar felt like a failure because he felt he couldn't protect his family. All of them were building something for me. It MATTERED to them to leave me a good life through their hard work. Instead, we were hungry and abandoned just like everyone else. And the worst part of it was … Larken thought he was better than us. I find that the saddest and funniest part of all of this," Ratchet said.
It was silent a moment, then Coln stood. "You were deprived of your family's business. Did you ever find out who was responsible for this happening?"
Ratchet nodded. "I did. I did a bit of hacking to find out the truth."
=0=TBC 10-14-2020 10-25-2020