The Diego Diaries: Cloudy With a Chance of Justice (dd7 407)
=0=Courtroom
They sat in the audience chairs, those who were there. They were still here to decompress and talk with Orion. They didn't know he wasn't Prime, though some did and they wanted to be near his aura at the moment. It was brightly lit, though the humans who joined them couldn't see it. It filled the vision of those there with its beauty. It was evident to all the Cybertronians there that even if the Pantheon didn't show up, They were good with the outcome.
:You don't think the Pantheon will show up then?: Niall Graham asked.
"No," Ratchet said as he glanced at Orion who was leaning over the computer with Prowl to finalize things. "If you could see it, you'd see an enhanced energy aura around Optimus. That's always a good sign of approval from the Powers."
:This guy is going to be making little ones out of big ones then?: Bobby Epps asked with a grin.
Everyone stared at him silently.
:You know … break big rocks into small ones … like on a chain gang?: Epps asked with gathering uncertainty.
Everyone scanned the reference, then Springer grinned. "I'll suggest it to Gee-Gee."
"It sounds good to me," Ironhide said.
Orion walked over with Prowl following. "Is everyone alright?"
"No," Springer said, "but I'm a lot better than I was a moment ago."
Orion nodded. "Sometimes things do not seem like justice when decisions are made. But time will help with that. I do not believe in vengeance. I do believe if there is a chance to take it."
:That makes you a better person than me, Optimus. If someone had done half the things to me and mine that this guy did I'd hunt him down personally: Will Lennox said. :I have to hand it to all of you. You have more forgiveness in your sparks than most of us do:
"That's why we're awesome," Kup said with a faint grin.
Huge laughter greeted that.
Coln and Sheldon walked over with Barron trailing. Their kids were getting things together. The three gathered around Orion.
"Thank you, Optimus. I'm sorry that this mech was so ..." Sheldon trailed off. "He has no ability to understand."
"He will when he works for us for nothing. I want him to have to drag boulders from one end of his pen to another and back again," Springer said. "That would feel like justice to me."
"I'm adding it to the list," Prowl said. "Making boulders into rocks, dragging stones from one stack to another and back again ..."
"How about pounding sand?" a youngling mech with Barron said with a grin. "Compress it into bricks. My grandpa did that and he thought he'd lose it."
"Pounding sand," Prowl said as he pulled out a datapad.
Huge laughter greeted that.
"Have him memorize a poem every orn, a long convoluted one. Have him dig ditches and fill them in. Have him clean out oil barrels," Ratchet said.
"With his tongue," Springer said to mass approval.
"Have him live in a box in his pen," Drift said. "Worked for me."
HUGE laughter greeted that.
"I am hungry. Who else will join us?" Orion asked as a burst of weariness tempered by a nervous release of his emotions drifted through him, then dissipated.
Everyone did including the youngsters. They walked out together followed by the humans to go to The Pit Stop. It would be an oddly mellow group that would do so.
=0=Unidad Terra 1
They stood at the edge of the carrot patch. It was huge and bordered a number of other vegetable fields which covered a lot of territory. Given that they were expanded from the 80 square miles to nearly 500, there was a lot of land out there beyond them lying fallow, some of it just the blasted soil of Mars itself. That is, it was like Mars inside without the constant radiation bath and sandy abrasion of life outside the dome. It was the place kids off-roaded in the little vehicles of the habitat, joggers ran for diversion and difficulty and scientists scrambled to study the soil, rocks and other cool stuff. Soon enough it would be terra-formed to aid in the life of the humans here and on Earth.
"We're coming along good, Terri," Leslie Hadden said. "This can come next since they're at peak. The others we can moderate. I think partial harvests will be good for the peas and corn. I don't want to take anything that isn't ready."
Leslie nodded. "I agree though the broccoli and the onions have to go now."
They discussed the crops as they rode from field to field. When they were in agreement about the harvest, they climbed aboard Olivia's horses then headed back to the farm. It would be an unbelievably nice interlude for both.
But then living here was magical anyway.
=0=At The Pit Stop
They took booths and tables, pushing things together to make for conversation. It was amazing how relief making it was to have the trial over for everyone involved. How Larken felt about it was not known. Food and drinks were ordered, then everyone sat back.
"Lord Optimus, do you believe that the Pantheon would have come to assist in the verdict otherwise?" a youngster asked.
Orion considered that, unknown territory to him given his predicament, then guessed. "I do believe that the Pantheon wishes only the good for everyone. I believe They weigh in on the side of mercy when They can."
"He got more mercy than he deserved. I never liked him," Ironhide said to general agreement.
"At least we can think of other things for a while," Hercy said as Kup nodded. "Like football."
Everyone agreed.
"How do you think the game is going to go, Atar?" Arcee asked with a knowing grin.
Ironhide smirked back at her. "We'll do fine. It wouldn't hurt to practice somewhere."
"The usual place tonight?" Magnus asked.
Everyone nodded as Ironhide and Orion glanced at each other. It was clear that everyone involved in the family and the team knew about Orion and Ironhide. They were to the last one smirking at the two.
"The usual place?" Ironhide asked as he fished for an answer.
"Yes. Be there at 1800 joors sharp," Magnus said as he settled in to watch Ironhide squirm.
Ironhide glanced at Prime who shrugged. "The usual place. Not the others? Right?"
Everyone nodded. Everyone smirked. Everyone enjoyed his angst. No one threw him a life line.
Ironhide began to frown when the food and drinks came. It was settled, then he stared at his meal. A hamburger, onion rings and a big cup of joe. It looked great. He glanced at Magnus. "I suppose you'll come by for us? Me and Orion?"
Magnus shrugged. "I doubt it. I have a tight schedule and will just drive out to the place. I would if I could but time is tight."
Ironhide stared at him, then a visibly amused Orion. "What are you smirking about?"
"Nothing," Orion said. Prowl had slipped him the location.
Prowl didn't give it to Ironhide due to Ratchet's request. It was fun to see him squirm.
"You're on the team," Ironhide said to his elders.
They grinned and nodded.
"Then you'll come by and get me," he said. His elders wouldn't let him down.
They did.
"I think I'm going to be a smidge late myself. I'll meet you there." -his elders
Ironhide frowned again much to the great amusement of his elders. "Fraggers. All of you are fraggers. No exceptions."
Turbine grinned. "Even me? Your sweet old amma?"
Ironhide glanced it him, wavered a moment, then frowned deeper. "Even you."
HUGE laughter greeted that. No one gave him the location.
Ratchet would later.
=0=At the farm
Several of the kids were gathered in the farm office as they went over the statistics of the harvest of potatoes. There were tons and tons of them, a higher yield per acre than most farms delivered on Earth. More produce was incoming and they'd be picking apples in the small orchard after they finalized the initial reports.
"I think we have this," Monica Hadden said. She turned to her students in the Ag club. "How about picking apples?"
Everyone agreed that was a great idea. They piled into the tiny pickups that would take them five miles to the orchard they planted. 30 apple trees were giving their first yield. The bees had done their job and apples were ready to go. Peaches, pears and nectarines would be next. All of it would be used in the kitchens of the habitats as jam and pies, though the peaches would be eaten just as peaches. Class A peaches were for eating. Anything less was good for pies and jams.
[So sayeth the author.] :D
They toodled away followed by a bigger couple of flatbed trucks with fruit crates stacked in the back. They would come back overflowing with all manner of apple types. It would be a hot lazy day in the orchards of Unidad Terra 1.
=0=Later that afternoon
The senior team and lawyers had finished interviews by the news agencies about the trial, then disappeared into their duties as the afternoon wore onward. Orion sat at his desk going over the stack of information he had to read as Prime. Prowl was in and out with more, discussing this and that, giving him a snack and drink, asking him about deadlines, then sitting down to discuss the Wheelus Faction and remaining Larken family trials upcoming.
"Sheldon has relayed the verdict to the rest of the family that's on trial. They're shocked and upset but he feels when they calm down that they'll take a plea deal like Larken did. What do you feel about that?" he asked.
"You put a lot of store in my opinions but I have no special insight without the Matrix," Orion said.
Prowl considered him a moment, then shook his helm. "My spark skipped a beat when you decided to rule at the trial. But something told me that it'd be alright. I think, Orion, that with or without a Matrix you're wise and insightful. You're Optimus no matter what era you inhabit and I'm beginning to trust what you do and say. I'm asking you as your sub commander what you think and feel … what you want to do because I trust you."
Orion sat back in his chair. "I am pleased to know that, Prowl. I am determined to be as useful now in this situation as I can be. I do not want to step outside my bounds or do anything that is not worthy or wrong. But I feel that this is what I am. I have a knowing that this is going to be alright."
Prowl nodded. "I do as well. I'll help you every inch of the way. Has the Pantheon weighed in? I doubt you'd need a Matrix to know."
Orion shook his helm. "I only feel a sense of calm and acceptance. There is no turmoil or urgency."
"Then they accept your decision," Prowl replied.
"I believe they did."
Prowl and Orion would continue onward until dinner and the children's time with them. As for Ironhide, he would fidget and fuss inwardly as he battled his blazing desire to know where the practice was that evening. Only when he finally broke down with Ratchet to ask would the big grinning mech tell him.
The slagger.
=0=TBC 10-17-2020 10-25-2020
NOTES:
Just so you know ... I grew up in fruit country. Harry and David was headquartered in my area. Class A fruit deserves to be eaten cold in my opinion. Cooking it seems sacrilege. I remember peaches as big as soft balls. SIGH! Loved them. Peaches, pears, apples, apricots, all of them. I picked many a fruit and 'thinned' them. You climb a ladder in 96 degree weather and take hold of a clump of baby fruit. You pick out one or two of them or there will be too many for them to grow to big fruits. You also avoided rattlesnakes in the tall grass when it was too hot for them. Asparagus grew wild in orchards. It was a nuisance to me with a 25 foot ladder. Oh the good old days. :D