HERE WE GO! I'M BACK ON TRACK! Just had a baby moose eating outside my window, the trees that are there. By baby I mean yearling. Hugs to all. Its nice to be back in the saddle. HUGS! Here we go.

The Diego Diaries: Stuff and Then Some (dd8 613)

Well, this was supposed to go out last night … By the way, there's so many different paths for Zeta and Sentinel Zeta Prime that I'm going with my own interpretation. This is one complicated can of worms, some of the characters so I'm keeping it simple here. Zeta Sentinel and Sentinel Prime are two different characters with Zeta usually being just Zeta.

=0=Home

They walked to their jobs from the overnight at Cybertron and the subsequent working sessions there that followed. The armada that turned back was from another time, a group that had been lost during the blighted reign of Zeta Sentinel Prime. That mech had been problematic from the start and as he grew even more so nearing the end of his career.

Nova Major had been a rising malignant force filled with hubris and empire. It was part of his desire to rule the universe that he sent out armadas to seek and subdue whomever appeared worthy prey. Some had never come back including himself at the end. Apparently this group was one of them.

Prime considered his predecessors, all of them highly flawed and interesting individuals. Guardian and Prima were almost mythical and having those around him who knew both, Hardie especially was a good thing. Prime was a student of his position and his people. He would need to know as much as he could to be effective and not be the failures that they were with their ideas of empire and their unwillingness to love their people the way he did.

Walking to his desk in his office, he sat and relaxed. It felt good to sit in a familiar place with all of his fellows safe and sound. Cybertron was heavily guarded and anyone who dared to come there by bridge or ship would alert the home defense and him. He would come at a moment's notice. However, sitting here in his sunlit office felt good. He hoped it wouldn't be too soon. He had no illusions about it but hope sprung eternal.

=0=Coming home

The ships came back landing on the runways, some of them taxiing to their tie downs to be serviced by their crews. Mechs stepped off ships to go back to the life. Overhead, Seekers by the dozens flew over toward Aerie Hill or other places to land and melt back into the normalcy of their lives now.

Springer and his group stepped down, checked with the Master of the Muster, then walked toward the city and a metro jump to Titan. They would meet Maxi there with Tell. She had decided that when they went on some of their gallops that she would take care of him at home now that he was walking and talking pretty well. Since too many of the family went on missions as well, she could fill in on the pinch.

It was a pleasant group of mechs walking across the airfield heading for the metro and the rest of the orn off. It would be anyone's guess if they would take it, Drift and Springer. They had humans to take on horse patrols now that Wheeljack his his brother Timpani perfected a cage just for humans. They disappeared down the Metro for a train to Tyke and a little mech with a big smile who was waiting for them.

=0=RTR Tools

They worked quietly together as their bodyguard Suvi sat in the lounge reading a book. He was a mystery fan and loved to try to figure them out before the end, something he seldom was able to do. He was there to protect them from the threats from the sons of the firm, Quick Silver. They were jewelry and fine art dealers from Capital City in the orn and ruthless in their pursuit of fame, fortune and status in the art community.

The morning passed uneventfully for the group as customers came with nervous expectation and went out with ecstatic joy. It was always a beautiful place to be, RTR Tools, because of the happiness of the customers they served. That this black cloud had come over them was a hard thing to take. Ratchet's elders didn't have surviving one more overbearing problem left in them after the life they led and the peace they found here.

Suvi would look back on this duty with great fondness.

=0=On a sidewalk watching a tower

Sunstreaker stared at the door of the tower where the family he was tracking lived in different apartments on different floors. He'd already been up there checking out each location, then walked back to the street to wait for them to leave. It was early and he knew they had a business to put together, one that they were reviving from Cybertron.

He stepped back from view when the elders of his targets walked out, then hailed a cab. It could be any street in any city on Cybertron in the orn. Rich slaggers calling for a cab outside of their palatial tower. The street was busy with cars and a food vendor nearby made everything smell delightful. They entered their cab then left.

He watched them go, then waited for the others. They would come and he would follow them, he, Sideswipe who was nearby and Splice who was eating a hot dog at the vendor. It wouldn't be long before they emerged.

=0=At home that early afternoon because of 'visitors, Suvi. Thank you, son'

They watched the news, then Tie and Ravel rose to make a snack for everyone. Mystic and Budge had come with them to see their home and check out the apartment that was still set aside for them three apartments down the corridor and around the corner. They decided not to go to Ratchet's house because the kids were here and there doing their day and not available to chat with. There was always tomorrow.

"What do you think, Budge? Ratchet got us this place. I was the first one found, then my little Docker, Corr and Chan. We came here and it was everything," Ratchet said as he sat in his chair.

"I like it very much. The little apartment nearby, that's a beautiful thing, Ratch. Are you sure its okay to stay there?" Budge asked as Tie handed him a plate of treats and a hot cup of tea.

"YES! PRIME SAYS SO! THE PANTHEON CAME! Remember?" he asked them with a faint trace of anxiety. "PRIMUS LOVES YOU!"

Mystic nodded. "We understand, Ratchet. Its just so much."

"You'll feel better with time. Our counselor believes that you're both doing so well," Corr replied with his own anxiety as Ravel gave him a treat and a cup. "Its a process and you'll do so well. When you open the store everyone is going to be amazed."

"WE'RE GOING TO LIVE OUR DREAM! I can go part time to school and work at the store. Ravel and Tie are getting our tools ready. Special mades. From RTR Tools no less. Solus Prime will be happy to know that. Maybe She can bless us, too, Budge," Ratchet said as he glanced at Mystic. "They already have Mystie. Everyone knows that. You're holy, Mystie. Soon everyone will know the rest of it."

Budge gripped his brother's servo. "I'm so glad we found each other. I had no hope, Ratchet. I had none."

"I'll have hope for both of you," Ratchet said with tearful emotion. "ALL OF IT!"

Tie sat down, then patted Budge's knee. "We're together. That's the blessing of it all."

They would chat, eat and feel the deep consoling pleasure of each other's company as Ravel jotted down the ideas that they would have for wares on his design datapad. Ratchet would build what Budge imagined with his own enormous skill. It would be as if a lifetime hadn't passed them by, this quiet sweet moment of creation.

=0=At the Mall of Tyger Pax near a store just about to open, Quick Silver Creations

They stood nearby watching with their 'special' optical enhancements, a childhood coterie of friends and relations scoping out an enemy for threat. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Splice and a mech named Typo who joined them after getting off work watched the shop and the figures inside as they set up a beautiful salon-style business similar to the one they had in The Wells back in the booming days of life under the oppressor in Iacon.

"Is that Sconce?" Typo asked. He'd been in the Youth Center with the twins and Splice, then left with them to create havoc and revenge on a heartless system as part of a gang that would become one of the most feared on world over time.

Sunstreaker grinned. "It is. They want to be a broker for him to show his stuff to their high caste slagger clientele. I heard that they want Needlenose to do the same but he likes going it alone."

"For once, I don't want to hit Needlenose in the face," Sideswipe said with a mirthless chuckle.

"Here comes Pyrite," Splice said as he turned away from the store so Pyrite wouldn't see him if he glanced this way.

The twins didn't. They never did. They defied their enemies to their faces. That left the down low stuff to Splice and Typo. They had their system and it was foolproof.

Pyrite walked through the mall heading down the corridor of shops toward his own. Reaching the store he walked inside as the doors closed behind him.

"What do we know about where he goes?" Sunstreaker asked.

"He has a mech, someone who works as a photographer at the Autobot Daily News. Some kind of society slagger who does their photo work now. He likes to go to Club Hoyle and Club Cybertron. There's some kind of slagging club in the Central Labor Hall where high castes hang out. Someone who works nearby thinks that's where they publish High Times."

"High Times?" Typo asked. He's only been here for about a year.

"Their underground newsletter. All high castes are eligible to get it by subscription. They guard it with everything they got," Splice said. "We need to know."

"Put it on the list," Sideswipe said. "They should never have threatened Amma and Appa. All of them are going down now. Every last one of them."

Sunstreaker nodded as he watched the figures inside the shop going about their business. It was due to open in two orn. He would make sure that he saw it up close and personal.

=0=On the Metro to Central Point and their little studio apartment in the central housing building

They sat together on the bench by the door with Saber and Santee. The two big kids were on either side of the tiny mechs watching them carefully to ensure they got home alright. They had arrived home and after going next door to check on everyone heard that the two would be going home. Cabs were suggested but Mystie asked about the Metro. "I heard its a wonderful thing. You can ride on it free, Ravie. What a miracle."

Ravie had hugged Mystie, then glanced at the two tall boys who were looking at all of them like they were Primus Himself. "Maybe our wonderful boys can take you there. That way they can know where you live and if anything happens that we can't come get you or help you, they can. They are very, very fine young mechs, Mystie."

Everyone glanced at Ravie whose aura was softly white tinged with gold from the influence of Solus Prime. It was actually comforting to look at him when it was so.

"We would be glad, Amma," Santee said as Saber nodded. "We can help you, Amma and Appa. We're family. You can call on us. We will always come."

They stared at the kids, hugged them tightly, then the two walked out with the big boys for the Metro nearby. The elders watched the door close, then glanced at each other.

"I don't know how to be more happy, Docker. I just don't know," Ratchet said tearfully.

Docker hugged him. "I know."

=0=At Central Point

They walked into their little house, were arranged with great comfort by their many times great grand nephews who ordered dinner delivered and get the remotes for the monitor and their books organized.

"Do you need more, Amma?" Santee asked.

Mystie smiled. "I am so fine, infant. Thank you, both of you. You are very wonderful."

The two boys smiled, kissed their uncles on the helm, then walked out with promises to come back and help them, all of them would. The door closed quietly.

Mystie grinned at Budge. "So sweet. Those two are lovely. Did you know that some orn way down the road Fireball and Lumi will bond? So will Genesis and Tru."

"I didn't know that. I think that's wonderful, Mystie. Anything else you can see?" Budge asked with a smile.

"We're going to the Temple tomorrow and the Allspark will salute me. I want you to hold my servo when it does, Budge."

Budge nodded. "Easiest thing I can do."

They sat on their comfortable chairs with blankets on their laps watching the television until the door knocked and dinner arrived. They would enjoy that and the rest of their evening together. They would do it without anxiety or fear for the first time since their arrival on Mars.

=0=TBC 1-14-2023