The Diego Diaries: (dd8 656)
=0=The Hourly News: Latest Breaking News
Aleph took the data wafer, scanned it, then turned to the cameras. "We have the latest update on the power outages in the Crater Districts, most notably Districts 13 through 19 and the three major developments north of the colony. Emergency teams of the Colonial City Works Department have assisted Colonial Power and Lights to turn on the emergency generators placed around the colony to power those affected until the situation is reviewed and repairs undertaken.
"At the moment only half of each of the affected areas has power which has disrupted a number of vital interests. However, they were short lived as the colony has previously reviewed and upgraded for this sort of thing happening. All who have medical or other reasons to have power priority are already served with personal power generators and other workarounds. If there's a problem with yours, please call Emergency Services for home generators at 0404 and a team will be dispatched. A number of our fragile and medically assisted neighbors rely on personal generation for their health care.
"The Electrical Switching Station near City 4, District 12 is currently being brought under control. Most of the stations run off energon stores built deep underground and are not hooked into the main lines but are replenished by vehicle. This is a replacement of the system given the tendency for stations to explode if they get their energy from the mainlines.
The Energon Station is also coming into control but the three other fires are still ongoing. The latest word on the fire at Polyhex Business Plaza is that the top two floors have collapsed onto the fire break that lines each level of our buildings and the attempt now is to hold the bottom floor against a full conflagration. The fire at Youngling Day has been slowed but has burned from the point of explosion at ground level up to the 22 floor. The fire crawled up the side of the building that faces 18th Avenue and has caused extensive damage to the electronics systems that are housed on that side of the building.
The final fire is the munitions supply warehouse in the Industrial Park City. It's now under control and appears to be a total loss. There's extensive damage to other warehouses from exploding munitions both inside the building and that which launched willy-nilly when ignited.
"The Prime will have a message shortly about all of this. Everyone is still confined to their homes and security on the streets, on the transport systems and in the neighborhoods will be extensive. All habitats, human and Hu-An are confined until further notice for your safety and all travel around the system is suspended as searches and system checks are made to ensure no one gets hurt.
"We're going to scroll the notices and emergency information from The Community Bulletin Board for a moment and when we come back Jacx, Lim-Lee, Kay-Ln and Nome-E will be checking in from the scenes. We'll be right back after this," Aleph said as the screen changed to the folders of the Bulletin Board.
=0=Home
Appa Ratchet watched the screen as he held Docker's servo. Santee and Saber along with Genesis had asked for and gotten permission to beam into the apartment complex in Central Point to see how Budge and Mystic were doing. They were going to zoom call when they got there and had checked things out. As for everyone else, they were gathered in the little apartment of their ammas and appas waiting out the news while the babies and Sunspot recharged on without a clue.
It was heavy, the emotions, as they watched the scenes of the fires. The Polyhex Business Tower was a wreck and it didn't look good for their stores. The idea of their beautiful creations going up in smoke was as terrible a thought as any of them had had since coming here. They loved their store. They'd worked hard to create all their beautiful wares and to gather and build specialized equipment for making them. The lounge to sit in was like a second home and the store front with their beautiful things was almost a shrine to the wares they made in the optics of those who came there.
Now it was likely to be destroyed by the hatred that had followed them all their lives. It was hard to take.
=0=Polyhex Business Tower
It was a beautiful building, one of the first built here and thus, it was considered historic. Now it was a teetering wreck, a pile of fiercely burning wreckage threatening full collapse. Furiously they worked to halt that. Everyone knew who kept their shops there and RTR was a very prestigious business in the Martian community. That there were irreplaceable things there in dire condition was almost more than they could bear, most of them.
Seekers flew in dropping suppressant. Trucks pumped it until Red Alert turned to Prime. "We can't put more on. The structure will collapse if we do."
Prime stared at him, then the building. He nodded faintly as they watched a fire that was dying but not fast enough. A shriek of metal twisting in its own agony signaled the end as the building fell down upon itself throwing sparks and shards of metal in all directions. It collapsed like a dying animal, then lay in the blazing agony of its own end as the last of the building gave up its ghost.
Ratchet watched it, then turned to Ironhide. "I have to go home a moment."
Ironhide who was dazed with anger and grief glanced at him. He nodded slightly as he watched Ratchet run from them heading toward the tower and his grieving family. As he did he asked Alor to visit Budge and Mystic. They were at the fire in Centurion and closer to Central Point. Alie agreed as the fire at the school of his grandchildren was slowly slowed to a halt. It would burn deeper into the building but it would no longer burn upward.
=0=In a lounge in a large apartment in Oz
Miss Birdie watched stoically with her large family as the building she loved fell to bits into flames. She thought about the things the children had made, about the good times and the learning that went on there. She thought about their little tables where they ate their handmade lunches provided by genitor volunteers or Circle doing community service for the good of all. All of her data was safe. It could be recreated. All of the rest couldn't.
"How do you feel, Ada?" a big mech asked as he glanced at his solemn-faced mother.
Birdie glanced at him. "Sad for someone. Very, very sad."
Her bond stared at her, this tough but luminously good femme that was his. "We'll rebuild it, Birdie. I'm sorry for everyone. I'm sorry for whoever thought this was a good idea."
Birdie nodded. "I am, too, Selly."
They watched together until morning when the light of day would show the devastation to the world.
=0=Ratchet
He sat in the midst of his elders who were crying, all but Docker. She was the one who didn't. She was the fixer, thinker and mover for her beat down little bond and in-laws. She was the one who had to keep it together to keep them alive. She would cry later when no one could see or hear her.
Big kids stood around the room, solemn and agitated with unaccustomed emotional turmoil. This was new territory for them, facing caste hatred and its often irrational aftermath. It was an academic thing taught to them in school and among their elders. They'd never had to face it themselves and it'd be different for them if they did. Titans were so revered it was as if they were high caste themselves even though titans were caste exempt.
"I talked to Inferno. He said they're going to sift the debris for whatever can be saved. The weapons might make it. We make them at high temperatures. The rest is unknown. But you have all our promises that we're going to rebuild as fast as possible, the building, and make RTR Tools to your specifications. All you have to do is sit with Jetta and Fort Max to tell them what you need. I'll be there to help you. We'll make it better than it was. Okay?" Ratchet asked anxiously.
They stared at him, their crown jewel, then Docker nodded firmly. "That's a fine idea. I personally believe that my Tie and Ravel can make Pantheonic things that can withstand this. We're going to find them. Don't worry about it. Your new store will be amazing."
The three stared at Docker, then a distraught Ravel.
Tie sat back. "I agree," he finally said. He glanced at the others. "We're rebuilding RTR Tools and maybe this time we can have Mystique Arts next door. Do you think they might agree to that, Sonny?"
"I'll make sure they do," Ratchet said. "Santee, Saber and Genesis checked in. Budge and Mystic are okay and the boys will stay with them tonight. Alie is with them, too. No one is going to school tomorrow."
"What about Youngling Day? Bos, Reflector, Co-D and Sunny go there," Corr said as he wept. "Our little boys got their school broken." He leaned into Verilas as he cried.
Ratchet sent them sedative scripts and watched as they relaxed slightly. He rose, then gathered Corr up. "I'm going to put Amma into a slight stasis and have him recharge until I get back. All of you, you need to rest and know that Optimus will make this right."
"HE WILL! HE'S HOLY!" Appa Ratchet said. He glanced around at his family with a distraught expression. "WE WILL BE OKAY!"
Docker hugged him, this stalwart mech who was the love of her life. He was fragile now and she had to be strong. Corr and Ratchet were her concerns as she held Ratchet.
All of them would be Ratchet's.
=0=E2 just a tad earlier
"Our school is on fire!"
Rain looked up from her homework as she finished a journal entry for class. Lilly and Camilla were sitting together with her in the children's lounge of the Main Concourse, Section 5-B when Tyn and Gina ran in to skid to a stop. Rain stared at them, then leaped up to run to the monitor. She turned it on, then stared with intense surprise at the scenes being played. A wall of fire was climbing up the outside wall of Youngling Day School in Tyger Pax.
Tyn and Gina paused beside her staring at the screen with fear and astonishment.
"Are we under attack?" Tyn asked as she glanced at Rain.
Rain stared at the fire with a mix of rage and despair. "Not from the air," she said quietly.
=0=On the plain
The fire was dying down as the fuel in the tanks below began to run low. Down the way the other fire was muted, falling into its end the same way. Firemen gathered around to watch, the heat of the fire almost welcome in the bitter cold of the night.
Down the way the faint lights of the supermax prison that held the worst of the worst could be seen in the hazy distortions of light that bitter cold could cause. Seekers flew overhead streaking off to deliver retardant on the fires, returning over and over to fill up. It was silent among them as they waited for the fire to end, Forensics to do the scene, then Public Works to assess the damage. Even as they waited, they were turned in to IntraCom. Optimus Prime was going to speak in moments.
=0=IntraCom
Prime sat at his set while Blaster and Jazz worked out the logistics of broadcast. He looked smudged from smoke. His mood was hard to detect, so composed were his features.
Prowl stood nearby along with Hard Drive and Paragon.
When the lights changed, Optimus Prime went live. "Good evening. I am Optimus Prime …"
=0=TBC 3-6-2023