The Diego Diaries Momentum (dd8 689)
=0=Epsilon Eridani
Razorclaw sat at the command table in his Operational Center considering the long conversation over a very low band that he just concluded with Ominous. He wondered at Paladin, at the mental fitness of the calm reasoned mech and considered that he might be the most extravagant gambler that he'd ever met. He'd asked Razorclaw to consider throwing in his lot with his battle group so that they could take on Ominous together. His plan was rather sound, having him join Paladin to divide Prime's arsenal by two fronts and keep him from stopping what appeared to be Ominous's inevitable doom. In the end, he said he would consider it but not to expect his compliance. It would appear that Paladin wasn't that clear about what he was facing with Prime.
Or maybe he had something and didn't care.
=0=At Autobot City
They followed their guide as they walked through the Museum of Cybertron and Mars, the main branch where humans were shown the wonders of The People. They paused in the Jewel and Gem Gallery, a place where they shimmered in the artful lighting to the great advantage of their nation's treasure. The huge room and two others were filled with famous jewelry, artful jewel creations and the crystal, much of it from Crystal City itself that made it so spectacular. Some of the gems they were seeing couldn't be found on Earth and many of them were much much bigger than the humans themselves, beautifully carved as many were.
Explanations of Primes, of explorers and expeditions showcased the wares of a million generations. The way they were made, the types of tastes over the eons and how sometimes they changed and the official collection of the 'Dynasty of the Primes of Cybertron and the Empire' were oohed and awwed over by the humans in the gravity carts designed for this place to help children, aliens and impaired adults see things.
There were a lot of individuals there, most from art classes at the University or Intermediate Schools. Bots were painting and drawing the jewels and their efforts were also showcased by the docent. She made sure that the best of their people, their wares and the actual people making them got a good showing to the visitors. It would take her a while to show them through the vast museum but they would leave overwhelmed by the beauty, creativity and more than that, the age of the displays.
The fact that there were other museum annexes including the History of The People of Cybertron and the Empire which showed their most ancient treasures such as material from the shrines would be addressed in one more visit later for most. A happy group of humans would board a bus for the Resort and dinnertime.
=0=Paladin
They came in, ships that were cloaked by being slightly out of sync with this dimension, landing on the fight line they had created at their fall back base some distance from Prime and everyone else. It was far enough away not to invite immediate reprisals but close enough with their tech to reach wherever they wanted to go with a speed that would still surprise Prime.
Paladin knew Prime was the ultimate target and the ultimate punisher if he didn't do his job extremely well. Playing the odds, working angles that most didn't bother with, finding new tech at every turn, reworking it and using it skillfully had made Paladin a very dangerous adversary. His speed was his ace in the hole. By the time he struck, the enemy was already bearing mortal wounds.
Ominous would be the first to die.
He rose from his chair, called his officers and field commanders to come and went into a conference room to sit and wait. They would discuss his carefully prepared plan for joors, then set out to make it happen. He and they did so with a confident spark.
=0=At a cafe in the Concourse of Earth2
The new mercs sat together talking about their climb. It'd been terrifying standing at the foothills of a volcanic slope that stretched up over six miles in nearly sheer faces. It was so tall that it was surrounded by clouds, the summit. Olympus Mons indeed was so tall it made its own weather. Outside, the wind was rising and so was the fine dust that made Mars such a different place. Given the gravity or lack of it as compared to Earth, it was going to be a haze fest in no time through the rest of the day, night and into the next one.
Luka Vesna sat back satiated from their meal. "Climbing that mountainside will never be something that I'm going to look forward to. I reviewed all the films of Io and that place looks like a death trap. I wonder why they set a forward base there?"
"Someone said they wanted to study it given the number of places here that are like it. I'm glad they moved it to Enceladus," Scot Davis said. He glanced toward the door to see Bob Bassman, Carlos Ortega followed by others walk in. "Crap."
"Don't fight no matter what. You'll get deported. These bastards serve some purpose for Prime or they'd be gone by now," Salmon Mohammad said as they paused, then began to walk their way.
Everyone sat back in silence to watch them.
=0=On a forward base in a density far away
They began to get their forces together. Their commander, Paladin had ordered their readiness for a plan everyone had been studying for a very long time. Arriving at their base with new members of their expedition every few orns, they worked together to get their cooperative sense honed to a fine point.
Many flybys of the base Ominous and his group had built some years before had shown everyone its vulnerabilities and strengths. Everyone was parted out a piece of the pie and had practiced and troubleshot it for decaorns. This and that bit changed with more information but all in all, they were ready and eager to begin what could just be the start of their future as lords of the universe.
It was as busy in the ops center as it was outside as Paladin and his field commanders troubleshot the plan, went over their responsibilities to it, their alternatives if things went this way or that, then the clean up when they won. They'd done it so many times they could do it in their sleep. The point of all of it was the move fast, take and secure the base, then turned their guns and tech outward to space for the inevitable arrival of Prime.
It was a good plan, a very good one indeed.
=0=The Forward Base at Fort Borderlands
They watched their sensors that tracked where Paladin was holed up. He'd gathered a sizable fleet of relative indeterminate size, a fact that had led to a meeting to be convened the following day to sort out the options to put the screws to this mech, one of the most formidable to plague them since their settlement of the system. They had nearly 650,000,000 individuals living on Mars at the moment with a steady stream coming through the reclamation system devised by Dai Atlas and the Network. It was imperative that they smite their enemies so soundly that they felt it back to their fourth ancestor.
As they watched, the fleet led by Paladin lifted off of their base.
=0=On the deck
Paladin stood in front of the command chair with a great sense of anticipation. He wasn't a fool. He'd seen what Prime had and he knew that the Empire and Cybertron were his as well. That meant a fleet that didn't quit including the titans he'd seen. But he was a calculated gambler, a risk taker who parsed out the danger to the nth degree and no one's fool. He was going to make his move incrementally. He knew that if he struck Ominous just right he could overtake him from the intel he had. His fleet would defect to the strongest and right now that was him.
What Prime couldn't have happen was Ominous and his mechs to flee in their ships in all directions. They could head for Cybertron, for Mars and worst, to the insect ally he had that was primitive in every possible way. He walked to his seat and sat. Glancing at the conn, he nodded. "Go silent and take us out."
That mech nodded and they did. Every ship in his giant fleet disappeared from view and sensor detection at the same time.
Jhiaxus had struck again.
=0=Ominous
He sat in his command center worried but covering it with skill. He was no fragger. He was educated, tactical and street smart. He'd built a large fleet but being this close to Prime had made it nearly impossible to grow it. He stood at 110,000 mechs and 52 big ships. He had some bridge capacity given they were working on it everyday. He was hoping he could reach Razorclaw to have parlays. Razorclaw could bridge halfway to his location. Neither of them had infinite unending capacity like Prime with his geosynchronous bridge and tech wonders.
He sat in his command seat watching his sensors. He didn't see them coming. He wouldn't until it was too late.
=0=Later that night
A worker bee at Diego Garcia rechecked his senors. There was a ripple on the screen that appeared, then disappeared shortly ago with regularity. He frowned, consulted with his tech, then called Mars. "Spindler to Ops Center Command."
:Ops Center Command, Spindler. What's up?: a deep voice replied.
"Are you getting a ripple on your sensor screens?" he asked.
A momentary pause occurred, then he was back. :We are. Are you getting it, too?:
"I am," Spindler said. "For about 4 joors."
:Us, too. We thought it was our tech. Hold on: the voice said.
Time passed as Spindler held, then the sirens of the base went off signaling shelters. He froze in his seat like everyone else thinking of his family on Mars, then rose. "Everyone to the shelters. NOW!"
=0=Ops Center
Prowl looked at the problem area over the shoulder of Timpani, Wheeljack's older brother who was a genius with sensitive machines like sensors. He frowned as he watched Wheeljack and Tim converse in the engineer speak that he hated because he didn't understand it and didn't care to learn.
That kind of guy.
Then Wheeljack froze, glanced at Tim, then rose still and tense. "Its a fleet, Prowl. Its heading for Ominous. Their cloaking is causing the ripples."
Prowl felt his nervous system fritz a moment, then he looked at the screen as the tech fiddled with it. For a moment a huge fleet appeared, then disappeared once more. "FRAG!" He ran for the panel nearby, then hit the sirens. They blasted out and began to roll across the colony far and wide. As they did the ready-go fleet began to assemble as the senior Autobots began to run for the ships from wherever they were.
=0=Diego
They ran from their barracks, some with guns and others in various states of undress. It was 0130 hours on base and everyone but the night shifts were asleep. Looking up with fear, they heard running feet. Autobots were flying past to secure the base from different positions with installed guns while ships were being readied to lift off the flight lines to defend Earth.
Jolt slid to a stop before a crowd. "GET TO SHELTER! WE GOT THIS! GET EVERYONE TO SHELTER AND STAY THERE! YOU CAN'T HELP! YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE!"
John and Judy Fulton who had run to the Officer's Club where Jolt was, halting to let running Autobots past to go to gun emplacements, slid at last to a stop. "JOLT! WHAT'S HAPPENING!" he called out.
Jolt turned toward him, his youthful face filled with determination and rage. "Paladin is coming back for more."
"Everyone stared at him a moment frozen into place, then began to run. They were running for the shelters that the Autobots built for them because Diego Garcia was a prime target for destruction given it handled Autobot communications, had the Embassy and a garrison on base. The base began to clear as the big guns and giant ships of their front line defense powered up to defend.
=0=Mars
The flight line was swamped as the crews came to their ships. On the plain nearby, three metrotitans began to power up to join the fleet in space from their ground posts where they were held during times of peace. Several formed the Home Defense Shield that took turns flying around the empire both here and at Cybertron before getting time down on world to rest and relax. Now they were going upward with full complements of ships and crews.
Running through streets crowded with furious and/or scared civilians all of whom were heading for home and shelter, the senior Autobots sprinted. Their pets and children were taken downward to the shelters by their designated sitters along with elders, both frightened and furious as they hurried out of their homes to the streets below.
As they did, Waldeen and his father helped the handlers at the stables across town round up the remuda to take them to the faraway holding spaces so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire of any ground invasion that might come their way. Riding a big stallion in the middle of a roiling herd of horses, Waldeen never loved anyone as much as he did the horses, handlers and his dad as he did right then.
A handler opened the gate and the vast herd surged. Riding in the middle of them, feeling the dusty wind on his face, Waldeen felt the last fractured bits of his psyche fall back into place. They disappeared into the darkness together following a gray mare who was bull of the herd to the relative safety of the wilds.
=0=Earth2: Mercs
Jim Johnson paused before the table where the new mercs sat when the sirens went off. Everyone started, then stared at the ceiling where the message was beginning to play.
"This is not a drill. Go to the shelters and stay there until officially released by the CEO Tomas. This is not a drill. Go to the shelters. Follow the plans and training that you've had. Go there and stay there. You will be cited and a demerit issued if you do not follow directions now. This is not a drill. Go to the shelters…"
They listened, then the five new mercs rose.
"We better move it. We can help," Luka said as he started for the cafe door. The other new mercs followed.
Johnson glanced around, then at the mercs with him. "What the fuck did Prime do now?" he said as they began to run for the door.
=0=Earth2: Civilians
Owen Harris stood in the concourse holding his daughter's hand as Rick ran toward them. He skidded to a stop. "What's the word?"
"It isn't verified yet but a friend in the army told me that Paladin is coming back with a bigger fleet," Rick said.
"Dad," Rain said with fear in her voice. She stepped closer and held his hand tighter.
"Don't worry, baby. Prime has this," Owen said firmly. If he didn't believe it he didn't let it show. Turning toward the elevators crowded with people, he led his children toward the shelter all the while as an invasion fleet of great size flew ever closer to an unsuspecting Ominous and his own.
=0=TBC 4-16-2023 4-17-2023