Chapter 71
-0-Corpus Christi, Texas
They sat arrayed around the parking lot, some recharging, some watching as sentinel duty rotated among them. They were ready for something to happen. Fortunately, it did.
-0-Ops Center, Diego Garcia
They lounged around, the night activity reported from sensors and satellites from around the world slowly coming in. The pause was welcomed on the Command Deck at Diego Garcia Autobot HQ. The Alpha crew had just stepped out, on call should the situation in Texas change and the Beta crew was manning stations.
In the N.E.S.T. HQ nearby, Niall Graham was beating his compatriots in a game of poker, his uncanny skill tied directly into how much the others slacked on their own hands by arguing, eating, chatting and otherwise not paying attention.
"Why do you win so much? And don't tell me you have superior skills or something," Robert "Bobby" Epps asked after tossing his hand in.
Graham smiled, a wholly handsome sight. "I win because you lot fight among each other about how you're going to win."
It was silent a minute.
"No, really," Epps said. "Why do you win so much?"
Graham smiled, a wholly handsome sight.
-0-Corpus Christi, Texas
The sun had set and the temperature was decent, falling from a high of nearly 77 degrees to a moderate low 60's. It was nearly December on the human's calendar and winter, though mild in the south, usually was still a lot cooler than Diego Garcia.
:At least it isn't Russia: Mirage opined as the question of who had the best weather conditions for fighting arose in the bored processors of the mechs. :That was not pleasant:
Jazz chuckled. :It wasn't supposed to be, Mirage:
As they bantered, several pick up trucks passed by, one of them a flat bed filled with men dressed in black. The one sitting in the truck on the street side of the warehouse they were casing had night glasses and was looking in all directions for any sign of human activity.
They drove off and turned the corner. What they didn't know was that they were on the sensor screens of five concept cars and were duly noted.
-0-Prime
He walked from N.E.S.T. HQ after a late conference call from Washington, D.C. The two soldiers who'd been transferred out of Diego Garcia after the confrontation with the twins, Johnson and Hedges were making trouble. They had the ear of their senator, an ultra conservative who'd never been happy with aliens of any kind, let alone the Autobots residing on Earth.
Even though the Autobots had finalized contracts with green corporations in the United States to produce batteries and solar collectors that cost nearly nothing and lasted infinitely including their charging capacities, something that paid their bills and then some, the congressman ranted about costs and deficits, exclaiming that they should leave Earth. Even when the financial burden was being shifted to self-sufficiency, Senator Beau Weaver was unhappy.
General Morshower was being ordered before a Senatorial committee and had called Prime to discuss strategy. There should be a representative of the Autobots at the meeting, Morshower said. They should come and represent what the Autobots stand for, what they've survived and present to the committee and the world who'd be watching the reasons why this alliance was so critically important. He said he'd be there to defend them and to argue for the continuation of the most important alliance he felt that America and the world had ever made. But he felt it would give power and weight to the moment if someone from the Autobots was there, too.
Prime considered the request, found a great deal of merit in it and knew he wouldn't be the one who would go. He was never to be filmed if they could manage it. The strategic value of his anonymity was greater than arguing with politicians in a public forum. Prime had always deferred that to one person who had never failed him. He always gave that job to Ratchet who had always been the diplomat for Autobot affairs no matter where they were.
He walked into Autobot HQ instantly feeling better as always. He continued to Ops Center to peer inside. Prowl wasn't there so he continued to the only other place he would be if he, Prime himself was still working. He walked to Prowl's office and opened the door spying the big winger working as usual. He stood in the doorway and smiled.
Prowl smiled back.
-0-At the beach
A number of youngling soldiers had gone to the beach to collect firewood. The fire sent sparks upward into the dark sky and they were relaxing, waiting for the sun to rise and signal another day. The buzz of electronic conversation was a strange sound in a world of phonetic speech. Anyone who was watching would find it irritating to listen to and impossible to understand.
However, crouched in the brush as he hid on a lip of land some distance away, someone was listening. They were also taking pictures with a powerful camera that was equipped with multiple long range lenses and night vision. They'd done this before and they did it again. The photos and clips were smuggled out of Diego Garcia and sent into the underground of conservative militias and commentators who used them to whip up fears where none existed on the myriad of outlets that they had at their disposal.
Lawrence 'the Mercenary' Dobbs, the one who had provoked Ironhide lay on the sand beside his compatriot watching the aliens sitting together, talking and enjoying themselves on a low activity night. It was unfortunate that they should've had someone to watch the perimeter to ensure that their privacy wasn't violated but Prime had considered the matter resolved for now after the incident with Ironhide, a reasonable assumption on his part.
He was wrong.
They took their pictures and were gone.
-0-Corpus Christi, Texas
They came back from cruising the area, watching with their technology for anything or anyone that would make a smash and grab operation problematic. They were stringers for Intel-Martin, autonomous mercs that did for-hire work. That way if the situation went wrong Intel-Martin was free and clear of being implicated.
Plausible deniability.
They pulled over into a shadowed area and after a moment began to work their way to the fences. As they did, five concept cars watched, comming to each other internally their opinions of the merc's skills and effort.
-0-Prowl's office
He sat back, his peds on Prowl's desk as he sipped energon with him, energon that Prowl had gotten earlier. They talked about the meeting, about the need for an Autobot to be there for the show and a number of other details. It was pleasant and relaxing, what Prime had always longed for and never hoped to have.
-0-Ironhide and Ratchet
Ratchet was working on reports in Med Bay as Ironhide sat nearby, peds up, reading a data pad on separating sparklings. As he did, as the information sifted into his processor, he thanked Primus yet again that he hadn't cracked under the pressure of Ratchet's campaign and given in.
This was going to hurt.
-0-Corpus Christi, Texas
They'd rerouted the security system allowing for a snip in the fence to let them inside. With a merc waiting in the shadows near the gate, the other three hurried through the empty parking lot heading for the warehouse where a carefully chosen bribe had told them the 'object' they were sent for would be found.
The Autobots watched, chuckling and critiquing, then Bumblebee, the smallest slipped back into the darkness and transformed into his alt robotic configuration. Jazz who was snickering at a joke that Mirage told him watched as Bumblebee crept over the fence, down the street under the cover of bushes and a low building on his way to disable the pick up truck of the thieves.
-0-Prowl's office
"I don't think Ironhide will be happy if Ratchet does the honors."
"Next to me, he is the one with the most diplomatic skills. He was always our representative in negotiations and he never lets us down."
"I know," Prowl said frowning slightly. "If you decide to send him, tell him and Ironhide while I'm present."
"Do you expect energon to fly?" Optimus asked.
"Where Ratchet is concerned anything can happen," Prowl said with a grin.
Optimus smiled, too. "Truer words..."
-0-Ops Center
The Alpha team had been alerted that the thieves were at the gate of the facility in Texas. Optimus and Prowl arose and walked together to the command deck assuming control at this end.
"Jazz, what is the status of your situation?" Prime asked.
:There's four perps who've shorted the security system and are now lurkin' around tryin' to find a way into the warehouse.:
Jazz's internal communication played over the Ops Center audio system and Prime's responses were directed to Jazz's internal comm system. No one could hear if they weren't directly plugged in.
"What's your plan?" Prime asked knowing Jazz usually had about three which he would tear up and rearrange as the situation demanded on the ground.
:Bee is disabling their truck. We're going to let them get into the warehouse, then not let them out. At that point, I think a well placed anonymous phone call to the local police is in order:
Prime grinned. "You have operational control. Do what you think is best. And when the police come?"
:They're gonna find a lot of really fine rides sittin' around doin' nothin' but lookin' good:
Prime chuckled. "Very well. Keep us informed."
:Will do. Jazz out:
They sat and waited as the commentary of the mission filtered through Ops Center.
-0-Bumblebee
He edged around the building watching the guard at the gate. It was too close to the truck from this angle to do much so he crept away skirting buildings to use an alley to come around the other direction. He crept on his servos and knee assemblies moving low to the ground, utilizing the bushes and shadows to his advantage. The truck was right in front of him, no one was in the industrial park and the guard was looking over his shoulder at the warehouse as if he could see his compatriots from where he crouched.
Bumblebee considered his weapons and tool kit, then decided to take out a small hand laser that could melt metal. He aimed it at the truck, sighting it under the carriage to pierce a tire. It hissed almost soundlessly and went flat slowly. Grinning, he hit the other three and by the time he was slipping through the alley again all four tires were flat.
He moved back to his position which was chosen so that if they ran he could cut them off. He transformed back to alt vehicle mode and signaled Jazz with a ping that he'd succeeded. Jazz pinged him back then concentrated on the three men trying to find an easy way into the warehouse.
-0-At the beach
It had gotten quieter as the youngling soldiers settled into groups or pairs as conversations turned to more personal things. Bluestreak leaned against Sunstreaker whose great arms were around the gunner. Sideswipe's helm was in Blue's lap. They had no idea that the picture of them relaxing together would end up in a congressional hearing in a short while.
No idea at all.
-0-At the warehouse
They entered at last having disabled the building's alarm system and were looking for the crate that had been marked with a Texas A & M decal by their inside source. They found it, sized it up and went to find a fork lift to move it. As they did, they didn't bother to look up. In the windows at the top of the warehouse looking in from outside, four Autobot soldiers were watching. Mirage, Hound and Smokescreen were looking in from the front of the building and Jazz who was shorter looked from a lower set of windows on the other side.
If they had looked up they'd have seen four alien faces looking at them with various expressions as they internally debated which operation against Decepticons in the past was the equivalent to this nefarious but essentially under skilled event. As they debated, Jazz sent an anonymous phone call through a number of localities to the local authorities that a burglary was in progress at the Federal Impound Yard near to the Port of Corpus Christi.
They stood together debating internally as they watched the three men load the fork lift. They watched and critiqued as they came to the door and found it fused shut thanks to one of the many slightly illegal tools Smokescreen carried in subspace for just such occasions.
They tried to jimmy the door open, shaking it as they cursed among themselves about why it wouldn't open. For a moment they yelled intensely at each other, one of them finally dispatched by their putative leader to find another door.
Smokescreen had beat them to it, fusing all the doors shut when they'd entered the building. Coming back together again, they debated shooting the door then driving out with the cargo on the flat bed pick up, sound of gunfire be damned.
As they argued, the sound of sirens in the distance could be heard and the men inside froze in place as they listened. The four aliens in the windows looked outward along the side of the building and saw the lights of several police cars coming up the road. Then they looked back inside, watching the mercs rage at each other as they tried to figure out what to do. That's when the mercs decided to ram the door.
Mirage, Hound and Smokescreen joined Jazz on the other side of the building to look through the windows on that side. The criminals had the crate on a fork lift and someone was driving it after backing it up to allow room to run. They drove it as fast as they could and rammed the door which bent and buckled but didn't open.
Pulling back, they tried again but it didn't open. The crate did and a pile of metal parts fell out. By that time the police had arrived so Jazz and his team fell back to find vantage points with which to watch as they parked and assumed their disguise.
-0-Ops Center
Prime and Prowl sat together listening with amusement to the keystone cop affair transpiring in Corpus Christi. The commentary from the Autobot crew was priceless and they were much relieved when the criminals finally surrendered.
"Jazz, when can you leave?" Prime asked.
:We're going to pull back and go over the rear fence. There's a road there that'll take us past Bumblebee and we should be at the airport in about an joor or two. At that point, we should be home soon after:
"Good work," Prime said chuckling. "Would that they were all this easy."
:You and me both. Jazz out: he said with a chuckle.
Prime rose and held out his servo to pull Prowl to his peds. Glancing at Red Alert, he smiled. "Let us know if any more hilarity ensues, Red."
"You'll be the first to know, Prime," the intense Autobot said, his eyes never leaving the monitors in front of him.