NOTE: Some basic facts about Mars. The temps can swing between +68 degrees to -220. The fact that Transformers can move about in the vacuum of space in complete comfort makes this as a problem moot. The only time they seem to get personal distress is on organic planets like Earth when muck and the like are bothersome. The climate of Mars would be a cake walk. Also, the year on Mars is 600 days so all four seasons are almost double Earth. Mar's feeble atmosphere would not be a problem because with notable exceptions in contradictory episodes, Transformers don't need oxygen to breathe.-Professor Me.
I should also like to say this is the second time I've written this. The first was done and stockpiled but I can't find it. SOB! Hope it works. Forgive my EXTREME sense of dejavu posting this. Smooches.
-0-And now, back to the story in progress
The Diego Diaries: Name (dd1 116)
-0-Morning
The garrison worked madly gathering up their belongings for the several trips by Aerialbot and Cosmos that it would require to take them back to Diego Garcia. Civilians assisted, moving gear and weapons to the air field, helping with morning rations and generally chatting and hanging around. Several of them had made friends with the members of the garrison, two of them romantically and it was sad and glad times for all.
Hot Rod, Cliffjumper, Ultra Magnus and Blur sat in the rec room shooting the breeze with Springer, Kup and the twins. A lot of ribbing was going on and the twins merely smiled. Details would not be forthcoming.
Probably.
-0-Ops Center
Prowl went through the overnight intel and found a glitch. Lydia Nast had made contact with 'High Flyer'. He frowned, pulling up the entire file for review on the ride home. He sorted through the duty schedules and made corrections here and there. Ultra Magnus would be city manager with Springer as not only security chief of the city but of the planet itself. Hot Rod would stay with the garrison along with Blur, Brawn and Cliffjumper. The hot headed nature of the minicons was not lost on Prowl and so he left them here rather than risk a confrontation on Earth with a soldier.
Kup would also stay as Magnus' second, all of them deferring to either Prowl as second-in-command of the entire army and Prime or to Prime alone as civil leader. They would have to hit the ground running when they returned.
-0-Ratchet and Ironhide
They had arisen earlier, fed, cuddled and exclaimed over their sparkling and when they were finished, they took the soldier's blanket and booties and put him into them.
"He looks cute. I never thought much of clothes. Had a cloak once in the army on Cybertron. You know how Sentinel was about the officer's corps."
Ratchet nodded. "I had one too."
"But mostly it was a processor ache," Ironhide said flipping the infant's bootie clad ped with his digit up and down, watching it flop gently. "These are cute though."
"I know. I like the softness." Ratchet smiled and sat beside Ironhide. "You're easily amused I see. You like flipping his ped up and down."
"It's cute. He has such skinny legs and big peds."
"I would say he takes after you but that would be wrong," Ratchet said looking down at his own gangling physique. "He will outgrow that. If you want a warrior, you can't have gangling legs. The recoil will tip him over."
"Who says we want a warrior? Maybe he will never know war," Ironhide said, his expression serious.
"From your lips to Primus' audials, Ironhide," Ratchet said leaning on Ironhide happily.
-0-Bluestreak
He gathered his gear, the previous evening rattling around in his processor. He could hear and feel them, a sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced and they could feel and hear him as well. They had a lifetime of experience with bonds and this was day one and a half for Blue. It was strange, wonderful, loving and more than he had expected. It was odder and more familiar than he had expected and he wondered if this was how Prowl had felt when he had bonded with Prime.
Grinning, he considered the evening prior, sitting on the berth that had been ground zero of their amour...
/... oh .../
That was his last coherent thought as Sunstreaker, a merciless expression of hunger on his faceplates scooped him into his arms, turning and falling on the berth together in one swift movement. Bluestreak had stepped back when he turned and looked at them, both of them making clear by their expressions what they needed and wanted from him. At that point he was in the whirlwind and out of any control of the outcome. Not that he cared at that moment.
Ending up in the cabin, having been scooped up by Sunstreaker and hoo-hawed through the rec room by one and all present, Bluestreak had turned around with pins and needles racing through his circuits when finally set down on his peds. Skywarp had warned him of the special circumstances of a trine as opposed to one on one bonding and he was confronting it right out of the gate.
Sideswipe, less exhibitionist and more prone to the alien concept of embarrassment than his brother followed them, shaking his head at Sunstreaker's brazenness. What Blue didn't know was the conversation they had all the way to the cabin, the back and forth and the aggravation between the two about what would happen next.
Sunstreaker knew what he wanted but Sideswipe was still off put by the proximity of his brother to his intimacy with Bluestreak. They had often been aware of each others sexier moments but usually dialed them down with only a snark or two shared. But this would be different. This would be intimacy in front of the other and for Sideswipe, the more 'normal' of the two, it would be strange in a long life filled with strange.
He stood and watched as Sunstreaker and Bluestreak got down to business, finding it oddly erotic in a train wreck sort of way. It had been too long for Sunny and he was rather perfunctory in his approach to scratching the gigantic itch that had been plaguing him for over six decaorns. Moving toward the berth, Sideswipe knelt and stretched out, lying down beside them as they tussled. Reaching out, stroking Blue's arm, he marveled at the expressions crossing the smaller mech's face.
He had never 'faced with Blue, had never done more than kiss and hold him. He followed the rules Prowl had laid out for fear that they would be toast if he didn't. It had been torturous for Sunstreaker, himself in a relationship with Bluestreak for some time before Sideswipe had finally confessed. Now it was good to go and he would be able to be with Blue as well, his brother watching most likely. A piercing sense of embarrassed self consciousness flitted through his spark at the thought.
It wasn't very long before the light of Sunstreaker's spark filled the darkened room and with fumbling hands, he triggered Bluestreak's own spark chamber. The lights were bright, mingling and combining and Sideswipe could see his own servo in the glow. The light surged, so did the two and with a mingled howl and cry they bonded together as swiftly and as inelegantly as could be expected.
Sideswipe, marveling at the beauty of the moment reached out and touched Bluestreak lying offline with his spark chamber open. It seemed to Sideswipe too vulnerable and so he tapped the latch and it closed, shutting off the essence of the only mech he had ever loved more than his brother. Sunstreaker, offlined and flattened over Bluestreak was beyond his reach so Sideswipe waited, stroking his arm and Blue's one after the other.
A call from the hallway caught Blue's attention and he rose and looked out, spotting Sideswipe down the hallway. "Blue, you coming?"
Blue smiled and nodded, watching as Sideswipe rolled toward him pausing in the doorway. Smiling, he leaned down and kissed Bluestreak softly, his digits stroking Blue's neck gently. "Need to go soon, Blue."
Bluestreak nodded, smiling at Sideswipe lovingly. "I'll hurry."
He turned and walked inside again, Sideswipe leaning on the doorway watching. The emotions in his spark filtered through to Bluestreak, who paused and looked at him. He smiled, the love returned and then he turned again gathering up his gear quickly. Picking up the duffel, he turned and walked to the door where Sideswipe took it and Blue's servo. Together on the first day of their new bond the two walked out to the rec room and the gathering place beyond to return to Diego Garcia once more.
-0-Outside
Ratchet and Ironhide stood together, Prowl, Wheeljack, Perceptor, Prime and Ultra Magnus as well. The community was gathering to go and they turned buzzing with excitement at seeing the first sparkling born on Mars in their community and the fourth overall until Gear Shift separated. Prime spoke briefly with Ironhide and turned, pausing before stepping forward. "You ready to speak publicly, Ironhide?" he asked smirking.
"No."
"You'll be a champion," Ratchet said encouragingly.
"No."
Prime snorted and stepped forward, the crowd quieting down. "Today is a great day for us all. We get to see our newest citizen and hear his name spoken. In Praxian culture all the important things are done in community. All the important things are done together to bind the community together. So, it is the duty and honor of Ironhide to introduce us to his sparkling."
A huge rumble accompanied that declaration, Prime stepping back and mading room for Ironhide, who had stepped up reluctantly. He paused looking out and then turned pulling Ratchet up to stand beside him to the general amusement of all. Turning, his arm around Ratchet he began.
"In Praxus, when a sparkling is separated, the family keeps them from everyone for three orns. I don't remember why," he said shaking his head. People laughed and then he continued. "I don't remember why and that's sad isn't it. We have all our traditions that we're ever going to have right here among us and already they are fading. There had to be a good reason but I can't remember it. How many Praxians are here today?" he asked as three servos went up. "There are five of us. Five. Maybe there are more, maybe more are coming and maybe one of them will remember. I hope so.
"We are all there is for now. We have to remember and observe. My sparkling will remember because Ratchet and I will teach him. He will know about Cybertron even if he never sees it in his lifetime. Its where and who we are. Our world, our identity. That is why Prowl and I want to make our markers with Praxian customs." He paused gathering his emotions. "We do it for those who can't and those who never will."
It was quiet, everyone listening intently including Skywarp who was standing nearby out of view with Thundercracker. They had been walking and paused to watch the garrison get ready to leave, coming upon the ceremony by accident.
"We thought a long time over what to call him. But it always came back to the same name. Our sparkling is going to be called Orion."
Prime, listening solemnly startled, glancing at Prowl who was smiling. He looked at Ratchet and Ironhide, who were looking at him and nodded, surprised and delighted. The crowd, also applauding settled down to listen again.
"When Bumblebee let us know the Allspark was here, the four of us came, Prime, Ratchet, Jazz and me. We didn't save it. But we did find allies and a home and every time one of you hear his call and come, I feel reborn. We are here because of leadership, the personal leadership of our Prime. He is our leader, our moral center, our beacon. It was his idea that created Autobot City, it was his patience and leadership that built the relationship with the humans and it will be his leadership that allows us to be a people again, with a home and with the chance of families.
"He was a working mech before he was chosen, a regular mech that the Matrix picked out of everyone else. He was one of us, no one fancy. He is our leader and so we name our son, Orion in his honor so that part of him is never forgotten, the part of him that is us."
With that, Ironhide turned and took the bundle from Ratchet who helped him separate the sparkling from it and turned, handing it to Prime. He took it nervously, drawing an 'awww' moment from the crowd and looked at it with delight. Turning, holding it up, Prime showed the crowd who exploded with happiness and shouts.
The sparkling for his part looked at them with round tiny optics, allowing himself to be passed to Prowl, who exclaimed over him and handed him onward. All around the crowd he went, the most grizzled soldier and most petite femme holding him, loving him. By the time he reached Ironhide and Ratchet once more, his little optics were twirling and he was fussing.
Gathering him into their arms and his blanket, they turned and waited for Prime. He turned from Prowl and walked to the steps, pausing on the second one. With a huge grin on his face, he nodded to the assembled crowd. "Autobots! Roll out!" he said and they did, laughing, smiling and saying farewell to all.
-0-TBC c2010 (12)