Chapter 122
-0-Ops Center
They paused on their way to the morning staff meeting to check with Prowl who'd been collecting the overnight feed, then walked to the conference room to sit. Prowl began to lay out the clear and present threat.
"Interpol has gotten word of a proposed weapons exchange in New York in the next several days. It matches what Thundercracker told us of seven Decepticons still present on the Earth. Apparently, Shockwave has granted permission for a personal weapon from one of them to be given to a weapons dealer over this weekend. It alleviates the need to bring one in and is an endorsement of the security that we have that they have to do it this way. It also means that we have to send a team now and stake out the area until it takes place."
"Do they say where in New York City?" Ratchet asked as he held a recharging Orion in his arms.
Ironhide sat next to him with his arm around the back of Ratchet's chair exuding contentment.
"It's not known yet. The F.B.I. has an informant who's working on the details and when they know, we know. But we have to have teams in place for this weekend." Prowl looked at Prime who was considering the situation.
"Jazz can arrange two teams. I want every possible escape route covered," Prime said as he leaned forward with his eyes on the sparkling. "I also have to tell you that the Senate leadership has changed in America and that Beau Weaver is now in charge of the committee that regulates relations with us. He wants to have hearings again."
Groans circled the table.
Ratchet glanced at Ironhide who was looking decidedly unhappy. "What do you want to do, Optimus?" Ratchet asked, filling with dread as he did.
"We will have to comply but the conditions will be more equal this time since we pay our own way now." Prime thought a moment. "It cannot be avoided but now we are operating from a more powerful and autonomous position."
"But Ratchet can't leave Orion," Ironhide said with a frown on his face.
Ratchet sat beside him, his optics fixed on his sparkling. Sometimes you were the bug and sometimes you were the windshield.
"I am sorry, Ironhide. I can not go. No one else has the experience and tact that Ratchet has," Prime said gently. "You will have to take care of him until Ratchet gets back."
"I'm going with Ratchet," Ironhide said sitting straighter at that suggestion.
"You can't take the infant," Prowl said glancing at Ratchet. "You know that, Ratchet. You can't."
"I know," Ratchet said. "You'll have to take care of him until I get back, Ironhide. He can't come and if he can't come and I have to go, you have to stay here and care for him."
Ironhide stared at Ratchet, then the recharging sparkling in his arms. "This is just slag. What the frag does that little slagger want anyway that he didn't hear the first time at the other hearing?"
"He wants to do his master's bidding," Wheeljack said, his voice edged with anger. "We're a target for them and Shockwave is using him against us."
"We will use Shockwave against him then. We have the advantage of knowing about them without them knowing about us," Prime said his optics narrowing in irritation. "Their meet up should be before this hearing and if we can record all of it, video all of it, then we can end this threat and deal the Decepticons a real blow. Prowl has formulated a number of plans for us to use depending on what Shockwave sends them by e-mail. We should discuss and troubleshoot all of them now and later this afternoon we will add our own agent into the mix."
"Nast?" Jazz asked as he took a datapad from Prowl who was passing them around to everyone.
"Nast," Prime said his voice grim.
They spent the next two hours discussing and troubleshooting their plans to deal with the growing threat of their external and internal enemies.
-0-At Autobot City, Mars
Ultra Magnus stood at the site of a dig that was expanding their underground living quarters. Word had been forwarded to them that two big groups of refugees were fleeing from war and heading their way. One would arrive in a solar week and the other two solar weeks behind. They were a mixed group, old and young, skilled and unskilled Cybertronians who were in various stages of health and disrepair.
Prime had detailed him to handle their repatriation into the new world of Autobot City and infinite protection. He'd jumped at the task, beginning with expanding the energon plant, cataloging skills and assigning jobs. Bots, especially the former refugees who'd jumped at the chance to help worked around the clock to make The Fortress stronger, bigger and more self-sufficient.
Aerialbots, three of them as well as Cosmos were based on the planet full time for now. They made daily runs between Earth and Mars but during down time spent their orns here and would until the refugees were found, retrieved and settled.
A faint message was following the two groups that may or may not be that of a contingent of Autobot soldiers and a mini-con village that had been fleeing Megatron since the early war. That was a thrilling discovery, riding on a carrier wave from out of the solar system that barely reached them before fading. He'd passed it on to Prime who had been happy to hear about it. They were a good month away from sending a strong signal, so they put that one on the schedule for further action when they could.
The mini-cons were worrisome to Prime but he kept it to himself, Ultra Magnus and Prowl. It was practice among the Decepticons to capture min-icons, rewire their bodies and force them to power link with their own systems. It unleashed tremendous power in the Decepticon to which they were enslaved. It made it extremely hard to defeat them hand-to-hand and the idea of a village fleeing this way would be a tempting target for Shockwave if he found out about it. One could only expect that he would.
Magnus walked to the edge of a pit that would be formatted and reinforced, another circular junction from which corridors would radiate out spokes of habitation from the round hub that led from another one nearby and yet to another. They were on their third level of excavation below the upper levels of the original layout, creating space for people to work, stores to be kept and general living area for a burgeoning population to be made available.
He walked back pausing before the hangars near the airfield where shuttles were being constructed. Materials from their construction and fabrication plants were being used to make space-going shuttles, ones tough and fast enough to carry teams other places and armed enough to hold off a Seeker flight but no more. As they had time and more talents, they would improve them but for now in the solar system proper they'd be efficient and capable.
He felt a swell of pride inside as he watched a defeated people arise, working with care and pride for their new home. He felt honored to be the manager of the city that bore the name of the faction he served. He also felt honored to serve a Prime with the wisdom and strength to make this happen. Continuing onward, Ultra Magnus walked toward The Fortress and Ops Center to check for more intel about the incoming refugees. Until they were here and safe, he wouldn't fully rest from his responsibility.
-0-Nast
They sat in the conference room waiting together. Ratchet was in the back a blanket thrown over his lap and under it the sleeping form of his son. Ironhide who'd been down in the brig with Red Alert walked back to the conference room with the prisoner in tow between them. The other three men were vocal in their disgust with being left behind but it was music to Ironhide's audials.
Nast who was held in Ironhide's servo like a rag doll hung on with a continuous stream of epithets all the way to the conference room, only stopping when Ironhide unceremoniously dumped him on the tabletop. He landed in a heap, then sat up to stare wildly around at the silent array of Autobots sitting around the room, all of them staring at him with cold unblinking, unknowable optics. He stood up on shaking legs looking around himself before halting his terrified movements before Optimus Prime. "What's this all about? You can't hold me."
"We have," Prime said. "We have been holding you for some time now."
"The authorities," he began before he was cut off.
"I am sure that the authorities would love to hear from you, Mr. Nast," Optimus said coldly. The door opened as two more Autobots entered, moving to stand behind Optimus who sat at the end of the table.
Nast looked at them warily then Prime. "Who is this?"
"You don't know?" Jazz asked looking up from his datapad.
"If I had to ask," Nast said testily, "then you can take it as a given that I don't know them."
Prime leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table top. "I'll let them introduce themselves." Leaning back, he waited.
The two Autobots looked at him then smiled. "My name is Springer, Mr. Nast and this lovely femme," he said turning slightly toward a hard opticed feminized Autobot, "is Arcee."
For a moment, Nast didn't speak or move, then he took a step backwards as the color drained from his complexion.
-0-Lydia Nast
She sat in her living room waiting for the phone call that she'd been promised by her husband. He'd be calling in a few but that time had passed and she was afraid. Her e-mails had been answered but only generally. They felt like they were coming from someone else, not Bill. Light stretched across the carpeted floor as outside the sun began to set. She would sit for a while more before the phone would ring.
-0-Daniels
He'd taken a flight to the world changing at Ramstein Air Base before getting into Washington, D. C.. A ride in a cab took him to Richmond, Virginia and the home of Theodore Galloway. He was greeted, feted, then sat sipping scotch in a comfortable chair before a fire. Far away from them was the 'problem' of the Autobot garrison and the opportunity it presented.
"I'd like you to make sure that our inside man gets the pictures I need. Weaver is going to be holding hearings and I'm going to be there presenting our side of the problem. Any visual aids that can illustrate our point of view would go a long way toward shaping public opinion."
Daniels nodded as he sipped the vintage scotch in his glass. "I'll try. Right now, I have some interesting tidbits that might be useful and interesting to Nast. One of the Autobots can become invisible."
"Fuck," Galloway said shaking his head with amazement. "I think I can't be surprised and then I am. I hear that there's an infant there now."
"The word is that one of them had a baby," Daniels said wrinkling his nose. "Don't ask me how but they did. No one has seen it and it's purely speculation. It could be just that, speculation. I just think it would be a nice gift to Nast, something to tie himself to us in a way he can't break."
"The infant?" Galloway asked.
Daniels nodded. "Sure."
"You don't really believe you'll ever be close enough to get their children do you?" Galloway asked with a smirk at Daniels. "You'd have to run a gauntlet of death to do that. They would defend their young with their last gasp."
"Probably," Daniels said. "But it's an interesting problem."
"It's suicide," Galloway said. "I remember working with them when they first came here. They defend each other. You'd never be able to pry a child loose."
"We can think about it," Daniels said. "What better way to control or convince them that they can't live here than to attack the thing they prize the most."
"That would kill public opinion against us," Galloway said shaking his head. "No one would forgive a child's death, even these things. They may be metal but they're small and no one would forgive it."
"It's just an idea," Daniels said as he sipped his drink.
"Leave it that," Galloway said. "Suicide by robot doesn't sound good or productive to me."
"Maybe High Flier has ideas. He seems to be hooked into the Decepticons. Maybe he can tell us more about what's what. I'm interested in meeting with him. He must have balls the size of cannon shells."
"He must," Galloway said as he refilled his glass. "I don't have what it takes to deal directly with those crazy assholes. He has to be the wall between us and them."
"You have no guts, Galloway," Daniels said with a grin.
Galloway looked at him coldly. "You have no sense of self preservation, Daniels."
Daniels smiled, then tipped his drink. "I'm going to be Majority Leader of the Senate some day, Galloway."
Galloway smiled coldly, his own glass in hand. "And I will be President of the United States."
They both tipped their glasses together.
-0-Conference Room, Diego Garcia
"What do you want from me?" Nast asked as he turned in circles on the table top. He tried to find the exit from his waking nightmare but there wasn't one.
"Why, Mr. Nast, isn't it evident?" Jazz asked leaning closer, his visor giving him a slightly demonic expression. "We want everything."
-0-Later on
"I don't like this a bit, Ratchet."
Ratchet looked up from drying Orion. "I know. We have our duty, Ironhide. We can't take him with us every time we go somewhere. We have to put him first."
Ironhide shifting on his peds in agitation knew that Ratchet was right and that Prime couldn't do anything different. That didn't make it any bit easier to accept. He took the towel to fold it, putting it on a shelf with all the things they needed to take care of their little mech.
Ratchet picked Orion up to hold him up before himself. He smiled at the baby. "I think I'll die to leave him even five minutes," he said holding the infant against his cheek.
Ironhide swallowed. "I know."
Ratchet leaned on Ironhide. "This is going to be hard, Ironhide." The sparkling looked up at them, his little blue optics unblinking, then he chirped softly. Ratchet startled as he looked at Orion, at the sweet face looking up at him. "Frag," he said.
Ironhide felt a fury with fate and circumstances he hadn't felt in a long time as they stood together with the kid. The sparkling watched him, his hero and greatest champion.
Then he chirped.
-0-At the conference meeting earlier
They showed their evidence to Nast, the e-mails and deals, the evidence of the exchange attempts and most especially the contempt for the law and his country that he'd shown in his zeal to enrich himself without a care for who and what it hurt. They showed all of it to him as he sat pale and shaken. When they were finished, it was silent.
Prime leaned forward. "You are a traitor to your country. You are a thief, an illegal arms dealer, a criminal and a coward, Mr. Nast. You have a mole in the soldier's administration building, 'Inside Man' and you have enough crimes on your slate to put you away forever. You might even have earned a firing squad."
He sat down on the tabletop, his legs rubbery and his head swimming. They waited for him, then he looked at Prime. "What do you want?"
Prime considered his remarks, then leaned forward again. "First of all, an apology to Arcee and Springer would be a good start."
He looked up at Prime with momentary confusion.