The Diego Diaries: Chaos 29
=0=In the Armory
He sat working on the endless paperwork that came with being a department head. The datapads were stacked to the ceiling and he was given the word by Holi to do or die. She was also emphatic that if he had to leave that the sparkling would be in good servos with her. And most importantly, she wouldn't peek.
Probably.
He grinned as he sat shooting glances at the peg on the wall that held a precious burden. The Seeker bag was a slagging miracle he thought as he paused to look at the baby. She was comfortably snuggled at the bottom soundly in recharge. She had slid out of her sleeves as well. Sitting back, he considered the changes in the few short years that had passed.
Sunspot and Orion were first. Then little Praxus, an altogether gentle little bot came along. He didn't even know he was missing a daughter until he held his little grandfemmelings, Uraya and Iacon. Those two were sweet, tiny and when they looked at him, he was a goner.
Femmes.
Who knew?
He grinned and got back to work again. The baby just hung around waiting. Literally.
-0-On the street
They followed Drift and Springer who had left the gabfest at the rec room in the Fortress. The two were off duty and so they walked toward the dojo where they spent time off. Lon was learning something life affirming and life changing every orn and today would be no different. He knew moves he didn't know existed and his confidence in his abilities was strong.
They crossed the highway and headed uptown to the Cultural Center. As they passed the door of Club Cybertron, they paused. Barricade and Stiletto were about to enter. The two groups paused, both knowing the other well. Barricade turned and looked at Springer. "Look what the targs dragged in."
"I was about to say the same thing to you," Springer said, his body relaxed, a slight smirk on his face.
"I see you have your frag toy with you," Stiletto added. He smirked at Drift, someone he had known from other more awful times.
Drift stared at him without emotion. Behind him, he could feel the rising ire of his student. Lon was young and still learning. He glanced at the youngling, the single look calming him. Glancing back, he smirked. "I see you managed to put yourself back together after Prowl's atar wiped up the floor with you."
The expression on Stiletto's face was priceless. "Frag you."
"No thanks," Drift said smirking at Springer. "I got that covered."
Springer snorted and grinned, nodding to the smirking Seekers who were the two Decepticons' escorts that orn. They chuckled and prodded Stiletto. "Move it, slag heap."
He turned and glared at the two mechs. "Someday, you will regret that."
"No," the first Seeker said. "I doubt that I will," he said.
Stiletto shot Drift a dark look, then turned and walked inside. Barricade stood a moment glaring at Springer, then turned and followed. Springer grinned. "Mechs have no manners."
Topspin snorted. "You just noticed that?" he asked.
They chuckled and turned walking onward to the dojo and an afternoon of schooling the younglings in the art of war.
-0-In the Sparkling Day School
Orion sat on the chair and listened to the teacher reading a story. He didn't know what it said. He wasn't clear on all the words. He just knew he liked being read to and being part of a group. They were sitting on tiny chairs, all of them learning to sit, pay attention and be in a group. He was terribly happy to be a part of the small ring of sparklings. He clutched his dollie and listened carefully. His teacher's voice was nice and the sound of their language, this time Cybertronian Standard was comforting. His ada sang to him in Cybertronian Standard. It was the main language of their planet, the one where all the different speaking groups found common ground.
"Then the Prime walked to the little mech. "Hello, little mech. You appear to be lost," his teacher read. "The little mech looked at his Prime and smiled. "I am lost, sir. Do you know the way to my house? The Prime smiled and picked him up. "I will take you there." So they walked through the city heading for the house of Rondell's ada."
And so it went, the reader telling how the Prime helped Rondell find his ada. Orion sat transfixed, his little processor listening as hard as he could. It was one of the few times he gave his entire unfettered attention to the task at hand without distraction.
Such were toddlers everywhere.
Nearby …
Praxus stood in the middle of his little play group, a dollie in one servo and a ball in the other. "Pax."
The other sparklings looked at him and smiled. "Pax," the little red and white botlet said again.
Bleu stood up and wobbled a moment, then turned and walked to Pax. He paused in front of him, then leaned in to kiss him. He did and the two howled with laughter. Pax looked at Bleu, his optics twinkling. "Boo!"
Bleu laughed and looked around. Then he leaned in and kissed Praxus again. They both howled with laughter. Mimi standing against a couch watched them, her little winglets fluttering as she laughed. She clapped her servos and nearly fell, grabbing the couch to steady herself.
"Pax!" she said with a giant smile.
Bleu and Praxus turned to look at her. They smiled and toddled over. Pausing around her, they both leaned down and the three hugged. Standing and looked at each other, they smiled. "EEMEE!" Bleu said with a chuckle. They hugged again.
Sitting, watching, Laret nearly stroked out on the cuteness.
-0-Cafe Praxus
They wandered in and found 'their table', sitting down to relax. Ironhide followed, walking to the table and handing off the infant to Ravel.
"Oh, my," Ravel said smiling sweetly. "This is such a lovely sparkling. I love her so."
Ratchet grinned. "You will have to be a resource for her. Both of you. They all need that touch."
"We will do that. They are so lovely," Tie Down said with a grin.
Blackjack and Alor came through the door, pausing to check out the room. Spotting their group, they smiled and walked over sitting with the others. "There's that little femme," Alor said. Ravel smiled and handed her to Ironhide who gave her to his ada.
Alor smiled and folded back the soft white bag just a bit. She was recharging and relaxed. "What a lovely sparkling. I can't tell you how happy we were to be here when she came."
"I'm happy you all were," Ironhide said. "She's a slagging good sparkling. She was with me all orn. I had her hanging on a hook by my door."
"How did that work?" Blackjack asked.
"She sort of sagged down and shifted a little. She was really comfortable. I sort of wanted to join her it looked so comfy," Ironhide said with a grin.
"I'll knit you one," Alor said with a smirk.
The lunch went extremely well.
-0-Sparkling Day School
He stood at the edge of the new pool staring at it uncertainly. It was bigger, wider and seemed as vast as the ocean he had grown up beside on Diego Garcia. Mr. Roto sat in the water and held out his servos. "Come on, Spud. Let's go in."
Orion stared at him, his little optics filled with worry. "TOTO! ME Fly?"
"Fly … you crack me up," Roto said. "Swim."
Orion looked at him for a moment, then the water. "Fly?"
"Swim." He paused. "Swim."
Orion bent down clutching his dollie and looked at the water. "Me, swim?"
Roto blinked and grinned. "Yes. Orion swim." He reached for the baby and tossed his dollie back to the doorway. Turning him, he lay Orion flat on the water. The infant instantly spread out and lay there floating with a big grin. "ORION SWIM, TOTO!"
"You sure can, spud," Roto said leaning back with a grin. It would be an awesome afternoon in the Day School.
-0-Out there
They flew through the night, a convergence of migrations being herded together. They were civilian with Seekers mixed among them. A group that had just joined were Decepticon. They were kept to the side, not allowed in the main body. The few communications between them were about headings and the group's basic cohesion.
The migration numbered in the tens of thousands, the last of a sector of space that had been harassed for a vorn. All of them could hear the Prime. All of them heard the joint message. As they did, Seeker groups joined them, all of the group pooling their resources.
All of them but the Decepticons.
-0-Far away
He stood in the courtyard of his residence considering the situation thus far. His link to Optimus Prime was tenuous. They were building a city that appeared to be designed to hold off the best he might throw at them. It was populous, heavily armed and most of all had a serious air component in the great numbers of Seekers that had sought asylum there.
He himself was caught in a vice of either obeying orders of an increasingly unstable madmech or going his own way. He decided to do both, pulling forces back to the home sectors, working hard to repair Cybertron and to make a retreat for himself and his own forces should Megatron actually get lucky in his quest.
Soundwave wanted him dead. The big mech had nearly destroyed their home world. Megatron never loved Cybertron or he wouldn't have done that for vanity.
Power. Ego. Vanity.
All of it defined the big mechanism and it spelled doom for their world and her people.
Soundwave would save Cybertron. He would rebuild it and under his strict but ultimately benevolent rule it would have a new Golden Age. To do that, he had to protect himself, creating a space where he could play both ends against the middle. He would be here to assist Megatron against Prime. He would have his new space where he could assist Prime against Megatron. However the events rolled out, he was covered.
Those two would kill each other and he would step into the vacuum. He would rise to the top and in the end when the two biggest thorns in his side were eliminated, he would rule.
Simple math.
3-2=1
-0-Ops Center, Autobot City, Mars
Prowl took the latest data and turned walking to the center table where Optimus sat working in the company of his bond and the experts of his command team. It was comfortable and professional. It beat sitting in his office alone. Prowl sat and slid the datapad toward Prime. "Here's the latest intell on both problems."
Prime read it and nodded. "Soundwave is building a base," he said. "The migration is two orns out from a safe retrieval. That would put them out of the longest possible sensor range of Soundwave's project, correct?"
Prowl nodded. "We can get them in two orns and go to see what Soundwave is up to anytime you want."
"Start planning it, Prowl," Optimus said. "I want to have a lot of options."
"You will have them," Prowl said rising. He walked to the communications station and began to make it so.
-0-On Cybertron
They walked to the corner and paused allowing traffic to pass by. It was raining slightly, a strange occurrence that constituted a symptom of the sickness that plagued their once great home world. When the traffic passed, they continued onward to the small flat in the Jumble where they lived.
Shift was over and they had their small cubes of energon, the wages of their labors. The gates of the Jumble appeared in the distance, a wan thing. Others passed, few acknowledged the other and when they reached the gates, they entered. It was a long walk through winding streets to the worn and neglected building that had been home for a while.
They entered and walked up the seven flights of stairs that led to a corridor with no light. Their tiny home was at the end and they entered, locking the door against the night. They would stay inside whiling away the time until the morn. Then it would begin all over again.
Outside, patrols continued as Soundwave made his dominion known. Nearby, hidden in the shadows, the mechs whose job it was to protect the genitors of Optimus Prime settled in. They would do their job orn and night until the day came that they could all join the resistance full force and drive the Decepticons into extinction.
Until then, they sat in the shadows and bided their time.
=0=TBC
2012 (10)