The Diego Diaries: PsyOps 9 -Episode 1, Part 3-
-0-In a studio at IntraComm
"That part was perfection. Revo's conviction made the hairs on my arms stand up." Jack Mellar made a note and glanced at his partner.
Aaron Belcher nodded. "Let's see Act III. Then we can decide the stringers to hold the main acts together. I think we need some hooks to hang them on."
Mellar nodded. "Roll Act III please."
They did.
-0-At the firing range
(Cut to the firing range which is a vast area with bunker-like installations near the firing line from which come both real and holographic targets of all manner and kind. Sideswipe walks to the range with his gun in servo. He is looking at the site and ignoring the camera. Pausing to chat with a couple of soldiers leaving, he continues to the firing line.)
"What are you planning to do, Sideswipe?" -off camera voice
"I'm going to practice my shooting." (Big mech looks down at camera with his usual smirk.) "We have to keep in trim. You never know when Megatron will come around."
"You would shoot him?" -voice.
"No doubt." (He looks at camera.) "He will never live to get this close." (His expression changes to a cold look of sheer menace similar to his brother's, his deep voice becomes cold. He turns and speaks his identification number to the master computer which runs the shooting programs. Then he starts. Moving with almost unnatural speed and agility, he shoots all the targets. He even seems to anticipate them. They are up, shot and its over that quickly.)
"Sideswipe, you're very good. What is your favorite weapon? Do you enjoy combat or is it a job that you have to do for your people's protection?" -voice
(Big mech pauses and looks down, his expression both menacing and mirthful.) "My favorite weapon is whatever I have at servo. I like my guns. I have a lot of them but I like swords more because they get you closer. My brother and I slag it out with the 'Cons face-to-face and we're known for that personal touch. Servos, guns, swords … I don't care. Whatever does the job. As for liking this? I like to fight, yeah. I have my whole life. This is what you get when no one is smart enough to find another way. I don't apologize for myself. I am good at what I do and Sunny and I making a slagging good team. We're still alive after all this time and a lot of hot shots aren't. You don't stay that way without practice and skill. We have it."
"You work with humans. You work with the N.E.S.T. soldiers … what do you think about that and about them? How do they rate in your professional estimation?" -voice
(Big mech pauses a moment to think about it. He looks down at camera.) "I'm not sold on all humans. Don't get me wrong. I'll defend Earth and everyone there. However, they treated us like slag at Diego. They tried to kill our kids and they almost killed Ratchet. Some tried to sell out your people to Megatron. The soldiers are another story. I like them. We work together well. They're brave to go up against someone like us with their organic bodies. That takes slagging guts and I respect them for it. Some of them are really skilled. We will fight for this system and for Earth. We will protect you against the slaggers. You cannot imagine what it would be like to fight them without us. This shooting I did … it isn't even close to what combat is but it might give you a glimmer."
(Big mech transforms gun and it disappears into thin air.) "Sideswipe, where did your gun go?" -voice
"Into subspace. Ask Wheeljack or Perceptor. They can explain it to you." (The big mech smiles a wolfish grin.) "I have to roll."
"When do you go on duty again and where will it be? Are you and your brother in the duty rotation now?" -voice
"Tomorrow, we will go to Charon. We won't be back for a decaorn unless there's a mission." He looks at the firing range and then down again. "I would rather stay here." (Big mech grins and then transforms his feet into wheels. He grins again.) "Race ya." (Big mech turns and peels out rolling madly back to the city. He is gone from view in seconds.)
Fade out. Fade in.
(In a huge room where the walls are lined with bins and bins of things that look dangerous. Big tables fill the room where about 20 mechs of all manner of design work to make things out of the materials. Camera pans around the room and comes to rest on a big Seeker with a calm manner and dark paint scheme. He ignores the camera, intent on describing a munition to a younger mech.)
"Nitro? What are you making?" -off screen voice
(Big mech leans forward and looks over table's edge) "Specialized munitions for heavy gunners."
"You were a Decepticon. You are a Seeker. What does it mean to you to work here in an Autobot city with Autobots commanded by a Prime?" -voice
(Big mech considers question.) "This is a Cybertronian city filled with Neutrals, Autobots and ex-'Cons. I don't have a problem with it. I came here to find refuge for my family and those who came on ships with me. I commanded ships and to tell you the truth, I never wanted to be a Decepticon. I had to when Prime left to find the AllSpark because the 'Cons took over. A lot of us had to join. When it was clear that Megatron had lost his processor and had ordered all Seekers to be killed where found, the decision was easy to make to leave and follow Prime's call. Working here in a place that values me and my kind, where my family is safe and my daughter can go to school … that matters. I respect Prime. We all do. We fight for each other and this place under his command willingly and with pride. Megatron would be a fool to even try to come here." (Mech's expression tightens with resolve and cold determination.)
"Doesn't it seem strange to you to make munitions for a former enemy in their city?" -voice
"It was. But Prime keeps his word. We're all tired. We want to live among our own kind again. We want to hear Cybertronian languages, keep Cybertronian customs, have families and rebuild our civilization. I'm going to night school. I'm learning to be a writer. On Cybertron, no one would even try to be what they wanted to be. It wasn't allowed. Here I can do that. My daughter can too. She's going to college someday and we will get her there. She is going to be someone important in this place. When we came here she was dying. They took her in and saved her life even though I was a 'Con. They didn't care. It changed everything I ever believed at that moment. Prime was the one. He has always been the one. The only one. Some day, we might rescue Cybertron and everyone can have what we have. Frag Megatron if he tries to make it different."
(Other mechs around the tables pause to listen and all of them nod in agreement.)
"Did you live together on Cybertron or what? Was it segregated?" -voice.
(Big mech nodded.) "It was. I lived in Vos because that was where Seekers had to live. We were lowest on the scale. Most of us were poverty-stricken and denied opportunity. The rich lived well and the rest of us scratched for whatever we could find. When a system does that to the majority, the minority better never get too comfortable in their beds. They're easy to find. They live in the big houses."
"Equity and fairness matter then." -voice
(Big mech nods and so do others) "The lack of it started the war. It made Megatron possible. Earth better get smart. If enough get hungry, they will go find food and there's slagging more of us then the others. It happened on Cybertron and allowed Megatron to rise up and take power. Equality and fairness are everything. We have it here. Prime is fair and he keeps his word. I respect him. I follow him because he is the only legal leader we have left. He's also slagging honorable and in my culture as a Seeker, that is everything. If you aren't honorable, if you lie and don't keep your word, you're a fragger and you shouldn't expect a long life."
"Should I be afraid of you?" -voice asks with a smile in tone.
(Big mech smirks slightly as the others grin.) "A lot of mechs have been. Don't be. I don't like it anymore. We fight for this system and it includes you too." (Turns and looks at others speaking in a gentle voice.) "We have a deadline, younglings." (They turn and begin to work, goodnatured grumbling notwithstanding.)
Fade out.
-0-In an IntraComm studio
"Nice work on that cut. Nitro is sort of tightly coiled. I hear that there's a number of 'Cons like him. Payload and Scar. Someone called Rampage. I also heard about something called Stunticons and Aerialbots. There's also something about combiners out there that we might tactfully, and I mean really tactfully ask about." Mellar turns to mech techs who are running the viewing. "Do you know about them?"
"Ask Prowl and have him give us an opinion. We can't say until they do," Prophet said nodding. He was a tall mech who was supervising the production of the series in the studio.
"Make an appointment with Prowl will you, Leonora? I want to discuss a number of things before we give the program to them for review," Mellar said.
She nodded.
"By the way, nice stuff with Nitro. If you can find out about these combiners, I want you to do the segments. I like how you can handle these mechs. I think they have a lot of respect for females," Jack said.
She grinned and nodded. "Thanks. I will."
"Run the ending credits please," Jack requested glancing back at Prophet. He nodded and began.
(Black screen fills the monitor and it undulates. Light plays over the feet of a huge bot, one with menace that doesn't require a face to make clear. It passes over and darkness returns. Then it comes back and pans slowly upward as the music of Alor of Iacon begins to play quietly. Upward and upward, the figure of a mech standing beside a corrugated wall becomes more clear. Scars on the armor of this mech are evident and as it reaches upward brutal arms appear folded across a massive chest. The light passes into darkness and then comes back illustrating a brawny chassis and a face out of a nightmare. Cold optics peer out of a face with scars across it. The face is deeply masculine and oddly handsome. The optics stare without blinking. He turns to the wall and the light passes over. Its dark again. Credits are playing, first in glyphs and then translating into English. The light comes back and the mech is facing the camera again staring down with a firm expression. Then the mech raises his arm, an Autobrand appearing on his forearm. He smirks slightly, then is gone, his glyph changing to his name in English before fading.)
Scar.
The rest of the segment plays the same way, a black background, glyphs morphing to English and the eerie and oddly beautiful music playing. Then it all fades away. Its over.
They sat in the room thinking quietly and then Jack turns to the others. Looking at their expressions, all of those present, he grins. "That's a wrap."
No one argued.
-0-The Trine
They sat around the table in the conference room of the Sparkling Day School. They had asked for a time for all three to come and it was accommodated two orns after regular conference time. Roto and other specialists had joined together to tell the tale of Kaon and the twins. Sunstreaker sat quietly, his internal focus gearing up to the usual intensity. Blue sat chatting with Laret who was going to speak as the twins primary aide and all around room granny. Sideswipe leaned back in his chair prepared to hear greatness.
Roto took a datapad and grinned. "Your sparklings are absurdly good. But then, you already know that."
The ice was broken and they all grinned. "We do spend lots of time with them to help them. We did everything you told us last time. We are concerned about Kaon's speech. We will do whatever you ask us to do about it too," Bluestreak said nodding.
"We have tested him and he is doing a good job in developing language and the skills for speech. I am sure you have noted the words he uses," Roto said.
"He has ten he uses and there are four more that he gets partly right," Sunstreaker said nodding. His focus was what it was every time he came. Intense, direct, zeroed down to a pinpoint.
"Thank you," Roto said. "I have eight words that he uses and two that he's working on. If you can download that to me, I will put it on the chart I'm keeping."
Sunstreaker nodded. Sideswipe and Bluestreak exchanged glances and turned back to Roto. "We will."
Roto nodded. "Kaon meets and in a couple of instances exceeds the standard set for infants his age. He walked early, he's talking early and he can do a number of fine motor skills that are ahead of the curve. He is a happy little mech who loves others and others love him. He has incredible manners, a gentle personality and has little fear of things. He can float on his back in the pool now and like Praxus, he likes to walk around under the water peering up. He thinks that is hilarious."
Sunstreaker nodded. "We need a community pool then. One we can take him to so he can practice swimming and play. The water will make him work harder and grow stronger, right?"
"I hadn't thought about that. Yes, it will help him in all those areas," Roto said.
"I'll bring it up at the school meeting when I get back from Charon. Sideswipe and I are going there for a decaorn," Sunstreaker said with a nod. "A pool would be a good idea."
Laret nodded. "I would go there with Fifi and I know others would. We can bring it up at the staff meeting with Prime. I'll mention it to Neo."
Sunstreaker nodded. "Good."
Roto watched him and considered his demeanor. This sparkling was excelling for a reason. Roto nodded. "In the academic areas, Kaon is at the level he should be. He likes to build things and take them apart. He likes art and he likes math. He listens in groups and plays beautifully. He's a delight and at this point he has no deficiencies." Roto showed them his creations, handed them his badges and sat back with a grin. "All of the mechs should be so easy as this one. He's a genuinely good little mech."
Sunstreaker recorded every word. It fed something inside of him that was hard to articulate. He was filled with a joy that was hard to describe. His sparkling was excelling and he had earned high praise from his school. His art would be carefully stored, some displayed and his badges would go on the wall along with all the others. He would see to it.
"Now let me tell you about the twins," Roto said nodding to Laret. "How about you starting, Laret."
She grinned and looked at her datapad. "How can I describe perfection?" she said with a smile.
Sunstreaker's spark nearly burst with joy and pride.
=0=TBC
2012 (11)