The Diego Diaries: PsyOps 11
-0-Far away
Soundwave sat in his office in the Decepticon HQ at Kaon looking through the overnight intell when his assistant brought him an encrypted datapad. Taking it, he waited until that young mech left the room, the door closing behind him. Opening and decrypting it, he read the short message. Putting it on his desk, storing the message in his vast heavily encrypted and firewalled databanks, he thought for a moment.
Optimus Prime wanted to meet up.
Rising and walking to the window, he looked out and downward to the big square in front of the huge building. The gigantic statue of Megatron on the roof was throwing long shadows in the late afternoon light. The planet was free floating through space, their tether to a solar energy source long since cut. His space bridges allowed him to maintain the slowly distancing local sectors but that was getting tenuous. The more he drifted away, slow and irregular though that might be, the more autonomous the local battle groups were becoming.
Discipline was faltering. Control was slipping away from him.
Why did the Prime want to speak with him? He pondered the numerous possibilities and then dismissed most of them. Prime was playing a good hand and he himself was trapped in crap. He turned and walked back to his desk sitting heavily. There was nothing to be lost in hearing Prime out but he couldn't hope that there would be an advantage for him. He would have to carve it out for himself. Perhaps there could be an accommodation short of the Matrix oath.
He would have to go and see. He leaned forward and began to compose a message back to the only mech that might in the long run save him from the chaos and madness that surrounded him everywhere.
-0-Far, far away
He came toward the lights blinking on his sensor grid. They were massed together waiting for him. He smiled to himself. Come, he thought. I will destroy you too. Just like the others. He turned and nodded to Dreadwing. That redoubtable mech bowed slightly and turned barking orders to the gunners and the conn. The ship coiled, its power gathering to jump forward with blazing speed. All of the ships in his armada began to do the same thing.
When they did, they would engage the enemy in their cubes and fighters, their spheres too. By the time the light show was over even more of the Borg would be destroyed and left to drift in rubble as the great mechanical beings moved even further into the territory of the five remaining queens of an ancient predatory people.
It would be the greatest threat they ever faced. For Megatron, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. He sat on his throne and watched filled with great satisfaction as his armada pushed even deeper into the Delta Quadrant heading for the heart of the Borg Empire.
-0-At the human habitat near the Temple
They sat together eating their meal. The atmosphere was glum. They had three days left in their visitation and the end was closing in on them. They had petitioned, a number of them for extensions citing studies and experiments as their reason. Their requests were pending.
It would be a gloomy day in the Habitat.
-0-California State Forensics Lab, 850 Bryant Street, San Francisco, California
They stood together reading the print out. The bomb had been made of materials that weren't lawful to possess outside of the military and a few other specialized highly regulated entities. C-4 made up the explosive. A sophisticated detonation device made things go boom. The residue was insufficient to use trace elements included in the plastique to find out where it was made and by whom.
The amount of evidence found at the sight was minimal to the point of nonexistent. Professionals had done this job. Even the paint used for the message was a nondescript spray type. All of the words were spelled correctly which indicated a relative level of calm and confidence in the bomber who put the message there.
They worked on the small amount of trace evidence, studied the images that were taken and gathered their ideas for the report. It would be inconclusive and incomplete. It would take more evidence to find out who this was. Either that or a mistake.
They would take either.
-0-KGOC, Drive Time With Dave, Live
"The traffic is as terrible as usual. Take your time. No sense getting shot by some clown for cutting them off. Right now, its 9:47 in the AM and the weather is a cool 52 degrees with rain expected in the late afternoon. We're opening the lines. First caller, you're on the line."
"Hi, Dave. Did you hear about the bombing in San Francisco?"
"I sure did. What do you think about it?"
"I think someone has a kink in their colon. Did you see the football games from Autobot City? Without the Autobots, we're toast. Those bots are huge and I hear that the Decepticons are the same size. How the hell are we going to keep the Decepticons from overrunning us? Those bots are vicious and really good at destroying things."
"I know. Some people really want to see them leave the system," Dave replied as he sipped his coffee.
"They don't want anyone but us to own the planets. We can't even get off this rock and they're pissed about Mars and Pluto. Maybe they can leave the planet and we can stay here and keep the Autobots."
They chatted a while, then Dave took his next caller. "This is Drive Time With Dave. What's on your mind?"
"I don't agree with the last caller. I want those aliens out of our system. When they go, the Decepticons will go too. They are the reason that the other side is a problem. If they weren't here, the other aliens wouldn't have a reason to come."
Dave set his cup down. "What evidence do you have to tell us that this will be true? We did have Megatron in storage for eighty years. We did kick his ass. He doesn't seem the forgiving kind."
"We don't need aliens here."
"How do you suppose to protect Earth if they leave and you're wrong?"
"I won't be."
"Just like that? Wow, I feel so much more reassured."
"You're a coward."
"Is that so? I served in the Navy during Viet Nam. What did you do, tough guy?"
"I have guns. I will defend myself. That bombing was done by patriots."
"Blowing up a souvenir shop is patriotic? That's a new one for me."
"Maybe you need to get with the program. Those aliens aren't us. They don't have women. They're fags. They will kill us in our sleep."
"If they do come to do that give me your address so they can go to your house first."
*CLICK!*
-0-On a morning talk show on a right wing television network
"This morning, I would like to welcome to 'Morning Talk' James 'Big Jim' Johnson and Sam Hedges."
Two men sitting on a couch side-by-side nod and smile. "Thanks," Johnson said.
Morning host, a woman named Penelope sat back and regarded them happily. "Thank you for coming."
They nodded again.
"We wanted to talk to you about the bombing in San Francisco and the Autobots because you served with them at Diego Garcia."
They nodded.
"What do you think about the bombing?" she asked.
Johnson sat back. "It was only time before it happened. We have aliens living among us and some don't care for it. That store carried Autobot stuff. It was inevitable."
"Do you mean that violence was inevitable? You aren't advocating this are you?" she asked with a smirk.
"No," Sam Hedges said. "We're just saying it was inevitable that there would be a clash of cultures. We are talking about very weird creatures. These aren't humans after all."
"But they are living creatures. It would be stupid to assume I guess anymore that we are the only species alive in the universe," her co-host said, a man named Brian.
"So what? The universe is big. They should go find their own solar system," Johnson replied.
"What about the Decepticons? Do you really believe that they will leave us alone if the Autobots leave here?" Penelope asked.
"Yes, I do," Johnson said nodding. Hedges nodded too.
"You were kicked out of the army because of your feelings about this. What can you tell us about that?" Penelope asked.
"The army didn't like our feelings about the aliens. We were doing our job and they kicked us out. We were going for special ops with the intention of joining N.E.S.T.," Johnson replied. Hedges nodded.
"N.E.S.T. is the organization that works with the Autobots. Why would you want to work with a group you dislike this much?" Brian asked.
"Because we're professionals. We're damned good. I worked hard to get chosen for striker team training. The officers didn't like us. We weren't worshipful enough to the bots. They had a problem from the start. They don't have a sense of humor," Johnson said. Hedges nodded.
"What are they like?" Brian asked.
"Weird. Strange. They're huge and they walk around like they own the world. They have weird languages that sound like static on the radio. They don't much like us. Some of them anyway," Hedges said. "Those twins are crazy. They'd kill us as soon as look at us."
"I am struggling to understand them. They take vehicle forms to live among us," Penelope said.
"They're metallic. They're made of metal. They can transform into different things including cars. I will say that I never saw so many sweet rides. Lamborghinis, Porches, Ferraris …. they would come out and change into car form to sit in the sun. I think they get solar energy that way. Someone told me anyway," Hedges replied.
"They had trouble with the State Department reps and their bodyguards. What do you know about that?" Brian asked.
"Jason Daniels was alright. The mercs were fun. I don't think they liked mercenaries. They're all attitude. I don't think they're so tough," Johnson said with scorn in his voice.
"You looked pretty petrified in the video of the confrontation," Brian said with a smirk. "Don't get me wrong. I would be too but it looked like fear to me."
"Surprise," Johnson said frowning at Brian.
"Tell me about their relationships. They had children there too," Penelope asked.
"They're same sex. I don't know how you tell their sex actually. I never saw any women or anything that was labeled female." He grinned a moment. "They have relationships among each other and I don't care what anyone else thinks. It sucked. I hated it. They didn't care about us so I don't know why I should care about them."
"We had Don't Ask, Don't Tell at the time," Brian offered.
"They aren't in our army and they don't have to follow our rules," Johnson said.
"Did you ever see the Prime?" Penelope asked.
They both nodded. "We did. He's the biggest bot I've ever seen. He's red, white and blue. He has pointy things on his head and he's about thirty feet tall. Huge."
-0-194 million miles away, Ops Center, Autobot City, Mars
"Oh slag." -Prowl, Prime, Ratchet, the entire Alpha shift, Sciences who had a monitor on and most of the patrons inside Club Cybertron.
-0-On a television show
"You aren't supposed to talk about him," Brian said.
"I don't care. I'm not in the army anymore. I don't owe them anything," Johnson said defiantly.
"What's he like, Prime? Does he have what? Magical powers or what?" Brian asked with a grin.
"He's got a grip that can tear steel like Kleenex. He's massive … huge. I think he's got a relationship with Prowl. He's the winger with the steel bar up his backside," Hedges said with a smirk. "He's one cold mother, that one."
-0-194 million miles away, etc.
"Frag." -Prime
-0-Television show, etc.
"What do you mean by relationships? I see them and I see either robots or cars. How can they have relationships? I know that Ambassador Ratchet has at least two kids. How does that happen?" Penelope asked.
"It's taboo. I think they make them in a shop. Makes about as much sense as any other way," Johnson said with a big grin.
"I think the little babies are cute. That little black baby is very cute," Penelope said. Brian nodded.
"If you say so," Johnson said shaking his head. "I think he's creepy and weird. Unnatural. Just like Ratchet. If he 'had' this thing some way, it was sickening. I can't think about it any other way."
-0-194 etc
Silence like a tomb. Shifting of peds by group standing around the massive monitor in front of the Ops Center.
"You don't have to, slagger," Prime whispered softly.
-0-TBC
2012 (11)