The Diego Diaries: Interlude 9
-0-Ops Center a little later, Autobot City, Mars
They sat around the table going over the information thus far and as they did it became clear to Prime that they hadn't spoken to an important oft mentioned player yet, one who might give them more information altogether. "I need to speak to Shockwave."
Everyone looked at Prime, then Prowl vented a soft sigh. "That bot won't tell you what you want or need to know."
"He might not but we could consider a profile on his reactions to what we have," Prime said. "The one Jarro and his team prepared about Soundwave is very enlightening." He considered that one as he watched his team ponder the imponderable …
...Some time earlier, after the second meet up with Soundwave
"Thank you, both of you for coming," Prime said as Micca, a profiler and psychologist and Jarro, the Head of Processor Health for Mars sat down in seats across from him. They were in his office, Ratchet, Prowl and Ironhide also present. "What exactly have you deduced about Soundwave?"
Jarro nodded. "Thank you, sir. We have done a full work up on Soundwave drawing on what is factually known and deducing from rumors, facts that are as yet only partially substantiated, comments and observations from colleagues and victims as well as observations by Micca during the meet up. I will begin and Micca will discuss his evaluation of Soundwave from the meet up observation."
Prime nodded and Jarro began. "First of all, sir, we have to determine all the facts possible which we have gleaned short of an interview with Soundwave. This is still an unfinished product due to the nature of this process; that is, not having direct access to the subject and his leadership group. We have gathered the following personal information about him and his person. He is from Kaon, was low caste yet gifted and a determined ambitious student in University at Iacon. His forte was communications which he uses to his advantage both for himself as well as keeping his standing in good stead with Megatron. That will be expanded later.
"He was educated as part of the low caste gifted program that some of us benefited from," Jarro said glancing at Ratchet who nodded. "His family is as yet unknown. He appears to have no personal relationships and is married as it were to his work. He derives a great deal of his personal self worth and all of his status from his work and position in the Decepticon hierarchy. It should be noted that he has a higher status in that organization than a communications officer generally has in Cybertronian military organizations. It would be prudent to conclude that his tendency to wiretap and eavesdrop fueled and fuels still his status as third in command behind Starscream and Shockwave.
"He is in the age range with you, Optimus Prime and has a very great IQ. This information is part of the record and reflects his single-minded attention to what he is involved with excluding extraneous elements that don't serve his purpose to the task at hand.
"His social skills are minimal. He doesn't have friends nor does he try to cultivate them. The only 'relationship' he has is with Megatron and that is very self serving. He is not trusted and doesn't trust. His symbiots however are very dear to him and he takes care of them with great zeal. There have been rumored stories about him killing mechs who cause harm to them but they are only rumors.
"No one likes him because he is felt to be untrustworthy in the extreme. His communications skills are his greatest asset and they are enormously highly developed. He can invade an entire planetary comm system easily and there are literally no places one can hide to have a private conversation that he can't reach. He uses his recorded conversations as blackmail to get what he wants or to hold onto what he has. There are even substantiated accounts where he has sent information to Megatron that caused mechs to be killed or to disappear.
"His signature behaviors, those that he has that power his pursuits appear to be anti-social personality disorder, a lack of empathy for others and an ego that drives him to not only be indispensable to his current master but master himself someday. He is driven to be first but cunning enough to bide his time. He plays on the ego of Megatron and has made himself absolutely indispensable to that mech's functioning by appearing to be above reproach in his personal devotion to both the Cause and to Megatron.
"Underlying this is a pattern of behavior that lends one to conclude that he himself is working to become lord and master of Cybertron. He is making decisions that he knows are contrary to his brief as caretaker and his recent activity with a base off world indicates that he is anticipating a poor reception if Megatron comes back. That action signals weakness and therefore is a chink in his armor that you can exploit. One can only imagine what his support in the army is and he has no air wings now. He showed weakness through that move no matter how necessary he feels it to be to his continued survival.
"He is patient, relentless and ruthless in pursuit of his points and plans. Even the idea of offending Megatron has not tempered his behavior. He is either exhibiting wishful thinking in hoping that Megatron doesn't come back or he is feeling confident that he can make an alliance with you or manipulate you to his advantage against Megatron.
"It is our conclusion that his self belief in maintaining the rebuild and control of Cybertron for his own dominion during Megatron's absence has fed Soundwave's ego to the point where he is taking chances. We do believe that his intention to rebuild Cybertron and bring her people back is sincere. It isn't out of concern for the population. He would like to see our people collected back home again because he would be ruler and all would be back to normal as he would see it. However, it is also tempered by his need to be in control, to have the power, something that has long been his goal in an eternity of obsequious and slavish devotion to his master.
"He is a creature of habit yet can pivot to a point with relative skill, contemptuous of others and willing to sacrifice a lot so that in the end he gets what he wants. He is not trustworthy but can be worked to your favor because of the untenable situation he is in at the moment caught between two intractable forces.
"His tendency to record, to oversee everyone and everything is his greatest weapon and asset. No one is safe. I am quite sure he taped both contacts with you and would not hesitate to use them to some benefit if he could including modifying what happened and was said. His willingness to sabotage his enemies and any potential usurpers has won him no friends. If he were injured in battle, I do not believe he would be rescued by his fellows.
"Given what we know about him, we can make a few predictions. I would also note that this is a very short profile. If we had access to more data and mechs who knew him, it would be more fulsome. The information we are giving you now appears to be the best possible outcome of our studies." He looked at his datapad and continued. "I would conjecture that he is flexible to a degree in what is possible regarding the situation with Megatron. Since his options are limited and he can't count on wide spread support in the troops or civil population, he will be more amenable to suggestions or demands by you, sir, than he would otherwise.
"He is aware of his limitations but I would suggest that he is not fully cognizant of how much you know about them. He is dangerous in a corner but has been devious, sneaky and cautious in his approach to leadership which makes him take the easier of two roads when he has a chance to choose. Given a strong opposition, I would believe he would lose." Jarro nodded to Micca. He picked up his datapad and began.
"I am an observer, sir, trained to study body language, tonal inflections and other physical clues of a subject without their knowledge. From my observations at the time of the meeting, I have drawn the following conclusions about Soundwave as they stand. And mind you, this is one observation."
Prime nodded. "Please continue."
"Soundwave exhibits traits of control and secrecy that are in keeping with a mech whose modus operandi is stealth, sneakiness and backstabbing. He is very good at holding himself together but the tels were there. His affect was rigid physically and stayed that way until he left. He schooled himself very well to appear relaxed but he wasn't. The readings that we got from him through our sensors corroborated this. He is under extreme pressure.
"His concern for Cybertron is genuine. His belief in himself as the only one who can lead Cybertron is genuine. He has a devious nature and even though he came across as confident, he wasn't. He is trying to construct in my opinion a fall back with you. I believe his intention is to create a situation where you and Megatron eliminate each other and he garners the spoils.
"He had very little in his servo to play and that was corroborated by the sensors that read his core as in the red indicating an elevated but highly controlled emotional affect. He is in a state of high stress and is playing a game where he wants you to believe his platform is stronger than it appears. I would say he is somewhat trustworthy in his desire to help you eliminate the threat of Megatron. But beyond that moment, he would be what he is. A dangerous devious foe. Nothing in his affect and commentary, the tone of his rather monotonous mechanical sounding voice and speech patterns indicates strength."
Prime sat a moment, then nodded. "Thank you very much. I appreciate what you have discovered. If you could send a copy to Prowl, I would like to have it for reference."
They beamed at Prime. "It is our very great honor, sir," Jarro said.
...in the here and now
"When would you want this?" Ratchet asked.
"Not today. Not even tomorrow. I want the set up in place to send intel from Cybertron and the outer planets. I want to have a plan in order for three teams. I want one to go hook up with Dai Atlas on Cybertron. I will have a set of objectives for them to achieve, some for future operations. I want two others to explore Falax II and Corvan. They can be delivered and retrieved by bridge on a set time line. Short and swift. I want them informational and deep cover teams, only the best soldiers." He sat back and rolled his helm, the tension popping in his neck. "We don't want to wait too long but we don't want to run in without thinking this through. Stealth matters." He glanced at Ratchet. "You and I will see Shockwave orn after tomorrow. I want things worked out before that. How is the relay coming along?"
Prowl nodded. "Blaster has it in servo. The subspace Seeker relay will be the main conduit. We hope to have high speed sends for Cybertron shortly. Perhaps we can task that to the Cybertron team to alert Dai and the Knights?"
Prime nodded. He looked around the table and grinned. "Make it so," he said to general snickering.
-0-A short time later
Semi sat at the main desk with his clerk nearby setting up for the hearing. Hanging behind him on either side were the flags of Cybertron and the emblem of the Primes. He was in the new courtroom that he held trials, settled disputes and made civil decisions. This was the same court he ran cases as Magistrate. A petit jury box was on his right side and the witness platform on his left. Seating for spectators filled the section in front of him behind tables where the defense and attorneys for the state would sit. It was all good.
Mechs began to filter inside the room including Ratchet, Jericho and Gypsy. They sat in the audience seating chatting as Steelshaft, a lawyer specializing in representing under-aged Cybertronians walked in and sat at the defense table. Highrode entered next and paused by him chuckling over something, then sat at the other table. More mechs came inside, then Summit and the two unaccompanied femmes that had been held in protective custody.
Starscream wandered in along with Silverclaw, his staff of office as Elder of the Mountain Clan near Vos in his massive servo. He sat and so did Starscream. Laying his staff on the floor next to him, he turned to whisper to Starscream as they waited. When it was clear that everyone was present, Semi called the hearing to order.
"Please stand," his clerk said. All did. "Do you hereby agree to abide by the etiquette such proceedings require and comport yourself with dignity?"
All agreed and everyone sat. Semi looked at the case datapad, then Steelshaft who sat with the two younglings. "Steelshaft, you are here to represent the two younglings at issue?"
"Yes, sir," Steelshaft said nodding respectfully.
Semi looked at Highrode. "Highrode, are you here to represent the interests of the state as embodied by the Prime of Cybertron and Mars, Optimus Prime?"
"Yes, sir," Highrode said nodding respectfully.
"Very well," Semi said looking at his datapad. "Let me clarify that everyone with an abiding interest is here. "Starscream and Silverclaw, you are here to represent the interests of the Seekerkin in relation to the youngling, Aurora?"
"Yes, we are, your honor," Starscream said. They both nodded.
"I am going to name off those here to provide expert testimony. Ratchet and Gypsy for medical, Comber for processor health," he said looking toward a tall kindly looking young mech. Comber nodded respectfully. "We also have Jericho from Protective Services as caseworker for the femmes, Summit who is their guardian-on-duty and Herling for education and social development."
They all nodded and indicated their presence. Semi sat back. "Then consider this proceedings open. I would like to start with the basic information about these two younglings. Please begin, Jericho."
That mech nodded and began. "Aurora is a femme with a background with family. She is skilled in medicine as her atar was a healer in the numerous settlements where they lived. She was separated from family and wandered until getting into the migration. She was part of the hostage group by the way," he said looking up. "She is rather mature for her age, a circumstance of her life experiences. She is the younger of the two femmes before us.
"Inspire also known as Inspiration is an orphan as far as can be determined, a rescue from servitude. She is from a traditional family who stressed traditional arts including music and dance. She isn't clear on her city-state, perhaps Chrystal City. Aurora draws a blank on a lot of things given a hard life and events therein. Perhaps time and recuperation will give us more. Inspire is older, Aurora is younger. They are both well mannered. Inspire appears to be the quieter and shyer of the two. These are the basic facts to begin with although more can follow as determined."
Semi nodded. "Gypsy, I am to understand that you did the rundown of their physical well being?"
She nodded and walked to the podium where witnesses testified. Stepping up on a step stool left there for smaller bots, she began.
"It would appear that our younglings are in good shape overall. There is only the smallest indication of protoform wasting in Inspire which is borne out by her more hardscrabble life. Both of them appear to be unmolested, ie, no physical harm or indications of old abuse or newer healed injury. They are sound in construction, if a bit on the small side due to an unhealthy and sometimes scant nutritional scheme in their early years.
"Both show strong potential to rebuild their deficits. Both are helpful and bright. I would also say that given all the data we collected in a long physical examination, given consultation with Ratchet and our primary care staff as well as Comber, I would state for the record that neither of these femmes met the state mandated criteria for sub-adult status and emancipation. Neither of them are out of their intermediate youngling stage."
It was silent a moment, then the two femmes glanced at each other with worried optics.
=0=TBC
2012 (12) The two femmes are the creations and belong to Kaekokat. :D