The Diego Diaries: Santa Ho-Ho 6

-0-In the crowd

Starscream looked at the stage but parts of him didn't see it. The internal view inside himself that held him captive was filled with images of his infants performing. The entirety of his being was suffused with so much surprise and love he felt almost as if he were having an out-of-protoform experience. He blinked looking toward his trine and the other Seekers who were leaning in to congratulate them. He grinned from audial to audial, accepting their appreciation for his sparklings with as much coherence as he could manage.

All around the air field bots were laughing, clapping, awash with surprise and amazement. More of them than anyone would like to acknowledge had never seen a baby Cybertronian before coming here. Many of them who saw them now had never held one. They were just the cute little things who lived here, went to school, hung around with their families and trick-or-treated during holidays. To see them do this which apparently was super hard or Herling wouldn't have applied a caveat was stupendous.

As the crowd gathered together again, a youngling walked out on stage with a datapad. Attention finally began to focus and they turned to listen as a youngling mech from the Youngling Intermediate Day School began to speak. "My name is Fon. I am here to help tell you about Christmas Surprise. On Earth, it is a holiday for half of the world's population. It is a very religious sacred day for them. But it also has a secular side and that is what we celebrate now.

"When the Autobot garrison on Earth at Diego Garcia began to grow as soldiers heard our Prime and came, the call that our Prime made for them was also heard by refugees. We can all remember the moment we heard his voice. I will never forget it. Among the first group of refugees were nine orphans. I am going to have them come up here now." He turned and nodded to the younglings gathered at the bottom of the steps. They came up, four younglings of different ages as well as Silverbow, T-Bar, Spirit and Rambler gathering on either side of Fon. He turned to the crowd and read again. "We are the nine orphans that came that orn to Autobot City."

The crowd broke into applause and it built, climbing higher and higher before tapering off. The crowd grew silent again as they listened.

"Rambler, T-Bar, Spirit and Silverbow went with their adoptive guardians to Diego Garcia and lived there when their genitors had to be in residence. They came here when they weren't and for a long time we were the only kids on Mars. Then one orn a very kind thing happened. There are soldiers on the base at Diego Garcia that work with our army and Seekers. They are N.E.S.T. soldiers who are brothers to our own soldiers and some of them, the ones who are here now are among the best friends our people have on Earth among their kind.

"When it was Christmas time, the soldiers, especially the femmes were concerned that the nine of us wouldn't have a holiday like them. So they networked throughout their military, got presents for us from all over their world and had them shipped to Diego Garcia. They had a lot of presents gathered and they made the first Christmas tree there, sending a second one to Autobot City for the five of us who lived here full time. They said we needed a Christmas surprise too and that is what they called it. That is why we celebrate this every year. That is why we have it on the calendar. Not only is it a great family and youngling, sparkling holida, it is a celebration of an act of kindness that lifted all of us up. We love you for it. We won't forget it and we thank you for what you did for us, nine orphans without a home."

It was silent a moment, then several small younglings walked onto the stage holding things.

"I would like Aisha, Jessie, Molly, Clarice and Devon to please come up here now," Fon said.

For a moment, they froze, then the five femmes drove off the ramp and up to the stage where Springer waited kneeling. He picked them up and placed them on the stage, stowing their segways in the front. They lined up and waited, a dazed expression on their face.

Fon grinned at the humans who weren't much shorter than him. "I would like to ask the Prime to come up here please."

Everyone looked at Prime and the crowd parted for him. He stepped up and looked down at the femmes with a smile. Turning to the crowd, it settled and was silent. "When we first came to Earth, there were many who were afraid of us, some of them actual enemies. We were their first alien species and a strange one at that. But there were also allies. The N.E.S.T. soldiers and the command of the Allied Global Force, General Morshower and Diego Garcia base commander, Colonel Fulton among them," Prime said nodding to the men who watched them intently. "We were fortunate that the soldiers of Diego Garcia were open to us and we have become brothers and sisters, both at arms and at peace. All of them are tremendously dear to our sparks.

"During a holiday, the femmes of the garrison took it upon themselves to meet a need for our littlest citizens and provided a holiday for them that was spark felt and deeply appreciated. It was so good for our infants that it was put into our calendar. We celebrate Christmas Surprise for our infants and to honor our allies, the soldiers of Earth. We have taken them into our lives and sparks with the greatest of affection and respect.

"It was an honor that you all could join us this year for this holiday which is a little bit human and a little bit Cybertronian. As a gift to you, we would like to honor all of you but especially the femmes who through the generosity and kindness of their hearts made a very sad time happy for nine homeless children from a lost world. For that, we would like to present to you these tokens of our appreciation."

The younglings holding what looked like cubes walked to the femmes and gave them each the device. Jessie looked at it, a hollow appearing crystal cube with a incredibly detailed globe of Cybertron turning slowly inside. Glyphs on the outside said something she didn't know but one of them was the mark of the Primes and thus, it was an important artifact beyond the obvious. She looked up at Optimus. :Thank you, Optimus. This is so beautiful. What do the glyphs say?:

"They declare to all from this orn forward that you are a citizen of Cybertron, that you are a Cybertronian with all privileges of such citizenship for all time. You are ours and we are yours," he said nodding solemnly.

The femmes stared at each other, then the soldiers nearby. :I don't know what to say, Optimus: Molly said looking up at him. :This is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. That is, after meeting all of you first:

It broke the tension and everyone laughed, the shouting, clapping and guffawing ginormous. They were hugged by the younglings then pulled to one side as all of the children in both schools moved to stand in lines on the stage. The femmes were engulfed by Silverbow and the little mechs, all of them making room for them as Springer moved their segways off from the platform.

Prime stepped off comming the soldiers and their families as well as Warren Roberts and his wife. He told them that they had the same honors but would receive their gift after the fireworks. From the shouting and happiness filtering over to him on their channel, he considered that his choice of gift was being well received.

Some days it was good to be Prime.

Nova walked out to stand in front of the stage, then knelt down as a group of mechs and a femme from the Intermediate School walked over from the side to gather the instruments that were waiting for them. Rambler sat down beside Alor to help him play the keyboard. Glancing at Nova, they began to play as the older mech conducted the music.

It was soft at first, then rose up filling the night sky with familiar sounds. It was the sound of Cybertronian celebration, the sound of a million intimate moments in a million intimate places now lost to time and distance. The crowd listened, their thoughts their own as the melody wound itself into their sparks. Then the singing began.

They sang together, nearly 1700 children. Their voices were full and vibrant, their purity thrilling. It rose up into the night and made memories stir. The children wouldn't have them, memories of home and family in a faraway place but their genitors and elders would. The soldiers would remember, most of them and so would Prime. It would be warm and painful, hopeful and hopeless. There would be ghosts smiling at them from beautiful moments that would never come again. The sweet and the bittersweet entwined as the children sang of Cybertron and their long last past.

Then it would change to other tunes, songs from another world that would elicit from the humans among them memories as well. The songs were filled with imagery that would perplex some and enlighten others. Songs of snow and reindeer, crackling fireplaces and herald angels, these were the memories of a people as well. All of it spoke of love and family, of place and home. The words appeared on the monitors and voices joined in. Thousands of voices rose upward into the night sky as hundreds of thousands of mechs and femmes joined their children.

Ratchet looked at the sky, at the stars above them and wondered as he listened where Cybertron was. Are you still there he asked himself? How are your people doing? How did we come to this he asked and then he felt the comfort of Ironhide's arms encircle him. He saw his ada and atar singing, their arms around each other. Alor was playing the keyboard with Rambler. Everyone he loved was right here with him, in this place, this good place.

His sons had danced before the city.

Ratchet snorted, then laughed aloud leaning back into Ironhide and joined him as they sang about chestnuts, silver bells and Cybertron.

Then it ended.

For a moment, all was still. All was silent. Then a missile lifted off and soared into the dark sky before it exploded. Overhead, glistening with gold, copper and silver, the Emblem of the Primes appeared across the skies. Thousands of voices roared their approval as more and more missiles lifted off.

Seekers flew in tight formation together across the dark reaches of the sky. Shuttles with the Autobrand followed, escorted for service to their people on their way through a bursting space bridge. Flowers from Earth, the flags of the combined forces of N.E.S.T's nationals exploded into a huge star burst before fading, then exploding once more into the symbols of those nations. Then a huge shell blasted apart and a gigantic image of Cybertron appeared slowly turning. It rotated 360 degrees before fading, the entire crowd stilling to watch it.

After that, it was silent a moment before a barrage of shells lifted off and exploded, all of them illustrating a feature of Cybertron from the glittering beauty of Crystal City to the Sea of Rust. All of the sights were someone's past and nobody's future.

For now.

More shells launched and exploded, all of them bursting into the symbols of units. The Seekers and their new Autobrand that reflected their mission, the Wreckers, the regular army, the security services and the senate as well as the mini-cons appeared. There were new ones as well worn by N.E.S.T. and those Autobots that served with soldiers. The blue sun with partial eclipse of the moon as well as the insignias of N.E.S.T. itself, the Elite Guard, some of whom were still among the soldiers of the Autobot Army, all of them were seen and acknowledged.

The names of districts of Autobot City were next, the images of Metroplex and Fortress Maximus glittering before disappearing. Then the giants were thrown up, Kappa's beautiful face, the stern visage of Omega and Zeta followed by the smiles of Gamma and the smirking swagger of Xantium. They received great applause.

More shells burst, the Aerialbots followed by Cosmos like a little brother trying to keep up with the older ones flashed across the sky, laughter trailing them as well. Then the list of battalions, groups, flights and battle units began to be listed, their glyphs appearing, then going away. Some of them were no more. Some were standing among them and the chanting of battle cries echoed off the buildings.

The forward stations were next, their residential moons matched with their enormous beautiful planets were seen as they took a tour of the solar system. That was followed by Cybertron and her three moons, all of it drawing a measured response from those who still mourned their loss. Then the sights of industry, building, the forward motion of their people filled the skies, all of the images underpinned by Alor and the school band, their music filling the spaces of images and between images with the perfect musical accompaniment.

A shell flew up followed by one behind it. A Deceptibrand appeared and was 'destroyed' by the next shell exploding. A huge Autobrand appeared and hung in the air over them, the enigmatic face of the first Autobot peering down at them. The crowd was stamping and yelling, clapping and hooting. Then they got louder.

Six shells burst into the sky exploding, the symbols and emblems of the six football teams appearing.

The place went nuts.

One by one they burst, fading away until only Praxus was left. Ratchet turned to Prowl who glanced at him with a self satisfied smirk. Then Praxus faded leaving the sky empty. They stood silently absorbing the sights, then turned to listen as Alor began to play.

The music newly composed for this occasion began softly, intricately weaving itself until it swept upward. It built and built, then ended softly, filtering away into the darkness until it was gone.

The combined programs of the Sparkling Day School, the Youngling Day School and the Youngling Intermediate Day School were over.

=0=TBC

2012 (12)