The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 11 (dd3 175)
-0-Night, outside
"If you say so, Sentinel."
The big mech stared at the figure before him, a beautiful dangerous mechanism with a serious lack of fear.
He had it all.
Sentinel stepped closer to the fence as the soft glow of the bars illuminated his handsome face. "I do," he said quietly. "It's been a very long time. I wonder … where is that brother of yours?"
"Here."
They both looked to the left and saw Sideswipe standing in the shadows, his swords fully extended.
Sentinel nodded. "Sideswipe. You look well."
"You look jailed," Sideswipe said as a dangerous expression formed on his face.
Sentinel looked at Sideswipe a moment admiring the beauty and menace of the mechanism then turned back to the one that really lit his fire, Sunstreaker. "You two live here. I should've known. When I heard you were in the army I had to have it checked out. I couldn't believe it."
"Why?" Sunstreaker asked coldly. "You another one of those fraggers that figured the 'Cons were a better fit?"
"It seemed more like you, Sunstreaker. You didn't seem the law abiding type if I remember correctly."
"What would you know about us?" Sideswipe asked as he rolled closer to his brother. His swords slid up and back down, their razor sharp blades glinting in the glow of energy.
"A bit. Maybe even a lot." Sentinel looked back to Sunstreaker who was staring at him with barely concealed anger. "The question isn't what I know about you and you know its more than the usual slag. The better question is, what do the mechs here know about you?"
The twins stared at him, their faces mirror images of each others molten rage.
Sentinel watched them, gleaning information from the moment.
"You seem to think that anyone cares what you say, traitor," Sunstreaker replied in a low menacing voice. "I don't think it'd be too hard to tear you apart. I think it would be easy to say you were trying to escape. Right, Sideswipe?"
"Easy," Sideswipe murmured as his optics never left the face of their nemesis.
"Think about the old times, boys," Sentinel said as he warmed to the moment. "Think about all the times we were together."
Sideswipe snorted, his grin mirthless. "Together. You make that sound sexy."
"Maybe it was," Sentinel replied. "For me perhaps."
"You and I remember the past differently, Sentinel," Sunstreaker replied. "I do believe you may be delusional."
"What can you expect from someone on that side of the tracks coming down to slum with the low brow killers? Danger junkie," Sideswipe said. "You liked to come down and get into the mud with the rest of us. You liked rough trade didn't you, Sentinel. It was more to your tastes than those phony bastards that you had to deal with in the penthouses and mansions of the city."
Sentinel shrugged. "Doesn't matter why I came. I just did. And fancy that, you two were always there no matter what was going on. Your criminal tendencies were one of the things that attracted me to you, that and your beauty. There was always your beauty."
Sunstreaker stared at Sentinel as images of other times flooded his processor. Sentinel would come down to the slums and hard streets to get a fix of brutality, coming alone most of the time. The few times either had seen Prowl outside of avoiding prosecution by the dogged detective was when he had to accompany Sentinel as SIC to the bars and clubs of the Jumble in Iacon and Industrial District of Kaon. The big mech had a thing for the gladiatorial games, dangerous mechs of a certain physical beauty and pushing his slagging luck.
"Makes you sad doesn't it, not getting to frag Megatron," Sunstreaker said. "Or maybe you did. What was it like to frag someone that ugly, Sentinel? Or did you notice?"
Sideswipe chuckled. "I doubt he did," he replied glancing at his brother with a smirk. "Time to move on."
Sunstreaker nodded then glanced at Sentinel. "I'd say it was a pleasure but it wasn't." With that, Sunstreaker turned and with his brother disappeared into the night.
Sentinel stared at the darkness for a moment, then walked inside the barracks beyond.
-0-In Polyhex Tower
Bluestreak felt the blast of emotion, then it faded as firewalls blocked it from him. He probed it, cursing to himself that he was a beginner in the arena of hiding shit from someone, unlike his bonds. When the blast settled Blue tried again. :Sideswipe. Sunny. What's going on?:
There was a pause, then Sideswipe spoke. :Nothing. We're just fragging with Sentinel:
:You better not. You know Optimus won't be pleased and you have to know, you two, that Venture will have to step in and maybe even invoke if something happens here. You do remember Praxian customs don't you?:
:Frag yeah. Why weren't you from Kaon?: Sunstreaker broke in.
Bluestreak relaxing slightly smirked at the comment. He grinned at their angst. :Because you have good taste:
The slag continued for some time. Neither of them fooled Bluestreak.
-0-In a meeting
"We need to set up a situation where they believe that we don't know they're listenin' in and yet we are. We have to set up a drop." Jazz thought a moment. "We want it on a low band so they'll be fooled into thinkin' this is real."
Elita nodded. "We have to drop a device with our 'bands' on it and make it so real that they believe we've lost one, a personal messaging relay or that we aren't aware one has been compromised."
"We need to glitch a communication device from a relay. They have to know that we have long distance relays out here and we use Seeker bands to communicate. We need to 'stealthfully' place a device aimed at them but have it become faulty in some way. That way they can tune in without being aware that its a dummy line that runs one way. We can feed them whatever we want them to know in this manner," Mirage said. "I'd suggest a line of communications relays with a faulty beacon switcher. Let it leak enough signal that they pop it. Don't make it easy. Make them work for it. When they tune in we can give them anything we want. We'll have to give them truth sometimes. We don't want them to catch on."
"We can expand a runner out toward their location and fill it with gadgets … sensors and comm lines to make it seem real. They'll believe we'd do that considering they're squatting here now," Wheeljack said. "Then we can design it to fracture and allow a signal leak, one that's both business and personal communications. That way anything that's part of the communications linkage with Fort Apache can be read by them when we want them to. We can make dummy broadcasts and sends to make it seem like we're broadcasting in a normal way but all of it'll be false. They'll get our feed. We can work out detection devices and wire taps when we're sure they've bitten but not before.
"We get one shot at this. We can also assume that they'll send us fake information if they detect this can go both ways as well so whatever the sensors and other devices pick up must be treated with the idea that its a lie."
"Then there has to be a total redrawing of the sensor net that we're going to be laying down in that direction. The one on the boards won't have our special needs wired inside," Jazz said.
"We need to have it maintained as well or they won't believe it. We should believe that they'll be watching things," Mirage said.
Wheeljack nodded. "We can do that. Seekers do the routine maintenance on the relays and dishes all over the system. They can do this one, too, and install add-ons that we might want to introduce to do our own intel as well. What we need to do now is lay out the systems.
"There should be the three. The first has to be a deep dish array down the migration route that boosts our scans farther out. That one is going to be legit. Then there'll be the subspace Seeker relay that'll be used for communications. That one should be off their grid, too. Both are on the planning list and are normal expansions brought about by changing circumstances.
"The Seeker relay is so low band and so minimal in hardware construction that we can pretty much gather that they won't find it. The migration array is going to be hard for them to reach because it's planned to be placed closer to us than to them. The one we have to devise for this is a sensor array with relay system that attaches to a dish router close enough for them to figure out the configuration but not enough for them to sort out what we're really doing."
"Sounds like a plan," Jazz said with a grin. "We need to put this to Prime then step on it. I can't wait to feed Paragon slag. That mech is a calculator. If he gets a scrap of information he adds it to the proper mental file. From there he builds his plans. We need to throw a wrench in the process."
Wheeljack nodded, then grinned. "We also have to frag with his processor. Nothing like getting word out on the family to help with that."
Everyone had a laugh but Perceptor. He was scandalized.
Wheeljack enjoyed his confusion with great mirth. Perceptor and Prowl were bookends.
-0-Later that night
"Its quiet."
"About time." Ironhide turned on the television and The Hourly News was on. "Missed Platoon. Did you tape it?"
"I did," Ratchet replied as he sat sprawled in his own chair. "We can see it whenever."
Ironhide nodded. "The school looks good."
"It does. Its newer and all shiny. Tomorrow, we're going to have to take the sparklings to their schools. Too bad that school wasn't built for the older younglings. We could put Sunspot on the train and he could get off at the school stop all by himself. It's only one stop from our building," Ratchet said.
"It would be a nice first step for him to run around a bit by himself," Ironhide said. "I know that youngling was on his own all his life but there's something about letting him go off alone that worries and bothers me."
"I hear you," Ratchet said. "We have a sparkling lurking."
"I know. I've been tracking him since he flipped out of the crib."
Tiny blue optics stared at them out of the intense darkness of the hallway. They stared at the genitors and then lowered as the sparkling began to stalk them in stealth mode. Orion paused at the edge of light considering how far it was from where he was standing to the backs of their chairs and the wall. Watching them, making a calculation that he wasn't seen, he ran as quietly as he could toward the chairs and disappeared behind them.
It wasn't very quiet. It was, however, deeply sincere.
"Did I ever tell you how funny he looks when he's stealthing?" Ratchet asked glancing at Ironhide with a grin.
A bump against the wall was quickly followed by instantaneous stillness. Then the tiny sound of feet moving carefully forward continued. When the feet got to the space between them, a tiny black servo was seen reaching upward toward the plate Ironhide had put on the arm of his chair. A tiny servo glommed a big cookie, then both disappeared back into the darkness below.
"Ironhide, did you eat my cookie?" Ratchet asked with a grin.
"Nope." Ironhide forced himself not to look downward.
A tiny chuckle was ruthlessly cut off behind them.
Ratchet considered that, then began to make whimpering sounds. "I wanted a cookie, Ironhide. My cookie is gone. I feel so bad." Ratchet continued the whimpering sounds.
The silence behind the chair was intense. Then a small figure came along the back of Ratchet's chair pausing by the arm to look at Ratchet with a stricken face. He held up the cookie. "Ada. You?"
Ratchet looked at Orion and felt his spark melting around the edges. He leaned down to scoop the infant up.
Orion sat on his lap looking at him solemnly. He looked at the cookie in his servo, then held it up.
Ratchet grinned then took a little bite.
Orion looked deeply relieved as he stared at Ratchet. Then he looked at Ironhide. Holding out his cookie, he nodded. "Atar? You?"
"I have one, Orion. Thanks," Ironhide said nodding to the plate where a cookie lay waiting to be eaten.
"I think little mech thinks he can sleep with us," Ratchet said.
"I think that's probably true," Ironhide said with a chuckle. "Fat chance."
Ratchet grinned. "Finish your cookie, sparkling. You're going back to the berth in a moment." Ratchet grinned at Ironhide. "I think we need to nail a lid on his berth."
"I think you're right," Ironhide said with a grin. They looked at The Hourly News which was discussing the new school opening in the morning as Orion ate his cookie.
"Tomorrow, the new Sparkling Day School will be opening and the travel system's dedicated cars for the school will be running their priority route to the building. All students heading for the Sparkling Day School should take the train with the orange decal. They will run for the school without a stop.
"There are three, one for each district. When the zone identifier at the front of the train is showing orange, it will be a priority run for the school and no one but students and their genitorial transports can use them. If any other color is showing on the trains, wait for the orange one for the next three orns unless you're willing to make changes on the routes.
"In other news, the sandstorm technology in the north of Mars has checked out in all its marker objectives. The possibility of controlling the sandstorms that wreck havoc on the city each spring is a real possibility," Lim-Lee said. "We sent Jacx to Sciences to talk about the program with the project directors, Wheeljack and Burrell." With that, the switch to Sciences was made and the interview began.
Ratchet glanced at Ironhide. "Are you ready to be the atar of a Prime which I think is a brilliant concept by the way?"
"I was born ready, old mech. I am IRONHIDE, DESTROYER OF WORLDS! Every sparkling I have is prime."
Ratchet snorted. "When are you going to put Hero in her crib?"
Ironhide, busted again glanced at Ratchet even as he patted his carry hold. "When she tells me to."
Ratchet shook his helm. "Wuss."
"You can't make me feel badly, Ratchet. Right, sparkling?" Ironhide said looking at Orion.
Orion grinned.
Nope.
-0-TBC 2013 (1) edited 5-4-19