The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 20 edited for boo-boos :D
-0-Autobot City, Mars
The sun had barely broken over the low horizon beyond the city as big ships began to transform to take their places on the flight line. Small carts were driven here and there, plugging in to help the giants gather their strength for the ceremonial duty they would fulfill today.
Kappa and Gamma, the two who would carry the party according to protocol glistened in the gathering light, their hulls gleaming with burnished effort from crews in the big craft wash racks earlier. Xantium stood beside Omega chatting as he waited his turn to transform. They were going to show the flag, making their quality known to the allies on the next planet over.
Decals of the Primes were already fixed to their hulls beside those of their various military and civilian associations. Xantium bore the Wrecker insignia, itself gleaming beside that of his Autobot emblem. Their personal tattoos and glyphs stood in stark relief against the impeccable white of their bodies.
Standing nearby to fly escort, fifty glistening Seekers chatted in groups, their families and clan elders standing with them. Three of those would come including Silveclaw. Two of his sons would provide honored escort for the three. Starscream stood with them holding Pip and Dart, Sky Warp nearby with Flit who was tottering around looking at things. Thundercracker was chatting with the Master of the Muster as he organized the first truly Cybertronian official state visit ever from Mars to Earth.
Ratchet walked out, Hero in arms. She wore a little Avatar: The Last Airbender cap and was wrapped in an Airbender blanket against the chill of the morning. Ironhide was somewhere around but Ratchet couldn't see him. He walked to where Springer, Drift, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee and Goldwing stood chatting. "I'm blinded by beauty."
Springer snorted. "You should be."
A nice clip across the back of his helm greeted that venture. "Be good to me. I could hold grudges," Ratchet said.
Springer grinned. "Got ya. That's a cute little sparkling."
"When can we expect yours now that you did the deed without me there taking pictures?" Ratchet said with a smirk.
"It would have been crowded in the berth," Springer said taking Hero. He smiled at her.
"I'm up for it," Ratchet said gamely. "You haven't answered my question."
"We almost had one a while back but Springer stole one of your meters and scanned himself. False alarm," Drift said with a big grin.
Springer looked at him with a severe optic. "Traitor."
"So you had a shotgun bonding?" Ratchet asked.
A pause for reference held up clarity, then Springer snorted. "Nope. We did it for love. Right, baby?" he asked Drift with a grin.
"That's us. Romantic," Drift said as Gypsy joined the group. She took Hero and snuggled her. "She's so cute. Those hats really help infants. On Cybertron, we had warmth. It wasn't as infernally cold all the time as it is here. It helps their processors to wear a warm cover outside."
"You're the one who told Ironhide, right?" Ratchet asked.
"I was. It is my duty to help our babies adapt in this new world," Gypsy said earnestly.
"He took it to spark. You should see him pouring over the catalogs and all the cute things in her closet. The little mechs are getting hats too. They're on their way," Ratchet said.
"It won't hurt, Ratchet," Gypsy said. "Until they get old enough to self regulate their interior heat, the coverage will be good for them. I'm giving a presentation to the schools next month about it because winter is so cold and its coming up eventually. I want our people to prepare the little ones. Its not bad for us per se but for the babies? It is."
"Ever conscientious, our Gypsy," Ratchet said with a grin.
"She wrecks," Springer said as he and the others stared down at her.
She smiled and nodded. "I have to take care of my boys."
The sound of Xantium transforming could be heard as the big mechanism changed from root mode to ship. The hold opened and the ramp came down as gear for soldiers and cargo for Diego began to be loaded.
"Prime's really putting on a show for the humans," Drift said as they stood watching.
"This is a Prime progress," Ratchet said. "You younglings might be too young to remember what it meant for a Prime to visit another planet but we do. There will be a large Seeker escort, a military show of force with Xantium and the soldiers, a transport for me as the Ambassador-at-large and the other Supreme for Prime himself. The protocol for this has already been sent to Earth and it will be discussed in the media for a while before we land. No one knows that Prime is on Gamma for now and Kappa is mine."
"I wondered if you would do that, babies and all. Ironhide doesn't mind?" Drift asked.
"He minds. Springer has his orders and has the responsibility to evacuate if needed but there is a larger vision here. Humans love their children. They know what they will do to protect their own. We have to show them that this is a point of agreement between our two species. They might not 'get' us on a lot of points but they understand children. Most of them anyway. A baby will be a link between us that all can relate to. Consider what you would do to protect their children if something happened to Earth," Ratchet said.
They all nodded. "We would, Ratchet," Springer said.
Sunstreaker nodded too. "You know we would."
Ratchet nodded. "That is what we have to make, points of agreements. These men today are going after our unity. We have to defend that. We have to show them that for all the outward dissimilarities, inwardly we are one."
"Until all are one," Gypsy said as she swayed holding Hero.
All of them nodded in agreement. "Until all are one," Drift said.
Behind them, the group was coming together waiting for the moment when for the first time a Prime Flight would leave the ground and carry the moral, spiritual, political and cultural center of their existence forward to represent all of them to the gathering crowds of Earth.
-0-Earlier, the night just passed
Bluestreak showed up for duty with a handpicked member of the Home Guard bound and determined to do the duty that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had drawn at the prison. He had gone over their helms and had the duty schedule redrawn, displacing both to the Trigger and himself with a student to the prison. The conversation went about like this:
Bluestreak (BS): "Prowl, I want to change the duty schedule for Sideswipe and Sunny. I don't want them working at the prison. I want to swap duties for them with me. They go to the Trigger during the orn. I go to the prison with a student from the Home Guard during the night shift."
Prowl: "Why, Blue?"
BS: "Because Sentinel is messing with Sunstreaker." (Grim expression of barely contained outrage expresses itself on the handsome face of the winger as he stands in high dudgeon in the Ops Center. All that is missing are crossed arms and foot tapping.)
Prowl: "Why, Blue?" (Face becomes ultra calm and a sense of coldness rather like french kissing Antarctica emanates from the composed tightly coiled winger before him.)
BS: "Apparently, back in the orn, Sentinel was stalking Sunstreaker. Remember? When you would go slumming? He sometimes went without you and chased trouble."
Prowl: "Oh." (Quiet pause as glacial effect slowly encapsulates handsome winger who wished he had tried Metallikato on the big mechanism when he had the chance, the two-timing, two-bit slagger.) "And if you take the shift and Sentinel is out?"
BS: "Nothing will happen." (Lie)
Prowl: "I can believe you?" (Intense disbelief)
BS: "You can. If Venture finds out he will invoke and do an honor fight wherever he can get Sentinel in his grasp, prison or no prison." (Stares with Prowl-like intensity at Prowl)
They discussed it and Bluestreak 'won'.
The Officer of the Orn looked at the change in duty schedule and assigned Blue and his handpicked student, Chevy to go around the perimeter of the prison to make sure that things were 'copacetic'. After a moments romp on the internet to ascertain meaning, they both turned and walked out heading for the prison cell blocks to make sure that 'excellent' was achieved.
The night was clear, the stars bright overhead, the lights of the city and airfield soft against the velvet of the darkness surrounding them. The rise of the plain that led beyond the prison was smooth appearing in the dusk and gathering night. It wasn't. The surface of the plain was broken as here and there rocks and boulders poked out of the hard crusty layer. Dust and sand were the prominent features of their area while frozen water and smooth hard stone was common in other places. They walked along chatting quietly until they came to the cell block that belonged to the political prisoners and Sentinel.
"Chevy, I want you to make a round of the prison by yourself. I will be coming behind you. Remember, you are here to practice your skills for the Home Guard in a real life situation. I know you will be awesome." Blue nodded with a grin to the youngling, Chevy who had been thrilled to spend actual time doing 'actual things' for the colony in service as a Home Guards mech. Ordinarily, he was a very mild mannered accountant with a vivid imagination and a Jones to serve the city he had come to worship.
He also wanted to impress his girl, a femme named Flica.
He nodded and turned shouldering his rifle properly, disappearing into the darkness as he walked from pooled overhead light pole to pooled overhead light pole. When he was far enough ahead, Bluestreak turned and with night vision located the one he sought. Sentinel Prime was sitting in a chair next to the fence waiting it would seem for Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to appear.
Blue could feel them seeking him out over the bond link, gauging with expert skill his mood and actions. He tamped them down nearly to the point of exclusion, a feat that was no longer fully available to him and considered what he would say to the big mechanism waiting nearby.
Blue knew that Sunny and Sideswipe had a terrible life and had done a lot of things that weren't good or even halfway reasonable. They were gangsters and criminals, fighters of mechanisms sometimes to the death and indifferent to a lot of what he had taken for granted growing up in a better life with love and attention.
That they would become such good mechs, that they would be such good parents … it was a miracle. He had become the beneficiary of a miracle. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were the other half of his processor, a part of his spark and the center of his happiness. He would not allow anyone to frag that up. Stepping forward, he walked to the fence and paused. Looking at Sentinel who gazed at him impassively, he smirked. "Hi, Sentinel Prime. I don't know if you know me."
Sentinel looked at the handsome winger, a dazzling young mech with a handsome face and a tall slim format. "I don't know if I do."
"I'm Bluestreak."
Sentinel nodded. "Bluestreak," he repeated.
"I'm here to tell you that the schedule has been changed. Sunny and Sideswipe are stationed on the Trigger and not here. They will never do any duty here, ever."
Sentinel stared at Bluestreak considering his words. "Why not?"
"Because I said so," Bluestreak said as he savored every syllable.
"And you are? I am assuming you are someone to make such things happen," Sentinel said with gathering irritation.
"I am Bluestreak, the youngling of Prowl and the trine bond of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe of Kaon. That is why I say so, Sentinel," Bluestreak said softly.
They stared at each other, then Bluestreak turned to go. He paused and looked back at Sentinel. "By the way, we have three kids. A son and twin daughters. Sunstreaker is the ada." Then with a grin, Bluestreak continued onward walking into the darkness to re-emerge in the next pool of light.
Sentinel watched him go as he digested the news. He would sit outside all the length of the night shift watching Bluestreak pass him in silence, doing his duty for his city and his family. He would only go into his barracks when Bluestreak and his partner ended their duty with the first light of dawn.
-0-At the mustering ground
Will Lennox motored to the air field pausing beside the tall mechs that stood with Ratchet. He was ready to go to Earth and speak for N.E.S.T. at the hearing. He had been briefed by Morshower and Fulton in a conference call the night before. Epps and Graham had added their voices and were waiting to watch the show on the MTC upload from Earth to IntraComm for broadcast on the informational channel, 6. All of the humans, filmmakers, scientists and soldiers were going to watch the proceedings together in the tower habitat.
:Will: Ratchet said glancing down at the human.
:Ratchet. Who do I go with?: he asked.
:Go on Xantium. He's a hoot. Expect slag: Ratchet said with a grin. He glanced at the group around him. :Watch over him. He's tiny:
Lennox smirked. :Yeah, babysit me, boys:
:We get the crap details: Sunstreaker said with a grin. Beyond him, Xantium was loading a Wrecker crew and several front-liners as the countdown to lift off began. :We better go. What's that?:
They all looked down and saw a bundle on the segway behind Lennox. :That's my uniform. I'm going to have to change on board Xantium. You're going to have to tell him that I need it pressurized all the way to Earth because I have to come out of the habitat suit:
Springer nodded and paused as he relayed the information. Then he looked down at Lennox. :When the door shuts, he's pressurizing. It will stay that way until we land. Uh... you're going to change your clothes on board?:
Lennox nodded. :I have to be in uniform when we get there:
:You will be taking your outer garments off and we will see your body without clothing?: Drift asked curiously. His experience with humans was very limited.
:That's right. You can see my magnificent manly physique in its natural state: Lennox said with a smile.
The sounds of disgust and derision goodnaturedly delivered echoed over the call band as the big mechs reached down scooping up Lennox and his segway. They turned nodding to Ratchet and headed for Xantium and the big boy ride to Earth.
Ratchet watched them go, then looked down at Gypsy. "I suppose you'll be taking the sparkling for now."
"I am," Gypsy said with a grin. "When I bring her out, do you want her little cap on?"
"I do. Ironhide picked that out for her because he likes that show. Aang is a sweet little avatar and so is she," Ratchet said as they turned to walk to their respective ships. Ratchet watched her go and then nodded to Prime. Prowl kissed him and turned walking with Ratchet to their ride. They glanced over and saw Bluestreak speaking animatedly to Sunstreaker who leaned down and hugged him tightly. They kissed and he boarded as Bluestreak stepped back to let the ramp retract.
Entering their ship, they paused at the top as the swirl of activity quickened. Ironhide walked up the ramp pf Gamma to fly with Prime. The carts and technicians pulled back as the thunder of fifty spectacular Seekers shined within an inch of their lives began to lift off. The elders had boarded with Prime along with Sky Warp, the hatch finally closing. Ratchet and Prowl entered pausing by a porthole to watch the Guardians lift off.
First Xantium, then Gamma rose with great power and grace following the Seekers. When they were clear, Kappa lifted off and the sensation of moving filtered to them through the floor.
Daylight gave way to the darkness of space as the fleet gathered to present itself in the manner of a Prime Flight. Gamma was first with Kappa and Xantium on each side and slightly back. Seekers in groups of ten arrayed themselves like a great arrowhead, their glittering light reflecting on the shining sides of the Guardians.
When all was ready, Optimus Prime looked toward the flight deck of Gamma Supreme. Rem who was the back up pilot looked at him. Optimus nodded and sat back against the hull, his glistening beauty merely one aspect of his majestic presence.
Outside, Gamma signaled everyone and for the first time since the fall of Cybertron, a Prime was flown to a diplomatic meeting by a proper Prime Flight. They disappeared into the darkness in the blink of an optic.
-0-TBC
2013 (2)