NOTE: Guest, you are very sharp. Guest mentioned that Jazz was on Cybertron with Elita. WHOOPS! I have rewritten those parts and corrected the error with Gearshift. Thank you so much. :D Huggles!
-0-Let's roll out
The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box Returns 1 (242)
-0-On Cybertron
They made it to the staging area where Dai Atlas said to come. Ooze and ozone vied with the smell of rust and neglect as they crept through the underground drainage system, pausing to find their way at junctions until they reached a ladder that led up to the moonlit surface.
It had taken a long time to get this far as well as to connect with the underground. The relay system for communications was active during certain times of the orn and that rotated according to a complex code. They had connected at last and were given a series of numbers that translated to directions.
They reached the ladder and paused, Elita climbing up to peer out. They were coming up in a pile of rusting broken steel beams from a commercial building that had taken a direct hit in some forgotten battle long ago. She looked down and nodded unsubbing her gun as she began to edge out of the hole. She crept out and looked around, her sensors extended way the hell out there.
She crouched to give cover as Greenlight emerged pausing to reach down for gear. The pieces of the two replicators were brought up and carefully put to one side. When all of them were out of the hole, they covered it and waited as Jazz sent the signal that they were at the rendezvous point.
The sky was dark, the brilliant sunlight of their life when lived here a thing of the past. The city was digging out and they could hear machinery in the distance as someone or something worked. Sitting huddled together, they listened and scanned for anything or anyone. Signals of bots in the shadows, scurrying here and there in the wreckage nearby registered but no one came near.
Then they did.
-0-Ops Center, Autobot City, Mars at the same time
"The signal has come back again." Prowl turned and looked up at Optimus. "It would appear, sir, that a handful of Seekers are trying to defect."
"The first crack in the dam," Optimus said.
Prowl nodded. "Should I send someone to escort them in?"
"Send the message to Starscream. Have him detail a party to go through the small bridge. Have them brought here. I want to talk to them," Optimus said with a nod.
Prowl turned and sent the message, a ping from Starscream and the Officer of the Orn at the Trigger returning in acknowledgment. He turned and walked to the table to sit with Optimus who had brought his work from the office to do at the table. They would work together in complete companionable silence until something new was known.
-0-Cybertron
The signal came over their low band linkage and they returned it. Movement nearby gave way to several bots who finally emerged walking toward them with their weapons pointed here and there. Pausing before the group, a tall mech nodded. "I'm Silver. You can call me that. This is Gold, Red and Blue."
The bots nodded and Elita nodded back. "We came here with gifts," she said grinning slightly. "We need to see One."
"Follow us," Silver said turning to go back the way they came. The others waited for Elita and her group to pass, then followed. Soon it was quiet once more.
-0-The smaller bridge
They flashed through, Red Wing and his team. There were seven Seekers in all heading out swiftly toward the signal that had been received by Ops Center. They arrived on the other side, all of them gathering into a flying arrowhead formation.
Nearby, waiting at an agreed site the defectors gathered. They were tired and frightened, the idea of being followed by their ruthless leader almost overwhelming to their already frayed nerves. Hope stood with his bonds, his brother and two friends from the beginning. Six of them were looking for refuge and took the only chance they felt they were going to be getting, leaving during their shift on patrol.
The images of the city had been overwhelming. The Autobots had built a real city with two football stadiums, a huge airfield bristling with ships and tower habitations that stretched out beyond their ability to see. It had been a massive surprise for everyone and even as they decided to leave, they knew that others wanted to as well. Maybe they would get their nerve up by the example they were setting themselves.
A blip on their sensors indicated someone coming from the direction of the Prime's call. It had to be someone who would help them come in from the cold they hoped. For now, that was all they had.
-0-Cybertron
The walk to the campsite of the meet up was convoluted. There was no real rhyme to the path they took as they went around massive piles of broken blasted stuff, up and down piles of more broken blasted stuff and under melted steel beams that had once been industrial factories. The smell was still strong and shadows cast were eerie as they clambered and climbed their way to a campfire nearby.
A group was waiting, standing around the small electronic fire. Dai Atlas greeted them as they finally met up with the leader of the Resistance on Cybertron. "You came back," he said with a grin.
"We couldn't keep away," Elita said with a chuckle. "We need to talk. We come bearing gifts."
He nodded and the groups turned filing out behind him in a single long line as they made their way to the deep underground lair of the Resistence and the Knights of Cybertron.
-0-Out there
Red Wing signaled the group and they signaled back. By the time the Autobot team reached the defectors they were beside themselves with the desire to leave. Landing, taking stock of the youngling group before him, Red Wing walked forward to grip the servo of the mech called 'Hope'. :You made it:
He nodded. :We did. My brother finally came to his senses:
A younger mech shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face. :Can we go with you?: he asked.
:Why now? Why did you decide not to leave until now?: Cloud Burst asked, his focus on the youngling Seeker.
He glanced nervously at the others, then looked at Red Wing. :I didn't know if it was safe to go to Prime. He's an Autobot:
:So are we now: Red Wing said raising his arm. The new Seekers looked at his Autobrand a moment, then glanced at each other.
:We saw the game on the transmission. Did you know there's a leak in your comm line to the base you have out this way?: the youngling asked.
:I'll tell Prime: Red Wing said with a slight smirk. :Continue:
:We didn't know that you had a city. That all of our people were going there. We figured a base with hard living. We have that now with Paragon and there aren't any Autobots there. We know about the death sentence but Paragon isn't enforcing it. He wants to take over the Cause and rule himself. He knows he needs us and he's hooked up with one of us too:
:Who?: Red Wing asked.
:Arrow. He and Arrow have been together a long time. The order was one of the reasons Paragon left the 'Cons. The shoot to kill order was a deal breaker for him. We didn't know where to go and we didn't trust Prime's call so we came with him. I thought he might be on to something. A lot of Seekers are headed this way to find out if he's the real deal and there are some big battle groups coming for a parlay. But the game was the deciding moment. We saw the city and knew that Prime was telling the truth. We saw Starscream and the others. We saw the Elders. We knew which way to go then. You're going to have to tell the Seekers out there heading for Paragon more stuff: The youngster paused and glanced at his brother. :That's what happened:
Red Wing nodded. He looked at them, at the young mechs standing before him and felt fury. They were young, unclear on what to do and trying to find safety. How many more were out there being led astray or hurting? He didn't know. He would get these six to safety, then talk to Prime and Starscream about this news. :We're going to the colony. We will take you to Prime and you can give your oath, personal and Seeker to him and the Matrix. You do know what breaking that oath means don't you?:
They nodded. :You die: the mech called Hope said.
:You do. Are you hurt? Can you make it or do you need fuel?" Red Wing asked.
:We can make it. We just don't know the way: another youngling said.
:Follow us then. We do: Cloud Burst said.
The younglings nodded and watched as the Autobot Seekers transformed heading upward into the darkness. They transformed and followed them, heading into the night and the bridge that would appear shortly. When they shot through the bridge would collapse and other than a trace of energy, no one would know anyone had ever been there.
-0-Cybertron
They climbed down, down down and leveled off following Dai and his team to a place where there was a habitation. In the endless darkness surrounding them could be seen tiny fires that threw carefully contained light in small pools.
Dai gestured for them to sit and they did, his small team joining them. For a moment Elita looked around, then she leaned closer, Jazz reaching for a pack as she did. "We brought a special kind of replication machine that will help you make energon for the people. It is one that we have adapted from a new ally, the Hu An. Have you heard of them?"
"I heard about a group that sounded like them a while back. Their systems got overrun," Dai said. "I traveled all over before coming here."
"Sounds like them," Jazz said stripping the bag back to display a glowing crystal of energon.
Dai looked at it, then sharply at Elita. "That looks high grade."
"It is. Prime's choice for a colony was the mother lode. That is Class A energon," Elita said. "We have two machines with us that can replicate energon from these two crystals," she said pulling them out of the bag. "You put them into the machine, attach the electrodes to a pile of whatever you want converted and it changes it to energon crystals of the same quality."
Dai looked at her a moment. "You're fragging me."
"No," Elita replied.
"This is the machine you will use," Jazz said gesturing to the bags filled with parts ready for assembly to complete two full machines. "The crystal Elita has stays in the machine and becomes the template for the conversion of whatever the frag you use. Don't ask me how it works. I'm not Perceptor but it does."
Dai looked at him, then the glowing crystal in his servo. "Put it together."
Ten minutes later …
They filled a bucket that was nearby with scraps of metal and the ore they had stockpiled to use with their own personal military-issue energon convertors. Putting a lid on it, they attached a grid to the bottom of the container. Jazz worked through the process of assembly that he had practiced with Wheeljack and Perceptor in Sciences, then he keyed in the codes for ignition. He glanced at the others and pressed the simple start button.
They stared at the machine as it powered up and then the grid which showed no change. It was changing however. They could feel the energy on their armor, a thrumming low grade electrical charge. The machine was quiet but the effect wasn't. A rattling sound inside the bucket began to rise as if someone were shaking a can of coins. It increased and changed, the multitude of sounds beginning to coalesce. Then it ceased. The machine ran longer, then it shut itself off.
"It rattles because we used small scraps. The bigger the ore source, the quieter this process is," Jazz said. "We were very aware that you would be doing this on the down low. So use big solid pieces when you make more. The energon template powers the machine by the way. You don't have to hook into any other source. Because it's a template the energy needed to run this is so small the crystal will last a long time. When it finally gives out use one you made. The quality will be identical. At least Perceptor says so," he said with a grin.
Everyone looked at it, then Elita reached for it.
"No," Jazz said. "It's hot. Let it cool down."
They all sat back staring at a scarred bucket with a scorched lid that could hold the hope of life and well being for their stranded brothers and sisters.
"I've made energon from nearly anything with a metallic content over the years," Dai said quietly. "This will save lives."
"We have plans for you to make them," Elita said turning to Arcee. She grinned and turned her back for a moment. Then she turned back around with a data wafer. Elita took it with a smirk. "I won't ask you where you put that."
"Good," Arcee said with a chuckle.
Jazz sat forward, then gingerly removed the lid. Reaching inside, he brought out a crystal of glowing blue energon. He continued to bring them out until they had a pile that would when converted feed a great deal of individuals. "This is Class A and A- which means when its converted to food grade you will produce a great deal from a very small piece." He looked at Dai. "This will help you make a lot of food for a lot of mechs given that the big converters probably aren't working anymore."
"Two are in Iacon. They keep us from starving completely but they are hard to manage. They were damaged a great deal," a bot said. He looked at the crystal in his servo. "I have never had this grade before."
"When we retake Cybertron everyone will," Elita said grimly.
It was silent a moment, then Dai stood. "I would like to speak to you and Jazz a moment, Elita." He turned and walked into a dimly lit compartment nearby. They followed.
Lancer watched them go, then glanced at Chromia. That femme had nothing to say. Her expression said it all.
-0-On the other side
They flew into Autobot space in a tight formation, the younglings in the midst of the Autobot Seeker flight. Mars loomed before them, its orangish-reddish magnificence surrounded by ships, devices and platforms that did myriad work for the colony. They fell into orbit as Red Wing asked permission to land.
:Fort Max Flight Control, this is Red One seeking clearance to land:
:Red One, stand by:
They flew onward making a revolution of the planet as the newbies scanned it in their relief, fear and curiosity.
:Red One, this is Fort Max Flight Control. You are clear to land. Use runway seven:
:Received, Max. Red One out: With that, Red Wing led his party to the ground.
-0-Out there
They stood in a dimly lit room gathered to Dai as he thought silently a moment. "We have something that needs taken care of. Its of the most critical importance. We cannot guarantee the security of this thing any longer. We are moving more and the strain is too great for those involved."
"You are talking about someone then?" Elita asked nodding.
"Two someones," Dai said nodding to a couple of big mechs who sat huddled around a fire nearby. They were big, careworn, drab in coloration and nondescript beyond their size. They huddled together, the weariness on their faces and in their posture evident to Jazz and Elita even in the dim light.
"You want us to take them?" Jazz asked. "Who are they?"
Dai looked at them, then the two. "They are incredibly important and need to go. They are Optimus Prime's genitors."
-0-TBC
2013 (3)