The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 9 (251) edited for boo boos :D
-0-CMO's office, Autobot City Medical Tower, mid-morning
"Hey."
"Hey. Put up your big old peds and tell me stuff."
Ironhide walked into the room and paused at the desk pulling Hero out of his carry hold. She was snoozing in her little bag, her helm and the floppy ears of her favorite bunny sticking out of the contraption. Ratchet pulled up a box with padding and she was laid out in it. He then put it on the couch near the window where the warm sun would tune up her nascent solar receptors.
Ironhide sat. "Got candy?" he asked with a giant smile.
"Only for sparklings," Ratchet said pulling out his box stash from his desk drawer. "You fully qualify."
Ironhide snorted and took it proceeding to denude it of a large portion of the treats that Rampage provided to the hospital as a community service. Ratchet settled back. "Entertain me, Only One," Ratchet said putting his big old peds on the desktop.
"Well, Prime is back on the job and looks a vorn or two younger. There's a spring in his step if you know what I mean."
"That's good," Ratchet agreed.
Ironhide nodded. "We're odd, our family. All the major players on both sides are here for the sparklings."
"I wonder if there are others like this?" Ratchet mused.
"There are … a few," Ironhide replied. "Not too many. Yet."
"Any word on the migration?" Ratchet asked as he glanced at Hero. She was moving slightly in her sleep, perhaps chasing cyber rabbits but settled after a moment.
"It's suspected to be massive. Massive as in humongous."
Ratchet nodded. "We may be living stacked up on top of each other if this keeps up."
"There's echoes of 'Cons out there too."
"That's not good." Ratchet sat forward and looked at his old mech. "What's the plan?"
"We're going to send Seekers out on a bridge to see what's up. It could be that we're going to have a shooting match here soon."
Ratchet sat back and nodded. "Sounds likely."
"How are you feeling?"
"Not so bad, Ironhide. This sparkling seems to be pretty mellow."
"How much longer, Ratchet?" Ironhide asked.
Ratchet paused to calculate, then grinned. "Less than two decaorns."
"That's soon. I thought it was longer."
"Nope."
"Still won't tell me about the sparkling will you."
"Nope."
"You really are a hard aft."
"Yep." Ratchet grinned. "You're a sad sack, Ironhide. If you had just done your duty, you would know but nope. You make me do all the hard work then you have the audacity to complain?"
"Yep." (grin)
"Okay. Just clarifying things," Ratchet said with a grin of his own. He sat back considering the big black Autobot menace before him. "So, what's up with the Autobot Scouts?"
Ironhide paused and shot Ratchet a nuclear optic. "Let me finish one bearing buster before you nag a new one into life."
"Football?" Ratchet asked with a smirk. "I hear your season just wrapped up without finals and a championship team. Care to elucidate?"
"Spinner and Kip. They're going to be leaders someday. They talked the whole league into ditching score keeping, double goalies, no championships because someone might be upset if they lose … shall I continue?" Ironhide asked with a big grin.
"I see. Two tiny bits of fluff … two micro-mini-con femmelets managed to have every single person in the league give up the point of sports? Finding a winner among the masses?"
He nodded. "Yep."
"Cool." Ratchet grinned. "I always did like those two little babies."
"Me too. Might be the makings of the first mini-con Prime in that pair," Ironhide said with a grin.
"They would probably share it," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
"No doubt," Ironhide said with a grin. He paused a moment, then rose. "Prime wants me at Ops Center."
"I'm coming too." Ratchet stood up and held out the box with Hero. "Here. You know you want to."
"Goes without saying," Ironhide said picking up the tiny bundle. She lay on his servo stretching as she yawned widely. Then she curled up, her tiny helm disappearing inside the bag. The bunny ears however continued to peep out.
"Ah, look at that. She shrunk," Ratchet said with a big smile.
Ironhide snorted and slid her into his hold, the door sliding shut behind her. They turned and hit the road to Ops Center, the swirl of the hospital spinning on without them.
-0-Moments later
They sat in the conference room and listened to Elita and Jazz present the intel from out there. On the monitor overhead, Blackjack, Alor and Flint watched and listened.
"We have a message from a flight of Seekers who are trying to get here but their group has fallen apart. They are so depleted that they worry without intervention that their younglings and infants are going to start dying," Elita said.
"Then there is a migration so huge it makes me wince," Jazz said. "Here is their message." He turned and keyed the computer, a monitor coming to life with the strained expression of a bot.
"Optimus Prime, I am Patron. I am nominal leader of this migration. We have over 550,000 mechs and femmes following together the best we can manage. We have arks and soldiers with us helping but we are in dire straits. We were kicked out of our colonies all over the Empire. We've been gathering along the way sharing our resources but we're tapped out.
"We need help. Please, if you can, we need you so much. We've seen Decepticon battle groups passing us without stopping but we don't know how long that will last. We also have two Guardians with us but they're falling behind. Beta and Alpha are almost out of energon. I fear them going into stasis lock. They sacrificed themselves to help us. Please come. I have loaded our coordinates and trajectory to your signal path and we will keep coming as best we can. We're going to start losing ships soon if you don't come. Help us. Please. Patron out."
The broadcast ended. It was silent a moment. "What about the Seekers?" Starscream asked.
"We got this message until it was cut off," Jazz said tagging another message on the computer. It was audio alone.
"Prime, this is Rattler. I am leading a Seeker party that wishes to defect. We have reached the range of the relay line. We are in dire condition. I have included the coordinates of our group. There are 875 Seekers there including babies. We are being chased. I don't know if we can make it but you have to go for our group. They are beginning to die. They are closing on us. Help them. Rattler out."
They sat a moment, then Starscream stood up and turned. Pausing again, he punched a hole in the wall. No one spoke or made a move. Red Wing looked at Prime with shock and dismay. "Rattler is one of Silverclaw's sons."
Starscream turned. "We are going for the Seekers. I will personally lead the rescue. We will be seeking Rattler too," he said with vehement conviction.
"We have two problems, Starscream and both of them are connected. The biggest obstacle is the Decepticon battle group out there. We have to do this three ways. You take the Seeker issue on. We have to go after the migration as well as the Guardians. There also has to be a battle component for the Decepticons out there. We can't go at this half cocked," Prime said. "Let's figure this out, use the bridges and get our people."
They sat down and began to put their helms together.
-0-At the airfield
They came to the transport crates and climbed on top, watching as the activity exploded in the area. Guardians were gathering, the Aerialbots and Seekers came together in the vastness of the airfield as the muster was called. Red Wing was in discussion with Starscream who was animated in his conversation with the lead trines.
All around them troops were marshaling and ships were being prepped. Everywhere they could see munitions, tankers of energon brought in industrial strength quantities and supplies to be loaded aboard the ships gathering in piles. The efficiency and teamwork of the operation was amazing to watch.
:Do you think we can go with them?: Epps asked.
:I don't know. Go and ask Prime or Prowl: Lennox said.
:Me? What about you? You're the leader: Epps protested.
:There's Revo. Call him: Graham said. They watched the big mech walking toward a ship. :Revo:
The big mech paused, then turned to look their way. :Niall Graham?:
:Revo, we would like to go with you. Who do you talk to?:
:The Master of the Muster. You are on the cleared rolls. You can't go with the shooting teams, but you are cleared for rescue. If the Master has you red flagged, you can't come. But if he doesn't, you are detailed to my ship:
:Thanks!: Graham said glancing at the others. Then they jumped down, Jessie Landon in tow and raced with their segways to the Master who stood in a crowd of mechs assigning ships. By the time they were close enough to ask, the crowds were boarding ships. He looked down and paused. :You are?:
:We're Lennox, Epps, Graham: Will said before a punch on his back earned a glance over his shoulder. :Uh, and Landon:
They all looked at him a moment, then he paused to call someone on their internal line. He looked down again. :Lennox, Epps, Graham are cleared for Revo's ship. Landon isn't:
She looked at him with a grim expression. :I would like to go please:
:You can't. Not with them: He looked at the medical team that was coming toward a transformed Omega. :You are assigned to Omega with Commander Ratchet:
Jessie looked at him, then the soldiers, then the Master. Hugging his ped, she grinned. :THANKS!: With that, she turned and buzzed off toward Omega.
They watched her go, then turned and buzzed off themselves joining the line going into Revo's ship.
-0-Ops Center
Prowl organized the muster, his calm voice giving orders as hundreds of individuals hurried to join. Doctors and medics for the sick and injured, soldiers and Seekers to fight and techs who would manage the supplies and stores that would be life and death for everyone moved to their posts. Huge tankers to refuel the Guardians taxied to the runways and lifted off, moving into the lineup above the city.
More tankers for the migration lifted off as well as massive transport ships that would carry those back whose ships were falling apart or failed. All of it was done with great skill and precision. When the troop ships began to lift off, the cameras of IntraComm and the humans were rolling madly.
Seekers in masses lifted off as well, dust and noise swirling around them. A fast shuttle that would carry Starscream and the command trine lifted off, heading for the bridge with their squadrons.
By the time everyone was off the ground the relative silence was astonishing. Laying on a hospital bed with new joints and repairs, Tagg and Kestrel watched their son leave the planet. They didn't know he had gone and they didn't know how much he hated to leave them. But he was Prime and duty called.
They watched through their haze as the apparatus of rescue and battle lifted off to leave.
-0-TBC
2013 (3)