The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box Returns 11 (254) edited for boo boos :D
-0-Later
She stood outside the door of her room, a taped sheet of paper with her name on it fastened there. A permanent plate would be there shortly but for now it would do. Her bags lay at her feet as she looked around. Orientation to the city and the habitat had made it familiar along with hours of MCA download broadcasts. She turned and put her bags inside, then walked through the giant open room to the wall of offices that formed the far end of the space. Hers had her name on the door along with her company, Autobot Public Relations, LLC so she entered surveying a beautifully appointed room where she would do the work of protecting the Autobots from prying, snooping, scams and other unwanted attention. She would help craft the message about the Autobots that would help Earth understand and respect them better.
There was a desk with a chair by the windows which formed the entire outside wall. To one side was a bank of six big monitors with tags labeling what their lines were dedicated for: MCA downlink, conference/security transmissions, Autobot City IntraComm transmissions including the Community Bulletin Board and three monitors that were fixed to Earth stations all over the world. She had learned that one of her perks was a program that would translate any broadcast from Earth into English.
Lucky her.
Bookshelves waiting to be filled, comfortable chairs and a couch for visitors as well as a state-of-the-art computer system that she had been trained on, one that didn't exist anywhere but here awaited her efforts on behalf of her hosts.
She couldn't wait.
Sitting, she noted the console that would change channels, call anyone anywhere even Earth and control her space. She pressed a button and began her first call. "Long Beach, California, Earth. Area Code 555-271-3339."
There was a pause as her request hit Ops Center, flashed through the censor list, was added as a new number and encrypted out the wazoo, flashed to the top of the Fortress and shot out the array. It instantly reached the five satellites that maintained a stationary position between Earth and Mars, the Midway Array and then onward to Ops Center at Diego Garcia.
Teletraan II reading the code shot the signal through the air directly to the tower that maintained that cell phone, bypassing everything in between and delivered a deeply encrypted phone call originating 194 million miles away to Mikaela's dad. It would not appear on any data list or phone bill. It was originating from thin air.
"Hello," a cheerful voice said.
"Hey, Dad. Guess where I am?" she said relaxing in her chair.
"MIKAELA! YOU MADE IT?!"
"I did," she said beginning a long conversation with her newly married dad.
Sam who was lurking in the doorway tiptoed out and headed for his own office at the end of the row to finish up a contract negotiation between an energy company and the business front for their technological entity, Autobot, Inc. They would not meet again until dinner.
An ackward dinner.
-0-Out there
Starscream directed the formation of the flight that was heading toward the faint signals of Seekerkin as the battle group nearby moved off with haste. It didn't bode well in his infernally suspicious processor but you never knew. Why draw down the wrath of Unicron when it really served no purpose beyond stoking your own ego?
The irony would be lost on him, such were the lack of memories that he carried now.
The darkness swallowed them as they flashed onward, Valles Marineris forming the center and City of Iacon the tip of the spear. All along its razor sharp edges, the Seeker armada flew. They disappeared from view at an astonishing rate.
-0-Nearby
They returned flying back as fast as they had left. The data from the Seeker logistical specialists accompanied by their heavy gun compatriots was daunting. The estimation of ships was nearly off the scale. There were so many had they not arranged alternate landing sites they would have been buried alive. The number of individuals hovered on initial estimate between 500,000-559,000.
The need was obvious. There was starvation and illness in the population. Some ships had scorch marks and hasty repairs from either Decepticon attacks or that of other aliens who had come to despise the 'metallic death-bringing monsters' from space. There were Arks interspersed through out the migration with soldiers sending data directly to Prime now that his location had been sent to their ships.
There were about 250 Seekers flying with them, most of them civilians from Neutral colonies. They were in as bad a shape as anyone else but had provided deep sensor surveillance for the migration.
There were medical needs flooding the medical computers as Ratchet organized the medics who would go from ship-to-ship in the painfully slow but utterly necessary process of triage. As he worked, as the small medical shuttles and runabouts began to come through the open aperture of the bridge, Jessie Landon watched from her perch. :Will. Niall. Bobby. Are you there?: she asked over the private channel.
They replied. :Where are you, Jessie?:
:At the migration. Ratchet is organizing the triage teams and they're pouring through the gate from Autobot City in the shuttles and runabouts. It's amazing. Where are you?:
:Revo's ship with Optimus's group. We're waiting for the signal from Starscream that they found the Seekers. Then he's going to break off and trail Hydro if necessary. His battle group is on our sensors, Revo says. We want to harass them away from this migration. You should see it. It's fucking huge:
:I can see the lights. I heard over the comm lines that it is more than half a million bots. The ships are over the top in sheer numbers and variety. We're going to get buried in ships: she replied.
:I know: Lennox replied. They talked together sharing their views of the same events until Revo veered off and a battle group headed out toward Hydro.
-0-In the Box
They sat strapped in, the three soldiers of the Apocalypse. The box was so strong and self contained that Revo joked if they took a direct hit and were blown to the Pit, the box would survive the shock if not the contents.
Pilot humor.
It wasn't confidence making.
They gathered up on Omega, the Guardian seemingly bristling with menace. They knew it was possible, sentient ships and all but they didn't know that he was in contact with Gamma and Zeta who were tasked to take tankers to refuel Beta and Alpha. Their signals were fading and the distance was fraught but they were flying full out to rescue their siblings.
Omega feeling the burn himself flew with gathering menace to the battle group that with any luck would feel the full brunt of his angst. Even though he was a bit of a loner and filled with the weariness of war, Omega relished when he was called to fight, bringing to the battle an intense burst of satisfaction at bringing the hurt to anyone who would menace his charges. He was big, incredibly powerful and dangerous.
Just like his siblings.
That he, just like them was an utterly committed Autobot who sought to serve his faction and all of their endangered helpless people was part of his deepest and most genuinely felt ethos.
Prime sat in his hull watching the lights on his datapad. The gap between him and Hydro was closing. He sent the data to Fort Apache and the alternative triage site managed by Blackjack and Alor. They would launch their teams if this mess bogged down into a fight. Either way, Prime was prepared. He didn't give a frag how it went. He just knew he wasn't going to lose.
-0-On the deck of the Carrion, command ship of the Decepticon battle group, Revenge
Hydro sat watching the lights turn and head his way. Prime was upset he considered. He was coming to kick their afts. He considered his own array of ships. Seven battle cruisers filled with deadly weapons and intensely loyal battle-hardened troops, check. Half a dozen smaller but no less deadly battle shuttles, the Decepticon equivalent to lesser Arks, check. Three fighter vessels whose small one to three mech fighters could detach and fight, check. Two troop ships filled with soldiers who obeyed only him, check.
He considered what Prime was fielding … a Guardian … Omega Supreme. He thought a moment. He wasn't aware that any of the Guardians were still alive. He had heard that Kappa was doing escort duty on the fringe of the Empire due to battle wounds and that she had been destroyed. He had heard that most of them had fallen. No word was made about Fortress Maximus but then he had heard that Overlord had killed him after a bit of 'play' at Garrus 9. Metroplex? He hadn't been seen in eons. He was supposed to be protecting the secrets of Alpha Trion and neither had been seen in ages.
Yet there were big signals here. He read the signals of at least three if not more Guardians. Faint echoes of a reading from the far end of the migration signaled perhaps two more nearby.
What the frag?
He looked at his crew, his second waiting for orders. "Step it up. I want to see Paragon and get a sense of this situation. I don't want to engage Prime just yet. His time is coming," he said grimly.
The second, Venom nodded and barked orders. Hydro's group jumped to hyperdrive and disappeared toward the fortress of Paragon.
-0-Prime
He watched them jump and glanced at Ironhide. "Follow."
Ironhide nodded and calmly gave the orders. They jumped to hyperdrive and disappeared toward the fortress of Paragon.
-0-Overflying the migration
They played the same message and broadcast it on the open civilian channel as they passed over the vast array of ships and their suffering passengers.
:We are Gamma and Zeta Supreme. We are heading back to rescue Alpha and Beta. The Prime is here and so is rescue. Do not be afraid. Our soldiers and our might will protect you. Send information to the channels that are designated in this message. Include names, ages and medical condition. We will gather all of you, the most endangered first. Medics and soldiers will bring energon for you if you tell us what you need. They will help you with your hurts if you tell us how you are. Be accurate and be patient. You are protected in the jurisdiction of Optimus Prime:
The message continued as they did, seeking in the darkness the siblings they had not seen since before the Fall of Cybertron.
-0-'Special Broadcast: Autobot City'
"The news from the mission is that the migration has been found and secured from any interference from outside forces. The Decepticon battle group detected nearby has fled with the Prime in pursuit to ensure it stays away. The Seeker analysts have returned information that lends to the belief that there are between 500,000-550,000 individuals in this migration.
"There is also the belief that two more Guardians, perhaps Beta and Alpha Supreme are among them. We have a link to Jazz who is with the Prime in Omega. Jazz, can you hear me?" Gen-O asked.
"I'm here, Gen-O," a cheerful voice said as a smiling image of Jazz filled one half of a split screen.
"Jazz, what do you know? What do you see?" Gen-O asked.
"We see a migration you have to see to believe. There are so many ships it looks like Iacon Central Square at rush hour," he said with a chuckle. "The migration is being attended to. Right now, we're in hot pursuit of a battle group lead by a slagger named Hydro."
"Are they a menace to the migration?" Gen-O asked.
"No but they were hangin' around and we didn't like it. Prime pulled Omega and a battle group together to chase him off. We're in hot pursuit now."
"There is a rumor of a Seeker flight in bad shape out there too. Can you speak about that or do you know yet?" Gen-O asked.
"We know about them and a relief team is headin' toward them lickety-split as the humans say. We know they're in really bad shape so they have been a priority from the moment we made the jump. Apparently, if we don't hurry babies are goin' to die from starvation." The tone in his voice was grim.
"That's horrible. Do you have any news about their ETA?" Gen-O asked.
There was a pause, then Jazz returned. "The relief group is within visual sight of the flight. They appear to have landed on a planetoid fragment. We will be there in an estimated half a breem."
"Can you tell by the information at servo what kind of condition they are in?" Gen-O asked.
There was a pause, then Jazz responded, his voice grim. "They appear to be at death's door, Gen-O. We are going to come in the knick of time."
-0-At the site in question
They caught the signal of relief, the ones cognizant and working to the best of their depleted ability to help the others. When the lights appeared in the dark heavens some were aware. Too many weren't. Even when the ship landed, they lay on the ground staring dully into the middle distance.
Medics hit the ground running, some of them Seekers. Some scanned and identified the worst cases, others quickly inserting the correct formulation of energon into necklines from bags that had been prepared ahead of time. Those with injuries and wounds were given priority as well as elderly, sparked mechs and femmes as well as infant starvation victims. The pace would be frenzied for quite a while as they gathered patients to be transported to the bridge that the ships held in their superstructures. They would be carried to the ship, pass through the small in-ship bridge and step out at the hospital at the airfield and Aerie Hill which were the designated relief sites for Seekers and Guardian mechanisms.
-0-On the trail
They flew after the Decepticon group, Revenge, their weapons powered up and their sense of urgency full out. Prime watched as the distance between Hydro and Paragon narrowed. He watched as Paragon launched ships that sped to a cooridinate in space and braced themselves. Apparently he had drawn his line in the sand, something that Prime noted in his growing personal list of information about the enemy.
They flashed after Hydro, their armaments coming on line as a threat and warning of the enormity of the peril they could pose to any idea of piracy against Prime's empire. He glanced at Ironhide. "We know how far out Paragon will actively defend even with the idea of having Hydro help him."
"It's not far from his own set up. Given that they haven't gotten together yet, he could just be hedging his bets. Paragon might be seeing whether its worth the trouble to help Hydro by exposing himself further until he sees what you will do."
Prime nodded. "Let's show them then." He looked at his arsenal list, then nodded. "Send them a message from me."
Ironhide turned and called the orders which the command team sent to the requisite individuals. Seekers with heavy armaments broke from the group and formed up in a line between two heavily armored super fast Wrecker battle shuttles. "Springer to Prime. Your orders specifically?"
"Give them a memory, Springer, then break it off and return. No one gets hurt but them," Prime said sitting back to look out the view port. He could see them form up, then turn on the turbos to follow.
"Paragon and Hydro will be upset," Ironhide said with a giant smile.
"Good," Prime said with a grin of his own.
-0-Paragon
He stood at the sensor station watching the gathering event beyond the borders that he could logistically and logically patrol. Hydro and his group were coming at top speed even as a ultra fast heavily armored group gathered to chase them. It would be interesting to see how this played out, this unusual action on the part of Prime. This Prime was different than the one he had fought against on numerous occasions before. This one was ready to kick his aft.
"Paragon to Hydro."
"Hydro here."
"You angered the Prime. Why?"
A pause, then a chuckle. "Does he need a reason?"
"Come soon. We have to talk. I have pings from others."
"On our way. Hydro out."
He cut the signal as the gap between them and the pursuing Autobots began to close. Paragon watched it with a sense of urgency. They were very good. Their technology was outstanding. He could tell there were two big space bridges, one of them very big indeed. But there appeared to be space bridges on some of the ships now moving into the migration.
They were inside the ships.
He had read about that technology, first developed by Autobot scientists but he had thought it lost. Apparently, there were scientists living that remembered and were now working at Prime's colony. After hours of watching the accidental downfeed of their broadcasting, he wouldn't doubt that they were capable of a lot more than they showed the denizens of their cities.
Cities.
Plural.
It still gave him pause. He turned and walked to the center table looking at the huge datapads he had laid out. The Seekers were being rescued, ship bridges facilitating that one as well. Beyond them the faint trace of Decepticon battle groups could be heard in echoes on their own encrypted lines. He had pinged back feeling elated when they had responded. He would be going to a meeting place on the other side of this reclamation to meet up to talk. Hopefully, he would have Hydro with him.
And Arrow.
He could talk Seekers into staying. They had prepared messages to send of their own asking them to come, their families safe in the confines of his own personal leadership. Arrow spoke the messages for his own kind. They would gather strength against strength, then choose a target.
Prime perhaps.
Maybe Soundwave.
Whichever one gave them the most advantage, that one would be the target. If they could wound or pen in the Prime, they could have time and space to regather themselves before taking on the common enemy, raising the banner of their Cause high once more.
He would have to wait. He could. Few were more patient than he was. Few perhaps with the exception of Prowl. That bot knew how to wait too.
-0-Hydro
They flew swiftly, their formation changing as he put big guns behind him. He wasn't going to stand and fight. He wanted his group intact for the discussions with Paragon. Losing even one small aspect would lower his leverage. They would lay down mines and shoot delayed charges. Anything that would put them into the circle of Paragon's sphere of influence would be enough.
-0-Springer
He stood on the deck of his shuttle, the guns manned by his Wreckers. They were all pointing to the rapidly closing Decepticon fleet when the mines and charges flew out. "Take them out, boys," Springer said calmly.
The ship shuddered slightly, ever so slightly as the guns began to slam. Seekers and the other shuttle opened up taking out all of the missiles. They flew through the debris and stepped it up, opening up the engines even more. "Shoot the slaggers," he said equally calmly.
Drift who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat smirked. "This is fun."
"Prime's become more of a kid over the years. Ordinarily, he would have taken the high road but where's the fun in that?"
"I hear ya," Drift replied relaxing as he turned to watch the fight. Guns were firing from the rapidly closing 'Con fleet. "How much damage do we do or is there a limit?"
"We waste them," Springer said with conviction. Opening a channel, he exhorted his crews. "Blast their afts, boys. Leave a mark on their skid plates."
Laughter and abuse in several languages and dialects both grounder and Seeker filled the airwaves, then subsided as concentration for shooting overtook hilarity and bravado. Blossoms of flame appeared on the afts of the ships fleeing, bursting into sight, then dying away immediately in vacuum.
They followed, then Springer called halt. "Let's hold the line here. If they come out, we fight. If they don't, we taunt."
The Seekers paused as their shuttles slowed. They transformed and floated over magnetizing to the hulls as the 'Con fleet continued onward meeting the ships from Paragon's continguent. They trailed debris and fires could be seen inside.
"Springer to slagger commander of the yellow tail fleet. How about a parlay?"
There was no sound, then a gutteral voice appeared. "Frag you, Autobot."
"Now, now. You know the rules. We shoot you, you shoot us."
"I will take you apart, Springer."
"Hydro? Is that you? I do remember that you were the security fleet in the sector at Garrus 9. I remember we invaded, our little team and kicked your aft into the Pit. We got all our people and shredded yours. Long time no see, buddy."
There was a tense pause, then a calmer voice answered. "Springer, I remember Fortress Maximus. I remember the games."
A cold look of hatred came to Springer as he listened to the big mech. "I remember too. I remember cowards torturing caged prisoners for sport. I remember Overlord throwing some of you into the arena when he thought things were slow. I remember you, coward."
Hydro gritted his denta and considered the legendary lunatic on the other end of the line. Springer had taken the Wreckers into servo when Impactor fell into the Pit. Springer was a tough customer, a triple changer with a urge to win second almost to none. "You say that from a distance behind your lines, Springer. You wouldn't say that if you and me were together alone."
"I would, Hydro. Anyone who helped Overlord or participated in his cowardly games is a loser. I say it here. I would say it in front of Primus." Springer grinned. "You are a coward."
Drift looked at him with a curious expression. "You're deliberately undermining his authority with his armada. You do know he will need to repay your kindness with a blaster."
"I know," Springer said.
"Prime said no contact, Springer," Drift said, a frown forming on his faceplates.
"I know," Springer said with a slight grin.
"I would stay and kick your aft, Springer but I have a dinner date with Paragon. I am the leading edge of oncoming opposition. I have better things to do than kick you into the Pit."
"The 'leaking' edge, Hydro? Is that what you said?" Springer asked as the fleet continued onward heading into the darkness toward Paragon's fort. The line protecting them reversed and began to disappear as well.
"Give Paragon a big kiss for me, slagger. Tell him I said he's a coward too," Springer said with laugh.
The line stayed dead.
-0-Prime
He listened to Springer taunt the enemy, a slight grin on his face. Springer had brass bearings and he loved the mech, a friend of many a long and sorrowful orn.
"Mech has bearings," Ironhide said glancing at Prime with a grin. "But what can you expect from your missus."
A crackle of static could be heard over the intercom. "I heard that, Ironhide," Prowl said from the distance of Mars. The smirking winger stood on the command deck and listened as Ironhide and Prime's laughter echoed over the intercom of Ops Center.
-0-TBC
2013 (3)
TF Factoid: Starscream's original name was supposed to be … wait for it … Ulchtar. Even worse. An alternative early name was … Pretty Poison.
"Not likely. The pretty part maybe ..." -Screamer
Slag: we all know its their biggest personal insult but in some countries it also means slut. Soooo. They use scrap now on TF: Prime because of that.