The Diego Diaries: Down Time 10 (270) edited for boo boos
NOTE: A giant shout out to Firebird234 who has been sending me her reviews of the eps this third season. They are the bomb and I want them to keep coming. :D :D I had enough of the old internal fortitude because of them to see today's ep and may I say OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG! This ep reminded me why I love the Transformers. Thank you for humoring me about the muse having a squeamish gizzard. This actually lifted my backside off the floor and that is all I will say about it. Hugs to all in the world who read this story and who love The Transformers. :D :D :D :D (You tube has these eps if you are waiting for them to appear in your country.) Also Sesshykiss13 for keeping me up on this and making it easy for me to see this. HUGS! to all in the world tonight. :D
-0-In a classroom
They were in the reading pit of their classroom, lounging or sitting on the carpeted steps as Mr. Terradive read to them. Spirit sat next to Sunny who sat next to Spot. The big dog was sprawled, his helm resting on Sunspot's lap. Spirit was absently rubbing a soft black ear with his servos while Silverbow who sat next to Spot held a big paw in her own lap. She was rubbing it as she listened engrossed in the story.
The day had been wonderful. The class had been dumbfounded, then overjoyed with Spot. He was calm, passively allowing children to touch him and when Sunspot sat at his table, he sat beside the little Seeker. Mr. Terradive had explained about Cybertronian animals, Terran canines, the idea and objectives of service dogs and the way they would all act around Spot.
Sunspot was allowed to present him and dazzled them all with his almost overwhelming joy and happiness. When they began their studies, Spot lay down next to Sunspot and would follow that pattern all day long. Lunchtime in the big common room was met with intense curiosity from other students and their classes. Recess was a mob scene of infants looking at and touching Spot, but the big powerful dog only sat patiently allowing them to see him.
Now they were listening to a story. Later would come science, history and spelling. They would work on their individual projects in art and have a short afternoon recess. When the time came to go, Spot would be acclaimed and exclaimed over. Dozens and dozens of children would go home to talk about him and Mental Health would receive a flood of inquiries.
It was all good.
-0-At the Home Guard Hall
Bluestreak looked at his recruits and smiled. "I'm Bluestreak, your instructor and I want to welcome you to the Home Guard. I am a shooting specialist with an emphasis on long distance shooting. I am a sniper," he said. "I also fight as a front-liner and have an expert-instructor rating in all the firearms both rifle and hand held styles that the Autobot Armed Forces use.
"I am going to teach you how to shoot, to defend and protect. I am going to tell you that the likelihood of any of you ending up in the regular army is slim to none."
A youngling mech shifted. "I would like to fight the enemy, Bluestreak. I want to help our army."
"And you will. Every soldier that doesn't have to defend the colony here can fight out there. You haven't had millennia of vorns of war under your belt. You haven't fought a professional army all your life like some of us. To bring you to a battle like that would mean your deaths. For you to acquire the ability to fight like that would mean you would have to lose a lot of yourself and face terrible things. You haven't had the experience and if all things go well, you never will. We need you to help here. You are the last line of defense. If we fall, its up to you," Blue said gently. "You are more valued and valuable than you can imagine and your service is so important."
The youngling only partly mollified nodded. "Okay."
Blue chuckled and looked at the gun on the table. "This is your training weapon. Its a moderate range rifle with a self sighting capacity. We will use it first and learn it backwards and forwards. Then we will move on to those," he said nodding to a mass of rifles, one of each make used by the professional army hanging chained to the wall on gun racks nearby. "You will familiarize yourself with all of them. Then you will chose one to be your primary weapon. It will be issued to you and you will keep it and your kit bag handy for emergencies. You will carry them in subspace when you are called up to act and learn to manage that.
"All in the professional army carry multiple weapons and ammunition in subspace even in sleep. I carry four of the guns on that wall plus side arms. You will not have to do that. You will keep them safely in a closet at home. You will have a space modified by the Guard tech team in a closet to ensure that your guns and arms are safe. Until then, they stay here except when you practice.
"Some of you may come to this naturally. I did. Some of you will have to practice your aft off. All of us practice at the firing range. You will notice the professional army mechs and femmes go there on a regular basis. I do. You will too. You will not get good at this without a lot of practice. So, are we ready?"
They all nodded.
"I want you to watch me break down this rifle and put it back together. I will show you what you will look like with enough practice." Blue broke his rifle down almost faster than they could follow. He put it back together equally as fast. When the last part snapped in, he looked at them. "Pick up your rifle and follow me," he said. He pulled out the clip bar and laid it on the table. The others began and some would need help getting the tight clip pulled out. One of them would not be Jade.
-0-At the airfield
The deck crew that managed the ebb and flow of things on the vast tarmac drove the forklift to the spot where it would stand to hoist a family into view that would debut a new baby the next morning. Ratchet and Ironhide would be a big draw so they routed work and commerce details around that few joors.
Behind them, a series of big ships were being readied to begin flights to Earth to bring tourists to Mars. A hangar had been dedicated to their enterprise and the ecstatic youngling entrepreneurs were working overtime to make things perfect. They were going to Diego Garcia to meet with the 60 humans that would be employed by Autobot Tours, Inc. for the first time. They had space in terminals in Sydney, Australia, New York City, New York and London, England.
There would be 14 humans on each flight as well as two pilots and an engineer flying the ships. The remaining humans would stay on Earth to run the terminal boarding stations. The buses would be driven by the same pilot with 5 of the flight attendants on board vehicles that could hold all 300 people on each flight. The bus size made that possible as humans were very small they were finding out. The tours would be staggered so that each part was managed not to overlap.
The first group would land and tour on the bus. Three joors later, a second group would leave Earth and make their way to Mars. They would board the bus as the first group boarded the smaller plane for sightseeing. By the time the second group was ready to do flyover sightseeing, the first group that came would pass the last group as one flew toward Mars and the other back to Earth. It would take twelve hours Earth time for the first excursions to be completed round trip. Longer jaunts and even overnights were on the books but not for now. This would be an every other day operation until the system was completely debugged.
Three smaller ships sat inside the big hangar and they would take the humans on the flyovers of the Martian surface. A containment room with vacuum seal hatches would attach to the ships and buses to make transfers possible. It was getting shakedown runs for the next few orns to help the crews, human and Cybertronian acclimate, learn the safety issues and see what they would be dealing with.
The hoo-haw on Earth surrounding them was majestic. The human employees were being bombarded with requests for interviews and special requests for film and hook ups for media with Autobots they couldn't speak with otherwise.
The tarmac crew set up the platform, hooked up the audio for the naming ceremony and turned heading back to other chores.
-0-CMO's office
"What if we had a naming and nobody came?"
"That would be fragged."
"That's why I have a search and announce program running for Praxian naming ceremonies. I have attended two, Only One."
"I know. I was there too." (grin) "Cute sparklings."
"All sparklings are cute," Ratchet said with a grin of his own. "I have this idea that we get the platform and sound system up and go out there all shined. Then no one comes and we talk to each other. It's a dream I have now and again."
(grin) "You have that too?"
(grin) "Yep."
(grin) "Want candy?"
(grin) "Yep."
The afternoon passed amiably.
-0-Moments later
"There you are." Sideswipe walked in with Sunstreaker behind and they stepped over Ironhide's big peds. Sitting, catching the candy box that Ratchet tossed they helped themselves. "We came to see the sparkling."
"Is that so?" Ratchet said with a smirk.
"Yeah," Sunstreaker said. "He's our brother. We want to bond."
"Fat chance, handsome," Ratchet said.
"Then give us a hint. Is he cute?" Sideswipe said popping the Cybertronian version of chocolate into his mouth.
"He's this side of spectacular. He's a real original," Ratchet said.
"You're a slagger not to tell us," Sunstreaker said. "I may have to get a new ada."
"No one will lurve you the way I do," Ratchet said with a self satisfied smirk.
"You're probably right," Sideswipe said. "Maybe I should frag Bluestreak for consolation."
"That's always a good idea. I hear he has new recruits for sniper," Ironhide said equally amiably.
"He does and one of them is a dazzling good looker," Sideswipe said as Sunstreaker nodded.
"His name is Jade and I am still trying to figure out how he came to get that range of green. The emerald tones are stunning," Sunstreaker said. "I might ask him."
"New mech?" Ratchet asked.
Sideswipe nodded. "A high caste apparently. At least he looks like one."
"Oh frag. What time is it?" Ratchet said sitting up straight.
"1345 on the Terran Military clock," Ironhide said.
Ratchet rose and moved to the door. "Burris is getting arraigned in Magistrate's Court. I don't want to miss the fun." In seconds he was gone.
Ironhide, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at the empty door, then rose as one to follow. They would get there in time to see the prisoners brought into the courtroom.
-0-Front Row, Jail Seating, Magistrate's Court, Judicial Hall, Cultural Center, Autobot City, Mars
They came in under the watchful optics of the bailiff and two Day Watch officers. There were five of them. Four were there for drunk and disorderly. One was there for making threats and disturbing the peace. Semi was sitting in his seat at the desk as presiding magistrate. Behind him hanging on the wall were the banners of Cybertron and the Emblem of the Primes side-by-side.
Smaller flags representing the city-states of Cybertron hung around the room at ceiling level. There was a contest in the schools to have a banner to represent their new home, Mars. It would be part of a city-wide contest that would conclude in four decaorns. Sunstreaker would submit his own interpretation as well.
Legal representation for all involved from the public defender's office were there as well as a new prosecutor from the Public Attorney-Office of the Prime to stand in for the People.
"All rise," the bailiff finally said. All did. "This is the opening of the daily session of Magistrate's Court. Hold to decorum and all will be well. You may be seated."
They sat.
"This should be good," Sideswipe whispered as he leaned forward to wrap his arms around Ratchet's shoulders. He and Sunstreaker sat behind Ratchet and Ironhide. The room was quiet, then Semi began. "What do we have on the docket?" he asked the Court Clerk.
"We have four cases of drunk and disorderly. We also have one case of threatening and disturbing the peace."
Burris, a pompous individual on his best orn leaned forward to the defender assigned to him. "This is preposterous."
That defender calmed him down. Then court began. "Present case 1 please." Semi sat back to listen.
A defender stood and looked at three of the mechs. "Sir, we have three youngling mechs who over energized and were found to be disturbing the peace in the park in their housing district in Terra."
"What did they do?" Semi asked.
The defender glanced at the prosecutor who grinned back at him. "They were singing."
It was quiet a moment, then Semi smiled. "Was it any good?"
"No." The defender smiled. "They came with the new migration and were coping poorly. I wish to ask for mercy in the disposition of this case. The younglings are very sorry and will make an effort to do better in future."
They looked mournful, nodding as their defender spoke for them. Semi sat forward and looked at them. "There are community groups where your talents will be appreciated. They aren't at 0300 in the morning. I welcome you to the colony and would ask you in future to redirect your enthusiasm to better outlets. I will leave this on your record but if you stay out of trouble for 20 decaorns, I will expunge it. Be good, be happy. Get help if you need it. We want you to feel welcome but not like this."
They nodded and looked hopefully at their defender. He nodded and the three of them left after thanking Semi profusely, declaring their willingness to serenade the city in the right manner. It was really amusing and sweet.
"Case number 2 please." Semi sat back again.
A defender stood and looked at his client, a shame-faced youngling mech who looked worriedly at Semi, then his defender. "Sir, my client is a good mech who got into a difference of opinion with another youngling over the playoffs. They were fighting and we don't dispute that. We are asking for mercy because he has never had a record, is a good young mech and is a candidate for sniper in the Home Guard. It was a one-off thing and won't happen again."
Semi looked at the prosecutor. "I think he's a good candidate for mercy. His ada is a very unhappy femme right now and we can't do more to him than she will, you honor," he said with a grin.
"Young mech, what do you say?" Semi asked.
"I am sorry, sir. My Ada and Atar are pretty mad about this. My apprenticeship makes them proud and I put that in jeopardy. I would like to make it up please."
Semi looked at the prosecutor. "What about the other mech?"
"His ada got to him before we did," he replied with a grin. "One cannot underestimate the power of an outraged ada."
"That's slagging true," Ratchet said with a grin.
Semi smirked at Ratchet as everyone turned to look including Burris. He recognized Ironhide and Ratchet, then turned around to stare at the judge.
"Youngling, go home and apologize to your genitors. Go home and sin no more," Semi said.
The youngling rose and nodded, smiling with relief. "Yes sir," he said as he turned with his defender to leave. When they were gone, they had one more to go.
"Case number 3 please," Semi said.
The prosecutor, Cavalier, stood and nodded. "Sir, we have a case of threatening and disorderly conduct. We would like to present a witness to this matter first of all."
"What? This is preposterous. The charges are a sham," Burris said with bluster. His defender turned and had an internal conversation with him. He sat back unsatisfied but silent.
"Contain yourself," Semi said with a cold expression. "You are bound by the dignity of the court to act appropriately."
"Please call in the witness, bailiff," the prosecutor asked.
The bailiff walked to the door and opened it leaning out. Then he stood back as the door opened further as Prowl walked inside.
-0-TBC
2013 (4) PS My big computer died and I'm getting used to a new keyboard on the new one. It may make me worse for hitting the right keys until I shrink down a little. HUGS!