The Diego Diaries: Here we go. 6 (295) (Edited)
-0-Conference Room
"The galaxy is wide open. Megatron has gone off with his most loyal fleets to invade a sector of space with very dangerous aliens. They are called the Borg and they have an empire that is massive. He likes to fight them and has disappeared into their space for some time. The area around the Benzuli Expansion is filled with dread. Aliens have now put it off their charts as space to cross," Rainmaker said. "The specter of the Liege Maximo is bantered about with Megatron sending emissaries for meet ups who never return."
"The Liege lives in the Hub somewhere doesn't he?" Ultra Magnus asked.
Blackjack looked at him. "That is far away, Magnus. There has long been talk about linking up with him but he hates all of us. He considers all of us inferior beings."
Rainmaker nodded. "He does. There is only talk and hopefully that is all it is. That bot would spell the doom of all of us. I also heard talk of the D-Void."
They were silent, then Blackjack leaned forward. "The void is other world and would need a portal to enter our universe. As long as that is closed, we are safe."
Rainmaker nodded. "Megatron's son has been sniffing around the edges of that mystery and has been warned off. He is with his father now in the Borg Empire."
"His son?" Springer asked. "I thought that was rumor and nothing more."
Rainmaker sat back, a look of distaste on his handsome face. "No. It's true. An unholy match up between Megatron and Shockwave. He is called Galvatron."
They considered that, then Ultra Magnus sat forward. "I have heard of him. He's mad. Impulsive. Crazy."
Rainmaker nodded. "He is. He's had … problems. It's affected him personally and he's not a very stable individual. I personally will off line him myself the first chance I get."
"He's Shockwave and Megatron's son so he can't be working on good CNA nor can he have had much of an upbringing," Ratchet said leaning back in his chair. "What a pair to draw to."
"We have Shockwave," Optimus said. "We took him out of the game when he was the leader. We have him in stasis in the deep vault under this building."
Rainmaker looked at Optimus a moment, then grinned slightly. "Bravo," he said softly. "Right now, the Empire is in the servos of the weakest link, Soundwave. He ordered me, then asked me to come to a meeting to patch up the outrages against Seekerkin that Megatron had ordered. I said no. I put out a message in the Empire to reach all of the fringes. Follow Starscream's signal and come. I expect they will obey."
Starscream nodded. "This is a good place. I want our people here. We can be what we choose. They're doctors and lawyers, engineers, teachers and architects here. We sit on the ruling committee to design our own future together."
Rainmaker looked at him, an emotional expression on his face. "That is good to know."
"There are some among us who would seek a return of the old system," Magnus said. "But they are learning to their own dismay what an impossibility that is."
Rainmaker nodded. "That is the way it should be. Not everyone can bend to the new reality. For me, it is the way it should have been to come here and work with the Prime. The Matrix is sacred to me, the ways of Primus the only ones. I come here to be a blessing, not a burden."
"You are a blessing indeed, Rainmaker," Optimus said with a grin.
"There is talk of Nemesis Prime, of Jhiaxus in the Expanse," Rainmaker said missing the startled, then angry look on the faces of Elita and Arcee. "I am unclear about it beyond mentions here and there among those who travel in that area. They apparently still live. But they have been lost in the void, the darkness from which there is no escape."
"Good," Arcee said with venom. Elita nodded in agreement.
Blackjack nodded as well. "We were the ghost ships that lived there. We fled with our people and gathered more. We used the void and its reputation to help us hide and save our civilians. I heard about that too, about those who go in never coming back out. Jhiaxus is a demon. I hope he never re-appears. If he does, he will be a minion of the Dark Lords that inhabit that space."
"Unicron," Alor said quietly. "May he stay asleep."
"We discovered a plot to rebuild Cybertron out of a collaboration between Megatron and Sentinel Prime," Prowl said. "Do you know of that at all?"
He considered that, the number of meetings he was not allowed to attend and all the other faded memories of the past. "Megatron was only interesting to me when the Clampdown appeared. His commentary about equality was always first in my spark. But his rhetoric against the regime began to really resonate when he began to speak out and act out against the Clampdown. He came to us and spoke about how it would be liberating for Cybertron in all manner possible if we joined. I got concessions for our people, then did." He looked at Prime. "I knew you were working hard as an agitator but I had no confidence. If it is any consolation, I was behind your rhetoric from the start."
Prime grinned and nodded. "We had enough conversations even then for me to know that was true."
Rainmaker shrugged ruefully. "Such were the times. Sentinel Prime was riding a dying wave and when he left, it was with an Ark and technicians. I was interested in that. I asked Megatron once when we were relaxing after a meeting and he told me a story. He said that Sentinel Prime had come to him with Ratbat, Contrail, Proteus and a couple of others … I would have to think to remember their names … they wanted to try an alliance.
"I was intrigued so I asked him to recount the tale. He did. He told me that Sentinel wanted to save Cybertron even if it meant making an alliance with him. He said that he would take an Ark, new space bridge prototypes and set a trail for Cybertron to follow. The sun link was broken and we were becoming uninhabitable due to the dire energy situation. Cybertron began to freely drift through space, albeit slowly.
"He was going to fake his death and leave. They would lay the trail to a planet that had lots of energon, workers and materials to use for the refit. Megatron went along. He would bring Cybertron to that place with the space bridge, then allow the rebuild. When it was finished, he would kill Sentinel and the others taking control himself.
"While this was going on, you were made Prime and all of it fell apart. We never heard from Sentinel again. He disappeared. I thought it a strange scheme myself. He always was a mad mech, Sentinel. He thought because he wanted it or said it, then it was true and possible. He was a good riddance for our people."
Prime nodded. "We found him here. Apparently, this was the planet he was seeking. We have tremendous reserves of pure Class A energon both here and on Earth. We found him crashed and took him into custody, he and his mechs. They're in the prison east of the airfield."
Rainmaker considered that, then smiled. "Everyone mistook your reason and will for peaceful settlement as weakness. I always knew that would be the downfall of those who opposed you. It would appear that I was right."
"What do you know about the state of Soundwave and Cybertron?" Alor asked.
He considered that. "Soundwave is a smart mech who is hard to read but he asked me to align with him which is a sign of weakness for me. I don't think he's up to it but he's all that's left of the original leadership. He hasn't got the linkage with the army that you would need to inspire either fear or loyalty but they follow him because he works hard to feed and arm them. Cybertron is being rebuilt rather slowly. He cannot spare much to do that but he's trying to rebuild the bigger cities. Kaon is relatively rebuilt and Iacon is coming along."
Prime nodded. "We have contacts with the underground resistance on Cybertron. One of our main goals is to liberate her. That requires something done to Megatron."
"And his son," Rainmaker said. "He has to be removed as well."
They sat together talking and discussing the situation beyond their borders, then everyone rose together. Prime shook Rainmaker's servo, nodding to Starscream. "If you would do the honors of settling in the Great Elder, I would be very happy."
The clan leaders and Starscream grinned. "That would be our honor," Harrier said.
They waited as he exited the room, then followed, the rest of the numerous Seekers going with him. When they were gone, the rest sat lost in their own thoughts a moment.
"This is great," Ratchet said. "No Seeker can honorably fight for the Decepticons again now that the Great Elder has repudiated them."
Prime nodded. "That's the best part of this," he said with a grin.
-0-RTR Tools
They had watched the arrival on IntraComm 9, the amazing spectacle playing as LATEST BREAKING NEWS! on all the channels. The sight of a once feared enemy coming to be a ferocious ally was mind boggling. Ravel looked at Tie who was rubbing a knife blade with a soft cloth. "This is a very strange life we're leading isn't it, Tie?"
"Yes. A very strange, very wonderful life," Tie said as he glanced at Ravel, a smile on his face. "Look at our son. He's front and center."
Ravel smiled. "I know. Our boy is helping to save us all."
They watched with great happiness as the Great Elder of Cybertron was welcomed home.
-0-At the Community Center later befiore the big show
They sat around a table listening to their instructor, Goldwing. He was among the many who volunteered to help the younglings learn when their plight was told. Three of them, Farrel, Cardinal his bond and Storm, his young brother sat together learning the fundamentals of writing and reading. They were very limited in their understanding even if they had fully loaded adult databases in their processors.
Jarro had studied them himself and found along with the medical team that sorted out their CNA that these seven younglings were about the maturity level of Sunspot. They were slightly bigger because everything during their incubation period had been accelerated. When they were hatched, fully adult databases were force loaded into their immature processors causing a dichotomous viewpoint to emerge.
They were babies essentially forced to function at an adult level with expected adult responses. They were unable to function as either children or adults but were caught in the middle somewhere. The lag time between an immature processor receiving orders or input and the adult response emerging to answer the input was dangerous. Sometimes it caused a momentary freeze up of the thought processes and in combat that could and often was fatal. They had talked about others, ones they knew were 'like them' and too often it had ended badly.
They were babies doing adult things, in adult marital arrangements without the age, experience, perspective or ability to function fully. It was criminal in the extreme that they should end up like this and it soured the community for some time. The infants themselves were swarmed with attention and assistance, whole families taking it upon themselves to explain and include them in the life of the city.
They sat now working out their glyphes, actually learning why they made the sound they made or were shaped the way they were. The response that would arise from their adult databanks was rote. This was real. They sat together working hard in the sunlight filtering in through the big windows.
Their other bond, Raptor was at the clinic getting his regular check up. He had a wound on his wing gotten in combat that had never healed. Paragon for his part made sure his crews were in prime condition. They all were. But this had been beyond their ability to heal. It would here. Among other things.
-0-TBC
05-05-13
TIP of the hat to Starfire201 for guessing the offspring of Satan and his cyclops. I found it really difficult to find someone suitably awful to represent the mix of their CNA. Galvatron kept popping up. It may require a leap of faith for some since Galvatron in some universes is Megatron. :D
NOTE: Leoness, you are the queen. Keep jogging the memory. I have a list here somewhere. :D