The Diego Diaries: A Wandering Tale 2 (310)
=0=United Nations
Larc stood on the platform as Ratchet moved back to the door. He stepped to stand with Springer who grinned and nodded to him. Ratchet smirked back turning composed and silent. Larc considered all before her and waited as they took in her alien form. She was an extraordinary sight. Ten feet all and brawny in the way a hardworking man who carries steel and heavy loads would be, she shimmered with contradictions. She looked like a bison with a humanoid body. Her nose structure was bovine yet shorter, more snug to her face. She had horns that curved with pointed tips. Her hair was pulled back into a braid that was thick as a man's arm and ended in a taper near her knees. She wore dark pants and dark boots, a simple sleeveless shirt rounding out the ensemble. Dark eyes filled with wisdom and mystery gazed out at the crowd.
Black tattoos which told of her people encircled one arm ending in a henna-like tattoo on her left hand. That was the name of her planet, region, town, people, clan and station in life as their leader. She looked incredibly formidable, intelligent and strong. She waited for a moment sorting out the energies that bombarded her telepathy, then began.
"I am Larc and I was chief of the Amacar, a planet that was part of our home world empire before the Decepticons came. I lead a population dedicated to agriculture and the common good of our people. We were a confederation of 12 planets, peaceful unless provoked who traded for eons among the local group civilizations. We were respected and included among diverse groups many of which never got along together themselves.
"When the Decepticons came we fought them but it was hopeless even as advanced as we were. They overtook our worlds and captured all the leadership, myself included. We were either killed outright or parceled out to slave labor camps, the remainder slaving on our home worlds for them. We are a telepathic species, able to communicate mentally with each other. We can speak with the Cybertronians the same way. It is our preferred manner. We were sent to a mining camp, three hundred of us to facilitate the operation with that ability. Cybertronians were there being worked to death by the Decepticons. Even for their own kind, they have no pity. We were there when Optimus Prime and his soldiers came. They rescued us and freed another species that had been enslaved as well, a non corporeal species we only understood to be called The One.
"We were brought here and given a habitat of our own. We have been supported and we support the city. It is our home now and even when we free my own system and we will some day, it will continue to be our home as well. Optimus Prime is an honorable soul. Among our kind, honor is everything. Your word matters. Given an oath, it is imperative that you keep it. We gave our oath to Prime and he gave it back. No matter what it takes to defend this system, I have pledged my people to the task.
"I understand your angst and worry. I understand how strange this must be for you to see someone like me when it is obvious you are a very young species living a very young technological life in a supposedly empty universe. But I tell you from the experience of my own life, of the agony of losing our home system, that you cannot defeat them alone. We are a long time space-going species with tremendous defensive and offensive capabilities. Yet we failed. My home is under the command and dominion of Megatron. I wish I could tell you in some small way what that feels like but I can't. Suffice it to say, I don't ever wish that upon anyone else.
"Your enemy isn't us. It is the forces of reaction among you who destroy your towns and your people in the name of saving both. They kill others. People are dead because of their delusions. I am very sorry that this has happened. I wish only peace and at some point in future the return of joy to those who loved those lost. I feel on some days some small measure of that myself, I who have lost my world, my culture, my identity and somewhere on the conquered world of my home, my family." She paused a moment then looked at them with emotional optics. "If I thought you could defeat them alone, I would counsel it to happen. I would join you to redeem my own life back. But I know you cannot. Don't allow delusional thinking to insure that you and all you love is destroyed under the implaccable hatred of a monster.
"I, Larc of Amacar wish you peace and wisdom. I wish you to know that I stand with Optimus Prime and the Autobots in soidarity against the enemy. I wish you to do so too so that when you dream you see visions of a future that still exists instead of what I see. Thank you for your time. Be wise. Be smart. Stand with us against the common enemy. Know that it includes those among you who wish to break the alliances through whatever means they can, including the blood of the innocent." With that, Larc turned and walked out the door to disappear into the building beyond.
It was silent, then Ratchet stepped forward. He glanced around the room taking the temperature which was somber, then he began again. "Larc is a miracle. It was luck that we found and saved her band. They are an inestimable asset to the life of our city and we love her and her people. There are so many good souls in our city. Another has agreed to come to speak to you. This individual is very special even among our own kind.
"Seekers are a clannish, tribal people. They have huge familial alliances and are led by clan chieftains. Among them, the chieftains select a supreme leader who is called the Great Elder. That mech or femme is incredibly important, honored and honorable. The Great Elder of Seekerkin was believed lost in the fog of war. Then shortly ago, mere days, he came with his family and clan members from space. He came with Seeker civilians as well and enriched our city life immeasurably. It is a great honor for me to introduce to you the Great Elder of Cybertron, Rainmaker."
Ratchet smiled and turned waiting. Heavy footfalls could be heard after the sound of transformation nearby. Through the door at last, Rainmaker, the Great Elder of Seekerkin appeared in the doorway. He paused, then stepped forward nodding respectfully to Ratchet. That worthy nodded to him, then moved back to stand against the wall with Springer and Drift. Rainmaker moved to the speaking platform and stood silently to allow the room to take his measure even as he took theirs.
He was incredibly imposing, this elder and he stood exuding dignity, charisma and danger to all who sat watching. He was tall, nearly as tall as Prime and he was big. He had a greenish brownish blend of shimmering colors, the finish of which bore the engravings of his family and the blows of his long event-filled life. His optics were orange and piercing, typical of his clan. His brawny arms and legs gave some small measure of his strength. He gripped his staff, a silver pole engraved and studded with the names and symbols of the clans of Seekerkin, all of whom were subordinate to his rule. He was the first and last court of resort and was mentor to all of the Seekers of any consequence among their kind.
When it seemed that everyone would climb out of their skins, he began. "I am Rainmaker, the Great Elder of the Seekerkin of Cybertron. I am the leader of my people chosen from among all of them to be so. For eons of your ages, I have been the first among my kind. We have suffered a great deal, my people. We had no status on Cybertron. For those of us who fought to change that and I include Optimus Prime, it was disheartening to be unloved among your own people. As time wore on and the indignities and injustices became harder to bear, a mech began to speak to the broken hopes of our people. His name was Megatronus and he came from Kaon, a city of desolation and despair.
"He had the right ideas, that all of us were beloved of Primus and that we all deserved a better life than we had. The caste system was breaking apart and we found ourselves working to undermine it and the government as well. At that point, the Prime, Sentinel was killed and the new one, Optimus was chosen. I admired him greatly and we had many meetings to make the changes we needed. I considered him then a good mech, a decent mech with honor, someone who was a friend and I still do. I regret things in my life. I wish things had been different. I wish I could have followed Optimus but it was clear that the revolution sweeping Cybertron was going to go Megatron's way and I had to make hard choices to protect my people, especially the civilians with families who were deeply vulnerable.
"During the breakdown that followed, the chaos and fighting, I aligned our people with the side that would be the winner. I got major concessions from Megatron and he kept them for a long time. Then he began to change and my people began to suffer once more. Prime was gone. I had no idea where. The AllSpark was lost and so for a time was Megatron. At this point, I had withdrawn my clan and as many others as I could contact. We had heard at last that a call had been made, a call with the Prime and the leadership of the Seekers who were waiting on a planet in a small solar system not too far away. So we went.
"It was a long hard journey and along the way we met battle groups that are striking out to find their own futures as roving predators. Some of them are already settling into their own fortresses, staking out their own territory, a couple of them near to this system. Some of them asked us to join them but we refused. The Decepticons set out to exterminate us. For that, we will never serve their cause again. The goals and aims of our cause changed. It isn't about justice and possibilities for all anymore. Its about feeding the ego and demands of a single individual.
"I personally knew Megatron. I have had many meetings, personal conversations and encounters with him. He is as ruthless and unshaken in his desires and goals as he was long ago. You don't mean anything to him. You are nothing. This is the mech who ordered the extermination of my people who were among the greatest assets he possessed. He has no feeling for us, not as soldiers or as Cybertronians. What makes you think, humans, that he will care about you when he doesn't care about us, his fellow Cybertronians and allies?
"I have seen him murder for no reason. He has decimated worlds and people without a thought to their lives. He has nothing inside but revenge, burning ambition and murder. You are nothing. The forces that are trying to break the alliances might as well wear the Deceptibrand. They might as well be Decepticons themselves for they are serving the goals of Megatron as they do. If we weren't here, I can tell you without reservation that Megatron would come in force and leave nothing alive on the surface of this world. There would be nothing." He stood quietly watching the faces of the gathered as they absorbed his words.
"I have just come in to this system and what I tell you is fresh. There is chaos in the Empire now, chaos that will lead to destruction of anyone who is in the way. Scores are being settled now. No one is enforcing unity with Megatron out looking for allies. When that mech comes back there will be a swift reckoning, then he will turn to unfinished business. You are unfinished business. What we can as allies offer to you is the difference between extinction and life. We will stand with you and defend this system. We will defend your world as if it were our own. This I pledge to you on my sacred honor. Among our kind, when a pledge of this magnitude is given, to not honor it is to become nonexistent among the Seekerkin. I, Rainmaker freely pledge on my sacred honor to defend this world against the forces of reaction and invasion. I stand with Optimus Prime. I pledge the Seekerkin to the task. I will not relent nor be dissuaded. On my honor, this I promise." He stood a moment, then turned nodding to Ratchet as he passed.
Ratchet nodded back and waited until he was gone. For a moment he stood, internal conversation exchanging between himself and someone outside. Then he turned and walked to the platform. "I wish to say that a sacred vow has been made. When an Elder makes a vow, it is kept or they die trying. For the Great Elder to make a pledge like this, it pledges all Seekerkin that exists anywhere in the universe to the fulfillment of the task. Earth has no greater protection than that which the Great Elder has promised."
He paused a moment gathering himself. Then he grinned. "I wish I could tell you how much I admire the last speaker today. I wish I could tell you how honored I feel to introduce you to Optimus Prime. He is the only legal leader of the Cybertronian people and wherever he is, there is Cybertron. He bears the greatest of the Matrices, the Creation Matrix, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. It chose him and he was made Prime the moment it did. Before that, he was a regular mech, a working mech, a longshoreman. He was a champion of justice and equality all of his life and he was jailed on more than one occasion trying to change Cybertron toward justice and equality for all. He is the greatest Prime ever to live among our kind, the greatest fighting Prime, the greatest mech I know. I can't detail in enough words what he means to us, his people. We have followed him for millions of years as he doggedly worked to gather us and recreate a place for us to rise again. He is our beacon, our moral center, our brother. His word is unbreakable, his honor sacrosanct. I have met few individuals in my life that I admire more fully than this one. So it is my great joy to finally present to the world, the Prime of Cybertron, Optimus Prime."
Ratchet smiled, then looked backward toward the door. The bots there stood straight and all listened as the sound of a powerful engine was heard. The sound paused, then transformation filled the air. The sound of heavy treads resounded, then a massive mechanism appeared in the doorway pausing. He was awe inspiring, incredible, incongruous and carried a sense of gravitas that for most was unknown until now.
He towered over all of them, even the big bots that had come with him and he stood looking at the humans who had gathered to speak to him. Glancing at Ratchet, he nodded, the ghost of a smile on his face. Ratchet grinned and nodded, stepping back to stand beside Springer once more. The room was silent as Optimus allowed them to look him over. He had listened to the speakers one by one and was deeply pleased with things so far. Now it was up to him to close the deal. Stepping forward, pausing on the platform, he looked down at the humans and began to do just that.
=0=TBC
05-21-13