The Diego Diaries: Here (318)
-0-Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean that next morning
The sun was glinting off the windows of Flight Control as the big cargo planes landed. They were due in from Ramstein Air Base on their way to the small island where not only the big bombers roosted in waiting for calls but also the Autobots. They rolled forward, their giant engines blowing the runway clean in their prop wash. They turned and were guided to their spots by ground crew. Nearby, five Autobot aircraft relaxed in alt mode as they waited to return to Mars. Their conversation was family oriented, a lot of speculation among them about some of the signals coming from a couple of distant migrations. There were signs that big craft were among them, craft that returned the faint signal of the faction.
Could other Supremes have survived? They hoped so. There were several dozen created back in the orns of old. Maybe some of them were coming. It was heartening to think that they were. They discussed the soldiers stepping down from the planes, their gear and weapons in hand. They were new striker team members, most of them brand new to the enterprise, eager to come here and see what was what. Lennox and Epps along with Graham were waiting for them having come back earlier from Mars with Ironhide. He was their first introduction to the force expeditionary. He wasn't about as yet, preferring to meet them when they were mustered on the firing range. Then they would meet the awesomeness that was him. The soldiers lined up for the three officers in rows, their eyes roving around to take in the sights.
"Welcome to Diego Garcia," Lennox said as they looked at him with varying expressions of awe and amazement. These three soldiers were becoming legends in their profession, Lennox, Epps and Graham. "You have finished striker training and will be doing regular duty here and at the new garrison outpost at Autobot City. All of you will eventually be on duty there. It will take time to rotate you in and train you to work around the Cybertronians. Be patient. I will also remind you that everything about this place and there is classified. You gave your oath. We expect you to keep it. Two former soldiers didn't. You may have heard of those bastards. If you break the oath, I will personally kick your ass." He turned and nodded to Epps.
"Get your gear. Form lines and let's go," Epps said as they complied. He walked off with them, twenty new soldiers heading for their new life. As they began to pass the aircraft waiting, Sky Dive began to transform. The group paused and watched as the big jet stood up staring down at the humans with a grin. Epps smirked back. "Hi, Sky Dive. What's up?"
"We're waiting for you bums to get out of the way so we can leave. You coming to the game this weekend?" he asked.
"I am. I have large on Kaon," Epps replied.
"You and me both," he said with a nod. Then he turned and walked toward the beach, well aware of his effect on the newbies. It actually was a game among them and the three soldiers to indoctrinate the 'n00bs' into the life of really tall metallic beings.
Epps turned to the still figures around him and smirked. "That's Sky Dive. He's an Aerialbot. So are they," he said nodding to where four other vessels sat including Silverbolt. Their gleaming white configurations and gigantic Autobrands should have been the tip off. That they all began to transform and rise up was another. The sound of the transformation was enormous and when the four were upright they glanced down, nodded to Epps and turned with a smile to follow Sky Dive to the beach. Epps and the newbies watched them go, then Epps turned and they began to follow him again.
The four bots joined Sky Dive at the beach, Silverbolt turning to look back at the air field. "That never gets old."
The others agreed wholeheartedly.
Epps walked along watching a blue streak in the distance getting closer. When it finally could be seen as a car, it continued swiftly toward them then transformed. It flashed into the air and landed on its peds, blue optics looking at the startled group of soldiers and the smirking Sargeant that led them. "Hi, Bobby."
"Hi, Jolt," Epps said walking closer to the big sparkling Autobot. He turned to his newbies and grinned. "This is Jolt. He's an Autobot, a veteran warrior and from what I hear, a kid."
Jolt snorted and smiled. "That's me. A youngling." He looked at the newbies. "Is this the new meat?"
Epps snorted. He chuckled and nodded. "Yep."
Jolt looked them over, then stood up straight. "Cool." He nodded and turned walking toward the big open doors of the Embassy. Then he paused. "You coming for the game?"
"Wild horses couldn't keep me away," Epps relied.
Jolt nodded. "Bet on Kaon." Then he turned and continued inside to disappear into the shade of the interior.
It was quiet a moment, then Epps turned. "Let's go," he said and they did.
-0-Inside the Embassy
Ironhide sat at the center table, Prowler on a blanket lying quietly among the army detritus and datapads. It could have been another sparkling in another time and place. Bots worked around him and the soldiers who worked in the Ops Center with their end of the slag filled him in. "The liaison, George Kelly actually has his shit together, Ironhide. He's not feeling the love with Mearing though," Lt. Andrew Sheffield said. "He's only on duty here because the Secretary of State demanded it. Mearing is slowly sucking up all the power related to us and the bots."
Ironhide nodded. "She's hard helmed, that one. Already had a losing conversation with Ratchet at the U.N.," Ironhide replied. As he did, a hummer drove in with Lennox and Graham. "Hey! You ready to impress?"
Ironhide looked down and preened. "I'm always ready." He stood up and picked up Prowler, who opened an optic, then closed it. Stuffing him into his carry hold on a pile of blankets buffered by a couple of pillows, Ironhide turned to follow as he sound proofed his hold. Little mech wouldn't hear or feel a thing. He turned and walked out pausing in the warm sunshine. The hummer paused. "Hey, Hide."
He looked down. "What, Will Lennox?" he asked.
"What's the word on the 'Cons out there?" Will asked as they slowly followed Ironhide who turned to walk to the firing range.
"They're coming. One group thinks they might hook up with Prime. We'll see. The other two we know about are still floating around. Prime has it under control. He's Prime," Ironhide said as they walked past buildings and hangars waving and pausing to talk to a couple of individuals. Then they came close to the firing range where 20 new soldiers and Graham were waiting. They looked intense, all of them fixed upon the behemoth coming toward them. He was enormous and looked incredibly dangerous, a nice introduction into what they could expect from the Decepticons. They could feel tremors under their feet from the big mech's ped falls. They reached the group, Graham and Lennox hopping out of their vehicle. Walking to stand in front of the group of newbies, they looked up at Ironhide.
"Ironhide, these are the new striker team members from America, France, the UK and Russia. They are here to get the basics down, work around the bots that are here in the garrison and rotate out to Autobot City with the regular teams. We thought you would like to give them the lowdown," Lennox said.
Ironhide nodded at him, then glanced at the humans, looking them over as he considered his words. "I'm Ironhide. I'm the personal bodyguard of the Prime of Cybertron and Master of Munitions and Weapons for the Autobot Armed Forces. I run the armory and decide on the munitions and weapons our garrison needs. I'm a front liner and chaos bringer. I work with the striker teams that come with us on missions as well as those who man the garrisons both here and on Mars. We are a united team. We work together as brothers and sisters. You will learn to do that or you will be washed out. I don't care if you passed every requirement to be a part of the program. If you don't pass mine, you don't stay. Until all are one."
They nodded silently, their gazes fixed on the big Autobot. Ironhide looked at Lennox who nodded. Ironhide turned and walked to the firing range calling up the targeting mechanism. Then he unsubbed his weapons. A loud whine rolled out as his guns materialized from thin air twirling up to fix into place. Then he began to shoot. Nothing that flew up or out of this and that place made it past his arms. He braced himself, the recoil of his weapons strong enough to bring down a plane in flight. The flashes were brilliant, the flare of his munitions terrifying. Then it was over. He straightened, then he rolled them back into sub space. Turning, looking down at the humans, he felt deep satisfaction in their looks of amazement and awe. "Any questions?" he asked.
Lennox, Epps and Graham only smirked.
-0-Later that evening after orientation
They sat in the barracks after dinner cleaning gear and discussing the afternoon. The sunlight was dimming outside as the sun was swallowed up by the dark ocean. Night would be warm with the with the possibility of a light rainfall. The base was always a going concern but the pace settled down somewhat during the evening. They sat in their barracks and talked.
"That bot is as bad ass as he looks on television," Jamie Cocoran said as he stretched out on his bunk. "I've never seen anything like him. Not even a fighter plane on a strafing run can touch that."
"Ironhide is bad ass. Lennox, Epps and Graham love him. He loves them," Apollo Michaels said nodding as he looked down the barrel of his rifle. The rest of it lay in parts on his bunk. "This is going to be awesome. They're building an outpost for us in the city near the airport. I can't wait to see it."
"I hope I get to go with the first four of us," Iver Kane said nodding. "I can't wait to see this and there's a football game coming up. We would have a seat on the fifty yard line."
"I want to see the game," Jacob Harris said nodding. "I want to see the twins play. The tv doesn't do them or anyone else justice."
"I want to see them. So far, Jolt, the Aerialbots and Ironhide. There's Ratchet and Prime, Prowl, the twins and Bluestreak, Nitro and Revo who look really dangerous. That doesn't count the rest of the platoon. We might be in the show ourselves. You can see soldiers around in the episodes," Iver said.
More soldiers walked in bringing beer with them. A card game and beer took care of the rest of the evening as they settled in for their first day in the service of N.E.S.T. They all enjoyed it including the soldier who was secretly working for MECH.
-0-Late that night
He came in and paused by the cabinet where he laid his weapons. Locking the door, he continued as quietly as he could pausing before the door of each infant. Hero was awake listening for him. She stood hanging onto the side of her crib, a giant smile on her tiny face. He grinned and walked over kissing her helm. "You need to sleepy bed, sparkling," Ironhide said helping her to lie down. He tucked her in and patted her belly. A couple of dollies helped her resign to the idea of sleeping so he turned and tiptoed out. Orion and Praxus were recharging well and so was Sunspot. Spot wiggled his tiny tail, then lay back. He continued onward to Prowler's berthroom pausing by the crib. He pulled back the covers, then pulled Prowler out of his carry hold. Holding the drowsy baby, he put him in the bed and arranged his bedding. Standing a moment to see that he was sleeping again, he crept forward through the apartment to his own berthroom.
The light from outside streamed in, the city going about its business as it did day and night. Reaching his berthroom, he settled down relaxing. On cue, Ratchet rolled over and snuggled. "Hi."
"Hi."
"How was the new group?"
"Suitably impressed."
"Good, Ironhide. They should be."
(grin) "That's what I thought all along."
(grin) "You put the boom in kaboom."
(grin) "I do. You?"
"Finished the last bunch of texts Paragon's getting for now."
"How did that go?" (grin)
"Prowl is sparked."
(Pause) "We are talking about the story, right?"
(grin) "Yep."
"Oh. Good."
"He's going to spark again eventually."
"I know. Mech needs to have another sparkling to prevent his grabby ways."
"You're a big femme, Ironhide." (grin)
"If you say so, Ratchet." (grin)
"Good night, Ironhide."
"Good night, Ratchet."
-0-TBC
05-30-13