The Diego Diaries: Newbies 9 (331)
-0-In a refugee apartment later that night
Vin stood by the window as his bond cleared away the dishes from their late dinner. They had spent all their time with Fenix and his colleagues learning about the Iacon Order and their plans for exclusively high caste habitations elsewhere on Mars. He had mulled over their remarks and the information they had laid out turning it over this way and that. "Joon."
The femme who was his bond turned and walked to him pausing by the window. "What do you think of Fenix and his efforts?"
She considered all of it, then shook her helm. "Maybe at one time but not now. Not after all of this. I will not be a part of it."
"Nor I," he said. "When I was governor of Tyger Pax I was a different mech. I was cold and filled with my own ego and personal desires. I had no time for anyone or anything else but the small circle of mechs and femmes that I felt were worthy. Everyone was worthy, Joon. I can't go back."
She squeezed his servo. "Nor can I, Only One. I doubt very much that Prime is fully aware of what Fenix and his confederates have in mind for the city."
"I will fill him in," Vin said with determination. "When Heatout gets here, we might consider helping the Circle families that are here. There is a lot to do that is good, Joon. I will spend my efforts doing that. I have no fight left in me to defend The System which caused all of our hurts."
Joon nodded. "Good. By the way, there is a dinner at Steno's house tomorrow. He's found some of his friends including Missionaries and is hosting a get together to help us find our way here."
"Steno made it," Vin said with a grin. "I am glad."
"So am I," Joon said. "For everything."
-0-In Ops Center
Optimus sat at the table going through the myriad piles of things that required his attention. The retrieval was well in servo and so far there was no trouble. The Decepticon ships had been located and tagged on the maps before him, all of them getting boarded as the battle shuttles wend their way through the maze of ships waiting to be rescued. The traffic between them and the Autobots was business like and on the ball. Nothing of a defiant nature was being detected. As he watched the red lights turn to green, each indicating a ship secured, he was noting that the majority of the defectors were families and young mechs with the occasional femme. Apparently, they were taking the very young away from Megatron to save them from combat. That was a very encouraging sign to Prime.
"Kup to Prime."
"Prime here."
"We have a group of Decepticon officers that want to speak to you."
"Bring them through. Send them on a roundabout unless you're ready for bed," Prime said with a grin.
"Smartaleck. Sir," Kup replied, the general mirth of those with him clear over the intercom. "We will do that. I'm sending Sandstorm with them as a guide. Kup out."
Prime sat back considering the mechs coming. They could be an easy assimilation. They would not be expecting a city like this unless the leaked information made it their way. Bringing kids out of the battle field was a plus in their favor and that they were family mechs also was a bonus. He considered his options, then called for backup. Glancing at Prowl nearby, he grinned. "Hey."
Prowl glanced up and came to where he sat. "What?" he asked with a slight grin.
"Kup is sending the officers of the Decepticons in the migration. I think we need the usual suspects to be there when we chat."
Prowl smirked and nodded. "I will make it so, Captain."
Prime snorted watching as Prowl walked to the communications station and called the welcoming committee. Then he turned back to the job of balancing an elephant on the head of a pin.
-0-The Trigger
The shuttle came through flown by an Autobot pilot with four Decepticon officers on board. They had not been identified yet but they were apparently very senior battalion leaders or some such. Seekers flew with it imposing upon the occupants the seriousness of the opposition the newcomers were facing, flying to the ground to land on the highway side of the air field. Setting down, they were greeted by armed guards who frisked them finding nothing but personal mementos in their subspaces. The walk to the Fortress was silent as the four took in the city and the amazing tableau of the organized rescue of which they were a part.
Entering the courtyard, they walked toward the door pausing a moment as a number of elderly mechs gave them guff, one of them shaking his cane at them. "YOU BETTER COME HERE WITH A GOOD ATTITUDE OR WE WILL PEEL YOU LIKE A GRAPE!"
The officers blinked, then glanced at Sandstorm who was snickering behind them. "Continue," the big Wrecker said. "Prime has a lot of stuff to do."
They continued up the steps, the abuse of the elders following them. Entering to walk across the big space, they marveled at the familiarity of the surroundings, the murals of Cybertron on the walls, the amenities and the vastness beyond that beckoned mysteriously. Pausing beside the huge doors that led to the vast Ops Center, they glanced around. A flight operations center apparently used for briefings was across the big room, its gigantic monitor visible through the open doors. Around the vast room civilians and soldiers, all of them watching the four paused in their dinners and conversations to stare. A hub was nearby, Central Hub and corridors that disappeared into the distance beyond them.
"Come on," Sandstorm said nodding to the open doors and they turned walking inside. Everywhere they looked there were soldiers working hard alongside of the occasional civilian technician. The room was vast, the technology remarkable and sitting in the back in the middle of a circular space was a computer nexus as big as a house. That it was as big as that three stories down was beyond their knowing. The stations that surrounded it were busy with mechs doing their job. Runners here and there passed them heading about their business as overhead monitors poured out information. The center table was filled with the instruments of leadership but Prime wasn't there. Prowl was however and he looked at them with a cool optic. "Sandstorm," he said nodding at the mech with the four. "Who are these individuals?"
"These are the leaders of the 'Cons in the mix, Prowl. This is Deadbolt. That is Howl, this is Timbre and that is Combo. I am sure you have heard of them," he replied.
Prowl nodded. "What brings you here?" he asked simply.
The four glanced at each other, then faced him directly. "We wish to offer terms of surrender so that our soldiers and their families can find safety. We have families and children. We have been in contact with the Seekers and know that they have been slated for extermination. We have also heard that families will be exterminated too. Some of us ..." he nodded to the others. "We have been our own masters in our sectors. We have begun to make families, do things on our own and now that there is a focus by the High Command on tightening things up, we fear our turn is coming. We seek shelter and wish to know your terms."
Prowl nodded. "Come with me." He turned and walked to a doorway nearby that led out to conference rooms. Following, they looked around noting the degree of complexity of the operation around them. It was astonishing. Prowl paused by a door and nodded. They walked in and halted as the tableau before them was shocking in the extreme.
Nitro and Revo, Ironhide, Starscream, Rampage, Scar and Payload stood or sat in chairs at the huge table with Optimus Prime in his usual place. They were silent but stared at the newcomers with stern optics. Prime nodded. "Please sit."
They hesitated, then did, pulling chairs to sit nervously. Prowl walked to stand behind Prime as Blackjack, Alor and Thundercracker entered behind him. They took places along the wall and stared at the four with unwavering looks of coldness. Prime watched them, noting their unease but also their affect of determination. "Tell me what brings you here," he said nodding.
Deadbolt who was senior officer nodded back. "I am Deadbolt and I commanded a battle group on the far side of the Empire maintaining trade routes to keep supplies moving. There were hostiles there and it was my job to keep order. I was very good at it. Then Megatron disappeared. Someone said that he was seeking the AllSpark while others said he was looking to replace everyone with allies from other worlds. No one really knew. Starscream was commander, then Shockwave was commander, now Soundwave. No one knows what's happening. We just know that a squeeze on all of us is coming down from Cybertron. I don't know if Megatron's back or if Soundwave is going his own way. No one knows.
"We were on our own and we made a lot of changes for ourselves. We made bonds, had families, tried to make a life out in the middle of nowhere … it was a logical outcome of things. Then the word from the Seekers was received and no one believed it. I sent messages to Seekers I knew and they confirmed it. Seekers were to be killed on sight. We told ours to leave. We told them to go toward the messages that were coming our way, messages from you and Starscream. We would follow when we could, when we knew more. It was getting dangerous to stay. So we left. We cut around the Empire and made our way toward this sector following the signals. We barely avoided Paragon and the other group, the one led by Cyclonus."
"Cyclonus," Prime said. "Paragon has a fortress nearby on the migration trail."
"Cyclonus commands the other group," Howl said. "He has a fortress too."
"The other one. We know who the commander is now," Ironhide said with grim satisfaction.
"That slagger is a piece of work," Blackjack said. "I've flattened him several times myself."
Prime nodded. "You came here. What do you know about things out there?"
"We don't know why Cybertron is putting the squeeze on all of us. It's coming from the HQ at Kaon. I don't know if Megatron is back or what's happening. I do know that we were supposed to funnel all of the energon that we could find to Cybertron. Then the commands stopped. We were told to stockpile what we had where we had it and send the stats to Kaon."
It was silent a moment, then Prime nodded. "Continue."
"We gathered together, the three of us. We were friends from before the war and all of us are tired of the chaos and the threat to our families. We all four have families," Deadbolt said. "We were terrified that they would be killed by fanatics that don't care anymore. So we left. There is a tightening up of the Empire going on all over the place. It was very hard to get through. I don't know how many more will without shooting but there is much unrest. If Megatron comes back and whips things in shape it might settle but right now there are groups going their own way. If Cybertron is serious about tightening up their operation, there could be battles among them until someone comes out on top. We don't want to be a part of that because there are rumors of sub commanders killing their captains to take their place."
Prime nodded. "That sort of accords with what we are hearing," he said. "How many are there of you, how many Seekers if any and what is the possibility that you are more trouble than you are worth?"
The four glanced at each other. "We are 11,000 bots all together, 2200 of them Seekers who were on their own but came when they heard us. Of that number about a third are families. We have 6600 soldiers in our group. As for the trouble factor, we give our word that we are ready to surrender and be no trouble. We have about 3000 youngling soldiers here that we are trying to save."
"You were among the worst commanders for destroying things back in the orn. Now you tell us that we can trust you," Ironhide said. "Why? How?"
Howl looked at Ironhide. "I remember fighting you. I remember fighting with and against most of you in this room. That was then. This is now. The Cause is coming apart. Its not about anyone of us. Our need to have a life doesn't matter. They were breeding Seekers to fight in combat. Sending babies with adult databases into combat is not something I can stomach. Not anymore. We have kids here that were going to be cannon fodder for Megatron's delusions. We have to save them. We are ready to surrender, to turn over our ships and live here as an asset."
"If you decide to do this, you will have to give to me … all of you … your personal and professional oaths knowing full well that you will be giving it to the Matrix. The Matrix will not forgive you if you break that oath. In fact, I have heard that mechs who do die. Badly," Prime said quietly.
"We have a city that will be at the end of this migration two and a half million strong," Prowl said. "We have five towns in this array and more firepower than anyone anywhere including Megatron and Cybertron. The Temple is here and so is the AllSpark. Nothing you can do will turn over the fact that we have Guardians, Metroplex and Fort Max as well as endless soldiers. We also have ex-Decepticons who are an asset and more Seekers than anyone else. If you were to so much as ruffle anyone's feelings here, you would be slaughtered. We are peaceful and safe. If you broke that, you would become confetti."
They nodded. "We know," Timbre said. "We're tired and worried. We expect that this will be a transition especially for some of the younger mechs but there is no place else to go that will take us in and we don't have confidence that building our own place is going to keep them from hunting us down and killing us. I have two sons," he said. "All of us are fathers. We have responsibilities."
"We will monitor you orn and night," Rampage said quietly. "You know us, all of us."
The four nodded. "We do. That's why we came here. We heard that Decepticons had a chance to live here and make something more of themselves than being targets for Megatron. We have kids. We have to protect them," Combo said with grave seriousness.
The conversation went internal as everyone in the room gave their point of view. Prime nodded and looked at them. "We have a prison where all of you will be taken. From there we will process you and assign you a former Decepticon mentor. Your progress and level of freedom depends upon you. You will have to make the oath to me. You will be expected to live here peacefully. If you can't, the prison will be your permanent home. We are serious about the quality of life we provide for our people here. If you are here to disrupt, disturb and bother, we will shoot you dead. I hope my point is clearly made."
They nodded. Nitro and Rampage sat down at the table, their optics level with the newbies. "I own businesses here. I was left for dead but I live here now because they saved me. I teach in the college and annex, I have amazing opportunities for my life and I love someone here, an Autobot. If you were even to think that you or anyone you bring down here could disturb that, your body will never be found. If my brothers were to come here and bother that, the same thing would happen. I hope I am clear with you," Rampage said.
They nodded, their expressions grave with concern and hopefulness. It was deeply strange to see it but it felt to everyone present that they were serious about what they were asking for. Combo looked around the room at the hard expressions of everyone present. Then he extended his servo. "I am Combo, a saboteur and special ops commander for the Decepticons. I offer my surrender and give my personal and professional oaths to the Prime of Cybertron and by extension the Matrix. I do that knowing full well that if I break them, I will die. I do this for my command, for my family, for my son and daughter. I surrender, Optimus Prime."
Optimus took his servo and the deal was sealed. He shook with the others, then rose. "You will go to the prison and wait. Your ships will be turned over to us and your crews brought here, Seekers included. I expect, Starscream that you will handle the Seekers in this mix?"
"I would be delighted," he said rising himself. "Nitro and I will take care of them."
Prime nodded. "Go with Starscream and Sandstorm. You will occupy a prison block in our military prison. I expect that you will explain the obligations to your troops. Tell them that Starscream and Nitro are authorized to take the Matrix oaths and that the Matrix will acknowledge that to them when they do. We will begin the processing of you and your families as soon as they arrive. I would like you to let us know who needs medical assistance which will be provided. It will be your responsibility to impress on your people that we are vigilant about our security, the peace and our cities. No one will be allowed to disrupt. No one."
They nodded and rose, expressions of relief on their faces. "We will do that. Thank you," Howl said nodding. He looked at the group that had risen and moved to the door. "Tell us what to do and we will do it. Our soldiers deserve another chance."
Rampage nodded. "They do. If they blow it, they will be sorry. I promise you that."
The group then turned and filed out until it was only Prowl, Prime, Ironhide, Blackjack and Alor. Alor stared at the door, then looked at Prime. "The world is upside down."
He nodded. "I know." He looked at Ironhide. "Impressions?"
"More positive than negative. Their sparklings make me think they're on the up and up. I hope they are," Ironhide said.
"You and me both. The Matrix will see to it," Prime said as he stood up tiredly.
They turned and walked back out, the door closing slowly behind them.
-0-TBC For Pip
June 12, 2013