The Diego Diaries: Regrouping 3 (363) edited
-0-On Mars at the same time
They stood on a site at the top of a flat mesa. It was a land formation in the middle of a long stretch of broken ground with the odd feature here and there. It would be accessible by air until a road could be built that would take it to the ground floor of the area. It was 100 miles from Autobot City and afforded magnificent views of the surrounding region, the arc of Olympus Mons disappearing over the curve of the planet. Water could be found deep and there were endless materials for building. The surveyors were working even as Fenix and his team watched.
"This is going to be hard work," Vin suggested as he stood beside Mirage watching the surveyor, a mech named Throttle who had headed a firm on Cybertron that did all manner of land management. He had inherited it from his father. The sight of vehicles bearing the logo of his company was usually the first sign that a slum was being moved to make way for industry. It was as hated a logo as any on Cybertron short of the Imperial Guard and the Senate.
"We are going to have all of the groundwork laid so that the only thing next to do is raise the buildings. All of it from the electronic to the mundane has been planned to prevent any delays or snafus. Any reservations about our ability to do this have been attended to," Fenix said nodding.
"He won't allow it," Vin said. "Prime will be very angry about this. He has the authority to lock you up."
"He might consider it a blessing to let those of us who chafe under his rule to go our own way," Fenix said.
"He wants cohesion in defense," Mirage offered as he stood listening. "If there are too many targets, he will have to constrict what he can defend to the actually defensible under attack. I doubt this city will be on the list."
"Perhaps," Fenix said. He frowned. "It isn't like he defends us now. First, Kudon. Then Retro. Both murdered by low castes. Apparently, he has no problem with us dying."
No one spoke, Mirage chafed and unbeknownst to him so did Vin.
"I remember Kudon very well. We all encouraged him to fix his spark chamber defect. We told him that a mere fall could be fatal but he just laughed it off. He actually thought he was invincible. Anything could have killed him, Fenix," Vin said quietly.
"But a low caste actually did. Some day when things are different, we shall revisit that episode," Fenix said coldly.
No one replied. The wind blew lightly as a big mech with an exquisite paint scheme methodically and perfectly laid out the survey lines for the city downloaded into his devices.
-0-A while later
Mirage walked into Ops Center and pulled up a chair to sit next to Jazz. He admired Jazz's finials and his smartness. He had that 'something' that you either were born with or you didn't have. Jazz had it all. He was beautiful, cool, sleek, amazing, smart, cunning, funny, intensely interesting, dope … yes, he was dope.
He was also low caste.
Mirage had been as high caste as you could get, rich beyond measure with estates that paid him great dividends. He had inherited wealth, lived it, benefited from it and loved it. He missed a lot of the perks of his old life but that was now long past. Maybe someday if he ever got to Cybertron again he would be able to find his apartment and property and show Jazz a time. As it was, he watched the love of his life finish up his data analysis, then turn toward him, the mirth of his spark hovering around him like a mist. "What's up? Did you enjoy your field trip?"
"You weren't there. How would that be possible?" Mirage truthfully asked the only mech he had ever met that made him think about something beyond his own immediate needs. He had been selfish but determined to do what he needed to assuage the outrage he felt against the Decepticons. He had become an Autobot but was often misunderstood or suspected. He was rich. He was high caste. He was part of the problem, right? He had proved and proved himself over and over until he thought he would come undone. Then he met and befriended Jazz who was coolness himself. Being around Jazz had showed him the effect that the system had on those less fortunate and he found himself coming around to the rightness of his choice. That he still felt pissy sometimes was his own fault. He was after all the child of privilege and regime-enforced entitlement.
Jazz smiled, a wholly beautiful thing and Mirage relaxed. In the company of this, the lowest of the low castes of Cybertron, a orphaned criminal from the streets of Kaon ... only here did he feel his best. "You mean you haven't staked out your penthouse? How can we get it on if you don't have a suitable pad?"
Mirage snorted. "Anywhere is good with you, my dear Jazz. A broom closet … behind the Business Plaza … Prowl's desk."
Jazz laughed out loud, leaning in closer. "Meet you there after shift."
Mirage leaned in. "Done deal." Then he told Jazz what he had learned and informed him that a mech named Vin appeared to be a dubious recruit to the cause.
Jazz grinned, then informed Mirage.
He was their guy already.
-0-On the beach, Earth
The sight of them boarding a ship played as Sideswipe went through his 'highlight' reel. Prime was stupendous, even more so than the humans had ever seen. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe showed together why they were so feared. Ironhide took blows as did Ratchet moving forward tenaciously as they were fired upon. Now and again, they would see Bluestreak, his mettle tested under fire as the reluctant soldier took out sniper after sniper from his perches high on buildings or hillsides.
Then the temper changed. It was downtime. A boozy conversation was playing...
Sideswipe sat tipping back a bottle of homemade hootch as he sat leaning against a wall. Ratchet was working on his leg. "Does it hurt?" Ratchet asked looking upward at the youngling warrior who was beginning to feel no pain. Ratchet himself bore the evidence of hits but as per his usual manner, he was putting those repairs off for last.
"Only when I move," Sideswipe said with a silly drunky laugh. "This is the good stuff. I stole it from Wheeljack. I found where he hides his stash."
Ratchet grabbed the bottle and took a deep drag. Handing it back, he grinned. "It is. Its a fine vintage. Must be three orns old."
Sideswipe snorted. "That makes it classic." He grinned at Ratchet who was wiping energon off the mended segment of Sideswipe's upper thigh. "You know, Ratchet … you're one good looking mech."
"All my mechs say so. When they've had a few," Ratchet said with a chuckle. "You're a piece of work, you and your brother."
"We are aren't we?" Sideswipe replied with a grin.
Sunstreaker appeared sitting down next to his brother, taking the bottle, half emptying it. "You got into Wheeljack's stuff?" he asked.
Sideswipe nodded. "The good stuff. Whatever you say about 'Jack..."
They both looked at Sideswipe who sat back grinning as he fondled the bottle. They waited for the rest about good old 'Jack but it didn't come. Sideswipe grinned and tipped the bottle up polishing it off. Ratchet glanced at Sunstreaker and snorted. "He's cute when he's wasted."
"He is. However, I will always be cuter," Sunstreaker said to Ratchet's everlasting scorn as well as the hoots and hollering of everyone on the beach watching the clip.
Springer and Kup entered the scene sitting. Tipping the bottle, Kup frowned. "What the frag? Which one of you younglings needs a cuff on the back of your helm? Don't you know you're supposed to honor your elders?"
"We did. We gave Ratchet a chug. Right?" Sideswipe asked with a silly grin.
"They did. He also propositioned me, didn't you," Ratchet said smirking at Sideswipe as he finished up his repair, then sat back leaning on a wall himself.
"I did. You look mighty fine to me, Ratchet. *Mighty* … *fine*," Sideswipe said. He waggled his optical ridges at Ratchet.
As he did, Ironhide entered the picture and looked at the bottle. "What the frag?"
"Sideswipe and Sunny chugged it," Springer said 'helpfully', an evil grin on his handsome face. "They did while Sideswipe put the moves on your mech, 'Hide."
Ironhide looked at Springer, then a smirking Ratchet who nodded while waggling his own optical ridges, then Sideswipe. With narrowing optical ridges of his own, he looked. Then he leaned over and landed a single blow on the top of Sideswipe's helm. Sideswipe dropped like a rock. It was silent a moment, then Ironhide looked at Ratchet with a fierce expression. "Slagger deserved it making time with my mech. No one does that but me."
Ratchet snorted, then grinned. "Why, Ironhide … I'll set my watch just for you."
The derision that got for both of them was well earned including that from the group around the fire. Prime who was smiling looked at Sideswipe. "That explains what's wrong with you then?"
Sideswipe who was laughing nodded. "I think it might," he said with a wolfish grin. The highlight reels continued.
-0-In an apartment way up there
Ratchet sat holding Sunspot as the good feeling of Ironhide rolled over their link. They were gathered at the beach having fun, watching film from old encounters including the 'good stuff'. There was among the unfolding video the time he, Ratchet had spun out in a mud hole that seemed to go down for miles. He had stood up covered from ped to cranial tip gasping with rage. At that moment, he had pulled his guns and clambered out to take on the sweeps single-handedly. He managed to down two of them before the cavalry arrived. There was the time that Ironhide caught his servo in a steel container where Ratchet had hid rust sticks for infants in the Ark back when. He had been caught and had put his big servo behind him, the one stuck in the steel canister. It had been a dance macabre between himself and the big behemoth as he managed to turn every time Ratchet did. Jazz coming in behind him had him caught three ways to Sunday.
"What's funny, Ada?" Sunspot had asked glancing up from his snuggle against Ratchet's chassis.
"Atar is having a good time on Earth," Ratchet replied squeezing Sunspot, resettling him on his arm.
It was quiet a moment. "Why doesn't he come home? Isn't the base rebuilt? I don't like him there with the humans. They don't like us."
Ratchet glanced down at him. "Not all humans are like that. The soldiers love us and we love them. The femmes are wonderful. The General and Colonel … their families. The humans here who are film makers and scientists … I could go on for a long time listing the humans that like us."
It was silent some more. Then he shifted. "They tried to kill me."
Ratchet felt his spark squeeze. "How, Sunny Bunny? Weren't you transformed into a little plane? How would they know?"
"I was ..." He paused tensing up. "I was hungry. So I transformed near a gas station and tried to get fuel. It tastes awful, their fuel. I had some, then someone came there. No one was supposed to be there. It was night and no one was supposed to come. But they did."
Ratchet's spark squeezed again. "What happened, Sunny?" he asked as he petted the little bot's helm and wings.
"They came in their cars, the lights bouncing. I remembered that. The road was dirt and it was filled with holes. I saw them get out. I was hiding around the back of the gas station. Then they came with lights and guns. They shot at me. I turned and ran really fast but there was no place to hide. It was flat around there. The plants in the fields weren't tall enough to hide in. I had to run away far enough to transform. I was so scared I forgot how so I had to run some more. They got their cars to chase me. It took forever to change. They almost got me. I felt their bullets go past me. I could feel them fly by."
Ratchet hugged him tightly. "I love you, Sunny. Don't worry, baby. You know your old pa will level mountains for you. Everyone in this city including the humans here and on the base on Earth will protect you with their lives."
Sunny sat quietly, then vented a soft sigh. "I suppose so," he ventured uncertainly.
Ratchet arose and walked to the rocking chair nearby. Sitting, he began to rock and soothe his son. In the other rooms playing sweetly, their dreams filled with good thoughts, not bad, four other infants had a time with a big vigilant but happy-go-lucky dog.
-0-On the way to Mars
The Seekers flew together forming up as they fled toward the voice of their leaders. Clan Elders were there and they had heard the Great Elder's call. They could no longer cast their allegiance with the Decepticons. He had forbade it. Now they had to come if they wanted to hold their self-respect, their clan memberships and the love and respect of their families. When the Great Elder issued an edict, only those with the most self loathing ignored it. The shunning and disgust directed to those who failed to heed an edict was usually enough to get compliance. That was why that bot was so important. His or her goodwill was often enough to get the Seekers on your side.
They flashed through the night of space becoming aware of sensors reading them. They pulsed a message to Mars, one that had been passed to them through the secret Seeker relay network. Holding their formation, they waited tensely, fearfully.
They didn't have to wait long.
-0-At the home front
Ratchet watched Sunspot snuggle into his berth. He tucked the infant in and patted Spot. "Good thing you are here, Spot. Poor Sunny. He needs you."
Spot wagged his tail and pawed at Ratchet gently. He rubbed Spot's paw gently, then tucked it under the blanket. Grinning at the glowing optics of the big animal, he turned and walked out. He paused in Praxus's room. The baby was recharging already. Stepping back out, he peeked in on Hero who was talking to her Ironhide dollie, telling it about her orn. He listened a moment, turned. Prowler was already asleep in his crib, his favorite Little Blue Dog sleeping dollie in his servos. Glancing next door at Orion who was sitting in his bed looking around, Ratchet walked in and sat down beside him. "Hey, spud. Go to recharge."
"Ada. Where Atar?"
"He's on Earth. He'll be home soon enough," Ratchet said. He pressed the infant back and tucked him in. "Go to recharge, bub. School tomorrow."
He grinned brilliantly. "I go. You come?"
"We'll see," Ratchet said leaning down to kiss him. "You've been a great little mech, Orion. Your old Atar would be very proud of you."
Orion smiled brilliantly. "Orion love Atar."
Ratchet looked at him, caressing his cheek gently. "Well, I think its safe to say that Atar loves Orion." Ratchet arose and turned walking to the hallway. All of them were settled so he walked to the living room and sat in his chair. It seemed darker outside, colder without Ironhide home.
:Ratchet:
:What?:
:You seem down:
:Its been a long orn. You need to come home and pull your own weight:
A grin drifted over the link. Ratchet felt the warmth of it and missed it like fury somehow this night. :I will:
:Good, Ironhide. Tell me. What are you doing and where are you?:
And Ironhide did.
-0-TBC July 12, 2013
NOTES: Interesting factoids about The original 13 Transformers:
Transformers: The Ultimate Guide asserts that all of the Thirteen were destroyed in the early battle between Primus and Unicron, but the statement was disprovenby the book itself, since it recounted how The Fallen was not destroyed but exiled to a trans-dimensional prison from which he later escaped. Fun Publications comics would later depict Vector Prime as the sole surviving member of the Thirteen, then go on to introduce Nexus Prime as a co-survivor alongside him.
The Ultimate Guide made mention of a rumor on Cybertron that Maccadam—proprietor of Maccadam's Old Oil House — was supposedly one of the 13 and that his bar existed outside the normal flow of space-time. The prose story "Prime Spark" confirms the latter half of that rumor, depicting the bar as a multiversal nexus of sorts, but it makes no revelations about Maccadam himself. Aaron Archer declared that when the full identities of the Thirteen would be revealed, Maccadam would not be among them. Moral of the story: rumors are dumb.
In Hasbro Q&A on October, 2009 from The Allspark Forum, The Thirteen are referred to as "the Original Epic Warriors of Cybertron" by Hasbro.
The notion of the Primes being originally huge is similar to early Revenge of the Fallen concepts where the Fallen dwarfed Optimus and was almost the size of a pyramid as evident from Defiance #4 and the novelization.
In "Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations", James Roberts came up with a completely different creation story for IDW Publishing's Transformers just because he can. There is still an original group of Transformers and a war caused by treachery, but in that version the traitor is another god named Mortilus. (TFWIKI)
Yes, I am a nerd. :D :D :D