The Diego Diaries: Home At Last 4 (370) edited
-0-Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean, Earth
He sat in a chair in the restored Administration Building of the base. He was tired and intensely sad. When Lilly called him to enter the office, he did so filled with dread. Walking inside, he stood at attention uncertain what would happen next. Colonel John Fulton looked up and nodded. "At ease, Smith."
Corporal Trevor Smith stood at ease watching the wall behind the Colonel. He waited for the ax to fall. Fulton sat back and regarded him for a moment. "You have made a problem for us, Smith. You came into our midst as an enemy. Your father and mother are highly placed in your state government as well as being supporters of the militia movement. Now you tell us that you and your family are the enemy." It was silent a moment longer. "We asked you to tell us everything that you knew and I hope you did."
"I did, sir. Everything I could think of," Trevor Smith replied. "Permission to speak freely, sir."
"Granted."
Smith looked at him with anguish on his face. "Sir, I want to help. I give you my word and I know that doesn't really mean much but I want to get a chance to prove myself."
"We are talking about your parents, Smith. You're asking me to believe that you will stand firm in your resolve when we're talking about your father and mother," Fulton said.
He stood silently a moment, then nodded. "I know. They're wrong. If we do what the militias and the others want, we will all be wiped out. You see the Autobots. How are we supposed to fight them? How are we supposed to save this world from the Decepticons if they're anything like the Autobots? We can't. I can't be part of that."
"I have discussed this with Prime and General Morshower. You are going to be based at Autobot City for a while. We have a habitat there that is coming on line in a couple of days. It is the military HQ for N.E.S.T. and we will be keeping a contingent there. You will be part of it until further notice."
He looked at Fulton with surprise, then stood at attention. "Sir, yes sir."
"I will expect you to do your duties and maybe if you spend some time in the company of these individuals you will come to respect and love them the way we do. We are one, Smith. We are one," Fulton said.
Smith nodded. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."
"I hope not. You may communicate with your family but it will be screened. We will only allow text messages and e-mail traffic for now. If there is a need to talk to them more directly, we will do it with a ten second delay. Understood?" Fulton asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. You will be going out in two days. See Lennox and Epps about the protocols for living in near vacuum safely, the areas that are allowed and others that are off limits to humans and what the basic procedure is for getting along in their culture and society. You will be on their world living in their midst. You will deport yourself in a manner that brings honor to yourself and the mission. Understood?"
"Yes sir," he said staring intently at the wall behind the Colonel.
"Dismissed, Corporal."
"Yes, sir," he said. He paused, then looked at Fulton. "Thank you, sir." With that, he turned and walked out. Fulton stared at the door a moment, then sighed slightly. He returned himself to rebuilding his base once again.
-0-On Mars
The new N.E.S.T. habitat glistened in the morning sunlight. It was located northeast of the Military Airfield, the old main city airfield and was big with a large dome over it like the Science Habitat by Fort Max. Next to it the flourishing paradise of the Hu An habitat was a striking contrast. The actual dwellings spiraled upward around centralized poles, stairs and platforms making the design comfortably outdoors as they preferred and accessible. Beyond it were huge long greenhouses in which the agrarian based aliens grew their food. The area inside the dome, itself huge was covered in green growing things. The atmosphere inside was similar to Earth's to accommodate the imported Earth greenery and trees that were modified by the Hu An to make their habitat home-like.
Three hundred of them lived there and they worked as a team to transform the barren irradiated soil into something productive. Larc was in command of the structure and all Hu An who lived there. She was also an adviser and member of the Community/Autobot Committee that ran the colony in allegiance to Prime and his senior staff. She had also been sure that her people volunteered in the city making themselves a presence that had come to be highly respected. Even though they were often seen in the programs that made their way to Earth, none of them would agree to be in them for more than a passing cameo sighting.
They were mysterious and interesting. They were always trending on Twitter and the search engines of Earth, this new alien species. The major news organizations were always asking for interviews but they turned them down. Prime allowed them to control their participation, or not. They were content.
The N.E.S.T. Habitat next door was going through finishing touches with both human and Cybertronian check lists meticulously worked over under the supervision of Jetta. The soldiers would send a contingent to live in the habitat and work with everyone from this end. It would be a permanent garrison designed to foster closer ties between bots and humans as well as appease some of the concerns from Earth about the lack of human residents on Mars.
There were several human habitations/work stations including the Sciences Habitat, the N.E.S.T. Habitat, the 'friends of the Autobots' permanent private residence in one of the towers and eventually, there could be a human civilian settlement.
Perhaps.
Maybe.
The city was waking up as Jetta watched the last outside section of the dome go up to enclose the facility. They would now use the pressurized air lock in the back to enter instead of stepping into the 'hole' where the last clear plate was being fitted in the ceiling. Most of the interactions that required bots would be fulfilled by highly skilled micro mini-cons who were not only human sized, but most were under five feet tall fully grown. They were perfect to act as go-fers and interface teams between human and the taller Cybertronians of the military.
Oddly enough, White Wash, a micro mini who had been saved from Shockwave back in the orn was one of the minis who would be doing this work on day shift.
-0-Out on the plains of Africa
He came out of his hole after lying dormant a while. He had been abandoned during the Egyptian campaign, dropped off in the wilderness of the Rift Valley to fend for himself. He was a small beast with no one to be with and no one to take care of him. He had been sheltered in the ground blocked by the iron content of the Earth from detection. Now it wouldn't happen.
-0-Ops Center, Autobot City, Mars
Prowl stood by the comm station going through the overnight dump. Sitting at a table behind him, Sunstreaker watched the data from other stations flow into a datapad lying before him. He spotted it first. "Prowl."
Prowl turned and walked to the table where Sunstreaker sat waiting for his shift to start. Bluestreak and Sideswipe were taking the kids to school. "What?"
"Look at this," Sunstreaker said pointing to a small notation in a long list of them.
Prowl considered that, then nodded. "We better go look at it."
"Let me." Sunstreaker rose as Prowl nodded.
"Take someone," Prowl said. "Take a shuttle and bring it back here. Be careful."
Sunstreaker nodded, then continued out. He would call Kup who would bring Lon. They would take a shuttle and fly away swiftly toward Earth.
-0-At the Pentagon
He sat in his office having just gotten out of a closed door meeting with the Senate and House Intelligence committees. They had gone over the situation, heard things they weren't supposed to tell anyone and bitched him out one side and down the other. He had bit them back explaining a few things.
1. None of them had ever seen active duty.
2. None of them had ever worn a uniform. None of them ever would.
3. None of them had the experience or cojones to bitch him out about his life's work so STFU! Or more diplomatic words to that effort. He even told them that World of Warcraft didn't constitute military experience. When that was achieved, they all relaxed and discussed the situation more evenly. That didn't mean that they wouldn't have his ass on a platter in the media and in the political arena.
He wasn't stupid.
Bending to his task, he put the idiots out of his mind and worked on important stuff. That also included being ready to watch football when Prime had the game restored to the schedule.
There was also the Festival of Primus coming up too. He was going to be there for both, he and Barbara too.
-0-Earth
They came into the control of Flight Ops at Diego and were cleared to go to Africa. Landing on the plain five miles from the faint signal, they stared around as they cleared the ship. Animals in gigantic herds relaxed in the stifling heat of mid day. They watched a moment, then transformed driving off toward the signal over untrodden ground.
-0-Flight Machine Shop, Metroplex District, Autobot City, Mars
Roadie worked on the flaps of a flying machine that would be powered by the pilot themselves. Some of the pilots had been working on designing pleasure craft of all types and shapes. He was working on a design of his own. It would be powered by himself like the others and they would have a meet up in the plain north of here to fly them in the nearly non-existent atmosphere of the planet. He had graduated from mechanical school certified to work on all manner of craft-non sentient. He was not allowed to work on the Supremes, the Aerialbots or any of the sentient vessels. That took a highly different skill set than he had at present. He had applied to the University program for sentient ship mechanics and was waiting to see if he was accepted. He knew there was a waiting list and part of the coursework would be medical training.
He couldn't wait.
He slid the electrical adze along the metal he was working shearing off the thinnest layer of steel. Taking his gauge, he measured the thickness. It was close he thought. He took the adze and changed the setting for a closer more fine grit pass this time. By the end of the joor, he would have both of the flaps for his plane, one that would resemble those of Earth but be miles and miles ahead of them in every way.
It was going to be awesome.
-0-The Plains of Africa
They transformed and paused scanning the area ahead. The signal was close by but not moving very much. They split up, Lon going with Kup. Sunstreaker worked his way around until he came to the rim of a dry wash. Below, scuttling around alone was a creature he hadn't expected to see. He stood staring, then drew a gun. Stepping down, he didn't bother to hide his approach.
The creature paused, then looked up. It hesitated, then turned to waddle away as fast as it could.
It wasn't fast.
-0-In a tower nearby
Ratchet swam in the sea of dreams, ones that didn't require getting shot and batted around. He was weary and still a bit sore from his wound. The berth was sooooOOOooo comfortable that he found himself in that dreamy haze state of sleep that was just this side of perfection. He felt a heavy weight beside him. Turning his helm, he looked into the brown optics of a very happy dog. He got a big lick for his efforts.
Spot had climbed up on the berth as Sunspot ate his breakfast. He had helped Ironhide gather the infants, organize and now feed them without letting Ratchet know. They decided that 'your old Ada needs his beauty recharge, younglings'. So they helped their atar who apparently didn't need beauty sleep himself.
"Atar? Why do we have to go to school?" Hero asked with a slight sad.
Praxus and Orion looked at her, then Ironhide. Then they smiled brilliantly at the same time. Ironhide snorted. "Because school is where you belong. You need to learn things. Besides, I know you played hookey with Ada the other day, daughter."
"We had fun. We went to look at things and eat lunch. We played. Will you play with me, Atar?" she asked with a hopeful expression.
Ironhide looked at her and felt his will melt away. "Eat up, sparkling."
She did.
He on the other hand was struggling.
-0-Earth
Sunstreaker stood looking at the creature who paused to look back at him. It sat for a moment, then hesitantly crept toward him in a deeply submissive posture. It was like a dog who wanted to surrender to you so much that they crawled on their belly to please you and let you know there was no harm here. It crept to Sunstreaker and pressed down into the ground in abject submission.
Sunstreaker looked at it, his gun in servo, then subbed it. He knelt and scratched the creature on the helm. It actually purred. He grinned as Kup and Lon crept toward him, their weapons trained on the creature. Pausing a moment, Kup subbed his gun. Lon glanced at Kup, then Sunstreaker, then the creature. He subbed his gun too. If they were going to do it, he was too.
"What are we going to do with that?" Kup said chewing on his stogie thoughtfully.
"We're going to take it back with us. It looks lost out here and I don't want any humans finding it." Sunstreaker subbed a section of chain and fashioned a collar at one end. Fastening it around the creature's neck, he stood up and tugged on the rest which formed a leash. "Come on."
"What are you going to call it? Does it talk?" Lon asked uneasily as the creature stood back up on his four legs and moved to Sunstreaker pressing up against his legs. It began to purr again.
"I don't know. I think I'll call it Bob." He looked at Kup and grinned. "Epps sounds so formal."
They both laughed and looked at the tiny Insecticon who had found itself lost in the plains of Africa.
"Prowl will shit a shuttle," Kup said.
Sunstreaker snorted, then laughed. "Wait until I bring it home to Bluestreak," he said tugging the leash again. They turned and walked up the wash heading for the ship five miles away. They would walk the entire way, 'Bob' scuttling along beside Sunstreaker as they wandered back to the world and their life.
-0-TBC July 18, 2013 edited
NOTE: In the IDW universe, Bob is a little oddball Insecticon that wandered away from the Swarm and was coaxed into coming along by Sunstreaker. He trained him to track insecticons and he really purrs. You can see him by googling 'Transformers Bob'. :D:D He is included by request. An easy fit indeed. (IXR)