The Diego Diaries: Things That Go Boom (500) edited
-0-Ops Center, The City, Mars
Prime sat at the command table, a slow burn simmering through his circuits. He considered the early orns of the colony when everyone was in the same sinking boat but the atmosphere of all going down the same pothole filled road was better than this. They all understood the point of the mission. They all understood unity.
Hidden in the midst of his flower garden were weeds.
Glancing around the room he watched his mechs working at their usual peak performance. They were professionals, mechs he had spent his adult life with working hard for the betterment of all. Now they had in their midst in this, the first oasis for their people in oceans of time, marauders. It was as maddening for him as it could be.
Someone was stepping up to fill in the vacuum left by the five younglings being sidelined in their rampaging. It could be genitors. It could be friends they hadn't identified yet. It could be anyone. What it didn't appear to be was anyone who wasn't part of the Burris party. He turned and gestured to Jazz, who rose. Walking over, he sat. "Tell me about the Burris migration please."
"We have finished interviews with the low castes that they brought with them, Prime. They were pretty beat up and needed time to come around. They didn't feel safe and feared getting' retribution if they talked. They were worked like slaves, fed very little and feared for their lives. Burris is a real bastard," Jazz said grimly. "The entire group was like him, demanding, hard core. You know the type."
Prime nodded grimly. "They need to be identified and investigated. I want to know where they work, where they live, what they do in their spare time. I can assume that they all belong to the Iacon Order?"
"They do," Jazz replied with a nod. "All of them, young and old."
"Some of that group are there for friendships. I met a few of them at the home of Humr when the search was being made. They said they were there for associations and friendships but had no interest in seeing The System restored. I believe them."
Jazz nodded. "Elita has run down the list. We can work out a more comprehensive investigation if you want. How much do you want us to do? Tap them? Follow them?"
"I don't want to tap until I have discussed it with Barron. I do not want to use the thing that made life the Pit for our people against them here. I do not want to go down that road," Optimus said with a slight shake of his helm.
Jazz nodded. "Alright. We'll work out from that group of 110 individuals a likely suspect list. You do believe that they are the ones who caused the surge, right?"
Prime nodded. "Our systems are built with fail safes and redundancies. That was a forced surge. Someone is picking up where the others left off. See if there is someone we have not picked up on, Jazz, among the youngling set. I want to know the threat potential yesterday."
Jazz nodded, then rose and walked toward the corridor that led to his office and that of Elita's next door. They would sit together and work out their plans for the rest of the afternoon.
-0-Tyger Pax, Mars
He stood in the studio studying the layout of the new facility. It was bigger, had more windows and more light, had amazing built-ins and space to work on giant canvasses, something that he was migrating toward with every new orn. The dojo was hard at work nearby, the sound of hammering and drilling echoing down the hallway. He was going to address their destroyed décor by adding new things requested including images of the leadership, Dai Atlas and famous individuals connected to that side of Cybertronian thinking and philosophy.
He walked to the boxes of salvaged things, then began to unpack, placing them into their new homes and containment with a slow burning anger. He had not been able to save everything that Sadee had sketched but they would go over it again. Her main work for her upcoming show on Earth was at her home.
Thank Primus.
He turned to the work as the sun outside the windows began its downward trajectory toward late afternoon.
-0-At the Military Airfield, The City, Mars
They began to roll out the great vessels onto parking slots on the vast tarmac along with several places kept open for the Wrecker shuttles that were going as well. Since they were always kept fueled and armed for any possible contingency their crews would have more time before mustering. As it was, the migration would be handled in the familiar way they had begun to develop since the inclusion of space bridges. They would go to the leading edge and sort using the data that the Seekers were transmitting back as they scanned and gathered information from the migration, their leadership and the soldiers that had been part of it since they were run out of their neutral areas some time before. The intel thus far was sketchy, like five parts of a 200 piece jigsaw puzzle but the indications were that Decepticons were with them, some of whom were running with families and some who were being 'coy'. That usually meant trouble.
Seekers were with them providing cover as they joined up following both the signal of Starscream and Rainmaker to return to them. There was no illusions left that they could stay with the 'Cons. The Great Elder made short work of that.
Medical was still unknown but there were families it was said with sparked individuals and elderly. Many of them had escaped from Cybertron during what was called The Exodus, a period early in The Fall where about 20 million Cybertronians were air lifted off world by what was left of groups like the Knights of Cybertron and the various Neutrals. After that, the porthole closed tighter and it was hit or miss by smaller groups, some of whom were captured and brought back. The big group then had dispersed with frightened desperate mechs and femmes spreading out everywhere. This group would be part of that and would likely have tales to tell.
Great ships filled with the stuff of rescue were waiting in rows on the tarmac, their crews both ground and flight going over them to make sure they were ready to meet any and all need. That would be what they would face … anything and everything.
The Master of the Muster stood at his station going over the thousands of items that needed to be accounted for, the lists upon lists of individuals and the projected time lines that needed met. It was a herculean task. They were expecting between 800,000 to 1,000,000 individuals. It would be the biggest group brought over yet.
Several scientists, several filmmakers and some soldiers from N.E.S.T including Trevor Smith, the once and no longer future mole for M.E.C.H. and the Revolution watched the intricate ballet unfold before them. It was an astonishingly precise process. It would occupy their attention for hours.
-0-At an apartment in the Mare Tranquilitatis
Appa Ratchet sat on his chair as infants gathered to go. Kaon, Iacon and Uraya had hugged him, then turned with Bluestreak to go home. It would be dinner soon, their home work was waiting such as it was and tomorrow would be another orn. They walked out and it was quiet a moment. "What wonderful infants. I like your younglings, Ratchet. Those twin mechs are very nice."
Ratchet grinned. "I rather like them myself. Do you want to lie down?"
Appa Ratchet considered that, then nodded. "Maybe for a little bit. When will Tie come home?"
"He's working on some projects, Atar. He will be home for dinner," Ravel said as he set Orion down, then walked to stand beside his old dad.
"You should go and help him, Ravel. I will be fine," Appa Ratchet said as he was half lifted wearily out of his chair.
"None of you are optimal yet," Ratchet said as he helped his appa walk to the room that was his. "I think all of you should sit at home for a while but no one listens to me. No. I'm just the doctor here." Ratchet grinned at his appa who grinned up at him.
"You are still a bossy mech aren't ya?" his appa asked.
"I take after you," Ratchet replied as they reached his berth. They helped him settle in, tucking him with his blankets, then pulled the curtains. Fussing a moment, they walked out of the room. Ratchet turned to Ravel. "If you want to go to the store and help, I can stay here."
"You have a mission soon. You should go and get ready. I can watch the babies," Ravel said grinning at three of the four little infants who stood grinning up at him. Prowler was snoozing on a chair nearby.
"I don't have to do much yet," Ratchet said. "Since you have Appa to look after, I have outpatient care slated to help you and don't argue," he said with a gimlet optic. "I have asked the Day Care Center to take care of the sparklings during the orn. I might agree with assistance to having you with them during the night but I don't want you to do both by yourself. They are hell on wheels you know."
"They are wonderful little bits," Ravel said smiling down at the tiny bots who were watching both of them. They smiled back at him.
"ADA!"
"What, loud mouth?" Ratchet asked.
"WE GO HERE!? OTHER ADA HELP US HERE!?" Orion asked.
"No. We have a home to go to. Next door. We're going there now. Ironhide can fetch dinner. Do you want us to bring you and Atar something?" Ratchet asked as he began to pick up toys putting some in his hold, the others that stayed here in a small red box by the door.
"I think that would be nice, son. I would like some soup. Your atar would take more." Ravel hugged his infants.
"Soup. Is that all?" Ratchet asked as he finished the clean up.
"It sounds nice," Ravel said smiling up at his son.
Ratchet grabbed his ada and hugged him, holding him tightly. "I will bring you a surprise too." He set his ada down, then walked to the berth room. His appa was recharging peacefully. "You sit and relax. Call Atar to come home. Its about that time anyway. Okay?"
Ravel nodded. "Okay," he said in his sweet gentle manner.
Ratchet glanced at the floor. "Last sparkling through our door is a slow sparkling."
They grinned at him, then Hero began to run for the door. The others looked at her, then ran shrieking after her. Ratchet picked up a dozing Prowler, then grinned. "Lucky me," he said as he turned to follow them.
Ravel watched as they crowded through their door, then it closed. He grinned. "Lucky you indeed, Sonny." He smiled, then closed his own.
-0-At the Armory, The City, Mars
Ironhide and Nitro signed off on the massive amounts of munitions that were being hauled topside via the Flight Center Depot Hub three stories below ground under the Autobot City Flight Center and Repair Facility that was the heart and soul of the hangar district. Scattered among the vast hangars where repair, rebuild and invention happened were the hangars both above and below ground that were the homes of the aerial giants.
The wide roads and open door hangars were filled with activity as mission prep began to move into high gear. Trains filled with supplies, medical equipment, munitions and endless containers of all manner of energon trundled into the station to be offloaded in a highly sophisticated manner of turnstile platforms, overhead booms and arms as well as both sentient and non-sentient vehicle modalities. It was noisy, busy and utterly fascinating to the humans that watched it from a safe location.
Two of them were Charlotte Mearing and Seymour Simmons.
-0-Ironhide
He walked off the train onto the platform that led to the surface at Metro Station 1. It was the busiest station in the city, the one that led upward to the Metroplex District, the heart and soul of the colony. He walked down the street heading for the Mall of Metroplex to pick up the dinner order that Ratchet had made. Ratchet had told his atar to meet Ironhide there 'to help'. Given his genitors' dedication to their customers, Ratchet figured it would be the best way to get the little mech to stop for the orn. He did.
Ironhide walked into the grocery store heading for the 'orders to pick up' station in the back. Tie Down grinned up at him. "Apparently Ratchet believes its time to stop for the orn."
"He always was bossy," Ironhide said with a grin.
"He is that," Tie said as a smiling mech brought out a couple of boxes stacked on top of each other.
Ironhide took them. Tie looked up at him. "I can help you, son."
"Break trail, Tie. I will follow you," Ironhide said with a grin. They thanked the youngling, then turned to walk through the crowd to the street beyond the Mall. It was a short walk to the tower and a shorter ride up to their floor. When they reached the door Tie opened it and both stepped into the excited squeals of infants.
Orion stood by the door of his room watching them enter. "ATAR IS HERE! ATAR CAMED!" He ran as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, his arms raised.
Ironhide put the boxes down, then picked up his son. Orion pressed his face hard against Ironhide's, then grinned at him. "YOU CAMED! I GLAD! THANKS YOU!"
Ironhide snorted. "Your weclum," Ironhide replied.
"No wonder sparkling has problems," Ratchet said as he stood by the counter mixing sippy cups. "Some of your dinner is in those boxes, Atar. They will have an 'X' on them. Why don't you take them over, Ironhide?"
"I can do this, Sonny," Tie said as he opened the box. They sorted, then Tie walked out, the infants waving and calling out as he went. They then turned smiling up at Ironhide and Ratchet. "Ada? Do you want us to help you?" Hero asked.
Ratchet smiled. "You already have, Hero. Are your servos clean?"
They all examined their servos which were clean enough. The door opened as Sunspot and Spot came barreling in. "HI, ADA! ATAR! IS IT DINNER YET?" he asked. He stopped and stared up, a brilliant smile on his sweet little face. Spot sat and looked up at them, his tongue lolling out as he watched with excitement.
"Just in the nick of time. Your servos?" Ratchet said as he plopped sparklings down in their chairs around the table.
He looked at them and grinned. Then he ran into the wash rack to wash up. Spot went with him.
"That youngling was raised right, Ironhide," Ratchet said with a snicker as he began to fill plates. "I know his Ada."
Ironhide grinned, then turned on the monitor. The Hourly News was underway. "The Office of the Chief of Security offered no details about the transformer explosion in the Zodiac Tower in Tyger Pax this morning. Chief Springer had nothing to add to the initial report that a surge had overloaded the relay hub causing an explosion that did only moderate damage to the area around it. Sciences are working on it to identify the problem and seek solutions. Until then, that area is being restricted.
"The weather is coming up after the announcements on the Community Bulletin Board. It is suggested that genitors check the status of their student's upcoming academic conferences. Given the incoming migration, they are being held in abeyance until things are settled. Upcoming also will be more news regarding the rescue mission tomorrow and the championship football game upcoming in the next three decaorns." Lim-Lee's pretty face cut away to a slow moving data read out from the Community Bulletin Board. Everyone sat and began to eat. It would be a loud entertaining affair.
-0-TBC November 6, 2013
NOTE: A reader mentioned that they liked the balance of home and duty. I agree. I am interested in all their areas of life and what they do off duty is as interesting to me as what they do as soldiers. Given that Autobots were civilians first, then soldiers, they would to my sense of things have more of a background in normal than say the professional army and air force who tended to go Decepticon. They would have more established backgrounds and interests. Bluestreak's family were supposed to be midcaste type merchants. :D