The Diego Diaries: Phase Six 2 (504) edited
-0-On the Phobos
They watched as the over matched firepower of several hundred Autobots blew the slag out of the Peaceful Tyranny. A ship feared on a scale unmatched by nearly anything else the Decepticons could field including Megatron's flagship itself, it was almost poetic to watch it turn to slag. The big screen before them, huge on a scale the humans had only seen in science fiction movies displayed the entire scene.
The ship had sat silently, malevolently. Then flashes of firepower so bright it caused the humans to blink hit the ship in the aft and in the forward regions. The screen compensated for the brightness as what seemed like solar flare-like outbursts of firepower overwhelmed it for a moment. Then the shooting died. It had only taken seconds but it had done the trick.
The Peaceful Tyranny was convulsing in its death throes, its agony as violent as anything any of the humans had ever seen. Charlotte Mearing reached for Seymour Simmons' hand almost reflexively. They held them, clutching each other in their astonishment. The soldiers, Morshower and Fulton watched grimly, appreciatively as the spectacle who knew how far ahead of them was unfolding. The three civilian humans, friend and foe alike stared in horror and amazement, mute witnesses to the firepower of their allies. It was the most amazing thing they had ever seen.
The Autobots watched in varying stages of emotion. Lennox looked at Ironhide who stared at the sight with satisfaction. The same could be said for Revo, most of the command crew as well as Silverclaw and a couple of his fellow human soldiers who were here along with the usual bunch to 'see the show'. Morshower and Fulton looked grim as did Graham and Epps. Prowl was sphinx-like in demeanor as was Rainmaker. Prime was stoic, this sort of action never one he could order easily. It was dead silent as they watched. Then Sunstreaker glanced at Prime with a grim expression of triumph on his handsome face. "The ship is destroyed. They had more ammo and fuel than we were allowed to believe. What now? Do we scoop them up with nets?"
Prowl looked at Prime. "I think it would be a good idea to ascertain their disposition, sir. I would not like to think that they are floating around intact. These mechs are in my estimation phase six in their classification rating. I have assigned it to them in the data files."
Prime nodded. "I agree. I would like Ratchet to come over here," he said glancing at Blaster who sent the message. "What we need to do is not underestimate their danger even now. Especially Tarn. I want them unconscious before they are retrieved. If they so much as twitch they are to be put down with extreme prejudice. If that turbofox is there and alive it is to be destroyed upon contact."
Prowl nodded, then walked to the communications station to organize the rescue.
"What is the status of the refugees? I am especially concerned by those nearby," Prime said.
"Make a general call," Ratchet said as he walked into the command deck from his short jump. "That will do a lot of good. Hearing your voice, Optimus, makes everything right."
He nodded and glanced at Blaster who complied. Everyone paused as he began to speak. "This is Optimus Prime. We are here to rescue you from your agony. We had a Decepticon ship in our midst that did not comply with surrender protocols. We had to administer extreme prejudice to them to ensure the safety of everyone else. To all Decepticons in this migration and those attached to them, please listen closely. You are welcome but you must comply with our demand that you power down your weapons, fuse personal weapons in lockers and wait for your turn to be taken to safety. For you to stay will require both a personal oath to me as Prime and a personal oath to the Matrix of Leadership. Anyone who defies those requirements will be asked to leave. If you refuse to leave we will take steps to protect the migration which can and will include blowing you to bits. Don't be fools like the Decepticons just now. They learned the hard way how intensely we will protect our mission and its people. Optimus Prime out." He glanced at Blackjack. "No mention of who they were must be made to anyone. If there are Decepticons in this group that leave, they cannot take the knowledge that these menaces are dead or neutralized. I would prefer the Empire to believe we are as weak willed and soft as they believe we are. It works to our benefit for them to believe that."
The command crew nodded.
Ratchet patted Prime's back. "I'm sorry you have to make the tough calls, Optimus. But this is a good one. Those fraggers needed slagging." Ratchet grinned slightly. "You know, you can have some good come out of this."
They all looked at Ratchet. He grinned back.
Moments later …
Prowl sat before the Communications console waiting for the lines to open. When both were, Blaster nodded. "Paragon and Cyclonus, this is Prowl. Please respond."
For a moment there was no sound, then two voices responded. One was a nice tenor like Prowl. That would be Paragon. The other, low and raspy was Cyclonus.
"What brings you to call me, Prowl?" Cyclonus asked as he stood by the communications console in his own Ops Center.
Paragon who was inspecting a newly charted large fragment of Class A energon that was buried in an asteroid near their base answered as well. "Paragon here."
Prowl glanced at Prime who nodded. He looked at the screen with both profiles giving information about Cyclonus and Paragon. "I am here to tell you of a mutual threat located by deep space scouts. As you know, we are rescuing our people, several hundreds of thousands. We have picked up the signature and echoes of a vessel that is nearby. It has been identified as the Peaceful Tyranny which as you know is commanded by Tarn."
It was silent a moment as both mechs absorbed that punch in the face. "Why do you tell us this, Prowl? It would seem to be in your interests that they find us," Paragon replied, his voice carefully calm and devoid of emotion.
"It is in our interests that you keep the acid aliens at bay, Cyclonus," Prowl said. "As for you, Paragon … it would seem reasonable that warning you would occupy your team in watching for them and keep both of you away from us. Please do not confuse this with philanthropic tendencies which for you, none of us have."
A soft chuckle greeted that. "I was not aware that you had any feelings for our side, Prowl. I admire your cold logic greatly. On the other servo, this changes things out here. We may have more in common, the three of us than before. Perhaps a meet up could be anticipated at some point? To discuss mutual endeavors and alignments perhaps?"
"I am not authorized to discuss that. I am only authorized to tell you that the Decepticon Justice Division is here. All other considerations will have to be forwarded by you to the Prime. Prowl out." He sat back glancing up at Prime. "That was satisfying."
"Keeping them off guard always is," Ratchet said with great satisfaction.
-0-Paragon
He sat in his chair, then ordered his team to fly back to base. This news changed everything. As he flew, he opened a channel to everyone settling in the area. There had to be a meet up with new organization to their mishmash of agendas. No one … not the pirates, former 'Cons and all the rest were safe from the psychotic fanatics of the D.J.D.
He was filled with foreboding all the way back to his base. When he arrived he put out a general call to every freelance Decepticon out there.
Cyclonus would do the same thing.
-0-At the scene of the wreckage
The shuttles and Seekers waited, their weapons trained on the pile of oozing debris that had been one of the most feared units in the Decepticons. Even the 'Cons feared them. Kup watched as the ship began to settle, its ammo and fuel either exhausting itself or falling into dormancy in the vacuum. He glanced at the monitor where Springer's handsome face was seen. "Nice light show."
Springer snorted. "Bit of an overkill I think."
"Maybe," Kup said. "Maybe not."
"Sunstreaker is trying to get on the detail that gathers up the pieces," Springer said. "He's not going to be allowed off the Phobos. He's pretty colorful in his language. I'll send you the texts."
Kup received them, then grinned. "Nice language. His ada would slap his aft."
"He would but his old ada is worse," Springer said with a smirk.
"That's true. Didn't ruin two families there," Kup said as Prime's voice came over the sound system.
:Springer, Kup … I am going to have the Seekers do a really intense scan of the wreckage. They're linking their sensors. You might move back from the magnetic field:
"Got ya, Prime," Kup said. "All shuttles move back. The Seekers are linking sensors."
They all did, slipping back to the edge of the area where the refugees had been pulled. Their guns were facing in ready to shoot but they were free of the overload of heavy duty magnetic overlap.
For several moments there was silence, then Red Wing spoke. :Red Wing to Prime:
:Prime here:
:We have scanned the wreckage. The ship is over. Its completely destroyed. The five are in various stages of abuse in the forward section behind the bridge. We found three life signs and two that are muddled. There is a turbofox signal in the center of the ship, the part that is still relatively whole. Its still alive:
:Very well. Stand by: Prime's voice said.
-0-On the Phobos
Prime discussed the situation with his senior officers, then turned to Ratchet. "I would like you to go there and inspect the riffraff. If they are alive we have to bring them in but I want them in stasis. What if anything do you know beyond the usual intel regarding their special functions?"
"I know that Tarn can destroy sparks with his vocal processor. We will have to yank that out. Kaon is a killer. His coils need removed so he can't generate any electricity. Vos needs his face removed. Helex and Tesarus need their chassis fused. I want to remove the grinding blades in Tesarus when he's in stasis. Helex needs stasis forever or a plasma blast in the helm." Ratchet smirked slightly. "These slaggers are beyond the pale. That turbofox needs slagged on sight. It cannot be allowed to live. It can kill from a distance and I don't know how, Optimus. Until that beast is obliterated no one can go near that ship. It must be killed at a distance. There is no other safe way to do this."
Prime nodded. He turned to sensors. "Prowl, take the Seeker data and locate the beast."
Prowl moved stations, then sat. He worked on the feed still coming in as everyone stood silently. Morshower walked to the edge of the console where he had sat in comfy chairs with everyone else watching Jazz handle intel. :Optimus:
Everyone turned to the little human who was standing with the others, all of them nervous and curious. :What is happening? How could anyone survive that and still be a danger?:
:There are entities on the ship that are not normal in any universe. They weren't designed to do anything but kill and torture. They may be hurt or slagged but they are capable of eating our sparks: Ratchet said.
Optimus nodded. :This group carries with them an almost legendary creature called a sparkeater. It is in the turbofox. Sometimes the phenomenon takes over someone or something, even from a distance. Then it kills or causes more to be made. We have to kill it to ensure that no one dies going into the wreckage. Until that is taken care of, no one does:
:These fraggers are that bad?: Epps asked.
Ironhide nodded. :The worst:
The rest of the team turned to the task as Ironhide walked to where the humans stood. He commed on a monitor next to them so they turned looking at the big screen. :This is Tarn, their leader, the fragger you heard. He's such a fanatic that he had a Deceptibrand put on his face. He's a slagger who gives the illusion of culture while he kills you. His vocal processor is modified to explode sparks when he pitches it the right way. That is why Prime cut him off:
They looked at him, then each other. It was almost more than the two politicians could grasp. :What about the others, Ironhide?: Fulton asked.
He punched the appropriate keys. :This is Vos. He's insane. He transforms into a sniper rifle. He only speaks Primal Vernacular so he can't communicate unless Tarn translates. He's a mad scientist with the ability to take off his face and put it on his victims. His face is filled with hooks, screws, drills, nails …:
:WHAT THE FUCK!?: the Speaker of the House said with incredulity. :What kind of nightmare is this?!:
:One you bought into when you took Megatron into custody: Ironhide said. He punched a button. :This is Kaon. He's their communications officer and maintains what is commonly called The List. It's everyone that they think isn't fervent enough to the Cause who they hunt to kill. No one gets away from them. No one can stand against them, hence Prime's actions. He's electrical and can generate enough electricity to fry your circuits. His alt mode is an electric chair. He has the turbofox sparkeater. They call it 'The Pet':
Ironhide punched more buttons. :This is Helex. Fragger is taller than Megatron and his chassis is unbelievable. He puts his victims inside of himself, then turns up heat hot enough to slowly melt them into a his own personal smelting pool in his body. Tesarus is a different kind of fragger. He has grinding blades in the middle of his torso where he slowly feeds his victims. It takes a long time for us to die in either case and its their sport: He turned to look at them. :They have regular names but no one knows it. They take their names from the first five cities on Cybertron to fall to the Decepticons. They were designed and set loose to be torture devices and they're very good at it. This is what we're facing. They probably have Earth on The List too because you held Megatron, killed The Fallen and generally chapped their afts in your so called disrespect for The Cause. Imagine having to defeat them without us:
No one said anything a moment, then Morshower nodded. :That is what I have been trying to explain to certain people for years: He glared at the Speaker of the House who merely returned his gaze evenly. Morshower looked at Ironhide. :Who is going out there to get these freaks?:
:Why that would be me of course: Ratchet replied with a grin.
-0-TBC November 8, 2013
IMPRESSION: I think that when someone in publishing proposed this storyline that they sat and brainstormed a single question: What would be the fraggiest fragging Decepticon team we can pull out of our imaginations? With the DJD I think we have the answer. :D:D:D:D