The Diego Diaries: Titan 9 (544) edited
-0-On board Ace, in the engine room some place
"Ratchet!"
He looked up from the guts of the mechanism where he was running scans on Acroplex's fuel lines. "What?"
"Where are you?" Ironhide asked as he looked at the maze of lines, conduits and what not that was the linkage between the mechanism and the outside world for his city mode.
"Over here," Ratchet said raising a servo. He waved it, then returned to his sensors.
Ironhide walked over, climbed a ladder, then paused beside the old bond. "How does he look?"
"Good. I had to dial down his formulation. They have not had decent fuel in so long that it wasn't going to sit well if I didn't. I ordered it for Con and Base too."
"Oh. Protoform wasting?" Ironhide asked.
"Very little. These mechanisms are so specialized they can shut down a lot of stuff to conserve energy. They are a miracle of engineering, Ironhide," Ratchet said as he stood up once more. "What brings you here?"
"CAN'T I JUST COME BY TO SAY HELLO?" he asked. Sort of.
"Oh, Ironhide … you make me tingly all over," Ratchet said with a grin.
"I do don't I," Ironhide said with an inordinate amount of pleasure. "I'm going by the house. You coming or what?"
"Not tonight," Ratchet said. "I'll try and take a break tomorrow but I'm with this group for a while now. When they sit, it will be better," Ratchet said.
"That might take three orns," Ironhide said. "OLD MECH! YOU NEED RECHARGE TOO!"
"Actually, I think I need a sandwich," Ratchet said with a grin. "And a beer. A beer would be nice. And a piece of that stuff... pie. Cherry pie."
"You got it," Ironhide said with a grin.
"Bring some for yourself. We can sit and picnic here," Ratchet said with a chuckle. "It'll be romantic."
"Wherever I am its romantic, Old Mech," Ironhide said as he turned to go. "THAT'S BECAUSE I AM IRONHIDE, DESTROYER OF WORLDS, SAMMICH BRINGER TO OLD MECHS!" He climbed down the ladder, Ratchet's laughter music to his audials and was gone in seconds.
"Ratchet."
"What, Ace?"
"I always liked Ironhide."
"So did I," Ratchet said as both laughed.
-0-On the street
He walked to the stairs and climbed down transforming at the bottom. A short burst of speed took him across the flat landing pad and around the debris and gouged highway that once linked everything. Road crews were out measuring and planning for fixing the damage as nearby arc lights illuminated the crushed underground train and power lines that fed the Tri-Cities, Terra and Industrial Park City beyond. All of it was screwed. Fortunately, there were emergency generators at all the cities and work places in anticipation of such things.
Reaching the edge of the highway, Metroplex 3 that led into the city, he transformed and climbed upward to a sidewalk. It was filled with civilians and humans who were watching. Lennox and the 'Family Crowd' as the soldiers and their families were called among the soldiers called out to him. :IRONHIDE!:
The big mech paused, then turned walking in the broken rubble to where the humans huddled on the steep sheer edge of the four lane highway. :Will Lennox?:
:Ironhide … what's going on out there?: he asked as the others including filmmakers and scientists turned to huddle closer. Civilians watching also turned toward him.
:We had four city-formers come. One of them is not well and flailed. It was a close one for Terra but Max took care of it. Max knows stuff: Ironhide said in his gruff economical yet comical manner.
Jessie chuckled, then stepped closer. :Are they going to be alright? Will they stay here like Metroplex? They are so awesome. I would love to meet them, Ironhide:
Ironhide grinned slightly. Jessie and the femmes, the female filmmakers and scientists were held in high regard. In a mech dominated society like theirs, the addition of females was known but not always experienced by a surprising number of the mechs. One could live their entire life into adulthood and older without running into one, so insignificant were they in the total numerical population. As a consequence, they were treated well, extremely well including the human females, with great manners and consideration by mechs who had less experience with them per capita than humans with Cybertronians. :You will. Old mech is working on Acroplex. He's going to work on Base and Con tonight to get them on their pads maybe tomorrow. Ace will take longer and its easier to work on them when they're in ship format. You don't have to chase as many pieces of them in that form than city:
:Are we banned from buzzing out there?: Jessie asked. Everyone nearly leaned forward to hear the answer.
:Not tonight. Too many things going on. Come here when its noon and watch them walk over. Then see if you can visit. You know where their command modules are in city form?: Ironhide asked.
:I do. I play chess with Metroplex and Max when I'm here: Jessie said with her usual dazzling smile.
Ironhide snorted, then grinned. :Who wins?:
:Do you need to asked?: she replied with a rueful grin.
Ironhide chuckled. :Try playing battleship with either of them, the slaggers. Come here tomorrow and ask to go to see Base and Con. You'll like them. They're very cultured and educated. They have a lot of stories to tell:
:What about Metrotitan, Ironhide?: Niall Graham asked. :How is he and Acroplex?:
:They got shot up. Tyke is going to take a while but Ace will be on pad soon enough. Old mech has it in servo: he replied. Glancing around, he nodded. :Gotta get Ratchet dinner: He turned and walked away, the entire group watching him go.
:That is a good mech: Leonora said. :I wish human men were half as cool as Ironhide:
Every man in the group turned to look at her. Then Epps snorted. :I don't think we could contain it: he replied to general laughter and catcalls.
-0-Nearby
The view from the end of the road that led to Crystal City was beautiful. With Terra as the hub, the cities of Luna, Pax and Crystal City spired off as spokes in a great wheel. If one stood at the edge of Crystal City, that person could see towering in the distance the entirely Cybertronian Tri-Cities. They were glittering in the darkness, their lights signaling the vast population that had just settled in their confines.
Across the wide eight lane ribbon of highway that led that way and beyond circling around to Industrial Park City, then Terra once more, the new excavations of seven more cities were lit up with construction lighting. Closer to Terra, also lit up with permanent outdoor lights for evening, the vast nearly finished skeleton of a Primal Basilica could be seen. Near to it but closer to Terra was the Mausoleum of Mars, the burial ground of their new home world.
The lights that twinkled in the darkness twinkled erratically. The thin atmosphere made night time lighting almost sparkle. At the site where pads were being built, the din was dampened for the same reason as mechs and machines worked tirelessly to smooth and reinforce two enormous pads for Metrobase and Metrocon. They had worked out the specifics, finding Metroplex's design extremely adequate to their needs. It was fortunate that they did because the same infrastructure designs for Metroplex would be used and boost their timeline toward completion by several orns.
They would be seated, the linkages below ground which were being laid now would be made, then any further subterranean excavations would be implemented later. There would be many. There would be the necessary adjustments to the system that always happened when mechanisms relaxed and took stock. There would be the armories and depot hubs that would be built below and the various metro stations which Base and Con had incorporated into their transformation plans. All of the myriad details would be made including highways that would be laid between them and everywhere else. The cities would become one whole mechanism in time.
Jetta stood with Mack watching as the last culvert was laid down on the supporting beams in the last tunnel. They were being welded one by one so that soon energon would flow from one of the plants nearby that fed Terra. It would go there, then into Base, then Con. The pads for Ace and Tyke were going to come next but the urgency was less. They would require medical attention that was more important for them than the two they worked to accommodate now. :Did you see the message from Prowl?:
Mack looked up from the datapad where he was taking notes. :No. I haven't had time:
:Optimus is making a call for the titans to come. There are apparently many out there and they are being hunted:
:Frag: Mack said with surprise. :Who the frag would hunt them? For what reason?:
:Their technology. Apparently there is a big market for body parts," Jetta said grimly. Then he grinned. :You do know that they can teleport to any place in the universe they want to go and get there immediately:
Mack was silent a moment, then glanced sharply at Jetta. :Frag:
Jetta grinned. :My sentiments exactly:
-0-Earlier
He drove out to the plain east of Aerie Hill, then transformed. Standing under the sky bright with stars and the lights of their technology, Optimus Prime composed his message. Encoding it with the encryption of the Titans, finding the frequency only they would use, he opened his chassis so that the light of the Matrix could emerge. It shoot upward, a brilliant stream of light carrying his call. "Come to me," he said. "Come to me and safety. Come now." It was bright and steady, then it faded. The light continued into the sky and was gone. His chassis closed, the Matrix went into repose and it was done.
The call for titans had been made. Now all they had to do was come.
-0-On Ace
They sat on a box in a hold eating dinner together. Ironhide looked at Ratchet. "The infants are on the prod. They're pretty unhappy that we aren't home."
"Slaggers. Demanding aren't they?" Ratchet asked with a grin.
Ironhide nodded. "They are. No school tomorrow. Ratch offered to watch them for Tie and Ravie but that got vetoed. They're putting Orion, Hero and Praxus in day care until lunch time. They're taking Sunspot and Prowler with them to get some things done. Then they will get the three afterward. They plan to keep them together."
"This is fragged. What would we do without them?" Ratchet asked.
"They'd be in day care. Flint went back to Fort Apache and my folks have duties in Ops Center for tomorrow. Its all fragged," Ironhide said.
"What about you?" Ratchet asked. "What about you taking care of the infants. I'll bring home the bacon. I'm working."
Ironhide snorted. "Trying to shame me?"
"You know that's impossible, Ironhide."
Ratchet grinned.
Ironhide grinned.
"I have to be with Prime. He's the Prime. I'm the bodyguard and right servo go-to mech. What would he do without me?" Ironhide asked as he sipped his Praxus Black Label.
"Want me to ask?" Ratchet asked.
A gimlet optic met that remark. "I have to do the rounds with Prime. He and I are a team."
"I'll be sure to tell Prowl he has competition. Speaking of competition … did you tell Springer and Drift about Christmas Surprise at our house? Or is it going to be at the Residence?"
"Maybe the gifts part. I was thinking about an open house on Christmas Surprise Eve. You know … show off the younglings. Let Prowl come and take a count. Like that," Ironhide said with a grin.
Ratchet paused his beer, then snorted. "You are evil. I like that."
"I thought you would. We are ahead you know." (Insert massive preen here)
Ratchet nodded. "Got a brace or three of unnaturally high end sparklings and younglings."
"Could use a few more. Don't have a team yet," Ironhide ventured.
"I agree. I can't want to see you have them," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
"When you get done with the diagnostics here, give yourself one. You're hallucinating again."
Ironhide grinned.
Ratchet grinned.
Probably somewhere nearby, Ace grinned too.
-0-Springer
"I just got a message from Ironhide," he said to Drift who was standing next to him on the same dirt mound.
"You mean atar, right?" Drift asked with a grin of his own.
Springer considered that. Then grinned. "Atar. That makes me laugh just a little."
"Only a little?" Drift asked.
Springer chuckled. "Apparently, there's going to be a Christmas Surprise Eve open house at their apartment to 'show off the sparklings'."
"That includes you," Drift said with a chuckle of his own. "We need to bring something epic with us."
"I would think showing up would take care of that," Springer said as he stepped to one side for a mini-con to pass with a big cutting blade in his servos.
"That's true but house gifts are required. Or so I'm told," Drift said.
"Alright," Springer said glancing at his partner with a grin. "I'll bring you."
They stood together on a dirt mound chatting and planning their first foray into holidays with the Fam. The night moved ever forward toward morning and the epic transformation of Metrobase and Metrocon.
It would indeed be epic.
-0-TBC December 7, 2013