The Diego Diaries: Oops (613)
-0-On the monitor in the Conference of Doom
Orion booped Han on the helm with his hammer. Standing by the table with the remote in his servo, Roto watched the genitors and families with a grin on his handsome face. They looked like crap to the last figure.
On screen, the bring was brought. Han who was booped slapped in return. His tiny servo bounced harmlessly off Orion's tiny pug nose. Orion blinked, then patted said tiny nose. Frowning madly, he lowered his helm and charged Han, his finials resembling tiny horns on a tiny bull. He ran into Han, then both fell down lying disoriented for a moment. They both sat up. Glancing around, they noticed no change in the adults. No one saw them.
Yet.
Orion glared at Han. Han glared at Orion. Then Han grabbed the hammer and stood up. Raising it, he ran for Orion. Orion blinking turned and crawled under the table. Han paused, then looked underneath. He spotted Orion, then followed bumping his helm on the table top as he crawled. The camera adjusted itself zooming in on the infants as they scuttled about under the table. Then Orion appeared closely followed by Han.
Orion turned to glare at Han, then was booped by a hammer on his nose. He blinked, then turned to run going around the edge of the table with Han in hot pursuit.
Revo and Heva watched along with their genitors, the expressions on their faces alternating between MORTIFICATION and a desire to dig a big hole and bury themselves. Their own genitors were watching with expressions ranging from deep amusement to stern no nonsense irritation at their grandson.
Ironhide and Ratchet on the other servo sat watching with their mouths gaping open. Ravel looked as stern as Tie Down while Alor looked like he wanted to paddle two tiny afts.
Han chased Orion around the table, the little black Autobot glancing over his shoulder as he ran. As he passed Han's own project for the second time, he paused long enough to push it over. Then he put metal to the pedal once more. Han who was chasing stopped to look at his project. It was kaput too. Glaring at Orion, he began to chase again.
Orion ran and ran around the table, pausing long enough to pick up a Lego to throw at Han. It went up, it went over, it fell down behind him. The little black bot looked up, then around, then frowned. Han on the other servo howled with laughter. Orion, his fury rising even more turned to chase Han. Han with concern turned and was chased.
Han still had the little hammer.
Roto paused the film. "Who would like to comment?"
No one did.
"I would like to break this down for you then," Herling said sitting back with a grin. "We had the first problem with Han taking the hammer out of Orion's servo. He stole the hammer. Orion actually looks around for someone but doesn't see anyone open so he walks to Han and takes the hammer back. For what its worth, Orion didn't slap or act out against Han. He acted reasonably to rectify a problem.
"What happened after that reflects on both but the cause here was Han and his unreasonable actions. He didn't ask. He took."
Revo and Heva looked at each other. They didn't dare look at Ironhide and Ratchet. "Then he's a hoodlum?"
"No," Roto said as case manager for both of them. "He's got a feud with Orion that cannot be denied."
Both nodded, then sagged staring at the floor. Their genitors rapped their shoulders. "Buck up," they said almost in unison. Both sat up straighter.
Roto grinned. "Where Orion went wrong was hitting Han with the little hammer, which I will say is designed not to hurt anyone. What follows after that both of them are equally responsible for. I will tell you that I have it in my collection of 'Han and Orion's Greatest Hits'. Literally."
No one laughed.
Herling and Roto grinned at each other, then Herling nodded. "Here is the rest," he said as everyone glanced at the monitor.
The chase continued, then it didn't. Orion grabbed hold of Han and both fell down, the hammer sliding away from them. Orion who sat up on Han looked down at the bot who was face first on the floor. Then he reached down to grab Han's finials. Yanking hard on them, he slipped and fell off rolling to one side. Han freed and furious rose and walked to Orion. He leaned down and slapped his helm. Then he kicked him.
At that moment not withstanding the vapors emanating from the roomful of viewers, Roto could be seen grabbing both little mechs. He held them up with a deep frown, then turned to walk into the next room. Exhibit A of the crime was over as the cameras switched back to the classroom with two ruined projects scattered over and around a table.
-0-Fort Cybertron
The refit of the fortress built by Paragon was well underway, its new name designation replacing that of Paragon's battle group. It would serve two purposes right away. It would be a launching point for any missions against aggressors from this direction as well as a staging area and resource for the migrations, one of which was now clearly on their sensors. It would be barely finished before the rescue would be begun.
It was dark in space, the only light available that which they had brought with them. In the atmosphere around them small and large fragments of rock and ice floated. A dampening field erected over the site that morning took care of anything crashing into them. They were hidden well on a large planetary fragment of several hundred miles in diameter. When the installation was complete it would rival Fort Apache.
-0-In the Conference of Doom
"Both of you are here for conferences. We wanted to have you see the film before you go to have them separately. We will be talking about the plans we have to ensure that the peaceful periods they have managed together not only continue but lengthen them. They do get around just fine together most of the time. I want you to know that we are making progress," Roto said with a grin.
They looked at him with hopeful optics. Then Ravel looked at Orion with an arched optical ridge. "You, little sparkling, will be a mech of good character. You will learn that you cannot choose your friends and colleagues but that you must be a good mech around all manner of bots. I will not have a grandson who is not a sparkling of good character," he said with more emphasis than anyone had heard from him before. "I raised a goofball to become a good mech. I expect that we can do the same for you."
Orion looked at his grandada, the tone he was using completely unfamiliar. He wilted, then his chin quivered. Ironhide who was in the same condition got a stern look from Ravel. The little bot stood taking Orion into his arms. "You are to be a good mech, now and some day in the future. It starts now." He looked at Han who was looking at Ravel warily. "That goes for you too."
Han blinked, then looked at his grandadas. One of them rose with a firm expression as well. "I agree."
Han and Orion looked at their family, the unaccustomed tension disturbing. Orion gripped Ravel's face. "Other Ada?" he asked softly as he searched Ravel's face. "You mad?"
"A little," Ravel said nodding. "You two are our future. How can we find peace if you don't?"
Orion wilted, lowering his helm. He looked distraught. Ravel kissed his helm. He looked at his Other Ada, then leaned up to be held. Ravel hoisted him to his shoulder, patting his little aft. "You will be a good mech. We require it. Learn to love, baby. Not doing that has nearly pushed us to extinction."
The mood was heavy a moment, then Ratchet looked at Roto. "Do we have to stand in the corner too? We are working on this every orn."
"They really do get along well but now and again something truly epic happens. We haven't had a fight since the last one in the sand box and that has been a long time," Roto said.
Ratchet nodded, then glanced at Ironhide. He looked ready to fall into a heap of body parts. "You look like you're going to pass out."
Ironhide rose staring down at Ratchet. "I'll be fine. I just want the sparkling to be a good mech. He really is. He's a very good little mech with good manners. He waits until everyone is served to start eating. He keeps his room clean and he helps all the time. He likes to love on sparklings and share."
"He has a blind spot, he and Han. They will improve. Trust me, Ironhide," Roto said nodding. "They aren't bad little mechs. They do all that here too. They just have to learn." Roto grinned. "I have to say that they are the most fun in my orn."
"They will be good. Both of them are already. Growing up is a process," Ravel said as he swayed gently, Orion cuddled against him. "We will do our part. I know that you do and will continue as well," he said smiling at Revo and Heva's genitors.
For a moment, they talked together. Then everyone stepped out to get the word. It was a chastened number of mechanisms that walked down the corridor to the conference rooms.
-0-Diego
The conference broke up with plane loads of conferees boarding planes to leave. They walked aboard waving at the bots who stood nearby watching them go. The bots waved back. Speedy turned with a nod. He headed to the Embassy nearby to go on his duty shift. Smokey, Blurr and Jolt stood together as the last jet began to taxi toward the air field. "We have patrol tonight." Blurr looked at Smokey. "We go a circular route that takes us through the docks and naval area. That's where Sideswipe got into a feud with some halfwit human."
"Over what?" Smokey asked as they watched Globemasters and jumbo jets take off and fly away.
"Over our relationships, our supposed gender, our looks and alien 'weirdness'," Blurr replied.
"What the frag? That's stupid," Smokey replied.
"I know. Ignore anything anyone says. We have orders," Blurr said. "Come on. Let's get on it."
The sun was beginning to set as the three moved forward walking down the main drag of the base. They did so sensor linked. No one could sneak around without detection now. No one within a fifty mile radius that is. They continued down the main road on base as the sun began to set on the horizon and the base lights began to come on.
-0-Sparkling conferences
Ironhide and Ratchet sat in a conference room as the teachers and aides, technicians and specialists began to unfold the story of Praxus, Orion and Hero. Alor, Ravel and Tie Down sat as well as Appa Ratchet who held a chastened silent Orion in his arms. Roto began.
"Hero is a very bright little femme with advanced speech capabilities. She not only talks well but accurately. A speaker like her comes along once in a while like a comet. She is advanced in language development as well as pre-reading abilities. She has very good fine and gross motor skills and is very attentive. Her manner is so sweet and gentle. She likes to play, paint, dance and swim. All of her goals in those areas are met. We will draw up new goals and get your input. Then we can sign off on them. I will be doing that with all three of them since their individual learning plans are due to be updated anyway.
"Praxus is doing very well. He has good vocabulary, is at the level one would expect for a bright sparkling his age. Hero is an anomaly and should be viewed as such. Praxus is the norm. He has met all his goals for the period of his IEP. We are working on fine motor skills which he can improve. We are working on pre-reading skills. He is a good listener like all of the three are and is very well behaved. He is quieter than Orion, more internally directed but he has lots of friends and plays very well. I have data in the folders for all of you to read and take. We can go over it in a moment. I just want to give you a quick overview before we delve into the statistics."
Everyone nodded in that attentive but utterly cowed way that genitors and parental units everywhere have when they enter schools to get the word on their progeny.
SNIVEL!
"Orion is a great mech. He was my first student. I wrote my doctorate on this mech. I love him." -Roto
Nods. -Everyone
"He is a smart, active, good sparked little infant that I love. He is working on this blind spot and it will get better. We will all work on helping him. He's generous like all three of them, kind and happy. He is always happy. He loves to dance, he listens like nobody else … with amazing concentration and he loves and is loved by the other infants."
Roto looked at them, the strained expressions and tense energy before him. "You do understand that he's a baby and has to learn everything. It isn't like he's going to graduate next month and is failing his subjects."
Ratchet smirked. "Get your mech sparked, then get back to me."
Roto grinned. "Some fine orn."
"I'll remember that," Ratchet said as the big mech sat down.
Roto took a fat file named 'Hero' and grinned. "Let's see the data now. You can see what great younglings you have."
And they did.
And they were.
Most of the time.
-0-TBC February 5, 2014 edited 2-6-14