The Diego Diaries: Go There (660)
-0-Out there
They paused before the next ship studying it from all angles. They had experienced bombs near as well as directly in the hatchway. Since they changed their game up from the first ship to the second, they considered the possibilities of this one and the next two. It was going to be fragged.
:I scanned it: Dobro said drifting back to the crew who were sitting on the hull of a Wrecker shuttle.
Rowdy who was still pissed nodded. :We can't count on anything. What about taking them through the windows again?: he asked hopping off to float beside Dobro.
:We can. I don't read anything but that doesn't mean that Trannis isn't smart enough to figure that out: Dobro replied.
It was silent a moment, then Broadside stepped off. :We can try. If the fragger has it worked against us we might as well go and find out:
:Wreckers: Rowdy said rolling his optics. He turned heading toward the ship, the shuttle following along with everyone else. Magnetizing to the hull, he walked to the forward ports and saw the frightened faces inside. Leaning down, he began to speak to them. :Get back from the windows and cover yourself. We're going to take them out:
Those inside listened with fear and desperation, then turned and with effort moved away. When they were clear enough or as clear as they could manage Dobro looked at the boarding team. :Ready?: he asked.
They nodded, then spread out. Digits transformed, torches appeared and as they placed them against the glass the world exploded.
-0-Command Deck, Salton Sea
Prime watched with a gathering fury as the ship rocked, window glass flying out in all directions. "Hound, tell Ratchet to put together a team for incoming injured including children."
A grim Hound nodded, then made it so.
-0-In a corridor at Metroplex Femme
Ratchet paused, then turned to the doctors who were showing Ratchet the data on a couple of injured femmes. "Oh frag. We have an emergency. Get some infant doctors handy and meet me at the airfield." With that, he turned and ran.
-0-Out there
They tumbled several times from the blast, then bobbed a moment in a daze. Behind them floating like a cloud, glass particles and parts of the ship hung in vacuum around the vessel's nose cone. Other mechs were sliding down from the roof, then entering the large hole. Shuttles blasted over, then slid to a pause as mechs poured out of them. They raced to the ship and began to take the injured, There were plenty of injured.
They would also retrieve the Seeker boarding specialists listing nearby.
-0-Moonbase Hangar Deck
Ratchet ran from the bridge room to the hangar deck arriving when the first group of injured came in. They were children and elderly, some of them harmed by flying glass and metal. They were rushed to the elevators and taken to the medics and doctors waiting for them elsewhere in the ship. Ratchet triaged with the others, taking a wailing baby into his arms. He held the little mech, someone who hadn't yet learned to sit up and comforted him as they did their jobs. Some of the babies had missing limbs, their wild screams alternating with oblivion as their energon leaked. When they were stabilized they were whisked away. Three elders who were hurt were taken up straightaway, their injuries placing them at death's door. It was madness for a while on Moonbase.
-0-On board
A little mech sat against the wall with three others and several adults. They were fussing over a fussy baby and didn't notice that he was restless himself. Glancing at them, he arose then waited a moment looking around. He turned walking past others who were too weary or upset to notice. Pausing beside a door, he looked in. Doctors were helping a crying child who had a hurt ankle. His ada was standing beside him looking like he wanted to cry too. He looked around, then stepped out heading further down the corridor to the ones he wanted. Standing in a group talking together a number of warriors waited to assist any kind of outbreak that might happen.
The child walked to them, then patted one of them on the ped. Warpath looked down, then the others too. The conversation stilled as Warpath knelt down. "What do you need, infant?" he asked gently.
"My atar," he said with a quivering chin.
The mechs held him in their arms showing him their tools and guns for a while as he sat with them hugging their necks. It would be a long afternoon before they would go to Mars to let off their wounded from this and the remaining two ships.
-0-Salton Sea, Command Deck
They stood together, Starscream, Thundercracker and Prime staring at the two remaining ships as crews finished up on the one just evacuated. It was silent but grim. "Fraggers," Starscream said. "Dobro's instrument missed something."
Prime nodded. "We have two more ships and I'm open for suggestions."
"What do boots on the ground say?" Starscream asked.
"They want to take out a side and enter that way," Prime replied. "But I'm thinking bridging is a better idea."
"Its as good as any," Starscream replied with a nod. He glanced at Thundercracker. "Make it so."
Thundercracker turned to walk back to his station. The new tactic was go.
-0-Brown Palace, Colorado
They walked out without anyone's notice, a large trunk in their stack of baggage that hadn't been there before. A van picked them up and they were off heading for who knew where. They were just two more upscale humans out for a holiday with eccentric baggage choices. They would be off road west of Idaho Springs in a short while and onward to the underground cavern where they were making facsimile avatars for their purposes. Brandon Clark was their entree into the colony of Prime. He was perfect. Young, ambitious, unmarried and career obsessed, he would be a great spy for their queen. Arachnid who had supplied the voice simulation of the human insect, Banes would be most pleased. They continued onward in a car paid for by the credit card of a mobster. They too had learned to play the game.
-0-Fourth ship
They surrounded it, wary in their positions, vigilant for signs of violence. They were going to try to bridge the refugees off. They would be removed from the inside to the outside, to a position maintained by five shuttles. Mechs were floating in vacuum waiting for those inside to come to them. Prime was making the announcements.
"This is Optimus Prime. We are going to bridge you out. We will send mechs to get you through a bridge. Come to us. We are keeping it minimal to prevent problems. Just do what they ask and we will have you in no time. We are here. You are safe," Prime said, then signed off.
Kup who was standing in the shuttle City of Kaon with Ironhide glanced at the big mechanism. "Ready?"
"Born ready," Ironhide said grimly. A flare of light in the back indicated their ship bridge was activated. Small and limited in distance, it was enough to do what nearly all their missions required. Upgrades for distance were later. Kup turned, then stepped into it followed by Ironhide. It would stay on for the duration.
They stepped out into a darkened corridor. Walking carefully forward, they greeted refugees who were depressingly grateful and agonized. Comforting as best they could, the pair scanned the ship finding nothing too worrisome. Calling for them to come forward, they fed them into the bridge until the ship was empty. Checking to make sure, looking everywhere on board against the possibility that Trannis had hidden someone, they turned and walked back to the bridge. Kup stepped through, then Ironhide. That was when the ship blew.
-0-Salton Sea, Command Deck
It flashed, then convulsed breaking partly in two. Electrical sparks flashed, then fuel erupted winking out nearly immediately. The shuttles which buffeted righted themselves as the shock wave passed them by. The scene settled, then ships pulled back. As they did a figure could be seen floating in the vacuum.
It was Ironhide.
Prime stifled an urge to get the big mech, instead turning to Thundercracker. He was already ordering pick up as three Seekers flew toward the figure and pulled him back into a ship. "Prime to Ratchet."
"Ratchet here"
"Ironhide got caught in the blast. We're bridging him to you."
"Got it. Ratchet out."
-0-Fort Apache
"I'm going." Alor turned to walk to the bridge room next door. Blackjack watched him go, then turned back to the screen where all of it was happening. "Tell me what happens, Ali," he said grimly as his tanks churned with fear.
-0-Ratchet
He was brought in carried by three Seekers through the shuttle bridge. It landed them at the emergency deck where Ratchet instructed them to put him on a medberth in the first suite. They did. The big mechanism lay on his back, pockmarked with shrapnel wounds and a few burns. He was out like a light. Ratchet plugged directly in and listened, watching data that went to the meter in his servo. It was tensely quiet, so still that Ratchet didn't notice that Alor had walked into the room. Moving to the head of the berth, Alor held his son's helm in his servos.
"He's going to be fine," Ratchet said with relief. "Old doofus didn't move fast enough. That will teach him."
Alor nodded with relief. "Just like his atar."
Ratchet snorted. "Ratchet to Prime and everyone else. He's going to be fine. He was far enough into the bridge to miss most of it."
Prime felt giddy a moment, then nodded. "Good, Ratchet. I'm glad."
"Optimus, we have wounded children here, seriously wounded. Be careful with this," Ratchet replied.
"Copy that," Prime said with a burning fury. "One more ship. One more and we can go."
"Then we better be very smart on this one," Starscream said grimly.
Prime nodded. "The first was mined at the door. One was mined at the door and corridor. Another at the windows. It would appear that when Ironhide was last a trigger blew the ship. Each ship is worse than the last one. What do we do that isn't the wrong decision?"
"It was silent a moment. "We haven't blasted the slag out of one. We haven't entered from the rear. We could try the ports again but it was carnage last time," Starscream mused as Alor walked onto the deck, a look of cold fury on his face.
"How is he?" Prime asked pausing to turn to Alor.
"He's got some dings and a burn or two. His bell got rung hard. You should see the children. Some of them lost limbs," Alor said with a coldness that mirrored Ironhide.
It was silent a moment, then Starscream hissed. "Children." He looked at the vessel waiting for them. "What about hitting it with a null blast?"
"Hound, put Perceptor and Wheeljack on the screen," Prime said.
He hustled to do so, then two familiar faces appeared on the forward monitors. "Hello, Optimus. We have been listening in Ops Center with Prowl trying to figure out what to do about this," Wheeljack said.
"What about a null burst, one big enough to short the entire thing out," Prime asked.
They looked at each other going over an internal conversation, then looked at Prime. "We have measured the mass of the ship in question, Optimus. It would deaden everything including any triggered systems like a bomb. The last one was pressure plated I would wager so that when the weight of anything past the weight of the ship was removed it would blow up. The refugees and Autobots were the trigger. Remove them, it blows up."
"A null ray would do the job. Given that the ship would take the brunt of the blast, the civilians would be knocked out but not very much harmed. No one likes null rays but they work on deadening anything that they hit. The problem is ... we don't have a ship with a null weapon that is big enough to handle this sized vessel," Perceptor said in his cultured voice.
"We do," Prime said grimly. "Hound, get Metrotitan online."
Hound turned and began the link up. Prime watched, then looked at Wheeljack and Perceptor. "Go there and get him up. Come with him through the trigger. I want his null rays on the job. Calculate his shot, Wheeljack. Help him get it right. There are nearly 900 innocents on that ship."
The two nodded. "Very well. We're on it," Perceptor said as he rose and disappeared from the shot. Wheeljack paused, then nodded. He left too.
"Metrotitan to Prime."
"Metrotitan, this is Optimus Prime. I need you to assist in the rescue of civilians in harms way. Hound will send you the information thus far. Please read it and give me your opinion of using null rays to take the vessel," Prime said.
"Affirmative." The deep youthful voice of Titan echoed over their speaker system as Hound sent all the information thus far. Mere seconds later the voice was back. "This is grave, Optimus Prime. I will come to assist."
"Good," Prime said. "Perceptor and Wheeljack are coming to help you with the shot."
"I see them now. I will evacuate my precincts and come. Metrotitan out," the voice said. Then the line was cut.
"This should be good," Starscream said with a grin. "I am going to enjoy having them on our side."
"You had Trypticon," Alor said.
"He wasn't too bright," Starscream said. "Maybe that's why he and Megatron got along so well."
"I'll take your word for it, Starscream," Prime said with a slight grin.
-0-Autobot City, Mars
A siren sounded in the thin air as lights began to flash on the city former called Metrotitan. In conversation unheard by anyone but the family of giant formats that lived here, all of the city-formers weighed in. Titan eager to redeem himself began to scan all the corners of his format signaling all of his symbionts to be ready for launch. When all of the soldiers, emergency workers, office personnel for the various services and the Watch Central Office were cleared Metrotitan began to transform. The ground vibrated as massive portions of a massive body began to reshape themselves for take off.
Standing nearby watching, all of the regular workers in the regular offices, shops and other support areas of the city designated for emergency and rescue divisions huddled together. Soldiers who lived there in numbers who had to leave their apartments watched as a vast ship format began to appear. When it ceased to rumble and everything snapped into place, giant engines gently began to lift the massively vast structure upward. It rose slowly, then disappeared into the darkness carrying Perceptor and Wheeljack with it.
-0-TBC March 24, 2014 edited 3-29-14