They had rescued Raptor, and though unwilling to fight unless backed into a corner – she had willingly helped them as a medic. This arrangement dissolved when Sideways informed the Autobots of her previous existence as a Decepticon warrior queen in her home dimension.

Since most of the Autobot ranks would no longer trust her - due to her past and her unwillingness to fight alongside them – she struck out on her own.

….Yes, I'll get around to finishing those 'connector' stories soon! I promise!

Raptor the character; originally started in my Raptor Chronicles. She is an F-22 which was animated by G1 Starscream, and trained in the arts of infiltration, sabotage and assassination. She was animated using a 'human spark'; thus, thinks and feels in a human way – not a Cybertronian way. She has used her abilities of Teleportation to move between 'bubbles' of reality – thus, has ended up in the Armada universe. (A little play on current theoretical physics)

The first brood

The brooding silence of the northern badlands matched the mood of the metal-skinned bird of prey as she circled lazily in the warm updrafts. She transformed and landed lightly on her thrusters, enjoying the stark beauty of the empty land as the sun's dying rays cast a red shade to the barren landscape. The emptiness had been growing within her, since her forced departure from the Autobot camp, and now she seemed to merely exist as a silent observer of the life on her former home world; Somehow, not completely alive in her soul anymore, but not having the blessing of death either.

Within her emptiness, an urge had begun to grow, irresistible and insatiable, beginning to control her every action. The urge to build, to create! Within an abandoned and disintegrating hangar, she had begun to craft new Seekers out of stolen FA-18's, F-35's, MiG-35 and one F-22. The concern of how to animate them had never really crossed her mind; somehow, she felt it would happen. But, in what way, she didn't know.

Strolling into the hangar, she admired the still Seekers, still looking for ways to improve them. The silent, unanimated Seekers staring at her with their unlit optics, as if they approved of her work. She fiddled with the blood red FA-18's circuitry a little bit, then shut the access panel, the metallic clang reverberating from the hangar's rusted walls.

Something within her urged her to connect to the silent Seekers, to bond with their unsparked chassis. She didn't understand why, but the urge compelled her to act.

Opening the access panels of the blue/gray mottled F-22, she connected the cables, along with the power cables to her overcharged port secondary power core. She integrated with the F-22's two computer systems and primary power core, merging her systems with it's. Suddenly, she felt something connect with her own spark, reminiscent of the sensation she had when she had emergency bonded with Prime. Then it seemed to swell within her, becoming a force of its own! Demanding, enticing, growing – then she felt the emptiness of singularity as it split from her own spark and became it's own. Flowing into the new seeker, giving it new life!

The blue/gray Seeker's optics slowly activated, the amber orbs turned slowly and looked into Raptor's. At the same time, she felt the new Seeker integrating with her memory banks and battle processor – downloading, copying, learning.. Raptor hesitantly reached out and ran her fingers gently across the new Seeker's gray face, a smile crossing her own. A questioning look crossed the new one's façade as she reached up and grabbed Raptor's fingers with her own. "Mother?" she uttered both as statement and as question.

Raptor hugged her, careful not to interfere with the cables still connecting them. "Yes, my daughter." she pulled away, her hands still on the young Seeker's arms. "Welcome to the world, my love." her smile and elation coming through her voice and the connection they still had. The new Seeker looked at her mother with the love and affection of a young human child, and then buried herself in her mother's embrace.

After disconnecting from the first, Raptor did the same for the other 5 unsparked Seekers. Sometimes the swelling of her spark felt like the gentle bonding with Prime, other times it had more of the fire of the bonding with Starscream – but each time, it would split into two, with the new spark animating the empty Seeker. Each new Seeker connected with her processors and learning; as she gave them energy from her secondary power cores.

When the sun burst over the horizon, filling the badlands with warmth and life, 6 new pairs of optics joined the first, in their observation of the stark beauty. Some Amber, some crimson. All gleaming with intelligence and eagerness – for life! Interestingly, all of the 'newborns' were femmes. But, Raptor didn't care – after eons of the internal loneliness since the deaths of her human family – she finally had a family again!

Coming out of the hangar, the new Seekers basked in the warmth: Waiting for their mother's solar cells to recharge her depleted power cores. She named them with 'Earth names' as she observed them, for their personalities were so distinct, so beautifully 'human'!

'IceOwl', was the F-22; a gen-5 stealth fighter, her paint still the dull Airforce gray/blue, which would serve to help her avoid radar detection. She was quiet, calm; her amber optics watching her sisters' playful antics with a studious curiosity.

'Falcon', was the medium sized, MiG-35; her paint a brightly gleaming silver/white. Her crimson optics gleamed with excitement as she eagerly jumped into the broods play. An eagerness for the acceptance and approval of her brood mates blatantly apparent from the start.

The 'twin' F-35s, were very similar in temperament. Just like the gen-5 stealth fighter/bombers from which they were made; both enjoyed sneaking up on their brood mates, trying to surprise them. They naturally fell into a team, patiently stalking their sisters together. Their amber optics dancing with amusement when their ruse worked. 'Jaguar' was painted in a deep green shade, while her twin 'Tigress' was in a Deep Blue shade.

The other set of 'twins' were the smaller FA-18's. And like the 'hornet' designation of the fighter/bomber models they were created from – they were aggressive, independent and energetic. Not the least bit intimidated by their larger sisters tackling them. They quickly figured out that they needed to team up together against the larger three, communicating to each other through shifts of their bright ruby optics. 'Yellow Jacket' was the brightest of all the sisters, her fuselage in contrasting black and yellow. 'Wasp' was the shade of blood.

Raptor laughed as she watched the playful antics of her brood, IceOwl quietly sitting next to her. Inside Raptor briefly wondered at how they had been animated without the use of Vector Sigma. Then just figured that it must be similar to that of the organic avians, with her having stored a piece of the sparks of those Cybertronian Transformers she had bonded with. She smiled; glad that this dimension's Transformers were capable of this bonding, and apparently her 'human' spark could react this way. For this could never have happened in her home dimension. She looked into the optics and personalities of her daughters – and quickly realized who the sires of each were. She chuckled, realizing that without thinking, some of the best of both Decepticon and Autobot sparks had been combined with the human spark.

One year later..

One year had passed since that wondrous night. With calm encouragement Raptor had taught her brood to fly, to fight, to think, to plan. The three young gen-5 stealth Seekers, learned to utilize their advanced radar arrays, seamlessly sorting and forwarding the important information to the other three sisters. This seamless teamwork was essential for the sister squadron to learn and use, for Raptor knew that this would take them farther than unplanned, reactionary, frontal assault ever would!

They paired off into wing-teams, with Raptor and IceOwl being designated recon and first strike. They were most suited for this with their abilities of stealth, air superiority, endurance and super cruise.

The 'second line' team would be Jaguar and Tigress – for they had the same stealth, but were slower, making up for this with their abilities to seamlessly go from air-to-air to air-to-ground. Their radar arrays specifically designed to penetrate ground targets as well as air. They could easily function as both bombers and fighters, making this team very versatile for infiltration, first strike and sabotage.

The 'third line' team was: Falcon, Wasp and Yellow Jacket – specializing in both air-to-air support and bombing runs, they had no stealth abilities, but greater missile carrying capacities. Falcon was the most agile of the three, her thrust vectoring abilities equaling that of the F-22's; though the max speed of her smaller sisters and their stronger air frames, made them equally as formidable.

Unlike their original designs, the young Seeker's engines had been modified into plasma engines. Along their top sides, small patches of solar cells could be used to slowly recharge with, in the event that there was no energon handy. These modifications had greatly extended the original mission radius which they had been designed for. Now they could fly and play, for several days on end, thousands of miles flowing beneath their wings. Only coming down to bask in the solar radiation, when their power drain reached a certain level.

In their 'ground time'; the sisters learned to play the games of war. Laser tag, wrestling, hide-and-seek, and races were their favorites. Accidentally, the sisters found the aspects of Cybertronian pleasures within their sensory arrays, and added this 'game' to their growing repetra. Raptor did not discourage them from this, for she wanted this 'family' to have the 'open' culture of the Native Americans she once admired; where there were few secrets and pleasure was a natural part of life to be proud of, not hidden. She was crafting a family structure like that of wolves, with herself as the Alpha – the whole pack working together as one, for the survival of all. With mutual respect, love

And support being the glue between them all..

On this particular early morning; the full moon still shining brightly as Raptor chose a place in the deep jungles of the Congo. A beautiful clear meadow in the dry flood plain of the river, made for a good basking ground. She communicated the coordinates to her brood, watching as her daughters came to this morning's 'home', teleporting in, transforming and landing. Yellow Jacket and Wasp came in first, laughing about the winds they dealt with while in country. Jaguar and Tigress, did a flyby before landing. Pouncing happily on their smaller siblings, and wrestling in laughter. Falcon was the next one down, her gleaming white and silver fuselage reflecting the moonlight as she eagerly assisted her smaller sister by jumping on Tigress, getting the green Seeker off of Wasp and beginning a light-hearted wrestling match. She was as eager as her sire; willingly taking on any challenge that showed itself.

The only daughter missing was IceOwl. Who was patiently spying on the Autobots and Decepticons, keeping up with their goings on. She was so like her mother in every way, had most of Raptor's skills, but complimented by a cool, calculating temperament. She was determined to learn to be every bit as good as her mother – for she was now her mother's 'wingmech' – and took her position very, very seriously. Even though her bright siblings continually picked on her, she had chosen to keep the dull gray/blue paint of the Navy on her fuselage.

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