Credits: Amy K. Cyrway and I jointly developed Autobot Sky Patrol.
Cavalier, Mindsurge and Ranger are her characters; the Ridge and Brainstorm's are her concepts.
Dylan P. Blacquiere made Zodiac.
Anyone else you don't recognize from the official sources are mine.
Transformers are the property of Hasbro.
This story is set after "In the Blueprints, In the Blood" and "Star Cruiser" and before "The Gates of Hell."
THE LAST KILAIRIAN
#
CYBERTRON-FLASHBACK
I was a child. A kid, for Primus' sake, practically built yesterday...and I just wanted to have some fun. That was all. Fun, childish fun, is that too much to ask?
Yeah, that was me. Little Cavalier, still a child, but wanting so badly to be like the big Autobots. And when you're that small, everyone's big-so it escaped me that the adolescents who went racing out on the Ridge were hardly more than kids themselves. Young rebels, all of them, who found a thrill in defying their elders' commands and racing on the forbidden Ridge with its network of caves and canyons.
They never wanted me along, of course. I was too young, I was too little. And so I made it a habit to follow them, to hide in one of the many craters and watch the drag races they held, dreaming of the day when I would be old enough to take part...and win.
In time one of them would remember his chores or his patrols, and the group would leave. I would have to wait until they were all gone before I could come out of hiding. That's when I'd go screaming down the canyons that the older robots had only recently vacated, dreaming of myself at the head of the pack. When I won those races in my mind, the canyon walls echoed my cheers over and over again until I barely had to imagine the roar of the crowd at my victory.
It was an innocent pasttime. What in the Pit did I do so wrong?
#
My dream goes sour as the echos fade away. As always, when my voice stops cheering, the "crowd" stops as well-now that my cries do not sustain the echos. The day when I can race with the big kids is taking forever in coming.
And then, I see her. A red Autobot, her engine revving, tilted away from me as if inviting me to race.
Barely able to believe my good fortune, I transform and roll over to her. She waits until I am beside her, though she guns her engine with impatience. When we are poised side by side, she suddenly takes off. I am right behind her.
She is more experienced than I am. I stay on her tail, waiting for the moment to make my move. I can hear loud music pulsing from her cab. I am delirious with excitement and so it takes me a while to recognize that we are not following any of the conventional race courses. Where is the end of this race? How much longer? I am small and getting tired, but I force myself to keep up, never more than a few lengths behind the sporty airfoil on my opponent's rear bumper.
The course grows more treacherous. The road is narrow; rocks litter the path and I am forced to fling my wheel madly to avoid crashing. On one side of the road, a chasm falls away into nothingness. I lose some of my elation and begin to wonder if perhaps I am not over my head, but I do not want to turn back now. What will my opponent think?
She has not said anything, all this time. I can hear only a hint of a peculiar whistling sound over the thunder of her music.
Finally, exhausted, I cannot go on. I transform and clutch my aching side; my adversary's exhaust fills my air vents.
It does not take her long to realize that I am no longer behind her. She stops, turns around and drives up to me. In front of me, she transforms...
...into the oddest looking Autobot I've ever seen. Her head is avian, birdlike. She tilts it to one side and whistles as if asking a question.
It is then I notice that she wears no identification sigil.
Her alien nature frightens me and hammers home the point that I am, after all, only a child and very far away from home. Fear gives me more energy. I stammer, transform and dart off back the way I'd come.
It is then I hear the voice behind me...
"TALLY-HO!"
I look back and a lean, predatory-looking jump jet is screaming down the canyon after me.
"I say, Beretta, what have you found?" comes a strange voice as the jet buzzes low over my hood. "A little Autobot! Jolly good! Take her, men!"
I glance back and see the red vehicle hot on my heels again. They're going to beat me up, I think, and then the elders will find me and get me in trouble for being out here on the Ridge. I'm really in for it...
The jump-jet passes low and strafes me. Laser fire...with real lasers...rains down around me. I am completely in shock. Even the biggest, meanest bully would not use lasers on another Autobot.
I look up at the jumpjet and scream.
He has purple logos on his wings.
Decepticon.
The red car-Beretta-has pulled even with me. She sideswipes me, knocking me into the canyon wall. I have barely recovered my equilibrium when she does it again.
I am in more trouble than I have ever imagined.
Voices crackle on the Decepticons' radios, but I barely hear them. I'm trying desperately to think of something to do. I know I cannot outrun the jump jet...
...but perhaps I can hide. The canyons of the Ridge are rich in caves. The aircraft will not enter a cave, and maybe I can lose the red car in the darkness...
I put on a burst of speed, heading towards the nearest cave, but Beretta cuts me off. Her radio crackles furiously. I try again, braking hard, letting the birdlike female pass me before I dash behind her to a cave on the other side of the canyon. The jump jet drops like a rock and hovers in front of the cave entrance, strafing. I am forced to flee. Panicking...for the canyons are looking more and more unfamiliar and the Decepticons are closing in behind me...I never question when the red car suddenly stops in its tracks and allows me to enter a cave.
My elation at making it turns to fear as I look back to see whether the Decepticons are pursuing me. I see no sign of them. The cave is large and from somewhere a rumbling noise, like a huge engine, is filling the darkness...
Blinding light suddenly floods the cave, emanating from two huge headlights that just barely illuminate the grille of a gigantic truck only meters ahead of me.
I scream again, whirling around before the huge vehicle can hit me. Deep metallic laughter rumbles from the grille of what is, obviously, a Decepticon transport...
I am fleeing back towards the entrance of the cave. I am looking behind me, and my mind barely registers the mirth of the Decepticons, the chatter on their radios, or the whirring sound of a rotor outside.
The next thing I know, I have driven into a net that had been stretched across the cave entrance. The rotor noise increases and I found myself hanging helplessly in midair as my pursuers transform.
Aside from the red birdlike robot, there is the jump-jet...a coldly handsome individual with a wedge-shaped head, and the heavy transport, who transforms into a large khaki robot. The canvas covering over the rear of the transport becomes a flowing cape in his robot form. They are only adolescents-the same age as the Autobot kids who race at the Ridge-but they are Decepticons without a doubt.
Suddenly, I fall with a thud. I struggle helplessly with the net as a light helicopter touches down and transforms into a fourth Decepticon-a smaller robot with triangular red eyes and a frame decorated by sharp points and serrated edges. He smiles cruelly as he draws a huge laser sword.
"Nice catch, Chopper," the truck says.
Chopper, the helicopter, seems sullen. "My name is Blade," he mutters.
"Whatever, Chopper," the jump jet retorts. He tilts his head. "Now, where's my copy of One Hundred Things to Do With a Captive Autobot?"
"Do?" Beretta asks. She seems uncomfortable. "Aren't we just gonna beat her up and let her go?"
"Of course not," Chopper replies, examining his laser sword. "I'm going to test the edge on this thing...by slicing this Autobot apart...feet first."
I try to shriek and my voice fails me.
"Hey," the jump jet protests, "we want some too."
"I caught her, she's mine!" the helicopter snaps. "Catch your own Autobot, Harrier!"
"You wouldn't have caught her if we hadn't chased her into your net!" Harrier argues. "We caught her together and so we all get to decide what to do with her."
Beretta and the large truck pick me out of the net and pin me to the ground. I struggle, lashing out wildly and manage to land a good kick to Beretta's midsection. She draws back in pain, and I turn my attention to the big guy.
"Hold her, Deuce!" Beretta cries.
My blows are ineffective against Deuce. He drives me to the ground, pinning my shoulders, and when Beretta is recovered he lets her hold my left shoulder and arm, while he maintains his grip on my right side. My kicking is completely useless.
"I say we should take her head off and hang it up on our wall...a nice trophy from our hunt," Harrier says.
"I wanna chop her up," Chopper whines.
"You can chop up the body, but leave the head intact. I won't have you ruining my trophy!"
"If we have to kill her, I say we drop her off a cliff and see if Autobots bounce," Beretta suggests.
"That's no fun." Chopper and Harrier seem to agree on this point.
"At least when the Autobots find her crushed remains they'll attribute it to an accident, instead of sending out a squad of soldiers to look for us. I really want a platoon of Autobots breathing down my tail pipe..." Beretta adds sarcastically.
I kick out again, hard. "Would you guys give us a hand?" Deuce rumbles. "I'm getting sick of doing all the work to hold her while you make up your minds!"
Harrier and Chopper shrug. Harrier grabs my right leg; Chopper, my left. "I want my trophy," Harrier presses, "but as long as the head's intact you guys can kill her any way you want."
"You're not going to kill her."
It's a new voice, female, coming from behind me. The four Decepticons look up with expressions of respect. I struggle to turn my head and see who has come to rescue me, but the Decepticons are holding me firmly to the ground and try as I might, my head will not turn that far.
"Boss!" Deuce exclaims.
Boss. My blood runs cold. I have not been rescued after all.
"Why not?" Harrier protests. "I want my trophy..."
"If she gets away, she'll tell the Autobots," Beretta insists.
Cold, chilling laughter. "I WANT her to tell the Autobots," the leader says. "It's time they learned that there's a new force to be reckoned with."
"So you're just going to let her go?" Deuce says, incredulous.
"I wanna chop her up," the helicopter-Decepticon whines again.
Another snicker. "Chopper, we have to let her go..." A pause, and I can visualize the heartless smile, though not the face that does the smiling. "...but there's no reason we should let her go intact."
Chopper laughs and draws his laser sword; the others join in.
For a moment...the briefest of moments...I am distracted. The sun is setting behind me, and its light throws the shadow of the leader into silhouette on the rock wall. I see a V of pointed wings, rising ducts of metal on each shoulder, and a rounded head.
Seeker.
At the tip of the shadowy wings, where the sun is shining brightest, there is the slightest hint of yellow-a shade reflected off metallic paint.
Then Chopper steps in front of the leader's silhouette, his laser sword at the ready and a heartless expression in his eyes.
I scream, my jaw stretched down as far as it will go to make room in my mouth for my cries. Quickly, unexpectedly, Deuce hooks his fingers into my mouth and holds my jaw open.
Harrier's voice is sad. "She'll never make a trophy now..."
Chopper grins wickedly, kneeling on my chest and preparing to make his first slice. Once again, I can see the Seeker's silhouette as the great bright blade descends...
#
PLANET EARTH
Cavalier awoke from her rest phase with a strangled cry. Her optics flew open and pierced the dim room around her. There was movement in the doorway...a familiar and ominous silhouette. The Seeker. Here for her...
Stormrave flicked on the light and took two steps into the room with Zodiac right behind her. "Cav? Cav! What's wrong?" The Sky Patrol Commander had her laser handgun drawn, her head turning from right to left as she scanned the room for signs of danger.
Cavalier raised her right hand to rub her jaw and found only the cold steel plate that covered the lower half of her face like a mask.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a dream," Cavalier muttered. ~The same nightmare. The same history. The past I keep reliving.~
"Musta been one hell of a dream," Zodiac replied. "We heard ye screamin' all the way down in the med labs."
Cavalier snorted. "What the hell were you two doing together in the med lab? I generally try to AVOID people I can't stand." She smirked and turned to the red female-trying desperately not to think of how much Stormrave looked like a Seeker-and asked, "Come to think of it, why were you in the med lab at all? I thought you were paranoid about medics."
"I figured it would shut Guppy-bot here up," Stormrave retorted with a jerk of her head at Zodiac. She began imitating the medic. "Ye needs a check-up, ye's gonna break down in the middle of a dogfight."
"Or ye could just stay on the ground like normal Autobots," Zodiac retorted, "'stead'a flyin' off to play in the sky."
"I'd rather die, exhaust breath."
"Just some advice, Pidgi-Con."
"I do NOT look like a Decepticon, junk-for-brains!"
Cavalier rolled her eyes. "Look, you two, if you're going to kill each other can you do it outside, and quietly? I need some rest..."
The ever-battling duo broke off and were about to comply when Ultra Magnus stepped into the room. "Stormrave. I was hoping I'd find you," he said.
"What's up?" the red jet asked.
"Sky Patrol's being sent to the outport planet Meridian-D. There's a peaceful Autobot settlement there that's recently come under heavy fire by the Decepticons. The 'Cons are making a push to take the whole string of planets that orbit the Delta-Tau star. Rodimus is there right now, leading the Autobot defence, but we need Sky Patrol to provide air cover for the city."
Stormrave saluted. "I'm on it."
"Zodiac, I want you along on the mission to support the Meridian-D medical staff. There's been some casualties in the city."
The medic nodded in agreement.
"You have twenty-six hours to get ready before the shuttle departs the airfield. Be there. Sky Patrol have been sent out already to prepare the ship. You can meet up with them at the shuttle."
"Can I go too?" Cavalier asked. "I wanna kick Decepticon tailsection!"
Ultra Magnus paused, considering. "We do need some gunnery support...I'll ask Jazz if he's willing to take you."
"Kick ass!"
"Ass?" Ultra Magnus repeated.
"Earth terminology," Zodiac replied quickly.
"Mmm," the blue rocket truck said, glancing down at his clipboard as he exited.
"Ye really shouldn't do that," Zodiac muttered as soon as Ultra Magnus was out of earshot. The warning, however, was pretty much wasted-Cavalier and Stormrave were already weak with laughter.
#
In the middle of the nearby city, someone else was laughing too, but very quietly...so quietly that passersby could only notice a faint whistling noise in the air. The sound was lost on the two gang toughs sauntering down the sidewalk.
"Look," Duke hissed, elbowing his companion in the ribs, "tell me it isn't our lucky night!"
Brew, Duke's sidekick, looked in the direction the gang leader was pointing and saw a shiny red Chevrolet Beretta. The classic vehicle had obviously been well-maintained, but it was sitting against the curb with its driver's side door hanging open.
"Gimme ten seconds and I can hotwire it for ya," Brew offered.
"Don't hafta." Duke peered into the vehicle. "They left the keys in it."
"In THIS end of town?" Brew laughed. "I think they WANT us to steal it!"
This whistling noise was louder now, but neither man noticed the sound that emanated from beneath the vehicle's hood...a noise that made it seem as if the car were laughing to itself.
"Then let's oblige 'em," Duke said smugly, settling himself into the driver's seat. Brew sprinted around the car and knocked on the passenger door; Duke grinned and opened it for him. "Time to burn rubber," Duke laughed after Brew was in. He reached for the ignition...
The hologram of a key vanished beneath his hand. "What the...?" Duke muttered.
Suddenly, the door locks snapped shut. The engine started up of its own volition.
"What the hell is going on?" Brew cried, and just then the transmission slid to DRIVE. Both men were thrown back in their seats as the red Beretta peeled off into the street. This time, they could both hear the whistling laughter very, very clearly before the stereo kicked in..."Danger Zone" from the "Top Gun" soundtrack.
The car drove itself. Bizarrely, Duke remembered seeing Disney's "Love Bug" as a little kid and thinking that the car with a mind of its own was really, really neat. ~Neat, hell. It was damn scary,~ Duke realized now. It didn't help that the red Beretta drove like a maniac, swerving in and out of traffic, cutting people off, driving over curbs, sending pedestrians running for their lives. Duke tried to steer, but the wheel did not respond to his maneuvers. "It's the Love Bug from hell!" Duke yelled.
"Love Bug, fuck, it's Stephen King's Christine!" Brew wailed. "Lemme out, please, lemme out!"
The maniac car left the city and headed for the highway. Duke and Brew were about to breathe sighs of relief that they were out of the populated area...less stuff to hit...when their attention became completely taken up with the large army truck headed towards them and the fact that the red Beretta was driving in the wrong lane.
"OH MY GOD!" Duke screamed, and in that moment he saw nothing sissy about clinging desperately to Brew as if the other man were a teddy bear.
The green truck swerved at the last moment. Duke and Brew whimpered as the car came to a halt...and then turned around and headed back for another pass at the truck, which had also turned around. Duke felt his guts turn to ice as he realized that no one was driving the truck, either...and then he passed out.
Brew, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck when the red car tired of playing games with the truck and headed back into the city. Brew crouched on the floor, too afraid to even look out the windows. Finally, the car opened its door and shook itself, sending a powerful vibration through its frame that threw Duke and Brew out the open door.
They landed in front of the local police station. Brew didn't even care that the police recognized him and Duke at once as the culprits in several local auto thefts. In fact, he was quite happy to be going to jail...somewhere far away from automobiles of all kinds.
The red Beretta kept driving, its whistling laughter echoing behind it. Suddenly the thundering music cut out, replaced by a British-accented voice. "Beretta! Deuce! Are you quite done playing with those flesh creatures?"
"Yeah, Harrier, whatcha want?" the red vehicle replied, still whistling laughter.
"The Boss wants us back at the spaceship pronto, old girl. Sally forth!"
"Roger. Deuce, you copy?"
"Got it," the heavy truck's voice replied.
"Seeya there. Beretta out."
#
KILAIR
Beretta, Deuce, Harrier, and Chopper left Earth twenty-one hours before Sky Patrol. While Sky Patrol's ship was en route for Meridian-D, the four Decepticons had spent an entire day relaxing in their headquarters and waiting for their leader to arrive. Harrier and Chopper were engaged in a game of darts-a game that had been interrupted by a fight over whether or not Chopper was allowed to use throwing knives instead of the regulation projectiles-and both Beretta and Deuce were observing with great interest, when the Decepticons' leader stepped into the room.
"Home sweet home," the yellow Seeker said, looking around the main room of the building that had once been the residence of the mayor of Silicia, capital of Kilair. The room now bore spray-painted Decepticon logos and signs proclaiming PHOENIX CORPS. "Nice decor, troops. Now put down those darts. I've got something to discuss with you."
Harrier complied, and while Chopper whined under his breath, he joined the other three. All four Decepticons took seats in front of a cracked pane, leaving their leader at the head of the room. Behind them, the square of translucent material served as a window over the now-vacant capital city of a planet that had once teemed with life.
"This place is just as much a hole as I remember it," Chopper muttered, as the five members of the squadron lounged around their makeshift briefing room.
"Silence!" the leader barked. "Kilair is my homeworld, and our staging base, and you will show it some respect!"
"I hate this place," the helicopter muttered to Deuce. "I hated this place when I lived here, and I still hate this place."
Harrier stepped up to the leader. "I say, old girl, what's gotten into you? We were having such a lovely time on Earth...a shame you couldn't join us...and now you drag us clear across the galaxy just to check up on our old headquarters? Who do you think's going to come here? There's no life in this solar system."
"My concern is not this solar system. It's the next one over. While you four were enjoying your Terran vacation, I was doing some investigating. The Decepticon forces are making a big push in the neighbouring Delta-Tau system. I think it's time we made a big push as well."
"Push?" Deuce frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Phoenix Corps," the yellow Seeker said formally as she addressed her troops, "I put to you a choice. For many galactic cycles we have risen from a rag-tag band of outlaws to the most feared pack of raiders in the galaxy. We can maintain our current position with little effort. But I say to you now, do you want to be a pirate gang all your lives? Do you want to spend the rest of your existence as simple thugs? Or do you want something better...something greater...something noble out of life?"
Beretta tilted her head and whistled.
"I believe that it is time Kilairian Squadron took its place where it belongs...in the ranks of the Decepticon army."
"Decepticon army," Harrier breathed. "We're going to be real soldiers."
"That's right," the yellow Seeker said, walking back and forth in front of her troops. "Oh, we could have joined the main cause before, but I know what would have happened to us...we'd have ended up simple cannon fodder. No. Phoenix Corps is meant for something better, and that is why I waited. We are now a team-a battle hardened fighting force-and we are strong and able. In the last few astrocycles we have created ourselves a bargaining position. We have reserves of stolen energon and many credits, which will ensure that our voice is heard. We have experience that cannot be wasted foolishly. We are now able to parley on a fair basis and ensure that we receive our just reward." She came to a halt. "So I say to you now: who is with me? Who will help make Phoenix Corps not a gang of raiders, but a respected Stormtrooper Unit of the Decepticon Army?"
Beretta, Deuce and Harrier raised their arms and cheered.
"I dunno," Chopper sneered. "I ain't one to take orders from some overblown general."
"You can do as you please," the leader replied. "However, I can say with certainty that the rest of the squadron will follow me." She nodded at the trio with their arms in the air and then focused on Chopper. "You may return to your old life, scrounging alone in the sludgeholes of the galaxy. Or, you may join the Decepticon Army with us...where, I may tell you, I am certain they will have many uses for an individual with your...special interrogation techniques."
The helicopter's optics narrowed into bright glowing slits. "You mean I get to chop stuff up?"
"How many Autobots can that blade of yours handle?" Deuce laughed.
"I'm in!"
#
Many battles are won by a trick of fate. Many others are avoided for similar reasons. Phoenix Corps' spaceship had just broken through the atmosphere of the planet when another craft became visible in the Kilairian sky...Sky Patrol's ship. The ship flew slowly, erratically, as if partly disabled...
...which it was. The port engines had exploded, and the ship had drifted badly off course while the Autobots inside had struggled to put out the fire. The ship's condition was now stabilized, which meant that the Autobots' next objective was finding out where they were and correcting their course.
"I can't imagine what went wrong," Kismet muttered. "I checked the engines before we took off."
"My money's on Decepticon sabotage," Longshock grumbled, unfolding his map.
"You've got a point," Stormrave admitted, and Longshock looked surprised that his leader would acknowledge the comment. It was no secret that Longshock didn't like Stormrave much, and ordinarily his biting pessimism made him difficult to handle. The rest of Sky Patrol had a half-joking theory that no matter what happened, Longshock would find a way to blame it on the Decepticons.
Firestreak laughed over the shuttle controls. "Come on, Captain, this is from the guy who, every time he misplaces his gun, thinks a Decepticon tractor beam stole it." Sky Patrol snickered; Longshock scowled.
"Seriously though," Stormrave said, "Blaster was telling me that they've been having a problem with Decepticon sabotage around Autobot City lately. I'd believe it. It's not really the point, now. The point now is where are we, and how can we get back on course."
"Well, rather than blundering about the galaxy, maybe we ought to find a planet to put down on until we figure out our position," Sunflare suggested.
"That would give me a chance to look over the engines from outside," Kismet added.
"Good idea. Anybody see a suitable planet?" Stormrave asked.
Cavalier, silent up to now as she watched Zodiac tinker with the hazardous-gases warning equipment, looked out the window and pointed. "There's something..." She whipped out a pair of long-range binoculars to augment her zoom vision. "It looks like it's got forests, probably silicon-based, and there's a big empty patch near the center..."
"Steer a course, then," Stormrave directed Firestreak.
Although the crippled Autobot craft was a perfect target for Phoenix Corps' pirate vessel, none of the Decepticons saw it. They were heading in the opposite direction, setting course for Charr...and their date with their destiny as a full-fledged Decepticon battle unit.