#1 The New Recruit

Rewrite

One warm summer day, a red and blue Peterbilt truck drove down a rural Ontario road. The truck hauled a large trailer with a strange symbol on the flanks. The truck pulled up to a large barn. The barn was old, its once marvellous crimson paint job was now a tarnished and rotting brown. There were panels of wall and ceiling missing, the floor was covered in dirt and plant life, though, there seemed to be a section of floor that was cleaner and bore no plant life whatsoever. The truck came to a stop in front of the barn before generating a very electronic, unearthly sound comprised of clicking an d chittering. The instant the sound stopped, the door of the barn opened and the floor panelling lowered with a hiss. Once the the floor-turned-ramp stopped, the truck drove, slowly, down into a hidden room under the barn. The ceiling of this room was set very high, higher then what was needed for a truck and its trailer. The ramp began to ascend, concealing itself once again. Once the locks were firmly shut, some seems in the truck's sides released puffs of steam, plates on the exterior started to shift and relocate, changing the truck into a tall robot. The robot looked back at his trailer a handle slid up from the front panel. He grabbed the handle and pulled the trailer further into the room. The room expanded into a large bunker

The bunker held almost too much space in between its walls. On the right wall was a massive computer, the left wall was consumed by a long tunnel. The far left wall had two hallway entrances and the far right wall held what looked like a medical centre. Near the medical centre sat an orange and white ambulance, seemingly watching the tall robot enter and approach a medical table.

The tall robot pressed a button on his trailer's handle, making the foot drop to keep the trailer level. He pressed another button which made the trailer's hatch open. Once the hatch was secured, the tall robot reached in and, carefully, pulled out another robot. This robot had a slim figure, high heeled feet, long delicate wings and a purple paint job. The winged robot also possessed long black hair, making this robot look very feminine. The tall robot carefully placed the winged femme onto the medical table and looked her over, noticing a large singe mark just above her cockpit, on her fuselage, near her neck. The impact of what ever shot her must have knocked her out. The sound of shifting metal made the tall robot look back, toward the ambulance. The ambulance had transformed into a robot. He was shorter than the tall robot but he looked older.

"I see you brought a stray home. What did I tell you about doing that, Optimus?" the older mech scolded.

"You told me not to bring strays home. Ratchet, I couldn't just leave her out there. What if the Decepticons found her, or worse. A human." The tall robot said with concern. "Plus, she's wounded."

The older mech, Ratchet, walked to the table and looked at the singe mark on the femme. He lifted his right arm up, opened a compartment in his forearm and took a scalpel out,. He scraped a bit of residue off and walked over to a massive crimson and charcoal microscope. The microscope began to analyze the material. Once the process was complete, a voice came from the microscope.

"Source: Fusion Cannon, mounted on the forearm. Owner match found: Megatron of Kaon. Motive: Unknown. Wound: Nonfatal."

Ratchet turned and looked at the tall mech, Optimus."There. Her injury is nonfatal. Now get her out of her before she wakes-" Ratchet looked at the femme whom was now sitting up and looking at him with bright powder blue optics. "-up..."

"Too late." Optimus said flatly. He looked at the femme with kind optics. "What is your name, miss?" He asked politely.

The femme thought for a moment. "Uhm...Swiftica, I think. Yeah. I'm Swiftica."

"Well, Miss Swiftica, seems you are going to be alright. Come, let me escort you to your room." Optimus offered his servo to her.

Ratchet quickly grabbed the tall mech's arm. "Optimus, I strongly advise against giving her a room. We know nothing about her. She could be a Decepticon." He whispered, cautiously.

Optimus jerked his arm out of the older mech's grasp. "when you're leader of the Autobots, you can decide who stays and who goes, but until that day comes, the Prime gives the orders." He said to the orange mech before taking Swiftica's servo.

"Sometimes, you don't even act like a Prime." Ratchet mumbled to himself, watching the pair leave.

With Optimus and Swiftica, the pair walked down a hallway, passing several rooms as they went. Soon, they stopped outside a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in years. Optimus entered the security code into the door panel, the door opening with a smooth swish. He stepped aside to allow Swiftica in first. She bowed her head slightly and entered the room. The room was fairly large with a berth on the left wall, the right wall had a desk pressed against it with a computer on top. The wall opposite to the door had a lone shelf for any personal possessions. Swiftica looked around before turning to Optimus.

"Thank you for letting me stay. I hope I can be of help to you." She said, timidly.

Optimus almost put his facial guard up when he felt his face plate heat up with a soft warm blush. "Ah...Y-yes. We could always use more servos and more firepower. Especially with all he recent enemy activity."

Suddenly, a loud alarm howled through the base from speakers located throughout the halls and rooms. Optimus and Swiftica ran back toward the central bunker. Once they got there, Ratchet looked toward them. They were met by the rest of the Autobots. A yellow muscle car mech, a navy crotch-rocket femme and an olive military truck mech. The first thing the other Autobots did upon seeing Swiftica was draw their weapons and take aim at her.

"Optimus, who is this and why is she here?" The small femme asked.

Optimus stood in front of Swiftica to protect her. "This is Swiftica. I found her laying by the side of the road in stasis. I couldn't leave her there." He said, defensively.

The others looked at each other before withdrawing their weapons. Optimus turned back toward Ratchet. Swiftica moved around the Prime so she was opposite to the other Autobots, cautious of their quickness to take aim at her. She no longer felt safe to be alone in the bunker.

"Ratchet, what's going on with the alarm?" The small femme asked.

"The scanners have just picked up an unearthed energon signal. Most likely a Decepticon mine according to the sheer size of it." Ratchet explained.

Optimus looked toward the others before looking at Swiftica. The winged femme looked up at him, her optics showed worry. Optimus looked back at the other Autobots and cleared his throat.

"Autobots, prepare to mobilize. We're going to take that mine." He announced.

The other Autobots nodded in understanding to Optimus and moved to the tunnel in the wall of the bunker. Optimus turned to Swiftica and lowered himself enough to look her straight in the optics.

"Do you think you are ready to try fighting in the field? I don't know how much you know about fighting. In fact, I know almost nothing about you or your past but I want to know if you are feeling well enough to try." He spoke in a soft voice.

Swiftica's optics filled with determination "I feel like I can handle it. I don't remember much but I feel ready to help." She said with confidence.

Optimus nodded to her before walking to the others with her. Ratchet stood near a control panel, typing something. He then pulled a lever, the tunnel coming to life with bright blue and white swirling light. The sight was mesmerizing to Swiftica.

"Ground bridge set, Optimus. Be careful everyone. Especially you, Swiftica." Ratchet said, pointing to the femme in question.

Swiftica nodded shyly to Ratchet. Optimus looked around at all the Autobots before leading them into the ground bridge, Swiftica in close tow. Once the arrived in the mine, Optimus took Swiftica's arm and hid behind a boulder. The others following his lead. Swiftica looked around the boulder and saw that there was a chamber not far from them.

In that chamber was several Decepticon troopers cutting or carting raw energon crystals. In the centre was a large lift that carried carts of energon crystals up to the massive Decepticon warship. She looked up to a ledge higher in the cavern and saw two officers, a male seeker and a red sports car. The two were very obviously arguing about something, their body language was ridged.

"Commander StarScream, you know I hate going to the mines. Why must you bring me all the time?" The sports car complained.

"I wouldn't have brought you if the Plan didn't exist. That stupid Plan... It better be worth all this trouble." The male seeker, StarScream, replied.

Soon a navy blue mech walked up behind the sports car and wrapped his arms around his waist. "There's my beautiful Conjunx Endura. I was wondering where you had run off to." He said, lovingly. "You arguing with Screamer again."

The sports car giggled softly before turning around in the larger mech's arms. "Yes, I am, my love. Though, I would gladly go to more mines with you, darling." He said, flirtatiously.

StarScream rolled his optics at the pair. "Get a room, you two." He grumbled.

Swiftica drew a rocket from her forearm and took aim toward the officers. She lined up her shot before firing a rocket. The rocket hit just above the ledge, rocks falling and sealing the tunnel the ledge was part of, blocking the officers out of the cavern. The explosion alerted all the troops to the Autobots' presence, every drone drawing their weapons and facing the walls of the cavern in a defensive manoeuvre.

The Autobots charged into the cavern, taking out every troop that got in their way. Swiftica had activated her heel thrusters and took on any flying troopers she encountered, taking them out very efficiently. She looked up at the Decepticon ship a few times, hoping to see something. What that something was was unknown. Soon, the lift started to retract back into the ship. The ship was going to abandon the mine. A ground bridge appeared for any remaining troops. Once all the leftover troops were retrieved, the ground bridge closed and the lift was fully retracted. The ship took off, away from the mine.

Swiftica landed near a pile of energon crystals as Optimus and the other Autobots joined her. They then started to gather the crystals, a ground bridge appearing for them. Once all the crystals were safely transported to the Autobot base, the Autobots set up a celebratory party in the main bunker. Every Autobot was there, everyone except Optimus. He would have loved to attend but he had things to do in the morning. He walked down a hallway, thinking about his schedule for the upcoming day. He paused all motion and thought when he hear a voice coming from a room. He thought everyone was in the bunker, partying. He stood there for a moment before reaching for the security panel. The door suddenly flung open and a purple form ran right into Optimus. He looked down and blushed hard at whom had ran into him. Swiftica. Her bright powder blue optics were looking straight up at him. She blushed softly before quickly backing away.

"Ah! S-sorry, Optimus, sir. I was just cleaning up my new room. Thank you again for letting me stay." She said quickly.

"It's alright, Swiftica." He said, his voice soft.

"Wait, sir why aren't you in the bunker with the others?" She asked, placing a servo on the Prime's chest.

Optimus blushed softly at the touch before replying. "Ah. I learned a long while ago that Primes don't party. They have too much responsibility to relax for too long."

"Well, that's unfortunate. I bet you were quite a party animal before you became a Prime.." She commented.

"Ah...Y-you should head to the party. I'm sure they'd love having the femme that increased our success rate there." Optimus said, quickly, taking a step back.

Swiftica paused before nodding. "Yes , sir. I'll see you tomorrow." She walked down the hall toward the bunker.

Optimus watched her before looking into her room. She had cleaned the whole room and had even put a hand-held buffer on the shelf. Other then the cleanliness and the personal item, nothing seemed to be out of order or suspicious. He closed the door and continued on to his room to rest.

End of issue #1