A/N: this came about after a whacky dream I contribute to too much Battlestar Galactica and reading the Transformer novels. Yeah…I blame insanity . .. Anyway, I used several of my own OCs in this because I love them and I also used my friend's - DracinStormsailor - OCs (with her permission) and it loosely based off what went on in the fic we made together…very loosely. I'm taking my own artistic liberties in this so if there's something you don't recognize from the movie (or the book) it's probably my intervention. Oh and there IS mech love in here (probably nothing graphic though) so if you take issue with that, please hit the back button or turn a blind eye to it. I don't feel like flamers. They give me indigestion. Anyway, READ ON my brave readers! TALLY-HO!
XxXxXx
2027
Lennox stared out over what was left of his hometown. The quaint town, just outside bustling Mission City, was in utter ruins…as was probably every other city, town, village and suburb in the world.
With a sigh that held as much bitter sadness as resignation, he headed into the ruins, passing fallen structures, burned craters and heaps of debris that once were shops, sidewalks and trees. To think he once thought that this was what was going to happen if the Decepticons won the war…or if the war dragged on. Instead, this was what happened when they LEFT. A dusty scene from Fallout minus the monster radiation poisoned animals and plus an alien race that apparently had been sniffing out earth for some time now.
This race, called the Thrall, had been watching earth since before the Cybertronians had come. The only thing that had kept them away WAS the Autobots presence. Once they were gone, the half mechanical, half organic beings had taken full advantage of earth's new vulnerability and invaded.
He regretted now, like he did every day, for not protesting louder the day it was decided to kick the Transformers off earth. He regretted not doing something, ANYTHING, to prevent it. He regretted standing by helplessly, stupidly choosing duty over loyalty to his friends, while some gloating, over-pompous politician announced it to them. He vividly remembered their reactions; many of them in stunned silence, Bumblebee openly crying, Ratchet throwing a fit, Ironhide and Redblaze raging…Optimus Prime accepting the sentence in stoic grace. That nearly broke the NEST soldiers. The temper, the outrage, and the shock...they could handle it. They themselves were feeling it. But Optimus' simple acceptance of their fate without a single objection or complaint nearly made every war-hardened NEST member cry.
"Ya find anything?"
Lennox glanced up at the soldiers that had accompanied him - the surviving members of NEST. Some of them anyway. Once proud soldiers secretly fighting to save earth…they were now reduced to looking through ghost towns in search of anything useful to bring back to the compound in order to survive. It was a time consuming, dangerous and often depressing job but it needed to be done.
"Not yet. Let's go towards the center of town. I think the outskirts are scavenged to death."
A pun…a bad one. But all too often true. Sometimes they found dead bodies on their excursions. Sometimes it was just bones. Other times it was someone who had died while scavenging like they were, either from disputes from other desperate survivors, for violating unseen territory boundaries, from pure exhaustion/hunger/thirst/hopelessness or by their new alien terrors. Occasionally they found the body of a Thrall.
The painful irony of it all was that they were just like what humans had before envisioned aliens to be. Instead of the little green men from mars however they were blue; blue men from some distant unknown planet. Their bodies were just as organic as any human but there the physical similarities ended. They had metal suits of various designs to match their assigned function but instead of it being a simple suit like Iron Man the Thrall would connect to the suit. While the exact process was unknown, their bodies would meld with the metal, the suit becoming an exoskeleton that they could see, hear, feel, smell and even taste with. And then the damned things became as difficult to damage as any Decepticon.
"Damn them." Lennox growled, seeing sickly white bones protruding from underneath rubble. It may or may not have been human. He didn't want to know nor cared to find out. It was an unspoken rule they had adopted; let the bones of the dead lie in peace. They had suffered enough.
They passed a sign, somehow still standing, outside what had been a used car lot, the skeletons of said cars still lined up as they had the day of the invasion, slowly rusting in the sun. Though missing some letters, they could still make out what it said.
"2012 Deals! Ask today!"
"Shit, been that long already?" Bobby Epps muttered.
With a jolt Lennox realized that he had a point. It HAD been that long. 15 long years that had felt more like 100. He had quite paying attention to the passing of the years and instead concentrated more on getting through another day. Though it seemed a lifetime ago, he still remembered the events that lead up to this as if it had happened yesterday.
XxXxXx
2010
Lennox took full advantage of the peaceful break aboard the ship taking them home. He knew full well that as soon as his feet touched land again, all hell was going to break loose. While they had won the battle, the war had just begun. The world was in an uproar and understandably so. Not only had they been told that aliens were among them but that the governments all over the world had been lying about it all along. The violent way they had been exposed to the Cybertronians was not at all how he had envisioned the human race being introduced. But the damage was already done. Whether or not it was repairable depended upon…quite a few factors that seemed rather impossible.
But the young major put that out of his mind as he leaned over the railing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. He was exhausted. Mentally and physically exhausted. He could only imagine how his men and the Autobots were feeling. Once again, he considered them lucky. To face a threat as deadly as the Fallen AND Megatron and survive was lucky. To face said threat without Optimus Prime and a team that was supposedly deactivated with politicians attempting to "negotiate" with aliens who would rather see them dead than speak with them was pushing the boundaries of good luck and fortune.
Fortunately, good luck and fortune seemed to favor them. In the midst of battle, some of the landing protoforms had touched down BEHIND them. There had been a moment of chaos as mechs and humans alike scrambled to face the new threat as it slowly rose from the sand. Ratchet had started yelling then and ran between the two groups.
They were Autobots, sneaking in with enemy troops. Redblaze and his mechs had been a more than welcome addition, especially with the array of explosives they employed. Good luck and fortune indeed.
Heavy footfalls snapped Will out of his thoughts and he turned to see Ironhide making his way across the deck. Fresh soldering marred the big mech's chest and by the way he was moving Lennox could tell it hurt quite a bit. Not that Ironhide would ever actually admit that.
"Escape?" Lennox asked teasingly.
Ironhide grunted his response, stopping next to the major and crouching down on a knee. Even then he still towered above the human.
"I trust Ratchet with my life. There isn't anything short of death that I haven't seen him fix." Ironhide said, "But as much as I respect him…fraggit he can be a pain in the aft."
Lennox grinned. He'd seen the medic when he got in a mood. "Got himself worked up?"
"Understatement of the century." Ironhide grunted, "He's in a fury right now. Half is directed at the cons that hit us and the other half is at us for charging right into it."
Lennox shook his head in amusement. Having watched more than one confrontation between the medic and a difficult patient, he could well imagine how bad Ratchet was cussing now with so many damaged bots. Though Ratchet's bedside manner left much to be desired, they all knew that he wouldn't quit until every last dent was smoothed out or he passed out trying. He was as dedicated as he was difficult.
Will glanced at Ironhide again. Despite the heavy damage his cannon toting buddy had sustained, Will knew that he would just wave it off as if it were nothing more than a scratch to his paint. It earned him the medic's wrath most of the time but it had also earned him the respect of every soldier there. There was no mistaking how tough the old warrior was. He would fight to the death to protect those he held dear to his spark. He was strong, he was tough, he was loyal. But Will couldn't help but wonder how the world would react to a mech such as Ironhide. Would they see the loyal soldier or would they only see the walking death machine?
For his part, Ironhide just shifted into a more comfortable position and stayed silent. Though he gave no indication of such he was well aware of what awaited them. He had spent many, many years as Prime's bodyguard and Head of Guard. He had been with Prime through many political events and arrangements, both public and private. He knew how politics worked. He was well aware that their arrangement of the past 2 years was shot to pit. He wasn't afraid of what would happen to them…if worse came to worse, they could simply leave. No, what scared the old cannon was what would happen to their human friends. He knew how politics works…they would find someone to blame and rip them to shreds.
As troubling as their thoughts were, both mech and man tried to push them from their minds. It was quiet and peaceful on the deck at the moment, a rare commodity for them. They would enjoy it and each other's company as long as it was allowed. Who knew when they would get this opportunity again?
Several days later the USS John C. Stennis docked in Norfolk, Virginia. As was expected, it was a near riot outside the gates with a thick pack of reporters, gawkers and very concerned family members while grim faced soldiers held them at bay. Lennox sighed as he watched them, waiting for the orders to disembark. The paltry few days of rest on the trip over were not enough but for NEST, there was no rest for the weary. The world was demanding answers and there were only a few who could fully answer them.
"Well…this is it. The end of life as we know it."
Lennox looked over to see Simmons leaning on the rail further down next to Adam. Adam Knight was an army captain who had been on a Randolph AFB in San Antonio two years ago when the Decepticons had attacked it. Why still remained a mystery since it was a small training facility. However, when Lennox and Epps had shown up with Ironhide and Ratchet, Adam had stood out as the calmest soldier of the lot, helping to calm panicked recruits and order damage control. The two veteran NEST soldiers were impressed…and there was a spot open in the ranks. After a quick conference with General Morshower they convinced his unwilling commanding officer to reassign him to NEST.
"You make it sound as if our lives was normal to begin with." The words weren't rueful…merely stating the facts.
"Well, no, they weren't. Never will be. Normal is boring." Simmons replied, "But it's about to get bad."
"I have to ask. You were part of that Sector Seven gig, right? This the reason you tried so hard to keep them hidden?" Adam gestured to the mob.
"Aside from the top secret thing? Yeah. This is why." Simmons nodded, "People have been raving about aliens since they figured out there was space. The so-called "sane" people brushed off the alien geeks, saying they were crazy. It's like when it was declared the world was round and not flat. Look what happened to them! Once it was proven that the crazy people were right all along, hundreds of years had gone by. Only this time, the crazy people were proven right and a lot of people died in the process. No one died directly from the earth going from flat to round…but people died when aliens showed up."
"And so instead of being hailed as a brilliant scientific comprehension, the Autobots will be viewed as killers." Adam said.
"Pretty much, yeah." Simmons nodded, "You see, people want to believe there are aliens, but they don't want them HERE. They're fascinated with them. They go so far as to make crop circles and make movies out of them with green plastic models that look like bald monkeys. But meeting an actual alien? Scares them to death. Too much Orson Welles and Alien Vs. Predator."
Lennox turned away. As painful as it was to admit, he knew Simmons was right. Fascination only went so far in a world that was primed to fear aliens.
The whistle sounded signaling it was time to disembark. The three men picked up their belongings and headed for the gangplank. Time to face the music.
XxXxXx
A/N: I apologize for this being on the short side. It's a bit of an experimental chapter to see which way the wind will blow. I will try my hardest to get updates out but I'm in college so sometimes things get put on the back burner. Darn education! *shakes fist*
But that doesn't let you off the hook! There is a button riiiiight under here that I want you to click and REVIEW! Feed the addiction!
Oh, in case you didn't catch it; Redblaze (and the mechs with him which shall be named later) and Adam Knight are mine. You will get to know them very well. The Thrall, however, are NOT mine. They were mentioned in the Lost in Space comic. Ratchet showed off his kick aft side in that chapter. Figured it would be fun giving them more depth.
NOW you may review!
-VT
