Invasion

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. They belong to Hasbro and Takara. I am merely taking them for a short spin. "Doctor Who" and the TARDIS belong to the BBC.

Days off weren't unusual for human or Cybertronian members of NEST. What was different was the fact things had been quiet for a while. No Decepticon activity meant a little downtime, but for some members of the joint strike force, quiet wasn't a good thing. Downtime and quiet lead to complacency and certain individuals taking side trips down the road to temptation.

The ancient Autobot, designation Kup, mulled this over in his head as he sat on one of Diego Garcia's beaches, watching the sun go down. He'd been on Earth a few months, was adapting to his new home and a not so new job--heading up Autobot intelligence. Not an easy job, but one he knew well. He'd fallen back into it easily enough, helping take some of the weight off the shoulders of the Autobot second-in-command, Prowl. Kup grunted at the thought of Prowl, who was on duty in ops at the moment. They'd had a rough morning, getting pressed once again by the human called Galloway for information they could not, or under the orders of Optimus Prime, divulge to the humans.

Some, like national security advisor Theodore Galloway were having a hard enough time dealing with one alien race on their little backwater planet. What would they do if they knew the real truth? However, Kup wasn't able to pursue the thought any further. His optics picked up a familiar sound. A sound he hadn't heard in millions of years.

He stood, commed backup.

:Prowl, get Hot Rod. I need you NOW:

-----

The sound was unlike any other in the universe. Unique, caused by a craft as unusual as its pilot. And anyone staring at the spot where the craft dematerialized would see a blue box that looked like a phone booth, which, at the moment, was surrounded. Unfortunately, the box's lone sentient organic occupant was unaware of this as he shouldered into his coat and threw open a door.

He stepped out into the night, letting his eyes adjust to the dark. He inhaled, savoring the scents of the humid night, grinning. Earth. He loved Earth. But wait. Something wasn't quite right with the air. A metallic scent. Something he hadn't breathed in a very long time. Come to think of it, neither were the shadows towering over him. Well, where am I? he thought. Definitely Earth from the scent of things and the feel of the ground beneath his feet. But where and when? And what was that sound and oh dear. . .weapons. He heard the clicks and whines as they onlined. Unusual, the presence of *that* kind of weaponry on Earth.

He looked up, took a step back, frowned. No way. But he shrugged. He'd get an explanation eventually.

"Kup? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing," Kup said.

"Well, I can't say this is fantastic, but it sort of is and wow you look different. . .eh, older. . .quite distinctive. Wisdom looks good on you. . .how long's it been?"

"Not long enough, Doctor," Kup said.

The being known as the Doctor grinned.

"You know you've missed me," he said. "We've had some good times, you and I. Remember? Except that whole thing with the avatar of Primus and Unicron, well, I could've done without that but. . .I know I'm not supposed to talk about it but how've you been?"

Kup tried not to twitch and fought the terrible desire to pull the trigger. The Autobots had orders not to harm humans. And the being standing before him was not human. He looked and sounded human, but he was not human. Not even close. He also felt two pairs of optics on him as he tried to ignore the banter of the sentient organic prattling on about everything under the sun.

Prowl's expression was unreadable as he met his optics for an instant, and Hot Rod looked amused as he watched the alien known as the Doctor.

". . .and I've been all over and haven't encountered any of your kind in a while but I haven't popped over to your corner of the galaxy in quite some time but. . .wait," the Doctor said, looking up at his other captors. "Prowler? That you? Good to see you!"

He switched to the third towering robot. "And you are?"

"Hot Rod," Kup said. "Lad, don't talk to him, don't listen. Just keep your weapon on him until we can decide what we're going to do with him."

:We need to notify Prime: Prowl said.

:I know: Kup said.

"Are we going to stand here all night or are you going to show me around?" the Doctor asked, heading off in the direction of the nearest buildings.

Hot Rod and Prowl took off after him and Kup had to scramble to keep up. Of all the things to happen, this was the absolute worst.