Author's note: Well! LONG TIME NO SEE EVERYONE. I've finally written a brand new story, and I fully INTEND TO FINISH IT, YO. :D So enjoy my take on a fairly unpopular character: Dirge! :'D And to make this completely clear, the universe is Generation 1. I haven't watched the full series in awhile, so forgive me for any mistakes. And there IS a Decepticon moonbase for those who didn't know~


August 4th, 2011

United States of America, Detroit, Michigan. Earth.

The weather was calm that day, which was odd because the wind rarely ever agreed with the rest of the beautiful scenery, especially around this time of the year. Nature went about its usual business, paying no mind to the obviously out of place and rather large being. The light breeze carried along trails of dust and leaves, attaching themselves to his body. The mech frowned, and shook unwanted particles off of his body.

Dirge watched from his position on the mountainside as the world slowly went on around him. It may have been a little on the warmer side, but he certainly didn't care. The sun reflected off his blue armor, warming the cone-headed mech's many systems. Dirge didn't have much to do, not that he ever did, especially on days like this. A lazy, calm, seemingly perfect morning not so far away from the human civilization they called 'Detroit' in the Northern Americas.

He sighed. He was envious of this world, as disgusting as it was. Mudball or not, this planet was more peaceful than Cybertron has been as of late; especially with the constant sneaking around, and then the bloodshed there was when you were caught, even by your own faction.

Standing up, Dirge brushed himself off, beginning to make his way to the end of the mountain edge and abruptly, without hesitating, stepped right off the ledge. Now, if he was human or even a ground-bot, he would have been in deep trouble; carelessly walking off a cliff like that. If he didn't find a way to stop himself from falling, he would have been crushed, impaled or mangled beyond belief.

Luckily, this was not so. Dirge, as odd as the mechanism might be, is a seeker. Seekers are just like any other mech... with the exception that they have the ability to fly. They were specifically designed to be able to soar through the skies and tear through winds, but there is one side effect: their attitudes. Something about the power of flight made some bots kind of… well, their personalities were more intense than that of your average bot. Seeker's personalities are absolutely arbitrary and annoying beyond belief. This excuse usually explains his and others' abnormal behavior and widely diverse personalities, but it all just comes in the package of being one of these effective flyers.

Beginning the instinctive routine of transforming his body, Dirge activated his thrusters mid-drop. Spinning and twisting his gears in an almost graceful way, he fired up his engines. The sudden sound echoed across the lake, startling the wildlife. Birds took off in all directions, deer scattered, and woodland critters scrambled away to safety. He took to the skies once the last bolt slid into place, and was once again feeling the rush of the wind against his wings.

Doing a quick barrel roll, Dirge prepared for atmospheric exit. To a normal aircraft, this feat would have been impossible, but as you've probably realized by now, Dirge is no normal aircraft. He may not be as effective or as powerful as his treacherous seeker-in-arms (not to mention higher in rank) Starscream, but he can still manage interstellar flight.

With one last scan of his systems, Dirge shot towards the sky, flying higher and higher until he was no longer in the damp skies of Earth and was cruising through the empty vastness of space. He flew in the direction of Earth's moon, where his faction's homebase, a Decepticon warship, The Nemesis, was currently located due to a crash landing. He pinged Soundwave, a silent request to open the doors to the base.

Soundwave is the Decepticons' main communications officer and third in command of the Decepticons. He rarely ever spoke, and when he did he spoke in a very digitized and monotonous voice.

Complying, Soundwave allowed Dirge to gain entrance to their base, opening the doors to the ship. No words of greeting or acknowledgment met Dirge, which was to be expected from the monotonous communications officer.

With a swift motion, Dirge landed with a resounding 'thud' that echoed throughout the hanger. Straightening himself up, Dirge trekked into the main communications office and approached where Soundwave was seated.

"Soundwave," He said, trying to get the mech's attention. "Is there anything in the databanks that says I have any missions?"

"Negative," was all the mech replied with, not taking his optics (or visor, in his case) off of the computer screen.

Dirge, dejected, asked again. "…Are you sure? I haven't had a mission assigned to me in- "

"Positive." Soundwave cut in, eyes still unmoving from the computer screen. He paused, as if getting a message, and then said, "Megatron wishes to see you."

Surprised and fearful as to what his leader would want from him, Dirge responded with a silent grunt of acknowledgement and turned from Soundwave, exiting the communications office. Why would Megatron want to see him? It could only mean something absolutely terrible, but at the risk of something even more terrifying happening if he ran away, Dirge skulked up to the main command room, which was at the front of the large warship. Attempting to look as professional and as non-pathetic as possible, Dirge stood up straight and entered the throne room, prepared for whatever Megatron was going to say to him. When he entered, the first thing he noticed were his coneheaded trine-mates, Ramjet and Thrust, (a trine is a group of three seekers that have forged a connection with each other, though that doesn't necessarily mean they get along all the time.) standing beside Starscream, also a seeker and the Decepticons second in command, who was stationed behind a large throne, which held the Decepticons fearsome, almighty leader, Megatron.

After approaching Megatron's seat, Dirge bowed. "Lord Megatron, you wished to see me?" He asked.

"Ah… Dirge. How good of you to finally join us." Megatron said, "Rise." Dirge rose. "Do you know why you're here, Dirge?" He didn't respond at first. "Well? Answer me."

"N-no, sir." Dirge responded, eyes flickering back and forth between Megatron and his two trine-mates.

"Why don't you start by telling me when was your last successful assignment was?" Megatron practically purred out the question.

Dirge looked down. "I…"

"SPEAK, Dirge." Megatron commanded, "Do not waste my time."

"I-I don't know, Lord Megatron." Dirge finally responded, looking down at the floor.

Megatron's optics narrowed. "Is that so…" He stood up, and strode over to where Dirge was standing in attention. Then, without warning, he hit Dirge so hard that he went flying across the room, slamming into the wall that was behind him. Ramjet and Thrust's optics were wide with fear, but they could not do anything to help their trinemate in fear of being punished themselves.

Motionless and in pain, Dirge looked up, fear evident in his shaking voice. "L-lord Megatron, sir?"

"You're nothing but a failure, letting those Autobots and now humans defeat you and your own trine continuously… You three are the worst of the seeker trines, yet you're the one who's most detestable!" Dirge attempted to get back up, but Megatron just hit him again and he fell face-down onto the floor. "You're supposed to be their trine-leader, yet you lead them to constant failure and you fail me as well. And I have no use for worthless trash."

Dirge shakily sat up on his knees, sniveling, and begged, "P-please sir, don't do this, give me and my trine a-another chance to prove ourselves, I promise we won't fail you again j-just please give us another– "

Megatron cut him off, "You're worse than Starscream." Starscream visibly scowled at the insult, but it went unnoticed by Megatron, who kicked Dirge in the chassis multiple times. It was evidently becoming clear that Dirge would not stay conscious for very much longer, and finally Megatron stopped beating him senseless. He turned to Dirge's trinemates. "Perhaps I will give you and your trine leader one last chance." He looked down at Dirge. "But if you fail me one more time, I will personally make sure you do not live to see the next solar cycle."

Dirge only twitched in response. Megatron looked up, and called out to the communications officer who was no doubt recording everything that had just occured, "Soundwave. Call in Hook and get him to prepare the medical bay. His trinemates will help carry him to the medbay." And with that, Megatron exited the room with Starscream in tow, passing the Decepticon medic Hook on their way out.

The last thing Dirge remembered was being lifted and carried out of the room, but he was far too battered to pay any more attention. With one last look at his trinemate Ramjet, Dirge fainted.