The New Recruit

Driving down a Kansas road, a blue and red Peterbilt truck headed for a small, abandoned barn in the middle of nowhere. The barn doors opened and the floor of the barn dropped to form a ramp to a hidden bunker. The Peterbilt drove in and parked in a large empty space, waiting for the ramp to go back up. Once the entrance was, once again, concealed, the truck's panelling started to shift, changing into a tall metal man. The robotic man pulled his tractor trailer further into the bunker, being careful not to bump it against anything, it carried fragile cargo. The mech passed and ambulance and walked straight for a large table. He carefully removed another, more feminine, robot from the trailer, placing her on the table. The ambulance changed form and walked to the table.

"Optimus, what did I tell you 'bout bringing strays home?" The ambulance asked, looking at the taller mech.

"She is wounded, Ratchet. She was laying in the grass in a heavy stasis." The tall mech replied. "I couldn't just leave her out there."

"Sometimes, leaving someone alone to offline is the best choice." The experienced ambulance said, examining the feminine figure. "She is a seeker-class flier, popular class with Decepticons."

"She was alone. No enemy signals anywhere." Optimus explained

Suddenly an alarm howled. The ambulance ran to the console and opened the map there were several Decepticon signals surrounding a large vein of crystallized energon, the fuel and life blood of these robotic beings. Ratchet turned to Optimus with worry in his optics. The Prime called in the rest of his team and told them to meet in the main room.

Soon, the team was gathered and awaiting Optimus Prime's orders. In the room was a black and yellow mech, a navy blue and rose pink femme, and a hefty olive green mech. Optimus stood in front of them and made sure they were all ready.

"Team, we have picked up a lot of Decepticon movement near a fair sized energon deposit. Our mission is to eliminate the threat and claim that energon for ourselves." Optimus said flatly. He opened his mouth to say more when he heard movement from behind him. He turned and saw the wounded femme sitting up on the table. Her powder blue optics seemed off to Optimus but he shrugged it off for the moment. "Miss, please lay down. You need to rest. You are wounded and in need of repair." Optimus said, softly.

"I'll be alright. I've had worse injuries then these." She said, slipping off the table and standing straight. "If you allow me to stay here, I'll promise to pull my own weight in helping you fight and gather energon." She was very serious in tone and stance.

Optimus thought long and hard about her proposition before he nodded. "Alright. Welcome to the team, miss...?"

"Swiftica." She finished.

"Miss Swiftica." Optimus repeated. He looked to Ratchet and nodded. The ambulance nodded back and pulled a switch, opening a ground bridge to the mine's coordinates. "Autobots! Transform and roll out!" The Prime said transforming and driving into the portal. The others followed suit. The new recruit ran at the portal before jumping and transforming, taking off into the bridge.

Once on the other side, Optimus and his team transformed again and looked around. Where they landed was safe from the sight of Decepticons. Optimus and his team snuck further into the mine, hiding behind rocks and boulders whenever they could. They soon reached the main cavern. The place was loaded with 'con drones. Upon a canopy in the cavern stood two officers, a male seeker and a male sports car. They appeared to be arguing about something.

"Commander StarScream, must I be the one you always drag down into the mines? You know how I feel about getting dirty." The sports car whined.

Silence, Knockout! Your self preening annoys me to no end!" The male seeker hissed.

Optimus scanned the area and he assigned each Autobot a group of targets to shoot. Once all orders were given out, Optimus moved forward, taking out the first target. The drones returned fire and a battle began. StarScream and Knockout saw the battle and aimed to join in. The female seeker glared at them and snarled. She took aim and fired a rocket at the mechs. The rocket hit the ledge they stood on as she put her attention on the drones, neutralizing them quickly.

Soon, the Decepticons called a full retreat and fled from the mine. They had lost too many drones and were no longer strong enough to defend the energon. The Autobots took the victory in stride and celebrated the moment they had all the energon back at their base. Optimus Prime did not join the party, as usual. He was far too busy to party. While walking down a hall, he heard a voice coming from a room. Not any room but the room he gave the new member of his team. Why wasn't she celebrating like the others? Perhaps she just wanted to get settled into her new room. The fact that she was talking in her room alone worried Optimus but also peaked some interest in him. He reached for the door control panel when suddenly the door flung open and the femme bumped into Optimus.

"Oh Primus! I am so sorry, sir! I just finished settling in and was on my way out to join the party." She said. "Wait... Why aren't you partying with everyone else, sir?"

"I have too much work to finish and I don't really like parties anymore." Optimus explained. "Make sure you get some rest. We will have a long day tomorrow."

"Yes sir!" Swiftica said before scampering off to party with the others. Optimus looked into the seeker's room. It seemed normal, actually, it seemed more orderly then it was before. He closed the door and departed for his quarters for a long night's rest.

End of Episode 1