A Stray Cat

Lennox straightened his uniform, the base was getting newcomers fly in today, their new base, a relatively small uninhabited island in the pacific far enough off the American coast to not be approached accidentally and yet close enough that it only took two hours to get to the mainland by boat, half that by plane or chopper.

The island had been made into international territory as every EU and allied country wanted some front on the fight with the Deceptacons. Even non-allied nations had wanted in and since it was the world and not just the allies who were at stake a 'non-aggression agreement' had been written and signed off by any leader who wanted troops on the island, to enforce this feeling they had separate barracks but shared rec, training fields, duties and mess, all except the autobots who had different needs to their human counterparts.

A third of the island had been designated to the autobots, though they were currently all residing in two or three hangars. Essential civilians had also been brought in, Sam Whitwicky, and the two techies that detected the Deceptacon's hacking signal were some such.

Today the new-comers were the English troops and a civilian doctor for the base with two other civilians, one his assistant and the other was his dependant. The man in charge was American so the English had insisted that they choose an important asset for the base as well, they had been lacking an MD for a while so the American government had agreed that they could assign someone, he would be in charge of keeping the field medics up to speed and dealing with any on-base injuries and long term care, and of course the check-ups which were vastly out of date for most of the soldiers.

Waiting on the tarmac for the plane to land and the soldiers climbed out ranked up and their leader, Captain Ronald Fitzgerald, introduced himself. Major Lennox returned the sentiment and passed them off to one of his assistants, who would show them their barracks and then bring them to the autobots main hangar where they held all the meetings to meet the ranking officers of the others allies on the island and of course the autobots themselves.

"Daniel Yates, Major Lennox, I'm your new MD." Will was glad for all his training when he managed to keep a smooth face as the young man approached with his hand outstretched.

With the credentials he had been assured the doctor would have he was expecting someone at least in their thirties but he would be surprised if Doctor Yates was older than twenty-five. The young woman he introduced as his assistant, Julia Morgan, was probably older but not by much and from the familiarity she had with the doctor Will guessed they were also dating. "Finally my younger sister, Katherine Yates." The girl had almost nothing in common with her sibling, both the doctor and his assistant wore neat clothing washed and ironed to military standards, Daniel carrying his assistant's suitcase as well as his own while she carried a smaller bag. The teenager looked like she had just rolled out of bed, she had pale skin with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks, auburn hair that fell in waves and wide ringlets past her shoulders, she was dressed in dark jeans and a t-shirt that was designed to look like it was covered in bloody handprints and a caption stating 'This is my zombie killing t-shirt'. The boots she wore could have been army issue but were scuffed and dirty and the laces, one red and one green, were hanging loose though not low enough for her to trip on.

"It's nice to meet you all, Doctor, I will show you to your living quarters, civilians have a different set-up to the soldiers. We can drop off your luggage, then we'll get the introductions out of the way, I'll introduce you to the captains of the other troops and the leader of the autobots." Showing them the alien robots first seemed the best plan as then they had some time to get over the shock and wouldn't be anticipating the meeting throughout the tour of the rest of the base. "I have to ask this before we proceed, you've read the regulations of residing here on base and agreed to them before arriving?"

There was a resounding yes, though Katherine had to be prodded by her older brother before answering. He nodded, pleased and he and Epps helped them carry their luggage to the rooms set aside. The civilian sector was a large-ish building, three stories high which the regular soldiers weren't allowed into without invitation, just as the civilians weren't allowed into the individual barracks without invitation. There were twenty-four apartments in the complex, the seven on the bottom floor were all one bedroom along with the lobby where a Spanish soldier and a French one, both women, stood and saluted.

"Taking the doctor, his assistant and sister to their room." He informed them. He and Epps still had to sign the visitor's book before getting a temporary key card for access. It was protocol that he insisted they keep even with people who outranked the soldiers on duty.

"You get thieves on base?"

"Kitty!" doctor Yate's scolded, it had a practised feel to it.

"Only once and that was in the barracks," Lennox said before the doctor could continue. "it was dealt with and the culprit dismissed from the island. We have this security here more for the high-profile guests. These quarters are noticeably more comfortable than the barracks so when we get VIPs come they prefer to stay here." She hummed in reply, he wasn't sure if it was acceptance or thought. He showed them to one of the first floor rooms, it had four bedrooms branching off of a living area complete with a small kitchen area. "You're free to either eat in the mess hall with the soldiers or order food from the kitchens to cook yourselves here."

The three looked through the rooms Katherine picking a room with the largest window and the doctor and Julia picking the two adjacent to the teen.

When they left, Epps returned with a military jeep from the motor pool. Lennox explained that anyone with a driver's licence was cleared to borrow any vehicle from the pool but they had to sign it out. Kitty clicked her tongue and Will saw Epps grin and guessed the girl didn't have her licence yet, Will just tried to hide his own smirk.

They arrived at the mission control hangar and the doctor shook hands with all the officers he was greeted with and Sam Whitwicky who happened to be in the area at the time, probably playing with Bumblebee.

Even with the four year age gap between the two Will noticed that Katherine gravitated towards Sam who was the closest person to her age she had met so far.

"This is Sam Whitwicky, he has helped a lot in the past and gets along well with all the autobots. He is currently working towards being the liaison for the Cybertronians."

"Nice t'meetcha." Sam said, grinning, he shook hands with the doctor and Julia, repeating their names as he did so. When he got to Katherine however she brushed hair out of her face and said in an annoyed tone.

"Kitty is fine." Sam grinned and agreed.

Then came Will's favourite part, revealing the autobots, he always felt a little like a kid showing off his favourite toy at this point, everyone was amazed and afraid at the same time on their first meeting with the much larger beings, he took the trio with Sam trailing along behind up onto the platform where the screens that were used to display information or to hold a video conference were all off. Optimus, until now a nearly innocent looking truck, transformed so he towered above them even while standing on the platform made to bring humans more or less eye-level.

"This is Optimus Prime, leader of the autobots. Optimus, this is our new MD on base, doctor Daniel Yates, his assistant Miss Julia Morgan and Katherine Yates, the doctor's younger sister." All three were slack-jawed and staring even when Optimus spoke.

"It's a pleasure." Katherine jerked as though waking up and stepped right up to the railing, Daniel making an involuntary move as if to pull her back. Optimus was encouraged by her boldness, even if she did still look shaken.

"Hi," was all she managed to say, her voice was slightly high-pitched and nervous but it brought the other two out of their state of shock as well.

"It's nice to meet you too, sir." The doctor said echoed by Julia who looked as though her eyes may fall out of her head.

"Our medic is interested in meeting with you, doctor, if I have your permission could I introduce him?" Optimus rumbled, it was a general rule to only introduce one autobot to the civilians until they could handle more.

Daniel could only whisper 'medic… another fifty foot alien.' Katherine answered for him though, her voice having recovered by this time.

"We'd love to, actually I want to meet all of you." Even Sam was surprised at how quickly the girl recovered from having the truth of not being alone in the universe being slammed into her in the form of giant robotic organisms.

"Kitty!" Daniel whined. Optimus took that as consent.

"Perhaps we can introduce everyone to you later, I believe they are running drills at the moment. However this is Ratchet our chief medical officer." Ratchet came in from outside and greeted them carefully, Julia looked like she would faint and Daniel looked torn between excited and horrified.

"It's good to meet with you, doctor, I am interested in knowing more about the biology of your species and was hoping that we could trade notes once you've settled in." The yellow and green mech said, his faceplates had a kindly look on them but it took most people a while to be able to see beyond the not-humanness and see the expressions on their faces.

"It'd be a pleasure." Daniel said politely, sounding breathless.

"For now I'll show you the med bay." Will said, "There should be plenty of chance to get to know each other later." He said nodding to both the autobots who nodded back.

"Mind if I tag along? Bee's helping with the drills." Sam said falling into step.

"Bee?" Katherine asked.

"Bumblebee, another of the autobots, he's also kind of my first car, I'll tell you the story sometime if you like."

"Awesome, at least this won't be boring." Katherine replied.

"Is that all it ever took to placate you, kitty? Giant talking alien robots from a galaxy far-far-away, and here all this time I've been trying to catch your interest with such mundane things as a career and friends." Doctor Yates said in a dry tone.

"Friends are overrated, careers are for squares." Was the girl's reply getting a laugh from Sam and a grin from everyone else.

The med bay was set up like a hospital ward, there was one office on one end and forty or fifty beds lined up against the walls with the dividers pushed back to show they were all empty. There was a huge storage room in the back that held all the medical equipment and supplies to work them through a large scale attack. Having worked at a large hospital before now doctor Yates tutted as he looked around and asked after the inventory paperwork only to get blank looks and a shrug.

"Thank you, Major, Lieutenant, we're going to get to work right away. Kitty you won't be playing around for a while yet." Katherine groaned, the two officers said their goodbyes and left them to it.

So it is my first Transformers fic, I love the movies and like what I've seen of the old cartoons (though they are very outdated to my taste and sometimes I have to laugh for the wrong reasons). I'm not an expert on Transformers so if you spot any glaring mistakes and they aren't a) on purpose or b) pertinent to the overall story I'll go back and correct it. I am trying though, I promise.

I write for fun, it's almost as fun as sex! As a result I'll probably update whether you like it or not, but tell me if you do as then I will be motivated to update quicker.

WARNING – I have not written ahead of this story, I have a kinda sorta plan for the next chapter or two and some ideas for big turning points but other than that it's all a surprise, so I may or may not continue this at all, after all I have my (not)money making writing to do!

That's my rambling over and done with and congratulations if you made it this far! Though I would have to wonder if you have nothing better to do than read this pointless drivel…

Kitty: *sarcastic* There you go, insulting the readers will get you many, many reviews I'll bet.

GG&MG: Don't you have some autobots to terrorise?

Kitty: Not til next chapter! While you're writing this, how is that next chapter coming along?

GG&MG: Uuh…

Kitty: I see, and your manuscript?

GG&MG: …