Chapter 2
I forgot to mention last chapter that this is my first Transformers fanfiction.
I needed a name for the brittish soldier from rotf, so I borrowed one. Hope its alright.
Sort of alternate universe of bay movie-verse with some inspiration from the book Transformers: Exodus.
I suggest rereading the first chapter too, some minor changes may have been made since you've last read it.
Recap: An unidentified object with an Energon signature arrived on Earth, quickly disguising itself and its presence. NEST and the Autobots investigate.
Read and Enjoy
3 hours later
Franics E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming
The loud churning of turbine engines on military cargo planes filled the area as a C-5 Galaxy plane touched down on the makeshift gravel runway of F.E. Warren Airforce base. Not that loud noises were unusual but the arrival of two C-5 Galaxy cargo planes, and the circumstances that led to it, was very unusual. It was the only military base in Wyoming, the only location with secure military airspace to transport five autonomous robotic organisms and a team of two dozen specially trained soldiers. The complicated landing was unavoidable as the planes skid on the gravel; leaving all the passengers very uneasy, specially certain Autobots who disliked flying.
On the way to Wyoming, each member of the team contemplated why the Energon reading could have disappeared though the thought formost in their minds was that they might be picking up a dead robot rather than a live one. That is until intel from the site came in that there were no remains or signs of a Transformer apart from the huge crater in the ground. They still needed to investigate.
On the runway, Lennox greets a waiting General Lang with a handshake, ever since he started with the NEST team he had found that saluting wasted time, "General Lang, Sir."
"Major Lennox, I presume." The gruff, older, caucasian man hesitantly shook his hand, while in the background the planes where finishing in unloading their cargo. Out of one plane rolled a yellow-green Hummer fitted with sirens and a medical insignia, a tough looking black GMC Topkick, and a sleek silver colored corvette , while a yellow camaro tattooed with black racing stripes and a Peterbilt 379 blue big rig with a red flame decor drive down the ramp from the cargo hold of the other miliary plane.
Lennox turned as the General's eyes drifted towards the unusual vehicles, then slowly turning back to General Lang and in a low voice, "You have been cleared on the Top secret nature of this mission, correct?" He had to ask.
Startled, the General looked back to Lennox and nodded, "Of course, yes, only the top ranking officers here and I know of the secret. The site in question has been secured, the locals and media have been told that there has been some solar radiation coming from the asteroid from passing close to the sun. We've managed to keep the locals from snooping around more than they've already done, but I have to warn you... that area walks a fine line of the crazy convention."
Lennox frowns in concern and leans in so his voice lowers in volume, "What do you mean, Sir?"
The General leaned in as well as his voice lowered out of range of nearby human ears, "I mean... they have an airstrip affectionately named, 'The Green River Intergalactic Spaceport'. I'm not kidding." General Lang's face was very serious as he articulated the name very clearly.
Will Lennox did not know how to respond to that and stared at him frozen, not from the cold, with a blank face until he said, "I see what you mean." and slowly leaned back. The General simply nodded.
"How far are we from the site, Sir?" Lennox managed to regain concentration at the situation at hand.
"Little over four hours. Major, I'll be sending you to Major Sanders, who knows the area well and is also part of the helicopter squadron based here. Do not worry, he's already been briefed on the situation."
"Good. Thank you Sir." Lennox nodded and ran back over to his garrison who were loading six each into 4 terrain vehicles, four wheeled combat vehicles outfitted with a gun on the roof, he got into the front seat of one next to Epps who had taken the drivers seat. As the moved out of the base and on to the interstate, the headlights in the night , a voice could be heard over the communications unit.
"Major William Lennox, I hope you do not mind if you could answer a question..."
It was the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, who as the largest of the party had taken up position at the rear of the line of vehicles, headlights flooding the back of Lennox's vehicle and the men that occupied it. Lennox wondered what could be on the mech's mind.
"Ask away."
"Did my auditory processors hear correctly when the general mentioned there is an 'Intergalatic Spaceport' where we are going?"
Lennox sighed as his hand went to his forehead, he looked to Epps as he knew everyone in the team was linked in the comm. and could hear the conversation. Epps shook his head, though his eyes were on the road he knew he was being stared at, "You're on your own man."
With no takers from anyone it fell to him to try and explain, "You understand there are some people that have a... fascination.. with aliens and space."
"That does not explain why there is an Intergalatic Spaceport in the middle of the western United States." Ratchet asserted. "When there are no indications of your species being capable of space travel beyond the fifth planet of this solar system."
Another exasperated sigh from Lennox, he disliked questions that had to do with the reasonings of the various nutjobs they came across. "Sometimes people like that can... Ugh! It's just a name the locals like to use for an airstrip in the middle of nowhere! Maybe when all of this is over we can take a look."
"I think that'd be neat." He heard Sideswipe with a sound of agreement from Bumblebee. Lennox looked to the starry sky, he was joking about the last part but as the comments came in from the other Autobots about going to see the Intergalatic Spaceport of Green River, he could not refuse them. Who knows, being outside base while not on a mission might do their circuits good.
The Major rubbed his hands together as he noticed the temperature dropping, it was certainly chillier than California. Looking to the sides of the road he could see by the light of the big rig in the rear white patches scattered among green grass. Snow... Lennox wondered if that might turn into a problem for these guys though they seem to be alright for now. After a few minutes he noted an absence of a voice in the mix.
"Ironhide, you okay up there? You're awefully quiet... no imput on the Intergalatic Spaceport?" he asked into the comm. trying to chide the Topkick, who was positioned up in the front of the line behind Bumblebee, into an answer.
There was a moment of silence before, "All is well, Will, the road is clear of traffic for 73.6 miles." and the radio was silent.
"What's his problem?" Lennox muttered though not realizing his comm was still on so Sideswipe answered him.
"He's been like that all day, since Optimus lectured him on pointing his cannons at humans."
Lennox could not help but feel sorry for Ironhide, he himself would never want to be the brunt of one of Optimus' lectures as it made even those watching the reprimanding feel guilty. He didn't worry much, Ironhide will get over it.
It had been almost an hour into the drive, the snow was fairly gone and the grass on the shoulder was getting taller, when Lennox spotted, beyond Ratchet, Sideswipe deviate into the oncoming lane and speed up to pass the two army vehicles which were in front of him before and Ironhide. He revved his engine at Bumblebee.
"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Lennox cursed.
"Sounds like Sides' wants to finish that race," Epps commented.
"This isn't the time for that."
"C'mon, even I'm getting bored here, there's nothin' but darkness and the grass on the side of the road, let them have their fun."
"Thats when things go wrong..." Lennox muttered but did not say anything to stop the bots from their competition.
Bumblebee responded to Sideswipe in kind, engines roaring and eager to show who has the better performance. Within seconds the two had suddenly sped up, leaving the caravan of vehicles that were already doing 75 miles per hour behind.
"Someone keep tabs on them," Lennox said instinctively into his comm. mic. Even though they were advanced aliens, Lennox learned quickly that on Earth, they were becoming more and more relaxed and little by little letting their guard down like a soldier home from war. Of course according to them the war is not nearly over yet, but they agreed that this place was becoming more and more of a home to them. "Make sure they don't get into trouble." Like with local Highway Patrol.
When the rest of the line caught up with them, Sideswipe was still in the oncoming lane and Lennox could see the unmistakable glare of incoming headlights in that lane. "Sideswipe stop messing around!" he shouted into the comm.
Immediately Sideswipe swerved into the right lane, but making the Topkick behind him brake and swerve on to the grass shoulder to make room for the corvette just as a tractor trailer honked as it sped past. "This isn't the time to be messing around." Lennox huffed into the comm.
"Sideswipe, focus." A short warning from Optimus.
"Sorry, got a bit carried away... Ooh... and sorry Ironhide."
"You glitch, grass in my vents is better than you busting your hood, wrecking that truck, ultimately jeopardizing the whole mssion, and risking revealing our presence to the human population." It was obvious that was meant to be more of a scolding rather than a show of humility.
Sideswipe replied in Cybertronian that seemed like a sigh to Lennox as Ironhide moved back onto the road.
Lennox turned to Epps, "How far from the site are we?"
"3 hours and 57 minutes." Epps glanced at his watch.
The back of Lennox's head leaned back with a thud against the headrest of his seat.
The rest of the way the comm. lines remained silent as far as Lennox knew.
Crack! The shattering sound of glass was the only sound, apart from the howling of wild coyotes, in a large/medium sized scrap yard on the very outskirts of a small town, Jordan, in Wyoming, near the Utah state boarder. A human hiccup and burp coming from the two story house on the premises and there was a light in an open window on the first story. A hand reached out the window and threw another empty beer bottle outside which shattered on the ground, the peices littered where the sharded remains of dozens of glass bottles laid to rest. A popping sound and the hiss of air inside indicates the occupant has started on another bottle...
Almost a mile away from the junk yard, a sliver locomotive slows on the railroad track. He had been scanning the area for a suitable area of operations when he picked up something. It appeared to be a graveyard for the machines of Earth, vehicles stacked upon each other well above his height if he was standing in his main form, all sorts of machinery thrown into heaps and piles, a large building where the walls lined with other scraps, and a small two story dwelling with one resident made of organic flesh. This was turning out to be easier than originally thought, it was going to be simple to get the job done then end the suffering on this planet as well.
His engine slowed to a halt, pausing for a moment as the problem of this form reaching the junk graveyard was made apparent to him by the lack of tracks leading in that direction. Suddenly a surge of energy and a junction started to assemble from the from of the train connecting to the existing track and a new set of tracks, colored in silver, started to form. The locomotive shifted onto these tracks that seemed to appear, for every meter the train moved there would be two meters of track in front of it and behind the newly made tracks seemed to be absorbed back into the engine. This went on at 30 miles per hour until the train came to the fence of the scrap yard, the fence being at least 20 feet in height though the neglected stacks of scrap reach nearly twice that height.
Quickly the locomotive transformed, plates shifting and pistons hissing as the train reverted into its main form. This time he was not so sleek or skeletal looking. He had gained a lot of bulk thanks to the power of his staff which transforms with him when he goes into an alternate mode, his chest ornament did not look oversized for his body anymore. Leaning on said staff lightly as a walking stick, ever so slightly favoring his right leg, he lifts his left mechanical hand and a small cylinder rises from his wrist. From that tubing, a small beam of red light erupts aimed at the fence.
The iron meshed fence with barbed wire wrapped around the top stood no chance against the heat of the laser which with little effort toppled a 15 foot segment of it. The tube retracted into the mechanical giant's wrist as he walked through the opening, pistons hissing and a thump in the ground with every step, and progressed to the large scrap building where he easily prying open the feeble doors. He ducked as he went inside, shutting the doors behind him though the indentations of his touch remained in the metal.
Back at the house, the human occupant was slumped over the table, beer bottle in hand and out like a light; unaware of the tresspasser on the property.
Unknown location
"My lord Megatron, there has been an impact from space. Soundwave's spies say it had an Energon signature."
"Find it, Starscream. Get to it before the Autobots... they must not gain anymore in numbers. Take some of Shockwave's combiners with you, I hear he has been making progress in perfecting the combination process... and if the Autobots interfere... bring their numbers down."
"Yes Megatron..." and the sounds of a sonic boom as a fighter jet takes off.
Additional disclaimer: Jordan, Wyoming near Utah border does not exist. It is a made up town for the purposes of this story.
Military aircraft... also not my best subject, but I'm studying.
Tell me what you think. Tips are always appreciated as I am always trying to improve.
Thank you
