Nature of the Beast

One-Shot Series: First Star I See Tonight

Part 1: Daydreaming is Hazardous!


*This is a mini-series for my Nature of the Beast story. A few people were interested in the first encounter Zodiac had with Smokescreen and how such an encounter could lead to a long-term investigative search and then a relationship, so I decided to expand upon it. This mini series is going to be pretty short in terms of number of chapters, but chapters themselves are going to be a bit longer than my usual stock of around 4,000 words, and it's not really going to be a romance story. There's going to be teensy hints at it, but this is mostly a mini series revolving around how Zodiac learned to trust him, and how that trust blossomed into a partnership between the two.

Warning: Cuteness and fluffiness ahoy!

Secondary Warning: Lots of astronomical terms. Don't worry, 'Zee will simplify for ya'll. ;3 And also, Zodiac's specialty is planetary science, so she studies things like planets, dwarf planets, planetary formation and evolution – that sorta stuff, but she also likes dabbling in any field she finds intriguing, such as pulsars, black holes, astrobiology, and so forth.


CYBERTRON
ELITE GUARD COMMAND CENTER, IACON

Smokescreen had just stepped out of the command center after a frankly busy solar cycle and had made his way to one of the smaller plazas that dotted Iacon's bustling city center like the scattered beads of a necklace. He had headed to one in particular that stood right outside and around the block of the massive militaristic building where he was kept occupied by Ultra Magnus. He always enjoyed coming to this side plaza, as it was less crowded than some of the others, the desertion (well, mostly desertion) serving to calm his sometimes jangled nerves. Being Second-In-Command to the entire Elite Guard was utterly exhausting some days, but on the whole he enjoyed it immensely. Every solar cycle brought something new with it. Most of all he enjoyed the chance to meet new 'Bots.

So the young blue and yellow mech stood in the half-empty plaza gazing up at the skies and contemplating what all of his friends might be up to. Bulkhead he knew was in charge of one of the biggest construction teams in Iacon even though most of the time he was out in the other cities. Where he was off the top of his helm he had no idea. He could probably find out though through some of his contacts. Wheeljack helped him out occasionally, but he never really stayed in one place for too long. He was a wanderer by choice. There had been a rumor flying around recently that he'd been taken in by a pack of roaming Predacons when he'd gotten stranded out in the Acid Wastes, but he wasn't sure whether or not to believe that. Arcee and Bumblebee worked as law officers in the city and as part-time liaisons with Earth, so he saw more of them than anyone, even though 'Bee contacted him mostly through wireless means. His smile grew when he thought about Ratchet. The cantankerous old medic visited Cybertron every once in a while, but he'd developed a liking of Earth and its people and didn't stray far from the Unit E base where he helped out with technology issues. Thanks to him the Unit E soldiers had the most advanced gear in the world. They helped prevent and handle disasters both natural and artificial, and through some little quirk of Rafael, who had assisted in Unit E's foundation, each group was named after a Greek letter and a befitting constellation based on what they had done out in the field. One special group of soldiers, code named "Alpha Lupus" for their exploits, had stopped an attempted assassination of a prominent military leader by a terrorist group by "sniffing" out a mole in the Army. Another group of flight specialists had been named "Gamma Aquilae" for their superb aerial grace and piloting skills.

Idly he wondered if Optimus could see all of what going on on Cybertron and Earth from wherever he was. Was he pleased with all the progress that had been made on both worlds? Was he sad that some things political hadn't changed? Was he bored out of processor not being able to help out and do stuff to benefit the two planets? Smokescreen knew he would be. He didn't like sitting on his can and twiddling his digits. He liked being up and active. That was the main reason Magnus had picked him to be his lieutenant – to keep him busy and out of trouble.

And thus the mech stood there daydreaming of past, present, and bright future.


OUTER RING OF IACON
APARTMENT 121

"Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh! I'm screwed! Oh, Corona's gonna kill me!"

Zodiac had just so happened to check her chronometer out of curiosity only to discover she was nearly a quarter of a joor late for her meeting with the head of the Iacon Observatory. She hadn't meant to lose track of time. She'd just gotten so absorbed in her reading that in had just, well, happened. Dropping the data pad clasped in her hand, she flew around her fourth floor flat in a mad search of all the data pads she actually needed, twittering in panic, both actions thus garnering the attention of her flat buddy, a jovial, older femme by the name of Lattice, who was an alchemist by trade and quite pleasant to converse with on lonely, quiet evenings when the introverted astronomer simply needed someone to talk to.

"Whoa-ho! Slow down there, femme! You'll be even later if you panic yourself into a crash! Just calm down!"

The little femme paid her almost no mind aside from a quick "just-shut-up-and-help-me-already" look cast in her direction as she flittered around the rooms looking for what she needed, her panic serving to hinder her search. At last she gave a low groaning scream of aggravation at being unable to lay her hands on the blasted thing. She'd had it just the other night! Of all the times for her work to vanish into thin air...

"Argh! Where's that data pad I was working on the other evening over pulsar planet formation and planetary migration?!"

Lattice merely chuckled, shaking her helm, and calmly disappeared into the entryway, coming back with a small data pad with an artsy cyberglyph "Zell" on the back, playfully waggling it at the other femme. Zodiac saw the data pad and shot over, snatching it in her hands in a rush as relief flooded her systems. The panic subsided marginally. Leave it to Lattice to find whatever she was looking for. That alchemist was a life saver some solar cycles. She was lucky to have someone like her as a flat buddy. She'd been a bit hesitant around her at first due to how openly friendly she was, but on hearing her talk about her work one lazy afternoon a decade or so in the past had transformed that mistrust into a tight kinship. They were both nerds about their particular subjects, and they were proud of it.

The alchemist permitted a sly, kind smile to form on her lip-plates as she kept her pink gaze on the little hawk-former in front of her. Honestly, there were times this pint-sized genius of an astronomer was the biggest scatter-brained panicker she'd ever met in her whole life. Her wits went all to pieces when she was anxious over something. One might've thought the fate of all of Cybertron depended on this meeting with all the nervousness she was displaying over it. In actually it was just a simple conference to talk about the Cybertronian Exploration and Research Fleet's latest galactic findings and to discuss their next missions. Zodiac made it a point of honor to never miss one. That she would be late for this one would ruin her record of perfect attendance.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll get you back, Latti! I promise!"

"Nah. Don't worry 'bout it. We're pals. We look out for each other. Just get on over there – and try not to crash on the way, okay? I don't think Corona would be too happy to hear you'd gotten yourself hurt just trying to get to the meeting. You know how she is."

Zodiac managed a short bark of laughter, reassuring her that she'd be careful not to do either of those things. Transforming into her avian form, she soared out of the open window and rocketed towards the glittering skyline in the near distance framed by the setting sun, data pads contained in a book-bag like apparatus she had designed herself, the sling held firmly in her sharp talons. Lattice leaned out of the window smilingly, watching the hawk-former until she was out of visual range, soon concealed by the sun's evening glare. Zodiac was crazy in her own way, being intelligent, a perfectionist, and possessing an almost irrational fear of other 'Bots, but in the grand sense it was a constructive kind of crazy. She always put one hundred and ten percent effort into her work. Then, with a shake of her helm, she set about tidying up some of the data pads her flat buddy was in the habit of laying everywhere, putting them back in their respective places, smiling to herself all the while. Knowing the little femme, one of those two things would happen out of sheer bad luck and not by her consciously being careless. But unlike Zodiac, she wasn't a pessimist concerning such accidents. Lattice was a bit more philosophical about such things. She saw them as means of learning. Mistakes often taught better lessons than perfection did.


Cities were not places the astronomer liked going to ordinarily. In her mind they were too crowded, too loud, and frankly a bit scary for one her size, not to mention crime was a greater possibility in such sectors. As such, she tended not to go into the city unless she absolutely had to. It was an introvert thing. But there were rare times where she was happy to go since it meant furthering her knowledge of her special subject. This was her first time to meet the head of the main observatory, and she'd probably made herself look like a lazy moron for arriving late.

Arriving in Iacon in a blur of midnight blue, she raced above the streets. She relied more on what she termed "bird's-optic view memory", having memorized the grand capital city's layout from her first flight over it. She visualized it in her processor's optic as a interconnected spider-web like map of streets, avenues, and byways. She could probably have flown around the city with her optics shuttered and still made it to her destination without issue, but at the moment those two royal blue orbs were flicking around madly as they scanned the skies for any air traffic. Banking hard to her left, she shot down a less busy street that acted as a convenient straight shot to the observatory that loomed ahead in the distance. She clacked her beak in annoyance on being buffeted by a sudden strong wind coming in from the direction of her destination. Without even thinking about it, she lowered down closer to the ground in the hopes of avoiding the gusts, skimming over the helms of some startled passerby. She barely heeded them, her attention focused on her chronometer.

So focused was she on arriving within half a breem that she failed to notice that one passerby hadn't moved from his spot.

Realizing only too late that he wasn't going to be able to move out of the way even if she keened a warning, and that she had no chance of stopping that fast, she fanned her tail feathers out and flared her wings in a desperate attempt to slow herself down. Privately she humorously cursed Lattice for jinxing her in this way. Bracing herself, the Avioid rammed into the poor blue and yellow mech at just under the speed of sound with a crash loud enough to have woken the dead, her grip on her book-bag lost as she reverted out of her bird form, the contents flying every which way. Her victim was sent careening to the ground in a flash, ending up a good twelve paces or so from where he'd originally been standing. The world around her almost instantly went black, and she could only assume the same for the mech.


Smokescreen came back online with a hollow groan of pain, his blue optics flickering open. The back of his helm, and frankly the rest of his body as well, ached as though he'd been trampled by a stampede of Buffaloids, but mainly the back of his helm was what hurt like the Pit. He vaguely remembered a sudden loud gust of wind that had come from behind, a little cry of pain plainly female in tone, and then...nothing. Well, nothing aside from feeling as though someone had pounded his helm in with the Forge of Solus Prime.

He pushed himself to his knees and massaged his aching helm with one hand as he looked around for whoever had rammed into him, vision still slightly fuzzy. A few passerby were standing on the fringes of the plaza and probably wondering whether or not to call a medic from one of the facilities. He was rather puzzled to note at least half a dozen little data pads lying around the crash site, one of which was within arm's reach of him and face down. The back of it was engraved with a very artistic looking cyberglyph "Zell", probably an identifier of the owner. Out of curiosity he picked it up for safe-keeping, glancing at it as he looked around for its owner.

Ah! There!

Lying close to the other side of the plaza was the tiniest little femme he'd ever laid optics on, deep midnight blue in shade like the sky at night, but her armor was surprisingly sheen less. She had a distinctly avian look to her frame, and the wing arches of a set of mechanical bird wings lay limply at her sides. A Predacon. Clutched in one hand was what he could only describe as a kind of metal book-bag. What he found the most fascinating about her was the light-emitting diodes – her little body was absolutely covered in them. The tiny diodes pulsed faintly in tandem with her life force, mimicking the twinkling of the true stars above. It was as if a piece of the night sky had been snatched down and given life and form. This had to be the strangest designed Predacon he'd ever seen, but beautiful in her own way he had to admit.

Definitely not a "normal" looking Predacon he decided.

He made his way over to her when she began to stir, gathering up the remaining data pads as he went. She looked unharmed to him from all indications; maybe a bit dazed and sore from the way she was trying to get up, but fine all around. No dents, no leaks – no injuries that needed first-aid. Thank Primus for that. Smaller 'Bots tended to be more fragile than larger ones. She was a bit of an exception to that rule, clearly. For her, tiny didn't necessarily mean fragile. Predacons were some of the toughest built 'bots around.

She got up slowly, massaging her helm and then her arms, stretching and flapping her wings to test for functionality. "Ugh. Ow..." She was tomboyish in the way she sounded, bearing a distinct scratch in her voice.

He knelt down, flaring his field in a sort of energy throat clear to get her attention, laying the data pads by her pedes. Sneaking up on a Pred was never smart, and just from her tiny field and all the glyphs for uncertainty flying around in it he judged her as more than a little skittish. She whipped around right away, bright royal blue optics wide with apprehension, a scared cyber-kitten with wings. Then her gaze dropped down to the data pad bundle. She looked at it, then back up at him, and then back down. He smiled a little to try and calm her down, scooching them closer.

"These are yours, right?" he asked. Very slowly she nodded.

He reached for the last data pad that he'd stored in a subspace compartment, meaning to give it to her...

And then, before he could even comprehend what had happened, the femme snatched the data pad bundle faster than his optics could register, shoved them all in her book-bag apparatus, transformed, and shot off, all within the span of less than an astrosecond. He crouched there, blinking in shock. The last little monogrammed data pad remained in his hand. In what he knew would be vain he shouted out at the top of his vocalizer that she'd forgotten one. He waited for a full breem to see if she might return for it. She never came back.

Smokescreen sighed in aggravation: "Scrap. Now how am I supposed to find her? I didn't even get her name!"

Unconsciously he looked down at the monogrammed data pad. Flipping it over, his baby blue gaze focused on the artistic cyberglyph etched on the back. It was just a letter, but it was still a place to start his search nonetheless. There couldn't be too many Avioids out there whose named began with the glyph "Zell". But where would he even start looking? Iacon was a massive, sprawling city, the biggest on all of Cybertron. He couldn't just go around asking everyone he met whether or not they knew someone of that description or if they recognized the monogram. That would take way too long, and for all he knew the femme was a visitor from out of town, and if so that would make finding her in Iacon all the harder.

Noting the setting sun and deciding it was a problem best saved for a new day, he got up and transformed, heading to his small but comfortable apartment located a few kliks from the command center. Getting a fresh start was always a good way of solving a problem if you didn't know how to set about it. After a busy day helping Ultra Magnus with the Elite Guard, a solid night's power down sounded like just the cure for a tired processor. He'd let his mind mull over the issue during the night and then set about with a solution, or a means to the solution, in the morning.

Yeah. That was a good plan. Not much else he could do anyway. Thinking on a tired processor was hard.


"–and due to the tumultuous nature of the Hydrax Nebula thanks to the clusters of hyperactive protostars, my crew was wondering if perhaps we might have a skilled navigator on our roster to replace our usual one. Ours backed out as soon as he heard of that mission. Won't go anywhere near the place. Apparently Corvus Rho had a bad experience there a while back with another crew. Somethin' about a spark-eater, but I dunno whether or not to believe him. Spark-eaters haven't been seen since before the War. So, got anyone who could take his place for a mission or two?"

Neutrino, a tall, lanky green and silver mech who had been the one to speak, thus cast a curiously inquisitive look over at a flaming golden and amber femme across the table from him. Corona was quite a befitting name for the head of the Iacon Observatory for Stellar Research. She presided over the branch of the CERF responsible for studying stars in all stages of their formation and demise, from protostar to stellar remnants. While looking like someone quick to flare, she was in fact very even-tempered, if a bit hot-helmed and passionate at certain times about her particular subject. She considered the particle physicist's request, but before she could reply the doors to the chamber burst open to permit a blur of midnight blue that promptly skidded along the table until coming to a spinning halt. Unable to hold in his laughter, Neutrino cracked up at the bizarre sight of the usually tidy and on-time astronomer arriving in such a fashion, not to mention nearly two breems late for the meeting.

"Sorry! Sorry I'm late! I lost track of time, then I had to have Lattice help me find my work, and then I accidentally ran into someone because I was all panicked and not watching where I was going, got knocked out for a bit, and –" Zodiac hastened to explain as she dug around in her book-bag for the data-pads she needed. On finding it right away, she never noticed that one of the set was missing.

"Zodiac, it's alright," Corona reassured her smilingly, "I was just about to ask Neutrino here whether or not he'd be okay having you for a navigator for a mission into the Hydrax Nebula. He and his crew are going to investigate the starburst activity there, but Corvus Rho bailed on him. Interested?"

The little Avioid's jaw dropped, royal blue eyes sparkling in delight. Was Corona serious right now? The Hydrax Nebula was a hotbed for stellar formation thanks to it colliding with the Iridni Nebula just before the Great War had been brought to a true start, and that was before she'd been sparked. Such a recent collision was a rare chance to see stellar formation from the very beginning stages. Being able to study the formation of stellar embryos up close with one of the best particle physicists this side of the Expanse was the opportunity of a lifetime – a dream come true, especially since her own ship was in dry-dock at the moment after it had sustained some damage to the shielding on a previous mission. That ship was like a second home to her, so having it grounded was a pain in the aft. Sure, it gave her and her little crew some time off, but slagging Pit-fire was she egging to get out into the galaxy again.

"You bet!"

Neutrino grinned broadly: "Alright! Thanks, femme! Look for the CERF Intervention. I'll give you the fly date once we've got it set with the Council. Anything special you need, just name it."

She smiled, jokingly saying that all she needed was a good crew and a bit of personal space every now and again. Neutrino, with a laugh, told her not to worry then. The ship was big – she'd find plenty of little nooks and crannies to hide out in if the large number of crew drove her screwy. The Intervention was a massive ship, and thus needed a big crew to man it, but they were a good lot. If she needed space every so often, they would give it to her gladly. They'd make her feel right at home on board.

Corona nodded, pleased the shy little astronomer had accepted so readily. Normally she didn't like going out of her comfort zone, but this chance was obviously too tempting for her to pass up.

"Alright then. Zodiac, could I see your findings from the last mission? What did you find out about the prevalence of planetary migration in exo-stellar systems?"

Zodiac searched the little stack of data pads she'd pulled out, only to freeze in shock on not being able to find that particular data pad. She began rambling aloud as panic gripped her spark. She was sure she'd grabbed them all from her flat and all the ones that had fallen out when...Oh no. Had she missed one, and the one she needed for this meeting no less? Was it still lying out there in the plaza, or had someone picked it up and walked off with it? How was she supposed to get it back now? It was probably long gone.

"Don't worry about it. You wrote it. You must remember at least a general idea of what was on it, right? I'm not asking for technical details like you usually give in your written reports – just a general conclusion. You can give me the data pad when you find it. Think you can manage that?"

"Oh! Yeah. Totally!" Zodiac replied. Then she began, gesticulating as she spoke, "What we found is that planetary migration is incredibly common, almost the norm, and it's the main reason gas giants are found so ridiculously close to their host stars. My data coincides with the humans' James Webb findings, actually. I sent both NASA and ESA the results of the survey, but of course no one bar the higher ups knows it came from us. 'Cause, you know, rules."

Here she paused briefly, seeming to bring up a mental image of the missing data pad's contents. Darting over to the table's center, she brought up a holographic display that would simulate some of the data she remembered off the top of her helm. A large ball of roiling yellow-ish orange plasma came up, soon joined by a system of varied, rocky worlds and bloated gas planets a bit further out. As she spoke, it altered to fit her words.

"Anyways, the planetary system itself starts out as stable, but as time goes by the star's gravity well, along with numerous other variables like debris belts, a binary partner, nearby stars causing gravitational disruptions to comet clouds, other gas giants, and planetary collisions to name a few, disrupts things. These cause the giants to be pulled towards the star, sling-shotting the tinier, rocky planets further in out into interstellar space to become rogue planets (which we also looked into) while the gas giant settles into a tight orbit close to the star, their orbits ranging from weeks to days to even mere hours. The humans even found one that's dissolving 'cause it's so close. We went over and checked it out, and it is indeed getting its outer layers blown off by the solar wind. That gas giant is literally evaporating. Thing's already lost about half its atmosphere; half the amount the humans detected when they first found it, anyway. Some time soon that thing is gonna go 'bye-bye.' No more Wasp 18b in a couple thousand years."

Neutrino couldn't help himself and chuckled at her child-like tone. Zodiac had a rare talent of simplifying even the most complex astronomical phenomena into plain, everyday wording. Personally he was wondering why she wasn't teaching at one of the academies. Such a talent could be put to great use there, but her shyness around crowds no doubt prevented that. Getting up in front of such large groups of students would likely be nightmare fuel to her. She felt safer giving reports to other knowledgeable astronomers, around mechs and femmes she knew who were much smaller in number. That was simply the way she worked. Everyone had their quirks he supposed – Zodiac's were just more noticeable.

"And what did you find out about the rouge planets?" Corona asked.

"We found that a good many of them were terrestrial worlds, but there were also a decent number of gaseous planets spinning out in the void, too. There's no general rule for types - it all depends on the size. They have to be smaller than the ones that did the gravity fling. Those were most likely smaller than the other satellites in the system and were thus flung out – probably the first to be sling-shotted since they were closer to the gas giant that became the dominant planetary body. Almost all of them were frozen over (no surprise there), but some of them were outputting tiny amounts of heat due to contraction or radioactive decay. We would've looked into the possibility of subterranean caverns or oceans possibly containing primitive microscopic life, but my ship's shielding took a beating from a nearby gamma ray burst; nearly got fried completely. I had to limp her back home for repairs."

"I heard," Neutrino admitted, "Sorry to hear. I know the Tieyeian Bolt means a lot to you. But don't you worry. The techies from Crystal City can fix her right up. I think the mech who outfitted her with all those instruments is on the team doing the repairs, actually. Windstorm I think his name is. Brilliant young 'Bot. First class engineer. Knows star-ships inside and out."

Zodiac affirmed that such was the case, though she had yet to work up the courage to go up to him and talk. She contented herself most solar cycles to observing him and the others work from perches nearby while doing work of her own. The little femme admitted she found the ambient noise strangely relaxing, and she liked watching them talk amongst each other as they went about their repairs. And in any event, Windstorm was working on the interior of the ship, so she never saw him.

"Well, thank you for your report, Zodiac, "said Corona. "Don't worry about that data pad too much. You did just fine without it. I'm betting you'll get it back at some point. If not, no harm done. We'll gather data from the other members of your crew and patch the findings together if all else fails."

The little Avioid astronomer managed an accepting nod of the helm.

"So, CERF Intervention, right?" Zodiac repeated.

"That's the one," Neutrino agreed, "Actually, can I get your comm. frequency so I can contact you about the fly date? I don't believe I've got it."

She pinged him her unique frequency over short band radio.

"Thanks. See you then! You got questions, just comm. me."

Zodiac permitted herself a delighted little squeal when she got the particle physicist's own comm. frequency in return for her own. Her diodes lit up and flashed like strobe lights, random symbols and constellations forming and disappearing like the world's most fantastical cosmic light show, making both Neutrino and Corona laugh. They'd neither of them ever seen her so excited.

"And if that d-pad's so important, I'll have Corvus Rho look around for it. You know, just to keep the mech busy since he declined the mission. Guy's a bit of a social butterfly with lots of connects, and even though he's lazier than a mountain he still has to take orders from me. If anyone can find out where it went, he can. I'll even have him make a back-up of it when he lays his hands on it. He'll send the back-up to Corona and the original he'll send to me, which I'll then get to you. Sound good?"

At that, the little Avioid rushed forward and offered a friendly hug to the particle physicist's neck in gratitude. She quickly let go, zipped around the table as she gathered her things and, with a reiterated thank you to the particle physicist at the table, she flew out. For a brief moment or two they thought she had already vanished out of the building in her usual speedy manner, but a high-pitched shriek of delight soon echoed down the grand halls and met the audials of the two astronomers in the hall.

They smiled broadly.


Author's Note: How're ya'll likin' this so far? :3 I woulda made this first chapter a bit longer, but eh. I like this length. Good place to stop here I think. I go any further and I'm gonna get too long of a chapter. Like I said, this is a mini-series, not a one-shot series.

*Note 1: So sorry for delays! Workload for my five classes is insane by this point, and I'm working on more than one story at once. Literally took me a month to write this one chapter.

*Edit: I did a goof! I thought the evaporating planet was designated Wasp 12b, but its actually Wasp 18b. Whoopsy! My bad! xD