Smugglers
Chapter 1: Introductions
Optimus Prime stormed out the Elite Guard building, his blue optics nearly red with anger. Bots scurried out his way when they saw his expression, quickly clearing a path for him all the way to his ship, Omega Supreme.
Prowl, a spy-bot who also happened to be a ninja, spotted Optimus first and quickly used his ninja stealth to disappear into the bowels of the ship where he couldn't be found. His processor quickly ran over the contents of his room where he had enough energon stashed to last him for a few days if necessary. Not that he was hiding or anything like that but he thought it prudent to stay out his irate leader's way until he had calmed down.
Ratchet knew something was up the instant he saw Prowl disappear into the rafters of the ship. His suspicions were confirmed when, less than a minute later, a very irate Optimus Prime strode in, the fury on his face could have only been caused by one Autobot: Sentinel Prime.
Ratchet sighed and made a mental note to re-calibrate Prowl's thrusters so they wouldn't work properly the next time that coward ninja bot came in for a check-up.
"So what'd that slaggin' glitch-head have to say this time?" Ratchet was curious but only mildly so. After all it had to be pretty bad if it got Optimus so riled up, he was the most mild-mannered bot Ratchet had ever met; excluding a certain pink-and-white femme named Arcee. He shook his head, now was not the time to be thinking of painful memories.
Optimus was silent then let out a loud roar of anger and punched the wall so hard he left behind a nice-sized dent.
Ratchet raised an optic ridge. "That bad huh?"
"I have two words for you," Optimus growled. "Bassan Galaxy."
A pained looked crossed Ratchet's faceplate and a groan emitted from the ceiling before Prowl dropped down and landed gracefully on his pedes.
"The Bassan Galaxy?" the ninja moaned. "That means smugglers."
"We're Elite Guard, not bounty hunters," Ratchet huffed.
Optimus sighed. "That's what I said but apparently the smuggling problem is getting out of hand and we're the only ones he can spare."
"You mean we're the only ones he can afford to lose," Prowl stated dryly.
"Exactly," Optimus sighed, finally looking and sounder much calmer.
"Well when do we leave?" Ratchet did his best to look excited but failed miserably.
"Tomorrow," Optimus informed them. He didn't have to wait long for his companions reactions. Ratchet swore and formed a new dent alongside Prime's, Prowl disappeared in the rafters and reappeared with three cubes of high-grade and passed them out; Optimus and Ratchet eagerly accepting.
In the Delphi Galaxy all was quiet. A long ship was currently passing through, undetected. Well, not really undetected more like 'allowed to slip through in exchange for some much wanted and outlawed items'. At the helm of the slightly-larger-than-normal smuggling ship was a large green bot named Bulkhead. His servos were shaking as he slowly steered the ship towards the outer rim of the Delphi Galaxy.
He didn't fully relax until they had cleared the Galaxy and only then did he let out a shaky breath. He turned on the autopilot function and moved towards the door. He walked through the hallways and was so focused on peeking behind doors and peering into ventilation shafts that he didn't see the blue optics hidden high in the rafters following his every move. The figure twitched in anticipation as Bulkhead frowned worriedly and headed for the end of the hallway where a seemingly innocent looking black door was.
Bulkhead swallowed nervously, his right servo shaking as it hovered over the keypad. The figure's optics widened and immediately he tightened his leg muscles and leaped…Bulkhead shrieked when the mysterious figure landed on him then relaxed when he recognized the little yellow missile.
"Did I scare you, Bulky?" the smaller bot asked excitedly, his words running together.
Bulkhead blinked, his processor working overtime to decipher his friend's speech. "Yeah ya did, Bee," Bulkhead easily picked Bumblebee up with one servo and placed him on his shoulder strut.
Bee squeaked happily and rested his head against Bulkhead's. The larger mech ran a digit down Bee's back elicting a purring sound from Bee who gladly leaned into it.
"Don't scare me like that again," Bulkhead chided, trying to sound stern and succeeding even as he removed his digit.
"Sorry," Bee whimpered and hid his faceplate in the crook between Bulkhead's neck and shoulder struts.
Bulkhead immediately felt bad. "It's okay," he whispered soothingly as he resumed stroking Bee's back. He continued to do so until he heard the slight rumbling of Bee's engine which signaled that the little bot had curled up into a ball and fallen into recharge.
Bulkhead smiled and walked back to the control room, being careful not to dislodge his little buddy. It wouldn't be good if Bee fell off of his shoulder; the mini-bot might hurt himself. Bulkhead raised a servo and placed it on his shoulder, forming a protective shelter over Bumblebee. He re-entered the control room and went straight to the helm. Best to keep an optic out just in case there were any honest mechs patrolling the borders.
Optimus yawned and blinked several times in a valiant effort to keep his optics online. He was exhausted; they had been in space for two days and still had another five to go. He entered the rec room and poured himself some energon, studiously ignoring Prowl who had been in the corner practicing his ninja for the past two days while Ratchet had sequestered himself in med-bay and was refusing to come out unless it was life or death and if he was disturbed then he was going to kill the mech who had disturbed him. Optimus had decided to leave the medic alone. It was more beneficial to his health if he did so.
He sat down at a table and yawned again. Primus, was it ever tiring to run a ship by one's self, especially one the size of Omega Supreme.
"Why don't you go into recharge?" Prowl suggested as he sat down in the chair across from Optimus.
"Because we still have five days until we reach the Bassan Galaxy and one of us has to make sure we don't set off any intergalactic battles. We're almost to the planet Metallica and they're not too fond of the Elite Guard and they'll use any excuse to throw us in jail," Optimus yawned, louder and longer this time.
Prowl chuckled, "If we run into any trouble I promise to wake you up, ok?" he helped the un-protesting bot to his pedes.
"Ok," Optimus stumbled as he walked out of the rec room and towards his quarters.
Prowl watched him go then he headed towards the control room. He would make sure it didn't look like they were going to hit anything then he was going to recharge as well.
It was the sound of whimpering that first alerted Bulkhead to the fact that his friend was waking up. He remained perfectly still until he heard, rather than felt, Bumblebee stretching then let out a loud yawn. Bulkhead held out his servo and waited while the little bot climbed down his massive arm and sat cross-legged in the middle of his servo, blinking owlishly at him.
Bulkhead smiled gently at his friend and said in his booming, yet gentle voice, "Did you have a good nap, Bee?"
The yellow bot yawned in reply and nodded.
"Good," with his left servo Bulkhead typed in a series of commands then rose. "Want some energon?" he asked.
B nodded eagerly and clutched one of Bulkhead's digits with his much smaller servo as the green mech slowly walked towards the kitchen area which was nothing more than two recharge chambers which had been converted into a rec room with three berths along one wall. Bulkhead crossed the room and retrieved two energon cubes from the dispenser then sat down on a berth, handing one of the cubes to Bumblebee who eagerly took it and downed it greedily.
Once the energon was gone Bumblebee hopped out of Bulkhead's servo and landed on the floor on all fours then straightened and began to zoom around the room. Bulkhead watched as he finished his own energon, preferring to savor every drop. These particular energon cubes were specially processed to make a bot tired and fall into recharge quicker. It certainly worked on Bee because by the time Bulkhead was through the mini-bot had worn himself out again and lay in the middle of the floor, curled up in a ball.
A soft smile appeared on Bulkhead's faceplate as he stared down then he bent down very gently scooped him up then dimmed the lights just enough for himself to fall into recharge as Bee didn't like to recharge in the dark; it scared him. Bulkhead yawned and laid back down on the berth he had just vacated, placing Bee on his stomach. The large green mech yawned again and off-lined his optics, quickly joining his little buddy in the world of recharge while the ship grew closer and closer to the Bassan Galaxy.
A/N: 3 reviews please.
A/N/N: There should be more activity in the next chapter…I think.
A/N/N/N: Chapter 2 might be a little bit delayed in getting posted due to a car accident I had this after noon (I'm allright) and I will be out of town tomorrow but it will get posted sometime tomorrow but it should be a little later than normal.