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The next few days past in a blur of activity for Tera and the newest members of NEST. The base was still being designed, and the hanger that the Autobots were assigned to was still under construction, not that that kept them out of it. Tera was assigned a room-little more then a closet really, that was at the back of the hanger. She was given military clothing, camo pants and white shirts to wear around the base. Optimus took care of all the arrangements for her, which Tera was grateful for, she still didn't know what to think of the bipeds on this planet.
Their first night at the base Optimus called a meeting for all the Autobots, much to Tera's joy, she was invited. She approached the group of robots with some trepidation in her mind, her new clothes were scratchy, and different then what she was used to, but fit her new form better then her old ones. She smiled and fawned over the sisters "upgrades" as they called them, and applauded when each one demonstrated their transformation from motorcycle to their other form. Chromia in particular needed reassurances that the upgrade looked all right, and Tera assured her that Ironhide would enjoy the flash of color that the bot was now displaying. Sideswipe was far more modest about his upgrade, and was nervous about weather or not Tera approved, which she did, and she complimented especially on the sleek design of the car he had chosen. She wasn't sure if robots could blush, but if they could Sideswipe did.
When Optimus called the meeting to order, Tera took a seat on the ground in front of Sideswipe, which gave her a view of all the Autobots-especially Ironhide who did indeed like Chromia's new look. It gave her a sense of security that Sideswipe had her back. Optimus made a simple speech of greeting and gave the new arrivals a little bit of what had taken place on Earth since their arrival. Tera was a rapt audience as she heard about the battle for the Allspark, she shivered when the Decepitcons were mentioned, and cried when she heard of the loss of Jazz. Sideswipe and Arcee had spoken fondly of the Autobot, and she was sure he would be missed. Then Optimus turned the conversation to what was to be expected of their team and what to expect from the humans.
Tera's people had been against fighting, to the point that her parents had sacrificed themselves to prevent their people from having to make the choice of raise arms against the Decepticons or suffer their mercy. So listening to the Autobots talk about war strategies, and battle plans was a little nauseating to Tera, but she did listen, and saved everything that she heard for later contemplations. As the meeting was about to wrap up Optimus looked at Tera thoughtfully for a few seconds, she could read the questions that played across his face, 'what to do about her'. Sideswipe had explained how they had met and traveled together, Arcee, Chromia and Moonchaser filled in the gaps in the narrative, letting Tera simply listen. She swallowed hard when she realized that she wouldn't be that lucky a second time.
"I have heard that your kind makes energy, could you demonstrate that for us Tera?" Optimus asked.
Tera stood, and glanced behind her for a moment, Sideswipe nodded encouragingly to her. Demonstrate energy, how was she to do that? Tera stood stock still for a few seconds while her mind raced, she focused on something she had never seen before in her life, a butterfly. She froze the image in her minds eye, and covered her right hand over the crystal that rested just above the swell of her breasts. Eyes close she pictured the butterfly, and enlarged it, enhanced the plain colors she had seen on it-adding purple and blue tints to delicate wings. She lengthened the lower wings and gave the butterfly long trailing tendrils that would float gently in the breeze, when Tera opened her eyes only a few moments had gone by, but she had the image that she wanted. When she dropped her right hand out before her the butterfly she had imagined floated above her hand. Tera frowned a little, and added a few more drops of power to make it larger, then with a gentle puff of a breath she sent if floating around room.
There was hardly any effort to mention in creating the butterfly, but it contained energy and that energy could still be used and felt by another. The Autobots watched in wonder for a few moments as the butterfly floated around each of them, its transparent wings flapping lazily. When it reached Arcee she reached out to the creation and touched a part of its tail, the instant she touched it the butterfly disappeared, and Arcee absorbed its energy.
"Party pooper" Chromia mumbled from where she stood next to Ironhide.
Arcee smiled at her, "hey energy is energy, and that was tingly!"
Optimus regarded the girl for a few moments before speaking. "The extra energy that you create, where does it go?"
"We can store some of it in crystals, like this one," she placed her hand over her crystal again, "but the excess energy must be used. It can heal wounds, it power cities or star ships, but if I keep to much, I run the risk of injury to my self. The energy is very potent, if it isn't used, it will find its own way out, I could reach for a tool and shoot a bolt of lighting at it instead, or if I contain too much and was jarred for any reason…lets just say it isn't pleasant."
"So if you hold to much, you can no longer control it?" Optimus asked her making sure to keep any judgment from his voice.
Tera was thoughtful for a few moments, considering his question, "the only way that I loose control of it, is if I loose my concentration or consciousness. Usually there are plenty of ways to use the energy, the only reason I was at risk in space was that I was generating more then the ship needed."
"How much energy do you generate?" Ratchet asked.
Tera cocked her head in thought; she didn't know what the power units were yet for energy on this planet, so she would have to give a rough guess. "I could easily provide enough power to power this base, and have enough left over to manage myself, and take care of any wounds myself or others around me receive-depending on the severity of the wound of coarse."
There was a profound silence that met that statement, as though the very air was holding its breath. Tera glanced nervously around herself, not sure what she had said that was wrong.
Optimus was the first to speak, and only the long silence, "well it is good to know ones limits."
Tera stared at him blankly but said nothing further. The meeting was soon adjurned after that. The Autobots that were assigned to patrol with the NEST team headed out, and the remainder went to explore the base, Tera went to her room.
Ironhide, Optimus and Ratchet hung back to have a quite conversation. They said nothing for a few moments, waiting for the rest to scatter. "Can we trust her?" Ironhide said, cutting strait to the meat and bones of the issue.
Optimus was silent, waiting for the others opinions. "She did bring the others to us, and save their sparks, I will withhold judgment at the moment, but do we have a choice?"
"Our choice is trust her, and let her stay-and continue to let the humans think she is nothing more then one of them. We could reveal her for what she is, but who knows what the humans would do with something capable of creating the raw energy that she claims she can." Ironhide stated. He could never thank Tera enough for bring Chromia back to him, but he had to put personal feelings aside, and focus on what was best for the team.
"There is another option." Optimus said, hating the words he spoke, "her ship is still in orbit, we could ask her to leave."
Ratchet nodded, Ironhide shook his head, "she said her kind was destroyed, there is nothing left for her in space, and she would die with nothing to transfer her energy to. That's not an option."
"We are already sworn to protect this planet, we cannot do something that would break that vow." Optimus reminded the others.
They were silent for a moment, each coming to their own conclusions. "What if we give it a kind of trial run, let her stay for a set amount of time, and reevaluate. Maybe at the end of that time she would be willing to come forward to the humans with what she is." Ratchet knew even as he suggested it that there were holes in his plan.
"If the humans found out that she had lied to them, they would never trust her again." Ironhide stated, "and there is a large risk too herself, she is vulnerable to attack, what happens if the Decepticons attack the base? She has no weapons training, and from how pale she got when you were discussing battle strategies, its fair to say she doesn't have the strongest stomach."
"If she is a wound healer, she has a stronger stomach then you are giving her credit for." Ratchet interjected. "But you have a point, she is defenseless."
Optimus nodded, "she would never be able to be alone, one of us would always have to be with her to protect her. And that would limit our services to NEST." He sighed long and weary, "any angle that this is approached at is difficult. She will stay for now, but we will have to keep a guard with her, and will readdress this situation at a later date. Meeting adjourned."
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Lennox climbed nimbly behind the wheel of the sand rail and rested his hands against the cold hard rubber. It had been a long time since he was in a vehicle that couldn't drive itself, he wondered if he was still capable of it. The key turned, and the ignition hummed, his hand was on the stick shift and half way out of park when the passenger door opened. One glance told him who the new occupant was, and he glared at Epps. Lennox had hoped to be alone, to get some time to think, trust a friend to interrupt that time.
"Thought you could use some company, noticed you were planning to take the outermost perimeter tonight, that's a long lonely road alone." Epps commented as he put on his seatbelt and stared strait ahead.
It would have been useless to point out that the very reason Lennox had assigned himself the outer perimeter was to be alone, so he shifted to drive and pulled out. The drive started all right, meaning Epps let Lennox brood, but after a half hour of silence Epps spoke his mind. "You can't keep running from your emotions man. Amanda was a great lady, and I know it hurts like hell that you lost her, but come on man. You got to talk about it."
Lennox glared at his friend, he knew what Epps was saying was true, but didn't want to admit it. Amanda had been his life, they had been married for only a few short years, and she had given him their beautiful daughter, who now lived with his parents. But six short months ago his wife had been died, she had a miscarriage with their second child and the medics couldn't get her blood to clot. Her and the baby had been lost. Lennox refused to talk about it, and thought of it as little as possible. He focused on the mission, focused on NEST, and keeping the world safe. It was the only way that he could protect his daughter-to keep fighting.
Epps glanced at his friend, "William, man I have know you a long ass time, and this isn't like you."
Lennox jammed his foot on the break, throwing both of them hard against their seat belts and stopping the car in a cloud of dust. "What do you want me to do Robert? Cry? You want me to break down every chance I get and just let out my emotions? Well I cant-the only thing that I can do to honor Amanda's memory is to work my ass off to protect our daughter, and the only way that I know how to do that is to do what I am doing."
"Hey man, chill, don't get all emotional diarrhea on me, I just wanted to tell you to not be emotionally constipated, just chill man." Epps said, holding his hand up in a placating manner.
"You wanted me to talk about my feelings, well guess what, I don't feel anymore! There is nothing left to feel! I had love, I lost it. End of story." He threw the car in to drive and gunned the gas pedal.
"Your wrong man, your wrong, just take some time off maybe. Take a break, you need to clear your head."
"That's the last thing that I need to do, I need to work." Lennox didn't bother to look at his friend as he drove. They spend the rest of the night in an uncomfortable silence.