Nano-klik = 1 second
Klik = 1 minute
Cycle = 1 hour
Solar-cycle = 1 day
Lunar-cycle = 1 month
Deca-cycle = 3 weeks
Stellar-cycle = 7.5 months
Vorn = 1 year
Meta-cycle = 13 months
…
Turbostrike sat on the med berth, watching as Hook ran some more scans. It had been 10 Solar-cycles since she had arrived, and she felt guilt bubble up in her frame as she remembered how she'd first reacted to his presence. She had not entirely meant to cause any damage; she just hadn't expected to see him there.
"Ok, I need you to open your chest plates so I can check your spark chamber" Hooks' voice interrupted her thoughts.
She faltered for a moment before complying, allowing her chest plates to part, showing her spark chamber. She observed him closer as he scanned her chamber, ensuring her spark had not been damaged when it gave out. She started feeling even guiltier for her actions. "I'm sorry" she whispered.
"For what?" he asked curiously.
"For…" she tapered off, motioning towards his throat.
He chuckled lowly as he continued his work. "Its fine" he started, a soft smile plastered on his faceplates. "Trust me, you are not the first patient to attack me" he finished, smile still distinctly in place.
She still didn't seem swayed. "Well, I'm still sorry" she proclaimed, barely more than a whisper.
Hook finished up his scans, allowing the femme to close her chest plates, and put his scanner away. He then placed a gentle servo on her shoulder before affirming. "It is quite alright femme. No harm done" he said, causing the femme to small. The medic then turned towards his work bench, and picked up the femmes medic record. He imputed the scan results before closing it up and filing it away. "Well, you appear to be healing relatively quickly" he announced.
The femme rubbed her chest plates thoughtfully. She saw the empty gap where her Autobot insignia had once resided. She didn't exactly miss it, more that she was not used to it not being there. She then brought her servo up to her visor and ran I digit along the top edge. She had always worn it while with the Autobots, not because she had wanted to, on the contrary. Ultra Magnus had given it to her when she was still very young, saying that if she didn't wear it, she would not fit in. Not saying I fit in anyway. She thought miserably.
"Hear you go" she heard Hook say.
She looked up at him, seeing that he had poured her a cube of Energon. She thanked him as she accepted it gratefully. Lifting it to her lips, she sipped at it slowly – she still couldn't get over that flavour. She drank slowly, allowing her thoughts to get away from her.
"What are you thinking femme?" the medic asked curiously. He despised seeing the femme so sullen and quiet.
Turbo sighed as she looked to the ground, Energon lowered to rest in her lap. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. She remained silent for a few moments, before finally trying again. "I'm just so confused" she announced in a whispered voice. "Ultra Magnus told me from a young age that I was found abandoned on the outskirts of Gygax." She slouched forward slightly, resting her elbows on her knees, cube held securely in both servos. "I was trained from a young age to be the perfect soldier. And then I was told what to do and how to do it" she announced as she stood, taking another swig from her cube. "But not once was I ever told who I am. Just that I was abandoned… Unwanted" she continued. She quickly finished her cube and deposited the empty cube in the trash. She then sat back down. "I just don't know what to do anymore… I just want to know who I am, and why I don't fit in".
Hook sat silent for a moment. He wished he could answer the femmes' questions. He wished he could tell her that everything was going to be ok. But how could you tell someone that their whole life was a lie? He sighed as he approached the femme, gently taking her servos; he helped her to her pedes. "Come with me" he said, as he led her out of the med bay and down the hall.
…
Megatron stood in front of the main computer in the command centre. His thoughts kept wandering but to the femme in the med bay. He had not seen her after she had cried into his chest. To be honest, she had yet to leave the med bay at all. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't worried about her. But he was glad that she was at least refuelling regularly. His thoughts came to a halt as he heard the doors open. He turned to see Hook walk in, and was surprised to find the femme following.
Turbostrike was speechless as she entered the command centre. The room was full of Decepticons (though she shouldn't have been surprised) of all shapes, sizes and colours. She hesitated in the doorway, before finally following the medic in. She saw Hook say something to Megatron, who in turn nodded gingerly. Hook then turned and walked back towards the door, stopping quickly to place a soothing servo on Turbos shoulder, before he swiftly continued on his way.
Megatron watched the femme for a moment, before turning to a large purple Con. "Lugnut. Bring up Cybertrons complete database" he directed humbly. Once the database was on the main screen, Megatron continued. "Find the history of Gygax" he announced, gaining the attention of the blue and black femme – who took a tentative step forward.
Turbostrike watched as the correct information came up on the huge screen. She walked forward so she stood only a few feet from it. She read it carefully, not mussing a single detail. She was entirely shocked by what she saw. The last few sentences especially caught her optics.
The Autobot leader spoke to the leader of the Neutrals, hoping to settle the long-time dispute between Iacon and Gygax. But unfortunately, negotiations failed.
Turbo wanted to understand why everything had failed, and what Ultra Magnus had wanted with the Neutral state. "What does it mean by 'negations failed'" she questioned.
"We don't know. That information is only held in the Iacon database… Accessed by only high ranking officers" Megatron announced. He too had wanted to know why Gygax suddenly fell.
Turbo frowned for a moment, before realisation hit her. She stepped forward, moving a seat out of her way, before running her digits over the keys on the console. She typed something into the computer, successfully opening the Iacon database - effectively catching the attention of all the Decepticons present – though she paid them no notice. She instinctively knew that her that her login info would no longer be active (as she was supposed to be offline). But that didn't mean she couldn't get in. Opening up the login screen she typed in the designation 'Crossfire', and then stopped. She thought for a moment, trying to think of what his password would be. All he ever spoke about was his Primus damn petro dog… That's it. She tried to remember what he had called it. She kept running different designations through her processor, before she finally recognised one of them. She typed in the designation (praying to Primus it was correct), and was pleasantly surprised to find it worked.
Megatron gasped in astonishment. "How did you do that?" he queried, as he strode forward in pure amazement.
Turbostrike glanced back at him, proud smile graced her lips. "Crossfire is predictable" was all she said. Turning her attention back to the screen, she found the file labelled 'Gygax'. Opening it, she began to read it carefully.
Ultra Magnus had approached the Neutral leader in the hopes to persuade to allow their land to be turned into an Autobot outpost. When Spitfire - the leader of the Neutrals - announced that they weren't interested, the Autobots became infuriated and retaliated.
It didn't take a genius to know what that meant. Ultra Magnus had levelled Gygax simply because the Neutrals wanted nothing to do with the war. It enraged her to know that Ultra Magnus had offlined many innocent lives (including younglings and sparklings) because Gygax wouldn't conform to his rule.
"Turbo. I'm sorry" Megatron said, as she placed a comforting servo on her shoulder.
She remained silent, not trusting her voice at that very moment. She felt him squeeze her shoulder sympathetically, before dropping his servo again. She continued to stare at the screen in front of her, before finally exiting the file. She continued to scroll through the files, glancing quickly over the file names. She was about to halt her efforts, until one particular file caught her attention. It read: 'Operation: Turbostrike'. She didn't believe in coincidences.
Opening the file she was taken back by what she found. The file contained an image of her, admittedly a much younger version of her, but her none the less. She recognised it as her in her third youngling frame. Her frame was a shorter and slimmer, missing her audio finals and wrist blades. Her colour was different as well, her youngling frame had been Baby blue, and lacked her signature racing stripes.
She watched as the image started to slowly change into her adult frame, showing all the modifications she had undergone. Scrolling down a little, she read the information that followed.
Designation: Turbostrike AKA. Turbo
Race: Gygaxian – Neutral
Age: 1500 Vorns (teenage) – Third youngling frame
Turbostrike was brought in after the destruction of Gygax. She had very thin amour, no weaponry and possessed no ALT mode. She refused to co-operate to begin with, but was soon influenced to undergo to procedure. We exchanged her original armour for thicker, stronger battle armour. We installed a blue visor, at Magnus' request, to make her look more like an Autobot. Adding the wrist blades was tricky but we finally managed to do so without complications. She had not originally wanted an ALT mode, but was finally persuaded of its usefulness. She chose a sleek yet muscular design (her ALT mode look similar to a Champion blue R33 GTR Skyline, with black racing stripes – offset to the right side – running up her bonnet, across her roof and down her boot lid).
Turbo lowered her helm slightly, allowing a sigh to escape her silver lips. Although she remembered all this, now that knew why, it distressed her. She looked up again to find a video file with the documents. She hesitated for an instant, not knowing if she truly wanted to know what it held. I've come this far. She supposed. She finally clicked on it, and found it appeared to be a press conference.
"Unfortunately our negotiations with the Neutral state, Gygax have failed" Magnus had announced. "We have tried on a number of occasions to turn Gygax into an outpost… Allowing our troops to get closer to Decepticon territory."
Suddenly several servos went up, and different voices yelled over the top of each other. Finally Ultra Magnus had pointed to one of the reporters. "Ultra Magnus, what of the young femme that was brought back?"
"The femme was rescued from the ruins and is being reformed as we speak" he announced.
More servos sent up, and another bot was selected. "Is it true that she was wild when she was brought in? If so, what guarantee can you give us that we are safe?"
"I will not lie. She was disobedient and unrestrained when she was first found. But I assure you, that the safety of the public is our number one priority"
"What happens if she does become uncontrollable?" another bot asked.
"I guarantee that if that day comes, she will be dealt with promptly" he answered, showing no emotion at all.
At that moment Turbo stopped paying attention. She sunk to her knees and placed her forehelm on the console. "He planned it from the beginning" she whispered faintly. She couldn't believe that Ultra Magnus had a contingency plan the whole time. He had planned to assassinate her if the need were to arise.
She took off her visor to wipe her tears before they fell. She looked down at it, as she held it in her servo. She had no intention of wearing it any longer, knowing it was only used to conceal her Neon Green optics – because Ultra Magnus had said that they were unbecoming of an Autobot. If this is what it meant to be an Autobot, she refused to be one anymore. She tightened her servo around the visor, crushing it instantly.
"Turbo?" she heard a voice behind her.
"He planned it the whole time" she announced, a little louder than before. In an instant - quicker than anyone could react - she shot to her pedes and whirled around as she did. She kicked a chair in fury and sent it soaring forwards – causing a few of the Cons to have to dodge out of the way. Turbostrike barged through the crowd, and raced out of command centre doors.
…
Another one done. Thankfully. Please, please, please review.
