Thank you for the review Lighting Prime =), it's nice to see someone actually bothers to review. Not much action here, its all unfortunately in the next chapter but I'm already working on that so it should be up in a couple of days.
Chapter 4: The Ambush
Not many get the opportunity to see Earth from space, and those who do, are always left in awe at the sight of the planet. This was where Wheeljack found himself, watching the Earth from a distance away on the moon. Earth was very different from Cybertron; where one was an organic planet, the other was made of metal. Cybertron was primarily silver while the Earth had the shades of magnificent blue from its oceans, shades of green and brown from the lands and white from the clouds. Truly a site to behold and even without his enhanced vision, he could make the outline of the ISS in orbit around. The International Space Station serves as Earth's only orbital platform and is the site of research laboratories for many of Earth's nations; a symbol of their unity, something that walks a thin line. Belonging to a race of being who have been fighting a war for many vorns, he could only hope that the people of Earth got over their differences soon and worked together towards a common goal. They may not know about the Decepticons today, but one day they will and they will need to become one race of beings to defend their planet, "Let's just hope that day is far into the future," whispered Wheeljack to no one in particular.
"Pardon me? Didn't hear you there buddy," as always Ratchet was eavesdropping on him, what else was new.
"Do you always have to keep an audio on me?" asked the engineer. "Why shouldn't I? If I don't, who's going to know when you're up to some experiment that may blow up in your faceplates," retorted Ratchet.
"Now that you mention it Ratch, you know that experiments are the means to learning new things. I mean how do you learn something new if you're not willing to experiment with things right? It's like a 'packaged deal' as our human friends put it," countered Wheeljack.
"Does the package come with a free 'get yourself blown in the process' card?" replied the medic with a bored look.
"Well I guess I can't factor in the part where they don't always go the way I plan them to right", Wheeljack said with a smile. "I guess not old friend".
He could not fault the engineer for his personality to explore new ideas, after all he was the Autobot Chief Engineer for a reason, and a good scientist; and of course, whenever too many bots decided to get themselves blown to bits, a good substitute medic. The entirety of the war, Ratchet only ever had his apprentice First Aid and Wheeljack as help; Hoist would help out whenever he was on base but those visits were too far in between. But First Aid was gone, killed during the battle of the All Spark while trying to save a fellow Autobot. That particular Autobot was here today, but at the cost of his apprentice; this didn't bother Ratchet though because he wasn't the only one who lost someone close that cycle. He made a promise to himself then, that he would see that Autobot through the war with his very spark and he wouldn't let Aid's sacrifice go in vain.
"One day Jack, you'll get to play with your little scientist buddies, when this war is over," vowed Ratchet with a defiant look. Wheeljack could only give him a wistful smile before turning back towards the view he was admiring. Leaving Wheeljack to his scenery, Ratchet decided to check up on the others. Feeling a brush against his spark, he set off in search of a certain warrior who didn't know when to stay out of trouble.
On the far side of the moon…
"Starscream, I have spotted the Autobots. They are here as you predicted they would be and they are exactly where we want them," comm'd Acid Storm from his position.
"Excellent, now get everyone in position. Time's of essence and make sure no one screws up or it will be you who will pay the price," commanded the Decepticon Second in Command.
Sending his acknowledgement, he sent a message to Soundwave to have it relayed to the other Decepticons. The message read one line, 'we have a green light', an Earth phrase he picked up from his time on the planet which meant the plan was in motion; The Autobots won't know what hit 'em.
At the Autobot Landing Site...
Prowl had his sensors on high, scanning the area for Decepticon signatures but his scans picked up nothing. He set off to look for Ratchet as his scanners were modified and far superior to other Autobots, used primarily for medical purposes, or in such situations, to locate Cybertronian signatures. He found the medic with Sideswipe, chatting silently about something that Prowl was not concerned about it. From Sideswipes' subtle reactions, he knew that the warrior was waiting for a fight.
"Ratchet, have your scanners picked up the Decepticon?", Prowl asked, "No, my scans show up blanks, they should have been here long before us but they aren't".
"Something's wrong, it's way too quiet Prowl….they're up to something and we need to find out what," Sideswipe said forcefully.
"The kid's right, something's not right about this," Ironhide commented.
"Where are the others?" questioned Prowl, "Mirage is hiding away somewhere as usual, Windcharger and Blaster are checking something out over the comms while the Aerialbots are doing recon. Our resident engineer is off staring into space over there," concluded Ratchet while pointing in the direction of Wheeljack.
"Everything's set Prowl; Wheeljack's toy is hidden in that crater there. They won't see it and the hiding spot is perfect for Windcharger to use his magnetism against anything that comes too close," Ironhide said, pleased with the set up.
Prowl was about to respond but was cut short by Blaster running up to them, "Prowl, you need to hear this; I was getting something really weird over the comms through the static. It's very subtle; you'd almost miss it if you weren't paying attention."
"Let's hear it…"
They just heard static for a while, but on and off they would hear beeps. The sounds felt familiar to him so Prowl decided to keep listening, "I have heard this before," he commented.
"Yes so have I, it's what the humans call Morse Code; this was their first electronic language developed in the late 1830s. Today, it's really popular amongst covert operatives and the military," replied Blaster.
"Can you decipher it?" questioned Prowl, "Yea, I think so…let me at it for a few minutes."
Meanwhile, on the NEST base…
"Sir I have sent the message and it's on a continuous signal, hopefully they'll pick it up soon".
"Thank you," was Optimus' courteous reply.
Leaving communications, he headed for the Medical Wing in order to check up on his team's status. It was a ways from communications, but it gave him time to think the situation through. They were not having any success in locating the jamming device and it was becoming frustrating. He could not rely on the code that was sent, he needed to speak to his Second and make him aware of the danger.
Optimus reached his destination and walked through doors leading into the Medical Bay. Inside, he found Jolt deactivated on one of the many berths with Hoist working on his shoulder plating, "Hoist, may I get an update on the status of my team."
"Yes Sir, Jolt here is out of commission, he took a nasty beating from the cons and I have had to replace several of his systems and plating. There is still some more work to be done, nothing I can't handle without Ratchet. The Twins are fine, they just had a few dents here and there. Bumblebee is all fixed up but I would ask that he take it easy for the next couple of hours to let the repairs sink in; I have already sent the three back to their quarters," reported Hoist curtly.
"Thank you, keep me appraised on Jolt's condition", and with that, headed for the hanger. He had already set up another group of bots to head out to space. As he headed down to the Hanger Bay, he crossed paths with Bumblebee, "Optimus, I would like to accompany you on this mission," requested the scout.
"You just got released from Medical, it would be wise to sit this one out Bumblebee," requested Optimus.
"Sir, I can't sit around and do nothing while everyone's up there fighting. I want to help as much as I can. Hoist only said a couple of hours of rest, not days. I can rest up during the flight out to space since Skyfire's going with us."
Optimus took a moment to think upon this; knowing the scout would not let this go, he decided on letting him tag along, "Very well, you may accompany us."
Outer Space
"You guys picking up any con activity?"
"No. What's going on? We know they're here but our scanners don't show up with anything," said a very irritated Air Raid.
"Bolt, maybe we should head back to the landing site and regroup with the others. Without knowing what the cons have planned, we can't make counter measures or, even worse, we could be walking into a trap. And the chances of us surviving are slim if we are all separated."
Taking a moment to think upon Skydive's assessment, Silverbolt decided to follow his teammate's instincts. Skydive was rarely wrong about these types of things, being an aerial warfare tactician. If the Seeker was up to anything regarding Aerial Warfare, chances were that Skydive would see it in time to save them.
"Alright, let's head back and let Prowl know about this."
As the trio was about to turned around from their patrol route, their scanners picked up multiple con signatures; and they were headed straight for them.
"Bolt, multiple boogies just turned up on my scanners bearing from Sector M-5; they're dead ahead."
"Silverbolt to Prowl, we've detected Decepticons and are requesting back up at Sector M-5," but all he received was static. This was a setup! He thought irately, "Air Raid the comms are being jammed, get back to the Landing Site and warn Prowl. Skydive, Thach Weave on my mark."
At Silverbolt's command the three broke their formation with Silverbolt and Skydive pulling the famous Thach Weave, a maneuver they learnt from the human pilots on base. Air Raid decided to pull a sharp J-turn and head back to where the rest of their team was. He just hoped he would get back in time to help his fellow Aerialbots out.