A/N: Hello all! Sorry it took me so long to get this update. Part of it I have been a busy bee lately, but also because I allowed myself to be distracted by so many other things and I apologize. I will try to be faster with my writing from now on. Make myself write everyday instead of putting it to the side. That's my plan.
For those of you who read my other stories, I feel I should remind you all that Across the Galaxy will not be updated for a while, not until I get through chapter 17 of this story. Again, the reasons for this are my own and I hope you all will understand. I will be continuing to write it, however, it is in fact the next on my agenda. Then will be IAPA, which will be updated when the chapter is done, and after that I intend to try to work on my original novel.
On another note, I have not been doing a very good job lately of replying to reviews, so starting tonight I am going to make myself look at reviews and respond when I see them rather than putting it off until later and then forgetting as seems to be the trend lately. I am truly sorry about not responding. Typically when I see them I have just woken up or just got home from work and I'm not fully in gear for responding, but hopefully by setting a certain time every night I will do better on that.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Have fun reading! :D
Chapter 9: Flight
~Friday, July 20, 2012~
"Save me!" Stormbreaker called out as she ran away from me. She ducked behind Optimus, who just happened to be unlucky enough to be nearby us. "She's gonna poke me!"
"Come back...here..." I stopped and stood at attention, saluting Optimus as I always did when I ran into him. I knew I didn't have to, but it was an automatic reaction ever since the first time I saluted him. I figured it was partially due to having to salute when I was in band camp. We had a military oriented Band Leader one year and it stuck. "Optimus!"
"What is going on?" Optimus asked, raising an optic ridge at how I went back to trying to get to my sister, though failed because she remained firmly behind Optimus and he was the one bot I wouldn't just dart by.
"She's trying to poke me!" Stormbreaker exclaimed.
"She was intentionally egging me on," I defended myself. "It's not like a poke would hurt."
Optimus looked a bit exasperated with us. "Enough!" he told us as I tried to reach behind him to poke my sister only for her to duck to his other side.
In response, I backed up and immediately straightened out, standing at attention as Stormbreaker stopped her shenanigans.
"You two need to expend your excess energy," Optimus said. "Preferably not with me in the middle. I suggest going for a flight would help you."
"Yes sir!" I said, saluting him. A flight sounded very nice.
Optimus looked between us and when it was clear we weren't about to rush each other with him in between us, he moved on. As soon as he was walking away down the hallway, I grinned at my sister.
"Race ya to the elevator," I said.
Stormbreaker grinned and then ran off in the direction of the elevator. I actually would've preferred to go on a mission, but things were really quiet for the last few days. It was why Stormbreaker and I had so much energy to spend. My lessons with Ratchet were going well and took up my mornings, but they didn't use up a lot of my energy. I personally was getting antsy due to the fact that nothing had happened for a few days, not even a quiet recon mission to an Energon signal.
"I win!" Stormbreaker cheered.
I shrugged as I joined her into the elevator. "I wasn't really trying," I said, standing next to her and reaching over to press the button to take us up top.
"Sure you weren't," she teased.
I looked at her flatly before grinning and bumping my shoulder against hers, pushing her slightly.
"Hey!" Stormbreaker said and poked my side.
I squeaked as I shoved her hand away. "No," I said, pouting at her.
A moment's silence fell over us before I broke it.
"I think we should make sure to go out for a flight or spend time in the simulator whenever we have a day without a mission," I noted. "It would prevent our energy from getting pent up."
"I agree," she agreed as we waited for the elevator to reach its destination.
A few moments later the door to the elevator opened and we walked outside. I took a deep breath of the fresh air, feeling better already.
"Seekers staying underground for several days." I paused and took a breath. "Problematic."
Stormbreaker laughed. "You sound like Mordin when you say that," she said, referring to a character in one of our favorite video games.
I grinned and then walked further out to the edge and looked out across the scenery. Desert stretched out as far as my optics could see. A few cacti stood out in the landscape, but other than that it was mostly desert, along with a view of Jasper in the distance in one direction.
"Where should we fly to?" Stormbreaker asked.
"How about that direction?" I asked, pointing in the opposite direction from Jasper. "It might look suspicious to the humans if we fly over Jasper."
"Is good point, that way it is!" she replied, pointing where I had pointed.
We transformed and took off over the desert. It was nice to be in the air again after a few days of being cooped up in the base. We flew out over the desert, which was a beautiful, though boring, scene to look down upon. At that moment I missed trees and forests. I wondered why the Autobot base couldn't be surrounded by trees like in other continuities, probably other realities. I pushed those thoughts aside though, as they weren't important. Besides, if the base was anywhere else Jack, Raf and Miko wouldn't be here.
Thinking that things would be different if the base was located somewhere else, I wondered what was going to be different in this reality with the three of us here compared to what would've happened if we hadn't ended up here. If we had seen more of the show, would it have even made a difference? The reality of the show and this reality clearly would've split paths as soon as we arrived in this one, but it was hard to even know if they were the same prior. It was hard to know without fully knowing the past of the show's reality and impossible to know what the future would hold.
Thinking about that somehow led to a mental image of a possibility where the three of us arrived in a reality just like this one, except where the bots here were different. I mentally shook my helm to rid myself of the image, because that wasn't the reality I was in, thus irrelevant. Plus the fact when my mind started imagining things it could get out of hand rather quickly in the form of rampant plot bunnies that demand to be written. It would be quite odd to be writing a fanfic on Transformers while in a reality where they exist.
"Whatcha thinkin'?" Stormbreaker asked.
"That I'm gonna need a new fandom to write fanfiction of," I stated. "It would be awkward to explain to the bots if they caught me writing fanfiction about them."
"That would be awkward," Stormbreaker agreed. "Mass Effect maybe?"
"There are a number of possibilities," I noted. "I haven't written anything for some time now. It is kinda starting to depress me. I think I might keep a journal of our adventures as well. Might help kick my muse into shape again."
"It might," Stormbreaker said. "It might also help to set a time to write every day. You know, when we're not scouting Energon signals, kicking Decepticon aft or any of the other stuff we have to do now."
"Technically, we could choose not to do any of it," I pointed out. "We don't have to do anything and no one would force us to. But I know what you mean. I wouldn't not do it. It would be wrong to just ignore the situation when we have the ability to help."
"I wouldn't want to just sit on the sidelines," Stormbreaker said. "That would just be wrong."
"That's what I said," I said, chuckling.
"I know, I was just restating the fact," she replied. "Hey! There's bro! Hey bro!"
I shifted my attention and indeed there was our brother. I hadn't noticed at first, because I was looking elsewhere when he became visible and I wasn't constantly looking for friendly signals nearby, or even hostile. I mentally frowned at myself for being so oblivious, but shrugged it off as we flew over to join him where he was flying at a slightly slower pace than we had been.
"Hello my sisters," Pathbreaker replied as we flew up beside him. "How are you?"
"Oh you know, being attacked by plot bunnies," I said. "And trying to keep from going stir crazy."
"Same, except for the plot bunnies," Stormbreaker put in as her answer. "What about you?"
"Just trying to think of how to continue my project," our brother answered. "I couldn't concentrate, so I decided stepping away and getting some air would be the best thing I could do."
"What project are you working on?" I asked.
"I am trying to improve our holoforms," he answered. "However, I am having some issues with the frequency I need to use in order to improve them."
"Hmm, perhaps you could brainstorm with Wheeljack," I suggested. "And I would be happy to offer assistance in my free time not spent writing."
"Thank you and I will try that," Pathbreaker replied. "Though I will double check all his suggestions to avoid explosions."
"Aww, but explosions are fun!" Stormbreaker said cheerfully. "Just don't get blown up yourself."
"Considering our holoform technology is built into our frames," I said. "If it exploded, so would we."
"Point," she said. "Yeah double checking is good idea."
"So, what have you been up to today, bro?" I asked after a moment's silence.
"Not much," Pathbreaker replied. "As I said, working on improving our holoforms. I have also started brainstorming ways to make Energon taste like human foods."
"I miss some foods," I said. "I would really like to see if we can replicate that taste."
"Sounds yummy," Stormbreaker said, grinning.
"Yup," Pathbreaker agreed. "What have you two been doing?"
"Eh, not more, running around causing..." I started, but cut myself off as I caught sight of a rather large space craft flying through the atmosphere. "Well it looks like our cycle won't be boring after all."
The craft itself was a light Cybertronian frigate, roughly three hundred meters long, and based on outward appearance has three decks to it. I could see a small main gun on the front end of it along with a few small anti-fighter and anti-missile turrets. The area that would be its cargo hold, from schematics I've looked over in the library, was large enough to hold enough energon to keep a crew of thirty bots online for a month.
The anti-fighter turrets were firing at several Vehicons that were harassing the poor frigate. There was also a large hole in the side and it was easy to see that a battle was taking place inside as well, if the offlined mech with a servo hanging out the hole was any indication. Near the front was an easily recognizable symbol, the Autobot insignia. Near the back was evidence of a fuel leak.
Not half a minute after we spotted it did we turn our course to take us toward the frigate, even as Ratchet's voice crackled to life in my comm.
"Ratchet to Shadebreaker," he said calmly. "We've detected a few Autobot signal near your position under attack by Decepticons."
"Already on it, Ratchet," I answered. "A light frigate, large enough to hold up to thirty bots. The Vehicons are harassing them, but we'll get them off their tail."
Even as I spoke to Ratchet, I shifted my trajectory to head directly toward one of the Vehicon fliers firing at the anti-fighter turrets and fired off a missile. My missile hit my intended target on their right wing, knocking the Vehicon off balance and melting the majority of the wing off, causing the Con to go careening toward the ground.
"Autobots!" a Vehicon shouted out, being made aware of our presence by my assault on his buddy.
"Well then kill them you idiot!" another Vehicon shouted just before being ripped apart by Pathbreaker's Ion Displacer.
The Vehicons started fighting back then, firing off missiles at us. There weren't many though and we made quick work of them between the three of us. I was nicked a few times by the Vehicons' shots, but they weren't good shots caught off guard. They weren't online long enough to retaliate enough to actually hurt us.
I smoothly flew into the hole in the side of the struggling frigate and transformed, landing just as the entire ship tilted to the side, causing me to stumble into the side of the corridor. As my siblings carefully landed on the tilted ship, I pushed myself off the wall and looked toward the front of the ship.
"The Cons have made it to the cockpit," I noted. "I'll head there, you two split up and search for survivors."
"What? No!" Stormbreaker protested. "I'm not letting you go into a known combat situation by yourself!"
"It would be more effective to find survivors if you both searched," I countered.
"Yes, but I am equipped to handle a firefight by myself, you are not," Pathbreaker said. "It would be logical to take a partner into a battle zone. I am enough for a search and rescue."
I looked at my siblings, ready to argue, but I saw that neither of them would be budging. I sighed in resignation, feeling slightly irritated that they didn't think I could handle it, but knowing arguing would be pointless. Besides, I'd probably look back later and see that they were right. This wasn't our first battle since coming here, but it was the first without the other bots backing us up. And they wouldn't be, at least not until we hit ground.
"Fine," I said, bracing myself against the wall as the frigate shook again, leveling back out. "Let's go."
I found my balance on the falling ship and led the way toward the front of the frigate, my sister not far behind. Our brother went a different way as we carefully made our way forward.
Part of the way through we ran into a group of Vehicons. I ducked to the side as I was fired upon and directed a shot from my Plasma Cannon toward the nearest Vehicon. My shot hit the Vehicon in the right shoulder, making him stumble and make a pained noise. I shot again before he could recover, hitting him in the helm this time, dropping to the floor.
Even as my target fell, I moved my aim to another Vehicon. My first shot only singed his side, leaving him enough time to get a shot on me, though my shot through his aim off my right shoulder. I cringed and hissed as a blast hit my left shoulder. I was grateful it was my left and not my right, as it was my right servo that my weapon was built into and the shot left my shoulder hurting a little. I'd rather not aggravate it too much.
I fired at the Vehicon again, this time hitting him directly in the chest, downing him as my partially charged shot ate his armor down to his core.
A glance toward Stormbreaker showed she was already downing her third Vehicon with her bow and arrow and was mostly unscathed, except for a singed part of her armor where she had been brushed by a shot.
I turned back to our opponents and in a few moments we had wiped out our attackers.
"You alright?" my sister called, checking how many arrows she had left.
"Fine," I said, rolling my shoulder. It hurt a little bit when I moved it, but otherwise it was fine. I wasn't getting any warnings I would get with a serious injury. It wouldn't even need healing gel-handy little things that reminded me of Medigel off of Mass Effect-as it was mostly like someone punched me. "Just barely got through my shields, mostly just singed my armor. Let's keep moving."
The shields were an invention of Wheeljack and Pathbreaker-a project they had completed just a few days ago. They ran off our own Energon so they didn't require packs, but even so, we only turned them on when we were out on missions. We didn't need the extra protection on base, where we were only surrounded by friendlies. They reminded me of the shields in Mass Effect. We didn't take any real damage until they were taken down and if we went long enough without getting shot our personal systems could recharge them, though it took two minutes and thirty seconds to start and another thirty seconds to be at full power.
They were very handy and thankfully, Pathbreaker was there to make sure the project didn't explode when it was tested. Considering I volunteered to be the guinea pig for the project-I got a little excited about the idea of something that could potentially lower the chance of injury to my fellow bots-I was grateful for not having to spend a few days in med bay for something other than my medic training.
"Mine got taken down too," Stormbreaker said, following me. "I'd feel better if we waited for them to recharge."
"That would take a couple minutes," I replied as I pressed myself against the wall near a corner. The ship shifted again, luckily it tilted in a way that pushed me against the wall I was pressed against and not out where anyone beyond the corner would see me. "A couple minutes I'd rather not waste as those couple minute could mean the lives of the bots on this ship."
I peered around the corner, optics searching out any movement. Nothing. The remaining distance to the cockpit was clear, but I knew behind the closed door was probably anything but nothing. There was at least one Autobot in there along with hostiles. A glance back at Stormbreaker told me she knew this too and would follow me in.
Quickly and silently we made our way the remaining stretch to the closed door. I heard gunfire on the other side and a few voices, though we didn't have time to figure out what voice belonged to our side and what voice belonged to the other side. We'd know who to shoot when we saw them.
It didn't take but a moment to slam a servo on the button to open the doors and we darted in, firing our weapons. Immediately I took down one Vehicon with a partially charged shot and made another stumble, leaving it open to attack from the bots who were bunkered down on the other side of the room, utilizing the little cover there was in it. At the same time, Stormbreaker took out two Vehicons with her exploding arrows.
The remaining five Vehicons didn't last much longer, our surprise entry throwing them off balance and allowing us and the bots who were already here to easily gun them down.
Once they were all down, I surveyed the hall outside to see if any reinforcements were coming while one of the present bots, a red one whose paint reminded me of roses, ran over to the controls and stabilized the frigate. When I was sure we were safe-at least for the time being-I turned back to survey the cockpit to find two bots looking at us, guns pointed at us, which wasn't surprising since they didn't know us, and a yellow bot joining the red one.
One of the mechs looking at us was black and white with a symbol similar to that of the police badge on each wing of a set of door wings. He had on a yellow visor and upon his forehelm was a red crest. His expression was neutral, but I got the feeling he was analyzing the situation and my sister and I to determine if we were a threat. The doorwings gave him away as being a Praxian, as I had learned from Ratchet was what they meant. Apparently only bots from Praxus possessed doorwings. It was a curious fact.
The second mech was all black. His blue optics were uncovered and the Autobot insignia sat proudly over his spark, with a slight modification I recognized from Bulkhead's own insignia. It was the insignia of the Wreckers. Bulkhead was going to be happy to see him again.
I intentionally twitched my wing out where they'd see my insignia proudly stamped upon it, toward the end. It had worked to alleviate Wheeljack's worry, I could only hope that these bots would trust that we really were Autobots. I saw their optics go to my insignia and then immediately seek out Stormbreaker's before lowering their weapons.
"Sor'y 'bout that," the black mech said. "Haven' seen an Autobot seeker in a long time. Most of ya ar' 'Cons."
"Understandable," I said, shrugging. "I'd be cautious too." I shifted my weight as the other mechs got the ship back under control, levelling it out. "Name's Shadebreaker. And this is Stormbreaker, my sister." I motioned to my sister, who was recollecting a few of arrows. She would often reclaim all arrows she could, but we also created new arrows for her to replace ones that were unsalvageable.
"Ironhide," the black mech said. "This here is Prowl and the idiots over there are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."
"Hey!" the red one yelled. "Why is Sunny first?"
"Because I'm older you nitwit," the yellow one replied.
"Are not!" Sideswipe called.
"Yes, I am," Sunstreaker said. "I came out first, that makes me older."
I did a facepalm. "Twins, I take it," I said, looking at the calmer mechs. Only one kind of sibling would have that kind of argument.
"Indeed," Prowl said as the twins started lightly punching each other. The ship rocked as Sideswipe hit a button in the scuffle.
Ironhide walked over to them and slapped both of them on the helm. "That's enough. We need to land this bucket before all our fuel leaks out."
I turned and pointed my Plasma Cannon as I heard footsteps and the others turned their own weapons toward the door. After a few brief and tense moments, a large black mech stepped into view and I instinctively shot, which was followed by a brief silence as the mech stepped further into view. He looked down at where I shot him, before looking back up at me.
"What'd I do?" Pathbreaker asked, an innocence in his tone that had our sister laughing.
I facepalmed. "Bro, could you comm ahead next time?" I asked. "That easily could've been a charged shot, which would've done damage to you."
"But it wasn't and it didn't," Pathbreaker stated in a clear effort to alleviate my feelings of guilt he likely knew I'd feel at shooting him. "But I will remember to do that next time."
My wings twitched a little in anxiety. I had just shot my brother. As much as he probably didn't blame me and as much as it didn't hurt him, I felt bad for doing so. I should've contained my jumpiness. I shouldn't have shot until I knew it was an enemy. But I knew he wasn't mad at me, I could see that in his optics. If the offended was not, in fact, offended, then I should not be either. But still...
"Prowler! Why woul' ya point dat gun at me?!" a white and blue mech said, a grin on his face and despite the blue visor covering his optics I could tell they were sparkling as he stepped out from behind my brother.
"Jazz," Prowl inclined his helm, lowering his weapon.
Ironhide looked my brother up and down as he put his Ion Displacer back in his backplates, satisfied the no one was gonna shoot us. "Who's this?" he asked.
"My name is Pathbreaker," my brother replied.
"He is my brother," I said. "He was taking care of any 'Cons on the rest of the ship. How'd that go, by the way?" I turned to my brother.
Pathbreaker looked at me. "There are no more 'Cons on the ship," he reported.
"Any others?" I asked, causing the twins and Ironhide to look over.
Pathbreaker shook his helm.
"We're da only ones who made it," Jazz answered, his demeanor taking a less cheerful aura than when he first appeared from behind my brother. He looked almost depressed.
My wings drooped a little, but I asked the next logical question. "How many were on this ship to begin with?" I asked, almost dreading the answer.
"At full capacity, this frigate would have carried thirty bots," Prowl reported. "However, it was flying with only half that amount."
"We lost ten good mechs in the battle with the Decepticon scout ship we came across when entering the system," Sideswipe grumbled.
"What was a scout ship doing way out there?" Stormbreaker asked.
"Prob'bly same thing as us," Jazz said. "Followin' the boss's orda's ta come help."
"If they hadn't of got da jump on us, they'd have been scrap metal instead," Ironhide growled, slamming his fist together.
I felt my wings droop fully and I sighed. "Well...nothing we can do about that now," I said, looking over at a fallen Autobot by one of the broken consoles. The mech was mostly red with some yellow and orange highlights. From the way his body lay, he was caught off guard at his station and died in an explosion caused by his console overloading. It was the communications console, which explained why we never got a distress call.
"Poor mech was a civilian," Ironhide commented, seeing me looking at his fallen comrade. "Got dragged into this when he and his sister had to evac their ship onto ours. A 'Con ship destroyed it and the rest of their crew. They were neutrals. He volunteered his communications skills to aid us in finding the Prime again afterward."
"An innocent," I said, wings stiffening and then twitching angrily. "The Decepticons aren't ones for morales are they?"
"Nope," Ironhide agreed.
I was silent for a moment before speaking. "We should contact base," I said. "Optimus will want to know about this and you guys probably could use a place to stay."
"Ya know Boss Bot?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah," Stormbreaker replied. She shifted on her pedes a little as Jazz turned his attention to her and grinned.
"Great! Ah've been wonderin' where da boss has been," Jazz said. "And how he has survived withou' meh!"
Ironhide chuckled and Prowl sighed long-sufferingly.
"I am sure Optimus has survived just fine without you Jazz," Prowl said.
I shook my helm and tuned out the conversation at that point in order to contact base. "Shadebreaker to base," I said into the comm.
"Shadebreaker," Optimus's voice came through the commlink. "What is your status?"
"I assume Ratchet told you about the ship," I replied, glancing over to see Jazz attempting to make conversation with my sister, though she was being abnormally shy.
"He informed me of the situation," he confirmed.
"We've cleared the ship of Decepticon aggressors," I reported. "There were fifteen bots aboard...all but five of them were offlined before we reached the ship, possibly before they even entered Earth's atmosphere. The survivors would be able to give a better report on the full happenings on the ship, but it seems they were ambushed when they entered the system and their comms were damaged so they couldn't call for help."
"I see," Optimus said and I could tell his spark was heavy hearing about the loss. "Who are the survivors?"
"Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker," I reported and subsequently heard a grown.
"Why'd it have to be the twins?" Ratchet's voice came over the comm.
I couldn't help the grin. "They can't be that bad, Ratch'," I said with a chuckle. But then I got back on topic before it could stray too far. "Anyway, the ship is damaged and we're headed for a landing. There's a fuel leak so we can't stay airborne much longer."
"Understood," Optimus answered. "We will send a team to meet you."
"Understood," I answered before turning the comm off. I then relayed the information to the others.
"So who's all here?" Ironhide asked.
"Well, let's see," I said. "There's Optimus, Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Wheeljack and Springer."
"Bulkhead and Springer, eh?" Ironhide asked. "How're they doin'?"
"Bulkhead's doing good," I said. "To be honest, I try to avoid Springer."
"I do not blame you," Prowl nodded. "Springer is known for his crude advances on femmes."
My wings twitched a bit and I glanced over to see Stormbreaker now into a conversation with Jazz I wasn't listening to. I turned my attention to my own conversation.
"I'll have ta talk to that mech," Ironhide shook his helm.
"What's the situation here?" Prowl asked, moving onto a different topic.
"We are very much outnumbered by the Decepticons," I replied. "Megatron is seemingly out of the equation, but I have a feeling he will not remain that way. Meanwhile Starscream is leading the Decepticons. We have a small base and including you five there are now fifteen Autobots on Earth compared to hundreds, if not more, of Decepticons onboard the ever-moving Nemesis."
"Ah noticed ya got some kind of personal shield," Ironhide commented. "Noticed it when ya shot Pathbreaker."
"An invention of my brother and Wheeljack's," I commented. "Wheeljack started the project after seeing us play Mass Effect, a human game my siblings and I are fond of. Path' joined the process, not trusting a prototype of Wheeljack's not to explode on us the first use."
"Well, you did volunteer to test it," Pathbreaker said. "I wasn't about to let my sister be blown up by a Wheeljack prototype."
Ironhide chuckled as I rolled my optics.
It wasn't long before we were on the ground and meeting up with Optimus, Ratchet and Arcee. When we did, we ironed out the details of how we were going to deal with the ship. It was decided that it would be temporarily kept at a secure human military facility until we could renovate a hangar for it in our base where it would be repaired and restored to full operation. That would require some negotiation with the government as they would have to fund the project, because we couldn't just go around and take the resources needed without asking.
An hour later we were back at base with Agent Fowler present and talking with Optimus about possible renovations, to include a hangar for ships. Along with Fowler was another man, a Navy admiral by the name of Steven Hackett. The admiral reminded me strongly of the Admiral Hackett from the Mass Effect games I was so fond of. It made me wonder if he knew about the games and if so what his opinion was on the fact the character looked exactly like him.
I was listening in along with Ratchet, my brother and Wheeljack as it would be us who would be responsible for repairing the Shadow of Hope, the frigate that the new bots arrived on. Prowl was also present, being Optimus's second-in-command, as was Arcee, having been in Prowl's position during his absence.
"What will be the purpose of the frigate once it is repaired?" Hackett asked.
"It will aid us in missions that may require going further than the Ground Bridge can take us," Optimus replied.
"It certainly would have come in handy when I had to bridge the lot of you into space," Ratchet grumbled.
"If I may, I have an idea," Pathbreaker said, looking at Optimus.
Optimus nodded. "Go ahead, Pathbreaker," he said.
"What if we modified it to be a stealth ship?" my brother suggested. "It would lower the chance that, in the case we require its use, the Decepticons would detect us and possibly allow us to complete the mission with little to no problem."
"Hm, sounds like it could come in handy," Arcee noted. "Something worth checking out." She added, looking to Optimus to see what he thought.
Optimus looked thoughtful before turning to Wheeljack and Ratchet, the two more experienced scientists. "Would such modifications be possible?" he asked.
Wheeljack nodded immediately, his fins flashing excitedly. "Sure would! Just give us the right tools and time and we could easily pull that off," he replied.
"Given that we can get the right supplies," Ratchet grumbled. "All this Earth tech is hardly up to par with Cybertronian tech."
"I think we could pull it off," I piped in, raising a servo and continuing when Optimus looked to me. "We do have a resident Earth tech expert with us almost all the time." I motioned toward Raf, who was typing away at his laptop in the process of ridding our systems of a few bugs. "Given enough time, it should be doable. If not, what do we lose in trying?"
"Time. Resources. Energon." Ratchet pointed out.
"You're just bursting with optimism," I said flatly, giving him a flat look, though I could feel my optics sparkling with my teasing.
Ratchet shook his helm, waving his servo at me as if to push my sarcasm away. "Tch. I'm just saying if it fails it'll just be a waste," he said. "Of resources we could use to aid us elsewhere."
"But if it succeeded, we would have a valuable asset," I countered.
"One that would allow us to reach the Energon we detected on the moon less than two cycles ago," Pathbreaker added.
"Or anything else beyond Earth's atmosphere that might be of use," Arcee added.
"Without having to strain our poor Ground Bridge," Wheeljack put in.
"Hm, true," Ratchet said, looking thoughtful.
"I believe that it is a project worth undergoing," Optimus said after a few moments of silence. "I believe it will give us a slight edge over the Decepticons. But first we need a facility to accommodate it." He looked toward the human officials.
"I will see what I can pull in brass," Agent Fowler replied. "The fact you helped with the Dingus will help our case."
"In the meantime, I will get preparations for a remodel to include a hangar into your base underway," Hackett added, giving a slight nod. "I would also like a chance to speak to you further, about a possible alliance between the Autobots and S. H. I. E. L. D."
Optimus nodded. "We will be in touch," he said. "I must first consult with my senior officers."
"Understood," Hackett nodded.
"Any questions?" Optimus asked.
I raised my servo and Optimus nodded to me. "I have two. What's a 'Dingus'? "
"I can answer that one," Agent Fowler said. "The Dingus is a Dynamic Nuclear Device, aka Dingus. It is a prototype energy source, one that would irradiate all of Nevada plus the four states surrounding it in the case of a meltdown. While you three were rescuing the newcomers, the rest of the Autobots aided me in keeping out of a group called M. E. C. H.'s hands."
"M. E. C. H.?" Prowl asked.
Fowler shrugged. "We don't know much about them yet ourselves, but we'll be looking into it," he said. "What we do know is that they're a human terrorist group with similar ideals to Megatron from Optimus's input to the situation. Their leader calls himself 'Silas' and they are bent on getting the most high tech weaponry they can get their hands on. Including you all."
I felt a shiver run down my spinal strut at that. They didn't sound particularly pleasant.
"I will see what I can dig up at S. H. I. E. L. D. headquarters," Hackett put in.
"Which brings me to my second question," I said. "What's S. H. I. E. L. D.?"
"A joint naval operation between our nation and its allies," Hackett replied. "It was created to help promote peace between the nations of the world as well as to handle bigger problems your typical militia can't handle. You can expect to see us a lot while dealing with this M. E. C. H. problem. We will also be the ones responsible for the remodel project if it goes through. We are the only group authorized to work with you at all, after all. It's all still very classified."
And how much you want to bet there's some rich guy hacking away at his computer finding out everything they knew about us? That was a thought I kept to myself though.
"If there is nothing else," Optimus started and waited an appropriate amount of time before nodding. "You are all dismissed."
"Shadebreaker, I would like you to come to med bay, we have some lessons to go over," Ratchet said as the others dispersed.
"Coming," I said. "See ya later bro."
"I will talk to you later, sis," Pathbreaker nodded.
"Talk to you later, Shade'," Arcee said before heading off toward the elevator with my brother.
I grinned and waved to her. "See ya later."
I headed off to med bay with Ratchet. I felt I was coming along great in my studies with him and I was looking forward to the remainder, which I knew I still had a long way to go before being done.
~Aboard the Nemesis, Normal PoV~
Starscream looked down at the floor on the bridge, ignoring the bustle of the Vehicons as they piloted the ship as he thought. In his processor he could still see the helpless Autobot as he had taken his last breaths. He could also see in his mind's eye, Soundwave's ever watching presence in his peripherals, watching to make sure he did as he was commanded. Even with Megatron gone, he could not do as he really wished to do.
The seeker shook his helm and looked up as Laserbeak flew over. Dwelling on that would not help him right now.
"Soundwave wishes you to report to the war room," Laserbeak stated. A glint flashed across the femme cassette's optics. Something was up that the bird liked and Starscream wasn't sure he liked the thought.
"Tell him I will be there shortly," Starscream replied. He didn't want to go meet with Soundwave. He didn't want to be told what to do. He wanted to fly free, feel the wind under his wings without a care in the world.
"Best not keep him waiting." Laserbeak squawked.
Starscream sighed and started for the exit of the bridge. He thought about all the times he had been forced to do what he had not wanted to do. What would his brothers think of him? That he had allowed himself to be trapped in such a way? They had always looked to him, believing that he would get them through anything.
He shook his helm again as he drew near to the war room. His brothers weren't here. If they were, he would've found a way to maintain control over his own life, rather than remain on the second rung. He was Megatron's second-in-command, but even now he was not the one in charge. And he loathed that fact. Not even Soundwave was in charge, for he had to answer to someone above them both as well. If only he could…
His thoughts were cut off as he entered the war room to find Soundwave and Knockout looking at a holographic projection of the three newest Autobots. He had seen the seeker trio on the battlefield a couple times. He even fully crossed paths fully with the leader of the trio. They had stood, pointing their weapons at each other for a few minutes before something had made him lower his weapon and in surprise the Autobot had lowered hers as well.
~Flashback, Normal PoV~
Starscream stood, aiming his weapon at the Autobot seeker, the one he had determined to be the leader of the new Autobot trine. They were in the middle of a skirmish over some Energon and the both of them had been separated from the main battle. He had a few scratches and dents in him and she had a scorch mark on her right wing along with her own scratches and dents. Now they were in a stand off.
Starscream was ready to pull the trigger when their optics met. He could see her analyzing his every move and the purple and silver femme's unwillingness to shoot first. He saw in her optics compassion, a silent plea for him to lower his weapon so they could both walk away, a plea for...he wasn't sure what. He had the strangest sense that this Autobot held hope for Decepticons to change, just as he knew Optimus Prime had. Perhaps she was silently asking him to throw away being a Decepticon.
He couldn't. He wouldn't. There were so many reasons why it would be a bad idea. However, seeing that no one was watching, he lowered his weapon, hers lowering slowly in response. He locked optics with her again before transforming and flying away. His sensors picked up her standing there for a few more moments before heading back toward the main battle.
Inside of him, a spark of determination had come to light. A determination he had long thought extinguished.
~End Flashback, Normal PoV~
"You called?" Starscream asked, voice full of sarcasm and disdain.
"We did, actually," Knockout said, leaning forward, placing his servos on the table in front of him. "We have a mission for you."
Starscream internally sighed. He was called the second-in-command, so why was he the bottom rung?
"Well?" he asked after a few moments silence. "What is it?"
"Well, as you know, the Autobots have found a new trine," Knockout said. "Soundwave believes it imperative to capture at least one of them."
Starscream growled softly. He really hated his job.
And the credit song for this chapter is Arrival by Neil Davidge for Halo 4. www .youtube watch?v=RJxfMl24BEc
