Disclaimer:I do not own anything pertaining to Transformers, or anything else related to this material of which I written about. All rights are reserved by the original owners.
Author's Note: OK, this might be the second to last chapter – I'm thinking one more after this… we'll see how it goes… I hope that you've been enjoying this story. Big shoutout to Maverick1997 for all the help and cool details about the RAAF – this chapter would not have been possible without you; thanks a lot!
Chapter 10 (Darkened Sky)
At dawn the next day, two massive C-17 military transport planes landed at Darwin's airport. To an observer, the vehicles inside the craft looked ordinary – only the two sports cars seemed out of place. Sam had gotten up before the sun to greet the Autobots, as were several other men from NEST. Once in the privacy of a hangar, Ironhide transformed and gave an update from their side of things.
"We've done the best that we could to clean up the battle zone, and Steelhead will continue to monitor the forest's progress. Optimus is taking Evac back to Diego Garcia in the interstellar craft, and will be arriving here shortly."
"That's good," Epps commented. "Well, now that you're all here we should be able to get back home or wherever in the next forty-eight hours. I've got to call the General. You guys are ok here?"
"We'll be fine," Ratchet assured the sergeant.
"Hey, I'm glad you're all here!" Sam said enthusiastically. "The Australian air force has been really nice in letting us stay here for a bit."
"That is generous," the medic replied.
"How is Major Lennox?" Ironhide asked.
"Still in the hospital. He was pretty badly injured, but the doctors said that he's doing alright at the moment."
"What about the rest of the team?"
"They're doing well. Only a few of the soldiers are in the hospital, the rest are here."
Sam stayed in the hangar for a little while, then went off to have breakfast when he could no longer ignore his rumbling stomach. The base was virtually buzzing with activity, even from an early hour. There was a constant flow of air traffic on the runways, with commercial planes as well as the military ones doing drills and missions. In some parts of the base that were less hectic, the personnel let the NEST troops get a first-hand look at operations.
He was sitting down to enjoy a hot meal of fish and chips when Captain Graham came over with a brooding look on his face.
"I thought I'd find you here. We've finally gotten the flight plans laid out, but I'm afraid we've hit a snag. Turns out that there's a nasty weather system moving in and we won't be able to get away as soon as we'd like."
"But it rains a bit everyday, and people say that thunderstorms are common – it can't be that bad to fly in."
"I've just been informed that an incoming storm has been upgraded to a tropical low; that means higher winds and lots of precipitation. It's expected that this system won't take long to dissipate since it's not a strong one, but until then we're simply going to have to wait. Epps is informing everyone else. Could you pass the word along to Mikaela?"
"Yes. She'll be disappointed, I know that she really wants to get home."
Sam hadn't even seen Mikaela that morning. When he had checked by the room she was staying in, one of the women said that she was still asleep. He located her in a lounge watching television.
"Hey, honey! How are you?"
"I'm alright," she replied.
"I've got some bad news…" he began, then stopped.
Mikaela's eyes started filling with tears. "Is it Lennox?"
"Lennox? What? No, he's fine. What is it?"
"Well, when you started saying that you had bad news I thought… I thought that he had…" She stood suddenly and practically ran out of the room.
Sam sat there in shock, staring after her. "What did I say?" he murmured aloud to himself. He jumped up and ran after her. "Mikaela wait!"
She needed to get out of there. Mikaela found herself in the Autobots' hangar. Bumblebee was already in his alt-mode and she slid into the driver's seat. Usually she let him drive, but this time her foot hit the accelerator hard and they went screeching out onto the tarmac.
"Where are we going?" Bee's voice came through the radio.
"To the nearest exit."
He seemed to take over and led them flying through gate leading off the base. "Where to now?"
"Some place quiet, like a park or something. I need to be alone."
Bee complied unquestioningly; he must have sensed her distress and wanted to help as best he could.
Also rushing to the hangar was Sam, closely followed by Epps, who was not pleased. "Your girlfriend just stole an Autobot and took off. I'm going to have the air force's guards all down my throat in a minute. What's going on?"
"Ok, she couldn't steal an Autobot; Bumblebee obviously agreed to go with her. Second of all, she's upset about something – once I catch up to her I'll find out."
Graham came onto the scene looking much calmer. "I've noticed that Ms. Banes has been much quieter these days; perhaps she's finding it difficult dealing with the stress of this whole experience. I'll take care of things here Sam, go on."
"Thanks Graham," he replied. "Hey Sideswipe, are you up for it?"
"I'm always ready for some speed – get in Witwicky."
The sky was already darkening and it was starting to rain as they raced down the roads; driving on the opposite side was a little alarming for both the young man and the Autobot, since both were accustomed to American roads.
"I'm picking up Bumblebee's signal," Sideswipe told him. "We'll be there soon."
"Great. Could you just get us there in one piece?"
The Autobot made a sound like a throaty chuckle. He already had the reputation of being a speed demon, something that had translated over into his alt-mode, a sleek Corvette Stingray. With screeching tires and Sam holding on inside for dear life, they followed them all the way to Nightcliff Beach and drove around until they spotted a yellow Camaro coming to a stop up ahead.
Mikaela got out of the car and quickly walked off onto a path. She could hear someone approaching behind her and glanced back to see Sam standing there with concern all over his face. "Sam, I need to be alone right now."
"Could you just talk to me? Please?"
She turned away again, looking out onto the ocean that was churning with whitecaps from the strong winds. The sky was a strange colour unlike one she'd ever seen at the California beaches. The rain was starting to pick up considerably and she could feel the water starting to seep into her clothing.
"Is this about Lennox? Do you have feelings for him?"
Mikaela whirled around; she was angry at the question yet tears still slipped down her flushed face. "Is that what you think? If you're wondering if I love him, the answer is no. It's never been anything like that; you know I love you."
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that… Did you think that I was coming to tell you that he'd passed away?" She nodded and he continued. "I didn't realize that you were feeling so upset about him. He's going to recover though, I mean I know that visit to the hospital was a little intense…"
"It's not just that!" She was crying hard now, but the raindrops made her tears look even bigger. "It's my fault he's injured. It's because of me that he almost died!"
"What? No, it's not your fault, sweetheart."
"Yes it is! You don't understand. Remember when he told you to take the rocket launcher to Graham's camp, and he told me to shoot those flares? When I was running I fell and I shot the second flare by mistake. A Decepticon saw it and would have killed me, but then Lennox distracted it and he was shot instead. If I hadn't fired that flare early then none of this would've happened!"
"Mikaela, it was an accident – of course you never meant any of that to happen. And Lennox is going to be alright."
"But we don't know that for sure! He's got a family and a whole team that depends on him. What if he's permanently disabled from this?" she sobbed.
Sam came up to her and wrapped his arms around her. They stood there in the rain for what seemed like forever until bright flash of light and a jolting crack of thunder startled them both.
"We should get inside before we get hit by lightning," Sam said. "There's a tropical low on the way in."
"I can't go back to the base yet; everyone is going to think that I'm crazy."
"No they won't. Everyone's dealing with it in some way. I'm not even sleeping that well because I keep on having nightmares that we're in Maluku and I'm being chased by Decepticons with glowing red eyes. Listen, let's both talk to the onsite counselor this afternoon, ok?"
"Alright. I didn't know that you were freaking out about this as well. I've just been feeling so guilty the past while that I kind of shut down to everything else."
Sideswipe made a whistling noise when the couple walked back the car with water dripping from their clothes. "I'm gonna to go ahead to the base, if that's alright."
"Yeah, we won't soak your seats," Sam replied.
"I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day dehumidifying," Bee muttered a complaint.
Mikaela gazed out the front window at the beach; the sandy expanse was broken up by large escarpments of rock and further back from the water trees framed the coastline. "It must be so beautiful here when it's sunny."
The tropical low passed over Darwin during most of the following twenty-four hours. Tree branches snapped, debris was strewn about, the wind howled, and rain pelted everything at a fairly horizontal angle. It was an entirely new experience for Sam and Mikaela, who were more acquainted with earthquakes in California; however the sturdy, cyclone-proof accommodation blocks kept everyone well protected. With the slightly limited activity at RAAF Base Darwin, many people spent time at the training building or the club area or simply caught up on their reading and sleeping. That night was a roast dinner, and everyone went to bed listening to the sounds of the storm outside.
By the late morning the tail end of the cyclone was passing over the city, and the base prepared for clean-up and any other matters that needed to be dealt with. Meanwhile, the NEST soldiers assembled to listen to the travel plans. Graham was addressing this meeting, and he looked eager to get underway.
"Alright, the weather is finally clearing up so we can get ready to fly out at fifteen-hundred hours. One of our planes will be flying to the States; I have a list of everyone that will be on that one, it's mainly the wounded, a couple Autobots, and our civilians. The second plane will be heading back to Diego Garcia with everyone else. So, make sure you have all your gear together and are ready to leave by that time. Sergeant Epps is currently at the hospital with a couple of other guys. If you need me, I'll be in the Autobot hangar for the next while."
After the impromptu conference, Sam and Mikaela followed the Captain to the hangar to talk with the Autobots about where they would be going. Optimus had his Cybertronian spacecraft in another hangar that had been completely sealed off due to the highly confidential nature of the vehicle.
"Amongst the five of you, have you determined who will be going where?"
The Prime spoke first. "I have the transport to fly, so I will not need to travel in an airplane. I will be returning to Diego Garcia for the time being – especially since the Major will not be on duty."
"We can also go back to the base," Brawn added, indicating Sideswipe and himself.
"Bumblebee and I have decided to accompany Lennox, Sam, and Mikaela back to the United States," Ironhide said.
"Alright, that sounds good. I think that Epps will also be going on that flight because he needs to go over to the New Jersey base soon. Right now your plane is being altered to house the medical equipment and beds, but there will be more than enough room for everyone. It's going to be a long flight; there will be several fueling stops along the way. I know that you'll all be glad to get home. If you would excuse me I need to go check on some arrangements."
Sam looked up at Bumblebee. "You're coming back with us? I thought that you wanted to be doing some NEST missions for a while."
"I have been on several missions, but I think that right now I'm more needed at home. After you return to college Mikaela might want someone around; I haven't forgotten how upset she was yesterday."
He took his girlfriend's hand in his own. "You can call me too! We can video chat on Skype or something."
Mikaela smiled, she thought she heard a glimmer of jealousy in his voice. "Of course I'll call you. And, that's really sweet of you Bee – I always like having you around."
Sam directed a glare at the yellow Autobot. "Ironhide, I guess you want to be near Lennox."
"Yes. His family knows me and they'll need me to be there for a time while the Major recovers. Besides, there are always rookies to train at the San Diego base."
A few years ago Mikaela wouldn't have believed it if someone had told her that alien life not only existed, but would become a part of her own life. Yet, knowing that the Autobots were looking after them was a reassuring thought. She wouldn't want it any other way.