Discalimer: I swear I mentioned it before in one of the previous chapters. It hasn't changed.
In all honesty, I do NOT know where this story is going. It's just that... going...
This was written at 3 am on the fly, so if there are mistakes or it it seems rushed, I apologize!
"bold" Teletraan One speaking on board the Ark.
-italics- Text messaging
"italics" Speaking through comm. links
Hope you enjoy this next installment!
A few days after the hairy meeting with Ron and Judy, things were starting to go into a in working order around the base. Optimus had found a job and post for each of his subordinates and showed them what they should be doing. He had given Ratchet the job of working with a nearby hospital, transporting people. Ratchet was forced to use his hologram so that he wouldn't raise suspicion. He slightly regretted the job after a few days, seeing how humans seem to hurt themselves more than the Twins ever could.
Bee was with Sam, trucking him from and to school. Sam had to explain to others over and over again how and why he was running around in a 2009 Camaro.
Ironhide had decided to stay with Capt. William Lennox. He became fond of him, both having military background, they would sometimes talk for hours. He enjoyed the Lennox' company… that is until a car seat was introduced. His whole plan changed in his mind until he was finally subdued with the cooing of an infant and allowed such a thing to be strapped into his back seat. It was quite comical for everyone else to see the burly WS toting around an infant in the contraption. He gave them all dirty looks and so help the one who actually commented about it.
Hot Rod had the job of patrolling a few miles from the base, not far from Mission City. He had also been forced to use his hologram but didn't mind much. He liked the attention sometimes, being that he chose a Ferarri Enzo as his alt mode.
Also Smokescreen, who had chosen a blue Supra as his alt mode had the same job, just in a different location, all keeping watch for the only other Decepticon not located yet… Starscream.
Barricade was still on probation with the Autobots, so he hadn't gone very far, and if he did it was to Miles' house and around there. Frenzy, of course was with Barricade, keeping himself occupied with Miles' games. Scorponok had been given no task at all, since he was still without a host and mostly sulked in Ratchet's med bay. Ratchet had hardly noticed he was there left the time, cause he was so quiet. The only thing giving him away was when he would move slightly and his metal would brush against the floor or wall.
"Attaining gravitational orbit," A voice spoke throughout the ship, alerting everyone that they were now in orbit of the planet.
"Hold orbit," Cliffjumper's voice said as he typed along the keyboard, "keep speeds with other orbiting machinery around planet."
"Orbit and speed confirmed,"
The people on the space station were staring, mouths agog as something came into their view. Something big… off the charts huge. They knew it wasn't a meteor because it looked like… a space ship and it was a golden silver color all over. The body of the thing looked almost awkward as they watched it. It was huge, making the station itself look tiny in comparison. They hadn't stopped gaping when the ship came to a halt outside the planet, even at few hundred miles from them the ship was still easily seen, "D-do you see that?" One o the men asked, pointing out a small window. Another of the men hurried and grabbed his portable camera and started recording video of the ship.
"I see it, but I don't believe it," came another voice.
"A-are you recording this?"
"Y-yeah," They all stared as the ship made no other moves, hovering like a parked car, "We need to tell NASA right away."
Bluestreak and Mirage stood up from the controls and walked towards one of the other rooms, finding the 'mess hall' they wandered in, "We are now in Earth's orbit." Mirage announced, getting the other's attention, "I need not tell you how important it is that the ship remain out here in orbit, we can go to Earth as pods,"
"Why can't we bring it in?" Cliffjumper asked
"Because it's too big, Cliffjumper. Optimus said we are to remain hidden. We can't very well hide something this large, now can we?"
Cliffjumper silenced.
Sideswipe had been leaning by one of the windows when he suddenly spoke, "Don't you think they are going to have a problem with us being here?" He asked, pointing to a small funky looking thing floating in Earth's orbit also.
All who were in the room gathered to see a floating something in orbit with them. Mirage looked over to Prowl, who looked to Bluestreak, "Get them on the main monitor," Prowl called, and walked out of the room, everyone following.
When Bluestreak got the videos focused on the space station, he zoomed it in to where it fit on the screen, "What is that?"
"That looks like some kind of orbiting space station," Prowl answered.
"We've been spotted," Mirage said, leaning on the console to get a better look, "what are we supposed to do?"
"I have the perfect idea," Cliffjumper suddenly said and bound over to another set of controls, "They can't say anything, if we're not here," he said bluntly. Suddenly he started typing at the keyboard and the entire ship creaked before the lights went dim, then came back, "Direct all engine power to Reflector Shields," Cliffjumper said suddenly.
"All engine power rerouted to shields,"
"Activate," Cliffjumper said again.
"Reflector Shields activated," the voice boomed again.
The men aboard the space station blinked. They blinked again when the thing they saw fizzled out of their vision. That was something different, "Hey, did you catch that on video?"
"Sure did."
"Now why didn't I think of that?" Bluestreak said, then looked back towards the monitor, "But they've already recorded the ship,"
"Not a problem," Cliffjumper was on the case again and typed fluidly. The watched the lights flicker on the station and then become steady again, "What did you do to them?"
"A little something to their video feeds," The small red bot gave a cheeky grin.
"Holy shit! What was that? Is everything in working order? Do a diagnostics!"
Everything turned out fine except for one thing. The day's entire video had been erased.
"Shit it's gone!"
"What's gone?"
"The video of that thing. It's gone, erased."
"How the hell…?"
"I'll contact Optimus, let him know we are here and that the Nemesis will be here soon," Prowl said as he leaned forward and touched a few controls.
"Optimus Prime, this is the Ark, Prowl here," he said softly.
Optimus' reply was quick, "Where are you?"
"We are currently in orbit with Earth. Although we did have to do a few things to not be noticed," He glanced quickly at Cliffjumper then proceeded to talk, " we are going to leave the ship in orbit,"
"Right now, that is a very good idea, you may come whenever you wish.
"Optimus, the Nemesis is not far from us now, what will you have us do?"
"Someone will need to man the Ark. I don't know if it's auto defense systems are functioning as they used to."
"It's up to date Prime," Although no one wanted to remain on the ship.
. Prowl glanced at everyone who was on the bridge, "Does anyone want to remain on the Ark?"
No one said anything.
He gave a grumble. He knew why they didn't want to stay. The Nemesis was on its way, fast approaching. No one wanted to die aboard the Ark should it's defense fail.
"If they shoot the Ark out of the sky, it will crash to Earth," Prowl commented as he typed away at the computer, "I have locked it's trajectory to one of the oceans. Should something happen, it will crash without being seen."
Sky Lynx, having been too large to step onto the bridge had an idea, "I will assume the identity of one of the Earth's shuttles. Therefore, I will not be questioned. I will remain in orbit,"
"Thank you Sky Lynx, make sure you have constant communications with Optimus before you depart,"
"Noted,"
"I will remain here on the ship, Prowl," This time it was Red Alert, "should anything happen, I will hail Optimus and depart if things become unstable."
"Very well, Red Alert," Prowl nodded, "the rest are going?"
"I will stay as well. I am a medic and I could be of use should something happen on the Ark," First Aid replied.
Prowl nodded to the Medic, "Very well,"
"Everyone else is going?" All who was in the bridge nodded. Wheeljack was antsy about going. There were so many things he wanted to explore! So many new things to learn, he could hardly contain his excitement,"
"Now, as you all know, you will all have to find suitable alt modes as soon as you land, is that understood?"
A universal nod.
Aboard the Space Station, no one saw anything out of the ordinary. The day's video feed being gone, they had nothing to report, however they did report that something erased it, but the only response they got was to not worry about it. Blaming it on Electromagnetic waves from the planet. Unlikely story, but they weren't about to argue. They all left the windows and headed for their own stations or to exercise. As they left, they never noticed the blatant figures stepping out of the Ark and taking pod form before heading for the planet.
All of the crew except Sky Lynx and Red Alert were given the coordinates in which they were to go, and one at a time, they were shot from the ship.
"We've got incoming!" Ironhide called as he saw the blips on the screen, "They should be headed right for us, their trajectory is true,"
"Very well, let's go and greet them," Optimus walked past Grimlock, who was now in robot mode along with the others. He nodded to the Dinobot leader and turned down a corridor, "Me Grimlock say Dinobots go!"
Optimus halted in his steps and turned to face the Dinobot leader, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea,"
"I say we go, we go!" The other leader walked past Optimus, calling his kin and headed outside. Optimus sighed, defeated. He saw Sam running up to him with Mikaela in tow and nodded, "Sam,"
"Hey, I heard there's more coming, can me and Mikaela go and greet them?"
"I don't see why not," Optimus said gently, reaching down he offered his hand, which both of the teens jumped into, "There will be many of them, be careful,"
"Of course, you think we try to get stepped on?" Sam half laughed.
Optimus gave a small smile as they headed for the hangar doors, "Ironhide, Hot Rod, Smokescreen, Barricade, Ratchet, report to base immediately, Autobots are on approach." Optimus called over the Communications link.
"Very well, on my way," Ironhide said with a terse voice. While Will had been driving, he suddenly took the controls and slammed on his brakes, doing a 180 and started in a new direction, "Hey, what gives, 'Hide?"
"Optimus needs us more Autobots are on their way,"
Will needed no other comment as he sat back and let Ironhide drive.
"Be there in a few kliks," Ratchet reported, seeing as he was now stuck transporting a human to the hospital, "You will have to forgive my tardiness, I have a human that needs medical attention and it cannot wait," The CMO hurried at a faster pace towards the hospital.
"Affirmative," Hot Rod said as he turned down a side road, his destination plotted.
"En route, sir," Smokescreen confirmed, turning around in a small parking lot.
"On my way," Barricade, who had been parked at Miles' house, did the only thing he could to get the boy's attention, "Frenzy, hack into Miles' Cell phone and tell him to come now,"
Frenzy set down the game he'd been playing and did as commanded.
-Come to Barricade, we have to leave.-
-What for?- Was the response.
-Optimus has called and needs us, hurry.-
Miles' set down the magazine he had been flipping through and almost jumped down the stairs. He ran out the door to greet Barricade. He quickly got in the passenger seat, "What's this all about?"
"Optimus has called us to base, I assume more Autobots are on approach," Barricade said as his hologram came to life and he wasted no time in leaving the premises.
Bumblebee came out with Optimus, seeing the first three. He pointed upwards, "There they are," his voice gentle.
"Yeah, let's just hope they don't land on us," Sam commented wryly as he watched the streaks of fire across the clue sky.
It was like nostalgia for Sam and Mikaela as they heard the pods screaming as they came in. It reminded them of when they first met the Autobots. Impressive as ever. They watched as the pods crashed down about 1000 feet away.
Bumblebee was still watching the skies for more, and as he figured, there were 2 more. He had seen Optimus go to the three, and he would go to these two.
Five more appeared in the sky headed in Optimus' direction. Optimus sensed them before they could crash into them and stopped, watching where they would land. He also noted more coming and saw that they were headed in another direction, albeit the base, but further away. He nor Bumblebee saw anymore incoming. Optimus had sworn he had heard 16 names from Teletraan One.
He neared the first three who were already starting to come out of Pod form, "Designation and Rank," Optimus asked.
"Designation Autobot Prowl, Chief Strategist and Analyst," the first one spoke.
Sam, nor Mikaela could hold the gasps they let out seeing the first one. He was shorter than Optimus, perhaps taller than Bumblebee, but from their point of view, they couldn't tell for sure, "Good to see you again, Prowl,"
The next pod stood up, looking to his leader, "Designation Autobot Bluestreak, Gunner," the bluish grey one spoke next with a nod, "I hope everything has gone well for you, we all I think made a good landing, you should see all the –"
He was cut short with a wave of Prowl's hand, "Hold it for when we get back to the hangar, Bluestreak,"
At least I know why they call him Bluestreak. Sam thought to himself as he watched the blue gunner.
Another stood up. He was whitish with red parts in various places, "Autobot Wheeljack, Chief Mechanical Engineer," His optics already glued on the two humans. Said humans shied from the scrutinizing gaze of the engineer.
Bumblebee had himself the mother lode of Autobots to contend with. He walked up to the craters to find dust flying and metal cracking against metal. He sighed, knowing who it was immediately, but by Protocol, he called, "Designation and Rank,"
"Designation Autobot Sideswipe, Assassin," the reddish one replied after he stopped rolling on the ground with his brother.
Bumblebee didn't need to even think about who had been scrapping with Sideswipe, "Then I assume you're Sunstreaker," Bumblebee deadpanned at the yellow warrior.
The yellow twin nodded. Before either could get up, they both ended up scuffling again.
This was going to be a long day for 'Bee.
Optimus nodded to his soldiers, "Ratchet will be here soon to make sure you are all ok," he turned, nearly heading face first into Grimlock, "Me Grimlock want to see other arrivals too!" Again a defeated sigh, "Come on,"
All of them headed for the other landing site, not far off. As they approached, Optimus' voice called, "Designation and Rank,"
The first of the five unfolded to a rather spindly looking bot, "Designation Autobot Blaster, Chief Communications Specialist, at your service, sir," Optimus nodded with a smile.
Next to stand was a greenish colored bot, who stood nearly as tall as himself, "Autobot Springer, Arial Defense,"
They could all hear a sudden yell from behind them and whirled around. Bumblebee was being tackled to the ground, "Well, at least we know where the twins are," came another voice, "Autobot Cliffjumper here," Optimus turned to greet the Minibot, which was only as tall as Bumblebee.
Another form started to unfold. He was about as tall as Ironhide, but sleeker and had white and blue about his body, "Autobot Mirage, Spy and Scout,"
Optimus nodded once again.
"Wow, this is so awesome!" Sam called out, excited beyond that of words as he looked at the giants who were gathering.
The last to unfold in this group stood up, he was taller than Optimus himself, white colors adorned him, "Autobot Skyfire, Chief Air Guardian," The voice had a smooth hint to it, yet was still commanding.
"Wow, I didn't know you guys were so huge!" Sam pointed to Skyfire, "You see that Mikaela?!"
"Hell yes I see it," she said gently, eyeing the Guardian, "thank whatever powers that be that he's on our side,"
Optimus turned his head to see the three who had landed further away approaching, again he called for rank and names.
The first to pipe up was the red one who had legs similar to Starscream, but his body was bulkier, "Autobot Powerglide at your service sir,"
Immediately the two humans noticed the jets on his back, recognizing them immediately from what they had seen on Starscream, "Y-you're a Seeker?" Sam asked. He had learned about the Seekers from Optimus Prime, but only knew of them in the Decepticons, not the Autobots, so it was a shock to see one standing there.
"No, but I am the best flier you'll ever meet!"
"Save it, Powerglide," Cliffjumper knew all too well how inflated this one's ego was. Powerglide gave a pouty look to the other warrior.
The next one to approach his leader was none other than, "Autobot Ultra Magnus, General of Iacon," he was as tall as the Autobot Leader himself, but with white markings on blue.
"Wow, a General?" Sam gaped. Ultra Magnus looked down at the small human. He didn't know who this one was, and he leaned down, taking a closer look. Sam immediately backed up as close as he could to Optimus without falling from him.
And lastly, a dark one stood up behind him, "Autobot Trailbreaker, Chief Defensive Strategist,"
When Optimus saw no others, he looked around curiously, "Where are the others? First Aid? Sky Lynx? Red Alert?"
"Optimus, Red Alert and First Aid decided to remain on the Ark for now, Sky Lynx is in orbit, having taken the alternate mode of Earth's Space Shuttles watching for the Decepticons,"
Optimus gave no hint that he was really listening, although concern was in his optics. He wondered how safe they would be. Sky Lynx was a target if he was off the ship. Finally he looked up, "Very well, but will they come if there is an emergency?"
"Of course, Prime,"
Bumblebee and the twins finally made their way to the large group, "You all must find alternate forms quickly, report to me when you have completed your mission," Optimus said. He turned as the other Autobot seemed to scatter to find their new alternate modes. As he headed for the hangar, he saw Barricade and Hot Rod standing there, "They get here safely?"
"All of them seem to be functioning at optimal performance," Optimus gazed at the building as Ironhide and Ratchet pulled up, "Ratchet, I want you to do a full scan on them all once they return." Ratchet nodded. He knew he had his work cut out for him.
Smokescreen was not far behind, "Did we miss it?" The Supra turned robot asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," Optimus said as he walked towards the doors, "They are on a mission to find new alternate modes as we speak,"
Next Chappy: The Nemesis arrives and we get to see who picked what for alts! Hehe!