We entered the base in and I parked up next to June's car and I switched the engine off but I didn't unlock the doors just yet I took my seatbelt off and turn around to face the others in the car.
"Look I just want to say I'm very sorry about all that. I didn't expect any of that to happen. I put you all in danger and for that I'm truly sorry" I unlocked the door and the kids jumped out but June didn't get out, so I came round and opened her door, she looked a bit shaken up
"You alright?" I asked gently. I gave my hand and help her out, she didn't reply. "Come on were safe here, it's over now"
I helped her walk up to the human living area and sat her down on the sofa and I made her a cup of tea. The kids were with their protectors, Miko giving a detailed account of my driving skills to Bulkhead, I came up to the platform edge and all the Autobots came up to me asking the question without saying it.
"Optimus, Arcee I have to speak with you two alone for a minute"
I came down the stairs and headed down one of the corridors with Optimus and Arcee walking beside me till we were out of sight and ear shot of the others. Optimus gave me a boost up to a ledge so we could all stand without having to compromise for someone else.
An apology was in order "First of all I just want to say I'm sorry, I promised you that the others would be fine and it clearly wasn't the case-"
Optimus stopped me "Michael please do not blame yourself for what happened, you couldn't have foreseen this, it wasn't your fault"
I shook my head sharply "No Optimus it was my fault, I should have seen this coming. It was only a matter of time until it did"
This confused him "I don't understand how was this, your fault?"
"Because all my life they have been after me, I let my guard down, I got complacent and I risked the others' lives as a result"
Optimus and Arcee stared at each other for a moment neither could tell what I was on about, both then studied me.
"I haven't been fully open with you, first of all the people chasing us were the FSB, Russia's equivalent to the CIA"
"Why were they chasing you?" Arcee asked.
"It's to do with my father"
"But you never knew your father"
"Yes that's true, where he was a senior commanding officer he was also working with the Naval Division of the Secret Intelligence Service also known as MI6, he was the finest the navy probably ever had. He was truly exceptional, and was one of the rare few who could skipper both surface vessels and submarines, not many can do that" They were still confused.
"When my father wasn't commanding warships he was out there spying on other navies and trying to turn those of enemy states and make them defect and counter the same thing from other nations, all very much cold war stuff, he was so good at it, it made him a prime target for the Soviets, Chinese, just about anybody that didn't like Britain or NATO" I took a deep breath "After my father's death it was believed that, that was it, but it wasn't. Arcee you remember when I told you about constantly going from one naval base to another when I was growing up?"
"Yes"
"Well it wasn't because of my mother having new postings. It was for our own protection. Because those who my father fought against wanted all traces of him gone, which meant they wanted me and my mother dead. That gunman was an attempt. My mother saved me sacrificing herself" I thought back on that day, my eyes welling up again but I stopped it in its tracks. "When I was moved to Cardiff, my father's colleague, Rear-Admiral Baines took me in and taught me everything I needed to defend myself and he tried to fast track me to what my father was, but I refused as I didn't want any of that. We didn't speak for a year"
To say they were a bit stunned was a slight understatement.
"There is also another reason why they are after me" I motioned my hand for them to come closer, they did.
"Now I must stress the extreme sensitivity in what I'm about to say and also I'm obliged to do anything to keep this a well-guarded secret but I can trust you two, but you must promise me you will not tell anyone else, and I mean anyone, not the kids, the other Autobots, June or Fowler, basically it's like this" I look at Arcee "If you tell Jack anything about what I'm about to tell you…I would have no choice but to silence him and that goes for anyone else, understand?"
"I understand" said Optimus, Arcee was speechless, mouth wide open, complete shock on her face.
"Over a year ago before joining the Merchant Navy, Baines asked me if I would join him on the HMS Vanguard, it was recently refitted after a year of being out of service and its new captain, a student of my father who was practically a son to him had this ship as his first command. So Baines thought it would be a nice idea to have the two sons of the great Markus Rickers on the re-launch of the flagship for the Sub fleet" I took a long breath
"After we left the Submarine Naval base at Plymouth it turned out that some of the crew were a joint strike team from Russia and China who quickly seized the ship and then threatened nuclear launch at NATO countries unless we completely surrendered the ship"
Optimus and Arcee clearly weren't expecting that.
"Luckily I managed to hide with a few others and we managed to retake the sub, but somehow the invaders found a way to compromise the launch codes and were in a position to fire the missiles, and they had armed the warheads so they could have incinerated the ship. But nobody on board who was still alive knew how to disarm the warheads. However I managed to contact someone I knew who knew a bit about them and he talked me through it" I paused so they could take it all in.
"If this secret is let out it could possibly start another cold war or world war three" They nodded "So that's why what happened tonight was about. The Russians were either going to kill me or they were going to capture and torture me for what I did"
After a short silence Optimus spoke "Michael I'm sorry for all you've gone through but I had wish you had told us about this sooner"
"To be honest I thought that the Russians believed I was dead from the fire, and that they weren't still on the hunt for me. Like I said I let my guard down, I'm sorry"
"Please don't be"
I was thinking of options for my own security when out of the base. Then a thought popped into my head.
"Optimus with your permission I would like to carry a side arm" He thought about this very carefully as I was asking a lot.
"Please I wouldn't ask if I didn't think I'd need it"
"Ok, but you will have to speak with Bulkhead as he deals with weapons"
"Thank you, and like I already said, I'm truly sorry I know you have enough problems as it is"
After our little discussion the three of us came back to the control room and everyone had that look that they were going to ask a million questions, but Optimus stopped them before they had a chance "We won't be telling you the details of what has exchanged between us by request of Michael. Bulkhead I need you to sort him out with a side arm"
Miko raised her for everyone to hear "What! He gets a gun and we don't! Why can't we?" she crossed her arms in annoyance
"Miko have you ever used a gun or even picked one up for that matter?" I asked her in an attempt to defuse her.
"...No" she hesitated
"Guns are not toys, they are dangerous and you must be properly trained to be able to use one"
"Why, have you?" Anger in her voice.
"Yes" I answered bluntly, she and the others must have thought I meant using one on a firing range or something. However Optimus and Arcee were putting two and two together and realising what I really meant.
"You mean you have actually….." Arcee let the sentence hang in the air. I turned around and look up.
"Yeah, I have" Answering the incomplete question, nodding slightly.
"What have you actually done?" Miko asked, impatience obvious in the way she said it.
"Can't say and never will so don't ask me again" I put seriousness into my voice. "So Bulkhead what have you got for me?"
Bulkhead lead me to where the armoury was and soon laid out in front of me was the largest collection of weapons I have ever laid eyes upon, it was every teenagers dream.
"How the hell did you acquire this many guns?" I asked.
"All this was here when we moved in, err… help yourself to whatever you need, I don't know anything about human weaponry you see" He chuckled.
I decided that I all I needed right now was a handgun, so I inspected those, and there were quite a number of them. Then I found a Glock 17, Austrian made and very reliable, as a result they are used by just about every law enforcement agency out there. I have also got experience with these so I selected that and picked up three clips for it. That's fifty one rounds. Seventeen rounds in each clip, so that's seventeen times three, fifty one. I disassembled the gun completely checked all the parts for defects. There weren't any. It was factory fresh, so I put it all back together.
I changed my mind about only having the Glock I picked one more to keep in the car, and this one would need to be a bit more powerful. I had a certain type in mind so I searched the table for it and as luck would have there it was, the famous Desert Eagle.
It was a mark I so a bit old, the original designed in Israel. Again I took it apart, checked it and put it back together and took three magazines. I wasn't always so keen on Desert Eagles as they are quite large with a foot long barrel so it so useless in close quarters and it has a massive recoil so it could take your arm off. But in the situations I could see myself using it, it was perfect for the job. I decided that .50 calibre rounds would be enough. That should sort me out in tight situations. Hell it might even pierce the armour of a Decepticon it's that powerful so defiantly one to have.
I got some holsters and holstered the Glock under my left arm and carried the Desert Eagle in my hand with no rounds in it so it was safe. I followed Bulkhead back to the control room otherwise I would have got lost, strange that I now live here but yet I still didn't know my way around. Something I need to work on.
We returned to the control room, immediately everyone was eyeing the guns I was now armed with. I went and put the Desert Eagle and the magazines for it in the glove box of the Jag but I decided I was going to keep the Glock close to me at all times, that was going to be my side arm.
I went back to the human area. I was thirsty so I did the very British act of 'putting the kettle on' and stood there waiting for it to boil. I looked over to see the kids watching TV however once every so often looking at the gun. Also June was stood at the edge of the platform discussing something with Ratchet, probably medical stuff. She too was every once in a while watching the gun. I would guess she wasn't too happy at the thought of me carrying a weapon near the children.
I put the tea bag in a mug and poured the boiling water in as well and let it brew. June was still watching the gun. That was it, I had enough of this, time to put her mind at risk so I moved to where she was.
She saw me coming and stopped talking with Ratchet. "June, I can fully understand your concerns, but trust me it's completely safe"
I took it out for her to see, holding it upside down showing "You see there's no magazine in it so, no rounds there"
I turned it up right and pull back on the slide showing inside the firing chamber "There no rounds in the barrel"
I let the slide spring back and clicked the safety on "And with that clicked in place, the gun can't fire even if it was loaded. It's kept safe in three ways. I would never take it out unless I had too, and I will never ever point it at anyone here especially the kids, please I just want to you to trust me, it's for mine and your protection, like I said to Optimus earlier I wouldn't have asked for it if I didn't think it was necessary" I pleaded my case to her.
"Humph, fine. Just don't go waving it about, I don't like guns, I've seen to many gunshot wounds"
"I wouldn't dream of it"
I went back to get that tea. I strained the bag, chucked it in the bin and got milk out of the fridge and add that to the tea and put the carton back in the fridge. I took a slurp, yep that was well needed.
The kids were still looking at the guns. "I've just explained to June, it's completely safe, just try to ignore it, pretend it isn't there. And also don't even try and think about playing around with it or even touch it, over wise the Decepticons will be the last of your worries" I warned them.
With the mug of tea in one hand and the stick in the other and the Glock holstered under my left arm I went over to my desk, switched the laptop on and while that warmed up and looked over the paperwork for the Powerboat. Soon I went on the internet to get as much technical details for anything to do with a Chris Craft Stinger 390X and printed them off to study. I knew I was going to need some stuff for repairing the boat so I searched up chandleries in Salt Lake City as I could pick things up there when I would collect the boat.
That made me think, how was I going to bring it here, didn't take me long to think about it. I got up to the edge of the platform and called out "Optimus I was wondering if you could do me a massive favour…."
