(Authors notes)
Hello everyone, so here is another chapter. I'm surprised at how fast I got this one done, so let's hope this keeps going. Thank you to those who reviewed and left comments. Also, welcome to those who are now fallowing this story. I do hope you guys are enjoying it.
Now without further a due, let's begin.
(Autobot temporary base)
The autobots had been back for a few hours and had been busy. Ratchet had finally taken apart the ground bridge, with the parts now being loaded into Ultra Magnus's ship. All the energon had been counted and placed in the large aircraft that was going to be taking them to their new base, as well as anything worth taking was also being loaded. Now all that was left was for the autobots to load up into the aircraft itself and fly over to the new base.
"Autobots, are we ready to depart?" asked Optimus as he looked over every member who all nodded.
"Very well. Special agent Fowler we are ready to depart." He then said as he turned to look at Fowler.
"Alright Prime. Now, the carrier is to large to land in the area of the new base so we will be parachuting you guys into a clearing just south of it. Once we drop you guys off, I'll get my chopper as soon as we are state side and fly back to help any way I can." Stated Fowler with Optimus nodding.
"Sir if it's all right with you, I would like to take my ship now and try and get there early so I can unload the parts to the ground before your arrival." Said Ultra Magnus as he was to take his ship to the new base.
"Very well old friend." Responded Optimus with a nod and Ultra Magnus began walking towards his ship.
"Well, let's hit the road." piped in Bulkhead as he was excited.
Everyone then began walking out of the base and saw a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy on the run way with troops loading up the last of there supplies. As they reached the back of the plane Fowler turned around and looked at Optimus.
"Okay prime. I need you and your team in vehicle mode so my boys can put chutes on you for when we reach the drop off point." He said as troops walked up behind him carrying parachutes for vehicles.
Optimus nodded and looked to his team and nodded again. Everyone then transformed into their vehicle modes without saying a word and let the troops attach the parachutes to them. Once the parachutes were on one by one the autobots were loaded in. As they were loaded in they were strapped down so that they would not move around once in the air. Raf, Miko and June sat on the bench and strapped themselves in as a few troops did the same.
As fowler finally walked in, the bay ramp began closing, after a few seconds the ramp finally closed and locked itself as the room became silent.
"Alright everyone, the flight is going to take about six hours so I recommend that you all get some rest for when we reach the drop off point. Privates Cole, James and Mark will assist you when we reach the drop zone." Said Fowler as he gestured to the three troops sitting next to Raf, Miko and June.
"I will be assisting the piolet so I will join the rest of you once we get this bird state side." He then added and began walking to the set of stairs that lead to the cockpit.
After a few minutes the plane roared to life which startled Raf, Miko and June slightly. The plane then began thrust forward and everyone held on as the plane gathered momentum. As the plane reached the end of the runway it suddenly began to lift up and ascend into the sky.
About two minutes passed before the plane leveled out and stopped shacking, much to Miko's relief as she felt like she was going to be sick. Seconds later the plane's PA came on catching everyone's attention.
"Alright everyone, we are going to be about six hours so get some shut eye." Said agent Fowler as he disconnected the PA seconds later.
The of the troops out a pair of earplug and put them in while the thirst just adjusted his helmet to cover his eyes as he leaned his head back against the wall.
Raf, Miko and June decided to take Fowler's advice and got a little more comfortable as they too closed their eyes and get some sleep. The autobots decide to get some rest too and slowly one by one they entered recharge.
Optimus was the last to fall into recharge as he prepared for a long flight.
(two hours later)
Everyone was fast asleep on the plane as it continued to it's destination. As the plane flew towards the drop point Optimus felt himself coming back online, but when he powered online he didn't find himself on the plane or even in his vehicle mode. He was standing in his robot mode in what seemed like an endless void with some smoke covering the ground, and a pitch-black sky.
'What is this place, and how did I come to be here?' wondered Optimus.
He began to look around to see if there was something else in this strange place. As he looked to his right he suddenly saw a light flash in the distance, and began walking towards where the light had been. He walked for about a minute before the light flashed again, this time much closer. He was shocked though when he saw something small walking towards him though.
'Who could this be?' he wondered as he began to approached the figure.
Soon the figure began to show features, he had Black hair and blue eyes. He wore a grey long sleeve shirt and blue jeans. Optimus stopped immediately as he recognized who it was.
"Jackson!" said Optimus shocked.
As the figure fully appeared it was indeed Jack but he appeared different. His eyes seemed to hold no emotion and his skin was ghostly pale. His clothes looked worn and slightly dirty, and he appeared to have lost weight.
He stopped a short distance from Optimus and looked up at him. Optimus could tell something was not right with him.
"Jackson what is wrong?" he asked worryingly as he took in his condition.
Jack just gestured for Optimus to fallow him and turned around and began walking away into the void.
"Jackson wait!" called Optimus as he began running after jack, but shockingly couldn't catch up. Jack disappeared into the void and Optimus just kept running in the direction Jack had left. He soon saw another flash of light which continued to glow afterwards. He ran towards the light and saw Jack standing below the light.
As Optimus looked at the light he saw that it was the Key to Vector Sigma. As he stopped running and began walking towards the key, Jack looked at Optimus and pointed to the key. Optimus looked at the key again and saw the smoke rising behind it. It slowly grew and began to resemble someone he knew. He soon saw the smoke form Megatron as he held the Key and laughed evilly.
"No" said Optimus as he saw his greatest enemy with such a sacred relic. The smoke then collapsed and Megatron disappeared as his voice faded.
"Jackson what has happened?" he asked worryingly as he looked back down at Jack.
Jack just turned around and pointed at the key once more and Optimus looked back up at the key as the smoke rose from the ground once more. This time into something much bigger, with different feature. As it began to take shape Optimus immediately recognized it as the second predacon 'Scourge'.
Scourge growler threatening over the key, as the light coming from the key made him look all the more sinister. As the predacon reached its full height it let loose a terrifying roar and then lunged at Optimus.
Optimus tense and blinked at the sudden attack and activated his weapons. He was shocked though to only find himself back in his vehicle mode inside of the plane. Optimus immediately deactivated his vehicle weapons as he knew there was no danger.
He soon realised that it was the key as it tried to tell him something. He now understood that the key was in Megatron's possession and that they needed to retrieve it. But what puzzled him was what was with Jackson and why did the predicon appear. It didn't make sense.
"Optimus is everything alright?" asked ratchet who was behind him and had been awoken when Optimus powered up his weapons.
"I am not sure old friend." Respond Optimus after a moment of thought.
"What do you mean?" Ratchet then asked.
"While I was in recharge the matrix of leadership connect to the key of Vector Sigma." Said Optimus as he began to explain what had happened.
"What did the Matrix show you?" Ratchet inquired as he wanted to know what Optimus had seen.
"In the vision I had found Jackson, but he did not seem well. He had gestured for me to follow him and he lead me to the key of Vector Sigma. When I approached the key, it showed me that it was in Megatron's hand." Told Optimus as he began tell Ratchet what he saw.
"Are you saying Megatron has the key Optimus!?" asked Ratchet Shocked.
"Yes old friend. I believe the key was warning me that the key is now in his possession. But that was not all it had revealed to me." Answered Optimus as he also began to explain that there was more.
"What else did it show you?" inquired Ratchet as he wanted to know the rest.
"After Megatron had faded I had asked Jackson what had happened and he pointed to the key once more. When I looked at the key, the second predacon appeared. After that it proceed to attack me and the vision ended." Said Optimus as he finished telling Ratchet what had happened.
"What do you think it mean Optimus?" asked Ratchet.
"I do not know old friend; all I know is that something terrible has happened." Responded Optimus sadly. "And I fear the predacon has something to do with it." He then added.
"What do you think we should do?" asked Ratchet as he was unsure of this all meant. Optimus remained silent for a few moments as he too was unsure of how to handle this.
"For now we shall remain focus on the task at hand, with getting setup at our new home. But once we are ready, we are to begin searching for the nemesis and rescue Jackson." Optimus finally said as he gave Ratchet a response.
"Once I have reassembled the ground bridge I will begin searching for the nemesis, so that you and the others can rescue Jack, Optimus." Said Ratchet as he tried to reassure his old friend.
"Thankyou Ratchet." Replied Optimus as he was thankful for his reassurance in the matter.
'Jackson, please be alright when we find you.' Thought Optimus as he began to pray to Primus that Jack was alright.
(The nemesis)
The nemesis flew through the air as the sun shined behind it. Inside of his lab Shockwave along with Soundwave as he examined the key to Vector Sigma. After Megatron had walked into the ship Megatron had asked him and soundwave to see if they could access the key so that he may learn it secrets. Sadly though for them, they had not been able to do so. Soundwave had tried to use his hacking abilities to see if he could get pass the keys firewalls, but he had yet to even penetrate the first firewall of what would most likely be hundreds. Shockwave had done dozens of scans on the device to see if he could tamper with it but could not after several tries. He had even tried to see if he could extract the information through a cortical psychic patch, but only meet the same results.
The doors to the lab opened and in walked Megatron, along with Starscream.
"Shockwave, have you been able to learn any… secrets that the key may hold?" asked Megatron as he walked up to the scientist who stopped hi work and turned around.
"No lord Megatron. The key proves to be to difficult to extract information from. We sadly are not able to gather any intel from it, with the knowledge and tools currently at our disposal." Replied Shockwave as he looked up at Megatron. Megatron made a noise of disproval and clenched his fists.
"Then what use is the key to us?" Asked Starscream with a sly grin at seeing Shockwave fail.
"There is still one use the key has for us Starscream. That being bait for a trap to use on Optimus and the autobots." Said Megatron as he looked at the key.
"Soundwave." He said as he turned to face Soundwave. "I want you to find a suitable location to setup an ambush using the key." He then added, to which Soundwave just nodded.
"Starscream, when Soundwave finds a location place the key there and take the predicons with you to destroy the autobots." Megatron then ordered as he turned to look at Starscream. Starscream tensed as he became worried about being put in charge of the predicons again.
"M-me master? Surly if Soundwave is finding the location he could lead the predacons there." Starscream said as he tried to weasel out of it. Megatron turned around and looked darkly at Starscream, which caused him to back up slightly.
"At once Master." He then said in order to calm his master from hurting him.
Starscream and Soundwave then walked through doors and out of the bridge as they headed to the flight deck to get the predicons. As they walked through the halls Starscream turned to Soundwave.
"Soundwave" he said as he got Aoundwave's attention. "Could you inform a squadron of my seeker armada to… meet us on the flight deck with the predacons?" he asked which caused Soundwave stopped and turned to him.
"Take the predacons with you to destroy the autobots" he replayed Megatron's order.
"I-I am. I just believe that it would be… tactile to bring a squad with us. To… ensure that we have enough fire power to destroy them, should they prove to much for them." He said as he tried to cover up that he really wanted them there to ensure he could protect himself from the predacons, if they chose to attack him.
Soundwave looked at him silently for a few moments which made Starscream a little worried, he then lit up his visor showing a squadron of seekers heading towards the flight deck, before turning and began walking towards the flight deck. Starscream let out a sign of relief and began walking as well. They soon reached the flight and saw a squadron of seekers and the predacons waiting for them.
(With the autobots)
The autobots were now minutes away from the drop off point and everyone was getting ready to jump. Two of the three troops were giving Raf, Miko and June a run down on how to land safely once the parachutes deployed. The chutes themselves were rigged to deploy the moment they jumped out, as were the autobots to ensure they deployed.
The last soldier undid all the straps holding the autobots they could roll out when they reach the drop off zone. Once done he walked up to the access ramp and pushed a button on the wall causing it to lower and allow the wind to blow into the fuselage. He then walked over to Optimus and began to explain what was to happen.
"We're about to reach the drop zone. Your chutes will automatically deploy once out. You will land south of the base, with your comrades. Once you land proceed to the side of the clearing so that we can deploy your cargo safely" he yelled over the wind to Optimus.
"Understood" replied Optimus as he as well as the other got ready to be pushed out.
One of the troops ran up the stairs to the cockpit to talk to the piolets. After a few seconds, he ran back down and approached the two other troops and Raf, Miko and June.
"One minute tell were over the drop zone get ready." He said as he then ran to tell the bots the same thing.
As they waited Raf looked out the back and became nervous as he had never doe this before. Miko saw this and punched his shoulder lightly.
"Keep it together dude. It's not every day we get to jump from a plane." She said excitedly. "We'll be fine." She then added.
Raf just looked out the back again and gulped as he prepared himself to jump. June looked no better as she clearly had sweat building on her forehead showing she was just as nervous.
Two of the troops walked to ether side of the ramp and watched the panel as they waited for a green light. After a few seconds the light came on and the troops gesture for them to jump.
One by one the autobots drove out, with their parachutes deploying moments later as the began to descend to the clearing below. Once the last Autobot was out Raf, Miko and June walked to the edge of the ramp.
"I don't think I can do this." Said Raf as he tried to back away from the edge. June saw he was scared and grabbed his hand, and got on one knee as she looked at him.
"It's okay Raf. I'm scared too. So lets jump together." She said as she tried to ease the boy's worries. Raf looked out again and her hand and nodded.
"Okay." He said as he got ready to jump.
"On the count of three. One… two… three." She said and both June and Raf jumped out, as their parachutes deployed seconds later and they began to also descend to the ground.
Miko looked back at the troops and gave them a salute and then jump off after Raf and June. The troops then began to run to the back of the plane to get ready to push the Autobots supplies out.
As they lowered to the ground they saw the ground was nothing but grass surrounded by trees, and like the troop had told Optimus the Base's helipad could be seen to the south of them.
With in a minute all of the autobots and humans landed on the ground and some became entangled in their parachute… mainly Miko. Once Raf, Miko and June had their chutes off they ran over to the autobots to undue theirs so they could transform. One by one the autobots transformed and soon everyone was standing in robot mode.
"That was Awesome! Can we do that again!?" asked Miko excitedly.
"I don't think so Miko. My heart can't take things like that." Responded June as she held her chest slightly as Raf nodded. They then turned and saw that the plane was now coming in for a second run to drop off their belongings.
"Autobots." Said Optimus gaining everyone attention. "Proceed to safety." He said he pointed to the edge of the clearing.
Everyone then began to run to the edge of the clearing in order to allow the plane to drop off their belongings. Once at the edge of the clearing they watched as the plane passed by and one by one a crate with their belongings dropped out. When the last one was pushed out the ramp began to close showing that everything had been dropped. Everyone with the exception of Optimus and Ratchet waved to plane as it began to head back to the States.
Soon the plane flew out of sight and everyone began walking towards their belongings. As they reached them they looked in to check and make sure that they weren't damage. Bulkhead and smokescreen found the creates that held what Energon they had, and were glad to see it in tacked. Arcee found the crate with their scanning equipment and like Bulkhead and smokescreen, was glad to see it was okay. Ratchet had reached the one with his temporary medical tools and thank the allspark that they were alright. Bumblebee found the one with Ratchet's other work tools and after a quick glance saw nothing wrong with them. Optimus approach the largest crate which held empty energon cube and inspected them for any damage. The human approached the smaller crates that held human supplies for the new base.
As they finished they all looked up and saw Ultra Magnus begin to land his ship by the edge of the clearing. As they walked towards the ship the platform lowered and Ultra Magnus walked out.
"The landing pad was not large enough to accommodate my ship. So I had to fly around until your arrival." He said as he approached the other. "We will need to make it a priority to expand the pad and the entrance hanger for my ship sir." He then said as he looked up at Optimus. "If we are to ensure that this site remains dark to the enemy." He then added.
"Understood Ultra Magnus. But for now, let focus on getting our equipment and supplies into our new base. Then we must focus on rebuilding the ground bridge and our scanners so we can monitor Decepticon activity." Responded Optimus, to which Ultra Magnus just nodded.
Everyone then grabbed what they could and began to walk to the base, as they would come back for the rest once they dropped what they have off inside the new base.
(With the Decepticons)
Starscream, Soundwave, the predicons and the other decepticons walked out of a ground bridge and found themselves in a forest. The trees were wide apart giving enough room to allow the predicons room to move. The sun was just about to rise as the sky was turning from a dark blue to a bright orange. In front of them was a hole in the side of a rock face. Starscream immediately recognized the shape of the entrance.
"An abandoned Mine!?" he asked Soundwave a little frighten.
Soundwave just turned to look at him and pointed to the mine, before turning around and walking further into the Cave. The seekers and the predicons walked past him as they too walked into the mine. After a few seconds Starscream fallowed a little hesitantly and fallowed Soundwave into the mine. They walked down the mine tunnel until they reached an opening that was very large as it could fit about four time the amount present. Soundwave walked to the center of the opening and place the key on the ground.
"Alright my seekers, we have been tasked by our master to use the key to ambush the Autobots. I want everyone in tactile positions around the mine." Said Starscream as he walked past the seekers who all nodded and began to find positions to hide and ambush the autobot. Starscream then looked to Predaking and Scourge. "That… also include… you two." He said though slightly a little more timid.
Scourge looked at Predaking as waited for him to make a call. Predaking was still for a moment as he growled slightly, which made Starscream very nervous. But Predaking stopped after a few seconds and began to walk towards the entrance and jumped onto a ledge just above it. Scourge growled and went to the back of the cave as he too jumped onto a ledge high up on the wall.
"And remember… no one attack until I give the order." Starscream then said, before he too approached a pile of boulders and hid behind it.
All they had to do now was wait, and see if the Autobots would fall for the trap.
(Autobots new base)
The autobots had finally brought the last of the supplies in and Ratchet had finished putting the Ground bridge back together. He tested it by activating it back at the clearing and having them throw a few stones through to see if they would come through alight, and sure enough they were fine.
Now Ratchet was currently setting up the communication system as everyone moved other items to their intended location for the base. Here reached for one of his tools and began to make adjustments to the systems. After a few minutes, he finished and powered up the systems. As the system booted up it began to scan for Autobot signals. Ratchet was about to turn around and leave when the console began beeping signaling it found something.
Ratchet ran back to the console and deactivated the alarm. He then began typing on the console to see what it had found. When Ratchet finally brought up the scanners findings. When he brought up the file his eyes widen in shock at what it found. He immediately activated his commlink to the other.
"Everyone I need you in the command center now!" he shouted before deactivating it. Within minutes everyone had reached the command center and was asking what had happened.
Optimus stepped forward as everyone quieted down.
"Ratchet, what seemed to be the problem?" Optimus asked as he knew it had to be something dire to get this kind of reaction out of him.
"Optimus the Key to Vector Sigma just popped on Radar." Replied Ratchet who was still in shock.
(Authors notes)
And done. Wow, so Optimus is starting to catch on to what has happened but is still not sure what that is though. Megatron now has a trap set and the autobots might fall into it, so that's not good. thank goodness he can't use the key, yet anyways. We still don't know what's going to happen to Wheeljack as he is still MIA. So, we will have to see what happens there. Next chapter we may be in for an epic battle depending on what course of action the Autobots take so let's hope things go their way.
I will try and get another chapter up in a few days, but as always I can't promise it. All I can promise is that it will come.
I do what your thought on what might happen in the battle so please do share your ideas.
Thank you guys so much for reading and fallowing this story it always lifts my spirits when I see more and more of you are enjoying this, so I can't stress it enough thankyou. i can't wait hear from you guys with next chapter.
Until next time, this is the Forgotten Soldier 343, signing off.