Meanwhile Back At The Ranch
Adam had visited Dragon Valley yet again to check up on some technological research that his science team had been working on.
Even though he was only just starting his secret military project in Port Angeles, he was also constructing several of his own projects here at Dragon Valley research laboratories. He had figured that the military would try and take over his project once they had gotten the hang of it and wanted him out of the picture, only keeping him around for the funding. He had been kind enough to let them build the battle mechanoids he had in mind in the first place. Ones that were infinitely better than the models they had tried to build in years past. But he was also building his own set of mechanoids here at Dragon Valley Base.
It was in the best interests of the planet to develop a front line battle mechanoid as the EDC had yet to come up with anything viable for the time that the Transformers, namely the Autobots had been on Earth. And their scientific studies of the Cybertronians had led to dead ends in terms of making their own transformers.
The EDC had been formed originally to let Earth have a go at defending itself. While its main base of operations was in Washington DC in the United States, it also had a base on the fledgling Moon Base area that they were developing for permanent residency, as well as another base outside of Los Angeles to the north of the sprawling city.
Several days ago Adam had been in contact with the EDC and they were to meet up at Port Angeles Military Installation, awaiting a go over of the project that Adam was developing for them. But at the moment he was busy at the Dragon Valley Base.
During the course of the project's set up, he brought in several of Ella's undercover mechs to weed out any possible spies, unknown to the military of course. Once Adam had been sufficiently convinced it was safe to start he did so, but a few of Ella's special agents remained behind under Adam's direct control, namely a Special Forces mech team known as Team Excelsior. The military viewed this lot as just special agents, damn good at their jobs and people not to be messed with, but little did they know they were not all human after all, some were mechanoids, and others were cyborgs.
He did a tour of the work at the research laboratories and was about to leave.
"Comrede Drake?" called someone.
Adam knew the voice vaguely. It belonged to Ella's right hand mech, Freefall. He had never had the pleasure of seeing her in her Biomode, even though he had known her most of his long human life. "Yes, What is it Freefall?" he answered.
Even though they were alone and she was in her Biomode, Freefall was not keen on being called her mech name. "It is Freya, Comrade Drake, Freya Fallen." The name in itself was kind of contradictory to her as Freya was a Norse goddess of life and she was an accomplished assassin, and the 'Fallen' name was a tie to her old role as a former enemy of the Alliance and now one of their allies.
She paused for a moment while he nodded to her, acknowledging her name, "It is ebout this project. Your mother vishes to meke sure you incorporete design ideas she submitted to you some time ego." She hands over a hand held device, a pocket PC and allows Adam to view some technical schematics of Ella's designs. The same datapad that Starscream had tried to take from her previously.
"Good." Adam said, have those transferred to my pocket PC and I will keep you updated." He had slowly been walking with Freya to his car outside in the car park and had his limousine waiting. "Are you coming along? I'm overdue for a meeting with the EDC Commanders at Port Angeles Base about the project?"
"Da, Comrede Drake, I vill attend meeting vith you." She allows Adam to get in first and then climbs in after him, watching as the car door closes of its own accord. Freya looks around, "This is new model?"
"Indeed." says the car.
"End who might you be?" asks Freya.
"I am known as Roadshow." The car stops talking to Freya and addresses Adam. "Will we be attending the meeting at Port Angeles Military Base, Mr. Drake?"
"Yes we are Roadshow, and if you don't mind, we need to rush, I am already running late."
Inside Dragon Valley Base, below Adam and Freya.
"How in tha pit did we get stuck with a job like this! I mean we're mercs and soldiers not labourers!" whines Hotshot.
"Simmer down Hot-head! We got stuck with it 'cause you had to go and open you big mouth and sass the boss lady." replies Seastriker.
"And now we all have to suffer because of you!" screeches Bombshell. "I wouldn't be stuck here doing this work if you had bothered to keep your vocalisers switched off. When the boss asks you to do something, you do it, period."
"Tha's a laugh comin' from ye! I've read yer background. Ye've gotten in trouble more times than I 'ave with tha boss." Retorts Hotshot in his Irish sounding vocalisers.
"I was younger then, when I first joined this outfit. I'm older now, older than you and much more experienced at working with Freefall."
"B'sides, if all of us are in trouble for me mouthin' off, how come 'tis only us?" asks Hotshot referring to the mech's cleaning up in the armoury.
Seastriker had just finished cleaning his area, helping out Carnage to unload the new weapons in the storage warehouse and hears what Hotshot had said, "Because Nightfall is on leave that Freefall had promised him ages ago…"
"Probably over in England snoggin' that cute lady o' his with tha nice tailgate, ooohee could I do things ta her ta make her squeal!
Seastriker continues despite the interruption. "…Sunstorm has already finished his part and gone back to his quarters to do some meditation…"
"The nut that he is ta be sure!"
"Bombshell and myself are still here with you…"
"Unfortunately…"
Bombshell glares at Hotshot, and Seastriker continues, "…Carnage was going over to England, but instead, Freefall put her on guard duty. I think Thundercracker and Skywarp are undercover in their Biomodes somewhere. Carrion is unloading the new weapons out back. Warblade and Switchblade are upstairs on security detail patrolling the base with Carnage."
"Likely stories!"
"That's it! I've had it with you and your arrogance!" growls Bombshell exasperated. Hotshot thought he was quick enough to evade someone of Bombshell's size, but he wasn't. For a big built soldier she was faster than she looked. She was a triple changer after all. She finally caught up with him and socked him one so hard in the head case that he didn't get up again. "Now isn't that better?" she aims her comment at Seastriker, "Now we have some peace and quiet!"
Seastriker is unperturbed. He just looks at Bombshell, shrugs and then returns to his work cataloguing the new weapons with Carrion in another part of the armoury. Bombshell finished her cleaning, working around her team mates offline chassis. Hotshot was sprawled out on the floor and not moving, quiet as the proverbial mouse
Freya and Adam had been chatting for quite some time over a variety of things. Adam had found her to be a rather quiet and unapproachable individual before, but he realised that if you can get her interested in talking about science, she will knaw your ears off. He however changed the subject from science to something more general.
"So how are things, around the base I mean? Mother gave you a new team some time ago after you left the Roughnecks roster, and while I've not had a chance to see you in action alongside them in battle."
"It is very big hessle to keep them in line. They are each one e Decepticon efter all!" She generally didn't talk with others but she found herself relaxed around Adam enough to converse on a friendly level. "Von of the new team members, Hotshot, still vill not learn to settle down end beheve himself. He elveys becktalks end gets himself in trouble. It is like heving to vork vith Heatveve egein."
Adam laughs quietly, "I'm sure you'll sort that out! So how is your new charge going? What is his name? Starscream, I think?"
Freya just smiles to herself and thinks about what her charge has been up to lately. "Not much I suppose? I em not heppy I em needing to leave bese todey to meke reports on your work, but I vill heve to trust my team to teke cere of business should Starscream prove to be e problem on site."
On Earth, Starscream had awoken from being offline, and had gotten up rather groggily. When his optics finally came into focus, he could see his restraint collar on the ground, still electrified from being severely shorted out from something. He noticed how small it was, and then looked at his hands. He gleamed at his mecha hands.
Earlier in the week he had gotten on the wrong side of Freefall and she had locked him in his quarters to teach him a lesson.
"I only wish you were here now Freefall. I would certainly teach you a lesson about who is the more superior mechanoid." Comments Starscream angrily.
He tried to look at the rest of himself but he couldn't, at least not completely and so found a mirrored surface instead.
He thought upon seeing his new robot mode, 'Whoever would have thought that I could be even more handsome now than what I was before?' He laughed out loud, and then turned to the door. In an his offline state, the power surge that had coursed through his system, had involuntarily reformatted his alt mode to something different in appearance to what he was used to seeing.
"All this time, and all I had to do was wait for this!" he laughs to himself, 'Figures!" as he left his quarters to find a way off of the base.
Having arrived at Port Angeles Military Base, both Adam and Freya got out of Roadshow and were escorted by the waiting soldiers to the area where the project was being carried out in well guarded hangars.
Adam noticed the absence of the EDC representatives and queried one of the soldiers.
"You will be told the reason for their absence inside Sir. But I do believe the representatives from the EDC will join you in time. They were waylaid at another military base and will be a few more hours."
Adam was none too surprised at this. It happened often with clients when he had business dealings at Drake Corp. He was not one to enjoy waiting, and when the soldiers had left them he asks Freya, "Perhaps we should go and meet the project protectors." He says slightly amused. "And my other guests should be arriving here soon."
Freya only nodded. She was familiar with Adam's undercover operatives working here at the base to protect the project from being taken over completely by the military, keeping an eye on things as Adam could not be there on the military base 24-7. These operatives were also taking part in the construction process of the battle mechanoid units.
As they ventured down the facility's hallways they came across a couple of these operatives and accompanied them to another room to talk business.
"Greetings Comrede Irons." Comments Freya.
Henry Irons isn't a very big fan of Freefall's but he does the gentlemanly thing and responds politely, tipping his baseball cap, "Howdy ma'am." He turns and talks to Adam, "Mr Drake."
"Hello Henry! How's things?" he asks.
Freya settles herself on the couch in this sitting room and begins typing things into her palm PC unit.
"Things 'ere 'avn't been quiet. Just this week we were caught off guard by a spah from tha outsahde. Wouldna happened if Pete were 'ere. He's bett'r at this team leader stuff than ah am an' ah made one little mistake that may have cost us the whole project. If ah was better then we wouldn't 'ave been hacked…" Henry was exasperated.
Adam was slightly worried about the apparent attack, "What were they after? Do you know?"
"Ah had Dragon Valley Base run a diagnostic. He was prob'ly after the project blueprints. Tha humans here don't have the tech that we 'ave at Dragon Valley at least, that's the surmahse they came up with." He pauses, he sees Freya typing down everything, and he grimaces and then continues, "DVB came back with ah name, ah one Lucius Mitchell. Don't know what he got but…" He notices the look of recognition on Adam's face at the mention of the name, "You know tha name?"
Adam smiles, "Yes." He pauses and looks up at Henry, then around to his companion, who had been keeping quiet until now. "Right now he's of very little concern to me."
"I tol' you amigo; you should've put more buffers up around the computer systems to protect it." Whines Julio in his Spanish accent. This was the other person that was with Henry, his team mate. Julio Fernandez had kept quiet till now because Henry had asked him not to complain but he couldn't help himself. He had to say something.
"Ah would've, but programmin' ain't mah thing! It's weapons ahm good at." comments Henry.
"Gentlemen, please. Don't worry about what Lucius Mitchell has done." Adam cut in. "I'll take care of it from here. I already went ahead and made a dummy program at the start to protect the core system from infiltration before we even started building anything, so the system is fine. I will check it out just in case. The barrier around the core system is interlaced with several different Deltronian tech programs, very heavily encrypted. In between all the data streams I have programmed other data that is unrelated to our project here right now, and it's layered with all sorts of encrypted data and booby traps. For this Mitchell to get the blueprints of my battle units, he'd have to go through all of that to get them.
"While I don't trust the military's protection grid, I do trust my own. Which is why I insisted on an independent system from the base's military protection barriers for the computers they let us use."
"All that Mr Mitchell would have gotten away with would be blueprints for one of the US military's old transformer projects that went nowhere. Let Mitchell give those plans to Holmes like he's most likely been paid to." Interjects Adam.
"Holmes? As in Micheal Holmes, your rival? The one who is CEO of Evo Corp?" questions Julio.
"The very same." States Adam. "Holmes has had that tech savvy spy Mitchell on my tail for years now, and what I've just said about him is his standard M.O. Up until now I've managed to keep him away from me and out of my PC systems and out of my private life as the world doesn't need to know about that.
"But this man is a genius with anything technological. I don't know how he does it. Whether he is as brilliant as his reputation or he is using some technological device or something. We will never know unless we get hold of him and ask.
"Only Holmes seems to know where he lives and how to contact him. We've been unsuccessful in capturing him thus far. Interpol hired Heatwave's group to try and track him down some years ago, but he's too well connected and disappeared like a shadow every time they tried.
"I can only say that if Holmes has Mitchell on the case, then we'll have to watch our own backs as well as the ones around us who aren't affiliated with Ella's group, or there will be trouble.
"Holmes is quite serious about taking us out by any means. Him and that 'anti robots' thing of his. We'll have to get this project up and running as soon as we can."
"By we, you mean us? As usual! Or the humans here?" asks Julio. "I'm not stretching my neck out for them again. I died here on their damn planet once before and I'm not keen on dying for them again, human mech or otherwise."
"Freya looks up from typing her report, "Ve know very vell how much you dislike this plenet, Julio. You do not hesitete to remind us all of time. If ve could send you to Delta system on permanent basis then ve would send you there. Then ve vould not heve to listen to you vhine all of time, da?"
Julio was about to get up and do something but Henry insists he lets it go.
"Fortunately yer of use ta us here on Earth old buddy, so fer now we need ta work together with Adam on this 'till we can go back to our real home." Henry was up on his feet. He had come up behind Julio while he was talking and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder for his comfort.
"It don' make me feel any better about bein' on this mud ball of a planet."
"Yeah I know." responds Henry.
Adam waits for Henry to finish a short conversation with Julio. Julio leaves and he is able to talk. "Henry? I know Peter isn't here right now and I have faith in you to get done what needs to be done. Call in Ray, Jack', Billy and Brian." He takes a sheet of plass paper from Freya. A clear sheet of plastic like paper with black type printed on it, and hands it to Henry. "This should provide you with all the necessary information for now to do what needs to be done. The quicker we get this done the better. We may need those battle units sooner rather than later. I've got a feeling that something is on the horizon."
Henry turns to leave but Adam stops him, "Oh and Henry? I've got two more operatives that mother let me use. Two of Freefall's soldiers I do believe. You will probably recognize them by their voices, so don't go starting any fights ok."
"Ah don' lahke tha sound o' that." Henry shrugs, "But hey whatever ya need to do tah help us Adam we'll listen."
"They're here for extra security, nothing else." Responds Adam
The week had been rather quick for the students of Port Angeles High school and now they all had time to relax and think about what to do for the weekend.
Out in the parking lot, Laura was with her friends. Christine was explaining to some younger students, admiring her car that she didn't drive. It drove itself.
"You see we aren't legally able to drive till we are 18 in this country, but we are allowed to be accompanied by an IQ-AI smart car unit."
"What's that?" asks one of the freshmen with her. She had started talking to some kids that were here with their parents waiting for their older brother to show up. And their parents didn't mind Christine keeping them entertained with conversation.
"Well a smart car is one that can drive itself."
"So it's like a transformer?"
"No not really. They can't transform and they are more like a programmed computer than actually having a personality. Although you can get real expensive ones that have personalities, that talk too."
"Kind of like a pet that does what you want and drives where you tell it then?" asks the other teen.
"Exactly!"
"Oh yeah! I've heard of those." Speaks up one of the youngsters.
"Have you called it anything? I mean if it is a pet, you gotta name it right?"
Yeah, well, I prefer to think of my car as a she. I have this favourite old Stephen King Movie called Christine and I like the car from that movie so much…"
"Coz it's your name right?" interrupts the first teen.
"Yeah it is." She replied, giggling slightly. "And I like the movie so much; I named her She Devil, because I've already got the name Christine. I would be confusing to have both of us called that now wouldn't it."
Both of the young teens were enjoying their talk with Laura's friend. However they were unaware that they were both the younger siblings of one person who hated them and their group.
"Hey you two, get away from her! You'll end up catching something nasty and dropping dead, and then I'll have to bury you both." snarled their older brother.
The two kids looked at each other then one screams out, "Will not!" and then gets in the car where his mother was waiting.
"C'mon Roselyn!" Calls the mother to the other young teen, "Time to go." The second child quickly waves and goes to the car, where her two older brothers were waiting also.
Christine and the others vaguely watch the car leave before turning back to their own business. They were huddled around between Robert's van and Christine's Plymouth Fury.
"Yeah so what are we doin' for the weekend?" asks Robert.
Ally and Krysta had just shown up. And Robert continues. "We could crash out at my place and install these new things I got for my van. Laura's Aunt said they'd work like giving the car a personality and helps them talk too."
"That'd be fun!" comments Ryan. And the two of them strike up a conversation based around tech related subjects and the girls find something else to talk about.
"How about we go up to the mountain for the weekend? We can camp out and all!" asks Krysta. "I can have all my stuff ready real quick. I was supposed to go with Heather this weekend, but she opted out, had work to do. My niece, Lita is in town. I know she'd love to join us if she has time. And she has this truck that's better than an IQ system. It doesn't talk much but it's got a personality component that you can interact with."
Christine looks at Laura and Ally. Then she looks around to Aelya who had just joined the group. Her boyfriend Adrian had joined them also but had gone straight over to the boys when he heard the tech talk. "I guess we could. We've got a bigger group than usual this year. My dad might let me borrow the RV and Lita might bring her truck if she's able to come along."
"This all sounds so cool. I've never been camping before. Usually my dad tries not to let me out of his sight."
"Then let's go camping. It'll be an experience for you Ally." She turns to Aelya, "What about you?"
"Maybe! I'll see what Adrian wants to do." She responds.
Laura turns her attention to the boys who were huddled and talking by Roberts van and says, "We've decided to go camping up on Dragon Mountain and we don't care what you boys will do for the weekend."
"Is your dad going to let us use the RV again Christine?" asks Ryan. "That thing's got everything, satellite TV, schmick audio and visual systems, shower, toilet, fridge, stove, all the modern conveniences. I love it!"
"I'm sure he will. I'll just call and check. If he says yes then we had all better go and get ready so we can get to our spot on the mountain in a couple of hours." She makes the call and her father agrees. He'd figured the kids would want the RV for the long weekend, Monday being a public holiday with no school, so he went and pre packed the van already for them to use. "Cool Dad thanks!" comments Christine as she hangs up her cell phone. "Dad already packed it for us. It's ready to go now if we want!"
"Then we'd better get going then."
"We'll go too!" says Aelya clutching Adrian's arm.
They all get into gear to meet up at Christine's house later to go to Dragon Mountain for camping for that long weekend.
At Port Angeles Military Base, Adam had gotten tired of waiting for the EDC delegates to arrive, so he'd changed into a work shirt and started helping the undercover Team Excelsior to build the machines along with all the military scientists.
He looked around. Everyone was busy. Ray and Jackson were busy talking over technical data with several scientists about mechanical structure off to one side. Julio, Brian and Henry were making some technical adjustments to one unit, next to the one he was working on. He couldn't see Billy anywhere though. 'Probably in the test room testing out the working unit', he thought. 'Who else was missing? Oh yes Peter, but he's off world.'
Adam was lost in thought busily working on the mechanics of this mechanoids inner system. He didn't see his other two operatives walk in. But they didn't escape Freya's attention, considering they were from her team, the Dark Knights.
"Varren, Teylor!" Freya puts her tools away and droops down off of the mechanoids chassis to greet them. "You vere successful et errand I hed you do?" she asks.
Warren Skylar was the brassy one of the two. Taylor Corso was the quiet studious one, and also older than Warren. Both were not as they seemed, and were well aware of their true identities, despite being born as humans and having fully prosthetic Cybernetic bodies now. They were better known to most as Skywarp and Thundercracker respectively. Two former and very well known Decepticon soldiers. But many did not know they were and others would have thought them long dead, even Team Excelsior, as the primary members of that team were also reincarnated individuals with the same origins as the two Decepticons.
"Yeah, sure we got it!" comments Warren. "It was a slagging bugger to get in and out of the place, but we got the stuff. Would we ever fail at acquiring the stuff for you boss lady?" He hands over a data pad to her containing the data she had requested. Freya wasn't too impressed, Warren was always making passes at her and she didn't appreciate it, she'd given up telling him to stop a long time ago.
Freya is somewhat impressed by Warren's actions. Even though these two had fealty to Megatron in the past, they were now working for her, but for their own purposes and so they didn't often work with her main group all the time.
Both had been outcasts for most of their lives from everyone around them. It had made Warren somewhat cynical and resentful towards others but still as arrogant and obnoxious as ever, and Taylor a bit spiritualistic. But both had accepted who they really were straight away when Ella had shown them, it had all made sense to them. They had not even blinked or faltered once when she had told them. Like it was an affirmation of what they already knew.
"Anyway I'm off back to base for a tune up. That place gave me the creeps. You comin' TC? Perhaps we can go taunt Starscream again eh?" They both start to walk out of the hanger.
'Vait." She calls to them. Freya was not able to look at the data as yet that Warren had given her as her communications unit had started buzzing. "This is Freya, go ahead."
'Boss lady, we have a problem? I don't know what happened or even how it did but we are facing off with Starscream here on the base.'
"One moment." Freya calls to Warren and Taylor. "A moment please you two?" she motions for them to return to where she's standing. When they arrive back she asks Seastriker to continue.
'He just came out of nowhere! We had all finished doing the work you asked us to and had returned to Air command like we're supposed to do and he showed up causing trouble and off his collar.'
Freya could hear cursing in the background and recognized ammunition fire from both Bombshell and others. She knew that with Starscream's upgrades he'd be able to fight at her own levels and would now be far superior in strength and speed to any one member of her team and would be a force to be reckoned with. "Get him to stey if you cen, Seastriker. I vill join you soon with Varren and Taylor. Freya out."
The communications unit clicks off and Freya tells the two males to come with her. She apologizes to Adam for having to depart so abruptly and for taking the two new guards also.
He promises to send along the minutes of his meeting with the EDC delegates later.
After having gone to a quiet human free spot of a nearby hangar with an open set of doors before her, Freya transforms. Out of her Biomode and into her large dragon alt mode.
Warren and Taylor follow suit one by one, changing from their human Biomodes to their robot modes, when she takes off at incredible speed from the hangar with her stealth optics activated.
When the three arrive back at the base, it was already too late.
Several of her team sat by the walls in the Air Command runway licking their wounds. She noticed very quickly that Starscream had discovered his rise in power levels and had not bothered to hold back on using them, brutally damaging all of them. He had fought his way out of the base and spared no expense at doing so.
Warblade came racing up. "I found this in his quarters! I thought we'd be able to determine how he got out if we looked around."
She notices his leg wound but disregards it for now. She looks out over the open space of the drop at the end of the runway. It shows the forest area of the Dragon Mountain Reserve. "Hmmm…" she thinks. Bombshell who was pretty beaten up, having been released by Warblade and also Hotshot stands with her, who was online once again. "Scout the forest from sky with your stealth on. There vill be humens in forest, perhaps camping for weekend. We need not bring ettention to Starscream."
Bombshell speaks up, "I want to slag the bastard so bad right now!" she thumps the wall. "He caught us napping and I don't like it."
Switchblade asks, "Even though he's lost his collar due to whatever circumstance, he'll still have his distance co-ordinator working, is that why you're asking father to scout the forest?"
"Da." Answers Freefall.
"The co-ordinator?" asks Skywarp "Ain't that the thing that transforms you back to a Biomode automatically if there is an escapee gets out of the base? Even if the collar is off?" Freefall nods. "So that means if you get us to go trudging around down there we'll have to look for him in his Biomode, which he'll be stuck in. And he'll be vulnerable in too!" Skywarp was grinning, a chance to beat up on the mech who had humiliated for so long as a Decepticon soldier.
"Ve go hunting for him. Now we go!" They all run off to get ready, and she stands by the edge of the end of the runway, grateful that the humans don't know what is really here. The entrance to the runway covered up by a hologram. She could still feel the wind on her faceplate.