#13 - The Probe: Distance
It had been over two weeks since the failed take-over and she was itching for some real decisive action. Petty squabbles were getting old and she was downright sick of monitor duty. Going back and forth from the Standing Stones wasn't too much fun either. She wondered why Megatron had suddenly gained such an interest in the monument. All she and the scout group did was trace the markings that were there on the stones and calculating the distances between the stones and their positions. She had no idea what he wanted with those, but she had to do what she was told.
Starfeather was at her clearing, sitting cross-legged on top of the stone hill. Today, she was playing her recorder. The tune of The Voice by Celtic Woman floated all around the clearing and into the near by trees. Little did she know that someone had jumped the fence behind her and was listening in appreciation to her musical gift. When she heard the clapping of large paws after she finished, she nearly jumped out of her metal skin.
"Eep!" Not again. She whipped around to see who it was. "Oh, hehe- hi Tigatron," she greeted nervously. "H-how long have you been there?"
"Long enough to know that you can play wonderful music on that instrument very well," the tiger replied. She blushed.
"Thanks," she said as she put her recorder down. "So, what's the good word?"
"And good it is. Cybertron is coming," Tigatron answered. "A temporal probe has been detected. However, the first attempt to contact it failed but it will circle around again. We are planning to build a stronger communications tower slightly inside Predacon territory and we need you to keep their attention away from us, if possible." Starfeather was left speechless for a moment.
"Cybertron is... coming?" she repeated. No, this was too soon. She couldn't abandon her friends yet. She needed to figure out how to let them go and... She shook her head to clear it. "O-okay, I'll try." Tigatron cocked his head, sensing her distress.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No, it's just I... I don't want to leave..." He looked at her sympathetically. He didn't want to leave either, but hers could be another reason than his.
"You don't want things to change again for you. I can understand that but change is a part of life like the turn of the seasons."
"But seasons return after a year. We won't be returning." She sighed, her shoulders drooping along with her wings. She dropped her gaze to her hands that were resting in her lap. She closed her optics when she felt moisture begin to accumulate. How could she call herself Terrorsaur and Waspinator's friend? She was betraying them. They would hate her to the Pit after this...
Tigatron knew that she was very close to the Predacons. He wondered why this could be so but he felt sorry for her that her "close friends" would get what was coming to them and they would look on her as the traitor she was.
"You are not responsible for what your friends have done, but you knew this day would come."
"I know," she sniffed. "But... I'm not ready." He couldn't really respond to that. He simply nodded.
"We begin construction tomorrow morning." He then turned and padded away, leaping nimbly over the fence.
Starfeather sighed again. One of the tears managed to fight its way out of the corner of her optic. She wiped it away quickly. If she was going to her new home soon, she needed to read up on it. She had no idea what Cybertron was like and was curious.
She went into beast mode and shot upward. She hovered for a second before diving down slightly toward the treetops then righted herself. Flying was beyond second nature to her now. She had yet to try some more stunts besides flipping and diving and flying upside-down. She had fun learning these things with her wingmates... That thought made her spark heavy in her chest. How could she go back and face them now?
-x-
When she got back to the base and Terrorized, she shoved her sorrow and uncertainty aside. She would find a way to let them go soon. She snooped around the computers for basic info on Cybertron then, installing the data onto a pad, headed for her quarters to read in peace. Once in her room, Starfeather settled at her desk, activated the datapad, and began reading.
There were several city continents on the planet and the history was fascinating. She read about the Autobots and Decepticons, how their factions formed, about the Minicon and Energon and Unicron wars and how those wars brought the transformers to many planets outside their own solar system, she read about the most notable figures in these wars like the first Megatron and Optimus Prime, of the people who served under them, of those who did survive to see the end of the wars.
She thought it was odd that earth was mentioned, but she did seem to remember anything about shape-shifting alien robots having visited her homeworld. She ultimately chucked it up to the government covering up somehow. She wasn't much for conspiracy theories so had little to go on.
After reading what she wanted, shut off the datapad and left her room with it. She set it with some others on a table and went back to her room. This time, she took out her diary and put in a new entry. It had been a while since she last wrote in it.
Date N/A
Dear Diary,
My time here is limited. The Maximals are trying to make contact with some kind of probe that Cybertron sent out to find them. I don't think I'm ready to leave this place, this battlefield, my wingmates... I'm afraid. They're going to find out about my true allegiance and will hate me for the rest of time. I want to try and let them go easily, maybe make them see why I did what I did. I don't belong here anyway...
She closed the beige and lavender cover and placed it back in her subspace. The tips of her fingers scraped against something. The object's name escaped her memory so she brought it out and held it up to optic level. It was the friendship necklace she shared with Tina. This brought a sad smile and a flood of memories to the front of her mind, drowning out thoughts and plans of the future.
"I probably won't see you again... just know that I'll always be your best friend forever, no matter what separates us," she whispered sadly to it. She decided to put it on for old-time's sake and went back to her daily duties.
-x-
A few days later, Waspinator, Terrorsaur, and Scorponok had been sent out to patrol the border. Starfeather got the morning shift at monitor duty again. She should have gone instead of scorpion-butt! Waspinator had been upset at it too but it soon slipped his mind. She had her elbows resting on the console and her chin in her hands. She was beginning to despise monitor duty. Tarantulas had disappeared to do some kind of experiment again and it was her job to try and find him. She hated that spider.
Suddenly, the screen switched from a river scene to where the Maximals were building the communications array. She gasped and quickly looked around to see if anyone else was near. No one was, fortunately, and she manually changed the view to another camera. She sighed with relief. But it was of no use. Terrorsaur came back a half hour later with video feed from Scorponok of the Maximals building something on their territory. Tarantulas had two of the Maximals, Tigatron and Cheetor. His newest 'toy' could lock its enemies in beast mode. After putting the big cats under lock and key, the Predacons watched and analyzed the video several times.
Starfeather kept her mouth shut. She hoped the others would think she did so because she didn't have the foggiest idea about anything like this. However, Megatron wanted to see how much she really knew about these things since she had come to them so asked her to give a suggestion.
"Um... a spying tower?" she guessed.
"Could it be a weapon?" Blackarachnia wasn't about to be outdone by an ex-human. The raven glared at her.
"It looks more like a long-range signal array," Tarantulas concluded. Megatron looked thoughtful.
"Yes... but why would Optimus risk building it inside our perimeter?"
There was a groan from one of the cages. This prompted the she-spider to say, "Maybe we should ask the kittens."
"Hm, excellent idea," the Predacon leader agreed. It was Cheetor who was waking up. He sat up and shook his head. The first thing he saw was Megatron's saurus head-hand peering into the cage.
"Whoa, talk about nightmares," the cheetah mumbled.
"Your nightmares are about to get much worse Maximal, unless you tell me about this signal array Optimus is building," Megatron threatened.
"Why don'chya ask him yourself, Mega-dump," Cheetor spat tiredly. Megatron grabbed the cage with such force that he shook it.
"You are trying what little patience I have, feline!" Suddenly, an alarm went off. "What's that?" he demanded.
"The space scanner and it's picking up some sort of craft," Tarantulas answered, reading the diagnostics. "It'll be over the planet in ten cycles."
"The probe!" Cheetor blurted excitedly. Starfeather bit her lip. Stupid cat, he just gave it away...
"Probe?" Megatron repeated questioningly. Putting two and two together, he formulated a plan. "Quickly, prepare for a full scale assault. The array must be destroyed. Tarantulas, bring the transformation lock lens. Starfeather, stay and guard our guests." Orders passed, he left with everyone following except Starfeather.
"Me and my big mouth," Cheetor scolded himself.
"They would have attacked the array anyway, but at least they left us with a friend," Tigatron tried to comfort his comrade. Starfeather looked behind her to make sure no one was there and turned back to the two.
"Two lock picks coming right up." She let them out quietly and was about to tell them the way out when Tigatron spoke.
"Can you lead us to a restoration chamber so we can escape this transformation lock?"
"Sure, this way." She led them to the CR tanks and waited only a few moments. Once they were able to transform again, she spoke up. "Before you go, you have to knock me out." Cheetor started to ask why then remembered.
"O-okay... You won't hold it against me, will you?" She stiffly shook her head no and tensed.
"Hit me." She clenched her fists, ready to bear the pain. Cheetor readied to land a punch. His fist held in the air and quivered a little. He really didn't want to do this. Finally, he closed his golden optics and punched her in the gut. She grunted as she stumbled back, biting back a yelp. He went and kneed her in the chest and punched the side of her head. She fell on her side and on instinct struggled to get back up, fighting the dizziness, but everything went black.
-x-
"That doesn't stop me from feeling guilty for beating her up like that," Cheetor was saying. The Maximals were back at the base now. Cheetor's conscience was bothering him. He felt like it was his fault that they were too late to stop Megatron because he stopped to beat up their spy to keep her hidden.
"You had too Cheetor," Optimus replied gently. "If you didn't, she might have been exposed and who knows what Megatron would do to her."
Yeah, Cheetor thought bitterly. Have his fun then kill her.
-x-
"... she's wakin' up..."
...Terrorsaur?
"...rd-bot? ..."
Waspinator? Starfeather groaned, reaching a hand to her forehead.
"Wha'happened?" she asked groggily.
"We found you beat up pretty bad where the Maximals were being held," Terrorsaur explained.
"Cagezz beat up too," Waspinator added. She was confused for only a moment. She grimaced.
"Oh yeah, I left them for just a minute and heard some banging and came back to see what they were doing," she lied. "When I got there, Tigatron leaped on me and held me down while Cheetor left the room. I'm guessing he went to find the CR tanks because he came back in robot form. That's when Tigatron left us and I tried to fight off Cheetor, but he got me. It went black and now I'm here."
"He got you alright. You sure you're okay?" Terrorsaur commented. She sat up, managing a grin for them.
"I can talk properly, can't I?"
"So, the little baby bird is finally awake," Blackarachnia interrupted, leaning in the doorway.
"Oh give it a rest, sticks-for-legs," Starfeather spat. "You know perfectly well I'm not a baby."
"Whatever. So, do you want to hear all about our victory?" the she-spider went on. The raven's optics narrowed, suppressing her disappointment and relief.
"You destroyed the array?"
"Of course we did!" Blackarachnia scoffed. "What do you think we were doing? Having a nice little afternoon chat with the Maximals? I don't think so."
"I didn't say you weren't-"
"Stop!" Terrorsaur screeched, pressing his hands against his audio receptors. "You femmes are giving me a headache!"
"Sorry," Starfeather mumbled. Blackarachnia huffed and left. Starfeather glared at her as she left. "Can you believe her?" she growled, crossing her arms.
"Wazzpinator no like femme zzzpider bot much either," the wasp replied.
"Anyway, there's one more thing," Terrorsaur said. "Megatron is allowing us extra energon rations for our victory."
"Really?" she gasped.
"Oh yezz! Let'zzz go!" Waspinator zipped quickly out of the room. Terrorsaur started to follow, but stopped and looked back, seeing that she wasn't following.
"Coming?" he asked. Starfeather was about to say yes, but paused. If she was going to leave them at some point in the future, she needed to learn to let go now.
"In a little bit," she answered. "I'm still kind of dizzy."
He wasn't convinced, but he nodded and left her. She sighed and swung her legs over the edge of the examination table.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute..." she murmured to no one and sat there, twiddling her thumbs, wondering how she lived with herself. At least she didn't need to say goodbye today.
