Chapter One
All Sawyer Neal ever wanted to do with her life was help people. That was her one goal, her one ambition, ever since she could remember. When she was a little girl playing on the playground at school and one of her classmates got hurt, she was the one to pull a bandaid out from her pocket and put it on before helping them to the nurse's office. She spent a lot of time in the nurse's office for someone who rarely got hurt. Just by observing her favorite faculty member whenever she could, she learned a lot about how to care for people, in more than just the physical sense. Sometimes, a kid only needed the reassurance that everything was okay. Sometimes, all they needed was time to relax and realize that their scraped knee wasn't really all that bad. Her elementary school nurse, Mrs. Kelly, taught her more about what humans need than anyone. Because of Mrs. Kelly, she was only seven years old when she decided she wanted to be a doctor.
After coming to this conclusion, she threw herself headfirst into her schooling. When she told her parents what she wanted to do with her life, they were very proud, but also let her know that the path she had set herself on was also an extremely difficult one; one with a lot of schooling and requiring excellent grades. Of course, they might have had an alternative motive for mentioning the grades - but what parents didn't want their kid to do well in school? And do well in school she did. Sawyer applied herself as hard as she could without burning herself out - after all, what good would she be if she didn't know her limits? She wound up skipping a few grades and finishing her medical school residency at the very young age of twenty-three. Now, at age twenty-five, she was well versed in her occupation and the youngest on-call trauma surgeon at her hospital.
That wasn't accounting for the time she spent as a member of the Civilian Corps of the United States Army Medical Command. As an employee of both, she spent any time she had while awake in a hospital, whether it be helping both the veterans and on-duty military personnel, or rushing to the ER to handle a trauma patient. It was grueling work, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Even when she could barely stand up long enough to wash the blood off after a long surgery. Even when she had to crash in the on-call room for only two hours before being called back to the ER. In Sawyer's opinion, it was more than worth it. She was helping people, damn it, and she would continue to help people until she was forced to stop. No matter what came her way.
x
Major William Lennox was a smart man. He knew how to overcome obstacles, and trudge on without fail. That was one of the many reasons why Optimus Prime trusted him so much. After the battle of Mission City, Lennox and Prime became something like friends. With all of the time that the two spent together, pouring over mission plans and figuring out what resources they needed for the new base at Diego Garcia, it was inevitable. The two worked well together, pushed together by tragedy but staying together because they became friends, and because they both wanted what was best for the planet. With that type of responsibility, came the weight of having to make decisions that people didn't like for the betterment of the world. That was when the two of them learned how to lean on each other, leader to leader, to overcome their guilt and keep pushing forward.
"Lennox, do you have a minute?" The soldier pulled away from his thoughts to see the Chief Medical Officer of the Autobots, Ratchet, standing in front of him.
"Of course I do Ratchet, what can I help you with?" he asked. The CMO kneeled and held out a tablet.
"Here is a compiled list of the candidates I have found for the new medical program. All of them are accomplished in their own right and I believe that they would do well at Diego Garcia." The program that Ratchet was talking about was a fairly new one. Ratchet and Optimus had gotten together with the only human doctor that they had on the base, Dr. Adelaide Evans, and the older woman had told them - quite frankly - that they needed another qualified doctor on the base. Dr. Evans had a team of five nurses that helped her with the everyday grievances of the human personnel on base, but she was getting older, and the humans were getting more and more injuries on their missions that weren't grave enough to warrant them going to the hospital nearest the mission site. After she told them, they had all deliberated on who to bring on to their team.
It couldn't be just anyone, after all. The Autobots were a highly classified secret, and while they would have liked to bring on a doctor that already knew about them and was qualified and able to work on the base, they were shit out of luck. Because they had no one that could be transferred immediately, they took to researching all enlisted medical personnel, as well as looking at the Civilian Medical Corps.
"Thanks Ratchet, I'll take a look at these tonight and get back to you as soon as I can," Lennox said as he took the tablet.
"Thank you, Lennox. I'd like to get this decision made as quickly as possible. The more help we have here, the better. I have a bad feeling that something is going to happen soon," said Ratchet. Lennox raised an eyebrow, stopping himself mid-turn to look back at Ratchet.
"What do you mean?" he asked. The Autobot sighed heavily.
"Decepticon activity as of late has been almost nonexistent. Now, normally I would be overjoyed at this, but if I know anything about the Decepticons, it's that they are planning something. And I fear that whatever they're planning may be more than we can handle right now," he explained. Lennox grimaced and rubbed the back of his head in frustration.
"Of course, why didn't I think of that," he muttered to himself. Sighing, he straightened up and waved the tablet in the air. "Okay, I'll take a look at these during lunch instead," he said. "The sooner we can get someone else on base the better." Ratchet nodded, agreeing with him.
"Yes, I agree. The fewer humans I have to take care of, the better," he grumbled. Lennox laughed, knowing that while the CMO would grumble and sneer his way through an appointment, he loved to patch people back together. Even if he told them how idiotic they were while he did it. His bedside manner aside, Ratchet was a great doctor for both Autobots and humans, and Lennox was definitely glad that he was on their side. He'd seen how ruthless Ratchet could be when on the battlefield - his acute knowledge of a Transformers biology made him an absolute menace to enemies.
That day during his lunch hour, he started flipping through the candidates that Ratchet and Dr. Evans had found and compiled. As he ate, he flipped through and started cutting down the list. That one was out because he had a family, that one was out because he had heard that they were a big gossip and he definitely couldn't have someone like that around with a secret as classified as the Autobots.
After scrolling through quite a few different candidates from all over the world, he stopped on the page of one Sawyer Neal. As he read through her profile, his eyebrows slowly rose higher and higher. "Damn, completed her residency at 23 years old? Just how smart is this kid?" he said as he took another bite of his sandwich. He read her profile with a critical eye, and once he was finished immediately put her on the 'to be considered' list.
Lennox finished his lunch and went about his day as usual from there on out. As he got ready to go to bed that night, he sent off a quick memo to Optimus Prime, asking to schedule a meeting with him, Ratchet, and Dr. Evans for the next day so that they could finally get this doctor situation figured out. After getting a confirmation and a set time to meet with the team the next day, Lennox finally went to sleep.
x
"So, out of all of these potential doctors, I'd like to get your opinion on who we should give the offer to." The next day found Lennox, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Dr. Adelaide Evans standing in the large hangar that they tended to use for meetings. It wasn't like they could just sit around a table in a normal conference room, after all. Not when one of their members was twenty-eight feet tall. So, they made use of one of the lesser populated hangars on the base.
"After reviewing all of the candidates, it seems like there are only three people that we all agree on," Optimus said, his deep baritone echoing slightly in the empty hangar.
"Yes, it seems like the top contenders are Steven James, Jessica Buchannon, and Sawyer Neal," Dr. Evans said, pushing her glasses higher up on her nose. Optimus heaved a sigh, shifting slightly to lean down closer to his human companions.
"After looking through all of the candidates, I do believe that all three of these candidates would be a good fit for our operation here on Diego Garcia. I propose a watch period, if you will," the Prime said.
"What do you mean by a watch period, Prime?" Lennox asked. He crossed his arms over the railing, looking up at his two extraterrestrial friends as he relaxed slightly. One good thing about the Diego Garcia base - because it was an amalgamation of the world's militaries and cultures, and because they dealt with, y'know, aliens, it had a more relaxed feel to the entire base. Of course, when a superior officer spoke with you you had the proper respect, but overall it was one of the most relaxed military bases he had ever been on. If you could ever call a military base focused on protecting the earth from giant robots that wanted to end it relaxed, that is.
"It's simple," Optimus replied. "We simply observe our candidates in order to get a better understanding of their personality and how they would fare here at Diego Garcia. There's only so much you can learn about someone from a report, after all."
"Yes, but for how long? We can't afford to dilly dally for months on end. I'm getting overwhelmed here, Optimus. Ratchet has had to help take over a few of my patients," Dr. Evans said, crossing her arms. The Prime sighed, putting his hand to his brow in a surprisingly human gesture.
"Yes, I'm aware, Dr. Evans," he said gently. Truth was, Ratchet had been griping on a daily basis about the number of soldiers he was being handed to take care of. While he did it to the best of his ability, he had his own duties to attend to, along with the daily repairs of the Autobots. Because they had been going on missions pretty frequently, there was always something to be repaired, or painted, or buffed. Of course, Dr. Evans didn't exactly know the many duties of the Autobot's CMO, she just wanted to get her patients the care that they needed.
"And also, how would we go about observing them? We can't exactly spare the manpower to send someone out," Lennox said.
"Well that's simple," Ratchet said. "We simply use their hospital's security cameras and take statements from their coworkers. That's about all we can do at this time." Lennox nodded, writing a quick note down.
"That actually could work," he said. "I'll contact the hospitals immediately to get the information we need." He got up from his chair and tucked his notebook under his arm. Saluting to his coworkers, he turned around and quickly left the meeting area. His phone was already to his ear, and his commanding voice echoed slightly as he made his way out of the hangar. "Yes, I am Major Lennox, and I need…"
So uh. Yeah. This is the first chapter of the Black Pearl re-write. I know it's not the best, and tbh I barely proof-read it, but I've had a really rough go of it with a death in the family, the pandemic, work, and just general stress. This is what I have so far, but I wanted to post the first chapter at least so that you guys can get a feel for the new direction I'm taking it. It will be much the same plot-wise as the old one, but with a new character, basically. I'm thinking this is going to be around the 20-30 chapter mark, so not too long, but a decent length imo.
Please review and tell me what you think, and if you want me to continue it. I've lost a bit of motivation for this story, but if I still have loyal readers I will do my damnedest to finish it! (Also, if anyone wants to beta this, lemme know?)
-ZH.