"A Fracture in Time:Chapter 1" By Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master
email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca
Note: Hi all! Sorry it has been so long since I have last posted a new chapter for this story but the truth of the matter is that I have been WAY busy with my new job at the local grocery store. I work an average of 30 hours a week and when I get home I just want to laze back and think as little as possible. Therefore writing new chapters when I am not particularly in the mood is out of the question. But I sympathize with your impatience as it concerns waiting for new chapters to your favorite fanfics so I will be giving it an honest effort in the future to resume posting new chapters as often as possible. So here is the next one for "A Fracture in Time", enjoy!
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Cybertron, 1.5 kilometers away
"I'm telling you Firestar, I head someone send a distress call from this direction!" Starburst stated as she continued along at a high rate of speed in the direction the faint signal had come from.
In a way she considered it funny how a routine mission to one of the Femme Fatales' monitoring posts could result in some excitement for a change. Usually it was about as interesting as watching paint peel off but it was something that had to be done and she knew that if she didn't do it Chromia would get on her case as usual and that was enough incentive to go voluntarily. Firestar has been sent along to keep an eye out for Decepticons but that was hardly necessary since they were so far inside Autobot territory that only a 'con with a death wish would come near here. Still it was nice to have some company since it helped to keep the yawns of boredom from setting in and it allowed for some quality femme talk with one of her sisters before they had to fall back into 'soldier mode'. The timing of the distress call seemed almost like a godsend since it delayed their return to base a little longer and held the potential to keep her from monitoring duty for a little while longer. Eager and full of curiosity she had transformed and sped off for the source before her femme friend could do anything more than follow her lead and hope to talk her out of it along the way.
"So? It could be some kind of Decepticon trick to lure in gullible femmes with too much time on their hands." Firestar stated sarcastically as she tried to keep pace with her younger sister.
"Even if that were true they wouldn't know to put it on a secure com-code that only went into service three weeks ago." , retorted Starburst with confidence that she didn't really feel, "Besides if the 'cons really wanted to lure femmes in don't you think they would have made the message a little longer than just 'help'?"
"Maybe they thought it would draw in more motor heads like you if they made it more convincing." , Firestar replied with a sigh as she came to realize that she was not going to persuade her sister to turn around, "Besides Elita is going to have both our skidplates if we're not back at base on time."
"I think Elita would be more upset if we left somebody out here in the middle of nowhere to go offline when we could've helped them." , Starburst declared firmly as she inwardly wished Firestar had greater sense of adventure, "What if it's some deep cover Autobot agent who was coming back to warn us about something? If we turn back now we could wind up sending ourselves straight to the scrap heap!"
"We could be sending ourselves straight to the scrap heap right now by replying to some weak circuited distress call that is probably a Decepticon trick!" Firestar exclaimed with frustration.
"Well we'll find out in a moment because the source of the distress call should be just up ahead." Starburst declared back as she turned her attention ahead in the hopes of finding proof that her claims were valid.
For a few moments nothing showed up on her optic scans or her sensors but just as she was about to grudgingly admit that her sister had been right all along her optics struck energon. Lying right in the middle of the road was the unmistakable form of a transformer and much to her surprise it appeared to be a femme. Transforming the moment she got within a hundred yards of the body she immediately took out her emergency repair kit and began a scan of the bot's systems to see just how banged up she was. What she saw was not encouraging in the least and spoke a great deal of how tough this femme must have been to have made it this far. She could hear Firestar transforming and coming up behind her but she paid virtually no serious attention to it as her sensor readings showed that this femme was fading fast and would go permanently offline if she didn't work fast. The bulk of the damage was too severe for her to repair with an emergency field repair kit so the best she could hope to do was patch up her systems enough to get her back to base in time. Tilting the femme's head back a little bit Starburst took the emergency rations of energon and poured them into the unconscious 'bot's mouth while hoping that she possessed automatic fuel intake systems. When she heard the pleasant sound of fuel intake pumps operating she allowed herself a small smile of gratification at the small stride she had managed to make. Focusing on more important matters she began to patch up what fuel distribution tubes she could see as well as covering up any nasty looking holes in her chassis that looked like it might get rust infected.
After she completed all the repairs she could Starburst turned to Firestar and said "Transform so we can get her back to base."
"WHAT!? Have you got a bug in your systems directory!!??" , Firestar asked in disbelief as she looked at her sister as if she had ripped her head off her shoulders, "There's no way Elita is going to let us bring an outsider into the base!! Hell, she might just slag us for bringing her to the front door!!"
"Look! Elita will understand and besides I don't think this femme is going to be causing anyone much trouble anytime soon. I mean just look at her! She's about three steps from the scrap yard already!" , Starburst declared just as stridently, "Besides I've already run a full spectrum scan and I can detect absolutely no beacon or signal of any kind coming from her so there is no danger of her leading 'cons to our front door!"
As much as Firestar wanted to argue with her sister she knew that the points made were valid ones and that Starburst wouldn't leave the area until she said yes. With a groan of resignation she transformed into vehicle mode and backed up so as to give her comrade an easier time in tossing the unknown transformer into the back. It only took a minute to do and soon after they were well on their way back to femme fatale HQ and one Inferno of an argument that would erupt upon their arrival. Previous arguments to the side she would be glad when they arrived because carrying two 'bots was tough work despite the fact that femmes were supposed to be the lighter type of transformer. In a way she sympathized with what her sister was trying to do for this mysterious femme but at the same time she felt the urge to tell Starburst to have her own systems checked when they got back. This was not the time to take chances with comrades' lives by bringing an unknown into the heart of the operation. At this point in the war with the Decepticons the Autobot forces were slowly being forced into a steady retreat and the big bots in Iacon needed every available transformer functional if they were going to turn things around. The last thing that base command needed was for the femmes to be completely wiped out because one of their troops was a little too compassionate. However since she had about as much chance of convincing her sister to drop this wreck off at the nearest scrap heap as seeing Optimus Prime smile all she could do was wait for Elita and Chromia to do it for her. After all Starburst might be able to say no to her but there was no way she would be able to say no to the two top ranked 'bots in the sisterhood.
Starburst might as well have been linked telepathically to her sister at this moment because just then she was thinking along the same lines but coming to some very different conclusions. The way she saw it they needed to get this femme up and running as soon as possible because she was certain about her earlier guess that this was a deep cover operative coming back with crucial information. After all 'cons weren't exactly the self-sacrificing sort so she really doubted that any of them would volunteer to get blasted half to scrap just for ol' buckethead. True that left the possibility that this transformer was an unwilling participant in the scheme but that didn't quite seem right to her either. Most 'cons were cowards when they weren't the ones with the blaster in their hands so it stood to reason that they wouldn't go through with a mission if they were in the same state as this femme 'bot was, didn't it? Shaking her head she dismissed those thoughts and focused on keeping her patient online and functional since all discussions would become moot if the enigma before her went offline two seconds from now. Unfortunately that was becoming harder and harder as the cycles ticked by since she could not get a look under the femme's chest plate to see if she had any internal injuries. From what she could tell there was some sort of energy signature scanner that looked like a cross between an autobot insignia with an unfamiliar planet in the background. It was hooked into the locking mechanism and refused to give her access despite the fact that she gave off an autobot power signature mixed with a medic back-up signature which should have given her automatic access. She would have to inquire to Elita later if this was standard method of operation for an Autobot under deep cover in enemy territory.
It took them about two and a half mega-cycles to get back to the tunnels and another half a megacycle to arrive at the entrance to the hidden base but when they arrived they both wished it had taken a little longer. Standing hidden behind two heavy structural supports was Chromia and Moonracer who looked like they were about ready to toss them into the smelter themselves. It was not entirely unreasonable since they were over an megacycle and a half past the time they were due back from their routine mission. According to established protocol any transformer that goes mission for more than two mega-cycles past their established return time was to be considered a hostile and treated as such. This was due to the fact that a few years back, according to Chromia, the Decepticons tried to reprogram an Autobot to spy for them. Fortunately though the 'bot went insane soon after returning to Autobot HQ and had to be taken offline since it was deemed impossible to restore him to his original self. While it was true that she and Firestar had arrived back before that with half a megacycle to spare it raised the question as to which way the ball bearing would roll. Chromia was almost a guaranteed hard-case which meant that she would probably read them the protocol act for being late and then say it with more intensity when she saw the little package in the back. Moonracer was a bit more sympathetic to her little bouts of compassion and might be willing to speak in their favor if she was promised an extra portion of energon at the end of the day. In the end though the final say on their fate would rest on Elita and she was one femme 'bot that Starburst had never been able to read accurately since coming online. In short it was more than likely two against and one in their favor for a price which meant she had better get her argument in order or she was going to get knocked down right on her skidplate before she could get a word out.
"Where have you two motor heads been? You were due back over a megacycle ago." Chromia asked as she cautiously walked up to the two of them.
"Something came up while we were out placing the monitoring posts and I thought we should go investigate." Starburst replied in the same monotone voice that Chromia seemed to perpetually use when lecturing.
"'Something'?" , Moonracer inquired as she stepped around her and looked in Firestar's back to see what she was carrying, "Looks more like 'someone' to me Chromia and a pretty dented someone at that."
Chromia in response didn't say a word, she simply narrowed her optics and walked over to inspect the barely functional transformer for herself. For the space of a few mega-cycles the light aqua-blue and gray Autobot simply looked at the offline 'bot, looking at her like she would a field report that could be either good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. Starburst watched nervously as she waited for the second in command's pronouncement to be made and being made more uneasy as the seconds clicked by. All this waiting was killing her and she was praying to Primus that it would be over soon, that Chromia would either vape her or let her get this patient to the med-bay before all hope was lost. Finally she couldn't take it any longer, this femme was fading away fast and any further delay made it that much more unlikely that she was going to survive.
"Look Chromia! Either slag us or let us pass because if I don't get this femme into the repair bay in the next five cycles all we'll have is a box load of spare parts!" she declared as she attempted to stare down the femme fatale's second in command while she still had her courage with her.
"She's right Chromia, this one's fading fast and Starburst's repairs are only going to hold a little while longer." Moonracer commented as she ran a scanner over the charred form.
"Fine, but you're going to take full responsibility for her and she is to be placed under guard for the duration of her stay." Chromia said to Starburst as she turned and walked towards the hidden keypad by her hiding place.
With a few keystrokes the massive foot and a half thick door began to rise up to reveal the interior of female femme HQ in all it's disrepair. Starburst smiled as she looked about at her home, she had been living her almost from the moment she was brought online but it still managed to bring a smile to her face no matter how many times she entered it. The others often teased her about that, treated her like she was fresh from the production line with about as much experience as a rookie, but she knew they were just kidding so she didn't mind all that much. As soon as they were all inside and the door thumped to the ground she jumped off Firestar's back and did her best to scoop the unknown femme into her arms. Ahead of her she could already see the familiar blur of Moonracer's body streaking to the repair bay to prep it for it's newest patient. Moving there as quickly as she could without jostling the femme too much she hoped that she could get in the repair bay before her commanding officer showed up. She was thankful that Chromia had decided to roll her way on the subject at hand but she doubted that Primus was going to produce two miracles for her in such a short span of time. Once inside she let out a sigh of relief at the small feat she had managed to pull off but then shoved it aside to center on the matter before her.
"Moonracer, prep for an energon infusion at .5 per cycle and hook her up to the monitors." , Starburst ordered as she laid her patient on the table and then slid the operating tools over to her side, "I don't want any surprises in during this operation."
"Yes Doctor." Moonracer replied sarcastically as she took a cube of energon from storage and began working.
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2 Megacycles Later, Repair Bay, Femme Fatale HQ
*Phew* It's amazing this femme is still functional! Starburst thought to herself as she finished with the last of the repairs.
Now she knew why she was just the stand-in medic and Moonracer was the full-time version, this was a lot of work! Still all in all she would have to say that her first major operation was a shining success for the most part. The patient's power levels were at nominal levels and almost all the repairs had been completed to the best of her ability with the tools and spare parts at her disposal. The only thing that made her servos grind was the slaggin' energy sig. lock on the femmes chest plate which still refused to open and was protected by several safeguards. Due to this obstacle the most she had been able to do was repair the arms, legs and other bits of surface damage that she could get at without too much trouble. Still she was certain that there had to be at least some trouble beneath the surface and it was frustrating not to be able to get at it and do her job. She was just about to open a comm line to Elita to see if she could help when the femme walked right in not a moment later. For a moment it seemed as though her level of tenseness would shoot back up but thankfully the look of polite concern on her leader's face took care of that.
"So how is the your patient doing?" Elita-1 asked with mild concern as she made her own visual assessment of the transformer on the table.
"Well I've been able to repair most of her body and armor but some kind of energy signature sensor on her chest plate won't disengage the locks to let me get at her primary systems." Starburst replied with a bit of frustration in her voice.
"Hmmm. Is she operational?" Elita asked with interest.
"Well her armor is of a fairly good composition so it should have been able to give her internal systems some protection so I think she's functional." , replied Starburst as she mentally went over what the spectrographic analyser revealed about the armor's composition, "If you want to question her though I would try and keep it short. Her body is still in rough shape and needs time to adjust to the new parts I installed."
Elita-1 merely nodded which was obviously the signal to proceed so Starburst turned back to the newly restored femme and began to bring her back online. She proceeded slowly so as to give the systems time to fully connect with each other before powering up the next section. It was slow but she was determined not to blow it and accidentally give herself more work to do later in repairs. Eventually she came to the last system that needed to be brought online and after pressing the activation button she stepped back to see what would happen. For a moment nothing happened but then the transformer on the table began to slowly move and even tried to sit up. Unfortunately it seemed as though it needed some help so she stepped forward and helped the femme the rest of the way up. The recovered Autobot didn't say anything at first but once her optic systems apparently finished running through their start-up sequence she became more active.
"Uhhhh, I really need to watch that first step!" , the femme muttered to herself in a self-ridiculing way, "Computer, run a self-diagnostic."
[Systems at seventy-five percent efficiency]
"WHAT?!" the femme exclaimed as she took her first serious look about the room.
"Um, that's my doing. I was the one that brought you back to base and did the repairs." , replied Starburst even though she knew it was a rhetorical question, "My name's Starburst, what's yours?"
"The name's Nightshade kid." the femme replied as she looked over at her for the first time.
Nightshade looked at her as if she were a lowly rookie trying to start up a conversation with a seasoned professional and for a moment she was afraid she had just made a mistake. Fortunately that passed as the femme seemed to smile but when she tried a physical action a bit more strenuous then sitting up her optics began to blink on and off and she gripped her torso plate before returning to her original position. Once her optics came back online it was clear that she was unhappy with the fact that she would have to stay on the operating table a cycle longer so Starburst took the opportunity to ask about the lock on her chest plate.
"Most of the repairs I was able to do were to your limbs and lower torso area" , She explained as professionally as possible, "but I wasn't able to get past the energy signature lock on your chest plate so there might be some internal damage still causing problems."
"I kinda figured as much when my chest felt like it had just been blasted by ol' buckethead himself." , Nightshaded stated as she slowly lowered herself back down on the table, "It can't be to bad though otherwise I'd be feeling a whole lot worse than I do right now."
"If you could just open up your chest plate I could probably repair everything without much trouble." Starburst stated with an encouraging smile and hoping that it had the desired effect.
This seemed to be something of a quandary for Nightshade as she lay there for several minutes without saying a word to indicate an affirmative or a negative. This puzzled Starburst for a little while and she continued to ask herself why this transformer would be hesitant to have herself fully restored by an ally. It was then that the possibility that she really had let a Decepticon spy into the base came up to slap her in the face and put a bit of worry on her face. With every passing nanoclic she became more and more concerned that perhaps she had made the wrong choice by bringing Nightshade here and hoped that things wouldn't turn out too bad. Then Nightshade seemed to come to a decision and looked at her with a look that practically said out loud 'don't you dare even thing of betraying me!'.
"Fine. However I have a few conditions that have to be agreed to before I let this little repair job continue." Nightshade stated firmly as she looked both Starburst and Elita right in the optics before waiting to see if they would agree with her request.
"What conditions would those be?" Elita asked with an objective tone of voice.
"First, Starburst is to be the only transformer in the room for the duration of the operation and she must swear not to reveal any of what she sees to anybody." Nightshade stated with a firmness that clearly meant that there was no room for negotiation.
"I can live with that." Starburst said in agreement.
"Very well then, Starburst will be the only person present." , Elita said in agreement, "Any other conditions?"
"Yes, any and all visual recording/transmitting devices in the room must be shut off for the duration of the operation." , Nightshade stated with the same firmness, "Audio devices as well."
This caused Starburst to be somewhat concerned since it would leave Nightshade a small window of opportunity to try something if she did turn out to be a Decepticon spy. True if she did manage to make enough noise the others would probably hear it and come in to save her but that would hardly do much good if she were scrapped before they got there. Still she was hardly a weak defenseless maintenance bot and Nightshade's injuries were genuine so the risk was probably minimal.
"I suppose so but why all the secrecy?" she asked with polite interest.
"Let's just say that I have a few unique parts that Autobot HQ wants to keep knowledge of to a minimum for as long as possible." Nightshade answered warily as she eyed Starburst like a potential enemy.
"I suppose I can allow this but if Starburst finds anything that might compromise the security and safety of this base she will have to put it on report." Elita stated with nothing hiding the fact that a warning was present in her voice.
"Of course." Nightshade replied with acknowledgement in her voice.
"Then if we're all done trading veiled threats I think it's time I got started." Starburst declared with her hands on her hips.
With a small laugh Elita left the room and a few minutes later the familiar beep of the security locks being activated sealing her in with her patient. Starburst expected that Nightshade would then open up her chest plate and then go into repair mode but all she did was look about the room at various points where security devices were hidden. This shocked her a bit because those devices were well hidden among all the other machines in the room so as to be almost impossible to find unless you knew where to look. When Chromia had originally installed them she had made a point of making sure she knew exactly where each of them were in case she got into any trouble. To find that a complete stranger was able to locate them within a few minutes of regaining consciousness was strange to say the least and bound to be a blow to her sister's ego since she took pride in her ability to hide such things in plain sight. Eventually Nightshade looked in her direction with a look that made it clear that all the security monitors had been deactivated and she was ready to undergo the operation.
"Do what you have to do but remember that you are not to say anything to anyone about what you see inside of me." , Nightshade said clearly with no room for argument, "Not to Elita, not to anyone. I don't care if Optimus Prime himself comes in here and asks you about what you saw, you are not to say a word."
"Okay." Starburst replied with a bit of uneasiness in her voice.
Taking her at her word Nigthshade reached up and held her right hand above the Autobot symbol on her chest plate and held it there while it was scanned. It was a fairly sophisticated scan from what she could understand, it seemed to take into account not only the unique energy signature her body gave off but also certain elements of her design and operating protocols as well. Whoever had designed the lock had obviously wanted to make sure that no one but authorized personnel could get a look inside of this mysterious transformer. The question that continued to run around in her mind was what could be so important so as to warrant such extensive security precautions and if secrecy was so imperative then why was she allowing a relative stranger to see it. Just then she noticed that the lock on Nightshade's chest had stopped glowing and small clicks could be heard coming from beneath the chest plate as the various seals disengaged themselves. Removing all other thoughts from her mind she watched with rapt attention at the femme before her, eagerly awaiting a look inside the area of Nightshade's torso that was so heavily guarded. A few scattered predictions of what she would find flittered through her mind as the clicking continued, from some sort of highly advanced operating components to a spark that could never be destroyed. As the last click sounded and the metallic armor plating began to open up to reveal the circuitry and wires inside Starburst wondered which of her two guesses would prove accurate.
She would later come to laugh at how far off the mark she was.
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Two Mega-Cycles Later, Femme Fatale HQ, Monitoring Station
Man this is boring! thought Firestar as she continued to review the video feeds from the various tunnel camera's as well as the sensor data that went along with them.
It had been a little over four mega-cycles since Starburst had started operating on that femme they had found out on the old highway and three hours since she had been stuck with monitoring duty. Technically it was Starburst's turn at the console but since she was locked up in med-bay with that scrapped transformer she had been given the honor of watching the uneventful screens and hearing the annoying beeps. Needless to say that her love for her sister was beginning to wear very thin and whenever she saw her sister next she was going add a few dents to her chassis herself so she can share the repair bay with her unknown friend. Casually looking over the array of screens and displays she couldn't help but think about what might be going on in there and who that nameless femme might be. She had to admit that she no longer thought that she was a threat to the base since Chromia had stepped up security but that still didn't explain what she had been doing out there in the middle of nowhere. After all no 'bot was crazy enough to go into decepticon territory all by themselves and any group of transformers who might have gone over would be missed by their commanders in a heartbeat which would mean they had been given authorization to go into enemy territory. That would indicate some type of mission and she had heard nothing from Chromia or Elita about some sort of secret mission being planned much less authorized by Autobot HQ in the last little while. That would seem to tilt things back towards the possibility that Starburst had proposed earlier about a deep cover operative returning with vital information about Decepticon activities. If that were the case though it obviously didn't go very well given the state they had found her in and the supposed skill that such operatives possessed. She shook her head and growled in frustration as the facts that she had been privy to refused to fall into any configuration that she was comfortable with and it was driving her crazy!
Just then she heard some footsteps coming her way so she turned to see who it might be and was somewhat concerned to see a distracted Starburst walking her way in a slow casual way. Not that Starburst wasn't always a little distracted but this was a bit worse than usual since it looked as though her optics were barely registering the objects around her. Oh sure she managed to avoid bumping into anything or knocking something over but that seemed to be the extent of her knowledge of the outside world. All the rest of her sister's attention seemed to be focused on her own thoughts and while those thoughts could be of anything it'd be a good guess that it had something to do with their enigma of a guest. That only made her more concerned since all the security monitors in the repair bay had been deactivated two hours ago at Elita's request which meant two hours in which something major had happened. Near as she could tell there were no visible signs of damage or forced entry on her sister's body which indicated that the unknown femme hadn't done anything actively to hurt Starburst during that time but that still left some questions in her head.
Well I won't get any answers just sitting here on my can looking at her. Firestar thought to herself as she turned her body to fully face her sister.
"So is our wounded femme all fixed up now?" Firestar asked with her usual calm tone of voice even though she was actually digging for some answers.
It took Starburst a moment to react to the question but then she replied "Uh, yeah. There was just a little bit of damage done to a few servo-motors and microfiliment trancievers that were slagging up the works. The repairs are all done but she'll be offline for about an hour while all the systems adjust to the repairs."
"Does this femme 'bot have a name?" Firestar asked as she subtlety scrutinized her comrades mannerisms.
"Nightshade." Starburst replied as she grabbed a nearby chair and sat down next to her sister.
Firestar nodded at this and then asked "Did she explain what she was doing out there in the middle of nowhere?"
"Didn't really get a chance to ask her much about that, she was pretty much all business and seemed interested only in getting out of here as soon as possible." Starburst replied as her optics drifted from place to place.
That seemed a bit suspicious to Firestar, after all most of the Autobots seemed to enjoy any spare time they had to just sit about and talk with their friends. It was one of the few joys in most of their lives that still remained intact despite the battles that they had to fight every so often. Only a few transformers didn't take part in such informal gatherings and those were mostly the hardcore soldiers who didn't feel really comfortable in any other environment besides the battlefield. Still even those oldies weren't so focused on fighting that they rushed back onto the battlefield as soon as repairs were completed. So what was this femme's story? Where did she come from and what had she been doing that had almost gotten her scrapped out there in no 'bots land? Whatever the case was Starburst's present state only served to increase her concern that there was more to Nightshade than meets the eye and could very well be a threat to them. Still all she had for the moment were her own suspicions and hunches and that wasn't enough to go to Elita-1 with and hope for anything to be done. No she had to wait and watch everything very carefully so she could be ready in case anything unusual happened.
"So, did you finally get a chance to check under her hood?" Firestar asked as she turned to a topic that had interested her sister since the moment they had found Nightshade.
"Yeah but I can't tell you anything, it was one of the conditions to seeing it that I couldn't tell anyone what I saw." Starburst replied as she looked away from her to something on the other side of the room.
"C'mon Sis! You know you can tell me anything!" Firestar said as she tried to squeeze some information about what seemed to be the stranger's greatest secret.
"Sorry Firestar but I gave my word that I wouldn't say anything and I'm a femme of my word." Starburst stated firmly as she made it clear that she would not be moved from her present position.
"Alright but just you wait, someday I'm gonna find out about something secret and I won't tell you what it is no matter how much energon you push my way!" Firestar teased even though she was secretly disappointed that she had been unable to get anything useful out of her sister.
Guess I'll just have to wait until our mysterious stranger wakes up before I can get any answers. she thought to herself as she turned back to the monitors.
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One Mega-cycle later, Femme Fatale HQ, Repair bay
[Recalibrations to new components complete. System activation engaged]
It didn't seem real at first, it felt like she was just waking up the way she always did back at the base before being told of her next mission. For awhile she thought she was back there at the base and in a few moments Angelfire would come banging on the door to her quarters telling her to get her can in gear for some reason or another. It wasn't until about ten seconds later that it all came back to her, all the people who she would never see again and all that she had given up to make sure things turned out differently. Slowly she brought her optics back online and looked around the repair bay where she had been laying for the last little while. Just then it occurred to her that she didn't know what time it was and given that her mission was on a set timetable she couldn't afford to get to far behind. Slowly she sat up on the table and looked for the closest interface socket for the repair bay's computer so she could get an accurate reading. She wasn't willing to look at her own knowing that it was probably wrong given how badly she had been damaged and the unlikeliness that one of the femmes outside had set her chronometer for her. Eventually she found one and immediately jacked in using her up link cord located in the underside of her wrist joint to find the information she was after. It wasn't easy to slink around the Femme's database and remain undetected but she managed to get by but when she finally found what she was after she almost lost composure completely.
TEN AND A HALF MEGA-CYCLES!! Nightshade thought to herself in great alarm as she realized just how far behind in the mission's timeline she really was.
According to the mission profile given to her by Dr. Chase when they had arrived at the project 'Gateway' compound she was supposed to be in Iacon right now and at the door to Wheeljack's lab. This time was chosen because to the best of the transformer scientist's recollection it had been the one time that he had been away long enough for her to proceed with the second phase of the operation. By the time that process was finished she would have just enough time to get out of there before the Autobot came back to gather the last few things he would need for the Ark's mission. The way things stood now she could leave immediately and still not get there in time to complete the next phase of her mission within satisfactory parameters. She growled in anger and almost rammed her fist through the nearest view screen but was stopped by the knowledge that it would not help her mission in the slightest. Disconnecting herself from the interface she turned around and headed for the door hoping that she could get out of here as easily without compromising her mission even further. Unfortunately when she opened the door she found that she must not have been as quiet in the Femme Fatale's database as she would have liked.
"Find what you were looking for?" Chromia asked with her suspicion virtually plastered across her forehead.
Deciding that honesty was the best policy Nightshade replied "Yes I did. I didn't think you'd have a problem with me making sure I had the time right."
"No problem. Elita said she wanted to talk with you in her office and sent me to escort you there." Chromia stated with suspicion still in her optics even though she managed to keep a emotionless face on.
"Well escort away then." she replied in an almost amused tone as she decided to show the aqua-blue femme just what she thought of her intimidation tactics.
This was met with a slight increase in the brightness of the femme's optics but not much else as she turned away and began to walk down the corridor to the left. Following her she decided to examine her surroundings a bit more closely in case she had to make a quick getaway using force if she couldn't talk her way out of it first. Talking of course was far more preferable since it was less likely that Elita would radio ahead to Iacon that she was coming and thus make it easier to slip in unnoticed. Still she would have to watch what she said and how she acted if she didn't want to stir up any more suspicion among this group than she already had. Her arrival here couldn't have been met well and she was sure that most of them would be thinking about her for days to come whether she liked it or not. She had of course already been provided with a cover story in case she happened to encounter Autobots during the course of the mission but that had been written up with the idea that she would have an entire team with her to support her story. After all a group of people telling the story was a lot more convincing than a single unknown femme telling something that might sound as ridiculous as hearing Soundwave laugh. Still she could improvise with the best of them so when the questions from Elita came she was confident that she would be able to throw out some half decent answers.
Continuing her browsing of her surroundings she was oddly comforted by the presence of several familiar pieces of equipment that were lined up against the wall or in some cases embedding in the walls. She had accepted hours ago that her world and her time were gone forever and even if she succeeded in her mission she would still be forced to live in a bizarre world where things would turn out differently then she remembered. It was just one of the many things she had been called on to sacrifice in order to ensure that the future that she had lived in would vanish and hopefully a more peaceful world would be put into place by Optimus Prime. For the most part she was totally fine with paying the price since it was far more preferable that having to fight a futile battle back in her time which could only end in defeat. Despite this her heart still ached as each piece of equipment that she looked at reminded her of someone she had left behind or someone who if she was successful would be completely different than what she remembered. She shook her head and forced her mind to focus on the more technical aspects of the equipment and how they could be used to buy her some time and distance if this meeting with Elita didn't go well. She had no desire to scrap them so all of her ideas were centered on either making them look foolish or just limiting their mobility for a cycle or two.
By the time that they had apparently reached Elita's office she had cataloged at least ten different ways she could get out of here by force that would not result in serious damages for the Femmes. She had hoped that she would be able to make fifteen but eventually accepted that ten would have to be sufficient for the time being and hoped that she wouldn't need them in the end. Chromia activated the intercom by the door and notified Elita that their 'guest' was here and Elita replied by inviting them both in. Giving her one last look of warning the Femme's second in command pressed a button next to the intercom and waited for her to enter the office first. Upon entering though Nightshade was surprised to see the room littered with various holo-pics and other nic-nacks which she automatically assumed had come from memorable events. She even managed to pick out a few pictures of Elita and Optimus Prime on what appeared to be social settings rather than battlefields and that was what seemed to be the most alien to her. Back in the resistance virtually every moment was spent in planning the next raid or going over intelligence reports detailing the latest Decepticon advances or retreats. Having a social life was practically unheard of beyond the camaraderie that soldiers felt for each other and the occasional group of people who had a habit of sitting together in the mess hall. Oh sure they treated each other like they were old buddies but that was just as much a coping mechanism for their current situation as it was a customary way to act around the base. They were all trying to keep their minds off just how depressing their situation really was and how uncertain it was how long each of them was going to live given the current trends on the battlefield. To see Elita's office filled with so many personal mementos, it made her wonder just how much she and the others had been forced to sacrifice to make a difference against the 'Con's. Returning her gaze to Elita who sat behind her desk she noticed that the Femme leader had noticed her staring at the various objects in the room and was scrutinizing her with a puzzled look.
Blast it you slaggin' motor head!! You're gonna blow everything looking around like that!! she scolded herself as she placed a professional look onto herself as she returned Elita's stare.
"Please have a seat." Elita said as she indicated one of the metal chairs on the other side of the desk.
Taking Elita up on her offer she sat down and waited for the inevitable questions that she knew were going to be asked next.
"I suppose you already know that I have a great many questions to ask you." Elita stated in what could be termed as her friendly but firm tone of voice.
"Of course." Nightshade replied in as emotionless a tone of voice as possible.
"Then I suppose we should start out with the basics." , Elita stated, "Who are you?"
"Lt. Nightshade, covert operations division six." Nightshade replied as she called up the appropriate information from the mission profile.
"Who is your commanding officer?" Elita asked as she subtlety began to look for a chink in Nightshade's story.
"Ultra Magnus." Nightshade replied as she secretly grinned when she called up Magnus's location at this particular point in time.
When this false story had originally been concocted it had been done so with certainty that none of the Autobots she mentioned would be available to confirm or deny her statement. At the moment Ultra Magnus was off world looking for possible energon deposits in the system's asteroid field and would be out of contact until well after the Ark had lifted off for Earth. It was possible that Elita would notice this fact as well but it was unlikely that she would do anything definitive as a result of this.
"What were you doing out in the wastelands?" Elita asked while betraying none of her suspicion.
"I was en route back to Iacon City with my team when we were ambushed by a group of Decepticons around the sewage ditches." Nightshade replied since she believed it was unlikely she could hide her connection to the explosion given the state they found her in.
"An awfully hazardous route to take back to Iacon." Chromia commented as she scrutinized her even more obviously than Elita did.
"It was necessary and we had a special coating that protected us from the acidic properties of the waste." Nightshade retorted to the obvious attempt to poke a hole in her story.
"Who were the other members of your team?" Elita asked as she gave a passive glance in Chromia's direction.
"Unfortunately I cannot disclose their names to you commander." , Nightshade stated as she waited for what was going to come next, "I can however tell you that there were six of us in total."
"Why can you not tell me their names?" , Elita asked as her optics seemed to narrow, "I'm pretty sure I have a high enough security clearance."
"Sorry commander but it was one of my mission parameters that I divulge nothing about the nature of my mission beyond what could no longer be hidden." , Nightshade replied with firm resolution, "Once I have reported to Ultra Magnus I am sure that the information will be made available for you."
"Why such strict security?" Elita asked as she appeared to become more interested in the Autobot before her.
"Suffice it to say that Ultra Magnus has been concerned about security lately and doesn't want to chance the wrong bits of information finding their way back to Deception HQ." Nightshade replied as she waited to see what their reactions would be and began to come up with the revised answers she would need.
It was debatable which way that the ball bearing would roll in this particular instance since much of what she could say had been altered to suit her current condition. It was obvious that they weren't entirely convinced by the answers she had given but at the same time they could not cast anything more than suspicions on her. They did not have enough to label her a spy and that would most likely allow her to leave here unmolested but there was a chance that they would assign someone to follow her when she left for Iacon. She was certain that would be what Chromia would suggest once she had a chance to speak alone with Elita but whether or not Elita would agree to it was doubtful. According to what she had heard about Elita 1's early years she was a girl scout when it came to ethics and ideals which meant that in the absence of compelling evidence she would take Nightshade's story at face value. Keeping that in mind the most that she would probably do was try and get in touch with Iacon sometime in the next day or so and ask around about her. Hopefully by that time she would be long gone on the Ark and the Femme leader would have to wait over sixty-five million years to get her answers. So in the end the best move that she could make was to get Elita on her side and hope that whatever favorable judgment the pink femme made would hold the others in line.
"What made him think that there was a security problem?" Elita asked as her interest seemed to increase.
"Several missions to Decepticon installations have suffered unusually high casualties despite the seemingly flawless planning that was done beforehand." , Nightshade replied cautiously, "The raid on the energon warehouse in talax sector, the listening post in Delta sector and many others were all met with surprising resistance."
With that she crossed her arms across her chest making it clear that that was all the information she intended to give them at the moment. Truthfully she couldn't tell them much more without breaking the parameter she mentioned earlier and damaging the credibility of her story. All she could do now was sit back and wait to see what action they took in reaction to her story and hope that it was in her favor. If not she would be forced to make a break for it and hope that she could get to Iacon and complete the next two phases in her mission without much more difficulty. The nanoes that went by seemed like whole mega-cycles as she waited for Elita to come to some sort of conclusion and with every passing moment it seemed less and less likely that she was going to get out of here peaceably. Then something happened that she would not have expected in a million stellar cycles and almost caused her to lose her composure completely.
"Well I think that's all the information I need for the moment." , Elita stated as she stood up from the desk and extended her hand, "I look forward to reading your report Lt. Nightshade."
Taking Elita's hand after a moment Nightshade replied "It's been a pleasure meeting you Elita."
"Chromia will escort you to the surface." Elita stated as she nodded to Chromia.
With that Nightshade breathed a secret sigh of relief as she followed Chromia out the door.
Well that went better than it had any right to. , She thought to herself with a small grin of satisfaction, I just might pull this off after all.
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