Last few weeks have been hectic, but I finally got the energy to write, so here we go! Hope you enjoy!
This was supposed to be a training exercise!
That was the thought that flew through the minds of practically every member of the airforce currently over the Pacific off Hawaii as they tried to evade their target.
Evade, because the moment they'd tried to box in the private jet that was being used as their target, it had pulled itself into an eye watering vertical climb that had tested their endurance trying to keep up with.
It vanished into a cloud bank, and only a few far too short moments later, shot right back out, the purple, gold and white of its paint glinting in the sun as it bore down on call sign C-12.
They'd escaped a life ending collision by the skin of their teeth, and ordered mass evasive manoeuvres as the jet pulled a this time visible, hairpin turn that would have had their organs doing a slide to the hard right.
The radio was a mess of calls and chaos as they tried to figure out what to do.
None of them were armed, this was supposed to be a simple training mission!
Each of them were graced with the luck of not dying in a fireball of a collision as they hard banked, climbed or dived to escape the jet that had become so hostile.
D-41 had to bank a hard left to avoid being stuck, pilot and coms alike both letting out a startled shout as the jet corkscrewed upwards with vapour trailing behind it, its three engines roaring loud enough to threaten their ear drums.
Suddenly, the clear voice of Hadrow cut through the coms. ::Pilots. Return to the ground.::
There was a long moment of silence before he spoke again. ::Call sign N-0V4, that means you too.:
As if their days weren't already horrible, the voice that responded was… well, infuriating.
A woman replied.
::Yes Sir. Race you boys!::
One of them spotted the Jet already under them, just in time to spot a plume of vapour erupt from around the fuselage.
It had just broken the sound barrier!
Honolulu air base.
Sideswipe popped another piece of popcorn into his mouth, chewing on it as the massive smug grin never left his holoform's faceplates.
Sunstreaker was hogging the binoculars, but he could see just fine their sweet spark wipe the clouds with the human pilots.
"Hadrow did tell her they had to work on their reaction times." Sunstreaker commented, watching N-0V4 coming in low over the ocean, flaps at full extension and reverse thrust engaged, slowing herself down enough to not completely overshoot the runway.
Downside of working this close to a human population, she couldn't just transform and land on the massive shock absorbers stored in her pedes.
She had to land, like a human plane.
She also couldn't transform and stretch.
He pouted at that, he missed seeing her stretch, as weird as that sounded.
But he did, and Sunnstreaker swatted the back of his head before he could think much more on it. "Hey!"
"She's getting out, c'mon, we need to back her up." He stated, hopping off the wall they'd both been perched on, setting a brisk pace over to where N-0V4's holoform was climbing down, the first of the Airforce's F-15E's was coming in to land itself.
Sunstreaker reached her first, throwing his arm over her shoulder as he smiled at her. "Hey Sweets~ You sure did show them who'd the best flyer in the skies~" He purred into her audio.
She laughed softly. "Hello to you too Sunny~ Here to be my knight in shining armour I see?~" She mused as Sideswipe caught up.
"Heyyy…" He whined for a moment, before trailing off when she offered him a soft look that just melted his spark on the spot.
She stepped over and pulled him into a quick hug. "Hey yourself handsome~" She purred into his ear.
"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE BITCH?!" An enraged voice cut through the moment.
Sideswipe tried not to flinch when her nails dug into his shoulders before she pulled back.
Sunstreaker stepped between the both of them. "Back. Off." He growled.
The pilot of the first jet was practically steaming, before yanking off his visor and helmet. "BEAT IT PIPSQUEAK! I GOTTA TEACH THIS BITCH HER PLACE!" He continued to shout.
Sideswipe stepped forwards to. "Hey! Who do you think you are calling her a bitch?!"
N-0V4 pushed past them both. "Sir. I recommend you take a few, deep, breaths. Because your temper is way out of line." She stated.
None of them were quite fast enough to react to what happened next.
Before she could think to protect herself, the pilots gloved hand struck her hard across the cheek.
Her head snapped to the side as her eyes went wide.
The man grinned. "Down. Bitch." He spat at her.
This time, he didn't have time to react.
Neither did Sunstreaker or Sideswipe, still recovering from the shock of what just happened.
They weren't fast enough to stop N-0V4.
She let out a shout of her own, swinging her closed fist directly into his cheek, sending the man into a spin on the way to the ground.
Her upper lip was pulled back in a snarl as a bruise began to form clear to see on the cheek he struck.
Sideswipe jumped between them before N-0V4 could do anything else.
Two more pilots were running over now, the later of the two jumping out of his cockpit right after the Jet stopped moving.
Further away, Hadrow had seen everything and was speed walking towards the confrontation.
Sunstreaker got between the new two pilots, neither looked happy either.
"What the hell was that bitch doing in the sky?! That's our turf!" One of them barked.
"John! Are you okay?!" The other asked, walking over to the pilot who was sitting up and nursing what looked like a broken cheek bone.
The downed pilot's mouth was starting to turn red, before he spat out a tooth onto the tarmac.
The second pilot evidently saw red, lunging at N-0V4 with a shout.
Sideswipe intercepted, grabbing him by the arm, spinning and twisting the limb behind his back hard enough to threaten popping it out of the joint, pulling a pained shout from the man.
"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" Hadrow roared, finally reaching them.
Sideswipe let go of the second pilot, who stumbled a few steps before righting himself.
All three pilots saluted Hadrow, who looked liked he'd just smelt sunbaked dog shit.
"WHAT THE HELL WHERE YOU THINKING?! ATTACKING A TRAINING INSTRUCTOR?!" He bellowed at the first pilot.
The man seemed to pale at that, making the blood running down his lower lip stand out that bit more.
The other two went stiff.
Hadrow scoffed. "Didn't consider that, did you? This." He gestured to N-0V4, who was standing at attention as well. "As her uniform shows, is Senior Airwoman Serrick, one of our First Class Pilots."
Hadrow wasn't done. "I asked for her specifically for putting you louts through your paces! Not for you to assault her!" He roared.
Suddenly a new voice interrupted. "Sir, I expect a degree of punishment for this."
Heads swung around to Optimus's holoform, decked out in full regalia, the four stars on each shoulder denoting him as a General.
"Considering I just witnessed my niece being assaulted." He growled, expression grave under the cap he wore.
The first pilot let out a noise not far off the scared whimper of a kicked dog.
N-0V4 took a moment to remember herself before speaking. "Sir, they'll be dealt with." She tried.
Hadrow nodded though. "Of course General Pax. This will be dealt with." He agreed.
The rest of the pilots were all within ear shot now, so Hadrow turned to adddress them. "Maggots! This is General Pax, and Senior Airwoman Serrick! Your new teacher! This exercise has proven your last instructor was far too soft on you!" He barked. "Considering that Miss Serrick was able to best you in her personal Jet and not a top of the line Aircraft! If we're to keep the Russkies off our territory, we need a competent air force! Not a bunch of idiots who can't handle being shown the ropes by a woman!"
There was a long silence then.
"AM I UNDERSTOOD?!"
"SIR YES SIR!"
N-0V4 tossed her duffle bag down as soon as the door was open enough. "Well… that was a disaster." She groused as her lovers followed her in, Sunstreaker locking the door.
Sideswipe gently took her hand and tugged her towards the sofa. "Hey, it's okay, Hadrow took your side, that slag stain started it." He tried.
It didn't really work, she just sunk into the sofa. "I lost my cool."
"He slapped you." Sunstreaker growled. "Slagger was lucky Hadrow got there before we could help make him sorry." He stated as he stalked over to the kitchen, before pausing, not actually knowing why he'd walked over.
Had he meant to start making something?
He shook his helm and stepped back out and back to the sofa, throwing his arms over the back and over her shoulders, working to rub some of the tension out. "To be honest, it was pretty hot seeing you lay him flat like that."
She rolled her head back to look up at him, a wry smile tugging at the edges of her lips. "Oh? You think so?" She asked.
Sideswipe took a seat next to her, happily letting her wrap an arm around him. "Oh absolutely." He purred, resting his head on her chest.
She reached up and began to scratch at his head, earning more happy purrs from him.
Sunstreaker leaned in and kissed her temple. "They certainly won't be trying their luck with you again." He remarked proudly.
She frowned. "Yes well they certainly won't with Optimus saying I'm his niece, what was he thinking wearing that uniform?"
"He wanted to make sure they wouldn't give you any grief." Sideswipe responded.
"But he's supposed to be enjoying his pseudo retirement as a librarian? Now he's gonna have to keep up appearances as a general, otherwise there's going to be questions!" She lamented.
Sunstreaker hummed. "Well, I guess that's just Optimus being himself… he's spent so long as our Prime, he probably sees it as a way to make sure stuff like what happened, doesn't happen again."
"Besides, he only works part time at the library, I doubt any of those wannabe flyers are going to bump into him there, and if they do, he can just say he does it to unwind."
She sagged a bit. "I guess you're both right… but I still worry."
"Well, maybe we need to take your processor off it?~" Sideswipe offered, a hand running down her front.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Sides…" She mumbled, before letting out a soft groan when lips wrapped around her earlobe and bit down just that bit. "Sunny~" She purred at the culprit, who was no doubt smiling around her ear as he sucked.
The attention she'd been giving to Sideswipe shifted, taking his chin gently and tugging him into a sweet kiss, before breaking it to speak. "Not on the Sofa. You two know the rules." She reminded them.
Sideswipe pouted. "Just once?~" He pleaded, giving her a few flutters of his eye lashes.
She huffed. "The moment I say yes, you'll try for another surface to frag me on. We keep it to the bedroom to prevent someone coming by unannounced and catching us, remember? You don't want Prowl to see us, do you?"
Both of them seemed to accept that reasoning, but that didn't mean they wouldn't try their luck again another time.
For now, they all quickly made their way behind the door to the bedroom, which N-0V4 managed to lock before both of her lovers were upon her, eager to take her processor off of things.
It didn't take them long to succeed in their endeavour, and then some.
N-0V4's got a good bit to learn about how to teach humans.
Welp, until next time!
Moon.