AUTHOR: Sorry for the late update. School has just started and all. I onlyhope there are still people out there who are still intersted in Soldier. PLEASE R&R. My last chapter only got 2 reviews, and one of them was mine. Wanted to see if the review link was busted or something. I know. I'm pathetic. Sue me.

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Chapter 4:...Here I come.

"Sky Squad? Not catchy enough. Flying Eagles? Too corny. Air Fighters? Yeah, I like the sounds of that. Air Fighters."

"Just what are you doing, Red 3?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Just trying to find a name for our squadrons when we graduate. It's a lot tougher then I thought, I'll tell you that!"

"And just what makes you think you'll graduate with us? You seem to spend more time dreaming about taking on all the Decepticons by yourself then paying attention to our instructor!" snapped an irritated Red 1. This was no surprise, considering he always became serious and a bit on the edge before a training session began.

"Hey, I haven't been doing that bad! Besides, I doubt they're gonna throw us in the middle of a battle zone right after graduating. More likely we'll get assigned patrolling Cybertron or something, searching for more of those rebellious Decepticons. And even that isn't all that hard. I'm willing to bet a week's supply of Energon Cubes that those Decepticons that stood any real threat to us were either destroyed or are collecting dust in prison after their failed attempt on capturing the Warp Gate last week."

"We still have Megatron on the loose, Red 3," Red 2 pointed out. Red 2 was a bit of the silent type of the group, but after spending time around those two, he had learned a thing or two in defusing a conversation that was dangerously leaning towards a hotly argument.

"Hey, I got no argue mends there, but come on! Just what is he gonna attack us with? We outnumber him at least eighty to one, and so far it doesn't look like he has established a base of any kind. Also, he has no way of getting access to any kind of supplies or resources. It's only a matter of time before we find him. I only wish I could see his face when we do."

Megatron sat in his command chair on the bridge, his fingers neatly pressed against each other as he focused on a massive 3-D map that glowed in front of him. It showed a section of the planet they were orbiting, along with two purple dots and six red dots that had split into two groups. One purple dot was moving towards one of the groups of red dots that were flying dangerously close to the mining site, while the other seemed to have guessed the other group's flying path and was preparing an ambush.

Megatron's expression was about as serious as it could get, and the silence on the bridge was broken when two other Decepticons ran into the bridge.

"M-Megatron, sir! What is going on? Why hasn't the cargo ship returned?"

"Hmm, maybe it has something to do with the fact that our planet seems to have been selected as an Autobot training ground, Demolisher," replied Megatron, still looking at the 3-D map before him. Demolisher was visibly taken aback at the news.

Before he could ask the next course of action, a happy looking Cyclonus jumped up and down and cackled, "Oh goody! Some Autobums to release some tension on! The first one entering orbit is gonna have to clean the launch bay!" With that, Cyclonus made a break for the exit.

"Stand your ground, soldier!" bellowed Megatron, and Cyclonus stopped dead in his tracks with one foot on the ground and the other one in the air, making him look like he was about to do some sort of a silly dance.

"….sir?"

"Demolisher, start jamming that planet. I don't want any kinds of transmission coming out or going in."

"Y-yes sir!" Demolisher saluted even though Megatron wasn't looking at him, and then ran towards one of the bridge's controls. After pushing several buttons, he turned towards his superior and said, "Jamming complete, sir."

Megatron did not acknowledge. He continued gazing at the map before him. Behind the mighty Decepticon, Cyclonus had stopped standing on only one foot and taken couple of steps closer to Megatron. He was careful to stop out of Megatron's reach, in case his leader would react….predictably.

"Uh, s-sir? How come you're letting Starscream and the Metal-Squishy handle these Autodorks? Me and Demolisher can just as easily handle 'em!"

Demolisher didn't agree with Cyclonus out loud, but he did share the same thoughts as he gazed at his leader from a safe distance.

"Because of three reasons, Cyclonus. One, seeing how the human will fight the Autobots will give me insights in just how serios he takes his position as one my soldiers. Two, should he show the slightest hesitation in a middle of a fight, that alone will be enough for me to belive he is nothing but a spy, and Starscream will take care of him. Third, should he emerge victorius, I shall give him the benefit of a doubt and I expect you, Cyclonus, to stop bothering me with your pathetic whining! Is that understood?" Megatron's bragging changed from smuggness into downright hostile and his optics flashed briefly at the last statement.

"Uh...y-yes sir."

"Good. Now, let's watch the show."

"Oh, oh! I know! Aeriel Bots!"

"Aeriel Bots! That has to be the dumbest name for a flight squadron I've ever heard!" responded Red 2. "I'd rather haul garbage then fly under that name!"

A small 'hmph!' was heard from Red 3."Well then, you try to come up with something! You didn't like Flying Daggers either!"

Up untill now, Red 1 had tried his best to just ignore Red 3 as they flew over a desert area that was filled with caves and cannyons, a perfect place for an ambush. Upon hearing Red 3's comment, however, he finally snapped.

"That's because that name has already been taken! In case your memory needs an update, the Flying Daggers just happen to be listed as one of the eighty's top Autobot flying squadrens!" Even though it didn't show, Red 3 was taken aback from Red 1's hostile tone.

"W-well yeah, I-I know, I was just-"

"And if your memory chip is missing some more data, flying under a squadron that has already been taken is illegal by rule number 427543.5, Paragraph J, and could result in being court martialled! "

Red 3 tried to defend himself, but Red 1 didn't allow him. The frustration that had been growing over the past months due to Red 3's carelessnes, his lack of attention during lessons, and overall lazyness just started pouring through Red 1's vocaliser and he just couldn't stop himself, even if he had tried.

As for Red 2, well…

In the shadows of one of the canyons below the flying rookies, Spike hovered in his Mech. Its nose was tilted slightly upwards, pointed in the direction the Autobots were flying.

"-and you never seem to pay the slightest attention to-" Red 1's angry ramble was violently cut short when two rockets hit Red 2's belly, his most vulnerable place. The young Autobot exploded into a hellish ball of fire, the peaces flying in all directions, hitting the other two stunned rookies.

Below them, Spike flew out of the shadows, going at top speed and heading directly towards them.

"-w-w-what the, h-he just, he just-" Red 3 was brought back from his near-hysteria rambling when laser shots came from under him. Whether it was out of what little he remembered from training or sheer luck, Red 3 managed to twist himself and his only damage was a slight graze on his left wing. Red 1, however, cried out in pain and surprise as his engines were hit.

Spike maneuvered between them at high speed, and then made a quick dive down.

Red 3's moment of disorientation quickly evaporated when he saw the purple insignia on the jet's wings. What the feeling was replaced was…whether it was something that had been programmed into him, or the sight of the burning remains of Red 2, Red 3 felt…hatred. Unimaginable burning hatred that was directly aimed at that killer.

"He's gonna pay!" snarled Red 3 as he engaged his thrusters and followed the Decepticon.

"Red 3, wait!" Red 1 cried out as he also tried to make it to his top speed, but his engines were too badly damaged.

"….he's gonna pay!" snarled Red 3 and engaged his thrusters and followed the Decepticon.

"Red 3, wait!" Red 1 cried out as he tried to match Red 3's speed, but his engines had been damaged by that shot.

The area around Spike was hit with laser fire coming from the angry Autobot rookie was hot on his tail. The uncontrollable emotions running through him left little space for logic or reason and he wasn't taking the time to aim properly.

Spike flew close to the ground, making quick turns away from small hills or trees and big rocks while avoiding the laser fire.

"You're gonna pay! You hear me? You're gonna pay!" screamed Red 3 and unleashed another wave of laser shots at Spike, some of them slightly grazing his armor at best. Suddenly, Spike pulled up fast, heading towards the clouded sky. The Autobot quickly followed and continued firing while Spike twisted and turned to avoid getting hit.

Somewhere at the back of Red 3's mind, he thought he could hear Red 1 shouting something, warning him about something. But a quick flashback to Red 2's fate made him push it aside and continued the cat-and-mouse chase.

He didn't care one bit what Red 1 was trying to tell him. This one was his kill.

Spike disappeared through a cloud and Red 3 pushed more power into his engines. As he flew through the cloud, he saw the blue sky, the sun, a bit of stars and-

And no black jet.

"Show yourself you coward! You gotta kill people when they're not looking?" Red 3 looked angrily around, but no sign of the enemy. A flicker of reason finally managed to penetrate his anger.

He's heading back down, to hide so he can strike again!

Red 3 dived down quickly. When he cleared through the clouds he had a perfect view of the area.but still there was no sign of the enemy.

There's no way he could have moved that fast!

Red 3's desperate thoughts were halted when Red 1's screaming communication reached him.

"EVADE! He's above you! He's-"

A dark shadow appeared in the cloud right above Red 3 and Spike emerged in his alt-mode. He landed hard on Red 3's back, his legs breaking pieces of the Autobot's wings. His weight brought Red 3's nose down hard and forced him into a deadly crash course towards the ground below.

"GET OFF ME! You'll kill us both!" shouted Red 3 and tried to transform, but the Mech's legs stopped the wings from retracing itself and the process was cancelled. Without saying a word, Spike raised a fist and brought it down, smashing the Autobot's cockpit windows. Red 3's cry of pain was heard, but Spike ignored it and aimed his right hand at the inside of the cockpit.

A large panel opened on the Mech's arm, and a large grey mini-gun emerged and started slowly spinning. And then-

-and then it unleashed laser shots at point blank range.

Red 3's cry of pain was cut short and became garbled as the shots continued. Smoke coming from his controls, followed by an explosion and a massive fire erupting in his cockpit.

Only then did Spike cease firing. The mini-gun sank back into the arm and he let go of his grip on Red 3 and silently transformed while the Autobot jet continued its course towards the ground, making no attempts to change course.

And all what Red 1 could do, was to watch his comrade, his friend, his brother fall, the fire in the cockpit making him look like a falling comet. So far…so very far away…

"No…" Red 1 breathed, his optics almost shutting down in denial as the remains of Red 3 was swallowed in a massive explosion. At that moment, Red 1 was ripped into two parts.

One howled at him in anger, yelling at him that it was all his fault, that he let his guard down and caused Red 2's death. That after all his training and learning, all what he managed to do was to fight like…like some third grade scrap.

The other part tried to speak reason into him, telling him it wasn't his fault, that there was no way of knowing that the enemy was on the planet, or that they would fly over one. This was just supposed to be another training scenario.

Reason brought little comfort this time.

Red 1 managed to halt his soul-search and bring himself back to the real world. He didn't know for how long he had been 'out', but for some unexplainable reason, he knew where the enemy was. Looking towards the sun, he could just barely make him out, heading straight towards him.

Attacking with the sun behind you. An engagement move that made the target either not notice the attacker, or makes it difficult for them to aim properly. In this case it was the latter, but he'd be damned if he was going down without a fight, busted engine or not.

Turning towards the sun, Red 1 placed as much power into his engines as he could and charged up his guns. He couldn't tell how far away the enemy was, but he guessed he was within gun range and that was good enough.

Red 1 fired towards the sun. He could just barely see his target move and dodge the incoming shots. For a split second he saw flash come from the enemy, and just for a moment, Red 1 thought he had got him.

A slight gasp escaped just before two rockets hit him

As the final enemy exploded, Spike turned the flight stick hard to the right so his Mech would not get hit by the burning debris. A quick look on the radar showed no more energy signals, and as far as Spike knew, his now dead targets never managed to send a warning to the second group. Just as he was about to send a message to Starscream, Spike realized just because he had engaged the enemy, it did not mean Starscream had done so as well. He also doubted that his superior required his assistance.

So there was only one thing that he could do. Wait there until he was contacted.

Picking a spot on a hill that gave him a good view, Spike transformed his Mech and landed, slowly looking around the surrounding area. The remains of his first kill were still burning and he could see smoke come from the crater where his second kill had crashed.

He had been outnumbered and outgunned. His skill and experience was probably no bigger then theirs, but their chance of getting him had been high none the less. And yet, he had prevailed. They had tried their best to get him and yet it had not been good enough.

Having those thoughts in his mind and looking at his falling enemies…

…made him feel…good.

"I see you took my lessons to heart, Spike." Having Starscream appear right beside him did not startle the human Decepticon, oddly enough.

"Just trying my best, sir." Spike responded. He dared to turn his head slightly and look at his superios. He could not see any surface damage, but a pink fluid was dripping off his sword. Starscream looked at Spike and opened his mouth, but a transmission reached them before he could speak.

"Starscream? Come in, Starscream!"

"Megatron, sir?" Starscream responded, looking slightly up to the sky.

"What's your status?"

"All hostiles have been taken care of without any signs of complications, sir."

"Excellent. Return back to the Energon cave and supervise the mining. Out."

The transmission ended and Starscream turned to Spike. His face bore his usual neutral expression, but it was…slightly different in subtle places.

"It would seem that you have been trained fully enough to be able to handle yourself in air-combat, Spike. But allow me to give you one final lesson." Spike could feel himself blink slightly at these…most unexpected words.

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Identify your target. Concentrate your fire on it to the exclusion of all else. When it is destroyed choose another target. That is the way to secure victory."

It felt like a code or something that Starscream was reciting to him. But whatever it was, it rang true, and Spike started reciting it at the back of his head. It just felt the right thing to do.

"…yes sir." Starscream nodded. Both of them transformed to fly back to the cave.

The two jets flew away, leaving nothing but burning debris and smoldering crater. And the recorder continued turning, recording everything.

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Please R&R..