Part Three
Chapter Five
The next day found Dierdre at the main computer console, looking at a 3D hologram of Waspinator. She munched on an apple, listening intently to Cheetor's description of the Predicon's intelligence and combat skills. She suppressed a bark of laughter. No wonder the wasp had been so easy to squash!
Cheetor switched the hologram to a picture of Inferno. The image rotated slowly as the young bot described one of the quirks of the ant's damaged logic circuits.
She nearly choked on her apple. "Queen? He calls Megatron Queen!"
Cheetor grinned and nodded his head.
Dierdre's shoulders shook with mirth.
The woman had been up since the early hours of the morning, getting a guided tour of the base from Cheetor. The young bot had accepted the task willingly, taking her through every part of the ship. During that time, the vivacious feline had talked constantly. He gave her a short history of what had happened to them since they had crash-landed on this prehistoric earth, and even chatted for a while about local base gossip.
They had gone their separate ways around mid-morning. Cheetor had had to help Rhinox with some modifications on one of the base's gun ports. Dierdre had spent the time repairing more of her suit's damaged circuitry and speeding up the mending of her body. Thanks to her enhanced healing abilities and the hypos in her little med kit, the pain in her ribs had almost disappeared. Almost.
Despite herself, she felt a twinge of envy at the easy way bots were able to repair themselves. Cheetor had taken a few bad hits in yesterday's attack, but after a few hours in the CR-Chamber, he looked as good as the day he was first activated. She shrugged mentally. No use dwelling on what could not be.
They had met again some three megacycles later in the bridge. Now, at her request, the cat was getting her acquainted with the Predicons who inhabited the region.
She had her armor in rest mode, except for a thin metal belt that encircled her waist. The metal extended in two plates on either side of her hips to halfway down her outer thighs, where her blaster, scanner, comm and transporter were still magna-sealed securely. She was medicated up to her eyeballs and there was a fresh bandage on the cut on her forehead. Leaning back in her seat she felt, for the moment, fairly contented with the world.
Cheetor switched the hologram to show a creepy-looking Transmetal spider.
"This is Tarantulus, the last of the baddies," Cheetor began. "He's the Pred's resident mad scientist and all-round creepaziod. He…"
The woman looked up from the hologram at the heavy sound of footsteps. It was Dinobot in beast mode, stalking out of the shadows of the center passage. Dierdre was a little surprised to see him; the bot had avoided her like the plague ever since they had arrived at the base last night.
In rescuing him, she had somehow hurt his pride. She didn't know if it was because she was human, female, a combination of the two, or something entirely different. She simply didn't know enough about him to reach a conclusion. Judging from his reaction yesterday, she might be better off not knowing him. He didn't seem to be the most sociable of bots.
Neither was Quickblade in the beginning, reminded a small voice in her head.
Fighting down the sudden surge of anguish that thought triggered, she turned back to the hologram and to Cheetor, who was still talking away, "…specializes in weapons making, assassination tools, cyber-venom and other ultra-bad gizmos. Megatron relies on him for his intelligence, but doesn't trust him for a nano-click."
Cheetor stopped his narration as Dinobot stomped up to them. "Hey, D.B. What's up?"
Completely ignoring the young bot, he focused his feral gaze on Dierdre. "I must speak with you, fleshling."
Dierdre suppressed an annoyed sigh. Fleshling. How she hated that word. Fleshling, squishy, organic, Maximal pet; all were derogatory terms still occasionally used by Cybertron's more ignorant bots, and often screamed by a Predicon warrior in the midst of a battlefield, right before he tried to blow her apart.
Ordinarily, Dierdre might have bristled at the insulting word and his caustic tone. As it was… The woman took a deep breath, forcing her muscles to relax, and calmly said, "You know my name, Dinobot. Use it and I will answer."
Dinobot's reptilian eyes blazed dangerously and he snarled, his lip pulled back to reveal very sharp white fangs. Dierdre's hand slid unobtrusively under the table, ready to draw her blaster if the Predicon-turned-Maximal decided to leap for her throat.
Thus prepared, she waited patiently for a response. Receiving none, she shrugged and turned back to Cheetor, who was watching the proceedings with intense interest. "So this bot's dangerous even to his own faction?" She asked; gesturing to the hologram suspended over the main console.
Cheetor glanced sideways at the growling Dinobot and opened his mouth to answer her question.
"Dierdre," the raptor suddenly gritted, "I have a matter of some urgency to discuss with you. In private."
The human nodded and stood up. She looked down apologetically at the still-sitting Cheetor. "I'll be back soon, Sky Cat."
"And I'll be waiting, Red."
She flashed the feline a smile and focused her attention back to the impatient former Predicon. "Do you know of a place that will be deserted now?"
Dinobot hissed an affirmative and began to stride down the right passage, each step causing the sickle claws on his feet to click against the floor's metal plating like Morse code. Dierdre tossed her apple core into one of the garbage disposal units and silently followed.
Dinobot stopped in front of a door that Dierdre remembered from Cheetor's earlier tour. It was the smaller of the two crew rooms on the Axalon, which also doubled as a storage room. The door slid open, and, once they had stepped inside, closed with a soft hiss. The lights brightened to reveal a sparsely decorated little room with two hard pieces of furniture that might have been called couches, and wonder of wonders, an actual padded chair. Boxes, broken computers and other miscellaneous items were shoved and piled into two of the corners. A faint, stale odor of disuse permeated the chamber.
Seeing that Dinobot could not bring himself to begin the conversation, Dierdre sank into the padded chair, allowing herself to enjoy the relief the soft cushioning gave to her sore body. She gestured to a couch that was positioned in front of the chair and said to the disgruntled velociraptor, "Perhaps if you transformed and sat down, we could talk more easily."
Dinobot snarled and maximized. Crossing his arms over his broad chest, he scowled down at her. "I would prefer to stand."
"Very well." Although she was reluctant to leave the blissful comfort of the chair, she stood up to face him. "What did you want to discuss with me?"
"It is about the... incident yesterday."
Dierdre nodded and looked up at the tall warrior. Somehow, she was not surprised. "Yes? What about it?"
He shifted uncomfortably. Why must the human keep looking him in the optics? It made him distinctly uneasy. "I would hear your reason as to why... you did what you did."
"I..." She hesitated. Why was he asking her this? "I only did what anyone would have done."
He snorted derisively. "No. You could have waited in safety. Optimus would have been able to reach me in time." She shook her head in a negative gesture. He ignored it. "Moreover, female; you do not know me. You were under no obligation to give me assistance."
"I do not abandon my comrades!" Dierdre answered with some heat. She glanced down at the ground for a moment before raising her eyes back to his harsh face. When she spoke again, her voice held pain and quiet bitterness. "Not when there is even a slight chance to save them."
She blinked rapidly and cleared her throat. Angrily brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes, she continued softly, "I don't expect you to understand; but it was the right thing to do." She made an unconscious grabbing gesture with one callused hand, as if to pull the appropriate words from the chamber's musty air. "The honorable thing."
Dinobot stood very still. His optics registered surprise and a brief glimmer of... satisfaction? He looked away from her for a long moment before dropping his arms. "Then I have no choice but to... thank you."
He scratched his chin with a taloned finger, as if searching for inspiration. "Your words have just confirmed what your actions already indicated. While I have yet to see you fight in battle, you have the bearing of a warrior; one who is bound by honor. As am I." He hesitated, seemingly fighting an internal conflict with himself, and then growled suddenly, "I...am in your debt."
There was a moment of silence. Dierdre felt a little stunned; she had half-expected to be attacked, not thanked!
Realizing that she probably looked a little ridiculous with her mouth hanging open, she quickly shut it and ran her fingers through her hair, a nervous habit she had never been able to break, and tried to gather her scattered thoughts.
She had known him for only a day and a half, but one thing about him was apparent; he was a proud bot, very proud. It had taken everything in him to say what he had just said, and displayed a depth of character she somehow hadn't expected from the taciturn warrior. Dierdre suddenly felt a stab of guilt for her misjudgment of him.
With as much grace as she could muster, she gave him a small bow, just a slight dipping of her head, and said, "Thank you, Dinobot, for your words. However, you've no obligation to me." She lifted a hand before he could speak. "Two nights ago you and the others saved me from capture and an almost certainly painful death. I'd say we were even." At his visible relief, she allowed an amused smile to play on her lips. "That must have been difficult for you to say."
The ex-Predicon chuckled; a short-lived and sardonic sound reminiscent of gravel being crushed underfoot. "You will never know."
Seemingly very uncomfortable with the whole situation, he continued, "I must go. I have duties to perform." He transformed back to beast mode and was halfway out the door before Dierdre's voice stopped him.
"Dinobot, wait."
He turned reluctantly. "What?"
"Once the matter of the data disk has been resolved, perhaps you would care to join me for a practice battle?" Seeing his shocked expression, she continued, "I'm used to practicing with a partner, and I don't want my sword arm to get rusty, so to speak."
He had a strange look in his organic eyes. Dierdre felt a blush threatening to color her cheeks, but she refused to look away or take back her words. Human she may be, but she was a soldier as well, a trained fighter, and, despite his size and strength, she was confident that she could hold her own against him in combat.
"Do you honestly think you can last more than a few seconds against me?"
She ignored his incredulous tone and drew herself up; arms folded. "Yes. I have fought against bots larger and more aggressive than you before, and as you can see, I'm still in one piece. More or less." Absentmindedly, Dierdre ran the fingers of her left hand down a long white scar on her upper right arm. "I may surprise you."
You have already done that. "Very well, human," he hissed. "Barring unforeseen circumstances, you shall have your battle. Prepare yourself for defeat."
Did she only imagine the humor that seemed to flicker briefly behind his eyes?
Dierdre laughed a little. "Perhaps. Or perhaps you'll be the one to have your sword given back to you."
He seemed to consider it unlikely, but nodded slowly. "We shall see. Until then..." He stepped out of the doorway and vanished down the hall. The door slid shut behind him.
Dierdre waited until she was sure he had gone from the corridor before venturing out herself. Her mouth curved, unbidden, into a small smile.
Until then.
Several mega-cycles later…
"You see Rhinox; here, here and here." Dierdre pointed to a life-sized 3D hologram of a human skeleton. More specifically, her skeleton.
Rhinox looked at the faint fractures on display and nodded thoughtfully. "This enhanced healing ability of yours is quite remarkable. From what I was able to dig up in the Axalon's memory files, an injury like this should take over a lunar-cycle to repair itself." He ran a huge metallic finger along a hairline fracture on one of the holographic ribs. "But these breaks look like they were made two deca-cycles, rather than two solar-cycles, ago."
The human lifted the right corner of her mouth into a smile. She flipped her braid over a tanned shoulder and replied, with a trace of pride in her voice, "The miracles of modern technology."
Rhinox and Dierdre were in Rhinox's private lab. In addition to the scientific paraphernalia that gave the room a decidedly Frankensteinian feel, there were also several pieces of medical equipment adding to the organized chaos, including a tri-dimensional holo scanner. Although reluctant, the human had agreed to submit herself to the curious bot's scanning equipment. She had to admit that it would be useful for them to have some information on her if she was ever hurt too badly to help herself.
Rhinox leaned forward suddenly and stared intently at something on the hologram. "But what are these? They look like shadows on the bone." He pointed at such a shadow located on the right tibia of the hologram.
"That's just an old injury." At Rhinox's questioning glance, Dierdre elaborated, "Most humans who serve in the military have had their genes altered slightly. Not much, but enough to increase speed and strength, to slow the aging process, and of course, to enhance natural healing.
"When my bones snap, they immediately start to heal themselves. My body goes into overdrive, replacing bone matter at ten times the natural speed. While not detrimental to the bone, one consequence of this healing process is a small ring of denser bone around the healed break; which looks like a shadow in most scans."
Rhinox nodded his head. There were several such 'shadows' on her bones. The big scientist glanced at the human, who appeared so small and fragile next to him. "You seem to have had a hard life."
Dierdre nodded slowly, her attention fixed on the hovering representation of her skeletal structure. She seemed a little sad. "Indeed. I've been fighting in this Infinity-cursed war ever since Ganitron broke the peace treaty."
"How long ago was that?" Rhinox inquired. He was very interested in her timeline; but thus far she had changed the subject whenever any of the Maximals asked a question she didn't want to answer. Not even Cheetor, the bot she seemed most comfortable with, had been able to get much out of her.
In a way, the rhino understood her reluctance. She was a commander after all, and she no doubt knew the dangers of revealing too much information. Therefore he was mildly surprised when she answered his question.
"Nearly twenty-five years ago. Almost half my life has been spent in battle."
"Almost half…but that would make you…"
Dierdre gave him a slightly mischievous grin. "Ladies do not have to tell their ages."
Rhinox merely raised an eye ridge at her. "In my time, humans couldn't live much longer than eighty years. How much has the genetic manipulation slowed down the aging process?"
The human shrugged. "Barring fatal injury, I have about two hundred and fifty years of life left to me."
"Not bad." Cybertronians usually went offline after four hundred stellar cycles, although spark transfer to a new body could increase the process indefinitely.
"Yeah. However, I doubt I'll live that long," Dierdre said calmly. "As I'm sure you know; war doesn't treat a soldier kindly."
"I know that all too well," the big Maximal replied, thinking of Goldstreak, an old love lost in a border skirmish over a century ago.
With a shiver, Rhinox's large yet nimble fingers flew over the holo scanner's keyboard and saved the image into the Axalon's memory files. He closed down the scanner and turned to the human.
"I would like to run a few more tests on you, for the records."
Dierdre looked at Rhinox a little suspiciously. "What kind of tests?"
A roar of rage from somewhere deep inside the Axalon interrupted Rhinox's answer. An instant later there was an answering shriek of fear. The sound of running feet and the scrape of claws against metal could be heard.
Part of the Falchonite2 plate centered on the human's back seemed to melt and snake like living liquid down her left arm. An instant later, Dierdre was holding a long and wickedly sharp blade. She began to stride over to the door.
"There's no need for that," said Rhinox, stopping her in her tracks.
"No need? It sounds like someone's being killed!"
With an air of long suffering, the Maximal shook his head. "No. It's only Dinobot and Rattrap."
There was another roar, sounding closer than the last, and a giant Transmetal rat materialized out of the corridor's gloom. "How 'bout some help 'ere!" he called to the two as he scampered past the doorway. "Ol' Teeth 'n Talons 'as flipped 'is circuits again!"
"When it comes to Dinobot, you're on your own," answered Rhinox.
"Heh… Thanks a bunch, pal," Rattrap retorted.
An instant later the aforementioned velociraptor bounded past them with surprising grace, his tail trailing behind him like a banner. "Stand your ground, pestilence," he snarled at Rattrap's retreating form. "It will only hurt for a nano-click!"
"Ya gotta catch me first, Thunderbutt!" the rodent flung over his shoulder. He increased his speed and disappeared around a corner.
Dinobot followed him, his talons scraping up sparks as he turned sharply. "Stinking garbage eater! Let me introduce you to my 'choppers'…"
The sound of hurled insults faded as the two adversaries descended deeper into the bowels of the ship, leaving an exasperated Rhinox and a dumbfounded human in their wake.
"Um… Are they always like that?" Dierdre asked when she could trust herself to speak.
"Sometimes worse."
"And you're sure they're not going to kill each other?"
Rhinox shrugged. "They haven't yet, and Primus knows they've had plenty of opportunities." Seeming to dismiss the duo from his mind, he looked keenly at Dierdre. "Now, about those tests…"