FINDING HOME

CHAPTER 2

BY VOODOO QUEEN

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello, Dear Readers! Thank you to all who have taken the time to read this story and leave a review. I love and appreciate you all!

This chapter was updated on 10/23/2021 to correct spelling, grammar, flow, and other things my editing software missed.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN TRANSFORMERS, JUST MY OWN ORIGINAL CHARACTERS AND PLOT.

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0500 hours came sooner than Amy had expected. Climbing out of her rack for what would be the last time, she quickly slipped into the uniform she'd pressed the night before and twisted her blond hair up into its standard bun. Stuffing her pajamas into her sea bag with the rest of her belongings, she fished out a towel, soap, toothbrush, and toothpaste and made her way to the female head to perform her morning ritual. She brushed her teeth quickly and followed that up by washing her face. After patting her face dry, she observed her reflection in the mirror with a critical eye.

She kept her light, straight blond hair just below shoulder length which made it much easier to twist up onto the back of her head and pin it every morning. Green eyes, not nearly as bright as they should have been, stared back at her from within a pale face. A light smattering of freckles, the only bit of color she had, were dusted across the bridge of her straight nose and high cheekbones. Her lips were full but rarely, if ever, smiled to their full potential. Others may have viewed her as pretty if she didn't seem to have a constant cloud of melancholy swirling about over her head at any given time. For the most part, she wasn't too concerned with her appearance outside of the professional. She'd learned long ago that sometimes it was best just to blend into the background and not draw too much attention.

She shook her head to clear it and took a quick glance at her watch. It was 0530. She had fifteen minutes to grab her things and meet Master Sergeant Epps on deck. One thing she didn't like was being late. Giving herself one last look to make sure she was squared away, she quickly gathered up her items and went back to the berthing to grab her sea bag.

#

She never really had much of a reason to venture up onto the flight deck, but she'd always found the highly coordinated actions of the flight deck personnel and squadron flight crews fascinating to watch. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of hot metal and plane exhaust while the roar of jet engines made her ears ring. She was able to get the attention of a plane handler who was able to direct her to where Epps waited for her near the island.

"Morning," the man shouted over the drone of jet noise. "You're early! I like that!"

"Good morning, Sir!" She shouted back.

"Just call me Epps," he replied. "None of that sir BS. I work for a living."

Doe nodded.

"That's our ride." Epps pointed toward a large cargo plane that had rolled to a stop in front of catapult number three. "Come on. Let's get out of here. All this water is making me nauseous."

Doe couldn't help but smile a bit as they were both herded toward the plane that would take them to their destination. It wasn't until both their persons and gear had been properly secured and they'd been in the air for about thirty minutes that Epps decided to get down to business.

He leaned forward toward the woman as far as his safety harness would allow and still had to talk loudly to be heard over the sound of the plane's props. "So, you've never heard of NEST?"

Doe shrugged. "Not really. The only NEST I'm familiar with is the Nuclear Emergency Support Team, but I'm guessing that isn't what we're taking about, right?"

"You are correct," Epps nodded. "NEST stands for Non-Biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty."

Doe raised a brow. "Extraterrestrial, as in…"

"Yep," Epps agreed with her train of thought. "Aliens. Giant, robotic aliens from outer space."

"Okay," Doe huffed and shook her head in disbelief. "Is this some kind of a hazing thing? Try to make an idiot out of the new guy? You know, like sending someone down to the tool room to ask for a bucket of steam or something like that?"

Epps laughed, "I promise you I am being 100% serious right now. I'm sure you're aware of what went down in Mission City, right? It was all over the news for a hot minute."

"Yeah," Doe nodded. "It was horrible. They're saying it was the worst terrorist attack ever on US soil."

"Terrorists who happen to be huge alien robots." Epps face morphed into a mask of anger. "What happened was a spillover from a war that's been going on for God only knows how long. There are two sides to this thing: the Autobots and the Decpticons. The Decepticons are hellbent on the eradication and enslavement of humanity. The war destroyed their planet and now they want Earth for its natural resources so they can grow their army and expand their reach in the universe. The Autobots are the good guys trying to stop them and prevent what happened to their planet from happening to ours. We're helping the good guys. That's what NEST is all about."

She looked at him doubtfully. She'd been made a fool of too many times in her life to take anyone's claims at face value. That was especially true when said claims were as outlandish as these were. "So, you're telling me that we're helping fight a war between two groups of giant, alien robots. Is that right?"

"Trust me, I know it sounds crazy," Epps admitted. "I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. You'll get a full briefing from Captain Lennox and the Big Guy when we get there. I just want you to be prepared. It's a lot to take in."

"Yeah," Doe muttered. "Right."

#

The rest of the flight had continued in relative quiet. The drone of the plane's engines had eventually succeeded in lulling the Master Sergeant to sleep. Doe ignored the man's occasional snore and found herself dozing off and on, as well. During her moments of lucidity, her mind would wander back to the talk of aliens. She'd seen rumors on the Internet as well as seen the grainy, shaking cell phone footage that purported to show giant robots battling it out in the streets of downtown Mission City. She had chalked it up to Internet film makers trying to cash in on mass hysteria to make a quick buck. The whole thing was ridiculous, really, she decided and closed her eyes. The next time she opened them it was to the bone-jarring feeling of the plane they were in touching down on the tarmac.

"Home sweet home," Epps remarked, causing the woman to turn her head in his direction. "Have a good sleep?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks for asking." She maneuvered in her seat slightly in order to see out of the small window that was closest to where she sat as the plane taxied away from the landing strip. "What time is it? Where are we?"

"It's 1730 hours. Dinner time." Epps had already unbuckled his harness and was gathering his belongings before the plane had even come to a stop. "This is Diego Garcia. It's an island in-"

"It's in the central Indian Ocean. It's part of the Chagos Archipelago." She gave him a tight smile in acknowledgement as the plane finally came to a stop and she released herself from her seat and began getting her own gear together. "I'm familiar with the location. Some of my duties involved map work."

"Ah," Epps nodded as he swung his bag up onto his shoulder. "That makes sense. If you're floating around in the ocean, I guess it pays to know where all the land is." The door of the plane rolled open, and Epps gestured for the woman to follow as he made his exit. "Let's get this show on the road."

Doe followed the man as he made his way across the tarmac toward some buildings off to the side. She was a bit embarrassed and would never admit it out loud, but her eyes swept over her surroundings looking for any sign of giant robots or evidence that they had been stomping around the place. Of course, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She did see plenty of other military personnel and hardware, though. She rolled her eyes at her own idiocy and focused on Epps' running commentary.

"This side of the base is human military use for the most part. The Autobots typically keep to the other side of the island most of the time. I think it's because they know they make some of us humans nervous and want to give us space. That," he pointed to the largest building at the end of a row of six, "is the barracks where you'll be staying. I'll help you find your room so you can get settled. Over there," he pointed to a low-slung building on the opposite end of the row, "is the chow hall. Once you're settled, go grab something to eat."

As Epps continued to speak of places of interest and what the very near future had in store, Doe's attention was drawn away by the approach of a sleek, silver Lamborghini Aventador that rolled slowly up next to her from seemingly out of nowhere. The car moved so quietly that she had to strain her ears to hear the purr of the engine over Epps' ongoing monologue. Epps, for his part, didn't seem to notice the car at all and continued chattering away.

Doe noted that the car's windows were tinted so dark that is was impossible for her to see inside to whoever was behind the wheel. The way it paced her was a bit eerie, not counting the fact that the car seemed completely out of place among all the drab, olive green and sand brown military vehicles that were scattered about. She didn't get to dwell on it too long because the car suddenly shot forward, its passenger door opening quickly, upward and outward, smacking into Epps' back and causing him to stumble and drop his bags before snapping closed again just as quickly.

Regaining his footing, Epps whirled around. His eyes narrowed as they landed on the idling Lamborghini, which now seemed to be trembling slightly on its tires. "What the hell man? What was that for?" The car, of course, didn't answer, but that didn't stop Epps. "Oh, yeah. Go ahead and laugh it up, Sideswipe. You're real funny. You see me showing the new girl around and come over and try to knock me on my ass. Great way to make a first impression."

Doe kept one eye on the strange one-sided conversation while kneeling to try to gather some items that had fallen from one of Epps' bags when he'd dropped them. One of the items had rolled behind the car's rear passenger side tire. As she stretched to pick it up, she reached out to place her hand on the car's rear fender for balance and immediately wished she hadn't. As soon as her flesh contacted the metal, she felt as if she'd grabbed onto a live wire. The shock was sudden and over with before she'd even realized what had happened, but it was still powerful enough to knock her off her feet and tear a scream from her throat. A warm, tingling sensation persisted, however, and continued to creep up her fingers, down the length of her arm and settle in her chest. Her vision swam and her hands immediately flew up to grasp the area above her erratically beating heart as fears that she might be having a heart attack gripped her.

"What the hell did you do?" Epps was outright yelling at the car now as he scrambled to the woman's side. "Doe! You alright?"

She blinked rapidly as the world came back into focus. Her heart began to calm, slowing from its staccato rhythm, and the strange feeling in her chest started to ease ever so slightly. Her hands released their death grip on her chest, and she nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think so."

No sooner had the confirmation of her wellbeing left her lips, the Lamborghini's engine gave an almost deafening roar and its tires squealed as it was thrust suddenly into reverse. Doe watched as it whipped itself around in the parking area before screeching out of the lot leaving both she and Epps to stare after it in startled confusion, Epps muttering something under his breath about an idiot car needing an attitude adjustment before he accidentally killed someone with his antics.

After a moment, Epps coughed and waved some dust that had been kicked up out of his face before rising from the ground and helping Doe back up to her feet. He eyed the woman with concern. She seemed paler than normal and more than a bit shaken. "Are you sure you're alright? I can have someone run us over to medical and they can check you out."

"No, no…" Doe shook her head. "I'm fine, really. It was…it just…it shocked me?"

"Are you asking me?" Epps asked with a raised brow. "Because I'm not sure what the hell just happened."

"I'm just…no." She shook her head again. "I'm fine. Really."

"Positive?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I'm good." She dusted off the back of her pants and tried to straighten her uniform, attempting to push the strange incident out of her mind. "You were saying something about tomorrow morning's briefing?"

"Yeah, right." Epps gave the woman a final once over before picking up where they'd been interrupted and continuing the trek to the barracks. "The briefing will be in the main hangar tomorrow morning at 0600. Make sure you get up early enough to grab some breakfast in the chow hall because it's going to be a long day."

END OF CHAPTER 2

TO BE CONTINUED...