Springer trudged wearily behind Arcee as they exited Skyfire behind the assembly of Autobots ferrying the wounded. After a few steps Springer looked back to see the white shuttle they had been on board transform into a large Autobot. Skyfire was actually taller than Ultra Magnus, who until that point had been the biggest Cybertronian Springer had met during his life. Turning his attention forward once again Springer looked at Arcee.
The young femme was injured, but gave no sign of noticing. Her face was set with grim resolve as she trudged towards the entrance of the Ark, occasionally looking round to take in the new surroundings. Springer himself had seen dozens of alien planets, but he realised this might be her first. Not the ideal circumstances to arrive in, Springer thought idly to himself. He thought about offering her some reassurance, but instinct told him not to bother. He had received somewhat of a cool welcome from the Cybertronian Autobots, right from the moment he broke orbit above Cybertron and was attacked by a Decepticon patrol. Thankfully Ultra Magnus had taken a very short amount of time to dispatch their attackers with his shoulder missiles, and they had managed to land far away from Polyhex, in the outskirts of Iacon. They had soon found themselves looking down the barrel of an assortment of weapons wielded by Elita-1's troops, and it had taken Ultra Magnus proving his identity to save them.
The entrance of the Ark gave way to a garish orange interior of a crashed very ancient spaceship. The procession of Autobots followed a couple of corridors, before they arrived at a small medical facility, behind a set of sliding automatic double doors. A white Autobot with red crosses on his shoulders was giving calm, clipped orders.
"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker – get that one under the UV light there. Wheeljack, I want a spark scan for shrapnel or lacerations, it looks like the integrity of the casing has been compromised, I'll prepare for surgery to the fuel pump immediately, and we'll stabilise that before the scan is finished."
Springer watched, morbidly fascinated from where he and Arcee stood just inside the entrance. The red and gold mechs whom Ratchet had addressed instantly moved Blurr's gurney under a light in the centre of the room and another robot of similar size to them with a mouthguard started attending to equipment. The white mech had turned his attention to a small mech of similar design, but also sporting a mouthplate.
"First Aid," he began, pointing towards the gurney that had just been deposited next to a nursing station by the combination of the peaceful looking green Autobot and the grumpy minibot, "the grey and green mech on that gurney is called Kup. I'll introduce you properly later, but he doesn't seem to be in immediate danger. There's a very serious possibility that if we revive him too soon he'll tell war stories for days on end, so I want you to patch his wounds, run diagnostics on fuel pump, transformation cog and brain module, then give me a recharge level on him."
"Yes Ratchet, right away." The response from the other Autobot was gentle but businesslike, and he immediately set to the task as the stretcher-bearing Autobots all filed out the door. They had to squeeze past Springer and Arcee as they did so, with the golden Autobot scowling at the pair of them, and the gentle green one offering a sympathetic look of reassurance to Arcee as he left.
There were three other occupants in the room, the large winged mech that still carried Hot Rod, a dark green mech about Ratchet's size, and a small organic alien.
"Pop him over here, Swoop" the dark green Autobot said genially to the winged Autobot, indicating another, smaller nursing station. Hot Rod was gently laid down in the berth as the green Autobot had instructed.
"You Hoist fix him? Can me Swoop help?" Swoop's voice was high-pitched and excitable. Not quite what Springer would expect coming from such a fearsome, powerful-looking individual. He sounded quite young actually, Springer noted to himself as he observed the exchange.
"Not this time Swoop." Ratchet's voice cut in. "The medibay is gonna be a little busy and it might be best if you go back to your quarters with the other Dinobots."
Swoop's face visibly fell, but he trudged towards the door as directed.
"Swoop?" Ratchet was looking at him.
"Yes, Ratchet?" Swoop replied.
"We'll get you back in here once things settle down, don't worry."
Looking visibly reassured, Swoop headed towards the door, then suddenly stopped and faced Arcee and Springer. Despite being powerfully built, Swoop was only a head taller than Springer himself. He reached out his right hand towards Arcee.
"Hello, me Swoop, me Dinobot."
Arcee looked at his outstretched hand, blankly. Springer was familiar with alien customs so took the initiative. He took Swoop's hand in his and shook it firmly.
"Hi Swoop, my name is Springer. It's very nice to meet you. This is Arcee." He released Swoop's hand and Arcee in turn followed his lead and shook it. Swoop squawked excitedly and smiled.
"Me Swoop happy to meet you too. Me Swoop think you shouldn't be sad or worry about your friends – him Ratchet the best medic on all of Earth. Him Ratchet fix your friends and then you Arcee, you Springer and all your friends can come meet rest of Dinobots! Me Swoop has to go now but hope to see you soon. Bye!" With that Swoop headed out through the medibay doors and walked off down the corridor.
"Sweet kid." Springer murmured quietly to Arcee as they watched the door close behind the affable Dinobot. Springer had no idea what a Dinobot was – neither the term Dinobot nor the name Swoop had cropped up in all the stories about the legendary Ark heroes that Kup was prone to telling - but at least they seemed friendly. Ratchet, who hadn't paid them any attention whatsoever, was now busy at work deep within Blurr's shattered form. The mouth-plated mech who had been working the scanner seemed to be acting as his assistant, passing him different tools as the medic murmured commands to him.
Hoist looked up from where he and the small organic alien were examining Hot Rod and addressed the pair of them. He pointed towards a bench in the corner of the room.
"If you could both sit there, we'll get to you in due course, thank you."
With no other option Springer and Arcee moved over to the bench and sat down. Beyond the brief interaction with Swoop, Arcee's optics had not left the centre of the room where Ratchet now worked on Blurr, occasionally speaking in hushed tones with Wheeljack, whose fins glowed blue as he replied to the medic. Springer leaned back against the wall and realised for the first time that the events of the day had really shaken him. He'd been in the odd scrape or fight before in his life of course, but he'd never really fought in a battle anything like as ferocious as the one that had taken place hours before on that remote asteroid.
The Autobot squad had been completely overmatched and the Decepticons had been merciless, clinical and cruel. All of Springer's preconceived notions about war, fighting, adventuring and codes of conduct had gone out the window. When Blurr - one of the more genial and friendly 'bots Springer had encountered since his arrival on Cybertron - had fallen, rage had taken over him and he had charged at Astrotrain, fully intending to cleave the Decepticon's head from his shoulders. It was not a pleasant feeling to think back on it – soldier he may not be, but Springer knew that he was a very powerful mech. That power, combined with his swordsmanship skills, made him a formidable opponent who could very easily cause irrevocable harm to a being if he lost control of himself.
Springer had always told himself he was no fool. He knew the Cybertronian Autobots hadn't cared much for him after his declaration of neutrality and his informing Ultra Magnus and Elita-1 that he was not going to take up arms for the Autobot cause. He also knew that every polite enquiry from the likes of Kup, Moonracer and Arcee (and the impolite ones from Hot Rod, Elita-1 and Chromia) about when he was leaving were subtle reminders that he was imposing upon their hospitality. Ultra Magnus had, of course, given him leave to stay as long as he wanted, and Springer had taken him up on that, claiming that the increase in aerial patrols since their arrival made it too risky to try and leave now. That was half-true, but in truth Springer had grown fond of Ultra Magnus, and was reluctant to return to space-faring life on his own. He had half-hoped that Magnus would see the Autobot's situation on Cybertron as hopeless and decide to leave with him, but Ultra Magnus' sense of duty and loyalty rendered that notion as a non-starter.
Suddenly alarms and klaxons sounded on the machines hooked up to Blurr and Ratchet started frantically attaching different pieces of equipment to Blurr's shattered form, which had started twitching.
"Critical systems failure! First Aid – we need a Positrex-3 saturate to boost his spark circulatory!" Wheeljack's fins flashed blue as he yelled orders to First Aid. Arcee leapt to her feet and moved over to where Ratchet was pinning the convulsing Blurr to the slab.
"What's happening?" Arcee put her hand on the medic's shoulder as he wrestled with Blurr before Springer could stop her.
"GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" Ratchet roared as he continued to wrestle with Blurr. Springer put his arm around Arcee and started to gently but firmly ward her toward the medibay doors as Hoist approached to apologetically force the two out into the corridor, even as First Aid pulled a crash cart full of glowing blue vials to join Ratchet and Wheeljack at the operating table. Springer was sure he caught Ratchet giving him a quizzical, almost suspicious stare as the medic looked him up and down briefly. He better not have guessed, Springer thought to himself with a flash of panic. He risked a quick look back but Ratchet was once again engrossed in his life-saving work.
The medibay doors slid shut and the lock turned red, indicating no entry. Arcee and Springer stood in the dimly lit orange corridor, exhausted and stunned. Arcee looked on the verge of drawing her guns and blasting her way back into the medibay so Springer decided he had better intervene.
"Arcee," he began gently "I know it's horrid to see, but Blurr really is in the best hands. They'll do everything they can for him, and it's better that we don't distract them. I don't know Blurr well, but he strikes me as a brave kid with a strong spark, and hopefully he'll pull through for you guys. But we need to get away from here, ok?"
The pink femme looked back at him, her optics a far darker blue than normal. For a moment Springer was briefly fearful that she had turned the object of her rage from the medibay doors to himself but after a few moments that seemed to stretch out for an eternity, a lighter shade of blue seemed to return to her optics and her shoulders slumped as the rage left her body.
"Yes, you're right Springer. I'm sorry, I'm just worried. He's one of my closest friends, and to see him like that…" her voice tailed off and she looked wistfully toward the medibay door again.
"Look, let's go see if we can find somewhere to sit down, they seem to have forgotten about us in all the kerfuffle. Maybe it'll take your mind off things until we get some news on everyone's condition?" Springer's mind raced as he made the suggestion. They were in the home of some of the most legendary Autobots of all-time and they appeared to have been abandoned. He was also dangerously low on Energon, but if needs be he could get back to the recharge berth on his ship, assuming the minibots who had shown up during the fight had piloted it back ok. The thought briefly entered Springer's head that he could deposit Arcee with some of these alleged Autobot legends then sneak aboard his shuttle and leave, returning to his life of interstellar wandering. It was a tempting thought.
"No sense going back the way we came," he said. "Let's follow the corridor on for a bit, and see if we can get some directions from somebody."
Arcee nodded in agreement and the pair started walking down the corridor. They hadn't got far when they saw a pair of Autobots walking down the corridor towards them. The gentle-faced green Autobot from before was one of them, and with him was a taller black-coloured mech. They both carried Energon cubes. Before Springer or Arcee could speak, the green one smiled and spoke first.
"There you guys are! Wheeljack sent us a message to say Ratchet had kicked you out. We were just coming to find you and see how you were doing after your…errr…experiences in getting here."
"We're fine, thanks." Springer replied just a little too quickly. A brief moment of awkward silence followed, broken by the other mech.
"I'm Trailbreaker and this is Hound, who seems to have momentarily forgotten his manners. I'm the Earthforce's defensive strategist, and Hound here is our scout." Trailbreaker repeated the handshaking gesture that Swoop had used before, and Springer and Arcee shook both his and Hounds hands.
"I'm Arcee, gunner-in-training for the Cybertronian resistance under Elita-1"
"And I'm Springer, glorified interstellar taxi service for new recruits."
Hound looked at him quizzically but Trailbreaker guffawed heartily and then both he and Hound proffered the Energon cubes that they had been carrying.
"Nice to meet you both," he said amiably "we thought you might be in dire need of an Energon fix, so we brought you one of these each," he continued as Arcee and Springer both drank from the cubes. Not bad for army rations Springer surmised to himself, even as his internal fuel gauge rose steadily from the danger level of nine percent it had been hovering at. Orally-ingested Energon wasn't the best way to recharge but could often provide a quicker boost, which, if done in sufficient quantities acted akin to the intoxication effect that organics could get from certain drinks. The lower one's internal fuel level, the easier it was to feel those effects. Springer forced himself to drink a bit slower with that in mind. Hound and Trailbreaker offered to give the pair a tour of the Ark, and with nothing better to do, Arcee accepted. Springer dutifully followed behind as they wandered down the corridors of the Ark. Crew quarters, main briefing room, the bridge (which doubled up as a briefing room for the command unit) the brig, store rooms, and finally they ended up in the rec room.
The rec room was a large room with several long benches hastily thrown together around a few tables. A couple of Energon dispensers stood at the top end of the room with a supply of fresh cubes. A handful of smaller Autobots sat around one of the tables.
Hound, who had chatted amiably with Arcee for the majority of the tour, guided Arcee and Springer toward the small gathering of mechs. Springer recognised one of the Autobots, a yellow and dark green minibot who had been part of the rescue squad on the asteroid. He had punched Ramjet so hard the Decepticon had been propelled nearly half a kilometre across the asteroids surface. Hound introduced him as Brawn.
"Your friend's in good hands with Ratchet," Brawn said. "When he's back on his feet we'll pay the Decepticons back with added interest, you have my word on that!" The minibot cracked his knuckles as he spoke and Springer suddenly felt a dash of sympathy for any Decepticon unfortunate enough to get in his way.
"Just save a little piece of them for me as well Brawn," a red minibot sat next to him piped up. "I'm Cliffjumper, and you better believe that I'll be part of any payback mission. Welcome to the team you two!" Cliffjumper raised his Energon cube in welcome and his companions followed suit. Hound and Trailbreaker also raised theirs, so Arcee and Springer reciprocated the gesture and everyone drank heartily.
Even as the pleasing sensation of the Energon hit Springer's internal mechanisms, the final member of the party was introduced by Trailbreaker.
"Springer, Arcee, this is Seaspray."
"Nice to meet you both," Seaspray spoke with an odd affectation to his voice, and as far as Springer could tell appeared to be designed for a marine environment.
The minibots shuffled up the bench to make way for the newcomers, but Trailbreaker's communicator beeped and he excused himself. Hound and Arcee sat down next to Brawn and Springer popped his large frame down next to Seaspray. Soon the group were chatting heartily and exchanging stories. Arcee wanted to learn about Earth, and the other Autobots were keen to hear how Cybertron was doing in their absence. After about twenty minutes Trailbreaker returned with a smile on his face.
"Just got a message from the medibay" he smiled. "Doc Ratchet does it again. Your friend Blurr is out of critical and in a stable condition."
Arcee leapt from her seat and hugged Trailbreaker as the larger robot grinned widely.
"Steady on," he joked as she thanked him profusely.
"Gotta hand it to Ratchet, he's a miracle worker!" Brawn chuckled aloud to the table as they all smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Well then here's to Doc Ratchet," Springer said, raising his Energon cube in a toast, which the others eagerly took up.
"Ratchet can be terrifying, but beneath that exterior is a spark of solid gold, believe me." Trailbreaker said, smiling. "I've got some more news as well – oh, more company!"
The sound of hasty footsteps caused Springer to turn his head. An agitated looking mech was approaching the table. His design was very similar to that of the two mechs who had stretchered Blurr to the medibay.
"Red Alert!" exclaimed Cliffjumper with a wolfish grin on his face, "come to join the party!"
The newcomer visusally recoiled at the suggestion.
"I've got far more pressing concerns with security than to find time to assist you all in turning the rec room into a speakeasy!" he scolded. "I have critical information to pass on!"
He turned to face Arcee and Springer. "I'm Red Alert, Head of Security. I'd like to welcome you both to the Ark. You're free to travel wherever you like but with the following restrictions. Arcee – you may not enter the bridge, brig or Prime's office unless authorised to do so by either myself or one of the command structure. You will be treated as one of the crew, albeit on a probationary status with all the rank and privilege associated with such status, and also subject to the same disciplinary procedures. A copy of the code of conduct is available once you receive access codes to Teletraan, I'm sure it doesn't vary hugely from that of the Cybertronian forces."
Arcee nodded wordlessly as Red Alert finished. Springer was a touch taken aback at the formality of the Security Head's welcome. Red Alert was not finished however, he turned to face Springer. Here goes, Springer thought to himself.
"Springer, as a non-combatant you will be treated as our guest until such time as you decide to leave the planet. You must not travel throughout the ship without an escorting member of the crew, although probationary members will be allowed to serve as escort. You may not also leave the vicinity of the Ark without prior permission and you must notify either myself or a member of the command crew of any excursions you wish to take. You will not receive access codes to Teletraan, nor will you be added to any rota or rosters. You will however receive a copy of the current duty roster so you can arrange off-duty escorts for any activity you wish to undertake."
Springer bristled a bit. His movements were not restricted in this way on Cybertron, but he did have the bonus of Ultra Magnus vouching for him and also being in a position of authority.
"Sounds a lot to me like I'm your prisoner. That doesn't strike me as particularly polite after I ferried your new recruits here." Springer said evenly.
"You're not a prisoner, but you are a security risk," Red Alert continued, unaware of Springer's growing anger. "One other thing – I will need to take your weapons."
This was too much. Springer rose from his chair and towered over Red Alert, who suddenly realised how big the mech he was addressing was. He showed no fear however.
"I will need to take your weapons."
"You'll have to take them, because I'm not going to give them to you."
Red Alert spluttered with indignation. "It's Ark policy! No unsupervised weapons!"
"It's my policy not to go without my sword and gun."
From the corner of his vision, Springer noticed the eager red minibot, Cliffjumper, taking his gun out of sub-space. Arcee looked conflicted about whose side she would be on if a fight broke out. It looked like things were about to escalate quickly unless somebody backed down. Springer had no doubt that he could easily best the jumped-up little twerp of a security director, and possibly one or two of the others also, but he wasn't sure at all about taking on Brawn or Trailbreaker, and he had seen Arcee's combat prowess up close also. He suddenly felt very alone. Thankfully Trailbreaker forced himself between the two opposing mechs.
"Look, let's all keep calm, shall we? Red, these guys have had a very stressful day, and I don't think the best welcome to give them is to lock up their pilot. Ratchet will be discharging Kup tomorrow and maybe he can help us decide on this matter. The whole command crew wants to speak to them all tomorrow morning as soon as Kup is discharged for a debriefing and to formally welcome the recruits. We can decide on rules and regulations then."
Springer remained impassive even as Trailbreaker turned to face him.
"Is that enough to satisfy you for now?" Trailbreaker's tone was a lot less jovial than it had been previously. Springer surmised that he possibly didn't like newcomers squaring up to his friends. In fairness, thought Springer, he couldn't really blame him.
Springer nodded wordlessly, his optics not leaving Red Alert's. He smiled mirthlessly, sat back down and turned his gaze to his Energon cube. Red Alert turned to leave and Trailbreaker accompanied him, the two speaking in low voices as they left. An awkward silence filled the air, and Brawn, Seaspray and Cliffjumper all made excuses and left fairly quickly after that.
"That went well." Arcee looked at Springer with a rueful look in her optics. "Last thing we need is to find ourselves disliked by our own team."
Hound had remained with them, and he spoke up, providing reassurance.
"Don't worry about it. Red Alert is really highly-strung, but he's honestly not a bad 'bot. He'll cool down, and hopefully you'll all realise it's just a misunderstanding. A lot of the rules are because of the danger we can place the inhabitants of the planet in."
Springer decided he liked Hound. He seemed pretty genuine and caring, and had stuck with them after all the other had left. From his general chat during their tour of the Ark it sounded like he cared for his companions and was absolutely smitten with the planet they were on.
"Anyway," Hound continued, "I also have to escort you to your quarters. Arcee – you've been given your own room. Springer, you're rooming with Blurr, so it might be a few days yet before you have company."
The Autobots all rose from their table and Hound led them back down towards their quarters. Arcee was dropped off first, and Springer's room was three doors further down. He thanked Hound, and then closed the door and looked around his new temporary home. Two recharge slabs, a desk, a chair and some datapads. Prison suddenly seemed like an attractive option. He lay down on his slab and reflected on the day.
It hadn't been one of his best ones, but an unbidden memory brought a smile to his face. When discussing the possibility of an altercation, Arcee had said 'we' in relation to being disliked. Springer smiled. Maybe he had a friend here after all, and definitely a more attractive one than Ultra Magnus.
Springer plugged himself into the recharge berth and prepared to go into shut down. A part of him welcomed it. It had been a long, long time since he had been able to really shut down and recharge to maximum operating levels. Plus in the morning he would get to meet a real-life, living Prime. Better be at my best for that, he thought to himself as he shut down.
Author's note – first of all, big thanks to everyone who has read, followed, favourited or reviewed the story thus far. The engagement is what drives me to keep going, and I hope I'm getting better for you all.
Some notes on characters. Obviously I couldn't introduce all of the Autobots at once, but I will be trying to drip-feed them into ongoing chapters of the story, should there be sufficient interest for it to continue. Ratchet was an absolute tier-1 character to introduce as he really is the heart-and-soul of the Autobot cause. Swoop was a fun choice, because much as these "nuggets" are outsiders, Swoop could technically be considered the 'outsider' of the Dinobots, due to his friendlier, more outgoing nature.
Hound always struck me as a friendly, welcoming character, as did the much under-used Trailbreaker, who always struck me as having some authority amongst the crew. The minibot selection was also fun. Brawn because I love his character, Cliffjumper because he's a fun little hot-head, and Seaspray because he gets no love.
I must mention – I'm a fan of Red Alert, and even though he caused the conflict here, he is absolutely just trying to do his job, but maybe lacks some people skills. He's going to feature a bit more in upcoming chapters, and he's definitely not a villain or bad guy by any stretch of the imagination.
Quick note on Springer:- he's a joy to write, which is why he also features strongly in my story "Broken Soldiers" which I hope some of you take the time to read. In regards to Springer's fighting abilities, his original tech specs had his Strength and Endurance as 10. This makes him equal with Optimus Prime and Grimlock, and ahead of the likes of Magnus, the other Dinobots, Ironhide and Brawn amongst the Autobots. That's why he is so confident.