Bright red alarms started ringing and there was a moment of silence before everyone was rushing about with a new sense of purpose. The alarm rang again, adding an extra kick to the already moving soldiers. The practice drills they had had prepared them well for all the alarms. This one was for the main reason that they were here, it meant that a Decepticon had been detected. Ever since they had arrived, there were only sightings and several of them only had led them to dead ends, while the rest they had arrived too late to catch any trails. The dead-ends left most of them feeling frustrated afterwards, even though it meant that none of them had to face any Decepticons just yet.

Now while all the gearing up had him excited for the mission, he was still nervous deep down, but he hid it well behind a carefree exterior. Sure the bots had been careful when they were near them, defining the term 'gentle giants', but he had also seen them lift large metal containers with effortless ease which left him to wonder what kind of strength they really had. It was still cool though and he was looking forward to seeing them in action, no amount of pessimistic comments from Schmidt could dull that excitement.

The woman was talking to the other medics as they checked their packs and medical supplies. She had her hair tied up tightly in a bun and was wearing the medic's patch on her uniform with her ever present stolid mask in place, she looked ready to go. But with the amount of scepticism she treated the Autobots with, he wasn't so sure that she was going to be able to put that aside just because they were on a mission.

Crocker was not as ignorant as people thought he was. He made note of a lot of things, he just didn't make it obvious. She barely had any interaction with them since they got here and she was still skittish anywhere near them. He just hoped Ford managed to talk some sense into her so she wouldn't do something stupid out there. Chances were low since she was with the medics who were mostly going to be standing by in case of injuries, but literally anything could happen… The giant metal robots from space were proof enough.

He was going to be right in the thick of it. His squad were going to be the additional help that the bots were going to get, mostly on Sideswipe's side, targeting any weak spots and watching the silver Autobot's back. Ford was on the other squad backing up the boss bot. He knew that he could handle it, Ford was pretty smart after all, but he'd feel better if they were on the same squad. Not that he didn't trust the others to have his back, but with Ford it just felt right, like two pieces working seamlessly together.

"Ten minutes until take off!"

He quickly checked his supplies again just in case. Once that was done, he looked around for his friends again. Ford was nowhere to be seen, so he probably was already aboard the plane. Schmidt was finally alone, the other medics heading to the planes or doing last minute checks, which left her fidgeting aimlessly with her pack. In a quick decision he jogged over to her, mentally hoping that no one would interrupt them for a few minutes.

"Hey, girlie."

Her surprised face turned to annoyance once she spotted him.

"What do you want?"

"Well I was just going to say hi, but now I'm rethinking it." He really was. A faint wave of irritation hit him, but it left quickly enough. She talked to Ford normally enough, so why was it she always snapped at him? "You have everything you need? Supplies? Radio?"

"Yeah, I checked again, but I have everything so-"

"Good, good. Are you going to be all right though?" She gave him a light scowl at his interruption.

"Yeah, I have everything and I won't be alone so if anything should happen I have back up."

She kept fidgeting with her pack, rearranging her stuff, pulling things out and putting them in again.

"I meant, are you going to be all right with them out there with you?" he asked, getting straight to the point. There wasn't a lot of time and she'd probably play stupid the whole time if he let her.

She stopped fidgeting and closed her pack. "I'll be fine."

"We'll be close," he said, referring to him and Ford. "If you need anything just call, ok? Don't be stubborn." He knew they were empty words. In reality, neither he nor Ford would be able to just leave their squads without good reason. And while there were no strict rules regarding the radios, he doubted that the others would be happy with any unnecessary chatter. Plus she was too prideful to call for help. He just wanted to offer a few encouraging words before they left, just enough to settle her nerves and let her know that she was not alone.

"I know," Schmidt snapped. Her lips were pursing up like she had just tasted something sour and her dark brows frowned at him.

That wave of irritation came back, only now it was stronger and it didn't abate as quickly as it did before. He was okay with her snapping at him when he was annoying her as that would be partly his fault, but he didn't want her snapping at him when he was nervous enough himself, especially when he was just being friendly. He thought it was best he left now, before he'd say something to make her snap at him again and leave him in a foul mood for the rest of the mission.

"OK, see you later then" he said, albeit in a tone less kindly than before. He was almost to his carrier when he heard his name called out.

Schmidt was looking at him from where he talked to her. Her packed was hanging on one shoulder now and she was half turned to her own carrier. Her lips were still pursed, but her brow was no longer frowned in irritation as it looked somewhat apologetic now.

"Take care of yourself. And thank you," she said, continuing hesitantly flicking her wrist. "For you know…"

And then she walked away.

Schmidt had actually thanked him. In words. In front of people. It left him staring in her direction for a moment and he was pretty sure his mouth was hanging open. Shaking himself out of the brief trance he jogged the last few steps up inside his carrier.

He turned to the soldier next to him, not caring that he didn't even know his name. "Hey, bud. Can I ask you something?"

If he was surprised, the soldier didn't show it. He had just sat on one of the available seats and Crocker did the same. "Sure…"

"This is all real, right? This moment? Today?"

Silence.

"I guess."

"Well, good. Because I thought it was the end of the world or something. Don't know if hell is freezing over though, never been there. But I'm pretty sure there were no flying pigs around today, right?"

The soldier was leaning faintly away from him now. "No, I have not seen any flying pigs."

Satisfied with his answer, Crocker leaned back against his seat. He was happy for the moment, it was an achievement to get a thank you from the shrew. Ford always said that she wasn't that bad, but just needed a little –or a lot- of coercing. He decided he was marking this day on his calendar. He turned to ask the soldier if he knew the date, but there was only an empty seat next to him now. He scanned the heads already seated and ready for take-off and spotted the man off on the other side of the plane, as far away from him as possible. As if he was feeling his gaze, the soldier squirmed in his seat before settling with his head bent as if going to sleep, but his posture was obviously too stiff for it to be a casual doze.

Crocker settled back in his seat, a tad disgruntled the man's swift absence.

"Rude."