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-XxX-

The days duties were over, downtime was in order for Grace and the other pilots. Or so they thought. A knock on the door came from outside Grace's quarters. She hopped off her chair and opened the door. She was greeted by two Privates and Corporal Thompson. They exchanged a breif salute.

"Corporal" She greeted dark haired young man.

"Squadron Leader McKenna, I've been informed by General Dennit to deliver this message and summon all high ranking pilots in the division" Corporal Thompson stated. "You are to accompany Private Williams to the conference room."

Grace nodded in acknowledgement, but was somewhat puzzled. What did Dennit want to rant about this time..? She pushed the thought aside. They had to keep a 15 minute state of readyness on base, so she was already dressed appropriately for such an occasion. Dark green cargo pants were tucked into polished black work boots, and a loose, but fitted green work shirt bore the stripes of her rank on the shoulders. She stepped out of the room and followed Private Williams to the conferance room. She was greeted with the faces of her squadron as she stepped into the room. The air felt heavy. General Dennit sat at the top of a long polished oak rectangular table. Grace seated herself in one of two remaining chairs, and, as Private Williams saluted the General and left, Jimmy walked in accompanied by the other Private.

The Wing Commander set himself down in the last remaining chair next to Grace.

"Everyone is here..so lets begin" The somewhat portly General's voice boomed over the pilots. "We have been informed by NEST HQ that there has been a disturbing development in enemy activity. We were right to belive that these things would return, they're smarter, quicker, organised. I'm going to hand you over to the man who will explain why you have been summoned here this evening, USAF Master Sergeant Epps."

Grace's mind began to whirl, but she could tell she wasn't the only one. A couple of the pilots exchanged quick, suble confused glances. Something was out of whack.

"Aight, I'm not gonna sugar coat it people." The dark skinned man spoke up, instantly grabbing everyones attention. "We're in need of pilots such as yourselves to take down what seems to be the messenger among these asshole aliens. We've sighted him freely entering our airspace a number o' times, then dissapearing outta sight. He means business."

Grace noticed that the Sergeant was deadly serious. Well, why wouldn't he be? But...this all seemed very surreal to her. Years of nothing, now it seemed they were going to be thrown in at the deep end. But why did they need so many pilots...they couldn't have been short of them at HQ.

"The mission we are asking you to vouleteer for is deemed near suicide. But thats why we are asking you, you are the best of the best, and I have faith in every single one of you." He bounced a clenched fist on the table as he stressed his points to the faces seated before him.

'Ah, thats why.' She dryly thought. 'So most of us will be cannon fodder...'

"You will be shipped out to Diego Garcia tomorrow at 1700 hours. You will need to pack, rest, and prepare yourselves. You're part o' the game now."

...

A huge dark grey aircraft lined up with the runway. Landing gear down, leaving a puff of burnt rubber as it touched the ground once more. After docking at the unloading point, Will Lennox found himself once again listening to the gruff moaning of the large black truck.

"Rediculous..." It huffed

"Practical" Lennox corrected. The truck grunted. "How else would you get around Ironhide? Fly?" Will jeered in a playful manner.

"I just think they're unstable. That's all." Ironhide stated. A dull, yet audiable whirr came from the trucks body. Parts shifted and changed as Will watched his behemoth of a friend transform.

That sight will never get old...

"Sounds tuh me like you're a nervous flyer buddy" Will's brows were raised, and lips pouted in jest as he nodded his head.

"BAH..." The old mech waved aside Lennox's comments and strutted away into the hangar.

There was a sudden silence about the base. Will's brows knitted together as he glanced around. An F-16 took off in the distance, then an alighty boom shook the ground from inside the hangar.

'Oh crap...' Will ran towards the noise, silently praying Ironhide hadn't taken his words to seriously. Instead he was greeted by an odd sight. Ironhide stood casually just through the doorway, looking slightly amused. There in front of them was Ratchet, trying to blow the bejesus out of Sunstreaker, the newly arrived Autobot. He was Sideswipe's twin, they looked exactly alike, apart from Sunstreaker was a beautiful metallic gold. Time to step in.

"HEY HEY HEY!" Will ran up to Ratchet waving his arms in the air. Ratchet seemed to instantly sober from the irritance of the younger bot that was writhing in his grasp. "Whats goin on now!"

Sunstreaker halted his feeble attempts. Sideswipe peered from behind Ratchet.

"Ya know what, one of these days you two I'm gonna tie you up in a feild an' let Ironhide use you as target practice" Will sighed, crossing his arms.

"Thats not so bad...'Hides gettin old..his aim probably ain't as good as it used to be!" Sunstreaker jeered, much to his dismay. Ironhide began to trudge over to the gold mech, forcably shaking the ground in every step he took, arms swinging.

"Lets test that theory out shall we!" his rough voice echoed through the hangar.

"HEY! No more blowing anybody up, ok?" Will took a few steps towards the towering black mech. His optics were still trained upon Sunstreaker, who had now managed to wriggle free of ratchets grip and stood smugly beside his twin.

"My apologies Will...they make my anger get the better of me sometimes." Ratchet said kneeling and gesturing with his hand, then excused himself and walked out of the hangar, throwing a warning glance at the two brothers.

"Ya don't say..." Will muttered. "You two" He pointed a finger at the accused bots. "Get to Optimus. You've yet to be de-briefed." Without a word the sauntered off like teens with attitude problems. "I'll see ya around 'Hide, I better make sure these two don't cause any more trouble today." With a small wave, Will trotted after the two.

'Finally', Ironhide thought, 'peace'. It was not often that he got downtime to himself. Tomorrow Will would be introducing the pilots to him, maybe not the best choice for somebody who has never met an Autobot before. After all, he was one of the biggest old hard arses one could meet. Just as long as both twins kept out of the proceedings everything would go swimmingly. Nothing to anger him would mean nothing would startle the newbies half to death.

Yes, everything would go fine.

-XxX-