The Destiny Ark 2: Line in the sand.
Chapter 3: Through the mirror.
Baja Base
5 a.m the next day
Commander Morgan Greene let out an exasperated sigh out when she heard what June told her. She had faced down death and the near end of the Earth before, but news of this hit her square in the face. The base felt the tremors of the Archeron Beam, but the leaders knew little to inform the troops what had happened exactly.
"What if you fail?" Morgan asked June.
June looked at Morgan with as much confidence she could. "I won't fail Morgan, That's why I volunteered. No one here knows that world better than me, and believe it or not I do have friends there."
"They also have cons there too right?" Morgan asked to which June nodded slowly. "Then why can't I come with you?!"
"I'm sorry Morgan, but I need you to run things here, I don't trust anyone else with this command more than you. "
Morgan sighed as she begrudgingly accepted that this was the best course of action. "So who are you taking?"
June looked out the window blinds, "I chose a small squad, but strong enough to handle any contingent we might encounter."
Moran looked outside and saw June's team " Really?" She questioned looking back at June. "I wonder what frame of mind you were in when you made this selection?"
"I know they are a motley bunch, but this is an unconventional mission, I need soldiers who are not afraid to think outside the box. "June said
Morgan peered and then open the blinds wildly "Hey! I thought I put that guy on restrictive duty!" Morgan sneered.
"Yeah I kinda unrestricted him yesterday…." June admitted as Morgan glared at her.
June felt her hot gaze on her. "If he survives the mission you can re-restrict him!" She reassured.
"Just…come back alive and with the Ark!, I think I've reached my limit on Apocalypses for my lifetime. " Morgan said with a reassuring pat to her friend.
June took her pack and her gear and headed outside; she could see her hand-picked five man squad waiting for her. From right to left they stood side by side checking their gear and weapons they were told to bring. They knew little of this mission other than they were handpicked by General Darby. Most of them also knew that that wasn't particularly something to be excited about.
June looked at her team mates, to the right she saw her weapons specialist, Bam Bam , called that way because he always like causing a huge bang. He was a tall muscular black man about the age of 21, Because of his size he could carry the heavy machine guns. He also was an expert at demolitions. Next to him was Rooster, the second to the eldest of the squad he was in his early thirties and was a season veteran. He was the tracker of the group, not only did he carry the standard laser rifle he also a trained Sniper. He had almost as many missions as June under his belt. He was also a bit of a maverick, someone who could think on his feet. Next to him was the squad's resident medic Fuentes. June had seen Fuentes in action often. She was someone who had the skills of a surgeon who could operate under fire; she was also a part of the team that rehabilitated Miko, She helped shape Miko into a valuable member of the resistance. Fuentes was also vital for she taught Miko a specialized form of sign language that the two often conversed back and forth.
Which led June to Miko, At first June was conflicted whether or not to bring the mute Corporal as there was a big chance she could run into her dimensional counterpart. Also considering her counterpart was the complete opposite of her, the meeting could prove disastrous. Still June weighed the options and decided that Miko's expertise in communications and computers was far too valuable to not take with her. Finally June looked at Captain Sierra Miller, if June could not bring along Commander Greene as her second in command, she was more than happy to choose Sierra. Sierra already proved to be an asset, more than capable to act as June's second in command. They were together a year ago when they made first contact with the Autobots. If anyone was a more capable soldier it was her.
The squad snapped to attention as June approached, "At ease, and gather round." June called out.
The squad broke ranks and gathered around her. They were all bright eyed and ready to do their part on this mission. It was time June told them what they were really up against.
"Ok kiddos, I know all of you recall that earthquake yesterday." She said to various nods. "Well despite the rumors, that was caused by a new weapon the Decepticons deployed. Before the Aerialbots could take down their machine it fired a burst of Acheron energy into the earth. High command believe that that burst of energy is powerful enough to stop the core of the Earth from turning, When that happens, the magnetic field around the earth will cease and we'll all be exposed to the sun's radiation. All life on the planet will die within a month. She looked around to see the uncomfortable looks.
June continued" There is something that can be done to stop it, and this is where we come in. How many of you know or have heard about the Destiny Ark?"
Nearly all of the members raised their hand.
"To settle once and for all, the ship broke through dimensional barriers into a alternate universe, Where it crashed. And that's where we need to go to get the ark back." June said
"But didn't you say the ark was damaged?" Sierra asked.
"It was, "June admitted "Our mission has two objectives, one bring back the ark in full or two restore the Arc Reactor and bring it back. Now preceptor has given me his schematics of the ark and the ark reactor core, Miko I'm going to provide with you a copy of it, you learn it backwards and forwards!"
Miko nodded at that.
"We have a mission time of three weeks, I of course want to be done much sooner. Now we're going to an alternate universe, it's an Earth that never fell to the Decepticons. There are Autobots and Decepticons there, and they are waging a secret war as the governments have done a good job covering up their existence there. You may hear of your counterpart or even run into them. I'm telling you do not let that distract you; we are here for the future of this planet. If we fail, there won't be a world to go back to."
June finished her brief with an aura of respect; she looked into her squad's eyes and knew they understood her. They performed a final gear check, when June felt her team was ready she called Perceptor. Perceptor opened a ground bridge to a location in what was once Jasper Nevada. When they went through the ground bridge they appeared in a dusty valley. They were greeted by Rodimus, preceptor and Jazz.
"I've primed the ground bridge controls, getting you to the dimension is no problem but getting you back will require the full power of the Ark reactor on the other side." Perceptor said "So it's a one way trip until you can secure the reactor. "
Rodimus knelt to June and opened up his chest to reveal the Autobot Matrix of leadership. From within it he pulled a small cylinder device from it. It was the exact same one Optimus Prime had given June.
"General Darby, I have prepared a message for Optimus Prime, in our universe he was my mentor. This message will hopefully persuade him to help you. I'm 90% sure we won't have to enact the backup plan." He said
"What back up plan?" Sierra whispered to June.
"I'll explain later…" June hissed back.
June inspected her squad and made sure they had all the necessary gear they would need. Items they didn't carry they stored on the trolly. The trolly was a large metal container that stood up on two wheels and a third tow spike. In it they had various equipment, Weapons, Food and medical supplies.
"The map you provided to us will help me program the coordinates to send you inside the Autobot base in Jasper. " Perceptor said as he primed his controls. He activated the program and turned on the swirling blue vortex.
The vortex was powerful and blew dust up everywhere. June knew going through a dimensional bridge was intense, but seeing it in person was a sight to behold.
"Good luck!" Perceptor yelled as he gave a thumb up
June looked back and signaled her team, they nodded and proceeded to go through the bridge. They walked deep into the vortex as everything suddenly grew quiet and still. They all could feel like their ears were about to pop and then the bridge jerked all of them forward. After an intense feeling of vertigo June and her team found themselves falling to the floor with a loud smack. The trip knocked the wind out of all of them as the trolly carrying their gear and equipment soon followed. Sierra opened her eyes and saw the trolly about to fall on her. She quickly rolled to one side and avoided being squished like a pancake.
"Status reports everyone!" June yelled
"Sierra, in one piece!"
"Rooster, I'm ok…..more or less"
"Bam Bam!, That sucked!"
"Lt. Fuentes and Miko, we're both ok!"
June stood up she looked around and could see where they were, was not the Autobot base, but a burnt out husk of a mountain. It was dark and they could see the Nevada night sky above them. June clicked on a light and looked around at their surroundings. They weren't in the base but rather the remains of a base. There was blackened char all over the place and various twisted and gnarled metal strewn about.
"Where are we General?" Sierra asked as she too lit up her flashlight and surveyed their surroundings. "Is this the Autobot base?"
June looked around and had no explanation. The map she provided were the exact coordinates of the base, to the letter. Still, there was no sign of the Autobots anywhere in this place that was more like a tomb than a base.
"General!" Bam Bam called out as he stood a few feet away; he had his flashlight pointed down on the floor. "I think you better see this."
June and Sierra went to where Bam Bam was standing, and on the floor before them was the charred Autobot symbol. This was the base all right, or what was left of it.
June surveyed her surroundings. She could tell by the sky that dawn was nearing, when daylight hit they would be able to gain a better assessment of the planet. Until then there was so much they could do.
"Set up camp, and get breakfast ready. " She ordered "It's going to be a long day.
Autobot Base
Optimus Prime looked over the various radar readings of the planet, Ever since they relocated to the new base. The Autobots have found a new foe in the Predacons. The Decepticons were on a mission to gather the fossilized remains of the predacons past. All for Shockwave to clone a new army of Predacons for Megatron to control, Already the Autobots had faced lost some fossils to the Decepticons. Time would only tell how much their mistakes would cost the Earth. Still Prime wasn't about to sit idly by and wait for a Predacon army to come knocking on their doors. Both he and ratchet would monitor the planet for any energy readings from the Predacons. They were called to the pacific to investigate a Predacon attack.
Predaking, ended up attacking a Navy Carrier. Within moments he sunk the entire carrier. A little over half of the ship's crewmembers survived. It was called the worst naval attack in years. Even then the public was told it was because the Carrier struck several mines left over from World War II. William Fowler didn't take the news of servicemen dying lightly. He showed an active interest in hunting down any clues to Predaking's whereabouts. For now he trusted that Prime would find Predaking and bring about an end to the metal dragon.
Prime scanned the earth for any energy signatures he could find , either Decepticon or Predacon. He looked off to the side to see Raf also hard at work monitoring the earth world wide web for any sign of anything Predacon. Raf was busy scanning some reports from China when Jack and Miko came up behind him.
"Hey Raf, Miko and I were thinking about going out to get some burgers!, You wanna come with?" Jack offered.
"Oh no thanks, I'm still busy helping out Optimus. " raf said " But if you don't mind, bring my back my usual!"
"Cheeseburger and onion rings!" Jack winked.
Raf saw Jack and Miko depart as he went back to his work. Most of the Autobots were on patrol. Ratchet and Optimus Prime stayed back to monitor activity. It had been a few weeks since he; Jack and Miko were on a mission in Michigan, tracking down a Predacon relic. They did however encounter the Predacon known as Sinnertwin. He was a two headed dragon that spewed acid. Raf remembered being hold up in a storage container as Sinnertwin was busy spraying acid to find him, Jack and Miko. He was close to dowsing their hiding spot with acid before Arcee and Bumblee arrived on scene to fight him off. Since then Raf , was a lot more reluctant to venture out on any missions. He chose to stay behind where his talents could be best utilized. He was about to finish up on a report when a warning appeared on his laptop. It was an alarm of a warning system he had placed a long time ago on the Autobots computer systems. It was an outdated program so he reset the alarm and thought nothing of it. A few seconds later the same alarm popped up, this time he turned off the alarm and opened up a virus scanner, to see if Ratchet accidently downloaded a Trojan horse.
A quick scan of the computer system showed nothing, He double checked the scanner again and saw what he dreaded the most.
"Ratchet!" He called out "Someone is trying to access the Autobot files!"
He pushed up his glasses and searched each file in an attempt to find out who was trying to access the system. Ratchet came up behind him and looked over his shoulder.
"What do you mean someone is trying to access our files!?" Ratchet asked incredulously.
" It means exactly what I said, Someone is trying to get into our files!" Raf said as his finger moved over the keyboard furiously.
He looked and saw whoever it was, was way in deep that he cared for anyone to be in the Autobots computer. He tried to lock out the user, but every attempt he tried the hacker found a way to wriggle out of.
"Whoever this is, is good, " Raf said as he leapt up out of his seat and ran to the base's main breakers. " I have to kill power to the base now!" He yelled as he hit every switch he could.
Instantly power went out in the base, Raf even shut down the backup generators. He breathed hard as he hoped and prayed he wasn't too late.
"Rafael!" Optimus said "What just happened?"
"Optimus, someone tried to hack into our files, whoever it was knew what they were doing, I just hope I acted in time to keep them from getting anything valuable."
"Who was it?, The Decepticons?" Ratchet asked.
"I dunno, the program they were using was Linux based, but they used an algorithm I don't recognized, It was almost…..Autobot."Raf said
In the remnants of the old Autobot base, Miko huffed as the connection cut out on her before she could access the Autobot files. She cursed her arrogance for thinking hacking an Autobot system would be easier than hacking a Decepticon interface. She stood up and kicked an empty food crate. From above her perch Sierra looked down at the display of frustration of Miko. Sierra looked back through her binoculars and eyed the tiny town of Jasper Nevada. She had been monitoring the town since the sun came out. It was then General Darby's team took stock of where they arrived. June recognized the Autobot base, it was just blast to smithereens. She ordered Miko to scan the earth based internet of any signal Autobot or Decepticon. June needed to know what happened to the base and if Team Prime was dead or alive.
Everyone had a job to do; June didn't want anyone to have idle hands. She ordered Sierra to survey the outside, and gave Rooster and Bam Bam the task of mapping out the burnt out base. She had Lt Fuentes, run tests on the water system that somehow still worked. She also had Miko try to find any files on the Autobots and find out what might have happened here. That just left June to her own devices.
She scaled the rope and joined Sierra on her perch. Sierra broke her gaze to help her up. Sierra had chosen the broken rock formation that had the most level plane for her to sit on. It was here she got a full panoramic view of the Nevada desert.
"Do you have anything to tell me Captain "June said as she steadied herself on the rock platform. She was taken back slightly at the beautiful view of the desert against the blue sky that was adorned with puffy white clouds.
"I've looked at the town from here, Jasper did you say it was called? " Sierra said "From what I can tell they are in a period of rebuilding. I've seen construction trucks go in and out of the town. When the Decepticons hit this base they must have hit the town as well. "
"Why do you say it was the Decepticons?" June asked.
Sierra gave June her binoculars and leaned back so her head wasn't in the way. She pointed to an area that was almost out of view from the perch. June peered through and saw the remains of a base, and from the construction June knew it was a Decepticon base. There were green army trucks parked about and what looked like a salvage operation was in full effect. June saw the area was marked off by several road blocks.
"Yup, that looks like the aftermath of a battle to me. " June said.
"Do you think the Autobots are still alive? And if so what are we going to do?" Sierra asked with a hint of despair in her voice.
"We don't give up, that's our first priority. Perceptor gave me the means to track down any Archeron energy, it will pinpoint the reactor. We'll get it. But first I need to find out what happened to my friends, if any of them are still alive. "June said
"So what's our first course of action?" Sierra asked
Before June could answer she received two video files from Miko down below. She cued them up and played them on her holodisplay. The first was a news clip from four months ago.
"Officials report that a meteor shower hit the tiny town of Jasper Nevada today. Sources report that quick acting through the data collected from NORAD allowed officials to have the town evacuated before the town was demolished. Despite the quick evacuation minimal injuries were reported and only a few people still remain missing. "
June looked and saw the devastation of Jasper from the news report. The second clip was a video file pulled from a website called " " On it was a voice who identified himself as Chip Chase.
"The government wants to believe that a meteor shower hit Jasper, but this is a readout from NASA on the status of the skies above Nevada. The report from the International Space Station reports that the skies were clear on the day a meteor shower was supposed to happen; this report was altered the day after to SHOW a meteor shower. But take a look at this image that was wiped from the net the day of the destruction of Jasper. This is a satellite photo of the area around Jasper, Look right there next to the two mountain mesas, you see a large black tower! What is this tower? Did aliens actually destroy Jasper, and why is the government covering it up!
"General! " Bam Bam called through her communicator
"Yeah Bam Bam, what is it?"
"Rooster and I found an old truck depot in the lower levels, None of the trucks here are working , but there is enough to Frankenstein a working truck!" Bam Bam reported.
"Very good, get on it. I want to check out the town of Jasper as soon as possible." June said.
Dusk fell as June selected herself, Bam Bam and Sierra to go into town and investigate what happened. They donned some spare clothes they brought over from their world, they didn't want to travel about the town in their military uniforms and cause a ruckus. They walked about the town, from what they saw only about a quarter of the population had returned to town. The town was still in the rebuilding phase. They figured they should go to the only thing still open that night which was an all-night diner. June had the foresight to stop by an ATM. She had Sierra and Bam Bam stood watch while she hacked the ATM to spit out some money so they could operate more smoothly among the town.
They sat in the café that was filled with about 10 customers, most of which were giving them odd looks, the most being directed at Sierra. They found a booth to sit at as Bam Bam excused himself to the bathroom. Upon walking back he stopped as he saw a cork board with various bisnuess cards and pictures. One thing in particular caught his eye. He looked at the flyer and quickly pulled it down. Briskly walking back to their booth he flipped Sierra's hood over her head as he sat back down.
"Hey!" Sierra said as she reached for her hood.
"No!" He whispered "Keep it on!"
He then slid the flyer toward June and Sierra, they saw it had a picture of Sierra and the words read:
MISSING
16 YEAR OLD SIERRA MILLER
LAST SEEN DURING EVACUATION
ANY INFORMATION PLEASE CALL THE JASPER SHERIFF
"That's not good….." June said slowly
"Looks like my counterpart met with unfortunate consequences." Sierra said as she looked at the photo of the smiling girl with her face.
June looked up and quickly crumpled up the flyer, she hoped she did it in time that their waitress didn't see them.
"What'll you have?" Nancy said as she pulled out her note pad.
"Um just a round of Coffee for now, "June said as Bam Bam cleared his throat loudly, June gave him an odd look as she read his eyes and looked as he pointed to a stack of pancakes on the menu, "And a stack of pancakes….."
Then Sierra followed suit and grunted as well, She pointed to a picture of a plate with ham and eggs on it. June gave her the stink eye and also read her look, "And a plate of ham and eggs."
The waitress wrote down the order and then paused and looked at June as if she knew her. "June Darby?, oh hello June! Are you settled back in town yet?" Nancy asked.
June sucked in a breath and knew she was being mistaken for her other counterpart. She thought fast. "Why yes! " She smiled. "We're back!"
"How is your boy Jack?" Nancy asked
"J-Jack's good!" June said with a smile that was a bit too tight.
Nancy nodded and smiled back "well are you having your usual?"
"Uh yeah, just give me the usual!" June said
"Ok just sit tight ya'll!" Nancy said as she walked back to the register.
"Seriously!?, You're going to jeopardize the mission over dinner!?" June hissed.
"Hey, if he gets pancakes, I want real eggs, not powdered! " Sierra asked.
"Oh shit, " June said as she looked up to see the Sheriff talk to Nancy, she pointed in their direction as the tall officer with the bushy mustache made his way over. "Stay cool, we might have trouble."
The sheriff stopped at their table "Evening folks. Hate to bug you but I've had numerous reports of a sighting of a missing person. "He tapped Sierra on the shoulder, "Miss would you please pull your hood back.
June gulped as her mind tried to formulate an exit strategy in the two seconds she had till Sierra's cover was blown. June bit her lip as Sierra pulled her hood back to reveal the features of an African American girl. She looked up at the Sheriff with big brown eyes. The Sheriff blinked and tipped his hat.
"Sorry to bother ya'll" as he left.
They didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the Sheriff left the café.
"Captain, do you want to explain yourself?" June asked.
Sierra looked at herself in the reflection of a spoon. "It's a holoflauge program I'm testing for Hound. He's reformatted his hologram programs for human use. I think we can call it a success. "She said as she pointed to her wrist computer.
Nancy brought their plates as Bam Bam and Sierra dug into theirs, June looked at her plate and saw fried tofu and a side salad. Realizing that she and this world's June had two completely different eating habits, She took her fork and stole one of Sierra's sausages.
Back at the remnants of the Autobot base, Miko finished her MRE and went back to work trying to hack into the Autobot computers. She shivered as the cold from the Nevada night crept into the base. She got up to find her thick uniform jacket she had to dig through a pile to find it. As she pulled it out something fell out of General Darby's jacket. It clunked loudly as it hit the ground. She picked up the cylinder, and recognized it as the famous Cylinder that June used to contact the Autobots. She smiled as she examined it, as she looked at it she accidently moved her finger over it's control panel. A bright light shot out of it, as she dropped it like a hot potato. As the cylinder hit the ground it stayed upright so the light continued to shoot out of the top and into the night. She quickly jumped on top of it and tried to wrap it in a coat.
She franticly searched for the off switch as from across the room looked at her oddly as she wrestled with the jacket that was bobbing up and down on her arms. Miko smiled sweetly and waved her off as her other hand found the off switch. She breathed a sigh of relief as the cylinder lay quiet. Little did she know someone took notice of the beam of light.
The Nemesis flew in a low orbit over the nation of Madagascar; Soundwave was busily monitoring earth communications when he picked up a weird energy reading over Jasper. He quickly sent the data over to the main bridge of the Nemesis where Knock out received Soundwave's message.
"My lord Megatron, Soundwave says he found something peculiar. " Knock said as he looked back at Megatron .
"What is it Knock out?" Megatron asked as he narrowed his eyes.
"He reports that a beacon was reported emanating from Jasper Nevada. The beacon has energy signatures similar to what the Autobots use, but somehow different. "
"Different? Does he not know?" Megatron asked
"Soundwave does not say my liege, all he can say is the signal originated from the old Autobot base!" Knock out said.
"Hmmm ,Starscream ready a team, and change course for Jasper. "Megatron ordered " I want to know what sent that signal out, and what's in that base that we overlooked."
NEXT TIME: The mission hits a major snag as General Darby's encampment is invaded by Team Prime and the Decepticons. June and her team reveal themselves to Team Prime in a big way and Optimus receives a message from across the dimensions.