Thanks to everyone whose read and reviewed! I really really really appreciate it! :)
I'm a fan of the Red Alert/Inferno pairing, they are just too cute! So of course they get their own chapters. Through these chapters we'll actually get to see Prowl and Jazz first meet but not for another couple of chapters. Right now its about what Red Alert has gone through, becomes Security Director, and eventually meets Inferno.
Edited by the wonderful Taralynden
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"Vorn" about 1 year, "Stellarcycle" about 6 months, "Decacycle" about 1 week, "Cycle" about 1 day, "Orn" about an hour, "Breem" about a minute
(Set a few years before Prowl comes to the base.)
Chapter 8
Red Alert
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He hated these introductory meetings.
Hated, hated, hated.
It always made him feel as if he were on display. Placed in front of a group to be looked at, judged, and sized up. A nice little visual to go along with the rumors they might have heard about him.
Whole place was probably teeming with rumors about him by now if they hadn't already been circulating prior to his arrival.
What did they know anyway.
He felt uncomfortable and out of place. Why'd they have to meet in such a large room anyway? There weren't THAT many senior officers to accommodate.
He wanted this to be OVER so he could go where he did feel comfortable. A room that was smaller…..and filled with monitors. Brightly lit screens that soothed him and provided comfort by showing him everything he needed to see at any given time, from any angle, any where on the base. Or would once he fully took over and turned the current security system into a proper security system.
Red Alert chanced another quick glance around the table. He knew of these mechs but didn't actually know most of them. Jazz, Ironhide, Range, Smokescreen, Ratchet, Dodger……Prime.
He still felt a mixture of embarrassment and shock over the whole strange ordeal of Prime contacting him to request his transfer.
He had received an "official" communiqué sent only to him from "The Prime" who was requesting an audience with him…..riiiiiight, because The Prime, Leader and Commander of all Autobots, had nothing better to do than to hold an "audience" with a glitch at a small lookout base nestled in the middle of nowhere. Red Alert had no doubt this was but another prank being pulled on him. Those fraggers….
He had tried to take apart and trace the message but couldn't find anything other than Prime's encryption code. Unable to pinpoint the culprit, he had promptly sent a response that hacking into, hijacking, and/or mimicking The Prime's - or any other officer's - encryption codes was against all protocols and was punishable by brig time or worse.
The message had bothered him. He was skilled and didn't like that he couldn't track down the hacker like he usually could. Video communications were currently banned thanks to Decepticons intercepting and altering the video and audio feeds thus the encryption code signatures had been put into place, for now anyway. These were harder to hack into and alter but most importantly the majority of communications slipped easily through any Decepticon interception.
Just as he had decided to put the obvious prank from his mind and focus on work, another communiqué arrived for him. Once again claiming to be "official" and once again stating that The Prime was requesting an audience with him. Irritated, he sent back the same response he had before adding to it that he would be filing a report about this prank and when the creator of this communication was found they would be held accountable for their actions.
These communications had continued back and forth and by the end of the decacycle what patience he had earlier hadwas lost. The prank had served its purpose, ha ha ha, and now the individual was running it into the ground. In an attempt to end the game, Red Alert bluntly stated that should The Prime wish to speak with him he could very well show up at the base himself and address him mech to mech. He couldn't have been happier when two cycles passed without further communication sent to him. Good, he had better things to do than deal with than stupid pranks.
However, that happiness was short-lived,quickly vanishing when an unannounced ship landed at their base not a decacycle later. He knew that ship….every mech knew that ship. A feeling of dread began to creep into him as he watched on the monitors, the doors of the ship opened….and then The Prime walked out.
Disbelieving, he watched with wide optics as his superiors ran out to meet him. Panic touched his processor as he watched the screens, the last communication he had responded to drifted unbidden to mind.…no, no, no, this…this had to be a coincidence. This had nothing to do with him or those communiqués. There was no way The Prime would ever want to speak with him.
Jerking slightly from surprise, he looked down as a message chimed for his attention on his computer. A message from his superiors….informing him that he was to meet with The Prime in one of the private meeting rooms.
His head fell into his hands. What had he done!? Any panic he had been trying to subdue or hold back unleashed itself and flooded his processor.
He was dead mech, that's all there was to it. He'd walk into that room and Prime would deactivate him where he stood. Or if deactivating him wasn't on The Primes agenda then surely Prime would throw him in the brig for insubordination, forever and ever. Brig…Primus, he'd threatened to throw the sender, PRIME, in the brig over those communications! Slag, how many direct orders had he completely disregarded in those communiqués!?
Red Alert started almost violently, ripped from his thoughts, as the security room door was flung open and his superior stepped in, hissing,
"Red Alert! Get off your aft! Optimus Prime is in the meeting room, do not keep him waiting!"
Red Alert quickly stood, "I'm going!" he all but snarled back.
He picked through and gathered a few data pads. He had no idea what he was going to do with them but it gave the appearance he knew what he was doing. Data pads in hand he brushed past his superior, who had yet to lose that 'I don't approve of you' look he'd had since Red Alert's transfer there over eight vorns ago.
"Fragging glitch."
He heard his superior mutter before walking the other way. Red Alert flinched as he walked toward the meeting room. What if that's what Prime was thinking? He got a sudden sick, sinking feeling. What if Prime was here to drive home a point? Glitches can't do proper work. Can't hold positions of responsibility. What if Prime had every intention of relieving him of his duty here?
Sure the base was in the middle of nowhere and he didn't like a single one of the mechs stationed here with him, but he was working security. It was what he loved to do. It was what he had always been good at. Sentinel Prime had sent him here to keep him quiet and out of the way. He should have felt grateful toward Sentinel Prime for that, not all glitches were allowed such luxuries….of course not all of them had been willing to lower themselves to begging like he had.
Red Alert stood in front of the meeting room door attempting to give himself a moment to calm down. As he stood there he was reminded of the last time he stood before The Prime. Sentinel Prime….and Red Alert had had to beg for a position no one else wanted. Sentinel Prime barely tolerated glitches and he had found Red Alert's personality abrasive and his sensitive glitch particularly intolerable.
Sentinel Prime had made him beg….but he wouldn't do it again. No matter what happened in this meeting, he would not stoop to begging, not again, not with this Prime.
New found resolve and what bravery he could dredge up in place, he cycling the door open and stepped in.
Prime sat on the opposite side of the table. He took a good look at his Leader…..Primus, he was big! Red Alert was instantly surprised to see the Second in Command, Dodger, was not with him. In Dodger's place sat one grinning visored mech.
He walked forward to take his seat opposite his superiors. Red Alert had met the visored mech, Jazz, before. They had worked together vorns ago but Jazz had pretty much disappeared since then. He had thought, given Jazz's line of work, that maybe the Ops mech had met his demise. Clearly not.
Jazz was beaming a friendly smile as he neared them but Red Alert knew better than to be taken in by the charmer. He knew what Jazz what capable of and those cheerful features and that lazy manner of his should never be taken purely at face value. Only an idiot would believe what their optics saw when it came to Jazz.
Red Alert took his seat, careful to look as calm and professional as possible. Prime gazed down at him.
"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."
"Not at all, Sir."
Red Alert dropped his gaze to the table, best to get it out now and be over and done with it,
"Sir, I want to apologize. About the communiqués --"
But Prime stopped him,
"No apologies needed. I was only recently made aware of the extent of the communiqués sent back and forth between you and……the individual I had asked to formally contact you."
Prime gave a short-lived half-hearted glare to the mech sitting next to him. Jazz simply kept on smiling. Prime turned his gaze back to Red Alert,
"I sincerely hope the communiqués were not too bothersome and did not take away from your work."
Red Alert looked him in the optics and didn't find a hint of malice, sarcasm, impatience, or mockery and could only respond with a meek "No."
Prime leaned forward on the table and continued,
"Good. Now, I've asked you here because you have skills and experience that I think would make you a valuable member to add to my unit."
Red Alert frowned,
"What unit would that be, Sir?"
Red Alert readied himself, if Prime thought he was going to join some nonsense charitable "glitch" unit then he had another thing coming.
"My unit, my team at headquarters."
Red Alert simple gave a blank look.
"I'd like to place you in the position of Senior Security Director."
Red Alert nearly locked up in shock.
"S-Senior Security Director?"
Prime gave a nod, "Yes, you've come highly recommended. Would you be interested or willing to take this position?"
Red Alert had to think for a moment. This was huge! To be offered a position of this magnitude was almost beyond comprehension. Of course if he accepted he'd go up before the panel of senior officers, interviews and tests would be conducted. A long and lengthy process….but if he even had a shot at it….
He looked up at Prime with a small grin and nodded, "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
Prime's optics seemed to brighten, "Excellent." Prime stood, leaning over the table to shake Red Alert's hand,
"Welcome to the team."
Red Alert smiled, eagerly returning the hand shake. Prime stepped away from the table,
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll inform your supervisors of your departure and arrange for your replacement."
Red Alert looked at Prime in shock, "De-departure?"
Prime looked at him and nodded, "Yes." Then he turned to Jazz, "Jazz, aid Red Alert in collecting and packing his personal things. We leave as soon as you're done."
Prime walked around the table and patted Red Alert on the shoulder,
"Thank you for accepting, its good to have you with us."
Then Prime walked out of the room, leaving one shocked Red Alert staring after him.
Red Alert shook his head as he started at the doorway,
"This…this isn't…"
He turned back to Jazz,
"This isn't how its done!"
He started at the doorway again before turning back to Jazz,
"There..there..there are tests and…and interviews….I…..Is this a joke??"
Jazz gave a small laugh, "No joke, Red!"
"Red?"
"Yep." Jazz stood, "Ya one of us now, Red. Come on, lets get your stuff and get ya outta here."
Red Alert shook his head, "No, no, this isn't how its done. There's a whole list of procedures that need to be -"
"Don' worry 'bout none of that, Red. Prime's taken care of it. As of right now, you're our new Security Director."
"But this is completely unorthodox!"
Jazz rounded the table, "Yep. Prime's not playin' the bureaucratic games Sentinel did. Optimus wants results, he ain't interested in Autobot politics or playin' favorites."
Jazz reach down and tugged Red Alert up from the chair, slinging an arm around his shoulders as he led Red Alert out of the meeting room and down the hall,
"Alright then, now that that's all settled -"
"It's not all settled, Jazz. There are set ways of going about this. One can't simply say they're going to put someone in a position and then do so and that's the end of it."
"Optimus can. He's Prime. That's what Primes do. You should know that, Red. Sentinel put you here."
Red Alert looked down, "That was different."
Jazz glanced at him out of the corner of this visor, "No, it wasn't."
Jazz looked down the hall, "So, which one's your quarters?"
Red Alert pointed behind them, "My quarters, there….back that way."
"Oh." Jazz turned them around, arm still slung over Red Alert's shoulders as they walked back down the hall, "Ya gonna like it at headquarters, mechs there are great. Might see a few familiar faces too."
Red Alert didn't make any comment as he stopped them and punched in the code to his quarters. Jazz finally released him in favor of looking around his room.
"Ya got your own private quarters, huh? Nice. Usually in places like these everyone has a roommate."
Red Alert started pulling data pads from a shelf,
"I had a roommate, Jazz, but he refused to share a space with a glitch. My supervisors saw it as a valid argument and reassigned him to a new room. They never assigned me a new roommate because they didn't see any point in it."
Jazz fell silent as Red Alert continued to pull data pads from the shelf, stacking them on his berth. After a moment Jazz walked over to where Red Alert was and leaned against the data file case, falling into Red Alert's line of vision
"So, what needs packin'?"
Red Alert was thankful he didn't collect too much and with both he and Jazz packing the job was done in a little over an orn. Eight vorns of living there and all he had to show for it was two crates full of data pads and personal items. Jazz had left to tell Prime they were just about ready to go.
Red Alert looked around the now barren quarters, an unsure feeling creeping up on him. It wasn't that he would miss this place, he had simply gotten used to it here. Now he'd have to get used to how things would be at the new base. A whole new set of stress factors. He sighed into the empty room and hoped they had an excellent medic at headquarters.
Not wanting to wait on Jazz, Red Alert picked up one crate and headed to the docking area. He didn't run into a single mech, whether they were ignoring him or actually busy it didn't matter, he had no friends here to say goodbye to. Setting the crate on the docking area he went back for the second one, locking his door behind him one last time.
He set the second crate down by the first and looked at Prime's ship. He was thankful to be leaving this place but nervous about what awaited him. If he was treated like this at some small lookout post, how would senior officers treat him? Jazz didn't count, he was friendly with everyone.
"Red Alert?"
Red Alert turned in the direction of the voice seeing a large red mech walking toward him,
"Yes?"
The mech grinned as he walked over to him and Red Alert was forced to look up at him, the mech was nearly as tall as Prime.
"Hello."
The mech held out a hand in welcome, Red Alert reached out to shake hands and quickly found himself caught in a strong warrior style handshake,
"Nice ta meet yah, Red Alert. Name's Ironhide, Weapons Specialist. Welcome to the team, I've heard good things about yah."
Red Alert could feel his face give something between a grin and a wince as he subtly tried to pull his arm and hand free while trying to show gratitude for the friendly welcome. It hadn't been expected.
"Thank you. I'm-I'm honored to be part of it."
Looking down at the crates by Red Alert, Ironhide finally released him,
"Here, lemme give yah a hand with these."
Red Alert tried to protest but Ironhide wouldn't hear of it as he lifted one of the crates,
"Nonsense, yah just relax fer now cause once yah all settled in ya'll have work up to yer optics to deal with."
There was a teasing tone to his voice but the mech wore a smile that was friendly and open.
Red Alert allowed himself to give a small smile back,
"Thank you."
So far, this wasn't so bad.
"Hey, Red!"
Red Alert and Ironhide looked over to see Jazz trotting over to them,
"Ya want some help?"
Before Red Alert could speak Ironhide turned fully toward Jazz.
"Yeah, here."
Ironhide placed the crate he'd been holding in Jazz's hands, keeping hold of the opposite end,
"Try 'n remember you're an officer, Jazz, and act like one. There's no need ta bellow from across a room so everyone's attention is on yah. And go easy on th' nicknames," Ironhide shoved the box fully into Jazz's hands, "not everyone thinks they're cute."
They glared at each other before Ironhide picked up the other crate, turning to Red Alert with a friendly smile,
"See ya on board, Red Alert."
Red Alert nodded as Ironhide turned and walked toward the ship, ignoring the glare Jazz was directing at him.
After a few moments Jazz sighed, shrugging his shoulders back to ease their tension before turning to Red Alert who wore uncertain look. Jazz grinned,
"Don' worry, he only sweet talks me like that."
Before Red Alert could ask any questions about what had just transpired Jazz tilted his head toward the ship,
"Lets go, Red."
Red Alert fell into step with Jazz as they walked toward the ship. After a few steps Jazz glanced at him, speaking softly,
"Ya don' mind me callin' ya Red, do ya?"
Red Alert gave a shake of his head, "No, not really."
It was far better than other names he'd been called.
A big grin took up Jazz's face, "Good."
On board Ironhide was already occupying a back seat, Jazz took up a back seat across the aisle from him, icy glares shot back and forth until they decided to ignore each other. Prime boarded right after Red Alert and Red Alert hastily moved to get out of his way. Prime took in his two other officers before sitting down in one of the front seats, beckoning Red Alert to sit next to him.
Red Alert did so, tensely, unsure of what conversation would be appropriate. Prime gave his other two other officers one more glance before sitting back in his seat sighing wearily. Red Alert looked at the two again before turning back to Prime.
"They don't seem to get along."
The words were out before he could stop them. He wished he could take them back, it was none of his business.
But Prime simply shook his head speaking softly,
"Usually they are far more tolerant of each other. I'm afraid this recent tension is my fault. I thought it would be a good idea to have the three of us sit down and let the two of them talk out their differences."
Red Alert was a touch shocked to hear a Prime admit fault to anything, "It…didn't go well?"
Prime gave a slight shake of his head, "No. However I did learn a few things."
"Such as?"
"Jazz is much stronger than he appears to be and I now know it takes at least five mechs to pull them apart and keep them on opposite sides of a room." Prime leaned his head back against the seat, "I'm still considering demoting Smokescreen for having even suggested it, but of course in hindsight I think he was joking when he made the suggestion to begin with. He laughed when he heard what happened."
Prime glanced at Red Alert, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be telling you these things. If I continue on you'll demand we turn the ship around take you back."
Red Alert looked at Prime to see his optics shining with amusement. Red Alert smiled and settled back in his seat. Prime had a sense of humor.
The ride took a few orns, during which Red Alert was actually able to get some recharge. It was when they landed he became tense again. Both he and Prime stood. Prime looked over at his two officers,
"Ironhide, see Red Alert to the meeting room. Jazz, come with me. I'll see you in a short while, Red Alert."
Red Alert nodded and moved so Prime and Jazz could leave. He watched them go, a feeling of apprehension building in him at the thought of a meeting.
Ironhide came up behind him and clasped him on the shoulder,
"Don' worry, hopefully this will be a quick one."
Ironhide moved past him, motioning him to follow. Once out of the ship, Red Alert took in headquarters. It was huge. Forcing himself to focus, he walked quickly to catch up to Ironhide. Once in the base, they walked down a series of halls, turning this and that way. When Ironhide stopped and turned to him with a big grin,
"Wanna see the Security Room?"
Red Alert looked at the door.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…
"Are you sure we have time?"
"Oh yeah, we'll be fine."
Ironhide punched in a code and stepped back as the door slid open. Tilting his head toward the room,
"Go on, take a peek."
Red Alert stepped in. The room had to be two, three times the size of the outlook's. Monitors lined the majority of three walls, a much larger monitor sat before the console surrounded by smaller monitors. The opposite wall was covered in data file shelves and a desk sat just in front of that. Red Alert couldn't help but grin, he loved it.
"Come on, Red Alert, we should git going. You'll get all the time yah want and then some in here soon enough."
Red Alert nodded, frowning slightly at how some of the cameras were set up,
"Who was the Security Director before?"
Red Alert turned and walked out the room and started down the hall with Ironhide,
"Mech's name was Stripnine."
"Where is he?"
"Gone, mech couldn't…uh…handle the stress well."
It was at this point Red Alert got the feeling he wasn't being told something. He didn't have time to question it or even think on it as he was directed in to a room just as other senior officers began to file in and take their seats. Red Alert sat where Ironhide directed him to.
Some of the officers seemed to look at him with interest, while others gave him hard disapproving looks. It seemed that some had not agreed with Prime's choice of newSecurity Director. The meeting began and Prime explained Stripnine's departure to another base, no real reason given, then introduced Red Alert, going over some of Red Alert's background and experience.
And now, a whole orn later, he was still in the meeting. He really wanted out, he was feeling very uncomfortable, restless, tired. He could feel himself getting defensive as he continued to get disapproving glares from one or two officers, clearly not happy about him being there.
Finally, thankfully, Prime dismissed them. Red Alert was as patient as he could be as Ironhide showed him to his quarters, his crates from the ship placed carefully on his berth. Ironhide also left him a map of the base with directions on how to get to the Security Room, the commons room, training room, so on.
Ironhide bid him good night, it was only then that Red Alert realized how late it was getting. He sat on his berth looking over his quarters, not really feeling like unpacking but couldn't bring himself to recharge either. Not yet anyway.
Taking out the map, Red Alert found his way to the Security Room. He reached out to type in the code Ironhide had given him when the door slid open. The mech on the other side looked startled to see him.
"Oh! Excuse me, Sir, I wasn't expecting you."
Thrown by the amount of respect in his voice, Red Alert looked at the mech,
"That's alright, I just wanted to look around. Where are you going?"
"On break, Sir, I was going to get a cube of energon from the commons room. However, if you prefer I stay -"
Red Alert shook his head, "No, go ahead, I'm just going to go in and look around."
The mech nodded, "Yes, Sir. If you need anything, Sir, please let me know."
Red Alert nodded, "I will, thank you."
The mech smiled and nodded at him before leaving to get his cube of energon. Red Alert watched him go, it was strange to be called "Sir" so much.
But he liked it.
He walked into the room, door sliding shut and locking behind him, he took a seat at the center console. Looking up and over at the various monitors. He shook his head, the previous Senior Security Director, Stripnine, had no fragging clue how to create and maintain a proper security system. Amateur. He'd have to start almost from scratch.
Red Alert braced his hands against the console, looking up at the monitors. This was a big job.
He could do this.
Jazz and Ironhide believed he could.
Prime believed in him.
With a sigh he surveyed the base from the view points of various cameras.
He could do this.
***********Authors notes**************
I wanted more in this chapter but it ran long. So next chapter will get Inferno in the mix as well as establish why previous security director left...give ya a hint, there are two reasons he left...one is red and the other is of a golden color.
To me, Red Alert has always come off as someone who went through a lot of adversity.
I had once heard, somewhere, that Optimus was a soldier before becoming Prime. I think this would give him a more realistic view of his fellow Autobots and stop him from falling into a more biased frame of mind. He wasn't an elitist to begin with so he doesn't feel he's 'above' everyone else....after all he's well known for fighting on the ground, on the front lines with his men. This is why he doesn't care if Red Alert has a glitch and why eventually has Prowl as SIC even with his glitch. As far as Optimus is concerned if a mech can do a job and do great at it, it doesn't matter if he's got a glitch or not. Even if said glitch causes panic attacks, Optimus is willing to work through it.
Reviews are always welcomed and loved! :)