Up on the old command deck of the enormous, defunct Autobot spaceship, protected within the armored security center, a panorama of dozens of monitors quietly displayed everyday Autobot activity throughout the Ark. Transfixed by the images before him, Red Alert scrutinized the multitude of screens meticulously, suspiciously anticipating that he would find some detail the slightest amount out of the ordinary. The red and white Autobot security director's optics flicked anxiously up to the top left corner screen and he drummed the fingers of both hands on the edge of the desktop as he leaned in to look closer.
The entrance to the base was quiet this early in the morning. It unnerved him that their key security point remained open and easily accessible to anyone who wanted to enter the base. He had tried in vain to persuade the others to keep the blast doors closed and make Autobots verify themselves upon entering and exiting. The other Autobots had strongly opposed the idea. They resisted the opportunity for the paranoid security director to spy on their activities more than he already did. They also did not want to be entombed in their mountainside base. Because Red Alert already knew the others did not trust him and did not recognize that he was the best Autobot to look out for their safety, the resistance he met was not a surprise, although it still frustrated him immensely when Optimus Prime also denied him the recommended security measures.
Through the opening to the base, Red Alert noticed the first light of dawn emerging in the sky to the east. He glanced down at the chronometer on the desk and then back up at the monitor. The patrol shifts were not due to change for almost another hour.
Panning to the right along the top row of monitors, Red Alert passed over several empty hallways and foyers before fixing his attention on the display from camera 14-B. Tracks and Mirage were casually chatting in the hallway outside of the entrance to one of the training rooms. He turned camera 15-B around to see if he could get a better angle on Mirage's faceplate, to read his lip components, but the detail was lost at a distance. If only he could hear what they were saying, he thought. He clenched a fist and cursed Ironhide for having the audio feed from the cameras removed in the interest of preserving privacy.
Both Mirage and Tracks were pretentious elitists. Extra attention needed to be paid to their deceptive responses and expressions. Mirage stood with one knee slightly bent and his arms crossed while Tracks stood with his back mostly turned to the camera. He could tell that Tracks was doing most of the talking because every few moments Mirage's mouth moved and then was still again. Red Alert did not like that the two were fraternizing with each other. They were an untrustworthy pair. Back on Cybertron they were of higher social status than the other Autobots, so he always suspected they would devise some subversive plot to take over command of the Autobots. The upper classes were like that; they believed themselves to be the natural leaders of society.
Neither Autobot looked up at the camera while it watched them. After several minutes, Tracks walked toward Mirage, slapped him on the back and then the two walked together into the training room. He picked them up on the cameras inside the training room, but nothing more of interest happened as they went about using the facility equipment.
Red Alert's optic ridges furrowed and he scanned the next row of monitors from left to right. Then motion on the screen from camera 23-A on the third row of monitors caught his attention. The security director watched intently as the door closed behind a red figure and he walked down the hallway with a slight swagger in one leg.
"Aha!" Red Alert announced to himself, pleasantly surprised by the image. "Let's see what you're up to today," he mused as he programmed the computer to follow the activities of the Autobot.
A panel on the desk in front of Red Alert popped open and a large screen emerged to display Sideswipe in greater detail. As soon as the red warrior's visage appeared in front of him, Sideswipe's optics darted up to the camera as if he knew somehow that he was being watched at that moment. Red Alert responded with a start as the image of Sideswipe looked directly at him. But he relaxed again when, a moment later, Sideswipe looked away from the camera.
While he followed Sideswipe through the Ark, Red Alert kept an optic on camera 23-A, which was still trained on the door to Sideswipe's quarters. He wondered if Sunstreaker would emerge from the room, but the door remained closed.
Sideswipe stopped and discreetly poked his head in a few of the main rooms he passed. It was suspicious behavior for sure, the security director surmised, reassured of his conclusion when Sideswipe turned and looked behind himself before continuing down the hallway. He was up to something.
Smiling to himself, Red Alert called up Prowl on the communication panel. The image of the strategist appeared a second later. He was engaged in a conversation with someone else at that moment. Prowl excused himself and turned toward the monitor.
"What is it, Red Alert?" he asked in his collected tone.
"Prowl, this is your lucky day," Red Alert explained eagerly, chortling with excitement and repressed paranoia.
"Oh?" the black and white strategist inquired.
"Yes. I've got Sideswipe on my monitor," Red Alert stated triumphantly, to which Prowl's optic ridges lifted.
"Just a minute, Red," said Prowl. He turned away from the security director and asked Streetwise and Groove to step out of his office. Then he returned his full attention to the monitor. "Go on."
Red Alert glanced sideways at the other monitor. "He's acting suspiciously, I tell you. He's looking to see if anyone's watching him. This is what we've been waiting for!"
"Where is he?" Prowl asked calmly.
Red Alert re-checked the large monitor on the desktop. "I'd say he's on his way down to maintenance. Strange, isn't it? He's going down to maintenance when Hoist is out on other jobs. I'm telling you Prowl, we've got him this time!" An elated smile crept onto his features at the thought of catching the mischievous red warrior.
Prowl crossed his arms and rubbed his chin pensively. It had been over a month since he had asked Red Alert to help him with this special surveillance assignment. Jazz had found a canister of diesel-grade energon in the lounge. Its source was a mystery, but Prowl was certain that Sideswipe was the perpetrator. He did not have any concrete evidence to link the red warrior to the contraband energon, but Sideswipe's rumored ability to smuggle goods into the Ark made him a natural suspect. Red Alert's report on Sideswipe's trek over to the maintenance wing of the Ark was a promising lead. Prowl knew that the maintenance facility offered a plethora of hiding places for Sideswipe's secret stash of illegal imports.
"Prowl?" Red Alert's vocalizer interrupted the strategist's train of thought. His optics had wandered away from the screen. He looked back to the image of Red Alert.
"What are you going to do about this?" the security director inquired with nagging eagerness.
Prowl placed his hands comfortably on his hip plates. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I'm going to go down to maintenance to see for myself what Sideswipe's up to."
"Do you want me to help?" Red Alert asked.
"No, leave it to me. You've done well, Red Alert. I'll take it from here."
With that, Prowl formally signed off and pressed a button on his desk console to close the channel with Red Alert. He rubbed his right fist into his left palm. "You might think you've outsmarted me for the time being, Sideswipe, but I'm going to catch you. And when I catch you, you'd better have a good explanation for this."