Luke was in the command center, relaying what happened to central command using a modified communications hub. He told them how they were now a part of a war that spans even greater than the war they have been fighting, and that they were helping the autobots. Also, that the planet they were on was another Earth, possibly from another universe. When central command was done with his debriefing, they patched him into Lukes' actual general, General Forge.
"I see that our new ACU is working exceptionally, and was able to fend off a small army of transforming robots?" Said the General, making sure that the channel was secure before speaking again.
"Yes, in fact, it even built twice as fast as a usual ACU. Anyway, why I called," Luke said, gathering his thoughts for a moment.
"You sure I was the right choice for this ACU, even this group? I mean, I like the fact I am in this group and I have this ACU, I'm just not sure whether I deserve it," Luke said, a little sadly.
"Trust me when I say that you deserve it. We watched you take down an entire Cybran army single-handedly in battle simulations, while also fending off an orbital assault by the Aeon. I am confident that you are skilled enough to not let it be destroyed. And even if it does, you can just rebuild it like you just did a few weeks ago," Forge said, reassuring Luke.
"Also, your skills are vital for the war effort, so much wasted potential in those academies. Your doing more than the UEF proud. You deserve to be a part of the UNSC," Forge said.
Luke looked at the symbol on his shoulder-guard in a mirror. It was an Eagle that was perched on the Earth, with the banner UNSC written below. The UNSC was a secret elite branch of the UEF created when the UEF needed strong commanders instead of the generic cannon fodder some of them were. Only the best of the best could be allowed in it, and they only expected the best out of their members. Some could say that the UNSC was a completely different faction, since they only appeared in the biggest engagements, and had experimental technology installed on their ACUs instead of the standard equipment.
"I feel as if I am not with the UEF anymore, I don't get to see some of my friends from the academy, and most of them graduated to be fine commanders," Luke said, thinking a little too deeply into the subject.
Forge sensed this, "Hey, you don't need to think too much about it, ok? We are still with the UEF, just a different branch of it. We are the elite, and that's what the UEF wants from you. Cheer up, boy, you'll get used to it soon enough. Besides, you got some of your friends with you at your area," Forge said.
Luke smiled a bit, it was a bit relieving to finally see some familiar faces from the academy. He hasn't seen any of his friends for at least 9 months until he graduated. Even then, he still doubted that he would be with them for long.
"I've been thinking a bit, you like having familiar faces around you from the academy, so I am allowing you to stay with them at that Earth for as long as you want. However, you still have to go on missions I assign you, but you can still go back when the missions are done," Forge said over the comms.
Forge also knew how it felt being separated from his friends just because of rank or where he was positioned in. He didn't want Luke to feel as if he was keeping him away from his personal life.
"I guess I can't talk to you for much longer, the Seraphim decided to invade another planet. I will contact you once you are needed. In the meantime, have some fun, kid. You earned it," Forge said, cutting the connection afterwards.
Luke walked out of the command center, relieved that his general allowed him to stay with his friends. At least I get to be with my friends while fighting a war. This deployment is turning out better than I thought. Not only that, I get to spend time with Jade. Luke smiled at that, he always felt happy around her, not in a creepy way, though. He keeps thinking that whenever he follows her or waits for her, holding a door open he feels like a creep. He doesn't want her to feel like he is stalking her, because honestly he wasn't.
He walked over to his new command center and living area, which he built with is ACU and was his new place to call home. He went to his room, taking his suit of armor off. He was lucky he had some clothes on underneath. Man, it's been a rough couple of weeks for me. Never knew there could be so many decepticons, especially when they seemed to be upgraded a bit. Luke thought, frowning. The decepticons have begun producing protoforms and upgrading them to have a higher damage output and more armor, making it increasingly more difficult each battle. They could still be taken down by only light assault bots, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't worry.
He took off his glasses, which somehow hid the bags under his eyes. Years of night terrors and not sleeping well when he was young paired with stress from sports in the academy made him look like he was on drugs when he didn't have his glasses on. He thought he looked either like an insane person or a sociopath, either one was creepy enough. He also had the tendency to find fun in creeping people out sometimes, especially towards his sister, whom he treated better than everyone else but Jade and a few others.
"Hey Klare, whatcha doin?"
"Nothing much, just watching some TV. I heard that you would be going to the Commander Academy soon, you're lucky that you can go there at your age." Said my sister, she was 4-5 years younger than me, and really smart for her grade. She was a redhead, with a cute face and a great personality when she's not pissed off at you.
"Too bad you aren't old enough for it, you would be better off going to a regular training school, become a soldier or a bodyguard for someone," Luke said, a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I still want to be a commander, though," Klare said, with a smile on her face.
"I think you would be great as a commander, even though personally I would rather you do something a little safer," Luke said, sitting down on the couch beside her.
"Yeah, but I still want to pilot one of those ACUs, they look so cool, and their huge," Klare shouted the last part, surprising Luke a bit.
"Ok, I got to get going. Got to pack for the transfer to the academy. I'll try to visit every now and then, ok?" Luke told Klare.
"Ok, see you later," Klare said, as she watched Luke walk up to his room.
That was one of the last times he saw her. Turns out that there was a lot more to being a commander than he thought, and he barely had the time, if any, to visit his family. Klare eventually made it to commander academy, but she got in on his last year of it. His brother, Jack, was also a commander, except he was training in maintaining communications and designing new systems for ACUs instead of actual combat. He was still effective in combat, he just was really limited to what he could do in the battlefield.
Luke frowned at the thought of not seeing his sister. She was still only a first year in commander academy when he graduated, and he was the only one that was nice enough to help her with issues in her daily life. Last he saw her was when she was at his graduation ceremony, where the rest of his family was. All she could do was watch as Luke was taken away, seemingly to never see his family again. The last time he saw her she had tears in her eyes, a first year with no one to guide her.
He would get the occasional message from his family, asking how he was, and he would be able to respond with a typed out message, but that was it. There was no way of contacting them directly, let alone even video or voice chat with them.
When he got into his usual clothes, a black sweatshirt with jeans, he walked outside to the hangar where everyone else was. He walked in to what he usually saw, Jack was watching Raph and Bumblebee play video games. Bulkhead was out on patrol, while Wheeljack was doing some maintenance on his shuttle. Smokescreen was out on a drive, and Arcee was somewhere. Optimus was in his room and Ratchet was at the terminal.
Luke sighed as he walked over to Jade and Chase, who were sitting at a table reviewing some things that they needed to do. Chase was setting up more outposts around the perimeter of the autobot base, while Jade was scouting more places to put mass extractors and energy reactors. Luke went over to the table and sat down by Jade.
"Hey guys, hows it going?" Luke asked.
"Not so good, the decepticons found out where some of our forward outposts were and assaulted them head-on. I tried to keep them all from being destroyed, what a strategy that was, all of them were either heavily damaged or destroyed," Chase said, frowning at his failed attempt at wide-scale strategy.
"It's not so good in my end, either. Luckily, mass doesn't run out even if we don't get more mass extractors, but our income has dropped significantly from frequent drone raids. They just don't let up," Jade said, concerned.
"Hmm, how to defend the outposts while at the same time defending our supply income," Luke thought for a few seconds.
"Oh, I got an idea: Chase, you set up a perimeter defense outside the mass fields and the energy reactors, and station at least 300 T1 units with anti-air point defenses and shield generators in a triangular perimeter. That should help against drone strikes," Luke told Chase, who was wide eyed in both amazement and shock at how Luke thought that up so fast, and how he didn't think of that in the first place.
"Jade, you set up T3 radar posts in a circular pattern with overlapping radar ranges, that way you know almost exactly where they are coming from. Also, Chase can help protecting them," Luke said, again with Jade wide eyed.
"No wonder why you were one of the best in the class, you could think up of a smart strategy in 4 seconds flat," Chase said, laughing.
"Yeah, I agree. Oh, by the way, what's with the weird symbol and the ACU that you have?" Jade asked.
Luke was silent for a moment. Then Jade knew who he was with.
"You're with the UNSC?! I can't believe I am seeing a commander in the UNSC!" Jade almost shouted. She looked around, thankful that no one but them heard it.
"Jade and I have been trying to get into it for a few months now. Holy shit, I'm looking at an elite commander!" Chase said, his voice filled to the brim with excitement.
"Wait, if your with the UNSC, then why are you here?" Jade then asked, confused.
"I was sent here to recon the planet, like the rest of you. High command had a suspicion that some form of intelligent life was on there due to early satellite footage revealing unnatural light coming from certain parts of the planet. I was sent here merely for backup, just in case something bad happens," Luke said, in a professional tone.
"That still doesn't explain how the UNSC could be interested in this Earth. It's like they know something we don't," Chase said.
"Wait, normally UNSC commanders are sent to a location before a major battle, sometimes weeks before they happen. Is something going to attack this planet?" Jade questioned, saying it a little too loud.
Silence filled the room. Even Raph and Bumblebee stopped gaming.
What, another attack, but from what? Jack pondered as he walked over to the commanders.
"Alright guys, tell us what's going on. We can help," Jack said, standing at the table the commanders were at.
Jack then noticed the faces of the commanders, they were full of regret, worry, as if something really bad was going to happen. The autobots, Miko and Raph all gathered around the table, waiting for an answer. Silence filled the room for a few minutes. Then, Luke mumbled something to himself. Jack didn't get it, but it had the word 'invading'. Jack, even more curious, asked them again to tell them what's happening. Then, Jade said the most horrifying words in Jack's life. "You're going to be invaded by all of our enemies at the same time."