When In Doubt In Which There is Defensor, a transformers/beast wars fanfic

Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers in any way, shape, or form.

Oh, and to answer a few questions: All political leaders that I have mentioned have no ties whatsoever to any political leaders we may have today.

And I really think this chapter is lame. :(

As for the extra chapter? I have the link posted in my bio, somewhere in the middle. It's definitely not something can handle. All that I ask in return is that if you aren't 18, please don't read it, okay?

Starscream soared in the clouds, watching for the shuttle as it entered the atmosphere. He would tail it and shoot it. He wasn't going to damage it permanently, because he needed the ship. There, on the horizon, was a bright streak of light. The shuttle's nose glowed a brilliant fiery orange-yellow as they entered the atmosphere. Starscream maneuvered smoothly and waited in a large storm cloud. The shuttle flew over him and he shot out of the cloud. The shuttle banked as he came up beside it. Starscream growled.

He let off a few warning shots and opened a communication line.

"This is Starscream, leader of the decepticons. Land your ship and I won't shoot you out of the sky," he said maliciously, letting loose a second volley of laser blasts that skimmed the wings of the ship.

There was no response from the shuttle.

Optimus was shaking in outrage as Silverbolt transmitted the image – Starscream was tailing the shuttle, shooting at it! His hands closed into fists and his anger bubbled into rage. No one, and he meant no one messed with any ship carrying sparklings. Optimus felt his optic twitch and he barely managed to speak.

"Aerialbots, you have my permission to use any means necessary to take out Starscream," he hissed quietly, watching as Silverbolt and his men transform and take to the skies.

"Optimus Prime, tell your men to stand down! This is outrageous! Fighting in broad daylight over the city! You have no idea what kind of danger you're putting the city in! If there is so much as one scratch on anyone in the city you're going to have to answer to me!"

"Sir, the President's on the line," Prowl said, a tad bit unnecessarily. When Optimus turned to glare at him, Prowl gave him the most innocent look he could muster. Optimus only shook his head – Prowl and innocence did not go together. Especially after the incident down in the store rooms…He shuddered. He did not want to go there again.

"Thank you, Prowl," Optimus said sarcastically, watching as his second in command smirk at him. Prowl leaned back in his chair casually. He was amused beyond all belief at the fact that Optimus was slowly building up to a point where he would explode. When, Prowl didn't know. But he did know that it would be spectacular and he only hoped that he would be around to witness it.

"Mr. President. How may I help you," he asked politely, counting to twenty in Cybertronian, English, and two other languages. He then decided to screw that (he'd have to count to infinity) when the man finally spoke.

"Tell your men to stand down or I will have the Air Force shoot them all from the sky!"

Optimus stared up at the sky in disbelief. He'd had long ago given up on making the man see any kind of sense, but this was a new level of stupidity. How dare he-

"Prime, there's ten other jets up here! What do you want us to do?!" Silverbolt's voice burst over the com line, full of panic. There was no possible way that five aerialbots would be able to take on ten jets, engage Starscream and who-knew-how-many land based decepticons, and protect the shuttle, all at the same time.

"Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage."

"…yes, sir." Silverbolt and his men turned away, tailing the shuttle at a distance. Starscream, however, was cackling as he let loose another volley of lasers.

"Mr. President, I am trying to remain calm right now. That shuttle is full of Neutrals and you are not allowing us to follow our laws and protect them!" His voice had risen almost to a roar by the end of the sentence. There was a squawking noise from the other end of the phone before the man on the other end exploded.

"I will not stand for this any more! Have the shuttle land now or it will be shot down."

Optimus all but growled as he relayed the information to Defensor, who immediately began descending. Starscream followed closely. Silverbolt and his men followed, too. The entire congregation was tailed by a squadron of 15 assorted jets, all being commanded by a familiar man – Air Commander Reginald Anderson. Silverbolt, in desperation, opened a link to the man.

"Commander Anderson?"

"Who is this," the man asked, startled out of his wits. Wait a tic, he knew that voice! "Is that you, Commander Silverbolt?"

"Yes, sir, please try and talk some sense into your President! Starscream is going to shoot the shuttle down!"

"Commander, I can't do anything about it. I'm under direct orders to shoot you down if you engage in any type of fighting," he said quietly, sighing. He really respected the fellow commander – they'd both seen too many battles to count, they'd both been to Hell and back, and they'd both lost too many loved ones.

"Please, there are younglings on board," Silverbolt said weakly, in a last ditch attempt.

"What's on board?"

"…there are children on board"

Air Commander Anderson nearly stopped breathing when Silverbolt's normally majestic voice had gone from commanding and powerful to broken and soft. Anderson decided that it was high time to retire – besides, he'd already gotten his pension paid and he was overdue for his vacation in Hawaii.

"This is Air Commander Reginald Anderson to all units. You are not to shoot at the five aerialbots or the shuttle. If Starscream, the F-22 releases another volley of shots, you are to shoot him and only him. Am I understood?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Roger that, sir." Ten voices rang out over the comm.. Seven of those pilots, including Anderson, had been there when Silverbolt had showed up and saved their skins. They all owed the jets their lives – and they were not going to shoot down their saviors. Starscream let loose another round of laser fire and was surprised as fifteen jets suddenly accelerated at him. Anderson was on Starscream again and he opened a direct line to Starscream (he'd learned some pretty nifty things from some of the liaisons).

"Well hello there, Starscream, you remember me?"

Prime watched in fascination as all fifteen fighters tore after Starscream. His last volley of laser fire had been interrupted. Then he smiled as Silverbolt sent two of his men to escort the shuttle. Two of the human jets broke away as well, determined to keep them safe. Four land based decepticons sprang out from their camouflaged areas and began shooting wildly at the shuttle and its escort. The two human jets immediately responded, letting loose their own shots. Prime felt a bubble of pride rise up in his chest as the humans valiantly defended the shuttle. The land bound mechs retreated and disappeared.

"This is not happening you are overstepping your bounds! You'd do well to remember that I'm the one that decides whether or not you stay and it's looking pretty grim now!" The President was hysterical.

Finally, Starscream was driven away and the shuttle landed. The other jets landed around the shuttle at random intervals. The shuttle's belly distended and lowered to the ground, creating a stairway for whoever it was within. Defensor stepped out of the ship, his black paint gleaming in the sunlight. He said something softly to Silverbolt, placing a hand on his shoulder. Silverbolt shook his head and motioned down to the man by his leg. Air Commander Anderson had never been so shocked before in his life. He knew that the aliens were big, but nothing could have prepared him for a thirty foot tall mech to kneel beside him.

"Commander Anderson, I and my charges owe you our lives. For that, we will be forever in your debt. You had no need to disobey your orders, yet you did so to protect us. Your acts of kindness will not be forgotten," Defensor said. A small green youngling clambered out of the ship and ran up to Defensor, clicking and squeaking.

"Is…is that a baby robot?" Anderson asked. The green creature squeaked suddenly and shyly buried its face in Defensor's leg. He chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, these are our little ones. I can't begin to thank you enough for protecting them," Defensor said, gathering the green youngling in his arms and standing.

"You're welcome…ah…I never got your name."

"My name is Defensor."

"You're welcome, and if you need anything, just let us know," Anderson said, motioning to himself and his crew. Elizabeth, his second in command was currently 'aww'ing over the little bundle of green. It seemed that no matter what the species was, big eyes and a cute face won females over. Defensor only smiled and bid them goodbye.

One of the mechs had the sick sparkling in his arms.

"Take her to the base. We'll bring the supplies in later," Defensor said.

Curious optics followed the congregation of Neutral mechs. Most of the mechs stared because not many of them had thought that any Neutrals survived, much less a Neutral sparkling. The lead mech was carrying a tiny orange bundle…which wasn't moving. The small group was being led by Red Alert, who was about to fritz. There was too much to deal with – ex-decepticons living on the base, a group of unknown, unmarked, and unpredictable mechs, a set of sparklings, and the President. His computing center was just about to fizzle out…again.

He led the small group into the medical bay, where Ratchet was waiting. Chromia, Elita, and Nightshade were in there, also. Technically, they weren't supposed to be in there, but Ratchet had specifically asked for the femmes to be present while he worked on the little one. It was well known that all femmes shared a weak bond between one another. Femmes also shared a weak bond with all sparklings in general. In fact, sparklings depended on their bond with femmes – it was critical for their health.

Ratchet was correct in bringing the femmes in. Within minutes, the sparkling was online and clicking excitedly up at the females, waving her tiny hands up at them. The only thing that'd been wrong with the little one was that she hadn't had any female contact in years and it'd been hurting the little one. Nightshade was completely absorbed in the tiny bundle on the table and she slowly reached her hand out. The little one took her hand and started squeaking, begging to be held closely. Nightshade's face turned into one of pure awe as the little one began squeezing her fingers.

"Pick her up," Chromia suggested quietly, a small smile on her face. Nightshade looked up to the mech that had brought the sparkling in for permission. He nodded, curious to see the interaction between the femme and little one. Nightshade gently scooped up the sparkling into her arms. Chromia reached over and helped Nightshade adjust the little one in her arms. The sparkling squeaked and shuttered its optics, yawning softly. She turned and nestled into Nightshade's chassis, lulled into recharge by the femme's pump beat. Nightshade was completely enraptured by the tiny sparkling in her arms.

Elita then noticed the look on Ratchet's face (he'd been thinking something along the lines of "Take it away from her before she decides she wants one".) and smirked.

"Oh, Nightshade, you look so natural with a little one in your arms," Elita cooed softly, sitting beside her and stroking the sparkling's little arm. The look that crossed Ratchet's face did not go unnoticed by either Chromia or Elita, who both shot him smirks. Well, if their mates wouldn't give them sparklings…

"Her name is Ember," the mech added helpfully. Ember balled up her little hand and stuffed it in her mouth, making a soft noise while she curled up even tighter into Nightshade's chassis. Nightshade only leaned against the wall, smiling dreamily down at the bundle in her arms.

He watched on as Nightshade cradled the little on in her arms. Well, this was an interesting development. He honestly hadn't meant the shuttle any harm, but once he realized that Starscream intended on killing one inside, he'd managed to throw Starscream's targeting systems off. Meaning, that Starscream could not aim properly. What the Autobots and humans didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

He sighed tiredly and went back to sleep. His work was draining him.

Two hours later, Ratchet had finished talking with the mech that'd brought Ember in. He looked over at Nightshade, who was recharging away. She was leaning against the wall, the sparkling lying across her chassis. Ember clicked sleepily a few times and snuggled

into Nightshade's arms, burying her tiny face into the armor below her. The mech who'd brought Ember in (who was named Sirius) approached Nightshade slowly, wanting to take Ember back. He reached for Ember and had almost dislodged the sparkling when he suddenly found himself on his aft, staring down the barrel of a hand held plasma gun. He almost lubricated on himself when it began to whine and charge.

Ember was clutched protectively against Nightshade's chassis. Ember started clicking angrily, having been roused from her recharge far too early. Ratchet just stared. Where the slag did she get a weapon from? Elita jolted out of her recharge (she'd been sitting in a separate corner with the other sparkling). She almost burst into laughter at the look of pure terror on Sirius's face.

"Nightshade, calm down. He's not going to hurt Ember," Elita said softly, toward the femme. Nightshade blinked and shook her head. What had just happened?

Ember's squeals were starting to turn into wails and Nightshade hurriedly began to click to the bundle in her arms. Ember eventually quieted down and sat in Nightshade's lap. She curiously watched the scene unfold with big amber optics, with her hand in her mouth, as Ratchet helped the shaken mech stand from his spot on the floor.

"And that is exactly why you don't try and take a sparkling from a femme," Ratchet quipped, smirking at Sirius.

"At least I won't have to deal with a femme that intends on getting pregnant," Sirius hissed back.

Starscream smirked as the decepticons on the ground below him relayed their information. Good. They had succeeded in their mission. Distract the autobots, get the access codes, and infiltrate the base. Good thing they had drones left over from experiments.

He accessed the first drone, which was hiding in the ceiling, jumbled amongst the pipes. The drone beeped once to acknowledge Starscream's presence. The drone then began to do what was in its programming. The drone peeled one of the pipes open, revealing a jumbled mass of wires. Selecting one specific wire, the drone wrapped a cable around it, beeping once more as the connection uploaded. The drone then went offline as one of the decepticons back on base hacked the system.

Starscream actually grinned when they went through the personnel files – they had at least twenty femmes! He stored this tidbit of information away and went after three very specific files – Chromia, Elita, and Nightshade. He smirked as he realized that the last femme was bonded…to the medical terror known as Ratchet. His plan would definitely work now. He then began typing up a short message classified as a "top secret" mission. Then he smirked as he then encrypted the message, authenticating it with Prime's own identification number sequence.

Elita and Chromia met up outside of the base and nodded to one another subtly, taking their weapons out. They plunged into the forest. When Nightshade showed up, they knew something was wrong. Very wrong. Nightshade was not built for any kind of spying or reconnaissance mission. Plus, she was loud.

"Elita, what's going on? Why am I meeting you guys here?"

"We need to get back to the base now," Chromia snapped, leading the two femmes back the way they came. Elita sent an SOS out on every available radio frequency. Her signal was blocked, the radio waves bouncing back at her.

"Shock Wave," she hissed, pulling her weapon out. Nightshade was given a small, hand held gun and told to shoot anything that had a decepticon insignia, and to keep shooting until it was dead. Nightshade gulped in terror and the femmes gathered in a circle, their backs together. The bushes parted on one side of the clearing. Nightshade took aim and let off a round, shooting the mech effectively through the shoulder.

"DECEPTICONS ATTACK!"

The femmes scattered as Shock Wave leapt into the fray, his eye seeking out the femmes. Chromia and Elita both sent up jamming signals to mask their sparks. They realized too late that Nightshade had no defense of any kind, except for her speed. Shock Wave leapt at the small femme.

"Mission: Capture femme." His cold mechanical voice had all three femmes freezing. Nightshade rolled, barely able to dodge each one of his attacks. Chromia and Elita grabbed Nightshade's arms and they took off into the forest, back toward the base. If they could just get out of range of Shock Wave's jamming signal they would be able to send out an SOS, Silverbolt and his men would show up and kick Starscream's aft….

The femmes sent out one distress message after another, on every single radio frequency they could. Shock Wave's cold voice suddenly went silent. Chromia went down as a second mech jumped out of nowhere and grabbed her. She shrieked and began kicking and screaming.

"GO," Chromia bellowed, trying to free herself. Elita and Nightshade hesitated for a split second but kept going.

Ironhide yelled and clutched at his chest, the sudden ice-cold terror stabbing through his spark. Then their bond went silent. The entire base heard Ironhide's roar of rage as he shot out of his room, cannons blazing.

"What's the matter, Ironhide, what's going on?!"

"LET ME GO! CHROMIA IS IN TROUBLE!"

"Where is she," Optimus asked. He hadn't felt anything from Elita. The fact that she had thrown up a spark masking signature meant that he couldn't feel anything but her presence. Then Optimus realized that something was very wrong – he couldn't feel anything BUT her presence.

"Where is Nightshade," Ratchet said, having tracked down Ironhide and his bellows of rage and pain. Ratchet was no different, except his rage was bubbling up inside of him. Nightshade's half of the bond was filled with pure terror. It was pure agony for him not to be able to get to her and kill whatever was scaring her.

Nightshade was running, continuing her broadcasting of SOS messages. Elita had been taken a few minutes ago, but not quietly. Elita had managed to shoot one of her attackers in the interface unit before she was silenced with a blow to the back of the head.

Nightshade was hopelessly lost. She was a dancer, not a fighter! She didn't have an alternate mode, she didn't have GPS, and she didn't have a weapon – Ratchet had confiscated the gun she had gotten from Chromia! (Chromia was to blame for everything, she mused.) Nightshade, to put in a nutshell, was completely fragged. Then, as she passed a radio tower, an idea hit her.

She immediately wrapped a wire from her wrist around the tower, using the tower to amplify her message. With any luck, the autobot base would pick up the frequency.

The autobot base did pick up the SOS frequency. However, the radio tower was broadcasting to eight different satellites, which were connected to terminals all over the world. Television programs were interrupted, cell phone calls were dropped, and internet connections were jammed. In New York Times Square, the giant LCD screen on display went blue for a second, and then rows and rows of Cybertronian letters and numbers flashed across the screen. Then came Nightshade's terrified voice.

"If anyone is getting this message, we need help! I'm two miles north of the autobot base of operations in California, my teammates have been taken and I need help! The decepticons are jamming our spark and radio signals!" Then she broadcast images of what was around her, including a rough star chart. Then she sent out pictures of Shock Wave and Starscream, and a pair of dark pictures of the two mechs that had taken Elita and Chromia.

"I don't have much time left before this message is interrupted but please send this message to the autobot base of operations-"

The message fizzled and went out. This left a few hundred million people in shock and confusion.

: O

Oh no, what happens next?? The Prez is gonna be pissed. :P

Ya see what I mean by lame? That was the only idea I could think of to get the femmes out of the base…other than a fight, but that was a little far fetched – why would Starscream risk having the last 10 or so decepticons killed just to get the three chickas.

Well, there was a third idea but that involved saran wrap and duct tape…