Chapter 2: Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Colony Outpost: Gallimimus, Quadrant 12
"Sector Sweep 12C, Base, do you copy?" The young woman lounging at the battered desk yelped as her com unit crackled to life. Flailing her arms to keep from toppling over, she slapped at the button on the outdated piece of equipment.
"Outpost Gallimimus responding. Sector Sweep 12C, what is your status?" She yawned.
"Alert and awake, Ensign, unlike some," the caller sounded amused.
Ensign Marge O'Connor flushed clear to the roots of her shaggy hair. "Sorry about that, Captain. We don't see much action out here, see, and a gal gets mighty weary..."
"Spare me the dramatics, O'Connor. We're heading in from a survey, and in need of decontamination."
Marge winced. Their detox chamber was...old at best. "Roger that, Sector Sweep," she sighed, "What's your ETA?"
"Approximately one hour." Captain C_R42, known to humans as Centurion, replied.
"One hour. Noted. What are your coordinates?" O'Connor booted an old laptop into life and entered the answer into the tracking system.
"Looks like there's some kind of particle storm headed your way," she remarked, "I'd pick up the pace if I were you."
The com was silent for a moment or two, then the captain answered, "Duly noted. Continue to track our progress in case of incidents," his voice softened, "Don't worry, Maggie. I'll bring everyone home safe."
"Ach déan cinnte "gach duine" folaíonn tú, daidí!" the woman muttered rebelliously. ("Just make sure "everyone" includes you!")
The captain did not reply, and the com unit flickered off.
"If you keep sassing superior officers, you're gonna be stuck out here until doom cracks!"
The harsh voice was not a surprise to the ensign. She aimed a good-natured kick at the old generator in the corner.
It huffed in irritation, and with a grinding and whirring of gears and sliding metal, it transformed into a bipedal creature about seven feet tall. She braced her servos behind her back and stretched, making a cracking noise.
"Oof!" Gigawatt made a face and brushed flakes of rust from her stocky arms. "Lord have mercy, something better happen soon, 'cause I'm just about rusted stiff."
Marge snorted and handed an oil can to Gigawatt. Painted on the side were the smiling faces of Dorothy, Toto, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. The Autobot was not amused.
"One of these days, kid, one of these days..." she warned.
Marge snorted. "You love me, admit it."
"Of course I do," Gigawatt cooed sarcastically, "Humans that look like sparklings don't freak me out at all, and I just want to pinch your little cheeks!"
The rusty old bot sent a jolt of electricity through the laptop, zapping the humans fingers. "Never was the maternal type." she laughed at Marge's irritation.
They bickered back and forth with increasing fervor until they were interrupted by the staccato pulse of the proximity sensors.
"Ohhh what the heck what the heck what the heck," Gigawatt muttered, sliding over to look at the monitor. "Sector Sweep 12C, what is your ETA?" she barked, nearly knocking the com over with the force of her shout. O'Connor winced. The laser tripwires were buzzing dully in the early warning zone, 100 kilometers from Outpost Gallimimus.
"Forty minutes, give or take," it was a different voice than before. Gigawatt briefly registered that the speaker was Dean Inoue, one of the human team members. "You sound worried, Outpost Gallimimus," Dean observed, "is there a problem?"
Marge hummed an affirmative and stared intently at the screen. "We have a perimeter breach in the early warning zone."
O'Connor kicked off from the desk and sent her chair rolling to the other side of the dark and cluttered room. As she dug through shelves of disused gear, she filled Inoue in on the details.
"Two life forms, or maybe one really big one - you know how old scanners can be - crossed the laser lines about ten minutes ago. No faction tags detected."
A murmur of voices buzzed through the speakers, and Inoue handed the com off to the captain.
"Say again, Outpost Gallimimus, say again?"
Gigawatt scowled. "One or two large life forms, no faction tags, broke the perimeter eleven minutes ago. Nothing on the security came yet, I estimate thirteen minutes before they get here."
"Do you have enough energon for a ground bridge?" the captain asked. There wasn't supposed to be anything on this rock that hadn't come with their freighters. Whatever was headed for the base was an unknown entity, and that worried the captain.
"Energon? Centurion, are you out of your processor?!" Gigawatt scoffed, "I live on crude oil because we barely have enough energon to power the door locks! Only way we're getting out of here is on hover-sled."
o-O-o-O-o
Centurion pinched the bridge of his non-existent nose. Primus help him if he had to endure one more tirade about energon rationing...
o-O-o-O-o
"Shut down all functions save for life support, surveillance cameras, and defense systems. Don't leave the outpost, we're on our way. Maggie," Marge looked up at the sound of her name. "Maggie, for once, don't argue with Gigawatt. Stay inside. Sector Sweep out."
o-O-o-O-o
Centurion shut down his internal com with a grim expression on his faceplate.
"Captain?"
One of the Cybertronian members of Sector Sweep, a Vehicon femme, looked worried. "Is something wrong?"
The captain blew out a heavy exvent. "Endline, tell Inoue to take the others ahead to the base. Everyone needs to have at least one weapon handy, as well as their Ghost Specs."
Endline's crimson optics widened. "Do you think this has anything to do with the attacks in the Kaonian provinces?" she asked.
The older mech set his mouth in a tight line. "Let's not jump to any conclusions, Endline. We just don't want to take any chances, that's all. If you get there before me, tell my daughter not to worry, will you?"
He turned and began to scale the Mesa they'd trekked past.
"Sir?" Endline exclaimed in surprise, "Where are you going?"
The words drifted down as the mech climbed higher: "I'm going to call a Prime."
(Author's notes: whew! Longer than expected! Don't worry to anyone who bothered to read this, recognizable characters are coming. In retrospect, that prologue was creepy and I wish I'd rated it teen...I apologize for any nightmares.)