And so we have it you'll all get to find out a little more about our main character.
I have to say, I was a little undecided about this chapter and whether or not to go with an actual flashback or as what I ended up doing, having Optimus tell it. Ended up doing it this way, not wishing to go too much into detail as a flashback would need. Maybe that's a story for another time ;)
Note: chapter has been edited as of 30/11/14

Chapter 4

All eyes and optics were staring up at Optimus Prime expectantly. He was slightly amused by their looks of surprise when he mentioned that he had met Violetwind before. Everyone seemed to shocked into silence, all except Miko.

The young girl looked up at him with her hands on her hips, "You gonna dish on what you know and how you met her?"

The red and blue Autobot leader had no plans of keeping it from them. He had in face been expecting them to ask. Hiding a smile he replied, "If you are willing to listen, I shall recount to you our meeting. But first, I shall share of what I know of her past, leading up to our initial encounter.

"Before the war Violetwind was a scientist back in Crystal city, Though perhaps an engineer would be more fitting. Most of her time was spend conducting unprofitable, repetitive experiments, things that served no true purpose. She found these studies tedious and of no value, desiring more from her work. Our visitor wished to do more in the fields of creating new tools. Tools that would help out the other scientists to go their jobs better."

"Boring!" Miko interrupted, "When do we get to the good stuff,".

"Miko!" snapped Jack, willing her to be quiet.

"Go on, Optimus," encouraged Rafael, ignoring his friend's rudeness.

Taking the floor once more he continued, though doing his best to keep it to the necessary details. "When the stirrings of unrest about Cyberton's caste system flooded through the populous, Violetwind was swept up along with it. Like most, she was caught up in the smooth words of the gladiator calling out for change."

The Prime paused for a moment as he reflected on the time of which he spoke. It was a time when he, like so many others, wanted change in the High Council and their inadequate caste system believing, as the people did, in the outspoken gladiator. One whom he had once thought of as a brother...

"As you know, the gladiator, Megatronus, gathered many to his side with his promise of bringing equality to the Cybertronian population."

"Megatron..." Jack muttered, recalling what they had been been told of Cybertron's past.

Optimus nodded. "Violetwind explained to me how his words had instilled hope in her. He promised freedom and change, making so many believe in him. Then, when the war began, she joined with the Decepticons."

"What?! You mean she's a 'Con and we let her in here!" Miko burst out, waving her arms.

"Hey, she's no 'Con! I'd swear my spark on that!" Smokescreen glared at the human girl. The purple femme he rescued acted like no Decepticon.

"Yeah, well that's probably just cause you're just a... a lovesick puppy! Taken in by her sweet act!" Miko yelled at him.

"Why you!-"

"Stop. There will be no more slandering of anyone," Optimus' deep commanding voice broke into the argument. H rested a hand on Smokescreen, giving each of them a hard look.

"Yes, sir..." The mech dropped his gaze.

"Yes, Optimus..." Miko grumbled, not looking up at him.

"Very well. Before you judge any further, may I finish the story you desired to hear?"

Both nodded silently.

"Violetwind initially joined up with the Decepticons. There she served as a weapon scientist under Shockwave, Megatron's head scientist. She served with vigour, truly believing she was helping fight for a better Cybertron but as a scientist she was not directly involved in any of the conflict going on around the planet. It stands to reason, she was not well aware of the true conditions of the war. Megatron thought it best none of his scientists except Shockwave know the truth. Even then, I do wonder how much he actually knew of all his head scientist's endeavours. Shockwave had little ethics or morality, although, in that regard perhaps, Megatron was not so different.

"Violetwind spoke of Shockwave's increasingly sadistic experiments. Some of the things she witnessed she could not fully tell me about as they were too horrible for her to re-live. She began to question if they were going about creating change in the right way. This in itself may have been dangerous had she not learnt of Megatron's true nature and she made the decision to leave the Decepticon cause. This she accomplished with no ease. With great bravery she escaped from the secret laboratories hidden deep within Decepticon territory, having to fight her way out and not before she had left them a parting gift. One I am sure Shockwave did not appreciate as he lost half of his laboratory due to it."

"Go, Vi!" Miko received a few glares for interrupting again. Rolling her eyes she waved her hand dismissively, "Go on."

"Once leaving, Violetwind travelled alone and in secret, continuing to make her way to Iacon. To the Autobots. To hope." The Prime's tone saddened, "Unfortunately, when she did enter Autobot territory, it did not get any easier for her. The Decepticon symbols on her shoulders marked her as a hostile, the Autobot troops not taking her presence well. It was war. And at the time we could not risk even one Decepticon infiltrating our ranks. Energon supplies were dwindling and unfortunately she had chosen to try and enter close to one of the few energon springs we still held.

"The fight was brief, Violetwind wishing to surrender herself to the Autobots stationed there. Naturally they were wary and did not trust her, even if she didn't fight back. But the femme was adamant and one Autobot, named Jazz. He was my old friend. He alone wished to trust her after her explanation of how she got there and how she wished to defect. Jazz believed that she should be given a chance. The others were not as convinced and wanted to bring her back as a prisoner. Yet, some others disagreed, believing she should be terminated. They had already judged her without knowing her."

Optimus glanced down at Miko. "Ok, ok, I think I know what you're getting at. Don't judge before getting to know someone."

Although he did not care for her tone, he nodded and continued. "I clearly remember when Jazz called in about the dilemma. Through the comm link I could easily hear her in the background. She was giving the soldiers a good tongue lashing about the ideals the Autobots proclaimed to have, and how not giving her a chance meant they were being just like the very Decepticons they were fighting against."

The mech allowed a small smile to play on his lips as he remembered his old friend. "I shall never forget what Jazz said to me with his smooth accent, which I cannot replicate. 'OP,' he said, 'she is a real live one. She sure seems to be giving them mechs all spark attacks just from her fierceness. I think we could use her if she's genuine. She could win the war on her own.'

"Of course, I was not confident in bringing someone like her into our ranks but I could see no real reason why she should not be given a chance. And, I allowed Jazz to bring her to our capital. Once she arrived I allowed her to be brought to me. I wished to meet this femme who was causing so much trouble for my soldiers. Due to the others distrust of her she was brought in in cuffs, which I could tell displeased her. Even so she strode forward with confidence, Jazz walking beside her. At the door were some of the Autobot soldiers that brought her in, all curious to know what was to become of her. Wishing for some privacy, I dismissed them with a 'back to your duties' command and a hard glare, ordering the door to be closed. Jazz stayed behind, though, leaning casually against a wall.

"Before me stood Violetwind, determination set on her face. Before I could finish collecting my thoughts to speak, she boldly began, 'Optimus Prime. So I have made it to the presence of the famous Prime... Are you like your slagging mechs, judging me for the symbol that resides on my armour? I am not proud of some of my actions during this war as I realised the truth. But I am here now wishing to make a change. Though you may not be the side which appears to be winning, yours, is the one I want to fight for, Optimus Prime. I believe yours is the one who truly wants freedom. I no longer believe in Megatron and his ability to bring about the change we need. His "freedom through tyranny," is not something I wish to be a part of. I want to become one of your Autobots. If you cannot permit me to join your ranks than I request that you keep me prisoner. I can only imagine I'm wanted dead by the Cons after what I've done. Though, whatever you decide to do with me, I'm willing to share whatever knowledge about the Decepticons I have.'

"After she was done, the silence grew to be like a heavy weight, pressing around the three of us. Not one of us moved a servo. Finally Jazz spoke, moving up to stand beside Violetwind as he did so, 'I don't know about you but she has got my vote.' I admit it brought a smile to my face and I agreed with him. We removed her restraint and accepted her to our side, assigning her a spot under Jazz with his squad.

"Naturally some of my council did not approve but unlike them, I had seen the determination in her optics and was not about to deny her a chance to fix what she believed she needed set right. So from then on Violetwind trained under Jazz, which was less practice and more on the job training as they fought Decepticons. There was not much time to set aside for anything, other than fighting, during the war. We were outnumbered and out gunned meaning nobody had the time to even get much rest. It was a good thing she was a fast learner, picking up fighting techniques of those she fought alongside and sometimes even those she fought against. Unfortunately in the optics of some she would remain a Decepticon..."

"You mean those Bots still didn't trust her after all she went through?! Even as she fought with them!" cried out Miko.

"So you like her now?," commented Jack, looking over at the girl with a raised eyebrow.

"She's got spirit, so yeah,. I am allowed to do that, right?" replied the younger teenager.

Optimus looked down at the young human who seemed to have reversed her opinion of their newcomer. "Yes, Miko. And, yes, most did not trust her story. If they could not trust her story, then in their optics she must not be be genuine. They considered her to be a spy and as such alienated her."

"Well, that's not fair!" whined the girl.

"You are correct. It is not, but it was, how it was. It would not have been the first time the Decepticons had tried to sneak spies into our ranks, although they did not usually do so as she did, still carrying their insignias and declaring a change of allegiance." Optimus replied before continuing his story.

"Quite some time passed from the day I first met her until our paths crossed again. Jazz's team had been on a particularly difficult mission, scouting one of the energon springs we were hoping to reclaim. When they returned they were badly damaged. Decepticons had spotted them and quickly overwhelmed the small group.

"After they had received medical treatment from our own Ratchet, Jazz came to report to me. Bringing Violetwind with him, he proclaimed how vital she had been. He earnestly praised her quick thinking which saved the entire team. I could see that she was embarrassed by the praise. Even so, Jazz still proudly boasted of how she had taken on the Decepticon warriors mostly on her own after the others were beaten down and forced to cover, with hardly any chance to retaliate. Violetwind had snuck around and taken them on in hand to hand combat, giving enough of a distraction for the rest of her team to break cover and defeat the Decepticons.

"The femme tried to brush it off as something that anyone else would have done in her position. Still I commended her on her bravery and helping bring those Autobots back alive, which was always a victory for us. I also personally thanked her for helping bring back my old friend. Jazz was especially glad for this too.

"Even after this, however, Violetwind did not receive any gratitude or acceptance from other Autobots. They were still convinced she was untrustworthy, a spy for the Decepticons, perhaps even the very reason that group were spotted. This served to destroy her confidence in herself, as well as in what she was fighting for.

"I came across her again one day as she was relieving some stress with the walls, she was not winning. I went over to speak with her but she tried to hide what was troubling her. Though it did not do her any good. Eventually I coaxed her into confiding in me. I guess I should have know just how much the other Autobots distrust of her was upsetting her. I remember her shouting in frustration. 'What do I have to do to earn their respect!' Speaking with her I came up with a solution. Though it would not change others opinions of her it would give her a better group to fight in. One where they would be less likely to judge.

"Before I was able to do that however, I needed to make sure that it would work and so called in another friend of mine, Elita One. She was one of my commanding officers, leading a team of female Autobots. Elita One was surprised when I sent word for her to come and see me..."

The Prime paused, momentarily lost in his thoughts of the past. Mentioning her name had caused a pain in his spark, a myriad of emotions returning to the surface. It has been so long...

"Optimus?" Rafael broke in after a minute of silence, concerned about the leader.

"Are you all right there?" asked Jack.

Blinking a few times Optimus came back to reality. "Yes. Yes, I am fine. I apologise for that. Let me continue...

"Elita One arrived and immediately came to see me. After a brief reunion I explained the situation to her. At first she was hesitant but agreed to meet Violetwind before she decided. There was nothing to be worried about. The two hit it off as soon as they were finished their introductions, chatting away like old friends. It pleased me to see her fitting in and it was decided that Violetwind would join Elita One's squad. When the pair left it was the last time I saw the her. From then on she fought with those she could trust and that trusted her.

"I had not heard from her personally again after that, only hearing from Elita One before our exodus from Cybertron. She told me Violetwind had adjusted well to her new team. They were to head off world together, finding somewhere to settle until we could return. I had not heard from them since leaving Cybertron, nor was I aware of their location. As such, I do not know why she may have arrived on this planet alone."

The Prime looked toward the medical bay, hoping that when she awoke, the newcomer might be able to supply them with some answers...

I hope you liked this chapter. I took a lot of inspiration from the Transformers: Exodus book and, the Transformers War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron games (you sick sick robot Shockwave).