Intermission 4

Unknown Soldier

"How do I simplify, dislocate, the enemy's on the way"

"Present arms!"

He remembered when he was just a soldier, given that order when they underwent inspection by their superiors. Back when he just another pair of servos and just another rifle. He's more than that now, though and he almost wished he wasn't. His obscurity had turned into being the symbol of some mechs' hopes and dreams and prayers to Primus that may never be answered. He understood why Primes always had such sturdy forms. The weight of the world was a heavy burden to carry.

He sunk further down on his shocks as if the weight became real and physical for a moment and rolled further back into his corner of the main hanger. It wouldn't hide him from the prying eyes and optics he felt nor would it deafen him the prayers he could halfway hear. It was simply dark and gave the illusion of being secluded and it fit his current dark mood perfectly. All his moods seemed dark as of late. Jazz had ben his last shining star and now that he was gone the Prime found himself slipping faster than ever. The thought just made his spark ache all the more where his brother should have been. Still, after millennia of war he couldn't believe they had managed to fall so far.

He had a job and a duty to do and, as far as he was concerned, it was to lift every single one of them back up. And it started with helping Major Lennox debrief General Morshower. Will Lennox stood on the catwalk the humans used to communicate with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, back straight and legs shoulder width apart. He was a soldier who took pride in what he did and that was something Optimus could respect. "General?" he asked when he was informed that the link was up.

"Will, I saw the Shanghai op." The voice was tinny, but Prime easily recognized Morshower. They had only met once, but the mech got the sense that the human was trustworthy, at least.

"We had a rough day out there," Epps murmured from beside the Autobot leader. He preferred to be out of sight of the cameras. As he always said, he wasn't exactly pg-13.

"Yes sir. We have intel that I believe warrants an immediate debrief. Now, with your permission, I can't let you see him, but I would like you to hear from the leader of the Autobots." On screen, the General nodded, "Proceed."

Optimus took it as his cue to transform. Slowly, he stood tall, back wheels spinning to a stop with the squeal of air brakes and out of sight of the camera. Standing beside his pedes, Epps turned to the new liaison Galloway, awe still in his voice even after seeing the transformation so many times, "You got to wonder, if God made us in his image, who made him?"

The quiet question almost brought a smile to his face. It brought him back to the early days, when he was just a clerk and again when he was made Prime and got a crash course in everything in between the battles. Primus made me and mine in his image just as your God made you. Perhaps they are related, as everything seems to be in the grand scheme of things now. He drew his attention from his past and the theology he was taught back to the present matter at servo. "General, our alliance has countermanded six Decepticon incursions this year, each on a different continent. They're clearly searching for something. But last night's encounter came with a warning." He paused, pulling up the memory files and the recording he had made of Demolisher. "The Fallen shall rise again."

"The Fallen. Meaning what?"

It rang a distant bell in his processor, something he had been told once, long ago, but, "Origin unknown. The only history of our race was contained within the All Spark and lost with its destruction."

"Excuse me!" Prime hadn't properly met the man but he sounded pompous. "With the destruction of this so-called All Spark," and still he dared to completely disrespect everything these metal giants knew, "why hasn't the enemy left the planet like you thought they would?" Again, that pompous disrespect like he had figured out something that everyone else around him was too stupid to see.

"Director Galloway, our National Security Advisor. The President just appointed him liaison," Lennox trailed off and mouthed 'To what?' because Lennox couldn't see why they needed a liaison. They had spent the last two years working as a secret in the military and answered to no one but the White House. Why give them a chaperon now?

Morshower sounded bored and irritated when he said, "Guess I didn't get that memo."

Galloway began to move up the crowded steps to the even more crowded catwalk so he could speak directly to the man on screen. The soldiers all seemed to agree that he didn't deserve an easy time of it. "Forgive the interruption, General. Excuse me. Coming through. Excuse me soldier," He stopped to straighten his suit again before speaking. "After the damage in Shanghai, the President is hard pressed to say the job's getting done. Now, under the classified Alien/Autobot Cooperation Act, you agreed to share your intel with us, but not your advancements in weaponry." He paced as he spoke, moving from the camera to Prime and back, raising his voice to an almost shout.

"We have witnessed your human capacity for war. It would absolutely bring more harm than good." He didn't know why he felt the need to defend himself from this annoying little man.

"But who are you to judge what's best for us?"

"With all due respect, we've been fighting side by side in the field for two years." Lennox felt the same sense of camaraderie that they all did after having his ass saved by them so many times.

"We've shed blood, sweat and precious metal together." Epps patted Prime's leg in silent remembrance and reassurance. Those soldiers outside still had not gotten the send off that heroes like them deserve.

"Soldier, you're paid to shoot, not talk."

"Don't tempt me," Epps muttered. While Optimus himself was tempted he turned slightly and held up a calming hand. "Easy," he muttered back.

"And the newest members of your team, I understand they arrived here after you sent a message into space, an open invitation to come to Earth, vetted by no one at the white house."

Morshower leaned forward on the screen, incensed at the implication that his operation wasn't good enough. "Let me stop you right there, Mr. Galloway. It was vetted right here. And in my experience, the judgment of Lennox and his team has always been above reproach."

Galloway paced back to the camera, a look in his eyes that said that he would like nothing better than to take NEST apart. A look that said he would as soon as he could. "Be that as it may, General, it is the position of the President that when it comes to our nation's security… No one is above reproach." He glared again before spinning on his heel and walking back towards the railing, still talking, "Now, what do we know so far? We know that the enemy leader, classified NBE-One, aka Megatron, is rusting in peace at the bottom of the Laurentian abyss, surrounded by SOSUS detection nets and full-time submarine surveillance. We also know that the only remaining piece of your alien All Spark is locked in an electromagnetic vault here, on one of the most secure naval bases in the world. And since no one can seem to tell me what the enemy is after, well, there's only one clear conclusion. You! The Autobots! They're here to hunt you! The fallen shall rise again? Sounds to me like something's coming," He really was shouting by then, leaning over the railing and as close to getting in a forty-foot-tall robot's face as he could get. He paused and leaned back, breathing and saying and a slightly calmer tone, "So, let me ask, if we ultimately decide that our national security is best served by denying your further asylum on our planet, will you leave? Peacefully?"

Optimus wanted to sigh. A simple answer to a loaded question. He felt like he was back in the political arena. He wasn't there long, but it did leave a mark on him. A diplomatic one. "Freedom is your right. If you make that request, we will honor it. But," he said as a satisfied Galloway began to turn to start his incessant pacing, "before your President decides, please ask him this: What if we leave… and you're wrong?"

The Director backed up and stared, wide-eyed as if the notion was just too much for him. Lennox just leaned over and said, "That's a good question."

As he took a step back from the railing, Prime watched the little human and thought, one I sincerely hope we never find an answer to.

0o0

Optimus had not lied to the new liaison earlier, but he hadn't told the whole truth. He may not have been in politics long, but he had very quickly learned to play it close to the chassis. He was not stupid, nor as blind as some may think. He very well knew what Galloway was doing; undermining them slowly. Just because it wasn't graceful or subtle didn't mean that it wouldn't work on the President.

The Presidential order for NEST's deactivation was likely coming soon and he intended to do everything his power to stop it before it comes.

Optimus had hoped it would not come to this.

He would have to ask Samuel a favor. And inform him of some things Optimus would rather not mention.

Primus give him strength.