Aria's Promotion
….
It seemed like only minutes passed before her name was being called. She opened her eyes and blinked at the grey morning light. The door was open at her feet where Ironhide's holoform stood.
"Come, Aria. I have to return to the base." His voice had come from the truck, not the holoform that was beckoning her.
Slowly, she sat up. So it wasn't a dream. She had spent the night with him.
She put her pillow in her lap and scooted towards the open door. She took Ironhide's outstretched hand. In a quick movement, he scooped her up and held her close to his body. She put her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest. A familiar hum filled her ears.
He carried her inside and up the stairs. He placed her gently on the bed, arranging the blanket over her body and tucking it around her shoulders.
Her eyes kept closing so she had to force them back open again.
After tucking her in, he leaned down and rested his forehead on hers. He placed his hand over the shard in her chest and she was immediately filled with a warm, pleasant tingle.
He said something quietly…but she couldn't remember.
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
"Ugh."
Aria wrestled out of her blankets and pressed the button on the alarm. She rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes.
She took her time getting ready. The constant afternoon shifts were really spoiling her. Waking up at nine was always such a luxury.
By the time she arrived at the base, it was lunch break. Of the Autobots, Sideswipe, Jolt, the twins, and Sentinel were there.
Aria changed at went to grab her cart out of the janitor's closet. Just as she was about the unlock the door, someone called her name.
Aria turned to face nonother than Mearing and her assistant walking towards her. Oh no, what had she done now?
"Hi, Director," Aria greeted, keeping her voice as level as she could.
"Congratulations, Aria, you're getting promoted to research assistant," Mearing said in her business as usual tone. "The papers."
Her assistant held out a small stack of papers to Aria.
She took them. "Research assistant? To who?"
"Dr. Muchimba Kamati. Third floor, room 3718. All the information you need is on the paperwork."
Why did that name sound familiar? She'd heard it before…or rather wrote it as a reference. "As in Dr. Kamati, NASA's top Astrophysicist?"
Mearing practically rolled her eyes. "Just get up there and do whatever she tells you." When Aria didn't move, she added, "You're first shift started ten minutes ago."
"Oh my god, thank you!" Aria briskly walked over to the main elevator.
She had written at least five papers citing Dr. Kamiti's research on wormholes to further space exploration. She was one of the biggest names in Astrophysics, coming from Namibia with a degree in Engineering and Space Technology and finishing with a PhD in Astrophysics from Harvard.
When the elevator dinged and the doors opened to the third floor, Aria just stood there.
Was she still dreaming? Sure, Mearing probably knew her entire life history, but there must have been someone more qualified to be Dr. Kamati's research assistant.
It wasn't until the doors started closing that Aria grabbed them and rushed out. The hallway looked familiar. Was this the floor she'd been on when she originally snuck into the base? Who knew that she'd end up working there.
She stopped in front of the door. 3718 Dr. Kamati, the plate read. She held a fist up, and after a few seconds, finally knocked.
"Come in!" A voice yelled from behind the door in a thick accent.
Aria entered the room. It was a decent sized office with a couple of computers, monitors on the wall, and a table with one of Sentinel's pillars on it.
Dr. Kamati was standing next to it, clipboard in hand. She had dark skin and very short curly hair that was dyed ginger with black roots peeking out. Under her lab coat, she wore a black turtleneck dress with tights and low heels.
Aria approached cautiously and introduced herself.
Dr. Kamati shook her hand. "I'm sorry to have needed you on such short notice. My previous assistant did not have clearance for this assignment, so I needed a new one."
"You just started here?"
Dr. Kamati gave a curt nod. "I got a call in the middle of the night and was escorted here this morning. Tell me, you already know about the Cybertronians?"
"I do. For about a year now."
Dr. Kamati tisked. "I knew we had a branch assigned to a secret government agent, but aliens already capable of space travel and teleportation? That would have been nice to know for my research."
"Honestly, I thought NASA did know."
"Politics and science only see eye to eye when it's necessary. And the existence of these pillars make it very necessary. Now," she said, putting the clipboard down. "That is your computer. I hope you know how to run code."
"Yeah, I've done some modeling before."
"Good. Sit."
…
After hours of painstakingly strengthening old neural connections in her brain, she was done for the day. She had jinxed herself and was now back on a regular nine to five shift, but that hardly mattered, she was basically an astronomer for NASA! Working on top secret alien transport technology nonetheless!
She'd already called her parents during her break to tell them the news. She'd even messaged Eli for the first time in weeks—of course leaving out the classified information.
Congratulations on moving up in the world from janitor to assistant.
She let out a huff of laughter at the text as she walked through the hangar. Most of the Autobots were still gone, including Wheeljack who she had a list of questions for.
"Awe, come on, let me give you a ride home!"
Sideswipe was pestering Amber who was trying to walk past him.
"I told you, my husband is picking me up, Sideswipe. Go hit on someone else," Amber said and continued walking towards the exit.
He deflated but immediately perked up again when he locked eyes with Aria.
"Hey, hotshot, heard about your little promotion! Thought you'd at least come visit even if 'Hide's out."
"Sorry, Sideswipe. I wanted to, but my schedule was messed up today. Want to go get coffee? Maybe the others will be back by then."
"I like how you think, little lady!" Sideswipe transformed, the driver door swinging open.
"How come you never wanna hang wit us?" Skidz came over as she was getting in.
Mudflap punched him in the arm. "Cuz we ain't allowed to leave the base, idiot. 'Hide have our heads anyways."
"If you two would stop damaging human property, they'd let you out once in a while," Jolt said, approaching them.
Aria waved at them before Sideswipe closed his door.
The sun was low in the sky, painting the clouds vibrant orange. Sideswipe complained about Amber and this 'alleged' husband of hers he'd never seen. After almost half an hour, he finally dropped the subject and Aria had a chance to talk.
"So the Autobots are out patrolling or something?"
"Yeah. City wide search. Lennox and his team are checking out the building Sam was attacked in yesterday."
"Do you think they know where the base is?"
"Hard to say. And before you ask, 'Hide's been checking around your place. Not that they'll try anything now, if they don't already know we have Sentinel, they will soon."
"Brains said something like that too. That the Decepticons won't dare try anything with Sentinel around."
"Oh yeah, even Megatron knows not to cross him."
"Ironhide told me a little about him before."
"Those two go way back. Sentinel was the one who assigned me to train under Ironhide. Said next to Optimus, he was the strongest Autobot around. Bravest too. That makes me the third strongest Autobot."
"What about Bee?"
"He can be fourth."
She laughed. Bee would probably have something to say about that.
"Is he with Sam now?" she asked.
"Yeah. He's been Sam's guardian since he arrived on Earth."
"If you guys are so sure the Decepticons won't attack, why is he staying with him?"
"Precaution. Unlike you, Sam goes looking for trouble."
"He seems to live—" she paused, looking for the right word, "an exciting life."
Sideswipe chuckled at that one. "That's one way to put it."
They drove around for a while before stopping at a drive-through. Aria crossed her arms as the window rolled down and Sideswipe ordered for her.
He got quite the kick out of ordering, like it was something taboo for him to do. Well, it probably was, as it fell under the "interacting with civilians" clause of his contract. But it wasn't hurting anyone. The most that ever came from it was the confused face of the window attendant.
Sideswipe took the long way back to the base while Aria sipped on her iced coffee, gathering the courage to ask the question she'd been meaning to.
"You said you've known Ironhide for a long time."
"I have," he answered slowly.
"I heard a name in passing the other day and I was wondering…if you know an Autobot named Chromia."
Aria nearly spilled her drink as Sideswipe slammed on the brakes for a yellow light he would have normally run. "Was 'Hide seriously talking about Chromia?"
Well, that didn't go as smoothly as she'd hoped. "What? No. Not Ironhide. It was Ratchet—I think. I was just wondering who that was."
"Oh—Oh! Right, dumb of me to assume. Uh, yeah, I knew her. Tough little femme. Stayed back on Cybertron to help refugees."
"And her and Ironhide were…a thing?"
"A thing?" Sideswipe muttered to himself. "Oh like in a relationship, yeah they were. Kind of one sided if you ask me."
"Oh?"
"Chromia was pretty reckless. Went out on missions even when Optimus or Sentinel told her not to. Ironhide would always go after her so she wouldn't get herself offlined—killed, that is. But I think she did it on purpose. Like I said, Ironhide was one of our strongest, so when Chromia wanted something done, she'd do it knowing Ironhide would follow through even if she couldn't. Nearly got him killed once. Huge Decepticon with one of Soundwave's prototype guns."
"That's the one that gave him his scar."
"Figured you knew that, he loves to brag about it. He likes to take all the credit even though the only reason they lived was because Optimus and I made it in time for backup. Ironhide was just lucky getting in the last shot."
"Did Chromia stop after that?"
"I think she felt bad. He only just healed when we decided to leave Cybertron. That's when Chromia said she was staying. Me and the others thought it was another ploy to keep Ironhide there, but when he said he was going to stay with her, she told him no. She knew he'd do more good out here than back on the planet."
Sideswipe's story painted Chromia in a different light. She was noble, but recklessly so. Someone who wanted to win even if it meant playing dirty.
And playing dirty meant putting Ironhide's life at risk.
"The bots and I really appreciate what you've done for him. He used to be angry and bitter, and well, still is from time to time, but he's been a lot better thanks to you. I think even Lennox sees that, probably why he lets you two get away with so much."
She had always wanted to think that she did, but hearing it from Sideswipe gave her a sense of validation. All she wanted was for Ironhide to feel accepted. To show him how much more to Earth there was outside of the base. How much more there was to humans.
And she had, thanks to his holoform.
But the other Autobots weren't so fortunate.
"I just wish I could do more for all of you."
"What are you talking about, you're great! Hanging out with us all the time, joking around, singing. You know, you should try a little of your magic on Sentinel, he's having some difficulty adapting."
"To Earth, you mean, or to Mearing?"
"Taking commands isn't really something he's used to. You'd be helping out Amber. She says he doesn't care much for learning about your culture."
They were pulling up to the base now. "Maybe I'll start by introducing myself first."
"Yeah. Oh look, he's back. I'll go distract Optimus so you can talk to him."
"Okay." Aria got out of the Corvette. "And thank you, by the way."
"No problem, little lady."
Sideswipe transformed and approached Optimus. As he did, Aria scanned the hangar. Besides Optimus and Sentinel, no one else had returned. It was getting late too, the clocks read ten past seven.
It worked out well. Sentinel was standing near the bridge. She climbed the steps just as Sideswipe was leading Optimus away to tattle on something he saw the twins do.
Sentinel looked down at her when she came to a halt near his face. The bridge was set to be level with his chest.
"Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Aria Normandy, and I guess as of today I'm a research assistant. Actually, the things I'm researching are your pillars. It's amazing technology!"
Sentinel merely looked at her. Face impassive, not a flicker of emotion.
She didn't sound that stupid, did she?
"Um, anyway, I used to live on a little acreage out of town. It's surrounded by trees, so no one can really see in. Some of the other Autobots go there when they get sick of the base. I'm sure Ironhide or Sideswipe would take you there anytime—It's a secret though, so don't say anything to the Director."
Still no response. Not even a nod of acknowledgment.
After a few agonizing seconds, Sentinel looked to the side to Optimus who was once again coming over.
And as if she never existed, Sentinel walked towards him and continued their conversation.
Aria just stood there.
…