First Landing
Location: Classified, Nevada
Designation: Crimson-1
Tower Control
/Runway's clear Crimson-1, you're a go for landing.\
.
/Roger.\
I felt my wheels touch down upon the asphalt as the survivors taxied their planes into the nearby hangars. As I got ready to clear the runway, I saw the Ravens begin to dive towards the ground and pull up mere moments from crashing as their forms shifted; the sensor suites turned into heads, red-orange light glowing from the sensor ports, the winglets by the cockpit shifted into thin arms that ended with 4 fingered hands, parts of the engines and wings turned into a pseudo-jetpack, as the rest of the plane folded in half to form the torso, edges of their wings moved and became thin legs that ended with wheels for feet. The twin Ravens, their IFF's now reading as ADF-11F Huginn and ADF-11F Muninn, stood and walked (rolled?) over to where I had stopped.
When I tried to stand from my cockpit, everything began to shift. When I opened my eyes, they were at eye level with me. Something wasn't right. I looked down at my hands and found metal… I kept moving my fingers, opening and closing my hands. I could feel the metal touching, as if it were still flesh.
"What… What is this?"
Huginn, marked by blue accents, stepped a bit closer, "We do not know, but we had a feeling you were like the boss. He used to be human too, before he ended up here… We were just advanced UAVs before we joined him." Huginn's voice was monotone, flat and near emotionless. "But we are certain that you will learn to adapt to this new form as we all have, Crimson-1."
Shelving that revelation aside for the moment, "What about the other pilots, did they make it?" The only reason those pilots were out there, was because I was too busy being stuck in my own thoughts, "And Prospero, it was burning… how is it alright now?"
"Because this is not the world you know, the city you flew over is known as Elko, Nevada. Additionally, there is no trace of any Cordium on the planet as of this moment. However, tests have proven that Energon shall suffice as a replacement fuel should you need it." Huginn looked over to Muninn for a moment, telepathically speaking to its twin, "The shot down pilots were recovered by Search and Rescue a few moments after we landed here, they are being brought to another facility for treatment and debriefing."
"At least this world doesn't have to worry about another calamity tearing it apart…"
"If only that were true," Huginn turned back to me,"Unfortunately, this world has found itself in the crosshairs of a civil war between two Cybertronian factions; our secret allies the Autobots lead by Optimus Prime, and an army of Decepticons lead by the tyrant known as Megatron. Though as of recent events the enemy leader is M.I.A, considered K.I.A. Thankfully, since there are others like us scattered across the globe, we've been able to keep this war from spilling into the public eye."
Munin made that odd noise again and turned to the skies we had just descended from. "They're back. Must've been fewer Decepticons than estimated."
A single fighter made the approach, and was clearly an experimental platform. The IFF read out, "ADFX-02, Pixy," but the most prominent features were the massive bomb-like missiles, the strange module connected by support struts, and its forward-swept wings, one of which was painted red. Pixy stopped in mid-air after performing half of a Cobra, and promptly transformed.
He landed and looked at me for a moment, "Guess you got an upgrade before you came here. You're using an SU-37 anymore. Before you ask, there's someone else who's here to see you."
(Sentinel Prime Theme)
My IFF system pinged as the second fighter entered visual range, it couldn't be…
The red-Camo'd F-22's IFF read out; Crimson-7, she was one of the five who were shot down over the Bering Strait, and perished before S.A.R. choppers could reach her… She had joined the federation Airforce, inspired by the tales her sister had sent back home...
Back then, I would have gladly told Monarch's WSO that she had helped to shoot down her own sister over the Bering Strait, but now the thought of telling 7 the truth of her sister's profession only hurt me further...
After all, if Kestrel Kuo was anything like her sister...
She would not take such revelations well...
Gonna work on this when I have free time, expect another chapter within the next week to a month.