"I watched the news recordings of the fight," Optimus said as Jetfire and Blurr stood at attention in front of him. "You did an admirable job against Thrust. With Infernos power to tap into, you were honestly no match for him. Yet you managed to hold your own."
"Thank you sir," Jetfire said.
"Blurr, your training has come along well. You managed to keep Thundercracker busy until Hot Shot and Red Alert arrived to back you up. Although he escaped, you are to be congratulated on that."
"Thank you sir," Blurr replied, a slight trace of pride in his voice. "I only wish I could have stopped him."
"Thundercracker is one of the best warriors the Decepticons have, even if they fail to recognise it most of the time. You did an excellent job. However, the pair of you came to Earth without permission. I understand your reasons, but you were ordered to monitor the Tyrodon Sector. Considering the situation, the consequences probably won't be too bad. I'll make my decision on that matter later. Blurr, you're dismissed. I wish to speak to Jetfire alone." Blurr saluted and left, leaving a very nervous Jetfire alone with Prime.
"Optimus, I know what I did was reckless, but I-" Prime held up a hand, and Jetfire shut up.
"If our roles were reversed, I might well have done the same thing," Prime said. "But thats not what I wanted to talk about. What did you make of Skylancer?"
Jetfire considered his answer for a moment, looking at nothing in particular. "Powerful, in a way I've never seen before," he answered. "Whatever she used to nearly rip off Thrusts face, it wasn't an internal weapons system. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was like-"
"Her spark," Optimus finished. Jetfire nodded, and Prime continued. "It was her spark. I could sense her use it like that, and I suspect that Scavenger and possibly Blurr did too. They've all had training along those lines, although nothing quite so dramatic."
"A minicon?" Jetfire asked. "Even if she learnt how to throw a few punches, she couldn't do something like that. Something else must have boosted her powers. I mean, she nearly blew Thrust's head clean off!"
"Perhaps," Prime mused, still a little uncertain. "Do you know if she'd be willing to work with us?"
"Hard to say," Jetfire said. "I mean, with the kind of firepower, you can bet the Decepticons will try and take her again. But if we try and use her as a weapon, she'll turn against us. And to be honest, I doubt I'd blame her."
Prime's optics dimmed for a moment as he thought about it. "Sparkplug is showing her around Autobase," he said. "Let's not spring it on her. Give her time to think about it."
***
Skylancer looked around Autobases command center, an impressed look on her face. "It's fully fitted out for minicon use as well as Autobots?"
Sparkplug nodded. "Prime doesn't want to treat us a second class bots. It's remarkable really. He'd said before that Freedom is the right of all setient beings. The thing is, he really believes it. He lives his whole life by those rules."
The female minicon nodded, looking over at where High Wire and Longarm were working at a minicon sized workstation. "Very nice setup. So Prime's the big hero type?"
"Yeah, that pretty much describes him," Sparkplug said with a laugh. "But when we first teamed up, there were a few little difficulties. The guy's used to having his orders followed without question. Getting used to the fact that we're allies, not his personal soldiers took a little getting used to... On both sides," he admitted with a rueful grin. "I didn't take it too well either. But I guess he's needed to command that way, considering how bad off Cybertron is now."
"How bad is it?" Skylancer asked, already dreading the answer.
"I think the best answer is to show you. High Wire! Drop off the BF42 server and bring up footage of Cybertron."
"Spoil my fun and making me lose my lunch?" she replied, a little annoyed. "You have no idea of how to give a girl a good time." Still, she did as asked, and soon Skylancer had to gasp at what her homeworld had become.
The monitor showed an endless field of destruction, the golden metals of the past long since gone. She could see craters where once there were massive towers, and a thick layer of smoke blocked out the sky. "The Decepticons did all this?"
"With only a handful of minicons," Longarm muttered. "Can you imagine the damage they could do if they got the rest of us?"
"I'd rather not," High Wire said. "I like being able to sleep at night, thank you very much." She glanced over at Skylancer. "So, are you going to hang around? No one would blame you if you want to leave, but I could sure use another girl to talk to besides Alexis."
"Alexis?"
"One of the humans we know," Sparkplug answered. "They're helpful sometimes. Well, for little kids."
"Right." Skylancer sighed as she turned off the monitor. "Look, before I make my decision about working with the Autobots, there's something you need to see." And with that, she transformed back into Ranma.
See other episodes by Matrix Dragon
(Posted Wed, 19 Mar 2003 06:03)
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