Transformers Short Story

The Fallen

The cargo plane lowered Optimus's frame slowly to the ground, dropping the net with a soft thump before landing in a control zone near the fallen leader. Rose averted her eyes from his frame, her heart hurting at the sight. Lennox was at her side, his arms crossed across his chest and his sunglasses hiding his real feelings. The rest of the N.E.S.T soldiers were standing in a ragged circle around the two, looking hesitantly among each other. The sound of vehicles approaching made Rose look up. The cars skidded to a harsh halt and soldiers poured out and pointed their weapons at the N.E.S.T team and Autobots, effectively surrounding them. Sideswipe huffed and his forearms transformed into large blades as he looked over the black uniformed group with a wary frown, "What is the meaning of this?" The soldiers barked out a couple commands and dropped into more defense positions, seemingly waiting on other orders. Ironhide swung his cannons out and whirled them hotly as he vented harshly, his plating rattling threateningly, "You dare point a gun at me? You want a piece of me? I will tear you apart!" Rose blinked and raised her hands pacifically in Ironhide's direction but the weapons master ignored her, "Ironhide! Wait!" Lennox raised his own gun from his belt and narrowed his eyes, flanking the rest of the N.E.S.T as they were flagged by red dots aimed for their unprotected points between their armor, "Guns up!" The closest solider clicked his gun into the first trigger stage and shouted at them, "Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons!" Epps huffed and taunted, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Drop your weapons!" Lennox caught their CO's eye and motioned to the first solider who'd spoken. Rose un-clipped her own gun, nodding her head in the guy's direction, "Tell them to lower their weapons!" The solider growled, "Tell them first." Lennox hissed and shouted, "We're not asking. Tell the them lower their wea-" The solider moved his finger from the trigger guard and aimed his gun at the XO, his tone slightly apologetic, "Major, there's nothing I can do. Talk to him." The sound of shoes crunching in the gravel had everyone's head turning to meet their liaison officer, Galloway. The Autobots EM fields were threading protectively over their charges as they fidgeting restlessly, waiting for the slightest command from each other or the human CO. Rose lifted slightly from her defensive position but raised her gun at the agent, her tone cold, "So this your doing." The man smirked at them before it dissipated into a simpering-pitying look, "Your N.E.S.T team is deactivated, Lt. Col. You are to cease anti-Decepticon operations and return to base pending further orders....and you are being arrested." Rose stiffened and the rest of her N.E.S.T soldiers pointed their guns at the uniformed men who stepped closer, "No, we take our orders directly from Chairman Morshower, sir." The agent gave her an annoyed look before it slipped into a cocky smile, "Well, I'll see your Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and I will raise you a President of the United States. I have operational command now. And alien blood feud has been brought to our shores for which our soldiers are paying the price. The secret is out! This is our war now. And we will win it as we always have, with a coordinated military strategy." Rose sneered, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the agent, trying her best to keep her composure, "You're wrong." Ratchet huffed, his tone deadly, "This fool is terribly misinformed." The XO shuffled his feet, looking to the Autobots before adding, "You're gonna need every asset that you've got." Galloway narrowed his eyes at the XO, ignoring him to address his own soldiers as he turned his back on them, "What we need is to draw up battle plans while we explore every possible diplomatic solution." Rose drew herself, seething at the man, "Like what? Handing over Sam?" Galloway turned back to her, giving her an unimpressed look, brushing off flecks of dust from his suit, "All options are being considered." Smith snarled, taking a step forward before a couple uniformed soldiers pointed their guns in his direction, halting his movement, "Whatever the Decepticons are after, this is just the start." Rose stood up, readjusting her gun and glancing briefly to where Optimus's frame lay, "There is no negotiating with them." Galloway barked out a harsh laugh before he marched stiffly up to Rose and pointed a finger into her chest, "I'm ordering you to stand down." The agent pulled her N.E.S.T patch before pulling her velco Lt. Col. rank from her blouse and added, "You won't be needing this anymore, Lennox has command....Get your assets back to base CO!" He threw the patches to Lennox's feet before turning sharply on his heel and climbing into the door of the camouflage car, looking to Optimus's form with a sneer, "And take that pile of scrap metal back to base. Lets go!" The agent slipped into his car as two uniformed men approached Rose with their guns raised and barked at her, "Get on your knees! Hands in the air! No sudden movements!" Rose tightened her hold on her gun, stilling as a pained grunt rolled out and Smith hit the floor, a uniformed solider holding the blunt of his gun over him threateningly. Rose dropped her gun, throwing her arms into the air and slowly kneeling into the dirt, "I'm going, stand down." Lennox gaped at her, but a uniformed solider stood in his way as he tried to approach her, "Rose!" Rose turned her head sharply and snarled, "I order you to stand down! Now!" The N.E.S.T soldiers collectively dropped their guns and watched helplessly as Rose was slung into the ground, handcuffed and roughly jerked to a standing position. The agent rolled his window down with a smirk, "Make sure to get her legs too boys, oh and don't forget this." He threw a black muzzle to the closet solider and chuckled to himself. Two solider's held Rose's upper arms as her legs were chained and the muzzle was placed on her head, effectively keeping her from speaking. The solider to her right pushed her forward and Rose stumbled, trying to regain her footing around the tight chains but she was caught by another uniformed man before she fell into the ground. Rose grunted around the muzzle and jerked herself away from the man but he pulled her forward roughly, his mouth drawn into a thin-lipped frown. Ratchet's plating flared at the sight of her mistreatment and he took a step forward but a solider fired a shot off, the bullet lodging in the ground near his pede, "Stay where you are." Lennox shrugged out of the uniformed soldiers grip and growled, "Stop treating her like that, get your fucking hands off of her!" Lennox was tackled to the ground by another uniformed solider as the XO made to move. Lennox snarled and wrestled the other man off of him, jumping to his feet but stopping abruptly when a gun was held to Rose's head. The solider holding the gun motioned to the N.E.S.T team and Autobots, "Move out, tell your teams to get back to base CO, now." He pushed the gun further into Rose's head and stared down Lennox till he complied. Lennox let out a shaky breath and turned to face the teams, rubbing at his face, his voice breaking slightly before he cleared his throat, "Let's go." Epps moved to his side and glanced to where the soldiers were loading Rose into the agent's car, "What about Rose?" Lennox stamped his foot into the ground, "I don't know, I-" Lennox gritted his teeth to cut off his reply, snatching up both Rose's patches and turned away from the third in command, stalking up to where Ironhide's alt-mode was waiting for him. The bots and soldiers made the trip back to the base in complete silence, no one wanted to discuss what had just happened or what they were going to do. 

*Back At The Base*

Galloway spun his keys on his finger, overshadowing his soldiers work from the command center as they tore apart the base, policing for additional Autobots or fire support. So far they had apprehended two promising weapons from a lab and two bots: Sunstreaker and Elita-1. Galloway smirked to himself as the rest of the Autobots rolled into the open base, letting out their charges before transforming. The agent called out to the new CO, his eyes shining, "Now we can get started. We're de-coning this base and then we're locking it up...all your soldiers will be reassigned and the Auotbots will be coming with me to more...permanent quarters." Lennox puffed up his chest in anger, watching the uniformed men tear apart the base around them, "Where is Rose?" Galloway rolled his eyes, "She's fine, she's visiting the President right now actually, so that she may plead her case to the court." Lennox narrowed his eyes, "She hasn't done anything wrong, Mr. Fuckface." Galloway stopped twirling his keys and glanced to the large Cybertronian sized monitor, "Is that right? Because from where I'm standing, Rose has been aiding in the transformers fight far more than she let on." He chuckled to himself before continuing, "I don't know if you heard but Rose isn't exactly very clean when it comes to matters behind closed doors....she has quite a reputation." Lennox huffed, "If you're talking about the Black Sheep Squad you can save your breath, all of that was cleared years ago." Galloway shrugged nonchalantly and began skipping down the stairs to be level with the new CO, "And maybe we're bringing it back for a closer look, I always told the President and your Chief of Staff that trusting Lt. Col Burns with such an important team had a high fail rate and you know what was even higher?" The agent paused for a few seconds, "-her chance of bias." The agent shuddered and gave Ratchet a disgusted look, "That is where you come in. I'm afraid you won't be seeing the late CO again, nor will Optimus Prime...but I think that's been dealt with already, less work for me." The Autobots growled, rattling their plating or transforming weapons out in front of the government liaison. The man sighed and tutted, "None of that now. Major Lennox get your teams to line up for a full head count, we're stripping weapons." Lennox turned to evaluate his team thoughtfully and whispered to the nearest soldiers and Autobots, "Can we take them?" Ratchet narrowed his eyes at the cocky agent, "Right now, all I want to do is wipe that smug look off that fraggers face...I'm in." Ironhide snorted and nodded, his cannons dropping out with a soft whirl, "I've always wanted to give this place a new look anyway."