Non Solum Fugere

A Very Large Surprise

Fireflight, eager to help make Silverbolt feel better, returned to his room and continued his mission to buy presents for all the Autobots. A few hours later, after he had found Brawn and Seaspray's presents, Air Raid commed him excitedly.

"You gotta come see this, Fireflight! It's awesome!" he exclaimed.

"Where is it?" Fireflight replied.

"At the shuttle bay-you know, where Cosmos' room is! Get down here!" Air Raid said. Fireflight rushed to the shuttle bay. When he arrived, he was greeted by an amazing sight. Standing in the shuttle bay with Air Raid and Cosmos was a really big robot, one even bigger than the Dinobots. After a few seconds of staring, Fireflight waved at him.

"Hi! I'm Fireflight! Who are you? I've never seen you before," he asked.

"I'm Skyfire. It's nice to meet you, Fireflight. I don't recognize you, either, so maybe you came to Earth while I was off on my latest scientific voyage," the huge mech replied.

"Skyfire! It's good to have you back!" Cosmos exclaimed.

"It's good to be back, little friend. When did our unit increase its aerial ranks?" Skyfire said.

"About two months after you left on your exploratory voyage, the Aerialbots-all five of them, including Fireflight and Air Raid here-joined our ranks. We needed troops to combat Megatron's new team of cars," Cosmos explained.

"I see. Well, it's nice to have a few more flyers in the ranks. Would you mind introducing me to the rest of your team?" Skyfire said. Fireflight was surprised, but happy. It was nice to have someone who actually wanted to meet them.

"Sure! Follow us!" Air Raid exclaimed. Fireflight quickly commed Skydive, Slingshot, and Silverbolt to ask them to meet up with them in their quarters, and then ran to catch up to Skyfire and his brother. When the three of them arrived in the Aerialbots' quarters, Silverbolt, Skydive, and Slingshot were already there, and when they saw Skyfire, all three of them looked impressed.

"Hello. I'm Skyfire. When you were recruited into Optimus Prime's unit, I was on an exploratory mission in space, and as such, we haven't yet met. I take it that you are the other three Aerialbots?" Skyfire said.

"Yes. I'm Silverbolt, the grey-and-black F-16 is Skydive, our resident bookworm and tactician, the Harrier with the orange head is Slingshot, and I see you've already met Air Raid and Fireflight. It's good to meet you, Skyfire," Silverbolt said. He and Skyfire shook hands.

"Likewise, Silverbolt. It's good to finally have some more aerials around," Skyfire said. Skydive looked at him oddly.

"You aren't upset that we look like Seekers?" he asked.

"Skydive! There's no need to accuse Skyfire of thinking something like that!" Silverbolt exclaimed. Skyfire sighed.

"Silverbolt, I understand Skydive's question perfectly. I am fully aware of the animosity some Autobots bear towards aerials, particularly Seekers. I've been on the receiving end of it myself, after all," he said.
"You have?" Fireflight and Air Raid asked in unison.

"But you don't look anything like a Seeker," Slingshot said. Skyfire shook his head.

"I may not look as much like the Seekers as you do, but I'm still an aerial...and, more importantly, I was a Decepticon aerial for awhile," Skyfire replied.

"And they haven't chased you out of the base? With the exception of Silverbolt, we admired the Decepticons at first, and we still get called traitors for the one time that we attempted to talk to them rather than fight with them, even though we only did that because we didn't fully understand the war and its history yet. I can't imagine how they'd treat an actual ex-Decepticon," Skydive said. Skyfire smiled, but it was a sad smile.

"Before the war, my best friend and I went on an exploratory mission of an uncharted planet. We were both scientists, and we had worked together for a very long time. We trusted each other implicitly. During the expedition, I was swept up by the planet's polar winds and buried alive for millenia. A few years ago, my best friend returned to the planet, discovered that I was still alive, dug me out of the ice, told me that a war had started, and asked me to join his side. Due to our long friendship, I trusted that his side was the right one...and I was wrong. The planet was this one, Earth, and my friend was Starscream. When I discovered that the Decepticons weren't what I had believed them to be, I switched sides and joined the Autobots, but the damage had been done. The Autobots knew that Starscream had been my friend, and that, combined with the fact that I had joined the Decepticons for a while, forever branded me as a traitor in the optics of some of my allies. Because of that, I go into space as often as I can. I do not wish to cause them distress, and having me out of sight is easier for them," he explained.

"That's so sad," Fireflight said.

"It isn't so bad, little one. I'm a shuttle. We're used to our own company," Skyfire replied.

"You were friends with Starscream ?" Air Raid asked. Skyfire gave that sad smile again.

"Yes, I was. He was...different before I was entombed in the ice all those vorns ago, kind and funny and brilliant. I don't know what happened while I was in stasis, but whatever it was, it changed him into something I don't recognize," he said quietly.

"Why hasn't anyone told us about you?" Skydive asked.

"Probably 'cause they wanted to make sure that he didn't give us any additional treacherous ideas," Slingshot replied. Silverbolt frowned.

"Or because we never asked," he said.

"I can't speak for everyone, but I can assure you that Optimus Prime, at least, wouldn't use my past as a reason to keep me secret from you. Silverbolt's right, they probably just forgot to tell you about me since I was away and you never knew to ask about me," Skyfire added.

"If you say so. You seem like a pretty smart guy, especially for someone who was dumb enough to be friends with Starscream," Slingshot replied. Skyfire laughed.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said.

"So, what happened on the expedition you just returned from?" Skydive asked.

"You really want to know?" Skyfire asked, sounding surprised.

"Of course," Skydive replied, and Fireflight sat down and waited eagerly for Skyfire's story to begin.