Aurora: You've lost it...
Hotshot: ::sigh:: she never had it.
DMK: AHEM! . MOVING on... It seems all y'alls (or at least the majority of the reviewers) want her to hook up with the same 'Bot. Heh. ::shoots RedAlert a demented grin::
RedAlert: O.O;; should I be afraid???
DMK: No, unless you want to remain hoplessly single for all of eternity...
RedAlert: PRIMUS NO! ...but the way your mind works scares me. I just know there's going to be a cliche near-death experience or something...
DMK: and you'd be right. But since this Author's note has dragged on for WAY too long, here's my latest update! =D
Chapter Four
"Yeowch!" Aurora gave a yelp and tried to scoot away from RedAlert, who was poking at her wounded knee to assess the damage. She was seated on the edge of a recharge gurney inside the Autobot's huge medical bay.
"Oh come on, you should be able to take this," Red told her calmly as he started to repair the damaged wiring.
She grimaced as pain shot up her leg again. "Operating on a paitent is one thing. Being operated on is entirely another, especially when the medic repairing you doesn't use numbing agents!" Her voice had risen again as Red started sautering a blown fuse, causing a great deal of pain on her part. "Primus, that smarts!"
"You did more damage to that knee than you thought," He explained, finishing up his work. "I didn't mean to hurt you, though. It shouldn't cause you any more problems now."
The mech was right. Aurora slid off the gurney and landed on her feet, and there was no real pain to speak of in her joint. "Well, paint me red and call me Prime, it doesn't hurt at all!" She watched as he got to his feet. "Thank you. And I'm sorry if I whined a bit too much. Low pain threshold."
RedAlert chuckled. "That's alright, it happens to us all." The femme scratched her nose thoughtfully and accepted the statement, and so he spoke again: "Well, now that that's out of the way, we should get you to Optimus. He's probably got a few questions for you."
She gave a nod, slightly anxious, and followed the medic out of the repair bay.
- - - - - - - - - -
Optimus was standing over a computer console, reading information on their unexpected guest. "Hmm... Aurora Borealis... Graduated in the same class as Sideswipe, obviously, but the age range in that class was one of the most diverse in a while... High marks in both combat skills and in medicine, and-" He stopped and re-read the information. "She was involved in the Savage Blitzkrieg tragedy... Hmm..." This obviously had sparked something in the Autobot's memory bank, because he began to reflect on it, and did so for several moments.
"So Prime... what're we gonna do with her?" Jetfire asked, standing beside his leader. "She looks like she'd make a great addition to our team..."
He sighed and turned away from the computer, arms folded behind his back. "Well, I first want to know what she was doing in this solar system before I make my decision."
"Well from what I saw today, she does live up to her reputation at the school," Scavenger pointed out, finally speaking. "If her reason is legitimate, I would certainly vote for allowing her to stay."
Almost as if on cue, Aurora and RedAlert entered the command center, the femme following the medic somewhat meekly. "Ah, there you are," Prime said, turning to face her. His arms were still folded behind his back. "Good to see you're in full working order."
She nodded silently, a serious look on her face. It was then that Jetfire, giving a sigh, sat back in a wheeled computer chair and stretched. "Sooo... Miss 'Rora... what brings you to our humble abode here on Earth?" Prime glared at him for his informality, and he almost instantly hopped to his feet and assumed a more proper stance, embarassed.
Giving the tiniest snicker at Jetfire, she cleared her throat and spoke: "I was on my way to the Deep Space quadrant Gamma-47 as one of the head medical advisors when my warp engine malfunctioned. I came off the space bridge, and ended up here. The gravity of the Earth pulled me in before I could repair my engines, and well, I believe the rest is history."
"I see..." Prime had forgotten about the Deep Space voyages. "Was the situation in dire need of your services in Gamma-47?"
"No, I don't think so," Aurora answered. "There were already two other medical advisors stationed there. They just needed a third, I suppose."
Prime thought about this, scratching the chin of his face mask absently. "Well... seeing as how your ship is beyond repair, and the fact that our warp gate couldn't hope to reach Gamma-47 without proper space bridges, I have no choice but to welcome you to the front here on Earth, Aurora."
She grinned, pleased. "Thank you, sir, you won't be disappointed with your decision." Aurora stood stock straight and saluted him then, and he returned the gesture with an optic-smile. Both Jetfire and Scavenger stepped forward to shake their new teammate's hand and welcome her to Earth.
"Sooo, Miss Borealis, you up for a grand tour of the base or do ya feel like explorin'?" Jetfire asked as he finished his handshake with her.
"Please, just call me Aurora," She began a bit sheepisly. "And I think I'll just hunt down Sideswipe first to tell him I'm here to stay... Er... any ideas on where he'd be?"
Scavenger and Prime looked at one another. "Playing videogames," they answered flatly.
As Aurora was about to open her mouth to ask where that was, Optimus gave her the proper directions: left down this hallway, hang another left, and the third door on the right would be the 'hangout room' where her former classmate hopefully was. After one last gracious "thank you" to Prime for allowing her to stay, she left the command center in search of Sideswipe.
- - - - - - - - - -
"Oooh yeah! Ownage again!" Hotshot cheered as he successfully creamed Sideswipe in a fighting video game. "I ru-le, I ru-le!" He continued in a singsong tone, doing a little jig while still seated cross-legged on the ground.
Sideswipe hunched over and grumbled, watching as his videogame character was pummeled into submission. "No fair..."
"It's just a game, dude, no reason to get worked up over it!" Carlos, Rad, and Alexis were seated next to the giant Transformers as if it were the most commonplace thing in the world, watching them both play a downloaded version of Tekken 4. "You'll get better at this thing soon enough, Sideswipe!" Carlos explained in a casual voice. "Hotshot just has way too much free time to burn playing games."
"Hey!"
Everyone in the room except Hotshot laughed at this small jest, but eventually the bright yellow mech gave in to the contagious giggles. They all stopped when they heard the airlock door slide open. Aurora was standing in the doorway, her arms folded loosely across her chestplate. "Well, Optimus was right about where you'd be!"
"Aurora!" Sideswipe scrambled to his feet and then ran to the femme. "So how'd it go? What's Optimus gonna do? Will he let you hang around here? Huh, huh, huh?! Details!"
She looked at him with an almost placid face for a few moments, not saying anything, until her lips cracked into a grin. "I can stay!"
"Yes!" Sideswipe then proceeded to pounce on his old classmate in a hug. "You're gonna have so much fun here on Earth!"
Rad, Carlos, and Alexis, meanwhile, were staring at this exchange blankly. "Uh... since when were there girl Transformers?" Alexis asked somewhat dully, sort of surprised.
"Since, like, ever," Hotshot answered, still seated on the floor. "You just don't see many of them on the front lines these days. They're all working as nurses and doctors, hardly any as soldiers."
Carlos grinned somewhat as he watched Sidesipe and Aurora hugging. "So is she Swipey's girlfriend or what?"
"Naw, try old classmate." Then Hotshot bent down to whisper. "Though Sideswipe was one of the flunkers while she was up at the top of the class." The three kids snickered. As the mech stood up, he spoke to the femme who had just managed to pry Sideswipe off herself. "Hey Aurora, I'd like you to meet some human friends of ours!" She turned to Hotshot's voice and looked down. "This is Rad, Carlos, and Alexis. Natives of the planet."
"Wow, real humans!" Aurora had never seen organics before, so naturally she was interested. "Well it's nice to meet you, Rad, Carlos, and Alexis! You can call me Aurora."
Carlos stepped forward with a wide grin on his face. "Ha, put 'er there, Aurora! Great to see a new Autobot around the base!" He held out his fist, and she gave him a puzzled look. "What? Ya never slapped fists before?"
"Er, no... I don't think I have..."
"It's easy! All ya do is put your hand to someone else's, like this." Rad finally chided in from behind Carlos. To demonstrate, he connected his clenched fist with Alexis'. "See?"
Aurora blinked her optics, still sort of confused, but nodded. "Ohhh... well alright then!" She held out her fist to Carlos, who promptly slapped his to it. Chuckling, she then extended it to Rad and Alexis, who slapped both of their fists to hers at the same time. "Hehe, cool custom, we should have this back home."
"So 'Rora, dija get a chance to be shown around the base or what?" Sideswipe asked from where he was standing.
"Nope, not yet, I wanted to track you down first."
"Ohhh, well, ya want us to show you around then?"
"Yeah!" Hotshot chimed in. "I'll go with ya!"
Aurora stood up, smiling contentedly at them both. "Well then sure, let's see this base."
Along with the three kids, Hotshot and Sideswipe left the hangout room to show their newest teammate her new 'home away from home'.
TBC
DMK: Thank GOD! That took me WAY too long! And it was way too short! .;; I have no idea for the next chapter, seeing as my muses are off making the sequel to "Baby Blues"... .;;
Wheeljack: Who, me? ::tries to wipe the lipstick marks off his face before too many people notice::
Windracer: We've been good! Honest! We just don't have anymore ideas either... n.n;;
DMK: great. I'll go get me some new muses, I guess. ::sigh:: oh well, tell me how this was in a review, please! (though if you reviewed the Author's note signed the last time, it might not let you do it again or whatever. you'd prolly hafta log out and then review, which is a pain in the rear-end but ah well. .;; )