On A Quest, Ch. 1 – The Quest

A/N: This piece was written for the December collaboration challenge hosted by three comms on LJ. I collaborated with my good friend, naggingfishwife. She did art for the story I wrote. FFN doesn't allow links within stories, so to see her amazing art, you'll have to go to my profile and click on my homepage, then use the tag 'collaboration' to find this story with live art links. Even without the art, I hope you enjoy the story.

Mirage stood in front of Jazz's desk, controlling his urge to boggle at his commanding officer.

"You want me to do what?" Mirage asked again.

Jazz looked up briefly, then returned his gaze to the datapad in his hand. "I want you to get a tree for the Ark."

Mirage stood there, waiting for clarification, but Jazz steadfastly kept his gaze on the datapad. Finally, Mirage shifted minutely.

"Yes, Mirage?" Jazz asked. "Is there something about the assignment you don't understand?"

Mirage knew that tone. Jazz was in trouble with either Prowl or Prime for not doing his paperwork, and he was concentrating on doing it until his desk was cleared. The threat used against him must have been a really good one, and Mirage wondered what it was to have Jazz so focused and intent on working.

"No, sir." Mirage answered. He threw Jazz a salute, receiving a small wave in return, then left.

As he walked toward the entrance of the Ark, he got a short-distance comm from Jazz.

::You'll be with Hound for this trip. You'll need his ability to haul the tree back here.::

So, he was paired up with Hound. He stopped and pulled a cloth out of his subspace, running it quickly over his plating, polishing away smudges to his finish. He didn't dawdle, merely did a quick job, but felt better for it. He tucked the cloth away and continued to the entrance.

Hound was waiting for him, shifting from pede to pede nervously. Pasting a smile on his face, Mirage moved up to the scout and greeted him.

"Hello, Hound, are you ready to go out on this quest for a tree?"

Hound audibly cleared his vents and nodded. Mirage folded himself into his alt-form, waiting for Hound to do the same before heading out.

The landscape was the same as always, with the difference that the air was significantly cooler than it had been just a month previously. Curious, Mirage opened a comm line to Hound.

::Do you know why the air is so much cooler?::

Hound's nervousness came through on the comm. ::Yes, it's because this planet has seasons as it orbits the system's star. The planet's magnetic poles are tilted from the vertical, so sometimes the surface is closer to the sun and sometimes it's further away, all changing as it rotates around the sun. The difference between being closer, or hotter, and being further away, or cooler, is what the natives call seasons. It's colder because the portion of the planet we're on is further away, so the air cools down and the weather changes. Ah, as we get further into the mountains, we'll see snow.::

::Snow.:: Mirage said flatly.

::Frozen dihydrogen monoxide.:: Hound replied.

Mirage sighed. ::Do you know why we're to get this tree? Jazz wouldn't explain it.::

::He's in trouble with both Prime and Prowl, that's why he's so focused on the paperwork. Yeah, I do. Spike was telling us about a tradition here on Earth, where there's a festival around the time when the planet's orbit gives us the shortest number of daylight hours in this hemisphere. They call it Christmas, and one of the traditions they have is to have a tree inside their dwelling place and decorate it. Prime wants us to adapt this custom; he says it will be good publicity.::

Mirage pondered this for a while, then reopened the comm line. ::Why do you and I get to go on this mission?::

::Uh, Bee's unavailable – he's with Spike and Prowl thinks that's important. Trailbreaker is off helping the human military with something, Jazz is in trouble, Ironhide's out of commission until his leg is reattached, and Brawn is in the brig for brawling. Inferno's off on a publicity tour on the other side of the country, and Hoist and Grapple are working on a project for Optimus and can't be pulled away.::

Mirage absorbed this. It did rather look like he and Hound were the only ones not on shift that could do this task. He just…Hound intrigued him. So many of the mechs in the Autobot forces pined for Cybertron, and so few were truly enjoying this planet. Mirage missed Cybertron, he never tried to fool himself that he didn't, but the Cybertron he missed was long gone, wracked by war and deprivation. Earth was alive, growing and blossoming and simply bursting with forms that took the natural energy of the planet or its sun and turned it into more life, in a way Cybertron had not been for a very long time, even longer now. He still couldn't wrap his processor around the length of time they'd been in stasis. But Hound enjoyed this planet in a way that Mirage admired. Hound liked researching the life forms they encountered and was a font of knowledge about the local flora and fauna. Jazz may have higher social skills that helped with the diplomacy, but Hound's knowledge was more practical and had helped the Autobots navigate the planet itself; the weather, the life forms, the various plants, the geology and the water. Mirage knew he could ask Hound about anything on this planet and have his questions answered in a way that made sense to him. Hound would have been a fabulous teacher back on Cybertron; he had the knack of presenting information in a way that made sense, and he could change how he presented it to suit his audience.

Mirage and Hound made it from the dirt track that led to the Ark to the paved road that led toward the human town. Hound, however, turned the other direction, toward the mountain range that dominated the horizon. Mirage followed after him, letting Hound set the pace since his alt-mode was so much slower than Mirage's.

As they got closer to the mountains, the frozen dihydrogen monoxide, or snow, began to show up, in little drifts of white on the northern exposures of hills and banks, or where it was shaded by the vegetation. The further they traveled, the bigger the drifts became, until the white was blanketing the landscape.

Mirage found his alt-form to be problematic in this landscape, whereas Hound's alt-mode, although not sleek, was sturdy and navigated the road easily. Mirage persevered, though, and they finally made it to a pull-out, a wide spot in the road. Hound transformed once he was off the road and waited for Mirage to do the same.

Mirage followed Hound's lead, surveying the woods before them before turning to Hound.

"I spotted a tree that I think will be perfect. Follow me." Hound stepped off the embankment and plunged into the snow. Mirage followed in his footsteps after a long moment.

Hound slogged through the snow, smiling as he moved through the landscape. He moved slowly enough for Mirage to keep up with him, but it was obvious that he could move faster than he was. Mirage made a quick file and tagged it to remind him that Hound's abilities were not reflected in his choice of alt-modes, and that he had abilities that made him an elite tracker and scout, and to stop judging mechs on surficial qualities.

Hound stopped in a clearing next to a tree that was no taller than he was.

Mirage looked at the tree critically. "Isn't it a bit…small?"

Hound laughed, and it was so carefree Mirage did a double-take.

"It is, a bit, but there's a reason. The root systems of these trees is pretty wide-spread, and if we get a smaller one, we can dig it out and put it in a big pot, then replant it in the spring. If we get a bigger tree, we can't do that and we'll have to cut it off just above the roots."

"Which would…kill it?" Mirage asked.

"Yes! So, Jazz said it was OK, and Perceptor and Wheeljack figured out how to create a giant pot that collapsed into my subspace but is still sturdy enough to hold this tree and the dirt." Hound was enthusiastic in explaining his plan to Mirage.

"Um, Hound? Are you strong enough to carry the tree and the dirt back to the Ark?" Mirage wanted to know.

Hound's face fell. Mirage felt badly for him. "How do the humans transport such trees, Hound?"

Hound's optics flickered as he accessed his comm link. Mirage waited patiently for the answer.

"Oh, good idea!" Hound exclaimed. "They wrap the root ball in burlap and truck it out. Of course, if the root ball is too small for the tree, it will die in just a few planetary orbits, but we won't have that problem. We can use the container to wrap the roots up, and Perceptor says that if I take a sample of the dirt, they can replicate it in the lab pretty quickly. This might actually work!"

With that problem taken care of, Hound set to work with Mirage's help. They found the extent of the root system, then cut through the dirt in a hemispherical shape. Mirage used his delicate actuators to clean a lot of the dirt out from the roots and tuck the roots against the main ball, where they left the dirt to protect the heart of the root system. They wrapped the tree in the collapsible container, then hefted it up and carried it between them to the road.

Once they were up on the road, they finally noticed the weather had changed. The clouds were low, almost touching the ground, and the air was heavy with moisture. Mirage shivered as the wind blew through his frame and turned on his internal heaters.

They didn't help. The air was cold, the wind made it worse, and visibility was low. Mirage cycled through the electo-magnetic spectrum, unsurprised to find the weather limited the ability to distinguish shapes very well. The swirling snow that was falling was also obscuring sensors, and Mirage looked at Hound.

"We can't stay out here!" Hound yelled as the wind gusted around them. "We need to find shelter and get out of this wind!"

"What do you suggest?" Mirage asked, struggling to hold onto the tree as the wind swirled around him.

Hound looked around. "Let's go back down where we were – it was more sheltered from the wind!"

Mirage nodded and gamely struggled with the tree as he and Hound wrestled their way back over the embankment and down into the woods.

The wind did stop buffeting them, but the snow fell thicker. Hound growled as Mirage slipped again and dropped the tree.

Mirage was affronted. He was trying his best to help Hound. He found he'd been mistaken when Hound wrapped a small locator beacon around the tree and tugged Mirage with him.

"You can't carry that heavy tree and keep yourself up, and it was silly of me to not think of you. I'm sorry I was so inconsiderate, Mirage. Let's focus on getting ourselves some shelter!" Hound told him.

Mirage nodded. His systems were giving him warnings about joints and lines reaching limits in their endurance.