Notes Of A Precious One (Volume A1)

CHAPTER 12

Starscream tilted his helm upwards to look at the orange sky, then stretched his wings out.

Normally, he was strongly against organics, including their worlds, but it was hard to deny that they were beautiful either way. The sunset today, for example, gave off an elegant orange hue like smelted metal, flecked with lovely pink and purple specks that reminded Starscream of an Engex cocktail he used to love having back on Cybertron. Even now, as he gazed upon the sunset, he could feel the ghost of the taste of the cocktail upon his glossa, its sweet and bitter undertones filling every inch of his intake.

Perhaps, if, or more accurately, when he took over as leader of the Decepticons, he'd have Earth spared of any cyberforming. Why ruin a planet as pretty as this just for Transformium? This organic elegance couldn't be artificially replicated, and besides, the Solar System had eight other planets with no signs of life on them. They could harvest Transformium on those instead.

His comm then crackled to life, snapping him out of his reverie. With a sigh and a frustrated vent, he tapped the side of his helm.

[Commander Starscream, report], came Soundwave's cold drawl.

Of course it had to be you, Starscream muttered internally, then answered. [Skywarp will be back soon. He never fails his missions].

[Very well], Soundwave replied, then the link was cut.

Starscream looked up as the familiar deep purple jet that was Skywarp reverted back to base mode and landed on the edge of the cliff they were using as a perch. Thundercracker was currently scouting for Energon, and would not be back until the next cycle.

Starscream addressed the deep purple mech first. "What have you found so far"?

"Well, Barricade and Frenzy failed to get the upper hand, but they sure spooked the living circuits out of them", Skywarp reported. "The girl was the one who subdued Frenzy".

"That's an impressive amount of strength from a human", Starscream replied. "Is there anything else"?

"Well, just this: Prime wants her to live at the Autobot base for now, and he apparently has something important to tell her", Skywarp finished.

Starscream clenched his light blue servos and mulled the information over. Obviously, the girl was important if Megatron had gone after her years ago at such a tender age. But what was of such great importance anyway?

"Commander"? Skywarp replied.

"Yes"? Starscream answered.

"What should I do now"? he asked.

Starscream waved an arm to the cave behind them. "Recharge for now. After Thundercracker returns, we'll decide on our next course of action".

-

"I can't believe it"! Lennox announced, rushing forward to grab ahold of Amalia as she tumbled out of Bumblebee's backseat, no thanks to Azura. "Has it been this long? Its like I don't recognise you anymore".

"I dare you to tell that to your daughter and see what happens next", Amalia snarked, getting to her feet quickly and grabbing her bag before her dog could step on it. "But it has been awhile, Captain Lennox. How's everyone else"?

"Please, just call me Lennox", the soldier replied bashfully as they both waited for Amalia's parents to get their bearings straight. "And to be honest, everyone's been on edge after hearing Soundwave's message".

"As you should", Sarissa huffed, pulling a blue suitcase out of Bumblebee's trunk and slinging it around her body. "Vector, you go with Bumblebee. I'll go show our daughter to her room".

"Careful, mi amor", Vector reminded her, poking his head out of the Autobot scout's window. "She hasn't been here in ages".

"Haven't I visited the base on and off"? Amalia asked.

Lennox pulled her aside. "There've been a few upgrades ever since you stopped visiting".

Bumblebee warbled a reply and rolled his windows up, heading down into the hangar while Amalia followed Sarissa and Lennox into the base.

The NEST base wasn't much to look at from the outside, being a tall concrete building from the late 1970s that looked like it had seen better days, but inside the base was a whole other world. White lighting illuminated shiny blue flooring and whitewashed walls covered partially or fully by scaffolding, crates and various vehicles. Soldiers, maintenance workers and a few cleaners made up most of the personnel inside, though on occasion, there would also be visitors.

Sarissa left halfway through the walk, citing Ironhide and Chromia as the reason, so Lennox brought Amalia to her room and the girl sent Azura off with her mother. It was located further from the soldiers' barracks, but very close to the Autobots' hangar, since it had originally been her mother's room before she switched to the hangar full-time.

Lennox fished out a key from his back pocket and unlocked the door leading to Amalia's allocated quarters. She stepped inside and almost stepped back outside from the visual overload. Where it was still dull outside, blue bathed every inch of the medium-sized bedroom that contained a bed covered with soft sheets and a translucent drape, a study table with a lamp, cupboards, a dressing table and two windows hidden by tatted curtains. Lennox handed the key to Amalia and told her.

"It has an attached bathroom". He then made to leave, but not before finishing. "Get yourself settled in. You can join the Autobots later".

"Sure", Amalia replied, then without thinking, she rushed forward and hugged him. "Thank you...for this".

Lennox, though surprised, returned the hug. "Welcome home, Lia. Its been awhile, honestly".

He then left, and Amalia closed the door behind her. She stuffed her suitcase under the study table and plopped down on the bed that was now hers, exhausted.

And also a bit overwhelmed.

She lay there for a few minutes, then got up and begin searching around her new room for something to put her clothes in. After digging around in one of the cupboards, she found a set of bureau drawers.

Grabbing her clothes bag, she sat down and begin to unpack.