literature

Purple Light: C1

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Purple Light

Nighfall Inspection
Darkmount, Province of Polyhex
Earthdate: 6.5 Million Years BE (Before Earth)

Darkmount was as quiet as a military stronghold could ever be in the middle of a war. It stood over Polyhex like a guardian, protecting the Decepticon occupied territory from Autobot incursion.  

The grand structure of the fortress was imposing. Huge reinforced metal walls, thick with shock absorbing beams and a form of lead insulation protected it from electro-magnetic pulses as well as penetration from weapon fire.  The thick walls bristled with defensive turrets and finally terminated with missile silos. These silos could fire antimatter shells that had an effect far more devastating than nuclear warheads.

The thick walls were riddled with passageways that only Minicons, Microns or Micromasters could travel. Most were maintenance workers and some were turret operators. The most frequent visitor to the walls were ever growing populations of Retro rats or Insecticons that sought out the energy that was slowly growing scarce elsewhere.

Withered vines of some ancient Cybertronian plants clung to the base of the fortress, holding on to life, just barely. They were the last remnants of nature that was pushed to extinction during the bouts of acid rainfall over the centuries. They barely survived, protected in the slightest manner by the overhanging parapet wall. Their withered metallic leaves were corroded and could no longer get enough of the life giving light of the blue Cybertronian star.  Even though it was midday, the sky was black; filled with the acrid clouds of dust and smoke from both war, industry and the fiery smelting pits where executions were proceeding, almost continuously.

In a higher part of the fortress was a large flat area; a wide open space which lacked a railing. Red and blue lights flashed and blinked along the outer rim. Large metal halide lamps illuminated the gun metal grey surface. It was marked, a landing area for large aircraft, small shuttles, even  some of the larger space-going cruisers. A row of battered cargo shuttles lined the western edge. They had seen better days; the outer hulls of the shuttle craft were tinted with a patina of age and corrosion. The once vibrant paint of the purple insignia had faded and flaked.

The wall of the tower still stood high above the landing platform, with openings to the inside. It was  a hanger for aircraft, the non sentient types. The best way to insult a Decepticon Seeker was to ask him or her if they lived in a hangar. The person asking would likely get a fist to the nose, best case, or a shot to the face, worst case.

A large doorway adjacent to the hangars lead to a section of the tower where the Seekers lived.  Each of the barracks would house from six to eighteen flying Decepticons and it was not very spacious. It was kept spotlessly clean and in military order. They had a small recreation room, a small Holographic simulator.

Several platforms lined the dull grey wall, each ended with a metal foot locker. Each locker was locked with a Personal Identification Number that only the owner knew. It was considered the only privacy that a Decepticon warrior could have. Even then his privacy was invaded by the monthly checks or the random "cell toss" as it was occasionally called. The Air Warriors stood by their platform with their lockers open. Their possessions, whether neatly stowed away or not, were unloaded and checked.

The Air Commander, black and a very dark midnight blue, strode through the barrack looking at each warrior. To his right was another Seeker, his second in command, a somewhat young and brash individual. He carried a datapad and took notes and nodded as the Air Commander remarked on each warrior's general appearance and the status of his weapons and possessions.

Megatron's personal bodyguards, an elite group of Air Warriors, were starting to feel the pinch of the recession that was facing the Decepticons due to the constant fighting. Their position as Megatron's guard required them to remain impeccably clean. Unfortunately regular bathing, a  commodity they had enjoyed whenever they chose, was now a rare luxury. Water was precious, almost as valuable as electrum. They did what they could to  maintain a level of superiority over the regular warriors who lived in the infested holes of trenches and hastily erected bunkers.

This late in the war, water rationing was in effect in the cities as well as the major bases. It was costly to treat Cybertronian water sources, which quickly became super acidic or extremely alkaline. Often it was thick with a soup of oily chemicals that could eat right through the living metal of any Transformer. Only the ceramic-like bed rock of Cybertron could withstand the potency of the extreme chemical cocktail.

Even the wildlife, robotic flora and fauna was suffering. Much had been driven into extinction, or thrown into dormancy until such time as Cybertron would flourish. There was little hospitality left on the planet, which once glowed gold with the living spark of the planet.  War had caused the planet to suffer wounds, and like any being, if the wounds were not closed, be it with cities or roads, it festered with infection. Cybertron was dying.

Even through the fighting their appearance was extremely stressed by Megatron, and not wishing to impede upon the wrath of their leader and his high-ranking subordinates, the troops turned to the Constructicons for solutions that did not require the water that was so difficult to come across. They came up with sonic showers; blasts of ultra high sound knocked the soil off their bodies. As effective as this new method was, it crippled the effectiveness of the users. The sonic shower disrupted the aural receptors. This effectively made the warriors deaf and useless in combat. Unless they could be sure they had the time to recover, it was rarely used. Megatron, gleaming to a polished perfection was cause for some discussion amongst the ranks. Did he have a secret store of water, or did the sonic showers not aggravate him as it did everyone else.

Each Air Warrior, after his personal effects were inspected was asked to stow them away and return to attention at the side of their platform. They were being rated and the results of this inspection would be put in their permanent records.

"Flight Commander, Starscream." .

"Sir!" Starscream responded sharply.

"Please stand back as I inspect your belongings."

Starscream nodded and stepped aside still maintaining a highly disciplined disposition. He knew the drill. The Air Commander picked up a bright red ruby stone from a chest and a slingshot. He looked at the silvery dark-faced Seeker who stared forward unflinchingly. "Where did these come from?" he had asked thousands of times over. The Air Commander was amused by the primitive nature of the slingshot yet was envious of the beautiful precious stone.

"I was given the ruby when I was in the Academy. The slingshot I've had as long as I have memory." the youthful Seeker replied.

"The other items?" The Air Commander demanded as he picked up several fine scientific tools. "You didn't have these during our last checks. So please, enlighten me as to where you obtained them from and their function?"

Looking over at them ever so briefly Starscream cocked his head and replied. "I was employed as a scientific explorer before the war. I scouted out various alien worlds and catalogued what forms of life existed, what metals, minerals or other potentially exploitable resources the worlds had. The tools were what I used during those days. That is a  bio-scanner, the thing there with the handles is a Geiger counter, for analysing radioactive radiation, possibly locating other remote deposits of Cybertonium ore. And the thing there, with the flaps..."

"So, you are a science nerd as well," Nightfall nodded with a sharp laugh. "Where did you get these from? If they were yours before the war, would you not have had them during our other inspections?"

"They were—missing  for a while. I finally tracked them down from the Decepticon storage lockers."

"Why were they there?" he said, fiddling with an instrument. There was an audible crack and Starscream cringed.

Exhaling slowly,  "They had been there since I was taken prisoner by the Autobots about five hundred cycles ago."

Dropping the two halves of the now broken atmospheric sampler and locking optics with the young warrior. "These are so extremely important to our war effort that you wasted time and energy to locate them?" he inquired, his tone indicating suspicion.

Not knowing how to answer, Starscream nodded slightly."I figure they will be of use, if not now then later."

Nightfall took the datapad from his lieutenant and looked it over, scrolling back several pages and skimming it quickly. "In your file, you do not state that you were a scientist before becoming a warrior, care to explain the omitted detail?"

"I wanted to fight for our cause, not sit back and play with test tubes. There is an erroneous belief that scientists cannot fight. I do believe I have proven my point more than adequately in my many years of impeccable service to the Decepticons."

"I see. Well since I do not like your tone, Flight Commander, these scientific things, the slingshot and the jewel are now mine."

"You can't do that," Starscream started, losing his disciplined composure. "It's all I have left."

Shrugging and smiling slightly, the Air Commander patted Starscream roughly on the shoulder. "I just did, warrior." He pushed Starscream to his knees. "I want to see seven hundred push ups. That should take you about three hours. Get to it."

Starscream glowered, but complied.
My latest wild hair up my afterburner... A fairly short fic; I hope.

I have several parts written. I'll get them posted.

Please poke out things like wrong but correctly spelled words. I go cross eyed trying to seem my errors.

This can tie in with my last fic: The Red Sky.

Purple Light Chapter 1 Nightfall Inspection
Purple Light Chapter 2 Sleeping like the Dead
Purple Light Chapter 3 A Tricky Undertaking
Purple Light Chapter 4 A Nail in the Lid
Purple Light Chapter 5 Bearer of Bad News
Purple Light Chapter 6 One foot in the Grave
Purple Light Chapter 7 Saved by the Bell
Purple Light Chapter 8 Eternal Seeker
© 2009 - 2024 Sunstars
Comments1
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Illusionna's avatar
I love the description of Darkmount in the beginning, it does a wonderful job of setting the scene for a very war-ravaged Cybertron. You have lots of wonderful detail, like the minicons going about cleaning the place. "The best way to insult a Decepticon Seeker was to ask him or her if they lived in a hangar."--Fabulous little detail on Decepticon life!! I can see many a fight starting with this phrase.

I wonder about the push ups at the end, would push ups really "do" anything for a Transformer? I see what you were trying to get at, but I wonder if there was not some other more 'robotic' way to do it.