A   C A L L

~

The chopper had landed a while ago, and we had already had our debriefing. And I was already packed. 

My plane was due to leave in 15 minutes, but I was a priority passenger, so they were required to wait for me.

But I wasn't one to make others wait, it wasn't fair on those who work hard at their jobs.

However, I knew the pilot, Aaron Hobbs, one I've worked with before, and he was lazy.

So...I had time.

I sighed. I was packing my handheld luggage (well, technically all my luggage was handheld, but my mini-tiny bag, one that held my important personals) when I came across my album.

I smiled at it; it was decorated by Lennox's team and Mahfouz, so it was messy but heartfelt.

These boys were ridiculous, but I'd come to love them. Inside, it was full of polaroids - Donnelly has a polaroid camera that he brought with his personals, said it was his dads. He still used it because he was a 'classic man', as he said, which made me snort.

He also said that buying polaroid exposures in the Middle East was like buying paper and was as expensive as water, so he had exposures galore. He even had enough to take back home and still last him until his next tour.

To be honest, that was smart of him.

So during my time here, Donnelly and the others had taken to photographing myself and the team, and form an album of our stupid antics.

The first bunch was from my first days, so most of the photos of me were taken behind my back, as I had still not warmed up to the team yet.

But they quickly changed that, and I surprised myself with how quickly I had taken to them. These boys really made me feel like a kid again.

I realised it was a good thing, too - I was becoming too tied up in my work and was beginning to forget who I truly was. I was so busy trying to find my Brothers and Sisters, that I had lost myself in the process.

Sometimes, I wonder if that's what happened to them.

I shake my head of the thoughts and go to look for Lennox.

I bet he forgot that I was leaving today - it has been really quiet for a while.

~

Spending around 5 minutes jogging around the base in my civvies, just some joggers and a tank top, I had found the Lennox chatting with Epps and the others, most of them had their backs to me.

I began to approach them, when I had an idea.

I slowed and quieted my footsteps, and began to creep up behind Lennox and Epps. Fig had spotted me but quickly turned back to the conversation after seeing my finger at my lips signaling to keep quiet.

Thank God I was in a team that had a sense of humour.

I was right behind Lennox and Epps now, and I was standing in between them. I was much taller than most of the soldiers, reaching in about 6' 6" in American terms, but they still hadn't noticed me.

By now, it was obvious that the others had seen, and made a joke in order to keep the laughter on their faces as unsuspecting as possible.

I leaned in, real slow, right between their heads and close to their ears.

And whispered, low and eerie.

"Boo."

Their screams made my day.

Donnelly had been recording it on his cellphone and doubled over in laughter.

"FUCKING HELL!"

"SHIT!"

They jumped so high that they almost reached my height.

I was proper crying, doubled over, clenching my stomach.

"Naw, fUCK you, Colonel! With all due respect, sir!" Epps said it so sarcastically, still holding his heart, I was on the floor, I couldn't breathe!

"What the Hell?! Dude!" Lennox was panting, hands on his knees, shaking his head at the ground.

The rest of the team was holding onto each other or leaning on a pole (or rolling on the ground in Figs' case), everybody practically crying in laughter.

"AmAZING!" Donnelly was replaying his video, crying again, "I will never take you seriously, again!"

Lennox glared at him, making Donnelly laugh.

I had calmed down, somewhat, and pulled myself from the ground. I wiped my eyes as chuckles still spilled occasionally from my lips.

"Oooh, that was beautiful!"

"Har har, laugh it up, you assholes," But Lennox also began to chuckle at his reaction.

"Oh, I needed that," I sighed, coming down from my high. Lennox finally turned to face me properly.

"You know I'm leaving, right."

"Oh shit, yeah..."

This sobered the team.

"Oh yeah, we forgot 'bout that."

"Guess, we got so used to you being here, we thought you were gonna stay. I guess we forgot," The words came complicated out of Figs' mouth. The words were somewhat dramatic, but the feelings rang true.

I smiled at them.

"We'll see each other again. Maybe not tomorrow, but someday, I know."

"That your Asian magic tellin' you that?"

I snorted at Epps, Yeah, sure, keep rubbing my Grandmama's fortunes in, why don't ya.

"Hopefully soon, chica."

"Awww, we need to take a photo before you leave!"

"We better see you happy, sister!"

"Yeah, hopefully, a General next time, too! I could use a friend like that, get me outta trouble." *thunk!* "Hey! Ow..." "You get yourself into trouble, get yaself outta it!"

Words were coming from my brothers, but only their eyes told me the truth. 

 I will miss you, too.

The words of love were stuck in our pride, so words of friendship would have to do.

I turned back to Lennox, who was rubbing his neck, hand on his hip. He looked somewhat upset, and that made me sad, in such a simple way, that was what friends felt.

Like we were kids, and only emotion and young, dumb thoughts held our minds.

It was hard to explain.

"I guess, this is goodbye, eh, Colonel?"

"It is, Captain."

He sighs, and holds out a hand to shake - he knows how much I don't appreciate uncalled-for skinship.

"We're gonna miss you,"

I took his hand and we shook firmly.

But I surprised him by pulling him into a hug, patting his back firmly, and he quickly recovered to reciprocate.

"I'll miss you, too," I paused, letting our feelings sink in, as much as we would never admit it, "Brother."

His happiness was all I needed, and that was all I felt as I held him in my hug.

As much as the sadness lingered, he could finally see I appreciated him enough to recognise him as my Brother as much as he recognised me as his Sister.

We let go, and I held him at arm's length, before letting him go to face the team.

They had such smiles on their faces, so undeserving of the sadness in their eyes.

"I'll miss you all, dearly."

I began to walk away, towards the barracks for my bags.

"We will see each other again, I promise."

"We'll hold you to that," Epps beat his chest twice before giving me a peace sign, and I reciprocated the gesture. The team repeated it.

It was our signal, the teams' symbol.

It was a sign our hearts would still beat until peace was won, because it wasn't given. That we would die before the world wasn't at peace, for once and for all.

"Or something like that." we would always say, too.

And so, I walked away.

~

Washington, DC.

Landing a while ago, I decided to chat with Hobbs before he left on his return flight, bringing back supplies.

By the time we had landed, it was an early day in Washington, but fairly late in Qatar.

I thought about how the boys were doing, if Lennox finally got signal to chat with Sarah, or if Epps got his basketball back, if Don took more photos.

I smiled at the thought, what they could be getting up to now.

Aaron suddenly got a call.

But not on his personal, on his military cell.

I did too.

"Hello?"

'Turn on the TV.'

I recognised the voice of my techie back in England, an MI6 mastermind, Jules.

"What -?" But I already complied, with the remote in my hand, turning on the Panasonic TV.

'Just do it, go on any news channel.'

I was getting worried, something in the world must have happened, but I turned to MSNBC, the closest channel.

I almost dropped my phone.

"We're getting reports that more than 40 C-17's lifted from this very base, why, we still don't know, but reports are telling us it has to do with the recent attack in Qatar, our informants telling us, that just happened moments ago -"

I turned to Aaron, he was staring at me, his Military cell held near his ear but slipping from his hand.

"Someone attacked SOCCENT."

It felt like someone punched me, hard, right in the large intestine.

"They- they called off my flight, said to reroute to the Las Vegas base as soon as possible, I'm getting debriefed."

My posture was rigid, frozen in shock.

"They're- they're saying- saying, n-no survivors..." the words came heavy out of Aaron's mouth.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't.

I gripped Aaron's shoulder, he held my arm, we didn't look away from the TV.

The news just kept rolling in.

I let my arm drop, and I barely registered my phone falling from my hands.

It just kept getting worse and worse.

Aaron and I didn't need to say anything, we just hugged each other in a pitiful, heart-broken, frozen hug.

I think I'm in shock, registered somewhere in my mind.

I think I felt Aaron's tears on my shoulder.

Don't worry, I could feel my own slip down my cheeks, I won't tell.

And we just held each other, soaking in each others mourning tears and shock.

We were just there.

We could have done something.

But I knew that wasn't true.

I pulled away, and we held each other's shoulders, looking in each other's eyes to focus on getting ourselves to breathe.

"We need to go."

Aaron nodded, resolve climbing back into his eyes, chasing the hopelessness into the back of his mind.

"You need to fly."

"I need to fly."

"You're taking me with you."

Aaron nodded, with little hesitation.

"You're coming with me."

I nodded.

We both needed to know. We both needed the report. We both needed closure.

Transfer can go suck itself - I've got more important things to do.

We let each other go when we felt ourselves come back a little, and Aaron forced himself to switch off the TV, and I picked my phone off of the floor.

"Jules?"

'Still here.'

"I'm not going to Transfer."

'I know.'

I smiled, only momentarily.

"Good."

'Do what you need to do, I've got you.'

"I will."

And with that, we ended the call.

"Aaron."

The pilot looks to me, settling his own affairs.

"Time to haul ass."

Aaron, with renewed, vengeful vigour, smirked, and we got moving to grab our things. 

We fist-bumped, and I sat in the Co-Pilots seat, and we began the start-off procedure.

Mourning for soldiers was short, curt, you couldn't spend too much time after a battle sitting still. So as insensitive this seems to the outside world, the soldier knew...

...War was no place to mourn.

Because whoever did this, started a war...

With me.

And whoever did this...

...I was going to kill them.

~

Las Vegas, Military Intelligence HQ, location [          ]

The base was in the middle of the dead desert in Nevada, far from civilization. The closest city was Las Vegas, and that was still a good 70 miles away by car.

So calling it the Las Vegas base was far from technically true, but that was its nickname.

Hidden from view in the mountains, the base was HQ for American Intelligence operations, doing the work the Pentagon couldn't.

The easiest access to the base was by helicopter.

For a huge C-17, an airport disguised as a rusty old local airstrip was our go-to, where a convoy was waiting for us.

"Major Aaron Hobbs?"

"That's me."

The Private, holding a little blue clipboard, soon spotted me, a tall Asian woman who wasn't hard to miss, behind Hobbs.

His eyes widened.

"And -?"

"Colonel Ashara Xi."

He jumped at my voice, he realised who I was.

"Ah! Sir-sirs, if you follow me! Your transport has been, uh, waiting for you -!"

But we were already walking towards the Jeep.

The Private ran after us, trying to keep up with our determined long strides.

The Private ran ahead of us in order to open the door for us, mostly me, but Aaron and I gave him a cold stare and he backed off to receive our bags.

He flinched when I lifted my arm to drop my duffle in his awaiting arms, and quietly sighed as the sudden weight made him almost fall to the floor trying to catch it.

My bag was heavy for the usual child, I would admit.

Aaron slipped into the Jeep, and I followed, and the driver smiled at us in greeting, his aviators flashing in the desert sun.

"Sirs."

We nodded back in receiving his address.

The Private stuttered into the passenger seat, seeing us in the center mirror and flinching at our emotionless, icy stares, before keeping his eyes firmly in front of him.

But sometimes, curiosity had his eyes flicker back to the mirror.

The driver took us to the base - it is a 10-minute drive that will feel 9 minutes too long, both Aaron and I were practically ready to jump out of the car window, Aaron more so than I.

But we kept silent, so the rest of the drive was kept silent.

The driver seemed to not fear us as much respect us, he was most likely a reserve after serving.

The Private was probably just a kid from Cali, catching a 'lucky break' to work as an errand boy after leaving Military school with high grades.

I sighed and closed my eyes to meditate in what remaining 'peace' I had.

My mind was angry and my soul was restless - I needed to clear my head if I was going to be successful in hunting down my enemies.

I took deep breaths, keeping my head slightly bowed, my fists on my knees, and allowed my body to shift to every jostle of the jeep instead of forcing my body to keep itself still.

Breathe.

The minutes passed like a breeze for me, and I could feel Aaron relax and copy me, in order to somewhat cool down his practically vibrating body - he seemed ready to explode, to be honest.

Not soon enough, we arrived.

~

Inside the base, we were quickly led to a hall filled with other military personnel. Aaron and I kept towards the back. At the front, was a projector screen, and a projector. On it, was the hall from the Pentagon, displaying the Secretary of Defense, Keller. A commendable man who I knew on a personal basis.

"At this moment in time, we have no information, but this sound,"

Behind him was displayed a replay of a signal relay, displayed on a multidimensional oscillator.

It was a horrible screeching noise, and something about it seemed hauntingly familiar.

I ignored it and continued to pay attention.

"That was the signal that hacked our network. That's the signal that grounded Air Force One."

Aaron turned to me, a shocked look in his eyes.

We didn't hear about that yet.

"Right now, the President has ordered Def Con 1, and you are our now our closest defense to finding this signal and stopping it before they hack us again."

He paused to look around, gripping his podium in stern worry.

"Good luck to us all."

And the projector cut off.

Movement of personnel could be heard getting ready to hurry out of the hall - everything was on a timer, now

Aaron and I frowned to each other.

"Alright! Get your orders and get moving, we've got work to do!" Came the shout of someone from the front.

We moved to merge with the leaving crowd.

"Something doesn't seem right," Aaron divulged as we strode down the hallways, trying to find a room where we could talk.

"I know."

Something really doesn't feel right, and I felt like I knew what.

Looks like my mind wasn't as clear as I wanted it to be.

We found an empty conference room and closed the door and closed the blinds.

"So? What do you think it is? I have a feeling you know."

The Pilot was beginning to get frustrated and it was understandable.

"Trust me, I feel like I should know, too," growling in frustration, pacing as I tried to think.

"That signal, you can tell, it wasn't normal...it looked..."

My head snapped up.

"Quantum," I slapped my hands against a desk.

"It looked Quantum."

"But that doesn't even exist yet!"

"But it hacked the defense network in under a minute, which is impossible and we both know it!" I yelled back.

"Unless...it's quantum."

We let the thought simmer.

"That can't be real. No country or organization on Earth exists powerful enough to even begin physically researching quantum mechanics in such a manner! It's all still theory, sci-fi!" Aaron began to pace now.

But something he said caught my mind's eye.

"Wait, backpedal, fucking repeat what you just said."

"What? Nothing on Earth exists like that, sci-fi -"

I gasped, Of course! Why the fuck did I forget such a HUGE FUCKING THING?!

"ON EARTH!"

Aaron jumped at my shout.

I shook his shoulders like a madman.

"Nothing on Earth! Because it's not FROM Earth!"

"Ash? What are you saying?" He slightly trembled at the look in my eyes.

"Aaron, I need you to listen to me, you're the only one I can trust right now, and you're the only one that could believe me. You have to listen to me very carefully for the next few minutes, and PLEASE don't think I'm crazy! I will give you proof of what I'm about to tell you, I promise you, but you have to trust me!"

Aaron stood stock still at my desperation. Never before had he seen me in a state, he didn't know I was capable of such emotion.

"Ok."

"Ok."

I breathed in deep, figuring out the best way to tell him.

"Ok, don't laugh, but aliens."

"...What."

"Aliens. It's aliens. Evil beings from the far reaches of space. They hacked us because they're looking for something or someone."

"Aliens?"

Aaron stared at me, wide-eyed and worried, "Ash, are you ok?"

"Aaron!" I shook him, "Think about it! The only possibility is something not from Earth, and we both know there has to be something out there? Come on!"

The Pilot looked away, deep in thought.

I waited patiently.

"To be honest, considering everything right now, aliens seems like a completely rational explanation."

I exhaled so hard from relief that my lungs imploded.

Thank God I have crazy, stupid friends who can actually believe in this scrap.

"Yes. Now, their faction name is Decepticons, and they are beings from a planet called Cybertron, now long dead from their several million-year long war that decimated their home. Aaron, these are not little green aliens I'm talking about, you have to clear your head of that shit. They are metal titans, living, thinking, feeling beings, capable of love and hate just as much as any human, but they feel it much more intensely and differently, we are, after all, different species. Now, The Decepticons have an enemy, our Friends, The Autobots, equally sentient, but not purely evil. Over the cesspool called time, the Decepticons once had a pure-ish goal, a political, a revolution to change their planate from their class system that many bots hated but would never say out loud. I could get all in the history and faction scrap, but we don't have time. There is an Autobot, a Prime (a 'religiously' important figure, a commander, the one and only leader and savior), Optimus Prime, who is kinda like Robo-Jesus to us but that's not the point, who is literally the only being in the universe that can save us all."

I took a breath.

"Now, he's here, somewhere, on Earth, and I know this because the Decepticons are mobilizing, and it's for an important reason too, cus there's not much stuff more important on Earth than Prime. They have all been hiding here, on Earth, because they know the Human's can hurt them. So they've been sitting still, quiet, waiting for a call, a call to return to war. Because their war isn't over and hasn't been over for the thousands of years it has been quiet. Now, really, the one big bot that can call the Decepticons to war is one called Megatron, a slippery, scary-ass motherfucker who singlehandedly darkened his own planet over an honour war that became twisted as any war would. But this ugly bitch has been festering in some dark hole for who knows how long and who knows where, but he's coming back and we're all screwed."

I took another deep breath.

"Did you get all of that?"

Aaron was still. Silent. In shock. But he shakily nodded his head.

There was a morbid sense of understanding in his eyes.

"So, they're looking for something."

"Yes."

"Don't you think we need to find that thing?"

I paused.

"Oh wait, fuck, we do."

In that moment, my phone went off.

We look down at my pocket, and I fish out my phone.

A call.

From him.

I answered, holding the phone to my ear.

"Sir?"

"I have what you're looking for."

Aaron heard, and his eyes widened.

My gaze hardened.

"Where?"

"He's in Tranquility, Nevada."

"He?"

"Mmmhmmm, a boy, Sam..."

" Samuel Witwicky. "

I couldn't believe it, a Witwicky.

" Find him, and you find them. The Decepticons attacked Qatar, and your friends; specifically a Con, BlackOut, and a Minicon, Scorponok. Do me a favour and tear the bastards apart for me, dear. "

And the call dropped.

"Aaron. Prepare to leave."

"Tranquility, Nevada?"

"Tranquilty, Nevada."

~~ 

please comment if you see any spelling mistakes or errors, i will edit it