Note: This One-Shot is unfinished and has been discontinued.

Part 3:

The Conference

“State your business please.”

Taylor and her yellow volkswagon guardian pulled into the entrance of a military base, on the coast of Huron Lake in Michigan. They were stopped for inspection by a guard sitting at the opening.

“My name is Taylor McCarthy. I always carry an umbrella when it’s sunny” she replied.

The guard’s eyes widened, then nodded. Without another word, he raised the gate, and they silently drove into the base.

“Humans have strange methods…” Bumblebee commented, trailing off.

Taylor had just spoken code to the guard. No one, not the stationed soldiers, nor the administration at this Air Force base knew what purpose her, selected soldiers, and strange, flashy vehicles were entering for. All that they knew, was that it was important, and they were forbidden to question it. They were to let anyone in who spoke a particular phrased sentence for this meeting. Seconds after they pulled in, a large, red and blue truck paused at the entrance.

Optimus Prime…

Taylor thought as she adjusted the rear mirror in front of her. Of course he’d be the last to arrive.

 

“Hey… ‘Gale?”

“Hmm?”

“What were to happen if…We couldn’t stay?”

Taylor leaned forward in the driver’s seat. It was difficult to remember that she had to keep her hands on the steering wheel. Even though Bumblebee was the one driving, she had to pretend that she was.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

The yellow volkswagen came to a stop at an intersection on the base where the light had turned red. Taylor pulled the visor down, as the morning sun was blinding her. Her companion sighed.

“I was just thinking about the incident back in Chicago. I get the impression humans don’t like us very much. They’ll probably think we’ll cause too much trouble or something.”

Taylor leaned back in her chair. The light turned green, and they continued forward.

“Well…” Taylor began, “They aren’t wrong to assume that. You haven’t seen it yet, but Earth has quite a few problems of its own. Every planet, and every race has its share of corruption, whether it’s greed, being power hungry, or other such matters.”

Bumblebee scoffed.

“You sound like Optimus.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Then, she said, “I think we’ll be okay. Trust me, with the Decepticons skulking about, they’ll take all the help they can get.”

Bumblebee chuckled.

“Well, I guess that makes sense. They are pretty small…, and fragile…, and fleshy.”

Taylor smacked the frame in front of her and remarked in a half jokingly, half serious tone,

“Alright now, don’t be rude! Remember, they were here first.”

Bumblebee chuckled mischievously. “Yes sir!”

 

Finally they came to a warehouse, where a red topkick pickup truck sat on one end, and a white, slim, Audi on the other, along with dozens of armed soldiers dressed in black, guarding it. The doors were opened, and both Bumblebee, and the truck behind them slowly pulled in.

 

The door clattered and screeched as the warehouse door closed behind them. Everyone froze. Taylor held her breath as the two sides inched closer together. She could hear generators start up outside, and engines of planes roaring to life. White noise. No one could hear what was about to happen.

Finally, with a final, grinding screech, the doors closed, and locked securely. The lights turned on. Taylor let out a sigh in relief. She opened the driver’s seat door and stepped out. The door shut behind her, and the volkswagen beetle transformed back into the sixteen foot tall yellow robot. A man in his mid-thirties stepped out of the truck before it transformed into a robot that was twenty-eight feet tall. The robot stood tall and straight, with his shoulders back and his hands gripped anxiously.

Optimus Prime.

“Captain Lennox” Taylor greeted.

The short, unkept brown haired soldier wearing a formal, black United States Army uniform, turned to her and nodded.

“Captain Knightingale. Good to see you in better health. You look nice.”

Taylor smiled, and nodded. “Thank you.”

 

A large camera system and televisions were in place a few feet in front of them. Tech supporters and soldiers were booting the system up to start up the encrypted, private broadcast.

“Well here we are” Taylor sighed to herself.

She adjusted her coat and rolled her shoulders back as she glanced above her. The leader of the Autobots was looking around, examining the room, his hands behind his back. He stood stoically, but Taylor could tell he was twiddling his fingers, perturbed.

Then, as if he noticed the hybrid human was shooting glances at him, Optimus looked down at her and asked, “Are you nervous, Captain?”

Taylor was startled by his low, but booming voice. She almost jumped. Slowly, she gazed up at him.

“A little bit…”

She turned behind her to look at Bumblebee, who gave her a look and then Taylor added:

“Okay…Maybe more than a little…Sir.”

A small smile curled onto his lips.

“Don’t be nervous. I too, did not have much confidence at your age.”

Taylor looked back up at him.

“With all due respect sir, surely you did not have to speak as an ambassador, on behalf of your people with little-to-no experience.”

“You would be surprised about what I have done.”

Then one of the technicians announced: “Everything is in place. Proceed whenever you are ready.”

 Taylor McCarthy could feel her heart beating at a fast pace. She froze, her eyes glued to the screen in front of her as the encryption loading bar on the screen flashed

“100%”

Everyone was waiting on her.

“What if I fail? What if I say something wrong? What if I can’t think through something straight? What if I stumble and look like a moron?”

She was about to drown in her own anxiety as she heard nothing but the rapid thumping of her own primary organ. Then, a voice caused her to pull back into the real world.

“Don’t worry ‘Gale! You’ve got this!”

Taylor turned around. Bumblebee grinned, and gave her a thumbs up with his hand. Taylor smiled.

“Captain Lennox and I are here for your support Knightingale” said the calm, rumbling voice of Optimus Prime, “You are not alone.”

Taylor closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Then, she ordered, “Proceed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a heads up, because I can’t scrap this one-shot, consider this non-canon to Transformers: Revolution. In the future, references to this event in the series may change.

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