Angel looked over the new Cybertronian landscape. It looked a lot like Earth, actually. The biggest difference between the old Cybertron and the new one was the addition of trees and grass. The buildings, highways, and other mechanical marvels, remained the same.
Beast modes were all the rage nowadays. Reformatting, however, was looked upon as not only unnecessary, but unfashionable. Few bots wanted to become more "one" with their other modes.
It had been nearly six months since Optimus died, nearly six months since Cybertron was saved. Six months since the remaining beast warriors moved on with their lives.
Most of the warriors had settled down and began slightly more mundane careers. They all met once every week at a restaurant to catch up on each other's lives. Cheetor’s love life was a joke around the group- he couldn’t seem to get a girlfriend, and on the rare occasion when he did, she didn’t stay around for long.
But Angel couldn't move on. She came online in the middle of a war; warfare was the only thing she'd ever known. She had no skills to contribute to the prosperity of Cybertron, aside from her flute skills. Spirit, ever the best friend, remained steadily at her side. The little white cat was able to land a job at Rattrap's research laboratory.
To Angel, it was almost a challenge to see how quickly she could lose a job. Her record so far was two days. The task was simple enough: all she had to do was deliver packages around Cybertropolis as fast as she could. Apparently people didn't appreciate packages getting delivered via their eighteenth-story office window. Angel never did like stairs or elevators. Her second best (worst?) was a flight service between Cybertropolis and various other cities. Angel was a natural pilot, a real ace. Unfortunately, her flight style was so crazy, most people couldn't handle the Gs or insane drops, climbs, and other things Angel liked to do. She held that job for a week, and that long only because it took her a few days to get really familiar with the controls.
It was a pity the Cybertropolis Symphony didn't pay wages. It turned out Angel was one of the best flute players on the planet. So, when she wasn't practicing, she was at the local arcade. And at the arcade was where things started to look up...
"Ha! High score again! Fifth time this week!" Angel laughed as she prepared to deposit another coin into the flight simulator. The screen flashed to GET READY, and then GO!!!!, as Angel expertly maneuvered the computer animated ship through various obstacles and enemy fire.
"That's some nice piloting skills you've got there," a voice behind her said. Angel didn't look away from the screen, but managed to mutter a thanks.
"You take flying lessons, or something?" the voice persisted.
"Nope." She narrowly dodged a falling piece of debris fifty times bigger than her ship.
"You ever thought about joining the service? Y'know, exploration missions in deep space?"
"Did that."
"Care to do it again? Watch out for that enemy over on your-"
"Got it. I'm told my piloting is too insane for anyone to take."
"I don't think so. I think they're-"
"Are you some kind of recruiter or are you just trying to keep me from getting your name from the high score, like I'm about to do right... now."
"I'm a recruiter. Do you have a job? I've seen you around this arcade an awful lot."
"No, and I have a lot of free time."
"There's good pay in the service."
Angel blasted the enemy mothership into dust-sized pieces.
"Leave your business card-thingie. I'll think about it."
Thinking about it didn't take very long. Spirit thought it was a good idea, and Cheetor and everyone else seemed to agree. The black panther and the little white cat signed up for an exploration mission, and were going to ship out today.
"Are you still standing there?" Spirit hopped onto the bigger cat's head. "C'mon, we have to get our stuff, say our goodbyes, and report in. If we hang around here any longer, we'll be late!"
"Okay! Let's go!" Spirit took her position on Angel's back, the panther took a running start, and flew up into the sky, heading straight for their apartment.
Their small, one-room apartment lacked decorations and furnishings, except for a music stand in a corner. It was on the fiftieth story of an apartment complex. Angel chose it because of the balcony. Angel wasn't very good at using conventional modes of transportation. She flew (or sometimes jumped from rooftop to rooftop) everywhere.
Angel grabbed her flute, which she had built herself out of drone parts, which gave it a very sweet and consistent tone, and put it into her subspace compartment. She made sure she had her bow (don't want to leave home without it!), and was ready to go. Possessions didn't mean a whole lot to her.
"Hey, Cyberkitty, you ready?" she asked, tapping her foot impatiently.
"I was ready before you were."
"Well, then. Goodbye little apartment!" Angel and Spirit walked out onto the balcony and closed the door behind them. Spirit took up her customary passenger position, and Angel flew towards Cheetor's place.
Cheetor heard an ominous tapping on his window. Instantly knowing whom it was, he opened it up and let Angel in.
"We don't have much time," Spirit told him.
"So, today's the day," he said. " Angel, don't screw up! And Spirit, look out for Angel. Make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble!"
"Always do!" Spirit cheerfully replied.
"Well, don't wait around here on my account! Get going!"
"See ya, Spothead! Tell the others we said bye!"
"Only if you don't call me Spothead."
Both cats smiled (Angel's was more of a grin), and they exited in the same manner they came in.
"To the spaceport!"
Angel flew along the city's skyline, attracting stares from normal bots on the ground below. She was used to this, and also used to the things people shouted at her when she flew by. Most people didn't like her methods (why not? It's not like there's any harm in flying!), but some people enjoyed the sight of a great black cat zipping along in the air.
There were hordes of people coming and going from the spaceport. Angel hovered over their heads as she read the Spaceport Directory.
"Excuse me, your tail is in my face," an angry mech growled. Angel, still hovering, turned around and apologized profusely. He looked like he had some sort of bird as a beast mode. Spirit meowed she'd found the launch site, so they'd better get going. Angel apologized again and flew off.
Finding the right launch pad wasn't hard from the air, since they were marked with large numbers. Angel landed and walked up to the ship that was now her home.
"She's a beaut, isn't she?" a nice voice asked. Angel turned around to look at a huge bear.
"Yeah! She's great!"
The bear transformed (the old-fashioned way) into a heavily built femme. She said, "I'm Kodiak, commander of this ship. You are...?"
Angel transformed (the new-fashioned way, obviously) and held out her hand. "I'm Angel." They shook hands.
"And I'm Spirit," the little white cat said, sitting on the ground. "I'd shake, but, well, as you can see, it could be taken as a joke." Kodiak stared down at Spirit, who stared back at her passively.
"I can't transform, as I'm sure you've heard," Spirit said, "but don't think for a moment that it affects my performance much. Except, keep in mind I don't have opposable thumbs."
"Understood. Actually, someone of your stature can be pretty handy to have around. Angel, how did you acquire your beast mode? I don't recall seeing winged cats of any sort."
"It was sort of an accident," Angel said. Cheetor warned her not to tell anyone about her ties with the Vok, because there could be trouble. Or dissection. In either case, it was in Angel's best interest to keep silent about that matter.
Someone behind her grumbled angrily. It was the mech from before.
"It's you again," he said.
"It sure is," Angel replied in a genial manner. "I'm Angel." The mech snorted, and turned to Kodiak. Angel's feathers puffed out and her tail lashed to and fro, but she didn't say anything.
"My name is Darkwing," he said to Kodiak.
Spirit grumbled something in Cat.
"Right, you're the pilot," Kodiak said, unaware of Spirit's caustic remark. But Angel signed up as pilot, didn't she?? If she ever saw that recruiter again, she was going to throttle him. And maybe eat his Spark, if she were hungry.
The lift came down, stopping Angel’s train of thought. A smallish bot hopped off, went up to Kodiak, and said, “She’s all ready for liftoff. Everything’s go.”
“Good. We just need the rest of the crew to get here. Jimbob, this is Darkwing, Angel, and Spirit.” Angel smiled at the mention of her name, Spirit dipped her head, and Darkwing just glared. “Alright, while we’re waiting for everyone else, you may acquaint yourselves with the ship and your quarters."
Angel and Spirit's room looked a lot like the one they had on the Axalon. They weren't very surprised, since it was probably standard. Their new ship, the Rana, was pretty much the same as the Axalon, excepting a few technological advances made after the Axalon was built. It also had a Sentinel Security System, which Rattrap modified from Rhinox's original Sentinel. Rattrap had the patent issued in Rhinox's name, because it was originally Rhinox's idea.
Kodiak called everyone into the control room, where two more bots waited.
"All right, lets see if this ship can fly!" she said. Everyone nodded and took their position. Angel's face was blank as she watched Darkwing take his seat in the pilot's chair, but Spirit could tell what she was thinking by looking at her tail lash back and forth. Angel was very easy to read if you knew how to do it right. Angel's job was to communicate and relay information from the tower to the ship. Spirit was to watch the radar and make sure no one got in the way of their takeoff.
"Rana, you are clear for takeoff," the voice in Angel's earphones told her. She hated voices in her head. It made her fur crawl. Spirit noticed this, but didn't say anything.
"Understood," Angel replied to the person in the tower. If she was going to have to do this job, she was going to play the part right. "We're clear for takeoff, Kodiak."
"Good. Darkwing?"
"Initiating takeoff procedure. Firing up engines, beginning vertical ascent."
Angel relayed this information to the tower. She didn't know if she was supposed to or not, but it seemed like a good idea.
The rest of takeoff was uneventful, and the Rana cleared the atmosphere without a hitch. The navigator gave the coordinates of their destination to Darkwing, so he had the ship enter transwarp space, towards the place they were to explore. Angel couldn't get the earphones off fast enough.
"Right," Kodiak said, the official atmosphere of takeoff dissolving, "I don't believe everyone's been introduced yet. Lets go around and state your name, other mode, and any previous experience in this field. I'll start. My name is Kodiak, as you all should know, and my alternate mode is a kodiak bear. This is my third mission, and my second one commanding. Next?"
Jimbob stood up. "My name is Jimbob, I am a pygmy goat, and this is my seventh mission." Angel wasn't the only one who had a hard time not giggling. Jimbob the goat.
A tall, thin femme stood up. "Hiya! I'm Marcy, a red kangaroo. This is my first mission, and I'm pleased to meet all of you!"
"Darkwing. Great horned owl. Fifth mission." He didn't even stand up.
"Um... I'm Alcan, a puffin... uh... second mission." Alcan looked uncomfortable with everyone's attention focused on him.
It was Angel's turn. "I'm Angel, a panther-bird semi-fuzor, and... I dunno. Spirit, would this be my second or third mission?"
"Second exploration mission. Although we didn't do much exploring the first time. I'm Spirit, domestic cat."
"You're reformatted," Marcy said, looking at Angel intently. "Why?"
Angel looked at her hand and flexed it as she said, "I didn't really have much of a choice at the time. It was either reformat or die." No one else on the ship besides Spirit was reformatted.
"Reformat or die?"
"I was involved with the War for Cybertron, six months ago."
"You WERE?" Angel felt like a celebrity.
"Uh... yeah."
"Semi-fuzor?" Jimbob queried.
"That's what I'm listed as. The only bird aspects I have are wings."
"I know what a semi-fuzor is. But the only fuzors, semi or otherwise, came from the Beast Wars."
"Yep!"
"You were in the War for Cybertron AND the Beast Wars?"
"Sure was! Best time of my life!"
"So you served under Optimus Primal," Kodiak said thoughtfully. Angel nodded solemnly. Optimus was still a sad subject to talk about.
Darkwing sniffed, "Had Primal not messed up and let Megatron go in the first place, there would be no reformatted, and no new Cybertron." Angel glared at Darkwing, growling fiercely.
"I'd be very careful what you say, Darkwing," Spirit said, keeping the anger she felt to a minimum. "I'm willing to bet Angel here has more experience on the battlefield than you. She's not given to explosions and such, but she does have hot buttons, and you've just pushed one. And," she let her words fill with threat, "we knew Optimus better than you. He was a great leader, and I sincerely doubt you could've led half as well as he did."
Kodiak chose then to intervene. "Stand down, you three. I'm not going to have a fight on my ship, especially this early on. I suggest everyone retire to their quarters to rest. You will be notified when it is your turn to man the comm." The Maximals obediently followed her orders.
She was in the middle of the circle of stones again. The voices called, "Destroyer... Destroyer..." and presences moved around her. She couldn't see them, but she could sense them. And they could see her. And still they called.
Marcy slipped into Angel and Spirit's quarters. It was Angel's turn for watch. The cats were both sleeping, Angel on the bed and Spirit in a corner. Marcy tread softly, not wanting to wake Spirit. She reached out to shake the sleeping panther awake, and her timing seemed good, because it looked like Angel was having a nightmare.
Spirit opened an eyelid just barely enough to see a kangaroo about to touch Angel. The little white cat jumped to her feet and shouted "Wait!", but it was too late.
As soon as Angel felt touch, she lashed out at her enemy, claws splayed, ready to defeat it. And she heard a scream, one of fear. And her eyes shot open.
"Angel! It's okay! You're not under attack!" Spirit's voice cut through the confusion.
Angel wasn't in the middle of the circle stones. She was in her quarters, on the Rana, and she'd just attacked Marcy.
The rest of the crew flocked to see what was wrong. What they saw was Angel, wide-eyed and surprised, Marcy cowering on the floor, and Spirit looking like she dreaded what would happen next. Marcy slowly backed away from the panther, unharmed. She'd moved out of the way just in time to dodge the claws of death.
Angel wanted to hide. Hide under a rock, where no one would ever find her. With no rocks in sight, she hid her head under her paws, and hid herself further with her wings.
"You have dreams." Kodiak rubbed her temples, trying to ward off an oncoming headache.
"Yeah."
"What happens in those dreams?" Angel didn't say anything. She looked down at her paws. Kodiak wouldn't let Spirit be with her, and she wasn't sure how much she should say.
"Has anyone else from the Beast Wars exhibited signs of post-traumatic stress?"
"I don't know."
"What did you see that you think may have caused these dreams?" Kodiak was wrong to put the blame on post-traumatic stress. The dreams weren't stress, they were messages.
"I don't know."
"Angel, it's not going to kill you if you tell me what happened."
"Yes, it is. It could." Kodiak sat back in her chair and brought Darkwing up on the comm. "Darkwing, stop the engines. We're not moving."
"Understood."
"Angel, unless you talk to me, we're not going on with this mission. I can't have secrets like this running around my ship. Secrets tend to beget secrets."
Angel let out a ragged sigh. "Then turn the ship around."
"Angel, please-"
"I can't tell you. Turn the ship around."
"Darkwing."
"Yes?"
"Put in a course for Cybertron. We're turning around."
Angel looked in through a window, glancing at what the shop had to offer. She was occupying herself by window shopping. Nearly a week had passed since the Rana dumped her and Spirit back on Cybertron, picked up two new crewmembers, and headed for wherever. They moved back into their apartment, and Spirit went back to work at the lab. And Angel was bored.
She was also walking on the ground for once. Window shopping kind of required that. When the shop lost her interest, she moved on to the next one. But the next one didn't have any windows.
The sign said, "Fortunes read." Angel blinked and looked at it for a moment. Why not? What could it hurt? She opened the door and cautiously walked in.
The busy chatter going on inside stopped as soon as the door closed behind her. The place was poorly lit, but she could see a small blue femme who ended her conversation with someone else abruptly.
"I'm sorry. Did I come at a bad time?" Angel backed towards the door. The femme didn't look at Angel, but she said, "I didn't forsee your coming." She sounded old.
"Oh." Angel began to think this was a hoax. The other bot turned around.
"The Seer predicts everything."
"Everything?"
"Well," the Seer admitted with a small smile, "Not everything. But you are the first to come without me predicting it." She sounded worried.
"There's a first time for everything?"
"Come. You're here to have your fortune read, are you not?" The Seer chuckled. "Let's see if I haven't lost my touch." The other bot moved away, and Angel took a seat at a small table. The Seer took position at the other side of the table. Angel wondered why there wasn't a crystal ball anywhere. The Seer put her hands on both sides of Angel's head, and was silent. Angel didn't feel anything funny, and then the Seer took her hands slowly away.
"I see... nothing in your future."
"Oh." Was that supposed to mean something? "Is that good?"
"You have no future. I can see your past, but your future... isn't."
"Isn't what?"
"It just isn't. I've never seen anything like this."
"You can... see my past?" As weird as it sounded, Angel was given to believe the Seer wasn't a fake.
"I know all about your past now, Angel. But you're here to see your future, and all I can say is you have none." The Seer knew her name.
"Am I going to die?"
"I... don't know. I have forseen deaths before. But for you I can see nothing. I will hazard a guess, though, and only a guess: Something big is about to happen."
End Prologue