Sunstreaker's Charge ✔️

Ch. 1 The Secret My Brother Has kept

Lily’s P.O.V.
My older brother, Luke, is serving in the military. That’s all I have known for the past year until today. He got permission to take me to where he works. I didn’t think they’d let a twelve-year-old in a military base. Not as surprising as my older brother driving a red Ferrari 450 Italica. How the hell did he afford that?! No way Luke won the lottery; he’d share the money with our parents. He’d likely say my college education is taken care of. Has Luke been lying about his job? Is he a criminal?

Luke’s P.O.V.
I don’t know if Lily is ready, but she’ll love learning that I’m working with the Autobots. As far as most humans are concerned, the Autobots went home to Cybertron. They’re half right, but ignore Cybertron is attached to Earth now. There was protesting the first few weeks after the battle in England, but I think people realized nothing could be done. Ok, continue the ban on Transformers, but they saved our planet. Unless told specifically, people won’t even know they’re talking to an Autobot.
Lily was only six when the battle in Chicago happened, but she has been hearing kids at school talk about the battle in the U.K.

I got permission from my superior, William Lennox, to bring my sister to the base. He brings his kids to the base often. We have a plan for when soldiers bring their families to the base. Including if the Decepticons attack while a soldier’s family is at the base to ensure they’re safe.
“First, you’ll meet my superior,” I tell Lily as we walk out of the hangar while Mirage tells the other bots to go to the hangar.

William waits for us in the conference room. I thought Prime was supposed to be with him. Please don’t tell me cons are attacking.
Lennox does the standard introduction and talks about his kids, which I didn’t think Lily would say she’d like to meet them. Sure, it’s polite, but Lily only has one friend. She isn’t in any clubs or plays any sports, but Lily also knows it’s wrong to lie.... I’ll worry about that later.
A few minutes pass before Prime’s holoform walks in.
“Alex, here is another superior here,” Lennox introduces Prime.
“Hello, Lily, nice to meet you,” Prime says while crouching down to make eye contact with Lily. Now she is shy, “there is no need to be shy, Lily.”
Prime knows how to communicate with shy humans, as one soldier here is an introvert and loner, even though most of the Autobots are friends with her. I was hoping she’d be here with Prime.
“Alex, where is Jamie?” I ask.
We’re not at the point of telling Lily who he is yet.
“She went home last night and won’t be back for some time,” he tells me, clearly not happy he couldn’t tell me Jamie will be back in a few days, “Do you know what Luke does?”
“Fight the enemy,” she replies.
“That’s all she knows, Alex,” I inform Prime.
Prime is concerned about scaring Lily since she doesn’t know I work with the Autobots. I know working with the Autobots automatically puts my family in danger. I didn’t know how to tell Lily before we arrived, and I know I’m making things more difficult.
“Very well.”
I didn’t think Alex would sit on the floor with Lily on his lap. Confusion in her blue eyes and I sit next to them.

Optimus Prime’s P.O.V.
This would be easier if she knew about us, and she’d be less frightened. I’m not sure how to tell her now. Her interest in space makes this easier, but I don’t want to frighten her.
“Do you think there are other life forms in the universe?” I ask.
“Yes,” Lily replies, confused.
“What would you think if you met an alien species?”
Lily looks at me, her brother, Lennox, and back at me, very confused.
“Alex is not human, Lily,” Luke explains, “I work with humans and an advanced robot race called Transformers.”
He takes his sister and nods, giving me the ok to show her this is a holoform.
“I’ll see you in a minute with some friends.”

Lily’s P.O.V.
I watch Alex disappear as if I imagined it.
“L-Luke?”
“It’s ok.”
Luke carries me to the hangar with Lennox following us.

The hangar is now full of vehicles. Six cars, a motorcycle, a pick-up truck, an ambulance, a police car, a military truck, and a semi-truck.
“You’re safe,” Luke assures me, “ok, guys, show her.”
I watch the vehicles turn into robots. The one that’s the blue with red semi walks closer to us and gets on one knee.
“Hello, Lily,” he says, “do you recognize my voice?”
“A-Alex?”
“Show her,” Luke says.
Alex appears next to the robot and walks closer until he’s standing next to Luke.
“She’s getting scared,” the robot that was a neon yellow ambulance comments.
How does he know I’m scared?
“Do you understand why I asked you about alien life, Lily?” Alex asks, “we are autonomous robots from the planet Cybertronian, or simply Autobots. What you see is a holoform, and it’s one way to disguise ourselves among humans and functions mostly like a human body. All Autobots have a holoform.”

On cue, the others show me their holoforms. One by one, they introduce themselves to me and leave the hangar — except for two; the only female and a guy who is not pleased to be here. I don’t understand why he stayed a few minutes before leaving in a pissed mood while the female, Armani, stayed even after introducing herself.
“Now, I instructed everyone to tell you their holoform names, but not our Cybertronian name,” Alex explains, “my Cybertronian name is Optimus Prime.”
“It’s ok to call the Autobots by their holoform name,” Luke explains, “no need to worry about their Cybertronian names yet.”
“Are you the only female Autobot?” I ask Armani.
“Lily!” Luke scolds while Armani laughs.
“No, not everyone introduces themselves when a soldier’s family meets us. I am one of eight femmes.”

Armani takes me to meet the other female Cybertronians. On the way to the room, she explains how there are several hangars for everybot to transform their bipedal form into their alt mode. They are free to walk around in bipedal form but choose to use their holoform most of the time. That explains why the ceilings are so high.

As we walk down the hall, the grumpy guy walks by us.
“Who’s that?” I ask.
“His holoform’s name is Dustin. Cybertronian name is Sunstreaker. He doesn’t like humans or being here. You need to stay away from him.”
That’s all I’m told, yet I feel sorry for him.