Predatory

The Journey Begins

I woke up the next morning with a jolt. I sat bolt upright, looking around wildly to see what perpetrator had woken me up. My audio receptors picked up the low burble of a ship's engines as they began to roar to life, and then I calmed down. I laid back down, but sleep was clearly not going to come back. I sighed, and slid out of bed. My peddes flinching when they met the cold floor. I shivered and set my internal heater up a few degrees. I stared at the circular bay window in the wall on the side of my room. It was pitch black outside of it. I padded closer and peered out it, wiping away a circle of condensation to clear my view. What I saw made me gasp and cover my mouth in surprise. 

Out of the window, was the hazy silver outline of Cybertron. Small lights gleamed in spirals on the planet from fires and smelting pits. Some where larger, flashing brilliantly. Perhaps a battle going on.

Apart from the planet, everything was a pitch black so dark I couldn't see even a hint of starlight. 

I pulled away from the window a little reluctantly, but I was really craving a cup of something hot to drink as I was still freezing. Not to mention I had just checked my internal clock and realized just how freakishly early it was. Who in their right mind would be up right now?

I turned away and began to slowly leave the room. I grabbed my datapad as I slid the heavy door open. The hallway was dark, with only small dull slits of light creeping along the walls. Apart from the rumbling of the beastly engine, the hall was silent as the grave. It was eerie really, this ship was never anywhere close to quiet. It was always full of life, full of sound, full of chaos. But it was never silent, and...dead. I didn't like that. 

Some tiny and paranoid voice in the back of my head pegged the question, 'What if they're dead?' I knew it was folly. But somehow I still got myself worried.

"I'll just check....to be sure." I whispered to myself.  I knew they were fine, but paranoia and trauma made me check anyway. 

I opened the door nearest to me, which happened to be Tesarus'. It slid to the side with a creak. Tesarus was asleep, and deep in it by the look of it. His chasis was still moving up and down, he was fine. I shut his door quietly. Then moved to check on everyone else. 

I checked on Helex next, he had fallen asleep in a chair in his room after reading something it seemed. He was alive, he was okay.

Kaon's room was next, he hadn't bothered to even slip under the blankets, instead he had plopped on top of them, gotten cold at some point, flipped them over him and then rolled to the side. So he was a Kaon burrito now. And it was adorable, as expected. He was perfectly fine, a bit better than fine it would seem. However I noticed something, and narrowed my optics. The Pet (whom we all called Fluffy because his armor stuck out in every direction like fur) was nowhere to be found. He never left Kaon's side.

I hurriedly slid Kaon's door shut and ran over to Vos' room. He was all wrapped up in three extremely puffy blankets to the point that he was barely visible. He was curled up around an animal shaped pillow that was bigger than he was. It looked like a cat of some type. I could hear him purring contentedly from the other side of the room. I smiled, he was so cute. 

I slowly slid the door shut, everything seemed fine, but Fluffy was still missing. And that was concerning. I wouldn't check on Nickel, she was more than capable of taking care of herself, and considering the comments about hot male doctors she kept making, I decided checking on her might be a really bad idea. I didn't want to see something that would scar me for life.

That left Tarn. I was about to open the door to his room, when I noticed the kitchen light was on and the door to the flight deck was open. So that's who was crazy enough to be awake at this hour! I don't know why I was even surprised. I padded into the kitchen and found that Tarn had already started a pot of energex. Thank you my favorite life saving Commander! I poured myself a "mug" (they were way too fancy to be mugs, but they weren't tea cups either, so mugs it is) and slowly entered the flight deck. Then stood in shock at what I saw.

Out of the windshield of the flight deck, was a pink, and purple, and green, and blue washed cloudy space. Peppered with the brightest most brilliant stars that gleamed like jewels in the crown of some foreign planet's princess. 

A few comets danced around as well, creating streaks of silver light across the banner of color and stars. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I watched the comets for a few minutes, but then they slowly began to dissipate. 

"You can sit down now, they won't start up again for another ten minutes I think." Tarn murmured. I didn't take my optics off of the window as I did so. Then I turned to look at him. A datapad on the console in front of him, an extremely fancy mug of energex in one servo, and the other servo was stroking the head of Fluffy, who was sitting very obediently by his peddes. I could practically see the spark-eater smiling with content. 

We sat in silence for a few minutes. This time however, it didn't worry me. Tarn was watching over the crew of our little ship. I doubted anyone could get in here if they were dumb enough to even try. I sipped my energex with a smile at the thought.

"Everyone thinks I'm crazy for being up this early, but it's the only time of day that I get to take a break. And I hate to miss the Nebula whenever we leave." Tarn explained quietly.

"The Nebula?" I narrowed my optics, I hadn't heard of one this close to Cybertron before.

"Mhmm. Hyperion's Nebula, it's been around for a very long time, but unless you frequently leave and enter Cybertron you won't see it. The comets seem to orbit Cybertron, they come and they go at ten minute intervals. Quite a sight aren't they?"

I nodded. 

Fluffy started whining, and his hind leg started to beat the floor, Tarn was massaging behind his audio receptor and it must have felt really good. I smiled. This was a decent morning.

"So, what are we doing today?" I asked, after all, we were in space. What were we supposed to do when we were not on a planet?

"Well, first I need to tell you something about the DJD. Mostly, that we a lot more than murdering people in ridiculous ways for insignificant crimes. We do something much more classified and dangerous..."

********************************************************************************

Hey guys! Happy Belated Christmas! This is one of the gifts I'm giving you all, with luck I'll have a few more 1000 word chapters posted before the week is out, and a few more worked on ahead of time, so that I will always publish, even if I didn't write anything that week. How are you guys? How is your holiday season so far? Mine's been...interesting but good! Also, I have a song inspiration for Tarn, I'm sure you have all heard of it. Take Me to Church by Hozier. Seriously guys. Listen to it and tell me that song wasn't written and sung by Tarn. Another thing! This book is going to get into the plot finally! YAY! *children's chorus shouts and celebrates in the background* From now on, we have a LOT more action going on. So pay attention to who is doing what. Because I have watched way too many detective movies and decided to write a book with a very complicated plot. mwahahahaha You have been warned! Also, I have tried to put it in as a hash-tag, but Wattpad hates me. This is a TarnxOc story. Just to let ya know. And this is sort of a kind of shattered glass/redemption arc for the DJD. This is how I would write a book with the Decepticons as the "good guys." So, You have been warned of that also. The Pet in this book is just a dog. Not Dominus Ambus *cough comic spoilers cough cough* And I thought his design in the comics was hilarious because his armor was so spiky and fur like. So we're going with Fluffy because this is my book and I can do what I want. lol. What do you think the DJD's real job is? If you're reading this on the 27 of December, 2018, then you my friend are going to find out in a matter of hours! So stay tuned! Leave a comment if you like, I read them all and I do take suggestions. Blitzwing is coming, just not yet my lovely amazing and extremely patient reader! But he is definitely going to be in the mix at some point with heavy influence. The Combaticons too! Wow this is getting long! Hopefully you know the drill and if you don't-

Keep it classy! Make good choices! And Gob Bless!

~swordsandroses

P.S. I keep forgetting to post Dreadflight's alt mode. ugh