chapter 6: Shadows over Qatar

A few days before Sam got his first car....

Middle east , Qatar 

The sun beat down pitilessly upon the featureless expanse of the US SOCCENT airbase in Qatar. As far as the eye could see, in every direction, lay sand and dune, and often nothing else but a hot wind to relieve the monotony. Inside the base, though, the mood was light despite the heat. Major William Lennox sat with his team, sharing a rare moment of peace before their next mission.

"Come on, Epps, there is no way you can beat me at poker again," Lennox said, flashing a grin as he shuffled a deck of cards. His short, sandy brown hair was matted with sweat, but he hardly noticed. The desert heat was brutal, yet the camaraderie kept things bearable.

Sergeant Robert Epps leaned back in his chair, chuckling. "Lennox, I'm tellin' you, man, you got no poker face. I see right through you every time. What's it gonna be this time? You losing your stash of candy again?"

The rest of the team burst into laughter as one of the younger soldiers, Donnelly, joined in. "I'm here just to watch Lennox's pride get destroyed, honestly."

"Keep it up, Donnelly. Maybe you'll get a turn next," Lennox shot back, shaking his head in mock exasperation. "One of these days, I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face, Epps."

"Yeah, sure you will, Major," Epps said with a smirk, leaning in to grab the cards.

As the group got ready to play, the mood was disrupted by the crackling of the base's PA system.

"Colonel Sharp, report to the control tower. Colonel Sharp to the control tower immediately."

The relaxed mood of the soldiers was somewhat broken as Lennox looked up. "Wonder what that's about," he muttered.

"Probably some routine check or supply drop," Epps said, trying to keep things light. But Lennox could see a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

---

Up in the control tower, a different kind of tension brewed. Radio operator Airman First Class Parker was staring intently at his radar screen, his brow furrowed in confusion. Colonel Sharp entered the room and cast his long shadow across the floor.

"What's going on, Parker?" Sharp asked gruffly.

"Sir," Parker said, pivoting to face him, "we've got an unidentified inbound aircraft about 10 miles out, heading straight for us."

Sharp's brow furrowed. "You're sure?"

"Yes, sir. No transponder, no identification. It's just… there." Parker paused, looking again at the screen. "It's not responding to any hails either."

Sharp rubbed his chin, thinking quickly. "Alright, patch me through. I want to make sure they know they're flying in restricted airspace."

Parker nodded, his fingers flying across the radio equipment, patching colonel Sharp through. "Unidentified aircraft, this is SOCCENT Airbase. You are in restricted airspace. Identify yourself immediately, and you are ordered to change course immediately, and land at SOCCENT for inspection, or be prepared to be shot down," Sharp said firmly and commandingly.

Sharp folded his arms across his chest and waited. A few seconds passed, before Parker shook his head. "No response, sir."

Sharp blew out a breath and leaned forward over the console for a closer look. "Alright, scramble two jets. Escort them to the base. I want to know what the hell this is."

"Roger that, sir."

Parker nodded, signing to send the order to the pilots. In a matter of minutes, two F-22 Raptors took to the air, darting toward the mystery aircraft. Within seconds, the two F-22s visually located the aircraft-a large, heavily armored helicopter, unmarked, silent but for the steady thrum of its rotors.

As the jets closed in on the intruder,The lead pilot radioed in. "This is Falcon One. We've got visual on the unidentified aircraft. It's an MH-53 Pave Low, designation 4500X."

Parker's eyes widened in confusion. "4500X ,that's impossible,"?"" the radio officer said, his voice tinged with disbelief. "That can't be right. The 4500X was shot down three months ago over hostile territory."

Sharp frowned, his face a picture of confusion, now turning to officer Parker. "What? are you sure about that " he muttered. 

Parker, after a moment's hesitation, was quieter now. "Sir, I'm sure. My buddy was on that chopper. There were no survivors."

Sharp turned slowly toward the radar screen, his expression darkening. "Then what the hell is that flying toward us?"

---

The two Raptors flanked the helicopter, guiding it back toward the base. Down it went, slow, onto the tarmac as soldiers gathered, guns drawn yet baffled at the sight before them. The helicopter was huge; its rotors cut through the air with an eerie, mechanical precision.

Lennox and the rest of his group stood outside the barracks, observing the chaos from afar. "What in the hell is going on over there?" Epps muttered, squinting across the scene.

"Looks like they've got some kind of chopper coming in," Lennox replied as he tensed his voice. The hair on the back of his neck was standing. A bad feeling rose within him.

The instant the helicopter had touched down, there was this eerie silence over the whole base. Everybody waited, it would seem, for some explanation. Then, out of nowhere, its rotors ground to a stop, and some sort of electronic humming noise began filling the air.

"What the hell is that sound?" Donnelly asked, taking a step back.

Suddenly, the lights flickered. Lennox's radio cut out with a sharp hiss, and then… everything went dark. In a blink of an eye, the whole base was plunged into blackness as an EMP pulse ripped through the air, knocking out every electronic system in its purview.

"Shit, it's an EMP!" Lennox yelled, instinctively reaching for his weapon. "Move, now!"

No one had time to say anything before the helicopter contorted. The metal plating slid and rearranged itself, with the cockpit splitting open and rising into the air as mechanical limbs extended from its sides. In instant moments, the helicopter was gone, replaced by a great and terrifying robotic figure.

It was a Decepticon. Blackout.

The soldiers watched in horror as Blackout stood over them, his optics aglow with malevolent energy. Without warning, he opened fire, the arm-mounted rotary cannons whirring to life and raining bullets down upon the base. Explosions tore through the air, sending debris and bodies flying. The earth shook beneath their feet as fuel depots ignited, chaos erupting across the airbase.

"Take cover!" Lennox yelled as the soldiers scrambled for their weapons.

It didn't take Blackout long to get to work. His enormous arm turned into a blaster, and with a deafening roar, he opened fire on the base. Explosions ripped through the air as missiles launched from his arms tore through buildings, vehicles-anything standing in his way. The barracks vaporized out in a flash of fire and metal, sending debris in every direction.

Lennox and his team members hit the ground, shielding themselves from the blast. "We need to get to cover!" Lennox yelled above the bedlam. Hecould hear screams of soldiers being caught in the blast, but he didn't have time for that. Blackout was relentless; his cannons tore through anything that moved.

"Move! Move! Take cover!" Lennox yelled, instinctively reaching for his rifle and gesturing backwards for his team to fall back.

"Move! Move!" Epps yelled back, dragging Donnelly to his feet, and together they ran towards the nearest building, half-destroyed.

Blackout launched another barrage-heavy cannons ripping the air as he strafed the fleeing soldiers. Screams filled the air as men and women were cut down in the hail of gunfire. Tanks and Humvees were jettisoned aside like toys, their metal frames crumpling under Blackout's relentless assault.

"Is that a goddamn robot?!" Donnelly yelled, ducking behind a crumbling wall, his face white as pale shock.

"Whatever it is, it's tearing this place apart!" Epps yelled, firing shots in Blackout's direction, but the bullets barely managed to scratch the thick armor of the Decepticon.

As if the situation where going from bad to worse, suddenly the ground burst under their feet. From the sandy depths, a gigantic mechanical scorpion creature leaped forward: Scorponok. The tail whipped through the air, smashing into buildings and sending more soldiers flying.

Burrowing in and out of the ground, the mechanical beast whipped its tail around as it lunged toward a group of soldiers. Scorponok tore into the men with terrifying speed, leaving nothing but destruction in his wake.

" We have to fall back! We need to get the hell out of here! " exclaimed Epp's, wildly gesturing to his sqaud mates to make for the nearest exit as Blackout continued his base-wide rampage.

Scorponok was scuttling across the ground at terrifying speed, tearing through what was left of the base's defenses. He swiped at soldiers, flinging them aside by brutal force, while Blackout loomed overhead, firing his cannons into anything that moved.

"We gotta get outta here!" Lennox yelled, pushing his team forward. "That thing's gonna tear us apart if we stay here!"

Blackout continued his rampage, his single blast levelling the control tower, the structure falling in upon itself in a cloud of dust and fire. Already Scorponok was in motion again, its razor-sharp claws tearing into the sand as it hunted for survivors.

"Sir, we need a plan!" Donnelly gasped as they huddled down behind the remains of a destroyed vehicle.

Then Lennox and his team sprinted toward the edge of the base, barely staying ahead of the destruction. The air was thick with smoke, flames licking at the night sky as the base crumbled around them.

"This is insane!" Epps yelled as they dove behind a dune for cover. "What the hell are we dealing with, man?"

Lennox gritted his teeth, trying to fathom the utter chaos. "I don't know, but what I do know is that if we stay here, we're dead. So we have to move!"

Lennox was breathing hard, trying to clear his head. "We have to call for help," he said, frantically scanning his surroundings. But with the EMP still active, there was no good way they could use the radios. They were cut off.

Epps looked to the sky, where Blackout launched another salvo of missiles. "Ain't nobody saving us, man. We're on our own."

Lennox's mind was racing; he had to keep his men alive, no matter what. "Alright, listen. We can't take those things on directly, not without backup. We need to get to higher ground, somewhere we can get a signal out. Maybe we can find something the EMP didn't knock out."

"Good luck with that," Epps muttered, but he followed Lennox's lead.

In a crouched, head-down run, the team moved as fast as they could across the yard as Blackout continued his relentless assault. Thick smoke and dust clouds filled the air, the very earth shaking beneath their feet with each successive explosion. Scorponok was closing in-the metallic tail snapping menacingly behind it as it hunted for survivors.

Lennox led the way, scanning the horizon for any possible avenue of escape. They couldn't stay here. They couldn't fight that thing.

"There!" he pointed to a rocky outcropping just beyond the base's perimeter. "If we can make it to those rocks, we might be able to get some distance between us and them."

The team nodded, and wordlessly took off in a sprint for the outcropping. Behind them, Blackout continued to wreak havoc,Blackout scanned the battlefield with cold, calculating optics. He saw Lennox's team retreating and growled, sending a signal to Scorponok.

"Kill them all, leave no survivors, for lord Megatron" Blackout said in Cybertronian to Scorponok. In response, the scorpion-like Decepticon snapped its tail as his attention turned to Lennox's team. Giving a chilling mechanical shriek, it burrowed into the sand beneath it and vanished as he pursued the team across the desert.

Lennox's heart pounded against his rib cage as they ran, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. If they made it to the rocks, they might just have a chance.

But with every step, the sound of the destruction behind them grew louder, yet Lennox never looked back. 

Hope you guys enjoy hehe