MLBG

    Orphaned shortly after her creation, Moonlight was �saved� from what was a miserable life on the streets as a petty thief by a two-bit smuggler on Monacus by the name of Swipe. She honestly has no recollection of whom her creator is, or why she was made, which makes her suspect foul play considering how hard it is to alter a transformer�s memory. From an early age she learned all there was to know about smuggling, starting with merely observing, then doing small tasks, and finally doing larger tasks each time she mastered her latest task. By the time Swipe, and his group known as the Comet's Tail had earned a name for himself, Moonlight was fairly competent at what she did.
       As time passed Swipe decided to broaden his horizons and extend his clientele to more than just Monacus. He wanted to spread out to other places. He left some of his followers behind and took Moonlight out with a selected few to nose around for new places to take his trade. Moonlight�s life became one of travel and there was very little that was stable. She didn�t make many friends because she was always on the move and she was exposed to the seedy side of life and met very few �normal� or �upstanding� citizens. She did however learn how to deal with shady people and places, pilot shuttles, and learn the signals that smugglers and their clients give off to each other. In fact, she had some better personal skills than Swipe did; Swipe was too proud for his own good. She also learned a lot about other races, most of them organic, in all her travels. Of course, this gave her ability to disguise herself a little extra boost.
       Later, as Swipe�s business grew, he decided to visit the war-torn world of Cybertron. Not wanting to take his little prot�g� to someplace he had never been with such a reputation, he left her back on Monacus while he scouted around. After quite some time he returned to collect Moonlight. His venture hadn�t proved to be successful. His less than winning ways didn�t sit well with any of the Cybertronians, who viewed the unaligned stranger as a lose cannon and/or a threat; they didn�t want the extra random factor, just as they had no love for mercenaries. He did, however, make a few contacts that weren�t on a business level. One of them was a certain shady Decepticon femme named Blacksite that he hit it off rather well with. They started up a correspondence that continued for quite some time.
       As the saying goes, �Pride comes before a fall,� and Swipes pride led him to fail. He became too sure of himself, and in his cockiness, he became sloppy. Moonlight warned him that he wasn�t being careful, but he dismissed the warnings, saying that Moonlight was just a rookie who knew nothing. Moonlight persisted, but to no avail. Then one day her warnings came true. Moonlight, Swipe, and some others were sitting in a bar having a drink, when a team of rather large and well-armed mechs came in. They looked mean and seemed even meaner when they headed straight towards Swipes� table. Moonlight didn�t know who they were, but Swipe seemed to know. He upset the table and threw it towards the team, yelling for Moonlight to escape and meet Blacksite on Cybertron, the only planet left that knew relatively little of Swipe and his gang. Moonlight escaped, knowing nothing of Cybertron or the femme except their names.
       Moonlight took one of the Comet's Tail's smaller shuttles and made her way to Cybertron. Upon landing she promptly sold her shuttle, both because the extra credits were always nice and because the shuttle might identify her. If Swipe survived, he would come and get her and the shuttle wouldn�t be necessary, and if he didn�t survive, she would need money to get around here anyhow. She rented lodgings in Crystal City while she looked for the friend of her mentor. At first it was difficult. The tense conditions between the City and the Decepticons didn�t help. There wasn�t a formal list she could consult in Crystal City that would tell her the whereabouts of a Decepticon, and Decepticons seemed rather forceful about not letting a strange unaffiliate walk their cities. Also, there didn�t seem to be the strong criminal element that was present on Monacus and the other planets she has frequented. Most people were busy either participating in the war or running from it. Using what money she had left apart from living expenses, she started posting queries. She spent time in the Golden Blaster, questioning any Decepticons that walked in. Finally someone notified the Decepticon that someone was looking for her. They met up at the bar and Moonlight told Blacksite her story.
       Of course Blacksite then wanted to help Moonlight, but she was also loyal to the Empire and couldn�t just take in an orphan and waste her resources on someone that didn�t contribute. Moonlight, once again being alone and friendless, didn�t want to stay that way. She said she would do almost anything not to be an orphan again, she had tasted that life enough already. In the end it came down to this: Moonlight could either fend for herself, or join the Empire and allow Swipe�s friend to help her, and that option was only open if it was accepted by the Empire. Moonlight knew she could work in a group, hoped she could work under orders, and she would do both if it meant she wasn�t alone. While in the city she had heard that the Decepticons were often less than scrupulous, but that didn�t bother her either. She told Blacksite to do whatever she had to do to get her in.
       Swipe�s friend wasn�t very high up in the ranks. So she referred Moonlight to someone higher up than herself, who in turn referred her to someone else higher up, and so on and so forth until finally Moonlight met up with a few people high enough to admit her into the ranks. When Moonlight reached this point she again totted up her skills and proclaimed her willingness to join up with the Decepticon Empire. Naturally, they didn�t trust her at first, but she didn�t expect them to. She asked for a trial period both to show her effectiveness and her trustworthiness, a trial period where she would be intently watched for any sign of faltering. She would sacrifice her privacy for that time to gain trust and prove her worth. But she couldn�t help but bargain, even with these powerful beings that held her future in their hands. She asked that if she could make enough money through her smuggling and other duties to pay for the ability of flight during her trial period, that they would have her installed with that same ability. Moonlight wanted to be at least partially similar to her prospective comrades. Interested in this almost wager, the terms were agreed to and Moonlight started on her trial.
       Moonlight put everything she had into her work. Before it didn�t matter so much if she failed or succeeded, as long as she didn�t get caught, but now so much more rested on how well she did. Those who were set to work with or spy on her had very little to criticize with her work. She certainly was effective, and that was plain, but it took them much longer to discern how loyal she was. They became more persistent with their spying and often tried very hard to trick her into betraying the Empire, just to see how strong her desire to join was. They found her efforts in this were good as well, and on a few rare occasions she even called their bluff. As for her third task, it was completed as well.
       So, at the end of her formal trial period she was marked with the symbol of the Decepticon Empire and given the ability of flight, a rather modest request considering the means and resources of the Empire. Of course, they still didn�t full trust her, and those in Command always had their optics out for any sign of dissention. Moonlight, the stress of her task gone, was set to doing more tasks. Most of these tasks were rather secretive, and she remained largely unknown to the general Decepticon public. Her anonymity was to play well into the Decepticon hands. After a short while it was decided that Moonlight�s full talents weren�t being utilized with her hidden away and lost in the folds of the large amount of Decepticons. With this in mind, Moonlight was given a permanent job in the Wild Surge (Dead End). From there she would appear as your average waitress. But beneath that she was charged with starting a network of smuggling and theft for the benefit of the Empire. Eager to tackle this job, Moonlight brushed up on her personal skills and her energon mixing and set forth to this new task.

To this day, Moonlight is still a member of the Empire. Swipe and the Comet's Tail's fates are unknown to her, but she still has hope that she is not the only survivor.

Moonlight's Background

Note: Moonlight has not make any moves to keep her background a secret. She has been quite free in telling people it. All Decepticons with any rank worth mentioning would know. Many other people know as well. It's pretty much common knowledge.

Note: I purposefully kept the information on both the Comet's Tail and the gang that attacked them vague, just in case anyone wants to use something from them. Of course, permission would be nice, but the empty bits in my background are there to be utilized if anyone takes the notion to do so.

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