Title: Prime's Pet
Character: Optimus Prime
Summary: Optimus had something different in mind when he thought about the future partnership between his Autobots and the humans.
Updates: Irregular. I haven't posted an update in a few years, I have several stories on the go or in the beginning stages and I generally don't know which one is going to take my ponytail and yank when I have time to sit down and work on them.
Reviews: Helpful reviews always appreciated and responded to.
Author's Note: This is my first published TF fic. I've been a fan since the 80s and nothing beats the original series, but the 2007 movie was great too. This isn't the story I thought I would be publishing first though and it will be more of a diversionary story when I can't work on my main one so I might not be putting as much detail into it as I would the other (which will hopefully be posted soon too). Chapters will be longer.
Enjoy.
Prologue
2014
The Surge was a failure, at least from the Autobots point of view. As far as the Decepticons were concerned it was a complete success. The humans, thanks to their own communications networks, were no longer able to help the Autobots.
Optimus remembered too well the day Soundwave unleashed the pulsewave that disrupted the electrical patterns in the humans' brains. Initially the 'Bots had thought the effect was local and hoped it would be temporary. He had remained stoic and focused for his mechs' sake, especially Bumblebee's. The scout fretted so much over his human friends Sam and Mikaela. When the reports started coming in from Autobots around the world and stationed on the Ark in orbit about the effects being global Optimus despaired privately. When Ratchet confirmed that the effect would be permanent unless they found a way to reverse it morale bottomed out.
After the Surge, every single human on the planet had been reduced to the intellectual level of chimpanzees. Most humans were unable to fend for themselves, never having had to search for food before. Many lived in areas so overcrowded that there was nothing to forage for. Starvation killed billions in only a few weeks.
The first winter brought another wave of human deaths. Those in northern areas, or areas that experienced subzero temperatures, who had been resourceful enough to find food throughout the summer froze to death as the winter turned cold. There was no warm shelter for them to retreat to, no fur to shield them from the frozen air.
In the span of a few months a thriving population of over six billion sentients had been reduced to a few million. Those left eked out a meager existence in isolated pockets driven solely but under-developed instincts. There were few privileged enough, lucky really, to have been with an Autobot when the Surge was set off. These were the members of NEST.
There were just too many to help and the Autobots could not spare anymore than they had already. During that time the Decepticons had pressed them hard. Had not reinforcements arrived it looked like the Autobots would have been forced off Earth, allowing the 'Cons to wreak whatever havoc they wanted on it. Research projects were set up to find a way to reverse the effect but were necessarily a secondary priority.
Not to long after the Surge the 'Cons gave up, Earth's original usefulness gone. There was a limited amount of processed energy available and the cost-benefit ration was too high. They may have come back when they could have more easily defeated the remaining resistance but just 6 years after wiping out organic intelligence on Earth the 'Cons retreated to find better fortune elsewhere. Without workers and maintenance coal power plants burned, dams broke down and collapsed, nuclear power plants went critical. It was these last that drew the most attention as the 'Bots raced to decommission hundreds of them the world over before they caused irreparable damage to the atmosphere. This happening before the hope that humans would return to what they once were was lost.
The humans that remained in the care of the 'Bots were protected and provided for in the hopes that one day the effects could be reversed. There was also the hope that the next generation would not be affected, but when Sam and Mikaela's first child was born those hopes were dashed. While Mikaela was a devoted mother and Sam a doting father, their little girl never was able to reason or speak.
It was six years after the Surge, four years after the 'Cons had left that Optimus had to make another incredibly hard decision. Word reached Earth that the remaining 'Cons had found a source of energy that could restore Cybertron. As much as he wanted to stay on Earth and fix what had gone wrong he knew that he had a greater obligation to the galaxy as a whole. Not even Earth would be safe if Megatron secured that kind of power source.
Leaving only a few scientists and a security detail behind, the rest of his mechs converged on the planetoid housing this energy source. The battle was vicious and thorough. The Autobots hit hard and never let up. In the end every Decepticon officer was dead and accounted for. The energon source turned out to be a long forgotten Sun Harvester. How Megatron planned to activate it without the Matrix, Optimus did not know or care.
With the chance to restore Cybertron without destroying a civilization there was no choice. The Autobots were finally going to be going home. That did not mean, however, that the humans would be abandoned.
A plan was devised and the Ark, appropriately named, would be fitted to house a sample population of humans, enough to maintain genetic diversity for several generations. They would be transported to Cybertron and there they would establish a conservation project. Research would continue of course, but in the mean time the species would be preserved.
It was the only thing that the Autobots could do after the humans sacrificed so much to help them.