"Cadet Elstrike," the commander stated, "you are charged with disobeying orders and trespassing on territory forbidden by Cybertron High Command, not to mention losing two of your fellow Autobots."
Elstrike looked down at the floor of the courtroom, her optics resting on her feet. She had dreaded this damned hearing from the moment they had taken her into custody. She felt a deep guilt in her spark chamber, pressing onto her servos like a metallic tumor.
"Have you anything to say for yourself cadet?" the commander asked sternly.
"No, sir, Commander Magnus, sir," Elstrike spoke up, "I have nothing else to say in my defense. What happened was my fault, it was my responsibility."
Elstrike returned her gaze to the ground, her thoughts turning to the events that had occurred only a few solar cycles ago.
xXx
"C'mon Els," Annadote called over, "the nebula out there is beautiful."
"And is probably full of electron storms ready to fry your circuits, Anna," Elstrike replied. Annadote was her girl-bot and she trusted her with her very spark, but despite that she did not want to go with her on this little adventure that Anna had planned.
"Don't be such a party pooper, Els" Anna reminded her. "After all, don't you wanna be a great leader one day like all those war heroes you read about."
"Well leaders don't usually let their girl-bots sucker them into doing something that could lead to them getting into deep slag" Elsa retorted.
"Don't worry, Elstrike," their teammate, Kriston stated as he entered the room. "We wont get caught, I masked our ship's energy signature remember?"
Anna planted a kiss on Els's faceplate. "So there is nothing to worry about."
Elstrike looked at her data-pad, containing data on the great war that ended so many Stellar cycles ago. "You really think there's an old Decepticon ship on this planet we're heading to?"
"Absolutely," Anna declared, "and once we get all the energon from it, we can all buy a nice beach place on Nebulos and live out the rest of our lives in peace."
That was the plan anyway, but when they eventually arrived on the planet they were going to, things went sour.
"So where is the ship anyway?" Els asked.
"Somewhere right underneath us," Kriston stated, scanning the area.
Anna looked around the craggy and rocky area of the planet they had landed on, staring up at the world's crimson sky. "This planet is beautiful."
"Optimus Prime once said everywhere in the universe had beauty," Elstrike said as she walked over to Anna. "That was one of the reasons the Autobots fought to protect the galaxy."
"Well they did a pretty good job if you ask me," Anna replied, holding Els's hand.
"I never knew why you wanted to be a Medi-bot Anna?" Elsa asked
"Well my name sounds like antidote and it always feels good to help some bot," Anna answered cheerfully.
"Owwww!" a voice cried from behind them.
"Hang on, Kriston," Anna rushed over to him. A rock had fallen on top of Kristoff, pinning him to the rocky ground.
Anna tapped her wrist and it morphed into a tractor beam, which Anna used to lift the rock off of Kriston.
"Thanks, Feisty-bolts," Kriston stated, moving to his feet.
"Next time you find a rock wall, don't walk into it," Anna joked.
"Ha hah, very funny," Kriston remarked.
Elstrike moved over to them. "C'mon guys, let's go find your ship and go home."
The began to scan the area for a few hours until they finally found a signal.
"I found something!" Kriston exclaimed.
"What is it?" the others wondered.
"It's a faint signal, but it could be the ship," Kriston answered.
"Where?" Elstrike asked.
"In that crevice over there!" Kriston pointed out the large canyon nearby.
Anna looked down into the deep crevice. "I could probably fly down there and take a look."
"Be careful, if it is the ship, it might be armed," Elstrike cautioned.
"Relax Elsa, the ship is over a million years old! It's hardly likely that it would still be online after all this time," Anna replied.
"I know, but I love you, and I don't wanna see you get hurt," Elstrike told her.
"I love you, too, Sparkmate, but I'll be fine," Anna promised.
Anna leaped into the air, transforming in her vehicle mode, a Cybertronic VTOL jet designed for rescue maneuvers.
Elstrike watched Anna as she hovered down into the canyon, praying to Primus that she would be okay
After descending for a few minutes, Kriston and Elstrike eventually heard word from Anna
"I found the ship!" Anna called over to them.
"Alright, we're coming down!" Kriston replied.
Kriston reconfigured his hand into a grappling hook and fired it at the wall on the other side of the crevice.
Elstrike hopped onto his back as Kriston lowered them down to the base of the pit.
Elstrike looked to her side to see the purple fuselage of a destroyed Decepticon ship.
"I've never seen one up close," Anna admitted. "Even when blown to slag, they creep me out."
"The Decepticons had that effect on people, Anna," Elstrike responded.
The three of them entered the ship, Kriston turning on his spotlights. "This looks like a cargo transport, Vulcan-class, used for deep space mining expeditions."
"So they must have been transporting energon when they were shot down and crashed on this planet," Elsa surmised.
Anna walked over to a nearby door, which opened before her. "Ummm guys?"
Elstrike and Kriston headed over to her side, all three of them met with a gruesome scene. The hallway was lined with bodies, energon leaking from their joints. They were in a state of near rust and their optics had seemingly been ripped from their sockets.
"What the slag is this?" Anna wondered.
"Cybonic plague," Kriston stated, "a Decepticon bio-weapon, caused hundreds of deaths during the war."
"Then they were transporting the plague to somewhere when they crashed and they somehow got infected themselves," Elstrike accepted.
Anna tried to touch one of the bodies, but she was stopped by Kriston.
"Don't touch them, Anna, the plague spreads from contact," Kriston warned.
Suddenly, one of the bodies dropped from the ceiling, dripping energon on Kriston's head.
"Kriston!" Anna cried, jumping back.
"I'm fine," Kirston grunted, wiping the energon off his armour.
"Are you sure?" Elstrike asked.
Kriston looked at his hands, which had started to turn a grey, rust-like colour. "No, get back."
"What? I thought you said the stuff got to you through contact?" Anna expressed.
"It can also pass through infected energon," Kriston wheezed, beginning to cough, "and the effects happen almost immediately."
"Kriston, just fight it, we'll get you back to the ship, put you in a stasis pod until we can get a cure for you," Elstrike offered.
"No, there's no time, both of you have to get out of here before..." Kriston groaned.
"Kriston?!" Anna inquired with concern.
Kriston suddenly lurched forward, screaming like a monster, his optics a deep, venomous purple.
"Holy slag," Elstrike swore.
"Run!" Anna screamed.
The two of them ran into the ship, Kriston following them in pursuit.
"What's the plan?" Anna asked.
"We get out of here, that's the plan," Elsa stated.
The two of them entered a large circular room, with a large console in the center.
Anna shut the door behind them, locking it shut.
"What's this place?" Elstrike wondered.
"Must be the power core, I think," Anna said, going over to the console, "and from the looks of things, there's still some energy left in the reactors."
"Can we use it to start the ship?" Elstrike wondered.
Anna didn't acknowledge her and kept pressing buttons on the console.
"Anna?" Elstrike expressed concern. "What are you doing?"
Anna sighed. "There's only one way your getting out of here Elsa."
"What do you mean me? What about you?" Elstrike demanded.
Anna pressed a button on her arm, a laser like device appearing from it. "I'm going to use my EMP generator to overload the power core and blow this place sky high."
"What?! Are you slagging crazy?!" Elstrike shouted, "Anna, you'll be killed!"
"I'm sorry, Sparkmate," Anna somberly acknowledged.
A yellow beam of energy fired from the EMP at Elstrike and she fell into Anna's arms, her body now in stasis lock.
"Till all are one, my love," Anna told Elstrike, kissing her forehead, "this is the only way."
Anna placed Elstrike into a nearby escape pod, ejecting her out of the ship.
Anna then heard banging on the door of the power core, Kriston was trying to get inside.
Anna activated her EMP generator, ready to fire her weapon.
At that moment, Kriston burst into the room, screaming like a beast.
"Goodbye everyone," Anna bid the living world farewell.
She fired the EMP at the center console, causing the ship to explode around her.
xXx
Elstrike awoke by the remains of a broken escape pod, her systems taking a few seconds to reactivate themselves.
As her memory circuits came back online, she remembered what had happened on the ship. "By the allspark, Anna."
Elstrike turned to her left and saw a massive explosion rocket from the crevice, her spark fading slightly.
"No... no...no...ANNA!"
xXx
"It is the word of this tribunal, that you, Cadet Elstrike, shall spend the next fifty solar cycles in the stockades as a result of your actions," the commander sentenced.
Elstrike sighed as she was led away. She had lost her lover and her best friend, two things that she knew she could never replace in her spark.
At the end of her sentence, Elstrike tried to make things best for herself. She got a job being a cargo pilot for a shipping company, the work helping her cope with her grief.
One day, Elstrike decided to deter from her flight route, to the very planet she lost Anna.
As her ship landed, Elstrike scanned the area, for life signs.
As expected there were none.
Elstrike transformed into her earth helicopter mode and flew down into the crevice, seeing the remains of the decepticon ship.
In the wreckage, Elstrike found something that caught her eye.
She found an Autobot insignia, Anna's Autobot insignia.
Elstrike held the insignia close to her torso plate, sobbing quietly.
"I'll never forget you, sparkmate," Elstrike vowed, "I'll never ever forget you."
"Till all are one."
Author's note: This isn't meant to fit in any transformers continutiy, although it is heavily based on the G1 and Animated cartoons. I hope you enjoyed it very much