Nothing escaped 'At'prafen Pax. She had her mother's ability to assess any situation but her father's temperament. 'At'prafen had been trained for many situations and had seen plenty in the five and a half million years she'd been alive. Yet nothing could have prepared her for the sight that greeted her optics.
Several bodies were floating by the tiny shuttlecraft, most of them badly damaged. It was hard to tell what faction they belonged to so Goldstarr had set about retrieving the bodies, using her skills of teleportation. Yet, the sight of the bodies did not disturb 'At'prafen as much as the sight of another planet right next to Cybertron did. Scarier still, this planet still moved and had already begun to attack her home.
"Incoming shuttlecraft," the communications console crackled to life, "if you have any weapons, we sure could use some help."
'At'prafen recognized the voice immediately and shook away her shock. She responded back.
"You've got it, Dad . . ."
The ensuing battle had been intense and the number of bodies in their tiny shuttlecraft steadily grew. At one point, three more aircraft had joined them and Goldstarr continued to teleport bodies into their shuttle and into the others. 'At'prafen kept her focus on the monster planet, but, no matter what anyone tried, their efforts proved to be futile. Then the unimaginable happened. The planet itself shifted. Everyone stopped firing and all communications ceased. It took only a moment for her, and for everyone else, to realize that the planet was, in fact, a giant Transformer.
"Wretched little insects . . ."
"Oh no," 'At'prafen heard Electra murmur. "Unicron."
'At'prafen's optics widened. She and her siblings had only heard one story about Unicron but the memory of it was enough to chill her to the core.
Unicron, they'd been told, devoured entire planets and had wiped out many races. Those who survived his attacks ended up committed to asylums or dead. The memories were too powerful for them to handle. Now he had come to Cybertron. Quickly, 'At'prafen reacted and opened her comm channels to all frequencies, though she knew not why.
"Fall back . . ." she managed to get out.
"Who is this?" a gravelly baritone voice demanded. He sounded displeased by her call and her command.
"'At'prafen Pax," she replied. "We need to fall back. Now. We cannot defeat this enemy."
"And how can you be sure of that, 'At'prafen Pax?" the familiar voice of Optimus Prime inquired.
Before she could reply, Unicron attacked one of Cybertron's moons with his fist and obliterated it. All channels became a flurry of noise and activity after that as everyone began to give orders for attacks and retreats. Shuttles took off from Cybertron and the remaining moon. Most headed away from Unicron. Some, however, flew straight towards the planet destroyer, apparent suicide bombers.
"Prepare for extermination, children of Primus."
Those words echoed in 'At'prafen's audios long after she witnessed Unicron's complete and utter destruction of the second moon and the rest of Cybertron. Her parents' pleading with her for her to flee and save as many as she could remained buried in her soul forever . . .
888888888
"What's going on?" a bleary-opticked Ultra Magnus demanded as he walked into the command center of Autobot City. He appeared to be very annoyed at having been disturbed in the early hours of the morning. Primus only knew how much recharge he was able to get each night. "This had better be important."
"We've lost contact with Optimus Prime," Arcee replied quietly.
"And before you ask, yes, we've check and re-checked the frequencies and our own equipment," Springer stated. "Whatever it is, it's at their end."
"Soundwave, perhaps? The battle was becoming pretty heated, according to the last report we received," Ultra Magnus mused.
"Think maybe we should send reinforcements?"
"Prime hasn't called for reinforcements, Springer," Arcee frowned.
"That doesn't mean anything, Arcee. For all we know, they could have called for reinforcements," Springer pointed out.
Ultra Magnus heaved a silent sigh as he glanced over at Jazz. The Autobot second wore a deep frown as he gazed at one of the many monitors there. An incessant beeping had started, but Jazz paid no heed. Something was not right.
"Jazz? What is it?"
For a few moments, he didn't reply. Arcee and Springer had turned their attention to him as well, curious expressions on their faces. Finally, Jazz spoke.
"We have incoming shuttlecraft."
"Ours? Or Decepticon?"
"Both," Jazz replied. "And one unknown."
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Springer exclaimed, jumping up. "Our friends need our help! The Decepticons . . ."
"Have not fired a single shot on our shuttles," came the quiet response. "If anything, they're flying side by side."
"Not a single shot?" Ultra Magnus echoed.
"Not a single shot," Jazz repeated.
Ultra Magnus frowned at this. The Decepticons always took the opportunity to fire and obliterate any Autobot shuttle that they could. Why they hadn't this time and why they were flying side-by-side with Autobot shuttles baffled him.
"Jazz, open a frequency to the Decepticon shuttles," he ordered. "Find out what's going on and contact that unknown. I want to know who's on that shuttle, what their faction is, and what their intentions are."
"Roger that, Magnus . . ."
Jazz had started to open all lines of communication when a Femme's voice came over the commlink.
"Autobot outpost, come in. Please come in. This is 'At'prafen Pax of Sentinel's Courage requesting assistance. Please come in."
Ultra Magnus never saw Jazz move so fast in his life as he did when the Femme said her name. He had a strange feeling that something wasn't right.
"'At'prafen! Primus, girl, it's good to hear your voice again," he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Bringing in wounded, like everyone else, Jazz," the Femme replied grimly.
"Wounded? 'At'prafen, what's happened? What's going on? Why are the Decepticon shuttles flying this way?"
"I'll explain once we land, Jazz. Right now, we need to land. Our ship can't take anymore. Not with the number of bodies on board. We're in serious danger of crashing."
"You've got it, kiddo. Follow this beacon," Jazz stated. "You'll have a place there and it's close to Repair Bay. I'll see you there."
"Thank you, Jazz."
"What are you doing!" Arcee hissed after the channel cleared.
"They need help, Arcee. Ironhide would never forgive me if I turned her away."
"You've gone mad," she retorted. "We don't even know who she has on her shuttle."
"Does it even matter, Arcee?" Jazz inquired quietly, getting to his feet. "She needs help. She said as much. And she isn't one who goes around saying something like that. I intend to give her that help. Besides, she can tell us what's happened."
The communications console lit up once more, just as Arcee started to add something.
"Attention, Autobot City. Assistance required. Casualties great. Repeat. Assistance required. Casualties great."
All four Autobots in the command center blinked in surprise. They recognized Soundwave's monotone . . . and it held a hint of desperation. Again, Ultra Magnus had a funny feeling that something was not quite right, and he felt compelled to aid the Decepticon communications officer. It had to be bad if the Decepticons were requesting assistance from them!
"Tell him where they can land, Jazz," he said. "And inform him to meet me at Repair Bay. Give him the location. I want to speak with him and that Femme you were talking to."
"You got it, Ultra Magnus. 'At'prafen should be landing outside Repair Bay within the next five breems. I'll meet you there."
Ultra Magnus nodded then walked out. He just hoped that Soundwave and this 'At'prafen had the answers he was looking for.
888888888
Hook groaned as he slowly opened his optics. The last thing he recalled had been merging with his fellow Constructicons to combat with Omega Supreme when a blast of light had blinded the gestalt personality and an explosion tore them apart. When his optics had opened, he was rather surprised to see an Autobot Femme standing next to him, checking over a medscanner, and that he was not in a Decepticon Repair Bay.
'Earth. That's where I'm at. Earth . . .'
"Where am I?"
"Autobot City," the Femme replied quietly, not taking her optics from the medscanner.
"What? What happened?" he demanded, bolting forward. "Why am I at Autobot City?"
The Femme finally lifted her optics to meet his, a sad and haunted look reflecting at him. Disturbingly enough, Hook also thought he detected sympathy. Sympathy for him.
"I don't exactly know what happened with you," she replied. "You and comrades were among the first my sister brought on board our shuttle. I can tell this. The battle with Unicron had been in full force when we'd arrived. Goldstarr had been very hard-pressed to rescue you and your comrades while the battle raged . . ."
She fell silent at that, obviously lost in a myriad of memories, and lowering her optics. Hook took the opportunity to take in every aspect of her. Something about her struck him as unusual and he couldn't quite place it. Her sympathy for him also intrigued him and he wanted to know why an Autobot would feel such an emotion towards him.
Unlike most Autobot Femmes he had encountered, this Femme had a defined body structure, slender and curvy. Yet, he had no doubts about her fighting capabilities. The two blasters resting against her thighs told him that much. Yet, her petite frame and weaponry were not unusual. They were at war and the smaller of the Femmes had a better chance of slipping in and out of hostile territory than someone like Elita-1 did. It was only upon further inspection that he realized she wore no helmet. Long, soft metallic fibers cascaded down to her waist, despite being pulled back, and only enhancing the warmth of her blue optics.
'A stunning piece of work if I ever saw one,' he told himself. 'Whoever created her has impeccable taste.'
"Who won the battle?"
She glanced at him once more, sadness shimmering in her sapphire eyes.
"Unicron did. Cybertron is no more."
"What?" Hook blinked, not believing his audios.
"Cybertron is no more," she repeated. "A meeting will take place in ten breems. There, everyone will be briefed on what happened. A cause of action will be decided then."
"You mean an alliance?" Hook narrowed his optics. "Megatron will not go for it."
"What Megatron will and will not go for doesn't matter," she stated calmly. "Megatron is not here."
"Not here?"
"Not here. He was not among the wounded and dead brought back. Chances are, there's nothing left of him to bring back."
She fell silent again, her optics just gazing at him as shock settled over him. Again, he then marveled at her appearance, unaware of his hand reaching out to touch her cheek. Everything she had told him suddenly seemed distant and unimportant. Cybertron, Unicron, Megatron . . . alliances. None of it mattered. All he wanted to do was touch her, to feel her body pressed against his and to taste her. What she had said mattered not. For all he knew, she was an actress, there to tell him stories.
'Yet, I believe her . . . and want her . . . What am I saying! She's an Autobot! Someone to be crushed! So why do I want her, especially in light of what she's told me?'
To those questions, he had no answers. On impulse, his hand, as soon as it touched her cheek, slowly moved down to her jawline.
"What is your name?" Hook murmured.
"'At'prafen Pax. Why?"
"No reason, 'At'prafen Pax . . . Do you know who I am?"
"Yes . . . You're Hook. One of the Constructicons."
Hook felt a small smile tug on his lips as his hand progressed from her jawline down her neck until it had snaked its way to her side and traveled behind her back. He sensed her tensing but she made no move to stop him. Hook idly wondered at this as well then dismissed it. All that mattered was the moment. In a space of five seconds, he had pulled her to him, his lips locked with hers.
As his lips held and crushed hers, Hook knew. He knew what had happened to Omega Supreme in that deadly fight, and he knew what 'At'prafen had told him about Unicron and Cybertron was true as well. It had been like a door opening in the back of his mind, allowing a steady stream of knowledge and awareness to flow through him. He knew that, as he held 'At'prafen in his arms and continued to kiss her, the Femme was different from any other he'd ever encountered. The way her body trembled and tensed against his told him he should take care in how he treated he and, like him, she just wanted to feel alive. To the Inferno with what anyone else thought. The moment called . . .
888888888
Somewhere, traveling at a snail's pace, hovered Unicron. A deep contentment filled him to his core. At long last, he had found the planet where Primus had hidden himself and had taken deep satisfaction in Cybertron's destruction. Now he would take great pleasure in slowly destroying Primus' creations, saving the leaders for absolute last. It would be their fate to watch and to endure why those that they cared about and held dear were exterminated slowly and excruciatingly.
Somewhere, deep inside, several cries of anguish rang out.