This is an idea that has been buzzing around my head for a while. I had to get it down here eventually.
This is in Bumblebee's POV, and is set before the Bots' arrival to Earth and is in the Transformers Exodus/Exiles/Prime universe.
I own neither Transformers nor Man of Steel. Their rights go to Hasbro and DC Comics.
If you have not seen this movie, do go find it on the Internet. Man of Steel is an amazing movie and I absolutely love it.
Presenting, Tied to Its Fate.
It's been a long time since we left Cybertron, searching for refuge, away from the Decepticons and our dead planet. It's been more vorns than I'd rather count that we've had to stay on this ship, searching for a place to stay. Bouncing from planet to planet. And of course, that road wasn't smooth for us.
Everywhere we went, the Decepticons relentlessly followed. We were followed, even after taking a collapsing Space Bridge to a random location far away from the home planet. We were followed to the fast-paced planet Velocitron, were Megatron tracked us with the Nemesis. Our arrival, both Autobots and Decepticons, only seemed to wreak havoc on the already unstable planet. Revolt similar to what happened at the very start of our Great War was taking place there; factions were already forming, and our presence on the colony planet only made the situation much worse.
We Autobots left before the Decepticons arrived, and I saw later that it was for the best. The next planet we landed on was Junkion, and the Decepticons met us there. The conflict between the Autobots, the Decepticons, and other, new, enemies, literally tore the planet apart, leaving it permanently damaged, despite the spectacular building skills of the Junkions.
...Even though we have the greatest leader anyone in the universe can ask for, I still find myself thinking at times that we seem to be doing nothing but causing trouble. Sometimes it seems like nothing good ever happens when we come across a new planet, and that we are the source of it one way or another. That seemed to apply to our home planet as well, having killed it.
I never want to see another planet die.
But, I guess the bright side to all of this is that we haven't seen anything of the Decepticons in a long time.
"Bumblebee, come on. We have to go to the central command room," said a familiar voice from the direction of the door to my room. I looked up from the studies datapad I was reading and turned in my chair to see who had called me, even though I already knew who it was. It was Sideswipe, and I could tell that whatever it was I needed to the command room for was important. It's probably not another one of Prowl's meetings, as Sideswipe's tone was too serious.
I set my datapad down on my little desk and the red warrior walked with me down to the command room, and others joined us from branching hallways along the way there, most of them being key members of the Ark's crew.
Though I'm only a scout, I didn't feel the slightest bit out of place among the officers. Optimus seems to value my input regarding certain missions, given that I'm a very experienced scout, and the other officers have long since seen that my knowledge can be very useful. Maybe I can contribute in the same way during this meeting.
Sideswipe, being faster than the majority of us, made it to the door first and opened it. Inside the command room were the usual colorful hologram maps, blinking engine monitors, and weapons stations, and the bots operating these vital functions of the Ark. The massive windows in the front of the room were shuttered, strangely, and the room was darker than usual because of it. Normally the windows were open so the commanders of the ship could see incoming objects with their own optics, rather than having the Ark's finely tuned sensors do all the work for them. It was something I never really understood. Sometimes the sensors could pick up things near the ship that not even the bots with the best optic functionality could see.
All of us flooded into the room silently, only hearing the soft tones and beeps of the monitors along the walls and the thumping of our pedes against the hard floor. The bots and the monitors and hologram maps stopped their work and turned around to face all of us. I instantly recognized Prowl among these bots, and resisted the urge to wave at him, knowing he wouldn't respond back at this time.
All of our optics locked on the tall figure standing ahead of us, despite the heavier than usual shadows in the large room. We all knew who this figure was and we remained silent out of respect, waiting for him to speak first.
Well, most of us, anyway.
"So, Optimus, what did you call us down here for?" our leader's close friend, Jazz, asked from the front of the crowd. The visored mech was closer to Optimus than the vast majority of us (he knew Optimus back when he was Orion Pax), so I guess it was sort of okay for him to less formal with our leader.
That didn't stop Ironhide and Ratchet from looking like they wanted to smack Jazz in the back the helm. Optimus, however, answered his friend's question, so I guess he wasn't bothered by the informality of it.
"I have called a meeting here to announce that we have reached yet another planet," our leader said, a very serious expression on his faceplates, optics glowing brightly. A surge of excitement shot through me instantly as I realized that we now have a potential home. That our journey could finally be coming to a close.
"What planet is it?" I blurted out, unashamed. I was too excited to care about the looks some of the others were giving me.
Optimus's optics softened a bit as he turned to look at me. "Our databases have confirmed that the name of this planet is Krypton."
My optics widened in excitement. I had heard quite a bit about this planet back on Cybertron, since it was studied for a while. It was a planet of organics, something most bots wouldn't be particularly interested in because of a sort of prejudice against the carbon-based creatures. I'm not like that, though. These organics, I heard, were very advanced compared to many of the other organic planets we have noted in our database, even reaching out past their solar system and setting up small outposts and colonies on other planets and moons. I've wanted to see some of their technology for a long time, especially after hearing about what the Kryptonians call a 'World Engine'. I learned that it is a massive device that can terraform any planet, changing it to match Krypton's planetary conditions using gravity and atmospheric particles, enabling them to live on far more planets than other organics we have documented.
But what I thought was even more impressive is that, even though they don't call it this, they achieved Space Bridge technology, and actively use it, to send away convicted criminals to serve their sentence in a dimension they call the Phantom Zone.
"This meeting is meant to announce our next action upon arrival to this planet," Optimus said. "We will not be making contact with the Kryptonians under any circumstances."
As soon as Optimus finished his statement, I heard hushed and confused chatter among the crowd I stood in. Sideswipe and I shared a confused look. After hearing that we had come across the organic planet, I assumed that we would initiate some sort of communication with them, hoping to be allowed refuge on their planet. Why Optimus said that we will not send them any sort of transmission is beyond me.
Before anyone could question Optimus's decision to maintain radio silence, our leader lifted a servo to one of the bots near the control panels. The mech nodded once and pressed a button on his monitor.
I heard a confirmation tone and several mechanisms in the walls started to move, creating a slow, whirring sound. Suddenly the room grew brighter as the window shutters were lifted. Light from the millions of stars outside the ship shone in, but that wasn't the most noticeable thing out there.
The planet we were discussing was there, rotating slowly with its single moon companion. I could see that the Ark had established its orbit around the planet beyond Krypton's moon.
The hushed chatter grew slightly louder as we all looked at the organic planet. We all had seen images of the organic planet, but none of them looked like this. The planet looked blackened and sick, and I could see dimly glowing cracks in its surface.
"We are witnessing the end of Krypton. An end perhaps similar to our own planet's," Optimus said, halfway turned away from us, and looking towards the sickly planet ahead of the Ark.
After hearing our silence, our leader continued. "The Council of this planet has decided that, after their other sources were exhausted, they were to harvest energy from the core. Whether or not they knew that this action would seal their doom is unknown to us."
"Now why would any intelligent species do that?" Ratchet grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his helm. Ironhide, who was standing next to him, only shrugged in response.
"After tapping into surface communications, it is quite obvious to us that there is civil war going on within their own species," Prowl said from near one of the control panels, behind Optimus. "A group led by Krypton's military leader, Zod, revolted after their Council remained indecisive regarding the wellbeing of their race. War has since spread throughout their planet, growing more violent by the solar cycle."
By then, the crowd of bots I stood in pressed forward, towards the massive windows. The cracks on the surface, if I am seeing this correctly, are slowly growing brighter and larger.
Optimus allowed Prowl to elaborate further on how the once great planet got to this point, saying that some were making the decisions in an attempt to save their planet. Prowl didn't need to say that it was already too late for them.
I couldn't help but see that there was a strange parallel between Cybertron's story and Krypton's. Both planets went through a Golden Age, a time of expansion, exploration and great discoveries. Then a way to control the population was established, taking away the freedom of choice from the individual. War broke out, and essentially destroyed both worlds.
Looking away from the surface of the tattered planet after noticing something, I moved to walk over to our leader. After gaining his attention, I looked up at him and asked, "Why isn't the ship cloaked from their scanners?"
"There is no need. They are preoccupied with what is happening on their planet. We need not worry about being attacked," Optimus answered reassuringly.
"There's nothing we can do for them?" I asked him, looking up almost desperately. I have a hard time believing that there's nothing we can do to help them. Perhaps we could shuttle some of them to some other location, to start over...
Optimus blinked down at me. "No, Bumblebee. They are tied to their planet's fate, and there is, unfortunately, nothing that we can do to spare them of that." I could hear an almost sad edge in his tone.
"So there's no hope for them?"
"There is always hope," he simply said, clasping his servos behind him, looking back up at the blackened planet beyond the window.
I furrowed my optic ridges in confusion. "But you said..."
"Solar cycles ago, the Ark detected a small vessel escaping the planet, powered by Space Bridge technology, or what they have called the Phantom Drive. Our scanners located signs of organic life within the ship."
My mood lifted considerably after hearing that. So there was hope for the Kryptonians. Just not here. I guess nothing can be done for the planet, and someone down there knew that.
"Watch, Bumblebee," Optimus told me, pointing towards the huge windows. I immediately turned my helm to look towards the dying planet. Just as I did, I saw a large, yellow crack appear, roughly along the equator.
"Their planet's core is collapsing and cannot withstand Krypton's gravity. Had we gone down there, we would be as good as dead," Ratchet commented from further to the right. Hound, who had been standing near a holographic map of this planet's solar system, nodded in agreement.
The crack in the planet had grown larger still, and brighter, sinking in deeper than before. I couldn't help but feel so sorry for the people still down there on that doomed, blackened planet. I hope that they have at least accepted their fates. It's better than dying in mass panic.
I watched on with the others as smaller, thinner cracks opened, reaching all over the planet, even to the poles. As time moved on, more and more cracks appeared, and faster.
The largest crack in it seemed to cause the planet to collapse in on itself. Then I gasped at seeing what happened next.
Silence fell over the crowd as we witnessed the last nanoklicks of the Kryptonians' lives. Some looked away. Others continued to stare in shock. I just stood there, almost unable to react.
Krypton, unable to take the strain any longer, detonated, sending out a shockwave so powerful its obliterated the orbiting moon.
Heated chunks of the planet floated around the still glowing core of Krypton, and a large ring of dust expanded out past the once present moon's orbit.
As the shockwave of the blast shook the Ark violently, causing most of us to lose our balance, I realized that an entire species has just died, along with their planet.
A sick feeling flooded my spark and I turned my helm away. An entire species... and we could do nothing about it.
I guess we were lucky when it comes to our planet. We made it out in time.
"Optimus, do you know where that ship we detected was heading?" Sideswipe asked from near me. I don't know if it was just out of curiosity, or something else.
"The vessel is locked into its course, en route to another organic planet," our leader answered. "I am confident that it will reach its destination."
The conversation in the room started up once more, and Optimus issued the command to move on from the sad remains of Krypton. The enormous ship turned slowly away and I watched the floating smithereens of the organic planet through the window until I could no longer see it.
We came across yet another planet, though our presence didn't adversely affect its dominant species. We didn't cause it, but another planet was destroyed.
Optimus was right; they were tied to their fate. Hope was not there on the surface, but going elsewhere, to start fresh. And I want that hope to survive, where ever it's going.
The Ark's engines fired off, and we filtered out of the room, resuming our previous activities. Back in my room with my datapad and desk, I couldn't help but think of the story of Krypton, and how similar it was to our story. There was the era of expansion, the remove of choice, the revolt, and the war...
I just hope that there is one difference in our stories. That in our search to start over, we aren't tied our planet's fate, like the Kryptonians were.
Yeah, they arrived just in time to see the end of Krypton. At least they have better chance than Krypton did.
Like I said before, I love the movie Man of Steel. and think it is absolutely amazing. Go watch it; trust me, you won't regret it.
I don't think I'm going to continue this...
Anyway, if you have any questions or comments for me, just drop a review.
Till next time! :)