Novum Sigma

Chapter 1: Sacrifice

Sacrifice

Sa-cri-fice; Sak-ruh-fayhs, verb: The surrender or destruction of something valuable or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing cause.

Blasting through the dark void of space, blotting out the glowing specks of distant stars was a ship. It's exterior rusted and covered in dark smudges of ash, the frame was bulky and large with crudely made thrusters firing from the rear. The craft slowly soared through the lonely void pf space, aiming towards a desolate moon for it's precious cargo to be delivered. Through the tinted glass sat on old mech, steering the vessel with unwavering balance, determined to finish his mission.

The mech glanced back, looking at the shaken interior of his ship. The pods were still secure and the twenty-one sparks faintly glowed as thick tubes feed them energon. Ignoring the echoing drip of fluids through a cracked pipe, he turned back to his job, the moon closer then ever. 'soon' he thought 'soon' He altered the ships angled slightly, noting that it would be a good one or two orns before he arrived and when he did, he had every intention to retire from the sprouting war. The mech ran his green optics over his armor; the old mech's orange paintjob was now scratched and dull void of all shine that may have been there.

There was more then just the issue of a ruined paintjob on his mind; the mech feared for his cargo: Cybertronians sparks, frames, energon, medical supplies, and countless data pads. He was part of a last ditch effort to secure the safety of the few uncontaminated bots from the plague on Velocitron. The bot was stressed and lonely, only the hum of the sparks and his thoughts to keep him company. He feared he would drift into recharge and be ambushed by the growing threat in his boredom. He would not be the one to mess this up, it was his chance to prove he was more then just a mechanic, useless besides repairing armor.

He vented and closed his optics, listening to the engine he had become so used to hearing. It no longer annoyed him and made his audio receptors irritated, but filled the silence the surely would have driven him mad. The mech gave an unnecessary yawn and flexed his fingers and activated the autopilot. He stood and wobbled over to the energon dispenser, filling the cup with the blue substance. Swirling his index finger in the energon he headed over to the pods to check and see if they were locked into place. The mech took a swig and set the cup to the side.

He typed a code and immediately the holders around the pods blinked with glowing red and blue lights before with a harsh siren, the top and bottom latches of half of the pods settled into a green light, while others turned red. The mech vented and began repositioning the pods with red lights; the red lights in turn, gave one final beep before they turned green and shut off.

He vented again and went to retrieve his energon accidentally knocking it over in the process. He swore and walked slowly to a storage unit where he kept the cleaning supplies, not hearing the blipping on his radar. Getting down on his knees slowly as his joints creaked from being underused making him groan and swear again he began to clean up the spilled liquid.

'I'm getting to old for this' he thought sourly as he returned to his feet putting pressure on his hip hoping to reduce the pain as he put away the supplies. The mech plopped back down into his chair and offlined the autopilot, still not hearing the beeping radar. The mech yawned again, readjusting the ship's course with steady hands.

Hours passed and the mech felt the gentle tug of recharge lulling him to sleep. His optics slowly closed and no matter how hard he tried to resist his optics shuttered and sealed tight as his head sagged. The old mech made a silent promise to only recharge for a few cycles as he quickly fell into a peaceful slumber.

The mech jerked from his sleep as the ship wobbled violently; he lifted his head shocked and sprung from his chair. He scanned the interior nervously looking for what cause the shaking. It struck again, knocking the him into a wall. The mech groaned and rubbed his helm, 'What's going on?' he wondered. He slowly got to his pedes, using the wall for support. Everything was silent, save for the hum of the engine and the sparks life support system. He strained his audio receptors to their limit till he heard it. The neurotic beeping coming from the radar. He mental cursed himself for not being more vigilant and ran to the machine. With a strong swipe of his hand he brushed off a messy collection of data pads. His optics widened as he saw the two green blips on the screen.

He dashed back to the cockpit grabbed his pistol before returning to the pods. He removed each individually and placed them into a emergency container as well as the respective frames. 'come on you old piece of scrap, work faster!' he coached himself. A metallic groan echoed throughout the vessel making the mech fumble with one of the pods. 'almost there' he thought, putting what was thought to be the fifteenth pod in the container.

Heavy footsteps headed his way, as well as angry growls and shouts. 'Hold steady!' he instructed himself. He shoved in two more and was suddenly blasted to the side. 'no' he thought, desperately trying to ignore the pain tearing through his frame. He removed his hand from his injury and hissed, frustrated, at the sight of energon.

"I GOT ONE!" came a roar.

He groaned and hefted himself to his feet 'I will not fail' he promised himself. He dove for pistol and held it tightly in his servo and whipped himself around, not firing with a second thought. The bullet lodged itself into the side of a hulking mech with dark green armor and piercing orange optics. The green mech screeched in agony and lunging at the old mech.

He didn't have time to dodge before his green opponent wrapped a servo around his neck ad slammed him into the control panels. The ship titled harshly to the side as the orange mech was shoved into the steering wheel. The green mech lost whatever balance he had on his stubby legs and went tumbling into the other wall. He took advantage of his enemies stumble and retrieved his dropped pistol. The old mech carefully slide closer to the offending one. He tightened his hold and shoved it to the green mechs faceplates feeling rage

"Who are you!" He demanded in his scratchy voice.

The orange mech suddenly screamed in agony as his arm was pulled back to an unnatural angle. He grimaced as claws grabbed his helm and bent it around his shoulder. A grey face with wicked optics smirked at him as he tightened his hold on the old mech's head. The purple and white armor of the one holding him shinned brilliantly, like it had just been waxed.

"My old friend, you don't know who we are?" He said, practically purring.

A shiver went down his spinal strut because of the way he said that. 'secure the frames and sparks' he reminded himself while glaring at the smug red optics of his offender. He needed to finish his mission, even if it meant his end. Anything to protect the future.

He narrowed his optics to dangerous green slits, using his peripheral vision to see how far he had to make it. It was a good twenty feet to the launch ignition, and another thirty to the final location. He grimaced again and made optic contact with the purple and white mech holding him.

"I didn't get an answer, old man," He growled, venom dripping through is words.

He heard the bulky one struggle to his feet and fall, making his partner glanced back to him, for just a second. 'wrong move' He kneed the purple and white mech in-between the legs and he fell to the ground instantly. The mech didn't stop to smirk at the fact that he had taken down a larger, younger opponent, but made a mad dash for the ignition panel for the emergency container. He flipped open the glass covering and slammed on the switch as hard as he could.

"Come on! Work! Work!" He yelled, as the ship let out another groan.

For a second time, claws wrapped around his neck, this time digging into the cables. He felt energon drip down, streaking his tarnished armor. He felt dizzy from the loss of energon, from the bullet wound on his side and now the gashes on his neck. The claws dug deeper making the mech scream and writhe in pain, trying desperately to remove the servos.

"You'll pay for that, pit-spawn," He growled, barring his sharp dentals.

He felt his pedes leave the ground and the pain rapidly increase. This was more pain the then he had endured in all of his stellar cycles online, and he would give them all to make it stop. He scolded himself for being weak. He himself knew this mission would be dangerous, and might even take his life. He had agreed to that and felt he couldn't back down from this, it was his obligation to be strong for he next generation. He gathered all of the strength he could and swung his fist at the purple and white mechs face, who he now released was a seeker. The seeker dropped the old mech stunned from the blow and staggered backwards tripping over his partner and swearing the entire fall. The old mech gagged and grasped his throat, everything was hazy and static speckled his vision. He stumbled to his pedes, still clutching his newer injury.

His knees buckled and he fell. No, he wouldn't give up! His wouldn't let a little energon loss and old joints stop him! He pushed up from his servos and nearly crashed into the wall. The mech pondered if he should try and find his small weapon, no, it would take to long, and the mechs were starting to untangle themselves from each other. He stumbled around them, pushing his joints as fast as they would carry him. He remembered trying to keep with his granddaughter when she wanted to race with him when she was smaller. The little femme had the frame of a speedster and not a thickly armored one as himself, so even as a stubby legged sparkling she would always beet him. He grinned at the memory, knowing how her life depended on his success as well. He groaned and shuffled forward. The ship shook violently before a second engine whirred to life.

He kept limping onwards, thankful that the attackers were busy looking at the emergency container morph into a capsule with dramatically large thrusters and small stabilizers. He reached the cockpit, fumbling with the switches and dials with shaky servos. There was a small audible pop and a small switch appeared from under the control board.

"PIT-SPAWNED FRAGGER!" The green yelled, knocking over a pile of crates trying to back away from the capsule as the thrusters burst to life in a dangerous array of flame. The old mech spun around just as yet another servo clamped around his neck. He was starting to get irritated with the fact that these mechs couldn't be *creative^ and find a new way to hold him still.

The white and purple mech casually walked into view, that smug look still on his dented faceplates, "Now DeathRig, give the old mech a chance," He smirked, obviously knowing something about the old mech, "My old friend isn't as good of a fighter as he used to be."

Said mech's optics widened in disbelief this seeker *knew* him? He didn't recall seeing this younger bot anywhere, he was sure he would remember if he did. The ship rattled as the opening above the capsule appeared, squeaking uncomfortably from not being used. Panic flashed across both of the mechs faces as they realized what was coming. The thruster on the pod erupted into a power flame, launching itself into space, the sparks and their frames inside.

DeathRig looked to his counterpart who was partially torched and covered and burn marks. The purple and white mech turned on the old orange one, shoving DeathRig to the side. No matter how hard he tried he still couldn't find any familiarity with the seeker, he didn't even remember him from the streets.

"Gravedigger…" DeathRig said in a wary tone, pleading for him to calm down.

'Gravedigger!' the mech knew that name, and it caused dread to creep through him. His brother had humiliated him in the gladiatorial ring and in return the seeker, Gravedigger killed all of his family: sparkmate, sparklings, and friends. He swore he would take everything from the orange mech's brother, and he almost did and lived happily with the fact that he had gotten revenge until he had heard of his enemy's brother and his side of the family. It made him realize that this mech could be more then just hired hands, Gravedigger had come to finish off the remains of the family: The old mech and his two granddaughters.

"You remember who I am now don't you old mech," He growled

He squirmed and slipped his servo under the control panel and felt for the switch. He flinched at the pressure increased slowly, crushing his throat. Claws dug into the nap of his neck and sent small trickles of energon from the wires. He sent a quick prayer hopping the capsule was far away from them, safe from his future actions.

A sadistic smirk stretched across the seeker's face, "DeathRig, my friend~" He arched his neck to look at his partner, "Go to the ship and collect that pod."

Panic flashed through the old mech's face, they pod was everything, their lives, their future, and his mission. He opened his mouth letting loose a gargling scream, desperate to distract the lumbering creature from retrieving it. Gravedigger cocked his head and smirked, enjoying the cry of, what he thought was pain, from his victim.

"Now, my dear, old friend, would you honor me wi-" He was cut off by a sharp snarl a weak kick to the shin.

"Rot in the Pit, fragger!" He rasped, glaring defiantly at Gravedigger.

The smirk never left his faceplates as he slowly brought his free servo to his hip. Metal unfolded just under his claws, revealing a hidden knife. Terror washed over the mechs face for a mere second, just enough for Gravedigger to see, letting him know he was scared. Slowly, he moved the knife in a serpent-like fashion to his neck and pressed the sharp, clean edge to the cables with an even pressure.

"I will only ask you once more, what is your designation?" Gravedigger oozed.

The orange mech closed his optics venting in exhaustion. He knew he was outmatched, outwitted, and DEFINITELY out gunned. He also knew his options were limited to only a few, and his choice would make the most important impact on the survival of the pod. He strained his audio-receptors, hopping the giant DeathRig was still onboard, or at least stating up their ship. He waited for what seemed like stellar-cycles till he heard it, the gunning of a second engine, just starting, he still could save them!

He opened his optics, looking into the red ones of Gravedigger. He positioned his finger over the button that would burst his ship into a fiery explosion and stared. He stared into his attackers optics, the optics of one who wanted to hurt others close to him, the optics of the one who killed his brother, those sadistic and arrogant optics. He willed all of his defiance and hatred towards the mech, seeing only a slight waver from the cocky smirk.

Primus, let the pod be safe.

"Nexus."

He pushed the button.