Chromia leaned back in her chair and sighed disapprovingly at the blinking panel of controls in her ship's cockpit. Her navigator, Roller, had been offlined last week, killed by a small squadron of Starscream's Decepticons they had been trying to outrun for weeks now. He had been the only remaining crew, besides herself, Firestar and Strongarm, and the only bot who knew how to pilot the ship. The rest of her crew had either quit because of Chromia's temper, or had been killed by Decepticons.

Chromia was currently trying to coax her ship, Avenge, into hyperdrive so they could escape this particular dark area of the galaxy, which was technically Decepticon territory. However, the small sophisticated ship refused to budge even an inch.

"Frag it." Chromia cursed, seriously considering looking in the ship's manual. "Star!" She called, hoping maybe her friend would be more knowledgeable.

"Yes?" She called back cheerily, practically bouncing into the cockpit. The petite red and orange femme was always eager to help, her bright blue optics sparkling. Chromia mused that Roller had probably only stayed on the ship as long as he had because he had a crush on Firestar. Most mechs did.

"See if you can help me get the blasted hyperdrive started." Chromia said, "I swear to Primus I've tried every button in here."

"I seem to remember Roller doing something in this area to engage it." Firestar laughed sadly, "He was always so possessive over the cockpit." She pressed a few buttons experimentally, one of which turned on the radio link.

Instead of the usual silence of static that the crew had been used to for centuries, a calm stern voice sounded through the speakers. "I am Optimus Prime." The voice informed, "And I send this message to any remaining Autobots taking refuge among the stars. Cybertron has been restored. Come home."

"Cybertron restored?" Firestar said doubtfully once the message had concluded. She ran the coordinates of the transmission through and hmmed, "Well, he wasn't lying. He's on Cybertron."

"Are you suggesting we go?" Chromia stared at her incredulously, "Cybertron's been destroyed for centuries! It's got to be a trap."

"Well, he certainly sounded like a Prime; bossy." Firestar argued

"Plus," Strongarm interjected, poking her helm into the cockpit, "We could use some allies. If you haven't noticed, we're kind of short handed." She gestured to the empty ship.

"How long were you standing there, Ms. Ninja Bot?" Firestar eyed the blue and white femme

Strongarm shrugged, "Long enough."

Chromia sighed; they made a fair point. "Fine" She grumbled, "We'll go. But only if somebot can get the blasted hyperdrive started!"

"Yay!" Firestar said and eagerly got to work. Roughly ten minutes later she discovered the correct sequence of buttons, and the three femmes were slammed into hyperdrive, on their way home.

Once the ship had exited hyperdrive, about 400 klicks from Cybertron, Chromia swayed unsteadily on her peds and groaned.

"Next time, a little warning would be appreciated, Firestar!" Chromia grumbled, rubbing her sore helm.

"It's not my fault!" Firestar cried, which began an argument until one of the alarms sounded, interrupting their bickering.

The screen flashed red as the computer's monotone voice stated, "Enemy aircraft detected 10 klicks away. Ship patterns concurrent with Decepticon warship."

Chromia's optics widened. "Scrap!" She yelled, sprinting to the steering control and zooming the ship forward. "Strongarm!" She called over her shoulder, "Man the weapons!"

But they were being fired at before Strongarm could even reach the weapons system.

Strongarm and Firestar fell forward and sprawled on the floor, covering their helms, as Chromia slammed the craft forward at breathtaking speed. However, it wasn't quite fast enough.

A blast severed the right wing of the ship, and as they plummeted towards Cybertron the monotone voice stated, "Heavy damage sustained. Prepare for abrupt landing."

"Abrupt landing?" Chromia yelled, trying as hard as she could to pull the ship up, "Are you fragging kidding me, we're gonna crash not land!"

"Is this really what we're disputing with the computer as we fall to our deaths, Captain?" Firestar said sarcastically from the floor, "Whether it used the proper terminology to describe our deaths?"

"Shut up and get in your damn stasis pods." Chromia growled, still desperately trying to stabilize the ship.

"What about you?" Strongarm asked

"I'll be along in a minute."

Casting a worried look at the silver and blue femme, Strongarm grabbed Firestar's sevo and tugged her out of the cockpit to the stasis pods.

"Autobot aircraft in distress, does anyone copy?" Chromia shouted into the radio, swearing as the control panel sparked at her. She accepted that the ship was going to crash and instead refocused her efforts on getting it as close to where Optimus Prime's transmission had come from as she could. If anyone got injured in the crash, they were going to need medical help as soon as possible.

Gritting her denta, she pulled up on the steering wheel, keeping the ship aloft for as long as she could. Finally, when the ship was mere feet above the ground, she set it on autopilot and dove for the stasis pods. She bolted for one next to her already frozen teammates and by the time the thinnest layer of frost had coated her pod, the ship had smashed into the ground, plowing a large scar through the land.

A few minutes after the impact, there was a beeping noise among the wreckage and someone shouted in a static coated voice, "Autobot aircraft we are responding to your distress call and are sending a rescue squad. Hello?" The damaged radio fizzed in and out of static and came back, "Hello? Is anyone-"

The radio was answered with silence and the Autobot realizing this whispered, "Oh Primus, no. We're too late."