The Last Hybrid

by lost frequencies

Sensing impending danger, Starscream, an explorer and the last surviving Seeker, leaves Cybertron. His colleague and friend Knock Out is left to pick up the pieces, leading him to unravel secrets of an unsettling past and his involvement in covert military experiments. Pre-war. Mainly Primeverse, with subtle references to G1 and Bayverse.

1. a seeker's return

THE LAST HYBRID

by lost frequencies.

.*.*.*.

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

-When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer, Walt Whitman-

Chapter 1 – A Seeker's Return

The Air Commander has foreseen it all: the uprising of new ideals, the fall of the caste system, the end of peacetime. He longs for a time when Cybertron will be left in shambles and he will emerge as ruler of the skies. No longer is he remembered as the passionate scientist, the one who cared about exploring the universe. Past knowledge of viable co-ordinates and interstellar navigation have long been exploited to dispatch a covert team of Seekers across galaxies—winged warriors united in their mission to source and hide their, no, his energon spoils in other worlds.

And while he waits for the impending war to catch up with him, he hides away to evaluate the guilt and remorse he has been meaning to get off his systems; something he should have done vorns ago but never had the spark to until now.

Perched atop a mountain, he regards the changes that have taken over a forsaken planet he once knew. The aridity. The stillness.

What used to be a frozen basin is now a crater filled with dark sandy clay, sweeping across the lowlands, its iron-laden soil cracked from meta-cycles of drought. He then dives off with a swift, acrobatic flip, before soaring southbound toward the caverns where the underground bunkers are located.

He shifts back to his natural form in mid-air upon reaching the caverns, landing pedes first in front of a tall entrance. Now ambling down the narrow steps, he brightens the light of his red optics through the darkness. Talons drag along the walls where energon clusters once bloomed and glowed. He remembers being immersed in its aura, the intimacy and comforting sense of seclusion that accompanied him throughout the nights spent sheltering from stellar storms. Wings stiffened and servos clasped behind his back, he continues down the corridor in search of a familiar presence.

The underground shelter seems tidy, just the way he remembers it to be. But that stench...

Of course.

It is expected of such a being like her to disintegrate so repulsively in the heat. He then wonders how long has it been since the ice melted and evaporated.

The Air Commander kneels beside the sprawling corpse—part organic, part Cybertronian. What is left of her natural state have eroded away, exposing the mechanical innards and complex circuitry systems. Now that he is facing her again, he finds himself at a loss for words. He feels the pain throbbing beneath his chassis, the call of a wounded spark tainted with anger and sadness and guilt, urging him to say that he is indeed sorry for leaving her to die on this forsaken planet.

Regret sinks in. He finds himself questioning his return. Yet there is no turning back. The need for closure has won.

If only he could tell Knock Out about the closeness they once shared and how much he appreciated her. If only he could tell him that his creation was merely a reflection of his desire to imitate life and beauty. If only.

A moment of deep contemplation slips away before he finally regains his composure to speak:

"You were never given the chance to find a place in this universe," he says with a deep, yet unusually gentle tone of voice, "but you had once found a place in mine." He reveals a farewell present in a form of a broken piece of energon cluster he plucked off the cavern walls, gently placing it over her exposed and empty spark chamber. "Bask, my dearest Hybrid, in the light of the AllSpark. When the time comes, we shall meet again."

Then it is done, his last and proper goodbye. He rises and turns on his heels, never looking back. Every step he takes away from her is a step toward a new sense of self. From this cycle on, he promises, there will be no retracing of paths, no harbouring of bereavement and nostalgic sentiments. The future he predicts is bleak. And in that bleakness, stands a formidable fortress separating her existence from his.

War is coming. He emerges from the bunkers and waits for his seekers to report their status via commlink.

Thundercracker, his First Lieutenant, responds almost immediately, asking if he has found what he was looking for.

"No," the Air Commander lies. "Nothing at all."