Prologue
Optimus Prime gathered his team of Autobots together. Ratchet had discovered a small but urgent distress signal, and it had appeared to be neither Autobot nor Decepticon. They has requested that they come as quickly as possible, and to bring medical care. Optimus had decided to send Arcee and Ratchet to help the stranger. He informed Arcee to be ready for a fight, but not to threaten the distressed stranger.
Ratchet put in the coordinates, which were somewhere in Canada, and activated the space bridge. With a medical kit in one hand, Ratchet walked into the bridge, followed by Arcee.
When they went through, they arrived in a pine forest. Heavy breathing could be heard nearby.
Going through a couple of trees, the pair found the distressed stranger. It was a red femme, legs and lower half covered in energon. In her arms, she was holding three sparklings, two of which their optics were barely glowing. She looked up at the pair with wide, fear-filled, bright blue optics. She stood up slowly, then offered the sparklings to them. Lubricant was flowing rapidly from her optics.
"I am glad that you Autobots found me instead of the 'cons." She stepped over to Ratchet, still offering the sparklings to them.
"I am incappable of taking care of my sparklings. They are dying because I don't know what to do. Could you possibly take care of them?"
Ratchet looked down at the poor sparklings. The stronger-looking one cried out. Ratchet sighed.
"If you seriously believe you cannot take care of them yourself, we can take them. But I would recommend come with us."
"I'm sorry, but I can't come with you. But it would make me happy to know that my little sparklings will grow up to help defend this planet from destruction." A small smile crept up the red femme's faceplate.
The femme was about to leave, when she suddenly stopped and turned around.
She pointed at the sickly mech. "This is Stormrust." She then motioned to the weak femme. "This is Skyshard." She eventually pointed towards the final healthy mech. "And this Scorchstrike. I entrust their lives to you."
The mysterious femme took a step back, shed another drop of lubricant, then ran off into the forest. Arcee was about to chase after her, but Ratchet stopped the two-wheeler just in time.
"Arcee, we should let her be. It's already hard enough for a carrier to give away her sparklings. Besides, I don't think she wants to cause any trouble."
Twin cries of pain suprised Ratchet, and he realized that the two weak sparklings were fading fast.
{Optimus,} he commed the Autobot leader, {Open a bridge. We have some dying sparklings here!}