This is in the transformers movie verse but I'm going to add a few characters that I like from other verses, but in movie verse continuity, other than that the others are from the movie verse. I don't own the Transformers or anything from Hasbro. I only own System and any monster you might see. This is also based before the allspark is launched from Cybertron. Other than that enjoy and please don't flame me too badly. I burn easily. My way of time is this: vorn = 100 years steller cycle = 1 Year orn = 1 week solar cycle = 1 day megacycle = 1 Hour breem = 1 Minute klik = 1 Second
In the farthest reaches of space a single derelict ship floated through the stars. On board, shadows ruled and not a single living thing was aboard. Living being the keyword. A pair of glowing red eyes escaped the darkness looking out of a port window. "Itssss been sssso long." the thing hissed "I musssst feed sssssoon."
Soon, another ship came into view. It was very large and the thing that the eyes belonged to could smell … "Food." The eyes glinted maliciously. Soon it would feed, after so long. The eyes disappeared.
Onboard the Ship…
"Sir, there is a ship up ahead. It's sending out a distress signal." Autobot Bluestreak announced to his leader Optimus Prime. The large red and blue form of the Autobot Supreme Commander stood in the center of the bridge.
"Have you scanned for life signs?" the Autobot leader asked.
"Affirmative Sir. Negative life signs detected."
"It's a Decepticon plot!" shouted Red Alert, the security director; his helm starting to spark.
"Most of them are still on the planet, including Megatron." Prowl, the second in command, commented. He stood tall and proud, holding his door wings straight.
Optimus brought up and reviewed the information onto his monitor. They were in space to verify a rumor that ships in this area of space were disappearing. They had to see if it was another Decepticon plan or if there was another reason the ships were falling into catastrophe.
Prime was on the shuttle with Prowl and Red Alert, his officers. The rest of the crew consisted of Hound, Bluestreak, Sideswipe, Skyfire, First Aid, and Brawn. The rest of his command staff was on Cybertron in case the Decepticons got wind of Optimus leaving the base. Jazz was currently in charge and making the most of it,
On the planet Cybertron…
"Yo Sys, tha' batch goes on the table in back not near the couch!" Jazz, the silver special ops commander, was currently guiding his impromptu party goers in to place where the high-grade and treats were. He got his best friend System providing the drinks, she was the only one who could nick an armful of both Ratchet's and the Twins' special batches. Not even Jazz had the ball bearings to do something that suicidal. And the strange thing is she was always on good terms with them, causing Jazz to assume she didn't actually take them, not without the owner's knowledge that is.
"I know how to set up a party Jazzy. Contrary to popular belief you're not the original party mech on Cybertron." the pink, teal, and silver femme retorted glancing through her own visor at him.
"Hey, jus addin' some friendly advice. An only ma' friends can call me Jazzy."
System smirked at that as she continues to deliberately place the cubes near the couch. The way Jazz inflected the word friends, there was no doubt what the silver mech meant by that.
"An only ma' friends can call me Sys. And what about Prowl? Does he know about your friends." She playfully sent back.
"Hey now, tha' hurts. Aint' I one of ya' friends? An yeah of course Prowler knows bout ma friends." Jazz said with a wide smile.
"Only in spirit not in body." System added with her own grin answering his rhetorical question.
"Eeeww you two. Get a room; we don't need you guys to corrupt our processors anymore than what you already did." Sunstreaker whined. Both Jazz and System grinned some more. They both could tell he was really missing his brother; his whining was coming more frequently then his grunts.
"Eh if you haven't noticed yet Sunny, your processor is already as corrupted as it can get and we had nothing to do with it." System stated with an innocent smile. Sunstreaker just scowled at her use of his brother's nickname for him.
"Yeah man, an if ya' talkin' bout lil Bee over there," Jazz pointed to the young bot stacking chairs in the corner "tween' ya', ya' twin, me, ol Hide, Ratch, an Sys here…"
"I'm surprised his first language isn't cursing or at least him being fluent in cuss." Sys finished for him.
"Why exactly are we having this party?" Bumblebee asked innocently, coming over to the group after hearing his name mentioned, while Sunny stalked off.
"It's like this Bee," Jazz said slowly while throwing an arm around Bee's shoulders "There's a sayin' tha' I heard a lon' time go. When th' cybercat's away the glitch mice will play, o' somthin' like tha'." Jazz removed his arm and walked off to direct more bots in the party preparations, but Bumblebee still looked adorably confused. System took pity on him.
"What Jazz is trying to say Bee is that since Optimus, Prowl, and the rest of the party haters are away on that mission, we can have some fun down here. You know, raise morale and stuff. They should be gone for a few solar cycles an orn at the most and we'll have all this cleaned up before they even reach the atmosphere. We'll have our fun, Primes away mission will be done, and no one will be the wiser. Get it?" Bumblebee nodded his head enthusiastically. System smiled and shooed him off to help the others get ready.
Looking around she saw Jazz trying to tell Grapple how to stack the high-grade cubes with Grapple looking like irritation incarnated, Trailbreaker was setting up a few holo games for the younger and light drinking soldiers, even Grimlock was behaving himself and helping some of the minibots reach the top of the walls to set up some decorations. It was too bad that the bots on the mission couldn't join them, System was sure even Prowl (and especially Optimus) would enjoy the party.
Oh well, can't cry over spilled energon. But she couldn't wait till Optimus got back. Blushing and stopping that silly thought System got back to work, really, Optimus would never seriously consider her for anything so might as well stop right there.
Back on the Autobot Ship…
"We'll board the ship and see if we can find any clue about what caused its distress and what may have befallen the crew." Optimus decided. The rest of the crew on the bridge either nodded in understanding or wore an expression of unease but they all knew better than to question their Prime.
"But sir," Red Alert whose job is to question people. "This could all be a trap set by the Decepticons to-"
"Its alright Red Alert," Optimus interrupted Red before he really got going. "We will be in and out in a few breems at the most. There will be someone on the bridge at all times to scan for danger. Then we will return to Cybertron, we can't remain out her for too long." Red Alert looked fit to be tied, but knew Optimus was just trying to think of what was best for everybody. With a resigned sigh he nodded his head in acceptance, but he didn't have to like it.
A boarding party was assembled fairly quickly, consisting of Optimus, Hound, Bluestreak, Sideswipe, and Skyfire. They all waited in an air lock till the ship was brought along side the derelict. They each had a small arms weapon with them in case this really was a Decepticon trap while Skyfire was readying his equipment for gathering the information from the strange ships computer.
Everyone was slightly on edge, they couldn't wait to get back home, this place had an ominous feel to it. They quickly entered the derelict and from there split up to explore the interior and locate the crew. Skyfire went to the bridge with Sideswipe in tow while the others went on alone.
The red eyes opened. The creature could smell its food. It was onboard. Now came the fun part. And as silent as death itself the creature slipped out into the dark hallway on the hunt for its meal.
Optimus slowly and carefully walked down the corridor on the watch for movement using his night vision. To bad he wasn't as observant as he thought he was.
The creature stalked the large bot in front of it from the shadows. He could smell the life in this one. His energon and oil. The combination was irresistible. The mech took one more step forward down the hall.
Optimus took another step through the dark hallway. He felt the back of his neck prickle, like he was being watched. He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was there. Nothing.
The creature looked down at the mech from its new vintage point on the ceiling. The mech was too slow. If he had turned even a half second faster he might have seen him. Oh well the monster lost its mood to play. Just as the mech took one more step the creature lunged. It was time to feed.
A movement out of the corner of his optic was all the warning Optimus had before he was thrown to the ground by a large blur. He could feel the thing on top of him, its clawed hands trying to get a hold on his shoulders. Using one of his legs he was able to wedge it in between their bodies and drive the two apart. Quickly he rose to his stabilizing servos. That was when he got a good look at his assailant.
It was a large grey Cybertronian with dark red optics. The thing looked up at him and smiled a cold dead smile and Optimus was able to see two long fangs in its mouth. The thing looked almost dead, it had absolutely no color on its body and its optics cast very little light. That was all that Optimus was able to see before the thing attacked him again.
"Pleasssssse don't take thissss perssssonally." The thing hissed in his audio "Itssss jussssst been sssso long and you sssssmell sssso good." Optimus jerked at that in horror. What did this thing mean by that? That moment was all the monster needed. It lunged its head toward Optimus' neck and sunk its fangs into the soft metal and wires.
Optimus roared in pain. He didn't understand what this thing was doing, but he knew he had to get away from it. Optimus, as leader of the Autobots, isn't a coward by any means. He has faced death and destruction many times and never ran. But this creature, it caused Optimus to feel a horrible amount of fear. He just knew he had to get away before something horrendous happened. Confusion, fear, desperation all filled Optimus' mind at that moment that he was able to summon enough strength to push the monstrosity away from him.
The creature made contact with a wall but was unfazed. He began to advance on the downed mech, but before he could begin to feed again he smelled something. A retched stench that filled his olfactory sensors. It was coming from down the hall and it was getting stronger. Unable to stand it anymore the creature fled. Optimus dragged himself as far as he could until he felt a wall hit his shoulder. He didn't have any strength left and he just collapsed.
The rest of the boarding party ran up the hallway Optimus went through. They all heard a commotion, but when they heard Optimus' roar of pain they all scrambled as if the Unmaker was at their heels. The sight they saw chilled all of their sparks; Optimus Prime huddled on the floor shivering slightly with fresh energon pouring from a wound on his neck. Skyfire bent down to examine his leader's wounds while radioing First Aid in case Prime had sustained other injuries he couldn't see, and he didn't poses the right equipment to help if that had occurred.
Bluestreak and Hound were examining the hallway for signs of Optimus' attacker. A set of claw marks on the wall occupied Blue's attention until the sound of struggling brought his focus back to those around him. Optimus was thrashing wildly and screaming in absolute agony. It took both Skyfire and Sideswipe to restrain their leader to keep him from hurting himself any further, but they couldn't stop his cries.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH MAKE IT STOP. PLEASE STOP IT." Optimus cried at the top of his voice. His very insides felt as if they were filled with acid, his fuel pump felt like it was going to explode, but it was his spark that was in the most turmoil. His spark felt like it was being torn slowly to pieces. All he felt was the pain, he was unaware of the scientist and front line warrior on top of him or of the yells and curses flying around, he wasn't even aware of his own screams or of the needle inserted into one of his neck lines. Then after that he was unaware of anything at all.
It was chaos on board the derelict. As soon as Optimus started to thrash and howl Skyfire instantly threw his own bulk on top of Optimus.
"Sideswipe! Help me keep him down!" the normally calm scientist yelled over his leaders cries. Sideswipe paused for half a sec before kneeling over his fallen leader and helping to hold him down.
"When's that slagging medic gonna get here?"
"What's wrong with him?"
"First Aid!"
"Can't you give him something!"
"I don't have the right kind of equipment!"
That was the scene First Aid came to. "Move, let me through!" Let it be said First Aid wasn't Ratchet's apprentice for nothing. The first thing the grumpy CMO taught the young Protectobot was how to control the situation. He hurried over to the writhing forms of Optimus, Skyfire, and Sideswipe.
"Keep him down a little longer!" First Aid ordered.
"Well hurry with whatever you're going to do!" Sideswipe yelped, unable to hold Prime for much longer.
"We'll try First Aid, but hurry please!" Skyfire nodded at the medic.
The young medic rummaged in his med-kit and drew out a syringe, measured out the right dose and injected a sedative into Primes neck. Almost instantly Optimus collapsed deep in a forced recharge. Skyfire and Sideswipe carefully got off of him and stepped back to let First Aid work.
He quickly fixed the holes in his neck, but other than that he couldn't find any other wounds. He didn't understand what could have caused the pain Optimus was in. He decided to get him back to base as soon as possible to let Ratchet see if he could find what obviously First Aid was missing.
"Ok, that's all I can do here. We need to get him back to Cybertron fast. I don't know what caused his attack, so I'm missing something and unsure how to help." First Aid said in quiet frustration.
Skyfire nodded, understanding what First Aid was frustrated about. He was no medic himself but it couldn't feel good to see a suffering bot and be unable to help especially to someone as empathic as First Aid. Hefting Optimus into his arms, the scientist and the rest of the boarding party left the ship, but Bluestreak held back for a few seconds. He took one last look at the marks on the wall, committing them to memory before catching up to the others.
Back on the Autobot Ship…
When they all got back to the ship, First Aid and Skyfire wasted no time in getting Optimus into the med-bay and hooked up to spark monitors and scanners for a more detailed look at their Prime's condition. Sideswipe, Hound, and Bluestreak headed to the bridge to report to Prowl what had happened. Red Alert was up the walls when they finished and were already halfway back to Cybertron. Skyfire, who had returned from the med-bay in the middle of their report, was trying his best to calm the distraught SD.
Suddenly, /Skyfire! Get down to med-bay NOW!/ First Aids voice yelled through the com-system. Every bot jumped at First Aid's sudden loud command. Skyfire all but flew towards the med-bay with Prowl, Red Alert, and the rest of the crew in his wake. As they came close to their destination they heard the sound of loud high pitched noises. Inside the med-bay they could see the medic running around the room in a frenzy. On one of the berths Optimus was connected to more machines then before.
"His spark is destabilizing! I don't know how long I can keep him alive. We need to get him back to Cybertron NOW!" he was running around connecting Optimus' spark to life supporting machines with a practiced hand. Prowl was already heading down to the bridge to give the order to head to Cybertron at full speed.
At the Decepticon Base…
"Sire, I have detected an Autobot ship." a Decepticon with one optic in the middle of his face reported to the Decepticon Lord. A large silver mech with cold blue optics stepped towards the single optic con'.
"Where are they located Shockwave?" he asked in a harsh voice.
"Location is in the area of space where many spacecrafts have been vanishing, sire." Shockwave said in his monotonous voice. The Decepticon Lord had a contemplative look on his face plates.
"Prepare a shuttle. I want to know what Prime is up to."
"As you command, Megatron."
At the Autobot Base…
The party was in full swing. Everyone who didn't have duty or patrol was living it up in the rec. room where they had set up. Some of the bots were already severely wasted, recharging where they dropped. System was laughing at everyone's antics. Blaster was blaring music at audio shattering decibels, some of the minibots were dancing on some of the deserted tables while four of the Aerial bots were mirroring in the rafters, though they looked quit inebriated and wobbled close to the edge, she was not worried they would fall. The aerials always danced on the rafters and have yet to fall off and she doubted they would start.
Over in one corner System saw Bumblebee and Fireflight looking at Kup in awe as he regaled to them another one of his stories, she smiled at that. In another corner Jazz was having a drinking contest with Trailbreaker, Cliffjumper, Sunstreaker, and Smokescreen.
Unsurprising, Trailbreaker was winning with Cliffjumper and Smokescreen already lying unconscious with Sunny and Jazz clearly drunk off their afts. How any of them could think of beating the large defense strategist was beyond her, but hey bots could dream couldn't they?
What really surprised her was in the back of the room both the Dinobots and the rest of the Protectobots were being civil and dare I say, friendly, to each other. Grimlock was talking animatedly and using hand gestures with Hot Spot, the Protectobot leader, who was ducking and avoiding said hand gestures, but was also listening and adding to the conversation.
Slag and Snarl were talking as well with Blades, but without the hand gestures. The street fighter looked like he was enjoying his discussion with the two Dinos. Sludge, Groove, and Streetwise looked like they were trying to cheer up Swoop, who was probably missing his fellow medic in training. He was cracking a smile every now and then, so they were succeeding some what.
And looking in the final corner she saw some of the couples cuddling and enjoying their lovers company. Wheeljack was practically glued to Ratchets side and looked as if he might permanently weld himself to the medic's armor. But Ratch' was looking like he didn't mind the Engineers snuggling, they both did have lengthy shifts and the two lovers weren't able to see each other as much as they wished but they did manage to pull themselves and each other from work enough, so they managed.
System even heard rumors that Wheeljack was going to ask Ratchet to Bond with him. She hoped it were true, she could see that the medic and engineer were good for each other and truly loved their partner.
Next to them sat Mirage and Inferno who looked as if they were having fun but they were also missing their mates who both were on the mission with Optimus and weren't due back for another day or so, but System could see they were making the effort to have fun and knowing that both their loved ones would return soon were making them relax some.
Another surprise was Tracks was sitting with them, making as Sides would say 'goo-goo optics' at Blaster. Likewise Blaster, still playing music, was dancing around as if trying to impress someone. System had her suspicions with those two but left it alone, no need to be a busybody.
She decided not to intrude. Inferno was always able to stay happy and relaxed about everything and Mirage was just the brooding type of mech who didn't like others to pity him and Tracks was Tracks, so she left them alone. Everyone looked like they were having the time of their lives and it made System smile.
She then decided to take some of the mid-grade to the bots on duty. It didn't seem fair to her that the bots off duty were having fun and the rest of the base had to work. Grabbing some cubes, giving a cheerful wave to some of the lucid bots, and exiting the room, she made her way to the command center/communications room.
She entered the command center to see Skids and Hoist at the monitors on the look out for Decepticons while Grapple was at the communications console keeping tabs on the bots on patrol. When they looked up they greeted her with grateful smiles. System was one of the most popular soldiers in Primes command (along with Jazz). Not many, be they mech or femme, can be friends with the twin terrors, the Dinobots, The Hatchet and all the minibots, the whole base really.
She showed care to all the bots she knew, from taking food and drinks to on shift bots to helping Perceptor teach the Dinobots and the gestalts. She could explain what Perceptor was saying in a kind way so the Dinos didn't feel like their intelligence was being insulted. She, along with Jazz, also had this way of knowing when someone on base was feeling down or depressed and needed a friend to talk to or some help. And amazing enough, she could stop a fight from brewing between any bot, from Sunstreaker and a very vocal, very suicidal minibot to a Dinobot and the combiner teams.
She also was a very proficient fighter, the only frontline Femme in the entire Autobot army. Elita-One had wanted her for the Femme unit of the army, which she commanded and dealt more in guerrilla warfare, but System saw that kind of fighting, while necessary in these times, as dishonorable and refused to partake in it. So she was placed in Primes unit because he needed the best fighters and she was one of the best there was. She could hold her own with a whole Seeker trine which is rare, to insulting Megatron to his face plates and not flinch, which is very rare and stupid.
"You bots do know you don't have to do that and can come to the party, right?"
"Yes, but even though Jazz is in charge it in not wise to tempt fate. A Decepticon attack can happen at any time." Skids answered her. System shook her head and replied, "You have been listening to Ironhide again haven't you?" At the sheepish looks she got from the three bots she know the answer. "I swear, that lug nut is getting more paranoid then Red. After the beating we gave those con's last orn, they should still be fixing themselves up. Especially Screamer, since both Sunny and Sides clipped his wings." All the bots shared a small chuckle at that.
Starscream really did live up to his name when both of the twin terrors used their infamous 'Jet Judo' to latch onto the air commanders wings and brought him down. Then, be it purposeful or the will of Primus, the seekers wings couldn't hold the twins combined weight and the moment they touched down Starscream's wings snapped off and twins rolled off of him, each a wing in hand. Then out of pain or rage, the Decepticon second in command started to screech and scream at such a high volume that every warrior on the field were fearful for their audio receptors.
"It was a good thing ol' bucket-head called a retreat cause I'd hate for Ratch' to fix my audios." System said after her giggles subsided.
"Why would you be concerned about Ratchet fixing your audios? He's fixed you when you had worse right?" Hoist asked.
"With ol' Ratch, having busted audios is the worst kind of injury you could get."
"Why is that?" Grapple decided to add to the conversation. "Because if you can't hear at all, then you can't hear Ratchet's tirade when he fixes you. And nothing is worse then a cranky CMO who throws a tantrum that won't put the fear of Primus in you." At that everybody burst into bouts of laughter.
Suddenly Grapple stopped laughing and was fiddling with the communications console like a mad-bot. This got everyone's attention. "What's up Grapple? Is anything wrong with one of the patrols?" System dared to ask. There wasn't supposed to be a Decepticon attack, there just wasn't. Grapple stilled for a few kliks, and then his optics got really wide. He turned to the others and said in a panicky voice, "It's the mission crew. Something happened to Optimus. Their bringing him in now. They need Ratchet and the med-bay ready NOW!"
The urgency in Grapple's normally soft and polite voice had System running down the halls to the rec. room at speeds thought only attainable by seekers and other flyers. As she reached the door to the party she quickly scanned and located Ratchet still with Wheeljack. She ran inside heedless of the others in the room, grabbed Ratchet by his arms and started pulling while trying to make herself heard over Blaster's music.
Ratchet didn't like being forced away from his lover and mech-handled, but the expression on System's face got him to at least start following her trying to hear what she was yelling. He was able to make out "….come…med-bay….Opti….trouble.." At the word 'trouble' Ratchet started to run and System dropped his arms and got out of his way but she tagged along, unsure if he got all of what she said and needed it repeated. Wheeljack was right behind them, having gotten up when System dragged Ratchet out.
Everyone at the party saw this and immediately stopped. Jazz, who wasn't as intoxicated as he seemed to be, took charge of the situation, "Bumblebee! Fireflight! Take care of all the drunken and unconscious bots, get them in their rooms. Kup, go to the med-bay and get the low down from Sys. I'm headin' to the command center. Report in when you're done."
Everyone saluted and headed off to do as ordered. It didn't take long for Bee and Fireflight to handle the inebriated bots and get them to their rooms. When they were done and comm.-ed Jazz their report of their situation, they decided to head to the med-bay. There they found Kup and System sitting on one of the chairs in the waiting room in the hall right outside the med-bay.
Kup told the two young bots what System told him while the femme sat quietly, looking absolutely worried. Bee sat on her right side and put his arm around her shoulders while Fireflight took her left, taking her hand in his.
Kup would have thought the scene to be cute had the situation not been terrible. Everyone on base knew of System's crush on the Autobot commander, except the commander himself. And since the femme practically raised the younger bots with Ironhide's help, its understandable why the younglings would offer her comfort at a time like this.
Jazz came a few breems after everyone began to collect at the med-bay. He was saying something about the shuttle and what happened on the mission, but System didn't bother to listen. She was too worried about Optimus to care about what happened on the slagging mission. By now the shuttle had touched down and docked at the base. First Aid and Skyfire were rushing threw the halls with Optimus on a stretcher towards med-bay. They didn't perceive the bots that crowded around outside their destination but no one dared get in their way or bother them with questions.
I reposted this story because Optimus Bob was so kind enough to beta my other chapters for me and it is also thanks to Optimus Bob that I have more pride in my story (Thanks so much!)