I do not own Transformers
After the scientist and medic disappeared into the med-bay the rest of the crew appeared with Prowl leading. Jazz jumped out of his chair to talk with the second in command. Bee tapped System on the shoulder in an attempt to get her attention on what Prowl and Jazz were going to say. She raised her head and looked at him with glazed optics, not really registering what she was seeing. Bee jerked his head in the officer's direction and she turned to see what he wanted her to see.
"What happened Prowler?" Jazz was trying to keep upbeat by using his bondmate's nickname. But Prowl was too upset to even correct Jazz about his name or about proper protocol.
"I am not quite certain Jazz. I was on the bridge at the time of the attack. From what I can gather, Optimus was alone on one of the levels of a derelict ship we had come across. The rest of the crew that was sent with him was searching when they heard the sounds of a struggle and Prime's cries of pain. By the time any of them arrived on the scene, Prime was on the ground with no sign of his assailant. When we brought him back aboard our ship, Prime's condition deteriorated as First Aid attempted to monitor him."
Prowl said all this in his normal monotone voice. Only Jazz, as his bondmate, was able to tell how much this situation was affecting him. Jazz decided to throw protocol out the proverbial window and gathered Prowl into his arms, sending as much comfort through their bond as he could. Prowl just let Jazz hug him. Everyone fell silent when Prowl gave no more information and waited to see if Ratchet could perform another miracle in his med-bay.
Inside the med-bay, it was in complete chaos. Ratchet had First Aid running around for equipment while he struggled to keep Optimus' spark lit. "His spark isn't responding! First Aid bring me 40 cc's adrenal-energon, we need to keep his spark from guttering!"
First Aid brought over a needle with the necessary amounts of energon. Ratchet quickly but gently took it from the Protectobot and inserted it into Prime's neck. The special energon was designed to give a bots fuel pump a jumpstart and cause the internals to work faster and harder, keeping the spark alive. Ratchet looked at the spark monitors and cursed liberally.
"His spark is still fading!"
"Can't we just put his spark in another body until we find out what's wrong with his own?"
"No good. His spark is too weak right now. If it was to come into contact with the environment outside the spark chamber it'd gutter out for sure." Ratchet explained as calmly as he could while trying to keep Optimus alive. Then they heard the sound of the spark monitor. Optimus' spark went out.
"Primus slag it! Don't you die on me you fragger! Aid get me the spark de-fib!" First Aid got the machine, gave it to Ratchet and got out of the way. Ratchet set the machines voltage and readied the paddles. "Alright, CLEAR!" He placed the paddles on Primes chest. A shock and the body convulsed. First Aid looked at the spark monitor.
"Negative."
"Again, CLEAR!" Again another shock and tremor. Again nothing on the spark monitor.
"Negative."
"Come on you little glitch. I raised you to never give up. Now. Come. Back!" Again another shock but still nothing showed on the monitor.
"Boss, I don't think-"
"NO, I'm not giving. Primus you can't have him, not yet." He tried again, but the spark monitor still didn't register. Ratchet tried again. First Aid couldn't bare to see his mentor like this. He went over to his side and placed a hand on his arm. Ratchet gave him a dark look.
"Boss, he's gone. Let him go." First Aid said it with great care. Ratchet didn't want to believe him. It just couldn't be. They couldn't lose Optimus. They couldn't. He couldn't. But looking down at the body then to the monitor with its horrendous noise saying the spark behind the powerful body was gone. He tried to dredge up as much professionalism as he still had and let First Aid take the de-fib paddles from him.
"Alright," he spoke in a defeated tone. "Call it." He had hopped to never have to say those words with Optimus on his repair table. Optimus. His little sparkling. When Optimus' creator, Sentinel Prime, died Optimus was placed in the care of Ratchet and his best friend Ironhide. It was tough but they loved every breem that they got to care for the little lug nut.
Oh Primus. What was he going to tell Ironhide? The slagger liked to make bots think he was a monstrous, cannon-toting, spawn of the pit that would sooner offline himself before he would touch a sparkling. But in reality he absolutely loved taking care of sparklings.
First Optimus, then they found the twins, then Bluestreak and Bumblebee. Sure System played a big part in taking care of Blue and Bee, not to mention Fireflight, but all the younglings would more often want Ironhide, and sometimes Ratchet too, when they were scared and wanted comfort. When Ironhide hears about this, it was going to break his spark.
Seeing the look on Ratchet's face, First Aid placed his hand on Ratchet's arm again. "I can tell them." There was little else that the younger medic could be speaking of, all of the bots waiting outside for news of their Prime.
"No. I'll do it." the resigned tone in his mentor's voice all but broke First Aid's spark.
"Boss you do-"
"I said I'll do it Aid." the use of his nickname and the look Ratchet leveled him with convinced First Aid that this was something that Ratchet had to do. Nodding his head, he removed his hand and moved over to get a sheet to place on his leader's body. Ratchet placed his hand on Optimus' helm and gave one last look to his sparklings face before turning and heading out. He wouldn't be able to see, no matter how professional he was, that white sheet be pulled over the face of one who held so much life.
Outside the med-bay…
The entire mission crew and half the base had come to stand vigil outside the med-bay, each one afraid for their Prime's life. System still sat where she had when she informed Kup of the situation, with Bee and Fireflight still flanking her with their heads on her shoulders, but now Bluestreak sat at the femme's feet with his head in her lap. Fireflight and Bluestreak were in recharge and System looked like she wasn't too far from joining them. Bee was still wide awake, looking around.
Jazz and Prowl had taken the chairs right next to the doors, Prowl sitting tall and proud while Jazz had his arms resting on his legs holding his head in his arms. From his position Bee couldn't see it but Prowl had his hand on Jazz's upper thigh, providing comfort.
Inferno had Red Alert sitting in his lap trying to keep the paranoid SD from fritz-ing, the last thing Ratchet needed was to sort out Red's CPU. Some of the none drunked minibots were in a pile partially away from the med-bay, offering comfort to each other. The Dinobots and the rest of the Arial- and Protecto-bots were in their own common rooms so as not to crowd the waiting area anymore as it already was.
Even the twins were showing uncharacteristic affection. Sunstreaker had his arms around Sideswipe with his helm tucked under Sunny's chin, while Sides held onto his brother's arms and his optics shut down.
Looking around some more Bee could see Blaster with Tracks, Mirage with Hound, Kup, Grapple, Hoist, Skyfire and Wheeljack (who came back out after Optimus was rushed inside), and Skids. He wondered if any one was still on patrol or monitor duty when he heard the sounds of heavy foot steps approaching. Looking up he saw it was Ironhide. Trying to get up quietly he accidentally disturbed System, whose head was starting to lull onto Bee's shoulder, in which disturbing Fireflight and Bluestreak.
"It's ok." Bee soother them when they turned expectant optics to him. "I'm just going to inform Hide what's been going on." System nodded in understanding, then turned to the others. "It's ok baby blue, firefly, go back to recharge." She gently used her nicknames for them. They laid back down and returned to recharging. Bee continued over to Ironhide who was looking at all the other bots that were gathered.
"What's going on?" Ironhide asked in his gruff voice. "Ah jus' bot back from patrol on ah find everyone her outside th' med-bay, whose dyin'?" Bumblebee slapped his hands over Ironhide's mouth plates and making shushing sounds but some of the bots has heard Hide's insensitive comment. Red Alert started up his panicking again just after Inferno got him as calm as he could get. The minibots looked absolutely devastated and Kup was shaking his head, muttering something.
Bee took Hide by the arm and guided him down the hall before he started to explain things to the trigger-happy weapons specialist. Ironhide was completely still when Bee finished, not showing anything on his face. Bumblebee at first thought he pulled a Prowl and fried some of his circuits, but then Hide rushed as fast as he could back to the room.
Bee was surprised that his guardian could run that fast but he wasn't for behind. When Ironhide reached the doorway to the med-bay he attempted to open the doors but half a dozen bots jumped on him and pulled him away.
"Let me go you slaggers, ah need to be in there. LET GO!"
He raised such a racket everyone was surprised and very worried when neither Ratchet nor First Aid came out to tell them to quiet down. Both Jazz and Prowl each had a hold of one of Hide's arms trying to talk some sense into the older mech.
"Cool down man. Ya' not helpin' anyone if ya go stompin' round when Ratch is workin'!"
"Listen to Jazz. He is correct. You can not help Optimus if you go inside and disrupt Ratchet when he is working. If anything, you would be endangering Optimus further."
Ironhide forcibly calmed himself down and everyone let him go. He just stood there looking for all the world like he just lost the most precious thing to him. Everyone was tense for a moment, judging whether or not Ironhide would try to back into the med-bay again. After a moment everyone returned to their seats, Bee went back to sitting with System, Bluestreak, and Fireflight who were all woken by Ironhide's disturbance. Just then Ratchet came through the doors.
Ratchet stepped outside to see the faces of over half the base. Oh Primus. He had hoped to only face Prowl and Jazz, maybe Ironhide and System as well, but not the whole fagging base. 'Dear Primus grant me strength' he thought.
Everyone got up and looked at him for news. All the looks of hope in their optics almost broke though the careful mask of professionalism he barely held onto. They had hoped he could pull off a miracle again, even though he always kept warning all of them that he might not be able to save them, and now was one time he wished he was proven wrong.
Onboard the derelict ship…
The creature was back at its window lamenting on its lost victim. So close. He had been so close to being able to feed. His prey was injured, disoriented. It could have had it if it wasn't for that hideous odor. Whatever it was he cursed it to the Pit and back.
Then like before, the monster caught sight of a ship. It was different from the one before. More dark and streamlined, and it had an aura of darkness about it. This was even better then before, he could almost taste that darkness. He could smell more food aboard. Smiling an evil smile, the poor lighting glinted off its fangs.
Onboard the Decepticon Ship…
"Sir, Ship detected ahead. Condition: sending out distress signal." Soundwave reported.
"Excellent Soundwave." Megatron smiled his cruel smile, turned around, and walked out.
"Megatron?" Soundwave questioned.
"I am going to explore that ship and see what my brother is up to. Stay here Soundwave, and wait for my return." Megatron answered his third in commands unasked question.
He walked towards a docking hatch to find the rest of the crew there, all young recruits. Able bodied, loyal to the Decepticon cause, and incredibly naïve. They appeared to want to accompany him aboard the derelict. Megatron just grunted to acknowledge that they were there and continued onwards. He didn't care if they went with him or not, he just wanted to know what his brother was doing. They all boarded the derelict ship, they all split into groups with Megatron heading off alone, and they all went off down the halls. What they all didn't see was a pair of dark red optics following their leader and disappearing in the darkness.
At the Autobot Base…
Everyone outside the med-bay was waiting for Ratchet to speak. He opened his mouth but couldn't find his voice, closed it, looked to the ground and shook his head. It was deathly quiet at first as everyone just processed what the medic was implying, then System started to breakdown and sob into her hands as Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Fireflight crowded around her crying themselves.
Many were still in denial, all staring with shocked, blank optics, willing the CMO to be wrong, for Optimus to come through the doors and say he was fine like so many times before. Ironhide and Ratchet locked optics.
The weapons specialist denial;
Optimus was alive.
You're wrong.
Ratchet's sorrowful.
Regret.
He's gone.
For kliks they stared at each other until Ironhide saw that the CMO was saying the truth. Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots, the last of the Primes, his precious sparkling was gone, dead, never to be seen again.
Ironhide let out a wail of grief and aimed a punch at Ratchet. Many were surprised at this and got up to stop him but were too slow. Ironhide's fist made contact with
the med-bay door. Ratchet didn't even flinch. Ironhide cycled air heavily, leaned in close to Ratchet's faceplates and whispered to the CMO, but in the deathly quiet everybot heard what he said,
"You failed." He then leaned back, turned, and left. The display seemed to force the rest of the bots to see the truth, their Prime was dead. They all left, many still in shock. System, still in tears, left with Bluestreak and Fireflight still at her sides, Bumblebee right behind them. Prowl and Jazz went to Ratchet to get the technical details as per procedure. Wheeljack stayed behind to let them speak to Ratchet, and to be with him when they finished.
"What happened Ratchet?" Prowl asked, faceplates neutral, but his optics betrayed the torrent of emotions inside him. Jazz remained silent, energon tears flowing from under his visor and down his face.
"I can not tell you Prowl, not until I perform an autopsy."
"Can't you tell what did it?" Jazz posed his question, curiosity pushing his grief to the back of his mind.
"That's the thing. I don't know what happened. All my scans told me his body was and still is, physically in perfect health. What ever happened to cause Prime's….," He couldn't bring himself to say that damned word. "To cause this to Optimus, it attacked his spark."
All three fell silent. A bots spark was their very life force, without it a Cybertronian was just a hunk of servos and wires. It was also very sensitive to touch and its environment, that's why all Cybertronians kept their sparks and chests heavily armored, even before the war. And to die because something attacked the spark was tantamount to torture. 'No wonder he was in such pain' thought Prowl, remembering what Skyfire said about Optimus' attack on the ship.
"Well that explains a few things. I will fill out a report for you on what happened on the mission, but for now I need to get in contact with-"
"Oh no Prowler," Jazz interrupted with a stern look on his face. "Ya not gonna bury yerself in work. Ya gotta work this out like the rest o' us."
"Jazz," Prowl spoke calmly, but Jazz could tell it was different from Prowl's normal calm. "I know what you mean. But there are a few things I need to do first, no let me explain," He held up a hand when Jazz looked like he was going to argue.
"I need to contact Ultra Magnus and Elita-One and tell them about Optimus, they need to be told soon and I would prefer them be told by a friend instead of some random soldier who does not have all the facts straight. After that, we all will have a period of mourning and internment for Optimus. But after that we need to continue forward, we are still at war and Optimus would not want us all to give up because he is no longer with us."
Jazz and Ratchet understood his logic and both were relieved he would be with the others in mourning their fallen leader. They both nodded to Prowl and he continued speaking.
"Ratchet, I know you want to do the autopsy as soon as possible but I want you to take a break first."
"No Prowl I-"
"Ratchet, please." Prowl held up his hand. "You are drained both physically and emotionally. Just take a few megacycles to rest, and then you can proceed with whatever you need to do." Ratchet wanted to protest but Prowl stood firm and the CMO had to accept. He nodded to the two and walked over to Wheeljack. The two embraced for a moment, both giving solace and seeking comfort, before walking off to their quarters.
Prowl watched them walk away before heading towards the command center. He stopped when he felt Jazz grab his hand. He faced Jazz, who was giving him a sad smile, while giving him a questioning look.
"I know ya need t'do this Prowler, an I'm not stoppin' ya but yer not doin' this alone." Prowl nodded, his features neutral, but he gratefully squeezed his hand and continued towards the command center.