Chapter 3: The Beginning

"This is Optimus Prime. We read you. Welcome to Earth, Hot Rod." the deep and noble, but a bit preachy voice came over the com and I had to smile.

Another voice I hadn't expected was soon to follow, ""I can't believe it. Is that really you, Hot-Shot?

"I'd recognize that nickname anywhere. Glad you're alive, C.C.!"

"C.C.?" asked a voice I didn't recognize. It was barely picked up by the com, so the 'bot must have been small or too far away.

"Thank the Allspark you two made it off Cybertron. After all that chaos getting off-world I was worried we might have lost you. Either of you checking out permanently would have been a major damper on my visit."

"It is good to hear from you as well. Are scanners don't read an autobot signature from your vessel. I assume you have a story to tell about that." the leader of all autobots noted fondly.

"That's the least of the things I have to talk about, but we can trade information when I land. How big of a welcoming committee can I expect? Assuming the line is secure enough to tell me."

"We are only five in number. Ratchet, Bumblebee, Arcee, and I have served with you before, there is also our weapons expert Bulkhead who will accompany me to the landing coordinates being sent to you now."

The data came through fine and I matched the numbers to the proper point on my maps, "Great... that's a desert. I hate sand. Decent cover though and far from inhabited areas. We must be running covert. I'll keep that in mind when I'm flying in."

"How many of you can we expect?" the prime asked, only a hint of hopefulness was betrayed in his voice.

"I had my own squad of 'bots, but I'm the only one that made it. A helpful note: avoid landing on a planet called Quintessa, not a friendly place." The mention of comrades brought painful memories back, and Optimus (or at least Arcee) likely picked up on the fact that my lighthearted words were just a defense mechanism.

"At least not all were lost. We shall have a moment of silence for them when you arrive at the base." Optimus was sympathetic of course. I know he must have felt similar pain in much larger doses every day in the war. Regardless, the 'bot was born for the job. Strong enough to get by it, "The coordinates are not our base however and I would advise you to not land until we signal you from the site. Previously decepticons have intercepted transmissions and arrived ahead of us."

"That sounds nasty. Hopefully we can avoid attaching too much attention. I've picked up a lot of 'con chatter so I know their general position. I'll do my best to avoid their sensors but I'm not quite perfect enough to guarantee they won't spot me."

"Just do you best, Hot-Shot." Arcee shot back, I could picture her rolling her eyes at my off-handed arrogance."

"Yes, ma'am. Hot Rod, out. See you in five."

"Six, I'm on the mend so I can't meet you at the site."

I'd been reaching for the com to switch it off, but that had caught me off-guard, "Are you alright? How badly are you hurt?"

"Not reformatting bad, don't worry. Just had a bit of a scrap with an old enemy that won't even be crawling anymore. I'd be hurt a lot worse if not for my partner."

"Cliff's there? Optimus didn't count him..."

There was pain in her voice, there wasn't any hiding it, "N-no... uh... a local."

"Interesting..." I said, and immediately kicked myself for saying something so out of place, "I'll hear all about it when I get there.

"Yeah..." she said, a bit lacking in energy, "It's great to hear your voice again. I'm glad you're alive."

"Same to you. Anyway, like I said before: Hot Rod out. See ya in a few." with a press, the link was closed.

Sighing, I locked in the coordinates and aimed for the 'Nevada' desert, programming a flight path into the auto-pilot that would hopefully keep me out of sight. The planet, from what I could tell, was pretty primitive as hadn't developed to the point of a global government yet. It wasn't surprising though, they didn't seem to have very good space-faring technology, so their view of the universe was pretty narrow. I've never been much of a history buff, but I imagine few planets unite until they realize they have bigger things to hate than each other. Plus it wasn't like I could claim Cybertron was any better. We may have only had two factions compared to Earth's innumerable ones, but our wars had destroyed our planet... completely and irreparably it seemed.

Standing up from the console I marveled at the diversity of environments that awaited me. Sure I'd probably stick to the streets because offroading really wasn't my thing, but I had to respect the beauty of the jungles, forests, mountains, and even the oceans.

"Oceans..." I clenched the side of my head as memories came flooding back.

A small metallic world only about twice the size of this one's moon, a metallic ring around it that was oddly connected to the planetoid itself. The whole thing silvery and spiky, clearly engineering rather than born or industrialized. When I'd ordered our pilot to land I'd thought that meant we could find other transformers there and maybe emigrate. Only half of that proved the case for the world I would learn was called Quintessa. The Quintessons were madmen, ruling over the world with a twisted set of rules structures only for their own amusement. I'd only been able to watch as my entire unit was ripped to pieces by things the lunatics called 'Sharkticons'. It was an odd name. From my searches through the records of planets that had 'sharks' none of them resembled those things. One such species looked far scarier and with tentacles and far too many eyes in far too many places, but that was another story. The 'sharkticons' looked more like Earth's crocodiles... but even I had to admit 'crocticon' didn't have quite the same punch to it.

Speaking of Earth specimens I shook the traumas from my mind and went over to the engineering console like I'd intended. If we we going covert and were likely outnumbered by the 'cons it was smart to use the transports long range scanners to acquire an alternate mode rather than do it in person. Linking to the ship's systems I pinged the planet and pulled up a list of possible candidates that were as close as possible to my Cybertronian alt mode. There was a slightly odd looking concept car called a 'Dome Zero', the a 'Ford GT', various 'Lamborghini' models, the 'Bugatti Veyron' supposedly being the fastest commercial car in the world, but I came across a sub-model of something called a 'Saleen S7 Twin Turbo' and fell in love. The 'Competition Package' could hit the same speed as the Veyron if not more under the right conditions, but wasn't commercially available. I scanned one... which took a little longer since there was only three of them on the entire planet. My chassis was already fairly close to the design, so the reformatting didn't do much at all, only certain parts of me became slightly more streamlined. I made a point of keeping my extra exhaust pipes, since they were like a signature and also functioned as weapons in my normal form.

I spent a short time getting used to the transformation and the mechanics of the form. The roar of the engine was a bit loud, but I liked it. It sounded beastly. I didn't have too much time to enjoy it before the ship entered the atmosphere and I got the signal from Optimus that they were at the site. There was also the ping of a warning that decepticons were on the move. They'd detected me and were moving to intercept.

I opened a short range channel the moment I was in range of the other autobots, "I've pulled the attention of a full unit of vehicons. I'll be coming in with more heat than normal. Seems to be a ground-based 'con on the way to your position as well. Sports car."

"That would be Knock Out."

I looked back at my cargo, and clenched my jaw at the memory of duties I'd previously failed, "I can't let them take the Excellion, I have important cargo on-board."

A burly voice, likely Bulkhead, pried deeper, "What do you mean 'important cargo'?"

Optimus didn't care about specifics, those things could be handled later, the only detail he cared about was, "How fast can it be unloaded?"

I sighed, "We wouldn't have enough time even if you had twice the 'bots you've got on the planet, but I'm not letting the 'cons get their hands on these. I owe my crew that much." blaster fire started colliding with the Excellion as I spoke, "I'm going to have to jettison them and salvage them later. There's no way we can retain this ship with this many of them on us."

"Do what you feel you must."

(A/N: Cue up "Dare" by Stan Bush for this scene for both maximum awesomeness and maximum geeking-out.)

Moving over to the console, I placing a hand on the pod, "I'm sorry guys... you're dead now, but at least your unfulfilled dreams won't fall into Megatron's hands."

I took my hand off he casing, locked in some coordinates on each of the five pods and then launched them blasting them through as many drones as I could on their way out, "That''s the closest you'll ever get decepti-clowns."

I took a moment to watch the blank protoforms fly off in various directions and thought back at my second in command talking about ow he and his spark-mate had decided to start a family. Lots of my crew decided to get to working on offspring, trusting completely that by the time the protoform frames were done I would have found them a suitable planet to start a new life on. It was part of the reason I rushed when I found Quintessa... but the five 'forms would probably forever be sparkless.

"Systems critical. The shields are not designed for concentrated fire, please disengage." the ship AI warned, "Shields failing in thirty seconds."

"Emergency landing. Open the cargo bay doors!" I quickly went into vehicle mode and hit the brakes, revving my engine to build up as much acceleration as possible for the moment I let off of them.

The doors slowly started coming open and I went into action, speeding down the length of the ship at breakneck speed, pumping energon into the design to push mast the 0-60 in 2.8 seconds of the vehicle's design. I was going nearly 100mph when I came flying off the ship's still opening cargo door like a ramp. A passing jet-form vehicon got a face-full of me as a collided with him, transformed, and grabbed him by the wings. The dumb-bot fired wildly in panic, which was as helpful as you'd guess when I sheered him around using my weight to point at a few of his allies as we started falling. When a few of the others tried blasting me off their buddy I simply positioned the poor sap in the way of the shots, transforming and shooting off the jet-mode's back using my own form's astounding acceleration. I'd ride my next victim down ins a spiral of doom when he turn to a still air-worthy robot form, but couldn't keep both our weights aloft. Shortly before impact I kicked away from me, blasted him full of holes with the array of light blasters I mentioned earlier, then absorbed the already lightened fall by going to vehicle mode and hitting the gas. In a bit of dynamic timing, my ship crashed into the cliffs behind me as I flung up a huge sand trail speeding towards Optimus' position at what quickly became 200mph.

The drones were already on the two in big numbers, though the two showed just how elite they were by holding them off solidly. I figured I'd help out anyway though. "Optimus, heads up!"

I changed to robot mode without slowing down, my legs coming from beneath the chassis of my vehicle form and launching me into the air. I flipped, deploying a device from my belt that became a large axe. I threw the weapon to its owner and with the velocity of my travel speed behind it sent it cleaving through a bunch of 'cons on its way to Optimus, who was badass enough to not only catch it, but do so where he used the remaining momentum behind a swing to cleave right through a 'con coming up from behind. Meanwhile I landed and span around to open fire on the ones that were chasing me.

Bulkhead laughed, "Well, you really know how to make an entrance kid."

I smiled, "Too bad I'm not that good at making exits too."

"Ha." the large 'bot turned his fist into a mace, which he then fired like a cannonball into the 'cons, scattering enough for a charge to cover and taking out even more when he pulled on the cable attached to the ball and used it to 'wreck some havoc'.

Optimus turned towards the gap and turned into a big rig, missing the trailer. Seeing his idea immediately I hopped onto the place the trailer would normally hook to, "You drive, I'll shoot."

Bulkhead changed as well and took point, I tried my best to keep the drones at bay with my blaster arrays and was getting the job done. Too bad I spotted a red card accelerating our way at high speed. One that then turned into a 'con and started firing at us. We got to cover in a small outcropping in the cliffs, but we were still outgunned. Not to mention cornered.

Optimus fired up his com, "Ratchet, emergency land bridge at our coordinates. We are under heavy decepticon fire."

High on the rush of the last few minutes, I stood from behind our cover and took a firm stance. I had the light blaster array by virtue of a great design idea from my builders, but I also had the standard issue weapon mode for my hands themselves, "Time for maximum overdrive you decepti-scum!"

I turned my hands into the heavier blasters and cut loose with both hands and both arrays, the intensified fire driving the 'cons to cover.

Ratchet grumbled over the com, "It's no good Optimus, your too tightly packed in that outcropping. I can't get you an exit that would be behind cover. You'd have to run into enemy fire."

I was quick to answer with a plan of action,"Then I'll just make some cover. Covering fire that is. On my mark open the groundbridge at these coordinates, have Bee pop out and bring the pain, then get right back in. I'll be there to make sure he isn't shot."

"That's right between your position and the decepticons! You're suggesting a Vector Gamma Gambit aren't you! That's madness! The point man is killed 40% of the time in that strategy! You'd be committing suicide!"

"Don't forget who you're talking to. I'm the fastest thing this side of Arcee. Plus it's either the gambit, or wait for the incoming flak to collapse this rock face on us."

Optimus didn't like it, even a gorilla could see that, "We don't have any other options, Ratchet. We'll do the gambit."

Ratchet sighed, "The bridge is primed and ready."

Arcee shouted at me, "Don't you get yourself dead, Hot-Shot, you just got here."

"Please! They won't even scuff the paint job."

"If you let them leave a single scratch I'll paint you black and blue you got that?"

I laughed, then promptly charged the enemy, coming around wide as my friends covered me from the safe position. As I came back around I gave the signal. The bridge opened and Bee came out blasting and Optimus and Bulkhead charged the gate as I pulled a long but sharp turn in front of it, creating a massive cloud of dust. I drove straight at Bee, and took on bot form again, tackling him through as Optimus and Bulkhead got in as well.

Jack's Perspective

The bridge shut down almost right behind a pile of 'bots flying into it covered in sand. Bulkhead rolled over onto his back and laughed heartily, "And you said you were bad at exits! That was the third most incredible thing I've ever seen! HAHA!"

A crimson and yellow autobot I didn't know was helped into a standing position, looking at the big 'bot helping him with a look of astonishment, "The third? What the heck is number one?"

"All of us jumping off an exploding spacebridge, Bee saving Arcee from flying off into space en route, and falling through a transwarp vortex being chased by an blast the size of a small supernova."

The guy I guess had to be Hot Rod laughed, "By the Allspark! I'm gonna like it here!"

The bot was only a little bigger than Bumblebee, but had more plating and seemed built for more physical strength. From what little I'd learned based on finding out each of my Cybertronian friend's ages, Hot Rod was probably about the same age as Arcee, which put him in the middle of the range, just over Bulkhead and much older than Bee. That was probably the main source of the more refined frame. He was mostly red with a few parts the were lighter, witha flame motif on his chestplate. His head was a simple red helmet with a silver face, very much like Arcee's head but more masculine and without the fringes.

Arcee frowned, crossing her arms with an expression she'd given me countless times, "You would say that. Too bad for you that things aren't usually that intense." Bumblebee buzzed what sounded like a snide remark and Arcee shot a brief glare his way, "Quiet, you."

"Speaking of that," Hot Rod stepped over, grabbing Arcee and glancing over her over for injuries, "Are you okay? Is this reformat from that fight?" Bee must have made a remark about her just getting out of a major conflict.

She shook her head, "This format was from years ago. You'd know that if you didn't spend half your time running rampant around Cybertron following your own 'instincts'"

"Sorry, C.C. I was a punk kid back then I admit. I've matured though. Now I'm a punk adult."

Arcee sighed and rolled her eyes at the joke, "Anyway, I'm fine. Just need to let the repair systems so the job and recharge my energon reserves."

Hot Rod's expression lit up, "Ah! I can help with that." pulling something off of his 'belt' he tossed it to Ratchet, who promptly loaded it into his arm with surprise.

"Where did you get an energon beam? I thought these all burned out during the war."

"I'm good at what I do. What can I say? Skills and good looks."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What's an energon gun? Some kind of medical tool?"

Hot Rod jumped slightly, startled, "Whoa! What...? Haha. I didn't see you there little dude. You're one of the locals right?"

"I'm Arcee's partner." I proclaimed firmly, crossing my arms.

The red 'bot poked me gently (for a robot that stood over two stories tall that is) and I nearly fell over, "A bit squishy, but you seem reliable."

"Watch it."

"Haha! Sorry, I don't mean anything by it." The 'bot was humoring me, I could tell it in his voice.

So could Arcee, "He's telling the truth Hot Rod. He's been a big help with a lot of things. Even when I didn't want any help."

"Is that so?" his demeanor shifted to genuinely impressed, "That's great."

Ratchet came over and turned his hand into a device I hadn't seen before, "To answer your question, an energon beam infuses a transformer with pure energon, boosting their rate of recovery and refilling their reserves. Its not instantaneous, but it is most certainly a big help."

Hot Rod smiled as Arcee was treated, then turned to Optimus, "You were great out there, boss. Sorry to bring sown he mood, but I've got a lot I need to report."

"Go ahead."

"I'll start with the biggest thing then work my way down." the 'bot leaned against a wall, "I went back to Cybertron right before heading this direction, and saw something quite interesting.

Ratchet grumbled, "If it's a horde of undead transformers flying into a transwarp portal, then we already know."

Hot Rod's eyes widened, "What the Pit have you guys been up to?" shaking his head, he continued, "No, it wasn't that weird... well it was, but it a different way."

"What is it, Hot Rod?" Optimus asked, bracing himself for something as big as something that had been one of Megatron's 'endgames'.

Hot Rod looked at each of the 'bots with and expression that suggested they all brace themselves for something huge. No amount warning could have been enough to prepare for what he revealed, "When I went there... Cybertron was gone... completely gone."

Next Chapter: Prelude

Preview: I didn't have room to cover more of the canon events in flashbacks, but next chapter I will, and the 'bots deal with the news that their home planet is no longer where it should be. Also, the autobots must set out to recover the jettisoned protoforms before Megatron gets his hands on them.