Back to Prowl and company, plus a little more angst with Riella. Enjoy and review!
Chapter 6
Shuttle Bay, Junkion
Blackarachnia slid open the landing ramp, optics narrowed against the brightness. "Lovely place, huh?"
"Not Riella's type." Prowl fiddled with his visor. "But if we're lucky, she'll have stopped here."
Jazz gestured to the bustling trade center visible from the shuttle's window. "If she wanted to change looks, this is the place to do it. But before we go out there, I gotta ask."
Prowl and Blackarachnia exchanged nervous looks. They both knew what Jazz wanted, but they had been avoiding the subject since leaving Earth.
"Why'd she run? Sure, they could've investigated her. Everyone already would'a known she was innocent."
"…Right. Except not," Blackarachnia snipped.
"Look, guys," Jazz sighed. "Don't do this, okay? Tell me what's up or don't. I don't care. But don't drag this out and make me wonder if I'm makin' the right call. So. Is Riella guilty?"
Prowl crossed his arms defiantly. "Not of anything that she should be convicted for. It shouldn't be illegal to have her processor formed a little differently. It's not her fault."
"A processing anomaly…" Jazz's optics narrowed behind his visor. "No way. Telepathy?"
Both of the others nodded.
"Unbelievable." Jazz shook his head. "She never struck me as the type…I mean, she's always so normal."
"That doesn't change anything," Prowl pointed out. "She was a telepath before you knew about it, she's still going to be one, there's nothing you can do about it. So are you still in, or do you find your own ride back to Earth from here?"
The Elite Guard held up one hand. "Whoa, take it easy, mech. I'm not leaving. It's just – well, I didn't really think…"
"Of course you didn't. No one ever did." Blackarachnia leaned against the console. "You either have to be familiar with telepaths to guess, or use a detailed scan to find the anomaly. Which would have happened if they investigated her, by the way."
"I know the drill." Jazz shook his head again, frowning. "So – she runs, she'd rather they think she's a traitor than find out she's a telepath, and we're still gonna try to find her? I'd guess she doesn't want to be found."
Prowl glared at him for a moment, turned away, and stalked toward the ramp. "This is a waste of time. Stay with us and help find Riella, or hitchhike back to the Guard."
"He knows all that," Blackarachnia said softly, watching Prowl storm off the ship. "It's a really long shot, but come on, Guard boy, if it was your femme out there, would you want to hear how low the odds are?"
Jazz sighed. "Yeah. You're right. Sorry."
Riella's Shuttle, Axiom Nexus Shuttle Bay
Everything is quiet in the dojo as the shuttle settles onto the landing pad…too quiet. Riella sets the control and goes to look out the window, spark pulsing quickly. Is Prowl back yet? Maybe no one is here. Then she sees that the ceiling is smashed in and most of the windows are broken.
Her feet crunch on shattered glass as she stops in the center of the main room. "Hello? Master Yoketron?"
She tiptoes down the hall toward the dorm rooms. Prowl?
Nothing.
Suddenly she can sense someone's pain, like nothing she has felt in years…Oh, Primus, he's dying…their Master is dying…
"NO!" She runs for the bunker, there's a hole shattered in the wall and she can sense that Yoketron is just beyond it. She can save him, she has to.
But when she drops to her knees next to the broken body, it's not her Master. And the sense has changed…she was wrong…
"Prowl, no! No!"
But she is too late….
…and her spark feels as though it is ripping apart as he dies…
Riella jolted out of the nightmare, tears streaming down her face. Shaking, she instinctively reached out for the comforting servo that had always been there when the nightmares came…
Only to remember that Prowl wasn't there, and never would be again.
Wrenching sobs tore from her throat as she buried her face against the bunk. I wish I could go back…I want to go home…