Author's Note: Hey guys! It has been absolutely ages since I've updated this fic. I've been going through some tough times in my life for the past few months and that has forced me to delay some of my fanfiction work. However, I plan to trudge on and continue this story! So here goes!
Impact:
Chapter Eleven
Optimus leaned back against the Med Bay wall. Although his body was in the Autobot base, his fine-tuned scanning sensors were turned toward the moon above. He had proposed building a moon base himself, but it seemed Starscream had already beaten him to it.
Optimus focused his sensors to a slight energy signature reading from the middle of Vega. Upon further inspection the energy reading showed four weaker signals underneath the original.
"Soundwave," Optimus nearly growled before slipping back into his trance-like state.
Ratchet turned from his patient on the makeshift table to his leader. The Prime sat slumped against the wall with an elbow on one knee and his hand at his temporal processes. He ran a quick scan of his own. Optimus was not in pain, he concluded, only deep in thought, heavily immersed in his work. Ratchet turned back to work of his own and started reconnecting the currently offline Barracuda's motor capabilities.
Optimus let out an uncharacteristic swear as he located all four of Soundwave's minions as well as Thundercracker.
Minicons were pests and usually employed by the Decepticons for spywork and infiltration. They were incredibly useful and efficient because of their low energy readings that most Autobots were not sensitive to. Optimus however could almost always feel their presence. Only when he was truly worked up over something did he overlook them. Thundercracker did prove himself to be a threat, but no more so than the average Decepticon. He could be neutralized easily.
Optimus widened his sensors from the localized moon area and did a sweeping, grid-patterned search of the stars beyond.
The tiniest of blips echoed in Optimus's consciousness. He had to reboot his systems in order to make sure it was really and truly there. Sure enough an incredibly faint signal beeped its slow way ever closer. If he had not been so focused on detecting every discernible threat, he never would have detected this.
Ratchet immediately noticed the shift in Optimus's demeanor. He left Mikaela and Sam without so much as a word of explanation. Mikaela tried to continue reconnecting Barracuda's internal circuitry as the medic cautiously stepped toward his leader.
Mikaela and Sam stared in awe as Ratchet reverently knelt to Optimus's level. The aged Autobot leader was still slumped against the wall in a concerned and drained posture. Sam tugged slightly on Mikaela's hand. He might not have electronic sensors to register, but his basic human intuition picked up on the fact that the atmosphere in the room had changed dramatically. He didn't know what was about to happen. He hadn't noticed Optimus move at all in the last couple of hours. Perhaps Ratchet had noticed some change in vitals that he was unaware of. The thought of something happening to the spearhead of the Autobot cause was more than Sam could bear and left a bitter taste in his mouth. He slowly slipped an arm around Mikaela's shoulders, taking comfort when the warm skin of her neck touched the cotton of his sleeve.
Ratchet placed one of Optimus's hands in his own, alerting wizened leader of the closeness of his presence. It seemed to take ages for Optimus to even react, but when his insipid blue optics flashed open a mixed look of pain, loss, and despair filled their age-old depths.
"What did you see?" Ratchet asked, his voice soft and husky in a well-conditioned comforting manner.
Tiny motors in Optimus's mouth clinked, but for the first time in Sam's limited experience, the Autobot was unable to form words. He looked instead downward, fixing his gaze upon his hand wrapped in two of Ratchet's own.
"The Ark," he managed in but a whisp of his normal voice.
Ratchet understood the injured look in Optimus's visage immediately, and although they didn't understand the meaning of what Optimus had just revealed, they silently decided to leave the two Autobots alone. Whatever he found must have been truly special to Optimus to cause this effect. Even when he had lost his trusted friend and soldier, Jazz, it had only caused a sigh of lament and a brief epitaph. Optimus was not one to openly grieve. Usually.
Quietly Mikaela took Sam's hand once more and led him through the open door to the east room where the other Autobots were catching a couple of hours of recharge.
Ratchet dredged up memories and long forgotten images of the Ark and those who were supposedly aboard it during its final voyage from Cybertron countless years ago.
He thought it had went out for a routine visit to a small planet at the edge of Cybertron's solar system. He believed Ultra Magnus had been the pilot, but he wasn't sure anymore. The data was so old that Ratchet had stored it in the recesses of his mind where it had been sacrificed for more current and relevant information.
Sam found Bumblebee sitting comfortably in the far corner of the "Recharge Chamber" as Ironhide had dubbed it. He darted over to small yellow and black painted Autobot, somehow sensing that Bumblebee could help Optimus's situation. He promptly tapped Bee sharply on the leg.
Baby blue optics flicked open in shock.
Sam put a finger to his lips, motioning to the other sleeping forms in the room. He stood quickly and beckoned his guardian to follow as he nearly tiptoed out of the room.
Mikaela shot him a questioning look, although she believed she understood what Sam was trying to do.
He led Bumblebee to the doorway where Ratchet still knelt in silent vigilance over his leader.
Bumblebee nodded his acknowledgement to Sam and patted him on the shoulder in a show of his appreciation.
Bee joined the mech by Optimus's side.
It was as if Optimus sat frozen, unable to process the information that just went through his nanocircuits. His optics stared at images long past and places long gone.
Bumblebee moved swiftly to Optimus's side, setting on the floor beside him and placing a hand on his leader's shoulder.
"I know what it is like to not be able to find the words," Bee soothed softly.
Ratchet looked crossways to the young mech, furrowing his facial plates into a confused yet trusting expression.
Optimus finally moved, turning his head to face the young soldier he considered as dear to him as a son.
Ratchet put his gyros to work and stood up, retreating to the East Room to give Bumblebee and Optimus their space. He put a hand to Sam and Mikaela's shoulders as he passed, shepherding them into the Recharge Chamber.
Bee gave Optimus his time, setting silently with him for nearly a quarter of an hour before anything changed. Optimus was a soldier. A leader. He was not supposed to show weakness in front of his following.
Bee, however, didn't seem to mind waiting.
Optimus still couldn't locate the proper words in either English or Cybertronian. Speaking at all would give him cause for hope, and after so many let downs, he wasn't sure his system could handle another disappointment. Instead he forced his holograph projector into gear and transmitted a small image onto the floor.
Bee watched silently as a miniature version of the Ark sat on a Cybertronian launch pad. Ultra Magnus walked around the ship, checking the hull once more in a customary procedure.
A small steely-green form walked out of the ship and over to Ultra Magnus, speaking to him in words long forgotten and beckoned him inside quickly. Ultra Magnus understood even if Bee could not and ran through the open door. The orange panel slid shut half a second later and boosters fired, lifting the ship into the air as Optimus's projection faded out.
Optimus continued staring blankly at the spot where the miniature Ark and Elita had been only seconds before. He creaked his way into a standing position and moved sluggishly toward one of the Med Bay's larger windows. Bumblebee followed promptly.
Bee placed a hand on either of his leader's shoulder panels and eased Optimus into a turn to face him. Bee looked up at him with pained blue orbs.
"It is alright to cry," he said simply.
"What if it isn't her," Optimus's gravely voice whispered. "What if I've only led myself on again, Bee?"
With that the old mech laid his head on the young soldier's shoulder as energon tears streamed from his optics.
"Battle with Megatron was easier than facing the prospect of my last hope turning false."
Bee couldn't find the words. He put an arm around his good friend's back in support and silently cried with him.