Age of Smoke Part 1: The Autobot Code
Chapter 36: Change in Course
Optimus looked up when the entry request sounded. He reached across the desk and hit the button to open it without looking at who it was.
Elita came in and smiled at him. "Are you busy? There are a few things I'd like to talk about."
Optimus looked down at his datapad, on which he'd been writing, then back up. "I have a few breems."
She came over and sat across from him. "Are you working on the Code?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Can I read what you've written so far?"
"Yes," Optimus said. "And I'd welcome any ideas you have. As it is, I haven't made much progress, though I've given the matter many joors of thought."
Elita took the datapad and scrolled back to the beginning of the file.
"You said… you had things you wished to talk about?"
"They're all related to the Autobot Code," Elita said. "I want to read what you have first."
"That would be welcome," Optimus said. "So long as you're sure you have time."
"I have the rest of the orn, so long as there isn't some sort of emergency."
Optimus smiled. "Then so do I."
"So," Mirage said.
"So what?" Jazz asked.
"So, let me get this straight. You hacked all of the communications between the Pescus Hex Council Hall and Kaon, in the hopes that they'd have a discussion about luring Optimus to Pescus Hex."
"Yeah," Jazz said.
"Did you keep any of the other comms to Kaon?"
"There weren't any." Jazz put his pedes up on his desk, feeling only slightly uncomfortable. Lying to Optimus had been much harder, even though he hadn't technically said anything false. Lying to Mirage paled in comparison.
"And that telepath mechling was missing during the beginning of your mission. And you went entirely alone."
"Look, Red Alert already interrogated me about this," Jazz said.
"I'm just saying that would have been a very convenient opportunity to take him with you," Mirage said. "And I know the mechling well enough to know he'd leap at the chance to go on a mission."
Jazz looked up. "Ya don't trust me?"
"Frankly, I'm not sure," Mirage said. "It just seems like in the past you've leaned on the side of doing whatever that mechling wants."
Jazz sighed. "Look. I got a job ta do and I'll do it the best way I know how, and that don't involve taking mechlings with me on potentially dangerous missions."
Mirage didn't look convinced.
"So, ya got somethin' ta report?"
"Yes," Mirage said. "We've got fairly good intel that the Decepticons are planning to mount another attack somewhere, though we have no idea where."
"They're planning ta attack somewhere while they're already attacking Slaughter City?"
"It appears so," Mirage said.
Probably Pescus Hex. "Well, that's good ta know." He could see from Mirage's expression that that wasn't everything. "What else?"
"The team in Kaon who reported that… we haven't heard from them since and it's almost been a whole orn. They weren't in very deep, so they were supposed to report every ten to twenty joors."
Jazz nodded. "It's too early ta give up on 'em. Ya wanna take Blurr and go check on them?"
Mirage nodded.
"Actually, I'll come with."
"I don't know how wise that would be," Mirage said. "Blurr and I are your second and third. If all three of us ran into trouble, who would lead the department?"
"Okay," Jazz said. "Ya're right. Blurr and I'll go. You can stay here and practice bein' in charge of everymech." He swung his legs down from the desk and stood. "Ya got any details about the 'Cons getting ready ta attack somewhere?"
Mirage got out a small datapad and handed it to him.
"Thanks," Jazz said. "I'm gonna give this ta Prowl. Let Blurr know he's needed for a mission and ta meet me at the groundbridge station in twenty breems."
"Very well," Mirage said, still looking skeptical, and now a little offended too.
Jazz shooed him out of his office and left as well, headed to find Prowl.
He got out his own private datapad and checked on the cameras to find that Prowl was in the tactical command center. That was where he would have looked first anyway.
He walked over there and slipped in unnoticed.
"I can't believe that you'd try to hold the line there! I don't know what you think you're doing but we've had to give ground elsewhere, where it's important, to protect your sector…"
The femme Prowl was talking to glared at him, but didn't say anything in response.
Jazz crossed the room and Prowl rounded on him before he could speak. "You aren't supposed to be here."
"Whoa," Jazz said. "Sorry mech. Can I borrow ya out in the hall for a breem?"
Prowl sighed and followed him out of the room.
"Ya okay?" Jazz said.
"Mainspring suggested I trust my department a little more," Prowl said. "But so far that's not going very well. This battle… I think we'll win, but… it's not going as well as it would be if Ratchet would unlock my battle computer."
"Okay," Jazz said. "Ya probably don't have ta yell at them—"
"Don't tell me how to run my department," Prowl snapped.
Jazz frowned. Apparently his friend was not in the mood for pleasant conversation. And apparently, Mainspring's talk with him hadn't been as productive as they'd hoped.
Prowl sighed, doorwings drooping. "My apologies."
"Accepted, of course," Jazz said. "I pulled ya out here cuz I've got some intel." He handed Prowl the small datapad. "The 'Cons are planning ta attack somewhere else. We ain't sure where, but…"
"Pescus Hex is a very likely target," Prowl said. "There are a few others too." He accepted the datapad. "Thank you for letting me know."
"No problem," Jazz said. "See ya mech."
Prowl went back into the command center, and Jazz went to his room to drop off anything he had that contained sensitive information he didn't want to bring to Kaon. Then he headed to the groundbridge station to meet Blurr.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
Sideswipe ducked behind a building, bracing himself against it as an explosion glitched out his audios for a moment. Then fire spewed around the corner, blistering his paint.
"Now go!" Hot Shot shouted, rushing past Sideswipe. Sideswipe followed him, glancing behind himself to make sure Sunstreaker was with them.
They rushed the small group of injured Decepticons that were still in the street after the explosion. Smoking corpses and burning puddles of energon filled the road. Sideswipe let Hot Shot lead them into the fray. Blaster fire flew in all directions, but the yellow mech seemed to keep his cool, returning fire and cutting down opponents. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker backed him up, rushing to meet the soldiers, who raised weapons against him. He shot one in the faceplate and another one point blank in the chestplate. Then he deflected a rusty-looking barbed blade with his arm. Something hit him from behind, shoving him forward, and he gasped as he spun to face his attacker and shot the startled-looking Decepticon in the faceplate.
"Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker shouted, and Sideswipe turned again, feeling a sudden spike of agony in his back. Damaged system warnings popped up in his processor.
His spark pulsed heavily and the world tilted.
Others came up on either side of him as the remaining Decepticons in the street turned and ran amid showers of blaster fire.
Sideswipe looked down at himself to see the barest tip of a blade sticking out of the front of his chassis.
Frag, that must be a sharp blade. He'd barely felt it.
Just as he thought that, the pain caught up, and Sideswipe gasped, knees buckling.
Sunstreaker caught him from behind, as the line moved past them, and Sideswipe swayed as the motion jostled the blade in him.
"Whoa," Hot Shot said. "That doesn't look good."
"Hold here!" the order came over the group comm. for their unit.
They'd pushed the Decepticons back another street.
"I'm okay," Sideswipe grimaced. "Just get that fragging knife out of me and I'll be good to go."
"Come on," Hot Shot said. "Let's get him to the others, see if anyone's injured lightly who can take him back with them.
"No," Sideswipe said.
He didn't want to leave Sunstreaker out here.
Sunstreaker moved to the side, ducking under Sideswipe's right arm, and Hot Shot took the left side. They supported him across the street to where Commander Ironhide and three others were standing with their backs to a building.
"You all right, Sideswipe?" he said.
"Been better," Sideswipe admitted, looking down again. Energon had started to leak from the wound, seeping out from where the blade had come out the front of him.
"Yeah, you're done for the orn, I think," Ironhide said.
"I can keep fighting."
"You can't walk," Ironhide said. "But if you want to hold here, we're supposed to be replaced in a few breems and we'll all go back with you. We've got a couple other injured too. Here, sit him against the wall."
Hot Shot and Sunstreaker helped Sideswipe sit, leaning him against the wall, careful not to jostle the blade still sticking out of him.
"How the frag did that go all the way through him?" someone asked.
A fresh wave of pain washed over him and Sideswipe clenched his fists to keep from crying out. Hot Shot stood, but Sunstreaker stayed on his knees and held out a hand. Sideswipe took it, gripping it hard, shaking.
"Hang in there," Hot Shot said.
A nearby explosion shook the ground, and Sideswipe could hear the sounds of battle nearby.
"It sounds like they need help," Hot Shot said.
"Stay put, soldier," Powertrain said sternly, then looked to Ironhide.
Ironhide nodded. "We've got to hold here until reinforcements come."
They were waiting for about half a joor before another, larger unit came. In that time, Sideswipe's energon levels had dropped dangerously low, but the pain had faded a bit, so that was nice.
It was amazing how fast that had happened. One astrosecond he'd been fighting, and then the next he'd been completely incapacitated. It felt almost like there was more than just a blade in his internals.
"Okay," Ironhide said, coming over. "Up on your pedes, Sideswipe, let's get you to a medic." He reached down and he and Sunstreaker helped Sideswipe stand. The pain came back almost as bad as it had been before as Sideswipe shuffled forward.
Walking all the way to the edge of the city was going to be pit.
Fortunately, though, they hadn't gone far before a big transport came rumbling down the road and stopped in front of them.
Its door opened to let none other than Ultra Magnus out, followed by a large group of soldiers.
"Magnus!" Ironhide said. "Good to see you, mech."
"I've come to replace you as commander in this city," Ultra Magnus said sternly. "You may take my transport to the border base."
"Thank you," Ironhide said fervently. "Good luck."
Ultra Magnus nodded and Ironhide and Sunstreaker helped Sideswipe into the transport. They guided him to one of the seats and then Sunstreaker put an arm around him to hold him in a sitting position as the transport started moving.
Hot Shot sat on his other side. "You two fought well," he remarked.
"Thanks," Sunstreaker said, and Sideswipe could feel grudging respect over the bond. "You too. You're better than I thought."
Hot Shot was a good fighter.
"It'd be fun to spar sometime," Hot Shot said. "I think I could take either one of you, but if I was fighting both of you we might be evenly matched."
"You wish," Sideswipe said, then gasped as the transport went over a bump in the road.
"You okay?" Hot Shot asked.
"I've got a… nnng… fragging knife stuck all the way through me."
"That's definitely more like a sword than a knife," Hot Shot said.
"Whatever. You… you are good, though. What did you do before?"
"Before the war?" Hot Shot asked. "I was on a rescue team in Protihex. Not a normal team, though. We took all the most dangerous cases."
"Sounds fun," Sideswipe said.
"It was, sometimes. When we were successful."
"Shh," someone else said, and they turned to pay attention to the conversation between Ironhide and Powertrain.
"…don't think that'll be necessary," Ironhide was saying. "For now, I want you to come with me to Torus Heights."
"Wait," someone Sideswipe didn't know yet said. "All of us?"
"Yep," Ironhide said. "You can help train those sorry new recruits they sent there with me, while I babysit the Council."
"Sounds good to me," another mech said, leaning back against the side of the transport.
"Don't they need our help here?" Hot Shot piped up.
"We might get deployed elsewhere soon," Ironhide said. "We don't know for sure, but the 'Cons could attack somewhere else while we're still fighting in Slaughter City."
Sideswipe shuttered his optics as low energon warnings flashed in front of his vision.
"Hey," Sunstreaker said quietly. "Sides."
His voice was fuzzy.
And then everything went dark and silent.
Ironhide made sure his injured mecha were being seen to and then headed to Optimus's office to talk to him before going to Torus Heights. He hadn't officially received permission to go, though Ultra Magnus had implied that he would return there.
He knocked on the door of Optimus's office and it opened. Elita was standing next to Optimus, who sat behind his desk. They had datapads spread out across the surface in front of them and Ironhide got the distinct feeling that he was interrupting something.
"Sorry," he said. "If this isn't a good time…"
"Ironhide." Optimus stood. "I'm glad to see you've returned safely."
"Yeah," he said.
"I'll let you two talk," Elita smiled at the Prime, then walked past the desk and out the door.
"How… are things in Slaughter City?" Optimus asked.
"Not so great," Ironhide said. "I hear Prowl's taking a couple of orns off. Though he did talk to me several times during the battle."
"He overexerted his battle computer and Ratchet repaired it, but locked it down for a few orns."
"Ah," Ironhide said. "That explains things."
They stood awkwardly for a few moments.
"Look," Ironhide said. "I'm sorry for disrespecting you before, and for all the arguing."
Optimus looked thoughtful for a moment, then came around the desk and held out a hand. "All things considered," he said. "I believe most of it was deserved."
Ironhide met the taller mech's deep blue optics and suddenly saw his old friend in them.
He accepted his friend's proffered hand, smiling ruefully. "Maybe a little bit… Orion."
Optimus smiled, seeming to relax a little, and then his faceplate settled into its usual calm mask. "I presume you intend to return to Torus Heights?"
"Yes. If that's all right."
Optimus nodded. "You may go."
"Can I take my mechs with me?"
"Yes. Anyone you would like."
"…can I take Chromia?"
Optimus seemed to consider it.
"That was a joke, sir," he said. "But actually… if you let me, I just might."
"If she is confident leaving her duties in the hands of her subordinates, she may accompany you," Optimus said. "Know, though, that the Decepticons appear to be preparing to attack another city. We believe they may try to completely obliterate Pescus Hex."
Ironhide blinked. "Completely obliterate?"
"Yes," Optimus said, looking troubled. "The Council there made a grave error, and now Megatron has threatened to burn the city to the ground if they fail to capture and deliver… me to the Decepticons."
"Pit," Ironhide said.
"I would be willing to give myself up for the lives of the mecha in the city," Optimus said. "However, there is no guarantee Megatron would spare them even if I were to fall into their hands… and I have also decided to start taking the advice of my fellow commanders more seriously. Many of them seem to feel strongly that it would not be a wise decision to sacrifice myself in such a way."
Ironhide shook his helm. "I can imagine. Mech…"
"In any case, you may only be in Torus Heights for a few orns, before we need you again."
"That's all right," Ironhide said.
"If we do need to fight in Pescus Hex…"
"I know it's dangerous. So are most battlefields."
"No," Optimus said. "What I mean to say is that if we do need to defend Pescus Hex from the Decepticons, I will be acting as ground commander. I will need you on base to take my place as commander here."
Ironhide stared at the Prime, taking a moment to integrate that. His instinct was to refuse, to insist that he be the one to go to Pescus Hex.
But he had just barely apologized for being disrespectful and argumentative.
He nodded instead. "Yes, sir."
"Thank you for understanding," Optimus said. "Now I'll let you go. You should speak to Chromia about whether she would like to accompany you to Torus Heights."
"Right," Ironhide said. "And I should let Elita back in here. What were you two doing?"
"Working on the Autobot Code." Optimus said.
"Ah, yes, that…" Ironhide looked down at the datapads on the desk. He thought it was a waste of time, personally, but he didn't feel like bringing it up at the moment. "Well, I'll talk to you later." He walked to the door and opened it.
Elita was standing out in the hallway.
"Oh, good," she said. "I was about to interrupt you to see what was taking so long." She stepped in and Ironhide heard her speak to Optimus as he walked away.
"Optimus, the Pescus Hex Council has finally expressed willingness to speak with you remotely."
Well, that sounded like good news. Ironhide hoped that went well.
For now, he had to find Chromia.
He checked her office first, but it was empty, so he commed her. It didn't take her long to answer.
"Are you still in Slaughter City?" she asked.
"No. Ultra Magnus took over for me. I'm back on base. Where are you?"
"Checking our energon reserves. You know where those are?"
"Yeah. I'm coming to talk to you."
"We're talking right now."
"In person, femme, I miss you."
"All right, then. Work's been long, so don't expect me to be in a good mood."
She cut the comm.
Energon was valuable, but also volatile, so they stored most of theirs just outside of base where they could still guard it without risking it blowing up and killing a lot of soldiers.
He found Chromia there, talking to one of the guards and looking decidedly unhappy.
The guard, for his part, looked terrified.
Ironhide observed, amused and pleased. It was too much fun to watch that femme bully other mecha.
Then she saw him there and excused herself.
Ironhide approached her, appreciating how the glowing cubes of energon on the shelves around her reflected off her dark blue paint.
"What are you staring at?" she snapped.
"What do you think?" Ironhide asked.
She glared, but he could feel over the bond that she was pleased. "You need the wash racks. You smell like rust and energon."
"Sorry," he said. "I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible."
"About what?"
"I'm going back to Torus Heights."
She scowled.
"Optimus said I could take you with me, if you felt like you could leave your work here to someone else. It might just be a few orns, depending on if the 'Cons attack Pescus Hex."
Chromia didn't stop scowling. That seemed to offend her for some reason. He couldn't tell if she liked the idea or not.
After several astroseconds, she met his optics. "When are you leaving?"
"Well, I'll probably go to the wash racks, and some of my mechs are injured, but I'm taking them with me as well. You know, I still think a secondary base in Torus Heights—"
"Would be a terrible idea," Chromia cut him off. "All right. I can get everything worked out in a joor or so, and then I'll come."
"Thanks," Ironhide said. "It'll be amazing to have you there."
"Yeah, whatever," she smiled slightly. "Get out of here and let me finish my work so I can go with you."
He turned and walked away. She went back to talk to the guard.
Megatron walked past the row of modified stasis pods, marveling at Shockwave's genius. They were powerfully built, intimidating, and—best of all—not quite Cybertronian anymore.
There was something off about each one—odd proportions, unnatural modifications. One had a seeker-like build, but without wings. Another looked like a transport, but constructed incorrectly.
"I am not certain whether these designs will suffice," Shockwave said. "As we discussed previously, your instructions were vague."
"They're perfect," Megatron said. "When will they be fully operational and ready for deployment?"
"They will come out of stasis in one orn," Shockwave said. "They should have integrated their modifications by then, but I am not certain whether they will be ready for their mission."
"And we are sure they'll be loyal?"
"Two of them have undergone shadowplay, and all were recommended by Soundwave."
That was more than enough of an assurance. "What about their physical capabilities? They will need to be able to incapacitate their targets, and avoid being captured or offlined by the Autobots."
"That will not be an obstacle," Shockwave said. "Though they will need to re-train in combat due to my modifications, they will be able to capture and avoid capture with ease, so long as their leader's voice box functions."
Megatron nodded and stopped pacing in front of the central stasis pod. The unconscious mech's faceplate had been removed, as Shockwave said was customary for shadowplay, but instead of a single optic, it had been replaced with a mask.
"Very good," Megatron said. "Let me know once they've come online. I want to witness what they are capable of before I give them their first mission."
Notes:
1. Thanks for reading, as always
2. I just get later and later every week, don't I? I can't make any promises about the next couple of weeks, but I should be back on track in June, because the school year will be over.