DISCLAIMER - I don't own Transformers, you know that. I did create Artemis, Silica, Hyperdrive and Powerpack, mind you. Be forewarned that if you are of a sensetive nature you may not appreciate some of the later chapters in this story, which I intend to be upsetting.
CHAPTER TWO
------------------------
"Charge thrusters," Artemis commanded.
"Charging thrusters," Hyperdrive replied.
"Release umbilicals," Artemis said.
"Releasing umbilicals," Powerpack obeyed.
Everyone had taken their place on the Indomitable's bridge, with Artemis in the captain's seat. Silica sat
off to the side with Wheelie, both strapped into their seats, as Powerpack and Hyperdrive worked the
consoles.
"Blast off in 10...9..." Artemis began the countdown. The numbers rolled off his tongue automatically, with
no thought on his part, as his mind raced. This was it. There was no turning back now. "..2...1... Ignition!"
Hyperdrive and Powerpack hit a single button on each of their consoles simultaneously, and the ship
shuddered into life, as powerful jets screamed with new-born fury, belching liquid fire, wrenching the
Indomitable free of the launch pad, and hurling it into the void.
Silica felt Wheelie squeeze her hand tightly, nearly cutting off the Energon flow to her digits, as the ship
shook around them. "It's okay, honey," she said, placing her other hand on top of his. Wheelie just kept
squeezing.
Artemis gripped the arm-rests of his chair tightly as the craft thundered into the sky. He was afraid - though
he would not have admitted it to anyone, save Silica. Then again, in such a situation, he was sure that she
would already know.
The G-Forces slammed down on Wheelie like a ton of bricks, crushing him back into his seat. He figured
that it must be happening to everyone else, too, but he couldn't turn his head to look. He would have cried
out, but he couldn't move his mouth. His thoughts were of his parents, and how brave they must be to do
something like this. The pressure grew, until Wheelie thought for sure that he would be pulped beneath such
force, when suddenly, it was gone. He lurched forward in his seat and gagged as his Energon pump
contracted rapidly, as tiny tears of lubricant ran down his pained face. Immediately, Silica unbuckled her belt
and jumped from her seat, kneeling by Wheelie, as he clutched his stomach and wheezed softly, feeling his
Energon pump beat furiously inside his chest.
As Powerpack and Hyperdrive high-fived each other, Artemis turned to look at his wife and child. As soon
as he looked around, he knew that something was wrong. He almost literally flew from his seat to his
family's side, resting a hand on Wheelie's shoulder, and helping him to regulate the function of his Energon
pump. "Easy, son, easy..." he said, softly. "There you are. Easy, now."
Wheelie looked up at his father with blearly eyes. Artemis flicked away the tears that stained his son's
cheeks with his fingers, and smiled. Wheelie smiled back. Silica stood up and looked down at Artemis,
motioning for him to follow her.
"Be right back, son," Artemis said, and went after his wife, who was now standing on the other side of the
bridge. "What?" he asked her.
"Don't you 'what' me, Artemis," Silica said. "Look at him. We're not even on our way and he's suffering
already." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at the deck. "I don't want it to happen to
him, the way it did to me."
Artemis's optics dulled as realisation crept over him. Before he had met her, Silica had been a powerful
member of the Female Autobot army. In fact, when she and two other Female Autobots had been assigned
to guard him and the other members of his scientific team during the early days of the Ark's construction,
for fear of Decepticon espionage or assault, there was immediately electricity between them both. It was
later that Optimus Prime's fears were proved founded, when a small Decepticon raiding party attacked the
scientific compound. Originally, Artemis had doubted the ability of only three Female Autobots to protect
them - but his fears were soon to be discounted, as Silica and the other femme bots gutted all six of the
Decepticons entirely, completely destroying their exostructures. It had been a chilling sight for Artemis to
behold. Then, mere seconds later, when the females were taking stock, Artemis noticed movement in the
shadows. With a cry, he threw himself at Silica, knocking her aside, as the Decepticon spy, Ravage lunged
out of the shadows at her. Hitting the ground gracefully, Ravage had turned and hissed, and immediately
shot off one of his hip-mounted missiles, filling the room with smoke. Artemis shielded Silica with his body,
but he saw Ravage poking around the dead husks of the bodies. With each body he moved on to, he tore the
Decepticon's still-intact personality component out of it's moorings, and shunted it into subspace. When all
six were in his possession, the feline robot had disappeared into the darkness. Artemis could only guess why
the Decepticon had taken the components, but he supposed that Megatron, the Decepticon commander,
needed all the soldiers he could get.
Their relationship had done nothing but grow from that day on. And when Silica and Artemis were finally
joined, she left the Female Autobot army to raise her child, not wanting him exposed to the violence and
suffering that had shaped her into the 'bot she was today. She wanted Wheelie to be different.
"I'm sorry," said Artemis, embracing his wife. She rested her head on his shoulder, as he gently cradled
her. "It'll be okay, you'll see."
"I hope so," Silica said, her voice cracked. "I hope so..."
- - -
Hyperdrive tapped the technical read-out screen on his console. "Looks like our first port of call's been
figured out and organised and all set up for us to drop in on it, yup, yessir, indeed!" he reported.
"Excellent," Artemis said. A few hours had passed since his exchange with Silica, and he hoped his wife
was feeling better now. He had returned to the command chair to supervise the first landing and exploration.
"Where are we headed?"
"Doesn't seem to have name," Powerpack informed him. "I can't find a single slaggin' scrap of information
on this planet."
Artemis cupped his chin. "How long until we can achieve visual?"
"Just a few cycles, boss," Powerpack said, tapping a few keys, trying to dredge up information about the
mystery world.
The bridge was silent for those few cycles, until Hyperdrive swivelled in his chair. "We're in visual range
now, sir, yep, we can get a good ol' look at this weird place, if you'd like, boss, cause I can out it up on
screen if you just give the word, you know that I'll do it right away without question, chief, you know me!"
Artemis suppressed a sigh. "On-screen."
The large computer screen mounted into the northernmost wall of the bridge blinked, and a flicker of static
came up, which quickly faded, to be replaced by an image of the planet they were headed for. It was a sickly
yellow colour when viewed from this distance, surrounded by huge rings - though not rings of gas and rock
particles, like so many other worlds, but rings of solid metal, literally moored to the planet's surface by
gargantuan metal pylons. The very appearance of the world was malicious, a miasma of evil emanating from
it.
"Nice place," Powerpack commented.
"Move in," Artemis said.
A small noise caught Artemis's attention, and he looked around behind his chair, to see Silica, with a surly
look on her face. Artemis responded with a pleading look, and his wife rolled her eyes and nodded.
Powerpack had also heard the noise, and had yet to move the ship in, knowing well, from Artemis's stories,
how Silica could get. He looked at Artemis, who verified the command. Powerpack tapped a selection of
keys, and the whole group felt that sip shift around them, banking to head inwards towards the enigmatic
planet.
"Life signs?" Artemis asked.
Hyperdrive's arms became a blur as he frantically hit buttons. "Life signs, life signs, we got life signs all
over the planet, loads of 'em, lots of Energon signatures, and plenty of ones I don't recognise, sir, boss,
chief!"
Artemis felt his Energon pump skip a compression. Energon signatures all across the planet? Could it be
they'd found Optimus and his crew already? "Initiate landing procedure," he ordered.
Silica was silent, but in her head, one thought was predominate. It can't be this easy. She turned to look at
Wheelie, who was bouncing up and down in his seat. He looked up at her.
"Are we going down to the planet, mama, are we?" he asked. "Are we gonna find Optimus?"
"Let's hope so, baby," Silica said, then in her mind, added, Because then this'll all be over.
The bridge went quiet, save for the clicking of buttons and the hum of electronic as the ship augured in
towards the world. Powerpack glanced at the readouts and grimaced.
"Artemis," he said, warily, "I'm picking up a power spike on the planet's surface..." Everyone turned their
attention to the viewscreen.
Artemis never got to reply.
- - -
Down on the surface of the planet, something stirred, reacting to the presence of the Indomitable out in
space. A huge metallic hatchway, built into the ground, sighed open, and two glowing red lights could be
seen within the darkness of the pit that was revealed. With the speed of thought, a gargantuan metallic cable
lanced out of the pit, streaking into the ebony sky, heading straight for the ship. The massive coil ended in a
ferocious pincer-claw, with two red sensors set at either side of it, as it snapped evilly.
Artemis never got to reply.
The pincer-cable ripped through the Indomitable's hull, rending the ship's integrity asunder. Of course,
there was no roar of vacuum as the atmosphere inside the ship was sucked out into the nothingness of space,
simply because there was no atmosphere inside the ship - Cybertronians didn't respire like carbon-based life,
so there was no need for anything like that in the Indomitable. What did happen, however, was that the claw
began to tear the bridge to pieces, destroying the command consoles and numerous other systems before
retracting back down to the planet's surface.
"Damage report!" Artemis yelled, as he staggered out of his chair, and went to his family's side.
"You need a report?!" Powerpack screamed back, and then found himself thrown across the bridge as his
console exploded. He groaned and shook his head, which was dented from the impact with the bulkhead.
"We're slagged!" Another explosion threw Powerpack aside, and his optics went dark.
"Oh Primus, oh Primus, oh Primus, we're all gonna die, die, die, die, dieeeee!" Hyperdrive screeched, as he
flung himself to the ground seconds before the computer display built into the wall on his right exploded in a
hail of glass.
Silica grabbed the crying Wheelie in her arms and held him close to her, shutting her eyes tightly, as the
ship crumbled around them. Tears ran down Artemis's own face as he saw what his ambitions had done to
him and his family. The last thing he glimpsed before a chunk of debris smashed him in the back of the
cranial unit, knocking him off-line temporarily, was one of the giant metal rings of the planet, as the ship
smashed into it full force and was torn to pieces, which in turn fell like fiery, burning rain to the planet's
surface.
- - -
PLEASE R&R!!
CHAPTER TWO
------------------------
"Charge thrusters," Artemis commanded.
"Charging thrusters," Hyperdrive replied.
"Release umbilicals," Artemis said.
"Releasing umbilicals," Powerpack obeyed.
Everyone had taken their place on the Indomitable's bridge, with Artemis in the captain's seat. Silica sat
off to the side with Wheelie, both strapped into their seats, as Powerpack and Hyperdrive worked the
consoles.
"Blast off in 10...9..." Artemis began the countdown. The numbers rolled off his tongue automatically, with
no thought on his part, as his mind raced. This was it. There was no turning back now. "..2...1... Ignition!"
Hyperdrive and Powerpack hit a single button on each of their consoles simultaneously, and the ship
shuddered into life, as powerful jets screamed with new-born fury, belching liquid fire, wrenching the
Indomitable free of the launch pad, and hurling it into the void.
Silica felt Wheelie squeeze her hand tightly, nearly cutting off the Energon flow to her digits, as the ship
shook around them. "It's okay, honey," she said, placing her other hand on top of his. Wheelie just kept
squeezing.
Artemis gripped the arm-rests of his chair tightly as the craft thundered into the sky. He was afraid - though
he would not have admitted it to anyone, save Silica. Then again, in such a situation, he was sure that she
would already know.
The G-Forces slammed down on Wheelie like a ton of bricks, crushing him back into his seat. He figured
that it must be happening to everyone else, too, but he couldn't turn his head to look. He would have cried
out, but he couldn't move his mouth. His thoughts were of his parents, and how brave they must be to do
something like this. The pressure grew, until Wheelie thought for sure that he would be pulped beneath such
force, when suddenly, it was gone. He lurched forward in his seat and gagged as his Energon pump
contracted rapidly, as tiny tears of lubricant ran down his pained face. Immediately, Silica unbuckled her belt
and jumped from her seat, kneeling by Wheelie, as he clutched his stomach and wheezed softly, feeling his
Energon pump beat furiously inside his chest.
As Powerpack and Hyperdrive high-fived each other, Artemis turned to look at his wife and child. As soon
as he looked around, he knew that something was wrong. He almost literally flew from his seat to his
family's side, resting a hand on Wheelie's shoulder, and helping him to regulate the function of his Energon
pump. "Easy, son, easy..." he said, softly. "There you are. Easy, now."
Wheelie looked up at his father with blearly eyes. Artemis flicked away the tears that stained his son's
cheeks with his fingers, and smiled. Wheelie smiled back. Silica stood up and looked down at Artemis,
motioning for him to follow her.
"Be right back, son," Artemis said, and went after his wife, who was now standing on the other side of the
bridge. "What?" he asked her.
"Don't you 'what' me, Artemis," Silica said. "Look at him. We're not even on our way and he's suffering
already." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at the deck. "I don't want it to happen to
him, the way it did to me."
Artemis's optics dulled as realisation crept over him. Before he had met her, Silica had been a powerful
member of the Female Autobot army. In fact, when she and two other Female Autobots had been assigned
to guard him and the other members of his scientific team during the early days of the Ark's construction,
for fear of Decepticon espionage or assault, there was immediately electricity between them both. It was
later that Optimus Prime's fears were proved founded, when a small Decepticon raiding party attacked the
scientific compound. Originally, Artemis had doubted the ability of only three Female Autobots to protect
them - but his fears were soon to be discounted, as Silica and the other femme bots gutted all six of the
Decepticons entirely, completely destroying their exostructures. It had been a chilling sight for Artemis to
behold. Then, mere seconds later, when the females were taking stock, Artemis noticed movement in the
shadows. With a cry, he threw himself at Silica, knocking her aside, as the Decepticon spy, Ravage lunged
out of the shadows at her. Hitting the ground gracefully, Ravage had turned and hissed, and immediately
shot off one of his hip-mounted missiles, filling the room with smoke. Artemis shielded Silica with his body,
but he saw Ravage poking around the dead husks of the bodies. With each body he moved on to, he tore the
Decepticon's still-intact personality component out of it's moorings, and shunted it into subspace. When all
six were in his possession, the feline robot had disappeared into the darkness. Artemis could only guess why
the Decepticon had taken the components, but he supposed that Megatron, the Decepticon commander,
needed all the soldiers he could get.
Their relationship had done nothing but grow from that day on. And when Silica and Artemis were finally
joined, she left the Female Autobot army to raise her child, not wanting him exposed to the violence and
suffering that had shaped her into the 'bot she was today. She wanted Wheelie to be different.
"I'm sorry," said Artemis, embracing his wife. She rested her head on his shoulder, as he gently cradled
her. "It'll be okay, you'll see."
"I hope so," Silica said, her voice cracked. "I hope so..."
- - -
Hyperdrive tapped the technical read-out screen on his console. "Looks like our first port of call's been
figured out and organised and all set up for us to drop in on it, yup, yessir, indeed!" he reported.
"Excellent," Artemis said. A few hours had passed since his exchange with Silica, and he hoped his wife
was feeling better now. He had returned to the command chair to supervise the first landing and exploration.
"Where are we headed?"
"Doesn't seem to have name," Powerpack informed him. "I can't find a single slaggin' scrap of information
on this planet."
Artemis cupped his chin. "How long until we can achieve visual?"
"Just a few cycles, boss," Powerpack said, tapping a few keys, trying to dredge up information about the
mystery world.
The bridge was silent for those few cycles, until Hyperdrive swivelled in his chair. "We're in visual range
now, sir, yep, we can get a good ol' look at this weird place, if you'd like, boss, cause I can out it up on
screen if you just give the word, you know that I'll do it right away without question, chief, you know me!"
Artemis suppressed a sigh. "On-screen."
The large computer screen mounted into the northernmost wall of the bridge blinked, and a flicker of static
came up, which quickly faded, to be replaced by an image of the planet they were headed for. It was a sickly
yellow colour when viewed from this distance, surrounded by huge rings - though not rings of gas and rock
particles, like so many other worlds, but rings of solid metal, literally moored to the planet's surface by
gargantuan metal pylons. The very appearance of the world was malicious, a miasma of evil emanating from
it.
"Nice place," Powerpack commented.
"Move in," Artemis said.
A small noise caught Artemis's attention, and he looked around behind his chair, to see Silica, with a surly
look on her face. Artemis responded with a pleading look, and his wife rolled her eyes and nodded.
Powerpack had also heard the noise, and had yet to move the ship in, knowing well, from Artemis's stories,
how Silica could get. He looked at Artemis, who verified the command. Powerpack tapped a selection of
keys, and the whole group felt that sip shift around them, banking to head inwards towards the enigmatic
planet.
"Life signs?" Artemis asked.
Hyperdrive's arms became a blur as he frantically hit buttons. "Life signs, life signs, we got life signs all
over the planet, loads of 'em, lots of Energon signatures, and plenty of ones I don't recognise, sir, boss,
chief!"
Artemis felt his Energon pump skip a compression. Energon signatures all across the planet? Could it be
they'd found Optimus and his crew already? "Initiate landing procedure," he ordered.
Silica was silent, but in her head, one thought was predominate. It can't be this easy. She turned to look at
Wheelie, who was bouncing up and down in his seat. He looked up at her.
"Are we going down to the planet, mama, are we?" he asked. "Are we gonna find Optimus?"
"Let's hope so, baby," Silica said, then in her mind, added, Because then this'll all be over.
The bridge went quiet, save for the clicking of buttons and the hum of electronic as the ship augured in
towards the world. Powerpack glanced at the readouts and grimaced.
"Artemis," he said, warily, "I'm picking up a power spike on the planet's surface..." Everyone turned their
attention to the viewscreen.
Artemis never got to reply.
- - -
Down on the surface of the planet, something stirred, reacting to the presence of the Indomitable out in
space. A huge metallic hatchway, built into the ground, sighed open, and two glowing red lights could be
seen within the darkness of the pit that was revealed. With the speed of thought, a gargantuan metallic cable
lanced out of the pit, streaking into the ebony sky, heading straight for the ship. The massive coil ended in a
ferocious pincer-claw, with two red sensors set at either side of it, as it snapped evilly.
Artemis never got to reply.
The pincer-cable ripped through the Indomitable's hull, rending the ship's integrity asunder. Of course,
there was no roar of vacuum as the atmosphere inside the ship was sucked out into the nothingness of space,
simply because there was no atmosphere inside the ship - Cybertronians didn't respire like carbon-based life,
so there was no need for anything like that in the Indomitable. What did happen, however, was that the claw
began to tear the bridge to pieces, destroying the command consoles and numerous other systems before
retracting back down to the planet's surface.
"Damage report!" Artemis yelled, as he staggered out of his chair, and went to his family's side.
"You need a report?!" Powerpack screamed back, and then found himself thrown across the bridge as his
console exploded. He groaned and shook his head, which was dented from the impact with the bulkhead.
"We're slagged!" Another explosion threw Powerpack aside, and his optics went dark.
"Oh Primus, oh Primus, oh Primus, we're all gonna die, die, die, die, dieeeee!" Hyperdrive screeched, as he
flung himself to the ground seconds before the computer display built into the wall on his right exploded in a
hail of glass.
Silica grabbed the crying Wheelie in her arms and held him close to her, shutting her eyes tightly, as the
ship crumbled around them. Tears ran down Artemis's own face as he saw what his ambitions had done to
him and his family. The last thing he glimpsed before a chunk of debris smashed him in the back of the
cranial unit, knocking him off-line temporarily, was one of the giant metal rings of the planet, as the ship
smashed into it full force and was torn to pieces, which in turn fell like fiery, burning rain to the planet's
surface.
- - -
PLEASE R&R!!