The Quasar sector was a nice, quaint little sector situated in the farthest outreach of the galaxy. Not much happened in the way of warfare and that was how the residents who lived there liked it. They had built their colonies accordingly. In fact, since not much happened and the cycles just lazed on by, many had taken to starting family units. Peace and quiet prevailed.
All of that was about to change . . .
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"Silverbolt, get your afts out of there! We're gonna be slaughtered if we don't leave within the next five minutes!"
"Will do, Ironhide," came the reply. "We're on our way."
Normally, Ironhide would have stayed and fought his ground. Normally, he'd fight until he had nothing left to fight with and continue to fight anyway. This, however, was anything but a normal situation for him. This time he carried the vital piece of information that would aid the Autobot cause and if the Decepticons got a hold of it . . . Ironhide shuddered to think of such consequences
"We're all aboard, Ironhide!" Sideswipe shouted.
"Get us out of here, Sky Lynx."
"Roger that, Ironhide."
The immense Autobot shuttle put on a little more speed and everyone lurched forward. Blast after blast followed them, causing Sky Lynx to rock in his flight. Soon, the rocking and the blasts subsided as the Autobot put more and more speed on.
"Ironhide . . ."
"What is it?" he turned to face Silverbolt.
"We have some wounded to take care of . . ."
"Say no more. We'll land and make repairs as best we can," Ironhide said wearily. He hated how his own voice sounded in his audios but there was no help for it. The strain would have been there, battle or no battle.
"There is an establishment not far from here," Sky Lynx offered. "Maybe they can help us."
"What establishment?" Prowl frowned. The tactician had joined them when Silverbolt had mentioned the wounded.
"The Quasar sector," Sky Lynx answered.
"We'll go there," Ironhide stated before Prowl could say anything more. "We won't receive the warmest of welcomes but they'll help us. That is, so long as no one starts fighting with any of the locals and we can keep our stay short."
"You know about this colony, Ironhide?" Silverbolt inquired.
"Yes," Ironhide hesitated. "They're Autobots."
Prowl and Silverbolt gave him puzzled looks. Ironhide just shook his head.
"I'll explain when the time is right. Let's just worry about getting there and tending to our wounded."
Prowl gave a slight nod of his head in acknowledgment but Ironhide knew the tactician was not entirely satisfied with his answer. Ironhide sighed to himself. He just hoped Apollo had forgiven him by now.
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"Where's my girl?" a cadet blue Mech asked as he stepped through the door of his home, his blue optics sparkling. A young infant's babbling greeted him and he smiled. Happiness flowed through his circuitry and he could not have asked for anything more.
"It's about time you got home, Apollo," an emerald green Femme joked, holding the young one who had babbled her greeting. "Sundancer has missed you."
"And I have missed her," Apollo said, taking the rosy pink-hued child into his arms. "How was your day, Moonstar?"
"Good," the Femme replied lightly, "except for Sundancer's strange desire to be awake."
"She still hasn't gone into a recharge cycle?" he frowned.
"No," Moonstar shook her head. "It's very strange. Maybe you can get her to while I go retrieve Stardancer."
"I'll certainly try," he promised as Moonstar left. He looked as his youngest daughter. She just grinned as he asked, "And just what are we going to do with you?"
"Apollo . . ."
The call over his commlink interrupted what he was going to say next to his child.
"What is it, Sky Raider?"
"We have an unknown shuttlecraft approaching our colony. They're coming in fast and hot."
"Have they tried contacting us?" he inquired, heading out the door, his daughter cradled in his arms.
'Yes," Sky Raider responded. "They're Autobots. The one whom I spoke to identified himself as Ironhide."
Apollo paused for a brief moment. He had not heard that name in several millennia and had hoped to never see that Mech again. Yet, the Autobot was on his way.
"Did he say what he wanted?"
"He did . . ."
"And?" Apollo prompted.
"He says that he has wounded and that they need to be tended to. What do you want me to do?"
Apollo hesitated. He still was angry with the Autobot but time had dulled it. He would not be able to live with himself if he turned them away and someone ended up dying.
"Let them land on Pad 219," he stated. "I'll meet them there."
"Okay, Apollo."
The channel went dead and Apollo quickened his pace. He did not relish seeing the Autobots, but it was best to get it over and done with.
'If they've brought their war with them, I'll never forgive him,' Apollo swore to himself. 'And I hope it will hang over his head forever.'
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Ironhide waited patiently as he could while Sky Lynx landed. He wanted this meeting with Apollo to be over and done with. He was quite sure he and Apollo no longer had anything in common, and it was just best to be done with it.
"I don't believe it," Silverbolt whispered as they stepped out of the hatch. "They're flyers."
"We prefer to call ourselves Aerialbots," a Mech said as he approached. Obviously, he had heard Silverbolt. They looked up and Ironhide blinked.
Before him stood Apollo and he hadn't changed, in Ironhide's mind's eye. Tall, a wide and powerful chest with a stern expression. What surprised him was the tiny, faded rose-coloured child the Mech carried in his arms.
"Aerialbots?" Slingshot scoffed. Whatever else he had to say never came out as Grimlock clamped a hand over the arrogant Aerialbot's mouth. The Dinobots, for once, were taking Ironhide's words seriously and to the letter. They, too, wanted to get home as quickly as possible.
"Ironhide," the Mech said.
"Apollo," Ironhide nodded slightly.
"You two know each other?" Prowl inquired.
"You could say that," Apollo replied vaguely. "Who do you have with you, Ironhide?"
"Prowl, Jazz, the twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, our shuttle Sky Lynx, and two of our subgroups," Ironhide answered. "The Dinobots – Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop, and Snarl – and our own Aerialbots – Silverbolt, Slingshot, Air Raid, Skyflight, and Firefight. And who is this?" Ironhide gestured to the child.
"My daughter, Sundancer," Apollo responded. "How long do you plan on staying?"
"Long enough to make our repairs," Jazz piped in. "Then we'll be gone."
Apollo nodded. Ironhide noticed but his attention had focused on little Sundancer and her bright smile.
'At'prafen had been that little once and had smiled just as brightly as Sundancer did. She had also been an energetic bundle as well. The girl had zipped around and climbed all over things, driving him and Chromia to the brink of insanity. There had been nothing more important to him than his family and an ache steadily filled him as he gazed at this child.
'Maybe we have more in common than I thought,' he mused.
"Ironhide? Is there something wrong?" Apollo inquired, breaking his train of thought. "Your friends have already scattered . . ."
"No," he shook his head. "Your daughter . . ."
"What about her?" Ironhide recognized the wariness in Apollo's tone.
"How old is she?"
Apollo blinked, as if he had not expected such a question from Ironhide. Then he answered.
"A few cycles only but she is growing fast."
"They always do, Apollo," Ironhide murmured.
"You have children, old man?"
"Four daughters and two sons," he responded. "All grown up and roaming the universe."
"I see you kept Chromia busy," Apollo smirked. Ironhide chuckled.
"Electra and Star were already adults when I met Chromia. But our oldest two, 'At'prafen and 'At'pren . . . Now those two kept us going around the clock."
"They did not sleep?"
"Well, they did at first," Ironhide explained. "After a while, they just stopped."
"How did you get them to?" Now Apollo was very curious.
"We didn't," Ironhide stated. "Every now and then we got lucky, and they'd wear themselves out but most of the time we recharged in shifts. They just got into to their heads they weren't going to rest, that they didn't need it. Why? Is this one not recharging?"
Apollo nodded. Ironhide gazed at the child and smiled at her. She had the widest blue optics that he had seen in a long time. A part of him wanted another child more than anything, but another part, the hardened veteran in him, did not. There was a war raging, after all.
'But those children lit up my life,' he told himself. 'And they survived.'
"Would you like to hold her, Ironhide? You appear to be quite enamoured wit her," the other Mech smiled. With practiced ease, he handed the child over, and Ironhide was reminded once more of what it was like to be a father. Holding such a delicate and tiny life had always filled him with the greatest of happiness. He cradled her in his arms, softly humming an old tune from his youth, and losing himself in a memory.
"How did you do that?" a young Femme's voice asked. He'd been so wrapped up in cradling Sundancer that he hasn't noticed two Femmes approaching, one younger than the other.
"How'd I do what?"
"Get Sundancer to go to sleep, Ironhide," the older Femme smiled warmly. He looked at the infant and, sure enough, her optics were closed and a peaceful expression on her face.
"Oh, just an old trick I've used on my own children, Moonstar," he shrugged. The green Femme's smiled warmed even more.
"I didn't know you had children, Ironhide. How long are you planning on staying?"
"Long enough for my friends to have their wounds repaired then we'll be gone. It won't take the Decepticons long to realize the value of the information that I'm carrying and I don't want them to come here with their guns blazing . . ."
"So you're not here to recruit? That is a shocker," she teased. Ironhide just chuckled as he handed Sundancer back to her father.
"What can I say?" he said. "I can be full of surprises when I want to be. And who is this?"
"Stardancer's my name," the girl said enthusiastically. Ironhide chuckled.
"That's a pretty name," he grinned.
"Thank you. Are you going to come back and visit us someday?"
"'Fraid not, kiddo," Ironhide shook his head. "Not until a lot of things get taken care of. When it's safe for me to travel again, I'll come."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Ironhide, we're ready to go," Prowl's quiet voice broke through the conversation.
"We'll do our best to keep the Decepticons on our trail, Apollo . . ."
"I know you. Take care, my friend."
"You, too . . ."
Ironhide gave Stardancer one final smile and trotted back to Sky Lynx with Prowl. The others were there, waiting for the two seconds. They boarded quickly and the Autobot shuttle transformed and took off.
"Jazz, radio Prime and let him know we're on our way back to Earth. If any Decepticreeps stop tailing us or start heading in Apollo's direction, start radioing constantly. I don't care if you have to exaggerate on details, either."
"Shouldn't we arm them, just in case?" Sideswipe inquired.
"They already are," Ironhide answered, keeping quiet on the knowledge that some things were always worth fighting for.
The End