Astrosecond: .498 seconds

Breem: ~8.2 minutes

Joor: ~1 hour

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Nano-klik: ~1 second

Orn: 13 days

Solar-cycle: 93 hours (Cybertronian day)

Orbital-cycle: 24 solar-cycles/93 days (Cybertronian month)

Stellar-cycle: 20 orbital-cycles/480 days (Cybertronian year)

Chapter 9:

Evac

The deck was hectic with Decepticons flittering around the Nemesis, a large sighting of Autobots had been spotted by an old but still intact launchpad—it was suspected they were planning to leave Cybertron.

It was nothing more than a barren wasteland in most places now, Energon was running low, and staying on Cybertron was more of a death sentence. There were just too many mouths to feed and while some were being send-off world to hunt for Energon, Megatron's crew would not.

They would be following Teletraan 1—Optimus Prime's ship—for their hunt for the All-Spark.

"Everyone counted for?" Megatron asked as soon as he, Starscream, and Soundwave arrived on deck.

"Every bot listed for the Nemesis has signed in, my liege." Skywarp reported, turning back to his terminal.

"Good." He nodded before turning to Soundwave. "Any sighting of the Autobots?"

"Negative," Soundwave answered. "All activity has been within the launchpad's building itself. None have departed from the building in an orn. Lazerbeak has confirmed their go ahead with the launch of Teletraan 1."

Megatron nodded. "Excellent."

From within her space in Soundwave's sparkling hold, Resonate yawned and stretched, quite content with continuing to doze within the warm hold. Her brothers were safely stored just above her and knowing that her creator wouldn't allow any harm to come to them, she could freely continue to pursue her desire for recharge.

Though she was curious about where they'd be going, it made her a bit jittery with nervousness. She'd never been within a space-ship before, let alone actually been within the vast cosmos that surrounded their planet.

The gentle reassurance from her creator and brothers helped ease the feeling, saying they'd be safe and that there was nothing to worry about.

(Within the near future, and distant one, her brothers would think back to this moment and feel this deep painful ache at knowing they'd technically lied to her; knowing this was what would cause her fear of the vast cosmos for a long time to come.)

She could faintly hear the chatter outside the hold, her creator keeping the panel open just the tiniest bit to allow her to listen in. She listened as the familiar voices of Skywarp, Starscream, Barricade, and several others all conversed, speaking technical in regard to the ship. She didn't understand a lot of it, that sort of thing was way over her helm, but she listened regardless. She was a little bored.

When lift-off finally arrived, Soundwave closed the panel completely for Resonate's safety to which she pouted at. But as the Nemesis left the ground below, she couldn't help the strike of nervousness that made itself known again.

The soft humming from the bonds dampened the emotion, smothering her in a successful attempt to ease her.

It wasn't long before the Nemesis caught sight of Teletraan 1 on its sensors and took after it, making sure to leave a distance behind so as to not alert them of their presence.

While sometimes things go your way, it doesn't always stay like that. This time it just happened to be Teletraan 1 picking up the signal of the Nemesis.

It started just like every other solar-cycle, Resonate had finished her morning energon and Rumble was already pawing at her playfully, grinning as she giggled. Mornings were Resonate's typical hyper joors, the energy built up from her recharge making itself known plenty.

It often led to the siblings getting together to try and wear Resonate out, especially now she was held up within certain areas of the Nemesis during most of the solar-cycle.

Ratbat bumped into her, and it sent them tumbling, both giggling cheerfully.

The mornings typically resulted in play fighting, they'd found it the most efficient way to burn excess energy, they knew limits and how far to take it, especially with Resonate.

When their playing came to an end, they were often left cuddled together in a dog-pile of sorts.

By the time it came to Resonate's next meal, she was about ready for a nap to which she'd taken to curling up within Soundwave's hold—his sparkling hold was located behind the cassette player door, with her brothers stored in slots just above it. The hold itself had two door panels in response, the outer see-through one and an inner metal panel.

Most often he left the inner one open so that Resonate could see out, it was an extra piece of protection since the outer one was made of glass and more breakable. He'd rarely close the secondary one unless it was for Resonate's safety.

After Resaonte's afternoon nap ended, she was back to her twin brothers' care, where they'd play some videogames they'd managed to keep hold of since before the war.

The games were pretty basic ones, first-person shooter, mini-games and the lot.

It was during the middle of a game of Guess Who that the ship rocked jarringly. Resonate yelped, optics widening with fear. Rumble wrapped her up in the red blanket.

"Shh, it's okay Bubba."

~Rumble, Frenzy: Bring Resonate to the bridge immediately~

~Creator?~ Frenzy questioned and the brothers shared a confused look but began to stand.

~Come~ It was firm this time.

Whatever was happening wasn't good. So, swooping his sister into his arms, Rumble and Frenzy made for the exit.

There was another rock of the ship and they both realised in that moment that everything was not okay. Resonate's quiet whimper from under her blanket had them speeding up.

Soundwave met them outside the main bridge, where several bots entered and exited in a hurry.

~Soundwave, what's happening?~ Rumble questioned, unable to bring himself to physically ask with Resonate in his arms.

Another more jarring rock of the ship hit them, Soundwave reached forward, grasping both Frenzy and Rumble by the shoulders as they stumbled.

"Nemesis: detected," Soundwave answered.

Uh oh.

"Follow me," Soundwave turned, the twin mechs shared another look but ultimately followed him. They were walking for a breem at most, having gone down three levels in the elevator before arriving in the escape pod deck.

A flicker of realisation at what they might be doing hit them and it made them nervous.

"Soundwave?" Frenzy questioned.

Resonate wiggled within Rumble's grip and he rumbled in an attempt to get her to stop. She responded with a confused chirp that teetered on scared, her creator and brothers weren't telling her anything and their bonds were dampened too.

The communications officer turned to them and knelt, "Megatron wishes to engage with the Autobots. We are unsure of what the outcome may be, we believed it wise to jettison her in the case of an emergency. You both will stay here with her waiting for the signal for a possible launch. Understood?"

Their optics widened, "W-What!? You can't be ser—"

"Frenzy. Rumble," Soundwave interrupted; his tone of voice firm and leaving no room for debate, "The chance of having to eject the pod is less than twenty percent. We just wish to be cautious."

The brothers shared another look, Rumble sighed, "Okay. Okay."

Resonate confused chirp as she managed to pull the blanket off her helm made all three turn their optics onto her.

~Confused-scared-creator?~

Soundwave took her from Rumble, holding her against his chassis, "The Autobot's ship has detected us, we are unsure of what they may plan to do. We do not want you in harm's way, you understand?"

Resonate frowned but nodded, she didn't understand why the Autobots would do anything or what they wanted with them, but she trusted her creator. She whirled and pulsed her understanding.

"You must listen to Rumble and Frenzy, yes? They are protecting you, and you might not like what happens, but you mustn't fight them."

Resonate gave a nervous chirp, reaching up to grasp her creator's mouth guard, tugging his helm down. Soundwave rumbled, allowing his creation to pull his helm, where he retracted the guard and placed a kiss to her helm.

"You understand, sweetspark?"

~yes-yes-trust-love-yes~ she nodded.

Resonate was returned to Rumble's arm, and Soundwave glanced at the twins, "Keep yourselves safe, understood?"

"Understood, Creator."

Soundwave left with a burst of affection aimed at all three.

There was another jarring rock of the ship and Resonate buried her face into Rumble's neck in an attempt to hide from the harsh and scary movement.

It was only a breem later when they got the dreaded order.

~Rumble, Frenzy~ Just Soundwave's voice alone keyed them into what they were going to have to do. It left dread twisting inside their sparks.

~Creator?~ Frenzy's voice trembled over the bond. Soundwave didn't like this as much as them, but another even harsher and more serious rock of the ship hit.

~Do it~ Soundwave ordered.

Instead of answering, the twins just sent their understanding. Rumble adjusted his grip on Resonate as Frenzy opened the pod.

~Confusion-scared-what's happening?~ Resonate questioned as she was set into the pod, she glanced between them, pure confusion on her face.

"We're… we're jettisoning you into space, Bubs. For your safety," Frenzy answered, struggling to get the words out, "We'll find you soon, okay? Just hang on tight until we come and get you, yeah?"

Frenzy forced a grin in an attempt to make sure not to worry Resonate any more than already. Their sister's nod gave them relief.

"We're not gonna b apart very long, okay?" Rumble added with a grin, "It'll be almost like only a joor has passed before we see each other again, okay?"

Resonate cheeped in response as she nodded.

Rumble finished strapping her in as another rock of the ship hit, he stumbled into the side of the pod. Frenzy had to stabilise his twin.

They climbed out once Resonate was completely and safely locked into the harness. It was a bit big, considering it was meant for adult frames, but they'd managed to tighten it enough to make sure she wasn't jolted too much.

"We'll see you soon, Re," Rumble smiled and Frenzy nodded, adding his own parting before they hit the launch button. The door slammed closed and then the pod was gone.

They took a moment to just let out a shaky vent in disbelief. Wondering if that really just happened.

"She's safe," Rumble murmured in an attempt to soothe their worry and unease, but it didn't work very well. Frenzy nodded wordlessly.

They swiftly left the bay, and headed for the fight.

Resonate's optics searched her surroundings, a weak and scared warbled escaped as she felt the distance between herself and her family get longer and longer. Sharp inhales and vents followed as she began to work herself up into a panic.

She warbled louder, but that quickly became a screech as the pod was jolted, only it was far, far, far worst than the bigger ship's had been. She cried out, desperately reaching out for her creator but he was too far, and the panic only worsened when a voice began speaking.

'Stasis commencing in one klik.'

There was a bad jolt and Resonate's helm bashed against the helmrest hard. She screamed, servos immediately grabbing the painful dent.

'Stasis initiating.'

And Resonate knew no more.