A soft groan of pain left her lip components and she leaned back on the chair. "Stop shaking and hold still," Ratchet ordered as he continued welding the large gash on the young seeker's rotary cup. One entire side of her chassis was covered in energon, though not all of it was her own.
~
The battle had been quick and mostly one-sided. Icefire had led her small squadron to eradicate a Decepticon outpost on the outskirts of Vos. The Guard trained Autobots had taken the troopers by surprise, or so she had thought. "That's the last one," Striker announced as he watched Icefire pull her sword from a con's chestplating, "We need to head back. No doubt reinforcements are on their way." Icefire rolled her optics and reached down to pick up a dropped blaster from the mech she'd just offlined. "Striker, they didn't have a chance to call for backup. I'm not leaving behind the chance to snag some Decepticon weaponry. " "But Ultra Magnus said-" "I don't care what he said. This is my mission. Guard the entrance, Striker. That's an order."
It couldn't have been more than half a megacycle. Icefire and the other two members of her team had scoured the small outpost, gathering anything of value. She then led them back outside, intent on finally leaving. "Alright, Striker. Let's- scrap!" Striker's lifeless chassis was sprawled out on the ground, with multiple blaster holes dotting his chestplating. "Well look what we have here," Skyquake smirked. "Decepticons, crush them!" They were outnumbered three to one easily. Blaze went down first, two vehicons had pinned him and a third put a blaster shot though his helm. Icefire had seen it out of the corner of her optic, but she didn't have time to react. Skyquake and her were locked in too fierce of a battle, each one vehemently trying to offline the other. It was Silver's death that did it however. The scream of pain the mech let out as a sword went through his optic made Icefire's energon freeze and she instinctively turned to look at him. That small distraction was all Skyquake needed to end the fight. He grabbed Icefire's arm component and forced her sword up and away while he drove his own blade into her rotary cup.
It was hard to recall what exactly had happened next. She remembered getting knocked to the ground and Skyquake standing over her, then the light of a groundbridge and renewed battle cries. Ratchet had rushed to her and pulled her to her peds. "We need to go now!" He ordered her as he grabbed her good arm component and slung it over his rotary cups to help her through the bridge.
He half carried her to the medical bay and the femme collapsed into the chair. It was only then she realized the gravity of the situation and she couldn't help how entire chassis had started shaking. What had she done?
~
"Alright, I've stopped the energon leak. How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked lowly as he set his tools down. Icefire grimaced and shook her helm, her lip components pressed together. "It's... all my fault." "Yes, it fragging is!" a harsh voice sounded from the doorway. The young femme flinched and hesitantly looked up. Ultra Magnus stood there, absolutely seething. What should have been a simple mission had resulted in the offlinement of three members of the Elite Guard, all due to the fact that their squad leader had made a foolish, selfish decision.
Optimus Prime stood beside Ultra Magnus, his expression as grim as his companion's was angry. "Icefire," the Prime started, "do you have any notion of what you have done?" Icefire didn't know which was worse, Ultra Magnus's yelling or the disappointment radiating from each word the Prime spoke.
"I didn't intend-" "Didn't intend to what, exactly?" Ultra Magnus's voice cut across her's. "Your orders couldn't have been simpler. Clear the outpost and return. That was it! I've put up with a lot from you. But this? This is unforgivable!"
Icefire grimaced and looked from Ultra Magnus to Optimus Prime. "I didn't want this to happen, sir. I cared about my team! I thought I could get us more supplies... weapons. I didn't think-" "You didn't think," The Prime stated, his tone grave. "While I'm sure your intentions were not malicious, I cannot ignore what resulted from them."
"Then what? What's going to happen to me?" The femme finally asked, her servos beginning to shake again. The Prime let out a low vent then looked to his second-in-command. "From this point on, you're no longer a member of the Elite Guard. You will not be allowed on missions and you will be confined to base until further punishment can be decided upon," Ultra Magnus spoke while glaring at the femme.
"W-What?! Sire, you can't! It was an accident!" I've worked too hard for this!" Icefire screeched as she made to stand up, but Ratchet forced her back into her seat. "My decision is final, Icefire. You've disobeyed orders for the last time." With that, Ultra Magnus turned and left the medical bay. Optimus took one last look at the shocked femme before following after his long-time friend.
[The Nemesis - 18:57 - Present Day]
Icefire awoke from stasis with a start, her purple optics widening briefly, then she put a servo to her helm and groaned. Her comm had gone off and she pressed a digit to her audio to answer it. "Icefire, report to the bridge immediately." The call ended abruptly and she let out a groan before rising from her berth. The femme quickly put on her battle armor and armed herself before leaving her room. She passed vehicons in silence, wondering what he was going to have her do. Likely Knockout just needed help with some experiment or medical procedure. She doubted he'd have her go out into the field as he typically preferred keeping her on base, but it wouldn't be the first time.
As she entered the bridge, Starscream locked optics with her and his expression became irritated, as usual. He still didn't trust her, even though she had been with them for nearly three vorns now. Icefire walked past the seeker then she sunk down to one knee component. "Lord Megatron, what do you require of me?" She asked quietly.
The warlord slowly turned away from the console to face the femme, keeping his servos behind his back. He simply stared down at her for a moment before indicating for her to rise with a slight jerk of his helm. She did so and pressed her lip components together tightly as she looked into his optics, waiting for him to speak. "Soundwave has located an additional component needed for my new spacebridge at a human military complex. You will retrieve it immediately." "Yes, my lord," Icefire assured him with a nod of her helm while the mech turned back to the console. "And Icefire..." "Yes, my lord?" "Do not fail me," Megatron's voice was dark and the threat behind it was quite clear.
A small sliver of fear shot through her chassis, but she let no such emotion show on her faceplating. "Soundwave, activate the coordinates," She told him as she moved to stand before the groundbridge. The silent mech nodded once then he pulled the lever and watched as the bridge sparked to life. Icefire stared into the green vortex and let out a low vent before walking through.
