Elita winced as another explosion shook the roof of the Autobot groundbridge station, sending dust down from the ceiling. Outside, her soldiers defended the warehouse. Inside, a handful of commanders and non-combatants waited, communicating over the group comm. as they listened to the nearby fighting.
"How are we doing, Hurricane?" Elita asked over the comm.
The tactician—Prowl's second in command—didn't answer for a few moments. He and the others in Prowl's department were in a nearby building that they'd been using as a command center since there wasn't room in Mirage's tower.
"We… can probably hold around the groundbridge station for a while longer," Hurricane said. "But there are too many Decepticons and we'll eventually have to retreat."
"Not if we get Orion and Prowl back here." Elita said.
"That's a bit of a long shot. Even if they make it out of the Decepticons' trap, there's no guarantee they can get back here fast enough."
"We have to trust them," Elita said. "We'll hold as long as we can."
"Understood," Hurricane said.
After Red Alert had officially deferred command of the army to her, no one had complained that Elita had taken charge.
Part of her wished someone had complained—part of her wished someone else had wanted to do it. She hadn't truly comprehended what it felt like for everything to hinge on her decisions—what it felt like to choose between surrendering and condemning her soldiers to death.
Every breem or two, when she got a casualty report, she knew she might have saved those mecha if she'd retreated earlier.
But retreating meant abandoning Iacon to Megatron's control.
At least she could tell that Orion was still online and unhurt. And even if they'd been caught in some sort of trap, she'd heard confirmation that both Megatron and Soundwave were here in Iacon. That meant Elita had to deal with them, but it also meant Orion, Prowl, Ironhide, Jazz, and the Elite Guard wouldn't be dealing with anything more than a handful of henchmen.
A group of mecha came in through the doors, carrying their injured comrades. Elita watched them go through an open groundbridge to Nova Cronum.
"Commander Elita One?" Hurricane said, sounding concerned.
"Yes?"
"A contingent of Decepticons have just attacked the Iacon Enforcement Headquarters."
She frowned. "Why?"
Mainspring answered. "That's where the controls for the city-wide groundbridge shield is. If they take it and activate the shield, we won't be able to retreat."
Elita looked at the row of groundbriges. Only a few of them were active, transporting supplies and injured mecha back and forth between here and Nova Cronum. The Council there had agreed to harbor them if they needed to retreat. Several mecha, including Red Alert, and most Autobot noncombatants were already there.
"Elita," Accord said. "Enforcement is asking for back-up to defend their headquarters."
"Hurricane, can we send help to them?" Elita asked.
"No," he said. "We're barely holding out here."
Chromia sent her another casualty report.
"Commander Elita One," Ultra Magnus said over the comm. "I would recommend you and Chromia join the others in Nova Cronum before you are stranded here."
She didn't want to leave.
She didn't want to abandon her home.
There was still hope that Orion and Prowl could come back.
But at this point, even that might not tip the battle in their favor.
"We could abandon this position and try to bridge all of our mecha to enforcement headquarters," Hurricane said. "But even though that's a more defensible position, I don't think we'd last that long."
Elita started as another explosion shook the warehouse.
Sometimes you had to cut your losses.
"No," she said. "We're going to retreat while we still can. Send as many mecha as possible through the groundbridges here, Hurricane. I'll have a bridge opened in the building you're in that will take you and the rest of your department to safety as well."
"But… I won't be able to direct the battle very well without—"
"That's an order," Elita said. "Just try to make sure the Autobots know where to go, and then get out. Red Alert, are we clear to come through?"
"Yes!" Red Alert said. "Hurry!"
She gave the order and the mecha running the bridges brought all twelve of them to life. She commed the chief of enforcement as soldiers poured into the warehouse.
"Commander Elita One," he said. "Thank Primus. We need help."
"Is there a way to lock down that groundbridge shield so the Decepticons can't use it?"
"If you're asking us to blow it up like you did in Tesarus, we don't know how."
"Is there another way?" Elita said. "Something that would at least slow them down."
"We could shut off the power. Rebooting the groundbridge shield will take several breems."
"Do that," Elita said. "And then get out of the building. We can't come help you—we're pinned down here. But if you abandon the building to the Decepticons, they probably won't pursue you."
"But…"
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Elita!" Chromia grabbed her arm. "Are you listening? We should go."
Elita hesitated. She didn't want to go yet—didn't want to cut in front of the soldiers who were flooding through the bridges.
"Commander Elita One," The chief of enforcement said grimly "I'm afraid we may be too late. Our systems have been taken over and we can't—" The comm. fizzled out.
No…
"Elita!" Chromia said.
She saw Ultra Magnus enter through the warehouse doors and nodded. She and her sisters went to join him.
"I've lost connection with enforcement," Accord said.
"We have to go through," Elita said out loud. "Now."
Ultra Magnus frowned, but nodded. He was limping heavily, and leaking from a long gash in his leg.
She led her sisters and Ultra Magnus to the front of the line and the soldiers there backed up to let them through.
With a bitter feeling in her tanks, she stepped through the groundbridge and led the way to the side of the room, where Red Alert was directing traffic.
A senator from the Nova Cronum Council was standing next to him.
"Welcome, Commander Elita One," he said. "We are glad to have you here."
She found she suddenly didn't like being called 'commander' but she brushed that thought off. "I can't thank you enough," she replied. "We're putting your city-state in danger just by being—"
There was a loud static sound and screaming, and then all the groundbridges disappeared.
Leaving more than half of the Autobot army behind.
Orion felt it over the bond when everything went wrong. Whatever was blocking their comms to Iacon had extended past the base and the nearby neighborhoods, so they couldn't help. They couldn't even find out what had happened.
He could feel Elita's despair, though, and could only imagine...
He wished he could do something, but he knew it was already too late. He had left Iacon, and because of it, he had lost Iacon.
At least he hadn't lost Elita. She didn't feel afraid anymore, just hopeless and guilty.
But he couldn't help wondering if they had lost the war.
Eventually, the Elite Guard led them down onto a secluded street along the side of a deep ravine. Captain Bulwark called a halt, and Orion stopped, grateful for the chance to rest.
"Orion," Prowl said. "I just got in touch with Mainspring. We can reach Iacon again."
Orion nodded and carefully set Jazz on the ground "Captain Bulwark, do any of your mecha have medical training?"
Bulwark hesitated a moment, then nodded. One of his mecha came over and knelt by Jazz, looking concerned.
Orion sat down against a wall, took in a deep vent, and commed Elita on an internal frequency so he could speak privately with her.
She answered immediately, but neither of them spoke for several astroseconds.
Orion broke the silence. "I'm so sorry," he said.
"I am too…"
"For what?"
"I… Red Alert was panicking so I led the battle. I… didn't retreat soon enough, and I left more than half of the army back in Iacon. We don't know if… they're dead or not, but either way Megatron won."
Orion's spark sank. "Are you all right, though?"
"Yes. We retreated to Nova Cronum before the Decepticons put up a groundbridge shield."
"The other commanders?"
"They all made it through." Elita said. "Ultra Magnus is injured, but not too badly. How about you? Are you all right? Is everyone who went with you all right?"
"We lost a few Elite Guardsmechs, but other than that, everyone's online." He glanced at Jazz. The Elite Guard looking him over had a sort of helpless expression on his faceplate.
Not a good sign.
"What happened?"
"It was a trap. The mech who led us there wasn't Jazz, he was that mechformer."
"What?" Elita said. "But… wait, does that mean the Decepticons have had Jazz this whole time?"
"Yes. But we found him," Orion said. "Well, he found us, really. He's not in very good shape, and he needs a medic as soon as possible, but… he was conscious less than a joor ago, so I think he'll make it."
"Okay," Elita said. "Apparently, there's a groundbridge shield over the whole of Kaon, so you'll have to get out of the city-state before we bring you here."
"All right."
"I'm so glad you're okay, though."
Orion vented a sigh. "You too… Elita?"
"Yes?"
"Have we lost the war?"
He felt her hopelessness over the bond. "Yes," she said. "I think we might have."
"This is my fault. I should have listened to you—you told me it was too dangerous, and I just…"
"Don't," Elita said. "What's done is done. Come here to Nova Cronum and we can figure out what to do next. All right?"
"All Right."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Silence fell, but neither of them ended the comm.
Orion looked at the Elite Guardsmech kneeling over Jazz. "Well?" he said.
"I don't know, Sir," the mech said. "His injuries are old enough they're not really leaking anymore, and there's not much I can do. We need a real medic. We could force feed him some energon, I suppose, but I'm not sure if that would do any good. It might be better just to let him stay in stasis until we can get him some better help."
Orion nodded. "Let him be, then. What about the seeker?"
"He seems all right," the mech said. "Probably didn't even really need us to carry him."
"All right!" Captain Bulwark announced, approaching Orion. "We've got to get to the outskirts of the city-state so the Autobots can bridge us to Nova Cronum. Take a few breems to rest and refuel and then we'll drive." He turned to Orion. "If that's all right."
"What about the injured?"
"Some of us have larger alt modes," Bulwark said. "We'll be able to carry this one. I don't know about..." he trailed off, looking past Orion, and Orion turned to see the seeker limping toward them dramatically.
"I'll be fine," the mech said. "I must go back and tell the others about Starscream's treachery, so I won't be going with you."
"Are you sure?" Orion said. "That seems dangerous."
"From what I've heard, going with you may not be much safer."
Orion nodded and got to his pedes. "Very well. Thank you."
"No, thank you for helping me escape the base, groundpounder," the seeker said, then turned and stepped off the edge of the street. Orion watched as he transformed, apparently unfazed by his injury, and flew away.
When the seeker was out of sight, Orion leaned against the wall.
What were they going to do about Iacon? Would they be able to take it back, or was it well and truly lost?
Prowl came over and stood by him, doorwings drooping as he stared dully down at Jazz.
"They left fifty-eight percent of the army in Iacon," the Praxian said.
Orion nodded.
"And of the rest, about ten percent are injured. And Megatron has Iacon and all of our other resources."
Orion looked over at him.
"I can't believe this."
"Is there anything we can do?" Orion asked.
Prowl frowned and didn't answer.
Orion shuttered his optics. "I'm sorry," he said. "We shouldn't have come on this mission."
"I should have known," Prowl said.
Silence.
"Should have known what?"
"He called me by my actual designation several times over the past few orns. That should have given it away, but I wasn't paying attention."
Right. Makeshift. "He fooled all of us," Orion said. "It's easier to see in hindsight."
"Jazz tried so hard to be friends with me, and I always just ignored him, like I ignore everyone. And then I actually believed he betrayed us for a few breems, despite everything he's done to prove his loyalty."
"Prowl?"
"I don't know," Prowl said. "I don't know what to do about the war or Megatron or anything. Maybe we've just lost. I don't want to believe that, but…"
"Let's get back to the others," Orion said. "And then we'll decide what to do."
Prowl took in a deep vent and let it out slowly. "All right."
"Ready?" Captain Bulwark said.
"Yes," Orion replied. "Let's go."
"Okay, mechs let's drive!" Captain Bulwark said.
Orion waited for the others to transform and helped strap Jazz to the mech with the largest vehicle mode. Then he transformed as well and drove between Ironhide and Prowl in the middle of the procession.
He spoke to Elita over the still open comm. channel.
"We're coming," he said. "I'll see you soon."
Megatron landed on the roof of the Council Hall. This building was going next, and once it was only rubble—once the dust had settled—he'd find something else to knock down. He was in that sort of mood.
The Iacon Hall of Records had yielded nothing. No secrets, no weapons, just a lot of useless datapads. Casurus had lied to him—no surprise there.
But at least he had the city. At least he had won the war. He had captured more than half of the Autobot forces. They had surrendered after they'd been abandoned by their commanders, so he hadn't killed them yet. If he was careful, he might be able to negotiate a deal in which the remaining Autobot commanders gave themselves up in return for their soldiers' release. They were just the sort of mecha who would fall for that trick.
Of course, Orion himself and that insufferable Praxian should be offline by now, and Blackangle should be in custody or dead as well. But he didn't know for certain yet.
As if summoned by his thoughts, a familiar seeker came streaking toward him.
Megatron narrowed his optics.
What was he doing here?
Starscream transformed and landed with a flourish. "Lord Megatron," he said, bowing.
"You're supposed to be in Kaon, guarding my fortress," Megatron growled. "Why are you here?"
Starscream took a step away from him, looking injured. "I wanted to deliver my report personally, Lord Megatron," he said. "I successfully apprehended the traitor, Blackangle, and his followers are all offline or imprisoned as well."
Megatron nodded. "Good work."
"Thank you, my liege," Starscream said.
"And Prowl and the Prime?"
Starscream hesitated.
"What?" Megatron demanded.
"Well…" Starscream said. "That's another reason I thought it best to come in person to explain things."
"You didn't let them escape did you?"
"I… they had help. That Autobot spy got loose and showed them the way out."
"Jazz escaped!" Megatron demanded. "How!?"
"It wasn't my fault! I think it was my brother, Thundercracker. He betrayed us and disappeared as well. He must have been helping them!" Starscream danced away as Megatron bore down on him.
"I told you not to let them escape!"
"I brought you this!" Starscream pulled something out of subspace. "I made sure they didn't take it on their way out."
Megatron snatched the Key to Vector Sigma from his hand. "You think I care about this piece of scrap metal? It means nothing to me! If you had time to go snooping around in my vaults for it, why didn't you have time to stop Pax from escaping!"
"My forces were otherwise occupied subduing Blackangle's followers," Starscream whined. "I couldn't stop them!"
Megatron realized what that meant, and the key he was holding bit into his hand as he restrained himself from tearing the seeker's helm off. "You mean to tell me?" he growled. "That you waited for the Prime to show up and then as soon as he was there you started the fight with Blackangle?"
"Well, yes," Starscream admitted.
"To make it easier for them to slip away while everyone was distracted, I suppose?"
"No! Of course not!"
"Then why?"
"I… well I didn't want Blackangle to take the credit for killing Prowl. Jazz said I…" he trailed off, frowning.
"What?" Megatron demanded.
"Nothing," Starscream said quickly. "I… I'll hunt them down for you. They can't have gone far. There's a groundbridge shield over Kaon, so they can't escape."
"I don't doubt you've already tried to find them," Megatron subspaced the Key to Vector Sigma. "Either way, you've failed me, Starscream." He held up his arm cannon.
"No!" Starscream said. "Please! How can I make it up to you, my liege? I'll do anything! Please! Where would you be without me?"
Megatron glared at him. "Well, I'd be a few steps closer to winning this war, for one thing!"
"What about Vos? I'm the one who made that possible. I can come up with more ideas like that! Please, my liege, you promised to give me Blackangle's position."
"You still think you're going to be my second in command?"
"I did as you asked!" Starscream said. "I wouldn't have lost the Autobots if it weren't for Thundercracker! I didn't expect him to betray me like that!"
"So it's his fault?" Megatron said.
"Yes! It's all his fault!"
"Fine then," Megatron lowered his arm cannon. "I'll give you one last chance to prove your loyalty, Starscream."
"Thank you, my liege!" Starscream said, "Thank you—"
"Kill him," Megatron growled. "Find your brother and kill him and bring me his helm. Then I'll give you Blackangle's position."
Starscream's optics widened.
"Those are my conditions," Megatron said. "Now get out of my sight before I change my mind about letting you live!"
Starscream hesitated, then nodded, faceplate hardening. "Your wish is my command, Lord Megatron."
Megatron watched him transform and fly away.
Then he turned away, hands clenched into fists.
Prowl had escaped again, and so had Orion.
But he told himself it didn't matter.
He still had the upper hand.
And if things did somehow go wrong, he knew one mech who never failed him.
Keepsake walked into the room and sat down shakily on the bench in front of the screen.
"…has been extensive damage to the cities larger structures, including the Hall of Records and the High Towers of Translucentica Heights. They've locked down the borders and no civilians have made it out of the central sector since the take-over. We don't yet have an estimate for the number of casualties, nor do we have any idea what Megatron plans to do with the city, but if the civilians do rise up against him, we can only assume there will be many deaths on both sides…"
"They took Iacon," Keepsake said quietly.
Cam nodded.
"…leaders of the Autobots, who have reportedly survived the attack and escaped the city, have made no statements about what their plans are now—whether to surrender or keep fighting…"
Keepsake got up again. "Turn that off," she said. "I'm going to go wake Blaster up for some energon."
"We need to know what…"
Breeze got up and turned off the screen. "You know you can't protect him by turning it off. He'll know anyway."
"Well, I don't want to watch anymore," Keepsake said.
"Maybe this is for the—" Cam said.
"Don't you dare say maybe it's for the best," Keepsake growled. "That gladiator is a monster, even if you don't believe he sank Vos. There are things we know he's done." She left the room. Cam was getting out of control. He didn't seem to understand that there wasn't a right or wrong side to this pointless, awful war. No matter who was right, both sides were killing good, honest, innocent mecha.
She opened the door to Blaster's room and froze.
It was empty. He and his symbiots were gone.
Maybe they'd just gotten up already, and she just hadn't noticed them... But the other two hadn't mentioned seeing him when she'd told them she was going to get him.
She could look—she would look. She'd scour the apartment and they'd search the nearby streets. But she had a sneaking suspicion that it would be no use. If Blaster didn't want them to find him, they'd never find him.
And he was probably long gone already—her second youngling headed to the war zone to fight for a losing cause.
Elita watched the last of the sun's light disappear. It was so unusual to see it set—she'd lived her whole life in Iacon where the sun skimmed the horizon all 40 joors of the orn. It was disorienting not to have it there—strange for the lights of the city to be the brightest thing she could see.
It was also far too dark. The stars were admittedly beautiful, but she didn't much care for the dark.
They had lost Iacon.
She had lost Iacon.
She might never get to go back home.
Chromia stuck her helm out the door. "They've made it out of Kaon. I assume you want to be there when we bridge them here."
Elita nodded and stepped inside. Chromia slung an arm around her shoulder and guided her through the groundbridge station. "Hey," she said as they went. "I'm proud of you, you know—for taking charge like that."
"I didn't do very well," Elita said with a sigh.
Chromia snorted. "You did great. You really think Red Alert could have done better?"
"Well… that's still not saying much."
"Would you just take the compliment and stop feeling guilty?" Chromia said. "No one could have won that fight."
They joined the circle of mecha around the dark groundbridge. The mech who owned the station had agreed to let Elita use it for a few orns, and had shut down normal traffic through it. He'd also found them a nearby building to use as a temporary base.
Elita looked around at the gathered mecha. Mainspring, Red Alert, Moonracer, Ultra Magnus… even Ratchet had left his work, and was standing off to the side, tapping his finger nervously on the small, mobile medical berth he'd brought.
The groundbridge operator from Nova Cronum looked to Ultra Magnus, who, in turn, met Elita's gaze. "We await your command," he said.
Right. She hadn't passed command back to Red Alert.
He hadn't asked for it, so she'd forgotten.
She took in a deep vent. "Bring them…" she caught herself before saying "home."
The groundbridge activated and Elita watched as the Elite Guard came pouring through. Then Ironhide and Prowl, followed by Orion carrying Jazz. More Elite Guardsmechs came after them. Ironhide went to stand by Chromia, but Orion walked over to Ratchet instead and set Jazz's limp frame on the berth. Ratchet scanned Jazz and then rushed him from the room without saying a word.
The Elite Guard finally finished coming through the bridge and the groundbridge operator shut it.
Elita took a step toward Orion, who was staring after Ratchet with a worried frown on his faceplate. But he turned to face her as she approached. There was a moment of hesitation and then he closed the distance between them and pulled her into a tight embrace, lifting her slightly off the ground.
For a moment, she worried about everyone watching, but then she let herself relax and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up higher so the top of her faceplate rested against his chin.
Moments passed. Elita wished she didn't have to let go.
But the war wasn't quite over yet.
"Megatron wants to talk to you," she murmured. "We put him off—told him you were busy and would talk to him when you were available."
They'd been worried the Decepticons would find Orion and the others before they reached the outskirts of Kaon, so they hadn't wanted to admit he wasn't back safe yet. Of course, Megatron had seen through that and simply told them to contact him when Orion arrived.
Orion set her down, and she backed away. She had to keep her distance for now.
They'd already shown more affection than was wise.
"Very well," Orion said. "I will speak with Megatron.
"If you want a few breems to prepare…"
Orion shook his helm. "The sooner we speak, the better I'm sure his mood will be."
"Come then." Elita led the way out of the groundbridge station. They were using a nearby park as a sort of temporary camp for their soldiers, and they had a small building from which they were running things. It wasn't as nice as Mirage's tower, and Red Alert had been having fits about the security since they'd arrived, but it was a roof over their helms, so she wasn't complaining.
They walked to the building, and Elita took them to the largest room, which was still much smaller than their meeting room in Mirage's tower.
It did have a projector that they could use, though. She went over to turn it on and connect it to the building's comm. hub.
"So," Prowl said. "How are we doing this?"
"Let me talk," Orion said. "I'm sure he'll want us to surrender…"
"We can't surrender," Ironhide said firmly. "Besides, it won't stop him from killing anyone."
Orion looked down. "Prowl, have you thought of any way to launch a counter-attack?"
Prowl shook his helm "Not with our forces," he said. "If we had our whole army, we could do it. But our current resources aren't enough."
"Are you ready?" Elita asked.
"Yes."
She nodded, and sent a message to let Megatron know that Orion was ready to speak to him.
A few astroseconds later, Soundwave answered, and Elita ran the visual feed he sent through the projector.
She recognized the room Megatron was in as a building in the Iacon Academy. Interesting that he'd chosen to set up there instead of the Council Hall.
But then again, he never left Council Halls standing in the cities he conquered.
Orion spoke first. "Megatronus," he said softly. "You wanted to talk to me."
"You may call me that," Megatron said. "But it won't bring back the past."
Orion took in a deep vent and let it out slowly.
"Your cause is lost," Megatron continued. "You, yourself, may have escaped from Kaon, but you have no hope of winning without your army. It would be in everyone's best interest for you to surrender."
"That may be where we disagree," Orion said.
"Then let me persuade you," Megatron backed away from the screen and looked to the side. A mech wearing an Autobot insignia was dragged on screen by a couple of Decepticon guards. He was missing an arm, and leaking from numerous wounds.
Elita realized where this was going, and looked away, reminded suddenly of the disastrous trip to Vos.
"I have thousands of Autobot prisoners," Megatron said.
"Don't—"
Orion's voice was cut off by the sound of Megatron's arm cannon firing.
She felt her sparkmate watch as the Autobot soldier offlined.
"Every ten breems, one of them will die," Megatron said casually. "Until I get what I want. I think that's fair. Gives you plenty of time to consider. Orns, even, if you're feeling indecisive."
"That was unnecessary," Orion's voice shook. "You… don't need to kill anyone. I was willing to negotiate without—"
"But I'm not willing to negotiate," Megatron said. "And I'm in the position of power here. There is only one way to make the executions stop, Pax."
Silence fell in the room. Elita didn't dare vent.
"Come to Iacon," Megatron said. "Turn yourself in. I'll need Prowl, as well. When the two of you are here, I'll let the remainder of your soldiers go, unharmed."
Well, that was about what they'd expected. Elita crossed her arms nervously, and looked at Orion, who'd gone frighteningly calm.
"That is the only trade you'll accept?"
"Correct," Megatron said.
"How can I know you'll keep your word?"
Megatron smirked. "I think you know the answer to that. But it really doesn't matter. The longer you wait, the more you'll lose. You can take a chance and trust me, or you can let all of your soldiers offline one by one. Know only that if you attack me or stage some sort of foolish rescue attempt, I will kill every single one of them. Agreeing to my terms is your best bet for saving them."
Orion looked down.
"I'll be available to speak again once you've made a decision," Megatron said.
The screen went blank.
Orion shuttered his optics.
"Great," Moonracer said. "Now what?"
"You can't turn yourself in," Ironhide said. "Orion?"
"Maybe we can rescue them," Chromia said. "I mean, it's not like he can make good on his threats if they've already escaped."
"We need to find out where they're being kept, in that case," Mainspring said.
"I doubt we'll have a good opportunity," Prowl said. "We could potentially rescue them, but not without a fight. We'd lose a lot of mecha."
"You're not seriously suggesting we do as Megatron asks."
"Orion?" Ironhide said again, this time with a warning tone in his voice.
He stood. He needed to think.
"Orion, where are you going?"
"Please," he said, and the room quieted. "I need a few breems."
In a few breems, Megatron would kill another one of his soldiers.
He walked around the table and left the room, then realized he didn't know where anything was in this building—didn't have an office or a room or anywhere to go.
Fortunately, Elita followed him. "Come on," she said, and led him to a small room with a desk and several chairs. The desk was cluttered with various knick-knacks and empty energon cubes—a reminder that someone else worked here and they were simply borrowing the space.
He sat down at the desk. "Thank you. You can—"
"I'm not letting you out of my sight," Elita said.
Orion sighed, and looked down at his hands.
He wasn't sure what to do. Giving himself up didn't feel like the right decision. But he wasn't sure what else to try. If he moved against Megatron, he risked the lives of his soldiers.
Of course the rest of them would argue, but… wasn't this his decision?
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Elita standing next to him. There was a resigned look in her optics.
"If you go, I'm going with you," she said. "You know that, right? Our bond is strong enough it'll probably kill me if you die."
He'd forgotten that.
"Don't be so horrified," Elita said. "Megatron will kill someone every ten breems. Thousands of mecha have offlined in this war already. I know you think every life matters equally, so you can't say more important than any of them."
All life was precious. Elita's life, Orion's, the lives of the Autobot and Decepticon soldiers.
That didn't help him make a decision. If he gave himself up, Megatron would most likely take over the world and many would die because of it. But would fighting lead to even more death? How could he know which road would lead to the least suffering in the long run?
And what if that road required him to let mecha offline now when he could save them?
Many mecha throughout history had committed atrocities in the name of the greater good.
"Orion?"
He glanced behind himself to see Prowl standing in the doorway.
"A word?"
Orion nodded, and the Praxian came in and shut the door.
Prowl took in a deep vent. "We can free Iacon," he said. "There is a way."
Orion could feel Elita's hope, but the grim tone of Prowl's voice didn't seem very encouraging to him.
"If Megatron released the rest of our army, then we could expel the Decepticons from Iacon, especially if we get some support from the civilians in the city-state."
Elita frowned thoughtfully. "But you'd have to turn yourself in, and then you wouldn't be able to direct the battle."
"I could lay out plans for my department to follow. They did better than I expected when Megatron attacked Iacon. If it weren't for Soundwave's trick with the groundbridge shield generator, you would have all retreated safely."
"But if Megatron has you and Orion, he'll use you against us."
"You'll have to ignore that," Prowl said. "I said it was a plan to reclaim Iacon, not a plan to save everyone."
Orion glanced up. "You think we should turn ourselves in?"
"It really is the best way to get our soldiers back," Prowl said.
"But can we trust Megatron to release them?"
"Of course not," Prowl said. "He'll trust your word, though, so if you insist he releases them before you turn yourself in, then he'll probably do it."
Orion frowned.
"It wouldn't help much in the long run," Prowl said. "Because, while Megatron might keep you alive long enough for someone to rescue you, he'll probably kill me on sight. But we'd get Iacon back."
Orion shook his helm.
"Of course," Prowl said. "Once Megatron has released the rest of the army, we could just go back on our promise and not turn ourselves in, but he'd certainly seek retribution for that, possibly by slaughtering Iaconian civilians."
"I couldn't go back on that kind of an agreement anyway," Orion said.
"I figured you'd feel that way," Prowl sighed. "So… what do you think we should do?"
Orion considered for a few breems. "How could we save the most lives?" he asked.
"In the short run?" Prowl said. "Definitely surrendering, provided we force Megatron to set our soldiers free before we turn ourselves in. In the long run… I have no idea."
He talked about turning themselves in so casually… it would mean almost certain death, especially for him.
"It feels wrong to just give up," Prowl said. "Or… maybe I'm just a coward and don't want to sacrifice myself. But for now, that's the best way to save our soldiers. After Megatron takes over the world, he might hunt them down, of course, but there's not much we could do about that."
It did feel wrong to give up.
On the other hand…
"Or I suppose we could attack him," Prowl said. "It would be suicide, but at least we could say we went down fighting."
Orion studied the clutter on the desk.
"In the end, it's up to you," Prowl continued. "I'll go along with whatever you decide. I know everyone else will try to talk you out of turning yourself in, but… if that's what you think is best, I'll go with you."
He shuttered his optics. If he asked, Prowl would hand himself over to Megatron.
Elita would probably insist on going with him as well.
It wouldn't just be his life he was sacrificing.
How could he make this choice?
In a few breems, Megatron would offline another one of his soldiers.
"We were going to lose eventually. As I've said before, we can only keep up our current strategies so long before the ratio of our forces to Megatron's is skewed enough that it's impossible for us to win."
Orion could turn himself in. He didn't want to die, but if it was the best choice, he would do it.
Would that be the best choice, though? He was the Prime, after all. He didn't think Primus had chosen him so he could give up and hand himself over to Megatron. Wasn't there more he needed to do first?
"I don't like giving up," Elita said. "And I don't think turning yourselves in will stop the war, or the killing."
"But if we attack him and lose, that won't stop the killing either," Prowl said. "This would at least give our mecha a chance to go into hiding."
Orion didn't know what to do. He needed someone older and wiser to advise him—Alpha Trion, Yoketron, anyone. Alpha Trion was probably unreachable thanks to the comm block over Iacon. And Yoketron…
No.
Orion was on his own.
Or…
Was he?
"There has to be something," Elita said.
"If we have to, we'll turn ourselves in," Orion looked up
They stared at him.
"But before we make a final decision about that, there's something I must do."