It was what they had trained for. It was what they had been selected for.
Two hybrid technology ships called 'Ghosts' launched from Arctic and Yuma, followed by an Autobot shuttle -- that had truly seen better days but was needed -- from Australia. The Ghosts were manned by humans, all in Stark Industries armor, all prepared for the worst. In the Ghost-3 a tiny mechanoid life form stared through the view screen, red optics on space as it streaked past. No one had been able to convince WiFi to stay home for this one, least of all his chosen human, the commander of the Ghost-3, Major Mike Bowman. Jazz sat in the cargo hold, armed and ready, logged into the ship's sensors to keep track of what was happening as they closed in. He linked up to the ship's systems, able to see everything the Ghost-3 did, able to interfere should the human pilot's reaction be too slow. Barricade was with him, tense and ready.
While Ironhide had argued he should be there, too, Prime had decided that only those who could easily fit into the cargo holds should be aboard. That meant the smallest of the mechs on Earth. While the Ghost-3 had been able to shuttle the Constructicons back and forth, three at a time maximum, they had always been in their alternate modes. The Ghost-3's cargo hold was only large enough to accommodate a mechanoid the size of Jazz or Bumblebee in bipedal mode. Ironhide was too tall.
Aboard the Autobot shuttle, Sideswipe, Prowl and Jolt silently and efficiently steered the banged-up craft toward the edge of the solar system at high speed, closely followed by the humans' ships. Blades had insisted on coming along. He had adjusted his transformation to a Cybertronian fighter jet.
For some strange reason they encountered no resistance, no traps. Prowl frowned.
"Something's wrong," he muttered. "This is too easy."
Sideswipe nodded, concentrating on the radar as Jolt flew. Neither of the two Ghosts picked up anything either.
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"Soundwave, we've got incoming."
The tall Decepticon received the data, but he ignored it.
"Proceed with the operation," he ordered.
"What about the Autobots?"
"They are too late to stop the process."
And they were. As fast as the two ships closed in, there was no way they would be able to stop him.
Soundwave looked at the Seeker. "Stop them from interfering."
Skywarp nodded and launched himself back into space.
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-- Retrieval in progress --
-- Receiving --
........
-- Receiving --
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-- Receiving --
........
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"Target in sight," Jolt reported.
"Shields on maximum! Ready forward assault guns!"
"Forward guns ready!"
Prowl looked at the target area and nodded. "Any signs of discovery?"
"Nope. They are completely oblivious to our presence. The camouflage is working."
"The moment we fire the guns, we'll be revealed," Sideswipe commented.
"We'll only need to get close. The Ghosts are keeping the Cons' attention and we can sneak closer," Prowl replied. "It's all we need. One or two well-placed shots to destroy the array."
"Target in range in one minute," Jolt announced. "Guns up on full. We're ready."
"Drop camouflage on my command!" Prowl watched the target come closer. "Now!"
The ship dropped the cloaking shields the Constructicons had developed. They were sucking up power, a fact Hook and Mixmaster had been very unhappy about, but there had been no time to come up with a slimmer version. Hook was still designing new models, but this had been the only working one.
"We are on their radar," Jolt announced.
Due to the power-guzzling shields they only had a small window of opportunity to shoot at the power arrays in front of them and Prowl was using that time. He gave it all they had, but the Seekers were faster. Their missiles intercepted the ones launched at the array, destroying them.
"And on their targeting mechanisms!" Sideswipe added. "Incoming!"
"Evasive maneuvers. Now!"
Jolt acknowledged and hit the thrusters on full, throwing the ship around and trying to get them out of the immediate line of fire.
"They are quick," Jolt growled in disgust and unwilling admiration as three Seekers came at them.
The Spook made a run for it.
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Barricade had expected a fight and his expectations were met. He wasn't a flyer, but he was highly adjustable to situations, as all warriors had to be. Like the others he had shed his Earth alternate mode and gone for his Cybertronian guise. It was all that was needed to turn the Seekers now heading for them into scrap metal.
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Jazz smiled briefly as his spark-bonded hefted his weapon, took aim, and clipped the first Decepticon jet coming at them. Then he chose his own target and started to decimate the enemy while evading counter fire.
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Blades shot through space, two Seekers hot on his aft. He led them into the asteroid field, dodging smaller rocks and shooting over frozen landscapes. One Seeker nearly collided with a tiny debris field as Blades sent several flares at him, but the other got in too close. The Autobot transformed and engaged him in an up-close and personal fight.
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Sideswipe launched himself from the Spook and joined the battle, blades gleaming and looking for Decepticon targets.
He grinned darkly as he discovered the five Predacons among the defenders.
Time for a little payback.
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Bowman flew the Ghost-3 through enemy fire like she was a small F-22, not a seriously big ship that easily hauled three large mechs from Earth to the Ark. Her maneuverability was excellent and he would have to thank the Constructicons for designing this beauty. His job was to fly, the rest of the team took care of weapons and communication. WiFi had plugged himself into the system and busily kept track of whoever was out there, enemy or allies.
At his side, like a smaller shadow, Walker handled the Ghost-2. She packed the same power as her younger sister, but she hadn't been built by Cybertronians. Her hybrid technology gave her another edge, one Walker used perfectly, because her weapons were based on Sabot rounds, and they stung. They could kill, too.
Both Ghosts kept out of the middle of the battle, had the mechs' backs.
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"They're keeping us busy," Prowl muttered, fingers flying over the controls.
None of the Seekers seriously tried to engage them, just stalled their approach toward the space bridge. Even the Predacons were only toying again, not interested in moving too close to the enemy or too far away from the space bridge.
"Yeah, and the fraggers are good at it," Sideswipe growled over the comm lines, slicing at one of the Decepticons in question with his blades. "One step forward, two steps back."
The Ghosts as well as the Spook had taken light damage. The Autobots outside and fighting one-on-one were roughed up and singed, but still in fighting shape.
One of the Seekers suddenly got too close to Sideswipe as he evaded the Ghost-2 coming for him, and the silver mech didn't hesitate to push his blade through the jet's chest.
"You lose," Sideswipe called and launched himself through the opening in the enemy lines, heading for the space bridge array.
"Cover him!" Prowl ordered.
"On it," Blades responded.
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Bowman was alerted to the sudden change first by WiFi's shrill cry of alarm, then by his crew.
"Shit, what the fuck is that?" Micky Kornman exclaimed.
The weapons system engineer was staring at the readings he had from outside, shaking his head as he typed on his keyboard.
WiFi warbled anxiously.
Bowman got the gist of it through a rather dyslexic looking email projected into a corner of his helmet's visor. As much as WiFi had gotten better with communication, when he was excited even emails tended to be a garbled mess.
"Prowl?" the Major contacted the Autobot aboard the Spook.
"We're getting the same readings," was the clipped reply. "They fired up the array. We can't stop them!"
Well, shit, Bowman thought.
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Space was rippling; positively folding into itself. Light was distorted, the planets seemed to blur, and then there was a pulse. Light and sound in a cold vacuum.
The shuttle, tiny compared to the space bridge, was rocked by the waves the pulse created. The mechs outside, ready to engage the enemy Seekers, were caught in the blast. Blades was hurled away from the enemy and just about managed to stabilize himself, before Sideswipe crashed into him. Both mechs desperately tried to keep themselves from spinning off out of control.
Jazz was farther away, but he cringed in pain, briefly stunned. Someone grabbed him around the waist and hauled him away. He looked into slightly murky red optics.
::What's happening?:: he managed over their personal connection.
::I don't know:: Barricade answered, still holding him close and Jazz wasn't inclined to let go either.
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-- Danger! Losing pattern --
-- Energon levels dropping --
-- Unknown factor! Danger! Losing pattern --
-- Shutting down --
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"What the Pits is going on?!" Sideswipe yelled over the comm.
Only static answered him.
The humming increased again.
By now it was drowning out all other noises and all of a sudden there was an explosion of multi-colored light. Sideswipe, his optics narrowed in the glare, witnessed as a brilliant light, like a tiny sun, appeared inside the ring array. The crystals of each dish lit up and the hum was felt through every molecule of metal.
Blades cringed and gave a whimper of discomfort.
"Fall back!" Jazz's voice ordered sharply. "Back, back, back!!"
Sideswipe reacted automatically to the powerful command, as did Blades.
It had been a stupid move on his part to try and get closer to the structure. Suddenly the light exploded outwards, vanishing abruptly. For a second, there was stark silence, then something rushed towards him like a large tidal wave. From his position Sideswipe saw something funneling away from the rings, reaching towards him. Just as it looked like it was going to touch the shocked Autobot, the bubbling and sizzling funnel collapsed back the way it had come from.
Space…ripped. It tore apart like thin paper and in the middle of the space bridge something started to shimmer into existence.
The Decepticons had stopped fighting by now. Everyone was staring at the spectacle.
First nothing happened, then a screech ripped through their audios. To Sideswipe it sounded like a dying animal, dying in great pain. And apparently that hadn't been part of the plan because the Seekers scattered in panic. Out of the corner of his optics he saw a familiar figure and he felt an even more familiar hatred rise.
Soundwave!
Ignoring everything, listening only to the rage, he launched himself toward the hated Decepticon commander. Blasting at the symbiotes surrounding the enemy, he closed in on his prey.
A red visor band met his fiery blue optics.
"Ravage, Buzzsaw, Rumble, engage," was the monotonous command.
Sideswipe grinned nastily. Those three wouldn't be able to stop him!
A flash of light blinded him. It was as if space was suddenly nothing but intense whiteness and he yelled in pain as his processor was unable to handle the input. Something slammed into him. Sideswipe reacted on automatic and grabbed for his attacker, but he only caught a slender tail, which slipped through his fingers.
And then there was a resounding boom.
At least it sounded like a boom, despite the fact that no sound traveled in space. It was as if the noise bridged that soundless gap and drove itself right into the mech's processors.
For a full second his spark seemed to go into arrest, his whole body was frozen, mouth open in shock. His optics briefly went dark and he collapsed.
When he was able to process a thought once more, only seconds had passed. Fingers digging into frozen rock and he wondered how he had come to end up on a piece of asteroid, but his memory banks were a blank. The silver mech pushed himself up on shaky legs, unable to comprehend what had happened.
Communications came back to life with a screech and he dialed down the intensity, but all that was forgotten when his optics caught sight of what lay before him.
"Impossible…" he managed.
tbc...