Reckoning

Chapter 4—Innominate

Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers. They officially belong to Hasbro and Takara. I'm taking them for a short spin.

Knights Temenos, somewhere in Earth orbit

Kup sat in the captain's chair in the command center of the ship he once called home. Damn thing was in terrible shape. Fragging damn truth was so was he.

He finally had a few moments to himself, and he was finally coming to grips with the fact several of his oldest and dearest friends were gone. Ratchet and Ironhide deserved better. At least Jazz had died in battle. Data he wasn't supposed to know yet, but Prowl forwarded it to him over an old, unused frequency. Encrypted, of course. Magnus was keeping a lid on it until he had everyone together, and could tell them as a group.

Prowl also passed along even more interesting data regarding Sentinel Prime, information Ultra Magnus hadn't even bothered going through yet. Kup just hoped he was there when Magnus finally went over all the data. Finding out his sire had survived, only to be lost again was going to break Magnus' spark.

His, too, if he kept thinking about it, and the others. But he wasn't alone with his thoughts, as Hot Rod managed sneaking in without his notice.

"Don't get all maudlin on me, old-timer," Hot Rod said, punching him in the shoulder. "I could feel your energy field down the corridor. You're brodcasting."

"I'm not getting maudlin, lad," Kup said.

"Could've fooled me," Hot Rod said, taking the command chair as the ancient mech vacated it for him.

"Just thinking about 'Hide and the others is all," Kup said.

"Maudlin," Hot Rod said. "Seriously, though, I am sorry. I wish I could've met him, and Ratchet and the rest."

"Hopefully you'll get to meet Optimus, even if I have to steal a shuttle and bring him back myself," Kup said.

"I'll go with you," Hot Rod said.

Kup snorted. Of course Hot Rod would.

"What?" Hot Rod said.

"Nothing, lad," Kup said. "Have any good news to report?"

"Well, Blurr and Sunstreaker killed three more steeljaws, Perceptor got part of the med bay working and Elita's considering what we should do with what remains of the, uh, cargo," Hot Rod said.

Kup exvented. The prisoners left alive were a problem no one had managed to think about much, besides the few Cybertronians they found. Barricade, Thundercracker and Skywarp were grateful to be alive, and Smokescreen asked for a weapon the instant they found him. Red Alert was still in no shape to fight.

"Any word on engine status?"

"Still a mess," Hot Rod said.

"Of course," Kup said. "Anything else to add?"

"Nope," Hot Rod said.

Kup gave the younger mech a glance, and a holoscreen popped up, and he turned away, listening as Hot Rod argued with Perceptor. The flame-colored youngster was, Kup considered, the biggest indiscretion of his life. Biggest, not worst. A regret of sorts, his burden to bear. His choice all those vorns ago. Chromia still had issues with it, but wasn't any of her damn business then or now. Probably "worst" on someone's list, like Chromia, but she didn't have all the necessary intel. She wouldn't. Ever.

And Hot Rod pulled him back to the present. The kid was getting good at keeping him focused. He'd have time to grieve later.

"I still can't believe this is the Knight ship," Hot Rod said.

"Better believe it, lad," Kup said. "Remember your history—Sentinel Prime used this ship for his expedition."

The door to the command center spiraled open, and Kup continued as Springer sat down at one of the terminals. "This ship was beautiful then, not corrupted like it is now. And the weapons it carries, according to legend, were forged by Solus Prime."

"Not that stuff again," Springer retorted. "All you're doing is putting ideas in Rodi's head, ideas that are gonna get him killed."

"Hey," Hot Rod said in protest, field flaring in annoyance.

Springer stood, grabbing Kup by his arm, dragging him from the command center and down the corridor. Kup tried twisting away, but the bigger mech held on tight.

"Whatever you're keeping from us, you better have a good reason," Springer said. "You've been on edge since the ship accepted Rodi."

Springer wasn't stupid. Not a cerebral mech, but he had his sire's pragmatic streak and Kup's own common sense. And he knew his history. A sire who was bodyguard to the current Prime, and a carrier who had served the Primes and Lord High Protector since the last Quintesson war. Springer wasn't a history buff like his carrier and younger sib, but he knew the significance of the moment none of them was talking about—Hot Rod being accepted by the ship.

The ship, which was the flagship of the legendary Knights of Cybertron. The knights left the planet before the war ever started, all because their leader, Dai Atlas, had a falling out with Sentinel Prime. Kup had served the Knights, though he was never chosen as one of their number.

Once the protectors of the Prime, the Knights were founded on the tenets of the Covenant of Primus. The last two Primes had been chosen from their ranks.

"You weren't too surprised when the damn thing accepted him," Springer said. "Why?"

"Kid's always had potential," Kup said. "Plus he was in need. Maybe that's all it was."

"Yeah," Springer said.

"You're not jealous, are you?" Kup asked.

Springer frowned, shoving Kup away.

"Hardly," he spat. "Rodi has a shiny new weapon, and job nobody else wants. My problem is the fact this damn ship is falling apart, the AI controlling it is fragging insane and the squishees on the planet beneath us want us dead."

Kup stepped back as Springer's field lashed out in anger and frustration, washing over him. The younger mech's optics flared white with his emotion.

"That's not all, is it, Springer?" Kup said.

Springer frowned, turning to walk away, but the smaller mech put a hand on his shoulder, spinning him around.

"If it's about Ironhide. . ."

"I barely remember him," Springer said. "He was my sire, and I'm sorry he's gone, but we've got work to do. Perceptor was going through the manifest, and he thinks he found a corridor that was sealed off. He was going to search for it by himself, and I have orders from Elita to go looking for him. You're coming with me."

Springer did walk off then, and Kup watched him for a few moments. His older creation was not taking well the stress of his current assignment, or the news about his sire. But Springer was right. There would be time to grieve later.

88888

Autobot Omega Sentinel Class heavy cruiser Eclipse, 0730 local time

Ultra Magnus took the comm from the Knight ship in his hab suite. Wheeljack was already in the lab, and Primus, it was about time the strike team checked in. Magnus stifled a groan as a holoscreen rezzed up, and Sunstreaker appeared.

"We have a problem." Sunstreaker said.

"We" translated into him. His problem, unless it was a collective problem for the crew related to the antics and/or actions of a shortlist of mechs currently not on the Eclipse.

"Is anyone hurt? If so, how bad. . ." Magnus asked.

"Nobody's hurt," Sunstreaker said. "Maybe an ego or two, but not mine, so that's something. . ."

"Sunstreaker, what is going on?" Magnus asked. "Can you focus?"

"Elita said you needed to know, but she wanted to wait to fill you in, so this is us filling you in," Sunstreaker said. "And this is the good news. The ship recognized Hot Rod."

"WHAT?" Magnus snapped.

"Yeah. That's what I thought, too, but anyway, it's not so bad. Hardly a problem, really. The weapon he's got now's come in pretty handy," Sunstreaker said. "Never thought something as archaic as an energy bow would be so powerful or useful. Anyway, that's done, so on to the really important stuff. Like the ship. It's gonna take us a few days longer than anticipated to limp our way back. Percy and Brainstorm are working hard to get the engines up to something faster than a crawl. We just need one jump, and nav and comms are actually working, so that's one positive I can report."

"Is there anyone else I can talk to?" Magnus asked.

"Nope," Sunstreaker said. "Everybody else is busy."
"With what?"

"One of two huge problems we're dealing with at the moment, and I've gotta go," he said, ending the conversation.