Author's Note: Here's something new and different: A chapter that remains in one location the entire time! Also, due to name usage in the movie, as well as one toy, I have substituted names for certain characters here.

Reunions - Part Six

Bluestreak found a supply room with an energy feed that was still active. Despite a feeble protest, he left Thundercracker hooked up to it and went to find the bridge of the ship. If the communication link to Earth still worked he could try to get a message to Prime that he was there, and in trouble. Neither he nor the wounded Thundercracker would be able to make planetfall on their own.

It was twenty minutes later when he realized he was going in circles. He started trying doors, hoping to find more live energy as well as leaving open doors as trail markers. Ironically, there was a station just outside the door of the bridge. He sank down to the floor with the dual-wire connection trailing out of the side of his chest. He'd had plenty of nightmares in his time, but this was one of the situations that unnerved him the most: knowing hope was just a step away, but being too trapped to take that step. Right now, it was his damaged spark that kept him from being physically able to move the necessary step. His ventilation systems were still glitching, causing him to gasp occasionally as layers of cables and housing shifted unevenly.

He wanted to just shut down for a couple of hours and tackle the problem with a rested processor and settled functions, but he didn't know if there was time. The sooner he contacted Prime, the sooner the earth bots could devise a way to get the two of them planetside.

He checked his chronometer. Thundercracker had been recharging for thirty minutes. If it worked he would be able to unhook himself from the feed. Bluestreak felt his own systems begin to even out, his intakes falling into a calmer rhythm. Yet with the internal warnings flickering around his processor now disappearing one by one, the data they had drowned out came rushing back to him. He buried his face in his hands until he could file it all away. But the input from his last battle kept finding new details to stream and would trigger the already filed data all over again. It was like a virus running rampant through his CPU.

An hour after he had left Thundercracker he felt someone tapping at his arm. He lifted his head, unable to recall how he had ended up prone on the floor. The feed cable had automatically disconnected itself and had withdrawn back into the wall. Thundercracker was peering down at him with dimmed red optics. Bluestreak pushed himself up on one elbow and noticed the pained look on the blue and gray mech's face. "Did you get a one hundred percent charge?"

"No," Thundercracker rumbled. "You were gone so long that I disconnected to find you. You were in a pseudo-offline state, here. Are you functional?"

"I am not certain." Bluestreak moved up to his knees and leaned on the wall in order to stand. He looked down at the aerial mech who would normally be towering over him, but Thundercracker was hunched from his wounds and lacked a large amount of armor that previously had lent to his intimidating size. The twist to the plates of his face warned that he was by no means defeated, just temporarily crippled.

"Let us proceed with contacting your allies. I do not like this ship." Thundercracker hobbled toward the bridge door.

"You might be receiving that sensation because it does not like you. It might still be reading you as a Decepticon. I can check the parameters once we have gained access to the mainframe."

Thundercracker turned to look back at him. "What the ship thinks of me is of no concern. I do not like ships. I can fly fine on my own."

Bluestreak caught up to him and they approached the door side by side. "At least it provided shelter when we were in need of it. It is better than trying to make refuge on that class zero-zero-one-zero planetoid outside." He triggered the door and walked in, dismayed to see the bridge empty.

"No atmosphere, no sky." Thundercracker sneered at the nearest view port affording a view of the moon.

Bluestreak scanned the floor and seating areas in hopes of finding evidence that someone had been there recently. There were heat traces by the communications console but they had almost faded away. Someone had been there. He sighed, finally giving up on finding that someone was currently there. He sat down at the console and triggered its power up mode.

Thundercracker lurched around to each station, making his own inspections. He grasped the back of one chair and crushed it in one claw-like, six-fingered hand. "Inferior design."

Bluestreak startled at the sound, accidentally hitting a button that set off an error alarm. Thundercracker looked over at him disapprovingly, but the Autobot was too busy overriding the alert to notice. Once it stopped he brought up the outgoing messages log. The frequency to contact Autobase One had been saved to come up automatically with a single confirmation. Relieved to have saved even just a few steps, Bluestreak tapped the on screen confirmation button and waited for it to connect.

The power on the bridge dipped, disrupting the connection. Bluestreak slammed a fist down. Thundercracker glanced around as the lights dimmed then flickered out. "I should have predicted this." He sighed and went around looking out of the view ports. "Nothing from outside of this section. How long will it take to search the ship without the security cameras?"

"Hours that we do not have." Bluestreak stared at the emergency light over the bridge door, silently willing it to go out so the regular power saver lights would go back on.

"Standing here will do no good. Let us at least check the airlock we came in through. Perhaps you did not reseal it correctly."

Bluestreak realized that he did not remember resetting the code. "If I did not, then it was because I was more concerned with getting both of us inside."

Thundercracker eyed him, his tone empty as he said, "You could have left me adrift."

The Autobot did not respond as he walked to the door. "Stay here. I will check the airlock."

"No." The wounded mech lurched to follow him. "Someone should watch your back."

Bluestreak turned toward him and put a hand on Thundercracker's pitted chest plating, pushing him back a step. "Stay here. The communication signal could come back up and it would be better if someone was here to relay our distress call."

Thundercracker ejected air from his upper vents in an irritated manner, as if to indicate he was keeping his temper in check. "Then perhaps you should stay and I could check the airlock." He gestured to the comms console. "If they see or hear me, they will panic."

"Not if the code I sent goes through. They will see that an Autobot and a Neutral are hailing them." Bluestreak forced him back another step. "Aside from that, I have the knowledge to fix errors if something went wrong with the airlock."

Thundercracker glared at him a moment longer, pushing Bluestreak's hand away from him before turning toward the console. "Very well. But when I see you float past a view port if you are drawn outside, you will have to find your own way back in."

Bluestreak smirked. "That has a low probability of occurring."

"I have witnessed it."

Bluestreak kept to himself the question of if anyone had let the unfortunate mech back in. He gave a stern nod, then pushed the door open manually. He switched his optics to night vision mode as he entered the hallway. Thundercracker snorted and moved to stand over the comms console, watching it do absolutely nothing.

As he walked down the corridors, Bluestreak rubbed at the plating above his optics, letting out a heavy exhalation through his olfactory sensor. If the power had only held out a few nanoseconds more... He wasn't sure where to set the boundaries of the string of events that had put him in his current situation, but it was surely the most difficult timespan of his life.

Auditory receptors tuned to high, he scanned the still-open doorways, picking up occasional heat traces on the frames, likely where Thundercracker had leaned as he looked for the Autobot. Bluestreak checked each "marked" room and found nothing out of place. The same held for every room on the way to the airlock. With the power out, all he could do was check the manual mechanics. They were all in the correct place given that the electrical code had been input properly beforehand. He glanced at the light above the inner door, again trying to will the power saver light back on. It remained dull orange. He turned away from the airlock and began scanning the hallway to his left. Perhaps if he could find the generator room he might be able to get the power back on. He set off in that direction, deciding to comm Thundercracker if it took more than twenty minutes.

However, five minutes later the lights flicked on to power saver mode. A minute and a half later, they went down again -- and so did half of Bluestreak's systems. Many of the errors cleared up almost immediately but a few remained -- most inconveniently, his night vision option stayed down. He cursed quietly and switched to the regular light spectrum. Small panels atop his head shifted to extend a set of lights. When he turned them on he jerked backward. At first he thought he was seeing a hallway that had been damaged, which would explain the power fluctuations, but as he raised his head to see how badly damaged the ceiling was, his gaze traveled upward...and upward...and upward until he was looking at a smoke-filled sky. The hallway walls were the sides of buildings, the doorways open alleys. He ran a diagnostic but it came back insisting that what he was seeing was real. He could smell the smoke and burning oil, hear the aerospace fighters in the distance as they cut through the air, hear the shouting of the residents as the city came down around them.

He tried to reject the input. It was not possible. He had come to the Ark after receiving a general message and coordinates from Optimus Prime. Even though it had been a round about route and fraught with troubles, he knew he had reached the Ark. There was no possible way he had returned to Cybertron...to watch the fires and destruction all over again...

He glanced toward the nearest alleyway and edged toward it. The street at the other end seemed to be fine so he headed for it. When he looked out, however, the building straight ahead was the only one intact. To either side of him was fiery destruction. He heard the sounds of the aerial fighters again. Metal clattered around him, then he took aim at the sky -- and he startled, looking over his right arm and the connecting tubes from his back. He had not voluntarily formed up his weapon system. But when the first flier came in view he took aim again. The sound of an electricity rifle going off came so much louder than all the other noises.

Somewhere in the bottom of Bluestreak's processor he knew it was an illusion. The problem was discerning the external source before the images overrode his logic circuits. He kept close to the wall as he moved to the right, peering around for clues. He figured his internal scanners would do little good. He was proven correct when a missile slammed into the ground beside him. He darted a glance along the missile's path, but no one stood where the firing point would have been. Another missile thudded into the ground to his left, spraying him with shrapnel.

Bluestreak stepped toward the street as machine gun fire came close to his left side. He began to turn in a circle, trying to see who was shooting the projectiles. Large panels started to clatter to the street, some landing with wet clangs from being partially melted. He had to dodge to avoid being hit, and put his arms over his head as he broke into a run. The city...the city was being razed. There was no way anyone could survive. Yet, he had...

He tried to shake himself again. I am on the Ark, I am on the Ark, I am on the Ark-- "I AM ON THE ARK!" His own shout rang in his audio receptors. A large streak of darkness went past him, then he found himself looking down a dimly lit corridor that was undamaged -- except for the smoking holes in the ceiling delivered by his own weaponry.

"At least the power saver lights are back on," he muttered. He reformed his right arm and shook out his hand as he headed back toward the bridge. He was glad Thundercracker had stayed behind. He didn't need witnesses to that...relapse. He felt uneasy, however, wondering if someone was aboard who had felt like messing with his perception subroutines. He didn't let his guard down, and checked the airlock again on his way. It was in correct order, so he hurried toward the bridge without giving it another thought.

He picked up heat traces in the corridor around the corner from the bridge hallway. They were extremely recent. Thundercracker might have come out to look for him but changed his mind. Bluestreak was wrong, though. He came around the bend in time to hear someone yell, "Decepticon!! Fire! Fire!"

The sound of laser and railgun shots rang out. Bluestreak ran to the open doorway and froze as the barrage made Thundercracker stagger backward, hit a console, and jerk around with each shot that landed.

The three mechs firing on him proved to be excellent marksman.

Knowing he had to stop things immediately, he ran toward Thundercracker and without hesitation moved in front of him, spreading his arms. He grunted but managed to hold his ground as the last round of shots slammed into him, a few dinging the Autobot symbol on his shoulder.

"Hold fire!" The gray and white mech in the middle called even though the other two were way ahead of him, already lowering their weapons. The shorter mech to his right, red and white with a copper badge on the left side of his chest, looked a little twitchy about it, however.

The third mech, red and dark gray with black armoring on his head, was a good four heads taller than everyone else. He put a hand on the red and white mech's shoulder as the two parties watched each other. "Easy, Red."

Bluestreak looked them each over and tried to match names to the superstructures. One came to him. "Prowl?"

The mech in the middle stepped forward. "Bluestreak? What is the meaning of this? Step away from that criminal!"

"No." Bluestreak moved forward, lowering his arms and clenching his fists.

Prowl charged his weapon in warning. "Bluestreak, step away. That is an order."

"No, Prowl." A bitter smile came to Bluestreak's face. "I am not under your command, I am still abiding the structure of my team."

Without letting his guard down Prowl flicked his optics left and right. "Then where are they? Who is your commanding officer?"

"Gone. We were all caught and executed. I escaped due to Thundercracker freeing me."

"Is that so," Prowl said, cutting off Bluestreak's next words and pointing his gun muzzle around Bluestreak toward Thundercracker. "A student of Altihex, is he?"

Bluestreak's face plates flattened. "No, again." He pushed the gun aside. "His allies were going to terminate him for dissension. We agreed to a truce since the only way out was to help each other."

"And then you led him straight here. That was a tactical error, Bluestreak. You have jeopardized the safety of the Ark."

"I was not aware Optimus had rescinded the offer of granting refuge to those in need," Bluestreak said coolly.

The red and white mech spoke up. "I think we should vote on it."

A grating cackle filled the air. "Oh, and how do we do so in a fair manner?" Thundercracker pushed himself up from the console, one hand clamped tightly over his sparking left shoulder. "It is so good to know you Autobots prefer to talk before shooting." Although rendered shorter than Prowl from the latest pain, he craned his neck to glare at the team leader. "You have been through much, I assume, to cause you to give up converting any of us. Your friend here is scared, but at least he has not compromised his belief in compassion."

Prowl scowled at the implied insult. "The helpless deserve compassion. Decepticons have invoked their own destruction."

Thundercracker shuffled backward, spreading both arms as far outward as they could go before creaking and sparking. "If you have not noticed, I am extremely helpless at this time."

"Why would your allies turn against you?" Prowl demanded.

The wounded mech laughed again. "The irony of the question is amusing." He glanced at Bluestreak then looked at Prowl again. "I disagreed with them. News of Megatron's defeat reached us, and they were willing to follow Starscream."

"If Starscream is the second in command, why did you dissent?"

Thundercracker went silent, drawing his arms in against his sides. A low rumbling noise came from within him, echoing along all the walls. The other two mechs with Prowl shifted warily.

Prowl motioned with his gun. "Do not dare..."

The rumbling subsided and Thundercracker growled, "Starscream is a pretender to the throne! He will fail. I will have nothing to do with the Decepticons without Megatron." He lowered himself to one knee before Prowl. "...You have my word. I seek sanctuary."

Bluestreak slouched in relief. Prowl was frowning, but he finally lowered his weapon. "Red Alert, Inferno, watch him." Prowl gestured to the other two mechs, who moved forward to Thundercracker's side. Inferno carefully gave the wounded mech a supporting arm while Red Alert began looking over his wounds, although he was only cataloging them, not offering repairs yet. Prowl opened an external comm line to someone else. "Firestar, report to the bridge."

A female voice replied, "Yes, sir."

"Hmph," Thundercracker grunted. "Out-numbered two to one. Yes, a fair vote that would have been." He shook off both Red Alert and Inferno but remained between them.

Bluestreak strode over to the communications console to see if his message had made it through. Prowl followed. Bluestreak glanced up at him. "I am looking forward to seeing Earth. Judging by the message Optimus Prime sent there will be much to see and learn there. I wonder what the native inhabitants are like, aside from what Prime mentioned. If this signal had gone through before and we had sorted out how we would make planetfall, I would have asked more about the planet and its features. From the general details in the database here, it looks fascinating." He pointed to a side screen that was displaying a series of things labeled as 'trees'.

Prowl didn't even glance at it. Leaning close and lowering his voice, he said, "This transgression will be reported."

"As you wish. However, I did what I felt was right." Bluestreak busied himself scrolling through images of Earth's flora.

"Do you think he knows the difference? How do you think he will repay you?"

"We are one for one. If we offer him repairs, he will have to honor any deal, seeing as he has neither allies nor supplies." Bluestreak turned away from the console. "I have modified the message to include six of us, with four able-bodied." He added flatly, "At least you can be assured that i your /i account of events will reach Prime first."

Firestar walked in before any other angry words were exchanged. Her gaze fell on Thundercracker. "One came aboard, then?" she asked, glancing at Prowl.

"Bluestreak brought him on board," the team leader replied.

"I assume my message did not get through. After you hailed me, I was on my way here when I looked out of a view port toward the atmosphere-less planetoid. I saw several mechanoids launch toward the ship. I did not recognize all of them. However, Astrotrain is among them." She tapped her wrist. "Now I realize that I did not receive a confirmation..."

Prowl clenched his fists. "How did we not see him on our way here?"

"I suspect he was hidden on the far side of the ship and circled around after we boarded. If not that, then perhaps he now has cloaking technology." She hoisted a slim, double-barreled laser onto her right shoulder. "We should go meet them." She then looked at Thundercracker. "Is he still useful for questioning or did I arrive in time to see him be terminated?"

Bluestreak stepped forward and toward Thundercracker. "He is i not /i to be terminated. You four go out, I will remain here to await a response from Autobase. I need more time to regenerate and will not be able to fight at one hundred percent."

Prowl shook his head. "I would prefer that someone else remain as a guard."

"Prowl," Red Alert interrupted, pointing toward a view port on the team leader's left, "I must decline deciding on the most satisfactory arrangements. We must act immediately!"

The sight beyond the viewport was of a massive dark purple Cybertronian in the form of a Class-D shuttle -- about half the size of the Ark in its current collapsed mode -- and with room for two dozen Decepticons to be transported within. "Astrotrain," Prowl said grimly. He looked around at his team. "Red Alert, Inferno, quadra pattern. Firestar, you and I will execute a tetra move. Bluestreak, see if the onboard guns are still functional. If they are, target him." He pointed to the view port. "Leave the small ones to us."

Bluestreak saluted. "Yes. ...sir," he acknowledged in a neutral tone.

Prowl sized up Thundercracker. "Help him but not not attempt to use the ship's weaponry on your own." Thundercracker nodded, yet not about to enact military protocols. Red Alert led the others out of the bridge, Prowl hanging back to give Bluestreak and Thundercracker a warning glare.

After he left, Thundercracker hobbled over to the communications console. "An exemplary group you Autobots are. I am not sure who I would rather have as enemies."

"It was not always this way. Something has changed." Bluestreak turned toward another console, typing responses to prompts to bring up the status of the weapons.

"Oh?"

"He usually would not use that vocal processing tone when speaking to me." He gave a grim frown. "And I would not speak to him in such a manner, either."

Red Alert and Inferno immediately flew to the right after exiting the airlock. Firestar dove a little below where her position dictated and made a concerned sound when she saw Astrotrain slowly pass the front of the Ark. Prowl, however, was looking around for the Decepticons Astrotrain could have brought with him.

He had his answer when two aerospace fighters shot past him and fired on Red and Inferno. The two Autobots split up to avoid the fire, then increased their back-mounted boosters and raced after them. Red commed over, "I confirm Ramjet and Thrust."

A rain of laser bolts forced Prowl and Firestar to take cover near the Ark's edge. "Confirmed Blastoff and Vortex," Prowl relayed. "Be on watch for Onslaught, Tankor, and Gutcruncher. If you see them, by any means necessary do not let them get near each other!" He looked at Firestar. "We shall detain the ones here. Ignore Astrotrain for now."

Inside, Thundercracker was watching and comparing the incoming data on another console he had activated. Bluestreak was still working on the ship's guns, so the former Decepticon made himself useful by tracking the Autobots' positions so no one would get caught in friendly fire. He was also keeping an optic on Astrotrain's energy signature. If a change indicated the Decepticon shuttle was going to transform, they would need to start getting all of the Ark's weapons online. As soon as the thought went through his processor, Bluestreak announced his success on activating the forward guns.

"Routing additional power to scanners," Thundercracker called in reply. "If we are to target Astrotrain, we also need to track energy input and output."

Bluestreak met his gaze and nodded. "Do it. Prowl is off deck. I retake my command."

Thundercracker grated out a chuckle. "A command of one. I expect that is how it will all end when we have all gone offline."

Prowl's voice came in over the PA, making the two wonder if he could hear out if they could hear in. "Gun support, now! We have confirmed Onslaught and Tankor! I conclude we will face Bruticus before this is over. Keep half the scanners on Astrotrain, the rest on the Combaticons. Concentrate fire on Onslaught!"

"Rodger," Bluestreak replied directly to Prowl's frequency. Suddenly the communications console's screen brightened and a text message began scrolling along it. Being closest, Thundercracker moved to read it. "Response from Autobase!" he cried, excited despite himself. "They say there is a shuttle on board that our wounded can use!" Although his face remained contorted, his optics were bright when he glanced at Bluestreak.

The Autobot gave a tight smile. He has discovered hope. I shall wish for it to remain with him. "I will send a confirmation and update them on our situation. Then we will take care of everything out here and soon we will see our new home."

"Atmosphere and sky again," Thundercracker commented, not sounding overjoyed but not displeased, either. He moved aside to let Bluestreak work on the reply and took up station by the weapons console. Prowl had apparently rejected the fact that he knew each Combaticon's personal energy signature and could easily track Onslaught.

To Be Continued