Chapter 13
Optimus found himself stood in the middle of a desolate, empty desert. The sun was hot in the sky. Looking round, he frowned, an all too human expression. There was no sign of the Ark or of Ratchet. Not only that but something was amiss, he was back on Earth, the blue sky and lizard skating across scorching rocks confirmed his suspicions. He was utterly baffled. He tried to walk forward but found himself rooted to the spot. His processors on over drive, he could not fathom what was happening. He looked up into the blue sky as clouds began to burn. Something was coming towards him through the atmosphere. Its fiery trail scarring the sky as it plummeted to the surface. Optimus watched in horror as the Asteroid cast out its shell, pieces breaking off in the atmosphere, thousands of shards of rock. He blinked and squinted against the piercing glare of the sun. The shards were moving independently of the debris cast off from the Asteroid, the swarms flew over head. He couldn't make out clearly what they were. Then the ground started shaking, a deep rumbling beneath his feet. The vibrations knocked him off balance, stumbling he fell to the ground, glancing to the horizon he noticed a thick wall of rock, dust, smoke and fire. The Asteroid had impacted the Earth and the shockwave raced towards him at a break neck speed. In seconds the super heated, dense cloud hit him. Raising his arms to cover his face, the shock wave ripped through his body. He screamed as the force tore off plates of his armour and lashed his inner wiring, shredding his body. The shockwave was followed by a wall of fire and molten rock. It completely consumed Optimus leaving no trace that the Autobot leader had ever existed.
Optimus convulsed violently as Ratchet tried to wake him. His cries of pain shook the medic to his core. Lashing out Optimus's arms caught Ratchet in his mid-section, sending him toppling backwards and landing on his aft. His optics shot open, the usually bright blue orbs were dark and flickering dangerously. Ratchet scrambled to his feet. With all his might he managed to restrain Optimus, ordering a repair bot to forcibly waken him. The small electrical pulse direct into Optimus's cortex worked, his body relaxed. Groaning he lifted a hand to his head, his optics opened, blinking his blue orbs returned to normal.
"Ugghh... what happened?" He winced as he sat up, his body sore. He noticed scorch marks travelling up his arms.
"Well, long story short, we crashed. The Decepticons planted a self destruct virus in Teletraan 1; it practically fried your circuits. You've been offline for some time."
"How long?"
"Approximately, twelve Earth hours." Ratchet's gaze scrutinised him closely. "You started going into convulsions, it was the matrix wasn't it?"
Optimus nodded slowly. "An Asteroid impacted Earth, but it was carrying a swarm of creatures, thousands of them. I could not make out what they were." He shook his head in frustration, instantly realising it was a mistake when sharp pain shot through his cortex. "I was caught in the blast wave of the impact, it felt real and the pain... the pain was so very real."
"Well that would explain the convulsions." Ratchet was visibly annoyed. "If the Matrix is now giving you visions of that magnitude then it is endangering your life and I refuse to condone anymore of this. I won't be a part of it. As your medic I will order you to stop, although I know you won't listen, so I am asking you to stop, at least until we get off this damned rock of a planet."
Optimus nodded weakly, dull pain still filling his sensors. Standing, he slowly made his way to the computer. Ratchet eyed him carefully, scanning him for anymore damage he may have overlooked.
"Other than that, I repaired the damage from the electrical over load; your circuits are fine, if a little sensitive." Optimus grunted in response, not really listening.
"Is Teletraan 1 still functional?"
Ratchet stepped up beside him; Optimus noticed his substantial limp but said nothing.
"Well while you were napping, I went to work on it. I have managed to repair the over loaded master circuit and remove the remaining fragments of the virus. That was not easy, it was buried deep, they must have been trying to hack into it for a while. We lost partial armour plating in the crash, I managed to solder a make shift bandage if you will, to cover the breach. It's not perfect but it'll hold, won't stand up much in a fight though."
"Do we have flight capabilities?" Optimus's voice was unnaturally subdued, still recovering from his very real vision; his processors were working at a slower rate than normal.
"Only one way to find out although, I warn you the Ark won't survive another crash like that, not that it will matter because we will be dead anyway."
Optimus cast him a side long look, his processors finally snapping back online.
"Your bedside manner needs some work Ratchet, you are not very comforting." He quipped lightly, flicking controls of the Ark. The console lit up in response.
Ratchet snorted, "If I wanted to give comfort I would never have been a medic."
Optimus's mouth twitched in a slight smirk at his friend's cynical nature. 'Ever the optimist' he thought to himself as he brought the engines online. Powering up, his thoughts drifted to his other loyal Autobots, his friends. 'Where was Bumblebee when you needed him' his mind recalling the younger Autobot's bright outlook and unending positivity. Unique amongst the Autobots, Bumblebee could always be relied upon to put an optimistic spin on most situations. The old medic always was a little easier to contend with when he was around, whether that was the catching cheerful nature of the yellow Autobot or guilt at having still not repaired his vocal processors, Optimus did not know but he knew the medic was very protective of the young bot. His thoughts turned from idle nostalgia to those of concern as they lifted off shakily from the surface. The engines throbbing loudly, they took off into the Atmosphere, cutting through the thin film of gas that enveloped the planet, they broke out into space. Setting a course, the Ark raced back towards the planet Earth and the space station.
"I hope they haven't run into any trouble." Ratchet's concerned voice startled Optimus, he didn't respond, his thoughts running along the same lines, he increased their speed.
****
The ISS repairs were coming along nicely with the help of their new allies. Trent was outside the station overseeing the work, while Bumblebee and Sideswipe coordinated the Autobots' efforts. Chromia, Sunstreaker and Flareup had joined Bumblebee and Sideswipe to help, in an effort to appease the reeling human government.
"No, no, no!" Trent could be heard yelling over the comms system in his suit. "That doesn't attach that way, you seal that hatch and we're never leaving the station." Bumblebee withdrew the large section of sheet metal, looking incredibly contrite. His radio sounded out an apology, as he was then instructed where to solder the metal sheet, under Trent's unforgiving scrutiny. Sunstreaker was complaining at the physical labour, much to Bumblebee's annoyance.
"Are you going to help at all?" Bumblebee's silent digital voice sounded impatient in Sunstreaker's head. He replied out loud with disinterest.
"Me? Nah, I don't want to get my paint work scratched, I just had a touch up you see." He admired the handiwork painted on his armour with satisfaction. "Besides someone has to oversee you lot make a mess of the human station." Sunstreaker chuckled in amusement as Bumblebee threw a wrench at his head in irritation; Sunstreaker watched the wrench in bemusement as it floated towards him in the vacuum.
"Ha! You throw like a girl Bee."
Sunstreaker lurched forward suddenly as Sideswipe's hand clipped him round the back of his head.
"Hey! What do you do that for bro?"
"We have work to do." Grumbled Sideswipe his patience fading fast. "So quit messing around and get some work done; I don't want to be up here longer than we have to."
"Humph someone's grumpy." Moaned Sunstreaker immaturely, ducking to avoid another smack from his twin.
"We still have to find Optimus, Ratchet and Arcee, Sunstreaker; don't make me have to tell you again."
"All right, all right, you made your point."
Chromia raised her brow at Sideswipe. "You're a little tense."
"They've been missing for 14 hours, aren't you?" Chromia didn't have an answer for him. In truth they were all more than a little concerned for the well-being of Optimus, Arcee and Ratchet and frustrated at not being able to mount a rescue mission. Chromia was personally feeling the absence of her sister sorely, she chose to push her worries aside for now, she would know if Arcee was in trouble. Wouldn't she? She shook her head and continued soldering; focusing all her concentration on the sheet metal she was working on. Prowl had taken command and had ordered them to the repair the station as a priority. Once the immediate threats had been dealt with, they were then clear to head to the last known location of the Ark and search for their missing friends.
****
On the surface the two teams had re-grouped and were now increasing defences to the NEST base while Trailblazer had been sent to retrieve a badly wounded Sam Witwicky. The atmosphere was tense and nervous, without their leader the Autobots knew their hopes of defeating Megatron and his Decepticons in an all out assault were slim to none. Prowl paced the airstrip, deep in thought. Having had no communications for over 14 hours from Optimus or anyone - bar the ones at the ISS - he had no choice but to assume the worse. Ironhide came over, his face a mask of annoyance and frustration.
"Trailblazer is on his way, it'll be a couple of hours before he will reach Sam and Mikaela. Mikaela has managed to hide Sam out of sight for the time being, but we have no way of knowing if the Decepticons know where he is, or why they want him. Simmons insisted on going with him."
"Understood." Prowl's voice was even with no trace of the apprehension that was building up inside him. Being Prime's second in command was for the most part a rewarding position, but he hated times like this when he had to take command as it usually meant Prime was injured or worse. He did not like either of those possibilities. Ironhide continued impatiently, "So…?" Prowl glanced up at the irritated expression on the weapons master's face. "So… what?"
"Your orders? I assume we're going to mount a search and rescue team."
Prowl straightened and placed his hands calmly behind his back. "Your assumption is incorrect. It will not be of benefit to leave the base unprotected in case of further attacks."
"What?! That was a diversionary tactic, surely you can see that?!" Ironhide growled, his temper brewing beneath the surface.
"Irrelevant Ironhide. I will not leave the base open to attack to search for three of our team. The humans would be left in extreme danger. It is not a risk I am willing to take."
"You're unbeliev…"
"Prime would also not want his rescue resulting in the deaths of any humans." Prowl interrupted softly. Ironhide snapped his mouth shut.
"So we just wait here and do nothing?" He retorted, his voice dangerously low with mounting anger.
"I understand your frustrations Ironhide, but that is precisely what we must do for the time being, until a clearer course of action presents itself."
"Damn you and your fragging logic Prowl!" Ironhide swore loudly, causing Jolt, Lennox and Epps to pay attention to the heated discussion.
"You don't understand in the least otherwise you would do something about it. If you don't I will!" Ironhide turned to storm off.
"STOP!" Prowl's face was a picture of anger, the onlookers stared in shock they had never even heard the calm security chief raise his voice, never mind get angry. Prowl walked smoothly over to Ironhide, who was visibly shaking with rage. Ironhide did not turn to face Prowl; the urge to punch him in the face was, at this moment, all too tempting.
"If you persist in this insubordination, I will relieve you of your position, threat or no threat. You of all people should know better that Prime would not want the security and safety of our allies to be jeopardised all because we couldn't function as a team without him for a few hours and felt the need to go rushing to his rescue." Prowl lowered his voice further, regaining control of all traces of his raging emotions with a single sigh.
"Prime and the others can take care of themselves Ironhide and… I do understand." He placed a hand lightly on Ironhide's tense shoulder. "They're my friends too." He finished gently. Ironhide's optics flickered quickly behind him, catching a look at Prowl's sincere and worried expression. He grunted in defeat, before heading back into the hangar bay storming past a stunned and silent Jolt who daren't speak and Lennox who had watch the events unfold with growing concern and surprise. Epps whistled silently and shook his head. "Damn." He whispered to himself before following him into the hangar. Prowl turned to address Lennox. "Major I apologise, you should not have had to witness such a display."
Lennox clamped his jaw shut. "No need to apologise Prowl, I think we're all pretty tense." Prowl merely glanced at the floor in acknowledgement.
Lennox frowned. "Is it… is it going to be a problem?" He met the pale blue optics of the black and white mech firmly.
"No, do not concern yourself. Ironhide simply expresses himself somewhat more forcefully than others."
"Yeah and then some, talk about bulldozer." Jolt sniggered, ducking his eyes when Prowl shot him a stern look. Lennox nodded, ignoring Jolt. "Our orders are to sit tight. The white house wishes to convey its thanks for your offering to help rebuild the damage to the ISS. While we wait for them to finish, we have a briefing in half an hour. The Pentagon has further intel' for us regarding our Asteroid problem, seeing as Optimus isn't here you have been requested to attend."
Prowl inclined his head in response. "I will be there major. I will do what I can in Optimus Prime's absence."
Lennox smiled thinly. "You're doing just fine Prowl." He headed back into the hangar discussing weapons stock with Jolt. Prowl was left standing on the airstrip watching him leave, his words repeating in his head. 'You're doing just fine Prowl.' The corner of Prowl's mouth curved slightly upwards at the compliment. He gazed up at the darkening sky; the sun was setting, casting a hauntingly red glow over the base. "Fine just isn't enough." He said to himself absently. "Where are you Optimus?" He dropped his head and shuttered his optics, attempting to quieten his thoughts and worries. 'I can't do this on my own, I'm not you Prime. You must survive.' He asserted his control and opened his optics. His body hummed softly then quietened, as he consciously slowed all of his systems down. He let out a faint sigh as he watched the sun set beneath the horizon.