Chapter 83
-0-Autobot City, on a rock outcropping a few miles away, Mars
They sat together while the memories of a thousand war-torn wastelands rose before them as they reflected silently. Prowl leaned into Optimus whose arm was around him holding him closely. "I'm sorry."
Optimus looked down, the handsome face of his soulmate clouded with emotions. "Why? Because sometimes it piles up and you cannot cope?"
"You bear such a heavy burden. I'm suppose to lift that, not add to it."
Optimus kissed Prowl's helm. "You do that just by walking into a room."
Prowl straightened up to look at Optimus. "You're the total sum of my happiness. You do know that is no small admission from me, old stick up his aft, Prowl. Without you, there's nothing in my spark or this life to keep me here. It's all different with you. Not even Blue could keep me here."
Optimus nodded. "Then you understand me, too."
Prowl stared at him a moment. "This was one battlefield too many at this moment. Babies and children, older mechs and femmes, to see them hurt ... sometimes ... I just can't ..." He was silent a moment. "I'll be fine."
"I know," Optimus said, leaning in for a soft kiss. His lips lingered, then he sat back. He looked at Prowl with an expression that filled him with emotions. "Do not be afraid to tell me when the darkness comes. I am here for you. Always."
Prowl nodded. "And I am for you," he said softly.
Optimus pulled Prowl close. "We should get back," he whispered.
"We should." Prowl smiled. "Later."
Optimus chuckled, then glanced down. "Well said."
-0-Diego Garcia, Lieutenant Niall Graham
They went through the day on base, the lack of activity at the Autobot HQ an unusual sight for soldiers and airmen going here and there. Graham who was walking toward the main administration building looked at the hangar doors, the empty Rec Room just beyond and felt a lonesome feeling falling over him. There were bots inside but few. Almost all of them were gone on their 'training exercise' and it was 'empty' around here.
/... so this is what it'll feel like if Galloway gets elected and has his way … I miss them and they aren't even gone .../
He continued onward, the silence of the area disturbing to him as he entered the building to disappear.
-0-Ops Center, Autobot City, Mars
Prowl leaned over Teletraan III, the computer nexus on Mars that was the mirror image of the one at Diego Garcia. It was actually the same super computer, an annex of the one on Earth but the designation kept the two separated and confusion to a minimum. Beyond the command deck, the base was working hard to help, comfort and absorb the fifty refugees.
Prowl felt an energy, then looked down. Standing in the middle of the command deck were three little mechs, two smaller ones on each side of a taller one, their servos gripped tightly in his own. They were white and red, shiny in a new penny sort of way and looking around like they were lost. For a moment, he could see Bluestreak, little and distraught, battered, broken and covered in his mother's energon.
For a moment, it wasn't the command deck of Autobot City Operational Center. It was the debris and body strewn hell of Praxus with its toxic smells, its still exploding ordinance, blazing fires and one small little mech standing on rubble and body parts screaming and screaming. He swallowed hard then knelt to look them in the optics. "Hello."
They looked at him with their little blue optics and a nervous skittish look that Prowl remembered so well. "We were looking for our Prime," the oldest one said shyly with a touch of fear in his voice. "He knows us."
Prowl swallowed again as he touched Rambler's cheek. "Then we will find him," he said. He picked up Spirit who curled his little body against Prowl. He stroked T-Bar's face and caressed Rambler. "Come with me. Let's find our Prime." Taking T-Bar's servo, grinning to Rambler to follow, the four walked slowly out the door to find Optimus.
-0-Ironhide
He walked around the plant inspecting the machinery and the process. Energon was being made in bulk quantities and they were able to cut their need for petroleum products off, supplying energy to their garrison including the Aerialbots directly from here. Most of it was underground, built to be defended against Decepticon attack should they feel they could do so here.
Three of the mechs from the refugee group were energy experts who were anxious to work here, to do something in return for the 'right to stay'. He shook his head. It would take a while for them to understand they were welcome here. They owed nothing and didn't have to prove they were worthy or useful. That they were here, their first reclamation project of their countrymen was enough payment.
He walked down the long underground tunnel that connected the energon plant to the huge central room out of which all the tunnels to the city were connected like a big wheel with many spokes running out of a central hub. The garrison was the hub and everything else was a spoke radiating out to areas on the plateau. It had taken day and night shifts working and toiling with incredible dedication to get this far and all of it was designed to withstand attack, based on what they'd learned the hard way elsewhere.
The smelter also ran full time, making the materials that they needed to build, shore up and expand as they began to make the planned city come to life. There would be buildings above ground but not yet. The garrison was the most noticeable and was incredibly fortified against air and land attack. It would be fall back zone one for all inhabitants and from there, the Autobots would defend all.
Walking to the Hub, pausing a moment to talk to a number of bots, Ironhide climbed the stairs, ignoring the lift which was filled with supplies for the temporary barracks being built in the corridor leading to the smelter. Some of the mechs working were refugees who were already pitching in.
Ironhide felt happy to see them rising up again. They would all rise up, he considered. High enough to kick Starscream's aft. With that, he disappeared from view into the busy mech filled halls of The Fortress.
-0-Ratchet
He began to clear out the last few refugees, giving them instructions on after care as well as hugging the sparklings as the femmes gathered their bonds. When they found out he was sparked, it actually prompted a response from two of the most beaten down femmes, the two crowding around Ratchet to ask him how he was doing, offering pointers and feeling for a moment like they were normal and their life hadn't been slag for what seemed like eons. When they finally walked out, little families reunited once more, Ratchet stood in the doorway ruminating. Then he commed Arcee to come to the Med Bay.
-0-Prime
He was in the armory checking out the inventory of combustibles when Prowl and the youngling mechs arrived. They'd climbed down the stairs, eschewing the crowded elevators and wend their way along the lighted corridors to the place where Prowl's sensors had located Optimus.
Entering the huge space, Rambler dropped Prowl's servo to run toward Prime, stopping shyly in front of him. Looking down with a smile, Prime knelt to pull the little mech into his arms to hug him gently. Rambler clung to him, holding him tightly. When Prime arose, the little mech gripped him tightly with his legs.
Prime smiled as he reached out to caress the cheeks and sweet faces of T-Bar and Spirit. "I see you found my entourage."
Prowl nodded as he shifted from ped to ped, swaying for Spirit as the little mech clung to him tightly. T-Bar moved to Optimus, wrapping his arms around the Prime's leg, holding him as tightly as he could. "We appear to be in the throes of a love fest."
Prime grinned. "I was one of the first mechs they saw."
"I can see that. Did you see the little Autobot designation on their arms?" Prowl asked.
"Springer had Sunstreaker and Sideswipe repaint the refugees. Sunstreaker put those on all the children, then the adults and younglings asked for them."
"They're very cute," Prowl said, rubbing Spirit's little arm. "Do you know who they belong to?" Prowl stared at Prime as a wave of emotion passed between them over the bond.
"We are sorting that out now," Prime said, reaching down to pick T-Bar up off the floor. "We have to make sure that the families stay intact." The children lay against him comforted by his presence as Prowl grinned at him, getting a sheepish grin in return. "I think I could use a break. How about going to the lounge to get some energon," Prime asked.
Rambler looked up at him, patting his chassis with his little servo. "Can we come, too?" he asked as the fear in his voice reverberated in their helms.
Prowl and Prime flinched, then gathered themselves. "Of course you can."
They walked to the main floor and the lounge beyond Ops Center.
-0-Bluestreak
He sat at Teletraan II and watched the updates come through on the refugees, breaking down into several distinct groups. They totaled fifty. Of those fifty, four were older mechs, nine were younglings ... eight mechs and one femme. There were also three sparklings, all of them mech. Their mothers along with the youngling femme totaled four in all. The remaining count left thirty-three adult mechs, some of them in dire condition when they'd arrived.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were nearby assisting and providing security in case of Decepticon interception of the refugees by their pursuers. There was nothing on the radar or sensor nets yet but he knew from experience that it could all change in a spark beat.
The majority of the mechs would be returning to Diego in the early morning hours, coming back from their 'training exercise' to resume their duties there. Sideswipe was coming back but Sunstreaker had been assigned to Autobot City indefinitely.
It sucked.
Blue watched the grids, sending and receiving signals until the end of his shift in the late afternoon. After that, he sat outside and watched the moon. Beyond it, the red twinkling light of Mars held the entirety of his life in its sandy dusty shores.
-0-Hound
He sat on the floor holding out color sticks for the tiny femme, Silverbow. She hadn't spoken a word since they'd come here but she was clean, shined and sparkling. Her light green and pink paint scheme was replaced thanks to Sunstreaker who also put her little red Autobot insignia charmingly on her left and right shoulders. She drew pictures, taking the color sticks from Hound as her muse moved her.
He'd carried her to the various appointments that were designed to ascertain her condition and when he put her down at the Med Bay for her second round of tests, she'd held his servo and refused to let go even for Ratchet. She had stared at him silently, her tiny blue optics never wavering and only Hound holding her allowed Ratchet to do what he needed. She'd been found to be healthy and well despite being beaten and starved.
Hound looked at her, this tiny little femme and felt a deep burning outrage. How anyone could harm the young and the old, he didn't know. He just knew that wherever he went in The Fortress, the little femme jogged along behind, never speaking, never allowing him out of her sight.
Trailbreaker walked in then knelt. He smiled at the little femme who paused in her coloring to look from Hound to Trailbreaker and back to Hound again.
Then she smiled back.
-0-In a corridor, on the way to the smelter where the refugees were being billeted
She'd left Med Bay with a new mission handed to her by Ratchet. They had talked and talked, deciding that a liaison was needed for the tiniest minority in the city. She agreed wholeheartedly, then marched out to seek them.
She found them huddled together in a little group, their bonds sitting on berths, exhausted and silent with relief at their changed circumstances. They held silent sparklings who looked at her as she came to them. She smiled then reached out to hug the nearest femme. Holding her, her arms wrapped around both her and her sparkling, she whispered softly to the group. "I'm Arcee. I'm here to help you."