Chapter 95
=0=Leaving Diego for Mars
They walked to Cosmos to enter his big hold. A sack went with them, too. It was filled with some of the toys the younglings were given chosen by them for the five orphans and the four sparklings at Autobot City. Cosmos lifted off taking seven front-liners to Mars on a routine re-assignment.
-0-Autobot City, Mars at the same time
The sighting was not unexpected but it was unnerving. They turned their guns on the signal as it came to them over the out land arrays and made ready their defenses as the bogey skirted the atmosphere, such as it was. There were no Aerialbots on the planet, Cosmos was still inbound, so Springer couldn't marshal a presence to greet the stranger.
"Springer to Prime."
The audio from Autobot City filtered out over the command deck at Diego Garcia as Springer reported. Prime and Prowl preparing to go to a meeting at N.E.S.T. HQ paused to take the message, then walked toward Teletraan II. "Prime here."
"We have a bogey. A Seeker," Springer said as he stood at Tactical in the Ops Center at Autobot City.
"What do you have on it?" Prime asked, looking over the data pouring in from the out-land arrays scattered through the solar system and its edge in the Oort Field. "Short hand, Springer."
:It's a scout, Prime. I expected one a lot sooner but they don't seem to be inclined to come closer. They're outside the upper atmosphere and haven't come any nearer:
"We're sending the Aerialbots."
Prowl turned to the communications station and began to scramble them to leave as soon as possible.
"The bogey is hovering in a clear line of sight to Autobot City," Springer said as he checked radar. "We picked them up when they crossed the solar well but there was little to do except to track them until now."
"Very well," Optimus said. "Hold your fire. I do not know if they are just trying to provoke, to test the range of our defensive weapons or scouting out the activity around Mars in greater detail. I am on my way."
:Affirmative. Springer out:
Prime nodded to Prowl, tapping Jazz on the shoulder as they walked to the door. The two went out and on the way pulled Ironhide and Bumblebee into their team as they walked to the flight line where the Aerialbots were assembling to leave. As they began to board, the sound of the twins roaring up to join them added to the tension. Behind them, Autobot HQ and a worldwide network of interlinked military and civilian operations centers who worked to track the Decepticons went into high alert.
-0-Starscream
He'd finally figured out what had been bothering him. He hadn't had enough information. No one on the Nemesis was of any assistance to him. He had to figure this out alone as usual. The information wasn't complete. Something was off kilter. It would take more information before it all came clear. Nast was only one piece. Daniels and Galloway were another.
Springer and the others, they were ... off. His obsession was as strong as ever but it'd morphed into something more uneasy, less clear and straightforward. Nast had been silent for three days now and Starscream was irritated as he stalked through the Nemesis talking to no one. Not even his trine mates earned a glance.
They were outside the walls of his rage and his volcanic sense of vengeance. They were only useful for what he could have them do, so far gone in illness and its sister, delusion was he. Until he'd taken something from Prime, until he could show that he was truly the rightful leader of the Decepticons, the shadow of Megatron and even The Fallen would continue to haunt him. It would continue to torment and tear him apart.
Standing close by, watching him with a rising concern, Thundercracker and Skywarp shadowed Starscream. His growing irrationality was frightening and they wondered what they could do. His rage was reflected outward at everyone and the crew was uneasy. If they turned on the Seekers, there would be hell to pay. No one in the Decepticons labored there out of loyalty.
The sun arced across the sky, its light on the deck weak, filtering in from the star that held this system together. The cold outside was nothing compared to the cold in Starscream's spark as he worked through the growing madness for some sense of satisfaction against the Prime, his greatest enemy now that Megatron was missing and the Fallen dead.
He had to have one. It'd been so long he couldn't function without one. Optimus Prime was the new Megatron and Starscream would take him down, too. He had to. He no longer could do less and live.
-0-Autobot City, Mars
They landed, the Aerialbots and Prime. Three of them made an orbital traverse, then took off breaking into three trajectories to cover the system quickly. Two landed waiting to be dispatched. Prime and his team drove to the HQ and transformed to walk inside quickly.
Springer glanced at them from Teletraan III. "We've identified the bogey as Thundercracker."
Prime nodded. "Is he still on the radar?"
"No," Springer said. "He left when the Aerialbots left Earth. I can only guess he was here to scout."
"That is not good," Prime said. "Not good at all."
-0-The Nemesis
Thundercracker paced, walking with agitation back and forth in the small space of the munitions hold in the forward bulkhead of the ship. Stacked up all around them was the ammunition that allowed their fight. It was all they had unless their supply lines could deliver more but that was now tenuous. Unrest was sweeping their empire and they needed to go, to turn back and consolidate unless it all slip away.
Slip away like Starscream's processor.
"They've built a city," he said to Skywarp who was leaning on a box listening nearby. "They've built a city and I know those refugees are there. The Aerialbots chased me off. Three of them. Two more are on the Earth. Cosmos is there, too. They've made a place for themselves with allies and assured supplies. What do we have, Skywarp? Nothing but this dirt ball planet and a ... a leader that's going mad. What is it with command? What is it with Decepticon leadership that makes them mad?"
Skywarp shrugged. "He wants to harm Prime."
"It obsesses him. He mutters to himself. He won't interface anymore. There's nothing left between us, his trine, his closest allies." Thundercracker raged in his helm. Of the three, he was the one least committed to the Decepticons. If truth were to be told, he wouldn't be a part of it but his trine was so he was, reluctant though he was.
Skywarp flickered his wings as he shook his head. "As long as we're here he won't give it up. For him to shut us out... that's a very bad sign. And think about it. If we left and went back, how long would he last in this condition? We don't have the doctors to make right what's wrong with him. To tell you the truth, Thundercracker, I don't think he will live if he doesn't get treatment from someone who knows what they're doing."
"We have to leave this place. We have to abandon them at least for now. The Autobots have us at stalemate. We can't defeat them at present," Thundercracker said. "Maybe we cannot defeat them ever."
Skywarp shifted uneasily. "I've been harboring doubts myself."
"Yet, Starscream is our leader and the troops hail him. This won't end well. He'll be seen as damaged if we go back and they'll kill him. We won't be able to save him," Thundercracker said. He thought a moment shifting his gaze to Skywarp with dread. "We have to talk to Prime."
Skywarp didn't say anything. It was the only avenue short of a shallow roadside grave left to travel.
-0-Autobot City, Mars
They sat in Ops Center watching the data pour in, analyzing it carefully for meaning. The Seeker had disappeared at the approach of the Aerialbots and had left the solar system jetting out of the solar well into empty space beyond. It seemed that things were going to fall back into stalemate when the message came through.
Springer working at Teletraan III saw the data as it hit the communications screen. Turning toward the command table, he called to Prime who came forward to read it with him. They glanced at each other, then gestured the others to come join the discussion.
-0-Starscream
He paced all through the night as bitter scenarios worked into his thoughts, then were discarded as others took their places.
Skywarp sat nearby, his expression unreadable. Behind him, Thrust, Ramjet and Dirge watched as well as disquiet filled their sparks suffusing the atmosphere of gloom that penetrated every corner of the Nemesis.
Thundercracker had arrived later that day, discussing the situation on Mars as he found it. The extent of construction was shocking and they talked for the first time that victory might never come. As it was, the empire they'd crafted was beginning to unravel in the vacuum of leadership and the word about Megatron and The Fallen filtering out into the universe. It would continue no matter if they evened the score they bore against this planet. Nothing was going to change down this road. The only place it led was to an early grave.
Word was spreading out of system that the Decepticons could be defeated and were by the Autobots along with a small organic species that had made an alliance with them. The fire was spreading everywhere. It was Starscream's job to quash it and the growing unrest but he couldn't even control his own personal rage. He would die and probably all of them as well if they went back to the Empire. That bitter trail lined with eons of abuse and futility was slipping away from them forever.
The decision reached was done without Starscream, so Thundercracker left making his way back to the system once more and their mortal enemies, the Autobots.
Starscream, his obsessions overriding his attention to details didn't notice. He was too busy trying to overthrow the enemy in his own personal war between his audials.
-0-Ops Center, Autobot HQ, Autobot City, Mars
The message was scrutinized carefully, every senior Autobot having their input. Then it was settled. A reply was formulated and sent. All it took now was to wait. Prime sat at the communications station sipping energon.
Prowl who was leaning against the curve of the sweeping console that ran around the entirety of the command deck scrutinized him. "You're going to go out there."
"I am," Prime replied.
"We can have it covered but I still don't trust them," Prowl said a frown forming on his face.
"We have to find out if this is genuine."
"He wants Springer."
"He will get Springer." Prime smiled slightly. "I could not refuse to take my bond now could I?"
Prowl smirked slightly as he leaned closer. "No."
They grinned at each other as they waited, the return ping on the receipt of their response passing down the arrays to Teletraan III as they bantering, passing the evening away while waiting for morning to come.
It was go.
-0-Ironhide
:Ratchet:
:Ironhide:
He stood on the command deck of the Autobot City Ops Center waiting for the response from the Decepticons. As he did, he considered that the day before they'd celebrated 'Christmas Surprise' with the younglings. The five younglings and four sparklings also celebrated albeit a day late but the toys the kids on Earth sent to them were appreciated.
Prime would issue a statement to the armed forces who would disseminate it to the proper groups. The news media would not be allowed to have the message because the children were still classified.
He peeked into the youngling play room earlier to watch them as they built things or looked at the pictures in the strange alien books. Games and fluffy shoes were also much appreciated and as he did he considered that his sparkling would be born here, the first one in their new life. In two decaorns, they would come here and it would become real. Walking to the large table that stood in the center of Ops Center strewn with diagrams, code datapads and other army detritus, he thought of what it would mean to have one of his own.
Hound and Trailbreaker got Silverbow by default. Hound was the one who was delegated to carry her on the rounds they made getting checked out, identified, even detailed in their first day on Mars.
She had clung to them seeing them as her saviors and now they were applying to be given legal rights to her as adoptive guardian genitors. Prime and Prowl would do the same with the three little mechs once things cooled off. Adoption was a normal thing in a culture as fractured as theirs, with even adults being adopted by other adults as well as children a common accepted thing. Given the scale of their despair and the annihilation of entire families, the bots were building their own again. Adoption was one of many paths toward that goal.
Right now they were stranded between peace and war with a Decepticon foe that was hard to gauge. Things that mattered were having to take a back seat for a bit.
:How are ya?:
:I'm fine:
:The sparkling?:
:Racing around my spark like a glitch head:
:Is that normal?: (Worried frown begins to grow)
:Yes:
:Oh: (Worried frown begins to fade)
:Anything happening yet?:
:No:
[Pause]
:Ironhide ...:
:What?:
:I was watching 'As The Kitchen Sinks' and they had this commercial on the television. It was about phone sex:
[Pause]
:Ratchet, you shouldn't be watchin' that sort of thing:
:Why not?:
:You might hurt yourself. Or the sparkling:
[Pause]
:What are you talking about, you dumb aft?:
[Pause]
:I don't know:
(Grin grows) :Ironhide?:
(Grin grows) :Ratchet?:
:Did I ever tell you how much I like to watch your aft when you walk away from me?:
[Pause]
:Is this some of that phone sexy?:
:Maybe:
:Oh:
(Big grin growing bigger) :Ratchet?:
:What ... big boy?:
[Pause]
(Grin grows bigger) :I am aren't I? Ratchet?:
:What? You know, Ironhide, you're making my circuits all ... hot and bothered...:
[Pause]
(Huge frown) :Is that bad? What's happening?:
[Pause]
(Ginormous suppressed chuckle) :No. I mean you turn me on... make me want ya, you big dumb aft. You really have to get with the idea here, Ironhide. I'm doing all the work:
:Oh. Uh ... well, you have a great yellow aft yourself, big boy:
(Huge chuckle that can't be suppressed) :Is that so? And what do you want to do with my great yellow aft, you big swaggering mech's mech, you:
(Ginormous grin) :Well, I could just grab it in my two big servos and squeeze:
Nearby ...
"What do you suppose is wrong with Ironhide? He's been grinning like a jackass and looking confused off and on for the past half breem," Prowl whispered to Optimus as he leaning down to nod in Ironhide's direction.
Prime looked, then frowned. "I saw a look like that on a television show about human babies. They were usually wetting their pants at the time," he said.
They stared at him a moment, then Prowl grinned slightly. "I wonder..."
"What?" Prime asked sliding his servo behind Prowl's hip to caress his aft on the down low.
Prowl looked down, then at Prime with a grin. "You do that very well. What were we talking about?"
Prime grinned. "Ironhide being a dumb aft."
"Ah, right," Prowl said getting a sheepish grin on his face. He looked at Optimus. "I think he's having phone sex with Ratchet."
"Phone sex?" Prime asked as his optics widened with amusement.
Prowl looked embarrassed then nodded. "Ratchet and I watch that show ... 'As The Kitchen Sinks' ..."
"The soap opera," Prime said having been a fan himself for some time unbeknownst to Prowl.
"Yes," Prowl said. "They have commercials and some of them are phone sex lines. Ratchet told me he was going to try it on Ironhide just to see if he'd do it. Sort of a time kill during the lull-between-shooting sort of thing."
They both looked at Ironhide with big grins.
-0-Ratchet
Sitting on a chair in his office, he leaned back to put his peds up. :You'd squeeze my aft? Is that all you got?:
:I'm a chaos bringer, Ratchet. That's only the start:
It was silent a moment.
:Yes?: Ratchet prompted.
A smirk and a leer floated over the bond link as Ironhide began to formulate a response. Then the klaxon went off and it was time to return to the world of Decepticon slagging and cold showers. :I gotta go:
:Ironhide?:
The link surged with an ocean of warmth and love.
Ratchet surged back sitting up with a frown on his face. He looked down at his chest plates feeling the sparkling roaring around with joie de vivre. "Well, I'm glad someone's having a little action," he said with a grin.
Rising to walk toward the door and Ops Center, Ratchet, the Only One of the Awesomeness That Was Ironhide thought about him and offered a prayer to Primus that his big fraggin' aft came back in one piece. "Slag 'em good, Ironhide," he said as he walked into the corridor and the world beyond.
The door closed silently in reply.