~From Humble Beginnings~

A Story of the Turbulent Beginnings of the Great Warrior, Bluestreak

Chapter 3

"Optimus, sir."

"Yes Prowl?"

"Our sensors have picked up a large mass of Decepticons."

"Where are they?"

"They appear to be launching a full scale attack on Praxus."

"Praxus… isn't that the home of the Helix Crystal Gardens?"

"Yes sir."

"If the Decepticons get their hands on that many raw power crystals, they will have enough energy to work their way here to Iacon." Optimus rose from behind his desk, a tall imposing figure that intimidated even second-in-command Prowl at times like this. "Assemble the forces Prowl. I want as many mechs as possible. We need to stop those Decepticons."

"Right away sir." Prowl opened his base-wide transmission channel.

: All available personnel please report to meeting room C. The Decepticons are launching a full-scale attack on the city Praxus and we must launch a counterattack. : Jazz was in the rec room enjoying a cube of high-grade when the call came through. He knew the Praxus had been Prowl's home before he had joined the Autobots and he could feel Prowl's distress through their bond so he sent a message through the link. ~You okay Prowler?~

~I don't know Jazz.~

~Don't worry Prowl, maybe we can get there in time.~

~You know as well as I do Jazz that once we hear about an attack it is already too late.~ Jazz could feel the sadness and anger this thought invoked in his bondmate.

~Prowler…~

~It's okay Jazz. We knew it would happen eventually. We're lucky they went this long untouched.~ By this time, Jazz had made it to the meeting room and taken his place next to Prowl as third in command. Jazz shot a look at the other black and white mech but refrained from further commentary. He knew that although Prowl was very open with him, there were certain private issues he had to sort through himself. If needed, Prowl would come to talk to him later. For now they needed to focus on the mission.

Optimus briefed all the soldiers on what had happened, organized their ranks, and led them all off. No one knew what they would find when they got there. But nobody expected what they actually found. There was no building left untouched, most were completely knocked down. Everywhere there were dead bodies, most shot and mutilated beyond recognition. There were piles of the visible remains of mechs, femmes, and sparklings that had been drenched in their own oil and lit on fire. Some were still sparking and smoldering. But nowhere was anything moving. There was not a single living thing anywhere. Even the wind was completely still.

Eventually, the mechs reached the middle the city, the location of the Helix Gardens and the Crystal Palace. They had scoured the entire city and there had still been no signs of life; the piles of smoldering bodies were interfering with the heat sensors making it hard to search. Optimus gave the order for a personnel search and each mech found his partner and took a separate search quadrant. Prowl and Jazz were assigned to the palace since Prowl had been a guard there in his younger days and knew many of the secret passages where survivors might be hiding.

Their search seemed to be in vain for the only room left was a small storage chamber off the throne room and they had found no one yet. The carnage in the throne room had been horrible; obviously a great massacre had taken place there as the bodies of many Praxians were piled into a heap. Lying on top, their bodies charred but still recognizable was the King and Queen of Praxus.

Prowl was overwhelmed by sadness because these two kind mechs had taken him in when his father had been killed in battle. Prowl's mother had died trying to give his spark life when he was created so he never really knew her. But Stormlight and Silvershimmer had been like second parents to him and their oldest son, Blackside, who was the same age as Prowl, had become his best friend. Unfortunately they had fallen out of touch after Prowl left to help the Autobots.

Prowl and Jazz entered the small chamber and searched it thoroughly, finding nothing for their troubles. But just as they were about to leave, they heard a small sniffle. It was so quiet they believed that they had imagined it. They continued to hear it yet could not pinpoint its source.

Just then, Prowl noticed a tiny crack in a wall, so small that it seemed to be nonexistent. But when he presses on the crack a small doorway opened and Prowl and Jazz found themselves in a crawlspace between the storage chamber and the throne room. Prowl found that his doorwings were too wide to fit and was forced to bend them uncomfortably inwards so he would fit.

As their optics adjusted to the low light levels, they picked out the tiny form of a sparkling huddled in the far corner of the hall. He stared back at them with large optics, trying to muffle his sobs, hoping that he would not be found. Jazz took a step closer but froze when the little one tried to move farther back against the wall.

"Hello there little one, my name is Jazz. Who are you?" Jazz purposefully kept his voice low and soothing, trying to calm the sparkling down. All he received was another quiet sob and an attempt to squish even farther into the wall.

"Here Jazz, let me try." Jazz backed up and Prowl squeezed up, crouching down in front of the sparkling. "Hey there. I'm Prowl. We're here to help you. Can you come out of there so I can look at you?" Something about Prowl's voice must have been soothing because the sparkling cautiously crept forward a little more. His tiny voice piped up.

"Where are my mommy and daddy and brothers?" His tiny little lisp made Prowl's heart break all over again.

"I don't know little one. Come here and we'll see if we can find them." Prowl knew there was very little chance that his family was still alive, considering the state of the city but he didn't want to upset the sparkling anymore. "What's your name?"

"Blue… Bluestreak."

"Well Bluestreak why don't you come to me and we'll go outside." It seemed that the little one was finally starting to trust the Autobots somewhat because he crawled forward and allowed Prowl to gently lift him up. Jazz turned and preceded Prowl out of the palace, keeping an eye out for any stray Decepticons. They made their way back to the established mini-base where Optimus was coordinating the search and Ratchet awaited any survivors. Jazz entered the temporary medbay, searching for the red and white medic.

"Hey Ratch' we found one!" Ratchet appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Where Jazz? What kind of damage?"

"Prowl is bringing him now. He doesn't seem injured but we want to check to be sure." Just then Prowl entered with the sparkling still cradled in his arms.

"Primus… it's just a little sparkling!" Ratchet looked shocked to see the little one. No one had expected any survivors let alone a youngling. "Where did you find this one?"

"He was hiding in a secret passage behind the throne room in the palace. He says his designation is Bluestreak." Jazz was suddenly struck by a thought.

"Prowl, I think that's the name o' the youngest prince. I remember a news feed from a while back about the newest prince of Praxus."

"That would explain why we found him hiding in the palace. But that doesn't change the fact that he is the only survivor and we have to decide what to do with him."

"Well, we'll have time to think about that later Prowl, give him to me so I can check him over." But when Prowl tried to hand Bluestreak to Ratchet, he began to cry and clung desperately to Prowl. He would calm down but get upset every time they tried to pass him over. Eventually, Ratchet just brought over a portable scanner and confirmed Jazz's belief that he was unharmed.

"I need to do a more thorough inspection later but he seems fine Prowl, Jazz. All he needs is a little love and care." Soon after, the Autobots regrouped and prepared to head back to Iacon. Many mechs were saddened that day by the loss of so many innocents lives. The people of Praxus had been entirely neutral – those that were not, like Prowl, had left so as to not draw any attention to the peaceful city.

But through all the darkness that seemed so prevalent, there was one small light. Though it was only one survivor, many were gladdened that a young sparkling could have been saved. That one life had been well worth the many long orns of searching they had put into the ruins.