Chapter 536
-0-Ratchet
He stared at the skies. It was soon to be evident that the big formats would be coming. He was tied directly into the Flight Center at Fort Max. The line he was receiving had static, the emotions of Max and Metroplex bleeding into the feed. This was a pair of siblings both hadn't seen in ages, some of the few that they were aware had survived war and bounty hunters. It enraged Ratchet to consider that these incredible enormous sentient beings were hunted for their body parts, but so also were whales on Earth.
Ass hats lived everywhere, he thought.
:Max to Prime and Ratchet:
:Prime here:
:Here, Max: Ratchet replied.
:Acroplex and Titan are assuming orbit: Max said tensely. :I'm directing them toward injection into the upper atmosphere utilizing the mathematics supplied by Miler. They will take two orbits, then begin their descent. We're testing the tractor lock on Titan. The two ships who will assist in case of emergency will assume orbit over them so they might grab Titan if Ace falters:
:Understood: -Prime and Ratchet
:Max to Ace. You're go for orbit one: Max said.
:Max, I understand. The ships following … I will signal if I falter:
:I hear you, Acey. It'll be fine: -Max, with emotion
:Ace: -Metroplex
:Metroplex … I am glad to see you alive: -Acroplex
:As I am you: Metroplex replied with emotion. :Come in slow. I will catch you if you need me. Both of us. Max and I:
:I am optimal so far: Acroplex said as he flew slowly around the arc of the planet. He adjusted his beam grip on Titan who was silent, following behind his brother. :Titan is silent. I read him as very ill. Who is there to help him, Max?:
:Ratchet: Max replied, his voice carrying worry.
:Ratchet. Good. No one is better: Acroplex said with less worry. :I'm on second pass by:
They waited, the traffic line soft with the static of Max and Metroplex's worry. Prime and the others listened as did all of Mars and Earth who were receiving the broadcast.
As Acroplex began his second orbit with Titan, the humans arrived on Mars, were gathered into a shuttle and flown to the site.
-0-A small family in the world beyond Mars
"Mama, what do you think will happen?" Mrs. Pastor Bob asked anxiously.
"They will land safely so Ratchet and his people can help them. I know this to be true," Mama said with more conviction than actual truth. If intentions would save them, she would by herself.
They sat together, Mama Annie and Papa Leonard, Pastor Bob and his sister, Rhonda 'Little Sis', Little Pastor Bob, Mrs. Pastor Bob and the Baby, Leo. It would be a tense afternoon spent in front of the big flat screen at the grandparent's house.
-0-On the ground
The shuttle landed behind a big stack of boxes as the inmates stared out of the windows with wonder. The huge shiny landing space was empty as all around it rescue devices and individuals waited, all of them looking upward. It didn't occur to the civilian humans that the bots on the ground were actually watching the formats as they flew overhead in their adjustment orbits with their phenomenal personal optics. Morshower and Fulton knew but they didn't tell the others. Some things were better left unsaid.
Tracks turned from the controls with a grin. "If you go directly out to the boxes ahead you can stand inside them. Don't leave the shelter. Don't climb on top. The wash of the landing will sweep you off. Besides … there's humans hiding there watching in defiance of orders. Join them and stay there. We'll check on you later."
The humans nodded, then followed Morshower and Fulton off the shuttle as the hatch opened. When they were clear Tracks lifted off, then flew nearby to land and join the security teams. The humans watched, then ran for the boxes to join the others. After a moment's catch up, they all found their places to watch. As they did, Acroplex began to make his descent towing the silent Metrotitan behind him.
-0-On the comm links
:I'm going to descend, Max. Metroplex, monitor my horizons please:
:I will. You are optimal, Acey: -Metroplex
:You're optimal, Acroplex. Titan is level: -Red Wing hovering alongside as they all descend. :Blue one, lead us in. Stay level with Acroplex. Let him have the horizon:
:Copy that, Red Leader: -Blue 1 of Blue One Squadron
They assumed an array around the forward structure of Acroplex staying level to that configuration as the big format began to descend. He did so with great difficulty, lowering himself straight down rather than gliding in because he was towing a ship as big and massive as his own format. He would be landing blind as he'd diverted his energy to the tractor bond shutting off everything else not necessary to the job at hand. The Seekers and Fort Max would be his opticals on this, one of the most difficult forms of landing a massive ship could make.
Prime and his team stared upward watching the ships far out of the range of human vision. They could see two big white ships, their sides scored with fire. Titan was shot full of holes in the most strategic areas of his format, propulsion and navigation. His side was streaked with energon and the burns of energy blasts. Prime was sure that his brothers wouldn't have done more than disable him but it looked bad to him. He glanced at Ratchet. "What does it look like to you, Ratchet? Did they just disable him or what?"
"It couldn't be fatal, I think. I don't see them killing their own little brother. Their aim was to get him back. It might look worse than it is. I hope," Ratchet said with spark felt emotion.
As they talked, the first glimpse of the two ships could be seen in the bleak sky of early evening. The running lights of Acroplex were full on. As he lowered, he turned on his primary lights, beams of which flashed to the ground illuminating a vast area. It was a good thing because once they landed vast arc lights would be turned on by the ground crew as evening was beginning to descend in earnest.
The lights filled the area with bright illumination reaching out to where the humans stood or sat on boxes. They could see that everyone was looking up. As they were, the formats came into their line of sight. It was stupefying how big the two ships were. They felt like ants looking up at the foot of an elephant coming down to step on them. It was terrifying.
:Max. What's my horizon?: -Acroplex, with fear born of weariness and injury
:You're good, Ace. Don't worry. Keep your focus on the Seekers. They are level with the horizon: -Max
Down they came, a monstrously vast pair of ships that stupefied the imagination. They blocked the weak slowly setting sun in their enormity. The lights under Acroplex filled the area with a stark brightness, an unnatural illumination as he came ever slowly downward.
It was silent for a moment.
:MAX! I'M LOSING TITAN!: -Acroplex
:PHOBOS! SALTON SEA! TRACTORS NOW!: -Max
A burst of yellow light from several places above in space shot through the gathering darkness fixing on Titan as Acroplex halted in place. Nearby, feeding the mathematics to the computers of both battleships, Miler sat hunched over his own aboard a battle shuttle parked near Springer's command vessel. A constant stream of information fed upward as the ships absorbed it translating the data into actions. Five tractor beams hit Titan as the ship began to wobble above them. For a moment their light pulsed, then stabilized. Titan became level once more.
:Ace, are you level?: -Max, worried
Pause. :I am stable. Tell them to follow my lead and I will settle. I have coordinates for the touch down. Over: -Acroplex
:Fort Max to Salton Sea and Phobos. Acroplex is stable. Follow his direction. He's moving toward touch down:
:Phobos to Max. Affirmative:
:Salton Sea to Max. Affirmative:
It was silent as all watched the massive vessels come ever downward. They were stable now, the arcing lights on ground combining with those from the four great ships casting demonic-like shadows everywhere.
The humans watched with their hands clutching boxes and each others. It was profoundly frightening to watch the ships come downward toward where they stood crouching in fear in a box yard. The wind began to kick up as the air pressure from the slowly lowering ships pressed downward. Sand began to kick up and they felt the breeze against themselves.
Morshower turned to the others, then glanced around. :We need to be ready for kick back when they land. All of you, behind these boxes. They aren't stacked so nothing will blow off and kill us. Crouch down. Link arms so you don't get blown away:
They all moved forward to boxes that were sitting alone in a row. With nothing stacked on top, they were the safest place to be. They crouched or settled on their knees and linked arms tightly. Peering over the boxes, they watched as the sky was blotted out by the arrival of behemoths so large they defied imagination.
-0-Overhead
Revo and Heva worked carefully as they came down into the atmosphere from the upper levels of Mars aboard the Salton Sea, riding over the top of Acroplex and Titan. The two ships were so massive that not for the first time they thanked Primus privately that they were on the right side at last. They had before with the little things. But this moment clarified a number of emotions in their sparks.
They were Cybertronian through and through and nothing was more identified with Cybertron than the meta-titans. They were created by their own people for protection, the magnificent culmination of their peculiar genius as a species. They were coming to the Prime, his call bringing home all of the greatness of their kind. It was life affirming. Both of them felt it. They also felt something else as they worked carefully, profoundly carefully.
Pride. Intense overwhelming pride.
-0-Beyond Jupiter
Metrobase and Metrocon flew alongside a flight of Seekers. They chatted with them catching up even as they monitored the progress of Acroplex and Metrotitan. They would reach orbit around Mars in minutes. They would stay there until Ratchet rendered Metrotitan inert. Then they would descend onto the plain and receive the first real meal that they'd gotten in ages. They would also be home at last.
-0-At the site, Mars
The humans felt the slamming energy of the ships as they came lower and lower. When they were forty feet above ground they halted. Glancing at Prime and his group, they noticed that Ratchet had stepped forward with a device in his servos. He was walking toward the two like it was a normal thing. Evidently, medical mechanisms had ballast enough to stay upright. Everyone else was leaning into the breeze including Prime.
Ratchet walked forward, then turned to the north. As they watched, so did Acroplex. It was an astonishing sight. Ratchet was directing the landing himself. Acroplex was running rough but he held his lock on the silent Titan. Above, they could see the shadowy formats of Salton Sea and Phobos. Their light beams, all five of the yellowish columns disappeared into the two vessels, their light blocked by the massive superstructures of the titans.
Morshower watched the sight with tears in his eyes. The moment was so monumental that tears had come to him. He looked at the others seeing them, too. It would be hard to describe to anyone, the sight of a tiny being like Ratchet leading the two titans onto their landing pads. He was small but more brave than Morshower felt he could be in his place.
Ratchet moved to a spot, then stopped. He raised his device and a beam shot out piercing the windows on the command deck far above. A beam shot back in acknowledgment. That was when Acroplex began to lower to the ground.
-0-Nearby
Springer watched with Drift, Heatout and the others. It was a solemn group all around the field who watched a miracle happen. Two behemoths of a fabled past were landing just as Springer was signaled that two more were overhead. He glanced at Prime and Prowl who were listening intently to something even as they leaned into the 'prop wash' of the giants. Everyone else was, too, the stinging sand abrading them as it blew hard everywhere.
Nearby crouching behind boxes, the humans peered out. The ships were lowering, the image of Ratchet slowing disappearing behind their great bulk. Lower and lower they came until they settled on the ground. The rumble of touchdown lifted them off their knees and they jumbled around bashing each other for a moment. Falling here and there as the energy of set down pulsed through the ground, the humans scrambled up again to see. As they did, they saw Ratchet and a group of Wreckers driving madly in vehicle mode around Acroplex toward the hangar deck of Metrotitan.
They looked like hot wheel toys alongside the two massive ships.