My darlings this has been fun! Thank you all for your support and comments and enjoy the last chapter! There is a sequel in the works.
Starlight's View:
I tried to make my way back towards the ark but a swarm of civilian bots rushed me. I tried to get out of the way, but I got swept up and pushed into the nearest ship, I think it was green. Bots were frantic and I couldn't get through them to get off the ship. I decided instead of fighting through, I'd follow them until I could make a break for it. Thank Primus it didn't take too long until I was able to get down a hall way and away from the masses. I tried to find a different exit, but of course I was stopped by someone.
"Halt! No civilians beyond this point!" A green bot I hadn't seen before shouted. His gun currently wasn't pointed at me, but I knew in a spark beat that could change.
"I'm Starlight, daughter of Optimus. I need to get off this ship." I ordered. He stood at attention at the mention of my name. That was a first.
"You're supposed to be on the Ark. Come with me." He led me back down the way I came and through a door I had missed. "This way will take us back to the entrance."
Before we could reach the end of the small hallway, the ship jerked and the engines started up. No…we're taking off! I thought to myself.
"I'm sorry, but we're taking off. We'll try to meet with the Ark after we get out of range." The bot told me and offered to take me to the bridge. I agreed, and followed him. My spark felt heavy. I knew something was off, but didn't voice my fears like I should have.
Bumblebee's view:
My spark felt like it stopped when Prime told me Starlight wasn't with him. Where was she? Was she hurt? Was she lost, or worst was she…no I couldn't get caught up in those thoughts.
"Sir! The first ship is takin' off!" Jazz called out.
"No, it's too soon." Optimus ran to the vid screen as we all watched the green striped ship take off. "Hail the captain of the ship!" A blue bots face appeared on the screen nano seconds later.
"Prime sir!" He stood at attention and saluted.
"Why did you take off early? You know what the plan is."
"Sorry sir, we reached capacity. I was told to take off at…" He was cut off by an explosion from somewhere on his ship, the warning sirens blaring through the screen. "We've been hit!"
"Tell the other ships to take off, they need back up." Prime ordered as the screen cut from an electrical shortage on their end.
I don't know if Prime saw, but I sure did. Starlight was on the ship! I saw her for a quick second, right before the ship was hit. I needed to tell someone, but no one was going to listen right now. Maybe I could get a hold of Hot Shot, if he wasn't too far away.
Hot Shot! Somethings wrong! I called through our sibling bond.
Duh Bee, there's a lot of things wrong He was scared too. Innocent bots are getting hurt.
Starlight's on that ship! I cried. And yes, I know there are also innocents on it too but….But what? Her life wasn't more important than anyone else's, but to me it was.
"Prime, there's a report of Starlight being on that ship!" I heard my brother call from the other side of the bridge.
"Can anyone confirm? Analyze the video to find out." Prime said, going towards Jazz. He must have been the one to pull the video up. "Slag…get us in the air now!"
The ship gave a small jerk after the engines started up and we were in the air.
Starlight's View:
When we reached the bridge, I saw they were in contact with my Sire. He didn't look happy, but I didn't have time to ask questions. The green bot and I were thrown to the floor when something hit the ship. Smoke from the blast quickly filled the hall as the sirens sounded and commands were called for everyone to get to their battle stations.
"Starlight, with me!" The green bot helped me up and started leading me deeper into the ship.
"Where are we going? What is going on?" I knew we had been hit, but I needed to know if the ship was compromised. If so, we should have been evacuating bots.
"You need to get off this ship. I'm taking you to the escape pods."
"No!" I stopped running with him and pulled on his arm. "We need to be evacuating the ship. The hull has been breached and bots are in danger!"
"I'm sorry but your life is more important." He tried to get me to go with him again but I refused.
"My life is not more important than any other bots." I said sternly to him. "I maybe a Prime's daughter, but that doesn't make me more important, soldier. Now, I order you to help me evacuate the ship." I stormed ahead of him and turned the corner before realizing I had no idea where I was going.
"Erm, my lady…this way." He pointed the opposite way.
Optimus Prime's view:
The other ships took off with us and we all raced towards the ship in distress. As we approached the ship, we saw an engine was on fire and a hole had been blown into the side but what we didn't see were enemy ships surrounding it.
"Sir, Decepticon ships have fallen back!" Ironhide said from beside my captain's chair. "There is no sign of them around the ship." That wasn't a good sign.
"Try to hail them again. See if anyone answers on any frequency." Clicks passed but no one said a word about getting into contact with them.
"Sir, there's no signal from the ship." Bluestreak said from his station. "The only way to know is to send someone down there."
"I'll go, sir." Hot Shot said from behind me. I sighed.
"Alright. Be careful." In my spark I knew Hot Shot would be able to do this, but I worried about the kind of danger he would be in. Slag knows where the 'Cons had gone off too and it very well could be a trap.
"I will sir." I hated how much he sounded just like any other soldier.
Not long after Hot Shot left, we watched escape pods launch from the ship and heading towards a nearby moon. At least there they would be safe and eventually be able to rebuild there.
Good, everyone seems to be safe. I thought.
Starlight's View:
Everything was going alright. The 'Cons had stopped firing for now and we were clear for the escape ships to evacuate. Every pod was going to a nearby moon to rebuild there. They would at least be away from Cybertron and could recolonize there until another option became available. The original plan was to find another planet, but this was the only option, unless we wanted to over crowd the other ships.
"Last civilian pod!" Someone called out as it launched. I sighed in relief. Everyone was safe, save for who was left on the ship.
"Incoming!" Someone yelled as a gold pod came in to land in an empty launch pad. Everyone readied their guns and aimed as the ship door hissed open.
"Easy guys, it's me." I heard Hot Shots voice as he stepped out of the pod. "Starlight, there you are. You had us worried."
"Sorry, I got caught up in the madness." I said as I disarmed my gun. "Everyone is off the ship, except for us." I motioned to the other five bots near me.
"Good. You guys go. I've got her from here." The bots nodded and got on to the last pod.
"Come on, you're wit…" But a shot rang out and Hot Shot stopped. My optics widened in horror as energon leaked from the chest wound and Hot Shot fell into my arms.
"No! Hot Shot…HOT SHOT!" I cried out, slowly lowering us to the ground. Behind me an explosion went off as the last pod that had taken off was shot down. The fight had broken back out, and Hot Shot had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The shot had missed that ship the first time and had come through the glass, hitting him right through the chest. Sirens went off and a warning about depressurizing rang through the ship.
"G-get in to the pod…" He tried to shove me away but was too weak. "Y-you have to get off this ship…is gonna collapse. The engine…"
"Shhh…" I stopped him. There was nothing I could do to save him. The bullet had damaged his spark casing, but I wasn't going to leave him. "I'm gonna get us out of here, ok? We'll get on the pod, fly to the Ark and get you to Ratchet to patch you up." I told him, my optics blurred with tears. "You're going to be ok." I tried to hold back my sobs.
"Star…I love you. You're like a sister to me. And…ugh…you and I both know…I ain't gonna make it." He smiled, denta covered in energon from his internal bleeding. "It's ok…tell Bee…tell Bee I loved him too…and…when you two bond, name your kid after me?" I shook my head in disbelief that he was joking with me right now.
I couldn't hold back any more. "I love you too brother…" I held him close in my lap. "You're going to see…you're going to get through this. Please don't go…" I knew though, he was fading. "I love you…I love you too much…"
"I…." He tried to say but he never finished, I'd never know what he was going to say. I watched him turn grey and go limp in my arms. I felt my spark shatter into pieces. "No…No Hot Shot…" I tried to wake him, despite the fact I knew he was gone. I screamed in anguish over his body. My friend…my brother was gone.
Bumblebee's View:
We fired back at the 'Cons. They had ambushed us, lying in wait for us to take the bait. Two ships had gone down, one crashing into another moon and the other destroyed on impact. Prime hailed the last civilian ship, the one with a red stripe, and demanded that they land where the other had crashed. The Ark would be used as a decoy to draw them away.
In the midst of the battle, the green ship exploded. My spark…suddenly felt empty. I didn't understand why, until I tried to reach out to Hot Shot and got nothing back. There was a painful, empty feeling inside my spark.
No…not him too… I ran to look out a hull window in time to see a gold pod fly off in the opposite direction. It was heading deeper into space. He's got to be there… Deep down, I knew he wasn't on that ship, but I had to keep believing right now. It was the only thing keeping me going.
Optimus Prime's View:
We were able to draw fire away from the red ship and thankfully they got away safely. Unfortunately, we had attracted the attention of the Nemesis, Megatron's ship.
"Get some distance between them and us. Follow the pod." Something told me Starlight was on it, but Hot Shot…no, he was with her. He had to be.
We tried to follow the pod but it was more agile than we were and got quite a ways away. It was just barely detectable on screen or with our raider.
"Nemesis is starting to close in sir! And the pod is heading for some kind of strong energy field. Sir, we need to get away from that and the 'Cons." Prowl was monitoring how close the 'Cons were to us.
"We must catch that pod. What is on the other side of the field?" I asked him.
"Unknown sir. There's a strong chance our ship could get caught and we could be stranded." Prowl said as he analyzed the different possibilities.
"Be a bad idea ta get stuck wit the 'Cons afta us." Jazz sighed. "But, if we turn and try ta avoid it, we'll be caught by the 'Con anyway. You call Boss."
I thought it trough for a few clicks and decided to risk going through the energy field. "Press onward."
Just as we were about into the field, the 'Cons hit us, taking out an engine. Sirens rang out and called for everyone to get into their station.
"Sir, we're down one engine!" Bluestreak yelled. "The fire is out but we are down to two engines. We'll have to land as soon as we can!"
"Get us through the field! Jazz, find the closest planet to land on!" I barked out other orders for everyone to brace for impact.
We hit the field, an electrical current surging through the ship and causing the readings to go haywire. Jazz said something about the Nemesis' engine going offline but I didn't hear all of it over the noise. I was also focused on the pod, watching it slow before being launched forward by the energy. Our ship was also hurdled out of the field by the same energy, pulling us out of the field in in front of a blue planet. There was no sign of the pod. My spark sank when it wasn't even detected on radar.
Our ship was instantly caught in the planets gravity field, but we couldn't get away from it. When we were pushed forward, a second engine went out, making us unable to pull free. We hit the atmosphere, as everyone was told to brace for immediate impact and we crashed into a mountain side. Everyone on board, including me was put into an emergency stasis to keep us alive.
Present time:
Optimus Prime:
We awoke thousands of years later to find the All Spark had landed on this planet as well. We fought bravely to obtain it, but in the end it was destroyed by Megatron. We now live on this planet called Earth. I invite anyone still left out there among the stars to join us, here on our new found home.
I send out this signal to anyone who may hear it.
Starlight, if you can hear me, please come home.
Prolog:
Stellar cycles passed and each one got harder and harder. This place was decollate but the view…it was worth it. It over looked a blue planet on one side and on the other was a view of several other planets and galaxies as far as the optic could see. The energy field must had transported me through a worm hole and I landed on this moon. Unfortunately my pod wasn't as lucky as me. It was damaged beyond repair and I had no way of fixing it. Thankfully the emergency stasis systems had worked and I was awoken a few hundred stellar cycles later. The problem now was until something came on to this moon, I would be stuck here for a while.
I heard a ping and pressed my finger to my temple.
"My name is Optimus Prime…"
I gasped in shock. "Sire?"
Thank you for your support. Please R&R