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wyntir_knightI'm not entirely sure about this chapter. I think it needs something. It needs to be tightened up or something. I thought I would post it here first, to see if anyone had any comments or thoughts.
The rest of the chapters can be found on FFNet here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3066891/1/
Three Steps Back
“Be sure to take care of him,” Ratchet said quietly.
“I will,” Ultaree replied, moving Huffer's pallet up to the catwalk. “I promise nothing will happen to her while she's in my care.”
Prowl watched Ratchet while the medic watched Ultaree take Huffer away. Once the door was shut Ratchet slumped a bit and Prowl placed an arm around his shoulder.
“Come on, Doc. It's up to Ultaree now,” Prowl said, urging Ratchet toward the back of the room. “You're ready to pass out. Try to get some recharge.”
Ratchet half-smiled at the tactician and lowered himself to the floor slowly. He closed his optics wearily. Prowl remained next to him until he heard the gentle hum of Ratchet's recharge cycle kick in. As soon as he was sure that Ratchet wouldn't easily wake, he opened a direct line to Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Ironhide.
“I need your opinions on our escape,” he said. “Assuming that Ultaree is genuine in his desire to help us, I would still put our chances at less than fifty percent, I need to know if you’re seeing any potential problems I may have missed.”
“Well, we’ve only got his word that there are four crew manning this here ship. I’d say that’s a problem right there,” Ironhide said.
“What would he possibly get out of lying to us?” Smokescreen asked. “If he's lying then we end up in the arena anyways, same as now. The only way this would be profitable was if he was planning on selling us himself, and that theory seems like a long shot to me. He really doesn't seem to have the bearings for that sort of scheme.”
“I never said he knew he lyin’ to us,” Ironhide said. “I'm sayin’ that he might not know everythin’ that’s goin’ on. We ain’t got no reason to believe Eltara gives Ultaree any more information than he needs. From what I’ve seen of the relationship between those two I’m amazed there are any males on this ship at all. She sure as shootin’ treats him like a lesser bein’ an’ he seems to be treatin’ this as normal.”
“Yes, this does seem to be a very misandrous culture,” Prowl said.
“Good point,” Smokescreen conceded. “But even if there are guards we don't know about, we have to make our attempt now, before we get to the arena. Trust me, once this warlord gets his claws into us our chances go from slim to none.”
“Wheeljack, what are your thoughts on these restraining bolts?” Prowl asked.
“Tell you the truth, I can't really say for sure,” Wheeljack said. “Hey, why isn't Ratch' involved in this?”
“He's in recharge,” Prowl said tightly. “He suggested that the shocks deplete energy as well as cause pain, and he was on the receiving end of several massive doses.”
“Well did he tell you what it felt like? Without that info I can only guess,” Wheeljack replied.
“I can tell you that from first hand experience,” Prowl said, then he paused trying to find the words to describe the sensation. “It was like having every sensory node on fire. Every gear and wire was vibrating, but the resonance was in complete discord. I felt completely overcharged and as if there was a massive energy build-up, but no way to let it go.”
Smokescreen snorted. “It sounds like interfacing gone wrong.”
“And it interfered with my stabilizers. I couldn’t stay standing and I kept shaking like I had been electrocuted,” Prowl continued, ignoring Smokescreen's comment. “It was beyond excruciating.”
“Well ... okay... based on that description and what I can see of this thing, I'd guess that it's designed to be a neural-gyro inhibitor. For it to have the effect it does it must be tapping into all our systems. It's almost like one of Bombshell's mind control chips crossed with a liberal dose of pain rod. It's odd though. It seems to be involved with the translation of the sionorian language too,” Wheeljack mused. “Did Ratch' take a look at it? Did he have any thoughts on how it's hooked in to our systems?”
“He said that he didn't think that they could be removed without proper tools without doing damage,” Prowl replied.
“Okay,” Wheeljack replied, “I can work with that. I'll let you know if I can figure out how to deactivate the things, but I can't make any promises. It's possible that this is one of Ultaree's toys. If it has an organic base, then...” Wheeljack trailed off into muttering.
“That's fine,” Prowl said, “do what you can. If these things are still active when we make our attempt we'll deal with it.”
“Uh, right,” Wheeljack acknowledged, distracted, before turning off his communicator.
“All right, then. Do either of you have anything else to add?” Prowl asked.
“Yes,” Smokescreen said. “We need to seriously consider that backup plan I suggested. Escaping in the emergency shuttles Ultaree told us about is likely to be a better bet all around, especially if Ironhide’s right about Ultaree being out of the loop. It’ll be tight, but from his description, it’s doable.”
“True, but multiple shuttles mean multiple targets,” Prowl said. “I’m also convinced that we’ll be less visible in this vessel. However, I do agree that it’s a viable backup, and we’ll use it as such.”
“I don't figure that Huffer'll be up fer any kind of fight,” Ironhide said. “You might want t' consider puttin' him, Hound, Trailbreaker n' Red on the shuttles. Have Smokescreen, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Mirage, n' Ultaree go after the weapons,-”
“I can get the weapons myself,” Smokescreen interrupted.
“An' how're you gonna carry 'em back by yourself?” Ironhide asked.
“Hold on, Smokescreen,” Prowl said, stopping the argument before it could begin. “I see where Ironhide is going with this. If we succeed in taking the bridge we'll need you four to go to engineering. And if we have to take the shuttles, then it will save time if we're already in groups.”
“Fine, alright,” Smokescreen conceded.
“That leaves Ironhide, Brawn, Windcharger, and me to take the bridge. With a little luck we can get out of this without too many problems,” Prowl said.
“All we need now is a little energon and a lot of luck,” Ironhide muttered grimly.
***
Ultaree stood in his office next to the one called Huffer waiting for her to wake up. In the silence of the room he could hear her humming softly. The sound was like the thrumming of a well-calibrated engine, soothing, harmonious, and safe. Ultaree had always felt safest when he was with his engines, deep in the bowels of the ship. In the engine room he was powerful, no one had ever questioned him while he was there. In engineering he was almost equal to a female. Almost, but not quite.
Maybe that was why he likes these robots so much. They never spoke to him with a sneer. They never looked at him as if he was a hatchling, or worse, breeding stock. It had taken five lifetimes for males to get where they were in Sinorian society, and yet, these robots treated him like an equal from the beginning, especially Prowl and Wheeljack. He ruffled his feathers with pleasure at the memory of Wheeljack’s compliment of his work.
“Oh my achin’ head!” Ultaree was startled out of his thoughts by Huffer’s groan.
“What happened to my optics?” Huffer asked, sounding slightly panicked.
“It’s all right, you’re safe,” Ultaree said, soothingly.
“Who’re you?” Huffer asked, sitting up and trying to move away.
“Wait! You’ll fall off the table. Let me help you down,” Ultaree said. “My name is Ultaree. I’m here to help you. … Uhm, Prowl said that when you were awake you should call SC15. The others can explain everything”
“Nope. Prowl’s dead,” Huffer said. He had stopped trying to get off the table, but his guard was still up.
“Prowl was broken, but I fixed … I fixed all of you. … Well, Ratchet fixed you, but I brought your ‘spark’ back,” Ultaree stammered. “I guess you don’t have any reason to believe me, but I really am trying to help. If you’d call Prowl everything will be explained.”
“If Ratchet fixed me then why can’t I see?” Huffer asked.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t have the parts. I didn’t know how to fix you so I didn’t know what parts to get and none of the others had had their eyes broken and I’m really sorry. I just … I just want to help?” Ultaree said, crouching on the floor and abasing himself instinctively.
“All right, all right!” Huffer said, holding up his hands. “I believe you. The Decepticons aren’t good enough actors for this.”
“What’s a Decepticon?” Ultaree asked.
“Never mind. You said SC15?” Huffer asked.
Ultaree nodded, then, realizing that Huffer couldn’t see him, he replied, “Yes. She said SC15.”
“She who?” Huffer asked.
“P-Prowl? She told me to tell you SC15. All the others called her on that channel, so why won’t you?”
“Well now I definitely don’t believe you. Prowl’s no femme,” Huffer said.
“Of course she’s female. She’s in charge of all of you isn’t she? She can’t be a male and hold that kind of position,” Ultaree argued.
Huffer shook his head in confusion. “I must still be dead because none of this makes sense.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Ultaree sighed. “I’ll try to explain it myself as best as I can. … You were all dead and in a floating mausoleum. My Captain got the co-ordinates to the barge from a Five-Face and we took your bodies and I fixed you all. Captain Eltara is planning on selling you to a fighting arena. I want to help you escape but before we can continue with Prowl’s plan, I need you to contact her and let her know that you’re awake. I can’t go see her myself because Lady Eltara will suspect something. … I don’t … I don’t usually take the initiative and she’ll know something is up if I do.”
“Sounds pretty far fetched to me, but fine. I’ll call. Even if it’s just to get you to shut up,” Huffer groused. “It probably won’t work anyways.”
Ultaree sat back and waited. Huffer sat silently for a long time, head down, hands folded in his lap. Ultaree tried to interrupt once but was silenced by a raised hand. Ultaree just watched Huffer silently, growing more impatient with every passing moment. All the other robots acknowledged that they were having conversations. Their facial expressions changed, they gestured, and sometimes they even spoke out loud. Huffer did none of these things. He may as well have been a statue. Most likely, he was putting Ultaree on.
“Hmph. Prowl says you’re telling the truth,” Huffer said. “He wants you to take me with you when you shut down the electricity to the holding cells,” he said, emphasizing the masculine pronoun. “After everyone’s out Hound, Trailbreaker, Red and I will go secure the shuttles. You, Smokescreen, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Mirage are going to get the weapons. Then, when it all goes to pot, which it will, we’ll all escape on the shuttles.”
Ultaree had never met a more negative person. He was astounded at Huffer’s lack of faith in himself, in Prowl, in all the Five-Face Robots. He shook his head in dismay.
“Well?” Huffer asked, holding out a hand. “You gonna guide me to the holding cells or not?”
Ultaree sighed inwardly. “I have to cover our steps first,” he said, turning to the communications panel. “Ultaree to Lady Eltara, please acknowledge, madam.”
“What is it this time?!” Eltara snapped.
“I apologize for disturbing you, madam. I have the broken one working. He – it is functional and ready for our arrival to Epsilon Sigma. Everything is as you commanded,” he said.
“Fine, fine. About time you completed that,” Eltara said. “Get it back to it’s cell and stop bothering me!” With that, Eltara closed the channel.
Ultaree turned and took Huffer’s arm, preparing to lead him to the holding area. Suddenly Huffer reached out and grabbed Ultaree’s arm, running his fingers over Ultaree’s feathers.
“You’re an avian-type creature? … Well, at least your not human, so that’s a start,” Huffer muttered. “And that means we’re not on the mud ball anymore! That’s even better!” he added, sounding genuinely happy.
Ultaree ignored the strange comment and lead Huffer from the room.
***
Prowl and Ratchet had hauled themselves up to the catwalk and waited patiently for Ultaree to cut the power to the doors. All the other Autobots had been told of the plan and each one knew where they were going. Luckily for everyone involved, the Sinorians built their ships in a very linear fashion. Apparently they had difficulty with stairs and sharp turns, so there was little chance of anyone getting lost on their way to their destinations. It was all a waiting game now. Waiting for Ultaree to disable the alarms and cameras. Waiting for him to open the doors. And praying that he was as genuine as he appeared.
The wait seemed to drag on forever, even though Prowl’s internal chronometer told him that only 22.5 minutes had passed. His battle computer ran the possible scenarios of their escape and he always came up with no more than a 60% chance of success. There were just too many unknown factors. The one thing he was sure of was that the longer they waited to escape, the lower the odds became. He was running a new set of statistics through his battle computer when the lights suddenly went out, plunging the cistern into complete darkness.
“Here we go,” Ratchet muttered.
Prowl heard a creak and the door to the cistern opened to reveal the corridor outside. Everything was bathed in a sickly green glow as emergency lights flicked on. Slowly, one by one each cell opened and an Autobot walked out of each. There were quick smiles, nodded greetings, and looks of relief everywhere, but Prowl was proud to see that his troops remained completely professional, quickly splitting off into their designated groups.
Ultaree stepped hesitantly to the center of the hall and dipped his head. It was a movement that Prowl suspected was one of embarrassment.
“I’ve only inturrupted the power for a few minutes,” he said, hesitantly, “so we won’t have a lot of time. The bridge is at the end of the hall that way,” he said, pointing up the corridor. “The shuttles are down there to the left of the cistern and the armoury is to the right.”
“What about the bolts?” Ratchet asked.
“I wasn’t able to figure them out,” Wheeljack said sheepishly. He had scorch marks on his chest flaring out from the bolt.
“I don’t have time to take them off, but just kneel down and I can adjust them so they’re on a different frequency. Eltara can push the button all she likes, but she won’t hurt you,” Ultaree replied.
He made surprisingly quick work of adjusting the bolts, running a strange wrench-like device over them. Prowl felt no different after the change, but trusted Ultaree’s work.
“Right,” Prowl said, stepping forward. “Keep in communication, let me know if anything changes, and be careful.”
As soon as the other two teams were on their way he turned and headed up toward the bridge, taking Ironhide, Brawn, and Windcharger with him. The four moved silently and carefully toward the bridge. As they reached the door, the lights came back on in the hall. He reached out a hand and pushed the door to the bridge open.
***
Hound, Trailbreaker, Red Alert, and Huffer made their way down the left corridor. Going was slow, since Huffer couldn't be expected to run anywhere, but their pace was steady. It wasn't long before they reached the hangar. Four large shuttles sat in the bay ready to be taken out.
“Well this seems easy enough,” Hound said, looking around the bay.
“Yeah, maybe,” Trailbreaker said, approaching one of the shuttles. “You know, I’m kind of surprised that the shuttles are this big. I figured that Ultaree was exaggerating.”
“He does not seem one for exaggeration,” Red Alert said, peering at a control panel. “If anything, I think he has a tendency to make things simpler than they actually are. He does not seem to have much self-esteem.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Trailbreaker laughed. “If that boy’s esteem was any lower … well I’m already surprised he gets out of bed every day. But maybe he’ll get better once he’s away from Eltara.”
“He may surprise you. I think he’s got potential. Wheeljack sure seems impressed by him,” Hound said.
“Great, so maybe the two of them can blow things up together,” Huffer grumbled.
“Ah! Always a ray of sunshine,” Hound laughed. “C’mon, let’s get these shuttles ready to go, just in case they run into problems up on the bridge.”
The lights began to flicker and suddenly cut out. A clicking sound, like nails on the deck plating, started as soon as the lights had died.
"Something is very wrong," Red Alert said peering into the darkened corridor, his horn lights glowing red.
***
Prowl entered the large bridge and looked around. It was deserted and darkened, lit only by green emergency lights.
"So why're the lights on in th' hall and out in here?" Ironhide asked.
"Forget that, where's the crew?" Windcharger asked, looking around the eerily empty room.
"I suppose it'd be be too much to ask that they're all off duty," Brawn said.
"Probably ...," Ironhide replied. "But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Hopefully this horse isn't trojan," Windcharger muttered.
"Whatever is going on, I don't like it," Prowl said. "Stay alert."
Prowl looked around the space. It was split into two levels with no apparent connecting passage between them. Not surprising since the Sinorians were capable of short jumps of mock-flight. He approached the console closest to he door. The console was covered with lights, buttons, and flywheels. It looked like something out of an old human sci-fi film.
"What's with all the scratches?" Ironhide asked. "They're on every surface."
"They're too regular to be random scratches. I'd say that it's Sinorian writing. We'll need to get Ultaree's help with this once we've secured the bridge," Prowl said.
"That might prove to be a bit difficult. I do believe that Ultaree is indisposed at the moment. In fact, I don't believe that he will be able to help you ever again," a female voice said from the upper deck as the lights came on in the the room.
Eltara wasted no time with further theatrics; she simply pulled out a pain rod and pressed the button.
The four mechs hit the deck in agony, pain shooting throught every circuit. It was worse now than it had been before, and the last thought to enter Prowl's processor was that they had been betrayed.
***
Smokescreen, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Mirage followed Ultaree toward the weapons locker.
“The weapons’ locker has a magnetic lock and Meda’s the only one with a key. And she may have added more security … our crew was rather rebellious. I’m not sure that Meda approved of Eltara bringing them aboard,” Ultaree said.
“Crew?” Mirage asked. “I thought you said there were only four of you on this vessel.”
“There are. Well, now there are,” Ultaree said. “The Five-Face warned that there was a security system on the barge, so Eltara brought a group of convicts on board to distract the system while Meda and I disabled it.”
“Distract it?” Ratchet asked.
“As shock troops,” Ultaree said. “You send the outlanders in first, and while the security system is trying to kill them, you send in the techs and they disable it.”
Ratchet stopped. “Hold on just a minute. You sacrificed people to get us out?” he asked, his tone menacing.
“No, not people. Outlanders. They were only valen, krellian and a gorshak. And even if they had been sinorian, they gave up their status when they became criminal,” Ultaree said, looking back at Ratchet in confusion.
“They were living beings,” Ratchet growled, closing in on Ultaree. “They were all killed by the security system?”
“No …?” Ultaree said in a whisper, staring up at Ratchet, obviously terrified by the angry medic. “We, uhm, we hunted down the survivors. It’s standard procedure. But we treated the bodies with respect that we show to all food.”
As Ultaree spoke, Ratchet’s rage became palpable. The sinorian saw this and whimpered, prostrating himself on the floor before the furious medic.
“Calm down Ratch,” Wheeljack said, placing a hand on Ratchet’s shoulder, holding the medic back. “It’s done, it’s over, and now’s not the time to discuss this.”
“Come on, we have to get those weapons,” Smokescreen whispered. “We can deal with this later, but right now we need him, Ratchet.”
Ratchet continued to stare at the prostrate sinorian for a long moment before stalking off toward the weapons’ locker. He was quickly followed by Smokescreen and Mirage.
Wheeljack stayed behind, standing next to the still prostrate engineer. With a sigh he reached out a hand to help Ultaree up. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get those weapons and get out of here.”
“I … I’ve offended her! I’ve offended all of you! I never thought that …,” Ultaree stammered.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have a long talk later, but right now we need to get-”
“SLAG!” Ratchet’s curse came from the direction of the locker. It was followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the wall and three screams of agony.
Without a moment’s hesitation Wheeljack and Ultaree ran toward the noise and were stopped short by something they never expected. Ratchet, Mirage, and Smokescreen lay on the ground in foetal balls, twitching weakly. Meda stood over their prone bodies twirling a silver wand in her talon.
“Ah, so we have one more, do we?” she purred. “And Ultaree, my darling! You’ve come to the party too I see! I’d so hoped you would see the error of your ways and go back to being a good little fledgling.”
“Meda! What have you done?” Ultaree cried, stepping forward.
“I’m doing exactly what I have to do to secure Eltara’s property,” Meda said. “Speaking of which …” She brandished the wad and Wheeljack’s world was filled with pain.
“Meda! Stop!” Ultaree screamed. “They aren’t property! They’re the Five-Face Robots, you need to let them go!”
“All I need to do is follow Eltara’s orders. Something you should have done from the beginning,” she said. She pushed the button on the wand again and cackled gleefully as all four robots writhed on the ground.
“Please! Meda! Stop it! You’re killing them!” Ultaree pleaded, watching the torture with horror.
“You can’t kill something that was never alive, Ultaree. And besides, there’s no one here to stop me.”
”I … I …” Ultaree watched as she pushed the button again, and again. Then, suddenly, something inside him snapped.
With a feral cry he launched himself at Meda, snapping, and clawing, and kicking at her flanks. She collapsed under him, but her disadvantage only lasted a minute. Unlike the males, female sinorians were taught to fight, and she was one of the best. With a twist of her body and a flick of her tail, she reversed their positions, pinning Ultaree to the ground, using her greater size to her advantage.
“Ultaree, my darling, you have brought this upon yourself,” she growled.
With a quick thrust she jabbed Ultaree on both sides of his neck, and he fell into darkness.
The rest of the chapters can be found on FFNet here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3066891/1/
Three Steps Back
“Be sure to take care of him,” Ratchet said quietly.
“I will,” Ultaree replied, moving Huffer's pallet up to the catwalk. “I promise nothing will happen to her while she's in my care.”
Prowl watched Ratchet while the medic watched Ultaree take Huffer away. Once the door was shut Ratchet slumped a bit and Prowl placed an arm around his shoulder.
“Come on, Doc. It's up to Ultaree now,” Prowl said, urging Ratchet toward the back of the room. “You're ready to pass out. Try to get some recharge.”
Ratchet half-smiled at the tactician and lowered himself to the floor slowly. He closed his optics wearily. Prowl remained next to him until he heard the gentle hum of Ratchet's recharge cycle kick in. As soon as he was sure that Ratchet wouldn't easily wake, he opened a direct line to Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Ironhide.
“I need your opinions on our escape,” he said. “Assuming that Ultaree is genuine in his desire to help us, I would still put our chances at less than fifty percent, I need to know if you’re seeing any potential problems I may have missed.”
“Well, we’ve only got his word that there are four crew manning this here ship. I’d say that’s a problem right there,” Ironhide said.
“What would he possibly get out of lying to us?” Smokescreen asked. “If he's lying then we end up in the arena anyways, same as now. The only way this would be profitable was if he was planning on selling us himself, and that theory seems like a long shot to me. He really doesn't seem to have the bearings for that sort of scheme.”
“I never said he knew he lyin’ to us,” Ironhide said. “I'm sayin’ that he might not know everythin’ that’s goin’ on. We ain’t got no reason to believe Eltara gives Ultaree any more information than he needs. From what I’ve seen of the relationship between those two I’m amazed there are any males on this ship at all. She sure as shootin’ treats him like a lesser bein’ an’ he seems to be treatin’ this as normal.”
“Yes, this does seem to be a very misandrous culture,” Prowl said.
“Good point,” Smokescreen conceded. “But even if there are guards we don't know about, we have to make our attempt now, before we get to the arena. Trust me, once this warlord gets his claws into us our chances go from slim to none.”
“Wheeljack, what are your thoughts on these restraining bolts?” Prowl asked.
“Tell you the truth, I can't really say for sure,” Wheeljack said. “Hey, why isn't Ratch' involved in this?”
“He's in recharge,” Prowl said tightly. “He suggested that the shocks deplete energy as well as cause pain, and he was on the receiving end of several massive doses.”
“Well did he tell you what it felt like? Without that info I can only guess,” Wheeljack replied.
“I can tell you that from first hand experience,” Prowl said, then he paused trying to find the words to describe the sensation. “It was like having every sensory node on fire. Every gear and wire was vibrating, but the resonance was in complete discord. I felt completely overcharged and as if there was a massive energy build-up, but no way to let it go.”
Smokescreen snorted. “It sounds like interfacing gone wrong.”
“And it interfered with my stabilizers. I couldn’t stay standing and I kept shaking like I had been electrocuted,” Prowl continued, ignoring Smokescreen's comment. “It was beyond excruciating.”
“Well ... okay... based on that description and what I can see of this thing, I'd guess that it's designed to be a neural-gyro inhibitor. For it to have the effect it does it must be tapping into all our systems. It's almost like one of Bombshell's mind control chips crossed with a liberal dose of pain rod. It's odd though. It seems to be involved with the translation of the sionorian language too,” Wheeljack mused. “Did Ratch' take a look at it? Did he have any thoughts on how it's hooked in to our systems?”
“He said that he didn't think that they could be removed without proper tools without doing damage,” Prowl replied.
“Okay,” Wheeljack replied, “I can work with that. I'll let you know if I can figure out how to deactivate the things, but I can't make any promises. It's possible that this is one of Ultaree's toys. If it has an organic base, then...” Wheeljack trailed off into muttering.
“That's fine,” Prowl said, “do what you can. If these things are still active when we make our attempt we'll deal with it.”
“Uh, right,” Wheeljack acknowledged, distracted, before turning off his communicator.
“All right, then. Do either of you have anything else to add?” Prowl asked.
“Yes,” Smokescreen said. “We need to seriously consider that backup plan I suggested. Escaping in the emergency shuttles Ultaree told us about is likely to be a better bet all around, especially if Ironhide’s right about Ultaree being out of the loop. It’ll be tight, but from his description, it’s doable.”
“True, but multiple shuttles mean multiple targets,” Prowl said. “I’m also convinced that we’ll be less visible in this vessel. However, I do agree that it’s a viable backup, and we’ll use it as such.”
“I don't figure that Huffer'll be up fer any kind of fight,” Ironhide said. “You might want t' consider puttin' him, Hound, Trailbreaker n' Red on the shuttles. Have Smokescreen, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Mirage, n' Ultaree go after the weapons,-”
“I can get the weapons myself,” Smokescreen interrupted.
“An' how're you gonna carry 'em back by yourself?” Ironhide asked.
“Hold on, Smokescreen,” Prowl said, stopping the argument before it could begin. “I see where Ironhide is going with this. If we succeed in taking the bridge we'll need you four to go to engineering. And if we have to take the shuttles, then it will save time if we're already in groups.”
“Fine, alright,” Smokescreen conceded.
“That leaves Ironhide, Brawn, Windcharger, and me to take the bridge. With a little luck we can get out of this without too many problems,” Prowl said.
“All we need now is a little energon and a lot of luck,” Ironhide muttered grimly.
***
Ultaree stood in his office next to the one called Huffer waiting for her to wake up. In the silence of the room he could hear her humming softly. The sound was like the thrumming of a well-calibrated engine, soothing, harmonious, and safe. Ultaree had always felt safest when he was with his engines, deep in the bowels of the ship. In the engine room he was powerful, no one had ever questioned him while he was there. In engineering he was almost equal to a female. Almost, but not quite.
Maybe that was why he likes these robots so much. They never spoke to him with a sneer. They never looked at him as if he was a hatchling, or worse, breeding stock. It had taken five lifetimes for males to get where they were in Sinorian society, and yet, these robots treated him like an equal from the beginning, especially Prowl and Wheeljack. He ruffled his feathers with pleasure at the memory of Wheeljack’s compliment of his work.
“Oh my achin’ head!” Ultaree was startled out of his thoughts by Huffer’s groan.
“What happened to my optics?” Huffer asked, sounding slightly panicked.
“It’s all right, you’re safe,” Ultaree said, soothingly.
“Who’re you?” Huffer asked, sitting up and trying to move away.
“Wait! You’ll fall off the table. Let me help you down,” Ultaree said. “My name is Ultaree. I’m here to help you. … Uhm, Prowl said that when you were awake you should call SC15. The others can explain everything”
“Nope. Prowl’s dead,” Huffer said. He had stopped trying to get off the table, but his guard was still up.
“Prowl was broken, but I fixed … I fixed all of you. … Well, Ratchet fixed you, but I brought your ‘spark’ back,” Ultaree stammered. “I guess you don’t have any reason to believe me, but I really am trying to help. If you’d call Prowl everything will be explained.”
“If Ratchet fixed me then why can’t I see?” Huffer asked.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t have the parts. I didn’t know how to fix you so I didn’t know what parts to get and none of the others had had their eyes broken and I’m really sorry. I just … I just want to help?” Ultaree said, crouching on the floor and abasing himself instinctively.
“All right, all right!” Huffer said, holding up his hands. “I believe you. The Decepticons aren’t good enough actors for this.”
“What’s a Decepticon?” Ultaree asked.
“Never mind. You said SC15?” Huffer asked.
Ultaree nodded, then, realizing that Huffer couldn’t see him, he replied, “Yes. She said SC15.”
“She who?” Huffer asked.
“P-Prowl? She told me to tell you SC15. All the others called her on that channel, so why won’t you?”
“Well now I definitely don’t believe you. Prowl’s no femme,” Huffer said.
“Of course she’s female. She’s in charge of all of you isn’t she? She can’t be a male and hold that kind of position,” Ultaree argued.
Huffer shook his head in confusion. “I must still be dead because none of this makes sense.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Ultaree sighed. “I’ll try to explain it myself as best as I can. … You were all dead and in a floating mausoleum. My Captain got the co-ordinates to the barge from a Five-Face and we took your bodies and I fixed you all. Captain Eltara is planning on selling you to a fighting arena. I want to help you escape but before we can continue with Prowl’s plan, I need you to contact her and let her know that you’re awake. I can’t go see her myself because Lady Eltara will suspect something. … I don’t … I don’t usually take the initiative and she’ll know something is up if I do.”
“Sounds pretty far fetched to me, but fine. I’ll call. Even if it’s just to get you to shut up,” Huffer groused. “It probably won’t work anyways.”
Ultaree sat back and waited. Huffer sat silently for a long time, head down, hands folded in his lap. Ultaree tried to interrupt once but was silenced by a raised hand. Ultaree just watched Huffer silently, growing more impatient with every passing moment. All the other robots acknowledged that they were having conversations. Their facial expressions changed, they gestured, and sometimes they even spoke out loud. Huffer did none of these things. He may as well have been a statue. Most likely, he was putting Ultaree on.
“Hmph. Prowl says you’re telling the truth,” Huffer said. “He wants you to take me with you when you shut down the electricity to the holding cells,” he said, emphasizing the masculine pronoun. “After everyone’s out Hound, Trailbreaker, Red and I will go secure the shuttles. You, Smokescreen, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Mirage are going to get the weapons. Then, when it all goes to pot, which it will, we’ll all escape on the shuttles.”
Ultaree had never met a more negative person. He was astounded at Huffer’s lack of faith in himself, in Prowl, in all the Five-Face Robots. He shook his head in dismay.
“Well?” Huffer asked, holding out a hand. “You gonna guide me to the holding cells or not?”
Ultaree sighed inwardly. “I have to cover our steps first,” he said, turning to the communications panel. “Ultaree to Lady Eltara, please acknowledge, madam.”
“What is it this time?!” Eltara snapped.
“I apologize for disturbing you, madam. I have the broken one working. He – it is functional and ready for our arrival to Epsilon Sigma. Everything is as you commanded,” he said.
“Fine, fine. About time you completed that,” Eltara said. “Get it back to it’s cell and stop bothering me!” With that, Eltara closed the channel.
Ultaree turned and took Huffer’s arm, preparing to lead him to the holding area. Suddenly Huffer reached out and grabbed Ultaree’s arm, running his fingers over Ultaree’s feathers.
“You’re an avian-type creature? … Well, at least your not human, so that’s a start,” Huffer muttered. “And that means we’re not on the mud ball anymore! That’s even better!” he added, sounding genuinely happy.
Ultaree ignored the strange comment and lead Huffer from the room.
***
Prowl and Ratchet had hauled themselves up to the catwalk and waited patiently for Ultaree to cut the power to the doors. All the other Autobots had been told of the plan and each one knew where they were going. Luckily for everyone involved, the Sinorians built their ships in a very linear fashion. Apparently they had difficulty with stairs and sharp turns, so there was little chance of anyone getting lost on their way to their destinations. It was all a waiting game now. Waiting for Ultaree to disable the alarms and cameras. Waiting for him to open the doors. And praying that he was as genuine as he appeared.
The wait seemed to drag on forever, even though Prowl’s internal chronometer told him that only 22.5 minutes had passed. His battle computer ran the possible scenarios of their escape and he always came up with no more than a 60% chance of success. There were just too many unknown factors. The one thing he was sure of was that the longer they waited to escape, the lower the odds became. He was running a new set of statistics through his battle computer when the lights suddenly went out, plunging the cistern into complete darkness.
“Here we go,” Ratchet muttered.
Prowl heard a creak and the door to the cistern opened to reveal the corridor outside. Everything was bathed in a sickly green glow as emergency lights flicked on. Slowly, one by one each cell opened and an Autobot walked out of each. There were quick smiles, nodded greetings, and looks of relief everywhere, but Prowl was proud to see that his troops remained completely professional, quickly splitting off into their designated groups.
Ultaree stepped hesitantly to the center of the hall and dipped his head. It was a movement that Prowl suspected was one of embarrassment.
“I’ve only inturrupted the power for a few minutes,” he said, hesitantly, “so we won’t have a lot of time. The bridge is at the end of the hall that way,” he said, pointing up the corridor. “The shuttles are down there to the left of the cistern and the armoury is to the right.”
“What about the bolts?” Ratchet asked.
“I wasn’t able to figure them out,” Wheeljack said sheepishly. He had scorch marks on his chest flaring out from the bolt.
“I don’t have time to take them off, but just kneel down and I can adjust them so they’re on a different frequency. Eltara can push the button all she likes, but she won’t hurt you,” Ultaree replied.
He made surprisingly quick work of adjusting the bolts, running a strange wrench-like device over them. Prowl felt no different after the change, but trusted Ultaree’s work.
“Right,” Prowl said, stepping forward. “Keep in communication, let me know if anything changes, and be careful.”
As soon as the other two teams were on their way he turned and headed up toward the bridge, taking Ironhide, Brawn, and Windcharger with him. The four moved silently and carefully toward the bridge. As they reached the door, the lights came back on in the hall. He reached out a hand and pushed the door to the bridge open.
***
Hound, Trailbreaker, Red Alert, and Huffer made their way down the left corridor. Going was slow, since Huffer couldn't be expected to run anywhere, but their pace was steady. It wasn't long before they reached the hangar. Four large shuttles sat in the bay ready to be taken out.
“Well this seems easy enough,” Hound said, looking around the bay.
“Yeah, maybe,” Trailbreaker said, approaching one of the shuttles. “You know, I’m kind of surprised that the shuttles are this big. I figured that Ultaree was exaggerating.”
“He does not seem one for exaggeration,” Red Alert said, peering at a control panel. “If anything, I think he has a tendency to make things simpler than they actually are. He does not seem to have much self-esteem.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Trailbreaker laughed. “If that boy’s esteem was any lower … well I’m already surprised he gets out of bed every day. But maybe he’ll get better once he’s away from Eltara.”
“He may surprise you. I think he’s got potential. Wheeljack sure seems impressed by him,” Hound said.
“Great, so maybe the two of them can blow things up together,” Huffer grumbled.
“Ah! Always a ray of sunshine,” Hound laughed. “C’mon, let’s get these shuttles ready to go, just in case they run into problems up on the bridge.”
The lights began to flicker and suddenly cut out. A clicking sound, like nails on the deck plating, started as soon as the lights had died.
"Something is very wrong," Red Alert said peering into the darkened corridor, his horn lights glowing red.
***
Prowl entered the large bridge and looked around. It was deserted and darkened, lit only by green emergency lights.
"So why're the lights on in th' hall and out in here?" Ironhide asked.
"Forget that, where's the crew?" Windcharger asked, looking around the eerily empty room.
"I suppose it'd be be too much to ask that they're all off duty," Brawn said.
"Probably ...," Ironhide replied. "But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Hopefully this horse isn't trojan," Windcharger muttered.
"Whatever is going on, I don't like it," Prowl said. "Stay alert."
Prowl looked around the space. It was split into two levels with no apparent connecting passage between them. Not surprising since the Sinorians were capable of short jumps of mock-flight. He approached the console closest to he door. The console was covered with lights, buttons, and flywheels. It looked like something out of an old human sci-fi film.
"What's with all the scratches?" Ironhide asked. "They're on every surface."
"They're too regular to be random scratches. I'd say that it's Sinorian writing. We'll need to get Ultaree's help with this once we've secured the bridge," Prowl said.
"That might prove to be a bit difficult. I do believe that Ultaree is indisposed at the moment. In fact, I don't believe that he will be able to help you ever again," a female voice said from the upper deck as the lights came on in the the room.
Eltara wasted no time with further theatrics; she simply pulled out a pain rod and pressed the button.
The four mechs hit the deck in agony, pain shooting throught every circuit. It was worse now than it had been before, and the last thought to enter Prowl's processor was that they had been betrayed.
***
Smokescreen, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Mirage followed Ultaree toward the weapons locker.
“The weapons’ locker has a magnetic lock and Meda’s the only one with a key. And she may have added more security … our crew was rather rebellious. I’m not sure that Meda approved of Eltara bringing them aboard,” Ultaree said.
“Crew?” Mirage asked. “I thought you said there were only four of you on this vessel.”
“There are. Well, now there are,” Ultaree said. “The Five-Face warned that there was a security system on the barge, so Eltara brought a group of convicts on board to distract the system while Meda and I disabled it.”
“Distract it?” Ratchet asked.
“As shock troops,” Ultaree said. “You send the outlanders in first, and while the security system is trying to kill them, you send in the techs and they disable it.”
Ratchet stopped. “Hold on just a minute. You sacrificed people to get us out?” he asked, his tone menacing.
“No, not people. Outlanders. They were only valen, krellian and a gorshak. And even if they had been sinorian, they gave up their status when they became criminal,” Ultaree said, looking back at Ratchet in confusion.
“They were living beings,” Ratchet growled, closing in on Ultaree. “They were all killed by the security system?”
“No …?” Ultaree said in a whisper, staring up at Ratchet, obviously terrified by the angry medic. “We, uhm, we hunted down the survivors. It’s standard procedure. But we treated the bodies with respect that we show to all food.”
As Ultaree spoke, Ratchet’s rage became palpable. The sinorian saw this and whimpered, prostrating himself on the floor before the furious medic.
“Calm down Ratch,” Wheeljack said, placing a hand on Ratchet’s shoulder, holding the medic back. “It’s done, it’s over, and now’s not the time to discuss this.”
“Come on, we have to get those weapons,” Smokescreen whispered. “We can deal with this later, but right now we need him, Ratchet.”
Ratchet continued to stare at the prostrate sinorian for a long moment before stalking off toward the weapons’ locker. He was quickly followed by Smokescreen and Mirage.
Wheeljack stayed behind, standing next to the still prostrate engineer. With a sigh he reached out a hand to help Ultaree up. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get those weapons and get out of here.”
“I … I’ve offended her! I’ve offended all of you! I never thought that …,” Ultaree stammered.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have a long talk later, but right now we need to get-”
“SLAG!” Ratchet’s curse came from the direction of the locker. It was followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the wall and three screams of agony.
Without a moment’s hesitation Wheeljack and Ultaree ran toward the noise and were stopped short by something they never expected. Ratchet, Mirage, and Smokescreen lay on the ground in foetal balls, twitching weakly. Meda stood over their prone bodies twirling a silver wand in her talon.
“Ah, so we have one more, do we?” she purred. “And Ultaree, my darling! You’ve come to the party too I see! I’d so hoped you would see the error of your ways and go back to being a good little fledgling.”
“Meda! What have you done?” Ultaree cried, stepping forward.
“I’m doing exactly what I have to do to secure Eltara’s property,” Meda said. “Speaking of which …” She brandished the wad and Wheeljack’s world was filled with pain.
“Meda! Stop!” Ultaree screamed. “They aren’t property! They’re the Five-Face Robots, you need to let them go!”
“All I need to do is follow Eltara’s orders. Something you should have done from the beginning,” she said. She pushed the button on the wand again and cackled gleefully as all four robots writhed on the ground.
“Please! Meda! Stop it! You’re killing them!” Ultaree pleaded, watching the torture with horror.
“You can’t kill something that was never alive, Ultaree. And besides, there’s no one here to stop me.”
”I … I …” Ultaree watched as she pushed the button again, and again. Then, suddenly, something inside him snapped.
With a feral cry he launched himself at Meda, snapping, and clawing, and kicking at her flanks. She collapsed under him, but her disadvantage only lasted a minute. Unlike the males, female sinorians were taught to fight, and she was one of the best. With a twist of her body and a flick of her tail, she reversed their positions, pinning Ultaree to the ground, using her greater size to her advantage.
“Ultaree, my darling, you have brought this upon yourself,” she growled.
With a quick thrust she jabbed Ultaree on both sides of his neck, and he fell into darkness.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2 Feb 2007 18:37 (UTC)*gnaws on fingernails and anxiously awaits the next chapter*
Sorry about the comment under this username. I forgot to log in under my actual name. It's me, LadyStarscream.
:-)
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Date: 2 Feb 2007 19:11 (UTC)And no worries about using another account. I'm glad you liked it. :)