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wyntir_knightTitle: The Devil You Know
Series: G1 universe, focusing on Original characters
Rating: R
Summary: In the early days of the civil war on Cybertron, Sentinel Prime authorized several refugee vessels to take Neutrals away from the planet in hopes that they could start peaceful colonies where they would be safe. Many of these refugees were never heard from again; lost to us through time and distance. But history does record the fate of one of the vessels. The Stormchaser was three orns away from its destination when it was shot down by Decepticons in an act of cowardice and deceit. There were no survivors. That is what history tells us. But in this case, history is wrong.
Author's Note: No comment
Chapter 30
“Where are we going?” Arclight asked as she followed Windsaber and Updraft from the room.
“I found the shuttle pad,” Windsaber replied as he ran through the halls, leading them toward what would hopefully be freedom. “We need to hurry. Those two won’t be down for long.”
“What do you mean?” Arclight asked a hysterical note entering her voice. “You mean they’re still alive back there?”
“Probably,” Windsaber said. “But we can’t worry about that right now. All you need to do is follow me. Don’t make me ask again.”
Arclight sighed and did as she was told, far too exhausted and frightened to argue. Updraft nodded and smiled sympathetically encouraging her to follow. They ran through the building with Windsaber in the lead and Updraft guarding the rear. Their escape was frenetic and wild, and Arclight soon found herself completely turned around and lost. It didn’t help that she could still feel the data filaments it her processor. She knew she had gotten them all out, she knew that her firewalls had protected her, but still she felt like something was wrong. She had been touched by that otherworldly energy being, and it was like it had left its mark on her.
“I promised you before that I would get you off this world,” Windsaber said quietly, almost to himself. “I intend to keep that promise. I will not lose any more you.”
Arclight stopped running looked around as if she’d been hit.
“Oh Primus, what about Turbine?” she asked, turning around heading back the way they came.
Windsaber’s hand came down hard on her shoulder yanking her back.
“He’s dead! And if he isn’t now he will be soon! There’s nothing you can do for him!” to you in Windsaber growled.
“You don’t know that!” Arclight cried. “We have to go back!”
“What? And get ourselves killed too to?” Windsaber demanded. “If we go back will be killed and his death will be in vain. Is that you want?”
“No, but we can’t just-” Arclight began.
“We can. We have to,” Updraft said, placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. “Please, Arclight. Please come with us. Trust Windsaber when he says there is nothing you can do back there. Except be killed.”
“I … I … okay,” Arclight replied in a soft, broken voice.
Updraft gathered her to him in a hug and held her close for a moment. Finally, Windsaber made a disgusted sound and walked away.
“Are you two coming or not?” the Seeker asked, sounding exasperated and annoyed at the delay.
Updraft gave Arclight’s shoulders one final squeeze before releasing her and following down the hall.
They continued following Windsaber as he led them toward the shuttle pad, but it was slow going. The halls seemed to be shifting as they ran, twisting and changing until they were completely turned around.
“I thought you knew where we were going?!” Arclight demanded with an exasperated noise.
“I do! None of this is right!” Windsaber growled, looking down a seemingly new hallway angrily. “I was just here and this is the right way!”
“Maybe …,” Updraft began hesitantly. “… Cobalt and Strobe, or whatever it was that’s controlling them, said that they can control everything. And the old mech in the recording I saw said that nature itself turned against them.”
“So what? Are you saying that those things can move a building? That they can control all of this?” Windsaber asked as he motioned around to the hallway.
“No,” Updraft replied. “But I think that maybe they can control our perceptions of things.”
“So, what? This wall isn’t really here?” Arclight asked as she slapped the wall that blocked their way. “It feels pretty solid to me.”
“I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it happened in the woods when I was patrolling with … when I was patrolling.” Updraft said, breaking off with a sad tone. He shook his head at Arclight’s sympathetic look and quickly moved on. “Anyway, you just have to trust me. Our processors are being played with, and we’re running in circles.”
Windsaber paused and looked at Updraft carefully, considering what he was saying.
“How sure are you of this?” he asked. “How sure are you that you haven’t been compromised?”
“I have not been compromised, sir,” Updraft replied tightly. “I see the walls too, but my tracking systems are telling me that we’re heading in the right direction and that this,” he said angrily as he stabbed a finger at the wall, “is the most direct route.”
Arclight shook her head in disbelief, but she approached the wall and touched it carefully. She activated her medical scanner and examined the wall, both visually, and with the sensors in her fingertips.
A roar of outrage sounded from deeper in the building, causing Updraft and Windsaber to spin toward the cry, aiming their weapons down the hall.
“We don’t have time for this,” Windsaber growled. “We need to double back and get to the shuttle pad before those two catch back up to us!”
“Just give me a moment,” Arclight mumbled as she examined the wall. “I think that Updraft is right.”
Under the scrutiny of her medical visor and fingers, the wall seemed to melt away. All the cabling, electronics, and bracing that should have been in a wall such as this were nowhere to be seen.
“I think that Updraft’s right. This wall, there’s something wrong with it,” Arclight said.
Turning off her medical visor, Arclight closed her eyes and stepped forward. And promptly walked into the wall.
“Slag! That hurt!” Arclight cried as she rubbed her face with her hands. “Primus damn it! This is ridiculous!”
With the outraged growl she pulled her laser swords out of subspace and struck the wall violently. Pressing the tips directly into the wall’s surface, she leaned forward until the sword had cut cleanly through it. Suddenly, and as if in reaction to her attack, the wall dissolved leaving a clear path for them to continue forward.
“Come on! Let’s go!” Arclight cried as she ran forward.
“This is insane!” Windsaber exclaimed as he and Updraft followed Arclight toward the landing pad.
“As if anything else has made sense since we landed here?” Updraft replied.
Windsaber merely grunted in response. From behind them they could hear Cobalt’s frenzied approach, but now that they understood that the trick with the walls they were able to move faster, no longer lost.
They soon made it to the shuttle pad but we’re faced with another shock. The whole area looked like it’d been attacked, and considering the history that may well have been the case. The few shuttles that remained were damaged beyond use. Some looked as if they had been set on fire, while others bore the tell-tale scars of laser blasts. Others still, were simply old; rusted out shells slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding vegetation. And all around were the burnt out remains of the first colonists. It looked like they had attempted to escape the planet, just as Windsaber, Updraft, and Arclight were attempting to do. It was obvious that at some point during their escape they had been attacked, and their remains had been left to rot out in the elements.
Arclight gasped, turning away from a sight she had hoped had been left behind on Cybertron. Updraft put his arm around her and held her close, offering what little comfort he could.
“All right, stay here while I go check this out,” Windsaber whispered, as he stepped out onto the shuttle pad.
“We shouldn’t separate!” Arclight hissed, as she pulled away from Updraft and grabbed at Windsaber’s arm. “We should stay together!”
“And we will. As soon as I confirm that there’s nothing dangerous out there,” Windsaber replied as he disentangled himself from Arclight’s grasp.
He motioned them back into the shadows, and as soon as he was sure they wouldn’t follow him, he stepping out into the sun. He looked around the shuttle pad then began to walk carefully through the debris.
“I don’t like this,” Updraft said quietly. “This doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t either,” Arclight replied. “But we don’t have much of choice.”
“They’ve set a trap for us before, and this would be the perfect bait,” Updraft said, worry filling his voice.
Arclight’s remained silent but she did take his hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly.
Outside Windsaber walked carefully across the landing pad, stepping gingerly over the corpses of fallen Cybertronians, all too aware of what had happened in the town square. He made his way toward a large shuttle at the far edge of the pad, far too close to the forest for Windsaber’s liking. A large crest resembling a strange cross between the Autobrand and the Decepticon sigil was emblazoned on the side of the shuttle. This shuttle did not seem as damaged as the rest that would be the logical choice to head toward. It was also a very logical piece of bait, and Windsaber wasn’t about to take any chances.
Listening to a sudden whim of this processor, Windsaber fired at the nearest corps. The body shivered as the electricity of Windsaber’s energy rifle entered its system, but otherwise remained still. Letting go of tension he hadn’t realized he was carrying, Windsaber turned from the field and continued to walk toward the target shuttle. With his attention diverted and his guard down, he failed to notice the stirrings of the forest as a high wind picked up, failed to feel the electricity that seemed to move across the rest of the field.
“Windsaber! Look out!” Updraft yelled as the first of the corpses began to move and shift.
“We have to help him!” Arclight exclaimed.
Without another moment’s thought she left the safety of the hallway and began to run toward the Seeker. Windsaber turned toward her, raising his guns in defence as he saw the field come to life and his enemies surround him. Thankfully, these bodies were in far worse shape than the ones in the town square, but their condition did not make them any less of a force to be reckoned with. They were horrible to behold, falling apart and rusting even as they stepped forward, mouths opening and closing as if attempting to form words, hands grasping and searching for contact they had not felt for untold vorns.
Windsaber backed up toward the shuttle, firing precisely into the crowd of the offlined, destroying one after another in a methodical series of strikes. But it seemed that for every one he felled, another two rose to take its place. Soon, he was overwhelmed, falling under the force of the enemy’s approach.
Arclight and Updraft ran up to the back of the crowd cutting a path through the enemy, trying desperately to reach Windsaber.
“Windsaber!” Arclight cried as she struck out at the first of mech she came to, ripping through his body and sending him tumbling to the side.
Updraft, not having been in the battle of the city square, was thrown off by the enemy, pausing in shock at the sight of the offlined rising from the ground.
“Draft! Get moving!” Arclight ordered, breaking the pilot from his shock.
Without any further thought, he began to fire into the crowd, taking out mech after mech. Bodies fell apart under the barrage, exploding or crumbling to dust until there was nothing left but twitching, trembling limbs.
Arclight continued forward, striking out at the mechs who still surrounded Windsaber. But this was no competitive match and she was still weak from Strobe’s assault on her systems. Her swords were less effective than Updraft’s rifle, but she was still able to cut a path through to Windsaber, arriving just as he threw his enemies from him.
“Get to the shuttle!” Windsaber yelled. “Go! It’s our only chance of getting out of here!”
“Yes, Sir!” Updraft called back, running straight to the shuttle, firing at the enemy as he ran.
He reached the shuttle and shouldered his rifle, examining the door controls carefully. It was a simple pad key lock, but there were thousands of possible codes. Withdrawing his hand into his arm, he replaced it with a data access adaptor and plugged it into the lock, cycling through all the possible combinations.
Meanwhile Arclight and Windsaber continued to fight off the enemy, making short work of the decaying mechs. Just as it looked like the battle was over, a roar of outrage came from inside the building. Suddenly, the enemy stopped moving, shook slightly, and fell to the ground in pieces, all life leaving their bodies.
“What’s going on?” Arclight whispered, staring at the door.
“I don’t know. But stay close and keep guarding Updraft. Be prepared for anything,” Windsaber replied. “Updraft, how long until you get that door open?”
“Not long. I just need another few breems,” Updraft replied.
“We may not have that long,” Windsaber replied tightly.
Suddenly, Cobalt came running out of the building, screaming in outrage.
“You are not leaving!” he yelled as he threw himself at Windsaber, all of his guns blazing.
Windsaber pushed Arclight out of the way as he brought his guns up to fire at the Autobot.
“We are leaving! You will not stop us!” Windsaber roared as he slammed into Cobalt, carrying him away from the shuttle.
Arclight ran forward to help him but was stopped by a sharp look from the Seeker.
“No!” he ordered. “Protect Updraft! Get that ship working!”
Arclight fell back to the pilot, trying to keep her optics on the woods, the remains of the original colonists, and Windsaber. All around the wind began to pick up, whipping the trees, and throwing dust and debris into the air. It seemed that the more angry Cobalt became, the more nature reacted.
“How much longer?” Arclight yelled over the wind.
“Almost there! Just another breem!” Updraft yelled back.
Windsaber continued to battle Cobalt, firing at him, striking, and beating him back. But the large Autobot gave as good as he got, and soon, the whole world shook as they fought. Neither side gained any ground, but it was obvious that Windsaber was weakening as the battle continued, while Cobalt’s body seemed able to shake off every hit.
Suddenly there was a click and the sound of escaping air as the door of the shuttle opened.
“I got it!” Updraft crowed.
“Great! Get in there and get it moving!” Arclight ordered. “Windsaber! Get out of there!”
At the call, Cobalt turned his attention away from Windsaber for a moment, rage twisting his features into a mask of hate. It was just the distraction the Seeker had been waiting for. Pressing his guns into Cobalt’s chest, he fired full force, ripping a hole into the Autobot and sending him to the ground in a pile of twitching, sparking components.
Windsaber turned and ran toward the open door of the shuttle just as the engines came to life. He was almost at the door when Cobalt rose to his knees, seemingly unaware of his blown out chest and his dead Spark.
For Arclight, it was like the world suddenly started moving in slow motion. She saw Cobalt aim at Windsaber, saw him fire, and saw the energy of his shot rip into the Seeker.
“No!” she screamed as Windsaber stumbled and fell, electricity dancing across his pain-wracked body.
She ran forward and grabbed the Seeker, ignoring the pain as the electricity jumped to her hands and arms.
“Go!” he moaned. “Get out of here!”
“Not until your onboard!” Arclight argued. “Now be quiet and save your energy!”
With that, she pulled him onboard the shuttle and shut the door just as Cobalt’s body fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. She carefully dragged Windsaber with her to the cockpit and strapped him into a chair before sitting down beside Updraft. The pilot stroked the controls gently easing the ship upwards toward the outer atmosphere.
“Strap in and hold on,” he warned tightly. “This is going to get very, very bumpy.”
As soon as they left the ground a massive wind picked up, tossing them about like a dried leaf. It was only Updraft’s skill that kept them on course through the storm. It was as if the planet itself was trying to keep them grounded, and Arclight had to wonder if that might not have been the case.
She shuttered her optics and began saying a silent prayer to Primus as they continued their ascent. She prayed for Windsaber’s health. She prayed that Updraft could keep them true to their course. And she prayed that this ancient shuttle had the power and strength needed to get them safely out of the atmosphere.
Soon she felt the shaking stop with one final, massive bump, and she heard Updraft clear his vents in relief.
“That’s it. We’re safely away,” he said.
Arclight unbuckled from her chair and moved over to Windsaber’s side. The Seeker had his jaw bunched in pain, his hand clutching his side weakly.
“Let me look at the damage,” Arclight said softly.
She gently pulled his hand away to reveal a deep wound in his side. A blast had destroyed most of the wiring and cables in Windsaber’s left side, leaving a gaping hole that his auto repair systems were struggling to fix. Carefully, she closed off the leaking wires and tubes with her laser scalpel, trying to minimize any future damage as best as she could. But her tools had been through too much, and she could only make the most basic of patch jobs.
“Will he be all right?” Updraft asked as he examined the console.
“For the moment,” Arclight replied. “But I need to get him to a proper surgeon. Or at least someplace where I can safely put him into stasis until he can self-repair a bit more.”
“I saw stasis pods in the back. I think that they may have been for long distance travel. This ship doesn’t have anything close to modern hyper drives.”
“Okay. Well that’s a start anyways,” Arclight replied.
She continued to work on Windsaber’s systems as best as she could, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud curse and a bang.
“Slag!” Updraft growled as he slammed his fists into the terminal again.
“What is it?” Windsaber asked weekly as Arclight continued to try to staunch his wounds.
“Stay still,” Arclight said quietly as she gently pushed the Seeker back into the chair. “You’re too damaged to be worrying about what Updraft’s doing.”
“This is still my command,” Windsaber slurred, but he did not fight Arclight’s ministrations.
“Come on,” Arclight said as she gently helped Windsaber to his feet. “We need to get you to one of the stasis chambers in the back. You’ll be fine as soon as we get back to Cybertron. I’m sure your comrades can help you, but right now I’ve done all that I can. You need to rest, and the stasis chamber is the best place to do it.”
Windsaber did not protest as Arclight leaned his weight against her shoulder and she guided him to the back of the shuttle. With press the few buttons she had the chamber open and placed the large Seeker into it. After closing the door and ensuring that Windsaber was in proper stasis, Arclight leaned her forehead against the glass.
“Who would’ve thought to orns ago that I would be helping you escape this Primus forsaken world?” she said quietly. “And who would’ve thought I would be helping a Decepticon get me home.”
With a spark-felt sigh she turned and walked back to the cockpit. She found Updraft there, transformed and communicating with console. She quietly took a seat staring out the field of stars on the view screen waiting for Updraft say something, to explain his previous outburst.
As she waited for processor began to flow over the past few orns recalling everything that brought her to this point. Leaving Cybertron, the attack on the Stormchaser, this insane time on this demented world. None of it made sense. None of it was how it was supposed to be. But as she looked at Updraft’s small boxy alt-mode, she knew that it was all over. Soon she would be back on Cybertron, and soon this would be all behind her to.
“We are completely and thoroughly slagged,” Updraft growled, as he threw himself into the seat next to Arclight.
Arclight started, never having heard Updraft’s transformation sequence.
“I … I don’t understand. What’s wrong?” Arclight asked as a small knot of fear began to form in her tanks.
“The Primus damned, slag sucking, Pit infested system is busted! That’s what’s wrong!” updraft yelled at no one in particular.
“What do you mean it’s busted?” Arclight demanded. “It worked just fine to get us up here!”
“Oh yeah! The atmospheric thrusters are working just fine, and we can stay in orbit forever or at least until are fuel runs out. But other than that, we’re not going anywhere.”
“What?”
Updraft sighed and stared up at the ceiling for a long time without saying anything. Finally he turned and looked Arclight in the optics. He reached out and took Arclight’s hands in his.
“I am so sorry. … I can’t get us home,” he said softly. He cut off her protest by placing his fingers against her lips gently. “No, let me finish. The thrusters are working, and so is the sub light drive. But the guidance systems are shot, and I have no way of properly piloting this ship will those systems are down, other than hard wiring myself directly into the console. And that’s not an option.”
Arclight looked at Updraft, her optics full of confusion, but she did not interrupt.
“Without a hyper drive I calculate that it could take us over forty-seven vorns to get back to Cybertron, and I would run out of fuel well before then,” Updraft said mournfully, letting go Arclight’s hands and staring down the floor. “I don’t know what else to say. I am so sorry.”
Arclight sat silently for a long time steering out the star field in front of her. Emotions were roiling through her processor, but foremost in her mind was anger. Angered the situation. Anger at herself. And the fierce and consuming anger as the energy beings that had hunted them down to three survivors.
“I can’t believe this!” Arclight cried as she stood up suddenly and began to pace the cockpit. “I can’t believe that we survived all that just to starve to death up here! There is nothing that you can do?!”
“I … I don’t know,” Updraft said, confused. “I don’t know what I could do, save setting us on course and praying that we run across a ship of some sort. But we’re nowhere near the shipping lines. We could still starve to death before anyone finds us.”
“What about a distress call we can put it on a loop of some sort, have it constantly playing,” Arclight suggested. “Won’t that help our odds?”
“Well yes, but there’s still no guarantee. And unless we put ourselves into stasis lock will still need to fuel and we’ll still need life support. That will significantly lessen our chances of getting anywhere near a Cybertronian populated shipping lane.”
Arclight smiled brightly and for a moment Updraft thought the stress was causing her to lose her processor speed.
“Well thankfully for us there are several fully functional stasis pods in the back of the shuttle,” Arclight said. “We can safely going to stay since there so long as you figure this wreck will stay on a course you set for it. We can set an emergency beacon and distress signal and then wait until someone rescues us.”
“I don’t know. They’re so much that could go wrong. What if we’re found by Autobots? They’ll terminate me and Windsaber. And what if were found by Decepticons? They’ll treat you no better.”
“It’s chance we’ll just have to take,” Arclight said, taking Updraft’s hands and hers. “I’d rather take my chances with the Autobots and Decepticons than I would remain here. This,” she said motioning vaguely toward the planet, “is a definite death sentence. That may not be one.”
“I suppose,” Updraft said, unsure. “I just … Yeah, you’re right. This is the only way.”
“Right. Okay then,” Arclight said. “You set what you can in the guidance systems and I’ll prep the stasis pods.
“Okay,” Updraft agreed, still sounding uncertain, as Arclight headed toward the back of the shuttle.
A short while later, after he had completed what work he could on the guidance system and had started the distress signal going on an infinite loop, he joined Arclight in the back. She was examining the pod that held Windsaber, turning dials and pressing buttons, periodically nodding or muttering to herself.
“Will he be okay?” Updraft asked quietly.
“He should be,” Arclight replied. “He should be just fine until we can get him to a surgeon. While he’s in stasis he won’t leak out and he won’t need to refuel. And, hopefully, his internal repair systems will be able to fix some of the damage while he rests.”
“Good,” Updraft replied. “And what about us?”
“We’ll be more than fine. There’s no safer way to travel if you can’t stay online,” she replied.
She turned away from Windsaber’s chamber and opened the next one over, motioning for Updraft to step inside.
“Okay, here you go,” she said. “I’ll get you set up and then get into my own chamber once I’m sure you’re stable.”
“Uhm … there won’t be any lasting effects form this, will there?” Updraft asked nervously.
“There shouldn’t be. Admittedly, it is old, but stasis chamber technology hasn’t really changed at all over the vorns. It was pretty much perfected in the Gold Age. So no, there shouldn’t be any problems outside of maybe a small amount of short term memory loss, and that’s not that likely, since we’re both in near prime shape. … Windsaber may have some problems with his memory when he wakes up, but we’ll deal with that when we get home.”
Updraft walked up to the chamber and paused, looking inside it thoughtfully.
“When we get back,” he said thoughtfully, “I’ll be going back to Darkmount and you’ll be going back to Iacon, right?”
“I … I suppose so,” Arclight replied slowly. “I mean, you’re not likely to stop being a Decepticon, and I can’t join a faction.”
“Right,” Updraft said softly. He moved to enter the chamber then stopped and turned to face Arclight. “Then I guess this is goodbye. I don’t think we’ll have much time to talk after we’re found.”
“Yes. I guess it is.”
Updraft stood still, staring at Arclight for a long time, a look on indecision on his faceplate. Then, finally, he came to a decision. He grabbed Arclight and pulled her into a strong embrace, kissing her long and soundly. For a moment, Arclight froze, then she melted into the embrace, kissing Updraft hungrily.
Finally, the pilot pulled away and stepped into the stasis pod.
“Goodbye, Arclight. I hope that maybe, when we wake up, things might be different,” he said sadly.
“So do I, Updraft,” Arclight replied, her voice thick with emotion.
Carefully, she activated the stasis chamber and watched as Updraft dropped offline. With a final look around, she set the activation timer on her own chamber, stepped in, and prepared to sleep until they were finally rescued.
Series: G1 universe, focusing on Original characters
Rating: R
Summary: In the early days of the civil war on Cybertron, Sentinel Prime authorized several refugee vessels to take Neutrals away from the planet in hopes that they could start peaceful colonies where they would be safe. Many of these refugees were never heard from again; lost to us through time and distance. But history does record the fate of one of the vessels. The Stormchaser was three orns away from its destination when it was shot down by Decepticons in an act of cowardice and deceit. There were no survivors. That is what history tells us. But in this case, history is wrong.
Author's Note: No comment
“Where are we going?” Arclight asked as she followed Windsaber and Updraft from the room.
“I found the shuttle pad,” Windsaber replied as he ran through the halls, leading them toward what would hopefully be freedom. “We need to hurry. Those two won’t be down for long.”
“What do you mean?” Arclight asked a hysterical note entering her voice. “You mean they’re still alive back there?”
“Probably,” Windsaber said. “But we can’t worry about that right now. All you need to do is follow me. Don’t make me ask again.”
Arclight sighed and did as she was told, far too exhausted and frightened to argue. Updraft nodded and smiled sympathetically encouraging her to follow. They ran through the building with Windsaber in the lead and Updraft guarding the rear. Their escape was frenetic and wild, and Arclight soon found herself completely turned around and lost. It didn’t help that she could still feel the data filaments it her processor. She knew she had gotten them all out, she knew that her firewalls had protected her, but still she felt like something was wrong. She had been touched by that otherworldly energy being, and it was like it had left its mark on her.
“I promised you before that I would get you off this world,” Windsaber said quietly, almost to himself. “I intend to keep that promise. I will not lose any more you.”
Arclight stopped running looked around as if she’d been hit.
“Oh Primus, what about Turbine?” she asked, turning around heading back the way they came.
Windsaber’s hand came down hard on her shoulder yanking her back.
“He’s dead! And if he isn’t now he will be soon! There’s nothing you can do for him!” to you in Windsaber growled.
“You don’t know that!” Arclight cried. “We have to go back!”
“What? And get ourselves killed too to?” Windsaber demanded. “If we go back will be killed and his death will be in vain. Is that you want?”
“No, but we can’t just-” Arclight began.
“We can. We have to,” Updraft said, placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. “Please, Arclight. Please come with us. Trust Windsaber when he says there is nothing you can do back there. Except be killed.”
“I … I … okay,” Arclight replied in a soft, broken voice.
Updraft gathered her to him in a hug and held her close for a moment. Finally, Windsaber made a disgusted sound and walked away.
“Are you two coming or not?” the Seeker asked, sounding exasperated and annoyed at the delay.
Updraft gave Arclight’s shoulders one final squeeze before releasing her and following down the hall.
They continued following Windsaber as he led them toward the shuttle pad, but it was slow going. The halls seemed to be shifting as they ran, twisting and changing until they were completely turned around.
“I thought you knew where we were going?!” Arclight demanded with an exasperated noise.
“I do! None of this is right!” Windsaber growled, looking down a seemingly new hallway angrily. “I was just here and this is the right way!”
“Maybe …,” Updraft began hesitantly. “… Cobalt and Strobe, or whatever it was that’s controlling them, said that they can control everything. And the old mech in the recording I saw said that nature itself turned against them.”
“So what? Are you saying that those things can move a building? That they can control all of this?” Windsaber asked as he motioned around to the hallway.
“No,” Updraft replied. “But I think that maybe they can control our perceptions of things.”
“So, what? This wall isn’t really here?” Arclight asked as she slapped the wall that blocked their way. “It feels pretty solid to me.”
“I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it happened in the woods when I was patrolling with … when I was patrolling.” Updraft said, breaking off with a sad tone. He shook his head at Arclight’s sympathetic look and quickly moved on. “Anyway, you just have to trust me. Our processors are being played with, and we’re running in circles.”
Windsaber paused and looked at Updraft carefully, considering what he was saying.
“How sure are you of this?” he asked. “How sure are you that you haven’t been compromised?”
“I have not been compromised, sir,” Updraft replied tightly. “I see the walls too, but my tracking systems are telling me that we’re heading in the right direction and that this,” he said angrily as he stabbed a finger at the wall, “is the most direct route.”
Arclight shook her head in disbelief, but she approached the wall and touched it carefully. She activated her medical scanner and examined the wall, both visually, and with the sensors in her fingertips.
A roar of outrage sounded from deeper in the building, causing Updraft and Windsaber to spin toward the cry, aiming their weapons down the hall.
“We don’t have time for this,” Windsaber growled. “We need to double back and get to the shuttle pad before those two catch back up to us!”
“Just give me a moment,” Arclight mumbled as she examined the wall. “I think that Updraft is right.”
Under the scrutiny of her medical visor and fingers, the wall seemed to melt away. All the cabling, electronics, and bracing that should have been in a wall such as this were nowhere to be seen.
“I think that Updraft’s right. This wall, there’s something wrong with it,” Arclight said.
Turning off her medical visor, Arclight closed her eyes and stepped forward. And promptly walked into the wall.
“Slag! That hurt!” Arclight cried as she rubbed her face with her hands. “Primus damn it! This is ridiculous!”
With the outraged growl she pulled her laser swords out of subspace and struck the wall violently. Pressing the tips directly into the wall’s surface, she leaned forward until the sword had cut cleanly through it. Suddenly, and as if in reaction to her attack, the wall dissolved leaving a clear path for them to continue forward.
“Come on! Let’s go!” Arclight cried as she ran forward.
“This is insane!” Windsaber exclaimed as he and Updraft followed Arclight toward the landing pad.
“As if anything else has made sense since we landed here?” Updraft replied.
Windsaber merely grunted in response. From behind them they could hear Cobalt’s frenzied approach, but now that they understood that the trick with the walls they were able to move faster, no longer lost.
They soon made it to the shuttle pad but we’re faced with another shock. The whole area looked like it’d been attacked, and considering the history that may well have been the case. The few shuttles that remained were damaged beyond use. Some looked as if they had been set on fire, while others bore the tell-tale scars of laser blasts. Others still, were simply old; rusted out shells slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding vegetation. And all around were the burnt out remains of the first colonists. It looked like they had attempted to escape the planet, just as Windsaber, Updraft, and Arclight were attempting to do. It was obvious that at some point during their escape they had been attacked, and their remains had been left to rot out in the elements.
Arclight gasped, turning away from a sight she had hoped had been left behind on Cybertron. Updraft put his arm around her and held her close, offering what little comfort he could.
“All right, stay here while I go check this out,” Windsaber whispered, as he stepped out onto the shuttle pad.
“We shouldn’t separate!” Arclight hissed, as she pulled away from Updraft and grabbed at Windsaber’s arm. “We should stay together!”
“And we will. As soon as I confirm that there’s nothing dangerous out there,” Windsaber replied as he disentangled himself from Arclight’s grasp.
He motioned them back into the shadows, and as soon as he was sure they wouldn’t follow him, he stepping out into the sun. He looked around the shuttle pad then began to walk carefully through the debris.
“I don’t like this,” Updraft said quietly. “This doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t either,” Arclight replied. “But we don’t have much of choice.”
“They’ve set a trap for us before, and this would be the perfect bait,” Updraft said, worry filling his voice.
Arclight’s remained silent but she did take his hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly.
Outside Windsaber walked carefully across the landing pad, stepping gingerly over the corpses of fallen Cybertronians, all too aware of what had happened in the town square. He made his way toward a large shuttle at the far edge of the pad, far too close to the forest for Windsaber’s liking. A large crest resembling a strange cross between the Autobrand and the Decepticon sigil was emblazoned on the side of the shuttle. This shuttle did not seem as damaged as the rest that would be the logical choice to head toward. It was also a very logical piece of bait, and Windsaber wasn’t about to take any chances.
Listening to a sudden whim of this processor, Windsaber fired at the nearest corps. The body shivered as the electricity of Windsaber’s energy rifle entered its system, but otherwise remained still. Letting go of tension he hadn’t realized he was carrying, Windsaber turned from the field and continued to walk toward the target shuttle. With his attention diverted and his guard down, he failed to notice the stirrings of the forest as a high wind picked up, failed to feel the electricity that seemed to move across the rest of the field.
“Windsaber! Look out!” Updraft yelled as the first of the corpses began to move and shift.
“We have to help him!” Arclight exclaimed.
Without another moment’s thought she left the safety of the hallway and began to run toward the Seeker. Windsaber turned toward her, raising his guns in defence as he saw the field come to life and his enemies surround him. Thankfully, these bodies were in far worse shape than the ones in the town square, but their condition did not make them any less of a force to be reckoned with. They were horrible to behold, falling apart and rusting even as they stepped forward, mouths opening and closing as if attempting to form words, hands grasping and searching for contact they had not felt for untold vorns.
Windsaber backed up toward the shuttle, firing precisely into the crowd of the offlined, destroying one after another in a methodical series of strikes. But it seemed that for every one he felled, another two rose to take its place. Soon, he was overwhelmed, falling under the force of the enemy’s approach.
Arclight and Updraft ran up to the back of the crowd cutting a path through the enemy, trying desperately to reach Windsaber.
“Windsaber!” Arclight cried as she struck out at the first of mech she came to, ripping through his body and sending him tumbling to the side.
Updraft, not having been in the battle of the city square, was thrown off by the enemy, pausing in shock at the sight of the offlined rising from the ground.
“Draft! Get moving!” Arclight ordered, breaking the pilot from his shock.
Without any further thought, he began to fire into the crowd, taking out mech after mech. Bodies fell apart under the barrage, exploding or crumbling to dust until there was nothing left but twitching, trembling limbs.
Arclight continued forward, striking out at the mechs who still surrounded Windsaber. But this was no competitive match and she was still weak from Strobe’s assault on her systems. Her swords were less effective than Updraft’s rifle, but she was still able to cut a path through to Windsaber, arriving just as he threw his enemies from him.
“Get to the shuttle!” Windsaber yelled. “Go! It’s our only chance of getting out of here!”
“Yes, Sir!” Updraft called back, running straight to the shuttle, firing at the enemy as he ran.
He reached the shuttle and shouldered his rifle, examining the door controls carefully. It was a simple pad key lock, but there were thousands of possible codes. Withdrawing his hand into his arm, he replaced it with a data access adaptor and plugged it into the lock, cycling through all the possible combinations.
Meanwhile Arclight and Windsaber continued to fight off the enemy, making short work of the decaying mechs. Just as it looked like the battle was over, a roar of outrage came from inside the building. Suddenly, the enemy stopped moving, shook slightly, and fell to the ground in pieces, all life leaving their bodies.
“What’s going on?” Arclight whispered, staring at the door.
“I don’t know. But stay close and keep guarding Updraft. Be prepared for anything,” Windsaber replied. “Updraft, how long until you get that door open?”
“Not long. I just need another few breems,” Updraft replied.
“We may not have that long,” Windsaber replied tightly.
Suddenly, Cobalt came running out of the building, screaming in outrage.
“You are not leaving!” he yelled as he threw himself at Windsaber, all of his guns blazing.
Windsaber pushed Arclight out of the way as he brought his guns up to fire at the Autobot.
“We are leaving! You will not stop us!” Windsaber roared as he slammed into Cobalt, carrying him away from the shuttle.
Arclight ran forward to help him but was stopped by a sharp look from the Seeker.
“No!” he ordered. “Protect Updraft! Get that ship working!”
Arclight fell back to the pilot, trying to keep her optics on the woods, the remains of the original colonists, and Windsaber. All around the wind began to pick up, whipping the trees, and throwing dust and debris into the air. It seemed that the more angry Cobalt became, the more nature reacted.
“How much longer?” Arclight yelled over the wind.
“Almost there! Just another breem!” Updraft yelled back.
Windsaber continued to battle Cobalt, firing at him, striking, and beating him back. But the large Autobot gave as good as he got, and soon, the whole world shook as they fought. Neither side gained any ground, but it was obvious that Windsaber was weakening as the battle continued, while Cobalt’s body seemed able to shake off every hit.
Suddenly there was a click and the sound of escaping air as the door of the shuttle opened.
“I got it!” Updraft crowed.
“Great! Get in there and get it moving!” Arclight ordered. “Windsaber! Get out of there!”
At the call, Cobalt turned his attention away from Windsaber for a moment, rage twisting his features into a mask of hate. It was just the distraction the Seeker had been waiting for. Pressing his guns into Cobalt’s chest, he fired full force, ripping a hole into the Autobot and sending him to the ground in a pile of twitching, sparking components.
Windsaber turned and ran toward the open door of the shuttle just as the engines came to life. He was almost at the door when Cobalt rose to his knees, seemingly unaware of his blown out chest and his dead Spark.
For Arclight, it was like the world suddenly started moving in slow motion. She saw Cobalt aim at Windsaber, saw him fire, and saw the energy of his shot rip into the Seeker.
“No!” she screamed as Windsaber stumbled and fell, electricity dancing across his pain-wracked body.
She ran forward and grabbed the Seeker, ignoring the pain as the electricity jumped to her hands and arms.
“Go!” he moaned. “Get out of here!”
“Not until your onboard!” Arclight argued. “Now be quiet and save your energy!”
With that, she pulled him onboard the shuttle and shut the door just as Cobalt’s body fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. She carefully dragged Windsaber with her to the cockpit and strapped him into a chair before sitting down beside Updraft. The pilot stroked the controls gently easing the ship upwards toward the outer atmosphere.
“Strap in and hold on,” he warned tightly. “This is going to get very, very bumpy.”
As soon as they left the ground a massive wind picked up, tossing them about like a dried leaf. It was only Updraft’s skill that kept them on course through the storm. It was as if the planet itself was trying to keep them grounded, and Arclight had to wonder if that might not have been the case.
She shuttered her optics and began saying a silent prayer to Primus as they continued their ascent. She prayed for Windsaber’s health. She prayed that Updraft could keep them true to their course. And she prayed that this ancient shuttle had the power and strength needed to get them safely out of the atmosphere.
Soon she felt the shaking stop with one final, massive bump, and she heard Updraft clear his vents in relief.
“That’s it. We’re safely away,” he said.
Arclight unbuckled from her chair and moved over to Windsaber’s side. The Seeker had his jaw bunched in pain, his hand clutching his side weakly.
“Let me look at the damage,” Arclight said softly.
She gently pulled his hand away to reveal a deep wound in his side. A blast had destroyed most of the wiring and cables in Windsaber’s left side, leaving a gaping hole that his auto repair systems were struggling to fix. Carefully, she closed off the leaking wires and tubes with her laser scalpel, trying to minimize any future damage as best as she could. But her tools had been through too much, and she could only make the most basic of patch jobs.
“Will he be all right?” Updraft asked as he examined the console.
“For the moment,” Arclight replied. “But I need to get him to a proper surgeon. Or at least someplace where I can safely put him into stasis until he can self-repair a bit more.”
“I saw stasis pods in the back. I think that they may have been for long distance travel. This ship doesn’t have anything close to modern hyper drives.”
“Okay. Well that’s a start anyways,” Arclight replied.
She continued to work on Windsaber’s systems as best as she could, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud curse and a bang.
“Slag!” Updraft growled as he slammed his fists into the terminal again.
“What is it?” Windsaber asked weekly as Arclight continued to try to staunch his wounds.
“Stay still,” Arclight said quietly as she gently pushed the Seeker back into the chair. “You’re too damaged to be worrying about what Updraft’s doing.”
“This is still my command,” Windsaber slurred, but he did not fight Arclight’s ministrations.
“Come on,” Arclight said as she gently helped Windsaber to his feet. “We need to get you to one of the stasis chambers in the back. You’ll be fine as soon as we get back to Cybertron. I’m sure your comrades can help you, but right now I’ve done all that I can. You need to rest, and the stasis chamber is the best place to do it.”
Windsaber did not protest as Arclight leaned his weight against her shoulder and she guided him to the back of the shuttle. With press the few buttons she had the chamber open and placed the large Seeker into it. After closing the door and ensuring that Windsaber was in proper stasis, Arclight leaned her forehead against the glass.
“Who would’ve thought to orns ago that I would be helping you escape this Primus forsaken world?” she said quietly. “And who would’ve thought I would be helping a Decepticon get me home.”
With a spark-felt sigh she turned and walked back to the cockpit. She found Updraft there, transformed and communicating with console. She quietly took a seat staring out the field of stars on the view screen waiting for Updraft say something, to explain his previous outburst.
As she waited for processor began to flow over the past few orns recalling everything that brought her to this point. Leaving Cybertron, the attack on the Stormchaser, this insane time on this demented world. None of it made sense. None of it was how it was supposed to be. But as she looked at Updraft’s small boxy alt-mode, she knew that it was all over. Soon she would be back on Cybertron, and soon this would be all behind her to.
“We are completely and thoroughly slagged,” Updraft growled, as he threw himself into the seat next to Arclight.
Arclight started, never having heard Updraft’s transformation sequence.
“I … I don’t understand. What’s wrong?” Arclight asked as a small knot of fear began to form in her tanks.
“The Primus damned, slag sucking, Pit infested system is busted! That’s what’s wrong!” updraft yelled at no one in particular.
“What do you mean it’s busted?” Arclight demanded. “It worked just fine to get us up here!”
“Oh yeah! The atmospheric thrusters are working just fine, and we can stay in orbit forever or at least until are fuel runs out. But other than that, we’re not going anywhere.”
“What?”
Updraft sighed and stared up at the ceiling for a long time without saying anything. Finally he turned and looked Arclight in the optics. He reached out and took Arclight’s hands in his.
“I am so sorry. … I can’t get us home,” he said softly. He cut off her protest by placing his fingers against her lips gently. “No, let me finish. The thrusters are working, and so is the sub light drive. But the guidance systems are shot, and I have no way of properly piloting this ship will those systems are down, other than hard wiring myself directly into the console. And that’s not an option.”
Arclight looked at Updraft, her optics full of confusion, but she did not interrupt.
“Without a hyper drive I calculate that it could take us over forty-seven vorns to get back to Cybertron, and I would run out of fuel well before then,” Updraft said mournfully, letting go Arclight’s hands and staring down the floor. “I don’t know what else to say. I am so sorry.”
Arclight sat silently for a long time steering out the star field in front of her. Emotions were roiling through her processor, but foremost in her mind was anger. Angered the situation. Anger at herself. And the fierce and consuming anger as the energy beings that had hunted them down to three survivors.
“I can’t believe this!” Arclight cried as she stood up suddenly and began to pace the cockpit. “I can’t believe that we survived all that just to starve to death up here! There is nothing that you can do?!”
“I … I don’t know,” Updraft said, confused. “I don’t know what I could do, save setting us on course and praying that we run across a ship of some sort. But we’re nowhere near the shipping lines. We could still starve to death before anyone finds us.”
“What about a distress call we can put it on a loop of some sort, have it constantly playing,” Arclight suggested. “Won’t that help our odds?”
“Well yes, but there’s still no guarantee. And unless we put ourselves into stasis lock will still need to fuel and we’ll still need life support. That will significantly lessen our chances of getting anywhere near a Cybertronian populated shipping lane.”
Arclight smiled brightly and for a moment Updraft thought the stress was causing her to lose her processor speed.
“Well thankfully for us there are several fully functional stasis pods in the back of the shuttle,” Arclight said. “We can safely going to stay since there so long as you figure this wreck will stay on a course you set for it. We can set an emergency beacon and distress signal and then wait until someone rescues us.”
“I don’t know. They’re so much that could go wrong. What if we’re found by Autobots? They’ll terminate me and Windsaber. And what if were found by Decepticons? They’ll treat you no better.”
“It’s chance we’ll just have to take,” Arclight said, taking Updraft’s hands and hers. “I’d rather take my chances with the Autobots and Decepticons than I would remain here. This,” she said motioning vaguely toward the planet, “is a definite death sentence. That may not be one.”
“I suppose,” Updraft said, unsure. “I just … Yeah, you’re right. This is the only way.”
“Right. Okay then,” Arclight said. “You set what you can in the guidance systems and I’ll prep the stasis pods.
“Okay,” Updraft agreed, still sounding uncertain, as Arclight headed toward the back of the shuttle.
A short while later, after he had completed what work he could on the guidance system and had started the distress signal going on an infinite loop, he joined Arclight in the back. She was examining the pod that held Windsaber, turning dials and pressing buttons, periodically nodding or muttering to herself.
“Will he be okay?” Updraft asked quietly.
“He should be,” Arclight replied. “He should be just fine until we can get him to a surgeon. While he’s in stasis he won’t leak out and he won’t need to refuel. And, hopefully, his internal repair systems will be able to fix some of the damage while he rests.”
“Good,” Updraft replied. “And what about us?”
“We’ll be more than fine. There’s no safer way to travel if you can’t stay online,” she replied.
She turned away from Windsaber’s chamber and opened the next one over, motioning for Updraft to step inside.
“Okay, here you go,” she said. “I’ll get you set up and then get into my own chamber once I’m sure you’re stable.”
“Uhm … there won’t be any lasting effects form this, will there?” Updraft asked nervously.
“There shouldn’t be. Admittedly, it is old, but stasis chamber technology hasn’t really changed at all over the vorns. It was pretty much perfected in the Gold Age. So no, there shouldn’t be any problems outside of maybe a small amount of short term memory loss, and that’s not that likely, since we’re both in near prime shape. … Windsaber may have some problems with his memory when he wakes up, but we’ll deal with that when we get home.”
Updraft walked up to the chamber and paused, looking inside it thoughtfully.
“When we get back,” he said thoughtfully, “I’ll be going back to Darkmount and you’ll be going back to Iacon, right?”
“I … I suppose so,” Arclight replied slowly. “I mean, you’re not likely to stop being a Decepticon, and I can’t join a faction.”
“Right,” Updraft said softly. He moved to enter the chamber then stopped and turned to face Arclight. “Then I guess this is goodbye. I don’t think we’ll have much time to talk after we’re found.”
“Yes. I guess it is.”
Updraft stood still, staring at Arclight for a long time, a look on indecision on his faceplate. Then, finally, he came to a decision. He grabbed Arclight and pulled her into a strong embrace, kissing her long and soundly. For a moment, Arclight froze, then she melted into the embrace, kissing Updraft hungrily.
Finally, the pilot pulled away and stepped into the stasis pod.
“Goodbye, Arclight. I hope that maybe, when we wake up, things might be different,” he said sadly.
“So do I, Updraft,” Arclight replied, her voice thick with emotion.
Carefully, she activated the stasis chamber and watched as Updraft dropped offline. With a final look around, she set the activation timer on her own chamber, stepped in, and prepared to sleep until they were finally rescued.
