FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"How much longer?" Jack said as he watched Starscream extract Optimus from the tangle of inert Insecticons.

"Until we pass behind the moon?" Screamer pushed one last bug away and nudged Optimus's unconscious body into the room. "We're only a few minutes away."

Bumblebee let out a series of beeps and honks. Jack glanced at him and turned to Arcee.

"Just a couple minutes left before he finishes the last of my parts," Arcee translated. She flicked a worried glance down the corridor toward Knockout's lab, where Bulkhead's badly damaged body floated. "Then he'll need to start working on the parts for Bulkhead."

"There won't be enough time." Jack's heart pounded and he glanced around, tried to keep his breathing steady, and locked eyes with Arcee. She stared back at him, eyes wide and mouth agape, clearly trying not to panic and failing.

"Shit." Her mouth quivered. "I won't be able to keep you safe."

Jack put his hand on the wall and pushed, sending himself drifting over to her. He caught her outstretched hand and she pulled him toward her.

"We can hold out for a few minutes. Or however long it takes us to reestablish the connection with Earth."

"Kid," Ashanti said, then hesitated.

"What?" He glanced at her and wondered if he even wanted to know what she was gearing up to tell him.

"It'll take longer than that." Ashanti held his gaze and shook her head slowly. "Assuming a velocity similar to the Apollo missions, we're looking at forty-five minutes."

"What?" A cold shiver ran through Jack and his breath almost caught in his throat. He tried to shake it off. "No, this ship's got to be faster."

"If the main engines are performing a burn." Arcee shook her head and her optics opened wider. "And if we've already settled into orbit, they won't be. Assuming we're not simply passing by the moon and heading out into deep space."

Come on, Jack, pull yourself together. He put his hands on her shoulders and gazed into her eyes. We'll get through this. We've got to get these parts back to the base or she's dead. We'll get it done whether she's able to stay connected to her Pretender body or not.

He took his helmet off and let it float beside him, and cupped Arcee's cheeks in his hands. "We'll be okay. And so will you." He kissed her. Only for a second or two, as much as he wanted the odd yet intoxicating sensation of her metal lips on his to continue. He pulled back and smiled. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She smiled back, plucked his helmet out of the air, handed it to him, and turned all-business again. "If anyone has any ideas on how to turn the ship around...?"

"Not without mounting a full assault on the command deck." Starscream pulled himself through the door and drifted toward the lab. "With us being down three people, I wouldn't recommend it."

Bee fired off another burst of beeps, hums, and whirs.

"Maybe," Arcee muttered.

"Maybe what?" Jack secured his helmet and arched an eyebrow at her.

"The Nemesis has a space bridge. We can use that to get back home."

"Wouldn't that leave the base's coordinates in the ship's computer?" June stared at the newly-manufactured parts and wrung her hands.

Jack grinned. "We can bridge to low orbit, just inside our ground bridge's range, and Ratchet can bring us the rest of the way." Before we burn up on reentry, I hope.

"Can't we just bridge to a location on the ground?"

Bee fired off few more honks and bleeps, and Jack waited for Arcee to translate.

"We'd be using an unfamiliar set of controls and have to calculate the exit point on the fly. No time to refine it enough. If we're even slightly off, we could step through and find ourselves inside a mountain or deep under ground. Or in the middle of a busy intersection."

"Ah." June let out a long breath. "Okay, yeah, that could cause some problems."

Jack nodded. "Okay, then, I guess we're going with the bridging-into-orbit thing."

"Sounds like a plan." Arcee turned to scowl at the Insecticons floating in the corridor. "And even if it didn't, we'd need to get away from the bugs before they reboot, anyway."

"Okay, then. Where's the space bridge?" Jack propelled himself to the door way and grabbed the edge. He looked down the corridor and found Starscream pulling Bulkhead out of the lab.

"I can take you there," Screamer said. "But we'll have to take out anyone in the room, and won't be able to come back here for anything."

Arcee pointed at her new parts. "We'll have to find something to put all that crap in so we can haul it all down there in one shot. And then we'll have to wait until Bulk's parts are ready."

"Let's start looking, then." Jack flipped over and kicked against the doorway, shooting himself back into the room. "If there's nothing here that'll work, maybe the lab has something."

"Right. Let's move." Arcee's optics closed suddenly and her body hung motionless in the air.

"Arcee?" Jack grabbed one of Optimus's fingers as he passed by, swung around, and darted back to her. "Arcee!"

She didn't move. He closed his eyes for a second, put his arms around her, and braced his feet on the console.

"Shit. We've lost her." He pushed off and carried her through the air to the parts Bee had manufactured.

Bee spared a second to reach out and stop their forward motion once they reached the cluster of parts. Jack nodded at him and smiled briefly before leaving Arcee's miniature body among her full-size parts. He caressed her cheek, took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Like I said, let's get moving."

#

"Jack!" Arcee's optics snapped open and she reached out, but he was no longer in front of her. She glanced around frantically and found herself in the Autobot base with Ratchet, Raf, Mendoza, and Conrad. "No. Oh, shit, no! I've lost the link."

"Easy, there," Ratchet said. "No sudden movements. You don't need to damage anything else now that they've finished manufacturing your parts. They won't have a chance to go back and make any new ones."

"Yeah," she mumbled. She slumped against the wall, pulled her knees slowly up to her chest, and put her arms around them. "I just..."

"I know." Mendoza smiled up at her. "Jack can take care of himself. Remember when Airachnid was hunting him in that forest while you were immobilized? He not only stayed ahead of her, he damned near killed her. And he survived his second encounter with her when you two were separated."

Arcee nodded and managed to calm herself a little. "Yeah, that's true. He blew her up again, too."

"Also, he was alone both of those times. Now, he's not. He's got most of your team with him."

"Yeah. You're right." Arcee closed her eyes and sighed. "Thanks. I can't stop worrying, but--"

"Of course you can't. You love him." Mendoza smiled again and put her arm around her husband's shoulders. "I'd feel the exact same way if I were in your shoes."

Arcee nodded. Awkward silence settled over the repair bay and stretched out until Arcee couldn't stand it anymore. Forty-five minutes of this is gonna drive me insane. Even if the Nemesis had approached the moon at a faster velocity than Ashanti had assumed, it might only cut down the wait by half.

Gotta find a way to distract myself or I'll burst a capacitor. She glanced around again, and her optics finally settled on Mendoza and her husband, standing there with their arms around each other. Of all the unexpected and flat-out bizarre things that had happened over the past few months, Mendoza had been one of the most surprising--and the most welcome.

"Hey, uh, I guess I owe you an apology. You're going out of your way to help me after I haven't exactly been friendly to you."

"Don't worry about it. You didn't know me when we first met. Nobody had any reason to trust me. You didn't even know my little subspecies of Cybertronians existed before a few months ago, and the first ones you met tried to kill you and your friends."

"Well, it's not just that." Arcee looked away and stared at a random spot on the wall across from her. "It never occurred to me that a Decepticon could have a change of heart. I mean, really change. I always thought...well, they're our enemies, and that's that."

"I won't try to hide what I once was. I did some damned distasteful things during what little time I was involved in the war. I witnessed atrocities that shook my belief in our cause. I started to wonder if we kept fighting only because so many of us had been twisted by countless thousands of years of killing." Mendoza sighed. "Then I saw our homeworld die. All I could think of was how senseless it all was. What the hell was the point in fighting on?"

"Well," Conrad said, "at least you and some of the others stopped. I guess Megatron and the rest haven't learned their lesson."

"I'm afraid they're too far gone. Just completely power-hungry and insane. Anyone with a shred of sanity would've stopped long before the war left Cybertron uninhabitable." She shook her head and rubbed a hand over her face. "They think they're so much better than humanity, so much more advanced and enlightened, but all they've done is kill each other--for longer than humans have existed. They know nothing."

"To be fair, we humans have done some pretty stupid, screwed-up things, ourselves."

"Nothing compared to us destroying our whole planet. In the 1980s there was a palpable fear that America and the Soviet Union would get into a war that could've incinerated the whole planet's surface, but you didn't do it. You made peace with your mortal enemies. You're still growing out of your infancy, but I think you've made more progress in a few decades than my species has made in a million years or longer." Mendoza paused a few seconds to pull herself together, smiled, and stroked Conrad's cheek. "How could I not fall in love with one of you?"

He blushed.

Ratchet rolled his eyes and turned back to his console. He frowned at the readouts, picked up his tools, and hurried over to Arcee.

"Lay down. I need to make some more adjustments."

"Something about to fall apart again?" She leaned to the left and tried to move her arm out to prop herself up momentarily--but it merely twitched. She lost her balance and toppled over on her side. "Fuck. What the hell just happened?"

Ratchet slid his arm under her and eased her onto her back.

"I can't move my arm. What's...oh, hell. I'm starting to shut down, aren't I?" Please, no! I can't leave Jack alone on that ship!

"Don't start that kind of talk. I simply need to fix a few things and you'll be...well, you'll be able to, uh..."

"Last a little longer?"

"Well, I wasn't going to phrase it like--well, yes, basically."

"How much longer?"

"Not much if you don't let me concentrate."

"Sorry." She closed her mouth and tried not to let her spark pulsate out of control. She'd faced death countless times, but never like this. Even that horrible day Airachnid had captured and tortured her, while in restraints that dangled her above the floor, she still hadn't been completely helpless. She could've at least kicked at Airachnid, lashed out at her no matter how feebly.

But now? All she could do was lay here and wait to see if she survived the next few hours--or minutes. If her friends couldn't get those parts back here in time, she would simply...stop. And there wasn't a single goddamned thing she could do about it.

"I'm opening you up now." Ratchet moved her arm out of the way and began working on her chest plate.

She nodded and closed her optics. And not, she hoped, for the last time.

#

Damn it! Miko shook her head again, more frantically this time. Her tears jiggled around, but remained in and around her eyes. Without gravity, they wouldn't trickle down her cheeks, instead clumping into a single mass and clinging to her face like a huge fucking booger.

Bursting into tears again sure as hell hadn't helped any, but every time she let her mind wander, it always drifted back to that intense beam drilling into Bulkhead's back and out through his chest. The thought of losing him had been too much for her.

Stop thinking about it! If I start crying again, I won't be able to see anything.

And, she'd noticed a few minutes ago, she'd begun to have trouble breathing. Her armor had sealed against the vacuum, but once she used up what air was trapped inside, that was it.

Whatever. Wouldn't be the first time I've nearly suffocated.

She tugged on a twisted strut and propelled herself forward, watching her helmet lights flit over the wall, searching for an opening, or a vent cover, or simply a crack in the wall big enough for her to fit through.

Something moved in the corner of her eye. She glanced to the right and found a purple and black shape distorted through her clingy tears.

It shifted around and a glowing red shape moved into view. Long, narrow, thicker in the middle and pointy on the ends, more or less vertical. A few seconds passed before she realized what it was.

Optic strip, turned sideways. Oh, great, it's a Vehicon. Her head throbbed and her lungs struggled to draw a breath. Well, shit.

She looked around again, but there was nowhere to go.

Another black shape passed in front of her face. A hand, she realized. The 'Con was reaching out to grab her, probably crush the life out of her. Not how she wanted to go out, but if the son of a bitch waited a few more seconds, she wouldn't be awake to feel it.

Enormous metal fingers clamped around her. She let her eyes close.

Nothing else happened for several minutes. There was a vague sensation of movement, but she wasn't sure it was real.

Distant, muffled sounds reached her. Clanks, thunks, whirs.

Suddenly, fresh air flowed into her lungs. She sucked in a series of deep, gasping breaths, and coughed. She fumbled with the latches on her helmet, unlocked them, and tugged her helmet off. She wiped the tears from her eyes and blinked rapidly. Her head still ached.

She looked around. The tunnel was lit by a few dim, flickering light strips along the ceiling, but appeared intact. She pushed her right hand against a strut on the wall, turned around--and found four Vehicons floating nearby, staring at her.

Guess they want to interrogate me first. Maybe torture me. She let go of her helmet and put her hands on her hips. Well, this is just fuckin' great.

"Are you alright?" one of the Vehicons said. It was hard to tell which one, since each of them had identical, mouthless faces.

Huh? Miko raised an eyebrow. As far as oxygen-starved-brain hallucinations went, this was the last thing she'd expected.

"Aside from a headache, not bad." She flicked her eyes from one to the other. Maybe these guys are the fifth column Arcee and Mendoza were talking about.

"The explosion knocked out cameras and sensors throughout this section," one of them--maybe the same one?--said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "We were sent to inspect the damage and report back. That's how we found you."

"That's what we've been reduced to," one of the others grumbled. "Ever since Megatron found those damned Insecticons, we've been stuck with the most menial tasks."

"I prefer it to being shot at," the first one said. "Let the Autobots kill a few of the bugs, for a change."

"Huh." Miko smiled grimly. "Guess there's no love lost between you and the bugs, eh?"

"That's an understatement."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, there are five Insecticons you don't have to worry about anymore." Miko pointed back the way they'd come.

"What do you mean?"

"That explosion you were sent to look at? There ya go. Five bugs, turned into scrap metal."

The Vehicons exchanged a glance and turned back to stare at her.

"Y...you did that?"

"Fuckin'-A. Lured 'em into an energon storage room, planted a charge, and cooked off the whole bunch."

They stared for several more seconds, giving Miko the impression that, if they had mouths, they'd be gaping in awe right now.

"Impressive," the nearest one said. "That's really, really impressive." He finally recovered from the shock and pointed at the floor. "Your team has been spotted heading for the space bridge chamber. We assume they're planning to make their escape from there." He projected a holographic image in front of her; layout of the ship, Miko realized.

"That's us, and this is how you get to the rest of your team." He pointed at a set of blips and traced a route to another set, connecting them with a glowing line.

"You're actually helping us?" Miko put her helmet back on and captured a photo of the hologram with its camera.

"Well, to put it into human terms, we're just sick of this shit. We put our lives at risk in every engagement, most of those who go into battle don't come back alive, and Megatron and the rest don't give a damn." He shook his head. "Some of us can't see the point anymore."

"Why stick around, then?"

"Not many places we could hide on your world, at least without remaining permanently in vehicle mode. Not much of a life."

"Besides," one of the others said, "we might be able to do more right here than we could anywhere else. At least, until things get too hot."

"You should return to your friends. They won't leave without you, and from what I understand, time is an issue."

"Yeah, it is. Thanks." She smiled before turning away. "Maybe we'll run into each other again."

"I'd like that." He sounded surprised at the admission. He shook it off, turned and floated down a side corridor.

Miko pushed away from the strut, activated her armor's stealth system, and headed off to meet up with the rest of Team Prime.

#

"Here it is." Starscream braced a foot against the edge of the doorway and pushed against Bulkhead's shoulders to halt his forward motion. He rotated toward the door and lifted the arc cannon he'd taken from Knockout's lab.

"Hold on." Jack whipped his hand up and shook his head. "When you zapped the Insecticons with that thing, it also knocked out the lights and other systems in the corridor. Fire it in that room and the space bridge could be disabled."

Starscream's optics opened wider and he lowered the weapon. "Oh. Right. Crap."

Jack sighed and glanced at the crate containing Arcee's parts and her Pretender body. Her eyes were still closed, her body motionless.

Come on, wake up! He waited a few more seconds, sighed again, and focused on what was ahead. One last fight. Once we get through the bridge, we're home free. More or less.

"Guess we'll have to do this the hard way, then." Ashanti checked her rifle and looked at Bumblebee. "We're ready when you are."

He nodded, turned to check on the still-unconscious Optimus, and let out a burst of beeps and hums. Jack sighed yet again.

"Just a note for future armor upgrades," he said to Ashanti. "Install translation software."

"I was thinking the same thing." Ashanti tossed him a quick smile, shifted her attention to the door, and held her gun ready.

Bee tapped a button on the panel beside the doors. They slid open and the team burst into the room. A half-dozen Vehicons turned and deployed their blasters.

Half of them shifted their aim to the other half.

What the hell? Jack took cover under the nearest console and aimed his EMP rifle at the nearest pair.

"Stand down," one of the Vehicons said to another. "Let them through."

"What are you doing?"

"Whatever we can to end the war. Stand down."

"Traitor." The 'Con twisted suddenly, jammed his blaster into the other's chest, and fired.

"No!" Another Vehicon--with a distinctly female voice--launched across the room and extended a blade from her right arm. The other 'Con spun toward her just in time to catch her blade right through his optics and out the back of his head. She shoved the body away and pulled the wounded Vehicon out of the line of fire.

Behind her, another Vehicon pointed his blaster at her back. Bee drilled him with a burst from his rifle.

The remaining pair of Vehicons grappled and tumbled through the air until they drifted out of sight. Jack kicked the wall and floated forward. The sounds of fists bashing metal and blasters discharging started before he'd moved far enough to catch sight of them again.

"Can't get a clear shot," Ashanti muttered.

Jack aimed his EMP rifle as he continued floating across the enormous chamber. Well, since this'll only stun them, I should zap both--

One of the Vehicons ripped a piece of the other's chest plate off and rammed his blade through the opening. Electric arcs leaped from the wound and he released a long, drawn-out shriek that chilled Jack's blood. His heart slammed against his ribs and for a moment he couldn't breathe.

Was that the good one or the bad one? Jack bumped into the wall and bounced slowly back.

The 'Con swung his blasters around to aim at Jack and the team.

Jack emped him and everyone else punched dozens of incendiary rounds through his chest and head, then turned to face the female and the damaged male. She kept her arms around him, but shook her head.

"We're standing down. Don't shoot. Please."

Bee glanced at the rest of the team, nodded, and lowered his rifle. Everyone else did the same. Jack clipped his EMP gun to his back and sighed.

The wounded Vehicon twitched and sparks crackled from the hole in his chest.

Jack looked around slowly. As his gaze passed over Bulkhead's body, Starscream popped up from where he'd been hiding behind it. Jack shook his head and sneered. "Hey, 'Scream, it's safe for you to come out now."

Starscream narrowed his eyes and gave Bulkhead a push to float him into the chamber. Bee flitted back into the hallway and towed Optimus in, then returned for the crates holding the parts for Arcee and Bulk. He left them floating near the gigantic, circular structure of the space bridge at the far end of the room, and zipped over one of the consoles.

Jack switched his comlink on. "Miko, we're at the space bridge. Please tell me you're nearby."

"I'm on my way."

"Good. Hurry it up, though. We're getting ready to bridge back to Earth."

A motion in the corner of Jack's eye caught his attention as his mom floated over to him. He turned and found two more Vehicons passing through the door, pushing a crate packed with cubes of energon. Both of them raised their hands as soon as they realized they'd been spotted.

"We're not here to fight. We figured you could use this."

"They've probably poisoned it," Starscream grumbled.

"Oh, fuck you."

"What?"

The Vehicon on the left waved his hands and shook his head. "Oh, pardon me. I should've said, 'Fuck you, Commander.'"

"Former Commander," the other Vehicon quipped.

"Oh, that's right." He suddenly noticed the female and her comrade and darted over to them. "Shit. How bad is it?"

"The blast missed his spark, but barely."

"He can be repaired if we can get him to the medical bay fast enough."

She nodded and turned to look at Jack and the others. "You'd better fire up the space bridge before they send reinforcements."

Bumblebee turned back to the console and began tapping buttons.

Starscream glanced over his shoulder, froze, and released a sort of strangled whimper

Oh, hell, now what? Jack winced and turned to see what he was staring at.

A new 'Con had entered the room. An all too familiar one. Huge, dark gray with purple highlights, vaguely bat-like shape, with a blank faceplate and disturbingly long forearms. Jack had come face to face with him only once before, and once had been enough.

Another chill rippled through him. "Bee, get that bridge open now! Miko, get your ass in here!"

"Oh, no." The female Vehicon's voice was a soft, quavering moan. "Soundwave."