Transformers Fan Fiction ❯ TF War: Sorrow ❯ Persistance of Decision ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Transformers: War
Persistence of Decision
By D. Park

"His blood has frozen & curdled with fright

His knees have trembled & given way in the night

His hand has weakened at the moment of truth

His step has faltered"

-Sorrow, D. J. Gilmour


[Optimus Prime]

"Is it our fate to always find a way to wage war upon our brethren? I see the Decepticons look at we Autobots as mortal enemies, and many Autobots look at the Decepticons the same. Have we been in conflict so long that we forget that we are of the same world? Perhaps we have. But it doesn't excuse all the deaths. All the ones we have lost.

"Primus, what have I done? I've condemned a thousand Decepticons to die for no reason other than that they opposed the current government. I guess even the great Optimus Prime has a dark side. I feel so unsure of myself. I question whether this is the right thing to do. I used to rely on the Leadership Matrix's gentle voice to guide me on the path that Primus would want. But... I don't have the Matrix anymore. It was destroyed with Earth.

"I... I don't know anymore. I'm so weary, tired of always fighting so that others can live in freedom. What was it they said on Earth? 'The price of freedom is eternal vigilance'? The Earthlings were right, freedom requires a watchful eye to ensure that 'freedom' is still freedom, not tyranny.

"And here I find myself on a warship approaching Charr, the Decepticon stronghold. Damn Starscream for gathering an army, damn him for resurrecting ghosts of the past. He dreams of war, and always himself at the front of the pack. Always striving to lead the Decepticons with his weakness... No, I can't think like -him-, like Megatron. I don't want to become that -monster-, that -tyrant-, the Transformer who wears the Iron Crown.

"Megatron, are we truly the same as each other? Leaders, willing to do anything to make our separate peoples greater than the other? Are all my noble aspirations and ideals simply screens to keep myself from the truth? Maybe I am as ruthless as Megatron, maybe he and I are made from the same steel. What makes us different? Is it compassion or something else?"


[Autobot Fleet, Charr System- 00:12 10/21/2449]

His optics looked up at the chronometer that was chiming. It was time. The plan had to be enacted. He strode out of his cramped quarters to the sound of Kup's too enthusiastic grandniece cheerily reminding him that his presence was required at the bridge. As if today was a day to be cheery about.

He stretched his arms and joints as he walked, working out the stiffness. The corridors of the battleship were empty; everybody was at their battle stations. If only necessity had not stuck its thumb into things and require the Autobots to build star cruisers with massive weapons of destruction, Prime would be happier at his surroundings. Finally, up a lift and the scene of the bridge presented itself to Optimus' optics.

Ironhide was manning the weapons pit, barking orders to the grunts about getting everything perfect, sounding like an angry Southern General from the United States' Civil War of the mid 19th century on Earth. Kup was with the assault team in the belly of the ship, getting them whipped into shape for the battle, Optimus saw on a monitor. Knowing they needed a 'bot with fast reflexes to actually pilot through the coming firestorm, Optimus had saw to it that Blurr's hyperactivity would be put to good use at the pilot's station. Optimus shook the hand of the on-duty medical staff member as he stepped off the lift.

"I'm glad you're here sir." the staff member said, smiling. Optimus nodded a silent acknowledgement amidst the busy noise of the bridge. He approached the command station and took his place, leaning forward on the railing and pondering.

"Perceptor, what's our ETA?" he asked quietly to the science officer standing to one side.

"Thirty minutes and forty-nine seconds at present velocity, sir. That is unless of course the Decepticons have early warning systems that require disabling or destroying or..." Some things never changed, like the impossibility of getting a straight answer out of Perceptor with your first question. Knowing that the Autobot loved logic, Optimus let him go for a moment.

"That's enough information, Perceptor. I want you to get a status report from the Iacon Xerxes and the Veritas Magnus, see how prepared they are. We can't afford for Hot Rod and Springer to let things slip too far."


[Decepticon Hideout, Charr- 00:30 10/21/2449]

"Commander Starscream! We have a problem!" A Seeker came running into the meeting room with a data pad in his hand, almost stumbling over his two feet. He had flown ten miles from the communications tower and was half-empty on energon. He tossed the datapad to Starscream, who was sitting at the head of the table surrounded by startled meeting members.

Starscream snatched the datapad from the table and scowled as he began to examine it. "What?! How did the Autobots find us?!?" His voice was shriller than normal with surprise and anger. Then he magically regained his composure when he realized how unsettling it was to those present. "How long until they get here?" He asked.

"Twelve minutes, sir." came the prompt reply. Starscream fought the urge to strangle the messenger, and failed. He shot the hapless messenger's head off with an arm laser and snarled at the room and into the comm. channels.

"Everybody battle positions! We've got Autobot cruisers on the way! Get to the cannons!" And so on and so on. Starscream had never been very good at performing under pressure. He felt panic rising inside of him, and fear gripped his spark.


[Decepticon Hideout, Charr- 00:32 10/21/2449]

Rumble looked up from the table he had been playing cards with his brother Frenzy at. He saw all the bigger Decepticons running towards turrets and installations and such. While he had heard the orders to go to alert and such, he as only ten feet tall and couldn't exactly work the guns. Ravage lay asleep lazily nearby, pawing at the air at some phantasm. The other siblings that Rumble had were damaged from various things that had happened, and Soundwave was repairing them.

Frenzy slapped down a set. "Full house, bro. Pay up." Rumble groused and fished some energon credits out of his bag. Frenzy grabbed the credits greedily and stuffed them into his own bag. He gathered up the cards and began shuffling them. "So tell me again why we're still playing cards and not running around like a headless cyberbird?"

Rumble took his cards as Frenzy dealt them. "Because we're freakin' midgets and can't even reach the fire button. Do you -really- think, bit brain, that we'd be helpful?"

Frenzy looked dumbfounded at his brother. "Uh... no. We'd get in the way."

Rumble placed his betting marker with the number of chips he bet on the table. "Damn straight."


[Autobot Fleet, Charr Orbit- 00:43 10/21/2449]

"We're in position, Prime."

"Suppression bombs good to go."

"Weather conditions are optimal."

Optimus Prime sighed inwardly and hesitated a moment before giving the order.


[Decepticon Hideout, Charr- 00:43 10/21/2449]

The cards shook as the table shook. A roar shook the little overhang that Rumble, Frenzy, and Ravage were sheltered under. Rumble wondered if some idiot with a tank form was rumbling by, and looked around for the culprit so he could tell them off. Nobody was there. Frenzy also looked about, slightly confused. The roar was getting steadily louder.

Rumble got up from the table to go look at the sky above, Frenzy and Ravage following curiously. Rumble saw the bright streaks in the sky as the bombs from the Autobot fleet were falling towards Charr's surface. He knew they were bombs of some kind. Knowing that running at this juncture would be pointless, and that the bombs would probably spell the end of the Decepticon presence here on Charr, he said the only thing that came to mind, which was some human expletive.

And the bombs went off.


[Charr Surface, Charr- 00:48 10/21/2449]

The drop-box landed with a solid thud and threw up a plume of disturbed ashes. With a loud clang, somebody kicked open the hatch, sending it teetering over into the ground. From the drop-box emerged a small squad of Autobots, let by an old timer.

"Let's get movin', I don't want to see this turn into another Parallax Beta." said the grizzled old timer. The squad moved out apace.

"Hey Kup, what happened on Parallax Beta?" One of the younger Autobots, couldn't have been more than forty years old.

Kup, not breaking the pace to answer the question, answered nonetheless. "Believe me kid, you don't wanna know. All right, let's sweep that structure there. Beta squad has got the other side of this junk heap, so it's not like we're unprotected." They descended into the dim building. Power would intermittently flicker, a result of the EMP bombs that the Autobot ships had dropped. Prime had decided to not use the lethal variety of orbital bombing, and had opted to use soft kill means rather than lethal methods. There were unconscious Decepticons everywhere. Kup recognized a few here and there; a few he thought might be relations of Decepticons he knew were dead, since their appearance was so similar. Electrical sparks crackled between armor plates, the whole effect was surreal to less experienced soldiers.

They turned a corner and were greeted by Starscream's inert body slumped over the entrance to an escape shuttle. Kup chuckled. How typical of the 'great and mighty' Starscream to turn tail and run when things got a little rough. No wonder Megatron had come out on top every time Starscream attempted a coup.

"All clear", the signal came from all the cleanup squads. They began clearing out the unconscious forms, dragging them out to the surface. They weren't prisoners of war, technically, but they were criminals being arrested for crimes they committed.


[Optimus Prime]

"I look out on this landscape and see gray wastes. And something inside stirs. A long forgotten parental urge unfulfilled? Or maybe some lingering presence of those within the Matrix?

"I know the Cybertrons are out there waiting, savage predatory animals still looking for revenge for their defeat. Their decadence and disregard for life seems reflected on Charr. A barren world barely capable of supporting life. This is what Cybertron would become if the Cybertrons came. Barren.

"We should build here, bring life here. If Cybertron became forfeit, at least the Transformers would continue to exist."


[Charr- 10/26/2449]

Optimus looked out the window at the bleak and tortured landscape of Charr. "So they've all agreed on this then? They understand that it's going to be a hard life here?"

Hot Rod nodded to the elder Autobot. "Yes Prime, they all agreed that it would be a good idea to establish a colony here."

Prime sat down in a comfortable chair. "The Decepticons will be shipped back to Cybertron in a week, after Ironhide's finished with identifying them. I'll stay here until the colony is on its feet."

Hot Rod smiled. "They were hoping for that. It'd make adjusting to this hellhole easier."

Optimus looked at Hot Rod's optics, then turned back to the computer display, which was showing a growing list of Decepticons who had joined Starscream's short-lived crusade. "So when are you and Arcee going to hold the ceremony, Hot Rod? You two have been engaged for the past decade."

Hot Rod suddenly felt the hot blush of embarrassment, though a Transformer's face never showed it as an outward symptom. "Oh, that. Well, she and I were talking, and hoping that we could hold it here. So it feels more like home, you know?"

Optimus nodded. "I'm glad you two are considering holding it here. It'll make the transition easier for the others."


[Charr- January, 2483 AD.]

Countdown gritted his teeth and wrestled the steering column, muttering under his breath at the failing craft. "C'mon baby, just a little further." The Micromaster had been chosen for this courier mission for his energon economy and his skill with a starship. And, as fate would have it, he was an indirect relative of Optimus Prime, though nobody knew it. It is as it has been said before, the members of Optimus' family seemed inexplicably fated to greatness. Here was the hero of a thousand space battles piloting a damaged starship on a courier mission.

The Starhopper Mk V was designed for speed, not durability. When the Decepticons had tore into it when he was escaping Cybertron, Countdown felt a little doubt crawl into his mind. And now, that doubt felt like a great ravenous Transorganic as the cockpit filled with smoke, sensors failed, and engines blew to pieces. The high speed he had been forcing the thing to go through transwarp space hadn't helped the injuries any. He began shouting loudly at it, hoping maybe Primus would smile at the absurdity of the effort, and grant him a wish. "Piece of Maximal scrap! Work, damn you! WORK!" He bellowed above the noise of various alarms sounding throughout the cockpit.

The ship descended into Charr's meager atmosphere in a fiery ball trailing dark smoke. Countdown shouted with frustration as the little ship nose-dived into a new field of Energon plants, leaving a long furrow. When the soft dirt of the field had passed by, the ship hit rockier terrain composed of volcanic refuse. The ship's wings cracked and fell off as a bump turned the thing into a spin. Then the other wing flew off, the engine compartment exploded, and a large outcropping stopped the cockpit with a jarring crunch.
Countdown was left in pretty bad shape by the crash. He could tell one of his shoulder servos had been ripped loose, and he had somehow become impaled on the steering column.

Countdown saw the cockpit's canopy be ripped off by some hulk of a figure, and then a silhouette of Optimus Prime's face.

"Who is it?" The voice said. The hulking figure grabbed him around the waist, and lifted him with ease up over its shoulder. A feral, primitive voice made itself noticed.

Another voice, definitely Optimus Prime's. "It's Countdown, Grimlock. Let's take him back to Autobase." Everything else was just shadows and whispers to Countdown after that.


Sometime later, Countdown awoke to the lovely face of Arcee. She was checking some readings on a machine that was attached to him.

"Oh, you're awake." She smiled and checked a gauge.

Countdown grabbed Arcee's wrist to get her attention. "Arcee, I have to talk to Prime. It's about Cybertron. Megatron is back!"


[End Transmission]

'Sorrow' (c)1987, 2001 by Pink Floyd Music Publishing Inc. Transformers and all related characters (c) 1985, 1992, 1996, 2002 by Takara. Written June 17, 2002.