Chapter Text
The alarms blared.
The crew panicked.
The ship was falling.
Wheeljack had been overcome with relief for a few fleeting moments as he had managed to steer the Ark into a nearby spacebridge, sending them hurtling across the galaxy, away from the aggressive Decepticon warship. But now, he found himself desperately trying to steer the Ark away from the blue planet below them. The blast from the Nemesis had completely destroyed the Ark’s engine, and they were all rapidly hurtling towards the atmosphere.
As Teletraan-1 repeated it’s warning message over and over again, he became aware of the bridge becoming emptier and emptier; Ratchet running to the medbay to gather as many medical supplies as he could carry, Bumblebee clinging to Elita’s servo as she lead him to the escape pods...
Only Optimus remained on the bridge with Wheeljack.
The Prime, trying to maintain his balance as the Ark entered the planet’s atmosphere, reached forward to take over the controls from Wheeljack, “Go, Wheeljack! Save yourself!”
Wheeljack swatted his servo away. He could feel Optimus’s shocked optics on him, “No way, Prime, you should be the one gettin’ outta here! I helped build this rig myself, and I’d gladly go down with it. Besides, you’re too important to go offline.”
Optimus groaned, frustrated by the engineer’s stubbornness, “Wheeljack, my status does not make my life more important than yours, and you know this.”
“Yeah, I know, but it ain’t because of your status.” He finally turned his helm to look Optimus in the optics, “It’s ‘cause you’re my brother.”
Optimus stared back, sadness evident in his bright blue optics. His spark felt heavy. What if he never saw Wheeljack again? He sighed with resignation. Teletraan-1 shouted;
“WARNING: PLANETARY CONTACT IMMINENT”
Wheeljack jerked the steering wheel more, trying his best to maintain his composure, “Now, go! Get outta here!”
Optimus nodded and bolted out of the room, towards the escape pods. Wheeljack looked down at the screen on the Ark’s main interface. 5 symbols representing 5 pods, one darkening after the other as they left the ship. To his horror, one of the symbols flashed red. The only remaining escape pod had malfunctioned. He was stuck on the crashing ship. He hoped that everyone else had managed to escape, with no one left behind. Horrified, it started to sink in for Wheeljack that he most likely would not survive the impact.
This wasn’t how he’d wanted to go.
Only one thing could save him, one of the stasis pods in the medbay He let go of the steering wheel, and attempted to make his way to the medbay before the collision, using the chairs and walls for support.
“Teletraan-1! Divert all emergency power to the medbay!”
“Affirmative.”
All the other lights began to dim around him. Wheeljack reached the medbay, nearly losing his balance as he lunged towards the computer interface, hitting a button to open one of the stasis pods. The pod door slid open. Cold, blue, and frosty, yet a better alternative to being crushed upon impact. Pushing himself off the wall, he clambered into the pod. He only had a moment to get situated as the door immediately shut.
Wheeljack closed his optics, rapidly losing consciousness, now all alone in a cold, dark world.
He hoped that, whenever he woke up, he’d be greeted by a friendly face. The last thing he heard before completely blacking out was the distant voice of Teletraan-1.
“Rest well, Autobot Wheeljack.”