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Prologue
Cybertronian Civil War
Year 4762
Garrus 7, Near Space Bridge
Flashes of light shot through the eternal darkness of space. Not far from one of the moons of the former prison planet Garrus 7, the routes of two enemy fleets crossed.
A Decepticon armada, consisting of a battlecruiser, several fighters, and three transporters, was on its way to a large fleet rendezvous to secure their supplies at the front, while three Autobot cruisers in turn escorted two transport ships.
Both routes led to the front. Both routes needed the local space bridge to reach their destination quickly. Unfortunately, both parties had arrived at the space bridge at the same time.
The Decepticon cruiser fired from all barrels at the Autobot alliance, which, however, was well-defended with its modified shields. Flashes of light from the guns shot through the endless blackness.
Then a fatal hit. One of the Autobot transporters got hit and began to list, drawn in by the gravity of the nearby moon.
The Decepticon ship tried to pursue, but the Autobots responded with continuous fire. They hit one of the Decepticon transporters, causing the engines to fail. With its engines destroyed, it quickly lost altitude and plunged towards the moon, too.
Both sides fired on the opposing ship as soon as it left the protection of its allies. The damage was immense. Both ships crashed, irretrievably lost and abandoned by their allies.
The skirmish continued until the Autobots retreated.
A single tiny jet moved away from the Decepticon ships. With boosters burning at full speed, it approached the moon of Garrus 7 and the remains of the crashed ships.
Chapter 1 Vortex
Slowly, carefully, Vortex opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor. It was dark around him, only the many small fires nearby and the sparks from destroyed consoles illuminated the corridor in which he was. The sharp smell of smoke and various spilled liquids filled the air.
So he had been unconscious. The ship must have crashed.
He slowly sat up and felt his limbs. No major injuries, just a few scratches. His rotor blades were intact. Though his head was pounding quite loudly. Panting, he stood up and activated the headlights on his shoulders.
The corridor was empty. There was no one there except him. The emergency hatches were closed; the whole system seemed to have failed. No lights, not even the emergency lighting, were active.
Vortex slowly began to move towards the bridge. Opening the emergency hatches proved impossible by hand, the systems must have been fully offline. Growling, he changed form and shot his way through. He destroyed one hatch after another as he slowly flew down the corridor. He didn't hit anyone. There was no spark to be seen or felt. Nothing.
Vortex reached the bridge after more than an hour. Annoyed and extremely angry, he ran straight to the main console and tried to start the emergency programs. The system wouldn't online, so he kicked the console until it finally reacted and then switched on the ship's emergency power.
The result was that half the ship exploded.
The previous hits and the impact with the moon had caused so much damage to the transporter (which was already of an old caliber and all but a flying pile of junk) that the security system had short-circuited the emergency systems so that they would not be activated. When Vortex forcibly activated them anyway, it triggered a chain reaction.
The main power lines burst into flames near the bridge. The fire spread along the lines, behind the paneling in the corridors, down to the engine room. The cables in the walls burned everywhere, triggering new fires. Sparks flew from every crack and the ship's already half-destroyed propulsion system caught fire.
Vortex stood in front of the main console and watched the parade of flashing warning messages. They flashed more and more insistently as they became more and more numerous, all the while accompanied by the beeping of the alarm and the ship's pleasant computer voice:
"Warning. Fire on all decks. Warning. Fire in engine room. Warning. Engines overheating. Warning. Breach of structural integrity. Warning..."
Vortex's left eye twitched nervously. He stared at the messages and then decided to get away. He took the shortest route and flew in his alt mode directly to the entry hatch not far from the bridge, shot it to pieces, and flew through to the outside.
Chapter 2 Jazz
Jazz came to with a severe headache and dust falling from his plating. He lifted his head and looked around in confusion. He was lying in gray dust, covered in it, even. Next to him were pieces of debris that had apparently just missed him.
He sat up and looked around. Not far away, the transport, or what was left of it, was stuck with its front third in the ground, its still-burning engines pointing towards the sky. One wing was completely missing, the other had been bent to the side during the impact.
All around there was debris in the dust of the moon.
"This thing won’t fly so fast anymore," he said, more to himself.
He stood up with a sigh and quickly checked his condition. No major injuries, which was a small miracle considering the crash. He dusted himself off and looked at the transporter.
A quick scan left the spy confused. No signs of life? Not a single signature other than his own? The transporter had been manned by 25 Autobots. Where had they gone?
Jazz started walking past the debris and around the wreck, scanning the area the whole time, looking for signatures. There weren't any traces of them. Nothing. Not even tracks in the sand, except for his own.
He entered the ship through a breach in the hull, his headlights on, and went through the corridors as far as he could. He got to the bridge and checked the systems and messages. There was no news of anyone leaving the ship. All of the escape pods were in place, but, despite that, there was no one left onboard. There wasn’t the slightest clue as to where they had all disappeared to.
The cargo was in place. The cargo holds were sealed by the emergency systems but he could see inside via the surveillance cameras. It was total chaos because of the crash, but everything was there.
Growing concerned, Jazz made his way back outside and sat down on a rock near the wreckage. He ran a self-diagnosis of his systems. Maybe his scanner wasn't working properly?
The diagnosis, however, revealed nothing amiss at all. Jazz looked up at the wreckage. He was alone. Where were the others? But the most important question was: How did he get out of here?
Chapter 3 Slipstream
When the alarm went off, Slipstream immediately ran out of her quarters and to the departure ramps.
The report of an attack by an enemy unit echoed through the loudspeakers in the corridors. The crew was called to their posts. Slipstream ran as fast as she could to her ship, getting ready to take off immediately if necessary. She preloaded her weapons systems and waited for orders.
Suddenly she and the other Seekers felt a shock. The battleship was hit.
Slipstream remained calm, she knew how robustly these ships were built, how strong their shields were.
But when the report came in about a ship being shot down within her fleet, she turned pale. Even more so when she heard that it was one of the transporters and it had crashed on one of the moons of Garrus 7.
Slipstream hoped that it was not the transporter assigned to her and feared that it was. She and her team acted as couriers between the ships. Messages that were too sensitive for radio were transported back and forth between the ships by the group of Seekers.
Her two teammates were on one of the transporters. Nightbird and Sunstorm.
Slipstream waited anxiously for further news but nothing came.
"Slipstream to Knockout. Which ship was hit?" she radioed to the bridge.
"The third one...don't get upset now...there's nothing you can do, Slipstream," came the reply, and shortly afterwards a message arrived from the onboard computer that the transporter had been abandoned.
"WHAT? You're giving up on them? You're just leaving them here?" Slipstream screamed into the radio.
"There's nothing we can do! The transporter is history. Irrecoverable. We can't turn around and get them, we're being shot at here in case you haven't noticed! The group will turn towards the space bridge any minute."
Slipstream screamed in anger and ran. She opened the outer lock on her own, the one that allowed Seekers to enter and exit the ship.
"What are you doing?" Nova Storm asked, even as he tried to stop her.
"I'm not leaving them!" Slipstream barked at him, breaking free and jumping into the air. She transformed and left the battleship, ignited her boosters, and raced away from the compound, away from the Autobot ships that were still firing at hers. One of their ships had been hit and also fell towards the moon.
Slipstream avoided debris and followed the two transporters as they entered the moon's thin atmosphere far apart from each other and completely uncontrolled.
She landed on a rocky plateau not far from the two crash sites. It was stormy. Dust was blowing through the air and making visibility extremely low. She felt strange, as if there was too much pressure on her. But this moon had hardly any atmosphere, so the pressure shouldn't be that high.
Slipstream peered through the dust trying to see something. She saw smoke rising in the distance. One of the wrecks had to be there. The storm had disrupted her scanners, so she decided to simply fly towards the smoke by sight.
After a short time, she reached the crash site and discovered that it belonged to the Decepticon transporter. She went lower and flew around the wreckage several times, her scanners on full power.
Nothing. She found nothing. No signatures whatsoever.
Then finally one. Someone shot a hole in the outer shell and came out.
Slipstream went down in a spiral and landed in robot mode near the Con who was trying to gather himself.
"Where are the others? What happened here? Did the Seekers get out?" she asked him immediately, upset.
Vortex glared at the Seeker and stood up.
"I have no idea. Maybe you can explain to me what happened? I wake up here, lying in the dark, all this shit burning down back there and not a soul to be seen! No idea where the others are, not here at least!" he grumbled at her and kicked a rock that flew at Slipstream's leg.
Slipstream took a step back and took a deep breath. Yelling at Vortex wouldn’t help.
"Do you know if the escape pods were used?" she asked him. The other Con was really annoyed by now, he held his head as if he was in pain and turned away from her, his rotor blades twitching nervously.
"The pods are all still inside. No one is here and no one has left," he grumbled, looking at the wreckage. "I don't know what's going on here but I don't find this funny at all," he added with a growl.
"We should go and look around. Maybe we'll find a clue as to where the others are. They can't all have just disappeared into thin air," Slipstream said.
Vortex nodded and together they transformed and flew off, first searching the area around the wreck and then flying randomly in one direction, both of them with their scanners running at full speed. Vortex was slower than the Seeker, but that didn't matter much. She flew in loops around him, scanning the surface of the moon like crazy. He did the same, but more purposefully forward.
They found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Until they finally came across the wreckage of the Autobot transporter a good sixty klicks away from their own ship.
Slipstream went deeper and first spotted the lone Autobot walking among the rocks near the wreckage. Vortex noticed him shortly after and the Combaticon immediately opened fire.
"What are you doing?" Slipstream shouted in horror as the Autobot jumped for cover and fired back at them.
Slipstream and Vortex landed and she hit the Decepticon in the chest with full force.
"Are you crazy! Stop shooting! Maybe he knows where the others are!" she yelled.
Vortex wouldn’t stop growling and trying to aim the blaster past her at the hated Autobot. Finally, she simply took his blaster away from him and pocketed it. She turned to the Autobot, who had barricaded himself behind the rocks, and raised her hands.
"Don't shoot! We just want to talk!" she called over to the rocks.
Vortex stood behind her, stunned, staring at her. This couldn't be true! What was she doing? He definitely didn't want to talk to an Autobot!
Jazz heard the engines before he saw them approaching. When the helicopter fired at him, he jumped for cover behind some of the larger boulders and immediately returned fire.
The jet landed, closely followed by the helicopter and...
Jazz didn't think he was seeing clearly when the Seeker turned against the helo. Then a female voice called over to him.
He quickly checked his databases. Slipstream, a Seeker, accompanied by one of the Combaticons. Ah, he’d heard enough about that one. Vortex, a helicopter listed as disturbed, dangerous, and unpredictable.
Well, it seems like he’d already felt that.
"What do you want?" he called to them from his cover.
"Our transporter crashed not far from here. The crew is missing! We're looking for our people!" Slipstream called back.
Jazz stood up, blaster still in his hand. "Disappeared?" he asked.
"There’s no one left there, except one," came the answer.
Now it was Jazz's turn to put away the blaster and show his hands. He left his cover and approached the two, Slipstream came towards him, keeping an eye on Vortex.
"Except for one? But there’s two of you," the Autobot stated, stopping a few meters away from them.
"I'm from the battlecruiser. My teammates were on the transporter. I couldn't leave them here," the Seeker answered. Jazz could tell from her voice that she wasn't lying.
He also kept an eye on Vortex, who was standing behind her and who didn't seem to like the situation at all. He stood there with his arms crossed, grumbling and likely wanting to punch the Autobot in front of him with his bare fists.
"I woke up next to the wreckage, not quite half an hour ago. Everyone’s disappeared here too. 25 crew members. No traces, no signatures, all emergency capsules in place," he said, coming a little closer.
Slipstream looked at him speechless.
"Just like us. No signatures, no traces, all capsules still there," Vortex finally said and then he took his blaster back from her, but put it away. "Don’t do that again," he hissed at her and took a few steps away, sulking.
Slipstream looked at him briefly, then back at the Autobot.
"How can this be? Both ships have crashed, and all of their escape pods are still there...where are the crews?"
"That's a very good question," Jazz replied, "Maybe we should try to figure it out together. As far as I know, this moon isn’t that big. If we split up and search in different directions together, we can scan the surface pretty quickly," he suggested.
Slipstream nodded and looked at Vortex. He returned, grumbling.
"Agreed. Each of us goes in a different direction. We'll meet back here," he said.
Jazz nodded in agreement. All three transformed and set out on their journey. Each for themselves, each in a different direction.
Jazz drove through the dust, scanners running at full speed. Vortex flew at top speed and scanned the area in a large radius. Slipstream followed suit, all systems set to search.
Chapter 4 Discoveries
Hours later, they met up again at the Autobot transporter. None of the three had been able to find even a hint of life on this pile of sand and rocks. Vortex paced around in circles in a bad mood while Slipstream and Jazz tried to assess the situation. Thinking and talking were not Vortex’s strengths.
"No trace to be found. So they must have somehow disappeared from the ships while they were crashing," Slipstream pointed out.
"True. But how? I can't remember anything about the crash. I must have passed out." Jazz scratched his head thoughtfully.
"All that talk, all that talk! It's all pointless! All you can do is talk, talk, talk!" Vortex suddenly barked. Enraged, he drew his blasters and fired at the Autobot transporter, hitting the ruptured fuel lines on the engines.
Slipstream saw the danger a moment before it happened.
"Guys... TAKE COVER!" she shouted. She jumped behind the rocks with Jazz as the Autobot ship blew up.
Vortex realized too late that he had caused an explosion and was thrown backwards.
Groaning, he sat up and looked over at the burning wreckage.
"Whoopsie..." was all he said and let Slipstream help him to his feet.
"Are you okay?" the Seeker asked him worriedly.
"Yeah, yeah. Just scratches. Hey, look over there." Vortex noticed something about the wreck. The ship was now stuck much deeper in the ground than before.
Vortex ran over to the wreckage to look at it and, for the first time, Jazz started to twitch slightly.
"EY! CON! Watch out up there! There could be more explosions!" he called to him even as he followed him.
Slipstream also ran to the wreck, more to stop Vortex from doing anything stupid than to see for herself what he had discovered.
Vortex stopped at the stern and whistled in surprise.
"Guys...look at this. I think we're one step closer to solving the mystery," he said, his rotor blades vibrating with excitement.
Beneath the wreckage, the moon's crust had broken open, revealing metallic structures: frayed metal plates of enormous thickness, cables that were partially spraying sparks, and a hollow space underneath.
"An underground structure?" Slipstream asked, more to herself.
"Let’s find out," said Vortex and jumped down into the hole.
"He's not exactly the rational kind, is he? More of a quick-response type?" Jazz asked the Seeker, who immediately rushed to the edge of the hole as Vortex jumped.
"VORTEX! By Primus, that guy is driving me crazy!" Slipstream stood at the edge and called down. "VORTEX! ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?"
Jazz stood next to her, on the one hand impressed by the discovery of the Combaticon, on the other hand shocked by his unpredictable behavior.
"Goodness...that guy is really exhausting. Is he always like that?" he asked the Seeker.
"I don't know, I haven't had much to do with him so far, but as far as I know he has some mild psychological problems," she replied.
"ARE YOU BOTH GOING TO GET DOWN OR DO YOU WANT TO GET STUCK UP THERE?" Vortex shouted back and turned on his headlights. He wasn't far down, a good 10 meters, and was standing in some kind of corridor.
Slipstream jumped down first, closely followed by Jazz. Once she got downstairs she could see something in the darkness. It was actually a dimly lit corridor. It went on endlessly in both directions.
"What is this?" Slipstream asked quietly as she looked around, confused.
"I don't know, but I can sense signatures. Far away," Vortex grumbled and started walking in one direction.
"Wait...we shouldn't just walk around here like that!" Jazz said,.
His concerns were of no consequence to the Con. Vortex was in a bad mood, had a headache, and had no desire to listen to an Autobot at all! He wanted to find his people and get out of here, preferably yesterday!
"Let's follow him. We should stay together down here," said Slipstream and strode after Vortex. Jazz sighed and followed the two, because he didn't really have any other choice.
A good distance from their entry hole, Jazz discovered a terminal in the wall next to a closed door.
"Wait...let's see if we can get some information here," he said to the other two and they stopped.
Jazz connected to the terminal and looked for any information that could help them.
He discovered that the complex was a mine, manned by robot workers who mined the moon's depths for the abundant Bethany crystals, a mineral that was used very effectively in hyperspace drives. The facility was also guarded by various security systems, as well as several dozen heavily armed drones that patrolled at regular intervals.
Jazz read aloud to the other two most of what he discovered. Slipstream listened attentively, as did Vortex. He was particularly interested in the description of the security systems. It sounded like the place was pretty well secured.
"According to the logs, the security system was triggered when the two ships entered the moon's orbit. If I’m reading this correctly, the crews were teleported out and are located somewhere within the complex..." Jazz said, disconnecting the terminal before they were possibly discovered.
"So they've arrested our people. Fine. Then we'll get them and get out of here," grumbled Vortex and was about to run off again.
"Not so fast. We should think carefully about what we are doing and how we’re doing it. If we turn the system against us, no one will get out of here. Besides, we don't even know who we’re dealing with. I don't want to start a small war here. One is enough," Jazz pointed out, and Slipstream agreed.
"We have to be careful and proceed with caution. I know you don't like this, Vortex, but if we make a noise we won't help anyone," she said, looking at the helo.
Vortex sighed resignedly and kicked the wall. "Fine! I get it! So...what do we do now?" he asked, looking at the two of them.
"I copied a floor plan of the facility. I suspect the others are further down, there are rooms that look like ship hangars. We should try to get there and find out more about this place on the way."
Jazz gave them both the data he had downloaded, bringing them all up to speed. The helo didn't want to let him touch him at first, but eventually allowed Jazz to transfer the data to him via a link.
Vortex stood still for a moment while he ran the map through his systems, specifically looking for weak points in the system.
"The ventilation shafts in section seven. They seem to lead downwards. Probably the mine's cleaning system. If we reach them, we can move on unseen."
"Very good. That sounds like a plan. Let's go," said Jazz, and together they set off.
Corridor by corridor, as quietly as possible and carefully examining their surroundings as they went, they moved forward through the very extensive and winding complex.
They encountered some worker drones, but the drones didn’t react to them at all. They appeared to be simple machines that were only used to dismantle, transport, and load. They let them pass and crept further and further into the complex.
Suddenly Jazz stopped and pointed to an open door on the side. They heard hammering and welding from inside. It seemed to be a workshop, a small hangar for repairs and the like.
Jazz peeked around the corner and motioned for the others to be quiet. Then he turned back to them.
"Two of these lame robots and a biological being. Looks like a scientist or something. Maybe we can grab him and get information on who owns this facility?"
"I’m going in and knock him out!" said Vortex, prepared to rush off.
"Not so fast, or do you want to set off the alarm?" Jazz hissed, grabbing the Decepticon by the arm. "We'll do this together. We both go in, one left, one right. I'll paralyze him with my sonic cannon and you grab him."
Vortex growled at him and pulled away. "Grab me again and I'll break your arm off! Good! Fine! Then just do it! You go right, I'll go left!" he growled at Jazz and they started walking.
"You make sure no one comes in from behind, Slipstream." Jazz looked at the Seeker and she nodded, stopping at the entrance to keep an eye on the corridor.
Jazz and Vortex went inside and arced across the room, following the walls, getting closer to the being that was working at a table in the middle of the room. It seemed to be completely oblivious to the robots in the room, so completely engrossed in its work that it didn’t even hear them coming.
Jazz signaled Vortex and fired his ultrasound at the creature, which then collapsed and briefly lost consciousness. Vortex leaped forward and grabbed the guy, turning it on its side and tying it up, with Jazz’s help, before it came to.
As soon as the creature opened its eyes it wanted to scream, but Vortex covered its mouth and brought its face very, very close.
"Try screaming and your tongue will fly against the wall. Be quiet and maybe nothing will happen to you," he said quietly and in a very threatening voice to the creature, who stared at him in fear and finally nodded obediently.
"Very reasonable. I swear, after all the crap so far, I don't mind breaking you down into your molecules if you don't do everything we tell you. Understood?" the helo asked and Jazz looked at him, somewhat speechless. The guy was scary. He was really crazy!
The creature nodded again and Vortex took his hand away from its mouth. Then he looked at Jazz and made an offering gesture.
"Here you go. Your turn, Autobot," he purred with a nasty undertone.
Jazz just nodded and began to question their prisoner. Unfortunately, he got no answers. The creature looked at him but remained reticent. The only thing that kept coming was a constant: "I don't know anything about that, I'm just working here..."
Jazz couldn't get anything useful out of the guy. He was feverishly thinking about how he could get him to give them answers, when Vortex pushed him aside.
"Let me try," said the Helo, and the look in his eyes made Jazz shudder. Nevertheless, he finally nodded and stepped aside.
"But let him live," he said quietly.
Vortex nodded and knelt down in front of the scientist. The scientist looked at him stubbornly, certain that the two of them would now start using the well-known tactic of good cop, bad cop on him.
He was very much mistaken.
Vortex stood up and went to the table where the scientist had been working earlier, looked at the tools, and picked up a laser cutter. He tried it out and grinned as the device worked perfectly and cut off the edge of the table.
With the cutter in his hand, he came back to the guy and knelt down in front of him, letting the tips of his rotor blades, which were all sharpened on one side, scrape across the floor, discreetly spraying sparks. He looked at the guy, his face very close to that of the scientist.
"I hate people in scrubs," Vortex said quietly. "They don't bring anything good, mostly just pain. You're not exactly being cooperative. That's a shame. But maybe you will be. Then at least you'll have some use," he whispered, and you could hear his grin even though he was wearing a mask.
The scientist looked at him, still ready to stand firm and not reveal anything, because the consequences for him could be quite ugly.
But when Vortex pulled the scientist’s bound hands forward, turned on the laser cutter and, without warning and without batting an eyelid, began to carve patterns into the index finger of his right hand, he immediately changed his mind!
"AHHH! NO! STOP! PLEASE! DON’T! STOP!" he screamed in panic.
Jazz stared at the two of them. He hadn't expected this. Threats, yes, but to get straight to the point and start mutilating? He turned around when he heard a gasp and saw Slipstream at the door, turning away from the screams and the sight, visibly shaken.
Jazz turned back and watched as Vortex cut a slice off the finger, the creature's blue blood sprayed in all directions.
"I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!" the scientist whimpered, tears streaming down his face. He was shaking all over and staring at Vortex in panic.
The Con’s expression changed from amused to deadly serious. "How many guards are there?"
"Six...they're operating from a shelter located near the main hangar, Level 7..."
"How good is their weaponry?"
"They have firearms, short-range cannons...the room itself has an automatic firing device...it's linked to the security system..."
"Who runs this facility?" Vortex put more pressure on the conversation and the laser cutter, slicing in even more. The screams that followed were subterranean!
"The Black Block Consortia! They use the crystals for their fleet!" the scientist whined, writhing in Vortex's grip.
"When are they coming here to get your crystals?"
"Twice a month....next time in three days, AHHHHH!"
"Where are our crews?"
"On level 7 in the holding cells. They will be transported away when the next shipment is picked up..."
"How many of your kind are stationed here?"
"Seven...we...there are seven of us...the rest are robots."
Vortex looked at Jazz smugly. "Anything else we want to know?"
Jazz shook his head. He knelt down and stunned the scientist with a precise grip on the neck. Then he tied him to the cabinet behind him and also gagged him.
"Mhhh. Pretty tough for an Autobot," said Vortex with a grin when Jazz was finished.
"Stop calling me that. My name’s Jazz. Let's go. We have to move on. You heard him, in three days at the latest, the place will be on fire. So let's go now!" Jazz hissed at him and they returned to Slipstream, who was waiting nervously at the entrance to the workshop.
"And? Did anything come of it?" she asked, her wings spread so wide that her fear and disgust were clearly visible. She looked at Vortex, now with much more awe than before. The guy was insane, he had proven that very well here. Insane, brutal, and completely unpredictable, without mercy.
"Yes. We know who’s behind this and what’s going on. Now we have to find the shafts and get down. I was right about the hangars. Our people are there too. Come on, I'll explain the rest on the way," said Jazz and the three of them set off again.
Chapter 5 Deeper Down
They found a possible entrance into the mine's ventilation shafts easily, however there were some initial problems. Vortex steadfastly refused to use the boost offered by Jazz and climb up just because he was lighter. It felt like ten minutes before Slipstream lost her temper and snapped at him to stop behaving like a stubborn Sparkling!
"I WON’T LET HIM TOUCH ME!"
"OH YES, YOU WILL OR I’LL THROW YOU UP THERE!"
Slipstream stood threateningly in front of the helo, hands on hips, eyes glowing. She just didn't understand this con! On the one hand, he tortured a biological being without batting an eyelid, its blood was still all over him, and on the other, it was too much for him to step on an Autobot's hand and climb into a damn ventilation shaft!
Finally, Vortex gave in, angrily kicked the wall, and climbed onto Jazz's hand. From there he stepped onto his shoulder to climb into the narrow shaft. The option of flying was out of the question here, they had far too little space for that.
Vortex looked around the shaft briefly and then looked down at them.
"It's going to be pretty tight. You'll have to think of something with your wings. You're too fat for the shaft as it is," he said to Slipstream.
"Fat? Did you just call me fat? I'LL SHOW YOU FAT!" the annoyed Seeker barked at him and folded her wings so tightly that they barely extended beyond her body.
She climbed onto Jazz's hand and let him push her up, climbing into the shaft and past Vortex. He just giggled and turned around to pull Jazz up into the shaft. Together they closed it again and followed Slipstream, who lit the way for them.
A few corridors further on, the air vents became wider and they found a place where they could all sit together for a moment and take a break. Jazz had a few Engex sticks and Slipstream had two cans of High Grade, which they shared between them.
Vortex was silent. He seemed to be staring into space, still covered in what was now dry, dark blue blood. Slipstream looked at the speckles and a chill ran down her spine.
Jazz was the first to speak again. "Have you ever met the Consortium?" he asked calmly.
"I have. They’re not particularly nice to Cybertronians. As far as I know, they want to wipe out all mechanical races, which they are doing quite successfully," Slipstream replied, looking at her hands holding her can.
Jazz nodded. Some colonies had already fallen victim to them. The Consortium wiped out all life that came their way.
Vortex watched Slipstream and the way she reacted when she looked at him. He knew he made a lasting impression once you saw him in action. What was interesting to him was what happened next. He didn't usually get the chance to observe that.
"Do the stains bother you?" he finally asked, purely out of interest, without any undertone.
Slipstream nodded.
"Why?" asked Vortex, because he really didn't understand. He lacked the necessary empathy to put himself in such an emotional state. He tilted his head, waiting curiously for the answer.
"I felt sorry for him. The pain must have been enormous and you could see his fear. I know we needed the information, but this way… It scared me to see what you were doing to him. I was afraid you would kill him."
Vortex nodded. "I would have if you hadn't been there. He's a danger to us. If he's found and freed, he'll betray us."
"Probably. I hope he won't be found until we're gone," Jazz replied, chewing thoughtfully on a stick as he took another closer look at the blueprints for the facility. "We’re coming up to a place where it goes down. It looks like it's well-developed for maintenance. It shouldn't be too difficult to get to the lower levels," he said, leaving the topic of torture aside.
A few minutes later they crawled further through the shafts and finally reached the place that Jazz had mentioned.
It went far down into a shaft that led vertically into the moon, down several levels that were connected by tunnels and bridges. They could climb down a ladder and, from there, over the first bridges, deeper and deeper. Everything was connected to everything else by a pipe in the middle of the shaft that was almost thirty meters wide and that led up to the surface of the moon. The central ventilation of the facility. This was where the sand, dust, and gases from the mine were transported outside.
"If we keep climbing here we'll get down to Level 7. Then we just have to get in and find our way to the hangar without the security guards discovering and attacking us," said Jazz as they climbed lower.
Vortex was the first to climb down to the bottom of the ladder. They couldn’t fly here or they would attract attention. It was also why he heard the noise just before they reached the tunnel between Level 7 and the pipe.
He stopped and looked at the wall of the shaft, where a door opened and four heavily armed combat robots drove out of a tunnel toward them. The robots immediately readied their weapons.
"Uh, oh," said Vortex.
The robots opened fire. So much for not attracting attention.
Vortex dropped down and transformed, firing in turn and trying to draw the attackers' fire onto himself. Jazz and Slipstream were still too high up on the ladder. It wasn’t a good position for fighting.
Slipstream jumped off and transformed, but the shaft wasn’t suitable for her to fly through. She managed it, but could hardly maneuver in the narrow space. She transformed again and landed on the tunnel to Level 7.
Vortex covered her back, he had already taken out three robots. He took a few hits, smoke rose from his side, but he held his position and gave Jazz the chance to climb down and open fire.
It didn’t take long to finish off the remaining robot. Oddly, their fight didn’t seem to have triggered any kind of alarm.
Vortex landed and transformed. Energon ran down his side, one rotor blade was badly damaged and was hanging loosely from his back. His right arm was limp and he couldn't lift it.
Jazz rushed to him, wanting to look at his wounds, but Vortex turned away from him. His eyes blazed brightly and he hissed at the Autobot.
"Don’t you dare touch me!"
"I just want to help you! You're damned hurt!" Jazz yelled back.
"Whatever! Don't touch me!" growled Vortex and walked away from him, leaving a trail of energon drops behind.
"STOP! BOTH OF YOU!" Slipstream screamed and the helo turned to her in confusion. The Seeker was crying. He looked at her, completely confused by her reaction.
Slipstream trembled, her hands clenched into fists. "We're all stuck here together! What are we going to do if you die, Vortex, huh? You're hurt! You can't go on like this! Get help, damn it!" she screamed at him, more than stressed by her situation, the attack, and the fear for her comrades, who were stuck who knows where and who knew what was going to happen to them!
Vortex looked at her speechless, then at Jazz. Finally, he lowered his gaze and his rotor blades. He gave up and let Jazz come to him and look at his wounds.
"Sit down," the Autobot said quietly and then began to treat the wound in Vortex's arm and the one in his side.
Vortex let him do it, then looked back up at the Seeker. He didn't understand her reaction. Why was she worried about him? She wasn't part of his unit, not part of his team, and had nothing to do with him, but she was crying because he was hurt? He didn't understand.
When Jazz was finished, Vortex stood up again and tested the mobility of his arm. It was okay. Not as good as it had been before the fight, but he could move it. That was enough for him.
"Let's keep going. It's still a long way," he murmured, looking for a new entrance to the ventilation shafts at the end of the tunnel.
Jazz checked the weapons of the destroyed robots and took a few of them, plus their ammunition, before heading after Vortex. Slipstream followed the two silently, her stress levels now beyond belief. She hoped and prayed that the others were okay and had not already been turned into scrap metal.
Chapter 6 Confrontation
Vortex found an entrance through which the three of them could once again enter the air vents. After the incident with the guard robots, everything remained quiet. Apparently they really hadn't triggered an alarm.
One by one, they climbed back into the vents and crawled forward as quietly as they could. Slipstream behind Jazz, Vortex at the end.
At some point, more out of fear of the silence than just interest, she asked the Autobot in front of her, "What are you doing with the troops, Jazz?"
He continued to crawl as he answered. "Espionage, troop coordination, and tactics. What do you do?" he asked back, glad that someone said something.
"Data transport...at least that's what I did in our convoy. Otherwise, reconnaissance and sometimes air missions, together with the others from my team," Slipstream answered quietly, thinking of her comrades. Her colleagues meant a lot to her. Losing someone always hurt her immensely and, unfortunately, she’d experienced that far too often.
Jazz heard what she was feeling in her voice and he nodded more to himself, she could hardly see it from where she was crawling behind him.
"We'll find the others. I'm sure of it. We'll find them and get them all out of here."
Slipstream looked at him, surprised by his answer. But she had to smile. His confidence calmed her down a little.
Behind her, she heard Vortex grumbling quietly. At first she thought it was because she had been talking to Jazz and he didn't like it. But then she heard the steady hum of his ventilation. Slipstream stopped and looked back over her shoulder. Vortex had fallen back and was looking at the ground as he crawled.
"Short break, Jazz," she said and they stopped at a junction.
Jazz waited for Vortex and had him sit down against a wall. He immediately looked over his injuries again. Vortex leaned against him and closed his optics. He was obviously worse off than he had wanted to show.
"I’ve got to treat this properly. You're leaking under your armor," Jazz told him after scanning the wound in Vortex's side more closely.
"Do you have to?" Vortex grumbled, but much less aggressively than usual. He was tired and the wound was bothering him.
"Got to. Lie down and let me do it," Jazz replied.
To his and Slipstream's surprise, Vortex did so almost immediately, gasping softly. He allowed Jazz to remove part of his armor, exposing the wound in his protoform. Slipstream watched and was more than a little concerned. Underneath the armor, everything was smeared with Vortex’s Energon.
"The wound isn't too big but it's opened up again. All I can do is cauterize it. That... will hurt a little," Jazz said to Vortex.
Vortex just nodded. Jazz burned the wound closed. The helo bit his hand to keep from making a sound. Slipstream looked away. It smelled disgustingly of burnt protoform.
"It's over...I can't do anything more, unfortunately. We don't have anything with us to treat it properly." Jazz helped Vortex sit up again after he had put the piece of armor back in its place.
"It’s okay...this will last long enough," muttered the Helo and began to crawl further.
"Not so fast. We're resting here. You need to rest," Jazz said, holding him back.
"Get some sleep, Vortex. We're keeping watch," said Slipstream worriedly, and after some initial hesitation, Vortex lay down.
Jazz and Slipstream sat down in the shaft to his left and right and kept an eye on both sides.
Vortex was definitely less nervous than Slipstream. After a short while he started snoring, completely relaxed. The Seeker looked at him and had to smile.
"Even here, in a situation like this, he can snore. Enviable," she said.
"This is way more stressful for you than for him, isn't it?" asked Jazz and Slipstream nodded.
"I'm a seeker. Tight spaces...that's not for me."
"Understandable. He doesn't seem to care, but that's probably more to do with his basic attitude. Weird guy." Jazz looked at the Helo.
"Do you think we can free the others?" she finally asked the Autobot.
"I hope so. But I can’t guarantee it."
The two fell silent, taking the chance to rest. Finally, Slipstream gently woke Vortex up and they crawled further through the vent together.
Vortex led them through the corridors quite confidently. He seemed to have learned the entire map by heart and always took the right turn.
After another three hours of crawling in the ventilation shafts, they heard voices in the distance. Through a grate in the floor they could see into a large room, it looked like a hall, and there were two of the guards mentioned by the scientist, chatting to each other.
Vortex immediately looked at their weapons.
"Two blasters each, knives on the belt. How many did he say there are?" he asked, looking over at Jazz.
"Six. He said six. We should try to find out if that's true. Can the three of us handle six of them, what do you think?" Jazz asked the Helo.
Vortex's look spoke volumes. It was a surprise that the Autobot valued his opinion, but he liked it.
"I think so," Vortex said. "The hall is big. We can take advantage of the fact that two of us can fly."
"Sounds like a plan. Good. Let's see if we can somehow find out more about the hall and where exactly our people are."
They crawled further, looping around the hall once, and then they found a way to the hangar next to it. There were indeed two cells, filled with their comrades. No one was doing anything, except for Onslaught, who was pacing nervously in one cage, and Hardhead, who was whistling to himself, in the other.
Slipstream looked closely and spotted her friends. They were sitting next to each other in the Decepticon cage, at the back wall, both unharmed. A huge weight was lifted from her heart.
Jazz counted his crew. Everyone was there and no one seemed seriously injured.
He carefully scanned the room and found two guards. He signaled to the others and they crawled further, found a grate through which they could see better into the first large hall and there they counted three guards. Another was sitting in a room that looked like the surveillance center described by the scientist. That was all they could find. But that was certainly not all.
There was the large hall, the hangar with the cages, and three other hangars in which the mined ore was stored in transport boxes. Jazz looked for a way to hack into the station's system and spotted a terminal in a corridor between the storage rooms.
He and Vortex left the ventilation shafts briefly so that Jazz could try to get information about the security system down here. He wasn't happy with what he found. All of the hangars were equipped with massive automatic firing systems and there were security bulkheads that could be closed in the event of an attack or accident, sealing all the rooms separately.
After their investigation, they retreated to the air vents to make a plan. They didn't have much time left to get out. The only question was how they were going to get out. Their people couldn't all fit in the ventilation shafts.
"Most of our people can fly. If we could get everyone to the main shaft we came in through, they could fly up and clear the way. The others could climb or the flyers could carry them."
"Nice idea, Slipstream. But have you ever thought about how we're going to organize it? First, tell the Cons that they should help the Autobots escape, and then that they should carry them... Sorry, but that won't be so easy," Vortex pointed out.
"We have to let the two groups know in advance so that they can join in when it starts. Is there any way we can do that?" Slipstream asked.
Jazz thought for a moment and then opened a flap on his forearm. He pulled out two data sticks.
"We could fill these with the information we've gathered. With a path on the map and the instruction to find the way out together after the attack," he said, looking at Vortex.
Vortex nodded. "I’ll make the recording for the Cons. If Onslaught hears that I'm here and working with you, he'll definitely get the others to do the same."
So they did. Vortex and Jazz recorded the messages together. One for the Decepticons, one for the Autobots. They left Slipstream as a sentry at one of the floor grates to keep an eye on the guards, as the two of them crawled off, each to the cage of their unit.
Jazz opened one of the panels above the cage. Hardhead and Landfill were sitting below him. Jazz gave them a quiet signal, just loud enough to make Landfill look up. Then he dropped the stick and disappeared back through the vents.
Landfill immediately took the stick and hid it.
On the other side, Vortex had also arrived and opened a ceiling panel. Below him, Wingspan was perched rather unhappily on the wall. Vortex knocked on the ceiling. Three times. Until the clone finally moved his head up and noticed him. Grinning, Vortex made a psst noise and threw him the stick. Wingspan caught it and made it disappear, nodded goodbye to Vortex, who closed the panel again and made his way back through the vents toward Slipstream.
Back at Slipstream’s grate, the three of them looked for a place where they could rest. They wanted to give the others time to read the information and discuss things.
Jazz watched with concern as Vortex voluntarily lay down in a corner again, his rotor blades tightly folded, and fell asleep almost immediately. He wasn't feeling well and it was obvious. But they had almost made it. One more big effort, just one more push, and they would have freed their comrades.
"Can he do it?" Slipstream Jazz asked quietly, pointing at Vortex.
"He lost a lot of Energon and we don't have any left. He's almost at reserve, maybe that's already happened. I think he'll make it, but we should be careful that he doesn't overdo it and play the hero," Jazz replied.
"Hm. That'll be easy," said Slipstream and had to smile as she looked at Vortex.
Despite all the creepiness about him, his behavior during torture, his aggression in battle... somehow she was starting to like the guy. He was crazy, like most people who knew nothing but war. But he was charming in his own way and he stood up for his comrades. She gave him credit for that. Also for the fact that he had overcome his fears and cooperated with an Autobot.
Four hours later, after also attempting to sleep, Slipstream and Jazz woke Vortex up so that they could go over the plan again.
If the guard in the control room closed the gates, they would attack him first and take over the room, where Jazz could try to disable the factory's armed robots and perhaps the security system at the same time. Meanwhile, Slipstream and Vortex would attack the remaining five guards.
Easier said than done. They crawled through the shafts back to the grate through which they could see the surveillance room.
Vortex jumped, transformed, and fired immediately, even as the guard looked up in shock. The grate flew into the air and Jazz jumped through, grabbing the guy before he could draw his weapons and knocking him unconscious.
Slipstream left the ventilation shaft and she too transformed, shooting at the remaining guards who, alarmed by the sudden noise, came running and opened fire on her. Vortex hovered by her and shot back. He pointed his rotors forward and created a lot of wind, forcing their opponents to retreat behind the door. This gave Jazz more time, as he’d managed to connect to the computer and was causing chaos.
An alarm went off throughout the facility, at the same time that Jazz switched off the guard robots and opened all the doors, giving them a huge advantage. Now their people could get to the large shaft that led to the surface much quicker.
"I got it!" Jazz shouted and ran towards them.
Vortex immediately flew forward and into the hangar where the other guards were, then engaged them in a fight on the ground by transforming again and barricading himself in the corner. Slipstream flew full speed through the hall into the next hangar and started to open the cages, which led to a flurry of activity inside. Everyone got ready to run.
As soon as the doors were open, Jazz guided them to the correct corridor towards the large exhaust shaft. Slipstream flew ahead. Everyone who could transform did so and drove or flew after her. A mess of Decepticons and Autobots, but no one was left behind.
Well, almost no one. In the confusion of escaping, they forgot about the remaining guards and Vortex. Jazz turned around, fired at the three remaining guards with all his might, and grabbed Vortex, pulling him with him as he transformed. The helo landed on his roof.
"Hold on tight!" Jazz shouted and stepped on the gas, following the others.
Vortex did so, clinging to the edge of the windshield, and they reached the shaft.
The Cons were already collecting everyone who couldn't fly and carrying them up, one by one, even as they climbed up the ladders of the extraction system. Slipstream, Nightbird, and Sunstorm had shot open the exit to the surface of the moon and were now helping to get everyone up.
Vortex flew himself, carrying Onslaught up.
"That was good work, Vortex," said his team leader, hanging onto Vortex as they climbed upward.
"Thanks. Now we just need to get up this cliff," Vortex replied. He was overheating, getting more and more tired, struggling not to just shut off the rotors and let himself fall. He couldn't do it anymore.
When he got to the top, he set Onslaught down and looked down. Jazz sent the last ones up the ladders and then followed himself, but two remaining guards came running behind him and... the robots were coming, too. They had managed to reactivate the security system and got those damn things working again.
"JAZZ! BEHIND YOU!" Vortex shouted and dived down, firing on all cylinders. The Cons above, especially Onslaught, looked down and saw what was happening and fired downwards in turn, giving Vortex and Jazz cover.
More and more of the robots appeared in the shaft. They started climbing up and shot at the escapees. Slipstream also flew back down, closely followed by her friends, who formed a mini squadron with her and blew the robots off the walls, one after another.
Like spiders, they climbed up and after Jazz. They kept coming, more and more of them. Then the security hatches began to close, including one directly above the newly created exit to freedom.
A robot caught up to Jazz and readied its weapon to shoot the Autobot from behind. Vortex threw himself at Jazz and ripped him out of the line of fire. He caught him in mid-air and transformed back into his alt mode, Jazz hanging by his side. Vortex gave it his all, his fans howling with the effort, his engines rattling.
He tried to take the momentum and carry Jazz upwards, but his reserves were finally depleted, his wound reopened...
A bright flash of light and Vortex looked up, irritated, into the glaring white.
Chapter 7 Divine Providence
Vortex woke up feeling awful and with a bad headache. He was sitting in his quarters aboard the Dark Light, a battleship near the Cybertronian Sector.
He looked around wearily. What had happened? Had he been dreaming? Why was he here? They had only just been on their way here when they crashed...
Confused as hell, he went and looked for something to drink. Time for breakfast. Apparently, he’d had a very vivid dream.
He sat down at one of the windows with a large glass of High Grade and looked out into the endless blackness of space. The first sip burned through his systems like battery acid. Starving, he devoured the entire cup. Starving?
"Vortex?" he heard a voice and turned around. Slipstream was coming down the hall. She looked just as confused as he did.
"So...it wasn't a dream after all?" he asked her, looking down at himself. He spotted the plate of his armor that Jazz had removed to treat his wounds and found the scratches the Autobot had left on it.
"No. Not a dream. I woke up in my cabin. What happened?" she asked, confused, and sat down next to him.
They had reached their destination. But how?
Weeks later, Vortex and his team were in a small city next to a spaceport, after a mission on one of the planets on the outer edge of their sector. They used the short break to sit down together and have a drink.
The others were talking loudly around the table they’d snagged. Blast Off was joking around with Brawn, Swindle was trying to sell them all some junk he had stolen along the way. Vortex himself was quiet today, sipping his glass and watching the other customers in the shop, when he noticed an Autobot entering the shop.
Their eyes met and the Autobot came over to the Combaticons' table. None of them drew a weapon, Vortex noted. So, the others also remembered that moon and their adventure there.
"Hello," the Autobot spy said quietly and smiled as he reached them.
Vortex nodded at him and stood up, offering him his hand. They had done it, together, even if he wasn't sure how.
"How did we get out of there?" he asked the Autobot.
Jazz smiled and looked at their hands, which were still clasped together. A soft symbol shimmered on the backs of both hands, barely recognizable. A tiny matrix in front of a star. The old symbol of Primus.
"By divine intervention, I guess," Jazz replied with a smile.