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[100 nanocycle until ejection.]
Optimus sighed softly as he leaned against the control panel, arms crossed idly in front of his chassis. His audial fins twitched anxiously as a monotonous voice began to count down the nanocycle until ejection in the background. 100 nanocycle was just enough time to doubt his decision, but far too little to actually change it.
[92.]
[91.]
[90.]
Once the Allspark was ejected into space, Cybertron would turn into a functionally dead planet. Not that it had been too lively ever since it had become the physical battleground for the ideological clash between Autobots and Decepticons. Their seemingly endless War had called too many sparks back to the Well far too early in their life cycle. There were far too many mech, on both sides of the conflict, who would no longer live to see the end of this War and Optimus' spark ached for every single one of them. Not only that, however, but the strain of continuous battling had also tremendously slowed down the creation of new Cybertronians. The Last Wave of Newsparks had emerged several thousand vorn ago at this point and been of exceptionally small size. The batch had consisted of barely one hundred sparklings—most of whom had not even survived until younglinghood.
Still, Optimus could not help but feel that the low number of newsparks emerging during the War might not be a particularly negative thing: the fewer sparklings that needed to be raised as soldiers in a War that should have never become theirs in the first place, the better. Especially after eons of fighting had twisted their struggle into something unrecognisable. Once, they had fought for the freedom of every Cybertronian, for their right to freely choose their own path. Now, the only choice these sparklings had been offered had been the decision which of the two sides they wanted to die for—sometimes they had not even been afforded that small courtesy.
Nonetheless, as long as the Allspark was off world, there would be no new Cybertronians at all. And while that may be beneficial for the near future, sending their only means of repduction away unprotected could also, very easily, prove to be a horrendous mistake on the Autobot's part. If anything happened to the artefact in space or if they later failed to retrieve it safely, their whole species would be condemned to exctinction.
Ejecting the Allspark was an enormous risk Optimus had never even known to fear, no matter how fierce the conflict between him and his former partner in arms had grown.
[70.]
[69.]
[68.]
Yet the Prime no longer had any choice but to send the Allspark away if he wanted Cybertron to have any chance at survival, any hope for a future past the War.
In Megatron’s latest ploy to conquer and rule Cybertron, the Decepticons had poisoned the planet’s very core with Dark Energon. Optimus had failed to recognise the signs of the infection until it had already been far too late, and Primus himself had been afflicted. And even though his Autobots had done their best to fight the poisoning ever since, they had not been able to atone for their leader’s mistake. It was only sheer luck that at least the Allspark had not been affected yet. If it remained on Cybertron, however, there was no way to protect it from the corruption. Thus, Autobot High Command had ultimately, against any of their wishes, elected to eject it.
Optimus dreaded the knowledge that he was part of a War so vicious and desperate that it could justify means this drastic to any of its participants.
[50 nanocycle until ejection.]
Somewhere in the far distance an explosion went off. Its noise was muffled by the thick walls of the bunker Optimus had descended into. The numerous layers of old metal also cut off his internal comm lines, rendering the Prime unable to communicate with any of his Autobots—even Ironhide, who was stationed directly outside the facility the Allspark was hidden in, was currently outside of his reach. Even more torturous, however, was the knowledge that none of his Autobots were able to contact him, either.
Based on the fact that no Decepticon had barrelled into the console room yet, Optimus dared to deduce that at least their plan to divert the attention of Megatron and his troops away from the real location of the Allspark had been, at least somewhat, successful. Still, there was no way to be absolutely certain of that until the artefact was ejected and he could finally leave the control room.
[38.]
[37.]
[36.]
The only thing Optimus could be certain of right now was the status of those he was bonded to.
All of his amicae endurae were still, thankfully, alive. The hints of Elita-1’s, Jazz’ and Ultra Magnus’ presences were still orbiting his spark—too distant to gauge their emotions accurately but close enough to know that they were still living and mostly unharmed. That certainty alone helped soothe his own troubled processor tremendously.
Even further away from himself he found his severed connection with Megatron. Even though it had been eons since the—then newly declared—Decepticon Warlord had terminated their conjunx bond, the reminder of what once had been between them still hurt. For one contemplative moment the Prime’s attention lingered there, on the hurt and the melancholy his memories of simpler times, of Megatronus, the Gladiator, and Orion Pax, the archivist, who had dared to dream of a better Cybertron, conjured.
Then, he moved on to the connections closest to his spark now. Ratchet and Ironhide were circling his spark closely, the energy of their three sparks intertwined with each other where they had been connected permanently during their conjunx ritus. Even though both medic and weapons’ specialist were tense and uneasy, Optimus took great comfort in the familiarity of their sparks feeding off of each other—constantly sending and receiving emotions in an eternal feedback loop.
The Prime was content to monitor them for a few nanocycle as the countdown to ejection continued. He dared not, however, to actively seek them out for reassurance lest they be distracted from their current tasks.
[16.]
[15.]
[14.]
And then, there was Bumblebee, his courageous little sparkling, and the brightest of his sparkbonds. The one that had become the light of his life in these dark and trying times.
Optimus was not surprised to find the youngling nervous as he checked on him. Shortly before the Prime himself had departed from Iacon, the yellow mech, too, had left headquarters on his first official mission: to scout the borders and outskirts of Tyger Pax where the decoy battle was going to take place. This way Bumblebee would be helpful to the Autobots’ effort—just as he always wished to be—yet far away from the actual fighting and, thus, hopefully safe.
Even though the young mech had proven himself to be more than capable during his training as a scout, Optimus preferred to have him as far away from danger as physically possible. He would not risk losing one of the precious few younglings left on Cybertron. Furthermore, the Prime could just not bare the thought of losing the sparkling he and his conjunxes had taken in as their own so many vorn ago, just after the Last Wave of Newsparks had emerged.
Optimus sent Bumblebee a gentle wave of reassurance and pride that was promptly answered with an anxious pulse of love. Then, the Prime pulled his attention away from the young scout just as the countdown came to a close.
[10 nanocycle until ejection.]
[9.]
[8.]
[7.]
Suddenly, without apparent cause or reason, a sharp bolt of terror surged through Optimus’ spark. It was followed, almost immediately, by excruciating pain spreading rapidly from his chassis across the rest of his frame.
Instinctively, his servo shot up to press against his breast in a feeble attempt to somehow alleviate the cruel sting to his core.
[6.]
[5.]
The sensation was so intense that it took the Prime a moment to re-orient himself in the Allspark’s control chamber. It took another until Optimus finally understood that the pain and emotion conquering his every sense stemmed not from his own frame but had originated in one of his sparkbonds. They were merely an echo of what one of his bonded was currently suffering.
[4.]
Hastily, Optimus prodded at his connection with Ironhide and Ratchet. Both of them answered instantly. They were just as frantic as their third, but overall alive and well—even though the medic suddenly flooded the Prime's spark with horrified understanding of an intensity that had the Autobot leader shuddering in cold fear. To shake Ratchet this badly, something truly horrific must have happened.
[3.]
All of Optimus' amicae were still orbiting his spark peacefully. His severed bond with Megatron was less peaceful, but still dormant, too.
[2.]
Which only left Bumblebee, his sparkling, who should have been the safest of them all and now, unthinkably, no longer was. Optimus prodded desperately at the youngling to answer, begging for any reaction at all. He received none. Instead, the young mech's presence was laced with pain and grew ever more dim and distant.
Bumblebee's spark should have been bouncing and twirling around Optimus' energetically, filled with a sense of hopeful happiness too abundant for the War he had been born into.
[1.]
Every thought and doubt about the Allspark abandoned, Optimus transformed and raced for the exit as fast as his engine would allow.
[Preparation sequence successful.]
[Ejecting now.]