Shards (Transformers Prime, Shattered Glass)

Chapter 17

Sierra dozed off against the window of the cockpit, half watching the clouds split and shred around the other dark flying shapes. Half listening to chatter that came over the radio. Some of it was English, some sounded like binary or Morse Code, and sounded like, well, an alien language, a hummed electronic murmur. It was actually rather nice to listen to, even if she didn't know what they were saying.

"We're nearly there," Starscream's voice broke the soft monotony "You awake?"

"Yeah," she straightened a bit, blinking as she tried to clear her head "Sort of."

Suddenly the cloud bank rolled back and in the vast field of predawn a gargantuan shape cut a massive sillohette against the buzzing energy fields.

"Woah."

"Commander, something's wrong," one of the Eradicon's voice came across the comm "The Ally isn't answering any of my hails."

"Figures," Soundwave cut in "I leave for a couple hours and communications goes to the Pit."

"As if you've never offlined it yourself," Starcream retorted good humordly "The flight deck is clear, we'll just land and sort everything out later."

There was a light jolt, then Starscream rolled to a stop and waited for Sierra to get out.

"Is it always this dark?" She asked as she slipped. Starscream transformer and the only light was the blue glow from his eyes and the Eradicon's visors.

"Electronic subroutines are down again," 78 sighed. Or at least Sierra thought it was 78, she couldn't really tell the difference between them.

"Guys? Hey guys?!" Everyone jumped as Soundwave shouted and simultaniously turned to glare at him. He shrugged.

"Comms still aren't working."

"Or they're just ignoring us," Starscream suggested "Because -ahem- that's happened before."

"I've been gone commander, how could I do this? Why would I even bother pranking myself?"

"All this time I've known you and I still can't fathom your motivations."

"Sirs?" 76 (Sierra thought) "Something's coming along the corridor."

They all paused and the scrape of heavy footsteps was clear.

Soundwave chuckled "Hey, Dreadwing! Very funny but you're way too klutzy for jumpscares."

No response, but the scraping came closer.

Sierra suddenly felt cold and she stepped closer to Starscream's foot.

"Just a malfunction," he said quietly, noticing her movement "Or a bad prank. Either way no one's going to hurt you."

She only swallowed and nodded.

"Megatron if this is about the bucket of hydrogen-oxygen liquid I dumped on you I'm sorry, I swear I meant it for Starscream."

"When was that?"

"Um. Nevermind."

The scraping grew louder and suddenly the bay doors shot open and several huge airborn shapes came barreling out. They made straight for the open sky with no regards to what was in their way. Soundwave went down with a yelp and the two Eradicons barely made it out of the way. Sierra darted behind Starscream's ankle, but twisted her head to follow the foreign shapes.

"What was-"

"Insecticons!" Soundwave gasped out as he stood back up "But how are they on Earth?"

"More importantly how are they on the Ally?" Starscream had a hand on his sword "That's...probably not good."

"Well duh," Soundeave appeared to eye the dark doorway "Shall we go by rank?"

"Oh Vector Sigma," Starscream rolled his eyes, then held his hand out to Sierra. She paused. She really, really did not want to walk around the giant dark alien spaceship, especially with something called an Insecticon running loose.

But hey, she'd done a bunch of things she really hadn't wanted to do today, so what was one more? Or maybe it had been yesterday at this point. Man she wanted to sleep.

She climbed into his hand and then to his shoulder, clutching at smooth metal, trying to stay steady and barely succeeding.

"Alright," Starscream drew one of his blades and started towards the door "Let's figure this mess out."

Then suddenly Soundwave was pressing against them, trying to push past.

"Oh, you want to go first now?" Starscream asked, stepping to the side.

"Raf! I forgot about Raf!" And then he'd transformed and disappeared.

"Who?" Sierra squeaked.

"Nevermind that, 78, you accompany Soundwave. 76 with me, we're going straight to the bridge, understand?"

"Sir, yes, sir," they said in perfect uniform, then 78 broke off and transformed, shooting after Soundwave.

"Right," Starscream looked back at the dark opening with an unenthusiastic flick of his wings "Let' get to the bottom of this."

---

78 caught up to Soundwave quickly, though, only because he'd transformed and stopped to have an argument with Laserbeak. The Eradicon only caught the last bit of the converstion, but it was enough to tell him to stay out of it.

"You didn't listen, you never listen-"

A clatter from somewhere in the inky gloom cut Soundwave off and they all froze.

"Sir?" 78 ventured "Should we go and-"

"No, we need to get to Raf."

But the faint cry for help made them rethink their plans.

In a sparkbeat Laserbeak had zipped towards the sound, her tiny searchlight flicking back and forth across the corridor hall until it illuminated a beaten orange frame.

"It's Breakdown!"

Soundwave glanced back towards the corridor that led to the storage bay where Raf was supposed to be, then with a guilty hunch of his shoulders darted after 78.

"We need to find the Doctor," the Eradicon said after a precursory glance at Breakdown's injuries.

"Over here!" Laserbeak had gone further down the hall and her light was on a crumpled figure. She landed next to him and nudged him with the tip of her wing.

Instantly he sat bolt upright, his staff coming to life with an electric crack.

"Hey! Hey it's just me," Laserbeak soothed, taking back to the air and scooting a few feet away just to be safe.

"Sorry," he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and tried to stand up "What...when did you-"

"Doctor, Breakdown is hurt, we need to get him to the infirmary," 78 blurted before anyone else could offer any other explanation.

"Right," Knockout scrambled to his feet, clutching the wall for support "Where is he?"

Laserbeak twittered and zoomed back down the hall.

With 78 supporting him, Knockout made his way to his assistant and he grimaced when he took in the injuries.

"We need to get him to the infirmary right away. Soundwave help me get him-"

Soundwave's shoulders hunched guiltily "I have to check on Raf."

Knockout flinched and opened his mouth to speak, but it took several seconds for the words to come out "Soundwave, the ship was hit with a massive electrical surge...Do you...do you know what electricity can do to a human? Especially to a small one?"

Soundwave didn't answer. Just transformed and blasted off.

"Great," Knockout sighed "78, help me."