Caro Transmutata Metallo 13

Caro Transmutata Metallo 13

A Transformers Prime Fanfiction

    It went without saying that nomech was pleased with this situation. Jazz felt his energon boiling as he stood behind the tall Seeker flexing his servos. It would be so easy, his processor was feeding him a thousand ways to end the Decepticon but for now they needed the pit spawned glitch. Prowl had been interrupted in the middle of a critical task and was nearly humming with irritation as his battle computer struggled to remain running at full capacity with nothing to focus on. Still he had agreed that the coding on the lockout was far more complex than even his most pessimistic calculations had factored for and they would need the codes. Tap Out just glared angrily at them all from where he supported the limp Shard.
    Which was the main source of Alchem’s unease. He had clearly not wanted to use the smaller mech for a hostage exchange but the situation really demanded the use of at least one of his hands so the Decepticon had grudgingly surrendered his subordinate while keeping his hold on the smaller femme. Now his servos were dancing lightly over the control pad. His plating was calm and still, his wings were tight and emotionless, the brief flickering of his field hinted at an odd, intense disquiet that the saboteur could only pick up on at close proximity. Within klicks the airlock spiraled open revealing a dark hanger and the small vessel that they were pinning their hopes on.
    Like the majority of Decepticon ships it was mostly sharp points and harsh angles. It had been built as much for intimidation as functionality. There was no name visible on the hull and it lacked any decoration. The anonymity was as dangerous a weapon as any it wielded; not knowing which of the Decepticons officers was arriving could be very unnerving and disruptive, making planning a response far moredifficult. It was a long thin predator, meant to swiftly carry groups of command officers from one Decepticon theater to another.
    Jazz flowed out and before the rest had moved three steps into the room and brought a handful of spy drones to cast at the Seekers peds with an accusing gaze. Alchem glanced down at them and shrugged his shoulder guards. The saboteur frowned curiously at the odd gesture but the way the mech stepped on the devices conveyed his meaning well enough. The recording devices destroyed the odd party moved up to the ramp.
    Alchem raised his free hand to halt them at the base and angled his wings, clearly detecting some signal unavailable to the rest of them. Jazz kept his senses spread, alert for any threat and cursing the blind spots both literal and figurative the damage from Starscream’s attention had left in his awareness. Soon the Decepticon would speak the codes that would disable the ship’s defenses and they would be one step closer to escaping this place.
    The Seeker suddenly darted forward, dropped Glyph easily into Prowl’s arms, and rushed up the ramp. His servos seemed to stroke and caress the control panel rather than tap out any code but the sound of defense cannons powering down fell on relieved audials and the exterior door hissed open. Alchem stood tall for a moment, silhouetted against the interior lights, and staring back at the collected Cybertronians with that same intensely curious expression on his face, as if he were watching some entertainment that he didn’t quite understand. Then in a moment the look was gone and the cold impassive mask had replaced it. The Decepticon jerked his helm in the direction of the door and ducked into the ship.
    Tap Out led the odd group into the ship, somehow keeping the longer framed Seeker easily balanced as he darted from cover to cover. Prowl followed with Glyph securely in his arms and Jazz took up the rear making certain their escape. He circled the vessel once more for security’s sake then followed snatching up the crate of supplies the Decepticon had provided and triggering the door behind him. The rumbling of the ramp ascending into place grated through his damaged helm as he stalked towards the bridge.
    It was a short trip. The interior of the ship consisted of one corridor with chambers on either side. The engine was a long heavily shielded affair that ran under the deck plating. Not easy to access for repairs but almost never needing them. It would propel them to superluminal velocity and get them pretty much anywhere safely. The bridge itself was fairly spacious given the overall size of the ship. Alchem would have room to almost stand comfortably, but now he reclined in the command chair once again caressing the controls instead to tapping them like a normal mech. Jazz scowled.
     There was no way in the pit he was simply entering codes. The saboteur knew what that looked like. Nor was he hacking the controls. Jazz had himself broken into this very type of vessel more times than he could count. Over the eons of the war the security on the Beta cruisers had increased until they were nearly unhackable by even the best mechs. Given the choice any other ship would be preferable for an escape route. No, the Decepticon was not entering codes, nor was he hacking the systems. It almost looked as if he was seducing the ship. Shaking off that disturbing image the Autobot stalked over to the weapons controls. Prowl appeared and took the navigation consul. Tap Out was either staying with Glyph or guarding the prisoner.
    “Which of you will be commanding?”
    The sudden question startled Jazz but Prowl simply stood and indicated himself.  Alchem’s optics unshuttered and he stared fiercely at Prowl for a klick. Light beams from the command chair played over the black and white mech as if on command and the system demanded new command codes. Prowl set his standard codes and then the ship’s AI ran the same set of requests for Jazz as second in command. Once that was finished the Decepticon slumped in the chair and gave a hiss of discomfort. The black ops mech made note of that and filed it away for further contemplation.
    “You will now report to the holding cell,” Prowl stated flatly as he began the preflight checks and Jazz primed the weapons.
    “I will gladly go but you need me to trigger the release mechanisms on the doors,” the Seeker objected.
    “Just gonna blast em,” Jazz purred out.
    “That would be inadvisable. The doors are triple reinforced Cybertronium with directed energy designs. This ship does not have the power to punch through them and any damage will lock them in place.”
    Prowl confirmed this and the saboteur spun to fix him with a glare.
    “What kind a’ stupid designed the interior of a hanger that way?”
    “This is a prison,” the Decepticon replied softly but his focus was clearly on the exterior of the vessel where he was in some form of communication with the door mechanisms.
    With a faint shudder that traveled through the ship the reinforced portal spiraled open.
    “They know we are escaping now,” Alchem stated flatly. “I have locked down all other exits but they will hack them soon. Speed is of the essence.”
    Prowl took the nav con without a word and Jazz armed the missiles. A range of preset targets popped up in front of him and he shot a sharp glance at Alchem. The Decepticon looked at him and then turned back to the screen where the stars were slowly appearing.
    “It will block all exits with minimal damage and ideally no loss of life.”
    “My analysis agrees with that conclusion,” Prowl stated. “Commence firing as soon as we are clear of the hanger.”
    Still rankled at taking orders from the Decepticon Jazz nodded curtly. Almost before the portal had fully opened Prowl fired the thrusters and the ship slipped out into the asteroid belt. Jazz deployed the missiles and watched in satisfaction as fire bloomed along the edges of the asteroid base. Then his attention was taken up blasting asteroid fragments out of their path. Prowl was an expert navigator with obstacle avoidance at near the top of his skill set thanks to his battle computer. Yet Jazz had to use the defense pulse weapons nearly continuously. It was clear that the base had been deliberately ringed with concentric spheres of debris. It would have been an energy expensive task that would require constant maintenance and then reset every time the supply ship came through. A prison, Alchem had stated; a prison for whom? What exactly had been hidden behind the impressive firewalls that protected the scientists’ inner sanctum? Because the Autobot was increasingly certain that that was where they would find answers.
    Jazz thoughtfully ran his awareness over the data package he had finally managed to acquire from the base. It was clearly a mass of backup files. The kind that a meticulous researcher like Shockwave could not help but keep despite the security risk it posed. It had been stored in a section that was slightly weaker than the rest and he had managed to extract it whole. The feel of the mass of data suggested perhaps one major project. It could of course have been a bait to keep him away from the real information but from the level of encryption he doubted it. There was something important hidden in the hard coded firewalls and the saboteur was eagerly awaiting the time when he could turn his full attention on it.
    With the seemingly unending field of asteroids in front of them and the threat of recapture in the form of the space capable Seekers behind them time seemed to stretch unbearably. But eventually they passed the last gathering debris and Jazz allowed himself to relax and enjoy the small victory. He turned his attention to the Decepticon and glided silently up to him, surreptitiously teaking his field. There were no strong emotions to be found. No triumph, no fear, only that odd disquiet and a strong curiosity.
    The Seeker finally glanced over at the weapons panel and started when he didn’t see the ops mech. Jazz grinned triumphantly at him when Alchem glanced down and jumped back on seeing the Autobot so close.
    “So where to from here mech?”  the Autobot purred. “When ya’ helped us escape did ya’ have some particular destination in processor?”
    The sense of confusion grew stronger from the Decepticon and his faceplates contorted as if in pain. Finally his ruby optics flickered and he focused on Prowl.
    “Cybertron,” he stated finally. “We need to head for Cybertron.”