All right, so, this has something I've been thinking of doing for a while.
Regenerated has gotten to be too long and convoluted to keep track of (probably owed to it being a nearly 13 year-old storyline). As such, I will be taking a break from it and focusing on some other story ideas I've had for some time, which may end up replacing Regenerated or serving as a reboot if things go right.
Galactic Odyssey will be a series of short stories detailing the Ark's journey from Cybertron to Earth. There will be others to focus on tales from Cybertron and Earth, but that'll be another time.
MAKE PEACE, NOT WAR
Paradron
Loathe as she was to admit it, Lifeline could tell that something was wrong almost from the beginning.
It had started about an orbital cycle since Sentinel Prime last visited Paradron as part of his tour of the Commonwealth. The visit had been the same routine she and her fellow Paradronians were used to; Sentinel Prime would exchange pleasantries with the local leaders for the sake of the cameras, act like the belligerent hardhead he truly was once the cameras were off, check on the energon supplies, gather some to take home for Cybertron, then leave. Nothing about his visit had been anything out of the ordinary.
But since then, things had started to feel off. While no one had told her as much directly, she had overheard from some of her fellow medics that the Prime had been forced to cut his tour short and returned to Cybertron. The reason for this cancellation was unclear, although at least one of her colleagues had said something about civil unrest on the capital planet. However, any inquiry made towards the leaders of Paradron was met with either radio silence or hollow reassurances. The local leaders was doing everything they could to quash the rumors before they spread, lest they shatter the peaceful atmosphere that Paradron had known for centuries.
Lifeline did everything she could to ignore the rumors and her own concern about what was happening away from home. But that became an impossible feat when the High Guard arrived.
As the personal guard for the Prime, the High Guard were always hanging around Sentinel Prime; it was impossible to spot him without at least one of their number close by. But this was the first time Lifeline had ever seen the High Guard without the Prime being present as well. They had arrived on Paradron over a month after Sentinel’s departure, dropping down from a ship that was not Sentinel’s preferred vessel of choice, the Lodestar.
Lifeline hardly knew any of the High Guard by name save for one. As head of the Guard itself, Starscream was almost always seen at Sentinel Prime’s side during his tours, wearing that confident smirk that had always rubbed Lifeline the wrong way. The fact that he was now here without any sign of Sentinel Prime did not sit well with her.
She had stood to the sidelines with some of her colleagues in the Medic Corps as the leader of Paradron, Landshark, stepped forward to great their visitors.
“Commander Starscream,” Landshark said as he extended a hand in greeting. “This is quite the pleasant surprise, especially so soon after your last visit. I trust that Sentinel Prime is well?”
Starscream glanced at the proffered hand but did not shake it, giving Landshark his traditional smirk. “Oh, the Prime is doing just fine. He simply needed to address some… urgent matters on Cybertron.”
Landshark slowly nodded, a frown developing on his orange face. “I see. So, what brings you here to Paradron?”
“The same as before: we require another sample of your energon rations.”
“So soon? The Prime usually recovers a sample every other stellar cycle.”
“Yes, well, those urgent matters I just mention require some rather urgent solutions.” Starscream flicked his gaze at the energon-producing factories that dominated the Paradronian skyline. “We will also need a larger percentage than normal. Seventy percent this time.”
“Seventy percent?!” Landshark exclaimed. “But… it’s been the standard thirty percent for centuries! Ever since Nominus—”
“Yes, well, Nominus isn’t the Prime anymore now is he?” Starscream sneered, taking a step forward. Landshark backed away in response. “Now then, if you wish to remain on good terms with the Prime, then you will do as he requests for the betterment of Cybertron and her precious colonies.”
Landshark nodded frantically. “Y-yes, of course, sir. My apologies. I… I will have my security escort you to the primary factory.”
“Oh, don’t bother. We already know the way.”
With that, Starscream and his contingent of guardsman leaped up into the sky and converted into their Tetrajet forms, blasting off in the direction of the factories. Landshark simply stood there in shocked silence, and Lifeline could only stare at him until she was pulled away by her duties.
That day had been the beginning of the end. For the next several months, the High Guard made regular visits, retrieving more and more energon from Paradron’s supply. More often than not, they took far more than the seventy percent that Starscream had mentioned and stole away with a good majority of the planet’s supply for that orbital cycle. With no more fuel to continue producing more energon, the factories began shutting down one by one, until all that was left was the primary station… and even that was on its last legs.
Again, Lifeline tried to ignore it all. Tried to tell herself that things were not falling apart.
But it was a futile effort. Before long, the news was inescapable once it had reached all of the colony worlds.
Cybertron was at war.
She did not know the details. To be quite frank, she didn’t want to know the details. Like many living on Paradron, she loathed the very concept of war. The entire colony had been borne from an effort to convert the energon-producing world of Omnitron from a site of conflict, as it had been in the War of the Threefold Spark, into a world of peace. Its new name was even an archaic word for “peace.” Weaponry was banned from the planet (although many were forced to turn a blind eye to the null-rays that the High Guard carried) and many of the inhabitants, including Lifeline herself, had a low opinion of those who participated in conflict.
For centuries, this policy had benefited Paradron and its inhabitants greatly. But now, Lifeline was worried it would prove their undoing should the war ever make its way to Paradron.
Years passed. She eventually lost count of them. The visits from the High Guard eventually ceased, and she began to wonder if perhaps the war had ended. Perhaps Paradron would finally be given the chance to replenish its depleted resources and return to the prosperous state it had enjoyed for so long.
But then the day came when Lifeline looked to the sky and saw the massive orange ship looming overhead.
That’s when she knew that the nightmare was far, far from over.
* * *
“All right, give it to me straight: how many do we have injured?”
“I’ve counted at least a dozen,” said Hoist, standing hunched over a comatose Smokescreen as he operated on the injured Autobot. “There might be more in the other medbay. Everything’s a blur right now and I—”
“I know, I know.” Ratchet sighed as he set down his medical tools. “You’re doing good, Hoist. I know you’re not used to this level of workload, but you’re the closest thing to a medibot we’ve got functional right now. Besides me, of course.”
“You really think the Paradron medics will want to help? I’ve heard they don’t take kindly to soldiers.”
“Whether they do or not, they’ve taken the same oath that I and other medibots have taken. They will help us. I know they will. Besides, we could use some of their energon supplies as well.” He then patted Hoist on the shoulder. “Keep things stable here while I head out there, yeah?”
“Wait, Prime’s sending you? I would’ve thought he’d send Bumblebee or someone instead.”
“Yeah, well, like you said, they don’t take kindly to soldiers here. But maybe they’ll be friendlier to a medic instead.”
With that, Ratchet converted into his alternate mode and drove out of the medbay, heading straight for the boarding ramp.
He could not at all blame Hoist—or anyone for that matter—for being flustered. The retreat from Cybertron had been a chaotic event, and many ‘bots had been injured in the process. Ratchet could only hope that Hoist’s assessment of there only be a dozen or so injured wasn’t an understatement, as it would not surprise him if they had far more than that.
The fact that they were still in Cybertronian space was a major risk in and of itself. But they simply had too many injured and had exerted too much energon in the escape that they had been forced to bring their massive ship, the Ark, to the closest energon-rich world they could find. And Paradron all but fit the bill, in addition to being known for their talented Medic Corps.
But Hoist was right; the natives of Paradron had a cold attitude towards those who participated in war. Ratchet had heard plenty of stories from veterans of the War of the Threefold Spark about the disdain they sometimes faced from the otherwise friendly pacifists. He knew they would still repair those in need, regardless of who they were or where they were from, but he knew that the atmosphere around them was going to be tense.
He reached the boarding ramp which had already been lowered once the Ark had touched down and he rolled down onto the surface of the planet. Waiting for him there already were two members of the Paradron Medic Corps, both wearing the identical body-type that was standard for their members, with a turquoise and white color scheme. They were both regarding the Ark with skeptical expressions, no doubt recognizing it as a Vanguard-class command ship that was often used in war.
Transforming to robot mode, Ratchet held up both of his hands in greeting. “I’m sorry for the surprise arrival but this is urgent. My name is Ratchet and I’m an Autobot from Cybertron. We’ve got injured on board and—”
“Autobot?” One of the medics gave him a confused look. “What’s that?”
Ratchet returned the befuddled look before understanding her confusion. “Ah, that’s right. You wouldn’t know. Communication with most of the colony worlds have gone dark ever since… look, it would be better if I explain on board the ship. We’ve got at least a dozen injured in the medbay and they’re in critical condition.”
The two medics exchanged skeptical looks before the first one let out a sigh. “Fine. Let’s have a look.” To her colleague she said, “Go fetch some backup. I’ll be on the ship.”
While the other medic transformed and drove off, the Paradron medic stepped towards Ratchet and folded her arms over her chestplate, giving him a look that was almost accusatory.
“So it’s true then,” she said, her tone deadly quiet. “There’s been war on Cybertron.”
Ratchet sighed. “Yes. Been going for about a hundred kilocycles now. We held out for as long as we could but we just don’t have the numbers or the firepower.”
The Paradron medic eyed the exterior of the Ark. “Yet you have a warship at your disposal.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t exactly easy to obtain her.” Ratchet huffed in exasperation. “Look, we need to get to the medbay. I’ll fill you in on the rest while we work.”
Without another word, the Paradron medic transformed and followed him through the ship’s interior and into the medbay, where Hoist was still working by himself. The two medics transformed and stepped over to the operating table on which Smokescreen lay.
“This is Smokescreen,” Ratchet said to the Paradron medic. “We’ve had to put him into stasis lock in order to preserve what’s left of his energon levels. Same goes for some of the others: Skids, Grapple, Tracks…” He then paused before glancing at her. “My apologies, but I didn’t get your name.”
“Lifeline,” she replied, her gaze fixated on the non-functioning Autobots. “They were all injured in battle?”
“Yes. We stole this ship—Prime calls it the Ark—from one of the Decepticons’ spaceports. Their forces swarmed in and nearly overwhelmed us. We had to leave some of our own behind after the ‘Cons started blowing up the spaceport around us. If we hadn’t taken off then and there, we would’ve been scrap.”
Lifeline turned to him with a frown. “Decepticons?”
Ratchet sighed. “Megatron’s political party. You’ve heard of Megatron, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” Lifeline said bitterly. “He’s a war veteran, isn’t he? Before he became part of Sentinel Prime’s inner circle.”
“Yup. Well, turns out, he’s been scheming to take over Cybertron in all that time. Him and a good majority of the Senate, actually, as well as pretty much all of the military. They launched a massive coup and took over Iacon. Those of us who didn’t want to live under such a tyrannical government formed a resistance group to counter their efforts. We call ourselves Autobots—as in autonomous robots.”
Lifeline’s expression softened a bit as she looked back to the injured. “So… you’re not soldiers?”
“For a lot of us, not by choice. Many of us come from civilian backgrounds; Skids over there was just a simple theoretician, and Hoist ran a local maintenance shop in Monoplex. And I of course was just a standard medic like you. But these desperate times have forced us to do things that we otherwise would have preferred not to.”
“So you found war to be the only option? There was no diplomatic solution to be found?”
Ratchet sighed. “If there had been, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in now. Or, more likely, we would have still ended up the Decepticons’ iron thumb. Megatron and his followers are set in their ways; I don’t think there’s any getting through to them.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like war’s been working out for you, if this is how things have ended up.”
Ratchet gave her a sharp look. “What would you prefer then? Living under a tyrannical government that doesn’t care about you? A government that would sooner step on you and leave you for the turbowolves than do anything to actually benefit society?”
Lifeline opened her mouth as if to fire back only to be cut off by Hoist. “Ratchet, I need help with Bluestreak over here. He’s starting to fade fast.”
Ratchet pushed past Lifeline and rushed over to the operating table that carried the silver and red Autobot. A gaping wound in Bluestreak’s chest gave him a nasty view of his innards and Ratchet winced as he deployed his tools.
“I can stabilize his laser core for a bit, but his energon levels are dangerously low.” He looked over to Lifeline. “You got anything that can help?”
Lifeline seemed to hesitate for only a second before walking over, drawing a pistol-shaped object from her storage pack. “I can inject him with an energon infuser that will raise his levels for a bit.”
“Great. Inject it into his intake system right there.” Ratchet pointed to the part in question and Lifeline went to work, inserting the infuser into Bluestreak’s wound and plugging it into his intake valve. As the energon flowed from the device into his systems, the center of Bluestreak’s laser core began to glow brighter and color slowly returned to his optical sensors.
“Good, good… everything’s looking steady. Laser core’s fully stabilized now.” Ratchet made some finishing touches with his tools before directing Lifeline to remove the infuser and close up Bluestreak’s intake valve. “That should do it for now. His levels should be high enough that we won’t need to put him into stasis lock like the others. I’ll just let Hoist patch up his wound and he’ll be good to go.”
“Good to get injured again,” Lifeline said sullenly.
Ratchet sighed as he put away his tools. “Do you know why Bluestreak joined us? Why he joined in on the fighting?”
“Because he thought it was a fight worth fighting for. I’ve heard it before, Ratchet; I’ve repaired veterans of the war, you know. The last war, that is.”
“Yes, he thought it was a fight worth fighting for. But you know what made him think that? The fact that his home city was destroyed by the Decepticons.”
Lifeline blinked. “What?”
“Bluestreak is from Praxus, and it was one of the first city-states targeted by the Decepticons in the early stages of the war. They wanted to send a message to us, to show us that they meant business and would show no mercy. Bluestreak is one of the only survivors from Praxus; all of his closest friends and loved ones were killed in the massacre.” Ratchet looked back down at the silver Autobot, at the haunted look that lay behind his flickering optics. “Believe it or not, he hates war as much as you do. But he fights because he knows that if he doesn’t, if no one does, then Praxus might not be the only city to be made an example of. Even those who think they’re in the Decepticons’ good graces won’t be safe.”
Lifeline stared at Ratchet for a moment before shifting her gaze to Bluestreak. A conflicted look was on her face.
“Even if he hates war,” she said quietly, “how does he know he’ll be able to stop once the war is over? What if he finds himself unable to return to peace? What if none of you can return to that state?”
“That’ll be a matter to address in the future,” Ratchet said. “But right now, we need to focus on the present. Because if we don’t, there might not be a future.”
Lifeline had no response to that, falling silent as she seemed to contemplate his words. At that moment, her fellow Paradron medic appeared in the doorway, accompanied by others of her body-type.
“We’re here, Lifeline,” the other medic said. “Show us where the patients are.”
As Lifeline pointed them to the bots in question, Ratchet walked over to Hoist, who stood hunched over the deactivated Tracks. “Go ahead and take a break, Hoist. You’ve earned it. We can handle things from here.”
Hoist did not respond, remaining stock still. Ratchet frowned as he touched the green-and-orange bot on the shoulder. “Hoist? You doing all right?”
When Hoist finally spoke, his voice was weak, crackling as if his voicebox was full of static. “Energon levels… getting low. Exerted… too much….”
Ratchet’s optics went wide. “No. No, no, no! When was the last time you refueled?!”
“Haven’t… since… before leaving….” Hoist dropped down onto one knee, holding onto Tracks’ operating table to keep from fully collapsing. “Need to… enter stasis lock… before—”
“No!” Ratchet spun around to face Lifeline and the other Paradron medics. “Get me another energon infuser, quick!”
One of the medics frowned. “We only have five on-hand. Our protocol is to only use them for those in the most critical of conditions.”
“Only five? But… I thought Paradron was rich with energon. You should have a lot more!”
“That was before the High Guard depleted us of most of our reserves,” Lifeline explained. “We never fully understood why they did… but I suppose it has something to do with these Decepticons you’ve told me about.”
Ratchet grimaced. “The High Guard is pretty much the backbone of the Decepticons’ air forces now, so it wouldn’t surprise me. Look, maybe if we could just transfer some of my energon to him.”
“No.” Hoist exerted the last of his strength to grab Ratchet by the arm. “You are… needed far more… than I. Prime… needs your… talents. Without you—”
“Come on, don’t say that, Hoist. You’re just as—”
Before he could finish, Hoist started to fall to the ground. Ratchet caught him as he fell while Lifeline rushed over to his side.
“We need to get him into stasis lock,” she said grimly. “If we wait any long, we may lose him for good.”
As much as Ratchet wanted to argue, he knew that she was right. With the help of her and one of the other Paradron medics, they lifted Hoist onto a spare operating table and went through the process of putting him into stasis lock. Once that was done, they moved him and the other stasis-locked bots into an adjacent room before shifting their attention to the rest of the patients.
The operations went a lot quicker than Ratchet had anticipated, which he supposed owed to how efficient the Medic Corps were. They were so good at their job that he was tempted to ask them if they wanted to join the crew… but then he briefly met Lifeline’s optics and could already tell what the answer was going to be.
As soon as they were done, the rest of Lifeline’s team began to take their leave, heading for the exit ramp without so much as a word of farewell. Only Lifeline lingered behind, walking with Ratchet as they headed in that direction.
“Well, we might never see eye-to-eye on the matter of war and our place in it, but I do thank you for your help,” he said to her.
“It is our sworn duty,” she replied. “And… for what it’s worth, you have given me something to think about. I realize now that fighting in war is not always a choice some ‘bots make lightly. Some of them might not have a choice at all. I still feel that you and your fellow Autobots have options at your disposal besides fighting… but I guess it’s up to you whether or not to use them.”
Ratchet smiled weakly. “Hey, like I said, it’s not for lack of tracking. Sentinel Prime tried the diplomatic approach with Megatron… and it cost him his life.”
Lifeline stopped dead in her tracks, staring at him wide-eyed. “Wait, Sentinel Prime is dead?!”
Ratchet winced as he rubbed the back of head. “Ah, that didn’t get out to you either, eh? I thought maybe since you had heard about the war you might’ve…”
“Well, if Sentinel is dead, then… who is your leader? You mentioned a Prime earlier as if he was still alive….”
“That would be Optimus Prime. And speak of the Chaos Bringer.” He motioned ahead, near the opening to the boarding ramp, where a tall red and blue ‘bot was standing, distinguished by a pair of windows on his chest, a grill on his midsection, and a silver faceplate covering the lower half of his face.
Compared to his predecessor, who was known to have a militaristic alternate mode, Optimus Prime looked far more “civilian” than any Prime before him. And judging by her expression, the fact that he looked so… “normal” seemed to have caught Lifeline off-guard.
As the two medics reached him, Optimus Prime nodded to Lifeline in acknowledgment. “As I’m sure Ratchet has already told you, your help has been much appreciated, Lifeline.“
Lifeline inclined her head, giving the Autobot leader a studying look. “You are Optimus Prime, I take it? No offense, but… you don’t strike me as much of a Prime.”
Optimus chuckled. “I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not.”
“Well, you certainly don’t look as much of a soldier as Sentinel Prime did. Did you fight in the last war?”
“No, I came online after the war ended. I worked as a dock worker on Cybertron.”
Lifeline seemed taken aback by that. “A dock worker? As a Prime? I suppose the Matrix will choose anyone these days.”
“Yes, well, Primus works in mysterious ways.”
Ratchet cleared his vocal processor. “Ah, Prime, Lifeline told me that Paradron’s energon resources have already been stretched thin by the Decepticons. I’m not sure they’ll have any to spare for us to refuel.”
“Well, I have actually spoken with their leader Landshark already and he has agreed to give us just enough fuel to make it to the next stop on our journey. Hopefully there we will find the proper amount energon we’ll need to make it to our final destination.”
Lifeline looked between the two Autobots. “I don’t mean to pry, but where exactly is it you are headed?”
“Unfortunately, that is confidential information. I trust that you understand.”
“I suppose I do.” Lifeline then turned to Ratchet. “Well, Ratchet, I wish you safe travels. Hopefully this war will come to an end and we may all enjoy peace.”
Ratchet smiled sadly. “I think we can both agree on that, Lifeline. Farewell to you.”
He could have sworn he saw Lifeline return the smile before she turned and descended down the ramp. Once she had stepped off, Optimus pressed the control panel to raise the ramp and Ratchet watched as Lifeline drove away before the doors shut in front of him.
As the Ark’s engines thrummed back to life, Optimus Prime turned to Ratchet. “Were you able to save all our injured?”
“For the most part, although we were forced to put some in stasis. Like I said, they had limited energon to spare.”
Optimus put a hand on his shoulder. “That may very well be the best outcome we could have hoped for. It is fortunate that we have you on our team, Ratchet.”
Ratchet smiled sadly. “Yeah. Can’t say it’s easy being the only qualified medic on board, though.”
“True. But life rarely places us in situations with simple solutions.”
“No.” Ratchet stared forlornly at the spot where Lifeline had just stood. “No, it does not.”
PROFILES
Ratchet
Function: Medic
Allegiance: Autobots
“You break it, I’ll remake it.”
Ratchet has the best bedside manners one could ask for from a doctor. He is always making banter and sharp quips with his patients to keep them awake and conscious, helping them relax as he operates on them and gets them ready for the next mission. When he isn’t working in the medbay, he is being the life of the party among his fellow Autobots, joking around and doing everything he can to lighten the mood, which has become a progressively more difficult task due to the toll the war against the Decepticons has taken on them. For all his joking around however, he is one of the most dedicated Autobots at his job and will never rest until he is completely certain that his comrades are fully patched-up and operational.
Weapons/Abilities: Ratchet carries a wide assortment of medical tools—including laser scalpels, arc-welders and fluid dispensers—which allow him to fix up his fellow Autobots, no matter the place. In addition to his medical tools, he carries a standard laser pistol to ward off any enemies that attempt to interrupt his operations, as well as a shield that can withstand laser bolts. When out on the field, he often brings with him a Mobile Autobot Repair Bay (or M.A.R.B.) which he can integrate with in his ambulance alternate mode.
Weaknesses: Sometimes his desire to banter and quip with his patients can distract him from his work. His standard laser pistol is also not very effective against Decepticon armor plating and he lacks the warrior skills that some of his teammates possess.
Lifeline
Function: Medic
Allegiance: Paradron (Medic Corps)
“Don’t let my smile fool you, it’s part of my root programming.”
Lifeline detests war, and detests those who participate in it just as much. Like most Paradronians, she is a pacifist and deplores the very idea of conflict. Were she not a member of the Medic Corps and hadn’t sworn an oath to fix all those in need, regardless of their background, then she would not be fixing those injured in combat just so they could be sent back to battle. Behind her smile lies a cold and detached processor that thinks in the most pragmatic way possible; if she can find a reason to deactivate a patient rather than repair them for the sole purpose of getting injured or killed in the future, then she will take that route each and every time.
Weapons/Abilities: Lifeline is skilled with every medical tool imaginable and is considered to be above-average in terms of efficiency when operating on most patients. She carries an energon infuser which allows her to inject a sample of energon into patients’ intake systems to keep them functional for a limited time. A section of her alternate mode (a Cybertronian speed cruiser) can detach and operate as a hoverboard to quickly transport her patients. When not in use, it attaches to her back and serves as a storage compartment for her medical tools.
Weaknesses: Lifeline’s prejudice against soldiers and warriors makes her hesitant while operating at them, sometimes resulting in below-average repairs. Her cold demeanor when not working also sometimes extends to her fellow Paradronians, leading to her feeling isolated among her peers.
