No Rest For The Weary

Sam barely had time to ponder his current situation when Ellie and Mikaela were bodily thrown into the med-bay, the doors slamming shut again. The click of the locking mechanism echoed through out the hanger making the darkness that much more profound. Through the sounds of heated battle outside, Sam could hear two people making their way through the pitch blackness. Their whispers filtered into his ears, recognizing their voices immediately. “Mikaela? Ellie? I'm back here.” The two women ran as fast as they could, Mikaela embracing Sam as soon as she could feel him. “What's going on out there?”



Mikaela was still carrying the Calculus book under her arm, clutching it as though her life depended on protecting it. “Starscream just dropped out of nowhere with the other two and Soundwave.” Both girls winced as the shockwave of a large explosion shook the med-bay. “They just started shooting.” The three stayed in utter silence for a few moments, listening to the muffled shouts and explosions, suddenly wishing to be anywhere but where they were.



Sam shuddered, noticing that Ellie was staring at his eyes, one brow up above the other. “Sam, did you know your high beams are on?” Sam laughed, explaining as best as he understood what Ratchet had told him. He stopped in mid sentence when something occurred to him. He nearly hit himself for not asking this before.



“Are my parents alright?” He tried not to read into their expressions, not liking the looks he was getting. Mikaela and Ellie looked like they weren't sure of the ground under their feet anymore.



“We don't know, Sam.” Mikaela shook her head. “I think they were in the mess hall on the other side of the base having breakfast with the Lennox's. You know how they like to get up early.” Mikaela smiled, running her hands through Sam's hair. “Don't worry, they're probably safer than we are.”



Sam nodded, wondering just how safe they were in the med-bay. It didn't look that much different than a regular air hangar, even with the extra supports wielded to it's frame. That didn't bother him as much as the equipment hanging from the supports did. Transformer sized equipment that would hurt like a muther if it fell on any body part. That point was driven home when the monitor that Ratchet had shown Sam not ten minutes ago swung awkwardly when one of the combatants outside toppled to the ground. The three inched their way back toward the patient beds. Ratchet never allowed himself to use these beds since they were strictly for patients. This was one of the places that Ratchet forbade anyone to wander around in. The reason was secured under a tarp at the very back. If one was just giving the patient ward a cursory glance, one would miss the large form concealed in material that was identical in color to the military green that covered the crates of the more sensitive parts used for repairs.



Sam let go of Mikaela's hand and went around the stacked crates, his hand pressing against the coarse fabric. What he felt underneath brought back the heart break he had felt more than a year ago. He remembered Prime cradling the two halves of Jazz's body with the tenderness a father reserves for his own children. It appeared that this had been Ratchet's little obsession these past months. The medic knew that he could not possibly revive Jazz after his spark had left him, but that had not prevented him from trying. Sam smiled. This was Ratchet in a nutshell; never giving up on any of his patients. Even after death.



Leaning up against Jazz's body was another, smaller object wrapped in the same canvas. It looked like an oddly misshapen pyramid about two feet tall. And it was calling out. There were no words, just a feeling of urgency that made the hairs on his arm stand on end. Sam unwrapped the package, gasping softly. Two more sets of hands joined his, touching the shard as though it were a relic of some holy deity gifted to them for safe keeping. Their reverence was broken when a new explosion rocked the base, ripping the north side away along with half of the roof. Sam's ears rang, his vision clouding with the sudden explosion of light from the morning sun. He vaguely felt Ellie pulling him toward where she had managed to drag up a portion of the canvas under Jazz's arm. He didn't fight as he was shoved underneath, the sunlight blocked out as she and Mikaela secured the canvas again.



The air under the material was oddly musty almost to the point of choking. All three kept themselves huddled in the crook of Jazz's arm, making sure to make as little noise as possible as the world outside continued to erupt in gunfire an explosions. It became obvious from the sounds that the Autobots were trying desperately to take the fight elsewhere, but Starscream seemed to feel their desperation and stayed put, blasting everything in the vicinity to flush out what the Autobots were trying to protect. It seemed like hours that they were huddled under that canvas, listening to the shouts of the Autobots as they tried to coordinate their efforts against the four Decepticons. Sam held his head as the chatter from the five Autobots filtered into his head, making him feel like he was in a room crowded with people who were afraid of not being heard.



'Watch your back, Iron Hide. Thundercracker is taking aim.'



'Chromia, circle around the med-bay and see if you can get a couple of shots in on Soundwave.'



'Just pinch the line closed, Ratchet. I can fight with one arm. Just keep shooting!'



'Prime, any word on how the others are holding up? Were they able to get the Lennox's and Sam's parents into the underground bunker?'



'I believe so, Bumblebee. But we will not know for certain until this is over.'



Sam could feel the uncertainty in Prime's voice and it tore at his heart. He suddenly wished that Jazz was still with them. His presence would make the battle a much cleaner six against four. That and Sam still missed his urban euphemisms. He seemed to be the first to learn about a new culture, the first to make himself one of the guys. The first to speak in a fashion that was familiar and comforting, even if his first words were 'What's happenin' little bitches.' It still brought a smile to his face every time he thought about it. Sam reached up with one of his hands and placed it on Jazz's side where he knew his spark chamber was.



Mikaela was watching Sam, her face becoming sympathetic as he placed her hand on Sam's for comfort. Ellie watched the two. She was listening to the sounds outside, her ears driven to near deafness at all the noise. Bullets, missiles, energy discharges and anything not nailed down flew over their heads. All three heard the missile before it hit and were able to duck further into the shelter of Jazz's armor as the explosion ripped apart what was left of the med-bay. The canvas was ripped away, their eyes assailed with daylight again and then abruptly put out as the crates that had been stacked in front of them fell over, covering them in splintered wood and metal parts. Most were small enough not to injure but it covered them completely in twisted metal.



In the silent chaos, all three had reached out to grab one another, each of their hands falling on the shard of the All-Spark. As they reached out to steady themselves on the body of Jazz, their world exploded into white.







It seemed too much to expect Starscream to move away from the bunkers and med-bay. At least what was left of them. Starscream and his fellow seekers seemed Pit-bent on destroying as much of the base as they could, starting with the living areas. Prime was thankful that only a small contingent of human solders called the base home, making the chances of one of them being killed that much smaller. But what worried him the most, was what was taking refuge inside the tattered remains of the med-bay. Sam, Mikaela and Ellie were hiding inside, hopefully some where out of sight and protected against the volley of bullets and missiles that came in seeming endless supply from the four Decepticons.



In between doing spot repairs on his fellow Autobots and doing his share to drive off the four Decepticons, Ratchet was busy running scans over what was left of his med-bay. The Autobot medic may have been a pacifist, but when someone messed with his ability to effectively treat his patients, he became a warrior to be reckoned with. To Ratchet, the moment he did so much as give a being a simple scan, be they mech or organic, their aft was his until their dying breath. He felt such toward Sam, Mikaela and Ellie, all of whom had received treatment for wounds from the old medic. Ratchet would continue to scan the area at the rear of his med-bay until the battle was over.



At the moment, he could 'see' that the three humans were huddled together under the canvas that protected the body of Jazz from prying eyes. He silently commended them for their intelligence. Jazz's armor would protect them from the worst of the explosions and the canvas would make sure that the Decepticons didn't get any bright ideas about taking one of them hostage. And it seemed that they had the fore sight to take the remaining piece of the All-Spark with them in hiding. Even now they tried desperately to defend the Autobot's hope of somehow rebuilding. If he were human, this would have brought a tear to Ratchet's eye.



Iron Hide aimed his one good cannon toward Soundwave, throwing the telepath off balance long enough to keep him from firing on Bumblebee who was getting a secondary fuel line spliced back into it's conduit. 'Hide's left arm hung at his side, the gears that made up the human equevilant of the rotator cup were fused from a close call with a magnesium tipped missile shot from Thundercracker's hand. He was lucky that was all that was damaged. Iron Hide tried not to think of what would have happened if Chromia had not warned him of the seekers intentions. Just one more reason why he was grateful he had Chromia to watch his back again. He had missed the old days when the two of them would go out on patrol together, itching for a fight. Of course, Ratchet would be ready with something heavy to hit both of them over the head with when they came back with even so much as a scratch in their paint.



His optics went to the med-bay, scanning over the area with this sensors. He was not designed for accurate detection of life forms, but he could tell that the three humans were huddled in the back of the building. Major Murdock had charged him with his daughter's protection three days ago, and Iron Hide would not fail in his task. The young woman had figured out quickly what Iron Hide had been asked to do, and it had annoyed her to no end that the weapons specialist was being tapped as her body guard. She had argued with him at length when she and Sarah had returned from their shopping trip. "I'm not some friggin' invalid! I can take care of myself!" She had reiterated the point over and over again the next day when ever Iron Hide was near, making the old mech wish he had a fraction of Bumblebee's spying ability.



But the evening previous, Ellie had grown to accept Iron Hide's presence. Much like one accepts the presence of a large boil on their back side until they can get rid of it. Iron Hide would have laughed if Ellie had not retorted to his observation of her exhaustion. He had requested that she return to her barracks to recharge because she looked like she needed it. And it was getting close to midnight. She had smiled and shook her head, waving her hand as she left for her barracks. "Good night, daddy," she had quipped back at him, meaning for it to irk him. But the statement had touched something deep within the old mech. He remembered when Bumblebee was still very young, too young to wear any armor. His over large optics had stared up at him with almost blinding reverence as he had put the little mech into his recharge berth, staying with him until his optics had shut off and his systems went into recharge mode. Iron Hide would never admit it to anyone, but he missed those times. He missed them terribly.



Bumblebee waited patiently as one of the small fuel lines running parallel to his spine was repaired, watching the movements of the others in case one of the Decepticons thought to sneak up on one of the Autobots. As soon as Ratchet tucked the line back into its protective casing, his cannons were out and pounding away at Skywarp. Bumblebee's designation was spy and recon, not out right melee. But where his mates were concerned, he would charge straight into the Pit without a single piece of armor or weapon on him. Mikaela and Sam were hiding inside the med-bay, and he would protect them until the moment he ceased to function. His processor brought memories of the first time Mikaela had told him that the feelings the mech had for her were mutual. It had warmed his spark to near overload when she had approved of his hologram, and even let him touch her. Sam had stayed back and allowed the two to get to know each other before he had climbed into the Camaro and helped Bumblebee give Mikaela the best day of her life.



The memory faded as Starscream managed to get close enough to the med-bay to launch a missile at point blank range into it's interior, twisting the remaining supports like warm plastic. The Decepticon had enough time to register the form of Jazz before the fallen Autobot reached up with one hand and 'pulled' at another missile launched from Skywarp, guiding it straight into Starscream's chest.



The four Decepticons seemed glued to the spot as Jazz stood to his full height, his gun metal gray armor reflecting the mid-morning sun as though his skin were mirrored. His magnetic generators charged on full, Jazz lifted his hand, activating them at the exact frequency that Starscream's processes ran under. The screech from the lead seeker sounded like metal twisting in on itself as the mech staggered to his feet, the pain near the point of insanity. He didn't even bother with words as he transformed and put as much distance from himself and Jazz as possible, the other three following suit, leaving the battle field eerily silent and still.



The five Autobots stared in numb disbelief as Jazz turned toward them, a huge grin on his face. "Damn, Prime. I know I'm hot but you can stop undressing me with your eyes." Iron Hide, couldn't believe what he was seeing, his mouth opening and closing as though he were a fish gulping for air. Prime reached out for the Sabotour, a hand closing on his shoulder before he brought Jazz crashing against him in a tight embrace, almost not believing what his sensors were telling him. Several choked clicks issued from Ratchet's vocabulator as he put his hand on Jazz's shoulder, holding as tight as he could in case this vision were to disappear.



"Watch yourself, the three little ones are out cold. They deserve to rest after all they've done," Jazz smiled down at the three humans unconcious between his feet. All three were sprawled out as though they had fallen from a standing position, their clothing in tatters from the heat of the blast. Their forms were covered in metal bits remaining from Ratchet's stash of parts. They seemed to have no injuries, their skin unblemished by either burn or cut. But there was one other thing missing from the scene. The shard of the All-Spark was no where to be found.