ANH 'verse. Alderaanian space. Something's missing....

[random_xtras]

"You got the coordinates wrong!" says Jetfire to his tiny navigator, only to cringe before the torrent of angry beeping that the little gold and white femme gives him. "Airazor, the kid can understand you! Okay fine! Then where is it?"

"Where indeed?" Scavenger is frowning through the viewscreen, his optics tracking the swarm of asteroids that have taken the place of the planet Alderaan, and then flicking to Kia as she stirs and hugs herself uncertainly.

Comments

[astrotechmech]

"Are you guys trying to say the planet disappeared?! Planets can't just disappear! . . . Are you sure your equipment's working?"

[random_xtras]

Airazor turns and lets rip at the Astrotech vehemently, gesturing to her screens as she invites him to have a look for himself. Then she waves her arms and curses her frustration, earning an impressed look from Murphy, who is sitting at the next console.

"Is this what you were talking about?" murmurs Scavenger, his frown deepening. "A whole planet? How...?"

"The asteroids," says Kia suddenly, her soft voice barely audible over the din of upset Minicon.

[astrotechmech]

"All right, all right!" he says defensively once he's taken a look. "Stop with the cussing already!"

Random turns first to Scavenger, and then moves over to Kia, wrapping his arms around her. "Kia? . . . Yeah, it's strange that they're out there. The charts didn't say anything about them."

[random_xtras]

She turns and hugs him hard, shaking. "Random.... No planet and lots of little rocks. Ohhhh...."

Murphy stops watching Airazor and turns to give Kia a spooked look, then turns back to his console and starts typing rapidly. The typing stops abruptly as he gives vent to a whistle of shock.

[random_xtras]

"Get your fingers outta the way." Jetfire grabs the panel and makes sure it's properly in place, adding before it's fully closed. "And don't move!"

Then there's nothing but darkness and silence and a little femme clinging to her mentor and hiding her face on him.

[astrotechmech]

He promptly does so before moving to sit down beside Kia.

I guess talking's not a smart option either, he thinks to himself once the panel is shut and he has his arms around Kia, rubbing her back briefly and resisting the temptation to rock her back and forth.

[random_xtras]

She continues to shake for some time, but then the darkness and closeness, and her trust in Random overcome her fear of the moving of the ship and the slight jostlings. She doesn't even wake up when heavy feet tread overhead.

[astrotechmech]

As she drifts off, Random once again realizes that he is going to be the one whose going to be worried about what's going on around him, and he finds that he is a bit jealous of her even though he finds that her presence gives him comfort, more than he would have been able to give himself if he were alone.

At the heavy steps, he tenses, trying as hard as he can not to make noise and fearing that the mech above will hear either the beating of his spark, the rumble of his engine or the air moving into his intakes or perhaps all of the above.

[random_xtras]

More time drags past, their silence broken only by the natural clicks and pings of the ship.

And then finally, what seems like several hours since they sounded last, footsteps walk away.

And Murphy once more goes 'shhh'.

[astrotechmech]

Random's optics widen. So the mech was still in the room!

Random catches Murphy's sign again, and he isn't sure how much more of this he can take!

[random_xtras]

The Minicon's optics narrow, and then he shakes his head, his hand moving in the very tiniest of patpats which don't connect.

[astrotechmech]

A shake of the head and a 'patpat.' The 'patpat''s sympathy . . . but what's the headshake? Don't panic? Easy for him to say! He's not a coward!

[random_xtras]

The little Minicon just shakes his head and continues listening, though he too looks at the sleeping femme.

A Couple Hours Later and HE'S STILL THERE!

[astrotechmech]

Random isn't sure how much more of this he could take! Seriously! How long can a 'bot just stand there!

At this rate by the time he got back to the Rebel Base, he'd be thrown into solitary confinement in order to protect the public from his newly twisted mind!

He is having to tell himself NOT to flinch, NOT to speak, NOT to scream, NOT to move, and NOT to do anything that could give away his, Kia's and Murphy's hidding spot. It did NOT help that Murphy was continually making 'shhh' signs at him and HE CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! He wants to just bang his head against the wall to put an end to it, but he can't because that would be making NOISE! If she was here and if she wasn't dead, he'd be giving Arcee a piece of his mind!

It was amazing how Kia was just sleeping through all this. Surely, his worries would carry through his systems despite his attempts at remaining silent?

[random_xtras]

At one point in the agonizing wait it had seemed that footsteps had walked away softly, but still the Minicon at his side had signaled him for silence.

Finally, however, more footsteps approach, and Murphy suddenly starts beeping softly and excitedly as he pats Random's knee in earnest.

And Kia wakes and blinks and looks around disorientedly.

[astrotechmech]

Random lets out a sigh at Murphy's beeping. If it was still dangerous, Murphy wouldn't be beeping at him.

Random looks down at Kia. "Good morning."

[random_xtras]

"But that feeling?" asks Kia as her mentor joins her on the deck.

"You're feeling the dark side," says Scavenger quietly as he too walks in.

Kia's optics go nearly white with alarm.

[astrotechmech]

Random flinches and nearly falls back into the hole at Scavenger's sudden response.

And then.

" . . . I think I liked it better when I thought everything was a legend."

[random_xtras]

"The dark side?" Jetfire frowns at the older bot. "So... what does that mean?"

"It can mean a lot of things. Including maybe that Nemesis Prime is on this ship."

"Nemesis Prime? The guy that killed Optimus???" Hot Shot is suddenly all interest.

[random_xtras]

Her big optics look up at him, frightened but trusting. "What are we going to do?"

[astrotechmech]

He sees the look and wraps his arms around her. "We're gonna try to figure out how to let the ship out of this hangar. Unfortunately, that means going further in . . ."

[random_xtras]

She hides her face against him for a moment, but then looks up again confidently. "We'll be okay. You and Primus are here."

[random_xtras]

Jetfire shudders slightly. "That... was creepy enough to nearly make me lose oil. C'mon, let's go."

Hot Shot looks around. "Creepy? Where?"

Kia just looks down at her own symbol display as the emblem flips and changes.

[astrotechmech]

Random shrugs. "At least it's better than dealing with globs of paint."

"Don't overdo it, Hot Shot."

Random looks down at Kia, trying to ignore the symbol change. "Ready to go?"

[random_xtras]

"Overdo what?" Hot Shot goes o.0?

Kia nods to her mentor, serious now, and still afraid. "I'm ready."

"So am I." Scavenger turns toward the door. "If I'm gone for too long don't wait for me."

"What?" Hot Shot stares after the old mech as he leaves the bridge.