War From the Stars

by James Pwyll

Descent

He didn't know how long he'd been offline, but consciousness returned to him in perhaps the most violent way possible, as he was thrown from his chair and collided with the floor behind him with the sudden jerking of all around him. He grunted with understandable discomfort, placing his hand to the side of his head to find, to his relief, that there was no damage. But that was about the only good news he had right now, as all around he could hear nothing but the loud and constant sound of the alarms blaring. Things were going from bad to worse, and fast, and he couldn't afford to just dwell on that. So, after shakily getting up, he got back to his seat, taking only a moment for his optics to adjust to the scene before him. Equipment in every direction was either failing, on fire or both, and it didn't look like it was going to get better any time soon. But he knew there was no time to waste, and so called out. "Re...report!"

His voiced echoed all around, and it was a mere second after that when he got a response. "Long story short...we're falling."

He turned, seeing the familiar face that had accompanied the voice. Her presence improved his feelings on the matter, but only just, as his leadership instincts kicked in instantly afterwards. "The other ship?"

"That's the only good thing going for us right now," another voice replied. The leader looked to her, seeing perhaps the only smile he was likely to get right now, albeit more of a smirk on her part. "We gave as good as we got. They're going down too."

Her satisfaction was evident, but he knew that wasn't going to be the end of it, and so he looked up to the shattered remnants of what had been the bridge's main viewscreen. "We can't afford to let them just disappear from our sights. Can you tell where they're landing?" he asked.

After a brief look at her instruments, the pilot shook her head. "Negative. Sensors are completely shot. Wherever they're going down, we're not gonna find them." She chuckled drily. "Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll all get scrapped."

Their leader considered that, but he was suddenly made aware of something else, as a turn to his left revealed an empty seat, with a torn and burning console but no occupant. "Where...where is he?" he asked with obvious concern, looking all around.

The one who had spoken to him first hung her head slightly, and when she spoke her voice was tinted with professionalism that was clearly covering up her worry. "The Doc's looking him over now, but..." She paused, and he knew what she was about to say next wasn't going to be good. "He took it pretty bad. His station went up the moment we were fired on. I'm no medic, but...it looked serious."

That was the absolute last thing he needed right now, having a bot down, especially a friend. But there it was, and they still had a crisis on their hands. So, reaching to the side, he pulled up his smaller, personal viewscreen to look at whatever systems were still operational. Unfortunately, it was slim pickings, as most of the aforementioned systems were in the red. There was, however, one small ray of light at the end of this tunnel, albeit a cold comfort in the grand scheme of things. "We still have access to our directional engines."

The pilot looked to him with some incredulity. "With respect, boss, that's not gonna be enough to stop us falling."

"Maybe not," he conceded. "But it will be enough to ensure we can control the angle and position of our ship when we come in." He narrowed his optics, looking to the various options and calculating in his mind all the things that would need to happen to give them the best possible chance. Alas, the only chance he could find was a small one at best. Still, it was better than nothing, and so he gave the order. "Pilot! Begin the turn! Make sure our ship is positioned like this when we enter the atmosphere!"

His subordinate looked to the information coming in on her own console, and after glancing to it for a moment she nodded. "Understood, Sir!"

And so she got to work, rapidly pressing buttons to give the ship what few commands it could actually carry out right now. Meanwhile, the commander looked to his second. "What of the world we're falling to? What do we know?"

The right-hand officer shook her head. "Very little. An abundance of organic life, but it's mostly unstudied and uncharted." She paused for a moment. "But it's where those readings came from, so if we're lucky we'll actually find what we're looking for."

"Be that as it may, the native population is at risk if we collide in the wrong place." He again looked to his pilot. "Based on whatever readings we took before sensors went down, is there a likelihood that indigenous life will be harmed by our arrival?"

The pilot, still keeping her eyes on her instruments as she worked, shook her head as she answered. "Negative. Our predicted impact zone is far from the more concentrated populations centres of the region. Casualties should be at a minimum."

Her leader sighed. "Thank the Allspark for small miracles then." Then, he and the others looked around them to the sound of loud groaning, a tell-tale sign that the ship was, thankfully, actually turning during its fall as intended. "Pilot?"

"It's all working, Sir. We're still going down fast, but at least now..."

She didn't finish, but he understood, and so gave a single nod. "Time?"

"Not long," the pilot replied. "Impact should be in ten...nine...eight..." As the countdown continued, the commander felt a hand holding his, and he turned to see his second looking him right in the optics. Her fear was plain, revealed only to him, and he returned the expression with another silent nod. No words passed, but they knew this could be their last moments. And so, they made sure that, if that was the case, then their last sight would be each other. The pilot, meanwhile, let them have their moment as she finished her count. "...Three...two...one...IMPACT!!!"

And all went dark once more.

Author's Note:

Long before I ever became a fan of MLP, Transformers was the Hasbro obsession of my life. I've always wanted to do a crossover story between them, but like with all others, it took me a while to really get my head around how I wanted it to be. Still, here it is, and I hope you enjoy

Comments

[Blackwatch9]

Interesting.