For a fleeting time, all too fleeting as some now recall, there was time of eerie peace between the changing reigns of leadership of Rodimus and Optimus. Strangely, the Decepticons made no schemes against Cybertron or Earth, content to raids and plans elsewhere it seemed. No…it was not peace, but a mutual stalemate. Neither Rodimus Prime nor Galvatron could break the other’s back; neither Char nor Cybertron could take control. It was a fleeting period informally recognized by both sides, like the calm before the storm of events about to pass….

"Rodimus," a voice called out to him, "Rodimus…Rodimus." So familiar, yet so distant – a voice unheard for what seemed like eons.

"Optimus?" Rodimus Prime gasped, "Optimus Prime?" At the end of a long tunnel of light he stood there, like a sentinel at the pearly gates. Behind him was the lurid light of a thousand upon a thousand sparks shining out from behind him. Suddenly the image of Optimus faded, becoming a vague shimmering light that withdrew back into the field of countless sparks. "Optimus! What is it? What is it?" Rodimus Prime cried out.

The Autobot commander awoke with a choking gasp. As he sat up on his bronze bunk in his quarters Rodimus Prime panted for a moment, still caught in the shock of the dream. He leaned over the edge, drooping his head between his knees, sighing. "Why do I keep seeing you in my dreams?" he softly asked.

A gigantic space shuttle flew in over Autobot City, descending amid the many spires. It streaked and skidded to a stop on the runway like a great jet. Once halted, a door slid open and a platform extended out like a ladder. Springer and Kup exited. A moment later the platform retracted, their ride transforming into the griffin-like form of mighty Skylynx.

"Well that’s a trip I’m glad that’s over," Springer said, "No offense of course Skylynx."

"None taken, old chap!" Skylynx cheerily replied.

Arcee and RedStreak, with Daniel and Spike seated in tow, drove up to greet the arrivals from their term of Cybertron. Arcee revved up and transformed, rushing out to Springer with open arms. "Springer!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly, "Oh it’s so good to see you again!"

"Springer, Kup!" Daniel also shouted, practically jumping out of RedStreak’s door. He ran right up to Kup, looking up at the old Autobot with the youthful enthusiasm found only in a child’s face. "How was Cybertron?" he excitedly asked.

"Ah same old same old," Kup said with just a slight smirk, "Home is almost starting to get dull I dare say…not that I don’t appreciate a trip to Cybertron anytime."

"Easy for you to say!" RedStreak transformed, standing upright in his robot mode with Spike beside him. Walking up to Kup he said, "You get it easy – it seems like I’m perpetually earth-bound nowadays!"

"Aw, don’t complain! Youngsters like you aren’t ready to take on responsibilities like guarding Cybertron." Kup glanced over his shoulder. "Err…no offense to Hot Rod, I mean, Rodimus of course."

"Easy Kup!" Spike said to the Autobot, "Everyone knows he’s as good a leader as Optimus. If nothing else, the Matrix of Leadership guides him just as it did Prime."

Rodimus Prime watched through a tower window, secretly listening in on the conversation. His heart slowly dropped. He touched the Autobot emblem on his chest, feeling the Matrix of Leadership within. It granted him both strength and insight, and yet to the eyes of his comrades it was not enough to fill the void left by Optimus Prime.

Prime, he thought, they almost always refer to him as that, and yet, with me, they always name me by ‘Rodimus’ and nothing more. Perhaps that was what the dream related to…that he was not Prime, or worthy of the title. "How can anyone stand out before Prime’s legacy?" Rodimus asked himself, "Not me apparently."

Hours later a transmission came in from Cosmos. Rodimus Prime, Kup, Springer, Arcee, and RedStreak were present. "Cosmos reporting in from Apollo Base on the moon," the green-painted Autobot called in, "Rodimus, we’re trying to batten down the hatches, as the humans say, on the human’s moon colony here. I’m going to need some back up to get the job done."

"No problem, Cosmos, "I’ll arrange for Skylynx and a few others to rendezvous up there and give an assist. Rodimus Prime out." The Autobot leader looked to those present beside him. "Alright, I know it’s sudden, but who’s up for a little moon trip? Kup, Springer…."

"What about me, Rodimus?" RedStreak spoke up.

"What? You want to go?" Springer asked, trying to keep from chuckling, "The last time you visited you came back looking like a ghost with all that dust clogging your gears!"

RedStreak looked to Springer more sternly. "Hey! I was up there fighting off a full platoon of Decepticons on my own if you recall!"

"Easy, easy," Rodimus Prime calmed them, "Relax, this isn’t anything overly critical. RedStreak, you travel first with Skylynx. Springer, Kup, you’ll join him once we’ve…."

Ultra Magnus suddenly drove in. He transformed, rushing to Rodimus’ side. "Rodimus!" he promptly said with a fearful tone, "I have some urgent news you’ve got to hear! It’s about Optimus Prime!"

Rodimus rose up a brow in confusion, curious as to what Ultra Magnus pertained. Turning to the others, he quickly said, "RedStreak, board Skylynx, the rest of you with me." Rodimus Prime quickly rushed off with Ultra Magnus to greet a most unexpected guest.

A Miss Jessica Morgan greeted Rodimus Prime outside, brought to Autobot City courtesy of Ultra Magnus himself. "Rodimus, you better take a listen to his," Ultra Magnus said to his leader.

The woman was vaguely familiar to Rodimus Prime. Months ago, she’d been injured during a fight between the Terracons and Technobots. She walked up to him via a light exoskeleton strapped to her legs. "You’ve been so kind," she earnestly spoke to the Autobot, "and I owe you so much."

Looking to her, Rodimus Prime replied, "You were hurt. We were trying to help."

Strangely she looked weary, concerned even. "My father wants me to betray the Autobots," she openly stated. Rodimus Prime was perplexed – this was hardly the words to expect from any ordinary human.

"How?" he asked.

"My father, Dr. Morgan, has the body of Optimus Prime in his lab. We rescued him just before that sun went nova," Jessica Morgan began to explain.

"What are you saying?" Rodimus Prime asked. He bent down, his optics staring deep into her blue eyes. "Is Optimus…alive?"

While news that would send surges of emotion through any Autobot’s systems was happening on Earth, Skylynx and RedStreak were already underway, flying straight to the moon at super speeds.

"It’ll be great to get away from it all, Skylynx," he sighed, leaning back in his seat. "You’re lucky – you get to go on all kinds of exciting missions. Me…I’m just an over-programmed backdrop it seems."

Skylynx laughed, "Haha! RedStreak, you haven’t even been online for a full stellar cycle! You can ask any Autobot, whether it be Blur, Bumblebee, Springer, or Kup, and they’ll all tell you every one of us has our day! Believe me, everyone’s time comes!"

"Sure, sure," Skylynx, "I’m sure it’ll come. For now, I’m going to take it easy."

The moon began to loom large in the windows. Skylynx made his descent toward the south lunar pole, specifically over the wide Atkin basin where Apollo Base was setting up. With rocket jets he made a perfect landing right beside the main cluster of modules comprising the base.

RedStreak stepped out, greeted immediately by short Cosmos, the saucer-shaped Autobot of the stars. "Hiya! I’m RedStreak, Rodimus Prime sent me to assist. Although I know it’s a bit much to ask…but uh…is there an energon bar around? I need to refuel."

Cosmos chuckled. "Oh no – we’re got plenty of work to do! Frankly, I was hoping for Nosecone or Scattershot of the Technobots to assist – we’ve got drilling work aplenty to do!"

RedStreak rolled his optics. "Terrific."

On Earth, Rodimus Prime had assembled an entire strike force to recover Optimus Prime’s body. Ultra Magnus, the Aerialbots, and the Bravobots snuck in through the back, hoping to stealthily make off with Prime before either Dr. Morgan or Dr. Strafford could enact their plan to ‘infect’ them with some strange new spore.

Ultra Magnus lifted up a small garage door with his fingers. Once raised, he ducked and stepped inside, followed one by one by the others Rodimus had assigned with him. Glancing around the littered bay, Ultra Magnus concluded, "So far so good. We’ve gotta be quick but silent to pull this off though."

The nine Autobots made their way to a second hanger, where a wide, open door laid. "This looks like the place, Magnus," Silverbolt said, "but what worries me is that there aren’t any alarms or security. If this Dr. Morgan hates us as much as Jessica says…."

"No time to worry now Silverbolt," Ultra Magnus softly said to the Aerialbot commander, "We’ve got to get in and get Optimus out before we’re discovered. Follow me!"

In an instant they stormed in…but they were shocked! It was a dead end! Ultra Magnus couldn’t understand. "This is where Optimus Prime was supposed to be." Suddenly, a thick titanium door slammed behind them. Vents shifted, and a low hiss filled the room. "No! It’s a trap!" he yelled. Red, dusty fumes spewed out of the vents, flowing into and filling the room entirely. Pain gripped them, causing them to wail as the virus took hold. Ultra Magnus, enveloped in burning red light, gazed out in madness.

Back on the moon, RedStreak threw away a large chunk of moon rock as he lumbered inside the mine-like shaft still being carved up. He sat atop the boulder, wiping the dust from his eyes. "Phew! Man, I hate moon dust now! I hope Skylynx returns with recruits soon! I can’t keep this up without my gears getting stripped from this kind of labor." Cosmos marched in. Casually glancing at him, RedStreak muttered, "Well it’s about time you came to help! My hands are stripped to their servos! What’s been keeping you?"

"Terrible news!" Cosmos huffed, "There’s reports coming in from all over Earth! Some kind of virus has gripped the Autobots! Transformers and humans alike are going crazy for no reason!"

RedStreak, still sitting on his chunk of moon rock, blinked his dusty optics. "You’re slagging me, right?" he said to Cosmos. When no response came from Cosmos, RedStreak then said, "You’re not slagging me. Oh crap. Do Chip and the other humans up here know?"

Cosmos answered with a melancholy tone, "They do. They knew about it even before I heard it from Autobot City. This is not going well."

Dr. Farin and Chip both watched the monitor. "Reports of mass hysteria and outbreaks of fighting are occurring and spreading around the globe like wild fire. Initially starting with infected transformers, the so-named ‘hate plague’ has spread to humans and threatens to consume the planet…."

Dr. Farin clicked it off. "We’ve got to evacuate soon," she directly said to chip.

"Evacuate? To where?" Chip said, sitting across the table from her, "We clearly can’t go back to Earth, and by now even Cybertron’s been infected by this…hate plague."

"We can’t stay here either, not for very long," she pointed out, "We may have set up the base infrastructure but we don’t have the kind of supplies needed to hold up for more than a few weeks! What about the Autobots we have here? Can’t they take us somewhere?"

Chip shook his head. "No. Cosmos may be space faring, but he wasn’t designed to transport humans. Our only hope lies in Skylynx right now."

RedStreak screamed to the image of Skylynx on his com-link, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T RETURN HERE?! WE’VE GOT HUMANS IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE!"

Skylynx, already speeding out of communications range, returned a static-laden reply. "Sorry RedStreak, but I’ve got orders from Rodimus to find a Quintesson, and they’re hiding out at the far reaches of the galaxy!"

"A Quintesson?" RedStreak asked with surprised eyes, "What in Primus’ name do you need one of them for?"

The static began to build up immensely. "To…repair…the body of…." It faded out completely before another word could be discerned.

RedStreak slammed his com-link shut. "Slag. That’s what this is," he bitterly muttered to Cosmos, "That’s all this is…slag! Pit-slag up to our neck shafts! Skylynx is off on a galactic cruise and here we are, me unable to fly, within a stone’s throw of a planet just full of crazy people! Primus! What are we to do?"

"Rodimus Prime must have sent Skylynx off for a good reason," Cosmos assured RedStreak, "These humans need our help, especially if any of us are to survive this plague…whatever it is."

RedStreak looked to Cosmos. "I could take care of them myself, Cosmos. But why do you have to stay? You’re the only one on this dead planetoid able to save themselves!"

Cosmos shook his hand as he and RedStreak stood in the lunar dust. "No, running away won’t do any good…believe me. I know of thousands of worlds, millions of stars…and from what I know of this plague not one is safe, not now, not for a hundred years! As…as crazy as it sounds, I’d prefer to make a stand here."

RedStreak smiled. He patted Cosmos’ shoulder. "Autobot code straight to the spark, Code of Primus all the way. Well Cosmos, let’s see what…."

Suddenly RedStreak grabbed the sides of his head, falling to one knee. He clenched his teeth for a moment, as if fighting something. Cosmos looked to the younger Autobot, asking, "What is it? Are you okay?"

"They’re coming, my sensors can already detect it," RedStreak managed to say, fighting the numbing pain, "Decepticons…perhaps even Autobots. It was nothing like I felt before."

"What do you mean?" asked Cosmos.

RedStreak gazed toward the planet Earth hanging distantly in the sky. "The virus, the plague…whatever that’s gripping them. I’m certain they’re carrying it as well."

On Earth, Arcee was racing up and down highways, swerving this way and that to avoid infected humans rushing blindly at her. Behind her was Divebomb, the vulture Predacon, zooming in fast behind. He was bright red instead of gold and black, chasing her down with a fierce passion.

"Arcee! Be careful!" Spike yelled as he and Daniel sat strapped into her.

"I have been since we left Autobot City! There’s no place safe here anymore!" Arcee yelled, steering hard as Divebomb shot missiles, tearing up the pavement behind her.

Suddenly the worst happened. Around the turn was Rampage! The jaguar Predacon leapt at them, Arcee swerving hard but to no avail! He rammed off her hood, leaving just minor scratches but the true harm was done.

"Oh no!" screamed Arcee, the plague spreading to her, "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH!"

A large, six-wheeled moon wagon carried much of the Apollo Base colonists away towards the cave-like shaft that was being dug. RedStreak slowly drove alongside as an escort while on a near-by hill Cosmos kept his sensors peered skyward.

Cosmos narrowed his eyes, his optics adjusting inside for telescopic resolution. A faint blip appeared, then two, three…finally resolving to eight growing blips, all coming from the direction of Earth. Blinking his eyes, Cosmos switched back to normal vision and turned to RedStreak. "We’d better get a move on, Red! I count eight Decepticons already on their way! Closing fast too!"

RedStreak’s motor groaned. "Slag." The Autobot transformed, saying to the humans "Alright people! We’ve got to get in and secure that tunnel fast! Cosmos and I will cover you should any ‘Cons come in and…."

A huge explosion erupted, tilting the wagon to its side. RedStreak grabbed it, but his strength was barely enough to steady it. A hatch built into the wagon opened, the humans donned in space suits immediately jumping out and dashed for the tunnel like ants to their anthill. RedStreak supported the wagon, but glancing up, he moaned, "Oh slag."

A plague of Decepticons was literally upon them. Like demons cloaked in fire the five Predacons descended with the Sweeps at their side, the fiery aura of the virus about them. They were all infected, driven to berserker rage by the virus spores infesting them. Only their mutual desire to destroy kept them from destroying each other.

"Infect them!" hissed one Sweep. "Yes…infect them…destroy them all!" a second screeched as well.

Cosmos leapt and bounded over to RedStreak’s side, the three Sweeps blasting the hill to dust, leaving nothing but a jagged crater in the lunar landscape. "We can’t possibly hold out!" he told RedStreak, "There’s too many!"

The pair took shelter behind the emptied moon wagon, laser fire pelting it hard. RedStreak whipped out his blaster. "We’ve got to buy the humans at least a little time, Cosmos!" A blast hit, cutting deeper into the wagon. "With Skylynx gone and who knows what’s happened to our comrades on Earth," RedStreak looked to Cosmos, "We’re their only hope!"

Cosmos nodded. "Let’s do this!"

The wagon exploded violently. Through the flames charged the two Autobots with lasers blazing. "Come and get us you recycled creeps!" RedStreak yelled. He switched his blaster to maximum power. With a flick of his trigger finger, a huge concentrated beam fired out. The Predacons parted, a single Sweep finding himself caught in the blast. He let out a brief shriek before half his face and chest were vaporized. Falling backwards to the ground, his now exposed spark flickered away and died within his still-smoking shell.

"You killed our brother!" one other Sweep hissed, "You’ll die now!" He jumped high into the air, aiming for RedStreak with his clawed fingers. Cosmos raised up both his arms, his triple-barreled blasters tearing up the second Sweep like cheap tinfoil.

"Good shot!" RedStreak yelled to Cosmos.

Cosmos gave RedStreak a thumb-up. "You too! Now let’s finish them off!"

The Predacons snarled angrily. They transformed, switching to their beast modes. Divebomb flew up and launched his missiles. Cosmos saw them coming and raised his arms up to shoot them down.

The lion-bodied Razorclaw acted fast. He jumped up, slamming down on the smaller Autobot. RedStreak, finishing off the last of the Sweeps, caught this from the corner of his eye. "COSMOS!"

The smaller Autobot yelled painfully as Razorclaw started to dig his talons into his armor. The infection took but a few seconds to spread, Cosmos becoming a red glare. Cosmos let out an anguished yell, tossing the Predacon from him. "I’ll…kill you all!" Cosmos roared.

"Oh man, this is bad. I’ve got to fall back to the tunnel!" RedStreak told himself, backing off from the fight. He made a dash for the shaft entrance, Cosmos and the Predacons fighting amongst themselves for the moment. Cosmos’ optics then caught RedStreak fleeing, vanishing into the shaft.

"REDSTREAK!" he bellowed angrily, "YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU’LL PAY!" Running on his short legs he dashed after the Autobot, driven by madness.

The tunnel was extremely narrow, barely a few feet above RedStreak’s head and barely wide enough to accommodate his arms outstretched. Little beacon lights mounted every couple yards gave just enough light for RedStreak to make out the crowd of space suited humans ahead. Among them his eyes easily picked out Chip in his hover chair towards the rear.

"Hurry!" RedStreak warned, "They’re headed this way! I’ll try and hold them off!" He readied his blaster, clicking it on…but to no avail. "Oh no! My blaster’s energon is drained!"

Chip halted, turning around instead and hovering up to RedStreak’s ankle. "You’ve got to hold them off still. The hide-out at the end is still a hundred feet down!"

RedStreak raised up a fist. "I’ll fight them bare-handed if I have to, Chip!"

Chip said "No! You’ll just get infected like the other transformers! Here…."

He reached to the right side of his hover chair, opening a panel and pulling out two black, snaky cables. "Use the power from my chair to recharge your gun. It’s no energon cube but…."

"But Chip…." RedStreak stooped down on one knee, looking directly at the human. "Without power, you won’t be able to use your hover chair to get away! And coupled with your…paralysis…."

Chip glanced back at his fellow colonists trying to escape still. He then turned, looking up at RedStreak through his helmet visor. "Do this. We need your help."

Hesitantly RedStreak hooked the cables to a small port on the side of his weapon. They plugged in, and with the push of a button RedStreak’s blaster drew power from the battery in Chip’s hover chair. The buttons on Chip’s chair fluttered, and then died down entirely as his chair softly thudded on the ground. Chip, now trapped in place to whatever end, looked to RedStreak.

The Autobot checked the read-out on his gun. "Forty-seven percent power now. Not much, but just enough to fight off a few of those mad men at least…." As RedStreak looked at his blaster, Chip saw a pair of red hands appear from behind the Autobot.

"RedStreak, behind you!" Chip yelled.

It was too late! Cosmos grappled RedStreak around the throat, trying to throttle him to death. "Mad men, eh?" Cosmos grumbled, squeezing with all his strength, "Let’s see how mad you are!"

RedStreak choked, his eyes turning bright red-orange as his body became enveloped in the same glow as Cosmos and the others. He let out an angry, hateful yell. With little effort he grabbed Cosmos by his wrists and flung him back. As the small Autobot, still plagued by the hate virus, got up to attack again, RedStreak turned his blaster back on.

"I’m mad! Mad enough to kill you, you piece of trash!" RedStreak fired it at full intensity. Cosmos’ optics were wide open, but fading fast. A giant hole went through his chest clear through his backside. Chip, in horror, watched as Cosmos slowly toppled back with arms spread wide. His body changed from bright red to dull shades of gray, the madness plague dying with him as the life vanished from the Autobot. RedStreak just stared at it with silent eyes.

Dr. Farin ran up to Chip in his dead hover chair, grabbing him around the shoulders. "Chip! We’ve got to get out of here! You too!" she said, trying to lift him out of the chair.

Chip pleaded for her to run. "Farin! You can’t! Go before…."

RedStreak turned, his weapon still in hand as he stared at the two humans before him. "Heh heh," he laughed maniacally, "Two little pot-shots right here."

Chip yelled out to RedStreak as Dr. Farin tried to free her love, "RedStreak! You can’t do this! You’re here to protect us!"

A pain gripped RedStreak’s head. He groaned, putting his hands to his sides. "Agh! What…is…happening?" he gritted his teeth.

He became suspended in time for a moment, still in the tunnel…but not in it at the same time. Chip and Dr. Farin were before him and the Predacons behind, but all frozen in place. A voice echoed from ahead.

"RedStreak," Alpha Trion called, appearing from out of the black void, "You must do as he says. You are, have, and will be…the protector of humans."

As the old Autobot stood before him in the form of an astral ghost, RedStreak, still feeling the intense hatred plaguing him, replied in a strained voice, "But…the plague is…so powerful! I…can’t fight it…no matter how hard I try!"

Alpha Trion looked at him. "You have the spark of an Autobot, a part of the Matrix itself within you. You have the will…now draw upon it!" His ghostly form quickly faded…as it always did.

RedStreak found himself back in place, standing before two humans as their judge and executioner. His blaster shaking in his head, he grunted, "No…I…can’t do…this! I will…not…kill you!"

The roar of the Predacons came from behind, Razorclaw, Rampage, and Headstrong already making their way into the tunnel. RedStreak quickly turned in their direction, directing his rage at them instead. He fired again and again and again, forcing them back to the entrance. Groaning painfully, he said to Chip and Dr. Farin, "Run."

"But RedStreak…." Chip began to say.

"RUN!" RedStreak blared, turning around with his blaster still in hand. Dr. Farin and Chip freaked, Farin pulling Chip from his chair and dragging him away. RedStreak fired his blaster without remorse in their direction.

The ceiling collapsed, a section of the tunnel gave way, blocking it off. Chip and Dr. Farin stared at the mess before them from one side as RedStreak looked from the other. "There. Humans…safe," RedStreak groaned. He clicked his blaster, turning towards the entrance where battle lay. "Now…I FIGHT!"

RedStreak transformed, rolling out of the tunnel at high speed. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he yelled, knocking three of the five Predacons down like bowling pins. As they quickly got back up, RedStreak fishtailed and transformed.

Now, in battle, the plague was a mixed blessing to the lone Autobot. Despite the pain it pressed constantly upon his conscious mind, it heightened his senses, more prone to react that think, made him a more enduring fighter.

All five Predacons transformed and lined up before RedStreak. Razorclaw growled out, "Time for you to die, Autobot!"

At Autobot City on Earth, Optimus Prime laid on the table with his chest open, the enigmatic light of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership faintly glowing from within. As the ancient, legendary hero lay there in a coma-like daze, the doors to his vault-like chamber were pounded hard.

Finally the doors gave way, literally a dozen crazed transformers rushing in at once. Among them was none other than Galvatron, also taken by the disease of madness. As he charged in, he ripped a long, heavy pipe from the wall. He stood before the frame of Prime himself, wielding the pipe like death’s sickle.

A single, small Quintesson whirled by Optimus’s side, his head spinning. "No! Stop! Please!" he begged in his species’ whiny tone, but his words were not heard.

"Time to die again, Optimus Prime!" Galvatron exclaimed, raising the jagged pipe high.

Suddenly, within Prime’s chest the Matrix shined out like a star. He sat up, reaching into his chest and drawing it out. His fingers reached into the grips on its ends and slowly he pulled the shell away from the core of the Matrix, its light growing still more brilliant.

"Now…light our darkest hour," Optimus Prime spoke.

The Predacons were preparing to strike RedStreak down, aiming their weapons square at him. In that same moment, the formerly dark, gray dismal landscape turned white as chalk. They, including the Autobot, turned and saw the Earth, that broad blue orb in the sky, except now it shined with a sapphire brilliance a thousand fold stronger.

"By the Matrix…." RedStreak whispered softly.

Darkness turned to light. Madness turned to wisdom. Anger, rage, hatred all melted into still, peaceful calmness. All that was evil was…at least for a time…abated.

A force of creation was unleashed for a second time, and in that moment the Matrix shined like no star had for more than a billion years.

RedStreak kneeled over the grave of Cosmos, bowing before the fallen Autobot’s tombstone on one knee in a mournful pose. On the small, obelisk-shaped stone was sketched Cosmos’ face, and below that his name written in both Autobot and English with the words ‘Here he lies, vigilant here as he was among the stars.’

Optimus Prime stood behind RedStreak, together with him on the moon. "It is befitting of him that he be laid to rest here, both near the Earth and the stars at once," Prime said to RedStreak.

"Yeah," RedStreak half sighed, "But…but I just wish he hadn’t died by my hands."

As RedStreak slowly got up, Optimus Prime looked straight at RedStreak, the blue glow of the Earth reflecting off the left half of his faceplate. "Don’t blame yourself. Better he die by yours hands than any others’. The madness took many lives, transformer and human. Cosmos was a brave ‘bot, and I find it commendable that you fought beside him in our darkest hour."

RedStreak managed a smile before his new commander. "Thanks Optimus."

"Let’s go home," Optimus Prime said, he and RedStreak walking off, leaving nothing but footprints in the moon dust.

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