Optimus Prime stood in front of the window thinking. It had been almost 10 megacycles since he had first held a report of the dwindling power supply of their home planet. Without a new source of power, Cybertron would die, slowly, and his people would die with it. Now Optimus looked out to the future. The ship standing in front of him and it's crew the hope for the future. May they go in peace.
Megatron watched the Autobot ship on the screen and laughed. The ship, the Prometheus, launching off into the endless night, was the Autobot's hope for the future. Did the fools really think they could keep this a secret? He had known about it as soon as they started construction. And began construction of his own. The Prometheus would go on it's mission, followed discreetly by his, of course. And when the Prometheus reached it's goal....... it will be destroyed.
"Captain," yelled Scanner," I've found something!"
Rickshaw contained his excitement as he walked to Scanner's station. They had been searching for many megacycles and found nothing. Now....
He looked at the screen. A planet. A barren rock with no kind of life anywhere on it's surface. Yet it was almost glowing with geothermal energy. And was scattered with small, natural nuclear reactors only a few miles below the surface.
"Jackpot." A smile crept onto Rickshaw's face. "Starlight, set course."
The Decepticon ship entered firing range just as the Autobots reached orbit.
"Target their engines and bridge." commanded Tirnus. "I don't want any survivors." In the megacycles she had been a warrior, she had never failed a mission. And I'm not about to start now.
"Sir,"shouted Sharpshot," The Prometheus is returning fire."
"Evasive maneuvers!" The order came too late as explosions erupted around the bridge. Time seemed to speed up and voices blurred together.
"We've strayed dangerously close to the planet"
"The Autobot ship is going down"
Another round of explosions on the bridge knocked out main power. "Emergency power! I want a damage report!"
"Sir," Divecore's voice was quiet amid the confusion," Engines are off line and we're caught in the planet's gravity..... We're going down"
-end prologue