A Bad State

Clara sat down against the wall with her head in her hands. They were in a bad way, and she was losing hope of ever being able to even survive, let alone actually defeat the Decepticons. She was dimly aware of Roxy watching her, but ignored her.

Ben watched his teacher sadly. He'd never seen her like this before, even though he hadn't actually known her for very long. He'd only just started his training with her, and yet he'd already been dragged into the ages-long war that had been going on for almost 9 million years, and he was first lieutenant to the freedom fighters. It was almost too much for the 100-year-old trainee to bear.
"Master?" he asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine Ben." Clara replied, not looking up at him. "If you want to help, see if you can bring the wounded inside. They'll be killed out there otherwise."

Ben nodded and headed outside with Roxy, helping her to bring the wounded into the base.

Clara watched the two work in silence, wincing as she rubbed at her sore arm. She looked at the floor sadly, remembering the family she had lost in this war. It had always given her the motivation to keep fighting before. To get her revenge for the loss of her sparkmate and sparkling, but the only feeling it gave her now was grief.

Ben glanced at his teacher as he worked. "Why aren't you helping?!" he demanded, "Do you not care about these men?"

Clara's anger flared and she got to her feet.
"I do care." she said angrily. "That's the whole reason I became an Autobot. My whole family were killed in this war. My sparkmate. My 2 month old sparkling. I care about our freedom as much as anybody, and I care about the men under my command. I would never do anything that would put them in harm's way. So don't you dare, for one second, think that I don't give a damn about what happens to them."

"So why aren't you helping?" he asked glumly.

Clara glared at the younger Autobot angrily. She was in a really bad mood today, and she really didn't want to have to get into a full argument with him.
"Get on with what you're doing." she said quietly, turning away, "And don't question me again."

Ben watched his teacher as she turned and went away from him. He shook his head angrily and went back to his work.

Clara left the base and looked out across the plain, trying to contain her anger. She went over to a small table nearby. The few navigation charts they'd been able to salvage from Cybertron were draped across it. Optimus had given her several of them himself, before he left. In case she needed to find him. She knew he was dead. She'd seen him die. And he'd been their only hope. Now they were just waiting to be picked off by the Decepticons. Their only chance was to go to Earth, which was the nearest inhabited planet, but until they had a ship ready, they didn't have a chance.

Ben went over to his teacher. "Master?" he said quietly, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking...." Clara said slowly, "You should get inside."

Ben blinked in surprise. "What? Why?"

"Because we've got a lot of Decepticons coming this way." Clara replied, pointing. She picked up all the maps and carefully dumped them in her student's arms. "Get those inside, send Roxy out here, and stay inside!"

Ben ran inside with the maps, dumping them on a table and hiding underneath it.

Clara glanced round as Roxy joined her, along with several other men. This tiny group against hundreds of Decepticons? They didn't stand a chance. But none of the Autobots here were going to just give in and allow the Decepticons to take over their homes. "You with me Roxy?" she asked the leopard-like scout. The Autobot nodded. Clara looked round at all the others. She knew all of them well. She also knew for a fact that by the time this battle was finished, one way or another, there were some, or all, that she was never going to see again. Cal. Steelwing. Jared. Maybe more, since she usually only saw a few faces for every mass death. Maybe this was it. Maybe they were all going to die here.

Ben waited under the table for a few minutes, his arms over his head. "What should I do?" he whispered to himself, his voice shaking.

Clara watched as the Decepticons came closer and closer.
"We have to fight them before they get too close to base." she instructed the Autobots around her.
They were nodding nervously and followed her to the edge of the base, eying the approaching army warily.

Ben crawled out from under the table and sneaked to the front of the base, hiding as he watched his teacher and comrades heading towards the army.

Clara had her swords out of her sheaths waiting behind a large boulder, out of sight of the approaching Decepticons.

Ben crept closer to the approaching army, stopping right in front of them. The Decepticons on the front row stopped walking and eyed him warily. "What do you want, sparkling?" one asked.
"I want to join you!" Ben said quickly.
The Decepticons looked at each other, then nodded to him. "All right, you can join." they handed him loads of sheets of paper. "These are all the rules. Don't die."

Clara blinked and stared in shock as Ben walked over to the approaching Decepticons. What was he doing? She watched the Deepticons talk to him, then they gave him something. Weird. They weren't killing him.

Ben smiled cockily at the Decepticons. "Thankyou very much." He said.

Clara literally growled in frustration as Ben went off with the Decepticons.
"What does he think he's playing at?" She snapped, "He'll get us all killed."