Author's Notes: This new fic was not the one that won the popular vote (that was the movieverse fic, and I will eventually get to it). I had to post this first chapter though! My brother and his wife just had their first child, and this fic is my way of celebrating! The theme was too perfect, and I wrote this chapter a month ago so I figured post it now! I hope everyone likes this one, as I intend to make it one of my best stories yet! Please review, favorite, and/or follow :)

Chapter 1

Reach For The Stars

The night was still, and the femmes felt the strain of starvation as they set about their task. Energon was scarce, and Megatron hoarded most of the supplies at his fortress in Darkmount. Elita One and her crew had to be careful as they snuck along the wall that would give them entrance to Megatron's lair. Moonracer ran ahead and scouted to see if the coast was clear. She gave the signal, and the rest of the Autobot femmes followed her over the gate.

Elita One kept her gun trained just in case an enemy drone or Decepticon soldier happened to spot them. The Autobots needed the energy, and every unit needed to give their all to keep their dying race alive. The Decepticons had killed most of the Autobots on the planet, and assimilated what few Autobot defectors and sparklings they deemed worthy of their cause. Elita pushed those thoughts away. Thinking about the past was only going to slow her down now.

Firestar busted the head of a drone over her knee, and they went inside without further incident. The femmes hid in the shadows, which was surprisingly easy. Ever since the power shortage the buildings wouldn't illuminate at night; leaving only the stars to bear witness to their daring act of espionage. Elita sighed, and once again pushed away any unpleasant memories. Optimus was counting on her, the Autobots were counting on her, and all of Cybertron was counting on her. She couldn't afford to screw up this mission.

The femmes stalked along in the shadows until they made it to the energon storage depository. The glowing purple cubes were some of the most beautiful things Elita had seen in a long time. When she was younger she never would've imagined that something as simple as energy would look so mystical to the point of being otherworldly, but starvation did strange things to the processor.

"Careful," Elita whispered to the others, "Megatron's subcommander Shockwave has cameras everywhere. We need to perform a passive scan."

"On it," Firestar replied; turning on the scanner in her wrist, "...There's a camera in front of the door, but no other defenses. Arcee can handle that one."

Arcee nodded before Firestar was even finished talking and quickly slunk over to the camera just out of its range of vision. She pulled a pistol out of subspace and looked around. When she was sure no one unfriendly was watching, she smiled with an almost manic countenance and blasted the camera into scrap metal!

"That youngling really needs to watch herself," Chromia remarked, "She'll get herself killed one of these days if she isn't careful."

"Everyone is reckless when they're young," Elita reminded her, "Besides, she is good at her job."

Arcee grinned wide in triumph and motioned for everyone else to join her. They silently made their way to the energon cubes. They wouldn't take everything; only what they needed. Hopefully the Decepticons wouldn't even notice. Firestar transformed into cargo hauler mode and the others loaded her up with as much energon as she could carry. Elita just hoped the other teams were doing as well as they were, but she doubted it given the dire circumstances.

They were almost finished loading when Chromia stopped what she was doing and put down her cube. Everyone looked and saw her optics were dim and staring off into space, which meant she was on her comm link. When she ended the transmission everyone looked at her to see what was going on.

"That was Wheeljack," Chromia informed them, "He and Bumblebee only managed to get two energon rods. Orange…" Everyone made a face at that since orange energon usually tasted awful. "The Decepticons still chased them down."

"Well, that explains why they weren't here," Moonracer pointed out.

"Girls...Wheeljack says they're enacting Operation: Ark," Chromia said ominously.

Most of the newer recruits didn't know what that meant, but Elita and her senior officers were only too aware of what Operation: Ark entailed. Optimus and his elite group of Autobots were leaving. They would seek out new sources of energon out in space. He was leaving…

"We have to go after them," Elita One said resolutely.

"We'll never make it in time with all these energon cubes," Firestar pointed out.

"We have to go!" Chromia insisted, "We might still have time before Optimus Prime and the others take off. My Ironhide is on that ship! We'll have to hurry though."

"Agreed, Chromia," Elita One replied sagely before she transformed into car mode and took off.

She had to make it to the Ark before it was too late. As if this day wasn't depressing enough! Now Elita not only had to deal with a grim anniversary and Decepticons everywhere, but now her spark mate might actually leave without her!

5 million years prior in the city-state of Iacon a young Elita One, then named Ariel, sat on a bench in the Crystal Gardens and wept. She and Orion Pax had been dating for quite a while, but the news she had might cause him to leave her forever. This was possibly the worst day of her life!

She had asked him to meet her in the Crystal Gardens because of the beautiful view. She hoped telling him her news here might make him take it easier. The bench she was on was at the top of the cliff that overlooked the golden spires of the city, and the stars shone brightly in the sky from this vantage point. Surely Orion couldn't hate her when looking at all this splendor!

She heard footsteps against the steel path and saw Orion Pax walking toward her. He was so handsome with his blue helmet, red blue and white body, and full silver lips. He could be a bit possessive at times, but not in a crazy stalker way. More in a white knight sort of way. Her father thought Orion was a loser because he worked in the loading docks, but she always reminded him that she worked in those docks, too. That usually shut him up for a few minutes. Ariel's father wanted her to bond to a member of a higher caste, but she knew mechs of high stature and clout never gave blue collar femmes a second glance. She didn't dream of gemstones and energon baths. Orion had everything she wanted in a mech.

Ariel wiped away the cleaning fluid from her optics. She didn't want Orion to know she had been crying.

"Hey, Ariel," Orion greeted her cheerfully, "Wow, I can see why you wanted to meet me here tonight. The sky looks so perfect from here! Oh, I got the energon you wanted. So, where do we set up for our moonlight picnic?"

"Um, can it wait for a moment, Orion? I need to tell you something…" Ariel said hesitantly.

"Sure Ariel, what is it?" Orion asked as he looked at her with concern.

"Well Orion, I've been having trouble processing energy lately, and I've had a weird feeling in my spark," Ariel told him without looking at him, "I went to see a medic about it, and...well...Orion, I'm carrying."

"Carrying? You mean...A newspark?" Orion asked in awe.

"I'm so sorry, Orion!" Ariel sobbed, "I know we're broke, and I know we're not bonded yet, and I know my father is going to be so angry at us! I know we didn't plan for this, and I know you probably don't want to be responsible for a sparkling. If you leave me, I don't know what I'll do. Please Orion...Just say something…"

Ariel knew crying wouldn't help anything, but she couldn't control herself this time. She was normally much stronger than this, but a sparkling meant they would need money, a bigger place where they could all live together, and a spark bond so they could share their energy with one another and with the sparkling. She felt like their lives were ruined, and she could lose Orion Pax for this.

Finally, after she calmed down a little, Orion said something…

"We're going to have a sparkling?" Orion asked, still slightly in shock, "I'm going to be a father?"

Ariel was almost afraid to look at him, but the gentle tone in his voice made her want to face him. When she did, she saw optics that were full of love and wonderment. He walked up to her and pulled her into an embrace. She rested her helm on his shoulder, and he hugged her tighter.

"Ariel...This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to us…" Orion said softly as he held onto her, "We're going to be parents."

Orion then pushed her back enough so that they were face to face, and he kissed her tenderly. Ariel finally realized that he really did love her, and began to understand that this sparkling wasn't the end of their relationship, but rather a new beginning.

Orion looked up at the stars and said "I hope someday our creation is able to fly up there and reach the stars for himself. I only wish I could give our newspark the life he or she deserves…"

Orion was quiet after that as he stared up at the night sky. Ariel smiled indulgently at him. She knew Orion was a hopeless romantic and idealist. She also knew of his love and fascination with the sky. He had always had the dream of being able to fly, but his frame type wouldn't allow for it.

Elita One's memory files replayed that starry night. Such beauty had quickly turned to misery, and Cybertron's once shimmering skies were now dark and filled with the ugliness of Decepticon soldiers patrolling and hunting for their heads.

Elita and her forces drove along the roads from Polyhex leading to Iacon, where the Ark was located. It took a quarter joor to make it to Iacon, and the roads were torn to pieces due to weapons fire and land mines. When they made it to Iacon they could see the billows of smoke emanating from the destroyed buildings, and the stench of burning metallic corpses filled the air.

"Elita, I see seekers headed for the main hangar!" Chromia informed her.

"Push the pedal to the metal, ladies. We have to get there before our troops are vaporized," Elita replied with authority.

When they made it to the entrance, the femmes transformed into their robot modes and started firing on the Decepticons. The air gave the seekers an advantage, but the femmes had combat experience and teamwork on their side. Well, the seekers had those things too. Honestly it didn't look too good for the femmes.

"I got one!" Moonracer announced triumphantly.

"Great, one down and about 50 to go," Chromia groused as she aimed for another trine.

The femmes held their ground against the Deceptions for a good few minutes, but they stopped when they heard and felt the loud rumble of engines coming from inside the hangar. The ship was leaving!

"Get inside!" Elita One ordered over the sounds of the ship.

The femmes wasted no time in running inside the hangar, but the Decepticons flew in hot pursuit of the Autobots. Elita One and her crew made it inside in time to see Optimus about to board the ship after making sure everyone else was on board first.

"Optimus, wait!" Elita One hollered as she desperately ran for him.

"Take cover, Elita!" Optimus shouted worriedly, "I will return for you as soon as we can!"

"I want to go with you!" Elita insisted.

"It's too dangerous, Elita! Go back!" Optimus cried out frantically.

Just then the seekers broke through the barrier and started firing on the ship, the femmes, and Optimus Prime! Laser fire peppered the atmosphere with the smell of ozone and a couple of femmes were shot down in cold energon!

There were screams, and Optimus Prime couldn't see anything for the smoke. Elita tried to find her troops, or the enemy, or anything. That was when she felt the ground beneath her feet give way, and she and the other femmes plummeted down into the underground!

Elita could hear Optimus Prime scream her name, but she was too bad a shape to even call out to him. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the Ark flying away in search of new sources of energon. It was the Autobots' last chance to not starve to death.

"That's right...my love…" Elita One croaked as she faded into stasis lock, "...Reach for the stars…"