New Beginnings

The rusted pile of junk wasn't much to look at, in fact you had the neurotic notion of kicking it 'till it fell into nothing but scrap. But no, It took you a long time to get up enough energon to buy this rusted out old bucket of a ship. It'll get you free of this slaggin' planet. Maybe not far, but at least Charr could hold your attention more than this place.

Cybertron is a planet of peace. Peace is boring, but 300 years ago, you decided that death was more boring. So, you renounced your Decepticon heritage and settled for the Destron's army. Since then you served in a few exploration routes, until you were jailed a short stint for

'argumentative personality'. Since then, you've cooled your heels and tried to scrounge enough extra energon to buy an intergalactic vessel. It's small, maybe enough room for five people. And it's old.

The sleazy Destron you bought it from was eager to get rid of it. It's probably stolen, the tannish 'bot looked old, but his purple eyes belied a shifty appearance. What was his name?... Swindler?

Any ways, you bought the ship, It's fueled, but there remains one problem. You hafta have two to operate it. This dump of a lower level garage ain't gonna hide this ship very long, but you remember a Predacon you talked to a few days ago at a local bar that was bitchin' bout wantin' o get off of this rock. The Sizzling Grill. That's where you met him. Not likely to be able to trust a Predacon, but then who the hell could trust you. Besides he was small, some kinda metallic cat.

Maybe he'd be willing to help for a ride outta here...

Cybertron, the Burning Axle:

The smoke and dust in this pit swirls around you as you step down from the entryway. The exhaust in here is unbearable, and you find yourself choking from the fumes. A service bot walks up to you and asks you for your order.

"Yeah, I'll take and afterburner... and your dwelling coordinates."

The bot seems uninterested and walks away from you.

You lean against the bar and scan your surroundings. You can see various bots in the hazy darkness, one in particular catches your eye. A dark purple robot at a gambling machine. He seems to be on a winning streak.

You sigh. What the hell, let's have some fun... You scan him and find how he's logged into the machine. Walking over near the machine, you send a snake graft down along the ground in the shadows. You log in and do some constructive editing of the power outlets.

A few seconds later, blue electricity arcs through his body as he wins his last round for now. He falls, smoking to the ground.

You step away, as you see him shake off the effects, he'll be groggy for a few minutes, but You should probably go nonetheless.

Luckily you see the bot you were looking for. He walks in through the doorway and nods in your direction. You motion for him to come speak to you.

The purple bot stumbles out the doorway...

The silver and blue robot sits across a table from you. His face is savage, and you doubt if he could process the simplest quantum fraction. But you're looking for extra hands and brawn. He doesn't appear very large, but the wicked claw-cestus' on his arms belie the demeanor of a fighter. He listens to your proposal as you quickly make it...

"An Inferrrrno's pit." he rumbles and the serving bot walks away.

You begin without much preamble.

"I think I have an 'offer' you might be interested in. Last time we met you said that you were interested in getting off this trash heap of a planet." You twirl one of your mustache'.

"Yeah, what offf it."

You lean forward and scratches your goatee. "Well, I've just purchased a small craft. It's not much, but at least it might let us do some star hopping 'till we find some action."

You take his silence as acquiescence.

You clear your throat, "I need a helping hand to man the ship. You need a ride outta here. It's that simple, what say you?"

Cybertron: The Burning Axle

The Beast bot grabs at the edge of the table and glares across at you menacingly.

"Will there be any otherrr passengers?" He asks suspiciously.

"Just you and me, buddy." you answer with a forced smile.

The bot thinks about it, and then glares up at you, "So be it. Let us be off then, to this, Starrrrship of your's."

With that the two of you stand and he follows you out the bar doors.

Cybertron: The streets

The two of you begin to traipse down the streets of Cybertron. The lights and silver buildings around you seem to shimmer and say goodbye. Anticipation builds up inside of you as you make your way toward the hangar bay.

Then, you hear a chopping, whirling noise ahead of you. From behind a large pile of scrap metals, a attack helicopter rises up, Dark green, black and purple. As it rises up you hear another propeller behind you approaching, and as you turn you see an ancient designed airplane fly

in.

"Ransack, TRANSFORM!!!" Roars the plane, and with lightning speed, the robot that you saw earlier lands on the ground in front of you. The two have you surrounded, but it's two to two. A fair fight.

"Nice trick you pulled back there," challenged the purple one, Ransack, "But me and my friend thought we'd have a nice little chat with you about gaming ethics." With that he pulled a weapon, and cold realization dawns on you. A steel shimmering dances around the spinning blade that is in his hand. ---ROTOR FORCE--- These guys are deadly, later generation Decepticons that could wield those blades with incredible accuracy. You dive for cover as the first blade spins toward you and slices into your side.

Cybertron: The streets

"Oh SLAG!!" you groan as you tumble into cover. Grease spills down the nice clean slice in you side. Pain receptors flare up your side. But you only see red. They wanna play games, well OK!

You spin up over your cover and let loose with your gatling gun. you register that the robot called Ransack was ready to take the beast bot's head. He had already gotten his arm. But, who cares, all you knew is that it was time to lay out some hot slag!

You gatling gun tears into the forms on the ground. Only then did you remember the other transformer, the helicopter.

His cannons tore up the ground and walls near you. You ducked, taking only minor hits, and spun to another vantage point to return his fire.

From elsewhere you hear, "Icefang, BEAST MODE!!" From the corner of your eye, you see sliver and white spotted cat loping toward you.

Metallic, in a lynx form. He skids to a halt next to you as you fire again on the other two robots.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!! Eat slag you tin-plated hot chopper!!!" you scream at the helicopter.

Suddenly you see one of the gatling guns on either side of the copter (not nearly as powerful as your's) shift slightly and a silver projectile flies into the pile of rubble that is your cover. The ground explodes in a fiery storm as you and the cat are thrown backwards.

You hear "Powerdive, Transform!!" and look up to see the green and black helicopter transform into a large robot. He lands with a thud and pulls a rotor weapon like the one that sliced the two of you up.

You look over at the cat, "Time to GO!" you shout as you transform into bike mode and slam into the cat, knocking him into your sidecar. You spin out sputtering axle grease and smoke everywhere from you wounds.

You can hear the slicing of a rotor in the ground behind you as you pull away.

Cybertron: the streets

You hear the Predacon growl, "Computerrrr, fuse connections on right forearrrm and only give sustaining power to joints. Effect repairs, reroute weapon powerrr into repairs. Scanners on full alert for two previous sparrrks encountered in region 786 section 3."

You say, "Keep your scanners on full, I'm not too sure those guys are done yet."

He snorts, but then a second later,"Hrrrrrrrrr, two enemies approaching from behind. One is moving considerably faster than we are."

"Hold on then, I have an ideal." You state as you skid sideways to a halt. Your wheels start up again and you shoot down an alleyway.

"They are within sight range again, " he warns.

"Jump our catbot." You pronounces as you skid to a halt. You transform. You throw your shoulder into pushing a large refuse containment vessel. The cat nuzzles past you and easily pushes the dumpster out into the alleyway.

"Here we go, lift the side of this thing, wouldya?" The cat lifts up the side of the dumpster without too much effort.

--He's strong, better remember that if I try to off 'im-- You think to yourself.

You pull out a squeeze box detonator and activate it, tossing it under the dumpster. You motion the Pred to put the dumpster down.

"Let's beat it now! Vehicle mode!" You shout as you shift form. The cat pounces back into the side car and you lets out another cloud of exhaust as you start moving away from the dumpster.

Behind you can hear he roaring of the plane's propeller as it comes down the narrow alleyway, right behind it you see the chopper.

Suddenly there's a boom, and a flash of light. The dumpster flies up into the plane, and you see them both come down in a fiery ball. The helicopter pulls up abruptly and leaves the alleyway.

"I'd bet that's the last we'll hear from those two losers." you snorts with a maniacal laugh.

Cybertron: a garage

You pull in sputtering into your hangar bay. You see the ship through your haze of smoking exhaust.

Two low fore prongs stretch along the ground, while the main body of the ship was box-like. The engines covered the aft, and were wider than the main ship. Two short, stubby side fins held rotor based repulsor lifts. The whole thing looked as if it were two steps from falling to

slag.

"THIS is your GREAT WAY OFF THIS PLANET!!!" the catbot sputters and growls.

"Hey! I said it would get us out of here, and it will. Look, she's as solid as they come," You knock with a resounding thud on the hull," Die cast construction. Built to last," you hope he didn't hear whatever that was that fell," They haven't built things like this since..."

"SINCE THE FIRST SLAGGIN' GREAT WAR!!!"

"Oh, come on it's newer than that. And I even installed a CR chamber,"

ok, it's an older model, "What more could you want? It'll fly, and it'll get us clear of Cybertron."

"Hey, we may be limited to shorter jumps, but we did pretty good in that fight. A little practice and we might become real pirates out there... And after a couple of raids... New engines, better armaments, maybe we can even secure one of those new, eh, Transwarp drivey things?"

Of course, you'd probably 86 this monster long before he got any booty from it.

"Ok, then... Hooligan. Let's see what this thing is made of."

You both climb aboard to scope out the new ship...

Cybertron: a garage

As the two of you enter the ship, you cheerfully remark, "You look like you need the CR a little more than I do," you motions down to the Pred's sparking stump. "Go ahead and get started on a repair cycle. I'll work on locking things down here and get the ship prepped."

He looks down at his arm, "hrrhrhr... Very well. Lock the garage doors first. I'll go into light sleep in case of attack." He trudges off toward the CR.

As soon as he leaves the room, you walk out into the garage itself. --Well, so long old rusty bench, so long pile of scrap bolts, so long puddle of... well whatever your a puddle of--

You lock the entry doorways. The codes will run out in a year or two, then let someone else have the place, You've already gotten you grab bag of nifty junk stored on the ship.

Your side is still throbbing, a little time in the CR wouldn't be too bad of an ideal, but your not too sure that those two bruisers wouldn't pop back up around here.

You walk back into the ship and search around for some bonding strips, and then back out into the garage you go. You search around till you find the broken stabilizer that fell earlier. You re-attach it without any real problems.

You return to the bridge of the scout ship and start the warm up cycle. Most of it's automated, so all you have to do is check back every so often.

Which gives you some free time to play around. You scan your memory tracks for the battle with those two rotor forces, as you look over the files, you think that while they appear to be fast, it didn't take too much damage to knock them out. They also didn't seem to be the smartest of bot's. Perhaps if you have another run in, you can use those to your advantage.

Now, you wonder what exactly you can do to that CR chamber, and more importantly to the cat-bot inside it. If he really sent into light sleep mode you doubt you could do anything to him, but it was worth a looksy.

You wander into the back chamber, and look at the CR chamber. Whoa, an old model Xt-34.1. Ancient, first gen for CR's. That also means that unless your new friend is a masochist, he had to go into a deep sleep mode (these older CR chambers didn't do the most comfortable job when repairing.)

You walk up to the chamber, it's hatch is like a by-valved clam, shutting over a strapped in 'bot. You reach around one side and find the panel you're looking for.

You plug in and access. Slagg! still has a LOT of protocol blocks. You can't do much, but perhaps a superficial memory scan won't be noticed.

<<You see yourself prowling through the Cybernetic jungles of Quintessa. What is that? You see two robots watching you closely. Curious, you approach them. They both bare a similar marking on their arms... the mark now know to you as Predacon... (there is a strong undercurrent of hatred as that word is thought) They point something at you, a gun? It shoots a netting around you and you phase out. You awaken later, steel walls surround you, and others are here as well. A trio of robots in robes walks around looking at all of you. They stand in front of the combined grouping atop a slowly rising platform and look out at the grouping of beast-bots below them.

"By order of the Tripredicus council you are all welcomed into our ranks as part of the Predacon forces. You will be expected to serve as part of our alliance, and to uphold the values of our order. You will join us and take part in our rightful continuation of conquest that our predecessors have set before us."

A lone dog-like creature, metallic grey and red, stands up and growls, "And what if we don't want to! You stole me from the wild, and I wish to return."

Instantaneously the dog was vaporized in a flashing of light. The smell of slagged metal fills the room, and several beast squirmed quickly away from the melted mass of remains of the wolf-bot.

"Any more dissension will be dealt with in the same fashion. We have eyes and ears everywhere. You will never know who you may trust with such rebellion, and the deadliest attacks are the ones that you never see." >>

You blink and shake yourself. So, kitty's got an unwilling servitude pushed on him, eh? That might be useful info later.

Well, while your jacked into the CR might as well have a little fun. The computer's almost done on restructuring as it is, but it hasn't placed the color ceramics on the arm yet. Hmm, what will happen if I disconnect the color sync program like... this.

You shut the panel and walk back into the bridge. The computers are warmed up and humming with a kind of wheezing 'why did you turn me on' sound.

All of the sudden you hear, "AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!"

You stick your head around the corner, "WHAT?! Are we under attack?!! Are their MITES in the damn CR... WHAT?!" You stop, and suppress a snicker as you see his arm.

In contrast to the blues and whites of the rest of his hull, the stark, dull primer black looks like someone forgot to finish his job.

"Oh, uhm, I guess the color sync must be off-line. Well, I'll take a look at it as soon as we get outta here. The engines are prepped were-a-ready to go!"

He undoes the harnesses and steps free of the CR. Then follows you into the bridge area and sits down at the comm.

"Warrrming up engines, openning up intake valves." He riddles his hands across the tarnished control board dodging stray wires that spark when they contact the die cast plating.

"Hooligan, open the blast doors of the garrrrage and I'll prep the ship for take-off."

You lean up and tap a few controls on the panel. The large bay doors above you groan as they strain to pull open.

"Let's hit it. Thrusters activated rotors in spin. Lifting up and outta here."

He glares at you as the ship begins to shudder, "You're rrright about this ship, it's solid as hell, except of courrrse for the way it rattles itself apart beforrre take-off!"

He motions to the bolts coming out from under your chair.

The ship shakes as if it hasn't moved in millennia as it lifts out of the small garage unit. She stays in one piece though, and you soon find yourself leaving the atmosphere of the metallic planet.

"Shutting off rrrotorrs and rrrepulsors." the Pred mutters.

"Deep space drives activating. Pull that thrust module over there and lets see if we can get past light."

He reaches up to the thrust lever and pulls it back all the way, but as he reaches the bottom a new set of sparks erupts at the base. To your surprise, a new panel slides open, and a continuation of the thrust control, along with some rather impressive looking lights and doohickeys are displayed. By accident, and out of shock, he pulls the thrust all the way back.

A small blinking red light suddenly turns green, and a low modulated male voice informs you,"Warp drive accelerator activated, prototype engine set for test. Preset coordinates locked and destination to be achieved in 30 cycles."

The star field turns to a blur of white...

a ship: warp space

Icefang rattles his black fingers across the board, "You know, this is a pretty impressive engine you've got here, don't find many of 'em lying around......ESPECIALLY PROTOTYPES!!!!!!"

The Predacon gives a sudden snarl as he leaps from his chair. In a nanocycle, you find yourself pinned to the floor.

"I'm only gonna ask you once 'buddy', who've you pissed off to get this ship and its propulsion system?! " he grinds his claws/cestus into your wrists (his claws are above his hands in bot mode), "I wanna know how a lowlife gamer like you got this ship and who you swindled it from?!"

You wrack your brain for an answer that will get you out of this particular predicament.

A ship : in warp space

You give off a grunt and a snicker.

"He He. Funny you should bring this up. I was gonna' tell ya sooner But I wasn't sure I could trust you. Perhaps you could let me up and we could discuss this like normal, adult, insane, lunatics?"

Icefang snarls, "Primary weapons on full." and glares down at you, "I know how many it takes to run this ship, I can find a pilot when we arrive somewhere, trust me, your spare parts should buy me one. I wouldn't try to call my bluff if I were you!"

"Your arm doesn't look too healthy there. That's not just enamel disparity. There was a sub-nanite virus loaded in the 'CR' chamber after I bought it, set to release into the first user. It's a rare form too. It places its victim in permanent stasis lock in 24 mega cycles, if not properly treated with the correct algorithm. Sure you could kill me, But you'd never make it to Quintessa to roam free with the other kittys..."

After a long moment of consideration, the cat bot releases pressure and stands up, but he also pulls a cannon out and aims it at you as you stand up too.

"Remove the virus, or I'll blast you into scrap so far, you'll never even be remembered."

"Well, you are a good fighter. You've proven that. But Your allegiance has yet to be revealed. I thought you were a loner, but you seem a little jumpy not to have some secret agenda. Personally, I don't know what Your cause is. I mean I'm sure its much nobler then any thing

I've fought for. Ah, those were the days..."

"WHAt are you babbling about!"

"Well, you seem like a bot searching for that clear blue sky, and maybe the occasional throat to crunch between you fearsome fangs. I think perhaps with a little cooperation and understanding, we could find you something great and magnificent. Perhaps a vengeance against those who have oppressed you! Surely, you've spent some time of your life learning the law of the jungle, and you can understand the need for protection, such as my little virus. After all, I'd be scrap right now if not for it."

He gives a low growl.

"Sure, you've spent time being forced into wars across the stars, blindly rushing into the frey. Oil lust in your eyes. Your foe leaking energon profusely. Where does the time go. Eh? What were we talking about."

"You were about to remove this virus", he cocks his gun threateningly.

"You woulda killed me already if you were seriously thinking about doing that, now wouldn't you kitty?"

Pain shoots up in an icy fire as he blasts your leg. You gasp and drop to the floor, curling up as the metal and enamel on your leg begins to crack from the intense wave of cold.

"FACE IT CAT-BOT! YOU NEED ME TO EVEN LAND THIS SHIP!" You gasp for

breath and pull yourself up again. "I can remove the Nanites, but only me. I didn't want to use them, but you forced me to!"

He snarls, but you see grudging comprehension in his eyes. He clicks his gun off and puts it away.

"That's better. Now, I can't say I'm sure about where we're headin', but I can say that we better figure it out, and get control over this ship. We've got about twenty-five cycles to get our heads together and make sure we don't end up back on Cybertron."

"Agreed, but from now on -I- give the commands."

"Hey, ok by me, your the bot with the claws!"

"Then I'll sit down and bring up navigation computers, see if they can locate our path. You seem to be so smart, you get under the panel and find where the hell that engine is, and what exactly it's capable of doing!"

The two of you set to work...

A ship: warped space

"I guess this thing doesn't come with an owners manual" You think out loud as you remove the hex bolts from the maintenance hatch. It flips over with a thunderous 'klang'.

The Predacon looks up from the Nav panel and remarks, "Carrreful, I don't think this rattrap of yours will take any more sudden bangs.."

Under your breath you mutter, "Aaaa, Your mom was a sharktakon."

You quickly climb in to the hatch, just in case Icefang heard you.

Your slim form was able to navigate the duct work fairly easily. A bigger bot would be hard pressed to crawl through this mess. Then again, the cat-bot could probably walk through it without any problem...

It was obvious the guts of the ship had been severely reworked, and there was no telling what this ship might pull out of its disposal unit.

You reach the engine 'room' and crawl out of the jeffries tube. The room was not much more than a walk-in-closet sized area.

You look around and see the engines glow at the opposite end, about 10 meters through the mass of wiring. You also notice to the side, a set of pressure tanks, as if this ship was rigged for liquid exploration.

After squeezing through some support beams and tripping on some wires, you notice something odd about the misplaced wiring. It wasn't standard energon conduits. An unusual material, yet familiar some how.

You quickly remember."Oh yeah. The engine."

Towards the rear of the ship sat a T-1fc-9 power converter uplink. It should have given off enough heat to melt aluminum, AND thundered the screws out of the ship while it was at it.

Yet some how it ran as cool and softly as a fiber cable.

Just beyond the strange energy linkage system sat the engine proper. It was squat and pulsated green down the energon rings on the side. Like a large squat cone that was squished onto the wall.

You quickly scan the casing for any identifying markings. Some various spec analysis markings and the usual 'don't touch' labels were scattered across it. If the energy specs were right, this thing would use drops of energy to travel at speeds nearly 1.5 the standard. It could warp to

a factor of 15 if maxed (though you doubt the ship could cope.)

Then your receptors pass over a symbol that sends a jolt to your system.

On the side of the engine was a sigil property marking. Prominently displayed was the purple sigil that was reminiscent of the Destron symbol he wore, but slight differences marked it as...

A Decepticon marking.

Suddenly, a commlink shuts on for the ship, "Hooligan, what's taking soo long?"

You find the switch and hit it, still recovering from the shock, "I'm... uhm... on my way back up now. We got a real zoomer on our hands, but no way to shut it off from down here."

"I too have found our destination. Come up and we will discuss it."

"Whatever you say, cat."

You click off the commlink. The Decepticons were outlawed 300 years ago. If you're found with marked property, you may get shot first and asked later. You pull your fist in and replace it with a file. The marking gives off a shower of sparks as you quickly eradicate the

damning evidence.

Should you tell the Pred about it? the question runs through your mind. He may just slag you if you do, and learn a new way to land this bucket of bolts.

You realize that he'll probably wonder what's taking you so long. So, you step back and begin the short clamber toward the bridge.

a ship : warp space

"So, where's this thing headed friend?" you ask eagerly as you exit the maintenance hatch.

"You mean you don't know?" purred the Predacon.

"Well, no. Not exactly... I mean..."

"Does the name 'Earth' ring any bells?"

Earth... you think you've heard of some planet named such... something during the last Great War...

"Uhm... no." you hate when you can't think of anything.

"Well then, that's just great. I suppose you know nothing about this planet then... What lives there, what can we expect, will there be an armed armada ready to blow our brains out?"

"Well, not exactly. I mean, after all, it's just a test run. There's a small outpost there," you hope this floats," I've heard that we could pick up some fuel and set ourselves for another jump... of course, after looking at that engine, I don't think we need to refuel."

"What do you mean?"

"Never seen the likes. It looks all pretty and innocent, but that bad boy's runnin' rotations faster than any engine I've seen. The kicker is that it's hardly using a drop of fuel, and I filled this things tanks to the brim before we took off!"

"So, let me get this right... You don't know where we are heading, you don't know anything about your ship, and now we just have to sit back and hope for the best?"

"Ehh... Uhm... yup."

"Prime."

"Warp engines disengaged. Preparing auto descent into planetary waters. Jamming capabilities activated."

You whistle, "Man, this pile of scrap's got all the bells and whistles!"

The Predacon seems fixated on the screen though, and you look out and realize why.

The red heat was building up around the hull, and the ship groaned in protest. Speed was dropping as the afterburners pushed against the gravity, but as the surface grew near, a vast expanse of water filled the screen.

Icefang growled ferociously, "I hope you can swim slagbot!"

You look out the window...

Then you remember the strange tanks below. You begin scrabbling around on the consol.

"What are you doing!?"

"I just remembered something."

"Fine time to need a post-it!"

"Hold on, I found it, "a strange set of consoles that you had overlooked caught your eye. Sure enough, the pressure controls. You figured that they had just been for airlock purposes, but at a close look, you could see just exactly what they were.

"Brace yourself, we're goin' in!" You flip a switch, and you body registers a mass of pressure fluctuations as the cabin goes through a series of environment control processing.

SPLASH!!!!!

The ship hit a little too hard, and you find yourself thrown from the chair. The lights on the ship flicker and shut off as a power flow is halted.

Then, the lights shut on again, and a new humming takes over the ship. You feel the ship right itself and push forward. Outside, murky blue waters bubbled around you as the ship pushes itself free from their clouds.

A depth and pressure gauge appear on the screens, indicating that all was equalizing and normal.

You can still feel the strange pressure pushing against your metallic skin, but it was beginning to fade, as the ship took a more gradual sloping path.

Icefang turned from his chair and looks down at you, "I told you to brace yourself."

You manage a weak smile as you hoist yourself back into your chair.

"I thought you said that we were heading to a small outpost." He asks.

"I uhh.. OK, maybe not."

"Any thing else you wish to come clean about?" Icefang snarls, showing his sharp teeth.

"Uhm... no." you groan and lean back in your seat. If he finds out about the engine, you have a strong feeling that you're cold slag. At least now he needs you, no way is he getting this thing back in the air alone.

"Target navigation point reached, final descent beginning."

"WHAT is our final target!"

"Look, I don't know." slag, here goes," I just bought this ship, and I have no clue where it's taking us."

The Predacon snarls again, but then stops. "Then let us see what trap you have taken us into, Destron."

With that he reaches over and flips a switch. The view screen alters to a down view, only it is total darkness below the ship. Icefang flips the runner lights on.

Resting only meters away from you is a immense ship, covered in barnacles and mineral deposits. It looks as though it has been there for centuries, or even longer. The small scout ship begins to glide along the side of the ship, you can barely make out any detail, until it

reaches a spot that appears to have been recently disturbed. The barnacles here are sizeably thinner, and a large area has been scraped completely clear. A dull purple hull can be seen through the murky water.

KLANG, CACHANG, VVVIIIRRRR

The ship stops.

Silence.

"I guess this is our target destination?" You question.

"So it would seem."

"What now?"

"Explore."

Earth : ashipbyaship

Icefang rumbles, "Begin airlock proceedures, secure umbilical cord." and you hear the computer whiz to comply.

You, however are more interested in the specs of the ship. The hull is covered in mineral deposits that were doing a good job of deflecting your sensors, but there was definitely energy reading on board. You check the chronometer on the ship and see that it appears that

everything is normal. Signal linkups don't seem to be working between the ships though. Then you notice the pressure gauge.

"Slag!"

"What is it?"

"The pressure readings are off the scale, this ship should be a sardine can, whoever was comin' here must of know 'bout it though, they installed some serious pressure devices in it."

Something about Earth starts to trigger in you mind. Something about the Great Wars, but your not sure exactly what.

"The umbilical cord is set, are you ready to go yet?" purrs the Predacon.

"Yeah. Hey, I have a weird feeling... You ever heard of the Decepticons?"

"Yes, treacherous beings that are banned or enslaved wherever their cowardly hides can find them."

"Yea, I uh... well I think we should be careful."

"Why do you ask, Destrrron?" Icefang's eyes narrow.

"Something about the name Earth. I know it has to do with the Autobots and Decepticons, but I'm not sure what. I just think we should be careful."

"Agreed. Well, age before beauty," Icefang stands from his chair and motions with his blackened arm.

"Yeah, great. Computer, code security defenses. Arm system. Keyless entry for voice code Hooligan and Icefang only. "

"Compliance." the low voice of the computer replies.

"How did you know it had a security system?" snarls Icefang.

"Heh! I didn't really, but there was this weird looking bunch of wires..."

The heavy doors opened with a thud. Water still dripped from the slick walls and ceiling. Your path is clear though, and the two of you make your way forward.

The ship has running lights all down the hallway, and sensors automatically adjust to your presence and light your path.

Your footsteps echo with an odd, hollow thud as you walk down the corridor. Your internal scanners now sense the ship in full. A surprising amount of the ship is still dry, but there are areas that contain water. Power is running normally and the air is breathable by biological standards. The design is ancient, millions of years ancient, but it was definitely a Cybertronian ship.

The two of you move soundlessly, scanners on full, and you make your way toward the bridge.

The door of the bridge is damaged and hanging limp. You step through into the low-lit room. One chair sits in front of the massive computer consoles.

The chair is occupied.

"So, a Destron and a Predacon." the grating voice greets you, "Not exactly who I expected, tell me... why would you come here?"

Icefang looks down at you, you merely shrug.

The cat turns and snarls, "And who are you to question us?"

The chair turns slowly and deliberately, and a large, grey and black transformer stands from it. His faceplate is white and two cold blue eyes shine in the darkness above it. For a helmet, a silver crown-like ridge, such as a Prime would wear, sits on his head.

And proudly displayed on his chest is the purple symbol that was on the engine, the outlawed symbol that brought images of ancient war.

The Decepticon Symbol.

"I am Lord Starscream, high commander of the Decepticon forces."

Earth : an ocean in a ship

Immediately, you drop to one knee and bow your head, "Lord Starscream. I never thought, by the moons of Cybertron that you were alive."

"What??" is the only sound from Icefang.

"I wish permission to meet your gaze."

"Granted."

You rise, "The oracles of the Hub spoke true when they said that you're spark was everlasting. This humble Decepticon is at your service."

Icefang steps one foot forward, " I am Icefang, stalkerrrrr of the forests of Quintessa and descendent of the ancient Decepticons. I am on a quest to rrrreturn to my homeland, where I may be free of this conflict. Why were we brought to this place?"

"You are a strange and demanding little Predacon." The huge black and grey Decepticon looks down at the two of you, "If you must know, I think your friend here might with to explain it to the both of us."

"Well, " You begin slowly, "I bought this ship from some Destron named... Swindler or something."

Starscream laughs at this, "Yes, that would be Swindle, one of my 'loyal' Combaticons." He seems to spit the word. "They built this shuttle to find that which was lost to them a long time ago. But tell me kitty, you say you seek freedom..."

"He was forced into slavetude by the Predacon traitors." You blurt out.

--whoops, smooth one greaser--

"WHATTTT!" Icefang roars, "HOW do YOU know that!!!"

You step back with arms raised, "Heh, uhm... lucky guess? you more or less told me that the first time we met in the bar, you know a few days ago!"

He flexes his claws and take a threatening step forward, but Starscream speaks up, "Regardless, I am more interested in what you plan to do now, Predacon. You're friend here has proclaimed loyalty to me, what do you plan to do?"

Icefang gives a low growl, "I have no reason to join you."

"Oh, but you have the best reason of all. Vengeance. You see, my spy network has informed me of the arrival of the Predacon council here on Earth. I have reason to believe that they were after the same thing that Swindle and his bunch of miscreants were searching for. But my

reports seem to lead them to Autobot City."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want your help to destroy the Tripredicus Council, reclaim the artifact in question and destroy it as well. Agreed?"

"What is this arrrtifact?"

"Agreed?"

He growls again,"Agreed."

"Then my friends, our target is the spark of Megatron."

Earth : a ship

Icefang whispers too low for Starscream to hear, " Even IF you do manage to survive this battle you will not live to recieve any table scraps from your master, trust me. "

He then walks to the great transformer, nods his head and speaks, "My ally, Lord Starscream, I believe, let us be off to destroy my oppressors and your enemies. May the great smelter have the sparks of the council in their hands by the end of this day. "

You look at his back worriedly. His threat may come true if you don't find a true bargaining chip. He's not likely to fall for the nanovirus for long, and if he gets a medbot to scan, or a real CR chamber...

But that's all pushed to the back of your mind as the thought of the Autobot armies seems to rise in your gourd. Vengeance for their oppression sounds like a great way to cheer your day up. You begin to cackle to yourself.

Icefang spins and looks at you, "What is it hooligan?"

"Just ready to slag some 'bot! Heee ehehehehehhee."

Starscream interrupts, "It's always good to see such enthusiasm, I'm sure, but I need information about this ship that brought you here. My spy network has shown a great deal of time and energy spent by the Combaticons in designing the shuttle. I'm curious as to just why so

much was spent to bring the shuttle here. Surely a regular starhopper could have provided the needed transportation?"

"Not sure. Heehe. Like I said, I.. he...just bought it off of Swindle. We didn't even know about those engines till tigger here started them up."

A low growl comes from Icefang, "Just what kind of engines were they, motorbreath."

"Weird, lots of wiring that wasn't used, a couple power uplinks and converters, and a nifty powerhorse engine that was as good at energy consumption as..." a thought occurred to you.

"As what? Hooligan?"

But you were lost in thought, the strange wires, unused paths and a receptacle panel that you saw in the ceiling...

"Asss... a lawnmower."

Starscream's eyes seem to narrow. Best watch it, his schemes of power were legendary. He was a reported master of intrigue.

"Indeed. Then our first priority is to get to the Autobot city here. A full assault may not be wise without more firepower... The Tripredicus council has arrived to take the spark into custody... I do not believe the Autobots know what they have found. There are only a

few at Autobot city. However, the threat of Metroplex himself is too great."

"Metroplex?" Icefang queries.

"Metroplex IS Autobot city. One of the huge city transformers made in the great war. He hold incredible power and intellect. We can not match his firepower in a direct confrontation... Unless that shuttle is more than it seems."

You think for a minute. You don't remember any weapons systems. But it wouldn't make sense to make something like that and it not have them. AND if it is what you've started to suspect...

"It may have weapons systems, but we've only had it for an hour or so. Not long enough to do a full diagnostic."

"Then let us return and begin the journey to the city, we will make our plans on the way."

And what plans will they be, as you journey back toward the ship, you fall behind to where Icefang prowls in the shadows.

" So Icefang, Why is it so important to get back to Junglear? It always sounded kinda' back-water to me. I mean, is your homeland really that important to you?"

"If your rusting carcass held any honor, you would understand what it was like to be free and to rule the jungles of your home."

"I've never known a home, and haven't pledged true allegiance in several centuries."

"No! You're kidding! All this time I thought you were a proud holder of Cybertronian patriotism." his sarcasm surprises you... so the cat-bot does have a wit.

"I don't know that I can call Cybertron my home... There's been to many crimes committed there against me."

"Oh, do you want a hug?"

-Slagspout.-

"What's it like to know where you belong?"

"The jungles are my home..." Icefang gets a wistful, faraway look in his eyes, "There I roamed free and did as I please. The law of the jungle was hunt or be hunted, kill or be killed. The strong survived there. No backstabbing, no politics, no factions. Just life and death. It is what I WILL return to."

"Look... for what it's worth, I reeeally didn't know about all this. I thought we'd jump a few galaxies, find a few friends and drop you off in your kitty home."

"NO, you thought I'd make a good pawn for your wretched hide to get off of Cybertron."

"Oh, and I suppose you came along because you thought I was a swell guy?"

Icefang gives a low, contemplative growl.

"All I'm sayin' is that I think we just stepped in it. Big and black up there was reputed to be one of the most unstable bots in the galaxy. I think we may have to depend on each other more than either of us would like to admit. I'll be watching your back. I know that don't mean

much. But there it is all the same."

You're surprised to find that you actually mean some of it. You just meant to try to move him into a position where he wouldn't rend you as soon as you turn. But you find an echo of your feelings of abandonment in his feelings of loss.

"We shall see, oilpit."

The small Pred strode ahead, catching up to Starscream.

Well, that's that. Now the thought of slagging some old, outdated Autobot's swells up in your head. images of carnage and fire sweep through your mind, and in excitement you find yourself transforming and laying out rubber as you zoom past the two surprised bots.

"HEEHEHEhhehehehheEHEHEEHheEhehaahAHAhAhhAHAHahAhaheaheheAhAhHaheAheEAHe!!!" You roar as you speed to the ship.

Earth : a ship

Slaughter vs. cunning, always a dilemma for the warped mind of Hooligen. Even though Metroplex was an older model, anyone knows Autobot bases are not to be trifled with.

You think to yourself -mmm. A direct assault would be a slaughter. We would have to infiltrate, but how. All the old codes I've stolen are sure to have been changed after 400 years.'

"Blast it all! Lord Starscream, beg my intrusion but how do you plan to get bast the city's defenses?"

"You think I've not planned?,"the large Transformer sneered back at your trailing form, "I already have 'someone' on the inside that will allow us to bypass their security protocol."

"Igneous."

"What a bumperrr kissser." Icefang growls to himself.

That being solved you begin internal computations on the calculations for his own scheme.

--The armory on this ship must be depleted, otherwise he would have ordered us to stockpile our ship. Hmmm, I wouldn't be surprised if ol'crazy legs wasn't holding some vital piece of info from his new 'comrades'. Don't blame him though. I wouldn't trust us any farther then

target practice either. Still, he has no troops here under his command. An unusual bargaining chip.--

Earth : a smaller ship

"Sship . Disssengage security defense authorization code Iccccefang"

All that registers is a soft, "Compliance." From the ship.

You all clamor into the ship and head for the com.

Starscream forces his way past the two of you to lean over the comm eagerly.

"Hooligen. Why don't you check the power systems below while WE start the battle diagnostics." Starscream orders. You and Icefang share a mistrusting glance, then turn to your respective work.

You clamber back through the jeffries tube, and make your way toward the aft and the engines. You look around from a new aspect and begin more calculations. As you completed them, you realize that it is possible for a spark to control this ship, but checking for transformation might alert the others while they're looking at the tactical.

Quickly, you crawl over to the 'engineering terminal', if you could call it that.

As quickly as you can you hide all transformer interface files that might show. You then access the subprocesser to get the instructions for interfacing a spark with the ship. Data streamed on the small display.

By the matrix it was true.

According to this, a spark could be placed in the energy receptacle on the ceiling of this small 'room'. These fiber synapse connections laying around would conduct the energy that the converted would alter to energon. That combined with the clean run engine would make an impressive powerhouse.

You toy for a moment with the thought of putting your spark into the ship, but if the data was correct, the power levels generated would thrash your spark to atoms. It would take a powerful spark to run this jalopy.

Your tactical computer laid the plan.

0.9 CR time for Hooligan

1 Rig the CR chamber for interface under the guise of increased defense power

1.2 Rig remote calling for ship so that #5 works

2 Go along with Starscream's plan

3 Inform Icefang I can get him home but he must help me save Megatron and defeat the tri-council. Inform him of ship abilities.

4 Save the spark of Megatron

5 get back to ship before Starscream does and run like hell

As you're finishing up, Icefang crawls through the jeffries tube. He looks around at the tangles of wires with disgust, "What is taking you so long?"

"Look, Icy. We need to talk. This spark we are retrieving may be our only way outta all this."

"What are you talking about."

"Megatron's hatred for Starscream was legendary, and so was his prowess as a leader. If we can resurrect him..."

"By the SMELTER! Have you gone mad? We have no body, and that pile of trash CR isn't gonna revive an ancient spark..."

"Listen! This ship... I think it was built for just that, lookit this, " You point up to the receptacle, "It can hold a spark inside of it, and that clean burning engine? Well, it's a Cybertronian life generator. An energon based fuel pump. That's why it runs so much with so little!"

"If what you say is true..."

"We have to pounce in like good little drones, trounce the Tripredicus council, grab the spark, and hightail it to the ship before Starscream realizes what happened!"

"Hmm..."

"It still gives you revenge, and a better chance at getting home than Starscream can give you."

"Agreed, we will play the patsies for now, and I will be watching both Starscream AND you for the outcome."

"Agreed."

You hope you know what you're doing.

You walk back up into the bridge, Starscream looks at the two of you.

"We will go to Metroplex, there I will stay inside of the ship while the two of you procure Megatron's spark. When you give me the signal, I shall leave the ship, and attack causing a diversion while the two of you take off with his spark."

"It sounds awfully simplistic." you interrupt, "I mean, what if the spark isn't just sitting on a golden platter sayin' 'please take me' for Decepticon's like us!"

"Oh, the spark is there. It has been activated in a body, but the activation was improper and has rendered it not only useless to us, but a danger to our future."

"What do you mean it's active!" Icefang growls.

"I mean, it is in a body, calling itself Megaplex and working for the Autobot forces. Megatron would have NEVER allowed such a disgrace to befall him. We must put his spark to rest once and for all."

The truth congeals in your mind... Starscream wouldn't want to help Megatron. All the tales tell of his treachery. He want's you to destroy the fabled leader...

"So you want us to kidnap this one called... Megaplex?" Icefang speaks.

"No, I want him destroyed. I WANT HIS SPARK RIPPED FROM HIS DYING CARCASS!!!!"

The computer chimes and the three of you turn to the view screen.

Below you, the sunset has etched the Cybertron-like city in a golden orange glow. Two tall towers stood out in the center. The Autobot sigil emblazoned upon them.

Starscream leans over the panel, "Authorization codes active. We are going to land in their very laps, me Decepticons."

Below you, you see a large landing pad. Already a ship resides upon it. Long, sleek and black. VERY expensive.

Outside there is a collection of robots, seven, and a pile of scrap that was sparking... But none of them seemed to notice it.

"We appear to be late for the party." You mutter, the anger of Starscream's betrayal still coursing through your wires.

"Then we will have to alter out plans. I will begin a bombing pattern. When the Autobots go to investigate. TAKE the one named Megaplex."

You hear the struts touch ground.

"The time has come," Starscream begins, "Find the one named Megaplex and DESTROY him! "

Earth : Metroplex

A surge of anger and maniacal bloodlust washes over your frame. All the years, all the torments. Starscream would die, and so would all the Autobots who dared oppress you!!

Thoughts of Autobot torture chambers and dark rooms of dying robots filled with the smell of burned oil and charred rubber prance through your mind.

The only light, the one who had saved you. The one who had led you. MEGATRON!!!!

And this pathetic weakling wants him DEAD!!?

Your mind and vision swims and you hear Icefang's voice from far off, something about..."... warn the Autobots ... help them..."

You feel a mad cackle rise in your systems, "NAY, NAY, The Autobots MUST suffer my WRAAAATH!!!"

Then... a jolt of supreme coldness slices through your heated anger. Your eyes refocus down onto the barrel of Icefang's cannon. You feel your servos lock up and turn brittle. A detached part of you thinks --Wow, he put a lot of power in that one--

Then, as if he had all the time in the universe, Icefang picks up a foot and places it on your chest. He gives an ever so gently push, and you see the ship pass by you, and then the hatch pass by you, and then the ship begins to float off into the night sky.

You spin, feeling your spark burn with the coldness, you see the flames of the city below you, and feel a powerful dark essence touch your mind... You see the night sky and it's velvet sheen... You see streets that look like your hated home planet of Cybertron... You see two towers

marked with that symbol, that slagging symbol...

--Wow, the streets are close h...--

THE END?...

Earth : Metroplex

You reach a barely conscious state. Optics, unbuilt... Movement, unbuilt... Sensors, unbuilt.

It occurs to you that you're completely unbuilt!

What happened?

--OH SLAG!!--

You remember the blast, and the fall from the ship. About three hundred meters of a fall. With your frame iced like that...

Great. Well, at least you got picked up.

Then, a voice sounds in your circuits, "Destron, listen to me. My name is Ramhorn. I am the Defense Council of the Tripredicus Council." --oh wow, THEY rescued me?-- "We have need of your assistance. You will be rewarded VERY richly." An image of LOTS of energon goodies appears in your processors, "You are being rebuilt inside of Metroplex, the Autobot city on Earth. When you come to, you will find that a robot claiming to be Megatron has been built here on Earth."--claiming!?--"We need an insider to help us in stopping the Great Wars from occurring again. As I said before you will be rewarded handsomely." Another flash of energon stockpiles and nifty techno-gadgetry appears, "All you must do for now is watch and report. You will find a telepathic link with the Tripredicus council implanted in your psyche. This will allow us to communicate without alerting the Autobots and their sympathizers. Stand with us now, and great power and wealth WILL be yours."

You slowly sink back into a sleep state...

Earth : Metroplex

The chamber hisses as a cloud of steam washes out onto the floor. You blink your optics and stretch. You feel great! You find yourself wondering about that dream you had in there... or was it a dream.

You hear a throat clearing, and look up to see a black Transformer standing with a gun obviously at the ready.

On his chest was an Autobot symbol, the dream suddenly came back in a rush!

With great effort, you control your urge to rip his limbs off and play the drums on his head. You force a smile and ask, "So, what's new?"

"Stow it, we have a few questions we'd like answered."

"So, uhm your a duplicity?"

"First of all, don't give me a reason to pull this trigger. Second of all, as a matter of fact, I am."

"Gotcha."

"But I'm not the one who'll be askin' the questions. That task is reserved for the head honcho."

"And that would be...?"

"Optimus Prime."

Earth : Metroplex

GENERAL EPISODE:

The Predacon called Hornet surveys the group with large, insectoid eyes. Close at his side is one of the mutant berserkers, peach colored with green pieces.

The assembly quiets down as they begin to take their seats. The conference tables form a large U shape. Optimus Prime and Megatron are at the center, and the others who were in the CR chambers join the already assembled group. The room was filled, including, BlackShadow, Nocturro, Torca, the Combaticons, Hound, Flood, Aaron, the two great leaders, and the two Predacons.

As they all take their seats, the doors swing open again. A earth forces mech stands in the doorway. This one is a little fancier though. It's shell is a pearlescent white, and gold trim lines the edges. The armor looks heavier and denser than the other ones. It steps into the room, "I am Force Commander Charles O'Bryant. I have come to take seat as representative of the Earth alliance in these proceeding."

Optimus Prime stood,"Greetings Commander, we were not aware that the Earth alliance was to be involved, but you are welcome."

"The Earth alliance isn't sure how we wouldn't be involve, Optimus Prime. It's been a long time since you slept, things have changed. We don't have the armaments we used to, but we've learned to take care of ourselves in your absence."

"My apologies for any inferences that may have offended you. I merely meant..."

"I know what you meant, and I apologize as well. I'm no diplomat, I'm a field commander, and I'm not too happy for the position I've been placed. High command felt I would be the best choice as I was in the city at the time of the attack."

"Then let us begin..."

Some time of bickering and arguing ensues. Not much is decided. Hornet and Buzzclaw claim that the Predacon's merely tried to launch the stasis pods to defend themselves from the attacking forces. They blamed the break-in of their ship on the humans, and the consequent berserking of the protoforms. They also claimed no knowledge of the phantom firebug that attacked the city in the midst of the fight.

Demands were also made for the spy that escaped during the fighting, and the return of the other protoform. Nocturro, Torca, and Blackshadow were safe, as they now had their own free will to decide their fates, but the Predacons wanted the fith protoform back.

The Predacon's also wanted Megatron and the Combaticons placed under custody. Optimus held to the fact that they helped in repelling the destructive forces unleashed on the human city, and the Earth council agreed. The Predacon's began to threaten treaty breaking and all out war, but Prime held firm and they began to relent.

Then the topic of Starscream was broached, and Prime signaled for the prisoner to be brought in.

Hooligan looked around at the gathered Maximals, Predacons, Decepticons, and Autobots and a variety of emotions passed over his face too quickly for anyone to interpret.

"Hooligan, you were thrown from the shuttle that Starscream was in. Due to the nature of your fall, I will not hold you prisoner for any longer than this questioning takes, but we must know what happened up there."

Hooligan looked at Prime, eyes narrowing as he thought. Then Megatron stood up, "Hooligan, you once served in my forces. If you hold any memory of the pledges you once made, then you MUST answer the question."

Hooligan dropped to his knees, "Lord Megatron, I have not forgotten my pledges, and it was for those pledges that I was killed. I now once again pledge my loyalty to your new Decepticon forces and empire."

Megatron face was unreadable, but a fire of anger seemed to burn from his silver, cold eyes. "Stand up, " he almost spits, Hooligan looks startled, but rises, "All I've wanted since I was blasted to scrap centuries ago was peace. I tried to destroy myself to ensure the end of the empire, but I was brought back. I tried to hide myself, for I knew what my presence would do to the peace that has lasted since my death, but I was sought out. I do not want loyalty now I WANT ANSWERS!" His voice echoes off the hall in his vehemence. Prime gave him an odd,

contemplative look, his eyes narrowing.

Immediately Hooligan began to spill out the story of his ship and Starscream's betrayal.

When he was finished, Prime stood up. "Then I would propose a four pronged search. First, we must find Starscream. He is a threat to us all. Hooligan, if you would, I would like you to go with the Combaticons to find him if possible.

I would like then like Flood, Megatron and Buzzclaw to search for the one who is causing the fires. I believe it to be the same Predacon that Flood and Megatron faced earlier, and if there is a Predacon along, perhaps he will have a better clue as to who it is."

Hornet interrupts, "I believe I would be the better choice for the mission, Buzzclaw is new, and does not have as much knowledge of the Predacon ranks as I do."

"Very well, then Blackshadow, I would like you, and Nocturro to seek out Bladewing. Torca and Hound will look for the Predacon protoform. I will stay here with Buzzclaw as the Predacon representative and the Commander as Earth's rep. We will work on what to do about the

situation. Agreed?"

Everyone agrees, but the Commander stands up, "Optimus, I believe I would best be serving if I too went with the team to find the firebug. My presence here really only involves that at the moment."

"Very well, then I suggest we all get moving. I want reports every five Earth hours. you will each be given a specific signal code, and I expect each of you to report. That will ensure no creative elimination of other forces."

The groups begin to split and prepare for departure.

Earth : Metroplex

Great... you're stuck with the morons who tricked you into this whole mess. You look over at the Combaticons. As if it wasn't bad enough to have the Tripredicus council wanting you to spy for them, now you had to be the odd man out in a team of combat crazy lunatics.

Things just seem to be getting better all the time.

Oh well, at least your systems are at full, and the time in the CR did you plenty of good. No definite strings attached.

Megatron's reaction surprised you, though he was always said to be prone to tirades. Something more was definitely happening around here. You determined it best to figure out what. Besides, at least you were gonna get revenge on that jerk Starscream, and maybe you can find a way to drop Swindle off a cliff along the way.

You've gotten your communication signal code that you're to report in with. So did everyone else. Which means that if anyone gets offed, everyone will know about it pretty quickly.

Yep, it's time like these that make it good to be smarter than your foes.

You follow the jostling Combaticons down the hallways of Metroplex. They swear and swagger, making claims on Starscream's body parts. You keep quiet, and they seem more than happy to ignore you.

You don't know a lot about them, but as you listen you pick up on a few things.

Brawl, slow and stupid. He's all armor and guns. You think you might be able to talk him into anything, given time.

Blast-Off, major superiority complex. He seems to think the others are below his contempt, but he may have a rash of protectiveness toward his teammates.

On-Slaught, cerebral, maybe a bit nitpicky. Tends to over analyze and may get bogged down with details.

Swindle, money talks. The right motivation and he'd sell his own chip maker.

Vortex, strong, malicious, but a bit clumsy. He's more of a terror agent than an actual top-line warrior.

The group of you gather to decide what to do.

"As LEAder of this group, "starts Onslaught, "I think we should do our best to trace any particle traces left by that shuttle. After all a clunker like that had to leave tracks a mile wide."

Swindle interrupts, "Not really. I made the ship to LOOK like a core burner. It burns cleaner that water, and after a few hours it's not likely it'll leave much of a trail."

"If you had let me go when I wanted to, I could have easily followed it." snorts Blast-Off, "But nooo, it was SAVE THE GREAT MEGATRON and ignore all else."

"Hey, at least we got to throw that Pred for a few miles!" grunts Brawl.

You shake your head, it's amazing these clouts get anything done.

"What do you mean... WE threw him. I believe it was my expertise that grabbed the insect and put the crushing force on him?" Blast-off again.

"And then dropped him." snickers Vortex.

"Well it's not MY fault that we had to sep..."

"ENOUGH!!" you were surprised at the strength in your voice, "Look, we have a job to do. Megatron wants us to find Starscream and rip him a new one, and that's exactly what I suggest we do!"

"And just HOW do you plan to do that?" questions Onslaught.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan..."

Earth: Metroplex

--How did I end up with a handful of berserk ex-criminals, on a search and destroy mission?-- You think to yourself, knowing that you could have backed out at any time if you had spoken up.

--Oh well, damage is done.--

"The first thing we need to do is figure out where Starscream would have gone to regroup. Any questions?"

The only reply was a bunch of helmet scratching.

"Look, the last place I saw him organizing operations from was a ship in the ocean. We should probably start there."

"Yeah," Swindle says, "The ship where Meg's was supposed to be laying out. That's where we sent these chu...I mean where the shuttle was set to go to when the drive was activated."

"But that's under the ocean." sighed Blast-Off.

"Yeah, none of us'r much good that deep under water." grunted Brawl.

"Yeah," continued Swindle, "I had to armor the slag out of that shuttle just to hold up to the pressure down there. We may make it as Bruticus, but I doubt it."

"And even if we did, we'd have the collective IQ of a sandwich." muttered OnSlaught.

Vortex threw his two energon chips in, "Why don't we just send a big missile down there and atomize the ship."

"Stupid, " bit OnSlaught, "What good would that do, we'd just vaporize the ship and never know if Starscream was there or not!"

"If he never showed up again, we'd know." that was Brawl.

"QUIET!"

The Combaticons looked at you, a little disgruntled at being disrupted from their ranting. You'd have to watch your temper before they decided to crush you...

"Look, as much as I hate to say it, I can only think of one option to get down there. The Autobots are apparently the most technologically advanced group on this planet, and they Managed to reach the ship before we did, so they HAVE to have the ability to get down that deep. So we COULD call them and see what they got."

"That might involve working with one of THEM." Blast-Off sneers.

You don't like that one bit either, but at the moment you can't think of any other ideals to go with.

Earth: Metroplex

"It seams we have no choice," You mutter as you hit your comlink, "Hooligan to Metroplex. We think Starscream might be hold up deep in the sea. We are requesting alternative transport. Over."

"Like what, Hooligan." Optimus Prime's voice rumbles over the intercom. You fight down the urge to scream profanities back into the comlink, "We need deep water transport. We want to return to the Decepticon base where Flood found Megatron's body."

"Understood. I have just the 'bot. Rendezvous at these coordinates."

The coordinates transmitted, you and the Combaticons set off to meet your transportation.

About an hour later, you find yourselves gathered on the docks of a city to the West of Metroplex. The sun was bright and warm, and the sea spray was kicked up as boats came to and from the docking bay.

You sit on the edge of the dock, and ponder your predicament. You're not sure what to do even if you do find Starscream. Though, the thought of letting the Combaticons slag him instantaneously was at the foremost of your wishes. Megatron's reaction to you was a little disheartening. It wasn't the one you had hoped for. You recall happy days of slagging Autobots at Megatron's command, of being part of the most powerful legion to ever be assembled. Now, you are at odds with the only Decepticon's you've found, AND you're working for the slag snorting Autobots.

The thought occurs to you that you actually miss fighting with that stupid Predacon cat. AT least you knew where he stood.

You look out over the vast blue waters, the sky crisp and clear, and you feel like spraying diesel fuel over it all and lighting it...

Then you notice a large cruiser coming toward the docks. It was the largest ship you've seen around these parts so far. The sides were blue and steel, and from the foreward cabin back, what would probably be the staterooms, there was glass paneling glinting in the sunlight. A tower rose above it with two bulkheads of some sort on top. It registered as an Autobot.

You quickly join the Combaticons as the pleasure cruiser pulls up beside you. It wasn't the largest cruiser in the world. But it should have ample space for six vehicles to sit in.

"DeepSea reporting for duty!" came a deep female voice.

On-Slaught took the initiative, "I think there was a misunderstanding. We needed UNDERWATER transport."

"Hop on, they don't call me DEEPSea for nothing!"

You look at On-Slaught and shrug, then the group of you board the blue boat. The rear of the glass-ecased area swings open, allowing you into a pool-area. It's a little crowded with the rather large Combaticons, but you soon all make yourselves comfortable.

"Ready to go?"

The dock moved steadily away from the boat. It didn't even feel like you were moving. Soon, you found yourselves skipping across the ocean surface at a good clip.

After a while you tire of the Combaticon's bickering, and you go outside onto the deck area.

"So, DeepSea, you're an Autobot here?"

"Yup, for nearly two centuries."

"Really? I thought there were only the old bot's here, the ones who served in the great war?"

"I came chasing after a lost dream. The 'noble ancestors' dream. I had a lot of questions, and only the Autobot's here on earth could ever answer them."

"I see."

"I stayed here because of the seas. There's nothing quite like them on Cybertron."

"There's not much interesting on Cybertron."

"I think you may sell our homeworld short. Even here, I miss the Mercury seas, and the starlight glittering on the silver sands of the beaches.

"I'm not much one for sightseeing."

The boat seems to slow perceptibly and soon comes to a halt.

"Was it something I said?"

The female bot chuckles, "No, This is where the ship was found... or at least a few miles below here."

"I guess I should..."

"Get below deck? Only if you don't want a deep water salt bath."

"Yeah."

You join the Combaticons, surprised to see that they were still in one piece after being cramped together for so long.

"Everyone set?" came DeepSea's voice.

"No." Answer Vortex and Blast-Off in unison.

"Good, here we go..."

The upper tower shifted down flush with the boat, and the noise of rushing water can be heard. As you watch, the glass windows seem to fill up with water, and you realize that there must be two or more layers of crystal windows, filling with water to hold off pressure.

Rapidly the boat sank below water level. Tanks hiss to equalize the air pressure, and you realize that the two bulkheads on the tower were probably expressly for that purpose.

In seconds the boat was enveloped in darkness. You couldn't tell how fast you were going down, but at the speed that the light disappeared...

Then outer hull lights clicked on. The scene was breathtaking. An shark, larger than you sped past in the waters, startled by the luminescent visitor to it's home.

Schools of fish swam past the boat, seeming to rise up quickly and disappear into the gloom above.

Then you could see the bottom. An immense mountain of coral rose up on the sandy floor. Dark and forgotten. You recognized the mountain instantly.

It was the Decepticon ship.

Earth : Decepticon ship

DeepSea lowers herself to a docking position.

"Securing docking clamps and extending umbilical," she says softly.

"Alright boys," you say, "he's no doubt expecting us so LOCK AND LOAD."

The surround sound clicking and whirring of ammo packs and battle computers coming online was music to your ears.

"Finally some action", Brawl blurted out.

"Yes. And a small score to settle" you think to yourself.

"Lets go mean machines", Onslaught commanded as he stabilized the airlock. The entire force piled into the ancient wreckage with but one universal process analyzing through their processors. 'Kill Starscream'.

The group of you step out of the the airlock, guns at the ready. The click and whir of your weapons met with...

Echoing silence.

"Where is he?" whispers Brawl.

"Not here, probably." answers Vortex, "Whatsa matter Brawl? SSSSpoooked?"

"Shut up, rotor face."

"Oh grow up you two." on came Blast-Off.

"SHHHH" you quiet the group... slag this was like babysitting.

The corridor's light begins to flicker on as the ship senses your presence.

The group of you nearly jump out of your armor as the airlock behind you hisses and opens again.

DeepSea look askance at the six guns pointed at her as she steps from the door, "You didn't think I was just gonna sit there didya?"

She had transformed, and now stood only about as tall as Onslaught. A size morphing unit, nifty, most of the Cybertronian's didn't use those anymore.

You had to admit, she WAS attractive. Purple eyes lit the shadowy hallway as she motions for you to lower your guns from her face.

The group grumbles and turns back to the ships corridors.

The six of you make your way to the bridge.

The doors still hang open, but the lights are off as you step through the threshold.

"Scanners are reading no sparks." reported Blast-Off.

"Jammers?"

"Only the shell of the ship. I'm reading everything inside, no static fields."

You step up to the computer panels, and as the lights shut on, something catches your eye.

On the comm panel, a silver disk lay. It was shiny and new, and on it was etched the purple insignia of the Decepticons.

Earth : the Decepticon ship

You reach down and grab up the small silvery disk. The purple embossed sigil marking flashing in your eyes. The disk was new, but why would Starscream leave such an obvious clue. You look around for a drive to put it in.

Swindle had already sat down at the consol and begun typing away, trying to dig up record files that may be hidden.

You see the drive, but as you walk over, you see that it has been damaged. You take a closer look as you hear Swindle complain, "There isn't a solid record left on this slaggin' thing. It looks like it hasn't been touched in ages either."

You look down at the disk drive curiously as you realize that the char marks on it were left by blaster fire, and they were only a few hours old.

"He was here." you mumble.

"What?" On-Slaught walked over to where you were standing.

"Someone did some creative hampering with the controls." You pause thinking about mentioning the disk, but a glance over your shoulder reminds you of the female Autobot's presence in the room. You think it best to hold on to the disk for the moment.

You reach back and place the disk into your chest compartment. You sit down opposite of Swindle and begin to tap away on the controls. As you 'work' you access the disk with your internal drive. A small window appears on your optics, and you see a Decepticon symbol appear. The coding is a newer Con symbol, luckily you had sneaked a peek at a few of the encrypting codes while with Starscream.

A dark shadow appears, and your optics turn red as you see Starscream appear, "Decepticons, the time has come for our forces to rise in power once again. I have..." it seems as though he has to force out the next words, "been ordered to gather our forces. Megatron is no fool, and he knows that theAutobots can not protect him indefinitely. We spoke above the Autobot city, and he came upon a plan. All those that are to flock to his banner are to meetat the final resting place of Trypticon. He lies in the Everglades at the coordinates encoded with this disk your Decepticon sigils will activate his systems enough to bring him up from the swamp. Myself, along with those that have come to the planet to aide me will be there. Megatron may or may not join us, as he does not wish to give away his plan so early. This is the beginning of a new and glorious Decepticon Empire. Starscream out."

So, what could Starscream be up to. His proposition makes sense. Megatron can't rely on the Autobots for very long, and if he was the author of this plan... That, and you have Bruticus to back you up at any rate.

You shut down the computers after a few moments.

"That's it, there's nothing hear. Let's leave this crypt."

The Combaticons grumble their agreement, and DeepSea seems to echo your sentiments.

You make your way back out of the ship. DeepSea going first, transforming and linking back up to the ship, and the rest of you follow.

DeepSea's voice rings out, "Where to boys?"

Earth : the Decepticon Ship

You quickly turned to the Combaticons. "Fellow Decepticons, Starscream left a coded disk with coordinates and a new plan for Decepticon rule."

You retrieve the disk from his chest cavity. "I know he's not to be trusted but listen to this!"

You quickly project the data on the hatch wall.

"You expect us to trust this traitor!" snorted Blastoff

"I don't know," chimed Swindle, "Maybe he has a good offer."

"We have to contact Lord Megatron to be sure and keep the Autobots in the dark," retorted Hooligan.

Muffled from behind the airlock came the soft voice of DeepSea, "You boys coming or what?"

"And then there is the matter of our transport." glowered Onslaught as he cracked his fist knuckles.

"Wait," you stop the Combaticon leader, "If we take her out, we may risk the attention that Megatron wants to avoid."

"Yeah," adds Blast-Off, "If she has a transponder signal, and is reporting to Prime like we are...."

"Right," you finish, "Let's just have her dump us off on the coast, and then we can make our way to Megatron."

"But..." Swindle interrupts, "If Megs doesn't want attention drawn to him, surely if we go talk to him, someone will wonder."

"Good point. He's not exactly on our mission list." states Brawn.

You ponder for a moment, "Then it's to the swamps."

The Combaticons agree and you board DeepSea.

Earth : DeepSea

You could barely feel the pressure difference as DeepSea made the steady climb back toward the surface. You pondered the situation, Starscream couldn't be trusted... But then, neither could you. He scrapped Icefang, but only after Icey scrapped you. You weren't too sure whether you should be thankful, or scrap him in revenge for Icebutt.

As you pondered this, a klaxon alerted the group. DeepSea barely had enough time to yell, "INCOMING WAVE OF ENERGY!!" Before a bright wave of light washed over the underwater ship.

Everything went black.

Earth : the ocean

-- What is the spiritual zone We robots experience in stasis lock? Some say it is the same feeling fleshies get when they are close to final shut-down. It is always so cold in the

void. Some say it is the point When a transformer can feel his spark begin to orbit the Matrix for final deliverance. I say Its all a bunch of smelt!--

"Light. Way too much light. I hate Earth. Too much water." you spit as your internals eject another spout of salt water.

You open your optics and look around, finding yourself on a rocky shore. On the rocks next to you you see several of the others, all just waking up after the sudden systems failure. Even DeepSea lay dazed on the shoreline.

You notice that two are still missing, Brawl and Blast-Off.

Onslaught was standing, "What the slag was THAT all about!?!"

You stand up, static charging your frame to rid you of the salty water. "Where's Brawl and Blast-Off?"

"I don't know I..."

A splash cuts Onslaught's reply off as a slim, chromed spacecraft cuts free of the water. It shoots up into the air in a display of acrobatics, and a large rumbling seems to shake the water and ground as a huge three treaded tank rolls up from the depths. Behind it, a large, spiked roller crushes the rocks on the shoreline into rubble. It too is chromed, grey and forest green in colors.

The spacecraft spins and transforms, landing on the ground with a light puff of sand. He stands resplendent in dark purple and brown, and his face is startlingly familiar.

"Blast-Off?" you gape.

"Yes, once again I am proven to be the superior of all the Combaticons and obviously the others gathered here as well."

The tank gave off a low snort as it shifted into robotic mode, "Yeah, superior." Comes Brawl's rumbling voice.

"What the slaggin' inferno happened to you?"

DeepSea is standing up, "That wave of energy that hit us... It must've altered their structures somehow."

"As I said. My superior structure was altered to a much more fitting form than that ancient earth vehicle that Starscreech forced me into."

As the rest of you listened to Blast-Off rant on his 'superior' form, you loaded back into DeepSea and made your way back to the mainland.

Hours later, you found yourself entering the swampy country of the Florida everglades. The coordinates Starscream left you were deep in the center of the thick swamps.

You had made your farewells to the Autobot DeepSea for now, and flown (with the help of the Combaticons) to about a mile from the targeted area. The coordinates were wide, and not very exact. The rest of the way, was traveled mostly on foot chopping your way through the thick vines.

Blast-Off hovered lower to the ground... He had refused to get into the swampy water and 'soil' his shiny new butt. "Hey, I'm reading a HUGE electrical buildup about fifteen miles from here."

That's it, that'll be where Starscream said to go...

Earth : The Everglades

So you go. Unsure of what lies ahead, yet indifferent to any answer that might cross your circuits.

Onslaught forms you into ranks and takes charge as was his fassion. (much to BlastOff's displeasure)

"This soup is gettin' awfully thick for this bot." You think, as you bring the gattling gun online and extend your sensor range.

You were definitely reading the energy buildup. It was large enough to be a city!

As the six of you trudge through the swampy area, you begin to pick up another set of readings to the North of you. Autobot, Predacon, Mech, Maximal and unknown...

They were behind you, and making they're way just as slowly. They probably knew you were here, and from the mutters, the Combaticon's knew about it as well.

From the trees a shape dropped suddenly. There was static as he shut off his jamming fields, and rose to stand before you, "My dear Combaticons! Welcome." Starscream...

Five seconds later, and several rounds of artillery. He lay smoking on the ground. The only consoling factor is that you weren't the only one to 'accidently' shoot him. The Combaticons looked at each other kind of guiltily.

Swindle smirks, "I guess it's a bit late to say that his weapons systems were off-line?" He is the only one without a gun in his hand. "Well, I guess we'd better take him with us then. Let's hope there's a CR chamber up ahead."

Earth : The Everglades

--The unlikely unity, of a Destron trying to revive the lost Decepticon empire, and the unruliness of the Combaticons, Makes my armor shift-- you process through your data banks.

--We just toasted Starscream, and we still have no clue what he was doing in this area.--

The soft turf began to become more bog like and movement was difficult even for Transformers. Large cypress and knotty pine rose densely above the unlikely travelers. BlastOff and Brawl had volunteered to carry Starscream's body. Some sort of showing off of their new powers or something.

--Harumph! whatever.-- you lower his sensor range back to normal to save on energon, since the true threat had been dealt with.

Your thoughts wandered from where you were. --Back to that energon wave. It came without warning. And we never located the source. Phenomenon like that don't just manifest like that in this part of the galaxy.--

*THUD*

You quickly find your small form on the ground. The massiveness of Onslaught does not give much padding in sudden stops.

"Look at that!" the larger Cybertronian exclaimed.

You look up to see a large collection of purplish and silvery buildings lighted and glistening in the darkening night sky. It was still a good four miles or so

away, but in the darkening night, it could be seen clearly against the swamp sky.

"What the SLAG!!!"

Then a small glistening trail could be seen leaving one of the towers of the city. It wasn't coming towards them, but there was no doubt as to what it was.

The missile struck about a quarter mile from you, but it's shock waves could easily be felt through the ground...

Earth: The Everglades

"NAAGNN! The city is firing on us. Defensive positions!" you scream.

"WE're the COMBATICONS!!" bellows Onslaught, "WE don't DO DEFENSE!!!"

"COMBATICONS... MERGE, AND FORM... BRUTICUS!!!!!"

A solid clanging and the cackle of electrostatic charges fills the air, as the five Combaticons merge into one awesome robot. The chromed glitter of

Blast-Off and Brawl shining on his right arm and left leg.

He roars in rage and leaps into the air. You make sure you're well away from the clearing he makes as trees are bent and snapped in his wake.

You hear a shrieking pierce the air, and from out of nowhere a trail of fire smacks into the cities shields. It resolves into a robotic form that roars in

anger and blasts the shields again with gouts of fire.

Bruticus flies toward the massive city from behind the creature just as another robot appears behind the first and attacks it.

Bruticus begins to unleash his firepower at the shields in thunderous rounds of artillery.

You duck behind a tree and wonder... --What the PIT is going on around here!!--

Earth : the Everglades

--This is too weird. A city in the middle of the swamp that was attacking us... of course we did shoot Starscream down, that might have been a mistake. Ok, Bruticus can deal with the fighting. I can deal with the investigating!--

You look around and quickly deduce that you had to make it closer to the city to do any good whatsoever. Maybe you could find a way underneath it.

But you were still a few miles off. You transformed. The ground was nowhere near clear, but your Gatling gun begins to spin, and soon a path was cut

clear in front of you.

You near the city in a matter of minutes, the sounds of battle echoing overhead. Up ahead you hear a loud explosion, the fire-bot that had clashed with

the shields had exploded and the black warrior that fought him was thrown down from the sky. He landed with a splash...

--A splash?--

You skidded to a halt at the edge of the large basin of water underneath the city. At this distance you could tell... barely... that the city seemed to be

floating in the air just inches above a deep lake.

--Of course! Where else would a mysterious city hide but underground! The displacement of mass when it came out woulda created this lake!--

You see the sizzling form of the black robot floating on the edge. You walk to the edge and turn him over, he had large silver wings made of blades and a

single red eye. He was mostly black, and the crystal cockpit dome on his chest was cracked and melted. He was still functional, but temporarily off-line.

You weren't sure for how long. You recognized him from the talks earlier. He was the bot that broke into the Predacon's ship back at Metroplex. Then

you noticed his sigil.

It was a purple Decepticon sigil.

Earth: the Everglades

You transform and pull the robot up onto the shore of the artificial lake.

-- Hmm... I wonder if I could access his data...--

"HOOLIGAN!"

The shout almost made you burst a pipeline. The voice you vaguely remember hearing once. You turn to see the Autobot called Flood landing next to you on his hoverboard.

--Great, of all the slagging timing!--

"You found Bladewing!"

"Yeah, though I think he's solidly off..."

The rest of the sentence was cut off as a crackling energy blade whipped up underneath your throat.

"Who are you and why are you attacking MY city!" came a rough and tired voice.

You see Flood pull his sabre, but motion him to stand down as you address Bladewing, "Heya... Look it was you who attacked us!"

"And slagged several Maximals."

--Well, that was the upside--

"We did no such thing. The missile was not from any of Trypticon's missile banks."

"TRYPTICON!!!!!" You and Flood exclaim in unison.

"Yeah, Trypticon, and if you don't call off your bruiser up there I'll command my men to destroy the entire SWAMP!!"

"Hey now!" you think fast, "you wouldn't destroy your fellow Decepticons." blast... that was lamer than you thought.

"Keep attacking and just watch!"

"Look, " the Autobot steps in, "We don't know what's going on here, but I'm sure if we all stop shooting and swinging blades at each other, we can figure this out once and for all."

The three of you suddenly became aware of the silence that had descended on the swamp.

You look up and see Bruticus hovering outside the cities shields.

Then, your comm unit crackled to life.

"This is Megatron. I have assumed control of the city Trypticon. Combaticons, Hooligan, Starscream report to me in the main control tower."

Earth: Trypticon

You grin at Flood and Bladewing, "Looks like you will both be staying for a while?"

With a thud, the Bruticus lands on the ground beside you.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Take me to Megatron." Bladewing growls.

The Autobot grimaces, "Likewise, I want to know just what the slag is going on around here."

Bladewing stuggles to get up, smoke pouring from his wounds.

You leave the Combaticons to escort the prisoners to the bridge and transform.

You get to the main bridge in a matter on seconds.

From the third level of the bridge, you look up at Megatron who sat on the control platform, three stories above you.

A Predacon and a Decepticon sat working the controls for the massive city.

Quickly, you give Megatron a report of what had brought you here.

He listens and finally speaks, "Excellent, Starscream was telling the truth... incedentally. But if he is slagged, he only deserves it. Regardless, I'll send SkyJack and SpaceCase to pick up his leftovers. We need all the warriors we can get."

"Is it wise to ressurect him again?"

"He will find a way if we don't go ahead and do it. Starscream's spark is almost as stubborn as mine."

"Does this mean that we are beginning the Decepticon Empire again."

"I have no choice."

At that, the doors behind you open again, Flood and Bladewing are brought in by Onslaught.

As they pass the Decepticon and Predacon on the control panels, Bladewing turns and address them, "What are you two doing?!?"

The larger Decepticon grimaces at him, "Working. Or is that a problem'"

"It is when you should be working for ME!"

He threw his head back and laughed, "Oh, little blade boy, You think awful lot of yourself. Dontcha? I said I'd HELP you. I NEVER served you. I been commander of this base for three centuries. Megatron is my rightful leader. He say he want the keys. Well, he get the keys."

Onslaught tires of the exchange and pushes his prisoners forward.

Megatron stood and stepped to the edge.

Flood was the first to speak up, "MEGATRON! What in Primus' name is going on around here?!?"

"Flood, I am truly sorry that this had to be."

"What had to be!"

"The Autobots would not be able to keep me away from the Predacon's for long. There are to few of you, and they are now many. I must take steps to begin a new army that will do what is necessary to deal with the Predacon threat."

"What are you saying?!?"

"I am saying that this is the beginning of a NEW Decepticon Empire. Tell Prime that I hold nothing against him and the Autobots, but if they get in my way..."

"Megatron, this doesn't have to be the way!"

"Don't be foolish Flood. Prime and you Autobots have been ideling your time away on this planet for three centuries. You're soft and weak. The Predacon's have been sharpening their knives behind your backs, and they want to use me to start the Great War again. All they needed was an excuse toshow the Autobots and Maximals in the wrong, then they would sweep in like locusts and slaughter you. Now, they must deal with me and a rag-tag band of renagades. The peace treaty is still intact, and the war will stay away from Cybertron."

"And it will come to Earth... AGAIN!!"

"Regrettable, but I at the moment have no way of escape. I shall try to leave this world, but I believe our time is growing short. Already, the Predacon's have no doubt activated the proto-forms in their holds. They're numbers now equal the Autobots, and they are well prepared for war."

"How do you know this?"

With a jerk, Megatron throws something on the floor. It is the mangled remains of Hornet, "Return this lacky to the Predacons, he is still alive, but his spark is in stasis lock. Tell them not to try ever again to control Megatron. "

"But..."

"Leave now Flood. Take the other Autobots and Maximals with you and do not return. I have a war to fight."

Onslaught grabs the wreckage and the Autobot and drags them both out of the bridge.

"As for you..." he addresses Bladewing.

"I want to know by what right do you take my command away!"

"COMMAND! RIGHT!! I AM MEGATRON!!! LORD RULER OF THE DECEPTICON EMPIRE!!!!"

"Lord Megatron, my apologies. It's been a long day. Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I thought I would be allowed to retain control of the city under your new leadership."

"You never had control of the city."

"Well... I, uhm... What exactly IS going on."

"We plan war on the Tripredicus council."

"Ah, there we go. My plans too include the disruption of the council and their plans for this planet."

"And what is your cause?"

"I was... hired... to investigate why the council was coming here."

"You are a mercenary."

"Yes."

"Then you are of no use to me."

"Wait! We share goals here. I am willing to help you out, for the chance to destroy whatever the council is planning."

Megatron sits down on the large command chair.

The big Decepticon behing you turns from his chair, "He's not a bad fighter and an escellent spy. He did help me and Terragator retain control from Starscream."

"Even though I sent Starscream to take over the city?"

"Well, we didn't believe him."

"True, no fault in that." considers Megatron.

"Very well, you may stay and assist the Decepticons for now, Bladewing. I warn you, betray me, and I will personally scrap you faster than you ever thought possible."

"By your command, Megatron."

He leaves the bridge for the repair facilities.

"Then what do we do now Lord Megatron?"

"We prepare for war.

I want this city operational as soon as possible. The Predacons will make their move soon. I want this city ready as soon as possible. You came to this planet in Starscream's shuttle correct?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I need that shuttle back, and I need to know everything about it. If that shuttle is what I think it is..."

"Swindle helped build the shuttle." you offer.

"Excellent, then work with him and find it and get me some stats."

"Yes, Lord Megatron."

You turn and leave the bridge to go look for the conniving Combaticon.

Time Passes

Earth : The Everglades

    "So you like?" questioned the grating voice.
    You stood gaping at the dark black and purple robot. He was smaller, a completely new design. But it reminded you of something,
someone...
    Swindle was the first to speak, " B..b..b.....bbbut, you're still lying in a heap back at..."
    Starscream looked at the Combaticon, "Trypticon, yes, I'm afraid that body has... passed. Due to neglect! Imagine my surprise when I
dropped down in front of my former creations and was wasted!!"
    You could hear Swindle's gulp.
    "But luckily, as my spark languished in it's shattered body, I remembered the spark chamber within this ship. However, I was still
disoriented, and my spark transfer was only partly successful."
    "Partly?"
    "Yes, I'm now linked to this dead hull of a ship! I didn't take it completely over, but I became enough a part to form this jet mode!"
    "And now?"
    "Now, I need another spark to complete the circle. And I know just whose I shall use. And the two of you will help me do it!"
    "And if we refuse?"
    Two cannons drop from the ceiling and scope in on your heads.
    "There is no refusal. for now, though, I believe you were sent here to help Megatron with those Predacons. I have no problem with that.
So, let us be off."
    You can feel the ship around you power to life and lift off the ground.

Earth: the Shuttle

    --Hmm...--, You think,-- Whose spark could ol' back stabber be looking for. Not Megatron's. I don't think even HE'S dumb enough to go after a fully functional Meg's. Speaking of which how do I contact Ol great leader? Swindle is more of a mercenary and might only have alligence to whoever is in charge at the moment. I have to send a signal from out side of the ship. But how?--
    Swindle interrupts your hover train of thoughts, "what's up, we're not really gonna trust this bastard?!"
    "Trust? That's rich coming from you're exhaust!"
    "Yeah, well, he's the one that made me, but he's also the single most annoying bot on the planet!"
    "True, go aft and see what the condition on the engines are. You're reading a red light there."
    "Slag." Swindle gets up and heads for the access hatch to the engine area below.
    You click off the register and check on the stealth units for the ship. The sensors are reading normal, the ships scanner cloaking seemed
to be fully operational.
     A few minutes of boredom pass before you begin to wonder what happened to Swindle.
    You hit the ship's comm, "Swindle? You ok down there?"
    Silence.
    Starscream walks over to you, "Go and check on that conniving Combaticon. I'll take the helm."
    You shrug and crawl down to the access way. You scramble for a few seconds before you find yourself in the rear engine compartment. It was still as messy as you remembered it, but not too hard for someone as small as you to travel. Something, however seemed wrong.
    You reflexively dodge to the side as a blade comes spinning out of the darkness toward you. It smashes into the wall with a shower of
sparks, and for a brief second you see Swindle on the floor, obviously in stasis lock, with electrical sparks shooting from his circuits.
    You dodge as a shape leaps out of the darkness at you and scramble back up toward the access tunnel and the bridge.
    You duck into the tunnel just as another blade smashes into the wall behind you.
    "Great, at least I can get where Starscream can back me up.... I can't believe I just said that...."

Earth :The Shuttle

    You sprang from the hatch like a Cybertronian gymnast closing it and squatting on top of it.
    "Well?," bellowed Starscream, "What is it now?"
    "there might be a small kink in the plan," you whimper.
    Just then the maintenance hatch was smashed open with a tremendous creak as a bright green insect jumped through, followed by a heavily
armored green and red robot. A Predacon.
    The force of their arrival flung you to the back of the ship, but Starscream had a null ray at the ready and blasted the green insect.
    The Predacon mantis made a gurking noise as it was thrown back from the blast, but the other one was quick to cover. With an almost
lightning speed, a gun appeared in it's heavily clawed hands and it blasted at Starscream.
    The larger robot was tossed back into a pile with you as the Predacon's regrouped.
    "Data banks show that that one is H...h...hooligan." sputtered the insect, who was obviously feeling the effect of the null ray.
    "Manterror, TERRORIZE!!!" He shifted into a long armed robot, and as is scythe-like arms flicked, you could see glittering saw blades, like
the one that nearly cut you below, under his massive forearms.
    The other bot, seemed uninterested, "I call them both slagmeat!" He leveled the double barreled blaster and blasted at you again.
    You see a shower of sparks fly as pain receptors in your shoulder flare to life.
    You bring your gun to bear and let loose. A hale of shells engulfs the dark green Predacon, but he merely spins and catches them on a thick
armored shell on his back.
    The green one was gaining control by now, as was Starscream.
     The dark blue and black Starscream jumped in toward the duo as Manterror let another blade loose.
    He smashed upwards with lightning speed, cracking the mantis-Predacon's head backwards.
    The Other bot was ready, though, and blasted a smoking set of holes into Starscream's back. He spins and turns his attention toward you.
You're eyes focus past the advancing Predacon though, toward the control panel behind him....
    Toward the ships drive yoke....
    You fire, the yoke pushes forward, and with it, the ship lurches downward, momentarily confusing the gravity fields. The Predacon slides
back toward you, loosing his footing as you continue a barrage of Gattling fire.
    He hits the ground hard, but the alarms on the shuttle start off as the ship continues it's sharp descent.
    Luckily Starscream was still functioning, and had grabbed onto the forward control panel when the ship began it's dive. He now hoisted
himself toward the controls, "You blasted some of the control circuits! I can't pull us free of the dive!!"

Earth : The Shuttle

    The ship quakes uncontrollably, " I'm not dyin' for you, Starscream!" You transform and roll for the door, Gattling guns nailing the hatch
controls.
     The door slides open, and you transform. The sandy shore throttles toward you.
     --Here we go ag....-
     THUD

     You wake up as a large grey-blue shelled crab walks across your face. You brush him aside and sit up.
     You're sensors spin.
     --Great, equilibrium controls shot.-
     Most everything else seems ok though. All in all, not too bad. The fall musta been shorter than you thought.
     Still, you're main CPU throbbed with power surges. A short distance away, you notice another smoking form.
     You stagger drunkenly over to find Swindle, beat up and heavily injured, lying face down on the beach.
     A heavy throb of pain shoots through your body. As it clears, you realize that it was caused by a heavy booming noise.
    A shockwave.
     You turn out toward the ocean.
     In the distance you can see the Predacon Council's ship floating above the water.
     Dwarfing it was the Autobot City, Metroplex. Shiny and curved with a new Transmetal skin.
     The Predacon ship appeared to be attacking the ocean, and more surprising, the ocean appeared to be attacking back!

Earth : The Atlantic Shore
"Computer, direct 90% of resources to self repair. Visual sensors magnify." A narrow blue visor buzzed down to cover your eyes. You see
that it looks like the Predacons are attacking the very ocean surface. Volleys of torpedoes smash into the surface, seconds later the surface
is churning with the explosion.
    Meanwhile, the ship seems to be pulling up, ascending rapidly.
    Metroplex seems to be sitting by. Not attacking or defending, just hovering over the ocean surface.
    "Hooligan to Megatron."
    "Hooligan! Why are you on the shore!?"
    "Bad news, shuttles lost. Me and Swindle are here, but what the slag is going on."
    "We're being attacked by the Tripredicus council. The water is hindering them, but who knows for how long, they are launching sorties
of ship, and for our cannons to truly be effective, we need to leave the water."
    "Where's that Autobot, Flood. He's supposed to know this water crap!"
    "Actually, I need you to go assist Flood. He's being stalked by several Predacons underwater."
    "Underwater!!??!! Do I look like a fish??"
    "We will send you underwater gear in a torpedo. Hold your position. When you get it, go and help Flood extract the Predacon Terrorsaur from the ocean."
    You hear a groan from your feet. The injured Swindle was sitting up.
    "Send it for two. Swindle here is gonna help me out."
     "I feel like lukewarm slag..." groans the Combaticon.
     "Get-up." You kick him in the side. A side panel flops into the sand, "We've gotta job to do."
     A silvery torpedo shell grinds up onto the beach a few meters from you.