Beast Machines: Rewritten

Hoooo... quite the update, especially the alliance! And if I have a feeling who Stormjet really is...

with him going on like that and his unquestionable loyalty it's quite obvious he still adores his royalty isn't it.

@ Bahamut Prime and Storm:
*shifty eyes* I have no idea who you're referring to haha *ahem* I won't be going into how they got them back on Cybertron, suffice it to say a certain two-head was neglected due to the events that transpired in Master Blaster. Anyway, I've got another update this time, happily finished my 2nd exam today and feeling pretty good so enjoy a new chapter!

Episode 40#: The Fall

Rattrap covered his head instinctively to shield himself from shrapnel, but Airazor’s metallic wings provided the better cover. He glanced up, “Thank Primus… I’d hate to be smelted down by raining metal.”

“I’ve never met such a coward! Or a bot that has a stench of the sewers like you!” shouted Fatalis pushing Rattrap aside. He gripped her rifle and looked for an opening in Airazor’s protective wing shields.

Rattrap tried to argue, but Airazor gave him a cold stare. Airazor retracted her wings, turned and blasted the oncoming aero-drones. “C’mon, we’ve gotta keep going. So please for the love of Primus stop bickering!” Airazor picked Rattrap and Fatalis up under each arm and flew into the air.

“Cover-fire coming up!” Rattrap pulled the trigger rapidly and shot down incoming aero-drones. He smiled and loaded up another round. “Three, four, five… six… and there goes my seventh kill!”

“Thirteenth right there!” announced Fatalis taking aim. She fired only
two shots per target and moved to the next. As she neared the end of her round, Fatalis pulled the switch and loaded another charge. “Look mouse, I’m a master marksman! You’re not going to outmatch me.”

“Well… isn’t that just Prime? Cause I happen to be a master marksman too!” Rattrap pulled out another blaster and shot down several more aero-drones.

Airazor coughed and gave the two a stern look. “Would you please stop? I can’t bear your incessant bickering for another cycle! Just shoot and I’ll fly ok?” She beat her wings and took the two Cybertronians higher up into the sky. They were getting near the edge of the force field.

“Slag… how are you going to pull this off Airazor? Don’t you need both arms to tear a hole in the field?” asked Rattrap clinging onto Airazor’s arm. He took one glance at the ground. “Please don’t tell me that you’re going to drop us, tear a hole and then pick us up…”

Airazor chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it slightly less uncomfortable for you. Fatalis, cling on to my feet. Like Rattrap said, I will need my hands to channel Vok energy.” She lowered her upper body and helped Fatalis down. Airazor lowered her head and smiled at Rattrap. “Now the fun part. Rattrap, grab Fatalis.”

“Yu.. Wah?” asked Rattrap in shock.

Fatalis scowled, “Don’t push it Maximal! I’m not about to let this greasy sewer crawler a chance to touch my circuits.”

“Like I’d even want to!” shouted Rattrap shuddering in Airazor’s grasp.

“That’s enough! Rattrap, get over there now or I’ll drop you! The Vehicons aren’t going to give us much time with this so the longer you resist, the more likely we’ll get shot down!”

Frightened, Rattrap received a look of approval from Fatalis. With the help of Airazor, Rattrap grabbed onto Fatalis’ shoulders and hung there. Airazor prepared herself and channeled the Vok energy through her spark. Her hands began to glow with the energy and the force field simply melted away as he hands got close to the field. Airazor pushed her hands through the field and started to break the field apart. Within a few clicks, a hole large enough was formed. Airazor quickly picked up the passengers beneath each arm and flew towards the flying fortress.

==================

Strika led her battalion against one of the Maximal cannons. The ground defenses were pitiful, simple auto-guns were crushed instantly. Strika began to wonder what it was about these Maximals that made them such a threat against Megatron. Nonetheless Strika continued with her directive and sent her troops into the tower.

“Alert! Two Maximal and one Predacon energy signature are within perimeter of the mobile fortress. Proximity alert, the intruding signatures have breached the outer hull, aler!”

Strika mentally deactivated the on board computer. She stopped before entering the tower and visually scanned the fortress. Sure enough a hole had been created in the shield and the towers were directing their firepower there.

“A diversion… easily routed with a hunting squad,” assessed Strika thinking to herself. She brought up her arm and flipped open the console. “Stormjet, come in. There are intruders on Lord Megatron’s fortress. Take them out!”

Stormjet saluted on the view-screen. He transformed to vehicle mode and led his aero-drones into the sky. Strika brought down the panel and activated her wrist cannons. “It’s time for me to bring the rest of the Maximals down…”

================

Rattrap landed with a thud and scrambled to bring himself onto the ground of the fortress. He twisted his head to the right and saw the height they were above the ground and shut his optics. Relaxed, Rattrap hoisted himself up and rushed to the side of the hallway where he found a control panel.

Airazor was the last to enter the chamber. Her wings folded back and retracted and landed. She placed her foot on the ground then looked around. “Alright, everyone accounted for?”

Fatalis took a moment to catch her breath and nodded. The sleek female activated her supplementary scanners and started to take readings. “There’s… something here… I’m reading high levels of positron radiation!”

“Then sparks must be on this fortress,” deducted Rattrap using the control panel to seal the hull breach they had used to enter. He connected another wire to the panel and poked around.

“Hold it… if there are positron traces… that must have meant Megatron was moving the sparks prior from another location. It may have been how Cryotek was able to intercept my spark along with Bruticus!”

Airazor’s two upper arm panels rose up and two pipes protruded. “Hurry with the hacking. I don’t want to stay in one spot too long, especially if this whole flying fortress is Megatron’s play toy.” Being careful, Airazor ambled slowly into the darkness with her right arm weapon pointed towards the darkness.

Rattrap disengaged from the interface and decoded the information. “I’ve got the ground plans, there’s a main processing core two floors down. I think we’ll be able to download whatever archives old Megs has got there!”

Airazor looked back, “Affirmative, we’ll make our move there first. Based on what we find, we’ll need to find a way to secure the sparks.” She processed a bit more and considered the options of weighing bringing down the fortress without Optimus’ command and wondered what the concequences would be.

“I’ve found a communications array. It’s a floor up and I’ve decoded the lock on it so I’ll go and secure that post,” informed Fatalis.

Rattrap shook his head and chuckled. “No way Pred, just cause you hate Megs as much as we do does not mean we’re going to trust you. If you think we’re going to let you out of our view for a nano-click you’ve got another thing coming!” established Rattrap pointing at Fatalis.

“Rattrap, stand down. Fatalis has a point with the communications array. If I can get contact with Optimus, perhaps we can make some better judgments on whether or not to bring this fortress down.”

“Exactly, which is why - ” started Fatalis.

Airazor’s head reared. “This is why I will be going to prep the communications array. You and Rattrap are qualified for the decoding and downloading of Megatron’s info-core. I know the security codes for our channel and will find you guys at the processing core chamber in a few cycles. Got it?”

Fatalis and Rattrap groaned, and as their heads turned and optics met, they snapped away. Reluctant to work together, the Predacon and Maximal trudged along into the darkness when Airazor gave them a cold glare.

===============

Silverbolt halted firing and read the scanners next to him. “Looks like Strika is making her big push… I’ll need to make a stand so save them time…” The purple and black Maximal jumped out of his seat and punched a few digits into the side of the cannon and transformed to beast mode.

The condor flew out of the tower and picked up speed until he reached a safe distance. Silverbolt transformed to robot mode in a flash of light and watched the drones file into the the tower. He closed his optics and nodded, the entire tower exploded in a brilliant display of light and fire. Silverbolt sighed but before he could relax a shot burned him in the back and he spiraled into the ground.

“Accessing hard-drive, target acquired. Unit name: Maximal Silverbolt. Engage termination mode…” beeped Oblivion’s onboard computer. The red and grey tank chugged across the ground alone and kept a laser sensor on the fallen Maximal.

The Vehicon general approached the seemingly non-functional Maximal and then converted to robot mode. The large machine lowered itself and flipped the tiny body of the Maximal over. Silverbolt remained motionless for a moment but then his optics opened and sent his claws flying forward. Startled by the attack, Oblivion flailed and backed off by speeding up the rotation of his treads.

“Unit Silverbolt still active, proceeding to terminate!” bellowed Oblivion as three cannons ejected from his back and rotated up. Oblivion targeted Silverbolt with his cannons and fired.

Narrow. Narrow was the only way to describe Silverbolt’s escape. The warrior barely dodged the first blast and before he landed, another shot grazed his ankle. Silverbolt’s optics quickly focused on Oblivion’s cannons and realized he needed a plan.

“Well… that’s new,” thought Silverbolt as he grabbed a few feathers from his wings. “Try this out for size!” Silverbolt leapt into the air gracefully and dodged several blasts from Oblivion and threw his feathers.

The explosions subsided but when Silverbolt realized what happened, a clenched fist broke through the haze and knocked him down. Oblivion had protected himself with a portable shielding device and was ready for action.

Oblivion followed up with the targeting of Silverbolt’s spark. Without providing a moment of mercy, Oblivion sent Silverbolt offline for good. The close proximity of the blast incinerated what organic protection the body provided and terminated the Maximal warrior’s spark.

Obsidian returned to the surface with his squadron only to find the city on fire. As far as his optic could see, the skyline of Cybertropolis had been decimated. However, his scanners quickly indicated to him that the battle was still going on. He gave his entourage a command and sent them to bring the damaged Thrust back to the citadel.

Obsidian patched through to his consort on his arm communicator. “Strika, this is Obsidian. What is the situation? I have sent an escort with Thrust back to the fortress, repeat what is the situation?”

“Maximal diversion, I’ve sent Stormjet to intercept the crew that has broken into the fortress,” replied Strika through the com-link.

Obsidian weighed the competence of Stormjet and figured it’d be best to aid the hunt. “Affirmative, I shall back him up. You and Oblivion, take out the rest of the Maximal installations. Depending on the level of tampering done in the fortress, we may have to push our time travel visit a little earlier…”

=====================

“Stinkin’ Pred!” exclaimed Rattrap hurrying off to another corner of the processor core to do his work. He snarled and eyed the Predacon female, then returned to his work. “Sheesh, Pred femmes! Who needs ‘em?”

The rat downloaded another packet of data and began to decode it when he suddenly heard Fatalis screaming his name.

“Sheesh, what’s she got her circuits crossed about? First she hates me, now she’s calling for me?” Rattrap ignored it and continued to decode when suddenly a fire erupted on the control panel above. The rat snapped and turned around. “What the frag are you…”

Stormjet blew the tip of his cannon and returned it to his holster. He kicked Fatalis’ injured body to the ground. “Prepare to burn!” Stormjet prepared both hands and clamped the cannons again.

“Prepare to eat slag!” shouted Rattrap grabbing his blaster and firing. The shot rushed through the air and struck Stormjet in the head and sent him crashing into the wall. “Yo! Pred!” Rattrap ran to the side of Fatalis and picked her up. “Yo! Are you alright?”

“Meg… Megatron… he’s equipped this fortress with transwarp cells. He’s planted a directive to return before his death and change it!” Fatalis’ optics flickered as she removed her hand from her chest revealing her exposed spark.

Rattrap grabbed her arm and held it tight. “What the Pit? Hold on, there’s gotta be a CR chamber onboard this thing!”

Stormjet was blinded and insomnia began to set into his processor. The dazed Vehicon general brought his frame back up with the aid of the wall and fired wildly. “For the lord!” cackled Stormjet as he let loose a flurry of fire blasts from his one cannon.

Rattrap looked up to see the surroundings catch on fire. The systems were being shut down one by one. The humming in the room started and he began to feel the entire room tilt. The vertical lift thrusters must have been shut down and the fortress was destabilizing.

“Slag!” Rattrap stood up and blasted Stormjet again and again until the Vehicon general fell into the control panel and began to spark with lighning. Rattrap watched the Vehicon stop moving before patching through to Airazor. “Yo Birdlady, we’ve got a code X down here. So get moving now!”

Obsidian wondered what the klaxons were ringing about, but it didn’t take him long to realize the entire fortress had been destablized. He rushed to the side of a corridor and opened a control panel. He verified his energy signature and brought up the manual controls.

=====================

“Computer, status of the transwarp cells?” asked Obsidian as he read up on the damaged sectors of the fortress.

“Transwarp drive operational, however blocks C and D nearby are rising to intolerable temperatures. Possible spread of the fires will cause damage to the transwarp drive.”

Obsidian cussed in Cybertronian and rubbed the front of his head with his fingers. “Slag it. Computer, fortify spark containment unit. Prepare for ejection and contact Strika immediately. As for the intruders, find me the last reported location of Stormjet and the others.”

The computer processed the request for a cycle. “Two intruders and Stormjet were last detected in the processor core. Unit Stormjet and Predacon signature are offline. Maximal signature Rattrap still active and Maximal signature Airazor closing in on processor core.”

Obsidian’s optics narrowed and rage filled his processor. He turned away and clenched his fist. “Forgive me Lord Megatron, but they’ve forced my hand… Computer, prepare for a transwarp jump to the preset coordinates. Seal off all corridors after me. I will take care of the matter personally!”

=======================

Rattrap lifted Fatalis’ inert body into Airazor’s arms. “Take her back to the citadel; she’s still functional… just in stasis lock.” He turned away and looked at the controls. “I’ll finish things here.”

“But… if you don’t escape…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m the only one who can do this now, before it’s too late. This fortress cannot be allowed to make the transwarp jump!” Rattrap looked back at Airazor and smiled. “Hurry now, before I change my mind.”

Airazor nodded and sped out of the fortress. Rattrap watched his comrade take Airazor out of the fortress. “Fatalis… perhaps if we met under different circumstances… perhaps…”

Another violent explosion rocked the fortress. Rattrap refocused on the task at hand. The Maximal hurried to a control panel that was still untouched. He flipped it open and readied his fingers. “Alright, time to get to work…”

Bloomin heck, i wasn't expecting Silverbolt to snuff it.

Please tell me SB's not six feet under! Other than that, interesting chapter.

Mmm we're in the last season so expect some deaths or "falls". However, I wouldn't count any of them out for good yet at this point in time. Not until further into the season, after all IS Megatron really dead? Must stop before I spoiler anymore, but I'm gonna say that the next few chapters wrapping this small arc has already been written up and updates should follow shortly =D

Episode 41#: The Grand Mal

Obsidian clamped his legs together and let his rotor blades take him into the air. He suppressed his anger and maintained his train of thought. If he could make the transwarp jump, none of this would’ve mattered. He neared his destination; the Vehicon general rotated his arms in for missile turrets and hugged the wall.

“One Maximal signature detected. Unit Rattrap status is active.” The on-board computer translated the scan and left Obsidian an overview tactical display of the situation.

Obsidian moved in quickly and flew around the main info-core and hugged the ceiling. He reared his head and watched the rat work at the control panel. Luckily the entire fortress masked Vehicon energy signatures; hopefully he could use the element of surprise to his advantage.

“One move,” thought Obsidian. He silently loaded a cartridge and sped out. The Vehicon general descended from the ceiling and instantly moved to Rattrap’s back. “That’s enough Maximal! Move a servo and I’ll fire!”

Rattrap didn’t process that threat. He had to make the stand now, if Obsidian was able to make the jump to the past and save Megatron, things would just get more convoluted. The Maximal stood tall and and moved his index and middle finger back and forth and reached for his blasters.

Consecutive blasts burnt into Rattrap’s chest. Obsidian quickly loaded up another round and peppered the Maximal with laserfire. The Vehicon general tracked Rattrap’s movement and lifted his turbines and flew upward to engage in pursuit.

Rattrap looked back and fired a few blasts into the roof. The shots created sparks and interfered with the Vehicon’s path of flight. Knowing that it wouldn’t hold him for long Rattrap transformed into beast mode and scurried down the corridor. He crushed his teeth and devised his plan to run Obsidian through his mouse trap.

“Vermin!” snorted Obsidian shielding himself from the explosions.

The Vehicon general sped up and transformed to vehicle mode. He swiched the spin of his rotors to maximum and tracked Rattrap’s heat signature, there was no way he was going to let Rattrap ruin Lord Megatron’s plans.

“Gotta… get this guy outta this death trap before it blows,” thought Rattrap navigating his way towards the exit.

Keeping his speed up, Rattrap suddenly smashed into a door. He looked up and realized that one by one the corridors were being sealed. Rattrap transformed to robot mode and got his blasters ready.

“End of the line rat…” Obsidian pulled Rattrap up by the wrist and blasted Rattrap’s weapon away.

Rattrap quickly improvised. Luckily the corridors were narrow enough
for Rattrap to rotate his waist up and kick off the wall. This sent the two crashing into the opposite side of the wall and falling towards the ground. Without a click to spare, Rattrap tightened his arms around Obsidian and rolled him down the corridor.

Obsidian’s optics flared bright red as he felt rage swell in his spark. His armour screeched as the two tumbled down. “Enough of this nonsense!” The Vehicon pushed his head back and smashed it into Rattrap’s. Following up, Obsidian’s optics flared again and sent out two beams directly into Rattrap’s blinding him.

Rattrap howled in pain as he released his hold on Obsidian and rolled backward. As Rattrap stablized himself upright, Obsidian took the advantage to recover too and prepared his weapons.

“Face it Maximal, you’ve failed. As far as I’m concerned you can’t stop the transwarp jump. One way or another from your sabotage, I will change the course of events.”

Instantly Rattrap realized the true meaning of Obsidian’s words. Obsidian wasn’t planning to make it out of this alive. The transwarp jump was already occurring. If there was one thing Rattrap could do now was to prevent Megatron from getting his hands on two of these fortresses. Rattrap made his last stand and ignited his charges.

The lower portion of the fortress erupted into flames and the fortress began to descend. At that precise moment a transwarp tunnel meshed together below it and swallowed the entire fortress.

==================

Megatron struck first and sent a beam towards Tankor knocking the
damaged traitor down. He sped up and sent a kick into the side of the Vehicon, sending him sliding across the charred citadel floor until it he collided with Optimus.

“You think I’d let it all go? That it would be so simple to outdo me? You fool, even if I’m cornered, my power will crush you!” roared Megatron as he charged up his ion cannon. He pointed it to Tankor’s head and prepared to pull the trigger. “Your spark will be mine just as it once was… then I’ll rip Primal’s spark out personally…”

Optimus Primal regained conscious and then looked up where he saw Megatron blast through Tankor’s joints one by one, taking his sweet time to lengthen the suffering. He smushed his fingers intot he ground and then with a roar, Optimus pushed himself up and tackled Megatron to the ground.

“Finally come out of hiding behind your shell huh Primal?” taunted Megatron as he threw the Maximal commander back. He took flight and charged up his ion cannon again. “I’m going to put an end to all of this idiocy now!”

Tankor struggled to speak. “Optimus… do it… unleash the power of the…”


Optimus got up and turned to Tankor. “Rhinox… hold on! We’ll get through this!”

“Defeat Megatron now! Use the Plasma Energy…” coughed Tankor weakly. His voice was fading as the mechfluid leaked from his shell.

Megatron aimed the cannon at him and tapped his finger against the trigger. But suddenly he stopped. Megatron’s fingers released from the rifle and looked upward. Through the crushed roof, Megatron saw a giant flaming fortress crash towards the citadel.

“Op… Optimus… I’m sorry…” Tankor watched his old friend land and hold him. “I’ve moved the sparks and bodies of the others to a safe location. I’m uploading them to you now…”

Optimus acknowledged the sentiment and accepted the download. Tankor’s frame was instantly hoisted into Optimus’ arms. “C’mon old friend, let’s get you out of here. We can deal with Megatron later.” Optimus tucked Tankor under his arm as he rushed over to Rattrap and picked him up. “Jets online!”

Megatron flew up into the air and fired at the escaping Maximals but the Omega Sentinel moved into position and blocked off the attack as it fired back. Megatron transformed to vehicle mode and flew out of the way.

“Blast! I do believe its time to settle this difference in power! Computer, activate the Grand Mal!” Megatron ascended vertically at a rapid rate as the ground in the citadel broke away and the giant fortress unveiled itself from the floor of the citadel.

The citadel walls crumbled and the giant fortress head began to surface. Megatron vertically ascended and landed atop the fortress. Standing on the tip of the fortress head, the Grand Mal shook free from its earthly prison and the giant optics activated. An onslaught of attacks bombarded the new threat. A shield was raised instantly and the attacks were nullified.

A grin cracked across Megatron’s face. “Petty artifacts, behold the power of my Cybertron!” A circle formed around Megatron’s feet and the panel took him down into the safety of the fortress.

The three Omega Sentinels trampled down the remaining parts of the citadel and powered up their arm cannons. The first sentinel dove forward and body slammed the citadel into the ground. Luckily for the Sentinel, the Grand Mal was totally at the mercy of the sentinel. The cannon on the sentinel’s right arm brimmed to life and discharged the energy into the side of the Grand Mal. The explosion shook the ground and the close range of the attack resulted in burning out the cannon. As the smoke cleared the Grand Mal revealed itself to be still intact.

“Does not process… threat level upgraded!” declared the first sentinel as it tried to analyze what way to counteract the new development in the battle.

Suddenly, the side of the Grand Mal began to crack. Panels folded outward and clamped onto the side. Gears sped up and compartments of the fortress began to push outward and twist. Before the first sentinel had time to react, a large mechanical had reached out and crushed its head. With a swift tug and a powerful throw, the Grand Mal rotated back into a standing position and released the final clamps of its armour.

The two other sentinels dodged the immense shell of the first sentinel
and crashed into several city blocks. The first sentinel began to get up regardless of its missing head but Megatron did not relent. In less than a click, an energy burst incinerated the chest armour of the sentinel and sent the sentinel offline.

“Hmph… antiquated Autobot trash…” scoffed Megatron watching the remaining scraps of the first sentinel disintegrate away in the blast.
The remaining two sentinels got up on their knees and coordinated their laser burst to strike the Grand Mal simultaneously. The Grand Mal planted his feet into the ground and a hexagonal interlaced field formed as the attacks were absorbed. The shield fell instantly and the Grand Mal jumped into the air and maintained its altitude by engaging its thrusters. The second sentinel brought up its other arm and fired a barrage of machine gun fire. The Grand Mal although large dodged the concussion shots and fired back with lasers. Unable to evade the attack, the sentinel converted his free arm into a shield projector device and created a force field.

“One upgrade won’t do you any good!” shouted Megatron. He summoned a connective system from the control room of the Grand Mal and analoged with the controls of the fortress.

The firepower rate increased and disintegrated the sentinel’s shield. The Grand Mal then ascended even higher into the sky and energy began to converge into the centre of the Grand Mal. The sphere at the centre of his chest radiated with blue energy and then fired a beam that eradicated one of the sentinels in one quick blast.

“Threat level elevated to Priority X! Initiating Omega directive!” The last sentinel pointed its cannon behind it and fired, forcing it into the air. The energy propelled the Omega Sentinel directly above the Grand Mal. The sentinel’s claws opened widened and clenched Grand Mal’s frame. “Directive completed.” A few beeps went off and the sentinel self-destructed.

Megatron stood satisfied with the results and rerouted the energon circuitry to the main computer. The computer booted up instantly and brought up on screen the decimated bodies of Obsidian and Strika.

“Computer, send a squad to retrieve my generals. I will need their talents to finalize this debacle. The Predacon Cryotek and the Maximals must not be allowed to join… no…” Megatron stepped away from the black screen and summoned forth three slabs that carried the frames of three new Vehicon generals. “Vehicons, I have need of your service. It is time for you to enter this war between beast and machine…”

==================

Optimus shook his head and paced back from the CR chamber again.
Rhinox had been put into the CR chamber right away but the damage was extensive and the rest of the crew was recovering from the reinsertion of their sparks. His entire crew of Maximals were in a sorry state and in no shape to fight back against Megatron. Luckily for them, most of Megatron’s forces had been reduced to almost nothing. If it weren’t for the casualties, Optimus would have made the final push. But his primary concern now was the well being of his crew, especially his oldest comrade – Rhinox.

“C’mon old friend… I need your advice now more than ever… This war… this whole conflict is more than it appears to be, there’s definitely something more than the sparks of Cybertron at stake… I can almost feel it, but I can’t put my finger on it. Is it my duty to restore organics to Cybertron? Perhaps something more…” All of a sudden Optimus stopped speak aloud and turned to see Rattrap by the door. “Rattrap… you shouldn’t be moving in your state.”

Rattrap smiled weakly but walked towards the CR chamber and watched the repair sequence of his old comrade. “Sorry to interrupt your soliloquy boss monkey, but after what you said and everything that has happened… I can’t help but feel that this is all escalating to the breaking point. We all weren’t who we started out as. I’ve fought by your side since the start of the Beast Wars. It was hard at first getting accustomed to war, but now it feels as if it were a part of my life. I… I don’t know how much more I can take of this war. I don’t see an end… like its never going to end.”

“You’re right about us being different than we used to be Rattrap but our experiences have made us into stronger bots. And I believe that it will all come together soon. This war I believe is our opportunity to do something big. These trials, tribulations, are leading to something. I can feel it…”

“I sure hope so…” answered Rattrap solemnly.

The building suddenly shook with tremendous force. Random cluttered objects on tables stuttered and fell off the table. Rattrap pushed his hands out to grab onto the side of the wall for support. Optimus heaved and stomped towards the window and caught sight of the enormous size of Megatron’s new weapon.

“It looks like the darkest hour for us has come. And I’m not sure where the light will come from.” Optimus turned away as a silver star fell across the horizon of the dawn.

==================

The silver star burnt across the sky and began to heat up rapidly while entering the atmosphere. Cybertron’s metallic surface melted and heeded to the built up heat of the star upon impact.

Steam subsided from the impact crater and flames jetted out from the crevices carved into the surface. The silver orb remaining was coated with a misty blue energy and it began to crack. More steam rose from the orb as it unfolded and out popped an arm. The arm reached out farther and pulled the humanoid robotic form free from the orb. A pure white robot emerged from the sphere and stood tall. The sounds of engine roar were instantly detected, the stranger turned to see a squadron of cycle-drones that were sent to investigate standing directly behind him.

“What’s this? Resistance?” asked the stranger.

The cycle drones scanned the energy signature and matched it to their archives. Instantaneously, the cycle drones switched their directive to termination. An onslaught of laser fire was concentrated onto the alien form, but the stranger quickly leapt vertically into the air dodging the damage. It landed gracefully onto the ground again and ejected a pair of blasters from the side of its legs.

“Futile…” The stranger pointed the blasters towards the cycle drones and began to fire destroying each one until he ran out of energy for the weapon.

The cycle drones came back in droves to terminate the threat. The stranger extended his fingers and energy flowed to the tips. He stabbed his hand into the impact crater and generated more cracks that ultimately spiraled outward and caused the crater to collapse downward. With the area purged of the Vehicon annoyance, the stranger stood upright and cracked its neck.

“Now engaging primary objective, preparing to exterminate the cause of the temporal anomalies – Megatron.”

Glad that Rattrap's still in one piece! As for the star... could it be?