Convoy of War​

Six million years ago, Cybertron stood as the gleaming capital of the Cybertronian Commonwealth, a collective of Cybertronian colonies forged during the Age of the Firstforged, growing and evolving with every subsequent Convoy that took on the Matrix of Light. Though it faced threats from the galaxy beyond, the Commonwealth stood strong, repelling any incursion it faced. Eventually, Arch Convoy brought the Commonwealth into its golden age, before removing the matrix to help expand Cybertron’s reach as Nova Prime.

But then came the Combatrons. Announcing their name and their intentions, invasion born from the ravaging of their own colony, the Combatrons destroyed Nova Prime and his ship, the Proudstar, in front of the watching masses. Under the leadership of the vicious warlord Overlord, the Combatron Legions surged across the Commonwealth, indoctrinating other colonies into their empire, and destroying those that would resist. So began the Age of Invasion.

To stand against this almighty threat, the Matrix of Light found a new host, declaring Ginrai Convoy as Cybertron’s new leader. Commanding the Primal Vanguard from the frontline, Ginrai led the charge against the Combatrons, uniting those Colonies that would stand with, turning the Commonwealth into a battleground. Now Ginrai Convoy and the Primal Vanguard stand against Overlord and the Combatrons, the last hope for the Cybertronian Commonwealth… and the galaxy beyond.

Volume 1 - Weapons of Malice
A Vile Thing​

Distant Space, Stellar Cycle 342 of the Great War
Deep in an unknown cluster of space, a small starfighter drifted aimlessly. Smoke billowed off its engines. It would not be long before the ship gave out completely. Within, sitting amongst a mess of machinery that was once the controls, an injured navy and off-white Cybertronian was trying his best to get a message out. He flicked several switches amongst the scrap, and beneath it, a screen flickered to life.

“Finally” the Cybertronian coughed, some energon flying out of his mouth. “I hope you’re getting this, because I don’t have long. Combatronian fighters won’t be far behind me, my ship’s engine is on the brink of detonation and… my spark case has been ruptured, so it won’t have long till it fades.”

He looked at his chest where some debris had punctured his chassis, sparks flying.

“So I’ve got to get this out quick. This is Primal Vanguard spy Clouder, by the way, rubsign corps, stationed on dreadnought Coldstar. Just so you know I am one of yours. Overlord’s sending a fleet to Colivox, a water planet on the edge of the Scaliber Nebula. He wants something there, a weapon. Something from the time of the Thirteen, that Vector Prime supposedly hid. But that’s not all, he’s working on something. Something big. I don’t know much else, except the project name. The name is-”

A loud noise came from the back of the ship, prompting Clouder to look back at the back of his ship.

“The engines gone, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to-”

The sound of the explosion would have been deafening, had anyone been present to hear. The Combatronian starfighters only arrived in time to see the large fireball that resulted subside, leaving only pieces of scrap drifting away…

Space Station Defiant, Cybertronian Held Space
Ginrai Convoy sighed as Clouder’s message cut off in the command room of Defiant, the space station currently housing the high command of the Primal Vanguard. He looked around the room at those present around the central holoprojector. To his left, stood a silver mech, his trusted spymaster Quickshadow. To his right was the chief operator on the station, Groundshaker, a dark green mech with pronounced wings. In front of him, on the opposite side of the projector, was one of his foremost generals, Peritus Maximus.

“So this was his last message?” Ginrai asked.

“I’m afraid so” answered Quickshadow. It seems his engine went critical during the message, so it’s sadly unlikely that he survived.”

“So what is this Colivox?” question Peritus Magnus, his arms folded.

A projection of an aquatic planet appeared over the holoprojector, with several pieces of data floating around it.

“Colivox is a minor planet that’s supposedly been worn by overusing quantum jumps, which have resulted in pockets of quantum energy in the waters” said Groundshaker, tapping at a console on the side of the holoprojector. “There’s been some small skirmishes around it, but that’s been more down to it just being in proximity rather than the planet being anything special. Besides, no-one wants to go down there as laser fire or rockets could ignite one of the quantum pockets.”

“Well, now it seems there is something special” mused Ginrai. “Quickshadow, have any of your other spies reported fleet movements implying Combatronian forces moving towards the planet?”

Quickshadow tapped on a console on her side of the holoprojector, bringing up models of several ships and a mugshot of a green Cybertronian with a faceplate connected to what seemed like pipes.

“One of my units, Mir, did note that a fleet was heading with a trajectory that would at least put Colivox in its path. Their commanding officer is Admiral Pressurepoint” Quickshadow said, gesturing to the mugshot. “Pressurepoint specialises in deep sea engagements, and Mir identified several Combatronian submarines being carried by frigates, so it would seem logical he’s heading there.”

“Do we have any units trained for aquatic environments ourselves?” Ginrai asked.

“Not many” said Peritus Maximus. “Though I believe Seawatch recently took part in a successful assault on Kybermax.”

“He did, yes” Groundshaker responded. “We have yet to relocate his unit, nor his ship. Though if we do deploy them, it’ll be only one unfortunately outdated ship and their crew, as we don’t have any others to spare.”

Ginrai Convoy and Quickshadow began walking towards the door.

“Give them an order to head towards Colivox” Ginrai said he walked out. “My team and I will rendezvous with them enroute.”

“You’re going with them?” questioned Groundshaker. “You know it’s gonna be-”

“Dangerous? Yes, that’s exactly why I’m going with them” Ginrai said, looking back. “I would never be able to call myself Convoy if I simply stood by and watched my fellow Cybertronians dive into the battle and not step into the fray myself.”

The Ocean Storm, 5 Kilometres Below Surface, Colivox
Ginrai stepped onto the bridge of the Ocean Storm. Around the edge of the room were several consoles, each with a Cybertronian at it’s chair. At the centre of a room, on a raised section, was the captain’s chair.

“No contacts, I presume?” asked Ginrai as he looked at the captain’s chair.

Seawatch spun around in the captain’s chair and leapt up, giving a salute.

“No contact yet, sir!” he yelled. “Forgive me, I was unaware you had fully recharged!”

Ginrai smiled a little under his faceplate.

“Nonsense, Seawatch, you have nothing to be sorry for” Ginrai replied, patting the captain on the shoulder.

“Will you be taking the captain’s seat, sir?” asked Seawatch, stepping away from his seat.

“No need” Ginrai said. “She’s your ship, and it’s best if her captain remains at the head. And please, Ginrai will do.”

“Yes, Ginrai, sir!” said Seawatch, sitting back down in his seat.

A pair of Cybertronians walked in behind Ginrai. The shorter of the two smirked at the conversation.

“Honestly, boss, I will never understand how you manage to keep being so polite in the middle of the war” he stated, grinning.

“I just would like to treat my fellows as they would treat me, Thunderhead” Ginrai stated, before turning back to Seawatch. “Speaking of politeness, allow me to introduce you to my ‘guards’ Thunderhead and-”

“And Rocket Plume” said the other Cybertronian, a tall femme with a rifle slung over her shoulder. “And he uses those air quotes because he ends up saving us more than we save him.”

“Oh come now, Rocket, I’m sure that’s an exaggeration” Ginrai chuckles.

“Well, in the past month, there was Simanzi, Xor, Trodez, Alkarz, Merifol” Thunderhead began counting on the fingers on his hands. “The Astor Nebula twice.”

“Don’t forget Mefidrey” Rocket Plume said as she nudged her comrade.

“And there was that time on Kuphrl, with the giant lobsters. You know the ones, the ones with the laser-“

“Yes, I think we get the point, thank you” cut off Ginrai. “Where are the others? I understand that Tailpipe typically takes a longer timeout than the rest of us due to his defective fuel tank, but what about Crumble and Quickshadow?”

“Well, I think Crumble went to see what sort of engine this sub is powered by” said Thunderhead, stroking his chin guard. “And Quickshadow’s probably gone to stop him from spontaneously upgrading it.”

“Is that a bad thing?” asked Seawatch, a little confused.

“Well, it is when you’re in the middle of a mission and he shuts it off right when you’re being pursued” says Rocket Plume.

“Oh…” Seawatch quietly said. “So, regarding the mission, do we have any idea what we’re looking for.”

“I’m afraid not” said Ginrai. “But if I were to hazard a guess based on the fact that it’s hidden on an obscure planet by Vector Prime of all people, it’s not good.”

One of the Cybertronians at the consoles at the edge of the room spun around in his chair. He was a bulky Cybertronian, red and white, and seemed very eager.

“Sir, if I may speak, I have a thought” he said.

“Permission granted, Heave” replied Seawatch.

“Well, this area of space has been stretched thin, and we’ve never figured out why, have we?” started Heave. “So what if it’s some sort of thing that can move objects through space. Like, an orbital bounce, just further than from the surface to orbit. Or… or…”

“Or a ground bridge that could reach other planets” said Ginrai, his face now serious.”A space bridge, if you will. It’s plausible, and if you’re correct, then this is something we definitely need to keep this out of Combatronian hands.”

“Honestly, what is it with ancient Cybertron having better tech than us” Thunderhead said quietly. “I mean, we have guns and swords and they have space portals and doomsday devices. I mean, remember that shield we picked up on Ahnz.”

“Sir, if I might interject” said an orange Cybertronian, operating another system. “Contacts have appeared on our scanners.”

“How many of them, Neo-Wheel?” asked Seawatch, a frown forming under his faceplate.

“Seventeen.”

The Submarauder, 2km behind The Ocean Storm

“Admiral on the bridge!” announced one of the Combatronians beside the entrance to the Combatron bridge.

A short, stocky Cybertronian entered the bridge. He sat down in a rusted chair in the centre of the room.

“Fullspeed, report to me” he said in a deep, growling voice.

“Admiral Pressurepoint, we have located an enemy ship!” said Fullspeed, manning the scanners.

“Excellent” Pressurepoint said, stroking the twin hooks he had his left hand replaced with. “Are they within firing range?”

“Only of our Magnabolt Repeaters and Microquasar Launchers” said Fullspeed.

“Good. NOW OPEN FIRE!” Pressurepoint yelled as he pointed his hooks toward the window.

The Submarauder unleashed a flurry of laserbolts at The Ocean Storm, most missing, but the occasional one scraped against the hull of the sub. Soon the submarines surrounding joined in the barrage.

The Ocean Storm
Inside The Ocean Storm, everyone tried to grab something to keep themselves steady, save for Ginrai. He leapt down to the consoles and stood behind Neo-Wheel.

“Did we take any hits?” asked Ginrai out loud as he grabbed a hold of the back of Neo-Wheel’s chair.

“Not yet, save for a few scrapes, but unless we don’t do something they’ll be zeroing their shots on our propellers” yelled a Cybertronian known as Barrager from a console across the room.

Thinking, Ginrai looked at the 3D projection in front of Neo-Wheel. On it was a marker representing The Ocean Storm and several red dots marking enemy positions.

“Tell me” said Ginrai, pointing at a dark patch below the position of the Ocean Storm. “Would that unusual shaded patch be one of the quantum pockets?”

“Uh, yes sir. Why?” inquired Neo-Wheel.

“I want this ship to dive into it!” Ginrai said, determined.

“SIR?” replied Neo-Wheel, panicked.

“Boss, if you dive us into it, the enemy will just blow up the pocket!” Thunderhead yelled from across the room.

“No they won’t” Ginrai replied. “They’re nowhere near far enough away to be out of the blast radius. By the time they’re comfortable out of the radius and they’ve realigned to fire, we’ll be through the danger zone. Either we’ll waste their time or force them to follow without firing. Either way they can’t fire for a good amount of time.”

Seawatch pondered Ginrai’s idea, stroking the bottom of his faceplate.

“You’re certain it’ll work?” he asked.

“Positive” said Ginrai. “Not like we have many options, regardless.”

“You heard him, Missile Master, set course downwards into the pocket” Seawatch ordered the Cybertronian at the ship’s controls.

The Ocean Storm began to sharply point downwards and dive into the murky pocket of quantum energy.

The Submarauder

“All ships, cease fire” ordered Pressurepoint.

“But, sir we’ve almost got them!” complained one of his officers.

“They are diving into a quantum pocket” growled Pressurepoint. “You fire, and we’ll ignite it, destroying everything in its radius, including ourselves! Now do as a say, or I shall see that you are replaced by a more competent office. Am I understand?”

“Yes sir” sighed the officer.

“Good” said Pressurepoint. “Fullspeed, order the deployment of K(a)-class units into the pocket. Flashflood, set a course around the blast radius.

“We’re still igniting it?” asked Fullspeed.

“Of course” grinned Pressurepoint beneath his faceplate. “Their evasion tactics are dependent on not only us being able to exit the danger zone, but also having to readjust our orientation to fire on the pockets. It might be a small addition to their window of time. By deploying the K(a)’s, we cut out that addition by having them detonate the moment we’re clear, leaving the Vanguard ship to burn with the quantum energy.”

“A sound strategy, sir” congratulated Fullspeed, perhaps a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Deploying K(a)’s now.”

Hundreds of metal objects dropped from the underside of The Submarauder, rounded in shape with propellers at the back. They soon began to turn, slowly progressing deep into the quantum pocket.

The Ocean Storm
“Your plan worked, sir” said Neo-Wheel. “They’ve stopped firing.”

“As I’d hoped” said Ginrai. “Once we’re clear, we’ll progress deeper and start to scan the seafloor. If anything’s hidden here, it’s more likely to be below the surface.”

“Did I miss anything?” came a voice from the entrance of the bridge.

A white and black Cybertronian stood in the doorway, stretching out his arms and letting out an audible yawn.

“Ah, Tailpipe, I was wondering if I needed a new pilot” joked Ginrai. “You didn’t miss much, we just dived into quantum energy to avoid enemy fire.”

“Did you not fire back?” asked Tailpipe.

“Afraid that’s not possible” said Seawatch from his chair. “This sub is quite outdated. Predates anti-rust sealants on the rotation bases of turrets, so all turrets are locked in the forward position. This old girl was designed with open warfare in mind rather than covering its movements.”

“Not a single gun pointing backwards” groaned Tailpipe. “Terrible design.”

“Ignore him, he’s highly critical of most vehicles that don’t meet his standards” Ginrai said, looking at Seawatch.

“Sir, we’ve got multiple readings following us!” interrupted Neo-Wheel.

“How many?” asked Seawatch.

“Approximately three hundred.”

Corridor B-12, The Ocean Storm
Quickshadow carried Crumble down the corridor as her comrade waved his arms to try and escape her grasp.

“I was just looking, honestly!” Crumble protested.

“It’s never ‘just looking’ with you, sweetie” groaned Quickshadow, refusing to loosen her grip. “I’m supposed to be the Primal Vanguard’s spymaster, not your personal babysitter.

Crumble continued to struggle for a few minutes more, before noticing something outside that grabbed his attention.

“Uh, Quickshadow, do you mind carrying me closer to the porthole?” he asked.

“Oh no, I’m not falling for that again” Quickshadow said. “You’ll try to take it out and rust us all just to turn the window into a magnifier.”

“Saw my arms off if it’s such a problem” Crumble snapped back. “There’s something… well, a lot of things outside.”

Quickshadow relented, and she let go of Crumble, who stood on his toes to get a good look through.

“Oh, that isn’t good” he said, terror flushing over his face.

Quickshadow walked over and looked into the next porthole.

“Bombs?” she asked. “What’s the enemy doing, there’s no way the trigger’s long enough for them to get clear, and there’s no way they have a rigged signal strong enough to manually detonate them..”

“They’re not bombs” said Crumble. “Well, not just bombs. They’re Combatronians. K-Class Combatronians, or an aquatic variation. Likely with a rotor equipped.”

Upon hearing this, Quickshadow transformed into vehicle mode, and honked her horn.

“Wait, what are you doing?” asked Crumble.

“If the bridge hasn't figured out what’s following them, they need to know” she replied. “Now climb on, your light to carry but your alt-mode isn’t known for speed.”

“Fine” said Crumble as he got on top of Quickshadow’s car mode.

The two then sped towards down the corridors as crew members dived out of the way to avoid being hit.

The Bridge, The Ocean Storm
“Do you have any idea what the signals are?” Ginrai asked Neo-Wheel, once again looking over his shoulder at the projection.

“It’s strange, sir” Neo-Wheel said. “They look like spark signals.”

“That’s because they are!” came Quickshadow’s voice from the entrance.

Driving in, she quickly shifted to robot mode, sending Crumble flying across the room and landing face first on the floor.

“The Combatronians are using K-Classes” she says as she stands next to Tailpipe.

“Impossible” said Seawatch. “There’s no way any Cybertronian could swim fast enough to catch up to us, even if the rust wasn’t an issue.”

“I recognise the shape” said Crumble, picking himself up. “They must’ve modified the design to allow aquatic traversal.”

“Sir, I don’t think we’ll be able to escape the blast in time, then” said Missile Master.

Tailpipe walked up to Missile Master and proceeded to pull him out of the chair and grabbed the controls.

“Hey!” yelled Missile Master.

“Sir, forgive me, but this is highly unorthodox!” Seawatch said.

Ginrai stepped behind Tailpipe, and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Uh, Tailpipe, what are you-”

“I’m taking control to ensure we can survive” Tailpipe bluntly interrupted.

“But there’s no way anyone can pilot us out of the explosion in time!” proclaimed Seawatch.

“I know that” Tailpipe says. “I’m going to attempt to at least control our descent when the explosion inevitably knocks the majority of systems out of commission. “

“Sir, we don’t have much time, the signal are being clouded by energy spikes” Neo-Wheel interrupted.

“That’s them detonating, we’ve got a few seconds at most” Crumble said

Seawatch slammed his fist on the arm of his chair.

“SHIELDS TO MAXIMUM!” he ordered.

“You sure you can do this Tailpipe?” Ginrai asked.”

“Well, you don’t know until you try” he said, not a trace of humour in his voice.

And with that, the ship was rocked by blue flames at the edge of the explosion, sending it spiralling towards the sea floor.

Ocean Floor, Colivox
The Ocean Storm slammed into a raised plateau, the force of the impact fracturing the rock surface. The submarine managed to land right way up, though lay motionless as many of its lights turned off.

Inside, the bridge was bathed in red light as the emergency subsystems began kicking in. Seawatch was the first to stir, pushing his chair off of himself.

“Everyone, report your status!” he asked as he leapt out of the way of sparks that burst from the ceiling. “Is everyone okay?”

Ginrai stood up from over Tailpipe, having hunched over his comrade to cover him from debris. Doing so caused several metal ceiling panels that had fallen on them to slide off his back.

“We’re okay” he groaned, rubbing his back. “Someone might need to crack my structural column back into the place.”

Thunderhead had managed to keep himself stable, and picked Crumble up off the floor.

“You okay?” Thunderhead asked his comrade.

“Yup” Crumble responded, holding his head. “Maybe slightly concussed.”

“I’m okay too” said Rocket Plume. “But don’t worry about me.”

Quickshadow, meanwhile, had already begun checking on the ship’s crew. She made sure of Neo-Wheel, Missile Master and Barrager, before turning to Heave.

“This one’s unconscious” she said, clearing some of the debris from him.

“Barrager, take Heave to the infirmary” ordered Seawatch.

Wanting to make sure his teammate was alright, Barrager quickly did as ordered, taking Heave from Quickshadow and carrying him out of the bridge. Seawatch, meanwhile, began walking toward Neo-Wheel.

“Are we able to establish what systems are running?” he asked.

“I should be able to” Neo-Wheel responded, reconnecting a cable that had become dislodged on Barrager’s console. “We’ve lost engines, as predicted. Comms too. Weapons, we’re limited to just energy weapons on top of the ship. Torpedos are dead, and our hull weapons were crushed during the crash. We’ve also got limited power as of now, so we can’t remain here for much longer. Scanners are down, but the damage is minimal enough that I can create a workaround back on my console to get them back up.”

“Damn” said Seawatch. “Missile Master, I need you to run through the ship and inform everyone to equip their orbital bounce pads. Once we’re ready, we’ll try to all orbital bounce at once, that way on the off chance that it triggers a pocket the bounce passes through, we should all be warped past it without losing anyone.”

Missile Master saluted and ran out the doorway, while Seawatch unlock a storage unit at the back of the room. He pulled out a stack of white discs, and began handing them out to everyone in the room.

“Strap them on, and I’ll trigger them” Seawatch said.

“Come on, we're really running?” protested Thunderhead. “We can take ‘em.”

“We really can’t” argued Rocket Plume. “We’re downed, our few remaining armaments are locked in a single direction and we have finite power.”

“So we’re just gonna give them the victory?” Thunderhead moaned.

“Given the situation, surviving is all we can pull from this situation” Ginrai pointed out.

“I refuse to believe that-”

The ship rocked from side to side as a loud cracking sound was heard.

“WHAT THE FRAG WAS THAT?” Thunderhead yelled in surprise.

“It came from outside” Quickshadow said, staring out the window.

“You sure, maybe it was one of the thrusters going boom?” suggested Rocket Plume.

“No, firstly the sound is different” said Crumble. “And secondly, the engines are dead, so there would be no way they would spontaneous explode.”

“Neo-Wheel, have you got anything?” Ginrai asked.

“I think… I will have something for you when I… gotcha!”

Neo-Wheel, who had returned to his own console to get it working again, stepped back as it sparked back to life. The projector displayed the location of the Ocean Storm once more, as well as its surroundings.

“We seem to have landed on a circular plateau” he said. “We made a big impact, fractured it partly. There seems to be a second fracture, likely from the noise.”

“Look at that” said Rocket Plume. “Perfectly round. Ain’t geology funny?”

There was another loud cracking noise, as if something had pounded a rock. Another fracture appeared on the projector’s image.

“Did we set off an earthquake or something?” Neo-Wheel asked out loud.


“It’s not an earthquake” said Ginrai, looking gravely serious. “And we didn’t just happen to smash a funnily round plateau.”

Another quake rocked the ship, this one even stronger than the last.

“It’s a seal!”

The entire room went quiet at this. After several seconds, it was Tailpipe who spoke up first.

“If we broke a seal, what was it sealing away?” he asked.

As if it heard Tailpipe’s question, a metal tendril burst out of the seafloor several dozen metres in front of them, followed by a second, and then a third. More began punching through, before the entire ground in front of them gave way. A dark shadow rose from the ground, almost resembling a peculiar octopus. It dwarfed the sub, not even turning to look at it.

“I AWAKEN!!!!” a booming voice echoed through the water. “MY FACELESS MASTER, I AWAKEN!!!!”

The Submarauder
Pressurepoint slowly rose from his chair as he watched the cephalopodic creature punch it’s way free of the seal. His crew began panicking at the sight, one of the vehicons guarding the door ran out in a panic, screaming.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF TRYPTICON IS THAT ABOMINATION?” he yelled at his crew. “ANYBODY?”

“Well s-s-sir” stuttered a shaking crew member. “It l-l-looks like a Quantum Leviathan, sir. From the legends of The Thirteen. A creature that could rend space to destroy civilisations of its choosing.”

“Rend space…” mused Pressurepoint. “Perhaps this creature could be used to our advantage. Perhaps see if we can broker a deal. It has yet to combat us, has it not?”

As if hearing Pressurepoint’s words, multiple tendrils shot towards his fleet, smashing through several of the submarines comprising his fleet.

“Well, he has now confirmed himself to be hostile” Pressurepoint said, his voice returning to calm. “We shall just have to return his carcass to Overlord’s scientists for autopsy. All remaining units, fire at will.”

The Ocean Storm
Ginrai, Quickshadow and Thunderhead watched through the viewscreen as fire began hailing down on the creature. Shots were peppering both the seal and the creature, though only the seal was feeling the effects.

“They’re not going to last long against that creature” said Quickshadow.

“Then why has it stopped retaliating?” asked Ginrai. “It made the opening move, then just let them all fire on it.”

“Beats me, but it’s soaking up those hits like a sponge” said Thunderhead. “Like I said, everything ancient somehow and inexplicably has us beat.”

Seawatch, meanwhile, handed out orbital bounce pads to everyone in the room. Just as he handed one to Neo-Wheel, Neo-Wheel tugged his arm to keep his attention.

“Sir, something’s happening out there” Neo-Wheel said. “Quantum readings are spiking from the ships the creature smashed through. They’re starting to leach out to the rest of the fleet.”

Rocket Plume looked over Neo-Wheel’s shoulder and smirked at Seawatch.

“They are so screwed” she said.

The Submarauder
Pressurepoint stood up, watching the creature take on the onslaught.

“FIRE EVERYTHING!” he yelled, angrily pointing around the room at various officers. “INCREASE LASER INTENSITY! LAUNCH ALL ROCKETS! MAXIMISE FIRE RATE! WE WILL KILL THIS CREATURE EVEN IF WE EXHAUST EVERY OUNCE OF AMMO AND I RESORT TO SLAMMING OUR SHIPS INTO IT!”

“YOU ARE FOOLS!” the creatures voice boomed around the rooms. “IMBECILES TO THINK YOU WILL SURVIVE AGAINST ME!”

“YOU THINK WE FEAR YOU!?!” Pressurepoint angrily retorted ,slamming his first so hard down on the arm of his chair that it snapped off. “I HAVE SURVIVED COUNTLESS BATTLES, BEEN CHALLENGED BY SO MANY, AND NEVER BEEN DEFEATED! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU WILL DESTROY US?”

“I KNOW I COULD DESTROY YOU, BUT I HAVE NO NEED TO!” boomed the voice. “YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN DESTRUCTION!!!”

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?” Pressurepoint yelled, pointing at the window.

“SIR!” yelled Fullspeed. “We’re detecting a massive surge of quantum energy emanating from our downed ships. It’s all around us.”

For the first time in a very long time, fear flushed down Pressurepoint’s face. He had made a critical mistake.

“STOP FIRING!” he yelled. “STOP FI-”

A loud explosion ripped through the Combatronian ships, blue flames consuming each and everyone of them. Debris drifted to the ocean floor as the smoke cleared, and Pressurepoint and his forces were no more.

“FOOLS!” echoed the voice of the Quantum Leviathan.

The Ocean Storm

“You flare, you flicker, you fade” Crumble said to himself as they watched the Combatronian ship disappear into the blue flames.

“More like you flare, you fireball, you’re fragged” Thunderhead commented.

“You realise this means that we’re probably next?” stated Rocket Plume.

“You sure about that?” asked Ginrai. “It’s rising upwards.”

“Why would it do that?” asked Seawatch.

The Quantum Leviathan swam a few hundred metres upwards, before whipping it’s tendrils around. As they lash the water, streaks of energy begin to appear, as if it was cutting through reality itself.

“I SHALL PURGE CIVILISATIONS IN THE NAME OF THE FACELESS ONE! I SHALL REND THEIR ATOMS!!” he announced. “STARTING WITH CYBERTRON!!!”

“Cybertron?” asked Tailpipe. “Why is it Cybertron? It’s been slumbering for Primus knows how long and it just so happens to decide to go for our home planet?”

“Well, maybe it recognised the ships?” Quickshadow suggests. “Or perhaps it has some method of listening on our comms?”

Ginrai scratches his faceplate, musing what to do as Seawatch hands him an orbital bounce pad.

“Sir, there’s another build up of quantum energy. More than ever. It’s possibly strong enough to rip apart this hemisphere of the planet” said Neo-Wheel, looking as those still in the bridge.

Ginrai started pacing, before looking at the still intact weapons console. He walked over and checked it.

“Seawatch, I need you to initiate the orbital bounce” Ginrai said, chucking his orbital bounce pad across the room. “Pronto!”

“Yes... What are you going to do?” asked Sewatch looking confused.

“Oh you know, ignite the quantum energy to fry that thing” said Ginrai calmly. “Take it down, and we can all take a little bit of time out before the next conflict. You know, after you trigger all orbital bounce pads.”

“But how will you survive?” asked Seawatch. “You won’t be able to get out in time!”

“Oh, you know, matrixy stuff” shrugged Ginrai. “Naturally it’s gonna keep me safe.”

Seawatch took Ginrai’s hand with his own and shook it, then patted Ginrai on the back with his other hand.

“You are a brave Cybertronian, and a fine Convoy” Seawatch said.

“Thank you” smiled Ginrai.

“But a terrible liar.”

“I’m sorry?” asked Ginrai, a look of confusion washing over his face.

Seawatch took out the trigger for the orbital bounce in one hand. He then stopped shaking Ginrai’s hand, letting go, then giving a salute.

“It was an honour, sir” he said as he saluted.

Ginrai’s face turned to horror as he realised what Seawatch was going to do.

“SEAWATCH!” he yelled as he tried to reach out. “DON’T, THIS IS FOR ME TO DO!”

“A captain goes down with his ship” Seawatch calmly said. “As do admirals.”

Ginrai disappeared in a beam of light, followed by each and every other Cybertronian on the ship, leaving only Seawatch.

“We still need a Convoy to lead us” he said as he sat down at the weapons console.

He began swiping at controls as the remaining forward lasers powered up. Seawatch closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. Shots fired forwards, flying into the building quantum energy.

“I WILL NOT BE DENIED!” the Quantum Leviathan boomed as he tried to reach into the rift he created as the quantum energy ignited around him.

Half the planet was soon consumed by the blue flames, devastating it.

The Valiant, Colivox Orbit
“NOOO!” yelled Ginrai as the crew of the Ocean Storm were orbital bounced onto the Primal Vanguard ship that had brought them into the system.

Ginrai felt for his shoulder where Seawatch had patted him. He found an Orbital Bounce Pad attached. Seawatch’s pad. Ginrai angrily tore the pad off and threw it across the room. He then looked at the window on the opposite side of the room. Half of Colivox and be blown off in the blast, debris floating off into space. The waters were in flux.

“It should’ve been me” Ginrai said.

Thunderhead stood by Ginrai, looking sympathetically at his leader.

“He did what he did to save you, Boss” Thunderhead said. “Don’t forget that.”

Ginrai gave a heavy sigh.

“Make sure the wounded are attended to” he said. “I’m going to the bridge to tell them to head to the nearest outpost to debrief.”

With that, Ginrai left for the bridge, not saying another word as Quickshadow followed him.

“You think he’ll be okay?” Crumble asked Thunderhead, watching Ginrai and Quickshadow leave.

“Ginrai’s the kinda guy who takes each death like a thousand” Thunderhead answered. “I dunno if he’ll ever be okay. Or if any us will be. What I do know is that he will accept it and put on a brave face, knowing that we can’t stop the war in the instant. Maybe one day, when Overlord is gone, and peace is back in fashion, then maybe he will.”

Tudac, The Scisma System
An older crimson Cybertronian stood in the command centre of the Primal Vanguard outpost on Tudac. A button flashed, and he pressed it. The image of Groundshaker appeared in front of him.

“Sir!” saluted older bot.

“At ease, Caldera” said Groundshaker. “I’m just contacting you to inform you that a ship carrying Ginrai Convoy will be arriving to deliver injured and take stock. Will that be doable?”

“Yes sir!” said Caldera. “We’ve only had light attacks and minimal forces, so they should be fine.”

“Thank you Caldera, I-“

A loud boom interrupted Groundshaker, startling him. The building seemed to shake a little.

“What was that?” he asked, concerned.

“Just sonic weaponry” Caldera replied. “All they’ve really got.”

“Well, if you’re sure they’re safe to come here, then I wish you well, Caldera.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” said Caldera, once more saluting.

The hologram disappeared as a young soldier drove into the room. She shifted into robot mode and saluted Caldera.

“The enemy has withdrawn for now, sir!”

“Good” said Caldera. “Recycle shields, then recharge weapons section by-“

Caldera stopped, and looked closely at the soldier's face.

“Private…” he said, his face more concerned. “Your optic seems to be leaking.”

 

Volume 1- Weapons of Malice
The Dead and Dying​

Primal Vanguard Starship Valiant, In Transit
Ginrai looked at the statistics being projected from the device in the centre. He had a grim frown on his face, and his arms were folded. He did not like what he saw.

“These are all recorded victims of the plague?” he asked.

“At present” said the hologram of another Cybertronian, a teal blue Cybertronian with the kibble of a Cybertronian SUV. “More cases are being recorded. The plague seems to become active at random, we’ve no idea why.”

Quickshadow and Groundshaker watched the numbers repeatedly updating with new victims.

“What exactly are the effects of this plague, Arcana?” Groundshaker asked, addressing the teal mech. “You haven’t actually explained what it does.”

“In short?” said Arcana. “Complete and total liquefaction of the body. Every strut, every cable, every gear. All of them. Rust away. Hence the nickname.”

“Red Rust…” Ginrai said to himself. “I’ve never seen so many Red Marks across so many outposts.”

Peritus Maximus, also in holographic form, stared at the values.

“This can’t be just a new plague we never found before” said Peritus. “It’s too systematic, too strategic. It has to be chemical warfare. Quickshadow, do any of the Combatronian science facilities you’ve had under surveillance have the capability to produce such a plague?”

Quickshadow started tapping on the console, bringing up seven images of faces.

“We’ve had numerous facilities under watch, but these seven are those that specialise in chemical warfare. However, of them, only three have the expertise to produce something of this capability.”

As she said this, four of the faces dissipated from the projection. Quickshadow started pointing at one of the remaining faces.

“Moltrix, while he certainly has the qualifications, would rather make people scream when they succumb to his plagues, and given that’s not the case with this one, as horrendous as it is, it’s not his modus operandi.”

Quickshadow moved her finger to the next image as the mugshot of Moltrix disappeared.

“Fumigate, on the other hand, while also competent enough, prefers to make it known when she disperses her chemical weapons” said Quickshadow. “Dropped from a massive fleet, her flagship at the head.”

Quickshadow moved her finger to the last mugshot as Fumigate’s face disappeared.

“Which leaves him” she said. “Venom. Sadistic enough, smart enough and nothing that rules him out. He has to be our guy.”

“Then we need to deal with him” said Peritus. “We need to shut him down and force him to make a cure for it.”

“Now hang on” said Ginrai. “What if something happens? What if we lose Venom, or he escapes? We still need a cure.”

“I mean no disservice to our scientists, but none of them have the capability to create a cure” said Arcana. “As we try not to stray into chemical weapons, we don’t have many skilled enough to reverse engineer a cure for a plague of this magnitude.”

“No…” said Ginrai. “But there is someone who might.”

“Cogwheel?” said Peritus. “You have to be kidding. She’s with the Circle of Light, there’s no way she’d join the war effort.”

“I don’t intend on asking her to join the war” said Ginrai. “I want to ask her to help us save lives.”

“That’s if you even get past Dai Atlas’s single mindedness” said Groundshaker, rolling his eyes. “Guys more stubborn than a nanorachnid in a fuel drum.”

“He just wants to escape a war he had no part in starting” said Ginrai. “Personally, I don’t blame him.”

“We didn’t start it either!” yelled Peritus. “That’s down to Overlord! We’re just defending ourselves and trying to contain the war from the rest of the universe in the hope that one day, instead of another planet getting dragged into the war, we actually push Overlord’s forces inwards towards Combatron.”

Ginrai sighed.

“We have to try” he said.

“Well, I still think we need to go in and shut off production. Venom looks our best shot at curing” Peritus said.

“Then we divide our forces” suggested Groundshaker. “Ginrai takes a team to negotiate with the Circle of Light for Cogwheel’s assistance, and Peritus leads an assault force on-”

“Actually, an assault force would be a bad move. It would just stir Venom into making an escape and destroying his work” cut off Quickshadow. “It would make more sense to send a covert ops team. Preferably led by me.”

Peritus groans.

“You can be back-up if things get out of hand” Quickshadow adds, trying to make Peritus feel a little better.

“Well, then” said Ginrai. “I guess that’s that, then.”

200 Miles from Research Station Delta-22, Wild Space
A small shuttle jumped into the space a distance from the Combatronian station. Tailpipe sat in the pilot’s seat, while Quickshadow stood behind him.

“Are we outside of their scan range?” she asked.

“Of course, only an idiot would be stupid enough to immediately jump into scanner range” Tailpipe said, rolling his eyes.

Quickshadow smacked the side of Tailpipe’s head.

“That’s enough sass out of you” she scorned. “Inform command, oh, and send Ginrai good luck with his mission. Then put us onto silent running.”

Tailpipe nodded, thinking better of speaking again. Quickshadow then proceeded into the passenger section of the ship, where her team sat on benches on either side of the rear of the shuttle.

“Alright, none of you know each other, so I’ll quickly introduce you all” she said, walking over to Rocket Plume. ”This is Rocket Plume, one of Convoy’s guards and our soldier.”

She then pointed over to a red mech with offroad vehicle pieces on his body.

“Ricon…”

She then pointed to a grey Cybertronian with racecar kibble.”

“...Rijie…”

Next was a red Cybertronian with sports car vehicle parts and arm mounted blades.

“...Dino…”

She finally pointed at a yellow and black Cybertronian with large lenses on his shoulders.

“...and Longview. Get acquainted fast, because we’ll be arriving soon.”

There was a thud as the engines powered down. The boarding ramp slid down to a metal wall.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, laser cutters out, magnet clamps on and head on out” Quickshadow announced, urging them all to head off.

She then poked her head around the door to the cockpit.

“Stay out of range, and be prepared for us to contact you” Quickshadow said.

“Yeah, like I need telling-” Tailpipe began.

“No more sass from you, understand?”

Tailpipe simply sighed, before getting back to his controls. Quickshadow disembarked, turning around to witness the ramp slide back up and the shuttle take off, heading out of view of the station’s scanners. She then looked at her team, where Ricon had already begun cutting a hole in the wall.

“Let’s get to work” Quickshadow announced

The Testing Chambers, Station Delta-22
“Hello? Hello, are you awake in there?”

Venom tapped on the glass of the chamber. Inside the glass, a Cybertronian was strapped to a chair with several small speakers surrounding him. The Cybertronian opened his mouth to scream, but no noise came out.

“Scream all you want” Venom said. “I had your voice box removed while you were unconscious. All that noise is just distracting, wouldn’t you agree, Bombshock?”

Bombshock stood a distance behind Venom. He was a tall transformer with treads on his shoulders and the sides of his legs, and a large cannon protruding from his back. In his hands he held a large double-barreled rifle.

“Sure” Bombshock said, not a hint of interest in his voice.

“Ah, as tolerant of my experiments as ever” Venom said, before turning back to the restrained Cybertronian. “Now then, you get the honor of being the first subject for this iteration of the red rust virus. Congratulations. This one should, potentially, be the quickest acting one yet. In-stan-tanious!”

Bombshock shook his head at the Venom’s showboating and looked over at his fellow guards, Growl and Drop-Shot, who were standing at the doorway, just staring a little confused.

“But of course, the glass is reinforced AND soundproofed” said Venom, tapping it again. “So from your perspective, I’m just dancing about. But at least I don’t hear the virus laced in the soundwaves.”

Venom pranced over to a console at the corner of the room, and started punching buttons and pulling levers. He then turned to look at his guards.

“You might wanna turn away if you find this part squeamish” he grinned beneath the grill on his faceplate.

Drop-Shot quickly turned to look away while Growl stared at the subject curiously. Bombshock, too, kept watching, but not quite in the same interest as Growl.

“AND BOOM!” yelled Venom as he slammed his fist on a button. “Oh I do love a big, red button. It’s just… so fanciful!”

Within the room, there was a loud bang. The subject began convulsing, before spewing rust from his mouth. Bombshock winced for a moment when this initially happened. Soon, red liquid began pouring from beneath the subject’s optics. The rust spread over his body as his arm snapped off his body.”

“NO! NO! NO NO NO!” yelled Venom, punching the glass. “NO!”

“Uh, sir, what’s wrong?” asked Bombshock. “It worked, the effect began immediately.”

“Yeah!” grinned Growl. “He started falling apart immediately.”

“Of course it happened quickly, I RECONFIGURED THE STRAIN TO ACTIVATE AS SOON AS IT ENTERED THEIR SYSTEMS!” Venom yelled in Bombshock’s face. “BUT I WANT TO END IT QUICKLY! INCREASED EFFICIENCY OF LIQUEFACTION! MORON!”

Venom sighed and began breathing deeply.

“Alright, calm down, you can’t help being the smartest person in the room” he said to himself. “Call the clean-up crews, then fetch me another subject. I’m going to work on the next iteration.”

With that Venom left the room, followed by Bombshock, as Growl and a disgusted Drop-Shot looked at the remains of the Autobots.

Garbage Chute 7, Station Delta-22
Having cut their way through, Quickshadow’s team progressed up the maintenance shaft, magnetising their feet to the side of the shaft. Quickshadow herself was at the front of the pack with Longview, while the others followed behind.

“Longview, how far are we till we get to a suitable floor to cut through?” she asked.

“Well floor 22 would probably be our best bet” Longview said, looking at her scanner for spark signals.. “No life signs near where we’d cut through nor near enough to actually spot us cutting through.”

“Good” replied Quickshadow. “Remind me of the plan of entry, just to make sure you know.”

“Ricon cuts a hole through the side of the vent. Then Dino uses his cloaking talent to get the drop on them, followed by Rijie and his cloaking tech. Then, when they keep them busy, you and Rocket Plume set yourselves up to fire through the hole.”

“So long as nothing goes wrong” Quickshadow sighs. “It always does.”

Further back, Rocket Plume, Dino and Ricon were strolling up the side of the vent.

“You guys handling it alright?” asked Rocket Plume as they proceeded up the shaft.

“Yeah, sure, I’ve done this sorta mission a dozen times” said Dino. “No… actually two dozen.”

Ricon stumbled a bit as they walked.

“You alright, uh… Ricon, was it?”

“Uh, yeah” said Ricon. “I think my magnet clamp might be a bit faulty. Seems to be glitching every so often. I should be fine, though.”

Rocket Plume patted Ricon on the shoulder, before noticing that Quickshadow and Longview had stopped, kneeling on the surface of the wall.

“We almost there?” Rocket Plume yelled up to her.

Both Dino and Ricon were quick to give Rocket Plume a ssshing noise, earning annoyed glances from her. Going quiet, Quickshadow ordered Ricon to get to work on cutting through the wall they were standing on. She then gestured for Dino to stand above the hole Ricon was cutting, Rijie to the left and Rocket Plume to the right, while she and Longview stayed below. Ricon quickly converted his index and middle fingers into a cutting torch, and began slicing through the wall.

“Alright, Longview, give us infrared” whispered Quickshadow.

“Got it” replied Longview, tapping his visor as it turned red.

Rocket Plume primed her weapons as Ricon had almost finished cutting through the wall. Tensing up, Longview raised his hand to stop.

“I’m picking up a large number of enemy signals coming from both sides of the corridor” he said. “They’re forming up right outside!”

Before anyone could react, a laser blasted through the partly cut wall, pinning Ricon again the opposite side of the shaft. As his body turned grey, the laser ceased, allowing Ricon’s body to fall, lifeless, down the shaft.

“How the hell did they find out we were here?” yelled Rocket Plume.

“We’ll worry about that later!” responded Quickshadow as she watched lasers firing through the newly made hole. “For now, we need to move up the shaft.”

“Do you want more bad news?” asked Rijie, looking up the shaft. “Cos a couple of hundred automated sentry drones are coming down from above us.”

“Dammit!” said Quickshadow, looking back down the shaft. “And coming up, too.”

“Well then, time to fight our way out” grinned Rocket Plume, weapons ready.

The Testing Chambers, Station Delta-22
Having just received news from his fellow security units via his his wrist comms, Bombshock signed off and turned to Venom.

“Hypergear and our security forces have found the intruders and are currently engaged in combat” Bombshock reported.

“Good” grinned Venom beneath his rebreather-styled faceplate. “Those fools were really stupid enough to think that we wouldn’t have pressure pads installed along the walls of the garbage chute. How many are there?”

“Six… well, five now” said Bombshock. “No other chutes have been triggered, so we believe that they’re the only intruders.”

“Good” said Venom. “Try to preserve at least some of them. Any test subjects are a delightful treat for me. More to experiment my new compounds on.”

“I’ll let Hypergear know” Bombshock said.

Venom returned his attention to refining his latest compound, working hard. From his position of guarding the doorway, Growl watched intently, excited to see the next trial. Drop-Shot sighed, daydreaming about a time where he could get a posting away from this psychopathic scientist. Bombshock, noticing this, snapped his fingers in front of Drop-Shot’s face.

“Soldier! Are you sleeping on the job?” he sharply said, startling Drop-Shot out of his trance.

“Uh, NO SIR!” Drop-Shot yelled, standing to attention.

“Good” said Bombshock. “I need you to head down to stasis chamber 2B!”

“Yes sir!” saluted Drop-Shot. “Are we breaking out the new Vehicon shipment sent to us?”

“We are indeed” smiled Bombshock. “It’s time to put our Wall Crawler Vehicons into action!”

Corridor B-Sigma-Nine, Station Delta-22
Rocket Plume leapt through the hole, kicking a Tankor Vehicon to the floor, before firing on another.

“LET’S GET GOING!” said Rocket Plume, unloading a rocket on a further trio of Tankor Drones.

Quickshadow was next to squeeze out of the hole, pulling out her pair of pistols to fire alongside Rocket Plume. Longview rolled out, firing on the Cybertronians with his rifle. In the middle of the crowd of Vehicons, she then took note of a non-Vehicon Cybertronian who was likely in command.

“THERE’S ONLY A FEW OF THEM!” yelled Hypergear, a heavily armed Cybertronian who commanded the Vehicons, “KILL THEM!”

“There’s too many of them!” yelled Longview.

“Then we remove the head of the beast!” yelled Rocket Plume. “Take out the commander, and the Vehicons will lose all strategy. They’re not smart, so without someone to tell them what to do, they get sloppy, maybe panic, see what happens.”

“How? They’re completely surrounding him! They’ll shoot us on site!”

“You’re assuming any of them see who we send!” says Quickshadow, giving a gesture forward as she continued firing. “For now, Rocket Plume, use your explosive rounds to clear out the ones on the other side. There’s less of them, so that’ll be our way out if we can’t take out their command.”

“Sweet” grinned RocketPlume as she launched another explosive shell into the crowd of Tankor drones.

Hypergear began firing lasers at the trio, and readied the rocket pods on his shoulders to fire, when a blast from behind ripped it from its place. Hypergear quickly turned around to see nothing.

“WHO DARES?” he yelled, firing blindly behind the Vehicon line. “FACE ME!”

As he fired, something cleaved his gun in half, causing it to explode, shards flying at him. With his other hand, he grabbed a pistol and fire around him, accidentally taking out a few of the Tankor drones surrounding him.

“WHERE ARE YOU?” he yelled. “YOU WON’T-“

Hypergear was cut off as, in a similar fashion to his words, his head was sliced clean off, his body dropping to the floor with a loud clang. Behind his body Dino and Rijie phased into view, having been using using their cloaking tech to remain invisible. They briefly signalled to Quickshadow, before re-engaging their invisibility…

...only for a sniper round to pierce through Rijie’s chest before he had initiated his cloak. He dropped to the floor as Dino turned to look at the source. Strange mechanical beings crawled along the walls, six legged with a head almost like a scope. Several of them shifted into an airborne mode, attempting to get better positions on the visible combatants.

“SNIPERS” yelled Dino, slicing through vehicons to get back to his teammates.

Quickshadow looked to the side to see the first few of the sentry’s to reach their floor.

“Rocket?” she yelled back to her comrade.

“This side’s clear!” Rocket Plume replied, turning around to help fire.

“Then transform and fall back!”

Quickshadow transformed, and allowed Longview to transform into his stationary camera unit mode, the feet of his stand magnetising to her roof. Rocket Plume and Dino would transform into the car modes, Dino becoming visible as soon as he was far enough from the Tankor vehicons. The Tankors continued firing, though much more wildly without Hypergear to command them. The sentry drones began pouring out of the hole the team had cut, immediately chasing the remaining team members down.

“Dino, you’re lagging behind!” Rocket Plume called back.

“I’ll be fine!” Dino responded, a little behind his teammates. “These sentries don’t seem to have much in terms of armament!”


As they entered a new section of corridor, one of the drones rammed into the ground, exploding as it smashed into the ground. Dino swerved to avoid the blast.

“They’re trying to take us with them!” Dino yelled ahead as more drones began to divebomb at him.

More drones smashed into the ground, explosions beginning to consume the hallway as Dino tried his best to avoid them. One drone dived down, crashing right into one of Dino’s front wheels. As he began to lose control, the last his teammates could see of him was him disappearing into the wall of explosions.

“WE LOST DINO!” shouted Longview, watching the scene.

“We have to keep going!” Quickshadow said. “Much as I hate having to lose team members, we need to make sure he didn’t die in vain!”

Longview remained silent at that comment. He didn’t like it, but he knew Quickshadow was right.

“I see a door ahead” said Rocket Plume. “Want me to blow it open?”

“No, we want to be able to shut it after us!” Quickshadow sternly stated. “Besides, it should be reinforced.”

Reaching the end of the hall, the trio transformed, and Quickshadow pulled the door open.

“Unlocked” she said.

“All the makings of a trap” replied Rocket Plume. “A really bad trap.”

“We going in?” asked Longview.

“You wanna stay in with them?” asked Rocket Plume.

“Oh. Touché.”

Longview was the first through the door, followed by Rocket Plume. Quickshadow was the last in, shutting the door behind them. There were repeated explosions on the other side. Quickshadow held the door tightly as the drones slammed into the other side. Once she was satisfied that the drones had all rammed into the wall, she let go and turned around to see Bombshock, Growl and Drop-Shot pointing their guns while standing behind them.

“Weapons down, or we’re gonna have to call a sanitization team to scoop you up” threatened Bombshock.

“Greetings” said Venom, rubbing his hands eagerly. “Pleasure to have more subjects. I am-”

“Venom?” said Rocket Plume, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, I thought it was obvious that we were here to grab and bag you.”

“Erm, quite” said Venom, a little disappointed. “You kinda took the wind out of my sails. Nevermind. I’ll have to save the dramatics for testing!”


As the guards rounded the trio of Primal Vanguard members up, Venom started walking up and down in front of the remaining members of the team. He pulled out a pair of small vials, one in each hand.

“Who wants to go first?” he asked, twiddling them around in his hands. “These are special strains, designed to not spread beyond contact with the substance in these vials.”

Quickshadow stepped forward.

“I will” she said, firmly. “Provided you don’t test on my comrades.”

“Interesting proposition” mused Venom

A sinister grin spread behind his rebreather faceplate.

“It’ll make it all the more delightful watching your face when your compatriot becomes nothing but a pool of liquid rust. Bombshock! Growl! Hold back her and the red one!”

“NO!” yelled Quickshadow as Bombshock grabbed her, while Growl grabbed onto Rocket Plume.

Venom pressed a button on the cap of one of the vials, the compound spraying over Longview. Venom then took a step back to observe his work take effect. Longview didn’t even get a chance to scream as his entire body disintegrated in a matter of seconds, fragments of metal falling alongside the rush of red liquid. Venom jumped back as the liquid rust splashed when it hit the floor, then started giddily dancing.

“IT WORKS!” he shrieked in happiness. “I HAVE PERFECTED IT!”

He looked at a horrified Quickshadow and Rocket Plume, and grinned.

“Now, I wonder if we can enhance it further so you feel the full pain of it in those few seconds” he said sadistically. “You three, take them to the holding cells. I have work to do!”

Before anyone could move, the lights flickered, and beakers rattled. An empty on fell to the floor and shattered.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Jhiaxus yelled in Drop-Shot’s face.

“I don’t know sir” said Drop-Shot, trying to find out.

A viewscreen popped out of Drop-Shot’s arm. His face dropped as he looked at it.

“Multiple contacts firing on us” Drop-Shot reported. “Hundreds of them!”

“How did they get past the defence fleet!” Bombshock angrily asked, letting go of Quickshadow to look.

“I don’t know!” said Drop-Shot, his voice turning to panic. “They just… got in range and started firing!”

“THEN TELL THE FLEET TO-”

The entire station shook, throwing everyone to the ground. Venom looked around, incredibly distraught.

“We have to get my research out of here!” he screeched.

The Shatterbolt, Skystorm-Class Dreadnought
Peritus Maximus stood on the bridge of The Shatterbolt as the crew monitored events. Groundshaker’s hologram appeared behind him. Peritus turned around to talk to him.

“I take it you enacted the back-up plan?” asked Groundshaker.

“Already in motion” said Peritus. “Tailpipe told us he spotted a horde of drones heading into the garbage chute they cut into, so we’ve got our own assault drones attacking the base. They won’t do major damage, but the number and amount of force their weapons actually have will make that base shake like there’s a full Vanguard fleet at their doorstep.”

“A shame they lost the element of stealth, but we need Venom” Groundshaker sighed.

“I’ve asked Tailpipe to try and contact them so he can pick them up, but so far he’s had no luck” Peritus said. “He said to try to rendezvous with him at Point Tau, provided he can get them out.”

“Then we must pray that he manages to get them out” Groundshaker said. “Groundshaker, out.”

Groundshaker’s hologram dissipated, and Pertius resumed watching out the viewscreens, waiting for the communication to come through that they were safely out.

The Testing Chambers, Station Delta-22
Jhiaxus scrambled towards his work station, hoping to get his work.

“I NEED MY WORK!” he yelled as the station shuddered, forcing him to stop to keep his balance.

This gave Quickshadow the time she needed to tackle Venom to the ground. Venom tried to spray the other vial at her, only for her to snatch it from his hand.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Venom shrieked. “STOP THEM!”

Rocket Plume grabbed her weapons and fired a rocket at Growl, sending him flying backwards into a wall.

“There’s more of those where that’s from!” she said, pointing the rocket rocket launcher at Bombshock and Drop-Shot.

“There’s more security on the way here, and even then we still have better weapons” Bombshock threatened.

“Then I’ll blast his processor out” said Quickshadow, pressing the gun to Venom’s head. “Unless you let us go on our way, of course.”

“DO WHAT SHE SAID!” squealed Venom.

“Go on, throw your weapons down” added Rocket Plume.

Bombshock and Drop-Shot looked at each other, sighing and throwing their weapons to the ground.

“Right, we’ll be off then!” said Quickshadow, pulling Venom off the ground and slinging scientist over her shoulder.

“Oh, and don’t do anything to make us use him for target practice!” said Rocket Plume, giving them a quick finger gun.

The pair exited the lab, carrying Venom as they exited. As soon as they were gone, Bombshock picked up his weapon and holstered it. He then turned on his comms.

“All Wall Crawler vehicons, take up sniper positions in every room” he ordered, knowing that the pair were out of earshot. “Pick off non-Combatronians intruders, though let’s not worry too much about colateral.”

“Aren’t you worried they’ll hit Venom?” Drop-Shot asked.

“Please, I care as much about Venom as you do, I’m just better at hiding it” said Bombshock.

“But why wait?” asked Drop-Shot. “Why not just shoot him on sight. Why even let them get away with him?”

“False hope” said Bombshock, smirking. “Besides, it’s far easier to say you had to shoot him to keep his secrets safe when they’re stealing a ship, you know.”

Growl started to stir, waking up.

“Just don’t tell him” Bombshock said, gesturing at the waking Growl. “He won’t be happy that someone killed his idol.”

Corridor D9, Station Delta-22
Getting close to the hangar, Quickshadow carried Venom, with Rocket Plume keeping her weapons out just in case they did find themselves under fire.

“PUT ME DOWN!” screeched Venom.

“Can it, bugface” Rocket Plume stated, smacking his head with her gun. “We got a lift settled?”

“I managed to send a binary message to Tailpipe, but no clue if he picked it up” Quickshadow said.

“That’s hopeful” Rocket Plume replied “You think the tank guy will keep his word?”

“I don’t believe so” said Quickshadow. “As soon as we left the room…”

Quickshadow opened the hangar door, and approximately thirty purple dots appeared on Quickshadow and Rocket Plume’s chests.

“...he called for them to cover the hangars.”

Thirty one Wall Crawlers had set themselves up in the room, primarily climbing on the ceiling.

“Aaaaaaaaand what do you say are we gonna do about thirty snipers?”

Before Quickshadow could give an answer, a shuttle flew into the hangar scraping along the ceiling and crushing the majority of the Wall Crawlers.

“Seven snipers” Rocket Plume corrected herself. “That was very convenient.”

“Your rescue has arrived” came Tailpipe’s voice over the shuttle’s intercom. “Now get in before the Vehicons regain their senses and start shooting at you!”

“You heard him” said Quickshadow as a boarding ramp descended from the shuttle.

The pair got on board, tying Venom up to one of the pipes in the engine room. The remaining Wall Crawlers began shooting at the shuttle, their rounds ricocheting off the hull. Taking off, the shuttle rammed against the wall to crush a few more vehicons, before departing out of the hangar.

“Where are we heading, Tailpipe?” Quickshadow asked, walking into the cockpit.

“Point Tau” answered Tailpipe. “We’ll rendezvous with Peritus there, and begin questioning our guest there.”

“Then we best make sure Venom is well rested for the grilling” said Quickshadow.

Leaving the vicinity of Station Delta-22, the shuttle quantum jumped, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The Shatterbolt, Point Tau
Rocket Plume and an Autotrooper shoved Venom into one of the holding cells, sealing it up behind him with an energy grill.

“YOU CAN’T JUST SHOVE ME IN A CELL!” he yelled. “I AM THE GREATEST CHEMIST OF THIS SPECIES! YOU CANNOT TREAT ME LIKE THIS!!”

“Please, you’re a P.O.W., we can shove you in whatever cramp box we want so long as you can’t get out” said Rocket Plume. “Not to mention major war criminal, so you should be thankful you’re getting there in one piece.”

“THIS IS NOT THE END! I SHALL HAVE A RECKONING!!!” he yelled.

“Yeah, sure” said Rocket Plume. “See you at interrogation!”

Rocket Plume gave a little wave as the Autotrooper tapped on a keypad. A metal shutter came down in front of the laser grid, muffling Venom protests as it’s shut. Leaving the Autotrooper to keep guard, Rocket Plume headed to the bridge to meet with Quickshadow and Peritus. Taking the lift up, she greeted Quickshadow and Peritus on her arrival, and watched a hologram of Groundshaker appear with them.

“So you have him?” asked Groundshaker.

“Sealed up on the lowers floors” answered Rocket Plume. “So who gets to squeeze information out of the little weasel first?”

“We have people trained for that” said Peritus.

“The best” added Quickshadow. “If there’s a cure, we’ll get it out of him.”

“And if there’s not?” asked Groundshaker.

“Then we best hope that Ginrai Convoy actually gets the Circle of Light’s aid in researching the disease..."

 

Volume 1 - Weapons of Malice
In the Face of Light​

The Quawzmi System, Wild Space
In the depths of the Quawzmi, a single shuttle flew through, passing by the small planetoid designated Quawzmi Two. It’s crew was a trio of Cybertronians, consisting of Thunderhead, Crumble, and their leader Ginrai Convoy. Ginrai sat in the pilots seat, with Thunderhead behind him.

“So why are we taking this beat up old shuttle?” asked Thunderhead. “You’re Convoy, you could requisition any ship.”

“I can, and that’s why I chose this shuttle” said Ginrai. “It’s outdated enough that it was retired, which meant that it would no longer be on any registers that the Combatron’s can use to scan for it. And I thought I’d do the Circle of Light a courtesy by not bringing a Combatron army on their doorstep.”

“So?” asked Thunderhead. “They’re cowards. They fled at the first sign of trouble, leaving the rest of us to save the universe from the likes of Overlord.”

“They didn’t start the war. They are entitled to stay out of it.”

“We didn’t start the war either” scowled Thunderhead. “But at least we have the guts to fight for our home.”

“It really a good idea to argue with Ginrai Convoy?” asked Crumble, who had been quiet till now.

“Why did we even bring you along?” Thunderhead asked. “This is a diplomatic mission, we don’t need an engineer.”

“Thunderhead, stop being grouchy” said Ginrai. “Like you said, this ship isn’t in the best condition, so I’d like to be able to fix the ship if it breaks down.”

“Glorified mechanic, at your service” smiled Crumble, giving Thunderhead an overexaggerated bow.

“Besides, Quawzmi Prime, where we heading for, is canyons battered by heavy storm, so not exactly a safe place to land.”

“We’re not landing at their place?” asked Crumble.

“Not surprising, I doubt they’d let us land” said Thunderhead. “Scared we might bring a bomb.”

“Not exactly how I’d put it, but correct” said Ginrai. “We’ll land a distance away, then go the rest of the way by ground.”

Quawzmi Prime soon came closer into view from the cockpit. Ginrai flicked a few switches, producing a humming noise throughout the ship.

“Atmospheric shield’s up, let’s get down to the ground” Ginrai said, gripping the controls of the shuttle, allowing it to descend towards the planet.

Quawzmi Prime’s Surface
On the planet’s surface, overlooking a canyon, the shuttle landed on the ground, rain battering it. The wetness of the sediment caused it to skid a few inches forward on its landing gears.

“I don’t like that” said Thunderhead, looking out the viewscreen. “We’ll rust if we try to go out there.”

“I mean, obviously we’ll be wearing overshield generators” said Ginrai. “Not just good for soaking up kinetic and laser energy, but also hand for keeping off the rain.”

“It’s what the original model was built for” said Crumble. “Though acid storms as opposed to H2O downpours.”

Thunderhead put the device on his torso, and pressed the large button on it. A glowing blue energy shield covered his body, tightly following his form. Ginrai and Crumble followed suit.

“Right, let’s head out” said Ginrai.

Ginrai led the way out, the ramp lowering below his feet as he walked down it. Once it descended, Crumble and Thunderhead followed him. Once the trio were off, the ramp rose up.

“So where do we find the Circle of Light?” asked Thunderhead, squinting. “I can’t see anything.”

“I’m not sure of the correct distance, but I believe 289 degrees West” said Ginrai pointing. “I believe over that ridge, beyond the canyon’s exit.”

“It’s gonna be a long drive” sighed Crumble.

The trio transformed, driving across the side of the canyon towards where Ginrai had pointed out, rain bouncing off their overshields. After several hours of driving, the trio soon noticed the ground beneath their wheels was becoming wetter, the sediment having taken on much water. Crumble’s crane mode skidded from left to right, his wheels not suitable for the terrain. Transforming in an attempt to get a grip, he immediately fell forward. His face splatted into the wet sediment, sending a small spray of it at his teammates. Ginrai and Thunderhead transformed, and slowly trudged over the sediment to pick up their teammate.

“Not really built for this terrain, eh, Crumble?” Thunderhead chuckled as he held his arm out to help his comrade.

“Well you have tracks, you’re better suited for this sorta terrain” spluttered Crumble as he grabbed Thunderhead’s hand, the sediment now covering his overshield. “I’m covered in this muck now.”

“Well, you know as well as I do the overshield is also good for keeping the grime off you, provided it’s not a large clump of-”

“Hang on” said Thunderhead as he pulled up Crumble. “You hear that, boss?”

“Hear what?” asked a confused Ginrai.

“That sounds like…”

Thunderhead transformed back into his treaded spider-tank mode and pointed his turret upward.

“Mobile Transportation Discs!” he yelled. “We’ve been followed!”

“Oh scrap!” yelled Crumble, almost losing his balance again. “Did a Combatronian patrol follow us?”

“Hold, on both of you!” said Ginrai, shoving Thunderhead’s turret downwards to stop him from firing at anyone. “You’re missing the fairly obvious. We’re on a planet we believe the Circle of Light to be on. Who else is gonna trail us this far out?”

“You knew we were following you?” came a voice, the owner hidden in the clouds above.

“No, not until Thunderhead mentioned he heard the sound of your MTD’s” said Ginrai. “But it did occur to me that you might detect our shuttle landing, and that you might therefore investigate it and try to find us. So let’s drop the stealth act and talk faceplate to faceplate, like civilised Cybertronians.”

After a few moments of silence, a pair of Cybertronians, standing on top circular platforms, descended from the clouds in front of Ginrai, Thunderhead and Crumble.

“Thank you” said Ginrai. “Now, may we talk?”

One of the Cybertronians, purple in colour with wings on his back looked at the three, and gave a disgruntled look.

“Your friend still appears to be pointing his weapon at us” he said.

“Apologies, he’s just security conscious” said Ginrai. “Obviously he’s going to lower it.”

An annoyed moan came from Thunderhead, before relenting and reverting to robot mode.

“That’s better” said the purple Cybertronian.

“Typical warmongers” said his comrade, red and blue with some car kibble on his body.

“Now, might we ask your names?” said Ginrai.

The two Cybertronians looked at each other, then looked back at Ginrai.

“I am Vermillion Thunderbolt” said the blue and red Cybertronian.

“Bit of a mouthful, isn’t it?” mocked Thunderhead.

“If it’s too complex for your idiotic friend to say, then you may simply call me VT” scowled Vermillion.

“And I am Axe” said the purple Cybertronian. “And what about you? What are your names?”

“I’m Thunderhead” said Thunderhead. “My mud soaked buddy here is Crumble, and…”

“I am Ginrai Convoy” said Ginrai. “Leader of Cybertron.”

Axe and Vermillion looked at each other surprised, then gave a scornful look at Ginrai.

“Come to bring your warmongering ways here, Convoy?” scowled Axe.

“Atlas told you before, he won’t join your war and he never will!” said Vermillion.

“I am not here to ask for aid in fighting” said Ginrai. “Though I fight only to defend the freedom of all sentient life from tyranny brought about by those like Overlord.”

“Of course, ‘freedom of all sentient life’” muttered Vermillion. “Such a Convoy thing to say.”

Axe gestured to Vermillion to quiet.

“Then what are you here for?” asked Axe, curious.

“A plague has spread across the galaxy, killing thousands” said Ginrai. “We wish only to ask for the help of one of your own to help develop a cure.”

Axe remained silent for a few moments, musing what to do. Vermillion’s mind was set against letting them come to their home, but Axe wasn’t sure.

“We will take you to our crystal city, where you may plead your case to Dai Atlas” Axe declared.

“Thank you, we-”

“On two conditions” continued Axe. “You will leave your weapons, bodily or otherwise here. You will be confined to a specified room when not in front of Atlas. Am I understood?”

“You’re not gonna go along with them, are you?” asked Thunderhead.

Much to Thunderhead’s annoyance, Ginrai had already removed his arm cannons, as well as a pistol and several EMP bombs.

“Very much so” said Ginrai. “My main concern is to get help for those suffering from the red rust, and potential future victims. So just remove your weapons.”

Thunderhead groaned as he watched Crumble throw a pistol to the ground. Relenting, he detached his turret from his back, and threw a pair of rifles to the ground, followed by all manners of guns, explosives and energy blades.

“Do you really need that many weapons?” asked Crumble.

“This is a war, remember?” snapped Thunderhead.

“We have removed our weapons, and accept your conditions” Ginrai stated. “Will you take us, now?”

“You may” said Axe. “But you will go in ahead of us.”

“If you wish” said Ginari. “This way, is it?”

Axe nodded, and the group began the long walk to the Crystal City that the Circle of Light called home.

The Brig, Primal Vanguard Battlecruiser “The Shatterbolt”, In Transit
Tailpipe and Rocket Plume waited patiently inside the interrogation room of The Shatterbolt’s brig, waiting to see the result. Rocket Plume had her audio receptor pressed against the metal wall, trying to hear in.

“You think they’ll get anything from him?” asked Tailpipe.

“I’m not so sure” replied Rocket Plume, moving her head against the wall, trying to find a sweet spot she could hear through.”

“You think he’ll resist interrogation?”

“Eh..” shrugged Rocket Plume. “I think it’s more he’s so unhinged he won’t even notice he’s being interrogated.”

Within the room, Peritus and Quickshadow sat at a metal table, Venom on the other side twiddling his thumbs. His rotors had been forcibly pulled out, and his wrist weapons cut out and resealed. The only other items in the room were a security camera in the corner of the room, and a recording device at the side of the table.

“I’m sorry, when do the complimentary Energon nibbles get here?” asked Venom. “I’m a touch peckish.”

“We asked you a question” growled Peritus. “During your time working on the station, did you develop a cure?”

“A cure for the munchies?” Venom inquired. “Not really my area of expertise, though I always thought food was a good cure.”

Peritus stood upright, knocking his chair over, and slammed his fist down on the table.

“ENOUGH GAMES, VENOM!” yelled Pertius, pointing angrily. “ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION, YOU PIECE OF WASTE BI-PRODUCT!”

“Oooooooooooh, touchy!” teased Venom.

Quickshadow waved her hand to get Peritus to calm down.

“Is there a cure to the red rust?” Quickshadow calmly asked.

Venom leaned in close at the question.

“I’ll tell you what” he said quietly. “Seeing as how you were polite while manhandling and dragging me to your ship, I’ll let you in on a secret.”

Venom looked around the room, as if expecting people besides Quickshadow and Peritus to be listening.

“There is no cure.”

“Excuse me?” asked Quickshadow.

“I didn’t make a cure” cackled Venom. “Why would I? I wasn’t planning on infecting myself or my underlings, now was I?”

“What if there was an accident? What if you accidentally let it out?”

“Please” said Venom, waving his hand to dismiss the notion. “I am no klutz, and I certainly would not let anyone else fiddle about with my experiments! So no. No cure.”

Quickshadow stood up, then walked to the door with Peritus. She stopped before opening up the door.

“You will be returned to your cell by guards, where you’ll get your allotted Energon” Quickshadow said. “And you will likely be interrogated again in the near future.”

“I look forward to it” Venom grinned beneath his rebreather.

Peritius and Quickshadow exited the room, sealing the door behind them. They turned to see an impressed Tailpipe looking at Rocket Plume, who was leaning against the wall trying to act casual.

“Did you get anything?” asked Tailpipe.

“He said there was no cure” Peritus said.

“So we extracted him, lost four of our own, all for nothing” moaned Rocket Plume.

“At least he can’t do any more damage” said Quickshadow, trying to find some light in it. “It’s unlikely they’ll be able to enhance it further without him.”

“He could’ve been lying, though” suggested Tailpipe. “You know what his sort are like.”

“Perhaps, but for now we continue interrogating him” Quickshadow stated. “And pray to Primus that Ginrai has much more luck in his endeavours.”

Crystal City, Quawzmi Prime
The Crystal City was a magnificent sight to behold. Behind the metal walls were massive structures composed of panels of blue crystal, with golden metal framework around them. A massive energy dome protected the city from rainfall. Axe and Vermillion dismounted from their Transportation Discs, and Axe put his hands on a pair of recognition scanners. The giant doors opened in front of the group with a loud screeching sound.

“Wipe your feet on the mat” said Axe, pointing at some sort of fabric material laid across the ground.

“Homely” said Ginrai, observing the city as he moved his feet across the mat.

“I hear the crystals they used in construction can only be found on certain planets” said Crumble, disengaging his overshield as he stood on the mat. “That they were specific rock types that were glassed by cosmic storms powerful enough to breach the atmosphere.”

“This is degrading” groaned Thunderhead. “Don’t you have cleaning drones or something?”

“That is no excuse for you to be sloppy” growled Vermillion, annoyed at Thunderhead’s lack of manners.

“We will lead you straight to the debate chambers, where the leading members will hear you out” said Axe. “You will keep up with our pace and not diverge at any point.”

Ginrai nodded his head as he shuffled his feet over the mat. Once he was satisfied they were clean enough, he stepped off it.

“Right, where to?” Ginrai asked, pointing to a large tower in the centre of the city. “Is it-”

“Yes, it is the Lightforge Tower” answered Axe. “It should be obvious that the tall, central building is where you shall have your audience with Dai Atlas.”

“Well, lead the way then” said Thunderhead, angrily stomping off the mat.

“Uh, what he means is might we depart to see him?” said Crumble, trying to calm down his friend.

“If you follow the instructions I gave, then yes” said Axe. “You’re fortunate Atlas and the rest of the leading council will already be in session by the time you arrive.”

With that, Axe began to walk, leading the way towards the citadel. Ginrai, Crumble and Thunderhead followed him as Vermillion trailed behind, still wary of the trio. It did not take long for them to reach the central tower. Entering, the trio received looks from various members of the Circle of Light as they passed, some of curiosity, some of disgust. Crumble kept his head down while Ginrai had to do all he could to stop Thunderhead lashing out at anyone. The group were brought to a waiting room.

“The council is in there” said Axe, gesturing through a doorway.

“Thank you” said Ginrai, heading through.

Axe followed him in, but before Thunderhead and Crumble could go through, Vermillion stepped in the way.

“Hey, what gives!” yelled Thunderhead.

“Only the Convoy may enter” said Vermillion. “You’ll stay here while he does so. That way I can keep an eye on you.”

“Or we can keep an eye on them” came a voice from behind Thunderhead and Crumble.

“Wing” said Vermillion. “I thought you were busy?”

A red and white Cybertronian leant against the doorway, his arms folded.

“Ah, we’re basically done, Dash and Tacker can handle cleaning up the bandits that set up camp nearby” said Wing. “Besides, I got curious when I heard you report our visitors over the comms.”

“Wing…”

“I’m just here to impartially watch proceedings” shrugged Wing. “Plus I can help you watch over these two. Anything wrong with that, Vermillion Thunderbolt?”

Vermillion gave an annoyed grunt.

“Fine, but none of your funny business” Vermillion conceded.

“Wouldn’t dream of it” smirked Wing. “Now, what do you say we put the viewscreen on?”

“You mean we can watch?” asked Crumble.

“I was going to get to that, before Wing interrupted” scowled Vermillion.

Tapping a button on the wall, a holographic screen appeared, showing Ginrai and Axe entering the council room. Around the room were a series of smaller chamber-like structures, with an open window in each. Within each of them stood a member of the core council of the Circle of Light.

“The leading council of the Circle of Light gathers as audience to Ginrai Convoy” announces the occupant of the central chamber, a large blue winged Cybertronian.

“Dai Atlas” said Ginrai, looking up. “It’s been a while.

“Indeed” scowled Atlas, looking down. “Why have you come here, Convoy? Do you wish to bring the war here, like your predecessor brought to our home?”

“Are you claiming that it’s Arch Convoy’s fault that he was murdered by Overlord?” inquired Ginrai.

“Convoy, you should be well aware that prior to his death, Arch Convoy’s actions stirred all manner of groups, from Combatron and other colonies to even the Galvan Alliance and the Shadow Proclamation” said an orange and white Cybertronian in a chamber to Dai Atlas’ right.

“Sonic Ronin is right” said Atlas. ”To deny those facts is simply ignorance.”

“I am well aware” said Ginrai. “But I did not come here to ask you to join the war. I came here to ask you to save lives.”

“Preposterous!” came a voice from one of the pods to the far left. “If you have not come here to force your war upon us, then why would you have come?”

“A plague” announced Ginrai. “One that has already ravaged several planets! One that is capable of causing Cybertronians to rust away to nothing!”

“And what do you seek from us?” asked Atlas.

“I simply seek the aid of one of your members to produce a cure” said Ginrai. “If you will allow me to speak to Doctor Cogwheel of your group, she may-”

“This plague…” mused Sonic Ronin. “Where did it come from?”

Ginrai stopped, not sure how to answer this next question. This seemed to intrigue Atlas.

“Please, elucidate for us” Atlas pressed. “We would very much like to know the origin of this plague.”

“It was… artificially created by a Combatronian Scientist” Ginrai said, staring at the ground.

“YOU SEE!!!” came a voice to the right of Sonic Ronin. “He wishes to drag us into the war, using the facade of a plague!”

“Typical deception of the Convoys!” came another voice from the far left.

Atlas scowled at Ginrai and stood up.

“We are done here” Atlas stated. “Axe will escort you to your quarters, and we will inform you of the result of our discussions later.”

Axe gestured for Ginrai to exit the way he came in. Stepping back into the waiting room, Ginrai gave a sad look at Thunderhead and Crumble, before Axe followed him in.

“Vermillion Thunderbolt will escort you to the quarters you’ll stay in while Atlas and the council makes his decision” Axe said.

“I can-” started Wing.

“No” Axe cut him off. “You and I will meet with Atlas for discussions. We’ll bring Cogwheel with us.”

“Right…”

“Let’s go then” said Vermillion, leading the way. “Don’t think I won’t notice you if you attempt to sneak off enroute.”

Thunderhead rolled his eyes as Crumble followed Vermillion.

“It’s not looking good, is it?” Thunderhead quietly said to Ginrai as the pair followed.

“No” said Ginrai. “Unfortunately, Atlas can be notoriously stubborn. We must pray that he sees sense.”

Arriving at their given room, Ginrai, Thunderhead and Crumble entered, and turned around to see Vermillion shutting the door on them. All that was contained in the room were a trio of recharge pads, and an energon stick dispenser on a metal table. Sighing, Ginrai lay down on one of the recharge pads. He took off his faceplate, placed it on top of the dispenser, and rested his head on his hands.

“So, how long are we going to wait to sneak out and find out what they’re gonna talk about?” asked Thunderhead.

“We’re not” said Ginrai. “We’re going to stay here, pass the time, and hope they see what’s right.”

“We’re not going to look around?” asked Crumble.

“No” said Ginrai. “They’re not doing anything suspicious. Besides, the door will be locked. Break it down and we’ll lose our chance of getting Cogwheel’s aid.”

“So what do do?” asked an irate Thunderhead.

“Like I said, we wait.”

Ginrai started staring at the palm of his hand. Noticing this, Crumble and Thunderhead exchanged confused looks at each other.

“Uhhh… Ginrai?” asked Crumble. “What are you doing?”

“We just got here and you’ve gone loony” said Thunderhead.

“Not quite” said Ginrai Convoy. “I had Arcana embed a subwave communicator into my palm. Allows me to send and receive messages in text beneath current Combatron sensors. Unfortunately they’re painfully slow, hence why they’re not widely installed. But it’s compound and covert.”

“So what are you expecting, anyway?” asked Crumble.

“Whether Quickshadow and Peritus have had any luck interrogating Venom” said Ginrai.

“Wait, we got him?” asked Thunderhead. “You never mentioned that.”

“We were being escorted by two people on Transport Discs holding oversized swords, alongside numerous other weapons, I didn’t think the timing was appropriate.”

“So were there any updates?”

“Hold on, hold on, it’s still loading” Ginrai grumbled. “Like I said, incredibly slow. Slow to transmit, slow to receive.”

Ginrai’s face turned grim.

“What?” asked Crumble. “What does it say?”

“Venom’s claiming he didn’t make an antidote, no matter what could’ve happened in his lab” Ginrai stated. “What we do here, we need to make sure we succeed.”

“He could be lying” suggested Thunderhead. “Combatronians have a habit of doing that.”

“We have to assume that he’s telling the truth” Ginrai says, standing back up. “We can’t depend on him lying, else we risk so many lives that are infected, and so many more that potentially can be.”

Ginrai stood up, and stared at a corner in the room.

“You hear me, Atlas?” he yelled at the corner as Thunderhead and Crumble tried to figure out what he was talking to. “If you don’t help us, you risk all mechanical life as we know it!”

In another room, Atlas, Axe, Wing and Cogwheel looked at the screen, Ginrai Convoy staring right at them through the camera.

“Interesting” said Atlas. “He saw the camera, despite the perception filter we put over it.”

“You’re surprised?” asked Wing. “A Convoy can be very aware of his world.”

“Tell that to Arch Convoy” Axe retorted.

“Enough” stated Atlas. “We are not here to bicker. We are here to observe the Convoy.”

“Did they describe the effects of the plague?” asked Cogwheel, a white and red Cybertronian with spindly legs ending in wheels attached to her back.

“He did not in the time he was given” Atlas stated.

“You mean you didn’t give him enough time to fully make his argument” responded Wing.

“Wing” growled Atlas. “I allow you into these discussions so that you may give your input, having seen the war, not so that you may berate my methods.”

“I don’t know why you keep him and his fellow ‘Multiforce’ around” Axe said. “Save for the rare powerlink, the power they claim to have has never really shown. All you lot do is go strolling into potential battlefields and break our rule of non-interference in normal affairs. Affairs that deviate from our mission.”

“Interference?” responded Wing. “We help the innocents that get caught up in conflict. That’s not interference, that’s common decency.”

“ENOUGH!” yelled Atlas, slamming his fist so hard on the table that it splintered. “YOU WILL BOTH BEHAVE!!!!”

“Sorry, sorry” said Wing.

“I apologize, Dai Atlas” says Axe. “If I may give genuine input, we cannot trust him. You all saw he concealed a communications device on his person.”

“Did you specifically ask him to remove communications devices?” asked Wing. “Or were you expecting him to rip his hand off for you?”

Axe gave Wing a cold scowl.

“I’m not sassing” Wing said, raising his hands. “Just asking a genuine question.”

“And what is your opinion?” asked Atlas.

“Well, my opinion is obvious, but I want to state two things” said Wing. “Firstly, they are simply trying to save lives. They don’t want a weapon, they don’t want soldiers, they just want to make a cure. And secondly, they wanted the help of a specific member of our group. This shouldn’t be a matter of the council. This should be a matter for her.”

“Me?” asked Cogwheel. “I might be a Doctor, but if I agree, it’ll cause chaos in the Circle of Light. I’ve met so many of them who have seen the war and despise it, to help the Convoy would start riots.”

“Exactly!” agreed Axe.

“But so many lives are at risk!” begged Wing. “You’re a doctor, the best our race has ever known! You save lives, and this may be an opportunity for you to save more lives than anyone ever might. Are you really willing to let so many people die.”

“Well Cogwheel?” asked Atlas, his arms folded. “What is your decision?”

The Following Day
Having fully recharged, Crumble disconnected himself from his recharge slab. He looked to the left of him, and saw that Thunderhead had yet to wake up, snoring loudly. He then looked to his right and saw Ginrai’s recharge pad was unoccupied. He looked up, and saw Ginrai staring out a small window on the opposite wall to the door.

“The rain cleared” Ginrai said, not even turning to look at Crumble.

“Maybe it’s a sign things are gonna get better” shrugged Crumble.

“Didn’t take you much for believing in omens” Ginrai said.

“Gotta take hope where you can, you know?” Crumble answered.

“Well, hope is all we have for now” said Ginrai.

The door shunted open, and Vermillion Thunderbolt stood in the doorway. The noise caused Thunderhead to stir.

“Hrrrr… wuzzat?” Thunderhead mumbled.

“A decision has been made” said Vermillion. “Core members of the Circle will announce their decision in the chambers.”

“Hold onto that hope, Crumble” said Ginrai.

The pair walked out, followed by a groggy Thunderhead, and followed Vermillion to the council chambers. There, they were greeted by Axe and Wing. Ginrai could tell from Wing’s face that the decision was likely not good news.

“Do we even need to do this?” asked Ginrai.

Axe once again led Ginrai into the council room, where the same leading members stood in their chambers, looking down on Ginrai.

“We have made our decision” announced Atlas, standing tall. “We will not give you any support. We will not let your war consume the Circle of Light. You and your comrades will leave, and we ask that you never return to this place.”

“I understand” Ginrai said, disheartened.

Ginrai walked past Axe and out of the council room. He walked past Crumble, Thunderhead, Vermillion and Wing, and headed out of the Lightforge Tower. Wing could only give an apologetic look to Crumble and Thunderhead, and watched them head out.

“It’s not right” said Wing as Axe stepped out.

“We do what we must to protect ourselves” Axe said.

“If we aid them, they will bring their war to our home” Vermillion added. “We cannot allow that to happen.”

Wing stormed out of the building, leaving Vermillion and Axe in the waiting room. Exiting the Lightforge Tower, he could just make out Ginrai, Crumble and Thunderhead heading out the main gate, transforming and driving off as the rain began to return outside. As Wing was about to follow them, he felt someone grab his shoulder.

“Wing” came the familiar voice of Cogwheel. “I need a moment.”

Quawzmi Canyons, Several Kilometres from Crystal City
As they drove across the side of the canyon, Ginrai, Thunderhead and Crumble arrived back at their shuttle. It’s shield kept up through the storm, though its landing feet had partially sunk into the ground. Crumble kneeled down and looked at one of the landing feet.

“It’ll need a clean, but we should be fine to take off without any damage beyond cosmetic” he said.

“Good, you two head on board” Ginrai said. “Warm up the engines. I’ll be on in a few minutes.”

Thunderhead and Crumble looked at each other once more, then lowered the ramp and boarded the shuttle. Ginrai sighed, looking at the ground as rain bounced off his overshield. He then looked up at the sky behind him.

“You know I hear you” he coldly stated with a glare. “I turned up my audio receptors when I left, given how your buddies found us. I’m not happy, so say your piece and go.”

“You know you’re quite scary when you’re angry” said Wing as he transformed and descended. “Look, I hate Atlas’ decision as much as you do, but unfortunately there’s nothing either of us can do to change it.”

“Then why did you come?”

“I came because someone asked me to come” Wing answered. “I said we couldn’t do anything. But they can.”

Ginrai looked up and witnessed a Mobile Transportation Disc descended from the clouds.

“I’m sorry I had to put you through that” came Cogwheel’s voice. “But it was the only way. I wanted to help, but I couldn’t destroy the Circle of Light to do so. I had to inform them of my decision to not help so I could run away. That way only I am considered a traitor.”

“But you will never be able to come back” Ginrai said, shocked. “What if they come for you?”

“They are not vindictive” said Wing. “They will leave her be.”

“Besides, they will likely move now they know you’re aware of their location” Cogwheel said.

“Thank you” said Ginrai, grabbing Cogwheel’s hand and shaking it vigorously. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome” Cogwheel said, giving a weak smile. “Hopefully we can save some lives.”

Ginrai now looked sombrely at Wing.

“I’m sorry. I should never have-”

“No, it’s okay” Wing said. “In your position I would’ve acted the same. We’re only Cybertronian, it’s natural.”

“Will you come with us too?” asked Ginrai.

“I can’t” Wing said. “I’ve still got a team to look out for. Multiforce, as Axe calls us. For now, we’ll keep doing what we can for the innocent. But one day, when the war is over… maybe?”

Ginrai took Wing’s hand and shook it.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it” Wing said. “Just make sure there’s still a universe for us when the war is over.”

“You have my word.”

With that, Ginrai and Cogwheel boarded the shuttle, the ramp raising back up behind them. Wing watched as the shuttle took off, and flew upwards, disappearing through the clouds.

“Godspeed, Ginrai Convoy” Wing said to himself, staring skywards. “Godspeed.”

Solus Memorial Medical Station, Hydrus Four Orbit, One Month Later
Cogwheel stood next to Arcana, looking at a pair of stasis pods in the scientific wing of the medical station. Within them were a pair of patients, both in the middle stages of red rust infection.

“Are we ready, Arcana?” Cogwheel asked.

“Give the word and we’ll begin” Arcana said.

“Okay” said Cogwheel, taking a deep breath. “Insert the latest compound.”

Arcana pressed a few buttons on a console to his side, and a blue substance entered the stasis pod. It seemed to be drawn to the first patient. As it drifted around the patient, the rust patches began to disappear.

“Liquefaction rates are decreasing by ten percent” Arcana said, looking at readouts. “Twenty-percent… forty percent… eighty percent…. I don’t believe it! One hundred percent reduction! You’ve done it! You’ve cured the patient!”

“Calm down. Open up the link between the two pods” Cogwheel said. “We may have the cure, but if this works, we won’t even have to worry about distribution.”

“Right, yes” said Arcana, taking deep breaths as he tapped a few buttons on the console. “Linking to the second pod now.”

A pipe forms between the two pods, allowing fluids to move between the two. The blue substance seemed to drift towards the second patient. As soon as it reached the second patient, their red rust patches seemed to disappear too.

“I don’t believe it” Cogwheel said to herself. “We did it…”

“No, you did it!” Arcana excitedly said. “You created a cure for Red Rust!”

Margo Kappa, Margo Star Cluster
On the surface of the barren rocky planet of Margo Kappa, Ginrai entered the temporary camp, with Thunderhead and Rocket Plume, the trio covered in plasm. A gold Cybertronian with a blue head walked up to him.

“Sir, urgent message for you” the Cybertronian said.

“Can it wait, Lieutenant?” asked Ginrai. “Overlord’s new pet Biomorphants might be dead, but I would like to get their plasm off me before it sticks permanently.”

“I’m sorry sir, they insisted you hear as soon as possible.”

“Who insisted?” asked Ginrai.

No sooner had Ginrai asked his question, a trio of holograms appeared to answer his question. Quickshadow, Groundshaker and Cogwheel.

“Ginrai, you do look… worse for wear” Quickshadow said.

“Yes, Biomorphants aren’t my favourite thing in the world” Ginrai replied. “So what’s the news?”

“We have a cure” said Cogwheel, excitedly.

Ginrai’s optics lit up with joy.

“You mean...?”

“Yes, we have a cure for Red Rust!”

“But how do we distribute it, given the plague’s range?” asked Ginrai.

“Why do you think the cure took so long in development?” asked Groundshaker.

“We developed it so that the cure could be spread by proximity” Cogwheel said. “Just being in the presence of a cure-bearer would pass it onto you too.”

“A contagious cure?” Ginrai mused. “Is it-?”

“Already being distributed across the sector” Groundshaker said. “And hopefully Cogwheel can convert it so we can inoculate the unaffected, should the plague spread to other battlefields.”

“Thank you Cogwheel, for all that you’ve done” Ginrai said. “If you wish to stay out of the war, we can try-”

“No” said Cogwheel, calmly. “But thank you. Having now witnessed the war firsthand, I realised that there are so many injured, so many in need. If there was ever a time and a place for a Doctor it is here, and it is now. I’m staying, so I can save as many as possible.”

“Thank you” Ginrai repeated. “With allies like you in this war, we will win for sure.”

Out of view on the hologram, a Cybertronian whispered something to Groundshaker.

“I’ve got to go” Groundshaker then said. ”But we can all stand proud that once again, Overlord has failed. We will stop him, and end this war once and for all, so that no more lives be lost.”

Station Omega-5-D, Xenagra System
The station shook violently as something rocked it. Kitlist, a bulky grey Cybertronian, rushed to the command deck, trying her best to keep her balance.

“What’s happening?” she yelled at her crew, hoping for an answer.

“I dunno, ma’am, we seem to be under fire by something with an unprecedented amount of ordinance!” yelled Zip, a small red and green minibot at one of the consoles.

“We’re getting reports in that The Cascade and The Clusterblaze have been destroyed!” came Jabber’s voice from the other end of the command deck.

“WHAT?” yelled out Kitlist. “Those are our two strongest ships! What could wipe them out so quickly!”

“Ma’am!” called out Slipshot, a bronze triple changer to the side of the main console. “Reports suggest The Revenge is out there!”

“Overlord’s flagship! What’s that doing out there? There’s no way he would be involved in such a tedious conflict that serves no true strategic purpose.”

“We’re getting new reports!” replied Slipshot. “A new warship class, bigger than any we’ve ever had recorded!”

“How big?!”

“Well… no, this can’t be right” continued Slipshot. “The readings suggest this new ship is the size of a planet.”

“Recalibrate the scanners!” ordered Kitlist. “We can’t be-”

Kitlist stopped speaking as she observed a shape outside the window. Much like Slipshot had said, it looked like a planet, yet completely mechanised.

“Impossible…”

Those were the last words Kitlist ever said as lasers ripped through the command deck, as well as the rest of the station.

Observation Deck, The Revenge
Aboard the Revenge, a figure watched the darkness from a throne. He grinned as the space station was shredded by laserfire, the overwhelming force of his newest toy bringing him a feeling of joy.

“Target has been destroyed, Master Overlord!” announced one of the ship's crew over the comms.

“Good” said Overlord, watching the battle reach its close. “Set a course for Primal Vanguard Station Defiant. It’s time to exit the testing phases and give our first Warworld a truly spectacular debut into the war.”

 

Volume 1 - Weapons of Malice
Warworld​

Space Station Defiant, Cybertronian Held Space
Ginrai, Peritus, Quickshadow and Groundshaker stood around the central holoprojector, said holoprojector displaying map of the sector, several red marks appearing around a number of planets.

“This makes seven cases” Peritus said. “Devastating attacks with no survivors to be found. We can only say whatever new stratagem they’ve devised is frighteningly efficient.”

Ginrai looked at the holographic map, looking between the various attack sites.

“You see the pattern too?” he asked.

“Yes” said Quickshadow, stroking her chin. “From the first recorded one at Myre to the destruction of our station at Xenagra, they all seem to line up.”

“With this station along the same line” Groundshaker said, his eyes widening. “They’re going to attack here.”

“Yes” said Ginrai. “Which means we need to prepare.”

“But we don’t know what we’re up against” Groundshaker said.

“Then all we can do is pool what resources we can here” Peritus replied. “This station is too critical for the war effort to lose.”

At this point, a hologram of an Autotrooper appeared in command room. The Autotrooper gave a salute, as soon as he appeared.

“Autotrooper Phi-224 reporting in, sirs, ma’am!” the Autotrooper stated.

“At ease” said Ginrai. “What do you have to report?”

“It took some time, but we found the remains of a Combatronian starfighter” the autotrooper reported. “It’s only scraps, but we managed to find that it was one commandeered by one of our spies. One called Clouder.”

“I’m afraid we heard the message” said Quickshadow. “He told us about Colivox, but was cut off before he got anything else out.”

“Well, ma’am, we recovered the ship’s memory core from what remained. We were able to repair it, and it seems he anticipated not being able to make it. He left a message in the databanks. Only one word, and we’re not sure what it means.”

“Well soldier?” asked Peritus. “What is it?”

“Warworld” said the Autotrooper.

Command Centre, The Warworld
The command centre was of the Warworld was not what most people would expect. For a planet-sized war cruiser, one'd expect a grand, sweeping facility full of space and ostentatious decorations. Indeed, for a ship this size, the bridge was... surprisingly underwhelming - almost identical to a basic command building filled with the equipment from a Sledgehammer-Class Battlecruiser, though with a roof made of reinforced glass. Whirr sat at his control panel the command centre of the Warworld, a building built on its surface to control it. Whirr himself had the job of actually steering the warworld, and considered it the peak of his career. As he kept the Warworld enroute, every so often, he would let out an audibly excited squeal. On the other side of the room, Gutcruncher and Brawl were guarding the room, and constantly gave an annoyed look at Whirr whenever he made a noise.

“Someone shut him up” growled Brawl.

“Oh come on, can’t you celebrate a little?” asked Whirr. “We’ve just devastated another world for the glory of Combatron! Live a little!”

“That’s enough” came a voice from behind Whirr.

Standing behind Whirr was a taller femme with a tank mode going by the name of Blitzshot, this had grown to be the routine - pop out of nowhere with the hyperdrive, devastate the planet, throw what amounted to some sort of celebration for their unit as their enemy burned.

"Lieutenant, you don't seem chipper," Whirr noted, a little surprised as Blitzshot’s lack of enjoyment of their victory, "Does our recent string of success not work out for us?"

"I was born in the great Combatronian fleet, the product of a standard coupling, and for most of my life, I have lived the role of a soldier," Blitzshot noted, "If you had told me I would be in charge of a planet-sized warship designed to burn the enemy's greatest strongholds to ash, I would have kissed you full on the mouth and given you the opportunity to..." She trailed off, shaking her head, "...anyway, this ship represents the culmination of my career as a commander... and I, frankly, find this victory unsatisfactory."

"Oh, you're disappointed?" Whirr said, raising his optic ridge., "Guess we can't really blame you. We have been winning a lot lately."

"The widest plains of Vykta Five, laid to waste. The tallest towers of Edibarous toppled to the ground. Aronusa eradicated, Degerax obliterated," Blitzshot sighed, "And now, even Atleran is smashed to smithereens. In the past, such strongholds would have been a joy to crush... but now I feel like we're getting these victories too easy."

As they talked, their commanding officer, a tall Cybertronian known as Grimstorm who seemed to have treads across his body.

“STAND TO ATTENTION!” announced Grimstorm. “YOU LORD AND MASTER HAS ARRIVED!”

Grimstorm stood to the side of the door as those who were sitting at their stations stood up. First in was a slim purple Cybertronian known as Forestock with a faceplate and kibble resembling the parts of a sniper rifle. Then came a large blue Cybertronian known as Crucible with two pairs of arms, and a personal smelting pool in a chamber on his chest. Third in was an equally large tan Cybertronian known as Scissorsaw with a cross over his face and a cavity in his chest containing numerous sawblades. Finally, as the three stepped aside, a large blue Cybertronian stepped in and looked around the room.

“Excellent” he grinned to himself.

“ALL HAIL OVERLORD!!!” his underlings yelled, giving him a salute.

“Indeed” smirked Overlord. “Admiral Grimstorm, report. How is my glorious nightmare of a ship?

“Power levels are as hoped, my lord” Grimstorm replied. “The constant injection of Energon into the planet’s core keeps its size constant, meaning it acts as a perfect fusion reactor to move this warship. Save for the occasional flickering of lights in sectors of the Warworld where we have cannons clustered together, no real malfunctions of any systems.”

Overlord began to stroll around the room, observing goings ons as the crew returned to their posts and continued working. Grimstorm followed Overlord, as Overlord’s personal guards stood at opposite edges of the room.

“And defenses?” asked Overlord. “Do we see any detriment to the use of planetary shields?”

“Save for the obvious weakness of requiring nodes throughout the shield to produce one so large, nothing” Grimstorm said. “Though we should be able to spread our defense fleet to cover those points in particular.”

“Good” said Overlord. “Good! More of these, and the war will be ours! I’ve alright got several of my generals scouting for appropriate planets for cyberforming, and ordered them to begin purging any native species in preparation. Tell me, Scissorsaw, did Skyquake identify any potential minor colonies we can melt down for the raw cyberforming materials?”

“Enough for two and a half planets, sir” said Scissorsaw, not moving from his position beside Whirr’s workplace.

“Oh, excellent” cackled Overlord. “Now then, I couldn’t help but overhear someone was bored of winning.”

Overlord looked at Blitzshot as he said this, causing her face to white.

“Well, sir, umm…” stuttered Blitzshot, trying to regain her exposure.

“No, no, I quite understand” Overlord said. “Destruction can get quite boring without any challenge. That’s why our next destination is going to put our new toy through its paces.”

“Where are we heading, sir?” Blitzshot asked.

“Why Ginrai’s own control pad” Overlord grinned. “Set a course for Space Station Defiant!”

“Yes sir!” saluted Blitzshot as she gestured Whirr to get to work.

“As you command, sir” Grimstorm added. “We’ll soon rout the enemy!”

“Wonderful smiled Overlord, before looking at Grimstorm with a serious face. “Now then, I was told there would be a throne room.”

The Longbow, Space Station Defiant Refuelling Sector
Heading through the corridors of the Longbow, Ginrai, Quickshadow and Rocket Plume strided with haste to the bridge.

“How much of our forces were we able to requisition?” asked Quickshadow as they walked.

“We were able to get a number of ships of various sizes that had recently refueled at refuelling stations Kappa and Omega” said Ginrai. “We were also able to get recently constructed ships from the Excarz Shipyards, and some reinforcements from the recently liberated Castor Forges.”

“What about the League of Heroes?” Quickshadow suggested.

“We tried, but they’re currently pinned down on Shryc by Killmaster and her lot” sighed Ginrai.

The trio stepped into an elevator, and Ginrai pressed a button to go up to the bridge. As the elevator began to move upwards, it was suffice to say all three of them were on edge for the coming battle.

“What about the Wreckers?” pointed out Rocket Plume. “Didn’t they recently report a victory destroying a major Combatronian Energon facility on Draak?”

“They did, but they got caught up in a skirmish with a patrol fleet on the way back” Ginrai replied. “So for now we assume we won’t be getting their help.”

The elevator stopped moving, and the doors opened. Ginrai, Rocket Plume and Quickshadow stepped out onto the bridge, where they found Tailpipe, Crumble and Thunderhead busying themselves around the ship’s crew, much to the crew’s annoyance. A slender red and white Cybertronian walked up to Ginrai and extended her hand to shake.

“Captain Warpdrive, sir!” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir!”

“Thank you” said Ginrai, shaking her hand. “Pleasure to meet you too. So you’re in command of this ship, then?”

“Umm, under you, sir” Warpdrive answered.

“I, uh, what?” asked Ginrai, confused.

“This is your flagship” pointed out Quickshadow. “It’s been your flagship for the last few months. How have you missed commanding your own ship?”

“Oh you know me, always on the ground, in the thick of it” Ginrai shrugged.

“Well things are likely to get thick here, sir” said Warpdrive. “Given whatever we’re up against has wiped out space stations.”

“So what’s our plan of attack, then?” asked Ginrai. “Has Peritus given a tactics briefing?”

“We’ll be sending in vanguard fighter and flier squadrons in first to analyse what we’re up against while the bulk of the fleet holds a defensive line, sir” answered Warpdrive.

“No jumping into the fray for us just yet” smirked Rocket Plume, giving Ginrai a nudge.

“Well what exactly are we meant to do in the meantime?” yelled Thunderhead from across the bridge.

“Well, you could get to know the battalion that’s hanging about in a hangar three” suggested Warpdrive. “Depending on what we’re up against, we may need boarding parties at the ready.”

“That sounds more like it!” grinned Thunderhead, walking past Rocket Plume. “You comin’ Rocket?”

“If only to stop you blowing up the hangar” Rocket Plume smirked back. “Comm us if you need us, boss.”

“Right” said Ginrai, giving the pair a wave as they entered the elevator, before turning back to Warpdrive. “So how many strong are we now?”

Warpdrive lead Ginrai and Quickshadow to a table with a built in holoprojector, where several of her officers, alongside Tailpipe, were standing around. One of her officers tapped a button, and a hologram of their fleets formation.

“We have approximately 37 battleships at our disposal” she said, gesturing to the large fleet of ships, before pointing to smaller ships flanked in between them. “And 46 smaller frigates and corvettes to run interference. As of now, we have 67 fighter and flier squadrons, twenty of which will form our vanguard unit.”

“I must say, I’m not easily impressed, but this is a very well organised formation” said Tailpipe, stroking his chin.

“Well, Peritus knows a thing or two about these sort of things” replied Warpdrive. “We just have to hope it’s enough.”

As the discussion continued, an alarm began to blare across the ship. One of Warpdrive’s officers swivelled around from her position.

“Ma’am, we’re detecting a large object coming into our range!” the officer said in a panic. “It’s larger than any ship in recorded history!”

As if on cue, Peritus Maximus’ hologram appeared on the bridge, startling several of those on board.

“This is Peritus Maximus to all ships! Combatron forces have arrived. We’re reading numerous ships, including The Revenge and numerous Immolator-class Warships!” Peritus announced all Vanguard ships. “Forward units engage, all other ships, defensive formations!”

With that, Peritus’ holographic form dissipated.

“Overlord’s here” Ginrai said to himself. “I want as much data as possible. Warpdrive, can you provide me a real-time projection of the battle, and any way of hearing the squadrons out there.”

“You’re the Convoy” Warpdrive answered.

Crumble, meanwhile stood at the window, staring at the battle as squadrons of fighters and small corvettes darted towards the Combatronian fleet.

“Ginrai…. You need to take a look at what we’re up again” Crumble stuttered.

“That’s okay, the projection’s generating” said Warpdrive. “We should get a good look at the whole battle.”

“I mean it” Crumble retorted. “Look out the window.”

Ginrai walked up to the window and stopped when he saw what they were up against. Warpdrive soon followed over, and audibly gasped. At the back of the fleet, seemingly blotting out the star behind it was a metallic planetoid, protected by a large energy shield. Large, metal spires protruded from the surface, piercing the shield.

“What on Cybertron is that?” asked Tailpipe as he walked up behind them.

“I think…” started Ginrai, before composing himself. “I think that’s our mysterious Warworld.”

“But what exactly is it?” asked Crumble. “There’s no way they could build a warship of that size. The resources they’d need to build it would far outstretch was either side would be able to utilise.”

“I don’t think they did” Ginrai said. “I think they Cyberformed a planet and built around that. There have been records of other species developing planetary engines to move an entire planet, though to fully turn it into a warship… it’s unbelievable.”

A bleep emitted from the console, and Warpdrive rushed over.

“We’ve patched in, you should get a good feed of the battle” she said.

Ginrai returned to the holoprojector, standing next to Quickshadow as holographic images of the Combatron ships appeared, and the battle began. The bridge filled with noise as the various comms patched through. Various voices could be heard, all from different parts of the battle.

“All squadrons, target that cruiser!”

“Lambor, you’ve got two on your tail!”

“Skyfast is down! Repeat, the Skyfast is down!”

“The shield’s too strong!”

Ginrai tried to focus, but found himself distracted by the cacophony of messages. He knew just listening to everything wasn’t going to find the answers he needed. He needed to focus on one thing in particular.

“Warpdrive, do we have any squadrons probing the Warworld’s shields?” he asked.

The Longbow shook and the bridge briefly went dark. The enemy fleet had started firing on the ships holding back.

“Emerald Squadron was given that task, though Scimitar Squadron has been pushed quite close to the shield’s surface as well” answered Warpdrive. “I’ll see if I can get you their data.”

“Even if we break through that shield, we don’t know how to bring it down” pointed out Quickshadow. “We need to be able to identify a weak point.”

“Well…” said Crumble, walking over. “I can’t make any promises, but to be able to move and power something that big takes more than Energon. They’ll need to have tapped into the planet’s core as an engine. And to install anything to connect to the core, they’ll need to have dug straight into it.”

“So what, we drop bombs down the hole, destroy the core?” asked Ginrai.

“You sound like Thunderhead now” smirked Quickshadow.

“Well, if only it were that simple” sighed Crumble. “This isn’t a game or a film. They’d have built over it. But they would never be able to fill in that big of a hole. We’d need a handheld explosive, but with the same level of power as a planet cracker. Destroy the core, it should destroy its gravitational sphere, causing it to break up. Now, provided we pull the fleet back, we should be safe from the immediate effect, though with debris drifting through space, we will need to relocate Defiant.”

“That would’ve been inevitable, given that Overlord knows where we are” sighed Ginrai. “But there’s still the question of the shields.”

After tapping her ear, Warpdrive tapped the console to produce a hologram of what appeared to be a large metal spire.

“Emerald Squadron reported these large spires protruding through the shield” Warpdrive stated, pointing at the spikes coming from the Warworld’s surface. “From the scans they’ve made, they’re creating massive energy spikes.

“So those would logically be generating the shield” Quickshadow said, moving in for a closer look.

“Yes, but there would be multiple of them across the Warworld” informed Warpdrive.

“Can the squadrons destroy it?” Ginrai asked.

“They’ve attempted bombing runs, but it seems that the spires themselves are also covered in a separate shield powered on the surface” Warpdrive sighed “And even then, the sheer number of spires will mean if we destroy one, the others will compensate for the shield.”

“So there’s no way through?”

“There might be a way…” mused Tailpipe. “It’s an old method, only really used for blockade runners, but it could work here.”

“Oh?”

“When Arch Convoy was in charge, I was controlling a corvette to provide relief to citizens on Krozz. However, hostile forces had deployed shields generated by a satellite network. Like here, if one was destroyed, the rest would compensate. But it took a few seconds for the shield to fully do so. We were able to use a Cudgel IV-Class Frigate to smash into the satellite. The reinforced front meant we could destroy it, but also punch through the hole before the other satellites could fill the hole.”

“What about the overshields?” asked Quickshadow.

“They’re designed for lasers and bombs, not an entire frigate slamming into it” Tailpipe pointed out. “Provided the front is reinforced, we’ll be able to punch through with relative ease.”

Ginrai mused for a few seconds, then turned to look at Warpdrive.

“Do you have any ships that can fit the criteria of what Tailpipe’s describing” Ginrai asked.

“Well the Cudgel-line got discontinued before the war even got started” said Warpdrive, stroking her chin. “Though we do have a few Anx-Class Corvettes. They have been known to soak up a lot of damage due to the reinforced bridge.”

“Good, see if you can get one” said Ginrai. “Crumble, can you rig up that explosive?”

“I can, but to do that I would need a neutron core, used as power cores for ships like this. You got any lying around?” asked Crumble.

“One… but I don’t like being without a spare” said Warpdrive, scratching the back of her head. “I’ll have some engineers bring it to your lab.”

“Bring it to the hangar, it’ll have to be assembled on the way, Crumble” said Ginrai. “Grab what you mean and meet us there. Quickshadow, can you comm Thunderhead and Rocket Plume, get them to assemble a battalion meet us in the hangar?”

“Can do” said Quickshadow, giving Ginrai a two-finger salute.

“Alright, Tailpipe, Quickshadow, let’s head down” said Ginrai, leading the way out.

Bridge of Prima’s Soul, Anx-Class Corvette, Inside Hangar 7 of the Longbow
Ginrai stood inside the bridge of the ship, his hands holding onto the backs of each of the pilot’s seats. Sitting in the chairs in front of him, Tailpipe and an Autotrooper pilot were busy making their pre-flight checks. From the console, small projections of Peritus Maximus, Groundshaker and Warpdrive appeared.

“Ginrai, we’ll do our best to keep the enemies' attention on us while you proceed with the mission” said Peritus.

“Thank you” said Ginrai. “We’re almost prepared to launch, though once we’re down and the shield reseals, we’ll likely lose communications.”

“Indeed” said Warpdrive. “Naginata Squadron will cover you as you make your approach, and try to keep enemy fighters off you.”

“Ginrai, if you can demolish any towers once you make planetfall, do so” said Groundshaker. “You might be able to create a permanent hole in the shield, and that’ll allow us to more easily get reinforcements to you.”

“We’ll do what we can, but we’ll probably come under heavy fire as soon as we’re through the shield” Ginrai replied.

“Well, we wish you the best of luck” said Groundshaker.

“And to all of you” nodded Ginrai. “I’ll see you when the battle’s over.”

With that, the three holograms disappeared. Tailpipe pressed a few more buttons, then turned to look at Ginrai.

“We’re all ready, engines are warm, and our escort is waiting” said Tailpipe. “Shall we set off?”

“Yes” said Ginrai. “I’ll go and brief the soldiers.”

“Right, sir.”

Ginrai exited the room, and Tailpipe pressed a few buttons. He then grabbed the control sticks, and turned to look at his co-pilot.

“We all set, Hawk?” Tailpipe asked.

“Yes sir” said his Autotrooper co-pilot.

“Then let’s launch.”

The ship hovered upwards, steadily rising above the hangar floor, before flying out of the hangar at speed. Once it got clear of The Longbow, a number of Vanguard starfighters flew into positions alongside, and the group of ships began their journey towards their objective.

Ginrai, meanwhile, entered the cargo hold, which had been emptied to act as a briefing hall for the battalion Ginrai would be leading once on the surface. Once there, Rocket Plume and Thunderhead greeted him, and a gold and blue Cybertronian walked up to him and saluted.

“Ginrai Convoy, sir!” he shouted.

“”At ease” replied Ginrai.“I take it you're the commanding officer of this battalion?”

“Yes sir!” said the Cybertronian, taking his hand away from his head. “Lieutenant Goldbug of the 23rd Attack Legion, sir!”

“Pleasure to meet you, Goldbug” Ginrai replied with a smile. “How’re you feeling, Lieutenant?”

“Ready to do my part, sir!” he announced, before pausing. “But a little nervous.”

“Don’t worry, we all get it” said Ginrai. “Nervous keeps up watchful, and that’ll keep us alive.”

“The troops are ready for you, sir. Just say when.”

“I think now’s as good a time as any.”

“Right away, sir!”

Giving another salute to Ginrai, Goldbug walked to face his battalion, and cleared his throat.

“STAND TO ATTENTION!” Goldbug shouted. “YOUR CONVOY WILL BRIEF YOU FOR YOUR MISSION.”

Everyone in the room stood up straight, and turned to face Goldbug. Ginrai stepped beside Goldbug.

“Soldiers! You are here for a mission of the utmost importance! We will descend onto the Combatronian’s new warship! Once we land, we will be fighting our way to the shaft they used to reach its core, and attempting to destroy it! I can’t promise any of us a ride home, but I can promise that if we succeed, this mission will likely cripple the Combatron war machine! Am I understood?”

“SIR, YES, SIR!” answered the entire battalion in unison.

“Good” said Ginrai. “We will inform you when we’re about to land.”

Ginrai proceeded to head out of the room, back towards the bridge, Rocket Plume and Thunderhead following him.

“DISMISSED!” yelled Goldbug “AND ENSURE YOU ARE FULLY PREPARED FOR BATTLE!”

The soldiers began to mill about the cargo, talking, prepping their weapons, checking their equipment and whatever else kept their minds off the imminent battle. Goldbug followed Ginrai back to the bridge, just to make sure if any further orders came in. As he entered, he saw the battle taking place outside. Starfighters rushing between warships, Vanguard and Combatronian fliers among them. Explosions filled the space around the ship. A burning starfighter streaked over them, making a loud screeching noise as it scraped across the top of Prima’s Spirit.

“Dammit” said Hawk. “That fighter just took out one of our point defense cannons.”

“Keep our heading” replied Tailpipe, flicking several switched. “We can’t deviate, else we’ll lose forward moment when we hit the spire.

“This is Naginata Leader to Prima’s Spirit” came a voice over the intercom. “We’ve got a squadron of bombers coming right at you. We’ll do our best to take them out before they get close, but you need to prepare for them attempting to fly straight into you if we don’t completely finish them.”

“You need to destroy them as much as possible” said Tailpipe. “We need to reserve shield power for impact.”

“We’ll do our best” said the voice, before cutting out.

At the corner of windows, Tailpipe spotted the trio of bombers coming at them. On cue, four of the fighter escort passed and turned to face the enemies. There were a series of explosions as the two sides exchanged shots. One of the bombers, it’s engines spewing flames, dived past the bridge, narrowly missing before impacting a Combatronian corvette.

“Way too close” said Tailpipe.

“This is Naginata leader” came the same voice as before. “We’ve taken out the bomber squadron, but we lost Naginata Two and Seven in the process.”

“Understood” said Tailpipe. “Do what you can. We need to get to the surface without losing any momentum.”

“Sir, a Combatronian ship is moving to intercept our course!” stated Hawk, pointing at one of the screens on the console in front of him.”

“Dammit, evasive maneuvers!” yelled Tailpipe. “Everyone hold onto something.”

Instinctively, Rocket Plume, Thunderhead and Goldbug grabbed onto metal bars that had been installed in the room for such an eventuality. Ginrai, meanwhile, kept a firm grip on the chairs in front of him. The entire ship flipped upside down and tilted upwards to narrowly avoid the hull of Combatronian dreadnought. Lasers fired all around them as the ship’s ventral weapons fired at them and their escort. One starfighter in their escort took a bad shot at its engine, spiralling into Prima’s Spirit and ricocheting off the side, before finally crashing into one of the Combatronian dreadnought’s heavy cannons. The bridge rocked from side to side as the ship took a pounding from Combatronian firepowers.

“Sir, we won’t last long with the shields as they are” said Hawk. “We need to increase power.”

“But we need to guarantee enough shield power to smash through the blockade” replied Tailpipe, annoyed.

“Tailpipe, listen to your co-pilot!” shouted Ginrai as the ship shook again. “We can’t do anything if we don’t even make it to the shield.”

There was a boom, followed by another shake, violenter than before. Hawk quickly turned to consult one of his screens.

“They just took out one of the secondary thrusters!” Hawk said. “Sir, we need to increase power to the shields!”

Tailpipe gave a heavyy sigh.

“Increasing powers to shields” Tailpipe relented, proceeding to fiddle with a few dials.

The rocking seemed to lessen, though didn’t completely cease. Though Prima’s Spirit continued to soak up fire from the dreadnought, the ship finally managed to get through the worst of it, though losing several more members of the fighter escort along the way. Tailpipe activated the commlink again to his escort.

“This Prima’s Spirit to Naginata Leader” he said over the comms. “Are you holding up?”

“This is Naginata Leader” replied the voice through the comms. “We’ve taken big losses. We’ve lost everyone but Naginata Eight, Naginata Eleven, Naginata Twelve and myself. It gets worse. We’ve got a squadron of Trident Starfighters closing in on us. We’ll do our best to best hold.”

“Do what you can. We’re almost then.”

“Best of luck. Over and out.”

The four remaining fighters flew ahead of Prima’s Spirit and turned to the right. Goldbug peered from behind at the side of the window, seeing the four fighters go up against a squadron of twelve. Laser fire flew everywhere, and though they managed to take out several of the squadron, the remaining fighters of Naginata squadron were slowly whittled down. First down to three, then two, then finally just down to Naginata Leader. As the enemies started firing on him, he flew right at them, taking out two of them before spiralling out of control and rocketing in flames towards the shield. There was an explosion as it hit the shield, followed by a few small ripples along the shields surface. Goldbug sighed as he watched this.

“We’ve lost Naginata Squadron” sighed Hawk.

“They’ve done what they could for us, and we’re almost there” said Tailpipe, pointing ahead at the spire protruding out of the shield. “Tell everyone to hold on to something, then on my word, transfer all shield power to the forward shields.

“Yes, sir” said Hawk, activating the intercomm. “All units, we are about to make impact. Hold onto something.”

Once again Goldbug grabbed back onto his bar tightly. Tailpipe gripped his control stick tightly as the spire quickly got closer to them.

“On my mark in three…” began Tailpipe. “Two… ONE!”

Hawk flicked a switch, and the front of the ship glowed a bright blue as the forward shields maximised. The ship slammed straight into the spire, causing it to shatter. Large fragments of metal flew off in all directions as the machinery inside it began to explode. The shield around the planet began to pulsate as the collapsing spire gave way for a small hole in the shield. Continuing to smash its way through the spire, Prima’s Spirit rocketed through the hole, pulling up as soon it was through.

“We’re through!” said Tailpipe. “Hawk, maximise all shields as much as possible. We’re need to be ready for-”

The ship began shaking as the sky filled with explosions, laser fire and missiles. Hawk looked at his scanners to assess their attackers.

“-surface weapons.”

“I’m picking up AA Guns, Rocket Pods, Pulse Cannons, Thermite Missiles, Electro-Ballistas” said Hawk, as he read the scanner. “Essentially whatever they have that they can throw at us.”

“Get those shields up!” yelled Taipipe.

The ship shook again as Hawk flicked some switches. The bridge then began to shake more violently.

“Shields are up, but they hit one of our primary engines!” yelled Hawk. “We’re going down!”

“Can you set us down?” asked Ginrai.

“Not so much set us down as scrape, but I should be able to” answered Tailpipe. “We’ll have to get out quickly though. They’re probably already getting a team of bombers ready to destroy the ship as soon as we land.”

“I can see the target from here” Hawk said, pointing to a building on the surface. “If we manage to land, we should be two, maybe three miles out.”

“Then we’ll have to push forward immediately, and fight our way there” mused Ginrai. “See if we can ram into another spire on the way down.”

“We can try” said Tailpipe. “But that still won’t be enough for us to create a permanent hole in the shield.”

“Then we’ll have to do it by hand” said Ginrai. “We’ll head down to the cargo hold and join the troops. Goldbug, can you establish teams with rocket launchers to bring down any more spires?”

“Can do, sir” said Goldbug, giving a salute.

“Then let’s prep up and make sure we’re holding onto something” said Ginrai.

The Workshop, Prima’s Spirit
Somewhere else within the ship, Crumble had taken his supplies and parts into one of the rooms inside the corvette, and was tinkering away, making the explosive they would be using to destroy the Warworld’s core. Tools and parts were littered everywhere. Quickshadow, meanwhile, leant against one of the walls, watching him work.

“How close are you to finishing?” asked Quickshadow.

Crumble looked closely at the device, and began containing the core in a silver casing, twisting two pieces of casing to seal. Once it clicked, he attached a small control device to it, clipping it to a pair of wires protruding from either side of the casing. The console blinked red as it activated.

“Done!” he said. “One home-made bomb, big enough to blow up a planet’s core.”

“You sound way too happy about that” Quickshadow said.

“I’m not happy about building a bomb specifically” Crumble shrugged. “But gotta be happy to have created something while the ship we’re in smashes through a metal spike.”

“Let’s just head into the hold. It’s reinforced, so it’ll be safest when we inevitably crash land.”

“How do you know it’ll be a crash landing and not a, you know, regular landing?”

“How often do we get to normally land?”

Quickshadow turned to leave, and looked back to see Crumble scrambling amongst the mess to grab his tools.

“Hurry” she said, annoyed.

“Alright, alright, I’ve almost got it” Crumble said as he stuffed the last of his tools into his compartments. “I’m ready!”

Outside
Prima’s Spirit continued on a straight path, only slightly diverging it’s course to avoid areas of heavy fire, all the while losing altitude. Another explosion came from the back as another engine exploded, and the ship began to dip further forward. The ground came up fast, and Prima’s Spirit streaked over it, scraping over metal and smashing through another of the spires, before finally coming to a stop in an area relatively unpopulated by batteries and other turrets.The transport ship's less-then-soft landing had lead to much chaos, but that did not mean the landing was unsuccessful.

"Okay, how many survived?" Goldbug shouted out.

The air was briefly filled with returning shouts of confirmation from the survivors.

"Good, we got a good percentage of the battalion," Goldbug sighed.

"How big a percentage?" Thunderhead asked.

"75%," Goldbug answered.

"You got that from a bunch of people groaning?" Rocket Plume asked.

"It's a rough estimate, admittedly," Goldbug noted. “But I know my entire battalion.”

“ALRIGHT THEN, EVERYONE OUT!” yelled Ginrai, activating the shutters on one side of the cargo hold.

The shutters slid open, and a ramp attempted to descend, only to get stuck when it hit the ground. Ginrai ran out and checked around, then signalled for everyone to exit. Goldbug led his troops out, alongside Ginrai’s team. Tailpipe came out last, carrying the injured Hawk.

“You sure we can do this after losing a quarter of our forces already?” asked Thunderhead

"It’s as good as one can get, considering the circumstances," Ginrai pointed out, "Now, soldiers, be ready for anything."

Suddenly, from right near their position, three imposing shapes lumbered over.

"Including that?" Goldbug asked for clarification.

"Including that," Ginrai answered.

Laserfire began blasting from all directions, as the three shapes moved towards their position.

“Ah frag!” yelled Thunderhead. “We’ve got Gigantions!”

One of the gigantions, a brown and silver Cybertronian with a chest cannon and large shoulder towers known as Diveplane, began firing explosive shells at battalion.

“DISPERSE!” yelled Goldbug, trying to get his men to avoid the heavy fire.

Explosions began pounding the surface, sending Cybertronians flying. Thunderhead switched to his alt-mode, and returned fire, attempting to blast the shells while they were in the air.

“Like shooting Cyberducks in a barrel, eh Airlift?” smirked Diveplane beneath her faceplate.

“Your shellin’ them, course you're gonna be gettin’ all the easy kills” retorted a grey Cybertronian with two massive rockets underslung beneath his forearms.

“You’re saying that with those two massive rockets?” asked an orange Cybertronian with a pair of massive crushing claws in place of standard arms.

“Oh, go swing those lanky arms around, Reachout” Airlift huffed, before firing one of his rockets at Prima’s Spirit.

The rear of the ship exploded in a massive fireball, debris flying everywhere. Vanguard troops scrambled, and continued to fire back. A trio of bombers, escorted by a pair of gunships flew overhead. The gunships descended and began firing on the force, while the bombers began bombing the wreckage of the ship.

“Overkill, isn’t it?” asked Rocket Plume.

“I’m guessing they ordered them without realising there were three Gigantions already in the area we landed” suggested Crumble.

“Rocket squad 2, take out the nearest gunship!” ordered Goldbug, gesturing to a team of Autotroopers carrying rocket launchers.

The team fired a barrage of four rockets that pounded against the gunship’s shields. Though it didn’t cause any damage to the ship itself, the force was enough to slam into the other gunship, sending it crashing into the ground.

“Squad 4, clear out that gunship!” Goldbug then ordered.

A group of Cybertronians proceeded towards the downed gunship, firing on Combatronians trying to crawl out. Spotting this, Tailpipe handed Hawk off to another Autotrooper, and followed them towards the downed gunship. Goldbug, meanwhile, turned to a red Cybertronian standing next to him.

“Salvage, can you get us some cover?” Goldbug asked.

“I’ll do what I can” Salvage replied.

“Cover?” asked Ginrai. “How are you going to make cover?”

Salvage turned to face the wrecked ship and outstretched his arm. On his command, hunks of metal were lifted into the air and dug themselves in the ground between the Primal Vanguard forces and the Combatronians.

“Ohhhhhh, Magnetokinesis” said Ginrai. “That’d do it.”

“Yeah… never really got the best look, being a talented” sighed Salvage.

“Never really got on well with functionism myself” replied Ginrai.

“ALRIGHT, WE’VE GOT COVER, NOW MOVE UP!” yelled Goldbug. “ROCKET TEAMS, TAKE OUT THAT REMAINING GUNSHIP!”

The battalion began moving up to metal debris that Salvage had formed into cover, while more Autotroopers fired their rocket launchers at the remaining gunship, rocking it about as the shields on it failed. Ginrai slid up against a piece of metal debris with Rocket Plume, Salvage and Crumble.

“We won’t make much progress with that gunship still behind us” said Ginrai.

“They’ve taken out the shields, at least” muses Quickshadow. “Salvage, now they’re gone, can you bring it down?”

“Not quite that strong” replied Salvage. “But I can pull off an engine.”

“That’ll do nicely” smiled Quickshadow.

Salvage once again concentrated, and ripped the engines off of the gunship. The gunship spiralled to the ground, it’s other engine snapping off.

“Do us a favour” said Rocket Plume, pulling a sniper rifle off her back and peering through the scope. “Sling that engine at the big guys.”

Salvage used his powers to throw the engine at Diveplane, Airlift and Reachout. Lining up her rifle, Rocket Plume fired. As soon as the shot hit the engine, it exploded in front of the three. Reachout managed to shield himself with his arms, while Diveplane and Airlife toppled backwards onto the ground.

“Ahhhh, that smarts” groaned Diveplane, sitting back up. “I’m gonna blast ‘em all to hell.”

“You might not have to” points out Reachout. “Those bombers are coming back around for another strike.”

“Oh come on, I wanted to finish ‘em” moaned Airlift.

Holding their positions, Ginrai and Rocket Plume stood up and fired on the oncoming forces. The force, a mix of Combatronians and Vehicons, were almost at their barricades. At another piece of cover, Goldbug, Quickshadow and a pair of Autotroopers were firing everything they had, when Goldbug stopped and pointed.

“LEAPERS, INCOMING!” he yelled as several large cycloptic Vehicons with large spikes on their arms leapt overhead and crashed down the Vanguard forces.

“DESTROY THEM ALL!” yelled the lead Leaper, swinging his arm at Thunderhead and flipping him over.

“Oh, that hurt!” Thunderhead yelled as he instinctively reverted to robot mode.

Thunderhead charged at the Leaper, only to be sent flying by another blow. Spotting this, Ginrai darted back from his cover, and leapt onto the Leapers back. Aiming one of his exhaust cannons down the Leaper’s massive back thrusters, he fired a volley of shots into it. Leaping off, he turned around to watch the Leaper writhe in agony as it was blown apart by an explosion from within.

“CONCENTRATE YOUR FIRE ON THEIR BACKS!” he yelled as he ran over to pull Thunderhead up. “You okay, Thunderhead?”

“Yeah, boss, but I don’t know for how long…” Thunderhead said pointing upwards.

The Combatronian bombers were closing fast for a second run, their bays reloaded for the next strike.

“EVERYONE MOVE” Ginrai yelled as explosions ripped through the battlefield, sending Vanguard soldiers and Leapers alike flying.

This time, however, the bombers did not hesitate to turn around and start yet another run, looping around the three Gigantions for their next strike.

“Dammit, they’ll tear us to pieces in no time!” Goldbug sighed.

The bombers began their approach, lining up for maximum damage. As they approached the Vanguard forces, laser fire sprayed upwards. The blasts caught one of the bombers, causing it to lose control and smash into one of its fellow bombers. Ginrai turned around in shock.

“Who was that?” he asked, looking around.

Ginrai spotted the gunship they had knocked to the ground hovering above them. However, this time, it’s guns were not trained on them, but instead skyward, firing on the bombers.

“How you doing down there?” came Tailpipe’s voice through the comms.

“Tailpipe, is that you in the gunship?” Ginrai asked.

“It is indeed. I- Hold on”

The gunship fired several more shots at the remaining bombers, blasting it’s engine and sending it crashing into the ground beyond them.

“Thanks for that” Thunderhead shouted into Ginrai’s communicator.

“Someone’s gotta save your sorry asses” Tailpipe replied. “Now, I should be able to get us straight to our destination with this, but I can only carry… about three passengers?”

“Only three?” questioned Ginrai.

“Afraid so. There’s only the side and rear gunner seats in here. Besides, someone’ll have to keep these guys busy.”

“It’s okay boss” said Thunderhead. “Rocket and I’ll support Goldbug.”

“You sure?” Ginrai asked.”You are my bodyguards.”

“Look, you need Crumble for the bomb and you’ll need Quickshadow to bypass any locks” Thunderhead explained. “We’re better off getting our hands dirty in the battle.”

“If you’re sure” said Ginrai, switching between comm channels. “Tailpipe, bring the ship down so we can get on board. Crumble, Quickshadow, I need you on me.”

Ginrai then switched over to Goldbug.

“Goldbug, I’m taking a small team straight to our destination” Ginrai said. “I need you to hold the enemy here as long as possible.”

“We’ll do what we can, sir” Goldbug replied. “Over and out.”

The gunship descended as Crumble and Quickshadow arrived. Ginrai climbed into the port gunner seat, while Quickshadow sat in the starboard gunner seat. Crumble, then climbed into the rear gunner seat.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, here we go” came Tailpipe’s voice through the ship’s internal radio.

The gunship once again lifted into the sky, flying over the battle and between the Gigantions.

“I hope they’ll be okay” Ginrai sighed.

“They will” reassured Quickshadow. “They know what they have to do.”

As the ship travelled, the battle got gradually smaller and smaller, while the building ahead of them got closer and closer. The occasional fighter flew past them, either patrolling or heading join the battle, unaware of the gunship’s occupants.

“There’s a landing platform on the west side of the building” said Tailpipe. “It looks quiet, so we should be able to use this ship’s weapons to clear any enemies from it as we land.”

As the gunship came in close, several Combatronians walked forward to greet the gunship. Before they had any idea what was happening, Ginrai and Quickshadow sprayed lasers, blasting the group. Landing, Tailpipe shut down the ship while Ginrai, Quickshadow and Crumble climbed out. Quickshadow ran to a nearby terminal, attaching a datapad to it.

“This should get us a map of the facility” she said, before waiting a few moments. “Done. Our destination is bottom floor, sector 21-A.”

“Then let’s go” Ginrai.

Quickshadow disconnected her datapad, and the four Cybertronians entered the facility, unaware of who they would be up against. Charging through the building, the team of Autobots blasted their way through security patrols, demolishing any doors that obstructed their way. Coming to the lift, Ginrai turned around and took up a firing position, using some.

“Tailpipe, take a position, just in case another patrol comes by” Ginrai ordered.

Tailpipe sighed and pulled out a small pistol from a compartment in the side of his leg, before pointing it at the hallway. As Crumble checked the bomb was still intact, Quickshadow called the elevator up. As they waited, a pair of Combatronian soldiers wandered around the corner.

“What the-?” said one. “INTRUDERS!”

In a moment, Ginrai fired a blast from one of his arm mounted cannons. The blast carried the Combatronian soldier as it struck him, slamming him into a wall.

“OH SHIT!” yelled the other, trying to flee.

Tailpipe fired a few shots, missing the Combatronian. After several missed shots, Tailpipe managed to hit the Combatronian in the leg, sending him crashing to the ground. Ginrai then fired a shot at the Combatronian’s back, sparks flying off as it hit.

“Was that necessary?” asked Tailpipe.

“We can’t let the alarm be set off” replied Ginrai. “So I’m afraid it is.”

Behind them, the elevator made a loud ding, and the doors slowly opened. Quickshadow quickly stepped dead centre in front of them, and pointed her gun ahead. The door opened, revealing a pair of Tankor Vehicons inside. The two Vehicons jumped back in surprise at Quickshadow pointing a gun at them, before she fired off two shots at them. The pair of vehicons dropped limply to the floor as Quickshadow stepped in.

“Time to head down” she said, gesturing the other three to enter.

Entering the lift after Quickshadow, Ginrai silently nudged the Vehicons to the side with his foot. Crumble and Tailpipe then entered the lift and stood silently as the doors closed, and the lift began to descend. After several minutes of waiting, the doors opened. In front of them were a number of catwalks, suspended over a large, seemingly endless pit. Pipes ran along the edges of the wall, pumping what seemed to be energon downwards. At the other end of the room, there was another doorway, likely a second lift down, while to their right was a large platform with a number of controls.

“Empty” said Ginrai Convoy, looking around. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Let’s not look a gift equinoid in the mouth and set up the bomb” said Tailpipe, slowly shuffling forward.

The four bots spread out, Quickshadow covering the door, while Tailpipe and Crumble walked over to the control platform. Crumble unloaded the bomb, and began priming it. Ginrai, meanwhile, walked towards the door on the opposite side.

“Be on your guard” he said. “You never know when our luck will run out.”

The door in front of him slid open. Standing in front of Ginrai was the imposing form of Overlord, flanked by Scissorsaw, Forestock and Crucible.

“Oh Ginrai” grinned Overlord. “You really should learn to know when to keep your mouth shut.”

Overlord uppercutted Ginrai, sending the Convoy flying backwards across the catwalk. Sitting up, Ginrai wiped off some Energon from his lip. He grabbed the railing of the catwalk and pulled himself up.

“Overlord…” Ginrai said with a scowl.

“In the metal, at last” Overlord said with a chuckle. “Honestly, 342 years of war and we haven’t had a proper brawl in all that time.”

Ginrai levelled his blaster at Overlord, immediately firing off a volley of shots. As the blasts struck his chest, Overlord shrugged them off and charged forward. Grabbing for his tank barrel, Overlord pulled it out from his back and swung it like a polearm, striking Ginrai across the chest. Ginrai responded by kicking Overlord’s shin.

“What, no sword?” asked Overlord, wincing as Ginrai struck his shin. “You Convoys have a fondness for those.”

“What can I say?” retorted Ginrai, throwing a punch at Overlord’s jaw. “I’m trying to break the mold.”

As the two leads fought, Overlord’s guard slowly spread out across the platform, slowly closing in on Crumble and Tailpipe.

“We are very outmatched here!” Tailpipe said in a panicked voice. “You almost done?”

“I need a bit longer!” replied Crumble as he tapped on the control pad.

Scissorsaw lunged at the pair, only to receive a swift kick to the head from Quickshadow. Backing up a few steps across the catwalk, Scissorsaw quickly recovered, switching hands out for a pair of sawblades and swinging them at Quickshadow. On the next catwalk, Forestock had transformed into a small turret mode and was already targeting Quickshadow.

“Oh, that’s not gonna be good!” exclaimed Tailpipe, pointing his pistol at Forestock.

Tailpipe fired a single shot at Forestock. The blast dinged off Forestock’s barrel, knocking his aim askew as he fired. The shot intended for Quickshadow instead struck Scissorsaw’s left saw, ripping through the hinge and sending the blade off the edge.

“FORESTOCK YOU IDIOT!” Scissorsaw yelled, still swinging his remaining blade around.

Forestock quickly swivelled to face Tailpipe, firing off a high energy laser bolt straight at him. Tailpipe barely ducked in time behind a console as the laser soared over his head and struck a screen on the wall behind.

“This is incredibly stressful!” Tailpipe yelled at Crumble.

“You don’t know the half of it yet” came a voice from behind.

A giant blue hand tore the console Tailpipe was hiding behind out from its base. Tailpipe turned around to find Crucible’s face staring straight into his own, grinning. Crucible threw the console off the platform to fall into the pit below, and grabbed Tailpipe by the throat.

“Now it’s time for a dip” smirked Crucible as the glass tank on his chest opened up.

“TAILPIPE!” yelled Crumble, looking up from the bomb and scrambling to his feet, only to be put down by another shot from Forestock, this one ripping through his leg.

Seeing what was going on, Quickshadow kicked Scissorsaw away to help her comrades. As she turned around to tackle Forestock, she felt a sharp pain in her back. Scissorsaw swung his sawblade up her back, sending Quickshadow flying across the catwalk.

“Never turn around from a fight” Scissorsaw grinned, closing in to finish her.

As this was going, Overlord swung his barrel at Ginrai. Ginrai grabbed it, staring Overlord right in the eyes as he did so. He pulled the barrel forward, landing a direct punch on Overlord’s head.

“How does it feel to meet your match!” Ginrai yelled.

“My match?” asked Overlord, still holding the barrel towards Ginrai. “When you’ve given me a point blank shot?”

Before Ginrai knew what Overlord meant, a powerful blast of energy shot out of the barrel, tearing a hole through Ginrai’s abdomen. Metal flew everywhere as Ginrai dropped to his knees, clutching the hole. Overlord smugly stood over him, admiring his barrel.

“Lucky, you know” Overlord said “Any higher than that would’ve blasted through your spark or transformation cog. Though it probably still hurts.”

Overlord knelt down and looked Ginrai right in the eyes, a wide smile over his face.

“Honestly, it was fun” Overlord said. “I expected more from a Convoy, but it’s better than any of your underlings could hope for. Now, while your friends are brutally torn apart by my guard, what’s say you and I…”

Overlord thrusted his arm at Ginrai’s throat and grasped it. Standing up, he held Ginrai off his feet and turned to dangle him over the edge of the catwalk.

“...say our last goodbyes.”

The Crash Site, The Warworld
Thunderhead back up towards the makeshift barriers, firing back on the massing Combatronian forces. Thousands of Combatronians and Vehicons were forming up around them, with the Three Gigantions still firing on them from the back of their forces. They were completely surrounded.

“FALL BACK TO THE SHIP!” Thunderhead yelled at the remaining soldiers around him. “FORM A CIRCLE AROUND IT AND HOLD THE POSITION!”

“We’re not making our way out this time, it seems” sighed Rocket Plume.

“Not like you to be defeatist” replied Thunderhead.

“Well, look at the odds! Normally I’d revel in them, but this time… well, how many of us are there actually left?”

“Thirty seven, ma’am!” replied Goldbug, firing a spray of lasers into the swarm of enemies. “Not nearly enough to form a circle.”

“Then we make one hell of a last stand” stated Thunderhead. “If we’re going down, we’re taking as many down with us as possible.”

Rocket Plume sighed and nodded. Resuming firing, she unloaded what few rockets she had left into the enemy army, sending groups of them flying. Thunderhead stood alongside her, making sure to not waste any of his shots. As they fired, none of them noticed the grenade land beneath them. The blast sent Thunderhead, Rocketplume and Goldbug flying in different directions. As Thunderhead slammed back into the ground, an Autotrooper rushed to pick him up.

“Well… I guess this is it” Thunderhead said.

The Autotrooper nodded sadly at Thunderhead, before his attention was distracted by something else.

“Sir, do you see that!” the Autotrooper said excitedly, pointing.

“What is it, soldier?” Thunderhead asked, trying to see what exactly the Autotrooper was talking about.

“The spire in the distance, sir!” the Autotrooper said, standing up with Thunderhead. “It’s collapsing.”

Thunderhead squinted, and sure enough, in the distance, one of the spires generating the shield began to collapse. And flying from the spire was the glint of a ship. No, not a ship. Several ships. Several ships coming towards them.

“Do you guys hear something?” asked Reachout, turning around.

“No, what are you talking about?” snapped Airlift. “Focus on finishing these idiots!”

“Sounds like…”

Before Reachout finished his sentence, a laserblast tore through his head, sending the Gigantion toppling to the ground. Airlift and Diveplane spun around in shock as a silver Cybertron Carrier Plane transformed into robot form in front of them, grabbing both of their heads and slamming them both to the ground.

“Allying with Overlord…” Stratosphere, the Silver Cybertronian muttered. “Brings the name Gigantion to shame.”

As he slammed them into the ground, a large red ship descended close to the surviving Vanguard soldiers, its turrets clearing out the Combatronians and Vehicons. An orange, green and brown hulking Cybertronian charges out, shifting into the form of a massive armoured vehicle and began mowing through Combatronians, all weapons firing.

“WRECKERS! KILL ‘EM ALL!” yelled the Cybertronian.

As he gunned down various Combatronians, a white motorcycle shot past, transforming into a robot form and swinging a pair of blades through several soldiers.

“Roadbuster, there’s survivors around the wreckage!” yelled the white Cybertronian known as Valve. “We need to push forward to them!”

“Right” Roadbuster said, charging straight through the enemy line.

Roadbuster fought his way through foes, blasting a Tankor here, punching an Afterburn there, before he had single handedly created a distinctive gap in the enemy forces. Overhead, a silver and red jet flew overhead, spraying fire at the Vehicons lines.

“GET EVERYONE ABOARD THE XANTHIUM!” announced the silver flier, shifting robot mode. “I’ll burn them if they try to disrupt the evac!”

“YOU HEARD HOT HOUSE!” yelled Roadbuster. “ROLL ON OUT!”

Rocket Plume looked back at the rest of their force, and signalled for them to press towards the Xanthium. She began firing at the Combatronians, pushing forward to the Xanthium. Thunderhead and Salvage followed close behind, then Goldbug and the remaining force. As they boarded, the Stratosphere fired rockets at Diveplane, bringing her down and leaving only Airlift to face him.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR KILLING THEM!” yelled Airlift, charging at Stratosphere.

“Their fate was sealed the moment they joined Combatron” retorted Stratosphere, preparing to counter Airlift. “And so was yours!”

As Airlift charged at him, Stratosphere managed to wrap his arms around his fellow Gigantion’s waist. Picking him up, he slammed Airlift into the wreckage of the crashed Prima’s Soul. Stratosphere jumped back and fired another volley at rockets, both at the downed ship and Airlift. Airlift was consumed by multiple explosions, setting off his arm rockets in the process.

“You’re clear to go” Stratosphere said, looking down at Valve.

Valve headed back into the ship, followed by Roadbuster and Hot House. He ran to the bridge, where a black, white and orange bot was sitting at the controls.

“Time to go, Sprocket” Valve said as he sat down in the copilot’s seat.

“I hear ya” said Sprocket, flipping several switches.

Rocket Plume, Goldbug and Thunderhead entered the bridge, their plating scorched and dented by the battle.

“Thanks for the assist, but I thought you were held up on your way back from Draak?” asked Thunderhead.

“We were, but now we’re not” said Roadbuster, entering behind them. “It’s just going from fight to fight for us.”

“What about Ginrai and the others?” asked Rocket Plume. “They went ahead to finish the mission?”

“We figured they might” said Valve, looking back from his chair. “So Crest took a gunship and some escort fighters to the shaft building to back them up.”

Sprocket looked out the window and signalled to Stratosphere. The Xanthium launched from the ground, and Stratosphere and transformed and followed it as the scattered Combatron forces attempted to fire at them.

Fusion Core Shaft, The Warworld
Overlord held Ginrai tightly by the neck, dangling above the seemingly endless abyss below.

“Any last words?” he asked, grinning.

“Go to hell” choked Ginrai, struggling to get free.

“Oh, and I thought we were close” replied Overlord, feigning shock. “I like to imagine we were getting to know each other over the course of this brawl. Still, maybe your successor will have some manners.”

“Cry me a river.”

“I’ll miss the sass” sighs Overlord.

“Well, you might not have to worry after all” replied Ginrai, looking over at the door.

“WRECKERS, CLEAR THE ROOM!” yelled a voice.

Overlord turned to see four heavily armed Cybertronians standing in the doorway. The leader, a blue bot called Crest, pointed a large, barrel-like cannon forward.

“TAKE ‘EM!” yelled Crest, firing his cannon at Overlord.

The blast knocked Overlord back, causing him to drop Ginrai. As he dropped, Ginrai grabbed the edge of the catwalk. Crest charged at Overlord as his fellow Wreckers began firing on Overlord’s guards. Hardhead, a green Cybertronian, shifted into tank mode and blasted at Crucible as the latter attempted to place Tailpipe in his chest tank. The blast ripped through one of Crucible’s arms, dropping Tailpipe. As he landed, a red and white Afterburn Vehicon flew over, kicking Crucible backwards before helping up Tailpipe.

“You alright?” the Vehicon asked.

“Yeah…” groaned Tailpipe. “You’re… you’re a Vehicon.”

“A Wrecker first” said the Vehicon. “And the name’s Storm Jet.”

“Tailpipe…” Tailpipe replied in return. “Where’s Crumble?”

Tailpipe looked around for Crumble. After a few seconds, he spotted Crumble, missing a leg and curled around the bomb behind a control pan. Forestock, now in robot mode, was walking along the catwalk towards him.

“COVER ME!” yelled Tailpipe, running across the catwalk towards Crumble.

“FORTI, TAKE OUT THAT SKINNY MECH!” Storm Jet yelled.

Another Vehicon, this one a crimson Tankor, began blasting Forestock from his shoulder cannon, sending Forestock flying with his artillery rounds. In the midst of this Tailpipe ran over to Crumble.

“You alright?” asked Tailpipe, shaking Crumble’s shoulder.

“Well, I’m missing a leg” said Crumble, uncurling. “But besides that, fine.”

“And the bomb?”

“Intact and primed” answered Crumble. “We just need to throw it down.”

“NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT!” yelled Scissorsaw, charging forward across the catwalk.

As he ran, Quickshadow had managed to pull herself up using one of the railings and fired on Scissorsaw’s leg. Though it didn’t do much damage, it was enough to cause him to lose his footing and fall to the ground.

“THROW THE BOMB OVER!” yelled Quickshadow, holding onto the railing.

“Do it” said Crumble as he held out the bomb to Tailpipe.

Tailpipe took the bomb and ran towards the edge of the control platform. As he did so, Overlord had taken notice of him, knocking Crest to the ground and raising his weapons at Tailpipe. Ginrai used the opportunity to climb back up and leap onto Overlord’s back.

“NO!” Overlord yelled as Ginrai held on tightly to his back.

“TILPIPE, NOW!” Ginrai shouted.


Reaching the edge, Tailpipe dropped the bomb over the edge and watched it disappear into the shaft. After a few minutes of silence, there was a flash of light accompanied by a low boom, then followed by rumbling. The entire room shook, which Overlord used to throw Ginrai off of himself.

“YOU HAD TO RUIN IT!” Overlord yelled, pointing at Ginrai.

“Well, it was a team effort” smirked Ginrai.

Overlord snarled at Ginrai, before turning to the lift and looking at his guards.

“Fall back to the Revenge” he ordered. “Tell them to warm the engine and leave as soon as I’m aboard.”

Heading through the door, Overlord was followed by Forestock, Crucible and the limping Scissorsaw. The room shook again, as Ginrai turned to Crest.

“Thanks for making it” Ginrai said.

“Pleasantries later” replied Crest. “We need to get out of here, before the planet breaks up.”

“Right. MOVE OUT!”

Storm Jet helped Quickshadow up as Tailpipe picked up Crumble. Slowly, the group made their way into the elevator, as the facility continued to shake. Progressing forward, they made it outside where a shuttle awaited them. Outside the facility, the ground was beginning to fracture, and magma was spurting out in large geysers. A pair of Autotroopers stood at the entrance to the shuttle, as a pair of Hurricane-fighters circled above. The group rushed aboard the shuttle, followed up by the two Autotroopers guards. Ginrai and Crest rushed into the cockpit, where a pair of Cybertronians were already preparing to take off.

“We waiting on anyone else?” asked one of the pilots. “Cos this planet is losing its gravitational field.”

“That’s everyone” said Ginrai. “Get us out of here.”

“You heard the Convoy!” ordered Crest. “Take off!”

The shuttle launched from the landing platform, the two Hurricanes following alongside. Below them, the ground was seemingly tearing itself apart while Combatronian ships and fliers fled for their lives. More and more magma was breaching the surface, and segments of terrain were beginning to rise as gravity failed. Soon the Xanthium and Stratosphere had caught up to the shuttle and were flying close behind.

“Put me through to command” requested Ginrai.

One of the pilots fiddled with a few of the controls, and holograms of Warpdrive, Peritus and Groundshaker appeared from the small projector on top.

“The core’s been destroyed and the planet’s coming apart” said Ginrai.

“So we noticed” replied Groundshaker. “Some of the debris has begun drifting into the rest of their fleet.”

“They’re in disarray” added Peritus. “Now that they’re panicked, we’re finally beginning to pick them off. Some have fled, and I’m sure once they get a grip of themselves they’ll retreat.”

“Alright, take as many down as you can before they leave” ordered Ginrai. “Any sign of Overlord’s ship?”

“We picked up The Revenge taking off before vanishing just beyond what was once the planetary shielding” relayed Groundshaker. “Though we’re fairly certain he’s Quantum Jumped away as opposed to his ship being destroyed by debris.”

“He lives to fight another day” sighed Ginrai.

“Chin up, Ginrai” replied Crest, patting Ginrai on the shoulder. “We just blew the hell out of the largest weapon in known Cybertronian history, and sent Overlord packing in tears. Feel proud.”

“We’ll be ready for your arrival” stated Warpdrive. “We’ll prep quarters for you to take it easy.”

“And don’t worry about the rest of the fleet” added Peritus. “We’ve got that well in hand.”

“Thank you, but-” started Ginrai.

“No buts, Convoy” said Crest. “And first brew’s on me.”

The Longbow, Cybertronian Held Space
Ginrai sat in the war room of the Longbow alone, studying a map of Cybertronian territories. A can of cold Engex sat on the console besides his faceplate, the beverage thrust upon him by Crest. The battle had long passed, and Peritus had already reported mopping up the Combatronian Ships that hadn’t fled. Yet despite the well earned rest, Ginrai was still working. Quietly Quickshadow entered the room, her back having now been repaired by the ship’s medical team.

“Wondered where you got to” said Quickshadow. “Rocket was worried you’d miss her shooting a can off of Thunderhead’s head.”

“Still celebrating, huh?” asked Ginrai. “It’s been hours.”

“Course they are” said Quickshadow. “We just gave Combatron one massive kick up the aft. We’ve earned it. You should come back up.”

“I’m not letting Rocket Plume shoot stuff off my head when she’s already had a drink” chuckled Ginrai. “Besides, I’m terrible at being social.”

“It’s a bar” said Quickshadow, rolling her eyes as she pulled Ginrai up. “You don’t get social. You’ve got no excuse.”

As Quickshadow pulled Ginrai away from the holotable in the middle, a light began blinking. Quickshadow looked surprised at Ginrai.

“I swear, I did nothing” Ginrai shrugged as he pressed a button.

“One day I’m gonna have you give Crumble the Matrix just to find out what exactly its properties are” sighed Quickshadow. “Convenient excuses should not be one of them.”

A hologram of Groundshaker appeared on the table.

“Ginra Convoy, sir!” saluted Groundshaker. “Exarchon’s legions are making moves towards Llystradd, and our force need immediately support, and your the nearest available forces.”

Ginrai looked back at Quickshadow, who simply sighed.

“The job never ends, does it?” she said, groaning.

“We’ll be on our way” nodded Ginrai.

Ashmar Citadel, Tuurok
Overlord sat in his chamber, alone. He mused the events of the battle, and the loss of what could’ve been his greatest weapons to date. Silently contemplating, none of his underlings dared enter for fear of facing his rage. Overlord sat up, and looked between some pillars.

“You can stop lurking in the shadows” he said.

A figure stepped out from between the pillars.

“Now, we may speak.”

---​

And so we reach the end of Volume. First of all, thanks all for reading! Secondly, a few specific people to thank!
@Nemesis Scar - Revisions regarding the Circle of Light.
@Stonecrusher - Character design, proof reading, co-writing issues. A lot! Most importantly, giving me the opportunity to explore an epoch of Autobot Academy's history.

---

Convoy of War Will Return in June with Volume 2 - The Innocent​

 

Volume 2 - The Innocent
Trial of a Convoy​

Drewstiss. A Colony on the fringe of the Vanguard/Combatron border. Now the site of one of thousands of battles that have taken place across the Combatron war. Its surfaces have been scoured, the majority of its cities bombed to oblivion. In one of the few remaining cities, brave Vanguard troops fend off wave after wave of attacks by the Seventh Vehicon Legion. Now, on the surviving main highway, yet another wave of Combatronians press forward, looking to take the city and push the enemy offworld. Hundreds of Vehicons were moving forward, with gigantic armoured walkers every few platoons. From their defensive position along the highway, a brave force of Cybertronians prepared to fend off another wave.

“Seventh attack this month” said Rocket Plume, looking through the scope of her rifle. “They’re exhausting our resources, yet they seem to be able to replenish their forces at a whim.”

“It won’t be an easy fight, that much is certain” added Quickshadow as she observed the enemy through her visor. “I make out at least three Behemoth-Class Armoured Transports in that force. Maybe a fourth one at the back. A number of Haemorrhage-Class Walkers, too.”

“It never was gonna be easy holding this planet” said Ginrai. “But it’s at the end of a Quantum Trail. One that leads further into our territory. They take this planet, they can quickly get troops to further planets along the trail and get a quick and easy path deep into our territory.”

“What are your orders, sir?” asked Goldbug.

“Have our troops line up behind cover and fight defensively till I give the word” Ginrai stated. “We hold the line until we get our advantage. Have Sergeant Pyrite get the anti-trooper turrets up, and have Corporal Lock-On get the heavy cannons recharged as soon as possible. The sooner they’re back, the easier time we’ll have.”

“Yes sir” nodded Goldbug, before turning to address two of his subordinates.

“You sure we can wait on the heavy cannons?” asked Rocket Plume.

“I’m not prepared to put all our eggs in one basket” replied Ginrai. “But not to worry, we’ve got plenty of tricks up our sleeve. Now, Tector Company will need to maintain this covering fire till Thunderhead gives us the signal.”

“And what signal is that?” asked Rocket Plume.

“Trust me, it’ll be hard to miss” said Ginrai, giving Rocket a pat on the shoulder as he progressed to the wall of debris that had been lined up on the highway.

Ginrai stepped onto the line, where a mix of Cybertronians and Autotroopers were lying on their fronts, their guns poking over the peak of the debris. Kneeling down, Ginrai pulled a pair of electrobinoculars out from his compartment and looked through them at the advancing walkers.

“What do you see?” asked Quickshadow, crawling up the debris from behind.

“All Vehicons, again” stated Ginrai, his optics staring through the binoculars. “This wave’s primarily composed of Tankors, with OverDrives flanking the sides. Three Behemoths tanks, and a number of Haemorrhage walkers taking over underneath. Nothing we haven’t handled before.”

“Yes but we’ve only got the heavy cannons, and if we don’t get them back to full charge those Behemoths will wipe us out” Quickshadow replied.

“The cannons aren’t our main plan” said Ginrai. “And… first line’s in range! ALL TROOPS, FIRING SPRAY!”

The line of Autotroopers began firing laser bolts into the oncoming platoons of Vehicons, some striking the various drones down in their tracks. One of the forward Tankors, his body marked by silver patterns, pointed forward, signaling the Vehicons to fire back at the Vanguard force. Without a word being uttered, the Tankor drones began firing artillery shells back as the OverDrive drones shifted motorcycle mode and sped towards the line of debris. Some shells struck the line, blowing debris and soldiers off, while others overshot and landed behind the Primal Vanguard’s lines.

“Pyrite, have the anti-infantry turrets pick off the bikers!” ordered Goldbug over his comms, before looking over at Ginrai. “Sir! Those tanks are getting dangerously close to firing range.”

“He’s right!” yelled Quickshadow over the sound of artillery shells flying overhead. “If you’ve got a plan, now’s the time!”

Ginrai watched the tanks through his electrobinoculars patiently, slowly passing one of the largest skyscrapers in the city. After a few more seconds, he put his electrobinoculars down and activated his comms.

“Thunderhead, they’re in position!” he yelled over the comms. “Bring it down!”

On the opposite side of the skyscraper, concealed on the rooftops of nearby buildings, Thunderhead stood with a number of Cybertronians of various shapes and sizes, all with large tank barrels pointed at the building in front of them. The bottom floors of the skyscraper had been partially demolished, leaving only the key support columns to keep the building up. Thunderhead tapped a button on his wrist, answering the comm call.

“Alright, we’re on it!” answered Thunderhead, turning around to the assembled tanks. “Fire at will!”

The tanks began firing down on the base of the building, their blasts slowly whittling away the remaining supports at its base. As more and more of the columns were destroyed by the onslaught of blasts, the building began keeling over. After a few more blasts, the skyscraper fell onto the frontmost Behemoth tank, causing its legs to give way and the body of it to slam against the ground, crushing the smaller walkers troops that were taking cover under it. From her position on the line of debris, Quickshadow looked in surprise as the building crushed the tank beneath it, then looked in disbelief at Ginrai.

“Don’t tell me that was your signal” she said, shaking her head.

Ginrai nodded before standing up, and looking around to address the Vanguard Forces.

“ALL UNITS, CHARGE!” he yelled, before leaping off the debris barricade and charging towards the Vehicons.

Autotroopers and Cybertronians leapt over the barricade and charged towards the enemy, their weapons firing. Both sides closed in on each other, till the two forces merged into a single mass of fighting. Ginrai grabbed one of the OverDrive units by the wheel and threw it as a pair of Tankor drones, while behind him Rocket Plume blasted several Vehicons with her rifle. Ahead of them, Quickshadow fired both pistols at a Tankor drone, bringing it down with ease. Ahead of them, the Behemoth-tank was trying to get back on its feet, slowly trying to push the toppled building off itself. Noticing this, Ginrai tapped his communicator.

“Lock-On, are those cannons recharged yet?” he asked over the comms.

“Just got them back online” said Lock-On’s voice over the comms.

“Target the first walker” ordered Ginrai. “Make sure that it’s not going anywhere, then the Combatronians won’t be able to get any more of their tanks forward!”

“Roger that, sir” replied Lock-On, ending the transmission.

Ginrai and his forces continued fighting through the Vehicon forces, cutting them down with ease. As they fought, spheres of red energy flew overhead, striking at the Behemoth ahead of them. Striking the walker at various points across its body, some blasted its weapons, while others broke through its legs, crippling the walker, each one striking with a loud boom. One particularly accurate shot struck the walker’s command deck dead on, finishing the Behemoth off for good. Watching the walker collapse for good, the silver decaled Tankor tapped the communicator on his wrist.

“This is Commander T-107 to General S-47” said the Tankor over the comms. “Our forward platoons have been almost pulverized by Vanguard forces, and they immobilized our lead tank, blocking the road. What are your orders?”

The Tankor waited, observing his fellow Vehicons being cut down. Finally, after a few seconds of silence, a cold, emotionless voice responded over the comms.

“Order ground forces to retreat” stated the voice. “Make them think they’ve won.”

“Acknowledged” stated T-107. “All units, fall back!”

The remaining Vehicon units turned around, and began scrambling through the debris of the downed Behemoth. Many were blasted or cut down before they made it over. Watching the fall back, Ginrai raised his hand up for the rest of the unit to cease fire, before activating his communicator again.

“Thunderhead, the remains of the forward platoons are falling back” he stated. “What are the rest of their forces doing on the other side of our newly improvised roadblock?”

Back at his positions, as his units of heavy artillery were packing up, Thunderhead squinted at the enemy forces. After a few minutes, he turned to a cyan bot with two large cannons on his back and a pair of electrobinoculars on his head.

“Potshot, without trying to blast ‘em, are they actually falling back or just trying something?” Thunderhead asked.

Sliding his electrobinoculars over his optics, Potshot walked to the edge of the building. Looking at the enemy force, he twiddled with some of the dials on the electrobinoculars to adjust his view. After a few more moments, he slid the binoculars back up and turned around.

“Aye, they’re definitely falling back” he said. “You sure we can’t take any shots at them?”

“Do you want one of the other Behemoth Walkers demolishing this building in return?” Thunderhead retorted, turning back to his comms. “Sir, they’re retreating. Not like the cannon fodder to know when to run.”

“Well, we have heard rumours of new ‘Thinktank’ Vehicons being deployed as commanders” Ginrai replied over the comms. “Brains rather than brawn.”

“I think I liked it better when they ran straight into our gunfire” chuckled Thunderhead.

“If you say so” Ginrai sighed, shaking his head. “Now get back here and we’ll figure out how we’re gonna use their retreat to start a push of our own.”

“Heh, finally bring the fight straight to them” grinned Thunderhead. “I love it. My boys’ll see you there.”

Finishing the call, Ginrai turned around to his troops, who were cheering their victory. He called Goldbug, Quickshadow and Rocket Plume over.

“Alright, Captain, I’ll need you to post patrol squads back around this outpost, then gather your lieutenants and meet us in the command centre for debriefing and strategy meeting” Ginrai ordered. “Tell anyone who’s injured to get patched up, and everyone else to recharge and get some rest.”

“Yes sir!” saluted Goldbug, heading off to talk to his troops. “Won’t get used to Captain, though…”

“Good soldier” said Ginrai, watching Goldbug walk off. “I hope other officers are like him.”

“Explains why you keep him around” chuckled Rocket Plume. “So got anything special planned for our push?”

“Well, it all depends on whether Warpdrive can bring us air support” Ginrai replied.

“Maybe a supply drop, too” added Quickshadow. “We’ve been rationing since we held off attack four, and we’re running dry on Energon.”

“Agreed. If we’re lucky we can get her in on the briefing” Ginrai stated.

As they were talking, a diminutive Cybertronian ran up to them, clutching a holoprojector in her hand.

“Sir, incoming transmission from Captain Warpdrive!” she stated. “Priority status.”

“Put us through” said Quickshadow.

The Cybertronian held out the holoprojector in her hand, and tapped a button on it. A translucent image of Warpdrive appeared from it, giving a salute to Ginrai.

“Sir, I’m sorry to call like this, but we have an emergency” Warpdrive stated. “Several minutes ago, five unidentified ships entered the system. They’re not Cybertronian.”

“Well, can you find out what they are?” asked Rocket Plume.

“I’m sorry, but they’re not the emergency” continued Warpdrive. “When they arrived, the Combatronians used the opportunity to destroy the battlecruiser “Hefty Soul”, and sent bombers and “Mother”-Vehicons through the gap created. They’re moving fast towards your position.”

“That’s not good” said Quickshadow.

“Mother?” asked Rocket Plume, unaware of this model.

“New Vehicons designed to act as dropships'' explained Quickshadow. “They’re as big as Gigantions, heavily armed, and one alone can deliver an entire platoon of soldiers into the battlefield. My spies have been trying to figure out who designed them, since we brought Magmatron into custody on Skimloch. Them and the Thinktanks”

“Point is they’re bad news” said Ginrai, quickly turning his comms back on. “Goldbug, change of plans, we’ve got incoming bombers and Vehicon Dropships coming in fast. Get everyone you can ready to fight, and have cannons point upwards.”

“I think it’s too late for cannons” Rocket Plume said, pointing upwards. “We’ve got Infernal Bombers, coming in fast!”

In the sky above, waves of bombers dived down through pink-tinted clouds in flights of three, pulling up as they began dropping bombs on the Vanguard outpost. As the bombs hit the ground, massive explosions tore through the Cybertronians, soldiers being sent flying.

“GET DOWN!” yelled Ginrai, gesturing for everyone to take cover.

As he tried to get their forces to safety, Rocket Plume pulled out her rifle and tried picking off the bombers. As several nearby soldiers also began firing on them, the majority of the shots dinging off the bombers’ armour. Focusing her aim on one in particular, Rocket Plume managed to fire a shot through one of the ships’ engines. As it entered a death spiral, the ship maintained its heading, spiraling downwards towards the heavy cannons. It crashed into them, exploding in an almighty fireball, its remaining payload scattering everywhere and detonating across the line of cannons. As the smoke cleared, only three of the cannons remained.

“DAMMIT!” yelled Rocket Plume, as she watched flames rise.

“Keep your composure” ordered Ginrai. “We’ve got ground troops incoming!”

Following the route taken by the bombers, four gigantic ships descended. A number of containers were held under them, and instead of a cockpit lay a massive, featureless head, save for two glowing optics. The first of them landed, its containers opening up to reveal groups of Vehicons inside, charging out to fight the scattered Autobot forces. Once its forces had entered the battlefield, the ship changed into a massive bipedal form, its containers becoming arms and legs for it.

“Terminate resistance” stated the gigantic Vehicon as its three fellow ‘Mother’-Vehicons began descending and deploying their own forces.

“HOLD THIS POSITION!” yelled Ginrai, firing his arm cannons at the closest Vehicon.

As the fighting broke out once more, the four giant ‘Mothers’ turned their attention to the remaining heavy cannons and fired intense beams of energy at the nearest one.

“Terminate heavy cannons” stated the lead Mother-Vehicon as the cannon exploded.

“Understurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh-” stated another of the Mother-Vehicons as a beam tore through its head.

The titanic vehicon slowly slumped to the side, knocking over its compatriot as it fell. The other two units turned around, trying to identify their assailant.

“Alert!” yelled one of the two remaining Mother-Vehicons. “Ambush! Locate and termi-”

The Vehicon was cut off as rockets began blasting its limbs apart, the giant arms crashing to the ground as its magnetic joints dropped to the ground. It too soon toppled, crushing several of the Vehicons it had deployed beneath it.

“Did Warpdrive send down air support?” asked Quickshadow as she blasted an Afterburn-Vehicon.

“It ain’t any Vanguard ordinance I recognise” pointed out Rocket Plume as she fired on the advancing Vehicons. “Hell, doesn’t even look Cybertronian. But whoever they are, thank the maker they’re on our side.”

“Don’t bet on it just yet” Ginrai stated, fighting through Vehicons.

Behind the final Mother-Vehicon, several silver objects darted out of the cloudline. Clawlike in shape, they fired several concentrated beams of energy straight at the colossus, piercing straight through its body. The Vehicon collapsed to the ground while the three silver ships passed overhead, likely giving chase to the bombers, should they return.

“Sir!” yelled Goldbug. “Was that who I think it was?”

“With those chrome-coated, gaudy looking ships?” stated Ginrai, a scowl forming on his face. “Who else would it be, besides the Galactic council?”

“Then that answers the question of the mystery ships Warpdrive alerted us to” stated Quickshadow. “I suppose we’ll be expecting a transmission from whoever’s commanding the fleet, likely making his intentions obvious.”

“Any guesses?” asked Rocket Plume, as she fired a few shots at the remaining Vehicons.

“Likely to denounce the war” sighed Ginrai. “The lines are pretty clearly drawn between good and bad, but the Council’s anti-mech prejudices require them to have the high ground over Cybertronians as a whole, instead of actually helping us stem the Combatronian forces’ expansion.”

“I mean, the Alliance and the Proclamation aren’t exactly quick to help us” pointed out Rocket Plume.

“True, but they’re dealing with the Cyberiad, the Vaal Uprising and other threats” said Quickshadow. “The Galactic Council just hate our mechanisms.”

While the remaining Vanguard forces finished mopping up the Vehicons, an Autotrooper ran up to Ginrai.

“Sir, you’ve got an urgent communication from-”

“The Galactic Council” Ginrai said. “I’ll take it in the command centre. Well, what’s left of it.”

Ginrai entered the commander centre. Relatively intact, there was only some debris where pieces of the ceiling had broken off and dropped to the ground. Though some Cybertronians were busy clearing out the debris, most were at their usual stations. Ginrai walked up to the central holotable, with Quickshadow and Rocket Plume behind him.

“Put through the transmission” Ginrai said to one of the operators, who tapped a few buttons on the table.

A hologram of a skinny four armed organic, wearing blue armour, a blue beret, and a metal rebreather over his mouth. He gave Ginrai a steely, unflinching gaze.

“And who might I have the honour of speaking to?” Ginrai asked after a few awkward seconds of silence.

“I am Captain N’rok of the Galactic Council’s space corps” the organic said in a gruff, throaty voice.

“Well, I’m Ginrai Convoy, chosen Convoy of Cybertron” Ginrai replied.

“Yes, I know” stated N’rok. “You’re who I’m here to collect.”

“Collect?” asked Ginrai, confused.

A second alien appeared into view on the hologram, one with a more serpentine body shape, clutching a datapad. They handed the datapad to N’rok, before slithering out of view. N’rok looked down at the datapad for a few moments, his eyes scanning over the words, then looked straight at Ginrai.

“Ginrai Convoy, in the name of the Galactic Council and all its subsidiary collections of worlds, you are under arrest for multiple crimes, including but not limited to-” began N’rok.

“You can’t do that” yelled Rocket Plume, stepping in front of Ginrai. “Where do you get off, threatening to arrest him?”

“-instigating a war” continued N’rok, ignoring Rocket Plume. “Responsibility for the deaths of Galactic Council personnel and destruction of Council Property.”

“Funny, I thought most of your tech was just stolen and reverse engineered from ours” said Quickshadow, rolling her eyes.

“As such, you will be transported to a Galactic Council court, where you will face trial for your crimes.”

With that, Ginrai disappeared in a flash of light, stunning everyone in the room. Quickshadow stepped forward to address N’Rok.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” she yelled angrily.

“Typical Cybertronians, never listening” scalded N’Rok. “End communication.”

The hologram of N’Rok disappeared, leaving those in the room to process what just happened.

Space Station “Hand of Judgement”, Galactic Council Controlled Space
Meanwhile, several systems away, Ginrai surveyed his new surroundings. He was now in a large room, with large metal pillars around the edges, and a pair of massive statues beside a doorway. In front of those were rows of various organic beings sitting down, all of them talking amongst themselves as camera drones buzzed around overhead. Ginrai himself was sitting at some sort of metal desk. An organic with crimson skin and multiple eyes sat on a stand in front of him, likely a judge of some sort. He was staring at a datapad through a pair of glasses. Putting them down, the judge looked down at a mantis-like organic standing in Galactic Council uniform, acting as bailiff.

“ORDER IN THE COURT!” the bailiff yelled.

A hush fell over the entire court as the judge looked straight at Ginrai.

“Ginrai of Cybertron, you are accused of numerous war crimes, chief among them instigating a major war between factions of your own kind that have spread into our territories” the judge said into what appeared to be a microphone. “How do you plead?”

Ginrai took a few seconds to take in what was going on before answering, trying to understand the situation he had just been placed in. Several of the camera drones flew around him, trying to get the best angles of him.

“Not guilty, your honour!” Ginrai yelled, standing up.

“In which case you will be taken to a private, guarded room where you will be given an hour to prepare your defence. Court adjourned.”

“I… what?” spluttered Ginrai, shocked. “Do you not provide defence counsel? Any sort of legal assistance?”

“This court is not required to provide non-residents of Galactic Council territory with legal assistance” the judge stated, no longer looking at Ginrai. “As such you should bring your own legal assistance prior to the beginning of court proceedings.”

“Well, how can I do that if you teleport me without permission, dump me in this court and immediately begin this trial?”

“That is not our concern” the judge stated, rapidly losing interest in the conversation. “Now may I remind you that the court is now adjourned. The guards will take you to your room to begin prepping your defence.”

A pair of guards, wearing a modified variant of the blue galactic council uniforms walked over to Ginrai. Both were armed with weapons that seemed to be based on the Primal Vanguard’s own Ion Blasters, just with the Galactic Council’s sigil emblazoned on the side. Ginrai stood up, and one of the guards started leading him out the room. Nudging him with his gun, the other guard prompted Ginrai to follow. The guards lead him to a room not far from the courtroom. One of them tapped a few buttons on the keypad to the door, which slid open. Inside was another metal desk, similar to the one Ginrai had just been sitting at, with a datapad lying on top, and a single chair. As he entered, Ginrai spied a security camera in the corner of the room, following his movements. Reaching the desk, he heard the door slam shut behind him, and the sound of electromagnetic locks activating. Sitting down, he sighed and began preparing a defense, all the while musing how else he could get out of the predicament.

Primal Vanguard Outpost, Drewstiss
Quickshadow paced in front of the holotable, musing their situation. The Vehicon legions had not attacked since the Galactic Council striked. After a few more minutes of pacing, a hologram of Groundshaker appeared on the screen.

“Apologies for the delay, we’ve been dealing with Defiant’s relocation” stated Groundshaker. “This is a bad situation we’re in.”

“We need to track them as quickly as possible” said Quickshadow with urgency in her voice.

“We’ll try our best, but we’ll be heavily impeded. They more than likely chain teleported Ginrai between ships, meaning we’d only be able to track him from here to where the ship was in orbit, and then if we’re lucky to the next ship in the chain. Beyond that, we won’t get much further without going into their territory and starting an incident. And we can’t send too many search drones into their territory without the same happening.”

“Well we can’t just sit around and do nothing” replied Quickshadow.

“I know” sighed Groundshaker. “But like I said, we can still deploy a small number of drones without arousing any suspicion. In the meantime, I’m seeing if I can provide reinforcement to Drewstiss to help you clear off the remainder of the Combatronian forces. Aside from that, I’ll try to keep you updated.”

“Thank you” said Quickshadow. “Quickshadow out.”

Room 246, Hand of Judgement
Ginrai sat in silence, chewing on the stylus that came with his datapad, trying to think of what he was going to say. The silence was deafening for him. Having always been one for a life of action, he wasn’t used to sitting around, especially after the war started. And if he had to make any sort of speech or statement, well, he’d just let it come to him in the moment.

“You know, if you want, we can just go straight back in there and get this trial over and done with” Ginrai said out loudly, hoping someone outside would hear him.

Ginrai waited a few seconds, but got no response. Clearly, the Galactic Council were sticklers for timings. He sat down and sighed. Looking to one of the walls, he eyed what appeared to be some sort of clock. Ginrai was familiar with their numerical systems, and sighed as he realised only approximately fifteen minutes had passed by. He lay back against the back of his chest and audibly sighed.

“You know, entertainment would be nice” Ginrai yelled out. “Maybe a ball, or a movie, or anything?”

Still no response came from outside. It looked like Ginrai would have to make do with his own company for the remainder of the time.

Combatronian Outpost 7-Alpha-5, Drewstiss
Inside the top floor of a large metal building, retrofitted with Combatronian tech, Vehicons busied around, preparing for their next move. In the centre of this command hub, a singular jade Vehicon sat on what appeared to be a mechanical chair. Unique in design, this Vehicon lacked any discernible vehicle kibble, and had a large metal cylinder strapped to its back, with several antennas and a number of flashing lights. This was a “Thinktank”-Vehicon, designed to think of new and advanced strategies to defeat the Primal Vanguard. Seemingly pondering, a singular Afterburn vehicon with black armour walked up to him.

“Sir, new reports have been received” said the Afterburn.

“Report, A-741/2” said the Thinktank-Vehicon, staring at the Afterburn with his three, emotionless optics.

“We have identified the third party forces that attacked our second wave as Galactic Council forces” stated the Afterburn. “Furthermore, our spies reported that before they departed the system, they utilised a chain teleport to abduct Ginrai. We believe he is in their territory to be tried for the outbreak of the war and its effects on them.”

“Curious” stated the Thinktank. “But this presents an opportunity.”

“To take the planet?”

“Incorrect. While the Convoy no longer being able to aid the battle is advantageous, it would not assert victory. No, a far bigger opportunity has presented itself. Ginrai Convoy is in Council Custody. While a surprise attack afforded them a small victory while we were occupied combatting the Primal Vanguard, they will be no match for a full scale invasion force.”

“What are your orders, General?”

“Contact Admiral Frigid. She is nearest, so she will suffice for this operation. Have her prepare her attack fleet for combat and to await my arrival. And prepare a shuttle and escort squadron. I will personally join the battle and provide strategy to her.”

“What of the battle here?” asked A-741/2.

“Continue with the planned phased sieges” stated the Thinktank, standing up from his chair. “Though the probability of victory is low, continued attack will weaken them. Vehicon Legions are dispensable. Once this legion falls, a new one will arrive to continue the attack.”

With that, the Thinktank left the command centre, making his way to the makeshift landing ground.

Courtroom, Hand of Judgement
Ginrai was brought back into the courtroom, escorted by the two council grounds, and was forcefully shoved back into his seat. The court was immediately silent as the judge returned to his place.

“COURT IS NOW BACK IN SESSION!” yelled the bailiff.

“We will first hear the prosecution” announced the judge. “Prosecutor, if you may.”

A skinny organic, with a large, insectoid head stood up, holding a briefcase. Putting the briefcase on the table, he opened it up and pulled out what appeared to be a small datastick.

“Thank you, your honour” the prosecutor said. “Your honour, I believe this will be an open and shut case. I intend to prove that this Cybertronian, as leader of his people, is responsible for numerous deaths, and the destruction of Council property, including numerous planets under our protection! Your honour, if I may present Exhibit A!”

The judge nodded, and the prosecutor placed the datastick into a holoprojector. Pressing a button, several datafiles appeared on screen, showing several images of planets.

“These are just some of the planets destroyed in the conflict within our territories” stated the prosecutor. “There are not only many more, planets, civilizations also razed, fleets destroyed, property stolen.”

“OBJECTION!” yelled Ginrai.

“Overruled” retorted the judge, his mind clearly made up before the trial had started.

“Now we move to Exhibit B!” exclaimed the prosecutor, exchanging the data stick for another. “A list of just a portion of the lives lost in this war of theirs. Just a trillion of the sextillions of lives lost in this war, each and every one of the killed by Cybertronian hands. I do not believe I even need to say anymore.”

“Has the list even been verified?” yelled Ginrai. “Are we just going based on what could simply be made-up names?”

“Despicable” said the prosecutor, shaking his head. “Now he mocks our dead.”

“Agreed, please sit down” asked the judge. “Do you have any more evidence, prosecutor?”

“No, your honour” replied the prosecutor.

“Well, while the evidence seems fairly damning, tradition dictates that we should hear the case for the defence. Please step forward, defendant.”

As the prosecutor went to sit down, Ginrai stood up, the two exchanging glances as they passed each other. Ginrai coughed, clearing his throat.

“Members of the jury, at first I was going to make a case about how we did not start this war” began Ginrai. “About how I and my fellow Cybertronian are doing our best to hold back the evil of Overlord, trying our best to prevent it from spreading out to the other territories. But it is clear to me that will not matter, given how much of a sham this trial is!”

The room was filled with gasps of shock, as Ginrai spun around and pointed directly at the judge.

“A judge whose mind was made up before I was even kidnapped” announced Ginrai. “Someone whose mind was clearly biased against my kind.”

Ginrai then turned to point at the prosecutor.

“A prosecutor who clearly makes up statistics and names just to add gravitas to his case. And I’m very sorry for all those who have actually died, but we didn’t kidnap your leaders and put them on trial for the destruction of our colonies.”

Ginrai then turned to look at the jury.

“But then again, what is the point of all this? We all know this is just a show. You’re too scared to join the war, but you want to look like you’re doing something. And since you’re too terrified of him to capture Overlord, you grab me to be your scapegoat. Put on a big trial, hold me “accountable” for “my crimes”. So let’s end this pointless charade and get to the sentencing!”

The judge took a few seconds to regain his composure following Ginrai’s accusations. He looked around at the other shocked faces, then at Ginrai.

“The court is adjourned while the jury makes their decision” states the judge. “Will the guards please take the accused back to their holding cel- excuse me, preparation room.”

The guards grabbed Ginrai roughly, who shakes their hands off. The pair lead Ginrai back to the same room as before, shutting the door behind him. Ginrai sat back down at the chair, resting his cheek on his hand, and sighed.

“Not my finest moment, is it?” Ginrai sighed. “Maybe shouting down the whole court wasn’t my finest move.”

Ginrai looked down at his chest.

“Maybe you’ve got some miracle up your sleeve” he said, tapping his chest.

Primal Vanguard Outpost, Drewstiss
Back at the outpost, Quickshadow was talking to a hologram of Goldbug at the central holoprojector, while Tailpipe, Rocket Plume, Thunderhead and Crumble stood around. Ginrai’s whereabouts were still on everyone’s minds.

“With the help of Scar Company and Typhoon Company, Tector Company was able to push back Combatronian forces from the seventh Delko Highway checkpoint back to Delko City itself” reported Goldbug.

“Way to go Goldy!” cheered Thunderhead. “You’ll be a major in no time.”

“Impressive efficiency” added Quickshadow.

“If I’m honest, they’ve lost all semblance of strategy” Goldbug stated. “Even when they outnumber us, we’ve been easily able to overwhelm them. Even made several clean captures of their tanks.”

“Maybe they’re trying to bait us in for a massive strike” suggested Rocket Plume.

“I might have an alternative suggestion” came Peritus’ voice as the images of Peritus Maximus and Groundshaker appeared alongside Goldbug’s.

“But we should first report with some good news” stated Groundshaker. “We were able to locate Ginrai thanks to Peritus.”

“Our drones picked up transmissions from Galactic Council news networks that seem to be broadcasting his trial” said Peritus. “Definitely want everyone to think that they’re making a statement against the war.”

“All show but none of the guts to do anything that truly means anything” said Tailpipe, rolling his eyes.

“We’ve located it within their space, on a space station named the ‘Hand of Judgement’” continues Peritus.

“And as for the answer as to why the forces on Drewstiss have been so scatterbrained” said Groundshaker. “Warpdrive informed us of a Combatronian shuttle leaving the atmosphere. We believe it was carrying a Thinktank-Vehicon, who was in charge of their forces. He joined up with a fleet in the next system.”

“Anyone want to guess where that fleet is going?” sarcastically asked Rocket Plume.

“Yes, quite” replied Groundshaker. “Point is, it is an attack fleet.”

“Which means we don’t need to restrain ourselves on what we can send after them” said Thunderhead.

“Who knows, they might be grateful?” added Crumble.

“And I’m the reincarnation of Prima” laughed Rocket Plume. “Come on, be serious Crumble.”

“I will be taking a fleet to counter them, once Strahlix Battalion joins us” Peritus continued.

“I’ll rendezvous with you” said Quickshadow. “Thunderhead, Rocket Plume and Goldbug can handle mopping up the enemy here, particularly with the new forces Groundshaker provided us.”

What, leaving us to have the fun?” joked Thunderhead.

“Just want to make sure our Convoy is safe” chuckled Quickshadow. “Next time he gets kidnapped, I’ll let you join the rescue team.”

“I should hope so!”

“Tailpipe, ready a shuttle to leave asap” Quickshadow said to her teammate. “We don’t want to keep Peritus waiting.”

“I wish you all the best of luck” said Groundshaker.

With that, the holograms of Groundshaker and Peritus vanished, while Quickshadow and Tailpipe left the room.

Courtroom, Hand of Justice
Ginrai was escorted back into the courtroom by the same pair of guards, yet again in front of the same judge. The entire room was silent with anticipation. Ginrai could tell that everyone in that room wanted the same verdict… well, except him. Ginrai sat in his seat once more, as the judge cleared his throat.

“Court is now in session” he said as he turned to the jury. “Jury, have you made a decision?”

A bird-like humanoid stood up from the jury, sitting closest to the judge.

“We have, your honour” the individual stated.

“And what is your verdict?”

“We, the jury, find the defendant guilty.”

Ginrai sighed, not surprised by the verdict. He slowly shook his head in disappointment.

“Ginrai Convoy of Cybertronian, you have been found guilty of-”

The entire room shook as a large boom echoed through the station. Everyone began looking at each other in a panic, as Ginrai rose from his seat, looking up. The judge frantically tapped on the controls of a small holoprojector in front of him. After several attempts, the image of Captain N’Rok finally formed.

“Captain N’Rok, what just happened?” exclaimed the panicked judge.

“Sir, a Cybertronian Fleet just jumped into our space and began firing at us!” reported N’Rok. “We’ll hold the line, but I suggest you perform a full evacuation!”

“Sir, they’ve hit the reactor!” came a shout from somewhere on the other side of the hologram.

“They’re sending boarding parties your way!” yelled N’Rok. “Again, you need to evacu-”

And with that the image of N’Rok vanished. Panicking, the judge stood up, and began descending from his podium.

“Everyone get to the escape craft!” he spluttered. “And guards, immediate execution of the accused!”

The guards nodded and shoved Ginrai to the ground, pointing their weapons at him while all others in attendance started pushing their way towards the doors. However, before they could fire, the roof above them exploded, showering debris everywhere. Several Combatronians fliers descended from the hole, and began spraying laserfire at the crowds.

“Kill them all!” yelled the lead, a crimson Cybertronian with six rotor blades descending from her back. “But especially the Convoy!”

Ginrai, seeing the opportunity, stood up and punched the nearest guard, then wrestled the rifle out of his hand and began firing on the nearest Combatronian.

“How dare you!” exclaimed the other guard, his rifle still trained on Ginrai.

“You wanna survive?” asked Ginrai. “Then point your rifle at the people trying to kill us all!”

Outside, the Combatronian fleet was tearing through the Galactic Council ships defending the station. Consisting of two Goliath-class Battlecruisers, four Deepvault-class Frigates and headed by a singular Sledgehammer-Class cruiser, the fleet fired an onslaught of lasers and missiles, easily dispatching their foes. Swarms of fliers and dropships flew from the hangars, flying towards the station for the chance to personally kill Ginrai.

However, behind them, several Primal Vanguard ships quantum jumped in, a combination of Warblocker’s, Vanguard-I’s and Anx’s. Aboard the bridge of the lead ship, The Shatterbolt, Peritus walked up to the glass windows of the cockpit.

“Typical, never watching their backs” Peritus smirked. “Launch all fighters! Have bombers go for their shield generators while our battlecruisers go for the engines.”

The ships unleashed a flurry of firepower at the backs of their Combatronian foes, slowly beginning to breach their foes' shields and rupture their engines. Aboard the Combatronian flagship, the same “Thinktank”-Vehicon stood beside a female Cybertronian with kibble resembling a snow plow.

“I warned you that an attack from behind was a logical assumption” stated the Vehicon.

“Oh, shut up” scowled the Cybertronian. “I only brought you along because you insisted on telling me of the Convoy’s situation personally. NOW ALL HANDS, TURN THE FLEET AROUND AND ENGAGE THE PRIMAL VANGUARD.”

“Admiral Frigid, that will leave us exposed to the remaining Galactic Council ships. I suggest-”

The “Thinktank” was silenced as his head was crushed by the Combatronian’s large hands, leaving the body to crumple to the floor.

“Never liked those know-it-all Vehicons anyway” stated the Combatronian. “THIS IS ADMIRAL FRIGID TO ALL SHIPS! TURN AROUND AND ENGAGE THE VANGUARD FLEET.”

The flagship rocked as one of the Deepvault frigates beside it exploded with huge force, flaming debris scattering around the explosion.

“NOW!”

Back on the Shatterbolt, Peritus stroked his chin, musing his next move.

“Aurum Squadron, Ferro Squadron, Argentum Squadron, knock out the command ship’s forward Atomizer weapon!” ordered Peritus, before activating his communicator. “Quickshadow, they’re turning, you’d better arrive quickly!”

As the Combatronian battleships turned to face their Vanguard foes, several Hammer-Class gunships appeared in a burst of light over it, zooming over the battleships and nimbly avoiding the few cannons that were aware enough to target them. Tailpipe sat at the controls of the lead gunship, with Quickshadow standing behind him.

“See Peritus, told you they’d be all over the place when they arrived” said Quickshadow.

“So cocky breaking the backs of those Council ships they aren’t prepared for when a real fight comes along” added Tailpipe.

“Indeed” replied Peritus over the comms. “We shouldn’t have too much trouble dispatching the fleet. I just hope you’re able to safely extract him.”

“The Hammers will clear out one of the hangar spaces, and which the strike force will hold till my commandos find Ginrai” Quickshadow explained. “Easy enough.”

“Well, I wish you luck. Peritus out.”

Quickshadow nodded, before peering out of the domed cockpit window. Looking around the station, she pointed to a spot ahead.

“Aim for that hangar” she said. “The rest of the squadron will follow us.”

“Understood” replied Tailpipe.

The gunships adjusted their course, firing a spray of lasers at the hangar to clear it of Combatronian hostiles. Quickly landing, their boarding ramps descended, and a number of Cybertronian poured out, firing on those still standing. Quickshadow stepped out, blasting an Afterburn vehicon with one of her dual pistols.

“Establish a perimeter!” she barked. “Danger Squad, follow me!”

With that, Quickshadow fought her way to one of the exits, followed by a small team of Cybertronians of various sizes.

Deep within the Council Station, Ginrai and his one remaining guard fought their way through the corridors, blasting down several Afterburn Vehicons.

“Keep moving!” Ginrai yelled back.

“I don’t take orders from you!” the guard shouted back.

“Then think of it as a friendly suggestion to help you not get killed” Ginrai replied, rolling his optics.

As they moved forward, the wall exploded as a Leaper-vehicon burrowed through, pinning down the guard. The Leaper began trying to stab the guard with its massive claws, though the guard was able to squirm out of the way of the blows. Turning back, Ginrai attempted to fire a few shots at Leaper, only for them to ping off the cyclops’ armour. Sighing, Ginrai leapt at the Leaper’s back, ramming his rifle into one of Leaper’s rear engines and holding down the trigger. A stream of blasts fired down the engine, and Ginrai jumped back as the Leaper writhed backwards, light bursting from the seams in his armour. The Council Guard crawled out of the way as the Leaper exploded. Ginrai held his hand out to pull the guard back to his feet.

“You’re welcome” Ginrai smirked as the guard took his hand.

The guard replied with a sigh as Ginrai pulled him up, and the pair continued on their way. Occasionally coming under attack by squads of Combatronians and Vehicons, the pair made no effort in dispatching them, quickly fighting their way forward. Exiting from the corridor into a large hall, where Vehicons and Combatronians were currently engaged with unseen forces across knocked over furniture and signs.

“I’m guessing we’re near the hangar” said Ginrai. “Would I be correct?”

“This is the customs room, given that we can get all sorts docking here for trials” explained the guard. “The hangars are down those corridors.”

The guard pointed to the end of the hall to a pair of large entrances, where several Cybertronians were engaged with the Combatronian forces, including a familiar silver mech.

“Well, it looks like my people have arrived to evacuate me” said Ginrai. “I suggest you borrow whatever ships remain. The station itself is lost. We can mop up the Combatronians.”

Ginrai charged forward, smashing his rifle over the head of a jade green flier, knocking the Cybertronian out and pulling their weapon off, before spraying the room with lasers. Ginrai then kicked up one of the chairs at a pair of Vehicons, before rolling under another’s laserfire. Uppercutting his foe, he grabbed them in midair and slung them at another Combatronian. Finally making it to the other end of the hall, he breathed in relief, having reached his comrades.

“Well, you’ve been busy” Ginrai said.

“And I’m guessing you’re a guilty man” joked Quickshadow.

“Yes, I’m all sorts these days” Ginrai sighed. “Shall we go?”

“Wait!” gasped the guard, catching up. “Your trial! You need to face the court’s punishment!”

Ginrai groaned, and walked over to the guard. Ginrai crouched, levelling his optics with the guard’s eyes.

“Do me a favour” he said. “Get them to wave it, and I’ll consider not dragging you into our war. After all, you did illegally pass into our territories. And you did kidnap the commonwealth’s head of state. Those could both be considered a declaration of your intent to join our war.”

“I can’t, I’m a guard!” spluttered the guard, before looking directly into Ginrai’s glare and shuddering. “I’ll, um, try my best.”

Ginrai stood back up, and turned to leave with Quickshadow and our team. Taking a few steps, he stopped and looked back.

“Oh, and by the way, Combatron has now made an open attack on you, which my forces saved you from” Ginrai stated. “I suggest you remember that. And that Overlord will likely not leave it at that. Good luck.”

And with that Ginrai and his fellow Cybertronian departed, leaving the guard both bewildered and terrified as he thought about what his people’s actions had wrought…

 

Volume 2 - The Innocent
Oblivious Souls​

Shuttle SF-113, The Poltari System
In distant wilds of the Poltari System, Shuttle SF-113 burst into the system in a flash of light. Surrounded by a few amber coloured planets, the ship weaved through several drifting asteroids in its course. The shuttle was lightly manned, with only a skeleton crew of Autotroopers and their two passengers on board. Sitting in the passenger bay, Quickshadow and Crumble were on call to Ginrai via hologram.

“We have just entered the Poltari system, and are on schedule to rendezvous with the Fifth Defense Fleet, Ginrai” reported Quickshadow.

“Good to hear” said Ginrai. “I’m sorry I have to send you for the inspection, but the Probat Campaign has stepped up. Delirious has called in reinforcements from one of Exarchon’s fleets, and he’s been keeping us on our toes. I’ll try to-”

Ginrai was cut off by the sound of a loud explosion as Rocket Plume rushed into the hologram.

“They’re back!” Rocket Plume exclaimed. “And they’ve brought Marauders with them!”

“I’m sorry, I have to go” stated Ginai. “I wish you the best of luck.”

“You too, Ginrai” replied Quickshadow.

The hologram of Ginrai disappeared, and Quickshadow put away the communicator. Standing up, she walked to a door at the end of the room, and opened it into the ship’s cockpit. A pair of Autotrooper pilots were at the controls, one with green markings and painted yellow eyes above his visor, and the other with depictions of red bird-like creatures on the sides of his helmet.

“How are we looking, Goji?” asked Quickshadow as she entered.

“Well, we’re closing in on the fleet's position, and Rod’s sent our clearance codes to The Arbiter” said the Autotrooper with green markings, gesturing to his co-pilot as he spoke.

The ship's comms button started blinking, and Goji pressed it.

“This is command ship Arbiter to shuttle SF-113” came a voice over the comms. “Your clearance codes check out. We’ll provide you a course to Hangar 3, where we’ll meet you.”

“Understood, over and out” replied Goji, closing communications. “Rod, we got the path?”

“Putting it in the nav computer as we speak” replied Rod, tapping some controls on the console. “We’ll be there soon.”

“Nothing to worry about, ma’am” Goji said, turning to Quickshadow. “You can just sit down and relax for a bit while we make our approach.”

“Yes…” muttered Quickshadow, returning to the passenger section. “‘Relax’”

Crumble watched Quickshadow sit back down.

“You okay, Quickshadow?” Crumble asked. “You seem to have been on edge for this whole journey.”

Quickshadow sighed as she looked at Crumble.

“The C.O. we’re visiting, Impactus Major… let’s say we don’t see eye to eye” Quickshadow said.

“Really?” questioned Crumble, curiously. “How come?”

Before Quickshadow could continue, Goji’s voice sounded over the shuttle’s intercom.

“Alright, we’re making our approach, fasten your belts ready to enter the ship’s gravity field and make our landing” Goji’s voice stated.

The two did as ordered, as did their Autotrooper guards. They felt the ship gently rumble for a few seconds as it passed into the gravity field of the larger cruiser, before briefly shaking with the clang of the landing legs made contact with the hangar floor. The group of passengers waited for the announcement to say they could remove their belts.

“Alright, we’ve arrived” Goji announced over the intercom. “ You can now remove your belts and disembark once the ramp lowers.”

Quickshadow was the first to unbuckle and stand up. As Crumble did the same, Quickshadow walked over to the end of the shuttle, watching as the ramp began to lower with a quiet whirring noise. Once the ramp touched the metal floor with a slight clang, Quickshadow walked down the ramp, where she found her greeted by two lines of Cybertronians in formation, one on either side. At the end of the path formed by the two lines were a pair of Cybertronians. One was purple and orange femme with a tall, bulky frame, massive cannons mounted on her shoulders, and an energon saber clipped to her back, while the other was a scrawny, grey femme with a hunched body posture, with two slim wings protruding from her back. As Quickshadow and Crumble approached, the purple and orange femme extended her hand out to greet them.

“Quickshadow, it has been… a while” said the orange femme. “I had assumed Ginrai would be coming.”

“Yes, well Ginrai’s busy, so you’re stuck with me and Crumble” Quickshadow stated, ignoring the outstretched arm.

“Right, and this ‘Crumble’ being here in what sort of capacity?” questioned the femme, gesturing to Crumble as she mentioned his name.

“I’m, uh, Ginrai’s chief engineer, here to see the weapon for him in that capacity” Crumble answered, stepping forward and shaking the femme’s hand. “And you must be Impactus, correct?”

“Impactus Major” corrected Impactus with a scowl. “Commanding officer of the Scarred Fist Fleet, Brigadier of the Twelfth Rupture Corps, and overseer of Project Theta Two Nine.”

“And I am Logixx” stated the scrawnier Cybertronian, stepping forward to join the conversation. “Project Theta Two Nine is my contribution to the war effort.”

“Professor Logixx was behind the project, one that I hope will put the Combatronians in their place” Impactus continued. “Now come, we’ll need to equip radsuits before we head down to the surface.”

“Surface?” questioned Crumble, as Impactus turned around to lead them out of the hangar.

“Yes. We’re nearing completion of the testing phase on a nearby moon. Inhabited by a small colony of non-Cybertronian Mechanoids. Insignificant, but close enough to our own species biology wise that they would yield accurate results.”

Upon hearing this, Quickshadow’s face turned red with anger. She stormed after Impactus down the corridor, followed by Crumble and Logixx, who ran to keep up.

“You’ve been using non-aligned species as test subjects?” scowled Quickshadow. “You know full well that’s against what we’re fighting for.”

“I didn’t realise the protection of the Cybertronian Commonwealth entailed lesser non-aligned species” sighed Impactus. “Besides, it’s not like they notice. Then again, that rather is the point.”

“What does that mean?” Quickshadow said as she shot Impactus a glare.

“Logixx, if you would be so kind as to fill in Quickshadow.”

“Well, we, that is to say I, have developed a microparticle capable of creating magnetic frequencies capable of dulling the senses of a Cybertronian or similar species” started Logixx. “That is to say, it makes them less alert to sudden changes in their environment. We hope that by dispelling it over Combatronian installations, they’ll ignore alarms and any sensors that indicate our forces approaching.”

“It doesn’t sound like you have an ethical way of testing it” pointed out Crumble.

“This is a war, engineer” replied Impactus. “There isn’t time for Ethics.”

“Well that’s something you and I disagree on” retorted Quickshadow.

“Really, ‘Spymaster’? I forgot how ethical espionage and assassination is.”

“Well unlike you, we’re not targeting innocents with no part in this war!” yelled Quickshadow.

“We’re, umm, at our destination” stated Logixx, pointing a long finger towards one of the doors. “You’ll need to put on the radsuits, then you’ll be orbitally bounced down to the surface. When you return, you’ll have to take a decontamination shower, just to ensure you haven’t brought it up with you. I need to return to my lab. I have other projects that need my attention. Good luck.”

“Good luck? Will we need it?” asked Crumble.

“You might if you keep questioning everything” groaned Impactus. “Now let’s suit up.”

The trio entered the room, and began equipping their gear. Logixx turned around, heading back to her lab, unaware of a blue and red Cybertronian observing them.

Moon of Colsik, Poltari System
Three beams of light descended from the atmosphere, striking the grey rocky surface. In the beams, a trio of figures appeared, stepping out as the light vanished. The figures wore matching suits of armour, with numerous pipes and wires attached to them. One of them stepped forward with a heavy footstep.

“So where are we going?” came Crumble’s voice from the facial grill of one of the armoured individuals.

Another of the figures pointed ahead to a plateau littered with crater. In the centre was a collection of metal pyramids sticking out. Though Crumble couldn’t be sure, it seemed like this might be that native species equivalent to a village.

“We’ll pass through their village towards our outpost” stated the voice of Impactus from another of the suits of armour. “I wouldn’t recommend removing your suit at any point, lest our ‘Diversion Compound’ afflict you.”

“‘Diversion Compound’?” asked the voice of Quickshadow from the third suit of armour. “Did you think of that yourself?”

“As it happens, yes” replied Impactus, an air of smugness in her voice.

“I don’t like it” snarked Quickshadow.

Impactus shook her head within her armour, before stomping on ahead. Quickshadow and Crumble look at each other through their suits' optic windows, then followed Impactus along the crater-filled terrain. After less than an hour of walking, the trio entered the village. It was filled with various mechanical lifeforms, busying themselves with tasks. They were spindly wireframe beings, circuitry concealed within their frames None of them seemed to look at the trio of Cybertronians, especially not at their strange and very different appearance.

“These are our test subjects” stated Impactus, gesturing at the various civilians.

“I don’t recognise them” stated Crumble. “Do you know what species they are?”

“No idea” stated Impactus without a hint of interest. “It was more important to ensure their processor was similar enough to ours to ensure that testing will be accurate.”

“You’re despicable” Quickshadow scowled beneath her armour.

“No, I’m pragmatic” replied Impactus. “Now, let’s move on.”

Impactus walked onwards, as Crumble and Quickshadow stayed a little longer, watching the locals. One of them knocked over a bucket, yet seemed unphased by it, not even picking it back up. Sighing, Quickshadow turned, before she and Crumble began to catch up with Impactus.

Goliath-Class Battlecruiser “Savage Wing”, Delfa Nebula
Aboard the bridge of the Savage Wing, Firecore waited impatiently in her captain’s chair. She tapped the controls in front of her, waiting for something to happen. A tall crimson and orange Cybertronian with rotor blades draped over her torso, almost like robes, she was not used to waiting. Then, at long last, a light started flashing on her console. She quickly pressed a button, and a hologram of a Cybertronian appeared in front of her.

“Agent T-723, you’re late!” exclaimed Firecore. “What do you have to report?”

“Apologies, general” stated the Cybertronian. “I struggled to get a minute alone. Brigadier Impactus Major has led two envoys of Ginrai down to the surface. It seems that they’re nearing the end of their project’s testing phases, and seem ready to begin using it in the field.”

“Do you have any idea what the project is?” questioned Firecore.

“No, general, but I have my theories based on what I’ve overheard. It seems to be a way to deal with our early warning sensors in our territories, but I can’t say for sure.”

“Hmm…” thinks Firecore. “Return to your duties. Continue monitoring, and inform us of any changes. It’s time we dealt with these Vanguard projects ourselves.”

The Cybertronian saluted as his hologram vanished. Firecore sat upright in her chair, a fire in her spark.

“ALL SHIPS, WE MOVE TO THE POLTARI SYSTEM!” Firecore yelled over her fleet’s comms. “WE’LL USE ONE OF THE NEARBY SUNS FOR COVER, AND SNEAK UP ON THEM BEFORE THEY REALISE WE’RE THERE! RECYCLE ALL LASER WEAPONS AND RELOAD ALL ARTILLERY AND ROCKETS!!”

The engines of the Savage Wing and its fellow ships roared to life as the fleet moved out. Firecore grinned, the prospect of a battle perking her up. She would destroy these Vanguard fools, and leave their silly project in ruins.

Moon of Colsik
The trio of armoured Cybertronians approached a large structure, different from the pyramidal buildings they had passed earlier. This structure was more akin to Cybertronian architecture, with a large satellite dish attached to the top. Impactus led them towards the entrance to the base, then pressed several buttons in quick succession. The door slid open, and the trio entered.

“It’s quiet” said Crumble. “Where is everyone?”

They’re probably just busy” replied Impactus. “Likely on the command deck.”

The trio walked through the empty corridors, still filled with light despite no-one being present. Eventually, they came across the command hubs, where a number of Cybertronians were busy at their stations. As they entered, Impactus loudly coughed, drawing the attention of one of the Cybertronians. The Cybertronian, a dark green copterbot, with rotorblades sitting on his hips, turned and stood to attention.

“Sir!” saluted the bot. ”We were unaware you had arrived. You didn’t send any forewarning.”

“At ease, Captain” replied Impactus, her arms behind her back. “We’re here to inspect the experiment.”

“Of course, sir” stated the captain. “Might I ask who you have with you?”

“Of course” stated Impactus. “Allow me to introduce Quickshadow and Crumble. They have been sent by Ginrai Convoy to join in my inspection… admittedly, not by choice. Now, how is our research coming on?”

“I can’t say there’s been much happening” the captain answered. “We haven’t been receiving updates from our observation drones.”

“Are you sure?” asked Crumble. “I’m kind of a jack of trades when it comes to tech, so I can take a look at your system. If that’s okay with everyone, of course.”

“Fine with me” said Quickshadow.

“Impactus Major, sir?” asked the captain.

“If he must” Impactus replied. “It might prove enlightening.”

“Then by all means” said the captain, leading Crumble to a console, and getting one of his colleagues to move out of the seat. “It might help if you get the gauntlets of the Rad suit off. They do make it hard to use the console.”

“That will be unnecessary” Impactus scolded. “He is quite capable of utilising the console with his Rad suit on.”

“Seeing why Quickshadow doesn’t like you” Crumble muttered under his breath, before sitting down and accessing the console. “Right, let’s see what we’ve got.”

Quickshadow stood behind Crumble as he accessed the system, before noticing that Impactus had not come over to see the results. She simply stood where she was, waiting.

“Do you not want to see what’s happening with the results of your project, Impactus?” questioned Quickshadow. “You’re the one backing it, after all.”

“Oh, I think I can take a guess” Impactus replied, not even turning her head.

Quickshadow looked back at a perplexed Crumble, who was looking confused at a screen, while the captain stared blankly at it.

“I don’t get it” said Crumble. “You said you’d been getting no updates from the observation drones, right?”

“That is correct?” responded the captain.

“Well I can clearly see dozens, hundreds of updates from them” Crumble said, gesturing to the screen. “All time stamped at regular intervals, without fail. Numerous updates of the citizens of the village we passed and how they responded to the release of the microparticle. A success, if we’re going purely by the result you wanted, Impactus.”

“That’s impossible” said the captain. “Perhaps they were backlogged by some glitch, and you fixed it?”

“I only accessed it. There’s no way that could have fixed any issues. I’ll run a scan just to make sure that the time stamped marked by the drones match up with the times your systems received.”

“Oh that won’t be necessary” said Impactus, a smile creeping over her face. “I think it’s obvious what’s happened.”

“What is it?” asked Quickshadow, concerned. “What have you done, Impactus?”

“It’s simple” she replied. “Project Theta Two Nine is a success.”

Warblocker-Class Battlecruiser “The Arbiter”, Moon of Colsik Orbit
Aboard Impactus’s Flagship, the crew of the ship were at work on the bridge, keeping a close eye. A burgundy Cybertronian with massive skis on her back stood on the bridge, awaiting any news from her commanding officer. As she waited, she heard a beep from one of the consoles.

“Ma’am, one of our quantum tripwires has been set off” said the officer at the console. “Looks to be a Combatronian signature.”

“Do we have any information on how many ships, or composition?” asked the burgundy Cybertronian.

“We’re just getting them through… now. One Immolator-Class, two Goliath-Class, five Fellstrike-Class. Scans show they’re moving close to this systems’ sun.”

“Good. Inform Impactus Major of this development, and find out what he wants to do.”

“Understood, ma’am.”

The burgundy bot returned to her post, awaiting further orders from her commanding officer.

Moon of Colsik
Quickshadow glared at Impactus, trying to figure out what she meant.

“The test is over, and there is no need for us to stay here any longer” Impactus stated, turning around. “Once we return to the ship, we can begin mass production of the microparticle, and begin dispersing it into Combatronian targets.”

“Of course sir!” saluted the captain. “We shall begin packing our equipment up and await the evacuation transports.”

There were excited mutters among those in the room, many of whom looking forward to potential respite, or being circulated to a much more interesting station.

“You misunderstand” replied Impactus as she headed to the door. “Quickshadow, Crumble and I are leaving. I’m afraid you’re not going anywhere.”

“I… I don’t understand, sir” the captain stuttered as the rest of his crew went silent.

“Neither do I” growled Quickshadow.

Impactus stopped, then loudly sighed.

“Do I have to explain the obvious?” Impactus asked in an exasperated tone, looking back. “Captain, you and your unit have been contaminated by the microparticle. We cannot allow the microparticle to contaminate the rest of the Primal Vanguard.”

“That… that can’t be true” said the captain. “We were careful.”

“Not careful enough” retorted Impactus. “You stated we never gave you any warning of our arrival, yet if the engineer Quickshadow brought along looked, he’d find that we sent several alerts to you ahead of time, unnoticed. And again with all the reports from your observation drones, it’s simply because you did not notice them due to the microparticle.”

“So… so what happens now?”

“Simple. You will remain here so as not to pass on the microparticle to others. Do not worry, captain. You and your comrades' sacrifices will not be forgotten. Cybertron and its colonies will recognise you as heroes, and many lives will be saved through this project.”

“I… I understand, sir.”

There was quiet whispering among the crew, some of it turning angry, even the odd curse word being thrown about.

“We ALL understand” the captain firmly stated, silencing the room.

“Very good” replied Impactus. “Thank you, captain. We shall take our leave now.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, Impactus exited the room, heading outside. Crumble sat in shock, unsure what to make of this revelation. He looked to Quickshadow, who had her fists clenched. Though concealed beneath her rad suit, Crumble could tell that she was seething with armour. After a few seconds of silence, she turned around to face the captain.

“I’m sorry, captain…” said Quickshadow. “Sorry, I don’t believe I caught your name.”

“Captain Rotorslash, ma’am” replied the captain. “Don’t worry. We knew that we’d have to make sacrifices for this war.”

Quickshadow frowned beneath her helmet at how accepting the captain was of his fate.

“Rotorslash, Crumble and I will try to do everything in our power for you and your men” Quickshadow said.

“Thank you, ma’am” said Rotorslash. “Though I think Impactus Major is probably waiting for you.”

Quickshadow gave a salute to Rotorslash, and he responded in kind. She and Crumble headed out the door, following after Impactus. Impactus stood waiting outside the base, tapping her foot and tutting. Soon, Quickshadow came storming out, with Crumble behind her.

“About time” scalded Impactus. “My patience grows thin when you delay.”

“THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?” Quickshadow yelled at Impactus. “You forced those people to observe, you got them infected by the microparticle, and now you’re just isolating them?”

“The concerns of the Combatronians finding this location and attempting to interrogate those here will be addressed, in the event they are able to do so before the microparticle afflicts them . Imminently, you might say.”

“What do you-?”

Quickshadow was cut off by the comms on Impactus’ suit beeping, indicating an incoming transmission. Impactus quickly tapped a button, and a hologram of burgundy bot appeared on his wrist.

“Impactus Major, sir, we’ve detected an incoming fleet, using the sun’s solar radiation to cover their signal” reported the bot. “What are your orders?”

“Orbital Bounce us back to the ship, and make preparations” answered Impactus. “And fetch the slimy little worm who thought we didn’t notice his encrypted communications to the enemy. He should see this.”

Impactus turned back to Quickshadow and Crumble, and folded her arms. Beneath her helmet, Impactus was smiling.

“Time for the show to begin.”

Before Quickshadow and Crumble could ask what he meant, the three of them disappeared in a beam of light, much like the one they arrived in.

The Arbiter, Exiting Moon of Colsik Orbit
Warped inside the decontamination room, the three Cybertronians were silent as they had various substances sprayed on their armour to ensure that they had not brought any traces of the microparticle with them. Once the sprays subsided, several beams passed over them, scanning them to ensure they were clean. Once it passed, a green light flashed, and a door on the far side of the room opened to a changing room for them to remove their armour. Heading through, Crumble was the first to remove his helmet, giving a deep breath as he did so.

“Phew!” he said. “Stuffy in there.”

He looked at Impactus and Quickshadow, both of whom were silently removing their armour. There was an aura of tension in the room, one that quickly silenced Crumble. Finally, after a long silence, Quickshadow spoke.

“You disgust me” she said, pointing at Impactus with an unarmoured hand.

“I disgust a lot of people” Impactus replied, not even looking at Quickshadow as she removed her chest armour. “But I get results. Repeatedly.”

“Results?” Quickshadow spluttered. “We’re trying to save lives in this war, and you’re just condemning them!”

“Focus on the word ‘war’” retorted Impactus. “There are casualties everyday. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”

“Not really the same when you’re the one sacrificing others!”

“They’re willing to make the sacrifice, regardless. When duty called they answered. Now, enough of your complaining. There’s still matters to attend to on the bridge.”

Removing the last of her armour, Impactus placed the rad suit in a containment unit, before departing out the room. Quickshadow glared at Impactus as she left, before removing the last of her rad suit and angrily shoving it into a different containment unit. She quickly stormed out, leaving Crumble alone in the room.

“Hang on, I’ve still got a boot!” shouted Crumble, hopping on one foot while trying to remove his boot from the other. “Guys?”

Pulling the boot off, he looked between the door and the container, deciding whether he should pack the radsuit away, or simply go after them. Eventually making his mind up, he tossed the boot into the corner of the room, and ran out the door to catch up with Quickshadow.

Impactus stepped onto the bridge, and stood at the far window, staring outside. She tapped a few buttons, and it darkened, along with the other windows in the bridge. Not enough to obscure her view, but just to shield her optics from the intense sunlight. She quickly took notice of the faint shapes around the sun, slowly moving across it. Quickshadow angrily stormed onto the bridge.

“HEY!” she yelled. “WE’RE NOT DONE!”

Impactus simply ignored her, before turning to the burgundy Cybertronian who had taken command of her ship in her absence.

“Are the Combatronian Fleet on schedule?” Impactus asked.

“As estimated” the Cybertronian said.

“Combatronian fleet?” questioned Quickshadow. “How shoddy an operation are you running here? Not only have you no regard for your own troops, but you’ve also let a Combatronian fleet into the system?”

“And our guest of honour?” Impactus continued, still ignoring Quickshadow.

“Should be here now” replied the burgundy bot.

At the sound of the door opening, Quickshadow turned around to see a pair of Autotroopers dragging the blue and red Cybertronian who had been spying on them prior. Impactus walked up to the Cybertronian, looking down on him.

“Let me go!” said the blue and red Cybertronian. “I haven’t done anything!”

“Is that so...Shackle, was it?” asked Impactus. “Or would you prefer Agent T-723?”

Shackle went silent as his face turned pale, a look of panic forming on his face.

“Yes, we’ve been very aware of your treachery. It’s worked well in our favour. It’s why we 've been allowing you to keep up this charade for so long.”

“Impactus, what is going on?” questioned Quickshadow. “What have you done?”

“When we began testing our microparticle, we felt you would call in a fleet to try to either capture or destroy our work. However, we ourselves misled you. We aren’t here to test one project - we’re here to test two. And you’ve just provided the subjects.”

“What in The Pit is going on, Impactus?” demanded Quickshadow.

“All crew, engage Project Fireball!” commanding Impactus in a loud voice.

The crew quickly began work at their consoles, engaging the beginning of this ‘Project Fireball’. The large weapon atop the front of the Arbiter swivelled around, taking aim at the approaching fleet. The weapon began to change form, as plates shifted, forming some kind of launcher, with a single missile loaded in. The missile fired from the launcher with speed, a white trail following it. It flew towards the fleet, yet missed every single ship, instead plunging into the sun behind them.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then a wave of solar radiation burst out of the star, encompassing the Combatronian ships. Electricity sparked across the hulls of the ships as the solar energies ravaged their systems, leaving scorch marks behind. The ships began drifting out of position and biolights began going out across them.

But this was not the worst that these ships would be subject to, as behind the fleet, the star slowly began to swell.

“The Savage Wing”
Aboard the bridge of the Savage Wing, Combatronians were panicking left, right and centre. Bathed in the red emergency light, some were desperately trying to get their consoles working, while others simply fled from the bridge, hoping they could flee aboard an escape craft. The room was filled with yelling and screaming.

“STATUS REPORT!” Firecore yelled over the terrified crises. “I SAID STATUS REPORT!”

“None of our systems are working!” spouted one of the remaining officers. “The solar energies that just hit us have sent everything into a fritz!”

“THEN GET THEM REPAIRED!”

As she yelled at her crew to get the ship working again, one of her officers stared out the glass. The Combatronian looked back at Firecore, with a look of disbelief.

“Well, spit it out!” yelled Firecore, at her wits end. “What is it?”

“I…” started the Combatronian. “I think the sun’s getting larger.”

‘The Arbiter’, Poltari Space
Quickshadow watched in horror as the Combatronian Fleet vanished into the surface of the growing sun, consumed by its flames. She turned to Impactus, but couldn’t muster any words.

“New weapons” stated Impactus. “Nova Accelerators. They reduce the time taken for a sun to reach peak size to a matter of hours. Effective for both cleanly wiping out the enemy in non-essential sectors and covering our tracks if we need to evacuate a sector. It should clear all evidence of our operations and remove any potential microparticle traces or information leaks.”

As Quickshadow stood still, seething with rage, Impactus turned around to face Shackle and the two Autotroopers holding him in place.

“I think he’s seen what he needed to” stated Impactus. “Take him to the brig. We might be able to extract some information from him.”

The two Autotroopers complied, dragging a stunned Shackle out of the bridge. Impactus then turned to the rest of the bridge.

“Our work is done here” announced Impactus. “All ships, jump to rendezvous point kappa two.”

And with that, the Vanguard ships disappeared in bursts of light, leaving the system to be consumed by its ever expanding sun.

Having spent some time trying to get to grips with what Impactus had done, Quickshadow stayed silent for the rest of time aboard the Arbiter. Now, as she and Crumble walked to their shuttle, they weren’t given farewell by quite the same committee of Cybertronians, as standard hangar protocols continued.

“Going without saying goodbye?” came the unwelcome voice of Impactus from behind them.

Quickshadow silently stopped in her tracks. She remained silent for a few seconds, before turning around and storming up to Impactus.

“You disgust me” Quickshadow coldly stated. “If you think that Ginrai will ever allow these projects to go ahead, you have another thing coming.”

“Ginrai?” asked Impactus, folding her arms. “Ginrai’s an idealist who has no idea what has to be done. I will be reporting my success to the senate. They understand that we need to do anything we can to win this war.”

“There are certain lines that we do not cross!”

“The Combatrons will cross those lines any day, and that is why they will win this war if we do not follow them over the lines! Now, your precious Ginrai is probably waiting for you.”

Quickshadow snarled and turned around. After walking a few steps towards the shuttle, she stopped.

“Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day you will be held accountable for your crimes. Cybertron won’t forgive you for what you’ve done, and no amount of ‘we had no choice’ will get you out of it. That’s a promise.“

And with that, Quickshadow boarded the shuttle with Crumble, leaving Impactus Major to watch the shuttle depart and ponder Quickshadow’s words...

 

Volume 2 - The Innocent
Shining Silver​

Edge of the Vrakk Nebula, Solstar Territory
The Vrakk Nebula. A region of Solstar territory heavily patrolled by the knights of Solstar due to its proximity to the Solstar Order-Cybertronian Commonwealth border. And with a war going on, patrols were far more frequent to prevent the war spilling into their territory. Tonight, one of many patrols was underway by a pair of knights, Raxa and Morg. They flew through the amber-hued nebula as a pair of silver blurs, followed by a bright red trail of energy.

“Gargh, this is so dull!” yelled Morg. “Why can’t anything happen?”

Morg was a Vaxasaurian, a rarity among the Solstar Order due to their primitive society and present neutrality. Though shorter than most Vaxasaurians, Morg still had his species' typical strength and eagerness for a battle.

“Argh, calm down” growled his partner, Raxa. “If we don’t do our job, we’ll get more things happening than we can handle. Do you wanna be responsible for letting the Cybertronian War flood into our territories?”

Raxa was a Chelonian, another oddity among the Solstar Knights. Though Chelonians were typically known to be part of the Shadow Proclamation, Raxa came from one of several colonies of Chelonians to ally with the Solstar Order. Despite this, Raxa was very serious about his work, and ensured that Morg was in the same frame of mind.

“No, Raxa” Morg sighed. “Just I was expecting… more to happen on the border.”

“Be thankful there’s not” Raxa pointed out. “The rumours I’ve heard of the weapons used, the planets torched, the species wiped out in the crossfire. Nothing short of horrible.”

“Which one do you think’s in the right in this war?”

Raxa let a deep, sorrowful sigh at the question.

“I think, when a war’s gone on for long enough, there’s no longer a ‘right’ side. There comes a point where victory clouds your initial intentions, no matter how good they may be.”

Morg paused to think on this point. As they continued on their patrol, both of the Knight’s suits beeped.

“Hrrrm, speaking of Cybertronians, we’re picking up a power source akin to their ships” Raxa said, looking at a readout from his suit. “It’s faint, but where there’s one, there’s bound to be more following. Let’s move!”

The pair of knights shot off towards the signal’s location, once more followed by a stream of red energy.

Nearby, Solstar-Cybertronian border
Appearing amongst the starry skies, a ship, an Anx-class Corvette designated “Aurora”, burst into the nearby space. Holding its new position, a series of smaller ships streamed from beneath it towards a wrecked ship ahead. All painted in the yellows of the Primal Vanguard, the squadrons consisted of multiple Hurricane-Class Fighters, Flashfire-Class Bombers and Mylioba Interceptors, all led by a single Hammer-Class Gunship. Aboard the gunship, several Cybertronians waited in the ship’s hold, among their number being Thunderhead and Crumble. Bored of waiting, Thunderhead stood up and wandered under the pilot’s chair.

“HEY TAILPIPE, HOW LONG WE GONNA BE?” he yelled up.

Sitting in the pilot's seat above the rest of the Autobots, Tailpipe groaned loudly as he pressed several buttons on his console.

“IN DUE TIME!” Tailpipe yelled back in annoyance, before activating his comms. “Hyena Leader, I’m picking up no hostiles. Same for you?”

“This is Hyena Leader, I’m picking up nothing either” a voice came over the comms. “We’ll cover the ship while you undergo the mission.”

“Understood, enroute to the nearest facing hangar of Combatronian Datacruiser “Immortalis”” Tailpipe responded. “Over and out!”

As its accompanying fighters began circling the ship, the Hammer-Class Gunship began its landing sequence, turning around as it landed on the surface of the desolate datacruiser’s hanger. Once the rear ramp of the gunship dropped, Thunderhead, Crumble and their squad disembarked.

“Right, we’ve got a lot of potentially useful data to steal, where to?” Thunderhead asked Crumble, looking at their surroundings.

“Well, this is a dataship, which runs through massive server columns synced together” said Crumble, holding a toolkit. “There are many of these rooms, so we shouldn’t struggle to find one.”

“Alright, then” Thunderhead replied, before walking up to the amp of the ship. “KEEP THE SHIP RUNNING, TAILPIPE!”

“I DON’T TELL YOU HOW TO SHOOT” came Tailpipe’s aggravated voice from inside.

“He’ll keep the engine running” Thunderhead said to Crumble. “Shall we?”

With that, the team made their way through the ship. It didn’t take them long to find one of these server rooms. Bathed in a blue glow, while massive columns stretching through several of the ship's levels filled the room as data flowed through them. As they entered the room, Thunderhead looked up at the massive columns, surprised at their size.

“My word” said Thunderhead in awe. “Even the Iacon Archives aren’t this big.”

“I’m amazed you’ve set foot in the Iacon Archives” stated Crumble, opening his toolkit. “Didn’t see you as the reading type.”

“Nah, it was just a security job” replied Thunderhead, still staring upwards. “Didn’t last long though, war n’ all. Only a few months.”

Fumbling through a mess of wires, pulling out the ends of them and plugging them into one of the columns. Pulling out a device seemingly attached to the wires, he pressed a series of buttons, and the machine whirred to life.

“Alright, the download’s started” said Crumble. “Now, we wait and see what this Datacruiser is holding.”

Outside, Raxa and Morg observed the two cruisers, keeping their distance from one another. While Raxa pondered what to do about the situation, while beneath his helmet, Morg’s eyes followed the starfighter flitting around the more derelict of the two ships. After a few minutes deliberation, Raxa came to a decision.

“Alright, here’s the plan, we go in, we find out everything, then we ask them to leave our territory” Raxa said. “If they refuse, then we use force, but no fatalities.”

“Should we knock out their cruiser first?” asked Morg. “In case they try to blast us to pieces?”

“No, we won’t engage before we give them a chance to leave peacefully” said Raxa. “We’re not savages, and we’re definitely not the Galactic Council.”

“If you say so” said Morg. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Trust me, if they do, this armour’s more than durable enough to withstand it” said Raxa, clanging on his silver armour. “But remember we’re peacekeepers, not soldiers when you go in there.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try not to wreck the ship” replied Morg, irritated by his partner’s cautiousness. “Now let’s go!”

With that, Morg dived towards the ship, his red trail of energy following as he flew towards his target. Raxa let out a loud sigh as his colleague brashly charged in, before flying after him.

“At some point he’s gonna learn energy blasts don’t solve every problem” Raxa groaned to himself.

Within the ship, Crumble watched the download continue on his device, while Thunderhead waited at the door with another soldier, keeping a lookout on the off chance there were any surviving Combatronians still on board.

“How’s it looking on that download, Crumble?” Thunderhead asked.

“We’re at eighty-three percent download” Crumble replied. “Anything going on out there?”

“Nah. Though given the fact that a ship like this, security would be kept in stasis till systems detected an intruder, and since I’m guessing the security systems are probably dead, I doubt we’ll be bothered much.”

As if summoned by Thunderhead’s words, Morg crashed through the ceiling of the large server room, debris falling and clattering against the columns. Landing on the floor with a heavy clang, Morg morphed both of his arms into large energy cannons and pointed them at the Cybertronians in the room.

“Cybertronians!” he yelled, amplifying his voice through his helmet. “You are trespassing in Solstar territory! Leave, or I’ll have to blast you!”

“Oh, you want a fight?” grinned Thunderhead, cracking his knuckles. “I’ll be happy to-”

“Be on our way once we’ve got what we need” interrupted Crumble. “We don’t want any trouble with the Solstar Order.”

“Good” said Raxa, landing beside Morg. “Excuse my colleague's rash nature, we don’t want to fight if we don’t have to. But what are you doing in Solstar Space to begin with?”

“Well, we picked up this ship appearing out of a prolonged quantum jump with no life signs, identified it as Combatronian in origin, and underwent a recovery mission” explained Crumble. “Once we’re done, we’ll destroy the ship and be on our way, while we were never here.”

“Yeah, and what about your buddies who you’re at war with?” Morg yelled at the Cybertronians. “What if you lead them to us?”

“Don’t call ‘em our buddies” growled Thunderhead.

“Look, we take precautions to reduce the risk of us being followed” said Crumble, trying to prevent the situation from escalating. “But they likely would’ve detected this ship. If we can destroy it before they get here, they might turn away.”

“Or wreck the nearest Solstar planet as retribution!” retorted Morg.

As the two sides argued, the entire ship shook violently, accompanied by the sound of an almighty boom.The various Cybertronians tried to grab onto something for support as the two Solstar Knights took off from the ground. As they reacted, Crumble’s comm started buzzing to life.

“Sir, three vessels incoming!” came a voice over the comms. “They’re in attack formation, and bearing down on us!”

“Dammit, they’re here already!” Crumble shouted in a panic.

“See, you brought your war to us!” yelled Morg. “See Raxa, we should’ve just dealt with them!”

“Oh use your head, chrome dome!” Thunderhead argued back. “They would’ve come for this ship regardless!”

“Focus!” Raxa said loudly. “Regardless of where we are, we’re all in the same boat. We need to leave before they destroy this entire ship.”

“Feel free to distract them” said Thunderhead. “We’ll head back to our ship!”

“I said we need to get off here” replied Raxa, sternly. “I didn’t say we were done with you. You still brought your war onto our borders, intentional or not. We’ll be staying with you.”

“Like the pit you-”

“Thunderhead, priorities” Crumble cut in. “We don’t want to make enemies, especially when we’ve got Combatronian ships on us. Now take them to our ship while I unhook my uplink and get what data we managed to download.”

“Fine” grumbled Thunderhead. "But I’m not happy about it.”

With that, Thunderhead and the majority of his team lead Raxa and Morg to their gunship, while another Cybertronian waited for Crumble to grab his stuff. Crumble unhooked his device from the server column, and looked at the screen.

“Ninety-three percent” Crumble said to himself. “I would’ve liked everything, but it’s still a lot.”

Crumble quickly packed his equipment back into his toolbox, nodded to the other Cybertronian, before the pair followed after their teammates and the Solstar Knights.

As Crumble rushed back into the hangar, he could see their corvette being blasted by a hailstorm of laserfire, alongside lasers rocketing toward the derelict they were on. Crumble and the Cybertronian that remained with him ran up the ramp of their gunship.

“All here, Tailpipe!” Crumble yelled up. “Now let’s leave before they destroy this ship with us on it.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” responded Tailpipe, flicking at the controls.

The ramp of the gunship lifted, and the ship took off from the hangar, dodging to avoid incoming laser blasts. As the hangar began to tear apart from laser blasts, the gunship darted towards the Anx-class corvette.

“Alright, Hyena Squadron, make for the Aurora” Tailpipe said, turning on his comms. “We need to get out of here quickly.”

“Understood” came the voice of Hyena-Leader. “Forming up on you now.”

“Negative!” came the voice of the Aurora’s captain. “We’re being locked by an interdictor field. We’ve identified a Thottlehold-class interdictor accompanied by two Stormbuster-class corvettes. We don’t know how long we’ve- dammit, they’ve breached the fusion core! I’m sorry, we can’t-”

The Aurora exploded in an almighty fireball, scattering flaming debris everywhere. As the Combatronian ships turned their attention to the derelict, Tailpipe swerved the ship to turn around, as did his accompanying squadron.

“What just happened?” Thunderhead yelled up.

“They just took out the Aurora!” Tailpipe called back. “And I can’t get long-ranged comms! Hyena Leader, can you confirm the long-range blackout?”

“Same, no long-range here either” responded Hyena-Leader.

“Hyena-Leader, this is Hyena-Two” came another voice over the comms. “Multiple contacts, fast approaching!”

“Dammit, me too” replied Hyena-Leader. “25 contacts. Mixed group of Trident-Class starfighters and Crossfire-class interceptors, but I don’t recognise the lead fighter.”

As Tailpipe began to turn the ship around, Raxa flew up into the cockpit to see what was going on. While Tailpipe attempted to swat him away, the ship’s commlight began beeping.

“Hyena-Leader, I’ve got an incoming transmission coming from the lead enemy fighter” Tailpipe said over the comms. “I’m going to answer, but prepare for them to make a move.”

“Understood” replied Hyena-Leader.

Trying not to knock Raxa out of the air, Tailpipe flicked a switch to respond to the incoming transmission.

“VANGUARD SCUM!” yelled a voice through the comms. “THIS IS SQUADRON LEADER RAILGUN OF 70TH ASSAULT WING! THAT DATACRUISER “IMMORTALIS” IS COMBATRONIAN PROPERTY! SURRENDER YOURSELVES AND THE DATA OF PREPARE TO BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED!”

“WELL, SQUADRON LEADER RAILGUN, YOU ARE ENCROACHING ON SOLSTAR SPACE!” yelled Raxa, barging Tailpipe out of the way as he flew straight for the communicator. “LEAVE NOW, OR WE WILL CALL IN A BATTALION OF SPACE KNIGHTS TO DESTROY YOU!”

“Will you shut up!” hissed Tailpipe, grabbing Raxa and throwing him down towards the hold.

“SO!” came Railgun’s voice from the communicator. “YOU SOLSTAR HAVE ALLIED WITH THESE VANGUARD SCUMBAGS? ONCE WE TERMINATE YOU, YOU CAN BE SURE OUR FLEET WILL OBLITERATE EVERY PLANET IN YOUR TERRITORY! BUT FOR NOW, YOU HAVE THE HONOUR OF BEING DESTROYED BY THE DOMINION-CLASS ASSAULT STARFIGHTER, THE PINNACLE OF STARFIGHTER TECHNOLOGY! PREPARE FOR ANNIHILATION!”

As Railgun disconnected, Tailpipe watched as the Combatron Fighters outside began to accelerate, while their accompanying ships began leveling their turrets with the squadron. Flicking through controls, he checked his surroundings on the scanners.

“Hyena-Leader, long range comms are out” Tailpipe said. “We need to get out of range of that cruiser and call for support!”

“You’re not calling support in our sector” Raxa angrily shouted up. “I’ve already contacted our superiors, and they’ll come for us if we don’t respond with our findings, and they won’t be happy to find a Cybertronian battle in our space.”

“Fraggin’ moron” said Thunderhead. “We’ll be scrap by the time your support comes unless we get out of range of the ship that’s blocking our comms.”

Morg stepped forward, and shifted his arm into a silver mace, topped with glowing red spikes.

“Don’t you insult my boss, or I’ll trash you” Morg angrily stated.

“You wanna threaten me?” Thunderhead replied, cracking his fists. “Let’s see how tough that fancy space knight armour is against Cybertronian might.”

“Try it!”

“Woah woah woah” said Crumble, getting between Thunderhead and the Solstar Knights. “We’re all under attack from a common enemy here, and we don’t need to make enemies of each other. Look, we’re sorry for intruding into your territories, but the information at stake here could potentially shorten the war by years, decades, centuries, even millennia. With it, we could save billions of lives, Cybertronian, Sostar and more. But if we’re going to do that, we need to work together to get out of here.”

“And how are we going to call for support to come now if they’re blocking our transmissions?” questioned Raxa.

“I think I’ve got an idea” came Tailpipe from above them. “I’m detecting an asteroid field ahead of us. Their cruisers won’t be able to follow them, and maybe with some fancy flying we’ll take a few of those fighters down while we get out of range of their comm jammers.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” questioned Hyena-Leader. “I’m picking up a strong electrical storm within the asteroid field.”

“Then we’ll have to set shields to maximum and hope that the storm strikes them more than it hits us” answered Tailpipe. “It’s our only shot.”

“So are you with us?” asked Crumble.

Raxa pondered this for a few moments, before gesturing for Morg to stand down. Morg’s mace retracted, replacing it with his hand once more.

“Okay, we’ll call our fleet when we have long-range comms again” Raxa stated. “But you will have to explain the situation to our superiors.”

“I’ll be glad to explain anything if we survive” Crumble replied. “Now you’d better sit down and fasten in as best as you can. I have a feeling this won’t be the smoothest ride.”

With that, Crumble sat down and fastened himself, as Raxa and Morg attempted to sit in the Cybertronian’s seat, using their suits to fix in. Tailpipe, meanwhile, was busy flicking controls, preparing for the difficult flight ahead.

“Thunderhead, I’m gonna need you on the rear turret!” Tailpipe called down, before turning back to his control and opening his comms to Hyena Squadron. “Hyena Squadron, shields to maximum and get moving as fast as you can. Flashfires, have your gunners try and harry the Combatronian fighters. They’ll be after us, and we don’t want to give them an easy time.”

“Understood!” came Hyena Leader’s voice. “All fighters, shields up and let's move!”

Thunderhead rushed to a control rig towards the back for the room, climbing in and belting himself up. He grabbed the controls as the gunship’s rear turret came to life, responding to his actions. As the enemy fighters began darting towards them and laser blasts from the Combatronian cruiser came ever closer, Tailpipe flew his gunship full speed towards the asteroids, Hyena-Squadron quickly followed suit.

Entering the asteroid field, Tailpipe and Hyena Squadron darted forward, dodging and weaving between the drifting rocks. And then it came. The first flash of lightning, blinding the pilots for all but a few seconds. Behind them, the Combatronian fighters followed them into the field, firing off a barrage of lasers.

“Where are my gunners?” Tailpipe yelled through the comms.

“On it!” Thunderhead called back as he ran to a control rig for the rear turret.

Sitting down, Thunderhead activated the rig with a few button presses. As it came to light, a display screen formed around Thunderhead’s head, giving him an idea of the turret's field of view. Taking a hold of a pair of joysticks, Thunderhead began rotating around the rig, adjusting his aim.

“I’m online!” yelled Thunderhead. “Just gotta focus my aim, and…”

Thunderhead pressed the trigger. A bolt of energy fired from the turret, striking one of the enemy fighters, causing it to disappear into a fireball.

“HAH! GOT ONE!” celebrated Thunderhead.

“Need I remind you there’s more than one!” retorted Tailpipe, swerving the ship out of the way of an asteroid.

As Thunderhead returned his focus to the chasing fighters, the entire ship rocked violently as something impacted the side.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” yelled Morg in a panic.

“A bolt from the electrical storm” replied Crumble. “We were bound to take a few hits, though I’m not sure the shields are soaking it up as much as we’d hoped.”

“On the bright side, it looks like those Combatronian tin cans are doing worse than we are” Thunderhead said from his rig. “I just saw two of them get punted by the same bolt. Serves them-”

Thunderhead’s joy was cut short as he watched the lead fighter cut down two of their own fighters.

“Dammit” muttered Thunderhead. “We lost two.”

“We just lost Hyena-Seven and Hyena-Four!” came Hyena-Leader’s voice over the comms. “That new fighter’s fast!”

“Hyena-Squadron, do not engage the fighters” Tailpipe announced over the comms. “Leave them to the rear gunners we have on the gunship and the bombers. Our focus is to get out of comms range and call for aid!”

“Don’t worry” growled Thunderhead below. “I’ll make short work of this new hulk of scrap. He’s gonna learn what happens to those who kill our guys.”

Thunderhead levelled the turret with the new fighter, and let loose a volley of shots from it. Though they hit the fighter dead on, the blasts were simply soaked up by its shields, the energy rippling across the fighter’s surface.

“It just ate up those lasers like they were nothing! What kinda shields is that thing packing?!”

“Then focus on the other fighters for now!” Tailpipe replied.

“Wait a minute!” Thunderhead called back, confused. “It’s slowing away from us. Why is it… oh hell!”

“WHAT?” WHAT IS IT?”

“MISSILE BARRAGE!”

No sooner had Thunderhead said it, a volley of rockets shot out of this new fighter, streaking towards them. Though Hyena Squadron attempted to take evasive action, not all of its members were so lucky, as three of them were caught in the rockets’ explosions. Adding to their troubles, those that missed the target struck the asteroids ahead, breaking them apart and sending debris drifting in all directions.

“HOLD ON!” yelled Tailpipe.

“WHAT DID YOU THINK WE WERE DOING?” Morg angrily retorted.

“THEN HOLD ON HARDER!”

The gunship spiralled sideways, swerving in between fragments of rock in an attempt to get through the debris field, small rock shards scraped against the hull of the ship. Though they took some cosmetic damage, Tailpipe was able to guide them through the remains of the asteroids and reconvene with the remains of Hyena Squadron, their number noticeably dwindling.

“How many did we lose, Hyena-Leader?” Tailpipe asked over the squad’s comms.

“That barrage took out Hyena-Six, -Twelve and -Ten” Hyena-Leader solemnly replied. “Hyena-Two and -Eleven didn’t make it through the debris. They’ve taken out just over half of our squadron.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, he knocked out quite a few of his own wingmates with that salvo” Thunderhead said. “At least four of them got in the way of his missiles, and I’m pretty sure a bunch of them were smooshed by rocks the explosions scattered.”

“Have you managed to get a message to any Solstar forces?” Crumble asked, turning to Raxa.

“The static’s starting to break, and I’ve tried to send a signal through, but I don’t know if they’ll receive it” Raxa replied, tapping a screen he had formed in his armour’s wrist. “Even if they do, I doubt they’ll be able to get a response to us, so we won’t know until they arrive.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to keep flying evasive and trying to come out the other side of the asteroid field with as many ships left intact” Crumble sighed. “Can you make it, Tailpipe?”

“Through the asteroids and an electrical storm, probably” replied Tailpipe. “But with that fighter still in the game, the odds are much, much slimmer.”

Morg stood up from his chair, forming a pair of maces with his hands.

“I’ll deal with them” he said.

“Don’t be an idiot, Morg” said Raxa. “You won’t survive a minute out there. Your armour will no doubt attract numerous electrical strikes from the storm.”

“Hey, this armour’s been through a lot!” retorted Morg. “It can survive some shocks!”

“The armour can survive, but you won’t!” Raxa angrily stated, poking Morg’s chest. “You’ll be flash fried before you’ve charged one of your energy beams, let alone leave a mark with your maces! This ship’s shields are the only reason we haven’t been constantly bombarded by electricity!”

The gunship shook as outside, the Combatronian’s lead fighter blasted apart another of their escort fighters with frightening efficiency.

“That was Hyena-Five” came Hyena-Leader’s voice over the comms. “I’m not sure we can make it without dealing with them.”

“We can’t turn around and engage directly” answered Tailpipe. “We’re outnumbered, and we risk losing this data. Besides, it may be covering us, but the electrical storm isn’t the place for a dogfight.”

“Well we can’t just hope for the storm to discriminately blast all the Combatronians before we make it to the edge of the field.”

Crumble paused as he heard the conversation above. Getting out of his seat, he stood besides Raxa and Morg, before lifting Morg’s arm to the side and looking it up and down.

“Do you mind?” said Morg, annoyed.

“Can you flake your armour?” Crumble asked, not looking up.

“I beg your pardon?” replied Raxa, confused.

“Sorry, thought that was a term organics used. Can you... how to put it… detach fragments of your armour?”

“I mean, it’s not exactly come in useful, but yes, it is technically possible.”

Letting go of Morg’s arm, Crumble ran over to beneath Tailpipe’s seat and looked up.

“Tailpipe, can we open up the rear hatch while still maintaining shields?” Crumble called up.

“I mean, yes, but we’ll have to disengage the rig for the rear turret”

“Good, do it!”

Crumble ran back to Raxa and Morg, holding his hand out.

“May I?” asked Crumble.

Thinking, Raxa proceeded to place his hand over Crumble’s. A small chunk of silver metal chipped off of Raxa’s armour and dropped into Crumble’s hand. Crumble walked to the back of the shuttle, where Thunderhead was now standing to the side for the rig to fold into the floor. The back wall opened up, allowing those inside the shuttle to see their pursuers.

“Thunderhead, if you wouldn’t mind?” asked Crumble. “You’ve got the better throwing arm. Lob it as hard as you can. Maximum power, maximum speed.”

“You got it!” grinned Thunderhead, throwing the silver fragment as hard as he could.

As the fragment quickly disappeared, there were a few seconds of silence. Then, tearing through space, a powerful bolt of lightning struck the shard, ripping through one unfortunate Combatronians.

“WOAH!” yelled Thunderhead in surprise.

“Like you said, your armour is highly conductive” said Crumble. “I’d suggest getting that little flaw fixed, but for now it’s our best hope at wiping out those fighters.”

“You’d better tell your fellow fighters to fly ahead of us” advised Raxa. “Unless you wish them destroyed too.”

“Good thinking” said Crumble. “You get that Tailpipe?”

“I hear you” Tailpipe yelled down, before turning to his comms. “Hyena Squadron, form up in front of me gunship. We’ve got a plan, we’d rather not catch you in the crossfire.”

“You heard him, Hyena Squadron!” came Hyena-Leader’s voice. “Form up in front of Tailpipe!”

In the hold of gunship, Raxa and Morg handed Thunderhead and Crumble a number of shards of their armour, before forming more shards to use themselves. Lining up in front of the hatch, the group began throwing silver shards at their pursuers. Bolts of electricity flew in all directions behind them, clearing the way behind them.

“IT’S WORKING!” yelled Thunderhead. “They’re dropping like technognats!”

“Then let's streamline this!” said Morg, forming his arms into a set of hexagonal launchers.

“Spread out for maximum effect, Morg” advised Raxa, stepping back.

“Gotcha” said Morg, altering the angles of his launchers. “You might wanna cover your eyes. This is gonna get bright!”

A barrage of silver shards shot out of Morg’s launchers at speed, peppered amongst the ships. Soon, electricity shot from all directions, a web of bright, pulsing energy, cleaving through any and all ships that stood in its way. The Cybertronians in the gunship’s hold shielded their eyes, while Raxa and Morg dulled their visors.

“Did we get them?” asked Raxa.

“Looks like it” Crumble answered. “But Tailpipe should be able to confirm us.”

“I’m picking up no more Combatronians readings on our tail” Tailpipe stated. “No… wait. One reading. Oh, take a guess which one.”

Looking out the hatch, the Cybertronians and Solstars Knight saw the now familiar Dominion fighter come into view. The ship unleashed a volley of laser blasts, striking the hull of the gunship. Inside the hold, the passengers were shaken, and Morg lurched forward towards.

“DAMMIT!” yelled Morg as he flew towards the exit.

Seeing Morg flying forward, Thunderhead quickly reached out, grabbing him by the tail before he was thrown out of the ship.

“I GOTCHA!” Thunderhead yelled, holding tightly.

“Thanks for the catch!” Morg replied, letting out a sigh of relief as Thunderhead pulled him back in.

“Well, at this point we’re definitely in it together. We’re gonna have to look out for each other till we’re out of this mess.”

In the cockpit, Tailpipe tried his best to steer out of the enemy fighter’s line of fighter. Noticing the comms flashing, he activated, already knowing who was on the other end.

“Do you not give up?” asked Tailpipe. “You’re the last fighter remaining, you’re done for.”

“ON MY HONOUR AS A COMBATRONIAN, I WILL NOT!” came Railgun’s voice, yelling loudly. “THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SURRENDER BEFORE YOU ARE TERMINATED!”

“Terminated? We have you five to one. The odds of being terminated looks far greater for you than us.”

“YOU DARE THINK YOU CAN OPPOSE COMBATRONIAN MIGHT? THIS SINGLE SHIP COULD EASILY HAVE WIPED YOU AND YOUR COMRADES ITSELF! IN FACT, IT PRACTICALLY DID! YOU ARE FAR OUTCLASSED! YOU-”

Tired of his opponent’s ranting, Tailpipe disconnected.

“I’ve heard enough of that” he sighed. “I honestly don’t know why I picked up to begin with. They just shout.”

“Well sir” came Hyena-Leader’s voice. Perhaps the view will cheer you up.”

Looking beyond his wingmates, Tailpipe saw it. The edge of the asteroid field, and beyond that, clear space. The end was nearly in sight, but first they had one last nuisance to take care of.

“Hyena-Squadron, full speed to the edge of the field!” Tailpipe ordered over the comms, before looking down. “Guys, you think you can wrap this up?”

“Oh, with pleasure” Thunderhead smirked, taking another handful of silver shards from Raxa. “Let him have it, boys!”

The Cybertronians and Solstar Knights pelted metal shards at the Dominion fighter. Bolts of electricity streaked through the asteroid field, yet the enemy managed to navigate through, weaving around the electricity with ease.

“CAN THIS GUY JUST QUIT?!” Morg angrily yelled.

“I know!” agreed Thunderhead. “He’s being incredibly stupid!”

“Oh, I’ve had enough of this” scowled Raxa.

Removing his silver helmet, Raxa revealed his chelonian face. Reeling his arm back, Raxa threw his helmet with impressive force. The helmet streaked behind them, impacting with a hard thud into the ship, embedding itself into the ship’s glass. Looking closely, one could see its pilot panic, trying to shake it out, even hitting it from the inside, to no avail. A matter of moments was all it took for a stream of electricity to strike the ship, engulfing it in an almighty explosion.

“Tailpipe!” called up Thunderhead. “You can seal the hatch. Our last pursuer is down, and won’t be coming back!”

Tailpipe breathed a sigh of relief, before closing the rear hatch and pushing on with the course of the asteroid field. The small group of ships finally emerged from the asteroid, battered but victorious. Aboard the gunship, Tailpipe opened up comms with his wingmates.

“Alright, how are we doing?”

“Hyena-Leader, -Three, -Eight and -Nine are here” answered Hyena-Leader. “That escapade took its toll, so I’m not sure we’ll be able to go through another ordeal like that. But we’re alive.”

“Understood” replied Tailpipe. “We’re battered here, so hopefully Solstar Knights won’t take long to get here.”

Tailpipe glanced at his instruments, before noticing one of the devices was blinking.

“Hyena-Leader, I’m detecting incoming quantum energy. Something’s jumping in ahead of us.”

In front of the group, a trio of ships appeared in a blinding light. The same Combatronian ships they had left behind on the other side of the asteroid field.

“DAMMIT!” yelled Tailpipe. “Railgun’s ship must have had a tracking beacon. They wouldn’t have had a hard time estimating where we’d come out of the field.”

Raxa flew up into the cockpit, hovering beside Tailpipe as he observed the opposing ships.

“Can we return into the field?” Raxa asked.

“We could, but we can’t hide there forever” Tailpipe answered. “After the beating we took, it’d be much harder to survive, and that’s assuming we have enough fuel.”

“Then I supposed we must hope that them relocating meant we were out of their jammer’s range long enough that we could get my signal out.”

“Hang on, I’m detecting more quantum energy signatures!” said Hyena-Leader. “And not from the same direction as those Combatronian ships.”

In a flash of light, a massive ship emerged to their right. Decked in bright blue, it dwarfed the Combatronians cruisers. From it, numerous silver coated beings emerged, their eyes glowing red.

“COMBATRONIANS!” came a loud, booming voice from the ship. “THIS IS RAKNAR, CAPTAIN OF THE SOLSTAR SHIP “HORIZON”! YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON SOLSTAR TERRITORY! WE ALSO DETECT THE PRESENCE OF ILLEGAL INTERDICTOR TECHNOLOGY! WE OFFER YOU ONE CHANCE TO SURRENDER THE TECHNOLOGY, OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO UTILISE FORCE!”

The Combatronian ships responded in the only way they knew how: attack. Unleashing a salvo of lasers and rockets at the Solstar Ship, they turned to face it head on.

“YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO FORGO YOUR RIGHT TO SURRENDER! YOU HAVE GIVEN US NO CHOICE BUT TO ENACT LETHAL FORCE!”

The silver figures surrounding the blue ship dived towards the Combatronians, beams of red light firing on the Interdictor leading the small fleet. Focusing on its interdictor unit, the figures made short work of it, destroying it with enough force to tear the rest of the ship asunder. The armada of silver knights turned their attention to the flanking corvettes, firing on them. Knowing they were outmatched, the Combatronian ships turned around, fleeing in another flash of light, though not before they had received a savage beating from their attackers.

“Looks like your guys arrived just in time” said Tailpipe, relaxing in his chair.

“We Solstar Knights pride ourselves on being reliable” responded Raxa. “Even in unyielding circumstances, we do what we can.”

“CYBERTRONIAN SHIP!” came the booming voice, this time directly through their ships comms. “WE BELIEVE YOU HAVE TWO OF OUR OWN ABOARD! WE INVITE YOU ABOARD OUR SHIP TO DELIVER OUR KIN! PLEASE FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS WHO WILL ESCORT YOU!”

A pair of silver knights flew over to Tailpipe’s ship, hovering in front of the cockpit. They looked directly in, acknowledging Raxa’s presence. The two gestured to follow, before flying towards the ship.

“Alright, Hyena-Squadron” said Tailpipe over this comms. “We’ll follow these knights, and hopefully make it home.”

The Horizon, Solstar-Cybertronian Border
In the hangar of the Horizon, Tailpipe, Thunderhead and Crumble watched as their Autotroopers and the remainder of Hyena Squadron loaded a small freighter, gifted to them by the Solstar Knight for their journey home. Though small, it was large enough to house their group.

“So, Solstar Knights” said Tailpipe. “What do you make of them?”

“They beat the Council by a mile, that’s for sure” answered Thunderhead.

“My experience with Impactus Major, means they beat some of our own kind as well” added Crumble.

“I am happy Raxa and Morg represented us well” came a voice from behind.

The trio turned around to see Raxa and Morg approach them, accompanied by a tall Auberonian, only partially covered in Solstar Armour.

“That they did, Captain Raknar” said Crumble.

“It’s a shame you can’t help us properly in the war” Thunderhead stated.

“Alas, I myself would be happy to assist you in your war” Raknar, the Auberonian, stated. “Though we are outsiders, the Solstar Order sees the morality of both sides of the battle lines clearly. However, our duty is to our people first, and to enter your war, regardless of side, would encourage retribution. War would endanger our own.”

“We understand” said Tailpipe. “All we can ask is that you continue to keep them safe.”

“Rest assured, we will ensure that the Combatronians do not attempt to encroach into our territory again” said Raknar. “Aside from see you off, all I can do is wish you luck, and hope you come out of this terrible war victorious. For what it’s worth, I do hope you manage to get what you came for.”

“So do we” said Crumble, looking at the data unit in his hand. “But thank you for your aid.”

“Perhaps when this war is over, we can see our way to an alliance with Cybetronians” added Raxa.

“I’m sure Ginrai would be all too happy to agree” replied Tailpipe. “We will most assuredly pass that onto him for when the time is right.”

With that, the Cybertronians boarded their freighter, and, after a wave goodbye, they departed the large cruiser. In a flash of light, they were gone, homeward bound...

 

Volume 2 - The Innocent
The Mortality Engine​

Prison Station Theta 2, The Anitor System - Several Months Prior
Venom scribbled on the walls of his small cell, scratching into it with one of his sharpened fingers. The Vanguard foiled his plan to unleash the Red Rust virus on their forces, but that wouldn’t stop him. He would just have to refine the formula, and this solitude gave him the peace to do so. Perhaps he would unleash it on his jailers first. A loud knock on his door disrupted his train of thought.

“Do you mind!” he screeched. “I am trying to think! I do not appreciate being interrupted!”

“You’re being transferred” came the voice of an Autotrooper.

“Transferred?” questioned another voice outside. “This is only a routine patrol, we’re not- hurk!”

The second voice was cut short by the sound of a blade piercing through metal. The door soon opened in front of Venom. An Autotrooper stood in front of him, its arm twisted into a strange blade, dripping with Energon. The body of another Autotrooper lay besides him, powerless and grey.

“Come” said the Autotrooper. “Overlord has need of you.”

“A traitor?” questioned Venom, slowly stepping out of his cell.

“No” said the Autotrooper, as the blade contorted back into his arm. “I’m simply… an ally, of Overlord. And one of his projects has need of you.”

The Longshot, The Petrofel System - Now
Ginrai and Rocket Plume entered the bridge. It had been the first time they’d step off the planet Probat in months, but they were finally back. Sure, this ship wasn’t exactly homely, but it reminded them of Cybertron. As they walked forward, they saw Warpdrive, Quickshadow, Thunderhead, Tailpipe, Crumble and Goldbug standing around it, alongside the holograms of Peritus Maximus and Groundshaker.

“Well, it’s been a long campaign, but we’ve finally pushed the Combatrons off of Probat” said Ginrai. “I’d say we’ve earnt a celebration if it weren’t for the grim looks I’m seeing.”

“I’m afraid celebrations will have to wait, Ginrai” stated Peritus. “We’ve received some rather disturbing reports. Do you recall the Combatronian Scientist Venom, who was extracted from one of our prison centres several months ago?”

“That freak” said Rocket Plume. “If I hadn’t been on Probat, I would’ve gone after him myself.”

“Well you might get the chance now” Quickshadow said. “We’ve managed to decipher transmissions regarding his current whereabouts… which could very well be his next abomination of an experiment.”

From his end, Groundshaker pressed a button, and a hologram of a planet above the table. On the side of the planet, a red dot blinked repeatedly.

“This is Covoxik” stated Groundshaker. “Homeworld of the Covoxik, they’re members of the Cybertronian Commonwealth, but when the war started, they stepped back, wanting to stay out of the war. Unfortunately, it seems the Combatronians don’t care about their neutrality. Transmissions have suggested Combatronian ships have been mobilising back and forth to this planet, seeming to coalesce around this location… here.”

Groundshaker pointed at the red dot on the image of Covoxik.

“Within the atmosphere, but hanging in the skies above the surface. We don’t know what’s there and why, but we believe it’s ground zero for whatever they have planned.”

“Wouldn’t it technically be sky zero?” Thunderhead whispered to Tailpipe, who silenced him with a quick elbow to the abdomen.

“We’re currently waiting on scout to return with further information, but we will likely be mobilizing to the planet very quickly, so be prepared” stated Peritus Maximus.

Ginrai stroked the chin of his faceplate, looking at the hologram of the planet. He thought it strange how a number of their recent campaigns had revolved around the organic species allied with the Commonwealth.

“Are there any valuable resources on Covoxik?” asked Ginrai. “Anything Overlord might want for his armies?”

“Quite frankly, no” replied Groundshaker. “Metals are far and few on Covoxik, and as far as we’re aware, they’ve never had any way of producing energon.”

“It’s not a strategic planet, either” added Peritus. “It’s quite out of the way, and nowhere near any quantum trails. Why so many ships have been coming in and out is a mystery.”

“One we’ve got to figure out” Ginrai said.

“Well, we’re not going to achieve much here” said Quickshadow. “I suggest that we get some rest while we wait for the reports to come in.”

With that, those around the table filtered out of the room, while the holograms of Peritus and Groundshaker faded out. As Warpdrive walked back towards the other end of the bridge, Ginrai made his way to the lift, planning to take Quickshadow’s advice and rest. Probat had been a long campaign, and there was no telling how long this next mission would last.

Extraction Chamber, The Mortality Engine, Covoxik
Venom strolled around the room, holding a datapad and making his final checks. Around him, over a hundred Covoxik were connected to a large grid, wires and tubes connecting to each and every one of them. The Covoxik were a bipedal species of four armed mammals, covered in a silver and black fur - but to Venom, they were just test subjects. Looking back and forth from his datapad, Venom was followed around by a Navy and Silver Thinktank Vehicon. Satisfied, Venom came to a control console, where another Covoxik was being held by a pair of OverDrive drones.

“I don’t know why you’re scowling, Mister Prime Minister” said Venom. “You should be proud. You finally get to contribute to both the cause of science and the Combatronian cause. Goes some way to making up for trying to avoid the war like a coward.”

The Covoxik Prime Minister spat at Venom, saliva landing on Venom’s chestplate. Venom wasn’t phased by this, and simply began tapping away at the console.

“Really?” asked Venom. “I’m a chemist. I’ve made far worse things than anything you can spit my way. You really think I’m phased by a little bit of drool?”

The Thinktank stepped forward, looking directly at Venom. Venom redirected his attention to his underling.

“Incoming transmission from high command” stated the Thinktank. “Do you wish to take in in the command hub, or here?”

“We’ll take it here” Venom responded, before gesturing at the Covoxik Prime Minister. “I mean, he’s hardly gonna tell anyone.”

“Understood.”

The Thinktank held his hand out, and palm opened up to reveal a holoprojector. A grey hologram of Overlord appeared from the projector, staring up at Overlord.

“Ah, Overlord, a pleasure to see you, my Emperor of Destruction” saluted Venom.

“All hail Overlord” said the Thinktank and Overdrive Vehicons in unison.

“Quite” replied Overlord. “I contact you, firstly, to ensure our little experiment is on schedule. I do hope you haven’t spent too much time playing with the animals.”

“Animals!” spluttered the Prime Minister. “How dare-”

Venom raised his index finger up to the Covoxik, signalling him to be silent. He then returned his attention to Overlord.

“Only as much as is necessary, my almighty emperor” Venom stated, as a twisted grin crept beneath his rebreather. “I find it helps to gauge a subject's fear. It… inspires me. Anyway, you will be pleased to hear construction has been completed, and in several hours we shall commence mass testing on our first batch.”

“Excellent” smiled Overlord. “As soon as the test shows the station works, I want you to send schematics to our covert factory worlds so we can produce more.”

“They won’t match this one, given my involvement, but as you wish, Overlord” Venom sighed, not liking the idea of crude, mass produced copies of his latest masterpiece. “Was there something else, mighty emperor? You stated an update was the first thing you wished to speak about.”

“Indeed, Venom. Given recent developments, I believe that the Vanguard may be close to locating our project. As such, I have decided to reevaluate your security measures.”

On the Thinktank’s palm, the hologram of a second Cybertronian formed, standing beside Overlord. A large, heavily built flier, this new Cybertronian glared at Venom, as if he was evaluating him.

“Allow me to introduce Skyquake, one of my High Generals of the commanding council. He will be bringing a fleet to bolster your forces. Effective immediately, he will be taking command of all security operations with regard to this project.”

“I- well- now-” spluttered Venom. "This seems highly unnecessary, my lord. I might be a scientist first, but I am perfectly capable of managing my own-”

“Do you doubt my capabilities, scientist?” Skyquake coldly inquired, not breaking his intense stare.

“Well, of course not, High General, it’s just, you see…”

Venom took a deep breath to recompose himself.

“It seems a tad excessive, doesn’t it?”

“Are you questioning me, Venom?” inquired Overlord, his face now a scowl.

“No, of course not, my lord!” squawked Venom. “If… you see it fit, then I shall gladly hand over security operations to Skyquake. I mean, High General Skyquake.”

“Excellent” said Overlord, his face returning to a smirk. “I would oh so hate to pass scientific operations to another as well.”

“I look forward to working with you” Skyquake said, causing Venom to question whether he was being serious.

“Now, don’t let us interrupt you any long” Overlord said. “You have important work to continue. Just try not to play with the meatbags as much.”

“Noted, my… Emperor of Destruction” Venom replied. “Over and out.”

The hologram of Overlord and Skyquake faded from the Thinktank’s hand, and the projector was once more concealed beneath its palm.

“What are your orders?” asked the Thinktank.

“Continue finalising work on the machine!” snapped Venom. “And have the secondary Thinktank unit make preparations for that emotionless buffoon’s arrival.”

“Emotionless buffoon?”

“Skyquake, you moron!” yelled Venom.

“Of course, sir” said the Thinktank, leaving the room.

“And you two can take that disgusting creature back to its cell” Venom ordered, pointing at the two Vehicons holding the Covoxik Prime Minister. “But bring him back out for the test begins. I want him to see the fate of his people. The fate of all inferior organics!”

The two Overdrive Vehicons complied, escorting the Prime Minister out of his room.

“Overlord thinks that Skyquake can handle the Vanguard” Venom muttered to himself. “It might be worth losing this masterpiece to show his inadequacies.”

The Longshot, Petrofel System
Ginrai entered the bridge. Quickshadow and Warpdrive were already waiting for him, as were the holographic images of Peritus and Groundshaker.

“I came as soon as I got your message” said Ginrai. “What is it? It’s not good, since I recognise those looks.”

Behind Ginrai, the doors opened as Crumble, Rocket Plume, Thunderhead and Tailpipe entered behind him. They filtered around the holotable.

“Hey, try not to rush off like that, boss” said Thunderhead. “Kinda need to pass on the message that there's a meeting rather than bolting. So what’s this about?”

Groundshaker looked at Quickshadow, who tapped a button on the side of the table. The table reproduced the holographic image of the planet Covoxik.

“We think we know what the Combatron’s mysterious station is for” Quickshadow said, gesturing again to a blinking dot marking the station’s position. “Who here is aware of pink alchemy’?”

“A horrendous practice of converting organic species into energon” Ginrai Convoy answered. “Best not go into the details, but it is vile. Cobalt Convoy was quick to ban the practice as soon as he became aware of its existence.”

“Well, no surprise there that Overlord doesn’t respect that point” muttered Thunderhead.

“Guess there’s no qualms on blasting that station out of the sky with everything we can?” said Rocket Plume.

“Not that simple” said Quickshadow. “Our scouts have found several prison camps across the planet, with transports going between them and the station, meaning there are likely Covoxik aboard that station.”

“Then we mount a rescue” said Thunderhead. “Break their lines, then storm the station.”

“Again, not simple” pointed out Groundshaker. “Intel suggests that they’ve received reinforcements under the command of High General Skyquake. A battle would be prolonged, and would give plenty of time for the Combatronians to kill their prisoners.”

“If Peritus’ fleet could keep the enemy occupied, maybe create a gap in their formations, some smaller dropships could zip through and straight to the station” said Ginrai. “They’re bound to have transports docked, so we could steal one to get the Covoxik out.”

“It’s a risky move” said Peritus. “You’d have to be fast, and even then losing ships is inevitable.”

“It’s always inevitable” Ginrai sadly admitted. “But we have to do what we can to help the Covoxik. They’re innocent in this.”

“If we docked gunships to the underside of Anx’s and have them quantum jump in late, we could use the momentum of their jumps to give the dropships a little extra boost” suggested Tailpipe. “It’s not much, but I’ll improve the odds of making it.”

“Then what’s the plan once the team gets there?” asked Groundshaker.

“We divide up into teams” said Ginrai. “I’ll take a team to try and free the Covoxik prisoners on board. At the same time, Tailpipe will take a team to try and obtain us a bigger ship to make our escape in. Finally, Quickshadow will take her team to the station's core and destroy it, which should result in the destruction of the station. Barring any unpredictable complications, of course.”

“That's the thing about unpredictable complications” Rocket Plume whispered to Thunderhead. “They’re so dang unpredictable.”

“I’m not sure” said Peritus. “This is incredibly risky.”

“Well, risky or not, I can’t see any other way to pull it off” sighed Groundshaker. “It’s all we’ve got.”

“I guess I’ll just have to live with it then” said Peritus. “I’ll ready the fleet.”

“Groundshaker, I suggest you prep a ground force for if we’re successful” said Ginrai. “If we break their fleet and bring down the station, we can’t waste time. We need to start liberating those camps on the surface.”

“I understand” replied Groundshaker. “I’ll have some units ready to deploy by the time you’re done.”

Groundshaker’s hologram faded out, and Ginrai looked at those remaining in the room.

“Warpdrive, have us rendezvous with the rest of the fleet” Ginrai ordered. “Everyone else, I suggest we prepare our boarding party.”

Vanguard Fleet, Petrofel System
The Vanguard fleet readied themselves for battle. As the last few shuttles and gunships zipped between ships, the larger ships began adjusting their heading towards their destination. Warblockers, Gargantuans, Vanguard-I and Anx’s formed up together, while at the rear, a trio of Anx-Class Corvette’s held back.

Aboard the lead corvette, the “Night Path”, marked with ebon stripes to denote it, Ginrai climbed out of the docking tube from one of the dropships and made his way to the bridge.

“All dropships are loaded” said Ginrai. “Any word from the other ships?”

“Thunderhead and Rocket Plume reported that the “Great Zephyr” and the “Perseverance” have their dropship teams loaded as well” said one of the pilots.

“Incoming transmission from Peritus Maximus, sir” said the other.

“Patch it through” ordered Ginrai.

The pilot pressed a button, and an image of Peritus appeared on the screen.

“The fleet is ready and moving out” said Peritus. “We’ll send you a signal when we think we’ve cut a hole into the fleet you can get through. Aside from that, all I can say is good luck.”

“And to you, Peritus” replied Ginrai. “I’ll see you when this is over.”

“Understood. Peritus out.”

The hologram of Peritus vanished. Outside, the Vanguard fleet began disappearing in streaks of light. Soon, only three ships remained.

“Make sure to be ready to adjust the coordinates if necessary” said Ginrai. “We need to be as close to the hole in the fleet as possible.”

“Understood, sir” said one of the pilots.

“I’ll be in the dropship. Let me know when we leave.”

With that, Ginrai left the bridge. As he made this way back to the docking tube, he found Quickshadow waiting next to her tube.

“You sure this will work?” Quickshadow asked as Ginrai passed her.

“To be honest, not entirely” Ginrai said. “But we don’t have time for a better plan.”

“Well, I hope we won’t need one” Quickshadow replied, before returning to her dropship.

“Neither do I…” Ginrai sighed to himself, entering his own dropship.

Command Hub, The Mortality Engine, Covoxik
Venom paced around his command hub. Well, it was supposed to be his. Now Skyquake’s cronies had swarmed in, and were busy making a mess of his work. Skyquake himself was busy storming around the hub, acting like he owned the place.

“Venom, how many ships are currently docked with this station?” Skyquake asked.

“Hmm?” responded Venom. “Oh, um, three frigates that are in the process of refueling.”

“Have them refuelled and ready to join the fleet!” demanded Skyquake. “I want every resource at our disposal in preparation for any Vanguard incursion!”

“This is my station, and I will not be ordered about like some grunt” snapped Venom.

“Oh really?” retorted Skyquake. “I am in command of all security operations with regards to this station, and you will do as I say about matters of such. Or perhaps I should tell Overlord about your uncooperative nature?”

“Fine, I’ll tell them. But when this is over, I will be resuming complete command of this station.”

“If Overlord decrees, then yes.”

“Sir, incoming ships are quantum jumping into our vicinity” said Venom’s Thinktank Vehicon. “Initial observations suggest Vanguard forces.”

“Well, obviously” snapped Skyquake as he and Venom made their way to the window of the command hub to observe.

Sure enough, gold plated ships were appearing and already firing on the Combatronian fleet. Though the Vanguard were outnumbered, more of their ships were bolstering their ranks.

“Falcon, Hyena, Snare!” barked Skyquake. “Have all fighters aboard this station ready to meet me in the hangar! Stalker, assume command of operations in this hub. Keep me updated on any and all changes that occur in this battle.”

A trio of fliers saluted Skyquake before leaving the room, as another Cybertronian with a large shoulder cannon nodded and began barking orders at Venom’s crew in the hub.

“Any order you have for me, your all mightiness?” Venom said mockingly. “Perhaps you want me to polish your wings, or sharpen your horns?”

“You have your orders” Skyquake coldly answered. “Have those frigates ready to join the fleet. Try not to botch it up.”

Venom scowled beneath his rebreather. He watched Skyquake leave the command hub to join his squadrons. Once Skyquake was gone, Venom left the room, knowing that Stalker was intently staring at him.

“Creeps” muttered Venom once he was out of the room. “All of them. Hopefully they remember to get atomised on the way out.”

The Valiant, Covoxik
Aboard the bridge of the Vanguard ship Valiant, Peritus oversaw the battle. Watching from the window, he observed the Vanguard and Combatron ships exchanging fire, while fighters and fliers entered dogfights amongst the two fleets. Peritus then turned his attention to one of his officers.

“Lieutenant, has our entire fleet arrived?” Peritus asked.

“Yes, sir” answered the officer. “All ships are reporting that they’ve engaged the enemy.”

“Have we located any weak points in their formation?”

“From scans, one of their goliath ships has sustained heavy damage, sir.”

“Have our ships focus on that cruiser, and send a transmission to Ginrai’s ships of updated coordinates” ordered Peritus. “We’ll make that opening before he gets here.”

The Night Path, Petrofel System
Ginrai stood in the gunship, silently and patiently waiting for the message to come through. The others in their, a mix of Cybertronian and Autotrooper, looked between each other, anxious at their mission.

“Attention all dropships” came a voice over the comms. “We have the all clear to jump. Hold tight, and be prepared to detach as soon as we arrive Covoxik orbit.”

“You got that, Tailpipe?” Ginrai shouted to the gunship’s cockpit.

“Yeah, I hear” Tailpipe replied, flicking switches in preparation.

Soon, the ship began vibrating, before vanishing in a flash of light as they quantum jumped. For a few seconds, light and colour streamed past them as they accelerated through space at incredible speed. In a matter of seconds, that was soon replaced by the blue sky of their destination, and the cacophony of battle around them.

“DETACHING!” yelled Tailpipe as he pulled a lever.

The dropship unlatched itself from the underside of the corvette carrying it, rocketing toward a space in the fleet where one of the Combatronian ships was now rapidly losing altitude. Tailpipe’s ship was followed by nearly a dozen similar dropships, darting towards the hole.

“This is your last chance to steel yourself” Ginrai said, addressing his fellow Vanguard soldiers. “As soon as we land, we’ll likely be in the thick of it, and there’ll be no going back till we get those prisoners free. Am I understood?”

“SIR, YES SIR!” the occupants of the dropship shouted in unison.

The entire dropship shook, rocked by a nearby explosion.

“Tailpipe, I need a visual!” Ginrai yelled.

A holographic screen appeared in front of Ginrai, showing the battle outside. One of their dropships was missing, and another was torn apart by several fast fliers.

“It seems Skyquake has entered the fray personally” Ginrai said.

The entire ship shook again, this time more violently. The hum of the ship's system became a far gruffer whirr.

“Well it seems Skyquake and his wingsmates are targeting us!” Tailpipe yelled. “They’ve taken out the rear turret.”

There was another shake, this time accompanied by a loud boom. The craft continued to rock as Tailpipe fought for control.

“We’ve taken heavy damage!” Tailpipe called out. “I’ll try to guide her into the hangar, but you’re gonna have to jump out!”

The shutters on the sides of the dropship opened up, and Ginrai peered out to see energy flying around them. Looking back, Ginrai saw four shapes darting around behind them, firing on them. Ginrai then looked forward, towards the increasingly closer hangar.

“EVERYONE OUT IN THREE… TWO… ONE….” Ginrai counted down, urging his soldiers to get ready. “JUMP!”

Ginrai and his soldiers leapt out of the gunship as soon as the hangar floor appeared beneath them. Ginrai rolled off to the side, watching the dropship slam against the hangar wall, before ricocheting to the floor as flames consumed it.

“Tailpipe…” Ginrai solemnly said to himself as he picked himself up.

As more dropships began landing in the hangar, Ginrai turned to address the soldiers already in the hangar.

“No time for standing around!” he loudly stated. “I need you men to get moving and secure a craft for us! I’d check the refuelling depot, they’re likely to still have some ships that have yet to join the battle.”

The Cybertronians saluted, before rushing out of the room. More Cybertronians filtered out from the newly landed gunships, forming up in front of Ginrai.

“Quickshadow, Crumble, your team's mission remains to destroy the core!” Ginrai ordered. “My team, effective immediately, Rocket Plume’s in command. She and Thunderhead will lead you to free the Covoxik imprisoned on this station. Move out!”

As the Vanguard forces hurriedly filtered out of the room, Rocket Plume and Thunderhead concernedly looked at Ginrai.

“Where are you going while we free the natives?” Rocket Plume asked.

The trio turned to Skyquake and his trio of wingmates landed in the hangar. As soon as Skyquake’s feet touched the floor, a barrage of rockets launched from his backpack, flying around the room and destroying the Vanguard dropships.

“Covering the rear” Ginrai said, pushing Thunderhead and Rocket Plume behind him. “Now go. I’ll deal with them.”

Rocket Plume nodded, and she and Thunderhead ran out of the room, looking to catch up to their team. Now alone with the Aerial Predators, Ginrai stepped forward to address them.

“General Skyquake, I presume” Ginrai said, looking him up and down.

“High General Skyquake” Skyquake corrected. “I presume I don’t need to ask who you are, Ginrai Convoy.”

“Please, everyone just calls me Ginrai.”

“Well, Ginrai, it pleases me to be responsible for your demise.”

“Well that’s a bold claim” Ginrai smirked. “I mean, Overlord hasn’t managed it yet, so it's a bit presumptuous that you can do it.”

“I am the finest aerial general the Commonwealth has known!” Skyquake declared. “And unlike you, I do not fight alone!”

“Yes, well I do need someone to dismantle your operation” Ginrai retorted. “So shall we dispense with the pleasantries and rumble?”

“FINALLY” yelled Falcon, one of Skyquake’s wingmen.

“As you can see, my wingmates are itching for a fight” Skyquake said, gesturing to Falcon. “Who am I to disappoint?”

And with that, Ginrai and the Aerial Predators charged at each other, quickly grappling against each other.

Extraction Room, Mortality Engine
Thunderhead and Rocket Plume charged into the extraction room, and with a few precise shots Rocket Plume picked off a pair of Vehicons standing guard. Pushing further into the room, their team filtered in behind them.

“Spread out” ordered Thunderhead. “Two of you, guard the door.”

Rocket Plume looked up at the massive rig, numerous Covoxik hooked up to it.

“Check your aim” said Rocket Plume, loudly. “Remember, we’re here to save them, not accidentally shoot them.”

Looking around, Thunderhead found what he presumed was a command console. He approached it and activated the interface, carefully looking it over to ensure he didn’t press something he’d regret.

“I think this should allow us to disconnect them” said Thunderhead. “Someone should probably help me with it though. I don’t have Crumble knowledge of tech.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” called out a voice.

On the other side of the room, Venom stood with his Thinktank unit and a pair of Overdrive Vehicons, holding the Covoxik Prime Minister by the shoulders. Venom had a blaster pistol pressed against the Prime Minister's cheek, ready to pull the trigger at a moment’s notice. Rocket Plume and her team quickly pointed their weapons at the Combatronians, as behind them, several Afterburn Vehicons flew past and hovered in the air, pointing their weapons around the room.

“One wrong move, and I blast him, then the rest of the ‘meat’ in this room” Venom threatened. “And I do hate wasting ‘meat’.”

“Alternatively you could do the sane thing and surrender” called out Thunderhead.

“Mmmmm, not really my style” Venom retorted, waving his pistol about. “Then again, this isn’t my style either. A gun. So blasé. Were it up to me, I’d have concocted something fresh and agonising, just to make you watch in horror. But you forced my hand by turning up quickly, so I have to resort to the tiresome basics.”

“This won’t end well, Venom!” Rocket Plume called out. “Just like your Red Rust.”

“Yes, well as you remember, I was abruptly taken away from it against my will” scowled Venom. “I think I’ll give special orders to have you captured, so I can test my next batch on you as payback.”

“Sir” interrupted the Thinktank. “Stalker informs me that there are further incursions towards this station’s reactor room and the refuelling decks. He-”

“Oh for the love of- Overlord placed Skyquake and his cronies in charge of security. If Stalker detects incursions, he should delegate the forces he has to deal with them, not bother me when my masterpiece is under threat.”

“You were ordered to ensure that all ships were clear of the refuelling decks.”

“ORDERED?” snapped Venom. “This is my station, I will do as I please! Just tell him to send troops to deal with the incursions. Not like they can go far while we have these meatbags as our bargaining chips. Is the secondary Thinktank in the reactor room?”

“S-36 is positioned as ordered” answered the Thinktank.

“Then he should have the incursion in hand” Venom stated. “Now, shall we focus on the situation in hand?”

Reactor Core Entrance, The Mortality Engine
Quickshadow and her team charged forward through the corridors, making short work of any and all guards standing in their way. Behind them, Crumble and several of the rear Autotroopers kept a watch behind them, making sure they weren’t boxed in. Reaching the door, Quickshadow got to work hacking through the lock.

“Alright, when this door opens, be ready for a fight” she said. “And stick to the sides, no doubt they’ll greet us with the usual volley when they open.”

The Cybertronians stepped to the edges of the corridor, raising their blasters for whatever was on the other side. The door slowly began to open, and Quickshadow grabbed her holstered pistols. As Quickshadow predicted, the first thing through the doorway was a hail of lasers, firing down the hallway. Once the barrage died down, Quickshadow peeked around the doorway to see their attackers. Several Wall Crawler Vehicons clung to the walls of the reactor room, while Afterburns hovered around the room. Standing in front of the massive shaft that housed the ship’s colossal reactor, a Thinktank vehicon with black armour stood, his plating detailed with amber lines.

“As predicted” stated the Thinktank. “Your approach to the reactor was obvious.”

“Don’t act like you’re clever for figuring that out!” Quickshadow shouted back. “We were hardly gonna storm the break room.”

“Vehicons do not require a break room.”

“It was… it was an attempt at humour” Quickshadow groaned. “I should’ve guessed Vehicons don’t understand humour.”

“Cease stalling” the Thinktank stated coldly. “All units. Open fire.

The Vehicons surrounding the Thinktank began opening fire, the Wall Crawler picking off members of Quickshadow’s team. The flying Afterburn units slowly pressed forward, getting closer as they fired.

“TAKE OUT THE SNIPERS, THEN PUSH INSIDE!” Quickshadow yelled. “AND QUICKLY! WE CAN’T LET THEM RESTORE THE DOORS LOCKS!”

Hangar J9, The Mortality Engine
Battling in the hangar, Skyquake grabbed Ginrai by his leg and threw him at one of the burning wreckages of the Vanguard dropships. Ginrai slammed against it hard, knocking it back as he made contact. As Ginrai recovered, one of Skyquake’s underlings, Snare leapt at him with his mace, swinging it down at Ginrai.

“Sorry, I’m gonna need this” Ginrai said, catching the pole of the weapon before it struck him.

Ginrai ripped the mace from Snare’s hands, and swung it at him with immense force. Snare was sent flying across the room, slamming against the opposite wall.

“HEY CONVOY!” yelled Falcon, charging at Ginrai with his sword. “THAT’S NOT YOURS!”

“Oh sorry” said Ginrai, swinging it across Falcon’s face. “Take it off my hands, will you?”

As Falcon stumbled back, Ginrai threw the mace straight at the flier, the force of the blow carrying backwards. As Ginrai turned to face his next foe, a powerful blast of purple energy struck him in the chest, sending him scraping across the ground. Ginrai looked up, and saw that Skyquake had combined his hands into a particle cannon, pointing it directly at him.

“Well, guess Convoys are harder to finish than Overlord makes it out to be” said Skyquake. “Most bots would’ve had their sparks extinguished by a shot like that.”

Ginrai stood back up, clutching his chest. The grill on his had been warped and buckled by the powerful blast, and smoke drifted off. As he braced himself, a powerful kick to the head caused him to stumble. Above him, Hyena, Skyquake’s third wingmate flew about in robot mode, a pair of blaster rifles in her hands.

“HAH!” Hyena yelled excitedly. “GOT HIM RIGHT IN THE HEAD!”

Hyena pointed her weapons at Ginrai and began to pepper him with energy bolts. As Ginrai attempted to point one of his arm cannons, he was blasted backwards by another blaster from Skyquake’s particle cannon. Slumped against a wall, Ginrai weakly tried to pull himself up.

“You survived two shots from a particle cannon” Skyquake said as he approached, pleased. “You do not disappoint.”

Skyquake pointed his particle cannon down at Ginrai. It began to glow as it charged with energy.

“Let’s see if we can make that three shots, or else if I can do what others never could and kill you.”

Before Skyquake could find the answer, he was sent sideways by a volley of shots from the side. Both Ginrai and Hyena looked to the to see one of wrecked dropship’s cannons firing wildly, and besides it, the singed but very much online form of Tailpipe.

“HOW DARE YOU!” yelled Hyena, spraying energy bolts at Tailpipe.

Tailpipe quickly shifted into his motorbike mode, speeding around the edge of the room, using the damaged dropships as cover from Hyena’s assault. Seeing her distracted, Ginrai quickly pointed one of his arm cannons and blasted her across the room. Tailpipe zoomed over to Ginrai, transforming into robot mode and helping him up.

“Sorry about scaring you like that” Tailpipe said. “I tried to get clear, but I took a blow to the head from some shrapnel. Did what I could to help you out there, but I’m not exactly the most well known fighter in the Vanguard.”

“I’m just glad you’re alive” Ginrai wheezed.

“Big whoop!” yelled Skyquake as he and his wingmates regrouped in the centre of the ship. “The pilot survived! There are still four of us, and we’re each highly trained warriors!”

“See, that’s you Combatronian’s problem” Ginrai retorted. “You always underestimate us, and it costs you every time.”

“Oh, my estimations are perfectly accurate, Ginrai!”

A device slid from Skyquake’s arm into the palm of his hand. Glowing green, it began to transform, plates of metal expanding out until Skyquake now held a large claymore in his hand.

“THIS IS WHERE YOU DIE!” he declared, pointing the large blade straight at Ginrai.

“You can point your big sword at me all you want, it means nothing” Ginrai said. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m Convoy or not. The Primal Vanguard will not be defeated by monsters like you.”

“THEN LEARN THE FOLLY OF YOUR WORDS!”

The Extraction Room, The Mortality Engine
Venom jabbed the barrel of his pistol into the Covoxik Prime Minster’s cheek.

“You know what, weapons on the ground!” Venom demanded. “Slowly! Then kick them over.”

“It won’t matter” Thunderhead said. “You won’t get away with this.”

“I HOLD ALL THE FRAGGIN’ CARDS HERE!” Venom screeched. “NOW WEAPONS ON THE GROUND”

“As he said” Rocket Plume said, crouching to put her rifle on the ground.

As she did so, Thunderhead noticed her give him a wink. Thunderhead gestured for the other members of their team to do the same, before putting down his blaster. As Rocket Plume placed her rifle on the ground a small launcher deployed from her wrist. Several white flares shot backwards from it, launching upwards in the air. In a panic, Venom pointed his blaster at them, but before he could fight, was swiftly kicked backwards by Rocket Plume.

“CLOSE QUARTERS AND STUN WEAPONRY ONLY!” Rocket Plume ordered, transforming her other arm to a stun cannon and firing on the Afterburn drones above.

“Inbuilt weapons” grinned Thunderhead, as electrical nodes deployed over his knuckles, electrifying them. “Gotta love it.”

Thunderhead swiftly punched the two Overdrive Vehicons holding the Covoxik Prime Minister, before pushing him away from them.

“PROTECT THE PRIME MINISTER!” Thunderhead yelled.

“NO!” screamed Venom, pointing his pistol at the Prime Minister. “YOU WILL NOT RUIN YET ANOTHER OF MY MASTERPIECES!”

Thunderhead kicked Venom’s hand as hard as he could, sending the gun flying out of his grasp, and, in all likelihood, breaking several of his fingers.

“Sorry, can’t have you doing that!” Thunderhead said, shaking his head.

Using his helicopter blades, an enraged Venom flew skyward and pointed his wrist cannons around the room.

“I TRIED TO BE REASONABLE!” he yelled. “I TRIED TO LET YOU SURRENDER! BUT YOU JUST CAN’T HELP YOURSELF! THE CONCOCTION IN THESE WEAPONS MAY NOT BE HARMFUL FOR COVOXIK, BUT THEY DAMN WELL CAUSE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU VANGUARD FRAGGERS TO FEEL YOUR ENERGON BURN ACROSS YOUR BODY, RIGHT TO YOUR SPARK! NOW WHO WANTS TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE? HUH?”

Reactor Core Entrance, The Mortality Engine
Quickshadow’s team found their numbers dwindling and pinned down. Though they had taken down some of the Vehicons, the Wall Crawlers were picking them off if they tried to enter the room. Meanwhile, their leader, the Thinktank unit, was firing a heavy blaster repeater, firing powerful shots that tore through the Cybertronian seconds. It wasn’t looking good.

“THOSE SNIPERS HAVE THE DOOR TOO WELL COVERED” Quickshadow yelled, peaking. “AND THAT HEAVY REPEATER ISN’T HELPING EITHER.”

“It needs a few seconds to charge between volleys” pointed out an Autotrooper. “Maybe we can use that?”

“Not with those snipers in play!” Quickshadow replied. “They’ll cover the gaps too well.

“Then we need something to grab their attention” Crumble pondered.

“What are you on about?” Quickshadow asked.

“Just take them out when they’re distracted, okay?”

Another volley came from the repeater through the doorway. Crumble silently counted to himself, then transformed the moment the volley ended.

“HEY SNIPERS!” he yelled, driving straight into the room. “GOT A NICE, JUICY TARGET FOR YOU!”

Confused, the Wall Crawler began following Crumble with their targeting reticles. Seeing the opportunity, Quickshadow shouted for her unit to fire, unleashing a barrage of energy at the Vehicon snipers.

“Cease” stated the Thinktank, now realising that Crumble was on a direct course for him.

The Thinktank tried to point his weapon at Crumble, but it was too late. With a powerful impact, Crumble drove himself and the Thinktank off the edge, into the Reactor shaft. Returning to robot mode, Crumble closed his eyes as he fell… only to open them again when his body suddenly jerked. Crumble looked down and found himself suspended in midair, hovering over the massive reactor shaft. Beneath him, the shape of the Thinktank continued to fall.

“HOW IN THE NAME OF PRIMUS?” he loudly yelled.

“HEY, BUDDY” came Quickshadow’s voice from above. “YOU MIND HELPING US OUT AND RETRACTING YOUR CABLE?”

Crumble looked up, and saw the line of his crane arm dangling from above. Looking to the top of the shaft, he saw Quickshadow and Autotrooper holding onto his hook, holding onto it as hard as they could.

“THANK YOU!” Crumble yelled, retracting his line and slowly ascending.

Once he reached the top, Quickshadow and the Autotrooper pulled Crumble up and onto solid ground. As they helped him to his feet, Crumble breathed a sigh of relief.

“You know, that was meant to be a sacrificial gambit” said Crumble. “But thanks for the save.”

“We appreciate the gesture” Quickshadow said. “But I think we’d all rather keep you alive.”

“Yeah” added the Autotroopter. “Next time, clue us in on the plan.”

“Will do.”

Crumble looked around. The team were now all around the room, as inert Vehicons lay scattered across the room. Quickshadow tapped him on the shoulder.

“Alright, what do you suggest we do to deal with the reactor?” Quickshadow asked.

“Well, we start by turning off the failsafes” Crumble answered. “Any and every safety protocol. Then we crank everything up to maximum power. It should escalate the energy charge so it keeps building so no-one can override it, and start causing this station’s systems to start popping. Propulsion, weapons, security, you name it.”

“ALRIGHT, YOU HEARD HIM!” Quickshadow called out to the room. “GET THOSE PROTOCOLS AND FAILSAFES OFF! WE’RE BRINGING THIS THING DOWN!”

Extraction Chamber, The Mortality Engine
Venom pointed his arm blasters around the room, moving from target to target.

“I’M NOT JOKING!” he screeched. “WHO WANTS IT FIRST?”

Before Venom could get an answer, one the ceiling lights exploded above him showering sparks over him, causing him to lose concentration. Using the opportunity, Thunderhead leapt forward and grabbed Venom’s leg, and with an almighty swing, slammed him into the floor. As he did so, the entire room shook.

“Okay, I know you’ve been trying to bulk up Thunderhead, but I think you might’ve taken it too far” said Rocket Plume.

“That wasn’t me” said Thunderhoof, looking around.

Lying on the floor, Venom brought up a holographic screen on his wrist. His optic visor widened as he realised what was happening.

“No!” he whined, standing up. “My beautiful masterpiece! It’s losing altitude!”

Venom transformed into his helicopter mode, leaving his now beaten Vehicons behind. The room shook again as the light tried to flicker. Rocket Plume ran over to the nearby console and reactivated the interface.

“If this station’s going down, then we need to get these people out of that rig and get them to our escape craft!” Rocket Plume said, pressing several buttons. “Prime Minister, we’re getting your people out of here.”

With a few more presses, the harnesses keeping the Covoxik subjects trapped were disengaged. Thunderhead and the rest of the team began helping the Covoxik down from the rig, taking care not to injure them further. Once they had released everyone, the group of Cybertronians and Covoxik came together at the entrance of the room.

“Alright, that’s everyone” said Thunderhead. “There’s no more Covoxik on the other levels?”

“No” said the Prime Minister. “Those you see were brought on for the test. Everyone else is still in the camps on the surface.”

The room shook again, this time more violently than before.

“Then we need to get you all off this ship” Rocket Plume said. “Some more of our guys should have liberated an escape craft by now.”

“Then let’s go!” said Thunderhead, leading the way out of the room.

Hanger J9, The Mortality Engine
Skyquake swung his claymore at Ginrai. Ginrai dove beneath it, before standing up and delivering a swift elbow to Skyquake’s back. Skyquake stumbled forward, before spinning around the spot. Skyquake charged again, swinging his blade once more yet missing again.

“Close, but no Cy-gar” Ginrai cockily shrugged.

“YOU FORGOT!” came Falcon’s voice from behind him. “THERE’S MORE THAN ONE OF US!”

Falcon charged forward, his sword in hand, ready to strike. But as he approached, he was caught off guard by Tailpipe, slamming into him in motorbike mode from the side. Falcon was knocked backwards by the strike, while his sword spun in the opposite direction. Ginrai caught the sword, before using it to block another of Skyquake’s attacks.

“Two of us is all it takes” Ginrai grinned, parrying Skyquake’s claymore.

Ginrai thrust the sword at Skyquake, only for his foe to shift into jet mode, ramming into Ginrai. Ginrai stumbled back, and Skyquake used the opportunity to return to robot mode behind Ginrai and kick him forward. Ginrai was knocked forward, allowing Snare to come in with his mace, landing a powerful strike. That sent Ginrai keeling over, dropping Falcon’s sword.

“Seems two of you isn’t enough” Skyquake taunted, forming his claymore once more as he approached with Snare and Hyena. “It’s a shame you won’t make it off this station alive.”

Behind Skyquake, Tailpipe scooped up Falcon’s sword, before leaping onto Skyquake’s back and embedding the sword into his propulsion unit. Skyquake angrily reached his arm back and grabbed Tailpipe, throwing him across the room.

“MORONS!” Skyquake yelled “WHO WASN’T LOOKING AT THE PILOT?!”

“Falcon” Hyena and Snare quickly answered in unison.

“Hey Skyquake” Ginrai said, delivering a swift but hard punch to Skyquake’s face. “I think I will be getting off the station alive.”

Ginrai delivered another punch to Skyquake’s face, this one fracturing his faceplate. Skyquake stumbled back, and Ginrai delivered yet another punch. This one made Skyquake lose his grip of his claymore, dropping it as he stumbled back. Ginrai continued to punch Skyquake, forcing him back until finally he was trapped between Ginrai and the edge of the hangar.

“But I like to think I was brought up to be polite” Ginrai continued. “So after you.”

With one last, powerful punch, Ginrai sent Skyquake toppling off the station, down into the clouds below. He turned around to address the remaining three Aerial Predators.

“Now” he started. “You can finish your fight with me, or you can go get your boss. Now I know you want to fight me, but you’re three smart Cybertronians. Do you really wanna have to tell Overlord you let one of his High Generals be offline when you could’ve so easily caught him?”

Hyena, Falcon and Snare looked at each other. It only took a few moments of deliberation for them to shift into jet mode and fly after their boss.

“Thought not” said Ginrai, watching the fliers descend.

Ginrai walked back into the hangar, and as he did so, the entire station rocked.

“I think they’ve set this place to come apart” said Tailpipe. “Now we should hope the other team’s had the same success.”

Not a moment after Tailpipe had said it, Ginrai’s comms bleeped. Ginrai pressed a button on his wrist, and answered.

“This is Ginrai” he said. “How’s the mission going?”

“We’ve secured a Deepvault frigate on the refuelling deck” came the voice of an Autotrooper. “Quickshadow’s already on board, and Rocket Plume and Thunderhead’s team are getting the Covoxik on board.”

“That’s good to know” Ginrai said. “Tailpipe and I are on our way.”

“Tailpipe? He’s-”

“Alive and kicking. A little battered, but ready to leave. Ginrai out.”

“We rolling out boss?” asked Tailpipe.

“Transforming and rolling” Ginrai answered.

The pair transformed, driving out of the hangar and through the station and it began to come apart. Narrowly avoiding explosions and the parts of the station breaking off, Ginrai and Tailpipe were finally able to make it to the refuelling decks, where several Vanguard soldiers waited outside a large Deepvault Frigate. Ginrai and Tailpipe boarded with them, closing the docking doors. The pair made their way to the ship’s bridge, where they found Quickshadow, Crumble, Thunderhead, Rocket Plume and several Autotroopers making the final checks.

“Good to see you both still online” Quickshadow said. “We’re ready to leave.”

“Then I see no reason to hang around any longer” Ginrai said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Launching!” Crumble announced to those operating the bridge.

The engines of the frigate roared to life, and the ship quickly left the hangar, leaving it to collapse behind them. As they left, Ginrai watched from one of the viewscreens as the remaining Combatron ships fled, quantum jumping away. Behind them, the Mortality Engine’s surface began to be peppered by large explosions as debris broke off from it. As it descended beneath the clouds, a red glow could be seen, accompanied by a loud boom as its reactor finally went critical, tearing the station apart.

“Alright, let’s rendezvous with the fleet” Ginrai said. “Then we see what we can do with the Covoxik we rescued, and their captured brethren on the surface.”

“Understood, sir” Crumble said, steering the ship towards Peritus’s ship.

The Longshot, Covoxik Orbit
Ginrai, Quickshadow and Warpdrive stood around the holotable in the Longshot’s bridge. Opposite them stood holograms of Peritus, Groundshaker and the Covoxik Prime Minister.

“Thank you, Ginrai Convoy, sir” said the Prime Minister. “If it weren’t for you, I dread to think what would’ve become of my people.”

“No thanks is necessary” Ginrai replied. “We’re just doing our duty.”

“And the battle isn’t over yet” Groundshaker added. “I’ve drafted the 7th Liberation Corps in to help liberate the camps on Covoxik’s surface. Tarrex Major is already drafting plans.”

“Thank you so much” the Prime Minister repeated. “Though I’m not sure what will happen after. The surface of our home has been ravaged, and I fear we will not be able to recolonise it for many centuries.”

“Well, until then, we offer you sanctuary in protected Vanguard space” Ginrai offered. “Our war ravaged your planet. It’s the least we can offer.”

“You would do that for us?”

“Like Ginrai said, it is our duty” Groundshaker elaborated. “You may have stated neutrality in this war, but you are still a member of the Cybertronian Commonwealth, and we have a duty of care.”

“I...thank you” said the Prime Minister. “As Prime Minister I humbly accept.”

“You’re most welcome” Ginrai said. “Groundshaker will keep you informed on developments of this war.”

“Thank you, Ginrai Convoy” the Prime Minister said. “We are truly fortunate that you are leading this war.”

With that, the hologram of the Covoxik Prime Minister disappeared from around the holotable.

“I hope you don’t mind” Ginrai said. “But I think I’m going to have a stasis nap. Recharge and get my energy up for the next battle.”

“Of course” said Groundshaker. “Just one thing before you go. Were you able to ascertain who extracted Venom from our custody?”

“I’m afraid not” said Ginrai. “I had my hands full with Skyquake and his underlings.”

“Thunderhead and Rocket Plume were the ones that confronted him” Quickshadow added. “Unfortunately, due to the pressing circumstances, they weren’t able to question him, and as their priority was rescuing the captive Covoxik, he was able to escape this time.”

“Blast” said Peritus. “Perhaps under better circumstances we might’ve understood how he managed to escape one of our secure facilities.”

“We’ll encounter him again” Ginrai said.”And when we do, we’ll get answers.”

Ashmar Citadel, Tuurok
Venom and Skyquake stood in the middle of Overlord’s throne room. Overlord sat quietly on his throne, pondering. Around them stood the holograms of the Combatronian War Council, nine of Overlord’s ten High Generals. Turmoil, Legonis, Seizer, Octus, Delirious, Exarchon’s three current bodies, Palisade, Clench and Aperture. The remaining spot was where Skyquake himself would have stood.

“How… disappointing” Overlord mused. “I expected better of one of my High Generals. One of my most trusted warriors.”

“Forgive me, mighty Overlord” Skyquake said. “This will not happen again.”

“I don’t want promises” Overlord stated. “I want something tangible I can take from this.”

“Mighty Overlord, before our... tactical withdrawal, my subordinate, Stalker, was able to extract the schematics of the station and is positive he has isolated flaws in it. He is sure he can improve the system for mass production.”

“YOU STOLE MY SCHEMATICS?” Venom yelped. “My lord, how is this fair?”

“Do I look like I care, Venom” Overlord scowled. “Skyquake had made it clear you did not follow my orders to do as he says. You’re lucky I haven’t doused you in your own red rust solution. What does it matter if the next one doesn’t have your name on it.”

“You know what insanity is?” came a voice from the back of the room. “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Skyquake and Venom turned around to the source of the voice, as the High Generals turned their heads. Overlord simply sighed.

“I said you could watch proceedings” Overlord stated. “I did not say that you could involve yourself.”

“Yes, but I grow tired of watching your underlings failing” came another voice, different, yet seemingly from the same place.

A blue Cybertronian emerged from the shadows, a male flier with large wings jutting out of the back. Walking forward, they stopped by Venom, and rested their arm on Venom’s shoulder.

“I tried to help you with your plan” he said. “I freed your scientist here, and it still failed.”

“You…” said Venom, looking the Cybertronian up and down. “You’re the Autotrooper that freed me all those months ago. You’re a shifter.”

“Oh dear, sweet, maniacal Venom” the Cybertronian said, their form changing to that of a large, gold plated female ursinoid. “I’m so much more than just a run of the mill shifter.”

“What do you suggest then?” Overlord questioned.

“You need someone with imagination” the ursinoid said, their former now changing to a lanky Caninocon. “I’m that someone. I just need some things, and I can make the galaxy yours, forever and ever.”

“And how do you plan to give me the galaxy?” Overlord asked.

“Oh, spoilers Overlord” the Cybertronian grinned. “I’ll tell you one thing though. It’ll be… magnificent!”

---​

And once again we come to the close of a volume, and once more we have a few people to thank.
@GogoDG - Allowing me the use of Skyquake, Stalker, Snare, Falcon and Hyena from his Starfleet series.
@Stonecrusher - Once again for character design, proof reading and allowing me to write these stories a part of the Autobot Academy universe!

---

Convoy of War will return with a new perspective of the war in August with Volume 3 - Warmonger​

 

Volume 3 - Warmonger
Collateral Damage​

Combatronian Datacruiser “Collective”, Edge of Cybertronian Commonwealth
Zel walked through the corridors of the “Collective”, one of several massive Dataships the Combatronians had built to contain their vast amounts of information and hide them in the darkest corners of the commonwealth, away from the Primal Vanguard. Too bad they weren’t the only one interested in this information.

“Morning Lightshow” said a Combatronian, passing him.

“Morning Shotput” Zel replied, giving a wave as they passed.

‘Lightshow’. The alias Zel had chosen for this particular mission. Zel chuckled how easily you could stick two words together, and make a solid pseudonym for his kind. Still, it had gotten him this far, serving as a security officer aboard this ship. But his employers were getting restless, and Zel had to get that data now.

Zel turned into a room, where an archivist was busy working, just as he’d hoped. Silently entering, Zel deployed one of his arm mounted exhaust pipes, pointing it like a gun at the unknowing archivist. An arc of electricity shot out of the pipe, striking the archivist and offlining him in a matter of seconds. Zel shoved his body off of the chair, and sat down at the still online console. He quickly typed a few things into the console, before plugging in a data slug and downloading the data.

“Well now” Zel thought to himself. “I wonder what my employers want with that.”

---

“The Revenge” approached “The Collective”, passing by it. A small shuttle flew out of a hangar of The Revenge, flying to The Collective’s hangar. As the shuttle landed in the hangar, a platoon of Combatronian’s approached, forming a line on either side of the shuttle Landing, the shuttle lowered its ramp, the imposing form of Overlord descended, accompanied by his Imperial Guard.

“My great Emperor of Destruction!” said an approaching Combatronian. “How may we be of service to you?”

“Quandary” Overlord stated, addressing the Combatronian. “I require information. Something rather important. ”

“Of course, my lord!” Quandary replied. “Allow me to take you to one of our terminal rooms.”

“Lead the way” Overlord stated. “Scissorsaw. Crucible. Remain with the ship. Forestock, you will remain with me.

Quandary turned around and began walking out of the hanger, with Overlord and Forestock in tow. It did not take long for them to reach their destination, and Quandary quickly unlocked the door with the palm of his hand.

“We’ll see that you get the information you want, my lord” Quandary said.

As the door opened, Quandary jumped back in shock. Lying on the floor was one of his archivists, his body now cold and grey.

“Would you care to explain this, then?” Overlord asked, unphased.

“I-I-I don’t know” stuttered Quandary, shaken. “There’s been no alarm, no reports.”

Overlord stepped into the room, simply kicked the body out of his way, and walked to the terminal. Still on, Overlord looked closely at the screen.

“Article J-392 has been removed” Overlord stated to himself. “Observation reports on planet FT-26 Delta. Likely downloaded, then scrubbed. How unfortunate.”

“Was that information you sought, my lord?” Quandary nervously asked.

Quickly turning around, Overlord grabbed Quandary by the throat and violently slammed him against the wall, pinning him.

“What sort of an operation are you running here, Quandary?” Overlord snarled. “I personally chose the Captains of my datacruisers because I thought I could trust them. I thought they were competent. But here we are, an archivist lies dead, critical information missing, and you can’t even muster some weak excuse!”

“I-I-I’m sorry, my lord” Quandary spluttered. “I swear, I’ll do what I can to make up for this failure.”

At that moment, Quandary’s communicator beeped, and a voice came through his comms.

“Captain, we have an unauthorised shuttle launch from the lower hanger” came the voice. “They seem to be making a break for the border.”

“Another failure, Quandary?” Overlord asked.

Behind him, Forestock made a series of noises that Quandary couldn’t make heads of tails. Overlord, however, understood them perfectly well as the Primal Vernacular.

“No, if we took the Revenge out of Commonwealth space, it might prompt the Primal Vanguard to make some bold moves behind my back” Overlord replied. “Best I go alone to deal with this.”

Overlord let go Quandary’s neck, allowing him to drop to the floor. Quandary wheezed as he tried to regain his breath.

“My lord, where are you going?” Quandary spluttered.

“I’m commandeering a shuttle” Overlord stated as he walked to the door. “One with Quantum Jump technology. Don’t worry, I’m sure Forestock has a suitable penance for your failures in mind.”

As Overlord left the room, Quandary looked at Forestock. Forestock approached him, speaking more of his Primal Vernacular, a sinister glint in his eye. As he did so, Forestock reached for his own face…

Kada System, Neutral Space
Zel arrived in the system in a flash of light. Piloting away in a stolen Dreska Shuttle, he was gone before anyone had realised what had gone on. A few more quantum jumps and he’d be home free, then he could contact his employers and get his pay.

“And they thought it’d be a tough job” Zel smarmily said to himself. “Easy money.”

As Zel flicked a few switches, one of the ship's sensors began bleeping, picking up something behind him. Pressing a button, Zel brought up a view screen. On it, another Dreska Shuttle appeared behind him.

“They’re chasing me already?” Zel questioned. “Who’s on my trail this quickly?”

The shuttle behind Zel’s began spraying lasers towards him. Zel immediately steered the ship away from the lasers, trying his best not to get killed after how close he had gotten.

“Whoever it is, they definitely want me dead. Better give them the slip.”

Zel pressed a few more switches, and his ship vanished in a flash of light. Remerging in another system, Zel quickly flicked a few more switches.

“Another jump, before they catch up” Zel muttered, the stress starting to build.

As he activated the jump, he saw out of the corner of his optic the same shuttle appear behind him. Immediately, the shuttle fired on him just as the jump drive activated. Had it activated a moment later, he certainly would’ve been scrapped. As he appeared in another system, he fumbled about with the controls, trying to trigger a quantum jump.

“Come on, come on!” Zel said, now stressed. “I know you’re not used to consecutive quantum jumping, but I know a work around. Just work with me!”

The sensors beeped again. His pursuer was already behind him, and definitely out for spilt energon. Zel furiously worked harder, only pausing when another, louder alarm started beeping.

“OH, WHAT NOW!” he angrily yelled, before going pale when he looked at one of his screens. “Oh no… homing torpedo!”

Zel quickly grabbed the steering controls, swerving out of the way as the torpedo overshot him. Watching it turn around, Zel dived down, beelining straight towards the planet below. As the torpedo got close, he sharply turned, the torpedo yet again narrowly missing. Looking at his scanner, he watched the torpedo’s signature turn around and come straight for him.

“Can we make it three misses in a row?” Zel asked, trying to dodge the torpedo.

A loud boom confirmed this was not the case as the shuttle rocked left and right. Even from the cockpit, Zel could see smoke and flame billowing from one of the large engines. Zel felt the entire ship lose control, dropping into the planet’s atmosphere below. He looked at his instruments to at least gather what planet he’d be crashing on.

“Lithone” Zel read out, as the ship plummeted towards the planet below.

Máramo City, Lithone
When Zel woke up, he was still in his ship. Flames were spreading about his ship, and he could hear the faint sound of sirens. Checking himself over, he had a few dents and scrapes, and his paint job was scuffed, but nothing that wasn’t superficial. Knowing he had to get out of there before his pursuer found him, Zel punched through the cockpit window, and pulled himself through. Now standing on the front of the shuttle, Zel could see that a crowd of skinny mechanicals had formed around his ship, held back by some who Zel assumed were law enforcement officers. Zel ran towards the crowd, only to be stopped by one of the officers.

“I’m sorry sir, but we’re gonna have to ask you to come with us” said the officer. “We’ll get you a doctor to check you up, but then you’ll need to tell us what happened that led to you crashing in the middle of our city.”

“I don’t have time for this” Zel said, shoving the officer out of the way. “I need to get out of here.”

Shoving his way through the crowd, Zel transformed into his motorbike mode as soon as he made it to the other side of the crowd, zooming into a nearby highway.

“Gotta find a spaceport” Zel muttered to himself. “Maybe if I snag a ship, I might be able to shake off whoever’s after me.”

As Zel continued driving, he spotted lights in the sky. Lights that were getting closer. Instinctively, Zel drove through the barrier, dropping down into a lower road beneath the main highway, just as a Combatronian shuttle of his pursuer passed overhead, flying towards the crash site. Zel continued driving, hoping he’d find signs that could lead him to a way of this planet, before his pursuer caught up to him.

---

The pursuing shuttle landed just outside the crowd of people, its lights shining towards them. The landing ramp lowered, and Overlord departed his craft. Storming through the crowd, a law enforcement officer rushed up to him.

“I’m sorry sir, this area’s being cordoned off” the officer said. “I’m afraid there’s been an incident, we can’t let you through. Though if you have information that can help us-”

“The occupant of the ship” Overlord interrupted. “Where are they?”

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m not allowed to tell you-”

Overlord angrily transformed, his tank mode’s treading hitting the ground with a loud thud as his jet mode hovered above. His tank mode’s turret turned and pointed at one of the buildings, firing a powerful blast of red energy. The blast ripped through the bottom floors of the building, causing the remaining floors to crash down on top of them, leaving a pile of rubble. The nearby crowd began to spread out and run in fear.

“WHERE ARE THEY?” Overlord yelled from both of his alternate modes.

The officer backed up, terrified. He reached for his communicator, and pulled it in front of his face.

“This officer Vayza to all units, I need back-up, I am under-”

Overlord’s two alternate mode’s rejoined as he transformed back into his robot, and he grabbed the smaller Lithone with hand, squeezing tightly.

“Your last mistake, alien” Overlord scowled, before slamming him down on the ground hard enough to fracture the concrete surface. “We could’ve done this the easy way, but because of you now I’ll have to tear this city down until I find my quarry.

Overlord fired a barrage of lasers from the blasters mounted to the sides of his waist, firing indiscriminately towards the crowd. As the civilians fled, Overlord pulled the tank barrel from his back, aiming at another building. With a single, devastating blast, the building collapsed, just another pile at rubble.

“I’LL DESTROY AS MANY BUILDINGS AS IT TAKES!” Overlord yelled, firing another blast from his tank barrel.

---

The queue for the spaceport expanded far down the street. Watching from up the street, leaning against a chain link fence, Zel knew he would never get offworld in time if he tried to get on a public shuttle. There was only one thing for it. He was going to have to requisition one, and before his puruser caught up to him. Making sure no-one was looking, Zel climbed over the fence, running across the landing field. Ahead of him, he spotted an old shuttle whose crew was disembarking. Zel ducked behind some fuel canister and listened in on the crew’s conversation.

“Another shift over” said one of the Lithones. “Tell Vexik that the shuttle’s ready for a check over.”

“Alright, make sure that the shuttle’s locked though” said the other Lithone. “You know how she gets when you forget to it up.”

“You go on ahead. I’ll lock up, then catch you up.”

Zel waited until the other Lithone was out of his way before making it up. Creeping towards the pilot as he locked the door, deploying his exhaust and electrifying. Silently, Zel hit the pilot with an arc of electrical energy from his exhaust that dropped him to the floor. Picking the keys up from the floor, Zel unlocked the shuttle again, quickly getting on board and closing boarding stars behind him. Zel made his way to the cockpit and powered up the console.

“That was easy” Zel muttered to himself. “Now to get off this ship before anymore Combatronian ships turn up and try to glass the planet.”

Zel began pressing buttons, figuring out how to control the Lithone shuttle. As he worked, something out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Flames. Flames on the horizon, spreading through the city. Spreading toward the spaceport.

“Maybe they don’t need a fleet to glass this place” Zel panicked, now pressing whatever buttons he could to start the ship. “I’ve got to go, fast!”

After a few more button pushes, Zel finally heard the engines hummed to life. Grabbing the control sticks, Zel launched the shuttle, flying upwards, trying to reach the atmosphere as fast as he could. Zel didn’t look back at the city, nor the flames spreading about it. He just had to get away. Zel flew upwards, gaining altitude as far the shuttle could travel. He tapped a few buttons, jettisoning whatever useless scrap was still in the shuttle.

“Come on, keep going” Zel muttered to himself.

Zel looked to his side, back towards the flames he was leaving behind. As he did so, something caught his eye. Something moving fast towards him, some kind of craft. Could it be a security vehicle, having picked up his ship. No, they wouldn’t respond that quickly, not when the city was ablaze. Whatever it was, the ship was moving fast towards him. As he pondered, a powerful blast of red energy launched at him, narrowly missing the underside of the shuttle.

“Oh no” Zel scowled, quickly turning the controls. “Them again!”

Zel turned his away from his attacker, trying to get as much distance between them as possible. Another blast of energy streaked past shuttle, followed by another, and another. Zel tried his best to keep out of the way of the barrage, but he felt his luck run out as the ship shook. He checked the instruments to see what damage had been done. Several of the thrusters were destroyed, and while he could still fly, he’d never get beyond the next planet before the remaining thrusters gave out. Of course, that required himself to shake off his pursuer.

“Nonono” Zel muttered to himself in a panic. “So much for a cut and dry job. They’d better be charging me triple for this scrap.”

Zel felt a shadow pass over his cockpit. Looking outside, he saw the pursuing vehicle hovering in front of him… no, not a vehicle. Some sort of Cybertronian spacecraft alt, with what appeared to some sort of tank underslung. And then it hit Zel who he was dealing with… and how fragged he was.

“You know not many can give a run-around like this” came a voice from spacecraft. “So feel proud in whatever moments that remain.”

The spacecraft transformed, combining with its underslung artillery into the grim form of Overlord. Zel felt a shiver run through his endoskeleton. Overlord wound back his fist, and with a mighty punch struck the front of the Lithone shuttle. As its entire front crumpled, the ship was sent hurtling back towards the ground.

“NONONO!” yelled Zel. “THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!”

The ship streaked down, crashing through a Lithone skyscraper, before finally crashing down into some sort of apartment building, a mighty plume of dust and smoke surrounding it. Zel pulled himself up from his chair. The glass of the shuttle now littered the floor, and the walls had crumpled. He looked at the console, now inoperable due to the damage. Zel knew this shuttle was going nowhere. He didn’t have long before Overlord caught up to him. He had to run. Zel began climbing out of the cockpit window. As he squeezed through, he saw Overlord break through the roof of the shuttle. For a brief second, the pair locked eyes, before Zel turned around and ran down the pile of debris. As he ran, he could hear Overlord’s manic laugh from within the shuttle.

“RUN!” he heard Overlord yell from inside. “RUN FOR ALL THE SECONDS IT’LL EXTEND YOUR LIFE BY! YOU’RE JUST MAKING THIS MORE OF A SPORT!”

As Zel transformed into his motorbike mode, he caught a blast of red energy rip through the front of the shuttle. Overlord stepped out of the blasted shuttle, watching Zel drive off as fast he could.

“Oh, you foolish little mercenary” Overlord smirked. “You think you actually have a chance.”

Overlord separated into his components, his jet mode flying on ahead while his tank mode followed up behind. Ahead of him, Zel sped towards the nearest highway. By now, the highway was static, all those who would’ve used it having fled the destruction and left their vehicles behind. He darted between abandoned hovercars and trucks, trying his best to use whatever large vehicle could offer him cover. Overlord’s jet mode stalked him, occasionally firing a spray of laserbolts to torment him.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Zel yelled, out of ideas on how to evade his pursuer.

“You have something of mine!” Overlord declared. “Something I need!”

“THEN WHY DON’T I JUST GIVE IT BACK! THEN YOU CAN JUST LEAVE ME AGO!”

“Oh, haven’t we been having fun? Hasn’t the chase been exhilarating?”

“NO!” Zel screamed back.

“Oh, if you really want this to end...”

A powerful blast of energy surged past Overlord’s jet mode, striking the road behind Zel. Zel was sent flying, slamming into the barrier to the side, before ricocheting off and skidding to the ground. From behind, Overlord’s tank form caught up, recombining with his jet mode to return to his robot mode. Returning to his own robot mode, Zel tried to pull himself away, as Overlord slowly walked towards him.

“You were bold” Overlord stated as he approached. “But ultimately foolish.”

Overlord picked up Zel, firmly grasping around his neck. Lifting him so he was at eye level, Overlord looked straight into his optics. For Zel, it felt like he was staring right into his spark

“So firstly, do satisfy my curiosity and tell me… who were you working for?” Overlord asked. “Was it the Galactic Council? Did they learn of Liege’s little lie?”

Zel tried to look away, trying to wriggle through Overlord’s grasping hand. Overlord simply smiled in response.

“It is, isn’t it? Your face gives it away. I shall have to set my gaze on them once I’ve dealt with Ginrai and the Primal Vanguard. But I digress. The information. Now.”

“I-I-I must’ve dropped it when you chased me” Zel spluttered, tugging at Overlord’s hand. “Maybe we can find it, if y-y-you let me go.”

“Don’t you play those sorts of games with me” Overlord snapped, tightening his grasp of Zel’s throat. “The data. Now.”

Zel, letting go of Overlord’s hand around his neck, held out one of his arms. A data slug ejected from Zel’s wrist and landed in the palm of his hand. Overlord took the data slug with his free hand, and looked it over. Dropping Zel, Overlord plugged the slug into his other arm.

“Can I go?” Zel whimpered.

“Now, now, let’s not be hasty” Overlord replied. “I need to see if this is what I seek, and not an empty drive.”

Projecting a small holographic screen from his arm, Overlord looked the data from the slug over. After a few seconds, he closed the screen, and looked at Zel.

“Everything seems to be in order” Overlord stated, satisfied. “Now, to conclude our business.”

“I promise, I’ll vanish and you’ll never hear from me again!” Zel said, trying to crawl away.

“Heh, yes…” Overlord sly smirked. “I’d rather ensure your silence. After all, you were bold enough to infiltrate my cruiser. What’s to say you won’t be bold enough to try and pass on any of the data you might’ve glanced.”

“PLEASE, NO-”

But it was too late. Before Zel could even pull himself away, Overlord grabbed him by the legs with one hand, before grabbing his torso with the other. With ease Overlord pulled, tearing Zel in half. As Zel body rapidly greyed in his hands, Overlord simply threw the halves to either side.

“Can’t have any loose ends” Overlord said, leaving what remained of Zel.

As Overlord returned to his shuttle, he took a look around the devastation he had caused. Buildings brought to the ground, flames spreading across the city, and amongst the debris, Lithones hid and watched him. Approaching his ship, he stopped and slowly turned around.

“CITIZENS OF LITHONE” Overlord loudly announced, addressing those watching him. “YOU HAVE SEEN WHAT I CAN DO! YOU HAVE SEEN WHAT I WILL DO! KNOW WHAT I HAVE DONE FOR THE SAKE OF ONE ENEMY! THE DEVASTATION I HAVE WROUGHT!”

Overlord paused, waiting to see if anyone would flee in terror at his words.

“ONE DAY, WHEN MY OWN WAR IS OVER, I WILL RETURN, MY LEGIONS IN TOW! AND KNOW THAT YOU HAVE WITNESSED A FRAGMENT OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU DARE RESISTED! SO I ASK OF YOU, NAY, ORDER YOU! WHEN I RETURN, BOW TO MY GLORY, AND SUBMIT, LEST WITNESS DESTRUCTION OF AN EVEN GREATER MAGNITUDE!”

Silence. Overlord smirked. He knew they heard him, and would remember his words. Though perhaps he still might destroy them, just for his own amusement. Turning around, he boarded his shuttle and launched skyward, towards the atmosphere. As he departed Lithon, he left behind a broken, shattered planet. One that would remember his actions for as long as they lived.

As he piloted his shuttle out of Lithone’s system, Overlord placed the data slug into the ship’s console. A screen of information came up, and Overlord looked it over, musing the data.

“Its energy signature is there, on Gaol-3” Overlord said to himself. “His lie worked. But it’ll be impossible to go down and retrieve the spoils without some proper protection. A planet like that, neither side of the war has the appropriate materials to survive its surface.”

Overlord pressed a button, and a hologram of a Combatronian appeared in front of Overlord.

“This is the Revenge, report- MY LORD!” stated the comms officer who answered. “My lord, was your mission successful? Should we prepare for your arrival.”

“Successful, yes” Overlord answered. “But no, I won’t be returning quite yet. Contact Hatchet, and inform him that I want him and a ship of his special forces to move to Gaol-3 and begin close observations from range. Oh, and have my Imperial Guard rendezvous with them.”

“Will you be joining them too, my lord?” the comms officer asked.

“Not quite. Inform my high generals that I will be travelling to Planet D5-Gamma-Z-Alpha, since I’m the closest.”

“Of course, my lord, Planet D5-Gamma- sir, you’re not serious, are you? That planet is incredibly dangerous.”

“I am incredibly dangerous” Overlord retorted. “And they have something I require. Do you have any objections that you want to address to me?”

“I… no, my lord.”

“Good, now do your job. Overlord out.”

Cutting the communication, Overlord pressed several buttons, setting a course for his destination.

“Planet D5-Gamma-Z-Alpha” he said to himself as he punched in the coordinates. “Or as most people like to call it… Skaro!”

 

Volume 3 - Warmonger
Dead Man's Land​

On a barren planet, scorched by past wars, Overlord took a seat on a crag. He looking skywards, to the dust filled clouds, before turning his head forwards to address someone.

“So you’re probably wondering what I’m doing here” Overlord said. “Why I’ve come to a planet like this, so far from my own. Outside the reaches of the war I started.”

Overlord tossed a rock into the distance. It simply bounced off the ground, rolling before it came to a stop.

“It’s quite simple, really. In order to keep this war going, I need to better my resources, and sometimes that requires going to other species for… assistance” Overlord continued. “Of course, by assistance, I’ll mean I’ll be taking what I require and leaving. That’s okay with you, isn’t it?”

“YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!” screeched his listener, a sole Dalek. “I WILL EXTERMINATE YOU! YOU SHALL BE EXTERMINATED!”

“Oh, change the track” Overlord said, rolling his eyes. “You can’t exterminate, I ripped off your gunstick. Then I grounded you, hard, and as you soon discovered, suffocating me with that ridiculous plunger does not work. So instead of trying to scream me to death, why don’t you let me think.”

Overlord stood up, looking from the crag towards the horizon. Ahead of him was a large city, off white in colour and stained with black scorch marks. Daleks hardly did care for upkeep, did they? As he looked out, the nearby Dalek turned its dome to observe the city.

“You will not make it” the Dalek stated. “The full might of the Daleks will exterminate you before you get close to Kaalann.”

“That would be true if the full might of the Daleks was near Skaro” Overlord stated, scratching chin. “But the full might of the Daleks isn’t here, is it. As I was aware, the majority of your forces are deadlocked in battle with the Movellans. All hands on deck… well, not quite hands, but you catch my drift. Makes your home rather vulnerable.”

“It will still be enough to exterminate you!”

“We’ll see” Overlord replied. “You know, I’ve heard enough of this conversation.”

Dividing into his components, Overlord’s tank mode pointed its barrel directly at the Dalek, firing a powerful and devastating energy blast. All that remained was the charred, black husk of its casing. Satisfied, Overlord drove onwards, pressing forward to the Dalek city.


Command Hub, Kaalann
Inside the command room of the city of Kaalann, Daleks worked, their manipulator arms connected to powerful computers, each with a different purpose. In the centre of the room, from a raised stage, a black and gold Supreme Dalek observed operations, its eyestalk constantly scanning the room. The Supreme moved forward to address its underlings.

“REPORT!” the Supreme yelled. “What is the status of the intruder?”

“Scout squad 447 reported the target moving towards the city prior to his destruction” one of the Daleks stated. “They noted a metallic body, providing an immunity to Varga Plants.”

“They will be exterminated all the same” the Supreme replied. “What is the predicted time before they reach the city limits?”

“Approximately 1076 Rels” another Dalek stated, its domed rotating to address its senior.

“Have a squadron of Daleks engage on Transolar Discs before the target reaches Kaalann” the Supreme ordered. “Alert all security squadrons to be prepared. Maximum extermination.”

“WE OBEY!” the Daleks in the other room chanted in unison.

Daleks turned back to their stations, preparing for attack. Across Kaalann, Dalek squads formed up, diligently following their patrol routes. Several Daleks launched from the city aboard their Transolar Discs, flying to pursue their attacker. The Supreme Dalek observed these movements from a personal console on its platform. Turning a dial with its manipulator arm, the image of another Dalek appeared on the round screen.

“Supreme!” the Dalek greeted. “What are your orders?”

“Prepare the abominations for combat” the Supreme stated. “They may be of use.”

“I obey” stated the Dalek on the screen. “I will awaken then from cryosleep and reactivate their special weapons casings.”

As the Dalek vanished from the screens, the Supreme turned around, knowing it may well need to join the battle from the front lines too.

Skaro Wastelands
Overlord progressed through the blasted wasteland towards the Dalek city, making short work of the resistance he met. He burnt through every Varga Plant that dare attempt to convert him with his waist blasters, their flora bodies tearing apart with ease. When he pushed through the handmine field, his laser weaponry charring these organic weapons. But these were just leftovers from a war long left in the past.

“TARGET SIGHTED!” came an angry voice from above. “SQUADRON 226, EXTERMINATE!”

Overlord looked up, and flying above him were several daleks, each riding upon a metal hoverbout. The squadron pointed their gunsticks downwards, and several beams of energy fired out. Overlord narrowly dodge the barrage of lasers, before separating into his component alt-modes. Overlord’s jet mode circled the squadron as his tank mode levelled its turret at one of their hoverbouts.

“TARGET AERIAL UNIT FIRST!” the Dalek’s squadron leader ordered. “BRING IT DOWN!”

Circling them in his jet mode, the Daleks attempted to fire wildly around themselves, repeatedly missing Overlord’s. As his jet mode distracted them, his tank mode fired a blast at one of the Dalek’s hoverbouts, causing it to begin to wobble.

“ALERT!” the Dalek riding it screeched. “TRANSOLAR DISC HAS SUSTAINED DAMAGE! CONTROLS ARE UNRESPONSIVE! CRASH IMMINENT!”

As its hoverbout teetered back and forth, the Dalek was thrown off, slamming into the ground, breaking off its eyestalk, gunstick and manipulator arm. Overlord’s tank mode fired another at the undersides of one of the other hoverbouts, causing it and it’s rider to slam into the ground, the hoverbout consuming the Dalek in an explosion.

“CHANGE TARGET TO GROUND UNIT!” the squadron Leader ordered. “IMMEDIATE EXTERMINATION!”

As the Daleks oriented their gunsticks to fire at Overlord’s tank mode, it reversed backwards, though ensuring it still had their attention. From behind the remaining Daleks, Overlord’s jet mode swung about, strafing them with laser fire. Damaging one of the remaining Daleks hoverbouts, the Dalek began careering to the side.

“ALERT, ALERT, TRANSOLAR DISC PROPULSION MALFUNCTION!” the Dalek screeched, its hoverbout shaking about as it lost control.

The squadron leader rotated its dome to watch as the Dalek crashed into another’s hoverbout, sending both crashing to the ground in flames. As it rotated its head back to Overlord, it was blasted backwards off its hoverbout by a blast of red energy. Slamming into the ground, the Daleks casing was torn open, exposing the mutated creature inside. Overlord’s tank mode approach, smoking drifting off its barrel. His jet mode descended down, both modes combining back into his robot mode.

“Oh Daleks” Overlord chuckled. “In force, formidable, but a severe case of tunnel vision. I’d think you were homicidal drones if it weren’t for the fact I can see your squiddy body.”

“Ex… ter… min… ate” the Dalek weakly replied, it’s one intact dome light flashing as it spoke.

All the Dalek could muster was a faint glow from it’s gunstick. Overlord chuckled, before aiming his waist blasters at the Dalek creature within and firing a volley of lasers to put the being out of its misery.

“What a disgusting creature” Overlord muttered to himself. “Still entertaining to fight.”

With that, Overlord continued towards the main gates of Kaalann, knowing full well it would be crawling with even more Daleks.

Station “Ethereal Tyrant”, Rezick Orbit
Clench, Aperture and Skyquake stood in a dark room. None of them had known who had summoned them, only that it was one of the Combatronian War Council. The trio stood silently, waiting around a holotable.

“Do any of us have any idea what we’re doing here?” Aperture asked, finally breaking the silence.

“No” Skyquake said. “All I was informed was that this was important.”

“Me neither” Clench added. “I don’t like being the three of us being away from important battlefield matters.”

“Correction” came a trio of voices behind them, all in unison. “Four of us.”

Skyquake, Aperture and Clench turned to see Exarchon’s three bodies enter the world.

“A new body for your trinity, I see” greeted aperture, noticing one of Exarchon’s bodies was a new form. “Guess the 312th really did a number to your operations on Xinth.”

“Do not insult me, Aperture” Exarchon retorted. “Your recent string of failures in the Phortigix Sector are known to us. Now which of you summoned us?”

“You don’t know either?” came another voice.

The holograms of Seizer, Legonis and Octus appeared in the room, standing around the holotable. Seizer seemed very irritable.

“I’m on the cusp of making a break into Galactic Council territory, then one of you insists I attend some meeting” Seizer moaned. “One of you explain this, now!”

“Allow me” came a final voice.

Delirious entered the room, striding towards the holotable. He took his place, and looked around at his fellow High Generals.

“Gentlemen” Delirious announced, standing at the table. “I think it’s time we discussed our… ahem, glorious leader.”

“That’s what you brought us here to talk about?” questioned Skyquake. “A coup?”

“It would explain why Turmoil didn’t seem to get an invitation” Exarchon noted as his bodies looked around the room. “You would be offlined where you’re standing.”

“This isn’t a coup, it’s…” Delirious paused, carefully choosing his words. “It’s a consideration for the benefit of the Combatronian legions.”

“If you say so” Aperture stated, rolling his eyes.

“So what’s your case, Delirious?” Octus inquired. “Why this coup- sorry, ‘consideration’?”

“My fellow generals” Delirious began. “While Overlord led the Combatronian war engines to a magnificent start, we have since stalled.”

Delirious tapped a button on the holotable. A hologram of the Warworld hovered above the table, slowly rotating.

“The Warworld should’ve been a success. I’ll admit, we didn’t expect Ginrai Convoy to survive what, in all honesty, should’ve been a suicide run to the surface to destroy the warship from the inside out, and yet Overlord himself couldn’t stop them. May I also add that these flaws could’ve been rectified with increased security, and yet the project has completely stalled, with all resources being diverted elsewhere.”

“The Warworld project was resource intensive” Clench countered. “And the project has not been stalled. Simply downscaled to cyberforming asteroids while planet designs are refined. There’s no point devoting resources to cyberforming a planet if we’re attempting to improve the project’s specifications.”

“But that’s not the only project stalled” Delirious pointed out.

With another press of a button, the hologram in front of them changed. The image of the Warworld fizzled into that of the Mortality Engine.

“The Mortality Engine, yet another tool that could aid us. Fuelling our campaign immensely, and only at the cost of insignificant organic populaces. Supposed to have been put into mass production, and yet, again, stalled. Resources diverted elsewhere. Would you care to guess where?”

“We’re not here for a guessing game” snapped Seizer. “Just tell what you’re damn well going on about.”

“Quite” Delirious awkwardly responded. “Overlord’s mysterious new ally. This shifter that Overlord introduced to us and yet has given us no information regarding. We know literally nothing, and we are expected to accept this stranger’s new designs… whatever the pit they are?”

Delirious next brought up a holographic of a planet. Some in the room recognised it, being surprised by its appearance in the meeting, while others looked confused. Octus looked curiously at the planet.

“And now, as some of you may know, Overlord has left our territory. Journeying across the galaxy, to this hellscape. Planet D5-Gamma-Z-Alpha, or as I’m sure many of you know it as, Skaro. The homeworld of the Daleks.”

“Why would Overlord go there?” Legonis asked. “It’s not exactly like travelling that far to a world of lunatic tanks aids our cause.”

“He stated he needed to retrieve something” Skyquake answered. “He didn’t specify what, but I do not doubt its importance.”

“He went there because he’s deranged!” Delirious yelled. “His death is inevitable. Fortunately for us, my agent there should be able to confirm this quickly.”

“Why do you have an agent over Skaro?” Aperture asked.

“To monitor the Dalek forces, in case they made any moves towards us.”

Aperture looked between Clench and Skyquake. None of them believed this reason. After all, Skaro was quite a way away from them. It certainly wouldn’t be in the Dalek’s interests to make a move on them now.

“So you are suggesting we should have a change in leadership?” Exarchon inquired. “If that is indeed the case, who would you suggest?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Delirious said, gesturing to himself. “Me!”

Skaro Orbit
Macabre waited patiently, constantly scanning, listening out for any and all chatter regarding to Cybertron. He had been hiding in a debris cluster caught in Skaro’s orbit for hours now, waiting patiently.

“This is terrible” Macabre muttered to himself. “Why did Delirious insist on posting me here? The Daleks aren’t at war with us. They don’t care about us. Why is he so skeptical about Daleks making a move against us?”

Macabre refreshed his scanners. Nothing. He refreshed again. Still nothing. All he got was extermination, extermination, extermination. Sure, there was the odd talk of the Movellans, but that was only natural. Nothing about Cybertronains.

“This is beneath me. I’m a commando. I’ve half a mind to go back to Falkus, unearth my shuttle, and give that deranged High General a piece of my mind.”

A light glinted in the distance. A patrol shuttle. Backing into the bolthole he made himself in the debris, Macabre watched the Dalek ship pass by, its spotlights briefly illuminating the entrance. Once he was sure he was clear, he took a peek out. The ship hadn’t spotted anything, and due to the Daleks general focus on organics, and their fight with the Movellans, their scanners weren’t exactly looking out for sparksigns.

“Don’t know how many more passes their ships are gonna make before they notice me. I’ll have to relocate soon.”

Macabre freshed his scans. Exterminate, eradicate, destroy, Overlord, Movellans, nothing out of the ordinary… except…

“Overlord?” Macabre repeated to himself, confused. “Why are they talking about Overlord?”

Macabre skimmed through his scans, looking to see Overlord had been mentioned. Kaalann, their capital city. Macabre went through the transcripts, looking to understand.

“Overlord’s here?” Macabre said thomself, confused. “What on earth is he doing here? Aside from tearing Daleks a new hide.”

Macabre looked closely through the transcripts. From what he could tell, Overlord was in the capital city, and tearing a path through their defenses. Macabre has no idea what he was doing there, but it definitely was a hell of a lot more interesting down there than reading comm transcripts on the surface, Macabre turned around to his monitoring gear, blasting it to ensure anyone who found it would be none the wiser. Macabre then leapt out of his bolthole, transforming to jet mode and rocketing to the surface.

Command Hub, Kaalann
The Supreme Dalek watched as his underlings received reports from across Kaalann. Patrols being destroyed or incapaciated, Dalek’s being destroyed as they attempted to report in, all to the score of laser fire. Daleks were meant to be the superior species, yet now their understaffed capital was under siege.

“Why are the abominations not deployed yet?” the Supreme inquired. “Special weapons units should be prepared and ready for combat immediately!”

“The Dalek unit activating them are reporting they are just resynchronising with their casings. They will be operational soon.”

“Deploy them as soon as they are active” the Supreme ordered. “Now, update me on the heading of the aggressor!”

“Reports suggest that unknown attacker is closing in on this command hub and-”

A loud boom pierced the room, causing the Daleks to look around. The door shook, but held. Their attacker was outside.

“ALL TARGETS, WEAPONS TO THE DOOR!” the Supreme barked. “PREPARE FOR MAXIMUM EXTERMINATION!”

“WE OBEY!” his underlings screeched, rotating to point their weapons at the door.

As the Daleks turned, several slowly approached the door. There were several moments of silence as the Daleks waited to engage, some of them shaking with anticipation for the coming battle. The closest Dalek slowly slid closer, its weapon leveled. With an almighty boom, the door was blasted off its mechanisms, crushing the several Daleks close by. From the smoke of the explosion, a powerful energy blast ripped through, striking one of the Daleks with such forces that it was knocked backwards.

“EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE!” the Supreme yelled as more energy blasts shot out of the smoke, whittling down his forces.

The remaining Daleks fired wildly into the smoke, but it was in vain. One by one, their casings were torn apart by blast after blast, whittling them down. Soon, only the Supreme remained.

“IDENTIFY YOURSELF, AND ACCEPT EXTERMINATION!” the Supreme yelled, edging forwards, its gunstick raised.

Another energy blast fired from the smoke, this one catching the Supreme Dalek’s side. The Supreme looked down, observing its weapon had now been blasted off as part of the mutant inside was exposed to the outside world.

“That’s better” said Overlord, entering the room as the smoke dispersed. “Now we can have a proper conversation like two civilised genocidal maniacs.”

“EXTERMINATION IS INEVITABLE!” the Supreme retorted.

“For you, yes. But we’ll get to that in a minute. Firstly, I want something you have, something you’ve been working on. A new, highly heat tolerant metal you were planning on augmenting your forces with. Tell me where it is, you live, and we can both get back to our respective wars.”

“I do not fear death!” the Dalek defiantly answered.

“Oh, why are you so stubborn!” Overlord moaned. “I respect that you don’t want to back down. I like to think we’re similar in that respect. I would've killed you anyway, but you could’ve at least expedited matters for me. But oh well, if you insist.”

Holding his tank barrel in his hands, Overlord pointed it at the Supreme Dalek. With a single, deafening shot, the Supreme was destroyed, only the now molten black and gold base of its domed casing remaining. Reattaching the tank barrel to his head, Overlord scoured the remains of his attackers, ripping off the most intact manipulator arm he could find. Attaching it to one of the consoles in the room, Overlord began looking for his prize.

“Let’s see, research and development division” Overlord said as he brought up a map on the domed screen. “Now, where are you… ahah, metallurgical development. That should be the place. Not too far, too.”

Chucking the manipulator arm to one side, Overlord departed the room. Once he left, however, an image of a Dalek appeared on the Supreme Dalek’s domed screen.

“Dalek science division to command” the Dalek stated. “Special Weapons Unit active and now enroute to intercept attacker. Maximum extermination!”

---

Overlord hadn’t made it far down the corridor before he encountered this new squad. Announcing their arrival with a powerful blast, Overlord was knocked backwards as panels were indriciminantely ripped from the walls, ceiling and floors by the resultant explosion. Landing on his back, Overlord sat up to see his attackers. These were different from the standard Dalek. Their armour was far thicker than their standard counterparts and lacked the traditional eyestalk. By far the most jarring change, however, was the single large cannon that occupied the space where the typical gunstick and manipulator arm sat.

“So…” said Overlord, picking himself back up. “You’ve got some new grunts. Doesn’t matter. I’ll wipe you out as well.”

“EXTERMINATE!” stated the lead Special Weapons Dalek, it’s voice deeper than its counterparts.

Overlord attempted to reach for his weapon, but was too slow. The powerful blast struck the ground in front of Overlord, yet again sending him flying backwards as his tank barrel was knocked out of his hands. The explosion blasted away one of the walls, exposing the rest of Kaalann outside.

“Okay” said Overlord. “You’re packing some stronger weaponry. Won’t… won’t stop me.”

The Daleks lined up, their weapons pointed at Overlord. Overlord tried to reach for his weapon, but it was too far away. Kneeling, he fired a volley of shots from his waist blasters, only for the shots bouncing off of the Dalek’s casing.

“Worth a shot” Overlord sighed.

Not prepared to give up, Overlord continued his barrage to little effect as the Daleks advanced on him.

“Armour holding” one of the Daleks stated. “Damage minimal.”

“This battle will be extended no longer” another stated. “Final extermination!”

The Daleks cannons began to glow with energy, but before they could fire, several rockets launched through the hole in the wall, striking the Daleks in a fiery explosion. Chunks of metal flew everywhere as several sensory globes rolled towards Overlord. All that remained in the smoke were several charred and broken casings. Overlord looked outside, and saw the familiar shape of a Cybertronian Jet flying towards him. As it approached, it transformed into the robot form of Macabre, kneeling in front of Overlord.

“My lord, I am at your service!” Macabre stated.

“Macabre?” replied Overlord, confused. “What in the name of Mortilus are you doing here?”

“I was on a reconnaissance mission” Macabre explained. “But as soon as I became aware of your presence, I knew aiding you was of a much greater priority, my lord.”

“Reconnaissance mission…” Overlord pondered. “Macabre, who dispatched you on this mission?”

“High General Delirious, my lord. Perhaps he became concerned about your journey to this planet, of all planets?”

“Yes… concern… we shall deal with this later. I still have a mission to complete.”

“A mission?” inquired Macabre. “Then allow me to be of service, my lord.”

Overlord smirked, before picking up his tank barrel. He progressed forward, kicking the remains of the Special Weapons Daleks out of his way.

“Then lets us finish this slaughter, Macabre.”

And with that, Overlord began running down the corridor, Macabre following close behind. Overlord and Macabre soon began tearing their way through the remaining Dalek forces that harried them, destroying them with their weapons. Dalek casings were scattered throughout Kaalann, destroyed with ease. Finally, Overlord and Macabre came to a sealed metal door. Leading with his shoulder, Overlord used his kinetic exaggeration to break right through, sending it clanging to the floor. A trio of Daleks turned to look at them from around a vat of golden metal.

“EXTERMINATE!” yelled one of the Daleks, firing an energy beam at Macabre.

Macabre dodged the beam with ease, before firing a shot straight through the Dalek’s eyestalk for its troubles. Overlord fired a pair of cannon blasts, dispatching the two Daleks, before approaching the metal vat.

“That was easy” Macabre said, looking at the now destroyed Daleks. “Thought Daleks were meant to have a reputation of conquerors?”

“Under normal circumstances, this would be nigh impossible” Overlord replied. “But they’re stuck fighting some android species, and every strategy both side’s battle computers come up with results in a deadlock before they’ve even enacted it. Skaro’s undermanned because they’ve diverted more resources into that particular war.”

Overlord dipped a finger into the vat, before removing and sticking it into his mouth to taste the metal. Tasting it, he guessed what it was.

“Let’s see, molten polycarbide with a little zeka-endothium to massively improve its heat resistant capabilities” Overlord said as he swilled the little bit of metal in his mouth. “Yes, I think this will serve my purposes quite well.”

Overlord opened a compartment on his thigh and removed a small tube. Collecting some of the metal in the tube, Overlord sealed it and placed it back in the compartment.

“That should do for the scientists to mass produce it” Overlord said, before pulling a larger container out of the cockpit on his arm. “Now for some for my more immediate mission.”

Overlord filled the container with the molten metal, filling it to the brim and sealing it up. Overlord placed the container back into his cockpit, before turning to face Macabre.

“I assume you have some sort of transportation?” Overlord inquired. “My shuttle is now a smouldering wreckage infested by Varga Plants.”

“On Thalkus, my lord” Macabre answered. “I’ve kept it well concealed, so it should be good for the return trip.”

“Good, that shall do. I suggest you have it activated before we arrive. The Daleks might be thin on Skaro, but I’m sure by now they’d be sending an investigatory team to see what happened.”

“Of course, my lord” Macabre said, pressing a button his wrist. “Shall I have it prepare co-ordinates for Tuurok?”

“No, I don’t think so” Overlord replied. “There’s something I’d like to look into.”


Station “Ethereal Tyrant”, Rezick Orbit
The room was silent. Skyquake and Clench looked at each other. Aperture simply stared at the holotable in front of them. Exarchon looked to Delirious, waiting for what he would say next. Seizer, Legonis and Octus simply stayed quiet.

“Well?” asked Delirious. “You have heard my case. Overlord is more than likely dead. Killed by a species even his savage might could conquer. I say I have what it takes to lead the Combatronian legions to a final victory over Ginrai Convoy. What say you? Do you wish to see this victory, or allow our kind to be driven into the dirt by an ineffectual leader?”

“I say what a fascinating notion fitting of your name” came a voice from behind.

Delirious eyes went wide as he realised who was behind him. He didn’t have time to turn around as a hand tore through his chest, holding out Delirious’ spark in front of him for all to see.

“M-m-m-m-my lord...” Delirious spluttered as his optics flickered in his final moments.

The hand pulled Delirious’ spark away, allowing his lifeless greying body to drop to the floor, limply lying. Overlord stepped forward, kicking Delirious’ body out of the remains as Macabre followed him.

“I hear there have been doubts in my leadership” Overlord said, addressing high generals. “That you find me ‘ineffectual’. ‘Weak’. That I have been ‘wasting’ resources. Is this true?”

Silence. No-one in the room dared answered, scared they might face the same fate as Delirious. Finally, Clench spoke up.

“Never, my lord” Clench stated. “We are loyal to the end. All of us.”

The other generals nodded in agreement, hoping this would spare them Overlord’s rage.

“How curious” Overlord pondered. “And yet you allowed Delirious to make his case to you. Are you sure there aren’t any doubts?”

“No, Emperor of Destruction!” Aperture quickly answered.

“We have, and always will swear fealty to you, my lord” Octus answered.

“Good…” Overlord grinned. “Because I would hate for you to experience what it feels like to turn on me.”

Overlord smashed Delirious’ extinguished spark against the table, leaving its remains for his generals to stare at as he left. Overlord stopped as he passed Macabre.

“Now return to your posts” Overlord stated loudly. “I find it very ‘ineffectual’ to have my high generals wasting their time on some insignificant meeting, especially now we are down a High General. If you excuse, I have work to do, and, after, appoint a new High General to our council.”

With that, Overlord left with Macabre in tow, leaving the others to quietly process what they had watched. The pair made their way towards the hangar.

“I think, Macabre, that commandos like you should report directly to me” Overlord stated.

“Completely understood, sir” Macabre replied. “What are your orders?”

“For now, inform Hatchet that I shall be rendezvousing with his craft soon” Overlord stated. “It’s time to get what I need to win this war…”

Kaalann Command Hub, Skaro
Daleks looked over the wrecked command room. Inert casings littered the floor as sparks flew about. Some Daleks oversaw Ogrons carrying debris out of the room. At the far end, a Supreme Dalek looked over the remains of his Kaalann counterpart.

“Weak” the Supreme muttered to itself.

“Supreme Dalek!” one Dalek called over. “Report from the fleet in the War Zone. The deadlock has yet to be broken. All predicted strategies still result in stalemate.”

“UNACCEPTABLE” the Supreme yelled. “THIS STALEMATE HAS MADE US WEAK! IT HAS ALLOWED OUR ENEMIES TO STRIKE OUR HOME! VICTORY MUST, AND WILL BE ACHIEVED!”

The Supreme looked at his underlings, all of them staring. The silence was only broken by the sound of an Ogron dropping a damaged casing.

“OUR BATTLE COMPUTERS HAVE FAILED! WE MUST SEEK NEW RESOURCES! PREPARE MY FORCES TO MOVE ON THE RUINS OF THE KALED DOME! IT IS TIME WE RETRIEVED THE CREATOR!”

 

Volume 3 - Warmonger
The Wishing Well​

Long ago, in an age where technology and magic were one, and fledgling races were first touching the stars, the people of the universe knew no limits. There were technologies reaching heights never imagined since, wielding power beyond what we could believe possible. Yet as these fledgling species grew, wars erupted, conquerors rose, and the true danger of what they had created dawned on them. Through innovation, they had created weapons that would make even the walls of reality shudder in fear… and the fledgling species sought a way to hide their power.

And yet a legend passed around. A prophet, seeking to hide away this power from those that would use it for evil. A prediction of a planet, still in the throws of forming, that would one day become impenetrable. Impossible to breach, with the only prize being a fatal end to those that would try. Those that would listen to the prophet followed his map, throwing their dark creations into the maelstrom of matter. Blades that could cleave fleets, energy collectors that could drain the life force of constellations, fragments of universes where only death is known, anything that posed a threat to life was disposed of… so naively.

Yet those of the prophet’s homeworld would’ve known not to trust him. A liar, a horned trickster, seeking gain for only himself. One of the first of their kind, they knew that no truth came from his mouth, no benefit came from his words. Though he has taken many names, there is one universally accepted by his kind… Liege Maximo. Seeking to arm himself for a day when his kin were divided by an almighty schism, the greater species had become his pawns.

Yet Liege never got the chance to make good of his lie. Some say he was slain during the schism before he could arm himself, others that he saw fit to flee rather than risk his life. Though his supposed impenetrable planet continued to be used for some time, it too fell back into the annals of history, a simple legend… and yet, from recovered texts, its location has been discovered, and now the time is right… and who am I to deny such an opportunity?

The Wrathful Claw, Gaol System
Overlord looked at the planet before him. A molten world, with craggy continents forming across its surface, as a debris field of ice drifted around its orbit. A combination of raw elements, forming a maelstrom, no, a gauntlet, for which Overlord could challenge himself. Yet Overlord wasn't simply here for the fun of it. No, he was here to collect something. Something that would win him the war.

“My lord” said Hatchet, approaching Overlord. “The device is complete.”

Hatchet handed Overlord something resembling an overshield generator, but larger and bulkier. As Overlord took it, he felt its weighty mass in his hand.

“And it will work?” Overlord inquired. “It will protect me?”

“According to the scientists, yet” Hatchet answered. “It should coat you with a protective layer of polycarbide capable of resisting the heat of the planet below. Though I should warn you, the device only contains enough Polycarbide for a single coat. Our scientists will need time to actually synthesize more polycarbide, so any damage done to the coat will not be replacable.”

“Hmmph” smirked Overlord. “Wouldn’t expect any less of a challenge.”

“My lord, if I may be so bold… what is down there you require so much?” Hatchet asked. “We have a steady supply of resources to maintain our fleets and our militaries.”

“To put it simply…” Overlord began. “A shard of death itself.”

Hatchet looked confused as Overlord walked towards an airlock. Overlord stopped in front of it, taking a moment to muse the planet below.

“Should be interesting to see the planet close up this time around” Overlord stated to himself.

“You’ve been here before?” Hatchet asked.

“A long time ago” Overlord answered. “At the very beginning of this war. Though only from a distance like this. I simply sought a… shall we say, definitive way to dispose of something rather disgusting.”

Overlord opened the inner hatch of the airlock, but as he did, his Imperial Guard approached. Crucible caught the doors before it shut behind Overlord as Forestock and Scissorsaw stood beside him.

“My lord” said Crucible. “As your guards, I must advise against this. In spite of diligent reconnaissance and research, this planet is still a relative unknown to us. Perhaps if we were to wait till we could synthesize the protective polycarbide so that we could produce a sizeable force.”

“I’m afraid there isn’t the time” Overlord replied. “It’s only a matter of time before the Vanguard realizes the extent of our newfound ally’s plan. We need to obtain the artefact they request as soon as possible. Now if you excuse me…”

Overlord placed the device on his chest. A bronze metal excreted out, quickly covering his entire body. Overlord shoved Crucible back, allowing the inner airlock door to shut.

“I trusted you will be able to monitor developments from here” Overlord’s muffled voice came through the door. “I’d hate to be kept in the dark of a freak meteor shower.”

The outer airlock door opened behind Overlord. Overlord leaped out, before using his jet mode’s thrusted to fly towards the icy debris around the planet.

Overlord landed on one of the fragments of ice drifting around the planet. The sunlight from the distant star glinted off the glass surfaces, briefly catching Overlord’s optics. Overlord raised his hand to shield them as the momentary flash of light passed. He leapt forward off the ice, flying towards the next one.

“Rather a magnificent phenomenon” Overlord said to himself. “Not many places you can see this.”

“It’s just ice and fire” came Hatchet’s voice over the commline in Overlord’s audio receptor. “With enough firepower we can see the same thing on any old ice world.”

Overlord chuckled at the prospect as he landed on the next ice fragment. He waited as a shard drifted by, before jumping again and flying forwards.

“But why waste good ammunition?” Overlord asked. “Would serve better to annihilate the Vanguard, and whoever else challenges us.”

“Of course, my lord” Hatchet replied.

Overlord landed on a particularly large chunk of ice, sliding a little as he landed. Walking forwards, he found his path obstructed by several smaller ice shards. With a quick spray of lasers, Overlord quickly shattered the shards, clearing the way. Once more taking flight, the tiny fragments that remained simply shattered against his frame as he passed through.

“So my lord…” came Hatchet’s voice over the line. “Any pertinent information that might aid you in your mission?”

“Still looking for the details, eh Hatchet?” Overlord chuckled. “Perhaps if I were there, I might straighten you out. But perhaps I might indulge you a little.”

Overlord bounced off a particularly large ice fragment, using his kinetic exaggeration to break through several shards in his way. Touching down on the next surface, Overlord bound forward.

“It was towards the start of the war” Overlord said. “I came here to dispose of something. Of course, back then the planet lacked the forming land masses it now has, nor the debris field being quite as magnificent. Even with this polycarbide, I’d never have made it wading through the sea’s of molten lava.”

“So there were never any plans to mount any follow-up excursions?” Hatchet inquired.

“Not really” Overlord answered, smashing his way through another shard of ice. “At the time, it wasn’t worth the resources.”

“But with our new ally, it is now?” Hatchet followed up.

Overlord smiled as he landed. He fired several rounds of lasers at some ice, before pushing forward.

“Digging for more, eh?” Overlord chuckled. "I’m afraid that confidential, even for one as high security as you. But since I’m in a good mood and I like you, we’ll let the punishment slide.”

“Of course sir” apologised Hatchet. “Thank you, sir. It won’t happen again, sir.”

“Regardless, our newfound ally does not hold any power in the Combatronians” Overlord stated. “They are allowed to aid us, because I deem it beneficial. They are allowed to begin their project because I deem it necessary. They are allowed to have this mission occur because I deem it worth my time. And they are allowed to continue living because I deem it so.”

“As it should be, my lord.”

Overlord chuckled as he broke through several more fragments of ice. Landing on a ledge of a particularly large fragment, Overlord let loose a mighty punch, fracturing it. With another punch, the fragment broke in half. Overlord hovered upwards, progressing through the gap as the two shards drifted away. Landing on a larger, flat surface of ice, Overlord took a few steps forward before coming to a stop.

“My lord, I’m detecting an organic lifesign near you” Hatchet’s voice came through the comms. “It’s large and seems to be homing in on you.”

Overlord looked around, trying to figure out where this lifesign was coming from. Before he could spot it, a large creature flew into him, large jaws on its underside attempting to snap at him. Holding it back from him, Overlord managed to shove it away from himself. The creature flew back, before beginning to circle around.

“It’s not afraid to go for metal” Overlord responded to Hatchet. “And it looks hungry.”

“Does this system have any native predators?” Hatchet asked.

“Not to my knowledge” Overlord replied, trying to fire a spray of weapons to scare it off. “At a guess, it’s a deep space predator, travelling through the cosmos till it comes across its next meal.”

As it circled him, Overlord managed to get a good look at the creature. It was a long creature, with an segmented armoured carapace, giving an appearance akin to a horseshoe crab. However, on both sides it possessed strange glowing frills, resembling wings, these likely being its method of travel in the vacuum of space. The creature charged at Overlord, this time hitting him with the armor on its head. Slamming Overlord off the ice, the creature drove him into another fragment, cracking it with the impact.

“It seems very aggressive” Overlord said as the creature pressed him against the ice. “I almost admire it.”

Overlord fired another volley of shots from his hip blasters, this time getting several hits on the creature’s soft underside. This was enough for it to retreat, if only enough for Overlord to wriggle free.

“It doesn’t seem to give up” Overlord said, watching the creature return to circling him.

“With respect, sir, it’s an animal” Hatchet’s voice came over the comms. “It’s too stupid to give up. That’s the issue with most predators in nature.”

“Yes…” began Overlord, reaching for his tank barrel. “But there’s one thing you should know. When it comes to predators...”

The creature rushed at him yet again. Quickly, Overlord pointed his barrel at it and formed a lancehead of energy at its end. As the creature barreled towards him, in a smooth motion, Overlord thrust his weapon straight into the creature’s underbelly, just above its fangs. The creature went limp.

“I am always apex.”

Overlord pulled the weapon from the creature, before kicking it away, allowing it to drift off. Disengaging the lancehead, Overlord returned his tank barrel to his back, before once more taking flight towards the planet.

“Any more lifesigns?” Overlord asked.

“Nothing coming in to attack” Hatchet answered.

“A pity, makes it less of a challenge. Should expedite matters, though.”

“That being said, we’re detecting strange readings from the planet. Not quite lifesigns, but… something. Some sort of signature down on the planet.”

“It’s what we’re after” Overlord said. “Can’t stall now.”

“Well, sir, the signature’s masking the planet” Hatchet tried to warn. “We won’t know what’s down there.”

“I don’t care. I’m still going.”

Overlord landed on a chunk of ice drifting around Gaol-3. This was as close as the ice field got to the planet, lest it be melted by the heat emanating from it. Overlord walked towards the edge of the cold debris.

“Hatchet, I’m at the edge of the ice field” Overlord said over his comms. “I’m about to make planetfall. Hatchet? Come in.”

Nothing but static. Though he tried, Overlord couldn’t raise Hatchet, or anyone over the commline. He was on his own.

“Figures” Overlord said to himself. “That sort of power would likely impede any signal I’d have tried to send.”

Overlord stared at the blazing planet ahead of him, taking a moment to bask in its orange glow. Burning bright, Overlord could just make out charred, black surfaces across it. Newformed continents already scorched by the intense heat. It was rather a magnificent site. Finally, Overlord took another step forward, his foot now balancing on the edge of the ice.

“Well, no time like the present.”

With one more leap, Overlord flew towards the planet ahead of him, making the journey towards the edge of the planet’s atmosphere.

He breached the atmosphere with ease. But that was the easy part. Now came the descent. While his polycarbide armour would resist the heat around him as he fell, he still needed to land on one of the rocky continents, however fledgling they would be. Even with his armour, Overlord would not last long if he landed in the lava sea.

“There’s the heat” Overlord said as he began to glow orange.

Overlord rocketed down through the Gaol-3 at breakneck speed. He became a fireball, streaking towards the surface, flames rolling over him.

“This armour better hold” Overlord scowled, gritting his teeth.

The ground got ever closer, growing and growing the further he fell. From his estimates, 20,000 mechanometres away. No, make that nineteen thousand. Seventeen. Ten. Five. One. Impact.

With an almighty shockwave, Overlord slammed into the ground. Creating a crater as he hit, his talent soaked up most of the impact, leaving Overlord relatively unscathed, though perhaps a little dazed. Overlord stumbled about for a moment, before regaining his balance. Hovering at the crater, he checked himself over to ensure nothing was wrong.

“Good, I seem to be intact” Overlord said as smoke rolled off his body. “As does my armour.”

Overlord looked upwards, seeing the ice field through the planet's thin atmosphere. He spent a few moments looking up at it.

“Heh, just as magnificent from this end too” Overlord chuckled to himself. “But I digress. We’ve got work to do.”

Overlord looked forward to the long continent ahead of him, bordering the molten ocean. He could see some lying on the rocks ahead of him.

“And since this planet is a veritable showroom of forbidden power, perhaps it couldn’t hurt to window shop a bit, see what sort of other relic could aid my legions.”


It didn’t take long for Overlord to reach the relic. Kneeling down, Overlord pulled it away from the lava, and balanced it on the palms of his hands. It appeared to be an ornate spear, and though the gold detailing had become warped, it still held its shape.

“Now, what do we have here?” Overlord asked himself as he stood up. “Very fanciful. A good hold, and has done well to have survived the intense heat. That being said…”

With great force, Overlord snapped the spear in half by slamming the spear over his knee. Taking both halves, he quickly threw them into the lava sea without a second thought.

“Hardly the caliber of weapon I’m after” Overlord moaned. “I mean, the lie was meant to coax about unimaginable power. I mean, what’s a shiny spear unimaginable power to? Some level one planet? Pah! I’m after better!”

Turning from the edge, Overlord looked at his wrist, bringing up a small screen. The screen brought up what seemed to be scanning software, though all Overlord could detect was static.

“Hmm” Overlord mused. “Its energy signature must be disrupting my scanning systems. But it must be close.”

Overlord closed the screen, before progressing forward, looking about for his quarry, as well as any other relics that would be of any use to him. Unbeknownst to Overlord, the lava behind him began to ripple, as beneath the surface, something stalked him.

The Wrathful Claw, Gaol System
“My lord, are you there?” Hatchet said over the comms for the hundredth time, slapping the device to try and get a response. “Overlord, are you receiving me?”

Hatchet tried to get a response as technicians worked as hard as they could to boost the signal, trying any workaround that came to mind. Scissorsaw and Crucible stood around Hatchet, standing over him.

“Get him back” Crucible snarled once again.

“I’m sorry, but I’m trying every way under Combatron’s trio of suns to get a message through, but I don’t think it’s anything to do with our machinery” Hatchet replied, clearly stressed. “I’m not sure we can do much else from here.”

“We weren’t asking for excuses” Scissorsaw snapped. “We were asking for solutions!”

“And I’m telling you, whatever the cause is, it’s not something with technology we have access to! Our only theory is whatever Overlord’s after is generating a powerful enough energy signature that it’s blocking out any comms signals to or from the planet. We can’t do anything unless Overlord returns with the source so we can safely contain it.”

“I’m still expecting you to try and establish a workaround” Crucible ordered, folding his arms. “Else we get tetchy. And no-one likes to be around us when we’re tetchy. I mean, who knows how long Forestock will last. He hates no progress being made.”

Behind them, Forestock leant against a wall, slowly tapping away at the chin of his faceplate. Sometimes, he’d stop tapping, and consider removing it, before continuing his tapping. Hatchet shuddered at the thought of him removing it.

“Look, I’ll try and see if the engineers can redirect power from ballistic weapons systems to try and boost the signal” relented Hatchet.

“Good” Scissorsaw replied. “We want everything to be done to reestablish contact with our lord.”

“Understood” Hatchet sighed. “There is one more thing, however. Regarding that energy signature. We’ve been maintaining a watch on it… well, as best we can, and it seems to be mobile.”

“Mobile?” questioned Crucible. “Is it coming towards us?”

“No, it seems to be planetlocked” Hatchet answered. “But it’s strange. It seems to be moving at the same pace as any of us could in robot mode. And stranger still, it started moving towards Overlord’s predicted landing zone.”

“It went after him?” Scissorsaw questioned. “Is it still mobile?”

“From what we can tell, yes.”

“Actually, sir” came the voice of a Combatronians flier from a nearby computer. “As of five seconds it ceased moving.”

“What in the name of the Pit was Overlord after?” Crucible questioned. “And why is it now after him?”

Gaol-3’s Surface
Overlord picked up a small device from the edge of the rocky cove, carefully cradling it in his hands. He held it up to his optics as he picked it up.

“A mass transmat disruptor” he said as he looked it over. “I had thought this sort of spatial weapon had died out. Disgusting little weapon, but it is very, very handy. I shall have to keep this and see if I can mass produce it.”

“OVERLORD!!!!” yelled an angry voice behind him.

Stuffing the device away, Overlord turned around to see a hand reach out from the lava. A metal, skeletal hand, it reached out of the sea, molten lava dripping from it. A skeletal being, coated in fragmented white plating, though heavily scorched. A single, broken frame of a wing stuck out of its back, flames beginning to dance across it.

“I have waited so many years, so many centuries, thinking only of you” the being said. “Of what you did to me.”

The being stood up, its slim legs wobbling as they struggled to hold it up. In its hand, it clutched a shard of metal, glowing like an inverted rainbow of negative colours. Now, as it stood in front of Overlord, he recognised its body as that of a Cybertronian endoskeleton, the remains of its outer armour still protecting its spark.

“Overlord of Combatron… this has been a reckoning I’ve awaited for so very long…”

“That’s impossible…” Overlord replied, for one of the few times in his life, truly at a lack of words. “You should be dead! I killed you.”

“I have unfinished business” the being replied. “A mission of vengeance. And the subject of my revenge has brought himself here.”

“Nova Prime?” Overlord asked in shock.

The being chuckled to himself, before coughing. Black smoke came out of the being’s mouth with each cough, spluttering ash on the ground.

“Nova Prime. Arch Convoy. Macrocosm. Those names are dead now. All that matters to me is us. My revenge. From this day forward, as I soon stand over your molten grave, you will know me as Nemesis!”

 

Volume 3 - Warmonger
From the Flames​

Proudstar Launch Site, Cybertron - End of the Age of Expansion
It was to be one of the most glorious sights the commonwealth ever saw. Large crowds had turned out in order to see the launch of the Proudstar, while across the Commonwealth, Cybertronians everywhere tuned in to watch the event. On the steps of the almighty golden ship, Nova Prime waved his goodbyes to the people of Cybertron, preparing for his mission. With a final wave, Nova Prime entered the ship as his bodyguards followed him. And then it all changed…

Erupting from the sky, an almighty laser ripped through the ship, tearing it asunder. The resulting explosion sent debris everywhere, as the crowd scattered for safety. Flames spread across, preventing rescue crews from getting closer to the planet. On that day, to the universe, Nova Prime was killed. But one knew the truth.

In amongst the chaos, no-one noticed a single orbital bounce hit the surface. From it, Overlord emerged, intent on seeing the results of his actions. As the flames surrounded him, Overlord was surprised to find a body still moving amongst the wreckage. Lying on the ground, pulling himself away from the flames, Nova Prime tried to get to safety.

“How surprising” Overlord mused as he stood in front of his foe. “It seems that even apart, your residual link to the matrix keeps you alive. Good thing I decided to check for myself. Now, what are we going to do with you?”

“Go the pit” Nova Prime spluttered back.

“What a good idea” Overlord smiled.

With that, Overlord scooped up Nova Prime in his arms, and in another beam of light, was scooped away from the planet.

Airlock, The Revenge, Gaol System
Overlord held Nova Prime in his arms as the airlock door opened in front of them. Overlord looked at the distant molten planet in front of them, blazing with immense heat. At a time before the ice field had formed, the way ahead was clear. Overlord held Nova Prime out in front of him.

“Oh, how it pains me to do this” Overlord said, smirking.

“I still function…” Nova Prime coughed. “And as long as I do I will seek you out once more and take my vengeance.”

“How very unPrimely” Overlord chuckled. “Farewell, Nova.”

Overlord released Nova Prime into the void, drifting off into space. He watched the once mighty Prime’s body float off towards the burning planet, never to be seen again… or so he thought.

The Longbow, In Transit - The Present Day
Ginrai sat in his hab suite, organising the reports he needed to read before he returned to Olterhex. As he sat down on his recharge pad, he felt a sudden surge of pain through his chest, causing him to drop the datapads he was holding. As he clutched his chest grill, the door to his hab suite opened and Quickshadow entered.

“Ginrai, I just came to let you know that we’re stopping at the outpost on Feev Minor to resupply-” Quickshadow said, before noticing Ginrai holding chest. “Ginrai, are you okay?”

“Yes, I think so” Ginrai wheezed, letting go of his chest. “I just felt something in the matrix. Something familiar, and yet… twisted. Darkened.”

“What does it mean?” Quickshadow asked.

“I don’t know… but it can’t be good.”

Surface of Gaol-3
Overlord looked at the frame of a bot standing before. Though damaged and scorched, the Cybertronian once known as Arch Convoy was indeed not broken. Fury coursed through his veins, and a desire for revenge filled his spark.

“So even the flames of this world couldn’t finish you off” Overlord scowled.

“You underestimated the power of my residual link to the matrix” Nemesis replied. “Combined with my desire to take my vengeance, I refused to die. I survived the toils of this world just to come to this very moment.”

“Yet you are barely more than a fragile endoskeleton” Overlord pointed out. “You may have survived the destruction of the Proudstar and this world for so many centuries, but do you truly think you can best me?”

“Perhaps not in this form, but I now possess something that will more than level the playing field” Nemesis replied, holding out the metal fragment in front of him.

“How convenient” Overlord retorted. “I come to this world seeking that very artefact. How kind of you to bring it to me.”

“Is that so?” Nemesis questioned. “Then how fitting that it shall be the implement of your destruction.”

Pointing the sharp piece at himself, Nemesis thrust the glowing metal into his chest, piercing his own spark. Lightning burst from his chest, ranging from different shades of black and purple, firing off in all directions. Nemesis eyes flickered, their natural blue now shifting between black and purple, before finally settling on a bright orange.

“No, you fool!” Overlord yelled. “You implant yourself with the very essence of a realm where death is norm! No Cybertronian would survive that!”

“HA! HAHA! HAHAHA!” cackled Nemesis, as energy surged from his chest. “YOU FORGET, OVERLORD! I AM NO MERE CYBERTRONIAN! I AM THE MATRIX’S CHOSEN! I AM BEYOND THAT!”

The surviving metal plating on Nemesis’ body began to shift. Soon, Nemesis began to take a new form, one far superior to his previous one. The black and whites of his body began to invert, while orange biolights took shape across his body, as behind his surviving wing broke off, burning to nothing before it even hit the ground. Nemesis’ fractured faceplate broke apart, revealing a worn yet determined bearded face.

“BEHOLD!” Nemesis announced, allowing Overlord to gaze at his new form. “I AM REJUVENATED! I AM IMPROVED!”

“You’ve done something no Cybertronian, no living being should have ever done!” Overlord snapped. “Even I’m not that crazy enough. You even betray your ridiculous lineage of Convoys!”

“I BARE NO LOYALTY TO THOSE THAT BORE THE MATRIX BEFORE ME!” Nemesis declared. “TODAY I FORGE A LEGACY OF MY OWN! ONE THAT BEGINS AS YOUR PEER AND YOUR VANQUISHER.”

Nemesis outstretched one of his arms to the side, holding his hand out. The air around his hand began to ripple and convulse, glowing with a dark energy. From the distortion, Nemesis plucked a silver sword, holding in front of him to admire.

“Yes…” smiled Nemesis. “The shard has restored my mastery over spatial energies.”

“So what now?” Overlord asked. “You leave and abandon me here.”

“You did so before and failed to finish me” Nemesis answered, pointing his sword at Overlord. “I will not emulate your failure.”

“Then let’s wrap up this unfinished business” Overlord said, drawing his tank barrel and activating its lance mode. “Only one of us leaves this planet alive.”

Both combatants rushed each other, their weapons striking as soon as they were close enough. The energy blade of Overlord’s lance struck the cybertanium edge of Nemesis’ blade, a dark energy coursing through it. The pairs clashed weapons numerous times, each swing being blocked by their combatant’s.

“Pitiful” snarled Nemesis.

“Funny” Overlord retorted. “I was gonna say the same.”

Overlord swift pulled his lance back before swinging it straight at Nemesis’ chest. The side of the barrel caught Nemesis’ abdomen, knocking him back across the ground. Nemesis was quick to recover, charging at Overlord once more and striking him with an almighty slash. Overlord looked down at his chest, and grinned at no sign of a scar.

“Sorry” he smiled. “New armour. You’re going to try a lot harder to pierce it.”

“Such a coward” Nemesis replied. “Hiding behind your armour. No wonder you used an orbital strike to try and kill me. Too scared to fight me on equal footing.”

Overlord's smile turned into a scowl at this. He swung his lance Nemesis, striking across his chest, before following up with another slash from the opposite character. Overlord then proceeded to leap up and kick Nemesis, sending him stumbling backwards. Overlord proceeded to follow this up with a shoulder charge, knocking Nemesis to the hand.

“I am no coward” Overlord snapped, clutching his lance in one hand. “I am a warrior without peer. I am the greatest Cybertronian warrior ever seen. You cannot hope to beat me.”

Overlord pointed the lance downwards, bringing it down on Nemesis. Before he could make contact, however, Nemesis rolled out of the way of the attack, standing back up.

“Hah!” Nemesis laughed. “If only I could believe that. You’re a barbarian at best.”

Nemesis threw his sword straight at Overlord, who simply sidestepped. As it flew behind Overlord, the sword vanished, before reappearing moments later to Overlord’s side, flying back at him and catching the side of his face. Once the sword hit the ground, it vanished once more, this time appearing back in Nemesis’ hand.

“Your spatiokinesis” Overlord said, rubbing his cheek. “That’s cheap.”

“I suppose you’re right” Nemesis mused. “You’re barely keeping up as is with your kinetic exaggeration.”

Overlord charged at Nemesis in a blind fury, who simply vanished as soon as Overlord got close. Quickly reappearing behind him, Nemesis took the opportunity to swing his blade across Overlord’s back. Overlord whipped around, only to find Nemesis already gone. Another slash to the back, but Nemesis was once again gone before Overlord could face his attacker.

“GARGH!” Overlord yelled in anguish. “COME OUT AND FACE ME!!!”

“If you insist” Nemesis retorted, appearing in front of Overlord.

Nemesis rushed Overlord, forcing him back towards the edge of the land, pushing him over. Nemesis pressed down on Overlord, trying to force him into the molten sea. Overlord could feel the waves lapping against his back, burning against his polycarbide armour.

“YOU WILL DIE HERE!” Nemesis declared, grasping Overlord by the neck and trying to force him beneath the lava.

Overlord heard the sound of his armor beginning to bubble and melt under the intense heat as he felt the sting of the lava around his back. At this proximity, there was no telling how long even his polycarbide would last. Overlord swung his lance at Nemesis, catching his foe’s back.

“GARGH!” yelled Nemesis, loosening his grip.

Overlord was quick to use the opportunity, pulling Nemesis’ hands away from his throat before knocking him aside. Overlord quickly pulled himself away from the lava, before standing up, rubbing his throat.

“I underestimated you” Overlord said.

“Your last mistake” Nemesis replied, warping back to his feet, before the two charged at each other once more.

The Wrathful Claw
Hatchet remained at his post, continuing to try and make contact with Overlord, to no avail. Scissorsaw remained behind him, still looming, waiting, as Crucible paced around the room, his patience wearing thin. Forestock was the only one who remained calm, simply content to silently lurk in the corner of the room.

“This is taking too long!” Crucible loudly stated. “We should be able to make contact.”

“I’m afraid the comms block is still in effect” Hatchet explained. “And we still can’t get a location on Overlord. However, there has been an unusual development.”

“Spit it out then” Scissorsaw shouted.

“The mobile energy signature that’s been blocking us has changed shape” Hatchet explained as one of his crew brought up a holographic map of Gaol-3. “It’s contracted substantially.”

“It’s shrunk?” Crucible asked. “How big is it now?”

“By our calculations, barely larger than a Cybertronian. But the energy signature has become more concentrated. It’s spiked considerably.”

“So what, we assume Overlord has it?”

“On the contrary” Hatchet replied. “Based on the fact it was mobile as Overlord would’ve made his descent, it seems more likely that Overlord is confronting the source of the signature, or some sort of guardian to it. Whatever it is, it’s likely using levels of power we wouldn’t dream of.”

“Then our master finally has a fair fight” Crucible mused. ”He does like a challenge…”

Surface of Gaol-3
Overlord and Nemesis continued their duel, the weapons clashing again and again. Overlord swung his lance at Nemesis’ legs, only for his foe to simply warp out of the same and kick him in the back. Nemesis proceeded to swing his sword at Overlord, though Overlord was able to get out of its way.

“You are a fool to think you can defeat me” Nemesis taunted. “I have survived everything you have thrown at me, and now attained a power to rival the matrix! You are barely worth as much as the ground I tread on.”

“I still bested you” Overlord retorted as he repeatedly tried to swing his lance at Nemesis. “I was your superior, and I shall be so again.”

“Tell yourself these lies if it comforts you!”

Overlord thrust his lance once more at Nemesis, who nimbly dodged it, before swinging his sword at Overlord’s arm. In one swift moment, Nemesis severed Overlord’s arm from his body. As it fell to the ground, Nemesis quickly kicked Overlord’s weapon into the lava. Overlord thrust his remaining fist at Nemesis, only for the former matrix bearer to bat it away, then striking Overlord away.

“As you can see, I did not need long to prove your lies false!” Nemesis proclaimed. “Your skills are not comparable to mine. Now to do something my successor has failed to do!”

Charing his sword a deathly energy, Nemesis thrust his sword straight into Overlord’s chest, aiming right for his spark. The tip of his sword emerged from Overlord’s back, stained in energon. Overlord felt the sword pierce right through him, and stumbled back when Nemesis let go of the sword. With a single kick, Nemesis knocked Overlord to the ground, allowing him to fall limply.

“The reckoning is complete” Nemesis stated, looking down at Overlord’s form. “The tyrant is dead.”

Turning from his foe’s body, Nemesis looked at his hand, glowing with spatial energies, twisted with the energy he had embedded into himself. Raising his arms to his sides, Nemesis’ body began to glow in the same overlapping energies.

“Now, I return home” Nemesis announced. “A champion!”

The energies blanketed Nemesis as he warped home. Through them, Nemesis could see Cybertron. His home. He would soon return, and forge a new legacy for himself. A legacy as Cybertron’s protector, putting the needs of his homeworld above all else. Nemesis stepped forward towards the image, only to find something pull him back at the last second.

“What?” questioned Nemesis. “Who dares disrupt my homecoming?”

Nemesis then began to writhe in pain as an unknown force pulled him back. The energies around him began to violently convulse, twisting and breaking as the image of Cybertron faded away. Nemesis tried to reach out his hand towards, so close to touching, yet was dragged away, pulled back to the molten world he was trapped on.

“NO!” Nemesis yelled as the energies faded, his body still in anguish. “I CANNOT BE DENIED! I WILL NOT!”

“I’m afraid you can and will” came the familiar voice of Overlord.

Nemesis turned around to see the Combatronian sitting up, still alive. In his hand, Overlord held a strange boxy device, a small circle of energy hovering above it. Nemesis tried to lunge at Overlord, but the overwhelming anguish prevented from making more than a step.

“You shouldn’t have stalked me so long” Overlord grinned. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have found this handy gadget.”

“What… what abominable device is this?” Nemesis angrily questioned, clutching at his chest.

“A mass transmat disruptor” Overlord explained, setting the device on the ground. “A handy little device that was designed to forcefully drag back teleports and the like. And as it turns out, incredibly painful for a spatiokinetic trying to get all the way back to Cybertron from this distant dustball. I was waiting for you to slip up and try to get home.”

“How… cowardly!” Nemesis spluttered. “You are no warrior! You are nothing! You need to use an unfair advantage to win! But how did you survive? I impaled you through the spark!”

“A funny thing about that” Overlord chuckled, ripping the sword from his chest, energon spraying out. “You did well to note my kinetic exaggeration. But you didn’t think about my other talent, or “outlier mutation” as folks like you call it. Consciousness Division. I can split my spark between my two-alt modes, or in this case, shift my spark into my lower component before you could strike. Now, as for your little claim of unfair advantages...”

Overlord rushed Nemesis, unleashing multiple slashes on him with his own sword. Overlord severed wheels, shoulder cannons, plating, and even one of Nemesis’ horns, all the while his foe simply took it, paralyzed by pain. Nemesis tried to cover his chest with his hand, but Overlord quickly knocked it away with the sword.

“Lets remove yours” Overlord said, throwing the sword to the side.

With his now free hand, Overlord pulled at Nemesis’ chestplate, pulling panels off until his spark was exposed. Overlord grinned as he saw the charged shard of metal embedded into it. Overlord grabbed at the shard, tugging at it. As he did, lightning shot off it, all shades of black and purple. Overlord kept pulling, till eventually, with one tremendous tug, he plucked the shard from Nemesis’ chest. Nemesis dropped to his hands and knees as his armour rapidly decayed and fragmented, quickly returning him to his original skeletal state.

“No…” Nemesis panted. “No…”

Safely placing the shard into a compartment on his thigh, Overlord looked down at his beaten foe. He picked up the metal sword once more as Nemesis tried to crawl away.

“You should understand, Overlord” Nemesis coughed, energon spraying from his mouth. “All I ever wanted was the prosperity of our race. Everything I did was for the greater good.”

“Are you trying to justify your great expansion?” Overlord replied, clutching the sword in his hand. “Is this the great Arch Convoy, begging for forgiveness?”

“Forgiveness? From one such as yourself? Perish the thought! I owe you no such thing. You are a monster. I just thought you should know how much nobler my goals are.”

Overlord mused this for a moment, before pausing. He then began laughing out loud, much to Nemesis’ confusion.

“What’s so funny?” Nemesis angrily asked.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret” Overlord chuckled. “You and me? Our goals? Exactly the same. I just don’t bother wearing the mask of a benevolent leader.”

“YOU DARE COMPARE YOURSELF TO ME?”

“We both came. Both saw. Both conquered. We’re both monsters who want power. But don’t worry about musing on that thought. I won’t give you long.”

Overlord raised the sword over his head, before bringing it down through Nemesis’ back. Nemesis froze as the blade went right through, feeling it pierce through his spark. Letting go of the blade, Overlord grabbed Nemesis by the scruff holding him so that he could watch the life leave him. Overlord watched as Nemesis’ eyes went dark, while his spark petered away to nothing. Even in the intense heat, Overlord could feel Nemesis’ frame turning cold as his spark finally stop glowing. Satisfied, Overlord threw Nemesis’ body away, allowing it to slide back into the molten sea.

“Perhaps you did teach me something today” Overlord mused. “I should’ve made sure to finish you with my bare hands, ensure the deed is done. I won’t make the same mistake with Ginrai… at least when I’m done with him.”

The Wrathful Claw, Gaol System
“This is impossible!” Hatchet yelled, looking at the screen.

“What?” Scissorsaw asked. “Is it Overlord?”

“The energy signature has left the planet, and is currently moving on a heading towards this ship!” Hatchet exclaimed.

“How soon will it be here?” Crucible asked.

“A few minutes?” Hatchet attempted to estimate. “It’s already made it through the ice field. At our guess, it’s on a heading for airlock sixteen.”

“Could it be Overlord?” Scissorsaw asked.

“It’s possible” Hatchet mused. “But we should be careful. That signature has acted unpredictably since we picked it up. It could be hostile.”

“Then have a squad meet us there” Crucible ordered. “If it’s hostile, it will have to contend with us directly.”

“Understood.”

Quickly getting a squad ready, Hatchet went down to the airlock room with a group of Combatronians with various frames, all of them pointing their weapons at the airlock. Crucible, Scissorsaw and Forestock stood among them, with Forestock adopting his turret mode.

“They’re inside the airlock” Hatchet said as they heard the sound of the outer door sealing. “Be ready for anything!”

The Combatronians pointed their weapons at the door as decontamination gases were vented into the airlock. The inner door opened, and everyone in the room immediately got on one knee and knelt.

“My lord!” announced Crucible. “You have returned!”

Overlord stood in the doorway, his arm missing, his polycarbide coating now patchy and worn, but amused by the display of loyalty. Overlord stepped out of the airlock, surveying the room.

“You may stand” Overlord said.

“My lord” said Hatchet, standing up. “Was your endeavour a success?”

“Very much so.”

From his thigh compartment, Overlord produced the shard of metal, still glowing in a rainbow of negative colours. Hatchet looked closely at it.

“I suggest rather than gawking at it, Hatchet, you get a suitable containment unit to contain any residual effects.”

“Yes, my lord!” Hatchet saluted, before running out of the room.

As Combatronians filtered out, only Crucible, Forestock and Scissorsaw remained around Overlord.

“My lord, we detected that energy signature we assumed that was generating was mobile” Crucible stated. “Was there something else down there with you?”

“Oh, only a rabid animal” Overlord stated. “But I put it out of its misery. For good, this time.”

Overlord’s imperial guard looked between each other, a little confused at what Overlord meant by the statement. After a few moments of silence, Scissorsaw was the one to speak.

“What are your orders now, my lord?” he asked.

“Contact the bridge” Overlord stated. “Tell them it’s time to return to Tuurok.”

Ashamar Citadel, Tuurok
From the balcony of his throne room, Overlord looked out at the landed ships stretching around his almighty fortress. Overlord focused on one Deepvault frigate as it took off, a number of starfighters flew upwards and followed it. As he watched the ships disappear into the sky, holograms of Skyquake and Macabre appeared besides him.

“My lord, my fleet is making final preparations” Skyquake reported. “Once the frigate carrying the artefacts joins up with us, we depart for Nar Locon to deposit them in the vaults for safekeeping till they can be reverse-engineered and mass produced.”

“Good” Overlord replied. “The frigate in question, “The Possession”, has just launched, and should be joining you soon. Macabre, I assume I can trust you and your commandos to ensure the spoils of my mission reach their destination?”

“Without question, my lord” Macabre answered.

“My lord…” Skyquake said, hesitantly. “It is my understanding that the main object of your mission to the Gaol system will not be aboard the ship. Is that correct?”

“That is correct, Skyquake” Overlord replied. “I felt it pertinent to personally that particular artefact myself.”

“I’m glad to hear it” came a voice behind them.

Overlord turned around to see a female sharkticon approaching, standing as tall as him. Skyquake and Macabre looked at the sharkticon, then between each other, neither recognise them.

“My lord?” Macabre asked. “Who is this?”

“Oh, me and your flier friend have met before” the Sharkticon replied. “Back when he was getting reprimanded for losing that Pink Alchemy station.”

“The shifter” Skyquake scowled.

The Sharkticon changed her form to that of a non-binary insecticon, giving Skyquake a two-fingered saluted.

“Been a while, Big Green” they said. “Overlord any less mad at you?”

“Do not talk to me in that tone, shifter” Skyquake snapped.

“Ooooh, someone’s still sore” the insecticon joked. “So, you got the shard?”

“I have” Overlord stated, picking up a container from beside him. “You’d better appreciate the effort I personally went to in order to obtain this.”

“Oh, I do” the insecticon replied, looking closely at the shard in the container. “With this, we should be able to obtain more of its energy for our plan.”

“More of this energy?” Overlord asked, pulling the container away. “This has already proven to be incredibly potent. Why do you require more?”

“You want to conquer Cybertron?” the insecticon asked. “My plan will do that to you. A titanic weapon that will help you hold it. But to power it will require massive amounts of energy, more than even this shard contains.”

“And where do you intend to obtain this energy from?”

“This deathly energy exists in another universe” the insecticon explained. “It entirely composes it. This shard is the key to unlocking it. With backing, I can construct a device that will use the shard to open a crack to it, and harvest the energy.”

Overlord paused, musing the insecticons words. He held the container out, though didn’t let go.

“And you will be able to give me Cybertron with your plan?” Overlord asked. “The commonwealth.”

“Of course” the insecticon said, changing forms to a male Dinobot. “That being said, I would very much like to meet your foe face-to-face. Assess what I will be dealing with. But with resources, it will be easy enough.”

“Hmm… If my forces are to aid you, they will require a name to identify you with, as opposed to simply ‘the shifter’, especially when you don’t tend to stick to a face. Do you have any in mind?”

“Oh, I’ve had many names” the Dinobot chuckled. “Though I suppose if it helps, I’ll give you a good, nice, dramatic one. You can call me The Faceless One!”

---

And once more we come to the end of another volume and a massive thanks goes to all those who have helped along the way, most pertinently @Stonecrusher . And thanks as well for reading this far! As a bonus, I've assembled a soundtrack for Volumes 1-3!

Convoy of War Soundtrack - Volumes 1-3
Ginrai's Theme - The Ninth Doctor’s Theme by Howard Carter
Overlord's Theme - The Will to Power by Junkie XL
Vanguard Hope Theme - The Eternal Alliance from Star Wars: Knights of the Eternal Throne
Combatrons Theme - Decepticons by Steve Jablonsky
-
K(a)-Class - Supermarine by Hans Zimmer
Quantum Leviathan - Category 5 by Ramin Djawadi
Drone Attack - Escape Part 1 by Kevin Kiner
Emergency Exit - Rescue Mission Escalates by Kevin Kiner
Crystal City - Gallifrey by Murray Gold
The Warworld Arrives - Crash Course Moon by Kevin Kiner
Wreckers Wreck - The Squad Fights Back by John Murphy
Escape from the Warworld - Breaking through the Blockade from Star Wars Rebels
-
Tanks on the Highway - Battle of Christophsis by Kevin Kiner
Mother-Vehicons - Acceptance by Michael Salvatori and Skye Lewin
Ginrai on Trial - Fugitive Identified by Segun Akinola
No Choice in a Sacrifice - The Fight Will Be Your Own by Steve Jablonsky
Solar Accelerator - Collapse by Kevin Kiner
Interdictor - Clones Retreat by Kevin Kiner
Hunted by Dominion - The Archeon Nebula by Reuven Herman
Ginrai versus Skyquake - Bane vs Shand by Kevin Kiner
Sieged Engine - Escape/Nemesis by Alexander Bornstein
-
Pursued through Lithone - Gambit by Michael Salvatori
Protect the Homeworld - The Dark and Endless Dalek Night by Murray Gold
Macabre to the Rescue - Harrison Attack by Michael Giacchino
Your Nemesis Lives - Vanished by Blake Neely
Proudstar Day - Peacemaker… What a Joke by John Murphy
No Mercy - Optimus vs Megatron by Steve Jablonsky

---

Convoy of War will return with Volume 4 - Gods and Monsters​

 

Volume 4 - Gods and Monsters
Mechanocide​

Unexplored Gas Giant Cluster, Cybertronian Commonwealth Limits
At first, there was silence. Then, with a boom and a blinding flash of light, a Cybertronian starfighter rocketed out of the abyss, hurtling through the gas giant. Blasted by quantum energies, the ship hurtled towards the one of the gas giants. Inside, its pilot, Ginrai Convoy of the Primal Vanguard, was desperately trying to regain control.

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH THE STARFIGHTERS TILL I’VE GIVEN YOU A CRASH COURSE IN PILOTING THEM!” Tailpipe’s voice yelled through the comms, fighting with the static to be the loudest thing coming in.

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I’m on a crash course now!” Ginrai responded, flicking a switch. “Beside, you know I’ve flown shuttles before!”

“Those are different!” Tailpipe retorted. “Just because both can fly doesn’t make their controls anything alike.”

“I know that now!” Ginrai retorted. “It’s not all my fault, by the way. Yharon was the one that destroyed the quantum processing station! I didn’t even know Animatros had entered the war!”

“Some people would beg to differ” Tailpipe sighed. “Hey, no, don’t distract me with questions, where the hell did the quantum explosion dump you? What are your readings saying?”

Ginrai looked at his display, only to find the screen had completely shattered. Ginrai sighed, before flicking another switch.

“My readings say that the screen's broke” Ginrai groaned. “From what I can tell there are a lot of gas giants, but I seem to be flying uncontrollably at a moon. A cyberformed moon, at that.”

Ginrai waited for Tailpipe to respond, but got nothing. He slapped the comms unit, trying to get it back to life, but it had lost the signal.

“Dammit!” Ginrai yelled. “Well, if I survive, I really hope they’ve got some long ranged comms I can borrow.”

Ginrai rocketed into the moon’s atmosphere, quickly passing through the cloud belt. The ground closed in increasingly fast, and with an almighty crash, everything went dark.

---

Ginrai woke up in a metal room. From what he could tell, it looked civilian, filled with furniture, as opposed to the more practical minimalist hab suites Ginrai had gotten used to. The design looked Cybertronian, but Ginrai couldn’t recognise what Colony it originated from. As he turned his head, Ginrai was startled to see a young blue Cybertronian looking at him, making him jump a little.

“Hey! You’re awake!” said the Cybertronian. “Wasn’t sure how long you were gonna be out for.”

“Where… where am I?” Ginrai asked, warily sitting up from his recharge slab.

“Oh, that’d be my house!” the Cybertronian explained. “Well, technically it’s my mah’s house, but I live here too, so… yeah, my house.”

“Right” Ginrai acknowledged, still a little dazed. “You being, and this house being where?”

“Oh, right, you can call me Ignitor!” the blue bot excitedly said, gesturing to herself. “And this is Serepis, one of the towns of Caminus.”

“Caminus” Ginrai repeated. “Isn’t that a Titan?”

“Ki’kal yeah!” Ignitor exclaimed. “I mean, what did you think this colony was named for?”

“Ki… kal?” Ginrai questioned, confused.

“And you’re a Convoy!” Ignitor excitedly said. “A real life Convoy!”

“How… how do you know that?”

“Well, your chest was kinda gaping open when you were found” Ignitor said, pointing at Ginrai's chestplate. “You got patched up, but it was kinda hard to miss. It was all przrk-ed up!”

Ginrai looked down at his chest to see his grill was gone, replaced with several red metal plates. One of the biolights on his chest had been smashed through, and there were several piercings across him. As he looked himself over, he saw the tyres of his alt-mode missing, and his arms had been patched with a flexible plastoid.

“So… were you the one that patched me up?” Ginrai asked, sitting up.

“Nope! I mean, if you were przrk-ed up before, imagine how przrk-ed up you would be now if I was the one who tried to fix you up?” Ignitor said. “Nah, my mah did that. She used to work at the main hospital in the next town over before we moved. She moved here as a physician, but there’s no hospital in Serepis, and it’s a long way to the next one. You got really lucky she was here, basically.”

“I believe you are right in that regard” Ginrai said, attempting to stand up from the bed. “I’ll be sure to thank her when I- nnngh!”

A sharp pain shot through Ginrai’s leg as he put it down. Almost falling over, Ignitor instinctively rushed to grab him, helping to keep him upright.

“Sorry, sorry, I should’ve mentioned” Ignitor panicked. “When we found you, a piece of your ship had gone right through your leg. Mah was able to remove it, but she said it’d probably hurt to walk about for a while.”

“Noted” Ginrai said.

Helping Ginrai back to sitting on the recharge slab, Ignitor then went to the other side of the room and picked a metal tube, leaning against the wall.

“Here, use this” Ignitor said, handing the pipe to him. “It should support you till your leg’s better.”

“Thank you” Ginrai said, standing up again, though this time using the pipe as a cane.

Ginrai paused for a moment as he stood. He felt a faint glow in the matrix, as if it could sense something. As Ginrai considered what it meant, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Ignitor.

“So what’s your name, anyway?” Ignitor asked. “Sorry, my mah has a habit of saying I keep forgetting to ask that.”

“Ginrai” he answered, getting used to makeshift cane.

“Well, pleasure to meet you, Ginrai Convoy!” Ignitor shouted, perhaps a little too loudly.

“Just Ginrai will do” Ginrai corrected.

“Oh, right!” Ignitor replied. “Sorry, Ginrai.”

Ginrai took a few steps forward with the cane, getting used to it. After making sure he could keep his balance on it, Ginrai started walking towards the door. As he passed through, Ignitor quickly followed behind him.

“Where are you going?” Ignitor asked as Ginrai carefully hobbled down the stairs.

“I’m going to see the status on my ship” Ginrai answered ahead of her. “I’d like to know if anything’s can be salvaged from-”

Ginrai bumped into someone as he got to the bottom of the stairs, dropping his cane and falling back. The Cybertronian quickly helped him up, as Ignitor rushed down to help.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” the Cybertronian said, a similarly blue bot to Ignitor, though with faded red medical stripes on her body, and kibble more akin to an ambulance. “Let me help you up.”

“No, no, it was my fault” Ginrai refuted. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Ignitor, you didn’t say he was up” the Cybertronian said.

“He was asking questions” Ignitor replied. “Figured it’d be polite to get him up to speed rather than confuse him more by yelling to you.”

“So I am to understand that you are Ignitor's mother?” Ginrai asked. “And the one responsible for repairing me after my crash, for which I am incredibly grateful.”

“Yes, that would be me” the Cybertronian responded. “You can call me Solana.”

“Well, thank you, Solana, I really appreciate you going out of your way to help me” Ginrai said. “But I’m afraid I really must check on the state of my craft."

“I really don’t recommend-”

Before Solana could finish her sentence, Ginrai was already out the front door, limping along with his cane.

“He moves fast for someone who came out of a crash” Ignitor said, surprised.

“Can you go after him?” Solana asked. “I think I see Agnus trying to crawl behind the viewscreen.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll try, but I don’t know how much sway I’ll have over a Convoy!” Ignitor replied, running after Ginrai.

Solana sighed as she watched Ignitor run, before heading inside to try and make sure Ignitor’s much younger brother didn’t do anything silly. By the time Ignitor was able to catch up to Ginrai, he had already made it to the outer limits of the town, where a pillar of smoke still drifted ahead. Ignitor ran up next to Ginrai, who was making surprisingly good speed despite having to use a cane.

“Hey, do you even know where you’re going?” Ignitor asked. “You just walked off out of town without even asking which direction your ship was.”

“There’s only one plume of smoke in the sky” Ginrai said. “I figured there weren’t any volcanic craters, so I assumed it would be what’s left of my ship. I might be able to retrieve the comms, or something that could help me get back.”

“Why the rush to leave, anyway?”

“I need to get back to the war. I’m still needed.”

“What war?”

Ginrai stopped dead in his tracks at this question. He slowly turned to look at Ignitor, who stepped back, a little intimidated.

“You mean you don’t know?” Ginrai asked, surprised.

“Noooooo…?” Ignitor replied. “Never heard of any war around here.”

“The Combatron War?” Ginrai said. “Consumed the entire Cybertronian Commonwealth? Between the Primal Vanguard and the Combatrons. The latter being led by Overlord?”

“You’re just saying words” Ignitor shrugged, not getting it.

Ginrai sighed, before turning to continue towards the plume of smoke. Ignitor started following, walking just behind him.

“The war started when the Combatronian Warlord Overlord orchestrated an attack on Cybertron, resulting in the death of the most recent Convoy at the time, Arch Convoy, who had recently relinquished the matrix” Ginrai explained as he walked. “His legions spread out across the commonwealth, conquering whatever planets stood in their way. I took on the matrix and took command of the Primal Vanguard. We pushed the Combatrons away from Cybertron, and it’s been open warfare ever since.”

“So how long has this war been going on for?” Ignitor asked. “A year? Two?”

Ginrai didn’t answer. He simply kept walking.

“So what a decade? Don’t tell me a century.”

“It’s been far longer” Ginrai sighed. “A lot longer. I’ve stopped counting, if I’m honest.”

The rest of the walk was cloaked in silence. Ginrai didn’t want to continue talking about the war, while Ignitor wasn’t sure how to continue. It didn’t take much long for them to arrive at the mangled remains of the ship. What had once been a Mylioba-Class Interceptor was now a mess of metal, with no discernable cockpit or any other features, let alone those that could be salvaged. Ginrai gave a deep sigh as he looked.

“I mean, we can still try and find something” Ignitor said, walking up to the ship. “I can try and cut it open.”

Ignitor walked up to the ship, climbing on top of it. Pointing her arm it, a flame shot out of her wrist mounted cannon, cutting through what she presumed was the cockpit. Using her flame to cut a portion of it out, she then removed the newly made panel and looked inside at a mess of wires covering a pilot’s seat.

“I think I’ve got you a way in, but I’ll be honest, it doesn’t look pretty” Ignitor said, before looking up at Ginrai, who was staring in surprise. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re talented?” he asked.

“I mean, I guess?” Ignitor said, confused. “But you barely know me, and I’ve not really done anything impressive. I mean, I’m not a good juggler.”

“No, your ability to produce flames” Ginrai responded.

“You mean my gift?”

“Different names I guess” Ginrai shrugged. “Some would call them ‘outliers’, though personally I’m not fond of the term. How long you’ve had your talent, erm, gift?”

“Several years now, I think?” Ignitor replied, sticking her arm into the cockpit and trying to shift wires around. “They sorta developed when I was in my mid-teens. My mum thinks I might’ve inherited it from my great grandad, though I’ve never really thought too much about it.”

Ignitor continued sifting about, looking for anything that might be intact. From what she could tell, not a single device had survived the crash, certainly nothing that could be repaired. Ginrai watched Ignitor, before his eye was drawn by something in the distance. It shimmered, but almost looked like a tower.

“Tell me, Ignitor, what’s that?” Ginrai asked.

“What’s what?” Ignitor asked, looking back up.

“That structure, over in the-”

Ginrai was about to point at the building, but couldn’t see it. Perhaps his optics were playing tricks on him? It wouldn’t be unheard of, especially given how bad he could see his crash was.


“Nevermind” Ginrai sighed. “Maybe we should head back into town and see if there’s anything that can help there. Are there any ships, or long range communications.”

“We can try” Ignitor said. “Though I doubt it’ll be yrigz help. Our ships aren’t really for going far out to space, and we’ve only got the tech for receiving long range signals. Nobody’s figured out sending them, since… well, as far as we were aware, who was there to contact.”

“So… what do you use them for?” Ginrai asked.

“Well, I just listen to whatever’s coming in” Ignitor said. “My mah says I’m picking too many swears up from it. I mean, I don’t see the harm, they’re not Cybertronian swears, who’s gonna care?”

“Are those the words you’ve been sprinkling into your sentences?”

“Heh, yeah. You see, you didn’t notice at all- oh krlesz, I’ve just told the Convoy I’ve been swearing in front of him.”

“It’s quite alright” Ginrai chuckled. “In a war, people are little less focused on watching their tongue. Probably best just not to make a big deal with it. Shall we make our way back?”

“Sure thing, cia- chief” Ignitor quickly corrected herself, climbing down from the crashed ship. “I’ll try and cut down on the swearing around you.”

The pair began to turn back towards Serepis, leaving the ship behind. Ginrai gave a quick glance back, hoping to see the mysterious building again, yet still there was nothing there.

As they made their way back towards the town, Ginrai’s attention was caused by several fields, each one surrounded by metal fencing. Looking at them, Ginrai could see several large creatures, similar to Ankylosaurian Dinobots with large, glittering spines on their back.

“Is that… farmland?” Ginrai asked, looking closely.

“Hmm?” Ignitor replied. “Yeah? Why, that weird?”

“It’s been a very long time since there was any sort of farming on Cybertron” Ginrai said. “I doubt it’s been practiced since the time of the Firstforged. What are those creatures?”

“Anklorroids. Their metal crystals on their back are incredibly popular materials for artists, especially in sculptures. Although… they seem to be very still. Hang on.”

Ignitor ran towards the nearest fence, where a distressed Cybertronian was looking over his livestock. Ignitor hopped over the fence and saw the Anklorroids lying on their sides, all of them inert and greying. Taking a moment to take in the scene, she slowly approaches the Cybertronian.

“Ennyn, are you alright?” Ignitor asked. “What happened?”

“I… I don’t know” said Ennyn, a silver flier wearing traditional camien facepaints. “They were perfectly fine last night, then when I was doing my rounds I found them offline. All of them. It’s just so… so horrible.”

“I’m so sorry, Ennyn” Ignitor tried to comfort him. “If there’s anything I can do to-”

“I would recommend keeping the area clear” came Ginrai’s voice as he hobbled towards the fence of the field.

“Excuse me?” Ennyn asked.

“Ginrai, that might not be the best manner” Ignitor said.

“My apologies for the loss of your herd” Ginrai said, standing behind the fence. “Though I fear what offlined them might be transferable. I would recommend keeping your distance for now, just to be on the safe side.”

“I-” Ennyn started, before pausing. “No, you’re right. Better to be safe than sorry.”

Ennyn and Ignitor walked towards Ginrai, carefully climbing over the fence. Ennyn looked back at his herd, giving a long, sad sigh.

“Maybe get yourself home, Ennyn” Ignitor said. “Try to process this and take your time.”

“I- yes, you’re right” Ennyn sighed, before heading back towards town.

Watching Ennyn leave, Ignitor then turned to look at Ginrai, who was still at the field. He was leaning on the fence, looking at the ground, rather than at the inert Anklorroids.

“It’s rather dusty” Ginrai said to himself.

“I really don’t think that’s the big thing here” Ignitor said. “Anyway, we can’t do anything more here. Do you want to see if there’s anything in town you can use? The scrapyard may have some ship parts or radio pieces that you could use to get back to your war.”

“Yes, right” Ginrai said. “Hopefully I can remember some of the things Crumble tried to teach me.”

Ginrai turned away from the fence, and he and Ignitor began making their way back into town. Unbeknownst to them, hovering above the crest of a nearby hill, a drone recorded their movements, tracking their movements as they left.

---

Having spent the remainder of the day looking for anything that could help him, Ginrai had little luck. Trying several ship sellers, a parts shop and even a scrapyard, they had still found nothing. As he stood near a mountain of scrap, Ignitor burst out, holding a rusted device.

“I think most ships have one of these” Ignitor asked. “Is this something that can help?”

Ignitor slid down the scrap, before hopping to a stop in front of Ginrai. She held out the device, and Ginrai took a look at it.

“Hmm” Ginrai frowned. “Sadly a part from a hoversled. Won’t do anything to get more than few inches off the ground, I’m afraid.”

“Bwchi!” Ignitor swore as she chucked the device back into scrap behind him. “Sorry, not the most tech knowledgeable.”

“It’s okay” Ginrai replied. “Most of my knowledge is second hand.”

“Perhaps we should call it a day” Ignitor said, looking at the setting sun. “It’s getting late. You can crash in the spare room again- oh, sorry, didn’t mean to say crash.”

“It’s quite okay” Ginrai chuckled. “Though you are right. I wouldn’t like to impose, though.”

“No, it’s good” Ignitor said. “My mah said it’d be. Come on, it’s not too far.”

Ignitor lead Ginrai back to her home. Though it was a short walk, by the time they reached her house, the sun had completely set, and the night sky could be seen above.

---

After sharing a meal with Ignitor’s family at their insistence, Ginrai now lay on the recharge slab, the door shut, pondering to himself. As he lay down, he could feel the matrix within him, glowing. He thought about how it glowed when near Ignitor.

“Perhaps she shows an affinity” Ginrai whispered to himself. “It’s not unheard of for one to be found during the time of another Convoy.”

He pondered further. Signs of affinity were incredibly rare, and Ginrai knew that with the Commonwealth at war, if he fell the matrix would need another bearer, quickly. Though of course this would require him to get off of Caminus. Ginrai sat up, turning himself so his legs dangled off the recharge pad.

“Do I have the right to take her away from here?” Ginrai pondered. “I’d ask her for her permission, yes, but should I even consider it. She’s got a life in possibly the one place that the war has yet to touch, away from the fighting.”

Ginrai paused. Perhaps he was thinking too much about it. He might be here for some time, and if that was the case, asking her wouldn’t be important at this stage.

“Perhaps I need to distract myself” Ginrai muttered.

Ginrai reached for his cane, and hobbled out of the room, quietly shutting the door so as not to disturb anyone. It wasn’t more than an hour later that door opened again, as Ignitor entered to check on him.

“Hey, sorry if you were asleep” Ignitor whispered. “I just want to make sure-”

It was then Ignitor noticed the recharge slab was empty. Noticing the cane was gone too, she quickly ran out the room and tiptoed down the stairs. Going out the front door, she saw no sign of him.

“Where on Caminus did he go?” Ignitor said. “Where on Caminus would he know to go?”

With no clues to work off of, Ignitor decided she had to take a guess. Perhaps Ginrai had gone back to his crashed ship to have another look for parts? It was as good a hunch as any. Ignitor transformed into her sports car mode and drove off towards the outskirts of town, hoping she was right.

As Ignitor drove out from the city, she drove past Ennyn’s farmlands, where the offline livestock had been moved. Driving forward, she spotted Ginrai crouching beside the fence. Ignitor quickly returned to robot mode.

“There you are!” she exclaimed. “You know it’s rude to just leave in the middle of the night without a word.”

Ginrai gestured for Ignitor to be quiet. He then pointed over the fence, to the hill ahead of them. Ignitor squinted and saw a faint red light in the distance.

“What is that?” she whispered.

“A drone” Ginrai answered. “From my guess, an FG-1000. Something that really shouldn’t be here.”

“Why? Is it… what’s it called, Combatron?”

“No” Ginrai said. “Galactic Council. Which makes its presence here concerning?”

“Oh, those guys” Ignitor said. “We get some of their broadcasts. They rant a lot.”

“They’re not overly keen on us” Ginrai said. “They once tried to try me for the entire war.”

“They can’t be that bad, they clearly found you innocent.”

“The trial got paused due to a Combatronian attack. Hopefully indefinitely.”

“So… they’re bad news?” Ignitor asked.

“On a Cybertronian colony, yes” Ginrai said. “The council, particularly the leading members, are notoriously mechanophobic. They hate mechanicals, particularly us Cybertronians, with a passion, and this war has given them the stage to spread it.”

“So what are they doing here? I mean, Caminus was unknown to you, so how did they found it?”

“Luck, I guess. But once they found out the colony was isolated, I have a feeling that they decided to use it as a testing ground.”

“A testing ground? For what, exactly?”

“Did you notice that the ground around here is covered in particulates? I have a feeling it's some sort of mechanocide. They must’ve tested on the livestock first, dispersing it on the fields with that drone.”

“Then Serepis could be next!” Ignitor exclaimed. “We’ve gotta destroy that drone.”

As Ignitor was about to stand up, Ginrai grabbed her arm, gesturing her to remain down.

“That drone seems to be observing, not dispersing” Ginrai explained. “If we destroy it there’s every chance that another drone will take its place. We approach this quietly, at least for now. That drone’s likely reporting somewhere to the Council. We follow it, we can find the source of the mechanocide and maybe give the Council a piece of our minds.”

As the pair looked over the fence, watching the drone continue observing, before it turned around, flying down the other side of the field. Ginrai silently gestured for them to slowly follow it over the hill. Ginrai and Ignitor followed the drone over several more hills, using whatever cover was available to stay out of its view. Eventually, after some walking, the pair found the drone’s base. Parked in a pass, a Galactic Council Patrol Ship stood there, surrounded by several drones. These drones were different from the other, armed with multiple laser emitters on their front. Ginrai squinted to get a good look.

“That looks like an Anhur-Class vessel” Ginrai said. “Definitely council property.”

“Surrounded by what look like some heavily armed drones” Ignitor added.

“FG-II’s. From what I hear, they are fairly fragile. They’re just a problem if you let them group on you.”

“So what’s the plan, sneak towards the ship, maybe knock a few out on their own.”

“No, there’s too many to continue with this approach” Ginrai replied. “They’d pick up on us before we got close enough.”

“Then how do we play this?”

“Oh, you know” Ginrai said, standing up. “The old fashioned way.”

Ginrai pointed one of his arms at the closest drone, and fired a single blast from his cannon. The drone was destroyed, exploding as soon as the laser hit it. The rest of the drones immediately turned to the source of the shot. Ginrai simply responded by shooting another drone, then another.

“Wow, did not realise we were ditching the stealth so quickly?” Ignitor said, sliding downhill. “Guess I finally get to use my gift for something other than welding.”

Flames burst from Ignitor’s wrist blasters, burning brightly. With a swing of her arm, she quickly destroyed one of the drones, before turning to face another. The drone charged its laser emitters, only to be bisected by Ignitor with a swing of her flames. Several laser blasts flew past Ignitor as Ginrai fired on the drones, slowly making his way downhill.

“Quite a flashy talent you have there” Ginrai said as he slowly joined Ignitor. “I didn’t think you had combat experience.”

“I don’t” Ignitor replied, projecting a blast of fire through another drone. “This is all improv.”

“Perhaps with some training, we might be able to hone your abilities” Ginrai said.

“Training?” Ignitor asked confused. “Where’d- look out!”

Spotting a drone lining up a shot on Ginrai, Ignitor quickly pointed her wrist at it, firing a shot that grazed Ginrai’s shoulder. Hitting the drone dead on, it exploded in a fireball, metal and circuitry raining to the ground.

“Sorry” Ignitor exclaimed as Ginrai looked back.

“For what?” Ginrai asked. “Saving my life? Don’t worry about it. Let's clear up what’s left of these drones.”

Ginrai continued firing on the drones, dispatching them with ease as Ignitor quickly made short work of them with her flames. Soon, the pair were surrounded by piles of drone parts. Satisfied there were no more drones, the pair went towards the entrance hatch, finding it sealed tightly.

“Allow me” Ignitor said, producing a small flame between her index and middle fingers.

Using the flame as a cutting torch, Ignitor slowly created a hole in the doorway. Once she had cut through, she bashed through it, leading with her shoulder. The door clanged against the floor, and the pair stepped inside.

It didn’t take long for the pair to find the centre of operations in the ship. Entering a room with numerous canisters on all sides, Ginrai presumed they contained the mechanocide solution the council had been testing. In the center of the room was a holotable, with a more skeletal mech standing by it. In its hands, it held the surveillance drone, seeming to draw data from it.

“Alert” said the mech. “Operator KL1 to all security units. Report and defend.”

“Hate to break it to you, but your entourage is now a pile of scrap” Ignitor grinned.

“Commencing self defence procedures” the mech stated.

The mech stood up and reached for a blaster, but before it could grab it Ginrai fired a shot from his arm cannon, flinging the drone into the far doorway. Ginrai walked up to the console and started fiddling with it.

“So… do we set this thing to self-destruct?” Ignitor asked. “Destroy what they have of this poison?”

“No” Ginrai said, looking at one of the canisters. “We can burn it with a controlled fire. Once I’ve bypassed the security systems, I can use it to get back to the Vanguard. Besides, I’d like to take steps to ensure the Council don’t try something this abhorrent again.”

Ginrai picked up a canister with his arm, and gestured for Ignitor to do the same. Ignitor picked up a pair of canisters, carrying them under her arms. The pair went outside and started laying them into a pile. Ginrai and Ignitor made several trips in and out of the ship until they had all the canisters piled up. Ginrai nodded at Ignitor, and with a powerful stream of flames, she ignited the pile, burning at the mechanocide until nothing remained. Satisfied it was destroyed, Ginrai turned around and made his way back towards the ship.

“Where are you going?” Ignitor asked, her hands on her hips. “Not leaving immediately now that you have a ship, are you?”

“No, it’ll take me a while to hotwire the ship” Ginrai said. “Probably a few days. No, I’ve just got to make a call.”

“Your people?”

“No, they’re liable to block any calls from the Council after the last time” Ginrai answered. “No, I’m going to call the council directly. I’m going to make sure they don’t do such a thing again.”

With that, Ginrai re-entered the ship, as Ignitor looked back at the smouldering pile of canisters. Oncenside, Ginrai fiddled about with the holoprojector, bringing up the last contacted commline. Ginrai suspected it was likely whoever was in charge of the drones here. Calling the commline, the image of skinny, four armed organic wearing a rebreather appeared on the holotable.

“What the-” the organic said. “Cybertronian? This is Galactic Council property! We could have you for trespassing!”

“Ah, Captain N’rok” Ginrai said, folding his arms. “Why am I not surprised you are in charge of this operation? Now as for the matter of trespassing, would you care to explain what one of your ships is doing on a Cybertronian colony?”

“Cybertronian colony?” exclaimed N’rok, flustered. “Well, we believed this to be an uninhabited-”

“Oh can the scrap” Ginrai snapped. “We’ve already destroyed your stores of mechanocide. You know what your actions can be construed of?”

N’rok remained silent, not sure what he could say.

“An act of aggression serving as your admission of entering this war” Ginrai said. “Do you want to be the one responsible for dragging the people you were charged with protecting into this brutal conflict? Do you want to have all the potential lives lost weighing on you.”

Still N’rok said nothing. He awkwardly looked to his sides, likely to other Galactic Council personnel at his location.

“No?” Ginrai asked. “Then I say this only once. Tell your fellows officers, your superiors, your underlings. Tell them that if you set foot on this colony, or any of the colonies in the Cybertronian Commonwealth, whether or not they’re controlled by us or the Combatrons, we will see it as an act of aggression. So take a hint. If you won’t help us end this war and defeat the Combatronians, then stay the pit away.”

With that, Ginrai closed the communication, letting out a sigh. He turned to hear clapping from the door. Ignitor was clapping at the doorway.

“Now that was impressive” Ignitor said. “Never seen anyone say klaroj to someone so dramatically.”

“I’ll assume that ‘klaroj’ is being used as a compliment” Ginrai said.

“Yeah it is” Ignitor replied. “I mean, I’d like to learn how to do that.”

“Perhaps-” Ginrai started, before stopping himself.

Ginrai paused to think about asking Ignitor. Ignitor, meanwhile, already had her attention elsewhere, looking around at the ship. Ginrai decided to not ask just yet, mulling it further.

The Following Day
After getting some sleep after their skirmish with the drones, Ignitor found Ginrai working on the council’s patrol ship, attempting to hotwire its controls. Ignitor watched him work. She stood behind him for a few minutes, before he turned around to face her.

“What’s it like out there?” Ignitor asked. “Out there, beyond Caminus.”

“Well… right now it’s a battleground” Ginrai answered. “Though I suppose that’s not really what you mean. It’s quite varied. Sometimes it can be scary, sometimes it can be beautiful. Most planets have their own charms, though it’s something you’d have to see for yourself.”

“Yeah… I suppose it is” Ignitor sighed.

“Look, I’ve been mulling this over…” Ginrai said. “I don’t think coming to Caminus was just by chance. I think the matrix guided me here.”

“Why?” Ignitor asked. “Did it sense the Galactic Council doing bad stuff?”

“No” Ginrai answered. “I think it sensed you.”

“Me?” Ignitor splutted. “Why me?”

“Since I’ve been here, the Matrix has shown an affinity to you” Ginrai said. “I think it finds you worthy of it. And from what I’ve seen you’re strong, you’re compassionate, you have great skill, and I don’t think it takes swearing into account. With the war going on, there’s no guarantee I’ll see it through, and the Vanguard will need a Convoy to lead them. I would like to offer the opportunity for you to come with me, so that I can train you, should the need arise, you can carry the matrix.”

“I… wow” Ignitor mumbled. “It’s a lot. I mean, yeah, I want to. I’d love to. But my family…”

“I understand if you don’t wish to” Ginrai said. “Caminus has managed to remain hidden from the war, and I hope to keep its existence a secret till war is over, regardless. I won’t squander a chance to keep some of our kind safe.”

“I’d have to tell my family” Ignitor said. “I don’t know how my mah’ll take it. But… this is a chance to do something bigger than myself. I can’t just pass it up.”

“Take as long as you need” Ginrai said. “I’ll wait for your answer.”

Ignitor slowly turned around, walking out of the ship. She made her way over the hilltops, and as she reached the crest of the last hill, she looked over the city of Serepis. The only home she’d ever known. It would be hard leaving. She turned her gaze to the sky. But perhaps there was something greater than herself worth fighting for out there.

One Week Later
Ignitor approached the edge of Serepis, where the Galactic Council ship sat. Standing by the patrol ship, Ginrai stood by the ramp, now no longer needing his cane. A crowd of Ignitor’s friends stood around, ready to see her off on her new journey. Ignitor approached her mother.

“Mah…” Ignitor started.

Solana took hold of her daughter, hugging her tightly. Ignitor hugged back, neither saying anything for a few seconds.

“It’ll be hard without you” Solana said. “But this is something you believe in.”

“I’ll be back mah” Ignitor said. “I promise.”

As the two let go of each, Solana turned to Ginrai in order to address him.

“You’d better keep her safe” she said, sternly.

“You have my word” Ginrai replied. “I will do all in my power to protect her.”

Solana turned back to her daughter, taking a long look at her.

“Take care, Ignitor” Solana said, a tear rolling down her cheek. “Wherever you go, my love will follow.”

“And mine will always return home” Ignitor replied, before turning and kneeling towards her little brother, Agnus. “Take care mah while I’m gone, okay?”

After hugging Agnus, Ignitor stood up and turned. Ginrai boarded the ship as Ignitor walked towards it. As she reached the ramp, she turned to take one last look at her home. Giving a final wave, she turned and boarded the ship. After a few seconds and a mighty roar, the ship took to the skies, flying out upwards as those around watched. Looking out the viewport as Caminus became visible, backed against the colossal gas giant, Ignitor held her memories tightly, before looking to the future, and what lay ahead...

 

Volume 4 - Gods and Monsters
The Musuumei Incursion​

Space is a vast expanse beyond any being’s wildest imagination. In the void between the stars, innumerable dangers lurk for every sentient being, and even the very absence of anything could be a great threat for any who would dare walk into it without protection. Conceptually, space is immensely terrifying and chaotic…

But as Ignitor found, in practice, it was kinda boring.

Her optics scanned the vast void, as strange and as beautiful as the night sky, a thin protective shield of transparisteel alloy all that blocked the vacuum. Ginrai Convoy once said that she had a great destiny ahead of her, and that she’d see the stars before her (At least, that’s what she kinda remembers) but she had her doubts that it’d be in a small scout ship with two irritating glitchspawns. One was a flyer with a similar Gift - sorry, Talent - to Ignitor’s own, who she believed was named “Hot House”. The other a fellow car-bot with a more electrical Talent named “Goldfire.” ...Or was it “Goldbug?”

“Soooooooo,” Hot House spoke up after an eon of silence, “You guys see anything?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Goldbug - Yeah, it was Goldbug, Ignitor reminded herself - murmured.

“Nothing but big lights in a black void,” Ignitor replied.

“Hey, those big lights are way bigger than this vehicle,” Hot House felt the need to point out, “If we end up too close to one, we could be pulled into the gravity well, and even MY fire manipulation can’t keep the flames off.”

“Yeah, you always brag about your fire manipulation powers,” Ignitor noted, “But don’t forget, I have that gift too.”

“Not to the degree I do,” Hot House spoke in that stupid tone that made it clear he was trying to brag on the down low, “Not that a little practice wouldn’t help you get up to the halfway mark. I gotta wonder, how a shipcrash like you didn’t just use your talent to reforge the hull or something.”

“My mama told me to be responsible for that,” Ignitor noted, “No need to exploit your gift for something so menial.”

“You said you grew up on a farm of some sort, right?” Goldbug asked.

“Yep,” Ignitor answered.

“Pffft, like a farmgirl like your mom could get the intricate nature of Talents,” Hot House noted, “We got these gifts from the Firstforged, and we kinda owe them to use our abilities to help people, whether it be others or ourselves.”

“Yeah, well, laws about reckless talent usage still applied to civilian travellers like Ignitor,” Goldbug noted, “You got the luck of being in the Vanguard from like the first week you climbed out of the Sparkwell.”

“Yeah, and so far I have excelled at it!” Hot House pointed out, “Did you know that I was approached by Crest for his Special Operations unit?”

“Yeah, yeah, the Wreckers are all that special,” Goldbug noted in a very much not interested tone, “Though keep in mind the fact that their reputation is so widespread means they’re kinda sucky as secret agents.”

“Wreckers?” Ignitor asked.

“See, the fact that she’s confused says something about just how ‘widespread’ their reputation is,” Hot House pointed out.

“Please,” Goldbug sighed, “She’s only been in the Vanguard for a few weeks.”

“And she skipped boot camp,” Hot House noted.

“Hey, I spent plenty of time as a shipcrash, I know how to fight,” Ignitor smirked.

“Yeah, but do you know discipline?”

“Probably better than you, Hot Shot,” Ignitor’s smirk transformed into a sheet-eating grin.

“Oh, you really wanna insult your colleagues so soon, huh?” Hot House rolled his optics, “In basic training, that’d give you like 500 transformups.”

“I can do that in my sleep, twice!” Ignitor boasted.

Before Hot House could make a comeback, a large boom rippled through the ship’s atmosphere.

“What was that?!” Ignitor shouted.

“Probably a Combatronian ship we missed taking the opportunity to take a few shots!” Hot House snapped, “Lieutenant, orders!”

“Ignitor, take the wheel,” Goldbug answered, “Hot House, take the rear blasters.”

“Yes sir!”

As Ignitor tapped into the control system, Hot House climbed into the back.

“So, which Combatronian type are we facing this time?” Goldbug asked, “Assurance? Crossfire? Dominion?”

“Looks like a new one!” Hot House noted, “Wide wings, big-ass thrusters, but otherwise a slim profile. Scanners count five of them!”

“Well, then, show them what a Hammer-Class can do!” Goldbug shouted.

“WITH PLEASURE!” Hot House began firing on the pursuers.

“What should I do?” Ignitor asked, “I mean, you’re the commanding officer here.”

“Just make sure we don’t crash into an asteroid!” Goldbug noted.

Ignitor noted that it would not be difficult to navigate a ship to avoid asteroids in normal circumstances… but being shot at was not quite normal. Veering left and right to avoid blaster bolts, Ignitor tried to make sure not to get hit.

“Hey, dammit, I had a good shot!” Hot House shouted, “Are you sure you’re good at flying?!”

“Civilian craft!” Ignitor shouted back - not a lie technically.

“And did you crash the one you were on?!”

“You two shush! This isn’t the time!” Goldbug shouted.

“Sorry, sir!” Ignitor answered.

Ignitor’s optics scanned the space around the ship as it rushed through the asteroid belt. Dodging asteroid and blaster bolt alone kept her sharp and focused. Left. Right. Forward. Rotate.

“They’re gaining!”

Ignitor pushed it forward even more, focussing entirely on surviving.

Which means she didn’t notice when one of the opposing craft managed to swoop in the way.

A hard thunk noise echoed through the cockpit, but no reduction in speed was clearly detected.

“Okay, looks like they’re breaking off!” Goldbug noted.

“And I didn’t even hit one,” Hot House grumbled.

“We’ll probably have a chance… next… time…” Goldbug trailed off as his optics looked at the windshield… and what was impacted on it.

“What the… how did that get there?” Ignitor asked, coming out of survival mode.

Hot House entered the cockpit again to see the object in question, his optics narrowing, “I think you hit one of the other ships. Must’ve been pretty fragile for us not to notice it on impact.”

“...I don’t think that’s a ship,” Goldbug noted, “I think that’s… a lifeform.”

The lifeform in question was a roughly cybertronian-sized humanoid resembling many races across the cosmos, slender limbs and body echoing some female specimens Goldbug observed a long time ago, covered in a white bodysuit. But more noticeable were the mechanical armaments stacked on top of the frame, two massive stilts on the legs and a pair of massive wings resembling spacecraft.

“We gotta get this inside,” Goldbug noted, “Figure out just what the heck this is.”

Using the ship’s built in tractor beams usually used for lifting troops out of dangerous situations, the three of them transported their new quarry onto the ship, depositing it onto the scanning table. From there, the ship’s sensor arrays went to work, scanning the specimen with the best of its ability.

“So, uh, what we got, Computer?” Ignitor asked.

“Subject - Techno-Organic Humanoid Lifeform. Origin - unknown. Species - Unknown. Conclusion - recently developed or discovered technology.”

“Well, we got attacked by a few of these jerks and managed to kill one. I guess,” Hot House shrugged.

“Negative. Scans indicate that subject is still ‘alive’ but has been knocked offline due to impact by vessel. Time until recovery - unknown.”

“Alright, time to give her a quick death then-” Hot House raised his hands.

“Whoa! Hey! Maybe we were intruding on their territory and they saw us as a threat. If we explain to this strange being that we mean no harm, we might be able to avoid further conflict,” Ignitor noted, “Plus, I’m not enthused to seeing you use your gift for violence.”

“Using my gift for violence? Really? You’re gonna be a peacenik now?” Hot House scoffed, “Hate to tell you this, but we’re at war here, kid.”

“That doesn’t mean we should just kill anything that stands in our way, otherwise there might as well not be a difference between Vanguard and Combatron.”

“Oh, sure, burning a freak android for trying to blast us to smithereens is as much a bad thing as turning entire colonies to molten slag.”

This gave Ignitor pause.

“I’m gonna have to agree with her,” Goldbug noted, “We have to talk with her about what motivated this attack, and we can’t exactly ask a pile of burned ashes.”

“...Okay, but the second she tries to shank you, Goldbug, I’m torching her butt,” Hot House relented.

A groan from the subject caught their attention really quick. The three watched as the subject righted herself up, the faceplate obscuring her face falling off to reveal a very light orange tone and brilliant cerulean irises. “Frizars, my head…”

A brief moment passed, before the subject turned to them, her irises shrinking in surprise… or horror, whatever it might be.

“Hello,” Ignitor was the first to greet the figure.

The subject responded by shrieking in a loud noise and then falling off the table. Righting herself up, the subject hid, the top of her head popping out behind the table.

“Please, please don’t probe me!” She spoke in a mildly accented Cybertronian dialect, “I know you’re always seeking out new knowledge but please!”

“Whoa, nobody’s probing you right now!” Goldbug announced.

“How can I be sure of that?!” The figure shouted back.

“Do you see anything attached to you right now?!” Ignitor asked.

“...Well no, but-”

“Well, there you go.”

A brief moment passed.

“So, uh, sorry about flying into your airspace like that, we were just-”

“Trying to bomb us to smithereens for siding against your oppressed masses?” The subject snarled.

“...Oppressed what now?” Ignitor asked.

“Oh, shit. Another race Combatron has drafted,” Hot House sighed.

“Ma’am - I’m assuming your gender here so forgive me - we didn’t come here to bombard anyone,” Goldbug replied, “We’re only here to conduct a spacial survey.”

“...How can I be sure of that?”

“Scan the ship for armaments that don’t have a defensive function,” Ignitor suggested.

Narrowing her eyes, the figure scanned the entire ship from her position, her face softening with every pass of the head.

“Not a single bomb on this ship.”

“Told you,” Goldbug chuckled.

“So, uh… how’d you get here?” Ignitor asked.

“...A few weeks ago, my world was contacted by aliens from across the stars. They told us their story, how their world was destroyed by a great monster from their ancestral land, and how they fought to avenge their vanished kin,” The subject replied, rising from behind the table, “our leaders took pity on them, and decided to help out… but your ship is kinda… hard to crack, no offense.”

“Why would we be offended by that? It’s doing its job,” Hot House growled.

“So you got contacted by the Combatronians who sought to use you as a source of reinforcements,” Goldbug noted, “They’ve done that to many other races.”

“How did it turn out for them?” The subject asked.

“You familiar with the concept of slavery?” Hot House asked, “Because basically that.”

This brought the subject to silent contemplation… and then…

“The council needs to know about this,” The subject noted.

“Oh, a council. Good!” Goldbug noted.

“How far away is your planet from here?” Ignitor asked.

“Not far, but we need to cut a deal here,” the subject noted.

“...Alright, Spacey, make your terms,” Ignitor asked.

“I can bring you to the council and allow you to state your case,” The subject replied, “But after that, we drop this conflict.”

“Sounds perfectly reasonable,” Goldbug replied.

“You’ve got yourself a deal!” Ignitor smirked.

“I’m never gonna burn anything today,” Hot House sighed.

---

‘Spacey’s’ homeworld was surprisingly close to the asteroid belt that they were scanning, which made navigating there a sitch. Entering the atmosphere of the planet, Ignitor could not help but gawk at the buildings. Vast, even by comparison to the Cybertronian cities she had seen since joining the Vanguard, yet with a distinct aesthetic betraying its Level 2 Tech roots.

“This is your homeworld?” Ignitor asked.

“Indeed it is,” the humanoid sighed.

“How advanced are you to make these buildings so big?” Goldbug asked.

“We didn’t.”

“...Wait, what?”

“They were made by our creators, a vast and powerful race full of majesty and grace,” she smiled, “They created us to be their companions.”

“So, uh…” Hot House looked around, “Where are they now?”

“They’re gone,” the humanoid sighed, “We, the Musume, are all that remain.”

“I am so sorry for your loss,” Goldbug patted her back, “We never knew our creators.”

This was slightly confusing to Ignitor, but such questions were not her place.

“There,” the Musume pointed at a nearby building, “That building is used as a spaceport, and is the closest there is to the Council’s main headquarters.”

“Okay, but if they start blasting I’m not going to hesitate to defend us,” Hot House hissed.

Navigating the ship to land, Ignitor noticed several other Musume running around. Some were covered in similar white outfits to Spacey, others were in striking colors of red, black, green, beige, and such. As the ship landed, a small group of identically dressed and armored black-suited Musume approached, armed with exoskeletons that increased their height and added a pair of secondary arms.

“Give me a minute to explain,” Spacey replied, “Then we will bring you to the council… hopefully.”

“Certainly hope so,” Goldbug noted, “Rather not get in a firefight.”

“Speak for yourself,” Hot House growled.

Watching Spacey exit the ship, Ignitor listened in on the conversation, though her ability to understand was strained by the unfamiliar nature of the language…

“Arnval Unitto Ichi-San-Yongou!” the leader of the black Musume spoke first, “Anata wa hayaku patorōru kara modotte kite, najimi no nai fune ni notte imasu. Setsumei shite kudasai!”

“Shazai, Strarf shirei-kan Liris!” Spacey replied, “Patorōru-chū ni kono fune ni sōgū shimashitaga, karera wa Musume no tekide wa nai to shuchō shite imasu!”

“Kore wa Primal Vanguard-kyū senretsude wa arimasen ka?”

“Seikaidesuga, karera wa Combatron butai ga watashitachi o dorei ni suru tsumoridearu to shuchō shite imasu!”

A brief pause.

“Hyōgi-kai wa kore o kiku hitsuyō ga arimasu.” The leader in black replied, “Karera ga hyōgi-kai-shitsu ni tsukisowa reru koto o karera ni shirasete kudasai.”

Spacey nodded, then turned to the ship, “They’re willing to let you see the leaders!”

“Awesome!” Ignitor declared.

---

As Ignitor, Hothouse, and Goldbug entered the so-called Councilchamber, the first thing that they noticed was the sheer vastness of the room - clearly, the original inhabitants were using this strange room as a meeting place of some importance. The walls were decorated with vast tapestries depicting what Ignitor guessed were heroes of great importance in the local culture. Various Musume wandered the vast hall, some sticking in groups consisting of similar fashion designs, which Ignitor soon figured were in fact similar ‘types’ of Musume. Spacey in particular was a type of Musume known as an Arnval, and the rest of their escorts were a type called Strarf. As they progressed further into the chamber, more murmurs entered Ignitor’s processing.

“Nani kore?” “Karera wa ittai daredesu ka?” “Sorera no Cybertronians wa arimasen ka?”

Eventually they reached the end of the hall, and the trio of Cybertronians noted a pair of prominent Musume who seemed more or less unique - a heavily armored purple knight-esk warrior on the left, and a more lightly armored warrior sporting an armor style similar to what the Circle of Light’s lower ranks sported. Both sat in a pair of ostentatious chairs, though a quick scan revealed that these were not made of any form of metal but more akin to a shiny gold-colored plastic-like substance.

“Haikaunshiruūman no Xiphos to Benio!” The lead Strarf announced, “Watashi wa anata ni kūkan-teki tairitsu ni tsuite no atarashī mikata o motarashimasu!”

“Sorera o kono heya ni motte iku anata no kōdō ni kansha shimasu.” The lightly armored one spoke first.

“Karera wa karera jishin no kēsu o hanasu hitsuyō ga arudeshouga.” The second spoke next. Standing from her seated position, the figure narrowed her eyes. “Cybertronians of the Primal Vanguard. I ask of you - what brings you here?”

Goldbug spoke first, “Unfortunately, the war you have learned of.”

“The war has not reached this world,” The first replied, “Unless you bring it here.”

“With all due respect, Lady…” Goldbug paused briefly, “...Saifos?”

“She is Xiphos,” The lightly armored one pointed to her knightly brethren, “I am Benio.”

“Ah, apologies.”

“Continue, please.”

“With all due respect, Lady Benio, the war might have come long before we did.”

“We have heard much about this conflict from those that call you their enemy,” Xiphos spoke up, “But we would like to hear from your perspective.”

“Very well. I shall give you an account of the war as I have knowledge of it,” Goldbug nodded.

“Oh, this oughta be good,” Hot House seemed to smirk under his faceplate.

“In a time long ago, Cybertron was a prosperous world, peaceful and just in its entirety. Cybertron had colonized a thousand worlds in its day, under the watchful guidance of its leader, Arch Convoy. Our advancements pushed forward the paths of many other races, and they celebrated our joint accomplishments. This motivated Arch Convoy to set out into the stars and start a new wave of colonization…” Goldbug sighed, “But our happiness did not last. One of our earliest colonies that had fallen off the radar struck out against us. Why, we cannot say. Maybe a thirst for power, maybe a chip on their shoulder. But the Combatronian army struck out against us, and anyone else who stood in their way. We have spent many years fighting this menace, one that did not hesitate to devastating entire planets out of their own petty thirst for power. Over a thousand races have been enslaved by their conquests, all fed stories of how we wronged them… only to be doomed to being stepping stones crushed underneath their jackboots.”

A brief pause filled the room, as various Musume murmured among themselves. Ignitor also was apprehensive - much of this information was already known to her, but to have it stated like that…

“...Before we proceed further, I feel I must ask this of you,” Xiphos spoke at least, “Does the name ‘Titan Trypticon’ ring any bells?”

“No, ma’am,” Goldbug noted, “Titans were only seen in a few colonies, and none have used that name from what I’ve heard.”

“...Souka…” Xiphos murmured, turning to Benio, “Karera ga tadashikereba, karera wa Combatron no hōkai to wa nani no kankei mo arimasen.”

“Shikashi, korera no jijitsu o shiraseru to, Combatron ga iwa rete iru no to hobo onajiyōni han'nō suru kanōsei ga arimasu. Watashitachi wa sore o kiken'nisarasu koto ga dekimasu ka?”

That was when the doors slammed open. Held apart by a pair of Tankor-class Vehicons, allowing a trio of Combatronians to enter… or at least, what looked like a trio. In spite of this, Ignitor’s scanners only picked up one Spark Signature between the three.

“So, the Vanguard did find this world, after all,” The middle one spoke.

“Ah, figures that our operations here would be discovered soon,” the left one groaned.

“Still, it makes sense to try and minimize conflict here,” The right one sneered.

Hothouse took a defensive stance, “Oi! You three! I advise you halt while you still can.”

“Oh, of course,” Left answered.

“After all, we’d hate to…” Middle added.

“...cause further unneeded bloodshed,” Right finished.

“...Okay, wow, you three are in synch,” Ignitor noted, “You practice this kind of thing?”

“Hardly,” All three answered.

“Oh, you must be that three-pronged mind fellow I’ve heard so much about,” Goldbug noted.

“I prefer the term ‘Threefold Spark,’” Middle replied.

“But if you’re so adamant about names,” Left added.

“Call me Exarchon,” Right finished.

“Wow, Exarchon,” Ignitor smirked, “Good name. I guess that would make the middle dude Wyarchon and the other one Zeearchon.”

All three of the Exarchons turned their head to Ignitor, their expressions a lot more… intrigued then offended.

“Of course Convoy’s new firecracker would go off on us,” Left noted.

“But we’re not ones for going after our foes for petty insults,” Right pointed out.

“Especially since we know where they came from…” Middle finished.

“...What do you mean by that?” Ignitor asked, a little cautious.

“ENOUGH!” Xiphos shouted.

All parties turned to the Council, with Xiphos glaring.

“Such mind games are not appreciated here,” Xiphos noted.

“Perhaps it would endeavor you, Exarchon, to tell our guests what you told us,” Benio added, “Y’know, give them a little perspective.”

“Very well,” Middle replied, the other two walking around the Vanguard trio until they formed a triangle around the three.

“In a time long ago, Combatron was one of many colonies set up in Cybertron’s early colonies. Set up to make sure that there would always be defenders against whatever forces would threaten Cybertron.”

“But in time, Cybertron neglected our status and grew complacent. We began to sunder ourselves, forming different armies that fought for control over our world.”

“And when the time came, Cybertron sent a Titan of destruction and chaos - Trypticon, to wipe the slate clean. Our society was wiped out, and those of us who vacated the planet escaped with our lives.”

“But our world was ravaged, and we desired payback. Cybertron turned its back on us, and when we screamed for aid, it stabbed us in the back. But it would not escape this unscathed."

“Whomever comes armed and ready to shoot must be prepared to be shot. Don’t forget. Don’t forgive.”

“Thank you,” Benio finally announced, “The Council will need time to confer, and I advise that you keep from killing each other.”

“Very well,” Exarchon’s bodies replied. The three of them departed, as did the Vanguard trio.

---

As they waited, Ignitor was the first to speak up.

“So… either of you aware of this Trypticon?”

A brief, but stern silence answered the room.

“...No. As far as the records show, there hasn’t been a Titan with that name that has been active since the Schism,” Hot House noted.

“And how accurate are these records?” Ignitor asked.

“Our ancestors spent an entire age, probably a few thousand years, compiling and reexamining them. I think we’re pretty sure they’re accurate,” Goldbug joked.

“An entire age? Really? Seems kinda ridiculous,” Ignitor snickered.

“Everyone says that when they first learn about the Age of Reflection,” Goldbug noted, “An entire generation stopped their history to get the facts of our past straight. And yet, ironically, nobody really remembers any details of that time.”

“Honestly, that sounds like a cover-up. Scrubbing information we’d rather not preserve under the mask of preserving history,” Ignitor shrugged, “But my home colony was out in the boonies, what do I know?”

The stern silence returned.

“...What colony were you from again?” Hot House asked, raising an optic.

“I… uh… well… does it matter?” Ignitor asked back.

“It might in the future, who knows,” Hot House noted, “...But I guess if it was the boonies you’d rather not even think about it, let alone go back.”

“Yeah…” Ignitor replied.

It was at this time that a Musume with a distinctly ‘secretarial’ visage entered.

“The council has made its decision,” This Musume informed them.

---

Soon, the Vanguardsmen and Combatronians were let back into the chamber and presented before the Council. Benio and Xiphos stood firm.

“We have discussed our understanding of the stories behind the war, and came to a conclusion,” Benio spoke first, “The conflict that your two tribes are fighting in is based on a mutual misunderstanding. As such, we cannot support either side of this conflict.”

“However, we will be happy to oversee any peace talks and help end the conflict,” Xiphos added, “It is what we can do for both sides…”

“Peace talks?!” Exarchon’s three bodies shouted in unison, “You expect us to stand alongside these fools and declare a peace when we never even considered them allies?!”

“It is what we can do to build a new future,” Xiphos replied.

“It is treachery!” The middle body screamed.

“We will not accept it!” The left body announced.

“As per the command of Overlord, you and the ruins you call a civilization will be destroyed!” The right body added.

“Please, this is nonsense!” Benio spoke up.

“Nonsense for your stagnant civilization, dedicated to the hedonism of an ancient race,” Exarchon’s middle body hissed, “But this conflict will bring progress to the galaxy! COMBATRONS! ATTACK!”

As if on cue, twelve Tankor Vehicons barged into the room, opening fire on the chamber and every Musume in the vicinity.

“Everyone, watch out!!” Ignitor shouted, ducking for cover.

Some Musume dodged as best they could, others got into cover.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The three bodies of Exarchon laughed, “DESTROY THEM ALL!”

Hothouse and Goldbug jumped behind a nearby table, Ignitor jumped behind another one nearby.

“Okay, can I burn these assholes?!” Hothouse asked.

“Feel free if you don’t get shot down in the process!” Goldbug shouted.

“ALRIGHT!” Hothouse jumped out and transformed into a jet, “AND AWAAAAAAAY WE GO!”

Jets of flame erupted from the jet mode’s front, engulfing a few Tankors in the way. In response, five Afterburn jets entered the room and fired upon Hothouse, who tried to skillfully dodge.

“He’s not gonna get very far at this rate!” Ignitor noted, “Maybe I should back him up?”

“You go, I’ll cover you!” Goldbug shouted.

“Right!” Ignitor rose from behind her cover, only for a trio of Musume to run up past her. This brought her concern, “What the hell are you three doing?! You might get hit!”

“Jama ni naranaide kudasai!” The Musume closest to her, one that looked a lot like a Strarf, shouted.

“That means stay down, Nya!” The one furthest added.

A Tankor turned its turret towards the approaching Musume, its main cannon charging.

“Busou Shinki Fort Bragg!” The middle Musume responded.

“Busou Shinki Valona!” The one that shouted at Ignitor added.

“Busou Shinki Maochao!” The one that translated shouted in addition.

“ARMA UP!” All three shouted, causing strange energy barriers to manifest before them, blocking what shots were aimed at them.

“They developed force shields?” Ignitor asked nobody.

It was another shock to her when they ran through these barriers, the result manifesting strange armor akin to that she’s seen on Spacey and the Strarfs. Fort Bragg was a heavily armored type with cannons, Valona was sleeker and had more blades, and the MaoChao was significantly bulked in the arms, with one arm ending in massive claws and the other in a… drill?

“Target profile has changed! Altering to compen-SAAAAAAAAAATE!” A Tankor shouted as the Valona ripped right through it like it was tissue paper.

“Ā, motto tatakatte hoshikatta!!” Valona smirked.

“Shūchū shite kudasai!” Fort Bragg replied, her cannons sniping out Afterburns.

“If you’re gonna banter, do it while you’re in a safer location,” A Tankor that managed to get behind the Fort Brag deadpanned. The response came not from the tank Musume, but instead the drill arm of the MaoChao, which managed to pierce right through its armor.

“Nyahahaha! Anata wa watashitachi ni taishite mutekida to omotta nodesu ka?” MaoChao laughed in defiance, “Watashi wo dare da to omotte yagaru?!”

Ignitor turned to Goldbug, a confused look on her face.

“Are these guys really good, or what?” She smirked.

“Yeah, sure, but they’re still gonna need help!” Goldbug pointed as a larger and burlier Vehicon entered, one both of them recognized as a Leaper type.

“Yeah, maybe that’ll be best!” Ignitor shouted, jumping out from her cover and charging for the Leaper.

“All your efforts will be for naught, Vanguard!” Exarchon’s left body shouted, “Our ultimate weapon will fry you and these fools to dust!”

“Jibun no koto o shinpai shite kudasai!” Benio retorted, her sword drawn as she charged at the Exarchon bodies.

Meanwhile, two Arnvals and three Strarfs were taking on the larger Vehicon, with some success and a lot more failure. Plasma blades from the Arnvals dissipated upon contact with the machine’s armor, and the Strarfs’ blades barely made a dent.

“Kuso!! Kono ōkina janku no katamari wa, subete no hitto o kyūshū shite iru dakedesu!” A Strarf growled.

“Tatakai tsudzukeru!” Lirisu shouted, blades going for the joints, “Koko de konbatoron o kachitori, gyarakushī ga kakato no shita ni hokori ni naru made tsudzukemasu!”

“Shikashi, watashitachiha sukuratchi sura shite imase-NNNNNNN” An Arnval tried to chirp before she was knocked out of the sky.

As she plummeted, Ignitor leaped up, grabbing her from midair and landing on her feet.

“Etto…” The Arnval stuttered…

“You’re welcome,” Ignitor grinned. Her optics turned towards the large Vehicon, “You can pay me back by helping me deal with this thing.”

“...Youkai!” The Arnval nodded.

“I’m assuming that’s a yes!” Ignitor put her down and turned, arm-mounted flame throwers igniting. The Arnval responded by activating a pair of glowing energy sticks (swords?) and assuming a battle stance.

Turning towards them, the Leaper narrowed its single, hateful optic, and charged, arms raised for a killing blow…

“You don’t stand a chance, Vanguarder!” The middle Exarchon shouted as he blocked a blow from Benio.

“Gotta time this right…” Ignitor said to herself.

The Leaper was now almost upon them…

“NOW!” Ignitor roared, a blast of flame in the shape of a sword erupting from her throwers. Slashing at the same time as the Arnval, the sheer force of the attack divided the Leaper in twain. Both halves of its lumbering body collapsed to the ground, biolights dimming to black.

“WHAT?!” All three Exarchon bodies shouted, “How?!”

“It is a foreign concept to dominators like you, Exarchon…” Xiphos replied, her sword drawn and charging at Exarchon’s right body, “But the answer is cooperation!”

Exarchon’s bodies blocked sword swipes as best they can, armor chipping away.

“Not only between species, but between individuals, both united by a common goal!” Benio added, slashing at Exarchon’s left body, “Whether it be in the hopes of survival…”

“OR TO ACCOMPLISH A GOOD GREATER THEN EITHER PARTY!” Both Musume shouted in unison, “Starting! With! You!”

“What are you doing?!” Exarchon shouted, “Don’t you know that Overlord would likely come after you for betraying us?!”

“Let him come!” Xiphos shouted.

“We don’t fear him, as long as we stand together! Allow us to show you!” Benio added.

The two of them lifted their swords high.

“Ha! You lifting your swords like that just means… we can run!” Exarchon’s middle body shouted, as all three turned and bolted for the door at the end of the hallway.

“Watashitachi ni takusa reta ha no sabaki o tōshite…” Benio started speaking as her blade glowed with a strange energy.

“...watashitachiha,-shin no sorede sae, watashitachi no mae ni tatsu don'na aku mo uchitaoshimasu!” Xiphos added, her sword glowing with a similar power…

“Goddosureiyāburēdo!” Both shouted, swords aloft, “Hisatsuwaza!”

The Exarchons reached the doors, with one body pausing to murmur about how familiar those words sounded.

“SWORD OF THE WORLD!” Both shouted as they swung the blades down, unleashing massive arcs of energy that rushed through any Vehicon in their way… and ended right through two of Exarchon’s bodies.

The resultant explosions consumed their halves, and a few nearby Vehicons. The remaining Vehicons shut down seemingly at random, collapsing into a heap.

“Hothouse, looks like its over.”

“Greaaaaat, newbie showed me up,” Hothouse grumbled.

---

A few hours later and the fight was cleaned up. The limited scope of the fight was uncommon from what Ignitor heard, but hopefully it wasn’t a really rare occurrence. The cleanup was coming along real quick. And so, it came time to talk things out.

“So, Lady Xiphos,” Ignitor started, silently hoping that she was using the right words, “You’ve seen what these Combatron guys can do when they want their way. So, we might need to work together to avert further tragedy.”

“A fine proposal, but I’m afraid we will have to decline,” Xiphos answered promptly.

“Huh?”

“You see, our world, Musuumei, is in fact shielded from outside observation until you look in the star system. Couple that with the relative remoteness of our world, and the star system in and of itself, and it becomes clear that even if Overlord chose to try and get revenge, he’d be looking for this world for quite some time,” Benio explained, “As for the war in and of itself, I cannot say we have any place in it.”

“That said, I look forward to our cooperation when the war ends,” Xiphos finished.

“...Well, it’s better then just rejecting outright…” Ignitor noted.

Goldbug presented a beacon to the two councilmembers, “Though if you feel like you need assistance, feel free to activate this beacon. It’ll alert the Primal Vanguard to your plight, and we will attempt to assist.”

“Your concern is appreciated, and your gift accepted,” Xiphos nodded, taking the beacon.

---

As all three Cybertronians approached their ship, a familiar Arnval-class landed in front of them.

“Oh, Spacey!” Ignitor acknowledged her.

“Before you leave, I feel the need to give you a bit of advice my mentor once said, since, well, you helped me deal with that giant beast of a machine,” Spacey replied.

“Alright, shoot,” Ignitor nodded.

“Heroes are always the casualty of war. Anyone who’s survived it long enough is either a coward or a hypocrite,” The Musume spoke in a semi-rehearsed tone, “The challenge is to figure out which.”

Ignitor’s optic ridge rose.

“That, uh, that is an interesting piece of advice,” Ignitor noted.

“Yeah, Arnvals tend to be randomly cryptic and we don’t know why,” One of the Strarf escorts noted.

“Ooooookay…” Hothouse groaned, “Can we go now?”

“Well, here’s hoping you make good allies at the end of all this,” Ignitor smiled.

---

As the Vanguard ship departed, Xiphos and Benio watched from their council chamber windows.

“<Sister… I know it’s what’s best for our people,>” Xiphos addressed her fellow councilmember, “<...but I worry. What if her concerns prove true?>”

“<This is a strange and dangerous time,>” Benio acknowledged, “<Even our oracles cannot address every probability. Though I am not the one you should ask that question…>”

“SONOTORI DES.”

The two turned to their new guest, a floating hologram emitting from an unknown location.

“<THE COMBATRONIAN ARMADA’S RELENTLESS ADVANCE HAS CLAIMED CIVILIZATIONS THE EQUAL OF YOUR GREAT CREATORS WITH THE CALLOUSNESS OF YOU SWATTING A BUG,>” The figure replied, “<EVEN WHILE YOU STAND APART FROM THE VANGUARD, THAT MEANS YOU’RE LIKELY AN EXPENDABLE TARGET.>”

“And yet you chose to tell us not to accept either side of the conflict,” Benio noted.

“<THERE MAY BE HONOR ON FIGHTING FOR GOOD THINGS, LIKE CHANGE AND PRESERVATION. BUT THERE IS NO HONOR IN WAR.>”

“So, how do you intend to keep us out of this war?” Xiphos asked.

“<TO THE COMBATRONIANS, MY KIND HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SOURCE OF GREAT TERROR. THEY AVOID COLONIES THAT KEEP US ONWORLD, THOUGH THEY’D BE GREAT TARGETS OTHERWISE.>” The figure explained, “<I INTEND TO EXPLOIT THAT. STAYING ON MUSUUMEI AS A DETERRENT, UNTIL THE WAR ENDS.>

“<Well, I guess we’ll be seeing some strange stuff in the days to come,>” Benio sighed.

“<In that case, we welcome you to our world…>” Xiphos smiled, “<Metroplex-san.>”