Another Perspective: Bad Times

[Alak]

Author's Note: The following fan fiction is based off of the War for Cybertron video game. It takes place during the first chapter of the Autobot campaign, after the Decepticons make their move against Iacon and the planet's core. If you intend to play the game, please avoid this story since it brings up many spoilers from the Decepticon chapters. This story was intended to portray characters that were not used in the campaigns and how their actions influenced what happened in-game. Therefore, in future stories, there will be allusions to the actions of Optimus Prime and his team and such allusions may be classified as spoilers. Thank you for reading, and remember to check out High Moon's Transformers: War for Cybertron. Credit for the series goes to Hasbro.

Dust kicked up from the surrounding rubble as three vehicles bulleted through the desolate streets of Iacon. The whine of their intercoolers was barely audible over the roars of their engines. Ash and sparks filled the air and were violently cast aside from the gusts created by the passing vehicles. The cars were small, sleek, and colored to differentiate themselves from one another. The leading vehicle was a metallic grey-white with orange highlights, while the immediate left car was white with blue-lit designs and the third was simply yellow. All three of them, however, were proudly branded with a glowing red insignia on their hoods. An insignia that told the world around them that they were with the Autobots: a race of living technology that was capable of transforming between vehicles and bipedal forms. They were part of a race that was in danger of becoming extinct due to the long series of wars against the Decepticons. Some were won and others were lost. In this particular one, they were losing.

The leading car served left and the others followed when a piece of a skyscraper crashed in a heap of fiery debris. The buildings and the bridges that connected them were eroding away due to the intensity of battle. Decepticon artillery was taking apart the capital city known Iacon piece by piece. Autobot soldiers were constantly looking above them, weary of any collapsing structure. The fact that most Decepticons were aerial combatants made caution all the more prudent. The sound of cannon fire and yelling grew louder as the three vehicles made their approach to the outskirts of the city. There were fewer buildings in sight and more hills made of scrap metal and deactivated bodies. It was not very long before the cars found themselves in the midst of the Autobot camp. Soldiers took little heed to the presence of the newcomers, only acknowledging them when they stepped out of the way. War was very tiring, and the Decepticon attack on Iacon was just as unrelenting as it was surprising. No one expected their leader, Megatron, would be so bold as to strike the most heavily defended city on the planet Cybertron. At least, no one would have predicted him to have moved forward this quickly. The cars decelerated as they approached a crew of officers, and the lead vehicle proceeded to transform. The white sports car shifted its parts, forming legs and arms as well as an organic-like face whose eyes were covered by a blue visor.

“Hey there, general,” said Jazz, “How’re we holding up?”

Eyeing the nearby infantry bots, Ultra Magnus replied, “Let’s talk alone.”

The large transformer guided Jazz and his fellow vehicles away from the bustling scene into a quiet room. Judging by its size and the stern individuals inside of it, the young Autobot assumed that it was a war room of sorts. There was a hologram projector in the center surrounded by technicians working on consoles while speaking to what sounded like Aerialbots. The image being shown was the edge of Iacon with friendly soldiers in red and enemies in purple. Jazz was disturbed by the large amounts of purple dropships entering and leaving the battlefield by the astrosecond.

“Looks bad, doesn’t it?” whispered Ultra Magnus.

Jazz nodded, “I’d say ‘bad’ is an understatement.”

“Who are your friends?”

The other white vehicle and its yellow counterpart proceeded to transform. The other white Autobot appeared quite curious of his surroundings, and Ultra Magnus noticed that he had no mouth. The other one looked oddly familiar and had a pursed lip with a tone of arrogance.

Young, indeed, thought the general.

The white one spoke, with the protruding audio devices on his temples flashing blue on pace with his dialogue.

“My name is Wheeljack,” he said, “Former research scientist and engineer at the Iacon Academy.”

The other simply said, “I’m Sunstreaker.”

“I knew him when we worked in the security department together,” added Jazz, “Wheeljack was part of the team that developed our weapons and machinery.”

Ultra Magnus nodded, “I am Ultra Magnus. I was part of Cybertron’s elite guard and currently serve as a general for our troops in Iacon. I am glad to have your services in this regretful war. As you’ve noticed from the holo-map, the Battle of Iacon isn’t exactly going well. We’re being overrun and losing ground every day that passes. What have you young bots heard from the news so far?”

“Nothing this bad,” replied Jazz, “They just told civilians to go into government bunkers until the raid is over.”

The general sighed and looked at Wheeljack and Sunstreaker, “Well in case you two haven’t figured it out yet, this isn’t just some Decepticon raiding party for our energon supplies. They practically hit us with everything they have and we’ve lost a lot of good, honorable Autobots throughout these past few solar cycles. What I am going to tell you is worse, though. It took us a while but we eventually realized that Megatron was not part of the initial attack. The city was caught off guard and our army was too busy trying to save as many civilians as possible so reconnaissance was held off until later. The north quadrant eventually reported sightings of Megatron and his generals Soundwave and Brawl. The Decepticon leader somehow got his hands on a top secret energy source called dark energon. He’s been utilizing it to break through our lines and structural defenses.”

“Hold up,” interrupted Jazz, “I heard rumors about that thing. Wasn’t it supposed to be in space guarded by Starscream or something like that?”

“I don’t know who your sources are,” said Ultra Magnus, “But they’re right. That’s where the bad news continues: Starscream switched sides. He and the Seekers who followed him took us by surprise and infiltrated our energon reserves. That station is now being fueled by our planet to produce more of that stuff.”

“Why don’t we just send Zeta Prime to do the job?” said Sunstreaker, breaking his silence, “Everyone’s always talking about how big and bad the guy is. He should have gotten off his throne and stopped Megatron himself.”

“He did,” replied Ultra Magnus, “Now he’s dead.”

The three younger Autobots, including the cocky Sunstreaker, felt an overwhelming sense of shock. Zeta Prime was one of the most powerful Autobots on the planet and was the leader of Cybertron. Furthermore, he had legions of soldiers and advanced weaponry at his disposal. It was hard to think that the Decepticon warlord had deactivated him so quickly into the war.

“Who’s leading our armies?” asked Jazz.

The general shook his head, “For now, only the generals. We have no direction other than to simply fight back. Even that’s going badly since Megatron also defeated our last Guardian, Omega Supreme. Bringing him down gave Megatron access to the core, and he corrupted it with dark energon. The entire planet is dying, Jazz. The effects are still in the early stages, but we’re seeing structural damages and minor quakes that are not even caused by artillery shells or aerial bombardment. I fear that our future is very limited.”

Jazz bowed his head in silence. They had no leader to give them direction or inspiration. They had no more Guardians to turn the tide of war, and this Omega Supreme is presumably deactivated. The planet itself was being corrupted and decayed by dark energon: a power so ferocious that was under Megatron’s control. It was no wonder that Ultra Magnus wanted to discuss this matter in private, because most of the Autobot army had little to no idea what had happened recently. Learning of such things would obliterate morale and the will to continue this fight.

“Then,” asked Jazz, “Why did you send me for reinforcements?”

Ultra Magnus shook his head, “They’re not exactly reinforcements for the army.”

The large general walked towards the hologram leaned his arms on the console. The numbers were now in favor of the Decepticons and the dropships continued to pour in.

“Autobots,” he said, “This is no longer a war that can be won through sheer strength. The Decepticons control the undergrounds and they also control the skies. We don’t have enough power to push back. Jazz, I asked you to find me two things in the soldiers to bring back for me: to be able to shoot straight, and to have a similar athletic build such as yourself.”

“You wanted scouts, sir?”

“Not quite, Jazz. I want you to build a team. One that can slip in and out of enemy lines in an astrosecond. One that can create enough disruption so that we can hit them when they are in disarray. One that will tell us what those Decepticons are planning so that we can fortify our defenses or pull out to reduce casualties. One that will sabotage or destroy any new weapon that their scientists develop so that their military power won’t completely consume ours.”

Jazz understood what he was being asked to do, “You want a black ops team.”

“Exactly,” said Ultra Magnus with a nod, “This is a team I want you to lead. You are one of the fastest Transformers I know of and you have the size and combat experience for the job. Everyone around us is questioning our chances, but I know for a fact that you have been and always will be loyal to the Autobot cause. Despite your occasional eccentricity, you can also keep military secrets and that a most admirable trait during war time. Jazz, I don’t trust anyone more than you to take on this task. Do you accept my offer?”

The smaller Autobot required no time to think, “Count me in.”

“What about your companions?”

Sunstreaker and Wheeljack looked at each other and stood in silence for a moment.

“I was sort of under the impression that I was going to be in a safer department,” said Wheeljack with an uncomfortable chuckle, “Sort of like… research and development?”

“Wimp,” muttered Sunstreaker.

“Hey, now,” said Jazz, “You can still do the same things you did in your workshop. I’m pretty sure we could make pretty good use of that unfinished cloaking project you got going on.”

Wheeljack gave in, “Well, why didn’t you say so? Is the army willing to pay for supplies?”

“Of course, and all of your other projects will be funded by the council,” replied Ultra Magnus.

A hushed reply came from Wheeljack’s audio output devices that sounded somewhat like “dream come true” or something along the lines of that.

“Where do we start?” asked Jazz.

The hologram zoomed out and the entire city of Iacon shifted so that the Autobots could see a different side of it.

“This is a map of Iacon’s underground train system. I have no doubt that the Decepticons who are stationed below the surface are checking every train for Autobot refugees, but you three should be small enough to drive underneath the repulsor lifts. I need you to follow this route to the indicated wav point where you should be directly below what our scouts tells us to be the Decepticon provisions storage. Take them by surprise and destroy their supplies. That should keep their army from advancing long enough for us to pull our wounded from the battlefield and reinforce our lines. Since you’ll be outside the city limits, returning to Iacon on the surface will be suicide. You will have to take the same underground train route to return to base. Once you exit the subway, collapse the ceiling so that they cannot follow you back from where you came. This entrance that I am showing you is the only access point left for us. I don’t want them to turn it into a way to get inside this part section of the city.”

“Understood,” said Jazz.

Signaling to the others, they saluted the general and turned towards the exit. Jazz and Sunstreaker had considerable experience with fighting Decepticons at the beginning of the war, but this was a whole different mission. Not having any combat experience, Wheeljack was having a harder time coping with the idea of diving head first into enemy territory.

“Before you leave,” said Ultra Magnus, “I have a question for Sunstreaker.”

The yellow robot turned with a neutral look on his face.

“Did you ever serve in the military?” asked the general, “You look very familiar.”

“No,” came the reply, “You’re thinking of my brother Sideswipe.”

“I thought I saw a resemblance,” said Ultra Magnus.

“We’re twins.”

“Interesting,” smiled the large Autobot, “Well, he is a fine warrior and an enthusiastic one at that.”

Sunstreaker continued to walk towards the exit with the other two transformers.

“If you think he’s good,” he said, “Wait until you see me out there.”