Go Girls!

By: Sapphire

What happens when a group of gorgeous, sexy and intelligent females crash down onto earth?

Girl Power!  But not the kind you might expect...

It may seem like a comedy, but it has a surprising ending.

The green ship wafted endlessly through space.

It was large, and beautiful.

Like the Axalon, it was a scout ship, sent on a mission to look for other life forms.

The only difference, besides the colour of the ship was that it was occupied solely of

Females.  Commander and all.

The hallways inside the ship were at least, reasonably lit.

Inside were seven beautiful, all very individual, female pilots.

In space.

Lost.

In fact, they had been lost for ages, about the human equivalent of six years.

And they were getting sick of each other.

“Don’t tell me, the fuel has finally run out?  And, we are in the middle of nowhere,

almost totally out of supplies, with no contact to any planet what so ever.  That is just great news!” hissed Sheena irritably.

“Yup, that pretty much sums it up.  But you knew this was gonna happen one day,” the blue robot replied.

“I know Astrone, but I hoped we would be near a suitable planet.  Maybe then we’d survive.”

“Well, I have got some very good news then, I think,”  she said.

Sheena was just about to reply when in came Nightstar.

“The lights just went out in my quarters, don’t tell me we haven’t even enough energy to fix that!” she moaned, clearly frustrated.

Things had begun to deteriorate as power was drained from the ship.

“My quarters too have no lights,” said a greenish coloured robot, called Flystrong.

Astrone bit her lip unhappily.

She was the main pilot, the scientist and the doctor. They all depended on her.

She was also aware that her crew were terribly irritated and concerned.

She looked up at Nightstar.

Nightstar was forever grumpy, hated to talk and when she did, it was always something nasty that came out.  She wasn’t a delicate female either.  Despite her most stunning looks, she was a hardy robot and needed to roam and do things to keep her calm.

Six years of doing nothing, had made her very bitter.

“Look, I have some good news and some bad news,” said the leader of the group.

Just then, in walked Nithra and Blaze.

“Nithra, Blaze, I think you had better listen to this,” Astrone said calmly.

The two listened intently.

“The bad news is that we are almost totally out of supplies, the energy is so low we can’t even support some lights and there is no possible way, as you have known for six years, to contact Cybertron.”

“What's new?” asked Blaze.

“Well, the good news is that we are close to a life compatible planet, according to my computer, it is the planet Earth, though is looks like mostly water to me.  But anyway, we are going to land there and hopefully get some supplies, though we probably won’t be able to ever fly this baby again.  We are all gonna be stranded, but not dead,” she sighed

“You hope!” muttered Nightstar.

“Where is Flick?” asked Nithra.

“The lazy bum is sleeping again!” snickered Sheena.

Then Blaze asked an important question.

“How long till we land?”

“In ten megacycles.” Astrone answered grinning feverishly.

“Come on Maximals!  Cheer up!” she added.

“I am not a maximal,” sneered Nightstar.

Nightstar had stowed away on their ship six years ago to escape a terrible punishment

by the Predacons for helping a dying Maximal to safety during a battle.  She was desperate.

Now, she was forced to befriend the Maximals and had to a certain extent.  She was by their standards, a loyal and valuable friend, but she was still a Predacon.

“Well, you’re Maximal enough for me,” Astrone said cheerfully.

“Hey girls, what’s going on?” asked a sleepy Flick as she stumbled into the command room, rubbing her optics.

Flick was the youngest of them all and was fun loving and bubbly most of the time.

But being bubbly had its after effects and she did get very tired sometimes.

Astrone sighed and explained the situation all over again.

“Dear oh dear,” mumbled Rhinox as he noticed Predacon energy signatures coming towards Maximal territory.  Half the team were out on patrol, seeing as recently Megatron hadn’t attacked.  The ones that were out on patrol were Rattrap, Cheetor, Streak and Dinobot.

He groaned wearily and contacted Rattrap.

“Rattrap, this is Rhinox.  I’ve picked up some Predacon energy signatures coming your way.  Five to be exact.  Just warning you to get ready.  I’ll contact Airazor to come join you.”

“Got dat!  Rattrap out.”

Rhinox sat back in his chair, worried.

Optimus walked in.

“What’s wrong Rhinox?” asked the Maximal leader.

It was an all to familiar question.

“I’ve picked up Predacon energy signatures coming towards Rattrap and the rest.

There are five of them.” 

Optimus sighed.

More fights, more injuries, more panic.

He was so tired of it.

Every day there was always something.  They never seemed to get a break.

His poor crew were totally worn, well not totally.

Mostly bored and frustrated.

“I’ll fly over and go and help,” he announced.

“Well, I have sent Airazor, and if you go there will only be Tigatron and Storm left to protect the base if anything happens, it might be a trap."

“Hmmm, well they are using half their force so I don’t think they’ll attack the base, but seeing as Airazor’s been sent to help, I think they can handle it,” said Primal thoughtfully.

He really was in no mood to fight.

Rattrap explained the situation to the rest.

He was worried, they were already outnumbered.

Dinobot snorted.

“Finally, something to do!” he hissed.

Streak looked up nervously.

The caracal bot had only been with the Maximals for three weeks, and he had seen the damage the Predacons could do.

He was covered on his arms and legs with red/brown fur and his caracal head was his torso.

For weapons, he had a laser gun and a sharp little dagger in his sub space pocket.  He had wine red eyes and a cat like face.  He was a frightened bot, but a formidable fighter nonetheless.

The four of them transformed.

Cheetor twiddled his finger around the trigger of his laser gun, watching the trees overhead.

There was suddenly, the definite sound of buzzing.

“Sounds as if we are going to have an encounter with Waspinator,” muttered Streak.

They waited in silence.

Sure enough, Waspinator and Inferno flew overhead and out of the forest came

Scorponok, Blackarachnia and worst of all, Megatron.

“My my my, what a surprise, a traitor, two cats and a rat,” the Predacon leader cooed, grinning wickedly.

Streak’s expression went pale with fear.

He had encountered Megatron before, and had narrowly escaped death.  Thanks to Dinobot he had survived a tremendous blow to the head for Dinobot had blocked the next, fatal bullet.  He was still very much in dept to the warrior.

He froze, his gun aimed at Waspinator, who was stupidly hovering above.

Then the Predacons opened fire.

Rattrap shot wildly at Inferno, talking into his comlink.

“Rattrap ta base!  Do ya copy?”

“Rhinox here, what is it Rattrap?”

“Oh nudin’, we just have got a surprise attack by da big Lizard!  Him and his most powerful forces!  A little help would be appreciated!”

“I’ve sent Airazor, I’ll tell Optimus, don’t worry.”

“Fine!  Rattrap out!”

The truth was that Optimus had quietly left earlier, as he felt that it wasn’t right to sit back and watch his warriors fight, he had flown off to go and help.

Rhinox tried to contact him, but received only static.

“Odd," he mumbled.

-------------------------

Optimus flew as fast as he could, but was very suddenly halted.

There in front of him was Terrorsaur, who took him by surprise and gunned him down.

Optimus landed with a thud.

He groaned and got up, grabbing his gun and firing at the pterodactyl.

He then felt sharp multiple pains down his back.

He dived on the floor and rolled to see Tarantulus accompanied by the Predacon’s newest member, Slash. He wasn’t called that for nothing.

Slash had the beast form of a leopard and was very powerful.

He had horrible blade bullets that stuck into the the unfortunate robot and were explosive.

They would blow in five seconds.

When the bullets did blow, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

Optimus shot at Terrorsaur and got a perfect hit him as the flyer wan’t fast enough to dodge the attack.

At least that was no longer a problem, but the two on the ground were.

Rattrap managed a weary smile as Airazor flew in to help.

They were having big trouble with Megatron.

Dinobot was trying to handle him all by himself.

Cheetor had already gunned down Waspinator and was trying desperately to keep Inferno away from protecting Megatron.

Rattrap was busy with Blackarachnia and Streak was having a tough time with Scorponok.

The battle continued and before long, Megatron was getting the better of their key fighter.

Dinobot winced as he misjudged a bullet that hit his chest and was thrown back six metres.

He amazingly rose to his feet and fired rapidly at the Predacon leader.

Rattrap finally gunned down Blackarachnia and tended to Scorponok who was finishing off the badly damaged Streak.

“Dis ain't a pretty picture,” groaned Rattrap.

And he was certainly right as Airazor fell unconscious to the ground.

The green ship landed with a thud.

The lights went off and the crew inside stood still, holding their breath.

“All right girls, get your weapons ready and lets go outside,” Astron commanded.

There was a slight noise as the quiet crew headed towards the exit.

Astrone took a deep breath.

Then she pressed the button which would open the exit.

The door of the Siphoid, their ship, opened with a groggy moan.

Light poured in and the crew were blinded temporarily.

What they saw next left them in awe.

Outside, the strangest land was spayed out before them.

Fields of long, dry grass with strange animal roaming in them was backed by a far off forest

And very distant mountains.

It was strangely beautiful.

“Wow, this is so weird!” said Blaze aloud.

Astrone stood in awe, watching the strange animals.

“Girls, according to the computer files on this planet, we are going to need beast forms to survive.  Go out and choose a form.”

-------------------------------------

A few megacycles later, the girls had chosen their beast forms.

To them, the forms were weird and wonderful.

Astrone had researched a great deal about the planet and realised that there was Energon, which was a good thing, but also meant they would need these beast forms to survive.

Astrone herself had chosen the form of an Impala.

Flick had chosen a butterfly, Blaze had chosen a Serval, Nithra had chosen a Lioness,

Sheena had chosen a  fox from further north, Flystrong had chosen a swallow and Nightstar had chosen a wolf from further north.

Now they had all grouped together and were trying out their beast forms.

“Check this out Astrone!  Isn’t it cool?” said Flick as she transformed into a beautiful butterfly.

Their robot modes had obviously altered, but they were still beautiful, Flick looked even more pretty with the butterfly for, all the vibrant colours suited her.

“Yeah, cool.  Now we have to go and explore this planet a little, see what weird creatures are here and locate some energon.  OK?  Let's go and stick together, who knows what we’ll find."

The seven of them walked and flew off in a westerly direction, eagerly awaiting to discover Energon, as they were all pretty desperate for it.

“Oh man, dis just aint gettin’ any betta!” cried Rattrap as Scorponok blasted a nasty shot at him, narrowly missing his arm. “Come on!  C’mon! Optimus where are ya?”

Dinobot was totally exhausted and was barley able to stay on his feet.

Megatron was injured, yes, but he was bigger and more powerful than Dinobot, and though the warrior was possibly the only one who could take him down, he couldn’t do it with extra shots being fired at his back by a maniac fire ant.

Cheetor was trying his best, but was no match for Inferno.

The picture was pretty dull for the Maximals.

Nightstar stopped.

“Did you here that?” she hissed quietly under her breath.

The rest stopped and listened.

Nightstar’s wolf sense of hearing had picked up strange sounds.

Astrone listened intently.

She too heard a distant wailing and banging sort of sound.

“Yes, it’s coming from straight ahead,” said Astrone, curiously.

“It almost sounds like, gunfire....”  Nithra announced.

“Then we must approach with caution, who knows what it could be,” said Astrone.

The group walked ahead.

The sound got louder and louder as they approached a hill.

Then, cautiously they crawled in the long grass for cover and peered over the top of the hill.

To their amazement, they saw a battle taking place between robots.

Maximals and Predacons.

“Males!” shrieked Nithra in delight.

“Oh it’s been so long since I’ve seen males!” she added.

“Shut up Nithra, keep quiet.  We must analyze the situation before we get involved in this battle.  We must identify who is maximal and who his Predacon  She said, which was a wise decision.

Astrone and the rest of the group looked for the symbols that were printed on the robots telling them whether they were Predacon or Maximal.

Astrone looked over the Maximals, who were looking rather weak from battle.

She couldn’t help but notice that some were rather handsome.

She shrugged off  the thought and looked at the situation below.

She looked at the smallest one who was fighting a rather sturdy grey guy.  The small one looked as if he’d taken the form of a mouse, or rat.  Then she eyed two fallen Maximals.  There was a brown cat- like robot who was lying down, conscious but injured.  There was also a fallen female, a kind of hawk.  She looked at the largest Maximal, who was also pretty beaten up, yet was still standing.  He didn’t have the same friendly features of the Maximals, he looked more Predacon 

“Weird.” She mumbled.

She could see her fellow Maximals needed help, and glanced over her shoulder.

“All right girls?  You know who’s who?”

“Yeah,” they mumbled.

“Then maximise and go and help them!” she cried

The group of women maximised and ran down the hill.

Astrone yelled quickly so there would be no confusion: “Die Predacons, the Maximal girls are here!”

She savoured the moment of looking at all the shocked expressions.

“What da?” yelled Rattrap as a group of several females ran down the hill

Above shooting wildly at the Predacons.

“Females?” muttered Dinobot.

Megatron and his troops froze, which was a stupid thing to do.

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Oh dear...” he managed to mumble.

Then he looked at his half dead Predacons.

“Retreat!” He yelled, they were clearly outnumbered.

A look of triumph spread over the faces of the females, as the shocked Predacons ran away, totally confused.

Then they stopped and Astrone walked carefully over to the males.

She didn’t know who was leader, so she spoke to all of them.

“I am Astrone, I am a Maximal pilot from Cybertron,  I come in peace my fellow Maximals.”

The male group stared.

Rattraps mouth dropped.  He was clearly lost for words.

Then Dinobot spoke up.

“I am Dinobot, a Maximal warrior, how did you come to be here?” he asked

“Are you gonna take us home?  We’ve been stranded here for ages!” said Rattrap, glad he had something to say.

She sighed.

“We were lost, we are no saviors.  We landed here because we had no more fuel.  We have been drifting in space for six years, so we landed when we found this planet.  We had no idea we would find the missing crew of the famous disappearing Axalon.”

“Hear that?  We’re famous on Cybertron!” exclaimed Cheetor happily.

There was a slight feel of disappointment that ran through the Maximals.

But, now at least they had help.  They outnumbered Megatron considerably.

Streak managed to hear what was going on, he was also very surprised.

Dinobot snorted, he wasn’t sure what to make of the situation.

“Our base is not far from here, we are going there now,” he said.

Then he gave a tired look at Rattrap.

“I think we are done with our...patrol!”  He was clearly disgusted at the word.  He hated patrolling, as did everyone else, except for Tigatron and Airazor.

Astrone introduced her crew as did Dinobot his, though they weren’t his crew, and Rattrap introduced himself.

Cheetor radioed in Rhinox.

“Yes Cheetor?” came the voice from his com. link.

“Um Rhinox, set up the dinner table, we have company!”

Optimus heaved himself up.

He was absolutely exhausted.  He had managed to defeat all three of the Predacons and now was heading back to base.

He managed to fly up to the Axalon, badly damaged and seriously worried about his crew.

He arrived a few cycles later.

No one was there except Rhinox.

He exited the lift and walked up to a rather confused Rhinox.

“Rhinox?”

“Ah, Optimus...”

“Is Cheetor and the rest all right, I was attacked on my way to them, as you can see.  I never made it to their location,” said Primal.

“They are damaged, but made it out of the battle, with a little help,” he said smiling.

“Help?” asked Optimus.

Rhinox was just about to explain when in walked Cheetor, behind him a large group.

He merely said:  Look who found us!?”

Rattrap squeezed past and put Airazor into the CR chamber, seeing as Tigatron had disappeared somewhere.

Streak managed to haul himself into one.

Optimus stared.

“Cheetor?”

Cheetor explained to his leader what had happened.

Then Astrone walked up to him.

“My name is Astrone, I am leader of the Siphoid ship, which landed here due to lack of fuel.  I am pleased to meet you,” she said, a warm smile on her pretty face.

Optimus returned the smile.

“I am Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals of the Axalon.”

Then the crews were introduced formerly to each other.

“Heh heh!  This is gonna be interesting!” mused Rattrap.

He had noticed that the females must have all been future models; they were stunning.

Dinobot snorted.

_______________________________________________________

Continued in part 2

After the meeting Optimus held, so that the Maximals could become familiar with each other, the girls went into a room together, to discuss the happenings of the day.

“This is so weird!  Out of all the Universe, we would bump into planet Earth and meet up with the missing Axalon crew!  And they are almost all male!” exclaimed Blaze

Flick giggled when she saw the look on Nithra’s face.

“You know,” started Nithra “it has been over six years since we’ve seen any of our own kind, had any contact.  I mean, it is really nice to meet up with Maximals, but the pure luck of them being male!  I already have a crush on one of them!”

Astrone rolled her eyes.

“You always were boy crazy; who’s the unlucky guy you like?” she asked.

Nithra giggled.

“Promise you won’t tell?”

“Yeah, we promise.”

“Well, I have a huge crush on that Streak guy, I mean, ya gotta admit it, he is really cute!”

Flystrong burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” asked Nithra irritably.

“I mean it’s been six years, give me a break!” she added.

“No, it’s not that, it’s that you like him, him of all people!” she giggled.

“Well, I bet you like someone,” said Blaze.

Flystong stopped laughing and smiled.

“Yes, I like that pleasant looking guy, Tigatron.  He looked so calm and understanding.  I like people like that," she said, gazing up at the roof.

“You Blaze?  Who do you fancy, I mean ya have to like someone,” said Nithra

“Oh, I dunno,  I kind have a crush on that Storm guy, I have no idea why!”

Flystrong giggled some more.

“Flick?” asked Nithra.

“He he!  I won’t say!” she said blushing.

“Oh come on Flick!  Please!”

“Nah ah!” she squeaked.

“Pretty please?”

“Nope!”

Nithra sighed.

“How about our leader, the question is, does she like anyone?”

“Ooh!  That is an interesting question!” added Blaze.

“Girls!  Really, I have only been here a day, I don’t fancy anyone, I see them as friends and companions in battle, nothing else!” she said quickly.

“I bet you like Optimus, just by the way you smiled at him!” said Flystrong.

“It was a friendly smile!  I was greeting the guy, do you expect me to just frown and stare at him coldly?” exclaimed Astrone offensively.

The girls just giggled.

“Sheena?” asked Flick.

“I’ll tell it to ya straight, I like Rattrap!  He’s so cute, I mean he is cheeky and rude, I guess I  always fall for guys like that.  Can’t help it!”

Nithra laughed and chattered excitedly.

Then she smiled wickedly.

“I wonder who YOU like, Nighstar?”

Nightstar gave them all the look of death.

“I do not like any, not Predacons, nor Maximals.  They are just battle companions,” she said bluntly.

“Oh don’t be such a grump, you must like someone!” teased Nithra.

“I told you, I don’t like ANY of them!” she spat.

“Oh, I know just who you’d suit, that other grumpy guy, what’s his name?”

“Dinobot!” Giggled Flick

“Yes, that gruff Dinobot guy, you two should get married so you’ll have someone to fight with!” giggled Blaze

“Oh Shut up, you teenagers!” she snapped and turned away to go to her own quarters.

Astrone was sure she was blushing.

The next day, nothing happened.

There were no Predacon attacks, as the Predacons knew they would lose, being outnumbered.

The Maximals were in no hurry to start a fight with the Predacons, so for the first time ever, they could relax.

Of course, scouting went on as usual.  Airazor was scouting this time.

The day was very interesting for the Maximals too, they now had seven stunning female fighters on board.

Sheena woke up the next morning, slightly groggy.

Then she remembered where she was and immediately felt better.

She had a planet to explore.

She walked outside into the dimly lit corridors.

It was quite early, so she didn’t expect anyone to be awake.

She turned the corner and bumped into Rattrap.

“Oof! Sorry, didn’t see ya,” she said shyly.

“Good mornin’ to you too!  Uh, what is yer name again?” he asked.

“Sheena.  Don’t worry, I know who you are.”

“Heh!  Well,  I just have to go an' dink of a nick name ta call ya.  See ya around,” he said.

Then he walked off on his way.  She giggled.

Astrone was looking over the Axalon’s command centre.  Rhinox had seen their ship come down so he knew where it was.  He wasn’t sure what was in it at first, but obviously now he knew.  The Axalon was pretty similar to their ship, which was now half dead as it had no fuel.

They decided it would be best to stay in the Axalon for now.

They would decide what to do with the Siphoid later, for now Rhinox was fixing up the other ship's sentinel so that they would have no problems with the Preds.

Optimus watched her study the place, she was taking in every detail.

She was clearly a Maximal.  She acted like one.

Then she spoke.

“I think I need to explain to you what kind of characters my crew are, it is quite important.”

Optimus didn’t need to explain about his crew, they had already explained themselves through their actions.

“Fire away,” he said.

“Well, for a start, Flick is the youngest in our group.  She’s a nice kid, bubbly and full of giggles, but she can get irritating.  Just warning you.  Flystrong is sweet, very chatty most of the time and a pretty good pilot.  She is sort of like the vice captain.  Sheena is a close friend of mine; she’s very smart but she’s no scientist.  She’s usually quiet, but can be cynical at times.  All in all she’s a nice person though.  Nithra is a gossiper, loves to talk, is loud but man she can put up a verbal fight!  I don’t know about her physical strength but she is not someone you wanna make angry.  She’s all right.  Blaze, well Blaze is a very smart, very tricky kind of person.  I think she has physic powers or something.  She is incredible at card games.  You just can’t beat her.”

“Sounds like Rattrap has a challenge, anyway do continue,” he said.

She smiled.

“Oh, there is something important you should know about Nightstar.  She was a stow away on our ship and was a Predacon.  She has a good heart, and is a Maximal now.  She helped a Maximal on the battle field and was going to face a dreadful punishment so she ran away and stowed away on our ship.  She is still grouchy and aggressive occasionally but she’s definitely loyal.  You CAN trust her, but remember she was a Pred."

“Hmmm, I understand.  Dinobot was a Predacon once. He is a Maximal now of course, but is still aggressive, as are all Predacons. They can’t help it.”

“I thought Dinobot looked more like a Predacon.  He is a warrior, I can see.  Nightstar was an air fighter.  She never fought much on the ground, but she’s tough.  Believe me!”

The two got chatting about their crew.  Never once did Astrone mention that her crew had immense crushes on his crew.  She couldn’t; she mustn't.

Nightstar, unlike Sheena, knew exactly where she was when she woke up.  Her quarters were dark, she had been dreaming of Cybertron.  She remembered clearly the way the Predacons had treated her.  She shivered.  She got up and opened her door.

She peeked outside and heard distant chatter coming from the command centre.  She walked outside and closed the door.  Thinking about what to do for the day.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a strange door caught her eye.  The sign read: Blank.

‘Blank?’ she thought.

She was told to explore the base, so she went in.

Inside was a room full of weapons and chairs and stuff.  A store room.

Nothing interesting.

She closed the door.

The continued down the hallway when she heard a silent clattering on the metal floor.

She paused and looked around.

No one.

Then she turned to walk forward again and came face to face with a veiloceraptor.

She very nearly screamed in fright, but she merely gasped.

It was only Dinobot.

She was so on edge in this strange place.

“You startled me,” she said quietly.

“I didn’t intend to,” he snarled.

She glared at him coldly.

“You were a Predacon once, weren’t you?” he asked.

“Yes, so were you,” she snorted.

“Hmmm, well then stay away from Rattrap.  He will drive you insane,” he hissed and walked off.

She rolled her eyes and continued forward.

It was going be a long day.

Rattrap was running, running through the corridors as fast as he could.

He panted as he slipped all over the place on the newly waxed floor.

The Axalon had no doors, no windows, it was just a whole lot of corridors with waxed floors.

Rattrap was for some strange reason wearing socks.

He screamed and ran faster.  His circuits boiling.  “HELP!” he tried to yell.

But it only came out as a whisper.

Behind him were ten hungry raptors, drooling as they ran after their snack.

Rattrap slipped and fell, and couldn’t get up.

He saw behind them a big raptor holding a tooth pick.

The smaller raptors leapt into the air, about to tear him to pieces...

Rattrap woke up screaming.

“It was only a nightmare, it was only a nightmare!” he gasped.

He had fallen asleep in the control room chair again.

“Vermin?” hissed a raptor that was peering over at him, with a row of white, sharp teeth.

“Aaaaaagh!!!” screamed Rattrap.

Then he realised it was only Dinobot.

“Man, what a nightmare!" he gasped.  “Chopperface, promise be something, don’t ever have kids!” He was still catching his breath.

Dinobot gave him an amused snort and walked over to the computers.

Just then Optimus walked in.

“Rattrap, you gave us such a fright, what a scream!  Haven’t I told you not to sleep in the command room?” he sighed

“Yeah yeah,” muttered Rattrap, getting up groggily.

Then, in walked Nightstar.

“Oh no!” whispered Rattrap, terrible thoughts running through his head as he looked at the two former Preds, both cold and grumpy, a perfect pair.

Nightstar was followed by Flystrong.

“Hey, Optimus, could we go out and take a look at the surroundings, that is Nighstar and I?” Flystrong asked.

“Please do,” mumbled Rattrap.

Optimus gave him a cold stare.

“Yes, by all means, your leader just left with Sheena to go have a look,” he replied.

“Cool, can I come too?” asked Cheetor, who had been playing on the computer in the corner.

“Sure!” said Flystrong

The three of them walked off.

Optimus sighed.

Rhinox was busy working on the other ship, so others were doing his job at the Axalon.

“Anything unusual, Dinobot?” Primal asked

“Nothing,” he hissed.

“Good.”

Rattrap got up and went outside.

“Looks like we are going to have a relaxing day,” said Optimus

Nothing could be further from the truth.

“What is it?”  Asked Terrorsaur.

“Oh...my, my my my!” mumbled Tarantulus.

He gazed down at the large stasis pod, which was covered in leaves.

On the metal lid, was a symbol.  Tarantulus, with pleasant surprise had discovered what it was.

“Our ticket to success,” he replied.

Terrorsaur looked at him, confused.

They were under a lone tree in an open grassland, an easy place to be spotted by the Maximals.

“Our ticket to success?” he questioned.

“Shut up and stand guard, I mustn't let Megatron....”

He was cut short.

“Mustn’t let Megatron what?” asked the Predacon leader, with a threatening tone to his voice. 

“Mustn’t let Megatron lose such an important member to be,” said Tarantulas calmly.

“Hmmm, Oh...yess!” he said as he saw the symbol imprinted on the stasis pod.

“I don’t want to lose that, no”

Tarantulas got back to work, repairing and loading the asset.

The symbol was a green circle with red lines leading from just outside the circle into the center of it, where they joined up at a dark blue dot.

It was a Kyron.  A warrior with such strength, such speed and such stealth, it could easily take down the Maximals, easily destroy all seven of the new Maximals, easily win the Beast Wars.  And as they say, it had fallen into the wrong hands.

“We can’t work here, we are too exposed, we must carry it back to base, yess,” said Megatron.

Terrorsaur grumbled.

The three Predacons lifted the stasis pod and carried it back to the Soundwave.

Airazor flew over the forest, searching, scanning the ground.

Nothing unusual.

She then caught a delightful wind thermal and was pushed through the air at great speed.

She was in high spirits today, she was enjoying the feel of flying, high above the ground, away from everyone and everything.

She flew higher and higher, faster and faster.

She reached her peak speed and shot off into the distance, nearing the Axalon.

She then flew down like a bullet, closer to the ground.

And just before she hit the ground, she flew up and skimmed over the grass.

She closed her eyes.

That was not a good idea.

Storm heard something coming at an incredible speed and cutting through the tall grass.

He turned and saw an oversized falcon, eyes closed and heading straight for him.

He let out a cry of surprise and knew he had no time to move to the side, so he leapt up.

Airazor narrowly missed his foot.

“AIRAZOR!” he screamed as he landed flat on his face.

Airazor’s eyes flew open and she flew up and stopped.

“Oops..” she mumbled as she saw Storm crash to the ground.

She walked over to him.

He was still lying on his face.”

“Storm, are you ok?” she said

She heard a muffled voice.

“It’s amazing what you can see when you look into a mole hill.

I am actually staring down into the hole,” he said.

She grinned.

He was such a funny fellow.

“Sorry Storm, I was just flying a little too fast.”

“A little?” he muffled out.

“Well, sometimes when you are in high spirits, you get carried away.  It’s so nice to fly.”

“Mmmmmm,” he mumbled.

“Maybe I’ll take you up into the sky and you can feel what it’s like when you catch a wind thermal, it’s almost as if...”

She was interrupted when Storm shot up and fell on his backside, a mole dangling from his nose.

She looked at the little mammal, sinking it’s tiny teeth into his nose.

She burst out laughing.

Storm sighed and pulled the little thing off from his nose.

“Nobody likes me.  I came out here because I stood on Dinobot’s foot and he snapped and yelled at me.  Then you come charging into me trying to knock my lights out, then a mole bites my nose....”

Airazor listened and giggled.

“Of course we like you Storm, you are just a little accident prone.”

The Jaguarundi didn’t smile.

“What a handsome nose I had.”

Tarantulus and the other two crept into the cave.

The pod was far too heavy to carry back to base.

They gently placed it onto the cold stone ground.

Tarantulas got straight to work.

Megatron watched eagerly.

“Terrorsaur, guard the entrance, we don’t want any interruptions, no.”

“Yes Megatron!” sneered the rebellious pterodactyl.

He walked outside grumbling.

The shadows looked as if they hid things, evil unknown things, within them.

The cave was empty and cold.  Very cold.

“Ready!” cried the triumphant spider.

“The beast form?” questioned the concerned Predacon leader.

“Already has one,” said Tarantulas, rubbing his claws together in anticipation.

The two stepped back as the lid opened.

A large black robot stepped out.

You could see clearly it had the form of a Black Panther.

It was the most powerful, stealthy thing that any had ever set eyes on.

“I am at your command,” it said in a voice that was so twisted, so evil, it almost sounded like it had multiple voices.  The creature had bright yellow eyes, which dimmed to become black, then lit again.

Megatron grinned.

“I am your master.  I am Megatron.”

The sun beamed down with a gentle warm touch.

It was a winter sun, and was less strong.

Cheetor and the girls walked through the grassy fields.

There was a lovely smell, a mixture of pollen and dry grass.

The air was fresh and beautiful.

The threesome had been walking for sometime, and were tired.

Cheetor, in beast form like the other two, lay down and yawned.

The cheetah surveyed the landscape.  It was empty except for the many insects that buzzed and hissed around him.

Flystrong and Nightstar sat down and relaxed.

“This is a beautiful planet,” said Skystrong dreamily.

“Yeah, I know,” said Cheetor as a gentle breeze ruffled his fur.

Nightstar said nothing.  She was in deep thought.

Flystrong had been chatting the whole way to Cheetor.

He didn’t mind.  She was very interested in the strange planet and he was glad to tell her about it, and his fellow Maximals.

Now though, the three just rested.

Small little white clouds stood still in the blue, blue sky.

Cheetor let his head down and closed his eyes.

How good it was to relax....

Suddenly their was a blood curling scream.

It cut through the air and sent shivers down every spine.

The three Maximals rose to their feet.

Both Cheetor and Nightstar maximized in an instant and held their guns, ready to shoot.

Flystrong looked shocked.

She maximized soon after and grabbed her gun in panic.

She was amazed at how fast the other two had reacted, awake and sharp.

Silence enveloped the air once more.

The insects had hushed.

There was not a sound.

“What... who was that?” asked Flystrong.

“Sounded like Flick, didn’t it?” said Nightstar.

Cheetor frowned.

“I dunno, but I am gonna find out.”

He moved forward, toward the sound.

Nightstar and Flystrong followed.

They reached the end of the clearing and peered down the slope.

At the bottom lay a totally dismantled Flick.

“F-Flick!” gasped Flystrong and she swooped down toward her friend.

“No Flystong, it might be a trap...” called Nightstar but it was too late.

She’d already flown right into it.

“Flick!” she yelled.

She couldn't really kneel down next to her, as her limbs had been torn and spewed all over the grass.

She had a big hole in her torso and her head was almost off her body.  She was gone.

“Oh Flick, no....no...who did this to you?” she sobbed

Then a shadow came over her.

“Flystrong!” yelled Cheetor.

Then she felt pain and everything went dark.

The huge creature had merely shot her twice and had blown her to pieces.

It turned its head and in a second fired and missed Cheetor by inches.

“Whoa!  What is that?” he cried as he rolled.

“Lets go!” cried Nightstar.

The two Maximals knew already that it would be suicide to go back and retrieve their probably dead companions.

They both transformed into beast mode and sprinted off across the fields.

Cheetor sprinted ahead, he was much faster, obviously, than a wolf.

Nightstar broke into a sprint.

She heard the creature firing from behind, a shot just missing her ankle.

She gasped and ran, the wind blasting into her eyes and the world a blur.

“Cheetor!  Don’t lead it to the Axalon!” she screamed.

“I won’t!” he yelled back and with a twist changed course.

She split into another direction, confusing the pitch black robot temporarily.

Then, to her surprise it went after the faster of the two, Cheetor.

“Cheetor, it’s on your tail!” she screamed into her com. link.  He was too far to hear her normally.

“Got that!” he panted.

She sprinted into the forest and towards the Axalon; she needed to warn them.

She didn’t notice the purple T-Rex and the other two by his side in the distance behind her.

“This is going to be very nice, very nice indeed, yessss,” he mumbled to himself.

His orders to the creature about Maximals: Search and destroy.

Streak froze.

The speaker rattled on and what he heard terrified him.

“Nightstar to base!  Do you copy?” screamed a gasping voice.

“Streak here.  What’s wrong?”  he asked, worry spreading over his face.

“A...creature...big and strong...killed Flick and smashed Flystrong.  After...Cheetor...it’s totally...indestructible.....warn...everyone!” she gasped.

Streak went pale and his muscles tensed.

He looked up at the screen and saw her signature, but not Cheetor’s.

He did however see a blue signature of a Predacon come up, it stopped and turned and headed towards the Axalon.  Normal Predacon signatures were always red, blue meant only one thing.

“I understand.   Streak out.”

He radioed Optimus, who was in his quarters trying to relax.

“Optimus, We have Kyron on it’s way.  It’s already killed two, maybe three, and if Nightstar doesn’t hurry, maybe four.”

Astrone and Sheena were fortunately not far from base.

They received the message and hurried inside, on their way they bumped into Storm and Airazor.  They warned them too.

“Oh no.....oh no,” wailed Airazor.

“What a bad day,” muttered Storm rubbing his nose.

“We’d better get inside,” said Astrone.

The Maximals hurried inside.

Tigatron heard his com. link crackle to life.

“Tigatron here.” 

“Tigatron, this is Optimus, we have a Kyron on its way to base, how far are you from the Axalon?” he asked hurriedly.

“Far, on the other side of the Axalon.  Am I out of its range?” he asked, panic creeping into his voice.

“Stay where you are.  It will be here any minute and I don’t want you exposed anywhere near it.  Run and hide Tigatron.  Hide well, this thing is incredible,” he explained frantically.

“I understand.  Take care my friend, Tigatron out.”

Tigatron knew not to ask selfish questions like if Airazor was there or not, he knew Optimus needed to organize things.

Still though, he was frightened. More for them, than for him.

Dinobot squinted and frowned at his computer screen.

What was that strange signature? It was blue....”

“Oh....” he hissed.

He knew exactly what it was.

He heard someone thumping on his door.

He rose from his seat and went outside his quarters.

He was met by a panic stricken Nithra.

“Dinobot, get into the command room, there is a ...”

“I know.  A Kyron.  I’m coming,” he said.

She didn’t bother asking him how he knew, she instead ran off to help gather the Maximals into the command room.

“This is not a pleasant situation,” he hissed quietly.

Nightstar was gasping.

She could hear the creature coming closer.

Gaining twelve meters a second on her.  It had changed its course to go after her instead.

“By Primus, I’m not going to make it.  This thing is too slagging fast,” she thought.

But she had a trick.

She was running straight to the Axalon, she had only realised that it had begun chasing her a few moments ago.

She was close to safety, but not close enough.

She twisted and changed course, slipping into the dense forest.

The creature was a panther and would specialise in forests, and she knew this.

But, she was a dark brown wolf, and was well camouflaged.

She ran to a spot Cheetor had shown her earlier.

She saw the waterfall and ran through it.

Inside was a cave and in that cave a small tunnel, just big enough for her.

She darted inside.

It only went back a few meters, but it would have to do.

She stopped and panted.

The only sound she could hear was that of the waterfall.

She gasped and her breathing was loud and was a give away to her position.

She wheezed as quietly as she could.

Besides the waterfall, there was silence.

She froze, and waited.

Nothing.  It must have gone.

She was right.  It was headed for the Axalon.

To be continued in part three.

Rattrap hurried inside and closed the door behind him.

Sentinel covered the base once more.

He scurried through to the command center, where he was met by the whole team.

Someone was missing.

“Hey, where are some of da girls?” he asked.

Optimus shook his head.

Rattrap knew about the Kyron.

“Da kid too?” he asked

“We don’t know.  He just disappeared.  We need to plan this.”

“Rhinox?” Rattrap asked, a little panicked.

“He’s safe, he’s in the Siphoid and its sentinel’s fixed.”

Rattrap nodded and joined the group who were waiting for their leader to speak.

“This thing is powerful beyond your knowledge, it’s faster and stronger than all of us and...”

He was interrupted by a loud bang and a red light  coming on.

‘Warning: Damage to sentinel.  Warning," came the computer voice.

“Aw man!” cried Rattrap.

There was a sudden rumble and the base shook.

‘Warning: Sentinel dysfunctional. Warning’

“Oh slag!” cried Streak.

“We’re all gonna die!” Rattrap added.

“What do we do now?” asked Astrone, for she had no clue.

“Escape through the back entrance.  It’s the only way,” Optimus said sullenly.

“For once, I agree,” hissed Dinobot as a loud clanking noise could be heard in the hallway.

They hurried to the back entrance and to their horror, found the Predacons had caved it in.

They fled and hid.

The black robot stepped, almost unscratched, into the Axalon.

It was dead quiet.

Nothing moved, nothing stirred.

It growled a low and dark noise.

He put on his sensors and various symbols and readings came up on his optic screens.

He put on an infra red kind of light.

He then adjusted his settings to searching for heat, that would most definitely be found on robots with beast forms.

His sensors could scan through walls, nothing could hide.

Megatron had not simply put a bomb on the base and blown it up because he wanted things in the Axalon that could help him leave the planet. Important information.

Information he didn’t want destroyed, he only wanted the Maximals dead.

The creature picked up a heat source, no, two heat sources hiding behind a wall.

‘Cowards,’ he thought.

He silently aimed his gun at the wall and shot.

The wall exploded and all behind it.

He stepped through the smoke and rubble and scanned the room.

Nothing.

They were gone.

Just then he felt a small prickle of pain down his back.

He turned and got a faceful of shots.

He grinned and a shield covered his face and the shots bounced off the transparent mini sentinel.  He shook his head and located the source of the bullets.

The Maximal was moving, and moving fast.

But it would not escape.

Rattrap shot wildly at the monster that was about two feet taller than Dinobot.

The creature barely flinched.

It lifted it’s gun and fired a huge fiery bullet, narrowly missing him.

“At least I know it’s not perfect!” mumbled Rattrap.

He transformed into beast mode and darted down the hallway and into a crack.

“Ha!” he cried triumphantly.

He knew a little about these creatures and he knew they had heat sensors.

He turned on the heater in his quarters and hid behind a box, just below his small window.

The black robot followed the rat but lost him when he went into the room.

The room was quiet and small, and hot.

“Clever clever,” he murmured.

He then blew up the small bed in the corner.

Nothing.

He blew up the computer stand and book case and cupboards.

He blew up everything he saw.

When he was finished, he noticed  a small shattered window closing quietly.

The rat had escaped.

“No matter,” he growled.

He continued blowing up everything that had a heat source in it.

Afterwards, he strode into a large room.

The sign had said 'blank'.

But inside was a store room, with the heaters on.

A perfect hiding place.

He grinned and fired rapidly.

Suddenly, although his armour was powerful, he felt a hot, aching pain rip through him.

Something tickled inside and then burnt.

“ACID!” he screamed and turned to face his oppressor and killed her.

But as she fell dismantled he noticed she held an acid injector, a deadly thing to normal robots.  But he was not normal.

The acid melted through his system but a cooling system switched on inside him and froze the acid.

It had done a fair amount of damage, though.

“Good try,” He hissed as the pain eased.

Then he stepped on her chest, surely extinguishing the spark.

The female had such a pretty face.

“A pity,” he mumbled and moved on.

He moved closer to the command room.

He was stopped by rapid fire shot at his legs.

“A mere irritation!” he yelled and blew up the spot where the Maximal was firing from.

The Maximal darted just in time and rolled over and shot as he did so.

The petty shots stung a little, but not much.

The creature pointed  at the Maximal male, and out of his finger tips came a beam which struck the Maximal and held him.

----

Streak felt a hot stinging sensation run through his neck as the red beam burnt him.

He found he was frozen and mech fluid was pouring from his throat.

He couldn’t speak or breath.

Just agony, total agony.

He lost his vision.

“I’m dead,” he thought.

------

The black monster grinned as he burned through the Maximal.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?  Don’t worry, other will share your pain.  See you in the Inferno.”

He then blew up the Maximal.

Streak was gone.

He then turned at a potential threat and fired at a sneaky Maximal that was trying to ambush him.  He slammed her against the wall and grabbed her and shook her.

“Nine green bottles hanging on the wall...” he sung sweetly.

He had already illuminated several of the sixteen maximals.

He then heard a voice from behind him.

“Um, sorry to bother you sir, but your shoe laces are untied.”

He turned and dropped her, allowing her to fall silently unconscious to the floor.

There stood a Jagurundi kind of robot, looking ever so sincere.

“I don’t have shoe laces,” he spat, aiming his gun at the still Maximal.”

“Oh, then what are those?” he asked looking at the creatures feet.

The creature shook his head and was about to fire when he felt something cold slither up his leg.  He looked down and saw a whole lot on tiny baby snakes slithering into his armour.

“You broke Cheetor’s snake collection tank,” said the gentle voice.

Then Storm fired a volley of shots into the face of the horrified creature.

Smashing his optics just before the face sentinel came down.

The creature screamed and Storm ran for his life down the passage was to retrieve the acid gun.  He knew that having snakes in your system and being blind isn’t a nice feeling.

He had underestimated the Kyron.

A new set of optics replaced the smashed ones and he could see once more.

The creature shot at the legs of the Jagurundi.

It fell and slid across the passage, alive but barely.

The creature sniggered and looked down at where he had dropped the female.

She was gone.

He ran through the passage way and shot violently and destroyed a running female Maximal.

It wasn’t the same female.  It looked like a female falcon.

He caught sight of something moving and fired.

He stopped after a while, gasping in the smoke he’d caused.

Then he felt something being thrust into him.

The pain was the worst he’d felt so far.

He looked down at his chest and saw a small shiny tip sticking out of him.

He thrust forward without a sound and felt his body depart with the thing that was in his chest.

He turned and put his hand over his wound and saw who had attacked him.

“By the pit, Dinobot?” he asked as he stared into a familiar face.

Dinobot’s angry and cruel face turned into one of surprise.

“Trygon?  It is you?” he exclaimed, still holding the vicious looking sword.

The black robot gasped as he looked at his old battle friend he had saved during a war.

He felt shivers run through him.

“By Primus, it’s you.  It...slag.”

Dinobot remained silent as he looked into the hardly recognizable face of his savior.

“I saved you only to kill you later, oh what a terrible shame,” he said sullenly.

“All’s fair in love and war,” Dinobot hissed and fired at his old rescuer.

The black Kyron fell back a few steps as he felt the sword being shoved into his system and eye beams shot at his face, as well as bullets being fired at his legs.

“NO!” he screamed and gasped.

His sentinel failed to cover his face.

Dinobot twisted the sword and thrust it up with all his strength.  From the stomach up to the chest, there was a big hole in the Kieron.

Dinobot’s face was twisted in guilt and hatred.

He felt sick inside.

Then he felt something else.

He felt pain throughout his body as the monster fired at him with it’s shoulder guns and blew him through the wall into the next room.

He hit the other wall hard and felt his wires twist inside.

He let out a cry of pain.

He had let go of the sword and could see through blood covered eyes that it was still in it.  Then he gasped and rolled to the side, missing another hit, a fatal hit.

Trygon rose and ran towards the traitor screaming.

“Burn in the Inferno traitor!  Die and suffer!” he yanked the sword out of him and snapped it as he ran.

Then he caught sight of another Maximal firing at him to his right.

“Don’t touch him!” yelled Optimus and he shot rapidly at the monster.

The monster changed course and rammed into the Maximal with full force.

Though he felt pain gushing through his system, he punched the Maximal in the stomach and let the drills come out of his knuckled and spray acid into the male’s system.

Optimus screamed in pain and punched the creature in the face before blacking out.

It was such a punch that the black creature was thrown back.

He quickly rose and kicked the leader in the face.

Then he headed for the control room.

Rattrap ran towards the Siphoid and gasped.

Something grabbed him by the neck.

He turned and saw Nightstar.

“The Kyron!” he gasped.

“It’s inside the Axalon,” he said dolefully.

“Slag no!” she cried.

Then she dropped him and the two ran to the Siphoid.

She came outside the Siphoid.

“Stand down sentinel,” she ordered.

She was glad it was working.

The two burst inside.

There was Rhinox, a look of horror on his face.

He had set up a set of cameras in the Axalon and used the Siphoid’s computer system to receive the footage.

Rattrap gasped when he saw what was on the computer screen.

In the hallway lay Optimus and not so far off, Dinobot.  They looked terrible.

“It’s going into the command room.  It said it had destroyed several before shooting Dinobot, Airazor and Optimus.

“Oh....slag,” muttered Rattrap.

Rhinox switched to the camera in the control room.

Unfortunately the sound wasn’t very good and he couldn’t contact the Axalon from where he was.  He could use his com. link, though.

To their horror, they saw Sheena hiding behind a table in the command room.

Rhinox yelled into his com. link.

“Sheena, get out of there!” 

That was all he had time for.

Then the creature entered the room.

They all froze.

Sheena had heard the message but knew it was too late.

‘What is his weakness?’ she thought.

‘Kyrons were a special kind of Predacon warrior specialising in ground attack.

They were heavily armoured and were incredibly fast.  They have heat sensors and have a great sense of sight, but....they haven’t got good hearing.  Not bad, but not as good as hers.

They rely heavily on their internal system’s Energon heater, this gives them the sufficient amount of energy to carry on through such tasks, Energon heater...HEATer.’

She smiled and crawled quietly over to the air con and activated it to below freezing.

Then she closed her eyes.

She knew that her heat stuck out like a sore thumb to his sensors.

She hoped that this would work.

The black creature aimed his bullets at her throat but the felt a terrible chill come over him.

Freezing, icy air blew out into the command room.

The door behind him slammed closed and locked and so did the door in front of him.

The hidden air con blew strongly and the air turned bitter.

Sheena knew that if she had tried to escape to the door before she locked it, he would have killed her.  So rather they both freeze to death.

The temperature dropped.

-2 ° C

-3 ° C

-7 ° C

She shivered and felt her system shutting down.

The creature screamed and banged on the solid door.

He shot wildly, but no luck.

He headed for the elevator, but it had frozen up.

He felt his energy drain out of him and screamed louder.

“Let me out!  Let me out!” he yelled, panicking.

Sheena smiled a faint smile then closed her eyes again and slumped to the ground.

Shortly afterwards, the monster collapsed to the ground, freezing to his death.

Rhinox watched as the two fell.

He felt sick with horror and a little bit of joy as the monster was defeated.

“Sheena...” whispered Nightstar.

“Oh Primus, Sheena no.  No,” she said, her voice breaking and closed her eyes and turned away.

Rattrap remained silent.

Rhinox switched off the camera and bowed his head.

The three were quiet and still.

They knew what they had to do, and they had to act fast.

Storm groaned and dragged himself up.

True, he had been shot in one leg, enough to knock him down, but he had faked the whole rolling down and dying part.

He rose and stood on his good leg.

“Guess I’m going to have to hop a long,” he sighed.

He looked up the hallway, which was nothing much but rubble and open rooms.

He saw Dinobot struggling up.

“Smelly muffins!  He got you too?  What an unpleasant fellow,” he said.

Dinobot shot him a glance, Storm could tell he was dying.

He hobbled over to the raptor.

“Deary deary, that is a nasty wound, didn’t your auntie tell you not to play with your food?” he asked as he helped up the damaged Maximal.

“You....are...nuts!” gasped Dinobot.

“Oh look, the door is closed to the command centre; they’re having a party without us!  We should be ashamed of ourselves.  We never barged in uninvited.  How rude.  Well, let’s make up for it and say hello,” He blabbered.

Dinobot shot him a confused glance and tilted his head.

“You are a strange one,” he hissed.

Storm hobbled over, slipped and fell face first into a pile of rubble.

“Storm?” asked Dinobot.

“It’s amazing what you can see in a pile of rubble,” he muffled.

“Storm, what are you doing?” Dinobot snarled, a little worried about his demented friend.

Storm sighed.

“Stor..”

Storm cut off Dinobot and shot up.

“Slag!” he shouted.

Hanging from his cheek was a baby snake.

Dinobot grunted, rather amused.

 Storm pulled it off his cheek and ate it.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” muttered Dinobot.

Rattrap, Rhinox and Nightstar walked in silence towards the Axalon.

They had a rough idea what they were going to be met with.

They approached the entrance and stopped just outside.

“I’ll go in ta make sure it’s safe,” Rattrap said solemnly.

“A good idea,” sighed Rhinox.

Rattrap took a deep breath and slipped inside the Axalon.

It was silent except for a distant mumble.

The place was dreadful.

There were bodies spewed everywhere and the hallways had been enlarged by whole walls being blown away.

Their was blood and rubble everywhere.

Rattrap looked straight ahead, trying to avoid the depressing, gruesome sights on the floor.

He recognised his companions.  He was choking back wailing in agony.

He headed towards the sound.

He turned a corner, well what was left of one and looked straight ahead at the command room.

Standing next to the closed door was Storm, badly injured.

Rattrap breathed out a shaky sigh of relief, he was glad someone had made it.

Next to Storm lay a badly wounded, unconscious Dinobot.

Rattrap gasped.

“Of all the...Rattrap!  You are alive!  Oh good.  You know, I can’t get into the command room.  I don’t know the silly code!  I was asking Dinobot and he gave me three numbers out of seven and then fainted!  I mean, what bad timing.  I understand fainting and all, but really, his timing was terrible.  He could have waited till he told me the code but no....he had to faint inpatient fellow.  I do hope you know the codes!” he nattered.

Rattrap was surprised at how calm the robot was.

“You do realise that three quarters of our crew are dead,” Rattrap said.

“Yes, what a shame,” he sighed.

“Death is as impatient as Dinobot,” he added.

Rattrap gave him an awkward glance.

“The code is 3#5579*, but I’m warnin’ ya.  We saw what happened in that room from the Siphoid.  We saw camera footage and we have good news and bad news.  Da good news is dat da monsta froze ta death thanks ta Sheena. Da bad news is dat Shenna....froze herself,” he said sullenly.

“Oh how dreadful,” said Storm as he punched in the code.

The door opened and a blast of icy air blew onto them.

“'Tis chilly isn’t it?” the Jagurundi said.

Rattrap checked the room.

He found the monster lying in the corner.

He walked over to it.

It was dead.

He then went over to Sheena.

“Come on, come on!” he cried as he checked her spark energy level.

He found none.

“Damn,” he uttered and left her side.

He felt terrible.

He explained the situation to Storm and went off to call the others.

It was a miracle the CR chambers were still intact.

The damage was terrible.

Rattrap and the other three carried the bodies to the command room.

Shortly after they called him, Tigatron arrived.

He walked in and had been warned that it would be a mess, but the bodies had been carried into the control room.

He was worried.

He walked through the rubble in the dark hallways and entered the much more intact Control room.

To his horror, there were bodies laid out everywhere.

“Oh....” he gasped.

“Yeah, it aint a pretty picture.  Optimus is alive and is in the CR chamber and da odda one has Astrone in it.  We found her barely alive.  We are still checkin’ da oddas,” he said glumly.

Even Storm looked glum.

“Airazor,” breathed Tigatron, then he caught sight of her, lying on a table.

“Airazor!” he cried and ran over to her.

He kneeled by her side and held her hand.

It was stone cold.

“Airazor, speak to me.”

She remained silent.

The tiger robot then put his head on her shoulder, and wept.

Rhinox came over to him.

“I’m sorry Tigatron, but there is nothing we can do,” he said softly.

He felt Tigatron’s pain.

“No, not my love...please...no.”

The others checked the bodies and finally declared who was dead, and who survived.

Storm was the only one who could read at this point.  Everyone else was too upset.

Besides the weeping Tigatron, the others listened.

“Deaths:  Flick and Flystrong.  Streak and Nithra.  Cheetor and Airazor.  Sheena.”

He paused.

“The rest survived, but are in crucial conditions.  We need to get them to a CR chamber.  I know that the Siphoid probably has one but there are Predacons out there, waiting for the monster to return victorious.  We will never make it to the Siphoid  alive.  Rhinox, I suggest you fix sentinel before the Predacons get suspicious.”

 Rhinox was slightly surprised at how serious Storm was.

He turned and set to work, immediately.

“Uh, Chopperface and you are gonna need spare parts.  I know just where to get them,”  Said Rattrap, glaring at the fallen assassin.

“Yes, take the parts and do Dinobot first.  I have to do something,” said storm.

He walked over to Tigatron, who was weeping on Airazor’s shoulder.

“Tigatron, remember something,” he said.

Tigatron looked up, pain written all over his face.

“Bananas do not grow on apple trees, but once in a life time, you might find and apple growing amongst the bananas..  You will know it is a miracle.  Like this.”

Storm opened a shoulder compartment and pulled out a wire.

He then bent over and opened a flap on her shoulder.

He took out her wire and smiled.

“Butterflies don’t freeze, they fly.”

Then he attached his wire to hers and let all his energy flow into her.

All his energon, his life’s source flowed into her and fed her dying spark, that everyone thought was extinguished.  Everything that kept him alive, was drained.

Then he smiled a bright, victorious smile and uttered a cry of happiness and fell to the ground.

Airazor gasped and her optics lit up.

“Tigatron!” she screamed.

Tigatron transformed and held her in his arms.

“Airazor!  You're live!” he cried.

Around them, the others stared in amazement.

What Storm had basically done, was give her a heart transplant.

Airazor gasped and lay back, weak, damaged, but alive.

Very much alive.

Rattrap ran over to Storm.

“Storm ya twerp!  Why didn’t ya tell me ya were gonna do dat!” he yelled.

Storm looked up at Rattrap.

He grinned weakly.

“You should try looking into a mole hole, just watch for moles.”

Then he died.

2 weeks later.

Cheetor had not died.

He had almost died, but had crawled back in agony, narrowly missing the Predacons and had been found by Nightstar when he had collapsed halfway to the Axalon.

He was now sitting in the corner, playing a computer game.

Over two weeks, there had been no response from the Predacons.

They were only too glad.

Astrone walked into the room.

She was quiet and tired.

She had been very solemn since the incident.

She had lost all her crew, her friends, they were like sisters to her.

She only had Nightstar left.

Nightstar was in the command room as was Cheetor, Rhinox and Rattrap.

Astrone walked up to Nightstar and whispered something to her.

Nightstar nodded.

Optimus walked into the room.  He was also very sad.

He had lost many friends.

He looked over his team.

Cheetor was alive and well, but very quiet too.

He was playing silently on the computer, minding his own business.

 Rhinox was busy on the computer.

Typing away, it was his way of getting over the events.

Keeping himself busy.

Rattrap was sleeping in a chair again and Dinobot had just stalked in.

Dinobot looked as if he was in another world, this was nothing unusual.

Optimus was deep in thought.

Then he was awoken from his world when Astrone asked him a question.

It was the first time she’d spoken in about three days now.

“Optimus, Nightstar and I would like to go for a walk,” she said bluntly.

He looked at her for a moment.

She had spoken bluntly but her face was full of emotion.

Nightstar didn’t face him.

He looked at the two pretty and strong females.

“Go ahead, if it will make you feel better,” he said, managing a faint smile.

“Thanks.  See ya,” she said and she and her friend stepped into the elevator.

Optimus watched the computer and through the outside camera saw them walk away.

Neither Predacon nor Maximal ever saw them again.

 _______________________________________________________________________