Rampage glared at the guards at the door. They were armed and threatening, but that wasn’t what was preventing him from attacking them. No, his reason was the small box in the lead transformer’s hand. The pain from its extraction still echoed faintly in the depths of his spark, and he had no real desire to find out how much pain the newest ‘spark-box’ could cause him.
"Come with us, X." One of the guards gestured with his weapon.
He hesitated, wary of where they would take him. That pause was a mistake. Rampage collapsed to his knees as the guard compressed the glowing blue core of his spark, agony trying to force screams past the gag still attached to his voice-box.
The Security Team watched impassively.
The pressure let up on his spark suddenly, but Rampage could only gasp for a moment. The pain was worse than even Megatron had been able to inflict! When the guards motioned for him to move, he reluctantly obeyed immediately this time.
He didn’t have a choice.
Depth Charge blinked dully at the datapad on the table in his quarters in the Cutting Edge and sighed. He hadn’t realized being involved in A.L.H. Research Center’s Security would be so much work! Report after report, talking to the Center’s Security Teams, MORE reports, inspecting the specific security measures he had ordered, and then yet more reports.
Then again, he wasn’t about to complain if it prevented Rampage from getting loose again. With that in mind, he picked up the datapad and started reading the report. It was about the metal alloys of the door to Rampage’s cell and whether or not to replace it with something harder. Depth Charge made the decision about halfway through the report, but kept reading out of habit.
His mind wandered while he did. Yes, he had been buried in reports and necessary work for the last couple of months, but the contents of the reports hadn’t all been as mundane and dull as this one’s. Some of them were understandable, like the report about stronger restraints for Rampage, but why did the report mention them holding up in acid? That was a strange thing to test them for, not to mention unnecessary as far as he could tell. He had noticed that the report had also been sent to Dr. Kilju, but that hadn’t meant much at the time.
Before that report had been sent to the ray-bot, however, the doctor had called him in to inspect the security features for an experiment with Rampage being set up in a lab room with a metal tube in the middle. Depth Charge had absently asked what it was for while he was looking over things, and the doctor’s answer hadn’t really registered until later. It was only after reading the restraints report that Dr. Kilju’s answer had made sense.
The doctor had said, "Holding acid."
But why would Rampage be put in acid? That question disturbed the ray-bot more than he showed while he had made a few inquiries. The answers he had gotten from a couple of the Security Teams’ personnel had just made him more uneasy. One ‘bot had told him to mind his own business if he wanted to stay alive, the other had mentioned something about testing Rampage’s regenerative abilities. Neither answer was particularly reassuring.
Depth Charge shook off his suspicious thoughts and sighed. The Research Center was just fulfilling its function: research. Nothing more. The facility was supported by both the Maximals and Predacons. The place would have to be completely legal; the Maximals would have to obey their laws, or the Predacons would immediately catch them at it. The Predacons had to obey the laws because the Maximals were always watching. Violating the Cybertronian Alliance’s laws would shut the Research Center down, and excessive cruelty to a prisoner was against the law, so therefore the Depth Charge had to be overly suspicious of Dr. Kilju’s experiments. Wasn’t he?
The door opened just then, and Depth Charge looked up from the report to see his answer. His roommate walked in.
"Any luck?" Rattrap nervously sat down at the table.
Depth Charge slowly shook his head. "None. Apparently, no one’s even heard of them, much less seen them." The ray-bot put down the report as his other worries returned. Perhaps he wasn’t being so suspicious... "And you?"
The rat’s shoulders slumped. "Guns, ya know, da offense systems computer guy?" He waited until Depth Charge nodded to continue, "He says another three of da crew are missin’," he said softly. "Dat means dere’s only somethin’ like less den a quarter of da ship’s crew left." Rattrap grimaced. "Still think I’m paranoid?" he asked only half-jokingly.
Troubled, Depth Charge sighed. "I don’t know WHAT to think anymore," he admitted, and the two of them lapsed into a thoughtful silence as they considered the last couple of months.
Optimus Primal, Rhinox, and Cheetor hadn’t returned from their trip down to the Center. At first, Depth Charge had simply assumed the tour was pretty long and Rhinox had convinced the others to stay for a while on the surface. Rattrap was frantic, but the ray-bot just shrugged it off.
After the first month, he hadn’t been so casual. Something Captain Venara had let slip in one of their conversations had revealed that almost a quarter of her crew had gone down to the Center in the same shuttle as Optimus, Rhinox, and Cheetor. Not one of them had come back, or communicated in any way with their friends and crew mates still on the Cutting Edge, since then.
Rattrap’s paranoia started to make a little bit of sense.
Then the A.L.H. Research Center had assigned an armed shuttle and military crew to the space ship, supposedly for the Cutting Edge’s protection, but also to provide transportation to the surface for any who desired it. The shuttle’s assignment had arrived with a new set of orders for Captain Venara. Her crew was now allowed to leave the ship without seeking permission first, and the internal security cameras in the corridors would be deactivated to ‘conserve power’. Basically, the crew could do whatever they wanted without telling anyone where they were going or anyone seeing them. People from the crew started disappearing, and no one could protest.
Depth Charge and Captain Venara had been wary and suspicious, but they had no evidence to prove that the assigned military crew was abducting crew members. Rattrap’s suspicions became fact...for him. According to his nose and inborn sense of paranoia, he KNEW what was happening. Unfortunately, no one on board seemed to believe him, because there wasn’t enough proof.
Then Blackarachnia and Silverbolt disappeared. Depth Charge and Rattrap had walked across the ship to their shared quarters to visit and found it abandoned. A couple of burn marks on the walls suggested that there might have been a fight, but Rattrap’s nose confirmed it. He smelled unfamiliar weapons, and he even tracked Blackarachnia and Silverbolt’s scents through the corridors to where the Center shuttle was docked.
Depth Charge had believed him this time and had almost done something completely stupid; confront Admiral Jirex. Captain Venara had stopped him at the last moment.
"You’ll put yourself in danger," she had said quietly.
He had stared at her. "What do you mean? Blackarachnia and Silverbolt are gone, Optimus, Rhinox, and Cheetor are missing, and your crew is slowly disappearing!"
She’d nodded gravely. "Exactly. Right now Dr. Kilju has a use for you, so you’re allowed in and out of the Center. No one else can say the same thing," she’d added grimly. "Don’t put yourself at risk. That’s what I’m here for. What I need you to do is to keep a sharp eye out and to be as cooperative as possible with the Center. Fit in and don’t be suspicious, and maybe you’ll keep getting out alive." She had reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him with the serious expression that had seemed to become her only facial expression lately. "You can’t help anyone if you’re dead."
Captain Venara had left him to go speak with Admiral Jirex. That was the last Depth Charge had seen of her.
A dispatch had arrived for Depth Charge the next day informing him that Captain Venara had been reassigned to another ship, and that he was in charge of the Cutting Edge. It had been a blatant lie since he knew the Captain wouldn’t have accepted an assignment away from her beloved starship, but he had remembered her words before she left and accepted, hiding his anger.
His casual response to Venara’s disappearance had apparently pleased Admiral Jirex, because he authorized a personal shuttle for the ray-bot, so that he wouldn’t have to wait for one to pick him up.
The ship’s crew had started disappearing at a faster rate after that, despite the fact that the orders he had given through Rattrap (to avoid any suspicion towards him) had reorganized their resting quarters assignments so that they mainly grouped together in one area. That should have made it easier for the crew to defend themselves.
Instead, entire groups of crew personnel began disappearing.
That wasn’t the worst, however. On one of Depth Charge’s visits with Dr. Kilju, the doctor had taken him on a small tour of the facility which had included the A.L.H. Research Center’s recycling plants. The ray-bot had been slightly confused at the strange place to take him, but he had hoped that it didn’t mean that Dr. Kilju was going to get rid of him there. He hadn’t been brought there to kill, though. It had been a test.
While Dr. Kilju had talked to several of the other people in the tour, Depth Charge had noticed a conveyor belt nearby that was hauling metal-only scrap to a furnace further in the plant to be melted down. He had recognized several of the parts; one of Blackarachnia’s pincers, one of the Cutting Edge’s crew member’s proudly painted and displayed knee guards, the large sheets of metal that had once been at Optimus Primal’s elbows.
Depth Charge had looked at them, and his last hope of his friends’ survival died.
After a moment, he had forced himself to turn away. As he had thought, Dr. Kilju was watching him. Depth Charge had looked back at him blandly, showing no signs of caring that the remains of the Maximals he had spent his time on Earth with were traveling towards a furnace behind him. The doctor had smiled slightly and turned back to his conversation with the others.
Before he had fully absorbed the shock of the knowledge of Optimus, Rhinox, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, and the missing crew members’ deaths, Dr. Kilju tested him again. Bringing the group down the corridors near Rampage’s cell, Depth Charge automatically insisted on abiding by the security requirements for visitors. The group had reluctantly done so, apparently seeing the security measures as unnecessary. Moving onward, however, they had come across a sight.
A Security Team was dragging a large form down the corridor they were on. As the group had gotten closer, Depth Charge had noticed that the transformer in the center of the guards had armor that was corroded to the point that when he moved suddenly, the ray-bot had jumped back with surprise that the ‘bot was alive. The guards had easily subdued the weakened transformer, especially after one of them had threateningly held up something that made Depth Charge do a double-take; it was a spark-box. But the only transformer whose spark could survive being split in two was Rampage...
He had immediately studied the ‘bot being hauled away down the corridor, but the transformer was barely recognizable as alive, much less as Rampage. Still, the size of the ‘bot and the spark-box could only be him. Depth Charge had felt like he needed to be sick as he had looked after his enemy, and several of the people in the group with him seemed to feel the same way. He knew Dr. Kilju was watching him expectantly, so he locked his emotions behind a shield of indignant authority and demanded to know why he hadn’t been informed when Rampage was moved. Dr. Kilju had smiled politely and made an excuse before going on with the tour.
When Depth Charge had gotten back on board the Cutting Edge, he had found a joint message from Admiral Jirex and Dr. Kilju informing him of a change of his status; he was now the Security Chief for the Protoform X project. Apparently, he had passed the ‘tests’ set by them, and they had decided to reward him.
He didn’t spend any time in celebration.
Depth Charge shook himself out of his thoughts. "Did you get the computers to work for you?"
Rattrap jumped, obviously startled out of his thoughts. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "I’ve got everything but da communications systems wired to da bridge. Dis place can now be run entirely from dere by a handful of ‘bots. Um, two or three ‘bots would be pushin’ it, but ya could still fly dis ship outta here if ya had ta."
The ray-bot nodded. "Why couldn’t you get the communications systems hooked up?"
Rattrap looked grim. "Da system’s locked up, and whoever did it was good. I can’t get past da scrambling." He blinked as Depth Charge slammed his fist down on the table. "Eh, we were pretty sure da system would be jammed when dis started!" he said defensively.
"I know," Depth Charge sighed tiredly. "It’s just that this won’t work if we can’t get at least ONE message out." He glared at the report on the table as if it was the cause of all their problems. "Did you at least get the security cameras running again?" he asked hopefully.
Rattrap hesitated, but then nodded. "Only three," he warned when the ray-bot looked slightly relieved. "Da rest have been trashed."
Depth Charge nodded again. "It’s better than none," he said quietly. "We just need to find a way to get a message out, now..."
The rat and manta ray silently stared at nothing, thinking over their plan. They had come up with it soon after Captain Venara’s disappearance, but it had been modified several times since then. Depth Charge’s elevation in status had made it necessary that he distance himself from the Cutting Edge’s crew to prevent suspicion of the role he was playing: someone who didn’t care about anything but keeping Rampage under control. The ship’s crew understood, however, so they cooperated with what Rattrap told them to do.
The starship’s main controls had been rerouted to the bridge as a result of that. For once, having the security cameras off-line was useful because it meant that the crew could work unsupervised by them. The work was done quickly, but by the time it was near completion Rattrap and Depth Charge were glad they had planned that stage first. There wasn’t enough crew personnel left to run the starship’s controls normally.
While Rattrap and the Cutting Edge’s crew were doing that, Depth Charge was doing some discrete computer searches. He had found what he had wanted easily: the planet Rarmet was a free planet of a different sort. It had no alliances and a space-faring Military large enough to back its freedom up. Occasionally Rarmet had to use it when an offended government attacked it for doing its job; Rarmet’s entire industry was information. The planet’s government offered asylum to any news organization and spy in the known universe, and then supplied the news to that same universe, telling the truth no matter who it offended or what it revealed.
Rarmet also offered asylum to those who had information to share. The security cameras in the crew’s quarters should supply that information if there were any more abductions. Unfortunately, the Cutting Edge wouldn’t be sure of its safety on Rarmet unless they found some way to send out a message to the planet.
"Does the Captain’s quarters have a separate communications system from the rest of the ship?" Depth Charge asked suddenly.
Rattrap sat up straight. "Yeah," he said slowly, "I think so..." He looked at the ray-bot sharply. "Ya think dey didn’t mess wit’ dat system?"
Depth Charge shrugged. "It’s worth a try."
Rattrap accessed the program. "C’mon, slaggit," he hissed, "WORK!"
Depth Charge paced behind him while he worked on what was once Captain Venara’s desk computer. This was a last ditch attempt. Even if the communications system worked, the A.L.H Research Center’s Security scanners were likely to pick up the fact that it was in use. Hopefully the Center wouldn’t be able to intercept the message, but either way Rattrap and Depth Charge were taking a huge risk.
"Got it!" Rattrap crowed suddenly. He spun his seat in a circle in celebration, but then immediately got back to business. "Okay, lemme see...attach da recordings of last night’s abduction..."
Depth Charge continued pacing as Rattrap mumbled to himself, composing the message that so much of their plan depended on. Doubts assaulted him; would Rarmet receive the message? Would the Cutting Edge arrive at the planet only to be turned away, their safety in question?
The ray-bot shook his head and pushed the doubts aside. There wasn’t any room in his plan for them.
Rattrap looked up at him with his hand poised over the ‘Send’ button. "Ready?"
Depth Charge read over the message and nodded. It stated simply that the starship Cutting Edge had information about a top secret facility jointly run by the Maximals and Predacons, and included a recording to prove the legitimacy of the information.
The rat took a deep breath. "Here goes nothin’..." He pressed the button, and the message disappeared from the screen. If things went well, that message would insure that Rarmet would accept the arrival of the Cutting Edge. Rattrap glanced at Depth Charge and got up. "Tell me how it goes," he said quietly and walked out of what was once Captain Venara’s office.
When the captain of the shuttle assigned to the Cutting Edge walked into the room later, he found Depth Charge sitting at the desk looking through reports.
The ray-bot looked up from a datapad. "Is something wrong?" he asked in a casual tone of voice.
The transformer frowned slightly. "The Center picked up a transmission from this ship a little while ago," he said slowly. "You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?"
Depth Charge nodded. "Yes, in fact, I do." The shuttle captain concealed his surprise at the ray-bot’s admission badly since he had been anticipating him making excuses, but the Maximal ignored the other’s shock. "I tried to retrieve some old files of mine from a terminal on Cybertron. The thing must not working, anymore," he continued in an irritated voice. "The slagging thing gave me an error message."
The shuttle captain nodded. "Well, I’m sure the Research Center would be able to retrieve the file if you just told us the file name and location..." he trailed off, still half-expecting Depth Charge to be lying. Victims of the Center did not contact others except when they were trying to escape. But this ‘bot was looking for an old file?! Something didn’t quite seem right about that in his experience...but, then again, this guy was supposed to be part of the Center Security Teams now, so maybe...
Depth Charge rummaged around in the datapads stacked on the desk in front of him and tossed one of them to the shuttle captain. "Here’s the file coordinates. Don’t bother giving the file to me, though, just send it directly to Dr. Kilju." He picked up the report he had been reading.
The shuttle captain looked at the datapad in his hands and back at Depth Charge. So maybe the ‘bot HADN’T been lying...
Depth Charge sighed in relief as the door closed. The shuttle captain had bought it! If the Center checked for the file, they’d find the same message he had said he had gotten. He knew they would because he had disconnected the terminal himself when he had left Cybertron.
And if they pursued the issue and actually got the file...well, he was sure Dr. Kilju would find some use for an old copy of the blueprints for the Protoform X experiment facility.
The door hissed open again, and Depth Charge started to tense. He relaxed again as Rattrap walked in. "It worked," he said bluntly.
The shorter Maximal nodded. "Good. Now we just gotta pick a time."
"And soon." Depth Charge closed his eyes as he remembered seeing his scrapped comrades on the conveyor belt. "Before we all disappear ‘mysteriously’."