Beast Wars Chronicles Power Corruption By: Eliot Lefebvre (aka Stormcloud)
"Left, Rattrap, left!" "I'm telling you, he needs to do a Psycho Drill!" "Naw, he can dodge to the left and then hit him with a Power Burst!" "Will you both please just SHUT UP and let me do what I will?" bellowed Rattrap at Razorbeast and Armordillo. He decided to take neither of their advice and do a slide towards his opponent. The burst barely whizzed by his head, then Rattrap began to set up for a Cyclone Kick. He never finished. His opponent suddenly whippped out a gigantic gleaming scimitar and brought it down on Rattrap, splitting him asunder. Words appeared on the screen: DEATHGRIP DEFEATED KEYLOCK OVERKILL! 67,000 BONUS POINTS DEATHGRIP WINS THE DUEL Razorbeast gave a low whistle. "Holy Primus, where did you learn to play like that, Stormcloud? You've beaten all of us three times in a row each!" Stormcloud shrugged. "I spend a lot of time on the computer, and even I feel the need to do something other than run diagnostics checks on all the systems." "C'mon, one more match," pleaded Rattrap, losing his normal attitude to make up for his (severely) wounded pride. "I hear that Starbeam has a really easy twenty-hit combo." "Keylock has a forty." "But you just beat me when I was him! Please, one last match." Stormcloud smiled and chose Hackup on the select screen. "You're a glutton for punishment, Rattrap." "Shut up and eat floor." FIVE MINUTES LATER... HACKUP DEFEATED STARBEAM BLOW FURY! 80,000 BONUS POINTS HACKUP WINS THE DUEL Rattrap practically snapped the controller in half. "One more match," he growled. Stormcloud laughed. "Believe me, I would love to rub the proverbial salt in your festering wounds of former pride. But I do have duties to attend to, and that does not include handing a overzealous rat large slices of humble pie." Stormcloud got up and walked over to the main console as Rattrap stalked out of the room, followed by taunts from his companions. Stormcloud waited a couple moments to see if there would be the sound of laser fire, but it did not happen. Satisfied, he began attending to his normal duties. A warning message on the long-range scanners prompted investigation. Like the robot who had aided in his programming, named Skyfire or something similar, he was extremely intelligent, but was often unable to turn away from a curiosity. *This is one of those time,* he thought as he investigated the warning. Curiosity turned to shock as he read the message. He did a double-check of the scan, then ran a diagnostic to make absolutely sure that the reading was not a data log accidentaly called up or a similar failure. It was not. He patched a comm link through to Primal. "Primal?" he said tenatively. The commander's face appeared on screen. "Yes, Stormcloud?" he asked. "You'd better get the chief officers decked out in finery, sir. A ship is coming in, and it looks like the flagship from the size of it." * * * * * * * * * * * The crew stood around Primal, all polished up and with their typical ornamental dress for recieving an unknown ship. Primal squnited into the distance, and could see the ship growing larger over the horizon. "There it is," whispered Primal with awe. The ship settled down, scorching the area around it with it's retro- thrusters. It turned so that it's main entryway was facing the assembled Maximals, and as it landed the door slid open. A large robot walked out. "Good day, subcommander Neogene," said Primal tensely. The subcommander? Since when had he, the captain of a small cargo ship, been worth the subcommander. And considering the fact that the subcommander was little more than a puppet, then that would mean... "Kneel before Maximal Commander Primus Trion," said Neogene, stepping aside to reveal an even taller robot. His gold and silver coloring sparkled in the sun. "Primus Trion," whispered Primal. He knew of the commander, of course, but he had never actually met him. He was extremely impressed. "Excuse me, sir," said Stormcloud, raising up off his knee, "but you must allow me immediate acccess to your medical facilities." "Why?" asked the commander in a deep growl. "Nobody tells me I 'must' do anything. I choose to do what I do." "Well, in about ten seconds you're going to 'choose' to keel over from lethal energon overexposure," snapped Stormcloud. "Explain yourself," replied the commander. "This planet is surging with raw energon. The only way to effectively keep from dying is to bond with organic beings, which are unaffected by the lethal overdosage." "Why was I not immediately contacted with this information?" "I tried," growled Stormcloud. "My hails were all ignored. If you want to ignore me, go right ahead, but don't be suprised when you keel over from overexposure -" Primus Trion waved him away with a hand. "Just go through with the bonding procedure." Stormcloud motioned to Vixen to come onboard. The two of them walked into the ship, followed by Neogene and Primus Trion. The door slid closed, and Primal was left to wonder what had happened. * * * * * * * * * * * "So, you are..." "Grimlock," replied the tall soldier, who looked oddly like Dinobot. "Former member of the Autobots." Well, that explained a few things. "Great. Vixen, get this one a Velociraptor transform." Stormcloud made a note of this on his comm pad and went to the next soldier, who was already feeling the effect of overexposure. "You are...?" "N-Nightpounce," stammered the female. "Okay, gotcha. Vixen, give her a Panther transform." Stormcloud began to help the female into the CR chamber. "Why have you not given me my new mode yet?" asked Primus Trion as he entered the room. "Sir, these troopers are already suffering from the energon fields. If we don't get them the organic mode now, they'll probably die." "I don't care. I am in charge, so I take precedence." "With all due respect," replied Stormcloud, setting Nightpounce in the chamber, "those with the greatest need take the greatest priority." Primus Trion growled and gripped Stormcloud by the throat. "I am _always_ the greatest need, Maximal." A blast from a laser pistol caused Trion to turn around. Standing there was Windrider, gun in hand. "Mess with him, you mess with me," he said stubbornly. "No way in Inferno he's going down without me," added Vixen as she put down her medpad and picked up her crossbow. Primus growled as he felt Stormcloud's lightning gun pressed against his stomach. "I'd say that you're in a less-then-favorable situation," he said with a slight grin. Primus roughly dropped Stormcloud. "Continue as you had before," he grumbled as he left the room. Vixen and Windrider walked over to help Stormcloud up. "You okay?" asked Vixen. Stormcloud rubbed his neck. "When I was on Cybertron, I heard all about Primus Trion. I heard he was wise, kind, powerful, respectful -" "And now you can't believe them," finished Windrider. "No, I can still believe all about Primus Trion," replied Stormcloud. "I'm just wondering where in the world he is." * * * * * * * * * * After the Maximals split from the Autobots, it was determined that the Maximals needed an honorary title for their leader. Instead of Prime, which was now so associated with Optimus Prime that it was almost disrespectful to use it, they chose Trion, the secondary name of Prime's creator, Alpha Trion. Optimus Primal was originally named Primal, but when he became a captain, he added "Optimus" as a symbol of respect to the legendary Autobot. *I wonder where he got Primus," thought Primal as he walked through the Axalon with Primus Trion. *Naming your kid Primus isn't a lot more respectful then right-out Prime.* "This ship is being run terribly," commented Trion, jolting Primal out of his thoughts. "What?" asked Primal. "This ship. It's a disgrace to the Maximal name." "Well, sir," began Primal, "given the...unusual circumstances that brought us here, I would hardly say that it is -" "The circumstances do not matter. The point is you failed." Primal gaped. "S-s-s-sir, I-I-I don't think y-y-you're taking this seriously -" "I am taking it perfectly seriously. Your crew does not address one another by formal titles. There is practically no observance or reverence of rank. This is unacceptable." "I-I-I-I-I'll take care of it right away, sir." Primus Trion nodded, then transformed into a bat and flew out of an access hole. Primal wiped the sweat from his brow. "Not what you'd expect, eh?" asked a voice from behind. Primal was suprised to find Cavewing there, his large wings tucked behind his back. "Great. Two loony bats in one day." Primal looked at Cavewing with suspicion. "Where have you been for the last two weeks, anyway? We could have used your abilities." Cavewing shrugged. "I had other things to do." "You didn't just come here to drive me insane," said Primal. "No," said Cavewing. "Although it is an added bonus. But back to Trion. He doesn't seem right to you, does he?" Primal sighed. "No," he replied. "He's certainly not what I expected." "Nor should he be," replied Cavewing. "Someone on the crew feels the same way. Maybe the two of you are right." Primal nodded and decided to go onn to the flagship. As an afterthought, he turned around to ask Cavewing one last thing. Cavewing was gone. Repressing a shudder, Primal turned around again and resumed course for the flagship. * * * * * * * * * * * Soon. Not yet, but soon. They had moved into position perfectly. They thought they were going where they wanted. But in reality, it was all just a cosmic game of chess. And they were all his pawns. Risk one for a queen. If you lose, just find another one. * * * * * * * * * * * "I'm telling you, something is wrong with him!" cried Nightpounce as she followed behind Stormcloud. Stormcloud whirled around. "Look, I agree with you, but I've run every kind of test I can and he's perfectly fine!" "Then...rerun them! Have him come in for one! I don't know! Just trust my instincts!" Stormcloud gave a sigh. "I. Can. Not. Do. Anything. To. Prove. Your. Theory. So. Quit. Bugging. Me." He then hunched over a terminal computer, signaling that the conversation was over. Nightpounce growled and stalked out of the room, nearly knocking over Primal. "What's the rush?" he asked, a little irritated. Nightpounce sighed. "Something is not right about Primus Trion," she said at length. "That's what I was thinking. In exactly what respect?" "He just isn't acting like he used to. I dunno - more like a Predacon than a Maximal." "And what are you willing to bet that the Preds are involved somehow?" Neither of them answered that question. "I'll get a scout party ready," said Primal, wandering off. * * * * * * * * * * "Wazzzzipinator always get dumb slag assignments," moaned the Predacon as he flew in a holding pattern over the Pred ship. Manterror and Blodclot were still around, but neither one seemed very friendly towards Waspinator. As for Drill Bit, well, he was tunneling around, saying he was watching out for underground attacks. Everybody knew that he was just looking for choice energon crystals. Leaving Waspinator, the self-proclaimed "greatezzzt of Predaconzzzz", to moan over this dumb slag - A blast whizzed past Waspinator's head. Turning, he saw Ground Zero bursting out of the ground, tossing Drill Bit to one side. "Wazzzzpinator will zzzzzmash thezzze Maximalzzzz into the ground!" he cried out, transforming to robot mode and firing twice at the other forms rapidly bursting from the forest. "Don't bet on that," growled Tigatron, leaping and pouncing on Waspinator. Nightpounce rushed forward behind him, and seconds later the trees parted (or rather splintered) as Bonecrusher charged forward. Ground Zero converted from badger mode and fired a pair of missiles at Bloodclot, who dodged to one side. "Battle..." cackled Bloodclot as he blasted out with a couple of shoulder cannons. Ground Zero ducked out of the way and slashed at him with his roto-claw. "And we have LIFTOFF!" shouted Ground Zero as the two of them exchanged blows, Bloodclot with his four blade arms and Ground Zero with his roto-claw. "Escape velocity, terminal velocity, optimum velocity, any velocity you want, this battle is on and it's heatin' up! We're gonna rock this terrain and we're gonna -" Bloodclot struck Ground Zero with one of his blade arms. "Will you please SHUT UP?!?!?!" he bellowed. Ground Zero replied by chopping off one of Bloodclot's blade arms with his roto-claw. Bloodclot transformed and began strafing Ground Zero. *This is not going to be easy,* he thought to himself. "Get off Wazzzzzpinator now, Maximal!" bellowed Waspinator as he shoved Tigatron off of him. Tigatron drew his acid blaster and fired at Waspinator. Waspinator shouted in pain. "You pay for doing that to Wazzzpinator!" "Like Primus I will," replied Tigatron. He dodged to the left, then rushed forward in an elbow charge. Waspinator lept up into beast mode, and Tigatron lept on Waspinator's back. Extending small claws housed in his fingers, he slashed into Waspinator again, causing the Pred to bellow in pain. "Wazzzzpinator no likezzzzz you!" screamed the Pred as he flew under a branch, knocking Tigatron off his back. Transforming back to robot mode, Waspinator fired off a few more shots at Tigatron, who tumbled to one side to keep from beign demolished. Tigatron drew forth his acid blaster and prepared to hit Waspinator again. Drill Bit fired on Nightpounce before she even had a chance to transform. "Disturb *me*, will you?" asked Drill Bit. Nightpounce transformed and drew her gun from her subspace pocket, and dodged out of the way from another blast from Drill Bit. "Happily," said Nightpounce. Her gun fired off a slew of laser bursts, making Drill Bit furiously scramble to avoid the shots. He was near the Pred ship, and began automatically trigger the alarm. Nightpounce realized all of this too late to avoid a gun being pointed dead at her head. "Raise your arms where I can see them," said Drill Bit. Nightpounce complied. "Put your gun back into subspace." She did. "Kneel down onto the groung, hands behind your head." She did. "Now beg for your life," said Drill Bit, a smile twisting across his face. Bonecrusher slammed right into Manterror. "You Preds get smashed way too easy!" he said to the Praying Mantis. A sudden swipe from one of the powerful arms brought Bonecrusher to a halt, allowing Manterror to transform. "Now I will destroy you," said Manterror, his rams flailing in front of him. Bonecrusher transformed and leaped away in time to avoid getting hit by one of the arms. He whipped out his missile launcher and fired at Manterror. Manterror raised his large armored arms and swiped away the blasts from the missiles. Bonecrusher lunged forward, hitting Manterror with a well-placed uppercut, making Manterror step back. Manterror ducked beneath a jab from Bonecrusher, and replied with a low sweeping slash to his legs. Bonecrusher fell down and narrowly rolled aside to avoid a stabbing blow from Manterror's large arm. Another chop from Manterror sent Bonecrusher desperately fumbling. He realized that Manterror had an advantage over him in close-combat fighting. He got up and took a fighting stance. Advantage or no, he was going to fight this to the end. Blasts riddled the ground as Bloodclot flew over the battlefield. Ground Zero dodged the blasts, and finally got sick of dodging and making clumsy attacks. It was time to level the playing field. The powerful rockets in Ground Zero's backpack and boots thrust him skyward. He twisted around to face Bloodclot, who had entered a desperate kamikaze charge. Ground Zero gracefully shot upward, then twirled around and dived into a level flight behind him. He locked his arm cannons' sight onto Blooclot. As the large mosquito turned around, Ground Zero fired on him. Explosions engulfed Bloodclot as he transformed and landed. "You can not defeat me!" bellowed Bloodclot as he fired a row of missiles at Ground Zero. Ground Zero dropped down, practically hitting the ground, and then shot along the ground, grabbing Blooclot's legs and swinging him into a rocky outcropping. Bloodclot saw his oppurtunity. Raising his two remaining blade arms, he aimed at Ground Zero and stabbed directly through his chest. Ground Zero growled in pain and let go of Bloodclot, gliding to a soft landing. The holes in his chest leaked blood and energon, mixing into an sickly goldish mixture at his feet. A cackle emerged from Bloodclot's mouth. Then, he charged. "Wazzzzpinator not zzzzztupid enough to fall for zzzzame trick twizzzze!" He kicked the acid blaster out of Tigatron's hand and leveled his missile launcher at the Maximal's head. "Now you pay for hurting Wazzzzzpinator." Tigatron moved like lightning. One minute, he was at Waspinator's mercy, the next minute, he had kicked Waspinator back and was dashing towards his acid blaster. Waspinator rose woozily and fired at Tigatron. It only slowed him down for a minute, but that was all the Predacon needed. Waspinator transformed into wasp mode and flew towards Tigatron. The Maximal looked suprised, then suddenly had his instincts kick in and tried to dodge out of the way. He was too late, and Waspinator thrust his stinger into Tigatron's side. The venom began to course through the organic form. Tigatron stood for a moment, then fell to the ground and lay still. Nightpounce's head was reeling. Drill Bit was still standing there gloating over the begging female Maximal. She growled, and suddenly lunged forward, toppling the gloating Predacon. Totally unprepared, he was unable to even think to swing his drill at Nightpounce. She extended the small claws in her fingers and slashed into Drill Bit's central motion relay. He jerked once and then lay still. She picked him up and began dragging him back into the forest - he might prove useful. Bonecrusher reeled from yet another slash on Manterror's part. The Predacon's large claws and high strength gave him an advantage in the ferocious melee the two were engaged in. Bonecrusher tumbled to the left and began to try and get up, but could not. Before Manterror could slice off Bonecrusher's head, a blast hit him in the back. He turned around to see Razorbeast and Rattrap behind him, with Armordillo close behind. He growled, annoyed with these weak robots, and moved in to kill them. A large tree hit him square in the back of the head. He woozily turned back to Bonecrusher. "You can't knock me...out...like that," he said. "Maybe like this, then," replied Bonecrusher, and he swung the tree right into Manterror's face this time. The Predacon's face split into a demented grin, then he fell to the ground. Waspinator and Bloodclot versus him was not a matchup that Ground Zero liked much. He moved out of the way of Waspinator, only to be hit by Bloodclot. He was beginning to lose conciousness. *I can take out at least one of them,* he thought, and fired off a bunch of missiles from his various cannons at Waspinator. Waspinator convulsed as the massive number of missiles hit his body, then fell to the ground smoking. Bloodclot tackled him and ran another blade arm through Ground Zero - - and was knocked off by Stormcloud in falcon mode. Rattrap whistled low in suprise. Stormcloud had told him that the perigrine falcon could do that, but actually *seeing* it was an entirely different affair. Stormcloud landed in front of Bloodclot. The Pred looked around, and saw Silverbolt land behind him. "Blackarachnia! Activate the perimeter security system!" he called into his wristcom, and grabbed Manterror and Waspinator as he rushed inside. He couldn't see Drill Bit - that dumb slag would just have to take care of himself. The massive cannons turned and trained on the assembled Maximals. "Guys! I have what we need!" called Nightpounce. She dragged Drill Bit away, and the other Maximals began to follow. Rattrap transformed into rat mode, and began running away, but a blast from a cannon knocked him over, sending him sprawling. "Get clear, Rattrap!" said Stormcloud, grabbing the cannon in his talons and twisting it away. "Primus, could that BE any dumber!" Rattrap blasted the cannon with his gun. "You're just trying to make it look like I NEEDED your help!" "It didn't seem like you were doing much to get out of the way," replied Stormcloud, taking off. "Oh, you just want to look bigger than me 'cos you never had ANYBODY want to be you," said Rattrap, transforming back into rat mode and scampering away. "I still have that energon field generator, you know," said Stormcloud. "Yeah, right," replied Rattrap. "Then howcum we've never seen it?" Stormcloud did not reply. *Self-righteous bastard,* thought Rattrap to himself. * * * * * * * * * * Drill Bit's eyes slowly came into focus. He was in a large room, a repair bay by the looks of it. He started to get up... "WHAT THE SLAG IS GOING ON?!?!? WHY CAN'T I MOVE?!?!?" Drill Bit bellowed. "Well, I don't know," said Rattrap tauntingly. "We're so sorry. Please let us restore your motor control center, so that you can tear up the repair room, call the rest of the Preds over here to kill us, and place my head on a pigpole." "YOU SLAGGING PIECE OF -" began Drill Bit. "Oh, now you've gone and hurt my feelings," said Vixen in a sickly-sweet voice that was dripping with sarcasm. "We actually WERE going to free you, but now you can forget it." Drill Bit growled in a low tone. "If you're done ranting and raving," said Stormcloud from across the room, "we can begin the game. It's called, 'Tell The Truth Or We Shock You Until You Do.' I'd explain the rules, but it seems rather self explanitory. Shall we begin?" "Yes," said Rattrap. "Yes," said Vixen. "No," said Drill Bit. "Overruled, three to one," replied Stormcloud. "Now, have you done anything to Primus Trion?" "No," replied Drill Bit. He was then treated to Stormcloud balsting him with nearly 500,000,000 volts. "Maybe the rules weren't simple enough," said Stormcloud. "Let me go over it again. You tell the truth, we simply shoot you out of a cannon back to the Pred ship. You lie, I treat you to another dose of electricity. Now, what have you done to Primus Trion?" "I'm telling the truth! Nothing! We couldn't get within forty klicks of him without him blowing our heads off!" Stormcloud blasted him again. "Wrong again!" replied Stormcloud. "Last chance!" "You think I'm doing this to defend the Predacons? Get real! I'm far more concerned with my own hide! We really can't do anything to Primus Trion!" Stormcloud refrained from blasting him again. "Shoot him back to the Predacons," he said. Bonecrusher and Rhinox walked in there and picked up the immobile Predacon. "Waitaminutewaitaminutewaitaminute! You don't REALLY intend to shoot my back in a cannon, do you?" No response. The two Maximals began to shove Drill Bit into the aforementioned cannon. "Okay, the joke's gone on long enough, I would say, wouldn't you? Right? You aren't actually going to go through with THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiIiIiIiIiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..." Drill Bit presumably kept rambling until he landed, but the Axalon was spared that fate as he moved out of earshot. "So if it ain't the Preds who got to him..." began Nightpounce. "Then it's just him," finished Stormcloud. "Okay, so we have an oppresive and tyrranical ruler!" exclaimed Vixen. "It isn't that bad." Nobody replied. "Right?" Nothing. "Right?" Nothing. "Somebody?" Nothing. "Please?" Nothing. "All right, so it's the worst thing since Unicron!" she finally exclaimed, exasperated. "What in the world is WITH him?" mused Nightpounce. "I knew him when he first became leader of the Maximals. He was nothing like this. What happened?" "An Earthern philosopher once said, 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely." Stormcloud stared intently at Nightpounce. "In other words, he's drunk with power." "Then let's just hope things don't get too bad," said Rattrap. * * * * * * * * * Closer still now. This was almost too easy. He was almost sure that during that last time, he would have to give them a push in the right direction. But that Cavewing helped without even trying. Very perceptive, he was. So were those two, Rattrap and Stormcloud. They'd have to be destroyed afterwards, but for the time being they were actually helping inadvertently. He was, overall, quite impressed. These two factions proved to have such a conflict between them that they did much of his work for him. It was the easiest job he had ever had. Perhaps the flagship's crew could be saved. Some of them seemed intelligent enough to figure out where the real winners were. But the two ships that had already landed would have to be completely destroyed. Too bad, really. But then again, this was war. And that meant all was fair. * * * * * * * * * "Wazzzzpinator have to find zzzzzafer job," moaned the Predacon as he stepped into the CR chamber. "Wazzzzpinator no like being blazzzted by zzzztupid Maximals. Wazzzzzpinator think that if Megatron had -" Bloodclot smacked Waspinator with his last remaining blade arm. "Be quiet, stupid!" hissed the larger Pred. "You want Megatron to start asking about where Drill Bit is?" The ship shook briefly, then Drill Bit's body fell through the ceiling. "Somehow, I don't think it's going to be hard for Megatron to figure it out for himself," moaned Manterror as he stepped into the CR chamber. "Damn right it isn't," said Blackarachnia from across the room, leaning in the doorway. "Blackarachnia! You didn't give Megatron the..." began Bloodclot. "Mission report? Oh, no, I didn't even look at it myself. None of my business." She walked over to a chair and sat in it with a grin on her face. "W-w-what do you want?" asked Waspinator nervously. "Me?" she asked with a fake air of innocence. "Well, guys...I think it's time we talked about loyalty." The three wounded Preds looked at each other, confused. "Now," she continued, "if you are truly loyal to Megatron, then I really would have no choice but to give him the mission report of such loyal soldiers. But if you'd be more loyal to me..." she flipped the disk in her hand around, "...then I might...oh, accidentally lose this disk for some reason or another..." "We accept," said Manterror as Drill Bit began to regain conciousness. "Good! You're brighter than you look." She got up and walked towards the door. "When you all get out of the CR chambers, come see me. I have big plans - that don't include Megatron as the leader." She stepped out of the room. Bloodclot glared at Manterror. "Thanks a lot. Now if we screw up, we're ASSURED to have Megatron blast us apart." "At the moment," replied Manterror, "I seemed to be the only one with half a brain." "Wazzzzpinator not care right now about who izzzzz leader," said the insane Predacon as he stepped into his own chamber. "Wazzzpinator hazzz headache in hizzzzz whole body, and he want to make it go away before he thinkzzzzzz about anything elzzzzze." The other Predacons shrugged and stepped into their respective chambers. Waspinator had a point, for the first time in his life, and nobody really wanted to debate it right now. * * * * * * * * * * Vixen wiped the sweat from her brow and finished setting the comatose Tigatron into the CR chamber. She sat down just as Skydive walked into the room. "Cheetor said that you could use some help," began the Maximal. "Get slagged," said Vixen, glaring at him. Skydive was taken aback. "Call this paranoia, but do I sense just a little unfounded anger towards me on your part?" Vixen glared at him. "Why shouldn't have some hostility towards a former Autobot?" Skydive's face was twisted into an expression af suprise. "Since when has that been a BAD thing?" he asked. "The Maximals sprung from the Autobots, didn't they?" "Sort of," replied Vixen. "You see, after the defeat at Nebulos, the Decepticon ranks began to fall further and further into chaos. Some of them thought that it was best to try and remain on Charr until a new oppurtunity arose. Others thought that it was time to throw in the towel and join the Autobots. This led to infighting that pretty much divided the Decepticon ranks and reduced the now totally insane Galvatron's power to practically nil. So he and the other reborn Decepticons - Scourge, Cyclonus, and the Sweeps - all up and left, and the remaining 'Cons fell further and further into chaos. "The real clincher was when the female Autobot leigons showed up on Charr and began making guerilla raids against the already shaky Decepticons. The large majority of them, including the recently-revived Megatron, surrendered, with only maybe a few thousand Decepticons not submitting. These Decepticons found Galvatron and the rest, and made them the leaders. Galvatron took them all into the great expanses outside, leaving only the new Autobot-Decepticon alliance, often simply referred to as AutoCons. "Eventually, the rebel Decepticons showed up and established a few bases on Cybertron. So that meant that for the most part, the whole Cybertron society was, for once, at peace." "So when do the Maximals come into all this?" asked Skydive. "I'm getting to that," replied Vixen. "Not all of the Transformers thought that demilitarization was a good idea. The most prominent among them was Fortress Maximus, who felt that the war was eternal, and peace only a brief pause. Maybe the others thought it was overly poetic, maybe not. But either way, a splinter group seemed to become increasingly more defined, following the general philosophy of the Autobots but with a few more realistic viewpoints, and calling themsleves...the Maximals. "Shortly afterwards, Fortress Maximus was nearly killed by an unknown assassin. He lived, but he lost all memories of the Maximals, and rejoined the Autobots. The Maximals then adopted a new leader, naming himself Primus Trion, and took on the idea that the Autobots and Decepticons were both enemies, the Autobots just slightly less so." "That would explain your hostility," reasoned Skydive. "Don't interupt," snapped Vixen. "The tension between the AutoCons and the Maximals, not to mention the Decepticons, caused a whole lot of oppurtunity for anyone with ambition to start grabbing power. Megatron would have loved to have taken the oppurtunity, but the years of war had taken their toll on him, and he was in no shape to go seizing power. So he created a clone of himself, only younger, named Megaplex. Megaplex then took those who would follow him and formed the Predacons. "Any fool could see that a criminal operation like the Predacons would benefit from a war, and Megaplex was no fool. He began running covert operations, tricking the Decepticons into finally attacking. The AutoCons and the Maximals were thrust into a war, with tension between them already high. So the Predacons were able to swipe a whole load of stuff that they could use to seize even more power. "One day, a Predacon commander, also known as Megatron, was working with several of his troops when he discovered a golden disk that contained the location of a planet with plenty of energon. Taking the disk, he took off and began heading towards the planet. The Maximals had no choice but to take a desperate option - notify the only ship in the area, the cargo ship Axalon. The two ships dropped into foldspace, and were not heard from afterwards." "Because we landed here," finished Skydive. "Exactly," replied Vixen. "That's why I don't trust you." Skydive grumbled. "I'm a Maximal now, Vixen. And a former Autobot. My code prevents me from betraying you, or any of the others." "Codes and laws are nothing compared to true companions," replied Vixen, going over to the med computer to check on Tigatron. "I can understand that you might have some resentment towards the Autobots," said Skydive. "But this is far more than you personally should feel. What happened to you that made you hate the Autobots so much?" Vixen looked at him. "I just do. There's no good reason for it, it's just the truth. I always have, and I always will. I don't care how many times you save me, how hard you try to convince me otherwise. I always have hated the Autobots, and I always will." Skydive sighed. "I guess you really can't change everyone," he said, and he walked out of the room. He felt as if Vixen's eyes were actually burning holes in him as he exited. * * * * * * * * * The four Predacons were lined up in front of Blackarachnia, who was examining them meticulously. "Harumph," she snorted finally. "You're not exactly the best of starts, but I guess you have to take what you can get in situations like these." "Umm, Blackarachnia..." began Drill Bit. "From now on, you will address me as Empress - unless we are in the immediate position of any other Predacons," snapped Blackarachnia. "Yes, Empress," said Drill Bit, correcting himself. "Umm, Empress...you can't really expect one report that you hold over our heads to work forever, can you?" "Not now that you've officially defected onto my fold," replied Blackarachnia. "If you reveal that to him, he'll kill you," noted Manterror. "And all of you as well," she added. "I'm assuming that your self- preservation instinct will keep you from doing anything unusually stupid." "Damn straight it will," said Bloodclot. "Now," said Blackarachnia, "I happen to have a few things I want from the Maximal ship, and you're going to go get them for me." "Wazzzpinator izzz not going on zzzzuizzzzide mizzzzzzzzon," buzzed Waspinator. "Let's just list the things Megatron could do to you," began Blackarachnia. "When do you want uzzzzz to go?" asked Waspinator, the light draining from his eyes. * * * * * * * * * * Onslaught glared at his two infantile companions. "Okay, so then the Seeker said, 'Do you really think I asked for a tiny pianist?'" said Claw Jaw. "A tiny - HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I get it! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Primus, that's a good one!" Armordillo was rolling around on the ground, doubling over with laughter. Onslaught shook his head. "Will you two shut up?" asked Onslaught. "Our orders were to keep an eye on this engine bank, not to make foolish jokes." "Will you lighten up, 'Slaught?" asked Armordillo. Onslaught narrowed his eyes. "First of all, my name is not Slaught. And if you ever call me that again, I will beat you until you will welcome a journey to Inferno. Second, I will do the same if you do not stop your infantile -" A blast interrupted their bickering. "Scramble!" shouted Manterror, with the four Predacons spreading out and firing all around. Drill Bit erupted from underground and began loading the engine parts into his subspace pocket. Onslaught tumbled beneath a tailfin. "All Maximals - we are under attack by Predacons! We need backup! Repeat, we need backup!!!" He was about to continues, but a blast from Bloodclot disturbed him before he had a chance to. Bloodclot leaned over to try and smash Onslaught, but stopped as he felt Claw Jaw in squid mode biting into his back. He began to turn around to rip off the squid, but was cut short by Onslaught's powerful missile pack blasting him in the chest. Claw Jaw leaped off, and Onslaught squarely hit Bloodclot with an uppercut, sending the Pred flying. Manterror was busy pounding Armordillo with blow after blow. Armordillo wasn't hurt by the blows, but it was rather irritating. He swung his mace at Manterror, who smacked it away and continued pummeling Armordillo. NOW it was past mild irritation. Armordillo fired his laser blaster at Manterror's head. It didn't hit the head, but it hit his chest, which knocked him back enough to let Armordillo tumble in another position. Manterror growled and advanced, and then was cut short by numerous blasts from Onslaught and Claw Jaw. Waspinator began to assault the trio, but was cut short as several crossbow bolts pounded into his body. He began to turn around, but the other three Maximals were beginning to aim at him. Not wanting to be nearly destroyed again, he zoomed up into the sky in a maneuver he had learned while Starscream was in his body. Drill Bit finally finished with the engine parts just as the Maximals noticed him. He transformed and dove into the ground, barely missing a multitude of blasts. Blooclot and Manterror also transformed, and ignored their minor injuries as they ran off. "Why in the world did they attack the engine?" puzzled Onslaught. "This is not a crucial engine - barely even useful. Why would they waste four warriors on it?" "Whatever it is, I really doubt that it's good," replied Wolfang. * * * * * * * * * * It was time to make his play. Primus Trion strode into Subcommander Neogene's quarters. The subcommander looked up in suprise. "Sir," began Neogene, "what is the reason for this -" Primus shot his cannon throught the subcommander. He fell with a gaping hole in his body. "Neogene, will you ever shut up?" he asked. The subcommander wasn't dead yet, but he wouldn't live without medical attention. Something that the leader of the Maximals would do easily. He leaned over to the comm monitor. "B'Boom, are you there?" The large gunner appeared on screen. "Yes, sir. All weapons on the ship are at full functionality." "Good. Fire on the Axalon immediately." "What?" The large Maximal looked confused. "But sir, the Axalon is on our -" "Primal has been conspiring against us for quite some time now," said Primus Trion. "Neogene was allied with him, so I had to kill him before he could notify Primal of this attack. Now, you will do as I order, soldier!!!" ""But..." B'Boom finally stopped trying to comprehend. "As you order, Primus Trion." The comm screen winked out. "Well, that's all I needed to know," said Cavewing, shutting off his invisibility. "Thanks, Trion, but I think I'll be going now." "How did you...?!?!?" Primus was suprised, but not disoriented. He raised his cannon and blasted Cavewing across the room. The smaller Maximal was blown across the room, nearly dead. "Primal, put up the Axalon's shields!" called Cavewing into the comm. Primus leveled his cannon at Cavewing's head. And fired. * * * * * * * * * * "Primal - >skrzzzzt< - shields - >kratzzzzt< - now!" Rhinox heard the message from Cavewing. For a minute, he wondered about it, then he heard the comm link to Cavewing snap off suddenly. He stopped hesitating and slammed on the shields. And the blast from the flagship's cannons rocked the entire ship. Rhinox was knocked loose from his chair, and the other nearby Maximals fell. "What the slag was that?!?" asked Optimus Primal, getting to his feet. Stormcloud rushed over to the computer console. "We took a direct hit from the flagship's main cannons! Damage on the aft and lower decks, fires on all of the lower decks, and sheild strength is down to 72%." "How did we find out about that?" asked Cheetor, getting up. Rhinox began to regain conciousness. "Cavewing...blasted..." The Maximals all bowed their heads in reverance of their fallen comrade. Then they began to scramble madly, trying to make sure everything would hold against a second attack. That question was answered seconds later. "Hull breach in the aft and lower sector! Fires causing severe damage on all of the lower decks! Shields down to 44%!" Stormcloud lept out of the chair. "I'm going to check on Vixen in the medlab!" "Good luck!" said Rattrap, spraying a fire with coolant. Stormcloud rushed out of the command chamber rapidly. * * * * * * * * * * Dinobot slashed through another door, and was greeted with another burst of flame. Fanning the flames down with his rotor, he picked up the two Maximals inside, then leaped out of the room and brought the two of them to Vixen. Stormcloud sprayed another fire with a column of ice, then transformed and flew over a wall of flame between him and the medlab. He rushed past Dinobot to see Skydive and Vixen working furiously to help all of the scorched Maximals. "Are you all right?" asked Stormcloud of Vixen. "I'm fine," she said. "It's these guys I'm worried about!" Stormcloud walked over to one of the Maximals and began patching him up. "What in the world are you doing?!?" asked Vixen incredulously. "I may not be a medic, but I have at least enough knowledge to help out!" he replied, beginning to work on the charred robot. Vixen nodded and went back to work on the one she had just started on. Every pair of hands they could use. * * * * * * * * * * B'Boom fired yet again, and he saw the cargo ship shudder under the impact. "What's their status?" he asked Grimlock. "Shields at 16%. The next hit will blow their shields away, and probably a good portion of the ship as well." Grimlock turned to the aim console. "B'Boom, isn't it possible we might miss and cause a rockslide burying them? Maybe leaving them alive, but burying them?" B'Boom saw what Grimlock was saying. "Yes, I think it is. Think you could aim to miss like that?" "Not a problem," said Grimlock. He aimed the targeting grid. "Oh no, I think we're going to miss." "Primus willing," said B'Boom, and he hit the fire button. He watched as the rocks tumbled over the Maximal ship, burying it. "Ooops," he said. *Let's just hope that they survived,* thought B'Boom. * * * * * * * * * * It seemed like an eternity before Cheetor woke up. The whole world seemed dark and painful, but at least it was solid. Cheetor stood up and tried to walk over to the console. Ouch. Yes, very definitely solid. That floor was most certainly solid. Cheetor got up again and tried again to walk. This time, he succeeded. He walked over to the computer console. "Unnnnnnh..." came a groan from Rattrap as he slowly raised himself up. He saw Cheetor. "Hey, kittycat, what's going on?" "Not much," replied Cheetor. "We've been buried under nearly a ton of rocks. Shields are out, engines are damaged even worse then before - but we're alive." "Thank Primus," said Rattrap. "Think you can contact Stormcloud? That brainiac might come in handy if we're going to get out of here." "I'm trying," replied Cheetor, sending message after message and waiting for a reply. * * * * * * * * * * Stormcloud's world came hazily back into focus. The medlab's left half was buried in rocks - thankfully, nobody had been standing there. Dinobot was pinned under a large stone, and Vixen and Skydive were sprawled across the medtables. He was lying facedown on the ground, his skull echoing with a headache. His comm blinked on. "Stormcloud here," he said. "This is Cheetor," said...well, you know who. "We seem to be buried under nearly a ton of rocks. Can you come up here and give us a hand?" Stormcloud looked at the entranceway. "At the moment, I'd say no -" Cloudspin blasted another rock out of the way with her particle cannon. Windrider slashed through to form an entryway with his talons. "- on second thought, I just might be able to," finished the computer genius. Vixen gave a low wimper. Stormcloud picked her up and walked out of the entryway that the two gestalt members had created. "Cloudspin, keep an eye in here, will you?" he asked. "No sweat, Stormcloud," replied the female. She stepped inside the medlab as Stormcloud and Vixen headed towards the control center. * * * * * * * * Neogene's world slowly came back into focus. "Well, it's about time," said Cavewing, standing over the larger subcommander. "It's been over a day since Primus tiredd to kill the two of us." Neogene sat up. The two of them were sitting in the waste area of the ship. "How did you manage to survive?" asked Neogene. "I saw you get blasted." "Yeah, that was pretty convincing, wasn't it?" said Cavewing. His face mask did not allow him to show emotion, but he seemed to be smiling. "I managed to twist just enough so that Primus's second blasted destroyed my shoulder, not my head. He really wasn't examining to closely, so he just threw both of us into here, at which point I pulled my repair parts out of my subspace closet and used whatever I could find to repair you." "Great," said Neogene, flexing his arm. The parts felt natural enough - Cavewing had done a good job. "What else has happened?" "The Axalon is buried," replied Cavewing. "Not destroyed, just buried. Primus Trion must be stopped at any cost." "Excellent plan," siad Neogene. "One problem: the Axalon is out there, and we're in here." "Ah, ye of little faith," said Cavewing, waggling a finger at Neogene and shaking his head. "I got this far - don't think I don't have any way to get further." He grabbed Neogene by the arm. And they fell right out of the ship. It only took a few seconds, but it looked very odd. They dropped right through the ship to the ground. Neogene looked around in suprise. "Phasing," explained Cavewing. "Useful when nobody opens the door. Are going to stnad there and gawk all day, or are you coming with me?" Cavewing transformed to bat mode and flew off towards the Axalon. Neogene turned into a ground sloth and followed. * * * * * * * * * * "Sentinel?" "Off-line." "Engines?" "Worse then before." "Shields?" "Off-line." "Comm?" "Barely on-line." "Power generator?" "On-line, but badly trashed." Stormcloud sighed in exasperation. "Can you think of any way to get out of here?" he asked Rattrap. "Short of divine intervention, I don't have a clue," he replied. "Skyking and Magnaboss might get somewhere with Ground Zero's help, but they'd blast us again in seconds." Stormcloud looked over the ship map. "Maybe if we tunnel OUT, yes..." * * * * * * * * * "How are we doing?" asked Stormcloud. Cavewing looked over his sensor readings. "You're about fifty klicks from the surface. You're far enough away from the ship to start tunneling up." Stormcloud nodded and turned to Ground Zero. "You can start going up now," he said. The large badger nodded and began digging upwards. "I've got to admit, this is a pretty good idea," said Rattrap, following behind Stormcloud. "Let's just hope it works," said Optimus Primal, carrying a large device under a cloth. "What is that?" asked Rattrap. "With any luck," said Stormcloud, "it'll be something that we won't have to use. Otherwise, I'd say it's our ace in the hole." Ground Zero finally burst out of the ground in front of Neogene and Cavewing. The Maximals that had tunneled out assembled in front of the buried Axalon. "Now what?" asked Rattrap. "We try to take out Primus Trion before he kills us," replied Vixen. "An admirable goal," said Primus Trion, hovering overhead. "Too bad it will never come to fruition." He lashed out with a blast from his cannon, smashing into Skyking and knocking him back. "Primal! The device!" said Stormcloud. Primal nodded and put the device down. Stormcloud rushed over to it and began turning various knobs and dials. "What are you going to do with it?" asked Rattrap, firing at Primus Trion. "You'll see soon enough," replied Stormcloud. Neogene and Optimus Primal flew up towards Trion, cannons at the ready. Trion rolled out of the way and blasted twice with his cannon, clipping Neogene's shoulder and hitting Primal's forearm. Primal whipped out a large mace and began swinging it over his head, trying to build up speed to hit Trion out of the sky. Trion grabbed the mace and tried to yank the mace out of Primal's hands. A pair of cannons flipped out from Primus's back and fired on Trion, hitting him squarely in the chest. Trion barely noticed the missiles. He swung the mace upwards with Primal still holding on, and completed a full turn, sending Primal plummeting to the ground. Neogene slammed into Trion in a full side tackle, throwing Trion into a barrel roll. Trion swiped at Neogene's head, knocking the subcommander off of him. The subcommander extended his arm blades and slashed at Trion. The slash bounced off of Trion's heavy armor plating. Laughing, Trion uppercutted Neogene, who flipped over backwards, then righted himself. Two chain gun missile launchers popped out of Neogene's arm and aimed at Trion, then began rotating rapidly, blasting the Maximal leader. The explosions didn't even seem to faze Trion, who flew over to Neogene and blasted him in the chest, sending the subcommander plummeting. "You nearly done with that thing?" asked Rattrap, blasting his gun at Trion. He might as well have been shooting spitballs at Unicron. "This takes time!" growled Stormcloud, continuing to fiddle with |hm device. "Oh, excuse me! Sorry if my self-preservation instinct made me feel like it's high time you added something to this battle!" Rattrap tumbled out of the way of a blast from Trion. "May I remind you who designed those two?" asked Stormcloud, waving at the gestalts. The two gestalts flew towards Trion. Magnaboss smashed hard into Trion. For once, Trion actually seemed to react from the blow, tumbling down a bit. He growled in anger, and fired repeatedly at Magnaboss. The tricombiner moved remarkably nimbly for such a large robot, and dodged out of the way of the blasts. Skyking slashed a talon at Trion, now at his level. Trion backed off and transformed to bat mode, diving low and then zooming back up, firing a series of blasts. The shots riddled Skyking with holes, and a terrible scream came from the gestalt as it screamed with the voices of all five of its members. Still woozy from the collision, Primal leaped onto Trion's back and began slashing at him with his swords. Magnaboss opened up on Trion with powerful cannons, and Trion finally seemed to be injured, wobbling a little in his flight. He blasted Magnaboss, knocking the gestalt away, and went into a barrel roll to knock Primal off his back. He transformed back into robot mode and dived straight at Stormcloud and Rattrap. "If you're going to do something, Stormcloud, you'd better do it now!" said Rattrap, still desperately firing his gun. "Get down!" replied Stormcloud, and the machine spewed forth a large globe of green-blue energy, encasing Trion in it. The organic half of Trion melted into a mess of dead cells. Trion growled as the field dissapated and flew at Stormcloud. "Say good-bye, pal," said Stormcloud, and flipped one last switch. A yellow-orange beam shot out of the device and blasted Trion back. Trion's computer could be heard saying familiar words: EXCESSIVE ENERGON EXPOSURE. CONVERT TO BEAST MODE OR RISK STASIS LOCK. Sparks shot out of Trion as he twisted and convulsed. His body melted into a hunk of slag. His eyes glared with anger at the two Maximals operating the device, Stormcloud and Vixen. Then the light vanished, and Trion's Spark was extinguished. The hunk of metal fell to the ground and shattered. Stormcloud patted the device once. "That," he said smugly, "is where my energon field generator is." Rattrap just gaped. * * * * * * * * * * "So what do we do now?" asked Neogene as Vixen fused another patch of metal to his arm. "Well, your ship was sabotaged by Primus Trion, so you can't take off," said Razorbeast. "On the other hand, there are still enough working parts to repair the Axalon, so if you'd be willing to stay here -" "We would," said Grimlock. "Then we'd better get to work on repairs," said Razorbeast, leaving the room. "I have some great ideas with what we could do to the weapons systems..." "Just one thing I'm worried about," said Primal, looking at Neogene. "Who's going to lead the Maximals now that Trion is gone?" Neogene thought for a moment. "I know of some generals that will probably take Trion's place." "Yes, but will they avoid the same fate?" asked Primal. Neogene could not find a decet answer. "No matter how virtuous the cause or the person," said Stormcloud at a nearby computer console, "it is certain that power will corrupt them. The question is: are they strong enough to remain more or less the same?" None of the Maximals had a satisfying answer. * * * * * * * * * * "Ahh, so you got the items I requested," said Blackarachnia with a grin. "Very good. You might turn out to be an effective army in the end." "Empress," asked Drill Bit, "why do you want these engine parts? They aren't enough to power(a(ship." "No," replied Blackarachnia. "But I have my reasons. Reasons that you will simply have to accept, not question." Blackarachnia smiled and picked up the small crafted figure of Nightbird on her shelf. "For the first time since I came here, I have power over you in a way that cannot be denied. And I intend to make sure that I keep it." She turned back to her four soldiers. "You are dismissed," she said. The four of them bowed and left her quarters. Blackarachnia began to chuckle. That grew into a laugh. And that grew into a cackle of power that echoed throughout the Predacon ship. "Power..." she hissed quietly. She finally had it. And she was going to do her best to keep it.