Embers in the Night part two

Megatron snorted and blinked sleepily. He’d fallen asleep in his office again.

“Pernicious here, I see you’ve held the line at Hashlyn. That’s good, but I’ve received information that the invisibility cloaks never made it to Jalen, or Kiulist, and the army at Jalen has been defeated. The remaining Jalen fighters are coming to Hashlyn, where they will be repaired and rearmed and prepare for another attack on the lost city. You had better be ready for them,” Pernicious growled.

“General, I’m really not needed here. The job I do can be done by a captain, or even a lieutenant. I have a captain who will indefinitely run the place well while I can move onto more important strategic planning at Quantile. If I may promote Captain Asphyxiate, sir.”

“Well, if you insist. I do realise that you are a very good strategist, so… Ah slag it, if you think this Asphyxiate is disciplined enough to run Hashlyn, then so be it. I expect to see you shortly in Quantile, but I warn you, if anything goes wrong concerning the running of Hashlyn, it is you who will pay,” Pernicious growled.

Just wait ‘til he gets there, then they’ll see who’s boss…

He had his doubts about Asphyxiate. What he thought was that Asphyxiate would assassinate him and take control of his troops. So this idea of moving to Quantile and putting him in charge wasn’t too bad.

Megatron didn’t wait long before the Captain was standing in front of him, looking at him expectantly.

“I’ve just had a word with General Pernicious on your behaviour,” Megatron cooed.

“And we have decided…” He trailed, building the suspense for his worried Captain.

“Sir!” Asphyxiate exclaimed, the thrill and delight in his eyes making Megatron increasingly happy that he had decided to leave.

“Here is the computer you will need to run the city, all the troops are under your command. I trust you will run it very well, because if you don’t,” Megatron warned, his fingers stroking his laser hand, “You will pay dearly.”

The station was much less crowded now that the howling women and the boisterous soldiers had left, and he spotted Vindictive, Kyroid, Power Surge and Waspinator all playing a game of cards.

“He’s staying here, now shut up and follow me.” He snapped and headed for the exit.

They left the building and headed towards the airport.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

“But then this area here will be open for attack, exposing too large amount of the city.”

Diamond rubbed her forehead as her headache grew stronger. All the officers were grouped around the laptop, trying to work out battle plans for Kiulist. So far, with the amount of men they had there, things weren’t looking too promising.

“But maybe,” Vern cut in, “we could move these troops over here and use the Reserves to protect that area, which isn’t very attacked.” Vern suggested.

Scarlet looked a little shocked and was speechless. Sure she had had much war training on the physical side, and yes, she had passed her exams, but when it came to actual battle planning.

“I think,” Diamond said quickly, not actually having much to say, “that Vern’s idea could work if we take some of the repaired soldiers from the medic camp here,” she said, pointing at the Red Cross building on the map, “and instead of using the new train troops for the main battle, use them for the Reserves. We could therefore use the original Reserves in battle, and have others replacing them. And if the main fighters need replenishing, they can always use the new Reserves.”

“It’s a bit ambitious, but it might just work. What say you all?” He asked.

“A bit too ambitious for my liking, but I say that you and I go over it in further detail and let Miss Diamond know after supper, if there is a supper.” He said, clearly hungry. Diamond smiled faintly.

“Let’s indeed find out if dinner’s being served.” He said cheerfully and the ten officers rose to their feet, muttering and grumbling as they followed Vern into the hallway.

Diamond shook her head and minimised the battle plans on the laptop. She opened up an email program.

“Sending an email to a friend, so, just in case he gets a moment to check like I have, he knows that I’m alive,” she explained, clearly not positive that this friend was alive.

“We’re all in the same mess, Scarlet. Everyone’s frightened, even Captain Swantex. But they say you’ve got to learn to face your fears in order to overcome them. And I don’t think that’s a bad saying to live by during this time of warfare.”

“Because really, you have no choice”

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

It turned out that there were five bots going to Kiulist. Optimus, Rattrap and two females.

Tourmaline was sitting on the edge of a table in a spare medic room, gazing into the eyes of the medic.

He was standing by the door with Optimus, looking worriedly and curiously at Tourmaline. She nodded in his direction and he put his head in his hands.

“I really don’t think Luna should come. She’d be safer here, in the ship. I mean they’d be safer, what with her baby and all.”

“But she’s pretty determined. She says she’s still got two months and that she’d rather assist her faction than sit around here where there are enough medics,” she explained.

“There’s no changing’ da mind of a pushy femme.” He said and walked out. Optimus sighed.

“We’d better watch out for her then, and make sure she stays at the medical camp at all times.” He stated.

Tourmaline nodded and glanced back at the femme who was sitting on the edge of a lab table. She looked at Tourmaline and Optimus momentarily, before hopping off and leaving through a door in the back of the room.

“I’m tired of Predacons who insist on ruining our lives and destroying our planet. These past few days have only convinced me to join this fight, which we are involuntarily a part of anyway. Besides, I’d rather fight side by side with friends and die with people who care, than amongst strangers who’ll just regard me as another fallen soldier. If you know what I mean,” he said quietly.

“Yes. But we are leaving tomorrow, which doesn’t give us much time to prepare ourselves.” She sighed.

“You can never really prepare yourself for a war. It’s a shock to the system, with or without experience. I suggest you get some rest, you’re going to need it.”

Tourmaline realised that Optimus was ‘a gentle giant’ as Rattrap put it. Even with everything he’d been through, he still managed to keep a clear head and focus on the task at hand.

“You too.” She said with a smile. He opened the door for her and she slipped outside into the hallway.

Optimus watched her go and smiled. Rattrap had a nice, warm-hearted girl there, so soft and gentle. So few people were like that, and he knew that he might never find anyone like Snow Crystal again. But if Snowy had taught him one thing in life, it was to look at the future with optimism and simply take each day as it comes.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tarantulas clicked his mandibles together irritably. All throughout the Beast Wars he’d had to fight and be a scientist. And he had hated it. And now he was at it again, involuntarily as usual.

He sighed and glared at his computer screen. He was working on a device that would allow Predacons to see the signatures of both humans (who were picked up because of their suits) and Maximals and each other, but at the same time have their signature invisible to the enemy. In other words, they could see everyone but the enemy couldn’t see them. To try and work on a device which eludes the advanced signature scanners of the EA and Maximals was no easy task. And so far he was unsuccessful, although he was working on something at present that looked like a possible victory over their technology…

He was alone in the lab, which was why he spun around sharply to the call of his name.

“Tarantulas,” whispered a feminine voice. He recognised it immediately. His wrist screen picked no energy signature though.

“If this is a death angel coming to take me to the Matrix or the Pit, then cut the ‘scary’ whispers and cold breezes. Just hurry up.” He snarled, knowing full well now who it was.

“Kismet! Show yourself or leave me, I’ve no time for your games.” He spat.

“I thought you were inviting death. I didn’t know you had figured me out,” she said with a smile, touching her cheeks gently.

“I had a hunch you were a spirit-like maniac from the start. Now what do you want?”

Tarantulas, if in beast mode, would have bitten her head off right then. He seriously despised this female.

“To find my sister. I need to join forces with her and take over Cybertron.”

“Well once you have, don’t invite me round for tea. I’m already expected at a party with the Tripedicus council.”

“Ah yes, the Tripedicus council. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the only ones left when this is all over. The Maximals and Predacons are going to blow each other to bits sooner or later. I think you’d be nicer rulers, but I still think I’m best for the job.”

“A female Maximal called Diamond. The last co-ordinates I knew her to be in was Nystrin. But she’s since left there. She’s alive, I know that. But where she is now…”

He placed in a dish like device, attached like a keyboard to the computer. A red beam scanned in the image and the computer hummed as it searched.

“Fine. I’ll wait, you can get back to whatever it was that was irritating you so much.”

“The whole of Cybertron his irritating me at the moment. What I’d do to build a giant web, get the planet stuck in it, wrap it up and eat it…” He muttered.

A few clicks later the computer beeped and a message displaying ‘1 match found’ brought another deranged smile to her face.

“Hmmm. She’s under Aswade at the moment, but she’s moving. Must be in a cyber car, no, too fast. She must be on a ship or train.” She informed herself out loud.

“Well now that you’ve found her, what say you buzz off and never whisk in again?” Tarantulas called from across the room.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” she said before drifting away as silently as she had come.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

The continuous fast paced beep, beep, beep was a grim reminder that this patient was indeed still alive but on the fast track to death. No CR chamber could repair this damage quick enough, so the soldier had been splayed out on an operating table and four doctors were desperately trying to keep him alive.

Boxes of instruments and tools lay scattered everywhere and he kept having to get on his knees to dig for them. The medic camp had been put up in a rush and half the tools hadn’t been unpacked, making working conditions very unorganised.

“Hand me that I.S.S, Nyra,” Doctor Zivler demanded. The nurse picked one from the floor and handed it to him. He inserted the tiny screwdriver into the bot’s spark casing and quickly unscrewed the ‘lid’. He pulled it away and the sputtering spark was revealed. Two hands from another doctor reach in and placed a thin metal sheet over where the lid used to be and he got back to work re-screwing in the screws and tightening on the metal piece, which was in fact a stabilizer sheet. Its job was to keep the spark safe and replenish it as it was filled with energy that was reviving to dying sparks. They only lasted a short period, but perhaps it would give them enough time to repair the main damage to this bot’s chest and neck.

He finished on the lid and was about to start on cutting away the torn wires sticking out of the soldier’s neck when a nurse called him from the entrance.

He turned to see the panicked face of a nurse who was pointing at the doorway. Two bots stood, both utterly shredded and practically charred. The smaller bot was leaning against the bigger bot who took a weary step, before collapsing onto the floor.

“Get these two onto tables and call for more medical assistants!” He demanded. He helped one of the other nurses drag the biggest of the bots away, while two more nurses dragged the smaller one.

As he dragged the torn and severed bot towards an operating table, he knew at the back of his mind that there were probably no more medical assistants left to help him. The sheer number of patients pouring in from Kiulist was too much to handle and he wouldn’t be surprised if he had to operate on them both by himself. The smaller, female bot was dragged to the corner of the room. There were no more tables left.

“Nurse, try and stabilise the female until one of the assistants get here. And if they’re not here in three minutes then I want to you to operate.”

The nurse nodded with worried eyes. She was a nurse, not a doctor, and her knowledge was limited. She’d in fact been a soldier with medical experience who had offered to help. The doctor realised that the larger bot was slightly more damaged and he got to work on him straight away.

But to his surprise, as he started digging his hands into his chest, he discovered shreds of what looked like charred organic skin…

………………………………………………………………………………………….

She walked through the empty streets, pieces of paper gliding mutely across the road by a cold breeze. It was dark, save for the bright lampposts dotted along the streets. She felt as if she were in clear marble, dropped in a fish tank. Around her, dark fish like shapes slid past and cast continuously moving shadows on the ground. Like fast moving clouds. She walked on, her golden sword in her hand and she flicked it through the air playfully. She was very alone in this desolate, abandoned world.

She could hear not the sound of her footsteps, nor her sword flinging into the ground, nor her own gasp as it again began to bleed, handle down. She took a frightened step back and quiet wails and cries drifted through the air. She could hear the steady whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of the blood flowing through her ears, like an army marching towards her, but never getting any closer. Suddenly, the glass like dome of the marble began to crack and thin hairline breaks in the glass flowed down like tentacles. The cracks widened and spread and the dark, monstrous shapes gliding past outside became distorted. She started to walk back quickly, her heart pounding in her ears. And then, in one sudden, terrifying moment, the glass broke and there was the roar of water as it burst in and rushed towards her. Swimming in with the water were large sharks, piranhas, coelacanths and they approached her, mouth agape with glistening silver teeth and they roared like an approaching fighter plane. She screamed and covered his eyes with her arm as the waves of death came crashing down.

Diamond sat up with a gasp again. But this time she knew it was a dream, and she knew where she was. She was in a dark room, on a train with half of the original passengers (the other half had been dropped off at Aswade), travelling to Kiulist with drawn out battle plans beside her make do bench bed. But that didn’t stop her panting, holding her spark as the terror that had gripped it slowly faded away and she was left with that sickening, uneasy and nervous feeling you get before acting on stage. Which she was going to do, to an extent. She may be a lieutenant, but her confidence was well and truly a careful act.

She breathed deeply to calm herself and suddenly light poured in from behind her.

“Diamond, we’re about five cycles from Kiulist. If I were you, I’d start getting ready. I presume you have your own weapons?”

He smiled with fake cheerfulness and left her. She stood shakily and switched on the light. She looked at her wrist and could see that it was still early morning, and it would be dark outside. She shivered.

She picked up her sword, quietly thanking Primus that after their brief practice in the car park at Dudier, she and Scarlet hadn’t taken their armour off. It was a small comfort, but a comfort nevertheless.

With a weary sigh she fastened her sword to her side and put her gun in her sub space pocket.

A sudden rumble from above signified that they were now under the city. She could tell by the distant explosions.

Her dream, her vision had undoubtedly been of the lines being broken at Kiulist, and the monsters that had been fighting outside the city poured in through the broken sentinel shield in massive waves.

She left her cabin and headed for the main exit of the train, knowing grimly that she was about to enter that tank, that nightmare, and that this time, she couldn’t and may never wake up.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Sure he’d been in pretty large cities like Relentrax and Borstolling, but this one was by far the biggest.

Kyroid gazed up in awe as Quantile rose above them. Their ship glided silently towards the monstrosity, which had cyber cars swarming around the air highways like millions of worker bees around a hive.

The sentinel shield spilt slightly to let them through after beams of light, the scanners, had scanned their ship code, their cores and their signatures.

“Quantile, largest Predacon city on Cybertron, home to all the top Generals and Colonels. Soon to be, the commanding centre of this planet.” Megatron whispered in excitement.

Kyroid, even though he thought Megatron was a bit insane, liked this idea. The ship glided in and flew through the air channel restricted for jets and incoming Predacon scout ships and they slowed and landed in the airport.

“Ahem! You will NOT, run amuck and get yourselves slagged by the Predacon guards, you will NOT disappear into Bars and/or try and charm pretty ladies to join you tonight, you will NOT call me Barney, Pear Head or anything of that sort, but call me Major…NOT Major Megatron, it sounds corny. You will stay close to me at all times, you will behave properly and you will NOT fight with me, or each other or anyone else for that matter. Understood?”

Outside you couldn’t tell if it was night or day. The billions of lights in the city kept it bright all the time. Megatron stepped out and three soldiers at the bottom of the ramp from the ship to the floor saluted him and he nodded in appreciation. He could get used to this.

The three soldiers guided him to a building across from the airport. He could see it was well protected and built to last. Sentries stood everywhere, auto-guns decorated the building as well as two laser cannons on top. He walked up to the building and stopped as identity scanners searched him and his troops. He entered a cubicle, where he was further scanned, entered ANOTHER cubicle where he was stared at by two tiny cameras and then finally entered the building. It was grand, to say the least. With sapphire stone floors and walls decorated by tiles of quartz and doors of silver, it was royally magnificent, but very modern at the same time. To his right he could see a number of secretary desks and to his left there was a waiting room.

“Sit there,” Megatron ordered his troops, who grudgingly obeyed. He followed the three smart looking soldiers to the end of the hallway and into an elevator. The elevator was extremely fast and Megatron hadn’t so much as blinked when the doors opened again, revealing yet another hallway. The silent soldiers marched onwards and he followed them to the end of the corridor. Finally, one spoke into a little microphone beside two silver doors.

The doors slid open and a surprisingly small room was revealed. The walls were littered with screens and dead ahead there was a console with a large screen, displaying images from Aswade. The bot sitting in front of it turned around and Megatron straightened up.

“All right Megatron,” he began, “we’ve just decided to launch an attack on Tylexia, now work on a battle plan and show us what you’re made of!”

Pernicious directed him to go to the room next door, which would be his office from now on. Megatron left to work on his battle plan, but that was not the only thing he was planning to do…

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

He wasn’t totally lost in the depths of sleep, sort of half way there. But he still wasn’t aware of the real world, no, he was a bit too far in. It felt as if a fuzzy warm blanket had covered him and that feeling of warmth and security, comfort and peace was just too irresistible to break away from. He’d never slept so deeply in his life as he had been for the past three days, due to the fact that he was still exhausted from his past ordeal. And he enjoyed every second of this rest, which was often prolonged by the fact he no loner had an alarm clock and hadn’t bothered to figure his own internal one to wake him anytime soon. But all that came to a standstill as a soft but startling breeze touched his cheek and a feeling of being touched on the hand brought him back to reality.

Tourmaline’s worried expression sent off no alarms except the ones telling him how lucky he was.

“Rattrap, wake up. We’ve got to get on board the scout ship now.” She said in a silky voice, so pure.

None of the words sank in straight away; they sort of bobbed on the surface, as all his mind could focus on was her pretty face and those intelligent eyes.

But then as if someone thrust them under, he took notice of what she had said and his smile abruptly faded. She held up her wrist in front of him and the time her watch showed was far from comforting.

“Oh slag! Yeah, great Tourmaline, give me three minutes ta pack and everythin’!”

“You’ve nothing to pack. And you were sleeping so soundly, for a change. I didn’t want to wake you,” she said.

He stood and froze at this fact. He had nothing but himself and a roll of tissue paper.

“Ah, yeah, guess yer right. But ya could have given me more time to get down dere!” He exclaimed and walked over to the door and opened it.

It didn’t take them long before they were onboard with the rest. The scout ship Captain explained to them that it would take half an hour before they got to Kiulist because of all the detours they had to take. This was because of Predacon S+D (Search and Destroy) ships lurking about. No one was in any hurry to go to war and it was accepted. Before long the ship was airborne. So quickly. A little too quickly for Rattrap’s liking. He was still clearing the sleepy stars from his eyes.

They all sat quietly in the back cabin on benches. Optimus was talking to Luna, no doubt reminding her of the very obvious. To stay close to a medical camp at all times, which she’d obviously be doing if she was going to help out as a medic.

Tourmaline fiddled with her newly installed wrist panel that the Captain had installed on all of them. It would show up energy and ally signatures in battle.

Rattrap had seen all of these things had found himself terribly bored. No TV, no computer games, no nothing. He sighed and decided that going back to sleep was probably the best thing.

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Tourmaline sighed and switched off her wrist panel. It was like playing with a calculator. You only do it when you’re incredibly bored and you very quickly lose interest in it. Rattrap and Luna had fallen asleep and Optimus had gone to speak with the Captain of the scout ship if he could drop him at Aswade, where he could offer his services as a Captain in the air force.

Not tired enough to sleep and not cruel enough to wake up Rattrap and irritate him.

She got up and walked over to the small window. They were going too fast for her to see anything beyond a blur. She pressed her face against the cold glass sadly, remembering those lost.

She suddenly felt very alone. Her parents had died long ago, she had no brothers and sisters, her mates back in Relentrax were most probably smouldering piles of ash and Hyra…Hyra…

She turned slowly to gaze at Rattrap, who was curled up on the bench, snoring peacefully. She stared at him, not actually thinking. Her mind was distant. But she actually looked at Rattrap for the first time after a few moments, and it struck her.

Rattrap had contacted Cheetor in between the rush of events, but he hadn’t contacted Dinobot. And if Dinobot had escaped, he would have taken Hyra with him…

It was a possibility, and Tourmaline had been living on possibilities her entire life.

But the hopeful panic in her stomach was too much to quell and she kept on shaking him.

“Rattrap, Rattrap!” She exclaimed in a whisper, not wanting to disturb the others.

“All right, you’ve got my attention,” he said with a faint smile, still lying down but at least looking at her.

“Not for me! Think I’ll do that more often,” he said, curling up in a ball again with a yawn.

“At least we want thingssss, not like males who only want one thing all the time. Always on the mind!” She retorted.

“If that’s what you think of me, Rattrap, then you’re no slagging different to the other guys I’ve met. No slagging different!”

She spun on her heels and left the room, catching a glimpse of his shocked and regretful expression that sent shivers of sadness through her. But she was too blind with rage to care. She stormed down the hallway, not having anywhere to go and as she turned the corner she bumped into Optimus.

“Oops!” He chuckled, but his smile faded when he saw the look of anger on her face.

“Society is what’s wrong, Optimus!” She exclaimed and pushed past him, heading in the direction of the bridge.

Rattrap, to say the least, was rooted to the spot. Luna had awoken with all the commotion, but was clueless as to what had happened.

She’d seen Tourmaline storm out cursing and swearing, and she figured they’d gotten into a fight. So she didn’t get herself involved and rolled over and went back to sleep.

A regretful feeling of hurt is never a nice emotion to have. He’d only felt it once before in his lifetime, but never to this extent.

Optimus appeared at the entrance, looking both curiously and worriedly at Rattrap.

Whatever the old Maximal leader said next was drowned out by the captain’s voice on the intercom.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re approaching Kiulist. But the scene is not what you may have expected.”

Rattrap and Optimus looked slowly at the window to see that there was indeed a city rising up ahead. But a city on fire with a broken sentinel shield and dotted with few Maximal planes.

“Whatever happened between you and Tourmaline, you’d better make up quickly, because the chances of you getting out of Kiulist alive are much slimmer.”

Rattrap was unhappily forced to agree.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Another deafening explosion rocked her off her feet, but she scrambled back up again, teeth clenched, hand squeezing around the handle of her gun. She stumbled up, fighting the oncoming clouds of dust and ash and she turned to see Cheetor staggering up behind her.

She obeyed her sergeant. She’d saved his life and if this were a move that’d save hers, then she’d call it equal.

A few soldiers around her turned and ran, but one fell and she rushed to help him.

To her dismay, as she knelt beside him, there was a neat hole burned right through his spark cage, and the spark had gone. The noise of explosions and the raging winds had absorbed the sound of the gunshot.

“Ulextra! Leave him, he’s gone. Save yourself and fall back!” She heard Cheetor scream.

With a brief nod of respect, she stood and ran back. She found Cheetor directing his men to a manhole, which they were crawling in. She followed and a few moments later, the winds were left outside and the explosions were softened and distant. She clambered down the ladder but collapsed three rungs from the bottom in utter exhaustion. She landed with a painful thump.

She cleared the ash from her optics and eyed the five equally fatigued soldiers wearily. They were frightened and worried.

The manhole opened again and Cheetor slipped inside, remembering to close it and block the world of chaos out.

“We can’t stay here. I’ve just received reports that tunnel rats have been released into the sewage system. It’s only a matter of time before heavily armed and fresh soldiers come down this pipe. I suggest that we go back up and run in the direction of the medic camp. It’s under siege and they need more foot soldiers for protection from land troops. So far the remains of the Kiulist Air Force are holding off the bombers. I say we get up and get there as quickly as possible.”

The six of them got up and followed their Sergeant up and out with unwavering faith.

They were met by the roaring winds caused by the countless explosions. The Predacons had seemingly given up on trying to save the city and drive out the Maximals, they were now just bombing them flat out. Well, that is what it seemed like to them

They hurried along towards the camp, using the clouds of ash to their advantage. Scanners were being interfered with thanks to the winds, and no Predacon could see a metre into this ash. They stayed close, weapons aimed and ready at any Predacon/s who got in their way. Thankfully none found them and they arrived safely.

The dust and ash was thinner here and the camp rose up like a ghostly mirage ahead of them. Soldiers ran about, their yells almost lost in the roar of blasts above.

“All right men! Report to the camp and ask for the standing Lieutenant. He’ll tell you where to go!” Cheetor demanded.

“I’m going back for the others!” He told them as he turned and ran back to the other half of their troops, who were helping defend the Energon banks. Ulextra watched him go with an ill feeling. Another, closer explosion rocketed above them and she looked up to see the building dead ahead of her get hit and explode. Her eyes widened in horror as it collapsed, right where she’d last seen Cheetor.

But like those of so many others, all warning yells were drowned in the constant waves of thundering explosions.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..