Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.
Note: This story takes place immediately after "Saving Cybertron".
A Whole New World
By TVfan
Battle Zone
Optimus and Queen slowly made their way through a sea of offline drones until they came to the area where Blackarachnia's team was still working to move some off the stasis locked transformers back to their makeshift base.
"How's it going?" Optimus asked as he came close.
"About as well as it can be, taking offline transformers to lay in a cave to wait to go into a CR chamber to be repaired," Blackarachnia sighed, "I take it we won?"
"The battle with the Tripredicus Council," Optimus commented, "Yes we won… although considering things, it'd be best that we withdraw."
"Withdraw?" Queen protested, "but we won! The Tripredicus Council is gone and you can free the sparks you care for so much!"
"Yes, but the bulk of our forces are in stasis lock and we have prisoners to see to," Optimus retorted, "And we have no knowledge of the bigger picture… How many drones did the Council have on Cybertron? And what was their disposition? Were they spread out and we've only destroyed a local unit? Or did we destroy the only forces they had on Cybertron itself?"
Queen didn't have the answer for that.
"And right now after all the damage that the Tripredicus Council's headquarters took, I doubt we'll find any circuitry undamaged to begin looking," Optimus finished.
"Yes… that was probably destroyed when their ship blasted off," Queen nodded.
"Do you know if they had more drones elsewhere on Cybertron?" Blackarachnia questioned.
"They do, as my cell here wasn't the only one on Cybertron," Queen answered, "Merely the one closest to their headquarters… though I can not be certain how much our victories here have helped the other cells, if at all."
"So what do we do now, Optimus?" Packadex asked as he returned from the underground to collect the next stasis locked transformer.
"We need to get everyone repaired," Optimus sighed, "that needs to be done first and foremost. Once everyone is in a position to wait for a CR chamber, and our prisoners are properly secured, we'll begin working on what our 'next move' will be."
"Why not appropriate one of the Tripredicus Council's other facilities in the area?" Spine wondered, "show that we are now the rulers of Cybertron."
"With our present numbers, I'd prefer not to mess with anymore booby trapped buildings until we're certain that we won't be getting anyone wounded with no one to back him up or get him or her out."
Spine looked to Queen, as he didn't like taking orders from a Maximal.
"Optimus is right," Queen said slowly, "let us rejoice in the victory… but let us also not do anything stupid. Even if there are only drones left on Cybertron at the moment… they'll still be a tough factor to deal with…"
"But if the Tripredicus Council is gone…"
"The drones that still function will carry on their basic tasks," Queen informed him, "they may be easier to deal with as the Council can't upload new strategies and tactics, but the ones they have can still be effective. Better to make sure we have the strength to take back the planet before do anything too ambitious."
Spine finally admitted defeat an followed Queen and Primal as they began helping Blackarachnia's team remove the wounded transformers.
Omega One, in Orbit Around Cybertron
The largest drone the Tripredicus Council had built hovered quietly over the planet. The weapons satellites didn't fire on it, as they had been put there to protect Omega One more then they were to protect the planet of Cybertron. The drone was the size of a small moon and had enough firepower to blast away at anything on Cybertron… but its targeting systems weren't good enough to guarantee that it could hit the Maximals and Predicons fighting the Tripredicus Council on the surface, so the lone Unicron spawn on the drone didn't order the drone to fire. It was more likely to miss the battle zone entirely.
And that spawn was Druyd. He was not by any means a fighter, but he had proved himself useful in one way to the Tripredicus Council, his means to communicate with the Oracle and the Matrix. And it was through him that the bargain to exchange living sparks for Unicron's had been made.
"And so the political fools have paid the price for making their only goal to be power," Druyd commented to himself as he watched the rocket carrying the Tripredicus Council explode and take them with it, "and the Maximals will ultimately reclaim Cybertron."
The concept of a transformer speaking directly with the Matrix and the Oracle was not unheard of. Considering the standard method of Cybertronian reproduction, it was even necessary. As a result of their link with a field that many outside of Cybertronians would consider mythical and fictional, the transformers that did forge these sort of direct links were usually weak in physical nature.
Their minds, however, was another story. They were usually best and the brightest among any of the factions, Autobot, Decepticon, Maximal, Predicon. But because they were more closely linked to the Oracle and Matrix then other transformers, they commonly took a more religious way of viewing things. That their actions were intended by the Matrix and the Oracle to happen. Groups like the Maximal Elders and the Tripredicus Council made political decisions based on what they thought was best or what would attain them power. This of course led to wars between the two factions, and when transformers like Druyd became involved, these wars usually became worse.
The Tripredicus Council wanted to recreate Unicron to be their ultimate weapon to us against the Maximals, against Earth, or any other planet, or planet-like form. Druyd wanted to recreate Unicron, because Unicron was a transformer who's power equaled the Matrix or the Oracle alone, and was thus a god among those of Cybertronians. And who argues with God?
Underground Base
"This is a total nightmare," Rhinox commented as the last of the stasis locked transformers were brought in, "a complete and total nightmare."
"I know, old friend, but we couldn't avoid it in this case," Optimus Primal replied with a sigh, "and thankfully it's only stasis lock. The Council's best weapon was the warships they brought in… but even they weren't able to keep a steady stream of fire down on our groups."
"And we won, Cybertron is safe," Queen added, "all that needs to be done is repair those that were damaged."
"The internal repair systems on most of them will likely deal with the bulk of the injuries by the time we can rotate them all through the CR chambers," Rhinox answered.
"We still won, the Tripredicus Council is dead," Queen pointed out.
"Maybe Cybertron is safe from them, but until we can get everything up and running again… and until we can recover the sparks that the Tripredicus Council stole to try and get Unicron back, this planet is very much in danger… particularly if they had a transformer on this 'Omega One' when they were destroyed. He now has no reason to spare Cybertron and may try anyway… and we do not have the forces to stop him. Even you and Optimus need time in a CR chamber."
"If they could have reactivated Unicron, they would have done so by now," Queen retorted, "they don't have enough sparks to make the switch."
"And once we're repaired, we'll go to this Omega One, and make sure it can't be done," Optimus sighed, "if that means destroying the drone, then so be it."
"Maybe it will have some of the information on where they have the sparks," Blackarachnia commented.
"And how are we to destroy a drone the size of a moon?" Rhinox questioned, "we've essentially destroyed all we have in this battle…"
"It's likely saved Cybertron," Queen answered back, "they didn't get enough sparks to trade for Unicron's spark and we will have time to get a ship into orbit and destroy it."
"For now," Rhinox snorted, seeing the casualties they had suffered as too much for the price of victory, "if this drone is the size of a moon, don't you think that whoever is commanding it will now order the drone to bombard the planet now that the Tripredicus Council is no longer on the planet to require Cybertron to remain?"
"The drone is lifeless," Queen answered, "Not a threat."
Rhinox was about to argue when Optimus cut him off.
"We know things aren't over, old friend," Optimus told Rhinox, "but dealing with the Tripredicus Council had to be done. I doubt we could have gotten a ship into orbit to go after the drone and find the sparks they stole while they lived. It's tough, but it's also the truth."
Rhinox only sighed while he looked to the wounded transformers laying in stasis lock.
"So what do you plan to do Optimus?" Rhinox asked after a moment.
"For the time being, we're only to rest and heal up from the battle itself," Optimus sighed, "once a few of our faster bots are back online we can begin searching for some of the other resistance cells on Cybertron."
"The cells on Cybertron?" Rhinox asked.
"They don't have the sparks to reactivate Unicron," Optimus answered, "not at the moment. If they did, we'd be in worse shape right now. It will allow us to figure out how many drones the Tripredicus Council had on Cybertron and allow us to figure out where we can get a ship."
"Which we'd need to go after Omega One anyway," Queen added.
"What about the shipyards here?" Rhinox asked.
"Omega One is the size of a moon," Optimus sighed, "it may take a fleet to destroy it once we can rescue the sparks… we're going to have to gamble that they won't get the sparks they need elsewhere."
Omega One
"Gone," Druyd mumbled as he walked along one of the interior passageways inside Omega One, "Gone… and with them the authorization to activate Unicron."
The thin 'mystic' transformer walked alone through the empty hallways of what would be Unicron's body once enough sparks had been gathered. Officially, with the Tripredicus Council gone, he lacked the authority to make the deal for Unicron's spark, but as a 'true believer' authority wasn't an issue.
"NO! It MUST come," Druyd then growled with determination, "UNICRON MUST BE REBORN!"
The last authority figure the Tripredicus Council had then moved with purpose to the spark chamber, which was in the same room as the link with the Matrix and the Oracle. Once he arrived he arrived there he opened a connection with the Oracle.
"How many sparks are needed to enact the trade to active Unicron's spark?" Druyd demanded.
"Twenty sparks are still needed," a disembodied mechanical and almost female voice answered, "and the number grows with each transformer destroyed by Unicron's spawn."
"What?" Druyd roared, "Primal and the Resistance may control Cybertron, but it will be a planet under siege! All of Cybertron's colonies are under attack by Tripredicus Council forces! And Earth has been negotiated into not interfering with our affairs!"
"Yes, but your war claims the lives of progressively more sparks," the Oracle answered in an almost scolding voice, "with each life you take the more precious those that remain become. Therefore if you wish to resurrect a spark that has been dead since the Great War of Cybertron, you must retrieve now twenty one sparks… or your war must end."
"Unicron was a God among all transformers!" Druyd challenged, "how can you challenge his will?"
"We are the Oracle, mystic transformer," the Oracle answered, "keeper of all that was and all that will be among Cybertronians. Even Unicron's powers can not compare with that. You have your deal that you have arranged. We suggest you either give it up or produce twenty one additional live sparks. Or his spark will not be allowed to leave the Matrix where he pays for his misguided and tyrannical deeds."
Druyd only growled and slammed his fists down. It was here that the more political or warrior minded Predicons were needed. Druyd's mystical connections counted for little in direct fighting. There, he had had to rely on the political skills of the Tripredicus Council and the military strength of the armies of drones that they had build to augment their warrior transformers.
While it was winning in the renewed war against the Maximals, Decepticon descended Predicons, and all others who opposed Unicron, it was not easy. They were winning, but more often then not, it took even more forces then expected, particularly on colony worlds where they hadn't been able to infect the transformers there with a transformation lock virus. And by the time they won, their enemies had been destroyed. In some cases, after they had destroyed countless drones in the process.
Druyd had no answer to these problems. He could only turn to what he could do, and that was to take command of the Tripredicus forces, for Unicron MUST return as far as he was concerned. He moved to a communications center and contacted all the Tripredicus forces outside of Cybertron. There were still drones on Cybertron, but they would follow a master control signal from Omega One, which Druyd didn't need to touch.
"Druyd? What is this?" one of the field commanders questioned, the sounds of battle echoing in the background, "this frequency is reserved for the Tripredicus Council."
"The Tripredicus Council has been defeated by Optimus Primal and the Resistance," Druyd answered, "I am now in command of the Tripredicus Faction. You must recover all of the sparks that you can. Alive."
"Alive?" a second commander asked, "have you lost it? If…"
"Cybertron is useless!" Druyd roared back, "Regaining Unicron has been the true goal all along, and we need more then twenty live sparks to do it! Gather all of the live sparks you can and bring them to Omega One."
"That could take time," a third commander spoke, "in many places the Predicons not descended from Unicron have joined with the Maximals… restraining them to remove the spark while it's alive will take time."
"Can it be done?" Druyd demanded.
"Yes, but…"
"Forget the time," Druyd roared again, "Omega One is well enough armed to take on our warships, and the satellite grid is still online. Primal stands no chance of landing here."
"Very well," the first commander finished and terminated the link.
Druyd only growled to himself. It was that sort of thing that frustrated him. No one seemed to have the same level as fanaticism as he did. He could only hope that the commanders would carry out their orders, and Omega One truly was safe from any resistance attack.
Underground Base
When Cheetor emerged from the CR tank in the underground resistance base, he noticed all of the damage that had been sustained in their last battle with the Tripredicus Council. A good many transformers were in stasis lock, still, and among many of those who weren't in stasis lock, it was still clear that they needed time in the CR chamber. He was greeted by Optimus shortly after making his way out of the CR chamber.
"How are we doin' big bot?" Cheetor asked his leader.
"About as well as we can expect, given all the Tripredicus Council threw at us in the battle," Optimus sighed.
"I'll say," Cheetor nodded, "a division's worth of drones, or more, all their available sparked transformers on Cybertron, three warships plus their drone crews, and the Council itself."
"And ultimately, we won," Optimus sighed, "now the task is to secure Cybertron itself."
"This isn't another suicidal charge is it?" Cheetor wondered.
"I hope not," Optimus sighed, "come with me. The last of the ones we'll need for this mission are ready. This shouldn't be too much of a briefing."
Cheetor nodded and followed the Maximal commander to another section of the cave. Rhinox was left in charge of dealing with the wounded, both in and out of stasis lock. Optimus lead Cheetor to a small circle of transformers in a different area of the main cave. Silverbolt, Airazor, Runner, Terrorsaur, and Waspinator stood in a loose circle with Queen standing in the center waiting for Optimus and Cheetor. Once they were all together, Optimus and Queen began the briefing.
"I will first congratulate all of you on your valor in defeating the Tripredicus Council," Queen spoke, "thanks to you, the path to a free Cybertron is now open."
There were a couple of soft cheers, but with so many transformers still needing time in a CR chamber, there wasn't that much enthusiasm.
"But our mission is not over," Queen continued, "we must make contact with the other cells on Cybertron and destroy the last of the Tripredicus drones."
"I take that's why we were rushed through the CR chambers?" Cheetor asked.
"Yes," Optimus nodded, "Queen is fairly certain that the Tripredicus Council only had drones elsewhere on Cybertron. Easily handled. Once that is done, contact must be made with these other cells."
"And suppose these other cells have been destroyed?" Silverbolt asked.
"Still destroy the drones in the area," Queen answered, "we can not allow any transformer who holds out for the Tripredicus Council's cause to have any place where they can easily land and dominate Cybertron."
"We have to hope for now that we beat the Council in time to save them, Silverbolt," Optimus sighed.
"Of course," Silverbolt nodded.
"How many drones are there in these other areas?" Cheetor asked curiously.
"Not likely as many as the Council kept near the Capitol city on Cybertron," Queen answered and pulled out a series of small scanners, "these should allow you to track the other cells."
"And how could the Tripredicus Council NOT detect this signal as well?" Terrorsaur questioned, though far more curious then questioning.
"Oh, they COULD detect the signal," Queen sighed, "it's why all the cells on Cybertron remained on the run. The main cell with me only stopped running because Primal here was able to provide us with reinforcements."
"That and the device we had that sent out our signal was destroyed early on," Runner added nervously, "there is no guarantee that they didn't do the same to the other cells."
Queen glared at him angrily, and the transformer that had been part of her resistance the longest shrunk away.
"We should still look," Optimus sighed, "If we can gain complete control of Cybertron, we can move on to what is the next big task, destroying Omega One."
"Uni-bot can't threaten now, can it?" Waspinator asked nervously.
"The drone isn't much of a threat," Queen dismissed the possibility of Omega One taking on a reactivated Unicron, "if they had the sparks to make the trade, they would have done so by now."
"But it is why we must act quickly to oust the last drones and recover the other resistance cells," Optimus added, "if they're alive, we must get to them before whatever drones they have can capture them… particularly if they are still suffering from the transformation lock virus. Freeing them and stopping the drones means that any additional live sparks that they would need would come from the colonies, which would buy us time to destroy Omega One."
"And write the final chapters to this war," Queen nodded.
"Then we will go," Terrorsaur spoke firmly and turned to leave the base.
The other transformers in this group were quick to follow. Optimus only sighed as he watched them go.
"So what will we do while they're on this quest?" Queen questioned.
"You and I are both due some time in the CR chamber," Optimus sighed, "and we still have our prisoners to guard and the wounded to take care of. Though I'm tempted to send Blackarachnia to the space port."
"The space port?" Queen asked.
"See if they have any ships we can use there," Optimus sighed, "they may not have moved all of them."
Queen only nodded.
Shortly After…
Airazor flew at top speed from the capitol city area in a westward direction. The cell she was to meet up with was on the other side of Cybertron supposedly and she would need all her speed just to get there. The flight was long, even with her speed, and Airazor spent her time actually wondering on the situation she was getting into. Would their be many drones? Would she arrive in time? These were the thoughts that took up her time.
Hours later, when she arrived at the area, she activated the scanner, and saw that it was still active. That had to mean that the cell was still active. But as she approached she found that her arrival was in just the nick of time. Five jet drones were firing on something at ground level. There were too many buildings for Airazor to see who was on the ground or how many, but figured removing the drones from the air would be a good start.
Turning to her robot mode and climbing, Airazor prepared to launch her attack on the Tripredicus drones. While they weren't paying attention to her, she figured she could fire at least two of them without taking fire, and could then deal with the rest.
"Here goes nothing," Airazor commented as she reached the high point behind the jet drones.
And then she dove, firing her darts at the closest jet drones to her as she went. Too Airazor's surprise, their lack of knowledge of her arrival allowed her to destroy three of them before the last two turned to shoot at her. When they did, the swiveled slightly to let Airazor fly past them and then fired on her as she passed.
The shots did little damage to her armor, but one did nick a wing joint, forcing Airazor to land on the roof of a building. As she landed, she looked up to see the remaining two drones targeting her, rather then whoever they had targeted before. Airazor was forced to roll along the roof to avoid their first shots and managed to fire a dart, which destroyed one of the two remaining drones. Airazor didn't get the chance to fire on the last drone as a shot rose up from the ground and hit it, and destroyed the last drone.
The Peregrine Falcon transformer then moved slowly to the edge of the building to see what was going on at ground level. And it turned out to be a pair of transformers, each armed with a fairly cobbled together blaster, but they were more then enough to deal with the last drone. Returning to beast mode to repair the damage sustained in the brief firefight, Airazor then flew down to these transformers.
"Thanks," one of the two transformers spoke, "You saved us."
"No problem," Airazor answered, "Are there any more of you?"
"No," the second transformer answered, "we are all that's left of this cell here."
"What about the drones?" Airazor asked nervously.
"That was the last of them too," the first answered, "they've still hunted us… but something's been drawing the Tripredicus drones away of late. They had more here… but recently most of them have been drawn to the capitol city."
Airazor slowly nodded. That likely meant that the bulk of the drones here were used up in the fight against the Tripredicus Council.
"That was likely my group," Airazor told them, "I'm Airazor. I'm with Optimus Primal's Maximals."
"Optimus Primal? He was lost chasing after Megatron," the second answered.
"It's a long story," Airazor answered, "which we have time to tell."
The first nodded, "I'm Sly and this is Bandit."
"Good to meet you," Airazor replied, "I'm under orders to bring you back to the capitol city. There you can be cured of the transformation lock virus you're suffering under and we can prepare to free the sparks that the Tripredicus Council stole…"
"But the Tripredicus Council…" Bandit began.
"Gone and defeated," Airazor informed him, "Optimus and Queen were able to defeat them completely."
"Then you bring good news," Sly replied, "you can tell us the story on the way."
Airazor nodded and began to walk back with them. It would take awhile as neither Sly nor Bandit appeared to be a flyer, but she felt relieved at having freed some of the citizens of Cybertron from being captured.
Shipyards, Cybertron's Capitol City
Blackarachnia and Packadex made their way into the shipyards of Cybertron's capitol city. From here the Maximals had built their exploration ships and the few 'warships' that the Maximals had built. After the Tripredicus Council had taken over Cybertron, these facilities were put to use to expand their fleet of warships, mostly crewed by drones.
And they generally guarded these spots well. But the shipyards had fallen victim to the same events that had weakened the Tripridicus faction's grip on Cybertron since Optimus Primal's Maximals returned. The drones functioned best when supporting normal transformers, or in extremely large numbers. At first they had both, but once Cybertron 'fell' and the resistance declined into the small groups that Optimus would find, the bulk of the Tripredicus forces was sent to take the Maximal and Predicon colonies, where they largely had neither. And once Optimus Primal returned to Cybertron, his followers essentially routed a much weaker foe then, in theory, there truly was.
"You'd think they would have left a non-fighting drone to run the yards," Packadex commented, "or to at least run diagnostics."
"A lot of those systems probably flat lined when the Tripredicus Council tried to flee Optimus and Queen," Blackarachnia commented as she overlooked the deserted shipyards.
To their fortune there were two ships that were nearly completed. It would take a lot of effort by nearly all of the transformers available, but if it could be completed it would serve as an excellent assault vehicle. The rest of the shipyards were deserted with the drones consumed in the recent fight in front of the Tripredicus Council Headquarters. To Packadex it gave the city a rather 'ghost town' type of atmosphere.
"Blackarachnia to Optimus," Blackarachnia said after a few moments.
"Optimus here," the Maximal commander's voice spoke through the radio comm.-link.
"We've secured the main shipyards here," Blackarachnia reported, "two ships are far enough along in construction that we can complete the work."
"How many would be needed?" Optimus asked.
"Just about everyone, but it'll be only the finishing touches on the ship," the transmetal two spider answered.
"Any sign of drones?" Optimus responded.
"It's a ghost town up here, sir," Packadex answered, "devoid of any activity."
"Keep a look out," Optimus advised, "we don't know how many ships the Tripredicus Council called to help them before they were defeated. If they make landings, do not engage them. Figure out how many there are and then return to base."
"And if there are no landings?" Blackarachnia asked.
"If there are none, hold the position until those that will be assaulting Omega One can arrive," Optimus answered.
Elsewhere on Cybertron
Cheetor ran as hard as he could. Most of the rescue teams were fliers. He and Runner were the only transformers sent on the mission that were largely ground based transformers. Of course by activating the rocket on his back the transmetal two cheetah could gain enough speed that he would actually fly, but that couldn't go for too long. And at the moment he needed to save all the strength he had for the coming fight. Saving the last resistance cells on Cybertron.
Cheetor ran for hours when he came to a smaller city when the signal he had been following cut out. At first he thought that those transformers had been destroyed, but he then heard an automated voice shouting commands.
"MOVE!" a robotic voice shouted.
"Great, a drone that can talk," Cheetor commented as he moved forward.
He then came forward do see three transformers, all of them in bad shape being moved by five tank drones and a jet drone into a small shuttle like craft. A very small diagnostic drone seemed to be leading the group of drones. It was the diagnostic drone that had done the talking. Taking his robot mode, Cheetor readied his blaster and moved closer, hoping to get rid of the bulk of the drones before they could make off with their prisoners.
Cheetor was not entirely successful as one of the tank drones turned his head and spotted him. The drone turned and fired before anything could happen. Cheetor dodged the shot and blasted the jet drone and the tank drone that shot at him, but once that was done, the battle was on.
"A Maximal!" the diagnostic drone gasped, "get him!"
The remaining four tank drones all tuned to Cheetor and fired at him, catching him in a fairly open area. One shot caught him while he was moving, and sent him rolling back.
"Give it up drone," Cheetor challenged, "you know you're beat!"
He then blasted the two closest tank drones while the last two continued to fire on him. The diagnostic drone cowered by one of the tank drones when one of the transformers that the drones had been herding clubbed him with a piece of what had been the wing of the jet drone. When the last two tank drones turned to fire on their prisoners, Cheetor finished them off, and then approached.
"As I said, you're beaten," Cheetor said confidently to the diagnostic drone, as he held it up to him.
"The war you fight is a war against fate," the drone answered, "my instructions were to bring the resistance to Omega One. To insure that Unicron is restored to his place as ruler over all."
"And you failed," Cheetor smirked.
"There millions more," the drone answered, "my defeat is inconsequential. Others will succeed."
"Not on Cybertron they won't," one of the resistance members growled and clubbed the drone again, this time destroying it.
Cheetor allowed the three resistance members to recover before introducing himself.
"I am Virox, leader of this cell," the one who had clubbed the drone spoke, "these are Surge and Ultra Mantex."
"Ultra Mantex… you wouldn't…" Cheetor began.
"Ultra Magnus was one of my ancestors, yes," Ultra Mantex answered, "and we are grateful for your coming to our aide."
"No problem," Cheetor responded, "I'm Cheetor. I've been sent to rescue the other resistance cells now that the Tripredicus Council is gone."
"They're gone?" Virox asked.
"Yes," Cheetor nodded, "Optimus and Queen beat them."
"Optimus, as in Optimus Primal?" Ultra Mantex gasped, "he and his crew had gone missing!"
"Chasing Megatron," Surge added.
"We came back," Cheetor answered.
"Amazing," Ultra Mantex commented.
"And Megatron's been beaten as well," Cheetor added.
Virox gave him a sour look but Cheetor shrugged it off. For the moment he was more concerned with the shuttle that sat near them.
"And they all came down in this thing?" Cheetor asked.
"Yes," Virox answered, "probably to get our sparks and take them off world. We should destroy it!"
Cheetor looked at and shook his head, "No. I got a better idea. We use the shuttle."
"Are you nuts?" Surge gasped, "it'll take us to wherever the Tripredicus Council wants us!"
"The Tripredicus Council was incinerated when their rocket ignited and blasted off and then exploded," Cheetor answered, "they're gone for good. Queen and Optimus made sure of that… and it will take us where WE want to go if we can deactivate any auto-pilot feature it has."
"Can you do that?" Ultra Mantex wondered.
"I'm pretty sure I can," Cheetor nodded.
"And what would we do with a Tripredicus shuttle?" Virox asked.
"Well, with the Tripredicus Council gone and the 'resistance' in command of Cybertron, Optimus and Queen have agreed to recall all the other cells to the capitol city and to our present base there," Cheetor explained, "I and a few others have been ordered to bring you back. This shuttle could make that job a lot easier… and then there is the issue of Omega One."
"Omega One?" Virox asked.
"From what we've found out, it's a massive drone," Cheetor answered, "and factors into the Tripredicus Council's plans. They intended to switch living sparks with the Matrix for Unicron's spark."
"Monsters," Surge gasped, "that monster nearly ATE Cybertron!"
"That was their plan," Cheetor sighed, "we believe that this drone is in space above Cybertron and the shuttle might be a way to get a strike team onto the drone and liberate the sparks."
"Get to work with fixing the auto-pilot then," Virox commanded, "Queen doesn't take kindly to slackers."
"I'm no slacker at anything," Cheetor challenged back, "and I'm no Predicon. My leader is Optimus Primal. Cybertron will be a democracy when this is all over. Not a Predicon tyranny."
"We won it fair and square," Virox growled back, "WE rule Cybertron."
"You stabbed us in the back and worked FOR the Tripredicus Council to do it," Cheetor poked Virox with one of his claws, "you only rebelled when you learned that you didn't factor into their plans for glory. It took our return from the Beast Wars against Megatron to save you from yourselves."
Virox was actually knocked backward by the challenge, but made no further move against the transmetal two cheetah. A small section of his armor was actually cut open where Cheetor poked him, and he rapidly didn't want a fight at the moment.
"I would tend to think that the Predicons that were descended from the Decepticons were mislead by the Tripredicus Council," Ultra Mantex spoke, trying to diffuse the situation, "from what I've learned from a few Predicons that lived in my neighborhood, is that ultimately there isn't all that much that truly differs between us."
Cheetor only sighed and entered the shuttle. The issue of what would become of Cybertron would have to be solved by bots smarter then him. He went straight to work on fixing the shuttle's systems, which was astonishingly easy. It was if whoever had sent it had no consideration of the possibility that the shuttle might be lost.
"Okay we're ready to go," Cheetor spoke, "On to picking up the others!"
Elsewhere
Waspinator had been buzzing through the air as fast as he could. Like the other fliers, he had to go the farthest to get to the other resistance cells. As he approached the last the area he was assigned to, he spotted a shuttle parked in a large open area, just as the signal cut out.
"NO!" Waspinator buzzed and dove toward the shuttle when it suddenly lifted into the air, leaving two motorcycle drones behind.
The transmetal two wasp fired his 'stingers' at the shuttle and the drones in an attempt to try and prevent whoever was in the shuttle from being taken. The two drones were easily destroyed, but Waspinator discovered that the shuttle had shields. His stingers bounced harmlessly off them, and the craft rapidly left Cybertron's atmosphere. Waspinator tried to pursue, but the shuttle made it into space, leaving Waspinator to collapse exhausted back to the planet's surface.
He landed fairly roughly not to far from where he had seen the shuttle take off from. After a few moments, Waspinator got up to see another shuttle approaching. He readied his weapons in case it was an attacker. He made his way around to where the opening to the shuttle was. As the doors opened, he gave a command.
"All right, come out with your hands up!" Waspinator shouted.
It was Cheetor that emerged from the shuttle.
"Hey relax, it's me," Cheetor spoke, "What's got you all spooked?"
"Why Cat-bot arrive in shuttle that just leave?" Waspinator asked.
"What?" Virox asked he emerged from the shuttle just behind Cheetor, "we only just got here… and we only came here because cat-boy saw you falling from the sky."
"That not shuttle Waspinator saw earlier?" Waspinator buzzed.
"No," Cheetor sighed, "tell us what happened, and slowly. What did you see?"
"Waspinator buzzing along to rescue other resistance members as ordered, when suddenly Waspinator sees shuttle guarded by cycle-bots," Waspinator answered, "Waspinator destroyed cycle-bots, but shuttle escaped into outer space."
"The Tripredicus followers are up to something," Virox growled, "and this fool was too slow to get here in time."
"I'm sure he did his best," Ultra Mantex told Virox, "that is the best we can do."
"If what the cat says is true… that they are trying to bring back Unicron…" Virox spoke slowly, "even with Cybertron free and the Tripredicus Council gone… we may still be running out of time."
"We'll save them," Cheetor said, "don't worry."
Shipyards, Much Later
Blackarachnia quietly scanned the skies for any sign of trouble, or maybe one of the flyers returning with resistance cell members. Things had largely been quiet, as Optimus was still busy dealing with the aftermath of the battle against the Tripredicus Council.
"Look!" Packadex spoke, pointing up and to the west of their location.
Blackarachnia looked up to see a shuttle approaching the shipyards, and coming in slow, as if to land. She could see the Predicon insignia on it, but she couldn't tell it was someone from outside Cybertron that was friendly to the resistance or if it was a Tripredicus attack.
"Get down," Blackarachnia lunged at Packadex and pulled him behind one of the manufacturing cranes.
"What they couldn't see us," Packadex grumbled as Blackarachnia peered out.
"Can't take the chance," Blackarachnia answered, "You remember Optimus's orders. We aren't to engage them. We're see what their report the main activity to Optimus."
As she looked out, she saw the shuttle doors open and several damaged looking transformers slowly made their way off.
"The Tripredicus Council sure trashed everything," one of them commented offhand.
"And the battle to oust them couldn't helped the décor either," another snickered in an almost humorous tone.
Then Blackarachnia saw Cheetor and some of the others leave the shuttle. She half wondered how the transmetal two cheetah had gotten it. With his appearance, Blackarachnia and Packadex left their 'hiding' spot.
"Interesting ride you got there, spots?" Blackarachnia quipped, "where did you find it?"
"About where I was supposed to go to get a resistance cell freed," Cheetor answered, "what are you two doing here?"
"Securing the shipyards so that we have something to strike at Omega One with," Packadex answered.
"I'd think that shuttle will help," Cheetor commented, "the Tripredicus are using these shuttles to try and grab resistance members. They got the cell that was in Waspinator's sector."
"Dang," Packadex grumbled while Blackarachnia shook her head.
Blackarachnia half expected Waspinator to fail. He didn't do well in the Beast Wars, usually getting destroyed rather quickly. But for small tasks, he was useful. In this case though, it would mean that they would all have a lot of work to do.
"Maybe we can get into Omega One with that shuttle then," Blackarachnia commented.
"Maybe, but we'll have to get in their quickly before whoever is running Omega One gets enough sparks to bring back Unicron."
Omega One
Druyd stood quietly as two transformers were pushed out of the shuttle by cycle drones.
"This is it?" Druyd questioned, "I ordered all drones to capture the remaining resistance cells outside the capital and these two are all you bring me?"
The drone gave a few clicks that seemed to indicate that these two were the only ones they could find.
"ARRGGGH," Druyd growled, "why can't anyone do anything right?"
"Because you're in the wrong," one of the two transformers said weakly.
"Be lucky that your spark plays a much grander part in things then you know," Druyd answered and commanded the cycle drones, "take them to the spark chamber. See to it that they join the others we've gathered."
To Be Continued…