Planets with orbital Stargates were often pretty empty. Some of them had stable, peaceful communities of humans left there by the Ancients with no means of stellar transport, but most of them were simply desolate or overcome with flora. This one seemed little different from the second type, most of it covered with oceans, much like Earth, and the rest being wild, harsh forests and jungles. One could not forget if they had to listen to McKay whining about how they are not going to find anything of interest and should return to the jumper.
"Look," said Sheppard "we have a recon to do, and it's been ten minutes since we left the jumper."
"Yeah, but still, I don't think we'll find anything--" he paused as something in his pocket beeped. He took out the Ancient reading device and stared at it. "Whoa..."
"Nothing interesting," said Ronon flatly.
"No no no no no... I'm picking up an energy reading. It could match a Zed Pee Em!"
John grinned at him. "That's more like it. Show me the way."
McKay did, grumbling and whining each time he had to cross a log or move some denser bushes aside to make way for the team. Fortunately for him, the hulking Satedan did most of the weed and liana cutting for him, yet still he had to let the physicist go slightly ahead most of the time, simply because he was the one with what Sheppard started to think of as the 'Ancient GPS'.
The device led them towards what must have once been a majestic Ancient facility, now nothing more than a few lone panels and bits of what used to stand as walls, many of which fell, and the rest seemingly just evaporated. Weed grew all over what remained, covering all inscriptions and, rather surprisingly, grinding some of them off the surface. The first thing McKay did after reaching the spot was walk over to the nearest panel and remove the flora while the others secured his sides. Sheppard was ready to thwap the scientist for ignoring their own security, but it appeared the site was clear. At least for the time being.
He approached the remains of one wall and uncovered the writings, ignoring the fact that he cannot even read them. Nothing lit up. No systems sprung to life.
"You sure it's a Zee Pee Em?" he asked in disbelief, turning to Rodney.
"It can be," McKay said, interfacing his laptop with the panel he was standing by, even though it was completely dark and unresponsive. "Just because this place is down doesn't mean its power source is depleted. Might mean, I don't know, that the circuits that ran through this facility were cut off?"
"Okay, I get the point," Sheppard replied as he moved to peek over the physicist's shoulder. "What you got?"
"Not much, this panel is too damaged to give me access to most of its data... But!" With a satisfied grin, McKay knelt and put his faithful tablet on the ground. Displaying line of text after line, it watched as its owner fiddled with the base of the controls, removing a single plate from one of its walls. Behind it, connected by wires, many of which were severed or fried, stood a shining zero-point module.
"We got the Zed Pee Em," he said triumphantly.
"Can we get out of here now?" Ronon said, staring out into the jungle. "I don't like it here. Too quiet."
Sheppard eyed him slowly, but saw only the familiar, strong form of his friend, with the never changing, stern expression. "Sure," he finally agreed. "We got our prize, we should take it to Atlantis."
And so they went off. But none of them realized that, compared to all of their previous missions, this went far too smoothly. Something was bound to go wrong.
"Sheppard!!"
Ronon's cry came only a second before the noise they heard took shape. The dense forests gave way to... things. There were three figures, giant, inhuman. Composed of nothing but plates, forged of metal, they could not hide anywhere on this planet – and they did not bother to. One was painted white and purple, holding a huge gun the size of a tower of Atlantis, another was purple and black, holding another humongous gun, and the third was just purple. But this one attracted more attention than its two metallic companions – its gun was not in its hand, it was its hand. And this creature – machine – had no face. Just one, huge glowing light where the face should be. And all three bore the same strange, purple insignia shaped like a pointy, sinister head.
Gargantuan, seemingly sentient robots. And they went straight for them.
"Take cover!!" bellowed Sheppard as he pulled McKay behind one of the greater boulders that laid scattered across the entire jungle, knowing well that is not going to stop the robots when they attack. Teyla and Ronon rushed the other way, where they remembered a narrow canyon that might just stop the machines from following. And all of them started firing.
The colonel's military instincts made him immediately aim at the bestial head and chest of the nearest foe, firing an endless stream of bullets, every single one of which hit home. The faceless giant covered its chest with its right, complete arm, ending up with numerous marks and scratches left by the projectiles. But they were no more than just damaged paint job, as the robot immediately returned fire. When its gun turned towards them, Sheppard shoved McKay to a side and jumped to the other, making them both land on the ground and at the same time dodge both the blast and the rubble that flew in every direction.
It was hopeless like this. Motioning to Rodney, John ran for it, hoping to find a more resilient cover. Then he could start hoping their weapons will be effective after all.
Behind them, the faceless robot said something to its companions. It had to speak; it turned to them and uttered sounds, and they nodded in agreement before pursuing Ronon and Teyla. But what must have been words came out as nothing more than a string of unknown, meaningless sounds one could hear through jammed radio rather than in an actual language. Nonetheless, the chase has begun.
Dex and Emmagan already managed to reach the canyon and hid in in, under a shelf of thick rocks. Self-preservation told them not to make a sound, and they stood still, breathing slowly and deeply but they both knew it might well not be enough. If the attackers see them – and since they were mechanical, perhaps they could detect their life signs – they could bury them inside this very canyon in a matter of seconds. Ronon raised his faithful gun as the two robots approached, not knowing where to aim but knowing he will have to shoot.
And then one of the robots was shot at.
"I can't make it," Rodney cried as the colonel urged him onwards, slowing himself down at the same time.
"Yes you can!" he growled. "We always got out of this sort of mess, we're getting out again!"
Unfortunately, this once he did not seem to be right. The pursuing machine made only two or three steps and it was more than enough to cut their escape, apparently staring down at them with its one, bright lamp. To avoid bumping hard into its metal leg, the two humans had to halt so abruptly they both fell on their backs. Sheppard started shooting at once, but it made exactly no impression on the giant. McKay froze with fear as a hand reached down towards him.
And then the tide turned.
Something bigger that escaped the attention of the fallen men hit the robot several times, making him take a quick step backwards and straighten up. He returned fire, giving Sheppard and McKay enough time to pull themselves up and run some distance sideways. They could not ignore their curiosity and looked.
Opposite their foe stood two more robots, but they seemed different, smaller. One of them was a mixture of red, orange and yellow and painted in something that could be either wings or flames, and its companion – of a female figure – was in various shades of pink. They also bore insignia resembling a face, but this one was red, in comparison to the dark purple of their enemy, and seemed much softer.
"What the hell...?" Rodney managed to breathe out as he watched the robots battle one another.
"Who cares, we live!" said John fiercely, reloading his P-90. "He attacked us, they attacked him, I know who to aim at and so should you!"
"Do not engage!"
The two of them paused with their guns halfway up when they heard the pink robot yell those words at them, and the voice was definitely feminine. She circled her enemy to stand behind its back while her companion occupied him up front. "Stay low and we shall protect you!" she promised.
The other two exchanged some – probably – words in their own language which to the humans sounded like a string of random robotic sounds. And essentially, that was exactly what it was, no more, no less. And then the faceless one jumped up and flew away without any visible jet engines nor even wings as such. It just took off suddenly, escaping crossfire.
The humans on the ground watched him make his escape with their jaws open, but Sheppard quickly snapped back to reality. "Ronon and Teyla," he said and rushed towards the canyon their friends chose for cover. The two robots exchanged gazes and followed, speeding up and getting ahead of the men when they saw the familiar figures.
Battle already raged at the cliffs. The two machines that followed Emmagan and Dex were now facing others, one each. The blackish winged robot combated one that was a combination of purple, red and grey, and actually had facial hair. The greyish winged robot, much larger, on the other hand, duelled an opponent with a broad chest and arms, a greyish hue and its face obscured by rows of narrow metal plates that looked pretty much like slat window blinds. He had strange, broad laps on both sides of his head. Both these machines were adorned with the same symbol the rescuers of Sheppard and McKay bore.
Upon seeing reinforcements, the attacking robots exchanged quick glances, a few sounds and, pushing both their opponents away, they also took off into the air. This time, however, it did not look as peculiar, with both of them having actual wings and visible jet engines in their feet. But when they were some distance from the ground, they changed.
Their elements started moving, changing positions on their bodies. Some retracted and gave way to others that protruded, some rotated, some completely disappeared inside as both robots changed shape. The wings that laid flat on the backs up till now also moved to where they would be placed on a jet and a plane. Engines took their rightful places at the rear, the glass that remained spread on the chests now joined together to form windows.
With loud clattering of metal, they transformed.
"Sweet mother of Einstein..." McKay managed to say to himself, loosing himself in the amazement. Sheppard, however, was already at the edge of the canyon, horror rising in his heart as he saw a quite large portion of it buried under rubble.
"Teyla! Ronon!" he called.
"We are alright, colonel!" the Athosian woman called back. "They did not manage to bury us!"
"What happened up there?!" yelled Ronon.
Sheppard looked at the four robots that were gathered around. "Help came! Can you get out?"
Rodney shook his head, returning back from his thoughts. "The entrance to the canyon is buried."
The red, yellow and orange robot smiled at them. He knelt by the crack in the ground, which to him seemed so much smaller than the humans, waved at the disbelieving people below, laid down and extended a hand. It barely reached the shelf they were on, but it was just enough for them to climb onto it.
"Colonel...?" Teyla asked loudly, her voice uncertain.
"It's alright," he said.
That seemed to be enough for the trapped pair. With a deep sigh of relief, the woman hoisted herself onto the hand and let the robot pull her up. Once she was safely on firm ground once more, the metallic hand was lowered again to help Ronon out.
"It's good to see you're both fine," John smiled and nodded at the three-coloured machine gratefully.
"Likewise, colonel," Emmagan also smiled. "But who are they?"
"Forgive us for not having time to introduce ourselves," the bearded robot, the greatest paradox in history, said. "I assume you are from Earth?"
"We are," said Sheppard, pointing at himself and the scientist.
The robot nodded. "Then know we are the Autobots, your allies. My name is Alpha Trion, their leader on Cybertron. She" he pointed at the female "is Elita One, leader of the Femmebots. The young one is Hot Rod," he indicated the robot that helped rescue the two humans "and finally Wheeljack, our scientist and engineer." As he was introduced, the robot retracted the odd thin plates, revealing a smiling face.
"Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard," the man began "United States Air Force, currently head military officer of the Atlantis expedition. This is doctor Rodney McKay, my chief scientist, Teyla Emmagan, my diplomat, and Ronon Dex, a bodyguard."
"We do not mean to sound ungrateful," the Athosian bowed her head humbly. "We owe you or lives. Thank you."
"Oh, it's nothing," Hot Rod grinned, clearly proud of himself. Elita One nudged him with her elbow not so carefully at all.
"You can thank us later," she said. "This area is not safe yet. I still sense Decepticons here."
Sheppard nodded to his team and swiftly reloaded the P-90. "Fall back to the jumper and we head for the gate," he ordered.
"You cannot go," said Alpha Trion.
With a deep sigh, and with a mutter of 'why of course' from Rodney, the colonel replied: "I feel like I shouldn't ask this, but why?"
"You speak of the Stargate," said the Autobot. To this John merely nodded.
Elita One seemed to look down at them apologetically. "Then know that it is in the hands of the Decepticons. You best come with us, to our base. We may speak further there."
Sheppard did not respond to that at once. He had to consider all the options – what if these... Autobots were not who they claimed they were? There was obviously more than meets the eye to them. But then again, they saved their sorry asses, unlike those other guys, who simply shot at them. Normally he would just take his men home to Atlantis and see what happens next. But they were cut off from the gate and the two things they could do was go with alien robots or be left in the wilds to fend for themselves.
He has made harder decisions before.
"Thank you," he said. "Where do we go?"
"You go nowhere," said Hot Rod cheekily, "you ride."
As if having practised this before, all four of them transformed at once.
Hot Rod became a car. Or something that resembled a car. It had the correct frame, and something that must have been wheels, although the Tau'ri could swear that no such model was ever made on Earth. The clattering parts moved quicker than the eye could follow, and it certainly could not follow them all at once, forming the outer frame as well as internal seats for the passengers.
Elita One was similar in design, also car-like. Although her silhouette appeared somewhat softer, less aggressive and show-off than the other. And she was also very, very pink.
Wheeljack, surprisingly, also transformed into a car. Or whatever that sort of vehicle was called wherever these guys came from. Although McKay was the first to suggest that he must have been faster than the rest, however bigger he appeared. His frame was slimmer, slightly oval to decrease the resistance of air as he went. At least that was what the all-knowing scientist said.
But Alpha Trion was the one to stand out. The plates from his back, that to an imaginative mind could resemble a cape, now moved upward among all the other shifting parts to form actual wings, much like the jet and the plane that attacked before. Although the Autobot's engine did not seem to be as powerful, smaller even in size and most likely in capacity.
"Pick your ride," said Wheeljack. "The rest of us will escort you."
Sheppard smirked to himself and pushed McKay towards the pink car as he approached Hot Rod. Even Ronon could not hold a smirk as the scientist nearly bumped against the Femmebot with his eyes wide and full of pure fury.
"For your information, I am not sitting in the pink one!"
"Anything against me?" Elita One asked sharply.
"No no no, of course not, that's not what I meant--"
"Rodney," the colonel said, already seated inside Hot Rod, however wrongly that might have sounded. "Hurry it up."
McKay later swore he had no idea how that happened, but eventually he ended up sitting inside Wheeljack while the other tree happily occupied Hot Rod.
The planet seen through the windows of a transforming alien robot was disappointingly identical to how it looked before. They spent quite a while, which felt like hours, riding at a speed definitely higher than one would see on an Earth road. Perhaps even a highway. But if the car drove itself and knew well what to do, all you needed was the emergency seatbelt and a smile on your face. One could not leave the face of Sheppard, who enjoyed himself immensely. Hot Rod noticed that and, despite the concern of Teyla and usual blankness of Ronon, he allowed himself a few stunts and detours around trees solely for the colonel's amusement. They were getting along, the two of them.
Alpha Trion could not stop himself from commenting as Wheeljack, against all loud and clear protests from his passenger, decided to compete with the younger robot in stunts. Thankfully for the humans, they did hold back, because normally this would not have gone so smoothly.
"Alright you two," said Trion after some time "that would be enough for now."
"Spoil-sport," replied Hot Rod, but he slowed down.
McKay could not express how grateful he was. "So," he began, struggling for breath, his face all red "mind telling me how did that faceless freak fly without any visible reason?"
"Who, Shockwave?" Wheeljack answered through his internal radio. "Those guys got generators that allow them to manipulate gravity to a certain extent. We Autobots do not posses such technology."
Rodney could not help but look out the window at the plane-like robot that escorted them from above. "But some of yours can fly," he observed.
"Few," said the vehicle. "It's a very... long story. We'll answer all questions in the base."
"Sure. Are we there yet?"
"Alpha Trion to Trion Omega," sounded another voice through the internal radio. "Come in, base."
"This is Ultra Magnus at Trion Omega," responded yet another.
"We are returning with four human allies. Requesting entry. Code eight-one-one."
"Copy that, commander. Entry granted. Ultra Magnus out."
Sheppard blinked a few times during the short conversation that reached him via Hot Rod's communication system. Amazing how very... human all that sounded. Well, no, human was a bad word. But it was almost as if he heard himself talking to one of his superiors when he wanted to return to a soccent base after a completed mission. Like Afghanistan.
He was about to ask when their carrier suddenly turned down at a dangerously steep slope and followed a tunnel. It was pitch black aside of Hot Rod's own lights which revealed nothing but some sort of metal on the walls, the ceiling and the floor beneath them, and ahead a darkness that was ready to swallow them. The echo that reached from behind suggested that others followed the same way in – wherever this in was; two on wheels and one clattering hard like heavy steel against steel, suggesting that Alpha Trion reverted from his plane form back to robot.
Finally, after but several seconds spent in darkness, they arrived at the end of the tunnel. It ended as abruptly as it began, leading them to a broad and tall room made in steel. Contrasting with the passage, this place was heavily lit, yet just as raw, having nothing on the walls but numerous lamps and the same red, friendly face painted all over the wall opposite the tunnel.
Hot Rod and Wheeljack opened their doors to let the passengers out.
"Are you alright, Rodney?" asked Teyla as she saw the scientist's red face and noticed his quickened breaths.
"Yeah, I-I'm fine," said McKay "just, you know, I don't respond all that well to this kind of adrenaline and-"
"He's fine," Sheppard cut in. He turned to watch the symbol that stared at them from the steel wall. "What does this mean?"
"It is the sigil of the Autobots," replied Alpha Trion, who walked over to the mural and looked up at it with what could have been reverie mixed with some sort of sadness, melancholy. "The brand that brought us together once. But it is a long story. Come. We have much to discuss."
The corridors through which he led his human guests were enormous for their size, too wide, too tall, but not at all too empty. As cold as everything seemed, being built of what could not stop resembling simple steel, the alien feeling was only enhanced with the numerous panels, optical devices that could have been security cameras and a lot of stuff they could not even name. McKay walked, looking at each and every device, asking question after question, like a child at Christmas. He did not get all the answers, though. Alpha Trion refused to respond, both annoyed and amused, and Wheeljack could hardly keep up with the flow of questions. Luckily for them, they have reached their destination.
It was, for the lack of a better word, a command centre. Two semi-circular control panels in the middle, one placed slightly higher than the other. Each of them had sophisticated holographic displays and screens, much like those that were built into the walls around them. And below them were even more panels. The whole place was lit, but dimly, most likely to allow the people inside to see all the glowing controls and displays.
Someone was already waiting for them there. Two robots – one broad and hulking, painted blue and grey. The other was smaller, with a huge cannon welded onto his shoulder, and painted military green.
They all must have been soldiers, Sheppard thought to himself. They had the feeling around them. A soldier will know a soldier. More than meets the eye with these guys, that was for sure.
The two stood up from their seats, their metallic lips curling up into smiles.
"It's good to see you made it back safely," said the bigger one. "And welcome to our guests. I am Ultra Magnus, second-in-command of this outpost. This," he pointed at the other who waved a hearty hello "is Hound."
"I'm lieut-"
"We know, colonel" Magnus interrupted him with a smile. "Elita One has transferred the data she collected about you before you arrived."
"Then, if you don't mind," McKay started, taking a few steps forward, looking around at the hulking metal figures around him as well as the command centre "I have a few questions."
Wheeljack facepalmed. "More?!"
Ultra Magnus knelt and placed his open palms before the humans. Two fit on each, and although the scientist and Ronon were highly reluctant, they climbed up along with their friends and let themselves be taken up to a huge, hard chair. There was place for each of them to sit rather comfortably, having something to rest their backs against.
"There," Magnus smiled. "Now we can answer all your questions."
"Who are you?" Sheppard asked before McKay managed to form a sentence. "I mean, exactly?"
The hulking robot looked sideways at Alpha Trion, who just took one of the seats in silence, along with the other three that just arrived. "We are autonomous robotic lifeforms from the planet Cybertron," he said. "Autobots is for short."
"And you transform into vehicles," observed Rodney. "I've never seen any technology like it, not even Lantian! How's that even possible, I mean, the energy requirements to fuel every part separately would be enormous, then there's actually designing such a pattern-"
"Rodney," Teyla cut in smoothly, her tone stern, successfully interrupting the physicist.
"We transform," Ultra Magnus confirmed, with another, more discrete, sideways glance at his superior. "Many races refer to us as Transformers for that very reason. There are many theories as how we came to be." Here he paused. "It is virtually impossible to determine what is true."
"As with all of us," John shrugged.
"What's with your personalities?" McKay went on, intending on finding out as much as humanly possible right here, right now. "Are you programmed? We've seen that happen with Replicator androids, some of them even showed individuality and became renegades-"
"We are not programmed," said Wheeljack from his seat in a far corner of the command centre. "Each of us has what we call a Spark. It gives us personalities, sense of belongingness, beauty, need for a purpose – everything you need to be someone."
"Like our hearts," the Athosian woman commented almost solemnly.
Elita One nodded, smiling at the human female. "Essentially, yes."
"So-" McKay began, but was interrupted by a sharp look from the colonel. Apparently not only the Autobot engineer was tired of his constant questions.
"Who were those guys that attacked us?" asked Sheppard. "And why are you even here?"
Alpha Trion stood up and walked over to the control panel by which the team now sat. They were quite below its level, but they were still able to see a holographic three-dimensional display of a planet. Its colours were of course transparent and somewhat faded, but one could still observe that it seemed to have no bigger water reservoirs such as an ocean or even a sea, and the surface was covered entirely by metallic constructions. A huge portion of the planet was simply torn out, revealing the faintly glowing core of the globe.
"This is Cybertron," the elder Autobot said. All four humans looked up with suddenly increased interest. For McKay it would seem impossible. "It was once a place of peace and justice, a great, powerful empire. But that could never last for long..."
He sighed quietly to himself. The hologram span slowly around, showing its entire surface. Now it was clear that most of the constructions were levelled, possibly a very long time ago, and areas around the edges of the humongous hole were left as barren wastelands. "Cybertron had power," Alpha Trion went on, his voice derived of all emotions. "And as with every artefact of power, some wanted it for good, some for evil. A civil war tore the planet apart, almost literally. Autobots fought Decepticons... and neither could win."
"What artefact?" Sheppard asked aloud and felt he might regret it.
The old robot pressed a few keys the team could not see and switched the display to show... a cube. It was covered with numerous glyphs and patterns that felt more alien that anything either of them saw during their numerous trips through the Stargates. And it seemed to be just the beginning of the story.
"The All Spark," Trion said with reverie in his voice. "Many legends surround this cube... Some say it is the Spark of Primus, the first Transformer, and who you could call our god. But whatever the truth, the All Spark had power to create life. It is what gave life to Cybertron."
"And it was also the cause of the great war," the old Autobot sighed heavily, staring at the spinning image before him. Teyla almost drew her breath, the speaker's emotions clearly rubbing off at her.
"The population divided. The Decepticons, led by Megatron, wanted power, conquest, and in order to gain that, they sought to create an army using the power of the All Spark. The Autobots, under the command of Optimus Prime, strived to stop him." Trion paused. "The war went on and on, eventually devastating the planet, leaving it lifeless and wasted."
"That is horrible..." the Athosian woman shook her head, images of worlds culled and levelled by the Wraith popping up in her head.
"Those of us that were left on Cybertron fought on in order to live another day," Alpha Trion continued. "It was a battle for survival as much as against our enemies. We needed energy, seeking every possible source of it throughout the stars..."
Rodney instinctively put an arm over the backpack which was laying next to him, but said nothing. "And you found one here."
"We traced its energy signature, and we were well aware that the Decepticons also know about it."
"We know you have it, by the way," Elita One grinned as she turned to McKay. Her expression softened to a smile when she saw his puzzled and defensive look. "Don't worry, we have no intention of taking it from you by force."
"But hang on," Sheppard interrupted yet again, to the great relief of his scientist friend "those guys that attacked us where those Decep-whatstheirname?"
The hologram swapped again, displaying the two faces the robots bore on their armours. The red, soft expression contrasted with the sharp, purple head that seemed to have no face save for the eyes.
"These are our sigils," said Alpha Trion "the Autobots and the Decepticons. This is how you can differ one from the other."
"They definitely had the purple," Ronon remarked evenly.
Ultra Magnus nodded, yet again changing the display. He showed the figures that attacked the human team before, one after the other. First, the winged robot that was coloured purple and black, who followed Teyla and Ronon into the canyon. "This is Skywarp," said Magnus "one of the jet Decepticons we know as Seekers." Next the other plane-like machine, purple and grey. "Astrotrain." Sheppard could not have not snorted at this. And then, last but not least, the purple robot with one single lamp instead of an eye and an arm replaced by a gun. "Shockwave."
"Charming guys," said the colonel.
"Hang on," Rodney cut in, shaking his head to put the huge dose of information in order. "You said 'those of us that were left on' that cyber planet of yours..."
"Cybertron," Hound reminded him.
"Whatever, where are the others?"
Alpha Trion looked at the four humans briefly and, after a moment of hesitation, showed them a different planet on the display. It was not perfectly round, covered mostly by water in its vast oceans and seven seas. The lands were spread all across the globe, some greater, some smaller. And it looked very, very familiar.
"Earth."