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 shortly after "Stasis".
A Different War
By TVfan
Site of the Predicon Base
Tigerhawk frowned as he and the Vok Acolytes inspected the site of where the crashed Predicon ship had been.
"This is unexpected," Tigerhawk sighed.
"So the Maximals won the war," Fang commented, "Does that mean we move on to the Maximals now?"
Tigerhawk looked over the scene. There were various scraps of metal lying about the area. None were big enough to be used for anything, and there was nothing left that could be used to make any technological device. There wasn't even any sign of a real battle. Just the fact that the Predicon base had exploded. The fact that there was no damaged software in the nearby area was enough to lead Tigerhawk to believe that most of the rubble had been removed.
"I do not believe their war is over," Tigerhawk spoke.
"I'm afraid I must agree with Fang, my lord," Scavenger spoke up, "This is the exact location where Megatron's ship crashed, and it's apparent the ship has been destroyed."
"Then why is there no computer wreckage?" Tigerhawk questioned, "All that is left is a few metal fragments which will be good for nothing."
"Wouldn't the Maximals have taken care of that stuff?" Heavsting asked as he hovered over the area.
"They have taken residence inside a ship that holds their ancestors," Tigerhawk answered, "They have no need for the technology that was on the Darkside."
"Then some or all of the Predicons have survived and moved their base," Scavenger sighed, "And I had hoped that your victory would have been swifter and far more glorious."
"It will be glorious, none the less," Tigerhawk answered in a scolding voice, "but our goal is to properly order the universe. Not to go after the insane ideas of glory that the Maximals and Predicons aspire to."
"Of course," Scavenger bowed to the transmetal two fuzor, "What are your orders?"
"We will need a base of our own," Tigerhawk spoke in a low voice, "And manufacturing it is well within my power. I want the rest of you to scout the surrounding area for any sign of the Predicons. They can not have moved very far."
"What should we do if we run into any Maximals?" Polar Claw questioned, "We've already been told that they are likely to know that we are here."
"The Maximals are just as responsible for destroying our plans on this planet as the Predicons are," Tigerhawk answered, "If they find and come close to you, destroy them. If you simply see them, ignore them while they are far away."
"And the Predicons?" Prowl asked.
"Same orders as with the Maximals," Tigerhawk answered, "If they come close, destroy them. If you spot them and they do not approach, simply watch and see where they go. Do not let them see you. I want our attack to a surprise."
Tigerhawk then leaped into the air and took his beast mode.
"Scavenger, you are to come with me," Tigerhawk commanded as he took off.
"Of course, my lord," Scavenger answered and took off after him.
Tarantulus's Cave
"I can't believe this," Carpenter complained to herself, as she dropped a rock from her mandibles, "A 'queen' forced to do manual labor."
"Your beast mode may be that of a queen ant," Tarantulus said from behind her, "But you are nothing more then a mere worker in Megatron's sight."
Carpenter cut into the rock with her mandibles again and removed another chunk of rock to make the new Predicon base more capable of fitting all the Predicons inside it.
"I don't need you people repeating what a 'great leader' Megatron is," Carpenter answered, "The male is an idiot and got his own base destroyed. He doesn't deserve to lead."
"I believe you misinterpret me," Tarantulus cackled, almost with a full laugh, "I do not truly follow Megatron either…"
"Do you have any wisdom as to who should be leader, or do you think that only you would be a good leader?" Carpenter questioned as she moved to cut away another piece of rock.
Once she was certain that Tarantulus was not going to back either her or some other femmebot she ranted once more.
"Typical," Carpenter grumbled, "That is the problem with all bots. Always thinking that they would be the best leaders. They fail to realize that femmebots are always superior. If the original Megatron had been a femmebot, the Deceptions would have won the Great War."
"I somehow doubt that," Tarantulus grumbled back, insulted that this transformer was so extreme in her thinking, "Regardless of other opinions, you do agree with me that Megatron is a poor leader? A criminal, if you will?"
"That much I can agree with," Carpenter answered.
"Good, because that is what he is in the eyes of the Predicon leadership," Tarantulus answered, "The Tripredicous Council is the leader of all Predicons. Megatron is rebelling against their orders."
"And let me guess, you're their spy?" Carpenter questioned.
"Why, yes," Tarantulus answered, "I am an officer of the Tripredicous Council."
"So if you serve them, why don't you just oust him and get it over with?" Carpenter asked.
"Because Megatron is far smarter then what any of the Tripredicous Council believed," Tarantulus answered, "Simply scheming will not work. They must send an army to crush him."
"And you're trying to recruit me?" Carpenter asked.
"Megatron has mastered ancient spark surgical techniques to take part of my spark along with part of Rampage's spark to make the present Scorpinok and Terrorsaur," Tarantulus explained, "They must be dealt with, and I will need some help in dealing with them."
"So you're asking me to commit suicide by fighting those two?" Carpenter asked.
"No," Tarantulus sighed, "I am asking you to help me, and to put aside your 'distrust' of non-femmebots. I have the technology to deal with their transmetal two armor, but I need help in insuring that once they are out of the way, any attempt by Megatron will be futile. He will obviously fight once his clone servants are defeated."
"And how many others have you brought into this little uprising?" Carpenter asked.
"You are the first I have approached," Tarantulus answered.
Carpenter was about to say something when Scorpinok walked into their section of the cave.
"Less talking more working," Scorpinok growled, "This cave needs to double in size by this time tomorrow."
Carpenter returned to her work, while Tarantulus sighed and switched to vehicle mode to carry off the pile of rubble that Carpenter had already deposited down on the ground.
Meanwhile, Megatron stood outside the main entrance to the cave with Terrorsaur, Waspinator, and Inferno standing at attention before him.
"Until the new base is completed there is not much we can do concerning the Maximals," Megatron commanded, "I want you to patrol the area for any sign of them. Make sure they don't find us if they try to attack. If you are attacked by any Maximals, destroy them."
"Of course, Royalty," Inferno answered and took off.
Waspinator and Terrorsaur were silent as they lifted into the air to begin their own patrols. Waspinator followed after Inferno while Terrorsaur continued on his own. Megatron merely watched as the others depart. He then slowly stalked back into the cave that Tarantulus had hidden one of his many secret labs.
"You were very audacious in destroying my base, Optimus," Megatron spoke to himself, "But I will still win. You will pay for your audacity, yes."
The Ark
Meanwhile, life at the Ark was appearing to be just as chaotic. The knowledge that the aliens had returned was problematic enough, as most of the Maximals accepted that their war against Megatron had not left the planet itself unscarred, but the fact that the aliens had activated several of the Axalon's stasis pods to serve them, and at least recovered several of the blank stasis pods had also generated some depression, and a seemingly desperate suggestion from Optimus.
"What?!" Rattrap asked in a surprised voice as the Maximals gathered in the conference room, despite the fact that with the new additions, many were standing, "You want to go and help Megajerk?"
Optimus sighed, as he noticed various other Maximals nodding to agree with the transmetal rat.
"These aliens are a bigger threat to us then Megatron is," Optimus sighed, "And if they activated more pods then both our teams the Predicon teams combined, we won't have the numbers to last long against them if we fight them individually. We have to make truce and ally with Megatron if we are to have a chance."
"Megatron is like to go all out against these invaders," Depthcharge spoke, "Given that some of his followers are transmetals and at least four more are transmetal twos, they'll inflict heavy casualties on these aliens if they attack him directly."
"Yes," Dinobot nodded in agreement, "The best strategic option is to let them battle and destroy each other. We can capitalize on this by defeating those that survive."
"If this were merely another Cybertronian faction trying to take advantage of our current war, then even I might agree with you Dinobot," Airazor spoke, "But it isn't a Cybertronian faction that is coming. It is the Vok, their acolytes are bound to be more powerful then what anyone suspects."
"So we commit an act of cowardice and ask Megatron to bring his forces here?" Dinobot snarled back, "Remember that he would waste no time in destroying the offline Optimus Prime and the rest of your ancestors. Then with the Decepticons winning the war, and with him possibly leading them, he would not have even had to come here except for one short trip to insure that his rule is assured."
"He's about as optimistic as Rattrap," Cybershark commented from the sidelines.
"Dinobot is attempting to think of overall strategy," Rapther growled at him, "We can't risk the lives of the Autobots in the Ark to Megatron, and given his power, and the attitude of many of his followers, we can't simply weld the door shut."
"In addition that much of the ship would also be sealed off if we did that," Rhinox commented, "But still, these aliens, the Vok, or whatever they are called, are too much of an unknown. We will have to take the chance that Megatron will not try anything underhanded."
"Megs can't be trusted to do anything that isn't underhanded," Rattrap pointed out, "He'd shoot his own mother if he had one."
"Shut up, Rattrap," Optimus answered, "The point is final. We will ask for a truce with Megatron and try to work together until the Vok are defeated. I will want all possible backup plans in place should Megatron try to double cross us, but we have no choice in this matter."
"Do we know where Megatron is?" Flutter asked nervously.
Optimus looked to Cheetor. The transmetal two cheetah shook his head.
"I've run a few quick scouting patrols to see if I can locate where the Predicons have gone," Cheetor sighed, "But I haven't found any clue as to where they are."
"I'd be more worried as to whether or not these aliens are actually on the planet at this time," Depthcharge spoke up, "Or at least if their 'general' is. From all the past battle reports you have on them, their powers are not truly infinite."
"They hadn't completed their general when I escaped," Airazor sighed, "But they may have finished constructing him by now. Which means that if that is true, then their general is either on his way, or is already here."
Squeak was about to ask a question when there was a sudden light that appeared in the room. Everyone looked up to see a spark lower itself into the room from above. It then quickly moved down and went inside the computer terminal that they were all standing around. Tigatron's face then appeared on the screens.
"Tigatron!" Cheetor exclaimed as he leaned forward to take a closer look at the screen.
"Yes, little cat," Tigatron answered from the screen, "My spark has been released from the Vok, although I think it is because they had no interest in my spark, or Airazor's."
"We assumed that when Airazor escaped," Silverbolt spoke.
"As I'm sure she told you," Tigatron answered, "The Vok have combined our bodies and created a male transmetal two fuzor, whom they have named Tigerhawk."
A hologramatic projector then appeared above the screen and displayed the image of Tigerhawk.
"This is the Vok General," Tigatron explained, "He has no spark. The alien Vok are literally living inside of him. It is this general that you truly need to beat."
Optimus sighed and then turned to the other Maximals, "Dinobot, Rapther, Depthcharge, I want the three of you to begin working on a way to keep the original Autobots and Decepticons safe. Take whoever you need to help. Rattrap, Squeak, Cheetor, Silverbolt, I want you to join Airazor and me in looking for the new Predicon base. Contact me first once you find it."
Elsewhere
"The Standing Stones?" Scavenger asked as he and Tigerhawk prepared to land at a site that would be very familiar to the beast warriors, "But this location was only set up so that we could take samples or analyze the planet. Or communicate with any one we had on this planet."
"Its power is beyond more then a mere communications device," Tigerhawk answered in a cold voice, "Because the stones in this location are far more numerous then these mere standing ones, and my powers are far beyond anyone can predict."
Tigerhawk then raised his hands to the sky generating purple sparks from them, and then pointed his hands toward the ground around the standing stones. In one swift motion, those sparks became a beam of energy that shot directly into the earth. There was then a great rumbling coming from beneath the feet of both Tigerhawk and Scavenger. Then after a few seconds a stone mountain seemed to simply rise up out of he ground, with the standing stones at its peak. Once the tower stopped growing it looked like a great tower from what would become known in the future as a medieval European castle.
"Amazing," Scavenger spoke in awe.
"It is more then amazing," Tigerhawk answered, "The structure is hollow, with rooms and weapons for us to use against both the Maximals and Predicons."
"I assumed we would be attacking," Scavenger spoke nervously.
"Oh, we will," Tigerhawk nodded, "But eventually Megatron will realize that he can not defeat us on his own and will ask the Maximals for help. And if the Maximals decide to get proactive, all the more important to have this base."
"Should I recall the others?" Scavenger asked.
"No," Tigerhawk answered, "For now, I need to know where Megatron has gone. We can not attack him if we do not know where he is."
Scavenger nodded, "What do you wish me to do?"
"For now, you personally are to run a patrol around this area, make sure that no Maximals come snooping around here," Tigerhawk instructed, "I will be insuring that we otherwise win."
"Of course, my Lord," Scavenger bowed and took off.
In the Air
Waspinator and Terrorsaur found no sign of any Maximal advance in any sector in the direction that they originally headed out in.
"Waspinator sees no sign of Maximals," Waspinator buzzed, almost sounding depressed.
"That's good," Terrorsaur answered, "It means Megatron will not have to worry about interference in constructing the new base. Why do you sound depressed?"
"Dragon-bot hurt Waspinator if Waspinator not find anything," Waspinator buzzed weakly.
Terrorsaur groaned as the two changed course to begin patrolling another sector. As Waspinator followed both saw something dive back down below the tree level, as if it had been following them.
"Did you see that?" Terrorsaur questioned.
"Waspinator saw something dive below trees!" Waspinator buzzed.
"Probably the Maximals trying to follow us to our new base," Terrorsaur answered, "Let's go!"
Both then dove below the treetops and fired a large amount of darts and laser fire all around the general direction of where Terrorsaur had spotted the movement. In doing so, several trees were knocked to the ground and eventually two transformers were uncovered. One was an owl transformer and one was a wasp-like transformer that dwarfed Waspinator.
"The Maximals have cloned me!" Waspinator screamed and fired a series of darts at the other wasp transformer.
"No they haven't," Heavsting answered, "Heavsting, Organize!"
"Prowl, Organize!" the owl transformer said from beside the female.
"Our leader didn't wish an engagement this early, but there are only two of you," Heavsting spoke in a confident voice, "I don't think he would object to us destroying the two of you."
"Destroy us?" Terrorsaur questioned, "We are transmetal twos. Your armor is only on the basic level. You do not have a chance."
Heavsting and Prowl fired their own weapons at Waspinator and Terrorsaur. One shot knocked Waspinator to the ground while another shot threw Terrorsaur through a tree.
"I think it is you, who does not stand a chance," Prowl said confidently.
Terrorsaur got up, with a practical berserker rage in his eyes. He immediately began firing away at that Prowl and Heavsting. He landed a few shots that made them take a few steps back. Waspinator soon joined in, landing a couple of shots on Prowl. Waspinator's shots managed to knock the owl transformer to the ground, leaving Heavsting without any cover. Terrorsaur converted to his beast mode and flew at the Vok acolyte at supersonic speed.
On impact, Terrorsaur drove his beak through Heavsting's chest and knocked her to the ground. Terrosaur then returned to his robot mode and fired a shot from his lasers into the femmebot's shoulder. A desperation shot from Prowl knocked Terrorsaur off of her, but he was in turn knocked to the ground by another shot from Waspinator, who eventually charged forward and punched the owl transformer in the face. Prowl landed face down, about five feet away from Heavsting. She attempted to switch to her beast mode and try to escape when one of her wings was hit by a blast from Waspinator.
"Waspinator doesn't like being cloned," Waspinator growled.
"I'm not a clone!" Heavsting insisted before taking a shot to her legs from Terrorsaur.
She fell to the ground and could tell that her damage was beginning to become extreme. She was leaking mechfluid from the hole that Terrorsaur's beak had made. The armor on her shoulder was cracked and one of her wings was gone. Now, one of her robot mode legs was completely useless and the other wasn't much better. Prowl had also taken relatively heavy damage, but he was much better off then she was. Both Terrorsaur and Waspinator were beginning to converge on them.
"Prowl get out of here!" Heavsting urged the Owl transformer, while firing a few shots at Waspinator, "You can't carry me and… AAAARRRRGGGHH!"
Her call couldn't be completed as a shot from Terrorsaur destroyed her gun and thus her hand as well. Prowl moved to protest, but took a shot from Waspinator and Terrorsaur that threw him through a tree.
"Get out of here!" Heavsting yelled.
Prowl looked at the heavily damaged Heavsting and then noticed that both Terrorsaur and Waspinator were advancing on him. They had taken moderate damage, but it appeared easily repairable. He sighed and fired a few moderate shots. One took off one of Waspinator's wings and the other knocked Terrorsaur down. Prowl then fled as fast as he could, fearing what Tigerhawk would do to him since he had failed.
"Waspinator hate clones," Waspinator growled at Heavsting.
"She's not a clone," Terrorsaur said, "She's a femmebot and you are male. Complete difference."
"Interesting tactics for Maximals," Waspinator mused.
"These two aren't Maximals," Terrorsaur answered, "They don't bear the Maximal symbol. We'll need to bring her before Megatron before we kill her."
Waspinator then grabbed Heavsting by the hole that Terrorsaur had earlier driven into her chest.
"You'll be coming with Waspinator," Waspinator buzzed to her.
Heavsting nodded in fear, while secretly activating a tracking device.
Elsewhere
Rattrap and Squeak slowly made their way through the underbrush of a jungle area that was to the east of the Ark. Neither had seen anything and in their boredom, Rattrap was being Rattrap.
"And that is how we defeated Megatron for da first time," Rattrap finished his story.
"You made Dinobot save Optimus?" Squeak asked, not wanting to say that she was terrified of the transmetal two raptor.
"Yup," Rattrap gave bragging smirk, "If it weren't for me, he might have turned back to the Predicons a long time ago. And then I got to train him as a Maximal."
"Oh," Squeak said weakly, and peaked out from behind some bushes and then sighed, "I don't see anything."
"The Preds have all gone into hiding since we blew up their base," Rattrap answered, "I doubt they're very happy about it either."
"You can say that again!" came a voice from above them.
They looked up to see Inferno coming down from above. The Predicon fired two blasts that made Rattrap and Squeak roll away. Rattrap dove behind a tree, while Squeak hid amongst a rocky outcropping. Inferno kept firing.
"You will burn for destroying the colony," Inferno vowed.
"Will you knock it off!?" Rattrap yelled from behind the tree, "As much as I'd like to recycle you for spare parts, we ain't here to fight."
"You're here to surrender, then?" Inferno questioned as he landed.
"No," Squeak said weakly, while staying behind the rocks, "Optimus needs to talk to Megatron about aliens."
"The aliens have long been defeated," Inferno said confidently, "Why should I accept such a request?"
"Because they're back and they are after everyone," Rattrap spoke, "Now, why don't ya contact Megatron while contact Optimus."
Inferno sighed and activated his radio. This was bizarre action on the part of the Maximals, and he needed Megatron to discover the truth behind the situation.
"Yes," Megatron's voice answered over the radio.
"Royalty," Inferno spoke, "I have captured two Maximals that have a story that you need to come and hear."
"Why not bring them back to base?" Megatron questioned.
"They say that Optimus is the one to tell you the story and he is not among the two that I captured," Inferno answered.
"I'm on my way," Megatron sighed, "Hold them there."
"Yes, my Queen," Inferno answered.
"Optimus and the others will be here a few moments," Rattrap spoke up, "so don't try anything funny."
Five minutes later, Cheetor, Silverbolt, Optimus and Airazor landed between Rattrap and Squeak, while Megatron, Pestilence, Octopix, and Stingfin landed to face them. The Maximals showed slight surprise at the new Predicons, but tried their best to remain calm. Megatron was far more curious about the returned Airazor.
"How did…?" Megatron began to demand.
"I escaped the aliens," Airazor answered, "And that is why we have called for this meeting."
"And what is this meeting about Optimus?" Megatron questioned, "I ought to destroy you know for destroying my base, but Inferno told me you had quite the story to tell me."
"Our war needs to be put on hold," Optimus said in a voice that betrayed no emotion, "I'm asking for a truce. Only temporary of course, that way you don't have to worry about any moral questions about plotting against me."
"I'd plot against you anyway," Megatron reminded the Maximal commander, "Why should I accept an offer of a truce?"
"Because the aliens that have caused us both so much trouble in the past have returned to this planet," Optimus said in a calm voice, "And they are not happy with either my side or yours."
"I haven't seen any sign of these aliens," Megatron said with great disbelief, "Do you have any proof?"
"I am the proof," Airazor spoke, "These aliens are called the Vok, and when I escaped they were creating a transformer more powerful then any other, which is now here, on this planet and is called Tigerhawk."
Megatron looked around.
"I do not see him," Megatron spoke, "You are wasting my time. Now if you're not here to fight, then leave or surrender."
"He's here, Megatron," Optimus insisted, "And he's activated most of the stasis pods that the Axalon lost when the Beast Wars began. You have to believe me."
"I have no reason to," Megatron answered.
Optimus sighed and was about to leave, believing that Megatron would not be swayed, when a great crashing noise came from behind him. He turned to see Megatron looking at a heavily damaged, if not offline, transformer as Waspinator and Terrorsaur landed in the middle of the meeting.
"What is that?" Megatron demanded, looking down at the transformer.
"Maximal clone," Waspinator buzzed.
"It isn't a Maximal," Terrorsaur reported, "It doesn't bear their insignia. But I can't tell whose insignia it is."
Airazor took a closer look at the transformer.
"It's the Vok's," Airazor reported, "Does this prove to you that the aliens are back?"
Megatron looked down for a moment and then placed a foot on the transformer's chest and pressed down.
"What do you know about Tigerhawk?" Megatron questioned the transformer.
"He… will… kill… you," Heavsting said slowly before finally going offline.
Heavsting's chest then collapsed under both Megatron's strength and weight. Megatron then looked up to Optimus and the other Maximals. He then looked to see that both Waspinator and Terrorsaur had taken moderate damage. Not serious, but if this one transformer with only basic armor had been able to inflict damage on two transmetal twos, then the alien forces had to be stronger then anything they had seen before.
"This is proof enough," Megatron spoke in a voice, "You have a truce, Optimus, but only until this Tigerhawk is defeated."
"Agreed," Optimus answered as he shook Megatron's hand.
"I suspect that they are primarily here to fight me," Megatron then mused, "I sense that this 'alliance' will work better if it remains secret. If you wouldn't mind coming with me Optimus, I will explain everything."
Megatron then converted to his beast mode and flew back toward the new Predicon base. Optimus slowly sighed and then followed.
Standing Stones Tower
Scavenger was still amazed by Tigerhawk's power. It wasn't really a surprise to him, but it still amazed him. He had created a great stone tower complete with every sort of technological device, despite the fact that it didn't seem possible. Tigerhawk stood watching a small screen that showed what Heavsting had been watching. The transmetal two fuzor was angry that the Predicons had learned that his forces were now on Earth, but he was glad that Heavsting had at least managed to allow him to know the location of Megatron's base of operations. As he watched the screen, he ignored the arrival of his acolytes at the tower. It took Scavenger's speaking up to get his attention.
"My lord," Scavenger spoke, "All the acolytes have arrived."
Tigerhawk looked up to see all his living followers had in fact arrived.
"Very good," Tigerhawk nodded and then addressed the gathered acolytes, "We will be operating out of this base, but I doubt we will need it. While we lost one of our own today, Heavsting has given us the first key to victory. We now know the location of the new Predicon Base."
There were a few light cheers.
"You are all to prepare all your weapons for the coming offensive," Tigerhawk said in a cold voice, "We attack tomorrow."
To Be Continued…