The Device
It had been quiet at the Decepticon undersea base. After one of a more surprisingly successful battle it had taken Soundwave, Hook, Scrapper and all the other Constructicons four days to complete repairs to themselves and the other Decepticons. This had given Megatron time to think; too much time really; he wanted a new staging ground, a place to refuel before an attack. The undersea base was a great headquarters; away from the miserable humans and Autobots alike, while still viable it only pulled from their already depleted energy reserves to fly to and from it. Different locations ran through his processor, he wanted a place away from the pathetic flesh creatures after all it was the flesh creatures the Autobots always defended. The War Lord decided on a barren mountainous area that had a rather large natural stream. The water flow would serve as an energy source, small but adequate.
As soon as the Constructicons were finished with the repairs he would send them to start working on the refueling station. He would also send the Combaticons to speed up the process.
He turned from his view of the darkened ocean to his desk. On it was three data pads, he picked up one with a scowl, and he was not looking forward to the reports. He knew basically what they said anyway; Soundwave's would report the amount of energon taken, along with what had actually happened on the battlefield to cause the retreat. Starscream's would list the tactics and battle scenario until he had been hit then it would turn in to whining, about how the leader's plan had failed again. The last report was Hook's, it would list who had been repaired, when, and with what parts. The fact that the report was there gave him a little relief; it meant that all repairs had been completed.
He scanned through Hook's report, stopping on a few names that he knew had taken heavy damage. He moved to Starscream's, it was detailed. He had noticed that the tide had turned when Thundercracker and Skywarp had been shot down. The Autobots army was fairly new, though they had been around for millions of years, they had been is stasis for most of it. He knew that the seekers had experience and this group particularly have been a cohesive unit for much of that time. Megatron made a mental note to reprimand them later.
He moved on to Soundwave's report, although it was always the longest he looked forward to it. He knew that Soundwave was objective and if there were a Decepticon to blame he would not hesitate to name them. In fact on occasion he had named Megatron at fault, and it was those times that he found that Starscream ranted on extensively.
This time though with the new refueling station would help to give them an advantage; they would be fully fueled and closer to the objective.
Megatron held a meeting, where he sent the two combiner teams and Soundwave to the location.
Scavenger was downstream from the location where the station was to be built, gathering and mining materials for Long haul to transport. He had just finished loading Long haul, when his sensors lit up. Something was buried just below the surface of the hole he had dug. Digging a little deeper he found a yellow sphere. It was very dirty and rough looking, he turned it over in his hands a few times and noticed there had been on one side had some strange writing. He wondered what it was since his databanks were limited on that type of thing, and then decided he would ask his crew later. He placed the sphere in his chest pocket, where he kept the 'treasures' that he found.
When the day's work was over, Scavenger returned to the half finished station. There he found Scrapper and Hook discussing a blue print with Soundwave. As he neared he smiled to himself, it was a common sight to him and he knew of course that Hook and Scrapper where not really discussing anything, they were arguing. Scavenger stopped a few steps away to listen. Hook was insisting that they add another compound to the material to strengthen it. The problem was the compound, they could not agree to which one to use.
Soundwave noticed Scavenger approaching, he watched as the miner stopped to listen. After a few moments Soundwave stepped away from Hook and Scrapper unnoticed. He walked over to Scavenger, and marveled at the two perfectionists. Both had points for the two compounds, but he knew how to break it up. Introduce a compound that had properties of both in it. Naturally that was his job, he had been sent to keep his optics on both combiner teams so they didn't fight amongst themselves.
Bonecrusher had finished clearing the last area, and was joining the two who were arguing. He stepped in between and pointed out all the problems with both compounds, then stepped back again. The trio stood silent for a moment, and then Scrapper suggested a new compound. Hook agreed, and all three walked to the temporary housing. That was why they worked so well together, this was also why they had their elitist attitudes around everyone else, they really didn't need anyone.
Scavenger's mood drooped a little. Soundwave noticed. He turned to look at the shorter Constructicon.
Scavenger looked at Soundwave and when he noticed that Soundwave had already been looking at him, he cast his optics to the ground. "I found something." He said quietly. "I can't figure out what it is." Scavenger stood calmly thinking, he wasn't sure that his team mates would know, what the thing was either, but then his mood changed as he realized whom he had been talking to. He opened his pocket and brought out the sphere. "It has some writing on it. Do you think that you could figure it out?" He held the sphere up to Soundwave.
The communications expert took the sphere, turning it around until the writing was facing his view. He studied it then scanned it with his visor and then filtered through all the data that he had, nothing matched. To him it was alien in origin, and that in itself was rare.
"Scavenger, I will require more time to examine this." Soundwave spoke in his harmonic monotone. He then thought that the miner would be displeased.
Correctly Scavenger got excited. "Yeah, sure. Call me when I can pick it up." He said then started to the housing.
'It must be special if Soundwave can't figure it out.' Scavenger thought.
Soundwave studied the sphere while turning it around in his hand again. Its appearance was quite old, and there seemed to be a slight indent on one side. The makings were roughly scratched and faded that complicated things. It could be something that he might have recognized easily, but with the amount of damage done, he was unsure if he would be able to decipher any of it. The thought of that alone frustrated the communications officer. He had come across many languages that were not difficult at all, while others had proposed a challenge. 'This damage will be the problem.' He reasoned.
Soundwave went to the command room. Patching in to the underwater base he linked the computer and ran an analysis of the symbols that had not been damaged. The computer's analysis came back empty to his surprise. With a little more determination he used the undersea base computer to link to Cybertron. He transmitted the symbols to Shockwave, and then closed the link.
Scavenger sat on his bunk, thinking about the sphere. He was puzzled that Soundwave had not known what it said, yet at the same time he was excited it could be something new. His crew members started to feel his bewilderment and began slowly flocking to him.
"Scavenger, what is going on?" Bonecrusher was the first to arrive. Scavenger hopped off the bunk.
"The others are also coming." He said. Mixmaster was next. As he walked in to the room he felt Bonecrusher's disgust with having to wait. Mixmaster said nothing; he just found a place to sit. Hook and Scrapper walked in together, exchanged a glance with the others then also sat. Everyone could feel Long haul coming, complaining to himself that he had to go.
The Constructicons had a type of bond that keep their cohesive work flowing. It came from the mind melding that Devastator created. At first they had though it would be a hindrance, knowing what was going on emotionally with each other, but that quickly dissipated when their first project was seamlessly produced without even a work to each other.
Long haul knew he was the last to arrive. "Alright I'm here what is going on?"
Scavenger stood in the middle of the room. "I found an odd looking sphere that had some writing on it. I could not figure out what it was." He explained.
"Why did you not ask?" Hook voiced, his voice taking on a familiar annoyed tone.
"Yes, we would have helped you." Scrapper added while nodding.
Scavenger explained what was going on when he had arrived. "Soundwave asked to examine it." He finished.
"Then why are you worried?" Long haul asked.
"Soundwave looked at it but he didn't know what it was."
"Soundwave didn't know?" Bonecrusher repeated. Scavenger shook his head.
"Well that is different. Still if he has it then he will find out." Hook interjected.
"If it is important he will contact Megatron, and you may not get it back." Mixmaster said. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
"Well, if that's all this was about, I'm going back to my room." Long Haul l got up then left. Most of the others did the same, Mixmaster waited.
"Do not worry, Soundwave will tell you even if he does give it to Megatron."
Scavenger smiled knowing Mixmaster was right.
The next morning Soundwave checked to see if there was a response from Shockwave. Finally there had been, the writing was not completely comprehend able due to the damage that the sphere had already sustained. Soundwave had sent copies of the entire content of the symbols that the sphere had, but the fact that the age had nearly destroyed the symbols it was near impossible. With that all out of the way Soundwave downloaded the long since dead language, when he came across one he didn't know it was very rare, it was one of the things he liked about his job in communications though, he knew all live languages in this section of the galaxy. Right now, he wasn't ready to give it back to Scavenger.
The Constructicons went to work early, Scavenger was looking forward to digging, and he was now hoping to find something else. Soundwave had sent Onslaught to keep him company just in case that warning as meant for something else.
Soundwave stood by his communications station and checked the in comings from Cybertron every two and a half hours. Finally near the end of the day as work was ceasing he received a longer more in-depth report from Shockwave. Nothing had changed, Shockwave found no other information. Soundwave against his better judgment decided to give it back to the Constructicon. He called Scavenger who was more than delighted to come pick it up. He explained about the warning and gave him one of his own. The excited Decepticon put the sphere in his chest pull out pocket siding against sub spacing it, not knowing what that might do.
The work on the refueling station finally ended, Soundwave reported to Megatron. The Commander then flew in to inspect it. Nothing was said about the sphere, most had not bothered to think about it a second time. The War Lord tried a few of the functions, and then ordered that the Combaticons be called in to defend it.
"Soundwave, contact the undersea base. Bring the seekers, here then we will attack the power plant once they have been properly fueled." Megatron commanded.
Soundwave sent the communication to Starscream, who came with his wingmates. Fully fueled the entire group flew out of the mountains and over the land toward the power plant. Doing their usual, they broke in and produced energon and as usual the Autobots came to stop them. Menasor and the seekers fought, while Soundwave and the Constructicons collected the Energon. Slowly the Autobots who outnumbered the Decepticons with no surprise, drove the fighting 'Cons into the production area, even Megatron himself. Stray laser fire ignited a stack of Energon cubes, and everyone leapt for cover.
After that died down a bit Megatron boldly stepped out and confronted Prime. "I will win Prime." He scowled. "Scrapper defend the energon." He yelled then let loose a barrage of fire at Optimus. The Autobot nimbly dodged and used a bolder for cover.
"Constructicons" The Constructicon leader called. "UNITE!" naturally the other five transformed into the various construction equipment while converging on Scrapper's location. Transforming again they formed the formidable Devastator. The Autobots pelted Devastator with laser fire but it didn't faze the giant.
Soundwave called the seekers to transport the energon while Devastator kept the Autobots busy, then he heard the Autobot fliers. As soon as Starscream landed he relayed the information without hesitation, Starscream ordered his wingmates to counter the Autobot jets.
Megatron surveyed the small battle situation; there were a series of dog fights going on above, the Aerialbots chasing the seekers, and vice versa at each turn. Each having been hit or collided with other grounding just about everyone.
On the ground Silverbolt called the others and formed Superion. Devastator was already showing signs of fatigue; Superion gave a great punch to Devastator causing him to break apart. Longhaul took the most damage, when he hit the ground he didn't move or find cover. Hook and Bonecrusher dragged him behind a few rocks. Mixmaster, and Scrapper were at the fore front slowly dropping back to join the rest of their team mates, Scavenger had been pulled off in the air and landed a ways a way struggling to get up. Once he did, he fought his way across to his team half way there he was hit, making a hole that burst through his pocket causing the sphere to fall out. He lay there a few moments then sat up just in time to see the cracked sphere open.
Everyone in the area saw this blinding light that erupted from the sphere, their optics went offline then shut down.