Disclaimer: I do not own Beast Wars or its characters and stuff. That's Hasbro.
Summary: BeastWars: After the Maximals leave for Cybertron, Depth Charge is left having to clean up after Primal again. Now he has to adopt an unusual crew, keep his bondmate from killing everyone, and get off the planet before the Vok destroy them all.
Warning: No Warnings for now.
Everything else is better explained at the bottom of the page in my A/N.
The Autobot shuttle rattled slightly as it hit the transwarp rip in the sky. The Maximals inside mentally said their final goodbyes to the bright orb below and proceeded through the wormhole. Half a megacycle later, tense and excited, they eagerly awaited the exit point.
"Oh, man, I can't wait to get back to Cybertron!" Cheetor exclaimed eagerly for perhaps the fifth time in the last 2 cycles. He wasn't his hyper self so much anymore, but his enthusiasm hadn't died a bit.
"Yeah, yeah, we know. Cool your jets, kid, we got a ways to go. When we came through we were already pretty far from Cybertron," Rattrap said from his seat.
Cheetor was going to reply when a loud thump came from the roof.
"Old sulfar-breath is at it again," Black Arachnia said, exasperation evident on her voice. She sat at a console with the screen, bright with the image of Megatron struggling against his bonds on top of the shuttle, in front of her.
Optimus walked over and looked at the image, a sigh escaping him.
"Well, there's not much we can do, for now. We should be through soon and he'll be taken into custody. Rhinox, can you calculate when and where we'll come out?" he asked.
Rhinox tilted his head and answered in his usual even tone, "Yes and no. As long as we're in hyperspace we can't look ahead. The length of transwarp tunnels varies depending on how the Transwarp drive has to bend space and time to get to a specified place. Because time travel is restricted by multiple parties, not just the High Council, on Cybertron, exact information regarding how time is affected by Transwarp drives is difficult to find. All we know is about the space part, so I can say that the time it took to get to Earth is about the time it should take to get back to where we were. The shuttle's systems are old, but in pristine condition. Once we're out of here, which should be soon, a little tweaking and some recalibrating and I can use the long range sensors on the front of the ship to see where we are using Maximal engineering."
"Understood…" Optimusreplied looking thoughtfully out the front windows. Blinking, he smiled gratefully down at Rhinox as a thought occurred to him. "Thank you Rhinox. Now I can conclusively say I don't know what we would have done without you in the Beast Wars. Thank you."
Rhinox smiled back and nodded, equally grateful for the credit and for Optimus's unwavering leadership. There were times he had sincerely thought he wouldn't be able to pull off the much needed miracles they'd needed and while Optimus was always grateful, over time it had been slightly taken for granted. Now that the Beast Wars were over, any credit seemed far more valuable now than it had back then, simply because now he knew for sure how much he had helped.
"You're welcome, Optimus."
"I know what we would have done," Rattrap smirked cheekily, arms folded.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Rattrap," Rhinox chuckled, smiling over his shoulder
Despite their relief over the end of the Beast Wars, they all had their doubts about whether it was truly the end. Rhinox was thorough in collecting what he could from Earth of their equipment but there was only so much they could bring. The Axalon for one was still sitting at the bottom of the falls and the Darksyde's remains were scattered all over the lava pits. How could they leave that behind? Did they really collect everything? Why did it feel like they were missing something? And someones? Thinking over these doubts, however, were in turn counteracted by their relief. The post-traumatic relief, that they all had, clouded their judgment and only made them look forward to be welcomed home.
So wasn't it a surprise when Megatron made one last great effort to escape and managed to pull off one hand's bonds before unlocking the others, effectively throwing their world into chaos once more? The Maximals panicked.
"Optimus! It's Megatron! He's gotten loose!" Black Arachnia yelled suddenly, gesturing to her screen.
Another heave and Megatron had his dragon head loose and, shaking against the turbulence of hyperspace, reached to get his legs free.
"No! Is there anyway to stop him?" Optimus yelled, horror on his face as he looked around desperately.
"No, we haven't exited yet! Going out there is out of the question and this ship doesn't have stable enough clamping arms to try to reach for him automatically!" Rhinox yelled back from the control seat.
Megatron got another limb free. If the situation wasn't so dire, the scene of him dangling along by one leg would have been comical. After gaining purchase, he managed to free the last leg hurriedly, knowing the Maximals would do anything to trap him. Finally free, he grinned triumphantly as he let go of the ship. His smaller mass, he knew, would travel faster through to the Transwarp exit than the ship. Without the calculations Rhinox had made regarding space, and left to the Universe's decision of what time he would come out at the end, Megatron could get to Cybertron first and, if he played his cards right and anticipated the response Cybertron would have at his return – the Maximal High Council was so predictable – he might have a chance at initiating a plan he'd been concocting for years…
The Maximals could do nothing but watch as Megatron got loose and was sucked down the hole ahead of them, moving far faster than the ship. Shock struck them, next horror, and then a grim acceptance of the fact that they'd have to deal with the consequences, whatever they may be.
The Maximals slumped visibly and even Optimus had nothing to say. Saddened at their failure, but hopeful Cybertron had its own forces, Silverbolt opened his mouth after a few moments of silence.
"Cybertron will intercept his arrival, yes? If he comes out ahead of us, they might arrest him before we get there."
"Possibly," Optimus said morosely, still looking blankly at the console.
"I tried to ensure our arrival at the correct time and place with some pre-jump calculations," Rhinox explained, frown now staining his face. "Without Megatron subject to those calculations…he could arrive at the end before us…and possibly arrive at a different time…due to his smaller size…"
No one really had anything to say until the ship shook violently.
"What the - ?" Rattrap exclaimed.
The space around them warped like fluid and they slid out of hyperspace to see a large blue Cybertron facing them. Somehow, the lights seemed darker and the planet bluer than they remembered. Even so it was home and Cheetor cheered anyway.
"We came out a lot closer to Cybertron than I thought," Rhinox said, his tone indicating his doubt. The look on his face made it obvious how he was feeling – throughout the beast wars he had a very accurate intuition for when things were about to real bad and those times were always evident on his face and in his tone.
"I'm sure something in the calculations were just off," Optimus offered, but his tone was uncertain, despite his words. Rhinox wasn't wrong very often…
Rhinox's frown turned into a betrayed scowl as he looked out over the planet.
"No. No!!! They're turning to fire at us!" he exclaimed, taking the controls to try evasive maneuvers.
It was true, as the Maximals found out by crowding around the pilot seat to see. The battle station satellites were turning slowly. As soon as their auto-weapons could lock on, they fired, bright yellow streaks of energy bolting towards the Shuttle.
"What!?"
"What are they doing! We're Maximal! We're an Autobot ship - "
The ship rocked as a laser hit.
"Cargo hold was hit! We're losing pressure!" Black Arachnia reported, scrambling over her controls.
"Seal it off!" Optimus yelled back, at his own station.
"I did - !"
Another devastating laser hit and the ship shook violently. Black Arachnia was thrown from her chair but helped up by her beloved.
"That…was the ship's stabilizer…" Rattrap reported gravely.
"We're going down," Rhinox noted, his voice heavy.
The planet's gravity pulled them in while the battle stations turned to try to fire at them again. The atmosphere burned briefly as they entered and everyone held on to anything stable they could find as the shuttle, a roaring sound accompanying their approach to the ground, hit the metal surface and skidded, hopped, screeched, and smoked its way down an airport's tarmac.
Thanks to Rhinox's piloting skills, again, they were fine, if very shaken, but immediately they were once again under fire and fighting for their lives as silver Cybertronian tanks surrounded their ship and fired capsules that released a green gas. Sparking and contorting, the bots shifted back to their organic looking beast modes in shock and confusion. This was too much too fast! What was happening!?
Chaos ruled the scene as the Maximals split up to escape, not able to transform and the power of their Transmetal bodies no longer existent. Rhinox and Optimus ran one way, drawing the attention of the majority of the tanks. Rattrap ended up by himself, chased towards the rail cars. Cheetor managed to lose the tanks with his speed and using the small alleyways. Black Arachnia and Silverbolt went underground as the spider's instincts guided her to safer space, despite not remembering Cybertron much at all.
A couple Megacycles ago they were happy and relieved to come home to this planet, but in a matter of cycles, that had been shot to pieces as it became obvious Cybertron was not the living planet they had left behind 2 stellar cycles ago. Now quite a few of them suddenly wanted nothing more than to go back.
Back to Earth.
The place in time they'd just been, where green grass and flowers grew in abundance, where mountains and valleys, tundras, forests, and jungles stretched wildly, the wind rustling over the terrain. Where hundreds of tanks didn't exist yet and the land was almost untouched by civilization. Where their friends and enemies had died, giving their lives to their different war efforts…
The place where two ruby optics flashed online with alarm and stared into the bright, aqua blue light above them.
A/N: :D Yay! New story!
Just to clear some things up: Here, I'm saying that after Nemesis Part 2, the Maximals were able to get G1 Megatron's spark back into his own body. I know they left that out in the show, probably could write a whole story based on that, but for my story, I say they returned it. I'm trying to stick to the canon ending as close as possible and sticking to those facts – the Maximals packed up most of their equipment and left, maybe a day or two after the last episode.
Also, I'm throwing Beast Machines in there but with some twists so it's not so bad. X_X See, I think if they returned to Cybertron the way it was, they might be locked up in jail or killed to keep secrets secret or they'd be assassinated by the Tripredicus Council or other things so I said, "Hey. Why not have Megatron eliminate that threat, reducing the threat to one guy – andhiscroniesandevilgenius- like BM did….Why not just have Beast Machines happen with my own twist to the cast and plot so it's not dumb?" So there we go – Rhinox and Silverbolt were NOT captured. I might bring Dinobot back from the dead, like something about the Oracle or something. 8D But I dunno. I'll see when I get there.
For now, we're going back to Earth for "Episode 1" of Beast Wars: Deep Impact.
All that said, I'd like to apologize for a slightly weak intro. ^_^ I really had a hard time thinking of how to intro my story here, it's been brewing for months and no headway on the beginning, so if it seemed weak, please excuse it....or offer suggestions. XD I plan on tightening the chapters into more episode-like sequences and I'm aiming for a Beast Wars-like feel, starting with the next chapter.
Any questions/comments/concerns/suggestions/Ideas? Constructive criticism to make me a better author? :D