Foundation

A Transformers: Armada Story

By William Rendfeld

"Four Earth days," Starscream noted. "In four Earth days, Megatron will be repaired. Until that time, I am assuming command."

Starscream stood within the command center of the Nemesis, the Decepticons based near Earth gathered around him.

"Well, that's fair enough," Cyclonus noted. "So, what're we gonna do? Smash the Autobots, make 'em pay for what they did to Megatron?"

"No," Starscream declared. "Until Megatron is fully recovered, we remain here at base. If the Autobots decide to make themselves a target, then we'll deal with them, but not before. Is that understood?"

"I suppose..." Cyclonus said, a hint of protest in his voice.

"Good," Starscream noted. "I suggest everyone take this opportunity to perform self-maintenance; we won't get another chance for a while. Dismissed."

As the other Decepticons filed out of the room, Starscream turned to the communications monitor. He had some work ahead of him.

"I've consulted with my advisors," the President of the United States noted. "I've heard every opinion about all of this; disbelief about your intentions, suggestions that we go after the lot of you, even a few who refuse to believe the evidence. But...all of them think that if this is genuine, we can't easily pass it up." He looked up towards the being before him and said, "We are willing to negotiate."

"Thank you, Mister President," Optimus Prime noted. "I hope that we are able to come to agreeable terms."

"As do I," the President replied. "Now then, as for your requests..." He picked up a small slip of paper and read off, "We're willing to allow the construction of a base in US territory. Colonel Franklin will have a list of suitable sites ready for you within the next forty eight hours."

"My thanks," Optimus noted.

The President nodded, and continued, "You also asked for the assistance of the United States military and resources to locate these stasis units of yours. Considering the recent success of the effort in Alaska, it's obviously possible to accomplish. In return, you offer to aid us in advancing cybernetics, energy production, and space travel."

"Not all at once, and not without assistance," Optimus promised. "We'll help with medium advancements over time, small things here and there. Humanity has made great strides on its own; we'd just be giving an extra push."

"Define an 'extra push'," the President asked.

"Your space program is, while impressive, costly," Optimus explained. "We can help you to cut costs; better fuels, better materials, better ship designs overall with a higher margin of safety. Artificial limbs are already at a level where people have most of their original capabilities; we can improve that. You'd get a great deal for very little cost and a small amount of time."

The President looked over the terms again, sifting through them in his mind. He looked up towards his counterpart and said, "You'll promise to stay out of our affairs, of course?"

"Under normal circumstances, we'll do so," Optimus promised. "We'll do everything in our power to stay out of human affairs. We won't help you wage wars or make policy. Should a natural disaster strike and you ask for our assistance, we'll do so discreetly, but that will be the only case where we interfere."

The President gave a light smile. "I think I can agree to that."

"One of the wonderful things about this planet is that it's remained geologically stable over the last twenty million years or so," Diana Masters noted. "That should make finding your ship much easier."

"Assuming there hasn't been a massive earthquake or anything," Hoist reminded her as a 2-D map of the Earth's surface appeared on a monitor.

"Still, it is a marvelous start," Vector Prime noted as Kingbolt began to examine the map. "We owe you a debt of gratitude, Miss Masters."

"It's my pleasure," Diana assured him. "One easy advantage of having a geologist for a sister, anyway." Changing the subject, she asked, "Speaking of all this, I realize finding the ship could be very useful, but I have a feeling that there's something else going on here."

"Well, if we can find the ship, we might be able to determine the landing trajectories of the stasis units," Hoist noted. "That'd give us a serious edge over the Decepticons, no question."

"There's also the Omega Sentinel that was loaded onboard," Kingbolt noted. "The Quintessons built them to keep us in line; we've used them since as last-ditch security, and every extra armament helps."

"I understand all that," Diana noted. "But I think something else is going on here."

Vector Prime looked down towards her and said, "Optimus was right about you; you are quite perceptive, and rightly curious. Tell me, what have you learned so far concerning the origins of the Cybertronian race?"

"The Quintessons built you as slaves, some were granted life by Vector Sigma, and the Quints were driven off," Diana noted. "But you were there before then."

"Correct," Vector Prime replied. "What you know is the official record of events, what can be collaborated with physical evidence. I predate that time, as does Cybertron, Vector Sigma, and Primus himself. It began with the creation of the Universe, what you know as the Big Bang. Two beings came into existence some time afterwards; Primus, and Unicron."

"So the two are linked," Diana noted. "Go on."

"The two went forth to explore the universe and learn," Vector Prime noted. "Both saw that the early universe was vast, chaotic. But while Primus saw this as natural, and saw that such chaos would eventually reach a state of order, Unicron saw only the chaos, and moved to impose his own order by eliminating the causes of chaos; the order of destruction. Primus saw this as wrong, and the two came to oppose one another. Both crafted physical bodies, and began their efforts. Primus did so by fashioning his form into a living world, Cybertron, and creating thirteen beings to help him against Unicron. I was among them."

"That explains where you came from," Diana realized. "What happened?"

"Unicron came before they were ready," Hot Shot interjected, entering the chamber. "One of them turned against the others, mortally wounded some before being driven off along with Unicron. Isn't that right?"

"Yes," Vector Prime said in surprise. "How did you know?"

"While I was out, I had some kind of vision," Hot Shot explained. "I saw what happened, learned the story."

"Did any besides you and the traitor survive?" Diana asked.

"Yes, four," Vector Prime noted. "For the protection of our world and our greatest hope, four ships were forged from one of Cybertron's moons, stellar bodies which had been caught in Primus's gravitational pull. Three went in one direction, one in another; all carried one of the other four of the first ones, each a holder of one of the Keys."

"Keys?" Diana asked.

"The four Keys are the Keys of Wisdom, Power, Velocity, and Unity," Vector Prime explained. "They each contain a fraction of Primus's full power. When combined with another artifact, the Omega Lock, as well as the Matrix and the ChronoSaber, they will unleash the full power of Primus and enable Unicron's defeat."

"What does the Mini-Con ship..." Diana began to ask, before realizing, "The Omega Lock is on the ship."

"Yes," Vector Prime answered. "Safeguard hid it there at my request; if Megatron knew of its power and possessed it, he would rival myself and Optimus Prime. Fortunately, he takes no stock in the artifacts of Primus."

"And once you get the Omega Lock, you can find the Keys?" Diana asked.

"We will be closer to finding them, yes," Vector Prime said. "They are directly linked to the Lock. Once it is reinstalled on Cybertron, it will act as a guide towards the locations of the four Keys."

"Speaking of," Kingbolt said to gain their attention, "I think I've found the general area." He indicated an area on the map off the northwestern coast of North America and said, "I believe that's where the ship landed; my team and I were among the last to leave the ship, and that's the approximate area where it came down."

"Adjusting for climate changes and continental drift," Hoist reported as he typed away at his console. The map changed slightly. "How's it look?"

"Looks like it's about nine miles offshore from Seattle," Diana noted. "Just within US territorial waters."

"That's unfortunate," Vector Prime noted. "There are few Autobots capable of undersea travel; we've never required it on Cybertron."

"Then let's hope that treaty gets signed," Diana said. "Otherwise this is not gonna be easy."

"Something wrong, Boss?" Scattorshot asked.

"Nothing, Scattorshot," Jetfire replied, his gaze skyward and his arms resting behind his head. "Nothing beyond the basic doldrums of everyday life. I don't mind a little rest, but if I don't have something to keep me occupied I go nuts. Maybe I need a hobby, I don't know."

"Well, at least it's nice and quiet," Scattorshot noted. "Better that than a big old brawl any day, right?"

"I suppose," Jetfire replied. "Anything to report?"

"Aside from the preparations for the summit here on Cybertron with the colonial governments, not much," Scattorshot replied. "Still no word from Nebulos. They've sent a ship out from Animatros to see what's going on, but nothing so far. Something about this doesn't seem right, though."

"Just wait and see, Scattorshot," Jetfire advised. "This is probably just some glitch or interference from a solar flare or something. At least, that's what I hope it is..."

"So, you think it went well?" Rad asked of High Wire as they, the remainder of the Street Action Team, Carlos and Alexis waited for Optimus to return from his meeting with the President.

"I have no idea," High Wire replied. "At this point, it could go either way. Personally, I hope that we will at least have the assistance of this nation's military."

"Why the base, though?" Carlos asked. "I mean, you've been operating out of this ship for the last couple months, right? Why can't you continue with that?"

"This ship is an explorer vessel," Sureshock explained. "It has limited resources. If we can build a proper base facility, we'll be able to better sustain ourselves over time. We've no idea how long we'll be here on Earth, of how long the recovery of the remaining Mini-Cons will take."

"Makes perfect sense," Alexis noted. "I mean, you guys need power to keep going, and this thing can't have unlimited reserves. You'll have to get more eventually, like the Decepticons have been with those two plants."

"Exactly," High Wire noted. "With a proper base facility, we'll be more self-sufficient. Constructing it will be an easy task, but given recent circumstances, authorization to do so would be preferred over none."

The landing ramp descended, and Optimus Prime slowly rolled into the entry bay as the ramp closed. Once he was fully within, he transformed and said, "Hi kids. Sorry if I started you."

"You're fine, Optimus," Alexis said. "So, how did it go?"

"Your President agreed to our terms," Optimus replied. "A treaty will be written up in a few days and Colonel Franklin should have a list of possible sites for base construction by then."

"Great!" Rad exclaimed. "So, you think it'll be nearby?"

"I won't know until I've seen the list," Optimus replied. "But I wouldn't hold out any hopes; when the decision is made, it'll be by committee. And that rarely goes well."

"Something wrong, kid?" Skywarp asked.

"Huh?" Wheeljack replied, turning to the elder Decepticon. "Sorry. Just thinking about things is all."

"Such as?" Skywarp asked as the two walked down one of the corridors on the Nemesis.

"All this time, I thought Hot Shot had abandoned me," Wheeljack explained. "Now I know the truth. I feel like an idiot for thinking that he left me behind."

"Don't," Skywarp told him. "Many Transformers before you and after you have jumped to conclusions about things, not knowing the full details and certain that they had been wronged in the end. You aren't the first to make a mistake like this, and chances are you won't be the last. Just try to learn from this, alright? Not everything is immediately clear; you have to pay close attention to a lot of things, otherwise you might miss something important."

"Guess you're right," Wheeljack noted. "So, what now? I mean, Starscream's in command, Megatron's indisposed. I don't see why he can't have Megatron shipped back to Cybertron along with Thrust and Cyclonus."

"A sizable faction still supports Megatron back home," Skywarp explained. "For now, we're waiting until we can convince them to do otherwise. A few more failures for Megatron here may just do the trick. So for now, we wait. I just hope Screamer knows what he's doing."

"So we're getting help officially from the humans now," Scavenger noted. "Not bad."

"The treaty still has to be written and approved," Optimus replied. "But for now, we stand a good chance. Colonel Franklin will give us a listing of possible base sites within the next two days. Hopefully, Megatron will still be under wraps by then."

"Good news all around then," Hoist declared happily. "We've got an approximate location of the Mini-Con ship; it's about nine miles off-shore from Washington State. We can tell Colonel Franklin and the President once the treaty's official."

"That is good news," Optimus noted. "Get a comm.-line going to Cybertron; Jetfire's going to need to hear about this as soon as possible."

Elsewhere in the depths of space, a small Cybertronian scout craft inched along.

"Is there any word yet?" the commander, a large, intimidating Decepticon asked of his officers.

"Nothing yet, Scorponok," one Decepticon replied. "We can't even pick up anything from it. No communication lines, no ships, nothing. It's fascinating, but I don't like it."

"Control yourself, Mindwipe," Scorponok ordered. "We're just out here to see what's been keeping Cerebros from answering his comm.-line. He probably doesn't have his head on straight."

A sudden blast rocked the ship. "Status!" Scorponok ordered.

"Something just blasted us," Mindwipe reported. "A big something."

"Oh, this'll be fun," a third noted with a light grin.

Several more blasts rocked the ship, knocking around the three Decepticons and rattling the ship.

"Visuals!" Scorponok ordered.

The screens which hadn't blown out flashed visuals of the attackers; a small group of black and copper, angular craft, darting around the ship like flies and blasting at it without mercy. A central ship, larger than the others and colored a deep blue, seemed to stay out of the fracas before darting out of view.

"What are these things?" Mindwipe asked.

A massive blast tore through the ship's command center, and a figure took shape at last. Its form shifted from an angular shape like an aircraft into a tall, angular robot, its optic bar glowing a deep red.

"Your destruction," the Transformer noted in a deep, monotone voice.

"Vector Prime?" Optimus asked.

Vector Prime shook his head. "Something has happened. I'm not certain what, but something...terrible has happened. And I fear we will be seeing it very soon."

The End