TRANSFORMERS 40,000
Original author TheScorpion
Uploaded with permission by RoboWarrior
Things were not going well for the Marine chapter that day. They were pinned down by Necrons and, while reinforcements were on the way, so the voxlink said, they were starting to run low on ammo. Though never short zealous fervor, Bolters didn't fire faith. The Necrons had no such problem, and the massive Monolith kept throwing off lances of sickly-green lightning at their lines whenever they'd try to advance. More strangely, it also fired off great gouts of incandescent violet energy once in a while. Sergeant Samiel led his squad into cover and ripped the head off of a nearby Necron Warrior as it ambled past. The other members chewed up the metallic monsters with Bolter fire, hopeful that they could finally pound enough of them into the ground that they'd give in. He looked back over his shoulder for a brief, hopeful second. Nothing. No Marine squads at his back, no heavy support, not even an attack bike. He grit his teeth and turned back towards the enemy, bolt pistol howling as he prepared to give one final, desperate charge. If only they had something to light this dark hour...
With a loud whoosh of burning air, four beams of brilliant laser energy came out of the back quadrants of the ranks, vaporizing Necrons as it seared the Marine's eyes. Blinking away the spots in his eyes, Samiel looked back, and saw a Land Raider trundling up, Lascannons blazing. Thank the God-Emperor, he thought as he waved the driver on. There was a Predator and a Rhino following along, with an Attack Bike rolling along side, multi-Melta coughing blasts of heat energy. He looked closely. The Attack Bike was short a gunner.
Then something happened that Samiel had never before seen in all his decades as a Space Marine. The Land Raider UNFOLDED, an ominous crescendo of whirring gears and clanking pistons, with a basso hum, rising in pitch with it. The Land Raider's arms pounded the ground as they ejected from the Lascannon turrets, the fusion engine and back treads turned around and became legs, lifting the remaining chassis up. The chassis reformed and shifted a thousand different ways as the heavy Bolters slid down into the hand of what could now be called a miniature Titan. A head sprang up from the entry hatch, the searchlight shifting over, and the Lascannon barrels retracted as it stood at its full height. It cocked its weapon, and bursts of the same purple energy that the Monolith was tossing out blasted from it. Samiel watched in amazement as the Necrons flew apart, scorched and burnt. He didn't want to think about what that blast did to his men, as the giant stepped forward with a massive treaded foot and unloaded again. The Lascannon stacks on his shoulders sprang back to life, tracking down and scoring hits on a wing of Destroyers as they moved to intercept. The Necrons, confused by the assault, held their ground, Gauss cannons blasting away. The giant stomped over for cover, bending down near the astonished Marines.
"By the God-Emperor, what are you?" Samiel shouted, cowed as a Space Marine would allow himself to be.
"I..." it said, voice rumbling the Marine to his core with his commanding voice. Its face was covered by a plain faceshield, which moved when it vocalized. He had a helmet much like a Marine as well, but it had antennae on either side. "Am Optimus Prime."
"Pr-Primarch?" sputtered one of the other Marines.
"Can it, Marine, keep firing!" Samiel ordered.
"An excellent suggestion, Sergeant," the mechanical warrior stood back up, advancing into the glut of Necrons, weapons blasting them skyward.
"You heard him, Marines!" Samiel said, bolstered by the inexplicable help. He punched his Power Glove into the air. "For the Emperor! Charge them!"
The other vehicles raced ahead, firing and downing the skull-faced robots, one by one. The Marines took their chances, linking up for one final push. Samiel looked out towards the Monolith. Optimus Primarch was making a bee-line for it, and the lightning crackled again towards him. That same basso noise and a similar whirring came from it, he saw. He put his fist into another Necron and watched the Monolith straighten up and transform as well.
"Why do you follow me across the galaxy like this, Optimus Prime?" it rasped, getting to its full height. "You will only throw your life away in the end!"
"That's the same thing you said millennia ago, Megatron. Hasn't happened yet," Prime retorted, setting his weapon in his back.
"I will crush you with my bare hands!" snarled the Monolith, which Samiel heard called Necrotron, or something. The two colossi slammed into each other, Prime's fist smashing into Megatron's bullet-shaped head. The other vehicles continued hammering the remaining Necrons as the two commanders pummeled each other senseless. Prime finally flipped Megatron onto his back and prepared to turn his head into so much scrap.
"I made a mistake 38,000 years ago, Megatron. I intend to rectify it now."
Megatron spat oil to the side and sneered. "Do it then, Prime, it's been a long time coming."
Samiel batted a Necron aside and it collapsed into slag, as he tried to get closer to the action. However, with that one Necron, the battlefield started to glow green. Megatron laughed as he started to fade from reality.
"Once again, I elude you, Optimus Prime! It's really too easy!"
Prime roared his frustration, the roar of eons of ceaseless war and pounded away at Megatron's fading visage. He sat there, massive metal hands clawing the dirt as the Necron force vanished into whirling emerald energy. The Predator and Rhino rolled over, the Attack Bike close behind, both flipping, turning, morphing, realigning, standing up into two humanoid shapes and one almost grotesquely voluptuous female shape. "Prime! What happened?" asked the Predator, voice gruff and growling.
"Indeed, are you damaged?" asked the Rhino, speaking in a more calm and soothing tone.
"Megatron escaped again..." said the female, sighing in exasperation. The Land Raider, Prime, stood up, dusting his dented body off.
"Yes, he did," he nodded. "He and his new armada have powers unseen by Cybertronian eyes to this point. But we've tracked them across the galaxy and, by the Matrix, we will finish this. Megatron must be stopped... no matter the cost."
Samiel walked over, shocked at the massive metal monsters around him. "Throne... What are you?"
The Predator looked down. "If Megatron can have an army of his own, maybe these little armored fellers can give us a hand too."
"Only if they desire, Ironhide," the Rhino chided. "I am Rachet, this is Arcee, and you know Optimus Prime."
"We are autonomous robotic organisms, from a planet called Cybertron. You may call us Autobots," Prime said, bowing low.
"The Techmarines are gonna have a fit..." Samiel muttered.
The Land Raider and its company had been picked up by the transport Thunderhawks and unceremoniously plopped into the bays. The Chapter master was already waiting for them as the Techmarines and Chaplains gathered around, both in awe and in revulsion. Prime reversed direction and transformed quickly, kneeling in front of the Chapter Master, Hallo.
"Sergeant Samiel, front in center," he ordered, powerglove tapping impatiently against his steel grey armored bicep. The Iron Knight Space Marine sergeant came forth.
"Yes, Milord," he said, kneeling.
"Explain yourself," he replied, not looking up at the massive metal giants that were morphing in front of him like a mutant in the throes of Chaos.
"They rescued my men and purged the Necrons, and revealed the nature of the anomalous Monolith."
"So they did," muttered the Chapter Master. "You, who profanes the sacred Land Raider! What is your appellation?"
Prime nodded. "I am Optimus Prime. These are my soldiers." He was careful not to refer to them as 'men' with Arcee in the group.
"So you claim to lead. And I assume that you wish us nothing but good will, like the Eldar we faced half a month ago."
"These Eldar are known to me, human. They are... flighty. At best."
"Good, you do know reason," the Chapter Master nodded again and whipped his Plasma Pistol from it's holster, aiming at Prime's faceplate. "Then you know my reason for this."
The Senior Techmarine barreled over and slapped the gun down. "By the Omnissiah, you cannot countenance destroying these beautiful shrines to the Machine God!"
Hallo stuck his pistol underneath the chin of the Techmarine. "You have no idea just what I can countenance, Brother."
Prime groaned. Even as the eons passed, humans were still humans. He slammed his fist into the ground. "ENOUGH!" The room looked his way. "We are here for the sake of hunting down and destroying Megatron, and any other Decepticon that would threaten sentient life in the universe. It is the right of all beings to be free!"
"It is the right of all xenos and heretics to die at the hands of the righteous, you warp-spawned metal blasphemy!" retorted the Chapter Master.
Ironhide snorted, gun drawn. "Them's fightin' words where I come from, partner," he drawled. "You best watch that mouth."
"No, Ironhide, we need them as much as they'll need us in the coming days," Prime said, looking to his subordinate. "Megatron has gathered an army, and I'm certain that his other troopers have done the same. We won't last without their help."
"We won't last much more than 10 minutes if this guy has his way," said Ratchet, looking apprehensive.
The Iron Knights and the Autobots stared each other down for a tense couple of minutes, waiting for someone to twitch or move. The Autobots started to worry about what they were going to do about their rivals, and the Marines were split evenly down the middle as to what to do about the giant metal creatures. Surely they didn't seem bent of destroying them, but neither did the Eldar the first time they met. Reason and instinct clashed as something rocked the base.
"My lord, Hallo, Sir! It's Chaos!" called the PDF commander over the vox-net, voice full of panic. "They've made their move at last!"
"And here I thought these metal monstrosities were the top of our problems. Marines, form up! We've got traitors to kill." The Chapter Master looked up at Prime. "You're lucky, traitors are the only thing I despise more than xenos."
"The Autobots will help you, Chapter Master Hallo, to prove our good will."
"And the Iron Knights will purge you if you decide to pull any tricks. To battle!"
Samiel gave Prime a sideways look that spoke volumes of his powerlessness as he moved his squad out to the transports.
"Autobots! Transform and roll out!"
The Chaos Rhino rumbled to a halt, disgorging its complement of Chaos Marines, ready to charge the PDF troopers valiantly trying to hold the line. They screamed and hollered obscenities and praises to the Dark Gods as the PDF screamed and cowered behind the barricades, blasting away with their lasguns. It did little but tickle the armor of the Marines, who reaped a bloody harvest with Bolter and Chainsword.
"This is almost too easy, eh, Soundwave?" the Rhino laughed at a Chaos Predator, adorned with Slaaneshi icons and bearing huge speakers.
"Affirmative, Barricade," came the monotone reply.
"Quiet, you two," snarled a black daubed Land Raider, purring quietly in back. "It's not quite time to celebrate, I've got inbound."
A single Leman Russ tank ground up from the back ranks, Lascannons flaring. It pointed its battle cannon down field and opened up, sending a shell screaming at them. It burst harmlessly down near the Rhino.
"Oh, please, Scourge, lemme rip it apart with my bare hands!" the Rhino pleaded.
"Fine. Go to it, Barricade," Scourge replied. The Rhino gunned forward, clinking and falling apart, lifting off the ground and reforming into his robot form. He launched over the wall and landed in front of the Leman Russ, turning a good deal of the PDF troopers into red stains. The Leman Russ backed up and then pulled a trick itself, half-unfolding, and then reforming down. The PDF troopers watching all panicked and ran for their lives as the Leman Russ transformed into an archaeosaur before their eyes.
"ME GRIMLOCK WANT SLAG DECEPTICON!" Grimlock roared, slamming into Barricade and gouging a hole in the wall.
"Great," scoffed Scourge as he rolled forward. "Just my luck." He had already picked up the other Autobots rolling towards him with a company of Space Marines and knew that it wasn't gonna be easy this time.
Prime couldn't help but find himself wondering if he'd made the right choice. These humans, these 'Space Marines' were far less willing to aid him in his war than he expected, shouting riotous words about the 'god-emperor' and this and that. How the humans had fallen, so far, farther than he could've expected. The trans-warp anomaly that had kept the war contained to Cybertron since the earliest days of the Imperium had finally dissipated after Primus knew how long. "Sergeant Samiel," he broke into the vox on a private channel. "Why did you not fire on us?"
"Primarch!" Samiel yelped. Rumbling along inside Ratchet with his squad, Samiel had busied himself praying to the Emperor for protection and guidance. He was sitting inside a xenos-machine after all. "You startled me."
"My apologies. The question still stands, though."
"I was there with the Eldar when Lord Hallo gave the order to attack. There was no provocation, only that Lord Hallo had decided they had outlived their usefulness. Time was that the Iron Knights repaid honor with honor and ill for ill. Our previous Chapter Master was excommunicated and executed by the Inquisition when they learned of his distaste for slaughtering aliens without provocation."
"Yet you go to kill these Chaos warriors without pretense?"
"Traitorous vermin must always be destroyed!" replied Samiel, thumping his chest. The rest of the squad joined him. "Cowards and heathens who turn from the light must perish!"
"I take it that Chaos did you ill in the past."
"You don't know the half of it."
Barricade pulled Grimlock into a headlock, keeping the snapping jaws at bay. "Now would be a great time for some help, Scourge!"
Scourge transformed and blasted his cannon into Grimlock's flank, boiling away the synthetic hide of his archeosaur body. The Dinobot howled in pain and thrashed his tail, smashing Chaos Marines and Guardsmen alike. "Oh, I thought you wanted to rip him apart with your bare hands, Barricade."
The lumbering beast pulled free and powered his head into Barricade's chest, sending him stumbling backwards into the command post. Mortar and debris fell all around, smashing the PDF command squad and crushing the vox equipment inside. The Decepticon Rhino sat up and blasted at Grimlock with his rifle. "That was back when I thought he was just a tank!"
"Unpleasant surprise, incoming," droned Soundwave, unfolding and opening fire with his shoulder-mounted fusion blaster.
"Forward, Marines!" ordered Hallo, the hatches on the various vehicles opening. "Purge the enemies of mankind!"
"Autobots, Transform and-"
"Not so fast, alien. We are more than able to take these pathetic traitors apart without your help," Hallo admonished. "Except for the attack bike. Get a gunner on it, I'm riding it into battle."
"Excuse me?" Arcee asked, astonished.
Ratchet rumbled his annoyance as the Marines disembarked. "Prime, that's..."
"I know, Ratchet. We came out as a gesture of good faith, and if that's what it takes, then so be it. Forgive me, Arcee."
"This is so wrong," the female Autobot muttered as the Chapter Master took his seat with no small amount of satisfaction.
"Just putting you in your place, xenos. Under the heel of the Imperium! FORWARD!" Arcee took off like a shot, eager to sate her annoyance by blasting Decepticons. She may not get to take on Barricade and the others hand-to-hand, but at least she could do something.
Scourge fired again, tossing up dirt and debris around the charging Marines. Bolter shots rang harmlessly off of his armored hide and he easily avoided the clumsy missiles and plasma bursts. The Chaos warriors all followed he and his men as if they were from whatever gods they worshipped, blindly following or cowed into submission by his massive metal body. Certainly, Megatron couldn't muster an army like his, eyes blazing with beautiful hatred and powered by insidious rage as he was. Megatron likely picked a fight with the wrong group of aliens and was scattered into a million pieces by now. Good on them too, if they did. It was about time that pompous pile of bolts stepped down. Now, where were the Autobots following the Marines? Scourge felt it was high time to finish this little quarrel.
Ironhide snarled to himself as he drew a bead on Scourge, Prime's dark counterpart and contender for leadership of the Decepticons. "Prime, just one blast..."
"Ironhide, I gave you all an order to stand down. The Marines will as for help when they need it." He watched Samiel batter a Chaos Marine into so much paste and winced at the brutality of it. "Arcee, how are you feeling?"
"Like bucking him off and showing him what-for..." the Attack Bike muttered, Multi-Melta burning a hole in the wall to get through. "Please can we find new allies?"
"Even if these humans are blinded by wrath, I'm sure there are other good-hearted humans out there," assured Prime, tempted to transform and take the fight to the enemy in spite of himself.
Hallo dismounted and opened up with his plasma pistol, scorching Barricade's foot and earning oncoming fire for his efforts. Arcee gunned her engine in anticipation, not wanting to become a nice fat target for Soundwave or Scourge. Grimlock, meanwhile, transformed into robot mode and squared off against Barricade again, drawing an energon blade and brandishing it with the skill of a seasoned veteran. Barricade had expected a berzerker slash and barely avoided a cut that would've removed his head. Arcee's sensors caught Soundwave readying a sonic blast on Grimlock's exposed back and finally had enough. She transformed, literally falling apart and putting herself back together, Bolters sliding off, the sidecar becoming her arms and tires splitting. Her undercarriage became her legs and she stood up, firing with her twin pistols, in the shape of the Bolters that were formerly mounted on her chest. Soundwave took the volley square in the chest, staggering back as arcs of electricity leapt from his wounds. Prime and the other Autobots rolled up, disgorging their troops and transforming to back up their comrades.
Scourge growled. "Decepticons! We're outnumbered, fall back!" He shrunk back down to his Land Raider form and charged his teleporter as Bolter fire chased after him. Barricade got one last shot in at Grimlock before he leapt over the rampart and buzzed off, Soundwave protecting his damaged components with his own mode shift. The three Decepticons teleported off, whatever Chaos forces were able to come along with in tow.
Soundwave intoned in his monotone voice as to what they would do about their foes. "Don't worry, I've got a little surprise waiting for them." They rolled to a stop in the hangar of the Repulsive-class battleship in orbit.
The surprise in question was uncovered moments before the Transformer-sized Melta-bomb went off by an unlucky PDF trooper who was reduced to atoms before he even realized what was happening. Grimlock, closest to the blast, was launched off his sturdy feet into the other Autobots, and even the Marines could see the damage was ugly, maybe even fatal.
"Sic Semper Xenos," scoffed Hallo, looking around to cow his fellow Marines into agreement. He opened a vox-link through to the Battle Barge, Valor's Reward, waiting to pick the Iron Knights up. He looked over to see Arcee helping Grimlock limp along. "Where do you think you're going? I demand in the name of the Emperor that you use whatever foul Xenos magic and become my bike again!"
"You can walk," snorted Arcee, clearly in no mood for human arrogance. Hallo silently added one more mark against the Autobots and sulked away.
The Thunderhawks picked the Autobots up with surprising gentleness, given their Xenos status, but it was likely due to habit than any sort of kindness. The Valor's Reward loomed overhead like a great swollen hive, waiting for the tiny bees that were its Thunderhawks to return. The Marines all seemed anxious to the rearmed and repaired, as did the Autobots. Waiting for Prime and his soldiers, however, was an armed contingent of Marines and crew ratings loyal to Hallo, chains and plasma weapons in hand.
Prime immediately transformed, the vast hangar giving him plenty of room as he looked around, only a little surprised. "What's the meaning of this?" he bellowed, as the other Autobots were pounced upon and quickly lashed to the floor. He wished he could turn to assist them, but knew he didn't dare take his eyes off of Hallo for a split-second. The techpriests scurried up on their various bionic forms of locomotion and slid large discs under Prime's feet, releasing heavy magnetic forces that brought even the powerful warrior to his knees. "Hallo..." he croaked out. "What is this treachery?"
"Nothing more than nipping a problem in the bud," Hallo smiled, admiring the quick reactions of his crew. "The techpriests here are most interested in your existence, short as it may be after they begin their work." He turned to the nearest crimson-robed tech adept. "Take the bike first."
They chained Prime to the wall, prodding him with electro-staves and running auspices over his metal frame. Prime let himself power down, the Autobot's spirit finally broken by the boundless hatred of the Marines. The techpriests were busy burning incense and speaking in Binary, which translated to garbled nonsense to Prime's auditory circuits. He had failed. He put his trust in the humans, he hadn't destroyed Megatron when the opportunity was upon him, and now he had doomed his troopers to nothing more than a horrific death at the hands of these barbarians. The thought of it made his fluids boil. How could he have been so stupid?
"Ratchet, how's Grimlock?" he asked, trying to take his cyber-brain off the subject.
"It doesn't look good, Prime, said Ratchet flatly. "He's barely keeping functional, and if those half-human slag-heaps try to pick him apart, he'll shut down within a micro-process."
"And whatever they got in these chains is keepin' me pinned to the floor, Prime!" Ironhide added. "I'd turn 'em all t'scrap in a Cybertronian split-second given the chance!"
"Our choices are limited, Autobots. I fear we may have rolled out for the last time…"
Out in the void, however, something sinister floated towards the ship.
Samiel and his other Marines marched down to the hanger, assuring the other Marines that it was time for their guard duty. He looked down and saw Prime lurched forward, dejectedly, arms strapped back to the wall at an angle that looked nothing short of painful. He was on his knees, and shaking his head in despair. "Primarch!" he hissed. Optimus looked over, eyes lighting back up. "Primarch, I've prayed to the Emperor and he's shown me what you really are!"
"Let me guess, one more xenos to be purged?" he said, his rumbling voice dripping uncharacteristically with venom.
"No, Primarch! You're the one who will restore our Chapter to glory! The Iron Father Modron wrote that men of metal would come one day and bring unending glory to the sons of Manus." He held up a book, page opened right to it. "'And in his chest will shine the light of wisdom, and on his shoulders he will bear the fate of all.' It's right here. Hallo refuses to look at it, but he was pulled from the Iron Champions Deathwatch. He doesn't know the truth. His faith..." Samiel looked around. "His faith is in himself, not the Emperor and our Primarch."
Prime was stunned. Clearly the Marine was mistaken, but he was certainly bearing a lot on his shoulders, and the light of wisdom sounded a lot like the Matrix... Well, it wouldn't matter once they slagged him, anyway. The ship rocked with an explosion outside, near the hangar.
Hallo stomped onto the bridge, roaring his displeasure. "What in the name of Terra is going on here?"
"A wing of Dreadclaw bombers is attacking our port void shields, sir!" the tactica officer reported. "They're blasting clean through them!" Hallo, having never heard of a Null Ray before, was quite confused.
"Prepare for boarders, all Marines to their posts! We have incoming assault craft!" The port defenses opened up, scattering a field of fire all about, but the Dreadclaws veered away and blasted again with their Null Rays and Cluster Bombs, hammering the hangar bays again.
"Pathetic fools!" laughed Starscream as he peeled off for another attack. "Once more, the might of the Decepticons crushes these humans underfoot!"
"Their shields are failing, Starscream, shall we head in?" asked Skywarp as he barrel rolled away from a laser blast.
"And as you predicted," Thundercracker confirmed. "The Autobots are in the hangar."
"Excellent! Form up on me for the final run, and once the shields and hangar are pierced, we'll destroy those fools once and for all!"
Prime struggled against the magna-chains again, but they held fast. He couldn't reach his rifle or break the chains to free himself and he had a grim feeling that this was the end of his Autobots for good. "Samiel?" he called over the vox. "They'll be heading to the hangar, tell Hallo."
"Roger that, Primarch!" called Samiel as he dashed to his position as Hallo's secondary bodyguard. The hangar wall finally was sheered away by a Cluster Bomb and the three Dreadclaws all flipped and folded into Starscream and his cronies.
"Well, the mighty Optimus Prime, chained up like a common cyber-mastiff!" cackled Starscream, voice grating on all the Autobot's vox sensors. The atmospheric shields snapped into place as Starscream strode forward, brimming with confidence and perverse pleasure. "It's a thing of beauty, really." He grabbed Prime around the face and pulled him forward a bit. "I can pull you apart at my own leisure now. Something Megatron could never do..." He reached back and backhanded Prime in derision. "You're useless!" He struck him again. "A worthless pile of slag!" He cackled as he backhanded him again. "How we ever got hung up fighting you, I'll never know!"
"Chalk it up to overconfidence, Starscream," scoffed Prime, his lascannon stacks rotating down and blasting the Decepticon back into the wall. Burning dents smoked from holes in his wings as Starscream righted himself and pummeled Prime once more, sparks showering as metal clashed on dented metal. Skywarp and Thundercracker both approached as well, but Prime's lascannons lanced out at them. Starscream drew back and pulled a giant blade from his wing. "I've had just about enough of that!" He plunged the blade into Optimus' right shoulder, the lascannons drooping as his systems raced to reroute themselves to restore functions. Starscream cackled at Prime's pained groans, raising the sword above his head to split it like a petro-rabbit egg. "Savor this moment, boys…"
"Primarch!" shouted Samiel as he entered with Hallo and his retinue. "More of the enemy!" He opened fire with his Plasma pistol. Starscream merely leaned back.
"Ha! You missed!"
"Oh, did he?" Prime asked, voice betraying a glimmer of joy. The plasma bolt was burning away the magna-chain cuff around his wrist and he pulled it free. Powering himself to his feet, he bashed his massive metal fist into Starscream's shocked face in massive haymaker. The Decepticon felt his mandible joints snap in three places before his auto-repair systems kicked in to reset it, diverted from the wing holes. He flew, fell and skidded to a halt.
"You'll pay for that, Matrix-slagger!" he screeched, immediately regretting it as his repair systems fizzed in his cyber-brain to tell him not to use that part.
"Fire!" ordered both Hallo and Starscream at their subordinates. The blasters of the other two Dreadclaws spat burning doom as Prime wheeled away, trying to undo the other chain. Hallo's Marines all unleashed hell at the looming Decepticons but to no avail. Bolter shells popped and ricocheted about their armored frames but only wound up getting Marines killed as Skywarp and Thundercracker stopped and started to stomp them into bloody stains. Prime dove for cover next to Ironhide, finally free as he drew his rifle, knowing that the hangar was already compromised, and that one more pounding from a fusion blaster wasn't going to make too terrible much difference. He took aim, free arm clumsily pulling at the magna-chains that held Ironhide fast. With a booming blast of burning energy, Skywarp flew into the wall and groaned, turning to fire off a burst at the chained Predator.
"Me Grimlock want fight..." grunted the prone Dinobot, torso scorched and still smoldering from the Melta-blast. He stirred, trying to break the magna-chains that held his smoking carcass to the floor. "Me Grimlock best warrior!" He tugged weakly, body giving out finally.
"No, Grimlock, you're still too injured!" warned Arcee, as she tried to get an angle of fire on the Decepticons.
"You wouldn't last a micro-second against them," agreed Rachet, who was in the middle of getting unchained by Prime. He transformed and went over to Grimlock, firing off a round at the Decepticons to keep their heads down. Ironhide dove at Thundercracker, pulling the teal Dreadclaw out of the fray and slamming him into the wall. The force of the two slamming into each other battered the hangar wall open even more now, Arcee's added fire destroying even more in her attack on Skywarp. The Marines magnetized their boots and continued their heavy fusillade as the atmospheric shielding struggled to keep up. Prime had finally had enough. He opened fire again, picking out Starscream hiding in the cover. As the Decepticons waited the attack out, Optimus launched himself up and into Starscream, slamming him to the ground with a creak of crushing metal. He repaid Starscream for every slap with an endoskeleton-jarring punch, feeling himself starting to lose himself in the battle. Arcee took a hit that creased her thigh and she stumbled, Ratchet putting a blast into Skywarp's wing. Thundercracker barely had the strength to keep up with Ironhide's strikes, drunkenly swinging back whenever the Predator bashed more of his armor into scrap. Prime himself was starting to hammer Starscream with a savagery more akin to the Dinobots than an Autobot Commander, as finally the Dreadclaws all fired off flares into the optics of their opponents, transforming quickly and zipping off into the blackness of outer space.
"Well done, Xenos. You saved the ship," sneered Hallo, pointing his weapons at Prime. "Now back into chains, all of you!"
The Autobots looked at each other, shaking their heads. It was time to take a stand, their circuits still racing with the fire of battle.
"We're through taking orders from you," Optimus Prime said, looking down at him. His optics blazed crimson as he approached, menace radiating off of him like heat from a plasma-caster. "You refuse our offers of friendship and repay them with hatred. You ignore the things that your soldiers hold sacred, and you demean my people with infantile shows of arrogance." He picked up Hallo, glowering at the comparably tiny Space Marine. "By the Matrix, your command days are over." His booming voice was a hazardous hiss, even by human standards, only adding to his fearsome demeanor.
"Why you cursed Xenos!" Hallo squirmed, trying to fire his pistol. "You will live to regret this!"
"I doubt that." He scoffed. And with that final word, he launched Hallo screaming into the void, watching the planted Chapter Master drift off into the frozen gulfs. It felt right, good even, watching the Marine jerk and shudder as his organs ruptured and blood boiled out of his orifices.
"I can't believe you just did that," said Ratchet as he looked up from Grimlock.
"I'm surprised at it myself..." Prime murmured. His eyes turned back to their normal crystalline blue as he leaned against the hull. He willed his chest hatch open and removed the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, the spark of pure wisdom and goodness that separated the Autobots from their dark counterparts. "Matrix, light the minds of these men with your wisdom..."
All over the ship, rating's eyes were opened to the greater purpose they served as they worked to restore the ship, Marines, blinded and bullied into following the Inquisition's transplanted Chapter Master, felt a weight off their armored chests. They saw the larger scale of their war against Chaos, and lifted their voices in song to the Emperor for the blessing of true wisdom they received. Techpriests saw the glaring error in their calculations, thought to be canon, and implemented it immediately. Across the galaxy, Autobots would heed the call of the Matrix, coming to Prime's aid in their war. It wouldn't be long now, finally their war would be done. "Till all are one," Prime said lowering the Matrix.
"Till all are one," the Autobots intoned.
"Till all are one," repeated the Marines, kneeling in prayer.
Samiel stood. "Blessings be, the prophecy is true! You are truly a gift from the Emperor himself!"
Prime made no gestures for or against as he kneeled down. "Time will tell. Now, about this prophecy…"
Samiel was elated. The Chapter Master who had held them under his thumb for the longest time was gone, the prophecy was being fulfilled and even the old benediction was back. "Till all are one…" he said to himself, the words like sweet wine in his mouth. The Primarch, Optimus, as he called himself, was a shrewd warrior, and humble as well. He had politely declined leadership of the chapter, and had urged the other Marines not to wreak vengeance on their unbelieving brothers. He claimed to not wish to assume command of forces with capable leaders already in place, further proving that the Omnissiah blessed them doubly with his logic-guided trust. His bionic leg whirred as it powered him along, through the halls to the astrogation sector. The Primarch had received a communication from the Tau, informing him of the presence of more of these Decepti-chaos machines. The warp transit was being readied, and while it displeased him to have to work with those vile Tau, he knew it was the will of the Primarch-sent.
AuthorsNote1:I did not write this. I simply uploaded this wonderful it says on the top I was given full permission to post was originally written by TheScorpion on Deviantart(the link to his page is on my profile).You should check out his Transformers and Warhammer art that go with this story.
AN2:From what I understand the universe this takes place in is heavily based on G1 but with a few is that Beast Wars never happened and everything else is pretty much the same.
AN3:The reason the space marines call Prime a Primarch is because that Primarch comes from the word Prime.