A crew of misfits, the newly-deciphered Iacon archive and a map to the last Prime might be just what it takes to save Cybertron and the rest of the galaxy from the Megatron's decent into madness.
Kairos
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers. They officially belong to Hasbro and Takara. I'm taking them for a short spin.
Athenia. Home. Not like Cybertron was once home, but from all his eons of experience, Kup knew home wasn't just a place. His good memories of Cybertron couldn't match some of the memories made elsewhere, and more recently, relatively speaking, of course. He was in hiding. Supposed to be in hiding. Not really hiding when he wasn't trying anymore. No point when the space bridges connecting Cybertron to her colonies failed. Interstellar travel for the Cybertronian species was a thing of the past. Unless one had a ship, and knew how to fly it. Kup did know how to fly, but he didn't have a ship. Otherwise, he and his charge would've been off Athenia and on to another colony world long before now.
And he thought by now someone would've come for them, if they were able. Those were the plans, anyway. If there was anyone left who remembered him. Just as well, he mused. If he was forgotten, they were safe, and he could live with that. "Safe," relatively speaking, of course. Outpost 687-030 was home. Had beenf or quite a while, and Kup wasn't counting the vorns anymore. The outpost housed a long-derelict space bridge, but he'd taken over the outpost, which was used as a meteorlogical monitoring station, among other things. The small base also served as a hub for the planet's limited ground bridge network.
Now was punctuated by the fact his young charge was being escorted out of a ground bridge just outside the base, and into his office in binders. And not even the stern look on his ancient face could wipe the grin off the youngster's face.
"You shoulda seen it, Kup," Hot Rod said. "I almost had Overdrive this time."
Illegal racing. Of course.
"Let him go," Kup said, watching as Blighter released the stasis cuffs binding Hot Rod's hands.
"What's the damage?" Kup asked.
Blighter shrugged. "Not much this time. Just keep him out of trouble," he said.
Kup snorted, sending a pulse, activating the ground bridge.
"Seriously, Kup," Blighter said. "The racing wasn't the problem. There were some spacers trying to pick a fight. I don't think you want some aft-headed spacer cleaning the floor with your kid, do you?"
"Spacer wouldn't have stood a chance," Hot Rod muttered.
"Let's not find out, shall we?" Kup said, grabbing the much younger mech by the arm and dragging him along. "Thanks, Blighter. I don't suppose he remembered the parts he was supposed to get?"
"Frag," Hot Rod sputtered.
"You. Forgot. The. Parts," Kup said through gritted denta. "C'mon lad. We're gonna have a little chat."
"Have fun, kid," Blighter said, leaving the young mech to his fate.
Kup waited until he was gone, and laid into the youngster.
"Parts. You were supposed to be picking up parts, not getting into fights," Kup said.
"It wasn't my fault," Hot Rod said.
"It's never your fault," Kup mimicked. "Yeah. And I'm Alpha Trion. You need to be more responsible. It's our job to keep this outpost running. . ."
"Yeah. Some job," Hot Rod snapped.
"It's not just about keeping this outpost running," Kup said. "We have a duty. . ."
"Duty? Kup, this place is falling apart. No one from Cybertron is ever coming back. We should sell what we can salvage for scrap, buy a ship and get off this fragging scrapheap of a planet," Hot Rod said.
"Do you know how much a ship costs? And how rare it is to find an affordable still-working ship this far out on the Rim?" Kup asked.
"You're probably gonna tell me," Hot Rod said. "Fine, if we can't afford a ship, why not passage offworld?"
"And where would we go, lad?" Kup said.
"I don't know. Velocitron? Paradron? Why not Cybertron?"
"Because Cybertron is the last place any sane Cybertronian would want to be," Kup said.
"You keep saying that, but what proof do you have?"
"Enough," Kup snapped, once again grabbing the younger mech by the arm. "You can finish going through the latest data burst for me. I've got to go check the shield generators in section Delta-9. If I'm not back by Overdark, put up the shields and activate the sentries. You'll also need to monitor the bridge nodes because Coil's got several supply drops to make before the storm hits tomorrow night."
Hot Rod exvented.
"Or you could go check the generators," Kup said.
"No, I'll do it," Hot Rod said.
"That's my lad," Kup said, pulling the mech into an embrace. "I know you want off this rock, and someday, I'm gonna make good on that promise. Just be patient, Hot Rod."
Hot Rod nodded half-heartedly, and with another ex-vent, turned to head to the outpost's small command center.
88888
Overdark. The eight-hour period where parts of planet froze during the darkest, coldest part of its night cycle. Not a pleasant time to be out, and Kup was glad to be back before it set in. He took one last look at the space bridge node before closing the blast doors to the outpost's main entrance.
The space bridge network was dead. Useless. A reminder of the achievements and prosperity of Cybertron's Golden Age. Only a handful ever knew the real reason behind the "death" of the network. The loss was really an act of destruction carried out by Kup, on the orders of Alpha Trion. The move isolated Cybertron, and Megatron from the rest of the galaxy, hopefully keeping it safe from his ambitions. Ambitions which caused so much loss, and driving Kup from his homeworld. And he was getting maudlin. Couldn't have Hot Rod giving him a hard time about that, he figured as he headed toward the observation deck to seal it down for the duration.
88888
Hot Rod sat in a chair, keeping an optic on the various monitors in the command center. He was running a system diagnostic, making sure everything was working before they shut most of the station's higher functions down before the storm hit.
A light on the mainframe control panel was blinking at him, and he hit a few buttons, frowning at the result on the screen. He hit the same key sequence again, the results were the same, so he commed Kup.
"Kup, something's wrong," Hot Rod said.
"What do you mean, 'wrong?'" Kup asked.
"There's a malfunction somewhere. The mainframe says there's an active gate, and something's bridging in."
"That's not possible," Kup said.
"Yeah. I know, but the AI is being insistent," Hot Rod said, muting the volume on the computer.
The ground shook, and the flash of light from the bridge gate momentarily blinded them both. Kup recovered his wits first, and watched from his vantage point in the observation deck as a landing pod and small ship came through the vortex.
"Kup, what's going on?" Hot Rod asked, sounding panicked.
"I don't know, but stay where you are. Seal the doors, shut down the comms and don't come out until you hear from me," Kup said, onlining his weapons.
"But. . ."
"Don't but me, lad. Do as I say," Kup said, ending the conversation.
Comms went silent, and Kup was left to watch as the pod touched the ground, and the other ship circled, staying only long enough to watch it's occupant exit the pod, and it jettisoned a cargo container. He squinted, watching as a figure emerged from the pod, and picked up one end of the cargo container.
He sprinted to the main doors as fast as his old legs could carry him, and hit the release for the doors, watching as the figure from the pod came closer, and had to block his optics from flying grit.
Kup backed away as the large figure finally made it inside the entrance, and he couldn't believe his optics.
"Ultra Magnus?" Kup said.
"Kup," the big mech replied, dropping the cargo pod, sitting down beside it, taking a look around as the bay doors clanged shut. "Nice place you have here."
"Yeah. What in the Pit are you doing here?" Kup said. "You shouldn't be here. It's not possible."
"Looking for you, actually," Magnus said.
"Wy? And how did you activate the bridge? The network is dead. I saw to that," Kup said.
"Well, that explains a lot," Magnus said. "A few nodes were still working. It took some creativity and a lot of luck, but we managed to get here, and it's all that matters."
"What's going on, Magnus?"
"Where would you like me to start?"
"The beginning always helps," Kup said, crossing his arms, sitting down.
"Elita-1 and Chromia are dead," Magnus said. "Mgatron slaughtered them, and then he dropped Trypticon station on Vos four days ago. He destroyed half the city, and word had it this morning he leveled Praxus."
"Pimus," Kup said. "What.. ."
"I don't know," Magnus said. "We received word hours ago he was getting ready to lay siege to Iacon. Unfortunately, what he's looking for is no longer on Cybertron. He's gone mad. He's looking for the Iacon database, and the artifacts of the Primes. He's calling himself Megatronus Prime, and he's placed a rather large bounty on Optimus' head."
"How big?"
"Big enough Lockdown's interested again," Magnus said. "There's a price on my head now, Kup. Megatron doesn't take treason lightly. It's why he attacked Vos. Starscream refused to align himself and Vos with the Decepticons. And he's no longer neutral."
"Treason?"
"I stole Megatron's flagship, the Steelhaven," Magnus said. "And a few other things he had no right to claim."
"Like what?"
"I have the activation codes to the remaining Omega Sentinels," Magnus said. "Among other things. That's not all. I don't suppose you've met a femme named Arcee?"
"Nope," Kup said.
"Pink and white, barely upgraded into an adult frame? Not familiar at all?" Magnus asked, still hopeful.
If such a femme was on Athenia, Hot Rod would've told him all about it by now.
"Why?"
"She's Elita One's daughter," Magnus said. "She left Cybertron days ago with a copy of the database, looking for you."
"What the slag for?" Kup asked. "I've got no part in what's going on. . ."
"The Pit you don't," Magnus snapped. "Alpha Trion said I needed to find you, that you were essential to all our plans."
"And why didn't that old wreck contack me himself?" Kup countered.
"He's missing," Magnus said. "Kup, we need you."
"Who?"
"The resistance," Magnus said. "Welcome to the Autobots."
Kup glared, jaw set, ready to give the other mech a scathing reply, but didn't.
"I had a message I was supposed to deliver," Magnus said, standing. He opened the cargo pod, and hefted the object within, setting it into Kup's hands. "Before he disappeared, Alpha Trion told me to find you, and said you'd know what this is. It looks like my hammer."
"Your hammer was forged in the image of this," Kup said. "And I do know what it is. Do you?"
"We, ah, used it on the Steelhaven's engines," Magnus said. "And the ship AI. I didn't think we'd be able to use it."
"The Forge of Solus Prime doesn't just respond in the hands of a Prime," Kup said. "It will answer in a time of need, and in the hands of the right mech or femme, it's a fearsome weapon."
"The Forge isn't the only weapon in Autobot hands," Magnus said. "We also have a piece of the Star Saber. Megatron was allegedly close to finding the Apex Armor."
"Primus," Kup said.
Finally, the ancient mech was starting to see the crux of the problem.
"That's not all," he said. "We, ah, launched the Allspark into space."
Kup's knees buckled. "Why?"
"It's probably the only way we're going to find Optimus Prime," Magnus said.