A/N: This is a brand-new story set in my own headcanon Transformers universe. It starts just after the ending of Fall of Cybertron. Don't worry, Diary of a Wargamer will still go on, and I'll get around to Theodore Tugboat: The Real Stories and the Monster World reboot eventually, but for right now, enjoy my newest project.
Note that a bit of information in this prologue was taken verbatim from (a site I highly recommend you visit for its vast information and sense of humor). Also note that I'm a huge Starscream fan, so that's why he gets a lot of focus in this prologue (never mind he'll have a lot of focus).
Transformers: The Great War
Prologue
Many millions of years ago on the planet Cybertron, life existed. But not life as we know it today. Intelligent robots that could think and feel inhabited the planet's cities.
But not anymore. Millions of years of civil war had ravaged the planet much worse than during the war against the Quintessons. It all started when the Golden Age of Cybertron came to a sudden end with the collapse of the Space Bridge network, beginning the Age of Rust. The bloated bureaucracy left behind by Quintesson rule had left Cybertronian society stagnant, free choice stifled by a rigid caste system. In the gladiator pits of Kaon, one fighter named D16, who had renamed himself Megatron after one of the Thirteen, Megatronus, had started a movement to spur change in Cybertronian society, and his friend Orion Pax did the same. The problem was, though, that they had different ways of going about it. Megatron's movement, the Decepticons, favored a violent forceful revolution, while Orion's movement, the Autobots, wanted peaceful social change. The last straw for Megatron was when Alpha Trion sent Optimus Prime on a quest to find the Matrix of Leadership and name him the new Prime, which Megatron saw as the greatest affront and betrayal by his "brother", severing all ties with him. Orion, meanwhile, eventually found the Matrix, and reawakened the Prime had had been in a past life: Optimus Prime. But the break with Megatron was irreparable and the violent Decepticon revolt surged into motion.
The Great War had begun.
Over several million years, the war raged, a violent and bloody affair. Autobots and Decepticons were killed by the thousands in each battle, and the population began to dwindle as no new Cybertronians were emerging from the Well of Allsparks, as if an act of defiance against war.
But the war came to a head when Megatron found out about Dark Energon. Seeking to use it to impose his will on Cybertron, he and a group of Decepticons boarded an orbital Energon Depot, intending to take it by force. The station's commander, former Air Commander Starscream, attempted to ward them off, but all failed, and took Megatron's offer to be restored to his former position.
One of the largest battles of the war was the Battle of Iacon, the Autobot capitol. While Starscream led an assault on the city, Megatron led a strike force into the Stellar Galleries to find the Omega Key, with which he could gain access to the Core of Cybertron itself and corrupt it with Dark Energon. Megatron succeeded in defeating the Autobot leader Sentinel Zeta Prime, but to his regret, found that the key wasn't a physical key, but a large Cybertronian named Omega Supreme. Megatron found the mighty warrior hard to defeat, but thanks to Starscream and his Seekers, Omega was brought down, and forced to open the way to the core, which Megatron proceeded to corrupt with Dark Energon, believing it would bend the planet to his will.
Meanwhile, the battle raged in Iacon. Optimus Prime led the counterattack and reactivated the planetary guns, then aided his old friend Ironhide (who had once been a dock worker named Dion) in retaking the Decagon, in which Optimus faced off with Starscream and won, though Starscream managed to wade his way through a sea of Autobot soldiers and escape unscathed.
A few days later, Optimus Prime, along with his most trusted lieuitenants Jazz and Prowl, stormed the Kaon prison complex to find and rescue Zeta Prime after a message was broadcast to the Decagon, only to find it was a trap set by Megatron, a trap they still managed to fight out of. The thousands of Autobots imprisoned in the complex were also released, among them some of the foremost female Autobots, including Arcee, widely-renowned for having the most Decepticon kills under her belt of any femme, and Hornet, twin sister of the Autobot scout Bumblebee. Sadly, the Autobots were too late to save Zeta's life, and Optimus Prime took the mantle of Autobot leader.
Fighting their way to the Core, Primus informed Optimus that he had to shut down for millions of years to cleanse himself of the Dark Energon infestation, during which time Cybertron would only be able to support a skeleton population. Thus began the Great Exodus.
The initial Galactic Transports launching from Cybertron were met by a heavy Decepticon blockade. Previously, Megatron had given Optimus an ultimatum to leave Cybertron or die, but now, he was shooting down transports using an orbital gun, accusing the Autobots of "defying him".
It should be noted that by this point in the conflict, Megatron's logic circuits had gone haywire after taking several unusually hard blows to the head, and he seemingly became incapable of rational thought. The same could be said of Starscream, who had been promoted to second-in-command for his actions in Iacon. Starscream's own logic circuits had become uncalibrated from his thousand-year exile on the Energon Station, with stir-craziness definitely playing a major role. As a result, Starscream had become a backstabbing narcissist who constantly plotted to overthrow Megatron, though all the same, Starscream had a valid vision for Cybertron: a democratic system of government made by the people, for the people. Surprisngly, Megatron welcomed these attempts, as they kept him sharp and reminded him that any Decepticon would gun for his position, the main difference being Starscream was the most proactive and unpredictable. All the same, though, Megatron wouldn't think of killing Starscream due to the fact he was one of the best fighters he had, no one else was qualified for the position of Air Commander, and he had a sense of cunning that intrigued him.
A group of Aerialbots led by Silverbolt fought through Seeker squadrons and boarded the gun, known as Trypticon Station. Managing to shut off the power core, they soon discovered that the station was in fact a Cybertronian, and forced Trypticon to transform into his robot form: that of a giant reptile. Planet-side, Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Bumblebee fought the mighty beast, and defeated him. By this point, the blockade had been broken, and almost all Galactic Transports had been launched. For the Autobot command staff, Optimus had commissioned renowned engineer Huffer to construct a large ship named the Ark.
Construction on the ship progressed swimmingly, and the now Decepticon-free Iacon was a hub of activity. Six days prior to launch, though, Megatron dispatched Starscream and Soundwave to lead an assault on the Ark in a bid to destroy it and prevent the Autobots from leaving, since Megatron's haywire logic circuits deemed that the Autobots were to be conquered and enslaved, not allowed to escape and spread their decrepit system of government to other worlds. To that end, he dispatched three Warp Cannons to destroy it. Optimus Prime fought his way to the artillery controls, only to find that the city was a massive Cybertronian named Metroplex. Together, Optimus and the Titan destroyed the Warp Cannons, before Optimus was captured by Starscream and brought before the increasingly-insane Megatron. Just as all hope seemed lost, though, Metroplex crashed the party and smashed Megatron to death.
His leader dead, Starscream was left with a choice, one he knew he'd hate himself for. He declared Megatron dead, himself leader of the Decepticons, and ordered a full retreat back to Kaon, leaving Megatron's body.
Tensions in the Decepticon ranks rose from there. Starscream and the scientist Shockwave were constantly bickering, with Starscream admonishing Shockwave for experimenting with a Space Bridge in the Sea of Rust when there was a large Energon reservoir right in front of him. He also had a pencheant for self-worship, having large statues of himself erected and imprisoning anyone who criticized or insulted him.
All the same, though, he was sinking deeper into self-loathing. With each statue erected, each lie he told, each naysayer he locked up, he just wanted to walk away from it all. But he couldn't. He had dug himself into this hole, and he just kept digging himself deeper. Truth be told, it was his faulty logic circuits. He knew what was right, but said circuits constantly overrode his decision-making process and drove him to act like a narcissistic, self-absorbed gloryhound. If that wasn't enough, the circuits even forced him to put a lot of emphasis on any first-person nouns he used (ie words like "I", "my", "me"), much to his consternation. Some nights, he even laid down in his quarters and silently cried himself to sleep.
He had hoped to overcome his circuits, but he just couldn't. This came back to bite him when he heard about a transport loaded with Energon. Jazz and Cliffjumper had been sent to the Sea of Rust to find Grimlock and the Lightning Strike Coalition, who had abandoned their post and allowed the Decepticons to launch the attack on the Ark. Onslaught and his Combaticons drew up a plan to take the Energon for Decepticon purposes, but it fell apart when Starscream attacked from the air, ignoring Onslaught's warnings about the anti-aircraft guns (again, his faulty logic circuits at play). Starscream, in a moment of clarity, attempted to call a retreat before his logic circuits got him to make any more bad decisions, but the Combaticons ignored this, and boarded the transport, going as far as to combine to form Bruticus. The transport, which had transformed into a large aircraft, was brought down, with the loss of half the Energon onboard.
In his workshop in Kaon, Soundwave worked feverishly to rebuild Megatron before Starscream did any more harm. He succeeded in resurrecting his leader, and Megatron, furious with Starscream but unwilling to kill him, stormed the gladiator arena just as Starscream was holding a coronation. Starscream hid behind a shield while he sent Decepticons to their deaths, before Megatron told Starscream his "mockery of a reign was at an end", and blasted him. Starscream, who was upset that the blast hadn't killed him, fled the scene, and Megatron chose not to pursue, reasoning that he wasn't a threat, but deep down, because he knew Starscream would come back begging to return, and that the Decepticons' air forces would be uncoordinated without him. In the meantime, though, Megatron stormed Trypticon's crash site, where he learned the Autobots had sectioned off Trypticon to siphon Energon from him.
Confronting Optimus Prime via hologram, Megatron blamed Optimus for the planet's death...even though it was he himself who was to blame, having corrupted the core with Dark Energon, but Megatron's new logic circuits had yet to come online, making him completely unreasonable.
Finding Trypticon, Megatron initiated the Nemesis Protocol due to Trypticon's failure to destroy Iacon, rebuilding Trypticon's chassis into an imposing starship called the Nemesis.
Starscream, meanwhile, began hacking Shockwave's data logs and managed to infiltrate his lab undetected using a cloaking device he salvaged from an Autobot. His logic circuits had directed him to make a new plan: build his own army rather than try to control the Decepticons, and become a third faction in the war. His first recruitment attempt failed due to the recruitee, Grimlock, having severe anger issues. After breaking free and smashing Starscream into a control panel, Grimlock freed his fellow Lightning Strike Coalition members Swoop, Slug, and Snarl, confronting the Insecticons Hardshell, Kickback, and Sharpshot, before confronting Shockwave and biting off his arm, and also destroying the replica Space Bridge Shockwave had built.
The explosion made the Space Bridge portal unstable, and the Ark didn't have enough Energon to even break Cybertron's gravity. But Metroplex made the ultimate sacrifice and fueled the ship with his own Energon, before falling into stasis lock as the Ark lifted off.
Meanwhile, the Nemesis was primed for launch. Shockwave, who was entrusted with watching over Cybertron and protecting Decepticon territory from any Autobots who remained, discovered the unconscious Starscream in his lab, and brought him before Megatron. Shockwave asked permission to make Starscream his latest test subject, but Megatron, impressed with Starscream's ability to enter Shockwave's lab undetected (a feat even he himself couldn't pull off), Megatron spared him, and even restored him to his old post, in a moment of lucidity. Starscream said nothing but a quiet "thank you", as his logic circuits had been recalibrated by the impact against the panel. Even Megatron was surprised by this humble response.
The Autobots were nearly home-free, when the Decepticons intercepted the Ark and launched an attack. During the course of the fighting, Soundwave rode aboard a tow cable and disabled the ship's cannons, after which the rest of the cables were launched, only for Jetfire to destroy them. Aboard the Ark, Bruticus carved a path of destruction en route to the main Energon tank, which he destroyed before facing off with Jazz. He and Jetfire, using EMP mines, launched Bruticus off the ship and back towards Cybertron. Bumblebee, meanwhile, made his way across the ship to assist in defense, before jumping right in front of a blast from a huge cannon fired by Megatron, before he and Optimus Prime continue their battle, a battle that is interrupted by the unstable space bridge portal sucking both ships in before closing.
This is where our story begins in earnest...
Aboard both the Ark and the Nemesis, there was a flurry of activity. The Autobots and Decepticons had forgotten about the battle and retreated aboard their respective ships, but several Decepticons remained on the Ark. The ships were now out of control, and one Autobot was desperately racing back to the bridge, Megatron hot on his tail.
"Optimus!" shouted Megatron, "I'm not done with you yet!"
"There are more pressing matters, Megatron!" replied Prime, a bit irritated with Megatron's skewed priorities.
"The only pressing matter is your destruction!"
"Our ships are out of control! How can you think of battle in this situation?"
"Because I can!" Megatron's logic circuits still hadn't come online yet, and he advanced singlemindedly towards his enemy.
Prime was finding it hard to run while also carrying Bumblebee, critically wounded by the Nucleon Shock Cannon that Megatron tried to destroy him with. Finally getting back inside, Optimus quickly shut the door just before Megatron could get inside.
"Optimus!" cried Megatron, "OPTIMUS!"
Ignoring the mad cries of the Decepticon leader, Optimus located some soldiers who were retreating to the infirmary.
The three soldiers didn't look like the common Autobot soldier. One of them was yellow, and looked a good deal like Sideswipe. Another was blue and white, and looked like he transformed into something fast. The third was black with red and yellow trim, and seemed boxy, like he transformed into something less fuel-efficient than most Autobots.
"Are you headed for the infirmary, too?" asked Optimus.
"Yes, sir", answered the yellow Autobot, who's name was Sunstreaker.
"Ratchet told us to head up there and assist him" added the blue and white Autobot, who was named Mirage.
"Even though none of us have any medical training of any sort" put in the black Autobot, who went by the name Trailbreaker, "Sound logic."
"Ratchet simply needs you to assist in grunt work. Leave the medical work to him and Hoist."
Just then, the Ark was rocked by multiple small explosions. Sunstreaker looked out the window.
"Escape pods", he said, "They're coming from the Decepticon ship, as well."
"I'd better hurry to the infirmary, then" said Optimus.
Running as fast as he could, Optimus wished he could transform and still carry Bumblebee, but alas, he lacked any sort of trailer. The hallways of the ship were in chaos. Dead Autobots and Decepticons were strewn everywhere, most of them in pieces. Those who were still alive were leaking Energon and would soon die, as medical aid couldn't be spared for them.
Rounding a corner, Optimus found that the entire hallway was gone. No doubt, this was Bruticus' handiwork. Looking around, he could find no other way across. Both sides of the ship had been cut off. Left with no other choice, Prime decided to make a leap of faith.
Landing on the exterior, he broke into a sprint. Seeing a way inside, Optimus thought he was homefree, until...
"OPTIMUS!"
It had to be Megatron. It just had to be Megatron. Optimus was already pushing his legs faster and faster, and now, he was running faster than ever before.
"FACE OBLIVION, OPTIMUS!"
"Go away, Megatron! I have a casualty here who requires medical assistance!"
"Pathetic! You Autobots tend to your wounded! Your scout has failed! He deserves to die!"
And Megatron took a shot at Optimus with his Riot Cannon. It was no good, though, as Optimus easily dodged the shot. Reaching the door, Optimus gingerly set Bumblebee down inside, while taking a few shots with his Path Blaster. One shot winged Megatron in the shoulder, giving Optimus enough time to get inside and shut the door. Would this madness ever end?
"THIS ISN'T OVER, PRIME!"
Now able to rest a bit easy, Optimus saw a sign pointing to the infirmary. He was nearly there when a red shape rounded the corner behind him.
"Oh, no! Bee!"
It was Hornet, Bumblebee's identical twin sister. She had been working below decks in the engine room, but when the fighting started, she had been handed a Subsonic Repeater and sent off to fight. Now, of course, Hornet is a pretty good shot, and ranks up there with Arcee and Elita One as one of the greatest female Autobot warriors, but she had no time to prepare, no time to get to cover, and no training with a Subsonic Repeater (she was used to using a Neutron Assault Rifle). She still managed to defend the engine room from a Decepticon force led by the Triple Changer Astrotrain, who managed to escape. With the engines secured, Hornet went to the upper decks in search of Bumblebee, and was now faced with an image she had hoped not to see. That of Bumblebee critically injured.
"Bee? A-are you alright?"
"He saved me, Hornet" said Optimus, "He blocked a shot from Megatron that would certainly have ended me. He's a hero as far as I'm concerned."
Hornet grasped Bumblebee's hand, and allowed a few oily tears to fall. She would have preferred to be with Bumblebee on the bridge, but her superior, a sexist sergeant named Hardshot, had ordered her to work in the engine room. She was only able to leave the room because Hardshot was cocky, and thought he could face Astrotrain one-on-one. This line of thinking cost him his life when Astrotrain threw him into one of the reactors, destroying both him and it. After the attack on the engine room subsided, Hornet left to find Bumblebee, seconds before 'bee himself would arrive in the engine room.
"Come," said Optimus, "I'm taking him to the infirmary. Ratchet and Hoist will fix him up good."
"I hope so..." said Hornet, now sounding rather resigned.
The infirmary was full of Autobots who had been injured. Ratchet and famed surgeon Hoist had set up a triage for injured soldiers. Those with minor damage were walking wounded. All they needed was an Energon cube, which were in good supply on the ship. Those with serious injuries that weren't life-threatening were rendered immediate medical aid. And finally, those with severe damage weren't bothered with, even to spare their feelings. As a result, several Autobots were now shooting themselves to put themselves out of their misery. A horrifying sight, Optimus thought.
"Ah, Optimus, you're here." said Ratchet, "We heard about Bumblebee's injuries from a crewmember in the engine room."
"He came to the engine room?" asked Hornet incredulously, "I went searching for nothing?"
"That's in the past, Hornet," soothed Optimus, "For now, we need to focus on stabilizing him."
"Yes...yes, of course. He's not too badly damaged, is he?"
Ratchet and Hoist looked over him carefully.
"He's been badly hit," said Hoist, and Hornet herself for the bad news, "but it's easily repaired."
Sighing in relief, Hornet stepped closer to the operating table. "How can I help?"
"You can help stabilize him by bringing down that cable", replied Ratchet, pointing to the cable that was arcing with electricity.
Hornet had seen Ratchet operate like this before. When her and Bumblebee's cousin Volks was badly injured during the Third Battle of Harmonex, Ratchet had stabilized him using this same cable. They hadn't seen Volks since then, though, and wondered what became of him.
Optimus watched as the operation got underway, the Ark being rocked by several more small explosions as more escape pods were jettisoned. Now that he knew Bumblebee was in good hands, he departed for the bridge.
Dashing through the halls, Optimus hoped he could make it there before Megatron inevitably got access to the interior. Quite a Decepticon soldiers were still on the ship, and were holding down the corridor to the bridge. This was not a good sign.
"It's Optimus Prime!" shouted a Decepticon, "Tear him to scrap!"
Decepticon soldiers were never the brightest, but they thought they could gain favor with Megatron by killing Optimus Prime. Optimus, though, easily dispatched them with his Path Blaster. More Decepticon soldiers entered, also being gunned down with ease.
Coming up to the bridge, Optimus located an ammo clip and reloaded his gun for the inevitable fight. When he opened it, though, he got more than he bargained for.
"Ah, so you've finally arrived."
"Megatron?! But...how? I locked you out!"
"That's one of my clones, Megaplex. Does a pretty good impression of me, doesn't he?"
"I thought he was a bit...off."
"Yes, I admit, the Megaplex clones could use some work. But that's not the point! The point is that you left Cybertron without MY permission! You and your Autobots were meant to stay and be our slaves, not infect other planets with your bloated bureaucracy! I am the savior of Cybertron!"
"YOU destroyed Cybertron by corrupting its core with Dark Energon!"
"YOU corrupted the core! I did nothing wrong!"
"I was in Iacon fighting your invasion when you infected the core!"
"Liar! I was leading my men in Iacon while you infected the core to subjugate the citizens of Cybertron under your banner! You are the true villain here, not me!"
"If I'm the villain, then why do you kill unarmed medics? Why do you constantly abuse your men? Why are you pursuing us when you told us to leave Cybertron?"
"That ultimatum was a lie! I was testing your resolve!"
"My resolve has never been stronger, Megatron."
"Enough talk! Now I shall slag you!"
Megatron raised his arm to fire his Riot Cannon...only to realize that in the rush to board the ship, he left it on the Nemesis.
"Oh, slag," he said, rather quietly. This wasn't how he had planned it.
"Oh, slag is right!" replied Optimus, "Time to end your tyranny!"
Optimus raised his Path Blaster once more, and fired. It was aimed square at Megatron's head, and would kill him.
Well, it would have, if Optimus wasn't tackled at the last second.
Megatron watched in disbelief as Starscream flew in and decked Optimus Prime, disrupting his shot. He then put Prime into an arm-lock, and even tore Prime's gun off and threw it to Megatron.
"Take the gun, Lord Megatron!" cried Starscream, "I've got him wide open!"
Megatron blinked.
"He's all yours! The glory is yours, Megatron! I won't take it for myself! Not now, not ever again!"
Megatron blinked again. He was confused. Then something clicked.
His new logic circuits were finally online. And unlike those in his old body, they were fully-functional.
Thoughts raced through his processor, and he began to notice things. His immediate attention was direct to the fact Starscream was putting emphasis on words such as "I" anymore, saying them normally. For another, he was becoming conscious to what he had done to Cybertron.
"Primus..." he said at last, "What have I done?"
"Megatron?" asked Starscream, "Are...are you alright?"
"What have I done?"
"Focus, Megatron! You're not thinking clearly!"
"No, Starscream," said Megatron in a voice that didn't sound insane, "For the first time I am thinking clearly. All of this is my fault. IT'S ALL MY FAULT! I killed Cybertron! Why did I do this?! Why did I lose sight of the bigger picture?! Now we're all going to die!"
Optimus managed to break Starscream's hold, and walked towards Megatron.
"Megatron..." he said, softly. Before he could put a hand on Megatron's shoulder, though, he found himself staring down the barrel of the Path Blaster.
"But if I die, I'll die after you, Optimus Prime!"
He was still Megatron.
Optimus acted quickly, as a group of Autobots stormed the bridge to retake it. Ironhide was leading the charge, and with him were Prowl, Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Mirage, Trailbreaker, Bluestreak, Hound, Wheeljack, Hauler, Cliffjumper, Gears, Huffer, Windcharger, Brawn, Bumper, Zetar, Aragon, Cromar, Downshift, Camshaft, and Overdrive (Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Hornet were still in the infirmary, while Hoist had left to assist Grapple in affecting repairs to the smaller anti-fighter cannons). Another door on the bridge shot open, and Soundwave entered, leading Skywarp, Thundercracker, and the three components of Reflector (Spectro, Spyglass, and Viewfinder). Soundwave didn't even bother deploying any of his minions, content to use an older-model Neutron Assault Rifle (this older model had one barrel compared to the newer models' whopping eight). Megatron and Starscream went over to join them.
The final battle for control of the Ark never materialized, though.
"What is that?!" cried Gears.
The Autobots and Decepticons looked out the window. It was a large, grey sphere.
"That's a celestial body of some sort," answered Wheeljack.
"Could be a dwarf planet," added Prowl.
More small explosions rocked the Ark and Nemesis, as the last of the escape pods were launched. Those still on the ship were trapped.
Optimus looked out the window and saw why the pods had launched.
"We're on a collision course with a planet!" he cried, and he shoved Megatron aside to take the controls. Autobots scrambled to their stations while the Decepticons began beating on other Autobots.
"DECEPTICONS, STAND DOWN!" ordered Megatron, "Now is not the time to fight!"
"You're not my dad, Megatron!" retorted the three Reflector components, but they fell silent when Starscream aimed his Scatter Blaster at them.
The planet came closer and closer. Its size was becoming apparent. From orbit, it looked like it had rather massive oceans and a bevy of different biomes, from forests and grasslands to deserts and tundra. To Optimus, it was a haven, but to Megatron, it looked like the planet Shockwave had described, but he wasn't sure if it actually WAS that planet.
The two ships were now hitting the atmosphere, which was very thick, thick enough for flames to surround them. The Nemesis tumbled uncontrollably away from the Ark, but that was the least of Megatron's worries. He didn't care about fighting now, just survival. He and Optimus were in this together.
Prime desperately pulled back on the stick, trying to arrest the Ark's steep dive. Eventually, the thrusters responded, and the ship became horizontal.
Looking at the flickering gauges, Optimus noted there wasn't enough Energon to get back to orbit. He had to ditch the ship somewhere. Then he looked over his shoulder and saw Megatron eyeing the ground below with deep intent. It was becoming clear now that he was sizing up the planet, and Optimus could see an abundance of organic life.
He made his decision. He was going to crash the ship into a body of water. But right as he was about to do so, the Energon ran dry. That's all he needed. Not even the thrusters would respond anymore, and there weren't any flaps or rudders he could use to steer using the atmosphere.
"I can't control it!" cried Optimus. He was now trying anything he could to save the ship or squeeze a little more Energon out, but the tank, which had been destroyed by Bruticus, was bone-dry.
Now out of control, the Ark grazed a mountain, doing more damage to the mountain than to itself. Now on one more suicidal course, the Ark headed straight for a volcano.
"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" screamed Optimus, louder than ever.
The Ark made one last whoosh as it flew straight into base of the volcano, crashing with a large explosion. Nearby fauna took notice, and went to investigate, before turning back when several were hit by flying debris.
Few were aboard the ship at the time of the crash. Any Autobot and Decepticon soldiers aboard were killed on impact, while those on the bridge were all thrown forward by the sudden stop. This was enough to trigger stasis lock.
When the dust settled, the rear engine compartment of the Ark was still exposed, but the rest of the ship had embedded itself in the volcano. One last drop of Energon was jolted by the crashed, and the engines gave one last burst before falling silent. This burst started a rather large wildfire that devastated the surrounding woodland.
The Ark had come to a full and complete stop. Some of the upper decks would collapse over the next few days and several reactors would explode from lack of maintenance, but after that, the ship stood silent.
And, aside from the Beast Wars, it would remain undisturbed for four million years...
A/N: And there we have it. Tell me what you think.