A Glimmer of Hope
The legal bit... Okay, for starters, Beast Wars®, Predacons, Maximals, and all of their names, the terms Transmetal, Maximise, Terrorise and so on aren't mine, they belong to Transformer productions, a division of Hasbro® inc. There! That's everything, oh, wait, no it ain't, I wasn't very original here. All of the humans names, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter, etc., belong to the ShowTime® production 'Stargate SG-1', and are the property and copyright of ShowTime Inc, and ultimately the property of MGM®. Although NONE of the characters are mine, and I received no money (which I should have to pay for medical expenses to repair my poor fingers) for making this story, the story is still all my idea, and as such copyright to ME, and please ask before anyone decides to write a sequel, hint hint. There, that IS everything! Ha! Oh, and one question - do Colt 45's have titanium bullets? I don't know. Putting 'Class A' before it made it sound all official, though.
He ached all over. His metallic form bristling with ignored pain. He tried to get up, and instantly regretted the move. Ignored pain tried once again to get attention, and it had his full attention. He gritted his teeth and stood up, much as he could. His surroundings were tiny. He winced as a small, teasing thought entered his head. 'Rattrap could fit in here no problem'. The tiny cell was dark, but his green eyes easily adjusted to the lack of light. 'Ya know, aren't cats supposed to be able to, eh, see in the dark, kiddo?' Maybe Rattrap was right. He could see perfectly in the dark, a quality shared only by one other Maximal, another feline. When it became quite obvious what had happened, Cheetor winced and tried to fall asleep again. No such luck.
"What happened, Optimus Primal? He just disappeared. Damn!" Dinobot slammed his fist as hard as he could down on the table in front of him. Rhinox winced; he would repair the rather large crack the fuming Predacon-come-Maximal had made in the table later. Right now they had to find out what had happened. Rattrap's suggestion that they just gate-crash the party the Predacons must have been having after they must have captured Cheetor immediately received a very cross look from Optimus. He had been scouting when he sent a distress signal back to the base. It was cut off abruptly, and Airazor came to the site ten cycles later to find evidence of a quite large assault. She had relayed images of the site, and it didn't look good. There were bits of Cheetor all over the place. Even Dinobot had shivered when he saw it. Rattrap sighed as he noticed that all of the pieces, put together, made up the kid's tail-blade. He told this to Optimus, who then asked the obvious question,
"Can he transform without it?" Rattrap thought for a moment.
"Eh, I don't think so. It wouldn't do much good anyway, there'd be a little bit stickin' out, if ya know what I mean." Optimus nodded.
"So it's a safe bet he sustained Energon damage due to exposure." Rattrap nodded now. Optimus' heart sank.
"See if you can get through to Tigatron. He's the best tracker we have." Rhinox went straight to it, and within five cycles, Tigatron was off. But it was very strange. They had been battling the Preds when all communication was lost with the Maximal. So if the Predacons didn't do
it, who did?
"Megatron! There is a ship orbiting the planet! It is directly above our heads!" Scorponok yelled out as his sensors stared beeping as loudly as their little tiny buzzers could muster. He pointed to a large dot over the surface of the planet on his screen.
"Is it a ship of Cybertron's?" Scorponok studied it for a while, scanned it several times, and tapped several buttons. After a while, he said,
"I-I don't know." A little yellow blip flashed on the close-up of the ship. Scorponok's eyes widened, such as they did.
"Megatron! The-the sensors-a Maximal! On board the ship!" Megatron smiled for a moment.
"Which one, Scorponok?" Scorponok tapped a few more buttons, and after a few more clicks, came to the conclusion,
"I think it's Cheetor, Megatron." Megatron looked away from the screen, eyes lost in thought. He smiled.
"Pussycat, hmmm? It looks like the Maximals are short one flyer. Well, now may be the time to strike!"
"B-but, Megatron - Blacharachnia, Inferno, Terrorsaur and Tarantulas are beyond communications range! We haven't got the numbers!" Megatron seemed to dwell on this for a moment.
"We shall strike as soon as possible. They need the pussy as a flyer! We shall strike in five megacycles! Will that be enough time for our troupe to return, Scorponok?" Scorponok nodded, morbidly wondering what would happen to him if he told the truth and said no.
Cheetor, to amuse himself, had experimented trying to transform. He had wedged himself in a couple of times, but after that, he was fine. He decided that robot form was just fine for the moment. What was going on? Where was he? He didn't know that all would become clear soon.
Optimus was pacing across the room. He had had no reason to believe that Cheetor was dead, yet the main feeling was that he was. Rattrap hadn't spoken a word in hours, (Optimus knew something was wrong when he had many chances for sarcastic comments, but they never came), Tigatron had disappeared off into the forest to think, Airazor was sitting quietly in Cheetor's room, feeling particularly subdued, even Silverbolt was unusually quiet. He had not known the young Maximal long, but he still felt the loss. Rhinox was alone with Optimus in the control room.
"You know, you'll wear a hole in the floor if you continue on like that, Optimus." Optimus turned towards him, and smiled lightly.
"Perhaps you're right, old friend. But - I can't help feeling that something's missing." Rhinox agreed.
"It was all too perfect. He sent out a distress signal, and when we came to investigate, there were pieces of him everywhere. At least, so we thought."
"Or were meant to think." Rhinox frowned; it wasn't like Optimus to grasp at straws.
"Yeah, maybe. But really, all those pieces were really only his tail-blade. And it looks like he may have been using it at the time. It certainly wasn't on him. And there's absolutely no trace of him whatsoever." Optimus nodded, understanding what Rhinox was getting at.
"But I'm still a little sus - what's that?" He said, as the long-range scanners picked up something and started beeping loudly. Alarm klaxons blared, and within five mini-clicks, everyone who was in the Axalon was in the room. Optimus would always remember the thought that entered his head. 'If only we could move that fast in a fight.' Then he sighed, as he realised, with a slight tinge of sadness, 'Cheetor could.' Rattrap asked,
"Hey, what's up, Rhinox? Any news on de kid?" Rhinox just said.
"Maybe. Just maybeeeeee…" Rattrap frowned.
"Whaddya mean? I asked a question, not a riddle." He was becoming quite irritable. Rhinox then answered,
"Well…I'll be!! It's Cheetor!" In response, he received a multiple,
"Wha…." He explained,
"Well, not quite Cheetor, and he's a little out of reach. There's a ship orbiting the planet! I - I think it's - human!!" There was the sound of several jaws dropping.
"But humans haven't ventured into space for years!!! That's our job!!! It was becoming increasingly dangerous!" Everyone agreed.
"No - this is different. This ship is hundreds of years old. I would even venture to say it came from the 21st Century!!!" Jaws dropped again, and Rattrap rubbed his chin. He said,
"How do you know?"
"Well, keep in mind that we don't know what time-zone we've landed in. We don't know where we are or anything. The wormhole that brought us here could be occurring at different times, and from different time zones." Optimus nodded thoughtfully.
"Now, the hailing codes we use today were invented in the 22nd Century, and since this ship didn't recognise them when I sent them out, and since space travel was only achieved in the 21st Century, that has to be what it is."
"Yeah, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. I mean, all this is fascinating and everything, but eh, it still don't help us out on the Cheetor front." Rhinox held up a hand, and said,
"Now be patient, Rattrap. Look at this." He punched in a few numbers onto the Axalon's tired command keys, and after a second, a tiny yellow dot started flashing. Cheetor. Optimus almost jumped.
"You did it, old friend. You found him."
"Not quite."
Something suddenly occurred to Cheetor. He had no weapons. Whoever had him was thinking. He remembered them destroying his tail gun. What strange weapons they had. No lasers. He sat down in the tiny space and tried to think what the weapons were. His internal database told him. They were machine guns. Who used machine guns? They were old, expensive, and ineffective. Well, they were thought to be ineffective, anyway. They had made light work of his tail blade, blowing it to smithereens. Then one of them had conked him from the behind with what felt like an elephant, sending most of his systems into stand-by. He still had a particularly large dent in the back of his head. He was surprised to see that his captors had been humans. He hadn't seen humans since they set out onto the Axalon. Strangely enough, it had actually occurred to him that he may have been in the same time zone as the humans had come from. He didn't know where he was. And then, he was blinded by artificial light entering his poor excuse for a cell.
"Whaddya mean, not quite?" Rattrap said pointedly.
"We know where he is, but we can't get to him. I've re-arranged the long-range scanners so that it can detect Cheetor's condition. It looks like he's very badly injured…"
Megatron tackled the rough terrain with ease. He flew over them. He found himself wondering how he ever managed without his jets. He chided himself. 'Don't ask stupid questions, Megatron'. By the time he had reached the Axalon, the others were waiting for him. He smiled.
"What exactly is it?" Dr. Jackson asked innocently. He was the only civilian aboard the ship, along with fifteen Air Force officers, and five Navy Seals.
"We don't exactly know yet, Dr., however we think that it is some sort of robot." Jackson gave the Major in front of him a 'a what?' look.
"A robot? A - a robot. Er, I know I wasn't down there but that thing didn't act like one. I mean, I know that we're out in deep space and everything, but last time I checked, robots couldn't think." Major Samantha Carter looked up to her superior, Colonel Jack O'Neill, and said,
"Well, you're right on that point, Dr., but"
"Please, we've been here five months, my name is Daniel."
"Right. Well, this one can. Just look at these weapons!" She displayed them all to everyone there. It was obvious that they were extremely advanced. Daniel thought hard.
"Well, might I butt in here a second? I know you're all amazed and everything, but I was only brought along because I could greet aliens provided they were from diverse human cultures, and I could do it peacefully. I doubt that capturing the first one we meet was very smart. We may have ticked off anyone it knows. And I believe that, relatively speaking, it's only an adolescent. I know what that sounds like, but it's true. Granted it's a robot, but if you look at its head, you'll see that its face is that of a teenager. I swear, it's true. I know you all think of me as 'the civilian', but I know what I'm talking about." Everyone there just stared at him, and Colonel O'Neill glanced at Colonel Maybourne. He turned back to the young anthropologist.
"Maybe you should get some sleep, huh?" Dr. Jackson shrugged him off, and left the room in a huff. Major Carter went after him, but he was gone.
Daniel Jackson had sneaked down the hall towards the holding cell where Cheetor was. He opened the cell, and was slightly surprised to see the robot didn't make a bid for freedom, instead it blinked in the light. Jackson almost smiled. Obviously the robot hadn't found the light switch. Well, he couldn't find it in the dark, which presented a bit of a paradox. He asked,
"Don't you have a light on you somewhere?" as he switched on the light. A young voice answered.
"It's broken." Daniel started with a few questions.
"Umm, I have to ask you a few questions, just to see what we know about you." The creature nodded.
"What's your name?"
"Cheetor."
"How, uh, how old are you?"
"I was first programmed sixteen years ago." Daniel smiled, he had been right.
"Look, I know you're probably really interested and everything, but do you have a repair station? These really hurt, you know." He showed Daniel multiple holes all over him. He gasped.
"What happened you?"
"Not you exactly, but you all shot at me! For no reason, either! Man, that's not fair!" And he let out a little growl, very cat-like.
"You can feel pain?" Daniel asked, incredulous.
"Wish I couldn't." Cheetor answered, truthfully. Daniel's face was blank, unreadable.
"What? What did I say?" Cheetor was getting a bit impatient with this person. It was obvious that he was only around thirty. He decided that he wanted to know.
"Who are you, anyway?"
"My name is Dr. Daniel Jackson."
"Dr. as in medical, or Dr. as in a scientist?"
"As in a scientist."
"Look, I know this sounds like a really weird question, but what year is it?"
"What? I mean, it's obvious that you're much more advanced that us, and you don't know the time?"
"Oh, I know the time, but we came on this world through a space anomaly, a wormhole. We don't know what year it is, because we haven't met anyone or anything that could tell us what year it is."
"Oh. Well, in that case, it's the year 2003." Cheetor nodded. That seemed about right.
"Do you know where we are?"
"Well, all I know is that we set out two years ago, and we have discovered how to get light speed. Long-range scanners on Earth detected huge energy source, one that could power the planet for years to come. Here."
"Energon." Cheetor breathed.
"What?"
"Energon. It's a raw, extremely powerful energy source. It's all over this planet, but it's extremely unstable here. Can I show you something? I can't do it in here." Daniel nodded. He took him outside the room, into the hall. The door at the end was locked, preventing Cheetor from escaping. Suddenly, the robot yelled out,
"Beast Mode!!" And he began to change. Right in front of Daniel's blue eyes, he turned into an aqua-blue and yellow cheetah. Daniel guessed that's where he got the name.
"Why do you do that?"
"Well, we've been doing that for centuries, from robot into vehicles, and then we sort of stopped doing it, because we didn't need to any more. But we, and the Predacons, have to do it here, because when we're in our robot forms, after a few minutes exposure outside our ship, the Axalon, we start to short out." Daniel noticed he had no tail.
"Where is your tail?"
"You guys blew it to pieces. It's actually a kind of a weapon." Daniel made an 'oh' face."
"Um, I don't want to appear stupid here, but who are you, anyway?"
"We're the Maximals. We're the good guys."
"Who else is there, besides you, Cheetor?"
"Well, our leader's Optimus Primal. Our scientist is Rhinox, and there's Rattrap, Airazor, Tigatron, and, oh yeah, there's Dinobot. He used to be a Predacon, they're the bad guys, but he changed because he had a fall out with the leader, Megatron. With them there's Tarantulas, Blacharachnia, and loads others." Daniel frowned at the young robot. He was beginning to get a bit vague. And then Cheetor did a very strange thing. He quietly said, 'Maximise', then he walked back into the cell, sat down, brought his knees up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. He started to rock back and forth, and began to whimper softly to himself. Daniel looked at him with an overpowering sense of guilt. And then a very commanding voice broke through.
"Hey, kid, you there?"
Rattrap worked feverishly on the console in front of him. He jumped when the whole downed ship shuddered. They were under attack. He yelled out, to no one in particular,
"Slag! Any time but now! I almost got it!" Optimus ordered everyone to defend the base, and kept Rattrap at his job. But he had to ask,
"Almost got what, Rattrap?" Rattrap didn't even look up.
"I think I can supercharge the long-range scanners, the bounce it off the comm satellite. Long story short, we can communicate with Cheetor. Rhinox programmed the back up scanners and they can check his diagnostics. His comm is online." And proceeded to fade into a barrage of 'almost there, come on's' until at last he jumped up in happiness. "Yo, Optimus! It worked! It worked!" And he pressed the switch.
"Hey, kid! You there?" For a moment, there was only the sound of depressed whimpering, and then Cheetor's welcome voice hissed into the comm unit, over the speakers.
"Rattrap?" Rattrap felt like jumping for joy. In fact, he did jump for joy, and nearly tripped over his chair. The Maximals on the ground and in the air heard his voice, crackly but crystal clear in their minds. He was alive.
Megatron was surprised to see the Maximals skid to a halt, be they on the ground or in the air. The overall effect was quite comical. He had to laugh at the Maximals stop completely. Even from here, as he was battling Dinobot, he could hear the voice of the youngest Maximal saying, 'Rattrap?'. He cursed; it looked like the pussy was back. And then he realised he had thought too soon, and he was shot by Dinobot before the traitor raced back to the base, along with the rest of the Maximals. He could swear that Dinobot grinned as he said,
"Auto weapons on!" Megatron shouted as quickly as he could,
"Fall back!" Before the weapons fired in a frenzy of lasers. He knew, without looking, that Blacharachnia had a face on that said,
"I told you so."
"What was that?" Silverbolt asked. "I heard-"
"Cheetor." Airazor finished for him. Rattrap looked up triumphantly.
"I found da kid. Hang on a second. Cheetor?"
"-Rattrap - that - you?" Th voice was fuzzy with static, but the words were audible. "What - happened?"
"Cheetor, this is - "
"Optimus. I - can - hear - you - fine. You're - a - little - fuzzy, though."
"So are you. Cheetor, where are you?" Rattrap adjusted the dial on the speakers, and Cheetor's voice came through clearly.
"On some sort of human ship." Rhinox beamed. "I - I think it's the year 2003. And we're not on Earth. They're from Earth. And they came rather a long way. One of them is with me now. His name is Daniel Jackson. Actually, he's Dr. Jackson. He's an, um, an anthropologist. They completely shot up my tail-blade. It's in pieces. And they burnt half my hand off too. It's dead, it won't work." Optimus spoke up.
"Can we speak to Dr. Jackson?"
"One second." A small, slightly nervous and stuttering voice came through.
"H-hello? Um, who am I speaking with?"
"I'm Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals. Are you Dr. Jackson?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Are you the leader of your crew."
"Noooooooo. If anything, I'm at the bottom. See, they're all in the military, and I'm a civilian."
"Well, dat's all fine and dandy and all, but why did you take da kid?"
"What?" There was a bit of scuffling at the other end.
"Rattrap?"
"Yeah kid?"
"Shut up." Rattrap was taken slightly aback. Even though he was in one of the worst situations, he still bickered with him. Rattrap looked around to see everyone trying to stifle a grin, and only Rhinox was succeeding. Optimus spoke up again.
"He didn't have to say it quite like that, but I think what Rattrap was getting at, Dr., is why you felt it necessary to retrieve Cheetor."
"Oh, well, um, I can't answer that. I didn't do that. That would be Colonel O'Neill. He's the commander of this operation. Do you want me to get him? He probably won't listen to me, but I can try."
"Okay. You do that." After a moment, Rhinox asked the inevitable question.
"Cheetor?"
"Hey, Big R."
"How badly are you damaged?" He held his breath, and after a few moments, Cheetor's solemn voice came through.
"My communications circuitry is almost completely fried. It's amazing I can hear you guys. My internal sensors are gone, so I'm not getting any actual damage reports. I just sort of poked around." Rhinox was taken aback. Looked like Cheetor knew more about robotics than he was letting on.
"I think my locking chip is fried. I can't transform properly either. I could've a while ago, I can't quite now. Anyway, I look a little stupid without my tail, and there's no Energon up here, so I can't get any more damage than I already have. But I'm running out of energy, and - " and he was cut off with a loud scream. His own.
Colonel O'Neill stood over the limp form of Cheetor, the gun still smoking, his eyes glaring. Daniel Jackson came running into the room, and shrieked with horror.
"What the hell did you do that for?"
"He was communicating with his home base. We can't let him do that. He could have already ordered an all-out attack. Don't you ever think, Jackson?"
"No! You don't understand! I know! They contacted him, not the other way around. They just wanted to know what happened!" He was about to go on, when a voice rang out.
"Cheetor? Cheetor? Optimus, what happened?"
"I don't know, where's Jackson?"
"I'm here, Optimus."
"Listen here, this has gone far enough. Bring us back da kid, huh? And what just happened?"
"Uh, Rattrap, that was my fearless leader, who was so scared of your concern for one of your own that he felt he had to shoot Cheetor to pieces." At that point, down on the surface, Rattrap boiled over.
"WHAT THAT SLAGGIN' HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!!!!!!! HE'S ONLY A SLAGGIN' KID!!!!!!!!!!"
"Jackson?"
"Yes?"
"This is Rhinox."
"You're the scientist."
"Yup, that's me. Can you move right over to Cheetor?" Jackson walked over to the body of the robot, and said,
"Yeah?"
"Look at the head of the cheetah. Can you see a tiny switch in next to it? Flick it up." Daniel did so, and the head quietly fell off.
"Did the head fall off?"
"Yeah. What do I do now? There's a small screen in front of me, and a few buttons."
"Press the backup emergency button. It should be to 'off'."
"Yes, I see it. I'm pressing it now." A small whirr was heard on both the Axalon and the ship.
"A lot of lights have turned on." Rattrap let out the breath he didn't even know he had been holding. Cheetor was online and working. Well, as much as he could. Rhinox spoke.
"Run internal diagnostics check on circuits." Cheetor lit up for a few moments, and then his internal computer spoke with a few blurbles, it was damaged.
"Extensive damage to Maximal. Detect foreign object in vicinity of spark. Identified as: Class A titanium bullet; from a Colt 45 handgun; circa the year 2000. Spark damaged extensively. Will continue to deteriorate unless repaired. Spark will terminate in 2.3 megacycles." Rattrap cried out,
"No!" Jackson asked, glaring at the sheepish Colonel holding the handgun in question,
"I take it that's bad?"
"A megacycle is similar to an hour, only longer. The units are different, they are using the Metric system. 2.1 megacycles is all Cheetor's got.", Rhinox answered. "If we don't get him down here to the repair chamber, he's gone for good. His spark will be destroyed."
"If you don't mind me asking, what is a spark?" Carter had by now come in, and she was followed by everyone else. Colonel O'Neill had jumped when he discovered that she had followed him down. Daniel gave her a quick explanation of what was happening.
"Who's the lady?" Rattrap asked.
"Major Samantha Carter, US Air Force."
"Rhinox, answer her question."
"Oh. A spark is what makes us what we are. All Cybertron, Predacon and Maximal have one. Each is different. Cheetor's is 16 years old. He's the youngest among us. A spark is a very fragile thing. We have a chamber that can repair it, but we are lacking time. We need to get Cheetor to our base, the Axalon, before his spark fades, or before the Predacons find out what's going on. I don't know which is worse." Colonel O'Neill said,
"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't buy into this. This really strikes me as crap, if you don't mind me saying. I mean, this could all be a trick. This thing you call Cheetor, you act like it's alive. It's a robot, for crying out loud. It can't talk, it's can't think, it just runs programmes, for crying out loud." A faint voice countered,
"No I don't." Rattrap yelled,
"Cheetor?"
"Yeah. Look, I need to go home." And he was gone again. Daniel said,
"Look, I don't care what the hell is wrong with you, but this robot really needs to go home. And he's only young! He deserves a chance." O'Neill waved his hand in a 'yeah, whatever' face, and walked out. Daniel thought with anger, 'pompous idiot'. And then it was action stations.
"Megatron! The ship - it's breaking off! A smaller one is landing in the wastelands! Inside our territory!" Megatron's teeth grinned.
"What about the feline?"
"He's aboard!" Megatron grinned at Tarantulas.
"Get ready! We shall intercept them and capture the pussycat. Have you finished the reprogramming on the transformer?"
"It's ready! I've removed the bug that enhances the violent tendencies in a robot. It's ready now, who shall I reset it for?"
"The young Maximal, Cheetor. Yeeeess."
"Do you really think they'll bring da kid down, Optimus? I don't know if I trust their leader."
"Neither do I, Rattrap, but I do trust this Jackson. I think he's okay."
"Optimus!" Rhinox called.
"What is it, Rhinox?"
"No no no! They've landed in the wasteland! Right in Predacon territory! Cheetor won't have a chance! And there are six Preds already nearing there! We'll never make it in time!"
"Which Predacons, Rhinox?"
"Megatron, Blacharachnia, Quickstrike, Scorponok, Waspinator and Terrorsaur."
"Silverbolt! Airazor! We will fly there as soon as possible. Rattrap, Dinobot, Tigatron, you'll follow on foot. It's imperative that we secure Cheetor! Last time we looked, Tarantulas was working on his transformer." Rhinox noticeably shuddered at the mention of the contraption that had briefly turned him into a Predacon. "They may have something planned, and I don't like the look of it. Rhinox, you'll stay here and keep a watch over things. Everyone else, let's go!"
Daniel Jackson cried out in pain as a giant Black Widow bent his arm behind his back. The other two officers who had accompanied him were dead already. He had hidden Cheetor and Megatron was not happy.
"Who are you?"
"Ahh - My name's Dr. Daniel Jackson."
"Where, oh where, is my pussycat gone? I think you may know that. If you do not tell me I will cause you great pain." Something in Daniel's mind clicked.
"You're-already-causing-me-great-pain." He muttered between gasps as the spider, who introduced herself as Blacharachnia, pulled his arm back so hard he heard it snap, and it went numb. Suddenly a figure staggered out of the small ship, and demanded,
"Release him! You don't need - ahh!" Cheetor collapsed. Blacharachnia laughed as Megatron picked up the cheetah, and slung him over his shoulders. Megatron laughed until he was out of earshot, and then everything went black.
He woke up to see a green face standing over him. It was Rhinox, but he didn't know that until the face spoke.
"Optimus! He's coming around!" Suddenly the face was replaced by a blue and red one. This one, evidently Optimus Primal, held out a hand for Daniel to sit up. He took his arm and sat up groggily. His left arm, which had been broken, was lacking in pain. He was totally fine, not a bruise anywhere.
"Wha-what happened."
"We were hoping you could answer that."
"No, I mean my arm."
"Our restoration chamber works on organic life as well as robotic. You're in perfect health. Now, mind answering our question?"
"It was strange forms, they said they wanted Cheetor. I hid him, but he woke up and walked out into their hands. Then the female one hit me. She was some kind of a giant spider." Rhinox nodded behind Optimus.
"Blacharachnia. What happened then?"
"I blacked out. But this big Tyrannosaur flew off with Cheetor." Optimus said the one word that everyone around him was thinking.
"Slag."
"Where am I?" Cheetor awoke groggily, and asked the question before he even looked around. But he did not expect the person who did to answer him.
"Well! Are you awake, pussy?"
"Megatron!"
"Yes."
"What - what happened?"
"Those idiot humans landed inside our territory. They paid for their idiocy."
"You killed them?"
"Only two of them. One of them tried to hide you from us, and we merely knocked him unconscious."
"What are you doing with me?" Cheetor only now noticed his surroundings. He was strapped into some sort of machine. His paws were in front of him, and he felt very awkward. Alarm klaxons blared in his mind. He had never seen this machine before, but he had heard it described to him, by Rhinox. It was the machine for transforming one's status, from a Maximal to a Predacon. But it was slightly different. There were wires everywhere, and Rhinox hadn't said there were.
"You are no doubt wondering what machine you are tied onto. Has no one ever described it to you?"
"Yeah. Rhinox. It's the transformer for changing a Maximal into a Predacon. Are you stupid, Megadumb? Don't you remember what happened last time you did that to one of us?"
"Why, yeees. Of course. I would not forget a thing like that. But Tarantulas has been working hard, and the few glitches that were in it are no longer present. For example, it no longer amplifies one's aggressive behaviour, like it did in the rhinoceros. All that will happen is the Maximals will be down one, and we shall gain a new one. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Cheetor gulped. There was no getting out of this one. He looked himself. He had not been restored yet. His internal diagnostic told him that if he was not repaired, his spark would terminate in less that 2 cycles.
"And we have not restored you, because if this goes wrong, we won't have anything to worry about at all. If all goes well, and you become a Predacon, then I shall restore you. If not, bye bye pussy." Tarantulas pressed a button, and Cheetor's vision faded as the machine surged through him.
Optimus raced as fast as he could over the terrain. But he was not fast enough. It took him a whole megacycle before he got there. And by the time he did, it was too late. There was Cheetor, out in front of the Predacon ship. And it looked like he wasn't doing so well. Optimus picked him up, and said,
"Internal diagnostics."
"Extensive damage spark termination in 7.3 cycles." Optimus raised an eyebrow. That didn't compute. He should have been dead about 25 cycles ago. But he still raced back to the base, with barely a second to spare. Rhinox had the restoration chamber all ready. He put it only seconds before Cheetor's spark was due to terminate. He breathed a huge sigh of relief. He was alive. But Optimus was still suspicious; Cheetor should have been dead. He decided to ride it out, and see what happened.
All were waiting for the chamber doors to open. And when they did, everyone held their breath. And they let it out when a smiling Cheetor stepped out, much to Rattrap's relief. And then things went pear-shaped.
"Cheetor! Terrorise!"
But Sentinel was ready, and it detected the Predacon signal. Before he knew it, Cheetor was wrapped up in yellow wires. He struggled like crazy, but gave in to the inevitable. Soon he was inside the cage surrounded by red lasers. Rattrap and Daniel Jackson observed him, along with Rhinox. Rhinox remembered his behaviour when he was briefly a Predacon, and it unnerved him somewhat to see Cheetor so calm. In fact, all the cat did was smile. But he left to see if there was a solution to this mess, other than actually charging into the Pred base and using the Transformer to change him back. Rattrap sighed.
"Are you there at all, kid?"
"Both of me." Rattrap jumped. That wasn't the Predacon talking, it was the Maximal! Cheetor!
"Whaddya mean, both of you?"
"The Predacon me and the Maximal me. The Maximal me is here now. But I won't be for long. Heh-heh, looks like Tarantulas still hasn't got it quite right. I think that the Predacon Cheetor is getting stronger, I can only take control every so often. Is Daniel there? I can't see him."
"I'm here Cheetor."
"Sorry, Daniel."
"For what?"
"You hid me. And I did the stupid thing and I moved out of it. Right into the Preds. I'm sorry." There was a pause, and Cheetor shook his head. "But I'm not. Yes. This is the Predacon me. Idiot Tarantulas got it wrong again. Idiot." Rattrap immediately yelled.
"Optimus!!!!!!!!"
"So there is a struggle for the body between the good side and the bad side. Da kid's in turmoil, Optimus. We gotta help 'im!" Optimus nodded.
"But what happened? Why did it go wrong?" Dinobot answered.
"No doubt the spark was dying. They probably momentarily put him in the Predacon restoration chamber to keep the spark going, but the machine is an invention of Tarantulas, who is, as Cheetor has pointed out, an idiot. That is why they threw Cheetor outside the base to die. They had no use for a half Predacon, half Maximal. It had a bad conscience, and a good conscience. This they could not deal with. This we can not deal with. We must rid ourselves of it before it does us damage. He would be better off. Speaking from experience, being a Predacon is not an experience I would like to repeat." At this, Rhinox nodded solemnly. Optimus shook his head.
"No. We cannot allow Cheetor to die, whatever condition he is in. There must be some way." A small voice piped up from the opposite side of the room.
"Um, I might be able to help..."
"Where is Jackson?" O'Neill was shouting at no one in particular. They had followed the party down to where they had landed. The two guards were dead, and Jackson and Cheetor were nowhere to be seen. And then he found Jackson's glasses lying shattered on the ground. He flung them down on the ground, and stalked off to mourn in his own way. His belt comm flashed and crackled. He held it up.
"Yeah, what."
"Jack?"
"Daniel? Where are you? What happened?"
"I'm fine. Now, anyway. Look, something really bad happened and we really need to use the ship. It's really important. It's to save a life."
"A robotic life, I'll bet."
"Yes, but they're different. Look, Jack, I know this sounds really weird, but we need to find something in space. Look up. Three of them should be arriving about now." Jack looked up to see a huge flying gorilla, supporting a small, metallic rat. He heard one of his men gasp sharply. He tuned around to see a huge dinosaur hissing at him. He turned white. He heard Carter breathe 'a velociraptor'. He gulped. He had seen Jurassic Park enough times to know about them. And then, the animal changed,
"Dinobot. Maximise!" The finished result revealed a robot. He said,
"You are O'Neill?" O'Neill nodded nervously, all the time not removing his eyes from the revolving blades in the robot's hand.
"Stop your snivelling! I am Dinobot! We need your help! We must board your ship!"
"Dinobot! Leave him alone! He has never seen anything like us before! I'm Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals. Look, you did a really foolish thing by trying to blow Cheetor to pieces. But here's your chance to make up for it, or I'm going to get VERY angry. There are several stasis pods in orbit around the planet. One of them is empty, something went wrong when they were loading it and the Protoform inside is still back on Cybertron. We need it so we can put Cheetor into a freeze state until we figure out what to do with it, and place him in orbit. That way he'll be safe from the Predacons. But we need to - wait a minute, how fast can your ship go?" Major Carter proudly announced,
"Seventeen times the speed of light." Optimus thought for a moment.
"It's slow enough, but it just might do. Look, can you land it? We can use it to go back to Cybertron and Cheetor can be fixed." Carter was about to ask, 'Cybertron?', but thought better of it, and nodded, and went off to give the order to land it. She and most of the people who had landed set off back to the ship in the small cruiser. They were going to land the ship in orbit. Only one person stayed behind, and it was Jack O'Neill. Dinobot said,
"Foolish leader. Why did you bring along someone on your crew especially to communicate with any alien races you might meet, and then the first you do you try to blow to pieces. Optimus Primal! I wish to return to the Axalon to find out the progress of Cheetor." Optimus nodded, and added,
"Be on the lookout for-" He never finished, for he was interrupted.
"Ah, Optimus Primal! Rattrap! And what luck! The traitor Dinobot! And more humans! This is lucky. Now, am I right in hearing that pussycat is dying? I intend that he never recover. Predacons! Terrorise!" There was an assortment of various animals, who each in turn transformed into robots, just like Jack had seen the dinosaur do. He looked at the robots before him, and he pieced something together. The leader of the Predacons had called Cheetor a pussycat, and his name, Cheetor, had hinted at something. The young robot was a cheetah. He regretted hurting it. He felt a presence next to him. He looked over his shoulder, and looked down. A metallic rat glaring at him. He heard a name, was this Rattrap? It said,
"Y'know, this is all your fault, ya hot-headed piece of no-good rotten slag. If da kid doesn't make it, it'll be your neck. I mean it, Colonel." Jack gulped. He had a feeling that this rodent meant it.
"Rattrap! Maximise!"
"Optimus! Maximise!" They changed before him, and then his comm link crackled. Not now. Any time but now.
"Jack? We heard the Predacons coming. All of the other Maximals, spare obviously Cheetor, are on their way. They should reach you in, um, five cycles, whatever that means. And hurry! I think the Predacon side is trying to escape!"
Daniel wasn't kidding. Cheetor, the other Cheetor, was trying his best to escape. He was crashing against the red containment lasers that surrounded the platform in which he was contained. After a few minutes, he gave up and sat down on the tiny platform. He buried his head in his hands. Daniel looked at him with ever growing pity. It was the god side again. Daniel found himself remembering Star Wars: 'Don't succumb to the dark side, Luke'. Daniel almost laughed in spite of himself. His attention once again turned to the figure. It was staring up at Daniel. Something glistened against his eye. He was crying.
Jack heard, rather than saw, the ship entering the atmosphere. He looked up and saw an immense ball of fire as the friction of the ship against the air created great heat. He smiled as he saw its primary cannon opening up. He yelled as hard as he could,
"Good guys! Hit the dirt!" The Maximals complied as fast as they could, while the Predacons stood and stared. Megatron, in front of Optimus, smiled.
Megatron laughed his characteristic laugh, and thought to himself what cowards the Maximals were. He held out his T-Rex head gun, and the next thing he knew, he was flying fifty feet above the ground. He soared momentarily, but before he had time to react, the ground came up to meet him. He whispered 'Beast Mode' as he went offline.
The ship almost crashed on the Axalon, missing it by mere feet. By the time it had landed, the Maximals had carried Colonel O'Neill back to the base. Time was growing short, but they didn't realise this until they got back to the base.
Daniel was waiting for them, but he didn't even acknowledge O'Neill's presence. O'Neill got the feeling he wouldn't have cared if he had died. He immediately said,
"I had to take Cheetor out of the chamber, because every time he slammed off the laser containers, he got stronger." Rhinox thought for a moment.
"That means the half-transformation changed some of his energy absorption dampers. He can absorb energy in any form now! By Primus! The Predacon side will completely take over. We must hurry and get this ship off the ground. We have to put him in stasis! Wait! Where is he?"
"There was an empty room down the end of that hall, so I put him in there and I locked the door. I think it was his own room, so I hit him over the head, knocked him out, and switched the locks from the next door room. Sorry to whoever it belonged to." Dinobot nodded.
"A small price to pay."
"Well, let's get going, shall we?" Optimus said. "We'd better get this tub off before the Predacons get wise." Rhinox picked up his latest weapon: a tranquilliser gun. He walked off in the direction of Cheetor's room. He came back five minutes later, Cheetor's inert form lying over his shoulders. He nodded towards the door, and Daniel opened it for him. Ten minutes later he returned, having deposited Cheetor in a cell on the human ship. All at once, the Maximals started moving. Those who had possessions grabbed them, and Daniel moved to Cheetor's room, to collect his.
He poured over his personal computer, laughing at it's typical teenager-ness. It was covered in little stickers, and the mouse was in the shape of another robot face; he didn't know what. The room was covered in posters of cheetahs, most of them beautiful glossy pictures, probably taken by Cheetor himself. He felt a presence behind him.
"Cute room."
"Now do you believe me?" Jack nodded at Daniel question.
"Guess so. And you were right, this is a teenagers room. Bit obsessed with cats, wasn't he?"
"He is one."
"Oh."
"Prime thrusters on! Rocket fuel ignited! Little red safety light on!" Rhinox looked at the petit blonde haired woman in front of him, and asked her,
"Little light?"
"Kind of a tradition. Colonel O'Neill said it when we took off originally. It sort of stuck afterwards, and I still say it all the time. I can't help it." Rhinox grinned. Suddenly there was an influx of G's, and they were all sucked back into their seats. After only a few short minutes, they were in orbit. Rhinox took over, and moved it towards the empty stasis pod. The sample claw on the ship, aptly named the Explorer, grasped the thing firmly and began to pull it in. As soon as it was in, Rattrap, waiting for it, and Dinobot, pulled it all the way down to the cell. Cheetor was still out. The two worked feverishly, and within minutes, he was safely secured in stasis. The pod did everything except keep him conscious. The other pods were collected and they were all ready to move off through the wormhole when something went wrong.
"We're losing power! We're losing altitude! Everything is going wrong!! Brace for impact!" Optimus yelled,
"Re-release the pods! Get them into orbit again!" He felt a strange feeling of fleeting deja vu, but it passed and he turned back to the subject at hand. They were going to crash. He hoped to god that they didn't burn into tiny pieces.
The jolt wasn't as bad as Rattrap had envisioned it. He looked across the room to the Fuzor, Silverbolt, who was still rocking around. His head was jammed beneath the bed that Cheetor's stasis pod lay on. Rattrap went to check that it was still intact, but to his horror, the pod had ruptured, and Cheetor was still unconscious inside it. If Rattrap didn't get him out fast, he would surely die. Just as Rattrap was about to scream with frustration, Rhinox arrived and proceeded to yank the lid to the pod open. He gasped when he opened it. Cheetor was awake inside, but he was surging with energy. He was no longer a transmetal. He was back to his good old spotted yellow self. Rhinox looked at him, he still had his rockets, but his skin had reversed itself back to the cheetah. Rhinox tried to press the computer keys and awaken him, but he was caught in the energy field. Rattrap pulled him away, knocking Silverbolt out of his trap at the same time. He received a huge electricity jolt in return for his efforts.
Megatron woke to the sound of cheering from the rest of his troupe. He looked around him. Only a hundred metres away was a downed, and rather primitive, ship. The name 'Explorer' was blazed across its slowly disappearing hull, burning in an orgy of flames. It was a human ship, and he could see the smallest Maximal staring out of a tiny window. Rattrap was staring at him, and fear and anxiousness was written across his annoying little face. His eyes were wide in shock, and then Blacharachnia moved down from the top of the ship, masking his face from view.
Rattrap jumped back as soon as the segmented body of Blacharachnia closed off natural light from the room. He looked at Rhinox.
"Any ideas? Any quick ones will do!!" Rhinox said,
"If I can get a tool or something made of rubber, then I might be able to get near enough to the computer to release the stasis lock on Cheetor, both of him." Rattrap thought for a minute.
"I got it!" He opened up his wrist compartments, and revealed a rubber stick. It resembled a bone. Rhinox looked at him questioningly.
"It was supposed to be for Rover over 'dere." Rhinox threw him a monumental 'dear Primus' look, and took the toy from Rattrap. He threw it at the circuit board, and with luck, Cheetor's eyelids lifted, and he looked around. He closed his eyes again for a moment, and Rattrap gasped. He let it out again when the eyes opened fully, revealing a very confused Cheetor. Rattrap whispered to Rhinox and Silverbolt,
"Wonder which one it is?" Rhinox nodded, and said,
"Are you Maximal or Predacon?" Cheetor frowned, and said,
"What do you mean, Rhinox? Maximal of course!" Rhinox said,
"What happened the Predacon side! It had completely taken over!"
"Taken over what? What happened? The last thing I remember was...um...on some ship. Yeah, that was it. And there was a human. His name was...um...Daniel. Yeah, that was it. Daniel Jackson. Everything else is a blur. What happened? The Predacons took over?" Rhinox shook his head, and sighed.
"You were transported down here, but the Predacons had intercepted the ship and they captured you." Cheetor gulped at the thought of being inside the Predacon base again. "They tried to transform you into a Predacon, but you were so far gone that you almost died. They then just left you out for us, and they probably think that you're dead. Well, they did, but they're trying to cut their way in now." This piece of news brought startled a gasp from the young injured Maximal. "We brought you back, but they hadn't quite worked, and you were half-Predacon, half-Maximal and - look, I understand you're probably amazed by all of this, but really, I don't have time to tell you this." He wasn't far wrong. Cheetor sat there, his face defining the term 'incredulous'. Rhinox almost laughed, and would have, were it not for the seriousness of the situation. A loud noise was heard as someone crashed through the debris blocking the corridor outside. Optimus and Daniel burst into the room, sending the door crashing down hard. Daniel immediately bent down by his robotic friend's side. There was something odd about him. He was a proper cheetah! He was no longer blue and yellow!!! He smiled. Cheetor said,
"I used to look like this a while back. Guess it's back to good old fitting in again. At least I won't stick out in a group of cheetahs." He smiled after his friend, and everything seemed happy. But it was broken as a loud screech echoed into the room, followed by a crash as part of the outer wall fell away. Cheetor flinched as he heard Blacharachnia's laugh ring out into the night.
Outside the ship, Megatron was getting wary. He asked,
"What is taking so long?" Blacharachnia answered back,
"I don't know! I think there's some kind of radiation shielding! It's very old. It's going to take a while to get into the ship." Megatron smirked as she added,
"But don't worry. I'm getting through pretty fast. And guess what. No more transmetal pussy." And she laughed again, sending chills cascading down each of the room's residents' spines.
What was going on inside the room was incomprehensible. Optimus was asking Rhinox how in the name of Primus Cheetor was changed back, all the while Rattrap was trying to reassure Cheetor, who was having trouble standing up. After a while, he managed. He said,
"I don't feel any different, Rattrap. I wonder what went wrong in there. What was happening?"
"Wish I knew, Spots. Wish I knew." He shook his head solemnly, and Cheetor buried his head in his hands. Had he been capable of crying, Rattrap was sure that he would have been. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him. Only sixteen, and all this was already happening to him! Rattrap sighed. The kid was, well, a kid! He should be back on Cybertron, playing video games until his hard drive overloaded. Not here. Anywhere but here. Rattrap placed a hand on Cheetor's back, which flinched at the touch, but sank into the tiny Maximal. Rattrap sighed, and for a moment, all conversation in the room ended, and Optimus shook his head at the sight of Rattrap comforting Cheetor, almost twice his size. And even in this moment of immense poignancy, everything went wrong.
"Optimus Primal! Maximise!"
"Rhinox! Maximise!"
"Silverbolt! Maximise!"
"Rattrap! Maximise!"
"Cheetor! Maxi-uugghh!" He cried as Blacharachnia, who had by now penetrated the outer wall, and was right next to him, kicked him back. In his already weakened state, Cheetor was easily knocked across the room, to smash into Daniel at the other side of the room, knocking Daniel into the land of the dark, ruled by a Mr. Sandman. Cheetor struggled with blackness for a moment, but then succumbed to it. Rattrap thought, 'oh crap', as Blacharachnia stepped out of the way, and all of the Predacons entered the room. For a small room, it held half of the Predacon force and five Maximals too, plus one very unconscious Daniel.
"My queen! We should destroy them now!" Megatron grimaced at the mention of the name. 'Please, stop calling me that, idiotic ant' he thought for the just as useful hundredth time in as many hours. He felt like killing that ant, but didn't comment. Instead, something else came to him. Someone was alive, and very much so.
"So, you rescued the little cheetah, hmmm Primal? Well, avail you it shall not. Is it not a Predacon? Yeeeessssssss?"
"No", Optimus retorted, "He isn't. In fact, he doesn't even remember it. Your little plan failed. He's as much a Maximal as ever, only now he doesn't stick out in a crowd." Megatron' eyes widened. Suddenly, an unexpected voice rang out.
"So slag off, Megadrag!!!" Next thing he knew, Megatron was sailing backwards out of the room, sending Inferno, Tarantulas and Blacharachnia after him. Waspinator took one look at the yellow Maximal with its gun raised, and said,
"Wazzzpinator's going, don't hurt Wazzzpinator....." Before he was gone for good. The rest of the Predacons were gone. Cheetor, exhausted, collapsed onto the floor, knocking Daniel out of his dream.
There was a huge party the following night, after Cheetor had emerged from the restoration chamber, fully redone. Colonel O'Neill apologised for shooting him to pieces, and even volunteered to recover his tail-blade so they could fix it. Cheetor had turned down the offer, telling him that that was unnecessary, as he had plenty spares. Though the humans were stranded on the planet too, they decided to give them their alliance. Cheetor was amused by the fact that although he was still in transmetal form, he had the guise of the proper cheetah skin. He laughed when he realised this. The Predacons wouldn't be spotting him that easily any more.
The party continued on well into the night. Rattrap was fascinated at the idea of a female officer, as he had never met one before. He received a smack across the face with a mutter of 'egotistical chauvinistic piece of...' before she walked off. Cheetor had made her apologise, for that, Rattrap had never met a female officer before, for they hadn't had human officers since robots were invented six hundred years ago. Then she remembered how concerned the rodent had been towards his fellow team-mate, and she had relented.
Somewhere outside the ship, shining figures illuminated the ship outside. A harsh, deep laugh echoed through the night...
TO BE CONTINUED... (had to do that before my fingers fell off g!!!)
I don't intend to finish this anytime in the near future, so if someone wants to take on that responsibility, feel free!