At the height of the Great War between the Autobots and Decepticons, the two sides lost their leaders in a fateful space bridge accident. At least, that is what was believed. Then one night a Camien priestess named Windblade received a vision of Optimus Prime's whereabouts. With her friend Chromia and the wayward Autobot Trailbreaker, the crew of theStormfall scour the heavens for the clues to unlocking Windblade's vision and finding the Last Prime...

PrimeQuest: The Speed Trap
Part 1

Windblade was going to die.

That's what was going through her head at any rate, as the Stormfall cut through the stardust of the Bevel Nebula, beyond which lay the Velocitron System.

"You're impossible!"

"You don't think I know my own ship?"

Chromia and Trailbreaker had started bickering about the route to the Speed Planet after their stopover on Kol V. That was four days ago. Trailbreaker was concerned about a debris field on the other side of the Nebula that he would rather navigate around. Chromia would have none of it.

"I've been navigating rough passages for years, barfly! There's nothing different about this time!"

"That's water! When's the last time you did it in space? There's a whole other dimension to consider out here!"

Windblade groaned. "Can't we at least wait until we're out of the clouds to see what this asteroid belt looks like?"

Trailbreaker checked the maps. "We won't have a lot of time once we've established visual. It would be easier to head up and over it."

"That will take at least another day of travel. I want to get to Velocitron before we run out of fuel," Chromia sniffed.

As if on cue, a rock roughly half the size of the ship coursed out of the rusty haze on the starboard side of the ship. In one quick motion the nebula pulled back to reveal a broad field of meteoroids and asteroids, zooming through a break in the star clouds. This was the Bevel Expanse, where Speedia VII once orbited its distant star. A massive projectile broke up the planet thousands of years ago, leaving a cloud of its remains (and the remains of the planet) cycling endlessly around the Velocitron System like a wall.

Chromia geared the ship down into manual control to behind easing the ship through the belt.

"I'll tell you what Trailbreaker, why don't you go outside and provide supporting fire in case any of these rocks get too close for comfort?"

"I love any plan that involves you two not being in the same room," Windblade said happily. "Come on Trailbreaker, we've got a photon cannon to the rear that would do nicely."


"You know she partially agrees with you, right?"

Trailbreaker snarled, holding his head as they trudged across the top of the ship in their magnaboots. "That woman doesn't agree to anything!"

"If she felt that confident she wouldn't have sent us out here. Not that she'll ever admit as much."

Trailbreaker took aim at a moderately sized rock swooping past the wing. "You've known her a while?"

Windblade drew her blade and took out a small projectile over the front window. "I've known her since University, but I also know she's older than I am. She doesn't talk about what she used to do before she trained to operate boats."

The Stormfall jerked into a 45 degree rotation to just miss a large meteoroid to the side.

"Primus!" Trailbreaker shouted. "What do they teach in boating school?"

It went on like that for some time; Windblade with sword in hand, Trailbreaker hefting his cannon, and Chromia at the helm. When it seemed to be breaking up, they went inside for a rest.

"Where did you learn to fly?" Trailbreaker asked in awe as they came back inside. "That's not the work of a sea dog."

"A story for another time, perhaps," Chromia muttered. "That was a lifetime ago."

Before anyone could follow up the ship's sirens began blaring across the bridge. They saw the problem immediately. A huge asteroid, perhaps three times the size of the ship, was bearing down from above.

"That ain't good," Chromia said meekly. "Windblade, go down to the engine room and - Windblade?"

She was already at the airlock when she heard Chromia calling her name. She clutched Stormfall at her hip and felt it hum. She had an idea, though she wasn't sure where it was coming from. Jetting out to the space between the asteroid and the ship she unsheathed the violet blade and held it to her chest. Something instinctual clicked inside her, and she wound her arms back. Focusing on the boulder with her mind she swung with all her might. And then some. From her spark she felt an outpouring of energy through her arm and up through the blade, causing it to flare white and extend in length. She felt her brain swim in her head, and as she lost consciousness she felt the blade make contact.

With a flash like thunder Chromia and Trailbreaker watched aghast as the massive space rock split in two, the halves passing harmlessly on either side of the ship. Then Trailbreaker cried out. They saw Windblade floating motionless in the void.


Windblade opened her eyes and found herself back aboard the Stormfall.

"She's up Chromia."

"Oh thank Solus. You didn't miss much. After you saved our tailpipes we made it out of the belt without issue."

"Yeah, thanks to Chromia's ace flying!" Trailbreaker exclaimed.

"Ace enough to almost kill my City Speaker," Chromia said glumly.

"I mean it Chromia, I don't know any Autobot who could make it though the Expanse with all their parts in place."

I should knock myself out more often, Windblade thought to herself, noticing how her condition seemed to have ended the argument. She was still rather concerned about how it happened in the first place.

"Where are we now?"

"Just an FTL jog through the system to Velocitron," Chromia replied. "It's been smooth sailing so far."

After a while at this speed, Windblade sighted a sliver of faded red out the front window of the ship. Chromia took the ship out of jump speed and approached the shape, now growing as it moved into position around the sun. A lonely planet, Speedia III, where ages ago two separate generations of colonists had journeyed to escape conflict on Cybertron. The Speed Planet; Velocitron.

A voice crackled on the comm. "Attention Camien spacecraft, this is Cloudraker at the Velocitron Superorbital Security Checkpoint. Please identify, over."

From their limited field of view within the shadow of the planet they could see a large satellite glinting in space. Many points of light around it revealed the presence of space ships, probably military craft, holding the position.

"This is the Stormfall, civilian vessel, over," Chromia responded. She looked at Trailbreaker. "What's with the lockdown?

"What is the nature of your business, over?"

"Let me talk to them," Trailbreaker said. "I know the jargon."

"This is Trailbreaker of the 113th Artillery Brigade. I have two civilians on board, one experiencing severe fatigue."

Windblade grabbed her arm. It wasn't that severe.

"Requesting entry for extended period, over."

They waited in silence for a moment.

"Confirmed, Stormfall. Prepare for entry, over."

Chromia activated the reentry shields and began the descent to the planet.

Beneath them stretched miles and miles of roads, curving and spiraling across the surface. In the elbows of the banks clustered dense cities. Few lights had yet turned on in the early morning.

"Well Windblade," Chromia said turning back to look at the Speaker, "you wanted to see the universe."

"Uh-huh, and it looks like we really stepped in it too!" Trailbreaker shouted, pointing to the port side.

Out of the morning gloom came a gigantic shape, like a pyramid, but with the pointed end hovering above the ground.

"What is that thing?"

"It's a Decepticon War World, and it's the last thing we need."