Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Transmetal Madness".

Stasis, Chapter 2

By TVfan

Space

A small sphere containing a white glow flew through space at a high rate of speed. It was destined for a relatively moderate sized planet in the Milky Way galaxy. Containing deep blue oceans and ground varying from green to brown, depending on the terrain and home to all the problems that his race thought they were having. The orb flew faster then any known spacecraft and was quickly coming up on the planet… Earth.

The Ark

Depthcharge flew out from the Maximal base and headed directly for the ocean. He had his tracer with him and was pleased by the fact that Rhinox had made sure that the device was water-proof.

"Optimus to Depthcharge, come in," came Optimus's voice over the radio.

"I just left the base, Primal, this had better be good," Depthcharge answered.

"Good luck," the Maximal commander replied back, almost cheerily.

"Thanks," Depthcharge grumbled.

Cheetor began running north from the Maximal base at high speed, using the rocket attached to his back to increase his speed as he went. His small tracer device was conveniently stored in a compartment in his shoulder, and the transmetal two cheetah would stop to check it every couple of hundred miles to check for a signal.

"I hope we can recover all of the pods," Cheetor commented to himself as he ran.

Silverbolt flew in a eastward direction from the Ark on his journey to find any lost stasis pods. The Maximal fuzor knew he was taking a serious risk in taking this direction, as he was more likely to run into Predicon patrols or come within firing range of the Predicon base, but his knight-like persona drove him to take the risk.

"If I succeed, this will surely be a great quest," Silverbolt thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Optimus, Rhinox, Dinobot, Rapther, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia watched their three comrades head out.

"How do you think they will do?" Optimus asked.

"That depends," Rhinox answered with a sigh, "If Megatron is indeed searching for the stasis pods we'll get about half of them, if Megatron isn't, we'll probably get most, if not all of them."

"I still feel this is a strategic error," Dinobot growled, "If Megatron is looking, we should attack and destroy their base while it's weakly defended, not send three transformers out on a global crusade to find stasis pods."

"The pods represent Maximal warriors," Rapther argued, "We rescue them, and our position is stronger."

"It would be easier to wait until the Beast Wars are over," Dinobot answered, "When we are not distracted by having to fight the Predicons."

"The decision has already been made, Dinobot," Optimus said firmly, "Cheetor, Silverbolt, and Depthcharge are looking for the stasis pods and that is final. Do you understand?"

Dinobot gave a growling sigh, "Affirmative."

"So what now?" Blackarachnia asked.

"Rhinox and I will work the monitors for now," Optimus answered, "You four will have to cover all the normal patrol routes until we recover the stasis pods. If you run into any trouble from the Predicons, radio back to the Ark and I will come as quickly as I can to help."

"Right," Rattrap answered.

Dinobot and Rapther then walked silently into the forest while Blackarachnia reluctantly followed Rattrap in a different direction. Optimus and Rhinox watched them before walking slowly back into the Ark.

"Those four won't be enough if Megatron attacks in full force," Rhinox commented.

"I know," Optimus commented, "That's partly why I'm taking this risk. We always get caught trying to protect multiple areas because we can never be certain as to where Megatron strikes next. Hopefully with the remaining stasis pods activated, we can avoid all that."

Rhinox nodded in agreement, "All we need is for Megatron not to notice that we're weak right now."

Elsewhere

The first pod that Megatron and Quickstrike came to was several miles northeast of the Darkside's crash site. The large transmetal two dragon transformer had to carry the smaller Predicon fuzor, but it was nothing that bothered Megatron. Quickstrike was largely loyal. Not the brightest of transformers, but loyal. And he had dealt with Tarantulus and Rampage, so he had no fear of insurrections against him within the Predicon faction. Megatron was also quite certain that Optimus was not doing anything to recover the pods, and felt that soon he would have an irresistible army to crush the Maximals with.

"There, boss, it's all cleaned up," Quickstrike reported as he finished dusting sand off of it.

"Ah yes," Megatron smiled as he knelt beside the pod, "The first new transformer to join the Predicon ranks. And it's not a blank, so it is useful."

Quickstrike glanced at the river that flowed nearby and then at the surrounding desert.

"What do ya suppose its beast mode is gonna be?" Quickstrike asked.

"We'll have to wait and see," Megatron answered as he began the activation process, replacing the original Maximal personality chip with that of a Predicon.

"Pod activation procedure has begun," the pod's computer announced, "scanning for compatible life forms."

A small spherical scanning device raised itself from its pod and emitted a short pulse. A few seconds later, the device was lowered back into the pod. The computer then began speaking again.

"Compatible life form found, beginning replication process," the computer announced.

Megatron and Quickstrike then stepped back and watched as the lid to the stasis pod began to bounce up and down as the occupant of the pod began to emerge from it. What emerged was a large crocodile, light green in color, its 'scales' growing lighter closer to its belly until the scales looked almost yellow. It looked up at the large dragon transformer and the smaller fuzor from behind cold yellow optics.

"Jawbreaker, TERRORIZE!" the transformer announced in a powerful voice.

The transformers sides opened and its head and tail moved to become its arms while a pair of legs folded down below it and a helmeted head emerged up to look at the other Predicons present.

"Ah, Jawbreaker, welcome to the Predicons," Megatron greeted, "I am your commander, Megatron."

"Who's the runt?" Jawbreaker asked in a growling voice.

"He is called Quickstrike," Megatron answered.

"What are your orders, Megatron?" Jawbreaker asked as he half bowed to the Predicon tyrant.

"We are currently on a recruiting drive looking Maximal stasis pods that have crashed to this planet's surface," Megatron explained, "You are to aide Quickstrike and me in finding these pods and activating them as Predicons."

"Yes, sir," Jawbreaker answered.

Darkside

Ravage sat quietly in the Predicon base's main computer area following all the various scans that the base's equipment had registered. All the Predicons besides himself were beyond the range of the ship's scanners and communications links. He followed that there were four Maximals on patrol, so that seemed to satisfy his faith in Megatron's plan. He sat their quietly when Sentinel sounded a loud alarm.

"Attention," Sentinel announced, "Alien signature approaching planet."

Ravage quickly turned his focus to analyzing the signature. It seemed to be nothing more then an energy pulse, but from what the black transmetal Predicon had been told about the Beast Warriors encounters with the aliens, anything alien either represented something that would help or prove catastrophically dangerous.

"Can you identify where it is headed?" Ravage questioned the program.

"Far continent in a northwestern direction," Sentinel answered.

"Direct threat to the base?" Ravage asked.

"Minimal," Sentinel answered.

"Track the signal as long as possible," Ravage instructed, "I will begin contacting the others."

The Ark

"You're sure it's alien?" Optimus asked as he looked over Rhinox's shoulder.

"The signature doesn't match anything that Cybertron has ever produced," Rhinox answered.

"Prime," Optimus commented, "Where is it headed?"

Rhinox then turned a planetary map that was on a nearby screen and pointed to particular point on the map.

"My best guess is that it's headed here," Rhinox answered.

"Why there?" Optimus wondered aloud.

"Many of the alien devices we've encountered seemed to be for scientific purposes," Rhinox commented, "Our war with the Predicons has resulted in the destruction of most of these devices. I believe that these aliens are largely scientists and merely want to continue their experiments."

"What about the various incidents that did not involve scientific study?" Optimus asked, "Their torturing of Airazor? Trying to destroy the planet? The strange device that captured Airazor and Tigatron? Whoever these aliens are, they've proved that they don't like us."

Rhinox only sighed, "They are strict in that regard. What do you intend to do Optimus?"

"It's not headed for the Ark, so it's not a direct threat to us right now," Optimus commented, "But it could interfere with the teams we have out looking for the stasis pods."

"You can't leave to intercept the aliens," Rhinox commented, "If Megatron was to attack the Ark…"

"Make contact with Cheetor, Silverbolt, and Depthcharge," Optimus ordered, "Let them know that we have picked up an alien signal and that they are to avoid any and all contact with anything that the aliens are doing. We don't want to agitate them."

Rhinox nodded, and immediately moved to the communications center.

On the other side of the World

The small orb that had flown through space and arrived on the planet Earth flew straight toward a stasis pod that had landed safely on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The pod was a blank, and shortly after the orb flew into it, the pod's computer immediately activated.

"Spark presence noted," the pod's computer spoke out.

Inside the pod, the personality chip changed. The Maximal symbol was replaced by a new symbol. It wasn't a Predicon symbol or related to any symbol ever used by Cybertronians. It resembled a human skull with long hairs circling the top of the skull.

"Scanning for compatible life forms," the pod's computer spoke and then finished after a few seconds, "Compatible life form, found."

Shortly after the computer finished, a large vulture emerged from inside the pod. It slowly hopped over to the cliff edge.

"Scavanger, ORGANIZE!" the transformer announced and transformed to its robot mode.

Scavanger activated a personal communications device and began to send a transmission back to the nebula from which he had come.

"I have arrived on Earth," Scavanger reported, "And will soon begin raising the army that is needed."

"Good," a voice answered through the transmission, "Once you have activated the army you are to wait until the General arrives."

"Yes, my Lord," Scavanger responded.

"You may go about your mission," a second voice ordered.

"Of course, my Lord," Scavanger responded and leaped into the air.

Elsewhere

The small tracking device that Rhinox had given Depthcharge had lead the transmetal manta ray to a spot of relatively shallow water, not far from the shore. His optics could see several sea loins swimming nearby in areas where the water had become even shallower. He couldn't see into the deeper waters behind him but he was sure that there were several other animals nearby.

Depthcharge carefully began the activation process. He largely ignored the pod's computer as it spoke and continued to perform the tasks needed to activate the pod. Shortly after, the pod's lid began opened and moderately sized shark transformer, swam slowly out of the pod. Depthcharge watched as a real shark began chasing the sea loins behind the new transformer.

"Cybershark, MAXIMIZE!" the new Maximal announced and transformed to his robot mode.

Depthcharge watched calmly as the Cybershark seemed to float in front of him for a moment.

"Cybershark, reporting for duty, sir," Cybershark reported to Depthcharge.

Depthcharge nodded, "I am called Depthcharge. Our current mission, Cybershark, is to find and activate all the protoforms that are under water as Maximals. If we find any blanks, we are to take them with us."

"The pods have been scattered and lost, then," Cybershark mused, "A very important task. How many pods have been found so far?"

"You're the first that I've found," Depthcharge answered, "I do not know about the others, but let's just say there are a lot we need to look for."

Cybershark nodded.

"Let's go," Depthcharge commanded.

Mainland

Cheetor had followed his tracking signal a small island just north of the continent on which the Beast Wars had been taking place. He had to use the rocket on his back in order to get to the island, but that was no problem for the transmetal two cheetah. His tracking device lead him to a small valley in the center of the island. The youngest Maximal marveled at the peaceful nature of the land around him.

"Man this is a nice place," Cheetor commented.

He slowly approached the pod and began the activation processes. He ignored the pod's computer as it slowly activated the protoform inside. After a few seconds the lid opened and revealed a butterfly, which began hovering above the pod on its brightly colored wings.

"Flutter, MAXIMIZE," the transformer announced and transformed to its robot mode.

Cheetor stood surprised by the whole thing. Fluttering on its wings was a teenaged femmebot.

"Well, hello," Flutter said cheerfully, "Who are you?"

Cheetor coughed slightly to clear his throat and answered, "I'm Cheetor. Welcome to the Maximals."

Flutter looked around for a few moments and then turned her gaze back to the transmetal two cheetah, "We're the only two here."

"Oh, we're not the only two on the planet," Cheetor explained, "You see a long while back your pod was on the Maximal ship Axalon. We intercepted a Predicon ship, the Darkside, under the command of a Predicon named Megatron. We shot the ship down, but ended up crashing ourselves. In the process all our pods were forced to be put into a safe orbit but they all eventually crashed. I'm right now on a mission to recover the crashed stasis pods."

"Glad to see we're so important to you people," Flutter retorted.

"It's a complicated situation," Cheetor sighed, "I can explain as I continue my mission, if you'll come with me."

"Do I have a choice?" Flutter asked.

"Not much of one," Cheetor answered.

Elsewhere

Inferno and Waspinator found the first pod on their map half buried in mud on the edge of a small grove of trees.

"We now have our first addition to the colony," Inferno spoke triumphantly as he landed next to the pod.

"Waspinator does not see any animals," Waspinator pointed out.

"There are probably some nearby," Inferno dismissed and commenced activating the pod, planting a Predicon chip inside the pod.

"Did Ant-bot do the process correctly?" Waspinator asked, looking over Inferno's shoulder.

Inferno pushed the other Predicon away from him and finished pressing all of the buttons needed to activate the pod. After the pod's computer finished speaking, to Inferno's shock, a large queen ant emerged from the pod. Unlike Inferno, who was mostly red in color the new Predicon was mostly black.

"Carpenter, TERRORIZE!" the Predicon announced and transformed to its robot mode, much the same way Inferno did before Megatron had upgraded him to a transmetal two.

"Female ant-bot," Waspinator commented.

"A queen ant," Inferno added.

Carpenter turned her attention to the two Predicons standing near her pod.

"Great," Carpenter mumbled, "Activated by two males."

"I am Inferno," Inferno announced to the femmebot, ignoring her comment, "Sub-Commander in the Predicon forces under the command of Megatron. Our orders are to activate the crashed Maximal stasis pods."

"And lead by a male," Carpenter grumbled, "I'm going to assume the Maximals are easily defeating us."

"You have no idea," Waspinator answered.

Carpenter grumbled something along the lines of 'I knew it' and quickly turned to Inferno.

"What?" Inferno demanded.

"You will hand me the map showing the locations of the Maximal stasis pods, right now," Carpenter ordered.

"I will not," Inferno growled back, "Megatron granted me authority for this mission. You are to follow me."

"Then we'll never find any of the pods in time," Carpenter pointed out, "Males have no sense of direction. I am much more qualified."

"How so?" Waspinator asked, almost fearfully.

"I'm a femmebot," Carpenter answered, "Now, give me the map! I am taking command of this mission!"

Inferno leveled his weapons at Carpenter and brought them to full power.

"For the last time, no," Inferno growled, "And if you continue this argument, I will usher you to the scrapheap!"

"Always with violence," Carpenter muttered, but backed off.

Island

Terrorsaur landed on the beach as Rampage emerged from the serf, carrying the stasis pod in his pincers. He set it down at Terrorsaur's feet.

"There," Rampage grumbled, "One stasis pod for Megatron's hopeless cause."

Terrorsaur scowled at the crab, but did not open his spark chamber. The transmetal crab was still behaving loyally, so there was no need to force him to obey. He motioned for the crab to back away, while Terrorsaur began the activation process. After a few minutes the pod's computer finished speaking and the hatch opened. Terrorsaur stepped back and watched as a relatively small octopus crawled out of the pod.

"Octopix, TERRORIZE!" the transformer and announced.

The transformer's beast mode arms then linked together form its robot mode legs. Its beast mode had split in two to form its arms and shoulders and revealing its robot mode head.

"Pheh!" Rampage snorted, "That pipsqueak ain't gonna help us."

Octopix turned his head to look at the much larger Predicon, pulled out a gun and fired it at Rampage. Rampage screamed with pain as he felt a hot black substance hit his optics and begin to corrode the metal. He was thankful that his transmetal armor prevented him from losing his vision.

"You will find that I can be quite helpful," Octopix answered.

"Yes," Terrorsaur agreed, "You will. You can start by helping us recover the crashed Maximal stasis pods for Megatron."

"Glad to help," Octopix answered, "Who are you?"

"I am Terrorsaur and the fool you just shot is called Rampage," Terrorsaur answered with a grin.

Grassland

Silverbolt landed quietly beside the stasis pod that he had found. It was clear that the pod had had a rough landing as he could see signs that it had skidded several feet through the grass. The Maximal fuzor had managed to avoid being attacked as he flew past the Predicon base and over a large ocean that was far to the east of the continent on which the Beast Wars were being fought.

"I hope the pod isn't two seriously damaged," Silverbolt commented to himself as he began the activation process.

"Activation process beginning," the pod's computer announced, "Scanning for compatible life forms."

Silverbolt watched and waited and nearly screamed with fear as several sparks emerged from the pod's computer terminal as the pod scanned the grass land.

"Compatible life forms found," the pod's computer announced.

Silverbolt then watched as a fuzor emerged from the stasis pod. It had the forelimbs of a tiger, colored orange with dark black stripes, yet its rear half and rear legs and tail were both covered with brown spotted 'fur'. The transformer also had a deer's head with large antlers. It looked at Silverbolt for a few moments before speaking.

"Who are you?" the transformer asked in a weak voice.

"I'm called Silverbolt," Silverbolt answered, "I'm a Maximal."

"What is a Maximal?" the transformer asked.

"A faction of Cybertronians that represents freedom and justice," Silverbolt answered.

"How did I get here?" the transformer asked.

"The ship you were on crashed and was forced to launch your stasis pod to prevent your destruction," Silverbolt answered, "May I ask what is your name?"

The transformer looked over itself and then sighed, "Stagstripe, I guess. Why are you here?"

"I was sent here to find and activate all the Maximal stasis pods that I could," Silverbolt answered, "You are the first that I've found."

"Are there others that you are looking for?" Stagstripe asked.

Silverbolt nodded.

"May I come with you?" Stagstripe asked again, "There is much that I want to know."

"Of course," Silverbolt answered.

Desert

Tarantulus transformed to his robot mode after arriving in his vehicle mode and waited for Scorpinok to scuttle up on his eight legs. The transmetal tarantula was already going through the process of activating the pod when the transmetal two scorpion finished his transformation into his robot mode.

"The pod is in excellent condition," Tarantulus reported, "Hopefully it should be a fine Predicon."

"It had better be loyal to Megatron and not to you," Scorpinok warned in a low voice.

Tarantulus watched as Scorpinok tapped his spark casing and shuddered.

"It will be," Tarantulus said weakly, knowing what the Scorpion transformer would do if he disobeyed.

Tarantulus then stepped back as the protoform inside the pod was activated. As the pod's hatch opened, a long tan scaled snake slithered out from inside the pod.

"Slither, TERRORIZE!" the transformer announced.

Its tail split in two to form legs, part of its 'upper' beast mode body split to form arms and parts of its middle section moved to form its robot mode's chest.

"Who are you?" Slither demanded.

"I am Scorpinok, and this is Tarantulus," Scorpinok began, "Welcome to the Predicon army."

"We are activating Maximal stasis pods to give us an edge over Optimus Primal and his band of Maximals," Tarantulus added.

"It sounds like a very interesting endeavor," Slither answered in a hissing voice, "How many have you recruited so far?"

"You are the first that we have activated," Scorpinok answered, "Our job is only just beginning.

Outside the Predicon Base

Dinobot focused his glowing red optics on the crashed Predicon ship in the distance. He and Rapther had stayed beyond the reach of Sentinel to pick them off as targets, but Dinobot made little or no effort to hide himself.

"Why are we doing this?" Rapther questioned, "We should stick to our assigned patrol route."

"Proving a point," Dinobot answered, "If Megatron is indeed hunting the lost stasis pods, then the base is only lightly protected and can be destroyed. If he is not, he will attack us to drive us away from his base. So far, nothing has happened."

"We should be helping the others recover the lost stasis pods," Rapther said back.

"NO!" Dinobot screeched, "Defeating Megatron should be our ultimate goal. The stasis pods will only weaken the position of whoever goes hunting for them. If it is Megatron, his base can be attacked, if it us, our base could be attacked."

"If Megatron recovers all the stasis pods we will be defeated by his weight of numbers," Rapther argued.

"I find it unlikely that that would happen," Dinobot answered, "The Ark is quite well protected. It would take a mega cannon to even dent its armor, and not even Optimus or Megatron posses that much firepower."

"But the protoforms in the stasis pods are fellow warriors," Rapther pointed out, "Shouldn't we respect our comrades?"

"More then likely they are safe," Dinobot replied, "And if Megatron does indeed have them, it is not physically impossible to repair whatever damage he has done. It is also a risk that must be taken. We are at war, and wars come with risks."

"I'd prefer to lessen the risks," Rapther answered.

"A noble idea," Dinobot told the female raptor, "but in reality, no risk is ever lessened. If we went on a full scale search for the stasis pods, our base would be left defenseless and the Predicons wouldn't hesitate to attack it."

"I still think your opinions are wrong in this regard," Rapther informed Dinobot.

"That is your opinion," Dinobot answered, and then turned back toward the Ark, "Come, we've been here long enough. Megatron is not there. Their base is defenseless."

"That means he is searching!" Rapther exclaimed.

"Possibly," Dinobot answered.

Inside the base, Ravage breathed a short sigh of relief. He didn't know how long the Sentinel shield would stand up against attack as he had not arrived on Earth to see the shield fall. He also knew that he could not defeat a determined Dinobot alone, let alone defeat him with the female raptor by his side.

"I'd best get to preparing the base for attack," Ravage commented to himself, "He will be back."

On the other side of the World

Scavenger stepped back to observe the ten transformers he had activated so far. One was a large male bison transformer who had taken the name Thunderfoot. Two were built along a canine model with one being a wolf and the other being a coyote transformer. The male wolf transformer had taken the name Wolffang while the female coyote transformer had taken the name Trickster. Another was a large male walrus transformer who had taken the name Tusk. Scavenger had also activated a male centipede transformer that had taken the name Toxin. A male skunk transformer had also been activated who took the name Stinkbomb. Another was a female bullfrog transformer that took the name Croaker. The eighth, was a male mountain lion transformer who took the name Fang. The nineth was a male great horned owl transformer who took the name Prowl. The tenth was a female coral snake transformer that had taken the name Venom. After looking them over Scavenger took a central position and gathered their attention.

"Attention! Attention!" Scavenger called out working to gain their attention, "Listen to me!"

The other transformers quickly quieted to listen to Scavenger.

"Followers," Scavenger began, "We have only begun our campaign to gain strength over our enemies. We must now fan across the globe and activate more followers. The Maximals and Predicons have damaged the way we ordered this planet to be and the future that we have planned is in jeopardy. It is time defeat the vile Predicons and the brainless Maximals!"

The crowd cheered Scavenger wildly.

Far Away

Two forms, using powers and methods far beyond that of the Maximals or Predicons observed Scavenger's rally.

"The scout has done well," the first commented, "He has already activated ten protoforms to our cause."

"Three more then both the Maximals and Predicons combined have activated," the second agreed, "Soon, our numbers will dwarf both warring factions."

"The Maximals and Predicons are not of importance," the first answered, "the Predicon's base will crumble before our general and our army will rout the Predicons themselves."

"And the Maximals?" the second asked curiously.

"They will surely endeavor to oppose us and protect their enemies," the first spoke again, "We have already learned this. Our general and his army will be too much for them, even if combined."

"How goes work on the general?" the second asked.

The first glanced up above them and looked two robotic forms, slowly being rebuilt and reorganized into one single form. The first form seemingly 'smiled' at this.

"Work is progressing nicely," the first said in a confident voice.

To be Continued…