Deep space
Three flashes of light interrupted the lifeless, star spangled void of space before resolving themselves into a trio of Imperator-class Star Destroyers. A meter or so above the Lecersen's flight deck floated what resembled a giant eye framed by a pair of bat wings. The Sith Lord Darth Krayt sat cross legged within the Sith Meditation Sphere, known as Ship. He stretched out in the Force with his mind. Searching for someone who'd slumbered for millions of years. Someone who, according to Megatron, might hardly seem alive at all.
As Krayt's perception combed the void, he came across a nearly imperceptible bump. He allowed his mind to gently brush up against this subtle disturbance. It was clearly mechanical, and had the faintest spark of life. The human Sith Lord commed Megatron. "I believe I have located our friend, my lord."
"Good work, Krayt. I shall let you lead the way," Megatron commed back, leaping into the air, and folding up into his alternate form of a Sith Fury Interceptor. The Decepticon leader followed behind Ship as Darth Krayt led the vessel through the hangar bay's magcon field.
The red-brown interior of the Meditation Sphere appeared to fade away, allowing Darth Krayt a complete view of the space around him, as Ship approached what looked like some sort of fighter. The design was reminiscent of an ancient aerial craft. It was dark gray. There was a wing on either side, each with some sort of weapon pod slung beneath. On the underside of the vessel was a long blaster barrel. The port side engine was heavily damaged. "So this is Megatronus Prime," Krayt commed.
"I believe so," Megatron responded calmly. Though Krayt could sense the Cybertronian's excitement. The leader of the Decepticons had named himself after this hero of his. Darth Krayt brushed against Megatronus' mind, and felt almost nothing. An organic being with such an inactive brain would have been considered brain dead.
Darth Krayt used the Force to gently lower Megatronus Prime to the Lecersen's flight deck. The Meditation Sphere once again came to hover, and extended the boarding ramp. Krayt walked down it, and over to the slumbering mechanical being. He held his palms about an inch from Megatronus. The Sith Lord reached out to the dark side, letting its power descend upon him. Blue electricity began sparking off of his fingertips, and leapt onto Megatronus' comatose form. Yet the Cybertronian crept no closer to consciousness. It wasn't that Darth Krayt lacked the power, but rather that Force lightning was apparently not how one woke a Cybertronian.
Krayt turned toward Megatron. "We must find another way to wake your friend."
The Decepticon frowned. "The Allspark. We should have it soon enough. If we keep the contact brief, Megatronus should survive."
"Why don't I go back into the Meditation Sphere, and see if the dark side can offer an alternative." At Megatron's nod, Darth Krayt returned to Ship, and resumed his cross-legged position on a floor that resembled razor-sharp rock but was actually a bit spongy. He allowed his mind to drift on currents of the Force. His perception floated away, and became lost.
Darth Krayt's disembodied mind floated over a vast, green world. And strangely, it was a mechanical planet. Two beings, mere shadows, fought upon its surface. One, a master of the Force. The other, a master of the Aether, that ancient, demonic foe of the Force. The angel wielded a sword. The devil, a hammer. The hammer fell upon the sword, shattering it. The sword's hilt, a glowing beacon in the Force, flew off into the great void of space.
And then Darth Krayt was falling from the sky, a star burning with the power of the Force. What world was this? The Sith Lord focused his mind on this question. His perception came to a place where life had been overcome by death. Kesh. Once home to the Lost Tribe of the Sith. Now a massed grave. The Celestials had brought the Aether here to destroy the Tribe. And yet, in some cosmic twist of irony, the key to bringing Megatronus Prime back to life lay here.
As Krayt's perception returned to his body, he recalled the story Megatron had told him of Primus and Unicron. The two brothers had fought over Cybertron, and had both killed each other in the process. But the Decepticon leader had mentioned nothing of the Force or the Aether. This must have been one of the many things the Quintessons had wished to keep hidden from the Cybertronians.
Kesh
Several hours later the Lecersen and its two siblings materialized several kilometers outside Kesh's mass shadow. Darth Krayt experienced a mild wave of nausea; the presence of the Aether was powerful here. He frowned, wondering how he'd find what he and Megatron sought. Well, it would be easier if Krayt were on the planet-sized tomb.
Minutes later Darth Krayt was stepping off the end of Ship's boarding ramp, and onto the surface of Kesh. The pollution of the Aether was almost suffocating on this world. Krayt was used to death merely existing as a lack of life, but what he felt here was an actual presence of... anti-life. Everything seemed oddly washed out, as though even the color had died. He was a bit shocked by how depressing it all was.
The Sith Lord drew on the dark side, and cast it about himself as a sort of cloak, hoping to keep the Aether's stench at bay. The surrounding area seemed to quiver, as the dark side of the Force fought against the Aether. And there was the key. Not to look for the object itself, but to look for the turmoil around it.
So Darth Krayt, once again, resumed his seated position within the Sith Meditation Sphere. The Aether's effect was minimized here, to the point where he didn't feel the need to insulate himself. Nonetheless, he gathered the dark side about himself, using Ship as an amplifier. Krayt looked at Kesh, through the Force. And found something grotesque and bloated, heaving and pulsing with a sickly, yellow-green anti-light. The Sith Lord examined this abomination far longer than he cared to, looking for the slightest, uncharacteristic, hint of a vibration. But the near deafening interference from the amorphous blob's quaking made this a pointless exercise.
There had to be another way; the Force would not have led Krayt here just to mock him with an impossible task. Perhaps he was making this too complicated. Perhaps he just needed to look for something that was different. The Sith Lord brushed his mind against the Aether's texture, and fought the urge to turn away and vomit. He continued to run his mind over this monster's surface, and eventually came across a peculiar hard spot, a sort of callous. To defend against an irritant, something that didn't belong. Such as the Force!
The Force-imbued sword hilt was rapidly growing closer or, rather, the Sith Meditation Sphere was moving closer to it. Ship soon stopped, just outside the entrance to a cave. It was shrouded in the dark side, just as Darth Krayt had expected. The Sith Lord, also enveloped in the dark side, exited the ancient ship, and cautiously made his way into the mouth of the cave.
The cold, dry air was stale, as though it hadn't been disturbed for years. Darth Krayt turned on his glow rod, illuminating smooth walls and a floor littered with the bones of small, dead animals. The ground crunched beneath his boots as he approached a small knot of intense dark side energy. It seemed to be calling to him, longing to be freed from the prison Kesh had become. Krayt came to a boulder that almost burned with the Force, and crouched down beside it. Allowing the dark side to guide him, the Sith Lord placed his hands upon the rock. Blue lightning crackled from his hands, forming a net around this rock. It began to vibrate, and then crack. Innumerable chips flaked away, until a beautiful silver object was revealed. It was shaped like two elongated, and somewhat curved pyramids joined end to end. Etched into its surface were soft curves, like the waves of an ocean. An orb of pure white light shone its radiance out through the many gaps left by this filigree. Patched of darkness, like clouds, covered sections of this orb. Both sides of the Force existing in harmony.
Darth Krayt pulled out his comm. "I've found it, my lord."
"I'm on my way, my lord," Megatron responded. Krayt shook his head in mild amusement at how they'd addressed each other. It was a bit odd that a being such as Megatron would have such respect for an organic being. Although Darth Krayt was quite powerful in the Force. Perhaps the Decepticon leader merely respected the Sith Lord's unique abilities. Krayt supposed it didn't much matter, as he used the Force to levitate the giant silver sword hilt.
Krayt was just floating the object out of the cave when a Sith Fury Interceptor came screaming down from the sky. The whole craft turned upside down, and then reassembled itself into giant mechanical man. A pair of crimson optics burned within his demonic face. Megatron glanced at the sword hilt. "This thing has been here for millions of years, yet no one seemed to have found it. Until now."
"It was hiding its presence," Darth Krayt explained, gently lowering the sword hilt to the ground. "When the Aether was brought here, the hilt no longer had a reason to hide. And I doubt it could while insulating itself from the Aether."
Megatron nodded in understanding. He reached his hand toward the hilt, but pulled back when several thin, silvery tendrils tried to make contact with his finger. "I believe we need an alternate transport vessel."
Lecersen: en route to Kuat
The visit to Kesh had left Darth Krayt a bit rattled. He and Megatron had decided it was best to awaken Megatronus Prime far away from that Aether corrupted world. The Sith Lord used the Force to place the sword hilt right beside the slumbering Cybertronian. The silvery tendrils snaked out once again, carefully brushing up against Megatronus as though they were feelers. There was a powerful buildup of Force energy, both dark and light, from the mysterious object. The miniature white sun within grew brighter as solar flares began to erupt along its surface. Megatronus' body started vibrating, and then trembling.
A spark of light in the utter darkness. The star loomed ever larger as he plunged down toward it. He was cast into that fire, yet it did not burn him. The Force coursed through his body. To empower rather than to smite. An irresistible urge drove him to reconfigure himself into his robot form. He stumbled a bit to the left, and realized his left leg had suffered significant damage.
"Megatronus Prime, the first Decepticon," said a powerful, reverent voice. The recently awoken Cybertronian turned to see a grayish Cybertronian man with fierce features, including fiery red optics.
"Who are you?" Megatronus asked, not sure what was happening. He was standing in a large white-gray room full of ships he'd never encountered before. The majority of them were connected to gantries on the ceiling. These craft were gray, with spherical bodies and two or three wings attached to them. They somewhat resembled eyes. This room was clearly a hangar bay. And the gentle vibrations beneath him told him he was aboard a starship.
"Megatron, a leader of the Decepticons."
"Megatron," Megatronus repeated slowly. "You have named yourself after me," he reasoned.
"Yes, my lord. What you did inspired Liege Maximo to form the Decepticon faction. And Maximo inspired me to join that noble cause."
"I must have been asleep for many ages," Megatronus said.
"There is much you must know," Megatron acknowledged, with a nod.
A/N: A section with Darth Krayt has been added to the last chapter of the previous story: Star Wars: The Cybertronian Chronicles: The Unseen War. It relates to this chapter.