Chapter 2
Lord Straxus took one look at his new advisor and grunted in satisfaction. "At least you wouldn't dare double cross me, would you, Grindcore?"
Grindcore was a heavy-set Destron, and a powerful and formidable enemy on the battlefield, particularly when in his double-barrelled tank mode. "No, Lord Straxus."
"Good. Now, your first duty as my subordinate is to find me a test subject. Autobot, Destron – it matters not. Find him and bring him here." Polyhex's head of state cradled his short-handled glaive in a show of superiority as he spoke.
Grindcore kept his optics lowered as a sign of respect. "It shall be done," he replied.
From the doorway of the control room, a figure lurked behind him in the shadows, grinning excitedly. Straxus motioned for him to enter, while Grindcore departed to carry out his assigned task.
Deluge was Straxus' trusted head scientist. His eccentric and often depraved manner could easily strike fear into even the most indomitable of Destrons, other than Straxus himself. He approached the war lord with a gleam in his optics that spoke of untold horrors yet to be unveiled. "All is ready, my Lord. All we need now… is a volunteer."
Straxus nodded approvingly. "Do not concern yourself with petty details. Leave that to me; you shall have your volunteer shortly." And then, the thought of the power and glory that would very soon be within his grasp gave him the sudden urge to send some unfortunate sap to meet his end in his smelting pools.
"Let me see those," Hook demanded of Scrapper, holding out his hand expectantly. Scrapper handed his friend the plans without hesitation. He'd been working on a major project relentlessly for the past few weeks, but was unable to solve a particular problem that had been bothering him, so he had asked for Hook's advice. "Hm. Well, it's an interesting concept, that's for sure… but I just don't see how you can pull this off."
"Why not?" the leader of the Constructicons replied, his tone innocently inquisitive.
Hook sighed. He may be the Decepticons' finest surgical engineer and master craftsman, but there were some things that even he didn't think he could make happen. "This kind of complete system unification is too unstable. Plus, from what I recall… a similar feat was attempted once before, and it failed."
But Scrapper remained optimistic. He would not be deterred so easily, and this was one of his strong points. "Perhaps, but then I recall a time when the process of transformation was deemed impossible."
Hook nodded. "Well… you certainly have a point there." He paused, studied the theoretical design on the data pad he held in his hand. "Have you considered using a zero-point field to nullify the multi-personality cross-linking?"
"No. I didn't have access to that kind of tech in Iacon, so I never incorporated it into the design in the first place, but now–" Scrapper suddenly stopped and looked at his friend expectantly. "Wait just an astro-second…" He walked briskly over to the main terminal at his work station and brought up a schematic of his design, then input a string of commands into the keypad. The on-screen diagram adjusted instantly to the new data set.
Hook walked over to him and stared at the screen, then slowly nodded in satisfaction. "Now that's more like it."
Scrapper smiled behind his face mask. "Hook, you're a genius."
"Don't mention it. It's your design, after all," Hook answered, shrugging. But Scrapper hardly heard him. He was too busy preparing the new sub-programs for his project.
Optronix and his class mates stood waiting inside the designated learning hall for their mentor to arrive. It would be an interesting day – today's test would determine who was the most agile amongst them, but it would also give them a strong indication as to what each cadet's beginning rank might be, should they graduate and be granted a position within the Autobot military regime. It would separate the leaders from the followers; for the former, it would define who they were, and what kind of future they might have within the ranks of the Autobot army's elite. For the latter, it would mean the start of a long and arduous journey through the lower ranks in the hopes that, one day, they might earn an esteemed place alongside their comrades.
Sentinel strode into the learning hall and made his way through the gathered crowd of students without skipping a beat. Once he reached the podium at the front, he looked out towards his assigned class with a stern, no-nonsense expression, and everyone quietened down to hear him speak. "As you all know, today's challenge is to measure agility." A pause as the group took in his words in silence. "Well, since everyone is already here, let's just get on with it, shall we?" Sentinel began to step off the podium and head towards the exit without waiting for a reply, but was stopped by a voice from the crowd.
"Uh, Sentinel? I mean… Prime, sir?" Blaster's distinctive speech pattern rose up from somewhere near the back of the class.
Sentinel turned impatiently towards the cadet. "What is it?" His voice sounded defeated, and his mannerisms seemed almost defiant – as if he wished he could be elsewhere right now, anywhere else but where he was, far away from the shame and humiliation of being forced to play mentor to a group of inexperienced cadets.
Blaster looked around the group. "It's just that… well, Scrounge ain't here yet." Quiet murmurs and sighs of frustration came back at him, and he added, shrugging, "But it's no biggie."
"Oh, come on… we already know he's going to come last," Hot Rod quipped, and the sounds of protestations turned into muffled laughter.
Sentinel sighed. "Scrounge… who?" After a few moments he dismissed the thought and changed the subject. "Oh, yes… before I forget. The winner is to be awarded a special assignment." He looked directly at Optronix as he spoke. "Consider it your first real mission… into Destron territory." Looks of surprise and confused excitement greeted Sentinel. Such an opportunity had never been presented to them before.
"Only one of us gets to go?" Hot Rod finally asked.
"Destron territory? Not for me, thanks," Huffer said dismissively.
"What are the details of the mission?" a tall, yellow and red Autobot by the name of Sureshot demanded, his voice overriding all the others.
"I can't give you any details. It'll be on a need-to-know basis," Sentinel replied, and that was that. Before anyone else could ask any further questions about the mysterious mission, he returned to the previous topic. "Now, there's no time to waste. If you'll all make your way to the main arena, we can get started." Then, as soon as he had finished speaking, Sentinel swiftly moved down from the podium and strode back across the hall and out into the corridor, waiting up for no one.
The crowd of students bustled their way out of the hall to follow their mentor, speaking over one another in excitement. Optronix, patiently waiting for the others to exit the hall ahead of him, was the last to leave.
During the late evening cycle, there were few sounds or signs of activity coming from the chambers and halls of Kolkular headquarters in Kaon. Most of the Decepticons had retired to their recharge chambers, though a few still resisted the urge to power down for the night.
The Air Commander had been on alert since the brief exchange with Straxus that morning. Something about the war lord made him want to cringe every time he thought of him, and he couldn't help but wonder how Straxus had managed to keep Polyhex and his small group of followers under his thumb for so long, particularly when the Liege Maximus had occupied Kaon. Of course, Darkmount's naturally strong defence layout gave Straxus a good advantage.
He had been watching the security monitors in the main control room for several breems. Other than himself, the room was empty, so he was startled slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Something's bothering you." Megatron's familiar voice broke the silence.
"It's… nothing," Starscream said hesitantly, shrugging away the thought, though his tone told a different story.
"Hm." Megatron pulled his hand away and stood a few moments in silent contemplation. "Very well. We can talk about it tomorrow," he added finally, before turning to walk away.
"No, wait," Starscream interjected, turning away from the monitors. "I mean, it's probably nothing…"
The Decepticon leader faced him again. When his second in command said nothing further, he nodded in understanding. "Straxus?"
Starscream slowly paced away from the larger Decepticon. He contemplated the name, as if it presented some kind of strange puzzle that he felt compelled to solve. "We should strike first. Allow me to take an aerial unit into Polyhex and take him by surprise before he can even think of deploying his army against us."
Megatron listened to his Air Commander in silence, and a long moment passed before he replied. "Starscream… you know we need to conserve our energy resources."
A look of disappointment crossed the seeker's face. "Surely that isn't a problem for us? Can't we transport all the resources that we need across our space bridge from Darhos, or even Chaar–"
"It won't be enough." As Megatron slowly shook his head, Starscream couldn't help but notice that his mentor was more withdrawn than usual, and realized that something was definitely amiss. "I didn't want to say anything until I was certain…"
"You didn't want to say… what?" Starscream, apprehensive, moved to stand beside him. "Megatron?"
"If my calculations are correct, Cybertron and its neighbouring star systems will soon be faced with an energy shortage… worse than any we have ever experienced before. If nothing is done to prevent it, we may not be able to defend ourselves against any attack, let alone make use of the space bridge." The silver and black Transformer conveyed his concerns with a distant-sounding, almost detached tone.
Starscream's optics widened in disbelief. Then he straightened, slowly turning his gaze back towards the security monitors as he contemplated the implications of the unfavourable news. "Do the Autobots know about this?"
Megatron shook his head. "I do not believe so."
"How long do we have?" Starscream then asked, to which Megatron simply responded with a look that indicated the time was very near. "And Shockwave has confirmed your findings?"
"Yes."
Several moments passed before Starscream spoke again. "A large-scale energy shortage is just the kind of opportunity Straxus has been waiting for."
Megatron nodded, and then turned to leave. "Agreed. We will discuss our options first thing tomorrow," he said, before leaving the control room to recharge for the night.
