Chapter 2

Victory, it was a complete and overwhelming victory.

Of course it was, Cyclonus thought back, these aliens never had any real chance against the power of the Decepticons.

xxx

It was less than five weeks ago that Cyclonus, Scourge, the Sweeps, Ramjet, Blitzwing, Thrust, Slugslinger, Triggerhappy, Darkwing, Dreadwind, Needlenose and Vortex were flying over their Capital, shooting down defending air-fighters to the hundreds and bombing their government-central to the ground.

The three gestalts Predaking, Devastator and Abominus had been rampaging through the city and breaking their last resistance.

At the same time the Revenge was leveling some of their military bases around the globe from orbit and Onslaught, Brawl, Motormaster and Quake were crushing their few remaining ground-forces.

It was the kind of battle like the Decepticons had been created for. Even if their newest opponents were behind them in both technology and firepower, their sheer number and their merciless fanatism made up for it.

But now it was over.

In the end their capital-city was lying in ruins, their home-world was devastated. But in this case it was quite certain that nobody in this galaxy would feel sorry for them.

The infamous Conquerors, the Kar´Merek as they themselves called their race, had been defeated. Their planet was now being occupied by Decepticon, Aganian and Truul forces.

The conquerors became the conquered. It had all turned out exactly as Galvatron wanted.

The other worlds in this sector had been lining up behind him. They were following because they knew his Decepticons were the only ones who had a chance against their enemy.

Most of these beings were even completely aware of his intentions to rule over them when the battle was over.

Half of them were of the opinion that, if he was able to bring down their oppressors, he would deserve to rule their worlds anyway and the other half was just too desperate to even care in either way.

Of course the Kar´Merek were that terrible to the races they had subjugated that about anybody who would free these races from their terror would be seen as a savior by a great part of these people, as a messiah.

They had truly found the perfect ground for their plan, Cyclonus thought.

The war had been short but intense. Entire fleets of their opponents had been burning, space-stations and outposts had been destroyed, cities bombed into ruins. All this while the Decepticons themselves had only lost a mere handful warriors.

Their new `allies´ from this sector however did have some significant losses during the campaign. Actually the Decepticons didn´t even need them. But the other species who had been invaded, systematically terrorized and enslaved for years now and in a few cases nearly exterminated, were not willing to stay out of this fight, even if the Decepticons had tried to stop them.

To let their forces assist them in this war however was a good opportunity for Galvatron to win their loyalty and he would certainly not miss it."

But all that was over a month ago.

xxxxxxx

Now their leader Galvatron was sitting in his new headquarters on the planet Agania and waiting for the reports of both his own Decepticon officers and the new leadership of the natives.

The more he was hearing during this morning, the more he admitted that not all of these reports were to his liking. In fact most of them were news about problems that had come up at one end of the New Empire or the other and thanks to the new course they were following he could not longer simply try to solve them with a laser-gun.

There was a single one under them however that was exactly what he had hoped for.

"And?" Cyclonus had asked him just a few astro-minutes after he had gotten the news.

"It is exactly as we had predicted, they had named me head of their new United Government," Galvatron stated.

This `new government´ was of course ultimately not much more an executive tool for himself.

"Just as anticipated," Cyclonus commented drily. "I hope that doesn´t mean that I have to call you `Mister President´ from now on?" he asked stoically at the outside, but with a obvious case of hidden humor.

"Certainly not," Galvatron snapped at him.

"Well, that´s good to know," his Second responded. The smirk on his face was barely to make out, only recognizable for people who knew him.

This was it, Galvatron thought. Three sentient space-travelling races who had willingly joined up with the Decepticons and a fourth one that they had fought and brought down together. All in all five populated worlds.

To that came several civil and military outposts and space bases, fleets and surviving standing armies of the species from these planets and of course his own Decepticon troops.

That was his new Empire. It was an Empire that was founded not just on brute force, but on persuation and subtle manipulation.

"Do you have anything important to report?" his leader asked him.

From one moment to the other Cyclonus outer demeanor changed completely. He was now the picture of the serious and dutiful `Second in Command´.

"In fact I do," he answered. "These terrorists have attacked again."

"Where?"

"On the South Continent, the Rumai Region. They bombed the space-port of the local capital-town. By the latest count ten Aganians and one Truul are dead and nine more wounded."

Galvatron frowned. This certain group had been a nuisance for him for the last weeks.

The so called `Free Aganian Movement´ spoke for the removal of all foreigners on their home-planet and it´s complete independence from outside forces.

This included of course the Decepticons and also the other aliens their race had allied with during the last war.

Even if Galvatron did not have the `secret´ ambition to rule over them all, he would have known that this was a fools request.

After all the destruction and chaos the Kar´Merek had caused on the planet, Agania would not be able to exist without outside help for at least the next years. If they all were truly to leave, like these people demanded, tens maybe hundred thousands would by from starvation, civil unrest and plaques.

This was however something that the Free Aganian Movement didn´t realize or just didn´t want to see.

They claimed to act solely and alone in the interests of their world and their people. On the other hand however they didn´t seem to have a problem to kill other members of their species in their attacks.

They were in short words terrorists. Over hundred Aganians had already died during bomb-assaults, while they so far had only managed to non-critically damage just three Decepticons.

But even they could be useful for Galvatron in the long run. That meant if he managed to turn the rest of the population against them properly, they could give them a new common enemy, now that the `conquerors´ were defeated.

They were however not the only problem.

Another matter was the ongoing occupation of the Kar´Merek home-world itself. As someone could imagine, the anger that their former victims felt was great. It was quite and irony that the Decepticons were now in fact protecting other races.

In some cases they could barely avoid massacres on the native population by the hands of their allies. It was only understandable that the creatures who had been tormented for years were thirsting for vengeance.

One of the worst examples were the Trelark, who were next to the Aganians and the Truul the third species who had joined the Decepticon´s campaign.

The Kar´Merek had literally murdered over half of their population and turned their home-world into an uninhabitable wasteland. Until only a few weeks earlier they had faced complete extinction. If they had their way the planet of their enemies would have ended up exactly like her own.

It was not as if Galvatron particular cared what happened to this creatures, especially if it was this particular race. He had red the reports and he admitted, even he was sickened by some of these.

By what they had find out, these so called `conquerors´ had not just wiped out the population of entire planets and exterminated at least two other races. They killed millions of people in death-camps, experimented on war-prisoners and civilians of all ages, tortured countless others.

He was all in for war and destruction for the sake of conquest or even just for the sake of itself. The lust for battle was something all Decepticons had in their life-energon and he had it like barely another. Sometimes he even had the thought that this was the true reason they had always continued their war with the autobots.

But slowly and systematically tormenting and working entire species to death? That was beyond even him.

No, the the Kar´Merek were a race that nobody, including himself would miss.

But there was the large potential loss of work forces and resources. No, that of an entire populated world, he thought.

If the Trelark had their way the home of the conquerors would become a lifeless planet, one that they themselves would have to completely build up again from scratch again.

There had already been enough damage in his new Empire and the needed every living being available that they could get to repair it.

To that came that if the Autobots should find out that such a massacre happened under their watch, it could actually damage the still very shaky peace. Not matter if they were really the ones who had caused it or not.

Peace, he thought, an end of the war with the Autobots. It was a possibility that he had actually more or less considered a few times before.

One of these times was for example as Optimus Prime had been resurrected and used the Matrix to cure the Hate Plaque. He and Prime had worked side by side to stop the disasten back then, just like they had been forced to sometimes when he had still been Megatron.

Or a few months earlier as this fanatical Quintesson had kidnapped Rodimus Prime, Cyclonus, Scourge and himself, to preserve them as living `scientific documents´ and they had to work together to escape.

That were the times the word peace had been discussed. This meant of course in this times it had actually looked for a short moment like a half-way possible chance.

It had not been until Unicron´s second grand-scale attack and that they had to form a new alliance, that peace had actually become a realistic possibility.

It was quite ironically that the Decepticons were now officially the `saviors of other races´, while they had in fact been conquerors themselves only a short time ago and in some sense they still were.

Politics, he thought, a part of him nearly wished he could just return to insanity and simply blast them all.

xxx

Madness, insanity, it had been his personal plaque for nearly a year. He knew it better than anyone else, the blinding rage, the disconnection from all the things around him.

But, just like the Great War, that time was over.

He remembered the days when he had finally come completely back to his senses. Even then he had secretly been unsure of himself and did everything to avoid the same unhealthy pattern of behavior.

He had in secret re-observed every bit of data from the time of his madness, including his own memories several times over.

With Soundwave´s help he had even created a line of fascimile-constructs, doubles of himself, that were programmed to act like he during his insanity, for study reasons.

During that he had even been fighting his old self a few times in combat simulations, literally facing himself more than once. And that in more senses than one.

His true motivation for all this was of course a detail he would have never admitted to anyone, even his closest allies.

Never would he have talked to anyone about his self-doubts, not even Cyclonus.

One of the few positive aspects of that time was, in retro-perspective, that he knew now who of his troops was truly loyal to him. Cyclonus, Soundwave and some others were a few of these.

Cyclonus, in many ways he was the Second in Command he had always hoped for.

Sometimes he asked himself why he had not made his old self Skywarp his Air Commander a long time ago. Oh, take that back. He knew exactly why he didn´t do it.

Skywarp had been too…too what? too single-minded, too carefree and too unquestioningly loyal. And beside that he just didn´t want the job. It wasn´t until their reformation by Unicron that he had matured enough to become what he was now.

But he should have still been better than Starscream, shouldn´t he?

You should think every Second in Command would be better than one who is trying to blow up the planet under your feet.

Skywarp had actually served as acting Air Commander for some time on Earth when Starscream had been on a longer mission on another planet and he hadn´t been doing a bad job then. Over time, with some experience, he might have become excelent. So why did he not keep him in that position and got rid of the wanna-be usurper?

For the same reason that he had not executed Starscream several times over, everytime he tried to kill him, when he endangered his troops or made some scheme to betray him, he thought.

Once again Galvatron remembered back, to another life where he had been called Megatron.

Starscream, in many ways he was the Second in Command he had always dreaded, but never truly managed to get rid of. Or even more that he never could bring himself to do it.

He had been a constant threat to his life, to the safety of all of them, a loose gun that could turn on everyone anytime. So why had never really brought it over himself to replace him, to destroy him?

But no, for some twisted reason he just had to stick with Starscream, give him second chances again and again, only to be disappointed every time.

Sometimes he himself wasn´t sure what had been going on inside of Megatron´s mental circuitry.

As he had seen him the last time, Starscream had been worse than ever before.

He had lost his position, his place under the Decepticons and had fallen under the control of Unicron. But it wasn´t as if he had actually anyone else to blame for all that but himself. Not that it had ever stopped Starscream.

It hadn´t been taking much to figure out that the former Air Commander´s mental state was falling apart more and more at that time.

Yes, madness, he thought, just like himself.

But in the end the strange metaphysical strings between himself and Starscream had been finally broken.

Now his old Second was gone, finally, just like the old order, like Unicron and the Great War. Like the old times.

xxx

"Is there anything else of importance?" he asked Cyclonus.

"Yes," he answered, "Shrapnell has contacted us. He say that the preparation at the new colony are finished."

It was now a few weeks ago that the Insecticons had began to occupy a new base on a jungle-planet in a system a few light-years away.

Thanks to the Insecticon cloning-ability and thanks to the assistance of a group of Sweeps he had send to them, they had by now already established the beginnings of a new colony. The two groups were working together quite well

This was no great surprise since they were technically different version of the same beings. Of course with some very important differences.

The presence of the Sweeps had of course also another reason, to keep an eye on them. Right from the start the loyalty of the Insecticons had been an issue. The three original ones had betrayed the Decepticons several times.

It was only years later that the sub-group could be brought to cooperate more or less effectively with the main force.

One of the reasons for that had been the fact that Megatron had allowed them the creation of an line of sentient Insecticon Clones and other prototypes. In exchange these new models were programmed with greater loyalty to the Decepticons. I had been a agreement that all of them profited from.

This was in fact not the first time a Insecticon-colony had been created. Despite their at that time still a bit questionable alliance, it had been done before. A few decades ago they had already built up a well known stronghold on the planet Coleop in their home-galaxy.

That world had been an valuable outpost of the old Decepticon Empire for several years, until they had finally lost it to an Autobot strike-force after the great battles of 2005.

Shrapnell had actually named the new planet Coleop II. It was fitting since it serveda similar purpose for them now.

"Very good," the Decepticon leader said. "I hope that is everything for the rest of the day."

"Actually it is not," Cyclonus replied. "Soundwave had just called in from his office and informed me that we have a guest here for you, one of the natives who had requested to talk to you in an important matter."

"I see," Galvatron replied motionlessly. "Well, send this guest in," he said.

xxx

It took the newcomer only a few minutes to arrive.

As they saw it was nobody else than Alira Singe, the daughter of the first aganian they had met, who was now the newly installed head of the new Aganian Government. This was of course a body who had not much actual authority besides to listen to Galvatron´s decisions and help to realize them.

His body meanwhile had taken the role of one of the ambassadors to the Decepticon forces on their planet.

"Lord Galvatron," she greeted him, "I am honored to see you and I am glad that you have agreed to meet me this quickly."

"I am always there for the citizens of our new state," he told her matter of factly.

"Thank you my Lord," she replied. "As I have informed your officers, there is a matter I have to discuss with you," she stated with some visible nervosity.

"What is this matter?" he wanted to know.

"My Lord have you have already heard the news from the Eastern Regions?" she asked him carefully.

"No, I have not hear anything from this area," he answered, "why?"

"A village in this region has been...well destroyed," she said.

"Another terror-assault," Galvatron responded, "that is tragic, but it is hardly a reason why you needed to come here personally and in inform me."

"No," she replied, "it wasn´t an attack, at least not in the direct sense...it was..."

"Tell me," Galvatron said with some force.

He knew his reaction wasn´t the most diplomatic one, but he couldn´t help it. Right now his patience was at it´s end.

"It were Decepticons who destroyed the place," she stated reluctantly.

She was clarly afraid, afraid how he would react, afraid to tell him. Yes, because she couldn´t be sure that he hadn´t in fact authorized this attack himself, Galvatron realized.

"What?" Cyclonus exclaimed now.

Both The Decepticon leader and his second instantly knew the reason for her insecurity. There were in fact members under the Aganians who were in no way completely convinced about the Decepticons and their intentions and she was obviously one of them.

It was time now to convince her that her fears were unfounded.

xxxxxxx

The Eastern Regions, two days later

He had arrived just a few minutes ago at the local base.

He was greeted by all of them just as he would have expected it.

They all treated him with respect, but they were also acting very careful. He could see their nervosity. It was no wonder since they knew exactly why exactly he was here.

But there was one exception.

"Cyclonus," a purple colored female seeker greeted him a short time after he had passed the entrance of the local base.

Her name was Stormcloud. He knew her quite well. She had been serving with him for some time on Earth some years ago when he had still been his `old self´ Skywarp.

She was the only one here who was not visibly nervous. This was for good reason. She was the only one here who had no reason to fear his presence since she was an old friend and he knew perfectly well that she had nothing to do with the incident.

Despite that he would not leave her out. He would run a check on everyone stationed in this base to find out if he had even the slightest thing to do with what happened.

The massacre that occured her was a small but noticable threat to their relation to the natives and with that to their policies and he was here to deal with the situation.

He was here to make an example.

Author´s notes: This chapter contains several references to `past events´. This means in this case other stories.

-First there is the remark about the Quintesson who had `kidnapped´ Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge. This happened in the official story `Macrocosmic Seekers´.

-Next is the Insecticon Planet called Caleop. This is taken from the work of the fanfic-author Wayward that I use here with permission. From there is also the reference about Skywarp temperally acting as Air Commander on Earth and the character Stormcloud that made a short appearance here. This events happened in the stories `Stormworld´ and `The Human Condition´ from this author.