Darkest Before Dawn

By Joshua Cochran

In association with Xerios's Transformer fan-fiction: The Dark Side of the Sun.

Chapter 3

"Yes. My name is Moros. Welcome to our city. We are known as Lanteans."

Despite the fact Shoujax had visited countless worlds nothing had prepared him for this: Sentient bipeds that had a level of technology to rival his own race. They had a floating city, universal translators, and apparently the technology to repair him.

"My name is Shoujax. I am an Autonomous Robotic Organism from the planet Cybertron. But my faction, in my race, are known as the Autobots."

"Well met, noble Autobot. As I stated before we are Lanteans. Forgive me but Cybertron is not a planet we are familiar with."

"My world is several thousand stars away. I have been in space for a great length. I have many questions and I ask only to be heard, am I a prisoner here or a guest?"

While he admitted to himself he needed allies, he still wanted his cannon to be ready just in case. Moros Smiled.

"My friend, if I may call you one, if we were truly enemies during the time you were offline we would have deactivated you. We realize the need for trust in these troubled times but it is not our intention to harm those we do not know."

"You have an interesting way of showing it Moros. Why was I shot down in high orbit over this planet?"

"The fault is not our own but of our enemy known as the Wraith. We have fought with them for many, many years but while we maintain technological superiority, they far outnumber us."

Out of one war and straight into another. What are the odds?

"I see then I retract my prior accusation. My species has long been divided over our own great war."

A new biped who identified herself as Ganos Lal addressed Shoujax.

"While we regret what happened to you, I'm afraid you cannot leave. We are about to submerge the city. We have repaired as many of your systems as we could, but regrettably we could not repair all of them." Shoujax immediately began an internal diagnosis.

To his horror, he realized she spoke the truth.

The area surrounding his spark chamber as well as his weapons and escape velocity thrusters were still at a critical low in stability. Departure right then and there would almost certainly result in worse than stasis lock possibilities. That and his ship was destroyed. He would not be able to complete his mission. And the Allspark was still somewhere in this galaxy. He could feel his own spark resonate with it.

"I cannot depart. However, it is against my code not to offer assistance if I can help. I will assist you in anyway I can."

Several months later…

During his months with the Lanteans Shoujax learned much from them. They even allowed him to scan one of their smaller craft so he could assist them in their fight. And they had shown him their wonderful creation called a Stargate. But as the months went on and he had long since recovered, he began to realize Moros was right.

The Lanteans were loosing their war.

It was also during this time that a time traveling Dr. Weir arrived. At his request Shoujax's existence was not made known to her, and he stayed out of her sight. Moros questioned him about this, but Shoujax knew he needed to stay away from her or else change the future.

The future he knew he would catch up to one day if his plan worked.

Many hours later, true to Ganos Lal's word many months earlier, they submerged their city. Evacuations began later that day after a transport filled with Lanteans refugees was destroyed en route. Shoujax knew he could not go with them when they departed for a planet called Earth, in another galaxy entirely. He might loose his chance entirely of finding the Allspark and he wasn't prepared to do that.

"Moros, my friend, I must stay here in this galaxy and await the arrival of my kind. The Allspark is here, somewhere, and I must be here when my people arrive."

Moros and Shoujax smiled sadly at each other. They had grown very used to each other's company and the other would be sorely missed.

"Then it is farewell my friends. I hope you find what you seek."

"I have one last favor to request of you."

"Name it."

Shoujax knew and accepted this would happen eventually.

"I will transform into my other mode and when I do I need you to deactivate all by my spark management system." Moros's shock was understandable.

"My kind will come one day as I said, but until they do I wish to remain dormant.You and your kind I may never see again, but I wish you luck." Shoujax changed into his ship form and landed in a hidden room in the hanger area and Moros entered.

"Thank you for everything Noble Autobot Shoujax. I have set the controls to awaken you when another spark is detected in this city again. That way if it is one of those Decepticons, you'll at least have the chance to defend yourself. I wish you luck."

"I wish you luck too, old friend. Farewell"

With the last command entered into him, Shoujax felt all conscious thought processes become dormant. His brother and Cybertron both on his mind, He drifted into an odd state of stasis lock.

Moros exited his friend, shut the rear hatch and closed the secret room. With that done he left with the others of his kind and Atlantis was quiet. Time passed and humans from earth rediscovered Atlantis thousands of years later. They fought the wraith, moved Atlantis to a new planet after a time and did many great things the Lanteans would have been proud of. But throughout it all, the unknown passenger laid dormant.

Waiting, sleeping and never knowing when his people would finally arrive.

But it wasn't until his sensors picked up a spark that Shoujax finally woke up.