Iacon City

Autobot Headquarters

It is just another normal day in Iacon. Commands were being issued and defenders were ready for any Decepticon attack. Iacon was completely militarized. It went from Cybertron's golden city to Autobot capital. If it falls, the war is as good as over. Surprisingly, Megatron hasn't attacked it yet. It was well defended and well supplied. Attacking the Autobot capital itself would be a logistical nightmare.

At Autobot HQ, Optimus Prime and his staff were issuing orders as usual. They are in a conference room and they have just received a transmission from the Wreckers telling them that their mission has been completed and that they were on their way back to Iacon. This news was received with mixed feelings. Some officers wondered why they were sent back. Others thought that they would stay and reinforce Ultra Magnus and his forces. Optimus looked over a clipboard which had all the details regarding Ultra Magnus' current mission. He checked off the box which said, 'Wreckers Fallback to Iacon'. He then spoke to the officers in the room. All of whom gave their undivided attention to him.

"All right my fellow Autobots. We are now in phase three of Ultra Magnus' operation." The red and blue mech stated. He rested his hands on the conference room's main table, his right arm grabbing a data pad. "Our tanks and dropships are ready to advance from Crystal City to the radio station."

"Sir, I have ten tanks and five dropships, as well as eight platoons of troops." One of the officers stated. He too, had a clipboard in hand and it had all the logistics. This officer is in command of all military operations. His primary color is white and his secondary color is red. "That's all I can spare, sir."

"That's more than enough, Prowl. Have them advance to Ultra Magnus' location immediately. I fear that he and his troops are already under siege."

Just then, a red mech marched into the room. It was Ironhide. When Ultra Magnus ordered him to serve as a runner, he meant it. Ironhide just came from the HQ's communications center. He had in his hand a flash drive which had a transmission in it.

"Optimus, a transmission from Ultra Magnus." Ironhide exclaimed before plugging the flash drive into the computer in the room.

The flash drive began to play it's content. "Optimus Prime, do you read me? The Decepticons are launching a counterattack! We are really taking a pounding down here, over!"

"We lost contact afterwards." Ironhide added.

There was a lot of quiet chatter in the room. The officers were very worried. They had two platoons in that area defending the radio station. Losing them along with an esteemed Autobot commander would be a major loss. Sending reinforcements would be either a good move or a bad one. That decision belonged to Prowl and Optimus. Prowl spoke first.

"We can't leave them. Even if they're dead, we're not gonna let their sacrifices be in vain." Prowl stated, feeling the sudden urge to fight. He looked over at the other officers and they all nodded in response to his statement. He looked over at Optimus who also nodded.

"Prowl's right. We are not leaving Ultra Magnus or any of those Autobots behind!" Optimus added, sounding very confident.

Prowl was going to lead the overall relief effort. He went into the Autobot HQ weapons room and grabbed some guns. Ironhide insisted on tagging along and not even Optimus could stop him. Ironhide grabbed a minigun and was about to leave when Prowl stopped him.

"Ironhide, promise me one thing." The white mech said, placing his hand on Ironhide's shoulder.

"And what would that be?" The red mech asked, questioning his friend.

"Promise me you'll behave like an Autobot."

"Will do."

With that, the two exited the weapons room. They, along with a few troops, boarded a dropship and made their way to the relief force, which just departed from Crystal City. They were going to meet up and together, advance to Ultra Magnus' position. If he and his men were still there that is.

Meanwhile

Back at the radio station, the fighting was horrendous. The Decepticons have completely surrounded the radio station, but the Autobots provided heavy resistance. Blaster bolts were being fired from almost every direction and artillery shells landed everywhere. The Autobots were losing troops, but killed more Decepticons. One Autobot can kill an average of twenty Vehicons before dying. Some are strong enough to fight till their position was overrun.

The Decepticons were launching wave after wave of cannonfodder. They viewed their own troops as expendable bots with no purpose other than to serve their one true master, Megatron. They marched blindly into combat with the hopes of pleasing Megatron and his subordinates.

Commander Magnus, along with four other soldiers, were defending the main entrance outside of the radio station. Inside was the lobby which was converted to a medical station. Protecting it was vital. Not only were there unarmed medics inside, but also wounded bots that weren't dead yet. Magnus doesn't value just discipline. He values the lives of his bots. Unlike the Decepticons, he and the Autobot cause actually care about their own.

"Keep these hostiles away from the entrance!" The enraged commander barked, firing his two handheld blasters. He wasn't sure whether or not Prime got his message. After he sent the transmission earlier, a few Decepticon seekers launched missiles at the radio antennas and they were damaged. He chose to go downstairs and defend the main entrance while the technicians attempted to repair the antennas. What if Optimus never got the transmission? Would all this hard work have been for nothing? The stress was building up in his circuits and this made him even more angry. By this point, seeing dead Decepticons piling up on the battlefield is the only thing that would suffice.

Cliffjumper was behind some rubble, using it as cover. He, along with six other bots, were defending the perimeter's left flank which was undermanned. Seven bots were defending it in the beginning, but as the battle progressed, only three remained functional. Cliffjumper, being one of the three, began fighting desperately. He saw a Vehicon armed with a rocket launcher advancing toward the main entrance. The bots defending it were busy fighting off a wave of Decepticons. Cliffjumper reached for a grenade in one of his waist compartments and lobbed it at the Decepticon. Before the grenade exploded, two other Vehicons approached the rocket trooper to support him. Then, before they knew what hit them, the grenade exploded. Cliffjumper killed three for the price of one.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" The red mech yelled out before directing his attention to the Decepticons in front of him. Instinctively, he began shooting them with a minigun he borrowed from a wounded trooper. The weapon relied on plasma as ammunition which is extremely effective against a swarm of targets. It's barrels rotate to avoid overheating which would be horrible for the gun's operator.

"Cliffjumper, Decepticons to your right! Blast'em!" One of the bots defending the left flank warned.

Cliffjumper takes the minigun and points it toward the Decepticons to his right. He pulls the trigger and plasma bolts start coming out of the barrels. Almost immediately, the Decepticons start getting mowed down. Some of the plasma bolts were miraculously lodged into hard to hit targets such as the head and neck. One of the bolts was strong enough to decapitate a Vehicon trooper upon impact on the head. When a head is shot off, energon starts gushing out and the body falls over.

"Ha! Bull's-eye!" The happy bot exclaimed. He was clearly doing something right. Hitting a Vehicon in the face with a minigun takes a lot of skill. Cliffjumper was lucky the recoil didn't affect his aiming. Before he pulled the trigger again, two surviving Vehicons raised their hands, surrendering. Cliffjumper gestured for them to come to his location while still pointing the minigun at them. After realizing that they weren't willingly to fight anymore, he tuned into his short range comm link in an attempted to contact Ultra Magnus and request for an escort. "Commander Magnus, sir. I have captured two Vehicons and I require an escort, over."

Ultra Magnus heard Cliffjumper's voice and immediately took cover behind some metal crates. He tuned into his own comm link and responded. "Roger that Cliffjumper. Hot Shot, Tailgate, report, over!" Ultra Magnus replied while simultaneously contacting Hot Shot and Tailgate.

Hot Shot and Tailgate were in the middle of a firefight. They, along with a small squad were guarding the right side of the building. Hot Shot tuned into his comm link and responded to his commander's call.

"This is Corporal Hot Shot, over." The mech identified, while dodging some blaster bolts.

"Hot Shot, Cliffjumper has captured some Decepticons and requires an escort." Ultra Magnus paused, blasting a Decepticon who ran toward him. He dodged a number of blaster bolts but continued speaking. "I want you and Tailgate to go over to Cliffjumper and escort his prisoners to the main lobby, over."

Hot Shot thought about it for a brief moment. The lobby is full of medics and wounded. He began to object. "Sir, the lobby is full of wounded and doctors, over."

"It will have to do. Get it done, over and out!"

With that, Hot Shot obeyed and gestured for Tailgate to follow him without explaining anything. Together, the two left their position and ran to the left flank, dodging blaster bolts and rockets in the process. While running, they fired random shots toward the battlefield. While running, this method was used to keep the Decepticons' heads down while at the same time, providing covering fire for other Autobots.

Back with Ultra Magnus, he surveyed the battlefield and began to think. If Prime never got the message, he and his troops are done for. If they were going to die, at least they would go down fighting. He tuned into his comm link once again and addressed all of his troops.

"Autobots, I am afraid Optimus Prime never received my transmission." Magnus said into his comm link. He felt extremely guilty. He should've at least tried calling Prime again, but the antennas are busted. He also feels guilty for not shooting down the Decepticon seekers in time. If he did, he probably would still have contact with Optimus. He continued speaking. "But that doesn't mean we should stop fighting! Regardless on wheather or not Prime got our message, we must fight on! If Prime never got our transmission, the best thing to do is to fight and show the Decepticons what we're made of! No surrender!"

Hearing this, the Autobots prepared for their final stand. Magnus is right. It is better to die fighting rather than surrendering. Surrendering is a horrible alternative anyway. The Decepticons don't take prisoners. Only more dead Autobots will please them. The Autobots defending the radio station have no idea that Prime actually got the message and that relief was on it's way.

Outskirts

Prowl and his troops managed to catch up to the relief force. Crystal City is only two hundred clicks from Iacon which isn't a lot if you're traveling via ship. The relief force is already nine clicks away from Crystal City and are now in transit to Ultra Magnus' position. As Prowl stated, there are ten tanks, five dropships, and eight platoons of infantry and they are in a tactical column. He only hoped that they were enough to stop the Decepticons.

Prowl and Ironhide are inside their dropship and are flying ahead of the column. Prowl tuned into his short range comm link and attempted to make contact with Ultra Magnus.

"Ultra Magnus, this is Captain Prowl. What's your status, over?" Prowl said into his comm link.

No response.