Rating: T for adult themes. Language, violence, character death.
Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this work of complete fiction is Velocity/Sira. She is mine. Everything else is copy righted and owned by some really rich people. I make no money from this, but wish I could.
Co-Authored with Benjamin Bradt. Thank you Ben, without the inordinate amount of changes you and additions you contributed, this chapter would really stink. Massive hugs.
XxxX.
Decepticons
XxxX.
What he witnessed did not compute.
He observed the ragged mechs from afar, and what he saw disgusted him. These were supposed to be Decepticon warriors; they should be feared! They should be able to take whatever they wanted and not have to worry about retribution or resistance. Instead, they were content to eek out a meager existence, selectively skimming the barest essentials from the worst stock available, with no apparent inclination to change.
He watched them while they stole fuel from the sleeping humans, fearful that discovery would bring the Autobots bearing down on them, scuttling about like invertebrates fearfully watching the skies for sharp-beaked avians. Decepticons didn't hide from the likes of simple organics, that notion was inconceivable; the organics should be living their days in constant fear of the downfall of a Decepticon foot, eagerly prostrating themselves before their mechanical overseers, worshipping them like gods.
Starscream had arrived on Cybertron with tales about how the Autobots had vanquished Lord Megatron and were now holed up on some out of the way planet. Chances of the report's validity were probable, but when that particular Decepticon activated his vocal processor, it was always prudent to verify the facts. That was exactly what had brought him to the backwater mud ball, the need to verify what truths, if any, existed in the seeker's account of the battle.
He had assumed that the human's primitive technology would be simple to deal with; locating the High Lord's remains was the top priority. He hacked into the government's computer network, almost missing the trap, so simple and unassuming. It was cleverly imbedded into the base framework of the internet, and had Autobot all over it. Anytime he attempted to access the military or governments computers, he found his way blocked. He carefully backtracked and covered all traces of his presence. There were other ways to gather the information he required. If need be, he would use more direct means to his goals.
He had been on this dirty world long enough to see its bland moon through all of its phases, patiently watching both groups of mechs. The Autobots hadn't surprised him much, going out of their way to ally themselves with the indigenous inhabitants of this planet. That was so predictable of the current Prime; his tolerance of all life forms was one of his greatest weaknesses. What did surprise him was how few Autobots had heeded the Prime's call to reassemble. He had no reasoning to explain this; had it been Decepticons he was pondering, the possibility of their deciding to leave a questionable leader castigated of his authority was highly probable, but these were Autobots, and their consistent inclination was to frivolously indulge in the companies of lesser beings. If they had been behaving like Autobots, then the new leadership of Iacon should be trying desperately to return the Prime to his seat of power. Regardless, a certain truth had been realized; a lack of trained warriors was most advantageous to his plans.
Logic was Soundwave's tool of overcoming obstacles, and for the most part, it served him well. One thing he could not logically explain, however, was the relative ease in which the Decepticon forces had been excised from Iacon. Shockwave had had complete control of the city-state. Then, talk of ghosts had started filtering through some of the mechs that had regular patrol duty. Considering the ones placing the reports, it was easy to dismiss them as fiction. Too easy…
Fuel stores were the first target, shaking the foundations of Iacon night after night with their titanic explosions. The crippling energon shortages made sentry patrols mandatory, although communication blackouts were impossible to avoid; soon patrols would vanish, their cannibalized remains resurfacing days later, strategically placed to ensure that the deactivated were easily found, and easily identified. Suspecting sabotage from within, Shockwave waited until the next attack, and every mech that should have seen something, or could have had access to the targeted facility, was executed in a massive public event. The idea was to force the troops to shore up any holes or leaks within the ranks. The deaths had no effect, and the attacks only increased.
Investigations turned up little; there was simply no evidence to pinpoint who the saboteurs were. Trace energy readings were neutral; no graffiti proclaiming Autobot superiority could be found, there were not even signs of physical presence to examine. It was if they were being besieged by restless sparks that refused to join with the Matrix. Shockwave should have been immediately decommissioned for even messaging the notion.
Unfortunately, these events did not go unnoticed by the Autobots, who had been methodically examining Decepticon fortifications for exploitable weaknesses. During an outage that left half of Iacon defenseless, Ultra Magnus rallied his forces and attacked. It took a Cybertronian week, but the Autobots drove the Decepticons out of the city, with no casualties reported. It had been a crushing blow to morale; it mattered little that they still controlled the rest of the inhabitable regions of Cybertron. Without the fortifications of Iacon, the Decepticon leaders were perpetually exposed.
The enemy worked feverishly to secure the city and they defended it with a vengeance never before witnessed in the weak sparked Autobots. Once the city was completely in Autobot control, the attacks on the Decepticon forces took a grisly turn. Mechs became the only targets of the phantom assassins. One or two a night would be found terminated. Sometimes it was a single shot, other times the deceased was found over several quadrants. The troops were scared and refused to go anywhere individually. No fewer than five heavily armed mechs were assigned for any task. It was stretching their numbers as far as they could go. When Starscream came back with tales of Megatron's deactivation, the Decepticon forces fell into total disarray, allowing the simpering seeker to place himself in the seat of power over his fellow Decepticons.
Staring at the daily chicanery of Starscream's pathetic rule, watching once proud warriors stumble around in zeal-less marches to the music of their new ruler's whining; Soundwave could not be dissuaded from departing to Earth to validate Starscream's claims. It was within the first four cycles of the blue-green orb that he had stumbled upon the perfect opportunity to wrest the Decepticons from the unimpressive rule of Starscream, and to force the Autobots from Iacon once and for all. Considering the meager Autobot presence, six warriors at most, chances of attaining the Prime's head were in his favor.
First he had to have proof of Lord Megatron's death; Starscream would serve little to resist his ascension to the throne, but if Megatron were to emerge functional, Soundwave's term of command would be short, and end poorly. With evidence of the High Lord's demise, the rest of his plan could be put into effect. He watched the Earth-bound Decepticons for a little longer. Obviously, Barricade was the defacto leader of this group. That made sense. The shock trooper was the best equipped with knowledge and experience about surviving on inhospitable worlds. He doubted Barricade had taken the other stranded Decepticons under his tutelage out of the goodness of his spark. By aiding his fellows, he was just building up defenses against the Autobots. The dangerous mech was biding his time, waiting to see who came out on top of the Decepticon forces. Then he would see to it that who ever made disparaging remarks against the new leader wouldn't survive the coronation ceremony. Barricade was very practical about such things.
Soundwave called his small symbiots to him, left his hiding place, and headed towards the abandoned building. It was time for his new subjugates to know that he was here. They had a lot of work to do.
XxxX.
A/N: Next week this story will be moved out of the cartoon category and into the movie category on ff dot net. Just letting everybody know.
If anyone wants to read some wonderfully written goodies, look up "Benjamin Bradt" here at ff dot net. Not only is he my co-author, but I consider him a wonderful friend and have no issues shamelessly plugging his work.
To Northwest Sage - thank you. The last two chapters are my least favorite. Those words are something every-bot should remember. To Punk Autobot - Optimus has a lot of explaining to do to a lot of people. To Ladyofthebookworms - ROFL , humans are an arrogant race. Ben - I doubt the reader count can go down any more than it has, ff dot net doesn't have negative readership…does it? To Novamyth - Don't hate for the short chapter…please. They have to work out their issues.