Chapter 13-Cinders
The Benzuli Expanse-five million years ago
The Benzuli Expanse was an area of space known for its abundance of cosmic anomalies. Rogue black holes, dead planets and stare that came from the far reaches of the galaxy, but never left that specific area of space, white dwarfs flickering out of existence right next to each other, the list went on. It was like nature broke down past its stellar borders, and its erratic behavior was making many spacefaring races nervous.
The Galactic Council, one of the largest coalition of planets in the known galaxy, had sent a Z'Organian relay ship into Benzuli to monitor the latest anomaly that appeared-a quasar pulse that emerged from a monster black hole. Inside the massive, bat-like ship, the tiny (to cybertronians) squid-like Z'orgians who hovered around in suits propelled by repulsor jets were making note of the anomaly's increasing size in the Expanse, and the their continued studies of it were not looking good.
"Report." Said the captain.
"At its current rate of expansion, the anomaly will consume this system within six point five I-vels." The ship's astronomer reported.
"Probability projection for survival of inhabitants of Helo-Q…0.00." Said another scientist.
"I see." The captain's gelatinous face showed no emotion thought he sounded disappointed. "Has there been anything from the probes?"
"Negative. All ceased to function within 0.13 teks of even horizon penetration. We-"
A sharp beep cut into their talk and one of the pilots checked the readings. "A contact. Something is emerging from the anomaly."
"Magnify."
The captain was surprised by this news. "But…nothing can exist in there. That much at least we know. Quantify!"
"We cannot!"
The ship shook as multiple tendrils of flames hit the outer hull and propulsion thrusters. As the crew went on red alert, pondering how flames could even exist in the vacuum of space, a giant fireball, like miniature star, arose from the direction of the black hole, and at its heart…was a cybertronian.
She was a like a phoenix of terran lore, red and orange with gold highlights along her body. Her eyes glowed like suns and she trailed a tail of flames as she flew through space like a comet. With a wave of her arms, a rain of fireballs tore holes into the ship.
"We are attacked. Species unknown. Intent…unknown."
"Structural integrity at seventy-two percent."
"Activate the barrage armaments." The captain ordered. "As they're designed to pulverize whole comets, they should make short work of a single hostile."
The frontal particle cannons pointed at the femme as she flew within range and fired at her at ocne. The femme was engulfed in a brilliant light, her flames doing little to protect her. They held a continuous beam on her for just under a minute before stopping. The Z'orgians were surprised to see that the cybertronian was still intact, though she wasn't moving.
"No life signs. Target has been rendered inert."
"Use the tractor beam. Bring it aboard. By studying this entity, we may learn something about the anomaly itself."
The Z'orgians brought the unknown cybertronian on board via the tractor beam. Placing her on a medical slab, they transported her to the lab to begin study.
"Commencing diagnostic mapping…" The head scientist said. As he prepared the X-ray scanner, the femme's hand lashed out and took hold of the machine, crushing it in her grip.
To their surprise, the femme slowly rose to her feet, her burns and damages healing rapidly at an abnormal rate. Her orange eyes glowed and heat waves rolled off her form.
"The Expansion is upon us." She growled. "No one can stop it. No you, not I. however…" She grabbed the two Z'orgians. "Your presence here is causing…unrest. And therefore, will not be tolerated."
She smashed the unfortunate souls together, killing them instantly. She didn't even wait for the blood to evaporate off her hands before blasting her way out of the lab and massacring anyone that got in her way as she marched toward the bridge. Anyone caught in her sights were incinerated by her flames, and she unleashed hell on the ship itself.
Like a star going nova, the femme exploded in a massive burst of white hot flames, and the explosion blew the ship apart. Everyone on board was killed before the searing pain of their flesh boiling and melting could register. The femme flew out of the dying flames in a different form-a vermillion bird. As she flew away from the gruesome sight, the femme's mind, once a haze of pain and weariness, began to clear up and her eyes dimmed. Blinking, she glanced around, no longer cold and ruthless, but confused and terribly frightened.
"N-Nova? Galvatron?" Ember gasped. "Where am I?"
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Cybertron-now
Throughout the Great War, Cybertron's ravaged surface was declared off limits by both sides- a testament to their blindness and negligence in defense of their planet. But following the Thunderwing debacle, Elita-1 posted an Autobot station in Thunderhead Pass to guard the inert form of Thunderwing to avoid a repeat of the situation that resurrected the beast in the first place. Fortunately, no one tried to attack the base, which was protected by three different wavelengths of shielding from the particle storms, solar flares and ion dispersions.
A month had passed since that chaotic battle, and no activity was good news. But not everyone was happy about this lull in the fighting.
"Face it, Leadfoot, this is a nowhere posting for nobodies!" Sideswipe growled, marching across the base to the comm-station. "And I for one am getting myself reassigned!"
"Look, Sideswipe, it's not that I disagree with you, exactly. It's just…I'm on post." Leadfoot explained, trying to keep pace with Sideswipe's angry strides. "And Hound's orders were clear-no one is to make any unauthorized transmissions. Especially you!"
"So arrest me, throw me in the brig." Sideswipe pushed Leadfoot aside. "But do it after I send the pulsewave!"
Sideswipe made his way to the terminal and typed in the commands, sending a quick transmission pulsewave across space to the place where he felt he was most needed.
Ratchet's face appeared on the screen. "Sideswipe?"
"Ratchet, I need to talk to Prime. Urgently." Sideswipe demanded.
"I'd be happy to oblige, but he's busy trying to keep a massive cache of ore-13 from Megatron's hands." Ratchet said. "He's been off the grid with Jazz and Tomahawk and I don't know when he'll be back."
"Just," Sideswipe took a deep breath to calm himself. "Ask him if he's considered my relocation request, will you? I should be there on Terra, helping find Sunstreaker, not cooling my traction grids here, babysitting stasis-locked Decepticons!"
"Sideswipe," Hound appeared in the doorway, not looking very happy with Sideswipe at the moment. "Sign off. Now."
"Right, yeah. Sideswipe out." The red mech cut the feed.
At the Ark on Terra, Ratchet sighed and rubbed his nasal ridge. So many headaches at once. He was too old for this.
"Sideswipe, eh?" Debbie said as she and Gina appeared in the doorway. "Sounds like our kind of guy."
"Yeah, cause right now, no one's doing much to find Sunstreaker or Darren." Gina frowned. "It's like…you've suddenly given up on him!"
"Debbie, Gina, no one's giving up. It's just, well, we've run into a bit of a dead end." Ratchet said wearily. "Custom wheels yielded next to nothing and cost us dearly. We just need time to reassess."
Debbie sneered and marched out of the door, while Annie just shook her head. "Darren doesn't have time. It may already be too late. Face it, you've failed him." She said, walking away. "We've failed him."
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Back on Cybertron, Hound was giving Sideswipe the grilling of a lifetime. "So…what part of "communications embargo" didn't you understand?" Hound asked.
"Hound, I'm sorry…but you're in charge of a big, fat nothing." Sideswipe growled, glaring right into Hound's face. "Sure, this was the hot spot a while ago, what with the whole Thunderwing brouhaha, but since Flashpoint's forensic team finished up, the focus has moved elsewhere."
Hound was stone faced as he took Sideswipe's ranting. Warpath gave a little chuckle at the red mech's brass bearings. This was too good.
"Much as I don't wish to undermine your authority, I will continue to do everything in my power to get myself back into the thick of it." Sideswipe continued. "I'm in the mood to bust heads and right now, I know I can't think of anywhere better to do it than Terra!"
"You done?" Hound shoved a finger into Sideswipe's chest. "Consider this a formal reprimand. You'll relieve Leadfoot and remain on sentry duty until I see fit to rotate the roster. Understood?"
"Fine, whatever, I could give two slags." Sideswipe smacked Hound's away and pushed past him. "But it changes nothing!"
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Outside the immediate perimeter of the base, Ember stood hidden under an iron archway, watching the blue domed zone like a hawk. As she watched Leadfoot patrol the perimeter, her mind drifted back to a time in the distant past. Before war, before chaos, before factions.
She remembered the Golden Age-that glorious time when Cybertron had spread to the stars, an era of expansion. Thousands of suitable worlds cyberformed with Seeds and altered by a flame from the Well of Allsparks to produce life and support cybertronian colonies. It was a time of happiness, unity and pride in the cybertronian ideal.
And at the top of this Golden Age was Nova Prime, her consort. Cybertron's first chosen Prime to inherit the Matrix after Prima, he who united the planet against the Quintesson invaders and ushered in a new beginning for their liberated race. Ember remembered how Nova would gaze upon his empire with pride and joy. Many years spent fighting the Quintessons had paid off. And now they were mighty once more.
"Do you see this, Ember?" Nova said to her one night. He had her in his arms, gesturing to their shared empire. "This is what our race could achieve, in lesser time than those other races. We are happy and prosperous, and…I want to spread this wealth to the whole universe. Show all of creation what a utopia looks like."
That dream had been the basis of their Proudstar expedition. Ember was part of the crew, along with Nova and many of his subordinates-including Galvatron, Jhiaxus and Straxus. She remembered the crowds of bots from every nook and cranny of Cybertron huddled up at the Hydrax Spaceport o see their Prime off, little knowing that the supposed plans of exploration and opening new trade routes had been pushed to the backseat long ago in lieu of a new goal. The Proudstar would spearhead a new age-an age of Expansion.
"The only perfect universe is a universe populated by only a cybertronians." Nova Prime said. "We have achieved peace and prosperity for our mind, while those barbaric organic creatures continue to war and dirty out beloved galaxy with their blood and tears. Well no more! The universe shall know our peace…and bow to us!"
It was, he described, "like a door opening". A door to somewhere else. And within…absolute power. There was no set destination in mind, as Nova was going by visions he believed were coming from the Matrix. Leaving it under the care of Delta Magnus (she never understood why he left the symbol of his power behind) Nova had the Proudstar fly away from known Cybertronian territory into the unknown-guided by some other force. A bottomless well, a dark mirror of the Matrix itself-the means to remake the entire universe.
Their quest lad led them to the Benzuli Expanse, a known region for stellar anomalies. A large black spiral of dark matter-like a dark version of the milky way galaxy, sat in place, rotating like a black hole, but vastly different in nature. All efforts to probe the yawning nothingness had proved futile. Most of the crew were reluctant to go further, but Nova and Galvatron were insistent in exploring that dark abyss.
Ember couldn't remember what happened next. The Proudstar was dragged in after having moved too close, and then all went dark. When she awoke from her dreamless sleep, she was alone in space, covered in cosmic fire, alone and afraid and filled with a burning hunger she couldn't not describe.
Then she found the dolems…and realized that Nova had indeed found the power he sought to reshape the universe. And with the help of these gods, she will not only bring Nova back from the void, but also realize his dream of making a true cybertronian empire, and make the universe one free of death, with Cybertron at its core. But first, she had to get rid of the heathens who destroyed her beloved world. And clear the way for the Expansion!
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Leadfoot jumped when he heard a loud crack. "Who-?"
Leadfoot's question ended in a choke as a hand wrapped around his neck and squeezed. His final sight was Ember's smirk as she heated her hand and melted through his neck cables, burning clean through his throat. He struggled for a moment in agony before she broke his neck with a quick turn of the wrist and dropped him like a piece of scrap.
"Too easy." She muttered.
"Leadfoot? Leadfoot! What did you do to him?"
Ember turned around to see Sideswipe leaping at her with his electrically charged fist. He slammed his knuckles into the middle of her face and knocked her back. Sideswipe ran over to Leadfoot and knelt by his corpse.
"No." Sideswipe scowled and took out his blaster. "You are going to pay with your miserable life!"
He fired his gun, but the laser bolts only did superficial damage to her. She smirked and waved a hand in his direction, conjuring a geyser of flames that exploded in his face. Sideswipe jumped back but caught another fireball hit his chest and blasted him back. She rushed towards him and grabbed his arm, throwing him over her shoulder into the ground and kicking him in the face.
"You're a thousand stellar cycles too late to even think about fighting me, you fool." Ember said, stalking towards him with flame covered hands. Then she noticed the other four Autobots coming onto the scene.
"Who the frag is that?" Skram said.
"No idea, but we got two down. I say we shoot first and ask questions later." Road Rocket said before switching to his high speed racer alt mode.
Ember scowled and drew her bow, shooting two arrows. They blew up the ground they touched, causing rusted metal shavings and flames to shoot up into their faces. Warpath transformed into his tank mode and fired a shell into her chest.
"Road Rocket, containment!" Hound yelled.
Road Rocket spun circles around Ember, spewing a scentless gas behind him, and then igniting it to create a burning hot ring of flames to keep her in place.
"How'd you like that, Decepticon…if that's what you are!" He said.
"Yeah, right," Skram said as he helped Sideswipe up. "No insignia. What's going on?"
"That's what I intend to find out." Hound growled. "Look out!"
Ember hissed and stomped her foot. Flames exploded from her body and outwards in a powerful nova blast, dispersing Road Rocket's mixed chemical flames and sent the Autobot himself flying. She smirked again and marched towards them in a confident stride.
"Ugh, that stung." Sideswipe groaned, clutching the smoking scorch mark on his chest. He glared at Ember and raised his blaster, pointing it at her head and raising the power level to lethal levels.
"Wait, don't!" Hound yelled.
Sideswipe ignored him and pulled the trigger, firing a laser bolt that tore into Ember's head from the side. She staggered before falling to her knees, smoke blowing from her eyes and mouth. Hound gaped at the corpse before glaring at Sideswipe.
"Damn it, Sideswipe, what's a corpse going to tell us?" Hound growled.
Sideswipe roughly pushed him back. "Get out of my face. If anyone had it coming, she did!"
Skram looked at the body and gave a startled yelp. "Hound! She's getting up!"
"What?"
The Autobots looked at Ember in horror as she slowly got to her feet, the smoking hole in her head rapidly healing over. Ember's eyes glowed bright orange as she summoned power into her hands and fired two highly concentrated streams of flames at the Autobots. Skram and Road Rocket were blasted away. Warpath tried to shoot her, but she flew at him on flame jets fired from her feet, grabbing his tank mode's cannon barrel and slamming him repeatedly into the ground. Turning to Hound and Sideswipe, she punched the ground and sent a trail of explosions at the pair. They tried to get away, but they were caught up in the blast wave and taken out as well.
Ember stood among the fallen Autobots-they were seriously damaged, but not dead. Mem Aleph had told her to leave no survivors, but a spiteful part of Ember wanted the Autobots to live just long enough to feel her vengeance for all the chaos they and the Decepticons had wrought. Spitting at them, she stepped over their bodies and walked towards the main containment facility for what she came for.
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A few hours later, Hound, Sideswipe and the others awoke from their unintended sleep, sporting severe burns that stung whenever they moved, but they were all alive. However, their pride was another story.
"Ow," Warpath grunted, clutching the twisted cannon barrel that formed part of his chest. "Never had a wham blam kapow done to me like that before. That hurt."
"I shot her." Sideswipe muttered in disbelief. "I dealt her a kill shot and she just walked it off."
"H-Hound, what the hell was that?" Road Rocket asked.
"No idea, but we need to salvage this situation." Hound marched towards the command center. "I'm going to call orbital command and-"
"Hound!" Skram ran out of the containmeny hold. "Hound, it's gone!"
Dread filled Hound's Spark. Did he mean… "What's gone? What?!"
"Thunderwing! He's gone!"
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Ember knelt before the dolem queen, Mem Aleph, who sat on her throne of gold, flanked by two idols of diamonds. The Queen stared down at Ember, her charge, with three eyes of black onyx.
"Ember," Mem Aleph inhaled and exhaled, causing the cave to shake. "Do you have it?"
"Yes, my queen." Ember waved to the giant, still form of Thunderwing. "We have our prize."
Mem Aleph smiled. "Then we shall continue onto Phase-2. Let's see how Kopesh is doing on Gorlam Prime."
That's it for this chapter, and we start getting into the plot behind the scenes. Now I'm going to hold off on updates for this story after a while to get some distance in writing down the chapters. We're nearing the finale for the first part of Distant Stars, but there are still plenty of stories to tell! Now that I'm done with these chapters, prepare for the final stretch as I start writing the final chapters of Escalation!