Chapter Thirty Six- Living Ship
The Autobot warship had landed hardly near a ledge because of a previous incident, so now all the Autobots were trying to analyze the situation and fix everything.
"Ratchet, damage report." Optimus ordered.
"We have suffered critical damage to all mayor systems, Optimus Prime. It will be some time before we can get the ship airborne."
"I'm still can't understand how this could happen. Do you believe it could be an accident?" Smokescreen asked.
"Very unlikely. A more possible explanation for all this damage can only be sabotage." Wheeljack deduced.
"Maybe the Dinobots put some explosives in some important parts of the ship." Cliffjumper suggested.
"Or maybe the ship's core could be hit by someone else we didn't expected." Arcee said.
"Blaster." Elita One said.
The silent Autobot showed a video from the main core, at the moment when Breakdown smashed into the core, causing an explosion. Blaster stopped the video and zoomed in so they could see well.
"So it was a Decepticon who crippled our vessel. They will move quickly to exploit any perceived weakness." She remarked.
"But I'm sure they're not foolish enough to launch a direct assault, master." Bee retorted.
"Megatron has grown decidedly more ruthless since our last encounter." Optimus proclaimed.
"At this rate, we will not be able to fix the entire ship before they could attack again." Ratchet reminded.
"And that's not the worst, because all the ship's weapons are disabled." Ultra Magnus added.
"Hm." Optimus said before he began to think in a solution, until an idea came to his mind, making him smirk. "I know how we can speed reparations."
Sometime later, Optimus, Elita and Ratchet were at the core room, next a lot of purple energon containers.
"Optimus, as your physician, I strongly advise against this! Dark energon's regenerative properties are impressive! But the side effects! There is no telling how it might impact the ship!" Ratchet protested.
"Are you sure about this, dear?" Elita asked a little worried.
"Dark energon courses through my veins. Infusing the warship will enable me to manipulate the craft as if we are one. And together, we shall crush Megatron." Optimus declared with his optics turned purple.
Meanwhile, in the Decepticon base, Breakdown was telling his adventure, even the kids were there.
"But when the Insectobots suddenly backed off, I got inspired by my proximity to the power core, and did what I do best." Breakdown smirked as he pounded his fist together.
"You trashed Prime's ride like a rock star in a hotel room." Miko cheered.
"We should hit the Bots right now while they're vulnerable." Airachnid declared as she and Stinger stepped forward.
"Optimus's warship maybe grounded, but let's not forget that we remain vastly outnumbered. Especially since he added that Insectobot hive to his ranks." Starscream reminded.
"Then maybe it's time for me to call in an air strike." Silas suggested.
"Or for us to consider more extreme measures, agent Silas." Megatron corrected.
Moments later, he and Shockwave stepped inside an opening vault which had a familiar object.
"The spark extractor? Megatron, are you certain you want to travel down this path?" Shockwave asked in surprise.
"While I am deeply reluctant to deploy a weapon of this caliber, especially one forged by Autobot hands, this may be our only chance to end the war, once and for all." Megatron declared.
On the Ark, a claw inserted the dark energon container in the power core, and Optimus pulled the activation lever. Then the dark energon made its way through the pipes as it changes in color of the ship's inside. The computers that the Autobot troopers worked at changed into red while the lights turned purple.
"Yes! I can feel it!" Optimus cheered.
"Everything seems to have worked out." Bulkhead said, making Ratchet to sigh.
That was noticed too in the Decepticon base.
"Megatron, massive energy spike detected at the Autobot crash site. It appears to be dark energon." Soundwave reported.
"Then we must get hurry." Starscream announced.
"I will come with you since there is dark energon's influence." Shockwave added.
"Okay. Soundwave, stay here and main the ground bridge." Megatron ordered.
"Affirmative."
Soundwave activated the ground bridge as everyone was ready.
"Decepticons, transform and rise up!" Megatron instructed.
All the Decepticons transformed and went through the portal, but before Megatron left…
"Hold on, Megatron." Silas called as Megatron looked at him. "If you are going to deploy some kind of super weapon in the final showdown with the Bots, it's my job as a representative of planet Earth to bear witness."
Megatron and Soundwave looked at each other. When Megatron and Silas crossed the portal before it closed, all got a bad surprise.
"My god." Silas said surprised.
The Ark was in the air again. Blaster showed Optimus the Decepticons's presence.
"Megatron, you never disappoint." Optimus smirked.
"All weapons back online and ready to fire." Ultra Magnus reported.
All the ship's weapons came out and aimed at the Decepticons.
"Stinger, now." Megatron ordered.
Stinger screeched his tires as he drove towards the Ark.
"Starscream, Shockwave, Breakdown, Airachnid, Knock Out, draw their fire." Megatron instructed as they all split.
That forced all the Ark's weapons (missiles, main guns, heavy cannons and laser turrets) to divide the fire where the Decepticons were going. Silas watched the situation through his binoculars: Stinger continued approaching to the Autobot warship.
"Once you launch the spark extractor, be sure to clear of its radius before it activates." Shockwave warned through the com-link.
Stinger changed to his robot form, with the spark extractor in hand and ran towards the Ark. Then, a satellite-shaped object emerged from the ship before charging and firing at Stinger. Stinger whirred as the shot hit him, causing him to crash and drop the spark extractor.
"Stinger!" Megatron called out.
"Lord Megatron, secure Stinger. I will finish the mission." Starscream advised as he flew towards the device.
But the strange turret fired again at Starscream, making him to make a crash landing in robot form.
"Mine!" Airachnid said as she grabbed the device with her webs and continued towards the ship, only for be taking down by the same kind of shot.
Inside the warship, everyone saw the results of the new weapon.
"I never realized the ship was equipped with a stasis beam." Wheeljack commented.
"Neither did I." Bee added.
Optimus didn't say anything, but he was no aware of that weapon either. The next one who grabbed the spark extractor was Knock Out, but he realized that the turret was going to fire at him.
"Hey buddy, yours!" Knock Out shouted to Breakdown.
He launched the weapon to him before the shot hit him in the back. Breakdown grabbed it, but the turret hit him too. Megatron began to worry for his teammates.
"Megatron, I will draw the beam's attention. Grab the extractor and use it as fast as you can!" Shockwave warned as he transformed into a tank and drove towards the device firing at the ship.
The turret fired at Shockwave, who evaded the beam and forced it to follow him. That allowed Megatron to grab the spark extractor, just when the beam hit Shockwave. Decided to not let their sacrifices to be in vain, Megatron transformed into his jet form and flew towards the Ark, evading all the turret's beams. But when he changed back to his robot form, prepared to activate the device, the turret anticipated his movement and hit him in the chest. He fell to the floor, still with his eyes open, like if he was frozen. Then Silas saw how the ship's turrets aimed at him.
"I have a bad feeling about this." He said, expecting the worst.
But he was confused when all the weapons stopped charging and went back into the ship. The Ark's cameras zoomed into the spark extractor, lying next to Megatron.
"The spark extractor! Guide us closer so that I may collect what belongs to me, and destroy the Decepticons!" Optimus ordered.
But then the computers started beeping as a code appeared on the screen and the navigation system looked onto some coordinates. Silas saw how the Autobot warship began to change course.
"Team's down. Requesting medical evacuation." Silas reported through his communicator.
Everyone noticed that aboard too.
"What?! Where are you going? I said closer!" Optimus yelled.
"Lord Prime, the ship seems navigating itself." An Autobot pilot reported.
"Override!"
The pilot tried, but the only response was a negative buzz and a shake. Seeing that nothing had changed, Optimus looked at the pilot with anger.
"The systems are bypassing manual control…" The pilot said until a bolt of electricity generated from the terminal and deactivated him.
"It's dead. A massive override has fried his circuits." Ratchet said checking his body. "And it's seems that it came from the terminal."
"How is that possible?" Arcee asked.
"I don't know about you guys, but I dare say that this ship now possess a will of its own." Smokescreen deduced.
"Wait, you are saying that the ship is the one who do this?" Bulkhead asked, a little nervous.
"Impossible! Trace the problem to its source and fix it!" Optimus ordered.
"Do not tamper with my systems! This will be your only warning!" A grave voice said.
"Warning?" Elita asked.
"My mission assumes priority. Any cybertronian who interferes will be neutralized!" The voice said.
"My one vessel dares to address me in threatening tones?!" Optimus yelled in disbelief.
Blaster pointed out to one of the computers, which it displayed a set of coordinates.
"It also seems to being decoding the Iacon database better than us." Bumblebee noticed.
"Right, it's already deciphered a new set of coordinates." Cliffjumper added.
Blaster displayed the coordinates on his face's visor.
"And judging by our current course, that is precisely where the ship is heading." Ultra Magnus observed.
"As I desire. You see? This warship is nothing more than an extension of my very will." Optimus proclaimed proudly.
"Your will is nothing! The Iacon artifact will belong to me!" The voice said.
"I am Optimus Prime! I command you decease operations!" Optimus ordered.
"You are no longer in command." The voice said.
Then the ship sent a high-pitch frequency into Optimus's head, making him to scream in pain.
"Optimus! Are you alright?!" Elita asked worried.
Optimus began to stand up when it stopped. "Regain control of this vessel. By any means necessary."
Blaster attempted to hack in with his tentacles, but he was immediately shocked into stasis.
"It appears this vessel is not going down without a fight." Wheeljack said.
"All hands, cut power to the mainframe and disconnects data relays, now!" Optimus ordered.
All Autobots ran to obey their leader's orders. Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers went through one way to the power core, but a wall of stasis beams appeared and advanced towards them, frozen them in contact. Elita and Arcee went through another hall with a squadron of Autobot troops, but another wall of beams caught them. Bee, Cliff and Smokey went by another way with Autobot troops of all kinds, but another wall forced them to retreat, until they arrived to a dead end, without a way to escape they saw the beams approaching them before screaming and making funny moves (Cliff tried to escapes through the ventilation ducts and got stuck, Bee put his hands in front trying to protect himself and Smokey simply covered his eyes). The Insectobot hive tried too, but they were caught too, the same as all the other Autobots of the ship. Meanwhile, in the Decepticon base, the kids looked worried at their friends, still like statues, while Soundwave was analyzing them.
"They're alive. But I've never encountered this form of stasis lock." He confessed looking at the scans.
"The Bots are crossing the Atlantic, making a beeline for North America." Silas announced.
"Wait. We can track them?" Jack asked in surprise.
"Why aren't they cloaked, like usual?" Raf asked.
"None of this makes a little sense. They had us in a crosshairs, but the Bots just took off." Silas recalled.
"They even bailed on that spark extractor thingy!" Miko piped in.
"If the ship isn't cloaked, maybe the communication relay's open, and…" Jack suggested.
"Wait! Are you suggesting calling Optimus Prime to ask what's happening up there?" Soundwave asked puzzled.
The kids responded by shrugging, so Soundwave looked to agent Silas who shrugged as well. Soundwave didn't respond, instead he went to the command table. Meanwhile, on the Ark, Ratchet got inside Megatronus old work station and saw appear another set of coordinates.
"Optimus, the computer has decrypted a second set of coordinates. Perhaps we could permit it to continue." Ratchet suggested, before another stasis turret emerged from the ceiling and shot him in the back.
"I do not require permission!" The vessel answered.
At the base, Soundwave was trying to contact with the Ark.
"Decepticon Outpost Alpha One to Autobot warship. Optimus Prime, please respond." Soundwave requested into the com-link, earning no response.
At the same time, Optimus sprinted until he reached to the power core. He grabbed the lever to reverse the energon infuser.
"This mutiny ends now!" He said before another stasis turret fired at him.
In the Decepticon base…
"Optimus!" Soundwave called again.
Then a communication entrance sounded.
"Optimus Prime has been relieved of his command." A voice said.
"Who is this?" Soundwave demanded.
"Who is this?!" The voice repeated.
"Have you taken control of the Autobot vessel?" Soundwave asked calmly.
"I am the vessel. Any cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized." The vessel warned before he showed them some pictures of the Autobots frozen in place.
"What mission?" Soundwave asked.
"Priority one: decrypt Iacon database and recover Autobot technology." The vessel explained.
"For what purpose?" Soundwave questioned.
There was a silence before the Ark disconnected itself from the Decepticon base.
"It hung up?! Rude!" Miko remarked.
"Rude?! There's a giant spaceship flying around collecting Autobot weapons of mass destruction!" Silas retorted.
"A giant spaceship filled with neutralized Autobots." Jack reminded.
"Point?" Silas demanded.
"This could be our only chance to slip aboard and download the Iacon database." Jack pointed out.
"So you guys can decode it!" Raf added.
"Ingenious. I will infiltrate the Ark." Soundwave congratulated.
"Not ingenious. You saw what it did to the Autobots." Jack reminded.
"Probably Optimus too." Raf added.
"And our team of Cons." Miko added.
"But that thing had its guns pointing at me, and I'm still breathing." Silas pointed.
"The ship may be blind to humans." Jack realized.
Since Soundwave was the only remaining Decepticon, it was his decision.
"Very well agent Silas, but at the first sight of trouble, I will bridge you right back here. Now, in order to download the database, you will need a compatible transfer drive." Soundwave said as he grabbed a cybertronian size flash-drive and gave it to him.
"A what?" He asked as he handled the drive.
"You'll also need tech support." Raf said.
"And backup." Miko added.
"Affirmative." Soundwave supported. "Be careful."
And so, Jack, Miko, Raf and agent Silas arrived to the Ark by the ground bridge.
"Silas to base, we're in." Silas said through the com-link as the portal disappeared.
"Copy that. Their data core should be accessible from any console." Soundwave answered.
The humans made it through lots of frozen Autobots, until they reached to an intersection, with Ratchet at the end, near to a console.
"Here's one." Raf said a little nervous.
Miko approached Ratchet and hit him on the foot a couple of times, without response.
"Doctor of Doom is knocked out." She said.
"Look, the ship has decoded two sets of Iacon coordinates." Raf observed.
Then another group of letters joined the other two.
"Three." Raf corrected. "Let's rip and run."
As the same he climbed over Ratchet, Silas helped Raf to get on the console.
"There's the port." Raf said pointing it.
Silas inserted the drive, beginning the downloading. Meanwhile, something caught Jack's attention on another screen.
"Uh, why is the warship heading to Manhattan?" He asked in confusion.
"Because that's where the first set of coordinates are located." Raf realized.
"What would a relic from Cybertron be doing in the Big Apple?" Silas asked.
"The Iacon relics landed on Earth eons ago, agent Silas. Long before the city was built on top of it." Soundwave explained through the com-link.
Which means if the ship wants this one… it might have to move some buildings out of the way." Jack realized.
"Our mission just got complicated. How do we stop this ship?" Silas asked.
"I would advise disabling the navigation module. Call up the main navigation manual." Soundwave suggested.
"There." Raf pointed.
"Step aside, son." Silas said putting a hand in front of him.
Silas walked to the button and pressed it, but immediately an electric current zapped him, making him swayed a little before he fell to the ground.
"Agent Silas!" Jack cried as the kids saw Silas unconscious.
"System access detected. Interference will not be tolerated." The ship's voice suddenly warned.
"There." Raf pointed at a camera on the ceiling.
"Reveal yourself!" It said looking at the responsible.
The camera only scanned Ratchet before trying to look at anyone, but it passed the kids.
"It doesn't see us." Miko cheered.
"Correct. The ship must not be scanning for carbon based lifeforms, but once it widens its search parameters…" Soundwave began.
"We're toast." Raf finished.
"I'm bridging you back." Soundwave declared.
"No." Jack objected. "There are millions of lives at stake on New York and we three are currently the only ones who can do anything about it."
"You're out of your element, Jack. These readings, the ship's rapid recovery, all pointed out that Optimus employed dark energon to repair it." Soundwave concluded.
"Hold on. If you're saying the ship is fueled by dark energon, we can dump it, right?" Jack suggested.
"Hm… you will need to reverse the warship's energon infuser. For that, follow the main overhead conduits. They'll lead you to the power core." Soundwave instructed them.
The kids passed through a lot of frozen Autobots until they arrived to the power core. After pass some piles of energon cubes, they were surprised to see who was there, frozen too.
"Optimus had the same idea." Jack realized.
"Then we're on the right track." Raf added.
"Warning, the energon injection can only be operated manually." Soundwave spoke through the com-link.
"Manually?" Everyone exclaimed.
Jack approached Optimus and looked it carefully before think on something.
"Give me a boost." Jack proclaimed.
Raf and Miko helped Jack to climb over Optimus. Next he walked through his arm and jumped to the console before start pushing the lever, but it won't budge. But while he was trying to make the lever work, the ship's camera finally detected the kids.
"I am infested with alien lifeforms!" The ship yelled in surprise.
That made Miko and Raf look above them and see the camera looking at them.
"Uh oh. We just got made." Miko said.
Then the claw which inserted the energon on the engine started attacking them. Miko and Raf hid between the piles of energon cubes, but the claw started removing them. Jack was safe because he remained hidden, but he needed to safe his friends. Miko and Raf continued evading the claw, until they reached to a dead end, and the worst was that the claw found them.
"All parasites will be eradicated!" The ship proclaimed.
"Hey! Over here!" Jack called in, making the claw to look at him.
"Jack, no!" Raf cried.
"Run for it!" Miko yelled.
The claw tried to catch him, but he evaded it.
"Too slow!" He mocked.
But the claw stood in front of him again, but Jack saw that Optimus was behind him. So he waited until the last moment when the claw attacked and jumped out of its way, making it smacked into Optimus's foot. It causes Optimus to fall back and pull the lever in the process, as Jack got away before he collapsed to the floor. Soon the fuel lines reversed the dark energon and allowed normal energon to get everything normal.
"Critical power drain! I am…in command! Prepare…to be…neutralized!" The ship said its last works as the claw nearly hit Jack and before the dark energon was expelled from the power core.
All the ship returned to its normal state. But then Optimus Prime went back to normal, so the kids realized it was time to leave.
"Run!" Jack whispered.
At the same time on base all the Decepticons came back to normal.
"They made it." Soundwave observed.
"Soundwave! Fire up the ground bridge!" Jack yelled through the com-link.
While the kids were going back to where they came from, the Autobots started to move again, and Optimus was finally recovered, seeing that the lever was pulled. The kids returned with agent Silas, who was beginning to stand up.
"On your feet, soldier." Miko grunted as she picked him up.
"And beavers and ducks and walnuts and grandma!" Silas babbled before he collapsed to the floor.
Meanwhile, Jack and Raf saw that now there was four set of coordinates decrypted.
"That's all that's been downloaded?!" Jack asked in disbelief.
"The Iacon file must be huge." Raf realized.
Immediately, the ground bridge appeared in front of them.
"Sweet!" Miko cheered as she and Raf went to help agent Silas. "Come on, here's our ride!"
But Raf saw that Jack was not coming with them.
"Jack?"
"Get Silas out of here." He instructed as he walked towards Ratchet. "Something is better than nothing. I'm not leaving without that drive."
After climbing over Ratchet, he tried to pull out the drive, but then Ratchet came back to normal, so Jack was now in trouble.
"Well well, look what we have here. Nothing more than a new test subject to my experiments." Ratchet said in surprise. Jack fell back in shock as Ratchet turned his hand to a torch. "Say ahhhh."
But before the torch's flame reached to Jack, Ratchet felt some finger calling him from behind. He was in shock to see Soundwave in front of him with his tentacles shinning in electricity.
"Humans superior, Autobots inferior." He said.
The tentacles knocked Ratchet off before he grabbed Jack with one hand and the drive with the other, and run to the ground bridge. Fortunately it closed before Optimus reached the room.
"Optimus, I…" Ratchet began.
"You let them escape!" Optimus yelled in anger before he looked to the sets of coordinates, which made him more furious. "With vital intelligence!"
The same information was showed on the base's main computer.
"The download of the Iacon database might have been incomplete, but we now possess four sets of coordinates decoded by the ship." Soundwave reported.
"Then we must act quickly. For Optimus possess the same four sets." Starscream realized.
"And he will not hesitate to obtain the potential doomsday devices. Which lie at the side of each." Megatron declared.