Hi everyone, I just want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I hope you are all save and healthy where ever you are in the world.
Chapter 10: The Autobot Commanders Meeting
Autobot base, Iacon- Cybertron
Optimus Prime onlined his optics and stared up at the golden ceiling of his quarters within the Autobot base in Iacon. He allowed his processor to process over everything that had happened in the last couple of months since the war began. This was the only time that he was allowed to just be on his own. Since he began Prime he had very little time to himself that it was very rare that he could be Orion Pax rather than being Optimus Prime the leader of the Autobots. The only times that he was allowed to have sometime to himself was during his sleep cycle and just as soon as he woke up. He had been the first Prime to have earned the Matrix of Leadership rather than being given it in many years. He unlike Sentinel Prime was being guided by the Primes of old rather than being guided by his own greed and the credits of his friends. He was glad that they were guiding him rather than corrupt noblemechs who wanted to have everything go back to the way it was before the war had broken out. He had never thought when he was studying under Alpha Trion in the Iacon Hall of Records that he would be the next Prime chosen by Primus himself. When he was young he had read the stories of the original thirteen Primes back in the Iacon Archives; but he never thought that he was going to be a Prime himself. He had always just been Orion Pax. Now he was Optimus Prime leader of the Autobots.
He shuttered his optics as he cleared his thoughts. There was no point in worrying about what had happened to him when all Cybertron was at war. He onlined his optics to look up at the ceiling once again. He needed to get the day started. He had a lot of things that he needed to get done. There was the mountain of paperwork that always seemed to grow no matter how many hours he sits in his office and does the work. There was also the training in how to fight that Ironhide had arranged for him. The older mech had been in more fights than him and even though he had all the knowledge of the Primes he was still new to having his body move in the way that war demanded it to move. No matter what he was doing he was the leader of the Autobots and the Autobots needed their leader more than ever, especially now that Megatron had command of a great amount of the military forces, especially the Seekers.
Sitting up on his bed he looked around his quarters. His quarters may have been the largest quarters in the base given his rank within the army, but it had very little personal effects unlike the other officers in the Autobot forces. There was his very basic bed against one wall and a desk on another. His desk was well organised with only had a few datapads that contained vital information from the medics, the armoury, and other departments within the Autobot base and army that needed his attention. Having spent many years in the Iacon Archives had helped with the amount of paperwork that he was having to do as Prime. Also, on his desk was two holopictures. One of them was of him and Elita One, back when both of them were known as Orion Pax and Ariel. The other holopicture was of him, as Orion Pax with Nightshade. It had been taken just before Nightshade had left Cybertron for her travels across the galaxy.
Also in his quarters was a rack that was holding his weapons: his Ion Blaster and his Energon axe. The two weapons that had already seen enough combat in the last few weeks to last Orion Pax for the rest of his life. For Optimus Prime it was his baptism by fire. He was no longer the dock worker and assistant to Alpha Trion. He was now the leader of the Autobots.
His communication system beeped altering him that someone wanted to speak to him. He vented air through his vents knowing that his alone time was gone before he could appreciate it. He should take ever victory when they came into that his sleep cycle was not interrupted with someone who wanted to speak to him.
Activating his comm. system he was alerted that it was Jazz who was calling him. Out of all the mechs that were in the Autobot command he was the unusual mech. He was very different to the other commanders. He was a mech that he trusted to get the job done and bring everyone home. /Prime here!/ he said into his comm. with Jazz. He stood up off his bed and walked towards his desk and picked up one of the datapads. He activated it to see his personal schedule for around the base.
/Prime, old Ultra Magnus is ready to give his reports. And by reports I mean large reports that are too large for this time in the day cycle./ Jazz began to explain. Optimus couldn't help but feel worry creeping into his processor. Ultra Magnus always liked very detailed reports that were so long that he even had brother going over them. That also moved over to the meetings that the mech arranged. His meetings and reports were then made worse when Prowl or Red Alert added to them. The three mechs were good at what they did, but they sometimes done it too well that involved a lot of paperwork. Especially with Red Alert involved, he was paranoid about the littlest thing. /He says that it is important for all officers ta meet up and discuss what he has to say/ responded Jazz on the other line of the communication system that all the officers had.
The Vossian had been one of the first Cybertronians to join the Autobots and work his way up the ranks to become the Head of Special Operations and one of the high officers within the Autobots. He like many other Autobots had joined the ranks when they had heard that a Prime chosen by the Matrix itself was leading the Autobots.
Optimus vented air through his vents as he put his Datapad back into his subspace. This was already beginning to become a day that he was going to dread. /Has he mentioned what the reason of this meeting is?/ he asked the visored head of special operations.
/Nope. He's not mentioned a thing. Says that it is important to have a meeting. And that he wants all the officers to meet concerning about it/ Jazz informed Optimus.
Optimus was walking towards his quarter's door. The door sensing his approach slid open and he was out into the long corridor of the officers' quarters part of the base. There was very few mechs and femmes who had been made into officers of the Autobots. They were a rather young military force having coming branched off from Cybertron's main military force when Megatron had gained a lot of support from the military expect for a few divisions. He walked in silence towards the meeting room. His audios picked up the voices of other Autobots close by a they walked about the base in either going to another part of the base or going back to their quarters after being on the night shift. One his way to the meeting room he passed by many Autobots as they went about their morning routines. He nodded his helm towards them as he passed them. They either nodded their helms in response with a few saying "Sir!" or "Prime!".
He passed the infamous twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. They were both heading to the washrooms to clean up after being on the night shift. He had heard Sunstreaker complaining before he saw them. He ignored the yellow frontliners rant, it was not his business nor did he want to get involved in Sunstreaker's need to preen all the time. Most of the twins arguments were about how they looked or how many Decepticons they had brought down with their new tactic that they had come up with: jet judo. Jet judo always saw them winding up in the med bay much to the annoyance of the medics, but at the same time their insane attack meant that there was either two or free Seekers who were no longer in the air.
Optimus saw that Sunstreaker was about to speak to him as they were getting closer. His brother, Sideswipe stopped him. "Prime!" he greeted with a smile on his faceplates as he pushed his brother away from the tall Prime. Optimus kept walking and his audios picked up the brothers arguing about some little thing that bothered the yellow frontliner.
It did not take him long to get to the meeting room after crossing past the 'terror twins' that Jazz had taken to calling them after all the pranks they had pulled in the base. Especially to Prowl and Red Alert, those two mechs were the prime targets for the twins pranks. Optimus had spent a lot of his time in the meeting room, it was his second room after his private quarters and office which were deeper in the base. The amount of hours he spend in the meeting room was getting annoying. He was beginning to really want to face Megatron on the battlefield and end the war that way. He was nowhere near as skilled as him, but he wanted to prove to the rest of Cybertron that needed during this difficult time.
The door of the meeting room sensed his approach. He was a step away from walking into the door that it slid open allowing him to walk into the meeting room. Already in the early hours of the morning all the officers were already gathered in the meeting room. His officers were just waiting for him to arrive, after all he had not been due to come to this meeting. He had once again a mountain of paperwork that he needed to sign and he also got a message from Praxus that was telling him that they did not want anything to do with the war at all costs. That was what he was going to accept for the city state, he was not like Megatron and allowing the neutral city states to remain neutral in this war.
He looked around the round table in the meeting room to see that Ultra Magnus was already sitting at his seat which was next to his that was still empty. The larger mech was looking over two datapads, his optics flicking between the two datapads. A half-filled Energon cube was in front of him to the side at an easy reach for him as he casual read over what was happening in the datapads.
On the other side of Optimus's chair was Elita-One. The femme commander was talking to her second in command Chromia over their comm. system network that Blaster had set up for them. Elita had made the femmes one of the finest units within the Autobot army. The femmes had become a unit that was send out on stealth missions and also quick attack missions against the Decepticons. A few times she and her femmes had helped the frontliners in raiding Energon convoys that the Decepticons had going back to Kaon.
Also sitting at the table was the head of security, Red Alert. The paranoid mech was ranting to both Prowl and Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus was not paying attention to what Red Alert was saying. He was focused on reading the two datapads that were in front of him, he did hum when he thought was the best time to respond back to the paranoid head of security. Prowl was the only one who was really listening to what Red Alert was saying and he voiced up what he thought was the best course with what Red Alert was saying. He couldn't hear what Red Alert was saying to the two of them, but he had a feeling that it was something about a flaw in security that he had discovered. It was clearly something that had already been discussed earlier from the glances that Elita-One was given the Head of Security as she talked to Chromia who was elsewhere in the base.
Also, at the table was Jazz and Ironhide. The Head of Special Operations and Weapon Specialist were having their own conversation, no doubt Ironhide was listening to Jazz poking fun at Red Alert in being too paranoid for his own good. He watched Jazz as the visored mech leaned right back in his seat with a relaxed look on his faceplates.
Optimus walked past his officers and took his seat at the head of the table. "I apologise for arriving late. I did not know that this meeting was happening so early in the day cycle." Optimus informed them as he sat down on his chair. He brought out his Datapad from his subspace before placing it down on the table before him. "Ultra Magnus, I understand that there is something of great importance that you wish to discus with us?" he asked his friend who was one of the officers who already had military experience before this war with the Decepticons broke out.
"I do. Megatron is stepping up with all the war crimes that he has committed so far. Jazz's team has discovered that Megatron is planning to attack a convey that is filled with younglings and Femmes who are trying to get within the walls of Iacon." Ultra Magnus responded as he looked from Optimus to Jazz who nodded his helm.
Optimus turned his attention to Jazz. The Head of Special Operations was still leaning back in his chair with the relaxed expression on his faceplates. It was hard to tell if his optics were online or offline because of that visor that was always glowing blue. "Old Magnus is right, boss bot. Old Megatron is planning an attack on a convey of Femmes and younglings who had been trapped in the borders of Iacon and are now coming to the centre of Iacon in seeking sanctuary and projection from Megatron and his Decepticreeps." he explained to Optimus along with the other commanders.
"What is Megatron hoping to achieve with getting these younglings and Femmes? Surely there is no point in getting them?" Elita-One asked. She looked up from her Datapad towards the other commanders of the Autobots forces. She and the Femmes under her command had already rescued many naturals who were just trying to get away from the conflict that was happening all over Cybertron. Many of the neutrals had come to Iacon in hopes of getting protected by a Prime chosen by Primus himself. Already they had set up many safe homes all across Cybertron that was away from the many battlefields across Cybertron.
"Slave labour. He can force the femmes and the younglings into working in the factories to create the war machines that Shockwave has created. They can also be used as cannon fodder and be used to help push back our lines or even Megatron can brainwash the younglings to become soldiers in the frontlines which is not better than being cannon fodder against our forces." Prowl put in his suggestion to what Megatron was planning with the new group that was entering Iacons borders. He looked towards the femme commander with a neutral look on his faceplates as he ran through all the things that Megatron can do this group of neutrals.
Elita-One growled and her engine revved as she thought of all the lives that had either been lost or changed drastically because of the war and Megatron's greed. Her life along with Optimus's lives had been changed so much that they were no longer the Cybertronians that they had once been. "I would have thought that years of being a slave, a miner and then a gladiator would put Megatron off enslaving others. Why would he do such a horrible thing?" she asked anyone in particular.
"Megatron seems to be putting his anger out on all of Cybertron. Both on the battlefield and with any prisoners of war that he or his forces capture." Optimus spoke up as he remembered the mech he had meet in the Pits of Kaon. He had fallen for the words that he had been telling Cybertron and because of it he had allowed Megatron to get close to the last Prime and kill him. Then he had declared war on all of Cybertron as he declared himself the true Lord of Cybertron. It had been because of his foolishness that had plunged Cybertron into the war that was consuming all of the Energon all across the planet. It had also seen him becoming the next Prime.
Before all of this he had been content with just being Orion Pax. He had lived a simple enough life with working at the docks and having his own private library back at the Iacon Hall of Archive. He had been happy with reading the historic texts about the Primes of old. He had never thought that he would become one of the Primes. A Prime that would no doubt go into the history books as either being the hero of Cybertron or an evil monster who had prevented the rise of Lord Megatron. He would rather go back to the docks and work there. It was a lot easier than leading an army.
"From what else that my contacts with the 'cons ranks are telling me is that Megatron is now looking to build an empire." Jazz explained to them.
"An empire! You mean Cybertron is not the only planet that is going to be faced with his armies?" asked Elita-One looking towards the black and white Vossian. Jazz was still looking relaxed, but he know had a datapad out from his subspace. She then looked towards Optimus beside her. "You know he must be stopped! Megatron will destroy everything if he is allowed to leave the planet!" she told him.
"I know. Megatron has destroyed so much of Cybertron already and I cannot allow this to keep going on. Megatron must be stopped!" he told the other commanders.
"Maybe it will be good if Megatron leaves Cybertron and conquers another planet?" suggested Red Alert gaining everyone's attention. The red and white security chief looked towards Optimus Prime. He ignored the glances that the other commanders were given him because of his suggestion. He was focused on looking at the young Prime. "If Megatron leaves Cybertron, he can set up his empire well away from Cybertron and leave us alone." he said to the young Prime.
"Are you crazy, Red? You want Megatron to plunge the rest of the galaxy into a war as long as he leaves Cybertron alone?" Ironhide snapped at him. "That won't do any of us any good and you know that Red!"
Prowl then spoke up, "If Megatron was to leave Cybertron and conquer other planets he can built a bigger army than the army that he already has. There is the Commonwealth planets of Cybertron that are still neutral that he could invade. There is also the fact that he could invade a planet that is rich in energy so that he could make Energon cubes to fuel his army and weapons. He may be away from Cybertron, but it will only take some time before his attention returned back home and he made his move to conquer the planet. So him being away from Cybertron would only lead to more problems and those problems will be larger than the ones that we are already facing."
"So, we leave Cybertron?" Red Alert questioned the commanders of the Autobots. "Give Megatron a dying planet and we go to another planet that is filled with enough energy or pure Energon that can support us for centuries!" he said to them all.
All the Autobots in the meeting looked shocked to what Red Alert was suggesting. "Leave Cybertron? Such an exodus would cause too much Energon. Energon that we don't have to leave with the entire army while also fighting the Decepticons." Elita-One spoke in a calm tone, but there was hint of panic in her voice.
"And what is there to stop Megatron from following us? We will only be taken the war to another planet if we do leave Cybertron." Prowl said to them. He rubbed his chin as he thought over the benefits and the disadvantages of leaving Cybertron.
Cybertron was dying. It was clear that everyone could see it. The war was draining a great deal of Energon from Cybertron's natural resources. It was only a matter of time before both Autobots and Decepticons were fighting for a lifeless husk of dead metal. Ever last drop of Energon long gone. A planet that could no longer sustain life. How long would it really take for Cybertron to be completely dead? Was it going to be quick with the way that the war was escalating? Or was it going to be slow and painful?
Optimus leaned back in his chair as he thought over what he was to do. He was not only the leader of the Autobots, but he was also seen as the living connection with Primus. Many Cybertronians were looking towards him for protection in these dark times and that was the reason why so many neutrals were fleeing to Iacon. Many of them were hoping that they would be under the protection of the Prime. A Prime who had been chosen by the Matrix rather than bribing his way into the position. He was going to have to make many hard decisions that were going to stay with him for a long time.
He shuttered his optics and opened his sibling bond with Nightshade. He knew that she was on Cybertron but so far, she had not made any other move in looking for him. She did not know that he was the new Prime, so she did not think to seek the new Prime out. Instead, she was mainly keeping to shadows watching what was going on before she made her move. He knew she was mainly based in Iacon but where she was hiding, she was keeping that well hidden over the bond. The bond that she had walled up on her side of it.
"Prime?"
He was brought out his thoughts to see that Prowl was looking towards him. His doorwings raised in the Enforcers lock at attention stance as he looked towards him. "I am sorry, Prowl. I was lost in my thoughts there. What were you just saying?" he asked his head tactician.
"What are we going to do? It would go against us to allow Megatron to get these neutrals who are entering Iacon. For him to get them he can have the younglings reprogramed into being Decepticon troopers. There is also the increasing slavery that Jazz's spies have reported. So what are we do?" he asked the young Prime.
"First off we need to rescue the group of femmes and younglings and bring them into the safety of Iacon. Elita I wont you and your femmes to lead this operation along with Jazz and Mirage to get the civilians out of the warzone. They will trust you're team more than a strange mech." Optimus said to Elita-One and Jazz. He looked between Elita-One and Jazz as he gave the order. "Go and gather your teams and be ready to depart as soon as the sun sets. Use the cover of darkness to get the civilians out of danger." He told them both.
"We will then arrange of all the civilians in all the safe houses all around Cybertron and in Iacon to be send off world. The further away from Cybertron and the war the better for them. Blaster, I want you to arrange a communication with the commonwealth planets and have them arrange for civilians to be send their way." Optimus ordered the commanders, but his attention moved to Blaster, the Autobots communication chief.
"You got it, Prime." Blaster responded back to Optimus. He remained in his seat at the table where he was sitting beside Jazz.
"What if the neutrals don't want to go to the other worlds? What if they don't want to go to any worlds that have a past with Cybertron in case the war goes to them?" Prowl asked Optimus.
Optimus sighed as he vented air through his vents as he thought over what they were going to do. "We do not have the Energon or the resources to take the neutrals off planet. Like I said we send them to the commonwealth planets, and from there they can arrange their own transports off those planets. We must focus on keeping the Decepticons busy for as long as possible. Not unless we can end the war quickly." Optimus replied to Prowl. He studied all of the commanders of the Autobots. All of them had different experiences that was helping in the fight against the Decepticons. Many of them did not have military experience, Elita-One, Red Alert and Blaster having no experience from even being in the Enforcers like Prowl and Jazz. Ultra Magnus and Ironhide were the only ones within the Autobot command who actually had military experience, but unlike the Seekers and Vechicons they sided with Optimus Prime and the Autobots.
"If that is everything?" he asked Ultra Magnus.
He was about to dismiss the meeting when Ultra Magnus spoke up. "No that is not everything. We have been hearing of reports of the shadows attacking mainly the Decepticons who have been attacking neutrals and the wounded." Ultra Magnus explained to them. He did not notice Optimus sitting up straighter in his chair. "The scouts have been sent out to see if they can locate this 'Living Shadow' as the frontliners of both factions have begun to call this thing." He continued to explain to the commanders.
"And have the scouts found this 'Living Shadow'?" asked Prowl looking to Jazz. It was his men who were mainly going in behind enemy lines. They were the mechs who found out more about the war than the others who fighting in the war.
"Nope. This thing moves fast. And by fast, I mean it's there one moment and gone the very next." Jazz explained to them.
"So, what do we do about this living shadow?" Ironhide asked them.
Optimus was quite as he thought over the information that he had been given. The living shadow, it could only have been Nightshade. Even at a young age she had some control over the shadows but from the reports that he was looking over she now had much better control. There was nothing else that he could have thought of that had this amount of control over the shadows like her.
"It's a weapon! A weapon that we can not allow to fall into Megatron's hands! It must be destroyed!" Red Alert almost screamed at all of them. The horns on either side of his helm was sparking away as he thought of all the scary things that Megatron could do with a shadow. All the security breeches that could happen with that thing running about freely. He looked towards Optimus who was studying the Datapad in front of him. "Optimus we need to destroy this weapon before Megatron creates more of it! If he gets more of it or finds a way to control it, it is game over for us all. Just think of all the security breaches that will come from this thing." he snapped at the Prime.
"That may not be the best thing to do Red." Prowl stated as he looked towards the red and white security officer.
Red Alert turned to face Prowl. His blue optics wide as he studied the black and white tactician. "Are you insane Prowl? This thing is a weapon that should be destroyed before it can be used by Megatron. We should destroy it before he gets it or has his scientists copy it!" he almost screamed at Prowl.
"This thing doesn't show up until the Decepticons attack neutrals or the retreating wounded. Maybe what we should do is bring it into the Autobot side. Officially" he said as he looked towards the other Autobot commanders. He ignored Red Alert's argument about security breaches about letting the 'living shadow' into the base along with more neutrals into the base. Prowl did get along with Red Alert most of the time, but there was times like this time where he could not withstand Red Alerts paranoia. "It could help us bring an end to the war so much quicker." Prowl stated in a matter-of-fact tone. He looked back towards Red Alert before he looked back towards Optimus Prime. "Prime I suggest that we find this 'living shadow' and ask it to aid us against Megatron before he can destroy any more of Cybertron." he continued to speak with his idea.
Optimus looked towards Elita-One. She was looking towards him as she waited for him to make his decision. He looked back towards the rest of the Autobots commanders. He leaned back in his chair as he thought over what was the best course of action. He did not want to draw Nightshade into the war. He didn't know what she had been involved in before coming back to Cybertron. He could get in contact with her through the sibling bond and ask her to come to Iacon to meet him. But since the last conversation that they had and before he was remade as Optimus Prime the sibling bond was weaker but it was still there.
He vented air through his vents. He stood up from his chair. "We find this shadow, but at the moment that is not the important thing that we need to worry about," he said he saw that Red Alert was going to argue back towards him he raised his hand up to silence the security officer, "Our main concern is to get the neutrals out of harms way and get them safely within the walls of Iacon. I will keep Megatron busy as Elita-One and Jazz's teams go in to get the neutrals out of there and back here." He told them all.
"Prime we are not allowing the neutrals to come here?" asked Red Alert shocked that he was suggesting what he was thinking of doing. "For all we know these neutrals are Decepticon spies that Megatron has released in hopes of getting inside this wall." Red spat at Optimus. His paranoia was getting to him that he was forgetting that Optimus Prime had the final decision and he had already made up his decision. "And allowing this shadow thing into the base. Are you trying to get us all killed?!" he asked Optimus. He was glaring at the new Prime with bright blue optics.
Optimus looked back to Red Alert. "And what if they are really neutrals who are simple looking for refuge?" he asked the paranoid security chief. He then moved his attention to both Jazz and Elita. "Get your teams ready to roll out!" he ordered the two of them. He got up from his chair with his datapad in his hand before Red Alert could say anything. He then walked out of the meeting room with Ultra Magnus following after him.
Red Alert could only open and close his mouth as he watched the rest of the commanders left the meeting room. "Don't come complaining to me when a Decepticon spy gets inside these walls and kills us all in our sleep!" Red Alert shouted after all of them. He mumbled under his breathe as Ironhide left the room without looking back towards him. He gathered his datapads and ran after Prowl. He hoped that the Paraxian would see the logic of what he was saying without the others there.