65- Persuasion.
Mygeeto
Near the research facility, Optimus lied on the ground until he started to get up, but at the same time Predaking approached him and changed to his robot form, landing in front of him.
"It took a cataclysm to extinguish Cybertron's original Predacon inhabitants. You never stood a chance against me, Prime." Predaking said as he turned his hand into a blaster and started charging it, aiming at Optimus's head. "In fact, the time has come for your extinction."
But Optimus pushed the blaster aside and started punching Predaking continually. Meanwhile, the Decepticon forces continued blocking the way to the Autobots.
"At this rate we'll not reach in time." Elita noticed.
"Permission to hasten our progress, chief?" Wheeljack suggested, pulling out a grenade.
"Granted." Ultra Magnus answered.
And Wheeljack threw the grenade to the Decepticon group. Shockwave, the droids and the other Cons heard the sound of the explosion and looked at the tunnel. One of the Vehicon' bodies was thrown inside the room, followed by the Autobots in vehicle form and changing back to robot form to engage the enemy. The eliminated all the Decepticons and droids of the lower level, Shockwave saw it so he fired his cannon. Ultra Magnus saw him, so he pounced on him. Suddenly, more vehicle-like droids started to jump into the lower lever, forcing the Autobots to contain them. Finally, one of them saw where they were coming from.
"Look, that ship! It's deploying more droids!" Cliffjumper said pointing at the Harbinger tank transport, which was also firing its turrets.
"We need to destroy it in order to make them stop sending reinforcements." Elita deduced.
"A pair of good explosives placed in its inside will end the job." Wheeljack suggested.
"Look!" Arcee called.
The ship opened its front part and showed some kind of energy weapon charging: a variable-geometry turbolaser.
"Take cover!" Elita instructed.
The Autobots covered themselves before the weapon fired multiple laser beams in multiple directions, causing multiple energy explosions. But fortunately, no one was caught.
"We'll cover you. Go!" Elita said to Wheeljack.
The other Autobots fired at the ship's turrets, earning their attention, while Wheeljack ran toward the ship. He climbed up until he hooked himself in front of the ship's bridge, where the droids which operated the ship could see him, even when he made a hole in the ship with his punch before placing a pair of active grenades inside.
"Uh-oh." One of the droids simply said before the grenades exploded.
Wheeljack returned to assist the team with the remaining droids before the explosion destroyed the ship. At the same time, Ultra Magnus and Shockwave started a close combat fight, but Magnus had the advantage since Shockwave had only his shock cannon and only a hand, but he managed to grab Magnus's hand after receiving a couple of hits.
"This is no place for a one-handed Autobot." Shockwave said noticing Magnus's new hand.
But Magnus punched him again. "I still had the two, better than only one good eye."
Magnus punched Shockwave's torso with his new hand, sending him hard against an AAT, surprising even Magnus: his new upgraded hand was not only fully operational, it was even more powerful. Optimus continued punching Predaking and blocking his attacks until they both grabbed each other's' hands and tried to push the other back, but Optimus head-butted Predaking hard, sending back a few steps.
"Stand down, Predacon."
"I am Predaking, and I will never bow to your kind!" He corrected retrieving his blaster.
Predaking charged at Optimus again, but this time he surprised him with a surprised reversed kick, sending him against the icy floor, before changing back to dragon form. Taking the chance, he started to charge to launch fire against the Autobot leader.
"Predaking, I have been informed that our objective is at risk. Secure it. Now!" Megatron ordered through the com-link.
Instead launching the fire against Optimus, Predaking released to the air. Back inside, Ultra Magnus continued punching Shockwave continuously, blocking his attacks and hitting him hard in the chest, leaving him weakened and falling to his knees. The other Autobots neutralized the remaining enemies.
"Commander, objective secured." Elita reported.
"Now might be a fine time for surrender." Magnus said walking towards Shockwave.
"A logical assumption, were it not for…"
Right then, Predaking came from above them, putting himself between Shockwave and the Autobots. The cybertronian dragon pushed back Ultra Magnus and Elita One. Wheeljack tried to jump at him, but Predaking hit him with his tail. Arcee, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee fired at him, but with not much effect, so Predaking hit them with his tail. Next, he allowed Shockwave to ride above him while he grabbed what the Decepticons were trying to get and hit it with his tail, separating it from the rest of the structure before taking flight with it. Back outside, Optimus grumbled as he got up, a little disoriented as he saw Predaking disappearing in a ground bridge. He retrieved back his gatling gun before meeting with his team.
"Ratchet, we require immediate transport back to base." Elita called by com-link.
The calling to base woke up Padmé from her unconsciousness, something the droids were trying with her and the Autobots.
"My lady, are you okay?" 3PO asked concerned.
"Kids, stop levitating that fruit. Do not play with food." She said, probably hallucinating.
"I'll take that as a maybe." 3PO said, earning some mad beeps from R2. "I'm not deaf and blind, R2. At least she will recover from this state sooner or later."
"Ratchet, do you read?" Elita called again while the other Autobots woke up.
"Commander?"
"Bulkhead, is everything alright? Where's Ratchet?" She asked as he looked the entire room.
"He's…he's gone." Bulkhead answered, leaving Elita with surprised and worried eyes.
Soundwave managed to leave the Autobot base and took Ratchet with him. And now Ratchet was aboard the Nemesis, chained on an operating table, when a shadow woke him up.
"What do you want from me?" He asked, knowing that it was just Megatron.
"Your assistance, actually. To help complete a little…science project."
"I will never cooperate."
"Shockwave does not require your cooperation, to siphon your knowledge, doctor." Megatron clarified as Shockwave approached him a cortical physic patch cable.
Meanwhile, the Autobots tried to find any clue about where Ratchet could be. But they only found the piece of Laserbeak's wing that Smokescreen sliced with his shots.
"Peeled some paint off Laserbeak. But if I were a better shot, Ratchet would still be here." Smokescreen lamented while Arcee hold the piece.
"Chin up, soldier. We've combed the entire floor. For the moment, that remains our only clue." Ultra Magnus said, trying to cheer him up.
"Nothing in the ground bridge log. If they bridged Ratchet out of here, they used theirs, not ours." Cliffjumper informed.
"Why take Ratchet prisoner, but leave these two and the droids behind?" Arcee asked.
"If Megatron intends to hold our medic hostage, I find it curious that he's made no demands." Elita observed.
"It would stand to reason that Ratchet must possess something the Decepticons want." Optimus realized.
"Well, whatever the Cons are after, Ratch won't give it up." Bulkhead encouraged crushing his fists. "Right?"
Back to the Nemesis, Predaking entered the bridge looking for Megatron.
"Lord Megatron, I understand that you have brought an accursed Autobot aboard this warship." Predaking said.
"Indeed."
"Then I will accomplish with him what I failed to with the Prime." Predaking swore turning his hand into a blaster gun.
"Predaking, this Autobot is more than a prisoner. You do wish for Cybertron's restoration, do you not?" Megatron asked, making Predaking to think about it. "Our captive's usefulness will come to an end. And when that time arrives, I assure you, he will be all yours."
In the Autobot base, everyone was trying to guess why the Decepticons wanted Ratchet, and how to discover his location.
"Listen, I need 24/7 probes monitoring. Eyes in the sky and ears to the ground. Scatter the fleet and instruct it to seach in any possible hideouts, former separatist territories…even if they had to travel through the limits of the Unknown Regions." Anakin instructed by com-link before turning to his wife. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Sure. Don't worry, Ani. That's stun was strong, but nothing serious."
"Maybe Buckethead's after the techno-babble." Wheeljack suggested analyzing Ratchet's work.
"The Synth-En formula?" Arcee remembered.
"Why would the Cons need the artificial stuff if they already control most of this galaxy's energon reserves?" Smokescreen asked.
"Greed, what else?" Cliffjumper added.
"If Megatron is truly rebuilding the Omega Lock, as Ratchet surmised, synthetic energon might be a necessary component." Optimus deduced.
"I hate to be the one to bring bad news, but there's one thing we're all ignoring. If the Cons found Ratchet, Padmé and the droids here, they know the location of this base." Anakin pointed.
"I better alert the Royal Security Forces to remain aware for a possible attack." Padmé said before leaving.
Meanwhile, back to the Nemesis…
"And what did the cortical psychic patch yield?" Megatron asked while Shockwave pulled out the patch's cable from Ratchet.
"Only confirmation that the synthetic energon formula is unstable, and that the Autobot medic's work on it remains incomplete." Shockwave answered.
"Then it seems we must help Ratchet finish his work."
Minutes later, Ratchet had his hands chained together inside one cell. Then he heard the door opening behind him.
"Are you through poking around inside my head? You didn't find what you wanted, did you? Or else you wouldn't be here." Ratchet deduced.
"What I want apparently does not yet exist." Megatron answered.
"And that would be…?"
"We would very much like for you to complete your work, on the formula for synthetic energon."
"Even if I were capable, do you think that I would hand you a limitless supply of fuel and ammunition just so you can turn around and use it against the Autobots?" Ratchet said, before turning his back on Megatron.
"Oh, you misunderstand, dearest Ratchet. I intend to use your formula for the purpose of creation, not destruction." Megatron said, earning Ratchet's attention. "We have fortuitously discovered that your Synth-En, when combined with cyber-nucleic acid, may in fact form the basis for an alternative cyber-matter."
"You are attempting to rebuild the Omega Lock."
"We stand on the verge of a great moment in time, you and I. The restoration of our very home world."
"Collaborate with the barbarian who essentially destroyed our planet in the first place? Who sadistically crushed Bumblebee's voice box while looking him in the eye? No thank you." Ratchet answered directly.
"Then I present you with a choice: complete your research, or…" Megatron said before Soundwave showed a picture of the children.
Starscream laughed a little. "Natives, always the weak link."
"Ha, are you sure of that? Are these…natives supposed to mean something to me?" Ratchet lied. "Even if they were, you don't think you have underestimated them too much?"
"I admit it: they're far stronger than I thought. And I also admit that they had caused me more troubles than I expected. But if not, I am certain this will." Soundwave showed a familiar image. "As you must certainly be aware, we know the location of your current base. Accept my offer, and I will allow your fellow Autobots and human pets to remain unharmed. Think it over, good doctor." Megatron finished as he and the other Decepticons left Ratchet alone.
"My liege, you aren't really going to allow the Autobots to remain operational." Starscream said.
"Of course not. Assemble your armada, Starscream, and decimate their base, once again." Megatron answered.
Starscream smirked by hearing that. Meanwhile, inside the base, the Autobots continued trying to track down their enemies. Even their little friends decided to help them: the four little Jedi joined to meditate together, hopping that the Force would give them a clue.
"Still nothing?" Cliffjumper asked them.
"No, nothing referring about where Ratchet could be." Aris answered.
"There's not a single clue, only fragments of space and the droid fleet. And that they have Ratchet prisoner." Sky added.
"At least we know he's fine. For the moment." Elita said in relief.
"Wait, we have something." Luke called. "A great number of starships jumping to hyperspace, probably starfighters."
"And next, they strike, on Naboo." Leia finished.
"That confirms their incoming attack against our base. At least, now we're ready." Optimus reassured.
"All reports from the fleet are coming up empty." Captain Rex reported.
"No com-link chatter either." Arcee added.
"And no ground activity. It's a little too quite out there." Wheeljack added.
"Since the Decepticons no longer seek Predacon bones or native technology, there is no activity to track." Optimus realized.
"So until Megatron makes a move, we're in a holding pattern." Bulkhead said.
"Ratchet didn't think this new hand he built for me was good enough, despite it proving to be wrong. But I'll tell you what truly isn't good enough: giving up. We have no choice but to play this old school: split up into teams, for maximum coverage." Ultra Magnus pronounced.
Suddenly the alarm sounded.
"We have incoming. A whole fleet is coming out from hyperspace." Rex reported what the scanners detected.
"Bravo Flight, engage the invaders!" Padmé instructed by com link.
The fleet was composed by Starscream, his fellow Seekers and a bunk of TIE hunters and TIE droids heading to the palace. The pilots went inside their Naboo starfighters to engage the Decepticons.
"Concentrate your fire on the palace's hangar." Starscream instructed.
The Naboo starfighters fired at the Decepticons, forcing them to break formation and ascend above them.
"TIEs, take care of those fighters. Make sure they don't get in our way." Slipstream commanded.
Immediately, the TIE hunters went to engage the enemy ships.
"Bravo Flight's holding. For the moment." Rex saw.
"Then let's get this over with." Anakin added.
Just like they saw, the Naboo pilots were better than the droids, and started to shoot down the TIEs one by one. But that allowed Starscream and his fellow Seekers to evade all confrontation and launch their missiles, which went directly at the target place, while Team Prime and the Jedi watched. The missiles entered the hangar, causing a huge explosion with flames that was seen from the outside.
"Lord Megatron, I am pleased to report that the Autobot base has been reduced to ashes." Starscream reported as they left the area.
Despite the catastrophe, the Autobots managed to escape, and they did not look affected.
"The mess hall sure is a mess." Smokescreen observed.
"We are fortunate that the Decepticons can be fooled by a simple hologram." Elita said as the firefighters extinguished the fire, revealing that the Decepticons didn't destroyed the hangar, but the clones placed an AT-TE walker in middle so the missiles destroyed it before reaching the hangar, while they displaced an hologram of the palace to make them believe they reached their target.
Meanwhile, Megatron allowed Ratchet to walk around the warship while two guardians watched him closely alongside two ultra battle droids as additional guard.
"I'm sure you would more fully appreciate a tour of our facilities if you were comfortable." Megatron said.
One of the guardians removed Ratchet's chains.
"How do you know I won't use these to amputate?" Ratchet menaced pulling out his swords.
"And pass up a chance to see our molecular masking field?"
"Your clocking device." Ratchet saw as he retrieved his swords and walked until he reached the same place Megatron was in the bridge. But he did not look surprised. "Shielding is shielding, high tech or low."
"Perhaps you'll be more impressed by our energon transfusion capacitor. It allow us to maximize our consumption at thousand-fold." Megatron said showing him some schematics.
"Decepticon engineering never fails to impress."
"Doctor, we may be mortal enemies, but Autobots and Decepticons do share one common goal. You would like to see the ruins of our devastated home world restored to their former brilliance, as would I." Megatron said, showing an image of a living Cybertron.
"Megatron, you would just try to conquer Cybertron all over again, and enslave anyone who refuses to pledge allegiance to you."
"Of course I would! And your comrades would attempt to stop me, as ever. But at least we would once again possess a planet worth fighting over."
"Perhaps, but you wouldn't stop there, would you? This entire galaxy would be next, if not first. What assurance do I have that you would leave the Republic and the Jedi Order be? And that you wouldn't instantly terminate me once you get what you need?"
"None whatsoever. After all, we both know that as a Decepticon, any assurances I might offer would be…worthless. But that does not change that fact that you may be Cybertron's only hope of ever seeing life again."
At the same time, in the Autobot base, at last the team had a good new.
"So the kid clipped the business end of Laserbeak's transponder." Wheeljack discovered.
"You're not such a bad shot after all, young warrior." Cliffjumper congratulated.
"Wow, so you really thing I'm a warrior?" Smokey said surprised.
"You are from the Elite Guard, which makes sense. You're just only growing up."
"We thought you might be the best one to provide an analysis, dear, in Ratchet's absence." Obi Wan said to his daughter.
"It's trying to communicate with the warship." Aris reported.
"How do you know?" Sky asked.
"It's telling us." She simply said.
"Uh Aris, that's cybertronian code." Leia recognized.
"Wait, now she reads cybertronian? Are we sure she's not only a mandalorian Jedi?" Han asked.
"I've been learning for a while, in between stuff, when…Ratchet had time to teach me." Aris said a little sad.
"Hey Aris, we'll bring him back." Her father reassured her giving her a hug.
"If is the last thing we do." Cliff added.
"If it's talking to the mothership, can we triangulate the signal?" Anakin asked.
"To a shielded warship?" Ultra Magnus reminded.
"If the transponder were still attached to Laserbeak we could followed it." Elita realized.
"Maybe we should give it wings." Wheeljack suggested.
"We can use spare parts from the shipyard." Padmé offered.
"Then let's do it, for the doc."
In the Nemesis, Ratchet was still following Megatron.
"While your forces have put a dent in our resources, Shockwave has been invaluable in updating our laboratory. Should you choice to accept the task, you shall have unrestricted access to our equipment." Megatron said as they entered the lab.
Ratchet remained unconvinced, until he spotted something that caught his attention. "Is that a quantum cryo-inducer? Only two were ever made."
"Three, actually. You are holding the original prototype."
At the same time, the team was working on their only plan to reach Ratchet, starting in making the drone.
"The frequency modulator keeps shorting out!" Aris saw in her laptop.
"Easy, champ. Let me try uncrossing some wires." Wheeljack calmed down.
"Now there's something you don't see every day." Smokescreen said surprised.
"Jackie wasn't always a loner, you know. Being a Wrecker was all about the team." Bulkhead told.
Then they heard a crashing noise.
"Yep, yep, yep. Han, I needed that!" Aris yelled to him.
"Hey, I was only trying to put this piece here."
"Eh, Aris, you're starting to sound like Ratchet." Leia noticed, making her stop as the rest of the children and droids laughed.
"Oh no." She lamented.
Meanwhile, Obi Wan, Ahsoka and Anakin were watching the entire scene from the upper level.
"Look at them, working together in order to save a friend. Now I see how much they look like us." Ahsoka noticed.
"Yes. It reminds me to us in the very old days." Anakin nodded.
"And I thought I wouldn't live enough to see this." Obi Wan admitted.
"Obi Wan, Ahsoka." Anakin started.
"Hum?"
"I wanted to apologize with both of you, from a very long time."
"What is that for, Anakin?" Obi Wan asked.
"Master, I've disappointed you long ago. And I haven't been very appreciated of your training. I've been arrogant, and I apologize. And that also has affected a lot during your training, Ahsoka. I wish I had been a better master like Obi Wan was. I guess I could have done better, in both cases. I'm trying to say, that I'm glad that you were my master, Obi Wan. You had been a great mentor. And it has been also an honor to be your master, Ahsoka. If it wasn't for you, I don't know what could have been of me, probably ended being Palpatine's new slave." He expressed himself sincerely, on a little sad tone.
Of course, Ahsoka and Obi Wan didn't look affected, they simply smiled. Just the opposite, they were glad to hear that.
"You are strong and wise, Anakin, and you have improved a lot since the end of the war. You were the Chosen One, and you fulfilled the prophecy. You managed to mark the difference." Obi Wan reassured.
"But if it wasn't for Optimus and the Autobots, that would not have been like that. I would have failed."
"But you didn't. Stop being so hard with yourself because of the past. You reached your destiny, and brought balanced to the Force. And look what you have managed to achieve: and I am very proud of you for that. And Qui-Gon Jinn would be too. I have trained you since you were a small boy. I have taught you everything I know, and you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be. And not only that, we are brothers, that alongside many others make a greater whole. And now you're a Jedi master, and a great father."
"The same as you were like one for me." Anakin admitted.
"I can say the same to you for me, Anakin. I never told you before but, since I became your apprentice, I had always been proud of that. Yeah, I know: The Apprentice of the Chosen One? He, quite a great title for myself. But…is not that what really mattered for me in the end. Not only you taught me everything you know about the Force, but also about the heart and how valuable feelings are. And for that, you are the best."
"Thanks, Ahsoka. You have been also like some kind of daughter for me. That was also like some training long before Luke and Leia arrived."
Ahsoka laughed. "You can secure that."
"Besides, even if you had abandoned the order, back then, you would still be a true Jedi. I am sure of it. That's something that nothing and nobody, neither the High Council can take from you."
"I know, Anakin, and thank you. Lux told me the same thing before."
"And now, look where are we now. All three of us are family, and part of a great one." Anakin said, looking at their children.
"Indeed, but the past issues are not the ones which concerns me. I just have been thinking about the close calls we Jedi have had with the Decepticons lately: the only example of exogalactic threat. And how we vulnerable we are against it." Obi Wan revealed.
"Like Padmé being neutralized by Soundwave, or me and Lux being stuck inside Knock Out." Ahsoka summarized.
"The uncomfortable reality is: the Autobots might not always be here. And even if they are, they can't be everywhere at once."
"You have a good point there. For what we know, this armor was the only thing that stood between Han and that Predacon: the reason he came back without a scratch. Cybertronian technology like that could be just what we need to give our Jedi knights and agents on the front lines a fighting chance against threats like that." Anakin said looking the Apex Armor.
"Actually, that's because that's a relic. For the Autobots that is an example of technology from the ancients of their home world. Sky told me about it." Ahsoka corrected.
"Whatever the case, that would prepare us for possible future fights. Ones in where our children may have to be there to protect the future of the order and the Republic. Because as we all know, they are Prime material."
"Incoming!" Sky called.
Suddenly they saw the drone taking flight, and heading at them. So they covered themselves.
"Including that?" Obi Wan joked.
The drone flew around the room, and landed next to the children and droids.
"Sorry dad!" Aris apologized.
"We're still fine-tuning Chip's remote." Luke explained.
"Chip? You put the drone a name?" Arcee asked.
"So we're gonna let this doohickey fly back to Con's central…" Cliffjumper started.
"And lead us right to Ratchet." Leia ended.
"Okay, little heroes, let us give you a hand with that." Anakin said as he and Ahsoka went down stairs to help them with the rest of the work.
Back to the Nemesis…
"Even if you manage to reconstruct the Omega Lock, it is a mystic force. I've come to my senses. The notion of scientifically replicating its capability is pure folly. Madness, even." Ratchet expressed.
"Really? You must thought the same the very first time you heard about that Force that both Jedi and Sith managed to command. Or like the superweapon project that this…candidate to emperor planned to build. But how will we ever know for certain, doctor… if we do not try?" Megatron said before pressing a button, which opened the lower deck. "And how can we not try, when the means finally lie within our reach?"
Right below them was a huge, perfect copy of the Omega Lock. The flying Decepticons and engineers, supported by some droid gunships, flying droids and some TIEs were still working on finish the structure.
"By the Allspark, you've actually done it." Ratchet saw impressed.
"Decepticon engineering. Of course, we have used everything from the Death Star to give it to a new and better use. It will not take long for this Omega Lock's drives to be fully operational. All that is still needed to restore our home is the cyber-matter to launch through it."
"Which requires a stabilized formula for the production of synthetic energon."
"I have every confidence in you, doctor."
Ratchet thought about the whole situation he had in front of him for a while, until he made his choice.
"I'll do it." Ratchet decided. "But then, you already knew that, didn't you?"
Megatron's answer was simple: a sinister smile.