Our home...
Our world...
Shattered by endless war.
Through our incessant warring, we have destroyed our homeworld beyond recognition. Cybertron's life force has been drained, constantly used to feed our ever growing need to fight. With the loss of the Allspark - the essence of which was the source of our creation - we can never hope to restore Cybertron to its former glory.
With no choice left, we fled the husk of our homeworld and continued the war amongst the stars until finally, after centuries upon centuries of search... at last, we have found it.
On this remote, unassuming planet called Earth, lies the key to the salvation of the Cybertronian race.
We arrived here to stop it from falling into the wrong hands...
But so have they...
-000-
TRANSFORMERS
FORGOTTEN HOPE
EPISODE 1
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYES
Part 1
-000-
SOCCENT Military Base, Qatar, June 28, 2007...
"Sir, an unidentified aircraft just entered our airspace from the south." The base's radar operator announced.
"What in the God damn..." The base commander muttered out.
The commander walked over to the radar operator's desk. He looked on to the screen and saw the blip that the operator was talking about.
"Radar signature and movement suggests its a propeller craft of some sort." The operator explained.
The commander took his radio and spoke to it.
"Attention unidentified aircraft: you are trespassing in a restricted airspace. Flash ident and correct course immediately." The commander ordered through the radio.
No reply was heard.
The commander cursed under his breath before issuing new orders.
"Redirect Wizard flight to intercept." The base commander issued.
Two F-16 Falcon fighter jets were redirected from their routine patrol routes towards the unidentified aircraft. The commander and radar operator waited anxiously as the two fighters approached the bogey and reported what they found.
"Bogey identified as a civilian helicopter... looks like a Sikorsky S-92." Wizard 1 reported. "White, blue, and orange colors, with an unidentifiable... blocky face insignia of some kind on it. No discernible markings otherwise."
The commander grit his teeth. What the hell was a civilian helicopter doing here, in the middle of nowhere? No markings, no transponder, no response... something was wrong.
"Unidentified flyer, you will be escorted to SOCCENT FOB." The commander ordered. "You will comply or you will be shot down."
The radar blip of the S-92 turned and followed the two F-16s back to SOCCENT. He turned to one of his aides and gave out more orders.
"Boots on the ground, I want that helicopter secured as soon as it lands!" The Commander said.
The aide nodded and went off to carry his orders.
"I've got a bad feeling about this..."
-000-
Captain Samuel "Spike" Witwicky waited with his rifle in his hands as the unidentified civilian helicopter slowly made its way towards the ground. The commander was right, something was just wrong about this whole situation. His fight or flight instincts were yelling at him, and he wasn't liking what they were telling him.
"Contact's setting down." Spike said to his team of US Marines as he raised his rifle and got down on one knee. "Be ready for anything."
The helicopter finally landed, and over the roar of its engines, Spike could hear the base commander over the loudspeakers shout out more orders to the helicopter.
"Power down your engines!" The commander ordered.
The captain saw the silhouette of the helicopter's pilot nod as he deactivated the helicopter's engines.
Wait... just a pilot? Weren't helicopters supposed to be operated by a pair? Spike's gut twisted even further. Something was beyond wrong.
"Step out of the helicopter, or we will open fire!" The commander ordered now.
The helicopter pilot nodded, and then suddenly flashed out of existence. All of a sudden, the helicopter's various parts started becoming loose, then rearranging, folding on itself. Two arms formed out from its sides, slamming into the ground and pushing the deformed helicopter up. It was at that point when two more limbs... legs this time, formed out from its rear and pushed itself upright. With parts still shifting, the helicopter raised itself to full height, revealing a massive, bipedal form. The components from its helicopter form were visible on sections of its body, but it was clear that the aircraft was not its true form - this giant mechanical form, was. It stopped moving once its various parts stopped shifting, and now it was surveying the area around it with its beady, red eyes.
"What the fu..."
Spike was interrupted as the giant... transformer, for lack of better terms... raised its right hand and shifted the parts on it it. The hand deformed and folded upon itself, revealing three large barrels which started spinning. The robot then aimed the barrels at the soldiers and marines below it.
Not even he needed to guess that he was staring down the barrel of a gun.
"Everyone scatter!" Spike yelled out.
Just as the captain said that, the giant robot began opening fire on the humans. Though they put up a valiant attempt, nothing they had on hand seemed to penetrate the transformer's metal hide. What followed could only be described as a rout. Soldiers and Marines alike began turning tail and running away as the robot strode forwards and continued firing on what little resistance it was facing.
Seeing that staying meant dying, Spike turned and ordered what was left of his team of Marines to retreat as well. The captain and four others still with him ran towards the motor pool, watching in horror as the giant robot smashed its way through the tank depot. Abrams tanks were thrown about as though they were nothing, and Spike had a near miss as one of them landed dangerously close to where he was. Thankfully, the robot turned away from the captain and his team. Before it turned its wrath towards whatever else had caught its attention, it released a small piece of itself from its back, which unfolded to reveal a smaller robot. This smaller robot scurried away out of Spike's line of sight.
It was at this point that the F-16s that escorted the now rampaging robo-helicopter earlier attempted to run an airstrike on the transformer. The F-16s launched a missile each, both of them hitting the giant machine square on the chest. The robot seemed injured, and then responded with what Spike could only describe as a roar. Following this, it transformed its left hand into a missile launcher of its own. The robot then fired off its own missiles at the F-16s, taking the both of them down quickly.
"Don't we have anything that can kill that thing?" One of Spike's marines yelled out, his voice a mix of fear and confusion.
Suddenly, from behind Spike and his team, a low flying USMC CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter... one with an angular face insignia he didn't recognize... zoomed over the group of Marines, on a direct course towards the giant robot.
"What the hell is that pilot doing? He's going to get himself killed!" Spike yelled out to his team.
To the Captain's absolute surprise, bewilderment, and horror, the Sea Stallion helicopter began unfolding and deforming itself in mid air. It let its rotors autorotate and slow down its descent as the former Sea Stallion turned giant robot grappled on to the other giant robot and threw it to the ground.
"Alright, that's it, we're leaving!" Spike ordered his team.
They unlocked one of the Humvees, which fortunately had fuel inside it. They activated the truck, and for a brief moment Spike feared that the car would also transform into a giant robot. Thankfully, it did not. The team boarded the car and drove away from the base where the two transformers duked it out.
-000-
Blackout snarled as he threw his fist into a mean right hook on the Autobot attacking the base. Metal crashed against metal as the Decepticon's strike landed squarely on his opponent's jaw, throwing the Bot off balance and onto the ground.
The Autobot's attack on this military base was concerning. He was certain that him and the other Cons had managed to keep Earth's location hidden. It would seem that their efforts had failed, and that the Autobots had followed them to the planet.
"You should have kept hiding, Con!" the Autobot, who Blackout recognized as Alpha Bravo, hissed out as he got back up.
Blackout didn't say a word in response. Instead, he converted his right arm into an autocannon and fired away at the Autobot.
"Your rebellion is over!" Alpha Bravo yelled out as he shielded himself with his armored hands and charged at the Con, ramming into the bot and sending them both into the ground. Blackout folded in his legs midfall and kicked off the Bot. He then used the momentum to commit to a back roll, then halted himself as he returned to an upright position. As he did so, he saw that the Autobot had extended his rotors and autorotated onto the ground safely.
Blackout spat to the side and prepared himself to fight once more, but explosions to his left alerted him. He looked to its source and saw the Autobot's Mini-Con, running away with what seems to be a server on its back. The large Decepticon couldn't afford to spare the attention nor the effort to thwart the Autobot Mini-con... not when fighting an Aerialbot as infamous and dangerous as this one. Blackout shifted some plates on his back and deployed Scorponok into action. He would have to let his own Mini-Con handle this.
The Decepticon converted his left hand, allowing his helicopter mode's rear rotor form from out of his fingers. He activated the rotors and spun it at extremely high speeds, even faster than a regular Sea Stallion's rear rotor should be able to. The Con used this contraption as a makeshift weapon and slashed at the Autobot he was facing. Alpha Bravo quickly dodged by jumping backwards, followed by a fluid motion of him dislodging his main rotors and folding them together to form a sword.
"Scrap". Blackout cursed under his breath. That weapon gave the Autobot the reach advantage. The Con needed to negate that somehow.
Before Blackout could consider his choices, Alpha Bravo charged in with his rotor-sword raised high above his head, clearly ready to bring it down with a vicious slash. Acting on instinct, Blackout made a quick gamble and charged ahead as well. Right before the Autobot could bring down his weapon, Blackout dropped to his knees into a forward slide. The change in height gave the Con that much needed extra space to avoid the strike and deliver his own. Blackout's rotor-saw slashed through the Autobot's gut, sending out a flurry of sparks and liquid energon as it cut through the metal hide and components inside. Using this opening, Blackout swung back around and slashed at Alpha Bravo's right calf. This attack too hit its mark, sending the Autobot down on one knee. The Decepticon warrior continued his attack and brought his rotor-saw up, straight at his opponent's head, but was thwarted by Alpha Bravo's rotor-sword. With the attack deflected, the Autobot flipped out his weapon into a double bladed sword and used it to leverage an attack on Blackout. Alpha Bravo twirled his rotor-swords around and used the momentum created to stab the Con in the right shoulder. The blade went clean through and emerged out the other side of Blackout's body with a shower of sparks and energon. The Decepticon helicopter cried out in pain, but recoiled immediately as he slashed his rival's chest in retaliation. Alpha Bravo instinctively let go of his weapon to clutch at his wounds, allowing Blackout to back off.
"Not bad..." Alpha Bravo spat out. "for a Con."
Blackout didn't bother replying, opting remain his usual cool and collected self. He yanked out the rotor-swords out of his wound and stabbed one end of it on the ground, letting it stand straight as it stuck out of the soil. The Decepticon flexed his joints and winced slightly as his right shoulder flared in pain. Energon was leaking out and his movement was hampered... but the wounds weren't very severe.
Clenching his jaw, Blackout reevaluated his situation. He was in the definite advantage right now... sort of. Alpha Bravo was the overall better melee warrior, being faster and more agile. Though the Con saw that getting rid of his rotor-swords is definitely helping even the odds, the Bot still had two fully functioning arms - Blackout only had one. His aim with his autocannon would be considerably worse, considering his bum shoulder, meaning that his opponent's chain-cannons were going to be much more effective. Blackout couldn't wield his opponent's rotor-swords either - that weapon required two hands to be used effectively.
A thought then occurred to the Con. Alpha Bravo's weapon were rotor-swords... rotors, the thing he needs in order to take flight. Without it, the Bot couldn't make full use of his helicopter form. Yes... Blackout wasn't sure that he could take out the Bot in his current state, but he could still make a withdrawal... whereas the enemy couldn't. A delightfully petty plan was formulated in Blackout's processors.
"You just going to stand there and stare?" The Autobot goaded with a smug expression.
A sly smirk formed in Blackout's metal faceplate.
"No." The Con simply answered.
The Decepticon warrior leaped into the air and quickly converted himself into his CH-53 Sea Stallion form. Hovering above where he was to standing moments ago, he quickly lowered his cargo winch and swung it around to hook on to the Autobot's rotor-swords. Almost immediately, Alpha Bravo's faceplate turned from arrogance to shock, then immediately to anger. He attempted to charge at the Decepticon, but his injured calf faltered and caused him to fall down. This gave Blackout ample time to pull the rotor-swords out of the ground and fly away with it.
"You junk heap, waste of metal! Come back and fight me like a real mech!" Alpha Bravo cussed out. The Autobot picked himself and attempted to make chase, but the Con was already too far ahead. Without his flight mode and being injured to boot, the Aerialbot couldn't possibly keep up.
Blackout couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle. He's fought dirty before, but this... this was just pure humiliation for that Autobot. Now then, he'd have to dump the rotor-swords somewhere far and somewhere remote - at least somewhere far and remote enough that the Blackout would have completely disappeared by the time the Autobot managed to reclaim it. Afterwards, he's going to need to swing back around and pick up Scorponok. The Con wasn't worried about the Mini-con partner's life, after all, Scorponok knew exactly when he was outmatched and when he needed to withdraw.
Despite that, there was this little inkling of dread growing deep within the depths of Blackout's spark.
Something was about to go down...
And he wasn't sure what it was, but it can't possibly be good.