Chapter 44-Post Mortem
"It all happened so fast that I could barely follow what was happening. It started when we were suddenly ambushed by two Decepticon battlecruisers. We had no idea where they came from and they both hit us hard before we fought them off. The Trion came to our aid and we transferred over before giving chase. We shot down one cruiser and chase the other through four star systems before it folded into Cybertron's orbit. We followed it and…that was when things went wrong."
Glyph shook her head sadly. "We folded right into an ambush. Four battlecruisers. At the same time all our shields went down, as well as our engines and everything else. Somehow they…hacked our ship's systems and was shutting down everything. We took a pounding, but Springer and Drift managed to work together and crash land us in Rodion."
The bulk of Team Prime stood together as they listened to Glyph's story.
"We all survived but the Trion was out of commission. We were worried that the Cons would make another pass-by, so we gathered everything we could and turned one of the old Elite Guard outposts into a base." Glyph finished her story. "We've got enough energon to last a good while, but not enough to fix the Trion. We've been scouting around for more ever since."
"Get in line." Bumblebee sighed.
"So how are you guys here?" She asked. "Aren't you supposed to be on Terra?"
"That's what I would like to know." A femme's voice said.
Everyone looked up and saw a large group of Autobots enter the chamber. It was the combined numbers of both the Valkyries and the Wreckers, both led by Elita-1 and Kup respectively. They looked tired, weary and not very happy at the moment. Jazz and Prowl traded a discreet glance at each other.
This was no going to be fun to explain.
XXXXXX
Skyfire didn't spare any detail in her explanation of the situation. By the time she was done, the mood in the aircraft hangar they were meeting in was about as dim as it could be.
"So you're saying," Barnett said slowly. "That someone betrayed you guys?"
"That's what Megatron said. I'd take it with a grain of salt, but considering how the Cons played us so far, it might be true."
"What about the reserve team that was in the Ark?" Asked general Bryce. "Where are they?"
"Tomahawk ground bridged them to random locations across the country so we couldn't get tracked by the Cons. She was supposed to meet up with me afterwards but…she didn't come out before the Ark was destroyed."
"Is there any way to contact them?" Aspen asked.
"No go." Comettor said. "We risk revealing their positions if they reply back. The Cons are still scouting the country and there are several hibernating insecticon hives in Osea."
"So what do we do? We're running on fumes right now and we're fighting both the Cons and Karaba on two fronts." Barnett said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "We need help if we're going to save what's left of this country."
"I can have Atlantian fighters and scout ships search for them. Our satellites can detect designated energon signatures." Aspen said. "In the meantime, I'll have my generals support your troops in Washington against Karaba."
"That would be appreciated, Princess," Bryce smiled.
"Okay, so we've got some semblance of a plan." Comettor said. "General Bryce, is it okay if we rest here for a while?"
"Feel free. Just be sure to stay out of sight just in case the Cons have any eyes in the sky." The general warned.
"No arguments from me." Skyfire sighed.
"By the way," Barnett said. "Do you know where the Autobots are going? I doubt Tomahawk's last orders to them were to aimlessly wander around the countryside."
"All I know is that they've made Tranquility their designated rendezvous point. Whether they can get there in one piece is entirely up to them."
"I'll send word to Debbie." He nodded and stood up. "Skyfire, Comettor, you two rest up. I'll call Colonel Leonard and update him on the situation."
Barnett left the hangar with renewed energy. So things weren't entirely hopeless after all. This was good. They still had something to hold onto to in this dark time. Now all they had to do was plan their next moves carefully and hope the remaining Autobots tread lightly.
XXXXXX
Colonel Leonard paced in his tent. The fighting had finally died down, but only because the Decepticons were moving on to attacking other parts of the country. They had even begun to attack other countries randomly. Brute force wasn't going to cut it in this fight. They'll have to work on a more subtler approach to avoid throwing more men to their deaths.
"Colonel?" Hawke poked his head into the tent. "He's here."
"Send him in." Leonard said, before adding, "And Hawke? No interruptions."
Hawke nodded and left the tent. A second later, another man entered. He was a young man in his mid-twenties, with a light tan and short spiky brown hair. He was ruggedly handsome but also had the posture and air of a soldier.
"Colonel." The soldier saluted.
"Commander." Leonard returned.
They held their stiff posture for all of two seconds before laughing and giving each other a hug.
"Good to see you, dad."
"You too, Steve." Leonard said, patting his son on the back. He pulled back to get a good look at him, knowing that it might possibly be the last time. "You should talk to your mother, Steve."
"I know." Steve sighed.
"You know she worries."
"I know, dad. I'm just…worried about talking to her. Especially with all this crap going on." Steve said.
"At this point, Steve, she just wants to hear your voice." Leonard said softly.
Steve saw the look in his eyes and nodded. "Okay. I'll talk to her when I get the chance."
"That's all I'm asking, son." Leonard smiled and patted Steve on the shoulder.
He picked up a photo off the table and handed it to Steve. It was a mugshot of Megatron from one of their drones. Steve frowned at the picture. "Ugly bastard, ain't he?"
"I've just got word from General Bryce and Colonel Barnett on our MIA Autobot problem. Apparently Megatron booted the bulk of the Autobots off into space after an ambush and a small number of them are scattered across the country in hiding until they can regroup. No idea what good their help will be at this point, but any help is welcome." Leonard sighed and looked at the monitors.
"We're a mess. Washington's under Karaba control, though thanks to the Atlantians, military casualties have been thankfully low and most of Faireborn's troops have been evacuated safely. As for us…we're in deep shit. Megatron's tossed aside everything we've thrown at him and now they're launching attacks across the country and overseas." He rubbed the back of his neck. "The United Nations is convening in Mardok, and there's concern regarding their possible course of action."
"I get it. The Chiefs want this done in-house, and in a way that doesn't make us look weak." Steve said. The Colonel shook his head.
"This isn't about a show of strength. We need to save lives. Millions of lives other countries may deem expendable for the good of the planet."
The implications were clear as day. If another solution wasn't found, other countries might go the nuclear route to eliminate the threat before they can cause irreparable damage.
Leonard brought his son over to the table and showed him a map of the city.
"We're setting up a diversion on the other side of the city. Your team will infiltrate the city by the port and go radio silent to avoid having your messages intercepted." He pointed to the northeast part of the map. "Here's where you'll find the weapon."
"So this magic super-gun is supposed to be strong enough to drop an alien warlord with a giant sickle and a huge ass cannon?" Steve asked skeptically.
"Theoretically, yes. You have those nuts at Skywatch to thank for it. This protoype was supposed to be our golden gun in fighting the cybertronians before we learned there were factions."
"Should've mass have mass-produced it anyway." Steve muttered bitterly. "Would've saved us al the trouble. He looked up to see his dad glaring at him and looked away. "Sorry."
"There are only three of these in the world, and one of them is in New York. Coordinates are in your briefing."
Steve looked at the photo of Megatron. "Do you really think this will make a difference?"
"Negatron's the heart of their cause. The Autobots have given us intel on the Decepticons' top leaders, specifically the internal strife within their ranks." Leonard said. "They've been broadcasting enough footage for us to get a good look at how they work. They're using it to cause a panic—"
"It's working." Steve remarked.
"But now its working for us." Leonard said confidently. "Kill Megatron and it'll cause a power vacuum that'll throw them off balance. You're the best man for the job, and now just because of your experience in black ops."
He gave his son a knowing look and Steve smiled mirthlessly. "Funny how it's going to be an esper to take the big guy down after everything Karaba's done."
Leonard took a deep breath and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Steve…"
"It's okay, dad. I'll make it back." Steve smiled.
"…Call your mother please."
XXXXXX
Now that Skyfire had some help, things didn't seem to dark anymore. After a solid day of rest and a chance to recharge, she was back at full power, flying over the Badlands of Sioux in search of her friends.
"I'm not feeling very confident in our chances, Skyfire. Bulkhead and Arcee's groups have Annie and Gina with them. Their talos can mask their signals from radar and infrared." Comettor said.
"Then we'll focus on the Bots not hidden under pixie dust." Skyfire said. "I just want to find as many people as possi—"
A call came over her comm. "Skyfire, this is Aspen. Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear. What's up?"
"Our satellites have a read on an Autobot signal. ID shows its Autobot Lifeline."
"Lifeline? Yes! My sweetheart made it!" Skyfire cheered. "Give the coordinates. I'm on my way!"
Finally, Primus was answering her prayers!
XXXXXX
The operation was set to begin in the middle of the night. Colonel Leonard had a mobile armor team start a ruckus near Midtown to attract attention from the river, where Steve's team was going to infiltrate Manhattan.
Once he was done prepping for the mission, Steve spent the remainder of his time with his father. They didn't talk, they just sat together in the tent waiting for the time to come. And that time came all too quickly in Steve's opinion.
Steve and his team got outfitted in their gear and headed to the boat that would take them across the river. With a nod and a hug to his father, Steve got into the boat and it took off, quickly rowing across the river. In the command tent, the generals were keeping an eye on the team's heart rates that showed their status.
Even through the silence of the night, Steve could hear explosions going off in the distance. He wasn't one to pray, but he was sincerely hoping that any divine being that existed somewhere out there was watching over him. Because if they were caught, there was nothing any of them could do.
Several minutes passed and the boat was halfway across the river. Steve could see the pier not too far from them now. So far everything was going smoothly but he still kept an eye on the sky just in case one of those Seekers dropped a bomb on him or something.
Turns out he should've been looking out for something else entirely.
With it being pitch black and the team having no lights to show the way, they couldn't see the large winged form approaching them silently from above until it was right above them. Steve gasped when he saw a large bat-like figure hovering above them.
"Going somewhere?" Ratbat grinned evilly at them.
Steve's body began to glow as he prepared to attack, but Rabat raised his claws and brought them down on the defenseless boat. Steve's vision was blinded by the blood of his fellow soldiers and he was flung into the air before crashing into the cold, choppy water.
XXXXXX
Rodimus had specifically chosen the location he was hiding in with Tomahawk because he remembered there were a few untapped energon deposits around the mountains that he had spotted on a grid scan of the area during one of his patrols. The deposits weren't very big so he overlooked them at the time, and looking back he was glad he did. He and Tomahawk needed all the energy they could get.
Rodimus kept his sensors on high as he drove through the forest to the outcropping where the energon was located. He transformed and looked around for any baddies in hiding. Not that there was a lot of places to hide considering he was a fair distance from the forest and the top of the mountain was low enough that he'd spot any sniper when they were lining up for a shot. Rodimus was no scout and he didn't have the sniper-seeking eagle vision that Ironhide and Jazz had when it came to looking for things out of place hidden in plain sight, but he had to be careful here. If he died here, then Tomahawk was going to follow soon after, and he wasn't going to die until Megatron and the rest of his cronies were rusting along with him.
"I didn't think it was still here." He said as he knelt down to harvest the energon crystals growing out of the ground. Curiously, there were even some crystals sprouting at the foot of some nearby trees. Since when did they do that?
"Another question for another day." He told himself as he got to work on cutting the larger crystals off to carry back to the cave.
He was barely done with the first crystal when the rocky slope next to him exploded in a shower of dirt and stone. Rodimus cursed and jumped back as an insecticon brute came charging at him with a roar. He rolled to the side and the brute slammed into a tree, almost smashing the trunk apart from the force of its charge. The insecticon pulled itself free and growled at Rodimus, hissing angrily.
"Yeah, frag you too." Rodimus fired his arm blasters at the insecticon, and frowned when he saw that he was doing minimal damage to its armor. "For Primus' sake…"
The brute swung a large arm at Rodimus and caught him in the chest, throwing him back. It pressed its charge and Rodimus was forced to duck and weave around its attacks, but still got slashed in the chest. He fired a few heat bolts at its face but the brute smacked him aside and he crashed right through a tree trunk and landed face first in the dirty.
"That's it," Rodimus groaned, pushing himself up. "No more mister nice guy."
Rodimus retracted his arm blasters and took out another weapon in his arsenal—his heat whips. He extended them from his wrists and spun around, using the momentum to crack one of them against the insecticon's chest. The impact generated a large explosion that engulfed the brute's upper body in flames and blasted it off its feet. The insecticon stumbled back, a black scorch mark on its chest and in real pain from the burns.
"Hurts like a glitch, doesn't it?" Rodimus grinned. "Have some more!"
He lashed out with both whips, each hit causing an explosion that blasted off pieces of its armor. He didn't give it time to recover, just whipping the superheated weapons over and over against the insecticon. When he finished his assault, the insecticon was stumbling around from the intense pain and completely dazed, large chunks of its body missing. Rodimus ran up to it and wrapped his whip around its neck, squeezing tightly until the thorn covered whip completely burned through the brute's mesh and severed its head.
Rodimus landed shakily on the ground and kicked the head as hard as he could, watching it sail into the distance. "And don't come back!"
Rodimus winced and held a hand to his side. "Damn that thing hits hard."
Before he could take a few minutes to rest, he heard a rumble before three more Insecticons burst from the hill, all of them brutes and all of them really, really angry. Rodimus scowled at them before cracking his whips beside him.
"If you want to do it that way," He raised his heat whips in a challenge. "Shall we?"
XXXXXX
Lifeline's coordinates led Skyfire to an old junkyard that was conveniently full of old, tattered cars and vehicles ready to be scrapped and recycled. The perfect hiding place for an Autobot and Minicon.
She landed in the lot and detached Comettor from her wing. "Lifeline?" She called out. "Lifeline, it's me, Skyfire!"
"Skyfire?" Someone called out. The femme looked down to see someone climbing out from one of the old vans that looked suspiciously like Ironhide's alt mode.
"High Wire!" Comettor exclaimed. He ran over to the Street Action Team leader and hugged him. "It's good to see you're okay!"
"Same here, Comettor, Skyfire." High Wire said happily. "Come with me, the others will want to see you."
"Others?" Skyfire questioned.
They followed High Wire to a secluded part of the lot, where they saw Lifeline sitting by a pile of scrapped cars in her alt mode. And sitting next to her was none other than Sparkplug!
"Sparkplug!" Skyfire exclaimed, blinking in shock (or she would've blinked if she had separate eyes and not a visor).
The Micron leader raised his only arm in greeting. "Hey guys." He smiled weakly.
Sparkplug still looked in bad shape. He still lacked an arm and his movements were sluggish. Thankfully his time in the CR chamber was enough to heal the majority of his burns and he was well enough to move around, though not too quickly.
"I just woke up two days ago. High Wire filled me in on the situation." Sparkplug said. He sighed and looked down. "I'm sorry things turned out this way. Everything went to hell after we were captured."
"It wasn't your fault, Sparky. Blame the bastard that sold us out." Skyfire growled. "Things are…well, they're really bad right now, but we've still got Autobots out there, and the Atlantians are giving us a helping hand with what's left of the military. We've still got a chance."
Comettor turned to Lifeline, who had yet to say anything. "Lifeline, you okay?"
"Go away."
"Don't be like that, doc." Skyfire walked up to the transformed. "We need your help to find the others."
"Why bother? We can't beat Megatron anymore. Not with all the resources he has." She said. "The war is over. We lost."
"That's not something I should be hearing from a medic." Skyfire said. "We can't just give up, doc. Not this far into the game."
Lifeline transformed so violently that sparks flew from her joints as she stood to her feet and glared up at Skyfire. "Then what can we do? Without a base of operations, a ground bridge, communications, without any resources at our disposal? What can we do with over ten Autobots against a Decepticon battalion and Devastator? Devastator!"
"We're not alone in this, doc. We have the human and Atlantian militaries on our side!"
"They're hardly qualified to handle a gestalt." Lifeline spat.
"Doc, we can still win this if we play it right."
Lifeline scoffed and looked away. "God find someone else to throw into the fire."
"There is no one else, Lifeline!" Skyfire yelled. "It's just us! Just the team!"
Lifeline slumped back against the pile and shook her head. Skyfire sighed and got on one knee in front of her, reaching out to hold her hands.
"Doc…Lifeline," She said softly. "It'd be an insult to our friends off-world if we give up now without even fighting. We have to fight, because right now, we are the only ones in the position to do something about it."
"But what can we do, Skyfire?" Lifeline asked in a mixture of desperation and frustration. "What can we do?"
"We can hit them where it hurts. Even if they've taken out all the Autobots, buckethead isn't going to be around to celebrate it."
Lifeline looked into Skyfire's visor, and the former Seeker leaned forward to press her forehead against Lifeline's. The two femmes sat in silence, enjoying each other's presence. Slowly but surely, Lifeline felt her anger simmer down.
"We can do this, doc." Skyfire said. "We still have a chance. But I need you to have faith. If not in the mission, then in me to get us through this."
Lifeline grasped Skyfire's hands tightly. "Okay. I'll take the chance. It's…it's not like we have much else to lose right now."
"Except each other, doc." Skyfire replied, a grin in her voice. "Except each other."
XXXXXX
Rodimus slowly drove into the cave and transformed, wincing a bit as his moving parts agitated some of his wounds. Fighting three warrior class insecticons was a lot harder when you were doing it alone. The bastards could take some damage and were really had to dodge. He was already bleeding from several deep cuts and dents along his armor and it hurt to move let alone transform. At least he got the energon crystals.
"I'm back." Rodimus announced, plopping down next to her with a tired sigh. "I scouted the wreckage for anything but couldn't find anything. The Cons completely roasted the place. Couldn't even find a bandage."
He placed a few energon crystals next to her. "I did manage to find some energon though. It'll be a pain to ration, but you need it more than I do."
Rodimus looked down at Tomahawk and saw that she was still sleeping. He exhaled and ran a hand over his face. It wasn't often that he felt this hopeless, but this was one of those very rare times. He couldn't do anything that didn't make her condition worse, and he knew she wouldn't survive long if he didn't get her help. The problem was that the only medic still on the planet was somewhere in a random location in Osea. Primus, he hadn't felt this helpless since watching Nyon burn.
"Rodimus." Tomahawk whispered.
Rodimus looked up. "Yeah, Hawk?"
"Don't…worry…" She said. "Go find…others. Make sure…they're…safe…"
"I can't leave you alone, Hawk. Especially with you like this. And I have no idea where anyone is." Rodimus said. "Maybe if I send out a quick locator beacon someone might find us. That should be enough to avoid Con detection."
"Rodimus…please." Tomahawk tried to talk, but it took too much effort to form coherent words.
"Tomahawk." Rodimus sighed, seeing that she was exerting too much energy trying to speak to him "Look, just hold off on that thought, okay? Get some rest."
Tomahawk's eye slowly dimmed as she fell into recharge again, leaving Rodimus to his own thoughts once more.
XXXXXX
Elita-1's expression was unreadable as she stared at Optimus's body. She hadn't taken her eyes off him while Jazz explained the situation to her and Kup. Though she did a good job keeping her emotions in check, Jazz knew from the pain in her eyes that this was a hard sight to see.
"Optimus." Elita-1 whispered sadly. Beside her, Kup shook his head and looked away.
"Poor kid." He muttered. "Megatron did this?"
"Boss bot tried tot take Megatron out but took a hard hit that fried his circuits and sent him into stasis lock. And this was after he took a direct hit from Devastator." Jazz said.
"How did you get here? Why come to Cybertron?" Kup asked.
"Wasn't by choice. Shockwave made some portable space bridge on Terra. He used it to bring the Constructicons to Terra and then had it dump us here." Jazz said.
"And there's something else." Prowl said, looking around. "We've got a traitor on the team."
Kup and Elita-1 stared hard at him. "You sure?" Kup asked firmly.
Jazz nodded. "Yeah, Megatron's info was too accurate to be random. He knew too much about what we would do after losing the Minicons. Problem is we don't know who it is yet."
Kup sighed and looked out the window. "That explains it. The Cons get our access codes and used it to bring us down. That's how the nightmare began."
"Access codes? What do you mean?"
"Springer caught a flurry of emergency communications from Orbital Command." Elita-1 said. "Reports are coming in from our outposts across the galaxy about Decepticons attacking them. Megatron's making his big push and he's slaughtering thousands of defenseless Autobots in one massive attack."
"A surge." Kup said gravely. "The likes of which we haven't seen since the Assault on Iacon."
Jazz and Prowl stared at them in shock. "No…"
"Yeah, it's bad." Kup grunted, turning back to Optimus. "And what's worse is that the Matrix is missing."
"It's…not missing." Prowl said, uncharacteristically hesitant. Kup and Elita-1 faced him.
"What?" She said.
"After he brought down Optimus, Megatron tore the Matrix from his chest." Jazz said. "As far as we know, the Matrix is still on Terra…with Megatron."
XXXXXX
Dawn came as Arcee, Moonracer, Sara and Gina continued their long trek to Tranquility. Having just crossed into Santa Fe yesterday, they were now two states away from Nebrask, where they needed to go. The cities and large towns gave way to flat terrain, rolling plains and a surprisingly large amount of corn fields.
"Gina, you should land. We're taking a break." Arcee said.
"I'm fine. I can keep going." Gina said.
"Gina, we've been going nonstop for almost two days straight. You need to rest and conserve your strength."
"Don't you worry about my strength, Arcee." Gina grumbled. "I've got more than enough to keep me going."
Suddenly Gina's front monitor started flashing red and she felt the controls get wrenched from her grasp. "What the—Sara!"
"I'm sorry, Gina, but your personal safety matters too." Sara said. She was using a black program her mother installed within her to act as an emergency failsafe that allowed her to maneuver the talos remotely in case anything happened to the pilots. This was the first time she ever had to use it, and she wasn't happy that she did.
Sara forced the Athena to land on the road as Arcee and Moonracer pulled to a stop and transformed. Gina angrily shut her talos off and opened the cockpit hatch, jumping to the ground. The Prometheus landed in front of her and she marched up to it.
"Was that funny to you? Did you get a good fucking laugh at that?" Gina yelled at Sara.
"Gina, calm down." Sureshock said. "Sara was just looking out for you."
"Don't tell me to calm down! We'll never reach Tranquility at this rate!"
"And you won't be of help to anyone if you tire yourself out before we can even fight." Arcee said, standing over her.
"Fight? Fight?" Gina said scathingly. Sureshock put a hand on her shoulder, but she threw it off and started walking around like an agitated lion. "How are we going to fight, Arcee? We barely have more than ten Autobots and the military forces of the world are getting torn apart by the Decepticons. And we still don't even know where Darren and the Minicons are being held! There's several things wrong here, Arcee. I thought you'd realize that by now!"
"Gina…" Moonracer muttered, but Gina didn't let her talk.
"What are you counting on exactly? A miracle? Reinforcements? Either of those would be great to have. It'd be nice to have something go our way for once in this god forsaken country." Gina spat. She raised her hands and yelled to the sky. "Hear me o great Primus! Please sending us a huge fucking army to help us save my boyfriend and the world from the Decepticons currently giving it to us. Any help would greatly be appreciated!"
It was meant as a way to vent her anger at how badly things were going for them, but to Gina's surprise, a large white ship descended from the sky heading for their position. Sara and Moonracer pointed their guns at it, but Arcee stopped them.
"Wait, wait, I know that ship!" She said.
The ship slowed down and hovered above the girls before slowly landing on the ground. It landed on the earth with a hiss and the hatch slid open. Gina and Sureshock gaped at the large blue and white mech who stepped out of the ship.
"Those are some big shoulders." Sureshock muttered.
"Girls, I want you to meet Ultra Magnus, leader of the Autobot Elite Guard." Arcee said, standing at attention.
Ultra Magnus looked down at the group and said, "Arcee, Moonracer, we need to talk."
That's another chapter done, and things aren't getting any better for our heroes. As you have noticed, I have Steve Leonard, our Spike replacement, enter the show. He won't get much of the spotlight in this final arc, but he'll be featured in the next two books more prominently. I should also mention that I am still intending to rewrite Event Horizon once this story's finished. So consider it non-canon right now. Anyway, be sure to check out the official Transformers Titan website on Wordpress. Please leave a review and thanks for reading!