A few minutes earlier, Ultra Magnus had just entered Perceptor's lab. What a dump. How does he get anything done? As he pushed past the piles of junk and debris, he half expected Wreck-Gar to emerge.
"Perceptor? Perceptor!" he inquired as he navigated the surprisingly complex laboratory.
"I'm back here!" Perceptor shouted. Ultra Magnus finally found him, adjusting a monitor screen. "How may I be of service?"
"Rodimus sent me to check up on your work." Magnus said, "Making sure everything's going along smoothly."
"Making sure I don't go over budget, you mean." said Perceptor. "Soldiers and bureaucrats can never understand the importance of scientific advancement in regards to military tactics. Without my cloaked probes, we would never have known of the Decepticon attack."
"The war's dying down. You had to of seen the desperation of their assault. Without fear of attack, we can finally focus on reconstruction." Magnus stated. "These probes of yours simply aren't worth the effort anymore."
"Interesting you should say that." commented Perceptor as he returned to operating the monitor screen. "I just recieved a transmission that one of our long range probes has finally left explored space."
"Well, the results had better be worth it."
"I'm bringing the images up now," Perceptor began, "it's time-lapse, so every two seconds will equal one hour."
They watched for a few minutes, and Ultra Magnus was about to leave when he noticed something very strange. They watched in horror as it unfolded. Slightly over a minute later, it was over. "Replay that." said Magnus. Perceptor also replayed it a third a fourth time without being asked.
They stared at each other in shock. Ultra Magnus broke the silence when he activated his communicator.
"Rodimus here."
"Prime, I'm in Perceptor's lab." said Ultra Magnus coldly. "You should come down here right away. Something big is happening."
"What are we going to do?" Antagony asked as she exited the medical bay of Destron Alpha's central headquarters.
"We'll do what we always do." Jhiaxus said, walking along side her. "Engage the enemy. Conquer. And destroy."
They were headed towards the thrown room to see the liege. Fractyl had stayed behind in the medical bay to watch over Rook's recovery. "But this isn't an ordinary enemy! Beta makes ten planets they've destroyed so far. Not since the Quintessons have we faced such a threat."
They approached the entrance to the throne room. "Stand by for identification." a monotone voice stated. "Scanning... General Jhiaxus and Lieutenant Antagony, confirmed. The liege is currently absent, but should arrive in a few moments."
"We'll wait in there." Jhiaxus said, and the door opened to admit them. "Ah yes, the Quintessons. We showed them their place soon enough, didn't we? They owe their continued existence to fact we may someday have use for them. The same goes for our 'brothers'."
"There haven't even been any survivors, aside from Rook. We stand no chance of winning."
"So be it. Victory or death. For a Destronger, there is nothing else."
Before Jhiaxus could continue, an honour guard of two dozen seekers entered. Unlike the traditional white and black seekers, the royal guards were red with black trim. A twenty-fifth seeker, this one gold with black trim, then entered and announced, "Make way for First Minister Gigatron, Liege Maximo of the Neo Seibertronian Empire, Master of all it's worlds!"
Jhiaxus and Antagony both saluted as the Liege Maximo made his way across the room. To say he resembled Megatron would be an understatement. Gigatron was an earlier make of the same model. He was somewhat taller, and coloured gold, but the resemblance was uncanny. Unlike Megatron, however, he had a fusion cannon mounted on each of his arms. "At ease, general, lieutenant." Gigatron said as he approached. "The inspection tour went as expected. What have you to report?"
"Welcome back, my liege." Jhiaxus said. "It is as we feared. Beta has been destroyed."
"Unfortunate." Gigatron said. "The loss of Second Minister Rook will--"
"Don't jump to conclusions." said Rook as he limped into the room.
Fractyl rushed in after him, "Jhiaxus, sir! His restoration was incomplete, I tried to stop him!"
"Shut up!" demanded Rook. "I don't deserve such treatment. I deserted my post."
"Yes sir." muttered Fractyl. "Shutting up."
"Never mind that." Gigatron said. "What happened to Destron Beta?"
Rook nervously looked around the room, sure that no one would believe him. "From a distance, it looked like a black mist. But as they approached, we could get a good look. They looked like faces, with tendrils. They devoured all in their path." Rook rubbed the back of his head as he considered what to say next. "We sent wave after wave of warriors, but to no avail. Our weapons could hold them off for a short while, but they eventually overwhelmed us with shear numbers. No easy task, with us. In the end, General Rankar and his last group of troops bought me an opportunity to escape. Even then, I barely made it." He gestured, indicating the damage that remained even after his stay in the CR chamber. "It took nearly a year to conquer Beta; they took it in a matter of days. I've thought it over, and have come this conclusion." He took a final nervous glance around the room, and lowered his eyes. "We were attacked... by the Swarm."
Antagony and Fractyl stared on in astonishment. Jhiaxus laughed. Gigatron's expression remained unchanged.
"The Swarm?" asked a bemused Jhiaxus. "That's just a fairy tale!"
"I'm afraid that they are quite real." said a raspy voice from across the room.
Jhiaxus stifled a laugh, "Oh, really, lieutenant, don't tell me you believe this as well?"
The lieutenant, who was purple with red trim, crossed the room and said, "I analysed the data that Rook brought back. The energy signature of his attackers is... eerily similar the the energy that is released when we reproduce. This is consistent with the legends of the Swarm."
"We heard the warnings, and we ignored them." said Gigatron. "Tarantulas, show them the broadcast from Kappa."
"As you command, mighty Gigatron." said Lieutenant Tarantulas activated the monitor.
"But Kappa hasn't been..." Antagony began.
Gigatron said, "We recieced this only hours ago."
The transmission started. "This is General Mordoss of Destron Kappa. We are under attack! As difficult as this may be to accept... it's the Swarm. There is no other explanation! They cut through the finest warriors as if they were plastic!" he looked around, as if trying to listen for something. "This will be the final transmission. I've resigned to the fact that this battle is unwinable. But a stalemate is more acceptable than loss. I've activated the planetary self destruct." he continued to listen intently. "They are almost upon me." Mordoss inserted a key into the console before him. "Destrongers forever!" he turned the key. "Victory or--" the transmission ended.
"And then," Gigatron said, "there were six."
"If that was the Swarm, that can't possibly have destroyed them." said Jhiaxus.
"Yes." agreed Gigatron. "Only one thing could..."
"But, we don't know where Cybertron is!" Fractyl stammered. "It's not at it's last known location, and we've been unable to find it again!"
"We don't need to know where Cybertron is, only where... aha..." Tarantulas trailed off.
"Explain yourself!" siad Jhiaxus.
"One of our scout ships recorded this while looking for a suitable colony." said Tarantulas as he adjusted the monitor. "Most of the audio is garbled, but we did pick up this."
"What is it?"
"Why did you appoint Red Alert chief of security?"
"Because Prowl's gone, and Kup's back on Cybertron."
"Cybertron!" Antagony said. "Where did you record this?"
"Some pathetic backwater called 'Earth'." said Tarantulas. "Allow me to enhance the image."
They saw a city far too advanced for a planet at that stage of development. It was populated by robots, each marked with a familiar red symbol.
"Unfortunately," began Tarantulas, "They finally noticed and shot down the scout a few minutes later."
"No matter. We now know that there are Autobots on this 'Earth'." Gigatron said confidently. "More importantly, we have confirmed that Cybertron still exists. Things are finally..."
Before he could finish, the computer stated, "Incoming distress call from Destron Omikron..."