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Buried Secrets

By nightdragon0

Nightfire took a deep breath, then stepped onto the elevator.

As it ascended into the control room, he found Syndrea waiting for him.

"Right on time." The female velociraptor smiled. Nightfire nodded.

"I'm ready."

Inside, Nightfire was still cursing himself. Man, how'd I let her con me into doing this?

"So," Syndrea continued, "where are you taking me?"

Nightfire reared up on the hind legs of his dragon beast form, extended his neck and spread his wings to their full length, almost halfway across the room.

"It's my secret--ow!" With his long neck extended to its full length, he accidentally hit his head into a lower section of the ceiling.

"This room certainly wasn't made for dragons!" Syndrea laughed.

"Anyway," Nightfire continued, feeling slightly embarrassed, "we'll need to take a short flight."

The dragon pushed a button to open the roof hatch. "But I can't…" Syndrea began.

Nightfire dropped to all fours and lowered one of his wings like a boarding platform.

"Ok…Whhooaa!" Syndrea shakily got onto Nightfire's back and gripped his neck as well as she could with her velociraptor claws. Nightfire started flapping his wings and took off. Hovering in the air above the base, Nightfire turned his head to Syndrea.

"You all right?" he asked.

"Whhoa! Yeah, I'm fine."

"Just hold on tight and try not to strangle me or jab me with those claws of yours, Ok?"

"Got it."

"By the way," Nightfire asked, "I heard you've never been flying before."

"Well, no," replied Syndrea, rather taken aback, "not like this, just in space ships and that sort of thing."

"Good," Nightfire had a youthful grin in his fiery red eyes, "prepare for the ride of your life!"

"Wait a minute!" Syndrea protested, "Don't tell me you're gonna--yyyaarrgghhhh!"

Nightfire took off at full speed.

Everything was flying past too quickly for Syndrea to comprehend.

She knew that the Maximals hadn't been on the planet for very long, but Nightfire flew so…calmly, so naturally, as he'd lived here all his life.

The black color of his scales blended in so perfectly with the night that Syndrea felt she was riding a piece of the sky itself.

He flew high overhead the landscape, over places she wasn't too familiar with yet. When he came to a huge lake, he descended, dragging his hind legs in the water and sending out waves in all directions.

Beyond that was a huge rift valley formed between two mountains. Syndrea had to hold on even tighter was he spun, swerved and twisted around the rock formations. Nightfire suddenly changed direction and charged into an opening, naturally concealed by the trees and plants.

Syndrea closed her eyes as leaves went flying everywhere. When she opened them, she was treated to a magnificent sight.

Tall trees and lush greenery now surrounded them. Night flowers could be seen blooming in the moonlight. A river with a waterfall came from the mountains above and ran through the center of the clearing. Four wooden torches had been set up on one side of the river.

Nightfire shot out a fireball from his mouth and lit up one of them.

Syndrea gasped.

"Wouldn't be able to call myself a dragon if I couldn't do that." He gave a cocky grin.

He circled back and lit two more, one by firing upside down and one by firing over his shoulder. He made another turn for the grand finale. Unfortunately, one of his wings got caught in a tree branch.

"Yyyaarrghhh!"

His shot made a loud splash in the river. The pair made an equally crash as they landed in a heap.

"Ow!" Nightfire muttered, "damm, that was pathetic."

He lit the last torch with a fiery breath.

"You sure can come up with some impressive ways to show off." Syndrea remarked.

"Not like I do it often," Nightfire muttered to himself, then asked, "anyway, do you like this place?"

"It's so…beautiful." Syndrea was admiring the surroundings.

"I was planning to show Tigatron this place since he's so into nature." Nightfire walked and sat down beside the river.

"How'd you find out about this place?" she asked as she joined him.

"Well," Nightfire thought for a while, "I'm not really sure. I was just flying around here and some sorta…feeling seemed to lead me here."

"Feeling?" Syndrea asked.

(Something like this. )

Syndrea jumped. She was sure she'd heard his voice in her mind. Now she realized, the mysterious voice she'd heard before, it was definitely him.

"Was that you?" she gasped.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked.

Syndrea nodded.

(It was me that helped you back then. )

"I don't believe it…" Syndrea was still completely stunned.

"Watch this as well." Nightfire pointed to a small rock at his feet. He closed his eyes for a second and made a motion with his claw. The rock flew and landed with a 'plop' in the river.

"By the Matrix! You're a seer!"

At the remark, Nightfire turned away and glared down into the water.

"Sorry," Syndrea said, "I didn't mean anything."

"It's not that," Nightfire answered, with his back still turned, "just that no one's ever jumped straight to that conclusion before."

"You mean it's really true?" Syndrea asked, "you're one of those bots with psychic powers?"

(Does it look like I'm lying? ) He telepathically said to her.

"It's just so…so hard to believe."

"Cause you're a scientist, right?"

"Not only that," she replied, "There were legends about these bots that possessed tremendous mental powers. Most of these just didn't make sense. I thought they were just stories."

"Our talents could never be explained by science alone," Nightfire gazed up at the stars. "They say that seers come about once a generation, whether Maximal or Predacon. I myself couldn't believe it at first, but once I realized it, I had to accept it was the truth. That's what made me a more efficient….never mind."

Syndrea knew what. An extremely efficient Predacon assassin. One with a sixth sense that could warn him of every danger. She decided not to ask him about it now, but made a mental note of it.

"This is the first time you've told this to anyone, I assume."

"Yes."

"Why me?"

"Guess I feel that I can trust you." He paused for a moment, then added in, "Besides, it usually helps to have an ally for backup."

"So does this mean you'll stop acting so cold to everyone and disobeying every order."

"Hey! Don't push me too far. Those things are what gives me excitement in life."

"Being mean to everyone?"

"Yep. But blasting people apart is so much more fun."

"You are such a sadist."

"Of course." He held his chest up proudly. Syndrea decided to change the subject.

"Anyway, can you do other things like read minds or predict the future." She asked.

"Well, I've never really tried reading minds. And I can't really control my visions."

"Visions? Then can you really 'see' things before they happen?"
"Only sometimes. These visions just come and go, usually in my dreams. They may be of the future, or sometimes the past. I can never really tell. But actually, I try not to use my psychic powers if it can be avoided."

"Why?"

"Because I've…" Nightfire suddenly lost his cocky tone. "I've seen the destruction they can cause if I let them get out of control." Nightfire clenched his fist. Jeez, what's happening? What's this I'm feeling? Guilt? Sadness? Or something in between?

"No matter what you've done in the past," Syndrea put a claw on his shoulder, "you're a Maximal now. And you're my friend. Let me help you."

The dragon jerked his head up and stared as if he'd never heard that phrase in his entire life. Syndrea gave him a hug. A rather bizarre sight, but not like there was anyone there to see them.

Syndrea didn't expect him to respond. She was surprised when she felt him put his arm around her.

Then it's really possible to soften his heart of stone…

Boring, boring, boring. Oh man!

Rattrap sat in a chair in the control room, glaring dreamily at the monitors.

Jeez, how come I'm always the one who ends up on monitor duty. Slag, nothing ever…

One of the computers started beeping.

"Huh?" Rattrap sprang up and pushed a few keys. "Yo! Boss monkey, you'd better get over here quick!"

"You found something?" Optimus asked, coming over.

"Yeah, incoming stasis pod. Right…here!" he pointed to a spot on the monitor.

"Do we have any units nearby?"

"Closest unit: Nightfire." The computer replied.

"Get him to go after it," Optimus instructed, "I meet up with him there."

Rattrap activated the comlink. "Yo kid! Ya there?"

"Morning vermin," came the reply, "how we doin' today?"

"Just one thing: stasis pod, grid omega!" Rattrap yelled, rather annoyed.

"Nightfire," Optimus leaned over, "think you could make it back here with the pod?"

"Don't need to," Nightfire replied, "I can get your new pal online for ya!"

"You're sure you know how?"

"Of course," Nightfire bragged, "they didn't call me an evil genius for nothing."

There was a moment of silence.

"Hey, I was just kidding!"

"About which part?" Rattrap asked, "the evil part or the genius part."

"Just SHUT YOUR TRAP, RAT! And I'll get the pod. Over and out!" Nightfire broke contact.

"Well, at least he's better behaved now." Optimus sighed, "but I'd better go help him."

Nightfire had spotted the pod.

On the edge of a cliff, out in the open.

Perfect. It just has to be right out there.

"Nightfire, maximize." He transformed a few feet away, under the cover of several trees. With his rifle in hand, he cautiously hurried over to the pod. He opened the panel to start the DNA replication sequence.

Suddenly, he spun round, rifle in hand, and fired…sending Scorponok flying off the cliff. His blue energon sword was in his hand the next instant deflecting several shots.

"Oh, you're good, kid." Terrorsaur sneered, hovering into view.

"Hand over the pods now and perhaps we'll spare your life." Tarantulas stepped into view.

Nightfire realized he was cornered, his back to the stasis pod. Move any further back and he'd knock the pod over the cliff. Still, he said nothing, jumping into a combat stance, his face a grim look of determination.

Keep Tarantulas away from it. He's the greater threat.

Tarantulas fired. Nightfire deflected the shot, holding his ground. Terrorsaur took the opportunity dive bomb the Maximal. Nightfire lost his rifle as the two clashed.

As they struggled, Terrorsaur managed to restrain the dragon in a chokehold. Tarantulas saw his opportunity and fired a cyber-venom dart. Nightfire broke Terrorsaur's grasp at the last moment and ducked, the dart hitting Terrorsaur instead.

Nightfire shoved aside Terrorsaur's body, still convulsing with pain, and slashed at both sets of Tarantulas' spider-leg machine guns.

The spider was stunned, but not for long however, and responded by punching Nightfire in the face. Tarantulas was reaching for his gun, but Nightfire threw his sword at the Predacon, knocking the weapon away.

Nightfire turned and sprinted for the pod, only to have his tail grabbed by the Predacon and yanked violently to the floor. His lower jaw hit the hard ground with a snap.

Now it was the Predacon's turn to go for the pod. Nightfire tackled him, both ending up in a heap, punching and kicking as they rolled about. They happened to be close to Nightfire's dropped rifle, which Tarantulas grabbed and tried to fire. Nightfire whipped the Predacon's hand with his tail.

The shot hit the stasis pod instead, blowing it to pieces.

"NO!" both of them shouted simultaneously.

Tarantulas recovered first and jabbed Nightfire in the shoulder with a small dagger. After which he grabbed Terrorsaur's limp form and ran off, shouting "Another time, Maximal!"

Nightfire ripped the dagger out, feeling the pain piercing his left shoulder. He heard jets and turned around, to find Optimus landing behind him.

"Are you alright?" the Maximal commander asked.

"Fine," Nightfire lied, "which is more than I can say for your friend there." He jerked a thumb towards the destroyed stasis pod.

Optimus said nothing. Without looking back, Nightfire left him standing there as he returned to his dragon form and flew off.

Why do I feel so bad about it? He asked himself, what's another dead body to you? It's part of war. Casualties. Why bother? Why are you so worried, Predacon? What did you ever have to lose?

Then he realized. Syndrea…

"Common! Over here!" Cheetor called. Rattrap and Dinobot ran to catch up.

Right after Optimus had left, Rattrap picked up another signal. Except this one came out of nowhere, from an unknown source. Cheetor, naturally, appointed himself to 'check it out'. Without orders of course. After which Rhinox had literally shoved Rattrap and Dinobot out after him.

Dinobot noticed Syndrea running over to meet them as well.

"Well if it isn't lady dragon," Rattrap mocked.

Syndrea growled and snapped at Rattrap, showing off the rows of her velociraptor teeth.

"Shut up, vermin." She growled.

"Hey, that's supposed to be ol' chopper face's line!"

Dinobot was about to respond when Cheetor called again.

"Check this out guys!"

The entire group rushed over.

"Well?" Dinobot asked.

"Look's like it's coming from, er, right below us." Cheetor said, looking at the device in his hand.

"Allow me." Said Rattrap. He pulled out one of his bombs. "Now just set the timer and….SCRAM!"

The group dashed behind the cover of some rocks. Syndrea was looking around when she noticed that huge, rock walls surrounded them on three sides. A box canyon.

"Hey, what if…" she never got to finish the sentence.

BOOM! Went the detonator.

Almost immediately, the ground began to shake. Rocks were falling off the walls.

Great, it's not very stable rock!

"Eh, oops!" Rattrap laughed nervously.

"Avalanche!" Dinobot shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

Syndrea turned to run. But a huge crack appeared right under her. She went tumbling in, followed by the rest of the Maximals.

Nightfire shoved another rock away.

I can't believe myself. My claws, these perfect weapons, reduced to digging in the dirt?

He'd simply been flying around after his encounter earlier that day when he heard a voice calling out to him. Or at least, thought he heard it. Something had drawn him like a magnet down to this spot.

His instincts had never led him astray, so he'd decided to find out what had been 'calling' him.

Digging with his claws wasn't easy, not to mention his shoulder still ached from his wound from earlier.

Sometimes, I just hate the way my spark was created, with these extra senses and psychic powers. He was silently complaining. Man, I won't be surprised if I lose my mind someday…huh?

His search had been partially rewarded. Beneath the dirt, one of his claws had hit something.

Something metallic.

Groaning, Cheetor opened his eyes.

He found himself in almost complete darkness. Immediately, he sprang to his feet.

The avalanche! He remembered, man! I'm buried alive!

"Rattrap!" he called, "Dinobot! Syndrea! Help!"

"Cheetor, we'd gladly help you," came Syndrea's voice, "if you weren't STANDING ON TOP OF US!"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry!" he moved so the rest could stand up. There was barely enough space in the small hole for the four of them.

"Rather amusing situation you're gotten us into." Dinobot muttered, referring to Rattrap.

"But what now?" Cheetor asked, "could we just blast our way out?"

"Won't be much help," Syndrea shone a light upwards, "unless we want those on our heads." She indicated the huge boulders making up the 'ceiling'.

"Hey, over here!" Rattrap seemed to be pulling something. Amazing, a trap door came open. He quickly slid down it.

"You'll want to get down here!" he called.

It was a tight squeeze, especially for Dinobot, but they made it through. The group found themselves standing in a corridor. A metallic corridor that definitely belonged to a space ship of some kind.

"Ultra gear…" Cheetor muttered.

"What is this place?" Syndrea wondered.

"Some crash landed ship, just like ours." Dinobot said, "who knows how long it's been buried under here."

"Yeah," Rattrap added in, "and who knows what ghosts might be wandering round here as well."

"SHUT UP RATTRAP!" everyone else shouted.

"Hey! I'm just saying we should watch our backs, alright?" he protested.

Nightfire's footsteps echoed throughout the dark hallway.

The metal piece he'd found had actually been the roof of this hallway he was now standing in. Without a second thought, he'd ripped it open and climbed down.

This definitely looks like the inside of some kinda vessel.

Following his sixth sense, he navigated the winding corridors, his way illuminated by the blue glow of his sword. Eventually, he came to a large door at the end of the corridor.

This is where it's been leading me?

The door was not locked and slightly ajar.

Nightfire head his sword up to his snout, took a deep breath, then stepped through.

The group turned round a corner, the area illuminated by their flashlights. After some bickering between Rattrap and Dinobot over who was in charge, they'd finally reached a decision that they should first find the control room of the ship. Then, hopefully, someone would come up with a plan.

"Whose ship do you think this is?" Cheetor asked.

"Judging from its structure, it's definitely a Maximal ship." Syndrea answered, "And probably a science vessel too."

"You seem pretty sure about it."

"I worked on many of these in the past. And if I'm right, this should be the control room." She stopped in front of a pair of double doors. She shoved at them, but they wouldn't budge.

"Hold this, vermin." Dinobot tossed his flashlight to Rattrap.

He charged and bashed at the doors. Once. Twice. On the third try, he barged through.

"Nothing at all," He glared around, "this was a waste of time."

"Hey, look!" Syndrea ran forward to one of the monitors.

It was giving a barely audible beep. On closer inspection, she saw a single, faint word on the monitor:

Startup?

"I ain't believing it." Rattrap said. He sat down in the chair and began working on the computer.

"What are you doing?" Cheetor asked.

"Wait…now there!" all the lights in the room suddenly came on.

"Wooahh!"

"This place actually has power!" Rattrap said.

"The crew of this ship must have found some power source upon landing here." Syndrea explained, "Some kind of geothermal source would provide them with a very long time's supply."

"However," Dinobot said, "this vessel has obviously been abandoned for thousands if not millions of years."

"True, and it seems that the ship's systems were on minimum power standby all that time."

"Hey, I found something!" Rattrap called.

On the screen he'd printed out the ship's layout and its name: Hyperion--2.592.5489.5X2

"Hmmm…" Dinobot muttered, "I'm positive I've heard that name somewhere before."

"Anyway, that's all I can get." Rattrap continued, "most of the other stuffs' encrypted."

"Can't we call the base or something?" Syndrea asked.

Rattrap pushed a few more keys.

"Well, it says there were plenty of spare power cells stored here. If we could hook up one of em' here, I could probably scan the entire ship and find an opening in it, or call home base for help if that's necessary."

"Wait! Where says?"

"The captain's log."

"Could you bring up the last entry?"

"Sure."

Syndrea browsed through it. There was a date given, followed by a few comments by the captain, a brief check of the ship's status. Nothing much.

"Anyway, forget about it and let's get down to business." Rattrap called up a map on the screen and pointed to four spaces on the map. "These are probably the storage rooms. I guess we can start our search."

"We'll have to split up to cover more ground." Dinobot said.

"Yeah and by the way, this ship has three levels." Rattrap continued looking at the map. "This is level 2. There's two of the rooms here, one above us and one below."

"Ok, let's go!" The group left the room.

"By the way, the place is mostly energon shielded." Rattrap added in, "but our comms aren't working for some reason."

"Well, that's an upside." Syndrea said softly. "But it's like some sort of disruption." She noted, tapping her com-link.

"Er, guys are you sure it's alright to split up like this?" Cheetor nervously asked.

"What's wrong kiddo, ya scared of ghosts?"

"Huh, me? No way!" Cheetor quickly shot back.

"Now that's that's settled, can we get movin' now?"

"Hey," Syndrea cut in, "no matter what, let's meet back here in 3 mega-cycles, ok?"

Without another word, everyone took off in his or her own direction.

Nightfire stared in disbelief at what he saw.

The room was almost completely empty, bar the single display stand in the center. On it was something he'd only heard stories of.

"The Phoenix Blade…"

It was an old legend about this magnificent sword used in the Great Wars. It had said that the weapon had been lost when the research vessel carrying it had mysteriously disappeared. Now, Nightfire was staring right at it.

Nightfire stepped forward to take a closer look. Suddenly, a dart shot out of the wall.

In the blink of an eye, Nightfire snatched it out of the air before it could hit him. Laser beams appeared as well and formed a deadly maze.

So, they're not gonna make this easy.

Nightfire carefully navigated the laser maze, twisting his every limb in every possible direction.

He finally made it through. With his tail, he shattered the glass casing. He was reaching for the sword when he heard a click. Acting on instinct, he jumped round and torched an auto-gun that was about to fire.

Gotta love this fiery breath.

Nightfire triumphantly grabbed his prize and pulled it out. Instantly, all the traps deactivated.

"Another defense system that's failed to keep me out."

Before he could closely inspect the weapon, it began to glow in a soft orange light. His own sword, still in his other claw, began glowing brightly as well.

What if…

He touched the two swords together. In front of his eyes, the two weapons glowed brighter and began to change shape, forming into a single, awesome-looking sword.

Its blade glowed with a light green color. The handle had formed into the shape of a Phoenix's head, with a blue crystal in the center. Nightfire tested it, swinging it back and forth.

"I think I'll keep you." He said, admiring his new weapon. Then he looked up and realized that he didn't remember the way out.

"Guess nothing comes free…"

Dinobot walked silently along the corridor and descended the stairs to the lower level.

After consulting his map, he continued moving. At one point, as he turned around, something dashed past him.

Instantly, he sprang into warrior mode. Leaping into a battle stance and pulling out both of his weapons.

"Show yourself!"

However, nothing responded.

"Cowards! Come out and fight!" Dinobot shone his light.

Nothing. Dinobot was talking to a wall.

Elsewhere, Rattrap pulled open the metal grills and climbed up the ventilation shaft. He'd figured this was the quickest way to his destination.

Click. Click. Click.

Rattrap became aware that something was following him.

No room to fight in this cramped tunnel. Get out of here!

Crawling as fast as his legs would allow it, he kicked open the first metal covering he came to and jumped out.

"Hah!" He whipped out his gun and fired several shots back into the ventilation shaft.

He waited.

Nothing. No sounds of anything that was moving, other than himself.

"Nah, just my imagination." He muttered, glad no one else was around to have seen him panic.

In another part of the ship, Nightfire entered a laboratory. At least, that was what it looked like to him.

The room filled with tables, lad instruments and three huge glass cases at the far end. He noticed a computer console next to one of the glass cases was on.

This place has power?! He wondered.

He walked over to take a closer look. On the console was a bunch of scientific formulas he didn't understand. A beep from a computer behind him startled him. Nightfire's tail went up and accidentally pushed one of the buttons.

The floor beneath him sprang up, flinging him into the open glass case. Its opening sealed before he knew what was going on.

Realizing he was trapped inside, he reached for his sword. His claw only grasped the empty space where he strapped it to the back of his beast mode. Looking outside, he saw it on the floor.

"Damm!"

Nightfire bashed on the wall with his head, but to no avail. The glass was stronger than it looked. Clawing it didn't help. He tried blowing a fireball, but it only rebounded and hit him in the face.

"Nightfire, Maximize!" he called out his transformation command. Nothing happened. Some anti-transformation field prevented it.

Nightfire realized it wasn't a glass case, but rather a transparent cage for very large lab animals.

And right now, he was the lab rat. Trapped in a cage. Furiously, he pounded on the glass again.

"F#&#!"

Cheetor was trying to act calm, but he still felt his knees knocking.

I am not afraid. There are no ghosts here.

Standing outside the door, he checked his gun for about the hundredth time and shone his light in.

"Yes!" Spread out on a table were the power cells he'd been looking for. Excitedly, he reached out and grabbed one, stuffing it into his sub-space compartment.

Cheetor was about to leave when something caught his eye. He walked over to a really cool-looking shotgun, which was hung on a wall.

"Hey, maybe Rattrap'll like it." Cheetor never noticed the two mounting hooks of the shotgun click upward, having been released from the weight of the gun.

He was so busy examining it that he didn't notice a door silently open behind him.

He didn't see the dark shape looming behind him.

He didn't hear the soft footsteps of the figure as it came up behind him.

When he did turn around, he screamed.