Author's Note: Here is chapter 3 of this story. As always, I apologize for the delay, and hope you will be patient with me. My younger sister thinks the computer is her own personal property, pissing off everyone else who wants to use it, and my dad starts snapping if I start typing while he's watching TV, which is all damn night. So blame the delays on them, not me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Earth: Final Conflict or any of its characters. I already told you which characters are mine.

Encounters of the Weird Kind

Chapter 3: Recovery and Roadblock

Liam Kincaid groaned as he pulled himself out of the wreckage of the shuttle. As soon as he was clear of the debris, he climbed to his feet and looked around.

The shuttle had crashed in the ruins of a city or group of buildings. None of them were in any shape to be used as a shelter. Most were only single walls and piles of rubble. Others had a partial ceiling, but they looked like they would fall at any moment.

A groan drew his attention back to the wreckage. He picked his way through the debris and lifted a piece of hull off of Sandoval. The agent crawled out from under it. Liam dropped the piece of hull and helped Sandoval to his feet.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

"I... think so."

Liam waited until Sandoval could stand on his own, then began pawing through the wreck until he found the two Taelons. Da'an, having been involved in a number of crashes, looked fairly composed. Zo'or, on the other hand, was wide-eyed and shaking. It was his first major crash. Liam grabbed Zo'or by the arm and hauled him to his feet. Zo'or resisted.

A whining sound made Liam scan the shuttle's debris, then yank on Zo'or's arm with renewed urgency. Da'an turned to help, but Liam waved him away. Tiring of the futile tug of war, Liam heaved the Taelon over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and scurried out of the debris.

"Find cover!" he yelled at Sandoval. "The engine is about to go!"

Sandoval and Da'an found cover behind a half-standing wall. Liam made it with Zo'or seconds before the ID engine core exploded, taking all of the shuttle's wreckage with it.

"That was close," Sandoval panted.

Liam put Zo'or down and whacked him across the face, not easy considering that Taelons were energy creatures. Zo'or flinched and snapped back to himself.

"Where are we?" Sandoval asked.

"I do not recognize this planet," Da'an admitted. "I have seen many worlds in my travels, but never one that was made of metal."

"I'm not sure I want to meet the creatures that built this place," Liam commented.

"And why not, Major?" Sandoval demanded.

Liam pointed to one of the more intact structures. The intact portion contained a door, and a hole in the upper part of the wall showed where the second floor had been.

"Because judging from the size of that entrance, they were more than thirty feet tall."

"Oh."

An engine snarled overhead. All eyes turned skyward in time to see an F-15 fighter jet roar past. It circled the crash site several times, then apparently spotted them and dove. About 90 feet above the ground, it suddenly changed shape, landing with a loud thud.

The jet now had arms and legs and a head. Upside-down jet wings adorned its legs. Its body was blue, the wings yellow. On its chest was the cockpit. There was an ominous purple symbol on the wings. Glowing crimson optics fixed on them, and the metal creature smiled coldly.

"Well, well, well," it said in a voice that was almost a monotone. "What do we have here? Four flesh creatures. This will be fun."

The creature took a step forward, extending its hand.

"Hey, Dirge!" an accented voice yelled.

"Dirge" started to turn. It looked to one side. But before it could say or do anything, a beam of yellow light hit it right in the face, sending it flipping backward. It smashed into the remains of another building, went right through it, and fell in a heap. The weakened structure had taken all it could stand, and it collapsed on top of the creature.

"Serves him right," the new voice commented, and a new creature stepped into view.

This one was black and white in color. From the look of it, it turned into a vehicle of some kind. Its chest was the front end of a car. In the center was a red mark shaped like a face. Its head was covered by a helmet. Two small horns or antennae rose from the top. Its eyes were covered by a blue visor. In its hand it held a gun.

"Major, why does that marking seem familiar?" Zo'or hissed.

Liam took a long look at it. Then he recognized it and stepped forward. The metal creature saw him and stopped.

"So Dirge was after you, was he? Glad I got here in time. You all right? I don't recognize you."

The other three stepped out of hiding. Sandoval suddenly winced and peeled back his sleeve. Raven was glowing brilliantly. The agent began the long process of calming the skrill. The metal creature's eyes fixed on the glowing skrill, and it went stiff in what Liam interpreted as surprise. Then it pulled out a device and began talking into it, speaking a language Liam had heard from the visitors to their dimension.

"Who are you and where are we?" Da'an asked.

The creature, no, the Autobot, turned to him. "My name is Jazz. You're on Cybertron."

Ultra Rodimus was forcing his way through the Decepticon ranks back to Autobot lines when he received Jazz's transmission. Magnus, overhearing his thoughts, sent surprise along their bond.

(Looks like we have somewhere to be,) Ultra Rodimus commented.

((Then let's go.))

"And just where do you think you're going?" A Sweep blocked his path.

Ultra Rodimus didn't even bother answering. His right arm came up, and Falcon discharged a powerful blast. The Sweep went flying, his entire upper body blown away by the blast. Then his path was clear, and he immediately transformed to his truck mode, pulling away. Magnus fell in behind him, and the Protectobots followed. Mirage jumped onto the roof of Ultra Rodimus's trailer and used his cloaking device to keep the Decepticons from seeing them. They got away from the battle unscathed.

When they reached Jazz's position, Ultra Rodimus didn't even bother transforming. He remained in his truck form. Magnus transformed.

"Long time no see," he commented, startling the four.

Liam stared. "Ultra Magnus?"

"In the armor. This is what I really look like. I'd love to chat, but there's a battle going on, and we have to get back to Iacon."

"Our shuttle is gone," Da'an pointed out.

"You won't need a shuttle," Jazz cut in, looking at Ultra Rodimus.

"What am I, a transit bus?" Ultra Rodimus edged closer and opened a door. "All aboard."

"Your voice sounds familiar," Da'an commented as he climbed into the cab.

"You'll see me once we get into the city."

Because Ultra Rodimus's truck mode was not part of his robot mode, he could get away with having a different style cab and not have a strange-looking robot form. His cab did not have to flat front Magnus's did. The engine was not under the seats. His cab also had a sleeper section, which human passengers made use of during long road trips.

Liam climbed into the driver's seat. Sandoval took the passenger seat. The two Taelons climbed into the sleeper. As soon as all four were in, the door closed, and the two humans put on the seatbelts. Ultra Rodimus's engine roared.

"Blaster, report."

"All of the Decepticons are on the ground, big guy."

"All of them?"

"Yeah. They're between you and the city."

The truck was silent for a moment. "Groove, Streetwise, First Aid, Blades, Mirage, get into my trailer."

The five muttered curiously, but obeyed. They climbed in and settled down. Magnus and Hot Spot lined up behind their leader, in single file.

Ultra Rodimus revved his engine. Smoke blasted from his exhausts. Liam watched the gearshift move on its own. Then they started moving.

They were heading straight for Iacon, but there was an army between them and the city. Ultra Rodimus continued to accelerate, the needle on his speedometer climbing past 90 km per hour. He shifted gears again and again, still increasing in speed. Liam stared at the dashboard for a long moment. Then he figured out what the truck was up to. He reached over and tightened Sandoval's seatbelt, then turned to the Taelons.

"Sit in the corners and hold on tight," he told them.

"What is going on, Major?" Sandoval demanded.

"There's an army between us and the city," Liam pointed out. "He's not gonna stop. He's going to plow right through."

Sandoval stared at him, then clutched the straps tightly. Liam tightened his own belt and gripped the steering wheel.

The Decepticons came into view.

Liam risked a glance at the speedometer. The truck was moving far faster than it should be able to. But then, he reasoned, it wasn't a normal truck.

The Decepticons heard the roaring of a stressed engine and started to turn around. It was already too late. Before they even saw him, Ultra Rodimus hit them.

The impact rattled his entire frame, but he didn't stop. He was moving far too fast. Hauling almost 100 tons of Autobots in his trailer, adding to that his own fifteen tons, he was moving on pure inertia. Nothing short of a head-on impact with the side of a mountain could stop him.

The Decepticons learned that the hard way.

They were smashed out of his way, or bulldozed down and crushed under him. Those he didn't crush to death were finished off by the car carrier and the fire truck following in his wake. His passengers, both Autobot and humanoid, held on for dear life. Then the Decepticons began to notice what was going on, and they got out of the way as fast as they could. Others couldn't make it.

Galvatron heard a roar approaching from behind. He spun around and caught a glimpse of his own reflection in Ultra Rodimus's windshield seconds before the Autobot leader hit him at full throttle. Still off balance from the spin, the hit threw Galvatron onto his back. Pain exploded through his body as the Autobot Prime ran right over him, heading into the city. The pain only got worse as first Ultra Magnus, then Hot Spot, right on their leader's rear bumper, drove over him. Then all three were past and inside the city gates. The few Autobots outside the city slid back in, and the massive gates shut with a loud bang.

The Decepticons, knowing that the battle was over, began collecting their dead and loading the wounded onto the ships. Most of the dead were crushed like tin foil, most with Ultra Rodimus's distinctive tire treads all over their bodies. Most of the wounded had only suffered glancing impacts, or had been thrown aside. As soon as they were able, they fled the battlefield.

To be continued...

And there is another chapter down. I've been wanting to do the Ultra Rodimus-running-down-Decepticons scene for a while, so now I took the opportunity and I did it. The 'Cons ain't gonna be back any time soon. And now, the reviewer responses:

Kakwat: Yes, he gets a road trip. A bit of a rough ride, though. It'd be like going over a really bad road with lots of potholes. And my sister is younger, but she refuses to get off the computer even after she's been on it for five hours. It's really irritating.

Gromia: I'd wondered about the sudden drop in your review time, but that explains it. No, you didn't say I'm lazy, I'm saying I am. And I'm a procrastinator. Yes, computer courses can be boring, but you learn a lot. I took two courses in high school, and that's where I learned how to really use a computer. I still can't make heads or tails out of computer code, but I don't think I'll ever have to.

Hear from you again next chapter!