Author's Note: Sorry about the delay. I just finished three nasty exams, and my mother finally stopped nagging at me. Plus, I finally got my hands on a computer equipped with WordPerfect. So now I'm writing the next chapter for this story. Enjoy.

I hate to tell you this, but now that exams are over, my update time will slow down even more. I'll be spending a lot of time at my grandfather's. And he does not have a computer. So this will probably be it for about a week, maybe longer. The next update probably won't be out until around Christmas. Sorry!

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Encounters of the Weird Kind

Chapter 8: Realization and Victory

As the centipede-like borer fired, the crowd of humans and aliens screamed in terror and hunched down, covering their heads and waiting for the end. But after a moment, they realized that nothing had happened, and curiosity made them look up to find out why. What they saw stunned then into complete silence.

The tall man Spike had called Major Kincaid was standing between them and the monster, his hands thrown up in an instinctive attempt to protect himself. The shots should have blown him apart. But he was unharmed. And his hands were glowing.

Blinding white light swirled in his palms, stretching out to form a net between them. Caught in that net was a ball of energy. He'd caught the laser blasts.

"What in the world?" someone whispered.

"Shaquarava," Sandoval breathed, utterly shocked. Next to him, Zo'or was staring at Liam with a mixture of surprise and hate. Da'an merely watched calmly.

Liam looked at the energy caught between his hands. Then he looked at the borers. Gritting his teeth, he pushed more energy into his shaquarava and fired the energy right back at the creatures.

The borers were made for digging, not fighting. They had no protective shell. The blast went right through them. Explosions followed in its wake. Liam used his shaquarava to keep the blast from entering the shelter, so it had only one way to go: up and out. It raged down the tunnel until it reached the aboveground entrance. When it reached the surface, it did so in a spectacular fashion. A white-hot fireball exploded out of the tunnel, reducing everything caught in it to ashes. Quintessons were dead before they even knew what had hit them. The fireball also had the effect of melting the tunnel and sealing it with molten metal, which quickly cooled in Cybertron's thin atmosphere.

Underground, Liam dissolved the shield and deactivated his shaquarava. A moment later, he collapsed from energy drain. Turning the blast back along its original path had taken a lot out of him. Spike leaped forward to catch him before he hit the ground.

Sandoval stared at Liam, shocked. Now things he'd been puzzling over for months fell into place. He knew how Liam had been able to destroy that Jaridian replicant , and how Da'an had managed to rejoin the Commonality after being cut off from it. Many other things also fell into place.

"He's not fully human," was all he could say.

"Kimera!" Zo'or hissed. "He is Kimera!" He glared at Da'an. "You knew about this!"

"Of course," Da'an answered calmly. "I knew since the day I first met him. He has never done us harm. He has always worked for the good of our two races."

"His kind are murderers! Agent Sandoval, destroy him!"

"The Kimera were anthropologists," Da'an corrected. "They had done nothing to us. It was fear that drove our people to slaughter them." He looked at Sandoval. "Would you kill your own child, Agent Sandoval?"

The dark-haired implant stared at him. "What?!"

Da'an indicated the unconscious hybrid. "He was conceived mere moments before Ha'gel was killed. His mother was Lieutenant Beckett. Who do you think was his human father?"

"Ha'gel had taken my..." Sandoval's voice trailed off as the meaning of what Da'an was saying finally hit him. "You mean he's my son?" he breathed.

"Yes."

Sandoval lowered his skrill arm. He couldn't kill his own child, no matter what he was. Zo'or looked furious.

"How many times has he saved your life, Zo'or?" Da'an asked suddenly, turning his gaze on the Synod leader. "You are in his debt. Now is your chance to repay it."

Zo'or growled softly, but reluctantly agreed to spare Liam's life.

Sandoval knelt beside Liam. "What happened?"

"His use of his shaquarava drained him," Da'an explained. "He will need to rest and regain his strength."

Spike took off his jacket and folded it, then slid it under Liam's head. Sandoval draped his own jacket over the hybrid, then took his hand and waited for the young man to wake up.

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"What in Primus's name was that?" Tailspin yelped as the white fireball erupted from the ground.

"My guess is those borers going bye-bye," Springer quipped as he drove his sword into yet another Sharkticon.

Ultra Rodimus grinned as he swung his massive axe. He was covered in Sharkticon blood from head to foot. Even his long braid dripped blood. He had a fairly good idea of what had caused that explosion. Pushing that to the back of his mind to be considered later, he let out a roar and charged at another knot of enemies. The other Autobots echoed the roar, and the lines surged forward again. They were actually gaining ground, and the Quints were running out of Sharkticons. A concerted effort by the sharpshooters had drastically thinned out the numbers of the flying pests, and the flying Autobots were back in the air. Every now and then a Quint ship would burst into flames and flying bits of metal. The tides were turning.

The Quints eventually realized that they were becoming in danger of being overrun, and they decided to run. The Sharkticons flooded back into the ships, and the battered spacecraft began to lift off of Cybertron's smoking surface. They moved rather slowly at first, and a few more fell prey to the weapons fire coming from Iacon's walls. Finally, the last Quint ships vanished into the dark sky, and the Autobots stopped shooting. They began taking stock of the damage while others went out onto the battlefield to finish off any Sharkticons left alive.

"First Aid, see to the wounded. Springer, you get a team together and start a damage analysis. I'm going to see how our visitors fared." Ultra Rodimus headed inside.

Magnus grabbed his arm. "I'll check on them. You go get a bath before that stuff dries onto your armor."

Ultra Rodimus was about to argue, but thought the better of it and nodded. He trotted off toward their quarters while Magnus headed for the entrance to the underground shelter, wondering what he would find inside.

To be continued...

There's another chapter done. My fingers are hurting. I think this chapter went well, though. What do you think? Let me know by sending me some reviews! And here are some reviewer responses:

Gromia: Does this answer your question? And yes, that is how you spell Kimera.

Fenestrae: No, I didn't hurt Liam. Sandoval is in shock. Did this chapter answer your questions?

Now send me some more reviews and I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can!