Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.
Note: This story takes place shortly after "The Battle in the Valley".
Beyond Earth, Chapter 2
By TVfan
Prehistoric Earth
Ravage saw that Megatron, Rampage, and Quickstrike were carefully secured before placing them in various prison holds on his ship. There were however some absent Predicons however. One was Tarantulus, with whom Ravage was already familiar with. The others were two male transformers, Inferno and Waspinator, and one female transformer, Blackarachnia. Much to Ravage's pleasure, Optimus had offered help apprehend the rogues.
The black armored Decepticon approached his ship's bridge and pressed its long range communications button.
"This is Ravage to the Tripredicus Council," Ravage spoke clearly.
"This is General Ramhorn," came a voice from the radio, "Go ahead, Ravage."
"Mission is nearly completed," Ravage answered, "We are ahead of schedule even. Optimus Primal and his followers believe I will escort them home."
Ramhorn laughed over the radio with great pleasure before answering, "Continue as planned. Remember that no transformer on Earth is to survive, save for of course you and our spy."
"Yes, General," Ravage answered to the radio.
Maximal Base, Optimus's Quarters
Silverbolt quietly stepped into Optimus's quarters as the transmetal gorilla sat behind a desk.
"You wished to see me, sir?" Silverbolt asked, knowing full well what was coming.
"I did," Optimus answered sternly, "We need to finish what we were discussing earlier."
"As I said, I believe I can change her, sir," Silverbolt pleaded, "Let me try. If Dinobot can leave the Predicons and become a Maximal, so can Blackarachnia."
"I can agree with you, there," Optimus sighed, "It is possible, but you must remember that Dinobot chose to leave the Predicons. Blackarachnia has shown not intention of doing so. We've nearly finished the Beast Wars with the capture of Megatron, Rampage, and Quickstrike. We need to capture the rest of the Predicons as quickly as possible before Ravage decides to leave us here."
Silverbolt nodded, not sure what Optimus was getting at.
Optimus then spoke clearly, "Normally I would trust you with bring at least one of them in, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to stand against that. Blackarachnia represents a potential weakness and I believe she will use you."
"Sir, I believe I would be better suited to bringing her in," Silverbolt protested, "She will listen to me."
"You are confined to quarters," Optimus said in a commanding voice, "I can allow your feelings for her to get in the way of our going home. Cheetor will bring her in."
"Sir, I must protest," Silverbolt said, "She will listen to me, I know it. Please let me bring her in. She won't listen to Cheetor and will have no problem with fighting him."
"Should I send Dinobot instead?" Optimus asked, "He has no qualms with KILLING Blackarachnia. You are confined to quarters. To protect both the mission and yourself. You have to realize that she is using you, Silverbolt. There are many Predicons that have formed unions with Maximals, but those unions have occurred in a time of peace. As Dinobot commonly points out, here, we are at war."
"But…" Silverbolt began to protest.
"You are confined to quarters," Optimus commanded, and then activated his communicator, "Cheetor, could you come to my quarters for a moment. I have job for you to do."
Deep Space
The three 'rogue' Predicon ships dropped out of their transwarp jumps several light years from Cybertron, but at roughly the same time that they had left.
"Patch us through to the Tripredicus Council," the captain of the lead vessel said, "We will need orders."
"Yes sir," the lower ranking Predicon answered.
"This General Seaclamp," came a voice over the radio.
"This is Devastator," the Predicon captain said, "Our mission to provide Agent Ravage with a diversion was successful. We are prepared and waiting for orders."
"The Maximal Elders believe your ships are rogue, and will probably try to hunt you in whatever feeble way the Maximals hunt anything," Seaclamp responded over the radio, "Begin guerilla operations in the Grimlock sector of this galaxy. It is unexplored by the Maximals, but is right next to their major trade route with the Maximal bases on Earth's moon. We will send occasional ships out under the guise of hunting you, but they will provide you with aide. You will continue your guerilla operations until Ravage has returned and the heat involving Megatron's crimes die down."
"Yes, General," Devastator answered.
The radio then went blank for a moment and Devastator then turned to his crew and commanded, "Set course for Grimlock Sector."
Prehistoric Earth
Dinobot carefully sniffed the rocks around the crashed Darkside. Optimus had given him, Rapther, and Rattrap the job of hunting down Inferno, Waspinator, and Tarantulus, while Cheetor hunted Blackarachnia. The male raptor growled when no scent produced itself.
"Anything wrong, Dinobot?" Rapther asked.
"About the situation or this hunt?" Dinobot growled in a frustrated voice.
"Either one would work," Rapther replied.
"This is below us," Dinobot growled, "Even below Rattrap, and that's saying something. Waspinator seems to get himself blown up by anything that moves, and Inferno lacks any real intelligence. The ant is brave and powerful, but he is also insane and cruel. The only one worth hunting is Tarantulus."
"And that spider has flown the coup if ya know what I'm sayin'," Rattrap interrupted as he leaned against a rock, "This rock used to be a door to one of his little caves, but look now…"
Rattrap pushed the rock aside and the hole that was once below it was filled in.
"No sign now if there ever WAS a secret lab here," Rattrap commented, "That spider simply ain't here."
Rapther glanced at the towering image of Megatron's crashed ship.
"What about the ship?" Rapther asked, "Suppose some of they could be in the ship?"
"The Boss-Monkey couldn't find any others in there," Rattrap snorted, "There's no one here."
Meanwhile on a rocky cliff above them, the newly repaired Waspinator and Inferno watched the three Maximals argue the importance of their mission.
"Ohhhh, Waspinator hates Male Lizard Bot," the wasp buzzed, "We should slag Lizard Bot."
Inferno looked at them and then said, "I agree, but the Royalty commanded we take these Stasis Pods to a safe location, away from the Colony. That command is more important."
Inferno then activated his jets and lifted one of the stasis pods and headed toward a rather dark looking mountain several miles away. Waspinator simply sighed and followed suit.
"I agree wi' ya, Chopperface," Rattrap said, "Dat Ravage guy is bad news."
"But Optimus believes he will take us 'home' so he trusts him," Dinobot growled, and then said in a weakened tone, "Optimus is a fine commander. The only Maximal who could beat me in a fair fight, but his want to return home is clouding his judgment. There are very few Predicons out there that view themselves as Decepticons, but they are more dangerous then Megatron."
"Should we watch him then?" Rapther asked.
"No," Dinobot answered, "Optimus commanded we hunt for the Predicons, and that is what we must do, even if Ravage is the greater evil. Perhaps something to our advantage will come of it."
Dinobot then began to move toward the area on the east side of the Darkside to continue searching.
Maximal Base
Silverbolt settled himself onto his bunk, sulking when the door opened to reveal Cheetor standing there.
"What do you want?" Silverbolt asked in a defeated voice.
"What's up with you?" Cheetor asked, ignoring why he was here.
"I can convince Blackarachnia to join us, willingly," Silverbolt said, "I know I can. But instead, Optimus has me here."
"Optimus just wants to make sure you don't get hurt," Cheetor said, "Blackarachnia has pulled some doozies on us before and he's afraid she'll hurt you and cost us a chance to go home."
Silverbolt didn't answer.
"You do want to go back to Cybertron, don't you?" Cheetor asked.
"I've never been to Cybertron," Silverbolt answered, "And this isn't the point. I could convince Blackarachnia to come to us. She won't hurt me, but she might hurt you, and I don't want you to hurt her."
"If it makes you feel better," Cheetor began, "I'll try to bring her back in one piece, and I'm sorry about all this."
"I'm sorry too," Silverbolt responded glumly.
"For what?" Cheetor asked.
Silverbolt stood up and punched Cheetor in the face, knocking the transmetal cheetah to the ground.
"Cheetor, are you all right?" Silverbolt asked.
Cheetor sat up with a confused look on his face, "Yeah, I think so. Why…"
"Then I'm sorry again," Silverbolt interrupted and punched Cheetor again, knocking the cat out.
Silverbolt then shifted to his beast mode and quietly made his way out of the Maximal base.
Ravage's ship
Megatron slowly aroused himself from the floor to find himself in a secured cage, and his tail cannon lying outside the cell. Standing outside the cell was an all black version of the transmetal Cheetor.
"Ah, you are awake, Megatron," Ravage chuckled.
"What nerve do you have to imprison me!?" Megatron raged.
"I am on orders from the Tripredicus Council," Ravage answered, "My orders were to terminate you and your followers, but I would prefer to wait till all your followers are together."
"Idiotic fools," Megatron growled.
"True," Ravage agreed, "But the ancient Decepticons chose the Tripredicus Council to rule, not you."
"And yet they've lead us into Maximal slavery," Megatron answered in a melodramatic voice, "I've tried to restore our prominence and this is how you repay me?"
"You disobeyed the Council's commands and rules," Ravage answered.
Megatron noted that the transformer bore the Decepticon symbol and not Predicon, and then the tyrant smiled, "I am surprised that you would follow them yourself. Being a Decepticon and all. The Council is not descended from the Decepticons. They are impure."
"But they command the legal right," Ravage answered.
"Only by trickery and deceit," Megatron answered.
"I will not release you," Ravage said coldly.
"Perhaps we can make a deal?" Megatron offered, "I have a secret stash of energon in a cave. It's yours if you free me and my followers."
Ravage then smiled, "You mean this energon?"
Ravage then stepped aside to reveal a screen with Tarantulus standing around his energon cache.
"Agent Tarantulus of the Predicon Security Force," the transmetal spider cackled, "Goodbye Megatron."
"That traitor!" Megatron roared, "I'll tear him limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb."
"You'll do nothing of the sort," Ravage answered, "Tarantulus will arrive shortly to deliver the Council's energon and then you will reveal the location of your missing servants."
"And you!" Megatron then responded in a slightly confident tone, "You're the greatest traitor of them all. You are a Decepticon, yet you defy the will of Megatron."
"You have the Great One's name," Ravage said coldly, "But you AREN'T Megatron."
"I wasn't referring to myself," Megatron smiled, opening his chest compartment.
Cybertron, Maximal Elder's Chambers
Four transformers sat around a large circular table with a map of the known universe holographically projected on the table's surface.
"The Predicons are losing control of their own faction!" one exclaimed in a frustrated tone, "First Megatron, now this."
"Yes," the first answered, "I've spoken with the Tripredicus Council. They are busy reworking their entire faction to weed out possible traitors. There is little they can do to get rid of the rogues."
The third looked down with defeated look, "That means we have to do it, and that we'll have to abandon the search for Optimus Primal until they're stopped."
"We can't forget Primal!" the fourth and second insisted.
"We won't," the first said firmly, "But he is right. Our fleet is too spread out through space and time looking for Primal. It is the perfect opportunity for the rogues to take advantage of our distraction and the Predicon's inability to look after themselves."
"May Primus help the universe," the second sighed.
Prehistoric Earth
Silverbolt found Blackarachnia shuffling about with something a few miles from the Predicon base.
"What are you doing?" Silverbolt asked as he landed.
Blackarachnia spun around suddenly and looked at the fuzor before demanding, "What are you doing here, dog-boy?"
"I'm here to talk," Silverbolt said calmly.
"You can talk while I work," Blackarachnia muttered as she returned to what she was working on, "But you can't watch."
Silverbolt politely turned his back as he listened to Blackarachnia pushing buttons on a device she had buried there.
"I'm listening," Blackarachnia spoke in an impatient voice.
"Blackarachnia, the Beast Wars are over," Silverbolt announced, "We've captured Megatron. You can join us."
"And be a Maximal?" Blackarachnia asked, "Be a goody-goody? No, thank-you. I'm happy just the way I am."
"But you were a Maximal protoform," Silverbolt protested, "They're your true comrades."
"Be careful with your words, dog-boy," Blackarachnia snickered, "If you use that argument, Dinobot should join the Predicons."
"That's not what I mean," Silverbolt protested, "You don't need to do all this. You can be free."
"Maybe according to you," Blackarachnia answered, "But as I said, I like who I am. I'm not going to give that up to be one of Optimus's goody-goodies."
"Is there anything I can do to persuade you to change your mind?" Silverbolt asked.
"No," Blackarachnia smiled, "But you're welcome to try."
Blackarachnia began walking off toward some distant mountains as Silverbolt looked after her. Deciding he had to make an effort to get her to change her mind, Silverbolt slowly followed.
Ravage's ship
"That's…?" Ravage stammered looking at what Megatron had pulled from his chest compartment.
"The Golden Disks," Megatron confirmed, smiling as it appeared that his copies would do the trick, "On them are exquisite instructions to come to this planet from the original Megatron. I'll let you play them if you release me."
Ravage instantly turned and released Megatron from his cell. The transmetal tyrannosaur stood in robot mode and calmly handed Ravage the disks. The black transmetal jaguar took the disks and placed them immediately in a nearby player. His optics widened as the disks displayed an all too familiar image.
"Megatron?" Ravage reached with one hand through the image.
Ravage then turned face the current Megatron, "You are following his orders."
"As I always have been," Megatron smiled as he took his tail gun in hand, "It is the Tripredicus Council that are the traitors to the original Megatron's vision. They are after all, descendents of Unicron."
Ravage paused before answering and then said clearly, "Since you appear to follow the original Megatron, I will follow you, because the ORIGINAL Megatron is our true leader, no matter who is actually in command."
"But of course," Megatron nodded, "Right now, however, we must deal with the Maximals. They are likely to be thinking that the war is over."
Ravage nodded and moved toward his ship's cockpit. Megatron meanwhile set to freeing his imprisoned comrades.
"Ya actually trust that tin horn?" Quickstrike demanded in his western twang-like accent.
"I trust him to follow our plans so long as they resemble what the original Megatron would do," Megatron answered, "But I do believe I will have to do something about him, yes."
"I can't believe those disks still got you out of there," Rampage scoffed.
"True they are only fake copies of the original disks," Megatron smiled as he put the two fake disks back in his chest compartment, "But they were enough to sway him."
Megatron was about to issue his next set of orders when the ship's ramp lowered to reveal Tarantulus pushing a large wheeled cart full of energon into the ship.
"I'm home!" Tarantulus cackled with a laugh that was cut short when he suddenly saw Megatron free of his cell at the top of the ramp with his tail gun charged.
"So you are," Megatron agreed and fired his tail gun at the energon.
The transmetal spider had no time to react as Megatron's blast hit the energon and the resulting explosion tore Tarantulus to pieces. Megatron calmly walked down the ramp and lifted up the spider's head.
"And I know I'm going to have to do something with you," Megatron smiled, "YESSSSS!"
Elsewhere
"I still can't believe he punched you," Optimus grumbled as he and Cheetor flew in vehicle mode over the ground below them.
"I'm just glad it wasn't Dinobot's girlfriend you were asking me to go apprehend," Cheetor chuckled, "I wouldn't get out of the CR chamber for years."
Optimus didn't answer.
"I would also say Optimus, that maybe you should have let Silverbolt bring Blackarachnia in," Cheetor said weakly, "He's never betrayed us for anything and from what I've heard, he's been trying to get her to join us."
"Given her history, I wouldn't trust her," Optimus said seriously, "Deception is her game."
"I'm more inclined not to trust that Ravage guy," Cheetor said, "He gives me the creeps and he looks just like me, except he's all black."
"Something about him doesn't seem to be right to me either," Optimus agreed, "But we need him to get home, and he hasn't done anything vile, yet."
Dinobot and his group were moving into rather forested region as he Rapther followed a weak scent of Waspinator and Inferno that they had finally picked up. The two raptors and single rat came into a small clearing when they noticed Optimus and Cheetor flying in the distance.
"I wonder what they're up to," Rattrap asked out loud.
"Probably searching on their own," Rapther answered.
Dinobot's optics suddenly focused on movement going on behind them. A large black stealth ship had lifted out of the trees behind them. Rapther and Rattrap noticed it at the same time.
Dinobot suddenly roared as the he saw the ship's weapons begin to power up, "We are betrayed!"
"Yo Optimus!" came Rattrap's voice over the radio.
"Rattrap?" Optimus answered, "What's you're report? Have you found Waspinator or Inferno yet?"
"No, but I do have some good news and some bad news," Rattrap answered.
"Go ahead," Optimus answered.
"The good news is we don't have to worry about trusting that Ravage guy," Rattrap said.
"And the bad news?" Optimus sighed.
"He's switched sides!" Rattrap exclaimed, "Look behind you!"
Optimus turned and his optic's widened when he saw Megatron standing on Ravage's ship and the fact the ship's weapons were charging.
On Ravage's ship, Ravage smiled as he targeted the transmetal gorilla. Then as Megatron began the new battle with his tail gun, Ravage yelled through his radio so that the Maximals would hear him, "Decepticons forever!"
To Be Continued…