Author's Note: Thank you to my readers for encouraging me to continue this story. I will do my best to make it enjoyable. Watch out for Major Davies being an idiot in future chapters.
Also, this chapter mentions a creature named Falcon. I know you don't have a clue what he is, but another of my stories, Unexpected Encounters, details Falcon's species and how he became attached to a certain Prime's forearm.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 does not belong to me. Neither do the Transformers. Ultra Rodimus and Falcon are mine, though.
Cyber Stargate
Chapter 2: Discovery
Beep, beep, beep.
Something was beeping. On some level, Ultra Magnus heard the sound, but he was deeply asleep and dreaming. The sound merged with his dreams, throwing off what he had been dreaming, distracting him and driving him crazy. He reached for the sound, dragging himself back to the waking world, sleepily raising his head from where it rested against his sleeping mate and superior's armored shoulder. It took a few moments for him to realize that the sound was coming from his comlink, informing him that there was an incoming call. With a growl, he swiped at the irritating device.
"What is it?" he asked, or tried to. What actually came out was more reminiscent of a gorilla's grumble than any form of coherent speech.
"I am sorry to have to wake you," Perceptor began.
"Can this possibly wait until a less inconvenient time?" Magnus interrupted, keeping his voice low. "You know very well that neither of us has been getting much sleep lately, and I'd rather not wake Ultra Rodimus up yet. He's been getting less sleep than I have."
"Too late," a sleepy voice said from below Magnus. The city commander looked down into a pair of tired emerald eyes. Ultra Rodimus rubbed his eyes and yawned, pushing himself up to a sitting position. "What is it, Perceptor?"
"We have found something in the Badlands that you must see," the scientist reported.
"Is this urgent?"
"It is not Cybertronian in origin. Nor was it made by any of our ally races."
The Autobot leader considered that. "Give us some time to make ourselves presentable, then we'll be out."
"Of course." Perceptor signed off.
Magnus gazed at his mate, noting the dark shadows around his eyes. He could sense Ultra Rodimus's exhaustion. Through their lifebond, he expressed his disapproval of going anywhere without a decent night's sleep.
(I know you don't approve, lover-mine, but we still have to go,) Ultra Rodimus reminded him.
((I know, I know, but I still don't like it.))
(I know.)
There was an inarticulate mumble in their minds, a mumble that soon became a steady stream of profanities as yet another creature protested the ungodly hour. Magnus tried unsuccessfully to stop his snickers as Ultra Rodimus glared at the creature on his right forearm. Falcon shared Magnus's opinion of mornings, and would grumble with the best complainers about having to get up too early. Unlike Magnus, the skrill could get away with giving his host an earful about it.
"At least someone hear agrees with me," Magnus commented through his laughter.
Ultra Rodimus shifted his glare to his mate, then rolled his eyes and rose from their shared bed, stretching like a cat. Magnus watched, smiling. Sensing the change, Ultra Rodimus shot him a look and a mental prod to get his mind back on track. Magnus dissolved into laughter while Ultra Rodimus brushed out and rebraided his long silver hair.
Ten minutes later, they were on their way.
The Badlands were a region of extreme devastation, caused by the relentless civil wars that had been raging across the metal planet for over one hundred million years. One long-ago war had torn a massive gash in the planet, a wound that stretched from near the north pole almost all the way to the south pole. It was hundreds of miles deep and almost as wide. The lands around it, which had once been covered with cities and lives, had been nearly completely destroyed. For miles around the lips of the gash, the surface had been melted into a featureless but not smooth surface, and the edges were prone to collapsing with no warning. The damage gradually lessened farther away from the gash, the ruins of cities poking up from the melted metal. No one lived there except mech animals. The entire region was known as the Badlands.
Not far away from Iacon, but very close to the edge of the deep hole, a team of Autobots had uncovered something. Its mysteriousness had told Perceptor to contact Prime.
"All right, we're here. Now where is this thing?" Magnus growled, not ready to forgive the scientist for waking them up.
Perceptor pointed. Ultra Rodimus walked over to stare at it.
"It" was a ring-shaped object made of a strange grey material. It wasn't metal or stone. The inner ring was engraved with strange symbols. The outer ring held seven raised chevrons, evenly spaced around the edge of the ring. The lower part of the curve was embedded in a base made of the same material. Four steps led up to the ring. Nearby was a mushroom-shaped device with a red dome in the center and tiles with symbols on them placed around the dome. The symbols were the same ones engraved on the inner ring.
"What is it?" Ultra Rodimus asked.
"We are not sure," Perceptor told him. "It is powered by an energy source we cannot make heads or tails of. I do not even know what it is made of."
The Autobot leader was about to say something else, but he was cut off by a sound from the ring. He stared at it, noticing that one of the chevrons had turned red. Then a second lit up.
"Cover!"
Autobots scattered in all directions, taking cover in the ruins of a nearby city. Ultra Rodimus leaned back against a ruined wall. His red and blue stripes changed color, turning shades of grey and silver. He promptly disappeared, hiding in plain sight.
All seven of the chevrons lit up. Then a blast of bluish-silver light exploded out from the ring's empty center. It shot out for about twenty feet, hung suspended for a moment, then snapped back to form a rippling surface. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a boxy object, resembling a lunar lander or something of the sort, emerged from the energy field.
"What in Primus's name is that?" Grapple asked over his internal comlink.
Perceptor was about to start one of his long, tiring, barely understandable explanations, but Ultra Rodimus cut him off.
"Looks like a probe to me," he commented.
The probe trundled down the steps, bouncing as its treads caught the edges of the stairs. At the bottom, it stopped, and the camera mounted on it began to turn, surveying the landscape. Ultra Rodimus narrowed his eyes to slits to hide their vibrant color, but the probe only scanned the ground level. Then the energy field vanished, and the chevrons went dark.
"Now what?" someone asked.
"We wait." Ultra Rodimus shifted position and leaned back, finding a comfortable position against the wall.
About ten minutes later, the ring activated again. The Autobots tensed, wondering what would come through this time. To their surprise, a group of humans emerged. All four were armed, three with army-issue guns and one with a tall staff.
"Hold positions," Ultra Rodimus ordered. "Don't move. Let's see what they do."
"They're heading for the breach!"
To be continued...
That's two. Want more? Send me reviews, and I'll give you more chapters. Now, here are my reviewer responses:
Foxey: Glad you like it. And yes, Magnus and his koi are in it. And Magnus, you will have to deal with Jack whether you like it or not.
Quick-demon: Thank you. Keep reading. It'll get better.
Unknown: Kindly write a name; I hate getting reviews with no sender name on them. And I intend to continue it as long as the ideas keep surfacing and the reviews keep coming.
Gromia: Their reaction will be very interesting, don't worry. It'll be another two chapters before they meet, though.
Worker72: Of course I'll continue it. Just keep sending me reviews, and I'll keep the updates coming.
Until the next chapter!