Author's Note: I've finally gotten control over the keyboard back from Stripes. He's not a bad writer, but if he tries to lock me up again, I'll paint him bright pink!
Ultra Rodimus: Please no! (Hides under bed)
Me: Then don't pull a stunt like that again. Clear?
Ultra Rodimus: Clear.
Me: Then behave yourself, or you'll end up like the rest of those plotters. (Glances back at several Autobots in body casts)
Ultra Rodimus: (whimpers)
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 does not belong to me. Nor do the Transformers. Ultra Rodimus, Falcon, and a Goa'uld who'll be showing up in this chapter do belong to me.
Cyber Stargate
Chapter 12: Battle and Capture
The group had only a few moments to stare at the ha'tak before staff weapon blasts began flying out of the trees. SG-1 and the Autobot Prime dove for cover. Ultra Rodimus raised his right arm, letting Falcon take a shot at the hidden Jaffa. A shriek told him that he'd hit something.
"Nice shot!" Jack yelled.
"Thanks!" Ultra Rodimus found a handy boulder and ducked behind it, pulling his pulser rifle from subspace and slamming a flechette cartridge into it. Then he waited for a break in the firing before popping out to fire back.
Each shot pumped out half a dozen tiny darts, each one with molecular edges on their blades. The edges were only a single molecule thick, and would go through even the thickest Transformer armor like tissue paper. When he pulled the trigger, the darts shot out at a speed twice as fast as a regular bullet. Tree trunks were chewed apart by the barrage. The darts went through them without losing too much speed, then tore through the Jaffa hiding behind those trees.
Jaffa armor was nowhere near as strong as Transformer armor.
The lucky ones were chewed in half or completely shredded by the flechettes. The not-so-lucky ones lost arms, legs, or chunks of torsos, but weren't killed by it. The really unlucky ones were in the back. The darts were so slowed down by going through so much packed flesh that when they hit the rearmost Jaffa, they were unable to go all the way through. Instead of being killed instantly, they were disembowelled, left to die in puddles of their own blood and intestines.
The Jaffa scurried back.
"I want one of those," Jack muttered.
"Only if you can prove you're skilled and experienced enough to handle it!" Ultra Rodimus ripped off another barrage. Then he heard something and looked up.
Dozens of bronze-colored craft had emerged from the ha'tak and were swooping down at them. Ultra Rodimus eyed them curiously.
"Death gliders!" Sam yelled.
Ultra Rodimus subspaced his rifle and pulled out his plasma rifle. Bracing the butt of the weapon on his shoulder, he switched off the safety and took aim. Once he'd gotten one of the gliders dead center in his scope, he pulled the trigger.
A burst of superheated gas and raw energy exploded from the barrel, the recoil making Ultra Rodimus take a step back to keep his balance. Daniel blinked rapidly to clear the flash spots from his eyes and then looked up, tracking the plasma blast.
The glider never even knew what hit it.
The shot caught it right in the belly. In less than a second, the metal had melted and the full fury of a star's heart smashed deep into the craft's engines. The result was a blinding fireball and a deafening boom. Tiny pieces of glider, the parts that had managed to escape complete disintegration, rained down into the forest. The echoes of the explosion hadn't even faded when Ultra Rodimus ripped off three more shots in quick succession, picking off three more and taking out another nine that had been too close to the exploding gliders. He was scanning the sky for another target when the Jaffa they hadn't noticed burst out of the trees and pounced on them.
"Jaffa!" Sam yelled in alarm, spinning to bring her gun to bear. She got off several shots before they were too close for her to shoot. She dropped her gun, pulled out a knife, and fought back. Two Jaffa were down when a zat trilled, and Sam went down in a motionless heap.
"Sam!" Daniel tried to help her, but he was swarmed by serpent-helmed Jaffa and quickly subdued. Jack shot down four more, but was seized from behind. He struggled, but three serpent guards pinned his arms and held him still.
The instant they came at Ultra Rodimus, he exploded into motion.
Despite his youth, he'd been fighting in the Cybertronian civil war since he was old enough to hold a gun. In all of his various forms, he'd been fighting for over four million years. Since his rebirth as Ultra Rodimus, he'd trained in and mastered over a dozen styles of hand-to-hand combat from as many different worlds. Anyone who tried to take him in hand-to-hand was taking their life in their hands.
The helmets the Jaffa wore made shots to the head and neck nearly impossible, but Ultra Rodimus didn't have to hit them there to kill them. The first one to get too close charged straight into a kick that could break bricks. The Jaffa's breastplate crumpled like tin foil. Bones broke with audible cracks. Coughing blood, the Jaffa went down and didn't get back up. Others ran past him, heading for the tall warrior.
Ultra Rodimus grabbed one by the back of his armor, heaved him off his feet, and slammed the Jaffa down on the boulder. The Jaffa oofed as the wind was slammed out of him. That grunt became a groan of pain as the Autobot leader brought his elbow down on the alien's chest and then turned away, leaving him to die as his heart and lungs forgot to function. Another lunged at him, but he sidestepped and the Jaffa stumbled past him. Ultra Rodimus's arm snaked around the Jaffa's neck. Then the young Prime pivoted on his own center of balance and bent explosively, bending the Jaffa's spine too far in a direction it was not meant to go. Loud pops could be heard as the Jaffa's back broke in six places. Ultra Rodimus dropped him and turned.
He fought hard, but there were simply too many Jaffa. Eventually, they managed to bring him down and bind his arms together. Eyes flashing with rage, breath coming in harsh blasts, Ultra Rodimus was forced down beside SG-1.
"Nice fighting," Jack told him in a whisper.
"Thanks." Ultra Rodimus's response was no louder than a whisper. "Who are these guys?"
"They serve Apophis," Daniel told him.
"Great," Jack muttered. "Old snakehead again."
Ultra Rodimus muffled a snicker.
The head Jaffa forced them to their feet and began herding them toward the ha'tak. Ultra Rodimus turned his head and fixed a look on the Jaffa, a look he normally reserved for staring down Galvatron and really stupid Autobots. The Jaffa could only meet his gaze for a moment before shuddering and looking away. Looking slightly pleased with himself, Ultra Rodimus ignored him.
"Intimidation?" Jack whispered.
"Had to learn it. And it's more of a really good glare plus my sheer presence than anything else," the Prime whispered back.
A staff weapon prodded him in the back sharply. "No talking!"
Ultra Rodimus hissed a foul word in ancient Autobot under his breath, shooting the instigator a look that promised his slow and painful demise. The Jaffa stared at him in panic, then scooted back a few paces.
Once they reached the ha'tak, they were led through the corridors until they reached the command chamber. Apophis, dressed as usual in vaguely Egyptian garments, waited for them. Once he'd noticed just who he'd caught, a smirk of triumph crossed his face, and he launched into the usual "I-am-the-almighty-conqueror" speech.
Halfway through, Ultra Rodimus turned to Jack. "Does he ever shut up?" he asked loudly and bluntly.
"Not to my knowledge," Jack answered.
Apophis's First Prime jabbed his staff weapon into the Autobot's back. "You will be silent!" he ordered.
Ultra Rodimus turned and gave the Jaffa a poisonous stare. "Poke me one more time with that thing and I promise you'll regret it," he informed the alien in a tone he usually used on arrogant Quints. Then he turned away.
The Jaffa's face darkened with rage, and he slammed the tip of the staff into Ultra Rodimus's spine. The Autobot leader's eyes flashed with fury. His arms tensed, then jerked. The restraints snapped like thread. Ultra Rodimus was already turning, one hand upraised. His eyes blazed.
"What did I just tell you?!" he roared, driving his fist into the Jaffa's face with all of his strength behind it.
Bone shattered with a sickening crack. Blood flew. Ultra Rodimus literally smashed the Jaffa's face in. Instantly dead, the slain alien collapsed.
The Autobot Prime glared at the stunned Jaffa and the staring Goa'uld, ignoring the blood that covered his arm almost to the elbow. "Who else wants to try it?" he hissed.
"Bring him down!" Apophis yelled.
Reluctantly, the Jaffa obeyed. Ultra Rodimus bared his teeth and waded right in. Bodies flew in all directions. Then one managed to get a bead on him.
"Look out!" Daniel yelled.
Too late.
Ultra Rodimus whipped around to find another target and found himself staring at the business end of a zat. Before he could react, the Jaffa fired. The shot hit the Autobot in the chest, forcing him back. Ultra Rodimus went down hard. He was immediately pinned.
Apophis approached, the Jaffa parting for him. His eyes glowed as he regarded the unconscious warrior. Crouching down, he ran one gold-tipped finger along the edge of Ultra Rodimus's jaw.
"A formidable warrior," Apophis noted. "He will make an excellent host." Rising to his feet, he barked an order, and two Jaffa hurried out. When they returned, they carried between them a container of fluid. Inside, a Goa'uld swam in circles.
"No!" Sam lunged, but was seized by several Jaffa and held in place. The rest of SG-1 could only watch in horror as Apophis lifted the parasite out of the tank and lowered it toward Ultra Rodimus's unprotected neck. The creature hissed loudly and then penetrated, vanishing into Ultra Rodimus's body. Apophis stepped back. The Jaffa let go and backed up. All of them waited eagerly for the new host to wake up.
Ultra Magnus suddenly stiffened, a look of panic spreading over his face. The other Autobots fell silent, watching him carefully. They all knew that whatever it was that had so alarmed him had happened to Ultra Rodimus.
"What?" one of them finally asked.
"It's Roddy..."
"We know. What happened?" Springer repeated urgently.
The city commander's eyes fixed on him, worry and helplessness in their depths. "One of those Goa'uld got into him. He's been taken..."
To be continued...
Ooh, I'll bet you hate me for this! Sorry this chapter took so long to come out, but I couldn't get to a computer that had WordPerfect on it. This is the first chance I've had since the last time I updated. So I'm sorry about the delay. And here are my reviewer responses:
Worker72: The Quints are floating eggs with tentacles. But they only created the Transformers. The beings they sold the Transformers to were not like the Quints. I don't know who they were, but I suspect they were more human-shaped. Besides, there are plenty of younger Transformers, and they are strangely similar in their attitudes to most human teenage males.
Fenestrae: Yeah, I got 'em good. Does this chapter answer your questions? Just don't bite my head off for letting it dangle like this. If you hurt me there won't be anyone to finish the story.
Shawn Provoncha: You're welcome. And I've noticed that when you say you really like something in your reviews, you leave one of the 'l's out of 'really'. Just thought I'd point that out.
Gromia: He did a good job, didn't he? But he'll regret it if he ever pulls a stunt like that again. So you suffer from the same problem I have, huh? Lack of computer memory. Don't you just hate that?
See you all again next chapter!