Chapter 10: Meet a Force Ghost
The Nemesis was just above the atmosphere of Combatatron. The giant Cybertronian warship had just arrived above the rust red planet. It had taken five Jump Points to get to Combatatron from Nowhere. Even with the Jump Points it had taken the Nemesis twenty four hours to get from one side of the universe to other. It also did not help the travel time in that Combatatron was out with the known galaxy. Combatatron was in the part of the galaxy that had not been explored much and so very was little known about the planet that was civilised by a group of Cybertronians in the early years of the war.
The Nemesis seven massive engines hummed loudly as they kept the massive purple ship above the rust red planet. The humming was a sound that everyone was used to hearing now, even Izzy and Tentomon were used to the humming that was coming from the bowels of the ship.
As soon as the Nemesis had arrived in the orbit of Combatatron Dreadwing had a squadron of Seekers patrol around the massive ship. He had then send Skywarp along with a team of Scouting Seekers to the planet to see what was happening on the surface. Dreadwing had not only send his scouts to the planet but also Soundwave had send out a broadcast down to the planet to see anyone was going to respond back to them.
"Moonray what have you got on this planet and the Jedi Order?" Nightshade asked the AI system. She along with Galvatron had walked away from the bridge had gone to Galvatron's private office within the Nemesis. The bare chamber had once held the Dark Energon that he had used to get more powerful and was under the control of Unicron. Now it was a massive meeting room that he used to plan battle strategies. Knockout had called it the War Room. It was a room that they had hardly used in the time that he had reformed his Decepticons into the Knights of Cybertron. This was the first time that they were using the room for a meeting. It may have just been him and Nightshade but it was still a meeting. A meeting that was to determine their next move after getting the information from Moonray.
"I have only found out about Combatatron. The Jedi Order is proving to be a much harder think to find. And I am looking at all the databases around the galaxy." Moonray responded back to Galvatron. Its voice sounded in all the walls of the War Room making it hard to pinpoint where the AI was.
"What have you got about Combatatron?" Nightshade asked. She looked towards Galvatron as he sat down in the large chair that was in the War Room with eight other chairs in it.
The chairs had been positioned to form a circle so that they all face each other. In the centre of the circle of chairs was a table that had a screen on the surface. At the moment on the screen it was showing a live image of Combatatron that was below the Nemesis. The scouts were yet to report back from what was happening planet side. There was also the messages that Soundwave had send to the planet and he was waiting for a response to come back to them. So far there was no signs that there was life on that planet.
"Combatatron is a planet that was a part of the colony project that Sentinel Prime had organised long before the Great War began. He had send the most bloodthirst of both Autobots and Decepticons to the planet well away from Cybertron under the command of one of his trusted friends, King Atlas." Moonray explained to them. The information that they had gotten was from both its archives along with the archives of Teletram One. "King Atlas had send these Cybertronians who could not be controlled both in Pits of Kaon and in the Space Bridge Project that had many 'bots being send all over the galaxy. The planet did see peace for a long time, until Atlas disappeared. It is unknown how he vanished."
Nightshade and Galvatron glanced towards each other before they both looked towards the centre of the room again. They both focused on the screen on the table. "Having both Autobots and Decepticons together in one place would have been a boiling point. The Autobots must have hated Atlas for making them work with Decepticons. And the Decepticons must have hated being led by an Autobot." she spoke up as she looked at the list of Cybertronians who had gone to Combatatron. There was a lot of names that she recognised including the Combaticons who would then later be found by Starscream in one of his plans to take leadership of the Decepticons.
Galvatron then spoke up as he two was looking at the list of Cybertronians who were taken to the planet. "They may have united and taken King Atlas out. He was a common enemy for them all. And when there was an empty throne the fighting sides must have erupted into fighting." He looked away from the list and back towards Nightshade. "It sounds like the Pits of Kaon. Where the strongest survives and rules over the weak." he continued to explain. He thought back to the Pits where he had to fight many mechs and a few femmes just for a scrap of Energon before his name became famous all over Cybertron.
"What happened after King Atlas's disappearance?" Nightshade asked Moonray. She looked away from the list of Cybertronians on the screen back up to Galvatron.
"Like Galvatron had said, the planet saw many civil wars. Both warlords of Autobots and Decepticons all argued they had the right to rule over the planet. There was a few who left the planet and returned to Cybertron. By that time the war had broke out and both Megatron and Optimus Prime were leading the Decepticons and Autobots respectfully. So they were not questioned when they joined the ranks on either side." Moonray picked up explaining Combatatron.
"I remember that. Both sides were getting desperate that they hired mercs and many of them came from Combatatron and other planets all over the place." Nightshade said. "It was the time when both sides were getting desperate as there was just a stalemate on all battlefields were happening."
"If I may be able to continue without any more interruptions?" Moonray asked them. There was an annoyance tone in their voice as they spoke up again. They were getting annoyed for the amount of times that they had been interrupted by both Nightshade and Galvatron.
Once again Nightshade and Galvatron exchanged looks. "Carry on Moonray." they both said at the same time.
"Thank you. As I was saying-" Moonray was not able to continue what they were saying as the doors of the War Room.
Both Nightshade and Galvatron looked towards the door to see three mechs walking into the room. Both Dreadwing and Soundwave walked into the room followed by the smaller Seeker, Skywarp.
"Forgive us for interrupting, Sirs!" Dreadwing spoke. He bowed his helm in the direction of the two commanders sitting in the War Room. "But we have something that you need to know." he continued to say to them.
Galvatron sighed and nodded his helm. "Go ahead. What do you have to report? All of you?" he asked the three of them. His optics focused on Skywarp, the lead Seeker Scout who had gone down to the planet to scout what was happening down there.
Skywarp stepped forward, "There is no sign of any life down on the planet. That stands for both Cybertronians and organic life." he started his report. "What we did find was just the rusting remains of Cybertronians. Both being Autobots and Decepticons."
"Any signs of invasion or an outside force? Or does this look like it was themselves?" Nightshade asked the Seeker Scout.
"No. There is no signs of invasion. It looks like they killed each other. And there was signs that they knew very basic medical knowledge." Skywarp explained to her.
"So they fought each other and because they did not have any medics with them they perished of a combination of their wounds and Energon loss. This kept happening until no one was left alive on the planet. Because of that it was named the Lost Colony." Nightshade said. She looked away from all the mechs and asked, "Was this what you were going to say, Moonray?"
The AI was silent for a moment. The silence made Galvatron look towards Nightshade. He watched her running her clawed hands over her horns.
"I'm sorry Moonray." she said to the AI.
"What about now? Is there any signs of this Qui-Gon Jinn or any ships on the planet?" Galvatron asked looking between both Soundwave and Skywarp.
"No." Skywarp spoke up before Soundwave made a move or a notion that he was going to answer Galvatron's question. "My team fanned out for a good hundred miles in all directions from the coordinates of the meeting. And we all found nothing. There was no sign of anyone or any ships in the area." he continued to explain to them.
"Communications: none at all." Soundwave spoke up and earning the attention of everyone in the War Room.
"What is going on?" Nightshade asked no one in particular. "Moonray what have you found out about this Jedi Order?" she asked the AI.
"I have looked through all the databases of the Guardians, Teletram One, Nova Core, Galactic Federation along with the Shadow Proclamation." Moonray stated as they listed a few major governmental bodies across the universe. The databases of all these organisations held all the information in the known universe from races to groups. The databases had helped the Guardians in a few of their missions over the years. The Moonray did have access to all of these databases but there was a few times that they needed information that was not available to them that they have had to hack into the databases. This was one of the times that Moonray had hacked into the databases as they searched for any information about the Jed Order.
"And I have found nothing at all. No one has crossed paths with this Jedi Order. It is as if it doesn't exist." Moonray finished explaining to them.
"There is the possibility that this is a new organisation. And that is the reason as to why it is not in the records." Nightshade said. She looked back towards Galvatron. "I think we should go down and see what is happening down there." she said to him.
"It could be a trap." Dreadwing spoke up. He had been against meeting both the Collector and then coming to Combatatron. He would rather go to the Cybertronian Commonwealth and ask for help with beings that he knew better than some Order that no one knew about. Even though he was against the idea and voiced his concerns to both Galvatron and Nightshade, he still knew his place. He just send more scouts than he normally would have done when coming to a new planet.
"Yes, there is that possibility. But at the same time it may not be a trap. And this Qui-Gon may be able to help us." Galvatron said having everyone look back towards them.
Dreadwing spoke up again, "But at the cost of helping him." He crossed his arms over his chassis as he stood by the door of the War Room. "That is what worries me. What if he has heard about our past and thinks that we a bunch of mercenaries for hire?" he asked them.
"That is not possible. Only a few people know that all of you are from a different dimension altogether. It was the best thing to do to stop a panic coming. So it is very unlikely that some hermit from the ridges of the galaxy to know about your existence." Nightshade explained to him. She turned her full attention to the dark blue Seeker Commander. "All they know is that you are a branch off a special taskforce that is made of both Autobots and Decepticons who are tired of the war. That is the cover story that has been given to special governmental branches from all over universe that would take interest as to why a Cybertronian warship has appeared on Earth." she continued to explain to them.
"But that doesn't matter at the moment. Right now, I want to hear what this Jinn has to say." Nightshade said to them all.
"This is a bad idea." Dreadwing spoke up. He shook his head and closed his optics. "If you are going down to the meeting point then you should not go alone."
Nightshade scoffed and glared towards Dreadwing. "You make it sound like I am a damsel in distress. Dreadwing, I can assure you that I have been in many solo missions before. I know how to look after myself." she told the Seeker.
She got off her chair and began to walk towards the door and three mechs who were standing at the door. She stopped before the taller Seeker and looked up towards him. "But if you want, you are welcome to come with me." she said to the Seeker. "I will be leaving right away. So if you are coming you better be ready." she said to him. With that she walked out of the War Room. Her metal claws clicking on the floor with every step that she took. The clicking got quieter as she walked further away from the War Room.
Dreadwing followed after Nightshade. He too walked out of the War Room. He looked down the corridor that went to the hanger to see Nightshade's tail disappearing around the corner. He was quick to follow after her. He knew the quickest way to the hanger. He turned another corner and saw Nightshade talking to Barricade. He caught up to the two of them and stopped beside Barricade as Nightshade continued telling him what she wanted him to do.
"Have a ground team organised and have Soundwave open a ground bridge. I am not for walking into a trap with no backup to get us out." she told the black and white Paraxian. "Tell them to be ready in five minutes." she finished ordering him.
"I will get a team organised, Nightshade." he responded back to her. He then walked away looking for a couple of mechs to form the ground unit that was going to give them cover.
Dreadwing followed Nightshade as the both of them recontinued their walk to the hanger. They passed by many mechs. Most of the mechs on board of the Nemesis had been Decepticons with a few of them being Autobots. This was proof that the war can be stopped. It was proof that Megatron did not need to keep undermining both Autobots and Decepticons to get along. They knew Megatron and he was not like Galvatron. Megatron wanted to rule over everything, he saw that the strong ruled the weak. Galvatron on the other hand had been curropted and manipulated by Unicron. Unicron had used the war to cause chaos on Cybertron that weakened Primus and strengthened him to return.
"What was that all about? I thought you were fine with going and seeing this Jedi Order on your own?" he asked her. He looked down at the smaller Drakeian who walked beside him. The two of them walked side by side through the darkened halls of the Nemesis. The lights had been dimed to stimulate the night hours, mainly for Izzy and Tentomon. It also helped with the crew knowing when their shifts started and finished. The night shift was always the quitter of the shifts but in outer space there was a few more troopers walking about than when they were on a planet. There was always the worry of space pirates attacking, even a ship as large as the Nemesis.
"I have a rule." she spoke up as they both walked into the hanger. In the hanger there was very few Seekers walking about. There was a group of Insecticons talking with each other. "And this rule has kept us alive for so long. It is always travel in pairs and have a shadow to watch your back." she said to him as they kept walking towards the bay doors that would allow them to leave for the planet. The massive bay doors were still shut as the Nemesis slowly descended through the planet's atmosphere.
"I thought you wanted to go down onto the planet yourself and speak with this human alone?" he asked her. The two of them stopped in the middle of the hanger. Dreadwing crossed his arms across his chassis as he looked at the Drakeian who was studying all the mechs in the hanger. The skeleton crew who were working in the hanger were getting everything ready for a possible fight. They had been doing that since they had left Earth and then reinforced it when they got to Nowhere.
Nightshade looked towards Dreadwing. "Yes, I still want to talk to this guy. The best way to make him talk is not to appear threatening. I will go in my human form. I want you and Barricade to remain in the shadows and watch my back. Even though the scouts and Soundwave have not found any signs of any ships or anything else on the planet, we cannot take the risk of being attacked." she told him.
She looked back to the blast doors that were still closed. She looked back to Dreadwing. In the corner of her optics she saw Barricade and a group of five Vechicon troopers walking towards them with Soundwave walking behind them. She looked to Soundwave as he kept walking until he was beside her. "Are you ready to open a Groundbridge?" she asked the faceless mech.
Soundwave nodded his head. He did not say anything. He activated the Groundbridge system. He had already learned the location of the meeting. The swirling green vortex of the Groundbridge opened not far from their position.
The ground forces under the command of Barricade were already going through the Groundbridge. The Seekers who were patrolling the skies were transforming into their vehicle forms. Their afterburners roared as they raced out of the Nemesis to form a perimeter around the meeting around.
Nightshade looked back to Soundwave. "Keep listening to radio chatter. My radio will always be on when I am meeting with this Jedi. If it sounds like it is not going well be ready to send another team to cover our retreat. Also prepare the Nemesis to fallback as quickly as possible. We don't know how many ships there are waiting in the winds for an ambush." she told him.
Again, Soundwave nodded his head. He did not say anything else to them before he turned around. He walked out of the hanger without saying anything else to anyone who he passed by.
Nightshade returned her attention back to Dreadwing. "Let's go!" she told the Seeker before she walked through the Groundbridge. She was followed by Dreadwing.
The two of them emerged on the other side of the Groundbridge. The planet that they found themselves on rust red even on the ground. It was not only from the planets ground that made the planet by the rusty red colour that it was. On the ground in every direction was the rusting offline Cybertronian bodies. The two of them looked in all direction and that was all that they saw offline Cybertronians either in their robot forms or in their alt modes.
"These battles had no honour in them at all." Dreadwing stated as he and Nightshade kept looking at the battlefield. He looked at one young femme who had her chassis exploded. He then saw a mech who had been stabbed in the back. The sword that had killed him was still imbedded in his back and had pierced his spark chamber. An instant kill which was better than many of the other wounds that he was seeing all over the place.
"I think we should fly over them. Give them some respect in death. It would be better than walking on top of them." Nightshade spoke up. She looked towards him. She waited for him to nod his helm in response to what was she had said to him. Opening her wings she took to the air. She heard Dreadwing transforming behind her. The dark blue V-TOL jet was beside the much smaller dragon like Drakeian.
The two of them flew in silence towards a temple made out rusty red stones that looked like sandstone from Earth. The temple was a short and squat building. It looked sturdy enough to provide protection from a bombardment from a ship the size of the Nemesis. There was a large entryway that allowed mechs as large as Predaking in his robot form to enter without pumping his head on the stone of the archway that hung over it. On either side of the entryway was four large pillars that were almost as tall as the building itself. The pillars did have large chunks of them missing or on the ground not far from the pillars themselves.
The squat temple had been built on top of a massive staircase made out of the same red stone that the temple was built of. The stones that made the staircase were as large as the stones that had made up the Great Pyramids of Egypt on Earth. The staircases like some of the pillars and the temple itself had large chunks out of it. On the staircase there was a very few rusting Cybertronian bodies.
Standing at the top of the stairs was Barricade along with a Vechicon trooper. Barricade stood with his arms crossed over his chassis, while the trooper beside him stood with his arm transformed into a canon as he kept looking in all directions. The Paraxian stood straighter when he saw them flying towards him. "About time!" he grumbled as Dreadwing transformed back into his root form and with Nightshade landed on the top stair of the staircase.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting Barricade." Nightshade said to him with a sarcastic tone in her voice.
She looked towards the temple that was behind Barricade. The architecture of the temple was unfamiliar to her. She had never seen anything like the temple before. She had been all over the universe for Guardian business and had seen many things, but nothing was like this. She looked back to Barricade. "Have you seen anything at all? Any ships or scouts?" she asked him.
Barricade looked back at the temple entryway that loomed over him. He then looked back to both Nightshade and Dreadwing. "None so far. I have sent a couple of scouts into the temple to see if there is anything inside. I am just waiting for them to come back with their reports." Barricade responded back to her.
"Lieutenant Barricade."
A pair of Vechicon scout troopers walked out of the temple. Their steps were muffled thanks to the tires on their feet that muffled the sounds of their steps. Their paint work was much darker than a normal Vechicon trooper. Their visors were red but not as bright as the other Vechicon visors. The two scouts came to a stop before the three commanders and the other Vechicon.
"What do you have to report?" Barricade asked the two scouts.
One of the scouts spoke up, "There is no signs of any traps in the complex. We did however find one human inside the temple in the grand hall."
"Only one human? Ha, we can squash that pipsqueak with ease!" Barricade laughed.
"No. We are not here to kill this human." Nightshade spoke up. She walked towards the scouts who watched her carefully. Many of the troopers were still getting use to the fact that she was seen as an equal position of leadership to Galvatron. They watched as she walked past them and looked at the entryway with Scorponok following right after her. She stopped and looked back to the scouts. "Did you see any weapons on the human?" she asked them.
"We could not see any weapons on the human. All we could was him sitting in the middle of the room." the first scout spoke up again.
"The other thing, Commander Nightshade was that the human was not like the humans from earth." the second scout spoke up. He stood straighter when she turned her attention towards him.
"What do you mean, trooper?" Dreadwing asked. He had walked up to stand beside Nightshade just at the threshold of the temple. The dark blue Seeker glared towards the scouts. The two scouts both stood straighter when Galvatron's second in command looked towards them. He arched his optic ridge as he waited for them to respond to his question.
The scouts looked at each other before looking at the three of them. "Go ahead. You are to give us your report. The more information that you give us the better chance that we have in getting what we want and getting out alive." Nightshade spoke again and gaining their attention to her again. "We will not judge you for whatever you tell us."
"Ha! Maybe you. But not me!" Barricade scoffed. He glared between the scouts and Nightshade. He ignored the annoyed look that she was given him before he fully focused on the scouts before him. "Well, what do you have to report?" he asked them.
"The human did not appear in our sensors." the first scout spoke up. He was given the report to them all but he was looking towards Nightshade. She was the one who was calm around them all. She may still have been a new cremate but a lot of the troopers were a lot more relaxed than when they were under the commands of both Starscream and Arachnid when they never knew when those two would kill anyone who gave them the wrong answer.
"How is that possible?" Dreadwing asked. "Not unless he has technology that masks his presence from our scanners?" he suggested what was happening with the human.
"It's not just that." the scout timidly spoke up again. This gained the attention of others to look at him. They remained silent as they waited for him to continue what he was reporting to them. Nightshade looked at him with a calm look as she waited for him to continue. Dreadwing looked curious as he waited for the scout to finish. And Barricade looked angry, which was normal for him. They were used to that for their commander.
"… the human was glowing blue." the scout finished given his report.
Barricade scoffed and rolled his optics as he looked away from the scout who had given the report. Dreadwing and Nightshade both did not show any reactions at all. On the outside they may have showed no emotion at all on the outside but on the inside they were thinking over what it could mean by the scout telling them that the human was glowing blue.
"Maybe the human was just cold? Humans turn blue when they are cold?" Barricade asked Nightshade.
"Yes, but not to the point that they are glowing blue." she responded back to him. She looked back to the scouts. "Did you see anyone else? Or did you sense that this was a trap?" she asked them both.
"None, sir. He is in there alone." the scout responded back to her.
Nightshade looked back to the temple entryway. "If this is a trap, they are hiding very well. Not unless they have supernatural powers." she stated. She was still looking at the blackened entryway. She sensed Dreadwing looking at her.
"How is that possible?" he asked her.
"You have seen the effects of Dark Energon. Meet Unicron and Primus. On top of that there has also been Seth and his army from the Underworld. The supernatural is just as natural as the natural." Nightshade responded back to him. She returned her attention to all the Vechicons. "Keep scouting the area." she told them.
The three Vechicons instantly went back to patrolling the area. That just left Nightshade with Dreadwing and Barricade. The three of them had returned their attentions fully back to the entryway. The entry was dark that they were not able to see deeper into the temple, and that was even with their advantaged night vision that they all had.
"I still think this is a bad idea. We do not know what we are walking into in there." Dreadwing said. "It could be a trap."
"It's just one squishy," Barricade snapped at the two of them, "we can easily squash him."
"We have come all this way already. There is no point in turning back." Nightshade said to them both. She began to walk towards the entryway with Scorponok scuttling beside her. She kept walking and looked over her winged shoulder to the two mechs who had remained where they stood and shouted back at them, "You two are welcome to remain outside and wait for me!"
Barricade scoffed as he followed Nightshade into the temple. Dreadwing however remained in place at the entrance for an extra minute before he growled to himself and followed them both into the temple.
The interior of the temple was made out of the same sandstone as the ones on the outside. The inside was just as plain as the outside. There was no statues or any other engravements to show that a civilisation had called the planet home. There was no hints of Cybertronians coming into the temple and making the temple their home or palace. There was very little light able to get into the interior of the temple. One of the sources of light that pieced through the dim light was the headlights of Barricade's vehicle form on his chest. He walked in the middle of the group with Nightshade to his left and Dreadwing to his right. Scuttling close to the ground just ahead of them was Scorponok. The Insecticon symbiote was much quicker to move about than the larger beings behind him.
It did not take them long to find the human. He was just like the scouts had told them. He was sitting in a meditation position on the stone floor of the large grand hall of the temple. He sat with his back towards the three who entered the room with him. He looked like any other human expect for that he was blue and see through like a ghost.
Nightshade nodded at both Dreadwing and Barricade. The two mechs walked around the perimeter of the grand hall as she walked straight to the human sitting in on the ground. As she walked towards him she shifted into her human form. Her black ankle boots with a two inch heels touched down onto the stone floor as she kept walking towards the human.
"I knew you would come. Your reputation has preceded you Nightshade. But your travel companions are not what I expected at all." he spoke up. He did not look around to face her. He just kept sitting in his mediation position. His eyes were still closed even with the two Decepticons walking around the perimeter and watching his every move.
Nightshade came to a stop when she was a few feet away from him. She crossed her arms across her chest as she had her attention fully on him. She heard Scorponok scuttle to her side and stand beside her. "How do you know about me when I know nothing about you, Jinn?" she asked him.
Qui-Gon Jinn slowly got back to his feet. He turned around and looked towards her. He was like the recording that he had send to the Collector who had then given to them. His hands were hidden in his long robes before he clasped them together in front of him.
"The Force." he responded back to her.
"The force. Never heard of that. You better explain quickly if you want our help." Nightshade responded back to him. She kept her arms crossed over her chest as she kept her attention on Qui-Gon. She could hear both Barricade and Dreadwing still moving about and the perimeter of the room.
"Then I can not explain fully about the Force. What I can tell you that there is a great darkness looming over head. But there is a brighter light that will safe two galaxies." Qui-Gon responded back to Nightshade.
Nightshade growled and narrowed her eyes towards them. "You are talking in riddles old man!" she growled back to him. She nodded her head towards Barricade and Dreadwing. A sign that the meeting was over and they were going back to the Nemesis. She could see the two mechs beginning to walk back to the threshold of the temple.
She looked back to Qui-Gon to see that he either a knowing smile or a sad smile. Maybe a knowing sad smile on his face. "We are done here." she told him. She then turned around to being walking back to the threshold of the temple. Beside her Scorponok was at her side as the two of them walked back out of the temple.
"Trust in the Force." they all heard Qui-Gon mutter.
They all stopped to look back at the centre of the room where the Jedi had been only a matter of seconds. Thinking that it was all over they turned around to begin once again walking towards the threshold. They only took a few steps when they felt that something was wrong. Before they could react or doing anything there was a strange feeling that overcame them. The feeling was alien that saw all of them going into stasis lock.