Prologue, Part 2: The Broken Moon
Rodimus rebooted his systems with a groan. His vision was blurry, registering nothing but darkness. His optics readjusted themselves to find that the Arclight was in complete darkness. Emergency power soon kicked in and small lights flickered to life around him. One by one, the bots on deck came to and rose to their feet. The cadet clenched his forehead as he leaned on a terminal.
"Ugh," he groaned. "And I thought PoKEs had a mean punch."
A short aching laugh caught his audio receptors. "Now that, I can agree with you on," he said as he straightened himself up.
Rodimus took a glance out the main window of the ship. While the presence of stars and space dust assured him they were all alive, he didn't see any constellation or planet he recognized.
"Where are we?" he asked no one in particular.
Another bot beside him- Trailbreaker- opened up the Navi-computer. "If I were to guess," he said. "We're inside the dark nebula. Not picking up anything from the Space Bridge, though. Must've shorted itself out after we were pulled in."
"So in other words," Whirl concluded. "We're trapped here."
Prowl growled as he rose from his seat. "We are not trapped anywhere," he said defiantly. "We should still be able to quantum jump out of here."
Prowl tapped into his comlink as he typed something into his computer monitor, bringing several meters and gauges up on the screen.
"Prowl to Huffer, do you read me?" he asked.
Static came first, then a grumpy old voice. "Yeah, I hear ya," It said. "What the scrud was that? An EMP?"
"Space Bridge malfunction," Prowl corrected him. "What's the status on the generators?"
"Obviously auxiliary power's all fine and dandy. Main generator's got a mild case of static, but it should still be operational. The Quantum Generators…." A nervous chuckle came up. "...are another story. Looks like fried Sharkticon right now."
"Estimation as to when repairs will be complete?" Prowl asked.
"Shouldn't take long for us to siphon out the static discharge," replied Huffer. "But the Quantums are my main concern. It could take a full orbital cycle to replace all the damaged components. And I'm not even sure if we have all the necessary materials for those."
Prowl sighed, turning his gaze towards the main window. He could see make out three celestial bodies up ahead. Two of them appeared to be planetoids, one their local sun.
"Swerve, run a geological scan on those two bodies," Prowl ordered.
A hulking red-and-white bot with blue-tinted windows and visor complied. "One of them appears to be a moon of some sort, but it looks damaged. Seeing a lotta satellite bodies in its region. Fragments maybe. The planet it's orbiting appears to have a variety of ecosystems. Picking up some type of energy from it, but I can't make headlights or tailpipes from here."
"Could this energy be converted into Energon?" Prowl inquired.
Swerve shrugged. "We'd have to run some experiments to answer that question. But I am picking up some metals too. Might be able to harvest those for repairs at the very least."
He shifted his focus to the moon. "Something about that thing bothers me, though," He said. "The way those rocks are shaped indicates that they were broken off. Picking up a variant of that weird energy. Different wavelengths, and giving off some type of radiation too. This can't be the work of nature."
Kup walked towards the younger bot. "Think someone used it as target practice for some doomsday weapon?" he asked.
Swerve shrugged again. "Too many variables and not enough data for anything concrete."
Kup was about to say something when a faint glint caught his optic. "Wait," he pointed out. "What's that over there?"
Trailbreaker zoomed in on the object in question with the main monitor. The next image sent a chill down everyone's spinal cords. There, floating like a dead fish in the water, was the Leviathan. Much their own ship, the majority of it was cast into darkness. Only faint signs of auxiliary power could be seen in the bridge.
"Trailbreaker, run a quick scan on the Leviathan," Prowl commanded.
The Autobot nodded, bringing up a holographic display of a number of charts.
"Looks like they got a power outage too," he confirmed. "But there's no telling when their system will reboot either."
Whirl clapped his pincers in a menacing manner. "Then what are we standing around for?" he laughed. "Let's march over there and blow them all to he-"
"Problem," Trailcutter interrupted, pointing at a flickering image. "Our turrets are offline."
"Say what!?"
Prowl marched over to Trailbreaker's post and looked at his readings. "He's right," he confirmed. "That energy wave burnt out all exterior blasters. Took a large portion of our shields with it too."
"Don't we have some more cannons on reserve or something?" Rodimus asked.
"You'd have to manually activate and mount those," The black-and-red Autobot replied. "They're not connected to the ship's operating system."
Prowl crossed his arms. "And who knows many more Vehicons they have?" He noted.
He stared at the view before him, silently weighing his options. They had the element of surprise earlier and caught the 'Cons off guard after their radar was disabled. They were on the offensive while the 'Cons had to defend the Space Bridge. But now that they were out in open space, there won't anything to hold them back. They had the numbers and potentially the firepower. The Arclight didn't have as many Autotroppers compared to the Vehicon armies. His gaze turned towards the moon.
"Get us over to that moon," Prowl commanded. "We can use it as cover in case their systems are online. If there's any radiation left, we might be able to mask the ship's heat signature with it. Keep everything under backup power unless absolutely necessary."
Swerve and the other bots at the terminals saluted. "You got bot it, boss-bot," Said Swerve.
The Arclight's engines flared to life and pushed the vessel onwards. All bots on the bridge began returning to their assigned posts. As the vessel drew closer and closer to the satellite, something popped up on Trailbreaker's monitor.
"Captain," He said. "I'm picking up a heat spike."
"Where?" Prowl asked.
The ship rumbled before the soldier could say anything. An alarm sounded off.
"Wha- the scrap was that!?" Rodimus shouted.
The energy reading on the ebony bot's screen began rising.
"It's the Leviathan!" He shouted. "They were playing roboto-possum!"
Suddenly the graphs and meters were replaced with the radar. One massive dot was the edge, while countless small ones spawned before it.
"We've got multiple bogies commander!" he alerted.
Prowl summoned camera footage from his seat's projector. It revealed the enemy ship to be fully functional and sent out a swarm of shapes from its hull. Zooming in revealed a number of torpedoes at the front, with Seekers and dropships behind them. A few shapes stood out from the crowd, but he couldn't get a clear view of them.
"No point in tiptoeing now," He said. "Reboot main generators and get all that power into shields and engines. Save some for our reserve fire."
Prowl activated the intercoms and brought a microphone to his lips. "All hands on deck! We have multiple Seekers and missiles heading towards us! Get into defensive positions! Make your way to the reserve cannons and get them online, NOW!"
"Captain," Swerve spoke up. "If I may?"
"Make it quick," Said Prowl.
"Why not make a detour through the moon's debris field?" the other bot suggested. "We can use it as cover from the missiles."
Prowl smiled. "Do it," he ordered.
The troops followed through and changed course for the belt. The ship's cannons slid into view and opened fire on the torpedoes. Some managed to take a number of them down, others either missed or were hit themselves. The dropships advanced through the smoke, moving over towards the gaps created by the explosions. They were about to unload Vehicons and other troops into the vessel when they saw the incoming obstacle.
Some of them pulled back and rejoined the armada. Others took a gamble and flew onwards. The Arclight and its pursuers dove into the miniature asteroid field, though its size made it difficult to completely avoid them. The ship ran into some of them, taking moderate portions of the shields. The cannons had to juggle between the stray rocks and enemy fire. This gave the dropships the opportunity to slip by and make their ploy. Most of them crashed into debris playing their gambit. The lucky ones managed to unload their troops before joining the rest in flames.
The leader of one such pack was a Decepticon with yellow, orange, and grey paint. His optics and mouth emitted an eerie- almost ghoulish- lime-green glow. The way his mandible twisted and turned indicated some level of pain going on inside of him.
He and his group had encountered some resistance in the form of Autotroopers. One of the white-armored soldiers lunged at him, but the 'Con caught him by the throat. With his other hand, orange-yellow energy coated him and his prey. The bot screamed in agony before the Energon lights dotting his body and his optics faded away. He dropped the drained chassis onto the floor.
Dead End took in a sigh of relief and smiled. "Now that was refreshing," He said with a chuckle.
As the Vehicons gunned the last of the Autotroopers, his comms lit up.
"Thrust to Dead End," Said a voice. "Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear," The Stunticon replied. "Just enjoying a quick snack."
"Focus, soldier," Retorted the tactician. "We need someone to disable the turrets inside."
"On it," said the energy vampire before hanging up.
He and his crew transformed into vehicle mode and rolled out. They mowed down any Autotropper that stood in their path until they found one of the cannons. It was being manned by a Minicon of all 'Bots. Dead End didn't dwell on this fact too much and drew out his E.D.K. TechVolt, overloading the gun's systems with its electrical charge. The thing exploded before the little one realized what was going on and was flung into the wall behind him. He found himself buried in its wreckage, with only a serve and his head sticking out. Shrapnel was cutting into his buried limbs.
Dead End stared down at the Autobot trying to dig his way out. "Don't bother struggling," He said as he rose his servo. "You will be free soon enough."
He activated his vampiric powers and began draining the poor fellow of his Energon. Before he could finish his meal, though, his troops were blown to smithereens with a rocket. He heard someone switch modes before a fist slammed into his cranium. He lost concentration and stumbled, open for a volley from a Neutron assault rifle. That same bot drew out a sword and hacked away at his minions. Dead End sprinted towards a corner in the hall and took cover.
Chromedome knelt to Rewind's side while more Autotroopers came to his aid. "You alright?" He asked with concern.
"Ugh, I'm fine," Rewind said weakly, visor flickering. "Just feeling like scrap is all."
Chromedome clasped his hands on Rewind's free one. "We need to get you recharged," He said.
He summoned an Energon cube from his storage compartment and handed it to him. The Minicon soaked its contents up and his lights flared up.
"Thanks," he said. "But it'll just leak back out. I need someone to close the wounds."
The bulk dug him out of the scrap and cradled him in his arms. "Cover me," he ordered. "I need to find First Aid."
The troops let out a short "roger" and opened fire on a peeping Dead End. Chromedome ran the way he came through, ducking under blaster fire. A Vehicon noticed the pair and attempted to rush him. He was quickly cut down by the Autobot after he converted an arm into an assault rifle. The Bulk slid under another and headbutted the one behind him. Eventually, he found his target in the middle of a firefight.
At the center of a makeshift ring was a white-and-red bot with a blue visor. His shoulders markings resembled squiggly lines (like readings of a spark's pulse). This is their chief medical officer, First Aid.
A Vehicon was firing at him with a Nucleon Charge Rifle, yet his aim was rather terrible. First Aid's was not so shoddy. A well-thrown ax lodged itself into the minion's faceplate, splattering Energon all over his friends. Another shot off an Autotropper's arm, though, and he fell to the ground. The doctor rushed to his side and drew out his Energon repair ray, cauterizing the wound with it. Chromedome waved his free arm in the air.
"First Aid!" He shouted.
The medic turned to the Mnenosurgent, converting his free arm into a Path Blaster.
"Duck!" he warned.
Chromedome did as told and yelped as molten metal soared over his head. It landed in the face of a Vehicon behind him, melting it and seeping into his spark chamber. The corpse collapsed as the yellow-visored bot leaped into the circle of scrap. As soon as he did, found himself surrounded by bodies. Some of them functioned, some didn't. Rewind seemed just as disturbed by the sight as him. First aid noticed the Energon on the Bulk's arms.
"Set him down," First Aid said.
Chromedome rested the Minicon onto the floor. First Aid aimed with his ray and closed up all his wounds.
Rewind gave the medic a thumbs-up. "Yeah, thanks doc," He said.
The lower portions of his visor darkened one, the angle indicating pride or happiness. "You're welcome," He replied.
A savage warcry caught their attention. Dead End came flying down on them, blades first. Chromedome summoned his own swords and parried the 'Con's drop attack. He kicked him out of the ring and leaped after him. The two quickly engaged each other in a duel, taking their fight into another hall. Rewind was about to go after the two, but a firm hand from First Aid stopped him.
"He can handle himself," The medic said. "But my patients can't in their current state."
Rewind glanced around. Many of the functioning soldiers didn't seem to be in any shape to fight. Even fewer walk or transform.
"Help me get the wounded to safety," the Protectobot pleaded. "There are some stasis pods nearby we can store them in."
The Minicon paused for a moment, processing the situation. "But what can I do? I can't carry Bulks or anything."
First Aid pointed at the cannons on the little one's back. "You got those," He said. "Statis rounds, right? Should be able to stun them long enough for us to slip through."
The Minicon nodded before hopping over, converting into tank mode. It wasn't as imposing as Brawl's, but it had its advantages. He fired at a couple of Vehicons, trapping them in Statis lock.
"Wha-?!" His first victim shouted. "Can't. Move!"
Rewind kept firing at the 'Cons nearest to him. With a way cleared, First Aid and the standing troops pushed through. Some of them were in vehicle mode, carrying the wounded on their hoods. As they headed towards the pods, Rewind caught a glimpse of Chromedome and Dead End. He stood there watching for a moment, frozen as he watched their battle. A cry from the Autotroopers brought him back to reality and he rejoined them. He knew what his Bulk friend was capable of. He just had to have faith in him.
By this point in time, the Arclight had just exited the debris field. Though it had been a bumpy ride, the ship managed to evade the torpedoes and shot down every Seeker outside. Prowl allowed a sigh of relief to escape from his lips.
"Trailbreaker, report," he commanded.
The blue-visored bot typed a sequence into his computer. "Looks like we got all the bogies, sir," he said. "Some of the 'Cons managed to slip in through the gaps they made, though. We're getting reports of firefights and wounded. I don't think the Leviathan ever gave chase, though."
Prowl smiled. Swerve's plan was a success. But they could've just as easily flown over the moon by now. They could be hiding anywhere.
A voice came up on his terminal. "Prowl! We could really use a servo here!" he shouted.
Prowl traced the call and brought up a live feed of the Sargent's location. It was on the engine decks on the rear of the ship. Bringing up a live feed of the area revealed it to be swarming with Vehicons and Seekers. Kup, Rodimus, and several more 'bots were hiding behind cover, raining blaster fire and rockets at them. They were heavily outnumbered.
Prowl pressed a button and activated the intercom in the docking bay.
"Prowl to Scattershot, do you read me?" He asked.
"Loud and clear, chief," responded the voice.
"Get as many Destroyers and Marauders as can you can to the engine deck," He commanded. "Protect it at all costs."
"Roger roger!" Laughed the tank-bot before he hung up.
Red Alert's radar started beeping after that. "Captain, we're picking up movement," he said.
"Where?" asked Prowl.
His answer came in the form of a shadow looming over the Arclight. The vessel rumbled as something pierced through the hulls. The mystery object came crashing down through the room above him, nearly landing atop him. The captain leaped off his seat just in time to dodge a tow cable impaling the ship.
Prowl groaned as he rose back up. "Nevermind," he said.
Whirl instinctively converted his claws into blades. "We got cannon fodder incoming!" he shouted.
Vehicon Shotgunners descended onto the bridge, ripping Autotroppers to shreds with their Scatter Blasters. Prowl duked behind his terminal and drew out his Photon Burst rifle. One by one, he blasted off the craniums of the minions. Whirl's oversized pincers meanwhile made for great shielding, blocking their shots. He sliced the fellows to pieces at every chance he got. Yet even as they mowed down the enemy, the ship was being bombarded from the outside.
"WARNING; SHIELDS AT FIFTEEN PERCENT." Droned the ship's computer. "FIFTY-EIGHT PERCENT OF BLASTERS DISABLED."
Prowl growled as a telecom opened up on his monitor. It revealed footage of the battles going on within the vessel. Vehicons swarmed the decks like Insecticons and mowed down anything in their path. Many Autotroopers were in critical condition. Many more had already fallen. Another camera showed live footage of Kup and Rodimus firing at more of them.
"We're losing ground here Prowl!" The Sargent exclaimed through the commlink. "We're barely holding the fort as is!"
"Keep firing," Commanded Prowl. "Marauders and Destroyers are on their way to your position now."
"Tell them to kick it into overdrive!" Shouted Rodimus.
The crimson bot ducked under cover as Seekers rained laser blasts down on him. Yet among the crowd one of them stood out. Hovering in the center of the storm was a forest-green and purple flyer. It wasn't sleek like the Seekers but rather massive and hulking. A bomber perhaps?
Kup had seen that alt-mode before and who it belonged to. And it was moving towards them.
"Everybot get inside and close the gates now!" He shouted.
"What? And let the-" He stopped as he saw the giant plane above and immediately ran for the door.
The bomber converted into a brutish robot with massive fists. His head had a massive optic, with two more on each side. On one hand was a mace, longer than the average Bulk. His other one quickly extended and lit up.
"Glory to Megatron!" cried Lugnut.
His fist collided with the floor and the whole area was bathed in bright orange light. The impact from the resulting explosion was felt all across the Arclight (and the Leviathan, to a lesser degree). Prowl struggled to keep his balance while the ship quaked. His monitor picked up nothing but static on the engine deck's security camera. A new alarm flared to light and coated the room in crimson light.
"WARNING: PoKE DETECTED IN ENGINE DECK. MAIN THRUSTERS IN CRITICAL CONDITION!" announced the ship's main computer.
Prowl snarled under his breath. "Weapons update," he commanded.
"SEVENTY-EIGHT PERCENT OF CANNONS OFFLINE," noted the computer. "MISSILES ARMED AND READY."
"Well that could've come in handy in - oh, I don't know," Whirl began sarcastically. "THE NANO-SECOND WE ARRIVED IN THIS FRAGGIN' SYSTEM!"
Another rumble rocked the Arclight. The former Wrecker growled. "Just unload the damn things now and get us outta here!"
"At this range?" Exclaimed Red Alert. "We'll all be caught in the blast radius!"
Prowl gripped his forehead, his processor aching. Then an idea presented itself to him.
"Then we just need to be off the ship when it happens," He said.
"Excuse me?" Said the security chief.
Prowl tapped into his coms and broadcasted it to every Autobot connected.
"All personal, get to the nearest escape pods and dropships! Repeat, find an escape pod or dropship!" He ordered. "We are about to initiate Protocol R.I.D. Do not disengage unless I give the word."
He turned to the surviving crewbots. "That includes the majority of you. Whirl, Trailbreaker, stay here and protect the computer while I active the countdown for the missiles."
He linked up his coms while he type away. "You there Groove?" He asked.
"'Course I am," The Protectobot replied. "Making my way to the deck right now."
"When you get there, find my shuttle and reboot its defense systems," he said. "Defend it until a few friends and I reach you."
"Aye aye captain," replied the 'bot.
"ALERT! INCOMING TRANSMISSION FROM DECEPTICON VESSEL!" hailed the ship's computer.
"Patch it through," said Prowl. "You two keep the caller busy while I work."
The main projector spawned an image of Thrust's head front and center.
"Salutations, Autobots," greeted the air marshal.
Whirl snorted. "Hello yourself, squidhead," he retorted.
The Seeker growled at the nickname. "Not you too," he muttered under his breath. He cleared his throat. "I'm sure you've already noticed this, but your ship is… a little out of shape. Your engines and weapons are down, your crew is in shambles. We could finish you off right here and now, but that's not why I called. I'm here to offer mercy. All I want is information. Answer my question and I may grant you the dignity of burning up in the atmosphere below."
Trailbreaker crossed his arms. "How do we know you'll keep your word?" he retorted.
"You don't," the Decepticon admitted. "But you don't have many options left, do you?"
"Then spit it out, already," Whirl said.
The digital face floated closer to them as its optics narrowed. "Where. Is. Optimus. Prime?" he demanded.
The two bots turned to one another. Whirl simply shrugged.
"Even if we did know, we'd never tell you" Trailbreaker confessed.
Thrust's brows furrowed. "Then you are of no use to us," he said darkly.
The transmission ended. The cables ensnaring them suddenly went limp. The Leviathan had detached them and was moving into position before them. As it turned around to face them, Prowl stopped tying.
"Uh, anybot got a sinking feeling about this?" Whirl asked.
The other two nodded. As if on cue, nine panels under the main bridge bloomed open. A massive cannon jutted out from the opening, glowing a fiery orange-red. Prowl just stared jaws agape at the sight for a few seconds but he shook it off. He frantically readjusted the ship's targeting parameters as the cannon charged up.
"You two roll out," The captain said as he typed. "I'll be right behind you."
"But-" Trailbreaker protested.
"GO!"
Trailbreaker stood there for a moment. As Prowl entered the final commands into his console, Whirl grabbed the ground-based bot by the shoulders and threw him up into the air. The ex-Wrecker converted into his helicopter mode and magnetized the bot to his underside. The blue flyer dragged him kicking and screaming from the bridge and towards the hanger. Once Prowl finished his job, he transformed into his wheeled form and darted after them.
"Now!" He shouted into the intercoms.
He could hear the clicking and whooshing of the escape pods all around him. He faintly picked up the engines of the dropship departing from their stations. And he could hear an explosion erupting from behind him. A wave of heat and flame was speeding down the hall just behind him. He activated his turbo-boosters in an attempt to outrun the blast, but it only put a modest amount of distance between him and it.
His shuttle was up ahead now. Surrounding it was a forcefield, no doubt the handiwork of Trailbreaker. Whirl was on the back reaching out for him with his claw. Prowl saw some cargo up ahead, arranged on a slope. A convenient ramp in his case. The captain drove up towards it and kicked in his boosters again. As he soared through the air he converted back to protoform mode.
A small opening spawned in the forcefield for him to slip in through. He ended up crashing into Whirl and sending the two of them tumbling into the front seats. Just as the door and bubble closed behind them, the whole ship spun out of control. Everyone was flung around like ragdolls and could make sense of anything right now. Prowl managed to grab onto his seat and brought up his monitors. The heat shields were active and all sorts of warnings were flashing in front of his face.
"Brace for impact!" He shouted.
It would be the last thing they heard before they crashed and the world went black.
Moments ago on the Leviathan, Trust had just disconnected from the transmission. He turned to Switchblade.
"Permission to conduct a test run of my pet project, captain?" he asked.
A nod was all the blessing he needed. He synched his coms with the Seeker armada and the Vehicons aboard the Arclight.
"Attention Decepticons! The Autobot vessel is crippled and defenseless. Their engines are dead and the crew is in chains. Now is our chance to finish them off!" He said.
He could hear the 'Cons cheering throughout the network. He smiled under his mouthplate as he pressed a button. A metallic groaning sound echoed through the bridge as diagrams and readings flooded the main computer. The schematics of a large cannon popped up at the center.
"HYDRA CANNON ONLINE." Droned the computer.
Thrust rubbed his servos together.
"All personnel are to return to the Leviathan. Repeat, return to the Leviathan. The fireworks are about to begin."
"Sir," Piped in a Seeker via the comms. "I picked up something on my thermal scanners as I left the enemy ship."
Switchblade crossed his arms chuckling. "Missiles, no doubt. Always defiant to the end. Computer, increase the threshold of frontal shields by sixty percent. Leave the rest of the power for the cannon."
"ACKNOWLEDGED." Boomed the system.
A minute passed before all the warriors returned to the ship. Once they had all returned, Thrust showed them the true power of the Hydra Cannon. The blast struck the bridge first, instantly blowing it to shreds. The energy coursed through the rest of the vessel with similar results. Just before the attack, though, the Autobots abandoned ship. It was of no concern to them. They could always hunt them down later.
What did concern them was the payload it managed to deploy around the same time. Dozens of missiles were launched from all around the Arclight and straight towards the Leviathan. No, under it. The captain and his advisor quickly realized what they were up to.
"RetracttheHydraCannonandrerouteallpowerto-" Thrust blurted out.
Too late. The torpedoes hit their mark. The gun exploded into a fiery maelstrom that ate away at the underbelly of the ship. Reports of decks being lost in the explosion popped up all around their main projector. They could see 'Cons and escape pods falling into the planet's orbit. And to their dismay, the bridge would suffer a similar fate.
Another explosion sent Thrust and several others out into the void. The seeker instinctively assumed flight mode and engaged his personal heat shields. Many of the others didn't fare so well and began burning up upon atmospheric entry. Switchblade was nowhere to be seen. He saw holographic constructs taking the place of windows and walls where the originals stood. The engines had absorbed some of the Hydra Cannon's energies and burned out from the strain. The ship managed to its attention on the celestial body behind it and made planetfall. He assumed that Switchblade had survived the chaos and asserted manual control over the Leviathan.
The tactician opened up his comms. "After it!" Commanded Thrust. "We must ensure the safety of-"
Another burst of energy interrupted him. This time, seemed to originate from the atmosphere. A purple bolt of lightning struck everything entering the exosphere. Though the heat shields still held, it managed to bypass them and directly strike at the inner mechanisms of anyone outside an escape pod or vehicle. Thrust and his Seekers found themselves mode-locked and unable to steer properly. Many of them were knocked out cold upon contact. The sky commander barely clung to conciseness himself. In his current state, he could hardly feel the crash landing and the cold winds clawing at his chassis.
And then Statislock took hold of him.
Author's Notes
And that about rounds up the prologue. Welcome to Remnant everyone!
This chapter generally held the same idea for its course; Bots wake up and notice surroundings, fly through fragments of Remnant's moon, get blown up and fall as space debris, that sorta stuff. Only concern I had was making their downfall (and by extension the Leviathan's) believable (or at least logical).
Before anyone asks, yes the Hydra Cannon here is based off of the one from Armada. It just doesn't require nine living WMDs to power it.
Now onto the bots. First up is Swerve. He uses his Prime toy (a retool of their mold for Breakdown) from Japan instead of his usual tiny G1 size. Figured that the Autobots could use a muscle-man on their side. Of course, there's also a chance that he has his IDW counterpart's skills as a bartender. Whether or not his Arms Micron partner Sou will make an appearance is something I'm debating on.
Lugnut uses the design of his TF 2010 figure.
FIrst Aid's kidna up in the air. While I imagine his Cybertronian form to be akin to his IWD comics portrayal, his terran mode is likely to be based off of his Earth Wars or Combiner Wars design.
Dead End. Oh Dead End… earlier drafts for this chapter had his personality similar to his Revenge of the Fallen and Bumblebee prequel comic portrayals in regard to his personality. Sadistic, cannibalistic, vampiric. Traces of the last trait can still be seen in the final version. The current one tries to do his Prime toy's version of him (which I assume is in turn based on his G1 personality).
Red Alert would be similar to his cameo in RID 2015's finale, a retool of that series Sideswipe.
Trailbreaker (or -cutter.) uses his Generations figure's design rather than his Legends one (a retool of Ironhide's) in Prime's toyline. It was honestly tough to choose between the two. I personally find the latter one to be more badass, but I also knew that the former might be more recognizable and iconic (given his role in the RID comics. Rest In Peace dude).
Next chapter might take a little while longer to write than the last two. You see I'm not gonna use the Canon RWBY characters (or at least the main heroes) in the storyline. I'd rather not just have the arrival of the bots hijack their Relic quest and get them tangled up in the Salem/Ozma mess. They're recognizable sure, but I kinda want to give them freedom away from the main conflict for the most part.
Instead I'll be using Fanon/Original Characters to act as the humans (and Faunus. Yes there is one) for the Autobots. Unfortunately, they're pretty much in the concept stage and still need refining before I feel comfortable presenting them. I will say one of them is in a comatose state due to the disasters spawned by the events of the Vytal Festival. Part of this is make I thought it'd be easier to manage three heroic OCs instead of a full time. The other reason is because, well… let's just say the active members of the Team are miles apart right now. And two of them would like it to say that way.
The Decepticons are just as likely to get aid from natives as well. The White Fang and many iterations of the Decepticon organization were founded on the idea of rebelling against a bigoted/corrupt system. I think they would get along just fine for the most part (or at least, the Fang would make gullible puppets for the 'Cons).
I also considered an expy to TF:Prime's MECH organization showing up at some later point, but I haven't worked out the whole thing yet without it looking like a rehash or complete import of them.
Well that's about all I wanted to talk about here. Until then, I'll see you guys on the next run. Before I go, I'll leave you with this treat.