Chapter 10 - Skirmish in the Solomon Islands
[Transformers G1 OST - Ark]
Upon stumbling across an unknown warship, the Combaticons quickly began to investigate the crash site. Blast Off and Vortex were circling the warship to get a good look at it from every angle.
"Get a load of this thing!" Blast Off exclaimed over the radio. "It's huge, and it looks like it's definitely seen better days."
"The ship still has some functionality and that's why it came up on radars," Onslaught said. "But when did this thing crash? We should've noticed it if it was recently. Is it an Autobot or Decepticon warship?"
"We can't tell!" Vortex transformed and landed on the warship. "There's no insignia or anything."
"The ship looks like it could still fly though," Blast Off said. "Should we bust in and have a look inside?"
Vortex slid down to the bottom of the ship and found a door that was sealed shut, big enough for any Cybertronian to walk through if opened. "There's an entrance here. If we can blow it up, we can break in and have a look around. It's our size too."
"This ship can't just be a coincidence," Onslaught replied. "We need to know what we're dealing with. However, if we stay here for too long, Starscream's gonna start getting curious."
"We don't need to deal with anymore of his mouth than we'll already have to," Brawl commented, folding his arms. "He's probably storming around mad while we're talking."
"So you wanna just leave this here until we rendezvous at the Nemesis?" Vortex asked.
"That might be the best solution for now," Onslaught answered. "Our focus should be on locating our leader and-"
"Hang on," Swindle pointed out of the cockpit's window. "Isn't that another dropship?"
"What? Where?"
"It's coming from the other side of the ship."
In the distance, the Combaticons saw the Autobot dropship approaching their new discovery.
"It's the Autobots!" Vortex exclaimed. "Should we shoot them down?"
"No," Onslaught said. "We don't have the equipment to fight against them again. The dropship's gun is destroyed and we're low on ammo."
"But if we run, then we'll just leave this here for the Autobots to take!" Brawl argued.
"But if we head back to the Nemesis, and tell Starscream about this," Swindle retorts. "Starscream will just mount another huge offensive and waste even more of the resources we barely have."
"So we keep this a secret and just let the Autobots take the warship for themselves?" Vortex questioned as he and Blast Off landed on the dropship. "We can't just let them get an upper hand like this,"
"Calm down," Onslaught said. "The Autobots and their allies are still heavily undermanned. With a solid strategy, we'll be able to take them down even if they get this ship in the sky."
"I guess you've got a point there," Brawl said.
"We're withdrawing immediately."
The Combaticon dropship starts to turn around towards the direction of the Nemesis. As the Autobot dropship arrived over the area, they saw the retreating Decepticon team.
"Oh no," Wheeljack said. "The Decepticons managed to find this place after all!"
"They're falling back though," Sideswipe noted. "Want me to go after them, Prime?"
"Leave them be," Optimus ordered. "We are not in any shape to pursue the Decepticons once again. Our goal is to investigate this warship."
"It doesn't look like they've even touched the thing," Jazz said, scanning the warship with their dropship. "Think they'll come back with a bigger search party?"
"I believe that the Decepticons have a similar objective to ours. They wish to survive as much as we do in this new world. I don't believe they have forces to spare for us at the moment."
"I hope that's the case. Sideswipe, bring us down. We're going in."
"Roger that." Sideswipe lowers the dropship's altitude. "You sure you don't want me to just land?"
"We will examine the area below first," Optimus stated. "Then you may land the dropship."
"Let's hope there's no surprises waiting for us when we get down," Jazz said.
The Autobots made their way to the cargo doors, all of them looking down.
"Take caution once we leave the dropship," Optimus ordered. "We don't know what to expect on the ground. Once we've secured a landing spot for Sideswipe, we'll move in towards the crash site." He turns to face Jetfire. "Jetfire, I want you to fly over and scout the ship before we arrive. See if you can find out if the Decepticons have left some sort of trap for us before we arrive."
"Understood, Optimus," Jetfire saluted. "I'll search all around the crash site."
The Autobot leader was the first one to jump out, diving towards the ground. Cliffjumper and Jazz followed suit, the latter not even trying to fall safely. Wheeljack and the other Autobot grunts jumped out afterwards. The last to go were Jetfire and the Villkiss, carrying Amuro and Pamela as Ange piloted.
"I-I think I just discovered that I have a fear of heights…" Pamela said, looking down.
"Sometimes it's best if you don't look down, you know," Amuro said. "Don't worry. Ange's not going to drop us. We'll be fine."
"Right! Fine! Of course we will be!"
"First time skydiving?" Jetfire asked.
Pamela rubbed the back of her head. "It's more like my first time actually on a mission. I've never been on the front lines like this."
"I'm sure you'll be alright. You've got your friends here to help you out."
Jetfire jumped out of the dropship and transformed in midair. The Autobot jet flew straight towards the crashed warship.
"Alright…" Ange readied herself. "We're the last ones. Ready or not, we're going."
"Wait!" Pamela exclaimed. "Can I have a few more seconds to prepare mySEEEEEEEEELF?!"
Villkiss jumped out of the dropship, Pamela screaming as they fell. The inexperienced Norma clinged to Amuro out of fear as they descended. Sideswipe turned the dropship around and moved away from the crash site for the time being.
The search team landed on the ground near the warship. Jazz landed first, followed by Optimus, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack and the grunt soldiers, and finally Villkiss. The moon's light illuminated the ground, not being outshined by the Autobots' searchlights.
"W… We made it…!" Pamela sighed in relief. "We're alive…!"
"You can… let me go now…!" Amuro strained to speak as Pamela had been holding him tightly.
All of them had their weapons armed and ready as they searched the area.
"Jetfire, do you see anything?" Optimus asked via comms.
"Negative, sir," Jetfire answered. "It doesn't look like the Decepticons have even touched the ship. I don't think we'll have to worry about them."
"That is a relief. Everyone, move in. You're clear to land at our location Sideswipe. Stay with the dropship in case of emergency."
"Copy that, Optimus."
Sideswipe lowered the dropship slowly as the search team made their way into the crater. Jetfire landed in front of them, examining the front as he looked for an entrance. He located the same door that Vortex found earlier.
"Here, an entrance," Jetfire said. "Think we can get through here?"
The other Autobots and Ragna-mail walked over.
"It's sealed up pretty tight," Cliffjumper said. "I have a few Thermal Detpaks to spare. I can blow the door down."
"That will not be necessary for now," Optimus said. "If the warship still functions, then we want to damage it as little as possible. Keep an eye out for anything inside. I will try to pry open the doors."
"Let me help. I'm no Ironhide, but I can definitely squeeze my hands in there too."
The others readied their weapons as Optimus and Cliffjumper approached the door. The two Autobots squeezed their hands through the crevices of the sliding doors and started pulling, moving each of the doors slowly. The doors started moving away from each other, everyone peeping inside. With one final push, the two Autobots yanked the doors out of the way. Everyone aimed their weapons inside, but nothing emerged. They were faced with a dark entryway that had no signs of life at the beginning.
"Well…" Wheeljack said. "That's uh… not a pleasant sight."
"Move in, carefully," Optimus ordered, walking inside first. "We don't know what will await us."
Wheeljack and Jazz walked in with their lights, looking around. Everyone else followed with their weapons ready. The Villkiss carried Amuro and Pamela in its left hand and had its beam rifle in its right.
"I'm not detecting anything nearby," Wheeljack said. "I think that this ship might be uninhabited."
"It's in too good condition for that to be true," Jetfire replied as he examined the walls. "Everything inside is still in one piece. Almost as if this was a controlled landing and not a crash."
"Wouldn't we hear someone else by now?" Ange asked. "There's no way somebody isn't alive on this ship."
"Perhaps," Optimus replied. "Hm?"
The Autobot leader shined his light to the left and found a large hole in the wall. "It seems we have found our first clue," he said.
"This hallway still continues," Jazz said. "Should we split up for now?"
"Not yet. If the interior aligns with the exterior, then this hole should lead into what appeared to be a transport hangar similar to our dropship's cargo hold."
"The outside did look like there was a mobile suit deck in this direction," Amuro commented.
"It's huge, that's for sure," Ange said.
"Yeah it might be better if we all stay together for now," Cliffjumper stated.
The Autobots and Ragna-mail walked through the hole in the wall into a new area. The room was huge and appeared to have two layers.
"Can't see a thing though…"
"I'm picking up some kind of control switch nearby," Wheeljack said, shining his light to the right. "Over there." He revealed a wall lever pulled down.
"Wait a minute…" Jetfire said. "Look closer… Is that an… arm?"
Looking closely, the Autobots could see an arm on the lever. Wheeljack moved his light downward slowly, revealing that the arm wasn't attached to a body and had been ripped off.
"What the hell?!" Pamela exclaimed. "There's not even a body there! What could've…?!"
Optimus Prime started approaching the lever, the others following behind and watching his back. The Autobot leader pulled up the lever. Everyone started turning off their lights as the ones inside were cutting on slowly.
"What?!" Pamela looked in shock.
"Woah…!" Cliffjumper jumped in surprise.
"My God…" Amuro said.
"By the AllSpark…" Optimus said. "What… have we stumbled upon?"
[Gundam Musou 2 OST - Oppressiveness]
The illuminated room revealed that it was similar to a mobile suit deck. But the only thing that was stored was the search party…
And many, many dead bodies. All of them were machine and robot-like, just like the Autobots. Most of them looked nothing like Cybertronians, which was the most notable feature.
"What in the world happened here?" Cliffjumper asked as the Autobots spread out and searched the hangar.. "Are these… Cybertronians?"
"No, it can't be," Jazz answered, examining the bodies. "They look like they were built here on Earth." He turned over one of the robots. "One of them's even got a human sized cockpit."
"Is there anyone inside?" Ange asked, sitting down Amuro and Pamela.
"Not at all."
"This doesn't look like an Earth Federation mobile suit," Amuro said. "This hangar's too big to be considered ours too."
"Some of them don't have cockpits," Wheeljack stated. "I think a few of them are fully machine."
"Perhaps these humans were working together with whatever these robots were a part of," Optimus said.
"Optimus, sir, over here!" one of the grunts called out. "These are Autobots!"
Optimus and Jazz ran over to the soldier that called out. At their feet was indeed an Autobot soldier. His body was heavily damaged and missing his left leg and arm.
"Autobots were aboard this vessel as well…" Optimus said sorrowfully. "What could've done this…?" The Autobot leader started turning over the soldier.
"Poor guy…" Cliffjumper said. "He must've gotten caught up in the crash and-"
"No…"
"Huh? Wha-Oh…"
Optimus turned the soldier so that his front was visible. Right in the center of his chest was a hole that went right through the soldier's spark. It wasn't a natural hole. It wasn't caused by the crash or by debris.
It was a hole that could only be made by a blaster.
"This wasn't an accident," Jazz said. "He was shot, and killed."
"Decepticons!" Wheeljack called out. "There's Decepticons buried over here too!"
Underneath a pile of rubble from the falling second floor were Decepticon soldiers. The Autobots came over, and were surprised. Another hole was through their sparks. It was as if they were outright executed.
"This is just like the Autobots…" Jazz said. "So it wasn't the Decepticons attacking?"
"Something was attacking both Autobots and Decepticons aboard this ship," Optimus stated. "There is more to this situation than meets the eye."
A loud explosion was heard from behind as the lights suddenly cut off quickly. The Autobots activated their lights and weapons and looked around. The light lever had been blown to pieces, cutting the lights off in the area.
"We are not alone…" Optimus said. "Whatever or whoever did this… is still here."
Gunfire suddenly came from the hallway where they started. Ange kneeled down and had the Villkiss cover Amuro and Pamela. Optimus stepped in front with his Flak Shield while Jazz, Jetfire and the grunts opened fire in response.
"What in the world is going on?!" Pamela shouted.
The gunfire stopped. Cliffjumper cut off his light and cloaked. Walking over to the hole, the Autobot didn't see anyone there.
"Ah, we didn't get them," he said. "They must've ran off when we returned fire."
"Sideswipe, do you see anything outside the warship?" Optimus contacted Sideswipe.
"Nothing out here, Prime," he reported.
Cliffjumper uncloaks as Optimus speaks. "They must be trying to lure us into a trap further inside."
"So is that it?" one of the soldiers asked. "Do we just leave for now?"
"No way," Ange spoke up. "Whatever the hell's in here picked a fight with you guys and already killed one of your own. We're not gonna just turn and run. Besides, who knows what else could be deeper inside?"
"She's right," Wheeljack agreed. "We might find more Autobots inside. Maybe living ones."
"We will keep going," Optimus ordered. "Keep your eyes sharp and lights on. We'll split up from here."
"Split up?" Pamela questioned.
"Wheeljack and I will take the majority of our soldiers and head for the ship's bridge. Cliffjumper will investigate the east. Jazz, the west. Jetfire, locate the ship's engine room. Don't let your guard down for a moment. Our enemies are hidden in the darkness, and they have the advantage of knowing this ship."
"Should the three of us separate too?" Ange asked.
"Yes. I would like for you to provide support for Cliffjumper and Jazz. If they stumble upon something from your worlds, then your aid will be necessary."
"He's right," Amuro said. "If Autobots and Decepticons were in here with something else, then the same could be said for possible Earth Federation Forces."
"Better yet, another member of First Squadron," Ange said. "Honestly, anything helpful would be nice at this point." Villkiss sat Amuro and Pamela down. "You two go with Cliffjumper. I'll back up Jazz in the Villkiss."
"Right!" Pamela nodded.
Everyone was interrupted by more gunfire, forcing them to duck.
"Everyone, roll out!" Optimus ordered, firing his Ion Blaster.
On Arzenal, the night was quiet once again. The Norma girls turned in for the night and were fast asleep. Bumblebee was still patrolling the island, driving all around as he kept watch over the sleeping girls. After about a dozen laps around Arzenal, he stopped right above the landing platform and transformed.
"No signs of the Decepticons coming back tonight," he said. "Good thing too. I don't know if we'd be able to make it to the dropship in time to run, but I certainly would've given it my best shot. Optimus entrusted this island for me to guard, and I'm not gonna let him, or the Norma down!"
Bumblebee looked up and saw a bird circling around in the sky. "That's weird," he said. "What's with that bird all by itself?"
Bumblebee tried to get as close a look as possible on the ground. The bird suddenly dove down towards him with a loud "Caw!" The Autobot scout quickly realized what that "bird" was.
"Wait a minute, that's no ordinary bird!" Bumblebee exclaimed, pulling out his blasters. "It's Laserbeak!"
[Transformers Devastation OST - Soundwave]
The minicon started firing on the Autobot, who responded in kind. Bumblebee tucked and rolled to avoid Laserbeak. Before he could turn around, Ravage sprang out of nowhere and jumped on his back.
"Whoa!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "Ravage too?!" The scout threw the minicon off of him. "This can only mean that Soundwave is close by!"
"Affirmative."
The Decepticon in question was real close by. The cassette player was right next to Bumblebee as Soundwave suddenly transformed. Before the scout could fire, the communications officer shot him with a shock rifle. The blast hit spot on, Bumblebee feeling himself go offline before he collapsed.
"Autobot apprehended," Sondwave said, his minicons returning. "Phase One complete."
[Transformers Fall of Cybertron OST - Silverbolt's Predicament]
The group in the warship began their investigation. Following Optimus' orders, everyone split up to head in different directions. Optimus Prime and Wheeljack were trying to find their way to the ship's bridge, accompanied by the grunt soldiers. The Autobots shined their lights all around as they looked for their enemies hidden in the darkness.
"Say Optimus," Weeljack spoke up. "Do you still think that we could use this ship?"
"I am not so sure," Optimus answered. "Finding information about what happened will let me determine our next move. More importantly, are you detecting anything?"
"Nothing yet. No Autobot, or anything else. I don't even think I'm picking up Jazz or anyone else either."
"Strange. Could this ship be jamming any sensors inside?"
"Comm links are still up though. They're probably doing that so they can communicate with each other. I just hope everyone is doing alright despite this."
Gunfire and blaster fire flew by the Autobots, the grunts returning fire while Optimus and Wheeljack shielded themselves. Using his light, the Autobot leader was able to shine some light on their foes.
"Humans?" Optimus was surprised to see that there was a mixture of both human soldiers and robotic ones firing at them.
"Who are these people?" one of the grunts questioned.
Optimus and Wheeljack pulled out their blasters.
"We'll have to find out after we've beaten them," the Autobot leader stated.
In the east, Cliffjumper was walking around cautiously but freely. Amuro and Pamela were seated on the Autobot's shoulder, the latter holding her assault rifle pointed upwards.
"Oh man, scanners are down?" Cliffjumper said to himself. "So much for using those."
"Does that mean that we won't know if anyone is nearby?" Pamela asked.
"Pretty much."
"We'll just need to stay alert even further," Amuro said. "Do you see anything interesting ahead?"
"Not at all," Cliffjumper replied. "Then again, one flashlight isn't going to make much of a difference."
"Reports confirmed. That red and blue one is the leader of the Autobots, according to our data."
Cliffjumper stopped walking and moved behind a wall as he, Amuro, and Pamela heard a voice coming from up ahead. The Autobot put the two in his hands and cloaked. Proceeding ahead, they hid behind the side of a door that opened. Standing in the doorway were two humans, dressed in a dark gray spacesuit like armor, and one unknown robotic unit similar to a mobile suit.
"Who… are these guys?" Pamela whispered as Cliffjumper uncloaked and sat the two down.
"These aren't Earth Federation or Neo Zeon, that's for sure," Amuro whispered.
"What was his name again?" asked one soldier. "'Optimus Prime,' or something, right? Didn't think he'd be on Earth. Can't believe we have to clean up after the Earth team's mess."
"We're only in this situation because the ones we captured broke free and tried to take control," said the second. "Where are the new targets located?"
"Reports say they split up," another soldier said, his voice coming from the inside of the mech. "This 'Optimus Prime' was just reported to be headed to the bridge. More surviving soldiers and Argo units are engaging them."
"What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" the first asked. "If they split up, we can't just rush and go help them."
"Never mind that. What we need to do is make sure that they can't get their hands on anything in our warship. The group at the engine room should be setting things up shortly. We'll blow them up and then call for reinforcements."
"Blow it up…?!" Pamela silently exclaimed.
"They're willingly going to rig their own ship to explode?" Amuro whispered.
"What in the world do they have up here that they don't want us finding?" Cliffjumper questioned.
"I think there's more to it than that."
"We went through all this trouble to hunt down the anomalies in space, and now we can't even get them back to be researched," the second said.
"It's necessary that we destroy everything," the third stated. "These people are already a threat to us that needs to be dealt with. We don't need them to get a hold of our technology like we have theirs."
"Can't we just take some of the automatons that we found with us?" the first asked. "No point in letting them go to waste if we can just pilot them away. They're right here too. Why don't we just hop in one and then get out of here."
"Come on man, I don't have time to figure out how to use those machines," the second complained. "They're nothing like the Argos."
"They've got better armor at the very least."
"Hang on, I'm getting more transmissions," the third said. "The Argo units in the starboard hangar. There's survivors making a stand against them."
"How many?"
"Enough that they're asking for reinforcements."
"I don't see anything here worth noting," the second said. "Let's move."
"Alright you two," Cliffjumper whispered as he cloaked. "Stay right here."
The unknown group of soldiers started walking out of the door and down the corridor. Suddenly the robotic suit among them was taken down and then stabbed through the middle. The soldier inside ejected out with an assault rifle in hands.
"What the hell?!" he shouted.
Cliffjumper uncloaked on top of the downed robot, aiming his Subsonic Repeater at the soldiers aiming at him.
"Alright guys, how about you start talking?" Cliffjumper asked demandingly. "Who are you? Why are you after us Autobots?"
"You think we're gonna be intimidated like that?" the first soldier said as he pulled out a small pistol. "Some of our soldiers are bigger robots than you."
Firing the pistol at Cliffjumper, the Autobot groaned as a large electric shock coursed through his systems. He felt his entire body slowly shutting down as he fell off the robot and hit the ground.
"Oh… Scrap, I didn't see that coming…" Cliffjumper sighed.
"Cliffjumper!" Pamela exclaimed, running from behind cover. "Are you alright?!"
"Wait, get back!"
"The Autobot had reinforcements!" the second soldier exclaimed. "Take her out!"
Pamela turned around and completely froze. It felt like time stopped all around as Pamela registered the situation she was in. She saw the three soldiers with their guns pointed at her. This was the Norma's first time out like this, having avoided the first destruction of Arzenal by boarding the Aurora. Now, she was left with three guns pointed at her, each one of them capable of putting multiple holes in her body in under a second. Her body felt paralyzed, unable to lift her rifle or even run. Pamela's eyes widened in fear as she started to understand that death was right in front of her, about to take her away. She screamed just as the triggers were being pulled.
"Get down!"
"Huh?!"
Before she was grabbed by death, Pamela was shoved to safety. Amuro tackled the girl behind Cliffjumper just as the soldiers started firing. The two fell behind the Autobot's body and out of the way of the hail of bullets being fired. Amuro ran to the other side of Cliffjumper and shot the soldier on top of him in the head.
"He's over there!" the second soldier exclaimed. "Get him!"
Before they could run, the remaining two were halted as Cliffjumper managed to fire his Subsonic Repeater. He didn't hit anything since he could barely move, but it was enough to block their path. While they were stalled, Amuro gunned down both soldiers with his rifle. After looking around and listening, he was sure that there wasn't anyone else hiding around them.
"You guys alright?" Cliffjumper asked.
"Yeah, we're fine," Amuro answered. "What about you? Can you move again?"
The Autobot grunted as he tried to move, slowly getting his legs ready to stand. "I'm getting there. Whatever they shot me with must've not been that powerful."
As Cliffjumper started getting up, Amuro walked back towards Pamela. The Norma was hyperventilating as she clenched her gun tightly, fearful of what could happen. The moment she heard Amuro come up to her, she almost turned and fired if he had pushed the gun barrel away from him.
"It's alright," he said. "You'll be fine. You can calm down now."
"It's… I-I just… I've…" Pamela struggled to respond as she tried to control her breathing. Amuro held out his hand and helped her stand up.
"Yeah, I know. It's not uncommon to panic like that. The real thing is always scarier than anything you can imagine."
"I-I'm sorry… I could've… I could've gotten you…"
"Don't worry about it. We're both alive now, aren't we?"
"Y-Yeah, we are."
"Once you've experienced things like this, you'll learn how to respond better. I promise."
"Right… Thank you, Amuro."
Cliffjumper got back on his feet. "Alright," he said. "How about we keep moving?"
"Didn't… they say something earlier about… something behind them? What were they talking about?"
"Only one way to find out and it's through this door."
Having recovered, the trio continued their investigation.
"Oh right, I should contact Jetfire and tell him about their plans to detonate the ship." Cliffjumper activated his comms. "Jetfire, come in. I've-" however, all he got in response was static. "Jetfire? My comm systems must still be down. Must be because of that attack earlier."
"Isn't there another light that we can turn on anywhere?" Pamela asked. "This room looks too big for your light alone."
Cliffjumper looked around with his searchlight. He spotted a section of light switches on the wall behind there. "Think those would work?"
"I'll try them," Amuro said as he walked over.
"Be careful," Pamela said.
The man started flipping the switches one at a time. One after the other, lights started coming on in the room. The trio were greeted to what looked like a giant detention center, complete with large cages in the corners to hold a multitude of things, including people and possibly Cybertronians.
"What in the world?!" Amuro exclaimed.
"I've heard of ships having a brig, but this is a bit overkill!" Pamela yelled in surprise.
"This must've been what they were using to transport those Autobots and Decepticons we saw earlier."
"No doubt about it." Cliffjumper was kneeling over the body of another fallen Autobot. "There's more of them in here…"
Panela noticed the look on Cliffjumper's face. "Um… did you know this soldier personally?"
"Not too well. But enough to know this is Gizmo alright. I've had a couple missions with the guy but that's about it. It doesn't make me feel any better about what happened to him and all of the others." Cliffjumper laid Gizmo down and stood up. "we'd better have a look around. There's probably others here that we haven't found."
"You're right," Amuro said. "We need to… Hm?"
The man turned his attention to two large machines behind Cliffjumper, hidden underneath large tarps and tied down with wall clamps. The way the tarp wrapped around the top revealed the shape of the object's head. That was what drew Amuro's attention. He recognized that shape.
"No, it couldn't be it… could it…?" he asked himself.
"Amuro? What's wrong?" Pamela asked.
"I… think I know what's under there… Cliffjumper, can you get in that cage and remove those tarps?"
"Sure thing." The Autobot sliced open the cell bars with a blade hidden in his arm. He walked over with Amuro and Pamela, cutting the clamps off of the machine and pulling the tarp off as well.
"It is…" Amuro said quietly.
"You know what this is…?" Pamela asked.
He didn't respond right away, but the look on his face gave Pamela her answer. Amuro was surprised at what he saw before him… a white mobile suit that he knew all too well.
"Gundam…"
"Hoo, get a load of this place…"
[Cross Ange OST - Inferia]
On the opposite side of the warship, Jazz and Ange were in an area very similar to the one on the east. The two stood in another prison area, lights on. Jazz surveyed the rest of the room via swinging around with his grappling hook. Ange however, was stationary as she stepped out of the Villkiss' cockpit. In front of her, there was a large number of Para-mails or at least Para-mail like machines propped up vertically against a wall, all in Flight Mode. They were lined up horizontally and clamped down.
"The hell is going on here…?" she thought out loud. "Para-mails… without a doubt, these have to be Para-mails. Standard issue Glaives and these over here look like uncustomized Hausers. The closest I've ever seen that model as a blank slate was Chris' Hauser-! Speak of the devil…" Looking to the right, the aforementioned Hauser was among the generic models. "These are definitely ours. Where and how the hell did they find these?"
Jazz swung over and landed next to Villkiss. "Searched the whole room," he said. "The place was recently a battleground judging from all the Decepticons around here."
"Decepticons? Are they-"
"No, I checked. Spark's been extinguished in all of them. One of them even got ripped in half. Just looking at him gave me chills for some reason."
"Least we don't have to worry about them trying to attack us or whatever. Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out how these guys have our technology."
"Oh yeaah, they've got a whole wall of these, huh? Definitely looks like they belong to you girls."
"They do. One of them belonged to my teammate. The question is, why and how is it here?"
"Probably the same reason Cybertronians are here too. They're after something, and it's probably gotta do with how we all ended up together. So they need information, quick."
"If that's the case, then so do we."
The pair heard gunfire from somewhere nearby.
"Sounds like we've got somewhere else to search now," Jazz said, his photon rifle armed and ready. "Come on. Let's get moving."
"If there's something out there in the middle of a fight, are you sure it's a good idea for the two of us to get involved alone?" asked Ange.
"Who knows? There might turn out to be Autobots or anyone else we know in that scuffle. And there's only one way to find out."
"Yeah, fair point." Ange transformed Villkiss into flight mode. "No need to waste time, let's move!"
"Now you're talking!"
As the Ragna-mail flew off, Jazz transformed and drove right behind Ange.
Jetfire was flying through the warship as he searched for a pathway down, assuming that's where the engine room would be located. Flying allowed him to avoid a lot of debris that was in the area, courtesy of the destroyed unidentified machines, and several Cybertronian corpses.
"It looks like I wasn't the first one to come down here," Jetfire thought aloud, observing the Cybertronians he passed over, and recognizing some of them. "All of these casualties… Download, Backbeat, and then there's Decepticons like Blistream caught up in the destruction. A side that's able to demolish both Autobot and Decepticon… what could they be after? I need to find some sort of clue down here."
Jetfire transformed and landed upon finding a hole that led down. Jumping through, the Autobot ended up in the lower levels of the warship and continued his search.
"It's amazing that this vessel wasn't built by Cybertronians," he said. "The size of everything looks like it was made to accommodate and meant to be piloted by our kind. If only the engine room could've been easier to find. Hopefully it wasn't badly damaged."
[Transformers G1 OST - Under Siege]
As he walked, Jetfire suddenly came to a stop as he heard something up ahead. He moved behind a pile of rubble for cover and aimed his blaster, using his light to search for anything in front of him. Whatever he heard was nowhere in sight. The Autobot remained cautious as he slowly moved from cover. Right in front of him, he saw a piece of floor sink into the ground as if something stepped on it. Firing his blaster, he heard something jump back as if to avoid being shot.
"Who are you? I know you're there!" Jetfire exclaimed. "Show yourself, and don't even think about presenting any weapons."
"Cool your jets, Jetfire. I'm not here to pick a fight."
His target uncloaked in front of him. With her hands up, Slipstream revealed herself to Jetfire, who didn't lower his guard.
"Slipstream?" Jetfire questioned. "What are you doing here by yourself?"
"Trying to be anywhere else but here," Slipstream responded. "Turns out this time bomb is crawling with Autobots who have a death wish. Frankly, I'm not sure what's worse, going back to deal with Starscream or having to run into you."
"Yeah well it's not such a good feeling to see you here either. Wait, time bomb?"
"Oh you don't know? Guess you'll have to go figure it out for yourself."
"Don't give me any of that, start talking."
"Sure. I'm just gonna give an intelligence briefing to an Autobot, because that's what a Decepticon does."
Jetfire silently gestured to the blaster that's still aimed at the Decepticon. "You're not in any position to play games, Slipstream."
Slipstream let out a sigh, putting her hands down as she jabs her thumb behind her. "I did some investigating on my own and found out that this thing's going to go sky high soon. The engine room's being set up with explosives and they'll probably activate them soon. And in case you're wondering, I don't want to be here when that happens."
"They're detonating their own ship?"
"They really don't want anyone else getting their hands on this thing."
"Did the engines look like they could still be fired up if they don't explode now?"
"Beats me."
"Take me to them. I need to do some investigating myself."
"Hold on there, I'm not going back the way I came." The Decepticon points at herself. "My goal is to get out of here in one piece. Whatever Optimus Prime has you guys doing, you're not getting me involved. Gun or no gun, you're not making me turn around."
The conversation was interrupted by several thuds from behind Jetfire. A small unit of unidentified machines dropped down through the same hole, weapons armed and ready.
"They're headed for the engine room!" one of them shouted. "Fire!"
As they opened fire, Jetfire and Slipstream ran for cover.
"Looks like you don't have a choice now," the Autobot states. "That was the way out of here."
"You've gotta be kidding me…" the Decepticon groaned. "Alright, I'll show you the way. But if you get shot down, you're on your own."
Slipstream transformed and flew down the corridor. Jetfire followed suit. Their pursuers came around the corner and kept firing, but missed every shot.
"Damn, they're getting away!" a second one exclaimed. "Contact the engine team! We need the self destruct sequence activated pronto!"
Slipstream and Jetfire flew through the lower areas, back on the path that the Decepticon came from. The Autobot continuously attempts to establish contact with Optimus and the others while flying.
"Bumblebee? Bumblebeeee?"
Back at Arzenal, the girls started to realize that they hadn't heard anything from Bumblebee in a while. They couldn't even hear the sounds of him driving around anymore. Concerned, Momoka, Zhao Mei, Hikaru, and Oliver went out and started searching the island for him.
"You don't think he would have left Arzenal, do you?" Zhao Mei asked.
"Why would he leave?" Hikaru responded. "It's not like he can just fly away. And that dropship is still here, so we know he's around here somewhere."
"Over there!" Momoka exclaimed, pointing. "I see him!"
Everyone ran over to where Momoka pointed towards. They ran up to the Autobot, offline, lying on the ground.
"Bumblebee!" Momoka exclaimed. "What happened?! Are you alright?!" The maid shook… well tried shaking the Autobot, but got no response. "He's not moving!"
"What could've happened to him?" Oliver asked.
"The culprit is right in front of you." Soundwave decided to speak up, transforming in front of the girls, who jumped back in surprise.
"What the hell?!" Hikaru exclaimed.
"That's…" Zhao Mei noticed Soundwave's insignia immediately. "That's a Decepticon! That cassette player was…!"
"Commencing operation."
[Transformers Animated OST - Soundwave's Song]
Soundwave started playing a tune that the girls had not heard from him before. Everyone was alarmed and cautious, but they didn't understand the true purpose behind the music. Suddenly Hikaru found herself tapping her foot along to the music.
"Hey this is… pretty catchy," she said.
"I… don't know why…" Mei said. "But suddenly I feel… I-I feel…"
"Hey, girls…?" Momoka turned around to face the others, having an emotionless look in her eyes, similar to Chris and Ersha's. "I don't think we should consider leaving the Decepticon alone now… What do you think?"
"Yeah, sure," Oliver nodded in agreement. "We don't need to be worried about what he's doing anymore. We should do what he wants us to do."
"It's late for us anyway," Mei said. "We should be in bed. But since all of us are up anyway… We should start helping the Decepticon with whatever he needs. Agreed?"
"Agreed…" all of the girls said in unison as they walked off.
"Hypnotism is in effect," Soundwave stated. "Phase Two complete."
[Cross Ange OST - Mori no Oku de]
"Wait… Gundam?" Pamela questioned,surprised. "But isn't that what you called your mobile suit too?!"
Amuro, Pamela, and Cliffjumper were still in the same area after the discovery they made. Underneath one of the tarps was the RX-78-2 Gundam. Amuro's original mobile suit that was destroyed during the One Year War.
"Nu Gundam wasn't the first, or only Gundam," Amuro replied. "This was the first that I knew of. There's no doubt about it. This is the mobile suit I used during the One Year War against Zeon, so… why is it here?"
"Could somebody have stolen it?"
"Not possible. Gundam was destroyed during the war. Even if it wasn't there's no way that it would be in such good condition."
Cliffjumper pulled the tarp off of the other machine. "Hey Amuro, is this one yours too?"
Amuro and Pamela looked to see a second mobile suit, built just like Gundam, but with a more pleasant looking build, and a blue and white color scheme.
"I don't think I've ever seen this one before in person," Amuro said, thinking about what mobile suit this could be. "Wait… I think this is the 'Alex'."
"Alex?" Pamela raised a brow.
"I remember during the One Year War, the Earth Federation was developing a new mobile suit, since my Gundam couldn't keep up with my ability as a Newtype. The new mobile suit was called the Gundam Alex. I never got to see it in person though. I heard that the project was scrapped since the war ended before it was finished."
"And yet here it is," Cliffjumper said, tapping Gundam Alex. "It looks complete to me."
"Why would these Gundams be in a place like this though?"
"I'm going to guess that whoever was commanding this ship stole them or acquired them some other way," Pamela said. "But if they shouldn't be in one piece then… I don't know how that could be possible." The Norma walked over to the two Gundams, noticing the open hatches. "Though… do you think that they still work?"
"There's only one way to know for sure."
Amuro stepped on Cliffjumper's hand as the Autobot gave him a lift up to the cockpit. Amuro climbed into the original Gundam, and investigated. The Newtype didn't take long to figure out that the inside was exactly the same as his old mobile suit, and started it up. Pamela and Cliffjumper stepped back as Amuro was able to get the Gundam to move.
"Everything's working…" He said. "If I had to guess, the Alex must be the same way."
"Then we need to take both of these mobile suits and get them out of here, right?" Pamela asked. "Let me pilot Gundam Alex, Amuro! If I can learn how to make it walk, then we can take these two back to Arzenal!"
"I can't just let you pilot a mobile suit, Pamela. Especially not without any experience. Besides, if needed, I think Cliffjumper could lift it."
"Yeah, there's no need to risk wrecking it," Cliffjumper said. "Besides, wasn't the plan to take this ship for ourselves? No need to move it now, right?"
"Oh, that's right…" Pamela acknowledged.
Gundam kneeled down and held out its hand in front of Pamela.
"We should keep looking around while we're at it," Amuro said. "It'll help me see if Gundam's in really good shape. Climb on, I'll carry you."
"Alright."
"I'll scout ahead then," Cliffjumper said.
Pamela stepped onto Gundam's left hand as Amuro lifted her up. Cliffjumper transformed and started investigating the rest of the area, staying in vehicle mode. Gundam walked out of the cage, breaking apart whatever was in its way with its right hand. The Norma climbed up onto the mobile suit's shoulder, looking around to see if there was anything worth noting.
[Transformers Cybertron OST - Remains of Sadness]
Optimus, Wheeljack, and the others succeeded in making their way through several skirmishes with unknown, hostile soldiers. The Autobot leader pried open the door to the ship's bridge, revealing that it was the perfect size for Cybertronians to pilot. As they walked in, they saw that this place was the site of a battle recently. Machines they'd never seen before were stationed across the bridge, all inactive and possibly dead. The cause of death was most likely the other soldiers inside the bridge. From the looks of them, some were Autobots, but all of them were dead. The Autobot grunts kept their weapons armed as they searched the area, while Optimus and Wheeljack approached one of the ship's computers.
"This entire ship feels like it's a graveyard, Optimus…" Wheeljack said. "Everywhere we go, there's just this trail of death all over this ship. And where there isn't, there's people trying to add us to the pile. What in the world did we walk into?"
"The Autobots in this ship were fighting to take control, it seems," Optimus responded. "Whoever it is that owns this vessel did not bring them aboard with their consent. They were prisoners. And when they rebelled… this ship crashed into Earth. Our fellow Autobots were either caught in the crash, or killed while fighting back. I must find out why, and who we are up against."
Wheeljack put his hands on one of the computers. "I guess I'll see what I can find in this thing's database. And that's IF I can get into it from here." The scientist began typing away on the keyboard. "Let's see here…"
"Anything that you can uncover will likely be helpful to our goal."
"Optimus should we… still think about using this ship? Cause I don't think so."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not one for superstition, but this whole thing feels like a bad omen for us Autobots. I'm worried something might happen to us if we try to take this ship for our own use. What if we end up like the rest of our allies?"
"I can understand your concern. However… We have limited options. The Decepticons, while they may be missing Megatron, still have the Nemesis under their possession. We cannot remain at Arzenal as long as we are vastly outnumbered. This warship may have been where many Autobots died, but we cannot allow their deaths to be in vain."
"Well yeah, I guess. But still, that's assuming we can get this thing off the ground. True, it doesn't look too banged up. But until we can hear back from Jetfire and the others, I don't think we'll know for sure."
"All we can do now is learn whatever we can."
"And that's what I'm doing… Hang on, I think I might have something." Wheeljack managed to get the computer monitors to display something in particular in front of him. "Whoa… What in the world…?"
"What have you found?"
Wheeljack tried to transfer the image to the bigger monitor so Optimus and the others could see. "I… think it's best you take a look for yourself because… there's a lot more to whoever owns this ship than meets the eye."
Wheeljack's discovery was displayed large for everyone to see. To everyone's surprise, Optimus looked visibly shocked as his eyes grew wide.
"By the AllSpark…" he said. "There appears to be another force at work…"
