Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.
Note: This story takes place immediately after "Rude Homecoming".
Discoveries, Chapter 2
By TVfan
Underground Caves
Tigerhawk and Optimus slowly walked down a dark portion of the complex of caves that they and the resistance members had found, largely in awe of what they had found. For them, the discovery of a cave on Cybertron was a new frontier that they couldn't help but enjoy exploring.
"It is amazing," Tigerhawk spoke, "A natural formation, much like the caves on Earth."
"On planets where caves form, it's not a surprise to find them looking alike," Optimus replied, "the strange thing is that there are caves on Cybertron. All our history data-tracks and legends say that Cybertron was mechanical from the very beginning."
"Legends can be wrong," Tigerhawk answered, "and history can only go back so far. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. There is beauty in nature, and perhaps finding these caves will show us that we can bring that beauty to the rest of Cybertron."
"Some would not call these caves 'beautiful'," Optimus sighed, "and while I find them scientifically interesting, I can't say they're all that attractive to the optic."
"Natural beauty can be found if one knows where to look," Tigerhawk answered, "and besides, what are we to do once the Tripredicus Council is defeated? Build over the skyscrapers they've build with skyscrapers of our own? I would prefer a park or two."
"That wouldn't be too bad an idea," Optimus smiled.
After what seemed like hours of walking they eventually returned to the main area that served as their link to the outside world. The other teams exploring the cave had also gathered there.
"So, what do we have?" Optimus asked as he and Tigerhawk approached.
"These caves are extensive," Rhinox commented, "It would probably take years of exploration to map how far they go, I've also noted that the cave's ceiling is lined with some strange crystal that reflects light back down. We're essentially lighting our own way, using our own optics, as they're the only light source down here to be reflected by the crystals."
"Interesting," Optimus answered, "Anything else?"
"Nothing militarily interesting about these caves," Queen growled, "There are some other small caverns connected to this one, but other then as a 'quarters', they're useless."
"It helps if it gives us some privacy," Packadex spoke up, "and they could serve as cells for Megatron and the other Predicons that won't follow you."
"He does have a point," Rhinox agreed.
Queen only growled in frustration at that.
"I believe she means there is nothing that can be used as a weapon," Spine spoke in Queen's defense, "short of using the rocks to crush various Tripredicus drones."
"Finding weapons wasn't the purpose for exploring these caverns," Optimus answered, "If you want to look for weapons, Queen, that's fine, but remember, you'll needlessly risk your own life in doing so."
Queen gave a frustrated growl at that. Her forces had been steadily weakened in nearly continuous raids on Tripredicus forces and instillations and she could not afford to take heavy casualties anymore. Her forces were entirely dependent on Primal and his Maximals, which, while it was a frustrating position, she knew she couldn't avoid it.
Above ground, Old Maximal Starship Yards
"These were one of several old manufacturing yards where Maximal exploration vessels were built," Wired spoke as Dinobot looked out over a series of cranes, warehouses and other manufacturing equipment stood out prominently, "The Tripredicus Council is probably still using the yards to make warships for their forces."
"No doubt to attack Maximal and Predicon colonies outside this immediate star system," Dinobot growled.
"Where are their guards then?" Rattrap asked, "If this place is important to them, and still in use, shouldn't they have guards of some kind posted?"
"Most of the military drones have been assigned to hunter-seeker duties trying to catch the resistance," Wired answered, "These places are too large for us to take and hold. We will have to move quickly, though as a patrol of drones could come across our raid."
"Rapther and I can deal with any drones that come across us," Dinobot answered confidently, "It will be the responsibility of the rest of you to find the ship batteries and get back to base."
"And right now, that doesn't look like too hard a job," Rattrap smiled confidently, "all we got to do is go through the gate."
"Leave that to me," Mammoth said firmly and took on his beast mode and charged toward the gate.
The large wooly mammoth transformer hit the gates at full speed and easily knocked the thin metal gates down. They went down with a loud bang however, which unnerved Wired.
"We must move quickly," Wired said urgently as they ran toward the now toppled gate, "any nearby drones would have surely heard that!"
Mammoth nodded and retook his robot mode to follow the others. Wired and Rattrap lead the way, and headed towards one of the warehouses.
"They're likely to have their finished batteries in one of the warehouses," Wired spoke as they ran.
Once again, Mammoth used his size to go through the door to the warehouse while the rest slowly followed him in. They found that the warehouse was filled with components for ships computers and other internal equipment.
"How many batteries will we need?" Mammoth asked as he began looking around the warehouse for where one of the batteries would be stored.
"At least two," Rattrap answered, "we can run on one for a long while, but it's always good to have back up or at least a spare."
"We'll also need plenty of wiring to hook everything up," Wired added, "Let's go. The raptors have already decided to act as guards."
While Dinobot and Rapther quietly stood guard, Rattrap, Mammoth, and Wired went through the warehouse searching for ship batteries and for enough wiring to use to make using the batteries possible. It didn't take too long for them to find everything they need and they soon returned to where Dinobot and Rapther were standing. As the two raptors looked back, they saw that the batteries that Mammoth was carrying were to large to fit through the underground entrance that they had originally emerged from.
"We'll need to blast a hole in the street to get those things into the sewers," Rapther commented.
Dinobot gave a frustrated sigh, but nodded, and then lead the group out. As they went, there was no obvious sign of any approaching drones. They then dashed as quickly as they could to the alley that they had earlier ran out from.
Diagnostic Center
"Does everything in there still work?" Blackarachnia asked as the second Maximal/Resistance team gathered on the roof of a building across the street from an old Maximal diagnostic center.
"I would think so," Repair answered, "The Tripredicus Council hasn't demolished the building yet, and many of these places were deserted when the Tripredicus Council first took over. The equipment is likely to be dusty, but workable."
"The center also has a service elevator that we can use once we're in to go back down to the sub-basement levels of Cybertron," Grease added.
"That'll make getting out easier," Depthcharge commented, "all this equipment is likely to be fairly heavy and definitely difficult to maneuver."
"All we need to do is go in," Silverbolt spoke and fired two wing missiles toward the windows of the center.
The resulting explosion blew a hole large enough for them to enter.
"That could have been done with a lot more finesse," Blackarachnia told the winged fuzor, "A LOT more."
"This will speed things up," Silverbolt answered, "We'll get spotted just as easily sitting out in the open like this."
"Fine," Blackarachnia sighed as those that could transform took the beast modes.
Blackarachnia quickly webbed out a sling that Silverbolt to carry her and Stagstripe across the open space, while Grease and Repair hopped onto Depthcharge's back. They then quickly made their way over the street and into the diagnostic center. They then quickly made their way into the diagnostic center's interior searching for the equipment that they would need. The first thing they came across was a hover gurney, which was quickly appropriated to carry the equipment they would need.
Outside, Curser was flying a relatively low level patrol after being repaired. He was under orders to keep an eye out for any actions taken by the resistance or Optimus Primal's forces. As he rounded a corner, he found a building that had a large hole in one of its upper floors, and it was a hole that hadn't been there before, that he knew of.
"Curser to Tripredicus Council," Curser gave a fairly straightforward, "I've found a sign of possible resistance activity. I'm going in for further investigation."
Curser then assumed his robot mode and flew into the building in search of his quarry.
The small search group did manage to find various scanning equipment and computers, as well as a few 'med-cabinets' in case some form of cyber-medicine would be needed. The equipment was bulky and heavy and it took them a fair amount of time to load onto the hover-gurney. Now, that weight was weighing them down as they tried to get it to the service elevator.
"Did you hear something?" Stagstripe asked as he and Silverbolt followed Depthcharge as the transmetal manta ray pushed the hover gurney.
Silverbolt raised his head and listened carefully. He could faintly hear the sound of an engine moving through the hallways behind them.
"Something is coming from behind us," he spoke in a voice that betrayed the expectation of a coming fight.
"Stagstripe, dog-boy, and I will hold it off," Blackarachnia spoke authoritatively, "Repair and Grease, can you help Depthcharge get the gurney to the elevator?"
"Queen put us in charge!" Grease answered, in an almost whining manner.
"You have no weapons," Silverbolt commented.
"And I need someone to guide this gurney," Depthcharge answered, "I can't see over or around it."
Both Grease and Repair then gave a defeated groan at that, knowing that they wouldn't get a shot at being in the coming fight. They then continued helping Depthcharge move the gurney, while Blackarachnia, Stagstripe, and Silverbolt took up positions to block the hallway.
It didn't take long for the source of the noise to arrive. It was Curser trying to find what had entered the diagnostic center, and had been following the trail of removed equipment as he went.
"I knew it!" Curser said excitedly, "resistance activity."
"And if it isn't my favorite target on this 'new' Cybertron," Blackarachnia growled back and opened fire on Tripredicus Council enforcer.
The shots knocked Curser off balance and sent him tumbling into a wall. Silverbolt then added his own feather missiles to Blackarachnia's machine gun bullets and blew a hole in the wall and sent part of the ceiling collapsing onto Curser.
"My turn!" Curser yelled as he blasted out of the rubble and began firing wildly at the two Maximals and Predicon.
The fire was wild, but it forced Curser's targets to duck for any available cover, which in a hallway, was virtually none. Curser merely kept firing.
"We gotta get him out of here," Blackarachnia growled.
"I'm open to suggestions," Silverbolt answered as he fired a pair of missiles at Curser, only to watch the jet dodge them.
"I might be able to knock him out," Stagstripe volunteered as he held up his antler shaped swords, "that is, if some one could draw his fire so I could get close."
"That'd take too long," Blackarachnia growled as she returned to her beast mode, "follow me down the hallway, but make sure that he does take some fire. We'll lead him into a trap and my cybervenom will take him down quick and easy."
Blackarachnia then quickly began heading down the hallway with Silverbolt and Stagstripe laying down cover fire behind her. Their fire kept Curser's fire fairly inaccurate as they followed the transmetal two spider down the hallway. After a while, they saw what looked like Blackarachnia's cyber webbing laying across the floor, and they quickly leaped over it.
Curser, however, didn't notice it and charged at full speed to try and catch the two Maximals in front of him. Just as he got to where Blackarachnia had laid down her trap, it was pulled up in front of the Tripredicus Council enforcer and he flew straight into the web. Curser was quickly wrapped up in the web and crashed to the ground below them. Blackarachnia then dropped from the ceiling and landed on Curser's back.
"You're lucky our mission isn't to do battle," Blackarachnia said triumphantly, "otherwise you'd be destroyed. You'll have to settle for being paralyzed for awhile."
Blackarachnia then sank her fangs into the side of Curser's head, injecting a fairly large dose of cybervenom. Silverbolt and Stagstripe were watching her as she returned to her robot mode.
"He'll be offline for awhile," Blackarachnia said with a smile, "We'd best get back to the others."
"Sure," Silverbolt and Stagstripe answered.
Tripredicus Council Chambers
"What is Primal up to?" General Seaclamp growled as a stream of reports flashed across a screen in front of him, "a drone patrol has come across a warehouse in one of our manufacturing areas and found the gate knocked in and two battery units and several other power components stolen from a warehouse. And Curser reported finding 'resistance' activity in an old Maximal diagnostic center, and we've yet to receive a follow-up report from him."
"You're sure that it is Primal that is behind this?" General Cicadacon asked, "he might not have found the resistance, and if that is the case, we have two sets of enemies to chase."
"No, Primal had to have found the resistance by now," General Seaclamp told him, "we would have found him and his crew by now if they hadn't. This has to be a combined operation."
There was a pause for a moment or two before Seaclamp continued speaking.
"And even if they hadn't linked up, this has to be Primal's doing," General Seaclamp said in a frustrated voice, "the resistance has never attacked an instillation to take something. They've only committed acts of sabotage and blowing up our instillations."
"It is of no concern WHO is behind these activities," General Ramhorn cut in, "We must figure out why they're doing this."
"That's the problem," General Seaclamp growled, "there is nothing to be gained by these actions. I would guess that they're trying to establish some sort of 'base' to operate out of, considering that they took batteries, but there is no place on Cybertron that our drones do not patrol and can be supported by enforcers. They'd forced out of their base before they'd even complete it."
"What could they be using the batteries for?" General Cicadacon questioned, "It could be possible they could turn the batteries into a bomb."
"Then why break into a diagnostic center?" General Seaclamp retorted, "they likely took equipment needed to build CR chambers from there, which they would need the batteries to power."
General Cicadacon then nodded at that assumption, as it seemed the most logical decision.
"So, what do we do?" General Cicadacon then asked.
"Increase the number of tunneler drone patrols and increase our surface patrols," General Ramhorn answered, "If they're building a base, we must find it and destroy it before they get it up and running."
Elsewhere
"This could be problematic," Runner spoke from behind a thick window of a building across a street from an old Predicon shipyard that was known for building warships of the same class as Megatron's ship, the Darkside.
"What is it?" Cheetor asked as he approached, "It's not something that would slow us down would it? We took long enough getting here."
"Look for yourself," Runner answered.
Cheetor and the other Maximals approached and looked out the window that Runner was standing near. What they saw made each of them look slightly more concerned then they had been a few moments before. Unlike the other sites where no one had reported running into guards as they entered, this shipyard was. There were two tank drones visible outside the main gate and Cheetor's audio sensors could hear the movement of more inside. There were also two drones that resembled the Tripredicus enforcer, Curser, circling over the plant.
"This one is guarded," Squeak commented nervously.
"We can take the drones," Cheetor said confidently, "they ain't that tough."
"They aren't, but individual strength was never the intention the Tripredicus Council had in mind for their drones," Runner informed them, "after all, if one transformer is assaulted by one thousand, eventually that one transformer will fall."
Runner then looked out at the present drones guarding the facility and gave a heavy sigh.
"And while I'm sure that as a team we could defeat these drones," Runner then continued, "by the time we'd beaten them, reinforcing drones and possibly transformers loyal to the Tripredicus Council will have been called in. And it will take us multiple trips to get the parts for a CR chamber back to the base. We can not afford to get into an all out battle."
"He's right," Airazor sighed, "Is there another way in? One that avoids any contact with the drones?"
"There might be," Runner answered her, "but the tunnels under the facility may not go into the warehouses where the equipment we need is stored."
Cheetor looked out the window and noticed something just beyond the walls of the shipyard.
"What about the ships they're building?" Cheetor asked curiously.
"What?" Cybershark asked the transmetal two cheetah like he'd grown another head.
"Yeah," Cheetor answered, "We sneak in underground, steal one of the ships they've just completed, and work together to move a fully functional CR chamber back to the base."
"We can't just crash the ship into the base," Airazor told him.
"Not into the base, but into the ground closer to the base," Cheetor said, "as you said, we'd be bound to get caught if we tried to either blast our way in or sneak in and make multiple trips for the parts. This way we'd get the completed CR chamber and we'd rapidly get a head start on any dopes following the Tripredicus Council."
"That might work," Runner commented, "It'll take three to carry a completed CR chamber, but it'd make the getting in and getting out a lot easier."
"Can you get us there though?" Cybershark asked.
"Now's as good a time as any to find out," Runner answered with a sigh.
Underground
Dinobot's group was nearly halfway back to the base when there came a sudden rumbling from the walls around them. This rumbling put them all on alert, which paid off as four tunneler drones suddenly came through the wall on their right side.
"Tunnelers!" Wired jumped up in surprise, nearly dropping the box he was carrying.
Dinobot turned from his position in front and slashed at the closest tunneler with his talons, slicing the massive drone in half as he did so. Rapther hit another with a barrage of rocket fire, blasting it to pieces. The remaining two drones tried to fire on Rattrap and Wired, the only two transformers directly in their line of fire.
Both Wired and Rattrap dove backward, forgetting about the boxes they were carrying and got behind Mammoth who was still carrying the batteries. Both tunnelers then began to turn to follow the two smaller transformers.
"Come on, Chopperface," Rattrap said urgently as he pulled out is transmetal tail sword and sliced off the barrel of the closest tunneler's blasters, "do something."
Dinobot hit the other tunneler with his optics laser, destroying it easily. Rapther then dashed around Mammoth to leap onto the top of the last tunneler and then used her tail whip to send an energon charge through the drone offline, rendering it useless. Once that was done, they then began to assess the results of the small battle, if it could be called a battle.
"These four were on a routine patrol," Dinobot commented as he looked at the holes that they had drilled through the wall to enter the tunnel they were in.
"How can you tell?" Wired asked, "They could have been hunting us."
"If they were hunting us, they would have come down the same path we took," Rapther spoke, "You don't roam around randomly when you're hunting something."
"And their roaming ain't that smart either," Rattrap commented as he took a closer look at where the tunnelers appeared, "If they're moving through walls at random, they're weakening the supports that the tunnels provide the surface. If this keeps up, they could cause the buildings above to collapse down onto the tunnels, and could very well make it into the base."
"A risk we'll have to take," Dinobot growled, "We lack the forces to maintain an above ground base. And perhaps our victories over the tunnelers will decimate their numbers that such a 'end game' would be avoided."
"Let's just get back to the base," Mammoth commented, "before more tunnelers show up."
Predicon Shipyard
Runner slowly moved a sewer lid aside to find that the underground path had got them in between two completed Predicon warships. There was no sign of any drones in the immediate area, and he quickly crawled out.
"Come on, we have to move quickly," Runner said quietly and then rushed to the closest Predicon warship and opened a small maintenance hatch.
Cheetor and Airazor were quick to follow, and Cybershark and Runner both helped Squeak climb in. Once inside, they closed the hatch and began to crawl toward one of the main hallways.
"Looks like your plan is working," Cybershark commented.
"We'll still need to take off and get the CR chamber safely removed from the med bay," Cheetor answered, "which may be difficult if this thing is anything like the Darkside."
"I can pilot the ship," Runner spoke, "so long as I have one other to help. I doubt we'll need a full bridge crew to fly about a mile through the air and then deliberately crash."
Airazor nodded, "Squeak can help you there. We'll head to the med bay."
Squeak and Runner nodded and began to head for the med bay while Cheetor, Airazor, and Cybershark turned to head for the med bay. Cheetor and his group arrived at the cramped med bay fairly quickly, and Cheetor's earlier prediction was proven right. The CR tanks were packed together and would be difficult for any of them to get at. There were a set of tools sitting nearby, which meant that work had to have only recently been completed, but they wouldn't make it easy.
"We'd best get to work," Cheetor said with a sigh.
Runner and Squeak, meanwhile, found the bridge quiet and dark. Squeak quickly turned the lights on and they then approached the main controls.
"Starting engines," Runner spoke aloud as he began pressing several keys.
"Shutting down automated take off system and switching to manual control," Squeak added.
The sound of the engines coming to life reverberated throughout the ship, and soon Runner typed in a series of keys that began to lift the warship into the air. Squeak kept frantically busy making sure the ship's computer didn't start an automated take off sequence, which all Cybertronian ships were designed to do. This allowed Runner to keep the ship at rooftop level. The sound of laser blasts hitting the hull echoed as they began to fly away from the shipyard.
"How are things going back there?" Runner asked over the radio.
"We've got one of the CR tanks disconnected from the floor and ready to be removed from the wall," came Cheetor's voice in response, "we'll take it off of the wall after we've landed."
"Okay," Runner sighed, "we're going to be accelerating to 'crash speed' soon, so brace for impact."
"Right," Cheetor's voice answered and then the radio went quiet for the moment as Runner went back to piloting the ship.
In the med bay, Cheetor, Airazor, and Cybershark quickly prepared for a crash landing.
"Be ready, bots," Cheetor spoke somewhat urgently, "We can't let the tank be ripped out of the wall when we 'land'."
The three of them were quickly bracing themselves against the tank, using their own bodies as a means to restrain the large CR tank. They were soon tested as the ship suddenly slowed and the vibrations of the ship going through buildings and eventually the ground at street level passed through every level of the ship. Airazor slipped, but managed to remain close enough to the CR tank that she could prevent it from moving, but only just barely. All of them looked out of it as the ship finally came to a stop.
"I wonder if being in crash landings counts toward my frequent flyer miles?" Cheetor mumbled as he shook the cobwebs out of his head.
"Only as long as you can walk away from it," Cybershark grumbled back as the radio came back on again.
"You guys alright?" Runner asked over the radio.
"Fine," Cheetor answered back, "it was a rough landing, to be sure, but we're fine."
"We've landed," Runner told him, "sensors indicate five tank drones headed in this direction, and there are at least four jet drones circling our position already. You'd better get that CR tank moving before they arrive. We need to be out of here before they have a chance to arrive.
Cybershark only sighed when he heard Runner's answer over the radio and then turned to look at the CR tank.
"Best get to work," Cybershark then sighed.
Tripredicus Council Headquarters
"You found no sign of the resistance members that stole that ship?" General Ramhorn demanded to the image of Vile on a communications screen in front of him.
"Not in the direct area," Vile answered, "but I was able to figure out what they were after."
"We assumed they were after the ship and failed because it crashed," General Seaclamp spoke.
"I originally thought that as well," Vile answered, "but after inspecting the ship, I believe stealing it was a diversion the resistance's part. I believe they were after the ship's CR tanks, as one of them had been removed."
"That would reinforce the idea that Primal is building a base somewhere," General Cicadacon commented, "Taking CR tanks to repair damaged transformers."
That made Generals Ramhorn and Seaclamp growl in a very frustrated manner.
"Your orders, sir?" Vile asked.
"Return to headquarters," General Cicadacon answered, "We are going to have to rethink our campaign and call in more enforcers to deal with this. The tunnelers will deal with the task of finding Primal's base."
Underground
"You're certain that the tunneler's patrols could bring the city down on top of us?" Optimus asked as Rattrap finished his section of the report that Dinobot's team had given.
"Yes," Rattrap answered, "They're not following the passageways, they're going through 'em. Eventually they destroy enough of Cybertron's underground that the sewers won't be strong enough to support the buildings above us."
Optimus sighed and looked around him to see the preparations being made to build a base out of the caves that they had found themselves in. The work to set everything up would take awhile, and Optimus sensed that defeating the Tripredicus Council would take longer He couldn't let what little they had done so far be destroyed so easily.
"Well, that's just prime," Optimus growled with some frustration.
To Be Continued…