Primus Inter Pares

Chapter Five

"Gods be between you and harm, in all the dark places through which you must walk..."- Ancient Egyptian blessing

Colorado, USA, z- eleven days

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stood back to back, gazing into the sky. The sun was setting, scattering hues of orange and yellow across the previously azure space above them. In their own ways, the twins gazed wistfully at the sky, and thought about their lives, and how they had been led to this point. Drinking in the natural beauty around them, both mechs, red and yellow alike, came to the same sobering conclusion: they couldn't have picked a more perfect evening on which to die. The silence, and the sombre mood along with it, were broken by the distant report of a sonic boom. Looking in the direction of the approaching Seekers, then at his twin, Sideswipe attempted to lighten the mood.

"Whaddya reckon, Sunny?" he asked, a grin slowly crossing his faceplate. "Last one to bag a bad guy buys the beers?"

"You what?" Sunstreaker replied, raising an optic ridge.

"It's a human term I heard once", Sideswipe said. "From Spike, I think. So, is it a deal?"

"Oh", Sunstreaker sighed, his tone showing that he was humouring his brother. "All right. But you can keep the beer, Sides. Make it a can of high-grade, and you're on."

"Done. So, plan of action?" At this, Sunstreaker broke into a savage grin. It was a look that Sideswipe knew all too well.

"We do what we do best", Sunstreaker growled. "We take the fight to the enemy, and we give 'em hell!"

The Ark, Colorado

"Optimus Prime to the control room, code Red Emergency. I repeat, Optimus Prime to the control room..."

Optimus had been attempting to recharge in his quarters when the alarm had sounded. He had immediately woken, heading out into the corridors even before Prowl's voice had sounded over the PA system. As the emergency status came into effect, and the other Autobots rushed to their stations, Prime had a few moments to register a swell of pride in his colleagues. They were the very best the Autobots had to offer, and he knew that they could deal with any crisis that was headed their way. It was with these thoughts that Prime ran through the entrance to the control room.

"What is the situation, Prowl? Are we under attack?" Prime asked as soon as he crossed the threshold. The moment Prime's baritone filled the room, the excited chatter that had been present dropped to a whisper. Prime's second in command turned in his chair, facing Optimus with a grave expression etched on his features.

"Yes and no", came Prowl's terse reply. "We just picked up a distress call from Jazz. He's just over thirty minutes away, with Seekers on his tail. The twins have opted to act as a decoy to buy him some time, but they're severely outnumbered. And sir", Prowl added as he stood and moved closer to Prime, his voice dropping to a whisper, "the Decepticon's timing is too spot-on to be mere coincidence. They arrived just after the team reached the communications black-spot. It would be my guess..."

"That they know about the Matrix", Prime hissed, finishing the sentence.

"Precisely", Prowl confirmed. "But that isn't our only problem."

The black and white Datsun turned back to Teletran One, and keyed in a command. An instant later, and an image came up on the screen, displaying the mountain pass that led up to the entrance of the Ark. At first, couldn't see anything strange about the scene. As he focussed his optics, however, he noticed that a section of the image was rippling. As he stared for a few moments, a patch of otherwise blank air began to shift and coil, folding in upon itself impossibly, until Prime's optics began to register pain.

"It appears to be some kind of temporal distortion", Prowl said, snapping Prime's attention away from the image. "Every scan we run shows massive amounts of energy, and that's about it. Any time we scan to closely, or put the sensor gain too high, the sensors scramble and shut down. It even hurts to look at." Prowl noticed Prime's pained expression at that point, and cast a worried expression in his commander's direction.

"I'm fine, Prowl", Prime said, answering the unspoken question in his friend's gaze. "The question is, is it natural or artificial. If it's natural, then we've got a big problem. If it's artificial, then it could be an attack."

"Plan of action, sir?" Prowl asked.

"Send the Aerialbots out to rendezvous with Jazz", Prime began. "And send the Protectobots out to aid the twins. Then get everyone else out to this distortion. If it's an attack, we'll be ready for them. Advise extreme caution to all concerned. Roll out!"

O o O o O

"Decepticons, attack!"

Diving toward the Autobots below him at breakneck speed, Starscream couldn't help but try some kind of battle-cry. He had led countless assaults before this one, but never before had he done so as commander of the Decepticons. And at that moment in time, he didn't mind admitting that the sensation was intoxicating. With his brother Seekers alongside him, both roaring their ascension to his order, Starscream felt invincible.

Below him, two of his most hated adversaries awaited him. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, the twins that had caused him so many problems in the past, stood staring up at Starscream. At this distance, they looked laughably small, pitiful almost. Yes, he thought to himself, I will show them the error of their ways. I will show them the folly of defying the mighty Starscream! These thoughts coursing through his mind, Starscream fired, sending a hail of laser bolts and concussion missiles shrieking toward the foe.

He was more than a little surprised when he missed. The twins moved far faster than he had anticipated, and almost all of his leading shots missed. Those that made contact barely scratched the twin mech's armour plating. Even more surprising, though, the twins responded by taking to the air themselves. Both of them. In the past, Starscream mused, only the red one had ever flown, and then not with half as much grace as they both were at the moment. The Autobots had obviously started upgrading their forces, and this brought an unusual thrill to the Seeker. This would be more of a challenge than he thought.

O o O o O

"Status report!", Prowl called. Ironhide, who had just finished arranging the other Autobots present into a workable defence, stepped forward. A mere ten minutes after Optimus Prime had given the order to surround the temporal distortion, Ironhide and eight other 'bots had arrived on scene, taking great care to keep a good distance away from the focal point. Two minutes later, and Prowl had arrived on scene.

"We're setting up barricades now", Ironhide rumbled as he approached, "and we're keeping them well out of that things' area of effect. Now all we can do is wait and see what it's gonna do next."

Before Prowl could reply with so much as a 'good work', reality fell apart. While the two warriors began talking, the distortion began to move. It shifted almost imperceptibly at first, but in less than five seconds the rippling in the air had grown in size and force. With a blinding flash, and a sickening tearing sound, the temporal distortion began to expand. The newly formed rift yawned wide, moving toward the Autobots with terrifying speed, eating up the ground between itself and the barricades.

"Everybody get down!" Prowl roared, rather unnecessarily. The Autobots nearest the expanding anomaly were already diving for cover, quickly followed by their comrades. The rift, its core shifting in and out of the normally visible spectrum, came closer and closer, and Prowl began to entertain he thought that they were doomed. But at the very last, mere metres from the Autobot defences, the rift stopped its advance. The wall of coruscating energy stood there for a moment, just out of arms reach, and then with a deafening wail collapsed. In an instant it had reached its starting point, collapsing to critical mass and glowing like new-born sun, and then it died.

As the anomaly disappeared, it released another flash of light followed by a shockwave of energy. The wave dissipated quickly, striking the Autobots with barely any force at all. As Prowl stood, attempting to clear the after-images from his vision, he was greeted by the strangest sight he could have imagined. Where the temporal rift had been, there was now a large, metallic figure, huddled in a crouching position. It was a Transformer, of that Prowl was certain. The clear signs of Cybertronian design were all over the crouching form. But it all looked subtly wrong, and used unfamiliar materials.

Warily, the Autobots circled around the stranger, training their weapons upon his white and dark blue chassis. The newcomer seemed unaware of their presence, or else unconcerned. Slowly, the stranger stood, stretching his limbs and raising his bulky form upright. At once, Prowl and the others took in just how big this new mech was; put bluntly, he was huge. He stood at least head and shoulders above the Autobots, and was powerfully built. Gold optics powered on-line with a slight flash, and all at once he became aware of his surroundings.

Moving much faster that anyone would have thought possible, he brought his arms up, pointing one blue armoured fist at Prowl and the other at Ironhide. The mech's forearms began to shift and re-shape, transforming into a pair of identical cannons. At the same time, sections of his shoulders opened out into multiple rocket clusters, which in turn located targets in Inferno and Trailblazer. The tall mech snapped his head from side to side, quickly ascertaining the locations of every threat in the area. Finally, after a few sparkbeats, he spoke.

"Autobot or Decepticon?" the warrior demanded, his deep voice sounding eerily familiar. The question caught everyone off guard, and for a moment the Autobots were speechless. Apparently taking this as a form of threat, the stranger stiffened his posture and roared the question again. "Autobot or Decepticon? FRIEND OR FOE?"

"Autobot!" Prowl yelled in reply. "Now identify yourself, or we'll be forced to open fire."

The newcomer regarded Prowl for seconds that seemed like an age, his golden optics glaring at the security chief as though they could see into his very spark. Prowl thought he heard the white and blue mech whisper something along the lines of "it worked" to himself, but it was muffled by the newcomer's battle mask. A few more moments passed, and the stranger came to a decision. With a flick of his wrists, the cannons receded, as did the missile launchers. He straightened slightly, relaxing his stance, and with a slight shake of his head retracted his battle mask into the sides of his jawline. Without it, the face of the stranger seemed a little friendlier.

"I, too, am an Autobot", the stranger said softly, attempting half a smile. "I come from your future; by the human calendar, the year twenty-eight sixty-two. Nearly nine hundred years from now."

"What's your name, stranger?" Ironhide asked. "And why are you here?"

"My name is Artemis Prime", said the blue and white giant, his baritone sounding so much like the Prime they all knew. "And I am here because you are all in grave danger."

O o O o O

Sideswipe threw himself hard to his left, narrowly dodging a hail of fire from Thundercracker. A short distance away, he caught a glimpse of Sunstreaker desperately trying to hit Skywarp, and the red twin allowed himself a brief smile. All things considered, the fight could have been going a lot worse. As it was, Starscream had left the fight just a few minutes in, leaving the twins to face his two younger brothers. Sideswipe knew that the Seeker was after Jazz and the Matrix, but there was nothing he could do. He had sent another distress call, and then the four remaining combatants had paired off. Ten minutes later, and the Combaticons had turned up, complicating matters considerably.

The twins had since been pushing their new forms to the limit, dealing with not only Thundercracker and Skywarp, but Vortex and Blastoff as well. Below the dogfight, Onslaught, Swindle and Brawl were pouring fire into the sky, attempting to aid their air-borne comrades. Sideswipe banked sharply once more, spinning mid-flight to bring his rifle to bear. As soon as he saw his pursuer come into sight, he snapped off a series of tightly packed shots, sending bolts of green-white plasma screaming toward the blue and grey jet.

Thundercracker barely outmanoeuvred the stream of fire, accelerating hard to rise above the plasma blasts. As he did so, he charged a sonic burst, arcs of bluish energon playing over his fingers as he concentrated his unique gift. Firing standard weapons had proved to be all but useless, as the two Autobots had proven to be far more agile than anticipated. A wide dispersion sonic burst, Thundercracker figured, would give them nowhere to run. Grinning sardonically, he brought the charge in his hands up to critical mass.

"Eat this, Autobot slime!" he roared, and clapped his hands together, unleashing a torrent of cohesive sound toward Sideswipe. Faced with the expanding energy wall approaching him, Sideswipe only had one place to go: straight down. He cut power to his jet pack, knowing that he didn't have time to turn and apply thrust, and simply began to free-fall. Sideswipe spread his arms and rolled backward with the grace of an Olympic diver, and began to drop away from the threat. He got out of the way just in time, narrowly being missed by Thundercracker's attack.

Vortex, however, was not so fortunate. He had been attempting to sneak up behind Sunstreaker, while the yellow twin's attention was fixed on the distant form of Skywarp. The Seeker had pulled away from the fight for a few moments, his sleek jet form dark against the blue sky as he wheeled, bringing his weaponry to bear. With a resonating battle cry, the black and purple fighter opened fire, sending laser bolts and concussion missiles towards his target. The attack was poorly timed, though. Skywarp's shots had two effects, neither of them helping the Decepticon side of the conflict; firstly, they forced Sunstreaker to take evasive action, taking him out of the way of Thundercracker's attack. Secondly, the display of firepower had distracted Vortex, and he was still in the way as the sonic burst hit.

As the cacophony of energised noise washed over the helicopter, and the ensuing shockwave punched him unceremoniously from the air, the other combatants were only vaguely aware of his scream as he fell from the air. Sunstreaker roared a challenge to the approaching Skywarp, then opened fire with his own weapon. Skywarp responded in kind, and the space between them filled with fire. Both parties manoeuvred out of harm's way, Skywarp transforming as he did so. The young Seeker opened fire once more, sending his shots towards Sunstreaker's right side. Skywarp teleported just as Sunstreaker jinked to his left.

Sunstreaker was briefly aware of a harsh crack, followed by an impact, as Skywarp tackled him in mid air. The Seeker swung his left arm around Sunstreaker's throat, using the other to punch the Autobot in the back. Sunstreaker began to flail his elbows backwards, attempting to throw off his attacker. His attempts unsuccessful, and with Blastoff closing in fast, Sunstreaker decided that drastic measures were needed. He did the one thing that Skywarp did not expect; like his twin mere moments before, he took a firm hold of Skywarp's arm, and cut the power to his jet pack.

Suddenly forced to carry a lot of extra weight, Skywarp's engines raised in pitch to a near-scream. He began punching Sunstreaker harder and faster, frantically trying to free himself as the pair began to lose height. They dropped at a steady rate, Skywarp unable to keep both of them airborne. All the while, Sunstreaker clung on to his new mode of transport, waiting for the moment when he could deal with his opponent. As his internal instruments registered that they were only two hundred metres above ground, he acted.

With his right hand still holding Skywarp's arm, Sunstreaker reached back with his left and began trying to grab Skywarp's leg. He missed, and when Skywarp realised what he was doing he began to fight even harder to break free of the Autobot's crushing grip. It was no use, though, and after two more attempts Sunstreaker achieved his goal. He grabbed Skywarp's ankle joint and dug his fingers into the weaker points of the armour, eliciting a howl of pain from the Seeker. With all of his strength, Sunstreaker began to pull, dragging Skywarp off of his back and around to his front.

A sickening sense of the impending rising in his chest, Skywarp began to flail helplessly, trying to free himself from the vice-like grip of the yellow warrior. Desperately, he tried to teleport, but his systems wouldn't let him do it; with Sunstreaker's fingers embedded in his lower leg, and a power conduit breached, the teleportation system simply shut down. Screaming in frustration, Skywarp was pulled, inch by inch, until he was practically face to face with Sunstreaker. Sunny leaned his face closer to that of his enemy; the violent fury etched into his features sending a thrill of fear through the Seeker, and stunning him into silence.

"If I'm going down, you sorry son of a glitch", Sunstreaker hissed between clenched dental plates, "then by Primus, I'm taking you with me. I'm personally gonna make sure that I see you in the Pit. Time for a flying lesson." And with that, using the last limits of his strength, Sunny pulled them both around, spinning them around in mid air until the sky was below them and the earth above. Sunstreaker re-ignited his jet pack, launching both mechs toward the ground with a terrifying surge of speed.

A short distance away, Sideswipe, who had taken the fight to the Combaticons on the ground, was stunned to see his opponents stop firing for a moment and look up. Believing that Thundercracker was beginning a flanking manoeuvre, he spun on the spot and trained his weapon on the sky. He spotted Thundercracker, but the blue jet wasn't looking at Sideswipe either. He followed the Seeker's line of sight, and what he saw nearly made him cry out with shock. He couldn't believe his optics; he was watching his twin brother die.

Wrapped in a deathly embrace, the two warriors fell from the heavens like something from the ancient sagas. Good and evil, bright yellow angel and purple-black daemon, the two warriors above him descended upon roaring contrails of fire and with cries of fury. Sideswipe mouthed the word closest to his spark, no, in total silence, unable to speak. Moments stretched into ages, his own disbelief at what his optics were witnessing slowing down his perception. They fell, faster and faster, until they stopped with such suddenness that it seemed unreal.

For a moment, the only sound in Sideswipe's world was the shattering of his spark. His whole existence focussed in upon a little cloud of dust and smoke, rising steadily from the other side of a copse of trees. Nothing else mattered. He was briefly aware of shots being fired, of sirens blaring, and of a blue fire truck passing close by. He barely registered the sounds of combat rejoined, of Hot Spot roaring "Protectobots, form on me", followed by the screeching sounds of metal merging and the pounding of giant footfalls. And in the end, Sideswipe was only vaguely aware of large yet gentle hands lifting him into the air. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed. How could it, when he was gone...

O o O o O

Jazz was running as fast as he could, trying to get away from his attacker. Damage to his leg slowed him considerably, and he was forced to dodge through the trees in an attempt to stay out of sight. Above him, the maniacally screaming form of Starscream performed another strafing run, and yet more fire fell about the saboteur. Panting, wincing with pain, Jazz backed against one of the larger trees, and surveyed the damage. It didn't look good.

Starscream had caught him by surprise, the opening shots shredding two of his tyres, and a salvo of missiles blasting a great rent in the road and forcing Jazz to transform. Carrying the Matrix in his arms, he had been unable to return fire when Starscream had wheeled around and opened fire for a second time. Jazz had been forced to dive into the tree line, but not before a series of shots tore through his leg and damaged three major servo motors. Looking at the mangled mess that was his leg, Jazz mused that he had actually been lucky.

He would need to be luckier still if he was going to escape. He only needed to hold on for ten minutes; the Aerialbots were on their way, and Starscream was anything but a match for Superion. Pushing himself upright, Jazz began to run as best he could, from cover to cover, heading toward a point where he could send a distress signal, and attempt to get help from a nearer source. Above, the sound of Starscream's engines grew louder, a warning that another strafing run was about to begin.

Without warning, a missile streaked past Jazz, missing him by less than three feet, and impacted into the soft earth. With a roar, the weapon released its payload, and Jazz was launched from his feet and into the trees that shielded him from the road. He felt the searing heat start tearing into his chassis, and multiple impacts as he smashed into, and then through, several trees. Thrown clear of the tree-line, his ruined form came to rest in the centre of the highway. Warning lights and signals flaring within his vision, and mind-numbing pain coursing through his circuits, Jazz was amazed to find himself still holding the Matrix.

Despite the incredible heat that had just assaulted him, and the damage he had taken, the venerated artefact appeared untouched. It remained flawless, intact, and eerily cool to the touch. Jazz cradled it against what remained of his chest plate, attempting to protect it as a parent would a sparkling. A few metres away, Starscream landed, transforming just above the ground and landing gently. A triumphant smile crossed the Seeker's features as he looked at Jazz, appraising the damage his last shot had done. Content that Jazz was not a threat, he walked toward his prostrate foe.

"Poor Autobot", he crooned, dropping down on one knee when he reached Jazz's side. "Where are your friends? Where is your precious Optimus Prime? Why, I do believe you're all alone! When Laserbeak and Buzzsaw reported what they had found, about your most precious cargo, I couldn't believe my luck."

Jazz spat something defiant at Starscream, just too quiet for Starscream to make out. The tone left no illusion that it was anything but an insult, however, and Starscream's simpering smile quickly dropped into a vicious sneer. Balling his right hand into a fist, he swiped it backwards across Jazz's jaw. Then he took a hold of the Matrix of Power, feeling a tingling sensation as he did so, and wrenched it from Jazz's weakening grip. The Seeker gazed at his prize, lost for a moment in dreams of his own destiny, then turned to leave.

"You know, I was going to kill you", he said, barely above a whisper. "And out of the kindness of my spark, I was going to do it quickly. But I've decided upon something far more fitting. I'm going to let you live, live with this, your greatest failure. That, I think, will do more damage than I ever could."

And with that, Starscream was gone.

Author's Notes: Well, that's it. The end of Primus Inter Pares, part one of Transformers: Renaissance. Part two, Corona Nox, will be coming soon! I hope you enjoyed this so far. Please review if you can!

Transformers and all associated characters are the property of Hasbro/Hastak Inc.

Artemis Prime is based upon the character Artemis, from the story "Lost But Not Forgotten", by Prime Revolver. He is used with permission of his creator, for which I am eternally grateful. Thank you so much, my friend!

Well, in the words of a famous man, that's all folks!