Chapter 2: First Encounters
For the citizens of Beach City, out of the ordinary occurrences were something that happened so often that they were almost on the level of being mundane. They had been through everything from incoming invasions all the way to being completely destroyed by incoming masses from space.
So, when a strange looking metal bird came flying into their town, it was not that big of a deal to most of them. Yes, it certainly caused many to look up and acknowledge the creature, especially with it spouting off strange gibberish while it flew, but there was almost nothing else to it after that. Everyone simply went on with on with their business as if nothing ever happened.
To say that they were desensitized was something of an understatement.
It didn't take Squawktalk long before he had enough information to accurately calculate the words and language of this planet. It was what the Minicon was best at, and he always worked efficiently. Yet his constant noise was one of the main reasons that Soundwave never took him out. The more important one was the fact that they rarely if ever needed to learn new languages.
Once everything was done, Squawktalk immediately started making his way back to the shuttle, spouting off new phrases that he heard. While it took him a bit of time to get back, there weren't that many who were anticipating his arrival. Whether it was the cons or the bots, neither side wanted to hear that unending talking.
When the minicon got back to his master, Soundwave was quick to start with the upload of the language to the ship's main console. As it was all being uploaded, Perceptor looked over everything that was being shown on screen.
"This is very strange," Perceptor said, looking at the images that had been taken by Soundwave's microbot. "The translations are in without issue, but there is something rather disconcerting about the beings I'm seeing here. From Shockwave's old reports, the beings that used to inhabit this planet were far larger than this."
"Well we've already had two things happen that contradict old reports, why not keep adding to the pile?" Cliffjumper said, "Really, he thought that nothing would change in all that time? Maybe Shockwave doesn't think as logically as he wants everyone to think."
"The dominant species of this planet is of little to no concern." Soundwave spoke up, "Establishment of long range communication is essential in order to receive further guidance."
"Soundwave's got a point." Jazz said, "Whatever species it is that has this planet now isn't really that important. While it's good that we at least know how these things communicate, it would be best if keep our distance. You know how Optimus is with involving species that don't need to know about us."
"While our reasons may be different, I do agree that we should keep a low profile." Onslaught said, "Comms are what's important right now, but we need to check out these points to check for a sign of this new energy first. Once that's confirmed or proven to be nothing, then we call back to Cybertron."
"Well then, let's get down to it." Hot Rod said, "After everyone gets uploaded with Soundwave's data, we'll divide up into two teams and hit each point separately. Cliff, Jazz and myself will hit the point right here on this peninsula while you and-"
"Hold on there. Since when do you give us orders?" Swindle inquired.
"I'll handle this, Swindle." Onslaught said, cutting his teammate off, "Last I checked, we both took orders from our own. So excuse me when I ask, but what gives you the authority to start passing out orders to us?"
"It's simply based off of what's around each of these points." Hot Rod said, "While the first one is larger than the other, it's also right next to a built-up area. No offense, but you and your cons aren't exactly known for subtlety."
"I'll ignore the fact that you blatantly ignored the fact that we pulled one over on you bots on more than one occasion because there's a bigger point to be made." Onslaught said, irritation clear in his voice, "It hardly matters that it's a built-up area since we'll be keeping away from it to check out this reading. The big thing here is that our teams cooperate with each other. While you may not agree with my methods, you can't deny that I know how to lead my team. The only reason you're here is that you seem to be Prime's pet project."
"Woah, slow your roll there Onslaught." Jazz said before Hot Rod could get a word out, "I don't give two scraps what you may think of Optimus, but you have no right saying that. Hot Rod has proven himself capable on the battlefield. Especially when things get heated."
"Yet you and your red friend over there have had more experience than him separately. Little strange to me that he would be picking the least knowledgeable to front this mission. But again, that's beside the point." Onslaught said, "If even if we are going into a built-up area, that only increases the chances that we'll be seen. While I doubt these primitive creatures could really do any harm to us, it never hurts to take caution. If something does happen, he can handle it without issue. So, you'll take the second point and we'll take the first."
There was a short period of silence between the two factions as Onslaught waited for Hot Rod's reply. While Hot Rod was considering everything that Onslaught said, there was something in the back of his head that was nagging. Something about what was said about him being Optimus's pet project.
Like it or not, the young bot knew that Optimus had been trying to get him ready for being a leader, and many of the others had taken notice. While it shouldn't have bothered him, he knew it was causing some less than kind words. Not to mention, he wasn't sure if this was something that he wanted.
All the same, he knew he had to give an answer before he started to look suspicious.
"Fine. We'll check out the second point." Hot Rod said, finally speaking up, "but the second I hear about anything going sideways at your cause, don't think we won't be right there after you."
"I'm shaking my rivets off, kid." Brawl commented as he went to leave the room, "Come on Swindle, let's get headed to the drop bay."
The less bulky con followed close behind as the two pilots got up from their seats to follow Onslaught out. There were a few sideways glances from the bots, but they let the cons go and get ready for where they would be dropped at.
"Perceptor, you and Soundwave will have the ship while we're away." Hot Rod said, "Go in cloaked so that we don't cause a disturbance."
"All too simple." Perceptor said, "Head to the drop bay, and we'll be there in moments."
With that, the Autobots left to leave Perceptor and Soundwave to their work. With everything taken care of, this would hopefully just be a quick in and out recon mission.
The first stop was for the Combaticons. Bringing the ship into the planet's atmosphere, Perceptor was quick to turn on the cloaking system to avoid any detection by the anyone who may have been looking up at the time.
Approaching the area in question, the doors to the drop bay opened, showing Onslaught and his crew to be ready to jump at a moment's notice. With one shout of the word "Go!" the Decepticons all ran out the back of the ship and jumped down to the beach below.
Upon landing, the combaticons became immediately aware of how truly different this planet was from many of the other one that they had been to. Yes, they had been to planets that weren't metal on the surface, but this one was different in many ways.
"What do you suppose all of this liquid is?" Swindle asked to anyone.
"Whatever it is, I wouldn't touch it. It might cause you to rust." Blastoff said, "In any case, we have more important things to worry about."
"Right, let's find that energy deposit." Vortex said, scanning over the environment."According to Perceptors coordinates, it should be just beyond this hill."
Turning in the same direction, the Combaticons all saw exactly what it was that Vortex was talking about, and they were certainly surprised by what they saw. It looked like a large statue carved into the side of the mountain. One of a being that they had never before seen.
"What do you suppose that thing is? And what's up with the structure at the bottom?" Swindle asked.
"Who cares," Brawl said, "it looks like it's been abandoned for a long time. In any case, it's blocking our way to that energy."
"He's right, it doesn't matter. We just need to worry about getting to that reading sight." Onslaught said, "Get it out of the way."
Over the course of the past few weeks, things had been very quiet on the homefront for the Crystal Gems. Homeworld had not sent anything their way in a very long time. While that might be a good thing in most people's eyes, to Steven it was a sign that something was not right.
While the gems tried to tell him to not worry and simply go on with preparing for when there would be another attack, Steven was sure that something was going on. He knew that there had to be a reason for them not seeing any sign of a Homeworld ship or some kind of team coming in to check on things. Something just felt… off.
While the Gems didn't quite feel it themselves, they would allow for Steven to go and check on things as he saw fit while they did the same. With them checking some of the more high-risk areas, they sent him to the Kindergarten to check things. All though they had confidence in him, they still didn't like the idea of him going alone. So, Peridot was sent to accompany him… and she was not at all impressed with the reasoning.
"You know the only reason they sent us here is that they know nothing is here, right?" Peridot complained as the two kept walking.
"Hey, it can't hurt to look." Steven argued back, "I mean, you tried getting this place back online, didn't you?"
"That's because I thought there were no other options at the time." Peridot said, "I only wanted to get it up and running so that I might get a little help. Failing that, I might have been able to take you all out."
Steven sent her a wry look, not finding her humor all that funny. While she had definitely come a long way since their first meeting, she still needed a little work in some areas.
"Anyway, my point is that there would be no real reason for them to come here." Peridot began again, "They want this world destroyed, not use it for another growing ground. Honestly, what do any of you expect to find around here?"
No sooner had Peridot said that, that the two of them heard something overhead. Looking up, they didn't see anything at first, but as the sound got louder, they started to see something. It almost looked like the air around them shimmering.
As the noise moved further away, they heard the sound of a voice shouting out "Go, go, go!". Shortly after that, three large bodies could be seen falling from the sky where the noise had been coming from, and they were dropping down not too far ahead of them.
"Well, that's certainly something." Steven said to Peridot.
As the three Autobots jumped out of the ship, each made their way down to help soften the impact. Jazz had taken to using his energy grapple to swing his way down, while Cliffjumper was living up to his namesake. Meanwhile, Hot Rod had simply decided to slide his way down the cliff face, jumping at the last minute to avoid an impact with the ground.
"Geez, look at this place." Cliffjumper said from a high point of the canyon, "If there was any kind of energy anything around, it looks like someone else already picked it clean."
"Yeah, it looks like I made the wrong call." Hot Rod said, his tone slightly down.
"Hey kid, what's wrong?" Jazz said, landing beside him, "This is about Onslaught, isn't it? Come on, since when does a con know anything about us?"
"That may be true, Jazz." Hot Rod told him, "but it does make me think. Am I getting treated differently because Optimus keeps trying to force me to be a leader? I mean, don't even know if I want to be a leader."
"Hey, don't blow a gasket over it kid." Jazz assured him, "You know Prime doesn't do things without reason. If he see's something in you, then there's a reason he wanted you heading the mission. Sure, you got a ways to go, but that's why you're starting out slow. You never know, this might be what you're made for, or maybe it's something else. There's only one way to find out, and you're doing good so far."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. In any case, let's see if this was a complete loss first." Hot Rod said, trying to get away from the subject for the time being. Looking up, he tuned his shortwave communication for Cliffjumper "Cliff, are you sure there's nothing? Your optics aren't picking up anything?"
"Not even residue." Cliff said, scanning the area, before his sensors picked up a very paint reading, "Wait… I think I might have something on the other side of the canyon. It's small, but it's there. I don't think I'll be able to make it from this side. Jazz?"
"I gotcha pal." Jazz said, looking to where Cliffjumper was pointing. With one quick shot, his energy grapple came out and pulled him up to the wall of the ravine. Once there, he dug his hand to keep himself stable. Looking to the spot, he found that there was an odd shaped hole that was formed. It looked too well formed to be natural, but he had no idea what could have made this.
Reaching his other hand inside, he pulled out a mound of dirt that appeared to have nothing in it. Yet, after shaking the clump to see if there was more to it, he was surprised to see what looked like fragments of some sort of crystal.
"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Jazz said, looking outward to see something even more shocking, "Scratch that, I found two of something!"
Looking to see what Jazz was talking about, both Hot Rod and Cliffjumper looked in the same direction he had. Needless to say, they were left a little speechless when they saw what appeared to be a giant drill on the side of the cliff wall.
"I guess you were right Cliff. Someone was here before us." Hot Rod said, getting closer to the strange looking machine. "What do you think it is?"
"Only one way to find out," Cliffjumper said, running to the odd device before jumping from the edge of the ravine. He landed on top of it, causing it to dislodge from the wall and cause it to tumble down to the ground.
Both Jazz and Hot Rod immediately headed to the fallen device, hoping that Cliff hadn't gotten hurt from the very rash action. It took a minute for the dust to clear, but Cliffjumper eventually appeared from the cloud looking completely fine.
"Geez Cliff, what in Primus's name were thinking?" Jazz asked, not at all impressed with what Cliffjumper did.
"Got it down, didn't I?" Cliffjumper argued.
"This is hardly the time to be pulling stunts." Jazz said, "You could have gotten yourself scrapped if something went wrong."
"He's right Cliff." Hot Rod added, "Trust me, I know this is dull, but we need to-
"Achoo!"
Hot Rod was interrupted by a strange noise, and all of them stopped to see where it had come from. Hot Rod got his blaster out, thinking that there might be something of hostile intent coming in. He'd never heard a sound like that before, so there was no telling what it was.
"Come on out and show yourself!" Cliffjumper shouted, seeing movement not too far away from where they were.
Not too far from where the Autobots had landed, Steven and Peridot went to go investigate just what was going on. Naturally, the two of them had thought that it was something that Homeworld had sent. It was really the only thing that made sense their mind as to what it could be.
Imagine their surprise when they instead saw a group of giant, walking, talking robots.
While Peridot was both fascinated and terrified at seeing something like this, Steven was completely awestruck. He had seen a good deal of cartoons and comics about giant robots, but he never thought that he would actually see one right in front of him. It was almost like something out of a movie.
While Peridot had wanted to simply get out of there as fast as they could, Steven remained grounded and was determined to know just what was going on here. Who were these beings, and what did they want?
After getting a display of just what these things could do, things seemed to go sideways for a second when one of them brought down one of the drills. Although the robot was fine, the dust that was kicked up in the process went everywhere. Which, unfortunately, Steven and breathed in some, causing him to involuntarily let out a sneeze.
So now there they were, in a narrow canyon with giant robots pointing weapons at them. They had very options as to what to do, and Peridot was all in favor of simply waiting for them to grow bored and walk away. Steven, on the other hand, knew that it would get them nowhere. They were more likely to be found out than anything else, so it would be best to simply get it over and done within what he hoped could be a peaceful manner.
Coming out from behind the rocks the two were hiding behind (much to Peridots very visual disapproval), Steven showed himself to the giant robots, who immediately dropped their hostile stance.
"It looks like one of the inhabitants of this planet." Cliff whispered to the other two, "What should we do? I mean we're already found out, so hiding isn't an option anymore."
"Don't worry, I got this." Jazz whispered to them before slowly walking up to the very small creature that was before him. It was almost comical how stark the size difference was between the two, but Jazz wanted to make a good impression, so he avoided laughing. "Ahem, Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong."
Steven had stayed in place when one of the metallic beings approached him, not sure what he was going to do or say. While he wasn't sure what would happen, the words that the robot spoke were not something that he expected, and so he simply stared back with a confused look.
"What was that?" Hot Rod asked Cliffjumper.
"Universal greeting." Cliff answered, "Though, by the look on its face, I don't think that thing knows what it means."
While Peridot was not at all for trying to communicate with whatever these things were, she did keep a close eye on Steven. If anything happened to him, the gems would have her harvested for sure. While the giant beings didn't seem to act hostile to him, she knew well enough to be wary of strangers. Especially considering that these ones were literal aliens.
When one of them approached Steven and spoke, Peridot was nervous, but also intrigued to hear what was said. She had heard those words before, but not for an incredibly long time. It was in the gem archives of very long ago. It was a sort of old speak that hadn't been used for eons, but she remembered it.
Knowing that Steven was not going to know what it meant, she came out from behind the rocks and approached. She was noticed by the aliens, but that was not too much of an issue. She had to make sure that what she heard was right.
"Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong?" Peridot asked the robot in front of the two of them.
When another one of them appeared behind the rocks, Jazz was slightly surprised but didn't show it. From what it seemed, this one did know what he was saying.
"Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong." he repeated.
"Everything's fine Steven." Peridot said, smiling at the response she received, "They say they come in peace."
"How do you know?" Steven asked his green friend.
"Seems that she knows a little of the universal language." Jazz said to the two, "and it looks like your own isn't that hard to learn."
After Jazz had seemed to get the duo's trust, Cliff and Hot Rod approached them. Like Jazz, they really could not believe how small these creatures were. Yet, after visiting many planets before this, it should have been no surprise. Still, they didn't get a chance to interact with locals very much.
Inside of Steven's head were a plethora of questions. Everything from the practical to the down absurd. Sure, he knew about the gems and they were aliens, but this was something completely new. Better get started, as they probably had questions of their own.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Steven asked.