-Personal Log: Entry #013-

Due to the limited space in the Restoration Chamber, the repairs on the Predacons took more than two solar cycles to complete.

The attack is scheduled for dawn. I am to begin by bringing down the shields of the Axalon. Once done, Megatron and the others will break cover and strike at the ship itself, along with any Maximals who emerge to defend it.

The rising sun found Ravage in beast mode outside the Axalon.

"Optimus Primal!" he shouted. "I would speak with you!"

The reply was swift. "What do you want, Ravage?"

"I have seen my error, and left the Predacons. I come forward to surrender myself to your judgement."

"What do you think, Maximals?" Optimus asked. "Do we let him back in?"

"Yes," Dinobot replied. "Or better yet, let me out. The traitor must answer for his crimes."

"Don't be so quick to judge him," Cheetor said. "You heard it yourself; he wants to surrender. We should at least hear his case before we blast him."

"No way," Rattrap objected. "He had his chance, and he blew it. I don't trust him."

"You never trusted him in the first place," Airazor pointed out.

"I'll prepare the ballot panel," Rhinox said. "If nothing else, we can use it to decide what to tell him."

"What's taking so long?" Terrorsaur wondered.

"Why Gargoyle-bot not fire?" Waspinator added.

The Predacons were stationed on the edge of the Axalon's perimeter scanners, protected by a signature-damping device that Blackarachnia had built some time ago.

"We may have to strike without him," Inferno said, sounding impatient.

Megatron was beginning to have his doubts as well, but chose not to voice them yet.

"The Maximals have not yet brought up their shields," he said. "Ravage's role in this attack is to bring them down, and draw out the Maximals. Until he starts to take out the defenses, we hold our position."

"Okay," Rhinox said, tallying the results. "That's three votes to hear him out, and three to blow him to slag."

"That only leaves Tigatron," Optimus said. "It'll be his vote that decides the matter."

"I'll see if I can get him on the laser link," Cheetor replied.

Ravage watched as Tigatron approached cautiously, in robot mode. The sun had almost fully risen by now.

"You wanted to talk?" Tigatron asked.

"Actually, no." Ravage fired a sonic pulse at the white cat-bot, barely missing him.

"So much for honor," Tigatron said. He began firing back at Ravage--

Until a laser, from a source clouded by the mists of the dawn, dislodged the ground beneath him and blew him off his feet.

"ATTACK!" Megatron yelled.

The Predacons came into view, all guns blazing. In response, the auto-guns on the Axalon began firing back at them. One pulse hit Ravage's flank, leaving a large scorch-mark. Ravage retaliated, disabling both guns with a pair of sonic pulses.

Knowing he was outnumbered and outgunned, Tigatron made a break for the Axalon. Once he was inside, the shields came up immediately.

Ravage stared work on bringing them down, firing volley after volley of sonic beams against the barrier.

"He played us!" Tigatron said, slamming his fist on the console.

"Hey, calm down, Big Cat," Cheetor said, trying to approach the subject carefully.

"Calm... down?" Tigatron asked. "He played us all! And we fell for it!"

Cheetor abruptly changed direction. "Stop it Tigatron. This isn't like you."

"It isn't like me to be fooled twice by the same deception, either!"

"That's ENOUGH!" Cheetor punched Tigatron square in the face.

Tigatron fell back, shaking his head violently. "You're right. This isn't getting me anywhere."

The ship shook suddenly, and everyone scrambled to his or her posts.

"So what do we do now?" Cheetor asked.

"With those sonic beams of his, Ravage is doing a number on us by himself," Rhinox said.

"Or he would be, if he was by himself," Airazor added. "But with nothing else to shoot at out there, all of the Preds are helping Ravage knock us loose."

"Shields are doing a major fade!" Cheetor was beginning to panic.

"Holey Swiss cheese, we're in for it now," Rattrap said.

Ravage stopped firing as the shields flickered and phased out, and shouted an ultimatum.

"Come out and face us, Maximals! Or be buried in your own ship!"

In response, the boarding platforms dropped, and the Maximals scattered.

Airazor met Inferno in the sky and the two of them started shooting it out in a demonic dogfight. Optimus engaged Megatron, their many cannons scattering projectiles everywhere. The spiders let loose on Tigatron, and he responded by launching an ice grenade from his arm, trapping them in an arctic pillar.

Desperate to protect his friends, Tigatron turned, firing his quasar pistol at any Predacon he could see. Then a cyber-venom bolt hit him from behind, and he went down. Behind him, Blackarachnia held the smoking gun in her still-free hand.

"Shouldn't take your eyes off a spider," she said. "They tend to be venomous."

"That may be," Rhinox said. He started firing at the base of the ice pillar, his bullets cutting it away until the whole thing fell forward and crushed the arachnids. "But they still squash."

Wasting no time, Rhinox grabbed Tigatron and carried him back to the Axalon, hoping fervently that if the venom was expunged quickly, the fresh fighter might turn the tide.

Unmindful of range, Inferno fired a final projectile. The explosion knocked both him and Airazor out of the air. Neither one was going to get up without help.

Scorponok fired on Cheetor, but was interrupted by a shot from Rattrap. The scorpion stood no chance against both of them.

After Scorponok had fallen, Terrorsaur shot Cheetor from behind with his shoulder cannons. Rattrap turned and shot Terrorsaur out of the air, but too late to save his friend from the onslaught.

Dinobot made short work of Waspinator and looked at Rattrap. Both of them nodded at the same time. Rattrap abandoned the battle to grab Cheetor, while Dinobot took care of Airazor. Between them, the rat and the raptor got the bird and the cat back into the Axalon for repairs.

When the two of them came out, they both approached Ravage.

"I gotta admit, me and Chopper-face ain't always seen eye to eye," Rattrap said.

"But you showed us something we could agree on," Dinobot added.

For the first time since the battle had started, Ravage was scared. And for good reason.

"WE BOTH! HATE! YOU!" Dinobot fired his eye-beams while Rattrap shot his handgun as fast as his trigger finger would move. Their anger helped their aim, and Ravage was sure he'd be scrapped right then and there.

Then the Energon radiation interfered with the berserk pair, leaving them with no other choice but to transform to beast mode and face the half-breed tooth to claw.

"Two-on-one is hardly what I'd call honorable, Dinobot," Ravage said, shooting Rattrap away with a sonic beam.

"When two people have the same score to settle, the only honorable thing to do is share." Dinobot spun quickly, slapping Ravage across the face with his tail. "But it now appears I have you all to myself, freak."

"Then let's see what you've learned from our sparring." The two beasts went at each other with insane speed, biting and clawing for all they were worth.

"Airazor's not here to save your hide this time," Ravage taunted, snapping at the raptor's leg.

"Worry about your own hide." Dinobot swung his other leg at Ravage's wing.

For a good fifteen cycles, it was anyone's fight--until Ravage became impatient. He fired another sonic beam, knocking Dinobot off his feet. Then he looked to Megatron and Optimus, just in time to see the gorilla grab the tyrannosaur by his tail and throw him.

Megatron fell five meters away, opened his eyes and looked at the winged cat. "This will be the final test, Ravage," he said. "Let your actions dictate your allegiance. Predacon hero, or Maximal spy? DESTROY OPTIMUS PRIMAL!"

Ravage walked forward, shooting wave after wave of sonic beams at the gorilla. When Optimus was weakened enough, Ravage took to the air, coming down straight on the Maximal leader. The two of them crashed to the ground, Ravage looking viciously at Primal from his place on the gorilla's chest.

"Feel the fear grow within you, Primal." Ravage showed his teeth. "You trusted me, and look where it's got you. You are not going to live to see another sunset."

"You don't have to do this," Optimus said calmly. "You have a choice. You're the turning point now."

"And at the point of no return!" Ravage said quietly, looking closer. Was that... pity behind the monkey's eyes? He averted his gaze. "You should have run, when you had the chance."

Sensing Ravage's unease, Optimus pushed further. "It's never too late to change. You should know that better than anyone. All it takes is the moment of decision. Are you Ravage, or are you Nightshade?"

Ravage's processor was suddenly flooded with memories, as his ears echoed with voices that he could not shut out.

"Unknown, state your name, function, and CPU ID--"

"--I'll ask Nightshade to make his case--"

"--Consider my primary function--"

"--Commencing reformatting sequence--"

"--I couldn't really remember what I wanted--"

"--May have done us a great service--"

"--Permit me to speak for myself--"

"--The only thing worse than a Pred is a stinkin' Decepticon--"

"--I've been doing this for awhile--"

"--What else would you expect from a Decepticon--"

"--Whose side are you on anyway--"

"--I can blast some Maximals--"

"--Are you Ravage, or are you Nightshade?"

"Come forward, Megatron!" Ravage shouted. "And transform! You will want to see the look on this monkey's face, with your own eyes, as I strike down the enemy of my commander!"

"Then I guess you've made your choice," Optimus said, as Megatron converted to robot mode.

"Yeah, I have," Ravage replied. He waited until Megatron was right next to him before giving his final epithet. "Rust in pieces."

Breathing deep, Ravage prepared to fire a full-strength sonic beam, one charged with the most powerful sounds from the whole battle.

Then, at the last nano-click, Ravage turned his head. The beam slammed full-force into Megatron's chest plate, lifting him off his feet and throwing him a good nine or ten meters.

"What are you doing?" Optimus asked.

"I'd have thought it was obvious," Ravage replied, getting off of the gorilla's chest and turning toward Megatron. "I'm striking down the enemy of my commander!"

"No one does that to me!" Megatron yelled, getting up.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, you saurian son of a slag-sucker," Ravage said. "But I think I just, uh... did."

"You perfidious patchwork freak!"

"Are you referring to my current form, or have you discovered my origins too?"

Ravage thumped his chest, and the fatal words hit Megatron's ears.

"Activation Code change: Complete."

"I told you, didn't I? I gave up my old name to make way for my new life! Maximize!"

As he had done before, the dark warrior brought forward his guns and pointed all of them at Megatron.

"Then return to your Maximals!" Megatron quickly converted to beast mode. "If they will suffer a traitor like you in their midst!"

"KISS MY SKID PLATE, MEGATRASH!" The black bot fired all of his guns at the saurian, and was quite pleased to hear him scream in pain as the impact knocked him two meters into the air.

"AARRGGHH! BLAST IT ALL!"

"Perhaps a little late," the dark warrior said belligerently, powering down his weapons. "But that was the general idea."

"Are... are you okay?" Optimus asked, surprised.

"No. No, I'm not," the panther said, looking at the rising sun. "But I will be, eventually."

"You've found your answers, then? I did say you could do what you needed to."

"For the moment, yes. Toward that end, I've done all I can here. But a final task remains, if I'm to finish the job." He turned and offered Optimus a hand, to help him up. "And to answer your earlier question, sir, it's Nightshade."

-End Chapter Thirteen-