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 "Journeys".
Saving Cybertron, Chapter 4
By TVfan
Battle Site
The explosion sent all of the transformers that were still online tumbling back. Thankfully, most of those knocked offline earlier had been moved away from the battle site and most were on their way back to underground base. For Optimus, that was the sole saving grace of the situation.
"The Tripredicus Council, I presume?" Optimus asked to Queen as they ducked behind the makeshift barricade they had raised.
"Yes," Queen responded, "and the drone crew of one of the ships that was downed."
"Is there any difference between these drones and the drones we've fought already?" Cheetor asked.
"They're smarter," Queen responded, "but their armor is just as weak, and their weaponry is actually even weaker the drones we've faced… mostly to insure that they can crew the ships more effectively."
"With the damage we've sustained already," Rapther commented, "their power isn't the concern. It's their numbers. We could tire ourselves destroying the drones, allowing their council members to destroy us or send us into stasis lock."
They ducked down even further as the drones around the Tripredicus Council members began to fire at the buildings, hoping the shots would send enough rubble into the street that Optimus Primal's Maximals and the various Resistance fighters would be buried in debris.
"I'll deal with the Tripredicus Council," Optimus volunteered, "I'm likely the one they want. I trust you can keep their drones busy?"
"Big bot, you likely don't have the fuel reserves to fly," Cheetor told him, fearful of losing the transformer that was a sort of father figure to him, even though Optimus and Cheetor weren't related to each other.
"Yes," Dinobot agreed, "if we are to fight here, it would be best to concentrate and give them an even response. If the drones aren't any better protected then the others we've faced, they should be no problem."
"Plus we might get them to blindly charge us," Terrorsaur commented, "I doubt those drones can climb over the barricade easily."
"How long until the drones from the other ships show?" Rattrap asked, "it's doubtful the crashes of those ships destroyed all of them."
"I think we'd best settle for one problem at a time," Queen commented, "the Tripredicus Council and these drones are here now. We must deal with them. Terrorsaur, can you still fly?"
"Yes," the transmetal two pterosaur answered.
"What are you planning?" Optimus asked.
"Attacking outright would be suicide," Queen told the Maximal commander, "the Tripredicus Council will be expecting such an attack. But… there is still a lot of rubble from the earlier fighting and the buildings haven't been completely destroyed. Terrorsaur and I can sneak back move around them and attack them from the flank. When they turn to fire in confusion, then you can attack."
"Okay," Optimus nodded, "Let us give you some covering fire first. They won't be as likely to notice you slinking off that way."
Generals Seaclamp, Ramhorn, and Cicadacon all smiled as they and the drones from the downed ship fired on the Resistance barricade. While the defeat of their three warships was embarrassing to the Council members, they did do serious damage to the Resistance fighters and their numbers were now greatly reduced. It was only a matter of time before they would all be destroyed. Either they would do such damage to the buildings that they would collapse and bury the resistance fighters completely, or they would destroy their barricades and expose them to their fire directly.
After a few moments, the ease of their siege ended as the resistance fighters came up just enough to return fire. Several drones were destroyed and the Council members were forced to dive behind a nearby wall to give them some cover.
"Spread out," General Ramhorn ordered to the drones near them, "Pin them down!"
The drones began to spread out across the street and firing at the resistance's barricade. Several of them were destroyed, but the resistance fighters didn't have enough numbers to really pin the drones down, and some of their shots missed when the Council Members fired their own weapons at them, particularly at Optimus. They did not however notice a pair of transformers move back to head down an alley near a different side of the resistance's barricade.
"We'll get them now!" General Seaclamp said confidently as he fired his own blaster, catching raptor femme in the shoulder, knocking her back, "They're pinned down and with us here now, we can destroy them all!"
"A shame that we've lost so much to finally crush the resistance," General Cicadacon commented, "they've set our plans back greatly."
"Yes," Ramhorn nodded, "but they have still lost, showing that their hopes for rebellion were completely futile."
"And we will destroy them for it!" Seaclamp smiled.
Queen and Terrorsaur flew in beast mode down a few blocks in the alley, away from the fighting. Their audio receptors easily picked up the sound of the battle as energy weapons blasted at the barricade or drones or the Council members and as rockets and missiles did the same. Once they were a few blocks away in an area that was not yet damaged by the battle, they turned onto a different alley and moved to the main street to peer out at the present firefight.
"They don't notice that we're gone," Terrorsaur spoke as he noticed all the drones standing in the open and making little effort to take any cover. They would be easy targets for the two flying Predicons.
"Just as I thought," Queen nodded, "and they think they've already won… overconfidence is a dangerous thing. Regardless of which faction is experiencing it."
Terrorsaur nodded, not saying anything.
"Let's go," Queen nodded, and moved to the attack.
Underground Base
"My word!" Rhinox gasped as Blackarachnia, Packadex, and Spine returned to the base carrying several stasis locked transformers, "What happened?"
"A really BIG battle," Packadex answered, "the Tripredicus Council attacked us shortly after we got to where we were to wait for Optimus and the teams that hit the warehouses."
"And this, sadly, is only the first wave of casualties," Blackarachnia added, "thankfully, though, all their self repair systems seem to be undamaged."
"That'll take time," Rhinox groaned, "How well is the battle going?"
"We have defeated all that they have sent against us," Spine said triumphantly.
"Uh huh," Rhinox nodded, "and how many are still functional? And how many more attacks can the Tripredicus Council send?"
"Not many," Packadex sighed, "but I think the factory raids were successful, so I doubt the Tripredicus Council is in good shape either."
"It's gambling with a lot of lack of knowledge," Rhinox answered, "and we don't have much in the way of CR chambers."
"Maybe their internal repairs will fix things," Spine commented, "You're being way TOO cautious about this. We're winning. What else matters?"
"Life," Rhinox answered, "Destroying all we have won't do anyone any good."
"We can't avoid it all the time, Rhinox," Packadex said weakly, "I don't think Dinobot wanted the fight. They attacked us, and if we fled, they would have either picked us off as we ran or simply waited to hammer the factory teams as they arrived."
That made Rhinox sigh heavily. As much as he would like to blame Dinobot for the battle, given Dinobot's past as a Predicon and his highly combative and militant nature, the rhinoceros transformer had to admit that the transmetal two raptor was a smart warrior. Unless he was pushed to a point where he had no choice, Dinobot wouldn't engage in such a battle.
The real problem in Rhinox's mind was Queen. The bee transformer was pushy and Dinobot even described her as a female version of Megatron. For that reason alone, Rhinox was quite certain that Queen couldn't be fully trusted. Not unless something dramatic happened, and as he began moving the most critically damaged of those brought back into the CR chamber, Rhinox prayed that the battle that Queen had forced them all into would go well.
"Primus help us all," Rhinox sighed to himself and then turned to Blackarachnia's team, "You'd best get going. If this battle is still ongoing, we must save as many of the wounded as possible."
"I would rather be fighting the enemy," Spine grumbled.
Rhinox only shook his head and prayed the present coalition between Optimus's Maximal's and Queen's largely Predicon resistance fighters wouldn't collapse into another series of Cybertronian civil wars when this was all over.
Elsewhere
Queen and Terrorsaur were quick to make their move to attack the Tripredicus Council and their drones. They didn't know of their presence and were in no way shape or form ready for any attack on their flanks, and they had already lost several drones to incoming fire from Optimus's compatriots fighting behind the barricade. Both took their robot modes and charged directly for the mass of drones, which were still unaware of their presence.
Both fired all their available weapons as they flew over the Tripredicus Council and their drones. The attack was a blazing success for the resistance leader and the transmetal two pterosaur. Several drones were destroyed before they could even react, and both Seaclamp and Cicadacon took several shots to their shoulders as Queen and Terrorsaur flew overhead. They then destroyed several more drones as they went past the Tripredicus Council's position.
"That'll give them something to think about!" Terrorsaur cheered as the drones began to fire after them, but largely missed.
"Destroy them!" Ramhorn yelled as Queen and Terrorsaur flew down the street.
The drones quickly turned to fire on the 'retreating' transformers while Ramhorn turned to check on his compatriots. Both Seaclamp and Cicadacon had taken some damage from the attack, but it was nothing serious.
"You alright?" Ramhorn asked to his compatriots.
"Fine," Cicadacon grumbled, "but I AM looking forward to disassembling that Resistance femmebot."
They all looked up to see Queen and Terrorsaur circling around, preparing for another strafing run while the drones continued to fire after them. They readied their own weapons when a barrage of rockets and energy destroyed many more drones and did damage to the wall that the Tripredicus Council had taken cover behind. They the turned to see Optimus Primal and his supporters charging them and firing at the drones as they charged.
"So, he'll meet his death face to face!" Seaclamp observed, "Let us destroy them!"
"Yes," Cicadacon agreed.
While Primal's Maximals charged their drones, the Council charged directly for Optimus.
Optimus, meanwhile waited quietly with the others while they waited for Queen and Terrorsaur's flanking attack to begin. They all fired a few scattered shots to make sure that the drones were still focused on them and hoped the other two would arrive soon.
"Man, that Pred femmebot sure is takin' her time," Rattrap groaned as he fired a few shots, taking down one drone and making the two around it scatter.
"We have to hold on," Optimus said, "she'll come through."
"And what makes you say that?" Snowstalker asked.
"The whole battle was her idea," Optimus answered, "Queen is many things apparently, but she does realize that the Tripredicus Council is not to be trusted and that she wants to seem them taken down as much as any of us. I find it hard to believe that anyone would abandon the fight when potentially all of Cybertron is at stake."
"Maybe, but she also had NO problem with offing the Maximal Elders and taking over Cybertron," Rattrap pointed out, "it was only AFTER she figured out the Tripredicus Council wanted to wipe out all Maximals and Predicons not descended from Unicron. Maximals that escaped the initial attack, like Runner, Repair, and Wired were nothing more then convenient recruits to play a 'sob story' about being deceived to. Not every Predicon is honorable, like Chopperface over there."
Dinobot growled, but largely ignored what was as close as he would likely get to being complimented by Rattrap. He looked back to the drones and the three Tripredicus Council leaders to see several massive explosions hit the drones in front of them. They distracted the Council members and destroyed several drones. They all saw Queen and Terrorsaur fly over head and the drones vainly trying to hit them.
"Finally," Cheetor spoke, privately agreeing with Rattrap that their allies didn't move fast enough.
They then watched as the drones turned to fire after Queen and Terrorsaur. With their attention focused elsewhere, that now opened up the opportunity for Optimus's group to attack.
"Now's our chance," Optimus spoke, "I'll deal with the Tripredicus Council, you deal with the drones. Once their all gone, hopefully they'll surrender."
They then fired their own barrage at the Tripredicus Council and charged. The shot destroyed several drones that had left themselves open when they turned to fire after Queen and Terrorsaur. They then rushed forward while the drones and the Tripredicus Council were distracted by the flanking attack. Their distraction did not last long as Seaclamp, Ramhorn, and Cicadacon all turned to face them and several drones also turned.
Optimus had no intention, however, of letting the Tripredicus Council recover from Queen's flanking attack or from the surprise of seeing them charge, and made a flying kick that he landed against Ramhorn's chest, knocking the council member back into Seaclamp.
"Your attempt to destroy Cybertron is over," Optimus said firmly, "Surrender now."
"I was about to demand you do the same thing," Cicadacon said to Optimus, "look at your numbers. You and some of the ones you took on your diversionary raids are the only ones who aren't seriously damaged already… and even if your comrades destroy these drones, remember that we attacked with three ships worth of them. More are one their way from the crash sites of he ships. You'll be destroyed through sheer weight of numbers."
"And who said anything about destroying Cybertron?" Ramhorn answered as he got up and moved to slowly flank Optimus.
"Unicron didn't want to rule Cybertron," Optimus growled, "he wanted to consume it."
"Doesn't mean that Cybertron would have been uninhabitable to Cybertronian life," Seaclamp countered, "though the population would have all been his spawn and servants."
"And that won't do," Optimus answered and blasted Seaclamp back with his blasters.
The shot sent Seaclamp tumbling back, and both Ramhorn and Cicadacon responded by firing at Optimus. Cicadacon's shot hit him the shoulder making him spin, but Ramhorn's missed and actually hit Cicadacon knocking him into one of the nearby tank drones.
"The tough things about crossfires… is that they tend to do damage to the wrong side when the target escapes," Optimus answered as he then landed a punch against Ramhorn.
The Maximal commander then grabbed Ramhorn by the shoulders and kneed him in the gut. Seaclamp, meanwhile recovered and shot at Optimus from behind him.
"The tough thing about being out numbered is that you can not win," Seaclamp retorted.
Queen and Terrorsaur, meanwhile circled around to see the battle that was raging now just outside the main walls to the Tripredicus Council's main compound. The vast majority of the drones that had come with the Council members in this attack were caught off guard and were being destroyed at close range by Optimus's followers. Those that weren't destroyed yet fired desperately, but all too often, the drones ended up either shooting one of their fellows or missing and doing damage to the buildings well away from the current battle zone. But she also noticed the Maximal commander caught in a crossfire between the three Tripredicus Council leaders.
"Do what you can to help the others," Queen ordered, "the Council is MINE!"
"Of course," Terrorsaur answered and dove toward the battle, his weapons ready.
Queen, meanwhile zeroed in on General Cicadacon, who was at the moment the closest threat to Optimus… and strangely a part of her wanted to strike because he was a threat to the Maximal leader, and not simply because the Tripredicus Council was in her way. After all… Primal had helped the Resistance fight. It would be wasteful to throw away an ally at this critical juncture… and the fact that they would likely need Optimus's strength to defeat the other generals under the Tripredicus Council's command.
"Take this you two faced rat!" Queen shouted down at the Tripredicus Council general fired several shots toward him.
Cicadacon looked up to see three of Queen's shots hit him the chest and make him stagger backward, disrupting his fellow Council members efforts to pin Optimus down. He ended up staggering back into Ramhorn, sending his shot wide, while Optimus managed to throw Seaclamp off of him.
"Need any help, Primal?" Queen asked as she landed.
"Couldn't hurt," Optimus replied as the two faced off with the three Tripredicus Council members, who moved to try and flank them.
"It doesn't matter how many help you," Ramhorn swore, "we will win and Unicron will be reborn!"
"Not as long as my spark burns," Optimus said back.
"Then we will be all too happy to extinguish it for you," Seaclamp spoke and fired several shots at Optimus that knocked him back into the wall of a nearby building.
"And you, Queen, will pay for betraying us and resisting against your leaders," Cicadacon finished.
"So you could harvest my spark and sacrifice it to bring Unicron back?" Queen growled, "I'd rather be a traitor then a sacrifice."
Under the Battlefield
"They're really going at it up there," Packadex commented as the small team of transformers tasked with moving the stasis locked fighters back to their base returned to the area where they had been left.
None of them were damaged further, but the sounds of the battle above were clearly heard, even through layers of metal and concrete.
"Wish we could be up there, dishing out some punishment on them," Spine grumbled, sounding resentful that they were taxed to such a menial mission.
"Forget about fighting for a moment and let's get these guys back to the base," Packadex answered, "we can't let the tunneler drones get them."
Blackarachnia, meanwhile, ignored the debate between the two of them. While she was a Predicon and not entirely opposed to combat, the transmetal two spider was not the type to rush into a fight, with anyone. Being discrete was always Blackarachnia's top skill. But, with the exception of Silverbolt, neither did she have any real care for the wounded transformers. She'd help them, as that was what the fuzor would likely do, but that wasn't the point.
The argument between Spine and Packadex was becoming annoying, however, and Blackarachnia was more then willing to tell Spine to go and get himself slagged if only for the peace and quiet.
"Would you two knock it off!" Blackarachnia growled after a few moments, "I'm tired of listening to you two argue and whine. Better to get the job done quickly."
"But this is boring," Spine grumbled, "You should understand that."
"I do, but I'm not about to cross claws with Dinobot over the job," Blackarachnia answered, "and your squabbling is bound to attract tunneler drones."
As if on cue, three tunneler drones came through a side wall and turned toward the group and the wounded resistance fighters where they lay.
"Told you," Blackarachnia grumbled and opened up with her machine guns on the closest drone, destroying it easily.
"At least this is something WORTH doing," Spine answered and destroyed the second drone with his own blaster.
Packadex managed to grab and lifted the tunneler drone that was trying to attack one of the stasis locked transformers that had been moved beneath the streets of Cybertron where the real battle still raged. He then threw the drone further down the tunnel they were in. It landed on its side and in a position where its drive wheels could propel it forward.
"There, now we can get back to work," Packadex spoke and began to move one of the wounded transformers onto the makeshift travois that they had set up to move the first group of wounded.
Blackarachnia did the same in a fairly calm silence, while Spine sighed and followed the lead of the two transformers with him.
The Battlefield
Optimus and Queen both rolled to avoid a series of attempted flanking shots fired at them by the Tripredicus Council members. The overall fight was going well, as while the drones did have great numbers still, without superior armor, armament, or sentient intelligence, the resistance fighters were easily dealing with them, though there was still some damage taken. The real fight, however, was with the three that were "leading" the force.
As he came out of his roll, Optimus came up to a knee and fired his blasters at Seaclamp, throwing the council member through the large metal gate that protected the Tripredicus Council compound.
"You'll pay for that!" Cicadacon roared and fired two shots at each of his opponents, while Ramhorn fired towards the area he believed Optimus would move to if he dodged.
Optimus did dodge and the shot hit him in the gut, knocking him down. Cicadacon's two shots at Queen took out her wings, sending her crashing to the ground and taking away her best advantage.
"We had thought you more modest then this Primal," Ramhorn spoke, "or do you honestly think we are so weak that we will simply fall before you when you appear… we RULE Cybertron for a reason."
"Through deceit and capitalizing on other's bravery," Queen challenged, "You three didn't even formulate this scheme until AFTER Megatron stole the disks from the Maximals, and you seek to destroy BOTH factions."
"Remember that the Autobots WON the Great War, traitor," Cicadacon growled, "that left the Decipticons devastated… and by extension… the Predicon Alliance has never been able to challenge the Maximals directly. A wise commander will always wait for the right opportunity and will seek to find ways to weaken his foe in more indirect ways…"
"And then crushes his opponent once he is in a position of superior strength!" Ramhorn finished and threw a punch at Optimus.
Optimus, however, managed to dodge the attack, grab the over extended arm and then slung Ramhorn like a discus into Cicadacon before the other Councilmember could fire on Queen again.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Maximals were finishing up the group of drones that had appeared with the Tripredicus Council members. The drones weren't seriously tough individual opponents, but the strain of the earlier battles and the sheer number of drones counted in the favor of Tripredicus Council. Wolffang and Snowstalker, the ones that had sustained the most damage in the earlier fighting had been knocked into stasis lock as they battled their way through the drones. Several of the others looked like they were close to it, and wouldn't be able to take much more.
As Dinobot sliced through one of the last drones, he then looked around to check the situation. Optimus had just thrown Ramhorn into Cicadacon, sending both Tripredicus Council members tumbling through hole in the walls around their citadel. Queen stood nearby, but had clearly taken damage as a result of the present fighting.
"Looks like they have everything in hand," Rapther commented as the transmetal female moved to stand beside Dinobot.
"For now," Dinobot nodded, "although these drones were only the crew of one of the three ships that were defeated. The others are likely to make their way here."
"So what do ya plan to do, Chopperface?" Rattrap asked as he approached, "shouldn't we be helping Optimus?"
Dinobot glanced back to the fight between Optimus, Queen, and the Tripredicus Council members. To a great extent it didn't look like they really needed help, but that could all be considered relative. If the drone crews from the other two ships arrived soon, even Optimus could be overpowered by their numbers.
"We must take defensive positions near our original barricades," Dinobot growled after a few moments, "Insure that the other drones can not reinforce the masters with our backs turned."
"But… Big bot…" Cheetor spoke, referring to Optimus.
"Is doing fine," Dinobot answered, "and Queen doesn't appear to be seriously damaged… but their backs are still turned to where the other two ships crashed. The drones from those ships will arrive soon."
"And you expect us to beat off two hundred drones as we are?" Runner asked, "Wolffang and Snowstalker were both sent into stasis lock by this group, and all of us have sustained damage."
"Yeah, couldn't we just waste these Council guys and then leave, destroying the drones at our leisure?" Rattrap wondered.
"That depends on the drones giving us the time to defeat them," Dinobot answered, "and given that while Optimus and Queen are doing well, they have yet to defeat their opponents suggests that the Tripredicus Council would not fall quickly enough to let us deal with the drones in a more leisurely manner."
"That doesn't mean that they can't turn the tide," Rapther warned, "especially if they lead Optimus and Queen inside their citadel."
"It is a calculated risk," Dinobot admitted, "we're close enough that he can radio us for help should the situation become desperate…"
"You better hope that situation never arises, Chopperface," Rattrap answered, "As I ain't following NO Predicons if we lose Optimus."
Dinobot was unable to answer as a series of laser shots came their way from the direction of the barricades they had left to support Optimus and Queen's attack on the Tripredicus Council. Turning their heads, they all saw that the two hundred drones from the other two ships had now arrived at the battlefield and were moving to support their "leaders".
"Slag," Dinobot growled the remaining resistance fighters quickly took cover behind the same walls that the Tripredicus Council had been behind before that fight moved into the close quarters fight that it was now between Optimus, Queen, and the Council members.
The fight wasn't over.
"Generals! In here!" Seaclamp shouted to his fellow Tripredicus Council members after Optimus sent Ramhorn and Cicadacon into the inside of their compound.
Seeing Optimus and his supporters gain some advantage against them in the open made him see that in order to beat Primal, the most powerful of the resistance fighters, they needed to lure him away from the fighting in the street. The drones would deal with the other resistance fighters.
"We can't let them get inside!" Queen shouted and rushed after them, firing on them as she went.
Optimus was quick to run after her, but failed to have any real success in catching the three generals as they made it safely inside.
"Great, just great," Queen answered, "They got away."
"Not yet," Optimus answered, "they're likely wanting to draw us into a trap."
Optimus then blasted the door in, giving them a dark and seemingly empty hallway to walk into.
"We should get the others," Optimus spoke when he suddenly heard the sounds of battle erupting on the street behind them again.
"I think they'll be busy for awhile," Queen commented, "we're doing this alone."
"Well that's just Prime," Optimus gave a frustrated groan.
To Be Continued…