Chapter 6

In a large room, several of the Maximal leaders and military generals sit around a table, except for SilverBlade. Each Maximal has a data pad in front of them, and Rodimus sits at the head of the table.

"This had better be important, Magnus. We do have war to prepare for, incase you forgot."

Ultra Magnus looks to the others in the room. "I apologize for taking you away from your duties; I promise I won't be too long. I called this meeting because I don't think we should trust any forces to SilverBlade's command. I don't even think we should trust him to fight for us, or trust the new armor he is fusing into our soldiers."

Kup looks over to Magnus and asks: "Why do you not trust the lad?"

"He used to work for the Predacons!" Magnus raised his voice. "He was built specifically hunt down Maximals beyond the reach of the Predacon Holo-drones. How do we know we can trust him? His 'new armor' could just be a waste of our resources and may fail in the battlefield."

"He has proven himself to be a valuable member of the Maximals, and he has given us blueprints of nearly every major building on Cybertron." Optimus Primal says as he looks over to Ultra Magnus.

Rodimus responds with: "He was re-programmed into a Maximal before he was lost in a transwarp conduit. He proved to us then that he as much a Maximal as any of us are. Granted, his personality, his fighting style and instincts are that much like a Predacon, but his intentions are clear, and they are to destroy Megatron, at all costs."

"What about his past history? What about the many hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives he took, and the children had to watch their parents be slaughtered? Doesn't that say anything about his lack of regard for life? As you said, he fights like a Predacon and can act as a Predacon at times." Magnus shot back at Rodimus.

"SilverBlade hates Megatron, just like the rest of us…" Began Kup before Magnus interrupted. "That could be all an act! How do we know that's not part of Megatron's plans, to have a mole within the Maximal ranks and to sabotage our plans?"

"We would have detected any outgoing communications to Cybertron if Silver tried to make any to report what was happening. There would be no way he could communicate to Megatron without us knowing." Rodimus says to Magnus. "As Maximal leader at this time, I will allow SilverBlade to command the forces he has requested."

"May I ask, what is his role in this invasion?" Magnus asks in an irritable manner.

"That is none of your concern, Magnus…"

"But I need to know where my men are! You can't expect me to command troops if I have no idea where they are!" Ultra Magnus bursts out.

"SilverBlade's movements won't be any concern to you. Neither will the troops he will be commanding. You just worry about your own troops, Magnus. Now, is there any other business to discuss?" Rodimus asks the group.

"I have a question," responded Kup. "The organic races, what are their roles?"

"Each race will provide manned and unmanned fighters for air and space support, and also provide troops to fight on the ground." Rodimus responds to Kup.

Ultra Magnus looks to the others "What about projected losses?"

"Seventy four percent, minimum." Rodimus sighs heavily "I know it looks grim, but what choice do we have? This is an all-or-nothing campaign. We must succeed, at all costs."

"There is no way to lower those numbers?" questions Ultra Magnus.

"From every scenario we tried, that is the lowest we could get." Rodimus responded.

"What about events which could happen in our favor, even if it has the most miniscule chance of happening?" Springer asks Rodimus.

"We calculated everything that can happen within logic. Seventy four percent is the lowest number we have." Rodimus said with a heavy sigh in his voice.

"Most of the organic races will be here within two days. We should get ready to go" Says Springer.

Rodimus nods "All of the troops are ready with the new armor. The unmanned fighters are waiting, and the manned ships are ready to be boarded. We dock the ships when they arrive. Meeting adjourned."

The Maximal elders exit the meeting room one by one silently.

At the spaceport on Cybertron, a Predacon vessel finishes its docking procedure. Two lines of Predacon soldiers march up to the vessel on the walkway, and stop. The doors to the vessel vanish. Gul Du-kat and other Cardassians walk out, with their hands in energon bindings, and an energon chain connecting the Cardassians to each other. Off in the distance, A Predacon cruiser carries the Cardassian vessel.

Black Arachnia leads the prisoners down the walk way; Terrorsaur is at the end of the line with crewmembers following.

After Black Arachnia and Terrorsaur lead the prisoners inside the building, the Predacon soldiers flicker and vanish.

Inside the Predacon Citadel, the group of Cardassians stands before Megatron. All of them are in energon bindings. Energon chains are also connecting the prisoners together.

Megatron looks down from his throne at the Cardassians. "Tisk, tisk, I would have expected your race to put up a better fight. But did you honestly believe that you could out run the Predacon fleet?"

"Actually, I did" replied Damar, before an electric surge racked his body.

"Did I give you permission to speak!" Megatron blares at Damar as he fell to his knees from the electric shock.

"I gave them the orders to run." Gul Dukat speaks up.

"You knew you couldn't hide or run from my fleet, so why did you order them to try?" Asked Megatron has he looked over to Gul Dukat.

"We will fight you until the last Cardassian stops breathing, Megatron" Dukat says coldly.

"Well then, I have good news. You won't have to spend the energy to die. Guards! Take them to the pit." Megatron barked the orders, and 10 Predacon soldiers entered the room and escort the prisoners out.

"Pathetic organic race," Megatron muttered, "every last organic being should be slaughtered like the cows they are."

The remaining Cardassians are lead onto a metallic plank. They hear growling and barking from below. The Cardassians look up, facing the Quintisons.

Quintison looks coldly at the group. "Feed them to the Sharkticons!" he barked. The metallic plank de-materializes from under the Cardassians and they fall into the army of Sharkticons.

Megatron watches from his throne room through a holographic screen. "Disgusting snake-like race, how dare they defy me?" He turns around in his throne, flicking another switch, causing another holo-screen to appear in front of him. "Dinobot, report the status on Cardassia."

Soundwave's face appears on the screen "Missile silos are almost complete. We will be ready to launch missiles within 48 earth hours."

"These are the silos which replicate warheads as soon as one is launched, correct?"

"That is correct" Dinobot responds.

"Excellent," Megatron says with a sadistic smile, "the Maximals and others races won't have a choice but to bow to me."

Inside a staff meeting room, SilverBlade, along with several Maximal soldiers, sit at a large round table.

SilverBlade stands up, and faces the warriors. "I have chosen you all because of your impressive battle records and your resourcefulness on the battlefield. Our mission is to disable the computer that is controlling the planetary shield generators."

"Just how are we to get through the shields? The defense platforms would destroy any non-Predacon vessel before it can get anywhere near the planet." One of the soldiers asked.

"Glad you asked that." SilverBlade states with a smile in his voice. He types on the console in front of him on the desk, and a holographic image of a Predacon transport vessel.

"Maximal forces captured this vessel, along with its pilots in a raid on a Predacon colony two months ago. They aren't due to arrive back on Cybertron until two days from now. We will use this vessel and its entry codes to gain entry into the shield which protects Cybertron."

"Our Maximal energy signatures will trigger the alarm, and we'll be swarmed by holo-drones." Another soldier said with concern.

"The new armor that was recently fused onto your existing form has a built in signature mask. You will be detected as a Predacon. But these will only last five hours…." SilverBlade explained to the troops.

"That gives us plenty of time to drop the shield."

"We have more to do then destroying the shield." SilverBlade sighs. "We also have to make our way into the Citadel's underground computer network, and alter the programming of the holo-drones to Maximal control. That is why Wheeljack, Perceptor and Rhinox will be joining us. They will hack into the system and alter the programming of the drones while we guard the entrance to make sure no one disturbs us. The signature mask may fail before we are finished, and I don't expect everyone to return home."

"We will still go forward with this mission. We have nothing to lose!" One soldier speaks out.

"Here here!" says another.

"Then if there are no further questions or concerns, we will meet at the Predacon vessel in 3 hours."