Chapter 11
SilverBlade leads his entourage walk through the underground catacombs of Cybertron. The hallways look very aged and rusted. Exposed wires hang from the walls and ceiling, as green liquid lies on the ground. The floor is also littered with destroyed Cybertronian bodies, and human and alien corpses, painting images of battles long ago. They walk to an adjacent hallway, and SilverBlade moves against the wall, and motioning with his arms that the others do the same.
"Perceptor, scan through the wall. There should be a door there."
Perceptor nods and kneels on the ground as his eyes begin to glow. He looks straight at the wall, but his vision sees right through it. "I detect twenty Predacon guards, five rows of four. Behind them appears to be a metallic wall, with no indication of any door."
"Can you activate more sensitive scanners?" Wheeljack asks
"Not without being detected by Predacon scanners."
One of the Maximal soldiers looks up to SilverBlade. "This must be where Megatron's spark is located. What else would have that kind of security and forces protecting it?"
"I agree" SilverBlade responds, but the commander speaks over Silver. "Maybe it's a trick; maybe Megatron's spark isn't heavily guarded, just to keep us off track."
"I don't agree with you, sub-commander. That is the oldest form of deception in the book. Prepare the sensor fog."
The Maximal soldiers throw spherical objects into the hallway where the Predacons are. That hallway soon begins to fill with a very dense, black smoke.
"Now, while they can't see!" SilverBlade states, as everyone in the Maximal group rushes to the hallway and begins to fire. A few seconds delay and Predacon guards begin to fire out of the smoke.
In the Predacon command room, a technician turns on his seat to face Megatron as an alarm activated "Lord Megatron! Sir, weapons-fire has been detected in the underground catacombs right outside Chamber 33. So far, ten guards have been destroyed."
Megatron taps a button on the arm rest of his chair, activating a holographic image of Firewing. "Send drones down to the catacombs, deal with the threat."
As the Predacon fire diminishes, one last lucky shot from a Predacon hits SilverBlade in the back as he turned around to watch for more troops. Silver's holographic wrist computer lights up solid red, and the computer voice activates. "Warning, cloak and signature mask units disabled."
"Shit!" He says to himself. He turns to the others "Get into that room!"
The other Maximals re-cloak and the group hears the unmistakable sound of Predacon soldiers coming down the hallways. Metallic clunking sounds as the soldier's feet hit the ground while running towards the Maximals.
"There he is! Seal all other access points!" One of the Predacons calls out. Within seconds, energy shields form at all of the hallway entrances, cutting off SilverBlade from escaping, and cut off from the Maximal group he was with.
SilverBlade turns towards the group of Predacon drones. He activates his six knuckle claws, and charges at the group. The group of Predacon drones proceeds to fire at SilverBlade. A few shots hit him, but he doesn't even slow down before he dives at the drones.
"There's a keypad right here, on the wall," Rhinox says.
"Let's crack open this door soon. I'm sure replacement drones are going to be here very soon," Wheeljack responds as Rhinox, Perceptor, and he examine the keypad as the Maximal soldiers are standing watch.
Rhinox reaches out for the keypad, the key pad and activates it, with a Predacon computer voice speaking. "Predacon signature detected, access to keypad granted."
Wheeljack turned to the Maximal Soldier commander. "Looks like you were wrong about Commander SilverBlade, he isn't a Predacon spy."
As SilverBlade finishes slicing the drones into pieces, he stabs the only survivor in the shoulder and lifts him up by his claws. "Deactivate the shields, Predascum!" The drone stays motionless and doesn't say anything. Silver uses the other set of claws to slash the drone's head into three pieces. He walks up to one of the control panels and stabs at it. The shield drops and he runs down the corridor.
SilverBlade runs until he sees a hole in the roof of the corridor, leading to the surface. He stops and a section of his side opens up. He grabs a small rocket-shaped device and connects a wire from his neck to this rocket. After a few minutes, the computer says quietly "commands uploaded". Three feet from the side of the rocket spring out and Silver sets it on the ground. The rocket cloaks and Silver resumes running down the corridor.
Onboard the Maximal flag ship, the various Maximals work on their consoles or are rushing around to do their work. Cliffjumper spins on his chair to look towards Rodimus Prime. "How will we know when the shields are offline? The scanners still show that they are activated!
"The team will send a signal."
"Wait, hold on," Gold Bug says from his console. "I'm picking up a small object decloaking in front of us. It's the size of a torpedo, but it's not moving fast enough, and it has the energy signature of a Predacon torpedo."
"That's the signal. Beam it aboard!" Rodimus commands.
"Are you sure about that, Rodimus?" Ultra Magnus says to Rodimus.
"The torpedo is unarmed, and it is moving much too slowly to be a threat. Beam it onboard!"
Gold Bug taps at his console, sliding along the controls. "Torpedo has been transported into the cargo bay."
Rodimus exits the bridge. A few moments pass and he enters the cargo bay, where an engineer is disassembling the torpedo, and removes a glass data cube. He then places the data cube into a cube-shaped slot in a computer console. The screen lights up with text and images.
"This is definitely from Commander SilverBlade. He says that the planetary shield has been disabled, but, the shield generators, both on the planet and in orbit, still emit the energy signature to indicate that the shield is active," The engineer says.
"That is clever. Fooling the Predacons into thinking they are still protected. Unfortunately for us, our censors still detect it. We'll have to go on faith on this one," He taps his com link. "Rodimus to Magnus, Tell the fleet to enter orbit, but to remain cloaked. The planetary shield is disabled, but the defenses are still active. Also tell the fleet to prepare for battle. Both land and air troops"
"Rodimus, Sir?" Ultra Magnus begins. "We're still detecting that the shield is up."
"Go on faith. The shield is disabled, but Perceptor has kept the energy signature emitting, fooling the Predacons into a false sense of security."
"Yes sir, Rodimus."
Cliffjumper taps at his console, opening up communication to the fleet.
"This is the Maximal Command Vessel calling every ship within the fleet. Prepare to enter Cybertron's orbit. Ignore what your censors detect. The shield has been disabled. I repeat: all races and all vessels enter Cybertron's orbit in battle formations. Remain cloaked until we give the signal to proceed. Prepare your troops for battle, both land and air attackers. Wait for our signal to attack."
Over the speakers on the bridge, the various races begin to report back:
"United Federation of Planets getting into formation."
"Klingon Empire proceeding."
"Galactic Republic entering orbit."
"Protoss are underway."
The reports keep coming in from every race.
Deep underneath Cybertron, the group of Maximal scientists is gathered outside of a sealed door, while Rhinox is kneeled in front of it, with a cable running from the back of his neck to inside the console located on the wall.
Wheeljack looks around the corner to see if any Predacon troops are coming by "Hurry up Rhinox! We haven't got all day."
Rhinox looks over to Wheeljack "I'm going as fast as I can without trying to alert the security system."
Perceptor looks at the console screen as the information scrolls extremely quickly.
The information stops scrolling as Rhinox looks to the door. "I cracked the code." The door opens to reveal a hallway, with the walls looking like they are made from crystal.
The scientists and Maximal soldiers stroll in as Rhinox is about to disconnect from the console. The hallway's lights turn on to reveal walls that look as if they are made from solid crystal An energy shield activates and seals the group inside the wall, while Rhinox is left outside. An energy beam forms from one side of the hall to the other, halfway up the wall, and moves down the hall rapidly.
"Oh shit!" Wheeljack exclaims as he and the scientists duck down. One of the soldiers was on his way down when his head was sliced off by the energy beam.
Rhinox looks down the hallway "Not good!" as he reconnects back to the console.
One more energy beam moves down the hallway, skimming the leg from one of the soldiers.
Perceptor calls back to Rhinox. "Hurry up and deactivate this!"
"I'm trying to as fast as I can!" Rhinox hands can be seen moving around, as if they are rotating manipulating an object in the air.
A few more beams travel down the hallway. One travels near the ground and anothertravels near the ceiling. The third beam coming down the hallway at a diagonal. The scientists are quick to avoid the beams, but one soldier is cut in half diagonally, and another loses his leg.
Wheeljack gets on his feet, only to jump over another beam; as Perceptor does the same. "Hurry up Rhinox! These things are coming faster and faster!"
Rhinox is busy attempting to shut down the security system, while, at the very far end of the hall, energy beams begin to form in the pattern of a chain link fence. Once all of the beams are in place, this 'energy fence' moves rapidly towards the remaining Maximals, who charge for the door.
Perceptor watches as the energy fence comes closer as he yells out. "RHINOX!"
The energy fence stops mere inches centimeters away from the remaining Maximals in the hallway, and it vanishes. The hallway lights go dim.
Wheeljack leans on the wall. "That was too close for comfort."
Rhinox walks down the hallway. "No time for resting, we need to do this, and fast."
The rest of the scientists, as well as the remaining soldiers, follow Rhinox.
SilverBlade walks along the path where he finds two Predacons guarding the doorway. They see the Maximal approaching and stand ready in defiance.
"Stop!" one calls out, while the other prepares to open fire if SilverBlade did not comply. But commander's only response was laughing before lunging at the guards, and slicing them down.
"No challenge for me? That is such a shame," he says in disappointment. Then he turns to the doorway and uses his claws to tear it down. The room he walks into is an endless abyss of pitch black darkness. No sound could be heard, but the tapping of his feet as he goes further and when he stops, then its complete silence. An energy field suddenly activates where the door is supposed to be, cutting off the light from the hallway.
"Did you ever think I wouldn't notice you on Cybertron?" A voice calls out from the darkness.
"Show yourself!" Anger can be heard in SilverBlade's voice as he looks around in vain. The only light in the room is the one being emitted from his claws. A massive fireball erupts in the middle of the room and flames are sent in all directions. SilverBlade quickly steps back as his optics open wide at the ten-foot figure emerging from a pillar of flames. "Firewing..." he says in shock.
"Welcome home, brother," Firewing sneers. His wings, still erupting in fire could paint images of fearsome, demonic beings from Human biblical scripture - even in a Cybertronian's mind if they understood Earth theology.