Chapter 12
As the Maximal/Alliance fleet draws closer to Cybertron's orbit, the computer on Maximal flagship alerted the occupants
"Warning, impact with Cybertronian planetary shield imminent. Adjust course to prevent collusion."
"Keep going" says Rodimus.
The Maximals continue to tap away at their consoles.
The Maximal and Alliance fleet passes through the 'shield' that was detected.
"Galactic Republic attackers deploying"
"Klingon Empire ready to attack."
"Protoss standing by"
Each race involved calls out over the communications channel to indicate that they are ready to fight.
Several thousand of attack vessels begin to stream out of the capitol cruisers, with Cybertronian ships taking the lead.
Within the attack vessels, the pilots hear the com link activate. "This is Rodimus Prime. Do not destroy the hologram-emitters, only the weapon arrays. We need the hologram-emitters online."
"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Rodimus?" Ultra Magnus asks while turning his head to face his superior
"Once Wheeljack and the others re-program the Predacon holodrones, Cybertron will be under Maximal control once again."
As the attack fighters for the Maximals and their allies circle the planet to search for the plasma turrets, Rodimus taps on the comm link controls again "Squads one through five, scan the planet for teleportation dampening fields and destroy them"
"But Sir" one of them responds back over the radio. "Our cloaking will be disabled once we fire. The turrets will lock onto us within seconds."
"Then I suggest you re-cloak quickly after you fire." Rodimus calls back.
Rodimus and the other Maximal commanders look at the view screen, as they see their attack fighters decloak for a split second and multiple buildings are destroyed, and the fighters re-cloak, just as the Predacon turrets rotate around, preparing to fire, but the re-cloaking fighters don't allow them too.
Within the main Predacon headquarters, the alarms activate loudly "Warning, teleportation dampening fields critical. Warning, teleportation dampening fields destroyed in sectors thirty five, thirty six, forty two ."
Megatron turns sharply over to Rumble "Report!"
"Small vessels are uncloaking and re-cloaking across the planet. The size suggests a single-pilot fighter. They cloak too fast for the turrets to lock on!" Rumbles responds in a panic.
Megatron looks into the monitor to see thousands of attack ships decloak, and multiple buildings explode. He then looks over to Cyclonus, Scurge "You two, get out there and take control of your drones. I'll contact Starscream."
Cyclonus and Scurge run out of the HQ onto a balcony, and take flight.
SilverBlade stands in an attack position as he feels the flames coming from his younger brother. "You WILL NOT stop me, brother, I WILL get to Megatron!"
"Of course you will." Sneers FireWing. "You'll get to Megatron, being pulled by a shock collar as you beg for death while watching your comrades die in a futile attempt to eliminate the Predacons." Withing seconds of FireWing activating his own claws, SilverBlade collides with FireWing's midsection, sending both bots to the ground.
SilverBlade is the first one on his feet as he activates his plasma launcher and begins to fire relentlessly at FireWing. Firewing scrambles to his feet and sends a few plasma shots of his own at Silver. Silver leaps high into the air, and on his way down towards Firewing, he moves his hands so that his claws are aimed right at Firewing. Firewing quickly reacts, bringing out his energon sword, activating it, and moving it above his head to block SilverBlade's attack.
Sparks fly from the claw/sword contact as SilverBlade lands on his feet, pushing his weight towards Firewing, and Firewing pushes back.
"You've become soft, brother. Back when you were a Predacon, you could have killed me without much effort. Your Maximal programming has made you weak!" Firewing says insultingly at his older brother. SilverBlade's eyes glow red with anger as he activates his flight unit, pushing against Firewing even harder, causing both of the massive bots to move towards the wall.
Firewing steps to the side quickly, grabs Silver's neck in his arm and attempts to smash SB's head into the wall. SilverBlade puts his hands out against the wall to stop his head from colliding with it. Silver removes his hands from the wall and FW sees the opportunity to try to smash SB's head against the wall, but as soon as FW tries too, Silver reaches his hands to grab Firewing's arms and sends electricity through his body, causing FW to release SilverBlade and drop to the ground, screaming from the pain.
SilverBlade re-activates his claws and motions to swipe at FW's head, but Firewing jumps up and tackles Silver to the ground. SilverBlade moves his feet up to his chest and kicks Firewing off high and behind him, and SilverBlade jumps up, turns around quickly and fires plasma shots just as Firewing descends, hitting Firewing a few times.
Firewing gets to his knees and he sends an intense fireball at SilverBlade. Silver stops firing and jumps high into the billowing smoke and attempts to slash at Firewing on his way down. Firewing reacts quickly and launches his own plasma shots at SilverBlade, hitting him in the chest, causing SB to fall short of Firewing.
SilverBlade gets to his knees then stands up on his feet, his chest partially damaged from the plasma shots. "Come on, younger brother, I've seen you dismember bots my size and bigger in less time. Who really has become soft? Me or you?"
Firewing's eyes begin to emit smoke, as he jumps at SilverBlade. Loud clanging and energy shots discharging is heard from Starscream, as he watches the fight from the shadows, above the duelling duo, his figure only seen during flashes of light from down below.. Starscream has his arm out, pointing his blaster downwards, targeting Firewing. He mutters under his breath. "You stole my job. You stole my troops, I will steal your life."
"Sir!" Rumble called out sharply to Megatron. "Multiple teleportation signals are occurring in sectors thirty five to forty two. I am detecting hundreds of Maximals."
Megatron belts out orders to Rumble "Then order troops to teleport directly on top of them!"
Rumble taps on the holographic interface in front of him. The computer responds "Request denied."
Megatron's face looks furious. "Rumble, explain this."
Rumble frantically taps on the commands "It appears that the Maximals are using their own teleportation dampening field, disallowing our signals to get through."
Megatron puts his fingers to his chin. "hmm. They must be using the modified cloaking field of Protoss Arbiters. Clever of them. Notify all Predacons to converge on that location as quickly as possible.
As Rumble begins to contact various branches of the Predacon military, Megatron taps the holographic interface at his command chair "Starscream?"
No response.
"Starscream, I demand you to respond!" Megatron grows impatient.
Still no response.
"Computer, locate Commander Starscream."
The female voice of the Predacon computer responds with "As you wish, Lord Megatron." Megatron's screen shows an overhead map of the Cybertronian tunnel system, pinpointing Starscream's location.
"Commander Starscream has disabled his intercom." The computer states.
"Did he disable the software only, or is there a physical disconnection?" Megatron asks the computer.
"Scanning.. intercom is disabled in software only, no physical disconnected detected." The computer responds.
"Then force re-enable his intercom remotely." Megatron demanded.
"Processing…intercom now enabled. You may now proceed." The computer responds.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Firewing and SilverBlade continue to battle, as Starscream watches from a ledge high above the fighting brothers, he takes aim with his arm mounted blaster, trying to get a good, clear shot of Firewing.
"Get out of the way, Blade" Starscream mutters to himself, as his patience decreases rapidly while waiting for him to move. He finally sees Firewing toss SilverBlade against the wall, giving him a clear and open view of Firewing's torso. As Starscream prepares to fire, his communication unit activates "Starscream, I demand to know why you deactivated your communication unit?" Megatron is heard asking.
Starscream retreats back into a narrow corridor, hoping that the fighting brothers didn't notice him. "M..My apologies master, I am attempting to take out commander Blade before you so rudely interrupted my shot." Starscream's voice remains quiet, but also annoyed.
"You are needed on the surface, Commander Firewing will handle Silver."
"I have a clear shot, master, I just need…." He suddenly groans audibly, but a struggle to keep his presence undetected by the brothers below as his body is electrified.
"You'll do as I say, Starscream. Or I will teleport you to the surface by force. Understood?"
Starscream gets to his feet and scrambles over to the ledge again, taking aim at Firewing, hoping to get the shot out and ignores Megatron completely. Just as his blaster powers up, his body glows for a few seconds and re-appears in the Predacon command room, right in front of Megatron.
"I was about to take out Blade!" Starscream protested, but Megatron grabs his throat and begins to squeeze.
"I do not know how my predecessor tolerated your blatant ignorance or constant betrayal, but you are on your last chance. Now, get out to these coordinates and make sure that the Maximals do not gain any more sectors." Megatron says sternly as he tosses Starscream out through the window. The broken window re-forms again as if it was never broken.
Megatron looks to the administrative Predacons. "Get all ground troops to that location. Have all aerial troops continue to go after their fliers."
"Yes my Lord" each of the Predacons state with a salute, before going back to the computer consoles and belting out orders to the Predacon Generals in the battle.