Chapter 11
"What do you have to tell me Cyclonus?" Galvatron asked his second in command.
"First, you have of course the absolute loyalty of myself and the Sweeps", Cyclonus stated.
"Of course", Galvatron repeated impatiently, "You didn´t have to tell me that, but it is still good to hear," he admitted, "continue."
"As far as I could find out, Sixshot, Trypticon, the targetmasters, the Combaticons, the Predacons, the Constructicons and a large number of the seekers are on your side."
Galvatron had to admit, some names on that list actually surprised him.
"The Constructicons don´t trust the newcomers the slightest bit and are convinced that they are all impostors", Cyclonus explained.
Galvatron heard that statement with satisfaction. "I always said that they are some of our more intelligent troops", he pointed out.
"The most nebulon partners of the target masters have also decided to choose you over Zarak", Cyclonus continued. "On Nebulos the most of them had only been enlisted citizens or hired mercenaries anyway and not true loyalists of him. To that comes that many of them are losing trust in Zarak since he had started the takeover attempt against you. They think that he is not longer the same man since he had connected himself to Skorponok. With other words, his attempt to overthrow you is backfiring badly on himself. He is losing the trust of his men and now even nebulonian troops are siding with us." Cyclonus smiled predatory.
"I understand", Galvatron replied and returned Cyclonus expression in the same manner.
"The most of the seekers are either basically loyal to you or undecided. Actually, Skywing came to me today and told me that the two of Megatron´s followers who claim to be Skywarp and Thundercracker had met his group earlier and gave them a dubious offer. And he had told me that they had threw them out. He assured me that we can count on him and his trine and pledged himself to you."
"Yes, it seems as if you need more than the face of a Decepticon leader after all to actually be one", Galvatron stated. He had actually to supress a chuckle.
"On the other side however", Cyclonus said, "they have managed to bring the to their side."
Galvatron knew that this was a serious success for the impostors. But he had to say it didn´t surprise him.
"There had been problems with this group from the beginning", he said. "Even as I had still been Megatron they had shown mutinous behavior."
"And", Cyclonus continued, laying a deeper pronouncing on what he was saying now, "What is far worse, there are rumors that Skorponok has allied himself with the impostors."
Galvatron was now actually jumping out of his seat.
"Skorponok, and I had hoped to play the two against each other. That is bad."
"In opposite to the Targetmasters, the Headmasters are Skorponok´s own troops and their Nebulon partners are Zarak´s most fanatical followers. There is no chance that we could sway any of them", Cyclonus pointed out.
"Yes I know", Galvatron replied stoically. "What about the others?"
"Soundwave´s remaining cassettes don´t really show much interest in the situation. All they truly care about are their lost comrades. After Soundwave and Rumble had been captured they, how shall I say?, have lost their drive."
"I understand."
"The Stunticons have decided to stay mostly neutral. Motormaster for his part is still completely loyal to Megatron, only that he is not quite sure at the moment who of you is the true Megatron. That is the same that can be said about most of the other troops, they are confused and don´t know what to think."
"Now, we will proof it to them very soon", Galvatron stated.
"Skorponok´s city form, the Headmasters, the triple changers and the troops this fake Megatron had already under his command, enough force to break the Decepticons in two."
And to all that came the loss of Soundwave, he thought. Galvatron cursed this damn bounty hunter who was the cause of this.
"That means the confrontation with our rivals will come sooner than we thought", he said to Cyclonus.
xxxxxxx
Autobot base Metroplex, in space between the star systems
The procedure was over, the modifications on Autobot and nebulon were finished.
Optimus Prime was standing in the hangar bay of Metroplex, on the outside looking exactly like before. But he had changed.
He was now binary bonded to a nebulon, the chief scientist Hi Q. On the edge of his own mind, he could feel the one of the humanoid who was his partner now.
Hi Q was a noble creature in his own right, intelligent, compassionate, courageous. Optimus knew that, he could sense this feelings as if it were his own.
In the final phase of the bonding they would basically become two halves of the same being, like Fortress Maximus and Skorponok already were.
"We are ready Optimus", Spike said to them. "Hi Q, you can transform."
The nebulon, who was wearing the typical exo-suit and had a number of mechanical parts implanted in his body, also a typical part of the binary bonding, was transforming and became the Autobot leader´s new engine.
Optimus felt a small power boost as the nebulon merged with him, he felt how his senses were extended, his reflexes were upgraded.
"Now you are independent from energon supplies", Galen told him, "your reflexes are faster than the most not bonded Transformers and your mental abilities are combined with the ones of your partner."
"I feel different, strange", Prime replied, "but my sensors register the upgrades you speak of."
"That is not everything", Spike pointed out. "If you check your systems, you will find another transformation sequence that we have added."
"Yes," the Autobot leader stated. "I have found it in my files."
"Good, now to finish the test run, activate the second transformation phase."
Optimus Prime transformed. In opposite to the usual way, his trailer was not transferred into subspace and vanished, it merged with him like a gestalt. One moment later his new, second robot form was standing in the middle of the room. He was now nearly two heads taller, much more massive and had two large cannons mounted on his shoulders.
Had his strength been raised a bit the last time, now his readings were breaking the scales. He realized that his raw power had increased drastically from what it had been before the Power Master process.
Spike looked at the upgraded, now even more impressive looking Optimus Prime. He remembered how he had met the Autobots the first time, back when he was only a teenager, he had been in complete awe of them.
Aliens, even more, robots from space, that was stuff only known from stories. Giant, intelligent machines that can chance their shape, that was completely unimaginable in that time.
And he and his father had been the first humans they had actually made contact with. Back then, Spike had been stunned beyond any belief. But he had found out very fast that this robots were as sentient as any human was. From their minds and their personalities they had never been that different, even if practically everything else about them was and this aliens became his friends in exactly the same way as a human being would have.
"This is fantastic", Prime whispered quietly.
"Optimus", Galen had transformed back into Fortress Maximus head and the Autobot was now addressing him somewhat reluctantly, "you should know, we have reevaluated some of your last battles and we have come to the conclusion…"
"You don´t have to tell me. I had no chance against Galvatron. The only reason that I have not been defeated is that our fight never came to an end. I could barely hold myself against that bounty hunter Death Head and about this new Megatron, I can´t say how it would have ended if we ever fought one against one. So you have decided that I simply need more power. And of course you didn´t wanted to tell me this directly"
"In short words, yes", Spike replied.
"I understand Spike, thank you, all of you", he addressed Fortress Maximus and with him Galen.
"Our main reason was of course to make the Autobots stronger as a whole" Fortress Maximus told him, "but we also wanted you to actually be a match for Galvatron."
"Yes", Optimus said, "I think now, I actually am a match for him."
xxx
In another part of Metroplex, two Decepticons were sitting in a brick cell, the large, dark blue form of Soundwave and the much smaller, human sized Rumble.
xxxxxxx
Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug were still on their way through the tunnels of the underworld of Cybertron. Vector Sigma had granted their request and supplied them with information. It Has given them a basic route that they had to follow if they wanted to reach the planet´s core regions.
The blue light of the Matrix, that Hotrod was still carrying in his hands, had increased since their meeting with the super computer. That was unsettling him however was that at the same time the energy of Vector Sigma himself seemed to be dismishing. He remembered how lights on the displays were going out, monitors were getting dark, even the volume of the voice seemed to have drooped as the computer had finally send them on their way.
Hotrod had the feeling that Vector Sigma had transferred the greatest part of his energy to the Matrix and only kept an emergency resource for himself. The only question was why?
He could only think of one explanation. Vector Sigma thought that the Matrix was needed, very hurriedly needed. It had already been recovering by itself, achieving new wisdom and new power by Optimus and by himself and from every Autobot who came close to it. If Vector Sigma found it necessary to sacrifice his own strentgh only to revitalize it faster than it was already the case, it could only mean that there was a threat out there, one that was going far beyond the Decepticons.
No, the Decepticons were a part of their own people. The warrior line of the old Cybertron, disagreeing with them and going out to fulfilling their own aims by attacking and conquering others. But still a part of their species and the responsibility of the Autobots and them alone to stop them.
He remembered a conversation he, Optimus and Ultra Magnus had back then, a short time after Optimus came back to life and they were explaining him everything that had occurred in the time he was gone. One of the many things that were brought up was Magnus failed attempt to use the Matrix to fight the Decepticons off.
No, the Matrix was meant for another purpose. But that was something that barely anybody knew or understood back then, nobody except maybe the carriers of it.
They had by now reached the deeper regions of the tunnel system inside their home-world.
"So, that is it", Kup said to the others, "From this point on we have gone further than anybody has ever before into Cybertron´s underground."
"Yes", Hotrod replied, "I am aware." He turned around and looked at the other members of his group. "I don´t know what we will find down here", he said, "but I know it will be important. Believe me."
"The Matrix had told you this, right?" Ultra Magnus asked him.
"Yes and did we ever had reason not to trust the Matrix?"
"Let us go on", Magnus answered after a few seconds and they continued their way into the unknown parts of Cybertron.
xxxxxxx
The planet Chaar, Decepticon major base
The Decepticons were assembled on the planet Chaar, the members of the two factions were standing on both sides of a volcanic canyon. Hundreds of meters beneath them, in the giant rift in the ground, was flowing a stream of molten lava.
On the one side of this physical border stood the warriors who were loyal to Galvatron, on the other Megatron´s followers.
Beside Cybertron, Chaar was still the major stronghold of the Decepticons. The planet was a burned out husk, but so had Cybertron nearly been for a long time. It had no valuable resources, no energy sources by it´s own.
But being devoid of any resources didn´t keep a planet from having a strong garrison or being plastered with weapon staring bunkers and bases.
So Chaar, that had been built up into a single giant fortress in the time the Decepticons had lived here, was still one of their main worlds.
Galvatron and Megatron themselves were standing at the point where the canyon ended and the two sides met. Both were flanked by their lieutenants.
Cyclonus and Scourge stood next to Galvatron,
Starscream and Sideways with Megatron.
"I see you have not listened to my advice to keep a low profile", Galvatron addressed his rival.
"Of course not, the Decepticons are rightfully mine, I am Megatron after all."
"You are nothing but a megalomaniac impostor who had rebuild himself to look like my old self, with a few improvements", his opponent replied.
"Oh yes? By now some of your warriors seems to getting doubts about that", he said with a side glance to Blitzwing, Astrotrain and Octane and to Talon and Ripper who had joined their fellow triple changers on his side.
"That a few opportunists have sided with you won´t help you in the end", Galvatron told him.
"Really? No matter what your origins are, it won´t change something in the end. You have spend a third of your leadership either under Unicron´s control or completely insane and nobody can guaranty that you won´t return to that state anytime, you are a walking time bomb and can not be allowed to lead the Decepticons."
"I was the one who had conquered Cybertron in only seven years. I and Cyclonus had rebuild the Decepticons from rubble after Unicron. I have done more than you can even dream of.
Now, I have been thinking. A week ago, Soundwave had been captured by the Autobots after the attack of a infamous bounty hunter named Death Head. Originally we have all thought that Optimus Prime had been his target and Soundwave had been caught by accident, but what if it had been him all along? I was thinking about his mind reading abilities, I say you have hired the bounty hunter to get Soundwave out of the way because he could find out that you are a fake in a matter of seconds."
Megatron looked now a bit insecure, at least for a short moment and he saw Starscream smirking sardonically next to him. That told Galvatron enough, he had dealt with his former second´s behavior himself often enough.
"I think it is time we begin with the challenge", Megatron said then a second later, with far more self control and determination.
"Yes, you are right, it is about time."
Both of them knew that words wouldn´t solve this conflict, only a fight, a struggle for the leadership could.
Megatron and Galvatron were now getting in position, about fifty earth meters from each other, they were closely followed by Sideways and Scourge. Starscream however waited for a moment.
"I see we meet again Cyclonus", he addressed Galvatron´s second in command. "It is a pleasure to finally meet my successor in person. As I remember, the last time we met I had only been a disembodied spirit who had taken over your body", Starscream smiled at him with false friendliness, as if there was nothing bad about it.
"Correction Starscream, the last time we met you were floating helpless and damaged through space, exactly as you did it to us before. I guess that is what the humans would call poetic justice right?"
To his surprise, Starscream´s smile deepened.
"Oh yes Cyclonus, that is exactly what happened, you are completely right."
Cyclonus remembered the situation for a moment, five and a half years ago, Starscream´s alliance with Unicron to get himself restored, the Chaos Bringer´s attempt to take over Cybertron as his new body. He and Galvatron had been leading a group of Decepticons to stop them, but they came to late to make a difference anymore. The Autobots had already taken care of the situation. As he heard later, Ultra Magnus and the Protectobots had blown Unicron back into space and Starscream had been caught in the explosion too. That was the last time anybody had seen him, until he reappeared with this Megatron wannabe.
Cyclonus suddenly realized that Starscream had practically admitted to him that they were the real Skywarp and Thundercracker. He asked himself what was the meaning of all that before he and Starcream followed their leaders.
xxxxxxx
Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug had by what they could tell now reached the deepest regions of Cybertron´s underworld. It was of course hard to tell since the place they were in was completely unknown.
The small tunnels they had been walking in earlier were now replaced with a bride corridor.
Suddenly they realized something. The ground beneath their feet had changed. It was softer, not longer metallic.
"What is that?" Hotrod asked.
Goldbug bowed down and felt the ground. He lifted a bit of it up and took it in his hand.
"Earth, soil", he told them.
"Here on Cybertron", Kup replied, "that is completely impossible."
"Call it like you want", Goldbug answered, "this is the ground of a organic planet."
"What you see here my children is the remains of life that existed once on Cybertron." A voice haled suddenly through the room. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. A voice that Hotrod all too well recognized.
"You", he called out, "I remember you. It was you who told me once that the Quintessons were the once who had created the Transformers, at the time when my mind had traveled into the Matrix."
"A particular truth, but not the entire one. It really were the Quintessons who had build the Transformers of today, but that doesn´t mean that there didn´t exist any before", the voice answered, "back then however, you had not been ready for the entire truth."
"It was also your voice that told me and Optimus to come to this place. You were talking to us through the Matrix."
"The Matrix and me are one", the voice replied.
"You are Primus", Hotrod said. It wasn´t a question, he knew it.
"The ancient god of Cybertron?" Kup asked him confused.
"I am", the voice simply confirmed.
Primus was a legend, exactly like the Chaos Bringer and the thirteen Primes. He knew that the other ones were real. It wasn´t hard to realize that Primus would exist too and it wasn´t much of a stretch that they would find him down here.
Even without the Matrix backing him up, he could have figured that out.
"I have called for you because you are now ready to know the entire truth, I knew either you or Optimus would come. And now you need to know everything."
"Then tell us", Hotrod said to him.
"Follow this corridor to it´s end, then we will talk."
After about three earth minutes more of walking they reached a hall, it was one of the largest they had ever seen, even on Cybertron, dozens of miles wide. They saw to their astonishment that plants of different kinds they had never seen before were growing on the ground and at the walls.
In the middle of this hall was a road, made of the metal that was normally usual for Cybertron. A few miles from them, at the end of this pathway, they saw a unknown machinery standing. The four Autobots transformed and drove towards it.
xxx
As they had reached the device, they saw that it had to be some ancient form of a holo projector.
In the empty room before them, appeared suddenly a giant face, a face that, apart from the colors, had a striking resemblance to Hotrod´s own.
"Welcome Chosen One", Primus greeted him again.
Hotrod transformed. "You said you wanted to tell me everything", he said to him, "then tell me."
The others changed into robot mode too and joined him, ready to listen.
"Yes Primus, we all are ready to listen to what you want to tell us", Kup agreed.
"Very well my child. I will tell you the story of Cybertron´s origin and of your race and of your relatives." That part of his statement confused the Autobots a bit, but Primus or whoever this being was had already continued to talk. Anyway, they were sure that he would explain to them who this "relatives" were.
"As many of you knew from the legend there had once been two beings, myself and the Chaos Bringer, who later became Unicron like you know him today. We were beings, not made from metal or flesh but from pure energy. Many referred to us as gods."
The hologram changed and Primus face was now replaced with a picture of two giant glowing beings. One of them was obviously Primus, while they were able to recognize the winged form of the other one as Unicron.
"But we were in our nature the exact opposite from each other", Primus continued, "Unicron was from the beginning possessed by something that, in your words, can only be described as a hunger, a greed to destroy all beings in existence but himself. He tried to destroy the universe and I fought to stop him, I tried to protect the first life forms. That was our nature.
In our first battle, we fought in our original forms. But I wasn´t able to defeat him in combat, he was too destructive, too violent, everything I tried to protect was threatened to be destroyed by our fight. So I tricked him. I pretended to flee, but then I turned around and attacked him mentally. I separated our minds from our bodies and trapped both of us in two meteoroids. Our original forms were destroyed in the process, only our minds, our essence had survived.
I was imprisoned by my own decision, but at least Unicron was gone too."
"All that tells us the legend", Hotrod replied. "I also told us that you reshaped your meteoroid into the planet of Cybertron that we live on now. All this", he gestured with his arm in a circle, "is you."
"That is true. Both, me and Unicron have the ability to reform matter on a molecular level. Over the eons, I formed Cybertron and Unicron reformed his prison into a giant world destroying machine like you have seen it. Cybertron is my new body, but it is only my shell, my soul, my spark, is somewhere else."
"The Matrix", Hotrod said.
"Yes, the Matrix and Vector Sigma. To defeat Unicron the next time, I gave up my physical existence completely, I became a legend, a myth. First I reshaped my meteoroid prison not into a new body, but a inhabitable planet. I created the Matrix as a weapon against Unicron and placed the greatest part of my life energy into it. The rest flew into Vector Sigma, a intelligent computer that is able to create living machines.
I forged the Matrix as a energy collector for the life energy of the robots that Vector Sigma or myself produced, so that their sparks wouldn´t be lost even if they died but always returned to me."
The Autobots starred in amazement of the picture of the creator of their world.
"But I didn´t stop there. In the beginning, I didn´t create only robots, I also gave life to organic beings and to a mixture of both of them, cyborgs or transorganics you would call them today. I tried out many variations."
"What happened to this life forms?" Ultra Magnus asked.
"I will come to that part of the story now. You should know, at first I created only 13 beings, all robots, the first Transformers. All of them were what you call Prime´s. They were what was later be called my 13 original creations.
As I began to create more life, they became the leaders of all of them. To solve the energy need of my new children, this 13 created under my guidance a device that was called the plasma energy chamber, that could be used to destroy the suns of lifeless star systems and collect the energy of the super novae. The energy was used to creature even more new life or sampled for our coming battle."
At this statement, Hotrod and the others looked more than shocked. A device that could blow stars up.
"But I knew all that time that Unicron had given himself a new form by then. And that it was only a question of time until he would attack. But as his attack finally came, something happened that I had not foreseen." Primus voice now sounded obviously sad and haunted, as if he was remembering something very painful from his past.
The hologram changed again and showed now the form of a large robot, a Prime, flying in space before the giant form of Unicron´s robot mode. Hotrod knew who he was as well.
"Unicron, Unicron hear me", the robot said loudly.
Despite that the words were spoken in an ancient language, the four Autobots could somehow understand them.
"State your business child of Primus", Unicron replied. "Why have you contacted me? Why should I even talk to a creation of my ancient enemy?"
Unicron knew exactly why the robot came to him, he could see it on his mind, but that wasn´t enough. He should say it out loud, he should actually say the words.
"Unicron, in the years of my existence, I have watched the universe around us, the one that our creator Primus wants us to protect with our lives. I have observed it and the creatures that inhabited it for a long time and I came to one realization. This universe and the life in it is flawed, it is weak, limited and inferior. It is unworthy of our protection or to even exist in the first place. This universe should be completely eradicated and rebuild in a better image.
I have seen now that your way is the only right one. Please Unicron", he waited for a moment before he said the word full of conviction, "master, accept me as your servant and your ally."
After a few moments Unicron replied.
"I hear your offer and I accept it with pleasure."
"One of my creations sided with Unicron against me", Primus said in the present, many millions of years later.
I have not posted for some time, I was otherwise occupied in the last weeks, but now I am back.
To this part of the story, in my fanfic timeline, Hotrod and The Fallen had met before, so that is the reason, that he recognized him in the last part of this chapter. But I tried to make this not completely obvious.
It is possible that there are some grammar mistakes in this chapter, I have currently problems with the spell checker.