Chapter 14
The planet Nebulos was a organic world, at the first look quite similar to earth, that had been colonized around 10.000 years ago by a race of humanoids, from their appearance practically identical with the people from Earth.
In their history and their way of life however, the people of Nebulos were quite different. On their planet there had been peace and a relatively stable society for the greatest part of their history.
This was probably mostly through the fact that their civilization was spawned by a single, small group of people who were already completely united in their culture and their beliefs. As long as someone could think back, Nebulos had always one state, one religion and a central government in form of a council.
To that came a very mild climate at all the populated continents and a stable environment. That meant no shortage of resources to fight over.
On Nebulos there was simply no reason, no indicator, for wars. As long as anybody could remember back nothing had really changed in their world and aside from some minor uprisings and some disputes, centuries ago there had been no greater conflicts.
In the end, Nebulos was a peaceful and civilized world, but also stagnating and complacent in their status, barely able to adapt to new and changed situations.
For generations the people of Nebulos looked back with pride at their 10.000 years history of peace, maybe with too much pride.
More critical voices, in first line people from neighboring star systems of course, claimed that this just due to a favorable set of circumstances and not because of the `civilized´ state of the nebulon society.
This may actually be close to the truth. The founders of Nebulos had from the beginning been a relatively high developed and centralized nation. It was not really the native home-world of this people. Their ancestors had simply settled there.
Nobody knew anything about their history before that.
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In the years after the invention of the transwarp engine some people would build up the theory that the Nebulons were actually descendants of a ship from Earth that was started at some point in the future and for some reason was stranded 10.000 years in the past.
It was an interesting theory given the technical knowledge at that time.
Others thought that the early nebulons were a completely different species to Earth humans and the great resemblance was only a great coincidence. Nobody knew for sure.
xxx
The truth was that the main reason why there had never been war at Nebulos had been that it´s people had never been given a reason to start one.
Until circa 25 earth years ago, when the two groups of Transformers led by Fortress Maximus and Skorponok first arrived on Nebulos.
Not only were the fights between the Autobots and the Decepticons causing wide spread destruction, the leaders of Nebulos themselves were broken into two factions.
Lord Zarak and his followers wanted to use the technology of the alien robots for themselves, while their adversaries and their leader Galen had the aim to preserve Nebulos and it´s people as they were and wanted to stop the Decepticons.
As finally a civil war broke out between the two sides, it cost till it´s end even more lives and caused greater destruction than the fighting Transformers.
The ruling council that both, Galen and Zarak were serving and that had been divided between their positions, was removed from power shortly after the beginning of the war. From that point on there were only Zarak and Galen, who were fighting as war lords over the planet.
Zarak even went as far to bound himself and his closest allies forever to the Decepticons and became headmasters, a move that the other side was a short time later forced to copy.
Originally he had been a member of the central council who wanted change and progress that he believed to be necessary. But all his good intentions were forgotten very quick and all what he still wanted was control over Nebulos. Under the influence of Skorponok he had developed into a power hungry dictator.
When Galen and his opponent Zarak finally both realized what their fighting was doing to their home-planet they decided to leave Nebulos and to continue their fight somewhere in the deep of space.
They thought at this point that their absence could eventually end the war.
But even with them gone it continued for another two years.
While the greatest threat to the planet was removed with the Transformers and the worst destruction was over, that didn´t meant an end of the fighting. At this point all pretense of order or civility on Nebulos were long gone.
After their departure there was nothing like a government or a central authority anymore on the planet. Several self proclaimed leaders and political splitter groups were now fighting for power. Remnants of Zarak´s army were still around and terrorizing the people. Without orders or clear objectives, they just turned to attacking cities and raiding villages.
After Zarak and Galen had left, chaos was ruling Nebulos. It took over two years for the people to bring their world back to peace.
But now 20 years later, the Decepticons returned.
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The planet Nebulos today
A large battleship, Skorponok in his giant space ship mode, had appeared in space over the planet. He was leading the first wave of the attack.
He and his headmasters were the ones who had been fighting on Nebulos before, they had tried to conquer this world and they were binary bonded to natives, so of course they were the ones spearheading the invasion.
Nebulos had been a part of the deal Zarak had made with Megatron. In exchange for his, although in truth only temporally, loyalty Nebulos would be the first planet to be conquered by their newly reformed Decepticon army.
Once again Zarak would be the ruler of his home-world and this time unopposed.
Beside the headmasters the strike force that would take over Nebulos consisted in first line of Decepticons who had declared their alliance to either Megatron or Zarak.
In Skorponok´s hangar bay, the seekers Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker, Darkwing and Dreadwind, the triple-changer Blitzwing, the two headmasters Apeface and Snapdragon and several others were waiting for their order to start.
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Skywarp and Thundercracker were right now busy briefing the other fliers for the attack and trying to become acquainted to their new comrades, especially the ones whose counterparts they didn´t know from their world.
Under them were also the remaining three targetmasters, Slugslinger, Triggerhappy and a third one, Skywarp didn´t recognize. While they had actually sided against Megatron originally, they and a few others had been brought along for this battle because of their unique abilities alone.
The three Decepticons were standing in a line before them, their nebulon partners next to them.
"And what is your name?" Skywarp asked the red seeker he haven´t met before. He remembered that he had met the version of Slugslinger and Triggerhappy of his own world, but this robot was completely unknown to him.
"Misfire", the red jet answered.
"What?" Skywarp asked him surprised.
"Misfire", the Decepticon repeated.
"Misfire, that is truly your name?" Skywarp asked flabbergasted. "How in the world did you end up with that?"
"Well…", the jet started, he was obviously quite embarrassed.
"At the war academy he was barely able to hit a target", Slugslinger told him, "so they gave him that name there and it stuck."
"Yes", the Decepticon unfortunately named Misfire admitted.
"If that is so, why in the world was he chosen as a targetmaster?" Skywarp asked Slugslinger angrily.
"That question should be, why is he even in the army?", Triggerhappy fell in. "He had failed the academy several times."
The red robot looked now even more embarrassed than before. The other two targetmasters and their nebulons on the other side were looking slightly amused.
"The only reason he finally made it was we were short on people, oh and the Autobots had blown the academy up", Triggerhappy continued happily to drag his comrade in the ground.
Skywarp starred at them with an open mouth.
"Heh, are you kidding me?" he finally snapped at them. "I am telling you one thing, I am the one who is making the jokes here."
Thundercracker, the two targetmasters and their nebulon partners smiled now, barely holding themselves from bursting out laughing.
"No, we are telling the truth", Slugslinger assured him, "and we three were chosen as targetmasters because we had been partners for a long time."
"And it doesn´t matter anyway, his partner is nearly as useless as he is", Sluglinger´s nebulon partner told Skywarp."
"Why? who is his partner?" The seeker asked him.
"His is called Aimless", Slugslinger said.
"I warned you not to try to mess with me", Skywarp yelled at them half serious, half not.
Thundercracker and the targetmasters fell now into screaming laughter.
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It were as a whole 15 Decepticons with jet modes, ready to engage and destroy every sort of aerial defense that Nebulos might have.
In the next move, Skorponok and a large number of ground forces would land, shortly followed by Megatron and the second wave.
It was a simple but effective plan. The main concern of it was not however the nebulon military. There was no way that this world could even hold up a significant defense. Technologically Nebulos was not much farther than earth had been when the Transformers had first arrived.
No, the real matter were the Autobots. There was no way that they would oversee such a large movement of troops. When they attacked Nebulos, a large battle with the Autobots would be the result soon.
Everybody knew this and in fact that was exactly what they wanted, another chance for a victory against their enemies, the first one under Megatron´s new leadership. Under normal circumstances the Autobots would have a good chance to win against them.
But this time, there was a number of factors that would make sure that they would have no chance. For one their forces had already been severely weakened during the last months. They were only a shadow of what they once were. To that came that they would hardly expect that the power struggle between the Decepticons would be over that fast and wouldn´t have time to prepare their troops. So they could probably only send the fighters who were currently available and not a really fitting defense force.
Beside that Megatron and Sideways had another advantage nobody knew about. It was already prepared to take the Autobots completely by surprise.
They would win the coming battle. Every resistance would be crushed and Nebulos would become a part of the Decepticon empire, with Zarak as ruling overlord.
And so everyone of them would have what they wanted, everybody except maybe one.
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The one Decepticon who was more than dissatisfied with the situation however was saying nothing.
Had he really come down to this? Starscream was asking himself. Once he had been second in command of the entire empire. He had been the right hand of the Supreme Commander, not Sideways, not Cyclonus and not Skorponok, him. As much as he and Megatron had disliked each other, he still gave him power and rank second only to his own.
But that was the old Megatron.
And now? Sideways and Skorponok were involved in the planning of the entire campaign, while he was standing around and waited for orders, as if he was only another lackey.
Under the old Megatron he would have been the one giving this orders.
Starscream had a grim feeling inside him and if only for a few moments, a bit of regret. At some level in his mind, even if he would never admit it to himself, he understood one thing. Ultimately it was all his own fault.
It were his countless betrayals that caused the old Megatron to turn against him and reject him as a Decepticon.
Starscream was the one who had abandoned him in space, that was the last straw for Galvatron to destroy him.
It was his alliance with Unicron, the attempt to take over Cybertron, that made him a outcast from all of the Transformers, not only the Decepticons. The deal he had made with the Chaos Bringer had brought him his body back, but it also made him to one of the most hated beings in the galaxy and it brought him into the situation he was in now, Starscream thought. He should have really known better than to team up with Unicron.
Now he was under Sideways heel and left with no allies.
For everybody Autobot, Decepticon, human, Junkion, he was now simply the one who had brought Unicron back to life and helped him to threaten yet another world.
He had been one of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy, now he was one of the most scorned ones and just for a short moment, Starscream understood, at least deep down, that nobody was as much to blame for it as himself.
But only for a moment.
Then however he reacted like he always did and pushed the thought aside. This sort of self criticism and insight was never like him.
No, he thought, all that ever mattered to him was himself and his ambitions and he would never regret anything.
The ones responsible for his situation were his enemies, the ones who always stood in his way and wrecked his ideas, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus and all the others. It was their fault, he told himself.
As always he placed the blame for everything on someone else. He acted like he always did, but that was something he didn´t realize.
Starscream thought about how he would get his position and his power back. He would get rid of Sideways and retake his rightful place under the Decepticons, soon.
He heard how the order for the start was given. The hangar docks opened and one by one, the Decepticons transformed and flew off.
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Fortress Maximus, on the way to Nebulos
As they had predicted, the invasion of Nebulos had not been unnoticed by the Autobots and as they also had predicted, the line of troops that they had managed to send was rather an improvisation.
Autobot scouts had detected that a massive force of Decepticons was on the way to the planet and they would be trying to stop them.
Both, Optimus Prime and Fortress Maximus had simply taken every Autobot who was currently at their bases and was able to fight.
They had never thought that the infighting under the Decepticons would be over so quick, they hadn´t thought that they would target another planet so fast, they didn´t even knew which of the two "leaders" had won. That meant they didn´t even knew who they would be fighting now.
Fortress and the headmasters had just come directly from the planet where they were stationed as they heard the news. Optimus taken Skylinx and came from Earth to join them on the way.
They looked at their "army".
Besides themselves and the headmasters, they had the Dinobots, the Technobots, Skylinx and the new powermasters Getaway, Joyride and Slapdash with them.
But what they also had were Skyfire, a scientist who had joined the Autobots only reluctantly and had actually left the army until the Decepticons reconquered Cybertron four months ago,
Punch, a former double agent whose mind had been manipulated by a group of fanatics on their own side, they were still trying to find out who was responsible and if some of them were still around,
Capback, Bulkhead and Strangecase, three new recruits who had volunteered for this mission, but had together less fighting experience than Hotrod had as he first came to earth,
and Prowl, not the one that they have known, but his counterpart from another universe where apparently also the new Megatron and his group came from. With other words, he was someone they had just met and knew nothing about.
All in all it were the last persons you would take with you to such a important mission. But it wasn´t as if they had a choice than to take everybody who was currently at hand.
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The manipulations this rogues had performed on Punch may have caused long termed mental damage. It was something impossible to tell right now. They would simply have to wait. Because of that on the other side, he wasn´t really fit to be on the battlefield.
Before the war Skyfire had been a good friend and mentor of the Decepticon Starscream. Back in this times Starscream was still a explorer and scientist instead of a mass murderer and opportunist. Skyfire was one of them who had joined the Autobot cause because they thought that they had to, not because they were warriors. He was another one who wouldn´t even be fighting if things would be going right.
"How long till we arrive?" Optimus asked Fortress Maximus, who he knew was standing directly behind him.
"By our estimation around 11,5 breem Prime", Fortress answered him.
11,5 breem, Optimus thought, that meant one hour and 35, 45 earth minutes. By now he had to admit, he was nearly more acquainted with the earth- than with the cybertronian time units.
He thought about what kind of damage could happen in that length of time.
"We have to get there as fast as possible" Optimus said.
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The Decepticon seekers were as they entered the atmosphere confronted with a large number of hundreds of native jet fighters.
Before the war, Nebulos did not even possess a standing military to speak of. That was one of the many "improvements" through the last decades.
The fighters that were engaging the Decepticons were not capable of space flight. They were more comparable to the Earth jets from the 20th century, like the nebulon military as a whole had a similar level in technology.
Of course they were completely outmatched.
Starscream destroyed two of them in less than three seconds.
Thundercracker shot another one who blew up into a fireball.
Skywarp used his teleportation to vanish and reappear at the other side of the enemy group. The nebulon pilots were completely taken off guard by that move and chaos broke out under them.
Snapdragon, Apeface and Blitzwing used this advantage and shot down another half dozen fighters, while in the whole time the nebulons weren´t able to land a hit on their foes.
It wasn´t as much a battle as it was slaughter. The Decepticons were faster, more advanced and had far more fire-power than their enemies. Dozens of nebulonian fighters were destroyed only in the first minute.
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A large group of armored vehicles, closely resembling earth tanks were waiting for the invaders outside of the nebulonian capital.
A few minutes later ten large robots landed before them. It were the Combaticons and the Terrorcons, two of the combiner-teams.
This two groups had always been among the most aggressive and battle hungry of the Decepticons and they were happy about this chance to exercise.
"Isn´t it nice to have a little bit fun?", the Combaticon Brawl said to his comrades.
He aimed his weapon and shot a burning whole in one of the tanks.
"Yes", Vortex replied, "I may not like our new leaders very much, but at least they let us have a good time", he said as he crushed another one of the vehicles.
The Terrorcons on the other hand transformed into their animal modes, double headed dragons and monsters and started to tear the ground vehicles to pieces.
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The defending jets had drawn backwards more and more. Over the half of them had already been lost, destroyed or forced into landing. The battle took now place right over the main city.
One of the jets was hit in the side by a shot from the Decepticon Darkwing. The crippled machine went out of control and crashed in the middle of the city, completely destroying the building it hit and causing huge damage to the neighboring ones.
For the nebulons it was a battle they were fighting out of pure desperation. All of them remembered what this robots were capable of from 20 years ago.
They knew they had no chance, but they also knew what kind of damage the robots could cause.
Nobody knew what the Decepticons were planning now that they had returned.
Would they just continue where they had stopped 20 years ago or would they destroy all of Nebulos this time? This fear alone was it what kept them fighting on, even if it was hopeless.
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The space-ship form of Skorponok sunk slowly down from the sky and onto on the surface of the planet. A short distance over the ground, he transformed into his city mode.
Inside the base Zarak, sitting in the command chair, was communicating with Megatron.
"The invasion is going exactly as planned", Zarak informed his momentary leader.
"Good", Megatron replied, "I will arrive with the rest of the troops every moment and when we will await the Autobots."
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The planet Chaar
On the ground of a large canyon, nearly a mile under the surface of the planet flew a river of molten lava. Down there a small group of Decepticons were lying either inside or close to the burning liquid.
One of them, a large purple robot with a spiked helmet and a orange cannon mounted on his arm, was trying to lift one of the others out of the lave.
"Cyclonus", he spoke to him, "can you hear me?"
The other robot started to move, his red eyes returning to glow.
"Galvatron", he said after a few moments. "What had happened?"
"We have been betrayed", his leader answered him. "It is all far worse than I have thought.
"Scourge." Cyclonus saw his partner lying unconscious on a formation of rocks, right outside the lava, in a short distance from him another identical looking robot, one of the Sweeps.
"They have left us here behind", Galvatron said.
"You mean this impostor is now leading the Decepticons?" Cyclonus asked him.
"I fear he is far more than an impostor", Galvatron replied. "Here is something going on Cyclonus, something far worse than we have expected. It is Unicron."
Cyclonus felt now like his systems were turning to ice hearing that name here.
The other two began to wake up.
"Scourge", Galvatron called to the leader of the Sweeps.
"Yes", he replied weakly.
"Gather your Sweeps", Galvatron ordered.
Scourge sent out a signal.
The four other Sweeps had crashed outside of the canyon and were now spread over the area. It should take some time for them to return.
"They should be here in a few minutes", Scourge informed them.
"Good, we must return to Cybertron as fast as possible" Galvatron said, "and bring down the new `leader´of the Decepticons."
"Galvatron." They suddenly heard a voice calling out to him.
He saw that the others were now starring at some point behind him.
They realized that they were all suddenly caught in some sort of energy field.
One moment later, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps had vanished.