Chapter 24
Decepticon transwarp-ship
While the battle with Unicron was finally over, another fight had just begun.
Starscream had entered the command bridge, followed by two other Decepticons Prowl had never seen before.
This two triple changers went along with Starscream´s plan, out of fear, fear that the old Air Commander was very good to stoke up.
They had chosen the wrong side during the last coup attempt and then they had refused to follow Galvatron´s order to join the battle against Unicron. Even with his regained sanity the Decepticon leader was not known for his patience with insubordination.
They just didn´t know if they still had a place under the Decepticons anymore and Starscream took advantage of this quite easily.
At this point the attackers had already killed one of the guards and wounded the other.
After a few moments of shock, both the Autobot Prowl from another universe and the second Con guarding the ship pulled their weapons from sub-space.
This was clearly an attempt to take control of the ship.
To what purpose was the question. What did they want to achieve?
With a transwarp engine there were many possibilities, from instant transportation to every place in known space, to other dimensions and time travel.
They were other Decepticons, trying to take over one of their own ships. That meant renegades. Starscream was one of them so this was no surprise.
Whatever he planned, it was surely the foreplay to a disaster. Another one, now when they had just gone through the last. The other two were a pair of triple changers neither of them recognized.
Prowl and the remaining guard were taking cover behind the secondary consoles while the three intruders were circling them. But, as Prowl noticed, it seemed that they were hesitant to shoot.
"Obviously they are afraid to damage something. They want the ship intact", the Autobot tactician said to his temporally partner. The Decepticon nodded before both of them stood up and returned fire.
The guard hit one of Starscream´s accomplices, the one with a car and a dragon mode, with a clean and lethal head-shot. He was however very quickly caught himself by the blasts of the other two renegades.
The entire exchange had not taken more than a few seconds.
Ripper was dead, the triple changer Talon and the former air commander both realized instantly. For Talon it was the loss of a comrade and friend, for Starscream it was merely the loss of a convenient tool. Now the seeker used the chance to take a shot at Prowl who sank to his knees with a damaged shoulder.
Irony, the Autobot thought. He remembered being told that his counterpart from this universe had seen his end in a similar situation. And as it went there was a great chance that he wouldn´t get out alive of this one either.
But, as he told himself, if he died here he would at least find a way to stop this two on his way to his grave.
Prowl jumped out of his hiding place and charged at the two Decepticons. His shots missed them quite easily and hit the wall instead, but that was only because they weren´t what he was aiming at in the first place. In fact he had been shooting a computer terminal on said wall that now exploded behind them.
The Autobot tactician knew, even if the damage would surely not made the ship useless, the computer would at least register that the ship was under attack and sent out an distress signal that would warn the others. His technical victory was however short-timed.
In the next moment the two renegade Decepticons had pointed their guns at him and fired. Prowl felt the blasts from his opponents piercing through him. He knew this was the end.
The Decepticons were now standing over his fallen body.
"Well, this wasn´t going too bad, don´t you think?", the nearly unconscious Prowl heard Starscream talking to his comrade. "Check if he is truly dead", the seeker ordered.
He realized Talon was moving closer to him, no doubt to check for life-signs. While Starscream, as a precaution, was aiming his weapons at the Autobot lying on the floor before them.
But then suddenly he turned around and shot his partner in the back instead. Talon cried out in shock and betrayal as he fell down.
Typical, Prowl thought as he watched what happened in his dazed state, the triple changer should have seen it coming.
"Why?" Talon asked confused and desperate.
"I am truly sorry my friend", Starscream said sardonically to the dieing robot, "but there might be a chance that you would not go along with all of my plan."
"You, you have not changed at all", Prowl told him.
"I guess not", Starscream replied.
"They will stop you."
"We will see", the seeker answered.
He walked behind one of the consoles and began to activate the machines.
"As it seems I have lost my place under the Decepticons", he said mockingly to the dieing Autobot. "But to be honest, even if they had accepted me back, I don´t know, maybe I would have still done this."
But for a moment his face showed a hint of regret.
"Galvatron has Cyclonus and Scourge now. That means he doesn´t need me anymore and he doesn´t want me, he made that more than clear.
Actually I do owe him a favor for this. I certainly don´t have a real interest to rejoin the Decepticons on a lower rank then I had before.
No, I am done bowing down to anybody. I will now reshape my own destiny and also that of everybody else, with this", he said and gestured to the ship they were in.
"You will lose, like you did so many times before", Prowl told him.
"Not this time." Starscream answered smugly and smiled as the Autobot´s optics darkened.
"Don´t worry", he said with barely hidden sarcasm. "All this won´t matter in a few minutes. We all will start completely anew soon. Who knows, maybe I will have to kill you all over again then." He laughed.
Starscream was still talking out loud, despite that nobody was still alive anymore to hear him.
Somehow it seemed he just wanted to hear his own voice or he already wanted to rejoice in his perceived victory or maybe he just wanted to convince himself of what he was doing.
"Soon I will have everything that should have been mine from the beginning and all the failures of the past will be erased", he said, his voice filled with twisted euphoria.
"But first a little distraction, to make sure that the others won´t interfere."
Starscream dropped a number of buttons on the controls, gave a line of commands and instructions and moments later the ship fired a volley of anti-matter missiles that were beginning to fly down to the planet Earth.
xxxxxxx
The group consisting of Optimus, Rodimus, Galvatron, Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Scourge, Kup, Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker was still assembled inside the remains of what had once been the planet New Quintessa and Unicron´s new body.
With them were now also Fortress Maximus in his regular sized form and the Autobot Perceptor.
"Fortress city body is so badly damaged that we are not sure if it can ever be repaired", Perceptor reported.
"Maybe we won´t need it anymore", Optimus said hopefully.
"Maybe", Perceptor repeated.
"Even if the war won´t come to an end here and now", Ultra Magnus said quietly, "Skorponok is also dead. So at least the odds would be even."
"Yes, who had thought that he of all people would die defending the Earth", Fortress reminded them. "Maybe there is a chance for peace."
xxx
In one of the many rooms of this burned out husk they had found a small, cowering humanoid life-form.
The scientist Primacron had survived the battle but was now seemingly in a catatonic state.
Two Sweeps had been carrying the silent and motionless creature in and were now presenting him to their leaders. The latest events and Unicron´s destruction had obviously caused even greater damage to his mind than already he had before.
Both groups of robots were looking at the small ape like being before them.
"What do you propose we should do with him now?" Ultra Magnus asked the others.
"We could always have him locked up again, send him to a new asylum on another planet", Perceptor offered.
"Since this had already worked out so well the last time?", Cyclonus questioned.
"That was only because the Quintessons freed him", Rodimus pointed out.
"And who says that nobody will do that again?" Kup asked.
While the Autobots were still debating the possibilities, Megatron suddenly draw his hand-blaster and before anybody could do something about it, killed the small creature with a single shot.
"Megatron", Optimus Prime called out as he saw what the Decepticon had done, partly in shock, partly in disgust at his actions.
"What is it Prime?" He asked annoyed. "You truly think it was a good idea to keep this creature along? He was the one who had designed Unicron´s new body and the one before, not to mention an entire line of other dangerous abominations.
Do you even know how many horrors this being had created back in my universe and by what I have heard in yours too?"
Optimus indeed remembered the reports he had red about Primacron´s activities. But killing a helpless prisoner because of things he might do was something against everything the Autobots believed in.
"I know he is looking very similar to the humans you like to protect so much", Megatron continued. "But believe me, despite his appearance he was a cosmic menace. And that is something you should know yourself perfectly."
Optimus didn´t knew what to say. On a purely technical side he knew Megatron was not wrong. No matter how harmless he seemed at the first look, Primacron was a threat. But this went still against all his principles.
This incident just reminded how large the rift between them truly were. Would there be really a true chance of peace like things were? He asked himself.
In that moment the alarms were going on all over the place.
"Emergency", they heard Soundwave´s voice, who was currently commanding the newly arrived Decepticon flagship Revenge, coming over the communicator. "Security breach. Transwarp-ship had been entered by intruders."
"What", Galvatron called out. "Soundwave, what is going on over there?"
"Attackers have broken into the transwarp-shuttle and are currently fighting the guard crew."
"How could they just get into the ship unnoticed?" Galvatron asked angrily. "Why have we not been informed about this earlier?"
"Attackers are Decepticons", the communicator replied.
"Decepticons?" An Autobot asked confused.
"Alarm", Soundwave reported, "transwarp shuttle had fired anti-matter projectiles, targets located on the planet Earth."
What?" Someone in the background shouted.
"Who would?"
For a few moments everyone was silent, comprehending what they had just heard.
"Starscream", Galvatron and Megatron exclaimed simultaneous.
xxxxxxx
Transwarp-ship
Starscream looked at the descending missiles. They were more than enough to devastate a great part of this planet.
Not that it mattered. It was not as if the planet had much worth in the first place, except it´s resources of course. It was only another world full of insects, waiting to fall before him.
And in a few minutes it would all be meaningless anyway. This entire time-line would cease to be and he would start again.
He would never settle for second place.
"Computer, when is the ship ready for jump?" He asked angrily.
"System damaged, compromised components are being over-bridged, waiting", the display wrote.
"Damn", Starscream called out, "damn you Autobot."
In his anger he raised his guns and shot another few blasts into the dead body of the Autobot tactician.
"I won´t let you ruin everything now, not when I have come so far", he growled. "I promise you when we meet the next time you will pay for this", he said angrily to the corpse.
xxxxxxx
"Visual evidence of attackers identity received", Soundwaves voice came over the com. "former Air Commander Starscream, accompanied by triple changers Talon and Ripper."
"I have warned you about trusting that traitor." Galvatron turned to Optimus Prime. "I told you to keep him around would backfire."
"You can clear this out later", Rodimus told them. "The missiles are heading for earth while we are talking here. They have enough firepower to destroy two continents."
Suddenly the situation began to sink in for everybody.
"Aerialbots, Skylinx, go and intercept this missiles before they reach the planet, quick", Optimus ordered over the intercom.
"Consider it done", Skylinx replied, confident as usual.
They all knew however that even one mistake right now could lead into a disaster.
"Cyclonus, Sweeps, Skywarp, Thundercracker, help them", Galvatron called out a few moments later.
"Yes Galvatron", Cyclonus answered as he transformed, closely followed by Scourge, the two seekers and the three Sweeps who were present and blasted off.
"Thank you", Optimus said to Galvatron as they looked at the leaving jets.
"Don´t mention it", he replied before he turned around and addressed Megatron. "Now we will take care of Starscream, hopefully once and for all."
"With pleasure", Megatron said.
It was a horrible irony, Optimus thought as he was leaving with the two Decepticon leaders, they had just won their hardest battle against the most terrible enemy and now the world that has become a second home to him was in danger to be destroyed anyway, by a single renegade megalomaniac.
xxxxxxx
Earth´s orbit
While the missiles were flying downwards to the planet earth, the flyers of both factions were in pursuit.
"A dozen projectiles. They are heading for locations on the North American and European continents", Silverbolt informed the rest of their improvised team.
Cyclonus and Skylinx fired their long range weapons and tried to get as many of them as possible before they entered the Earth´s atmosphere. A few of the missiles, the ones closest to them, were hit by their combined attack and exploded before they could do any damage.
But two thirds of them were still intact and getting even closer to their targets.
"Scatter, everyone concentrate on a missile and follow them", Cyclonus ordered the rest of their group.
Their formation broke up into several smaller units and began to enter the atmosphere.
xxxxxxx
In space
Galvatron transformed into his cannon mode, took aim at the transwarp-shuttle and fired. Once again he had the same traitor before his gun, hopefully it was the last time, he thought.
Next to him were flying Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus, both of them his allies now.
The blast shot through the empty room and grazed the edge of the ship´s body. Admittedly, it wasn´t a very well placed shot, but at this distance it was as good as you could have hoped for.
xxx
The ship was shaking under Starscream´s feet as it was hit.
"Damn it", he cursed again.
He wouldn´t give up. It would be only a few seconds until the transwarp engine was working again. He had calculated something like this in.
That was the main reason he fired the missiles in the first place. He could only hope that it would buy him enough time.
xxx
The Decepticon flagship had changed course and was going straight for the captured vessel.
Megatron had just come on board along with Optimus Prime and was taking command.
Actually this should have been Galvatron doing this. He was clearly the one who had won their contest for leadership, he thought sardonically.
But since he knew he had a better chance by himself in space, he had given this task to his counterpart.
Megatron had to admit this was really a great proof of trust after all what happened. Or maybe it was just the most pragmatic thing from Galvatron´s point of view right now.
"Soundwave", he asked the communications officer, "how long till the transwarp ship is in range?"
"Estimation 32 seconds", he replied.
Megatron had orchestrated the attack and capture of him a few weeks ago. If Soundwave felt any animosity because of this, he didn´t show it. This was just typical for him.
Like he remembered the version of him from his universe.
"Good", Megatron said.
xxxxxxx
Skywarp had reached the missile he had been following. With his teleport-ability this had been at easiest for him and he destroyed it with a single shot.
xxx
Skylinx had the object in his cross-hairs. Despite his usual ego he knew this was no time to kidding around.
He fired his main guns and saw how the anti-matter weapon exploded without causing actual harm.
xxx
Many Miles above the western coast of Europe, two Aerialbots were pursuing one of the other missiles.
"Do you have it Fireflight?" one of them asked.
"Not yet Slingshot, but I am not far."
"I hope so."
"There is it", Fireflight called out.
They were already entering the atmosphere
The two jets were shooting a rain of lasers at the fast moving projectile until one of them hit and destroyed it.
xxxxxxx
Galvatron´s flagship was quickly closing up to the captured shuttle, closely followed by the rest of the surviving fleets. If Starscream would be able to activate the transwarp drive, he would be able to jump from here to any place in the universe and to every time. Maybe he could even rewrite history however he wanted. They needed to stop him.
For both sides it was a race against time.
xxx
The Sweeps who had been part of the hunt had separated. Two of them were heading for the other missile that was going down over the European continent.
The third was getting one over the Atlantic that was not a major threat but was still able to cause great damage to ships and local islands.
They really lived up to their purpose as hunter-trackers and had located their targets in record time.
The Sweep called Skyhound had it already on his display. He was moments away from getting into firing range, so was his partner.
If nobody stopped it this missile would hit the area of Barcelona in Spain and destroy the city.
"Are you having a lock?" Sweep 1, also called Tracker, asked him.
"Yes", Skyhound told him and fired his lasers. The first shot barely missed, the second however caused the missile to explode.
"We did it."
"Right", the other Sweep replied, "we just saved a city with several million humans." He nearly sounded as if he was surprised himself.
xxx
Silverbolt and Air Raid had just succeeded in stopping another two of the warheads and were now reporting it to the others.
"You got it", Silverbolt congratulated his comrade.
"If I hadn´t you would", he replied.
"No reason to celebrate", Silverbolt reminded him, "If only one of this missiles gets through, it is enough to kill millions."
"This is just like on Nebulos", Air Raid said.
"No, on Nebulos Starscream was forced to fire the shots, here he did it on his free will and beside that, there was nobody there to stop the projectiles."
xxxxxxx
Transwarp ship
"Transwarp engine active", the computer screen red.
"Finally", Starscream yelled. Now everything would turn out as he always wanted.
xxx
"Transwarp shuttle in range", Soundwave reported.
"Fire", Megatron ordered and Soundwave activated the weapons.
xxxxxxx
Over the earth
Cyclonus and his partner Scourge were directly behind one of the last missiles.
They had been following one that had been the closest to earth and so one of the most dangerous.
Both of them were two of the fastest air warriors in existence. Like Skylinx and Skywarp they had chosen one of this targets because they were the best suited for it.
The missile they had been following was on direct course for New York city.
Whoever of them would had a clear lock first would be the one to shot it down, if they would get one in time.
The projectile was only seconds away from reaching the point where the explosion would be too close and would inevitably reach the city anyway even if it was destroyed still in the air.
The objects already became visible in the sky over Manhattan.
Only moments were now deciding over life and death of millions.
Both Cyclonus and Scourge were trying to get the war-head in their line of fire. In the next second, both of them shot at the same time. Their combined blasts ripped through the missile and blew it up, literally in the last second.
xxxxxxx
The Revenge opened fire on the transwarp-shuttle. Laser-blasts and a volley of missiles were quickly closing up to the fleeing ship.
xxx
On board the shuttle, Starscream activated the transwarp drive. He had programmed the coordinates and was just giving the command to make the jump. Victory, he thought.
That was then he saw the incoming assault on the screen.
"No", he screamed as the blasts hit his ship, followed moments later by the missiles.
xxx
They saw the explosion on board of the Revenge. Where one second ago had been the transwarp ship, was now a giant fireball.
"Yes", Megatron exclaimed, balling his fist.
Optimus said nothing for a few moments. But also he was visible relieved. It was a terrifying though how easily everything they knew could have been wiped out.
"Do we know what he was planning. Where did he wanted to jump to?", he asked.
"According to this data, two million years in the past", Soundwave answered.
"While we were all lying deactivated in the arc", Optimus said.
"He could have easily destroyed everybody", Megatron realized.
"And could have rewritten the history completely in his image", Optimus continued his thought.
"But we stopped him."
"That was our luck."
xxxxxxx
Somewhere over North America
Thundercracker was chasing after the last war-head. Should he not stop it, it would go down.
He knew that the others had already succeeded in taking their targets out, he had heard the reports. A single missile, followed by a single seeker, hardly a threat to this world anymore. But it was still enough to kill a large number of humans.
Thundercracker had to admit he felt better doing this than anything he could remember in a very long time.
Even before the arrival of Unicron, back in his universe, he had often doubts about the methods of actions of the Decepticons. Never completely sure about what he was doing, but always silent, never speaking it out loud.
Now he was doing something to save many life´s and he was glad about this chance.
Finally he came into reach and fired.
xxxxxxx
"Success Cyclonus", Scourge informed him.
The two jets were still flying over New York. "The other team report that they have stopped all missiles and the flagship called in, they have destroyed the transwarp shutte before it could jump."
"Yes, we have done it Scourge, we won."
"That is also a way to put it. Have you ever guessed that this war would end with us saving Earth?" Scourge asked him.
"Not exactly", Cyclonus responded. "The Decepticons, saviors of the planet Earth. Who would have thought."
xxxxxxx
The leading members of both sides had now standing side by side in the control center of Metroplex who was still orbiting the planet in space ship mode.
"So, where do we go from here on?" Rodimus Prime asked the assembled robots, Autobots and Decepticons.
Optimus stepped for and addressed the Decepticon leader.
"Galvatron", he asked, "tell me one thing. Will the war continue?"
That was the question that had been hanging in the air the entire time.
"No", the Decepticon leader answered. "It is over, once and for all."
This story comes slowly to an end. This is the last regular chapter.
Next I will post an epilogue that will be a bit shorter than an normal chapter and will conclude the plot.
Side-remark: While the showdown with the attack on earth was entirely my idea, the fact that I had Thundercracker shot the last missile down was of course a homage to the "All hail Megatron" comics.