*Boom*! The Spartan girl awoke a with start, taking a sharp, gasping breath as her systems rebooted and her mind came into consciousness. For a moment, she had no idea where she was or what was happening. All she could see was darkness, until the silhouette of a planet slowly came into view on the other side of the glass visor.
Wait, a planet? Did that mean – was she in space?!
The small, transformer girl glanced around wildly at the interior of the pod in an attempt to comprehend how this was possible. Memories began to flood back into her processor of everything that had happened to lead to this. Depth Charge assuring her that the ship he was loading her onto was an exploration vessel, and she would be safe from the High Counsel there, before placing her into stasis lock. So, how was it that she suddenly found herself jettisoned and floating through the void?
That was when she spotted them. Not one, but two Cybertronian ships, smoking hot and currently careening out of control towards the blue planet below. It was clear there had been a battle, the damage on each respective vessel evidence of that. The question now hammering around in her mind was – why?
If this was supposed to be a mission for exploring deep space, how had the crew managed to get themselves into a fight? Perhaps it wasn't by choice, she realized as she turned to find that hers was not the only pod released, a whole line of them now orbiting the planet. Circumstances must have been dire if they felt like this was the only way to keep the collection of protoforms safe.
Either way, as tendrils of fear began to curl around her chest, she knew she needed to get out of this thing, pronto! However, she couldn't just blow the hatch in the middle of the stratosphere like this. The amount of heat and friction on entering a planet's atmosphere from this height would be too much, even for her! Despite feeling like the hull was closing in on her, she had no choice but to rely on the safety of the pod for a little longer. If nothing else, she knew it was at least temperature shielded and equipped with landing gear.
Using her energy, she pushed against the vacuum towards the planet, ensuring that she hit the gravitational pull with enough force for physics to do the rest of the work. Her digestive apparatus lurched as she picked up speed, soaring past thick collections of water vapor, until the ground eventually came into view. As the landing protocol kicked into gear, the girl let out the breath she'd been holding, happy to feel the jets on the pod working properly as they slowed her descent. Until eventually, she touched down, laying on her back as she stared up at the sky through the pod window.
"Planet fall, successful. Beginning scanning and replication," a voice inside the pod told her, a virtual screen blinking to life in front of her face.
For a moment, she felt the need to question the purpose of the replication. Until she realized, that this is what being a transformer was all about. When you go to different planets, you take on an alternate form based on the surroundings. Not just for protection, but adaptation. After all, wasn't that the law of nature? It was either evolve, or face extinction. This was just the first time in her life that she'd ever been anywhere besides Colony Omicron.
So, after the computer had successfully scanned several different options for her to choose from, she made her selection, and a petite, black feline crawled her way out of the stasis pod.
. . .
Once that business had been settled, the now 'cat-girl' realized that she had a decision to make. Before she had been forced to leave the only home she'd ever known, Depth Charge had explained that her best bet would be to join up with the Maximal crew – acting as though she were a part of the expedition and was meant to be there all along. However, that was before the whole debacle of the fight, which seemed to have led to her premature activation.
As long as this exploration crew never figured out what she really was, being a part of this expedition had sounded like an agreeable alternative compared to the fate that she'd just barely managed to escape. Because if they ever did discover her secret, which was now more likely with the prospects of an apparent ongoing battle, who knows what the consequences would be.
Instead of running the risk of subjecting herself to more Maximal discrimination, she could always simply remain anonymous, lost forever on this apparently primitive planet. Except, that sounded very lonely. Not to mention, really, really boring!
So, deciding not to decide for the moment until she had a better understanding of the situation and what she was dealing with, the Spartan cat began to trot along towards the east. This was the direction that she was almost sure where the Maximal ship she'd rode in on had gone down.
It didn't take her long before she came around a bend to see the vessel still smoking a short distance away. She slowly crept toward it in an attempt not to be detected, but then had to dive behind a boulder when she heard the grinding of machinery, signifying that whoever was inside was now coming out.
She heard voices, and chanced a peek over the rock. There were four of them, and it seemed they had already chosen alternate forms for themselves, as well. All organic, like she had. One of them even matching the type of creature she'd selected, although this specimen was not only larger, but much more – yellow. She listened to them bicker as they were clearing out their ship of scrap metal from the crash.
"Man, all this for a Golden Disk!" the rodent creature complained, as he tossed another garbage piece onto the pile they were forming.
"It was Cybertron's most carefully guarded relic, Rattrap. It gave the location of a major energon source. That's why Megatron stole it," the larger primate explained.
The girl's eyes went wide with disbelief. Megatron stole the Golden Disk? So, it was Predicons, was it? She supposed that explained why the two ships had been at odds.
Before her untimely departure, she had heard rumors of a rogue Predicon who had taken the name of Megatron and was causing trouble around Cybertron. But she never thought he would do something so drastic as steal the Golden Disk and go energon hunting with it! How in the world had he gotten off Cybertron in the first place with a hot Maximal relic? However, the better question was, again, how did the supposed expedition crew manage to get involved?
"Yeah, like I care. Ya know, we were supposed to be doing deep space exploration! Playing galactic patrol was nowhere in my job description you know what I'm sayin'? You sure you're cut out for this commander gig?" the rodent, whose name was apparently 'Rattrap', asked with a lot of skepticism.
The bot, who was now labeled as the ship's commander, let out an exasperated sigh.
"Remember the Great War, Rattrap. If the Predicons get enough energon, they'll start it again! We can't let that happen. Besides, you wanted exploration and here we are on an unknown planet. What more do you want?" he reasoned.
"Well uh, call me picky, but a workin' space craft might be nice," he retorted cynically.
"Just no pleasing some people," the commander shrugged, shaking his head.
Suddenly, the other feline hopped down from out of the ship, bringing the conversation between the other two to a halt.
"Hey, check it!" he announced, indicating a pair of authentic organics that he'd based his form on running in the distance.
"They're fast alright, you chose a good form," the commander commended him.
"Hey, you think that's speed? You ain't seen the golden rocket! Check this!" the yellow cat boasted, before taking off after the others.
"Cheetor, no!" the commander shouted after him.
However, it was clear that the young bot wasn't listening, and he continued to dash after the other yellow felines. Realizing this, the commander clicked his com-link.
"Cheetor, return to base immediately! We don't have time for this!" he said into it, and waited for a moment, but there was no reply. "Cheetor, please respond," he tried again, but the link began to go very fuzzy.
"No good. The energon fields mess with the com-links. Anything over 100 meters, they ain't worth scrap," the stout behemoth of a Maximal explained the fuzziness.
Energon fields? Was there really that much energon on this planet? Remaining in her alternate mode since she'd exited the pod, the girl hadn't had the chance to notice that yet.
"Well, that's just prime," the commander growled irritably.
"So, uh, this your first day on the job or what?" the rodent suddenly asked him.
"Shut up, Rattrap!" he snapped back.
"Oh, yes sir!" he saluted back with mock respect. "Ya know, I feel just heaps better knowing that our lives are in your capable hands. We're all gonna die." He sighed.
Meanwhile, the female bot suddenly noticed the large, horned Maximal eyeing her suspiciously. Was he on to her? She decided to duck back down behind her boulder, if nothing else than to get his prying optics off her.
The commander must have noticed as well, because a moment later she heard him address it.
"What is it, Rhinox?" he asked.
"Oh, just thought I saw something, but it's probably nothing to worry about, only a curious animal," he assured him.
"Well there are a lot of those around here, aren't there," the commander commented.
Their attention was suddenly directed to the west, where the sound of gunfire could be heard in the distance.
"Ah oh!" Rattrap exclaimed, and the commander immediately took action.
He hopped up onto Rhinox and plucked up the reluctant rodent by his scruff.
"Move! Move!" he commanded, placing a startled Rattrap behind him, and they were off in the direction Cheetor had gone.
Now more curious than ever, the Spartan girl decided to follow them to see what would happen next. She took off after them herself, but at a safe distance so they wouldn't notice they were being tailed. After all, she'd never actually met a Predicon before. They hadn't exactly been common on the colony.
She soon detected, after about a minute of running, that the battering ram of a bot the others were riding, was headed straight for a wall of rock. However, instead of going around it, he plowed right through like it was made of Styrofoam! That was some brute force he had, she thought, following through the newly formed path through the rock wall.
They soon came to a stop when they reached their friend, who seemed to be having issues with his blaster. The girl then situated herself behind another nearby rock pile, close enough to hear, but not be seen.
"Cheetor, get to cover! We'll swat that pesky Predicon!" the commander called to him.
"Oh, I would not count on that, Maximals, no. For I believe that you are soon to have, how shall I put it? Difficulties of your own. Yes," came a deep, foreboding voice from across the ravine.
The cat-girl poked her head up to get a better look, and saw that a group of Predicons had gathered on the opposite side. She supposed that the ominous voice had come from the rather large, purple reptilian creature.
"We don't have to do this, Megatron. There has been peace between the Maximals and Predicons for centuries. Why start this up again?" the Maximal commander attempted to reason.
"Peace perhaps on your side Maximal scum, yes, but not on ours. Permit me to inform you that an enemy which appears to be peaceful, may in fact be merely, biding its time," the ancient reptile began to monologue.
So, this was the infamous Megatron. The girl blinked at him curiously. He did appear rather powerful, even in this state. Although, she couldn't help but wonder what his robot form would be like. Until her attention was unconsciously pulled to the young bot down in the ravine, who was still struggling with his blaster.
"Grrr, finally!" he snapped. Apparently having had succeeded in fixing his gun.
"We Predicons have never abandoned our rightful goal of galactic conquest, no! We have merely been waiting, for the right moment, to strike!"
At hearing this, the kid in question suddenly came up from behind his cover.
"Ya mean like this?!" he yelled, firing at the unsuspecting Megatron. The blast hit him right on the jaw and he let out a growl of pain.
"Cheetor!" the commander exclaimed, with both surprise and scolding in his tone.
"Ah! A treacherous, underhanded sneak attack. I like you pussy cat, yes! But it shall avail you not, no! For now the power gauntlet has been cast! Predicons TERRORIZE!" Megatron ordered.
"Do it, MAXIMIZE!" the Maximal commander added in kind.
"Tarantulas, Terrorize!" the arachnid on the Predicon side transformed.
"Rhinox, Maximize!" the massive mammal on the other side transformed.
"Scorponok, Terrorize!" yelled the arthropod with the stinger.
"Rattrap, Maximize!" shouted the rodent.
"Terrorsaur, Terrorize!" screeched the winged reptile.
"Megatron, Terrorize!" he declared.
Even though the cat girl was feeling impressed by his sheer size, she couldn't help the final transformation being the one that caught her attention the most!
"Optimus Primal, Maximize!" the Maximal commander announced, and transformed.
The girls eyes expanded into saucers at this sudden revelation, her head whipping around to stare at him in surprise.
No way! Was that really Optimus Primal?! She thought with amazement.
Depth Charge had never mentioned that he, of all bots, was the one who was in charge of leading this expedition! Now that she knew, she couldn't believe he'd been willing to hide her with this crew, of all places. Was it possible that Depth Charge himself hadn't been aware of this? Except, she found that to be highly unlikely.
She had heard a lot about this Maximal commander, supposedly descended from the Primes himself, and not all of it positive. She couldn't think of any logical reason for why someone of his renown would be here of all places, overlooking a bunch of misfits on some random exploration mission? Surely he could have done better for himself than this!
"Now, obliterate them!" Megatron shouted, and the Predicons complied, immediately opening fire and snapping the Spartan girl out of her musings.
The Maximals responded by ducking behind cover, attempting to avoid the onslaught while returning fire. Movement down in the ravine suddenly caught the girl's eye once again, and she noticed that Cheetor was attempting to army crawl back toward his fellow Maximals to safety.
Unfortunately, a random missile happened to land right in front of him, knocking him back away from his gun, and burying him under a pile of rocks. It was then that a particularly large boulder fell from the pile and landed on his leg. Cheetor attempted to get free with a growl, but it was pinning him down.
"I'm, I'm stuck!" he called out desperately.
"Rattrap, help Cheetor, we'll cover you," Optimus ordered, several missiles landing near their heads, forcing Rattrap and Rhinox to duck for cover.
"Teh, yeah right!" Rattrap protested.
"That's an order, Rattrap!" Optimus demanded, fixing him with a hard scowl.
"Yeah? And you can just kiss my skid plate, fearless leader. Cuz I ain't going out there and gettin' my pelt punctured!" he shot back.
Optimus responded to that with a growl and a very angry look. Meanwhile, it was all Cheetor could do to keep himself from getting blasted to scrap by all the random missile fire!
While they were wasting time arguing, the cat-girl realized that Cheetor was stuck in a very precarious position! If the Predicons managed to notice that he was trapped without his weapon, he'd be easy pickings!
Although she really hadn't wanted to reveal herself yet, especially in the middle of a battlefield, she felt the pressure to act before it was too late! This Cheetor guy seemed like a nice enough kid. Could she really just sit there and watch him die?
"No," she muttered to herself.
Regardless of how she actually felt, it was also proving very difficult for her to fight her programming. Whether she liked it or not, she'd been trained for almost as long as she could remember – to defend all Maximal life, no matter what!
She quickly transformed and leapt up onto the boulder she had been using as cover so the other Maximals would notice her. Now that she was in robot form, she could feel the surge of power absorbing into her body. They hadn't been kidding about the energon radiation being potent enough to create fields!
"Hey!" she shouted to get their attention, and all eyes turned to her, many with looks of surprise and confusion in them. "Cover me, and I'll go get him," she announced.
Before they had a chance to respond to the unexpected aid, she dove into the ravine after the yellow bot, being very careful not to get blasted herself on the way. She managed to make it to his side with nary a scratch. Not too bad considering she was still getting used to her new form. He blinked up at her in shock.
"Do not worry, Cheetor. I'm here to help," she informed him.
"How– how do you know my name?" he stuttered in his bewildered state.
"You guys are loud," she confessed with a shrug, using one of her pistols to blast the rock off of him. "Come on, let's go," she encouraged, offering him a hand.
"Do not let them escape!" they heard Megatron bellow.
Meanwhile, back on the hill, Rhinox just snatched up a disinclined Rattrap by the back of his neck.
"Hey! Lemme down ya big bulldozer!" he protested.
"Cover fire, they need it, we give it, now!" he commanded.
Not that Rattrap really had a choice, as Rhinox lifted him up into a firing position. He proceeded to unload on the Predicons, while Rhinox fired off shots from Cheetor's gun, clutched in his free hand. Optimus and the others were able to connect with some targets, giving their unlikely rescuer and Cheetor a chance to flee.
However, as they were making the mad scramble toward the Maximal group, a lucky shot she couldn't anticipate landed in the small of the cat-girl's back. She buckled forward with a cry of pain, and then muttered some curse words under her breath.
"Are you alright?" Cheetor asked with concern, stopping next to her.
"I'm fine," she replied through gritted teeth. "Just keep going," she said, getting up and continuing to run herself.
"Back to the base, let's go, let's go!" Optimus called out, as she and Cheetor finally reached the edge of the ravine.
He didn't need to tell her twice! Lucky for them, the very same energon fields she'd felt earlier began to take effect on the others, allowing the Maximals to transform and escape while the Predicons were recovering from the initial shock of having too much energy build up.
. . .
After they had put some distance between themselves and the Predicons, the Maximals began to recline to a slower pace. Optimus and Rattrap climbed back on Rhinox, while Cheetor and the newcomer hung back to make sure they weren't being followed. Then, once the initial danger seemed to be past, and things were calm and quiet, Cheetor turned to address his rescuer.
"Hey, thanks a bunch for saving me back there. So, I know you know my name already, but what about you? What's your name? If you don't mind my asking. Are you one of the protoforms we brought? How'd you get on planet so fast?" he probed her enthusiastically.
While she was pleased that he was making the connections for her, his other questions left her a bit stymied. She hadn't had the chance to come up with plausible answers yet. She decided playing dumb would be the best solution for the moment, so she shrugged in response.
"I'm – not sure. I simply woke up here," she stated stoically for him.
"Oh, that's okay. I guess one of the pods didn't quite make it into orbit," he reasoned for her. "What about your name? Did you decide on one yet?" he continued.
She wondered about this for a moment, before remembering that this wasn't as strange as it initially sounded. After all, it was pretty common practice for transformers to alter their sanction after undergoing a reformatting, which usually happened both after taking on an alternate form, or less commonly, if massive damage called for a major restructuring. In her case, a new name would also be beneficial in aiding to mask her true identity.
"You may call me – Lunarflare," she ultimately decided on.
"Lunarflare. Got it!" he repeated with a grin. "Anyway, welcome to the crew! I'm not sure how much you were programmed with ahead of time, but I'm guessing you were surprised to wake up in the middle of a battle when this is supposed to be an exploration mission. So, sorry about that," he offered apologetically.
Lunarflare, settling into the new label, realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to figure out what the heck happened to get them in this situation in the first place. She chanced the questions.
"Yes, I was, in fact. What are those other bots doing here? Why were you and the others fighting with them? You know, besides the fact that they were clearly hostile?" she wondered sincerely.
"Well, that's kind of a funny story. See, it's like this. We were all set to head off on our mission, when Optimus got the call that Megatron and a bunch of random Predicons had stolen the Golden Disk and were headed off planet with it. Ours was the only ship available at the time that could go after him, so the High Counsel ordered us to chase him down. Except Megatron used a Transwarp Drive to go – who knows where!" Cheetor emphasized with broad gestures at their surroundings.
"Rhinox said that we could be anyplace, anytime. Although, the worst part is that our ship took pretty heavy damage in the fight before we crashed. So, unless we're able to figure out a way to repair our own Transwarp Drive, we're kind of stuck here. Sorry for the bummer news," he explained.
What the young bot couldn't have known, was that Lunarflare wasn't exactly in a hurry to get back to Cybertron, so this news hadn't been particularly disappointing.
"Is there any kind of plan going forward?" Was the only other question currently on her mind.
"Stop Megatron from collecting energon and try to get the disk back?" Cheetor offered with a shrug.
Not exactly a plan, per say. More like a mission statement, but she supposed that chasing after Predicon criminals hadn't exactly been part of their plans to begin with.
A sudden commotion up ahead caught their attention, halting their conversation. Optimus had taken ahold of Rattrap by the scruff of his neck and held him up to face him.
"Hey, what's got your servo so bent?" the rat protested at the rough handling.
"Let's get one thing straight, Rattrap. When I give an order, I expect it to be obeyed!" Optimus lectured at him.
"Boy, I'd hate to be Rattrap right now!" Cheetor muttered, flashing Lunarflare a mischievous grin.
She blinked up at him in slight confusion. If Rattrap was in trouble, then why was Cheetor smiling? She didn't get a chance to give it much more thought as the conversation up front continued.
"Oh, so I get vaped because you're too chicken to go yourself," Rattrap argued.
"I would not give an order I would not be willing to do myself!" Optimus continued to shout, but then his voice softened so that Lunarflare could barely hear him. "But I was capable of giving you better cover fire. You were not," he resigned and tossed Rattrap back onto his shoulders.
Wait – that was it? Rattrap had blatantly disobeyed orders and to top it off, insulted a superior officer. If Lunarflare had ever tried anything like that back on the colony, she would have been beaten so badly it would have landed her in critical care!
"Hey, come on, what are you shortin' about? We got outta there alive, didn't we?" Rattrap reasoned.
"Yes, but, only because we had unexpected help," Optimus reminded him, taking a glance back towards the pair of cats currently tailing them.
"Yeah well, she volunteered," Rattrap argued defensively, gesturing behind them before turning to stare as well. "Whoever she is," he added.
At that point Cheetor had caught up with the others, encouraging his impromptu companion to follow suit. Which she did, albeit with a bit more caution.
"I think we gave them the fade, Optimus," he assured the Maximal commander.
When Rhinox heard this he stopped moving and turned towards the newcomer. All eyes immediately fixed onto Lunarflare, and she could feel herself subconsciously shrinking back at their stares. Optimus and Rattrap climbed down off of Rhinox, their gazes never leaving her.
"I can't thank you enough for your help back there. I saw that you took a pretty bad hit from a missile. Are you doing alright?" Optimus asked her.
Lunarflare hadn't been sure what he was going to say, but him showing concern for her health was the last thing she expected.
"I sustained some internal damage, but I am still battle capable, sir," she assured him with determination.
Optimus and the others appeared confused by her response, but she didn't know why. Had she said something wrong?
"So, guys, this is Lunarflare. It seems one of the pods didn't quite make it all the way into orbit. She said she woke up just a little while ago," Cheetor explained for her, which she had no problem with him doing, his assumptions proving beneficial.
It also helped that it was at least a half truth.
"I see, well, it's good to hear that you had a successful planet fall. I apologize that we weren't there to greet you. As you may have noticed, we were a little, occupied," he tried to justify.
"Indeed," she agreed flatly.
"Anyway, I am Optimus Primal, Maximal Commander. This is Rhinox and Rattrap, and I see you and Cheetor have already gotten acquainted," he noticed with a small smile. "I'm guessing that Cheetor has taken the liberty of briefing you on the situation?"
Lunarflare nodded that he was correct.
"Good to hear. The ship we came in on landed several microquads in that direction," he pointed for her, despite her already knowing where it was. "Once we make it back, we can have Rhinox take a look at you and make sure–" Optimus never got the chance to finish, before suddenly getting interrupted by a skeptical Rattrap.
"What? You're taking her back to the base with us? Just like that?" he protested, earning several confused looks in the process.
"And why wouldn't we take her back to the base with us?" Optimus questioned, the exasperation in his voice clear.
"Am I really the only one here who thinks the fact that her pod landed so early isn't just a little bit suspicious?" he argued, fixing her with a hard look.
Well, well. It seemed that selling her story wasn't going to be quite as easy as she thought.
"What are you getting at, Rattrap?" Rhinox finally just came out and asked him.
"We launched those pods when we were still pretty far from the planet. I don't see how any of them could have landed on their own already. So, what if she isn't who she's claiming to be? What if she's the sixth Predicon? Didn't the theft report say there were six of them? I don't know if anyone else noticed, but I only counted five back there!" he elaborated, still glaring at her.
Lunarflare almost felt like she should try defending herself, or something. Despite his suspicion being justified, he was still way off the mark. Except, Optimus didn't give her the chance.
"I did notice, and I'm pretty sure she's not one of them," Optimus argued.
"How do you know?" Rattrap snapped.
"She jumped into the middle of the fray to save Cheetor, and one of them shot her in the back! That's enough evidence for me," Optimus reminded him.
"Oh, well, yeah, I guess," he admitted reluctantly. "Could still be a trick, though. Something about her seems, off," he decided, lacking a better word for his concerns.
"I could say the same thing about you," Cheetor teased, before moving past him, causing the others to snicker.
"Hey!" the rat protested the insult.
"Perhaps if I took you to the location of my pod. . ." she attempted to suggest placatingly, but Optimus shook his head with an eye roll, stopping her.
"Don't mind him, Lunarflare. I'm sure he's just sore over you showing him up earlier. We'll take the time to recover your pod later," he explained. "For now, let's keep moving team," he ordered, leading the group back towards the base.
"Wait! I am not – I mean, I was jist tryin' ta. . ." Rattrap continued to debate, but ultimately gave up when he realized no one was listening anymore. "Ah, whatever!" he grumbled, padding along after the rest of them.
"Speaking of the missing Predicon, I want everyone to keep their eyes peeled for any movement. He could still prove to be trouble," Optimus ordered.
"Yeah well, maybe he was destroyed in the crash then?" Rattrap suggested as an alternative to his earlier theory.
"That kinda luck we haven't been getting much of lately," Rhinox said with a sigh.
"Tell me about it – look!" Cheetor suddenly exclaimed, gesturing ahead.
Sure enough, standing right in front of them, blocking their path across a small land bridge, was what was clearly a Predicon, who had taken another kind of prehistoric lizard for his Beast Mode. His threatening stance telling them everything they needed to know.
"Should we blast him?" Rhinox asked.
"Keep that option open, but hang on," Optimus told him, and then walked out closer to face the new threat.
"Attention Maximals! My name is Dinobot. I have left the Predicons to join your group, as leader," he growled.
"What, did I hear the word, 'leader'?" Cheetor asked.
"This guy's got bearings of chrome steel," Rhinox added, Rattrap nodding that he agreed.
"I hereby challenge you, Optimus Primal, to a one on one battle. The winner shall lead the Maximals, and the loser, shall be destroyed!" Dinobot finished.
Alright, and things are officially off! It may seem like I skipped a lot of time in between the prologue and this chapter, but don't worry. Things are going to be revealed slowly over the course of the story, and eventually I even want to do a full flash back, so you can see exactly what lead to all this. Anyway, hope it was enjoyable despite simply being the first episode of the series! :)