Transformers

Fall

Chapter 1-The Beginning of the End

War has torn Cybertron to pieces.

For thousands of years the war of ideals raged between the Autobots and Decepticons and ravaged the planet inside and out. It was a constant back and forth between them; one side gained territory, one side lost territory, and the cycle continued ceaselessly. Most of the planet's civilian population had left the planet for the nearest recorded colonies several cycles ago and Cybertron's city-states were now serving as fortresses and bases for the combatants, while the smaller towns and villages in between were used as hideouts for bandit groups and scavenger gangs trying to reap the leftovers from the chaotic battles. But eventually even they were met with the same fate as the rest of civilized Cybertron and its untamed wilderness—they all burned in the fires of war.

Alpha Trion, Archivist of the Hall of Records in Iacon, looked outside at the city, lamenting the sorry state it had fallen to. Once the crucible of cybertronian civilization, now primary headquarters of the Autobots and one of the last great cities still standing. The once spotless city of golden towers and silver domes had lost its luster, now dull and worn from spending so long under a sunless sky. It made for a depressing sight, even more so than the constantly gray skies.

'How long has it been since I've seen the sun in its full glory?' Alpha Trion thought. He found himself alone with his thoughts a lot these days, asking himself questions he couldn't answer. Well, it was better than talking to his imaginary friends, that's for sure. He wasn't that mad.

Alpha Trion never truly realize how lonely it could get in the Hall of Records until it was empty. It was always occupied to some capacity by data clerks, analyzers and translators in the early days before the war, and he always had someone to talk to like Elita-1, Glyph and even Optimus when he had the time. Now the war often called them away from Iacon to the front lines for long periods of time. His only constant companions were the Covenant, the large tome he always carried with him, and his personal bodyguard—a young but capable mech named Armorhide.

When the Archivist wasn't keeping himself up to date on the ongoings of the war, he would record events in the Covenant using his Quill. However, the Covenant had not been very forthcoming with events lately. Whether that was a telling sign of things to come was still unknown, but Alpha Trion knew something was wrong. And he had a feeling he was going to find out the source of his unease very soon.

He stood at the window in his office watching the flickering lights of battle igniting and fading across the night sky. He heard the door slide open behind him and the footsteps of his bodyguard enter the room.

"Alpha Trion, sir?" Armorhide said softly. The young Autobot felt as if speaking too loudly would shatter the peace in this quiet abode. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Armorhide, I'm fine. Come in and join me. I can use the company." Alpha Trion smiled at the young mech.

Armorhide was a member of the last generation of laser cores forged in Rydion Fields outside of Iacon just before Vector Sigma went dark. He was the same age as the Autobot scout Bumblebee, but they had taken drastically different directions in their careers. Bumblebee had become a scout, while Armorhide applied for the Elite Guard under Ultra Magnus (though it was little more than a specialized group of Autobots instead of the grand security force for the primary government like it used to be). He served as a cadet for the time being, but due to his lack of combat experience Optimus had him assigned to security detail at the Hall of Records, namely as Alpha Trion's bodyguard.

At first, neither of them were pleased with this arrangement. Alpha Trion didn't want a second shadow following him everywhere, and Armorhide wanted a more active part in the war instead of watching some old mech toil about in the Archives. But over time they got used to each other's presence and even became friends. Alpha Trion was happy to teach the young mech what he could about Cybertron's history. He deserved to know what his world was like before war tore it apart.

Armorhide joined Alpha Trion at the window and they looked up at the sky. Alpha Trion could faintly see lights flickering high up in the sky.

"I see we're being treated to a fireworks show." Alpha Trion remarked. "A battle in orbit?"

"Yes sir. There were a few Decepticon battleships trying to approach the Moonbases. The Moonbases mobilized their space forces to head them off." Armorhide explained.

"Really? The Moonbases are heavily defended, why would the Decepticons even consider attacking them with only a handful of battleships?" Alpha Trion questioned.

"Probably to test out their defenses. Not that it'll matter much." Armorhide replied. "The Moonbases are probably some of our most well-defended bases in this star system."

Alpha Trion was well-aware of that too, but he also knew that the Decepticons weren't stupid. He didn't know what this attack was supposed to achieve, but something told him that it was just the beginning of something that was going to cause the Autobots a lot of problems in the future.

XXXXXX

Before the War for Cybertron, the twin moons, Solomus and Epistemus originally belonged to the Minicons, who were traditionally forged there. When the war began and the Decepticons began raiding Minicon villages across the moons, their populations were evacuated to Cybertron to escape further enslavement. After that, the Autobots built bases on them, although they mainly settled on the larger moon, Epistemus, due to its close proximity to Cybertron. Solomus was just regulated to monitoring deep space. While both moons were under the watch of the Autobots, the Decepticons had deemed them high risk, less reward targets.

Which was why flying directly towards Epistemus was the most foolish thing Strika felt she had ever done in her long military career.

'That damn witch will kill us all!' Strika thought angrily. She stood on the bridge of her warship next to the captain's chair, where her conjux endura Obsidian sat quietly as he monitored the battlefield situation outside.

"Cement-Head, what is our status?" Obsidian asked the pilot.

"So far, the Autobots haven't detected us thanks to the stealth paint coating the ship. For all intents and purposes, they're completely blind to us." Cement-Head announced, keeping an eye on the ship's radar. "But the closer we get to the moon, the greater our chances of discovery will become."

Obsidian nodded and mentally thanked Nightshade for the stealth spacecraft they were using for this mission. While Autobot presence on the larger moon was significantly lesser than on Solomus, they couldn't be too careful if they wanted this mission to go smoothly.

"This is a fool's errand." Strika growled. Her hand on the chair tightened, causing the metal to dent under her strong grip. "To risk igniting a fight with the moon bases over something like this is foolish."

"Careful, Strika." A raspy, grating voice taunted. "Talk like that could be seen as treason."

If Strika had a mouth, she'd be gritting her teeth as she turned her glare onto the shambling form of Ashling. The haggard looking femme who looked like she had been infected with the Rust Plague but was saved halfway through limped onto the bridge, her motions shaky and jittering, as if her limbs were randomly jolted with electricity. Her burnt orange eyes looked up at Strika with thinly veiled amusement.

Megatron's pet witch, they called her. Strika honestly didn't know what Ashling's purpose within the Decepticons was, aside from just being plain creepy. When she wasn't whispering poison into her glorious leader's audials, she was researching esoteric nonsense that hadn't been looked at for thousands of years. The fact that Megatron even signed off on this mission proved that Ashling's influence was far too great, and that worried Strika.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, witch." Strika growled at the smaller femme. She really didn't need this before a mission.

"Oh, but you will need it soon enough, general." Ashling said, staring out at the approaching moon. "What is our ETA?"

"Five kliks." Strika said after a moment's silence. "Once we're close enough to the moon, we'll hold position and take the stealth shuttle the rest of the way to the moon. I assume you're not too rusty to get your hands dirty?"

"I've spent a good chunk of my life exploring the Sea of Rust," Ashling glanced up at Strika and her cracked lips spread into a disturbing grin, revealing her jagged, serrated teeth. "I haven't been clean for my entire life."

"We're approaching the drop-off point." Terror-Tread, their navigator, declared. "It's go time, General Strika."

"We better be off on our way, then." Ashling said pleasantly before leaving the bridge. Strika watched her go with narrowed eyes.

"Filthy hag." Strika muttered and turned to Obsidian. "Obsidian, you have the comm. If we are not back in an hour, then the mission is a failure and we will need an extraction."

"Understood." Obsidian said and gave her a look that only Strika could notice. "Stay safe, General."

"I will, Commander." Strika said. One would think their parting cold and unemotional, but if you knew Strika and Obsidian, then you would know that their relationship was not one easily put into words. They weren't into shows of affection, and any signs were so small that only they would notice.

Strika headed down to the loading bay where the shuttle was prepped for launch. Strika and Ashling would be going with the Stunticons as their escorts. Strika personally wanted the Combaticons on her team, but of course Starscream had to commandeer them just before the mission started, so she was stuck with this band of undisciplined street racers and bandits. At least Motormaster was somewhat firm enough to keep his mechs in line. Small mercies.

They launched from the cruiser and flew towards Epistemus. Having approached the moon opposite of the Autobot base on Solomus, they could avoid being seen visibly as well as avoiding detection via radar, allowing them to make landfall on the dark side of the moon. Despite building a monitoring station on the moons, the Autobots didn't really explore the natural satellites, presumably out of respect for the Minicons. That was their first mistake.

'There is no shame in respecting the dead, but not if it leaves you open to attack.' Strika thought as they got closer and closer to the moon. "What's our status, Motormaster?"

"We're looking good, General. There are no signs that the Autobots have detected us, and our stealth cloak is holding well."

"Um, quick question," Wildrider raised his hand hesitantly. "Why are we here? I mean, what exactly are we looking for? I read in the reports that the moons ran dry of energon ages ago."

"You know how to read?" Dead End snorted. Wildrider gave him an obscene hand gesture.

"Quiet, you fools! You're shaming yourselves in front of the esteemed general!" Motormaster growled.

"Shut up, all of you!" Strika growled, keeping an eye on the approaching moon. She didn't want to say that Ashling hadn't breathed a word about what they were looking for, or even why they specifically had to go to Solomus in the first place. The sheer audacity from Ashling enraged Strika, but she couldn't crush the femme's head…yet.

The shuttle entered Epistemus's atmosphere and soon made landfall on the moon's dark side. They slowed their descent and landed inside a valley on the moon's largest continental plate. Once they were firmly on the ground, Strika emerged with the Stunticons, weapons drawn as they scanned the perimeter to ensure that they were alone.

"Area's clear, general. Awaiting orders." Motormaster said.

Strika turned to Ashling. "Well, witch? We're here. Where do we need to go?"

Ashling didn't seem to have heard her. The femme seemed to be in a trance, her bright eyes staring at something unseen by her peers. She knelt to the ground and placed her hands onto the rugged metallic surface, her clawed fingers digging into the dirt. Strika almost asked what she was doing, but then she felt it. Some invisible force was radiating off Ashling, first in small waves, but it grew stronger with each passing nano-klik.

'What is she doing?' Strika wondered. The Stunticons too were puzzled, but they kept their distance. They only just met Ashling but they knew that staying near her was a health hazard.

Strika was about to demand that Ashling stop wasting time when the femme woke up out of her trance by herself. She shot to her feet and barely glanced at Strika as she marched forward.

"This way," Ashling said almost breathlessly. "We are on the right trail."

Ashling's body transformed into a two-wheeled motorcycle, but the transformation was so slow and painful looking that it made even Strika wince. Once she was transformed, Ashling sped off down the canyon at speeds Strika never knew she was capable of reaching.

"Follow her, she knows where we are going." Strika commanded and took on her vehicle form, a large six-wheeled all terrain ground vehicle. The Stunticons also took vehicle mode and followed after their team leader.

If Strika had known what Ashling was leading her to, she'd have gone back to the shuttle and left the femme stranded on that moon. For the discovery they were going to make would change the course of the war forever.

XXXXXX

Elita-1 never had time to visit the moons of Cybertron, but when she did, she took the time to study the massive planet hanging in the sky above her. Cybertron looked so beautiful from orbit that you'd never think that a war was currently raging on its surface.

The moons of Cybertron were expansive yet barren. Once populated by Minicon villages and towns, the moons were yet another monument to the war's destructive influence. It had been Ultra Magnus's idea to use the moons as Autobot bases, since much of Cybertron was either uninhabitable or Decepticon territory. It was surprisingly easy to built forward operations bases on the moons, and from there they kept an eye on the planet.

Elita-1 rarely got a chance to visit the moons, and this routine inspection of the base's defense systems and energon stores was the perfect opportunity to break the monotony of driving through the war-torn streets of the remaining city-states on Cybertron.

"It's quiet." Chromia, her second in command in the Valkyries, said, standing next to her. "Looking at the planet from up here, you'd never know that a war is going on."

"I was just thinking that." Elita-1 said. "Unfortunately, this is a site many neutrals had to see while leaving the planet. I can only imagine what they were feeling when they left Cybertron."

Chromia stared up at Cybertron in silence. Then she asked, "Elita, do you…do you think there will be anything left once the war is over?"

Elita-1 looked at her friend confused. "What do you mean?"

"I've heard what the eggheads had been telling Prime and the others. Cybertron's ecosystem is failing. The planet isn't producing as much energon as it used to. The Sea of Rust seems to be getting worse and there is an increase in solar flares." Chromia turned to Elita-1. "When this war ends…if this war ends…how the hell are we going to fix the damage we've caused to Cybertron?"

"I don't know, Chromia. I don't even think there's an answer to that question." Elita-1 answered honestly. Not because it was out of her field of expertise, but because she didn't see a way that their planet could recover from the deep scars the war left on its surface. "I don't even know if there is an end to this war."

"Yeah, I'm seeing that too." Chromia sighed. "But there's not a lot to do except make sure the Cons don't mess up the rest of the galaxy like they're doing to Cybertron."

Elita-1 nodded, but before she could say anything else, she paused. Her whole body tensed up and she felt a tingle run up her spine. Chromia noticed a change in her friend and asked what was wrong.

"I don't know. I felt a change in the air. It's hard to explain." Elita-1 said cryptically.

"Commander, I think we've got a situation." Said one of the officers at the monitoring station.

Eltia-1 and Chromia shared an uneasy look before approaching the station. "What's the problem?" She asked.

"One of Wheeljack's stealth satellites just caught sight of a Decepticon shuttle approaching Solomus." He reported, pointing to the monitor where there was a faint image of a dark purple spacecraft sitting in place."

"What? But none of our satellites detected any approaching shuttles." Chromia frowned.

"They weren't coming from Cybertron. It was approaching the moon from the dark side."

"To specifically avoid the moon bases entirely so they could get as close as possible without detection." Elita-1 muttered. That unsettling feeling she was getting grew worse when she was told that "Has the ship moved in the past few minutes?"

"No, ma'am. But I think I saw something flying from it though I can't really be sure." He said.

He rewound the footage and Elita-1 had to strain her optics to see something very faint coming from the ship. That was stealth technology, all right. Probably a shuttle carrying a strike team.

"What the hell are the Cons planning now?" Chromia asked.

"No idea, but we're going to find out right now. Chromia, call the rest of the team to the hangar bay. We're going in and hunting those Cons down." Elita-1 was already moving towards the door as she gave her orders. "And I want eyes on the space around Solomus, front and back. No one else is getting within eyesight of that moon without us seeing them!"

XXXXXX

The drive through the lunar landscape of Solomus was long and uneventful but Strika kept her wits about her. Ashling was clearly searching for something on the moon, and had found signs of it. Whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen.

"Hey boss," Drag Strip whispered to Motormaster. They were talking over their private comm-channel so that Ashling couldn't hear them. "Are we really gonna follow this glitch across the moon? She's more than a few screws loose."

"I know, Drag Strip, but we have orders to follow her lead. Besides, if whatever she finds is useful to the Decepticon cause, then I'll endure her presence for as long as it is necessary."

"And if it isn't necessary anymore?" Asked Wildrider.

"Then she's on her own." Strika said, cutting into the conversation. "Rest assured, Stunticons, this witch will not hesitate to sacrifice us to further her own ends. Keep your distance and follow orders, but she even looks like she will be hostile to s, you have my permission to exterminate her in self-defense."

The Stunticons gave her replies of affirmation and silence returned. Strika was growing impatient as Ashling led them deeper and deeper into the canyons not too far from their landing site. The flat metal plains became more rugged and signs of Minicon habitation became scarce as they got deeper into the wilderness. Eventually, Ashling led them down a rugged path leading down into a deep canyon that seemed to go on for miles.

"Jeez, I had no idea the moons were this expansive." Dead End grumbled. "And the Minicons never bothered to explore this place?"

"Minicons aren't known for their bravery." Motormaster remarked. "Reckon they were afraid of getting crushed by boulders or something. Little freaks."

"Silence!" Ashling hissed, surprising the Stunticons. "We are getting close."

"Close to what?" Strika asked.

"Our goal." Ashling said cryptically. It made Strika want to shoot her more.

They reached the bottom of the canyon, which was so deep that they could barely see the dark sky overhead. Strika saw glowing veins of what she first thought were energon crystals until she saw that they were gold, not blue. As if sensing something they were not, Ashling increased her speed and raced further down the slope, where the gold crystalline veins became more prominent.

"Ashling, what is this?" Strika demanded. Ashling did not speak, and Strika's danger senses grew. Finally letting her frustration get the better of her, Strika increased her speed and swerved around Ashling, cutting her off. She transformed and stood in Ashling's path, glaring down at her. "I asked you a question, Ashling!"

Ashling changed to robot mode and stared up at her with an unreadable expression. "You will see—"

"Now, you will explain this to us now, or you're not going anywhere!" Strika waved an arm at the glowing veins around them. "What are we walking into, Ashling. And no cryptic answers or you'll never speak again."

Ashling looked around her, seeing that the Stunticons also formed a circle around her, cutting off any exit. Normally this wouldn't phase her, but with her goal being so close, Ashling's patient and calm demeanor was reaching its limit.

Then she sensed something else. Or rather, someone else. Her jagged teeth stretched upwards in a grin as she stared back at a fuming Strika. The larger femme may act like she was intelligent, but she was a much of a brute as the other Decepticons. What a pathetic sight.

"Before I offer my explanation," Ashling began, pointing behind her. "Yu should probably take care of the Autobots that have been following us for some time."

"What?!" Strika looked up back the way they came just in time to see several shapes running down the slope. She recognized the rose-colored armor of Elita-1 and knew that they were dealing with the Valkyries. "Autobots!"

"Stunticons, form up!" Motormaster commanded and drew his pulse cannon, firing on the Autobots.

Ashling used this distraction to weave around Strika and transform, driving away from the battle as the rest of her team held off the Autobots. Strika growled and fired a few shots at her but she was long gone before she knew it. The general growled and turned back to the battle. She'll take care of Ashling later.

"Incoming!"

Strika looked up to see a large boulder flying right at them. Scowling, she converted her left arm into a pulse cannon and fired a plasma bolt at it, shattering the boulder. She hated outliers.

XXXXXX

Ashling drove into the canyon until she reached the mouth of a cave. Without any hesitation, she drove into the tunnel and continued onwards, following the crisscrossing veins of golden energy lining the walls. She could feel its power growing the closer she got to its source and she relished in its warmth.

Ashling had always been interested in the more esoteric aspects of cybertronian society. She had once been a member of the science caste before her research into cybertronian myth and lore led her to become an outcast among her peers. The stories of Primus and Unicron, the Guiding Hand, the Wandering Moon, they all interested her. but none caught her attention more than what her associates had taught her.

According to her benefactor, there was an unknown type of energy that existed as an antithesis to the dark matter that enforced the rotating motion of star systems and galaxies. This energy was called quintessence, and it was most prevalent on worlds that harbored life. How a planet's quintessence field flowed dictated just what kind of life evolved on it, how it evolved and what evolutionary line became dominant. There was even a theory that by manipulating this energy, you could control the evolutionary cycle of a planet's entire natural cycle.

Cybertron was no different, however for reasons that remain unknown, its quintessence field was tangible and capable of being harnessed. For so long Ashling had searched for tangible evidence of Cybertron's quintessence, but she could find nothing. That was to be expected, seeing as she couldn't even find evidence of quintessence on other planets. With no real clues to look for, her best bet was to search the Sea of Rust, where she remained for several years before coming across a beaten and half-dead Megatron.

Ashling continued searching for years over the course of the war, and as Cybertron's energon production began to decline, she became desperate. Surely there was some sign that her theory was correct. There was no way her benefactor was wrong! Then something miraculous happened. A mass Forging.

Vector Sigma released one last pulsewave that ignited a hot spot in Rodion, a city-state near Iacon. All of those protoforms matured and joined the Autobots, but she cared not about them. For that split second, Ashling detected a brief pulse of energy that came from Cybertron's moons. It wasn't much, but it was worth something. Epistemus, being the larger moon, was more heavily guarded by the Autobots, leaving Solomus as the safest choice.

And here she was, so close to achieving her goal.

The tunnel ended and she emerged into a massive cavern. All around her were glowing veins of energy that seem to extend from a pit at the heart of the cavern. Transforming, she ran over to the pit and looked inside. She gasped as her eyes gazed upon a pool of glowing energy that coalesced at the bottom of the pit, radiating a brilliant light so pure and untainted that were she capable it would have brought her to tears.

"This is it." Ashling whispered, falling to her knees. "Pure quintessence."

She placed her hands to the edge of the pit and felt the energy pulsing through every piece of ore and stone in the ground. This entire cave was rippling with energy! Energy that was sitting right under the Minicons' noses!

"This explains the high number of combiners among their population." She deduced. There was no other explanation.

This brief return to clarity reminded Ashling that there was still a battle going on outside. Ashling had no love for Strika and her goons, but she did need a ride back home and pissing off Obsidian wasn't in her best interests.

"And so it falls to the intellectual to rescue the primitives from themselves." Ashling sang happily.

XXXXXX

Elita-1 hated when her hunch was right. That shuttle was a modified stealth ship as feared, and its purpose was apparently to escort a strike team to Solomus. Primus knows what Strika and the Stunticons of all people wanted on this dead moon, but it was clearly nothing good.

"Strika, I don't know why you're here but I know you're not stupid enough to think that you can infiltrate one of our moon bases." Elita-1 called out to the general. "Surrender now and—"

She cursed and deflected a missile fired at her with a telekinetic shield, sending it careening off to the side for it to explode harmlessly. Looking across the rocky crag between them, she could see Strika's eyes burning with hatred.

"If you knew me, Elita-1, then you should know that surrender will never be an option for me! Stunticons, attack!"

The Stunticons opened fire on them and her team quickly took cover behind the rocks around them. Firestar was already tossing burning napalm at the Cons, and Flareup added to the insult but igniting that napalm with incendiary grenades that she never leaves home without.

"I don't like this, Elita," Chromia said, scoring a shot at Dead End's shoulder before hiding behind cover again. "They're far from Moon Base One, too far for an assault. They're here for another reason."

"I know, but we won't get any answers from Strika. Take them down and we'll investigate afterwards." Elita-1 eyed the various pieces of natural debris around them and made a plan. "Chromia, Firestar, form up on me. We're bashing our way through!"

Elita-1 ran out of cover and channeled telekinetic energy into the ground, tearing up dozens of large chunks of rock to throw at Strika and Motormaster. With their leaders distracted, rest of the Valkyries attacked the Stunticons. Flareup launched several fire blasts from her launcher at the Cons, forcing Dragstrip and Wildrider to retreat to avoid getting burned.

Motormaster escaped the barrage Elita-1 sent at him and charged the magenta femme. Chromia got in his way, her battle axe and shield in hand as she met Motormaster's sword swing with a swing of her own.

"I do not appreciate having rocks thrown at my head, Autobot." Motormaster said in that annoyingly polite tone of his. "That was very rude."

"You're intruding on our turf! That's what's rude!" Chromia grunted, ducking under a sword swing and jabbing her axe forward at his chest. Motormaster jumped back and slashed at her shield, knocking her back to get some distance between them.

"Even still, I thought you Autobots would have some form of courtesy." Motormaster huffed, deflecting a strike to his head. "Apparently, even that was too much to ask for."

"Shut up!" Chromia snapped.

Elita-1 rushed at Strika, who took out a spiked mace from a holster on her back and swung at her. Elita-1 deflected the attack and drew her laser staff, slamming it against Strika's leg before delivering an upward strike into the general's chin. Strika cursed and threw a punch at Elita-1, catching her in the chest and throwing her into a boulder.

"I've had a really bad day, Elita-1. You and your toy soldiers are the last people I want to see!" Strika growled.

"If that was the case then you never should've gone near Solomus." Elita-1 replied. "I don't know what Megatron wants here but he's not getting it!"

The two femmes fought each other furiously, each clash of their weapons sending sparks into the air. Around them their respective teams continued to trade laser fire, lighting up the dark canyon with bright lights that could be seen for miles. The noise was deafening and Elita-1 could feel the heat of the napalm bombs and incendiary grenades around her as she pressed her attack on Strika.

There weren't that many victories for Autobots or Decepticons these days, but capturing one of Megatron's top generals was a step in the right direction. She just needed to play it safe and not make any mistakes. Mistakes like letting Strika's mace slam into the ground beside her and almost lose a leg in the process.

Sensing that she caught Elita-1 off guard, Strika pressed her attack, wildly swinging her weapon to put on the pressure. Elita-1 winced when the mace swung too close to her face and ducked low, extending a vibroblade from her wrist and stabbed it into Strika's leg. The taller femme growled and brought her mace down, but the Autobot rolled aside and slashed again at Strika's other leg before stabbing her in the side.

These surgical strikes did not do a lot of damage, but they were weathering away at Strika's stamina. The general was moving slower as she steadily lost energon and Elita-1 was moving too fast to land a proper blow. The fight took a turn for the worst when Elita-1 stabbed her blade into the underside of Strika's left arm, disabling vital circuitry there and causing the limb to go limp.

"You'll never take me alive, Autobot!" Strika snarled, rushing forward and shoulder-bashing Elita-1 in the chest. She kept charging forward, smashing through a boulder before grabbing Elita-1 and throwing her aside. "I've fought stronger Autobots and lived. You're nothing special!"

"On the contrary, Strika," Elita-1 lifted her arms and several pieces of rock lifted into the air. "I've always been special."

She threw everything she had at Strika, pelting the general with a barrage of earthen projectiles big and small. As expected, Strika barreled through most of them, but the relentless assault eventually brought her to her knees. As soon as Strika fell to her knees, Elita-1 encased her in a telekinetic shell, increasing the pressure until Strika was forced to the ground, which cracked underneath her increased weight.

"I don't know why you're here, but I'll get the answer from you eventually." Elita-1 growled, holding a hand to her damaged side.

She was about to call her team over when she sensed something. She didn't know what it was, but it made her freeze in place. Elita-1 turned to the tunnel entrance and saw a faint glowing light steadily growing brighter as it got closer to the mouth of the cave.

"Elita, look out!" She heard Chromia yell.

Elita-1 only had enough time to instinctively raise a telekinetic bubble around her before a blast of golden energy slammed into it. She was unharmed, but the force of the blast knocked her off her feet and sent her rolling backwards into a ditch. She cursed and got to her feet, glaring at her attacker.

It took her a minute to realize who she was staring at, and then she realized that the femme who attacked her was Ashling, a mysterious but no less dangerous bot of interest who wandered about Cybertron's wastelands looking for…something.

Ashling was cloaked in a golden aura that radiated power, and the brilliant light she emitted only made her ghoulish features seem even more unnatural. Hell, even the light wasn't normal. Instead of being a solid aura, upon closer look the light seemed to be made up of tiny fractals, almost digitized. It hurt Elita-1's eyes trying to process what she was looking at.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your brutish little game," Ashling began, her voice resounding with an echo to it. As if her voice wasn't already nightmarish to begin with. "But I still need these savages to take me home. Do me a favor and…begone!"

Ashling swept her hand and released a wave of power from her body that rippled across the canyon. Elita-1 put up another barrier, but the force slammed into her protection hard enough to send ripples of pain through her head. Her companions fared no better, as they went flying in all directions when the power wave hit them. Elita-1 lost sight of Flareup, Lancer and Greenlight, and she saw Firestar and Road Rage land several feet away from them. Chromia also slammed into the canyon wall and crashed to the ground, landing painfully on her back.

"Chromia!" Elita-1 exclaimed. She gritted her teeth and drew the nearest weapon into her hands, shooting several rounds of pulse fire at Ashling. "Just die, damn you!"

"Pitiful." Ashling snorted, taking a step forward. "I expected more from the leader of the Valkyries."

Ashling sprinted forward, barreling past Dragstrip and Wildrider and almost running Motormaster over in her charge toward the Autobot commander. The plasma bolts bounced off her aura, flying off in random directions the closer she got to Elita-1.

Seeing that regular weapons fire wasn't doing it for her, Elita-1 tossed her gun aside and thrust her arm up, raising a stone spike from the ground to impale Ashling. The Con just smashed through the spike and kept going. Channeling more power, Elita-1 slammed her hands into the ground and several dozen spikes erupted from the ground and shot at Ashling. Once again, the femme either dodged or smashed through whatever was sent at her.

"You don't understand the power that I possess, Elita-1!" Ashling cackled. "The power that has lied untapped within Cybertron for stellar-cycles! Allow me to show you the power that even Nova Prime could not comprehend at the apex of his power!"

Ashling thrust her arm forward and slammed a palm into Elita-1's chest. There was a brief pause, and Elita-1 felt her body become weightless before she was sent flying back several feet. Her body smashed through several pieces of debris before she crashed into the canyon wall hard enough to dislodge several chunks of rock that came falling down on top of her. She was buried in seconds.

Strika watched it all happen and she could scarcely believe it. Elita-1 was a powerful warrior, and not just because she was an outlier. To see her get thoroughly outclassed and overpowered was unreal. Ashling continued to cackle, her grating voice sounding unnatural and out of place. Then she turned her attention onto Strika, her orange eyes glowing like twin suns.

"I found what I came here for." Ashling said smoothly, as if she had not just wiped out an entire team of Autobots. "Let's go, general."

XXXXXX

Red eyes flashed open as their owner trembled in place, her body shuddering from the foreign sensation that washed over her. She walked over to the nearest window and looked up at the sky, towards the visible moons.

"Is something wrong, Ember?"

Ember turned to her companion, the golden and black form of Kopesh, and grinned. "No, Kopesh. Everything has gone rather right actually."

Kopesh studied her expression and his narrow eyes widened momentarily. "Has she found it?"

"Yes, I felt it. To be honest, I wasn't expecting that mad-femme to actually succeed in finding anything useful on Solomus, but this…" Ember chuckled. "This escalates our plans."

"Shall I get the others?"

"No, not yet. I'm heading out to talk with my contact in Tesarus." Ember's body shifted and reconfigured into a brilliant red and gold phoenix, her metallic feathers shining brilliantly and emitting heat waves. "Monitor the situation with Ashling. I shouldn't be away for too long."

"Yes, Ember." Kopesh said obediently and watched her fly off the balcony and into the night sky like a brilliant fireball.

This new discovery was going to truly put Cybertron back on the path of proper ascension. Kopesh had been worried, but it seemed there really was hope for the future.

XXXXXX

The Decepticons had taken many locations across Cybertron, but none were as well-fortified as the Five Cities of the Badlands. They were the first cities the Decepticons took when they declared war on the Senate: Tarn. Kaon, Vos, Tesarus, and Helex. Tarn never fully recovered from the massacre the Senate delivered upon it and so Kaon was made the Decepticon capital in the Badlands. The city where Megatron truly began his revolution and the Decepticons cemented their power.

The primary Decepticon headquarters in Kaon was a former military fortress that was said to have housed the warlord Galvatron, though nobody really believed that. The fortress was called Char, and it was a towering monolith of black onyx and carbonated metal. It towered over the Kaon cityscape, ensuring that it was the first thing you saw when you entered the city. And a snub toward the Autobots, who operated in the smaller Decagon in Iacon.

It was night when Ashling, Strika and the Stunticons returned to Kaon, but the glow Ashling still emitted made her seem like a fallen star to many of the awestruck Decepticons. The femme in question led the group confidently through the vast dark halls of the fortress as if she were Galvatron himself, strutting right into the throne room without anybody getting in her way.

She easily pushed open the doors with minimal effort and entered the throne room, where Megatron himself sat on his ebony throne. Nightshade and Soundwave stood next to him, seemingly in discussion before they noticed Ashling's presence, and the power she that was cloaking her.

"Ashling," Megatron rose to his feet, his eyes wide at the power radiating off her. "What is the meaning of this?"

Ashling smiled. "What I've been looking for, Lord Megatron." She raised her arms high and declared in a loud, bellowing voice. "I told you that there was a power that lied dormant deep within Cybertron, a power not seen since the Age of Evolution, long before the Quintessons invaded us. A power that the Primes themselves had hidden away to hoard for themselves. This is the power of the Underbase!"

She turned to Megatron and said, "This power will fade soon, but now that I've found it, I safely say I know how to locate more. Enough to empower an army." She vowed. "What do you say, Lord Megatron?"

Megatron stared at her with undisguised shock on his face, before his expression morphed into the widest grin he had ever given since destroying the Torus City-States. "Tell me more."

Hey there! Long time no see! I am so, so sorry that I went dark for so long, but I've had a lot of irl things going on that just sapped my writing strength. Add in writer's block and an inability to focus on one thing for more than two minutes and you've got a very long hiatus. I can't promise you that I'll update as frequently as I used to, but I'll try to get back into the groove of things. My Sofia story will still take presedence, but I just wanted to post this as a sneak peak to the final story in the Origins trilogy before we go onto Book 4 of Transformers Titan. Thanks for reading and please leave a review!