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TRANSFORMERS BEYOND
LEGENDARIUM
Chapter XV
The Great War
Part II
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Approx. 8.3 million stellar cycles ago
The unaligned Cybertronian Rodimus Minor, who's better known by his nickname Hot Rod, becomes the last spark to emerge from the Well of All Sparks during the Great War. Alpha Trion alone notes the young bot's resemblance to Primus-the Cybertronian creator-god who's been long consigned to myth by most Cybertronians-wonders what this forbodes.
The Battle of Uraya: The Autobot-aligned city-state of Uraya becomes a Decepticon target due to its strategic value as one of Cybertron's major industrial centers and largest of the Torus Orbital States. An Autobot/Primal Vanguard crack commando unit known as the Lightning Strike Coalition Force, better known as the Dynobots due to their reptilian alt-modes, are stationed there to defend the city. Led by their headstrong leader Grimlock, the Dynobots are able to rally the Autobot loyalists and force the Decepticons out of Uraya.
After the defense of Uraya, the Dynobots are then dispatched to the Toraxxis Plains alongside a support unit of Autobots under order of Sentinel Prime to investigate rumors of Decepticon cells hiding in the region. During their mission, the group come across a hidden reservoir of energon (unknown to them, underneath the reservoir was the resting place of the monster Titan Trypticon, who's been left in a dormant state since the First Cybertronian Civil War). In a desperate bid to solve the growing energy crisis, the Dynobots test out the reservoir's energon to enhance their strength. Unfortunately, they find out too late that the energon was tainted, and their minds deteriorate into those of beasts, leading to them going on a berserker rampage and mindlessly slaughter the Autobots that accompanied them. Horrified at what they've done, the Dynobots desert from the Autobot Defense Forces and go off the grid to live as mercenaries.
Approx. 8.2 million stellar cycles ago
The Decepticons develop a new combiner by giving the Stunticons-a group of street gangsters consisting of Motormaster, Drag Strip, Dead End, Breakdown, Wildrider, and Offroad-the ability to merge into the self-proclaimed "King of the Road," Menasor. With three combiners now in their ranks, the Decepticons rain havoc on the Autobot forces.
To combat the Decepticon combiners, the Autobots use the Enigma of Combination to forge two new combiners to fight alongside Superion: Defensor (formed from the Protectobots) and Computron (formed from the Technobots).
Approx. 8.1 million stellar cycles ago
With a majority of Cybertron's energy reserves being exhausted by both sides, the energy crisis begins to worsen as more and more energon is diverted to the war effort. As a result, Cybertronians everywhere began hoarding whatever energon they could find, while the Decepticons stole from local energon transmission stations, especially those within Autobot territory.
As a result, Sentinel Prime is forced to shut down a large number of energon mines and processing centers that were operating under quota, harvesting what little energy they have to fuel the Autobot war machine. This results in many city-states and settlements outside of Greater Iacon living in destitute and under-fueled.
Approx. 8.0 million stellar cycles ago
Tired of all the senseless fighting and the deaths of countless men and civilians, Sentinel Prime starts to grow a more arrogant and authoritarian attitude. Over time, this side of him became more obvious as he grew overzealous in his fight against the Decepticons and prone to outbursts of rage and callous dismissals of voices of reason. Though many within the Autobot Defense Forces, including General Orion Pax and Elite Guard Commander-in-Chief Magnum, grew concerned of their Supreme Commander's authority, they nevertheless continued to fight by his side for the meantime.
With Sentinel's forces cracking down harder and harder on potential Decepticon sympathizers within the neutral city-states, incident of capital/police violence grew to the point where the Autobot Defense Forces were regarded with suspicion by the general populace.
Frustrated with the Decepticons' growing expansion, Sentinel Prime procured the vamparc ribbon, an energy-draining weapon designed by the ancient scientist Jhiaxus, and outfitted his unit of Omega Destructors with it. He hoped that the vamparc ribbon will finally give the Autobots the upper hand in the war, however, the weapon came with a high energy cost. Despite controversy from Orion Pax and the New Senate, Sentinel sought to use the energon processing stations of Cybertron's citizens for his plan, starting with the terror cell-infested city-state of Nyon. Disgusted by their leader's actions, Orion Pax and his attack battalion, Team Pax, desert from the Autobot Defense Forces and aided the Nyonian insurgents led by Hot Rod to defend the city. However, they are all forced to retreat when Sentinel Prime personally leads a small squad of Omega Destructors into Nyon, almost immediately draining its resources and devastating the entire city in the process.
In order to overthrow Sentinel Prime's autocracy, Orion Pax and the other Autobots are forced to make a temporary alliance with Megatron and the Decepticons. Later on, at the Grand Imperium in Iacon, Sentinel Prime and his Omega Destructors were attacked by a joint Autobot-Decepticon force, with Megatron and Orion Pax personally battling Sentinel himself while their forces took care of the Omega Destructors, destroying all of the giant drones in spite of the risk. After Orion destroyed his vamparc ribbon, Megatron defeats Sentinel Prime, though the Decepticon Leader gains a scar through his right eye by Sentinel's sword. Megatron wished to slay Sentinel Prime where he stood, but Orion stopped him at the last minute, believing that Sentinel should live to answer for his crimes.
However, Megatron immediately betrays Orion and casts both him and Sentinel Prime to die in the underground. With the Autobot leaders presumed dead, Megatron conquered Iacon and declaring himself supreme ruler of Cybertron. The Decepticons patrolled the planet's streets to "keep the peace", mostly by hunting down and capturing any remaining Autobots who opposed him. With the entire planet under martial law, the Autobots and the New Senate are forced into hiding.
Meanwhile, Orion Pax and Sentinel Prime survived Megatron's betrayal, the former having spirited his badly-damaged leader in an underground cavern. Orion attempts to care for Sentinel, but the latter has been inflicted with fatal injuries. In his dying breath, Sentinel revealed to Orion that he had been consumed with anger and jealousy at the knowledge that he was the Senate's second choice for Prime, and lost respect for Orion because he had turned down an incredible birthright back then. Throughout his entire Primehood, Sentinel tried to prove himself that he was worthy of the title, but now after seeing that his former friend spared him from Megatron's wrath despite everything, he's finally realized that his actions of "restoring order and peace" have done nothing but further Cybertron's downfall. In this final act of redemption, Sentinel Prime passed on the Creation Matrix of Leadership to Orion as his spark returns to Primus. Donning the Creation Matrix, Orion Pax declared that he was giving up his identity to ensure the freedom of all sentient beings: he was now Optimus Prime, last of the Prime Lineage and leader of the free Autobots.
The First Battle of Iacon: Guided by the Creation Matrix back to the ruins of Nyon, the newly-reborn Optimus Prime reunites with his allies amidst the wreckage. Revealing the Creation Matrix and his new goals and desires to his friends, he then used his newfound powers to call to the Nyonian capitol building known as the Acroplex, revealing it to be the legendary Titan warrior: the ancient Metroplex. However, even with a Titan on their side, Optimus realized that it would take an entire army to take back Iacon, so he recruited the aid of news broadcaster Blaster, who put out a rallying call for aid across the Iaconian Newsfeed Service. Joined by Metroplex and one billion Autobots across the entire planet, Optimus Prime marches into Iacon. While Metroplex handled Megatron's "vamparc annihilator" weapon, Optimus engaged Megatron himself in a duel and emerged victorious with some timely aid from Hot Rod, though Megatron escaped with the vow that the war was not over just yet.
Orion Pax's conjunx endura Ariel is critically injured during the battle, but she's later rebuilt by Alpha Trion with a newer, stronger body as the Autobot Valkyrie Commander Elita-One.
In the wake of Iacon's recapture, Optimus Prime holds a funeral in his predecessor's honor. In spite of his many issues, Sentinel Prime would be forever cemented as a fallen hero by the Autobots, his last deed of passing the torch to Optimus outweighing his many flaws.
After assisting the Autobots in the First Battle of Iacon, Hot Rod enrolls and graduates from the Autobot Academy as a cavalier in the Autobot Defense Forces.
Despite Optimus' declaration as the new Prime, a majority of the New Senate loudly object to his leadership based on his past as "Sentinel's lapdog." They appoint one among their number, named Dimicron Prime, as the official Autobot Supreme Commander, while Optimus continues leading the military. However, Dimicron's leadership from the safety of Iacon proves to be largely ineffectual due to his stubbornness and inexperience as Supreme Commander and it serves as more of a hindrance to the Autobot war effort than anything else, and only Optimus Prime's occupation with the fighting on the frontlines keeps him in power.
Approx. 7.9 million stellar cycles ago
The Defense of Jan-ja: The Decepticons attempt another invasion of Iacon by marching into the city through one of its less-defended satellite states, Jan-ja. Despite their enemy's superior forces, Optimus Prime's bravery and charisma encouraged his soldiers to continue fighting on. Under Prime's leadership, the Autobots drive the Decepticons back from the city. This valiant act of no surrender results in Optimus Prime's popularity heavily increasing in both the Autobot ranks and the civilian populace.
Approx. 7.8 million stellar cycles ago
The Autobot-aligned city-state of Praxus is destroyed by the Decepticons as a symbol of the end of the pacifist culture of the Golden Age, killing countless millions of civilians, both Autobot sympathizers and declared Neutralists. Bluestreak is the only survivor of the attack, left alive by Megatron as a living testament to Praxus' fall, and as a result of first-hand witnessing the devastation brought to his home city, he joins the Autobot cause.
After the Fall of Praxus, Optimus Prime confronts Dimicron Prime and the New Senate over the dithering and mishandling of the war. With help from Torenia and a young senator, Emirate Xaaron, he convinces enough members on the Senate to vote him emergency powers to pursue the war as he and his generals deem necessary. Dimicron Prime steps down, admitting secretly to Optimus that he is glad to have the weight of responsibility taken from around his shoulders.
Now as the new Supreme Commander of Cybertron, Optimus Prime reorganizes the Autobot Defense Forces into a full-on Autobot Army. Many neutrals flock to the Autobot cause, bolstering their ranks tremendously. Thousands submit to having their T-cogs militarized to defend their friends and city-states from the Decepticons.
Approx. 7.7 million stellar cycles ago
The Wreckers swear allegiance to the Autobots. Optimus assigns Magnum as their tactical commander and mission director in hopes of instilling discipline into their unruly ranks.
Approx. 7.6 million stellar cycles ago
With the aid of Ember, leader of the Cult of the Black Epoch, a minor Decepticon warlord named Calamity overthrows Megatron and exiles him to the Sea of Rust. Most Decepticons initially accepted this change in management, however, over time, they grow disillusioned of Calamity's brutality and callous attitude towards his subordinates as he recklessly sends his troops in suicide missions and pyrrhic victories. Several Decepticons, including the Constructicons, the Stunticons, the Combaticons, the Predacons, and the Terrorcons, temporarily desert in response to this. A group of Megatron's loyalists led by Gelgastorm, Nightshade, and Soundwave leave Kaon to search for their true leader.
Calamity's first goal as the new Decepticon leader was to cause disarray within the Autobot war machine by cutting them off from the planet's last major source of energon at the Toraxxis Mega-Refinery, forcing them to fight among themselves, and undermining the civilian populace's support for Optimus Prime and the Autobots. When the Autobots and Decepticons fight for control over the mega-refinery, they stumble across the Dynobots who were robbing energon for themselves and escape arrest during in the confusion. In the end, Calamity detonates the refinery's fusion regulator, creating a massive explosion that kills thousands of Cybertronians in the process and accidentally reawaken the dormant Trypticon. With tainted energon coursing through his veins, a berserk Trypticon devastates the nearby city of Harmonex and rampages across Cybertron. Aided by ex-communicated scientist Ashling and Rust Sea barbarians Bludgeon and his elite lieutenants Shatter and Dropkick, Megatron is able to return and defeat the beast alongside Grimlock by shutting down his higher functions from within the legendary behemoth's body.
After defeating Trypticon and bringing his dormant form back to Kaon for future purposes, Megatron executes Calamity in cold blood and retakes his title as leader of the Decepticons.
The Dynobots rejoin the Autobots after Optimus Primes uses the Creation Matrix to purify them from the tainted energon in their systems, though Grimlock is occasionally disobedient to Prime's authority.
The Exodus of Peace: With the destruction of the Toraxxis Mega-Refinery, Cybertron starts to feel the pinch as the planet's energon drastically decreases. Desperate to give the civilian populations of the planet the chance escape the devastating conflict, Optimus Prime orders a mass evacuation of non-combatants so that they might find relative peace amongst the stars. Overseen by Senator Dai Atlas and Chief Justice Tyrest, approximately 10-20 million refugees take the opportunity to flee the planet in the face of the relentless Decepticon advance.
Among the evacuees are the Circle of Light, a group of pacifistic and spiritual warriors led by Dai Atlas who were inspired by the near-mythical tales of the Knights of Cybertron. They settle on the far-away planet of Theophany and establish their capital city, New Crystal City, in honor of the original.
Many neutral Cybertronians, particularly former Autobots and Decepticons who've grown tired of war, come together to live in peace and harmony on a hidden world in the Skeleton Nebula that they name "Planet X." Unbeknownst to them, Planet X was the dormant alt-mode of Adaptus, the Cybertronian goddess of transformation and evolution.
Approx. 7.5 million stellar cycles ago
Megatron reactivates Trypticon by cleansing him of the tainted energon, offering the mechanical monster a chance to join the Decepticons. While Trypticon isn't a firm believer of a Decepticon cause, he's impressed by Megatron's ruthlessness and becomes one of the Decepticons' greatest living weapons of mass destruction in the Great War. Transforming into his space battlefortress alt-mode of "Trypticon Station," Trypticon succeeds in tipping the balance of war back in favor of Megatron, often used to bomb many of the Autobots' strategic positions from orbit.
Led by the Arachnicon Queen Airachnid, the Insecticon/Arachnicon city-state of Corumkan willingly joins the Decepticons so they expand their hive's sphere of influence. Notable Insecticons from Corumkan who join the Decepticon ranks include Sharpshot, Hardshell, and Kickback.
The Second Battle of Iacon: Megatron unites the scattered Decepticon forces for a full-scale assault on the Autobots in Iacon with Trypticon charging into the city in advance. The two former rivals, Metroplex and Trypticon, battle once again with Metroplex emerging as the victor. However, it is revealed to be a distraction that allowed the other Decepticons to impale Metroplex with an old Quintesson warship from the Sea of Rust. With the Autobot Titan damaged, the Decepticons, along with a support force of Airachnid's Insecticon Hive, are able to storm Iacon, but they are forced to retreat as they are pushed back by the Autobots, now supported by the gargantuan forms of the Omega Sentinels led by Omega Supreme, who join the Autobots after they recognized Optimus Prime's potential for greatness. Trypticon is captured by the Autobots amidst the confusion, though he is soon freed by a Decepticon raid.