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TRANSFORMERS BEYOND

LEGENDARIUM

Chapter XVI

The Great War

Part III

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Approx. 7.4 million stellar cycles ago

The Defense of Rodion: The Decepticons attempt to invade Rodion for its energon refineries, but they are halted by an Autobot defense network overseen by Optimus Prime himself. During the battle, Optimus Prime and Megatron have a legendary showdown atop of Sherma Bridge, where Prime turns down Megatron's first and only invitation for an Autobot surrender. Both factions fight for control over Rodion for meta-cycles until the battle comes to a draw when they exhaust most, if not all, of the city's resources to fuel their respective war machines.

Working with the scientist Rossum, Shockwave converts several of the strongest Decepticons, including Sixshot, Overlord, and Black Shadow, into the indestructible Warriors Elite, Megatron's own elite guard.

Approx. 7.3 million stellar cycles ago

After maintaining their neutrality for millions of years, the Free Cities are devastated by the Decepticon Warriors Elite for attempting neutrality during the Third Cybertronian Civil War as a lesson to other neutrals, leaving behind only charred ruins in which, ironically, the survivors of the assault manage to eke out a grim subsistence-level existence in secrecy. Over the following eons, the area-deemed "the Wastelands"-will expand to include large parts of Greater Petrohex, Greater Valvolux, the Twin Cities Gygax and Plurex, and the surrounding areas of both the Argon Sea and the Sea of Mercury as the devastation of the Great War continues.

Shockwave comes to the inevitable conclusion that the war will deplete all of Cybertron's available energon within a few thousand ano-cycles, causing the planet to shut down. Realizing that the shutdown is inevitable and that Megatron is too blinded by his dreams of conquest to prevent it, he commissions his top-secret Regenesis Program; creating synthetic energon ores and stockpiling them in various locations on Cybertron and the rest of the Hadean System so he can experiment with them to create an self-regenerating energy source that'll fuel the planet forever, all without the knowledge of Megatron or the rest of the Decepticon High Council.

Approx. 7.2 million stellar cycles ago

The Battle of Technahar: During the fight over the strategically valuable city-state Technahar, the Decepticon Seeker twins Dreadwing and Skyquake were ordered to assassinate Optimus Prime by Megatron and Gelgastorm, but they were unsuccessful as Dion sacrifices himself to save his best friend. Magnum was also critically injured in the battle by the Decepticon combiner Devastator.

After the battle, Autobot Chief Medical Officer Ratchet did what he could for Dion and Magnum, but both of them had suffered from fatal injuries and he could only save one. In a desperate bid to save both of them, Ratchet merges Dion's and Magnum's sparks into one, birthing a new Autobot super warrior named Ultra Nova. With him donning the nigh-impenetrable Magnus Armor and wielding the mighty hammer Stormbringer, Ultra Nova becomes Ultra Magnus, Cybertron's Greatest Warrior and City Commander of the Elite Guard.

Approx. 7.1 million stellar cycles ago

The Decepticon advance reaches a point where their forces control over half of the habitable regions of Cybertron, though in the process a significant portion of the planet has been rendered uninhabitable by both factions.

The Silver Harvest: With spark production from the AllSpark and Vector Sigma put to a halt, both sides search for a way to bolster their numbers. The Autobots uses reserves of cryogenically-frozen sparks created via Nova Prime's Matrix bleeding with the Matrix spark storage facility to create new waves of troops. The Decepticons attempt to take control of the Matrix facility for themselves, but they were repelled by the Autobots' defenses yet managed to get away with a large number of sparks are then stored in their own spark storage facility called the Pit near Kolkular. These new sparks are used to create new Transformers which become known as "Made to Order" (M.T.O.) soldiers for specific campaigns in the near future.

The Minicons start to become involved in the Great War when when Megatron and Gelgastorm hope to use the powerlinxing abilities of the Activator and Weaponizer Minicons to gain the upper hand in the war. The Decepticons "recruit" these Minicons by raiding their villages on the Moonbases, though some of these Minicons willingly join the Cons in exchange for power or just join what they believe to be the winning side. A group of Minicons from Cybertron's moons led by Mega Racer form an alliance with the Autobots and willingly shared their power with their partners to defend themselves.

In response to the Decepticons' capture raids, several Minicons villages across the Moonbases declare neutrality and come together to form a defensive pact alliance known as as the Microns to defend themselves from any and all Guzzlers who wished them harm. Micron spies succeed in passing Autobot combiner research to their high command, allowing them to develop combiners of their own such as the Street Action Team's Wildcharger and the Extreme Competition Team's Heavy Metal. Several Minicon teams like the Air Defense Team, the Race Team, and the Space Team are also given the ability to combine into powerful weapons that can be held by Minicon combiners and even regular Transformers such as the X-Nova Saber, the Skyboom Shield, and the Astro Blaster.

The Minicon Exodus: As the war dragged on, the Minicons' individuality began to wither away as their function to both sides made them be seen as weapons. An agreement was made between the Autobots and the Micron faction: all Activator and Weaponizer Minicons would receive a starship dubbed the Exodus that would let them leave Cybertron and find a new home somewhere else in the universe. To make the trip, the majority of Minicons converted themselves into stasis panels, leaving only a skeleton crew to pilot and maintain their ship. However, when the Exodus launched, the Decepticons ambushed the ship in an attempt to claim all the Minicons, but the Autobots provided enough cover fire for the ship to safely transwarp out of Cybertronian space. Unfortunately, Decepticon-aligned Minicons led by Leader-1 infiltrated the Exodus and sabotages its transwarp drive. This resulted in the Exodus suddenly coming out of unspace and colliding with Earth's moon Luna, causing the ship to break apart. As half of the ship fell into Earth's atmosphere, emergency systems fired Minicon stasis panels in every direction and scattered them across the planet.

Approx. 7.0 million stellar cycles ago

The Tagan Campaign: Responsible for forty percent of Cybertron's industrial output, the Tagan Heights-consisting of Decagon, Tyrest, Tetrahex, Durax, and Ultirex-is targeted by both factions for its high strategic value. The Autobots eventually force the Decepticons to retreat from the Heights, however, their victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one as most of the area's factories were destroyed in the conflict. In the aftermath, Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers were deployed to the area as part of the fortification and repair team. Later, salvage operations by the Autobots were made on the outskirts of the Tagan Heights with Ratchet leading the operation in search for left over technology that they could use.

Believing that he's destined to bring order to the chaotic universe, Megatron decides that now is the time to enact a plan he's been building up since the beginning of the Great War: "Project Juggernaut." Project Juggernaut entails nothing less than the Decepticons using the AllSpark's power to bring Cybertron itself to life, so that it might serve as a cosmic juggernaut that allow the Transformers to enter an era of universal conquest and expansion, similar to the Expansion that they once enjoyed back during the Golden Age. While he would succeed in creating a massive transformation cog for Cybertron after long eons of construction and preparation, the AllSpark is the final piece to complete Project Juggernaut.

The Decepticons begin a strategic bombing campaign, demanding the AllSpark be turned over in exchange for a cessation for hostilities, but Optimus Primes does not give in to Megatron's demands. With the failure of the bombing campaign, Megatron debates with the Decepticon High Council on a new plan to finally defeat the Autobots and end the war as soon as possible. Shockwave suggests that they should not only use the AllSpark to activate Project Juggernaut, but also eliminate any and all opposition to their plans by manipulating the artifact's creation powers into a reformatting wave that'll turn all of the Autobots into loyal Decepticons. At first, Megatron is unwilling to commit to the plan, but he later authorizes it after hearing that his old friend Impactor was seemingly killed in the Third Battle of Iacon.

Megatron would subsequently use Impactor's death at the hands of the Autobots to garner sympathy for the Decepticons and exacerbate anti-Autobot sentiments, broadcasting across Cybertron to lament the loss of such a loyal soldier. However, as it turned out, Impactor had survived the attack, albeit barely. Fortunately, he was uncovered by Ratchet, who nursed him back to health at Iacon despite controversy from some of his fellow Autobots. After seeing over time how Megatron is willingly to go so far as to commit wholesale annihilation for the sake of peace, Impactor decides to join the Autobots and becomes a member of the Wreckers.

Disgusted of his leader's plans of mass genocide with their race's very source of life, Jetfire defects from the Decepticons and goes to Iacon where he tells Optimus Prime of Megatron's intentions with the AllSpark.

The Autobot-allied city-state of Nova Cronum is completely destroyed by an orbital bombardment by the Decepticon Titan Trypticon, allowing the Decepticons to attack the entrenched Autobot positions at Simfur at the Heights of Matika. The Decepticons storm into the Simfur Temple in order to secure control of the AllSpark so they can complete their plans of conquest, only to find the temple empty. Turns out, thanks to information from Jetfire, the Autobots anticipated the Decepticons' plans for the AllSpark and so a small Autobot convoy led by Bumblebee transported the AllSpark all the way to Tyger Pax where they kept the artifact for safekeeping until Optimus Prime ultimately decided what to do with it. During the Battle of Simfur, Bumblebee's old mentor Goldbug is among those fighting Megatron, who leaves him for dead after Goldbug refused to tell him the AllSpark's location. His life is saved by Ratchet, but his voice box was shredded, leaving him unable to speak.

The Battle of Tyger Pax: The most infamous battle of the Third Cybertronian Civil War occurs as hundreds of thousands of Autobots and Decepticons from across the planet come to Tyger Pax to fight each other for control over the AllSpark. In the end, Optimus Prime launches the AllSpark into deep space via the last functioning Space Bridge to prevent it from falling into Decepticon hands and being used as a tool of further destruction. As the AllSpark passes through the Space Bridge, its unfathomable power causes an overload that completely destroys the Space Bridge once it reaches an unknown destination. The Battle of Tyger Pax had no true victors.

The Wreckers' leader Crest is killed in action during Tyger Pax. He is succeeded by Impactor, who has slowly but surely gained the trust of his new comrades. A young Autobot Triple-Changer named Springer becomes Impactor's second-in-command.

Jetfire is allowed to join the Autobots on Optimus Prime's behalf, quickly rising in the ranks as the leader of his own Aerialbot elite squadron and one of Prime's high-ranking advisors, despite him being distrusted by many among Autobot High Command because of his dark past as a Decepticon who has killed countless Autobots and Neutralists since the war's beginning.

After witnessing Megatron's failure to capture the AllSpark, Starscream begins to scheming to destroy Megatron and usurp his position as leader of the Decepticons, believing that he'll be more suited for command though he ultimately decides to bid his time for the right opportunity.

The Kilocycle Lull: The loss of the AllSpark triggers a temporary lull in hostilities as Megatron struggles to come to terms with the self-destructive actions of his greatest enemy. Many on both sides of the conflict turn their backs on warfare in shared spiritual shock at the loss of their sacred life-source and, presumably therefore, the extinction of their entire species.

The Black Epoch: Responding to the loss of the AllSpark, Ember rallies the Cult of the Black Epoch to launch a holy war against Optimus Prime and the Autobots in the name of their Celestial gods. Prime, supported by Omega Supreme and the Wreckers, defeats the cult in combat during the Fourth Battle of Iacon. Following their defeat at Iacon, the Cult of the Black Epoch is forced into hiding for the remainder of the War for Cybertron.

Shockwave discovers the ancient laboratory of Dragotron in the depths of the Great Abyss. He takes what remains of the Golden Age scientists' Beastformer research and the surviving Maximal and Predacon samples with the intent of weaponizing the technology.

Megatron and Gelgastorm orders the Decepticon Science and Engineering Guild to begin construction of Project Nemesis: a massive warship intended to be the flagship of the Decepticon battlefleet so that whatever Decepticons that survive the Great War can escape the inevitable shutdown of their planet and journey to another galaxy that they can conquer to preserve the Cybertronian race. Due to Cybertron's condition declining as the war went on, Megatron and Gelgastorm redirected a majority of their resources into the construction of the Nemesis. They even go as far as harvesting the sparks of their prisoners and even their own soldiers in order to fuel the ship due to the ever-growing low supply of energon.