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TRANSFORMERS BEYOND

LEGENDARIUM

Chapter XVII

The Great War

Part IV

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Approx. 6.9 million stellar cycles ago

After nearly 100,000 meta-cycles of no major hostilities following the loss of the AllSpark at Tyger Pax, the Decepticon advance resumes across the depopulated city-states of Cybertron, now little more than burnt-out devastated husks inhabited by desperate Neutralists who failed to flee the planet. The Autobots respond, turning the advance into a war of attrition as the Decepticon forces inexorably push them back towards the relative security of Greater Iacon and the energon reserves on both sides dwindle.

The city-states of Thetacon, Petrex, and Proximax and their satellite states are designated as neutral zones in one of the few treaties to be signed between the Autobots and the Decepticons during the war. Many of the Neutralists that still remain on Cybertron flee the warzone of the wider planet to these newly-proclaimed Neutral Territories.

Approx. 6.8 million stellar cycles ago

Shockwave moves his laboratories from the lower levels of Castle Decepticon in Kaon to the abandoned ruins of Crystal City, realizing that it will give him greater privacy to work on his Regenesis Program out from under the watchful eyes of the Decepticon Brothers Megatron and Gelgastorm and their loyalists, particularly Nightshade, Soundwave, Blackout, Lugnut, and Barricade.

The Seacons and their combined form of King Poseidon are created as part of Shockwave's research into beastformers.

Approx. 6.7 million stellar cycles ago

Start of the Great Shutdown: Autobot scientists report to Optimus Prime and the New Senate that the war has almost exhausted Cybertron's energon resources, without which the planet will become a dead husk incapable of supporting all but the most primitive of Cybertronian lifeforms. The Autobots themselves would have to abandon the planet if any of their kind were to survive.

The Decepticons develop 7 new combiners (Predaking, Abominus, Dreadnaught, Ruination, Liokaiser, Dinoking, and Battle Gaia) and the Autobots develop 5 new combiners (Wrecktifier, Land Dizer, Road Caesar, Landcross, and Guard City).

Alpha Trion launches the holy Omega Lock and its four Omega Keys, and the legendary Artifacts of the Primes into deep space, scattering them across the galaxy as the Decepticon noose tightens around Iacon, unable to allow such primal power to fall into their hands.

Approx. 6.6 million stellar cycles ago

While analyzing the remnants of the old datanet, Shockwave discovers Alpha Trion's old interface with the life-giving supercomputer Vector Sigma. Realizing what he has discovered, Shockwave begins to analyze the master computer's gatekeeper program, which calls itself the Oracle, for a means of accessing the secrets of the ancient Cybertronians contained within its databanks.

The Simanzi Massacre: The Decepticons unveil the Crucible-a weapon of mass destruction powered by highly-unstable super energon and capable of superheating entire planetary regions to a molten state in a single firing-and prepare for its deployment, resulting in an Autobot assault on its launch site in the outskirts of Kaon. Thousands die in the assault, which results the Crucible misfiring, reducing Greater Kaon, the Badlands, and a significant area of the southern hemisphere to a superheated depopulated wasteland, killing millions of combatants and neutrals.

Approx. 6.5 million stellar cycles ago

The Endless Retaliation: The Autobots respond to the Simanzi Massacre with a series of massive military offensives against the Decepticon forces.

The Forced Flood: The Autobots and the Decepticons undergo a long series of naval campaigns at the Mithril Sea where they fight for control of the remaining energon deposits buried deep below the sea floor. The devastation brought on by these campaigns results in the Mithril Sea, Cybertron's only major source of pure water, becoming polluted.

Optimus Prime commissions Project Generation One: which sees Alpha Trion overseeing the construction of a massive Autobot deep space interceptor dubbed the Ark so that any surviving Autobots in the Great War can escape the shutdown of the planet and, perhaps, recover the AllSpark from wherever its journey through space has taken it.

Shockwave begins his research into cloning technology, which sees the creation of the Decepticon Clones Pounce and Wingspan whom he mass-produces to bolster the Decepticon forces, giving them a tactical edge against the Autobots. Luckily, Autobot spies are able to steal the technical readouts on the cloning process and transmits them to the Autobots in Iacon. This results in the creation of the Autobot Clones Fastlane and Cloudraker.

Approx. 6.4 million stellar cycles ago

Approximately 85 percent of Cybertron's mechanimal population is rendered extinct or severely endangered by to the millennia upon millennia of the war that has torn the planet's ecosystem. Many of the surviving mechanimals retreat to the planet's deep underground to escape the devastation, while others are relocated to off-world nature reserves by the Autobots and Neutralists who wish to preserve them.

Approx. 6.3 million stellar cycles ago

The Fifth Battle of Iacon: The Decepticons conduct another attempt to capture Iacon by marching a heavy tank division through the lightly-defended Zodiac Bridge in the Iacon-Nova Cronum border, while diverting the Autobots' main focus through decoy battles at the borders of Polyhex and Metrotitan. However, thanks to the efforts of Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers, the Autobots stop the enemy advance by detonating the bridge, forcing the Decepticons to retreat and redraw their battle plans.

Shockwave's beastformer research applied with cloning technology produces the Cyborg Beasts, which sees him incorporating Maximal/Predacon CNA into newborn Decepticons in his secret lab in Crystal City. The leader of the Cyborg Beasts is Volcagma Salamandrake, who is created from the genetic template of the original Predaking.

Approx. 6.2 million stellar cycles ago

Planning to expand his sphere of influence from beyond Cybertron, Megatron unleashes the nascently-formed Decepticon battlefleet, consisting of hundreds of Worldburner-class, Worldsweeper-class, and Warworld-class warships, along with repurposed and retrofitted space battleships from the Combatron Wars, with the intend of conquering the other worlds of the Hadean System. They are opposed by the Autobot starfleet and the Primal Vanguard; the struggle goes on, neither side able to gain an advantage over the other. These early off-world campaigns sees the entire solar system devastated in the process.

Approx. 6.1 million stellar cycles ago

Shockwave discovers an ancient Space Bridge tower deep within the ancient ruins in the Sea of Rust. He is able to successfully decipher the archaic technology, which he uses to track down the faint energy signature of the AllSpark to an energy-rich planet on the other side of the galaxy. He then uses the tower to create a wormhole designated "the Alkaris Anomaly" at the edge of the Hadean System that'll allow the Decepticons to easily travel to the AllSpark's location. Impressed by Shockwave's findings, Megatron changes the mission plan for Project Nemesis, which is nearly complete around this time (95%). Instead of acting an ark to another galaxy for any Decepticons that'll survive the Great War, the Nemesis will be deployed to the far reaches of the Milky Way to find the AllSpark as quickly as possible before the Autobots have the chance to do so.

The Dynobots undergo an unsanctioned reconnaissance mission to the Sea of Rust to investigate the Space Bridge Tower, but they are overwhelmed by Shockwave's Cyborg Beasts and are held captive before they can fully reveal the nature of their discovery to Optimus Prime.

Hoping to advance his beastformer research, Shockwave experiments on the Dynobots as he forcibly bestows eight of them (Grimlock, Slug, Sludge, Snarl, Swoop, Scorn, Slash, and Velocirazor) the ability to combine into the mighty Volcanicus. He then imprisons the Dynobots within his tower, intending to mindwipe them and use them as his personal berserker unit. However, the Dynobots eventually escape and fight their way through hordes of Decepticons and Cyborg Beasts as Volcanicus. Shockwave loses his left arm during the Dynobots' rampage and replaces it with a hyperflux cannon following the incident. While they were able to escape Shockwave's clutches, one of the Dynobots, Skar, remains behind to give the others time to steal a ship and escape, and does so before getting killed by the ancient Decepticon Seeker Sprawl, who was stationed at the Sea of Rust at the time. After the loss of their spark brother, the Dynobots gain a firm desire for revenge against Sprawl.

The Dynobots' escape also sees them destroying the Space Bridge Tower, which results in the Alkaris Anomaly going unstable and allowing anything that enters it to emerge at an unpredictable location across the entire universe.

The Sixth Battle of Iacon: Learning of Project Generation One, Megatron orders all available Decepticon units to launch a massive assault on Iacon to prevent the Autobots escaping the planet. With a significant proportion of their resources devoted to the construction of the Ark, the Autobot defenders are almost overwhelmed until the massive Titan Metroplex awakens from his battle fortress mode to aid his comrades. With the Decepticons are routed and the siege is broken, finally allowing the long-awaited launch of the Ark.