Chapter 13 - By Any Means
Kill the Future before it kills you.
It had been four million solar cycles since the great Optimus Prime met his end. After the fall of the Last Prime, the Decepticon army put Iacon to the torch. Cybertron's capital, and all other Non-Decepticon territories were razed to the ground. Autobot, neutral, the Decepticons did not discriminate. Where Decepticonism was not established, unlife found purchase. Cybertron's surface became a barren wasteland; the Planet belonged to Megatron, victory was his at last...and yet still, the Tyrant's hunger was not sated.
The Tyrannical ruler of the Decepticons knew that, ultimately, his victory had been a hollow one. No matter how many times he cast down the Primes or the Talisman at the center of their mythos, without the Matrix of Leadership, Megatron's rule was - in fact - illegitimate. And it was his lack of ignorance to that fact that ate away at his Spark like a cancer.
So, as he ruled his Decepticons and Cybertron with an iron fist, expanding their territories to new worlds with a 6 Phase Infiltration System he doctored himself, Megatron simultaneously had his closest confidants and allies search for the Matrix in secret. For Four Million Solar Cycles, their search came up inconclusive…that was of course, until now.
Sitting atop his Throne in Kolkular, the Decepticon Capital, Megatron heard the doors to his chambers open. "Lord Megatron." He heard Soundwave say in his signature synthetic chime. "I bring urgent news."
Megatron opened his eyes and watched Soundwave enter. The Chief Communications Officer was, by far, his most trusted ally. With a mission success rate of 98.9% Soundwave rarely failed his leader, which was why The Tyrant had him focus on this.
For the better part of the past 4 Milicycles, Megatron had tasked his Communications Officer with monitoring Autobot comms frequencies. Through special, undisclosed means granted to them in the wake of the Fall of Iacon, the Decepticons were granted the ability to tap into the Autobot's comms network undetected and had used that ability to swiftly take the Planet. It was how they knew where and when to strike to undermine their enemy's efforts, but this was only part of his task. Secretly, Megatron had also tasked him with monitoring any mention of the Matrix on the Autobot's network, a task that Soundwave never stopped performing.
"What is it?" Megatron asked, a noticeable weariness in his voice. The years following Decepticon Victory had been long and arduous, he'd long since lost hope that he might one day be rid of the nagging feeling that had eaten away at his Spark for the entirety of the Decepticon Age.
Soundwave shut the door to the Tyrant's Throne room, then he approached. Stopping in the middle of the room, the Communications Officer then transformed into a Cyberttronian Comm's Station - the kind utilized by Autobots and Decepticons in the field in the wake of Polyhex's demise. From this third form, the Decepticon loaded up an audiofile:'This is Autobot Saber, Driving Blind. I am a survivor of the Ark's voyage off-world.' The message began, a young Autobot voice came through Soundwave's speakers. Soundwave scrubbed through the recording a bit. 'I-I just found out,the Matrix of Leadership; the Star Saber? They're here!'
Megatron's eyes widened. He jumped up out of his seat and turned to Soundwave, a regal, purple Decepticon cape flowing behind as he moved. "Where?"
Soundwave scrubbed back through the recording:
'I've crash landed on a world in the Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. The indigenous people call it Earth...they aren't very good with names.'
"Do you have the Broadcast's coordinates?" Megatron asked.
Soundwave transformed into his bipedal mode "Affirmative." He said.
Megatron's face did not change, but Soundwave could see his fist tremble with anticipation. "Show me."
At his leader's order, Soundwave pressed a button on his torso and, out of the great, large sensor display on his chest, a holo-map of the known galaxy was projected. Soundwave zoomed out and signaled out the origin point of the broadcast, going beyond even the furthest reaches of known Cybertronian space. He then placed a marker well off the known map.
"Signal strength is weak but locked to geo-mass." Soundwave said. "Calculating Planetary orbit for real-time flight path data. Contacting Starscream for seeker lead incursion."
"Belay your last." Megatron ordered. "I do not want Starscream on this, I want it done discreetly."
Megatron paused for a moment. He had known of Starscream's ambitions to ascend to leader of the Decepticons from the very first day he found him. It was that lust for power that made Starscream so exceptional at the tasks he had ordered of him; those ambitions and the skill that came of them were why Megatron kept the Seeker Commander around in the first place. But he knew Starscream's nature would taint this new found opportunity and he knew he could not trust him with a mission regarding the Matrix. No, for the matter at hand, Megatron needed someone who would prove a bit more…conclusive in their approach.
The Tyrant looked past the holo-map, at Soundwave. "Get me in touch with the Decepticon infiltration team on Elonia." He ordered and Soundwave obeyed.
With the Atuobots forced underground in the years following Iacon's fall, Megatron had turned his attention to new worlds beyond Cybertron's reach. The Primes of Old had led colonization efforts across the cosmos in their heyday. They had reached unto the heavens and made them a part of Cybertron's empire. But, in the wake of the first Great Civil War, the locations of those first colony worlds were lost. Now that the War was drawing to a close, Megatron felt the need to follow in the footsteps of Cybertron's builders. He would take new worlds, and they would be seeded as part of a rising Decepticon empire.
Megatron's Ambition would see Decepticonism scattered across the observable verse in a move to overshadow the feats of even the Original 13 Primes. Such was the petty insecurity of 'Lord Megatron' that he could not bear to live in the shadow of those who came before. If he was going to be a ruler, his rule needed to be the greatest the planet had ever seen; such a need had led him to cast his eye to a planet called Elonia.
Once upon a time, Elonia was an organic world and home to the Elonian species. Now however, Elonia was a burning, hellish ball of molten rock and slag. The once advanced Civilization that had called it home was all but extinct; the last of their numbers had been forced to a tiny corner of the planet where they made their final stand against the invading Decepticons who had slipped on-world by way of Megatron's own Six Phase Infiltration plan.
At Phase one, Megatron's Decepticons had snuck onto the world and assumed disguises.
At Phase two, they discretely infiltrated Elonian society and agitated pre-existing conflicts, getting the natives to obliterate themselves without direct Decepticon intervention.
At phase three, the agitation escalated to discreet, direct confrontation by Decepticons forces until the Planet's defenses were weak enough for direct conflict.
After dropping cover, the Decepticons waged direct war on the Elonians at Phase four.
With secrecy no longer a concern, the Cons would move to Phase Five and enter Siege Mode, setting up great fortresses on the Planet from which to continue their advances.
And now, with the planet on the brink of collapse, the Decepticons finally entered Phase Six of the plan which was, by all accounts, the end of the world.
Groundside, the Elonians fought against their Planet's invaders. They fired photon munitions at the much larger, much more powerful Eradicons who no longer bothered to conceal their presence. Despite their efforts however, the Elonians were no match for the Decepticons' superior firepower. Overmatched and outgunned, the remaining Elonians retreated to evacuation shuttles. In their desperation, they'd unknowingly taken the same approach the Autobots had; they sought to leave their dying world and, just like the Autobots, their 'Arks' would not survive the Flood that the Decepticons would bring.
As the Elonians boarded, a loud boom ripped through the upper Atmosphere. Then, without warning, the first Evac ship went up in a fireball. The remaining Elonians scattered. Their ears rang, their eyes melted in their heads from the intensity of the explosion, chaos and disarray reigned supreme on the ground while in the skies above: a Black, Teal and Violet ship flew by the site.
It's cannons armed and Primed, the Ship circled back around and dove low to the ground. From its onboard cannons, it dumped more munitions on the native Elonians. The Decepticon ship did not distinguish between civilians or combatants; it killed all without prejudice or remorse as it performed its gun run, getting lower and lower and lower to the ground until it was practically touching it. Then, the ship began to transform. Its aerodynamic airframe peeled back and shifted into a large, bulky four wheeler, changing into an Armored car before the Elonians' very eyes.
Carrying its momentum forward, the Car rushed into the Elonian crowd. Bodies hit armored bumper as it ran the natives over, crushing their forms under wheel without consideration or effort, all the while its cannons never stopped firing.
The Car came barrelling through the Native's defenses and skidded to a stop near the ship's launch pad. Then it transformed again, this time taking the form of a massive Tank before turning its giant cannons towards the second Evac ship.
Inside the ship, the natives watched in horror. Many of them unstrapped themselves from their harnesses and scrambled to flee what they knew was coming next…many, but not all. Some of the others didn't lift a finger or move a muscle. Where could they go? The rest of the planet was gone and all that awaited them outside that shuttle was a much quicker, much more miserable death.
With its target vulnerable, the Decepticon Tank fired. A single shot from its dual cannons and all souls aboard the Evac craft were granted a one-way ticket to the Elonian afterlife.
With the only method of leaving the planet gone, the last of the Elonian forces abandoned their posts. Some surrendered - only to be shot by Eradicons anyway, while others ran off and escaped into the surrounding burning forests. The last glimpse they got of the Cybertronian that just blew up the last of their hope saw it begin to shift form again. This time not into a vehicle or weapon's platform, or even into one the bipedal robot modes they had become accustomed to Cybertronians having. Instead, the mechanical creature shifted its form and rose off the ground on four legs. It grew fangs, a snout, ears and piercing red eyes. The Elonians turned before they could witness it's complete conversion; the sound of chilling mechanical howls filled the air as they fled into the burning forest.
The soldiers covered their respiratory passages with their garbs. They split up in a vain attempt to flee - every Elonian for themselves. A poor strategy. For they were prey and Decepticon on their trail? A Predator of the highest degree.
One of the escapees, an Elonian Soldier, sped through the burning forest. The smoke made his eyes sting; he couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of him, but he could hear perfectly fine. He listened in terror at the sounds of large footsteps and the mechanical growls and snarls and Elonian screams filling the dark air - screams of soldiers he knew. Soldiers that had served with him his entire life. He heard them until they stopped; and that's how he knew he was the only one left.
The Last of the Elonians ran and ran and ran until the Smoke obscuring his vision had found him face-first into a boulder. He hit the floor and shut his eyes, his body ached. There was no way he hadn't broken something. As he lay there writhing in agony, he heard something large, heavy and metal land just above him. The Elonian opened his eyes and, beyond the dark visage of the burning forest, he was greeted by a pair of red eyes peering right back down at him. An inhale, and then an exhale blew the smoke from the forest, momentarily giving the last of the Elonians a plain view of his pursuer - a building-sized, Violet and Teal Metal Wolf staring back at him, fangs bared.
The Elonian drew his sidearm and opened fire on the Cybertronian. But the shots? The same ones that had felled so many of the Eradicons besieging his world? They just bounced off the Cybertronian's pristine metal skin. The Smoke soon re-obscured the visage of the four legged creature. For a moment, the Elonian saw nothing, but he heard movement. Metal shifted on metal. Large armored sections clamped down and shifted together to take a new shape. When it was finished, another set of eyes stared down upon the Elonian from behind the thick veil of smoke. Only, this set were smaller, closer together and they sat atop the apex of a much larger body.
The Elonian gazed up into the Decepticons' eyes - it's true eyes. Then he watched an orange light begin to glow and rise in intensity just meters from his person. The smoke cleared and allowed the Elonian a glimpse, a giant, white Cannon. The very same that'd destroyed Elonian ships and slaughtered his fellow Elonian soldiers.
The Elonian turned from the cannon and gazed up into the Decepticon's eyes. Hyperventilating, he began to speak. "You think I fear you?" The Elonian said in his native tongue. "I am proud a son of Elonia! I will not beg for mercy!"
The Decepticon was silent at first. For a little while, the only thing the Elonian heard was the droning hum of his charged cannon. Then, unmistakably, it heard the Decepticon speak in the native tongue of Elonia.
"That's good." It said in perfect Elonian. "I wasn't offering any."
The Soldier's chest rose and fell. His blood boiled, he sat up and faced his death like a warrior. "Then what are you waiting for?!" He asked. "Do it! Come on! I'm right he-"
The Decepticon squeezed the trigger. The Elonian felt heat and then nothing as his atoms were scattered unto the cosmos and the planet beneath his form was busted open and lost to space. The last of the Elonians had joined the rest of his species in eternity and the Decepticon that had hunted him and his kind to extinction? As the continent beneath his feet buckled and broke apart into molten slag, he stood in the ruin unphased. Elonia had fallen by Sixshot's hand. It was not the first world to do so and it would not be the last.
At the end of the day, Eradicons and Deceptitroopers filtered back to the Siege citadel they'd erected on-world, Sixshot was no exception. He entered the building in his tall, powerful robot mode. His Teal, Violet and White metals gleamed in the light as he towered over all the other Decepticons on station. The Phase Sixer - Sixshot - had returned from the hunt.
Sixshot entered the Decepticon War Room, a great space with a holo-map of the world projected at its center. On its surface, written in Cybertronian it read: 'Population: 0%.'
"Sixshot." The Phase Sixer heard one of the lesser Decepticons call him. "Lord Megatron has requested you."
Sixshot approached the holo Map at the heart of the room."Put him through and leave us."
"At once."
The Decepticons did as instructed. First, they answered the call, turning the holo-map into a massive visage of Lord Megatron that dwarfed the already big Sixshot, then they vacated the War Room with haste - as was protocol every time a Phase Sixer was contacted.
"Lord Megatron." Sixshot bowed out of respect. "Elonia is fallen. The world and its precious ores belong to you."
Any other day the genocide of a target world would have been cause for praise. But today? There were bigger matters to attend to.
"Rise, Sixshot." Megatron ordered. "I have a new task for you."
As ordered, Sixshot picked himself back up to his feet. He could hear the urgency in his Lord's voice and wondered what could possibly be of such importance.
Sixshot watched the visage of Megatron fade away and in his place, a map to an uncharted world. "Here you will find coordinates to an unidentified target world. You are to go there and raze it to the ground. The World is expected to be inhabited, the populace's capabilities are unknown but they are estimated to be of inconsequential technological status. There is expected to be a small Autobot Presence; you are to leave none alive."
Sixshot paused.
"...Is that understood?" Megatron asked, his visage returning to the holo-projector.
"Lord Megatron…" Sixshot began. I am one of the first members of the Six Clan. I joined your cause early in the war and I have never strayed from your guidance, or your will. But…are you sure you want me there?" The Phase Sixer asked.
"Are you incapable?" Megatron asked.
"No, it's not that, it's just…I'm more of a Phase Six kind of bot. A Planet unknown, in a system uncharted, dominated by the technologically inept? That calls for early stages of Phases Two or Three. I mean, hell, we haven't even initiated Phase One here." Sixshot said. "Are you sure you want me out there? Doing what I do, how I do it?" He asked. "It's just, when I'm done…they'll know it."
"While your concern is noted…" Megatron began. "We are beyond the structure of Phases here. There is probable intel that the Matrix of Leadership is on-world."
Sixshot blinked. His Lordship had forgotten to mention that tiny detail. "Ah…" was all he could manage as he suddenly understood the reason why he was being reassigned so hastily.
"Phase One? Two? Three? It hardly matters in this case." Megatron continued. "I only care that the Autobot presence is wiped out and that the Matrix is retrieved and, failing that? Destroyed. Is that understood?"
"Understood, Lord Megatron." Sixshot obliged. "Your will will be done."
Megatron gave an approving nod and then his image left the projector as he hung up the call. When he was sure Megatron could no longer see or hear him, Sixshot dropped his enthusiastic act and let out an exasperated sigh. Then he turned and he left the War Room, almost dragging his feet as he walked out the room.
Sixshot went to the Citadel's sublevel. There, the Decepticons had built a Space Bridge. Space Bridges were large teleporters that allowed for interdimensional space travel by bridging two spaces together - hence the name. They were an Iacon-exclusive design and decommissioned due to a lack of energon, but once the ruined City was raided, Decepticons built their own for use and used the resources they raided to power them.
In Megatron's infiltration plan, the Space Bridges were used to quickly move resources and deploy troops, Sixshot intended to use the one on location to travel to the coordinates his Lord had supplied him. Even if the space it occupied was uncharted, he could go there and not waste his time traveling by flight, which would have taken Millions of Solar Cycles. But, as he approached the Sublevel and the Space Bridge held therein, it became abundantly clear that his Spark just wasn't entirely into the mission.
Sixshot was a member of the Six Clan, one of Cybertron's great Houses. Capable of being able to store many different forms at once, the Six Clan were masters of the art of disguise; they were enthralled by combat and Sixshot was no exception. However, since becoming a Phase Sixer, Sixshot's enthusiasm for battle had fallen into a steady decline.
Phase Sixers had their chassis bonded with a special alloy called Ununtrium. This incredibly rare substance made a Cybertronian's chassis nigh impervious to all manner of damage, effectively making Phase Sixers functionally immortal. Any other sadistic Decepticon would revel in such immortality. The newfound strength might have even seen them make an attempt at Megatron's title - though the Killswitch - and countermeasures physically preventing them from hurting Megatron, would ensure that they never got the chance. Sixshot, however, was a bit different.
For Sixshot, being invulnerable utterly killed his enjoyment of battle. He just could not find thrill when every battle would end the same: with him standing over the smoldering wreck of his opponents, not a scratch or dent on him; completely bereft of any danger. But still, orders were orders and he'd signed up for the long haul.
Sixshot approached the Space Bridge. Beside its control system stood the SBCO - Space Bridge Control Operator. They were a class of Decepticons with unique designs whose sole purpose was to maintain and operate the Teleporters. Despite having access to innumerable Eradicons, Decepticon commanders did not trust the cannon fodder with access to such high profile tech.
Sixshot approached the Control Operator and sent the bot the coordinates he'd received. The SBCO then plugged them in and activated the bridge, no questions asked.
Between the Space Bridge's two great metal pylons, a swirling mass of green-yellow energies expanded and unfolded, forming a portal. Sixshot gazed into the rift between spaces and took a breath as he prepared to undertake his lord's orders. Once more, he would be the purveyor of what was expected to be another crushing victory. He only hoped that whatever Autobots were on-world gave him some entertainment before he sent them to the 'great junkyard in the sky'.
At last, Sixshot stepped through the portal. In an instant he was taken from the ruined world of Elonia to the high orbit of a new, unknown world. The Planet below was a bright blue with large landmasses of green and brown and great sweeping clouds overhead; it was nothing like Cybertron. Like Elonia and all the other worlds he'd 'Phase Sixed', it was beautiful…and, just like those other worlds, he would bring ruin to it.
Sixshot transformed into his ship mode and flew towards the Target world. His Target sat at 34.0734 Degrees North, 107.6225 Degrees West - a place the indigenous population called Magdalena New Mexico.