Chapter 4: Energon Part 2

Decepticon flagship

"Report," Stealjaw said.

"Enemy fleet detected in orbit of the mining colony," a vehicon said. "It is significantly greater than intel suggested."

"That much I can see," Stealjaw replied. "They must have been able to get reinforcements here quicker than we had anticipated."

"Human intelligence," a vehicon quipped. "We would have done better."

"I would not underestimate our newfound allies, VX-7701," Stealjaw replied to the drone. "In warfare, nothing is for certain. Any number of things can happen before reports reach our desk. In this case, the enemy was a little faster than what was known. But no matter, we will still seize the energon for the glory of the Decepticon cause and the League of Independence."

Some of the others around still did not look convinced. Likely believing the humans to be an inferior race. It was not a belief that Stealjaw could not entirely fault them for. He also believed that the organic race was lesser than Cybertronians. But he would not let that blind him to the fact that humans were capable and should not be underestimated.

The previous battles showed that plainly. It was a lesson he would take to heart during this battle. "What is the strength of the enemy?" Stealjaw asked for a report.

"I'm reading eight enemy ships," the vehicon said. "Two are Autobot warships, a cruiser, and a frigate. The other six are UNS warships, one cruiser, four frigates, and a destroyer."

Stealjaw hummed to himself. That meant his fleet had a slight numbers advantage and, judging by the make-up of the enemy fleet, an edge in firepower as well. He could press an attack on the enemy fleet and drive them away if he wanted to.

The Decepticon shook his head. Even with his advantages, it was best not to be reckless. He did not know what sort of enemy commander he was dealing with or what surprise awaited the Decepticon/League battle group. He needed more information.

"Does this New Tunis have any orbital defenses?" Stealjaw asked. "Ground defense batteries that could push the favor into the side of the enemy?"

"The intel does not suggest that," a vehicon stated.

Stealjaw narrowed his optics at the drone. "Then scan the asteroid and the space around it to confirm that," he said with a low growl.

The Vehicon seemingly almost jumped out of its seat. "Yes, sir," he said, looking over his station. "Scanning now. I'm detecting no orbital defense satiates or ground defense installations able to assault our fleet."

Stealjaw nodded and rubbed his chin. So, it meant the advantage remained on his side. "Good," he said.

"Stealjaw," A Vehicon at another station said. "We are receiving a signal from the Autobot cruiser, the Axalon."

So, it is time to meet who I am against, Stealjaw thought. "Let it through," he said.

A moment later, the image of a very familiar figure materialized in front of the Decepticon commander. "I am Optimus Prime of Special Operations Group Omega One," the autobot leader said. "To whom am I speaking?"

Stealjaw smiled at the leader of the Autobots. "I am Stealjaw, in command of the 11th Allied Fleet," he introduced himself. "It is a pleasure to meet the leader of the Autobots. Lord Megatron speaks highly of you as a commander and warrior on the field."

Optimus Prime nodded at him. "The pleasure is mine, Stealjaw," he politely said. "But we both know why we are here. So, I will ask you this before unnecessary bloodshed can occur. Surrender now or withdraw your fleet from the vicinity of the New Tunis."

Stealjaw pretended to consider his offer, and admittedly, it was a good offer. Now that he knew he was facing the leader of the Autobots, the Decepticon leader had some second thoughts about his mission. While many decepticons dreamt of being the ones to present Lord Megatron with the head of his oldest enemy, Stealjaw was not as enamored with the idea.

Oh, sure, he thought about the idea from time to time. He glories he could gain from gaining such a favor from the Lord and Master of the Decepticon cause was a very compiling motivator. But then he put more thought into it. Optimus Prime was the leader of the Autobots for a reason and had led them from the beginning of the Great War.

Under his leadership, the Autobots had been able to stalemate the Decepticons until the death of their shared homeworld. Prime had even matched Megatron himself blow for blow, at some points even gaining the upper hand on the Decepticon leader.

Stealjaw shook any thoughts of glory from killing the Autobot leader. A smile spread across his face, but he might be able to turn him away from this battle. Stealjaw placed his hand on the armrest of his command chair and looked at the Autobot leader in the optics. "I am afraid I will have to turn down your most generous offer," he said. "I have my orders from Lord Megatron himself, and we both know how he hates to be disappointed." Stealjaw shuddered to think what would happen if it got out that he turned back without a fight.

Optimus Prime nodded at him. "Very well then," he said as his image vanished.

"Stealjaw," a vehicon shouted. "The enemy fleet is charging its weapons."

"So, the battle is joined then," Stealjaw muttered. "Order our ground forces to make landfall on the mining colony. Inform Drillbreaker and Buzzaw that I want them to focus their efforts on taking the energon mine."

"But, sir," the same vehicon said. "What about the rest of the settlements? Shouldn't we assault them as well?"

Stealjaw shook his head. "We will worry about them later," he said. "For now, we must focus our efforts on taking the energon for ourselves," Stealjaw stood up from his chair and looked over the projection of the enemy fleet. "We will take the rest of the colony once we have secured the energon. Inform our League counterparts of our plans."

The Vehicon nodded and turned back to his station. "Yes, sir," he said.

Stealjaw smiled and turned his attention back to the projection. The UNS ships were already deploying their strike craft. The Battle for New Tunis had just begun.

New Tunis, Energon mine

"The enemy is attacking," Elita's voice rang over the com. "Activate the Sub-space jammers."

The Autobot soldier next to TriBolt turned his head to face him. "You heard the lady," he said. "Tribolt, activate the Sub-space jammer and be ready to kick some decepticon aft."

'Tribolt' smiled at his superior and did as he was told. "Subspace Jammer activated, sir," he reported. "That should keep the cons from bridging in.

The autobot soldier nodded and transformed his hands into cannons. "Autobots and UNS soldiers defend this position at all costs."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Of course, what Tribolt didn't tell anyone was that he had uploaded a virus into the Subspace jammer. It would enable the Decepticon and League forces in orbit to shut it down, allowing ground bridges to work in this section of the mine.

Tribolt was no traitor to the Autobot cause. At least not the real one, Makeshift thought to himself with a smile. Now, all he had to do was wait for an opportunity to send a signal to the Decepticon/League fleet.

Mine entrance

"We have incoming enemy shuttles," a soldier said.

"Shoot them down!" The superior officer said. AA cannons placed around the mine's entrance whirled to life, and moments later, the starry sky was lit up with plasma fire, followed by the explosions of enemy craft.

Hotrod nodded to his fellow autobot soldiers. "All right, boys," he said, transforming his hands into energon cannons. "Let's not let our UNS friends show us up. Open fire!"

Energon bolts soared into the sky, aiming for the League landing shuttles. With their optics, the Autobot soldiers could zoom in on the shuttles and track their movement through the sky. This gave them better chances of shooting the League shuttles down.

But the league shuttles were maneuverable, and many managed to avoid being shot down by the bolts of plasma and energon fired at them. It did not help when several vehicon flyers swooped in and joined the battle.

While the Allied forces managed to claim several League shuttles and some of the vehicon flyers, it was only inevitable that some would break through and land on the asteroid's surface.

The shuttles dislodged the soldiers they carried, and soon enough, the UNS/Autobot defense lines came under heavy plasma fire. A couple of seconds later, energon fire was added to the mix.

Several UNS soldiers and Marines were cut down before they could respond, and one Autobot soldier took an energon bolt to his spark chamber, downing him. But the UNS forces were quick to retaliate with their own wave of plasma fire. Several autobots, including Hotrod, switched from targeting the air-born enemies and started targeting enemy forces on the ground.

Hotrod took aim at a vehicon soldier charging the defense lines and fired his energon cannons. Bolts of energon tore through the decepticon soldier. Hotrod then fired a bolt at a fireteam of League soldiers, vaporizing most of them and sending the rest scrambling for cover.

Hotrod felt white hot strings impacting his body. The young autobot winced and dove into cover behind a nearby rock formation. Just in time, too, a large bolt of plasma sailed by where he had been. Hotrod poked his head from behind the rock formation to survey the battle.

He cursed under his breath when he saw that the League were now landing their assault vehicles on the surface and more vehicon soldiers were landing. Thankfully, the UNS also had its own assault vehicles, and with time, they had even managed to set up a couple of lines of defense turrets around the mine's entrance.

Waves of heavy plasma fire tore through the ranks of the enemy lines. One of the League assault vehicles, a tank and quite possibly the one that took a shot at Hotrod, exploded as a large plasma bolt tore through it.

But another League tank took its place and charged at the defense lines. Hotrod fires an energon bolt at the tank. The blue bolt tore through its side but kept rolling on, firing its large plasma cannon. A plasma bolt slammed into the rock formation Hotrod was behind. The rock formation held under the enemy fire, allowing Hotrod to get off two more shots on the tank before he was forced to duck back into cover. When he looked back out, the League tank was a ruined wreck.

But Hotrod did not get a chance to gloat as more enemy fire came his way. He was forced out of cover as the rock formation collapsed from the plasma and energon fire. The young autobot was forced to take a few hits before he found cover behind a makeshift cover set up by the autobots.

He found himself next to an older-looking mech. Several UNS soldiers flanked them from the sides. "Looks like we're in for the long haul here, kid," the autobot soldier said. "The Cons and the League are digging themselves in, and more of them are coming in by the minute."

Hotrod frowned. "Shouldn't our AA fire be taking their shuttles out?" He asked.

The Autobot soldier stood from cover and fired his energon cannons. "They are," he said. "But two of our towers just got blasted to the pits and back," the soldier ducked back into cover as enemy fire soared over his head. "It's opened a nice wide hole for the fraggers to get through."

Hotrod nodded. He poked his head to have a look at the battle. By all accounts, the UNS/Autobot allies had the upper hand with their defensive positions set up. But the Cons and the League had dug themselves and were holding their offensive. From the corner of his optics, Hotrod saw an AA battery go up in flames.

That autobot soldier had been right. They were in this for the long haul. Hotrod fired his cannons.

Inside the Mine

The ceiling overhead shook, sending dust and small debris falling to the ground. "They're putting up one hell of a fight up there," Hatsuko said, looking at the ceiling.

Elita nodded her head, agreeing with the marine commander. "I just hope the mines can take it," she said. More debris and dust fell from the ceiling. Just to be certain, the autobot femme used her optics to scan the ceiling hanging over her head.

It took a couple of seconds for her to process the information. "So, what's the verdict?" Hatsuko asked. "Do we need to get out of here or what?"

Elita deactivated her scans of the ceiling and looked down at Commander Hatsuko. "We should be okay," she said. "The structural integrity of the mine is holding up well despite the battle going on the surface."

Hatsuko nodded. "I suppose that should make sense," she said. "Mining can be a very dangerous profession. So, the mines have to be structurally sound before anyone can begin. Plus, it helps that no one is going to risk using the heavy ordinance. Not unless they wanted a collapsing mine on their hands."

Elita frowned as a thought occurred to her. "Or if either side gets desperate enough," she said.

The Marine commander's eyes widened. "Asset denial," she said. "Right, well, let's hope it doesn't come down to that."

Elita still had a worried expression on her face. Meanwhile, the Autobots had a good stockpile of energon that could last them for a long time. Having the ability to mine more of the essential resources was a welcome change. So losing an energon deposit as large as the one on New Tunis or having to destroy it would be a blow to morale everywhere.

"Don't worry," Hatsuko's voice tore Elita out of her thoughts. She looked down at the female human who was smiling up at her. "We got a good defense built up around here, and with those subspace jammers, the cons won't be able to bridge their forces into the mines."

Elita looked at the Marine Commander for a moment and sighed in relief. "You're right," she said. "All we have to do is wait long enough for our fleet to turn the enemy fleet away or into slag. Then we can mope up what's left on New Tunis."

The ceiling shook as the fighting above continued.

Space

Jack took his bird into a sharp turn, avoiding an energon blast that would have turned his craft into debris. In the same motion, he cut the engines, letting the Vehicon flyer zip past him. The Vehicon flyer realized what had happened and tried to turn around to face him.

But it was too slow. Jack reignited the engines and fired the fusion bolt cannons. White bolts of light slammed into the Vehicon flyer, erupting in an explosion. When the flames died away, all that was left of the drone was debris.

Jack smiled and flew his craft to find his next target. Flying the new SF-109 Viper III-B, or just the Viper-III, was a fantastic experience for the young fighter pilot. Don't get him wrong. The old Hornet-V had been an amazing bird in her own right, able to outperform her League counterparts. Jack imagined the Hornet-V would still be around for years to come if only falling into private hands.

The Viper-III was a different beast altogether. Firstly, the fusion cannons of the Viper-III offered them more firepower than the plasma cannons on the Hornet-V. They were also less power-hungry, allowing the extra power to be sent to other systems. The hull plating was a little thicker, too, allowing the craft to take more of a beating. Admittedly, that was a marginal improvement at best. A well-placed shot would still destroy the Viper-III.

However, the most noticeable and important difference to Jack was in the engines and inertial dampeners. The Viper-III had an extra pair of small engines placed in the back, allowing for a greater burst of speed, and the engines themselves were more powerful than the old models. But the inertial dampeners were perhaps where the real beauty was.

Ask anyone what they thought limited a fighter's abilities in combat. Some would say the engines for speed and maneuverability. Others would say the weapons, the, more powerful the better. Some would even the structural integrity of the fighter's hull so it could take punishment and survive the sharp turns required for space combat.

If you asked Jack what he thought, he would tell you it was the Pilot. Some would scoff at that answer, chalking it to a typical hothead pilot. But then he would surprise you with the reason. Namely, what he felt was the most crucial component in a fighter craft, which allowed a pilot to take full advantage of their craft. The Inertial Dampeners.

Most people took such devices for granted despite how important they were for operations out in space. The military, particularly fighter pilots, were a little respectful of what IN-Ds could do. But even then, the technology was ignored in favor of other, more flashy technologies.

Jack, though, truly appreciated what the tech could do, or rather what it allowed him to do. It didn't matter how powerful the weapons were if you couldn't keep up with the enemy. It didn't matter how good the hull was if the enemy could out-maneuver you. It did not matter how fast or maneuverable the craft was if you couldn't make the necessary turns.

Ultimately, it all boiled down to what the pilots themselves could do and how much punishment their bodies could take. How many G's could they take? Now, Jack might not look it. His body could handle more G's than the average person. Hell, even before he underwent augments from the military, his tolerance for acceleration was higher than most pilots in the UNS Fighter Corps. But even he had to acknowledge that he was human and his body could only take so much.

Inertial dampeners were a beauty in that regard. They could cancel out a lot of G's before they could hit the human body. The better the dampeners, the fewer G's that got through and the faster the ship could be pushed.

The Inertial dampeners on the Viper-III were a cut above the ones on the Hornet-V. A fact that made Jack a very happy pilot as he loved to push the limits of his craft. Thus far in this battle, he had taken his Viper in turns that in Hornet, he would have hesitated, and any sane person would think he was crazy for.

Jack pulled the trigger on the weapons. A moment later, he got confirmation of a kill on his HUD. Jack smiled under his mask. He would have to think whoever engineered the dampeners on the Viper if he ever got the chance.

Axalon

"Minor hull damage on section 7 deck 5," an autobot crewman said.

The Axalon shook as a fusion beam struck its shields. "Reinforce the shields in the forward section," Optimus said. "Then route as much power to the main cannons as possible."

"Yes, sir," the crew member said.

Optimus looked at the tactical projection of battle. Thus far, neither side had lost any ships, but no one was backing down from the fight. The battle was relatively straightforward. Both sides had sent their smaller ships into close-range battle. While the larger capitol ships sat back, taking potshots at the other with their primary beam weapons.

Optimus kept an eye on the battle, making sure that the enemy would surprise him. He was sure that the Decepticon commander Stealjaw was doing the same.

"Prime," the same crew member from before shouted. "The Decepticon flagship is firing again. They're targeting us."

"Fire the thrusters," Optimus calmly ordered. He watched as twin lances of energon erupted from the decepticon flagship. "Now!" On the projection, he saw the Axalon lurch to the side just as the energon beams would have hit the Autobot cruiser. The beams sailed into deep space.

"Evasion successful."

Optimus nodded. "Return fire with the main cannons," he ordered. "Target the decepticon flagship and fire." Optimus saw the Axalon fire its main bank of energon cannons. Blue beams stretch across the empty space, aiming for the Decepticon Flagship.

He was not surprised when the decepticon cruiser managed to evade the attack. "Optimus, the decepticon cruiser, has evaded our attack."

Neither ship could guarantee that they would hit the other at these ranges. Each exchange of fire would see their intended target maneuvering out of the way. Sometimes, they get a lucky hit, but even the most powerful weapons on either ship had lost much of their energy at these ranges.

They weren't doing much damage to each other at this point. However, it did keep the larger ships from supporting their smaller escorts as they fought it out at closer range. Optimus was eyeing that aspect of the battle closely.

If a few smaller ships managed to break past the enemy line, they could close in on the enemy cruisers. It would put the decepticon commander in a tough position where he would have to deal with the Axalon at long range and the smaller escort ships at a smaller range where the beam weapons were less effective.

Of course, the same thing could be said about the Decepticons/League, which managed to get their small ships close to the Axalon. It would put Optimus in the same predicament. "Fire the main cannons again," he said. "This time, target the League Battleship."

Elita hold out a little longer, Optimus told himself. He had every confidence that his Spark mate would defend the mine.

Decepticon Flagship

"The enemy lines are still holding, sir," a Vehicon said.

"That much I can see," Stealjaw said. They had yet to destroy or disable even one of the enemy warships. The same thing is being applied in the reverse. The battle was at a stalemate. "What of our forces on the ground? Have they broken into the mine yet?"

"Negative," a Vehicon replied. "The last report indicated that the defenders are heavily dug in and are holding off our assault."

Stealjaw felt his jaw tighten. "Send more forces down there," he said. "We need to seize those mines no matter what. We cannot allow the Autobot to mine that much energon. Contact our League counterparts and see if they can't spare more of their soldiers for the battle around the mine."

"Sir," the Vehicon said.

Stealjaw looked at the projection. Even with his forces' advantage in numbers and firepower, the Autobot/UNS force managed to draw him into a stalemate. It was not a draw that would last much longer, though, that much Stealjaw could glean from the overview of the battle. Just one small thing was needed to swing the momentum of the battle in either side's favor.

"Stealjaw, Sir," a Vehicon said. "We're receiving a coded transmission from the asteroid," the drone turned around in his chair to face Stealjaw. "It's from Makeshift."

Stealjaw's optics widen. "Send it to my station," he said. He looked at the terminal next to him. He read the transmission as a smile spread across his face. It was just what he needed.

"Contact Drillbreaker and Buzzsaw," Stealjaw said, closing the message out. "and prepare a response to the message."

"Sir," the Vehicon said.

Stealjaw gazed back at the projection of the battle. A sharp, fanged smile spread across his face. The Autobots and their UNS allies were about to get a nasty surprise.

UNS. Jasper

Wheeljack was fidgety. And a fidgety Wheeljack was never a good thing for anyone's mental state. When Wheeljack got fidgety, he had one of two responses. Both had drawbacks and advantages but often resulted in headaches for his superiors, namely Optimus Prime or Ultra Magnus.

The first and most beneficial was that he simply went out to find some Decepticons to fight. The upside was it usually resulted in a headache for the cons and maybe one of their bases being blown up. The downside was that frequently, he didn't tell anyone where he went, resulting in search parties for the former Wrecker. Sometimes, those search parties would get caught up in the explosion caused by Wheeljack.

The second option was a toss-up between being a good day for the Autobots and a headache for Optimus and the cleaning crews. Wheeljack was a well-known inventor back on Cybertron. His inventions had benefited Cybertron before the war and aided the Autobots in their struggle against the Decepticons. However, there was one problem with Wheeljack's inventions. Half of the time, they do work; the half, well, let's just say there is a reason he is Team Prime's munitions expert.

The bottom line was that a fidgety Wheeljack was a dangerous Wheeljack, especially when he had no outlet. "You're going to wear a groove into the floor if you keep pacing like that," a voice called out to him.

The former wrecker looked down at the voice's source, seeing an older human woman giving him a bemused expression. "I'm sorry, come again?" He asked. He tried to come up with a name for the woman.

"I said you're going to wear a groove into the floor if you keep pacing like that," the woman repeated. The woman chuckled and explained herself at the strange expression Wheeljack gave her. "It is human expression. You have been pacing around the hanger for some time now."

Wheeljack gave the woman a sheepish smile, a rarity for a meche like him. "Sorry about that," he said. "I don't like being kept up like this." He gestured to the small hanger, barely big enough for him and the two other autobots he brought.

"I can tell," the woman said. "I am Vera Gusev, the chief engineer of this little ship," she introduced herself.

"The chief engineer, uhh?" Wheeljack said, getting a nod from Gusev. "So, you're responsible for keeping this little ship in one piece."

Gusev smiled and nodded her head. "Indeed, I am," she said. "More than just in one piece. I am tasked with keeping all of the Jasper's systems operational. Including her stealth systems."

Wheeljack nodded. "Sounds like a tough job," he said.

Gusev smiled. "It is," she said. "But it is good work, and I like the challenge."

"Well, at least you get to do something," Wheeljack said. "Unlike me and my friends here. We're stuck waiting here. What I would give to be fighting down there."

Gusev nodded. "The Jasper is a stealth vessel, comrade Wheeljack," Gusev said. "She's not meant for fighting it out on the front lines."

"I know that," Wheeljack said. "And I get why Optimus sent me out with your ship. My boys and I are meant to be a nice little surprise in case something goes wrong and the con and their friends get the upper hand. But I never liked waiting around, especially when there were others fighting, and I could be at their side."

Gusev nodded at him. "That I can understand," she said. "But war somethings requires patience and sacrifice. If you were a part of a black ops group, then you should know this."

Wheeljack raised an optical ridge. "You already know about me?" He asked. "Didn't you?"

The human woman smiled at him. "I read my history," she said simply. "I like to know about the people I am serving with."

"Then you should know what we wreckers are all about," Wheeljack said, slamming his fists together. "We prefer to wreck'em than sneak around like this."

Gusev gave him a sly nod. "But even you know there is time for wrecking your enemy," she said. "And a time for waiting for the right moment to strike."

Wheeljack frowned. "Is there a point to this conversation?" He asked.

"Just don't wear yourself out," Gusev said. "If you get too worked up like this, you'll miss your moment."

Wheeljack looked at the woman for a moment, then took a breath and let it out. "Yeah, well, you're right," he said. "I never liked sitting on the sidelines."

"Not all of us do," Gusev said. "But right now, the best thing we can do is wait and see what unfolds." A smile spreads across her face. "Besides, we may not need to intervene in the battle. All could go well."

Wheeljack gave Gusev a hard stare. "Lady," he said. "Even I know never to say such things."

Energon Mine

"Our defense lines are holding," someone said over the comm chatter. "If we keep this up. They'll run out of soldiers to throw at us."

Snorts of laughter went around the mining chamber. "Well, it looks like we've been standing around here for nothing," an autobot soldier said.

"And we missed all of the fun because of it," another autobot said.

"I don't know about you," a UNS soldier said. "But I don't mind the peace and quiet. I've seen enough action on the front lines to last me a lifetime."

More chatter broke out among the chamber's defenders. They never noticed that one of their numbers was inching closer to one of the exits.

Makeshift disguised as the autobot Tribolt smiled. Nano-Cycles ago, he had gotten a message from his allies in orbit of New Tunis. A simple one-word message. Now.

He reached for the control device on his arm and deactivated the Sub-space jammer. Not a moment later, a green vortex ripped open behind the chamber's defenders. That was when the screams started.

Hatsuko knew something was wrong when she heard an explosion rip through the air. The Marine Commander whirled around to the tunnels from where the sound had come from. "That wasn't on the surface," she said.

Around her, soldiers, humans, and autobot alike raced to the tunnel. "That tunnel," she heard Elita-One say. She looked up at the pink autobot with horns on her head. "That leads to one of the sub-space jammers. Jammer Beta, I believe."

Hatsuko nodded and activated a commlink that linked her to the squad leader protecting Jammer Beta. "Corporal Parkins," she said. "What's going on there? We heard an explosion coming from your direction. Report." All she got was static and the sounds of weapons fire.

Hatsuko's eyes narrowed as weapons fire echoed from the tunnels. "Corporal Parkins, report now! Hatsuko said more forcefully.

An unfamiliar voice answered her. "This is Private Dickson," the man said.

Hatsuko's face scrunched up as she tried to put a face to the name. "Private, what are you doing on the line?" She asked, failing to remember who the man was. "Where is Corporal Parkins?"

"Dead, sir," the private said over the sounds of weapons fire. "A con got him and two others."

Hatsuko took a breath. "Could you repeat the private?" She asked. "You said a con got him? As in a decepticon?"

There was a loud sound on the private's end, followed by a grunting noise. Hatsuko was about to repeat her question when the private responded. "Yes, sir, Decepticons and League soldiers are pouring in through a ground bridge."

That was not the kind of news Hatsuko wanted to hear. "That can't be," she said to the private. "The Sub-Space jammer prevents the enemy from doing that."

"I don't what to tell you, sir," Private Dickson said. "All I know is that we were guarding the chamber one moment. Then suddenly, we're fighting cons and League soldiers. We lost a lot of people before we could respond. They have a ground bridge down here; I can see it clear as day."

Hatsuko wanted to curse then, but she kept her temper in check. "All right, private," she said after a moment. "Just get your people out of there. Fall back to a more defensible position. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir," Private Dickson said.

Hatsuko cuts the link and looks up at Elita-One. "We got a problem," she said.

The Pink Autobot nodded at her. "I already know," she said. "The sub-space jammer must have failed."

"We'll find that out later," Hatsuko said. "But right now, we got enemies inside to deal with."

Elita's hands transformed into cannons that resembled crossbows. She nodded at Hatsuko. "First, we get a message off to Prime," she said. "Let him know what's going on down here."

"Right."

UNS. Jasper

Command Raymond terminated the link just as he turned to face his officers. Anticipation was building up inside him. Soon, they would get a true test of the Jasper's stealth capabilities.

"We have our orders, people," Commander Raymond said. "Helm take us in, one-quarter thrust. Bring us low to the surface of the colony and proceed directly to the mining sight."

"Yes, sir," his helmsmen said.

Raymond nodded and turned to his tactical officer and operator of the stealth systems. "Have our defensive systems ready," he said to the man. "If we are detected, we might have a hot drop on our hands."

The Tactical officer nodded his head. "Understood, sir," he said. "But I am confident in the Jasper. She has the most advanced stealth systems in the UNS. She can get past the enemy."

"Past the League, maybe," Commander Raymond said. "It's the Decepticons I am most worried about. Their technology is more advanced than ours. They may be able to detect us."

The tactical officer had a grim expression on his face. "I guess we're about to find out," he said.

Raymond nodded. "I guess we are," he muttered, turning away from the man. He activated the ship's internal comms. "Attention all hands, this the captain speaking. We are coming in for a landing to reinforce our lines on New Tunis. All marine detachments and our autobot allies be ready to disembark on my command and prepare for a hot landing. All hands to your battle stations."

He cut the comms and opened a link to the landing bay. "Wheeljack, are you there?" He asked.

The autobot's voice answered the comm. "Right here, commander," Wheeljack said. "I heard everything you said. My boys and I are gearing up as we speak. What are our orders, and what is the situation?"

"Not too good, Wheeljack," Raymond said. "We don't know how. But the cons managed to open a ground inside the mine. Enemy soldiers are pouring in as we speak. Our people are trying to contain them, but we were not expecting to be fighting on two fronts."

"I see," Wheeljack said. "That's not good. The Subspace jammers should have been able to prevent that."

Raymond nodded. "According to the one name Elita One, she thinks one of them may have failed," he said. "Which left an opening for the enemy."

Raymond heard humming on the other side of the link. "That would do it," Wheeljack said. "While I'm done there, I'll look at the jammer. See if I can't get the thing working again. Assuming the enemy hasn't slagged the thing that is."

Raymond nodded. "That would be a good idea," he said. "Try to figure out what went wrong in the first place as well."

"Well, do boss man," Wheeljack said. "Just let us know when, and we'll give the enemy hell."

The Jasper's Captain smiled. "You'll get your chance here pretty soon," he said. "Commander Raymond out." He cut the link. He looked at the view screen and saw that they were about to fly over the surface of the mining colony.

Raymond's smile grew. It was time to see what his ship could do.

Mine

Elita ran down the tunnels, dodging energon fire from vehicon soldiers. With every shot she avoided, the pink autobot fired her cross arrows. While they lacked the power that other energon cannons had, they were accurate and could be fired at much higher rates of fire.

So, every shot she made found a mark in heads or spark chambers. Behind her, she had a supporting force of other autobot soldiers and UNS marines and soldiers. Hatsuko, the marine commander assigned to Jasper, kept an even pace with her. Something that Elita found to be impressive.

Elita rounded a corner and narrowly avoided having her head separated by a blade swing from a vehicon. Elita ducked under the drone. She transformed a crossarrow into a blade and plunged it into the lower section of the drone's body.

The vehicon let out a pained cry and tried to bring its blade down on her. In response, Elita pulled her blade out and swung her other crossarrow out, firing into the con's chest. Spark and metal exploded from the drone's chest as it fell over.

Behind the decepticon soldier, a line of League soldiers charged at Elita. Plasma rifles aimed and ready to fire. Elita held her arms up to block the incoming barrage of plasma fire. Which never came as most of the league soldiers were cut down by their UNS counterparts. The rest fell back under heavy fire.

Elita looked down to see Hatsuko running up to her side. "Don't worry about the small fry," she said. "We got them. You just focus on the big guys."

Elita nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she said. They were pushing back the enemy as best as they could. But with a ground bridge open, they were coming through quicker than they could take them out.

The defenders' best chance was to get to the chamber where the ground bridge was and try to shut it somehow. Ideally, by getting the subspace jammer working again. That was assuming it had not been destroyed yet. In this case, there were other ways to force the ground bridge shut. Elita hoped they could avoid that as it involved some level of risk.

"Let's keep pushing through," Elita said. She transformed her bladed arm into an arrow gun and fired her weapons at a vehicon charging through the tunnels. Elita ran down the tunnels with the UNS forces and other autobots, keeping pace.

More enemy soldiers came through the tunnel, trying to stop the Allied forces from advancing. Elita's group cut right through them with little effort.

Elita sliced through the arm of a decepticon soldier, then used her other hand to send a punch to its face. The Con stumbled back, where it got several energon bolts to the chest.

Elita immediately switched to her next target. A vehicon ran up to her with both arms transformed into blades. Elita managed to get a shot off at the con, striking the drone in the chest. But it shrugged the blow off and came at her. It swung a blade out at her, going for her head.

Elita ducked under the swing, letting her momentum carry her into a slide. She slid past the drone and slashed at its side, cutting a deep gash. Elita spun back around onto her feet and fired both of her arrow guns into the back of the drone, killing it.

Elita heard footsteps running towards her. She turned around just in time to avoid a blade being plunged into her body. She deflected the next sword swing at her and sent a right hook into her attacker's face.

The vehicon staggered back, allowing Elita to slip into its guard and fire one of her arrow guns at its face at point-blank range. Its head exploded into a scrape as it fell over. Elita stood up, transforming her hands back into hands, and looked around to survey what was going on. Several decepticon and league soldiers lay dead on the ground, with the rest pushed back by the combined allied force.

But it was not a cost-free advance, as far as Elita could see. Just as many UNC soldiers lay on the ground, and she could see an autobot soldier unmoving on the ground. Elita looked for Hatsuko to see how she was doing. It took Elita a second to pick the marine commander out of the fighting.

She was fighting with a league soldier.

Hatsuko fired her plasma rifle into the chest of a league soldier. The man's chest exploded into flames, and he let out a shriek of pain as he fell to the ground dead. From the corner of her eye, she saw another league soldier moving towards her.

She turned to face the man just in time to see him raise his weapon. Hatsuko jumped as the burst of plasma blots surged from the soldier's rifle. The bolts of plasma bore into the spot where Hatsuko had been a second ago.

The League soldier adjusted his aim to follow where the marine commander had landed. Hatsuko quickly aimed her weapon at the enemy soldier, ready to end his life. She didn't get the chance as two plasma bolts slammed into the soldier's chest, sending him to the floor.

Before the woman could move to thank whoever saved her skin, a kick to her side sent her to the ground. Hatsuko looked over to see a League soldier standing over her. He aimed his plasma rifle down at her, she could see a smile through the visor on his helmet.

Hatsuko frowned and shot her leg out, connecting with the man's leg. His knee buckled from the impact, causing the man to fall to his knees.

Suddenly, Hatsuko was back to her feet, and she pulled a combat knife from her belt. The league soldier tried to bring his rifle to her, but Hatsuko swung her free arm out, knocking the weapon to the side. Before the soldier could react, Hatsuko was on top of him, and her knife was cutting through his throat.

Hatsuko turned away from the man to face two more league soldiers close to her. Both had their plasma rifles aimed at her. Hatsuko twirled her combat knife in her hand and pulled her plasma pistol out.

She was moving well before the two could fire their weapons. The plasma bolts barely missed her as she charged. One bolt grazed the side of her arm. Hatsuko winced but otherwise ignored the burning sensation.

By the time she was on top of the league soldiers, that burning sensation had ebbed away by a cooling one. Hatsuko plunged her combat knife into the shoulder of the closest league soldier. The man let out a scream of pain.

At the same time, Hatsuko aimed her plasma pistol at his partner. The league soldier aimed his rifle at both of them but did not fire. His hesitation would cost him. Having a clear shot, Hatsuko fired her plasma pistol.

One bolt slammed into the abdomen and two into the chest. The man was dead before his body could hit the ground. Hatsuko turned her pistol to the soldier in front of her, putting the muzzle to the man's chest.

She saw the soldier swing his fist at the side of her head. Hatsuko quickly dropped below the swing, pulling her combat knife out from the man's shoulder. She ducked under another swing to her head and slid around to the side of the league soldier. She carved her knife through the side of the soldier's leg.

She slid around behind the soldier and sprung back to her feet. She twisted her combat knife around in her hand and brought the hilt down on the back of the man's neck. The league soldier tumbled to the ground in a heap.

Hatsuko pointed her plasma pistol down and fired. A moment later, she heard footsteps that were heavier than a human would be able to make. She turned around to see that Elita was moving towards her.

"Impressive," the pink autobot said.

Hatsuko nodded, putting her combat knife away and inspecting her pistol. "I do what I have to," she said. Then she looked around to see that the enemy had been pushed back. "How close are we to the chamber where the subspace jammer is?" Hatsuko had hoisted her pistol and was moving to recover her rifle from the ground.

"Close," Elita said.

Hatsuko nodded as she picked up her rifle and inspected it for damage. Thankfully, it was unharmed and still functional. "Then let's keep moving."

Elita had not been exaggerating when she said the chamber was close. Two vehicon soldiers went down before the group emerged from the tunnels and into a chamber. Energon and plasma bolts rained down on the UNS, and autobot forces scrambled to find cover.

Hatsuko's back pressed press up against a makeshift barricade. Elita was close by behind a rock formation. Weapons fire echoed through the chamber as Hatsuko got her bearings. When she did, she looked over the barricade to understand what they were dealing with.

The first thing that caught the marine commander's attention was the green vortex in the middle of the chamber. The ground bridge, Hatsuko's eyes narrowed as more decepticons, and league soldiers poured out of it.

Hatsuko pulled herself back behind the barricade for cover. She glanced over at Elita. "How long can they keep that thing open?" She shouted at the femme while gesturing to the groundbridge. Hatsuko readied her plasma rifle to fire.

Elita had just fired a burst from her crossbow-looking cannons when she answered. "Theoretically," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Indefinitely, so as long the generator on the other side has power."

"Or still intact," a soldier next to Hatsuko concluded. Hatsuko repressed the urge to growl.

"Is there a way we can shut it on our end?" Hatsuko asked. "Because I don't think they'll let us get to the jammer to shut that thing. Assuming it is still intact."

"It is," Elita said. "I caught a glimpse of it just a second ago. But the enemy does have guards on it."

Hatsuko felt a frown tugging at her lips. She pulled her head over the barricade and used the scanning equipment in her helmet to locate the SS-Jammer. She found it near to the ground bridge. Like Elita said, the device was still intact and had a guard on it. Hatsuko counted two vehicon soldiers and about a dozen league soldiers.

Hatsuko pulled her head back behind the cover before anyone could use it for target practice. "Why would they keep it intact?" She asked the autobot. "Why not shut the thing up the moment you had in your sights?"

Elita frowned. "Probably because they want to use it for themselves," she said. "Why send their stuff down when they could take someone else's."

Hatsuko felt her jaw tighten at the logic of Elita's answer. Why destroy the enemy's equipment when you could take it for yourself if the opportunity were there? The same would likely go for the mining equipment in the tunnels. "You think they'll try to take the other Sub-Space jammers?"

Elita nodded. "If not, then those they will destroy," she said.

"So, what about closing that thing without the jammer?" Hatsuko asked. "It would be a lot easier to get to the jammer without the enemy getting constant reinforcements."

"There is one way," Elita said. "But it's incredibly risky."

"What is it?" Hatsuko said as she pulled out from the barricade and fired a quick burst from her rifle. She was back behind the barricade before the enemy returned fire. "And how risky are we talking here?"

"We can pour weapons fire into the vortex," Elita said. "Or throw in some grenades, either will done. Get enough force in, and we can collapse the vortex on our end."

"And the catch?" Hatsuko asked.

Elita fired her crossbow cannons at the enemy. "If we collapse the vortex that way, it will send a shockwave out. This will cause the chamber to collapse in on us and maybe bring the rest of the mine down with it."

Hatsuko grimaced. "Okay, let's consider that plan B," she said. "So, we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way, then?"

Hatsuko looked over the barricade and at the green vortex. "I'm afraid so," she heard Elita say.

"Wait on," Hatsuko said, holding her hand out. "I see two new decepticons," she said. She eyes the two as they enter the battle.

They were yellow and orange meches with what looked like miner helmets attached to their heads. But that was where their similarities ended. One had a larger, bulkier frame, and one of his arms was transformed into a drill.

The other had a small frame, and both his arms were buzz saws.

"They're not vehicons," Hatsuko said. She pulled back into cover and looked at Elita.

Elita had a frown on her face. "I know those two," she said. "The larger one is Drillbreaker, and the smaller one is Buzzsaw. They used to be construction workers before the war. I wasn't surprised that they joined the decepticons. Those two always had a vicious streak."

Hatsuko nodded. "By the looks of them, they look like they'll be a problem," she said. She fired two bursts from her rifle, gunning down a league soldier and hitting a vehicon in the leg. "You think you can handle them?"

Elita's frown never left her lips. "I think so," she said. That wasn't an answer Hatsuko wanted to hear. But before she offers a protest to the pink autobot. "At the very least, I can hold them off long enough for help to arrive."

More weapons fire erupted in the chamber. A second team of allies must have breached through to the chamber. Hatsuko nodded. "You try to hold those two off," she said, pointing her thumb at the cons. "We'll focus on getting one of your friends over to the jammer."

Elita nodded. "Got it," she said. Then she dashed out from her cover, firing her crossbow cannons.

Hatsuko looked at the others, UNS and Autobot soldiers. "Alright, people," she said. "While Eita is handling Dumb and Dumber. We need to get to that sub-space jammer and get it working again. I'll lead the charge," she looked at the group of autobot soldiers with them. "We're going to ask a few of you bots to come with us. I'm a little too short to reach those controls," a snort escaped from her mouth. "Never did drink enough milk as a kid."

That got snickers from the others. A few of the bots nodded, showing they were volunteering for the charge. Hatsuko nodded back at them. "Teams five and six," she addressed the other soldiers. "Stay here and lay down suppression fire on the enemy."

"Sir, yes, sir," they said.

Hatsuko nodded. "Then let's go, people," she said, jumping over the barricade.

UNS Jasper

"Attention, assault team," The Commander's voice rang over the comm. "We are seconds away from a landing. Everyone be ready to disembark.

Wheeljack transformed his hands into blaster cannons. "You heard the man, boys, and girls," he said. "We're going in for a hot drop to reinforce our friends in the mine. We get in and secure the sit. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir," UNS marines and Autobot soldiers shouted in unison.

The bay shuddered as the doors slid open. Wheeljack nodded and waved for his people to follow. "Then let's go," He shouted, running out of the bay.

The moment he set foot outside the ship, an energon bolt narrowly missed him. "Careful, everyone," Wheeljack shouted. "Enemy fire coming in."

Wheeljack looked in the direction of the weapons fire to see that allied defenders held enemy lines back. The bolts coming at them must be stray ones from the battle. Then he looked up at the Jasper to see that some of the enemy were focusing their fire on the stealth corvette.

Wheeljack activates his comm to the ship. "Wheeljack to Jasper," he said. "It looks like you're taking some fire. How are you holding." His assault team was still getting off the ship.

"Jasper here," Commander Raymond's voice answered him. "We're doing fine. The enemy doesn't have enough ordinance to take us down. Don't worry about us. Just get your people out and into the mine."

"Copy that," Wheeljack said. As he said, the last assault force got off the stealth ship. "The assault has disembarked. All personnel are accounted for and ready to give the enemy hell."

"Understood," Raymond said. The Jasper started to lift off into the air, and its bay door slid shut. "Good luck out there." The Jasper sped off into the starry sky.

"Same to you," Wheeljack said with a salute to the rapidly departing ship. Then he turned his attention to mine. "All right, people, let's move."

Running off to one of the platforms above the mine, Wheeljack activated his comm. This time, though, he connected to someone down in the mine. "This is Wheeljack here," he said, hoping someone would hear him. "Reinforcements have arrived and are now heading down the mine. Can anyone hear me?"

Wheeljack thanked Primus that a voice answered him. "Corporal Yats here," a human male answered. "Glade to hear that we're getting help down here."

The assault force had reached the platform and was now descending on a freight elevator. "Corporal, good to hear someone is alive down there," Wheeljack said, stepping onto the freighter elevator. "What's the situation down there?"

"Contained, sir," the UNS corporal said. "For the moment, anyways. We have enemies in the tunnels, but we have them contained. But they are pushing us hard. We can use the help down here, sir."

Wheeljack nodded. "Not to worry, help is on the way," he said. Then he heard weapons fire filtering into the comms. "Corporal, what is going on down there?"

"Enemy units have breached into our chamber," the man said. "I see three vehicon soldiers and about two dozen league soldiers with them. We're mounting a defense now."

Wheeljack frowned and slammed his fist on the side of the elevator. "Just hold on," he said. "We'll be down there in a moment," he heard more weapons fire over the comm. Wheeljack looked at one of the UNS marines. "Is there any way this thing can go faster?"

The marine saluted him. "We'll get on it, sir," he said.

Wheeljack let out a sigh. Then, a smile spread across his face, and he was itching for some action.

Axalon

"We just got the confirmation, Optimus Prime," a crew member said. "Wheeljack and his team have made landfall on New Tunis and are now heading into the mine."

Optimus nodded his head, glad for the good news he was hearing. The battle in space was still progressing, but both sides had taken losses.

The UNS/Autobot fleet had lost one of two of their frigates. Meanwhile, the League/Decepticon fleet had lost a frigate and destroyer. The Decepticon frigate had taken a nasty hit from the Axalon, forcing it to retreat.

All other ships in the fight now had fresh battle scars on their hulls. Strangely enough, the allied side was faring better than the League and Decepticons when it came to the strike craft of the two sides. To be more accurate, the UNS fighter pilots were holding their own against the Decepticon flyers.

For Optimus, it was strange for his side to have support from strike craft. The Decepticons had a near monopoly on air superiority for most of the war. In space, the Seekers were a deadly force to Autobot warships. Now, Autobots had their own air support in the Aerialbots, but they were far fewer than their decepticon counterparts. It did not help that they were also vastly outnumbered by vehicon flyers.

Autobot forces had learned to fear the skies. But now, the humans, the UNS, supported them with a force that could go toe-to-toe with the Decepticon's air forces. More than that, actually win against them. Optimus had only seen engagements between the UNS fighter corps against the Vehicon flyers.

Except for Thunderqauke, they had yet to go up against the Seekers. But Optimus Prime had a suspicion that when that battle did come, the Seekers would be in for a nasty surprise.

Optimus put his musings to the side and focused on the present battle. "Prime, we're receiving a signal from Captain Harkin," a bridge crew member said.

"Put him through," Optimus said.

The holographic image of the UNS captain appeared in front of Prime. "I don't know about you, Prime, but I think it's time we ended this battle," he said.

Prime nodded. "Agreed, Captain," he said. Both sides in the battle had taken damage. One good push from one or the other could end the fight over New Tunis. But not without risk.

There was a smile on the UNS captain's face. "Thankfully, we have a hidden card we haven't used yet," he said.

It took Prime a moment to figure out what the Captain was referring to. "The Strike craft on New Tunis," he said.

Captain Harkin nodded at Prime. He held his hand out. In front of it, an image of the Enemy capital ships appeared. "The enemy flagship and the League Battleship have taken some damage now, and what's more, they are vulnerable."

A red indicator appeared around where the Decepticon frigate had been. "Without that frigate there, it had opened up a hole I believe the strike craft on New Tunis can exploit."

"And they won't be expecting an attack from the colony itself," Optimus said. After all, New Tunis had no defense satellites and no cannons on the surface (something that would change once the battle was over). As far as the Decepticons/League were concerned, all allied strike craft had been launched from their fleet.

"Do they have the ordinance to take the enemy ships out?" Optimus said. He knew how deadly strike craft could be to a vulnerable capital ship. The Seekers had taught them that lesson more than once.

"Unfortunately, none of the strike craft on New Tunis are bombers," the UNS Captain said. "Just standard fighters, so we'll have to rely on what missiles they have. I'm confident our birds could gut them if they were just cruisers."

"But we are dealing with two battleships," Optimus said. At least to the humans, those ships were battleships.

The UNS Captain nodded. "That said, I believe our birds have enough firepower to deal serious damage to those two," he said. "We might even be able to force them out of the battle."

Which would give them the edge they would need to finish the battle and secure the space around New Tunis. Then, a thought occurred to Optimus. "Captain, I believe we have one other card the enemy may not know about," he said. "One, we can play alongside the strike craft from New Tunis."

An intrigued look appeared on the Captain's face. "Go ahead," he said with a gesture from his hand.

"Here is the plan," Optimus said.

Wheeljack cut right through a vehicon soldier; then he dodged out of the way of an energon bolt. He took cover in a tunnel to the side, avoiding two more bolts aimed at him. Then he made a half turn out of the tunnel and fired a burst of energon bolts at the vehicon, shooting him. Two missed and sailed through the tunnel behind it, but the third bolt pieced through its chest plate.

As the con hit the ground, Wheeljack aimed his cannon downward at a squad of League soldiers who were ready to fire at him. They reacted quickly, taking cover in the tunnels, but not before three of them had been vaporized by a bolt from the wrecker.

The remaining League soldier pulled out from their cover and aimed their plasma rifles at him again. Only for most of them to be cut down by UNS plasma fire.

Wheeljack nodded at the group of UNS soldiers and ran out from his cover. He cut through or blasted whatever enemy got in his way, most con soldiers, with the occasional League taking some brave shots at him.

He mostly ignored the latter, letting the UNS personnel take care of their counterparts. He only took shots at them when he had to or when the opportunity presented itself. He didn't have the same restraints about killing humans that Prime did.

He didn't like it, but he knew that humans could be a threat in a fight and treated them as such. Luckily for him, he was fighting humans from the League, and from what he had seen and read, it was enough to lump them in the same category as the cons.

"Keep moving," he shouted out. "We need to get to the chamber." He got shouts of affirmation from the mixed force. At about this time, more enemy weapons were fired and poured out from the tunnels.

Wheeljack quickly took cover to avoid the bolts of energon and plasma, as did the rest of his unit. He looked over at a pair of familiar autobots. "Bumblebee and Hotrode, you with me," he said. During the fighting, he managed to hook up with the two brothers and the soldiers.

Now, the large force was pushing down the tunnels towards the chamber where the malfunctioning sub-space jammer was. Hopefully, in time to reinforce Elita One's group.

The two autobot brothers nodded at him. "On it, boss," Hotrode said, transforming one of his blaster cannons into a blade.

Wheeljack looked at the rest of his unit. "The rest of you give us some cover fire," he said. "We'll cut a hole through the enemy and advance to the chamber where the sub-space jammer is. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Shouts answered him.

Wheeljack smiled as a battle mask slid shut over his face. "Then less wreck'em," he said, pulling his blades out. He jumped out from cover and charged at the enemy lines.

Wheeljack blasted a hole through the chest of a vehicon and moved to cut another down with one of his blades. A decepticon soldier tried to take him from behind, but a well-placed shot from Hotrod took the drone down.

Wheeljack searing pain in his shoulder as bolts of plasma slammed into him. The wrecker quickly moved out of the way of the plasma fire. From the corner of his optic, he saw the League soldiers scatter as something was thrown their way. That something exploded into a ball of fire and shrapnel a second after it landed on the ground. The tunnel shook from the shockwaves of the explosion.

Slamming a con to the ground, Wheeljack jabbed a blade into the spark chamber. He pulled his weapon out and turned to face a group of UNS soldiers advancing down the tunnel. "Careful with those explosives," he shouted. "We don't want to bring the tunnel down on us." He knew that statement was rich coming from him. As much as he enjoyed blowing stuff up, the wrecker knew when and where to use his grenades.

Wheeljack turned away from the group before he could get their confirmation. He charged at a group of vehicons in his way. He slammed into the closest can, and Wheeljack kept charging, slamming the con into his pals.

Wheeljack then slammed his energon cannon into the con and fired. He kept firing until he bore a hole right through the drone soldier, and the shots started to go into the vehicon behind him. By the time they slammed the three into the tunnel wall, two of them were dead. The third quickly followed as he fell on top of the other drones.

Wheeljack turned around to see Bumblebee and Hotrod running up to him. He nodded at them, and they charged down the tunnel. When the group finally reached the chamber, Wheeljack didn't know how long they had been running and fighting like this.

The force of UNS personnel and autobots poured into the chamber. Almost immediately, they came under enemy fire. Two UNS marines were cut down by plasma fire, and an autobot soldier took an energon blast to the shoulder, sending him to the ground.

While the others took cover from the bolts of plasma and energon, Wheeljack charged into the fray. As he cut through decepticon after decepticon, Wheeljack got a quick survey of the chamber. It was their destination. The green vortex of a ground bridge was unmistakable.

So, was the Sub-Space jammer several meters away from it? He was surprised to see that the device was still in one piece. He thought the cons would have trashed it by now, or the crossfire from the fighting would have done it.

Wheeljack's group had not been the only ones to reach the chambers. From what Wheeljack could see, two other groups of allied troops had pushed their way to the chamber. Among them was a familiar pink Autobot femme with horns on her head.

She was fighting against two decepticons. They weren't vehicons. "Elita One," Wheeljack said over a comm link. "This is Wheeljack here. We've just entered the chamber where you are. Can you see me?"

Elita twisted out of the way of a buzzsaw from one of the cons. As she did, she turned her head around to look for the newcomers. Her Optics caught sight with Wheeljack.

"Yes, Wheeljack, I can," she said. She parried a blow from the con's partner and swung an arm out to him. The con moved back to avoid the blow and brought a spinning drill on her. Elita easily dodged the attack.

"It looks like you could use a hand," Wheeljack said. He saw a vehicon charging at him. He dodged the con's attack and sent it flying to the ground with a kick. A downward swing from his blade kept the con from getting back up. "You think I could lend you a hand?"

Elita spun around one of the cons and aimed her cross arrows at him from behind. She fired, but the con managed to avoid the attack. "Negative," she said. "I got these two." She jumped into the air, avoiding the saw swing. She came down with a kick to the con's face.

"I need you on the sub-space jammer," Elita continued. "We need to get that thing operational again and shut the ground bridge down."

Wheeljack removed his blade from an unfortunate con. "Already then," he said. "I'll get to it."

"Commander Hatsuko has already secured a perimeter around the jammer," Elita said. She cut at the of the decepticon with drills.

Wheeljack looked in the direction of where the sub-space jammer should be. "I see her," he said after spotting the Marine Commander. The sub-space jammer had about two dozen UNS personnel and three autobot soldiers around it. One of whom was working on the Jammer. "I'm heading over there now."

With a bit of help from Hotrode, Bumblebee, and the rest of his unit, Wheeljack made it to the jammer. "Good to see you," Hatsuko said as she fired a burst from her rifle.

Wheeljack nodded at the marine commander. "What's the situation here?" he asked, hunkered down beside the little human.

"We got the enemy contained as best as we can," Hatsuko said. "Their attack down here has been blunted, and as you can see, we've secured the jammer. But I don't know how long we can hold out like this. Not with that groundbridge open."

Wheeljack nodded as he looked at the green vortex in the chamber. Enemy forces were still pouring out of its mouth. Then he looked over at the Sub-Space Jammer. "I'll see what I can do about that," he said.

He stood up and dashed over to the jammer. The autobot working on the device noticed him approaching. He was a red meche with an averaging-looking frame and three horns on the top of his head.

"Wheeljack, sir," the autobot saluted him.

"At ease," Wheeljack said. "uhh?"

"Tribot, sir," the autobot introduced himself. He relaxed his posture and turned back around to work on the jammer. "I've been trying to get this working. But I've had no luck so far."

Wheeljack nodded. "Let me have a look at it," he said. He moved next to Tribot and started working on the jammer's terminal. "Is there anything you can tell me about what is going on here?"

Tribolt shook his head. "I'm afraid not, sir," he said. "As far as I can tell, this thing should be working."

"I see," Wheeljack said. He was going through the different systems in the jammer, trying to see what could have gone wrong. However, as far as he could see, there was nothing wrong with the operating systems. It was like the bot said: the jammer should be working.

Wheeljack hummed to himself, looking through the systems again. There had to be an error somewhere, something he had missed. He went into another system and immediately returned as his optics caught something. "Look here," he said, pointing to a line of code.

Tribolt looked at it. "What is it?" He asked, looking at Wheeljack.

"Something that shouldn't be there," Wheeljack said. He brought up more systems. He points to another line of code. "Here it is again, and here," he brought up all of the lines of code in the maintenance screen. Wheeljack frowned as he realized what they were looking at. "It's a virus."

Tribolt gave him a surprised look. "A virus?" He said.

Wheeljack nodded. "That's right," he said. He looked over the lines of code. "Somehow, the cons managed to get a virus into this thing. That's what is stopping the jammer from blocking the ground-bridge."

"How do you think they got it in?" Tribolt asked.

Now, that was a good question, the answers to which had troubling implications. Wheeljack made a mental note to talk to Optimus about this after the battle. "I don't know," he said. "But whoever made this thing? Knew what they were doing. They knew how to hide this thing while it still did its job. I'm impressed," he started to work up solutions for the virtual code. Had it been anyone else, they might have missed it."

Unknown to him, Tribolt had a very slight smile on his face. "Lucky for us," Wheeljack said with a smile. "I'm on the case. Let's see what I can do."

Elita parried a blow from Buzzsaw and quickly ducked under a swing from Drillbreaker. She shot back up and swung her leg out. Buzzsaw blocked the sweeping motion of her leg and grabbed onto it.

"Nice try, little lady," Buzzsaw said with a crooked smile. "But you have got to do better than that."

He started to swing Elita around, right into the waiting path of Drillbreaker's drill. Elita twisted her body around to avoid the drill. "How about this?" Elita said, shooting her crossarrow at Drillbreaker.

The large decepticon moved to avoid the energon blast. But with Elita's proximity, the bolt still managed to slam into his shoulder. Sparks and metal exploded into the air as the decepticon warrior screamed in pain.

Elita saw her chance and fired more shots into the side of the deception. Drillbreaker staggered back as each shot bore into his side, and energon to leak out from him. The bulky meche staggered back as his hand went to the side to stop the loss of energon.

Then he let out a howl of rage as he brought his drill down on Elita. Elita twisted away from the attack and aimed her cross arrows at Drillbreaker. "You're going down con," she said.

A sudden impact on her back knocked the breath out of her and sent her flying. Elita cursed herself for forgetting about Drillbreaker's partner, Buzzsaw. Elita crashed into the chest plate of Drillbreaker.

Before Elita could recover, Drillbreaker shot his hand out and grabbed her by the neck. The Autobot Femme struggled against the con's grip as she was left up in the air.

"Well, well," Drillbreaker said with a twisted smile. "Look what I caught. A pretty little thing, and they say Primus doesn't deliver."

Buzzsaw's chuckle cracked through the air. "And not just any pretty little thing," he said. Elita heard his footsteps getting closer. "But Optimus Prime's little fragger. What kind of reward do you think Lord Megatron will give us if we present her head to him?"

Drillbreaker's smile sent a shiver down Elita's body. "I don't know," he said. "About we find out." His other hand transformed into a drill and inched closer to Elita's spark chamber.

Decepticon Flagship

"We have contacts, incoming," a vehicon bridge crew member said.

Stealjaw was on alert in an instant. "Reinforcements?" He said, looking at the Vehicon. "Ours or theirs?" He looked at the projection, trying to see where the new contacts came from.

"They appear to be UNS strike craft being deployed directly from the asteroid colony," the Vehicon said. The projection of the battle shifted to show the UNS strike craft racing into the battle. Right for the Stealjaw's flagship and the League battleship. "I'm reading three, no four squadrons."

Stealjaw gritted his teeth in furry. "Damn that, Prime," he said. "He must have had them in reserve from the beginning. Holding them back for the right moment." A moment just like this.

Most of their fighters and screening ships were heavily engaged with the enemy forces, and what few strike craft they did have would not be able to stop the incoming attack wing.

"Divert all available power to the point defense cannons," Stealjaw ordered. "And fire on the incoming strike craft. Blanket the area of their flight path with energon fire," he hoped that would be enough to stop the attack or at least reduce the damage they would do.

"Yes, Stealjaw," the Vehicon said.

On the projection, Stealjaw saw his flagship's PD cannons come to life and fire small bolts of energon in the direction of the UNS strike craft. The formation of strike craft was quick to react and broke apart their formation to avoid being struck by an energon blast.

However, with their flight path being blanketed with PD fire, there was no way for the UNS strike craft to avoid taking losses. Several icons representing the small spacecraft blinked out as the hits were confirmed. Stealjaw had to hand it to them; the human pilots were no Seekers, but they could fly more of their craft through the PD fire than he would like them to.

The UNS strike craft closed in, moving past the point where Stealjaw's flagship shields would have stopped a normal attack. "Missiles!" A Vehicon bridge crew said.

The strike craft each fired a salvo of missiles aimed at the Decepticon flagship. Each strick craft appeared to fire two missiles, bringing the number of incoming missiles to around sixty.

"Redirect PD fire on those missiles," Stealjaw barked. "We can't let any of them through."

"Yes, sir."

Again, Stealjaw turned his attention to the projection, hoping to see the human missiles all be destroyed. The strick-craft was already moving away from his flagship. To his relief, they did not appear to be going after the League battleship. They must have used up their supply of missiles at the anti-capital ship missiles.

At least one of their main capital ships would be safe. Or so Stealjaw thought.

UNS. Jasper

Commander Raymound was holding his breath as the reports came in. "The squadrons have fired their anti-capital ship missiles," his tactical officer said.

Raymond was watching the projection of the ships, so he already knew that. The Decepticon flagship redirected its PD fire at the missiles as the strike broke away from the battle.

Several of the missiles fired had already been shot down by energon blasts. But Raymond could already see that several would make it through the PD and strike the Decepticon cruiser. Raymond hoped it would be enough to do some severe damage.

Then he turned his attention to the League Battleship. A wicked smile spreads across the Commander's face. "They probably think that pretty battleship is safe," he commented to his crew.

From the corners of his eyes, he saw several of his bridge crew crack smiles. "Well, they are about to find out otherwise," he said. "Tactical, have the enemy shown any signs that they have detected us?"

His tactical officer looked down at his terminal. He shook his head. "Negative, Captain," he said. "The League Battleship has shown no sign they have detected us. For matter, neither has the decepticon cruiser."

Well, that was something to think about. But Raymond wasn't about to believe human stealth tech could beat cybertronian sensors. Not until they had done some tests with the help of their autobot allies.

Until then. "How close are we now?" Raymond asked his helmsmen.

"Close enough, sir," the helmsmen said. On the projection, Commander Raymond saw the outline of the League Battleship's shields. The Jasper was past that line now.

Raymond smiled. "Missiles?"

"Armed and ready, captain," Tactical said. "Maximum yield."

"Fire."

Decepticon Flagship

"Sir, more missiles have appeared," a crew member shouted. "They're targeting the League battleship."

Stealjaw shot out of his chair. "How?" On the projection, he saw a swarm of missiles appear at point-blank range of the League battleship. The large human warship tried to direct its PD fire at the incoming missiles. But with how close they were, only two of them had been successfully shot down. The rest reached their target and detonated.

At the same time, the surviving missiles from the UNS strike craft stuck Stealjaw's flagship. Stealjaw was thrown to the ground as the world around him rocked.

Mine

Tribolt looked over to see how the fight with Elita One was faring. He hid his smile under a horrified expression when he saw the pink autobot in the hands of Drillbreaker. "Sir!" He shouted to get Wheeljack's attention. "She needs our help."

Wheeljack looked up from his work and over at the femme. Tribolt was about to run over to her to 'help.' When Wheeljack grabbed him, Tribolt looked at the wrecker with a surprised expression.

"Our work is right here," he said. "Elita's been in worse before. She can pull through."

Now, that was surprising to hear from an Autobot. "But, sir," he feigned a protest.

Wheeljack had none of it. "Look," he said with a steely voice. "The sooner we finish here, the sooner we can help her. Elita is not going to go down that easily. She may not look it, but she's tough nuts."

Tribolt was about to say something when his optics caught something. "Uhh, sir, the bridge ground."

Drillbreaker's drill spun to life as it inched closer to Elita's spark chamber.

Elita struggled against the larger meche's strength. What she needed was something to distract the con. Enough to get him to loosen his grip around her neck, then she could…

"The groundbridge," someone shouted. "It's closing!"

"What!" Both Buzzsaw and Drillbreaker shouted and turned their heads over. Just in time to see the green vortex of the ground bridge flicker out and close.

"How?" Drillbreaker said. His grip loosened around Elita's neck.

Seeing her chance, Elita used both of her hands to pry the decepticon's hand open. "What the?" Drillbreaker shouted as he turned his head around to face Elita again. He tried to grasp his hand around his captive.

But it was already too late, Elita lunged forward, slamming her head into Drillbreaker's. A sharp pain went through Elita's head, but she powered through it as Drillbreaker's grip was broken around her. With her momentum continuing to carry her forward, Elita grabbed onto the shoulders of the larger Decepticon.

Elita flipped over the con's head and slammed her feet into his back. The con grunted in pain as he tried to shake her off. However, Elita held on. Keeping one hand on the head of Drillbreaker, she transforms her other hand into a cross arrow and fires point-blank into the con's head. Two Times, three times, four. She kept firing until Drillbreaker's head had been hollowed out by bolts of energon.

She jumped off as the con toppled over, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Elita looked at her remaining opponent, Buzzsaw. He had been stunned to a frozen state at seeing the death of his partner.

Elita took full advantage of that. She charged in, letting out a primal battle cry. Buzzsaw was snapped out of his stupor. "You stupid fragger," he snarls, transforming his hands into buzzsaws. "You'll pay for that." He swung one of the saws as Elita got close to him.

Elita transformed a hand into a blade and blocked the attack. Then she transformed her free hand into a crossarrow and fired several bolts into Buzzsaw's chestplate. Sparks and metal exploded into the air as each bolt found its mark.

Buzzsaw cried out in pain as he swung his other saw out at Elita. But the motion was sloppy and slow. Elita was more precise and quicker. With one sweeping motion from her blade arm, the saw was separate from con's arm.

Elita slid around behind Buzzsaw. She transformed her blade into a second crossarrow. She fired both weapons into the back of Buzzsaw. With how close she was and the injuries, Buzzsaw already had all of Elita's shots easily found their mark.

After several seconds of continuous fire, Elita stopped and looked at her opponent. Buzzsaw was swaying on his feet like he was on high-grade energon and was about to fall over. Which he did after a few more seconds of swaying and staggering. He fell close to where Drillbreaker's body was.

Elita transformed one of her weapons into a hand and pointed the other at the down decepticon. She walked over to Buzzsaw and carefully flipped his body to confirm her suspicions. Buzzsaw was dead.

Letting a breath of relief, Elita looked around to assess the situation. She was relieved that with the groundbridge closed, UNS and Autobot forces were pressing hard on the cons and the League.

She looked over the jammer and saw that Wheeljack was still hard at work on the device. She runs over to check his progress.

Decepticon Flagship

Stealjaw crawled back to his feet as soon as the shaking stopped. "Damage report," he shouted as he slid back into his command chair.

He looked over to see a vehicon pulling themselves back to their station. "Critical damage to the ship, Stealjaw," the drone reported. "Multiple hull breaches have been reported, weapons systems are operating at half power, engines," the Vehicon turned to face Stealjaw. "Sir, one of our primary engines is gone, and several secondary engines are down."

Stealjaw growled and slammed a fist on the rest of his chair. "What about the League battleship?" He asked. "Do we know what happened to them?" They were already down a capital ship; they didn't need to lose two.

"Sensors coming in now, sir," the Vehicon said. "Sir," judging by its voice, Stealjaw already knew he would not like the results. "We're reading heavy damage to the League Battleship."

Stealjaw frowned. "How badly?" He asked.

"Their engines appear to be heavily damaged and operating on minimum power," the Vehicon said. "Several decks are exposed to the vacuum of space and reading sporadic power readings to their weapons and shields. Sir, I think they might be crippled or close to it."

Stealjaw took all the information in and reached a conclusion. "What of the ground bridge to the mine?" He asked.

The Vehicon shook its head. "We lost ground bridge functionality," it answered.

So, they would have to leave soldiers behind. "Order the fleet to withdraw," Stealjaw said. He got looks of surprise from the Decepticons on the bridge. Stealjaw ignored the looks and continued with his orders. "Open a channel to the League Battleship. See if they need any help."

Space

Jack pulled at the controls of his fighter, bringing him right behind a League fighter. He pulled at the fire controls, sending a burst of fusion bolts. A second later, he got a kill confirmation on his HUD.

Jack nodded and was about to pull his bird around to engage the next target when he heard something over the comms. "Blue-3 here. I think something is happening with the enemy formation."

"I see it too, Blue-3," another pilot said. "I think they might be withdrawing."

Jack looked through his HUD to see what the others were watching. Jack didn't have to be a tactical genius to know they were right. They were slow, but the remaining enemy capital ships were turning around. What was left of the enemy fighter force was closing around their motherships, providing cover as they retreated.

Jack flipped his comm system on. "This is Cobalt-four here to Cobalt Leader," he said. "The enemy fleet appears to be retreating. What are our orders? Should we give chase?"

It took a moment for an answer to come. "Negative, Cobalt-4," Cobalt leader said. "We are not giving chase to the enemy. Prime wants us to let them go and tighten our defenses around the colony. All fighters have been recalled."

"Copy that, Cobalt Leader," Jack said. He pulled at the controls to swing his fighter back around and set a course back for the Axalon. "Cobalt-4 returning to nest."

Mine

Tribolt put on his best smile when he heard the news. "The enemy is in full retreat," someone said over the comm. "All forces stand down once the enemy has withdrawn or surrendered."

Tribolt looked around, seeing that most of the remaining League soldiers had already dropped their weapons and had their hands up in the air. He repressed the urge to sneer at the cowardly organics.

But he kept his smile on and looked at Wheeljack. "Well, it looks like we won that battle," he said.

Wheeljack nodded. "A good thing, too," he said. "It'll give us a chance to clean out whatever kind of virus the cons put into this thing. We might have to check the others as well."

Tribolt nodded. Inside his mind, Makeshift was seething, sorely tempted to end the wrecker's life then and there. But he kept his calm and reminded himself that he would be of more use to the Decepticon cause where he was now.

He would get his chance one day. Makeshift just had to be patient.

Axalon

Optimus Prime had a pleased smile on his face as he talked to Elita One. "With the mine secured, we have set up proper mining equipment to extract the energon."

Optimus nodded. "That is good," he said. "Admiral Cartwell says that New Tunis will receive a proper defense fleet to guard it. They'll also bring in orbital defense satellites and the means to establish ground defense installations. They'll be here in less than a week."

Elita nodded. "Until then, we'll hold," she said.

"It is good to see that you are alright, Elita," Optimus said with a softer voice. "I heard about your battle with Buzzsaw and Drillbreaker. You should not have engaged them alone."

Elita shook her head and waved him off. "I've told you before I can handle myself," she said. "We had a mission to do."

Optimus nodded. "I know," he said. It still didn't stop him from worrying. "But next time, do not be so reckless. We need all the good bots we can get."

Elita looked at him for a moment, a smile spread across her face. "I'll be more careful next time, Orion," she said.

Optimus nodded and smiled. "It is good that soon we will enjoy a new supply of energon. Our alliance with our new human allies has been bearing fruit."

"Indeed, it has," she said. "Despite our differences, they have proven to be quite capable. Makes me wonder how the cons are getting on with their new human allies."

Optimus suspected not very well at the moment.

Nemesis in orbit over Titan

Megatron was not pleased with the recent developments. "I am sorry to say that we were not able to secure the energon deposit on New Tunis," Stealjaw said. "The enemy's resolve proved to be too great to overcome."

"Stealjaw," Megatron said very carefully. "You are fortunate that you are one of my most capable meches. Otherwise, I would demand your presence in person so I may give an example of those who fail me."

Megatron smiled at the brief flash of fear in Stealjaw's optics. "I will not fail you again, Lord Megatron," he said.

Megatron's smile grew. "You best not, Stealjaw," he said. "I would hate to lose one of my best meches."