Chapter 9: Finding Pt: 2
Nemesis
A Vehicon walked up to Megatron, bowing to him. "Report." The Leader of the Decepticons said.
"My, lord. We have received word that the enemy has engaged the interception force."
Megatron smiled. "You never disappoint Optimus," he said.
"My, lord?"
Megatron waved the trooper. "It matters not. So as long as they do their job." That job, of course, is to slow Optimus and his forces down. Megatron had no doubt the enemy would destroy the interception force; it did not have the firepower to go against a full enemy force. But that was never their purpose.
"Prepare our forces, for when the interception force is defeated," Megatron ordered the vehicon. The Vehicon nodded and left. Megatron then ordered a communication with Shockwave.
The image of the decepticon scientist was before Megatron in a moment. "Lord, Megatron." Shock bowed. "Are you seeking an update from the dig?"
"Of a sort," Megatron replied. "I have just been informed that the enemy has engaged the interception force."
Shockwave nodded. "How long until the enemy arrives in full over the colony?"
"That I cannot say. If they do their job properly, perhaps another hour. But Optimus is a cunning and experienced foe. We may have less."
"Then we will accelerate our efforts here," Shockwave replied.
Megatron smiled. "That is exactly what I wanted to hear."
Kigali several kilometers from the main dome
Wheeljack settled in the ridge overlooking the decepticon dig site. The rest of the force came up with him. "Looks like they got their dig in full swing."
Next to him, Elita nodded. "And it looks like they're in a hurry." She observed. "They must know they don't have long."
Hatsuko appeared on a small ridge by Wheeljack's face. Behind her, a couple more marines climbed up. "Our reinforcements should be engaging that interception force right about now. Once they dealt with that, they'll be here soon enough."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Hotrod said eagerly. "Let's get down there and smash that dig up nice and good." The young autobot was about to jump up and over the ridge."
Wheeljack was quick to stop the brash bot. "Hang on, kid," he said, pulling the young meche down. Next to him, his brother placed a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from acting out more. "We still don't know what the cons are after."
"So what?" Hotrod replied. "We can find that out later. After we smashed the place up."
Wheeljack shook his head and looked at Elita for help. The femme was giving him a knowing smile. Wheeljack frowned and remembered old conversations from the war's earliest days. Scrap. Looking at Hotrod and Bumblebee sometimes felt like looking in a mirror.
Wheeljack sighed while Elita giggled. "Wheeljack is right," Elita said, tossing him what the humans called a bone. "If we do go in guns blazing, we could end up destroying whatever the Decepticons are after."
"Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Hotrod responded.
"Not if we could use it," Bee said to his brother. "If the cons want it. It could be something useful, even to us."
Wheeljack sent a silent thank you to the other bot. As he had learned since meeting the hot-headed bot, he wasn't stupid; he just needed a nudge here and there to get him thinking.
The former wrecker smiled when he saw the gears churning in Hotrod's mind. "Good point, Bee." He rubbed his head. "But we could still go in and take the place over. We'll just be careful."
Wheeljack snorted, and by the looks of Hatsuko, she was resisting to do the same. Careful and battle were two words that did not go together very well, no matter how many times people might claim it.
"Better to find out what it is before we do anything," Wheeljack said. He started to climb over the ridge. "Cover me while I'll sneak around the place."
Elita nodded. "We'll try to get a little closer as well."
The unit moved out.
Jasper
Jack walked into the hangar of the corvette and was relieved to see that both fighters were ready to launch. He saw that another pilot had already occupied one. But the second had his cockpit window open.
He walked up to that one. "Is this one taken?" He asked the technician working on the fighter.
The woman shook her head. "Negative, sir. The commander said to have one of our birds ready for you."
Jack nodded. A minute later, he was inside the fighter. The cockpit window shuts as his mind links to the fighter's systems.
"Cobalt-three ready to launch," he said into the comm.
Commander Raymond answered him. "Standby Cobalt-three. We'll be waiting for the main force to arrive."
Jack nodded. A part of him wanted to get out into battle now. But he knew that would result in a swift death for him. "What if something happens?"
"Then we act," the commander replied.
Dig site
Shockwave was monitoring the dig's progress when Soundwave walked up to him. "Report."
Shockwave did not take his optic off the readouts as he responded to the spymaster. "We are nearing where the artifacts are. Whatever the ancients left here, we shall soon learn."
Soundwave nodded. "The enemy shall soon be upon us. A scout unit was detected not longer after we landed."
"The UNS will not be able to spare the personnel to assault this position," Shockwave was quick to dismiss. However, he suspected Soundwave would not tell him this if he did not suspect the opposite.
"Two autobots were reported in the colony," Soundwave responded.
Shockwave recalculated his response. "The autobots would be foolish to attack us here."
"Autobots foolish. Decepticons Superior." Was the response he got.
Shockwave nodded. "Then we will prepare ourselves. If the autobots attack here, we will show them their folly."
There was silence for a moment. "Analysis of the artifacts?"
Shockwave had anticipated that question. "Still progress. The artifacts are likely protected by special containers, preventing detailed scans. We will not know what they are until we have unearthed them."
Soundwave stared at him in silence for several seconds. Then the spymaster turned and left Shockwave to his work.
It was a little tricky for Wheeljack to sneak into the dig site. The area it had been set up in offered little room for hiding from detection. Luckily for Wheeljack, he was mainly dealing with vehicons, not the brightest bulbs to begin with.
The League soldiers, though, were a little trickier to get around. But despite the difficulties, Wheeljack did find himself sneaking around the dig site. Nor did it take him long to find a data terminal to access.
"Now let's see what you're after," Wheeljack muttered as he accessed the terminal. He was not surprised that the thing was encrypted but was disappointed at how easy it was to break through.
He activated his comm link to his allies. "Wheeljack here," he said. "I'm in." He started to look through any important-looking file. He was no data clerk, but Optimus had shown him a trick or two over the millennia.
"Have you found anything?" Elita asked. The allied group was a short distance away from the dig site. At any given moment, they would attack.
"Working on it, now," Wheeljack replied. Then he grinned triumphantly as he found the file he sought. "Found it." Then, he started to read through the data. A second later, a heavy frown stretched across his face as he reread the information.
"Well, good news, it's not a vein of energon the cons are after," Wheeljack said. He never really considered that to be a possibility. A vein large enough for the cons to attack in force would have been found long ago. "Bad news is it might be something worse."
He could almost see the worried looks on his friends' faces. "What have the cons found?" Hotrod said over the line.
"And how worried should we be?" Hatsuko said next.
In a word, very worried. "I don't know how they learn about this." That was a lie. Wheeljack had a rough idea of what might have led to the cons here. But he wouldn't give voice to the theory until he went over it with Optimus first. "But looks like the cons are trying to dig up cybertronian artifacts. Three of them, by the looks."
There was a short pause as the others took in the information. Wheeljack took the liberty of reading through more information on the terminal. "What artifacts are they?" Elita asked. "Could they be weapons?"
That was what Wheeljack was trying to find out. But looking through the data, he quickly got an answer. "I can't find anything that says. I think the cons are as clueless as we are." Which was a scary thought. Not knowing what the cons could be unleashing wasn't doing any good for Wheeljack's imagination.
The best-case scenario would be the cons of digging out some very old art pieces or sparkling toys from millions of years ago. Wheeljack would laugh if that was the case. But on the opposite end of that scale, Megatron could find himself with three new weapons of mass destruction. Whatever was below the asteroid's surface could be anywhere between those two extremes.
"That doesn't sound good," Bumblebee had nicely summed up Wheeljack's thoughts.
"Agreed, kid," Wheeljack replied, closing out of the data file. "I suggest that we."
Instinct took over as Wheeljack's body moved on its own just as a clawed hand slammed into the data file. Wheeljack parried another attack as he was forced back.
Wheeljack looked at his attacker. "Well, scrap."
Soundwave pulled his hand out from the data terminal and faced him. "Autobot detected. Mission: terminate."
Wheeljack swung his swords at the Decepticon lieutenant.
"Let's move," Elita said, jumping out from her cover.
Hatsuko didn't hesitate for a second as she signals for the rest of her people to follow. She jumped over the ridge and slid down from the opposite side. She held her rifle out at the ready.
The dig site was just a few meters away from their positions. When Hatsuko landed at the bottom, enemy fire was already pouring out from the camp as the first of its defenders responded.
Luckily, most of the fire was initially focused on the three bots charging into battle. That allowed Hatsuko, her marines, and the local soldiers to charge into battle and gun down several League soldiers before they could shift their focus.
Hatsuko slid onto the cover as plasma fire started to come her way. Hatsuko took a breath and stood up to fire the plasma rifle. Two quick bursts later, she dived back into cover as plasma bolts were fired in her direction.
She saw several UNS marines and soldiers rushing up to reinforce her position. Two would be cut down before most of the unit reached cover. Hatsuko nodded to a marine next to her. Both rushed out from cover to charge the enemy position.
The shockwave was torn from his analysis as the sound of battle reached his receptors. He might have sighed in frustration and shook his head if he still had his emotions. Instead, his single red eye narrowed as he charged his energon cannon.
The vehicon soldiers were rushing out to join the battle, along with several fire teams of League soldiers. Walking away from his terminal, Shockwave grabbed a pair of Vehicon soldiers who were about to rush out.
"Stay here," he ordered the pair. "And protect his position. The autobots must not be allowed to recover the artifacts. Lord Megatron would be most displeased by that." Unlike a certain Second in Command, Shockwave was not in the habit of disappointing.
Shockwave walked out to join the battle.
Flying around in the space above the human colony, it did not take Dreadwing long to detect the battle raging around where the dig was. "Well, it did not take long for the UNS to try something foolish," he said.
He got a comm spike from Drake. "They must have realized the dig was important to you. Shall we provide air support?"
Dreadwing thought about it for a second. "We will fly over them and ascertain the situation."
"I will be on your wing."
Dreadwing tilted himself to the side, allowing a smooth turn towards the dig site. Beside him, he saw a League fighter flying close to him. It was not most of the League fighters he had seen before. The cockpit section was slender in comparison, and the main frame was more rounded. It also had two more engines than the standard league fighter, and the craft itself, while still retaining the steal grey color, had blue and purple stripes along its sides. The crest of the Dragovich family was emblazoned on it.
He had been surprised by the pilot's skill as he tore his enemies apart. The pair flew over the dig site, where Dreadwing could get detailed scans of what was going on.
Dreadwing frowned when he detected four distinct energon readings that were not
Decepticon in origin. The Autobots were here. How did they get her? Well, it does not matter, they would fall all the same. However, it did explain the UNS's boldness.
"How looks the situation?" Drake asked.
"Contained for the moment," Dreadwing responded. "We will circle around the area for the time being. If it looks like our comrades need help, we'll swoop in."
"A good plan," the League pilot responded. "They should have a chance to earn the glory for themselves."
Dreadwing smiled, he was starting to like this human.
Axalon
"Enemy ship down."
"Target the next enemy cruiser," Optimus ordered, even as he saw an enemy ship vanish from the holo-display. Just as predicted, the Omega-One and elements of the station's fleet had been engaged by a Legau/Decepticon interception force.
The fleet was smaller than the attacking Kigali, but it was never meant to stop reinforcements from reaching the colony. They've slowed us down. It was clear to Optimus that the goal was not to conquer the colony but something else entirely.
And it has something to do with a dig site outside the colony. Jazz at the communications station spoke out. "Prime, we just got another burst from our boys on the ground."
Optimus nodded. "What do they say?"
"They've engaged the cons at the dig site," Jazz replied. "Also, they mention something about the cons digging up artifacts."
"Artifacts?" Optimus was confused for a second. Then, it clicked in his mind. His optics narrowed as he turned his attention back to the display of the battle. "Megatron, so you have started to uncover the secrets of the data-rod. What else could you have found?" It was a question he had been asking himself since the incident at Autre Lyon.
"Prime, the enemy fleet is breaking apart. They're fleeing the battle. Should we pursue?"
Optimus quickly shook his head and stood up. "No," he replied with finality. "Set a course for Kigali best possible speed. Our allies need us."
The display shifted to show the fleet moving toward the colony and the enemy seizing it. At its center, Optimus knew he would find Megatron's flagship. Another confrontation with his old friend was coming.
Even then, his thoughts still went out to his people in the colony. He hoped they would be able to put to a stop the decepticon's plans. Failure here was not something he wanted to think about.
Kigali
Wheeljack dodged another attack from Soundwave. Then he swung his sword at the con, who expertly avoided the attack. The con closed on him, slashing his claws at the former wrecker.
Wheeljack jumped back from the attack and ducked under another attack. Wheeljack then attempted to tackle the con by springing forward.
Soundwave, however, must have anticipated the action and slammed both his fists down on Wheeljack. The bot frowned and was forced to redirect himself away from the con. Then, he used a sword to parry a claw strike.
He twisted back and swung his other sword up, hoping to catch Soundwave in the arm. No such luck there. Soundwave grabbed the blade as it swung up. Wheeljack puts his weight behind the blade to try and overwhelm Soundwave.
But Soundwave was much stronger than he appeared, as he was able to hold back the attack. "For a quiet guy, you're tough," Wheeljack commented to the Decepticon Lieutenant. "I guess what they say about the quiet ones must be true."
Even though there was no expression to read on the con's face, somehow Wheeljack got the impression that Soundwave had a satisfied smile. A fist crashed into his chest plate, sending Wheeljack skirting across the ground.
Wheeljack looked back at his opponent, who stood there. "Autobots inferior, Decepticons superior." Nice quip.
Wheeljack twirled one blade and held the other out. "Not bad, but you'll need to do better." He really should have known better than to taunt his enemy like that.
Soundwave's chest opened up, allowing for two figures to jump out. One flew into the air, while the other landed on the ground on all fours. "Lazer Beak, Ravage, assist." The two minicons charged at the autobot.
Wheeljack frowned but readied himself.
Hotrod shot an energon bolt right through the chest of a con. Its chest plate exploded as it fell to the ground. However, Hotrod did not get a chance to gloat, as he felt a burning sensation in his back.
He twisted around to face a squad of League soldiers firing their plasma rifles at him. He aimed his energon cannon at them and fired. The League soldiers were smart enough to jump out of the bolt's path. Unfortunately, this left them exposed to UNS plasma fire.
Several of the enemy soldiers were cut down by the UNS.
Hotrod didn't dwell on this as he turned his attention to his next opponent. A vehicon had got right up behind him and was about to plunge its blade into his spark chamber.
Luckily, Hotrod had a helping hand there as a metal fist collided with the side of the con's face. The vehicon was sent to the side. Hotrod looked at his savior and smiled at Bumblebee.
"I got you," Bee said.
The brothers nodded and turned their weapons on the vehicon. The thing never stood a chance as bolts of energon tore into its body. The drone soldier was dead before its body hit the ground.
Hotrod grinned and did a high-five with his brother. "Thanks, Bee."
Bee smiled back. "Nothing to it, bro."
"It's nice knowing that someone has my back," Hotrod said as she surveyed the battlefield. "Together, the two of us are unstoppable."
"An interesting hypothesis. Shall we test it?" Hotrod and Bumblebee only had a second to roll out of the way of several large energon bolts. Looking back at where the bolts had come from, the two autobot brothers saw that Shockwave had decided to join the fight.
"Scrap," Bee said.
Hotrod agreed with the sentiment, but he would not let it show. Hotrod got to his feet, transforming one hand into a blade and the other into an energon cannon. "Come on, Bee. We can take this guy."
Bee looked uncertain but nodded, turning his hands into weapons as well.
Shockwave looked at the pair with a single red eye. Then he fired his massive energon cannon.
Amidst all the chaos, no one had noticed that a little figure had snuck into the dig sight. Jix knew he should have been back in the human colony, where it was safer (comparatively speaking).
But Jix wanted to help, so the minicon had snuck out from the colony while no one was looking. He was sure the others would be upset with him for it. But he could bear with it, especially once he found a way to help.
Still, Jix knew he had to be careful. Being a minicon had its advantage: most people didn't pay attention to them because they were small. To most cybertronians, they were like bugs scarring around, worthy of little attention. And if they did get any, it was for the novelty. Even before the war, minicons had been a rarity.
In this case, it helped in letting Jix slip by. Of course, the issue of being ignored came up in situations like the one he found himself in now, namely right in the middle of a fight between two factions of the regular cybertronians.
In moments like this, Jix knew they had to be careful; he had been in such fights before. The Autobots meant well enough, but they were still titans compared to him. Titians were not known for their considered steps. The decepticons could care what became of the minicons.
Still, between the two, Jix would always take the bots. They at least tried to play nice with his people. He even had friends among the ranks of the autobots. Friends he was looking to help now.
Carefully, Jix snuck through the battle, taking great care to avoid where the fight was heavy and keeping out of sight of the UNS and League soldiers. The humans were much more likely to notice him since they were on an even playing field (in more ways than one). Jix didn't care to take a hit from their plasma rifles. Unlike with his larger cousins, a single plasma bolt was probably enough to down him.
After an eternity, Jix finally reached what looked like the central terminal. Then he cursed as he saw the thing was guarded. Of course, the thing would be guarded; the Decepticons were not stupid. Arrogant but not stupid.
Jix couldn't just waltz up to the terminal to access it. He'd be lucky to get within five feet before the Vehicon soldiers vaporized him. But luck for him, he didn't have to take a direct approach. Jix smiled as a plan formed in his mind.
He moved, seeing the moment he needed.
Space
Drake frowned as he looked over the battle from his cockpit window. Dreadwing and he had taken another flying pass over the dig site.
"Looks like the enemy is getting close to the dig," Drake commented. Mentally, he cursed the UNS curs.
"So, it would seem," Dreadwing replied. He almost sounded bored. Something that Drake could relate to. The skies over Kigali had long since been cleared, and Drake had been left disappointed by the performance of the UNS fighters.
Granted, the pilots he faced came from the Colonia defenses. He couldn't have expected them to be up to the same standards as a military force. Still, if they were any indication, the Dracovich heir had to wonder how UNS pilots could be any real challenge.
There was little glory in fighting an inferior opponent. But Drake would perform his duty to the League and his house.
"But not for long," Dreadwing continued. "It is time we gave our forces a helping hand."
Drake nodded and prepped his fighter. "Rodger that. Preparing for an attack run on the enemy."
"Be careful with your aim, human," Dreadwing warned him. "We cannot risk damage to the dig site. Or worse to the artifacts we are trying to uncover."
Drake snorted. He didn't need the warning. He was no wild berserker or some third-rate pilot that the League loved to throw into the grinder so much. He was the high-born son of the House of Dracovich, trained from an early age to serve in the military. His skills as a pilot were unmatched.
He could shoot a target in the sky and mow down a line of enemy soldiers without damaging the surrounding area.
"I shall follow your lead," Drake said. "Today, our enemies will know death."
Together, the pair and a couple of others came around for a pass on the dig sit.
Elita had gunned down a vehicon soldier when her instincts screamed at her to get down. She had learned to heed the voice over many millennia of battle. So, once it told her to get down, she did.
A good thing, too, as bolts of energon and plasma rained down from the skies, and Elita saw shadows flying over her. She had seen the flyers and League fighters flying overhead. Now, it seemed they had decided to lend their aid to the battle. Lovely.
Elita got back to her feet and fired her energon cannons into the sky, hoping to get at least one of the fliers. Even clipping one would be good enough. Unfortunately, the enemy was flying away rapidly, causing all her shots to be missed.
Elita shows a vehicon soldier charging at her. She stepped around the attack and cut her attacker down. "All units be advised," she said, activating her commlink. "The enemy now has air support."
"We noticed that," an irritated Hatsuko replied over the comm. "A couple of our people got caught in the stifling run."
Elita nodded. She ordered, "Keep pushing into the dig site. The other bots and I will handle the enemy in the sky."
"No can do, Elita," came Wheeljack's quick reply. "I'm a little busy."
"Same over here with Bee and me," Hotrod replied. "The cyclopes is keeping us busy."
Elita sighed. "Scratch that," she said, getting her thoughts together. "I'll hand the enemies in the sky."
She cuts the comm and aims her energon cannons into the sky. As soon as she, the enemy, came in for another attack, she fired.
Jix had sneaked behind the main terminal when he saw the enemy attack from the sky. "Well, that's not good." Then, he went back to his business.
He listened in on the comms as Elita volunteered to swat the flies out of the sky. He wished her the best of luck.
Looking around to make sure that no one was paying him any mind, Jix opened a panel on the back of the main terminal. He looked inside, searching for something he could use.
He let out a small, triumphant laugh when he saw a socket he could plug into. Smiling, he transformed his left hand into an interface port and plugged it into the socket. In an instant, the minicon was almost overwhelmed by the surge of data rushing into his mind.
Jix, however, quickly stemmed the tide of data and got to work. This was his specialty, while any bot could plug into the main frame of a dataspace and even get around. Few could truly navigate the streams of data and manipulate them.
Jix was one of those few. To him, navigating about a dataspace was no different from walking around in a city in the real world. Sure, there were more twists and turns and plenty of hazards along the way. But Jix had always been able to deal with such things.
With this in mind, Jix plunged right into the dataspace of the dig site's main terminal. Looking around, he was careful to avoid any security measures he came across while still looking them over. With anyone else, he might have been tempted to try and get through them.
However, Jix would bet a month's worth of energon that Shockwave had made these measures. There was no telling what he put into the mainframe, and Jix was not inclined to find out. Not without looking things over carefully.
Still, Jix was able to navigate the dataspace with little trouble. There wasn't too much he had learned from the data. Mostly just confirming what Wheeljack had reported a while ago. The decepticons were trying to dig up some cybertronian artifacts, three of them, in fact.
However, the cons had no idea what they were trying to uncover. The artifacts were locked inside containers that prevented any accurate scan of what was inside. Jix frowned at learning that; he had hoped the cons would know more.
But given that they were dealing with artifacts from the golden age, he probably should not have been surprised. He did note that the digging equipment was up-linked to the mainframe and constantly relaying their sensor data.
Looking through that data, Jix learned the cons were close to unearthing the artifacts. Just minutes away, in fact. That wasn't good.
Jix dug deeper into the dataspace.
Space
"Coming around for another pass," Drake said.
Dreadwing acknowledged the report. "I suggest we focus on taking out the bot shooting at us. She is growing to be a nuisance."
The femme bot, which Dreadwing recognized as Elita One, had been shooting at the air squadrons since they began their attack runs. While she had yet to hit him or Dragovich, the rest of the squadron had not been so lucky.
Two vehicon fliers had been shot down, and league fighters had been forced to withdraw. The Allied forces still had plenty of air forces to throw around, but the femme proved to be a problem.
A problem Dreadwing intended to deal with right now. In his alternative form, the Seeker smiled. He wondered how Prime would deal with the loss of his sparkmate. The squadron flew around and aimed their weapons at the pink autobot.
The bot fired her cannons at the squadron as they flew for her, trying to cut her down. All her shots were missed. But several fighters and fliers still exploded into balls of fire.
"What?" Dreadwing shot as he and Dracovich were forced to evade enemy fire. The enemy fire that had come from the skies. Looking around, Dreadwing tried to find where the attack came from.
There was no way the enemy could have gotten a ship past the fleet, and they had spotted enemy fighters coming in on an approach.
That was when he saw the UNS Corvette flying past him, firing off its weapons. Dreadwing flew out from the volleys of fusion bolts pelting the skies. If the plasma weapons of the UNS were dangerous enough, then their ship-mounted fusion weapons were a step above that.
Dreadwing gave pursuit to the UNS ship, fully intending to turn the thing into scrap metal. He was soon joined by his human counterpart. "Looks like a UNS corvette. That thing could give us trouble. We need to take it out now."
That much he could agree on. "But how did they get a ship out here without being detected?"
"Must be stealth variant," Drake answered. "Though it doesn't look like anything I've read about. It must be a new class."
A stealth corvette? Dreading mused on that thought for a couple of seconds. Dreadwing disliked the idea of stealth, but he understood the necessity; he had been on his fair share of stealth ops before. But this did explain several incidents throughout the war since coming to the Sol System.
"I'll have to warn Lord Megatron about this," Dreadwing told himself. Odds were that Omega-1 had such a vessel in its make-up. It was likely that the ship he and his counterpart were chasing now was that very ship.
Dreadwing grinned as another thought crossed his mind. He could be on board that ship. "Give chase to that corvette, and do not lose sight of it."
"Copy that," Drake acknowledged. "But be advised that my targeting computer is having trouble locking onto the enemy ship."
Dreadwing acknowledged the statement; he also had difficulty getting a solid lock onto the UNS Corvette. Its stealth abilities must be good if it was making it hard for Dreadwing.
The sensor technology built into their alternate forms was not as good as those in cybertronian technology. It was enough to allow a cybertronian to effectively move about in their alternate form. Otherwise, it had to rely on their line of sight.
"Then we will have to get closer," Dreadwing said as he fired his engines off to gain speed. "It won't matter how good their stealth is. If we get close enough, we can fire our weapons."
So, the pair did, along with several others, giving chase to the UNS stealth corvette. But that was about when another surprise curtailed their plans. Getting in close to the corvette, Dreadwing saw a bay door open from under the ship.
The Seeker narrowed his optics. What was the enemy planning? He got his answer when two UNS fighters flew out from the corvette with their weapons firing. Dreadwing and Drake barely had enough time to get out of the way. The rest of the squadron was not so lucky.
Earlier, UNS, Jasper, Hanger Bay
"Fighters ready to launch?" Commander Raymond's voice came over the comm.
Jack nodded his head; he had been waiting for this. "Ready." The engines of his fighter craft were on standby and ready for full acceleration at any second.
"Ready." The other UNS fighter pilot said.
"The enemy is closing in on us. Deploy on my count. Five."
Jack gripped the controls of his fighter.
"Four."
At this moment, the hanger bay door opened. Allowing Jack a glimpse at the darkness of space. He got comfortable in his seat.
"Three."
The engines of the two fighters roared to life. Both pilots ran their final checks.
"Two."
Jack's body tense.
"One."
Jack fired off his engines and his fighter was surging through the bay. A second fighter was close beside him.
"Launch."
Two UNS fighters flew right out of the Jasper's hanger bay. Suddenly, Jack's HUD lit up with multiple markers, showing friendly and hostile units. There was a larger cluster of the latter right in front of him.
With so much as a second, though, Jack fired the fusion cannons into that cluster. A second stream of fusion fire followed. Two of the enemy markers veried off just in time to avoid being destroyed, but the rest of the enemy squadron.
Jack kept firing the fusion cannons as he flew through the broken enemy squadron. By the time he flew past them, his computer had confirmed he had gotten three kills on the enemy. It would add nicely to his tally. His wing mate had gotten two kills.
Jack swung his fighter around for another attack on the enemy squadron. Around this time, a new cluster of contacts entered the space around Kigali. Jack smiled. The rest of Omega-1 had arrived.
Nemesis
Megatron had an impassive expression as he saw the enemy ships entering the range of the short sensors. "Enemy contacts coming in."
Megatron paid no heed to the report; his optics told him everything he needed. "Order the fleet to engage. Have the Nemesis close to the back. We will strike at the enemy from a distance."
"Yes, my lord."
On the display, he saw the rest of the fleet move in to engage Optimus's fleet. He ordered a link to Shockwave just as the first volleys were fired.
All he got was an audio response. "My lord, I am afraid this is not a good time."
Megatron frowned. "What is the status of the dig? Have you recovered the artifacts?"
"Negative, Lord Megatron," Shockwave replied. "However, we are close. But the enemy forces are preventing us from effectively recovering our prize."
"Then make haste," Megatron ordered. "Enemy reinforcements have arrived. Recover the artifacts, or we risk losing them to the Autobots."
"Understood my lord." The channel was cut.
Megatron turned his attention back to the battle. "Fire the first volley. Target the nearest enemy ship."
He would not allow Optimus to have this victory.
Space
"Looks like enemy reinforcements have arrived," Drake commented.
"It won't matter," Dreadwing replied. "They will find no victory here."
Drake nodded on his HUD he saw a swarm of enemy fighters heading for the colony. "Enemy fighters inbound. Squadron move in to engage. Dreadwing and I shall handle the pests here."
Drake got a lock on his target, one of the two UNS fighters that had come out from the corvette. He got a solid lock on the craft; he smiled and fired the plasma cannons. "Scratch that. We only have one pest to worry about now."
"Be wary of this one," Dreadwing warned him. "If it is who I think it is. You will find him to be a most worthy foe."
Drake raised an eyebrow. In the brief time he had known the decepticon, he had never heard such praise. The Dragovich heir had a feeling that it was rare praise as well. He looked at the representation of the remaining UNS fighters. Interesting.
"Then let us see how well he fairs against us."
Wheeljack grabbed the neck of the Ravage and threw the canine minicon at Soundwave. The minicon impacted against the chest plate of its decepticon master, causing him to stagger back.
Wheeljack brandished his blades and charged at the spymaster, ready to cut him to pieces. However, Lazer Beak was flying overhead and swooped in to save its master. It fired its energon cannon as it flew by.
Wheeljack used his blades to deflect the red bolts, then crossed them together as Soundwave brought a clawed hand down on him. From the side, Ravager leaped at Wheeljack with Jaws open.
Wheeljack kicked Soundwave away and swung his sword at Ravager. The blade got the mini-con in the side, sending it to the side. It skidded to Soundwave's feet, who looked down at the mini-con and then at Wheeljack.
Even though Soundwave's face remained impassive, Wheeljack could tell he was being glared at. Wheeljack smirked. Laser Beak flew over to Soundwave and perched itself on his shoulder.
"What?" Wheeljack said with a shrug of a shoulder. "Can't handle me even with your dance partners? Megatron must suck at picking his Lieutenants. Come on, he picked Starscream as his Second in Command."
Soundwave shifted his posture, holding his arms back, and leaned his head in. Ravager was back on its feet and growling at Wheeljack.
"He might be a good fighter," Wheeljack continued to taunt his opponent. "But he sucks at talent searching."
"Megatron is superior," Soundwave intoned. "Autobot talks too much." He extends his hand out. At the same time, both Laser Beak and Ravager jumped into the air. They transformed and combined to form a long spear. The spread land in Soundwave's hand. "Wheeljack will fall."
Soundwave twirled the spear around and lunged at Wheeljack.
Wheeljack smirked, using both his blades to block the forward thrust from the spear. This fight had just gotten interesting.
Elita ran across the dig site, fighting off a vehicon that tried to get in her way. With the enemy in the air now occupied, she had shifted her focus back to the battle on the ground.
The battle for the dig site was progressing well enough, even if it was taking time. Wheeljack was keeping Soundwave busy while Hotrod and Bumblebee struggled against Shockwave.
That left Elita and the rest of the UNS forces to cut deeper into the dig site. Progress was slow, but they were nearing the digging machines. Elita could even see the main control panel for the whole operation.
It was guarded by two vehicon soldiers, who were taking potshots at her and the UNS forces. Elita took cover to avoid the shots and returned with some counterfire.
She looked over at where Hatsuko was, hiding behind some makeshift cover, exchanging plasma fire with League soldiers. "We're almost the dig itself," Elita said over a comm. "Keep pressing in."
"Understood," Hatsuko replied. "What do we do with the machinery? Do we try to take them in one piece or fill them with weapons fire?"
Elita thought about it for a second, weighing out the pros and cons of either action. She decided. "We try to take the machinery in one piece. We can use them to dig the artifacts up ourselves."
From across the battlefield, Elita saw Hatsuko nodding. "Understood. But what if the enemy has already uncovered the artifacts by the time we arrive? What then?"
Elita smirked. "Then all we have to do is take them and get out." She didn't wait for a reply. She charged out from her cover and went straight for the main terminal.
The vehicles guarding it saw her coming and started to fire on her. Elita avoided each bolt of energon that came for her. Another vehicon came out to stop her, but a swift slash from her arm blade had an arm falling to the ground. Then, a thrust ended its life.
She saw a fire team of League soldiers aiming their plasma rifles at her from the corner of her optics. She didn't give them a chance to fire. She leaped into the air. With a flip, she lands right behind the fire team. The League soldiers turned around to face her. She swept her arm out, knocking the League away. Elita was careful with how hard she hit them.
Optimus might have given them permission to use lethal force when faced with League forces, but Elita knew how it pained him to do so. So, she only hit the League soldiers hard enough to knock them back and not do any serious harm. But the action would still take them out of the fight.
With that out of the way, she charges back to the terminal. The vehicon soldiers fired on her, but she was already close enough.
She jumped, dodging the first set of energon bolts fired at her. She landed right in front of the vehicons and fired her crossbows. One of the vehicons dropped as its chest exploded. The other made a move for her. Elita was already in motion, and her weapons were transformed into blades. She swings them both.
The decepticon soldier was able to parry one blade, but the second slashed across its chest, causing it to stagger back. Elita charged forward and slashed it with be blades, cutting right into the spark chamber.
Elita transforms her weapons into hands as the con falls. Without a moment to relax, Elita went up to the main terminal and accessed the thing.
"Now, let's see just how far along you guys got."
"I think I can answer that."
Acting instinctually, Elita transformed a hand into a crossbow and pointed it toward the voice. Elita's optics widen as seeing a familiar face. "Jix?"
Jix smiled at Elita, who was pointing her weapon at him, rather rude. But Jix supposed he should have known better than to sneak up on someone during a battle. Jix waved at Elita and walked up to the terminal.
"What are you doing here?" Elita asked. "Aren't you supposed to be back at the Colony?"
"I wanted to help," Jix answered the autobot. "So, I snuck along."
Elita had an exasperated look in her optics. She sighed and turned her weapon into a hand. "We need to talk about this sneaking habit of yours." Jix gave her a shy smile. "So, you said you can give me an answer?"
Jix nodded. He explained how he accessed the terminal. "The cons are very close to uncovering the artifacts. I say we have about." That was when a warning icon flashed across the terminal's screen. At the center of the dig, the drills stopped. "Now. I say we about how to stop the drills."
Elita groaned. She turned one hand into a crossbow and started to move toward the drills. She took a step forward before she stopped and turned to face Jix. "Stay here. I mean it." Then she turned and walked away.
Jix's smile dropped. He really wanted to see what the artifacts looked like. But he knew better than to disobey someone like Elita. Not to mention how dangerous it could be. As much as he wanted to see them, Jix knew he could wait.
He looked up at the terminal, and his smile returned. Since he was here, he might as well see what else he could get out of the thing.
"Elita One here, I'm moving on the Artifacts." Elita crept past one of the drills toward where the artifacts were. With any luck, she could retrieve them before any of the cons got to them.
"Proceed with caution, Elita," Optimus answered the comm. "There is no telling what the Decepticons have uncovered."
Elita nodded. Her mind was racing with the possibilities. In the best-case scenario, the cons had uncovered some sparkling's ancient artwork or even toys. A thin smile creased across her mouth. Now, wouldn't that be funny?
Elita shook her head. As nice as that would be, she knew that it was more likely that something more dangerous was being uncovered. Her best hope was to get to it before the cons did.
She got to the hole the drills had dug and peered down it. She held back a curse upon seeing someone had already beaten her to it. She pointed her weapon at the con, seeing them bending down. The con was retrieving one of the artifacts."
"Drop it," Elita called out to the con. She charged her weapon.
Startled, the con stood up and turned to face her. A vehicon, but not one of the soldier types. It had the frame of a miner, a civilian model of the drones. Elita looked at its hand, seeing that it was holding a circular object.
Elita glared at the miner. "I said drop it," she put more force into her voice.
The con looked between her and the object in its hand for several seconds. Then, in one swift motion, it slapped the object onto its chest. Elita fired a bolt at the vehicon's chest. To her surprise, the bolt simply dissipated on the circular object as it expanded and grew to encase the vehicon miner.
Then, a moment later, Elita was sent flying.
Shockwave was fighting against the autobot brothers when he registered a change in the battle. From where he was fighting the bots, he had noticed Elita moving towards the main terminal controlling the dig site.
The Decepticon scientist had attempted to stop her, but the two other bots had been more of a distraction than he had previously calculated. As such, he had been forced to watch as the femme moved towards the drills. More than likely, the artifacts had been dug up, and she was moving to retrieve them.
Shockwave had been prepared to dispatch the pest and intercept her when he saw the pink autobot flying into the air, landing a considerable distance from the dig. Shockwave's single eye narrowed in curiosity.
He shot his single out, grabbing one of the bots by the head as he tried to charge him. He pointed his cannon at the face of the other, who was trying to save his brother. However, Shockwave made no further mover beyond that.
His whole attention was directed at where the artifacts should have been dug up. The two bots saw that his attention was elsewhere and shifted their attention to where he was looking.
A figure emerged from the drills. Shockwave tilted his head. "Fascinating." The figure was large and armored.
"What is that thing?" The brother in his hand asked.
Shockwave heard the awe and worry in his voice. "One of the objects of our interest," he replied cooly. Shockwave threw the autobot across the dig site. The bot landed several meters away; his brother ran up to him.
Shockwave then activates a comm to Megatron. "Lord Megatron, we have unearthed the artifacts, and I have determined the nature of at least one."
"Good, what is our prize then?" Megatron asked.
Shockwave examined the armored figure. "An armor of some type," he said. An armor he recognized, even if there were some noticeable differences. "I believe it is the same armor from which I derived the Apex Armor."
He could almost see the smile on Megatron's face. "The ancient version of the apex armor? Interesting."
Fascinating would be the better. "One of the vehicons is currently wearing the armor. They appear ready to engage the autobots." Shockwave explained to the leader of the Decepticons. "Shall I order them to withdraw?"
A moment later, Megatron gave him an answer. "No, I want you to observe the capabilities of this armor. If it truly is anything like the Apex Armor you created, then the artifact will be a boon to us. Retrieve the other artifacts and have our forces at the dig site start their withdrawal."
"Yes, lord Megatron."
Wheeljack dodged a thrust from Soundwave and slipped right into the con's guard. Wheeljack slashed upward, aiming for his arm. However, Soundwave shifts his body ever so slightly to avoid it. From an outside perspective, it even looked like Wheeljack had missed on purpose.
Wheeljack spun around and swung his other sword at Soundwave's midsection. Only for it to collide with the pole section of Soundwave's spear. Shockwave pushed forward, sending Wheeljack back.
Then, with a twirl, Soundwave jabbed the spear forward. Using his gained momentum, Wheeljack jumped back to avoid being skewed. Then he jumped back again as sound swept his spear through the air. With a flip, Wheeljack landed a short distance from his opponent, and out of range of his weapon.
Wheeljack readied himself for an assault from Soundwave. But he was surprised to see Soundwave standing up straight and dropping his spear. The spear spilled apart and transformed back into Lazer Beak and Ravager. Both minicons jumped back into the chest of their master.
Wheeljack frowned at seeing all of this. "What gives?" He asked. "You give up already?" He surveyed what was going on around him. Whatever Soundwave was doing, Wheeljack would bet it wasn't anything good.
Soundwave, however, wasn't willing to give him any answers. A groundbridge formed right behind the con. Wheeljack gripped his swords. "Where do you think you're going?" He charges at the decepticon as he walks toward the green vortex of energy.
Wheeljack would not even get two steps in before he felt something heavy impacting his body. Whatever it was, it sent the former wrecker flying and crashing across the ground. Dazed, Wheeljack sat up, rubbing his head. "What in the pits was that?" He saw the groundbridge had closed and knew he had missed his chance at Soundwave.
Wheeljack shook his head and looked at whatever had crashed into him. Or rather, who had crashed into him? "Bee?"
The yellow and Black bot raised a shaky hand up. "Hey, Jackie." He pushed himself, looking like he had gone around with Devastator.
Wheeljack got to his feet and moved to help Bumblebee up. "What in the pits happened to you."
Now, on his feet, Bumblebee pointed his hand. "That happened."
Wheeljack looked over to where the younger bot was pointing. He saw Hotrod and Elita fighting a large, armored figure. "Is that the Apex Armor?"
"Better, the Ancient's version of the Apex Armor."
"Scrap."
Both bots moved to join the battle.
Jix saw everything that was happening and knew that trouble was brewing. He knew the original Apex armor had been bad enough, but the ancient version that it had been based on was likely to be a whole league worse.
Jix disconnected himself from the main terminal. By now, the thing had gone through its usefulness. Jix looked over to where the artifact was, seeing more vehicons moving to retrieve them.
An idea formed in his head. He knew it would be risky. But it could be what his friends needed to get out of this battle in one piece. "Sorry, Elita, but it looks like I'll have to go against your orders."
The minicon put his idea into action.
"The Apex Armor?" Drake asked. He turned and twisted his fighter to avoid fusion fire from his opponent. One of the two fighters that had come out from the UNS corvette.
"A suit of armor created by Shockwave," Dreadwing explained. He was currently engaged with the other fighter with the call sign Cobalt-3. "A nearly indestructible armor we used against the bots. It was based on designs we recovered from the data values of Iacon. They were designs that dated back to the Golden Age."
Drake nodded his head. He swung his fighter around, getting right behind the enemy fighter. The pilot tried to shake him off. Drake would admit it was a valiant effort, and the pilot had given him a decent challenge. But he would draw this dual to a close.
"And this armor your people have found," Drake said as he watched his HUD slowly lock onto his enemy. "It is the genuine article and not some inferior derivative?"
"According to Shockwave."
Drake fired the plasma cannons of his fighter. A moment later, the UNS fighter vanished from his HUD. Drake maneuvered his fighter from the wreckage and flew to join the battle with Cobalt-3.
"Then the battle on the ground should prove most interesting."
Hatsuko fired a burst of plasma at the hulking figure fighting the autobots. The remaining soldiers and marines of the UNS force were all firing their plasma weapons at the thing. But it did about as much good as the bots were doing. That is to say, not much.
The only good news was that the rest of the enemy force was withdrawing from the dig site, retreating through a groundbridge.
Chatter on the comms also suggested the enemy was also pulling out from the colony, leaving a trail of destruction in the process. Typically, what the League could not have, they destroyed.
Hatsuko saw Wheeljack charging at the armored con, trying to slash his swords at the thing. The blades impacted the armor and did little else. The con punched Wheeljack, sending him flying towards where Hatsuko and her unit were.
The autobot impacted the ground, and his momentum caused him to slide across the asteroid's surface. He came to a stop a short distance from the UNS forces.
Hatsuko looked over at Wheeljack, hoping the bot was all right. "Jackie."
The autobot was pulling himself up. "I'm all right," he said. He looked at his swords and noticed that one had been snapped in two. "Though I can't say I've been having a good day."
An understatement if Hatsuko had ever heard of one. "Damn that thing," Hatsuko said, glaring over at the armor-clad vehicon. The other bots were fighting the thing with everything they had. First, blades and energon cannons all seemed to be doing nothing to slow the thing down. The UNS plasma fire was not helping much either, and even their rockets weren't putting a scratch on that armor.
"You said it," Wheeljack muttered. He got back to his feet. "The ancients knew what they were doing when they made that thing. Unfortunately."
"Remind me," Hatsuko started dryly. "If I ever meet one of these ancients, to punch them in the face."
Wheeljack smiled. "But you'll probably break your hand and your arm."
Hatsuko was unimpressed with the counterpoint. "I still want to punch them."
The bot chuckled. "You and me both." Wheeljack held his remaining blade out and turned his hand into a cannon. "Still, no armor is invincible. That thing has got a weakness somewhere, some chink we can use." He charges off to join the battle.
Hatsuko aimed her plasma rifle at the armored con. "I just hope we can find it. Before things get any worse." She really should have bitten her tongue for that.
"Sir!" A marine close to her points their finger.
Hatsuko growled. "I know." A second armored figure had emerged from the cluster of drills.
She hoped that Jack was having a better day.
Space
Jack was, in fact, not having a better day. "To think this day started out so nice." Was going out on a shopping trip with his friends really that much to ask for? All Jack had been expecting from today was helping Aiden buy a gift for his fiancé and spending time around the colony with the others.
He had even been looking forward to seeing Hotrod and Wheeljack racing around the track Kigali was known for. But the League and their Decepticon friends had to attack.
Jack jerked at the controls of his fighter, sending it into a sharp turn. Just in time to avoid a volley of energon fire, he turned and twisted again to avoid a burst of plasma fire. This was not how Jack had expected his day to go.
Once again, Jack found himself locked into a life-or-death battle with the decepticon Dreadwing. A con who had it out for Jack for the understandable reason of having killed his brother.
That was bad enough. Dreadwing was bad enough. He was on a whole other level compared to the pilots of the League and vehicon fliers Jack was more used to facing. Even some of the other seekers he had faced on occasion had not been as dangerous as Dreadwing.
But now Jack was faced with a League pilot who was matching him in almost every way. It didn't help he recognized the craft the other pilot was flying. It was a different model from what the League used, but similar. The pilots hailing from the Houses of Europa were known for their skill, and now Jack was facing one of them.
Two highly skilled opponents that was never a match-up Jack wanted any part of. Alone, they would be bad enough and take all of Jack's skills to fight. But with both after him, it took everything he had just to survive.
Jack flung his fighter around and jetted right for the League fighter. He fired burst after burst of fusion fire. The league fighter twisted and swirled around the incoming bolts of white light then fired plasma at Jack.
Jack cursed, turned his fighter away, and fired off his engines. A proximity alarm caught Jack's attention. On his HUD, he saw two missiles coming for him. They had come from Dreadwing.
Jack cursed and made a sharp turn with his fight, right up into the skies (he was using the asteroid as a reference point). The missiles flew right past where he had been, going right for the League fighter.
The league fighter swung around the missiles and flew after Jack. The UNS fighter frowned. It probably would have been too much to ask for a bit of friendly fire on the enemy's side. Well, at least the cons still hadn't caught onto using guided missiles.
Jack flew his fighter down close to the surface of the asteroid. His opponents came down on him. He hoped that Aiden was doing better than he was.
Decepticon dig site
As Shockwave was observing the battle between the two armored vehicons and the autobots, he never noticed a little figure sneaking by.
The Minicon Jix snuck by the drills, clung to the side of one, using it as a cover. Getting to the end of the drill, Jix carefully poked his head out and glanced at where the artifacts would have been dug up.
He saw a pair of Vehicon soldiers standing over a trio of containers. Jix gulped. He didn't think those two would let him walk up to the containers.
Jix looked around to see if he could find anything to help him past the pair. But all he saw were the drills and rubble. Jix's optics settled on the drills, and an idea formed in his head.
Jix smiled, realizing it could work, then set out to execute his plan.
Hotrod ducked under a swing from one of the armored cons; then, he fired his energon cannon into the chest of his attack. Only for the bolts of energon to be harmless dissipate on the armor. Hotrod's frown grew ever deeper as he moved to avoid a fist from the vehicon.
The con tried chasing him, but Wheeljack was behind it and started firing his energon cannon. The attack did nothing to hurt the armored soldier but did draw its attention. The vehicon turned to face Wheeljack and lunged at him.
This gave Hotrod an opening. Even if it would not do him much good, he still took it. Hotrod transformed both his cannons into blades and charged at the armored enemy. He slashed and hacked at the armor, never so much as putting a scratch on the thing.
Hotrod growled as he kept attacking the thing. This, however, drew attention back to him. The con turned around and swung. This time, Hotrod was not as quick as he should have been. The blow connected with the side of Hotrod, sending him flying.
Hotrod winced as he landed and skidded across the asteroid's rocky surface. From the side of his vision, he saw Wheeljack running up to him. Hotrod got back to his feet just as the former wrecker reached him.
"You okay, kid?"
Hotrod nodded. "Yeah, just fine," he responded, wincing as he tried to rotate his shoulder. He was hurting all over from this fight. But he wasn't about to let Wheeljack know about that. "But I would feel better finding a way around that thing." He glared at the armored Vehicon as it walked toward the pair.
A short distance away, he could see that Bumblebee and Elita were not fairing any better against the second armored vehicon. Spread through the surrounding area were fire teams of UNS soldiers and marines, pouring plasma fire into the vehicons, to negligible effect.
"I get you there, kid," Wheeljack responded with barely restrained irritation. "The ancients did good work on those things."
Hotrod scoffed. The vehicon was almost upon them. "Too good of a job, I say." He turned his blades to cannons and fired on the con. Wheeljack charged in, swinging his remaining blade.
Hotrod was careful with his aim so he wouldn't accidentally hit Wheeljack. Luckily, the armored vehicon offered a large target. "You know what the funny thing is?" Wheeljack asked as he ducked under a swing from the vehicon. Then he swung his sword out, clipping the thing in the arm. "I remember having a conversation with Optimus about the Apex. Guess what he said about the thing."
"How irritatingly indestructible it was? Because I can see that for myself." Hotrod kept pouring more energon fire onto the armored vehicon, doing nothing.
Wheeljack shook his head as he parried a blow from the con. "Optimus believes that the armor the Apex Armor was based on wasn't meant for battle."
Hotrod frowned. What else could armor be used for if not for fighting? "What, were they looking to make a pretty decoration? Because I can tell you, that is nothing I want on display."
Wheeljack smirked even as he was fighting the thing. "Optimus thinks the original armor was meant for mining operations. Hazardous mining operations."
Hotrod's frown deepened. "You mean to tell me we have been getting our rafts handed to us by some miner's misplaced suit?" If true, then that would do wonders for everyone's pride. "What kind of mining were the ancients doing if they needed something like that?"
Wheeljack dodged an attack from the armored vehicon, then jumped and flipped back over to Hotrod. "I don't know. But it does offer us some good news."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that thing doesn't appear to have any weapons on it," Wheeljack said. "If that were meant for war, you'd think the armor would have some weapons. Why hasn't the con used any of them."
Hotrod shrugged. "Remember, we're fighting a vehicon here. They're not the brightest bulbs around."
Wheeljack nodded. Both bots jumped back, avoiding an attack from the con. "Maybe. But that leads me to another thing. Why hasn't it used any of its own weapons? A battle suit would have allowed for that. The Apex Armor did."
Hotrod's optics widen. He hadn't even noticed that. Not once in the fight had the con tried to use its energon cannon on him or the others. Nor did it use its blades. No, it had tried, looking back through the fight. Early one, the con had directed its arm out of him and the other bots, only for it to do nothing. Hotrod just thought the thing was trying to taunt them. But now.
"So, all that thing is good for is being a portable bunker for the con," Hotrod said. "I guess that is a good thing."
Wheeljack nodded. "Yeah, but like you said. It won't do us much good if we can't find a way past that armor."
Hotrod nodded as the armored enemy charged Wheeljack and him. Both bots charged back at the con. If only there was a way they could get the armor off the con. Then they finish this fight.
Jix finished what he was doing as he disconnected from the final drill. It took a little sneaking around, but the minicon had managed to hake into the drills, so now they were under his control.
Jix smiled as he snuck around to view the vehicons guarding the remaining artifact. He waited a moment and then activated his uplink to activate the drills.
As he expected, the vehicons reacted by transforming their arms into energon cannons. They pointed them at the now active drills. However, after a minute of nothing else happening, the vehicons relaxed, transforming their weapons. The drone soldiers looked at each other, holding a silent conversation.
From his hidden spot, Jix watched the cons eagerly. "Come on, come on. Just take the bait already. Yes!"
The vehicons started to walk away from the containers to investigate what was happening with the drills. Knowing he had little time, Jix made his move. By the time the vehicons had shut down the drills and returned to guarding the containers, they would find the last artifacts missing. They would later have to explain themselves to Megatron. It would not be a pleasant experience.
Jix, now in his new hiding spot, smiled. As he expected, it was another set of ancient armor. How the three pieces of armor came to be here was a mystery that would have to come later. But it did reinforce the notion that this was not the first time a cybertronian had been to this system.
"Now, let's see how I can help here."
"Lord Megatron," a vehicon reported. "The enemy is pushing in on us. Our front lines have fallen."
Megatron nodded. He expected how much to happen, especially now that what remained of the colony's defense fleet had rallied and joined the battle.
"What of our forces on the ground?" Megatron asked.
"The withdrawal is complete, my lord," another vehicon responded. "Only a few scattered units remain in the colony. They were too heavily engaged with the enemy for a retreat. Aside from that, our people at the dig site remain."
Megatron looked at the holo-image of Yuda. "A worthy sacrifice, don't you think?"
Even though the human kept an impassive expression on his face, Megatron could see the tugging of a frown on his lips. "I would have preferred to have taken this colony. But so as long as our objective here is met. I have no qualms."
Megatron smiled at the human admiral. "There is another benefit here, Lord Yuda." He held his hand out to the UNS colony. "Aside from recovering valuable artifacts from the Golden Age of Cybertron, we will have sown terror here. The people of the UNS will realize that nowhere is safe. Even an unimportant colony like this can be attacked. There will be demands for protection from the UNS."
A calculated look flashed across the human's face. "Indeed," he said. "It will force them to stretch themselves even thinner than before. We could use that to our advantage."
"My thoughts exactly," Megatron replied with a smile. Then he turned to the vehicon manning the communications station. "Inform Shockwave that his little experiment is over. We are withdrawing from the battle now. We have what we want."
"Yes, my lord."
Wheeljack had just ducked under a swing from the armored con when he got a communication. "Wheeljack, it's me, Jix."
"Jix?" Wheeljack questioned as he fired his energon cannon. "I thought Elita told you to stay put. Where are you."
"Safe, but I got something to tell you."
Wheeljack frowned. He jumped back as the con brought its first down onto the ground. From the corner of his optics, he saw Hotrode running up. "Better make it quick, I'm a little busy now."
"Okay," Jix replied. "Don't ask how, but I managed to get my hands on the remaining artifact."
If he had not been in the middle of a fight right now, Wheeljack would have paused in surprise. He swung his remaining sword at the con he was fighting. "Let me guess, it's another piece of armor."
"You guess right," Jix happily chirped. "I'm scanning the thing right now."
Wheeljack nodded. "Anything useful? Like to damage the thing?"
"I'm afraid not. Whatever materials the ancients used to make these things; they are nothing like anything I've seen before. None of our weapons can even make a dent in them."
Swinging his sword at the armor, it didn't leave any mark. "More like a scratch," Wheeljack corrected.
"I think anything less than a starship-mounted weapon won't do anything," Jix explained.
That was something Wheeljack didn't want to hear. "So, you're saying the only way we can win this is if we hit them with an orbital strick?" Sounded like a sledgehammer approach to him. But at this point, it might be the Allied forces' best option.
"Maybe," Jix replied with a hum. "But I might have a better solution. I think."
Wheeljack's frown deepened, but he would hear what the minicon had to say. "Just get it out already." Both Hotrod and he coordinated an attack on the armored vehicon. The UNS forces had long since stopped firing their plasma weapons.
"Did you see the cons putting the armor on?" Jix asked.
"No, they came out wearing the damn things."
"Well, I just tried putting my on," Jix replied. "I thought it would be an automatic thing, but nothing happened. The armor probably needs to be activated."
"Makes sense," Wheeljack replied. "But how does that help us?"
"Well, what can be turned on can be turned off. It's just a matter of finding the right button."
Wheeljack nodded. That would be common sense. But there was one thing wrong with that line of reasoning. "And what of this off switch is inside the suit? You know a place only the guy wearing the armor could get to."
"But what if something happened to the wearer while in the suit?" Jix said. "Or a malfunction occurred. Even the ancients couldn't have made things perfectly. The people of the golden age were smart, really smart, right?"
"Just get to the point already!" Wheeljack felt sorry for raising his voice like that. But he was in the middle of a life-or-death situation, and he didn't have the time to beat around the bush.
"I'm thinking the ancient armor might have an emergency release mechanism. Somewhere on that ancient armor, there has got to be a trigger, and someone can hit it to deactivate it."
That was the kind of news Wheeljack had been waiting to hear. "Any idea where it could be? If it exists." Wheeljack started to study his armored foe, looking for anything that might be this release mechanism.
"Well, looking at the armor I have," Jix said. "The only thing I can see that looks like it activated is this green crystal-looking thing in the center. Try looking for that."
Wheeljack nodded. "All right, I'll try looking for it. But you need to stay put, and I mean it this time. If all else fails, we can at least deny the cons one suit of ancient armor." While he was warning the minicon, the former wrecker was looking for that green crystal he mentioned.
"Well, do," Jix replied. "I'll let you know if I find anything else."
Hotrod appeared next to Wheeljack. "I hope that means you got something for us," the kid said. Then, a flash of light caught both of their attention. The pair looked at it and saw a ground bridge in the dig site.
Shockwave was standing next to it. "Finish them." Then he disappeared through it.
"And quickly, too. Because I don't think we have much time left."
Wheeljack smirked. "I might have something, kid," he said. "But it's a long shot."
"I'm all ears."
Jack pulled his fighter into a tight twist and turned, narrowly avoiding a plasma shot from the League fighter on his tail. "You know, two against one really isn't a fair match-up," he muttered.
Bolts of energon flew for his fighter, each missing as Jack flew his craft through the hail of fire. Dreadwing flew at him from the top while the League closed in from behind. Jack cursed and fired off the engines to get a boost in speed.
Dreadwing leveled off, now flying close beside the League fighter. Both are still chasing him as they fire their weapons.
Jack flew his fighter down to the asteroid's surface, hoping to use its terrain features as a form of cover. In the meantime, using the HUD, Jack looked for anything he could use to turn this fight around.
It didn't have to be much. Just enough for him to be able to take out his opponents, then Jack would be dealing with a much more even playing field. Then he saw a ridge line to his left and a spark of an idea formed in his head.
He varied his fighter towards the ridge line. "Well, here goes nothing."
Drake watched the UNS fighter swing around and fly across the asteroid's surface. "Our opponent certainly has been elusive," he commented over a comm link with Dreadwing. "I can see why you consider him a worthy foe."
"If I did not know better, I would have thought him a cybertronian," Dreadwing responded. "It is tough. He is one with his craft."
Drake smiled. "But we are one with our fighter craft," he said to the decepticon. "Any pilot worth their name will know that." While many fighter pilots would claim to say such things. The young Dragovich heir had never had a problem claiming the same. For he truly was one with his fighter.
For him, life had not truly begun until he was nine years of age when he first sat in a pilot's seat. Being in that fighter as it was flying through the stary night out to the depths of space, it was the moment he knew where he wanted to be.
Looking at the sensor silhouette of the UNS figure, he wondered if its pilot had had a similar experience in his life. "You said his name is Jack Witwicky, correct?"
"I did."
Drake smiled. "I will have to remember that." After all, it was only proper to know the name of one was a worthy foe.
The UNS fighter disappeared into the ridge within the asteroid. The sensor contact vanished from there as the asteroid's material interfered with the sensors. Drake's eyes narrowed at his HUD. "Now, what are you up to?"
Dreadwing and he flew over the ridge, scanning for the UNS fighter and its pilot.
Jack took a deep breath, waiting for his targets to come by. He knew this could go any number of ways. The best outcome would be his two opponents flying over the ridge looking for him. From there, Jack could spring his ambush.
It was like the tactic he used to take down Skyquake. Jack had no doubt that Dreadwing would recognize the trick. So, instead of hiding on the ridge wall, as he did with the hull of the cruise, he chose to have his fighter hang in the center of the ridge down to its surface.
If Jack were right, the decepticon Seeker would avoid flying over where Jack had entered the ridge line. Instead, he would swing around and fly down and over the ridge tunnel. His partner would most likely follow suit. They would remain over the ridge where they would have the most room to maneuver.
Once they flew over him, Jack would swing his fighter up behind them and attack. It was a risky gambit and odds where his two opponents were ready to counter him at a moment's notice.
Of course, there were other ways this could go as well. They could fire at the walls of the ridge to close it and bury Jack. The two could even fly down the ridge and chase him through the narrow path.
Jack was prepared for any of these. Jack took a breath and waited for his moment to come. He would not have to wait for long.
The pair of Dreadwing and Drake flew over the ridge like Jack had thought the former had recognized the similarity to the trick used to take his brother down. So inside, instead of flying over where the UNS fighter had disappeared, the Dreadwing and his League counterpart made an arc that brought them over the ridge. The pair were now flying down the ridge.
Both were keeping an eye on the walls just in case the UNS pilot would spring an attack from there. The thought of just flying down into the ridge had crossed between them. But it had been discarded quickly as they chose to stay over the ridge, where maneuverability would be favorable.
The consensus was that their opponent hid on the ridge to wait out the battle. A somewhat cowardly move, Dreadwing would admit, but he could see the wisdom in it. There was a difference between dying gloriously and tossing one's life away.
Plus, if the pilot survived here, Dreadwing would have more opportunities to face him in battle. Even still, Dreadwing was not going to make it easy for Jack. He would keep the search on until Megatron called for a complete withdrawal.
The Seeker and the League fighter flew over the ridge. Unknown to them, their prey saw them flying overhead. Then, slowly, Jack had his fighter raise up. He was now right behind the pair and flew after them.
The fusion cannons on his Viper charge to life as target lock was acquired on the two enemy craft. Dreadwing and Drake detected the presence of the UNS fighter right behind a few seconds after Jack had flown out of the ridge. Particulate matter in the ridge had offered Jack a cover just for the briefest of moments after his fighter had risen out of the ridge.
It was enough to cover his approach and to get a target lock. Dreadwing and Drake reacted quickly, just as Jack fired the fusion cannons. They were still a little too slow as the white bolts of light slammed into them.
Fortunately for them, their lives would not end on this day. Having to fire on two targets at once and his opponents reacting quickly, none of Jack's shots would be kills. But his enemies did get damaged.
Jack, however, pressed his attack.
Drake bit back a curse as he flew his fighter in evasive maneuvers, avoiding shot after shot of fusion bolts. On his HUD, damage reports were filed into his mind. Minimum damage to the hull, but some of the thrusters had been destroyed, limiting his maneuverability, and the right plasma cannons were offline. Looking at a scan of Dreadwing, he could see that the decepticon had come off somewhat worse.
The Europa pilot looks at the icon of the UNS fighter that was now pressing the attack. Despite the circumstances, he could not help the smile that crossed his face. This Jack Witwicky had managed to pull off a simple but clever ploy.
While others might have seen it as a dirty trick, Drake knew better than that. He had been taught that dual was just as much a test of wits as skill. Honor was important, but so was survival. A true knight knew how to balance the two.
"You are a worthy opponent indeed, Jack Witwicky," Drake said. "I can see why Dreadwing likes you." He activated a comm link to Dreadwing. "Dreadwing this dual is a loss. I suggest we keep to the better part of Valor."
"Retreat, you mean?" Drake heard the understanding in the thi- the meche's voice. But could also hear the undercurrent of disappointment. A feeling that the Dragovich heir could understand.
"There will be other battles," Drake offered. "And there is no shame in admitting defeat this day."
Even though Drake was met with silence from Dreadwing, he saw the Seeker flying off on a vector that would take him out of the battle. Drake followed him. The league pilot looked at his HUD, wondering if the UNS fighter would give chase. The fighter did not.
Either Jack was willing to let them go, or he was in no position to do so. Either way, they would meet in the field of battle again. A smile spread across Drake's lips as he sent a short static message to the UNS fighter.
Then he saw Dreadwing changing course. "Retreat to the Nemesis, Dragovich," the Seeker said. "I will follow you soon. But first, I must take care of something. Megatron has just given me orders."
A short while earlier
Hotrod avoids a punch from the armored vehicon. Then he ducked under the swing and fired his energon cannon into its just. Surprise, surprise, it did nothing. The ancients really did do a good making that thing and the others.
He jumped back, avoiding a kick from the con. He glances over at Wheeljack, seeing him charge at the con from behind. He hoped the plan would work and that Jix's hunch was not a long shot.
Hotrod readied himself for the plan. Either he or Wheeljack would be the ones to finish it. Wheeljack fired his energon cannon at the armored figure, causing it to turn its attention away from Hotrod.
Wheeljack got in close and started to slash away at the con. The armored vehicon fully turned to face Wheeljack, bringing a fist up to strike the autobot. Hotrod saw his chance and jumped at the con.
Latching onto the back of the enemy, Hotrod saw what he was looking for. Moments earlier, Wheeljack had spotted a green crystal on the back of the armor and pointed it out to Hotrod on a com link.
The armored figure tried to shake Hotrod off, but the young bot held tightly to the deception's back. "Please let this be what we think it is," Hotrod prays as he swings his hand down on the green crystal.
For a second, nothing happened, and Hotrod was struck with the fear that the plan had failed. Then, the armor started to contract and transform around its wearer. Seeing this happen, Hotrod jumped off, not wanting to take any chances of interrupting whatever was happening or losing any bits of the thing.
The Vehicon started franticly moving its arms around to prevent the armor from transforming. But its arms could not reach its back to do any good. Hotrod smiled as pieces of the armor pulled away from the con. In less than five seconds, the armor completely transformed back to its compact state.
Hotrod knew this because the Vehicon that had been wearing it was not completely exposed. The decepticon soldier stood there, seemingly stunned by what had just happened. Then Wheeljack's blade went into its spark chamber.
At the same time, Hotrod fired his energon cannon, blowing its head off. The con fell to the ground. Hotrod sighed in relief. "That actually worked," he said. "I can't believe that actually worked."
Wheeljack smirked at him as he bent over and picked up an ancient armor that had fallen to the ground. "It did, kid, and now the cons are one suit of armor short." He showed Hotrod the disk-like thing.
Hotrod looked at the thing curiously, to think something so unassuming would hide something so powerful. "It's not going to do anything to us, is it?"
Wheeljack shrugged. "Who knows? But right now, we have one more thing to handle." He turned to face the battle between the remaining con in armor and Bumblebee and Elita. "We got one. Now let's make it two."
Hotrod nodded and charged alongside Wheeljack into the next fight. Unknown to them, the whole thing had been watched by eyes in the sky.
Megatron frowned at the image he saw. Laser Beak had been flying overhead, providing the crew of the Nemesis a live feed of the battle. The Autobots had managed to take down one of the armored Vehicons.
Megatron turned his attention to Shockwave. "I thought I told you to finish your experiment?"
Shockwave looked at him impassively. "I commanded the vehicons to finish that battle, then withdraw to the groundbridge. I did not expect the autobots to find a weakness in the armor."
Megatron glared at his top scientist. Then he turned his gaze away from Shockwave's punishment that would come later. "Patch me to the soldier wearing the armor, now."
"Patching you through now, my lord."
"Trooper withdraws from the battle immediately. Retrieve of the ancient armor is now the highest priority."
"Yes, my lord."
Megatron nodded. Now get me Dreadwing. I have orders for him. And Soundwave form the space bridge, I want us out of here as soon as we retrieve the artifacts."
Hotrod was about to charge in on the remaining armored vehicon when the damn thing turned up and turned around. It made a break for the still open ground bridge.
"Oh no, you don't," Hotrod said, firing off his energon cannons. The other bots joined him.
"Aim for the back," Wheeljack ordered. "If we hit the release mechanism, it might do the trike." The others nodded as they continued to fire on the retreating decepticon soldier.
But none of their shots landed where they wanted them to. Hotrod aimed at his energon cannon carefully at the back of the con.
He was about to fire when a shadow came over him. Hotrod turned his head to see what it was. But was slammed to the ground as a heavy object hit him. Before Hotrod could get up, he bashed in the head, knocking the breath out of him.
The world became a blur as he tried to look around and see what was happening. He heard an energon blast going off and figures dancing around.
"Thanks for your contribution, Autobot," a voice said. "The Decepticon causing is in your debt."
Hotrod's vision cleared, and to his horror, he saw Dreadwing standing close by, holding onto the ancient armor. Hotrod aimed his energon cannon at the Seeker and fired. But it was already too late. Dreadwing jumped and transformed. With a blast of his engines, the Seeker flew straight into the groundbridge, which then closed.
Hotrod slammed his cannon onto the ground. "Damn it." He looked up into the skies, too, the enemy fleet vanishing through a space bridge. The battle was over, and the cons had gotten away with two pieces of golden age artifacts.
Hotrod saw Wheeljack walking up to him and offered him a hand. Hotrod took it." It's all right, kid. We can't win them all."
Hotrod was helped up to his feet. "But they got away with two of those armors."
"True," Wheeljack replied. "But at least we stopped them from getting all three." He looked over. Hotrod followed the direction of his gaze to see Jix walking out, holding onto one of the armor disks. The minicon had a sheepish smile on his face.
Hotrod huffed and looked up at the skies. "If only we had all three."
Two days later
"Not how I wanted to spend my shore leave," Jack said.
Next to him, Aiden nodded. "An attack from the League and the Cons is definitely not on my to-do list. But all things considered, it could have been worse."
Jack looked around, seeing the damage the battle had left. Repair and reconstruction efforts were well underway. "I doubt anyone else will see it that way." With the enemy's withdrawal, the Allied forces managed to secure the colony.
The battle had been declared a UNS victory, but anyone who had been at the dig site knew better. "I just wish the attack hadn't come until after my race with Pierro," Hotrod said with his arms crossed. "If it weren't for the cons, I would have won that race." Then, a somber expression came over him. "Plus, the guy would still be alive."
"You don't have to blame yourself for that," Aiden said, putting a hand on the holo-frame's shoulder. "The League and Cons are the ones that attacked. They're responsible for all the deaths from the battle."
Hotrod nodded. "I know that. But it still doesn't change the way I feel."
Jack, Aiden, and Jix nodded. "So, what will you guys do with that ancient armor?" Jack asked. "Are you going to use it in future battles?"
Jix shook his head. "It's being sent back to Luna for study. Optimus didn't want to risk losing it during a battle. So, an autobot cruiser is coming to pick it up."
"Figures," Jack said. "Would have been nice to have something like that in our arsenal. But what about the cons? They have two of those suits now."
"They'll probably do the same thing," Aiden said. "Those suits are just as valuable to them as they are to the bots. And can be lost just as easily. If Megatron is smart, he'll keep them away from the frontlines and only use them for something important. Otherwise, we can expect decepticon scientists to study the things."
Hotrod had a frown on his face. "That doesn't sound good either," he said. "But I suppose it's better than having to face those things again any time soon."
"Well, we know how to turn them off now," Jix added.
Jack sighed. "Tit for tat," he muttered. "Hopefully, next time shore leave comes around. We can enjoy it."
The others smiled at him.