Transformers: Steel Reign

[Cynical Cat]

"Megatron occupies half this world, despite the efforts of humans and Autobots," replied Deathstrike. "I am not impressed. This is pointless. We should be planning an attack."

[LadyTevar]

"Megatron's taken a large portion, but from what I've been learning, the lands that he took were all barely defended, with little or no central government," Crimson said, defending the humans. "The parts resisting the best were all highly industrial countries with strong central governments and well-maintained standing armies."

[Cynical Cat]

"These mighty human nations were then crippled by resource flow disruption. Despite the vaunted might of these industrialized humans, Autobot aid, and a reliable way of creating sparks in protoforms thanks to the Matrix you have been unable to not only dislodge Megatron but you have also failed to prevent him from creating an industrialized base for his war machine. How long does the current strategy have to fail before it is reevaluated?"

[General Havoc]

Hornet had expected Wheeljack to be upset with him after the catastrophe with Gridlock and his scuffed and chipped paint scheme. He had expected another lecture on not crashing into rocks or attempting to take off indoors. Coming atop the news of Redzone and Bebop's deaths, he had almost looked forward to it. He hadn't known either Autobot particularly well, but their sudden, shocking deaths had crushed him nonetheless. Badly-equipped for dealing with news of that sort, he had burst into tears in front of everyone when he had been told, and fled sobbing to a quieter part of the base where he could cry in peace without being upbraided as a coward or a weakling. It was a long, long time before he could face dragging himself back to Wheeljack's repair bay, ready for the lecture and yelling that he was no doubt due to receive.

But he hadn't received it. Wheeljack had sooner laid eyes upon him than Hornet had found himself snatched up off the ground like a toy by the larger scientist-bot. Before he even knew what had happened, Hornet had found himself plugged into six different diagnostic machines, all of which ran a complete schematic scan. Wheeljack had said nothing whatsoever to him, but had looked less angry than scared and relieved all at the same time. Hornet could only guess why. He didn't know that Wheeljack had received unsubstantiated radio reports about who had been involved in the altercation, one of which had reported that Gridlock had killed several bots by surprise but hadn't mentioned them by name. He also didn't know that the collision with the rocks had knocked his transponder out of order, and that Wheeljack had been frantically trying to find him with the Ark's scanners since then.

No sooner had the scans been completed, showing only the minor and superficial damage that Hornet had sustained than Wheeljack instantly set to work lathing out the dents, touching up the paint scrapes, and replacing the cracked transponder with a fresh one. Not a single word of rebuke or sarcasm did Wheeljack speak, and Hornet was in no condition to ask why. Only once the work was completed did Wheeljack seem to relax a bit, finishing up the touchups with a more usual expression and even muttering a few comments about how Hornet had managed to carve up his paint scheme only minutes after it was finished. Still there was no anger behind his words, and Hornet could only guess why.

It was a couple of hours before everything was done, and when it was, Wheeljack shut off the diagnostics, unplugged them all from the little Autobot, and gently lifted him off the diagnostic table. He held him in one arm as he put away the tools and equipment, and then turned his head to face Hornet.

"For Primus' sake, Hornet," said Wheeljack softly, with real urgency in his voice, "please be careful."

Hornet nodded slowly understanding for once just what Wheeljack meant. "I... I will..."

Wheeljack patted him on the head gently, no sarcastic comment coming to mind this time. It could so easily have been Hornet laying slain on the ground because of Gridlock, save for random chance, and the thought of that had frightened the Autobot scientist more than he would have imagined, even if Hornet himself was more upset about the two bots that had died.

"I swear," said Wheeljack as he set Hornet down, "you're going to give me a BIOS-lock one of these days..."

"Should... should I stay here?" asked Hornet meekly, all impatience burnt right out of him after the events of today.

"Hmm? No," said Wheeljack, "no go and... see your friends. Just... make sure you check in with me if anything happens, eh?"

"I will..." said Hornet, and he walked out the door for the third time in two days, considerably less exuberantly than the first.

*-------------------------------------------------------*

Several minutes later, Hornet entered the lounge area, where he could see Crimson, Deathstrike, Overload, and others already gathered around a television screen. Glumly he walked over towards them, once again in a fresh coat of sparkling silver and blue paint, but now much less inclined to show it off... not after what had happened.

"... hi." he said quietly to the others, not sure what else to say.

[SirNitram]

"These mighty human nations were then crippled by resource flow disruption. Despite the vaunted might of these industrialized humans, Autobot aid, and a reliable way of creating sparks in protoforms thanks to the Matrix you have been unable to not only dislodge Megatron but you have also failed to prevent him from creating an industrialized base for his war machine. How long does the current strategy have to fail before it is reevaluated?"

"I'd say pulling my ass from the museum was a re-evaluation. We're limited. Unless you have some grand plan for disabling their Space Bridge, we can't even siege them."

[LadyTevar]

"Hi Hornet," Crimson greeted him gently, noting the touched up paintjob. She'd not seen the teenybot in nearly 24 human hours, when he'd ran past her and Stryke in tears. "Are you feeling better?"

[General Havoc]

"A little..." said Hornet softly and truthfully, his head lowered somewhat. He normally would have been showing off his new paint, but he didn't have the spark for it now. "What... whatcha watching?" he asked, trying to keep himself from crying again. He didn't even want to know what Deathstrike would say if he lost it in front of him.

[Cynical Cat]

"One does not need a grand plan to disable a space bridge," said Deathstrike. "You do have a point. My words are wasted on you." He turned and left the room.

[SirNitram]

"Less words and more planning would do you alot better.." Overload rumbled as he watched Deathstrike go, shaking his head. "Political stuff, Hornet. The humans are getting more organized, and Prime's giving them some of our technology so they can help more."

[General Havoc]

"... oh," said Hornet, totally unaware that there had been any such thing under discussion, not that this was new. Most Autobots genuinely liked the humans, and Hornet was no exception at all, in fact he really liked them, or at least most of them, especially the younger ones who tended to see him, not as a weakling, annoyance, or joke, but found him awesome and amazing, a giant (to them) walking, talking robot who doubled as a jet fighter. He loved playing with the human pilots who flew their non-alive jets, interrupting their exercises for games of aerial tag or mock dogfights, even if the humans commanding the exercises from the ground did not appreciate his interference. Anything that was good for the humans was probably a good thing, especially if Prime originated it.

"That's... good right?" he asked after a time.

[Cynical Cat]

Plans and more plans . . . to do nothing. Where had this concern been about the space bridge when they Decepticons had settled in? Now it was an excuse to do nothing. Were their real plans to do something about the Decepticon base, plans besides the ones that Deathstrike had made? Perhaps.

And perhaps not. It was sensible for the Autobots not to include a recent defector in their planning sessions, even one who could be as valuable as Deathstrike. It would be a long time before Deathstrike lead warriors into battle, if there were any Autobot fliers left worthy of being called such.

The entrance of the Ark approached. He quickened his stride. The skies beckoned.

[LadyTevar]

"In return, Hornet, we're being given land for a new base," Crimson added, frowning as she watched Deathstrike leave in what seemed to be an unusual hurry.

The decision took only astro-seconds, and she rose to follow DeathStrike. "I'll be back in a few cycles..." she said to Overload and Hornet as she strode out to catch up to the Decepticon.

"Deathstrike... wait..."

[Charon]

Shellshock snorted as Deathstrike left the room. He'd kept his tongue, and his fist from the Decepticon's face.

"I don't like him Overload... He's too much like them."

Shellshock looked back at the news. Finally, this war could be turned around. Many of his kind did not truly appreciate what it was that humans were capable of. Shellshock and Overload were one of the few that truly did.

"At least there is some good news. With an actually armed human population the Decepticons will start feeling what it's like to fight against humanity."

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike stopped when he heard Crimson's voice. He turned. "What is it?"

[SirNitram]

"I know you don't, Shellshock." A soft sigh from Overload. "Treachery doesn't come naturally to most, and those it does come naturally to aren't folks we'd trust anyway. He still looks up to Megatron; he'll come around. I just hope I'm around to see the sterling example he'd become then."

[LadyTevar]

Now that she was here, what she wanted to ask, what she thought briefly of saying, seemed stupid. But Crimson tried anyway.

"It's a big difference, isn't it...." she started. " ... We really don't have the same logic patterns, do we?"

[Cynical Cat]

"I am a Decepticon warrior," said Deathstrike ruefully. "I just happen to serve Optimus Prime and his Autobots."

[Charon]

"I know you don't, Shellshock." A soft sigh from Overload. "Treachery doesn't come naturally to most, and those it does come naturally to aren't folks we'd trust anyway. He still looks up to Megatron; he'll come around. I just hope I'm around to see the sterling example he'd become then."

Shellshock looked at Overload, his red optics glowing brightly. "You trusted me when I turned traitor." Shellshock looked out the door that Deathstrike left and that Crimson had followed. "Don't get me wrong. I don't like him the least bit, but I'd trust him to watch my back. The best we can hope is that one day he'll see he made the right decision."

Shellshock paused in deep thought, remembering things that he didn't want to. The wrecks of Decepticons laying infront of him, Decepticons that had looked up to him, that had trusted him. "And the best I can hope is that he doesn't have to do what I did to learn it."

[SirNitram]

"I trust him, in a way. I trust him to be the best soldier he can." Overload shook his head. "But security isn't my call to make. It'll work out, I hope. But yea, I guess I've always had a soft spot for understanding you guys coming across the line."

[LadyTevar]

"That's not what I mean," Crimson replied, closing the distance and looking up at him. "It goes deeper than that, doesn't it. Down to base programming, we Autobots have yet to get the aggressiveness the Decepticons have, so we've never been able to make the push that a Decepticon warrior would make."

[Cynical Cat]

"Perhaps," said Deathstrike. "Some of you seem to have it, but most of you do not. And so here we are, waiting for Shockwave's next move."

[Charon]

Shellshock sighed, then looked up at Overload. "Think that they've picked up Wideload as well?" Then the old warbot perked up. "I would take much greater amusement from the interrogations if many of the insults I could hurl at them about being traitors couldn't be thrown right back at me."

[LadyTevar]

"No... here we are, being kept in the dark as decisions are being made," Crimson pointed out wryly. "It didn't escape my notice that we were gracefully taken out of the loop on Gridlock and Wideload."

"As for some Autobots being better warriors...," she shook her head. "We have a few who didn't go to Megatron. We have more that, like you, were created just for the War." She looked down, shrugging. "And then you have those like me, who muddle along as best we can."

[Cynical Cat]

"It's not a matter of being better warriors," said Deathstrike. "It is a matter of embracing war. Prime is a superb fighter, but even when he has the opportunity he rarely goes on the offensive. You are always reacting to attacks, losing ground time and time again. You can't win that way."

[Dark Silver]

On the monitors in the lounge, the image of Isolde Holden shifted, blurred, and then faded out into static, the sound of unrelenting static screeching through the speakers.

A second later, the image was restore, but no longer was it the photogenic Isolde, but instead a image far more sinister, instantly recognizable to all Transformers, as easily as Optimus Prime or Megatrons.

And one just as feared.

The single glowing beacon in Shockwave's cranial housing looked on impassively, pulsing only when he spoke.

"Attention flesh creatures and Autobots. I am Shockwave. As of this moment, Megatron no longer leads the Decepticons. You have forty-eight Earth hours to turn over supreme control of this planet to me - or face extinction. Shockwave out."

The image blinked out, and Isolde reappeared on the screen, her face somewhat pale, as she fumbled for words.

Only to find none.