The Defender
A Beast Wars fanfic
by Triceratron

Three centuries before the start of the Beast Wars, during the battles with the Second Generation Cybertronians, Jhiaxus and his army were developing new technologies for the fight against the Autobot/Decepticon alliance. One of them was to have a huge impact on the past and future of all Transformers.

"Lord Jhiaxus, this next new recruit is codenamed White Orb, because of his special abilities," said the science officer. The robot changed into a missile launcher and fired several glowing missiles at the target drone units. On contact they vaporized the drones. "That's not the best part," he then spoke into the microphone, "White Orb, phase two." The vehicle changed into a space plane and started hurtling toward another target drone. A white energy field flew up around him, making him look like a white energy ball. He hit the drone and passed through it, melting a large hole in the drone. It exploded soon afterward. Jhiaxius looked very pleased.

"Yes! I want him put launched into our next battle with the Autobots."

* * * * *

The Autobots were firing up at the incoming troop transport ship. It was not visibly damaged and it was going to land soon. As it floated to the ground, the doors opened. Troops poured out onto the ground and began blasting back. "Take no prisoners!" yelled the commander. The Autobots were being defeated quickly when White Orb jumped out. "Now, White Orb, attack!" yelled the commander. He transformed and began firing missiles into the air; they flew and disabled several Autobots. He transformed back into a robot and began firing his laser gun at any Autobot he could see. He ran forward and looked at the ones he disabled. He pointed his gun at the first one's head. He reached down and turned him over so he could see the Autobot's face. The Autobot stared up into his face, his gaze cutting through White Orb like a knife. He opened his mouth and began to speak.

"Why?" he asked weakly. The Autobot reached up weakly and grabbed White Orb's chest, and asked again. "Why? Why do you do this? We only want to bring peace to the galaxy. We are here to make others safe. Why won't you let us achieve this simple goal?" As he spoke, another second generation Decepticon warrior came toward the two. He fired directly at the Autobot's head; shocked at what he saw, something changed in White Orb's mind. He looked at the warrior who fired.

"Why?" White Orb asked. "He was unarmed and damaged, why did you fire?"

"Commander's orders, no prisoners. Kill'em all."

"But they are Cybertronians, just like us. Don't you see that this is not right?"

The other warrior looked at him, confused. "You're one of the new ones, right? You must not have been fully prepared for battle. I'll have to take you in for reprogramming."

White Orb didn't like this idea. Reprogramming involved erasing the old personality and putting in a new one, in effect being dead. He couldn't allow that. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at the warrior. Suddenly, he stopped being a Decepticon. He blasted the other Decepticon, and transformed into his tank form. He began firing wildly at the other Decepticons. The commander saw what was happening.

"A traitor! Stop him!" he yelled. White Orb suddenly became angry and frightened at the same time. He transformed into his space-plane form and charged his energy shield; he began crashing through other Decepticons. He saw no place to go, so he made a ninety degree turn upward and shot out of the atmosphere.

* * * * *

Three hundred years later....

As the timeship docked at the lone outpost on a small asteroid, White Orb activated his computer system. "A message has been received. It is in an alien code, and very old, yet it gives a report of a Cybertronian presence on a planet where there is no record of them being active. It appears to be earth--" the computer read off.

"But the Autobots shouldn't have been active at that time. Any word on the search for the Maximals?" he asked, referring to the lost group sent out to stop the newest version of Megatron.

"No, but the planet it refers to has already been searched," said the computer.

"Give me the time and space coordinates," he said. The computer downloaded them into his ship. "I have to check this out. I'll be back," he said. His specially designed transwarp timeship out of the dock and set a course for the coordinates. He shot into the transwarp distortion and disappeared. Seemingly moments later, he appeared in the time and place of the signal's origin. He floated high in orbit of the planet. "Scan the planet's surface," he told the ship's computer. "I want to locate any Cybertronian lifeforms, crashed ships, anything the probe wouldn't have picked up."

"Working," said the computer. "High energon emissions, and four crashed ships. Life forms: twelve active Cybertronians, undetermined number of inactive Cybertronians in the two less recent crashes. Estimated time of crashes: 2 million years ago for two, 2 years ago for other two. 26 stasis pods in orbit of the planet."

"Show me the crash sites of more recent ships," he told the computer. A map of the planet appeared on the screen. He pointed to one dot on the screen and a close-up view of a bulb-shaped ship. "That's the Axalon, I'd know it anywhere. Take me down fifteen kilometers north of both ships."

His ship entered the atmosphere and began to glow red. He left a streak through the atmosphere that could be seen for kilometers. On the Predacon ship, the computer detected the incoming craft. Megatron was watching it go down on the screen.

"A Maximal stasis pod, yesss. And possibly a new Fuzor for our troops. Tarantulas, Waspinator," he commanded, "get to that pod before the Maximals do. I have set up something to blind their sensors. Where's Quickstrike?" he asked.

"He's on patrol, Megatron," said Tarantulus.

"Good. He knows what to do. Unlike some of you dunderheads!" he yelled at Waspinator specifically. He couldn't yell at anyone else because the others that could be classified as dunderheads had fallen into a lava pit some months ago. He just wanted to yell at somebody.

"Why izzzzzz it alwayzzzz me?" Waspinator buzzed.

"Just because," he yelled back.

"This is the first retrieval. He's inexperienced," Tarantulas said, "He may not be very reliable."

"None the less, send him the message," growled Megatron.

* * * * *

The ship fired its retrorockets and slowed for its final descent. It landed in a cloud of smoke and dust. White Orb looked at the sensors and said, "A lot of energon. Not enough to permanently damage my circuits, but enough to become a nuisance. Recommendations," he said to the computer.

"Choose a second form based on an indigenous life form."

"Prepare for DNA scan," he said. A door on the top of his ship opened up and a round metal device on a mechanical arm popped up. It shot out two energy fields and rotated. As it scanned a nearby hill, it found the remains of an ancient animal buried deep inside it. "That's the one," said White Orb, "prepare for reformation sequence."

"Warning: taking this form will not allow you to use your energy orb."

"Computer, I realize that. I will use my stored form information in your memory banks to reformat to my original form. I won't need the energy field here--yet. It's only a matter of time before the aliens return, then I'll need a different strategy." His seat rotated and a door in the back of the compartment slid open. A round metal structure came out and connected with the sides of the chair like half of a shell, creating a small chamber around the pilot. The small chamber charged up and was soon reforming his metal body, and it became covered in an organic substance. When it had finished, he opened the hatch on the ship and stepped out. As he left it, he decided on a new name. "Triceratron, hmmmm. Simple, true to my form, and it works. It really doesn't sound too threatening," he said. "Triceratron, beast mode!" he said and transformed into the dinosaur known as a Triceratops, a large green reptilian animal with three horns; two horns over its eyes, one on its nose, and a large bony frill over the back of its head. He walked off in to explore his nearby surroundings, and as he did, a large ugly scorpion scuttled over the ridge. He looked at the strange ship.

"That's not a stasis pod," it said, confused. "Megatron may not like this." He didn't notice the large reptile that looked at him.

"Triceratron, defender mode," he said quietly. He transformed with a whirring noise, and pulled out his gun. "Stun setting," he said to the weapon. He fired at the scorpion, missing him but blasting the ground out from underneath him. The creature flew to its side and rolled. "You won't be telling Megatron anything," Triceratron said.

"Who are you? No matter, you won't live that long. Quckstrike, terrorize!" The scorpion transformed and tried to slash Triceratron with his cobra weapon.

"Is that the best you can do, Predacon? Computer, stasis field, now!" he commanded to the ship. It located the opposing robot and shot a blue energy beam at it. Quickstrike was instantly encircled by a sphere of energy, and frozen. "Erase his memory. I don't need more visitors yet." As it finished, he said, "Relocate, but gently. Remember what I told you about hurting other Cybertronians. I do not want to be their enemy. Time delay reactivation, thirty cycles." The beam moved upward and then it shot out into the air, throwing the energy sphere two kilometers away. It floated to a landing on the ground and disappeared, depositing Quickstrike there. "Stealth mode, computer," he said and the ship cloaked. "Fly to these coordinates and wait for me to return," he said. He walked in the direction of the Axalon.

* * * * *

"Awwwww, nuts," said Rattrap angrily. "I told you the stasis pod came down in that direction. What are we doing here anyway?"

"The computer said it came down over here," replied Dinobot.

"And you trust the computer over me? I'm hurt. Come on, I'm going over to where I saw it go down."

"You know, the false signal could have been a Predacon trick," said Cheetor. "They could have learned to blind our sensors."

"Well, that could only spell trouble. If they've gotten to it, we may have another Pred to fight," said Rattrap.

"No sense jumping to a conclusion. We have to find the pod now," said Optimus. "Okay, we have to get there faster than this. All Transmetals, use your vehicular modes." The group of Transmetals sped up as they drove or flew away. The other Maximals (Airazor, Tigatron, Rhinox, and Silverbolt) were all at the spot that the ship landed, looking confused.

"Silverbolt, report," commanded Optimus.

"We see signs of a struggle. Two sets of footprints, one is Quickstrike's, the other is unknown. The burn marks on the ground suggest a landing, but there is no pod present. The large hole over there," he pointed to a large dent in the ground, "suggests an attack, but not on the new robot. Quickstrike's footprints never get near to the landing spot, and disappear. The others go in that direction, toward the--"

"Axalon!" said Optimus. "Alert Dinobot, then head back to the base. We have to find out what's going on here."

* * * * *

Triceratron stood in front of the Axalon, staring at it. He bent down and picked up a small rock. He threw it foreward. It stuck an invisible force and bounced off; a green energy came out of the spot it hit and traveled in a large sphere around the Axalon. "Hmmmm, advanced defense grid." He pulled out a small electronic device with a small screen and several buttons. He set it a few inches from the energy shield. "Find code, enter," he said. The device came on and began running through numbers. Two minutes later, set of numerical codes ran across the screen, and the shield suddenly deactivated. "Easy as transistors," said Triceratron smugly. He walked forward and the small elevator entrance lowered.

* * * * *

Back at the Predacon base, Megatron questioned Quickstrike, who had woken up and wandered back after the stasis field wore off. "What happened to the stasis pod?" Megatron growled.

"What stasis pod?" he replied, not remembering a thing. Megatron suddenly took on an odd look.

"Amnesia, the stasis pod disappearing on its own, and the computer detected what seemed to be a unusual design for a stasis pod--we may not be dealing with a Maximal, no. It may be an alien craft, or even," he paused for a moment, "another Cybertronian. If that's what it is, we may be able to take their ship, and get off this planet."

"But, it's only a one-man craft. Who would take it and what would they do?" asked Tarantulas.

"I would take it to one of the Predacon hideouts outside of Cybertronian space and get more troops and a ship. I would rescue the rest of us, take all the rest of the energon, and blast the Maximals!"

"And the owner of the ship?" asked Tarantulas.

"Easily dealt with. It is probably a lone explorer that blundered into this planet's space." Megatron didn't realize how wrong he could be.

* * * * *

The Maximals approached the Axalon. Optimus gave the command, "Sentinel, stand down," and the energy shield around the ship deactivated. "The footprints go on, as if someone deactivated the shield and went inside. Whoever we're dealing with is not a novice." The elevators came down and everyone entered at once. Inside, they saw someone sitting in front of the control panel. He turned the chair around and saw the odd group of Maximals. He was a silver robot with green reptile skin on the parts that became the animal form. A large head covered his chest that had three empty holes; they looked vaguely like horns should have fit there. His nose and mouth were covered with a faceplate that had four vent-holes. He almost looked like a ninja, if they had known what a ninja was. Two large pointed projections came straight up out of the top of his head. Behind these projections was another projection that looked like a small frill. Two metal "flaps" came out behind his arms, suggesting that they folded forward during transformation to conceal his arms.

"Let me get to the point. I am Triceratron. I am a free agent, and I do not wish to be your enemy. I work for no one and my main goal is to protect Cybertronians from alien attacks. I have also vowed not to injure any other Cybertronians if I can avoid it. I come from about the time frame you left Cybertron. I detected an alien transmission that indicated a Cybertronian presence in this time frame and it led here. I must warn you; however, I cannot take you off this planet for two reasons. One, my ship can only hold one passenger, and two, it may be important to the time-space continuum that you remain on this planet until a certain time as to which you can stop the Predacons."

"As you said yourself, however, you will not fight the Predacons. Why do you wish that we defeat them?" asked Optimus.

"I do not agree with their goals, but there is more at stake than them. Those aliens, I'm guessing from the damage and the reduced energon emissions around this area attacked you some time ago. They won't hesitate to do it again. You will need to give me all the information you have so I can try to find a match in my databanks back on the ship. If there is a known response type associated with this race, I can give you a way to prepare."

"Computer, I want to take all data received during the alien attack and all experiences the crew related to the aliens compiled and downloaded onto a data storage unit," Optimus said, not taking his eyes off of Triceratron's face.

"You mean you're just gonna give him what he wants, just like that?" asked Rattrap.

"Well, he obviously knows as much about what's going on around here as any of us. He skillfully circumnavigated Sentinel's defenses, we really don't have anything to hide. We're only giving him information related to the alien attack, so how can it possibly hurt us?" asked Optimus.

"Eeehhh, I don't trust him," said Rattrap, in full hearing of the stranger.

. "Nor do I," said Optimus.

"At least you don't hide it. I don't ask for your trust, yet," said Triceratron.

The data unit popped out of a slot on the holotable. Triceratron pulled it out. "I'll have to take this back to my ship for analysis. I'll be back tomorrow with the results." He looked down because Rattrap was staring at him. "What are you looking at?" Triceratron asked.

"You. I just can't get it out of my mind that since the alien attack, you're the first normal Cybertronian who's showed up. I mean, just look at us. Half of the Predacons are like this too," he said referring to the Transmetals and Fuzors.

"I see. I thought you were strangely designed. I assume you took on animal forms and through some unusual occurrence became what you were. Curious; would this be an effect of the alien attack?"

"Sure is, T-bot," said Cheetor. Triceratron mulled this over for a moment.

"Hmmm, T-bot, eh? That sounds interesting. Anyway, Sentinel now has my access codes in memory, so you may need to remove them if you still don't trust me. If you decide to, I'll understand. I believe that it will be to your advantage to keep them in. I will not contact the Predacons to alert them to my presence until I've determined what I'm dealing with, and then I will not make contact in person. I am not willing to risk getting hurt by my own kind just to inform a group of misguided Cybertronians of something they may try to join the next chance they get."

"I doubt they could. The aliens tried to destroy them, too," said Optimus.

"I'll see you tomorrow," said Triceratron. He went to the entrance elevator and it lowered him to the ground. Rattrap looked up at Optimus; he gave him a nod, and when Triceratron was a certain distance away, he followed out of the ship.

* * * * *

Outside of the ship, Triceratron transformed into his beast mode. Rattrap snuck out behind him and followed the dinosaur for some time. Finally, he came to a place where Triceratron stopped. Rattrap hid behind a boulder as Triceratron said, "Defender mode," and returned to robot form. "Decloak," he said to what seemed to be thin air; a small ship suddenly appeared. Rattrap started documenting the ship's design. Near the propulsion end of the ship, he spotted an insignia. His optical scanners zoomed in on the design. It was made up of many triangular shapes and was a purple color. He recognized it and realized that Optimus wasn't going to like this at all.

* * * * *

The next day, Triceratron returned to the Axalon. He gave the command, "Sentinel, stand down". The shield lowered and he entered on the elevator. Once on board, however, he found himself in the targeting sights of every weapon on the ship.

* * * * *

"Hehehehe, the spy cameras we set up near the Axalon have just revealed the stranger has gone aboard," said Tarantulas happily.

"Good," said Megatron. "Everyone prepare for battle. We will return victorious!"

* * * * *

"What is this?" asked Triceratron, confused and holding both hands in the air. "I don't want to fight you. I've identified the aliens!" he said, holding up a data unit

. Optimus put his weapon away and touched a button on the control panel. The insignia on his ship appeared on the screen. "This!" he pointed at the screen. "This is the insignia of a Decepticon. More specifically the Decepticons serving under Jhiaxus during the second generation wars three hundred years ago! I cannot trust you until you can explain your true intentions."

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this. I am not proud of my past. I am a second generation Decepticon, or, at least, I was. They engineered me to fight your ancestors, but I had a change of heart soon after I was replicated. I felt I was doing something wrong in fighting my own kind. You don't realize how hard it was. My first battle, I watched an Autobot get killed without mercy. I knew there was only one way out, so I fled. I was given amazing powers, as I was a special project, and after the war was won, I saw the Autobot/Decepticon alliance go to battle against powerful alien races. They were ill equipped, and many died. I found my calling after realizing that Cybertron would be vulnerable to attack from alien races that could potentially destroy the entire race. I began cataloging and learning the weaknesses of every race I could find. I am here to help you. I can learn or gain nothing from you, except information, but I can help you in ways you cannot understand. Just look on the disk," he handed it to them. Rhinox stuck it into the computer. Everyone took their aim off him and looked at the information; Triceratron put his hands down and walked to the screen.

"These aliens don't have a name but are well documented. They are secretive, experimenting, and very intelligent. They are also very powerful. They have one weakness: highly focused gamma radiation. They can't be killed, but they may desist pursuing you if you can cause enough damage to them. They have allies, also: the Skriix race. These are humanoid, organic aliens that use robot drones to fight their enemies. They may decide to send these to take you out first. The robots have similar weaknesses as Cybertronians and can be easily disabled with the right equipment, which I will provide. The Skriix themselves are very vulnerable to normal weapons."

"That's all the information I can provide at this time. I will update you on any information I find, if you'll let me leave." Optimus looked a little confused and somewhat shocked, along with the rest of the Maximals, except Rattrap. He looked more suspicious than ever. As Triceratron went to the elevator unchallenged, a shot hit the top of the door way. Triceratron looked back at him.

"I'm not letting you leave, Decepticon," he said. "I don't trust you, just like I don't trust Dinobot," he pointed to the raptor.

"Well, I see you've taken care of him," said Triceratron sarcastically.

"Why I oughta," said Rattrap angrily, but was stopped short. The ship shook with an explosion against the outer shields.

"Maximals," Megatron yelled from outside. "We know you have the stranger. We want him and his ship!"

"It looks like I'll have to prove my value," said Triceratron. "Follow me and I'll show you."

All the Maximals left the Axalon and began firing at the Predacons. "Alright, peace boy," said Rattrap, "show me how you would handle this without hurting the Preds."

"Come on, no challenge. There are benefits that came from four million years of evolution." He pulled out a small shield with three spikes.

"That is supposed to save our butts?" asked Rattrap.

"Watch." He squeezed the handle and the shield expanded to the size of his body. "Force field, 10% strength. At 100%, the strongest alien weapon can't hurt me," he said to Rattrap. A force field flew up that soon contained all the Maximals.

"Impressive. What else can you do?"

Triceratron pulled out his gun and said "Groundpounder blast." He pointed at the ground and fired. A shockwave expanded out from the blast point toward the Predacons. When it hit each Predacon, they each fell over. "Decloak," he said and his ship appeared, hovering above the Axalon. "Stasis field on opposing forces, then relocate to their base." The ship shot several blue beams at the Predacons, each was surrounded with a blue sphere of energy. The beams lifted them into the air, aimed them at the Predacon ship, and they all flew through the air. The spheres hovered to the ground and landed several yards away from their base. Megatron was furious.

"Defeated by a single Cybertronian! Nooo!"

Triceratron looked at Rattrap. "You can't get very far doing what I do without learning a few things." He looked up at his ship and gave the command, "Recloak and head to preset coordinates."

"Well, the rest of us are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Will you, Rattrap?" asked Optimus.

"Yeah, yeah. But I'll be watching you."

* * * * *

Triceratron headed to his ship and entered. He sat inside and began speaking to the computer. "Report," he said.

"Intercepted message. Skriix battlefleet is preparing to come this way and clear out the Cybertronian 'infestation'."

"Oh, Primus and the Inferno. May the Matrix help us all."

The End