Visions of Darkness

A Beast Wars Fanfiction

By Triceratron

The Maximal ship Quantron appeared out of Transwarp space in the middle of the asteroid field, as had been planned. The ship’s commander Iconimus Primal was deftly pleased with the run. He quickly activated his com-link to Cybertron and began reporting to the Maximal scientists in charge of the Transwarp testing facilities.

"The latest Transwarp engine upgrade has been a success. The Quantron is running with a 25% higher efficiency rating and it actually got us to the asteroid cluster 10 parsecs from Cybertron faster than our old drive," he stated enthusiastically. There was a noticeable time delay that resulted on the channel, a combination of distance and the fact that the communications device had yet to be tuned to the new Transwarp frequencies that were being operated on, but that was the next item that needed to be fixed.

"Good. We’ll need a full analysis of the drive’s performance when you return," was the reply. The scientist on the other end was busy examining the data being transmitted on his screens. "Now, we need to prepare the coordinates for your return. You should be ready to return in--"

His speech was interrupted by an alert signal coming from the external sensor array. Iconimus turned to his science officer and gave the order, "Report."

"Sensors are picking up a Cybertronian base on one of the asteroids. It’s no where on the record, but readings are consistent with Second Generation technology."

Iconimus frowned through the opening in his faceplate. Being given a position as a Primal, a progeny of several of the greatest leaders Cybertron had known, he was instructed to recognize the importance—and danger—Second Generation technology imposed. Any new technology they could salvage could prove to be a great benefit to all of Cybertron, but there was also the possibility that the Second-Generation Decepticons were still out there, somewhere. They were thought to have been exterminated in the earth year 1994, traces of their continued existence had been found scattered throughout the galaxy. After the breakup of the alliance in the year 1996 and the continuation of the Great War until several years after the final battle with Unicron, enough evidence was found to cement the theory that they still existed, and possibly in force. They needed to proceed with caution. "Any life signs?" he asked.

"No," stated the science officer. "No activity of any kind. It’s apparently a derelict facility."

He turned his attention to the scientist on the com-link. "We’ve just found a Second Generation base, it looks to be abandoned. We’re going in to check it out."

"Be careful," the scientist warned.

* * * * *

The Quantron docked with the base easily, though the mooring clamps needed to be operated manually for lack of power. Iconimus and several members of his crew entered a corridor. The darkness inside was complete, with no windows to let in starlight, and heavy shielding to block the most powerful gamma rays. They activated their hand-held torchlight units and went to work. A systematic search of the base proved what Iconimus surmised. It was gutted. There was hardly a piece of useful equipment anywhere. While he expected that the Decepticons wouldn’t have left anything of value, he was surprised that this base had been left so bare of everything except the most valueless computer systems. Surely, if the Decepticons took so much care to evacuate this facility, they would have dismantled it before they left for good. He stood in the main computer room now, staring blankly at the keypad and computer screen of one of the few systems still operational. His mind went through all the possible reasons this system was left behind with only a battery to power it—and one that would not last more than one more run. The computer itself was simplistic, hardly more functional than a calculator was, and only one other component, a radio transmitter, to provide an enigma. Oh well, he thought, the only way to know is to try. He activated the power source and the screen booted up. It printed out a long machine code, and stopped. The screen blipped and the computer shut down. "Oh well, I guess the brains would like a look at this. I can’t figure this out at all." He carefully removed the computer and returned to his ship.

* * * * *

Locating unit White Orb….

Unit found. Activating retrieval protocol…done.

* * * * *

Triceratron stood cloaked in front of his ship, waiting. The meeting was a few cycles away, and he was running past events through his mind, specifically the ones that lead up to this course of action. He remembered the loss of Tigatron and Airazor to the alien metalhunter, his inability to find them, and how he was foolish enough to leave Megatron alone with that machine. Not long after, he discovered Protoform X, and his revulsion at the prospect of this Maximal atrocity forced him away from those he needed to protect. One Maximal died and Megatron almost gained the Ark due to his lapse in judgement. Certainly, they could have all happened had he not been there, but he felt a deep guilt because of it. Perhaps the final insult came when Megatron regained the Ark and stole the spark of his namesake, the Decepticon leader, seeking a new source of power. He couldn’t allow another slip. He decided, once and for all, to proceed with Megatron’s assassination after returning the stolen spark. He had no other choice.

Depth Charge stepped up to the ship, which hovered mere inches above the ground. Triceratron suddenly appeared in his path, decloaking.

"I wish you wouldn’t do that," stated Depth Change angrily.

"If you don’t like it, why do you bother to help me?"

"Because I may need your help someday to bring down Protoform X," Depth Charge replied.

"Heh, and here all along I thought you would rather do it alone."

"I have my reasons. Here, take the disk and go. Whatever you have in mind, I don’t want to be a part of it."

Depth Charge turned and transformed into flight mode, rocketing away. Triceratron looked at the surveillance disks in his hand and sighed. "To defend all, one must die. I shouldn’t be surprised. I could feel this day coming since I arrived, I just didn’t want to accept it. After all," he said, walking toward his ship, "I know his type. I know that he’d never give up unless he was dead. I was like him…once."

He didn’t see it coming. The stream of energy came out of the sky and blasted his mind full force. He dropped the disks on the ground, unable to control his hands. He reached and clutched his head, trying to stop the searing pain that seemed to be clouding his thoughts. He dropped to his knees and tried to scream, only he couldn’t hear anything. Whether he was unable to make a sound, unable to hear it, or both, he was uncertain. His optical sensors shut down, and he lost any trace of coherent thought.

His mind was suddenly bombarded with images from his past. He saw his first landing on prehistoric earth, then his short time fighting alongside the Proxian Alliance and his effort to teach them what he had learned while fighting aliens. As he was further bombarded with memories of early fights against aliens. His desertion of Jhiaxus’s troops suddenly mingled with images he’d never seen before. He saw himself standing on a huge pile of dead Autobots, he saw the genocide of a young race on Altares IV. He couldn’t recognize where these images came from, but he knew inherently that he had experienced them first hand—that somehow he had actually carried out these horrible acts. The images stopped, only to give way to further onslaught. Something coalesced into his mind—an indescribable surge of power that changed his thoughts. His body sparked wildly with it. He flung his arms outward as the final jolt struck, triggering his energy shield and violently blowing the outer layers of metal from his form. Wings appeared on his sides, missile launchers on his shoulders, and all signs of his beast form disappeared.

He opened his eyes. White Orb, agent of the Cybertronian Empire had returned.

Rhinox stared at the readings, unable to process them. The energy beam had stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The only problem was his complete inability to classify it. It wasn’t from the aliens, much less any other known race. One thing he was sure of—it was from a highly advanced technology. Optimus looked on in distress.

"Depth Charge was in the area. I need to know if he was caught in that beam," Optimus said. Rhinox brought up the positions of all the Maximals on patrol.

"There he is," he said, pointing to a fast moving icon on the screen. "All Maximals accounted for."

"Then what was it…" Optimus trailed off, trying to think. Suddenly, the realization struck. "Scan for Triceratron’s energy signature."

Two new icons appeared. One they recognized was the ship, and the other was similar to Triceratron, yet was different enough to remain unclassified. "What the slag is that?" Rhinox asked himself.

"Trouble," said Optimus.

* * * * *

Triceratron’s ship cloaked as White Orb neared it. "So," he thought, "you’re going to play games with me. No matter. I’ll deal with you later. For now I have a mission to carry out." He picked up Depth Charge’s disks and scanned them with his eyes. The surveillance information on them showed Megatron’s whereabouts during the course of several months. "Worthless," he said disgustedly. He threw them to the ground and flew into the air, transforming into space plane mode as he did. He rocketed across the sky, flying in the direction of the Predacon ship.

* * * * *

"Megatron! There is an energy signature approaching!" Tarantulus said frantically. "It’s extremely powerful," he continued, "and shall be here in less than 2 cycles!"

"To your battle stations. If this is a result of the energy beam, we need to be prepared. Sentinel online!" Megatron barked. The shields went up.

White Orb’s shields powered up as he neared the Predacon ship. A barrage of autogun fire hit him as he neared the base, only to ricochet off the shield. He dove near to ground and, as he did, he launched a volley of laser fire that quickly destroyed the autoguns. He slowed as he reached the ship, and transformed. He touched ground and walked toward Sentinel’s shields, then passed straight through them as if they weren’t there.

The proximity alarm went on inside the ship. Megatron was surprised at the ease that the intruder had bypassed the defenses. But then, this was no usual intruder. Megatron prepared his troops to face him. Placing himself in the auxiliary command room at the center of the ship, the other Predacons prepared the ship’s guns for attack.

Something wasn’t right. The intruder wasn’t registering anywhere. "Where is he?" Megatron asked aloud. Dinobot glanced away from the computer screen for a second while Rampage clacked his claws angrily.

The ceiling above them burst and Megatron was pulled upward. He struggled only to find he was unable to free himself. He was in a headlock with a gun pointed at his face. Dinobot made a move toward the intruder, only to hear the click of his gun locking. "Come closer and I destroy him," he said. Dinobot, torn between trying to free his leader and saving him, stood his ground, snarling ferociously.

"You think you can stand up to them? Fool. If you let your guard down, they will scrap you," said Megatron defiantly.

"Let’s see about that," the intruder replied. He instantly pointed his gun at Dinobot’s chest and fired, blasting his portion of Rampage’s spark out the other side of his body. Dinobot’s lifeless body fell to the floor as Rampage was incapacitated from the pain. "They’ll both live. Your spark, however, is not indestructible. Or should I say sparks?"

"No…you can’t…the timeline…"

"Is inconsequential. Your foolish attempt to destroy Prime has given me all the information I need. When I am finished, you and your ancestors will cease to exist."

"You’re mad," Megatron gasped.

"I have a secret to tell you Megatron," he said, pressing his gun closer to the Predacon’s face. "I am a Second Generation Decepticon. Your past means nothing to me. Your race and your ancestors are anachronisms and we will only benefit from their destruction."

"Triceratron?"

"That which you knew no longer exists. I am White Orb, the most powerful Cybertronian ever to live, and I exist to serve the empire!"

"Modesty," said Megatron, waiting for a moment, "is not one of your strong points!" He whipped his dragon arm outward, freeing himself from White Orb’s grip. He spun around, hitting White Orb and knocking him several meters away. He stood up, only to see a fireball approaching. He quickly powered his shield and repelled the blast. Concentrating, White Orb began sending out a pulse of his shield’s energy through the fire to strike Megatron. Megatron lay on the ground, clutching his chest. Another energy bolt flew from White Orb’s hands like lightning and struck Megatron, sending a powerful burst throughout his superstructure. Megatron stopped moving as White Orb ended his attack and walked forward, bending down to his adversary.

"You fight well. Your power, however, was insufficient to even scratch me. I shall enjoy ripping your ancestor’s spark from your body and crushing it slowly, watching you fade out of existence." White Orb paused. "However, I believe I would enjoy it more to do it after I personally destroy the Ark. Then, it will truly be the last artifact of your existence and the only thing standing in the Empire’s way of absolute power!" The realization of White Orb’s plan sent an expression of fear through Megatron’s face. White Orb transformed into his space plane mode and roared off, bursting through Sentinel’s shields and flying away. Megatron limped to the hole in the hull and dropped down to face what was left of his crew.

"Send a…message to the Maximals. They need…to be…warned," Megatron said.

"Why boss? Ain’t he trying to do what you were?" asked Quickstrike.

"Fool! He is going to destroy Ark, not Prime. If he succeeds, we will all cease to exist," he yelled furiously.

"Channel open Megatron," Tarantulus interrupted. Megatron came to the console and began the transmission. Tarantulus left the room. As he walked down the corridor, he began to laugh quietly.

"Incoming message," shouted Blackarachnia.

Rhinox walked over from the sensor console where he had been tracking the unknown energy signature. "It’s from the Predacons," he said.

"On screen," commanded Optimus. Megatron appeared on the monitor. The room behind him was in a shambles, and so was he. His body was burned in several places and he was having difficulty standing on one of his legs.

"Primal, we need to call a temporary alliance," he said disgustedly.

"Why should I trust you?" Optimus asked.

"This is no time for foolishness. Your pet Decepticon has turned on both of us and is now en route to destroy the Ark!" Megatron spouted back furiously. Optimus’ face took on an expression of fear and surprise.

"Can he do that?" asked Blackarachnia.

"I’m not sure. We’ve seen him do some very impressive things, and I suspect he has the capability to do much more. He may have the ability to destroy the Ark without even getting near it, and not even Teletran 1 would be able to protect us," Optimus said. He turned back to the com-link. "I knew he had gone after you, but I never suspected…" Optimus trailed off. "Fine, you have your alliance Megatron, but I need to know everything you do, understand?"

"I will tell you everything I know. It’s only because he’s too powerful for me to defeat alone that I enter this alliance willingly. You know his motives much better than I."

"I’m afraid that may not be the case," said Optimus. "The energy disturbance that was scanned earlier today hit Triceratron specifically. Our scans suggest that Triceratron may not be the same as he once was."

"Then I hope for all of our sakes, Primal, that this alliance is not made in vain."

* * * * *

White Orb flew in the direction of the Ark, knowing that even at this speed it would be a while longer until he reached his target. He concentrated on his flying, so focused that he didn’t even see the shot until it passed in front of him. He stopped in midair and scanned the object that had nearly hit him. It was shaped like a buzz saw blade. "Tarantulus," he thought, scanning the ground to find him. Once he locked on, White Orb swerved toward him. He transformed and aimed his gun, targeting Tarantulus’s head in the crosshairs.

"Noooo! Wait! Don’t fire," said Tarantulus.

"Why not? You’re one of them," White Orb sneered.

"There’s more to me than you know, Decepticon. It’s in my interests to destroy the Ark as well."

"I know of your treachery during Megatron’s last assault on the Ark. Your actions suggest that you have something to gain from it, but unless you’re hiding a Decepticon emblem on that twisted body of yours, I can see no reason to deal with you."

"Listen then. I know how to send a message back in time, and I can send it outside of the time-space continuum so that it can be received regardless of causality. If I send it to myself, I will know of this planet without ever having been here."

"And?" White Orb asked impatiently.

"With your knowledge of how to defeat the aliens and your technology, we can capture this planet and use the energon deposits that existed before the destruction of the alien planet destroyer, and we can rule the Cybertronian Empire together!" Tarantulus exclaimed.

"You must be a fool to think you could ever rule the Cybertronian Empire. It takes more than energon to procure a place at the Hub."

"Perhaps not the Hub, but I plan to rule Cybertron, and with your help, Cybertron will be a strong ally to the Empire," replied Tarantulus.

"Hmmm…you certainly make a pleasing offer. However, I will have to decline. Unless you are prepared to hand Cybertron back to us when we return, you are our enemy and thus shall be destroyed." White Orb turned around and began walking away.

Tarantulus’s eyes narrowed. "So be it," he growled, reaching for his weapon. White Orb spun around gun in hand and blasted Tarantulus, knocking him to the ground. He transformed and took off, rocketing away towards the Ark.

* * * * *

Optimus Primal watched the scanners. White Orb was nearing. With the information Megatron had given him, he feared that the only chance was a futile counterattack that would never succeed. However futile, he told himself, he wouldn’t get the Ark without a fight. Suddenly, klaxons sounded all around the base. Another energy signature had been detected, and it had appeared so close to the base that it triggered the proximity alarms. Rhinox entered the room.

"Optimus, you’d better come see this."

Outside the base, Triceratron’s ship hovered a meter off the ground while Rhinox, Cheetor, and Rattrap looked on. "It just appeared," said Cheetor. "I was walking toward it, and it decloaked in front of me. It startled me pretty bad."

"Rhinox, can you explain it?" Optimus asked.

"Either an automatic emergency procedure, or…"

"What is it?" asked Optimus.

"Or this ship has artificial intelligence. Whatever it is, we have to get in there. It has all the information we don’t—about White Orb, the beam, maybe even how to stop him."

"Eh, then why don’t we just open it?" Rattrap asked.

"It’s not that easy Rattrap. You can’t just walk up to it and say ‘Open cockpit’," said Cheetor, standing in front of the ship. The cockpit cowling popped open and slowly rose.

The group all stared at the ship and Cheetor. "What?" he asked, then turned to see the door open. He backed away slowly.

Rhinox shook off his surprise, then commanded, "Let’s move! This may be our only chance."

* * * * *

A barrage of laser fire engulfed the skies as White Orb swerved wildly to avoid it. Megatron’s troops and a few Maximals were firing at him, trying to slow his advance.

"I shouldn’t have stopped to argue with that traitor. I allowed them a chance to catch up with me. Not that it matters—their weapons are too puny to stop me," White Orb thought to himself. He swerved and flew directly at the gun emplacements on the ground. He charged his shield and picked up speed. The Maximals and Predacons manning the guns dove for cover as he shot through the guns. The heat of the shield combined with his speed caused the guns to disintegrate as he passed by. White Orb returned to his set course without a second thought.

An explosion in the air next to him caught him by surprise. He sensed Depth Charge following behind him in flight mode. Two explosive disks hit his engines, forcing him to lose control. As he regained control he transformed to face his enemy. Depth Charge transformed and hurled himself onto White Orb. They both began to plummet toward the ground.

"Stop this now or we both go offline," yelled Depth Charge.

"You think hitting the ground, even at this height, will destroy me?"

"No. But this might. Computer, prepare to detonate all ordinance in 30 seconds."

"You’d self-destruct yourself to destroy me. How fitting—or foolish." With that, White Orb forced him away, then punched him in the face. They hovered several meters away from each other, and then Depth Charge flew forward. White Orb shot a burst of shield energy from his hand, hitting Depth Charge in the face. Depth Charge began to fall.

Satisfied, White Orb transformed back to space plane mode and blasted away. Depth Charge hit the ground hard. Silverbolt and Blackarachnia got to him minutes later.

"Is he…?" asked Silverbolt.

"He’s alive…barely," said Blackarachnia with a sigh of relief. Megatron approached.

"Oh well, so much for that wish, yesss."

"What’re you so happy about?" shot Blackarachnia. "We’re supposed to be on the same side, remember? Or had you forgotten?"

"No, I hadn’t. However, you should also remember that the truce ends when the threat is neutralized. I have no intention of letting you Maximals claim victory over this battle," said Megatron.

"Until then, you’d do well to help us get him to a CR chamber," she replied.

"Oh, the burden of command. Waspinator, Inferno, take him to the Maximal base. Quickly!"

"Yes royalty!" cried Inferno, saluting.

Waspinator looked at him, then saluted as well. "Wazzzpinator complying." He grabbed an arm and lifted, wings buzzing. "Fishy bot heavy," he said, lifting off. Inferno’s jets fired, and he shot off, dragging Depth Charge and Waspinator behind him.

* * * * *

"Rhinox, report," said Optimus. Rhinox turned to him from inside the ship.

"Well, this ship has some of the most advanced artificial intelligence I’ve ever seen. It has the ability to make judgement calls and decide how to deal with a situation. That’s why it came here. It detected the change in Triceratron and knew that its mission was in danger. From the information I was able to obtain," he continued, "a device was activated when the beam hit. It redirected his memory circuits and gave him a new motivational imperative." Rhinox pointed to the picture of a device on the screen in front of him. "It appears to be a temporal homing device with a separate power source. It’s directly rerouting his memory circuits."

"So, if we destroy the device," Optimus started.

"According to this, we’ll return him to normal. Or turn him into a blank."

"We’ll have to take that risk," said Optimus. "I have no doubt that White Orb will destroy us if he isn’t stopped. Any idea on how to destroy the device?"

"From what I can tell, an overload should do it. I’d need to recreate the beam that activated the device, then increase its intensity until it overloads and destroys the device, and the rerouting would stop. Assuming it doesn’t permanently fry his memory circuits."

"Can we recreate the beam?" asked Optimus.

"With our technology, no. This ship is much more advanced and does have the capability. I’d need time to set it up. Several minutes, maybe more. I’d also need a clean shot long enough. Someone would have to hold him in place for some time, if that can be done."

"Optimus," said Cheetor, overhearing the conversation. "Time is something we don’t have. Look!" He pointed at the sky. They looked up and saw White Orb nearing the mountain.

"Rhinox, prepare the beam. I’ll have to stall him." Optimus converted into flight mode and blasted away.

"I hope you’re able to buy the time we need," said Rhinox, turning to the keypad.

* * * * *

White Orb saw Optimus approaching in the distance. "Hitting me head on? That’s not a very good strategy. Of course, given the situation, nothing they could do would be a good strategy," he thought. He fired a blast from his laser cannons. Optimus dodged the attack and returned fire. Blasts exploded in the air around White Orb as he pressed forward. Optimus pulled straight up microseconds before colliding with him. Following suit, he fired after Optimus as they gained altitude. Suddenly, Optimus looped around, positioning himself behind White Orb. He fired several rounds, blasting White Orb’s engines and wings and sending him into an uncontrolled barrel roll. He fell, unable to regain control until he almost hit the ground. White Orb pulled up and began shooting at Optimus, who again dodged the blasts. Optimus turned and sped off, with his attacker in pursuit. He accelerated away, trying to put distance between himself and White Orb. It wasn’t enough; the Decepticon matched then exceeded his acceleration. He pulled alongside Optimus and aimed a gun turret that sat on the forward portion of his fuselage. He fired, hitting the windshield on Optimus’ cockpit. It blew out, filling the cockpit with smoke.

Optimus lost control and began to plummet to the ground, rolling wildly. He quickly regained control and leveled out, but was struck by White Orb’s lasers, blasting gaping holes in his wings. Unable to retain control, Optimus transformed into robot mode and turned to see White Orb charging him. He increased thrust and almost got out of his path, only to be hit in the foot. He tumbled through the air for some distance, then righted himself. He turned to see White Orb flying at him in robot mode, his fist drawn back.

The punch landed on his chin, knocking him away. Barely able to look up, he was punched again, and again. Optimus flung both arms forward, knocking White Orb away. White Orb regained control and shot forward. Optimus put his hand out and grabbed his attacker’s head. Swinging White Orb back, he then threw him into the nearest mountain, creating a burst of dust around the area. Optimus neared the spot, and looked. As the dust cleared, he saw an empty crater. Before Optimus could react, he felt White Orb’s hands clutching his head from behind.

"Game over Primal!" he shouted, as his grip tightened. Optimus could feel his metal skull begin to collapse. He knew if he didn’t do something soon, the Ark would be destroyed and those in his command would cease to exist. He couldn’t allow that. Optimus, with a renewed burst of power, turned his body and slammed his fist into White Orb’s chest, flinging him away. White Orb began to approach yet again.

"Optimus, now!" Rhinox’s voice said over the com-link. As White Orb neared, Optimus reached out and grabbed him, wrapping his arms around White Orb and turning toward the base. The beam shot from the ship up at them. It struck White Orb and he began to writhe and struggle. The sequence of images that went through his mind when the first beam hit began to repeat, and then they began to run together. It all became a blur as the homing device began to overheat. The circuits in the device melted together and its power source broke open. He yelled in pain and then emitted a burst of shield energy, blasting Optimus backwards and knocking him unconscious. They both fell, plunging downward, both unconscious and unable to stop. They hit the ground…

* * * * *

"Optimus…"

A voice penetrated the darkness of Optimus’ mind. At first he couldn’t figure out where it came from, but slowly he began to recognize it as Rhinox. His brain triggered his recognition circuits. He regained consciousness, slowly at first. He opened his optical circuits and blinked. His vision was blurry at first. A silver blob appeared to move right up close.

"Hey, fearless leader is wakin’ up," said Rattrap’s voice.

Optimus’ vision finally cleared to see Rattrap’s face inches from his own. Rhinox grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away. Cheetor looked at him, concerned.

"How’re you doing Big Bot?" he asked.

"Ooohhh…I’m damaged but fine. What about White Orb? Is he…?"

"He’s alive, and back to normal, thankfully. The homing device was destroyed and is being absorbed by his automatic regeneration systems, and his circuits are being repaired as we speak," said Rhinox. "I’ve got to say that he’s doing better than I expected, even if he won’t be fully functional for a while."

"It’s a perfect time then, yesss."

The Maximals all looked toward the voice and saw Megatron and his troops standing several meters away. "The alliance is over Maximals, and I’m here to take what rightfully belongs to the Predacons—victory!"

"You’ll never…win…Megatron," Optimus struggled.

"Oh, but I already have. As we speak, Inferno and Waspinator are attacking the Ark, which you so helpfully left unguarded. The only thing that stands in my way is you, Primal, and you’re too weak to stop me."

Inferno's and Waspinator’s bodies suddenly flew over Optimus’ head, apparently unconscious. They landed at Megatron’s feet. White Orb stumbled into view and aimed his gun. "Think again Megatron," he said. "You couldn’t defeat me on my worst day."

"White Orb!" Megatron exclaimed.

"Triceratron to you. Leave before I decide to extract the other Megatron’s spark from your body personally and return it."

"You’ll not stop me, fool! All Predacons, open fir—" Megatron began, but stopped short as something in the sky caught his attention. Everyone else turned to see it.

The sky darkened as the huge silhouette eclipsed the sun. The ground was blanketed by shadow. The wind gusted up as the Predacons backed away. Optimus held his arm in front of his face and looked at Triceratron. The Decepticon stared at the sky.

"They’ve come for me. I knew it would happen, but not now, not here," Triceratron gasped.

"What is it?" yelled Optimus.

"It’s a ship. A Cybertronian battle cruiser. That homing device must have alerted the Empire to my position. They’ve come to take me back," he said. He looked back at the Maximals. "You’re all in danger. There’s no way to fight them now…" He looked back at the giant ship. "This may be the end—of everything."

To be continued…