Children of the Void
                                        By Tony Klepack, Matt Kirkby, Patricia Pajunen, Thomas Zavier


    Thunder surveyed the charred, broken landscape of the world about him. Cybertron had certainly seen better days then this, he knew. Scanning the desolation, it seemed to him as if the end of the world had occurred here today and this was ground zero.
    The sky had assumed a murky aura about it, a bizarre cross of pink cloud blended with blue and peppered with small traces of grey. The horizon itself was eerily calm, save for a warm breeze caressing his face.
    Their home world appeared completely decimated from what he had been able to determine. The instrument of Cybertron’s destruction, unknown. All that was certain was that whatever had happened here, it had been powerful, destructive and abrupt.
    What of their people, he wondered... could they survive without Cybertron as the beacon of light in their individual worlds? Certainly, it would take many years to undo the destruction here--and that was optimistically assuming it all could be rebuilt--which was something he wasn’t too certain of just now.
    He felt so powerless--there was nothing he could do to reverse recent events no matter how badly he wished it. Cybertron was ruined, thousands of their kin were dead and the future was naught but a well of darkness...its tendrils slowly snaking their way down to ensnare the present as well. Was the damage irreparable? And if so, how would their people survive this cataclysm?
    And where were Optimus Prime, Megatron and the rest of their great leaders in all of this? He had heard much of the fabled Autobot leader and even encountered his Maximal namesake on prehistoric Earth in this realm. Surely, one as great as Optimus Prime was supposed to be could lead their people to a new beginning if anyone could...
    Thunder remembered his own Universe of origin and the greatest of the Autobot renegades there, Magnus Prime. He knew that his first leader was the chosen holder of the Matrix and that he would have been the only one to command in a situation such as this--and if Optimus Prime was an alternate universe version of him, then he would be the one to turn to after such a disaster.
    But the few meager searches that had been conducted so far had only turned up a couple of the rank and file Maximals and Autobots. Having survived for the centuries that he had, Thunder knew that if this rag tag group had survived thus far then there were certainly more survivors and many of them, logically, had to be Decepticons or Predacons. The question was, when they did turn up would they fight or join them?
    “Thunder?”
    He turned at the voice, his white-gold mane fluttering in the still warm breeze.
    “Yes, Zaanai?” He regarded the female before him, standing slightly ahead of the rest of the group of survivors. She was somewhat shorter then he was--about the typical height for a female Transformer, her black and silver-grey armor shone in the smeared light.
    He had first encountered her in the distant past on prehistoric Earth, during the Beast Wars. He had come to the era, tired of centuries of fighting, death and destruction. He had met her then, an angry and stubborn female Predacon who lived for the conflict around her. But there had also been something about her--an unexpected humour beneath her rough exterior and an almost unrevealed innocence to her personality. And something in him had attracted her to him as well...they had eventually traveled through time together here to the relative present to search for clues to the mystery of her past and ended up stepping into the middle of an apocalyptic war zone instead.
    “The others seem a little...anxious,” she replied, a gleam in her silver optic. “Of course they are Maximals. But maybe you should say something--let them know what the plan is.”
    Thunder smiled at her and nodded, trying not to admire her beautiful figure as he did. She knew as well as he did that he didn’t really have a plan...but the others didn’t realize that and if they were going to survive this, they would all need to work together.
    Thunder trained his gaze on the others. “My friends, I know you are all concerned about our future. But rest assured, we shall all survive no matter what the outcome. I do not know about Cybertron’s fate...but we shall carry on. And as long as we survive, we shall keep our legacy alive.”
    “Who are you?” One of the Autobots asked. “And if you are one of us, why are you allied with a Predacon?”
    “I am called Thunder,” he replied. “And this is Zaanai. She may bear the symbol of a Predacon, but we are both Cybertronians...” He reached his hand over and laced fingers with hers. “She is my ally and my life mate. She will not betray us.”
    “Well...except maybe you.” Zaanai told the Autobot. His expression tightened at that, although Thunder knew she was only trying to annoy the other further.
    “Don’t worry about it, Warhawk,” his teammate said. “She hasn’t tried anything yet, so I think we’re safe for the moment.”
    “For the moment,” Zaanai echoed.
    Thunder squeezed her hand gently at that, signaling for her to stop antagonizing the others. Now was not the time for it--they needed to band together, not kill one another.
    “We’re all on the same side here,” Thunder continued after a moment. “Let’s not try to lose sight of that.”
    “I understand that,” one of the Maximals replied. “Just make sure that your girlfriend does.”
    “Don’t worry about her,” Thunder told him. “She’ll behave herself...”
    He trailed off a moment, trying to find the right words “Now, I know we’re all on edge after what’s just happened but we need to keep our heads about us. It’s the only way we can all ensure our survival...we don’t know what’s going to happen next and there’s no--”
    Thunder’s speech was interrupted by several laser bolts that exploded into nearby rock, narrowly missing them.
    “Decepticons, attack!”
    Over a nearby rise in the landscape, several Decepticons and Predacons emerged, their weapons erupting energy fire and projectiles.
    “Take them!” one of the Autobots yelled.
    “You got it, Tornado!” Warhawk exclaimed, transforming to his fighter mode.
    In seconds, both sides leapt into battle, assuming the same roles they had assumed for countless millennia beforehand.
    Thunder watched as the battle commenced. Nearby, he saw Zaanai strike some hapless Predacon with her claws, tearing long strips out of his body armor.
    “Surprise!”
    Thunder spun in time to see a metal rod crash into his head module, forcing him to stumble back off the stone step he occupied.
    “Time to die, leader man!” a Decepticon yelled, twisting the rod in his hands with master-like precision. “Terrors, terrorize!” he yelled as he struck again.
    Thunder dodged the blow with incredible speed and slammed his fist into the other’s waist, forcing him to regain his footing instead of striking once again.
    “You’re out-classed, Maximal!” the Decepticon exclaimed, his visored face gleaming brightly in the dull light. “I’m the last of the Metallikato masters in existence--no one gets the drop on Talon!”
    “I’m Thunder--and I don’t care what you’re the Master of!” Thunder’s claws struck out in time with Talon’s staff and severed the makeshift weapon into two pieces.
    Having dispatched her enemy, Zaanai moved to surround Talon. Not bothering to observe his rear guard, he abruptly dropped and swept his foot out in a half circle, dropping Thunder to the ground. Fluidly, he turned and drove the two pieces of his broken staff into her chest, dropping her also.
    “Some challenge,” he mumbled under his breath as they slowly recovered. He leapt up and bounced off Thunder’s shoulder in front of him, transforming as he did so into his fighter craft mode.
    “Are you okay?” Thunder asked Zaanai as he rose to his feet. He turned at the sound of jet engines and saw Talon angling to strafe them.
    “I can handle myself, love.” she replied. A nearby Decepticon charged her as she finished speaking and she struck out with her foot, catching him in mid-move.
    “Down!” Thunder howled, throwing both of them out of the way as Talon’s energy bolts strafed the spot where they’d just been standing. Leaping to his feet a moment later, he fired off a missile at his aerial adversary. Calling his photon rifle out of sub space, he aimed and fired off several volleys at the Decepticon, hoping to get lucky.
    As it turned out, one of his later shots struck the underside of Talon. Sparks erupted from the cyberjet and the fighter wobbled trying to maintain control. Exploiting his momentary advantage, Thunder soared up and slammed his body against the underside of the fuselage, ruining Talon’s attempt to keep control and crashing him back to the surface.
    Landing on his feet on the surface, Thunder charged toward the other, who was still reconverting his body back into his biped mode. Succeeding with seconds to spare, Talon slammed his feet into Thunder’s chest, shoving the other backward to the ground.
    Rising again, both warriors fell into battle stances, attempting to anticipate the other’s next move. Standing there, Thunder felt it first and a scant second later, everyone else did too as the surface rumbled and shook explosively all around them.
    The tremors struck everyone--save for a few jets in the skies at the time--forcing them to topple to the ground. The planet thundered resonantly and the surface churned and twisted violently, further separating the two enemy factions in their twilight hour.
    After what seemed like the final, killing blow for these Transformers--somehow passed over by the prime cataclysm before hand--the tremors subsided as quickly as they had begun, the surface calming itself once more and sparing them all to fight on another day.
    Thunder picked himself up off the ground and noted miraculously that he was not hurt. Surveying the immediate area, he discovered he had ended up in some sort of sink hole in the surface. The rest of the planet was about sixty feet above him now... spreading his wings, he shot upward and returned to Cybertron’s surface in a matter of moments.
    Hovering over the general area they had just been fighting in, he discovered the landscape was even more distorted and warped then previously. It seemed almost as if the planet was violently tearing itself apart...
    Spotting Zaanai on the ground about a yard away from where he’d last left her--of course, such a measurement was now relative in the wake of the Earthquake they’d suffered--he angled that direction and flew to her aid.
    “Are you okay?” he asked as he landed and rushed to her side.
    “Yeah, I think so. Just...nhhh, some damaged servo circuitry in my leg.” She rubbed the darkened gash on her right leg. “Nothing too serious, but it hurts like hell.”
    He bent down and scooped her up in his large, muscular arms. A look of surprise initially crossed her face but she decided not to question it finally. If he wanted to carry her, who was she to decline the offer?
    It seemed so tempting right then, to gather his lady up in his arms and use the temporal device they possessed to time shift out of this era completely--leaving the others to their fate. But, even as he uttered the thought, he knew he could never do such a thing to his fellow Autobots-he was not that selfish. And he could not even contemplate the possibility of them all dying here alone because he had abandoned them.  No, if he could find a way to guide them to safety and find out what occurred here, he would do so first...it was just his way.
    “Hold it, cat breath!” Thunder felt the cold steel of a gun barrel rested against his mane of hair. He turned slowly to see Talon beside him. The mouth below his optic band twisted into a proud, if sarcastic, grin.
    “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage here,” he replied, looking down at Zaanai in his arms.
    Talon considered them both a moment. “Well, that’s love for you, isn’t it? Instead of liberating you, it just ties you up!”
    “Very funny,” Zaanai replied. “You ought to be a comedian...”
    “True,” Talon agreed. “But they said I was way ahead of my time--and anyway, I like conquest so much better!”
    “I know this is your moment and all, but perhaps we should call a truce.” Thunder turned about slowly to look at the other. “There’s something going on here, Talon, and I think you know it too.”
    The other was silent a moment, as if considering his words. “I’m listening. But, don’t try anything stupid, okay?” He shifted his arm-mounted gun purposefully.
    “The fact is, I came in on this whole battle--or whatever it was--in the middle,” Thunder told him. “But it’s clear that Cybertron has suffered a horrible cataclysm...the world is ruined, many are dead...and if that tremor was any indication, it looks as if the planet isn’t long for life either. We need to band together--all of us--and get off world. It’s the only way our people can survive...”
    “So, why don’t we just kill you and take our leave? Why do we really need the Autobots and Maximals along? You’d just be dead weight...”
    “You could do that,” Thunder replied. “But by the time you’re done fighting us, either you’ll have lost so many of your side in battle there won’t be enough to start over with--or maybe the planet will have destroyed itself by then.” He paused. “My plan is far simpler and easier in the long run.”
    Talon lowered his rifle and nodded. “I suppose you’re talking sense,” he said. “Especially the part about getting off world...”
    “So, what did happen here exactly?” Zaanai asked. “The place looks like hell...”
    “I don’t know exactly, either,” Talon replied. “My memory is a little foggy. I know who I am and who you are, but the past is...vague in my mind, for lack of a better word. It’s almost like my memories are smudged somehow.”
    “This is getting stranger and stranger as it goes,” Thunder said. “Many questions, yet few answers...”
    Zaanai nodded. “Let’s go round up the others--assuming they survived that quake. Maybe once we’re all together we can figure this out.”
    Thunder looked down into her optics and smiled. “As always, you are the voice of reason, my love.”
    As they started off, Talon noted the two’s loving expressions and shrugged.
    “This is going to be a long search...” he mumbled under his breath.

    A few minutes later, everyone else was located and Thunder was pleased to see they had all survived the quake. In fact, some of the flyers had even set about rounding up their respective sides after the tremor, making it far easier for the trio to have located everyone then it would have been otherwise. Hurried explanations had prevented a recurrence of the war and everyone understood there was now a truce among them.
    Some introductions had also been made and he was now aware of the Autobot Air Defense Force--Tornado, the leader, Warhawk, Airlift and Firestorm. The Maximals Mach Kick, Longrack and Survive. The Predacons Waspinator, Skyshadow, Transquito, Manterror and Scavenger. The Autobots Scoot, Utaxx, Hound, Sideswipe, Beachcomber and Wild Ride. And finally, the Decepticons, Talon and his Terrors team-Synder, NightFright, Bliztkreig, Altus, Stratus, and Cloud-Ramjet and Astrotrain.
    It had been decided that all of them should get off the planet since both Thunder and Talon both suspected the earthquake they’d experienced earlier was a symptom of the planet’s instability and that it would soon destroy itself. To that end, the group had set off for the Iacon spaceport in the hope it was still there and that they could locate a space cruiser capable of a long interstellar flight.
    “Something has struck me as wrong about the sky,” Airlift said as they walked.
    “What do you mean?” Scoot asked her.
    “The pinkish-blue color,” she replied. “That’s not normal. At first, I thought it was just the dirt and dust from whatever happened earlier. But stop and look at it for a few moments.”
    Scoot did so and looked upward, prompting a couple of the others around him to wander what he was doing and follow suite.
    “You’re right,” he said. “It’s almost like it’s a shifting maelstrom of some sort...changing subtlely from minute to minute.”
    “Isss righttt,” Manterror agreed. “What hasss happened to itt? Not norm-all.”
    “Perhaps a distortion in space-time?” Transquito asked.
    “If so, we could be in worse trouble than we thought...” Wild Ride chimed in.
    Nearby, the curiosity had also attracted Thunder, Zaanai and Talon’s attention and they had looked to the sky to investigate as well.
    “What does this mean?”
    “I don’t know,” Talon replied. “But it does confirm one suspicion I’ve had since this all began.”
    “What’s that? Zaanai asked, her optics still trained on the dead sky.
    “Basically, why are there four different factions present?” Talon said. “Autobot, Decepticon, Maximal and Predacon...the Autobots and Maximals seem to know somehow that they belong together and the Decepticons and Predacons likewise. But if we are only two factions, why then do we have four names and some factions favor vehicular forms while some are bestial in nature?”
    “Good point, actually. Although... I dunno, maybe some of them are sub-groups?”
    “Except that it’s a little too random--the Terrors are a unit but some of the rest of us don’t seem to fit together in that way. However, my thought is that if this is some sort of space-time distortion, then perhaps some or all of us are temporally displaced as well.”
    “It’s possible,” Zaanai agreed. “But what force could be so awesomely powerful it could destroy our planet and twist several of us out of time?”
    “I don’t know...but it’s another reason I want to get off of this planet. Before something else goes wr-”
    Reality flashed out into white right then and it seemed as if all time had stopped and synchronously all moments of reality occurred simultaneously, the images and moments overloading their sensors with data of things that were, are, and would be and also would never occur.
    “--ong. What the hell?” Talon sputtered.
    Thunder, Zaanai and Talon stumbled and then collapsed in pain from the sudden disruption. After a few moments of lying on the ground, Thunder slowly, gently, picked himself up.
    “Everyone okay?” Wild Ride asked as the group slowly recovered from the effects.
    “Yeah... I think so.” Tornado replied. He was lying slightly further out from the rest of the group and rose to his feet. With a split second of warning, he spun and was grabbed at mid-waist by an assailant.
    “What is that thing?” Warhawk exclaimed.
    The group watched as an enormous metallic serpent coiled itself around Tornado, clutching him at mid-waist with it’s body. The creature squeezed him, keeping him from being able to retaliate against it.
    “I don’t know, but there’s more than one!” Zaanai yelled. She summoned up her two quasar rifles and opened fire on another one as it emerged from concealment behind some wreckage near her.
    In a matter of seconds, dozens of the serpents emerged from all around them and struck, forcing everyone to defend themselves as best as possible.
    Talon drew his laser sword and sped toward the serpent wrapped around Tornado. In one swift strike, he sliced it in two. Mortally wounded, the creature collapsed and released its would-be death grip on the Autobot.
    “I must be getting soft, helping Autobots!” he exclaimed as another of the creatures dashed toward him.
    Wild Ride fired a missile at the nearest serpent to him as it lunged for him. The projectile exploded against the creature’s skin and tore it in two. Unfortunately, he had been slightly too close to the detonation and the impact tossed him abruptly backward, slamming him to the ground. Rising, he caught a glimpse of something on the horizon momentarily before having to turn his attention back to the battle...
    An instant later, two dozen of the creatures emerged from a rise in front of them and charged the assorted warriors. Thunder drew all his weapons and moved into a battle stance, fearing this would be their last stand.
    And then it was all over--the world vanished all around him again and reality seemed to warp impossibly, making all possibilities and simultaneously none, possible at once. Pain flashed into their minds, overwhelming them with the probability around them, bringing them to their knees once more with the sheer agony.
    And then the world was normal again and the creatures were no longer there...
    “What were those things?” Zaanai asked.
    “I don’t know,” Wild Ride replied. “But, I could be wrong here, but did anyone notice...I only saw it for an instance but I could’ve sworn I saw a crystalline city in the distance when those serpent creatures attacked.” He looked off at the horizon and then back at the rest of them. “But, now it’s gone...”
    “The past? The future?” Thunder asked. “Were we still here or...some other time?” And if so, what era would feature such monstrosities as the ones they’d just fought?
    Talon looked around and noticed something odd. “Did anybody else here notice that a couple of us are different looking now?” He pointed to Waspinator. “He’s more mechanical looking now--”
    “They call that a ‘Trans Metal’,” Longrack interjected.
    “Right. And those two Autobots--and Ramjet--have different color schemes now.”
    “Yeah,” Tornado agreed. “Sideswipe’s colors are inversed and Beachcomber is green now.”
    “Perhaps the temporal distortion physically altered them...” Thunder interjected. “Or they were somehow sped up...matured faster then normal.”
    “I have an idea,” Zaanai interrupted.
    “What’s that, love?”
    “Let’s get the hell out of here--before something else happens!”
    The others seemed to agree in unison at that and they continued off in the direction of the spaceport.
            *            *            *
    The spaceport at Iacon was largely destroyed, much like the rest of the planet seemed to be. However, miraculously, several vessels seemed to have escaped the destruction and it didn’t prove too difficult to find one large enough for the rag tag group to utilize.
    Within a half cycle, the vessel had launched off the surface. Just in time, some of them discovered, to avoid another large seismic tremor that collapsed the hanger behind them.
    Curiously, they had not discovered any more of their kind in the immediate area they had traveled. Of course in the rush to depart they had not had the full time to explore...still, the rest of the planet seemed devoid of life--and that fact troubled Thunder. Some of them were conclusively dead in the catastrophe, granted--but surely there would have been more survivors then they’d located...
    “Well, we’re free of Cybertron.” Talon said as their vessel rocketed up toward the ionosphere. “Now what?”
    “Now,” Thunder replied beside him, “we see what, if anything, is beyond this strange mist cover surrounding the planet. And, if we’re lucky, escape this madness...”

Part Two

    “We’re closing on the upper atmosphere.”
    “Time to impact with the mist?”
    “Not long now,” Zaanai replied.  “A few nanocycles, I think.”
    “You think?” Talon asked.
    “Hey, these sensors aren’t working quite right...all of the readings are off.”
    “Off?  How ‘off’?”
    “Just a bit.”
    The ship shuddered.
    “Power fluctuations!”  Cloud typed madly at the console.  “I can’t stabilize us!”
    “We survive some unknown cataclysm only to get killed in a starship crash.”  Talon sighed.  “How mundane.”
    “Did you have some other way you wanted to die?” Zaanai demanded.
    “Yes, actually.  I plan to live forever.”  Talon gripped the edge of the communications console  with a tight grip.  “Why, don’t you?”
    “Hold on!”  Thunder lost his grip and was thrown out of his chair by the next wave of shaking.
    Suddenly the ship went still.
    “Are we safe?” Thunder asked as he regained his feet.
    “No,” Cloud replied grimly.  “We’re going down!”
    “I never realized just how big Cybertron was before this,” Talon announced as the planet filled the forward viewports.  “I think this is going to hurt.”
    “Figures...just what we deserve for allowing a Predacon to pilot us.”
    “I’ll try to land in that desert,” Cloud said, ignoring Warhawk.  “It should make for a soft landing.”
    “But Cybertron doesn’t have any deserts,” Beachcomber said.
            *            *            *
    “That was a spectacular waste of time,” Talon announced as he stepped out of the ship.  “We could’ve just walked you know!”
    “I’ve had just about enough of your tongue!” Zaanai snapped.
    “Ya wanna try something?” Blitzkrieg demanded as he stepped forward.  “Do ya?”
    “Don’t tempt me.”
    “You mess with the boss and you’re gonna get hurt,” Synder promised.  She pounded her fists together and glared down at the other Transformers.  Blitzkireg nodded eagerly.
    “Children!” Talon snapped.  “Stand down!”
    Altus nodded.  “I don’t have access to enough spare parts to put you louts back together this time.”  Her haughty tone caused the other Terrors to bristle even more.
    “We do have a truce,” Talon reminded them.  “For now.”
    Thunder nodded.  “Precisely.”  He hoped his calm tone would entice the other Autobots to lower their own weapons.  “We need to figure out just where we are.”  He gestured to the sand which stretched away beyond the distant horizons.  “Cybertron-our Cybertron-doesn’t have deserts.”
     “Not in a long time.”
    “I want an aerial recon.  NightFright, Cloud, Stratus go!”
    “Why send them?” Sideswipe demanded.
    “Because someone has to make decisions around here.”  Talon smirked.  “Why, do you want the job?”
    “Maybe.”
    Talon snickered.
    “Wazzpinator doezz not like thizz place.”
    Thunder looked back at the others.  “I don’t think we can keep this crew together for long,” he murmured to Zanaai.
    “If we have to leave them,” she began, “then we must.”
    “I don’t feel right in just abandoning them all here.”
    “But we may have no choice in the matter.  If we can’t get this ship to break through the mist, then we will all die here.”  She shivered.  “I don’t know why I believe that, but I do.”

    A chattering of a helicopter filled the air as NightFright returned and transformed.  “No evidence of habitation in the area,” he announced in his deep voice.  “This place is empty...barren.”
    “That could be a good thing,” Talon announced.  “Or not.”
    A dull boom echoed in the distance.
    “Wazzpinator doezz not like the sound of that!”
    “Nor do I,” Longrack said.
    “Everyone keep calm!” Thunder ordered.  “There is no reason to panic.”
    “We have every reason to panic!” Talon snapped.  His visor flickered.  “I have a really bad feeling about this.”  He tapped his comlink.  “Stratus?  Cloud?  Report!”
    “Are they always this slow to report back?” Zanaai asked after a long silence.
    “No.”
    “We’re in trouble,” Beachcomber said.  “Well, more trouble.  This soil is not at all like what I should be reading.  Any and all micro-organisms have been eradicated-as if the entire region was sterilized somehow.  I’m detecting some unusually high radiation levels.”
    “Dangerously high?”
    “In time, yes.  A few megacycles at least before any serious malfunctions will start in our cerebral circuitry.”
    “We’ve got visitors!” Airride snapped.
    Movement on the horizon was discernable now...shapes resolving into humanoid figures.  And if they were visible at such a distance, then those figures must be huge.
    “Wow.”  Scavenger shook his head-module.  “I haven’t seen a Guardian robot before.”
    “There haven’t been any of them around in millions of megacycles.”
    Thunder and Zanaai exchanged looks.
    “So I know a little history,” Talon said, “but why should we worry about a bunch of Guardians?  Aren’t they designed to protect Cybertron from invaders?”
    “Those colour schemes are wrong,” Sideswipe said quietly.  “Those are the colours of the old Slavemasters.”
    Talon froze.
    Zanaai eyed him.  Up until that instant, he had been constantly fidgeting-moving around, twitching his fingers, turning his head-and it had been driving her nuts!  But now this sudden freeze had her worried.
     “The Slavelords?” Talon whispered.  “By all that’s holy, no.”
    Thunder had missed Talon’s freeze.  “Weapons ready,” he ordered.  “Don’t fire unless you have too-we don’t want to activate their offensive combat programming.”
    “I see movement in the sky.”  Altus pointed.  “Looks like a small saucer-shaped craft of some kind.”
    “I just want to have a tussle with one of those Guardians.  I bet I can take one down.”
    “I bet I can before you, Synder.”
    “You’re on, Blitzkrieg.”
    “Don’t you two ever stop this incessant display of bravado?”  Altus demanded of her comrades.
    “No.”
    “Nope.”
    She sighed.
    “Hello!” Thunder called out to the approaching Guardians.  “Hi, we’re friends.”  He transmitted his greeting over standard radio too.
    “No answer?” Zanaai asked.  “How rude.”
    “No, I think we got an answer coming!  Cover!”
    A massive explosion sent dirt and rock fountaining into the air.
    “I don’t think they’re friendly types,” Hound noted.
    “Talon, we need a multi-part attack to take them down.”  Thunder hastily counted and tried to track over two dozen Guardians as their fire sent his troops scattering.  “Talon?”  He turned his head.
    A smoking crater marked the spot where the Decepticon had been standing.
    “Kill ‘em all!”  Blitzkrieg shouted as he and Synder charged.
    “One must admire their bravery,” Altus observed in her clinical manner.  “Even if it does get them both killed.”
    “Defend yourselves!” Thunder shouted-even though he knew his troops and comrades were already doing just that.
    “Wazzpinator will lead the aerial attack.”  The TransMetal wasp transformed and flew towards one of the Guardians.  He flew around the mech’s head-module, easily avoiding the ponderous swings of its arms.
    Zanaai lunged forward, her best efforts having no noticeable effect on the giants.
    No effect.  Thunder heard those words echoing through his head.  “No effect...we can’t stop them.”  Well, not all of them, he added as Synder and Blitzkrieg knocked one Guardian down.
    Overhead, NightFrght unleashed a barrage of missiles and lasers at the saucership.
    In response, it began firing bolts of crackling energy.
    “Neural inhibitors,” a shaken Talon identified the bolts as he crawled out of a crater.  “One hit and your cerebral cortex gets scrambled...allows you to be taken captive for examination and experimentation.”
    “Personal experience?” Thunder asked, hearing mingled emotions in Talon’s voice.
    “Too much so.”  Talon snapped off a shot from his pulse laser.  The tiny gun emerged from its compartment in his left arm and the laser splashed harmlessly against the Guardian he had fired at.  “Damn it!  I can’t even scratch them!”
    “We’re being overwhelmed!” Warhawk radioed to everyone.  “Half of us are down.”
    Thunder could see the bodies-no doubt neurally inhibited--and parts of bodies.
    “We fight to the end,” Zanaai growled.
    “No surrender,” Talon agreed as he drew his laser sword.  His optic band was darker now than before.  “Not to these foes.”
    “No surrender,” Thunder agreed...and once again, he considered grabbing Zanaai-and possibly one or two others-and escaping via his temporal device.

    The Guardians were still closing in-they had surrounded the still combat-capable TransFormers.  The saucership hovered nearby, its gunports gaping open and ready to fire.
    “Surrender, Cybertronians,” a metallic voice grated, its tone tinged with the yowl of cats being skinned alive.
    “Or face oblivion,” another voice added, its tones sharp like broken glass.
    “Never!” Talon shouted.  He threw himself forward and his laser sword dug into the leg of a Guardian.  He executed a backflip, dodging the Guardian’s counterblow, and then sidestepped a plasma burst.  “Never yield!”  He lunged again and again cut deep.
    “Useless,” Thunder noted in a whisper.  Talon was fighting magnificently-he was truly a Master of his martial art-but he was unable to bring the bigger mech down.
    Even as Talon moved to strike again, even as the Guardian loomed over him to again try to squash him, a crackling bolt of energy grazed Talon’s leg and the Master fell to the ground, writhing.
    “Neural shock,” Altus muttered.  She watched as her commander was scooped up by the Guardian he had been fighting.  “No!”  She made as if to throw herself at the mech-
    And Zanaai grabbed her arm.  “You can’t help him,” she said.  “Not now.”
    Thunder and Zanaai stood proud and defiant as the others closed in around them.  They were one group now-no matter which faction they claimed allegiance too-forged by battle.
    “Your time has expired,” a voice like never-oiled machinery grunted, “and now you shall pay for your attempt at rebellion.”
    And then the sky was filled with moving shapes.  Double-bladed helicopters, identical in design, colour and shape, seemed to come out of nowhere and began firing wild blots of light.  Explosions erupted brightly as energy bolts tore into the Guardians.
    Even those huge mechanoids could not withstand the sheer volume of fire striking them and slowly, one-by-one, they toppled to the ground in smoking ruins.
    Yet even as they fell, their weapons replied and plasma bolts swatted copters from the sky.
    Thunder and the rest of his allies opened fire, their shots aimed at the saucership and the craft tumbled from the sky, smoke pouring from its fuselage.  It crashed into the sand, throwing sand and dirt high into the air.
    The battlefield fell silent.

    One copter transformed into a robot, who remained hovering above the ground.  His visored face scanned the TransFormers who now stood still.
    “Thank you for your timely arrival,” Thunder said.  “You saved our lives.”
    “I obeyed my primary programming,” the green and blue mech replied.  “I had no choice.”
    “Who are you?” Zanaai demanded.
    The mech seemed to smile-though he had no mouth.  “I am Obsidian.”
    Several of the Maximals and Predacons gasped at that.
    “Obssidian izz a great general.  Wazzpinator hazz heard much about him.”
    “You’ve won hundreds of battles,” Longrack added in tones of awe.  “Undefeated.”
    “I and my consort have dedicated our sparks to the protection of Cybertron.”  Obsidian gestured to his copters-nearly a score of identical machines hovered in the air.  “My Vehicon drones are obedient to my commands.  This body is new to me, my consort is not to be found, and this world is unlike my memories of Cybertron and yet my programming remains unyielding.  These false Guardians must be eradicated and their masters must be driven from Cybertron.  Such is the command of my master.”
    “And who is your ‘master’?” Talon asked as he regained his feet.  He swayed woozily, Altus standing at his side to steady him.  The medic grumbled softly-she had caught Talon as he slipped from the grip of the Guardian-distracted by the weapons’ fire striking it-and helped him land softly on the ground, though both Decepticons had still fallen into tangle of limbs.
    “Why....” Obsidian’s voice trailed off.  “How strange...I cannot recall.  That memory is... vague somehow.”
    “There’s a lot of that going around,” Talon grumbled.
    “I offer my services to you,” Obsidian announced.  “If you will accept them?”
    “We would be honoured,” Thunder said as he accepted Obsidian’s offered hand.

Part Three

    The tower was a single flawless cylinder of golden metal, jutting from the flowing dunes of sand, a spike poking through the desert's soft surface; huge, with no discernable features or detail visible on its sleek surface.
    It was not, however, unoccupied.
    Deep within, a massive figure sat upon a tremendous throne of gold--a humanoid figure plated in thick curved slabs of glittering black armour, edged in blue.  Its face was shadowed under a large helmet of the same colour that arced upwards in flaring crests--but the gleam of two green eyes could be seen beneath.
    Its deep voice boomed through the enormous hall.  "Approach me, my servants."
    Three figures slowly approached the foot of the throne: aspects of the past, risen again.  The huge monster Trypticon, at his side marching the robotic form of Lord Zarak and Scorponok merged.  Beside him stomped a massive mechanoid, a Guardian Robot; but on closer inspection one could see its surface pitted and crawling with smaller mechanical creatures--for the Guardian was merely the host body for a far more dangerous organism.
    Scorponok was the first to reply.  "I find the use of the term 'servants'...unsettling."  His claws opened and closed menacingly.  "Explain yourself.  How do we live?"
    Two Guardian Robots stepped forward from the shadows on either side of the huge throne; but their figures were still dwarfed by the throne's occupant.
    "Do not threaten Scorponok!"  He stepped back, ready for combat. “I recognize these--things... so!  You are a Slavelord!  I will never serve you..."
    Laughter rolled over the hall like thunder.  "The Slavelords were fools," the throned figure boomed in reply, "but I do enjoy their toys."  He laughed again more quietly.  "Do not think for a moment that you could challenge me, child.  You are infinitely replaceable."
    Trypticon released a low growl, while Scorponok's mouth fell open, agast.  "Who are you?"
    The huge figure clenched his fists.  "I am Tarallax, the Fate Generator."
    "Hmph," Scorponok sneered, "never heard of him!"  Trypticon chuckled at Scorponok's defiance.
    "You would not, if you were alive!" Tarallax boomed.  "The cloth sees not the weaver.  You live again, only at my sufferance.  How many millennia was I lost in the Void, and your world ran amok?"
    "You speak in riddles," Trypticon hissed.  "Why should we serve you?"
    "Because if you do not, I have all of infinity and eternity from which to pull your replacements.  You will do my bidding, and order will be restored to your Universe.  You were chosen, shall we say, for local interest."  Tarallax laughed quietly.  "Let like deal with the like.  Let their own fall upon own like sharks in frenzy."  He laughed again.
    "I am, in part, Lord Zarak of Nebulos!  I serve no one."
    "You do not grasp the honour I grant you.  There are less pleasant alternatives."  Tarallax lifted a finger, motioning the other Guardian forward.  It casually stepped up and placed its hand down upon Scorponok's shoulder.  "Do not think I would not make you suffer for your insolence before committing you once again to the Void."
    Scorponok's shoulder immediatly began to itch at the touch, though he darted back.  Then, it burned--as the tiny mechanisms bored through his armour, into his circuitry--
    "No...!" he gasped.  "Scraplets!"
    Trypticon backed away carefully.  "The mechanical plague..."
    Tarallax only laughed.  "The future's outcome is already set.  You may be a part of it, or not.  Make your choice swiftly."
    "I'll do... what you ask!"  Scorponok cried.  "Help me!  If they reach my organic component..."
    Tarallax raised his hand slightly--a wall of energy sprang up between Scorponok and the infected Guardian.  It washed against Scorponok, and his pain ceased.
    "Now, my servants, this is my bidding..."
    A globe of white energy appeared before them.  Within it, two figures were visible: a male and a female mechanoid, the male tall and broad with large feathered wings and a golden mane, the female slightly shorter, with dark armour, thin and lithe.
    "The one called Thunder possesses a device allowing temporal disruption.  He must be eliminated before he uses the device again.  The female, called Zaanai, is his life-mate--she will not allow him to fall.  Therefore, she too will, most probably, need to be removed."
    Trypticon growled.  "You want us to destroy them?"
    "Yes," Tarallax replied matter-of-factly, "and anyone who would interfere with you.  They are, after all, all expendable."
    Scorponok nodded slowly.  "Where will we find them?"
    "I have already found them--you need only do what you enjoyed the most in life: crush them utterly."  Tarallax began to raise his hand--
    "Wait!" Scorponok cried, "What happens if he uses the device?"
    "Nothing happens," Tarallax replied, "literally.  You will not realize that he has activated the temporal device because you--all of you--will cease to exist.  Now go!"
    Tarallax open his massive hand, and in a white flash, the three mechanoids vanished.
    A dark shape scuttled forward, clinging to the side of the throne with its claws.  A black dragon-shape, a moving shadow, with glowing yellow eyes; it was yet still tiny in comparison to its huge master.
    "Do you think they will obey?" it hissed.
    Tarallax laughed again quietly.  "We will see.  If the warriors fail, the parasitic scourge the Guardian carries will stop them all before they ever reach here.  You go, Midnight, and watch them."
    The dragon-shape nodded.  "May Order be restored, my Lord."  It slipped swiftly back into the shadows.
            *            *            *
    Beachcomber's visor flickered and glowed as he examined the vial he had filled with the grey-white sand.  "This is worse than I thought..." he whined.
    "What is it?" Thunder asked, sitting beside the smaller robot, performing some minor repairs to his own damaged elbow-joint.
    "This is not sand at all!" Beachcomber replied.  "It is not composed of silicon--it is composed instead of durillium, havixium, skoratzium--"
    "What's the brat babbling about?" Talon interjected impatiently.
    "What I mean to say is, it's not real sand--it's the base metals of Cybertron itself, blasted and sundered into this sand-like material.  That accounts for the radiation as well--because no weapon known could have produced this effect... the energy applied to the metal itself would be inconcievable."  Beachcomber shuddered, placing the vial into a storage compartment in his chest.
    "Maybe not in your time," Talon said, "but this ain't Kansas, Dorothy--history doesn't exactly apply.  Somebody now, here, has a weapon that can do it, obviously!"
    "Shut up," Zaanai growled.  "We don't need your attitude."
    "My attitude?!"  Talon stood up abruptly.
    Zaanai jumped up as well.  "Yes!  What's wrong?  Did the neural inhibitor fry your auditory sensors?"
    "That's it--"  Talon lunged.
    Obsidian was suddenly in front of the attacking Cyberjet.  "I think you should calm down, soldier.  This won't do any good."    
    "It'll do plenty, if it gets rid of her!"  Talon clenched his fists.  "Soldier, yet!  I'm the commanding officer of the Terrors, elite Search and Destroy--"
    "In your time," Beachcomber put in, smiling, "and you said--"
    Talon turned sharply, scowling.  "Watch your mouth, runt!"
    "Enough, enough, enough!"  Thunder rose slowly.  "We have a common problem, and a common goal--getting off-world.  To survive!  Do you want to cooperate, or is this it?  If we're going to fight each other, we might as well do so now, and get it over with.  We have too much to worry about, without having to watch our backs every minute."  Thunder stepped forward carefully.  Sideswipe was up beside him, as was Hound and Scoot; the Air Defence force was slowly getting to their feet.  Zaanai was motionless, staring.
    Talon backed up a step.  The Terrors were by his side--but the Predacons and the other two Decepticons were reluctant, watching.  Waspinator buzzed quietly to himself.
    "What if that's what I want?" Talon said, "I'm not so sure the Terrors need you jokers.  Maybe this truce is wasting our time!"
    Obsidian shook his head.  "I committed my service to Thunder as the leader of your group.  If you try to harm him, I will stop you."
    "You're already two Terrors down, 'commander'," Sideswipe added.  "We'll mop the floor with you."
    "No threats!" Thunder said.  "I want him to make his own decision!"
    Zaanai smiled, her hand hovering over the pistol at her hip.  "My mind is made up."
    Talon seemed to tense--and suddenly laughed.
    "You can have your way, Maximal!" he said.  "We'll all be good friends, until we get off this crazy planet--then, all bets are off."
    Zaanai snorted.  "He talks so tough.  Makes me wonder."
    "Wonder about what?" Talon asked, grinning.
    "What you're afraid of."
    Before Talon could reply, Manterror suddenly spoke up.  "Look!  The sssky.  It'sss changing."
    They looked up to see the pinkish maelstrom grow darker, reddening suddenly.  There was a white flash--
    "Report!"  Thunder cried, stunned.  "Zaanai?"
    "Here, my love."
    The flash receded.  Everyone was dizzy, confused.  "Not again..." Tornado muttered.
    "Yeah boss... you said it..." mumbled a new voice.
    Tornado--and everyone else--spun to stare at the mechanoid that had appeared in their midst.  "Lightningbolt...?" Tornado asked, unbelieving.
    "Yeah, boss, I'm okay," replied the winged white-blue armoured robot.  "Everybody else alright?"
    "You were decommissioned off the line!  You never even saw combat--"
    "What are you talking about, boss?  I've fought with you guys for years!  And then all this happens...!"
    "Interesting..." Astrotrain mused aloud.  "He thinks he's been here all along."
    "I have!  Are you saying I imagined all of this?  Lightningbolt shook his head wildly.  "No...!"
    "An alternate time-line," Zaanai said.  "To him, he was here.  Must be."
    "Then why don't we remember him?" asked Firestorm.
    "In our memory, you're dead..." Airlift said quietly, "there was a problem with your cerebro-circuitry..."
    "But I remember everything."  Lightningbolt sat down.  "The snakes, the shuttle, the Guardian Robots--all of it, even the argument we just had!"
    "Weird," Scoot said.  "Just straight-up weird."
    "I hate to interrupt your happy reunion..." Talon started saying--
    "But I've been here--" Lightningbolt interrupted.
    "Shut up!  I'm no longer two Terrors down.  Here come my scouts."
    Cloud and Stratus could be seen flying closer and closer--but they were laboring, wobbling, losing altitude.
    "They're not gonna make it--Altus!  Synder!  Get them!"  Talon ran forward as the two Terrors leapt up and transformed, rocketing toward their comrades.
    Altus and Synder helped the jets down--on closer inspection, it could be seen that they were very heavily damaged--barely alive.  Laser-burns, smashed armour--it was a miracle they made it back at all.  Altus helped them transform to robot mode.
    "Report."  Talon leaned over his damaged troops.  "What happened?"
    "I dunno..." rasped Cloud.  "We sighted a strange structure... at these coordinates..." Altus passed the comm-pad from Cloud's hand to Talon.  "Then, while we returned... the sky... it changed colour, and there was a blinding flash..."
    Stratus spoke, with effort.  "Then, all of a sudden, we were... like this.  There was no attack..."
    Altus shook her head sadly.  "This makes no sense!  These laser-burns are at least three solar-cyles old."
    Talon was agast.  "What?"
    "It muzzzt be a trick," said Waspinator, "of zeee alternate time-line!"
    "Yes," Thunder agreed.  "I don't understand it... but that's the only explanation."
    "Fix them up," Talon said quietly.  "Then, we'll get moving..."
    "Where?" said Zaanai.  "The structure?"
    "Of course!" Talon growled back.  "Whoever's behind... this... I'm gonna make him pay!"
    "But what about getting off world?" cried Sideswipe.
    "I agree with Talon," said Thunder, "but not for revenge.  Whatever's causing this, I think we'll find it there.  We can't escape Cybertron right now--so we might as well try and find the source of all this.  Maybe we can stop it--"
    Suddenly, there was another white flash; shorter, without the disorientation.  There was then a rumbling in the ground beneath them...
    They watched as a massive battle-station rose from the sand before them: huge, black and purple in colour, bristling with weapons.  At the same time, a huge robotic scorpion dug its way out of a dune to their right, and another single Guardian Robot rose from the sand to the group's left flank.  They were surrounded.
    Talon was enraged.  Two of his team were in no condition to walk, let alone fight--and they were all weary already from the last fight. "What is the meaning of this?!" he cried.
    "I am Scorponok!" came a deep, menacing cry from the scorpion-monster, brandishing its massive claws, "Hand over the one named Thunder--and no one else need suffer..."

Part Four

    Thunder pushed himself through the crowd of separate factions, Zaanai by his side, hand ready on the temporal device controls. Casting her a side-long glance, his expression hard with the want to end the madness now, Thunder grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently, seeking support.
    Gently returning the squeeze, Zaanai succumbed her full support to her life mate then stepped away, brandishing her twin Ion cannons-her most powerful weapons aside from her shear will-resting them on her shoulders.
    Only the ever-watchful Talon took note of Zaanai's movements. She was the only one in the group who, in the matter of a nano-second, would leave the rest to their deaths to save her Maximal mate.  He'd have to keep a watchful optic on her just incase she decided to do just that. 'Live forever...' whispered in his audio sensors.
    "I am Thunder. What do you want of me?"
    "Your destruction!" the battle station echoed as it transformed into a huge metal tyrannosaurus-rex, weapons buzzing as they charged.
    Obsidian came forth at that. He, and his group of drones, hovered above the group. "You will have to go through me first."
    "Gladly!" Scorponok shouted as he released the first series of missiles.
    Obsidian sent forth his drones to battle while the others either joined him or took cover, but everything was stopped by a bright colourful light and an audio-piercing scream. Missiles hovered in mid-flight then exploded harmlessly between the two warring groups.
    The drones, since their orders were cut, regrouped behind their commander who was slowly backing away from the sight before him. Zaanai floated before them, a vibrant, colourful aura surrounding her slender form.
    "Zaanai!" Thunder called to her, worry controlling his entire being.
    The rest of the group stared in awe and fear of what was before them. No one could fathom the power that presented itself before them.
    "Tarallax! Do you play me for a fool?! You're little parlour tricks will not save you! I will defeat you once and for all!" Zaanai taunted in a voice much deeper, yet still obviously female, and much stronger. Then, as she lifted her arms, she commanded, "Children! Arise!"
    Within moments, three new transformers rose from the ground. Thunder knew them all. Metroplex stood opposite from Trypticon; Fortress Maximus stood opposite from Scorponok; Omega Supreme stood opposite from the guardian swarming with the mechanical plague.
    "Coward! Show yourself! You are only delaying the inevitable!"
    Suddenly, a black, sleek dragon shimmered into existence above Tarallax's 'children'.
    "I've been waiting for you, Jocinea." Midnight hissed, "I've gotten stronger since the last time we battled. This time you will not survive!" Midnight laughed heartily with overconfidence.
    At Midnight's words, Thunder rushed toward his (it seemed) possessed beloved but was stopped by a colourful wall of light that rivalled any stained glass window. "NO! ZAANAI!!"
    Jocinea, controlling Zaanai's body, turned her head enough so she could keep an optic on Midnight as well as look at Thunder. "Thunder, your life mate will be fine. I will not let any harm come to her.  Take cover and protect yourselves. Tarallax's tricks are plentiful and much stronger than you can imagine."
    Talon spoke up, "So, how do you expect to beat him?"
    Jocinea said nothing as she turned her attention back to Midnight. "Let's get this over with, serpent!"
    As she said that, she formed a ball of light around her hosts comrades and transported them a safe distance away from the final battle ground.
    "Finally ready to die, Jocinea?" Midnight hissed.
    "Always." she simply said.
    At that, the combatants came together in a clash of sparks and light.

    "My love!!"
    "Hey! Relax. At least we're not stuck fighting those huge transformers." Talon said as he pointed to the huge robots that could just be seen on the horizon.
    Thunder forcefully broke free of Talon's grasp. "That's all fine for you! Zaanai is still over there... possessed!" Thunder transformed into his space cruiser mode and charged all his weapons.
    Before Thunder could leave, Talon asked, "And what do you expect to do, huh? Blast your girlfriend to bits just to de-possess her? Should be fun, but I don't think that's going to be very helpful, Thunder-boy."
    Thunder let out a helpless growl then regretfully transformed back to robot mode. "Unfortunately, you are right."
    "Of course I am. Besides, we're in this together, and I don't want you skipping out on us with your girlfriend.
    Thunder's jaw dropped; he knew what Talon was talking about. The temporal device. What Talon insinuated made him sick. "How dare you think I'd leave my fellow allies in a time of crisis? If that were true, I would have left with the first sight of our home world!"
    Survive stepped forward, saying, "I agree with Talon, fore I have the same worry, but," he turned to face the rest of the war torn group, "Thunder has a point. Why would he still be here if he didn't want to help us?" Most of the group nodded in agreement, save for a few skeptics.
    "Maybe he's in on it." a voice rose up in the back of the group.
    Thunder growled and was about to speak but he was beaten by Survive.
    "Who said that?"
    "I did." Astrotrain pushed his way into view.

    “You cannot win, Jocinea! You will not win! Tarallax is the ultimate power! And with him, I will defeat you!" Midnight hissed as he absorbed another of Jocinea's energy blasts and returned fire with one of his electric blasts, which were tweaked so they would do some damage to his, and Tarallax's, opponent.
    Jocinea dodged Midnight's blast with ease. She had to admit that he was right; he did get stronger since the last time. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'With all his talk, it's a wonder how he can concentrate on the fight.'
    Deciding to change tactics, Jocinea, with hardly any concentration at all, formed her coloured sword of light in her hand. It was huge; at least as long as she was and about the width of her spread fingers. It was a formidable weapon and she had brandished it many times; she could no longer count how many of Tarallax's children she had sent back to the void for eternity. Midnight was going to be the last, she knew. Sighing, she took the first lunge. "Let's finish this." she mumbled under her breath.
    Midnight blocked the sword with his impenetrable tail. "The sword? Already? You give me no credit, Jocinea!" He lunged, brandishing his razor-sharp claws; sword or claws, a weapon is only as good as the one who wields it, and Midnight was very good.

    "Explain yourself, Astrotrain." Survive commanded.
    "Well," he started casually, "it kinda makes sense. He has a temporal device which could've caused the shifts in time we all experienced."
    Thunder roared in anger and felt like charging Astrotrain, but he stayed where he stood because he didn't want to make things worse and because Talon had dug his fingers into his shoulder.
    "See! He's gonna kill me!" Astrotrain accused.
    Most of the group members shook their heads and snorted in disgust while a select few agreed with the triple changer.
    Thunder calmed himself as much as he could. "I am not going to kill you. I am not going to kill any of you." he said through slightly clenched teeth.
    "Yeah, sure." Astrotrain mumbled.
    Altus, as if the conversation that had just passed never happened, asked, "Thunder, how many could you possibly transport with your temporal device?"
    Astrotrain fumed mumbled curses under his breath when everyone cast their attention on the Terror.
    Still fuming, Thunder grumbled, "Four."
    "Yeah! You could get us off this waste land a few at a time!" Sideswipe shouted ecstatically.
    "I was actually thinking of amplifying the power so we all could go at once. If we go a few at a time, there's no saying what could happen. This whole time line could suddenly cease to exist; therefore, some of us could be lost forever."
    "Well, how can we..." Skyshadow was interrupted by a thundering voice that could be heard from every direction.
    "What a brilliant plan! You must tell me how you are going to accomplish this task." The voice laughed heartily.
    "Who are you?!" Wildride demanded of their unseen interrupter.
    Ignoring the question, Utaxx asked, "Hey, what's that coming toward us?"
    Everyone turned in the direction Utaxx was facing only to see a small, metallic, square box closing in on them.
    "That looks like a holo-projector sphere--only square," Longrack suggested.
    "You're right, Longrack." Mach Kick agreed. "But, I think we should be prepared to take cover anyway."
    "I have to agree with the Max-ss-imal." Manterror hissed, pulling out his missile launcher, "Although, I ss-sugges-st we s-shoot it down before it s-shoots-s us-ss."
    "Yesss, Waspinator agrees." he buzzed. "Let's destroy it."
    "No." Thunder commanded. "If it is a holo-projector, I want to hear what the owner has to say.  Besides, if we do destroy it, we don't know what kind of retaliation we're going to get."
    The cube slowly circled them a couple of times, some of the group almost losing control of their trigger finger, then, finally, travelled away from the group a way and popped open, revealing the one they all assumed to be Tarallax. Most of him was swathed in shadow but what most of them stared at was the glowing green optics. They were filled with hatred, anger, death, and lastly, power.
    Tarallax spoke, his voice still booming from every direction, "It seems my enemy has your life mate, Thunder. I can get her back for you if you do one little thing for me."
    Airlift nudged Firestorm in the side with her elbow. "Why do they always resort to bargaining?" she asked slyly which brought a chuckle from Firestorm.
    Thunder glanced back at the two Autobots with a look that killed the chuckle in an instant. He returned his attention to the hologram of Tarallax. "What do you want of me?"
    "Simple, child. I want you to..." he explained in a matter-of-fact tone, then shouted with glee, "DIE!!"

    The battle was matched by both sides. Jocinea had both given and taken scrapes and scratches, yet no life threatening gashes. The previous time they had battled, Jocinea had Midnight pinned, ready to send him to the void, but she showed him mercy in the hopes he would see the error of serving Tarallax. She realized only too late that mercy was not an option with Midnight.
    "I say you should just give up, Jocinea! There is no way you're going to win!" Midnight hissed teasingly.
    As Jocinea was about to lunge again, Midnight charged his armour with the gift his master wanted to give to her. She pushed her blade forward, aiming to pierce his spark with her light, but she sensed it too late. When the tip of her blade was close enough, Midnight's armour crackled with Tarallax's dark light. Sparks flew from the contact of the two separate lights, then it exploded. Jocinea was hurtled back to the ground by the force of the explosion, landing hard on the sand like ground. A cloud of sand and dust rose up around her, consuming her from sight.
    "Tides have turned! I am the victor, Jocinea! Send my regard to the void!" Midnight hissed as he channelled the dark light through his body and into his open claws, brought together at the wrists. He formed the light into a huge ball that he had planned on throwing upon her. But, his concentration broke and the ball dissipated into nothingness as Jocinea wrapped her arms and legs around his serpentine body.
    "I will always be the victor, Midnight." Jocinea whispered into his audio sensor as she triggered her fail-safe program.  Her body crackled with her own colourful light, growing in intensity and size, until all eight warriors, including herself, were engulfed in it.  She then initiated the final line of the program: self-destruct.  Jocinea exploded in a burst of white light, consuming all eight of the battle-locked Transformers.

    A painfully blinding colourful light brought the whole group to their knees. Visions of doom floating before their optics; of death and destruction; of nothingness. Only Tarallax...

    Thunder woke to a high pitched scream, followed by the words, "Get out! Get out!" He got to his feet and looked around. The scenery blew him away. It was Cybertron. Cybertron in all it's glory.
    "What in the Pit..." a member of the group muttered.
    Thunder took a head count, making sure all were present; everyone was there aside from one: Zaanai.
    "Zaanai! Zaanai! Where are you?!" Thunder searched the immediate area, but found nothing.
    Then he heard the scream followed by the words, "Get out! You don't belong here!!"
    "Zaanai!" he called, recognizing her voice. He ran in the direction of the scream and he found her.  She was on her knees, rocking back and forth, clawing at her head module. He fell to his knees before her, gathering her up in his arms. "You're alive!" he exclaimed.
    Zaanai looked up at her beloved. Her optics were strained with fear and anger. "She's in my mind.  Get her out, my love. I don't want her in my mind."

Part 5

    Thunder gazed down at the body of his lover, Zaanai, as she writhed on the ground clutching at her head module. She was possessed by the essence of some creature calling itself Josina...or was it Jocinea?
    It didn’t matter to him...none of what had occurred--from the three enemy Titans to some sort of creature called Midnight or this Tarallax--mattered ultimately.
    Only she did... he had been alone for millennia before Zaanai had come into his life and given him renewed reason to continue functioning. Seen his comrades all die off or disappear into the vastness of the cosmos during his long lifetime...but she was different. Despite the losses he had personally felt, he had known Zaanai a relatively short time but he knew that if anything were to ever happen to her he would have trouble carrying on without her.
    Of course, she’d always been able to handle herself in a fight...from their escape from Megatron’s Predacons to that final battle against Tyrex, Zaanai was easily one of the most capable fighters he’d ever encountered--the combat skill of his Aerial Assault Force combined with the deadly savagery of a Decepticon.
    But this was completely different...she had been taken over by some sort of ethereal power to do battle with Tarallax’s forces. In the end, she had apparently sacrificed herself to obliterate all of them just as Tarallax had attempted to destroy his mismatched group with some sort of weapon...
    And now, she was alive...but at what cost? Would she be like this forever--incapacitated by a merging with something none of them understood? Or worse?
    He bent and scooped her lithe form up into his massive arms.
    “Zaanai?” he whispered softly. “Can you hear me...?”
    “My love...make it stop...stop Tarallax and Midnight--I must stop Midnight and...Thunder...no, that’s n-not right... NHH! Get out! Out of my head! Out of my body....Leave m-me...”
    “She seems delirious,” Talon’s voice observed from behind his shoulder.
    Thunder noted a general lack of focus in her silvered optics as he held her and found himself silently agreeing with Talon’s assessment.
    Behind them, the others had quickly composed themselves from all the recent action and stood alertly, awaiting any possible further danger... Wild Ride had produced a scanning device and began waving it about the area.
    They were in a densely built suburb of one of Cybertron’s larger cities. The immediate area seemed to be an older section of the city, comprised of earlier and much smaller architecture than the rest of the cityscape about them. They found themselves standing in the shelter of a small circular tower, it’s silver metallic building extensions--obviously added later than the original structure--stretching outward around them, forming a large ‘U’ shape and providing a reasonable natural cover for defense.
    Beyond it all, the murky pink and blue sky continued it’s slow, almost imperceptible churning--add a bizarre, almost surreal quality to the setting.
     “This area--or time, rather, seems significantly different from the one we were previously in,” he said. “The question is, when are we? The past or future?”
    “And, where are all the people?” Airlift chimed in as she slowly gazed around. “This is more weird than that desert we were just in...”
    “Agreed.” Obsidian turned to look at his heli-drones. “Form a perimeter around this immediate area. Do not allow anyone to pass...”
    The small army transformed and hovered off in all directions, forming a large semi-circle around the group, using a nearby tower as their fourth wall.
    “I’m picking up some peculiar readings,” Wild Ride spoke up suddenly.
    “What do you mean?” Tornado asked.
    “It looks like the space-time continuum in this immediate area is greatly fractured--more so than the rest of the planet...”  He looked up as Talon joined them. “I scanned the area initially, when we were all brought here to Cybertron and I didn’t detect anything. But now...the sub space fracturing is all too apparent. The energy readings are fluctuating like nothing I’ve ever seen before...it’s almost as if this immediate area suffered a severe cataclysm in the temporal sense.”
    Talon’s gaze met his own. “What about a few minutes ago when Zaanai and those creatures were fighting? There was an explosion...”
    “And didn’t Tarallax start attacking us with some sort of weapon?” Tornado chimed in. “Maybe the two instances combined did something unnatural...further disrupted time in this immediate area and that’s why we’re here?”
    “Wherever here is,” Airlift agreed.
    “Maybe some of us should split up and see if we can find someone else?” Survive suggested. “I imagine you’re not crazy about that but it’s the only way we’re ever going to get to the bottom of this...thus far, all we really know is that there’s some sort of being called Tarallax and that he had four warriors at his command. Some being that is presumably an enemy of his possessed Zaanai and, for whatever reason, Tarallax wants Thunder dead.”
    “I admit it’s not much to go on,” Longrack agreed. “Many important questions have been left unanswered thus far.”
    “And if we don’t split up, well...Zaanai can’t exactly travel like she is--and I doubt Thunder will want to leave her here.”
    “Agreed, then.” Talon looked at them. “Longrack, Survive, Mach Kick and Wild Ride--you four survey to the west of our immediate area. And keep in touch.” He looked to the others. “Astrotrain, Scoot and Utaxx, survey the north. Tornado, take your team and scout east...Terrors, check the south--no heroics, okay? Everyone keep in touch and radio in at the first sign of trouble.”
    “Whaat about meee?” Waspinator chimed in. “I want to help, yes! Wasspinator likes to be usse-full.”
    “I need you, Transquito, Manterror and the others here--” Talon glanced at Thunder as cradled Zaanai against him. “--in case, someone comes and tries to finish the job against us.”
    “Wasspinator understand. Will do good job guarding, Decepti-bot! Yesss!”
    “I’m sure you will...” Talon mumbled.
    “Don’t worry about us, boss,” Cloud shouted. ”We’ll make ya proud!”
    “Let’s hustle then,” Stratus called after him. Together, the two transformed and rushed off to join the other Terrors.
    Talon turned and watched as the others transformed and left the makeshift outpost...he really wished he was going with the Terrors--anything beat staying here and babysitting the others! But he knew Thunder was in no condition to act responsibly right now and somebody had to make command decisions--it wasn’t like he had seen anyone else volunteering...
    He just hoped they’d all be okay--no one knew what to expect out there, the least of whom being himself. He wouldn’t be too proud of himself if none of them made it back alive to report in.
    Calming his nerves, he turned and walked toward the others remaining here--he had other, more pressing concerns right now and no time to waste with these deliberations. Besides, the Terrors could handle themselves if need be and he suspected the other warriors were no weaklings either. There was no need to worry about circumstances he could not control--he would just have to do his best to make the best out of a less than ideal situation.
    Exhaling, he put the thought out of his mind...
            *            *            *
    Tarallax was seated atop his large golden throne in the vast chamber it occupied. His sleek, black armor gleamed brilliantly despite the lack of bright lighting in the room. His vast form gave the appearance of power and infinite authority, of an immeasurable presence older than currents of time itself.
    “It seems my servants have failed me...,” he spoke, his voice rumbling loudly in the large, darkened chamber. “They had much potential, but once again I had to brook interference from the Two and one of their underlings--this Jocinea. She destroyed my servants before they could act and accomplish their purpose...”
    He gazed into a large white energy nexus to his right. It displayed an image of Zaanai and Thunder cradling her unresponsive form against his muscular chest.
    “However, it seems circumstance has incapacitated her for the time being. Thus lies our opportunity to accomplish the original task I set forth for your predecessors.”  
    He looked toward the myriad group assembled in the throne chamber as they studied the image, assimilating the face of their intended target. “Tell me, are you capable of it? Or should I return you to the void and find others more suited to my needs?”
    “We shall destroy our enemies!” Devastator shouted, raising his fists triumphantly. The others chimed in behind him with varying battle cries...
    “Excellent.” He made the nexus vanish with a slight movement of his finger. “Proceed your way to your targets then...” Tarallax waved his hand and the group vanished in a brilliant rupture of light.
    “And do not fail me...” he said aloud, to no one in particular.
    “Perhaps they will prove more capable then Scorponok and Trypticon,” a shadowy figure in the room said. He moved toward his gigantic Master, revealing a dark-armored dragon. “At least, one would hope...”
    “Indeed.”
    “And do you require anything of me, this time?” Midnight asked.
    “You will go along as insurance...” the other commanded. “No heroics this time, Midnight. Thunder is the target--kill him and make sure his temporal device is destroyed...the others are irrelevant.”
    “Of course, my lord.” Midnight turned to scuttle back into the shadows when he stopped abruptly.
“If I might ask, why did you bother resurrecting me after Jocinea destroyed me?”
    “Despite your failure, you prove useful as a hunter.” Tarallax’s eyes glowed brightly. “I have had time--indeed, all of time--to observe your prowess in this field. And so I returned you to life to make use of that prowess. Fail me again, however, and I will not prove so lenient. Understand?”
    “Absolutely,” Midnight hissed. And with that, he too was gone in a nimbus of light..
    “The wheels continue their revolutions,” Tarallax said to no one. “And with one calculated strike, I move ever closer to eliminating that which is and accomplishing the restoration of that which must be...”
            *            *            *
    “Thunder?” Zaanai called out into the dark ether around her. “Where are you?”
    “He’s not here, little one--no!” a familiar voice responded.
    “Megatron!” she gasped. Her astonishment quickly turning to anger. “Where is he, then? What have you done with him?!”
    “Why nothing...no. He’s simply unavailable at the moment. You could say he’s all tied up--yes!” he motioned to her left where an Autobot that did not resemble her lover hung, chained up. His body was tattered and ruined, obviously the victim of Predacon torture.
    “No! He was mine!” she hissed. “Mine to let live or to die! Only mine...”
    “A pity he did not tell us that, then.” Megatron was suddenly flanked by Inferno, Rampage and Blackarachnia, all of them now on Earth. “Of course, it would not have mattered--for you are mine!”
    “Never!”
    She dropped and transformed into her panther mode. Wasting no time, she leapt and tackled the startled Inferno. Before he could react, she tore his head module from it’s neck with her powerful jaws and crushed them between her teeth.
    “What an unfortunate way to go,” she heard Megatron say. “Ah well, good help is so hard to find nowadays!”
    “Give me your fear, cat lady,” Rampage chuckled as he grabbed her panther mode in his fist. “I thrive on fear...it gives me strength, sustains my lifeforce. Give me your fear, puny fool--”
    She transformed into robot mode in his fist--somehow having the room to do so in such a confined space. She extended her claws and sliced at his forearm repeatedly until it was severed. Dropping in front of the astonished Predacon, she brought out her twin ion cannons and fired on him repeatedly until his body was cratered and he fell to the ground.
    Reaching into his twisted wreckage, she yanked out his immortal spark and crushed it in her hand. The energy violently dissipating about her hand as he died.
    “You’re next!” she hissed at Megatron.
    “I welcome your death, traitor!” He lunged at her and slammed his dinosaur fist into her, throwing her abruptly to the ground.
     “You could have been my dark Queen, but you choose to run off with this puny Autobot!”  He grabbed her head module in his dino head and pointed it at the ruined Autobot corpse chained nearby. “Look at him! He’s no hero--he is a weakling and now he has met his inevitable fate!”
    “No! I won’t go out this way!” She grabbed his restraining arm and tore it off, severing it from the rest of his limb. She spun and jammed her clawed hand into his head module. Clenching her fist, she ripped her arm back and severed his head apart, the wound revealing strands of cerebral circuitry and internal fluids.
    She watched gleefully as his body slumped to the ground, dead. Sensing another presence, she looked up and saw Blackarachnia standing there still--the one opponent she had forgotten in her flurry of vengeance.
    “Your turn!” she yelled, charging the black widow spider.
    Slamming her body to the ground, she hesitated as she noticed the other was not resisting. Raising a clawed hand she aimed it at the other’s head module. “Fight back, damn you! Fight back!”
    “Do it,” Blackarachnia replied in the wrong voice. “I am a ghost of what I once was. I do not want to continue living inside your mind...”
    As Zaanai studied her pinned opponent, she noted that somehow the other one had gone from being Blackarachnia to looking like a blue and silver female, with snow white hair and bright glowing purple eyes.
    “Who--?”
    “I am a shadow of what was...” the other replied calmly. “A remnant of Jocinea that should have died when I destroyed Midnight and Tarallax’s other minions. But you are not like a normal mortal....your own essence keeps me bound here...”
    “Get out!” Zaanai shouted irately. “Get out of my mind!”
    “I cannot...I am bound here by you...we are one and I cannot leave that which is myself....”
    “No! No! NO!” Zaanai screamed. Beneath her, Jocinea’s form melted, turning into a pure white energy and striking her. Her whole being was affected by the power...torn inside and out, recreated--and then destroyed once again...
    As the dream world faded away around her, the last image she remembered seeing was a dark
grey-skinned gargoyle of immense beauty flying through the air above her...
            *            *            *
    “So, what do you think of all this?”
    “What do you mean?” Mach Kick asked. “This scouting mission or...?”
    “No, I mean, everything,” Longrack replied. “One minute we’re fighting the Predacons and the next minute, we’re all here. It’s quite a transition in some ways--I mean, none of this really makes any sense at all!”
    “The nature of time travel, I guess,” Wild Ride chimed in, stopping from his scanning of the area than a moment. “From what I’ve been able to determine, our group is a mixture of a little bit of everything--Transformers for a variety of times and places, as is our battlefield. Trying to see it all rationally is a waste of time.”
    “I suppose.” Longrack turned to look at him. “But it’s just hard to fit into this all. I mean, originally, I was the lieutenant to Big Convoy--our leader. We were involved in a conflict to stop Magmatron and his Predacons from gathering the anomolis energy. That all made sense, at least.”
    “And nothing here stays the same long enough to make sense!” Mach Kick exclaimed. “I know what you mean, Longrack, believe me.”
    “There’s very little we can do about it for right now, though,” Wild Ride told them. “We don’t even know what caused our arrival here, never mind a means of resolving this mess and returning to where we each belong.”
    “Let’s have less chat and more scouting...” Survive called back from a few feet ahead of them. “We do still have a mission to carry out here.”
    “Ah, cool your circuits!” Mach Kick cast a glance at the vacant cityscape about them. “It’s pretty obvious no one’s home here. I think if they were we would have seen something after all this time, don’t you?”
    “It’s somewhat eerie, isn’t it?” Wild Ride said, looking up at the silent towers around them. “No
one--anywhere. I’ve never, ever seen Cybertron this quiet before...I wonder if this is because of the temporal instability or if something else caused all this.”
    “All questions, yet very few answers,” Survive agreed. “Like who is this Tarallax character exactly?”
    “I’m guessing he’s no Decepticon or Predacon,” Longrack answered. “I’ve seen my share of them in my time and this guy has far too much power to be a petty tyrant.”
    “Agreed.” Wild Ride nodded. “So, the question really is, who is he? And what does he want--?”
    His question was cut short by a brilliant flash of light and a slight feeling of disorientation to the foursome.
    “Now what?” Mach Kick asked.
    Down the street way, a large chunk of a tower suddenly tore away from it’s foundation and crashed to the ground. From behind the building’s cover emerged a titanic monster that moved with great speed despite it’s size.
    “What the hell is that?!” Survive exclaimed.
    The creature roared with a great power and spoke. “We are Menasor! Prepare to be terminated!”

    Elsewhere, the five fighter craft of the Autobot Aerial Defense force soared through the calm Cybertronian  skies.
    “It’s sure quiet out here,” Airlift said. “I really don’t like it.”
    “I know what you mean,” Tornado replied. “If there were anyone out here, we should have seen them by now...it’s hard to hide billions of people--even on a planet this size!”
    “Think of it this way, we’ve been dodging mechanical snakes, guardian drones, giant robots and nature itself since we got here,” Lightningbolt chimed in. “This is our opportunity for a little peace and quiet.”
    “Got that right!” Warhawk said beside him.
    “It’s...good to have you back,” Firestorm told Lightningbolt. “If that really means anything to you.”
    “Not really. From my perspective, I’ve never left!” the other replied. “So, what happened to me in your...uh, timeline?”
    “You were...decommissioned off the line,” Airlift told him. “Some sort of cascade failure in your cerebral circuitry.”
    “Yeah, that’s right,” Tornado quickly chimed in. “It was a time of chaos--our forces were fighting the Decepticons in one final battle over a planet named Karn. Ultra Magnus commissioned our team as reinforcements but a of the couple of team suffered some kind of system failure before they could be used...you were one of them.”
    “I see...” Lightningbolt replied. “And what happened to the other one?”
    “She was repair--” Firestorm started.
    “Nothing!” Tornado cut him off too late. “There was nothing we could do for either of you...”
    Lightningbolt said nothing at that for a moment, as if considering his next words. Finally, he abruptly angled downward to a nearby rooftop and transformed into his bi-ped mode.
    After a moment, the others noticed their comrade was not with them and swung back toward him. Tornado, Warhawk and Airlift transformed into their respective robot modes and landed alongside him.
    “Why’d you stop?” Warhawk asked.
    “Tornado, you must be the worst liar I’ve ever encountered,” Lightningbolt said. “Obviously there was a lot more to my...deactivation in your timeline. You’ve made that abundantly clear. So, what really happened?”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Tornado replied. “It’s...not important to the here and now.”
    “I’m sure,” Lightningbolt agreed. “So you’ll have no problem telling me then.”
    Tornado remained silent a moment, trying to decide what to do. If he should reveal the fate of the Autobot before him in his timeline or find some way to avoid it. But then, the damage had already been done in his timeline, hadn’t it? What difference would it make to tell this Autobot?
    “Alright,” Tornado replied. “You really want to know? In our timeline, Lightningbolt, Starfire and Hawk were all commissioned into battle at Karn, alongside myself. None of our programming was a hundred percent completed but that didn’t matter--Ultra Magnus needed us and couldn’t wait--he activated us, despite the risks involved. In the middle of the battle, Starfire and Hawk severely malfunctioned and were destroyed. Lightningbolt and myself returned after the conflict and seemed fine, despite our technical problems...but they were wrong. Lightningbolt malfunctioned several days later and killed at least a dozen other Autobots before he defected to the Decepticons and renamed himself Lightning. Since then, he has rebuilt himself completely and has become one of our greatest enemies.”
    “Ah... well, that explains a lot,” Lightningbolt replied. “But I don’t know why you wanted to keep it to yourselves. I mean, it’s not like I’m the same mechanoid...in my timeline, I came online and functioned perfectly--and I’ve been a good member of the team ever since. He and I are just flip sides of the same
coin--I’m the Autobot he should have become...”
    “I know that rationally,” Tornado replied. “But every time I see you, I can’t help but think of
Lightning--and the pain and suffering he’s caused.”
    “I can’t do much to change what--”
    An explosion rocked all four of them as a projectile slammed into the side of the building they were standing on top of. Shrapnel flew at them, forcing them to dodge for cover.
    “We’ve got company!” Firestorm yelled, soaring upward and swinging about. “About time there was some action around here!”
    Tornado rose and stared down at the street below. A humongous robot stood there, it’s large alien weapon aimed directly at them!
    “Tripredacus commands you to surrender!” it shouted. And with that, it unleashed another energy blast!
            *            *            *
    Thunder watched as Zaanai struggled and tossed in his arms, delirious--her mind lost in a
dream battle with the entity that had possessed her earlier.
    He hoped she would pull out of it soon--they had little access to medical supplies to aid her and he felt helpless to assist her against this foe. Or whatever it was...
    Abruptly, she jerked and then stopped moving altogether. Concerned, Thunder scanned her life signs and determined that she’d merely slipped back into unconsciousness--probably a blessing for her, if he judged correctly by her fidgeting priorly when she was a state of delirium.
    He placed her down gently on the ground, using an outcrop from the nearby building complex they were using as their fourth wall for shelter.
    He kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry, my love. I won’t be far away...” he whispered, although he suspected she could not hear him right then.
    Turning, he walked a few feet away and over to where Talon stood consulting a scanning device.
    “What’s our status?” he asked.
    “I sent out four teams to scout out the area. I figured maybe we could gather some intelligence and figure out where we are,” Talon replied. “I mean, when.”
    “Good idea.” Thunder cast a quick glance back at Zaanai’s still form. ”I haven’t exactly been thinking straight lately...”
    “Well, technically, no one ever took a vote on who was in charge, so...”
    Thunder chuckled slightly at that--the first time Talon could recall seeing the other do so.
    “You know, it’s funny,” he said. “I was always in charge of my team when I was younger but I never thought of myself as a leader. And now, I just started acting like I was in command and everyone started assuming it too. But you’re right--no one put me in charge.”
    “Glad you didn’t let all that talk get to your head,” Talon replied, closing his scanner and returning it to sub space. “So, now what?”
    “Well, it doesn’t look like much is going to change with Zaanai for the time being.“ Thunder sighed. “I wish we had access to some medical facilities. Tell me, have the scout teams found anything yet?”
    “Not so far. At last check-in they had all reported the same--the place appears to be deserted.” Talon paused a moment before adding, “If you’d like, I can ask them to investigate the buildings a little
more--maybe there’s a repair facility around here someplace.”
    Thunder shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”
    The other nodded and tapped his comlink. “Talon to all teams, come in.“
    The crackle of static greeted him in response.
    “Talon to the Terrors, come in.” He adjusted his link’s frequency. “Talon to the Terrors--Talon to anyone! Acknowledge!”
    “Something’s wrong,” Thunder said. “We’re being jammed!”
    “So much for being alone!” Talon snapped. He turned to the others. “Obsidian, are you detect--”
    An explosion tore through several of the heli drones just then, forcing the Vehicon general and his drones to scatter.
    Assuming defensive positions, the assorted Transformers looked up to see three Titans marching toward them.
    “Abominus, Predaking and Monstructor!” Sideswipe exclaimed as he drew his weapons out of
sub space. “Someone’s not kidding around, are they?”
    “Three guesses who!” Hound yelled.
    “Give us the one called Thunder!” Predaking roared. “We will not ask again!”
    “Man, this Tarallax doesn’t play around, does he?” Talon yelled. “Let’s give them our answer!” At that, his shoulder missile launchers opened and unleashed a large volley of missiles at the trio.
    Using that as the signal, the remaining Transformers opened fire. The air instantly lighting up in a volley of projectiles and gunfire. Most of the weapons discharges impacting harmlessly against the Titans armor plating.
    “That is your answer, and so too is it your sentence,“ Abominus spoke. “Be destroyed!” He raised his large rifle and opened fire on the assorted group.
    The blast tore into them, striking Transquito, Manterror, Hound and Skyshadow. Much to Thunder’s relief all seemed only minorly injured from the attack.
    Obsidian’s heli drones transformed into their vehicle modes and strafed the enemy trio almost immediately afterward, their blasts striking the three with deadly accuracy. Swiftly they lashed out at the drones, their large fists swatting most of the Transformers aside like harmless insects.
    Satisfied, Predaking fired his shoulder guns at the Transformers again. Thunder shoved Talon out of the way, narrowly being missed by one of the energy blasts while the other struck the ground, cratering it.
    “Thanks!” Talon exclaimed as he recovered.
    “No problem--it’s what I do best.” Thunder looked up at the three gestalts as they continued their assault against their group. “If we don’t stop them soon...”
    “I know, I know!”
    Together, the two rose and rushed forward. Talon reconfigured into his alternate mode, soaring upward into the air along with Transquito, Skyshadow, Ramjet and Waspinator, who was in his Transmetal jet mode. Together, all of them strafed the trio in random order.
    Targeting Predaking’s shoulder cannons as they recharged, Thunder loosed all four of his shoulder missiles at them. Realizing the other’s plan, Predaking blocked two of the projectiles with his fore arm. One soared past the Titan’s head and missed altogether while the fourth contacted with Predaking’s optic band, smashing away part of his visor.
     The Titan stumbled backward, allowing the other two to take point in the battle.
    Re-assessing his strategy, Obsidian re-assembled the still functional heli drones and sent them against Abominus in their helicopter modes. Instead of having them attack, he used them as
projectiles--forcing them to smash against the Titan and explode. Abominus attempted to block the attack with his arms but the attempt proved in vain against the explosive impact of all the drones colliding against him.
    Abominus staggered forward, critically injured. One of his arms suddenly plunged to the ground, irreparably burned and cratered. After a moment, he wobbled uncertainly.
    “Nail him!” Sideswipe yelled, firing his weapons at the disabled warrior. Alongside him, Hound, Beachcomber and Manterror did likewise. In mere moments, Abominus collapsed under the barrage and exploded, his component robots dropping in flame.
    “YES!” Talon shouted as he pulled out of a steep turn in the air.
    “One down, two to go!” Thunder howled, shaking his fist in triumph.
    “You will learn the error of crossing Monstructor!” He fired his cannon at the assaulting Transformers, forcing them to dodge for cover yet again.
    “Perish, Autobot!” Predaking yelled, slamming his fist right down at Thunder. The other narrowly avoided the assault, stumbling backward and falling clear.
    Predaking raised his foot over the fallen Autobot, poised to crush him with a second assault...

    Midnight watched, cloaked, from a tower far above the group as they combated the two remaining gestalt robots. The target, this Thunder, dodged Predaking’s foot at the last second far below him and transformed into a beast of some sort, flying into the air and away from the Titan’s grasp.
    Tarallax had a penchant for selecting capable minions, he had to admit. It was only due to happenstance that the one Transformer had various drones to use to stop the one Titan. But he suspected they would not be so fortunate in stopping the other two.
    Irregardless, he would watch and wait for the time being, yes... He was a master in the art of death, but like with anything, one needed to know when to wait and when to strike... and the right time would be when they would be worn down--dead and dying. When they believed they were safe from further combat and their guard dropped. The fools! There was never a time when they would be safe from his grasp!
    But when they believed they were safe--the point when they least expected, he would strike and Thunder would be all his for the taking!
            *            *            *
    Survive’s body was engulfed in energy from the blast Menasor fired at the group. His tattered remains collapsed to the ground on fire.
    “NO!” Mach Kick screamed. His body poised to charge the Titan, but at the last second, a hand grabbed him and forced him back.
    “Don’t be stupid!” Wild Ride yelled. “There’s nothing to be gained by getting yourself killed in some sort of suicidal charge! We don’t stand a chance against that thing.”
    “He’s right,” Longrack said, although his tone seemed twinged with bitterness.
    The trio threw itself out of the way as another barrage of energy blasts sailed their way...
    Emerging into the heated air, Wild Ride, Longrack and Mach Kick returned fire on the super robot, not sparing any potential weapon at their disposal.
    “We’ve got to get out of here!” Wild Ride yelled. “We can’t hurt it with what we’ve got! If we can get back to the others--maybe our combined power can take it out.”
    “Agreed,” Mach Kick replied. He and Longrack transformed into their beast modes, reconfiguring their bodies into a stallion and giraffe respectively. Swiftly, they stormed off and away from the Titan. Wild Ride covered them a moment longer and then, he too transformed--this time into a sport utility vehicle and sped off to join them.
    “I just tried contacting the others,” Mach Kick said as they dodged an energy bolt from the slowly pursuing Menasor. “It seems we’re being jammed.”
    “Great! Then we’re on our own until we get back to the others,” Longrack replied, moving his slower beast mode as fast as he could. “I just hope they’re still there to help when we get back!”
    He had a nagging sensation at the back of his head that they were not the only ones under attack by a combiner robot right then and if he was right--which he hoped he wasn’t--would there be anyone left alive back at the base camp to help?

    Tornado and his four warriors dropped back into formation for another pass at Tripredacus. Thus far, their weapons had proven nearly ineffective against this monstrosity, serving only to chip away minor pieces of armor from it. And attempting to signal for reinforcements had proven ineffective since all the comm frequencies were being jammed electronically.
    He supposed they could have just flown away and returned to the others--but he wasn’t about to chance this thing at their injured when he didn’t have to. He preferred to try some other tactics first before resorting to that. They’d foughten a few gestalt teams in their time and despite the fact he was unfamiliar with this character he suspected that was the type of opponent they now faced.
    “Lightningbolt, Warhawk--bombing run on his shoulders,” he radioed. “Try to take him apart at the seams! Airlift and Firestorm, you’re with me! We’re going to strafe him and cover them.”
    “You got it!”
    “We’ll do.”
    “Understood.”
    Warhawk and Lightningbolt soared down in unison--Warhawk on the left and Lightningbolt on the right. Almost immediately behind them, Tornado dropped down and into formation. He loosed several energy blasts at the Titan’s head, forcing it to abandon it’s planned weapons fire at the other two.
    He soared up and over Tripredacus’ head as Airlift replaced him in line. As planned, the other two  reached their target as he stood helplessly receiving weapons fire at the streets intersection and dumped missiles onto their opponent’s shoulders, seeking the tell-tale weak links between component warriors.
    “Again!” Tornado radioed, noting the slower response of the Titan this time. It was obvious to him that they’d done some good in their efforts.
    Dropping back, Warhawk and Lightningbolt assumed their original positions while Firestorm replaced Tornado’s original position, this time having Tornado behind him and then Airlift. He began a strafing run and then soared up over the mega warrior when he’d reached the right point. Tornado replaced him in line and watched as the other two reached the critical moment before they bombed the Titan.
    However, this time the Titan seemed intelligent enough to anticipate the maneuver and he struck out in time, swatting Lightningbolt and then Warhawk, an instant later, aside like insects. Both crashed to the ground down adjacent streets.
    “Now what?” Airlift radioed Tornado. Below them, Firestorm fired several missiles and photon bursts to distract Tripredacus’ attention from their helpless comrades.
    Good question. Even he wasn’t sure what to do exactly...but he knew they had to keep the super robot away from their fallen comrades--give them a chance to recover and join the fight. And if they had to slug it out with a force too powerful for them to combat properly, so be it...

    Thunder saw it coming but too late to do anything as one of Predaking’s energy blasts tore through the Fuzor Skyshadow, cutting his body into three uneven pieces. The flaming remains crashed to the ground harmlessly at the Titan’s feet.
    He couldn’t stand it any longer--already, this one has died under his command and even his beloved Zaanai was injured thanks to his desire to return to her future and trace her origins back to their roots. He didn’t want others to fall because of his mistakes and he couldn’t--wouldn’t--allow it! Not as long as he was still breathing and could act to protect them.
    Soaring higher into the air in his griffin mode, he reconfigured his body and felt it take on additional mass from sub space as he took on the form of his third mode--a space cruiser.
    Talon spun in time to see the mid-sized cruiser emerge behind him. Quickly he signaled to the others to get out of the way, obviously knowing what a ship that size could do.
    “Predaking fears nothing!” he fired all his weapons at the cruiser and Monstructor quickly joined in. Fortunately, Thunder’s shielding was easily up to the task in this mode and the forcefields held against the assault.
    Charging all his particle weapons and missile banks, he loosed every weapon at the Titan known as Predaking on the ground before him. In minutes, the Titan stumbled under the intensity of the barrage, trying his best to evade it and regroup. But his opponent proved too quick and resilient to escape and he exploded with a fierce finality, his body parts flying outward in large chunks as the component Predacons met their end.
    As Talon and the others cheered below, Thunder turned his focus to Monstructor.
    “Now, it’s your turn!” he yelled, unleashing his weapons against the final Titan.
    Unfortunately, Monstructor decided he would not prove such an easy target. Rather than being destroyed, he turned and ran--surprisingly fast for his size--toward the cityline instead.
    “He’s mine!” Thunder announced to the others as he set off after his large target.
    “Okay. Fine by me,” Talon called after him although it was unlikely the other heard.
    Thunder hovered through the street as best he could, following after the Titan. Abruptly, a smaller tower came hurdling at him from nearby, crashing harmlessly against his shielded hull. Monstructor emerged from around the corner and opened fire with his energy cannon, the blast impacting against Thunder’s shields once again.
    The exchange continued for several minutes, with Monstructor moving about before Thunder could get a clear shot at the Titan, all the while absorbing impacts to his shield system from chunks of smaller buildings, debris and shots from his enemy’s weapons.
    Seizing upon an opportunity finally, Thunder shot at the immense tower that the combiner stood in front of. Too late, Monstructor realized his opponent’s plan and attempted to fire upward at the falling debris. The blasts were too late to do much to the debris and the gestalt was crushed beneath it, burying him under tonnes of rock.
    Transforming back to robot mode, Thunder landed near the debris and waited a moment but the super robot did not re-emerge. Satisfied, he turned and flew back to the group a few yards away.
    “Monstructor appears to be dealt with,” he replied, landing as Talon, Ramjet and Obsidian came forward to meet him.
    “I never thought I’d be on the other end of the barrel with those guys,” Talon said. “Now I know what you Auto-brats feel like!”
    “Is everyone okay?” Thunder asked.
    Obsidian nodded his strangely shaped head. “It would appear most of our wounds are not serious. As you know, we lost Skyshadow and Manterror suffered some serious chassis damage”
    “It could’ve been a lot worse though,” Sideswipe added. “We got lucky!”
    Thunder nodded at that. “It was quick thinking on Obsidian’s part that he decided to use most of his drones against Abominus.”
    “It seemed logical.” Obsidian looked to the remaining four heli drones as they hovered nearby. “They are, after all, ultimately expendable. Your lives are not.”
    “Any luck getting through the jamming?” Talon asked. “I want to know what happened to the others.”
    “Not so far,” Ramjet grumbled nearby. “There may yet be other enemies out there.”
    “Or perhaps this Tarallax is doing the jamming somehow. Either way, we have no way of knowing their fates unless we get out there and physically look.” Beachcomber cast a glance at the burning wreckage of the two Titans they’d faced and the twisted metal junk about them from the dozens of heli drones.
    “Well, scouting missions seemed like a good idea at the time...” Talon interjected. “I should’ve known better than to tempt fate.”
    “I’ll go and have a quick look,” Thunder chimed in. He cast a glance at Zaanai’s still form nearby. “I hate to leave here, but...”
    But he was the only one with a large space vessel mode and the only one among them capable of taking on a gestalt robot and coming out alive. And they all knew it...
    “Here’s a question, hero.” Sideswipe stepped in front of him. “If you had a mode capable of space travel all along, why didn’t you just get us off planet?”
    The others looked to Thunder questioningly.
    “We haven’t had a chance to slow down since this whole adventure started,” he replied. “I just didn’t really think of it. And when we tried to leave earlier, I wasn’t sure yet if I could trust any of you...I didn’t want to risk it that one of you might try something.”
    “Maybe it’s just as well,” Beachcomber jumped in. “That distortion field made short work of the shuttle’s drive. Who knows what might have happened to a Transformer?”
    “Indeed.” But Sideswipe’s tone was one of sarcasm and not honest agreement.
    “I hate to defend Autobots, but while we’re on the subject...why didn’t Astrotrain try anything?” Talon asked. “I mean, he’s a freakin’ shuttle! It’s not like he had the excuse of not thinking of it--everyone knows what he transforms into!”
    “I don’t know...” Thunder replied, noting Sideswipe’s softening expression in the face of Talon’s question. “And while we’re standing here asking, the reason I never volunteered to use my temporal device was because I didn’t want to run away from whatever was happening here...who knows what is causing the temporal instability around here? It may be this Tarallax character--or he may just be a symptom of the problem and not the actual cause. But if this problem isn’t fixed and soon, the whole Multiverse may suffer the symptoms.”
    “We also have no way of knowing what a time slide will do in a temporally unstable area like this,” Beachcomber added. “Remember what Wild Ride said--it may not be safe.”
    “That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” a new voice said.
    Thunder and the others spun to see Midnight soaring toward them at breakneck speed.
    In a split second, everyone fumbled for their stored weapons. But that was more than enough time for the dark assassin as he struck. In one smooth maneuver, he sliced Sideswipe’s left arm off and struck Ramjet, his claws tearing into the Decepticon’s armor like it wasn’t even there.
    A lucky shot from Beachcomber impacted on the dragon’s armor, distracting him from finishing off the jet. Turning his attention, he lashed out at Beachcomber but was stopped just short of his target by Talon’s foot, which moved even faster still, slamming the Transformer to the ground.
    “Metallikato is an art which demands it’s students to be as fast as thought,” he spoke, drawing an energy sword out of a body compartment and igniting it.
    “How nice for you,” Midnight hissed. Out of the corner of his optic, he caught the hint of movement as Manterror drew an energy disk to strike.
    Leaping to his feet, he struck sideways, his wing-mounted cannons blowing away the arm that held the weapon on the Predacon. Before he could react further, Midnight whipped his impentrable tail and sliced the hapless Transformer in two, killing him as his spark was divided along with his torso.
    Rotating at the speed of light, Midnight headed for the rest of the group. Seeing Talon move to intercept him, he lashed out with his tail, catching the Decepticon in the calve and forcing him to tumble to the ground.
    “Thunder is my target,” he hissed. Looking to the Autobot and his group, he added, “Of course, I enjoy a good hunt if anyone is foolish enough to get in my way...”
    “You want me? Come and get it, then.” Thunder charged Midnight, his one fist missing the cybernetic dragon as he evaded it too fast to be believed. An unexpected follow-up fist connected, however and Thunder’s claws sliced a pattern on a small portion of Midnight’s face.
    “My beautiful face!” he hissed. Growling an inhuman howl from the pain, he soared upward into the sky and came about for a second pass.
    “You drew first blood! Impressive, Autobot...you are a worthy adversary, yes. But the only strike that counts in the end is the final blow.”
    He slammed against the Autobot and knocked him to the ground where the two exchanged blows. But his prey was not slow as so many others were and did his best to block his claw strikes. Finding a momentary opening, Thunder slammed his fist hard into Midnight’s head module and sent him reeling.
    “Perhaps, we need to make this a little more interesting, yes?” Midnight turned his attention to the lifeless body of Zaanai, lying still in a nearby alcove where two sections of building met in the makeshift compound. Sensing what he was planning, Thunder moved almost in unison as he went for the helpless Predacon.
    Reaching him barely in time, Thunder’s body slammed into Midnight, sending both of them tumbling uncontrollably to the ground.
    Deciding that he’d played enough with his target, Midnight rose abruptly and rocketed skyward. A moment later, Thunder gave pursuit. As he closed the gap on his opponent, Midnight spun about suddenly and flew back at him, catching him in the mid section with his sharp claws and sending them both hurdling toward the ground at an unbelievable speed.
    At the last second, Midnight released the Autobot, crashing him violently into the ground while banking sharply and avoiding a similar fate.
    Pain flashed through his entire body at the impact and Thunder couldn’t immediately rise from the sheer shock to his body. He watched as the dark beast evaded several energy blasts from the others and dropped down to claim his prize...

    Talon watched as Midnight converged on top of Thunder’s inactive body. Instead of tearing into him as he expected, the dragon covered Thunder and a second later, vanished in a white burst of energy.
    He barely had time to question the dragon’s motives as he heard Beachcomber yell something about the sky and then, everything went a familiar white as time displaced itself again around them...
            *            *            *
    Unexpectedly, the world flashed brilliantly around Longrack, Mach Kick and Wild Ride as they rushed up an abandoned bridge. Somewhere behind them, Menasor continued his slow march forward, trying to keep up with his quicker prey.
    “Another time flash!” Wild Ride exclaimed. “Now, what?”
    “I don’t even want to know!” Longrack replied as they reached the end of the skyway, which lead to another street and an intersection shortly after. “We have enough problems without begging for more!”
    “Good point!” He scanned the other two. “How much longer can you two keep this up?”
    Mach Kick exhaled. “I admit I’m getting tired, but we do have a very good incentive to keep moving.”
    “I wasn’t built for rapid speed maneuvers in beast mode,” Longrack agreed. “These creatures don’t move so fast natively on Earth.”
    “Here’s the plan, then,” Wild Ride said back. “When we reach the intersection, you two break left and find shelter inside one of the buildings.”
    “Wait a minute! What are you going to do?”
    “I’m going to circle back and get Menasor’s attention. With luck, he’ll follow me and forget about you...I’m a lot faster than you two and you can get back to the group for help. Hopefully, once we’re far enough away, I can outrun him and double back to the base.”
    “I’m not crazy about this plan,” Mach Kick replied. “But I’m at a loss for a better one right now.”
    Reaching the junction a few scant moments later, Wild Ride doubled back while the two Maximals began thundering down the left street way. They had barely gotten any distance when they ran into Utaxx, Scoot and Astrotrain.
    Are we ever glad to see you,” Mach Kick said, transforming to robot mode. “We have this little problem...”    
    Utaxx and his team transformed. “Let me guess,” he said. “There’s a giant robot chasing after you, right?”
    “Yeah, how did you know--” Mach Kick stopped and looked beyond them for the tell tale signs of another combiner. “Uh-oh...”
    “We had the same problem,” Scoot replied. “Fortunately, with a little of Utaxx here’s ingenuity, we kind of pulled the carpet out from under our opponent’s feet.”
    “I don’t understand--” Longrack replied, now also transformed.
    “Basically,” Utaxx started. “We lead this gestalt--someone called “Build King”--to a skyway and blew the thing out from under his feet. Most of these beasts aren’t designed to fly, so...”
    Longrack looked at them with sudden realization dawning. Mistaking the expression for incomprehension, Astrotrain added, “Well, it wasn’t like we had the firepower to take it down.”
    “Come on!” Longrack yelled, turning to run for the intersection behind them. “We need your ingenuity again...”    
    Exchanging a shared expression, the newcomers followed after the two Maximals...

    Elsewhere, the Air Defense Force continued it’s pointless struggle against the Titan calling itself Tripredacus. A few moments earlier, there had been a white flash of temporal instability although Tornado, Airlift and Firestorm had more pressing concerns.
    Thus far, they had somehow kept the super robot from assaulting their two downed friends by fiercely attacking it and keeping it occupied. And now as Tornado came about for another pass, he saw Lightningbolt rise to his feet at long last. At the opposite end of the intersection, Warhawk too had recovered and was already getting ready to transform.
    “Looks like our buddies are back up,” Firestorm radioed. “Great! Now, let’s kick this sucker’s butt!”
    “Always the optimist!” Airlift joked. “Gotta love him!”
    “Nah, I’m just an action junkie, is all!”  They shot up in formation and were quickly joined by a fourth jet, which Tornado recognized was Warhawk.  
    “This guy is extreme!” Firestorm yelled, avoiding an energy blast from Tripredacus.
    As the four jets came down and strafed Tripredacus, Tornado noticed Lightningbolt had vanished from the street entirely.
    “Where’s our fifth member?” he radioed the others.
    “Didn’t see him. We’ll have to check again when we come about...” Airlift’s voice replied. “Maybe he was seriously injured and had to take cover somewhere.”
    As the team angled about and got Tripredacus back into view they were startled to see Lightningbolt running up behind the Titan. In one swift movement, he leapt upward and landed on it’s shoulders and was immediately detected.
    “What’s he doing?” Warhawk asked.
    “Committing suicide!” Firestorm exclaimed. “Come on!”
    Tornado couldn’t believe it...they’d questioned his integrity earlier due to his fate in their own continuum and now, here he was putting his life on the line to save them all. It was a humbling experience--and one he couldn’t accept without reciprocating and trying to make sure Lightningbolt didn’t die in vain.
    The next few moments happened so fast they seemed to blur in his mind...Lightningbolt clasped his hands to the Titan’s temples and concentrated. In a matter of moments, as they approached at full throttle, they watched as Tripredacus toppled to the ground lifeless. Lightningbolt jumped clear as the Titan collapsed, avoiding being crushed by the Giant.
    The four of them transformed and landed nearby. Cautiously, they investigated the lifeless super robot and realized he had no power readings any longer. Somehow, someway, their comrade had succeeded in stopping their foe at long last.
    Tornado saw Lightningbolt kneeling on the ground nearby, his hands supporting him and his back turned to the group.
    “Lightningbolt? Are you all right?” he asked.
    “He’s hurt!” Warhawk snapped. “We have to do something!”
    In that instant, their comrade turned and Tornado realized too late what was happening--so concerned with his colleague was he, that he failed to see the obvious in front of him--and then, the world  disintegrated into whiteness around him and all he knew was the sensation of great pain as he collapsed...
            *            *            *
    “Hang on!”
    Wild Ride dodged out of the way as Menasor slammed his fist into the skyway beneath him. His attention distracted by the group, he failed to realize until it was too late, that Utaxx and Astrotrain had out flanked him. Firing every weapon at their disposal, the volley of energy and projectiles slammed into the bridge way beneath the Titan, tearing it to pieces.
    With a great howl, Menasor tumbled through the giant hole that replaced the section of bridge he’d just been occupying. Utaxx watched as he dropped down at incredible speed and crashed into his component pieces several miles far below them.
    “One problem solved,” Astrotrain muttered as he and Utaxx landed off to the north of the ruined skyway.
    “Come on, guys! Climb aboard!” Utaxx yelled to them, as he opened one of his air locks for them. “By the way, good job distracting him back there.”
    “No problem,” Wild Ride replied as the Autobots and Maximals settled inside the ship. “It’s just a good fortune that you happened along--we would’ve never thought of blowing the bridge out from under him.”
    “That, and we didn’t have any high yield explosives or missiles on hand, either,” Mach Kick chimed in.
    Utaxx and Astrotrain soared into the silent skies of Cybertron, framed as they were by the eerie pinkish-blue light that had occupied the sky since they’d first arrived in this bizarre world. Now that they’d dealt with the last of the Gestalt teams, Utaxx had decided to take them back to the base camp where Thunder and the others were--flying would greatly speed matters up and no one knew for sure what the situation was back there. If they were under attack also, they might need assistance.
    At the high altitude they were traveling, it took very little time for the two Transformers to make their way back to base camp. When they returned, they were stunned to discover that no one was there any longer.
    The two landed and their passengers disembarked. Behind them, the two Transformers reconfigured into their biped modes.
    Mach Kick noted the smouldering wrecks of Predaking and Abominus nearby along with dozens of destroyed heli drones.
    “Where is everyone?” he asked. He glanced at the debris again. “Do you think they...?”
    “No,” Utaxx replied. “No bodies or indication that they’re dead. Perhaps they were forced to move out of here.”
    “Yeah, if another one of those things came along...” Scoot added.
    Wild Ride finished waving his customary scanner about the area and snapped it closed just as Scoot finished his comment.
    “It’s worse than that,” he said. “According to my scans, the temporal instability in this area has been affected very recently. I think... that they have left this time period.”
    A look of shock crossed the others’ faces.
    “Why weren’t we affected?” Scoot asked.
    “Possibly because the fracturing only affected this immediate area,” Wild Ride replied. “And none of us were in it when the space-time continuum was aggravated further.”
    The group was further interrupted by the arrival of the Terrors team just then.
    “You wouldn’t believe the day we had!” Cloud said as they transformed. “We got ambushed by Bruticus and couldn’t get past the jamming to call for reinforcements.”
    “Not that we needed any,” Synder replied. “We thoroughly kicked his rear reactor linkage!”
    “You know it!” Blitzkrieg exclaimed, high-fiving hands with her.
    “It was Altus quick thinking that saved the day. She suggested we lure him into trap and use some bombs to take out the buildings around him, when--” Stratus stopped. “What’s wrong? Where are the others?”
    “We think they were transported out of this time while we were gone.” Wild Ride looked at the barren area. “It appears we’re on our own.”
    A look of panic crossed a couple of the Decepticons faces and Longrack felt as if they were mirroring on the outside what he felt himself.
    “So... now what?” Altus asked.
    No one could come up with an answer to that question...
            *            *            *    
    The four members of the Autobot Air Defense Force lay sprawled out uncomfortably on the ground a short distance from the downed Titan Tripredacus. Tornado’s mind was on the barest edge of consciousness as he hazily noted a figure standing triumphantly over them all.
    Electricity crackled dangerously around it’s clenched fist, as it shouted triumphantly; “Long live, Lightning! Long live the future!”

Part 6

    “So where the slag are we now?”
    “I haven’t seen any roadsigns lately.”
    “None of us have!  I don’t recognize this place at all.”
    “We’re probably lost.  This don’t look nothing like the Cybertron I knew.”
    “I’m sick of walking.  Can’t we stop and rest?”
    “Yeah, my leg actuators are grinding and-“
    “Will you all shut up!” Altus snapped.
    The other Terrors looked at her in shock, frozen in mid-step.
    “I have listened to you all whine for nearly three cycles!”  The medic never raised her voice-well, very seldom-and now she used the shock effect for its full value.  “We are Decepticons, not sniveling mini-Terrans.”
    “But, Altus-”
    “Be quiet, Cloud.”  Altus glared at him.  “Just be quiet for once!”  She turned and surveyed the ruined cityscape around them.  “I need to think.”
    “But we’ve lost the boss.”  DrillKill, normally so loud and boisterous, sounded despondent.  “It’s not like we even got to see a bodyshell back there.”
    “Yeah,” Cloud said, “if the boss was gonna die, then one of us should’ve been there.”
    “Yeah, to help finish the job,” DrillKill grumbled.
    NightFright placed a hand on DrillKill’s shoulder.  “Talon is not dead,” he announced in that deep yet surprisingly soft voice he possessed.
    “How do you know that?”
    “He would not have fallen without some trace of his enemies laying around him.”
    The others shook their heads.  From the evidence, their scouting team-and the others perhaps?-as well as the main camp had all tangled with a horde of gestalt teams...and that provided a grim reason for the lack of bodyshells for any of their now missing comrades.
    “We carry on,” Synder announced.  “Without the boss.”  She glared at the Autobots in their midst.  “We are the best special operations team in the entire slagging Decepticon Empire!  Right?”
    “Right!” the others answered.
    Astrotrain mumbled something.
    “What was that?” Blitzkrieg snarled.  “What’d you just say about us Terrors, TripleChanger?”  He slammed his fists together.  “Say it again...loud enough that we can hear you this time.”
    Astrotrain grunted.  “I, er, just commented that if we could find some energon, then I could fly us all to wherever we wanted to go.”  He didn’t like the way the other Terrors were eyeing him.
    “Well we haven’t seen any energon on this trip so far,” Utaxx protested.
    “Not a single milicube’s worth,” Wildride agreed, but he looked at one other TransFormer with a questioning expression.
    Altus sighed...somehow she seemed to have become the defacto leader of this mis-matched group.  Where is Talon? she wondered darkly as she surveyed the ruined buildings towering around them.  Why am I the one stuck in charge?  Not a single tower looked to be intact.  Everyone of them ended abruptly in the jagged scars and blackened twists of explosion-twisted metal.  Someone fought a war here...but had they won or lost?
    A distant boom echoed through the seemingly-deserted streets.
    “What was that?” half a dozen TransFormers asked at once.
    “Some of the rubble falling.  Must happen a lot around here.”  Longrack tried to sound calm and knowledgeable.
    “It sounded like a footstep.”
    Stratus glanced at NightFright.  “Awfully big feet.”
    NightFright looked back at him impassively.
    “I’m getting a bad feeling of deja vu here,” Scoot said in a low voice as more booms echoed..
    “Aerial recon?” Cloud asked.
    Altus shrugged.  “How the slag should I know?  I’m a medtech, not a warlord!”
    “It’s getting closer!” Synder snarled.  “I am not standing here and getting scrapped while our esteemed leader tries to decide what to do!  I’m going in!”
    “We’re with ya!” DrillKill and Blitzkrieg shouted.
    “Remind me why we stuck with these guys?” Utaxx asked Longrack.
    Another boom echoed and then one of the towers less than a block away seemed to explode.  As the debris settled and dust billowed up in a tremendous cloud, a green and purple form emerged.  “Prepare to be destroyed!”
    “Hey, Devastator!” Astrotrain shouted.  “Are we glad to see you!”  The TripleChanger hurried forward.  “You would not believe the kind of day we are having around here!”
    A kick from the foot which was Mixmaster sent the unwary TripleChanger flying into the side of a building.
    “I don’t think this one’s on our side either.”
    “That you for stating the obvious, Scoot.  What is your function again?”
    Scoot glared at the Terror.
    “Can it, DrillKill.”  Cloud gestured.  “Let’s take him down hard and fast!”
    “For the boss!” Synder shouted and charged.
    “For the boss.”  NightFright transformed into his helicopter mode and took to the air with rattle of blades.
    “Prepare for obliteration!” Devastator boomed.  His optic lasers flashed and Longrack barely had time to shriek before he blew apart.
    “Die, monster!”  Cloud and Stratus unleashed a fearsome barrage, and their weaponry might as been firing weak targeting beams for all the effect it had.
    NightFright hovered and took careful aim.  He had fought gestalts before, and observed others fighting, and he knew the weak points on friend and enemy alike.  His missiles streaked from their launch bays and struck the monster in the back of his head.
    Sparks flew and Devastator roared with pain.
    Synder, Blitzkrieg, and DrillKill took that opportunity to attack, throwing themselves at Devastator and grappling with him.
    “Fall back!” Altus shouted. “Hit him with everything you can!”
    The Terrors combined their firepower and Devastator, with one final angry roar, toppled backwards, flattening a building.  Several others collapsed as well, throwing dust and debris into the air.
    As the rubble settled, the Terrors on the ground exchanged hi-fives.
    “I love the sound of crashing gestalts!” Synder grinned.
    “And the fall of buildings?”  Wildride eyed their surroundings in case any other buildings looked like they were about to topple as well.
    “Victory is sweet,” DrillKill grunted.  “But that was too easy.”
    “Are you trying to jinx us?” Scoot demanded.  “That last thing we need is-“
    A flare of light surrounded them.
    “-another gestalt wandering by.”  Scoot paused.  “Did we just have another time flash?”
    “Felt like,” Mach Kick agreed.
    “But nothing around here has apparently changed.”  Altus gestured.  “We are all the same, as are our surroundings.”  If anything, the ruins looked even more decrepit then before.
    “Prepare for extermination!” a deep voice boomed.
    “What the slag?” Synder snapped.
      “But, we just scrapped him?”  DrillKill stared at Devastator-orange and purple hide unmarked by earlier battle-looming over them.
    “Noo!” Scoot shrieked as Utaxx vanished in a fireball.
    A second blast from Devastator’s optic laser narrowly missed the other Autobots.
    “I took you down once, I can do so again!” Synder bellowed as she lunged at the gestalt.
    Devastator swung a hand, as if to swat away insects as Cloud and Stratus strafed him.  Then he looked down at Synder and casually knocked her aside with a backhanded swing.
    “This is not happening,” Altus moaned as Synder slammed into a wall and punched through the metal.
    Blitzkrieg transformed to his tank-mode and his plasma cannon roared to life.
    Devastator actually backed away from that barrage...long enough to tear a section loose from one building and throw it at the tank.
    Blizkireg started to transform but was still in mid-transformation when the rubble buried him.
    NightFright unleashed a barrage of missiles.  It worked once....  A large metal pipe hurtled past him, narrowly missing his rotars.  He broke off and climbed skyward.
    Stratus and Cloud commenced strafing runs.
    Devastator glared at them and his optic laser blazed to life.
    “This is gonna hurt!” Cloud shouted.
    “We’re dead!” Stratus agreed as the laser swept across their fuselages.
    “They’re not even scratched!” Scoot gasped as the two jets broke away from Devastator apparently in surprise.
    “How the slag is that possible?” Altus demanded.  “They should be melted scrap by now!”  She noted that even the gestalt seemed surprised by the lack of effect on his targets.  “Unless that earlier timeshift did something....”
    “You mean the laser damage they came back to camp with?”
    “Precisely, Machkick.”
    “Fall!  Fall!”  DrillKill rumbled towards Devastator, his twin drills whirring loudly.  “I’ll bore right through ya!”  He never stopped shouting threats, even as Devastator picked him up in both hands and began to pull.
    Even as the pieces of DrillKill were discarded like a broken toy, Cloud and Stratus launched another strafing run.
    Devastator laughed as their weaponry bounced from his armour.  “Devastator is unstoppable!” he shouted.  “Devastator is victorious!”
    “Devastator is scrap metal!” Synder shouted as she threw herself at the giant’s legs.  Devastator grunted as the smaller female tore her fingers into the part which was Scrapper.  “I will not be stopped by anyone!” Synder shouted again as she ripped deeper into Scrapper.
    Devastator bellowed in pain as sparks flew from the wounds in his leg.  He grabbed hold of Synder and lifted her into the air...and she broke free from his grip, grabbing at his neck.
    “You’re mine!” she hissed as her fingers tore into Devastator’s neck.
    With a mighty below, Devastator toppled backwards, flattening two more buildings.
    “Synder!”
    Altus shook her head.  “I think he’s down again.”  The other Terrors landed around her.
    “Poor Synder,” Cloud moaned.  Bits of Devastator could be seen, partially buried under metal and glass and piping and wires.
    Rubble shifted and clattered onto the street.
    “I never liked him,” Synder said as she emerged from the debris, brushing dust from her torso.  “I think I dented something.”  She stopped and stared at the array of weaponry aimed directly at her.  “What?” she asked.
    “You’re alive!” Cloud grabbed her in a fierce hug.
    Synder looked startled...then her expression darkened.
    “That’s another victory for our side.”  Scoot looked at their fallen comrades.  “But a costly one I fear.”
    “Come here, Astrotrain,” Altus snapped as she spotted the TripleChanger crouching near a mound of debris.
    “Wh-what do you want me for?”
    “You wanted enough energon to fly us around?” the medtech asked.
    “Yeah, but-” He broke off as she began to walk forward.  “No way.  No way am I going to drain him like some vampire!”
    Altus nodded, her voice grim.  “You need energon...we all do.  And he certainly isn’t going to use what’s still in his fuelpump.”  She pointed to the fallen hulk.  “He owes us that much at least.”  She pulled a drill from subspace, followed by some tubing.  “Open wide....”

    Within his citadel, Tarallax frowned at the shimmering nexus and let the energy vanish.  “I find this entire situation most annoying.”  Surely his minions-the most powerful Decepticons in history, summoned from throughout time and space-must be capable of defeating this ill-assorted rabble.  “Even my most capable servant has failed so far to deliver Thunder and his mate into my hands.”  A dark light lit Tarallax’s optics.  “Perhaps the time draws near when I myself must take matters into my own hands.”  And he settled deeper back into his throne to brood upon the future....

    Striding along with the rest of his TransFormer refugees, Talon suddenly paused in mid-step.  Most of the others never noticed and only one stopped walking to see what had distracted their leader.
    “What wrong with Deceptibot?” Waspinator buzzed.
    “Something has happened,” Talon replied softly, distractedly.  He shook his head to try and clear it.  “Something terrible....”

Part 7

    Thunder was only dimly aware of his surroundings.  His body ached for want of energon.  As his optics lit, he saw only darkness around him.
    “Ah, the proud warrior awakes...” hissed a familiar--and unpleasant--voice.
    “You...” Thunder muttered, “What was your damned name...?”
    “You need not worry about forgetting my name, Maximal--your memory will serve you for only a short while longer in any case.”
    Thunder’s grogginess was slowly receding.  He found himself suspended in a net of metal cables, trailing off into the darkness.  He couldn’t figure up or down; everything was a huge mesh of these cables in the dark, broken only by the glint and flicker of various weird electronics that were also suspended in the mess.
    “Where am I?” he mused aloud.
    “Not only where, my friend--also when!  Don’t undermine this marvel of combined technology.”  And the voice laughed--a harsh slinking snicker, chilling to hear.
    Thunder paused.  “Midnight--that’s what that Jocinea being called you... what are you?  Who is Tarallax?  What the hell is going on?!”
    “Don’t be so irate.”  Midnight sounded insulted.  “I only allowed you to awake, as so I could explain to you the respect you will earn through your sacrifice.”
    “Sacrifice!?”  For a moment, the idea that he was already dead and was now trapped in some mythological Hell flashed into Thunder’s mind--he then noticed that an extremely complex array of thinner cables were sprouting from his left forearm--in which the time-sliding device that had been on his mind so much of late was installed.  He strained against the cables, but he was too weak.  “What are you talking about...?”
    “You are going to defeat a God.  No small thing, that!”  Midnight snickered again.
    “Explain... uh...”  Thunder felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness...
    Midnight growled.  “You’ll never stay awake long enough to understand, without some fuel.  Drat it!”  Thunder could hear clattering as his unseen captor moved amongst the cables.
    Thunder felt a rush of energy as energon was injected into his fuel lines.  He gasped back into sudden wakefulness.
    More clattering as Midnight returned.  Thunder could now make out his jagged shape and glowing eyes in the gloom.  “There.  Now we can have a conversation.”
    “I don’t want a conversation.  I want an explanation!”
    “Don’t be snippy, or you’ll get neither.  Surely you realize that Tarallax is an elder god of the Triad--”
    “The what?!”
    Midnight shook his head.  “What backwater Universe are you from, that you’ve never heard of the Triad?”  He paused.  “Then again, I myself knew so little before Tarallax pulled me from the brink of the Void.  They are mysterious.”
    “Who are they?”
    Midnight grumbled, as if troubled with an unnecessary explanation.  “The Triad are the oldest know beings in the Omniverse.  Unlike mortal creatures, there are only three--no various incarnations for assorted Universes or timelines.  They are the Elder Gods, unlike Primus or Unicron, who rabble like us consider our elders--Primus and Unicron and their likes are but children of these... monsters.  They are three--one God for each elemental property of the Omniverse.  Tarallax is the God of Time--the master of chance, age, and fate!”
    It took Thunder a moment to take the concept in.  “The God of Time?  Hmmph.  Why should I believe your story?”
    “Believe what you want.  No steel off my skin!  I thought I would do you the service of understanding your sacrifice.”
    “Sacrifice?  I have no intention of dying today.”
    “Your intention is irrelevant.  I have made the decision for you.”  Midnight snickered quietly to himself.
    “Care to let me in on your ‘decision‘?”
    “That’s what I was doing, before you interrupted.”  Thunder could hear metallic clicking as Midnight shifted his position, out of view.  “You see, Tarallax is but one--there are two others of the Triad.  There are two more ‘elements’: Energy and Space.  Urokk is the God of Space; Jhesalia is the Goddess of Energy.  Together, Time, Space, and Energy--the very stuff of our world, all worlds.
     “Now, ideally, all three Gods work together to make the Omniverse run--but Tarallax got a little full of himself at some point long ago--he moved from direction of events to complete control of everything--trying to mould the Omniverse into precisely what he alone envisioned.  This, understandably, pissed the other two off considerably...!”  Midnight chuckled.
    “Go on,” Thunder said, testing his bonds carefully.  He figured he might be able to break the cables now, since he was at least partially refuelled... but he was still curious.  This Midnight was either completely insane, or held the answers to the past days strange events...
    “So!  They fought him.  Their children fought.  There was a war in Heaven, so to speak!  Jocinea is such a servant of the Triad--Jhesalia is her creator.  But she is more--contemporary, after a fashion--she can’t compare to the original array of Light and Dark Gods of the past.  Primus was a child of Jhesalia--since Life is a property of Energy, she--and Primus--are responsible for most life-forms, organic or otherwise, in many Universes.  You have heard, I expect, of Unicron--”
    “No.  I haven’t heard of this ‘Primus’ either.”
    “What--!  Oh, yes--you’re from that renegade Deceptar’s universe... he, like Unicron, was a child of Tarallax.  All the ‘dark’ Gods were.  The Triad were very fond of their children--and many were lost in this War of the Gods.  Primus and Unicron--in most universes--survived.  Tarallax, however, was as close to dead as an Elder God of the Triad could be--pushed into the Void, trapped.”
    “So, why is he here, on Cybertron, then--”
    “We are not on Cybertron,” Midnight cut him off, “we are very far from there.  That’s right--I never explained that to you.  We are in my laboratory, within a temporal ‘bubble’: an artificial blob of space-time, currently outside of Tarallax’s influence.  We are as close to nowhere as you can possibly be!”
    “Cute.  So why is this Tarallax character on Cybertron then?”  Thunder was sure now--he could break the bonds...
    “Watch your vocal actuator, Maximal,” Midnight replied sharply.  “Tarallax is not to be taken lightly.  He is not a ‘character’--he is the God of Time itself!  He calls himself the ‘Fate Generator’--and he means it.  Resisting his will is nearly impossible.”
    “You said we are ‘outside his influence’--does that mean you are resisting him?  Can’t be too hard then.”  Thunder suppressed a chuckle, and continued: “I thought you were one of his flunkies.”
    “I am resisting him--“ said Midnight, “and I could not do it alone, even with the power he has bestowed upon me.  Soon after joining his service, I was approached--privately--by a race of beings from the very distant future.  They are called the Phryax’Kalaar--and they themselves have sophisticated time-travelling technology.  They wanted an insider, to prevent Tarallax from what he is doing.  If he succeeds, their race will cease to exist.”
    “How?  And why is he even here, if he was ‘trapped in the Void’?”
    “He must have conserved his power somehow, and broken back into the Omniverse.  He is here to ‘correct’ his vision of the Omniverse--to set all of the timelines ‘straight’ by his reckoning, starting in this Universe.  He has personal motivations as well.  In most universes, Primus is the creator of the ‘Transformers’--the first mechanical life-forms.  Primus was instrumental in Tarallax’s original containment, and--to add insult to injury--his ‘children’, we Transformers, are responsible for the destruction of Unicron, Tarallax’s favourite son.”
    Thunder paused.  “I see.”
    “Tarallax will wipe mechanoids from this Universe--but he is a manipulator, not a destroyer.  There must be logical course of events, a cause-and-effect progression that historians will look back upon, and see no interference.  That is how he works.  He is reshaping key worlds to start that chain of events.  This action in itself is surprisingly direct for him, from what I’ve learned in my own time-travels.”  Midnight paused, shaking his head slowly.  “The Phryax’Kalaar are strange creatures, mostly plasma and pure energy--but they are descended from us, from mechanical life.  Tarallax’s editing of the Universe will--remove them.”
    “And why help them?  You don’t strike me as the charitable type.  You said you’re a Transformer--what faction were you?”
    Midnight didn’t answer immediately--he was searching the depths of his mind and memory... remembering his life in his original Universe.  “I was a Decepticon--I served the ‘mighty’ Megatron in an Empire of monstrous proportion.  You want to know what I did for him?  What I loved to do... death, Maximal.  You will never truly appreciate it, I fear.  It is an intense, tragic, beautiful thing...”
    That did it--Thunder figured as much.  Midnight was a lunatic.
    “Killing is an art, Maximal...” Midnight continued wistfully, “and I was the best.  And then--I met my match.  I ticked off the wrong entity!”  Midnight laughed out loud.  “You will never see your own death, Thunder of the Maximals--but I made a point of seeing mine.  It was the most marvellous thing I have ever witnessed!  Though, I believe I appreciated it considerably less at the time.”  Midnight laughed again, more quietly.
    Thunder was growing impatient.  “What does this have to do with anything?”
    Midnight growled suddenly, a sound made even more menacing by his previously friendly tone.  “It has everything to do with it!” he hissed.  “I served that power-hungry fool Megatron only because I was certain his Empire was doomed to fail--to collapse in a glorious symphony of screams, a magnificent collage of burnt, rent metal and spilled fuel.  For that, I was more than willing to help!  And as an interesting matter of fact, since I‘ve seen the future... well, that’s not important--that Universe’s outcome isn’t relevant anymore, with Tarallax’s machinations at hand.  And that’s the point!  Tarallax is the antithesis of chaos, of spontaneous life and death.  He wants a carefully set and scripted future by his design and his alone--and while many will suffer and perish--I can’t stand how contrived and forced it will be.  That is why I agreed to aid the Phyrax’Kalaar.   That is why you must die, my friend!”
    Thunder frowned.  “Don’t call me ‘friend‘, you monster.  You disgust me.”
    Midnight frowned as well.  “You lack appreciation for the inevitable.  You lack perspective.  You could never understand.”  He sighed, an unexpected sound.  “You cling to the sun, shunning the night-stars--without death, there is no new life.  And yet, you resist the very concept that in even in your demise, there will be beauty.”
    Thunder clenched his fists.  He sensed that he could indulge his curiosity for only a short while longer...  “And how does my death help the situation?  And if Tarallax wants me dead, how are you fighting him by doing his bidding?”
    “I am not doing his bidding,” Midnight hissed, “just the opposite.  He wants you destroyed because of that marvellous contraption in your left arm--the time-sliding device.  If activated in an area of severe temporal flux, it will cause a tremendous disruption of the space-time continuum.  You see, Tarallax’s minions and myself can time-shift within the field of flux because of the nature of our technology--it affects only us.  When I grabbed you, I caused a minor disruption--but I believe I covered it well enough.  Your gadget, however, actually opens a portal in time-space; and hence, is very dangerous in the current situation!
    “Tarallax wanted you dead to prevent you from using the device.  If you did, the resulting disruption would create a ‘hole’--a null space in the continuum.  The remaining space-time rushing in to fill the temporal vacuum would produce a shockwave of temporal energy powerful enough, by my estimates and under my direction, to push Tarallax back into the Void.”
    Thunder felt a chill as he understood, gazing at the wires spilling out of his arm.  “You’re going to activate my device.”
    Midnight chuckled.  “It cannot be removed in working condition--and admittedly, I doubt you would grasp the level of accomplishment in defeating a God.  That is why I have arranged to activate it myself--”
    “What will happen to the others, on Cybertron?”
    Midnight cocked his head in thought.  “Nothing.  I don’t know why they’re even here, to be honest--probably a side-effect of Tarallax’s bending of space-time.  For them, it’ll be as if they were never in this Universe--unless they’re native to it.  That is, except for your precious Zaanai--your own time-slide pulled you here, even if accidentally... you both will cease to exist in the disruption, while the shockwave takes care of Tarallax--”
    That was enough.  Thunder could sit and listen to this monster talk casually about his own end--but Zaanai, his love--that was another matter.  With a burst of strength, he ripped his arms up from under the cables, kicking his legs free at the same time.
    He immediately heard a growl, long and low.  “Idiot,” Midnight rasped.  “You serve no-one in causing delays.”
            *            *            *
Lightning stood over his former comrades’ inactive bodies, looking thoughtfully at them for a moment.  He then let a little chuckle escape his lips, and started to dance a little jig.
    “What now, what now?” he sang to himself in his high-pitched tone.  “What to do, with these four, who now are through...”  He cackled, and some thin sparks arced over a clenched fist.  “What irony!  What a twist!  You need to ‘expect the unexpected’, my unconscious friends, to get along in this, hard, cruel world...”
    Quite suddenly, Lightning crumpled into a heap on the ground with a clank.  “Why?!” he suddenly sobbed.  “Why the injustice, the sheer disregard for mechanoid pain and suffering?  How cold and cruel and unfeeling I’ve become!  No--not without feeling--you see, my unlucky friends: I feel your pain!  I weep for your misfortune... yes, your misfortune in meeting with a monster such as I...”
    He hopped back up to his feet nimbly.  “I am so sorry, my comrades,” he said, “so, so sorry it had to come to this.  It’s not my fault, I swear!  I don’t know why I do these things...!  I must have had an unhappy childhood...”  His pale face and yellow eyes twisted in an exaggerated mask of tragedy.  Then, he snickered.  “But I’ve still gotta do it, can’t leave you poor souls just lying here alone, abandoned... best to finish it, and make a clean affair of it, don’t you agree?”
    He raised his outspread hands above his head slowly, as electricity arced and crackled over his knuckles and down his arms.  “I’ll take your silence as agreement, fearless leader,” he smirked, looking down at Tornado’s limp form.  “Irony, tragedy, chaos, et cetera--let it begin...”
    “Stop,” said a female voice sternly from behind him.
    Lightning spun around, ready to strike down whoever was stupid enough to interrupt his revelry.  He was taken aback--it wasn’t a Transformer, or even mechanoid at all.
    Before him stood a woman; though not much less than him in stature, in glittering blue and silver plate armour, with long free-flowing hair: snow white, with a light touch of gold.  Her face was young and fair--but an expression of hostility was in her glowing orange eyes.  Most striking of all, however, were the huge, sleek white-feathered wings that rose from her shoulders.
    Lightning grinned.  “What in Proxima are you, my pretty?”
    She frowned.  “I am called Jaleera.  I am Second Wing of the Tenshi-Photonis.  You will leave them, immediately, or suffer the consequences.”  A long golden scabbard hung from her waist, and her right hand hovered above it.
    Lightning grinned even wider.  “Not from around here, are you, honey?”  He snickered quietly.  “You certainly are very pretty, yes, on the outside--we’ll have to see if you are as pretty on the inside, fleshling.”  At that, a massive burst of electricity arced forth at Jaleera from his open palms.
    She didn’t even blink--almost instantly she swept her bright, shining red sword, long and curved slightly, from its sheath and blocked the blast, which dissipated upon contact with the blade.  “You were warned.” she said quietly, as she brought the sword up and struck.
    Lightning’s expression changed considerably, as he realized that she had brought the blade down upon his shoulder, and cut effortlessly almost entirely though his torso in a diagonal arc.  They stood a moment, her hand on the hilt, the blade still embedded in Lightning’s body--then suddenly, he trembled with laughter, as he slid off the blade and fell clattering to the ground.
    Still conscious, he groaned loudly.  “Not... good...” he sputtered, “not... how I planned... to end my day...”
    Jaleera said nothing.  She stepped over him gingerly and knelt next to Tornado’s body.  She removed a small circular object from her belt and placed it on Tornado’s metal skin--it clicked on and held, like it was magnetic.  She arose and placed similar devices on the other three Autobots.
    “Don’t... I get... one?” squealed Lightning hoarsely, chuckling.
    “Silence,” Jaleera snapped.  “A monster like you?  I have no reason to save you.  You serve no purpose.”
    “Oh, but he does...” said a horrible, deep and grinding voice, that seemed to come out of the metallic ground itself.
    Jaleera sprang up.  “What?!  No!”
    “Yes, dear Angel...” scraped the hideous voice.  Out of the ground on the other side of Lightning where she had stood moments ago, rose a smoke-like mass of black gaseous tendrils, dark and filthy-looking except for a cluster of glittering yellow and red lights in the centre, which unsettlingly--and accurately--were not unlike eyes.
    “Grix.”  Jaleera gritted her teeth, like the name was a curse.  “We thought you long dissolved.”
    “Not while there’s work to be done, my pretty one... I serve the Fates.  My Lord does not abandon his Children.  You are too late for your precious Jocinea, you know.”  The voice seemed to laugh hoarsely.
    “We will see, filth,” she spat back.  “Why are you here?”
    “Yeah...” groaned Lightning.  “Maybe I wanna know too...!”
    “My Lord’s bidding, my precious one!  He needs a new servant--it seems Midnight has gone astray... you will be seeing this one again!”  Grix lashed out with his smoky tentacles, grabbing Lightning.  Then, before Jaleera could act, Both Grix and Lightning vanished in a flicker of light.
    Jaleera clenched a fist, then relaxed.  For now, she had more important matters at hand.  So--Midnight was up to something; it didn’t surprise her.  Unlike her more ‘enthusiastic’ sister, Jaleera expected that Midnight would not remain loyal to Tarallax of his own accord.  Still, if Jocinea had succeeded in destroying him, it would have been all the better.
    She returned to Tornado’s side.  Placing her palm on his scorched chest, she muttered some strange words under her breath, and closed her eyes.  Her hand glowed brightly--and Tornado’s optic’s suddenly glowed in response.
    “What--Lightning--” he sputtered, as he bolted upright.  “Who are you?!”
    Jaleera smiled.  “I am Jaleera, ranked Second Wing, of the Tenshi-Photonis--also called the Angels of Light.  We serve the will of our Lady Goddess Jhesalia.”
    Tornado stared, and shook his head in confusion.  “Ask a silly question...”
    She sensed his lack of understanding.  “You may perhaps have encountered my sister, First Wing, Jocinea.”
    “Oh...!  You’re with her--”  Tornado rose to his feet carefully.  “Did you--revive me?”  He noticed the device attached to his hip.  “And what’s this thingy...?”
    “Yes, to your first question.  And that ‘thingy’ is a temporal stabilizer.  You’ll need it to escape here with us--the space-time continuum in this area is severely fractured... but Tarallax is smoothing it out very rapidly.  That will keep you from being smoothed away, and assist me--we need the help of you and your friends!”
    “Help--to do what, mmm?”
    “To fight Tarallax, my friend!”
    Tornado paused for a moment, then clenched his fists.  “You saved my life from that traitor--you have my vote.  What do we do?”
    Jaleera turned to the remaining Air Defence Force, still on the ground.  “I will revive them.  Then, we will use the space-time displacement beam from my ship in orbit--it will allow us to travel without causing temporal disruptions--and retrieve the rest of your group.  Once stabilized, we will need all of you in the fight to come...”
    Tornado slapped his fist into his palm.  “Sounds like a plan, sister!”
    Suddenly, there was a blinding flash, and the ground rumbled.  The maelstrom of the sky twisted and churned.
    “What was that?” Tornado yelped.
    “Another time-disruption,” said Jaleera hurriedly.  “Midnight must be up to something, if Tarallax hasn’t stopped him yet.  We must act quickly.”
            *            *            *
Thunder lunged at where he thought Midnight’s voice was coming from--and was gratified to feel his fist hit the cold metal of Midnight’s facial armour.  The serpent recoiled with an “Ow!” while Thunder slipped on the cables beneath him, and fell.
    Midnight was laughing while Thunder struck what must have been the curved metallic outer shell of the lab.  He hit it hard, with a resounding clang, while Midnight casually descended to meet him.
    “You’re out of your element, Maximal.  This is my turf.  Tell me--even if you did defeat me, how did you plan on escaping?  There’s only one way in or out of here--and it’s through me.  Your time-slider will only respond to my timed command--so without me, how will you get out of here?”
    Thunder scowled up at his captor, now hanging above him.  He tried to transform--but he couldn’t--Midnight had some kind of mode-lock on him.
    “Now, are we going to cooperate, or--”
    Thunder had leapt up and grabbed Midnight around the neck--not a smart move, as he could feel some of the dragon’s spines pierce his armour as he held on.  Stifling a cry, he wrestled his enemy to the ground.
    Midnight struggled--lashing out with his razor-sharp claws and snapping at Thunder with his long fangs.  Thunder punched hard, and knocked Midnight back against the outer shell.  Midnight grunted as he struck the hard metal.
    “Stop it, you fool--”
    Thunder replied with a crescent kick to Midnight’s head.  The horns scratched his ankle badly, and he stumbled--only to spin around and follow the blow by placing his heel hard into Midnight’s face.
    Midnight didn’t return the strike immediately.  He only growled deeply and menacingly.
    Thunder was confused--Midnight had been far more vicious in the field--why was he holding back?
    Thunder raised his fist to deliver another blow--
    “Enough,” Midnight said quietly.  His dragon-form was suddenly illuminated in a deep blue aura--Thunder thought he could hear a low hum as the glow increased.  Then, his world reeled as he was struck by bolts of blue lightning that arced from Midnight’s open talons.
    “While we may have infinite time for these games...” Midnight hissed, “I do not have infinite patience.”  The bolts ceased, and the glow receded, while Thunder stumbled, sizzling, to the curved floor.  “I will not risk damage to your precious device.”
    Thunder gathered all of his strength, and, to Midnight’s amazement, lunged at his captor once again--
    But Midnight intercepted him.  “You don’t know when to quit, do you, Maximal?” Midnight hissed at him, while digging his talons into Thunder’s chest and pinning him against the wall.  “Why can’t you accept your fate?  Why do you so intensely fear the Void?  To Light, there is always Dark, and for Life, there must be Death!”
    “No!” Thunder struggled hard, to no avail.
    “You understand nothing.  Without death, there is no new life--your spark is fired by the spirit of countless warriors past.  As so will your death continue the cycle; you are only returning whence you came--as we all must, in time.  We are all children of the Void.”  Midnight’s grip only tightened, as Thunder tried to break free.
    Then, Thunder felt something more horrible than he could imagine--his fuel itself suddenly seemed to run cold and thick, as he felt his energy being drained from his fuel lines, into his assailant in a hideous, vampiric embrace.
    Terribly weakened, Thunder fell flat onto his face as Midnight released his grip and backed away.  “Hmmm...” Midnight hummed happily.  “I wasn’t really hungry--but I think that was necessary, for your sake.  I still need you alive--and our conversation is over.”
    Thunder pushed himself up slowly--he had hardly any strength left at all.  But as he rose, a desperate thought occurred to him--
    He fell back down, rolling onto his back.  Then, quickly enough so that Midnight didn’t catch him--he grabbed the wires on his left arm and pulled hard.  The temporal device sparked and spluttered loudly as it was destroyed.
    Midnight leapt forward with a growl.  “No--you brat--”
    Then something very strange happened.  It happened in a twisted blur--Midnight vanished in a blink of light, and suddenly for a moment there were two Midnights, one in front, scowling, and one behind him; Thunder cried out in pain, as he realized his right arm had been completely severed from his body by the ‘new’ Midnight’s talons.  The temporal device was intact.  His mind reeled as it caught up with Midnight’s sudden time-shift.
    “You should know better than to believe for a moment that I’ll let you do that,” Midnight sneered as he walked coolly back to his ‘original’ position.  “Now, if you’ll forgive my pun--it’s time for us to go.”
    Thunder wasn’t going to give up yet.  He had one, last idea.  He could tell that the time-slider was rigged--he couldn’t activate it; but he still had the desperate beginnings of a new plan.  However, he had almost no hope Midnight would indulge him...
    “Wait...!” he croaked.  “Please... I’ll cooperate, on one condition...”
    Midnight laughed out loud.  “You are hardly in any position to set conditions!”
    “No, hear me out... I’ll offer no more resistance... if you do me one favour--a courtesy--if this means so much to you, to defeat Tarallax...”
    Midnight smiled in mild amusement.  “Go on, then.”
    “My Life-Mate... Zaanai--get her out of there... let her live... that’s only fair, if you demand my sacrifice, to allow my love to live...”
    Midnight stopped smiling.  “You know...” he mused, “you Autobot/Maximal types do surprise me sometimes.  But I suppose that by now, I should expect this sort of behaviour from your kind.  I am not without some sympathy, Maximal--therefore, I will grant your last request.”
    Midnight suddenly vanished again--only for a moment.  He was back in another flash of light less than a second later--and in his claws he held the limp body of Thunder’s Life-Mate: Zaanai.  She moaned quietly.
    “Zaanai...!”  Thunder tried to lift himself up.
    “She is not quite herself,” Midnight said, laying her beside Thunder.  “She didn’t even put up a fight.  A fragment of that troublesome Jocinea’s consciousness is still embedded in her mind.”
    “Can you help her?”
    Midnight chuckled.  “Yes.  I could.”
    But Midnight seemed to have little interest in that.  He had cut several lengths of metal cable from above their heads and was coiling it around their two bodies.
    “What are you doing...?” Thunder gasped.
    “I am granting your request, Maximal!  After my own fashion, of course... you shall die together; it will be touching, very beautiful indeed.  I thank you for the idea--I have let my sense of art slide in these recent events.  You have my gratitude!  It’s the least I can do, for your generous sacrifice.”  Then Midnight laughed.
            *            *            *
    In a flicker of light, Midnight appeared, grasping the bundle that was Thunder and Zaanai bound together.
    They were floating in open space; below them, Thunder could see Cybertron, still encloaked in the swirling purple mist of the time-flux.  This was it--their last chance.
    Midnight picked gingerly at the wires spilling out of the temporal device; he then gave a little chuckle.  “All good.  Do not fear the Void, young lovers!”  Midnight laughed.  “You may perish--but your spark is eternal.  Rest in peace!”
    At that, he gave Thunder a hard shove--sending him shooting through space, toward Cybertron.
    As Midnight receded from his view, Thunder was frantically ‘feeling’ out the workable commands of the time-slider; it was controlled mentally, but most of the controls had been locked down by Midnight’s tampering.  It was on a timed switch--at their current momentum, it would open a portal--to one nanosecond in the future--almost immediately after they entered the area of temporal flux.  That would set off the chain reaction Midnight so gleefully described--and they would cease to exist in the temporal void it created.
    But Thunder had discovered that not all conditions of the time-jump had been locked down.  While he could not stop it from activating, he could still adjust two crucial factors: the angle at which it appeared, and one other thing--not when the portal would lead to, but where...
    Zaanai stirred next him.  “Thunder... love... are you there...?”
    “Yes, my love...” Thunder replied.
    “What, what’s going on...?”
    “Be quiet, love, please...”  They were about the brush the event horizon of the temporal field--he had to concentrate...
    They entered the field--
    The temporal device activated.
    A circular portal of white energy opened--right in front of them.  They fell instantly into it--
    And reappeared on the other side of the planet, completely outside of the temporal field that surrounded Cybertron!
            *            *            *
    Midnight watched as the purple field--the planet--everything in the area of Cybertron suddenly went black.  Then, he felt a slight pull as space rushed in to fill the void--in a moment, there would be a blinding flash, and the huge shockwave would--
    Midnight gaped.  Something had gone wrong.
    There, before him, he saw Cybertron--clear and pristine.  The temporal field was gone.
    Midnight screamed.
    He knew!  Somehow, despite all of his careful manoeuvring--Tarallax had found out.  It was too late.  Cybertron was stabilized.  He had failed!
    Midnight was thrashing in rage.  Still screaming, he time-shifted away in a flicker of white light, knowing he’d best get as far--in time and space--from Tarallax as possible...
            *            *            *
    Thunder and Zaanai were unconscious from lack of fuel.  They drifted in space.  They could not see the restored Cybertron--
    Or the massive silver star-cruiser that slowly approached them.
    A beam of reddish light locked onto them--a tractor beam.  It pulled them up into a docking bay in the underside of the huge vessel.
    Thunder awoke as they hit the steel floor.  The hatch closed.  He could hear a loud hiss as the bay pressurized.  Then, the hiss of a door sliding open.  Footsteps.
    A glint of light as a red blade flashed out, slicing their bonds.  Thunder and Zaanai fell apart in a clatter.
    He strained to look up--and saw what looked like a female humanoid, in silver-blue armour, only with wings, leaning over Zaanai.  The humanoid placed a hand gently on Zaanai’s forehead.
    “Be at peace, my sister,” she said.  There was a small flash, a wisp of smoke, and what sounded like Jocinea’s voice, crying distantly.
    The winged woman then turned to Thunder.  She reached a hand to him, helping him to his feet.
    “Welcome aboard, Thunder,” she said, smiling.  “Your Life-Mate is healed--my sister’s spirit is released.  My name is Jaleera.”
    Thunder then realized she wasn’t alone--behind her stood three Mechanoids: Sideswipe, Tornado--and Talon, looking less than enthused.
    “Take him to the infirmary,” she said to Sideswipe.
    “What... what is going on?” Thunder muttered weakly.
    “Don’t worry, buddy,” Sideswipe said, taking the wounded Maximal against his shoulder, “We’ll get you fixed up.”
    “But--”
    “Fear not, Thunder,” Jaleera chimed in.  “I will explain all to you, in time.”
    As he was carried off, Thunder turned to look out of the view-port in the side of the bay; he saw Cybertron’s sun shining brilliantly as it emerged over the planet’s edge.

Part 8

    The J’hulokh soared magnificently through the solitary beauty of Hyperspace, bound for it’s new destination, it’s passengers unaware of their future fates in a universe gone mad.
    Zaanai stood watching the colorful chaos of the interdimensional void beyond the vessel, her mind unaware of a new presence behind her.
    “How are you, my love?”
    She turned slightly at the voice and felt an arm gently encircle her shoulders. Smiling slightly, she looked up to see Thunder as he came to stand beside her.
    “Not too bad--all things considered.” She looked to the viewport again. “It’s kind of pretty out here...but I suppose you’d get a headache if you looked at this all for too long.”
    He nodded. Fortunately, when in ship mode, he didn’t have to look directly at it with his optics--just use sensors to keep track of the tetra vector and other elements.
    “I’m a little surprised you didn’t want to come be with us,” he said. “After all you went through, I’d have thought some familiar faces--even ones we don’t know all that well--would be welcome.”
    “Maybe in a little while. I just felt like being alone for a bit...”
    “Do you want me to leave?”
    Her arm snaked out and wrapped around his waist. “No, it’s okay if you stay...” she smiled at that.
    “Okay.” He grinned.
    The two Transformers stood entwined together for several minutes, silently watching the display outside the ship.
    Thunder recalled the events of the past few hours in his mind. How Midnight had taken him somewhere in time and space to utilize his time-traveling device to negate Tarallax’s plan once and for all, but had failed at the last moment due to Thunder’s quick thinking. Not that he wanted Tarallax to succeed, of course, merely that the plan had called for his own death alongside his beloved Zaanai--and that was too high a cost for him to pay.
    De-powered and floating in space, they had been left to their fates after Midnight departed…fortunately, Jocinea’s sister, Jaleera, had arrived and gathered their mismatched group together. She had repaired the damage done to his beloved and explained that she was Second Wing of the Tenshi Photonis--the Angels of Light--a force of beings sent from the Goddess Jhesalia to protect reality from Tarallax’s tyrannical scheme.  
Jaleera had enlisted their irregular group’s help in attempting to prevent Tarallax’s further intrusions into this universe. She had explained that Cybertron had already been lost thus far--Tarallax had succeeded in altering it to his own twisted vision of how things should be. But there were still two other nexus worlds he would need to alter to complete his ambitions--Earth and another world Thunder had never heard of, known as Nebulos, which they were en route to even now.    
Countless lives would be snuffed out if Tarallax succeeded in his goal and Thunder couldn’t allow that to happen. If he did accomplish his goals in this Universe, what was to stop him from invading the rest of the Multiverse and changing all of reality to his accord? It was just an added incentive to stop the rogue time god as far as he was concerned.
“I’m glad we have this moment,” Zaanai said contentedly beside him. “We don’t know what the coming battles will hold...but at least we had this time together.”
“Don’t worry--we’ll have a lot more of them yet,” Thunder told her. He smiled as she looked up at him, his expression conveying an unspoken promise.
“Okay...”  She smiled back.
The two stood silently several moments longer, savoring the lack of action around them and the mutual company.
“It’s kind of too bad we came all this way originally to try and discover the secrets of your past and we haven’t been able to do so,” Thunder told her as he embraced her lithe form in his arms.
Zaanai was silent a moment.
“I saw something--in my dreams,” she said finally. “A creature of some sort---small, humanoid and grey skinned with wings.”
She turned, still held lightly by his arms, and looked up at him. “It seemed so…familiar somehow. Like…I don’t know, maybe it was some sort of creature from the colony world I was created on--or something.”
“It’s a clue,” Thunder replied. “And a starting place… I guess something good came of all this after all.”
“I just wish we had more to go on then that...” she said. ”It’s still not much...and I don’t want to have to keep being possessed by ethereal beings to get tidbits of my past out of my sub-conscious...”
“I’m sure we’ll find a better way to get to the bottom of that mystery,” he joked. “But for now, we have to focus on this upcoming battle with Tarallax--he can’t be allowed to succeed in his plans. The fate of the Omniverse may rest in our hands.”
“What else is new?” Zaanai asked.
“Indeed,” he agreed with a smile.
The two stood silently a moment further with Thunder’s arms draped loosely about her shoulders, keeping her as close to him as possible. It was Zaanai who finally spoke again.  “I have a firm belief that if you and I are together, we can face any opponent--overcome any obstacle.”
“Yes,” Thunder agreed. “I believe you’re right about that...”
        *            *            *
The large fortress drifted silently through the sky--it’s mass apparently unpowered by any conventional engine system. It’s four pronged, square-like shape sailed to a point over the immense forests of the world known as Nebulos and began a slow descent.
The entire underside of the fortress was a red crystalline material that arched into a pyramid in the middle--the material pulsating slightly as the fortress moved along. Beyond that, the center level was  terrain-like in construction and still further beyond, the very top was a vast golden tower that lacked windows or even any apparent way inside.
The fortress’ underside contacted the surface of the planet and began to slowly sink into the mantle below. The vibrations from the junction were immense in the wilderness about the construct, destroying trees and scattering wildlife every which way.
Finally, after the crystal underside was totally submersed and the middle layer of the fortress was even with the surface, the descent stopped completely and the terrain area of the construct appeared matched up with the surface of Nebulos, blending naturally and making it seem as if the golden tower had always been there and not just arrived.

Inside the vast tower complex, the immense dark armored form of Tarallax was seated atop his customary golden throne, apparently motionless. His jade-like eyes unfocused on anything in particular...
“Master?”
Tarallax cocked his head slightly. “Speak, Grix. What have you to report?”
“Your new servant stands ready,” the grinding, deep voice replied. The smoke-like mass of dark tendrils extended to his right slightly, gesturing. “Behold, Lightning reborn!”
The other stepped forward slightly, his blue, black and silver armor gleaming brightly. His body looked similar to his original, yet not identical--it appeared enhanced in areas, improved....
“I live to serve,” Lightning said, although his voice had an almost sarcastic undertone to it. He smiled wickedly.
“The circle is complete once more--the void left by Midnight has been filled by another.” Tarallax scrutinized Lightning. “I invite you to be a part of something far bigger than you have been before…to abandon your crusade of chaos in favor of restoring order to the Universe--my order.”
“Abandon…chaos?” Lightning asked, his tone seemingly innocent--as if he were a child being told he could not do something, but not understanding why. “Why ever would I agree to that?”
“Consider that if you agreed to join me in my quest to restore perfection to reality that you would still be able to spread chaos about you--just as your predecessor before you could still indulge in his need for blood lust.” Tarallax paused a moment, giving him time to consider. “But imagine the chaos you could spread with the power I offer you now…and from time to time, I would direct you somewhere to accomplish my own goals…”
Lightning concentrated a moment, summoning up his energy powers.  When he felt the moment optimal, he turned and unleashed his energy upon a defenseless wall. To his surprise, instead of electrical energy, his blast was composed of blue-black energy that crackled as if it were electricity. A large chunk of the wall melted away in that localized area.
“Null Energy,” Grix explained. “You are much more powerful then before, Lightning.”
“I LIKE IT!” Lightning shouted. “I feel like I can do anything!”
    “In a sense, you can…few mortals could equal your power now,” Grix agreed. “But remember to use your power in accord with our Master’s wishes. He does not tolerate traitors…”
    “Is that what happened to my predecessor?” Lightning asked. “Tell me, I wanna know! TELL MEEE! NOWWW!”
    Grix sighed slightly. “Yes. I’m afraid Midnight is…no longer with us.”
“The enemy approaches…they will be here soon,” Tarallax observed. Once again he seemed to be looking off at nothing in particular when he made the remark. He turned his attention back to his servants. “When they arrive, you will show them the proper welcome…”
“Of course,” Lightning replied. He raised a fist as he spoke, and energy crackled about it...
“And I have seen to it we shall have some additional assistance this time…” Tarallax added. He addressed a new person in the chamber. “Sarptia, escort Lightning to the launch bay--he will  ensure the Quintara obey my commands.”
“As you command, Master,” she replied. Stepping out of the shadows, Sarptia was a tall, slender female baring scale-like body armor and slanted eyes. She was beautiful in an exotic fashion-her purple-grey skin added to her appearance and framed her amber eyes. Her head was mostly bare, except for a long auburn pony tail cascading down from the back of her skull to her waist. She moved gracefully as she walked, her muscular body keeping a steady pace as it moved.
Lightning said nothing but followed after this newest minion of his dark Master.
“Can we trust him?” Grix asked after the other had left. “He is most…unstable in mind. And you have granted him yet more power…”
“I believe he will suffice for the time. And, if guided right, shall follow my commands.” Tarallax paused. “A pity Midnight did not stay with us--he was a most capable servant…it’s always sad when one’s children go astray. Perhaps, in time, he will come to his senses and return to the fold.”
“I would not count on that happening, Master,” Grix replied.
“Perhaps,” Tarallax agreed. “But one never knows what the future will bring, does one? It is up to us therefore, to make our destiny and not allow time to create it for us. So too, will I remake the Omniverse in my own image.”
“Thy will be done, my Lord.” Grix agreed.
        *            *            *
“What is it?” Thunder asked, as he and Zaanai arrived on the bridge of the J’hulokh.
All around them, Jaleera’s assorted crew attended their control stations. Each were holo projected control panels and sensor read outs emitted from micro projectors in the silver alloyed walls, which the crew member manipulated with the skill of a musician.
The bridge crew were two more of the Tenshi Photonis--angel-like beings such Jaleera herself--while the other four were an assortment of alien species Thunder did not immediately recognize.
“We’re just waiting for a few others to show up,” Jaleera responded calmly. She had barely uttered the words when Talon and his Terrors unit, Scoot and Mach Kick entered the bridge through an opposite entry way.
Thunder watched as Jaleera scanned the assorted group in front of her, mentally accounting for all of her allies. Satisfied, she directed her attention back to the center of the group where Thunder, Talon and Zaanai now stood.
“I have summoned you all here because we are approaching the planet Nebulos as planned. In fact, we have just passed it’s sister planet.” She gestured to the large silver wall at the front of the bridge. “Behold!”
An energy field just beyond the wall in question formed and coalesced into a display of a crystal clear image of a large ringed planet. The atmosphere seemed similar in appearance to Earth--large sapphire oceans and vast patches of vegetation covered the surface of the planet while the entire globe was framed by light wisps of cloud.
In two opposite corners of the virtual screen were sensor readings displaying atmospheric readings, distance to the actual planet and so forth. Thunder noted one setting indicated the view was enhanced so they could see the planet close up.
“Our enemy has already reached this world and will shortly begin implementing it’s agenda to rewrite it’s historical record as it already did with Cybertron.” Jaleera’s face took on a harsh expression. “We cannot allow this to happen. Tarallax must be stopped at any and all cost--once he is done here, Earth will be next. And after he has finished testing out his plan here, in this universe, he will set about trying to recreate the entire Omniverse itself…”
“Yeah, yeah--fate of reality and all that,” Talon jumped in. “Just point me in the right direction and tell me who to shoot!”
“Damn straight!” Sideswipe exclaimed. Several others expressions seemed to support that sentiment.
“I am glad to hear that,” Jaleera replied. “Your support is most valuable to me--the enemy’s agents are many and great in power. Together, we stand a better chance of prevailing then if we were divided.”
“I promise we will do our best to try and stop Tarallax from achieving his goal,” Thunder said. “I know all too well what is at stake here…” Especially after his experience in fighting Deceptar and Tyrax in his lifetime…
A chime beeped from one of the bridge consoles about them and Jaleera turned to see
what had caused the alarm. She jogged over to a nearby console and investigated a read out beside one of her crew.
After a moment, the virtual view screen switched magnifications and went to a further away shot of the planet--quite possibly a real time view. On the screen, six odd shapes had emerged from the top of the planet and were slowly advancing.
“What are those?” Zaanai asked. “Missiles?”
“Worse,” Jaleera replied. “Those are space vessels! It seems that Tarallax has already called into play the new inhabitants of Cybertron as his allies.”
“Wait a minute--what do you mean, new inhabitants?” Mach Kick demanded. “What are those things?”
“In the new history of Cybertron, the Transformers have ceased to exist,” Jaleera explained. “These are your replacements, if you will. Creatures dreamed up by Tarallax’s time manipulations called the Quintara--a meshing of the mechanical and of energy. They are malevolent--as were your own Quintessons before them--but this is the ultimate extension of what your former masters would have become had they not suffered the crippling defeat of your uprising and been forced into hiding.”
Jaleera manipulated a series of controls and the screen enhanced slightly, bringing the Quintara vessels into sharper view. The vessels were a combination of some sort of crystalline material and various metal outcroppings. The ships were designed with rectangular top sections and had metallic wing-like extensions jutting off of them. The bottom sections were four armed crystalline extensions meshed with metal protrusions, the whole giving the impression of a squid-like look.
“I take it they aren’t on our side,” Talon said.
“You are correct,” Jaleera agreed. “They will have little tolerance for mechanical life forms--as did the Quintessons before them.”
“I thought so.” Talon looked at his wing mates. “Let’s get out there and show them a little Decepticon hospitality!”
“I’m with you, boss!” Synder chimed in.
“Yeah!” Stratus agreed.
“Just a moment,” Thunder jumped in. “We need an actual plan here--rushing into action and getting ourselves killed won’t prove anything.”
“I think I’ve already proved that I can handle myself in a fight,” Talon retorted. “I have survived this long with getting my head module shot off and--”
“Look out!” Zaanai exclaimed. Thunder and the others followed her stare and noticed the energy bolt hurdling toward them from one of the Quintara vessels.  
A split second later, the vessel rocked violently as the energy burst struck Jaleera’s vessel and everyone was tossed about uncontrollably. Thunder’s last memory was of his body slamming up against a wall and then, everything turned white around him...
        *            *            *
The lone figure stumbled through the desert, gripping the cloak about him as it tossed about violently in the brutal sand storm.
Stopping a moment, he turned and cast a quick glance at the white, featureless sky beyond this wasteland, seemingly considering the atmosphere about him silently.
After a moment further, he turned and continued his trek, climbing sideways up a little-seen sand dune.
Several minutes into his trek, his foot module caught in a concealed sink hole in the surface and he collapsed to the ground in a heap. Lying there, he heard muffled footsteps coming toward him and looked up to see an offered hand.
Taking it, he rose and stood face to face with his savior. It took little time for him to discover the assistant was none other than Megatron!
“Greetings, Optimus,” he said in his usual raspy tone. “It is good to know that if I am to be consigned to hell, that I am not alone...”

Part 9

       Blackness.  It was unnatural.  She couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face.  She reached out.  Her hand didn’t move very far before it hit a cold metal wall.  Frantically, she tested the other directions.  The cold metal greeted her at every turn.  She could not recall her whereabouts.  
       Nothing made sense.  Her heart boomed in her ears.  Her hands shook violently.
       She panicked.  Her vocal cords strained to produce an ear piercing scream while her body tensed and pushed against her prison.
       Above her scream, she could hear a high-pitched, unemotional voice calling her name.  Her panic turned into fear as she stopped screaming and curled  up in the corner of the metal box.
       “Who are you?” she whispered.
       Her body jumped involuntary when she heard her name called once more. Although, she noticed the voice had changed slightly; it was deeper, with more emotion, and louder.
       “What do you want with me?” she asked more boldly.
       “Zaanai?” the voice called again and again, getting deeper and more emotional every time it was said.
       She began to cry.
       “Zaanai?!  Zaanai!  Zaanai…”

       Thunder shook his beloved gently, coaxing her back into consciousness.  
After Jaleera’s ship was hit by the energy bolt several of them ended up on the deck, including him.  But, he was one of the fortunate ones who didn’t end up unconscious, only momentarily stunned.
       Zaanai’s optics fluttered open just as one of the crew yelled, “Hold on! Here comes another one!”
       Thunder pressed Zaanai against his crouched form then grabbed onto the rail that surrounded the command alcove.  The ship rocked violently, throwing more transformers to the deck.
       Jaleera ordered her crew into action.  “Raise shields!  Return fire!”
       “Of course First One!” one of the crew responded.
       “Well, Oh Mighty Leader, I hope you have a plan, cause we have no time to make one now!” Talon snapped at Thunder.
       “We have no other choice.” Stratus stated.  He reached into sub-space to retrieve his plasma rifle.  “Let’s go kick some rear assemblies!”
       The rest of the Terrors followed suit, brandishing their weapons.
       “Anyone care to join us?” Talon offered, staring down at Thunder, before following his Terrors off the bridge.
       Without a second thought Astrotrain, Ramjet, Firestorm and Waspinator all followed after him.  Tornado, on the other hand, was hesitant, looking at Thunder for approval.  The low hum of the ship and the whisper like sound from the weapons returning fire was broken by another powerful blast from the enemy ships.  Jaleera’s ship rocked slightly, the shields absorbing most of the energy.
       “One down!  Three to go!” someone cheered.
       Thunder looked down at Zaanai who was still cradled in his arms.  Although her expression told him not to, her lips formed the word ‘go’.  He leaned over and kissed her softly.  “I’ll be back…” he whispered.
       “I’ll be here.  Be safe, my love…” she stated in a whisper.
       Getting to his feet, Thunder helped Zaanai to hers.  He waited until he knew she wouldn’t end up back on the deck then, with an approving nod to Tornado, left the bridge.
    The ship rocked twice in succession almost knocking Zaanai down once more,
but she held her ground.  Keeping her focus on the view screen, Zaanai watched her beloved, in his space vessel mode, fly through the shields en route to the enemy.
       “Okay, people!  I want back-up on those soldiers out there!” Jaleera
ordered.
       “Yes, Sir!”

       As soon as Thunder escaped the barely noticeable rift in the shields, he reconfigured his body into his space cruiser mode, picked a target and began his assault on the enemy.  He neglected to notice his comrades dodging the blasts while firing their own blasts.  Besides, on his first survey of the scene, they were holding their own quite nicely.  
    Thunder aimed all of his weapons at the closest enemy ship trying to catch the biggest patch of metal amongst the energy fields.  He then let loose his barrage of missiles, lasers and blasts.
    Each one, true to its aim, exploded against the target.  As debris flew off in all directions, Thunder charged his weapons once more.  Even with his barrage of weapons, he noticed, he barely dented the warship.
    He swung his large mass hard to starboard as a volley of energy blasts from the Quintara answered his own strafing attempt. As the closest of the blasts impacted harmlessly against his shields, he soared for open space and an opportunity to come about for another pass.
    Studying the sensor schematics from his last assault, he was well aware that there had to be a weak point in these Quintara’s warships. No matter how advanced or well fortified, he had never encountered a vessel that was completely indestructible--and he doubted these were any different.
    The question was, where was that point?
    His sensors had detected nothing obvious as he swung about and targeted another of the vessels. Accelerating to attack speed, he gained the right angle to avoid most of the enemy’s weapons fire and loosed another volley at it.
    The barrage did little more then scar the metal of the opposing vessel slightly, he noticed as he swung past it. Some minor damage had been done to the hull, but nothing substantial...
    As he cleared the battle space, he had time to study his sensor read-outs once again and this time, he noticed some sort of anomaly in the hull of the Quintara vessel. There appeared to be some sort of low level energy signature inside the metal that was dispersing most of the energy from the weapons assault. He didn’t entirely understand how that was possible, but at least he understood why.
    “Thunder to Talon,” he signaled the nearby Cyberjet. “What’s your status?”
    “Nice to see you decided to join the fight, el capitan.” Talon’s voice replied. “We’re all fine here, to answer your question. But we ain’t making much of a dent to the Quintara either.”
    “I know,” Thunder agreed. “I’ve discovered an energy signature in their vessels that’s counteracting the full strength of our weapons somehow.”  He beamed the sensor log to the other as he spoke.
    “This could be a problem,” he said, after a brief silence.
    “I’m open to suggestions,” Thunder replied as he dodged a volley from one of the Quintara vessels near him.
    “I really think we should--“ Talon’s voice broke off. “Hang on. I’m getting a signal from Altus.”
    Thunder unleashed another volley of energy blasts at the nearest Quintara vessel, keeping it’s attention from the J’hulokh.  Dodging it’s return barrage, Thunder soared up and out of it’s range, forcing the other vessel to follow.
    His comlink burst back to life.  “Altus says she’s noticed the vessels are designed with the crystalline portion covering over a small node of some sort.”
    “Go on,” Thunder replied, banking sharply to avoid his pursuer’s weapons.
    “She scanned the ships at length and discovered it’s some sort of energy rectifier for when the ships fire at us. She believes we might be able to force an overload into the entire ship if we can hit it there...”
    Thunder called up his own scan of the alien vessels. He noted the placement of the crystal extensions and what the Decepticons were proposing.
    “I don’t know-it’s a very tight area and we’re talking about precision targeting,” he replied. “And we’ll need something strong enough to affect it.”
    “There’s no guarantees,” Talon agreed. “But that’s life for you. I’m relatively small enough and my missiles ought to do the trick.”
    Thunder started to respond, but Talon was already starting off on a run at the nearest Quintara vessel to him.
    He watched as the Cyberjet soared toward his intended target fearlessly. He had to admit, the Decepticon was an odd one at times, but he was most capable when he put his mind to it. He could see why Talon was the unit leader of the Terrors--surely, no one else there could match his combination of audacity and courage in battle.
    He just hoped the other wasn’t embarking on a suicide mission...
    His attention diverted by Talon’s daring attack on the Quintara vessel, Thunder neglected to recall the pursuing vessel behind him. His sense of danger went off too late as the other vessel opened fire on him. At his current angle from it, the energy blast tore through his left engine, shredding the hull with seemingly little effort and leaving a wide opening through that section.
    Thunder screamed out in pain, his anguish muted by the vacuum of the void about him. Rapidly, he transformed back into his robot mode, his form losing it’s additional mass back into sub space.
    As the alien vessel closed in for the killing shot, Thunder suddenly felt his body being torn away from the scene abruptly. Looking groggily upward, he noticed Firestorm had swooped in out of nowhere and rescued him from his fate.
    He tried to speak but recalled quickly that he was floating through the void and switched to his comlink instead.
    “Thanks! I thought that was it for me...”
    “No problem,” the other replied warmly. “I’m an Autobot--it’s what we do.”
    “I’m in no position to keep fighting...” Thunder began.
    “I’ll bring you back to Jaleera’s ship. It’s as safe as anywhere around here...”
    Thunder nodded slowly at that, feeling pain shoot through his neck and arm as he did so. He couldn’t see Talon at his current angle, but he certainly hoped that he was having some success at his mission--the others couldn’t count on him just now...it was all up to Talon now.

    Talon shifted to a higher speed as he soared toward his waiting prey. Detecting a brief energy shift from his target, he flawlessly dodged it’s next volley of energy, depriving the gunner of his prize.
    He had gotten into this battle without a second thought-even volunteered for this highly dangerous attempt to destroy one of the Quintara vessels. But as he neared his target now, the full scope of what he was doing struck him.
    These were the Quintara-a modified version of his own universe’s Quintessons-the Slave Masters had been the creatures that had kidnaped him and merged his Human and robot mode forever into one being. The ones who had tortured him...tried to brainwash him into to being their puppet warlord in a failed attempt to reconquer Cybertron. When he had faced the Quintesson Guardian robots-was it only days earlier?-he had frozen up with fear.
    He was angry with the Quintessons for their torture-but, even worse, the thought of ever being in their possession as a prisoner again chilled his circuits. They were ruthless, cruel and thoroughly inhuman in their dealings.
    And if these beings were a more refined--more perfect--version of those same monsters?
    He was terrified at the thought of going up against them-but it was far too late to change his mind now. The others were counting on him to successfully hit the target and save the day. He couldn’t just let them down, could he?
    His intended target loomed large in his viewport and he swiftly locked onto it with his sensors. The hub, as Altus had called it, was well concealed deep beneath the four large crystal tentacle-like extensions at what he guessed was the base of the ship. It was a difficult target, but if he timed it right he should be able to hit it...
    Reaching what his sensors indicated was the right angle, Talon loosed every missile in his arsenal at the central hub’s position. Fortune appeared to be on his side as most of the projectiles contacted with their target as planned.
    Veering upward sharply, he detected the vessel below experiencing some sort of internal chain reaction. In mere minutes, the effect traversed the entire vessel and it tore itself apart from the inside out, showering space with jagged fragments.
    A feeling of satisfaction crossed his mind as he went to rejoin his team mates. He had faced the dark monster from his nightmares and won this battle-striking it down with a swipe of his figurative sword... The Quintara were not indestructible-they could be hurt and die, just like him.
    And he would make them pay for what they had done to him in another timeline... they deserved that much-for both himself and all the other lives they were responsible for affecting.
    Talon spun on his axis and headed toward the next target alongside the other Terrors...

    Zaanai clung to Thunder, keeping him upright as he wobbled slightly from his wrecked shoulder and the brutal gash in his left side. He had refused medical treatment for his battle wounds thus far, opting instead to come to the bridge and inform Jaleera of the vital new tactical information they had discovered about the enemy. A small trickle of fluids had dripped down his limp form and pooled on the deck plates as he stood there.
    She had watched as Talon had performed his assault on the one Quintara vessel and succeeded in taking it out, validating the information for a certainty. Earlier in the battle, the J’hulokh had destroyed one of the enemy vessels--apparently hitting it in the right place seemingly by coincidence. Since then, their attacks had proved futile--but at least they knew why now.
    Jaleera had reacted immediately in the face of Talon’s actions. She had been keeping the ship back to prevent it from sustaining further damage, preferring to let the Transformers try their hand at combating the Quintara instead. But now, she ordered the ship back into the fight, targeting one of the two remaining vessels.
    Exploiting the other vessel’s movement as it moved to position itself to attack, she had the J’hulokh open fire on it. The energy salvo from her vessel easily contacted with the rectifier and took the enemy ship out in one shot.
    Zaanai watched as the vessel erupted in a yellow-green explosion, throwing out fragments of burnt wreckage as it dissipated into nothingness.
    Nearby, the fourth vessel was taking no chances--it turned and soared back in the direction of the planet.
    “It is done,“ Jaleera announced. “They have been defeated.”
    “What about that last ship?” Zaanai asked, as the other walked down from the command platform in the middle of the bridge.
    “It is of little consequence. They already know we are here, so there is little to be gained by a pursuit.” Jaleera’s gaze drifted to Thunder’s wound. “Perhaps it is time you saw to your injuries now--there’s nothing else you can do here.”
    Thunder nodded groggily and Zaanai started helping him off the bridge. Behind them, Jaleera’s voice ordered her alien comm officer to recall the others to the ship.
    “This is Talon. Negative on the recall--I am in pursuit of number four!” his disembodied voice replied over an open comm channel.
    “No!” Thunder exclaimed, turning sharply in Zaanai’s grasp. “Talon! Don’t be...s-stupid...”
He collapsed at the exertion, forcing her to drag him back to his feet.
    “There’s nothing you can do,” Zaanai told her lover. “Now, come on. We’re getting you to medical!”  
    She certainly wasn’t going to let him do anything stupid like go out there, and loose consciousness while futilely trying to save Talon from a course of action he’d already decided upon. Besides, she suspected Talon could manage against anything he encountered out there--and, if she was wrong in her assessment, well, it was better just him then both him and Thunder...
    As she hauled Thunder through the portway to the deck beyond, she heard Jaleera trying desperately to contact Talon, to no avail...
            *            *            *
    Talon soared through the open void, his target still separated from him by several hundred miles. But he was closing the gap fast and he would have little problem reaching the Quintara vessel before it hit planet fall.
    The question was, then what? He had already used up all of his missiles taking out the first vessel and he would have to be more creative when he reached this one...but he imagined he would come up with something--a few ideas were already bubbling to mind.
    He suspected Thunder, Jaleera and the others would not be amused by his disobeying their orders to retreat to the ship, but they would have to learn to deal with it. He had reached a new level in his own personal struggle with his demons and he was going to do his best to destroy the plague that was the Quintara--they were a blight the universe simply didn’t need, as far as he was concerned.
    Besides, listening to orders from others was never his thing--he preferred to go off and do his own thing. He suspected it was a left over impulse from his former Human component but he still liked the thought of it, anyway. He was Talon, commander of the elite Decepticon commandos, the Terrors, and he gave orders, he didn’t take them from others.
    A comm signal startled him from his silent reverie and he realized it was from nearby to him, not from the J’hulokh and another of Jaleera’s attempts to contact him and get him to return.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” Altus voice asked him. He noted the sensor image of her fighter form behind him now and realized he was no longer alone. Fortunately, Jaleera’s vessel was still several miles aft of him and still showed no sign of pursuit.
    “To take care of that ship,” he replied. “Why are you here? I thought you went back to the ship.”
    “I guess I’m not any good at following orders either,” she told him. “I was about to return when I noticed our fearless leader wasn’t coming with us so I decided to go after to you instead. Can’t have you getting yourself killed, now can I?”
    “I am going to destroy that ship-don’t try to stop me.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it. But perhaps I can cover your aft section instead?”
    Talon found himself silently agreeing. He was glad Altus hadn’t come out here to get underfoot and stop him from throwing his life away--if this happened right, he wouldn’t get anywhere near close to death anyway. Sentiment was just an inconvenience that would trip him up, rather then aid him in this situation.
    Ahead of them, the slowly moving Quintara vessel had suddenly picked up speed and was increasing the gap between them once more. He wondered if the aliens had been spooked by the presence of two pursuing vessels, now that they were aware of the vessel’s weak point?
    “Damn it!” Talon exclaimed. “Full throttle! We’ve got to stop them from hitting the atmosphere.”
    But even as the two Decepticons went to maximum burn he doubted they could make it to their target in time--the alien vessel was too fast and had too much of a lead over them.
    His suspicions proved right as the Quintara vessel dropped into the Nebulan atmosphere several moments later. Throwing all caution to the wind as he reached planetary orbit, he dipped in after them mere moments later.
    “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Altus radioed as she followed him down. “We have no idea what we’re up against!”
    “You’re welcome to return to the ship!” Talon snapped. “I’m not going to--“
    He trailed off in mid sentence as their target crossed over a vast area of prairie flat lands and below them he observed twenty more Quintara vessels parked on the ground. All about them were formations of mechanical drones, the exact number of which was too high for him to count.
    “This isn’t good,” Altus said as she caught up to her commander. “There must be thousands of those things down there!”
    “But why?” Talon asked. “Unless...did you get any scans of the planet when we came down?”
    “Just some general readings. Why?”
    “Is there signs of civilization down here?” he asked his wingmate. “There’s far too many drones just to stop our team--I think it’s possible that’s some sort of invasion force.”
    Altus was silent a moment. “I’ve checked my scan records and it looks like there may be some cities scattered throughout the surface. I can’t be more specific though...I just didn’t have the time for a complete scan.”
    ”That’s all right,” Talon retorted. “It’s enough to prove my theory, anyway.” He and Altus finished their flyby of the invasion force and continued onward. His initial target had disappeared on the horizon already and they had no further destination beyond here.
    Cybertron had been totally devoid of life for some as yet unexplained reason...but it appeared Nebulos was the opposite. It’s civilization was still intact and it appeared Tarallax and his Quintara puppets wished to keep them from becoming a threat as his scattered group of Transformers had. They had to return to Jaleera’s ship and relay this information to her--decide what step they were going to take next.
    Talon felt his circuits chill as he remembered that Jaleera had said Earth was the third world Tarallax had his sights set on. What would happen to his former home world, he wondered. Would the Quintara enslave these people or eradicate them? Neither option was acceptable to him and he knew if they failed to stop the time god here, Earth would be next in line.
    “We have company!”
    At Altus’ warning, Talon scanned aft and realized several of the Quintara drones had taken to the air and reconfigured into aerial modes, giving pursuit to the two accidental Decepticon spies.
    “Evasive!” Talon yelled, knowing it wasn’t really necessary to actually say it.
    The two Decepticons swung hard to their starboard sides and they were quickly traced by their hunters.
    Banking hard to his top, Talon swung back down in a half circle motion right on top of his pursuers and opened fire, tearing apart three of the drones. Unfortunately, there were several more fighters already giving chase and his actions did little to slow them up.
    Accelerating to full speed, Talon hoped they could try and outrun the drone army behind them. Apparently, Altus had the same idea as she hadn’t stopped to fight the army, opting instead to continue onward ahead.
    He quickly caught up to her and the two soared through the skies of Nebulos at mind boggling speed. Talon studied his sensor readouts and noticed at first that the drones continued their pursuit behind them, undaunted by the chase. However, after several minutes of flight, the drones began dropping away and eventually disappeared on the horizon behind them entirely.
    He was just about to proclaim their success when the two Decepticons soared overtop a vast golden tower complex, sitting alone in the middle of a large forested area. The tower eclipsed all of the vegetation about it, casting a vast shadow to it’s western side.
    Upon their initial scans, the tower had no obvious ways inside it and their sensors attempts to pierce the surface failed, their scans just being bounced back at them.
    “So, where are we now?” Talon wondered aloud.
    “I don’t know,” Altus replied. “But the drones didn’t follow us out here--and I suspect that wasn’t accidental.”
    “Either it’s a Nebulan establishment of some sort...or one of the Quintara’s bases.”  Talon said. “I’m going to go down for a closer look. Maybe there’s something our scanners aren’t picking up here.”
    At that, he swung about and spiraled his fighter craft mode down to the distant surface of the planet and the base of the tower.
    Transforming to robot mode, Talon’s feet touched the ground lightly at first as his descent finished. A moment later, Altus landed beside him, having apparently followed him down.
    The tower was even more impressive from the ground, it’s titanic structure eclipsing everything around it. A brilliant shine reflected off the side facing the sun, juxtaposed against the opposing side’s total darkness from the shadow the massive construction cast.
    The sheer size of the building and the eerie silence all around it, gave Talon an odd sensation that made him uneasy.
    “What could it be?” Altus asked. “A base? Or some sort of weapon? Perhaps a power source...that would explain the lack of doors...”
    Talon nodded silently, only half hearing her as his optics examined the flawless golden surface of the tower once again.
    A noise behind him startled him and he spun in surprise. Behind them, a large humanoid woman stood amidst the tall trees, gazing at them. The woman was a tall, slender female baring scale-like body armor and slanted eyes. She was attractive in an exotic fashion--her purple-grey skin added to her appearance and framed her amber eyes. Her head was mostly bare, save for a long auburn pony tail cascading down from the back of her skull to her waist. Talon was certain she hadn’t been there before now...
    “I see you have found the tower,” she spoke in a calm tone. “But finding it and staying alive long enough to report back to your comrades and inform them about it is quite another thing...”
            *            *            *
    Her hand rested over the small device.  The press of one small button would change it all.  There would be peace at last.  Just Zaanai and Thunder.  She loved the idea.  The moment she met Thunder she fell in love.  And this love changed what she fought against.  Of course she was still a Predacon, but the Predacon morals no longer applied with her.  She now fought for justice and for the preservation of life; although, to any other, she was still a hard headed Predacon longing for the thrill of the hunt.  She knew well enough if she had not known Thunder before this time, she would have fought along side the dark God of Time.
    Things were different though.  And now her life mate lay on an energy bed, with wounds bad enough to make her worry.  Now she understood why Thunder was so upset and worried about her all the time.  Although she now fought for the preservation of life, she fought as if her own life was expendable.
    Zaanai hovered her index finger over the trigger button on Thunder’s temporal device.  “How many times have you thought of doing the exact same thing my love?” Zaanai asked in a whisper.
    Just as she was about to press the button, the door to the med bay slid open.  Zaanai quickly and fluidly moved her hand onto one of Thunders.
    “He will destroy you anywhere you go.” Jaleera warned.
    “Not if we go somewhere he’s already been.” Zaanai countered.
    Jaleera was silent for a moment.  She didn’t want to sound desperate, but she couldn’t lose Zaanai and Thunder.  The universe wouldn’t survive if she couldn’t convince Zaanai to stay on her ship and fight their enemy.  Finally she continued, “Listen, my sister wouldn’t have taken over your body if she knew you were not vital to our mission.  You cannot leave now.”
    Zaanai barely remembered being taken over by the Goddess of Light.  Although, remembering the aftermath, she was glad she barely remembered the ordeal.  It was something she would never want to do again.  “Your fight is not ours.  Never was.”
    “I did not say that.  And I did not say that Jocinea chose you.  Fate chose you.  You cannot deny your fate.”
    This time Zaanai was silent.  Jaleera continued, “And if you do not fight, you will not learn of your past because it would have never existed.”
    Zaanai growled under her breath.  “What do you know of my past!” Zaanai demanded.
    “All I know is that if we lose, your quest will be for nothing.” Jaleera replied then left her and Thunder alone.
    Her whole point of traveling to Cybertron lost?  No.  She couldn’t have it.  She needed to know her past.  She couldn’t betray her quest.  And she knew Thunder wouldn’t appreciate it if she did press that button.  “I’m getting too soft my love.”  Bending over, Zaanai kissed Thunder gently on the cheek.  “I guess we’re staying for the whole ride.” Zaanai sighed as she looked out the window at the mesmerizing sight of stars moving by.

Part 10

        “Who are you?” Talon demanded, eying the strange female.
        “I am Sarptia.”  She gestured to the golden tower.  “And that structure shall serve as your tombstone!”
        “Yeah right,” Talon snapped.  “Another threat from a minion?  Doesn’t this Tarallax guy ever do his own dirty work or is he too afraid to show himself to us mere mortals!”
        Sarptia’s slanted eyes narrowed.  “You shall regret those words, TransFormer.”
    She gestured once--

        “You will obey our will!” a voice like nails grating on a chalkboard hissed.
        Talon froze.
        Altus eyed the creature-its five glaring faces all broadcast hatred and malevolence-as it hovered towards them.
        “We shall punish you severely for your disobedience, Slave, and then you shall willingly fulfill our commands.”  The faces rotated.  “You will beg to obey us.”
        Talon popped open the compartment on his arm and his pulse laser locked into firing position.  “A Quintesson?” he said.  “Do you think that this will frighten me!” he demanded.  “I’ve destroyed their kind and even the Quintara!”  He fired and the pulse laser tore through the centre face on the Quintesson.  “This thing doesn’t frighten me!”
        The Quintesson shrieked--

        Sarptia frowned as her illusion faded away.  “Your will is strong,”she said.  “Impressive.”  Her voice dropped.  “Most impressive.”
        By all that she had observed through the timestreams, the mere suggestion of a Quintesson should have reduced Talon to a cowering wreck...how had he overcome his fear of his former masters?
        “Can we dispense with further combat and find another way to resolve this situation?” Altus asked.
        Sarptia looked at her-

        Altus stared down at the medpod as the readouts began to flicker and fail.  “No!” she said aloud.  “You can’t die!”  An entire bank of monitors went dark.  “I won’t let you!”
        The TransFormer laying in the pod didn’t respond.
        “This is a simple routine procedure...you can’t be dying!”
        Another panel went dark.
        “This is not happening!” Altus cried out.  “It can’t be!”  She typed desperate commands into the equipment, trying to stabilize her patient.
        “Come on...work!”
        The last panel of lights began to dim.
        Altus slumped away from the console, knocking against a tray of tools and spilling them to the floor.
        “No....” she pleaded--

        “What have you done to her?” Talon shouted as he ran to where Altus had collapsed.  “Altus, snap out of it!”  She lay unresponsive in his arms, moaning.
        Sarptia smiled.  “I merely allowed her to remember one of her first medical operations.”  Her smile turned cruel.  “One which failed.”
        “No...” Talon muttered.  “Altus!”
        “Such is my gift from Tarallax...the power to recall the past...and alter it as needed.”  Her smile widened.  “Memories can kill, you know.”
        Talon raised his pulse laser.  “Release her!” he ordered.
        Sarptia laughed.  “You might be strong, TransFormer, but I am the stronger!  Your little technological toy cannot hope to harm one such as I.”
        “Do you want to find out?” Talon asked in calm, matter-of-fact voice.
        “You are no fun,” Sartpia replied.  “A pity that you will not be around long to savour this small victory.”  And with that she stepped back into the shrubs and vanished.
        Talon looked at Altus who was still shivering and moaning.

Part 11

    The day started as it did every other occasion. He awoke to the desolate sand dunes, a howling wind and a white mist-like sky, totally devoid of life or any discernable features.
    Of course, to use the term “day” was a bit of a misnomer--the sky never changed here and their internal chronometers meant very little in a place where nothing significant ever occurred. Days here were more of the periods of waking in-between sleep cycle sessions.
    Optimus surveyed the meager collection of odds and ends that formed the little shanty town that he and the others now occupied. It was strange--in an environment such as this, many organics would have already gone mad, but his fellow Transformers had instead endured and set to work, creating this little settlement and venturing out beyond it’s perimeter seek out other survivors.
    He had walked for some time through the lifeless landscape seeking something--anything--else alive in this wasteland, his steel skin battered by frequent sand storms. He had never surrendered to the internal despair he felt--the terrifying feeling he might have been completely alone here and that he might never see another living being again.
    And then, finally, Megatron had found him and lead him back to their makeshift encampment here.
    The settlement was a mixture of Autobots and Decepticons, some veterans alongside several warriors who were just off the assembly line. Aside from the occasional minor tussle, both factions had been interacting just fine as their ideological differences meant very little in a place where those differences were rendered all but irrelevant.
    He had been here nearly two weeks now and was fitting in with his comrades about as well as could be expected, helping out as much as he could and helping keep order in the small community.
    Of course, there was still the question of exactly where here was. This was no ordinary environment obviously--the lack of any features other then seemingly endless sand dunes proved that much. But in the recent struggle to survive, no one had really had the time to venture such concerns.
    Until now, that was.
    Optimus Prime marched toward a small gathering of Transformers toward what he surmised was the north end of their settlement. Not everyone was there yet, he knew, but most of them were already present.
    He disliked being late for such an important gathering, but he had been up late the night before, helping repair the jury-rigged force-field projection system that they had built. It was a system intended mostly to help stave off the sometimes fierce sand storms they got here--they had no physical enemies here nor would the system have been strong enough, in any event, to repel an actual attack.  Afterward, he had deactivated to conserve on his energon resources and get some much needed rest--but he had been offline about half an hour later then planned and as a result found himself rushing to the gathering now instead of being able to travel at his own leisure.
    Reaching the assemblage, he noted Megatron was already there as were Soundwave and several others he recognized. His great nemesis wore his usual look of consternation, which came as no real surprise to Optimus. Others paced about the immediate area--the Autobots there looked especially concerned--each one of them looked to Optimus for leadership and were no doubt anticipating his arrival--while the Decepticons appeared mostly non-chalant that he had showed up. A fact that also didn’t surprise him much--most of them had little use for the Autobot leader overall and would’ve been racing to kill him normally. But they would not dare here--he and Megatron were needed desperately as they all struggled to survive in this wasteland. And one act of hot-headedness such as that could have unanticipated results--none of them were prepared to attempt it.
    “Greetings, Optimus.” Megatron smiled his wicked grin as the other approached him.
    “I apologize for my tardiness,” Optimus replied. “It would appear the circuit regulating my chronometer’s internal alarm is not functioning properly--I overslept by half an hour.”
    “It’s of no concern,” Megatron replied. “We have little else to do here as it is. A few minutes one way or the other won’t make any difference.”
    “Indeed.” Optimus gave the group a quick scan. “Is this everyone?”
    I suspect so,” Megatron said. “Those that are coming, anyway. Some are out watching the shield system, some may be in stasis cycle yet...”
    Optimus nodded and turned to address the group.
    “My fellow...Transformers,” he began, catching himself before he used his familiar phrase, fellow Autobots. “As you all know, we have been stranded in this strange environment for some time. Up until now, we have not had the oppourtunity to gather and discuss our predicament.”
    Megatron stepped forward. “There’s nothing to be gained by pulling punches--if we do not find a way out, we will eventually run out of energon.”
    And there it was. Optimus hated to admit it--unlike his counterpart’s blunt attitude, he preferred to try and look for the proverbial silver lining instead of focusing on the negative aspects of it. But in this case, Megatron was right--their situation was dire and there was no point in denying it.
    Although time seemed irrelevant in this place, their bodies were still functional and still using their native fuel to run. By their best predictions, they had two more weeks left--perhaps three--before their energon reserves were completely exhausted and then, they would simply stop functioning.
    So much more scrap metal in an already lifeless expanse. He suspected no one would ever find them here either--it would be a final tomb for all of them...the Great War ended in a most unlikely fashion--not in a fiery battle, but in eerie silence.
    No, he would not allow himself to think that way. They were all still functional at present and they had to work together to prevent that eventuality. The situation seemed grim, but there was still hope they would find some way out of here and back to the reality they knew.
    Optimus focused his attention back on what Megatron was saying to the assembled group. He had relayed to the others how Skywarp had flown two hundred miles straight up and failed to locate any end to the atmosphere nor any change in the milky skies beyond them. Similarly, the Spy Changers had examined the surrounding perimeter fifty miles out in all directions and thus far located nothing more then further desolation.
    “It is safe to say that this is not a regular planetary environment,” Megatron continued. “Scans conducted thus far by both Soundwave and Perceptor seem to indicate some rather bizarre readings.”  He turned to look at the two Transformers as they stepped forward to address the group.
    It was Perceptor whom spoke first. “A cursory evaluation of the environment has suggested a distinct lack of standard energy forms present in addition to unusually low background radiation.”
    “We have also discovered that atomic motion in the matter here is moving far slower then normal by scientific laws,” Soundwave chimed in with his monotone synthesized voice. “We have no explanation for this phenomenon.”
    “But... what exactly does this all mean?” Daytonus asked. Optimus noticed a couple of other Transformers nod their agreement.
    “We suspect that we are currently within some sort of interdimensional realm that is alien to our own,” Soundwave replied.
    “How in Proxima did we get here?” Hubcap asked. “I admit my memory records are a little fuzzy but I don’t recall going through anything like a trans time dimensional portal or vortex...”
    “I am uncertain,” Perceptor replied. “There are various scenarios that could have facilitated such an event.”
    “An attack of some sort, possibly,” Megatron said. “Although such an enemy would have to be enormously powerful.”
    “It is possible there was a design at work behind this occurrence,” Soundwave agreed. “Although we lack sufficient data for an accurate analysis at this point.”
    Optimus said nothing but he had also harbored thoughts about how they had arrived in this nether realm. He concurred with the belief that there had been some intelligence at work behind all of this, although exactly what the motive was eluded him. It could have either happened as some form of attack-in which case, Cybertron was certainly already lost or perhaps it had been the result of some sort of experiment gone wrong... after all, Rad and his team of scientists were frequently studying the interdimensional sciences and developing new ways to exploit the technology-he knew the Decepticons likewise had scientists doing the exact same thing. It wasn’t implausible that one of the sides might have made a colossal mistake...
     But he knew that the question of how they had arrived there could wait for another time. Right now, they had more pressing concerns on their minds.
    “Despite the bizarre laws of this place we still appear to have some normality. The sand storms indicate some energy forms are still present-and we are still burning energon,” Megatron was explaining to the others. “Unfortunately, all this means is that we are surrounded by a near useless environment while we slowly run out of the energy that we all need.”
    Several of the assembled group nodded at the Decepticon leader’s comment and Optimus could see the others concerns mirrored his own misgivings.
    He stepped forward.
    “The situation does appear grave,” he told them. “But we are not dead yet. As long as we are still functional, we have hope within us all that we can pool each of our unique talents toward escaping this place.”
    He paused and then added, “we will only give up at a time when we no longer function-I expect nothing less out of each and every one of you.”
    Some of the determination returned to the assembled Autobots and Decepticons and Optimus Prime felt a warm feeling sweep over him at that. As long as they had their hope, escape was still a possibility...
    “It is clear that Perceptor and Soundwave’s research into this environment is a start in the right direction. What is needed now is a concise plan to use that knowledge to more practical ends.” He looked toward Perceptor.
    “Have you discovered anything that we can use?”
    “That is an academic inquisition at best, Prime. However, there are anomalous readings even within the abnormal readings we have made thus far. Perhaps these may be of some use to us.”
    “What do you mean?” Megatron asked.
    “Whether it is of actual use or not, we are uncertain,” Soundwave jumped in. “However, we have scanned some further unusual areas within this realm. For example, there appear to be pockets of some sort of unidentifiable energy on the edge of our scanners, due north of our present position.”
    “That is certainly worth further investigation. How far is it?”
    “One hundred point two three miles from our present location,” the other replied.
    “I suggest a mixed unit investigate,” Optimus said. “Two jets and two ground units, in case we need to retrieve something.”
    Megatron nodded. He turned to the assembled group. “Wind Sheer and Skywarp can investigate.”
    “Towline and Tracks will join them,” Optimus added. He looked to Tracks. “Stay in touch and report back on whatever it is you find.”
    “I’ll do the best I can, Prime,” Tracks replied. “Although I hope the sand doesn’t tarnish my finish any further then it already has.”
    “Your finish is fine.” Optimus suppressed a chuckle at that as he watched the four transform and set off in a northerly direction. Some things never changed, it seemed...
    Beside him, Megatron had turned back to address the others.
    “Since we have little more information to go on at the moment, everyone is dismissed. Feel free to return to your normal routines here-but stay in battle condition. We have no idea what we may be called upon to do in the near future and there is little point in being unprepared.”
    Optimus Prime watched as the assembled group of Transformers broke apart-some choosing to converse with their comrades while still others strayed off in several directions, their intent to return to some previously abandoned task.
    He turned and noted Megatron conversing further with Perceptor and Soundwave. A moment later, they nodded and left the Decepticon leader. Prime strode over to him.    
    “Do you think the expedition will be worthwhile?” he asked.
    “I do not know,” Megatron replied. “But I hold out hope that it will result in something useful-we have had very little to use around here otherwise.”
    Optimus Prime nodded.
    “I have faith we will make it out of here,” he said. “I cannot accept this as our fate.”
    Megatron smiled. “That sounds like something I would say, Prime. Perhaps we are more alike then we believe...”
    “Of that, I have little doubt.” He turned and left, leaving the Decepticon leader alone to his thoughts.
            *            *            *
    The tent was completely silent as Optimus Prime entered it. In the distance, he could hear the others as they went about their business in the small encampment about him. The makeshift room was darkened, scant light allowed just enough illumination for one to see in the normal spectrum.
    Megatron sat at the center of the room, his back to Prime and his form unmoving. There had been enough debris and materials to construct several shelters in the compound and being the Decepticon Leader, Megatron had ranked a tent of his very own, as had Optimus himself. The others all shared accommodations, the Transformers opting to construct several large shelters rather then divide their resources further.
    A quick check in an alternate vision mode confirmed Optimus’ suspicions-his adversary was not in sleep cycle, but fully functional. He suspected Megatron was merely lost in deep meditation and had perhaps not heard him enter.
    “I am sorry to disturb you,” he said aloud. “But the scouting parties have reported back in and Wind Sheer is en route back here.”
    Megatron’s form remained immobile.
    “I take it they have found something?” he asked.
    “It would appear so,” Optimus agreed. “The strange energy readings on the edge of our sensor range appear to be emanating from some sort of unusual metallic substance. Wind Sheer is bringing some samples back for further analysis.”
    “And the others?”
    “According to their reports, they have discovered a large structure of some sort. Perceptor confirms that it is beyond the furthest range of our scanners to detect from where we are here. The other three were ordered to stay behind and investigate that further since they are already out there anyway.”
    “Logical.”
    Optimus had slowly been making his way to face Megatron as he’d spoke and he had now circled the tent far enough to be seen on his opponent’s right side. Still the other made no attempt to track the sound of his voice-his lips and head were the only things that moved as he spoke.
    “It appears the sand storms have made both the travel time there slower as well as generated heavy static on the comm channels-we were unable to get any of the visual readings of the structure that the others have detected.”
    “I take it that concerns you?” Megatron asked.
    “A little, yes,” Optimus conceded. “I don’t like going into such an unusual situation totally blind-it’s not strategically sound.”
    “I find myself in agreement with you,” the other replied. “Still, there appear to be little choices presenting themselves. We are in a desperate situation here and extreme measures may be necessary.”
    Optimus Prime felt himself agreeing with his long time enemy about this, just as they had agreed on many points in the past few weeks here. It was remarkable how well their two factions could get along when faced with a mutual enemy or problem-remarkable and tragic as well. It was a tragedy that they could not keep from killing one another under normal circumstances.
    If only a dialogue could be opened up between their two sides then perhaps they could find a way to address their concerns in a non violent forum. This had always been Optimus’ dream for them, a goal slightly beyond their grasping as a people. He knew it would likely never come to pass, but he held on to a small shred of hope just the same.
    “You make a valid point.” Optimus paused a moment. “I suspect by Towline’s comments that he would like us to come out and see the structure for ourselves. If you are open to the prospect...”
    “It may be beneficial,” Megatron agreed. “As far as the encampment goes, there is little more to be done here anyway. The others can keep watch on the shield system and the base supplies for the time being.”
    “Very well. I shall go await Wind Sheer’s arrival then.” Optimus turned and began to leave when he suddenly decided to stop and turn back to Megatron.
    “Is there something else?” Megatron asked calmly.
    “Yes.” Optimus exhaled sharply. “We have worked well together here, Megatron. Perhaps when we get out of here we should call a truce between our two factions...”  He let the comment hang there, not wanting to spoil the sentiment by overstating himself.
    Up until now Megatron had remained nearly immobile, seated in the middle of the tent on the floor. But at this comment his optics flared up to their usual red and he oscillated his head toward Optimus.
    “A noble sentiment Prime, but one doomed to failure. Have you so quickly forgotten the aftermath of the Unicron War? Or the battle against Jhiaxus and the Swarm?” He paused, allowing Optimus a moment of consideration before continuing. “It is true we can co-exist for small amounts of time together but sooner or later, our differing priorities and beliefs pull us off in opposite directions and we plummet back into war.”
    Optimus said nothing at that, even though he knew Megatron was most likely correct. Every previous attempt at peace had failed horribly, with the war inevitably returning to full steam within months of any pact.
    “We believe we need to be the power in the Universe while you Autobots believe we should be peaceable to the forces around us. Who is truly correct? It is merely a question for scholars and historians-but we are both what we are. The good intentions of a few will not resolve countless millennia of war or address the differing political ideologies we support. We have gone so long... I can only see our fight ending in bloodshed.”
    “Perhaps you are correct, Megatron,” Optimus said finally. “Perhaps we will only ever be able to end our war in battle. But I shall cling to my hope that one day we might some find other option to end it...”
    Megatron smiled his sly smile.
    “I would expect nothing less of you, Prime,” he said. He looked as if he had something further on his mind but then his expression seemed to dismiss the thought, choosing instead to turn back to his meditations. Optimus thought better of inquiring further.
    “We leave as soon as Wind Sheer reports back, then,” Megatron said finally.
     Optimus nodded. “Very well,” he agreed.

    After a few minutes of having to maneuver over sand dunes, Optimus Prime was relieved to only have to suffer driving over the uniformly straight desert floor. The surface was cracked and dried, but mostly flat unlike all of the terrain he had seen thus far in this realm.
    In his cab, Megatron rode in his robot mode, staying quiet for the most part. But that didn’t necessarily surprise Optimus-he was never one to betray his thoughts and after their earlier discussion perhaps he figured there was nothing more that immediately needed said.
    Wind Sheer had arrived back safely, despite the continuous sand storms and the added difficulty it was adding to the sensor and comm systems they all possessed. He had brought along two samples of the purple and green metallic substance that had been giving off the unusual energy readings.
    Perceptor had assessed the metal and quickly dismissed it as being easily convertible as a fuel source. However, the possibility of utilizing it’s properties to escape this realm were going to be seriously examined-although he did seem a bit more optimistic in that regard, which had given Optimus a little more confidence overall that they would escape this place.
    It seemed ironic to him that this avenue had presented itself when they had scanned beyond the radius that the Spy Changers had investigated. It occurred to him that he would have to be more daring with the orders for scouting missions in the future-otherwise they might miss more potential opportunities like this. Who knows what time they could have saved if the Spy Changers had just gone out further to begin with?
    The trip to the structure seemed to go by fairly quickly, despite the distance involved. Optimus had been driving at his maximum speed-something he rarely did on Earth. But he knew it was highly unlikely they’d encounter any stray Humans or animals here. Indeed, if they did encounter some native life forms, he would have been genuinely surprised.
    As they reached the outer perimeter of the coordinates that Wind Sheer had given them, Optimus was astounded by the mammoth size of the structure. The Decepticon jet had indicated it was big, but he was poorly prepared for the reality of the situation.
    Beyond them, four immense towers reached skyward like fingers grasping for the wind. The peaks of the towers were so far beyond them that he was not certain if he could actually see them or whether they were submerged in the clouds and it just appeared that way from this angle.
    The towers appeared black from their distance from them, but he couldn’t be certain if that was their color or not. He estimated each tower was the width of four-or perhaps even five--of the golden towers of Iacon. It was an incredible size and one could only wonder how someone was able to engineer such a feat.
    As they neared the massive structure, Optimus noted fragments of the purple-green metal all around them, chunks ranging in size from a pebble up to the size of a house. He could see that a piece of the inside of one of the closest towers had been sheered off by something. He suspected the fragments could have been from that part of the tower, which would explain why the metal-like substance had been so close to the structure.
    Reaching the perimeter of the first two towers, Optimus noticed Towline and Tracks running scans near the base of one of the structures. Above them, Skywarp had landed on the place where the one tower had been damaged and seemed to be investigating the tear.
    Optimus came to a stop and allowed Megatron to disembark before transforming into his robot form and joining his rival.
    “Oh, hey Prime!” Towline said as he looked up from his sensor pad. “Pretty impressive, isn’t it?”
    Optimus followed the other’s gaze up at the four towers. From this proximity, he could indeed tell that the metallic substance was the exact same as the fragments that Wind Sheer had previously brought  back to the encampment, as well as the remnants lining the ground nearby.
    “Impressive only begins to describe this,” Megatron muttered as he gazed upward.
    “It is indeed spectacular,” Optimus agreed. He looked to Towline. “What have you to report?”
    “Not too much yet to be honest,” the Autobot said. “We’ve been studying the Obelisk for a little-“
    ”I see you have bestowed your own term upon it,” Megatron noted. He cast another glance around. “But it does seem an apt choice.”
    “Thanks!” Towline’s voice seemed genuinely upbeat. “Anyway, we haven’t found out too much just yet. The material these things are made of is unlike anything we’ve ever encountered before... as you can see, something took a chunk out of that tower up there.” He pointed up at the tower Optimus had noted earlier as they had arrived.
    “We also think that this thing must have quite a potent energy field around it. As you’ve probably noticed, for about ten miles all around the perimeter of this place, the sand storms are totally gone. I can’t really explain why yet, but it’s almost like something wanted this place to stand out among the desolation here.”
    Optimus cast a glance at the landscape beyond them. Somehow, in his preoccupation with the Obelisk he hadn’t consciously registered that the area was free of the chaos that was otherwise all around them. And it did seem strange to him--it felt almost as if this place was the great epicenter of some sort of bizarre cosmic machine.
    It seemed impossible any mortal hand could have constructed this place-this world seemed to have no life forms or materials with which to have accomplished such a feat and yet, how had this strange structure appeared here?
    The Obelisk’s existence raised more questions then it answered. But there was still one matter he was overly preoccupied with at the moment...
    “Do you think we can use it to return home somehow?” Optimus asked the other.
    Towline’s visor conveyed his uncertainty. “I honestly don’t know yet,” he replied. “But, maybe. It’s definitely giving off abundant energy-if Perceptor can figure out a way for us to tap into that somehow, then anything’s possible.”
    Optimus nodded. It wasn’t a definitive answer, but the hope he held inside felt a little renewed at the possibility they might be able to get back home. It gave him a definite goal to work toward-a purpose in the here and now, amidst the uncertainty and chaos this world had represented to him before.
    “Let’s see what we can do,” he told Towline as he stepped forward. “Maybe if we play our chips right, we’ll be going home.”


Part 12

    Zaanai sat on the edge of the bed Thunder was on, his limp hand clutched gently between hers.  The silence in the room was thick and overbearing yet her traveling thoughts pounded in her audio receptors.  Zaanai hated the silence.  The whispering voices she heard, and the pictures of places and people that flashed before her optics were a constant reminder of a past that eluded her.  She wished someone else was there with her.  Even Tarallax would have been a welcome diversion from the silence.
    Thunder twitched as she altered her position on the bed.  That was a good sign.  Zaanai wanted to call out to him but she couldn’t even whisper his name.  She slowly traced a circle on his hand with her thumb instead.  It was all she could do.  Jaleera’s medics already did everything that they could to repair him.  He wasn’t on his death bed; although, it felt like it.  It was bad enough if damage knocked him into repair mode.
    She removed one hand from his, sliding it up his arm softly then back down.  If it wasn’t for the damned war they were thrust into, he would be standing at her side instead of laying here unconscious.  The stress of everything that has been going on had stretched her to her limits.  Being transported to a war torn world where a god was taking over, being possessed by a goddesses warrior, being plagued by memories that didn’t make any sense, and now, Thunder taking on Jaleera’s mission as his own was driving her nuts.  Being forced to fight a war that didn’t pertain to her reminded her of the time she spent with the Predacons under Megatron’s rule.  That was another war that wasn’t hers.
    Zaanai powered down her optics.  When am I going to be able to force people to fight for my cause, she asked herself.  Her minds eye showed her visions of battles she had been in, fighting enemies that she only assumed were hers.  For what purpose, for whose purpose?  Zaanai sighed.  I did agree to fight in this war after all, she told herself.
    After a moment of silent reflection, she powered up her optics only to see that she was no longer sitting on the small bed in the med room.  She was now sitting on an old metal crate in a small room.  It was dark, but she could make out a small bed, which looked more like a shelf, in one corner, and a sliding door opposite of her.
    “Where in the Pit..?” she hissed.  “Tarallax must have shifted time again.”
    Faint noises from outside alerted her.  She got to her feet as she grabbed one of her quasar rifles out of sub-space.  It was still strange to hold her rifle instead of her ion cannons. She hadn’t cared to use them since becoming involved with Thunder.  Her purpose was no longer about destruction and chaos.
    Taking a defensive position behind the door, Zaanai slid it open a crack.  The noises became much louder; she realized that someone or something was fighting.  Every clang of metal, grunt and groan was distinct which meant they, who ever they were, were in the other room.  Zaanai snuck a peek; what she saw took her by surprise.  In a much bigger room than the one she was in, two transformers, one male and one female, were sparing.  She recognized every fighting style they used, Metallikato being the prominent one.  Neither one of the robots looked familiar to her, although the female had similar features as herself, even though she wouldn’t admit to it.  Because of the recent events, Zaanai was not going to let herself be surprised by an attack.  If Tarallax was behind this little charade, he was going to wish he had stayed imprisoned.
    Zaanai took a deep breath and cleared her mind, preparing herself for a battle.  She whipped open the door, grabbed her rifle with both hands and presented herself to the inhabitants.  “Who are you and why am I here?!” she growled.
    Her surprise became confusion when the two robots continued sparing as if she didn’t exist.  She let down her guard, by only a fraction, to take in her surroundings.  The walls, ceiling and floor were a metal that she didn’t recognize; it was a light red colour and it glowed softly.  There was a table in the far corner that was made out of the same material and a larger sliding door on the far wall.  Other than that, the room was bare.  Zaanai guessed this particular room was exclusively for sparing.
    Since she was being ignored by her apparent captors, Zaanai headed for the door across the room.  She wasn’t usually an explorer, but conversely, she wasn’t one to sit around and wait for the action to happen.  The door automatically slid open, burning her optics with a vast green meadow.  She scanned over 20 different life forms in the small view she had of the meadow; all of their voices screaming in her audio sensors.   Zaanai was amazed by it’s beauty.  Nothing on Earth even managed to come close to it.
    As she was about to take her first step into the mesmerizing scenery, a voice from behind her stopped her in her tracks.  “I think you would find it more interesting in here, Zaanai.”  She spun around with her rifle steady in both hands, expecting to see the other two occupants of the room with their weapons trained at her.  To her surprise again, they were still fighting.
    “Who said that?!” Zaanai demanded.
    “The importance of my presence is not my identity.” the voice replied.  “You brought me here, Zaanai.”
    “Nah.  I stopped summoning disembodied voices in strange places a long time ago.  Now, tell me who you are!”
     Within the blink of an eye, the two fighters stopped, frozen in time.  “Come, take a closer look.” the voice invited.
    Zaanai immediately dropped her guard and her rifle.  Approaching the pair in a trance like state, she didn’t take notice of the impossible position they were frozen in.  The male was half fallen on the floor from trying to kick her foot out from under her while the female had tried to kick the male’s head.  All Zaanai was looking at was the surprised face of the female.  She could see the similarities now; the panther head helmet, the wings, the tail.  Then it was more then just similarities.  The realization that they were one and the same was overwhelming.  “That’s... me...” Zaanai whispered.
    “Look closer.” the voice begged.
    Zaanai turned her focus to the male’s features.  There was a scar under his right optic.  “A scar?  Caused by me?” she muttered softly.  Studying the face with conviction, Zaanai conjured memories she didn’t know she had.  She reached out a trembling hand, wanting to touch that which she couldn’t believe she forgot.
    The sound of the door sliding open jarred Zaanai out of her stupor.  “Zaanai, Jaleera has ordered a meeting in the conference room.  She would like to know if you will join us.” one of Jaleera’s soldiers stated.
    Zaanai looked around the room with confusion written on her face.
    “Um... I’ll try to be there,” she answered back, not bothering to face the soldier.
    She heard the door close and took a moment to her bearings straight.  Taking Thunder’s hand in both of hers, she told her unconscious lover, “Teryx. I remember, my love...”
            *            *            *
    Talon looked at Altus who was still shivering and moaning. He walked over to her and grasped her upper arm gingerly, lightly hoisting her to her feet.
    “Are you okay?” he asked. “Did she hurt you?”
    Altus looked at him, her expression seemed to drift right through him as if he were not even there.
    “It was so real,” she whispered. “Like I was right there... I could vividly recall every emotion from my first surgical failure. But I can remember the actual event-and it was almost like she somehow... I don’t know, amplified the emotions a hundred-fold. My pain was so bad.... I had lost a spark and all I wanted to do, all I felt could balance things out, was if I took my own life.”
    Talon didn’t know what to say to that. His illusion hadn’t been nearly as bad-but then he had only recently conquered his own fear and it was possible the emotion from that had somehow helped to counteract what ever trick Tarallax’s minion had tried on him.
    “I would’ve done it too... it seemed like the only way to make amends and then... then it just stopped. And I was back here again.”
    He nodded silently. That had most likely coincided with the moment he had threatened to blow a big hole in Sarptia’s chest. She had laughed and told him she was stronger then he was and that his weapon couldn’t hurt her-but he noticed she’d backed down right afterward which cast doubt on her pronouncement.
    “Don’t worry, Altus,” he told his comrade. “It was all just a trick and she’s gone now. We’re safe-at least for the moment, anyway.”
    She nodded shakily.
    Talon smiled, hoping the action might reassure her a little more. However, it didn’t seem to register on her face if there was any change in her emotional state.
    “We might as well head back to the J’hulokh and see what the others have planned. Maybe Jaleera or our fearless leader have come up with something.” His mind briefly drifted to the signs of civilization Altus had picked up on the way down and to the image of the invasion force of drones in his mind. He wondered if they would be able to stop such power before Tarallax pushed his way to Earth and did the exact same thing there.
    “Come on, Alt-“
    Talon never finished his sentence as the world abruptly changed around him. In a heartbeat, he was no longer in the forest outside the bizarre construct of their enemy that served some, as of yet, unknown purpose. Now he was in a darkened chamber and all he could see around the circular perimeter was a dull metallic reflection from the walls. He stood on a raised dais, with a ring of dull lights highlighting it’s circumference. The floor beneath it was totally dark and he was uncertain if there actually was one or not.
    Altus was nowhere to be seen.
    Talon’s wonderment was short-lived as he searched his surroundings. Within moments of arriving in the foreign chamber, he was greeted by a familiar face. A face of near total darkness, contrasted by two jade eyes. It was the face of the enemy.
    The face of Tarallax.
    “Greetings, Transformer,” he said.
    “What do you want?” Talon demanded.
    “I have decided to spare your life so that you might deliver a message to your comrades,” the other said. His face floated disembodied before Talon. His head there and yet not there. There was vague sensation of transparency to the effect, but Talon figured it must have been something more sophisticated then a mere hologram-perhaps some sort of temporal fluxuation of some sort-he wasn’t certain and interdimensional theory was hardly his specialty.
    ”It has occurred to me that perhaps I have acted in haste previously...”  Tarallax offered. “I will reorganize time in my vision of how it was intended to be. Your group does not have the power to defeat me. However, I offer you all your lives in exchange for your flight now and allowing my plans to come to fruition.  Continue to ally with Jaleera, however, and your lives will be forfeit.”
    “No way!” Talon exclaimed mere moments after Tarallax finished his proposal. “There’s no way we’re going to let a monster like you ruin Nebulos and Earth like you did with Cybertron! We’ll fight you to the death if need be.”
    “And I have your answer,” Tarallax responded calmly. “Some of your comrades might feel differently, however. I suggest you relay my offer to them and allow them all to choose their own fates. Either way, if I do not see your group retreat after you return to your vessel, your path will be chosen for you... and I shall still stand triumphant.”
    Talon started to reply but he was suddenly back in the forest outside the vast golden tower. Beside him, Altus looked worn but there was also concern on her face.
    “Are you all right?” she asked. “You just stopped moving for a moment... I was concerned she might have done something to you.”
    “I was right here? I never left this spot at all?” Talon confirmed.
    “No. Why? What’s wrong?” his comrade began. “Are you-?”
    “I’m fine.” Talon cast a glance about the immediate area. “But Tarallax contacted me somehow and I was... elsewhere. He wants to make us all an offer.”
    Despite her recent ordeal, Altus managed to summon her most incredulous look.
    Talon grinned. “That was pretty much my reaction too. Come on-let’s get back to the J’hulokh and see what we’re going to do next.”
            *            *            *
    Thunder came in hard and strafed the lone Decepticon below him.  His adversary barely flinched, adjusting himself just enough to step through the plasma barrage’s cracks and avoid the majority of it.
    The dark armored warrior spun and drew his sword. His name was Razorwing and he was Straxus’ most deadly warrior. He and his hunters had already caused them great trouble when they were sent out to test Magnus Prime and their own powers and resources. Another time, he had glided right through them-like they didn’t even exist and terminated the Bre’shaw of Zinar; a monarch that the Renegades had formed a pact with and who they had determined to protect at all cost. Now, he was here to finish the job on them...
    He wasn’t about to let that happen to his unit-they were his friends and they counted on him. He’d defend them all to the end of his own spark if need be.
    As he swung back he noticed that he was in his most recent incarnation-that of the beast warrior who could assume multiple forms. It was kind of strange since he hadn’t adopted that form until millennia after the Great War had ended and this was near the end of that conflict.
    As Thunder stood to face off against his enemy, the realization that this was all a dream entered his mind. It seemed real, but his mind was blurry and he instinctively knew it wasn’t... Beyond him, Firewind, Lift Off, Firestrike and Fury had assumed their bipedal modes and watched on. As Thunder unsheathed his claws and readied himself to charge Razorwing, his opponent turned and charged into the group of onlookers instead.
    Dream or not, Thunder knew he had to protect them-they were his friends and his family. As he charged forward, he saw Fury strike out at Razorwing with his twin swords and their dual steel clanged in an eerie rhythmical song.
    Even though he was charging forward to them, he also watched the sword fight for several minutes somehow and then he saw Razorwing execute an impossible series of maneuver that took him behind the lone Renegade and allowed him to impale Fury. He whipped the sword out and stabbed again and again. Finally, his comrade dropped to the ground lifelessly.
    As he approached the Decepticon hunter, he watched him tear Lift Off apart as well-and then,  Thunder was on top of him. His claws slashed out at the Decepticon and tore the sword out of his hand. He stabbed his claws toward the unarmed Decepticon but was met with the other’s taloned hands. They struggled together for several moments until Razorwing eventually shrieked his ultra sonic cry at the other, the sound piercing through Thunder’s audio receptors, overpowering him... as he collapsed to the ground, Razorwing and the remnants of his unit were gone. Where Razorwing had been, now Midnight’s claws were intertwined with his own and Zaanai was off to their right side, seeking an opportunity to destroy Midnight herself.
    Thunder toppled them to the ground and thrust out with his feet, kicking Midnight off of him. The darkened minion of Tarallax crashed to the ground a few feet away and as he rose, Midnight was gone, replaced by Tarallax himself.
    Thunder and Zaanai wasted no time charging at the dark armored warrior-curiously, he made no move to destroy either of them. And then they were upon him-Zaanai grabbed him from behind and held him as he thrashed about. Thunder struck out at the image of the monster that had brought them into this bizarre war for time itself and tore into his armor with ease.
    The temporal god sparked and then exploded in a burst of colorless energy, blinding Thunder entirely and making the world disappear in a nimbus of white...

    Thunder stirred a moment and Zaanai’s attention was immediately diverted from her thoughts to whether her lover was regaining consciousness from his wounds yet or not. After a brief moment or two, he remained silent and she decided he was still asleep, although she was pleased to see his breathing had evened out more, which was generally a good sign.
    She desperately wished he was awake. She wasn’t comfortable sharing her newly recalled memories with anyone else but him. She was excited by the revelation of part of her past and she wanted to share it with someone. She trusted him completely, but the others she wasn’t so sure about... The others didn’t know her very well and she intended to keep it that way-the more people who knew about her weaknesses, the easier it would be for them to exploit those inadequacies. And she wasn’t about to knowingly give someone that power over her.
    She remembered Teryx somewhat now... and she was eager to learn more about the mysteries of her past. She knew he had created her somehow-she couldn’t recall the details, but she knew it instinctively-she could feel it. She could recall bits and pieces too about time spent with him. She had last seen him when he’d sent her on some sort of mission... she was supposed to have fought a war of some sort. But what...? She couldn’t remember...
    And she didn’t remember how she’d gotten from wherever Teryx was to prehistoric Earth. Was he on Cybertron even then? Or had she come from the future as she suspected?
    So many questions, so many mysteries waited to be revealed to her and instead of pursuing them, she was stuck here fighting a war against some sort of god. And what had Jaleera meant exactly when she said that fate had chosen her to be here? Did she honestly mean Zaanai was vital to their mission or had it merely been a good sales job to keep her and Thunder onboard?
    Casting a final glance at Thunder’s still form, Zaanai slipped out the door to the medical bay and walked down the corridor to the J’hulokh’s small conference room. She knew the others were there deciding what to do next and she wanted at least some idea of what would happen...
    As the door slid open, Zaanai appraised the small room and swiftly made way for an empty corner, situated behind Mach Kick and Wild Ride. A couple of the others noticed her enter but said nothing.
    “...believe he even made the offer,” Talon was saying in the center of the room. “Surely he must have known that none of us would accept it!”
    “What offer?” Zaanai whispered to Mach Kick.
    “Tarallax offered to spare our lives if we walked away from this now,” the equestrian Transformer replied.
    Zaanai nodded, although Mach Kick had already turned back to see what the others were saying.
    “Not to be the voice of dissent here or anything, but maybe we should take him up on his offer,” Astrotrain spoke up. “Even stuck in this screwy dimension would be better then dying for fleshlings on some backwater world.”
    “I can’t believe you said that!” Synder snapped. “You coward!”
    “I’d rather be a live coward then a dead warrior!” Astrotrain retorted.
    “How about a dead coward?” she hissed, drawing her weapon.
    “Bring it on, bitch!”
    “ENOUGH!” Talon yelled. He cast a look at Synder and she lowered the weapon. Astrotrain backed up as well, but his posture suggested he was still expecting an attack.
    Talon took a moment to regain his own composure before continuing. He glanced at Astrotrain and then looked at the others.
    “Does anybody else feel like he does?” he asked and was greeted with silence. “Well?”
    Talon cast a look around the room. “If anyone else is considering taking Tarallax up on his offer remember what he’s already done to Cybertron. Nebulos is just the middle act-he’s heading for Earth next. Those of you among us who are Autobots and Maximals would do well to remember your highly touted morales. And those of us who are Decepticons or Predacons should realize that if Tarallax has already altered Cybertron’s history so that our entire race is a bunch of high tech drones that serve the Quintara then he obviously couldn’t allow us to roam around the Universe freely-it would eventually disturb his vision of how things should be.”
    Talon studied them all and Zaanai could tell that he’d given some of the others something to think about, although they would likely not have admitted to thoughts of having given Tarallax’s offer any serious merit.
    “He is correct,” Jaleera said, strolling into the center of the room and joining Talon. “There is no reason to assume Tarallax would allow any of you to simply walk away once he has what he wants. You must help me fight him here and stop him now before he finishes his initial plan and solidifies his hold on reality.”
    “That’s my point,” Astrotrain interjected. “Cybertron is already lost! What difference does it make if we stay here and stop him from getting at Nebulos and Earth?! We’ve already lost our home.”
    “And if time has been changed, our kind doesn’t even exist as sentient beings any longer,” Sideswipe chimed in. “We, literally, don’t belong here anymore...”
    “You have misunderstood me up to this point,” Jaleera spoke after a moment of consideration. “If we can prevent Tarallax’s plan from coming to fruition, it may be possible to reverse the damage done thus far. But once all three of the nexus worlds succumb to the manipulation there will be no way to reverse the changes and Tarallax’s alterations will be permanent.”
    “Why haven’t we been told this earlier?” Mach Kick asked her. Beside him, Zaanai wondered the same thing.
    “I was not certain of this fact until now,” Jaleera answered. “En route here, I consulted with the goddess Jhesalia, whom I serve, and she confirmed that the change can be reversed as long as Tarallax does not complete his ultimate design.”
    This seemed to assuage the others’ doubts but Zaanai was not entirely satisfied by the answer. It seemed to her that the First Wing of the Tenshi Photonis only revealed so much information as she deemed immediately relevant to the situation. After all, she had been suitably cryptic with her previously, telling her that she would be vital to their mission. She wondered what the other knew and was holding out from them.
    For that matter, if Jaleera was indeed backed by this Jhesalia character, then why hadn’t the goddess bothered stepping in thus far and doing something herself? She supposed that perhaps Jhesalia believed she was acting by sending in her henchmen to act for her-but what would even these “Angels of Light” be able to do against the power Tarallax seemed to command? Would they be able to combat him successfully? Or were the Transformers here being sent on a fool’s errand with dire consequences being the inevitable conclusion to it all?
    Zaanai continued to mull the matter over as Jaleera suggested to the group in the room that they should attempt to ally themselves with the natives of Nebulos. She observed as several of the others debated the matter and then inevitably came to the conclusion that they should join forces-provided the Nebulans could be persuaded to trust them.
    She had to admit that Jaleera certainly could be charismatic when she put her mind to it-it had taken her precious little time to get the others to agree to a tentative alliance with the Nebulans. And there it was again-getting others to fight the war for her rather then actively stepping in herself. Zaanai couldn’t help but wonder why that was.
    She wondered if Jaleera possessed as many resources as she claimed. After all, they had only her word that Jhesalia even existed-and although Zaanai doubted that she didn’t, she did wonder if the goddess possessed as much power as they had been lead to believe. And if so, why this display of making allies among lesser beings and allowing them to do all of her work?
    It also brought to mind the question of whether or not Jhesalia could really undo the damage Tarallax had already done to this time line. Would she step in at the appropriate time or would she not? How did they know Jaleera was actually telling them the truth and not just what they all wanted to hear?
    Talon said a few last words to motivate the assembly and the group of Transformers began to break up and disperse. Jaleera and Talon lingered a few moments and spoke quietly. Zaanai watched as he slipped away from the alien female and began to head to the door. It was then that she made her move. Stalking her prey swiftly, she bridged the distance between her and Jaleera in very little time and arrived beside the First Wing of the Tenshi-Photonis just as Talon exited the room.
    “Zaanai...?” Jaleera asked, turning to see her.
    “We have to talk,” Zaanai began.
            *            *            *
    Talon and the others had landed in the largest settlement they could find that was closest to the J’hulokh’s orbital position. According to the ship’s scanners, there were well over six million life forms in this metropolis alone-although they had yet to see anyone else in the brief time since they had arrived.
    He clenched his grip, feeling the laser barrel on his left arm respond to the movement as they stepped through the abandoned streets.
    The setting was eerie and he was almost expecting someone or something to jump out of buildings around them and attack. He cast a glance around at the low lying buildings, the domed and oddly shaped towers remaining silent, save for a gentle breeze.
    “Looks like nobody’s home,” Sideswipe said.
    “They’re here, just not showing themselves,” Tornado replied. “The question is, why?”
    “Perr-happs they think we’re heere to invade?” Waspinator buzzed. “Wazzpi doesn’t want to be squashed...” he cried softly.
    “They could think we’re a part of the Quintara’s drone force,” Airlift agreed. “Or maybe they cleared out when they realized what was happening.”
    “Yeah,” Firestorm agreed. He looked around, using the opportunity to scan with his thermal sensors. “I think we’d better-uh oh!”
    The others barely had time to react to the statement when a rumbling began and the group was tossed about furiously as the ground tore open around them. Immense machines pierced the soil, emerging and drawing their massive cannons as they did.
    The group found itself quickly surrounded on either side by three of the gargantuan machines each. Every one of the devices bore two large cannons in addition to a multitude of other guns and missiles.
    And every piece of artillery was positioned squarely at them.
    “These must be the natives,” Sideswipe muttered. “Charming.”
    Talon appraised their new found opponents for a moment, using the precious seconds to scan the automatons about them and determine that they were indeed being operated by smaller sized organic creatures.
    He accessed his data banks and loaded the Nebulan dialect that Jaleera had provided for them. For whatever reason, she and Zaanai had opted to remain on the ship instead of come with them. But he wasn’t about to stand around and do nothing while they got slaughtered by some well intentioned natives.
    “We mean you no harm,“ he said in their language. “We are enemies of the invaders and have come to fight them.”
    Talon waited a moment while the Nebulans considered his words. After a minute longer and no response, he decided to try pursue the topic further.
    “The armies invading your world are all made up of drones. Thousands of them. But we are here to fight them-if you join us in battle against them, we can win.”
    After another moment of silence, a panel on the war machine on the far left twisted and opened to reveal some sort of opening on the top. After another pause, a chalk white alien with grey tiger stripes running down the circumference of his face emerged. His wine colored eyes regarded them with curiosity.
    “Why would you offer to help us?” he said finally. “What are we to you?”
    Talon considered his next words. Explaining his complicated origins to the other would probably just lead to more questions then answers. He had to say something that they would be able to grasp immediately rather then bog them down with pointless details.
    “They have come here to ruin your world,” he told them finally. “They have already done so to our own world and if they are not stopped, they will move on to other planets after they are done with your own.”
    The Nebulan seemed to appraise his words a moment before nodding his acknowledgment at that. He opened his mouth to speak again but was stopped before he even began by a harsh rumbling through the air.
    Everyone’s attention was diverted upward to the skyline of the city where several hundred fighter jets soared through the air in unison.
    The invasion had begun.

Part 13

            Talon and the Terrors, along with the rest of the flyers in their rag tag group soared into the sky in an arrow formation, their assorted weapons blazing furiously at the legions of drones beyond them.
            “Hit them with everything!” Talon radioed the others as he dipped in the air and engaged a trio of drones ahead of him. He watched as they erupted in a fury of energy from his cannons.
            Behind him, he heard the other Terrors shout battle cries in delight. They lived for this type of fight, he knew. The sheer thrill of the battle...it was a sensation he was all too familiar with. Even he felt it at the height of a conflict-the deaths of one’s enemies or allies were irrelevant. Only the thrill of the moment mattered in such occasions. The knowledge that one would live or die in an instant made life worth living to him and many of the other Transformers.
            But he knew he could not loose his perspective here. It was not just a mere battle with the Autobots but an all out war for the survival of this alien world they were on-Nebulos, as it was known. If they could defend it adequately, they would stand some chance at eventually having their own home world of Cybertron restored as well and that was what made it worth fighting for. Talon sighed as he continued his attacks on the drones about him-who was he kidding? A part of him had once been Human and he knew that on some level he felt for these Nebulans as well, as loathe as he was to admit to it. Besides, Earth would be next on Tarallax’s list if they failed to stop him here and that wasn’t something he wanted to see.
            Below them he noted the Nebulans and their strange subterranean vehicles had stayed on the surface. Their cannons emitting pulsating streams of energy into the air, alongside some sort of missiles, thinning out the density of the drone army all around the Transformers.
            Beachcomber, Mach Kick, Hound, Sideswipe and Wild Ride formed a loose perimeter around the Nebulans on the surface, doing their best to prevent any of the drones that landed from eliminating the Nebulan anti-aircraft fire.
            It was all a noble effort but their enemy seemed to vastly outnumber them all. For every drone he shot down, another three replaced the fallen Transformer. Talon wondered how long they’d be able to hold their own here before being overwhelmed. And where was the J’hulokh when they needed it? Surely Jaleera’s advanced warship was capable of dealing some serious damage to the Quintara’s forces. Or perhaps she was intentionally holding back, not wanting to risk damage to their only ride...
            But none of that ultimately mattered. Neither did their casualties up to this point nor Thunder’s injuries in the last round they’d gone with the Quintara warships. He was going to fight. Fight like hell and do anything necessary to stop Tarallax from winning this conflict. And he would make the temporal god pay for his meddling in their universe-no matter what it took.
            Talon hit his afterburners and soared in to the midst of another squadron of the drone fighters...
                                      *                                     *                                     *
            “I’m sure we do Zaanai, but don’t you think that our mission is more important than any words we would pass off on each other right now?” Jaleera tried to step around Zaanai, but the transformer blocked her path to the door.
            “It is not you whom I’d like to pass words with. It is this Goddess Jhesalia you claim exists I wish to speak with.” Zaanai’s tone was menacing and sarcastic. But whoever got anything they asked for by saying ‘please’? All Zaanai knew was how to get what she wanted by force. Even the newest revelation of her past hinted upon that. If she wasn’t meant to be a warrior, why was she sparing with Teryx? And her attitude had always been to prove something to be true before totally accepting it to be true. This matter in particular needed to be proven before she was about to put her life on the line for someone claiming to be their only savior.
            Jaleera sighed. Truth be told, she wasn’t expecting any of the newly acquired troops to give her any trouble. “It is not possible.”
            “Then you admit that Jhesalia does not exist.”
            “Do not put words into my mouth when you do not know the truth!” Jaleera seethed with anger at Zaanai’s comment. Where the others openly accepted her Goddesses existence, Zaanai was the exact opposite and that frustrated Jaleera. But, as Jaleera finally took notice of the smirk playing at the corner of Zaanai’s lips, she calmed herself and continued, “My Goddess Jhesalia does not concern herself with the matters of mortal people.”
            “Yet she has no qualms about making these same mortal people pawns in a war they cannot possibly win?! False hopes from a Goddess only you can see and talk to! Excuse me if I’m a little skeptical.”
            Jaleera sighed once more. “My Goddess forgive me.” she mumbled to herself. “Listen Zaanai, I will tell you my Goddesses plans, but in no way are you going to talk to or see her.” Before Zaanai could protest, Jaleera continued, “First, my Goddess has no plans on destroying these mortals, but, she cannot guarantee their safety. Second, these warriors were never forced into this war-“
            ”Bull!” Zaanai hissed. “You as much as said I had to stay here and fight this war! That I was essential to it’s outcome. Maybe we weren’t forced into this, but we were sure given a good snow job to ensure we all stayed here!”
            Jaleera opened her mouth but this time Zaanai would not let her speak first.
            “Does she have the ability to destroy Tarallax or not?” she asked in a calm yet serious tone. “Tell me!”
            The other sighed. “Tarallax cannot be destroyed. He is integral to the fabric of the cosmos, whether he personally agrees with the others in the Triumvirate or not. But he can be contained, as Jhesalia and Urokk did once before, long ago, when he made his true nature apparent.”
            Zaanai remained silent, allowing her to continue.
            “My goddess has limited resources. She does not have legions of drones or any other beings she can turn to and have fight a war for her. She needs you and your comrades to help stop Tarallax’s madness before he can change time irreparably. Your comrades and my own crew are all that stands in his way-only we can prevent his assured conquest of Nebulos and Earth.” Jaleera paused a moment before continuing. “I have spoke to Jhesalia and was assured the damage done thus far to Cybertron’s timeline can be repaired-as long as Tarallax cannot complete his cycle and get all three of the planets.”
            “And why can’t she just contain him already like she supposedly did a long time ago?” Zaanai asked, her tone still skeptical. She knew better then to take Jaleera’s comments at face value and a part of her was still certain the other was holding out critical information on her.
            “I do not know why my goddess has not already acted, however, be assured that she can choose to do so whenever she wishes,” Jaleera replied. “A deity acts on it’s own schedule. It does not concern itself with mortal desires.”
            “Then why should we-“ Zaanai began but was interrupted as the door to the corridor beyond split open and Thunder entered the chamber.
            “Ah,” Jaleera said, turning to see what had grabbed her adversary’s attention. “I see your wounds are repaired Thunder. Excellent, we shall have great need of your powers immediately.”
            “Where are the others?” he asked.
            “On the surface,” Zaanai replied. “It’s started...”
            Thunder nodded. “Then, we have to get down there as well. Talon and the others are going to need every advantage they’ve got.”
            “I concur with your assessment,” Jaleera agreed. “I’ll go to the bridge immediately and make preparations to join the battle below.”
            Zaanai stared after the other as she confidently departed the conference room. Thunder caught a hint that something was out of place, but chose to say nothing at the moment. Zaanai was determined that Jaleera’s momentary reprieve wouldn’t be the last she’d hear of her concerns...
                                      *                                     *                                     *
            Talon spun impossibly in the air and let loose a salvo of missiles at his four pursuers, the projectiles tearing into them like they didn’t even have armor. Two of the jets exploded instantly while the others dipped uncontrollably toward the ground and inevitable oblivion.
            Nearby, the other flyers also continued their best efforts against their overwhelming opponents. Astrotrain had changed back into his robot mode and was firing his ionic disruptor wildly, managing to hit several of his enemies with ease since the skies were full of them. Firestorm and NightFright had resorted to more bizarre tactics, engaging each other in a game of chicken and breaking off at the last instance, their opponents smashing up against each other as they failed to avoid one another swiftly enough.
            Far below the aerial dog fight, Sideswipe gunned down two of the Quintara drones as they got the drop on Beachcomber. Nearby, Mach Kick charged into a battalion of tanks and slammed his hind legs into them, throwing their unit into disarray and allowing Wild Ride to pick off the ones that let down their guard and attempted to stop the equestrian Maximal from taking out their brethren.
            Hound fired off a salvo at several of the drones and barrel rolled, ending up near Sideswipe’s feet. Rising, he moved behind his comrade and continued attacking their enemy.
            “How’s it going?” Sideswipe yelled as he gunned down a drone.

            “Not too bad,” the other replied. “These guys fall for my illusions same as anybody else. But I’ve noticed something...”
            “Yeah?” Sideswipe spun and assaulted a drone as it soared toward them. The drone dropped to the ground lifeless.
            “It seems that our friends here have run out of reinforcements,” Hound replied. “There’s still a ridiculous amount of them, but I’ve been able to determine that their numbers haven’t increased at all since the initial waves of the assault.”
            “That’s good to know,” Sideswipe yelled as he fired yet another volley off. “So that only leaves what? Five thousand or so?”
            “Actually, it’s more like two by my count,” Hound told him. “A lot. But with the Nebulans backing us, doable.”
            “Nh-huh,” Sideswipe mumbled. With that, he jumped away and continued his assault on the drone army about them. Hound did likewise a moment later.
            As he ran past a Nebulan war machine, it exploded violently without warning, throwing him to the dark blue soil. After a moment of recovery, he looked and noted the twisted wreckage. Despite their best efforts, there were at least some Nebulan casualties thus far and more were likely to follow if they couldn’t take out the remainder of the Quintara’s drone forces quickly.
            That was the problem with wars, Sideswipe knew. The fighting was clear cut enough for him, but there always had to be innocents to defend-and to get in the way when his opponent decided to start shooting.
            He sighed at that thought and continued onward, his weapons blazing as he engaged yet another round of the Quintara drones.
            A moment later, Talon’s form was suddenly eclipsed by a large shadowy outline. He scanned upward in time to see Thunder’s space cruiser mode firing a large salvo of energy weapons at the drones beyond him. In mere seconds, the fighter craft erupted into myriad fireballs in the skies. They rained down harmlessly to the ground beyond. As he cut away from the cruiser, he noticed the J’hulokh not too far away also laying waste to scores of the Quintara army.
    Casting a glance around the area, he noted a cluster of the Nebulans on the surface and headed  down toward them. Talon transformed just before he would have hit the surface, landing safely on his feet.
            “Quickly!” he yelled at the Nebulan nearest him. “Aim all your guns over there!” He pointed toward a squadron of the drones in their tank modes that were turning to leave the battlefield. The Nebulan shouted orders into his comm device and the other machines nearest them turned to face the fleeing tanks. In near tandem, the Nebulans opened fire on the drones, laying waste to them in waves of green-white energy.
            “Everyone, now that we’ve got additional air support mop up anywhere you can!” Talon yelled into his com link. “We might as well not give them anything extra to hit us with later.”
            Several of the others acknowledged his request and in the next several minutes, very few of the drone Transformers remained to escape back to their Quintara masters. Their ranks quickly and easily reduced to almost nothing by the combined might of the Transformers, Jaleera’s vessel and their Nebulan allies.
            Talon watched scant thruster burns in the air as the few remaining drone forces retreated back to whatever staging grounds their Quintara masters had set up. He knew there would be more-he had seen literally thousands of them and this had probably only been a first strike to soften up the Nebulans before the second wave moved in and finished them off. Fortunately, they had managed to drive them off and ruin the Quintara and hence, Tarallax’s, plans. But it wouldn’t take the other side forever to recover from this defeat and once they did, he had a feeling they’d throw everything at them.
            He turned as Thunder hovered lower to the ground. Once he was satisfactorily close, he reverted to his robotic form and landed on the ground. Nearby, the J’hulokh also began it’s descent toward the surface.
            “I didn’t think you’d make this party,” Talon said to Thunder as he approached. “Imagine my surprise when you showed up.”
            Thunder nodded. “I seem to be back up to fighting strength,” he replied. “You appear to have handled things here fine.”

            “Pretty much,” Talon smiled. “Of course, the last minute save didn’t hurt things either...”
            “We Autobots are known for that sort of thing,” Thunder grinned. He looked as if he was going to say something further but was distracted by the presence of the Nebulan war machines as they approached and fell into a loose formation nearby.
            “I assume these are the natives,” he said.
            Talon nodded. “We had a couple of moments to speak earlier,” he said. “I think they might be allies... at any rate, they didn’t try to blow us up so far.”
            “Always a good sign.” Thunder cast a glance to his left as the J’hulokh finished it’s landing maneuvers and touched down. The entry ramp way was already descending and it would be a moment longer before Jaleera and the others would disembark.
            Thunder walked to the base of the ramp leaving Talon to his own devices. A moment after he arrived, Zaanai, Jaleera and two other Tenshi-Photonis disembarked.
            “Everything seems under control down here,” Thunder told them. “Thanks to a little help from our firepower.”
            “We are safe for this moment, but Tarallax will not be denied his victory so easily,” Jaleera countered. “This is merely the beginning. Once his Quintara puppets have time to regroup they will be back in full force with ten times the amount of warriors they brought this time.”
            “Perhaps you should get your goddess to help us out then,” Zaanai chimed in. “We might not be able to handle this all by our lonesome mortal selves.”
            A look of disgust crossed Jaleera’s face. “My lady has other concerns. All her energies are concentrated with containing Tarallax once more. We need only delay him long enough.”
            Zaanai tsk-ed doubtfully.
            Thunder smiled. “Um, surely any help Jhesalia can provide us with will be greatly appreciated,” he cast a glance at Zaanai, “no matter what form it may end up taking.”
            “I’m am glad I still have credibility with some of you,” Jaleera replied after a moment, while Zaanai glared at both of them nearby. Jaleera cast a glance at Zaanai and then looked back to Thunder.
            “If you’ll both excuse me, I have to check with my crew about a couple of matters.” She turned back to the other two Tenshi-Photonis behind her.
            “Of course.” Thunder nodded. He smiled warmly, gently took Zaanai by the arm and began slowly walking with her back towards Talon and the others.
            “What are you trying to do?” he asked her in a low voice. “We need her!”
            Zaanai broke her contact with him. “How do you figure that? What has she really done since she found us? Sure, she filled us in on what’s going on but otherwise what has she done?” Zaanai’s optics burned into his. “I’ll tell you what! Nothing! All she does is order us around while she makes us promises and conveniently holds back important information from us as she deems fit.”
            “I’m sure she had her reasons-“
            ”Does she? Does she really?!” Zaanai sighed. “Look, all I really want from her is some proof that Jhesalia is going to step in and take care of Tarallax for us-and so far, I haven’t seen much to convince me. From what I can tell, we’re just cannon fodder being mixed in here so we can do the work Jaleera and her master should be doing themselves!”
            Thunder regarded her a moment. “To what end? Even if we all die off fighting for this cause, what good would it ultimately do her?”
            “Perhaps to give Jhesalia time to enact her plan...or maybe there is no plan and it’s a futile attempt to see if we can get close enough to try and kill Tarallax. I don’t know for a fact-but I do know she’s not being forthright with us and that concerns me. Our understanding of one another is not on mutual ground and there could be any number of ulterior motives at work here-including the possibility that this Jhesalia can’t actually do anything beyond the superficial to stop Tarallax from succeeding at his plans. We should at least demand--”
            Thunder exhaled sharply. “No.”
            “No?!? What do you mean no?” she demanded.
            “I mean that we promised to help Jaleera out with this and what we do know is that Cybertron has already been lost. Even if it can be restored, Nebulos and Earth are next on Tarallax’s list and billions more lives will be affected either way. At the very least, those lives will be invariably altered-or they might even be lost. I can’t have that on my conscience. Even if this is a fool’s errand, I’d rather fight and risk doing something for the better then flee and leave all those people to their artificially engineered fates.”
            “One person can’t change the universe, Thunder.”
            “Maybe not, but unless we at least try then we’ll never know for a certainty, will we?”
            Zaanai said nothing and Thunder smiled, trying to reassure her. After a moment, he turned and continued onward to the others. She reluctantly followed but knew he didn’t understand where she was coming from. All he saw was his noble ideals to protect and defend innocents while ignoring the larger facts-if they had intentionally been put into a fight they had no possible chance of winning, then his ideals wouldn’t mean much once they were all dead. She decided she would have to find some way to act on her own if she were going to ensure that they didn’t end up that way...
            They approached Talon, who was surrounded loosely by his Terrors unit while the rest of their group stood haphazardly about the area. To Talon’s right, several of the Nebulans stood atop their war constructs, conversing amongst each other, seemingly awaiting something.
            “So...? What’s the plan?” Thunder asked him.
            Talon shrugged and lobbed a thumb in the direction of the Humanoids. “They wanted to meet our leaders and I figured I might as well get you over here too.”
            Thunder nodded.
    “You have their linguistic database, right?” Talon asked. “If not, here it is.” He transmitted a narrow beam message to the other, containing all of the information he’d need.
            Thunder skimmed the contents and add it to the rest of the data in his memory system. He turned and looked at the Nebulans.
            “Greetings,” he said in their language. “My name is Thunder.”
            The nearest one to him, a Humanoid with white skin and blue tiger stripes all over his muscular frame, rose and spoke.
            “My name is Nyrn,” he said in a calm voice. “I am the unit commander for this sector.” He turned, and as he did, his moss colored hair brushed up against his shoulder. He gestured to a woman off to his back and left. “This is Aeria, my lieutenant and second in command.” He gestured in the other direction. “And this is Ekrah-an elder of this settlement. He is one of the people we turn to for guidance and leadership.”
            “It is a pleasure to meet you all,” Thunder replied. He gestured to Talon. “I believe you already know Talon. And-“ He turned and looked to where Jaleera and her two brethren were headed in their direction, their blue armor shining brightly in the sunlight. “That is Jaleera. She is a representative of one of the enemies of the being who is behind this invasion.”
            “It is a pleasure to meet you as well,” Nyrn replied. “By joining us in battle against the invaders, you have proven yourselves as allies.” He gestured toward them. “Come with us. We can show you our base, explain our beliefs so that you might better understand what you are helping us to fight for.”
            Jaleera and her comrades had joined them. “We would be honored,” she replied for the group.

            The descent into the Nebulan underworld went fairly quickly, despite the varying sizes of the allies. The tunnels had been carved out with machine precision quite some time ago, allowing for easy maneuvering of the Nebulans’ war machines as well as their smaller organic partners. The assorted Transformers had little problem traversing the smoothed out caverns.
            After what seemed like nearly an hour, they emerged from the tunnels into a immense cavern containing a ruined city scape mixed in with assorted Nebulans and their equipment.
            “Wow,” Airlift exclaimed. “This place is huge!”
            “You can say that again,” Hound chimed in.
            “This place is huge!” NightFright snickered in a fake voice, eliciting a smile or two from his fellow Terrors.
            “Watch your footing,” Nyrn said as they started down a narrower embankment leading to the large cave’s surface.
            Thunder gazed up at the vast assortment of stalactites on the ceiling of the cavern, the occasional break in the otherwise unending pattern. Artificial lights from the Nebulan set up in the city’s ruins cast an eerie glow on the rocky outcroppings beyond.
            It took only a few moments before the motley group arrived down on the cavern’s floor at the maw of the ruins. There were even more Nebulans present then Thunder had first realized as they had arrived in the caverns and seen the crumbled structures. Possibly three hundred of the organics streaked around their equipment and weaponry, making sure it was battle ready for the next fight they might encounter. Some of their number looked up as they saw the Transformers approaching, but when they noticed the Nebulans alongside them, quickly returned to their previous duties.
            “What is this place?” Hound asked, his gaze directed at the ruined towers and debris beyond them.
            “Once, our people lived in these great cities.” It was Aeria who explained. “They built vast underground cities to defend against their enemies attacks even while they plotted their own in retaliation.”
            “Our people were caught in a great cycle of bloodshed and destruction,” Nyrn added. “They fought over all manner of things-land, resources, even color--“ He cast a glance at Aeria and Thunder realized for the first time that she was a bit different then he and Ekrah. She was covered by a midnight skin tone with white tiger stripes-the reverse of the others. “But eventually through the wisdom of the great Zarak, we were made to see the futility of our conflicts. He brought peace to our people with simple truth-that we were only hurting ourselves and, as such, our world. He helped us all to realize that we were a part of this world that we fought over and as we destroyed it, we too destroyed ourselves.”
            Thunder nodded. “It seems he was a man of great wisdom,” he replied. All too often in his own long lifetime, he had seen the same truth that this Nebulan prophet had. That ultimately, everything came down to the simple things in life... peace, happiness, freedom. All the other things that people tacked on to them didn’t matter-after all, what good did things like greed, hatred or power lust ultimately bring anyone but further misery?
            “It has been decades-nearly two full centuries since our kind relinquished the ways of warfare for a simpler life,” Ekrah finally spoke. “We strive now only to live in harmony with the Truths. To live in balance with our environment and give back whatever we take from it.” He paused. “But now, as if to test us, the Universe has brought these invaders to our world. How quickly we have fallen back into the old patterns of warfare...”
            “Tarallax is no ordinary enemy,” Jaleera said, stepping forward. “He is uninterested in conquering worlds and resources. He seeks instead to reshape time in his own sick vision of how it should be.”
            It was Aeria who spoke. “Our scientists have theorized that such things could be done. But we have never had any proof that time travel was possible before...”
            “Unfortunately, it can be done,” Thunder replied. “Those machines invading your world now are the result of what Tarallax has done to Cybertron-our kind’s home world-past. He has turned our people into a bunch of mindless drones that serve a small group of malevolent masters instead of having the free will they once had.”
            “And you must fight your own kind.” Aeria seemed wistful as she spoke, strands of her purple hair blowing softly in the cavern’s irregular air pressure. “The irony of that is not lost upon us.”
            If only they knew the real truth of the matter, Thunder wondered if they would be so reflective of the Transformers and not more judgmental. But the Great War had been rendered totally irrelevant at the moment in this Universe, while his own realm had settled that conflict some time earlier only to give way to newer and equally deadly conflicts.
            Still, he had an obligation here to at least try to stop Tarallax’s forces and bring the Nebulans the peace they so desperately craved. After all, they had no more asked for this then the Transformers whom had been recreated into a mindless slave force had. It was funny in a kind of sick way-the more damage Tarallax incurred on the time stream, the more the Transformers became responsible for. Now that Cybertron was the world of the Quintara, any cruelty they caused became the Transformers obligation to stop. Of course, the others might not think that way, but none the less, it was most certainly true.
            “I promise you we will do our best to fight the Quintara and drive them off of your world so that you might be able to experience that dream of peace your people have,” he told the Nebulans. “Your people deserve that much.”
            They also deserved the right to make up their own minds, not have some sort of new future forced on them at Tarallax’s whim.
    The Nebulans conferred among themselves and Thunder his gaze drifting to the rest of the group. Most of their faces mirrored his resolve, at least to some degree. But he noticed Zaanai’s expression seemed to be one of uncertainty. She doubted Jaleera and her Mistress Jhesalia could indeed stop Tarallax, despite Jaleera’s reassurances. He didn’t know what had caused such a reaction in his mate and couldn’t understand why she didn’t just trust their alien allies like he did. Surely, Jaleera wouldn’t have promised that Jhesalia could step in and stop Tarallax if she couldn’t guarantee it. And whatever did ultimately happen, he knew he would stay and fight for the Nebulans as long as he was functional and able to do so.
            The Nebulans had turned back to face their allies. “It has been discussed and we must contact the rest of our kind all around the planet and make sure they are ready for whatever the enemy’s next move is,” Nyrn told them. “We will also make sure they know about you-our new allies-and make sure they offer any assistance to you that they might should they encounter you.”
            “We would be most grateful for any-“ Thunder began.
            The world flashed white just then and for the briefest moment of vertigo, nothing and everything existed all at once before the maelstrom spat them back out into the present and Thunder found himself back inside the cavern. He stumbled slightly from his own disorientation and noticed the Nebulans were now collapsing to the floor, most likely from the sensation.  
            He knew exactly what had just happened. Tarallax was beginning to alter the time line for this world as he had already succeeded at doing on Cybertron. He optics sought Jaleera out on his left side.
            Her face held an expression of terror.
            “It has begun,” she gasped.
                                      *                                     *                                     *
            Within the vast golden tower complex, the immense dark armored form of Tarallax was seated atop his throne, apparently motionless. His jade-like eyes unfocused on anything in particular...
            In another time, the sight would have seemed eerie to Lightning but no longer. He had more important things on his mind-like the need to kill. The need to sow chaos among all others wherever he went. These were the truly important things in life. Who had time for useless concepts like fear?
            Sarptia stirred beside him, her posture indicating that she was about to speak to their leader. The female was as large as he was despite her humanoid attributes and he knew she possessed power not unlike he did now. He casually wondered what her story was-was she just another suck-up like all of Tarallax’s other servants or did she understand the symmetry of chaos like himself. He suspected it was the former of the two-after all, he had met very few who could comprehend the true order of the universe about them. The fact that chaos governed all things around them and that order was merely a foolish construction sentient beings used to deal with that natural chaos rather then accepting the natural order of things. But he understood...and if he had his way, so would others one day soon. He just needed to complete his dealings here with Tarallax and once the god of temporality was finished with him, he would be free to roam the universe and make others understand...
            “Master?” Sarptia said.
            Tarallax did not bother to gaze at them, but remained immobile.
            “I have begun,” he said. “The weaving of fate is a delicate process, but already Nebulos’ history begins to bend to my will. History takes the course it must take...”
            “Our first wave has been defeated by Jhesalia’s servants...” Sarptia informed him. “Thanks to the timely arrival of Jaleera’s vessel and the coordination between her allies and the Nebulan natives.”
            Tarallax seemed to shift his head slightly in a nod.
            “It is a pity the Transformers allied with Jaleera did not heed my offer to flee. They did not need to die here.”
            “If I might ask, why did you make the offer to them?” Sarptia said, stepping forward slightly. “Of what possible benefit could it be to you to let them live?”
            “Jaleera’s soldiers are of little consequence to me,” Tarallax replied. “However, it is regrettable that they need to throw their lives away recklessly. Jhesalia does not possess the power to stop me and I can only assume her servant has made her deputies believe otherwise. They are fighting a lost cause and do not even realize it...”
            “Deception in someone who is supposed to be all pure and holy,” Lightning commented. “I do enjoy the symmetry!”

            Tarallax made a sound of some sort which Lightning attributed to disgust. “Jhesalia is no more good then I am evil. We both have our own purposes and she is merely using what means she has at her disposal to accomplish them as am I. The last time, she and Urokk succeeded and she defeated me-but I do not think it will be so again.”
            “How can you be so sure?” Sarptia asked.
            “I know my adversaries intimately,” Tarallax mused. “Like myself, they can only be true to their natures. It is our curse and our blessing.”
            “What-ever!” Lightning exclaimed. “I just wanna get out there and kill something!”
            Sarptia cast a sideways glance at him. He grinned maliciously back at her.
            “Indeed, none of this matters any longer.” Tarallax’s gaze drifted toward them. “Summon the Quintara and command them to enact the second assault wave against the Nebulans. Then, you and your comrades may join them in eliminating Jhesalia’s bothersome strike force once and for all.”
            “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Lightning roared happily. He punched Sarptia lightly in the arm. “Come on! I don’t even wanna waste a moment of time I could be out there killing something!”
            Sarptia let out an audile sigh then turned and followed after him.
                                     *                                     *                                     *
            After the initial time flash, the Transformers and their various organic allies had recovered swiftly-for some reason, their numbers had been relieved of their temporal stabilizer devices after they had escaped the debacle on Cybertron earlier. Perhaps Jaleera had believed they could stop Tarallax before he could start to alter the time line here. But that had not proven so and she had quickly dispatched one of the others to go back to the ship and retrieve as many of the stabilizers as possible.
            There hadn’t been nearly enough of the devices to protect all of the Nebulans on a global scale, so they had settled on just shielding the Transformers, Jaleera’s crew and as many of the Nebulans as they could protect-which, as it turned out, was still a decent number of their immediate group.
            They had spent a little bit of time assisting the Nebulans in their war preparations and now the assorted Transformers made their way out of the subterranean labyrinth that was home to the Nebulans militia, their organic allies and their war machines in tow.
            The question of what to do next dogged Thunder as they prepared and even now on the surface, he tried to figure out a way to take the fight to their enemy. He didn’t want to just wait for their enemy to initiate another assault on the Nebulans. From Talon’s reports, the Quintara had literally thousands of drones at their disposal on this world and he suspected a concentrated attack would swiftly overwhelm his group and leave the Nebulans more vulnerable to defeat then they already were.
            As he poured over the reports of what had happened while he had been incapacitated, he noted the mention of the golden tower that Talon had located earlier and suspected it was likely that it had some sort of significance to the temporal god. Perhaps the source of his time manipulations or at the very least a base of some kind. At any rate, it seemed a logical place to start...
            He communicated his intentions to the others and found a consensus among them. It was decided he would fly all of their number who were ground based while the J’hulokh would follow alongside him. Nyrn, Aeria and a few other Nebulans decided to come along with them while the others of their kind would traverse the tunnels and meet them there.
            Thunder and Jaleera’s vessel departed soon after and much to everyone’s surprise, they met with no resistance at all as they made their way toward the coordinates that Talon had communicated to him.
            As they approached the vast golden construct, he wondered what would await them here. Surely, there was some reason for the lack of security. He supposed the tower could have been some sort of insignificant target and that was why-but even as he scanned it’s surface he doubted the thought. He couldn’t see anyone building something so enormous for some trivial reason. No, the tower was important somehow and he suspected they would encounter some sort of security if they could find a way to breach it’s outer perimeter.
            The area around the golden tower was as silent as Talon remembered it had been initially when he and Altus had discovered it. But, as he knew all too well, that didn’t really mean anything. The servant of Tarallax, Sarptia, had emerged from the forest around the tower with little warning and attacked them both and he suspected that it was likely even now that they were being watched.
            Nearby, the passengers that Thunder had been transporting in his space vessel mode disembarked slowly and made their way into a loose staging area a few yards away from the base of the vast construct.
            “So now what?” Airlift asked.
            “Beats me,” Warhawk said beside her. “I guess we just knock real hard...”
            Talon smiled wickedly. “That sounds like as good a plan as any,” he replied. “Maybe Jaleera’s vessel can make a dent in this thing.”
            “Or more then likely, we’ll be given a welcome by the inhabitants shortly,” Altus said, a trace of foreboding on her face.
            “Don’t worry,” Talon told her. “We won’t let her do that thing she does to you again...” He raised his gun. “I’ll make sure of it...”
            The last of their allies had arrived from Thunder and he swiftly transformed back into his robot mode and walked over to the group.
            “Now what?” Talon asked him as he approached.
            Thunder gazed up at the gargantuan golden tower beyond them. “We should look for a way inside,” he replied.
            “Talon was saying that maybe Jaleera’s ship can blow a hole in it,” Zaanai said beside him. “We might as well try it.”
            Thunder nodded, casting a glance up at the approaching vessel of their ally. His hand crept toward his comlink.
            Before he could signal the J’hulokh, a defeaning roar filled the skies beyond them, drawing everyone’s attention upward in time to see a fleet of the Quintara’s Transformer drones soar past them. The J’hulokh shot up abruptly in the sky, clearing the way for the drones to move past it without obtaining a easy target.
            Most of the hundreds of fighters soared past overhead, but the group did not go unnoticed by the swarm of their enemy as a group broke off and dropped downward at them. Some reconfigured in mid air and crashed to the ground in tank form while others continued toward them in jet mode.
            As they scrambled to retaliate, Thunder was the first to notice the dark blue jet that dipped in to the attacking force.
            “Heads up!” Tornado yelled as he fired in to the attackers. “Lightning is with them!”
            Lightning soared downward and strafed them, forcing Tornado to scramble for cover.
            “Spoil sport!” He hissed as he soared past.
            “He’s brought some friends too!” Zaanai exclaimed behind Thunder.
    Thunder turned in time to see several other curious characters, seemingly having emerged out of nowhere, standing at the base of the golden monolith behind them.
            Tornado looked up. “They’re Tarallax’s other minions! I recognize their leader from before when he rescued Lightning.”
            Grix’s eyes lit up. “Destroy them! For the will of our dark lord!” he hissed. Even before he finished, his group began to advance.
            Thunder, Zaanai and Talon fell swiftly into a defensive posture, their weapons at the ready. For a few moments, either side seemed to size the other up, seeking a crack in the other’s defenses. Behind the three of them, most of the others in their group engaged the Quintara’s drone forces.
            This didn’t look good to Thunder. With all of their powers combined they hadn’t been able to stop Midnight previously. And now they were facing off against no less then five of Tarallax’s minions-six, if one counted Lightning somewhere in the skies beyond them.
            Tarallax’s minions advanced cautiously towards them a couple of steps. Without warning, a barrage of energy dropped into their midst, forcing them to break formation amidst the hail of debris and steam.
            Thunder glanced up in time to see the J’hulokh arc up beyond them and several of the
Tenshi-Photonis dropping through the air toward their common foe.
            “Let’s do this!” Talon exclaimed, charging into their enemies. His wrist cannon fired off several shots at them, keeping them scattered while he slammed into Sarptia, knocking her to the ground with a thundering shoulder.
            Thunder and Zaanai took their cue and also began their attack. Thunder launched several of his shoulder missiles toward two of the minions, the explosions preventing them from being able to aid Sarptia while Talon slammed his fists against her. Zaanai launched herself at another one of the dark servants, her feet slamming into his chest.
            They crashed to the ground and separated. Before Zaanai could strike further, the minion attacked first. He fired some sort of sonic energy blast, catching her squarely and making Zaanai fall to the ground.
            “No one can withstand the power that is Hurok!” he exclaimed, continuing the barrage on her fallen form.
            Thunder and Tornado reacted simultaneously. Thunder charged toward Hurok while Tornado opened fire where he stood, forcing the dark agent to cease his attack to defend himself. That instant was all Thunder needed-he crashed into the other, forcing him to the ground. He slammed his fists repeatedly into the minion, stunning the other.
            Nearby, a similar scenario played itself out with Talon who pummeled Sarptia repeatedly, although he couldn’t be certain he was doing much more then stunning her. But he was damned if he was going to let her pull her mind tricks on his comrades again. He failed to hear the approaching engines over all the other noise around him until it was too late-he felt a hand grip him and pull him away from his prey.
            “Sorry, can’t have you taking out my comrades, old chap!” Lightning said as he soared upward with Talon beneath him. His lone hand had reverted to robot mode and held his enemy aloft.
            Talon twisted violently, breaking the other’s grip and freeing himself. He swiftly changed into his own jet mode and gave pursuit to the crazed Transformer.
            “If I can’t destroy Sarptia, I guess I’ll have to settle for you!” he yelled, his weapons ablaze as he pursued the other.
            “That’s the spirit!” Lightning giggled. “Come and get it!” He dropped back toward the ground, with Talon in hot pursuit.

            After an impossibly sharp descent, Lightning leveled out and soared upward, skimming past the ground battle. Talon followed, noting that Thunder, Zaanai and Tornado had been joined by the
Tenshi-Photonis reinforcements from the J’hulokh. All engaged the various minions of Tarallax, with no clear casualties on either side just yet.
            Talon sped upward, going higher and higher into the atmosphere after his foe. His missiles tore away from him as he fired, hoping they’d find their mark. Impossibly at the last second, Lightning managed to drop away and miss most of the projectiles, although one did find it’s mark, exploding against him but doing no apparent damage.
            “Not bad,” Lightning cackled. “Shooting behind my back. How very Decepticon of you! Too bad, I have such good sensors! Still, you get an A for effort.”
            Talon said nothing, instead choosing to strafe him with his cannons instead. Lightning easily dodged the energy bolts, a sadistic smile on his face the whole time.
            Talon reconfigured into his robot mode and slammed himself against the other, catching him off guard. “What does it take to hurt you?!” he gasped.
            “Evidently, more then you’ve got,” Lightning laughed at that. He moved impossibly fast, gripping the Cyberjet as he did.
            “As much as I like to draw things like this out,” he said, ”there’s just too many of you down there to miss out on killing!”
            As he finished, he loosed a large burst of his null energy into Talon. Talon screamed as every fibre of his body seemed to be on fire and simultaneously, all his systems went numb. He was helpless.
            And then Lightning dropped him, his body sinking fast back toward the surface miles below them...

Part 14

            The last tangible thought he had was of his numbed body dropping like a stone through the vast stretch of green Nebulan skies as he plummeted toward the surface miles below him.
            And then, nothingness.
            Talon had re-awoke to find that he was not dead but instead pressed up tight against a cool metallic wall. His still numb body was clasped with energo chains, preventing him from escaping-assuming he had the strength to, in any event. A slight metal glint revealed that the room was loosely circular in the dim blue light of the ceiling panels beyond him.
            He tried to send the impulse to move his arms but was greeted with nothing for the effort-his body was just too weak still from whatever Lightning had struck him with.
            After a couple more minutes, a hidden projector activated in the room and the image of a robotic creature appeared before him. It’s head was light energy while it’s body was machine. Several energy tendrils cascaded off it’s torso. Talon guessed it was a Quintara.
            “What is your designation?” It’s deep, cold tone resonated throughout the nearly empty room.
            “You’ll get nothing out of me,” Talon exclaimed. “Nothing you can do to me will change that.” He mentally tried to call up his weapons but found himself unable to retrieve them. He suspected he was under the influence of some sort of inhibiting field in the room. If that was true, then transformation would also be impossible.
            “We shall see about that...” the Quintara replied.
            Talon made an indignant noise. “I’ve already seen the worst you can do!”
            A look of what Talon could only assume was disgust crossed the being’s face. An instant later, a sharp surge of electricity ran through his body, overloading his circuits. Pain rushed through his entire body, although after what had happened to him earlier with Lightning he knew he couldn’t experience any worse pain.
            An instant and an eternity later, the electrical surge stopped and Talon felt his body return to some semblance of normality again-save for the pain he’d already felt. He looked up to see the Quintara watching, waiting...
            He managed a small chuckle.
            “Is th-that all you’ve got...?”
                                      *                                      *                                     *
            The four large towers of what had become known as the Obelisk among the rag tag group of Autobots and Decepticons stood out prominently beside the group’s encampment.
            Optimus and Megatron had decided to move the encampment in closer to the Obelisk once it had been discovered and determined to be relatively safe. In addition to immediate access to the towers, they were free of the near constant sand storms and chaos surrounding this eye in the storm.
            Optimus Prime walked up to his adversary and joined him in watching as Perceptor, Soundwave and several others worked fiercely to complete a network of machinery that connected to the material of the Obelisk itself.
            “Perceptor informs me that we are nearly ready,” he said to Megatron.
            The other nodded. “We have spent enough time here,” he replied. “That is, assuming this plan indeed works.”
            Perceptor had assessed a sample of the metallic substance of the Obelisk earlier on and determined that it’s unique energy signature might be utilizable in a venture to escape the bizarre dimensional realm the group had found itself stranded within. After some indeterminate time, which Optimus could only ascribe as several days-despite the lack of any difference in day or weather here-Perceptor, Soundwave and a couple of other scientists among their group had devised a potentially workable method to create a way out.
            “It must. We have no other alternatives,” Prime said. “If it doesn’t then we truly are finished.”
            “Sometimes I wonder if oblivion wouldn’t be so bad.” Megatron turned and smiled grimly. “At least it is a finality of sorts.”
            “No,” Optimus said after a moment of consideration. “Life is always preferable to death. It is for others’ to live their lives freely that I have struggled so hard and so long. It is a rare gift for all of us-something that must be cherished at all cost.”
            “You are always the optimist,” Megatron replied casually as his gaze drifted back towards the Obelisk. “Some things never change,” he muttered.

            Optimus’ optics glowed slightly. “Some constants in the Universe are good. They help to remind us of who we are, where we are going and where we have been.”
            Megatron’s steel lips turned up ever so slightly at that...
            The pair were interrupted by Perceptor’s arrival at that moment. They turned to see what the Autobot scientist had to say.
            “It does appear that we may now take positive action to implement our experiment,” he said as he stepped up to the two leaders. “Although I should warn you, there is no guarantee this will succeed. And if it does, we still have no way of knowing where we could end up.”
            Optimus nodded at that.
            “I am glad to hear that we are ready,” he replied. “And I understand the risks as well as anyone. You may proceed at your leisure.”
            “Yes, Commander.” Perceptor turned to face the Obelisk and he raised his com link.
“Soundwave, this is Perceptor. We have authorization to proceed-commence with the first attempt.”
                                      *                                      *                                     *
            The Transformer drone and it’s implements stepped away from Talon’s limp body as it still hung chained to the wall.
            He looked up in time to see the door in the center of the room’s floor break open silently and a Quintara emerge on a platform through it.
            He had been trying since he had originally awoke here and still could not summon up his weapons or transform into his fighter mode. Obviously, the cell had some sort of inhibitor field that prevented him from doing either.
            “Your resistance thus far has been impressive,” the Quintara said as it moved closer. “Especially for such an inferior life form. However, you will not be able to hold out forever. Either you will bend to our will and tell us what we want to know or die!”
            Talon said nothing to that, seeming to ignore his torturer.
            “What is your designation?!” The Quintara demanded. “How is you and your comrades came in to existence? We destroyed all the dissident slaves long ago and no other race has come close to our mastery of cybernetic life forms. There is no way you should exist!”
            Talon looked up at that and chuckled slightly. “So Tarallax hasn’t told you what he’s doing then? Perhaps he doesn’t regard you as his loyal servants after all...”
            He could almost see it coming as the Quintara lashed him with one of it’s energy-like tendrils. A blast of pain surged through his frame for a moment before subsiding in to the background pain he already felt.
            “Tell me what you mean, slave!” the Quintara demanded. Talon laughed aloud at that, deciding not to let one of the creatures he had feared for so long get the better of him. Instead, he would turn the tables on this one, make it loose control all the while it was attempting to do the same to him.
            “Time has been manipulated by your Master,” Talon choked out. “But I’m just one of several Transformers who managed to escape the effect.”
            The face of energy looked amazed by the revelation, as if he had never even comprehended such an unlikely possibility.
            “What do you care?” Talon asked him. “After all, without Tarallax’s changes, your people wouldn’t have come close to reaching their current level of technological development. You’d still be the pathetic creatures the Quintessons are!”
            The other was silent a moment before abruptly lashing him with one it’s tendrils.
            “It would appear that our Master has not revealed everything to us, if you are indeed telling me the truth,” the Quintara spoke. “But that does not ultimately matter. Once Tarallax has completed his design for the Universe, he will leave our kind alone once more. And we shall be able to eliminate the vile organic infestation on other worlds and replace it with our own technological purity.”
            Talon made a scoffing noise. “Assuming he plans to leave you as you are...”
            The Quintara ignored the comment, apparently not allowing itself to be roused by such an obvious misdirection on his prisoner’s part. “You are a most interesting creation,” it said instead. “I have never seen a slave that is so assertive before. We made a great mistake early on in our development of our machines. We made them so well, that we accidentally gave them the ability to think for themselves and inevitably, our foolishness lead to our slaves desiring freedom, independence and... rights,” he said the last part with an air of disdain.
            “But free thought is so greatly overrated. Once we acted and crushed the rebellion, we reprogrammed our slaves to eliminated their bothersome emotional sub routines. We made them desire only to serve us-to live for our comfort or die in trying to fulfill that objective.”
            “Your attitude toward your fellow mechanoid leaves a lot to be desired.” Talon flexed his servos slightly as he spoke, testing out the strength of the energo chains constraining him. He thought it might be possible to break them, if he could get the leverage and an opportunity...
            “But enough of this-if you will not give us any useful information then we might as well just dispense with you,” the Quintara said. “We will scan your design for any useful data and possible future usage in our drone armada-assuming you have anything of true use in there. Your design seems more advanced then what we have observed of the others-and this is unprecedented oppourtunity to see where the technology was before Tarallax’s changes. Indeed, I would be interested in learning more about how you were created.”
            Talon strained against his energo manacles, struggling to break loose. “That’s funny,” he said. “Since the Quintessons were the ones who gave me this body!” At that, he tore away from the wall and launched himself at the stunned Quintara.
            Unfortunately, he was slightly too far to reach the other in his one rush and that gave the Quintara a brief instant to move away.
            “Defend me, you fool!” he hissed at the drone beside him.
            The drone Transformer moved to fend off Talon’s attack, slamming his gun arm into the weakened Cyberjet. Despite the blow, Talon managed to fall to the deck and roll away, out of the drone’s reach.
            Leaping to his feet, Talon’s fists fell into a defensive Metallikato-inspired posture. As the drone’s guns came to bare on him, he twisted impossibly out of the way of it’s aim, forcing it’s shots to miss their targets and harmlessly scorch the wall. Wasting no time, Talon struck out at the drone, slamming his fist against it’s head module. The blow forced it to stumble backward and allowed him to take the initiative.
            As he closed in on the drone a second time, Talon glimpsed the Quintara slipping through the portal in the middle of the room’s floor. The circular iris closed behind it, leaving only their minion and himself.
            The drone moved to position itself so it could aim it’s gun arms on it’s prey but Talon was faster, grabbing it’s right arm and wrenching it upward. Training it roughly on the drone’s head module, he sent a low surge of power into the gun’s mechanism, forcing it to malfunction and fire, incinerating two-thirds of the Transformer drone’s head module as it did. The robot dropped to the deck, twitching once and then fell lifeless.
            Wasting no time, Talon leapt into the air and came slamming down on to the circular exit in the center of the room. His well timed blow pierced the center of the iris, wrenching the metal down and partially open. Even without his weapons he was far from helpless as his captors were about to find out. He grasped the torn shards and split them completely apart.
            Talon dropped through to the lower deck and was greeted a few moments later by three more of the Quintara’s automatons. He barely had time to duck for cover as their gun barrels unleashed a hail of energy blasts his direction. Having shelter for a scant instant behind a curve in the corridor, he found that his ability to transform and his weapons were now functional once more.
            Reaching down into a compartment in his leg, he retrieved his energo sword and activated it as the triumvirate closed in on him. Sweeping into the air, he twisted and landed between the drones and had destroyed two with swift flashes of his blade before they had time to react. The third began to attack him, but was caught by Talon’s foot module in the chest before it could get a good aim. He used the instant that provided him, to run his sword through the drone’s head module, finishing it off once and for all.
            A few minutes later, Talon exploded out of a wall in the Quintara vessel and soared out into the freedom of the Nebulan skies once again. Setting course for what he thought was the right direction, he soared away, wading back into the fray of the war about him.
                                      *                                      *                                     *
            Optimus Prime, Megatron and the rest of their assorted group watched as Perceptor input the final sequence needed to bring his elaborate construction to life.
            The Autobot scientist walked back towards the group and joined them. For several minutes nothing happened and then a slight rumble could be felt in the depths of the Earth below. The sensation seemed to build from nearly nothing to thunderous waves that forced them to brace their footing for fear of toppling over.
            As the vibrations reached their height, the four towers of the Obelisk sparked several times and then flashed to life. Each of the four towers glowed with a bright blue perimeter of energy while the actual material of the towers remained it’s customary black.
            “Look!” Wind Sheer exclaimed, pointing up at the half way point between the base of the towers and their tops. As the others optics followed his gaze, they all became aware of a black tear in the very fabric of the air. Slowly, it grew in size, seeming to consume the material of the clouds around the Obelisk inside it. Optimus could feel the air about him also being drained inside the blossoming void, the effect creating a strong wind all about them, making it even harder for them to retain their footing safely.
            An eternity later, it seemed that the void stopped it’s growth within the perimeter of the four towers and then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, seemed to collapse in on itself and explode outward in an eruption of white energy.
            Perceptor produced a scanner and waved it in the direction of the white energy globe beyond them. As the nexus had changed color and stopped it’s growth, the winds about them had mostly abated, fading to a harsh wind as opposed to the storm they’d experienced before. The rumbling of the ground had also abated, save for the odd murmur.
            “It appears to have stabilized,” Perceptor explained finally as he read the readings off of his scanner. He looked up to the white disk beyond them. “Wherever this portal goes, to Cybertron or some place else entirely, it is ready to be utilized...”
            Optimus nodded and turned to the others. “Everyone, get going,” he said. “May the will of Primus guide us back to our home world...”
            The group stepped forward in unison and then, several at a time, walked into the white nexus beyond.

Part 15

    Thunder awoke to wisps of smoke rising into the lime-colored skies of the alien world known as Nebulos. Around him, lush forestry had transformed into arid wasteland. The landscape was broken every so often by sand dunes emerging from it’s surface.
    A quick glance revealed that all the Nebulans in the immediate vicinity were dead. Curiously, none of their large war machines were visible. In their stead, primitive contraptions such as catapults and animal drawn carriages lay ruined about them. Off in the distance, fires burned causing the smoke in the skies he’d noticed.
    He felt a slight pain in his temple and clutched at the spot, feeling a wet area there and realizing he’d been hurt, if only a little. He tried to stand and found it difficult to do so. After a moment of aches, he managed to stagger to his feet and remain uncertainly on them.
    It was clear that the final battle for Nebulos had gone badly. He last remembered being in the skies in his space cruiser mode, his weapons ablaze as he fought to defend the Nebulans from their Quintara invaders. A temporal distortion had caused their enemy to grow in technological power while  devolving many of the Nebulans, stripping them of their technology and effectively removing their ability to fight back. A few minutes beyond that and another temporal distortion had occurred-this one seeming to last a lot longer and when it was over, Thunder had been surrounded by gargantuan Quintara machines, stretching across the skies. He hadn’t even seen their attack against him happening-he merely remembered being in the sky the one moment and spiraling downward to the surface the next. He’d had just enough time to revert to his humanoid mode before slamming into the surface.
    It had seemed to be going well before that... Thunder, Zaanai, Tornado and several of Jaleera’s Tenshi-Photonis comrades had engaged Tarallax’s minions in front of Tarallax’s vast golden palace while the rest of their comrades combated the legions of Quintara drones. Talon had taken off into the skies to pursue Lightning, leaving them with the remaining five minions to fight. After an effective stand off between the two sides, Zaanai had finally managed to defeat Hurok and not much longer after that, another of the dark servants had fallen to one of his Tenshi-Photonis enemies. Grix, Sarptia and the other had decided to retreat to safety within the tower, giving the group the opening they’d needed to get to Tarallax and stop him once and for all.
    As the group had closed in on Tarallax’s throne room, Thunder had been contacted by Sideswipe who had explained that the Quintara were gaining strength-a temporal distortion had occurred while he was inside the tower and it had gone unnoticed by him and his allies. Now, the Nebulans who were mostly unprotected from the effects of the temporal distortions had devolved in technology while their Quintara aggressors had similarly been advanced. The tables had turned and he’d taken it upon himself to return to the outside and help defend them while the rest of his allies continued onward to confront Tarallax and force him to end this.
    But something had gone wrong in his absence-terribly, terribly wrong and now it looked as if their side had lost. And if it were really so, how long would it take the temporal god to travel to Earth and finish his disastrous plan to rewrite time itself?
    Thunder staggered a few feet forward before collapsing to the soft soil of the surface. On his knees, he turned and looked behind him. The tower of Tarallax stood triumphantly, it’s golden surface gleaming in the smoldering light. In the skies beyond it, the only thing visible were legions of enormous vessels floating together. He couldn’t be certain whether they were alive or not, but he did know that they seemed to gaze contemptuously at him like one would regard an insect in their midst.
    The last battle for Nebulos had gone badly. Tarallax had won...
            *            *            *
    Zaanai felt a chill as she strode down the crystalline corridor of the J’hulokh. Beside her, Jaleera walked silently in tandem, her mind occupied by future tasks.
    She didn’t know how much time either one of them had, but she suspected the moments left were fleeting. Jaleera had promised her they would go and commune with Jhesalia now and find out exactly what the plan was to deal with Tarallax. She hoped Jaleera was being honest for once-this whole situation had exasperated her greatly because she knew Jaleera had been holding back information and suspected the Transformers were there to be sacrificed as part of some larger plan of some uncaring deity. She would not allow Thunder or herself to be used as pawns in anyone else’s plans and she was hell bent to get to the bottom of things.
    Zaanai wondered how Thunder was doing on the planet below. The last she’d seen of him had been when the fight with Tarallax’s minions had ended. She had gotten the upper hand for their side when she’d determined to get things done and had attacked the dark being Hurok. She had struck swiftly, her claws shredding his throat before he could defend himself against her. Her second strike had ensured his fatality when she had rammed her claws to a point just beneath his rib cage and the place most humanoids had a heart or other vital organs. She had watched coldly as he collapsed and died motionlessly in a pool of his own translucent blood.
    It had struck her as odd at the time-she’d always enjoyed killing things when she’d been a Predacon. But since her time with Thunder she simply didn’t feel the same. Now all she saw was the loss of hope, dreams and opportunities as the life had drained out of Hurok. She’d had to force those thoughts  out of her head-because she knew his death was for a greater good and that if someone hadn’t acted to end the stalemate in that battle between their two sides, it was possible they would’ve lost out to Tarallax’s manipulations in the end. And as much as she was beginning to discover a new sense of life within herself, she was damned if she was going to let Thunder or herself die without a fight.
    After she had killed Hurok, a Tenshi-Photonis had been struck down by one of Tarallax’s remaining minions only to be killed himself by their vengeful brothers. The three remaining minions-Grix, Sarptia and Duuro had decided to escape to the safety of the golden tower rather then try to face down outnumbering odds. Thunder and the others had pursued them while two of the Tenshi-Photonis decided to bring a shuttle back down to the surface and return the remains of their fallen comrade to the ship for a future burial. She’d seen her opportunity to get back to the ship and try to force some sense into Jaleera just then and moved to convince the others to take her with them also.
    And now she was here and going to be able to state her case to Jhesalia. She wondered why Jaleera had abruptly changed her mind on the subject. Perhaps she was starting to lose faith in her Mistress’ plan? Or maybe she merely needed reassurance on some level in her own mind. For that matter, Zaanai supposed it was possible she was just getting sick of putting up with her and decided to appease Zaanai’s objections once and for all.
    They approached a large circular portal that appeared to be made of some sort of crystal lined granite. The door was otherwise unadorned and appeared unremarkable. Jaleera stepped in front of it and laid her hands on her chest, seeming to bow her head slightly as she did. The portal split three ways in the middle and slid open, revealing a darker interior.
    Jaleera stepped inside and Zaanai followed swiftly behind. A lone orb emitted light that illuminated what appeared to be a control panel on a podium immediately inside the door. Zaanai attempted to use her infrared sensors to deduce the perimeter of the chamber or any of it’s features, but found that nothing further registered, not even an outer confine to the chamber which seemed impossible to her understanding.
    Behind them, the door slid shut once again and then they were illuminated only by the orb. She made sure to stay close to Jaleera and the island of light on the podium.
    “What is this place?” Zaanai asked.
    “It is the place where the First Wing may communicate with our Ladyship Jaleera and learn what it is that she wills for us.”
    Zaanai thought about inquiring further and decided it would likely prove a waste of breath. She watched as Jaleera placed her hand on the glyphs that made up the light panel. She did not speak further and did not manipulate any controls that Zaanai could see.
    A moment later, the darkness beyond them began to waiver and twist in on itself. The effect continued, the space beyond them rippling and coalescing into a white nexus. As they waited and watched, the whiteness melted and formed into the image of a young and beautiful woman that sat atop a throne. Her eyes were crimson colored and her hair was spectral colored-seeming to be all colors at once but somehow the colors did not overwhelm each other, but worked in tandem. She sat upon a throne of what seemed to be spatial matter composed of stars, planets and the darkness of space itself.
    “Milady, we come to you to seek guidance in our fight with our enemy,” Jaleera spoke to the image of the goddess. She bowed as she spoke and Zaanai detected a great reverence for Jhesalia.
    “Tarallax’s plans near fruition,” Jhesalia spoke. “He must not be allowed to succeed in his goal of rewriting time to his whim.”
    “I’m glad we agree on something.” Zaanai jumped in. “The question now, is what can we do about it?”
    “This is Zaanai of the Transformers we have allied ourselves with,” Jaleera jumped in. “She demanded to be present, even though it is not usually permitted, I-“
    “Yes, I am aware of who she is,” Jhesalia replied, cutting Jaleera off. She looked at Zaanai. “Tell me just what you mean...”
    “The fact of the matter is that we’re up against overwhelming odds here,” she replied. “Fighting and dying to protect this universe on your behalf. It’s just a matter of time until Tarallax defeats us and then he’ll be able to do whatever he wants.”
    “I have explained that you have a plan...” Jaleera added. “But Zaanai does not share my faith in your abilities.”
    “I sense that your own faith is wavering,” Jhesalia replied. “Do you doubt my power as well? Have you so soon forgotten what I am capable of?”
    “Forgive me, milady.” Jaleera bowed.
    “I don’t think she doubts your power merely your intent,” Zaanai snapped. “Do you actually intend to step in and stop Tarallax? Or are we merely here to entertain you with our deaths while he wins?”
    “Tarallax cannot be destroyed, merely contained...” Jhesalia replied. “I have been planning all along to do so, but gathering all who are necessary has proven somewhat...difficult.”
    “What does that mean, exactly?” Zaanai demanded. “This is hardly the time to be obscure!”
    Jhesalia seemed vexed by her lack of respect, but right now she really didn’t care. “I have been petitioning the third of our kind, Urokk, to act and aid me in containing Tarallax in the interdimensional void he was forced into so very long ago. However, Urokk has proven somewhat obstinate in acting while Tarallax has made full use of his freedom to enact his own agenda.”
    Zaanai exhaled sharply and spoke.
    “Then how do we convince Urokk to act? This is no time to stand on the side lines-he has to do something. You both do!” Zaanai demanded. “I’m sure as hell not giving my life for a lost cause and I’m not letting Thunder do that either-even if I have to render him unconscious to do it!”
    “You would leave this Universe and us to our fate?” Jhesalia regarded her more closely.
    “If I have to,” Zaanai paused a moment, trying to find the right words. “If I die for something, it will be for a cause where my sacrifice would actually mean something towards the victory--so far, this cause has not proven to be it.”
    She cast a glance at Jaleera, who remained silent, and then turned her attention back to the image of Jhesalia in front of them. “It seems to me you have a choice, Jhesalia-end this here and now, forever, or watch as it all falls apart and Tarallax gets what he wants.”
    Zaanai regarded her, but Jhesalia said nothing.
    “Now, what’s it going to be?”
            *            *            *
    Optimus Prime watched as the tunnel collapsed back into reality around him. The first thing he noticed was the vast golden towers of Cybertron’s capital city of Iacon. They sparkled silently in the background of the courtyard his group of Transformers emerged into.
    “We did it! We’re home,” he said. He turned and watched as the last of the Autobots and Decepticons arrived behind him through the white vortex.
    “I admit I had my concerns we’d ever see home again,” Megatron said nearby.”But I see my fears were unfounded. I commend you, Optimus, on your positive outlook during our stay in that dimensional purgatory.”
    “The thanks must go to Perceptor, Soundwave and the others who made this possible,” Optimus replied. “I did nothing but try my best to keep us focused while we were there... that is all.”
    Megatron smiled slyly. “As you say, Prime.”
    Behind them, the maw of the vortex collapsed in on itself and blinked out of existence.
    “Is everyone accounted for?” Optimus did a quick scan of the assorted group but did not detect anyone missing from their midst.
    “It looks like it,” Towline responded. “Which is good because I wouldn’t wish that place on anyone.”
    “Maybe Unicron,” Skywarp chimed in.
    Towline shrugged. “Well, yeah.”
    “It is uncommonly quiet at the moment,” Optimus stated as he glanced over the surrounding area. “We’re in downtown Iacon and yet, there is no one in the vicinity nor is there any noise nearby.”
    “We could go have a look around,” Wind Sheer suggested. “A little aerial recon to scope out the situation never hurts.”
    Megatron nodded. “Wind Sheer and Skywarp take the east. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw take the west. Thrust and Skydive have the south while Ratbat and Scattershot can take the north.”
    The assorted Transformers leapt to the air and reconfigured into their flight modes, each pair soaring off in the direction it was ordered to scan.
    “I still don’t understand how we ended up in that other realm,” Megatron said as they watched the flyers depart. “I sincerely hope we have returned to the correct dimension. It would displease me to find out otherwise.”
    “Everything looks correct,” Optimus noted. “Besides, there’s no point in idle speculation--unless we know for a fact that something is wrong, we shouldn’t be concerned.”
    The other said nothing, merely nodded his agreement.
    Optimus noted the group as it stood around the square, watching and waiting for the scouts to report back in. They’d operated non violently as a team while they were all trapped and he wondered if there was room to expand upon that spirit of cooperation between the two factions or whether a return to warfare was inevitable. Was Grimlock right when he’d said he believed the war was encoded in their programming on some minute level or could he make Megatron see there was another way for them all? Was he a fool to even entertain the idea, he wondered.
    He decided to focus on the situation at hand instead. They’d determined Cybertron was safe and still here, not prone to some sort of attack that had displaced them all and wiped it from existence. He suspected if they could verify everything was indeed normal and safe they’d have to set about figuring out exactly what had sent them away and ensure it did not occur again.
    An explosion in the distance caught the group’s attention just then. Followed by another and then one more.
    Soundwave rushed to Megatron’s side. “I am detecting a signal,” he said as he activated an external speaker of his for the others to listen to.
    “This is Skywarp. We’ve got company here and they’re not-“
    The transmission died abruptly and they heard nothing further for several more seconds until Wind Sheer re-emerged into the sky beyond them. Behind him, five fighter craft pursued him with their weapons ablaze. One of the enemy’s missiles struck it’s target with cold accuracy, setting the Decepticon’s fuselage on fire. His jet mode spun wildy, crashing into a nearby tower and exploding, raining down a shower of debris. Satisfied, his pursuers tore off before the startled Transformers could react further.
    Moments later, Skywarp and Buzzsaw also returned from their own scouting directions, their speeds indicating pursuit.
    “Defend them!” Megatron hissed, his fusion cannon raising into position.
    As the two Decepticons made it fully into the clearing above their comrades, ten more of the generic fighters emerged from beyond the skyline of the towers, their weapons spewing forth death. This time, however, they were met with opposition in the form of the Autobots and Decepticons ammunition as it answered back.
    The fighters were a short lived threat as they burst into brilliant blooms of fire, their sleek forms spewing forth fiery streamers as they died.
    “There’s more of them!” Tracks exclaimed as three dozen more fighters rushed into the area. Even as Optimus and Megatron’s forces tore into them, dozens more poured into the courtyard, rapidly outnumbering the Transformers.
    Beyond them all, four of the Quintara’s vessels dipped into the skies, reinforcing their drone armada. A large hologram of one of the Quintara swiftly emerged beyond them in the midst of the drones.
    “Mech invaders, you have breeched the property of the Quintara. Surrender now or be destroyed!” it’s glowing face hissed.
    Around them all, the Quintara’s transformable drones stood at the ready, their weapons trained on the group of Transformers.
            *            *            *
    Talon saw the blow coming too late and only half managed to avoid the fist Lightning threw at him. He felt the fringe of the black electrical energy that had been coursing through his opponent’s fist. The weapon that had been meant to finish him off once and for all had only succeeded in numbing some of his circuits-and after what he’d been through lately, it was nothing he couldn’t handle.
    He stumbled, regaining his center of balance in a hurry. They had played this dance through before and it hadn’t ended too well for him the first time-as Talon had pursued Lightning through the Nebulan skies, the crazed minion of Tarallax had gotten the upper hand and struck him with his powers, rendering the Decepticon unconscious and helpless some twenty thousand feet above the surface. It had only been by the greatest of chances that Talon had survived when one of Tarallax’s Quintara lackeys had used their vessel to tractor beam him aboard in the nick of time for a spot interrogation.
    He’d managed to free himself after recovering enough and had returned to the surface in time to see Thunder, several of the others and some of the Tenshi-Photonis pursue Tarallax’s remaining minions inside his golden tower base. He had instinctively followed and emerged inside the tower just as the group encountered Tarallax in his throne room. There, they’d encountered Lightning once again and Tornado had chased after him, trying to reach through his twisted personality and stir the Autobot Lightning had once been.
    Talon knew it was a foolhardy thing to even try and had found himself setting off after Tornado. The Autobot had good intentions but obviously didn’t grasp the predicament he was charging in to.
    The chase had taken place throughout the twisted, chaotic corridors of the tower, with Lightning enthusiastically leading the way. The tower was even stranger on the inside then the out-Talon had deduced that they’d already traveled beyond where the interior wall to the structure should have been and suspected Tarallax’s powers were at work here. For all he knew, the tower could have been ten or even a hundred times the size it appeared to be from the outside-he had hoped they wouldn’t get lost on their merry chase.
    Talon stabbed his foot into Lightning’s mid section, forcing the crazed Transformer off balance and preventing his planned strike. He leapt to the air, his descent carrying him at the other. As he came down, he slammed his knuckles into Lightning’s jaw, furthering his attack.
    They had been at this for some time now. Lightning would try to kill him and Talon would fend him off. Several times, Lightning had almost gotten the upper hand on him with his superior powers and he’d had to flee further into the tower complex, trying to find a weapon or formulate a strategy that would allow him to defeat Lightning once and for all. Tornado, to his credit, had attempted to get through to his estranged team mate, but had failed thus far. When he’d last seen the Autobot, Lightning had lashed out and attacked him, slamming the Transformer hard into a wall. He hadn’t moved again after that and Talon hadn’t been able to stick around and check into him in depth, but he feared the other had taken some serious damage. That was, of course, assuming Lightning hadn’t finished him off before he took off after Talon once again.
    Talon shoved him hard and Lightning slammed against the wall. He followed up with his fist, but the other dodged the blow and he only succeeded in splitting the wall with his strike. Talon withdrew his fist in time to avoid a lunge from Lightning and backed away as the other turned to strike again.
    “You can’t fend me off forever!” he snarled, shooting his dark energy at Talon as he spoke. “Why not be a good little Transformer and take your medicine?”
    Talon said nothing at that, but charged forward instead. His dodged a second emission from his opponent and thrust his foot into Lightning’s mid section a second time, forcing his opponent off balance. This time, he launched two loads of missiles from the launchers hidden in his shoulders. The payload struck their intended target with deadly accuracy and for the first time since they’d started to fight, Talon noticed a couple of flaws had emerged in the minion’s dark armored form.
    Lightning roared and swung his fist outward, catching Talon with a punch. He grimaced as he avoided the other’s clumsy physical attacks. The missiles had hurt Lightning, but not as much as they would have if he had been a regular Transformer. He doubted he could be able to wear the other down fast enough to make a significant difference in the outcome of their fight.
    But he had to try anyway. He had been fortunate that Lightning’s strikes just now had been born of anger and not well focused. But his opponent’s hand to hand finesse was nigh upon irrelevant when he could just as easily lash out at him anytime with his energy powers and kill him. Talon hoped he could keep Lightning angry and not thinking straight-he would need every advantage he could get if he harbored any hope of defeating him.
    Talon met his next fist with a skillful block and lashed out with his foot, catching Lightning in the shoulder. He countered another punch and repeated with the other foot, driving the crazed mechanoid back and steering him toward the wall.
    Lightning broke out of the herding and attacked from his side. He managed to dodge the attack and struck out with his feet in a double-kick, sending Lightning to the marble-tiled floor of the chamber. Swiftly, Talon launched more missiles at the arched ceiling above him, the projectiles tearing away large chunks of the ceiling material and causing it to reign down upon his enemy.
    Talon drew his wrist-mounted laser cannon and crept cautiously toward the debris pile. As he neared it, he hoped he had caused Lightning some real damage with his attack, possibly something that would give him that much sought after advantage.
    But it was not to be. As he got almost to the center of the pile, Lightning rose from the debris, his armor scuffed and cracked even further, but not bearing any critical damage to his form.
    “Well played, Decepticon!” he hissed. “You have something I admire-that killer’s edge. You’re not like those Autobot wimps, all moral and pretentious! You’d kill me in a second if you could...”
    “It’d be doing the Universe a favor,” Talon replied calmly. “I haven’t known you all that long and even I can see that.”
    He launched all his remaining missiles as he finished speaking, catching the other by surprise. The resulting explosion unleashed enormous energy and tossed him backward uncontrollably. As he lay dazed, he noticed fragments of debris pass overhead, the energy shoving them along as if they weighed nothing.
    And then it was over. He rose slowly in time to see Lightning on the other side of the chamber. This time, he was injured for a certainty-a large jagged gash wrecked the front of his armor and his arms were likewise streaked in places where the alloys had been burned off by Talon’s attack.
    “Well...played, indeed,” Lightning gasped. “But I’m still...functional and if that’s...the best you’ve got, then you’re as good as dead already!”
    He rushed forward at Talon unexpectedly, his stamina already seemingly recovered. Talon aimed his wrist cannon at his opponent but Lightning slapped it aside and struck him with his fist. Talon had not yet entirely recovered from the explosion himself and he felt himself wobble at the strike. Lightning grabbed his wrist cannon and tore it away in one stroke, depriving Talon of it.
    He slammed his fist into Talon several times, trying to take the fight out of him. With great effort, Talon forced his feet up and kicked himself off and away from the crazed Transformer. He hit the ground dazed and weak, unable to act before Lightning got to him first.
    Lightning thrust his hands out and emptied his power into Talon’s tattered body. He felt every circuit go numb and start to shut down under the barrage, but he was powerless to defend himself against it. Until now, he’d used his speed and agility to avoid most of the other’s energy attacks but this straight-on assault would leave him vulnerable to whatever final blow his opponent chose to inflict on him.
    Talon dropped to the marble floor, although his body did not register any further pain from the impact. He forced himself to stay conscious while his body attempted to re-route to it’s auxiliary systems. Nearby, he watched helpless as Lightning grabbed a rough steel rod in the debris and forced it free of it’s perch. The mad Transformer turned and slowly began advancing toward Talon’s location, his optics alight with a ravenous fire.
    “Are you ready to die?” he hissed. “Don’t worry. I’ll try to make this hurt as much as possible!”
    Lightning arrived at his body and looked as if he was going to speak again when Talon heard another sound nearby to them.
    “Don’t do it, Lightning!” he heard Tornado’s voice say somewhere behind him.
    The other smiled.
    “Ah, Tornado,” he said at the source of the new voice. “I’m afraid your Autobot sentimentality is out of place here. Talon here understands what being a real warrior is about-to fight at your best and when you inevitably lose to the superior force, you go out gracefully. War is no place for weaklings.”
    “If I am a weakling, then does that mean you were also once a weakling?” Tornado asked.
    “Of course! But I was able to cast that personality off like the cancer it was and become truly liberated in mind and soul.” Lightning stepped away from Talon. “Do you have any idea how liberating madness truly is? I am not responsible to any higher power or codes or morality any longer. I may choose who lives and who dies around me. Tarallax has completed my transition into true godhood. No longer do I answer to a higher power-I am the power now!”
    Lightning lashed out with his power and although he could not turn to witness it, Talon knew he’d just attacked his former comrade in arms as well. He checked his internal sensors and saw that his systems were half way switched over to their back -ups. He had hoped Tornado could have distracted the lunatic for a few moments longer while he got to a point where he could act again. But now... was Tornado even still alive after the assault? He couldn’t see and had no way of knowing.
    He tried in vain to get his body to react but only the slightest twitch emerged from his effort and it was nowhere near enough.
    “Good try,” he heard Tornado’s voice say all of a sudden. “But I’m far from dead yet. Perhaps you’re losing your killer’s edge.”
    Talon was elated to hear him speak but even as he heard the words he knew all was not well. Tornado tried to sound confident and un-bruised but his voice was raspy and weak and Talon knew the Autobot had been injured worse then he let on.
    “A real warrior would have killed me in one shot!” Tornado continued. “I think you’re still weak somewhere in there. Maybe that weakling Autobot personality is still in there somewhere holding you back.”
    “NO!” Lightning hissed and fired again. After the initial blast he fired again and Talon noted Tornado peripherally for an instant as he dodged shot after shot from his unstable opponent.
    A moment later the sounds of Lightning’s energy attacks stopped and Talon heard no further hurried movement. He assumed Tornado was still alive although he did not know how much longer that would last.
    ‘Seventy six percent...’  He was so close now to being able to act. He hoped Tornado could keep from getting killed for just a few more minutes.
     “You don’t really want to kill me, do you?” Tornado taunted. “You still remember me and what you used to be.”
    Lightning howled and discharged a large blast of his energy, the power striking the wall that Talon could see from his vantage point and tearing a large hole.
    “You used to be an Autobot and some part of you still is in there. Fight the madness, Lightningbolt! Control it, don’t let it control you!”
    “No... I-I’m not....” Lightning gasped. “Urrr.... it’s s-so hard to control myself. He’s so powerful...”
    “I know it is,” Tornado replied. “I know. But you’ve got to. You can’t let him hurt anyone else!”
    “Too strong,” Lightning gasped. “I can’t hold on...”
    “You’ve got to!” Tornado snapped. “I’m here for you. Be strong.”
    “O-one chance....k-kill me...” Lightning gasped. “It’s the only w-way...”
    Talon felt the strength return to his limbs at long last and he tried to rise. Much to his delight, he found he could indeed move again and he turned to see Lightning kneeling on the ground, with Tornado hovering over him.
    “I can’t kill you,” Tornado gasped. “Maybe...maybe we can shut you down and wait until we get back home...”
    “No...” Lightning gasped. “NO! I will not be controlled by you any longer!”     
    He rose and unleashed his energy into the unsuspecting Tornado. The Autobot was caught unprepared and collapsed helplessly under the assault. Nearby, Talon had already brought out his laser sword and ignited it.
    As Lightning rose over Tornado’s fallen form, he had briefly forgotten about Talon, his attention totally focused on killing his former commander first. Talon used those precious seconds to close the gap between them...
    Lightning turned in time as Talon was swinging his sword at the crazed Transformer’s head and was a split-second too late to react. The blue energy shaft pierced his head module and severed it in two, killing him as he started to summon a defense. The intended energy blast from Lightning went wild, striking the ceiling and missing Talon.
    He looked down at the form of the dead minion of Tarallax for a moment and then turned to help Tornado. He found that the Autobot was not dead, just badly injured from the last attack.
    “Is...it over?”
    “Yeah,” Talon nodded. “Lightning’s dead.”
    “I wish...there had been some other way...” Tornado gasped. “He didn’t deserve this...any of it...”
    Talon said nothing to that. “Can you move?”
    “I think so...” Tornado’s body twitched slightly. “Er....maybe not.”
    Talon bent down and scooped him up. “That’s okay, then,” he replied. “I’ll get us back to the others and then we’ll see what’s going on.”
    He reconfigured his body into his jet fighter mode and hovered into the air, taking an instant to make sure Tornado was secure in the cockpit before setting off down the winding tunnel from which they’d came.
    As they made their way back out, everything went white and time as they would know it, ceased to be.
            *            *            *
    The whiteness faded away and Tarallax stood with his hands raised. He lowered them slowly and looked down at the fallen Transformers and the minions of Jhesalia whom had accompanied them. They’d had very little resistance against his overwhelming power and had swiftly succumbed to his attack. The fools-he’d warned them and given them opportunity to save themselves, but they would not heed his advice and now they were doomed like their brethren whom had been caught in the temporal distortions he had caused in repairing the damage to the time line.
    It was done now. Outside his golden palace, the Quintara had reached their ultimate evolutionary cycle and stood as merely one testament of his countless changes to time in the realm. Only one key world remained now of the original three and that was Earth.
    He saw little reason to be concerned. It was more primitive then Nebulos had been and would stand little chance against his power.
    The only ones whom could truly equal his power were his kindred deities, Jhesalia and Urokk, but he knew that Urokk was slow to ever act and that Jhesalia would not be able to convince him to aid her before he could make his changes to time permanent. And that was assuming that Jhesalia was really concerned with stopping him herself, which he was not entirely certain of since all she’d done was send some mortals to try and stop him-not the greatest of efforts on her part.
    Why couldn’t they realize his changes to the time line were as necessary as their own meddling in the areas of energy and space. Time had to be guided by his will alone, not allowed to be shaped by random circumstances. Now that he was free, they would learn the error of their ways.
    “I stand triumphant and my enemies lay delivered at my feet,” he spoke. Nearby, his three surviving minions looked on.
    “There is little that remains-“ Tarallax stopped in mid-sentence as he sensed a change in the energy fields behind him.
    He turned in time to see his celestial kin, Jhesalia and Urokk, emerge from an energy portal. Behind them, the portal sealed itself again, leaving only them.
    “We come to inform you that your plans have failed,” Jhesalia spoke first. “We have arrived at a consensus and our decision is that you will no longer be allowed to roam free and disrupt reality at your leisure.”
    “Are you to imprison me again then?” Tarallax asked defiantly. “Shall I remain in interdimensional limbo ten million years more only to have more Transformers unwittingly release me? Or perhaps it will be some other race-it matters not to me. Either way, you can do no more then contain me for so long. My ambitions will always remain undeterred.”
    “You misunderstand, brother,” Urokk spoke. “We have decided that this stalemate can no longer be permitted to continue. Our continued existence ensures your continued existence and resistance to our edicts. It is a vanity on our part, and perhaps even a fear, to believe that the Omniverse cannot continue without our presence to guide it.”
    “But no longer,” Jhesalia continued. “We have agreed to submit ourselves back to the celestial ether in order to remove your threat forever. We will pass on and the Omniverse, for better or worse, will continue forward without us.”
    Tarallax saw the resolve in their eyes. “And once again the decision is made without my consultation. You commit us to death and I am to march merrily along and accept it.”
    “You forced this decision to be made by your actions,” Urokk said. “We are merely carrying things out to their logical and inevitable conclusion.”
    The two males locked eyes for a moment and said nothing. Finally, Tarallax unleashed an energy blast at the two of them, but his attack was in vain and he knew it. The others easily cancelled out any effect it could have on them.
    “Curse both of you,” Tarallax hissed.
    “It is time,” Urokk replied, ignoring him.    
    At that, he and Jhesalia began combining their energies, their forms coalescing into one.  After a moment, the energy nimbus they had created, stretched out and engulfed Tarallax as well. He gave no further resistance as it slowly but surely dissolved his dark armored form into it as well.
    The new energy nexus rose in to the air and glistened brightly, cancelling the reality that had been set in motion and undoing all of Tarallax’s changes in the process. Satisfied all was now as it should be, the nexus flashed brightly and ceased to exist.
            *            *            *
    Thunder gazed down at the green surface of Nebulos from a view port onboard the J’hulokh. Everything seemed calm and undisturbed far below-it was a welcome difference from the chaos and destruction before.
    He’d re-awoken from his injuries to a reset time line where none of Tarallax’s alterations had ever taken place. Once he’d been retrieved by the others, Jaleera had explained to him that thanks to Zaanai’s prompting, Jhesalia and Urokk had made the ultimate sacrifice to stop the temporal god. All of the Transformers whom had been displaced from their own times and places were now back where they should be--as well as Optimus Prime, Megatron and several others whom had apparently been trapped in the interdimensional void Tarallax had initially been imprisoned within.
    Thunder turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw Zaanai with Jaleera had arrived.
    “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Zaanai asked, her optics focused on the green jewel below them. “Now that everything’s as it should be, we actually have the time to notice.”
    He nodded.
    “Nebulos is a lovely world,” he agreed. “And it’s inhabitants can be free to explore their philosophy of peace now without any outside interference.”
    “Yep.” Zaanai smiled. “I guess we can be underway any time now...” She looked to Jaleera. “And what about all of you? What’s next for you now that Jhesalia, Urokk and Tarallax are all gone?”
    Jaleera shrugged. “I...do not know,” she replied. “To serve my goddess was my purpose in life-without her to command me and my crew I do not know what is to come of us.”
    “It seems to me that you were all created-at least, ideologically, to do good,” Thunder said. “Even with Jhesalia gone, I don’t see how that’s changed. You have this ship and great powers that can be used to either create or destroy.” He looked her in the eye. “It’s far harder to create things then destroy them, but it’s ultimately more rewarding. What you have here is an opportunity to shape and build a better future-both for yourselves and for others.”
    “Your words are wise,” Jaleera replied and smiled. “I don’t know what we can do just yet but I am open to making such an effort.”
    “That’s all anyone can ask,” Thunder smiled. He held out his hand and clasped hers, shaking it once in the Human fashion. “Be at peace, Jaleera.”
    “Be at peace, both of you. May you find whatever you are searching for...” She turned and opened the inner airlock for them.
    Both of them stepped inside and waited while she depressurized the chamber and opened the outer lock for them, allowing them access to the vacuum of space.
    Thunder reconfigured into his space vessel mode and waited while Zaanai boarded and made her way to the bridge.
    Zaanai took one last look at the J’hulokh as it floated nearby. She’d had mixed feelings about Jaleera during their time together, but in the end she found herself hoping that the Tenshi-Photonis and her crew could find a new purpose and be happy with themselves, the way she had with Thunder.
    Zaanai turned and seated herself in the cool leather chair at the helm station.
    “Let’s get out of here,” she said. “We still have to find Teryx and rediscover the rest of my missing past.”
    “That we do, my love,” Thunder’s voice replied over the speakers in the large room. “And we’ll do it too-together.”
    She smiled warmly. “Together.”






Writing credits
Part one, five, eight, eleven, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen by Tony Klepack
Part two, six and ten by Matt Kirkby
Part three and seven by Tom Zavier
Part four and nine by Patricia Pajunen
Part twelve co-written by Tony Klepack and Patricia Pajunen


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