Fire In The Sky

By Matt "Talon" Kirkby


    AARRROOOOUUUUUl
    The wail of sirens broke the dawn silence.
    "I don't understand this!" Auto Forse stumbled out of a cramped tunnel and out onto the open-and barren-surface of Oberon. He lifted his head and stared up the star-strewn night sky.
    A near-blinding bolt of light stabbed down from the sky and the top of rocky hill exploded in flame.
    "This cannot be happening! "Auto Forse ducked instinctively as a second bolt leveled a distant mountain. "This simply cannot be happening," the Autobot repeated as he fled back into the dubious safety of the underground AutoBase even as the ground trembled from the distant bombardment.
    Several Autobots were milling around the point where the surface tunnel connected to the warrens of the main base.
    "We're under attack!"
    "Obviously, Scram." Entering the group unobserved, Auto Forse recovered his dignity and spoke calmly.
    "But how did they find us?" Scram turned to stare at Auto Forse. "How did they find us here? We were supposed to be safe!"
    "We do not even known who 'they' are." Auto Forse has his suspicions though-but surely Megatron would have evacuated his loyal agents before launching any attack...wouldn't he? "Let us not panic." But even he couldn't heed his own advice as the rumble of explosions grew ever louder.
    Blue optics glared across the command center. "This entire situation is almost certainly your fault, Sonimus."
    "Hardly, Optimus." She snorted, in amused anger. "I'm not the one who sent Autobots scurrying across the half the galaxy and launching blind raids to annoy the Decepticons."
    "But you wanted too!"
    "I had a plan." Sonimus felt her voice quaver a fraction as a tremor shook the command center. "We're being shaken apart."
    A bright flash on one of the monitors caught Prime's optic. "How could this be happening?" he demanded. "How did they find us?"

    A loud roar heralded the collapse of thousands of tons of rock.
    "This way!" Beachcomber shouted over the echoes. "We'll be safe down here." He led the Cassettibots deeper underground.
    "Fleeing isn't right."
    "We don't have any other choice, Siren." Beachcomber glanced at the others. "We're already cut off from the rest of the base. But I know of a tunnel deep down.. .we should be able to use it to access the other sublevels and get back into the base."     'Deep down...deep enough to be safe from the bombardment...! hope.'
    "Damn it!"

    "Keep trying, Erector." Tailgate stabbed at the console again, desperately typing in commands and codes. "We've got to get the shields up."
    "I know that," Erector snarled. "I've been trying." He had climbed into the housing and was manually connecting wires and crossing systems. "I can't find anything wrong in here...by all that's holy, the shields should be up!"
    "Sabotage" Tailgate said in a low voice. "It must be."
    Grid Iron flinched as bulkheads slammed shut just behind him. Almost a full kilometer of rock had just been vaporized in seconds, the AutoBase's shielding had proven equally ineffective. How many Autobots had already died in the attack? He didn't want to know. "This is only going to get worse," he moaned.

    "Let's get this crate moving!" Hot Rod dropped into the pilot's chair and began powering up the Defender's flight systems. "Get me clearance!"
    "I'm on it." Sizzle doubted that anyone would notice if they lifted without launch clearance...the chain of command was already broken in far too many places and the situation was deteriorating rapidly.
    Hot Rod saw a few other Defenders--a bare handful of those docked in just this one hanger-powering up for combat launches. "At least we won't be alone in this counterattack," he muttered. He began hovering his fighter towards the sealed hanger bay doors. "Hey, what's the access code for opening the doors?" he demanded.
    "I have no--" Sizzle began.
    A bolt of light melted through the doors and sliced into a parked shuttle.
    The resulting explosion set off others... a chain of blasts which quickly tore through the entire hanger. Clouds of shrapnel scythed down several Autobot techs before they even knew what was happening.
    "Slag it!" Hot Rod cursed as the bay filled with flames. "We gotta get out of here!" The Defender lurched as the explosion of a nearby shuttle pelted its hull with debris. "Engines are damaged!"
    "Stabilize us!" Sizzle shouted as he gripped the edges of his console.
    "I'm trying!" Hot Rod shouted back as the fighter lurched unsteadily. He stopped his wobbly ascent just short of the ceiling. "See, no problem." Then several systems sparked, showering sparks throughout the cockpit. "What the-" The Defender's engines fired and the ship accelerated. "We're going to--"

    Arcee ran out of her quarters as the lightpanels in that section of AutoBase failed. Sirens wailed, adding their mournful cry to the chaos of the faintly-lit corridors as Autobots milled about in panic. "It's all happening again!" she cried out as a tremor knocked her from her feet. "Just like Cindras all over again!"
    With a thunderous whoosh, a veritable wall of flame burst out of the far wall and rolled through the corridor and enveloped her.

    Thunderclash adjusted a control.
    Computers issued reports too quickly from him to follow, dozens of monitors and screens blinking with updated information about the onslaught. He rechecked reports with mounting unease. The attackers-whomever they were-had very effectively smashed the planet...their bombardment had vaporized rock, broken the armored bulkheads, collapsed dozens of tunnels and caverns, and generally left the AutoBase in a shambles, its personnel trapped in whatever location they'd been when the attack had begun..
    "Of course, they are worse places to be trapped than a sector command base," Thunderclash mused aloud.
    A beep sounded as one of still-functional sensor nets locked onto a vessel in orbit.
    "Let's see how you guys like our new megamissiles." He typed a final series of codes, and then pressed one control.
    Overrun shook his head. The master map of Oberon flickered as fresh blotches recorded new impacts. Most of AutoBase was a throbbing red.
    "This can't be happening!" Optimus moaned. He was sitting in a chair in the very center of the command center. From that spot, he a perfect view of Oberon's death.
    "There appear to be multiple vessels in orbit," Overrun announced. "But I cannot get any clear readings on them.. .some of kind of advanced sensor stealth gear I think. Or maybe just a malfunction.. .most of our sensors aren't working anymore."
    "The orbitals--" Highbeam began.
    "Are all destroyed--even with their stealth systems, they were targeted almost instantly."
    So quickly....
    "Keep trying to get a clear lock." Optimus tried to concentrate...what should he do? "Can we get any of the defenses to work?"
    "I'm trying! But most-too many-of the automated control systems have been destroyed or cut out of the computer net. AutoBase's defenses are all but gone."
    'What to do?' Optimus raised his hands to grip the sides of his head-module. <What could he do?>
    Scattered across Oberon's surface, rocky slabs shifted, armored panels sliding open to reveal weapon pods and missile batteries. Laser bolts, particle beams, and missiles streaked spaceward.

    With a grey tinge to her optic sensors, Sonimus Prime stepped into the corridor...behind her, half a dozen Autobots littered the floor of a secondary com-center.
    "Hey, did I hear shots?" Quickmix came running down the. Hallway. "Sonimus? Are we being invaded?"
    The female Autobot turned around, her movements stiff and jerky. "I don't--" she held a pistol in her left hand, "--want to hurt anyone." The pistol was unwavering in its aim, though her arm trembled, "But I have no choice. "The gray tinge in her optics darkened further as Quickmix screamed.

    "Atmospheric integrity compromised... armor breach detected."
    The voice of Teletran V echoed emotionlessly through the corridor as Red Alert stepped into the cellblock.
    Another explosion rumbled close by.
    The sole occupant of the block looked through the laser bars-every cell had its own power supply and back-up generator-and sneered. "Having some problems, Autobot?"
    "Listen up, Decepticon. What do you know about this attack?"
    "Nothing."
    "Are you lying?'
    "How the hell can I know anything about anything?" Doubledealer demanded. "I've been locked in here for megacycles."
    "You're the spy--"
    'That's what you say, Red Alert." Doubledealer paused as the lights flickered. "But I don't know who's attacking this place. I do know that we're all gonna die if we don't get the slag out of here!"
    "Unless you tell me something useful, spy, I'm going to leave you in here." Doubledealer laughed. "You're an Autobot! You won't leave me to die."
    Red Alert's expression hardened. "Care to bet on that?" he asked.

    In space, high above Oberon's charred surface, emotionless faces stared at the controls of their warships. Logic-guided minds made strategic decisions and issued relentless orders. Weapon turrets adjusted their vectors and locked onto new targets.
    "We're being targeted with insider precision," Optimus Prime muttered as several consoles abruptly went dark.
    The lightpanels flickered from a nearby hit.
    "The Defender bays are all gone," Overrun reported. "Doesn't look like any of them launched beforehand. I don't think anyone got out of there alive."
    "No survivors," Scoot moaned. He was slumped in a chair-fuel dripping from injuries sustained when a tunnel collapse almost killed him.
    "We have to fight on!" Optimus announced in a suddenly strong voice. He stood up and strode towards the main console. "We must fight!"
    "But, Optimus--" Overrun was taken back by the sudden change in his commander's demeanor, but excited too, and then he shook his head sadly. "Our defenses are shattered. The enemy is tearing us to pieces! We must retreat."
    "Intensify the counterfire," Optimus snapped, "I don't want anything else to get through."
    Highbeam stared at him. "But our weapons are being targeted as quickly as they open fire."
    "Continue firing." Optimus pointed to a blank viewscreen. "Lock onto that command ship and vaporize it."
    Overrun stared at him.
    "Continue firing!" Optimus snapped. "What are you waiting for? We've got a battle to win, Overrun!"
    "The battle is already over. We've lost!"
    "He's right, Optimus," Scoot said. "We've got to retreat, pull back while we can and save those who we still can!"
    "We can hold them," Optimus replied coldly.
    "We can't!"
    "We must! We are Autobots...Right is on our side."
    All of the Autobots stared at their commander--they could hear the certainty and assurance in his voice and they could scarcely believe their audio receptors.
    "That doesn't matter anymore," Sonimus Prime announced in her own certain and assured way as she stepped into the suddenly quiet command center. "The universe does not care that we Autobots are fighting on behalf of Good." Her voice had turned cold, devoid of emotion. "Good and Evil matter not a whit to reality...nor to these foes we fight." The pistol in her hand glittered in the glow from the flickering lightpanels. "We are all merely targets."
    "Sonimus, what are--yeargh!"
    Sonimus turned stiffly away as Optimus slumped back into an empty chair. Her gray optics ignored the smoking crater in his chest.
    Overrun and Highbeam stared at her in shock.
    "I could not allow him to lead us further into defeat," Sonimus announced in a harsh voice. "For the future that is coming I had to act as I have done." She stared back at the other Autobots. "I had no choice."