“Preparing to re-enter normal space, sir.” Helmsman Williams said.  The massive Hegemony Battlecruiser Infinity was shepherding the science vessels Einstein and Hook to Sector 12.  A system which might contain life.  The Hegemony had quickly dispatched what ships they had on hand after a weak radio signal was determined to have originated there.  If so, this could Humanity’s first intentional contact with an alien race.

    “Very good, Williams.” Captain Bloom said.  A well built man, in his mid-forties, Captain Bloom was somewhat depressed about his current posting.  See the universe, the recruiter had said.  They’d never mentioned that he would be shepherding scientists around the cosmos on wild goose chases.  Oh, he had no doubt that alien races existed.  The Transformers were proof of that, and they had mentioned other alien species.  Unfortunately, most of those species had been wiped out by the forces of Jhiaxus during the last civil war.

     And given the rough time aliens had had at the hands of the Transformers, he doubted any of them would be eager to make contact.  Still, the Hegemony had ordered him out here, and here was where he was.  With a slight lurch, and the distinctive minute drop in power, he felt the ship re-enter normal space.  The next sentences were routine, and he said them almost without thinking.

     “Mr. Edwards, raise the sensor net.  Mr. Williams, set course for the third planet.”  It was from here that the radio signal had originated, and thus it was to there that the ships were headed.  As the crew hurried about their routines, the Captain was lost in thought.

     It had been a long haul.  An eight month circuit with the two science vessels before they received the call about the radio transmission.  Then another two weeks to get here.  My, but he would be glad to get back to Earth.  See his wife again.  Maybe finish up that car he’d been working on.  Yeah, a good long break would be nice about now.

     “Mr. Edwards, any sign of contacts?” he asked.  The sensor operator turned back to his captain.

     “Not a blip on the board, sir.” he responded.  Not entirely unexpected.  Though the signal had been received no more than four weeks ago, it was over twenty years old.  When it was sent, it was probably on equipment no better than the early NASA stuff, but they had expected that in the meantime some advancements had been made.  It seemed, however, that nothing had come of it.  They were too far out to pick up small energy signals, like cities and powerplants, from the planet, so there was still some hope.

     “Very good.  Williams, give me an ETA to the destination.”  Punching up some charts, Williams did a few quick calculations before coming up with an answer.  “A little over two hours, sir.”

     “Excellent.” Bloom said.  Getting up out of his chair, he stepped around it, headed for the door at the back of the bridge.  “I’ll be in my quarters, gentlemen.  Signal me if anything happens in the meantime.  Otherwise, I’ll see you in an hour and a half.  Then, well, maybe we’ll make history.”

      Just as he had said, Captain Bloom returned to the command deck an hour and a half later.  Moving crisply, he settled into his seat, a cup of steaming coffee in one hand, and a small data pad in the other.  Leaning back, he took a sip from the mug, before looking back at the reports.  The latest upload from the Hegemony had contained some odd reports.  Numerous ships had reported seeing unknown vessels, but none of them had ever stopped for any type of contact.  Then, there were reports that some of the outer Transformer colonies had broken away, severing all contact.  Added to that, pirate activity was up lately.

     It seemed like the universe was shaking itself up, getting ready for a big mess.  He only hoped he’d be home when whatever happened, happened.  Placing the pad on the arm of his chair, he leaned forward.  “All right, Edwards, what have you got?” he asked.  Calling up a map of the system on the main screen, Edwards showed Bloom what the scans had revealed.  There were slight energy traces on the surface of the planet, and a few really weak ones in orbit.  The computers had labeled them as satellites, probably communication, and old ones at that.

     “Sir.” Edwards said.  “We’ve got a new contact.  Just swinging around the moon.  It’s a little stronger than the previous space contacts.  Probably a larger, military satellite.  Still not putting out enough power to get a good solid lock, though.”  Bloom thought about this for a few moments.  The reports had assumed a decent technological base, with at least solid-rocket space flight.  But there didn’t seem to be anything here.

     “Signal the Einstein and the Hook.  Have them spread around the planet, search for any other energy signatures.” Bloom ordered.  This situation was getting a little odd.  Even if the people on this planet had been wiped out, there should be lingering energy traces, something.  “Williams, swing us closer to that lunar sig.  I want to see what it is.”

     With ponderous grace, the Infinity moved around the planet, bringing itself closer to the moon.  in conjunction, the Einstein and the Hook moved around opposite sides of the planet, examining the satellites and searching for life on the planet.  Still, they had no success.  The Infinity reached the lunar satellite after a few moments, and began a full sensor sweep.

     “Sir!” Edwards shouted, “We’ve got multiple contacts.  Large ones, sir.  Computer identifies three battlecruisers, six battleships, and two superdreadnoughts.  They’re turning, sir.  They’re…”  But Mr. Edwards was unable to complete his statement.  With deadly skill, the warships powered to full, bringing their weapon systems online.  In a burst of missiles, lasers and plasma bolts, the three Hegemony ships were quickly turned into expanding clouds of debris.  With no time to react, the three ships were slaughtered, and not a single escape pod was launched.

     In the blackness of space, the collection of eleven vessels engaged their jump-drives, accelerating away from the scene of the massacre.  No evidence remained of their presence, save for a collection of free-floating atoms which had been, until recently, the Infinity, the Hook and the Einstein.

     Another dawn on Cybertron.  After spending so much time away from it, he found it was nice to look out upon the metallic landscape of his birth world.  Rising early, he stared out the windows, enjoying the spectacle of the beginning of another day

     “Optimus Prime, come in please.” a voice chimed.  Sighing, the Autobot leader moved away from the window, and towards the console station near the middle of the room.  Settling into the chair, he pressed the ‘receive’ button.  Instantly, the Autobot symbol faded into Hot Rods face.  The eternally-young Autobot had taken a position as one of Optimus’ advisors, and was the bot Optimus depended on to keep him abreast of Human situations.  Given how well Hot Rod got on with Earthlings, it seemed the best position.

     “Optimus, we just received a message from the Hegemony.” Hot Rod said.  The bright red Transformer was his usual energetic self, even this early in the morning.  Frankly, Optimus wondered how he could stand to be so eager all the time.  In some ways, he found himself beginning to think like Kup.  Pulling his attention back to the screen, Optimus listened as Hot Rod outlined the situation.  “The Hegemony wants to know if we can assist them with something.  Recently, they detected an unknown radio signal from a planet in Sector 12.  They sent out three ships, a battlecruiser and two science vessels, to investigate.  However, the three ships haven’t been heard from since.”  Pausing, Hot Rod pulled up an image of the system for Optimus’ benefit.  Neither the Autobots nor the Decepticons had ever been there, so what little data they had came from extremely long range telescope pictures.  With six planets in the system, only the third looked capable of sustaining carbo-based life.

     “Anyway, you know how the Hegemony is currently expanding outwards?  Well, they’re a little short of ships, so they asked if we could help them out.”  Optimus sighed.  It seemed that the Hegemony was being rash, expanding faster than they should.  If they didn’t have enough ships to cover their territory, it should have been a sign something was wrong.  However, Cybertron and Earth had signed a mutual assistance treaty, so they were really obligated to offer aid.

     “Well, I’ll bring it up today.” Optimus promised.  Another day, another Council meeting.  It seemed like they never stopped, but, he reminded himself, he was part of the ruling body of an entire planet, and several colonies.  “Good-bye, Hot Rod.”  Reaching out his hand, Optimus flipped off the screen.  Getting back to his feet, he returned to the window for a moment.  Absently, he wondered if this appreciation of the natural aspects of life was a remnant from Hi-Q’s life, but decided it didn’t really matter.  The moment, however, had passed.  Sighing to himself, Optimus turned and left his quarters, headed towards the Council chambers.

     With the devastation wrought by the millions of years of warfare, followed by the carnage  caused by the attack of the giant Transformer Unicron, Cybertron had been stripped of almost every landmark.  In the end, the Transformers had chosen to build an entirely new city-state as their capital.  Home to millions of Transformers, the great city of Cybertropolis became the seat of the Council.  Contained within the largest structure ever built, the Council chambers served as a podium for political beliefs, a neutral city for mediation, and the center of the combined Autobot-Decepticon military.

     In the audience chamber, Optimus, Grimlock, Soundwave and Megatron listened as Kup and Motormaster presented their sides of a conflict.  Kup, as the aggrieved party, went first.

     “It isn’t safe for Autobots to walk the streets of Polyhex.” the old Autobot said.  “In the past three months, at least a dozen Autobots have been attacked, as compared with only four Decepticons.  Something has to be done.”  The old Autobot seemed to be getting a little emotional, and Optimus could understand why.  Apart from his dedication to the Autobots, Kup felt that this was a personal thing.  Of the dozen Autobots attacked, eight had been from Rubigen, the city Kup commanded.

     “Motormaster, what have you to say?” Megatron asked.  The Decepticon commander had finally been convinced of the need for unity amongst the Transformers.  Though Jhiaxus and his second generation Transformers had been destroyed, who knew what other dangers lurked out in the universe.

     “We’ve been having a lot of problems in Polyhex, sir.” he replied.  The Stunticon leader was obviously hiding something, but what Decepticon wasn’t.  “But we are starting to get a handle on it.” he continued.  He seemed like he was telling the truth, but a lot of Transformers weren’t happy with the arrangements of the cease-fire.

     “Well, we can’t have Transformers running rampant in Polyhex.” Optimus said after a brief pause.  Looking at the other three members, he voiced his opinion.  “I think perhaps a few members of the military could be sent in to keep the peace.”  Thankfully, it seemed that none of them objected to this.  Still, he worried how ordering troops in Polyhex would look.  With agreement on the proposal, Optimus signalled the end of the discussion, and Motormaster and Kup filed out of the room.  “Is that all, Optimus?” Megatron asked.  Never one for politics, he was usually angry about being within this building, let alone having council sessions.

     “Almost.” Optimus replied.  “The Hegemony has requested our aid.”  Before he could go any further, he was interrupted by both Grimlock and Megatron.

     “And what do the Humans want now?” Megatron said, the scorn evident in his voice.  Meanwhile, Grimlock was busy ranting in his own, inimitable way.  “Why should we help Humans?  They have navy now, let them help themselves.”

     “Silence.” Optimus ordered.  At last, the cacophony died down, but before Optimus was able to continue, Soundwave spoke.

     “Megatron, need I remind you that we have a treaty with the Humans?  We are legally obligated to render aid to the Terran Hegemony should they request it, just as they are should we request it.”  As usual, the monotone mastermind had cut to the heart of the issue.  With the treaty in force, the Cybertronians were obligated to render aid.

     Both of the protestors fell silent for a few moments, while they gathered their thoughts.  At last, Megatron spoke again.  “Fine, we shall render the aid.  However, I request that we send only minimal forces.  We have our own needs.”  Optimus consented, though with reservations.  It was true that piracy seemed to be running rampant, and that Transformer exploration and expansion was moving faster than ever, but it still felt like they were cheating their allies.

     “Agreed.” Optimus said.  Sending the orders to Hot Rod, he signaled the end of the meeting.  The four Transformers rose from their seats, and proceeded out of the Council chambers.  Last out was, as always, Optimus Prime.  He took one last look at the room, amazed as always that the whole thing was still holding together.  He wondered if it was blind optimism, or simple hope, that told him it might actually last.  Whatever it was, he hoped it was right.

     After the Council meeting, Megatron and Soundwave retired to a nearby bar, and a rather seedy looking one at that..  Stepping inside, they noticed several other Decepticons there already.  They took a seat at a booth, near the back of the room.  Declining to order anything, they quickly began to speak in hushed tones.

     “The Autobot’s slavish observance of that stupid treaty may yet be a problem.” Megatron said.  “But perhaps we can use it against them.”  Looking around, he made sure that there was no one else within earshot.  “Soundwave, I need you to contact Onslaught.  He should still be in Rubigen.  Tell him to ‘step lightly’.  Those exact words.”

     “As you command, Megatron.” Soundwave replied, his monotone voice still the same as ever.  After all that had happened, it seemed that nothing would change Soundwave.  Getting up, Soundwave made his way out of the bar, making eye contact with nobody.

     Megatron remained behind a little longer, savoring some energon he ordered after Soundwave’s departure.  Optimus was a fool, naïve even now, but he did have his uses.  Megatron sat there, thinking of how, at last, he would rebuild the Decepticon empire.

     A Transformer turned, holding a small disc.  Soundwave’s transmission had just come through, and the intended recipient had perused it eagerly.  He was disappointed, however, when the message consisted of only two words.  Still, it was a good indication of how things were going with the council.

     He turned back to the console, and input a series of coordinates.  The laser pulse generator on the roof turned accordingly, prepared to transmit once the word was given.  Quickly, he tapped in a simple message, and pressed the ‘send’ button.  Then, his work completed, he exited the building.  Stepping out into the daylight, Onslaught smiled to himself.  Things were going exactly as planned.