“Here they come!” someone shouted, and almost immediately, the whole garrison leapt into action.  Dogfight and Backstreet were up on the wall, watching the Decepticons race across the flatland between them.  Most were in vehicle mode, and those that weren’t were riding their compatriots.  Dogfight didn’t know if it was because they had no alternate mode, or it was too slow, but he didn’t have much time to think about it.  They were closing fast, and the two Triggerbots figured they were in range.

     “Odds on I kill more?” Backstreet said, his voice lighter than one would have thought in the middle of a charge.  Turning his head for a moment, Dogfight snorted.

     “Right.  You’ll be lucky to hit the ground.” he said.  And then, there was no more time for talk, as the enemy was upon them.

     “They’re here!” a messenger shouted, running into Ironhide’s office.  The crimson Autobot nodded, reached out and established the link to Colonel McQueen.  “You know?” he asked, and McQueen nodded affirmative.  “All right.  Move your combat walkers around to the south wall.  My men will reinforce along the east and west.”

     “Can do, commander.” McQueen replied.  He turned away, shouting his orders to his command staff.  In a moment, he returned his attention to the monitor.  “Commander, this seems to be a little lighter force than anticipated.  Do you concur?”

     “I do.  I can’t figure it out.  It isn’t like Motormaster to keep his men in reserve.  He’s always been the direct type.”  Ironhide turned his head, glancing off at some of the tactical displays.  The Decpticons were pouring on the firepower, attempting to blast the walls down.  Several were airborne, causing havoc among his troops rear lines.  The ground forces, however, were being contained, barely.  “Although it’s not like I’m complaining, Colonel.  This may be a benefit to us, after all.”

     Behind him, Ironhide heard some piece of equipment start to beep rhythmically, and one of his staff hurried over to him and handed him a printout.  “Never mind, Colonel.  We may be in trouble after all.”  Punching in a satellite feed, Ironhide routed it to the Terran MCU.  On the screen, McQueen could see a second column of troops coming in from the north.  Belatedly, Ironhide realized that Motormaster must have split his men much earlier, sending half around behind his command post.  Between them, the two forces could smash his men, their combined firepower outnumbering him more than two to one.

     “All units, withdraw to the main square immediately!” Ironhide shouted.  If he could draw his men back, they could close up some of the space, allowing them to defend against the Decepticons on all sides.  “And may Primus have mercy on us.” Ironhide muttered, still watching as the second force advanced.

     “Sir?” Battletrap said, breaking the silence on the bridge.  “It appears that I may have made a miscalculation.”  Faster than he would have believed the cassette player could move, Soundwave bolted over to Battletrap.

     “What miscalculation?” he demanded.  Clearing his throat, Battletrap punched up a graphic of the system.  “It appears our intelligence was not as reliable as we thought.  Though it is true that we have a higher maximum speed, the Terran ships appear to posses a greater acceleration rating then us.  Taking that into account, I calculate the Saratoga will intersect us in ten minutes.”

     Soundwave stood back up, straightening out.  “A minor problem, but not insurmountable.  We outnumber them three to one, and the second Terran ship is only now clearing the moon.  We can smash them and continue on our way.”  Satisfied that his plan was not compromised, he returned to his seat.  Battletrap heaved a sigh of relief.

     “However,” Soundwave said, “Do not think that I will make a habit of mercy.  Further mistakes will be punished severely.  Do you understand?”  Though his tone was civil and his voice was kept quiet, there was no mistaking the undercurrent of a threat in there.  Battletrap shuddered slightly, realizing for the first time just how thin a thread his life could hang by.

     “Completely, sir.  There will be no more mistakes.” he said at last.

     Laser beams and rifle shells sped through the air, ripping up metal and flesh with equal abandon.  Beside him, Dogfight saw one of the Terrans go down, the top third of his body melted into a puddle of organic material and lightweight alloys.  In the face of the Decepticon assault, the Autobots and the Terrans had been forced to close in, until they were left with almost nothing but the Autobot Command Bunker and the Terran MCU behind them.  Nevertheless, the continued to fight back, trying to hold the Decepticons back.

     On Dogfight’s left, Chamber was blowing any enemy he could find to scrap.  The massive transformer mounted a pair of particle rifles on his arms, as well as a cannon hanging over his shoulder.  The ‘Cons were coming fast and thick now, and any second from now he expected them to get into close combat range.  “Ready buddy?” he said, not taking the chance of turning his head.

     “You know it.” Cable replied.  Massing around the same size as Chamber, the two made quite the imposing pair.  Cable, however, was loaded with rather poor weapons for an extended firefight, so he had improvised; seeing one of the Terran battle walkers go down, he had ripped the laser cannon off it.  Now, hefting the massive weapon with both arms, he spotted a small knot of Decepticons coming over the wall.  His finger squeezed the trigger ever so slightly, and the cannon fired.  A beam of superheated light slashed forward, incinerating the targets.  More, however, rose in their place.

     “This is it!” Chamber bellowed, as the Decepticons finally managed to cross the no-man’s land and get into melee range.  Lashing out, Chamber slammed his fist into one of their heads, sending the robot flying backwards.  Beside him, he could hear Cable snap off one last shot before letting the cannon drop.  Reaching into his subspace pocket, Cable withdrew a massive warhammer and proceeded to brain Decepticons left right and center.

     Dogfight, however, was rather ill equipped for close range combat.  His only weapons were the two rifles mounted on the under side of his arms, so he simply continued to blast whatever targets came into range.  One down, another, two more on his right, he began to lose track of how many he had killed.  He did know, however, that it wasn’t enough.  The line was beginning to collapse, too many Autobots and Terrans were being killed to hold.  A few more brave bots dropped to his right, and Dogfight moved to fill the gap.  Unfortunately, he did not notice the Decepticon who had managed to sneak past in the confusion.  Snarling, it leapt at him, intent on dragging him down and beating him to death.

     However, it never got that chance.  In mid-air, it’s flight path intersected that of a laser blast and it dropped at Dogfights side, dead.  Shocked, Dogfight looked around to see who had saved him.

     “Looks like we’re even.” Kobal said from the doorway.  He was leaning against the doorframe rather heavily, and it was obvious that he was still in pain.  However, that had not prevented him from coming out to join the fight.

     “Thanks kid.  Now, get back in there!” he shouted over the noise of the fight.  Kobal, however, had no intention of going calmly back to bed.  He knew that they were in serious trouble, and he had no intention of facing death lying in a medical bay.  Staggering out to meet Dogfight, Kobal gave him a wry smile, before turning his attention to the Decepticon forces trying to overrun the base.  Grunting, Dogfight followed suite, blowing away one more Decepticon as it tried to cross the field.

     “Walls breached in section 12…”  “Autobot forces in route at section 8…”  “…section 3 holding for now, but…”  It seemed that all Ironhide could hear was bad news, as defensive posture after defensive posture collapsed and the Decepticons forced their way into the compound.  He did not doubt that his men were doing their best, but it seemed that the Decepticon advantage in numbers was simply too great to overcome.

     “McQueen, you there?” he asked.  He had lost the line to the Terran MCU a few minutes ago, and had been trying to reestablish communication.  At last, McQueen’s face returned to the screen.  Ironhide noticed, however, that there was a trickle of blood running down his forehead, and the background looked a little messier.

     “My apologies, commander.  A small unit of Decepticons attacked and tried to force entry.  We held them back, but I was required to participate personally.  What can I do for you?” McQueen said, settling into his chair.  Ironhide was impressed with how tough this Terran was under pressure.

     “I’m afraid things are grim, Colonel.” Ironhide replied.  “Estimates are that, within another half hour the Decepticons will have completely overrun the base, and killed all the defenders.  We must withdraw.”  Those last three words felt bitter in his mouth, but he had to consider the reality of the situation.

     In space, meanwhile, a battle of a different sort was going on.  Though they couldn’t hope to destroy them, the Saratoga had engaged all three Decepticon battlecruisers at once.  She was losing the fight, however, and Commodore Ross could think of nothing to do.

     “Hull breach on deck 12 through 15.” someone called out.  Ross had long since stopped listening to the damage reports, concentrating solely on the enemy forces.  “Helm, bring our port broadside to bear.” he ordered.  “Gunners, target the Gladiator’s port weapons.  Her shields appear to be fading in that area.  Let’s run up their repair bill, at least.”  Maneuvering the massive ship as their commander had ordered, the crew of the Saratoga lashed out at the Gladiator.  Cluster missiles and grasers lashed out, some smashing into the Gladiator’s port side, most being diverted by ECM and point defense.  The beating that Saratoga took in return, however, was overwhelming.

     “Hull breach on deck 3, 6 through 11 and 19 through 21.  Graser one and two are down, missile two through four are down, laser 1 through 6 are gone.  Fusion bottle is going.” Smith shouted over the sound of explosions.  More than half of the bridge panels had gone out, taking the crew that manned them as well.  Ross, however, had no time to mourn them right now.  Soundwave was bringing his ships back for another run, and this one would blow them out of space.

     “Sir!” Smith shouted.  “We’ve got multiple hyperspace footprints.”

     “Who are they, lieutenant?” Ross asked, bounding over to the sensor display.  When he saw who it was, he was shocked into speechlessness.