This was it.  All around the city, nervous Autobots whispered that whatever had been building up, today was the day it all came out.  Whether or not this was good or bad depended on whom you asked.  The military units, for instance, were tired of standing around, waiting.  They were ready for battle, anxious even, just so that they could feel like they were contributing.  The civilians, however, were not so anxious.  While many had been able to evacuate the city, not everyone could be whisked off to safety, and there were still some four hundred non-combatants within the city.  To them, whatever was about to happen was looked upon with mixtures of terror and anger, as they realized it was quite likely that their lives would never be the same again.

     Watching it all was Optimus Prime, supreme commander of the Autobot military and one of the two most powerful Autobots in civilian matters.  From the great spiral tower that had been built to replace the destroyed Rubigen council chambers, Optimus looked down on the masses of troops and civilians, upset that he couldn’t protect and reassure them all.  But he knew his limits, and those far surpassed them.

     “I will do all I can,” he said to himself, touching his fingers to the glass, “And hope that it is enough.”  This was more a promise to himself, he thought, than to them.  They, of course, would never hear him say that; it was for his audio pickups only.  Behind him, he could hear the door chime, announcing that someone else was up this early.  Without turning, he ordered the door to allow admittance.

     “Good morning, Prowl.” Optimus said, without turning.  He had spotted Prowl’s reflection in the window when the door opened, although Prowl didn’t know that.

     “Good morning, sir.” Prowl replied.  “I am pleased to report that we have devised a way to get Omega Supreme to Rubigen, without the Decepticons spotting him.”

     “Excellent.” Optimus said.  “I knew I could trust you, Prowl.”  Taking one last look at the cityscape below him, Optimus turned to face Prowl.  “How did you do it?”

     “The Technobots devised an experimental piece of technology.  It’s s a scrambler, but one that works on pretty much every piece of sensor equipment.  He wont show up on radar, lidar, or gravitic detectors.”  Prowl handed Optimus a data pad, which contained all the relevant data on the scrambler.  “It’s a shame, however, that the power requirements of this new technology are so vast that they preclude using it on standard Transformers.  Still, it is nothing short of miraculous that it works at all.”

     Optimus paused to check out the scrambler.  A marvel of technology; it seemed the Technobots had done it again.  He would have to remember to give them medals or something later.  “When will he arrive?” Optimus asked.

     “Within the next four hours, commander.” Prowl replied.  “I trust that is satisfactory?”

     “Of course.  Thank you Prowl.” Optimus said.  Giving a quick salute, Prowl turned and stepped out of the office, leaving Optimus alone with his thoughts.  The Autobot leader stayed near his desk for a few more moments, running over the schematics several times and making sure he had the battle plans fresh in his mind.  Then, satisfied, he turned back to the window.  Below him, Rubigen was waking up, the small night shift being replaced by the hearty hustle and bustle of those who worked and lived during the day.  It was a tribute to Autobot operational security that all too few of them knew what this day would hold for them.

     “…anyway, it was great to hear from you again.  It seems like we never get to see each other anymore.  That’s something I definitely want to change when this is done.” Kobal said.  He was sitting in a comfortably padded chair, typing one-handed on a portable data pad.  “After I get back, what’s say we take a nice vacation?  A lunar cruise or something?  Well, I’ve got to go, so let me just say I love you, and I miss you.  By honey.”  Pressing the ‘send’ button, Kobal turned in his chair, coming face to face with Dogfight, Chamber and Cable.

     “I love you, honey.” Dogfight said, his voice high and lilting.  The other two snickered, and Kobal would have blushed if he could.  “Let’s take a lunar cruise.”  This time, Kobal reached out and punched Dogfight in the shoulder.

     “Hey, just ‘cause you’re old and alone doesn’t mean we all have to be.” Kobal said, dropping the pad on the table and standing up.  Behind Dogfight, Chamber and Cable were still chuckling at him, and he mimed giving them a punch in the face.  “And you two are just jealous that I do so much better with the fembots than you.”

     “Whatever Casanova.” Dogfight replied, rubbing his shoulder and pretending it hurt more than it did.  “C’mon, we’re on wall duty now.”  He started off, and the other three followed after him.

     “Read ‘em and weep, guys.” Dogfight gloated laying out his hand.  “A flush, captains high.”  He reached out to pick up the pile of credit chips, until Cable stopped him.

     “’Fraid not, Dogfight.” he said, laying down his own hand.  Dogfight could only stare at what Cable had been dealt.  The bulky Autobot had a flush to, but his went from lieutenant to Overlord, and it was all Cups as well.  “Looks like the piles mine, after all.”  The other two could only throw down their hands in anger.

     “He’s cheating, somehow.” Kobal whispered to Chamber.  “He has to be.  Nobody can win that often.”  In front of Kobal sat a very small pile, less than a quarter of what he’d started off with.  Chamber had about the same, with Dogfight more or less breaking even and Cable clearly ahead.

     “Well, I’d love to let you take all of my credits, guys,” Kobal said, getting to his feet and peering out over the wall.  “But I don’t think I can afford it.  Deal me out this time.”  He left the other three sitting there, and walked off a little ways.  He needed to clear his head a little, and while getting smoked in cards can be eye opening, it’s hardly refreshing.

     It was, of course, while he was away from his station that the call went up.  From all over the city, siren’s wailed, announcing that there were unidentified forces closing on the city.  Moving as fast as he could, Kobal rushed back to his position, to find the others with the game cleaned up and their weapons ready.  Grabbing his rifle, Kobal settled into position next to Dogfight.

     “Any idea where they’re coming from?” he asked, scanning the horizon.  “Nothing so far.” Dogfight replied.  “All we got was ‘get to your places!’.  So, here we are.  Now, where are they?”  As if in answer to his question, a squadron of pyramid-shaped cyberjets screamed overhead, drawing fire from dozens of emplacements along the wall and returning their fair share of it, as well.  Two of the dozen went down, talking out one of the towers with them.

     “There they are!” someone screamed, and over the horizon poured hundreds of Decepticons.  Some, those with enough range, let loose, their weapons having little effect from so far away.  Here and there a defender dropped back, wounded, but so far none killed.  The return fire was heavier, as Rubigen mounted several very powerful particle projection cannons which were capable of striking with impressive force even at so great a range.  Here and there, knots of Decepticon troops were blasted to smithereens, but their huge numbers enabled them to just keep coming.  At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before they reached the walls.

     “Report!” Optimus shouted as he rushed onto the command deck. Since nobody had expected the Decepticons to attack so early, he had felt safe in taking a little time off.  He had stepped outside of the command building, taking a nice stroll, and he had returned only because the warning sirens had gone off.

     “Decepticon forces are attacking the city, commander.” Prowl replied, saluting.  “Early reports indicate a greater force than we had expected.  Coupled with the fact that they are attacking early, only one conclusion can be drawn.”  Misinformation.  The Decepticons had purposefully allowed them to recover the data.  They had probably anticipated just such an occurrence.  Autobot forces were outnumbered and outgunned, and the massed Decepticon army could deal the Autobots a crippling blow.

     “How long until Omega Supreme arrives?” Optimus asked.  The giant warmachine would be their only hope, their ace in the hole as it were.  The Decepticons could have no way of knowing that he was coming, or that he had even been built.  But he would be useful only once he arrived.

     “Estimate two hours, sir.”  Two hours.  The forces his men were going up against had them outnumbered three to two.  Could they hold out two hours?  Did they have a choice?

     “All right.” Optimus said at last.  Striding over, he seated himself in the center of the command deck, and listened as the reports came piling in.  It was bad, he knew.  The Decepticon forces, while composed mainly of modeless transformers with little experience, were still some of the toughest forces out there.  Already they had smashed the defenses in multiple places, driving the troops there back farther into the city.  Fortunately, not all the news was bad.  In several sections, Autobot civilians had taken up weaponry and were standing side by side with the military, their combined firepower driving back the enemy forces.  Optimus had never been prouder of his men than he was now.  Even in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers, they were standing their ground.

     “By Primus!” Kobal shouted in amazement.  The Decepticon forces just seemed to keep coming, as though the dead were simply transported back and restored, to fight the Autobots again.  Beside him, Dogfight had ducked down for a moment to reload his weapon, and Chamber was busy picking up the slack.  His twin ppc’s were making short work of any enemy that strayed into their path, and the laser cannon overhanging his shoulder wasn’t too shabby either.

     “Cable,” Dogfight said, stuffing a fresh clip into his left gun.  “Didn’t we tell you to get better weapons?”  While deadly in close combat, Cable was rather pitiful compared to the others.  He was equipped with a standard laser rifle, and a rather low-powered one at that.  Whereas even Kobal’s rifle dropped the enemy in a couple of short shots, Cable had to hold the beam on them, frying them slowly.

     “Look, I was busy, okay?” he replied.  Letting the sight drift over another Decepticon, he squeezed the trigger, the beam lancing out and smashing into the ‘Con’s chest.  It began to smoke and melt, until finally exploding, showering its fellows in mech fluid and bits of armor.  “Besides, it still works, doesn’t it?” he added defensively.

     “Yeah, but not like this.” Dogfight replied.  With one fluid motion, he popped up from behind the wall and fired, six blasts taking out three targets in a row.  Unfortunately, there were still more to take their places.

     “This is bad.” Cable muttered.  No one had the time to reply.