Things were getting worse.  It seemed that not a day passed where Optimus wasn’t confronted by yet more evidence of cracks in the façade of peace.  Fights were breaking out in bars between Autobots and Decepticons, brawls in the street were becoming disturbingly common, and everywhere he looked, Transformers were walking around armed.  Council sessions were becoming less productive as well.

     Eventually, some of the truth about the Rubigen bombing had come out, and both sides had responded with outrage.  It was a minor victory for Optimus that the Combaticons were never identified publicly, as the actions taken against them by the Autobot populace would no doubt enrage the Decepticons.  But even with that small victory came a host of defeats.  The Autobots accused the Decepticons of trying to start another war, and the Decepticons countered by saying they had been framed by high-ranking Autobots.  It had even spilled over into Prime’s dealings with Megatron and Soundwave.

     “This is outrageous!” Megatron bellowed.  He was referring to the evidence against the Combaticons, the evidence that linked them to the terrorist activity.  “I won’t sit here and listen to this nonsense!  Come Soundwave.”  Before he got more than a half step, Grimlock was blocking path.  His electro-sword drawn and leveled, he barred the path.

     “Grimlock say Megatron and Soundwave stay!  Unless Decepticons worried what others find out.”  The air was thick with tension.  Grimlocks sword was inches from Megatrons neck, and both Megatron and Soundwave were about to go for their weapons.  There would be blood spilled here if no-one stopped them.

     As always, it fell to Optimus.  Moving slowly, so as not to startle anyone, he walked over to where the stand-off was occurring.  He reached out and gripped Grimlocks hand, slowly lowering the sword.  “There’ll be no fighting in here.” he said, his voice deep and authoritative.  “Megatron, surely you can see that nothing will be gained by your leaving?”

     “It will get me away from you and you scheming compatriots, Prime.” Megatron retorted.  “That is enough reason for me.”  Pushing past the Dinobot commander, both Decepticons left the Council chamber, leaving Grimlock and Optimus Prime alone.  No spectators were allowed in anymore, after a brawl had erupted during a previous meeting.

     Exhausted, Optimus slumped into his chair.  “It’s all going to the Pit, Grimlock.” he said.  “And there’s nothing we can do about it.”

     “You give up too easily, Optimus.” Grimlock countered.  “Always did.  Not end of everything.  Not yet.”  Grimlocks maturity again reminded Optimus why he had placed Grimlock on the council.  Far from the brash, hot-headed Dinobot he had been during their civil war on Earth, Grimlock was an intelligent and insightful person.  Though Optimus still wished he’d get that voice-box fixed.

     “Maybe you’re right.” Optimus conceded.  “But if nothing’s done soon, we’ll have another war on our hands.”  Getting slowly back to his feet, Optimus headed for the door, with Grimlock falling in beside him.  The two Autobot leaders walked in silence for a time, each lost in their own thoughts.

     “Goldbug!” Optimus shouted, startling Grimlock.  He turned to look at Optimus, bewilderment evident in his eyes.  “In all the commotion lately, I haven’t had time to talk with Goldbug and Hosehead about the missing Hegemony ships.”  Activating his communicator, he directed a transmission towards Blaster, telling him to call Goldbug and Hosehead and have them report to the Council building immediately.  Closing the channel, he turned back to Grimlock.

     “I want you to hear this too, Grimlock.  If a Hegemony battleship was shot down so easily, I think this is something we should know about.”  Hurriedly, the two set off towards the briefing room.

     “Dang those fools!” Megatron bellowed.  Behind him, Soundwave stood, impassive.  Megatron had gone on a rampage once he returned to his quarters, smashing everything and generally acting like a child.  The source of his anger was, of course, the Combaticons.

     “I tell that fool Onslaught to step lightly, and what does he do?  Blows up Rubigens capital building!  Moron!”  At last, with nothing left to break, Megatron began to calm down.  Turning back to Soundwave, he took a calming breath, and began to speak.  “Fortunately, the situation is not beyond salavaging.  Yet.”  With a malicious glint in his eyes, he turned back to the in-built computer.  “However, some sacrifices a be required.”  Accessing a private channel, he began to draft a message.

     “Yes, something will definitely have to be sacrificed for this one.”

     It took a little over an hour for Goldbug and Hosehead to get down to Cybertron and the Council chambers.  Once they arrived, Optimus ushered them into a private meeting room, with four seats and a table between them.  Once they were all seated, Optimus leaned forward.  “So,” he asked, “what did you find?” he asked.

     Goldbug and Hosehead glanced at each other, and it was decided that Hosehead could start, as he had the shorter story to tell.  “Well,” he began, “when we arrived in-system, there was no sign of any of the three ships.  We went through a standard search, starting at the outer perimeter and working inward.  When that yielded no results, we dispatched a series of probes to sweep the area again, this time with their sensors tooled up to max.  After that, there was still no sign of the ship, so we were about to recall the drones and return.”  He paused for a few seconds, to allow Optimus and Grimlock to collect their thoughts, before moving on.  “We were just about to leave, when we received an emergency signal from the third planet.  It was Captain Bloom of the Infinity, although we later discovered it was a recorded message.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  Anyway, it was Goldbug’s ship that intercepted the message, so he went down with a party.  I’ll let him tell you the rest of it.” Hosehead finished at last.  He turned somewhat in his seat, and faced Goldbug.

     The small golden throttlebot waited for a few moments, collecting his thoughts.  “Once we landed on the planet,” he began, “we quickly spotted the remains of the Infinity.  Divebomb, Backstreet, Blades and I moved quickly to where it had crashed, and entered it.  Once inside, we split up.  Blades and I went one way, and Backstreet and Divebomb went another.  Moving carefully, so as not to do more damage, we searched throughout the ship for survivors.  Unfortunately, we found none.”  Goldbug paused again, then continued.  “The air on the planet was inimical to Human life, so we knew that they must have sealed themselves into some area.  Thus, we confined our search to the larger areas.  It wasn’t until we reached the auxiliary engine room that we found them.  Though they had attempted to seal the room, there was too much debris jamming the doors, and they were all killed.”  Again, a pause.  Goldbug looked at Optimus and Grimlock, studying their emotions.  While Grimlock looked angry, Optimus looked distraught.

     “It gets worse, sir.” Goldbug added.  “After we learned that the Humans were dead, Blades and I went to the bridge, to try and find some evidence of what had happened.  Though most of the systems were badly damaged, we managed to retrieve this video.  It was taken on the bridge, from one of the security cameras, just before the attack.”  Getting up, Goldbug walked over to the video unit built into the wall.  Inserting a small data disk, he stepped back, so Grimlock and Optimus could see.

     On the screen, they could see most of the bridge of the Infinity.  Captain Bloom was there, as were nav-tech Williams and sens-tech Edwards.  Everyone was silent while the recording played back. “Signal the Einstein and the Hook.  Have them spread around the planet, search for any other energy signatures.” Bloom ordered.  He paused for a moment, while the transmissions to the other two ships went through, then spoke again. “Williams, swing us closer to that lunar sig.  I want to see what it is.”  They could see Williams plotting the course, and a slight lurch as the ship accelerated.  There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the sound of machinery that every starship crewmember is used to.  At last, Edwards spoke up. “Sir!” Edwards shouted, “We’ve got multiple contacts.  Large ones, sir.  Computer identifies a battlecruiser and two battleships.  They’re swinging around, one target to each ship.”  Edwards looked like he was about to say something else, but the battlecruiser fired then.  The ship shook violently, and the panel in front of Edwards exploded in a shower of sparks, hurling him backwards.  He landed at the foot of Blooms chair, not moving.

     “Williams!” Bloom shouted.  “Radio the Einstein and the Hook.  Tell them to jump out immediate…” but Bloom was cut off as the enemy ship fired again, gouging out huge chunks of the ship and destroying her transmission equipment.  Smoke filled the bridge, and sparks leapt from exposed wiring hanging from the ceiling.  Bloom barely managed to leap from his chair in time to avoid a falling piece of the ceiling.  Standing over Williams’ shoulder, Bloom watched on the sensor readout as the Einstein and the Hook were vaporized under the pounding they took.  His was the only ship left, and not even he would be around for long.

     Opening the comm channel to the attacking ship, Bloom began to yell.  “Who are you?  What do you want?  What…”  But he got no further, as a cold, metallic voice came through the channel.  There was no visual, only audio, and for that Bloom looked glad.

     “This is Cybertronian property, fleshling.  The Decepticon empire considers all incursions to be an act of war.”  The channel was closed, and before Bloom could say another word, a third volley rocked the ship, blowing out the video recorder.  The screen was filled with static for a moment, then went black.

     For a few moments, nobody said anything.  For three of the people in this room, this was the first time they had seen this.  Hosehead spoke up first.

     “Why didn’t you show me this earlier?” he asked.  He couldn’t figure out why Goldbug would keep such an important piece of information from him.

     “I didn’t want any Decepticons onboard to overhear.  You’ve seen how they’ve been lately.  Imagine if we accused them of blowing up Hegemony vessels.” Goldbug replied.  And, Hosehead had to admit, he had a point.  Still, he felt a little upset over having things kept from him.

     But no one was more upset than Optimus Prime.  Raising his hands over his head, he slammed them down on the table as hard as he could.  Though the table didn’t break, they could all see spiderweb fractures running out around his fists.  This was quite an accomplishment, as the table was made out of a super-hard alloy.  “Those fools!” he shouted.  “Those stupid, violent, war-mongering, imbeciles!  Will they never learn?”  Vaulting from his chair, he stormed over to the video player.  Punching the rewind button, he brought up a section of the video again.  He listened as the unidentified voice pronounced a death sentence on the humans, in the name of the Decepticon empire.

     “Now I see why Megatron didn’t want us to send any ships out.” Optimus said, at last.  “He had obviously assumed that the ship had been destroyed on impact, but didn’t want to take a chance.  Damn him.”  His temper under control at last, he returned to the table, settling into his chair again.  “All right,” he began, “what do we do now?” he asked.

     “I recommend we go to the Decepticons with this.  This evidence, with the bombing of Rubigen as well, will be enough to cow them.  But we must move fast.” Goldbug said.

     “Goldbug, don’t be an idiot.” Hosehead snapped.  “Confront the Decepticons with this?  And expect them to stop?”  He threw up his hands, his scorn evident.  “By Primus, we’d be lucky to escape with only another civil war!”

     “You’re right, Hosehead.  This would be a catastrophic thing were it to get out.” Prime said.  Turning slightly, he looked at Grimlock.  The normally outspoken Dinobot commander had been silent the entire time.  “What about you, Grimlock?  Have you no thoughts on this issue?” Optimus asked.

     “Grimlock not sure.” he replied.  “Seem like lose-lose issue.  Tell Decepticons, start new war, or keep secret, and Decepticons keep bombing and killing.  Is complicated problem, and Grimlock have no easy answer.” he said at last.  Surprised by Grimlocks insight, Optimus was silent for a moment.  He was right, of course.  This was seemingly a lose-lose situation, and the worst one Optimus had ever been in.  He would have to do a lot of thinking before coming up with an answer to this problem.

     “Alright, thank you all.” Optimus said.  “You’re dismissed, but I would like to remind you not to discuss what you’ve seen here with anyone.”  With that, the other three Autbots got up out of their chairs and headed towards the door.  Grimlock, however, remained behind.

     “This very bad situation.” he said, drawing Prime’s attention.  “And Grimlock no think Optimus should shoulder whole burden.  Call advisors for help.” he said.  “That what they there for, after all.”  With that, he stepped out through the door, which closed with that reassuring hum.  It was odd how people noticed things like that, he found.  Amongst all his troubles, the fact that little things, like the sound of a door, didn’t change seemed to offer hope.

     Alone in the room now, Optimus straightened up and began to pace.  Grimlock had shown Optimus why he put him on the Council tonight, it seemed.  He was thankful for the support he could draw from the rough and tumble commander, and it seemed like part of Prime was beginning to rub off on Grimlock as well.  Yes, he would have to call in his advisors, he decided.  But not tonight.  No, tonight he would spend with Elita One.  He had had no spare time lately, and her leave remaining was quickly running out.

     Before he left the room, he went back to the video player to get the crystal with the recording.  However, when he reached for it, it wasn’t there.  “Goldbug’s probably got it.” he muttered to himself.  Brushing thoughts of trouble from his mind, he started off towards Elita’s quarters.

     Once they were a little way away from the meeting room, Hosehead stopped Golbug.  “Look, I can accept that you didn’t tell me about the log on the ship for security reasons, but why didn’t you tell me later, like on the shuttle ride over?  And what else are you hiding?” he asked.  This wasn’t at all like Goldbug.  Usually, the small transformer was bright and cheerful, and perfectly willing to pool resources.  But ever since he had returned from the Infinity wreck, he had seemed different somehow.

     “I just didn’t want anyone to overhear it.” Goldbug said.  “Don’t worry about it.  We’re both on the same side, aren’t we?” he asked.  “C’mon.  Let’s hit a bar before they close.” he said, tugging on Hoseheads shoulder.  “And calm down, man.  Boy, you get any more paranoid, people’ll start thinking you’re a Decepticon.”

 Hosehead sighed, but let himself get talked into a night out.  Things were reaching a boiling point, and who knew how much longer a night out would be possible.  Best to get while the getting’s good, as the Earth saying went.

     Cybertrons hospitals look, to the untrained observer, more like a mechanics shop than a medical facility.  Of course, for a race of living machines, this is hardly surprising.   And, for the most part, they are rather empty.  Transformers rarely suffer from the same accidental damage as Humans, and they are often able to affect a decent repair on minor damage to themselves.  Added to that the absence of illnesses, it is not surprising to find hospitals which are practically deserted.

     Not so this one, however.  Main hospital in the city of Rubigen, it was swamped with patients after the events at the council chamber.  Many of these had been released already, their damage repaired.  Still others had passed on, their sparks finally extinguished despite the best efforts of the medical staff.  But many of those injured still remain.

     Amongst these many is a high ranking bureaucrat.  One of the leaders of Rubigen, he had, until recently, been a bot of great importance.  Now, however, he lays in an almost perpetual stasis lock, his body and the efforts of the doctors fighting valiantly to repair the damage.  This Transformer is Kup.

 By his side for the past few days has sat the brash young Autobot Hot Rod.  One of Kup’s best friends, Hot Rod was shocked to hear of the bombing, and rushed over as quickly as he could.  Though he had been enraged by the tactics used, his concern for his friend took precedence over a fruitless search for retribution.  Unfortunately, there was little, if anything, he could do.  Kup would live or die on his own, and Hot Rod could only watch and wait.

     But once the old-timer was back up and about, and the perpetrators were known, Hot Rod would take some very personal satisfaction in doing some very nasty things to whoever it was.

     It was a sad commentary on the state of public feelings that many who sat in that hospital, whether they were mourning or visiting or recuperating, were thinking much the same thing.  Minds were filled with thoughts of violent actions against imagined enemies, enemies who had harmed or killed friends or loved ones.  Fortunately for them, the perpetrators still remained unknown.