““Report!” Ross shouted.  His ships had been slightly less prepared than the Decepticons, and had taken a good shaking from that opening barrage.  Nevertheless, they had held together, and were ready to start hitting back. “Approximately twenty ships, smallest is a cruiser, largest is a dreadnought.” Harkness replied.  “Combined firepower outrates ours by a little over 1.2%.  Fortunately, their fire has to be split over both ourselves and the Decepticon task group.”

“Very good.” Ross said.  “Helm, swing around port.  Comm, inform the Cobra’s to split off into pairs.  Attack any target of opportunity.  Signal the Ganges to keep pace with us.”  Watching the sensor data on a screen on the arm of his chair, Ross was keeping a close eye on the Decepticons.  If they chose to attack his forces here, it would be all over for them.

Fortunately, it looked like they recognized a mutual problem here, and were concentrating on these new ships.  While the Terran vessels were trying to get into position, the Nemesis had already destroyed two small cruisers, and was now trading blows with a battleship.  Though the Nemesis outmassed the smaller ship, she was still putting up a good fight.  It seemed Soundwave’s crews weren’t as well trained as these new crews, which put them at a slight disadvantage in ship-to-ship duels.

Of course, the Terran and Decepticon vessels weren’t about to give that to them.  They swept in in duos and trios, smashing the enemy before shooting past and curving for another run.  Though the enemy had a few heavy assault shuttles, the Cobra’s and the Decepticon fighter craft were making short work of them.  Assault shuttles weren’t really meant for space combat: they were too slow for dogfights, but not heavily armed enough to just stand and fire.  Their real purpose was to establish beachheads in planetary assault, something they excelled at.  But here, they were just targets.

Slipping past pretty much everyone, a small shuttle bearing Autobot markings made it’s way towards Cybertron, the occupants hoping their battered ship would survive re-entry.  The pilot was good, but who knew if they were good enough?

“Prepare boarding parties!” Soundwave shouted, clutching at the arms of his seat as the Nemesis was rocked by a particularly brutal hit.  “I want to know who these troops are.”

Battletrap immediately set to work on it, relaying orders for troops to be dispatched to boat bays, preparing for the assault.  Boarding an enemy warship was generally risky, as the defenders would have the time to prepare blockades, as well as using a ship’s internal defenses on the invaders.  Of course, some ships were more difficult to penetrate than others: the general rule was the larger a ship, the more difficult.  This was because of both the larger crew complement and the greater area the same number of troops had to cover.  This could be overcome somewhat by sending aboard larger boarding parties, but there were limits to what you could safely move.  Thus, it was a general rule of thumb that boarding parties were never sent on anything larger than a dreadnought, and a battlecruiser was the best type to try for.

Soundwave had just ordered his troops to board a battleship, which was the next step up from battlecruiser, and so was still within acceptable limits. Added to that, Decepticon troops were some of the most battle-hardened in the quadrant, which gave them better then even odds of taking even a small dreadnought.  Of course, there was still some uncertainty here; as this was an unknown vessel, with an unknown crew.  Though unthinkable to Battletrap, it was possible that they would prove a match for even a Decepticon forces.

“Boarding parties readying and waiting, commander.” Battletrap reported.

“Preparing launch..”

“Belay that.” Soundwave said suddenly.  On screen, the battleship crumpled under the fire of the Nemesis, an errant particle beam smashing through the engine core.  The ship detonated in a blinding explosion, and the Nemesis was rocked from the blast.  “Fire control, I want at least one vessel captured intact.  Comm, inform the Terrans as well.”  Though he hated the thought of working with those weakling fleshbages, Soundwave was a realist.  At the moment, he needed every available resource to protect his planet.  And if he had to make the proverbial deal with the devil, than so be it.

“Message from the Nemesis, Admiral.” someone called out.  Grabbing a head mount of the arm of his chair, Ross settled it quickly on his head, wondering what Soundwave could possibly have to say to him.

“Terran commander, these vessels are of unknown origin.” a recorded voice informed him.  “We wish to take at least one vessel intact for study.

Please adjust your strategies accordingly.”  As abruptly as it had started, the voice cut off, and Ross pulled the headset off.

“Gunners, target battlecruiser 04.  Soft kill, I want her at least 80% complete after this.”  A soft kill referred to damaging a vessel beyond its ability to retaliate without destroying it.  It was a rather difficult thing to do, but Ross was confident in his crew.  Of course, he would have felt better if the old crew of the Saratoga was still here, but beggars can’t be choosers.

As the combined might of the Terran and Decepticon forces pounded on the smaller fleet, another battle was going on on Cybertron.  In the city of Rubigen, the Autobot forces were trying their best to hold back the invading Decepticons.  The appearance of Optimus Prime and Omega Supreme had done much to swing the battle back in their favour, but the larger Decepticon numbers were still a serious problem.

“Reports indicate that the command post and surrounding areas are now totally encircled, sir.” someone reported.  Prowl looked out on the tac plot, trying to think of some new stratagem to stave off defeat.  But at last, he was forced to concede that his forces were doomed.  It seemed Rubigen would fall.  But he wasn’t going to let the Decepticons take this city cheap.

“From hell’s heart,” he whispered, “I stab at thee.”  He had to hand it to those Terrans; their literature was certainly replete with good quotes.  A shame the same couldn’t be said for his own culture; but then, millennia of warfare don’t really leave poets and writers much time to work.  There were a few works, from before the Great War, and a couple had been written since. But certainly nothing to rival the scope of the Terrans.  For such a young race, they certainly had a lot of literature.

“Status of Optimus Prime and Omega Supreme?” Prowl asked, all the while thinking furiously of what his next strategy would be.

“He’s led the enemy some distance away from friendly troops, sir.” someone called out.  “But the Decepticon gestalts are beginning to wear him down.”

“Sir, I’ve got a vessel on a course to the city.”  One of his sensor technicians looked closely at the screen.  “Make that two.  One from space, one from the north quadrant.  Orders?”

“Can you tell who they belong to?” Prowl demanded.  The last thing he needed was for Decepticon reinforcements to arrive.  If they were his, on the other hand…

The question was answered in a moment.  “Vessel 01, the one entering the atmosphere, displays no markings.  Vessel 02 is emitting an Autobot transponder signal.”  Prowl couldn’t believe it.  Autobot forces were on the way to reinforce.

But why so few?  That was a small signature, and couldn’t hold more than four or five Transformers.  If Magnus was going to send reinforcements, why didn’t he send enough to really turn the tide?

Omega Supreme lurched as Devestator’s right hook connected with his head, staggering him backwards.  Capitalizing on the momentary disorientation, he lashed out, a giant lime-green leg slamming into Omega Supreme’s left side. Fortunately, the bonding process allowed him to move a little faster; he grabbed Devestator’s leg with one hand, trapping it there and keeping him off balance.

Unfortunately, that also tied him up, but left Menasor free.  The Stunticon super-warrior rammed a shoulder into Omega Supreme’s back, sending him sprawling on the ground.

Within Omega’s chest cavity, Optimus was rattled around as the giant toppled.  Held in place somewhat by restraint straps, he still bounced of the front panel, his head slamming into a control console.

“Vessel approaching.” Omega Supreme warned.  “Course of action recommended?”

“Continue combat.” Optimus replied after a moment.  “Decepticon gestalts must be kept away from major combat areas.”  With a whir of servo-motors, Omega Supreme rolled right, narrowly avoiding the foot that Menasor had tried to drive into his head.  Quickly, he regained his footing and stood to face his enemies.

“Give it up, Omega Supreme.” Menasor taunted.  “You can’t win against both of us.  You’re only inviting destruction.”  Omegas Supreme didn’t bother to respond verbally; rather, he launched himself forward, the speed of his recovery surprising Menasor.  With a  crunch, Omega drove his weapon barrel into Menasor’s face before firing it.  The close proximity didn’t give it much time to generate the superheated light beam, but it still did serious damage to Menasor.  The Stunticon gestalt staggered back, holding his face as mechfluid streamed out around his fingers.

Watching all this was Devestator, who decided now was the best time to charge in.  Omega Supreme was damaged, his laser barrel cracked and his energy levels low; he would not stand against the Constructicon might for long.  Roaring his hatred for the enemy, Devestator charged forwards, his hands outstretched as if to tear Omega limb from limb.

The Autobot super-warrior saw him before he could strike, moving his arms to block Devestator.  Now they were stalemated, locked together as they struggled to overpower the other.  But Devestator was fresh, and he slowly drove Omega Supreme backwards.  At last, it looked like it was over for the Autobot duo; Devestator was simply too strong for them.

Which was when something totally unexpected happened.