To Soundwave’s dismay, the battle below was not even close to being over.  The Autobots were counterattacking viciously, and it seemed as if they were fighting with renewed vigor, as well.  Soundwave couldn’t understand why, until his attention was drawn to the crashed hulk of the shuttle.  Roaring away from it, back towards Rubigen, was Optimus Prime.  ‘He must have been there while I was busy in the cargo hold.’ Soundwave thought to himself.  Oh well.  It made no appreciable difference.

Settling into a chair, Soundwave keyed up the inter-Decepticon broadcast wavelength.  Setting the recording devices in his quarters to broadcast, he leaned back and steepled his fingers.

“Attention, all Decepticons,” he began, his voice as calm as ever.  “You are hereby ordered to withdraw, as quickly as is possible, from the combat areas around and within Rubigen.”  He knew there would be shock and chaos upon hearing that, and expected Motormaster to cut in at once.  Strangely enough, he didn’t.  Pleasantly surprised, Soundwave continued.

“We face a much greater foe than the Autobots.  From beyond our sphere of influence, an invader has come.  The Cybertronian Empire, with the Liege Maximo at it’s head, as arisen to challenge our supremacy.  They are an infinitely greater threat than the Autobots.  As one, we must turn to face them, or be doomed separately.”  Soundwave was pleased with the way this was coming.  The words seemed to roll off the top of his head, and without thinking of it, he knew this was the right way to speak.

“We must stand fast.” Soundwave said, picking up with only a few second’s pause.  “We are encircled, caught with our backs to the wall.  There can be no escape from the Cybertronian Empire, no place to fall back.  Cybertron is ours, Decepticon property, and we will never surrender it!”

“At this moment, I call upon you to think with your neural nets, not your fluid pumps.  Though the Autobots deserve to be destroyed, making way for ourselves, we do not have the luxury of that right now.  We must ignore them, lest we be divided and fall.”

“So, though it is a great hardship, I must order you back.  Regroup at the nearest Decepticon facility available to you; troop divisions will be made out later, once we are entrenched in our position.”

“Decepticons…. forever!”

For a moment, it seemed as if the battle had suddenly stopped, only the Autobots didn’t know it.  The Decepticons ceased advancing, ceased firing, ceased fighting.  They fell back, gave ground, and sought cover.  Autobot forces, beleaguered but brave, were able to seize the opportunity and take back the momentum they had so reluctantly surrendered.

And then, the whole world changed.  The Decepticons retreated, though it was orderly and clearly not a route.  The Autobots sent out small squads to harry them, but their warriors were, on the whole, too tired to move that far that fast.

In the Rubigen C3 center, the mood was pure jubilation.  Technicians were dancing for joy, embracing one another, and cheering for all they were worth.  In the middle of this storm of emotion was the traditional rock; Prowl.  He was standing stock still, staring at multiple camera feeds that showed the Decepticons’ retreat through smashed and damaged sectors of the city.  Though he was happy that the city, as a whole, had been saved, he knew the terrible price that had been paid.  And he also knew who deserved most of the credit.

“Prime did it,” he whispered to himself.  He almost couldn’t believe it.  He hadn’t thought even Prime could be so effective a warrior and rallying point.  “He turned the tide.”

Suddenly, Blaster’s voice sounded on Prowl’s personal comm line.  Stepping out of the room, so as to hear Blaster better without making it obvious by covering his audio receptors, Prowl responded internally.  “What is it, Blaster?

“You got Optimus there?” he asked.

“No.”

“Shame.  I’ve got something here he just has to know about, but I can’t find him.  There’s too much chaos out there to lock onto a single signal.”

Blaster explained.  Prowl could certainly believe that; the whole battlefield would be filled with officers requesting status reports, wounded and killed lists, and troops placements.  As well, there would be calls for aid, calls for reinforcements still coming in, and reports of what was going on.

“Well, tell me, and I’ll tell him.” Prowl replied.  “I’m sure he’ll come here as soon as he can.”

“Whatever you say.  Soundwave just announced his utter control of the Decepticon Empire, both their navy and their ground forces, and ordered the assault on Rubigen broken off so he could prepare Decepticon forces for the ensuing conflict with the Cybertronian Empire.  Got all that?” Blaster asked, sounding just a little smug.

Prowl was speechless.  He was glad he was out in the hallway after all, it would never do to have his subordinates see him standing there, mouth hanging in shock.  “Are… are you sure?” he asked.

“That came from an intercepted transmission, straight from Soundwave himself.  Always knew that guy was good.  Guess it’s just a tape-player thing, eh?”

“Uh, sure Blaster.” Prowl replied.  “Look, this is huge.  Do you have any idea where Prime could be?  We’ve got to find him.”

It seemed Blaster was having way too much tormenting Prowl with these little
surprises.  “Well, if I were you,” Blaster replied, “I’d check out the shuttle that just crashed.  You know, the one Elita-One was piloting?”

“Wise@$$.”

It didn’t take long for Prowl to find Prime.  Or, more accurately, for Prime to find Prowl.  The Autobot leader hurried into the command center only moments later, and nearly bowled Prowl over in his haste.  Falling into step behind his commander, Prowl quickly began speaking.

“Thank Primus you’re here.” Prowl said.  “Blaster just called.  You’ll never believe this: the Cybertronian Empire is still aro-”

“I know.” Prine said, cutting him off in mid-sentence.  “I also know that they’ve attacked all the ‘seceding’ colonies, and that they posses overwhelming forces.  And I assume the Decepticons know this as well, given that they’ve withdrawn from Rubigen, even though they could still have won.”

Prowl was once again speechless, and could only follow Prime as he burst into the main control room.

“Comm,” he thundered, cutting through the jovial spirit in the room like a laser torch through a circuit board.  “I need a tele-conference set up immediately.  The Terran commander and the Decepticon commander.  And find Grimlock, as well.”  His orders given, Prime turned on his heel and walked out, heading for the conference room next door.  The bots in the control room were struck dumb by the shock of seeing Optimus Prime himself. For about five seconds.

It took much longer than that to get everything prepared, however.  Grimlock arrived a little over ten minutes later, and the pair of them were kept waiting for another twenty before the faces of Admiral Ross, Colonel McQueen, Soundwave, and Snaptrap filled the screen.  During that time, Grimlock and Prime managed to read up on the engagement out in space, and Soundwave’s assumption of control.  Neither surprised the pair much.

“Thank you for responding so quickly.” Prime said, making it clear who was in charge here.  “We all know about the engagement between the Terran and Decepticon fleets and the Cybertronian invaders.  We also know this means that the Cybertronian Empire was not destroyed after our war with Jhiaxus.”

Actually, Prime wasn’t sure just how much the two Terrans knew, but he didn’t have time for a history lesson.

“Indeed.” Soundwave replied.  “I trust you have something of more substance to tell us, Prime.”

“Oh, I do, Soundwave.  For instance, do you really think we can withstand the Empire separately?”  Nobody spoke, but that gave Optimus his answer anyway.  “I thought not.  It seems circumstances are conspiring to force our race together, Soundwave.  You know what must be done.”

“I do indeed.” Soundwave replied.  “Or rather, I know what you think must be done.  However, I have yet to see any evidence that you are correct.”

“Oh?  The Empire has been responsible for wiping out the colonies.  The ones that were seceding?  They’re gone, or at least firmly under the heel of the Empire.”  Grimlock grunted at the news, and Snaptrap looked rather surprised, but Soundwave’s absolute calm told Optimus he already knew this.

“Yes.  And they destroyed the Infinity, the Einstein and the Hook.  What of it?” Soundwave replied.  At that, the two Terrans reacted with shock.

“You knew this?” Ross challenged.  “Why didn’t you tell anyone?  Why risk a war over it?”  Prime nodded along with Ross; if Soundwave had known this, it was a ridiculous thing to keep secret.

“No.” Soundwave replied calmly.  “I know this now.  I did not know it then.”

“Then the Cybertronian Empire is even more of a danger than I thought.” Prime muttered.  When he saw others looking at him, he straightened up.

“Don’t you see?  If they destroyed the Infinity, then they must have planted that recording there.  Why?”

“To instigate a conflict which would weaken the three most powerful groups that could oppose them.” McQueen said, speaking up for the first time.  “Divide and conquer.”

“And it almost succeeded.” Grimlock said.  “We fight each other, expend resources to no end.  Meanwhile, Cybertronians out there, watching and laughing.  How close were we to point of no return?”

“Too close.” Soundwave said.  “Very well.  It is obvious that this new threat has both extreme numerical superiority and tactical intelligence.  The Decepticon Empire agrees to support the Autobots and the Terran Hegemony in this conflict.”