“And you, Admiral?” Prime asked, turning to look right at Ross.  “Can we count on the Terran Hegemony to stand with the Transformers here?”

“It doesn’t sound like we have much choice.” Ross replied.  “Humanity still remembers the Empire’s attacks on Earth all too well.  If we don’t side with you, then we would only be delaying the inevitable invasion and subsequent destruction of our people.”  With a sigh, Ross turned away from the screen for a moment, running a hand through his close-cropped hair.  Reaching out with his other, he tapped a control on the arm of his chair.  “I’ve just send off a recording of this conversation, as well as all the information we gathered on the ships we fought earlier, to Terra.  Within two hours, I’ll expect to have an official declaration of war against the Cybertronian Empire.”  Looking back up, Ross placed his hands behind him and stared at Optimus.  “This is as much our fight as yours now, Prime.”

“Good.” Optimus replied.  “I know that the Hegemony wasn’t pleased to be entering into hostilities in the first place, and that this must seem like leaping from the frying pan to the fire.  But against this fire, admiral, we must all stand together, or be consumed.”

“A brilliant speech,” Snaptrap said, applauding sardonically, “But don’t we have anything better to do?  You know, figure out how to destroy these upstart Transformers?”

“Yes.” Prime replied.  “I suggest the six of us assemble in the Council Chambers in Cybertropolis as quickly as possible.  Bring any others you think might be able to add to our knowledge or strategy session.”  Checking a chrono hanging on the wall, Prime did a few quick mental calculations.  “It shouldn’t take us more than an hour.  Agreed?”  Four others, two Transformer and two Terran, nodded affirmatively, and Prime quickly cut the channel.  Turning back to Grimlock, he motioned for him to get up and hurry. There were too few moments to spare.

“Really?” Goldbug asked in shock.  As chief of intelligence, Prime had invited him into the chambers, and had now told him the whole story.  The little Autobot looked shocked, and Prime couldn’t blame him.  He’d made Prime go over the space battle several times, questioning him about just how sure they were.  Goldbug hadn’t been at all pleased to learn that they were certain.

“Yes, I’m afraid so.” Prime said, clasping his hands behind his back and walking to the holo-tank.  At the moment it was displaying Cybertron, as seen from space.  It was a beautiful scene, and Prime hated to think of the war that would soon consume his planet again.  “The Empire has arisen again, and means to destroy us all.  Fortunately, we caught them in time.”

“Not quite.”  Startled, Prime turned just in time to see Goldbug draw his pistol and shoot Grimlock.  The massive Dinobot commander was tossed back out of his chair, his optics dimming.  Goldbug swung his arm around, pointing the weapon at Prime.  From what he’d seen, this was a far cry from Goldbug’s regular weapon.

“It never ceased to amaze me how gullible you were.” Goldbug gloated, walking slowly but purposefully towards Optimus.  “All this time, and you never suspected.  That’s your problem, Prime; you’re too trusting.  And this time, it’s going to cost you everything.”  The world seemed to move in slow motion, then.  Prime watched as Goldbug raised the weapon, pointing it at his head.  With agonizing slowness, Goldbug squeezed the trigger, fully intending to blow off Optimus’ head.  There was just one thing he, or anyone else, for that matter, didn’t expect.

With an ear-shattering boom, a beam of purple light slammed into his side, wiping away half his upper torso in an instant.  With a look of shock on his face, he spun with the energy released from the blast, landing on his face on the ground.  There was nothing to be seen of either the weapon or his arm.

Prime turned, fully expecting to see Prowl or Ultra Magnus standing in the doorway.  Instead, the sight that met him was totally unexpected. “Megatron?”

Standing in the doorway, with Soundwave and Snaptrap flanking him, the greatest Decepticon leader in Transformer history lowered his arm, his cannon still smoking from the blast.  His green and purple tank body was no more; instead, he looked as he had for over four million years.  Gray and black, with a blocky look about him, Megatron was once again in the body he was created in.  Of course, given the power of that blast, Prime doubted it was an exact replica.

“So, you let a spy into the very heart of your operation, eh?” Megatron said, slowly making his way down the steps to the shattered carcass of what was once Goldbug.  “I always knew you were a fool, Prime, but this?” he said, kicking the crippled faux-Throttlebot for good measure.  “Pitiful.  Soundwave?”  At the sound of his name, the Decepticon communications expert stepped around his leader and flipped Goldbug over, grabbing him by the remains of his chest and hoisting him up.  The searching look he directed at Goldbug was enough to freeze mercury.

“Ugh.”  Belatedly, Optimus remembered Grimlock.  Dashing over to him, Prime checked to see if he was all right.  Thankfully, his hide was even tougher than the assassin had thought.  Despite some scoring on his chestplate, the Dinobot was in good condition.  “Feel like crud.  Anyone get number of starship that hit me?”

“The mighty Grimlock, knocked out by a pitiful Throttlebot?” Snaptrap gloated.  “Do we really need these rejects, Megatron?  The only thing they’re good for is scrap metal.”  The Seacon began to laugh, but Megatron silenced him with a devastating right backhand.

“Quiet, fool.” Megatron hissed.  “You’re here because you may have something worth contributing.  Bad jokes are hardly it.”  Rubbing his jaw where Megatron had hit him, Snaptrap got back to his feet.  He looked mad enough to kill, but wisely restrained himself.

“Well Soundwave?” Megatron asked.  “What was his purpose?”  Without taking his optics from Goldbug, Soundwave’s monotone began to flood through the room.

“This is not Goldbug.” he said.  “On his mission to Sector 12, he was attacked by reserve enemy forces left in the Infinity wreck.  Along with Backstreet, Blades and Divebomb, he was taken captive.  His memory and personality tracks were extracted, and a covert operative was rebuilt to look like him.  The same was done to the other three, as well.” he said, pausing as he forced his way deeper.

“Since he’s returned, he has been working covertly for the Empire.  He leaked the report on the Rubigen bombing, informed us of your double-agent Punch’s operation, and sent the Terrans the information on the Infinity’s wreck.”

“By Primus.” Optimus gasped.  “He started this whole war.”  Even though, intellectually, he knew that wasn’t Goldbug, he couldn’t make himself believe it.  And now, being told that his old friend, a trusted comrade, had fanned the fires of another war…  It was almost too much.

“Calm.” Grimlock said quietly, putting his hand on Prime’s shoulder.  “That not Goldbug.  Goldbug die hero; this thing dies for nothing.”  Again, Prime was shocked by the quiet wisdom Grimlock could often provide.  His warrior perspective often gave him insight Prime, who was, first and foremost, a peace-loving bot, would never have arrived at on his own.  Getting a hold of himself, Prime stepped forward.

“Were there any more replacements?  Any more double agents?” he asked Soundwave.  The cassette player still didn’t look at anyone, but his eyes were even more focused then ever.  He was forcing his way through the defenses the spy’s mind had put up, and it was no simple task.

At last, however, he spoke.  When he did, the room was deathly silent; only the steady drip of mechfluid from the crippled clone’s shattered side broke it.  “The Combaticons.” he said, his voice starting to betray the strain he was under.  Under his breath, Megatron cursed.  “I guessed as much.” he said, a little louder.  “They’ve been erratic and uncontrollable lately.  I knew I should have killed them when I had the chance.”  The casual brutality of it would’ve shocked Prime at any other time, but right now, he was focused on the task at hand.  Besides, he’d just seen Megatron save him by blowing off the assassin’s side; sometimes, he hated to admit, brutality worked.

“It’s too late to do anything about that now.” Prime said.  Of course, with the theoretical work Autobot propulsion experts were doing, that might not always be the case.  But no need to tell Megatron that.  “What we need now is a complete rundown of all his activities, contacts, subordinates, whatever.  We need to know what he did, any plans he had in the works, and whether we need to be wary of any more little surprises.”

“Soundwave?” Megatron inquired pleasantly.  Nodding, the cassette player tightened his grip on the impostor, and turned to walk away.  The remaining two Decepticons paid him no more heed, and Prime and Grimlock, unsure if they wanted to know what was about to happen, let him go without further comment.  Instead, Optimus walked back to the main table, and brought up a schematic of Cybertron.  It was impressively detailed, with all the major troop concentrations, both human and Transformer, marked off.  Megatron was startled.

“And here we didn’t think you Autobots had the spine for such elaborate spying.” he sneered.  “You see Snaptrap?  They are good for something, after all.”

Allowing it to pass, partly in recognition of the fact that Megatron had just saved his life, and also because he didn’t want to disrupt this fresh truce, Optimus called up a new graphic.  This time it was the space around Cybertron as well, with numerous warships shown orbiting.

“Our combined military strength, at the moment, is thus.” he explained, as the three separate colours, one for each faction, merged into a combined hue.  “Now, in the absence of detailed information, I would suggest we deploy our forces in this pattern….”

It was over an hour before Soundwave returned, and when he did, it was alone.  There was no sign of the Empire’s operative, and the Autobot leaders were too tired to ask.  They’d been working on a compromise the whole time, with the Terrans adding their voice through the commline.  All that stopped, however, when Soundwave calmly strolled through the doors and up to the head table.

With a touch of a few buttons, he brought the area of focus out, farther and farther, until the Sagittarius arm was clearly visible.  Here and there, the viewers could see the red of Autobot, the purple of Decepticon and the blue of Terran worlds sprinkled around.  The Terrans had the most, but many of them were new, and not yet fully productive.  The Autobot colonies, though fewest, were the most effective, and the Decepticons fell somewhere in between.  Before their eyes, however, a fourth colour appeared.  Green spread like wildfire, though the Transformer worlds sealed it from the Terran worlds.  Amazingly enough, the green consumed almost everything ‘above’ the Alliance worlds, filling much of the arm.

“The Cybertronian Empire.” Soundwave announced.  Nobody spoke.