Published September 19th, 2013
Chapter Twenty-Four: Findings
Firefall stood in her beast mode, staring silently at Bunker as Wingshift sat next to her, also watching the disguised superior officer. She shifted her weight to one leg, and Bunker pushed a button on one of the two black boxes next to him, making the second red 'X' light up. She immediately froze again, until she felt a tingling on her leg. Looking down, she saw a large spider beginning to make its way up her talon.
"YAAAH!"
She jumped back and transformed, flinging the creature off into the brush. Wingshift watched it disappear from view, then turned back as Bunker sighed.
"As large as that particular specimen was, it was still completely harmless to you, and in no way warranted that kind of reaction. Therefore," he pressed the button on the black box again, and the third 'X' lit up before all three started flashing and the device gave off a series of loud honks before shutting back off. "Now, let's try it again." Firefall transformed back, and sighed in exasperation.
"Why are we even doing this, again?"
"Because as a scout, you will sometimes need to be completely still for long periods of time." Firefall pointed a feather at Wingshift.
"So why is he here, then? How come he isn't helping Dark Lance and Skybreaker?" Wingshift rolled his eyes as Bunker rubbed his face with a hoof.
"Because Wingshift was only just qualified as an Autobot, and doesn't have any recent formal combat training, so he counts as a scout class as well. That means he needs to go through the same routine you do. Except so far he has done much better." Firefall ruffled her feathers as Bunker gave her a pointed stare. "Now, let's do it again." They all got back into position, and Bunker was about to reset the timer when Burnout's voice came over the comm link.
"Bunker, I need you back at the ship. The sensors just picked up a signal transmission, and I don't recognize it."
"Alright, we're on our way. Let's go, you two." He packed up his equipment, and they all headed back to the ship. Once there, he went straight to the communications room, where he found Burnout sitting at one of the control panels, adjusting the settings almost constantly. She turned when she heard him, and immediately sighed in relief.
"Finally. Maybe you can make some sense of this." She handed him the headphones she was wearing as Firefall and Wingshift came in. Bunker held the side to one of his audio receptors, and muted the other. After listening to the garbled mess of sounds that made up the signal for a few seconds, his optics widened. Without a word, he dropped the headphones, turned, and sprinted out past the others. They quickly followed him, and found themselves in the cell bay. Bunker slapped the shield controls on the cell that held Bloodwing, and stormed in, unceremoniously grabbing the Decepticon by the neck and pinning him to the wall.
"HOW THE SCRAP DID YOU SEND A MESSAGE?!" The other three Autobots froze outside the cell at sound. None of them had ever seen Bunker lose control before, and they were all suddenly very aware of how much ordinance he carried around. "ANSWER ME!" Bloodwing stared at the enraged warrior in confusion and fear.
"I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't sent anything to anyone since I got here, and I don't have any idea what's got you so worked up!" Bunker lowered his captive, and shoved his helmet close to look into Bloodwing's optics point-blank. Satisfied he wasn't being lied to, he huffed and threw Bloodwing to the ground. Stepping out, he reactivated the shield and moved to the end of the hall. He punched a code into the master control panel at the entrance, and a small lever revealed itself from the wall. He pulled it, and heavy blast doors slid out of the ceiling into place to reinforce the energy shields on the cells. He returned to the communications room with the others following him, and started working at the controls. After several seconds, Burnout stepped forward.
"Bunker, what happened? What's going on?" He answered without stopping his work.
"The signal you found wasn't just one message. There were two different signals being carried on the same frequency. One of them was a Decepticon distress signal, calling for help from anyone else nearby. The other was a virus program."
"What?! What was it designed for?"
"To disrupt the thruster programming of the protoform stasis pods, and make them fall out of orbit. And it's already going into effect."
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The clanging of metal echoed through the passageway as Dark Lance cut the last infected Decepticon to pieces and let it fall to the floor. Behind him, Crystal Spark and Skybreaker were cleaning their blades of Energon. He stepped forward, and opened the door. The room inside was dark, but he could see enough to tell that he was now on the ship's bridge. He turned on his lights, and looked around. The entire area was damaged to some extent or another,with the helm and command controls the most heavily damaged. The security station, however, was still in good condition. He turned it on, and searched through the camera files. He quickly found the data he was looking for, and played the footage. The entrance camera showed the door opening, and a rather plain-looking grey unicorn walk in. Crystal Spark came up behind Lance, and confirmed what he was seeing.
"As I thought, Sombra did come here. Now if we can just find out what he was trying to do." Dark Lance switched the camera feed as needed, following Sombra's journey through the ship while Skybreaker joined them. They watched as the unicorn on screen made his way through the ship, and into the cargo hold. "That's where we kept the Dark Energon. Why would he want to have anything to do with that? He always talked about how much it disgusted him whenever someone brought it up." Dark Lance rubbed his chin in thought.
"What about the date? Does it mean anything to you?" Crystal Spark leaned in to get a better look, and nodded.
"Yes. This is about a month after... Oh, no." His optics went wide, and Lance looked at him curiously. "This is a month after the battle with Blazeclaw! It all makes sense now. You see, Sombra and I were two of a very small number of individuals who could still transform, unlike most of the Crystal Ponies. Because of that, most of them didn't want to get too close, emotionally speaking. A pegasus had come here two years before Blazeclaw appeared-"
"The dragon you defeated?"
"Yes, though I'll get to that. Anyway, her name was Bright Blue. She had come for a position in the army we had, and passed spectacularly. Sombra was quite taken with her from their first meeting, especially since she was a pegasus, and he had always wanted to experience flying. He was almost obsessed with it, and had developed several different prototype machines. Anyway, the two of them started seeing each other, and they were married just four months before the attack. In the meantime, Blue had risen through the ranks, and was next in line to be my primary commander. Eager to prove herself, she was first on the battlefield against Blazeclaw, and insisted I stand back to see her skills. She flew like I had never seen anyone fly before, and had it been a normal dragon, she may have been victorious. But Blazeclaw was a Great Dragon, and had six legs to attack with. He grazed her once, and before I or anyone else could do anything, she crashed, and he killed her with his flame. When that happened, I rushed out, intent on destroying the beast, but he was still too strong. All I could do was drive him off, while Sombra brought his wife's burned body back to be buried. He was in mourning for some time, and I could not bear to look him in the eye, ashamed that I had let it happen. It seems that he could not cope, though. Check the camera feed for the laboratory." Dark Lance switched the feed as requested, and before long, they saw Sombra in his robot form enter, carrying several containers of Dark Energon and what appeared to be a body bag. Skybreaker leaned forward trying to make out the image as Sombra cleared off a table, and started laying out his tools before opening the bag.
"What is he- PRIMUS, IS THAT A PONY?!" He reeled back, doing his best to contain his gag reflex. "That is sick and twisted!" Dark Lance nodded in agreement.
"Looks like he was trying to figure out how to bring back the dead."
"I never would have imagined him capable of such evil. He was truly made mad by his wife's death, to be willing to make such experiments." The screen showed Sombra turn slightly, then seem to notice the camera. He walked below the field of view, and then his hand appeared, and the feed cut out before the words 'End of File' appeared on the screen. Crystal Spark stumbled slightly, leaning against the wall with one hand as Dark Lance pieced together what had happened.
"So, Sombra went insane from the death of his wife, started experimenting with Dark Energon to try and bring her back, and probably wound up infecting himself with it. I'd care to bet that the Decepticons we went through on the way here were his work, too. So the question is, why did he take over the Crystal Empire? What would he have to gain by conquering this place? Unless..." He suddenly realized the implications of Sombra's actions, and Crystal Spark's expression said he had come to the same conclusion. "He figured out how to manufacture more Dark Energon."
"By all that is holy... He needs to be stopped! We must get back to the others! They need to know how dire the situation truly is!" They all turned for the door, but stopped in their tracks before they could reach it.
"Crrryyyyssssstaaaalllllssss..." Crystal Spark seemed to slump further at the sound.
"I know that voice. He's here, most likely for revenge. I will lure him in, and keep him occupied. You two need to escape." Skybreaker stared at him incredulously.
"What!? You just woke up! And besides, you're the king! Your people need you!" The older Transformer sighed in response.
"No. They do not need a leader who cannot save his own subjects, and allows his closest friends to fall into darkness. You said that my granddaughter is here, yes?" Dark Lance nodded.
"Then she shall be the new ruler. My time is done, and you may not make it if Sombra's phantoms pursue you. Before you leave, though, I have a gift for you, young one." Skybreaker cocked his head in confusion as the back of Crystal Spark's head opened slightly, allowing him to extract a small chip. "Your weapons are similar enough to my own that my experience in battle can benefit you. Take this, and use it well." He handed the chip to Skybreaker, and the scout plugged it into his own processor. Information flooded his battle matrices, and he briefly wondered how he had survived as many fights as he had. He quickly shook his head to clear it, and nodded his thanks. Crystal Spark nodded in return, and they brought their attention back to the problem at hand; the wisps of black smoke that could now be seen in the hallway. Lance turned to the former ruler of the country.
"So what do we tell them when we get back?"
"Tell them why Sombra needs to be stopped, and when you feel it is right, tell them the rest."
"And what about what happens to you?"
"I shall make my own peace with my mistakes. Simply tell them that I fell against his evil, so that you could return to warn them. I do not want them demoralized by my foolishness in a time when it will matter most." Dark Lance considered for a moment before speaking.
"It's only foolish if you never accept you were wrong." Crystal Spark sighed, and gave a small smile.
"Thank you. Now hide yourselves! The phantom approaches!" Dark Lance and Skybreaker placed themselves behind consoles on either side of the door, using the shadows to their advantage. Soon, a cloud of what looked like liquid darkness came in, shaped like a pony without features. Crystal Spark stood at the other end of the room, and it slowly moved towards him as the two Autobots quietly made their way out.
The sounds of fighting chased them all the way to the exit.
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"SLAG!" Bunker pounded the control panel with a fist, furious at his inability to stop the virus code that had infected the protoforms' stasis pods. He had managed to prevent it from interfering with any more, but five of the pods had already been derailed sufficiently for them to fall. He stared at the screen, working out how he would fix this. "I can't. Not without much better equipment." He didn't like admitting it when he wasn't good enough to do something, but he knew he wasn't the best programmer there was, and he knew his own limits. He activated the long-range communicator array, and once it was ready, prepared a repetitive signal that he hoped would be enough to get Dark Lance's attention.
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Back in the south, Fireburst grinned in satisfaction. His designs for the communicator tower had been sufficient for even the primitive bugs to fulfill his needs, and his virus had successfully compromised enough of the stasis pods for him to have good chances of liberating his other comrades. All he had to do was 'recruit' these new ones. He turned to his other equipment, opening a large map of the area between where they were and the mountain range north of Canterlot. There were precisely five pins placed on the map, and he beckoned Chrysalis over with a claw.
"These are the five positions where the protoforms will land. I will be personally taking care of this one," he tapped the southern-most pin, near the edge of the Everfree forest, "but the others need to be taken as well. I already have the corrupter chips ready, so all your drones have to do is put them in. The plug matches the port exactly, and there is only one of this size, so even they shouldn't have much difficulty. Any questions?" He raised an eyebrow at her, but she shook her head.
"I'll have them get ready." She knew she would probably be sending them to their deaths, but it was better than getting the entire hive killed.
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Wingshift flexed his claws and ran a systems check as Firefall danced in place slightly, obviously eager to get going. Bunker walked in, back to his usual stoic self in the face of emergency.
"Alright, you two, pay attention. We have to assume that Fireburst is behind the signal transmission, which means he'll have planned out most of this already. Therefore, we can't afford to make mistakes. Wingshift, you'll go south. Tracking shows that's where the first crash site will occur. Firefall, you and I will be going west, into Diamond Dog territory. Technically, we shouldn't be, since relations between them and our pony hosts aren't great, but this is a rescue mission, and we can't afford to let one of our own run around unsupervised. You both ready?" Firefall transformed and got into a takeoff pose.
"Let's get going, already!" Wingshift gave a single nod before transforming as well, and Bunker moved toward the door.
"Burnout is staying here to oversee communications, so if anything happens, radio her immediately. Let's rock!" He opened the door and transformed, breaking into a gallop as the other two took to the air.
Burnout, meanwhile, was watching the comm systems for any sign of Dark Lance responding. She didn't have to wait long. It was audio only, but it was there.
"Bunker, this is Dark Lance. I got your message. What's the situation?"
"Bunker just left, sir. We think Fireburst planned this out, so we could really use your help back here. I have the cells in lockdown mode, but if Fireburst comes here while Bunker is gone, I'm not sure I can keep him away long enough. You need to hurry."
"We're on our way."
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"Cadence, Shining. You can take care of things here, right?" They both nodded.
"Yeah, and even if we can't fix it ourselves, we can still ask Celestia to send Twiley and her friends to help. You go and deal with your thing." The Autobot commander nodded his gratitude, and galloped toward the door, Skybreaker following him. Once they got to the city's edge, the shield opened to let them out, and they both took off, not even bothering to check for the smoke cloud, instead simply speeding away before it could appear.