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Applejack vs. Soundwave7,158 words
Pinkie Pie vs. Rampage10,256 words
Twilight Sparkle vs. Scorponok24,475 words
Rainbow Dash vs. Starscream17,937 words
Rarity vs. Shockwave, Part 120,910 words
Rarity vs. Shockwave, Part 214,019 words
Fluttershy vs. Megatron14,941 words
Maximares Reunite13,148 words
Spike vs. Abominus18,361 words
Problem on Paradron11,114 words
The Enigma of Combination10,410 words
Return to Equestria13,263 words
Equinaut vs. Cryotek5,612 words

Problem on Paradron

Maximares Rising

Chapter 10: Problem on Paradron

Things had taken a turn for the worse since we'd last seen the girls. Their rescue of Spike had gone wrong from minute one when air mines had shot their ship down.

Then, they had found out Spike had been a test subject of the equally ruthless Decepticon, Shockwave, transformed into the deadly Predacon, Gonder.

Despite this, they brought Spike back to the surface, but now the NSC have caught back up with them at their moment of success. What awaits them? Let us rejoin them and find out…

The last thing Twilight heard was Matt yelling "Hold your fire!" before everything went dark. Her vision came back to an empty white cell, a suspiciously open doorway at the far end.

It took a while for her servos to respond to her command, particularly since her inner gyroscope was still coming back online. She looked down to see a device attached to her before noticing she seemed alot smaller. "That's...oddly convenient..." said Twilight.

She headed for the door only to pause as two humans, holding rifles, aimed at her, the same size at her. At the same time, the air in the doorway rippled. "Where am I?" asked Twilight.

"Shut up!" snapped one trooper.

His fellow rolled his eyes before saying, "You're on board the NSS Excalibur. Headed for one of our main bases."

"I'm guessing it's not to help us get back home," said Twilight.

"I said shut up!" snapped the first, his fellow face palming.

"Jim, there's no harm in telling the prisoners where they're going..."

Twilight had a feeling she wasn't going to negotiate her release nor those of her friends by talking to these two. "May I speak with whoever's in command?" she asked.

"No, you can't. You're a prisoner of war," snapped the first trooper.

"I am not a part of your war," said Twilight, "And even if that were the case, don't, er, officers get certain privileges as POWs?"

"Bots don't. Now shut it!" snapped the guard, shutting the door.

Her communicator beeped at that, it was the girls. "Girls, can you hear me?" asked Twilight.

"Yes, thank goodness we synchronized our communicators earlier," said Rarity, "I've got a bad feeling about where we're going. These brutes of guards won't even tell me where Spike is."

"No idea where Matt and Dante are neither," said Applejack.

"Dante's probably wormed his way out of this," said Dash.

"After all we've been through together?" asked Pinkie.

"Especially after that," said Dash, "I didn't sense a lot of commitment to the team from him."

"I'm more worried about Matt. If they think he's a traitor..." said Fluttershy

"Let's just hope whoever's in charge is a reasonable man," said Twilight.

"Man what?" asked Dash.

"You know, a human," said Twilight.

Matt sighed from his own cell a level up. "Ok...it's just a simple explanation. Dante's gotta back me up," he muttered before he heard a chuckle, looking over to see Dante on the other side of the bars. "Oh no...don't tell me..." muttered Matt.

"Well, I told you we should have focused on getting back, but you just wouldn't listen," said Dante.

"Is there anyone you won't sell down the river?" asked Matt icily.

Dante smirked, "It wasn't that hard. I was your superior and you repeatedly ignored orders to return to base."

"So the plight of an innocent planet of ponies doesn't tug at your conscience even a little?" asked Matt.

"And we only have those tin cans' words for that. Did it occur to you that this entire thing was a scam?" snapped Dante

"They look pretty legit to me," said Matt, "And what would the point be of 'scamming' us?"

"Spies. The next step coulda been Central," snapped Dante.

Matt raised an eyebrow. "They had plenty of opportunity," he said, "And what about having to gather everyone up? And Cryotek definitely wasn't on their side."

"Who says he wasn't in on it?" asked Dante.

"Tell me...does Black 13 require mandatory paranoia?" said Matt calmly.

Dante smirked, "Ok, I will admit, seeing you shot for treason after you're interrogated and after your new pals are taken apart is a fun bonus."

"You have really bad trust issues, you know that?" asked Matt.

"It's kept me alive, hasn't it?" sneered Dante, walking off.

"Should have shot him on Nebulos," muttered Matt, "Yep, that would have been the most justifiable time to do so."

The guards weren't even bothering to talk to Spike. But since his muzzle has been clamped shut, there wouldn't be much point anyway.

"See where your weakness has gotten you," sneered the voice in his head, "We should have just left those Maximals to die."

"Not listening to you," grumbled Spike.

"You should...we can still escape," sneered the voice.

"And go where? Back to that burned-out world?" asked Spike.

"We can go anywhere once we finish off these organics," sneered the voice.

"I said be quiet!" snapped Spike, driving the voice away.

Just then, Spike heard a voice, "Watcha think, girls? Plenty o' good things ta salvage."

He looked up to see the Junkions climbing out of a vent before they spotted him. "Hey look at dis. The big bad Predacon trussed up," laughed one of them.

"'Ere now, 'e's supposed ta be a friendly bloke, right?" asked Gryme.

"Would they muzzle 'im if he were friendly?" asked Trub.

"These 'umans don't look friendly themselves," said Gryme.

Spike rolled his optics before trying to tell them to take it off, before pausing, the voice, faint but still there, pointing out how tasty they looked.

Koff made several beeps and tweets, pointing at Spike's muzzle. "Oh, sure, it's easy ta say ya wanna take the dragon's muzzle off, but 'oo's gonna do it, I'd like to know," said Trub.

Spike glared, pulling on his restraints before pausing, trying to get their attention as he heard footsteps.

Koff beeped something. "'Ide? Ain't nobody 'ere but 'im," said Gryme.

The door began to make several beeps at that.

"Oh, 'ide," said Gryme before the Junkions hurried back into the vents.

The door opened just as the last of the trio got into the vent, several troopers running in. "They're in the vents! Get some drones in there!" snapped the leader, one of the others glaring at Spike.

Spike just glared back. His inner Predacon was telling him to roast them it was pretty tempting at the moment.

"Heh...damn tin cans," sneered the trooper.

The one perk these cells had was there were portholes to look outside. Though there wasn't much to see but the blackness of space with distant stars dotting it. But now they could see a planet coming up, a very colorful-looking planet even if it was made of metal.

Three dots approaching from the planet grew into three quad-engined fighters that peeled to the side, before a larger ship temporarily blocked the view, the turrets on its hull showing it to be a warship, more of the fighters flying around it like bees around a hive. As the planet got closer, there were signs of more, floating orbs sitting in orbit, far more clustered around a huge frame in orbit, a huge vessel under construction.

Even more warships patrolled back and forth while more bulky unarmed vessels went back and forth from the surface.

"You think this is another Cybertron?" asked Fluttershy.

Twilight paused as she picked up a transmission. "Acheron control to Excalibur...we didn;t have you due back for three more days."

"We're bringing in some POWs and an AWOL soldier," said a reply.

"Proceed to sector 16. 5th division will be on standby for transfer," said the voice of Acheron control.

"That didn't sound like Cybertronians," said Twilight.

The ship began to descend smoothly towards the planet, several towers seen down below, greenery growing around it.

"I never saw plantlife on Axiom Nexus," commented Rarity.

"How can it survive on a metal world?" asked Fluttershy.

"I doubt they'll tell us," said Twilight, the ship getting low enough to see some of the buildings on the planet were inhabited. Machines were clearing rubble from streets while more went to work on buildings. Their vision could even pick out people in the streets; men, women and human foals too.

"Ah, it looks so nice," said Fluttershy happily.

The ship continued on its way towards several tipless pyramids in the distance. As they got closer, they could see NSC mechs and tanks going back and forth, a huge lit pad seen as the ship came into land before Twilight turned as the door opened.

"Ok, move it. Try anything and a tungsten slug'll go right through you," said the guard icily.

"Wait a moment. Isn't tungsten a soft, malleable metal?" asked Twilight.

The trooper glared, lifting up his rifle which crackled threateningly. "You wanna demonstration? We don't need all of you," he snapped.

Twilight jumped back a bit, her horn giving off a small beep. The troopers didn't notice, one grabbing her and pulling her along.

The girls and Spike were reunited in what looked like a cleared warehouse, though still no Matt. "You girls ok?" Spike asked, curled up and off to the side from them

"We got matching friendship bracelets," said Pinkie waving her foreleg.

"Pinkie, they're restraints," said Spike ominously.

"They do rather clash, don't you think?" asked Rarity.

The lights in the warehouse came on at that, the far door opening to let several mechs in, aiming their cannons down at the group, before a man in blue camo gear walked in, a golden eagle on his shirt's breast pocket. "Well...you're the ones who sent one of mah best men AWOL," he said in a Texan accent.

"Maybe he sent us AWOL," countered Dash.

"Rainbow, do you know what AWOL is?" asked Twilight.

"It's what separate rooms," said Pinkie.

"Absent Without Leave, ladies. He's in a whole lotta hot water...especially disobeyin' orders," said the man before saying calmly, "Now where are mah manners? General Townes...governeer of the Acheron colony."

"Twilight Prime, leader of the Maximares," said Twilight.

"Since when are you a Prime?" whispered Dash.

"I'm not sure he'd take 'princess' seriously," whispered Twilight.

"Well, well. A Prime in mah humble facility. You guys are the best at what you do so ah hear," said Townes.

"Well, I've tried," said Twilight, "This hasn't been really easy."

"We all have problems. Now...Ah assume y'all wanna get off home. We had a few successful exchanges and ah see no reason why Ah couldn't pull a few strings," said Townes in a friendly tone before saying, "But Ah'll need y'all to answer a few questions."

Spike tensed up as his Predacon side snapped, "It's a trick. As soon as he has what he needs, we're all offline."

"Well, I'm not quite sure if we have the answers you want," said Twilight.

"We'll see now, won't we," said Townes, the girls getting the sense that his smile was more suited for a cat that had the mice exactly where he wanted them. "Well, considerin' ya'll are so eager to get back home, perhaps it will help if we knew which star system Cybertron is in," said Townes.

The girls paused at that. "Huh, what is Cybertron's sun called?" asked Twilight.

"I'm guessing they don't have to move their own sun," said Rainbow.

Townes's smile faltered a little. "Ok...let's try something else. Where's your main base located at?" he asked.

"We don't really have a main base," said Fluttershy.

"Don't even have a ship anymore neither," said Applejack.

Townes's smile faded some more as he said, "What unit were you attached to?"

"We are the unit," said Rarity.

Townes sighed. "Guess it's the stick then. Not surprise y'all probably rehearsed this," he said, looking around before pointing at Fluttershy and turning to his men, "Her first."

"First for what?" asked Fluttershy nervously.

"One on one questionin'," said Townes calmly, as two of his troopers walked towards her.

"Well, ok, but you're just going to get the same answers," said Fluttershy.

"We'll see about that, honey," said Townes. Rainbow Dash growled and took a step forward, only for her bracelet to glow and her to be covered in electricity till she fell down. Townes sighed. "Why'd y'all have to be stupid?" he sighed, the troopers pulling Fluttershy along as the others helped Dashie up.

Fluttershy yelped as she was pushed into a darkened room. "Hello?" called Fluttershy, "I've grown accustomed to the dark, but I'm not sure what this is accomplishing."

Townes walked in behind her. "Ah thought we could talk one on one," he said calmly.

"Well, like I told you, you're just going to get the same answers," said Fluttershy, "We're not average Cybertronians."

"That's obvious. What are you? Some experimental unit?" asked Townes.

"That's not an inaccurate statement," said Fluttershy.

"Good, good. We're gettin' somewhere. What were your orders?" asked Townes.

"We weren't given orders," said Fluttershy, "We escaped before we were reprogrammed."

"Now, now, that sounds a bit far-fetched," said Townes, before muttering something into his lapel, some lights coming on, on the other side of a window. Matt could be seen beyond it, two troopers holding metal batons with him. Fluttershy stared as one of the troopers swung her baton out into Matt's back, the two troopers hitting him with the batons before stopping. "Shall we try again?" said Townes

"Leave him alone! He only saved us from Cryotek!" cried Fluttershy.

"Then just tell me the truth, honey. NSC don't look too kindly on spies and traitors and Captain Dante made some compellin' evidence," said Townes, before saying something into his lapel, the troopers backing off.

"I am telling you the truth," said Fluttershy, "We aren't even real Cybertronians. We've been transplanted into these bodies by a mad scientist."

Townes frowned at that. "Now Ah know you're bullshittin' me. That tech's beyond even us. Ain't seen anything like that in a hundred Cybertronian bases we took."

"Look, I'm really not the best pony to ask about this," said Fluttershy, "Ask Twilight. She'd be a lot better at explaining this than me."

"Oh, Ah assure you, Ah will," said Townes before all the lights came on, red in color and a klaxon sounding, a calm male voice saying "Orbital space breach...unauthorized jump point."

Two dozen large Cybertronian ships emerged from the rift, Paradron in the stellar distance. Twilight had, when she'd panicked in her cell, sent out a broad band distress call on almost every Cybertronic frequency available...and the Autobots had responded.

"Ultra Magnus, it's confirmed. Signal came from the planet ahead," said an Autobot at a console.

Ultra Magnus was not happy. Paradron had been stricken from the star maps for a reason. A planet this excessively rich in energon could be used against them too easily.

"Multiple ships in orbit, orbital infrastructure. Thank the AllSpark, it's not Decepticons," said another crewbot before gulping, "NSC ships...at least a dozen."

The Autobots have had a few skirmishes with the NSC before. From what Ultra Magnus could tell, they had been attacked by the Decepticons before and now blamed all Cybertronians regardless of faction. Magnus would rather not want outsiders being drawn into this war, but the NSC has shown themselves as hostile and very well-armed for organics.

"They've seen us. Their fleet's going into a defensive formation. Incoming transmission," said a crewbot before Townes's voice echoed over the speakers.

"Well, well...who might you be? Ah'm gonna have to ask y'all to state the reason you're here."

"I am Ultra Magnus, Supreme Commander of the Autobot Commonwealth military," said Ultra Magnus, "And I am here to answer a distress signal and know why there are NSC personnel on a restricted planet."

"We didn't see no signs when the colonists found this little tin ball. As for distress calls. Dunno what you're talkin about," said Townes calmly before he said a little more sternly, "Ah'm gonna have to ask y'all to smeg off before Ah order mah ships to open fire."

"Then I presume this bot is not currently on the planet," said Ultra Magnus as he uploaded the distress signal's profile. He personally had no idea who this purple fembot was, but he wasn't about to leave her or an energon-rich planet in hostile hands.

There was a pause before Townes said coldly, "Seems we have a little situation. Y'all tell your boys to power down yer weapons and yer cleared for orbit. Seems we might have someone of that description, Mr, Magnus."

"I shall be down personally to open negotiations," said Ultra Magnus.

"Ah'll need to clear that with high command. Ah assume y'all have to do the same," said Townes.

"Yes I will," confirmed Ultra Magnus. Unlike the Decepticons, the Autobots' military answered to the civilian guilds. It was more balanced than the tyranny that the warlord Megatron was trying to establish, but it wasn't without its difficulties.

Proteus was one such problem. A career politician bot and while he was generally disliked, he was careful to never give anyone a reason to vote him out. He was also, to Ultra Magnus, a pain in the tailpipe. "You're saying these humanoids have several bots prisoner?" he said over the comm.

"I am hoping this is simply a miscommunication," said Ultra Magnus.

"Distress signal files don't lie. Is there a reason you haven't gone in yet?" said Proteus smoothly.

"I am trying not to provoke them," said Ultra Magnus, "This is a delicate situation. We don't want to be fighting two wars."

"We already are. The incident with that medical team for example and this...NSC is attacking both the Decepticons and us indiscriminately," said Proteus coldly, before he said, "I'm on my way. I will handle negotiations personally. You are to take no action till I arrive. Is that clear?"

"Understood," said Ultra Magnus a little tersely. He had a lot of doubt in Proteus's tact. How a bot so xenophobic ended up in Interstellar Relations was beyond Magnus's ability to calculate.

That said, the promise of more ships was something he could appreciate. The NSC had brought in another 6 ships. Clearly Townes had been calling in reinforcements. All Ultra Magnus could do for now though was to hope that the fembot was ok...

Townes frowned as Twilight was pushed into the interrogation room. "Looks like somebody called home," he said coldly. Townes was not in a good mood.

High Command had been naturally pissed. Acheron...or Paradron or whatever those bots called it, had been used for the Planet Cracker project due to its isolation and now the bots were all over it. Now security had been breached by a single distress call from this purple Prime.

"Who? Me?" asked Twilight.

"Yes...you. Ah have a Cybertronian warfleet in orbit asking for you specifically. There are 250,000 civilians in danger now cause you got homesick!" he yelled, before he composed himself, "That said...one of your troops said y'all could prove your story. Wow me."

Twilight hesitated a little. She could certainly tell Townes about how she ended up like this, but would he believe her? She needed proof he could see. Then she thought of something. "Computer, access all datatrax pertaining to Cryotek and display," said Twilight.

"Acknowledged," said her onboard computer before her horn started emitting holograms. Townes raised an eyebrow as he watched images of the attack on Ponyville by Cryotek's forces, when Cryotek had turned them into sparks and their fight with him.

"Cataline...this fake?" he asked to the air, a swarm of light motes forming a woman in fatigues, lines of code running down her body and her eyes glowing blue. She walked forward before without warning, pushing her hand into Twilight's head.

The feeling was...while not painful, not pleasant as the AI rifled through her memories like someone haphazardly tearing through a library before she fell to her knees as Cataline removed her hand. "It's not fake. I see no evidence that it's been forged. It seems we have a clear case of Directive 1's breach," she said coldly adding, "This is a serious development, General. If this Cryotek has cerebral transfer technology, Division 66 might get involved..." before Townes waved her off.

Then he said, "Hmm...and Mr Lynch and Dante?"

Cataline spoke up at that, "I examined her memories. Mr. Dante's account has significant deviations."

Townes's eyes narrowed, "Tell the MP's to drag that little shit in."

"Mr. Dante has already taken the last transport out," said Cataline.

"Inform command that Black 13 will be getting another fine. Then get Mr. Lynch some medical attention. How long till that giant tin can arrives?" Townes said.

"It looks like the Autobots are already arriving," said Cataline.

The battleship that emerged from hyperspace was slightly bigger than Ultra Magnus's...and a bit flashy. The designer had wanted the ship to be the center of attention and given the bot it was designed for...well it wasn't a surprise.

Ultra Magnus highly doubted that Proteus's ship would last very long in a real battle, not that Proteus would ever be involved in one. Presently, the councilmember made his grand entrance onto Magnus's ship.

"Ultra Magnus. So this is Paradron. How did these organics find it?" Proteus said calmly, though he was glaring at the site of the NSC ships, three more emerging from hyperspace as he watched.

"That is something I'd like to know as well," said Ultra Magnus, "Perceptor said the quadrant lock should keep out anyone, even by transwarping."

"Clearly he overlooked something," said Proteus.

Ultra Magnus said, "I arranged for a face-to-face talk to get their prisoners released. As far as I can tell, there's a sizable civilian colony down there. The plus of all this is I doubt they know what they have, nor will they let the Decepticons have it."

"How could they not know they have that much energon?" asked Proteus dismissively.

"Organics don't need energon," said Ultra Magnus.

"Maybe not for fueling their squishy bodies, but even their pitiful balls of mush they use for processors can see it as an energy source," said Proteus.

Another Cybertronian, under the name of Dai Atlas, spoke up at that, "I honestly do not think they realise. We detected attempts to reverse the project's effect on the environment. We detected several terraforming devices near their settlements."

"These organics are more backwards than I thought," said Proteus, "It will be easy to get them to relinquish Paradron."

"It may be harder than that. Their ships are quite powerful. If they push the issue, we may not have the ships to force them, not to mention the civilians in play," said Ultra Magnus, glaring a little before a crewbot said "It's General Townes. He's asking when to expect you."

"Tell them we will be down in 10 cycles," said Ultra Magnus.

"Do they even know how to tell time?" muttered Proteus.

Dai Atlas walked over to Magnus and asked, "Are you certain about this, sir? Proteus never had much of a head for diplomacy."

"We don't have a choice, old friend. He's insisted on it. If we're lucky, he won't make this war with the NSC official," Ultra Magnus said back with a sigh.

Then Proteus said, "Magnus...what is that?" pointing to the dry dock in orbit and its occupant.

"We're not sure...some kind of ship under construction. They seem to be very insistent on its secrecy. They've jammed all scans on it but we believe it's a new ship for their fleet," said Dai Atlas.

"It's...very big," said Proteus, "Almost as big as a Doomsday-class ship."

"And that is why we need to be diplomatic here. As far as we can tell, it's practically ready for launch," said Ultra Magnus. It was a small white lie. In all honesty, they had no way to tell for certain if it was ready, though its superstructure was clearly finished but if it got Proteus to take this and the NSC serious, all the better for everybot.

"Well, this puts a new light on things," said Proteus, a little bit nervously.

"Shall we proceed to the shuttle?" said Ultra Magnus.

Elsewhere, Cryotek had come out of his CR tank and he wasn't in a particularly good mood. "Have we found them yet?" he demanded.

"Yes...but you won't like it. We traced it to a Paradron, but those humans got there first. Looks like a major fortress. We'd never be able to land troops," said Dirge.

"At least the Autobots there won't be much of a threat," grumbled Cyrotek, "Paradronians were nothing but spineless pacifists, easy for Decepticons to conquer."

"That's the thing. Our scout drones say there's a big Autobot fleet there too and a Decepticon one shadowing them. Looks like the Great War's still in full swing there," said Dirge, backing up slowly.

"Always at the most inconvenient of times," snapped Cryotek.

"So...what do we do?" asked Dirge.

"Hmm...who is commanding the Decepticon fleet?" asked Cryotek.

"Blackout and Starscream," said Dirge, looking at a file, adding, "And the Autobot fleet's under the command of Ultra Magnus and his second. Looks like one of the Council's there too."

"Ah, Starscream, as predictably treacherous as in every other universe?" asked Cryotek.

"There is a partial scan...could be a space bridge...could be a quantum lock...doubt it's anything," said Dirge offhandedly.

"A quantum lock? I haven't seen one of those in ages," said Cryotek.

"Yeah, the Autobots lowered it when their fleet went in. How those humans got past it..." muttered Dirge before saying, "So...we gonna wait 'em out?"

"You said you also detected a space bridge," said Cryotek.

"Yeah...it's a weak signal. We could get some troops in but unless we repair the other end, they'd be stuck," said Dirge.

Cryotek laughed "I created sparks from organic filth. After that, repairing a space bridge will be easy."

"Aren't those two entirely separate fields of-" started Dirge.

"Not now," said Cryotek, "First of all, let's have a little chat with the local Starscream."

"8 more NSC warships have just arrived, Commander Starscream," said a Decepticon crewbot. The Decepticon fleet was keeping its distance, just out of sensor range of both sides. If they were detected, the Autobots would most likely open fire, followed by the NSC

"More disgusting organics cluttering the spaceways," said Starscream with contempt, "If the Autobots weren't such a priority, I'd have them exterminated."

The Decepticon assigned to him said in a deep voice, "Foolish words. These organics are...worthy of respect in combat. Frontal assault with our numbers would result in our destruction."

"Don't strain your vocal processor, Blackout," said Starscream, "It's not used to such big words."

Blackout's glowing optics narrowed in warning. "Do not remember seeing you in my battles," he said warningly.

"That's because I've been with Megatron during his most important battles. As well as doing very important missions," said Starscream, "Have I ever mentioned that I, single handedly, destroyed the might Theta Supreme?"

Blackout stood up to his full, very considerable, height and glared down at Starscream. "You destroyed Theta Supreme while it was being towed away for repair. I destroyed Zeta Supreme and the Wreckers. I destroyed Delta Supreme too," boomed Blackout, "And I've still got more Omega Sentinels to blow up. Can you do more?"

Starscream gulped before the situation was diffused by the ship's communicator. The computer said calmly, "Unknown frequency...unable to trace."

"Now who could that be?" asked Starscream in a wry tone, "Perhaps one of our covert double agents?"

"We have no agents in this area," said Blackout, the two looking at the comm before the screen flickered and the communication connected by itself.

"Pardon my intrusion, but am I addressing the great Air Commander Starscream?" asked a smooth voice.

Blackout sighed, "Oh no...as if his ego needed to take up more memory."

Starscream just smiled smugly "Who dares address me?"

Blackout smiled behind him as he just heard a barely-muttered "By the Allspark, he's worse than my Starscream. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Cryotek, a Con of considerable scientific resource."

"Cryotek? I heard you were captured by Devcon," said Starscream.

"Rumors of my capture were greatly exaggerated," said Cryotek smoothly before saying, "Now then, I understand you are near a planet controlled by some organic faction. They have something I require for the Decepticons' glorious cause."

"Is that so?" asked Starscream, "Perhaps we should pool our resources."

"My thoughts exactly. I already have a plan, but it requires that the locals' attention is...shifted. This is not a job for simple firepower," said Cryotek, adding, "Though I'm sure you'll get your chance for a fight."

"Shifted to what?" asked Blackout.

"A distraction. This will require...diplomacy to begin with but as I said, once I have my objective, they will begin firing. Then you can destroy them and the Autobot fleet," said Cryotek.

"Di...plo...macy?" asked Blackout.

"It means you need to shut up and let me do the talking," said Starscream.

"Only for a while, Blackout...only for a while," said Cryotek, before saying, "Can I rely on you, Air Commander?"

"Well, I don't boast often, but I am the handsomest robot with the glibbest tongue this side of the Benzuli Expanse," said Starscream.

Blackout managed not to laugh as he heard a faint bang and heard Cryotek moan quietly, "Oh Allspark, my ego-sensor just exploded." Then he said aloud in a smooth tone, "Well, I'll leave this matter in your capable servos."

There was a small pause as the communication went dead, Blackout saying, "Of course we will confirm this with Lord Megatron..."

"Oh, why through all the hassle on a simple little mission?" asked Starscream, "Besides, he'd probably make us wait so he can come here and take-" Blackout's servos made a cracking noise as he glared at Starscream. "Take...control of the mission, but may lose valuable time getting here," said Starscream, a bit more modestly.

Starscream turned to a crewbot. "Take us in. Let's do our job."

The Autobot shuttle flew over the main colony, Ultra Magnus seeing more than a few scared faces looking up. He couldn't blame them. Their first contact with the Cybertronian race had not been smooth. The Decepticons had destroyed almost a dozen of their colonies and occupied 4 more. Magnus reminded himself this is why the Autobots were fighting. It wasn't just to defend the Allspark or Cybertron. It was for all the worlds and their inhabitants that Megatron would mercilessly crush under his heel as he built his empire.

He looked over to Proteus who, in contrast, was looking down at the colony with annoyance and, as they passed the terraformer and it's clear progress, a little anger. "Look at all this green...refuse," muttered Proteus.

"I believe it is called 'vegetation'," said Dai Atlas.

"Urgh...it's bad enough they stole this planet..." said Proteus, as the shuttle began to land near a deserted area of the colony, In the distance, a group of organic soldiers kept the civilians at a safe distance.

"You do have your energon dampener on, right, Councilbot?" asked Dai Atlas.

"Of course I do," said Proteus, tapping a small bracelet as the shuttle landed. The hatch opened and the sound of...anger flowed in. The soldiers were apparently there to stop the civilians getting to them. Ultra Magnus heard yells of 'shame' and 'murderers'...cries for loved ones long gone...the cries of civilians caught in the middle of a war they never asked for.

"We shouldn't be blamed for what the Decepticons do," muttered Dai Atlas.

"Grief makes bots blind," said Ultra Magnus sadly, muttering to Proteus, "May I suggest diplomacy, sir?" before Proteus's eyes narrowed.

"They have those killer drones," muttered Proteus.

"They're piloted, sir." said Dai Atlas, Proteus glaring before his face and mood shifted to his 'talking to the news' mode.

"Good people of, er, Archeron, I assure you we Autobots have your best interest at spark. Though you may be squatters here, you will not be denied the security you deserve," said Proteus.

There was a pause at that, before the yells got louder, a blue mech walking towards them, with two green ones before Townes's voice came from inside it. "Forgive me if Ah don't exactly trust you. General Townes, Head of the Acheron sector and governor of this colony," Townes said, extending his mechs hand in a handshake.

Proteus clearly looked uncomfortable with the idea of touching an organic, even if it was via one of their mechs.

Townes withdrew his hand at that before saying smoothly, "So...Ah assume y'all want your girls and that dragon bot back."

"Dragon bot?" asked Proteus, "Er, I mean, of course we want them back."

"As for squatters, we didn't see your name anywhere when the colony ships landed 3 years ago," said Townes smugly.

"Which brings up the question of how you got past the quadrant lock," said Ultra Magnus.

"Heh...we ain't from these parts. Anything else ain't for talkin' while this war's on," said Townes.

"There is no official war between your people and ours," said Ultra Magnus.

"You try to evict this colony and there will be," said Townes in a warning tone.

"Do you not know what planet you're standing on?" asked Proteus.

"There's 250 thousand people job's to keep their homes intact and to terraform this place back into a livable planet," said Townes darkly.

"If you had any idea of the resource you're wasting-" started Proteus.

"You mean that there little old energon core? We don't use energon. It'd be a step back for us," sneered Townes.

"I don't think you're aware of the extent of the energon here," said Ultra Magnus.

"An entire core...strata of the stuff below the surface. It'll take decades before we clear that there junk out and bring in a proper genesis terraformer," said Townes darkly.

"Clear it out? That's the most valuable energy source in the universe you're throwing away," snapped Proteus.

"And Ah told you. It's obsolete for us," said Townes.

"Talk about throwing astro-pearls before cyboars," muttered Proteus.

"Y'all ain't much of a diplomat, ain't ya. Ah think Mr. Magnus should take over," said Townes calmly, Dai Atlas personally making a memory file to treasure Proteus's expression.

"That's Ultra Magnus. And perhaps it would be better to conduct this in suitable quarters," said Ultra Magnus, "But first, there's the matter of the prisoners you have here."

"They were found trespassing by one of our patrol ships," said Townes, adding "Ah also have reason to believe they ain't exactly one of you guys."

"I am suspecting something is off about this," said Ultra Magnus.

"Agreed. Their Prime had some...compellin' video evidence. Y'all heard of someone called Cryotek?" said Townes.

"Magnus, this is far too delicate a subject to be talking about in the open," said Proteus.

"Well, this here Cryotek appeared in the video with some impressive tech. Cyber-conversion tech. That stuff's illegal," said Townes.

"The only Cryotek I've heard of has already been captured by one of our Cyber-Ninjas," said Ultra Magnus.

Townes said grimly, "Our AI's went through the file with a fine tooth comb. It's timestamped a month ago and it's genuine."

"Then there's more going on here than meets the eye," said Ultra Magnus, "I'd like to speak with these Autobots."

"What about your boss?" said Townes.

Proteus snapped, "Stop talking like I am not even here, you filthy organic."

"Councilor Proteus, I think you are forgetting your station," said Ultra Magnus.

"I'm forgetting my station? The Magnus answers to the Guilds Domesticus!" snapped Proteus.

"Yes, the Guilds, plural. You are only one Bot and you are in charge of Interstellar Affairs, which you are doing a very poor job of managing," said Ultra Magnus sternly.

"How dare you..." snapped Proteus.

Townes snapped, "Ah had about enough of you. Let the adults talk before Ah have you deported back to orbit for incitin'' a riot."

Proteus glared and probably would have done something very unseemly for the Head of Interstellar Affairs if Ultra Magnus hadn't tapped his Magnus Hammer, which produced the sound of rumbling thunder.

Proteus glared before saying, "I expect results, Ultra Magnus." before stomping back onto the shuttle.

"This way, commander," said Townes.

The gang had finally been allowed to see Matt, and to their comfort, their compressors had been removed, Spike especially happy, finally being able to stretch.

Matt himself, so he didn't have to use a megaphone to yell up to them, had been given an unarmed mech to look them in the eye...well, optic. "Are you sure you're ok?" asked Fluttershy with concern.

Matt, in the mech's cockpit, winced from an ache and said, "Nothing medical nanites couldn't fix."

"Hey, is anyone else feelin' a kinda buzz?" asked Applejack.

"Now that you mention it, I do feel kinda jittery and tingly and feeling like popping everywhere," said Pinkie Pie.

"My head's been aching for a few minutes," said Rainbow Dash as the door opened, two Cybertronians coming in, flanked by NSC mechs and a blue one who was talking in Townes's voice.

"Any o' them look familiar?" asked Townes.

"Not to me," said Ultra Magnus, "They don't seem to have vehicle modes that I can see."

"I also don't see any energon dampeners on them," said Dai Atlas with concern.

"We've no reason to restrain 'em..." began Townes.

Just then, Applejack started crackling with energy. "Not feelin' so good," said Applejack.

Dai Atlas began to move forward, a mech trooper grabbing his arm. He turned to say, "Let me help her before she goes offline."

Townes finally said "At ease..." the mech trooper stepping back.

"Offline?" asked Twilight.

"Paradron is heavily comprised of energon crystal," said Ultra Magnus, "It's little surprise that your friend is starting to overload."

Dai Atlas fitted a small device to Applejack, before saying "I'm surprised the others are not affected."

"Transmetals seem to have a higher tolerance for energon radiation than other bots," said Twilight.

"And I guess being technorganic makes it easier for me," said Fluttershy.

"And him?" asked Dai Atlas, looking at Spike who was glaring. "Hmm...his size probably makes him immune...quite a rare thing," he muttered.

Ultra Magnus looked at Matt who waved and said cheekily, "Hi, Robo-Thor."

Ultra Magnus peered closer at Matt and asked, "Have we met?"

Matt shrugged, "Nope, I'd remember a bot with a giant sledgehammer."

"He's a freelancer, Magnus," said Townes, "The lip comes with the job."

"Professional freelancer," corrected Matt.

Twilight said, "We wouldn't be back together if he hadn't helped."

Ultra Magnus looked them over and said, "You are certainly not Autobots, but that doesn't mean you don't have civil rights here."

"They were in a restricted zone..." began Townes.

"And exactly where was this zone?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"Test range," said Townes. Magnus narrowed his optics slightly. That answer was much too vague. "Bit like how y'all won't tell us the big deal over this planet," said Towns calmly.

"Well, things are a bit confusing," said Twilight, "For starters, we're not actually robots. We were put in these robot bodies by a mad scientist."

Ultra Magnus raised an eyebrow at that, Townes saying "Ah had trouble with it too but her black box recording checks out."

"Also, we're from another-" started Pinkie

Matt shoved his mech's hand over her muzzle, pinning it shut. "Outpost," he finished, smoothly.

Townes nodded. "That's right," he said.

Magnus didn't look very convinced. "Uh...say, where are the Junkions?" asked Matt.

"What Junkions?" asked Townes.

"Erm...you may wanna check the machine shops for missing gear, sir," said Matt nervously.

"Uh...so if we're not Autobots, that doesn't mean there's been a breach of treaty, right?" asked Twilight.

"That may depend on the Council," said Ultra Magnus, adding, "It would be better if you came with me to Cybertron."

"Er...that might not be for the best," said Twilight.

"That is up to Councillor Proteus," said Dai Atlas with a sigh before Townes paused, before he and his troopers aimed.

"Oh, really, you don't have to go through all this bother for us," said Rarity.

"Care to explain why yer fleet's raised their shields...or why another fleet's arrived, requestin' approach?" growled Townes.

"Another fleet?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"No idea...but yer own fleets going to a combat footing at both us and them," snapped Townes.

"Not the Decepticons now," said Ultra Magnus in frustration.

Townes got on his comm, "PDF control, you vaporise the first ship to fire. Ah ain't havin a battle in orbit and ground all civilian flights."

Dai Atlas activated his own comm, "Do we have any ID confirmation on the Cons?"

Proteus answered. "It's commander Starscream...and he seems to be surprisingly friendly with the humans. Take the prisoners by-" he began before it broke up.

"Starscream? You've got to be kidding me," groaned Rainbow Dash.

Dai looked at Ultra Magnus. "I assume we didn't receive Proteus's order to use force," he asked.

"Not yet," said Dai Atlas.

"We should return to our ship," said Ultra Magnus, looking at the girls, "Officially, I'm recommending you come with us...but the choice is yours, young bots."

"We need to...discuss our current situation and options," said Twilight.

"Understood but know I do not know how long we can...postpone Councillor Proteus," said Ultra Magnus carefully.

"Hopefully just long enough," said Twilight quietly. The girls and Spike watched as the two Cybertronians walked out before Twilight said desperately, "We need to get out of here."

"And go where?" asked Applejack, "We're pretty far off-course and we don't got a ship no more."

Twilight looked at Townes's mech who said, "No...no way, no how. You already got a ride comin'. Soon as Ah sent that message to High Command, they said you were being sent to another facility, one even Ah ain't got clearance to know where. Ship's half an hour out."

"Can we really afford to wait that long?" asked Rarity, "It sounds like this place could soon become a warzone."

"Especially if Starscream is here," said Rainbow.

"Ah have mah orders. Lynch, they want you too," said Townes, his mech nodding to the troopers who took guard positions before walking out. "Out of the frying pan..." muttered Matt.

"I don't think this is going to get us back to Equestria fast," said Fluttershy.

"Well unless you wanna fight the entire base..." said Matt.

As had been demonstrated, Proteus didn't have a lot of tact with talking with organic races. It was hard to tell if he had tact with talking with mechanical races, considering who he was talking with here.

"How much more proof do you need? These organics were probably hired by the Decepticons to occupy Paradron!" he shouted at Ultra Magnus, snapping, "Now I'm ordering you to open fire."

"Proteus, I don't believe you're thinking this through at all," said Ultra Magnus, "The Decepticons want nothing to do with organics. They're dedicated to wiping out species so they can pave over their planets."

"Then explain these messages from our scanners?" snapped Proteus, tossing a data pad over, before composing himself, "I...we can't take the chance anyway. How long till we can target the core?"

"Targeting the core will only destroy themselves," said Ultra Magnus.

"That's the point. We cannot risk the Decepticons either taking the planet or buying it. The Council will see those squatters as acceptable losses," before he said, "I'm going back to my ship. I expect-" he began before the sensors started beeping, a new jump point forming between the fleets.

What emerged was the ship equivalent of an alpha predator. Light barely reflected off its black hull, the ship, if the Cybertronians had known of the animal, like a stingray, its tail curved over its back. The only symbol on it, was a single solid white circle with a dark spiral in it. A Decepticon frigate was already moving to engage it.

"Who is that supposed to be?" asked Proteus.

"It's not matching any known ship designs," said Dai Atlas.

A green beam suddenly lanced out from the new ship, striking the frigate dead center, the ship seeming to bleed from existence from the point of impact till all that was left was fading green light motes.

The three Autobots stared in shock at that. "Shoot them! SHOOT THEM!" yelled Proteus, the Decepticon fleet powering up its engines as well and beginning to move.

Then the flagship ejected a smaller ship, but certainly larger than a lot of fighter ships. "They've deployed Blackout," said Ultra Magnus grimly. Everyone one had heard of him. He and the rest of the Decepticon Heavy Brigade had faced off against the Wreckers and Zeta Supreme. Blackout was the only survivor on either side. Now he was the Decepticon Heavy Brigade.

There was already a swarm of fighters spewing from the NSC ships, half heading for the Decepticons...and half heading for them. A yellow bolt lanced out from the lead cruiser, striking an unprepared Autobot ship, knocking a section off and sending the now-burning ship out of control.

"Ultra Magnus, I think peace talks are over," said Proteus, "Now it's a matter of keeping our enemies from getting the largest stockpile of energon not on Cybertron."

A trio of NSC fighters flew past the window, their blasts hitting the shield to little effect. "I'm returning to my ship. Prepare the charge," snapped Proteus heading out the bridge.

"What about their prisoners?" asked Ultra Magnus, managing to keep his temper in check.

"They're not Autobots. And even if they are, they're acceptable losses against the Decepticons getting enough energon to wipe us all out," said Proteus. A beam lanced out from a NSC cruiser at that, hitting another Autobot ship that exploded spectacularly. "Preferably while we still have ships," Proteus snapped.

Townes stomped onto the bridge of the Damocles, the bridge crew saluting. "Tell civil authority to press gang every damn civilian vessel and hauler. I want the colony evacuated. Get a transmission to Fleetcom. Tell them we need immediate backup. Now lets see what this flashy thing can do," he ordered, crew scrambling to obey his orders.

Amid the chaos of Autobot vs. Decepticon vs. NSC, no one would notice one small group of bots. That's what Cryotek was counting on. "You know your order, Spy Streak," said Cryotek, "Extract the pony-bots and get out. Only shoot whoever gets in your way."

"Evacuation plan? I doubt we can get through the base without being noticed," said Spy Streak.

"Fortunately for us, we have an inside Con," said Cryotek, "These access codes should help."

"Codes received. Who are they for? The subjects?" asked Spy Streak. He wanted as much information as possible. An insert in a warzone into a major enemy base, which would require on top of everything, compressor coils would be a perfect ground for the plan going wrong.

"No, bigger. Much bigger," said Cryotek with a smirk, patting his dragon mode head.

"Confirmed. Going silent. Will call again for exfiltration," Spy Streak said before switching to his team's frequency. "We do this quiet...minimal fuss. You do not terminate anything without my express orders. If they get an alert off, we're scrap," he commanded. The other Vehicons nodded before they all transformed to jet mode.

The guards glared as Matt and the girls, and Spike discussed their next move. "Ok...we can rush the guards, maybe," Matt said quietly.

"After all the powers we've gotten, we ought to be," said Rainbow.

"Yeah, Applejack has her piledrivers and quick shooters, I have my Pinkie Sense and ability to appear where I'm least expected, Twilight has her magic and her proton wands that allow her to imitate other weapons, Rainbow Dash can control the weather all by herself, Rarity has her enhanced radar sense and super-tough drill, and Fluttershy can shoot lasers and mind-control beams from her eyes," said Pinkie.

"The problem would be the rest of the troops in the base," said Matt, before saying "Ah fuck it...on the count of three..." before to their surprise, the troop mechs headed out, their replacements being lanky thin black mechs, almost organic. Their eyes were just a trio of red lines.

"Sergeant Lynch?" said one of them.

"Uh...he just left," said Matt, "I'm...uh...Private Preserve."

"Bioscan matches. Don't bullshit us, Lynch," said the same mech, the others walking forward to surround the girls and Spike, who growled.

"It was worth a try," said Matt.

"Not with that lame cover," said Applejack.

"Captain Anvik, Division 66. You're all coming with us...or you can stay here. General Townes has ordered a planetary evacuation," said the lead mech.

"They're giving up the planet that easily?" asked Twilight.

"One stray torpedo to a terraforming tower will be like igniting a nuclear warhead," said Matt grimly.

"Not to mention this planet is 75% composed of energon crystal," said the lead mech, "And you know what happens when an explosion hits energon."

"It'll take out everything in a million miles...this planet'll crack like an egg," said Matt.

"In other words, I wouldn't want to be standing on it," said Spike.

"Our ship's outside. We leave now," commanded the lead Division 66 trooper.

"As soon as we pick up our Junkions," said Pinkie.

"No time!" snapped the lead trooper.

"Gryme...what were you thinking? 'Get on the shuttle' you said," snapped Trub, the trio crawling through a vent.

"Well, we lost our old ship. Why not another one?" asked Gryme.

"Yes...the warship full of heavily-armed organics," snapped Trub, pointing through a grille as a trio of troopers ran past below.

"Eh, they ain't so smart," said Gryme, "They never look in the cargo 'old."

"Extra security to cargo holds," said a voice over the PA at that.

Koff beeped something reproachfully. "No, it's Trub that jinxes us all the time," said Gryme.

"No I don't. You do!" snapped Trub, Koff looking down as they argued and going wide-eyed, shaking their shoulders. "Koff, use your big-girl beeps," said Trub.

Koff, still looking down, shook them harder, beeping urgently. "What do you mean 'the jig is up'? We don't jig," said Gryme.

Koff made an angry buzz before pulling them so they looked down, where four crewmen were aiming railgun rifles at them. "Hi," said one of the troopers cheerfully, motioning with the gun in the universal language of 'get the hell out the vent with your hands up'.

Koff gave a worried beep. "Don't worry. I'm sure the girls will notice we're gone and will come lookin' for us," said Gryme.

"There ya go again with the jinxin'," said Trub.

"Captain, we are three minutes out," said the Division 66 leader, the group turning a corner, one of the troopers having lent Matt's mech a black rifle of some sort.

"Good. And all enemy forces are currently engaged off-planet," came the reply over the comm.

"Cannot confirm. Two trooper mechs KIA on the perimeter when we landed. Recommend you prep for takeoff and lock down till we arrive," said the Division 66 leader.

"Affirmative," said the captain before signing off.

"Just how bad is the fighting going to get?" asked Twilight.

"Our precogs just see an asteroid belt here tomorrow," said one of the Division 66 troopers, before their leader paused. A second later, an energy blast almost took his mech's head off. A dozen Vehicons started firing from cover at that.

"DOWN!" yelled the leader before the mechs started returning fire.

One Vehicon stood out, directing the others. "It's Spy Streak! Cryotek's here!" called Twilight.

The troopers looked at each other before the leader said, "Jenkins, release their weapon locks. I can trust you lot not to run, right?"

"From these losers?" asked Applejack.

The expressionless troopers mech didn't give anything away before he said, "Sure..."

"You guys need to work on your sarcasm," said Pinkie.

"Just shoot them!" snapped Matt, aiming his rifle and firing, a dark red orb hitting and throwing a Vehicon flying, a hole clean through it.

Meanwhile, Spy Streak was trying to get a good shot on Spike. "This better work or Cryotek will need to find his own head," he muttered. He was pushed aside by one of his team who took a disrupter shot that removed the bot's head and shoulders. "Dammit..." he muttered, resetting and aiming.

"Virus uploaded...reprogramming will be complete in 1 minute," said a calm female voice.

Spike paused in his blasting before he started shaking his head. Something appeared to be off about him. "Spike? You ok?" called Matt, Spike clawing at his head. It felt like it was spinning like a top.

"Guys, something's wrong with Spike," said Twilight.

"Captain, we need air support now! We're cut off!" snapped the squad leader, blasting another Vehicon.

Twilight ran over to Spike. "Spike! Spike!" she called, a scan bringing up some sort of combat virus at work, the word under origin only saying 'MilNet Division 66.' "Fluttershy, I need you to keep Spike calm while I work on an antivirus," said Twilight.

"No...NO!" yelled Spike, shaking, the virus seeming to...notice her.

"Unauthorized user..." it simply said.

"Fluttershy, quickly!" called Twilight.

Spike shook harder before going still, his optics going out. "Program complete...initiating reboot. Have a nice day," said the virus before self-deleting.

"That's probably not good," said Twilight. Spike's optics lit up at that, though that wasn't the name anymore on Twilight's vision. "Guys, get out of the way!" yelled Twilight as Gonder shifted to dragon mode and roared.

Gonder looked around with a snarl. He had no idea why he was in control again. A voice came over his system, "If you don't want to go back into the back of that body's mind, move now. Grab the ponybots and kill those damn organics or I'll reverse it myself."

Gonder certainly had less trouble with turning on those organics. He had been wanting to roast them all day. He heard someone yell that weakling's name as he closed his jaws on one of the black mechs and crushed it, tossing it aside, several painful hits felt as the others fired. The Predacon roared before breathing out flames around him.

"Spike, what's wrong?" called Rarity, before barely dodging the flames.

"Spike's...not...here!" roared the Predacon. Gonder grabbed the one that had called the weakling, the purple one and snarled, "And he's never coming back." He opened his mouth to bite before roaring in pain as a green beam lanced down, glancing him and sweeping over three Vehicons, leaving a trench and vapor in its wake. A manta-shaped ship was hovering overhead, firing smaller cannons down at the Vehicons.

"This couldn't happen at a worse time," snapped Rarity.

"Maybe that's why it happened," said Twilight, spotting a familiar Vehicon.

Spy Streak fired several shots up at the ship, its shields soaking it up before he pulled one of his team to block another green beam, the luckless Vehicon vanishing with a sizzling noise in the same matter as the frigate. "Everybot, fall back!" he called, before turning to face Gonder, "Fall back, you moron before they put you back in oblivion."

Gonder roared before flying up. "Spike, no!" yelled Twilight.

Gonder turned to spit one last fireball, before him, Spy Streak, and the remaining Vehicons vanished. The ship circled once before landing, more of the mechs and humans in carapace armor running down the ramp. "We have to go!" yelled one of the mechs

An announcement said, "Attention, Starfury pilots. Cybertronian fighters have opened fire on the evacuation transports..."

"But we can't let them take Spike," said Rarity.

"You stay and you're dead!" snapped the leader.

"Anyways, if those goons followed us here, they'll follow us anywhere, bringing Spike with them," said Matt.

"The sergeant's right. If they follow us where we're going, they'll wander into our terms," said the leader before snapping "NOW MOVE!"

The civ-transport, Mayflower, broke apart under weapon fire from several jet Decepticons before a second rave was chased off by NSC Starfuries. Behind them, a Decepticon battleship was being turned in two by a mercenary battlecruiser.

The Autobot fleet was taking advantage of the chaos to slowly get closer. Proteus glared at the huge NSC ship in the dry dock. Now they were getting closer, they could see hundreds of cannons clustered over the heavily-armored hull. "Preparing to drop bomb in 3...2..." said a voice over the com before a proton beam lanced up from the surface, slicing the bomber ship in half, one of several among the fleet.

"Magnus is just going to let Paradron fall into enemy hands," muttered Proteus, "If I had Alpha Trion's power, things wouldn't have fallen this far."

"Sir...that...big one's moving," said a crewbot nervously, the Damocles lighting up as it powered up before a comm came in. "Ah'm givin yer one chance. Walk away," said Townes's voice.

"And let you have Paradron? Over my sparkless shell," snapped Proteus.

There was a sigh before Townes said "Goodbye." before the line went dead.

"It's powering up weapons," said a crewbot.

"Then blow them up first," said Proteus, "The NSC is clearly an enemy state."

Proteus's ship and their escort fired, their blasts sailing towards the Damocles, only to impact a blue shield. A second later, a hail of railgun rounds ripped into the only other battleship on its side, the ship shaking before explosions ripped along its side as its shields failed, and still the Damocles continued to fire till the ship was burning fragments.

A second later, it began firing at every enemy ship in range as it turned to face what was left of Proteus's fleet, a blue glow coming from below presumably where the bridge was.

From Ultra Magnus's ship, the Supreme Commander watched the destruction of the Autobot fleet by both the Decepticons and NSC. "Sir, orders?" asked Dai Atlas.

"Transmission from Proteus. He's requesting reinforcements," said a crewbot urgently, before everybot covered their eyes at a flash of light from the Damocles. A brief white beam had lanced out, striking Proteus's command ship, more energy shooting out to its escorts. The universe seemed to hold its breath before every ship in Proteus's fleet exploded at once.

Ultra Magnus uncovered his eyes to see the floating debris of what was Proteus's fleet. "Paradron has fallen," said Ultra Magnus, "We have only one recourse left."

"Commander Starscream...wh...what are your orders?" whimpered a crewbot, the Decepticons having seen the same thing. The Damocles was already moving to engage the Decepticons, putting its mass between them and the planet.

"Blackout, you've taken out two Omega Sentinels. This ship can't be harder to destroy than them," said Starscream.

"Too much flak. My wing cannot get close enough to be effective," snapped Blackout's voice over the communicator, in a frustrated tone.

"Well, if we can't have the energon, then no one can," said Starscream.

"It's charging its main guns again," called a crewbot, this time two yellow beams launching out, striking two Decepticon carriers and ripping them apart.

"Then circle around the planet and drop the warheads," snapped Starscream.

"I think the Autobots are planning to do it for us..." said another crewbot, pointing to Ultra Magnus's fleet.

"Well, as I see it, we forced the Autobots to give up a valuable commodity," said Starscream, "I think Megatron will be pleased with that."

"Shall I order a...tactical withdrawal?" said the same crewbot tactfully.

"That's just what I was about to say," said Starscream.

"Ultra Magnus, they haven't finished their evacuation," said Dai Atlas quietly, the Decepticons clearly turning to leave, the NSC's new warship destroying another of their ships as they ran.

"Wait until the last ship has left orbit," said Ultra Magnus, "Then we drop the bomb."

"Is it necessary at this point?" asked Dai Atlas. "The Decepticons know where Paradon is now," said Ultra Magnus, "We won't be able to defend it without stretching the rest of our forces thin. And I'm afraid we cannot count the NSC as allies at this point."

"Ultra Magnus, their combat ships are on an intercept course," said a crewbot nervously, Dai Atlas and Ultra Magnus seeing the NSC fleet reformed, the Damocles at its head. "Ordinance reports the bomb's ready...but if that fleet gets too close, we'll never fire."

Townes's voice sounded, "Ultra Magnus, by the authority of the Nullspace Security Coalition, Ah order you to power down your weapons and prepare to be boarded."

Ultra Magnus sighed. This was where he had to make the tough decisions for the sake of all Autobots. "The Autobot Commonwealth does not acknowledge the authority of the Nullspace Security Coalition," said Ultra Magnus, "And we cannot allow Paradron to fall into enemy hands."

"Don't make me shoot y'all down. If y'all don't surrender before we enter range..." began Townes.

"It is you who needs to get out of range," said Ultra Magnus, "Dai Atlas, deploy the omega bomb."

Dai Atlas sighed, pressing the control to fire.

"They just fired ordinance at the surface!" yelled a crewman, Townes seeing the dot showing it heading for Acheron.

"All capable ships, emergency jump!" he snapped.

The manta ship flew through the wreckage of the fleet as the omega bomb shot past them. "Erm...what was that?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The captain of the ship said sadly, "It's the end."

The dot sailed down into the dark before there was a bright flash, orange cracks spreading out from impact. Blazes of pink energy shot up high into orbit, one glancing a civilian ship which exploded. "Helm, get us out of here!" snapped the captain.

The ship's thrusters hit their maximum as fiery cracks spread across the planet's surface. "What was that?" yelled Twilight over the noise of the engines. More ships were being caught in the blast while others seemed to suck into themselves, space seeming to bend as they vanished.

"Prepare to warp," said the captain.

The girls and Matt watched as Acheron seemed to bloat before, just as the image vanished, it seemed to become a second sun, before space was transformed into a kaleidoscope. "Jump successful," said a crewman.

"Did...did they..." said Applejack weakly.

"Yeah...they did," said Matt grimly.

"The Autobots had to do it to keep a valuable resource out of enemy hands," said the captain stoically.

"But...not everyone was gone..." said Pinkie, her mane going flat.

The captain took his helmet off to show a fox head. "It's war. The Cybertronians feed off energon. If their enemies had gotten it...it's logic; scorched earth," he said, before saying, "Captain Felis, Division 66."

"Er...this is still an NSC ship, right?" asked Matt.

"Division 66 is part of the NSC." said Felis.

Matt gulped. "Wait...I heard stories. You're Darkrift. The NSC monster hunters," he said nervously.

Felis smirked, "Indeed. We rather like the name the public has for us."

"Wait, are we the monsters here?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"That's our job to decide," said Felis, the girls and Matt noticing the room they were in was empty, Felis stepping through a door behind him, a blast shield dropping. His voice came over a speaker, "I honestly wish you'd not involved the merc. We've followed his career closely and he'd have made a great agent." Then green gas began to flow in.

Fluttershy gasped before holding her breath. "Uh, Fluttershy, we're robots, remember?" said Applejack, "As in we don't need ta breathe?"

"That's why the gas has a fun little piece of tech we found in the Concodia Cascade on a destroyed ancient ship. It should have the same effect," said Felis's voice, before the girls realised Fluttershy wasn't faking.

"But we're not even-" started Pinkie before their optics started dimming.

Matt and Twilight both began firing at the door, even as the room span.

"Insistent, aren't they?" said Felis sadly, watching the feed as the last of the group collapsed.

"We'll be at Command one in 30 minutes. They have containment primed," said a crewman.

Felis nodded before looking at the group and repeating to himself, "Such a shame..."

Cryotek wasn't very pleased himself. "Spy Streak, did we get our objectives mixed up?" asked Cryotek, "The goal was to grab the ponies, not the dragon."

"The mission had to change on the fly," said Spy Streak, showing footage of the Division 66 ship. "Whoever they are, they're so secret I can't find anything on them. We're probably lucky the trackers are still working at all. Any facility they have will need every edge we can get...like a purebred Predacon."

"That's one way to look at it..." said Cryotek as icy mist flowed from his dragon mouth, "Though I could also say you got so focused on the Predacon that you let the true objective slip away."

"I watched that ship of theirs soak up weapon fire like it was nothing and vaporise a Reaper-class frigate in a single shot on approach to the planet," said Spy Streak, calmly, "I did what I could...but I warned you there was little chance this mission would go off glitch free."

Cryotek sighed in frustration. "I am so close, so close, to claiming the ultimate prize. And I'm at great risk of losing my only chance at it. Can you imagine how that makes me feel?" asked Cryotek.

"As annoyed as Megatron, sir. Gonder can be useful. He's a hunter...and if all else fails, he'll distract their forces once we locate where they are," said Spy Streak.

"All I'm saying is that this had better be our last stop before finding the prize," said Cryotek, "Otherwise, I am going to have to replace a lot of crew."

"Sir, if this force is as powerful as I suspect, you may have to anyway," said Spy Streak.

Cryotek glared at Spy Streak and said, "I wasn't talking about casualties of battle." A stream of icy liquid shot from the dragon's mouth and froze up a section of the floor.

There's another chapter, if a short one. This time, the story takes place in the universe of Transformers Animated, specifically during the Great War that happened long before the first episode of the show. We have several familiar characters, including Ultra Magnus, Starscream, and Blackout. Dai Atlas was featured in the AllSpark Almanac so I thought he was appropriate to add here. Proteus is based off of the senator of the same name in the first IDW comic continuity. And Paradron is a planet that appeared in the G1 episode 'Fight or Flee' and was mentioned to have been destroyed in the AllSpark Almanac.

Anyways, it looks like a big setback for our heroes, though at least we won't have to worry about Dante anymore. But things are hardly over at this point. The next chapter should be coming soon, perhaps by the end of the week. Keep an eye out for it and please review.

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