Chapter Text
Beyond the Milky Way galaxy, past hundreds of planets and stars was the planet Cybertron. From orbit it appeared to be a ball of metal with a few faint lights and jagged lines, but the globe was home to sprawling deserts of rust, grand cities made of intricate metals and lit with beautiful neon, and oceans of blue life-giving liquid, energon. The planet even had two small satellites that orbited it; one was artificial, a space station once used for scientific research, the other was a simple lifeless moon. As always both flew around Cybertron peacefully and undisturbed, but as they spun a large shadow begun to engulf the moon.
From Cybertron’s south pole three ships flew towards the source of the shadow, a titanic star ship that had taken position over the moon. The craft seemed to be absent of any color besides the light green lights that dotted its sides and tinted its windows. The rest was a black that overtook the empty space surrounding it, like a black hole. The three ships coming from the surface of the planet continued to roar towards the black craft in a staggered formation. The ship in the middle was larger and lagged behind slightly; it looked like it was designed to hold a crew of some kind. On either side of the ship was a smaller, sleeker ship resembling a jet with mostly black and grey colors and orange glass. Between the three ships there was one commonality, a distinct purple insignia plastered on the wings, almost resembling a face the design was made of different spiked triangles.
As the three ships neared the star ship a large slab of metal slid away revealing a well-lit hanger of sorts, inviting in the visiting crafts. Without a word the ships change direction and made their way to the hanger. Inside there were crew working. Some carried large metal boxes while others directed them, others worked on computers and tablets, and others seemed to be maintaining and checking their own ships. Each resembled their star ship; clad in black with green dots of light and made entirely of metal. Each seemed very uniform in appearance; blocky builds with humanoid features like legs, hands, even faces; none wore a distinct insignia. As the three visiting ships came into the hanger the two jets seemed to speed up. Arcing towards the ceiling and cutting their engines both planes began to fall and as they did, they seemed to crumble like paper producing a strange electronic sound. As they fell new features began to appear; feet, hands, and eventually faces. As they hit the ground of the hanger their transformation was mostly complete; wings clicked into place behind their newly formed backs and small bits of metal readjusted into shoulders and hips. The third, larger, ship landed more traditionally and the sides of it slid away revealing one passenger. From the hanger the ships crew could only see the shadow of the new arrival, already transformed it began to step out of the shadows of its ship into the light of the hanger. First, it’s large right hand with a cannon welded to it reached for the roof of the ship, then the rest of the being rose out of the carrier. He stood taller than any of the workers or even his escorts. Now fully emerged from the ship and at his full height the bot gave the hanger a once over and smirked.
From the other end of the hanger an elevator arrived, and two worker bots stepped out, like the ones already working around the room these were clad in the same colors and lights but seemed to sport more armor. They approached the arrival and gave small respectful nods “Welcome to Black Star Megatron.”
The tall bought allowed his smirk to widen and then broke it with a response “It is an honor soldiers, I wish to speak to your commander.”
Both soldiers nodded and motioned for him to follow. Before Megatron could take a step, his escorts moved to assume their original positions in front of their leader. One of the soldiers immediately turned and lifted his hand to stop them “ You both can wait here with your drop ship, he’s only expecting Megatron.”
One of the escorts prepared to spit some insult out but Megatron raised his unarmed hand “Surely he could make an exception for my personal guards, they’ll behave.”
The solider moved his head slightly eyeing down both flying troops. They sneered at him, arms folded; they looked so causal, like whatever happened next was predetermined. “Fine, but no guarantees the boss will go for it.” He grumbled.
The elevator ride was mostly silent. The two soldiers belonging to the Black Star stood closest to the entrance with their backs to their visitors. Megatron stood in the small boxes center while his guards occupied the other two corners. At one point one of his bots and let out a small snicker which caught the attention of one of the soldiers but Megatron quickly shot his troop a look that silenced him. Once the elevator arrived the doors slid open revealing a sprawling bridge with a high ceiling and little clutter. The wall opposite the elevator was, instead of metal or even a computer screen, a large green tinted window. Outside Megatron could see Cybetron in all it’s glory; he allowed his mind to wander a bit, he thought of how satisfying it would be to finally rule, but first he had to win his war.
Returning to the room Megatron noticed workstations on either of the side walls lined with more of the Star’s crew. Each sat in a small metal chair and typed on a computer built into the wall, green light illuminating them. The final feature of the bridge was a black chair in the middle of the room. It was tall and at the very top two spikes extended the height of the throne further. Megatron stepped forward gave a slight bow and addressed the chair that was turned away from him “Thank you for answering my call.”
The chair did not shift at all. Megatron waited for a response but none came, he slowly rose back to his full height and continued to speak. “As you know I have been fighting to bring peace to Cybetron for some time, but my enemy, the faction known as the autobots, have made it hard to reach my goal.”
Megatron paused again turning to see if anything had changed. The occupant of the throne was still looking out at Cybertron, the other bots were still typing away and Megatron was growing impatient. “As you can imagine this has been extremely costly and frustrating.”
Megatron began to pace, arms folded behind his back as best he could manage. He could fell the anger bubbling up as he spoke and he decided to work with it “I have been forced to take violent action against theses pest at the cost of my men, my morals, and the very planet I am attempting to save!” The throne still did not budge.
Megatron’s escorts had begun to stair at their master, unsure of what to do next. The solider that had arrived with them were now waiting from the back as the leader of the Decepticons, an army of gladiators turned rebellion threw what could only be described as the start of a tantrum.
Megatron stopped pacing, he took one slow breath and smiled, returning his attention to the chair “Perhaps a demonstration of my agitation is in order.”
He lifted his arm cannon and the high pitch sound of its charge filled the mostly quiet room. Before the soldiers could react Megatron turned and fired a large purple blast into one of the workstations on the wall. The computer was obliterated and the soldier occupying the station was thrown to the side with bits of his body falling away. The soldiers quickly stepped forward flicking their arms and transforming them into guns. Before they could lift them towards Megatron both escorts were on top of them. One had produced a sword from his arm and plunged it into the guard in front of him sending bits of metal and drops of blue energon onto the floor and both bots. The other decepticon had grabbed the gun of the soldier and began to crush it with his strength. He then gave the soldier two quick jabs with his free hand right into the solders face, denting it and cracking the green glowing glass that acted as his eyes. Megatron blasted another console sending more metal and solders flying. By now the ones still at working computers had rose with guns ready and were moving towards Megatron. The first decepticon had continued to rip away at his target, stabbing him over and over sending more energon and metal flying, while the second had left his target on the ground with one arm and a busted face. He turned to face the mod moving towards Megatron and lifted both his arms. They clicked apart revealing rows of missiles.
Before Megatron could fire another shot or his escort could unleash a barrage of rockets a single precise shot rang threw the bridge striking the first deception in the back. He slumped over immediate on top of his already dead target. The bridge was silent again and all eyes turned to the chair that had now been turned around. Its owner had risen from his seat, his arms slowing transforming from a large blaster back into a humanoid hand. Megatron smiled, now he had the commander’s attention.
The bot stepped down the few steps in front of his throne. He was almost as tall as Megatron but remarkably slender. The robot was clad in the same black as his ship and his men, each step he took did not clang like the others, it seemed to vibrate almost. The most striking feature of the bot was his face, extremely intricate and made of mostly plates of bronze complete with two small light green eyes. “Lord Megatron.”
His voice rung low and calm despite the carnage all around his bridge “I already know all I need to about you and your… situation. All I need from you is instruction.”
Megatron smiled, now feeling he wasn’t being ignored “Excellent, I’d like you plan an attack on the city of Iacon, the autobot capitol. If it were to fall, they would scatter like the pests they are, and my victory would be all but assured.”
The bot turned away from Megatron and went back to his chair “It will be done, now leave; I need time to form my plan.”
Megatron bowed again, almost mockingly this time “A pleasure to make your acquaintance bounty hunter.” He and his remaining guard then left.
The bot returned to his chair and watched as the two visitors left his hanger and returned to Cybertron. He had known of the savage nature of the Decepticon’s and their leader but the way he had flown into a fit of rage was unexpected, as were his orders. Attacking the capital of an army wasn’t as easy as Megatron had made it sound, he would need to do reconnaissance on the layout of the place, the defenses, and, most importantly, the commanders.
The robot knew of a place called The archives that could have what he needed but it was currently controlled by the autobots; it’s control had changed hands multiple times during the war but now it seemed that the bots there and their commander Ironhide had finally won control back. Without much intelligence the mission would be risky but if he took too long to act, he might have to suffer through another audience with Megatron. “Get some men to clean up this mess and replace the crew.”
From behind him one of his soldiers responded, “Yes sir Lockdown.”
“And prepare a shuttle for my scouting party and I, set course to the Cybertron archives.”
With that Lockdown’s men fell back into their work like cogs in a grand machine. He took one last look at Cybertron before turning to take the elevator down. Now in the hanger he joined the group of small bots in their drop ship; the doors slid closed and the ship lifted off towards Cybertron.