In his mind, Ultra Magnus quickly counted the number of Decepticons. We're outnumbered, he thought solemnly, sincerely wishing that Rodimus had taken his advice and brought more than just a handful of the Aerialbots and the Protectobots. “We definitely can't take any off their duties on Cybertron,” the leader had reasoned. “And we can't wait for men to arrive from Earth, given the state of the space bridge.” Hmm, Rodimus did have a point...
... and as he thought that, he found he did too, except this one was ramming squarely against his chest. Somewhere, he could hear Rodimus shouting, “Magnus!” as the force of the hit sent him flying backwards. He managed to regain his balance just in time to see Galvatron lunging towards him again, parrying the would-be blow to slam his elbow into the Decepticon leader's back. “I've got this under control, Rodimus!”
Rodimus gave a signal in the affirmative and turned back to the remainder of his troops, quickly issuing his orders. Magnus had been right; they should've brought more soldiers, regardless of the shortages on Cybertron. He growled softly, remembering the circumstances that had led them to this battle...
“Rodimus Prime, sir! Emergency transmission!” Blaster saluted as Rodimus rushed towards the console, allowing the transmission to feed through. A robot's urgent face, humanoid though far different in appearance than a Transformer's, flashed up on the screen. Rodimus recognised the robot as an Enkian and vaguely recalled having met a few of them during his intergalactic travels.
“This is Dr. Molbane from the Planet Enk. Please, we need your assistance in a very important matter. Am I speaking to Rodimus Prime, leader of the Autobots?”
“Prime here.” Rodimus nodded. “What's the situation, Dr. Molbane?”
“I'll try and relay the events as quickly as possible. A few cycles ago, a civilian brought in a test subject, who attempted to resist capture. We incapacitated him, but his comrades stormed the building where he was being held and rescued him. I-I think they've left Enk, but before that, they... they razed whatever they could. They've caused so much destruction and caused so many deaths, I... I...” The Enkian's voice faltered. “Please, we need you to dispose of these monsters before they return to satisfy their sadistic inhibitions!”
Rodimus and Blaster exchanged an uncomfortable look. As sad as the situation was, they weren't sure that it was a good idea to spare troops to go hunting for a handful of assailants. That, and the doctor seemed like a panicky sort. Rodimus sighed softly.
“What can you tell me about these, uh... monsters?”
“I remember I saw them transform.”
This made both Blaster and Rodimus sit up immediately, alert and listening. “Decepticons?”
“I... yes, I think that's what they were called. They rescued a purple one, one with two horns on his head. They were led by a blue one with wings.”
“Dammit, that's them all right.” Rodimus muttered. “Look, we'll do something about them, Dr. Molbane. Just sit tight, I'll contact you when I'm close to your planet.”
“Thank you, Rodimus Prime. You really are as gracious and merciful as they say.” The doctor, somewhat relieved, disappeared from the screen.
I'm really not, thought Rodimus, feeling a pang of guilt at the fact that he would have refused their request if the attackers had not been Decepticons.
That reminded him – he had to contact the Enkians. Quickly flipping through his memory bank for the transmission frequency Blaster had given him, he sent a brief message: AT THE OUTSKIRTS OF ENK. CURRENTLY ENGAGING DECEPTICON TROOPS. Which led him to wonder why he hadn't been targeted yet.
He knew he had spoken too soon as a beam whizzed past his head, knowing that several more would inevitably follow. He sidestepped them quickly and charged towards the Sweep that had fired the shots, raising his own blaster and pulling the trigger.
*
Amidst the mayhem, Cyclonus made sure that he stayed close to the Decepticon leader, whose fury at being ambushed had driven him to single-handedly take on First Aid, Fireflight and Slingshot. At this point, Ultra Magnus had turned his attention towards Cyclonus, taking calculated swipes at him. “What is your problem anyway, Cyclonus? Attacking innocent townsfolk and destroying half their city?”
“I don't need to explain my actions to you, Autobot scum. But how would you feel if you were separated from Prime?” Cyclonus smirked, managing to kick Magnus in the shin and catching him in a fierce headlock. “It was the same thing. Oh, the agony they put me through... although it's nothing compared to what you'll be feeling when I'm done with you.” Magnus gasped and struggled as a hand inched towards his optics. Next he heard was a loud groan of pain as Cyclonus' grip loosened enough to allow him to wriggle free.
Rodimus was beside him, blaster ready, pulling him away from the Decepticon. “You ok?”
“I'm fine now.” He managed a smile of thanks, scanning the battleground to gauge the progress of the other Autobots. A wave of anxiety settled over him as he realised that unless they were able to tip the battle in their favour, the battle would continue this way for a long time more. Time was something they didn't have. Rodimus must have realised this as well, for they both looked at each other, nervous.
At that moment, Rodimus' transmitter began beeping and he activated it. “Rodimus here.”
“Rodimus Prime, Dr. Molbane here. You're having trouble, I take it? We... we have something you may be able to use to turn the tables. Us scientists have been dabbling in weaponry for the last few months. It's merely a prototype, but... we can offer you a bomb.
A bomb? Rodimus glanced at Magnus, who seemed to weigh up the consequences of using such a weapon in his processor before nodding. After all, they couldn't expect to win wars without taking a few risks.
“We'll take it, doctor.”
“If that is the case, we will transfer the bomb into your possession once you reach our headquarters. I will give you the coordinates.” Taking note of them, Rodimus shouted, “Autobots, follow me!”, pathing his way towards the large building in the middle of the planet, the other Autobots hurrying after him as quickly as they could.
Galvatron let out a loud growl, optics sweeping across his troops. “What are you fools waiting for?! AFTER THEM!” Several of them looked uneasy but obeyed the command nevertheless, leaving Cyclonus and his leader floating a few meters away from them.
“Lord Galvatron, is this a wise decision? I overheard whoever was communicating with Prime mention something about... a bomb?”
Galvatron merely laughed harshly, beginning to ready his thrusters to jet off towards Enk. “Even if they did have that weapon, do you really think they would be foolish enough to use it? They'd take out the population of that city and perhaps even themselves!”
I'm sure they're not THAT foolish, Galvatron, Cyclonus thought rather glumly. Not to mention we know nothing about this bomb. It might be some new technology we've never seen before... “Forgive me, Lord Galvatron, but this might be nothing we've ever encounte-”
But Galvatron, clearly in a good mood, merely pushed him aside while flying past him and laughing. “Cyclonus, Cyclonus. You worry too much. If you're right about this whole bomb thing... you can say 'I Told You So'.”
This left him not knowing what to expect.
*
The Autobots had landed safely in the Enkian capital's town square and began hurrying into the scientists's headquarters. On their way in, they ran past crowds that had gathered to see them land, noticing that their expressions were fearful, a few full of anger and rage. It was small moments like those that made Rodimus hate the Decepticons even more, seeing how they had drawn a peaceful, trusting planet unnecessarily into their feud.
A guard, seeing this unusual party, nodded curtly and marched towards a large hall in the center of the building, the doors sliding open to reveal a round table, several Enkians gathered around. One of them looked up upon hearing the soft clinking of metal hitting gray stone, his mood visibly brightening slightly. Rodimus recognised him as the Enkian he had been keeping in contact with.
“Rodimus Prime and his Autobot warriors. Thank you for coming to our aid.” Molbane bowed his head and the others followed suit.
“Just doing my job.” Rodimus smiled, only to be nudged by Ultra Magnus. He cleared his throat, “So as not to prolong your suffering, please give us the weapon we agreed to use to destroy the Decepticons with.”
“Doesn't mince words, does he?” One muttered, as a small chest was carried out. Keying in a long and complex security code, the lid swung open and Molbane lifted out a simple-looking device with a keypad on its top. It was no larger than a standard energon cube.
“Let me quickly explain. See this keypad? You need to enter a code to activate it. The code is 8812. After that, press 1, and then the number of seconds before the bomb explodes. I should also mention that once you set the bomb, it can't be deactivated. Are these instructions clear?”
Not very articulate for a scientist, is he? Rodimus smirked a little and Magnus elbowed him again.
“Crystal.” He was handed the bomb, eyeing it slowly as he tucked it under his arm. “The only problem that remains is where we're going to detonate this thing without harming your people or causing further destruction...”
“Lead them northwest from here, 300 klicks.” Another Enkian spoke up, pointing in the direction they needed to head in. “There's a canyon there. If the bomb fails to destroy them, the rockslide will.”
“Gotcha. We'll take 'em out, don't worry. This'll be beneficial to both our species.” Rodimus bowed respectfully to the Enkian council and were led out. As soon as they were out of the building, they took to the air, dodging one or two Decepticon shots.
“Gee, what was with that sarcasm?” Ultra Magnus asked, somewhat displeased with his friend's comments earlier.
“Hey, we're about to beat the Decepticons, right? I guess some of my happiness leaked out.”
Magnus sighed. “Don't get too confident, Rodimus.”
“Me? Never.” He laughed, landing and signalling his troops to do so as well. Upon noticing that the Decepticons were about to land and attack them from the ground, he said, ““Alright guys, you know what the plan is,” and quickly keyed in the code Molbane had given him and set the time: thirty seconds.
And what a frantic thirty seconds they were too.
Almost as soon as the Decepticons hit the ground running, most of the Autobots had taken off, with Rodimus remaining to hurriedly bury the bomb under a small pile of rocks. His men made sure no-one had noticed this by keeping them busy, firing wildly at them from almost every direction. Soon, Rodimus followed them and they flew as fast as they could, not wanting to get caught up in the explosion.
Only then did Cyclonus realise the danger they were in. Scourge noticed his sudden distress. “What's wrong, Cyclonus?”
“That damned coward! He's planted a bomb somewhere!” He yelled, causing every Decepticon to scurry and begin scanning the rocky terrain for something made of metal.
“There is no time, you fools!” Galvatron was in the air now, ready to retreat. “We must not-”
And suddenly, there was a flash.
*
Back on Enk, several Enkians sat perched around asystem that had been cobbled together purely for the purpose of assisting the Autobots in their battle. The bomb had detonated successfully, taking the rocky walls surrounding the small, barren battlefield with it.
“No life readings detected, sir.” said one Enkian, throwing down his headset in relief.
“Well done everyone,” said the lead scientist, smiling victoriously. “Well done.”
