          
|
|
By Francis Durbas
"What is that?!?" exclaimed Admiral Lilwall.
It almost looked like a portal. Could it be some type of transport device? Forgotten technology. Perhaps their investigation of this planet was worthwhile after all.
"Mmmm..." was Stardrive's only response. He hadn't planned on actually activating the thing when he touched the control board, but it seemed he had. "Fascinating."
Lightning scowled. Nothing new. "What good is it? You don't even know what it is."
"I'll take some scans for Bit." said Shadowpaw.
"Good idea." replied Lilwall. "I'll call the ship and tell Waitstate about what we found."
"I still say we should have left someone to guard the shuttle." said Lightning, for the fifth time at least.
"This planet is deserted. Has been for centuries, if not longer." said Stardrive. "There's no one to guard it from."
Lilwall decided not to bother agreeing with either of them and walked away from them so he could talk to the ship without interruption.
"What does this do?" wondered Shadowpaw, pressing a few buttons. The machinery hummed almost audibly now, and the portal changed colors.
"Maybe we'd better shut it down until Bit can tell us what it is." said Stardrive, pressing more buttons in an attempt to deactivate the alien device.
The portal seemed to change in some way, though no one would be able to explain how or what the difference was. Wait a minute, was something moving inside it? Or on the other side of it?
"Did you see something move?" asked Shadowpaw, staring at the glowing portal.
Stardrive gave up pressing buttons and walked slowly toward it. "I think I did."
"I wouldn't go near it if I were you." warned Lightning, moving to restrain him.
"What could happen?" Stardrive replied.
Chapter 2
"Stardrive accidentally activated it, but nothing's blown up so far,
so I guess we'll be ok as long as we don't fool with it any further." said
Admiral Lilwall into his communicator.
"Alright, you better get back there before they start messing with the thing. Lightning probably couldn't care less, but Stardrive and Shadowpaw won't be able to control their curiosity for more than a microsecond." Waitstate replied. "Get enough scans and then get back to the ship. We've got plenty of time to study the scans before we play with an alien device we don't understand."
"Understood. Lilwall out."
The red and blue robot grumbled to himself about leaving Stardrive and Shadowpaw alone with the device, Lightning or not. Who knows what they would be foolish enough to do.
"Ah, everyone's still in one piece, I see." he joked, as he returned to the chamber containing the device.
"For now." replied Stardrive, though oddly enough he seemed... angry? Threatening? Not his usual tone. "Though how long it stays that way remains to be seen. Get him!"
Shadowpaw and Lightning grabbed his arms and pinned him to the nearest wall. He didn't remember Shadowpaw being so strong.
"If this is one of Stardrive's ill-conceived jokes..."
"Oh, it's no joke." Stardrive replied. "In fact, let me show you how serious it really is."
Lilwall let out a scream as Stardrive fired both his particle beams into his chest. He briefly considered the gaping hole in his chest and the smell of burning metal and polymer before everything went black.
* * * * *
"He's scrap, find somewhere to hide him, Lightning."
"Uh... y-y-yes, s-sir." stammered Lightning. He really wasn't cut out for this, but he got kicked out of his former faction and had nowhere else to go. He was fine with explicit orders, but not much for independent action. Where was he going to hide the body?
"Shadowpaw, transform and find their shuttle." ordered Stardrive.
"Ok. I'll get right on it." said Shadowpaw as she transformed into a black and purple panther. Stardrive watched her disappear through the doorway and then deactivated the alien machine. "No sense in leaving the gateway open." He smiled. "Who knows what could be on the other side."
"I-I-I hid the b-b-body, sir." reported Lightning. "Some small room, m-m-maybe it was a s-s-storage closet."
"Oh who cares. Lets get out of this pile of rubble that used to be a building. Shadowpaw should have already found the shuttle by the time we get outside."
"Y-y-yes, s-s-sir." said Lightning, following Stardrive out the door.
Chapter 3
Mirror Universe
"Stardrive activated it without any orders, but nothing's blown up so
far, so I guess it's not a weapon. Maybe it will turn out to be something
we can use, but I doubt it. We're wasting our time." said Admiral Lilwall
into his communicator.
"Alright, you better get back there before they start messing with the thing. Lightning would probably be too scared to touch it, but I know Stardrive and Shadowpaw won't be able to control their curiosity for more than a microbreem." Waitstate replied. "Get enough scans and then get back to the ship. We've wasted enough time here on a pile of rocks and an alien device we don't understand."
"Understood. Lilwall out."
The red and blue robot grumbled to himself about leaving Stardrive and Shadowpaw alone with the device. Who knows what they would be foolish enough to do if it turned out to be a weapon after all.
"Well, I see you haven't scrapped yourselves with that device while I was gone." he growled at the three robots. "Too bad. At least you've turned the slagging thing back off." It was true. The machine had deactivated a few moments ago, though they had nothing to do with it.
Stardrive, Shadowpaw, and Lightning looked at Admiral Lilwall. He Looked virtually identical to the one they knew, yet acted so different.
"Do we have enough scans yet, Shadowpaw?" he snapped.
"Yes, Commander." She reported, hoping it was the proper response. Admiral Lilwall, however, was more concerned with getting back to the ship than he was with scrutinizing his troops.
"Then let's get off this slagging dirt ball." he said, walking out the door.
"What's..." Shadowpaw began, but Stardrive held up a hand to silence her. He made some adjustments to their communicators and then told her to continue. "What's going on?"
"We're in a parallel universe, I guess." said Stardrive over the secured channel.
"Your head is filled with too much science fiction." grumbled Lightning. "You're starting to confuse those data tracks with reality."
"We were just thrown through a portal by ourselves, into an identical room with a nearly identical Lil!" Stardrive snapped back. "What would you say is going on?"
Lightning remained silent. He had no better idea of the situation, and he knew that their survival, and possibly the survival of their comrades, their real comrades in the other universe, or whatever, depended was more important than the specifics of their whereabouts.
"So what do we do?" asked Shadowpaw. "Those... other us's... closed the portal before we could figure out what was going on. Now we're trapped here."
"For a time. But we won't be staying long. We have to get out of here and get the... other us's... out of our universe. Who knows what they'll do if their actions so far are any indication." said Stardrive.
"Or Lilwall's." added Shadowpaw.
"You rank the highest among us so, as much as I hate to admit it, you are in command." growled Lightning. "So I hope you have a plan to accomplish what you say we must do."
"Not yet... let's play it by ear for now."
"Play it by what?"
"Let's improvise for the time being."
"I understand."
"Shadowpaw?"
"I think I can handle it." she responded "But I wish I had a better idea of how we're supposed to act. If that Lil is any example, it's not the way we normally would."
"Point taken." Stardrive responded, gradually becoming more serious. He was immensely older than the others, and so had built up a little bit of wisdom despite his normal behavior. He new that the situation was deadly serious, and as temporary Commander, he could be no less. "Let's not lag too far behind. Lil might get suspicious."
Chapter 4
Our Universe
"This shuttle is almost exactly the same as ours." reported
Shadowpaw. "I can pilot it with no problem."
"Hmmmm... I assume there's an L.S.S. Conquest in orbit as well?" asked Stardrive.
"Negative." Shadowpaw replied, working the shuttle's sensors. "There is a ship like ours, but it's marked 'L.S.S. Freedom.'"
Stardrive digested this new information. "That's got to be it. This must be an alternate universe of some kind." he proclaimed.
"Are you out of your slagging mind!?!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "Your fondness for science fiction must have finally corrupted your memory core!"
"Explain all this, then." he demanded, gesturing at the shuttle.
"I... I can't."
"An alternate universe." he continued. "And not just any alternate universe, but one in which we LONACs seem to be peace-loving weaklings. The perfect place to conquer as our own without that overbearing Waitstate trying to claim all the glory for himself."
"And when we've claimed this universe for ourselves, we use it's resources to conquer our own!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"Aaah, a universe is a universe." said Stardrive, dismissively. "But if you want that one so bad, you can have it. This one suits me just fine. The more peaceful they are, the less trouble they're likely to make after they've been conquered."
"W-what about me?" asked Lightning.
"We're out of universes." Shadowpaw replied.
"We'll make sure you have a nice cushy job somewhere." said Stardrive. "But before we get to any of that, we must take over the Con... er, the Freedom."
"Then we should take off." Shadowpaw made a show of resting her arm on the console and acting bored.
Stardrive made a face. "Alright, take off."
* * * * *
"They're taking off. Heading back to the Freedom." Recoil reported.
"Good. I was starting to worry that they'd find some way to detonate the device, and themselves with it." Waitstate replied.
"Would that be a bad thing?" Diablo asked, stepping onto the bridge.
Waitstate would have frowned if he could. The bridge door monitor must be out along with everything else.
"You wanted to see me?" asked the purple and yellow robot.
"Oh! Yes." Waitstate replied, realizing that he had. "When Lil and the others return, I want you to to get their data clips and anything else they brought with them, bring it all to Bit in the science lab, and assist him in any way you can. We're a little shorthanded with Dark Force on leave."
"And I guess the fact that Junky has just about everyone else in Engineering working to realign the drives after our last "adventure" doesn't help the situation, huh?"
"Exactly." said Waitstate. "Recoil's well into his second shift already, and there's no doubt in my circuits that his attention span is not compatible with the situation."
"I see what you mean." Diablo replied, hearing Recoil tapping an army march on the side of his console.
"So you see why I'd like to get our intrepid explorers back on the bridge as soon as possible. Before Recoil looses his mind, and his tapping makes me lose mine too."
"I'll get down to the shuttlebay right now." said Diablo, moving toward the lift.
"Good." Waitstate replied, relaxing back into his chair. "One less thing to worry about."
* * * * *
Diablo waited for the large bay doors to open. He could see the glow of the atmospheric containment field, and open space beyond. "Quite a view." he mused. "No time to stop and smell the flowers, though."
He chuckled to himself for a moment. There were no flowers in the landing bay, even if he had the time.
The shuttle soon entered the bay and settled itself onto the deck. Diablo waited for his fellow 'bots to exit. What happened next, he certainly did not expect.
"Honey, we're home!" exclaimed Stardrive as he, Shadowpaw, and Lightning burst out of the shuttle, weapons firing. Diablo had no chance to move before he was hit by several blasts.
He tried to call for help, but was buffeted by the weapons fire. He crashed to the ground, losing consciousness, and tried to croak out, "why".
"Because." said Shadowpaw, simply, as she kicked him in the head. He made a garbled noise and went offline.
Chapter 5
Mirror Universe
"What's wrong with you three, anyway?" growled Lilwall. "That alien
junkpile scramble your circuits or something?"
"Now that you mention it, maybe we should have ourselves checked over when we get back to the ship." suggested Stardrive. "I feel... unusual."
Lightning and Shadowpaw nodded their agreement.
sp; "You are unusual." Lilwall snorted in amusement. "Have fun, then. ETA?"
Shadowpaw checked the readouts and responded. "One quarter breem."
They took the rest of the trip in silence.
* * * * *
"Look, we can't go to Medbay." said Stardrive. "We have no idea how to act like... ourselves."
"I know how to act like myself just fine." said Lightning.
"I meant our other selves." said Stardrive. "Sometimes I think you do this on purpose."
Lightning did not reply. Stardrive made a face.
"So what are we going to do?!?" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
Stardrive turned his attention back to the problem at hand. "We go to the closest of our quarters and check the computer for our tech specs in this universe."
"Agreed." said Lightning.
"Let's go." said Shadowpaw.
The three robots hurried down the corridor toward Lightning's quarters. Luckily, the corridors were mostly empty.
When they got to Lightning's quarters, they went about the task of finding out where they stood in the universe. Or, rather, where their counterparts stood in this universe.
"Computer, access personnel files. Subject: Stardrive."
"Working..." came the reply. "Text or oral format?"
"Oral." Stardrive replied. "We don't have time to comb the archives right now. Just give us the highlights."
"Personnel files, subject: Stardrive." droned the computer. "Exiled from Cybertron during beginnings of the Great War. Returned leading attack fleet from Verellian Empire. Attack repelled by Auto-con Alliance.
"Stardrive declared official Enemy of the Sector. Met founder of LONAC while hiding out on Cybertron. Attained current position of Exploratory Adjunct and Communications Espionage Officer after showing extreme talent and ambition and as a reward for discovering and killing Vanadis, a spy from an unknown faction, possibly the Auto-con alliance."
"Vanadis?" Exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"I knew something wasn't right about her. Coded messages and messed up sensors. That bomb too, I'll bet. I should have..." his voice trailed off.
"It seems that your alternate self was not so apprehensive about acting on his suspicions." said Lightning.
"No. I guess not." Stardrive replied.
"Play mine next!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"Computer, access personnel files. Subject: Shadowpaw."
"Personnel files, subject: Shadowpaw. Joined LONAC after deserting Auto-con alliance in search of power and glory. Current position: Helm officer, L.S.S. Conquest."
"Wow." said Shadowpaw.
"Computer, access pernsonel files. Subject: Lightning."
"Personnel files, subject: Lightning. Joined LONAC after being rejected from the Auto-con alliance for cowardess. Current position: Junior Assistant Science Officer, L.S.S. Conquest."
"WHAT?!?!" roared Lightning. "This is an outrage!"
"Calm down!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. He did. Slightly.
"Look, we've got to get moving." Stardrive moved back toward the door. "We need an excuse to get back down to the planet. But first, we'd better get to the bridge."
"Before that, shouldn't we check the crew roster?" asked Lighting. "In our universe, I'm certainly not the Junior Assistant Science officer. Who knows what else has changed."
"You're right." acknowledged Stardrive. "We'll do that, then head for the bridge."
Chapter 6
Mirror Universe
"We should count ourselves lucky that Dark Force is on a search and
destroy mission." said Stardrive. "That's five less to worry about."
"I'm worried about whatever they're searching and destroying." said Shadowpaw.
The two "Normal Universe" refugees were in a lift heading for the bridge. They weren't exactly prepared for whatever they would find, but they knew they couldn't stall any longer without arousing suspicion.
Stardrive frowned for a moment. "I hope Lightning can keep out of trouble until we're done."
"He'll be fine." said Shadowpaw. "All he really has to do is sit in his quarters until his shift with Bit."
"It's his shift with Bit that I'm worried about. As close as I can figure, Bit is the least different 'bot on this ship from their Normal Universe counterparts."
"He'll never figure it out if he has as much imagination as our Bit."
"Or lack thereof." Stardrive replied "I see your point. The most he'll do is send him to medbay... and then he'll be discovered and tortured for information by Autumn."
Shadowpaw shuddered. "I barely recognized her picture."
"Same here. And I don't want to meet her in person." replied Stardrive. "I hope we don't have to stay here long."
"You worry too much." advised Shadowpaw. "We'll be home before you know it."
"Not too much, just not early enough." Stardrive replied. "If I had worried about things like this before fooling with that machine..."
"Oh, boo hoo." she replied sarcastically. "Too late for that, let's worry about getting out of here."
"I thought I worried too much."
"Oh, nevermind." growled Shadowpaw. Stardrive smiled.
The doors slid open, and the two 'bots found themselves on a bridge that they had never before seen, but was all too familiar. But on second glance, it was not quite right.
"This looks just like the Freedom." whispered Shadowpaw.
"To our stations." whispered Stardrive. "I'll rig communications through our panels if I can. Hopefully, my station here won't look too different than my regular one."
"So glad you two finally decided to join us here on the bridge." grunted Waitstate. "I hope showing up wasn't too much of an inconvenience for you."
Stardrive, unsure how to respond, simply ignored the sarcasm and went to his station. It looked much like his normal station, except the recliner looked a bit more like a throne. In fact, all the chairs looked a little fancier than on the Freedom. The command chair, in fact, did look like a throne.
"Ok, Recoil, you can go." said Shadowpaw to the robot at the helm.
"I thought you'd never get here." Recoil replied. He walked to the rear of the bridge and off to the side to wait for the lift. The doors opened and he stepped into the lift car. He mumbled a destination as the doors closed.
In the meantime, Shadowpaw had taken her post and attempted to familiarize herself with the changes, mostly superficial, to the console in front of her. She was thankful she and Stardrive had reviewed some of the video logs to find out the standard bridge protocols. Almost as non-standard as the Freedom's.
"I'm getting a ship on long range sensors. Looks like a freighter." reported Archlight.
"Plot an intercept course." ordered Waitstate. "I hope there's some useful cargo aboard."
"Course plotted, Captain." responded Shadowpaw, struggling to keep her voice level.
"Take us out of orbit."
"At least we won't get out of practice." commented Lilwall. "I assume you want a boarding party ready?"
"Yes. Take care of it." said Waitstate. "Weapons check."
"Particle lasers, check. Antimatter torpedoes, check." Diablo ran down the list. "DEM cannon, check. Plasma bolts, check."
"Tractors?"
"Check."
"Boarding mechanism?"
"Check."
"Shields?"
"At one hundred percent."
"Good." said Waitstate to no one in particular. "Very good." He was smiling, but it was an evil smile. At least he enjoyed his work.
Stardrive exchanged a furtive glance at Shadowpaw. Neither of them had expected this. Especially not so soon. Now what would they do?
"Uh, Captain, if I may." ventured Stardrive.
"Speak." Waitstate's replied.
"I think that alien device is too valuable to leave behind. What if someone discovers it while we're gone?"
Waitstate laughed. "No one found the piece of slag all this time, what makes you think they will now?"
"That device might be the most valuable thing in this quadrant!" Stardrive persisted.
"And it might be slag." replied Waitstate. "But very well. If you wish to go and guard it, go quickly before we loose our target."
Stardrive couldn't believe his luck. Now he had to press that luck a little further. "I request that Shadowpaw and Lightning accompany me."
"Fine, go!" roared Waitstate. "But ask no more or I'll change my mind."
"Aye sir." replied a relieved Stardrive. Then to Shadowpaw he said, "let's go."
As they were getting up from their respective stations, the bridge shook violently. Stardrive and Shadowpaw barely kept on their feet.
"Decepticon stealthcruiser has decloaked and fired on us!" reported Archlight. "Shields were up. No damage."
"Red Alert! All hands to battle stations." announced Lilwall.
"Your trip is canceled." said Waitstate. "Try to tap into their communications, find out whatever you can."
Stardrive silently cursed his luck. Not only had their best chance to get back to their own universe just disappeared, he wasn't quite sure how to tap into the communications systems of a Decepticon stealthcruiser. Maybe this universe's Stardrive knew, but he did not.
"Time to improvise." he said to himself.
Chapter 7
Our Universe
The three Transformers crept down the hall. Moving quickly but
quietly, always on the lookout for more of the ship's inhabitance.
"Stop." whispered Shadowpaw.
They stopped moving. Stardrive peered into the adjacent room.
"The clone." he mumbled. "Didn't think both sides' Lilwalls would be so reckless. Blasting off a piece of the meteor..."
While Stardrive mused over blasting a meteor, Shadowpaw took the opportunity to blast the clone. Meteor slumped over the container of spare engine components he had been searching through.
"These LONACs sure don't have the armor we do." Shadowpaw chuckled. "I'll bet their weapons are weaker too."
"No doubt." replied Stardrive, though his mind wasn't on the conversation.
"This is easier than I thought." said Shadowpaw. "We're halfway to the bridge already, and no one knows we're here."
"This ship is so empty," commented Stardrive, "it's no wonder. But don't get too confident. We can't let our guard down now."
Lightning said nothing. He was just happy to be present for what seemed to be a successful takeover. He could never have accomplished anything like this by himself. Would never have attempted it, or perhaps even thought about it. But he now seemed to be on the winning team. It felt good.
The three 'bots ducked into a public lounge when they heard movement nearby. Ytsejam was walking quickly down the corridor arms full of assorted tools, presumably for realigning the engines.
He was so intent on his destination, that he didn't notice the black and purple foot set out to trip him.
"Aaah!" Ytsejam's exclaimed as he lost his balance, flinging tools and equipment all over the corridor.
"For the love of Cybertron, what did I trip over!?"
"That would be me." said Shadowpaw, emerging from her hiding place.
"Shadowpaw! This isn't funny, I have work to do!" exclaimed the perturbed scientist. "Look at this mess! When I tell Waitstate about this, you'll..."
"We'll speak to the maid." Stardrive interrupted. He stepped out into the corridor behind Shadowpaw and aimed his null ray at Ytsejam.
Lightning was nearly shaking as he stepped out of the lounge and into the corridor. He couldn't even bring himself to say anything. Of course, having one of his arm mounted disruptors aimed at Ytsejam's head did all the communicating that was necessary.
"You know, it's not often someone gets to kill the same 'bot twice." said Shadowpaw, aiming her photon cannon at his head. "I guess I'm just lucky."
"Or greedy." Stardrive commented. "It's hardly fair that you get to kill this annoying techie twice."
Shadowpaw grinned evilly and lowered her cannon to aim at his neck. "I'll let you kill the next one."
"You're all heart, and I mean that." Stardrive commented dryly.
She fired her weapon at point blank range, shattering his neck and sending shards of metal which had formerly comprised his neck everywhere.
Ytsejam's face contorted as if screaming, but his vocalizer was shattered along with the structure of his neck. His body spasmed. There were a few connections left unsevered, but not many.
"I want a bomb." Shadowpaw stated matter-of-factly.
"You want everything, don't you?" Stardrive smirked. "Junior Assistant Science Officer Lightning, find us something we can use as an explosive. There's got to be something suitable in this mess."
Lighting searched the corridor, now littered with assorted tools and equipment that Ytsejam had been carrying.
"Uhhmmm... h-here. These are compressed-energy power cells." he informed Stardrive. "Send a good jolt on a reversed polarity, and they'll explode with the force of at least 10 old style cluster bombs."
Stardrive nodded. He handed five of the box-like, metallic objects to Shadowpaw.
"Heh, this should be good." she said to no one in particular.
Shadowpaw went about the task of attaching the power packs to Ytsejam's twitching body. She looked around on the floor and spotted a welding tool. "Perfect."
While Shadowpaw welded the cases of the power cells to the floored robot, Stardrive wandered the corridor until he found a suitable mechanism to detonate the energy cells.
"No sense in getting caught in the blast, is there?" he remarked to Lightning. Lightning nodded, a look of relief on his face.
Shadowpaw finished attaching the final bomb to Ytsejam's chest and stood. At Stardrive's instruction, Lighting wired the cells together and to the device that would serve as the detonator.
"It's a-all set, Commander." Lighting was getting into his element now. He had lacked the courage to be a warrior and had eventually taken up science and mechanics. He was actually good at it when he wasn't tripping over his own feet with worry, and now that he was able to focus more attention on his job, his speech was becoming less stunted.
Stardrive noticed this. He had hoped Lighting would prove useful, but had hardly imagined that he would gather any confidence from this experience.
Perhaps being away from the rest of LONAC was part of it. He wasn't exactly in a position to assert himself back on the Conquest, but here he didn't have to worry about anyone other than Shadowpaw and Stardrive looking over his shoulder, and they had treated him fairly in the past. They saw value in his skills, if not his personality.
Shadowpaw grinned evilly as she set the timer on the detonation device. "Time for the fireworks."
Stardrive took a moment to scan the local frequencies for any sign that they had been discovered. So far the LONACs were puzzled by the lack of the three on the bridge; Stardrive, Shadowpaw, and Lilwall. Lightning was well known for his love of solitude, but someone had gone to his quarters and gotten no response.
"At least no one found Diablo yet. It's a good thing the Con... I mean the Freedom took all that damage. If the sensors were working right, they'd probably have already found us." Stardrive frowned. They had been lucky so far, but they couldn't count on that for much longer.
"Alright, let's get going." said Stardrive. "This explosion should distract them from finding us, if they even find out about it with the sensors down."
"Oh, they'll feel this clear to the bridge." said Shadowpaw.
"Less talking and more moving." called Stardrive, running down the corridor. "Unless you want to go with him."
Shadowpaw quickly transformed into panther mode and followed the retreating forms of Stardrive and Lightning. She turned her head just enough for one last glimpse of Ytesejam's prone form before the corridor behind her became one huge fireball.
Chapter 8
Mirror Universe
"We have them, Captain!" exclaimed the sky blue seeker at the helm.
"Not yet, we don't." growled the large robot at the weapons station. "We have to knock out their main gun quickly, before they can fire."
"Exactly right, BombBlast." exclaimed the Captain, a robot with a large disruptor cannon mounted on his arm. "Take out the main gun!"
"Too late! It's charging for a shot!" BombBlast exclaimed.
"Cloudstrike, evasive maneuver Ceti 4!"
The floor seemed to tilt up as the Decepticon Stealthcruiser went into evasive maneuvers that taxed it's own superstructure, hoping to avoid a hit from the L.S.S. Conquest's deadly DEM cannon.
In space, the Decepticon cruiser shifted directions in a seemingly random pattern, but was still grazed by the energy beam that the Conquest emitted.
The Stealthcruiser was sent flying through space and spinning like a top. It took a full two minutes for the ship to stabilize itself, as if that was going to help it any.
* * * * *
"We tipped it!" exclaimed Maxitron, at tactical.
That was the first time Stardrive noticed that particular bot. The voice was familiar, but the body was not. It sounded like Maximus Prime, but the shape of his body, not to mention the arm cannon, told a different story.
"This universe is getting too weird for my taste." thought Stardrive. "At least one thing has gone in my favor... that shot fried the Decepticon communications system. No way I'm going to be expected to tap into it now."
"That shot disabled their comm systems." reported Stardrive. "No chance of getting anything now."
"Forget it." Waitstate replied. "They're debris. Fire!"
"Firing DEMolition cannon." reported Maxitron, pressing the proper buttons. "Here come the fireworks!"
On the forward viewscreen, an energy beam leaped into space and struck the battered Decepticon Stealthcruiser, ripping the forward section from the aft before reducing the entire thing into thousands of tiny pieces of scorched metal and crystallized atmospheric gasses.
"That'll teach them not to attack LONAC!" Maxitron laughed evilly, reminiscent of a Decepticon leader.
Stardrive suppressed a shudder upon hearing the laugh. Shadowpaw quickly hid her face, but Stardrive was looking and saw the horror on her face. Luckily, all the others were congratulating each other or watching the cloud of debris expand. No one else noticed.
Waitstate brought the celebration to an end by saying "Return to condition blue. Shields and weapons off."
"Shields down. Weapons disarmed." responded Maxitron.
"Good. Set course for..."
That's when the ship shuddered.
"What the slag?!? Report!"
"There's something on our hull." reported Archlight at the ops console. "The attack itself must have been a diversion."
Just then the comm system crackled to life. "Dead Lift to Bridge!"
"Report."
"A big... thing just put a hole in my cargo bay! There's a port on it... it's opening! Intruder Al... uurrrrkk!!!"
"Slag!" grumbled Waitstate. "Security to the cargo bay, on the double!"
"Permission to kick the crap out of who or whatever is down there." asked Maxitron.
"Granted." Waitstate replied. "But, try to keep the damage to a minimum, ok?"
"Some things never change." thought Stardrive.
"Yer' no fun." Maxitron grumbled, as he practically jumped into the lift from his station. Archlight, at the Secondary Weapons station, took over the functions of the Primary.
"Captain." called Stardrive.
"Now what?" Waitstate eloquently replied.
"They might be after the alien device. Permission to take a small team back to the planet to defend it." requested Stardrive.
"What has you so fanatical about that damn machine?!?" roared Wait. "Let them have it! Let them eat it for all I care! Mind your station!"
Stardrive turned his attention back to his station. He'd have to be patient.
"Damn." he thought. "If it was just me, I could make a run for it. Slag, If I took off by myself from here, I could probably be back to my own universe before they could even make it back to that system."
But he wasn't by himself. He had Shadowpaw and Lightning to worry about. And as their superior, it was his responsibility to get them home. Besides, he couldn't leave them in this mess, now could he?
"What am I going to do now?"
Chapter 9
Our Universe
Waitstate and Recoil were the only ones left on the bridge. Everyone
else was either repairing the ship, or searching for the missing 'bots.
Little did they know, the reason for the disappearances were in the lift,
approaching the bridge.
"Recoil, if you don't stop tapping your fingers on that panel, I'll send you to engineering without a lift!" exclaimed Waitstate. Recoil was still tapping out a march on the side of the console, bored out of his mind.
"Sorry, boss. I just can't stop." Recoil replied. He was looking rather agitated. He definitely wasn't suited for bridge duty. "I've been sitting still for too long."
No one noticed that the bridge doors had opened. No one noticed that the three Mirror Universe LONACs had exited the lift and stood just behind the command chair.
"Perhaps we can put an end to that." said Stardrive. Waitstate jumped visibly and almost fell out of his chair.
"Don't do that!" exclaimed Waitstate. "Shadowpaw, take the helm so I can stop hearing that damn army march."
"Yes, sir!" she exclaimed, trying to seem eager to please. She took over at the helm and Stardrive and Lightning watched Recoil salute Waitstate and march to the lift.
Stardrive took a gamble and went to the communications station, since it was he who had installed the reclining throne himself--in his own universe, at least. It seemed he won the bet, the console was set up nearly identically to his own. Even down to the blatantly non-standard holographic spy equipment controls.
Lightning, on the other hand, stood where he was. Luckily he wasn't shaking visibly, or Waitstate might have suspected something. Stardrive quickly pulled up the crew roster and motioned him to Tac I before Wait looked around.
"Took you 'bots long enough to get here. We've been having no end of problems with the repairs. We've lost contact with several 'bots, and we barely have anyone have to spare to look for them." said Waitstate.
"I was starting to think you'd never show up." Waitstate continued. "Where's Lil, anyway?"
"He doesn't feel well." said Shadowpaw. "I don't think he'll be up here any time soon."
Waitstate frowned, but didn't comment. "At least nothing else can go wrong." he thought to himself.
"Well, with you three here I guess I can finally take a break." he said after a few moments. "Stardrive, the conn, such as it is, is yours."
"Not like we're going anywhere." the alternate Stardrive replied. "Everything will be fine."
Waitstate grunted as he walked to the lift doors. His limb joints were starting to lock up from disuse. The doors opened and he stepped inside, stating a destination as the doors closed.
"Well," began Shadowpaw, "so far so good. Now all we need to do is wait until this piece of junk gets mobile."
"Let's hope it's not a long wait. We can't risk being found out. Even we can't hope to hold out against the entire crew. At least not for very long." Stardrive replied.
"Hey, we got this far, right?" said Lightning. "We'll get through the rest."
"I think he's finally growing a spine." said Shadowpaw. "At least he's not stammering anymore."
"I guess this mission is a good influence on him." mused Stardrive. "It'll sure be a good influence on us if we pull it off."
Chapter 10
Mirror Universe
Dead Lift ducked just in time to miss an electron beam. The invaders
weren't playing around. He kept his head down behind a cargo container and
closed his commlink to the bridge.
"Die Auto-cons!" he yelled as he fired his density cannon and laser blaster at the oncoming hoard. He managed to score a few hits before a missile detonated the cargo container sending shards of container and shreds of Turellian silk across half of the cargo bay.
Dead Lift landed on his back several meters away, dazed but functional. He looked up to see several Auto-cons running past him toward the door to the Conquest's corridor.
Two Auto-cons, an orange/yellow Autobot and a purple/green Decepticon, grabbed his arms and hauled him to his feet, removing his weapons in the process.
"In the name of the Auto-con Alliance, you are under arrest for treason, terrorism, and piracy." said the Decepticon.
"As well as other things too numerous to mention." the Autobot added, attaching electro-bonds around Dead Lift's arms and torso.
"Let go a' me you slag sucking smelters!" he screamed, struggling uselessly against the electro-bonds. "When I'm out of here, you're gonna' pay!"
"Knock him out and put him in the shuttlepod." Said the purple robot. "Our orders are to get as many as we can alive for trial."
"Yes sir." replied the Autobot, pulling Dead Lift toward the shuttle protruding through the wall of the cargo bay. "Let's go, you."
* * * * * *
Meanwhile, Maxitron was running down the corridor outside the bay. Several Auto-cons were already in the corridor ahead of him.
"Stop in the name of..." one began but stopped when Maxitron raised his arm cannon.
Maxitron fired down the corridor. Several Auto-cons ducked back into the cargo bay or into the empty lounge across the hall in time, but one was caught in the blast and sent flying down the corridor.
"One down." grumbled Maxitron. "More to go."
He aimed his cannon and waited. When one of the invaders poked their head into the corridor, he fired. Luckily, the invader managed to pull his head back in time, but the heat from the blast darkened the paint on the side of his head.
"That was close." said Commander Sprocket. "Scratch, Disruption, Tsunami, get ready."
p; Sprocket grabbed a long shard of the cargo container they had destroyed earlier and tied some orange silk tatters to it. He then quickly held it out into the corridor.
Maxitron fired by reflex. Before his cannon could charge for another blast, Sprocket and three others jumped into the corridor and fired their weapons.
Maxitron staggered back as he suffered repeated hits. He was quite a sturdy 'bot, but a Transformer can only take so much. One electron beam sent his arm cannon flying down the corridor a dozen or so meters.
"Slaggin' Auto-cons." he mumbled, as he sank to his knees. His legs were scored by several blasts. Only his tenacity was keeping him online by this point.
Several more LONACs came running around a corner in time to see the combined blast from several weapons that hit Maxitron square in the face and knocked him offline.
"Security Troops, open fire!" called Security Chief Cuffs.
The only response from his troops was the sound of weapons fire. Shortly after, the Auto-cons responded with their own weaponry. They continued firing for several minutes, Cuff's team using a turn in the corridor for cover, and the Auto-cons using the cargobay and lounge doorways. Stalemate.
"They have us pinned down in here." said Disruption, the purple/green Decepticon Lieutenant Commander. "We've got them outnumbered at least four to one until they get reinforcements. We've got to get out of this bay before that happens!"
Sprocket nodded. Lousy timing had them trapped. If the LONACs had gotten there just a little later, or at least the big one, Maxitron, had gotten there later, they would have been halfway to the bridge by now.
"Racket, Gearbox, Airfoil, stay here and guard the prisoner and the shuttlepod. The last thing we need is the LONACs to access our new stealth technology."
"Aye sir." they replied in unison.
"Everyone else, fire across the corridor into the back wall of the lounge." Sprocket instructed. "We'll have a better chance crossing the corridor and escaping out the back of the lounge into another corridor while the guards give us cover fire to keep the LONACs busy."
The Autocons fired, blowing a sizable hole in the back wall of the lounge. The started running into the lounge, one by one, sustaining only a few hits between the twenty some robots that crossed.
* * * * * *
"They must have knocked a hole in the lounge wall!" exclaimed SkySiren.
"Stay here with Slashwave." ordered Cuffs. "I'll take Shadowstrike and Scope with me."
Cuffs, Scope, and Slashwave ran down the hall to the next corner. They arrived just in time to see several invaders disappear around the corner, one section away.
"Slag!" Cuffs exclaimed. "After them!"
The Cuffs and his two Security Troops hurried down the corridor. "How did they get out so fast?" he grumbled.
He was so focused on the corner the invaders had disappeared around, he completely ignored the hole in the wall of the corridor. At least until an arm hooked itself around his head as he ran past, slamming him to the deck on his back.
In addition to the one Auto-con who had attacked him, two more had emerged from the lounge through the damaged bulkhead. A large, brown/orange Autobot was nearly crushing Scope with his huge arms, and a silver/blue Decepticon was grappling with Slashwave.
Cuffs faked disorientation for a few moments until the green/yellow Decepticon attempted to put electro-bonds on him. Then he kicked out with both feet, slamming them into the Decepticon's midsection and propelling him down the corridor.
"No one takes over on my shift!" he yelled, getting to his feet.
Cuffs hurled himself at the Decepticon. The robot was barely to his feet before he was tackled by Cuffs. They crashed to the ground, Cuffs attempting to rip off the Decepticon's head. The Decepticon was too strong to go down that easily however, and broke Cuffs' hold.
"Then I'll have to forcibly remove you from the duty roster." the Decepticon replied. "Termination should be sufficient, don't you think?"
The green/yellow robot flipped Cuffs into the air, barely missing the Conquest's high ceiling. By the time Cuffs hit the floor, the Decepticon had already gotten to his feet.
"Surrender now, LONAC. The Auto-con Council would prefer you alive, but it's not a requirement." the Decepticon stated calmly.
"Never!" Cuffs exclaimed, launching himself at the Decepticon again.
Chapter 11
Mirror Universe
"Slag, slag, slag." grumbled Waitstate. "SLAG!"
Stardrive ignored the redundant tirade and pondered the new predicament. Could he gather the others and steal a shuttle? Could they even escape the invaders? At last report, they were loose on the ship, presumably heading for the bridge.
Stardrive glanced at the formidable Recoil standing guard near the lift. Would he be enough? The rest of the Security Troops--the rest of the crew, actually--were running around the ship attempting to catch the the invaders.
Now Stardrive regretted separating himself and Shadowpaw from Lightning, but what choice did he have? He quickly sent a coded message to Lightning while Waitstate had the rest of the bridge distracted, then sent one to Shadowpaw's console.
Shadowpaw quickly read the message and erased it. She nodded her head once and Stardrive nodded back.
"I'll take charge of the auxiliary control room just in case." Stardrive exclaimed. "SP, you're with me!"
Lilwall whirled to face Stardrive, but only saw his and Shadowpaw's backs, running past a confused Recoil. "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? Get back here!"
"Let them go. No matter what, they don't want this ship captured any more than we do." said Waitstate. "Computer, lock the bridge doors."
"Acknowledged. Doors sealed." the computer responded.
* * * * * *
"Auxiliary control." instructed Stardrive. Then, to Shadowpaw, he added "in case they check."
"What about Lightning?" asked Shadowpaw.
"What about him?"
"We can't leave him here!"
"Don't worry about it." Stardrive replied.
The lift doors opened and they quickly checked for invaders before stepping into the corridor.
"Ok, we're just above the cargo bay. If this ship is like the Freedom, there should be an access hatch right around here somewhere."
"There." Shadowpaw pointed.
Stardrive nodded. "Open the hatch, I'll check for Auto-cons."
Shadowpaw proceeded to open the hatch while Stardrive consulted a scanning device he pulled out of subspace. It was a Verrellian scanner, left over from the days before LONAC, when Stardrive was a deep space scout for the Verrellian empire.
"They're close, but not too close." he said, quietly.
"The hatch is open, let's go." exclaimed Shadowpaw in an excited whisper.
The two robots climbed down the ladder into the access hatch, Shadowpaw first since she was the smaller of the two. It wasn't the widest place on the ship, but they fit with room--though little--to spare. Stardrive was thankful he could fold his wings up. He wasn't quite as balanced this way, but he'd have a terrible time trying to fit in the tunnel otherwise.
"Recoil would probably get stuck in here." Shadowpaw mused. "Being small can be an advantage."
"Let's hope it's enough." said Stardrive, who was probably average size for a Cybertronian. "We're completely outnumbered by both this LONAC and the Auto-con invasion force. Hopefully, they'll be too busy with each other to notice us."
They descended the ladder as fast as they safely could. Small cables, conduits, circuits, relays and things neither of them could identify at a brief glance surrounded them on all sides. Well, what else would be in an access hatch?
"Ok, end of the line." whispered Shadowpaw. She caught the silver Verrellian scanner that Stardrive dropped to her, took a quick reading of the other side of the hatch port, then opened the port. "We're almost there."
Shadowpaw crawled out of the access hatch on the port side of the cargo bay. It was obvious a battle had taken place here. Wreckage and debris were scattered about. Not to mention the strange space vehicle poking through the bulkhead.
"What in the Multiverse is that thing made of?" exclaimed Stardrive. It had suffered some obvious hull damage, but still, it had rammed though the hull off the ship and remained mostly intact!
"Who cares?" exclaimed a voice from the entrance to the launch bay.
Stardrive and Shadowpaw whirled to face the source of the voice, weapons ready.
"Oh. It's you." said Stardrive, lowering his weapon.
"Lightning!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "How did you..."
"I sent him a message to meet us here before we left the bridge." said Stardrive, as he flew across the bay. Shadowpaw transformed into panther mode and followed.
"The Auto-cons left guards here, but I disabled them." Lightning told them, matter-of-factly. "They assumed I came to surrender. They never got to fire a shot."
Stardrive nodded. "Good work."
"I don't like this universe's me. Not one bit. The coward." he grumbled. It was unclear wither the words were directed at the others or merely to himself.
"Let's hope that means he's easier to get back to this universe." Stardrive commented. "When we get back to our universe, we need to evict our counterparts."
"Assuming we do get back." said Lightning. "Bit picked up some Auto-con warships at the edge of our long range sensors. One of them is approaching from the direction of System AA-0001."
"AA-0001?" Shadowpaw blurted.
"As you surmised, this Bit also has little imagination."
"Alien Artifact 0001?" guessed Stardrive.
"Correct."
"Drop your weapons and put your hands up!" exclaimed a voice somewhere behind them.
The three froze in place. Stardrive grimaced. "Slag."
Chapter 12
Our Universe
"Well, that should do it." said Stardrive. He was pleased with
himself. Things were going quite well.
"No one's going to hack through that." he exclaimed. "Not even Waitstate."
"Never say never." cautioned Shadowpaw.
"Well, by the time he does it'll be too late." he corrected. "It'll take him a week, at least. Take a look. What do you think?"
Shadowpaw tapped at the Tac II console for a few moments, then said "All hardwire inputs severed. All transmission input receivers blocked, scrambled and disabled. Not bad."
"And I changed the password." Stardrive added. "Once he gets by that, there's a little matter of two thousand, six hundred and fifty-six lines of 'password'."
The others burst into laughter.
"Twenty-six hundred lines?!?" Shadowpaw exclaimed. "No wonder you took so long!"
"No, wait... It gets better!" said Stardrive, barely able to continue speaking. "It's in Verrellian!"
"Verrellian?" echoed Lightning, still laughing.
"Even the translation programs don't know Verrellian!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "He'll have to decode it letter by letter! It'll take weeks!"
"Exactly." said Stardrive, calming down. "I might not be able to keep him out of the systems forever, but this will certainly do."
"Sure. How long can it take to disable the rest of the crew?" Shadowpaw commented.
* * * * * *
Cuffs slapped his hand against the security console. The scanners were useless, and they weren't the number one priority on the repair list.
"An explosion kills Ytsejam and I don't have any logs of how it could possibly have happened, Meteor's in sickbay, the ship's in a shambles, and who knows where the slag Diablo went!" he exclaimed. "It's like my worst nightmare! How can I provide security when I can't even figure out what's going on?"
SkySiren simply stood and listened to Cuffs' tirade. The two of them had been released from repair duty to investigate the strange occurrences after an impatient Junky LaFord had gone in search of the engine components Meteor had been sent to procure. So far, things didn't seem all that promising.
SkySiren attempted to query the console for information on the charred equipment that had survived the explosion. She assumed it was all repair equipment, but it wouldn't hurt to check. They didn't have much to go on just now.
"Access denied." droned the computer.
"What?!?" SkySiren exclaimed.
"Let me." grumbled Cuffs. He attempted to call up the short report he had written up on the investigation so far, such as it was.
"Access denied." said the computer.
Cuffs cursed. "Security to bridge."
No response.
"Security to anyone."
Nothing.
"SkySiren to anyone, please respond."
"Comm's down." exclaimed Cuffs after a few moments. "I can't believe this!"
* * * * * *
Waitstate exited the lift and walked briskly through the tiny corridor to the bridge entrance. He slammed face first into the unyielding doors before realizing they hadn't opened.
"Bridge access denied." droned the computer.
"What?!?" Waitstate exclaimed. "I'm the first one on the list! Hell, I wrote the list!"
Just then, the doors opened. Waitstate turned his head to see Stardrive's null ray inches from his face. His mostly featureless face took on as much of a look of horror as it could.
"Wha..." was all he managed to say before Stardrive fired the ray, stunning Waitstate into blackness.
Chapter 13
Mirror Universe
"Oh, it's you." Artifice lowered his weapon. "I thought you were
Auto-cons."
Stardrive relaxed. "And we thought you were." He turned to face Artifice.
At that moment, Blacknife and Shadowstrike dashed into the room, weapons at the ready. They skidded to a halt when they realized there were no Auto-cons present.
Shadowpaw stared. Didn't they leave Archlight on the bridge?
Stardrive, who had long ago given up trying to make sense of this universe, simply said "Hold your fire... obviously."
"The Auto-cons?" asked Shadowstrike, not mincing words.
"The ones that were here have been taken care of." Stardrive replied. "You'd better go after the ones loose on the ship. They're probably heading for the bridge."
Shadowstrike nodded. To Blacknife she said "Let's go."
"Right behind you, Ice Queen." he replied. "And what a well constructed behind it is."
"Save it for later." she chuckled.
As the pair disappeared through the exit doors, Artifice looked fairly disgusted. "They make me sick."
"Better get moving. We're going to inspect their ship to see if there's anything we can use against them." Stardrive told Artifice.
"You're probably wasting your time, but go ahead." the ex-bounty hunter replied. "I'm going to kill me some Auto-cons."
"Have fun." said Stardrive.
Artifice made a grunt of acknowledgement as he ran out the door.
"I thought we were really in trouble that time." said Shadowpaw.
"Luckily, it was only Artifice." said Lightning. "But if it was an Auto-con, I could have taken care of him."
"No doubt." replied Stardrive, who had reached the Auto-con shuttle. The unconscious bodies of the three Auto-cons were on the floor of the shuttle along with an unconscious Dead Lift.
"I still can't believe that Shadowstrike and Blacknife..." she trailed off.
"I always wondered why they irritated each other so much." smirked Stardrive, quietly. "Help me get these 'bots out of here."
* * * * * *
Meanwhile, on the bridge, things were not going well.
"Seal off the lifts!" exclaimed Waitstate.
"They're cutting through!" exclaimed Archlight.
Waitstate thought for a moment. "Open the bridge doors to that lift's corridor."
"Do what?" exclaimed Cirrus.
"You must be mad!" exclaimed Archlight.
"Shut up and do it!" exclaimed Waitstate.
"Well, I never." Archlight mumbled.
"Lousy slaggin' no good..." Cirrus' curses trailed off as the doors opened.
Down the short corridor, the lift doors could be seen. Burn marks spreading across it's surface as they were being cut from the other side.
"Weapons ready, everyone." ordered Waitstate. "Fire on my command."
Everyone got into an advantageous position and aimed their weapons at the doors. The cut marks continued to spread across the surface of the lift doors.
"Almost..."
The spreading marks met with the one already established.
"Ready..."
Clang! A large section of the doors half separated from the rest of the wall. Clang! It fell to the floor.
"Fire!" yelled Waitstate.
Countless beams arched from the bridge into the lift, surprising the invaders who expected to still have the next set of doors to contend with. As the 'bots in front stumbled back into the others, a barrage of missiles from Recoil dealt the front row a more serious blow. It disabled the entire front row, and didn't do the rest of the Auto-cons any good. It didn't do the lift car any good either.
bsp; "Keep firing!" ordered Waitstate, firing his own shoulder mounted lasers into the smoking ruins of the turbolift and it's passengers.
Assorted weaponry continued to be fired into the lift car, further damaging the lift and those inside who, by this time, were mostly offline and/or completely dead.
"LONAC forever!" exclaimed Waitstate, still firing away at the pile of dead or dying Auto-cons.
"LONAC forever!" repeated everyone else on the bridge.
With all this happening, it wasn't surprising that no one noticed the quiet beeping from one of the bridge consoles which was meant to alert them that the shuttle imbedded in their hull had just been removed.
* * * * * *
The stealth shuttle cruised through space undetected. It had taken them a while to figure out how to activate the stealth mode, but it was now working, and working properly.
"You know, there's more information in this shuttle's database about LONAC than there is on the Conquest." said Stardrive to no one in particular.
"Know your enemies." said Lightning. "The Auto-cons prepared well for this attack."
Stardrive nodded. "I wonder if LONAC will survive. There sure were a lot of Auto-cons."
"I doubt that stealing their shuttle helped the Auto-con cause." Lightning commented dryly.
"Does it matter? We're going home!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "End of story."
"Hardly the end." Lightning reminded her. "Our doubles are still in our universe."
"Oh yeah, and they don't know they're not us." exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"We know." Lightning stated.
"And knowing is half the battle." chuckled Stardrive.
Shadowpaw turned in her seat at the helm to stare at him. From the weapons station, Lightning did the same.
"I suppose that's another one of those terran video program jokes." said Lightning, humorlessly.
"Oh nevermind." Stardrive replied, turning back to his console. Lightning and Shadowpaw did the same.
"Now, here's something interesting." said Stardrive. "The reason Blacknife was able to show up in the cargo bay when we thought Archlight was on the bridge is because in this universe, instead of being two personalities in the same shell, they're two different robots!"
"How fascinating." grumbled Lightning.
"Ok, that's not the interesting part." Stardrive continued. "This is: In this universe there's no Trilana in LONAC, so obviously, we're not a combiner. Blacknife and Archlight, however, are!"
"Woah, that's weird." said Shadowpaw.
"According to this, they combine into a war-jet known as Blacklight." Stardrive finished.
"As fascinating as all that is. We would be better off if we spent our travel time formulating a plan to return our doubles to their own universe." said Lightning.
"We have no idea what the situation is back home." said Stardrive. "Heck, by now they could be sitting in the Freedom's brig."
Chapter 14
Our Universe
"I can't believe we're in the brig." said Dead Lift.
Artifice looked at him for a moment, then went back to staring at the wall.
"I spend entirely too much time in here." commented Diablo.
From across the hall, Shadowstrike snorted. "You have a reason."
"I want to get out of here!" whined Avalon, in another cell. "Where's Ytsejam? Where's Ayreon?"
"Ungh... I'm here..." muttered Ayreon, regaining consciousness. He glanced around and noticed his Cybertronian body lying on the floor.
"How do we get out of here?" exclaimed Fragment.
"We don't." Artifice replied. "This is a brig, not a lounge."
"There has to be some way out of here!" exclaimed Opal.
Format simply hissed his disapproval.
* * * * * *
While the LONAC members continued to argue amongst themselves in the brig, a wavering effect appeared in the hallway near the bridge entrance.
"This is certainly unexpected." Mindshadow thought to himself. "At least this gives me the opportunity to contact the base without fear of being detected."
The darkly colored robot made his way to an access panel and connected a small device to it. It accessed the ship's comm system and set up a tight-beam transmission.
"With those... evil twins... wandering the ship, there's no one on the bridge to catch this unauthorized access. And wiping the record is a simple matter after that. Hmmm... main systems are down. Luckily, the comm system is still available."
The device pinged and it's screen lit up to show an angular face. "Mindshadow! Won't they trace this transmission!?"
"Good to see you too, Vanadis." Mindshadow replied. "And don't worry about the LONACs. Most of them are locked in their own brig."
"What about Stardrive and Trilana?" she asked.
"I'm on a tightbeam transmission from the Freedom's communications system. Trilana can't hear it, and as for Stardrive..."
Mindshadow proceeded to fill Vanadis in on the current situation, or at least as much as he knew about it. The team had returned, minus Lilwall, and had began taking over the ship.
"So, the three have turned traitor?" she asked, still a little confused, and who wouldn't be?
"No, it's not them." Mindshadow replied. "It may look like them, act like them in some ways, but it's not them. I can tell. They haven't snapped, or even been reprogrammed. It's not them. I can't explain my sense. I just know."
"Your sense is unusual, but it has proven correct before." Vanadis stated. "Might as well assume it is correct now."
Mindshadow nodded. "I shall continue to observe. This day may very well mark the end of LONAC. It would be a shame to miss it."
"Remember, don't interfere. Observe and only observe, but get all the information you can."
"Did I just start today? Have I not been here for tams of tular cycles? I know!" then he grinned, "Besides, I have no intention of dying here while trying to help someone take over or retake the ship. I sure as navalle am going to stay hidden."
"Ok, ok." Vanadis responded. "It's still my project, even though I had to leave the ship. I guess I worry."
"I have to admit, I have no idea what our superiors are going to say if the Freedom is captured."
"Neither do I, but it's not our problem if they're pleased or alarmed by it."
"It might be my problem if the new owners find me." said Mindshadow. "Anyway, I'd better sign off before one of them gets back to the bridge."
"Good luck."
"I hope so. Mindshadow out."
He quickly tapped some commands into the device, releasing a specialized viral program that erased Mindshadow's communication from the transmission logs and then itself, rendering it untraceable.
"Well, that's that." he said, disconnecting the device from the access panel. "Back to work."
Mindshadow closed the panel and walked down the corridor. A wavering effect wrapped around him and he faded from view as his cloaking device engaged.
* * * * * *
The shining portal opened and three robots stepped out. Stardrive, Shadowpaw, and Lightning were finally back in their own universe.
"Ahhh! Great to be back." joked Stardrive. "Even if this room does look exactly the same as the one we just left."
"Less talk, more action." said Lightning.
"That might be easier said than done." Stardrive replied. "Unless they're still down here, I'm betting the shuttle's gone."
"I'll go check." exclaimed Shadowpaw. She transformed into panther mode and scampered out of the room.
Stardrive looked at Lightning. "We could try to contact the ship, but if something's happened..."
"...we'd be giving away the element of surprise." Lightning finished. "Of course, we may be wasting our time completely."
"We might." admitted Stardrive. "But can we take the chance?"
"Staying here forever isn't going to help anyone."
"If they have taken over the ship, they're not likely to call us a cab."
"Of what use would name calling be?"
Stardrive sighed. "A cab... public transportation unit on Earth, in the old days, at least. It's an expression... to summon transportation."
Lightning said nothing. Stardrive didn't attempt any further explanations. They simply stood and waited until Shadowpaw skidded to a halt in front of them.
"It's gone!" she exclaimed. "The shuttle is gone! What do we do now?"
"Good question. If only I had a good answer to go with it." mused Stardrive. "Search this complex. Maybe there's a shuttle or some other useful thing here.
Chapter 15
Our Universe
The first sign that something was wrong was the scream from down the
hall. Stardrive and Lightning came running from separate directions,
converging on Shadowpaw who was leaning against a door.
"What is it, Chekov?" quipped Stardrive, seeing no obvious sign of danger.
"It's Lil!" she exclaimed, throwing open the door.
"Or what's left of him." Lightning observed.
Stardrive closed the door. "I can't believe it." he walked shakily across the room until he got to an old console that he could lean on. "I just can't believe it."
"Our Commander is dead. He will be remembered." said Lightning.
"No! They killed him!" Shadowpaw sniffled. "And who knows who else they killed too?"
Stardrive stumbled a bit. He was clearly shaken by the discovery.
"This is all your fault!" exclaimed Shadowpaw, pointing at the shaken Stardrive.
"My fault?" echoed Stardrive.
"Yes! You fooled with the machine! You got us into this whole mess!" by now, Shadowpaw was in front of Stardrive, nearly knocking him over. Lightning considered restraining her, but did not yet act.
Stardrive backed up a bit as Shadowpaw continued to advance as if to walk through him. He stumbled and caught himself on the dusty console. The panel illuminated instantly.
"'se';cec srpsca'dsvaacs" stated the computer calmly.
"Now what?!?!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"'sp,hhu lsir... jiha... ji'dan... ji'bu... ji'l... ji'e..."
"I don't know the language, but that's definitely a countdown!" exclaimed Stardrive.
"ji... dan..."
"Base five, if I'm not mistaken."
"bu..."
"We're gonna die!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"l..."
"Then we die." said Lightning, amazingly calm.
"e..."
Stardrive closed his eyes, awaiting the end.
"T'e;sga Ise'a syfs'hseslr'sjra"
A bright light shone through the viewport from the small room.
"Oh no!" Shadowpaw exclaimed. "Lil!"
Stardrive opened his eyes. "I guess we're not going to die after all." He frowned at the console. "But what is going to happen?"
"U;'elos'sk j'eosd'le ki'seq;s" said the computer, as the light from the viewport dimmed.
"That's not a useful answer." Stardrive snapped.
There was a thud at the door. The three robots turned to look, but the viewport was too dark to see though.
Another thud. Louder this time.
And again. Almost as if someone were trying to knock down the door.
"What's going on?" asked Shadowpaw worriedly.
Stardrive frowned, optics squarely focused at the door.
"We will find out soon enough." said Lightning, weapons at the ready.
Another thud left the door partly separated from the wall, and the next one sent it to the floor.
"Where is that slagging, no good..."
"Lil!" Shadowpaw exclaimed. "You're alive!"
Admiral Lilwall launched himself at an astounded Stardrive, but was caught mid-way by Lightning.
"Let go of me, you no good traitor." Lilwall snarled.
"It wasn't me!" exclaimed Stardrive, finally regaining his senses.
"That's right!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "It was the Mirrors!"
"I'll mirror you... let go of me!" Lilwall continued to struggle, but Lightning somehow managed to hold him.
"Commander," began Lightning. "You've missed much. You need to be briefed on our current situation."
"Smelt your briefing!" roared Lilwall. "Let me go!"
Lilwall got a hand free and was then able to toss Lightning over his shoulder. The former Decepticon landed in a pile of dust that most likely was once some sort of insulation material, but had since crumbled and fallen to the floor.
Admiral Lilwall rushed straight for Stardrive, who hesitated for a moment before stunning him with a null ray. Lilwall stopped running, but his momentum still sent him forward. Stardrive caught him before he fell to the ground.
"Oh, he's going to be even more angry when he wakes up." commented Shadowpaw.
"Don't I know it." Stardrive replied. "We'll have to wait for the ray to wear off... then we go back to the Freedom, forget the shuttle."
Chapter 16
Our Universe
Stardrive transformed into robot mode just outside one of the
Freedom's airlocks. He quickly began programming false readings into the
security scanners before the others arrived.
"That should do it." he thought to himself. "And right on time."
Lightning, and Lilwall with Shadowpaw hanging onto him, had just arrived. Lighting and Lilwall transformed into their robot forms, Shadowpaw already was.
"Ok, everyone inside, quickly." The other three 'bots piled into the airlock, only Lilwall stopping long enough to glare at Stardrive before floating into the hatchway.
"I didn't kill him," mused Stardrive to himself as he floated into the airlock and his feet touched the floor in the light gravity, "But it's starting to sound like a good idea."
"Won't they detect this on the bridge?" Shadowpaw asked.
"Assuming there's anyone left on the bridge." reminded Lightning.
"I know what I'm doing." said Stardrive over the hiss of pressurization.
"I certainly hope so." said Lilwall, who was still having a hard time believing the explanation Lightning and Shadowpaw had given him about his earlier demise. "How is it you know how to sneak into the ship without anyone knowing?"
"I know a lot of things." Stardrive replied. Then, more quietly, "But no one seems to realize it."
The airlock opened up and they all stepped out into the corridor. Stardrive looked up and down the corridor, but he was confidant no one would ever be in this obscure section of the ship under normal circumstances.
"Where are we?" Shadowpaw asked.
"Deck seven." Stardrive replied. "Living quarters."
"I thought seven was an engineering deck."
"Most of it is." said Lilwall. "Except this section."
"Exactly." Stardrive affirmed. "It was meant for the engineering staff, but since the ship is mostly empty and Junky is all we ever really had, his quarters are with everyone else's."
"C'mon, we've got to get to the bridge." said Lilwall, breaking into a run. Shadowpaw transformed and scampered after him with Lightning following right behind.
"But what if they've captured the bridge?" exclaimed Stardrive, trying to catch up.
"Then we take it back."
"But... if they have control of the ship's systems..."
"They could never learn them this fast." refuted Lilwall, as he came to a stop at the doors to a lift. They quickly opened and he stepped inside. Shadowpaw skidded to a halt and transformed back into her robot mode.
"Dammit Lil," Stardrive exclaimed as Lightning and Shadowpaw entered the lift pod. "They're... US!"
The doors slid shut for a moment and then opened again with another pod. This one was empty.
Stardrive was about to step into the pod when he heard a voice from behind him say: "Hold it right there!"
He turned quickly to see... himself. He considered trying to raise his weapon and fire quickly but his twin spoke. "Don't even think about it."
* * * * * *
Admiral Lilwall burst forth from the lift pod running straight toward the double doors to the bridge, Shadowpaw and Lightning remained at the opening as back up. It seemed Lil's goal was to bust the double doors down, but he didn't count on the forcefield up in front of the doors.
The field sizzled and actually gave enough for Admiral to put a sizable dent in the doors before ejecting him back in the direction from whence he came. Lightning and Shadowpaw barely had time to react before they were hit by the flying Lilwall and all three collapsed into a heap inside the lift pod.
Lilwall groaned once and then began a string of swear words that would leave even a Klingon in awe. Shadowpaw shrank back as much as she could with Admiral laying on top of her and Lightning.
Never one to give up easily, Admiral pulled himself to his feet. A bit more calmly now, due to his weakened state, he approached the doors.
"Unghh..." was the only sound Lightning made as he regained a vertical position and went to join Lilwall near the doors. Shadowpaw moaned softly and slowly stood.
"Ok, maybe they did have time to figure out one or two things about our systems." Lilwall grumbled.
"Lil, you missed a everything that happened in the other universe." said Shadowpaw, joining the other two robots. "The invaders... are like us, except... not."
"Oh, that explains everything!" exclaimed Admiral.
"It is difficult to explain, Commander." interjected Lightning.
It was then that forcefields jumped into existence all around them, in front of the lift doors and the walls. They were trapped.
Lilwall cursed again. "Looks like you're going to have plenty of time to explain it all."
Chapter 17
Our Universe
Stardrive barely had time to think when his chance came. His Mirror
counterpart seemed distracted for a moment, saying something about 'The
Amazing Flying Lilwall' whatever that meant. If he had to venture a
guess, he would say it probably wasn't a good thing.
Stardrive raised his right arm cannon and aimed it at his Mirror with practiced ease. He might not be any kind of martial artist, but he could probably give anyone on the ship a run for their money at a shooting range. Not that anyone else on the ship was likely to know it.
So there they stood. Each with a weapon pointed at the other, for Stardrive had no chance to fire before his mirror had noticed. Stalemate.
"I didn't expect you to come back so soon." said the Mirror. "But that little entrance you made certainly didn't escape my attention. I know this ship nearly as well as you do."
"Looks like it." Stardrive replied. "So now what do we do? Stand here for an hour?"
"It depends... do you want to join the winning team? Or do you want to join your friends?
"My... what have you done with the rest of LONAC?" Stardrive demanded.
"Oh, most of them are just in the brig. Your Lil, Shadowpaw and Lightning are trapped between the bridge and the lift. Though, I admit I have no idea how he is still alive, and in perfect function... or he was before he tried to play battering ram."
"You're tapped into all the communications systems..."
"Yes, primitive as they are. Not quite up to the specs of the Conquest. I'm surprised. I reworked most of them myself, I thought we were supposed to be Mirrors of each other."
"I... uh..." Stardrive was at a loss for words. "My Waitstate wouldn't let me..."
"And the same for your spy equipment, I suppose?" the Mirror interrupted.
"My holo-emittor? It's not spy equipment, it's just a more personal way to interact with others in distant parts of the ship than an audio channel."
"And they're trying to hinder your use of it, I'll bet." said the Mirror with a smile. He had seen some of his counterpart's logs. His own spy holos were much more sophisticated, even equipped with the best cloaking technology available.
sp; Stardrive didn't answer. He wasn't going to join his evil twin. It would be silly to even think such a thing.
"They're all week minded, Stardrive. They all just want what suits themselves. Waitstate, the council. I noticed your rank dropped recently What did you do that caused your demotion? I'm still Second Officer on my ship. Why aren't you?"
Stardrive didn't answer. His mirror obviously had been though his logs and knew the answer. Why play this game?
"Oh, that's right." he said, as if just remembering the answer. "You didn't do anything, they just found someone to replace you. Maybe you're not my equal after all."
"I'm your equal, or better." said Stardrive. If his Mirror wanted to make this a drama, he'd oblige.
"You know, they tried to do the same to me in my universe. But I, took it back. She spent nearly a week in the reconstruction bay and it was a long time before she dared to face me again. These days it's a constant battle I sometimes tire of, fighting for the rank that is rightfully mine. But it's how things are, and how they will remain, for he won't let me kill her outright.
"But one day I will, and Lilwall too." he smiled, but there was no warmth in that smile. "And then our fearless leader, Waitstate, will have no chance."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Nothing, really." answered the Mirror. "Plans have changed. My conquest starts here, in this universe. With you or without you."
The alternate Stardrive might be willing to kill others, but he seemed at least a little reluctant to kill his counterpart. He was no fool, obviously. He was concerned as to what would happened to him if he killed his counterpart, especially while in the counterpart's own universe.
Stardrive, however, merely had his weapon set to fire his Verellian equivalent of a null ray. If he could just get a chance... a distraction.
"And if I join you, what happens to the rest of LONAC?"
"We'll drop them off somewhere remote."
"You won't kill them?"
"I wouldn't kill them for no reason. As Jimmy James would say, 'it's bad who-doo.'"
"You know, even Junky doesn't get that." Stardrive mused.
"We can be friends or enemies. It's up to you"
"I'd like to be friends... but I can't help you take over this ship. Even if you are more like me than anyone else I know."
"A shame. You show loyalty to those who don't deserve it. You'd be better off if you didn't let the whims of others rule your live. I don't. Not anymore."
Before Stardrive could absorb his words, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned his head on pure instinct, perhaps not the best of ideas considering he was giving his Mirror a perfect chance to fire.
Behind him was Shadowpaw. What a relief. He quickly turned his attention back on his Mirror. "The time for talking is over."
"Indeed. But not for me." the Mirror replied.
Shadowpaw looked from one Stardrive to the other. "Slaggit! I can't tell who the frag is who here!"
Only then did Stardrive realize that the Shadowpaw behind him wasn't the Shadowpaw he knew. Things had just gone from bad to worse.
Chapter 18
Our Universe
"There, that did it." said Shadowpaw. "I think."
"That's less than reassuring." Lilwall replied.
"I'd like to see you do this with a scanner, two EC disruptors, and your photon rifle."
"Ok, ok." said Lilwall. "But if this doesn't work, we're out of options."
Shadowpaw sighed. "No pressure."
"Sorry."
"S'ok." she replied. "Now, which way do we want to go? This thing will only work once. After that, it will either be in a million pieces, or a pile of melted metal."
"I get the feeling that if there was anything we could do from the bridge, they would have trapped us back in the turbolift." mused Admiral Lilwall. "We'd better go back the way we came."
"Ok... stand back." said Shadowpaw as she placed the odd looking conglomeration on the floor. She pressed a few controls and waited for the others to move away. "Here goes nothing."
Shadowpaw kicked the device as hard as she could. The device hit the field and imbedded itself within it's sphere of influence. Jolts of energy arced though the field emitters from the device and the three robots were momentarily blinded by the bright flashes of light it caused.
When they looked back up, the device was a blot of blackened metal on the floor, but the field was gone and the emitters were still shorting quietly.
"Let's get going!" commanded Admiral Lilwall, stepping back into the turbolift. "Time to retake the ship!"
"Take two." said Lightning.
Shadowpaw and Lilwall stared at him for a moment, but he said nothing more.
"C'mon..." said Lilwall. The others followed.
* * * * * *
The lift doors slid open and the three LONAC members exited.
"Where are we going?" asked Shadowpaw. "I don't have a scanner anymore, and those Mirrors could be anywhere."
"Yeah, but the brig is on this level, and I'll bet that's where everyone else is." Lil replied.
As the trio hurried down the corridor, Shadowpaw drew her photon pistol. "I'm the only one left with a gun, I'd better be ready to use it."
"Quiet." whispered Lilwall. "We're just outside the detention area."
"I hear someone approaching." warned Lightning.
"Quick, into this storage compartment." ordered Lilwall.
A blast from an energy weapon advised him to stop his foreward motion.
"Hail, hail, the gang's all here." snickered Stardrive's Mirror. Behind him, Stardrive made a face and mumbled something about stealing his material.
Lightning's Mirror appeared in the doorway of the detention area, weapon at the ready. "The last ones!" he exclaimed. "We've got them all, now!"
Lilwall pulled his sword out of subspace and ran towards Mirror Lightning, screaming all the way. Shadowpaw stood in place, stunned, while her universe's Lightning grabbed her pistol and attempted to give his Commander cover fire.
The two Mirrors in the corridor fired back at Lightning from behind the corner wall while the Mirror Lightning fired at the charging Lilwall. Three blasts hit Lilwall dead on before he made contact with the Mirror, who was sent flying into the brig area.
Meanwhile, back in the corridor, Stardrive realized no one was paying any attention to him any more, and took the opportunity to stun the two remaining mirrors with his Verrellian null rays.
"Well, I guess that's..." Stardrive paused as he saw the Mirror Lightning run out the door of the security area and up the corridor.
"... not quite the end of this." he finished. Lightning ran off in pursuit of his double."
Stardrive and Shadowpaw entered the security area to find out what happened to Lilwall. He was banging his fist on the security console, attempting to free the other robots.
Stardrive fired on the control panel with his null ray and the security fields fizzled out.
Lilwall located the cell where Waitstate was and walked over to it. "Ok, no more lounging around in here while I do all the work." he grinned, or as close as his mouthplate allowed.
"Good Work, Lil." exclaimed Waitstate, what's the situation?
The other LONAC members spilled out of their cells and crowded around Waitstate and Lilwall, trying to get filled in on the situation. None of them saw the Mirror Stardrive outside the door, in the empty corridor. None of them saw him transform into his starfighter mode. No one except Stardrive and Shadowpaw, who were standing behind the security console, engaged in a futile attempt to gain some computer control.
There was no time to fire, and the angle was so bad, he probably would have missed. All he could do was shout a warning to the crowd and pull Shadowpaw to the floor behind the console.
The warning did not go unheard, but there was no time to react. Most of the crowd turned to see a Verrellian photon torpedo streaking towards them. A few leaped back into their cells before impact, but Avalon wasn't as lucky. She stood, transfixed, like a deer caught in headlights, as the torpedo streaked across the security area and caught her right between the eyes.
* * * * * *
The Mirror Stardrive transformed back into robot mode and flew down the corridor toward the launch bay, not even looking to see the results of the explosion. All he wanted to do was escape. Shadowpaw and Lightning were nowhere to be seen. He was on his own.
Within minutes he was in the launch bay. The shuttle with which they arrived was conspicuously absent.
"Luckily, I'm my own ride." he said, transforming back into starfighter mode. "Saves the time of powering up a shuttle."
* * * * * *
"Just like those two to take off without me." grumbled Stardrive, preparing to enter orbit. It was a relatively easy task with the light gravity and thin atmosphere.
"What the hell?" A transformer was leaving the launch bay, screaming almost directly down into the atmosphere. Even in it's aerodynamic spacecraft mode, it was surely not going to fare well during atmospheric entry.
* * * * * *
They killed Avalon! They killed Avalon and who knows where Ytsejam is! Had they killed him too? Who else did he kill? Ayreon's thoughts were a blur of rage, but he knew one thing, he would make them pay!
* * * * * *
"Hurry up!" Screamed Shadowpaw. "They could be here any minute!"
"I-I'm h-urrying." Lightning replied. "There. I think I have it."
"And I have you!" exclaimed Ayreon, running down the cave-like corridor towards them.
"No time like the present for a field test." the Mirror growled.
Shadowpaw jumped into the glowing portal with Lightning right behind her. Ayreon fired after them but succeeded in hitting only the machine itself. Nevertheless, he jumped into the portal as well, just instants before the machine exploded, filling the room and the corridor beyond with white-hot plasma fire.
* * * * * *
Stardrive felt the ground shudder and saw a flash of light from the opening to the cavern where they found the alien device.
"Oh no... no no no..." realization fell over the Mirror's features. "Not the portal device!"
He pulled out a scanning device and was not happy with the information it showed him. "It's gone... I'm stuck here..."
The Mirror Stardrive double checked the readings, and then checked again, just to make sure. Finally he put the scanner away slowly and simply said, "I'd better get out of here, whether I have anywhere to go or not."
The homeless Mirror transformed into starfighter mode and left orbit using the planet to shield himself from the Freedom's sensors, as if anyone had access to them at this point, but he wasn't taking any chances.
"As cliche` as it sounds, you haven't seen the last of me, LONAC." said the Mirror as he entered warp and disappeared into the distance.
Epilogue
Captain's Log, Waitstate recording -
I can't even begin to figure out the details of the past week's events. I have a feeling that no one will ever have them all figured out. The best sense I can make of it is, we got a glimpse of what LONAC might have been, and we didn't like it.
Unfortunately that glimpse cost us two lives, maybe three. Ayreon was never found, and we have listed him as missing. It saddens us all to have lost these friends, and we will never forget them.
In less tragic news, the crew with non-fatal injuries have all been repaired, though several are still recovering in medbay. At least we'll have no more deaths. We've had two... or three... too many.
On the brighter side, the damage to the ship has, after nearly a week, been almost fully repaired. Junky advises me it will be completed within four more days. Stardrive figured out the code that locked out our computers, a rather large section of a Star Trek episode translated into Verrellian, and has restored the computers to normal.
End Log.
It almost looked like a portal. Could it be some type of transport device? Forgotten technology. Perhaps their investigation of this planet was worthwhile after all.
"Mmmm..." was Stardrive's only response. He hadn't planned on actually activating the thing when he touched the control board, but it seemed he had. "Fascinating."
Lightning scowled. Nothing new. "What good is it? You don't even know what it is."
"I'll take some scans for Bit." said Shadowpaw.
"Good idea." replied Lilwall. "I'll call the ship and tell Waitstate about what we found."
"I still say we should have left someone to guard the shuttle." said Lightning, for the fifth time at least.
"This planet is deserted. Has been for centuries, if not longer." said Stardrive. "There's no one to guard it from."
Lilwall decided not to bother agreeing with either of them and walked away from them so he could talk to the ship without interruption.
"What does this do?" wondered Shadowpaw, pressing a few buttons. The machinery hummed almost audibly now, and the portal changed colors.
"Maybe we'd better shut it down until Bit can tell us what it is." said Stardrive, pressing more buttons in an attempt to deactivate the alien device.
The portal seemed to change in some way, though no one would be able to explain how or what the difference was. Wait a minute, was something moving inside it? Or on the other side of it?
"Did you see something move?" asked Shadowpaw, staring at the glowing portal.
Stardrive gave up pressing buttons and walked slowly toward it. "I think I did."
"I wouldn't go near it if I were you." warned Lightning, moving to restrain him.
"What could happen?" Stardrive replied.
"Alright, you better get back there before they start messing with the thing. Lightning probably couldn't care less, but Stardrive and Shadowpaw won't be able to control their curiosity for more than a microsecond." Waitstate replied. "Get enough scans and then get back to the ship. We've got plenty of time to study the scans before we play with an alien device we don't understand."
"Understood. Lilwall out."
The red and blue robot grumbled to himself about leaving Stardrive and Shadowpaw alone with the device, Lightning or not. Who knows what they would be foolish enough to do.
"Ah, everyone's still in one piece, I see." he joked, as he returned to the chamber containing the device.
"For now." replied Stardrive, though oddly enough he seemed... angry? Threatening? Not his usual tone. "Though how long it stays that way remains to be seen. Get him!"
Shadowpaw and Lightning grabbed his arms and pinned him to the nearest wall. He didn't remember Shadowpaw being so strong.
"If this is one of Stardrive's ill-conceived jokes..."
"Oh, it's no joke." Stardrive replied. "In fact, let me show you how serious it really is."
Lilwall let out a scream as Stardrive fired both his particle beams into his chest. He briefly considered the gaping hole in his chest and the smell of burning metal and polymer before everything went black.
"He's scrap, find somewhere to hide him, Lightning."
"Uh... y-y-yes, s-sir." stammered Lightning. He really wasn't cut out for this, but he got kicked out of his former faction and had nowhere else to go. He was fine with explicit orders, but not much for independent action. Where was he going to hide the body?
"Shadowpaw, transform and find their shuttle." ordered Stardrive.
"Ok. I'll get right on it." said Shadowpaw as she transformed into a black and purple panther. Stardrive watched her disappear through the doorway and then deactivated the alien machine. "No sense in leaving the gateway open." He smiled. "Who knows what could be on the other side."
"I-I-I hid the b-b-body, sir." reported Lightning. "Some small room, m-m-maybe it was a s-s-storage closet."
"Oh who cares. Lets get out of this pile of rubble that used to be a building. Shadowpaw should have already found the shuttle by the time we get outside."
"Y-y-yes, s-s-sir." said Lightning, following Stardrive out the door.
Mirror Universe
"Alright, you better get back there before they start messing with the thing. Lightning would probably be too scared to touch it, but I know Stardrive and Shadowpaw won't be able to control their curiosity for more than a microbreem." Waitstate replied. "Get enough scans and then get back to the ship. We've wasted enough time here on a pile of rocks and an alien device we don't understand."
"Understood. Lilwall out."
The red and blue robot grumbled to himself about leaving Stardrive and Shadowpaw alone with the device. Who knows what they would be foolish enough to do if it turned out to be a weapon after all.
"Well, I see you haven't scrapped yourselves with that device while I was gone." he growled at the three robots. "Too bad. At least you've turned the slagging thing back off." It was true. The machine had deactivated a few moments ago, though they had nothing to do with it.
Stardrive, Shadowpaw, and Lightning looked at Admiral Lilwall. He Looked virtually identical to the one they knew, yet acted so different.
"Do we have enough scans yet, Shadowpaw?" he snapped.
"Yes, Commander." She reported, hoping it was the proper response. Admiral Lilwall, however, was more concerned with getting back to the ship than he was with scrutinizing his troops.
"Then let's get off this slagging dirt ball." he said, walking out the door.
"What's..." Shadowpaw began, but Stardrive held up a hand to silence her. He made some adjustments to their communicators and then told her to continue. "What's going on?"
"We're in a parallel universe, I guess." said Stardrive over the secured channel.
"Your head is filled with too much science fiction." grumbled Lightning. "You're starting to confuse those data tracks with reality."
"We were just thrown through a portal by ourselves, into an identical room with a nearly identical Lil!" Stardrive snapped back. "What would you say is going on?"
Lightning remained silent. He had no better idea of the situation, and he knew that their survival, and possibly the survival of their comrades, their real comrades in the other universe, or whatever, depended was more important than the specifics of their whereabouts.
"So what do we do?" asked Shadowpaw. "Those... other us's... closed the portal before we could figure out what was going on. Now we're trapped here."
"For a time. But we won't be staying long. We have to get out of here and get the... other us's... out of our universe. Who knows what they'll do if their actions so far are any indication." said Stardrive.
"Or Lilwall's." added Shadowpaw.
"You rank the highest among us so, as much as I hate to admit it, you are in command." growled Lightning. "So I hope you have a plan to accomplish what you say we must do."
"Not yet... let's play it by ear for now."
"Play it by what?"
"Let's improvise for the time being."
"I understand."
"Shadowpaw?"
"I think I can handle it." she responded "But I wish I had a better idea of how we're supposed to act. If that Lil is any example, it's not the way we normally would."
"Point taken." Stardrive responded, gradually becoming more serious. He was immensely older than the others, and so had built up a little bit of wisdom despite his normal behavior. He new that the situation was deadly serious, and as temporary Commander, he could be no less. "Let's not lag too far behind. Lil might get suspicious."
Our Universe
"Hmmmm... I assume there's an L.S.S. Conquest in orbit as well?" asked Stardrive.
"Negative." Shadowpaw replied, working the shuttle's sensors. "There is a ship like ours, but it's marked 'L.S.S. Freedom.'"
Stardrive digested this new information. "That's got to be it. This must be an alternate universe of some kind." he proclaimed.
"Are you out of your slagging mind!?!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "Your fondness for science fiction must have finally corrupted your memory core!"
"Explain all this, then." he demanded, gesturing at the shuttle.
"I... I can't."
"An alternate universe." he continued. "And not just any alternate universe, but one in which we LONACs seem to be peace-loving weaklings. The perfect place to conquer as our own without that overbearing Waitstate trying to claim all the glory for himself."
"And when we've claimed this universe for ourselves, we use it's resources to conquer our own!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"Aaah, a universe is a universe." said Stardrive, dismissively. "But if you want that one so bad, you can have it. This one suits me just fine. The more peaceful they are, the less trouble they're likely to make after they've been conquered."
"W-what about me?" asked Lightning.
"We're out of universes." Shadowpaw replied.
"We'll make sure you have a nice cushy job somewhere." said Stardrive. "But before we get to any of that, we must take over the Con... er, the Freedom."
"Then we should take off." Shadowpaw made a show of resting her arm on the console and acting bored.
Stardrive made a face. "Alright, take off."
"They're taking off. Heading back to the Freedom." Recoil reported.
"Good. I was starting to worry that they'd find some way to detonate the device, and themselves with it." Waitstate replied.
"Would that be a bad thing?" Diablo asked, stepping onto the bridge.
Waitstate would have frowned if he could. The bridge door monitor must be out along with everything else.
"You wanted to see me?" asked the purple and yellow robot.
"Oh! Yes." Waitstate replied, realizing that he had. "When Lil and the others return, I want you to to get their data clips and anything else they brought with them, bring it all to Bit in the science lab, and assist him in any way you can. We're a little shorthanded with Dark Force on leave."
"And I guess the fact that Junky has just about everyone else in Engineering working to realign the drives after our last "adventure" doesn't help the situation, huh?"
"Exactly." said Waitstate. "Recoil's well into his second shift already, and there's no doubt in my circuits that his attention span is not compatible with the situation."
"I see what you mean." Diablo replied, hearing Recoil tapping an army march on the side of his console.
"So you see why I'd like to get our intrepid explorers back on the bridge as soon as possible. Before Recoil looses his mind, and his tapping makes me lose mine too."
"I'll get down to the shuttlebay right now." said Diablo, moving toward the lift.
"Good." Waitstate replied, relaxing back into his chair. "One less thing to worry about."
Diablo waited for the large bay doors to open. He could see the glow of the atmospheric containment field, and open space beyond. "Quite a view." he mused. "No time to stop and smell the flowers, though."
He chuckled to himself for a moment. There were no flowers in the landing bay, even if he had the time.
The shuttle soon entered the bay and settled itself onto the deck. Diablo waited for his fellow 'bots to exit. What happened next, he certainly did not expect.
"Honey, we're home!" exclaimed Stardrive as he, Shadowpaw, and Lightning burst out of the shuttle, weapons firing. Diablo had no chance to move before he was hit by several blasts.
He tried to call for help, but was buffeted by the weapons fire. He crashed to the ground, losing consciousness, and tried to croak out, "why".
"Because." said Shadowpaw, simply, as she kicked him in the head. He made a garbled noise and went offline.
Mirror Universe
"Now that you mention it, maybe we should have ourselves checked over when we get back to the ship." suggested Stardrive. "I feel... unusual."
Lightning and Shadowpaw nodded their agreement.
sp; "You are unusual." Lilwall snorted in amusement. "Have fun, then. ETA?"
Shadowpaw checked the readouts and responded. "One quarter breem."
They took the rest of the trip in silence.
"Look, we can't go to Medbay." said Stardrive. "We have no idea how to act like... ourselves."
"I know how to act like myself just fine." said Lightning.
"I meant our other selves." said Stardrive. "Sometimes I think you do this on purpose."
Lightning did not reply. Stardrive made a face.
"So what are we going to do?!?" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
Stardrive turned his attention back to the problem at hand. "We go to the closest of our quarters and check the computer for our tech specs in this universe."
"Agreed." said Lightning.
"Let's go." said Shadowpaw.
The three robots hurried down the corridor toward Lightning's quarters. Luckily, the corridors were mostly empty.
When they got to Lightning's quarters, they went about the task of finding out where they stood in the universe. Or, rather, where their counterparts stood in this universe.
"Computer, access personnel files. Subject: Stardrive."
"Working..." came the reply. "Text or oral format?"
"Oral." Stardrive replied. "We don't have time to comb the archives right now. Just give us the highlights."
"Personnel files, subject: Stardrive." droned the computer. "Exiled from Cybertron during beginnings of the Great War. Returned leading attack fleet from Verellian Empire. Attack repelled by Auto-con Alliance.
"Stardrive declared official Enemy of the Sector. Met founder of LONAC while hiding out on Cybertron. Attained current position of Exploratory Adjunct and Communications Espionage Officer after showing extreme talent and ambition and as a reward for discovering and killing Vanadis, a spy from an unknown faction, possibly the Auto-con alliance."
"Vanadis?" Exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"I knew something wasn't right about her. Coded messages and messed up sensors. That bomb too, I'll bet. I should have..." his voice trailed off.
"It seems that your alternate self was not so apprehensive about acting on his suspicions." said Lightning.
"No. I guess not." Stardrive replied.
"Play mine next!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"Computer, access personnel files. Subject: Shadowpaw."
"Personnel files, subject: Shadowpaw. Joined LONAC after deserting Auto-con alliance in search of power and glory. Current position: Helm officer, L.S.S. Conquest."
"Wow." said Shadowpaw.
"Computer, access pernsonel files. Subject: Lightning."
"Personnel files, subject: Lightning. Joined LONAC after being rejected from the Auto-con alliance for cowardess. Current position: Junior Assistant Science Officer, L.S.S. Conquest."
"WHAT?!?!" roared Lightning. "This is an outrage!"
"Calm down!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. He did. Slightly.
"Look, we've got to get moving." Stardrive moved back toward the door. "We need an excuse to get back down to the planet. But first, we'd better get to the bridge."
"Before that, shouldn't we check the crew roster?" asked Lighting. "In our universe, I'm certainly not the Junior Assistant Science officer. Who knows what else has changed."
"You're right." acknowledged Stardrive. "We'll do that, then head for the bridge."
Mirror Universe
"I'm worried about whatever they're searching and destroying." said Shadowpaw.
The two "Normal Universe" refugees were in a lift heading for the bridge. They weren't exactly prepared for whatever they would find, but they knew they couldn't stall any longer without arousing suspicion.
Stardrive frowned for a moment. "I hope Lightning can keep out of trouble until we're done."
"He'll be fine." said Shadowpaw. "All he really has to do is sit in his quarters until his shift with Bit."
"It's his shift with Bit that I'm worried about. As close as I can figure, Bit is the least different 'bot on this ship from their Normal Universe counterparts."
"He'll never figure it out if he has as much imagination as our Bit."
"Or lack thereof." Stardrive replied "I see your point. The most he'll do is send him to medbay... and then he'll be discovered and tortured for information by Autumn."
Shadowpaw shuddered. "I barely recognized her picture."
"Same here. And I don't want to meet her in person." replied Stardrive. "I hope we don't have to stay here long."
"You worry too much." advised Shadowpaw. "We'll be home before you know it."
"Not too much, just not early enough." Stardrive replied. "If I had worried about things like this before fooling with that machine..."
"Oh, boo hoo." she replied sarcastically. "Too late for that, let's worry about getting out of here."
"I thought I worried too much."
"Oh, nevermind." growled Shadowpaw. Stardrive smiled.
The doors slid open, and the two 'bots found themselves on a bridge that they had never before seen, but was all too familiar. But on second glance, it was not quite right.
"This looks just like the Freedom." whispered Shadowpaw.
"To our stations." whispered Stardrive. "I'll rig communications through our panels if I can. Hopefully, my station here won't look too different than my regular one."
"So glad you two finally decided to join us here on the bridge." grunted Waitstate. "I hope showing up wasn't too much of an inconvenience for you."
Stardrive, unsure how to respond, simply ignored the sarcasm and went to his station. It looked much like his normal station, except the recliner looked a bit more like a throne. In fact, all the chairs looked a little fancier than on the Freedom. The command chair, in fact, did look like a throne.
"Ok, Recoil, you can go." said Shadowpaw to the robot at the helm.
"I thought you'd never get here." Recoil replied. He walked to the rear of the bridge and off to the side to wait for the lift. The doors opened and he stepped into the lift car. He mumbled a destination as the doors closed.
In the meantime, Shadowpaw had taken her post and attempted to familiarize herself with the changes, mostly superficial, to the console in front of her. She was thankful she and Stardrive had reviewed some of the video logs to find out the standard bridge protocols. Almost as non-standard as the Freedom's.
"I'm getting a ship on long range sensors. Looks like a freighter." reported Archlight.
"Plot an intercept course." ordered Waitstate. "I hope there's some useful cargo aboard."
"Course plotted, Captain." responded Shadowpaw, struggling to keep her voice level.
"Take us out of orbit."
"At least we won't get out of practice." commented Lilwall. "I assume you want a boarding party ready?"
"Yes. Take care of it." said Waitstate. "Weapons check."
"Particle lasers, check. Antimatter torpedoes, check." Diablo ran down the list. "DEM cannon, check. Plasma bolts, check."
"Tractors?"
"Check."
"Boarding mechanism?"
"Check."
"Shields?"
"At one hundred percent."
"Good." said Waitstate to no one in particular. "Very good." He was smiling, but it was an evil smile. At least he enjoyed his work.
Stardrive exchanged a furtive glance at Shadowpaw. Neither of them had expected this. Especially not so soon. Now what would they do?
"Uh, Captain, if I may." ventured Stardrive.
"Speak." Waitstate's replied.
"I think that alien device is too valuable to leave behind. What if someone discovers it while we're gone?"
Waitstate laughed. "No one found the piece of slag all this time, what makes you think they will now?"
"That device might be the most valuable thing in this quadrant!" Stardrive persisted.
"And it might be slag." replied Waitstate. "But very well. If you wish to go and guard it, go quickly before we loose our target."
Stardrive couldn't believe his luck. Now he had to press that luck a little further. "I request that Shadowpaw and Lightning accompany me."
"Fine, go!" roared Waitstate. "But ask no more or I'll change my mind."
"Aye sir." replied a relieved Stardrive. Then to Shadowpaw he said, "let's go."
As they were getting up from their respective stations, the bridge shook violently. Stardrive and Shadowpaw barely kept on their feet.
"Decepticon stealthcruiser has decloaked and fired on us!" reported Archlight. "Shields were up. No damage."
"Red Alert! All hands to battle stations." announced Lilwall.
"Your trip is canceled." said Waitstate. "Try to tap into their communications, find out whatever you can."
Stardrive silently cursed his luck. Not only had their best chance to get back to their own universe just disappeared, he wasn't quite sure how to tap into the communications systems of a Decepticon stealthcruiser. Maybe this universe's Stardrive knew, but he did not.
"Time to improvise." he said to himself.
Our Universe
"Stop." whispered Shadowpaw.
They stopped moving. Stardrive peered into the adjacent room.
"The clone." he mumbled. "Didn't think both sides' Lilwalls would be so reckless. Blasting off a piece of the meteor..."
While Stardrive mused over blasting a meteor, Shadowpaw took the opportunity to blast the clone. Meteor slumped over the container of spare engine components he had been searching through.
"These LONACs sure don't have the armor we do." Shadowpaw chuckled. "I'll bet their weapons are weaker too."
"No doubt." replied Stardrive, though his mind wasn't on the conversation.
"This is easier than I thought." said Shadowpaw. "We're halfway to the bridge already, and no one knows we're here."
"This ship is so empty," commented Stardrive, "it's no wonder. But don't get too confident. We can't let our guard down now."
Lightning said nothing. He was just happy to be present for what seemed to be a successful takeover. He could never have accomplished anything like this by himself. Would never have attempted it, or perhaps even thought about it. But he now seemed to be on the winning team. It felt good.
The three 'bots ducked into a public lounge when they heard movement nearby. Ytsejam was walking quickly down the corridor arms full of assorted tools, presumably for realigning the engines.
He was so intent on his destination, that he didn't notice the black and purple foot set out to trip him.
"Aaah!" Ytsejam's exclaimed as he lost his balance, flinging tools and equipment all over the corridor.
"For the love of Cybertron, what did I trip over!?"
"That would be me." said Shadowpaw, emerging from her hiding place.
"Shadowpaw! This isn't funny, I have work to do!" exclaimed the perturbed scientist. "Look at this mess! When I tell Waitstate about this, you'll..."
"We'll speak to the maid." Stardrive interrupted. He stepped out into the corridor behind Shadowpaw and aimed his null ray at Ytsejam.
Lightning was nearly shaking as he stepped out of the lounge and into the corridor. He couldn't even bring himself to say anything. Of course, having one of his arm mounted disruptors aimed at Ytsejam's head did all the communicating that was necessary.
"You know, it's not often someone gets to kill the same 'bot twice." said Shadowpaw, aiming her photon cannon at his head. "I guess I'm just lucky."
"Or greedy." Stardrive commented. "It's hardly fair that you get to kill this annoying techie twice."
Shadowpaw grinned evilly and lowered her cannon to aim at his neck. "I'll let you kill the next one."
"You're all heart, and I mean that." Stardrive commented dryly.
She fired her weapon at point blank range, shattering his neck and sending shards of metal which had formerly comprised his neck everywhere.
Ytsejam's face contorted as if screaming, but his vocalizer was shattered along with the structure of his neck. His body spasmed. There were a few connections left unsevered, but not many.
"I want a bomb." Shadowpaw stated matter-of-factly.
"You want everything, don't you?" Stardrive smirked. "Junior Assistant Science Officer Lightning, find us something we can use as an explosive. There's got to be something suitable in this mess."
Lighting searched the corridor, now littered with assorted tools and equipment that Ytsejam had been carrying.
"Uhhmmm... h-here. These are compressed-energy power cells." he informed Stardrive. "Send a good jolt on a reversed polarity, and they'll explode with the force of at least 10 old style cluster bombs."
Stardrive nodded. He handed five of the box-like, metallic objects to Shadowpaw.
"Heh, this should be good." she said to no one in particular.
Shadowpaw went about the task of attaching the power packs to Ytsejam's twitching body. She looked around on the floor and spotted a welding tool. "Perfect."
While Shadowpaw welded the cases of the power cells to the floored robot, Stardrive wandered the corridor until he found a suitable mechanism to detonate the energy cells.
"No sense in getting caught in the blast, is there?" he remarked to Lightning. Lightning nodded, a look of relief on his face.
Shadowpaw finished attaching the final bomb to Ytsejam's chest and stood. At Stardrive's instruction, Lighting wired the cells together and to the device that would serve as the detonator.
"It's a-all set, Commander." Lighting was getting into his element now. He had lacked the courage to be a warrior and had eventually taken up science and mechanics. He was actually good at it when he wasn't tripping over his own feet with worry, and now that he was able to focus more attention on his job, his speech was becoming less stunted.
Stardrive noticed this. He had hoped Lighting would prove useful, but had hardly imagined that he would gather any confidence from this experience.
Perhaps being away from the rest of LONAC was part of it. He wasn't exactly in a position to assert himself back on the Conquest, but here he didn't have to worry about anyone other than Shadowpaw and Stardrive looking over his shoulder, and they had treated him fairly in the past. They saw value in his skills, if not his personality.
Shadowpaw grinned evilly as she set the timer on the detonation device. "Time for the fireworks."
Stardrive took a moment to scan the local frequencies for any sign that they had been discovered. So far the LONACs were puzzled by the lack of the three on the bridge; Stardrive, Shadowpaw, and Lilwall. Lightning was well known for his love of solitude, but someone had gone to his quarters and gotten no response.
"At least no one found Diablo yet. It's a good thing the Con... I mean the Freedom took all that damage. If the sensors were working right, they'd probably have already found us." Stardrive frowned. They had been lucky so far, but they couldn't count on that for much longer.
"Alright, let's get going." said Stardrive. "This explosion should distract them from finding us, if they even find out about it with the sensors down."
"Oh, they'll feel this clear to the bridge." said Shadowpaw.
"Less talking and more moving." called Stardrive, running down the corridor. "Unless you want to go with him."
Shadowpaw quickly transformed into panther mode and followed the retreating forms of Stardrive and Lightning. She turned her head just enough for one last glimpse of Ytesejam's prone form before the corridor behind her became one huge fireball.
Mirror Universe
"Not yet, we don't." growled the large robot at the weapons station. "We have to knock out their main gun quickly, before they can fire."
"Exactly right, BombBlast." exclaimed the Captain, a robot with a large disruptor cannon mounted on his arm. "Take out the main gun!"
"Too late! It's charging for a shot!" BombBlast exclaimed.
"Cloudstrike, evasive maneuver Ceti 4!"
The floor seemed to tilt up as the Decepticon Stealthcruiser went into evasive maneuvers that taxed it's own superstructure, hoping to avoid a hit from the L.S.S. Conquest's deadly DEM cannon.
In space, the Decepticon cruiser shifted directions in a seemingly random pattern, but was still grazed by the energy beam that the Conquest emitted.
The Stealthcruiser was sent flying through space and spinning like a top. It took a full two minutes for the ship to stabilize itself, as if that was going to help it any.
"We tipped it!" exclaimed Maxitron, at tactical.
That was the first time Stardrive noticed that particular bot. The voice was familiar, but the body was not. It sounded like Maximus Prime, but the shape of his body, not to mention the arm cannon, told a different story.
"This universe is getting too weird for my taste." thought Stardrive. "At least one thing has gone in my favor... that shot fried the Decepticon communications system. No way I'm going to be expected to tap into it now."
"That shot disabled their comm systems." reported Stardrive. "No chance of getting anything now."
"Forget it." Waitstate replied. "They're debris. Fire!"
"Firing DEMolition cannon." reported Maxitron, pressing the proper buttons. "Here come the fireworks!"
On the forward viewscreen, an energy beam leaped into space and struck the battered Decepticon Stealthcruiser, ripping the forward section from the aft before reducing the entire thing into thousands of tiny pieces of scorched metal and crystallized atmospheric gasses.
"That'll teach them not to attack LONAC!" Maxitron laughed evilly, reminiscent of a Decepticon leader.
Stardrive suppressed a shudder upon hearing the laugh. Shadowpaw quickly hid her face, but Stardrive was looking and saw the horror on her face. Luckily, all the others were congratulating each other or watching the cloud of debris expand. No one else noticed.
Waitstate brought the celebration to an end by saying "Return to condition blue. Shields and weapons off."
"Shields down. Weapons disarmed." responded Maxitron.
"Good. Set course for..."
That's when the ship shuddered.
"What the slag?!? Report!"
"There's something on our hull." reported Archlight at the ops console. "The attack itself must have been a diversion."
Just then the comm system crackled to life. "Dead Lift to Bridge!"
"Report."
"A big... thing just put a hole in my cargo bay! There's a port on it... it's opening! Intruder Al... uurrrrkk!!!"
"Slag!" grumbled Waitstate. "Security to the cargo bay, on the double!"
"Permission to kick the crap out of who or whatever is down there." asked Maxitron.
"Granted." Waitstate replied. "But, try to keep the damage to a minimum, ok?"
"Some things never change." thought Stardrive.
"Yer' no fun." Maxitron grumbled, as he practically jumped into the lift from his station. Archlight, at the Secondary Weapons station, took over the functions of the Primary.
"Captain." called Stardrive.
"Now what?" Waitstate eloquently replied.
"They might be after the alien device. Permission to take a small team back to the planet to defend it." requested Stardrive.
"What has you so fanatical about that damn machine?!?" roared Wait. "Let them have it! Let them eat it for all I care! Mind your station!"
Stardrive turned his attention back to his station. He'd have to be patient.
"Damn." he thought. "If it was just me, I could make a run for it. Slag, If I took off by myself from here, I could probably be back to my own universe before they could even make it back to that system."
But he wasn't by himself. He had Shadowpaw and Lightning to worry about. And as their superior, it was his responsibility to get them home. Besides, he couldn't leave them in this mess, now could he?
"What am I going to do now?"
Our Universe
"Recoil, if you don't stop tapping your fingers on that panel, I'll send you to engineering without a lift!" exclaimed Waitstate. Recoil was still tapping out a march on the side of the console, bored out of his mind.
"Sorry, boss. I just can't stop." Recoil replied. He was looking rather agitated. He definitely wasn't suited for bridge duty. "I've been sitting still for too long."
No one noticed that the bridge doors had opened. No one noticed that the three Mirror Universe LONACs had exited the lift and stood just behind the command chair.
"Perhaps we can put an end to that." said Stardrive. Waitstate jumped visibly and almost fell out of his chair.
"Don't do that!" exclaimed Waitstate. "Shadowpaw, take the helm so I can stop hearing that damn army march."
"Yes, sir!" she exclaimed, trying to seem eager to please. She took over at the helm and Stardrive and Lightning watched Recoil salute Waitstate and march to the lift.
Stardrive took a gamble and went to the communications station, since it was he who had installed the reclining throne himself--in his own universe, at least. It seemed he won the bet, the console was set up nearly identically to his own. Even down to the blatantly non-standard holographic spy equipment controls.
Lightning, on the other hand, stood where he was. Luckily he wasn't shaking visibly, or Waitstate might have suspected something. Stardrive quickly pulled up the crew roster and motioned him to Tac I before Wait looked around.
"Took you 'bots long enough to get here. We've been having no end of problems with the repairs. We've lost contact with several 'bots, and we barely have anyone have to spare to look for them." said Waitstate.
"I was starting to think you'd never show up." Waitstate continued. "Where's Lil, anyway?"
"He doesn't feel well." said Shadowpaw. "I don't think he'll be up here any time soon."
Waitstate frowned, but didn't comment. "At least nothing else can go wrong." he thought to himself.
"Well, with you three here I guess I can finally take a break." he said after a few moments. "Stardrive, the conn, such as it is, is yours."
"Not like we're going anywhere." the alternate Stardrive replied. "Everything will be fine."
Waitstate grunted as he walked to the lift doors. His limb joints were starting to lock up from disuse. The doors opened and he stepped inside, stating a destination as the doors closed.
"Well," began Shadowpaw, "so far so good. Now all we need to do is wait until this piece of junk gets mobile."
"Let's hope it's not a long wait. We can't risk being found out. Even we can't hope to hold out against the entire crew. At least not for very long." Stardrive replied.
"Hey, we got this far, right?" said Lightning. "We'll get through the rest."
"I think he's finally growing a spine." said Shadowpaw. "At least he's not stammering anymore."
"I guess this mission is a good influence on him." mused Stardrive. "It'll sure be a good influence on us if we pull it off."
Mirror Universe
"Die Auto-cons!" he yelled as he fired his density cannon and laser blaster at the oncoming hoard. He managed to score a few hits before a missile detonated the cargo container sending shards of container and shreds of Turellian silk across half of the cargo bay.
Dead Lift landed on his back several meters away, dazed but functional. He looked up to see several Auto-cons running past him toward the door to the Conquest's corridor.
Two Auto-cons, an orange/yellow Autobot and a purple/green Decepticon, grabbed his arms and hauled him to his feet, removing his weapons in the process.
"In the name of the Auto-con Alliance, you are under arrest for treason, terrorism, and piracy." said the Decepticon.
"As well as other things too numerous to mention." the Autobot added, attaching electro-bonds around Dead Lift's arms and torso.
"Let go a' me you slag sucking smelters!" he screamed, struggling uselessly against the electro-bonds. "When I'm out of here, you're gonna' pay!"
"Knock him out and put him in the shuttlepod." Said the purple robot. "Our orders are to get as many as we can alive for trial."
"Yes sir." replied the Autobot, pulling Dead Lift toward the shuttle protruding through the wall of the cargo bay. "Let's go, you."
Meanwhile, Maxitron was running down the corridor outside the bay. Several Auto-cons were already in the corridor ahead of him.
"Stop in the name of..." one began but stopped when Maxitron raised his arm cannon.
Maxitron fired down the corridor. Several Auto-cons ducked back into the cargo bay or into the empty lounge across the hall in time, but one was caught in the blast and sent flying down the corridor.
"One down." grumbled Maxitron. "More to go."
He aimed his cannon and waited. When one of the invaders poked their head into the corridor, he fired. Luckily, the invader managed to pull his head back in time, but the heat from the blast darkened the paint on the side of his head.
"That was close." said Commander Sprocket. "Scratch, Disruption, Tsunami, get ready."
p; Sprocket grabbed a long shard of the cargo container they had destroyed earlier and tied some orange silk tatters to it. He then quickly held it out into the corridor.
Maxitron fired by reflex. Before his cannon could charge for another blast, Sprocket and three others jumped into the corridor and fired their weapons.
Maxitron staggered back as he suffered repeated hits. He was quite a sturdy 'bot, but a Transformer can only take so much. One electron beam sent his arm cannon flying down the corridor a dozen or so meters.
"Slaggin' Auto-cons." he mumbled, as he sank to his knees. His legs were scored by several blasts. Only his tenacity was keeping him online by this point.
Several more LONACs came running around a corner in time to see the combined blast from several weapons that hit Maxitron square in the face and knocked him offline.
"Security Troops, open fire!" called Security Chief Cuffs.
The only response from his troops was the sound of weapons fire. Shortly after, the Auto-cons responded with their own weaponry. They continued firing for several minutes, Cuff's team using a turn in the corridor for cover, and the Auto-cons using the cargobay and lounge doorways. Stalemate.
"They have us pinned down in here." said Disruption, the purple/green Decepticon Lieutenant Commander. "We've got them outnumbered at least four to one until they get reinforcements. We've got to get out of this bay before that happens!"
Sprocket nodded. Lousy timing had them trapped. If the LONACs had gotten there just a little later, or at least the big one, Maxitron, had gotten there later, they would have been halfway to the bridge by now.
"Racket, Gearbox, Airfoil, stay here and guard the prisoner and the shuttlepod. The last thing we need is the LONACs to access our new stealth technology."
"Aye sir." they replied in unison.
"Everyone else, fire across the corridor into the back wall of the lounge." Sprocket instructed. "We'll have a better chance crossing the corridor and escaping out the back of the lounge into another corridor while the guards give us cover fire to keep the LONACs busy."
The Autocons fired, blowing a sizable hole in the back wall of the lounge. The started running into the lounge, one by one, sustaining only a few hits between the twenty some robots that crossed.
"They must have knocked a hole in the lounge wall!" exclaimed SkySiren.
"Stay here with Slashwave." ordered Cuffs. "I'll take Shadowstrike and Scope with me."
Cuffs, Scope, and Slashwave ran down the hall to the next corner. They arrived just in time to see several invaders disappear around the corner, one section away.
"Slag!" Cuffs exclaimed. "After them!"
The Cuffs and his two Security Troops hurried down the corridor. "How did they get out so fast?" he grumbled.
He was so focused on the corner the invaders had disappeared around, he completely ignored the hole in the wall of the corridor. At least until an arm hooked itself around his head as he ran past, slamming him to the deck on his back.
In addition to the one Auto-con who had attacked him, two more had emerged from the lounge through the damaged bulkhead. A large, brown/orange Autobot was nearly crushing Scope with his huge arms, and a silver/blue Decepticon was grappling with Slashwave.
Cuffs faked disorientation for a few moments until the green/yellow Decepticon attempted to put electro-bonds on him. Then he kicked out with both feet, slamming them into the Decepticon's midsection and propelling him down the corridor.
"No one takes over on my shift!" he yelled, getting to his feet.
Cuffs hurled himself at the Decepticon. The robot was barely to his feet before he was tackled by Cuffs. They crashed to the ground, Cuffs attempting to rip off the Decepticon's head. The Decepticon was too strong to go down that easily however, and broke Cuffs' hold.
"Then I'll have to forcibly remove you from the duty roster." the Decepticon replied. "Termination should be sufficient, don't you think?"
The green/yellow robot flipped Cuffs into the air, barely missing the Conquest's high ceiling. By the time Cuffs hit the floor, the Decepticon had already gotten to his feet.
"Surrender now, LONAC. The Auto-con Council would prefer you alive, but it's not a requirement." the Decepticon stated calmly.
"Never!" Cuffs exclaimed, launching himself at the Decepticon again.
Mirror Universe
Stardrive ignored the redundant tirade and pondered the new predicament. Could he gather the others and steal a shuttle? Could they even escape the invaders? At last report, they were loose on the ship, presumably heading for the bridge.
Stardrive glanced at the formidable Recoil standing guard near the lift. Would he be enough? The rest of the Security Troops--the rest of the crew, actually--were running around the ship attempting to catch the the invaders.
Now Stardrive regretted separating himself and Shadowpaw from Lightning, but what choice did he have? He quickly sent a coded message to Lightning while Waitstate had the rest of the bridge distracted, then sent one to Shadowpaw's console.
Shadowpaw quickly read the message and erased it. She nodded her head once and Stardrive nodded back.
"I'll take charge of the auxiliary control room just in case." Stardrive exclaimed. "SP, you're with me!"
Lilwall whirled to face Stardrive, but only saw his and Shadowpaw's backs, running past a confused Recoil. "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? Get back here!"
"Let them go. No matter what, they don't want this ship captured any more than we do." said Waitstate. "Computer, lock the bridge doors."
"Acknowledged. Doors sealed." the computer responded.
"Auxiliary control." instructed Stardrive. Then, to Shadowpaw, he added "in case they check."
"What about Lightning?" asked Shadowpaw.
"What about him?"
"We can't leave him here!"
"Don't worry about it." Stardrive replied.
The lift doors opened and they quickly checked for invaders before stepping into the corridor.
"Ok, we're just above the cargo bay. If this ship is like the Freedom, there should be an access hatch right around here somewhere."
"There." Shadowpaw pointed.
Stardrive nodded. "Open the hatch, I'll check for Auto-cons."
Shadowpaw proceeded to open the hatch while Stardrive consulted a scanning device he pulled out of subspace. It was a Verrellian scanner, left over from the days before LONAC, when Stardrive was a deep space scout for the Verrellian empire.
"They're close, but not too close." he said, quietly.
"The hatch is open, let's go." exclaimed Shadowpaw in an excited whisper.
The two robots climbed down the ladder into the access hatch, Shadowpaw first since she was the smaller of the two. It wasn't the widest place on the ship, but they fit with room--though little--to spare. Stardrive was thankful he could fold his wings up. He wasn't quite as balanced this way, but he'd have a terrible time trying to fit in the tunnel otherwise.
"Recoil would probably get stuck in here." Shadowpaw mused. "Being small can be an advantage."
"Let's hope it's enough." said Stardrive, who was probably average size for a Cybertronian. "We're completely outnumbered by both this LONAC and the Auto-con invasion force. Hopefully, they'll be too busy with each other to notice us."
They descended the ladder as fast as they safely could. Small cables, conduits, circuits, relays and things neither of them could identify at a brief glance surrounded them on all sides. Well, what else would be in an access hatch?
"Ok, end of the line." whispered Shadowpaw. She caught the silver Verrellian scanner that Stardrive dropped to her, took a quick reading of the other side of the hatch port, then opened the port. "We're almost there."
Shadowpaw crawled out of the access hatch on the port side of the cargo bay. It was obvious a battle had taken place here. Wreckage and debris were scattered about. Not to mention the strange space vehicle poking through the bulkhead.
"What in the Multiverse is that thing made of?" exclaimed Stardrive. It had suffered some obvious hull damage, but still, it had rammed though the hull off the ship and remained mostly intact!
"Who cares?" exclaimed a voice from the entrance to the launch bay.
Stardrive and Shadowpaw whirled to face the source of the voice, weapons ready.
"Oh. It's you." said Stardrive, lowering his weapon.
"Lightning!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "How did you..."
"I sent him a message to meet us here before we left the bridge." said Stardrive, as he flew across the bay. Shadowpaw transformed into panther mode and followed.
"The Auto-cons left guards here, but I disabled them." Lightning told them, matter-of-factly. "They assumed I came to surrender. They never got to fire a shot."
Stardrive nodded. "Good work."
"I don't like this universe's me. Not one bit. The coward." he grumbled. It was unclear wither the words were directed at the others or merely to himself.
"Let's hope that means he's easier to get back to this universe." Stardrive commented. "When we get back to our universe, we need to evict our counterparts."
"Assuming we do get back." said Lightning. "Bit picked up some Auto-con warships at the edge of our long range sensors. One of them is approaching from the direction of System AA-0001."
"AA-0001?" Shadowpaw blurted.
"As you surmised, this Bit also has little imagination."
"Alien Artifact 0001?" guessed Stardrive.
"Correct."
"Drop your weapons and put your hands up!" exclaimed a voice somewhere behind them.
The three froze in place. Stardrive grimaced. "Slag."
Our Universe
"No one's going to hack through that." he exclaimed. "Not even Waitstate."
"Never say never." cautioned Shadowpaw.
"Well, by the time he does it'll be too late." he corrected. "It'll take him a week, at least. Take a look. What do you think?"
Shadowpaw tapped at the Tac II console for a few moments, then said "All hardwire inputs severed. All transmission input receivers blocked, scrambled and disabled. Not bad."
"And I changed the password." Stardrive added. "Once he gets by that, there's a little matter of two thousand, six hundred and fifty-six lines of 'password'."
The others burst into laughter.
"Twenty-six hundred lines?!?" Shadowpaw exclaimed. "No wonder you took so long!"
"No, wait... It gets better!" said Stardrive, barely able to continue speaking. "It's in Verrellian!"
"Verrellian?" echoed Lightning, still laughing.
"Even the translation programs don't know Verrellian!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "He'll have to decode it letter by letter! It'll take weeks!"
"Exactly." said Stardrive, calming down. "I might not be able to keep him out of the systems forever, but this will certainly do."
"Sure. How long can it take to disable the rest of the crew?" Shadowpaw commented.
Cuffs slapped his hand against the security console. The scanners were useless, and they weren't the number one priority on the repair list.
"An explosion kills Ytsejam and I don't have any logs of how it could possibly have happened, Meteor's in sickbay, the ship's in a shambles, and who knows where the slag Diablo went!" he exclaimed. "It's like my worst nightmare! How can I provide security when I can't even figure out what's going on?"
SkySiren simply stood and listened to Cuffs' tirade. The two of them had been released from repair duty to investigate the strange occurrences after an impatient Junky LaFord had gone in search of the engine components Meteor had been sent to procure. So far, things didn't seem all that promising.
SkySiren attempted to query the console for information on the charred equipment that had survived the explosion. She assumed it was all repair equipment, but it wouldn't hurt to check. They didn't have much to go on just now.
"Access denied." droned the computer.
"What?!?" SkySiren exclaimed.
"Let me." grumbled Cuffs. He attempted to call up the short report he had written up on the investigation so far, such as it was.
"Access denied." said the computer.
Cuffs cursed. "Security to bridge."
No response.
"Security to anyone."
Nothing.
"SkySiren to anyone, please respond."
"Comm's down." exclaimed Cuffs after a few moments. "I can't believe this!"
Waitstate exited the lift and walked briskly through the tiny corridor to the bridge entrance. He slammed face first into the unyielding doors before realizing they hadn't opened.
"Bridge access denied." droned the computer.
"What?!?" Waitstate exclaimed. "I'm the first one on the list! Hell, I wrote the list!"
Just then, the doors opened. Waitstate turned his head to see Stardrive's null ray inches from his face. His mostly featureless face took on as much of a look of horror as it could.
"Wha..." was all he managed to say before Stardrive fired the ray, stunning Waitstate into blackness.
Mirror Universe
Stardrive relaxed. "And we thought you were." He turned to face Artifice.
At that moment, Blacknife and Shadowstrike dashed into the room, weapons at the ready. They skidded to a halt when they realized there were no Auto-cons present.
Shadowpaw stared. Didn't they leave Archlight on the bridge?
Stardrive, who had long ago given up trying to make sense of this universe, simply said "Hold your fire... obviously."
"The Auto-cons?" asked Shadowstrike, not mincing words.
"The ones that were here have been taken care of." Stardrive replied. "You'd better go after the ones loose on the ship. They're probably heading for the bridge."
Shadowstrike nodded. To Blacknife she said "Let's go."
"Right behind you, Ice Queen." he replied. "And what a well constructed behind it is."
"Save it for later." she chuckled.
As the pair disappeared through the exit doors, Artifice looked fairly disgusted. "They make me sick."
"Better get moving. We're going to inspect their ship to see if there's anything we can use against them." Stardrive told Artifice.
"You're probably wasting your time, but go ahead." the ex-bounty hunter replied. "I'm going to kill me some Auto-cons."
"Have fun." said Stardrive.
Artifice made a grunt of acknowledgement as he ran out the door.
"I thought we were really in trouble that time." said Shadowpaw.
"Luckily, it was only Artifice." said Lightning. "But if it was an Auto-con, I could have taken care of him."
"No doubt." replied Stardrive, who had reached the Auto-con shuttle. The unconscious bodies of the three Auto-cons were on the floor of the shuttle along with an unconscious Dead Lift.
"I still can't believe that Shadowstrike and Blacknife..." she trailed off.
"I always wondered why they irritated each other so much." smirked Stardrive, quietly. "Help me get these 'bots out of here."
Meanwhile, on the bridge, things were not going well.
"Seal off the lifts!" exclaimed Waitstate.
"They're cutting through!" exclaimed Archlight.
Waitstate thought for a moment. "Open the bridge doors to that lift's corridor."
"Do what?" exclaimed Cirrus.
"You must be mad!" exclaimed Archlight.
"Shut up and do it!" exclaimed Waitstate.
"Well, I never." Archlight mumbled.
"Lousy slaggin' no good..." Cirrus' curses trailed off as the doors opened.
Down the short corridor, the lift doors could be seen. Burn marks spreading across it's surface as they were being cut from the other side.
"Weapons ready, everyone." ordered Waitstate. "Fire on my command."
Everyone got into an advantageous position and aimed their weapons at the doors. The cut marks continued to spread across the surface of the lift doors.
"Almost..."
The spreading marks met with the one already established.
"Ready..."
Clang! A large section of the doors half separated from the rest of the wall. Clang! It fell to the floor.
"Fire!" yelled Waitstate.
Countless beams arched from the bridge into the lift, surprising the invaders who expected to still have the next set of doors to contend with. As the 'bots in front stumbled back into the others, a barrage of missiles from Recoil dealt the front row a more serious blow. It disabled the entire front row, and didn't do the rest of the Auto-cons any good. It didn't do the lift car any good either.
bsp; "Keep firing!" ordered Waitstate, firing his own shoulder mounted lasers into the smoking ruins of the turbolift and it's passengers.
Assorted weaponry continued to be fired into the lift car, further damaging the lift and those inside who, by this time, were mostly offline and/or completely dead.
"LONAC forever!" exclaimed Waitstate, still firing away at the pile of dead or dying Auto-cons.
"LONAC forever!" repeated everyone else on the bridge.
With all this happening, it wasn't surprising that no one noticed the quiet beeping from one of the bridge consoles which was meant to alert them that the shuttle imbedded in their hull had just been removed.
The stealth shuttle cruised through space undetected. It had taken them a while to figure out how to activate the stealth mode, but it was now working, and working properly.
"You know, there's more information in this shuttle's database about LONAC than there is on the Conquest." said Stardrive to no one in particular.
"Know your enemies." said Lightning. "The Auto-cons prepared well for this attack."
Stardrive nodded. "I wonder if LONAC will survive. There sure were a lot of Auto-cons."
"I doubt that stealing their shuttle helped the Auto-con cause." Lightning commented dryly.
"Does it matter? We're going home!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "End of story."
"Hardly the end." Lightning reminded her. "Our doubles are still in our universe."
"Oh yeah, and they don't know they're not us." exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"We know." Lightning stated.
"And knowing is half the battle." chuckled Stardrive.
Shadowpaw turned in her seat at the helm to stare at him. From the weapons station, Lightning did the same.
"I suppose that's another one of those terran video program jokes." said Lightning, humorlessly.
"Oh nevermind." Stardrive replied, turning back to his console. Lightning and Shadowpaw did the same.
"Now, here's something interesting." said Stardrive. "The reason Blacknife was able to show up in the cargo bay when we thought Archlight was on the bridge is because in this universe, instead of being two personalities in the same shell, they're two different robots!"
"How fascinating." grumbled Lightning.
"Ok, that's not the interesting part." Stardrive continued. "This is: In this universe there's no Trilana in LONAC, so obviously, we're not a combiner. Blacknife and Archlight, however, are!"
"Woah, that's weird." said Shadowpaw.
"According to this, they combine into a war-jet known as Blacklight." Stardrive finished.
"As fascinating as all that is. We would be better off if we spent our travel time formulating a plan to return our doubles to their own universe." said Lightning.
"We have no idea what the situation is back home." said Stardrive. "Heck, by now they could be sitting in the Freedom's brig."
Our Universe
Artifice looked at him for a moment, then went back to staring at the wall.
"I spend entirely too much time in here." commented Diablo.
From across the hall, Shadowstrike snorted. "You have a reason."
"I want to get out of here!" whined Avalon, in another cell. "Where's Ytsejam? Where's Ayreon?"
"Ungh... I'm here..." muttered Ayreon, regaining consciousness. He glanced around and noticed his Cybertronian body lying on the floor.
"How do we get out of here?" exclaimed Fragment.
"We don't." Artifice replied. "This is a brig, not a lounge."
"There has to be some way out of here!" exclaimed Opal.
Format simply hissed his disapproval.
While the LONAC members continued to argue amongst themselves in the brig, a wavering effect appeared in the hallway near the bridge entrance.
"This is certainly unexpected." Mindshadow thought to himself. "At least this gives me the opportunity to contact the base without fear of being detected."
The darkly colored robot made his way to an access panel and connected a small device to it. It accessed the ship's comm system and set up a tight-beam transmission.
"With those... evil twins... wandering the ship, there's no one on the bridge to catch this unauthorized access. And wiping the record is a simple matter after that. Hmmm... main systems are down. Luckily, the comm system is still available."
The device pinged and it's screen lit up to show an angular face. "Mindshadow! Won't they trace this transmission!?"
"Good to see you too, Vanadis." Mindshadow replied. "And don't worry about the LONACs. Most of them are locked in their own brig."
"What about Stardrive and Trilana?" she asked.
"I'm on a tightbeam transmission from the Freedom's communications system. Trilana can't hear it, and as for Stardrive..."
Mindshadow proceeded to fill Vanadis in on the current situation, or at least as much as he knew about it. The team had returned, minus Lilwall, and had began taking over the ship.
"So, the three have turned traitor?" she asked, still a little confused, and who wouldn't be?
"No, it's not them." Mindshadow replied. "It may look like them, act like them in some ways, but it's not them. I can tell. They haven't snapped, or even been reprogrammed. It's not them. I can't explain my sense. I just know."
"Your sense is unusual, but it has proven correct before." Vanadis stated. "Might as well assume it is correct now."
Mindshadow nodded. "I shall continue to observe. This day may very well mark the end of LONAC. It would be a shame to miss it."
"Remember, don't interfere. Observe and only observe, but get all the information you can."
"Did I just start today? Have I not been here for tams of tular cycles? I know!" then he grinned, "Besides, I have no intention of dying here while trying to help someone take over or retake the ship. I sure as navalle am going to stay hidden."
"Ok, ok." Vanadis responded. "It's still my project, even though I had to leave the ship. I guess I worry."
"I have to admit, I have no idea what our superiors are going to say if the Freedom is captured."
"Neither do I, but it's not our problem if they're pleased or alarmed by it."
"It might be my problem if the new owners find me." said Mindshadow. "Anyway, I'd better sign off before one of them gets back to the bridge."
"Good luck."
"I hope so. Mindshadow out."
He quickly tapped some commands into the device, releasing a specialized viral program that erased Mindshadow's communication from the transmission logs and then itself, rendering it untraceable.
"Well, that's that." he said, disconnecting the device from the access panel. "Back to work."
Mindshadow closed the panel and walked down the corridor. A wavering effect wrapped around him and he faded from view as his cloaking device engaged.
The shining portal opened and three robots stepped out. Stardrive, Shadowpaw, and Lightning were finally back in their own universe.
"Ahhh! Great to be back." joked Stardrive. "Even if this room does look exactly the same as the one we just left."
"Less talk, more action." said Lightning.
"That might be easier said than done." Stardrive replied. "Unless they're still down here, I'm betting the shuttle's gone."
"I'll go check." exclaimed Shadowpaw. She transformed into panther mode and scampered out of the room.
Stardrive looked at Lightning. "We could try to contact the ship, but if something's happened..."
"...we'd be giving away the element of surprise." Lightning finished. "Of course, we may be wasting our time completely."
"We might." admitted Stardrive. "But can we take the chance?"
"Staying here forever isn't going to help anyone."
"If they have taken over the ship, they're not likely to call us a cab."
"Of what use would name calling be?"
Stardrive sighed. "A cab... public transportation unit on Earth, in the old days, at least. It's an expression... to summon transportation."
Lightning said nothing. Stardrive didn't attempt any further explanations. They simply stood and waited until Shadowpaw skidded to a halt in front of them.
"It's gone!" she exclaimed. "The shuttle is gone! What do we do now?"
"Good question. If only I had a good answer to go with it." mused Stardrive. "Search this complex. Maybe there's a shuttle or some other useful thing here.
Our Universe
"What is it, Chekov?" quipped Stardrive, seeing no obvious sign of danger.
"It's Lil!" she exclaimed, throwing open the door.
"Or what's left of him." Lightning observed.
Stardrive closed the door. "I can't believe it." he walked shakily across the room until he got to an old console that he could lean on. "I just can't believe it."
"Our Commander is dead. He will be remembered." said Lightning.
"No! They killed him!" Shadowpaw sniffled. "And who knows who else they killed too?"
Stardrive stumbled a bit. He was clearly shaken by the discovery.
"This is all your fault!" exclaimed Shadowpaw, pointing at the shaken Stardrive.
"My fault?" echoed Stardrive.
"Yes! You fooled with the machine! You got us into this whole mess!" by now, Shadowpaw was in front of Stardrive, nearly knocking him over. Lightning considered restraining her, but did not yet act.
Stardrive backed up a bit as Shadowpaw continued to advance as if to walk through him. He stumbled and caught himself on the dusty console. The panel illuminated instantly.
"'se';cec srpsca'dsvaacs" stated the computer calmly.
"Now what?!?!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"'sp,hhu lsir... jiha... ji'dan... ji'bu... ji'l... ji'e..."
"I don't know the language, but that's definitely a countdown!" exclaimed Stardrive.
"ji... dan..."
"Base five, if I'm not mistaken."
"bu..."
"We're gonna die!" exclaimed Shadowpaw.
"l..."
"Then we die." said Lightning, amazingly calm.
"e..."
Stardrive closed his eyes, awaiting the end.
"T'e;sga Ise'a syfs'hseslr'sjra"
A bright light shone through the viewport from the small room.
"Oh no!" Shadowpaw exclaimed. "Lil!"
Stardrive opened his eyes. "I guess we're not going to die after all." He frowned at the console. "But what is going to happen?"
"U;'elos'sk j'eosd'le ki'seq;s" said the computer, as the light from the viewport dimmed.
"That's not a useful answer." Stardrive snapped.
There was a thud at the door. The three robots turned to look, but the viewport was too dark to see though.
Another thud. Louder this time.
And again. Almost as if someone were trying to knock down the door.
"What's going on?" asked Shadowpaw worriedly.
Stardrive frowned, optics squarely focused at the door.
"We will find out soon enough." said Lightning, weapons at the ready.
Another thud left the door partly separated from the wall, and the next one sent it to the floor.
"Where is that slagging, no good..."
"Lil!" Shadowpaw exclaimed. "You're alive!"
Admiral Lilwall launched himself at an astounded Stardrive, but was caught mid-way by Lightning.
"Let go of me, you no good traitor." Lilwall snarled.
"It wasn't me!" exclaimed Stardrive, finally regaining his senses.
"That's right!" exclaimed Shadowpaw. "It was the Mirrors!"
"I'll mirror you... let go of me!" Lilwall continued to struggle, but Lightning somehow managed to hold him.
"Commander," began Lightning. "You've missed much. You need to be briefed on our current situation."
"Smelt your briefing!" roared Lilwall. "Let me go!"
Lilwall got a hand free and was then able to toss Lightning over his shoulder. The former Decepticon landed in a pile of dust that most likely was once some sort of insulation material, but had since crumbled and fallen to the floor.
Admiral Lilwall rushed straight for Stardrive, who hesitated for a moment before stunning him with a null ray. Lilwall stopped running, but his momentum still sent him forward. Stardrive caught him before he fell to the ground.
"Oh, he's going to be even more angry when he wakes up." commented Shadowpaw.
"Don't I know it." Stardrive replied. "We'll have to wait for the ray to wear off... then we go back to the Freedom, forget the shuttle."
Our Universe
"That should do it." he thought to himself. "And right on time."
Lightning, and Lilwall with Shadowpaw hanging onto him, had just arrived. Lighting and Lilwall transformed into their robot forms, Shadowpaw already was.
"Ok, everyone inside, quickly." The other three 'bots piled into the airlock, only Lilwall stopping long enough to glare at Stardrive before floating into the hatchway.
"I didn't kill him," mused Stardrive to himself as he floated into the airlock and his feet touched the floor in the light gravity, "But it's starting to sound like a good idea."
"Won't they detect this on the bridge?" Shadowpaw asked.
"Assuming there's anyone left on the bridge." reminded Lightning.
"I know what I'm doing." said Stardrive over the hiss of pressurization.
"I certainly hope so." said Lilwall, who was still having a hard time believing the explanation Lightning and Shadowpaw had given him about his earlier demise. "How is it you know how to sneak into the ship without anyone knowing?"
"I know a lot of things." Stardrive replied. Then, more quietly, "But no one seems to realize it."
The airlock opened up and they all stepped out into the corridor. Stardrive looked up and down the corridor, but he was confidant no one would ever be in this obscure section of the ship under normal circumstances.
"Where are we?" Shadowpaw asked.
"Deck seven." Stardrive replied. "Living quarters."
"I thought seven was an engineering deck."
"Most of it is." said Lilwall. "Except this section."
"Exactly." Stardrive affirmed. "It was meant for the engineering staff, but since the ship is mostly empty and Junky is all we ever really had, his quarters are with everyone else's."
"C'mon, we've got to get to the bridge." said Lilwall, breaking into a run. Shadowpaw transformed and scampered after him with Lightning following right behind.
"But what if they've captured the bridge?" exclaimed Stardrive, trying to catch up.
"Then we take it back."
"But... if they have control of the ship's systems..."
"They could never learn them this fast." refuted Lilwall, as he came to a stop at the doors to a lift. They quickly opened and he stepped inside. Shadowpaw skidded to a halt and transformed back into her robot mode.
"Dammit Lil," Stardrive exclaimed as Lightning and Shadowpaw entered the lift pod. "They're... US!"
The doors slid shut for a moment and then opened again with another pod. This one was empty.
Stardrive was about to step into the pod when he heard a voice from behind him say: "Hold it right there!"
He turned quickly to see... himself. He considered trying to raise his weapon and fire quickly but his twin spoke. "Don't even think about it."
Admiral Lilwall burst forth from the lift pod running straight toward the double doors to the bridge, Shadowpaw and Lightning remained at the opening as back up. It seemed Lil's goal was to bust the double doors down, but he didn't count on the forcefield up in front of the doors.
The field sizzled and actually gave enough for Admiral to put a sizable dent in the doors before ejecting him back in the direction from whence he came. Lightning and Shadowpaw barely had time to react before they were hit by the flying Lilwall and all three collapsed into a heap inside the lift pod.
Lilwall groaned once and then began a string of swear words that would leave even a Klingon in awe. Shadowpaw shrank back as much as she could with Admiral laying on top of her and Lightning.
Never one to give up easily, Admiral pulled himself to his feet. A bit more calmly now, due to his weakened state, he approached the doors.
"Unghh..." was the only sound Lightning made as he regained a vertical position and went to join Lilwall near the doors. Shadowpaw moaned softly and slowly stood.
"Ok, maybe they did have time to figure out one or two things about our systems." Lilwall grumbled.
"Lil, you missed a everything that happened in the other universe." said Shadowpaw, joining the other two robots. "The invaders... are like us, except... not."
"Oh, that explains everything!" exclaimed Admiral.
"It is difficult to explain, Commander." interjected Lightning.
It was then that forcefields jumped into existence all around them, in front of the lift doors and the walls. They were trapped.
Lilwall cursed again. "Looks like you're going to have plenty of time to explain it all."
Our Universe
Stardrive raised his right arm cannon and aimed it at his Mirror with practiced ease. He might not be any kind of martial artist, but he could probably give anyone on the ship a run for their money at a shooting range. Not that anyone else on the ship was likely to know it.
So there they stood. Each with a weapon pointed at the other, for Stardrive had no chance to fire before his mirror had noticed. Stalemate.
"I didn't expect you to come back so soon." said the Mirror. "But that little entrance you made certainly didn't escape my attention. I know this ship nearly as well as you do."
"Looks like it." Stardrive replied. "So now what do we do? Stand here for an hour?"
"It depends... do you want to join the winning team? Or do you want to join your friends?
"My... what have you done with the rest of LONAC?" Stardrive demanded.
"Oh, most of them are just in the brig. Your Lil, Shadowpaw and Lightning are trapped between the bridge and the lift. Though, I admit I have no idea how he is still alive, and in perfect function... or he was before he tried to play battering ram."
"You're tapped into all the communications systems..."
"Yes, primitive as they are. Not quite up to the specs of the Conquest. I'm surprised. I reworked most of them myself, I thought we were supposed to be Mirrors of each other."
"I... uh..." Stardrive was at a loss for words. "My Waitstate wouldn't let me..."
"And the same for your spy equipment, I suppose?" the Mirror interrupted.
"My holo-emittor? It's not spy equipment, it's just a more personal way to interact with others in distant parts of the ship than an audio channel."
"And they're trying to hinder your use of it, I'll bet." said the Mirror with a smile. He had seen some of his counterpart's logs. His own spy holos were much more sophisticated, even equipped with the best cloaking technology available.
sp; Stardrive didn't answer. He wasn't going to join his evil twin. It would be silly to even think such a thing.
"They're all week minded, Stardrive. They all just want what suits themselves. Waitstate, the council. I noticed your rank dropped recently What did you do that caused your demotion? I'm still Second Officer on my ship. Why aren't you?"
Stardrive didn't answer. His mirror obviously had been though his logs and knew the answer. Why play this game?
"Oh, that's right." he said, as if just remembering the answer. "You didn't do anything, they just found someone to replace you. Maybe you're not my equal after all."
"I'm your equal, or better." said Stardrive. If his Mirror wanted to make this a drama, he'd oblige.
"You know, they tried to do the same to me in my universe. But I, took it back. She spent nearly a week in the reconstruction bay and it was a long time before she dared to face me again. These days it's a constant battle I sometimes tire of, fighting for the rank that is rightfully mine. But it's how things are, and how they will remain, for he won't let me kill her outright.
"But one day I will, and Lilwall too." he smiled, but there was no warmth in that smile. "And then our fearless leader, Waitstate, will have no chance."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Nothing, really." answered the Mirror. "Plans have changed. My conquest starts here, in this universe. With you or without you."
The alternate Stardrive might be willing to kill others, but he seemed at least a little reluctant to kill his counterpart. He was no fool, obviously. He was concerned as to what would happened to him if he killed his counterpart, especially while in the counterpart's own universe.
Stardrive, however, merely had his weapon set to fire his Verellian equivalent of a null ray. If he could just get a chance... a distraction.
"And if I join you, what happens to the rest of LONAC?"
"We'll drop them off somewhere remote."
"You won't kill them?"
"I wouldn't kill them for no reason. As Jimmy James would say, 'it's bad who-doo.'"
"You know, even Junky doesn't get that." Stardrive mused.
"We can be friends or enemies. It's up to you"
"I'd like to be friends... but I can't help you take over this ship. Even if you are more like me than anyone else I know."
"A shame. You show loyalty to those who don't deserve it. You'd be better off if you didn't let the whims of others rule your live. I don't. Not anymore."
Before Stardrive could absorb his words, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned his head on pure instinct, perhaps not the best of ideas considering he was giving his Mirror a perfect chance to fire.
Behind him was Shadowpaw. What a relief. He quickly turned his attention back on his Mirror. "The time for talking is over."
"Indeed. But not for me." the Mirror replied.
Shadowpaw looked from one Stardrive to the other. "Slaggit! I can't tell who the frag is who here!"
Only then did Stardrive realize that the Shadowpaw behind him wasn't the Shadowpaw he knew. Things had just gone from bad to worse.
Our Universe
"That's less than reassuring." Lilwall replied.
"I'd like to see you do this with a scanner, two EC disruptors, and your photon rifle."
"Ok, ok." said Lilwall. "But if this doesn't work, we're out of options."
Shadowpaw sighed. "No pressure."
"Sorry."
"S'ok." she replied. "Now, which way do we want to go? This thing will only work once. After that, it will either be in a million pieces, or a pile of melted metal."
"I get the feeling that if there was anything we could do from the bridge, they would have trapped us back in the turbolift." mused Admiral Lilwall. "We'd better go back the way we came."
"Ok... stand back." said Shadowpaw as she placed the odd looking conglomeration on the floor. She pressed a few controls and waited for the others to move away. "Here goes nothing."
Shadowpaw kicked the device as hard as she could. The device hit the field and imbedded itself within it's sphere of influence. Jolts of energy arced though the field emitters from the device and the three robots were momentarily blinded by the bright flashes of light it caused.
When they looked back up, the device was a blot of blackened metal on the floor, but the field was gone and the emitters were still shorting quietly.
"Let's get going!" commanded Admiral Lilwall, stepping back into the turbolift. "Time to retake the ship!"
"Take two." said Lightning.
Shadowpaw and Lilwall stared at him for a moment, but he said nothing more.
"C'mon..." said Lilwall. The others followed.
The lift doors slid open and the three LONAC members exited.
"Where are we going?" asked Shadowpaw. "I don't have a scanner anymore, and those Mirrors could be anywhere."
"Yeah, but the brig is on this level, and I'll bet that's where everyone else is." Lil replied.
As the trio hurried down the corridor, Shadowpaw drew her photon pistol. "I'm the only one left with a gun, I'd better be ready to use it."
"Quiet." whispered Lilwall. "We're just outside the detention area."
"I hear someone approaching." warned Lightning.
"Quick, into this storage compartment." ordered Lilwall.
A blast from an energy weapon advised him to stop his foreward motion.
"Hail, hail, the gang's all here." snickered Stardrive's Mirror. Behind him, Stardrive made a face and mumbled something about stealing his material.
Lightning's Mirror appeared in the doorway of the detention area, weapon at the ready. "The last ones!" he exclaimed. "We've got them all, now!"
Lilwall pulled his sword out of subspace and ran towards Mirror Lightning, screaming all the way. Shadowpaw stood in place, stunned, while her universe's Lightning grabbed her pistol and attempted to give his Commander cover fire.
The two Mirrors in the corridor fired back at Lightning from behind the corner wall while the Mirror Lightning fired at the charging Lilwall. Three blasts hit Lilwall dead on before he made contact with the Mirror, who was sent flying into the brig area.
Meanwhile, back in the corridor, Stardrive realized no one was paying any attention to him any more, and took the opportunity to stun the two remaining mirrors with his Verrellian null rays.
"Well, I guess that's..." Stardrive paused as he saw the Mirror Lightning run out the door of the security area and up the corridor.
"... not quite the end of this." he finished. Lightning ran off in pursuit of his double."
Stardrive and Shadowpaw entered the security area to find out what happened to Lilwall. He was banging his fist on the security console, attempting to free the other robots.
Stardrive fired on the control panel with his null ray and the security fields fizzled out.
Lilwall located the cell where Waitstate was and walked over to it. "Ok, no more lounging around in here while I do all the work." he grinned, or as close as his mouthplate allowed.
"Good Work, Lil." exclaimed Waitstate, what's the situation?
The other LONAC members spilled out of their cells and crowded around Waitstate and Lilwall, trying to get filled in on the situation. None of them saw the Mirror Stardrive outside the door, in the empty corridor. None of them saw him transform into his starfighter mode. No one except Stardrive and Shadowpaw, who were standing behind the security console, engaged in a futile attempt to gain some computer control.
There was no time to fire, and the angle was so bad, he probably would have missed. All he could do was shout a warning to the crowd and pull Shadowpaw to the floor behind the console.
The warning did not go unheard, but there was no time to react. Most of the crowd turned to see a Verrellian photon torpedo streaking towards them. A few leaped back into their cells before impact, but Avalon wasn't as lucky. She stood, transfixed, like a deer caught in headlights, as the torpedo streaked across the security area and caught her right between the eyes.
The Mirror Stardrive transformed back into robot mode and flew down the corridor toward the launch bay, not even looking to see the results of the explosion. All he wanted to do was escape. Shadowpaw and Lightning were nowhere to be seen. He was on his own.
Within minutes he was in the launch bay. The shuttle with which they arrived was conspicuously absent.
"Luckily, I'm my own ride." he said, transforming back into starfighter mode. "Saves the time of powering up a shuttle."
"Just like those two to take off without me." grumbled Stardrive, preparing to enter orbit. It was a relatively easy task with the light gravity and thin atmosphere.
"What the hell?" A transformer was leaving the launch bay, screaming almost directly down into the atmosphere. Even in it's aerodynamic spacecraft mode, it was surely not going to fare well during atmospheric entry.
They killed Avalon! They killed Avalon and who knows where Ytsejam is! Had they killed him too? Who else did he kill? Ayreon's thoughts were a blur of rage, but he knew one thing, he would make them pay!
"Hurry up!" Screamed Shadowpaw. "They could be here any minute!"
"I-I'm h-urrying." Lightning replied. "There. I think I have it."
"And I have you!" exclaimed Ayreon, running down the cave-like corridor towards them.
"No time like the present for a field test." the Mirror growled.
Shadowpaw jumped into the glowing portal with Lightning right behind her. Ayreon fired after them but succeeded in hitting only the machine itself. Nevertheless, he jumped into the portal as well, just instants before the machine exploded, filling the room and the corridor beyond with white-hot plasma fire.
Stardrive felt the ground shudder and saw a flash of light from the opening to the cavern where they found the alien device.
"Oh no... no no no..." realization fell over the Mirror's features. "Not the portal device!"
He pulled out a scanning device and was not happy with the information it showed him. "It's gone... I'm stuck here..."
The Mirror Stardrive double checked the readings, and then checked again, just to make sure. Finally he put the scanner away slowly and simply said, "I'd better get out of here, whether I have anywhere to go or not."
The homeless Mirror transformed into starfighter mode and left orbit using the planet to shield himself from the Freedom's sensors, as if anyone had access to them at this point, but he wasn't taking any chances.
"As cliche` as it sounds, you haven't seen the last of me, LONAC." said the Mirror as he entered warp and disappeared into the distance.
I can't even begin to figure out the details of the past week's events. I have a feeling that no one will ever have them all figured out. The best sense I can make of it is, we got a glimpse of what LONAC might have been, and we didn't like it.
Unfortunately that glimpse cost us two lives, maybe three. Ayreon was never found, and we have listed him as missing. It saddens us all to have lost these friends, and we will never forget them.
In less tragic news, the crew with non-fatal injuries have all been repaired, though several are still recovering in medbay. At least we'll have no more deaths. We've had two... or three... too many.
On the brighter side, the damage to the ship has, after nearly a week, been almost fully repaired. Junky advises me it will be completed within four more days. Stardrive figured out the code that locked out our computers, a rather large section of a Star Trek episode translated into Verrellian, and has restored the computers to normal.
End Log.