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Richard Batson
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Chapter 1:
"Eliminates even the toughest stain" a voice said off in the distance. This was the Planet of Junk. Hundreds of years have passed since the third Great War. A female sits alone, away from her fellow Junkions. A television monitor was glowing next to her, but she wasn't watching it.
Junkions didn't leave a typically boring life; it was certainly more exciting than that of the average Autobot. She however was the exception. Watching television, speaking in odd speech patterns, and a body that constantly fell to pieces was not what she wanted anymore.
The universe was so big; there was so much to see. Monitors couldn't possibly do the universe justice. It was time to leave, there could be no more waiting. She decided to talk to the Junkion leader, Wreck-Gar.
Excited at the prospect, she transformed into a motorcycle, virtually the only alternate mode a Junkion could have.
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"Wreak-Gar!" she shouted as she approached a pile of junk he was sitting on.
"Who be there?" he asked.
"Amethyst, I desire a round trip- let's blow this- planet." Amethyst knew that Junkions didn't talk like Autobots or the humans they watched on TV. She did her best to piece together more coherent phrases.
"Make like a tree and split McFly? I won't have any of this!" Wreck-Gar replied.
"Err, no disappointment, but I want new housing" Amethyst said sheepishly. She wasn't quite sure how to phrase what she wanted.
Wreck-Gar looked confused. "Autobot City?"
Amethyst put her arms behind her back and kicked a stray bolt on the ground. "I don't want no more junk- I just want to be free."
"Ah, self-discovery. No money down, satisfaction guaranteed, or return your purchase for a full refund." Wreck-Gar said with a smile. He finally understood what Amethyst wanted. The request was highly uncommon, virtually no Junkion requested it, but it was something he'd rarely turn down. "Catabot goes to LONAC, you copy?"
"LONAC?" Amethyst asked.
"League of Non-Aligned Cybertronians, great taste, less filling" Wreck-Gar replied with a smile.
"Last known trajectory?" Amethyst asked.
Wreck-Gar looked down on his console, pushed a few buttons, then showed the screen to Amethyst.
Amethyst looked around. The one catch she could remember from leaving the planet was that she had to build her own shuttle. This way she wouldn't have to worry about returning it. It was going to take a while.
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Amethyst finally finished her shuttle a few weeks later. It wasn't holding together very well, but it only needed to get her as far as LONAC. She called Wreck-Gar over to wish her good luck, but was surprised when what seemed the entire planet showed up to wish her well. She waved cheerfully, and had she been able to, she would have cried. If things didn't work out, she'd be coming back.
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"Waitstate, I've yet another shuttle on radar, it's trying to hail us" Cirrus reported.
"Deja vu" Waitstate replied. "Put it on screen."
The image of a tattered shuttle appeared on screen. Then the cockpit view came up. This was obviously a Junkion.
"Dang, I was hoping it was Scamp. Anyhow, I think we're going to need a translator on this" Waitstate whispered to Stardrive.
"I gotcha Wait" Stardrive said.
"I am Waitstate, captain of the LSS Freedom, please identify," Waitstate ordered.
"Amethyst, Planet of Junk, join our work force now?" she replied.
"Er, you're gonna want to dock before filling out an application. I'll have Cirrus here guide you to the docking bay."
Waitstate opened up a comm link. "Security to the docking bay."
Waitstate was always eager to have a new recruit, but the ship need to be extra careful, especially considering recent attacks.
"Shuttle here, shuttle there. I wanna leave, I wanna come back, I wanna leave. Can't these guys make up their minds?" Waitstate was being wound up. His crew numbers were very unstable, how long before he lost another?
Chapter 2:
Waitstate, Artifice, and Admiral Lilwall met Stardrive and Junky at the docking bay. Ruse was working on his shuttle off in the distance and waved happily at the others.
Amethyst's shuttle had just docked, and the engines were cooling down. No one expected much trouble from the crudely constructed craft, or its Junkion occupant.
Upon exiting, Amethyst had a very big smile.
"I look everywhere for- LONAC." Amethyst kept smiling as she shook the hands of each member.
"What's your name?" Stardrive asked.
"Amethyst!" She wanted to say as little as she possibly could, she didn't want to confuse anyone with her Junkion lingo.
"Welcome Amethyst, I see Waitstate has allowed for yet another possible breach of security," Artifice said with a little sarcasm.
"Nevermind him," Waitstate quickly replied. "Come with me to my office, you too Stardrive."
Admiral Lilwall, Junky, and Artifice left the docking bay.
Waitstate tilted his head slightly. "On second thought, let's take this to the bar. I've been a bit off center lately."
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Diablo, Deadlift, Aries, and Scope sat at one of the tables in the bar. They were talking about recent events, most notably the supposed new threat that Scamp warned about before his departure.
"Personally, I think Scamp got a little scared of these creatures, and that's why he's gone. He caused a stir, came back here to make sure we're okay, and the jerk runs away" Diablo gripped as he sipped his drink.
"Maybe he just went back to stop them" Dead Lift proposed, thinking that at least one of them should be on Scamp's side.
"Whatever. If these things are as vicious as he says they are, then we've got a lot of preparations to undergo, and I'm sure Waitstate isn't going to take any risks" Aries replied.
Diablo leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the table. "We've got Hyperion anyway, he should be able to keep it together long enough to squash 'em."
Waitstate, Amethyst, and Stardrive entered the bar.
"Hey fearless leader" Deadlift called with a smile.
Waitstate smiled back and nodded his head with acknowledgement. He walked over to the table furthest away from the others so it wouldn't be so noisy.
"What would you like to drink?" Waitstate asked Amethyst.
"Hit me with your best shot" Amethyst replied, not sure of what she really wanted.
Waitstate thought for a moment. "On second thought, it's probably best we remain a little conscious. I'll get some over-charged energon."
"Oh, a new recruit, and Junkion female" Deadlift noted with some interest.
Waitstate came back to the table with the drinks.
"Are you sure you're going to be needing a translator?" Stardrive asked Waitstate.
Waitstate shrugged. "Perhaps not, but stay close in case I need you."
"I'll make this easier on you, fill out these forms, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask," Waitstate told her as he handed her a data pad. He was feeling rather tired and just wanted to get the official parts over. After she was done with the forms, he'd have Stardrive translate the entire thing at once.
It took a while for Amethyst to finish the forms. By this time, Diablo, Deadlift, and Aries had left the bar.
Waitstate was patiently waiting as he sipped his drink. "Just about done?" he asked.
Amethyst quickly looked over her work. Smiling, she handed the data pad back to Waitstate.
"You sure like to smile don't you?" Waitstate asked just before he started looking over the work. He wasn't sure why he should even bother; the Junkion lingo might be more trouble than it was worth.
After looking over the forms, Waitstate was astonished. Amethyst had met the requirements in order to join LONAC, but that was almost incidental. The wording was nearly perfect, certainly a far cry from her spoken dialect.
"Who taught you to write like this?" Waitstate asked.
"Educational- grammar- show" Amethyst replied.
Chapter 3:
Waitstate was very impressed. "I'll finalize the procedures, then I can set up with housing." Waitstate and Amethyst went up to Waitstate's office to enter the data into the ship's computer.
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Waitstate exited his office with Amethyst. It was now official; Amethyst was LONAC's newest member. Now she would get her own quarters and the standard tour around the ship.
Waitstate led Amethyst to a lift. They exited the lift as soon as it has stopped on deck six. Amethyst looked around in amazement. The ship was so big, so clean. She had seen such ships on television and during battle. Actually being in one of the ships was something she never imagined.
The duo walked past numerous quarters. Most of their occupants were either in the plaza, the bar, or the simulator rooms. Autumn Beauty was the only one around, tending to the numerous plants that filled her quarters.
The housing area was huge, Waitstate certainly had it built with the mind that he'd be having a lot of LONAC members one day.
"This one" Amethyst said as she pointed Dark Star's former quarters.
"Um, well, it's a little further off from the other quarters. Why don't you pick something closer to the other femme bots?" Waitstate asked.
Amethyst lowered her head.
"Oh, don't worry, the others will grow to love you. Our engineer Junky used to be a Junkion you know." Waitstate did his best to comfort her.
Amethyst's eyes lit up. "I'd like to- meet him."
"I'll let him give you a tour of the ship after you've settled in. The drones will bring the rest of your stuff here." Waitstate patted Amethyst on the back and walked back down the hallway.
A few moments later, Junky arrived at Amethyst's new quarters. His design was somewhat familiar to her, though it certainly wasn't Junkion. She had seen in on an old Terran television program. "I wonder if I could get a re-design too" she though to herself.
She was happy and disappointed at the same time. The thought of someone that could better understand her was certainly comforting. However, by coming to LONAC, she wanted to escape the Junkion life style. Never the less, Amethyst accepted Junky.
Not suspecting her animosity, he happily led her on a tour of the ship.
"Direct from Junk, we bring you brand-new old-school Junkion!" Junky was happy to have someone of his own kind on board the ship.
"Heh heh" Amethyst replied nervously.
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Ruse continued working on his shuttle. The resources LONAC had give him allowed him to take better care of his possessions. His shuttle was completely repaired, perfect condition from top to bottom.
Ruse smiled as he stood back an observed his work. "All it needs is the spit shine!"
Just as Ruse went to grab a rag to remove any stray particles of dirt, he heard a thud outside of the docking bay.
Ruse immediately activated the comm link in his shuttle. "This is Ruse to the bridge, I was working on my shuttle in the docking bay and heard a loud thud on the door. Could any of you check it out?"
"I'll get right on it" Cirrus said as he received the message. "This better not be another one of his stupid pranks."
Cirrus scanned the hull of the ship. All he could pick up was a small object just outside of the docking bay doors.
"There's something out there alright, but it's too small to be anything but space junk. I'm not getting any readings from it" Cirrus told Ruse via the comm link.
"In that case, mind if I take a joy ride in my shuttle? I won't go very far, I'll be back in 30 astro minutes" Ruse asked.
Cirrus turned to Artifice and Admiral Lilwall for approval.
"Wait said we'd be here for a while, might as well give him clearance" Admiral Lilwall suggested.
Cirrus opened the comm link with Ruse again. "Yeah, whatever, just make sure you keep comms open."
"Will do" Ruse said happily.
Slowly, the docking bay doors opened. Ruse hopped in his shuttle and started the engines.
Cirrus monitored the take-off. "Seems the space junk is gone." He shut off the monitor satisfied.
Chapter 4:
Waitstate arrived at the bridge. He had spent the last hour or so making sure Amethyst was fitting in. "The new recruit will be hanging out in the Plaza if any of you want to get better aquatinted."
"I'd rather read the profile first" Artifice replied as he looked down at his console. The rest of the bridge crew just looked around.
Waitstate was disappointed. "Come on guys, we don't need this many officers on the bridge right now."
Stardrive, Admiral Lilwall, and Artifice left the bridge. Waitstate knew he had to be patient with the crew, it would take a while before everyone could get used to everyone else's presence. Autobots, Decepticons, and neutrals didn't always mix well, and neither did former members of the factions.
"The roster is making its way back up," Waitstate commented.
"Sure has," Cirrus agreed.
Cirrus and Waitstate looked at each other.
"So, anything new?" Waitstate asked.
"Nothing really" Cirrus replied. "Crew members scattered all over the ship, Ruse took a little joy ride in his shuttle. He's been gone a few cycles, said he'd be back right away."
Waitstate sighed disappointedly. "Who gave him clearance?"
"The Admiral did boss," Cirrus told him. "Something wrong?"
Waitstate shrugged. "Nothing really, but I'd really like to know about something like that ahead of time. I'll go wait for him in the docking bay."
"Your choice boss." Cirrus couldn't imagine anything more boring.
Waitstate left the bridge. He entered a lift and left for the docking bay.
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Not far from the LSS Freedom was Spectral Death's starship, the Doom Gaze. The crewmembers had grown fairly well since its foundation. Little did Xaraxus know, but he was just about to gain three new members.
Facing the view screen at the front of his ship, Xaraxus sat monitoring the ship's flight, no destination was set. A familiar noise rustled behind him. He stood up and turned around to see what was happening. A portal had opened up, and three female Cybertronians stepped out of it. The portal quickly whirled into nothingness behind them.
"Who are you? Why did the Council send you?" Xaraxus demanded to know.
The largest female stepped forward. "I am Raptara." She pointed to the others. "They are Skulker and Ripper. We were sent here to take command of this ship."
Xaraxus laughed. Is that so? "You do realize that this is my ship."
Raptara was growing angry. "This is not your ship, it was appoin-" Raptara yelled in pain, and soon Skulker and Ripper followed.
Xaraxus didn't waste any time. He used the powers he developed in the Cult to bring them under his control. It was true that he took with ship without permission, but he felt his services more than paid for it. Besides, he had made numerous improvements in its design. "This is my ship, you'll do as I say first, and what the Cult says second."
"Yes Xaraxus" Raptara said as she got up, almost oblivious as to what Xaraxus had just done. The Raptors had studied sorcery in the Cult, but their powers weren't enough to resist him.
"We will do what the Cult orders for now, but I have my own plans for the future." Xaraxus took his seat and added the new members to the ship's database.
"The LSS Freedom is not far from us Lord Xaraxus, I could input a course setting of its approximate location," Raptara informed him.
Xaraxus smiled. "Got any real battle experience? Something other than Cult training exercises."
Xaraxus didn't want to finalize anything until he had some proof of their value. Members of the Cult did not have their identities shown to the others unless the council requested it, so he was not sure how long they had been there.
Raptara grinned evilly through her mouth plate. "We just took out an entire Decepticon outpost."
Raptara plugged her databanks into the Xaraxus' console and displayed visual images from the Raptor's last mission. Images of Decepticon bodies being thrown everywhere brought a smile to Xaraxus' face. Their usage of the base's treacherous leader made Xaraxus laugh.
"Ah, even more powerful than I suspected. The Cult sent high quality replacements." Xaraxus stepped aside and allowed Raptara to set the ship's course.
Chapter 5:
Waitstate arrived at the docking area. He walked around looking for a good place to sit. There was a crate next to a wall. It seemed to be as good a place as any other. He sat down on it and leaned against the wall. However, the crate was too light and it slipped out from under him as he leaned back. He fell to the floor in a grunt. *Oof*
Somewhat perturbed, Waitstate kicked the crate, sending smashing into the landing gear of a near by shuttle. The shuttle however, was not a LONAC standard shuttle. It was Ruse's.
"Waitstate to Cirrus, what shuttle did Ruse take?" Waitstate asked over the comm.
Cirrus instantly replied. "He took his own, he just had it fixed up or something."
Now Waitstate was confused. "That's a negative, his shuttle is right here."
"Are you sure about that? I was monitoring him just before take-off and he was using his own shuttle" Cirrus asked.
"Of course I'm sure, I'm staring right at it." Waitstate opened up a ship-wide comm. "Security to the docking bay."
Waitstate looked around the docking bay a bit. Finding nothing, he looked around the inside of the shuttle. Ruse was no where to be found. Waitstate opened the docking bay a little to see if there was any malfunction in the energy field that might have sucked Ruse into space. He noticed nothing wrong so he ran a scan of the area.
"Not a thing wrong, Cirrus must've made a mistake," Waitstate said out loud.
Waitstate left the area as the security he called for arrived. "I doubt you guys will find anything, but look anyway."
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Mindshadow kept a watchful eye over the events. LONAC still did not suspect his presence, as they had no reason too. His cloaking technology was of the highest quality. He was able to spy on LONAC with little hacking into the main computer system.
It was a rather boring job at times, nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. This time, at least for a moment, something did appear wrong. There was what appeared to be a small black object surrounded by ripples of distortion, much like that caused by a desert sun. It floated past him and around a corner. Mindshadow rushed after it, but it was gone.
"Oh boy, I really need a vacation."
Little did Mindshadow know that what he saw was another cloaked Transformer. The cloaking mechanisms it was using was severely overheating, the damaged signal was causing some slight interference with Mindshadow's cloaking mechanisms. They were inferior, and the other Cybertonian was completely oblivious to his presence.
The "specter" was hiding in a dark corner of the ship. He had no choice but to make himself visible.
"I'm getting a reading from deck 5!" Cirrus shouted on the ship-wide comm as he visually scanned the area.
"I'm right on it!" Stardrive shouted, just happening to be on deck 5.
He frantically searched every possible hiding place. Finding nothing, he slowed to a more careful pace.
Stardrive started to get impatient. "This is getting hopeless."
Deck 5 was a big deck, he figured he might as well wait for the others to arrive. Now Stardrive was just pacing back and forth past a doorway. He stopped for a second, catching something out of the corner of his eye. Peering into the darkness, he saw what appeared to be two glowing eyes staring back.
Before he had a chance to process what he was seeing, the creature from the darkness pounced on him. It was a panther, definitely Cybertronian in nature. It bit onto his arm. Stardrive wrenched himself free and threw the cat off of him. He jumped to his feet, but the attacker had already disappeared.
"Shadowpaw?" Stardrive asked himself. Shadowpaw was just down the hallway walking with Trilana and Novaburst.
"Did you see it? Novaburst asked.
"A panther, like Shadowpaw, it went that way!" Stardrive shouted hesitantly as he pointed in the direction he thought it went.
"No panther is like me" Shadowpaw replied tritely.
The group eventually met up with Aries, Dead Lift, and Diablo.
"We've gotta have it surrounded by this point" Aries commented.
"I've shutdown the turbolifts" Waitstate announced over the comm system.
Waitstate was on the bridge at this point. He turned to Cirrus.
"Get me a play back on Stardrive's previous location" Waitstate ordered.
Chapter 6:
Waitstate and Cirrus watched the security footage. The full form of the Cybertronian looking panther was very clear. It would have been nearly unrecognizable but the equipment on its back gave it away.
"It may be a new form, but there's no mistaking it. That's Dark Star." Waitstate immediately left the bridge.
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Waitstate input his security code and used the nearest turbolift. He arrived on Deck 5 and had little trouble finding the others.
"You find him yet?" Waitstate shouted.
"Not yet, but he has to be close" Trilana reported.
Waitstate might have chuckled had the situation not been so tense. "I had Cirrus pinpoint his location anyhow, he's trapped in a utility closet."
Waitstate lead the group to Dark Star's location.
"Any idea who sent it?" Shadowpaw asked.
"He probably sent himself, who knows why" Waitstate answered. He knew Shadowpaw and the others were still confused, but their questions would be answered shortly.
The group arrived just in time to see Dark Star escaping his trap. With all the sectors blocked off there was only one direction to go. The entire group effortlessly held out their guns. Dark Star stopped when he realized his situation was hopeless.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do Dark Star," Waitstate shouted.
Dark Star transformed into robot mode. He was more recognizable in this mode despite the numerous changes that were made to his form.
"It has been a while," Dark Star commented.
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Waitstate brought Dark Star to his office. He sat him across from his desk, but Waitstate packed back and forth behind him.
Waitstate was shaken with anger. "Why in the name of Primus did you fake your own death? What did you hope to accomplish by coming back? What the pit made you abduct Ruse?"
Dark Star sat silently for a moment. "I have my reasons."
Waitstate spun the chair around so Dark Star was facing him. He was furious. "If you don't tell me everything I want to know, you're going to have a permanent residence in the brig."
Dark Star waited silently again, for what, only he could know. "I was not certain I would return. I came back because I had left one of my projects here unfinished. I would like to add that if I am not mistaken, I saved all of your lives back at the space station."
Waitstate sighed. "You may have a point there, we'll talk more about that later. So what project are you talking about? What did you do with Ruse?"
"There were corrections in design that I needed to make to Dark Force. As you can see, I have already re-outfitted my own structure," Dark Star replied.
"You do intended on returning them don't you?" Waitstate asked.
"Assuming they want to come back." Dark Star replied.
Waitstate tried to calm himself down. " What about you? Do you want to come back?"
"I have not yet decided, I do not find your punishments worth my time" Dark Star told him.
"We have procedures here, rules everyone has to follow. That's part of being in LONAC" Waitstate said as calmly as he could. "We're all equals here."
"What do you want from me?" Dark Star asked.
Waitstate moved his face very close to Dark Star's. "I want you back in LONAC, I want you to return whomever you kidnapped, and I want you to follow the rules. I'll consider waving your punishment if you think you can do all of that."
"I will have to make sure that's what the others want," Dark Star said as he stood up.
"Fine. Now all I have to do is explain all of this to the crew." Waitstate went to sit down in his chair as Dark Star started to leave his office.
Waitstate perked up. "One more thing. How did you evade the ship's scanners for so long?"
"Cloaking technology. I monitored sensor readings from Chameleon when he cloaked via a nanobot placed in one of his joints. Unfortunately, the readings were very inconclusive, so I had to improvise. I am far from perfecting the process." Dark Star left the bridge before Waitstate could make any further comments.
Chapter 7:
Dark Star made it about half way to the docking bay before the ship's alarms started blaring. Had he set them off?
"What happened?" Artifice shouted as he entered the bridge.
"We just got a hail from a ship approaching from the rear. The ship identified itself as the Doom Gaze, and the captain was none other than Xaraxus," Stardrive told him.
"Are they threatening attack?" Artifice asked. The ship received a few warning shots from the Doom Gaze.
"Does that answer your question?" Waitstate asked.
Artifice sat down at this station. "Looks like they're pretty close."
"Shields up!" Waitstate yelled.
The Doom Gaze fired several more shots at the Freedom. As it did, it got closer and closer.
"Activate the DEM cannon, we've gotta put some distance between us!" Waitstate ordered. The cannon began firing upon the Doom Gaze's hull.
The Doom Gaze kept moving despite the on-coming fire. Pieces of its hull were flying all over space, but Xaraxus was intent on boarding the Freedom.
"This is insane, it's not stopping!" Cirrus yelled.
Waitstate stood up. "They're only gonna do one of two things. Ram us, or board us. Let's hope the latter."
Waitstate left the bridge. He activated the comm system. "I need security to the docking bay, take two!"
Crewmembers were scattered about the ship. The sound of alarms were becoming fairly common on board the ship, trips to the docking bay even more so.
"They're gonna ram us!" Admiral Lilwall shouted.
The bridge crew braced themselves. Violently the ship shook. Lights flickered. Eventually, the ship stabilized.
"What happened?" Stardrive asked.
Artifice scanned the exterior of the ship. "They're trying to dock, and it's not the docking bay!"
"It's gonna take time to cut through the ship. Locate the exact hull breach location" Admiral Lilwall told the others.
"Deck 3 Sector G" Artifice replied.
Immediately the bridge crew got up. The exited the bridge following Admiral Lilwall's lead.
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Amethyst was still wondering the halls of the Freedom. Down the hall she saw what appeared to be damaged equipment. On closer inspection, she found out that they were sparks coming from the ceiling. It didn't take her long to figure out what was going on; she had seen it enough times on television.
Amethyst got down on one knee and pulled out a laser weapon. It wasn't very strong, but it was all she had.
"I found them!" she shouted. Admiral Lilwall, Slipstream, Stardrive, Artifice, and Dark Star arrived at her calling.
Soon the attackers had cut completely through the hull. Xaraxus was the first one to drop down.
"Ah, the LSS Freedom. I've always wanted to know what it was like" Xaraxus said as he looked around. Soon his eyes met with Amethyst, who was at the front of the group. "I don't believe--"
Amethyst had read the profiles about his recent attack. She immediately shot him in the chest repeated times until he fell down. As Cyron came down from the ceiling Amethyst kicked him in the side.
"Very impressive" Dark Star commented.
Zip Zap, Dominion, and Bataract entered. They were unaware of the security near the breach. The LONAC crew was more that happy to greet them with ammunition.
Xaraxus grabbed Amethyst. "Nobody moves, got it?"
Before anyone could answer, Amethyst's arms fell off, and she slipped out of Xaraxus' grasp. She crawled for cover amongst the other crewmembers.
"Waitstate, what's taking you so long? We told you that they were on deck 3!" Artifice shouted through the comm.
Chapter 8:
"I heard you just fine" Waitstate told Artifice. "I was on my way to the docking bay when I found out they were trying to break into the main cargo bay."
"They're breaking through!" Slipstream shouted.
Splitwit drove to the front of the group in his car mode. "Just let them try and get past me!"
Finally the main door was blasted open. Leading the group was Jupitor, leader of the Huntercons.
"Hello LONAC, miss us much?" Jupitor said.
Waitstate turned to Diablo. "You ready?"
"Novaburst is with the others, but I'll call him," Diablo replied.
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At the hull breach, the small squabble was a fair sized battle.
"I'll be there in a nano-click," Novaburst said into his comm.
"What is happening?" Dark Star asked Novaburst.
"Huntercons in the main cargo bay" Novaburst replied quickly. He ran off to join the other Tactibots.
Amethyst was still lying on the ground. She couldn't do much since Xaraxus kicked her arms down the hall. She had hidden herself behind the others, but somehow in the confusion Bataract managed to squeeze by.
"Hey girly, need a hand?" Bataract chuckled.
"That is possible" Amethyst replied in a distorted voice.
As Bataract got closer, she kicked him in the gut with both legs. Bataract winced in pain momentarily, and charged at her again. This time, Dark Star grabbed him and threw him to the floor.
"You should not have come" Dark Star replied as he fired at Bataract's head from point-blank range.
As the debris cleared, Bataract's head appeared undamaged. Dark Star picked him up and threw him out of the way.
"You need repairs," Dark Star said as he picked up Amethyst.
"Good idea, I'll cover you!" shouted Shadowpaw.
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Rust, Hail, Toom, Hitatron, and the Mirror Stardrive had joined the fight in the main cargo bay. Novaburst rushed in and fired upon them.
Jupitor noticed Novaburst's presence. "Good, they're all here, time to play! Huntercons, merge to form Zrakkor!"
The Huntercons flew into the air as they transformed. A merged Zrakkor landed on the floor and seemed to shake the entire ship. "Surrender or be destroyed!"
"I'd rather not! Tactibots, merge to form Hyperion!" Diablo shouted. The Tactibots merged, much the same way as the Huntercons.
The two giants engaged in battle. They threw each other against the walls of the docking bay. Zrakkor turned and shoved Hyperion over a large piece of equipment.
"Look out!" Splitwit shouted as Hyperion came crashing to the floor.
Everyone scattered. Hyperion was desperately trying to hold himself together.
"Well, any ideas?" Waitstate asked Admiral Lilwall.
"None better than yours" he replied as he fired at Zrakkor's back. The others in the docking bay followed.
Blacknife back up into Slipstream and Shadowpaw. "This guy's armor is incredible. He must be top of the line!"
"We'll be 'bottom of his foot' if we can't pierce it" Shadowpaw quipped.
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"Enough of this!" Xaraxus yelled. "Let's get out of here!"
One by one the Spectral Death members climbed back into the hole the entered from. This made them an easy shot for the LONAC crew, but it wasn't enough to stop them.
"Well, that didn't take too much" Trilana commented.
"We've still gotta check on the others" Shadowpaw replied.
Chapter 9:
Something blasted the Spectral Death shuttle off the side of the ship above the main cargo bay entrance. It was enough to get Waitstate and Admiral's attention.
Four Cybertronians jumped in. At first they were unrecognizable, but remembering what Dark Star had told him he was able to identify them. They all had altered colored schemes and significantly different bodies, but it was definitely Dark Force. Not just Ruse and Scamp, but Drill Master and Diamond Fire as well.
"You're just in time!" Waitstate shouted.
Diamond Fire transformed to her hover-car mode, Drill Master to drill tank mode, and Scamp into a new assault vehicle mode. Ruse hung onto Drill Master as they charged into battle.
Diamond Fire spun around and transformed into a tank as soon as she was in range. Drill Master stopped next to her and transformed into a missile platform. Ruse and Scamp transformed into jets and whirled around Zrakkor's head. Blacknife and Slipstream transformed and followed suit.
Zrakkor helplessly swatted at them. As soon as Hyperion was out of the way, Diamond Fire and Drill Master fired at Zrakkor for all they were worth. With their attack added to that of the others, he had no choice but to disengage.
"I'm impressed" Waitstate replied.
Spectral Death retreated from both attacks on the ship. Relieved, Waitstate walked up to the re-built Dark Force members.
"Triple changers now?" Waitstate asked.
"That we are" Scamp replied.
"Why didn't you just call Dark Star down and form Razer?" Waitstate asked.
"Dark Star said it doesn't work like that anymore, we can't form Razer yet because of the design changes he's made," Ruse replied.
"So no more Razer?" Waitstate asked.
Ruse shook his head. "I'm not sure, he doesn't tell us much."
Waitstate turned to Diamond Fire and Drill Master. He was very happy to see both of them back.
"I thought you guys were Autobots now" Waitstate commented. "How did you get back here?"
"We were Autobots. There were numerous attacks on the base we were stationed at, but Zrakkor's attack was the final straw. Diamond Fire decided that you needed us more than those Autobots did, of course I had to follow. Dark Star came for us; we're not sure how he found us though."
Waitstate smiled. "I'm glad you decided to return. You can get the details about what you've missed later. Right now we'd appreciate your help fixing this place up."
"Waitstate, the Doom Gaze has departed" Cirrus reported.
"Great, I'll be on the bridge in a few moments" Waitstate replied.
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Waitstate returned to the bridge for a full status report.
"Cirrus, what's the report?" Waitstate shouted.
"The Doom Gaze, is gone," came a voice from Cirrus' chair.
Waitstate was confused. "I know, you already told me that. Are you okay Cirrus?"
The seat spun around. In it sat Ripper; she had thrust her staff through Cirrus' chest. She stood up dropping Cirrus.
"Cirrus! You killed him!" Waitstate yelled.
Ripper laughed. "He's not dead, yet. I just wanted to hear him scream."
Waitstate leapt at her. She sidestepped him and transformed into a car. Waitstate transformed to car mode as well and chased after her. From behind, a green car chased Waitstate.
"I would be nice to have some help!" Waitstate shouted into his comm.
Cuffs, Diamond Fire, and Splitwit located Waitstate and joined the chase in vehicular mode. Ripper was leading them to the docking bay, the seemingly easiest way of gaining access to the ship.
The group charged into the docking bay. She had set a trap. Raptara was waiting for the crew, and she effortlessly picked off her enemies.
The damaged LONAC members transformed to their robot modes as she threw them into a corner.
"What do you hope to accomplish by doing all of this?" Waitstate asked.
"A light snack, and after that, this ship" Skulker replied as she and Ripper transformed to robot modes. "We're gonna scrap you one by one."
Chapter 10:
Amethyst looked up at the ceiling of Dark Star's old quarters. She thought it was kind of funny that she finally got to see the room she originally picked. It would have looked the same as all the others, but Dark Star had already filled it with a lot of equipment.
"You must be certain that this is what you want" Dark Star told Amethyst.
"Who could ask for anything more?" Amethyst replied, almost singing.
She lay back on the table she was sitting on. Dark Star connected her to some equipment, and in a few moments, everything was dark.
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Waitstate was still rather confused. The attack had failed, why bother continuing it? Were the Raptors vicious enough to take out the entire crew, no matter how they went about it?
"Tactibots, we could really use your help here!" Waitstate shouted. He didn't want to waste any time in ejecting them from the ship. "Anyone else wouldn't be too bad either!"
Diablo and Firestorm came charging into the docking bay with the other Tactibots clinging to them.
Raptara was angry. "I told you to seal the deck, do it now!"
The Raptors began shooting the ceiling above the entrances cause debris to fall into them.
Raptara waved her hand to a shadowy area behind her. "I've got a little surprise for you that I wanted only you to see. Huntercons, transform into Zrakkor!"
Jupitor was angered that she was ordering them, but he reluctantly transformed. He was still severely damaged, but wanted his revenge.
The Tactibots followed suit. Once again they engaged in battle, only this time it was more one sided. The Raptors leapt onto Hyperion's back, tearing random chunks of metal and dropping them to the floor. Hyperion yelled in pain. Zrakkor tackled him against a wall.
"The others are trying to get in, I can hear them" Artifice told the others.
"Unless they get in here within the next few nano-clicks, it's not gonna make one quark of difference" Splitwit commented.
Hyperion was worn out. He was lying on the ground while the Raptors snapped at him. Zrakkor was moving in for the kill.
"This is it I suppose" Stardrive remarked.
The sound of shifting debris grew in the background. Finally, energy blasts shot the debris out of the way. There was now and opening in the docking bay.
Silence. Everyone seemed to be waiting in anticipation. Then, a sound. Diamond Fire, Drill Master, Ruse, and Scamp came flying into the room. Dark Star followed up the rear, riding on top of a completely re-designed Amethyst. He jumped off, and in an instant, Dark Force merged into Razer. Before anyone could react, Razer round-housed Zrakkor, sending him to the far wall. The Raptors lunged for his back, but Hyperion was able to kick them out of the way. Hyperion stood up next to Razer.
"Alright!" Shadowpaw yelled.
Zrakkor charged at Razer, but he was able to catch him with Hyperion's help. With each LONAC gestalt at the sides of Zrakkor, they lifted him up into the air, and slammed him back to the floor making sure to crush the Raptors.
"Time to take out the trash!" Waitstate shouted. "Everyone, hold onto something!"
Waitstate opened the docking bay doors. Razer grabbed Zrakkor by his arms and threw him out of the air lock, but he was just barely able to hang onto the wall. Waitstate removed the energy field, and instantly the incapacitated Raptors were sucked out. The two remaining gestalts however were forced closer to the air lock. Razer just barely caught Hyperion as he was sucked out. Zrakkor grabbed onto Razer's leg, but Admiral Lilwall was able to blast him off, sending clear into the vastness of space.
Razer carefully pulled Hyperion back into the docking bay. Once the door was shut, the Tactibots disengaged.
Razer stood up for all to get a good look. He was comprised of six robots now, not just five. He had more samurai styled armor, and a rather large sword. Some of his components were changed. Drill Master and Scamp now formed the legs. Ruse and Dark Star formed the torso. Diamond Fire was the right arm, and the left arm was unfamiliar to everyone else. Razer separated to formally introduce the newest member.
Drill Master stepped forward. "This, my friends, is Amethyst."
Amethyst spoke up. "My speech patterns have been altered, and I've got a totally new look, but I'm the same old me."
Artifice chuckled. "Didn't really know you in the first place."
"That will change," Dark Star replied.
"I'm glad to have all of you back, LONAC is nearly complete again" Waitstate said happily.
Admiral Lilwall walked up to Waitstate. "Bit sends a status report. He's scanned the hull, no sign of any ships, shuttles, or stray bad guys."
"That's all well and good, but I'd like to make sure of that personally, considering what happened to Cirrus" Waitstate replied.
"What happened to Cirrus?" Admiral Lilwall asked.
Waitstate held his hand up. "I'll explain later. Right now I want you to get everyone organized and manually check the ship."
Waitstate went to a video comm station. Restore's image came up on the monitor. "Restore, what's the status on Cirrus?"
"He's stable. It's gonna be a while before he's fully functioning though" Restore reported.
"Thanks, I'll be up there in a minute." Waitstate turned off the video comm.
Everyone was leaving the docking bay to check the ship. Waitstate stopped Dark Star before he could leave.
"I just want to make sure she agreed to this" Waitstate stated.
"It was entirely her choice, I would not have forced her" Dark Star replied.
"What would have happened if she said no?" Waitstate asked.
"I was not going to form Neo Razer for the first time without the sixth member. I have my reasons" Dark Star replied.
Waitstate shook his head. "I'd hate to think about what would have happened if Razer didn't show up."
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Waitstate was relaxing with the crew in the bar. He had just visited Cirrus who was improving faster than expected.
Admiral Lilwall approached Waitstate. "The ship is all clear."
"Not to mention I was able to get Dark Force to refresh their profiles. All it needs is your okay," Artifice added as he sat at the bar.
"Thanks for helping me with formalities." Waitstate smiled. "Now, what will you have to drink?"