TRANSFORMERS: Into The Shadows

                      Chaar
			
                                                When the word came that he was to be stationed on Chaar
                       with Ultra Magnus and company, he thought it might be exciting, listening
                       to the comm traffic, keeping an eye on the Atzerians and whatnot. Nothing
                       could have been further from the truth, as Crankcase was actually quite
                       bored sitting in the control centre doing nothing but checking readouts from
                       systems, while Magnus and some of the others were out investigating some
                       signal near the planet. Also with him to man the base were the Autobots
                       Hound and Inferno, as well as Soundwave.
                                                Some of the Chaar force mainstays had been recalled back
                       to Cybertron to beef up the early warning and defence systems, after doing
                       a similar job on Chaar in the wake of the sneak attacks on both worlds by
                       the traitor Windsweeper a while back. Flaws had been exposed in the defence
                       networks and needed to be resolved. How he fit in to all this was what he
                       couldn’t readily understand, but wouldn’t keep him from doing what he had
                       been ordered to do while stationed here.
                                                Hound and Inferno were in the control centre with him, while
                      Soundwave was out on patrol, sending Laserbeak and Buzzsaw to head out
                      on reconnaissance and intelligence missions. Leaning back in his chair a bit
                      more than usual, Crankcase decided to give him a call to see if anything was
                      going on outside. He tapped the comm controls in front of him to open a channel.
                      “Crankcase to Soundwave. Whatcha saying?” he queried. Soundwave’s low,
                      monotone voice came over the channel. “Laserbeak and Buzzsaw are out
                      conducting Operation Investigation.” he explained. “No data to report as of 
                      yet.” he finished, not having much to say.
                                                “Very well.” said Crankcase. “Let us know what they report
                      upon returning.” he finished. Soundwave’s response was quick and to the point,
                      much like he had always been. “Affirmative.” he said, before closing the comm
                      channel and turning his attention back to his screen. He was about to check the
                      latest on Magnus’ team, when his computer and all the computers in the control
                      area went dark. Suddenly, the lights were next to shut down, followed by the hum
                      of the power generators. Aside from his optics, all was quite dark. Nothing
                      happened for a few nanocycles, until the sounds of doors being forced open
                      filled the command centre. 
                                                 A light starting shining through the gap, as Hound stepped
                       through, his shoulder light illuminating Crankcase and his station. “Whole
                       base is dark.” started Hound. “Inferno went to check outside.” he finished.
                       Crankcase nodded. “Not much we can do in here. I’ll meet you in the hangar
                       bay after I stop in the armoury, just in case.” he finished, his own light now
                       on and illuminating Hound, who nodded and turned, heading back out of the
                       gap in the doors and down the corridor. Crankcase left soonafter, taking a left
                       at the corridor’s t-shaped intersection.
                                                 Quickly finding the armoury’s door, he forced it open with his
                       hands, and walked inside, grabbing his plasma blasters before leaving to join up
                       with Hound. Wandering back down the corridor, he was about to try a comm
                       channel to raise Inferno, when he heard Hound cry out. “HOW....HOW....”
                       the voice trailed off. Crankcase broke into a run. “HOUND! I’M ON MY
                       WAY!!” he yelled, running down the corridor, through the open portal doors
                       and into the large bay, only to come to halt, witnessing the impossible.
                                                  Hound stood in the middle of the hangar face to face with what
                       looked to be Optimus Prime. Crankcase performed a quick diagnostic of his
                       optics to find there was nothing wrong with them. Standing before them was
                       the most revered leader in Autobot history, even though he had been killed
                       many, many years ago. “This isn’t possible....” he said, his voice trailing off,
                       his mind unable to come to grips with the situation.

                      Cybertron

                                                  There was enough for him to do around Cybertron without
                      also having to deal with a sudden power outage that had blacked out the whole
                      planet and all of it’s systems. Alone in the primary command tower, he had been
                      trying rather unsuccessfully to activate the tower’s independent backup systems,
                      with little success. Shockwave grumbled out loud, in the darkness. “Stupid
                      power failure....I don’t have time for this.” he said, frustration in his voice. He
                      was about to leave, when sounds of weapons fire rang through his audios, and
                      lots of it. “Now what?” he muttered.
                                                  Making his way to the door to the exterior observation deck,
                      he saw the Aerialbots fly past, firing their weapons upward as he forced it open
                      to go out on the deck. The sight that greeted his optics was enough to make him
                      stagger backwards in fear. “NO!” he shouted. “THIS CANNOT BE!!!” yelled
                      Shockwave, now at a loss for words, frozen to the very spot he stood, his mind
                      trying to comprehend the impossible. Usually stoic and unemotional, Shockwave
                      had been scared to his circuits due to what was before him.
                                                  Filling up the entire sky and then some was the massive and
                      hulking form of the planet killer, Unicron, whom had been destroyed many years
                      earlier, or so he’d thought. The gigantic transformer’s green optics glowed as 
                      bright as they even had been, an evil expression on his face as he stood over the
                      planet, Cybertron and all it’s inhabitants. Coming out of his momentary funk,
                      Shockwave tapped some controls on his forearm and opened a channel to any
                      Cybertronians that could receive it.
                                                  “Autobots, Decepticons, ATTACK! ATTACK!!!” he screamed,
                       before transforming into his alternate mode of a large fusion cannon and
                       started firing at the humongous invader. “I’ll die fighting...” he muttered, not
                       wanting to concede defeat, no matter the cost. More Cybertronians, some in
                       flight modes, some not flew past his position, firing their weapons in vain hope
                       that the planet killer could be stopped from inflicting any more damage on their
                       planet like he did the last time he initiated an assault.

                       Earth

                                                 Putting the finishing touches on a recent overhaul was what the
                      humans would call putting ‘the icing on the cake’. For him, it was just another
                      project for him to complete before heading back to Cybertron to help work on 
                      the refit of the planet’s defensive systems. For the meantime, he would try to
                      enjoy the remaining megacycles he had at Autobot City, before the workload
                      got bigger. Ratchet decided to not worry about of any of that yet and go for a 
                      bit of a walk to clear his thoughts.
                                                Just as he was about to leave the area he was in and venture
                      outside, all of the lights went off, and the computer shut down and went dark.
                      He didn’t even hear the familiar hum of the city’s power generators in the
                      background, a sound he had become accustomed to. Already near the doors to
                      the outside, he forced them open, pushing them apart enough to walk through.
                      Ratchet was greeted by Earth’s sun rising over the mountains an illuminating
                      the city’s shiny metallic armour.
                                                He tried to open a comm channel to get a hold of someone to
                      find out why the power went down. “Ratchet to Kup, come in.” he said. No
                      response came. “Ratchet to the Dinobots, come in please.” he said. There was
                      no response to that either. “Ratchet to....anyone?” he asked confusedly, half
                      expecting an answer that also didn’t come. Giving up on the comm, Ratchet
                      again starting walking, heading off to the bridge that crossed the gorge that
                      led out of the city, hoping to get a signal away from the city.
                                                As he approached the bridge, what he saw standing before him
                      blocking his path to the bridge made hm stop dead in his tracks, his optics now
                      glowing with confusion. Three comrades stood before him, but not any three he
                      had expected to see anytime soon. Autobots Prowl, Brawn, and Ironhide stood
                      there, looking as good as they day they were built. “This can’t be....you’re all
                      dead...” he said. “I was there!!” he exclaimed. Not understanding any of this,
                      he queried his suddenly alive and functional comrades. “How are you all here?
                      Did something or someone restore you??” he asked.
                                                There was no answer for him to have. The three just stood there,
                      with the same look on each one of their faces, one of seriousness. Ratchet didn’t
                      know what to do, he didn’t believe what was happening, but his optical sensors
                      told him it was real, somehow. Had his friends been brought back from the dead?
                      Had some entity re-animated their bodies? Ratchet couldn’t answer the plethora
                      of questions that were now swirling in his brain. None of this should be at all
                      possible, and yet here it was before him.

                      Open space, near Chaar

                                                His shuttle was face to face with the strange object that they
                      had been tracking through the sector, drifting very slowly. Ultra Magnus was
                      scanning the hell out of it, but with mixed success. He and the Technobots had
                      determined that it was an alien probe that had an immense power source, but
                      knew little else. Before closing in on the probe, he had allowed Scattershot to
                      bring a new kind of energy shield online on the shuttle, experimenting with a
                      new way to keep smaller ships undamaged from spatial radiation.
                                                The shielding worked, as the probe had been emitting some
                      strange radiation of it’s own out here in the deserted sector. Ultra Magnus
                      didn’t have an idea on how to proceed at the moment, as repeated scans on
                      the probe failed to accomplish anything further. He turned to Scattershot for
                      advice. “What do we do now? If we let it continue, it might eventually find
                      a habitable system of flesh beings and kill them with the radiation.” he said.
                      Scattershot responded quickly. “We should destroy it. I know it might be a
                      relic of some alien culture, but it’s a dangerous one.” 
                                                Ultra Magnus nodded approvingly. “Agreed. As much as
                      I want to study it further, it’s got to go.” he finished. Scattershot turned back
                      to his controls, tapping a few of them. “Weapons ready.” he said. Magnus
                      nodded and kept his focus on the forward viewport. “Fire when ready.” he
                      said. Scattershot pressed the fire button, and twin plasma beams shot out
                      from the shuttle’s forward ventral batteries, striking the alien probe and
                      destroying it in a large ball of fire. The shuttle’s shielding held, and a cycle
                      later, turned and headed for Chaar.

                      Chaar

                                                Not knowing what else to do, Crankcase drew his blasters
                      and was about to fire, when Optimus disappeared into the darkness. It was
                      just himself and Hound standing in the hangar bay. And just as quicky as
                      it all went dark, the lights came back on, as did the hum of the base’s two
                      generators. All the two of them could do was stare at each other confusedly
                      in the cavernous hangar bay, unsure of what just happened.

                      Cybertron

                                                Firing continuously into the sky at Unicron was having
                      little affect on the planet-killer, who’s optics were so bright that Shockwave
                      was sure he was about to use them to blast Cybertron’s surface and turn them
                      all into slag. Transforming back to his robot mode, he was about to suggest
                      the Aerialbots form Superion and assault the head of the beast, when Unicron
                      suddenly vanished from the sky, the weapons fire suddenly stopping due to
                      the fact that the target was now gone. Shockwave just stood there on the
                      observation deck in disbelief, as the planet came back to life..

                      Earth

                                                “Maybe you should all come with me to see the others, we
                      can discuss how you got here later.” said Ratchet, who had turned to lead them
                      all away from the bridge. He turned back to see if they were following him, but
                      only saw the bridge. No Prowl, no Brawn, no Ironhide. Just himself staring out
                      at a bridge, alone. Just then, his comm buzzed, as he noticed that the city’s
                      power was back online. He answered the call. “Ratchet here.” he said. “Me
                      Grimlock not like looking for people. Where you be at?” said the leader of the
                      Dinobots. “I’m at the bridge.....and boy do I have a story for you!” he replied.
                      The dinobot replied quickly, happily. “Me Grimlock want story! You Ratchet
                      hurry up to tell it!”

                      Unknown planet

                                                “I told you it was not powerful enough!” yelled one low voice
                      across the launch control room. “Well....it did go somewhere as opposed to
                      nowhere, like the last attempts.” said another low voice. “True that. We did
                      achieve a partial victory. And using that holographic stuff that we took from
                      that ship seemed to make them all go into a frenzy.” said the first voice, a sense
                      of accomplishment in his voice. “Just remember,” began the second voice. “They
                      have had a taste. They won’t be as fooled next time.” he finished. “Agreed.” said
                      the first voice again. “We must adapt....”

                                                                     THE END.....