The Autobots plowed through, taking quite a bit of weapons fire! “Optimus, I really must protest!” argued the Doctor.
“Mind your heads!” warned Optimus. He opened his doors, tilted his seats so that the Doctor and William tumbled out, and transformed into robot mode, pulling out a giant rifle and firing at the Decepticons, blasting holes in their chests. The downed Decepticons faded to gunmetal gray.
“Doctor, when you said they were at war-!” yelped William.
“I was rather hoping to spare you the ugly reality of war,” replied the Doctor.
“No, I just meant I didn’t think their war would be more brutal than any war humans have seen!”
“…Frightening, isn’t it? To learn there are others more versed in death than humans?”
“Terrifying, frankly!” admitted William.
“Sorry, Miss Rose,” said Bumblebee, “but I need to start shooting back!” Amy unbuckled and leapt out of Bumblebee as he transformed and fired his gun into the heads of several Decepticons. One of the Decepticons then shot Bumblebee in the shoulder.
“BUMBLEBEE!” called Amy as Bumblebee leaked a pink fluid and clutched at his wound in pain. She then leapt onto the offending Decepticon and caved his head in with her hammer. Ratchet arrived and transformed, beginning repairs for Bumblebee.
“You’re not gonna be shooting with that arm anytime soon,” he said.
“I’m ambidextrous, remember?” replied Bumblebee.
“You’re also fuel-efficient,” remarked Ratchet. “I mean, you didn’t lose a lot of your own reserves, but you still have enough Energon to function.”
“Thank Primus for being small,” agreed Bumblebee.
“I’ll ask about Energon later!” said Amy as she hammered a Decepticon’s chest unit, caving it in.
“…Doc, you don’t intend to make her angry, do you?” Bumblebee asked Ratchet.
“A hammer-wielding fleshling that can cave a bot’s chest in? No thank you. Sounds too unhealthy!” replied Ratchet.
“So don’t make her angry. Important medical advice. Thanks, Ratchet.” Bumblebee resumed shooting with his one good arm.
Inside the bridge, Starscream was babbling in fear to a Decepticon with a huge gun on his arm. This was Megatron, the Supreme Commander of the entire Decepticon Empire. “ANDTHEDOCTORBUZZEDTHEFORCEFIELDSANDTHEPINKYTHENWENT‘ARGH’ANDIWENT-!”
“STARSCREAM!” roared Megatron.
“Yes, Lord Megatron?”
“…Explain what happened again. Slowly.” Megatron sounded annoyed.
“…Right.” Starscream took a deep breath. “…The Doctor is on our ship and used a power fluctuation to free the Autobots! She’s regenerated into a woman’s body and now has a pink furball and a human with her!”
“WHAT?!” shouted Megatron. It was at that moment that the Autobots burst onto the bridge with their organic friends. “PRIME!” shouted Megatron.
“This ends today, Megatron!” replied Optimus. The two leaders were about to fire…then the lights cut out and all that escaped their guns were pathetic puffs of smoke and electronic warbles.
“Oh, for-! I RECHARGED THIS THING!” complained Megatron. “…Oh well, I always preferred getting up close and personal with you, Optimus Prime!”
“You really HAVE forgotten what you fight for, haven’t you?” replied Optimus as he got ready to fight!
“ENOUGH!” shouted the Doctor.
“WHAT?!” replied the two leaders.
“…We’re all affected by these frequent blackouts,” explained the Doctor. “My own TARDIS was taken out of the Time Vortex thanks to losing power briefly, hence why my friends and I are here. And these blackouts are affecting your weapons too. So, why not-?”
“Don’t say it!” hissed Megatron.
“The Doctor is correct,” remarked Optimus. “If we-.”
“You too!” warned Megatron.
“What’s the disadvantage in working together?” asked William. Megatron groaned. He HATED the times he had to work with the Autobots…and he especially hated when doing so was the only option.
“…Very well,” he finally decided. “Just keep the insipid speeches behind your face plate, Prime!”
By now, everyone was working hard. William and Amy were introduced to Jazz and Ironhide on the Autobot side and Shockwave, Thundercracker, Soundwave, and Octus on the Decepticon side. Octus was the only bot with six arms, yet he was pretty lazy! “…Aren’t you gonna get off your metal butt and help?” asked William at one point.
“And expend energy that could be put to better use? No thanks,” scoffed Octus.
“Don’t bother, William,” grunted Thundercracker, the only Decepticon that bothered to learn the names of organic life-forms that weren’t famous. “He’s a glutton that thinks a passive rule would be better for the Decepticons.”
“Hardly passive when it’s the simple order of things for people to serve their betters until death,” replied Octus.
“And yet, I’M higher than you in the pecking order on this ship,” retorted Thundercracker. Octus then stood up.
“Speaking of pecking order,” he said, “I DO recall that Megatron wanted me to look out for a planet to land on, should the power fluctuations make the situation that bad.”
“…Soundwave’s the helmsman here! Get your aft back here!” protested Thundercracker. Octus didn’t listen, he just sauntered out of the room.
“…You know, the more blasé of our predicament he is,” remarked William, “the more suspicious I am of him.”
“He was supposed to swing a punch at me for daring to remind him that he’s the lowest on the bridge crew totem pole,” said Thundercracker. “You’re right to be suspicious of him.”
Speaking of the crew, the power fluctuations were becoming more frequent. “All reliable indicators,” said Shockwave as he, Ratchet, and the Doctor worked in the lab, “dictate that the power fluctuations will affect all capabilities, aside from speech and movement.”
“So, no guns, no fancy attachments, and no transforming,” the Doctor summed up.
“I believe I just said that,” replied Shockwave.
“That’s gonna affect first aid,” remarked Ratchet.
“Doctor, guys,” called Amy as she entered the lab, “Soundwave found the planet this ship was going to and believes the source of our situation’s from there.”
“…It would stand to reason that the closer we get to the planet, the more total the power loss,” theorized Shockwave.
“We’ll have to risk it,” said the Doctor. “Shutting down whatever’s on the planet that’s causing this is our most expedient solution to permanently restoring power.”
“Agreed,” confirmed Shockwave.
Optimus and Megatron were told of the science team’s suggestion to land on the planet. “Soundwave,” ordered Megatron, “begin a spiral descent on the planet. We still have Energon to mine there.”
“As you command, Megatron,” droned Soundwave.
The ship circled as it went through the planet’s atmosphere. The heat shielding was still working, thank goodness. The planet looked like one huge desert with rocky crags and pits and sparse vegetation. The ship landed in a valley between two mountain ranges. There was some cloud cover in that part of the planet. Once the ship landed, Optimus and Megatron opened the doors. “Fan out and scout the area!” Megatron ordered the Decepticons.
“…More annoyingly familiar surroundings,” muttered the Doctor.
“…Doctor, where’s William?” asked Amy.
“And Thundercracker and Octus,” remarked Optimus.
“Octus must have finally convinced Thundercracker to take a load off!” grunted Megatron.
Megatron’s guess could not be further from the truth. Thundercracker and William were currently sneaking up to a door. “You’re sure you heard someone transforming in there?” asked Thundercracker.
“Positive,” replied William.
“So they assumed alt-mode as we were getting closer,” guessed Thundercracker. He peered at the nameplate above the door. “…Hang on, that’s Octus’ quarters,” he revealed.
“And so things get more suspicious surrounding him,” muttered William. Thundercracker knocked on the door.
“Hey! Lazy!” he called. “We’re all outside!”
“Sorry,” called Octus’ voice. “Had to go native before we suffered total power failure.” The door slowly opened.
“Hey! Prime! Over here!” called Bumblebee.
“What is it?” asked Optimus as he, Megatron, the Doctor, and Amy joined with Bumblebee.
“Over there! I see the spire of a city!” explained Bumblebee. The city itself was obscured by rocks nearby, but the spire could be seen clearly.
Octus glided out in his new alt-mode. William blinked at the sight. He looked like some sort of tank with a globe-studded travel skirt, a dome with a camera eye on a stalk, a pair of dome lights, a neck section with rings, a toilet plunger making a manipulator arm on the right, and an elongated egg whisk with a hollow barrel on the left. “Like I said, had to go native,” explained Octus. Every time he spoke, the dome lights flashed on each syllable. Thundercracker stepped back as he realized what Octus had done.
“…No!” whispered the blue jet Decepticon. “No, you didn’t!”
The group rounded the bend and saw the city that the spire was part of. The instant she clapped eyes on it, the Doctor recognized the architecture immediately, her hearts stopping in terror. “…They rebuilt it!” she said. “They brought it back! …No! Megatron-!”
“Doctor, I swear on my Spark,” replied Megatron, “I…didn’t…know!”
“Wh-why’s everyone scared?” asked Amy. “What planet is this?”
“SKARO!” shouted Thundercracker in absolute terror as he pointed an accusing finger at Octus. “YOU TRICKED US INTO LANDING ON SKARO!”
“It is better to serve the Destroyer than stand in its way,” replied Octus.
“Why is this Skaro so scary for you guys?” asked Amy.
“Because this is a dangerous world! For all life!” explained the Doctor. “…This is the homeworld of the Daleks!”
“Life forms detected!” barked a harsh, grating, metallic voice. “The survivors will be put to work as slave labor! All extraneous Cybertronians will be exterminated!” Mechanical beings shaped like Octus’ alt-mode, but only standing at 1.7 meters tall, glided into the valley! The Doctor’s hearts raced. …The Daleks had tricked them all somehow!