Tag: transformers

It took every technically minded person a full two hours to make the virus. Once done, Tails approached them. “All right, we’re ready,” he said to Optimus, Sonic, Arsha, Rosadera, Megatron, and Galvatron.

“We still need to make our strike team,” remarked Galvatron.

“The Borg tend to ignore small groups unless that group attacks them,” said Optimus. “A two- or three-person team should do the trick.”

“And it should consist of people that are smaller than us,” remarked Megatron.

“Then that leaves me, Sonic, and Rosadera,” declared Arsha.

“We can’t go down there unless it’s cleared of Borg,” said Rosadera. “We’re the leaders. If they assimilate us, we’re all hosed. Besides, Azuliterii’s better with computers than I am.”

“Well, I’m not sending my family down there!” snarled Sonic. “And the Enterprise needs Shadow on the bridge!”

“…What about Knuckles?” asked Optimus. “His punches should break through Borg armor no sweat.”

“If he and Rouge are up for it, then that’s a perfect idea.”

“What about Liam?” asked Galvatron.

“He’s needed on the Virginia,” said Arsha.

“I’m going,” said a voice. It was Teefmanam!

“Out of the question!” protested Arsha.

“Arsha, with all due respect, that’s not your call to make.”

“Teefmanam, no! This isn’t one of the games you stream! If Lardeth is forced to bury you-!”

“Arsha, my mind is made up! I’m going whether you approve or not!” Arsha looked to her friends for help.

“Azuliterii will protect her,” assured Rosadera. “You have my word.”

“…Lardeth’s gonna kill me if you die, THEN he’s gonna divorce me!” groaned Arsha.

“Neither will happen, I promise,” said Teefmanam.

An hour later, after Azuliterii, Teefmanam, and Knuckles were assembled and briefed on how the plan would go, the three of them gathered in the Gateway Room. Rusty keyed in the coordinates. “All set,” she reported. “Opening a rift.”

“Away we go,” said Azuliterii. The rift opened and the team jumped in.

Back at After Academy, Megumi headed to her bike. She fastened her Vortex Driver and inserted her i.d tag into it. “Henshin,” she announced, and she spun the wheel. She became Kamen Rider Royal and mounted her bike.

“No,” said Richard’s voice.

“We’ve discussed this already,” replied Royal.

“It’s a suicide run! The Lords are still Borg!”

“I can take out as many as I can. Besides, we can’t die.”

“Yeah, but you can still be assimilated!”

“Richard, my mind is made up!” Royal gunned the engine.

“Our kids still need you!” Royal’s fingers stopped before they wrapped around the throttle.

“…Our daughters are independent,” she sighed. “Believe it or not, they no longer need me. They’re grown, capable fighters.”

“Megumi, please! Don’t leave me!” Royal declined her head.

“…Our daughters’ freedom is more important than mine. …Be strong for me.” She twisted the throttle and sped off. She went through the shield wall and met with a wall of Lords firing on the school.

“THERE SHE IS!” called a Lord. “OPEN FIRE! STUN ONLY!” The Lords fired their disruptors. Royal’s bike projected shields, but they wouldn’t last long. She went faster and burst through the ranks, causing Lords to be scattered into the air. She then turned the bike sideways and skidded to a stop, dragging her foot along the road as a means of braking. The Lords charged and Royal summoned her sword, converted it to rifle mode, and fired as long as she could before the Lords got too close and she had to switch it back to sword mode.

While the fight was going on, Knuckles and his team headed to the ground vinculum. Azuliterii began keying in commands. “Come on, don’t let there be so many redundant safeguards!” she muttered. Teefmanam then looked over.

“Uh oh, some of them are getting wise!” she warned.

“That’s our cue!” said Knuckles as he banged his fists together. As the Lords opened fire, Teefmanam fired her wand while Knuckles threw different projectiles. A few of the Lords were hit. One of the ones still standing looked over his fallen comrade, then his face contorted in rage.

“You killed Amanda!” he snarled as he looked at Teefmanam. “I will make you suffer for that!”

“She’s not dead!” said a lightly armored Lord. “She’s just damaged! She needs repairs in her alcove!”

“Get her there now!” ordered the distressed Lord.

“Am I hearing that right?!” called Azuliterii. “The Borg are using individual pronouns?!”

“Never mind that!” urged Knuckles. Just then, Azuliterii cheered.

“It’s done!” At that, the Lords realized that a new command came through.

“We can’t be THAT low on power!” argued one.

“It doesn’t matter, we all need to regenerate,” replied the Strike Commander. The Lords then ceased firing and beamed up to their Cube.

“Optimus, the virus is working! Repeat, the virus is working!” Teefmanam called.

“Roger that,” replied Optimus’ voice. “Get to the school and hide out there. We’re on our way.” The call then ended.

Royal continued swinging her sword into the Lords. She was beginning to tire. “What’s the matter, Princess?” taunted a Lord woman. “Can’t lift your sword?”

“Too many crumpets slowing you down?” taunted a Lord man.

“Still strong enough to stop you!” panted Royal. Just then, a call came through for the Lords.

“…Aw!” complained the woman. “We were having fun!”

“No matter,” sighed the man. “We gotta go.” The Lords then beamed out.

“…Eh?!” asked Royal. She then got a call.

“Megumi! Megumi, please respond!” begged the caller, her husband.

“I’m all right, Richard,” replied Megumi. “Just…confused.”

“Oh, thank the Chizarans!” sighed Richard happily. “Megumi, there’s been a drastic reduction in Lord ground troops! They all beamed up!”

“Well, I’m not complaining. “I’m heading back. Maybe we can get some-”

“WHOA!”

“Richard! Richard, are you-!”

“Azuliterii just popped in with one of Swalmu’s people and a version of Knuckles!”

“Azuliterii?! I’m DEFINITELY on my way!” Royal mounted her bike and sped off.

Royal got back behind the school’s walls and met Azuliterii and her companions. She transformed back into Megumi and hugged the Chizaran. “It’s been way too long!” she said.

“You’re not kidding,” agreed Azuliterii. The embrace broke off, then Azuliterii bonked Megumi on the head. “That stunt, on the other hand, we ALL could have done without!”

“Richard!” hissed Megumi, guessing who told her. “I did what I needed to do!”

“Throwing away your freedom like that is NEVER an acceptable solution! Not when the Virginia needs you!”

“…B…But the Virginia’s orbiting Vorton and we’ve engaged the Knightfall Protocols.”

“There were people, two that you know, that got wise to the Borg invading.”

“…No way!”

“They wanted to visit you. They can’t do that if you’re assimilated.”

“Why did everyone go back to their ships?” Sonavok demanded a Cardassian Lord woman, Ziddet.

“It looks like a good chunk of our forces,” she replied, “were told to report to their alcoves for regeneration.”

“All of them?”

“Only the Juggernaut and Imperium are unaffected.”

“…Hold on, something’s speaking through the hive mind. Let me hear it.” Ziddet keyed in a command on the nearby console and a voice crackled to life.

“Nine. Eight. Seven. Six,” droned the voice. Sonavok and Ziddet then realized what that countdown was all about when they detected power net buildups in the affected ships.

“GET OUT!” Sonavok shouted through both the hive mind and out loud. “GET OUT OF THERE!” He could feel the drones disconnecting from their alcoves, but it was too little, too late. The Lord fleet exploded, leaving only the Imperium and Juggernaut to weather the explosions.

“Optimus made that virus?!” asked Megumi

“He suggested the parameters,” corrected Azuliterii. “Speaking of which…” she then made a call. “Strike team to Vorton, the Borg threat is lessened! Repeat, the Borg lost too many drones for them!”

“Just enough for us!” cheered Optimus on the other end. “We’re on our way!” A fleet-sized rift then opened and the Virginia led the fleet into the universe.

“Dammit! Optimus and Arsha made it!” groaned Sonavok.

“We have to fight back!” urged Ziddet. “I’ll rally our remaining-!”

“Hey, Ziddet, Sonavok,” called a Bajoran Lord woman, “the Author wants to see you as we retreat.” Sonavok and Ziddet’s blood ran cold.

The remainder of the Lord fleet entered their own rift and abandoned Beyond City. Everyone cheered as the enemy fled. A call then came through. “This is Optimus Prime, requesting permission on behalf of the Ark, Enterprise, and Nemesis to beam down.”

“This is Arsha Royana, Queen of the Realms, requesting the same permission on behalf of the Endeavor and Glanthelantir,” said Arsha’s voice on the same call.

“This is Queen Scorpainia, also requesting landing permission on behalf of the Hammer of Tarlax.”

“Permission granted,” replied Death on the comms channel. “Welcome back, old friends.”

“Happy to be back,” said Optimus.

“Because of COURSE the situation wasn’t dire enough without the Borg!” grunted Megatron.

“Megatron, please!” snapped Nightbird.

“How did the Borg even get into that universe?!” asked Elphaba.

“It doesn’t matter,” replied Goldbug. “The only way we can save them is if we make a strike now!”

“I’m not about to send Autobots over to be assimilated!” replied Optimus.

“Neither will I send any Decepticons,” agreed Galvatron.

“But Galvatron,” argued Goldbug, “our friends might be assimilated! We gotta reverse the process now!”

“The Decepticons have a long history of going into situations half-cocked, my own father’s schemes being the more recent examples that YOU, of all bots, should know, and I refuse to repeat those mistakes unless there’s no other alternative. If we attack now, without any knowledge of their weaknesses, the Borg will adapt and assimilate us. I won’t help on that kind of suicide run.”

“What about the Chizarans or the Tarlaxians?” asked Arsha. “They have ships.”

“And the Borg ships have a vinculum at the hearts of their vessels that suppress all individual thoughts and keep each drone connected to the Collective,” mused Optimus. “If we can distract the Borg enough to upload that virus into multiple vinculums, it could create enough damage to the Collective.”

“That still depends on what the virus will do,” remarked Goldbug.

“A feedback loop,” said Optimus. “The virus should tell the drones of each ship that it’s time for their regeneration cycle. They’ll beam aboard and begin the regeneration process, disabling their electromagnetic field and put them at minimal power. With every drone regenerating, it will cause the power net to feedback on itself and trigger a self-destruct sequence.”

“That kind of virus won’t last a long time,” remarked Megatron.

“It should be enough for our ships and allies to swoop in and save them,” replied Arsha.

“I’ll have Shockwave work with other technically minded individuals to help construct the virus,” offered Galvatron. “Now that we have an actual plan, you’ll have the Decepticons’ help.”

“I’ll contact Tarlax 14 Alpha and Chizara Prime,” offered the Brigadier.

“We’re on the clock now,” called Arsha. “Let’s get moving.” Everyone headed off. Galvatron stopped Megatron.

“Listen, Dad, about what I said-” he began.

“You spoke the truth,” interrupted Megatron. “I DID go half-cocked back in the day. You’ve learned from the mistakes of others very well. Though, if I might critique one thing, you should be a smidge more…diplomatic in your approach.”

“Yes, Father.”

“That’s my boy!” Megatron patted Galvatron’s shoulder with pride.

“It’s amazing,” muttered Arsha as she saw the whole thing.

“What is?” asked Optimus.

“How Cold, Distant Megatron became a dad.”

“Arsha, Megatron has changed over the years. He DOES regret what he did. That’s why he joined us when we visited you, to make amends.”

“From what I heard, Autobots died because of him!”

“Ah ah! You misheard. Autobots died when he was in charge of the Decepticons, but he didn’t cause their deaths.”

“He’s responsible for his men.”

“Ironhide died because of an acolyte of our destroyer and Chromia died of metal fatigue. Neither death was the result of Megatron or his men.”

“…I guess I’m still bitter about what his men did when they first visited the Realms.” Optimus winced at that. There wasn’t anything he could say. “I’ll work with him to free Beyond City from the Borg, but I’m not sure I can forgive or forget.” Arsha left to assist in the preparations. Optimus sighed. He had a feeling that Megumi would have similar feelings for Megatron.

Optimus, Arsha, and Megatron were standing by the Gateway as the Brigadier began calling an ally. “This is Vorton on the Emergency Channel, calling Castle Spectrum on Chizara Prime. Chizara Prime, do you read?”

“This is Rosadera, reading you loud and clear, Brigadier,” replied a woman’s voice that they all recognized. “Does this trouble concern the loss of communications between us and Beyond City?”

“It does, Rosadera,” confirmed the Brigadier. “And we have allies that helped us find out what happened. Arsha and Optimus are back.”

“Are they there?”

“Right here, Rosadera,” replied Optimus. “The Borg have invaded Beyond City.”

“The Borg?! How did that happen?!”

“It doesn’t matter,” answered Arsha. “What matters is that we have a plan to get them out of there, but we need your help.”

“Me, my fellow Major Princesses, and a few people from Beyond City that got trapped here will be there the instant this call ends.”

“We’ll see you then,” replied Optimus. The call ended and five different lights flashed. They were pink, purple, red, blue, and green and they all turned into different humanoid shapes. The pink light turned into a woman with pink hair, eyes, and a pink dress, as well as a woman in a red dress with red eyes. The green light turned into a woman with green hair, eyes, and a greed dress as well as a woman in orange with a rodent’s tail. The blue light turned into a woman with the same hair, eyes, and dress color, but possessing hair that touched the floor, and it also turned into a man with Elven features, bright green eyes, and orange-toned skin as well as a woman with white hair, a blue dress, and a white monkey tail. The purple light revealed a woman with the same hair, eyes, and dress and revealed a woman with a yellow dress and lizard tail. The red light became a woman with the same hair, eyes, and dress and became three blue-haired women in cloud dresses as well as a man in a dress. “Good to see you again, My Ladies,” greeted Optimus.

“And it’s nice to meet the new guys,” said Arsha.

“Lovely to see you too, Arsha and Optimus,” returned the woman in pink, Rosadera. “I don’t believe you met everyone, so may I introduce Jason Babineaux…”

“Bonjour and Guten Tag,” greeted the dress-wearing man.

“Fordelam Endri…”

“How’s it going?” asked the Elf-looking man.

“Brittney Dormu…”

“Hello!” said the woman with red eyes. Fangs appeared as she smiled.

“Emma Atmadja…”

“Welcome to Vorton!” greeted the woman with the lizard tail.

“Barbara Zhou…”

“Howdy!” called the woman with the monkey tail.

“Katrina Andrews…”

“Lovely to meet you,” greeted the woman with the rodent tail as the woman in green, Verdutha, hugged her from behind.

“Fitri Damfel…”

“Hi there!” called a blue-haired woman wearing what looked like a doughnut-style cloud on her head.

“Leemii Damfel…”

“Hello!” said a blue-haired woman with a high-collar on her dress.

“And Willmef Damfel.”

“How do you do?” asked the last blue-haired woman as she adjusted the fabric in her cloud hairpiece.

“Are these all the Herald Riders’ kids?” asked Optimus.

“Indeed, they are,” answered the woman in blue, Azuliterii.

“You said something about the Borg,” reminded the woman in red, Rojenthi.

“Are they safe?” asked the woman in purple, Moradelia.

“We don’t know,” replied Arsha. “We’re calling the Tarlaxians for help.”

“This is Vorton on the Emergency Channel,” said the Brigadier as he made the next call, “calling the Imperial Palace on Tarlax 14 Alpha. Tarlax 14 Alpha, do you read?”

“This is Tarlax 14 Alpha, Prince Lobstornias replying,” came a voice. “We’re in the middle of figuring out why we can’t go to After Academy. Our gateway there has shut down.”

“Your Highness, the Borg have invaded Beyond City.”

“Okay, so since this is the Emergency Channel and knowing you, Brigadier, this isn’t a joke. I’ll have Mom and Dad prepare the Imperial Navy. We should be there within the hour, faster if we can.”

“Please hurry.” The Brigadier ended the call and turned to his audience. “Now we wait.”

The Tarlaxians’ arrival took about half an hour. Three different humanoids appeared. One was a woman with scorpion features, another was a man with eel features, and the last was a man with lobster features. They were Scorpainia, Eelinape, and Lobstornias, the ruling family of the Tarlaxians. “Is it true?” asked Scorpainia when she and her family met everyone. “The Borg have invaded Beyond City?”

“I’m afraid so,” replied Liam. “We’ve got an idea on how to get them out, but we need a plan of attack.”

“I understand you have the plans for After Academy?” asked Optimus.

“I do,” confirmed Scorpainia. “Normally, I wouldn’t even consider showing you all, but the Borg’s reputation is well-known among my people. What you’re about to see does not go outside the confines of this room, is that clear?” Everyone nodded. Scorpainia activated a holographic display of the school with its siege protocols enacted. “The shield wall is simply the first line of defense. There are numerous guns ready to pop out of the ground should it fail. With how the Borg can adapt, it’s likely that it will fall quickly. Each gun modulates its energy frequency, but it’s never been tested on how effective it is against Borg vessels, just the drones. There are also mines that can be deployed, both underground and in the air. We need to weaken the Borg’s adaptability.”

“That’s where our plan comes in,” offered Optimus. “If we can get aboard a vessel, we can find its vinculum and introduce a virus that will trigger a self-destruct command on all Borg vessels in the vicinity.”

“Then we need a small strike team,” said the Brigadier as he pulled up another holographic display, this time displaying the Borg Siege in real time. “It looks like there’s a machine on the outskirts of the wall that matches all known descriptions of a Borg vinculum.”

“That will make uploading the virus easier,” mused Optimus. “Once the virus is uploaded and enough Borg vessels are destroyed, our ships swoop in and mop up the rest of the Borg.”

“We leave once the virus is completed,” declared Arsha. “We can’t afford to wait a second longer.” She then sighed. “What a way to reconnect with your friends.”

Tails had transferred control of the gateway to the MSS-Enterprise. There were now five ships on a journey to Vorton. Optimus and his family took up positions on the Autobot Flagship, the Ark. Jazz joined in the fun and Optimus’ right-hand bot, Goldbug Magnus, was already in position with his wife, Arcee, and their daughter, Glyph, assuming their posts. The Nebulans were in one of the guest quarters. “All hands ready,” reported Goldbug.

“Now we wait for the others,” replied Optimus.

Because of the nature of the mission, Shockwave and her Mini-cons, Laserbeak, Ravage, and Frenzy (once Soundwave’s), took up positions on the Nemesis. “All decks report ready,” said Megatron as he took up the comms position while Galvatron sat in the Captain’s Chair. “The Ark’s standing by too.”

“Captain, there’s a space bridge opening near us,” reported Ravage. “Small one bearing 2-1-0 Mark 1-7-5.”

“Source?” asked Galvatron.

“It’s from Cybertron,” replied Megatron as he got Ravage’s readings. “The Bridge Passenger is hailing all ships.”

“Open a channel.” Megatron dutifully did so.

“This is Thundercracker Korrug, Leader of the Seekers,” came the call. Shockwave ran a Spark Check. “I heard that there was a fleet gathering around Mobius for a rescue mission. Nemesis, permission to board?”

“Spark Check confirmed,” reported Shockwave. “It’s Thundercracker.”

“Permission granted, Thundercracker,” said Galvatron. “Welcome aboard. Meet us on the bridge.”

While Thundercracker boarded the Nemesis, the Enterprise was awaiting its readiness update. Sira and her family were onboard, as were Sonic and his family and Shadow’s family. Rouge and Knuckles also joined them Tails and Cosmo worked on the gateway controls. “All decks report ready,” reported Shadow’s tactical officer.

“Gateway controls are locked in,” said Tails.

“We open the gateway on Optimus and the Faker’s command,” declared Shadow.

“That’s right, Faker,” chuckled Sonic. The tactical officer just rolled their eyes.

On the Glanthelantir, Glanthel was in awe. “I never thought I’d be out among the stars,” he remarked.

“It’s exciting for us all,” replied his CMO.

“All decks ready,” reported the tactical officer.

“We await the final checks,” directed Glanthel.

“I can’t believe I became a Mechanica AFTER this kind of experience!” Endea giggled. “And I still work in space!”

“It’s exhilarating, isn’t it?” asked Arsha. “Being among what was once forbidden to us.”

“Maybe we should start a space program ourselves,” mused Bashoon.

“All decks standing by,” came the tactical officer’s report.

“Signal our readiness to the fleet,” ordered Endea.

“Fleet’s reporting ready,” said Shadow’s comms officer.

“Let’s do it to it!” cheered Sonic. Shadow groaned at that phrase.

“Enterprise is ready,” said Goldbug.

“Let’s roll out!” declared Optimus.

A massive dimensional rift opened in front of the fleet. Once it was opened, all ships flew in.

Several rocks in space floated silently. They were connected by various scaffolds and tubes. In the center of it all was a rock with a massive gateway and five different shields with different patterns on them. This was the Main Vorton Gateway, the last of the Great Gateways of the Vortonian people. Right now, four people and a robot stood by it. One was a woman wearing orange pants and a white tank top advertising Aperture Laboratories. This was Chell of Portal. The second one was a woman dressed like a Dalek, complete with gunstick and plunger in her forearms. This was Rusty, a former Dalek. The third was a green-skinned woman dressed in black and wearing a witch’s hat. This was Elphaba Thropp, the former Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. The last person was a Cyberman without his helmet, revealing a man with gray hair and a moustache. This was Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, the Brigadier. The robot, identifying as female, had one eye, an antenna on each side of the head, pincer claws, and a hover skirt. This was Portal Operator Omega, known as POmega. “Fleet’s on its way,” reported POmega.

“Open the other end,” directed Elphaba. A fleet-sized dimensional rift opened, and the fleet arrived in orbit around Vorton. Once the rift closed, Arsha, Bashoon, Delselii, Geltar, Farmee, Yufantel, Hejema, Torya, Optimus, Megatron, Sky Runner, Firestorm, Galvatron, Goldbug, Arcee, Glyph, Sira, Sandy, Sonic, Silver, Daniel, Shadow, Maria, Trema, Llyra, Galen, Kong, Hot Rod, and Override beamed down. The ones who came to Vorton before looked as the new arrivals goggled at the place in wonder.

“So this is where the magic happened!” chuckled Delselii.

“Awesome, isn’t it?” asked Arsha.

“Daddy, you never said how amazing this place was!” Glyph said to Goldbug.

“It was something you needed to see for yourself,” replied Goldbug.

“Welcome to Vorton, everyone,” greeted the Brigadier. “I trust the trip was comfortable.”

“It was fine, Brigadier,” replied Optimus. “Now, let’s get to work. We gotta get back into contact with Beyond City. Perhaps gain some allies.”

“First off,” suggested Shade, “we should probably gain some intel. Can we send some sort of probe to this Beyond City?”

“As a matter of fact, we can,” replied POmega. “We just wondered if that was a good idea given that it can’t be hidden all that easily.”

“If we can somehow make it so that the probe is cloaked, we can easily get the intel we need,” decided Shade.

“That’s my girl!” chuckled Shadow as he ruffled her quills.

“But where are we gonna get the tech needed to cloak it?” asked Bashoon. “It’s not exactly cheap OR legal tech in my world.”

“Leave that to me,” replied Megatron. “Shockwave’s been developing cloaking technology. I’m sure this would be a perfect test for it.” Just then, they heard a couple talking as they approached.

“I’m telling you, we gotta get help!” urged a Scottish man.

“And I’m telling you to have faith!” replied a woman’s voice. Arsha’s ears flicked.

“I know that voice,” she muttered. A Naga woman with a red tail then slithered in with a dark-skinned man.

“Palma, there’s no way-!” The couple stopped when they caught sight of everyone. “…Ah, so that’s the game, eh?” asked the man.

“Arsha?” asked the Naga.

“Palmarta?” asked Arsha.

“By the Ones, it IS you!” The two women then hugged one another. “It’s been too long, I thought I’d never see you again after…well…” The Naga, Palmarta, faltered.

“Your nephews and nieces got out of there,” assured Arsha. “They formed the Palmarta School for Singers during Reconstruction.”

“Reconstruction?! Then…we won?!”

“We won! Dr. Borg drained Oyed and the Divine Ones of their Divine Mana and made them mortal, so we took that opportunity to get rid of Oyed and then we stopped Dr. Borg’s experiment to make herself and her fellow Councilors the new Divine Ones thanks to the Divine Mana they drained. Now they’re dead and me and my lovers got married and we’re ruling the-!” Palmarta hugged Arsha again.

“Your Hi…Your Majesty, you have no idea how much I worried about that! I kept having nightmares and screamed myself awake! …And woke up Liam in the process.” She gestured to the man she came in with.

“I promise you,” assured Liam as he stroked her back, “it really was no bother. Anything for my wife.”

“Wife?” asked Arsha. “You’re married?!”

“It was such a romantic first date!” sighed Palmarta happily. “It was during an After Academy Prom. Our eyes drifted to each other, and we silently came together and danced the night away, all in bliss!”

“That was the second time we met, you numpty!” called Liam. “The first time we met, you were drunk off your scaled arse!”

“Okay, so I didn’t have a good coping mechanism for post-death!”

“I appreciate seeing the truth come to light,” rumbled Megatron, “but we have business concerning your home, Mr McIntyre.” Liam recognized that voice.

“Megatron!” he hissed.

“He’s here at my request,” said Optimus. “Sonic and I visited the Realms, then Arsha visited us, then we tried to raise Beyond City only to be met with interrupted communications, so we had to come here to assess the situation and possibly find a solution.”

“We’re thinking of sending a cloaked probe,” explained Arsha. “Apparently, Shockwave’s got the cloaking tech.”

“Well, as long as Ms. One-Eye doesn’t think of dissecting me or Palmarta, we’ll help her make the probe.

The cloaked probe was constructed. “Cloaking device functions within expected parameters,” Shockwave reported.

“Uploading last known dimensional coordinates to probe computer,” said Rusty. “…Coordinates uploaded. Launching probe and opening a rift.” She pressed the launch button, and the probe flew into a rift.

“All we do is wait,” muttered Optimus as he drummed his fingers. Farmee amused himself by making cloud balls and arranging them in various patterns.

“You know, having fought in a war,” remarked Arsha, “I figured I’d get used to it during peacetime. Guess not.”

“I don’t think you need to wait that long,” replied Maria.

“Why’s that?” asked Optimus.

“We’re getting a visual.” A holographic display of After Academy in its current state appeared in front of everyone.

“Are…are those…shield walls?” asked Optimus.

“That’s part of the Siege System,” replied Liam.

“I take it that’s not something the average student thinks they would see,” guessed Megatron.

“Aye, so if that system’s up, After Academy’s in deep shite. It blocks all normal communications channels and severs us from the rest of the multiverse.”

“That explains why we couldn’t get to Beyond City,” mused Optimus.

“But what kind of enemy would warrant that?” asked Farmee. “Would they really be that dangerous?”

“The fighting needs to be contained,” replied Arsha. “In that instance, Beyond City was smart. But that still leaves the identity of the enemy.”

“Hold up, the probe’s detecting a vessel,” said Maria. “Pulling up visual now.” She keyed in a few commands and got the image of the vessel, a gray cube with circuitry on its hull and green light coming from inside. The instant Optimus saw it, his internal Energon nearly froze.

“Oh no,” he breathed. Megatron arched an eyebrow.

“That’s not what I think it is, I trust?” he asked.

“Given that the F.N.S knew a Klingon Dahar Master,” replied Optimus, “I think it is.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Farmee.

“That cube,” explained Optimus, “is the standard patrol vessel of the most malevolent enemy to the United Federation of Planets. It takes technology and people and assimilates them into a collective mind of cyborgs, suppressing any and all individuality.”

“Does this collective have a name?” Optimus growled as he said the name.

“The Borg!”