“That fight could have been avoided, and you know it, Prime!” hissed Eenar.
“Regulation 192, Section 7, Paragraph 3,” supplied Ranzo, “all Consortia officers and aligned powers must take all necessary precautions to minimize any participation in historical events!”
“All right,” conceded Delmox, “it was a mistake on our part. But I don’t believe there were any lasting repercussions.”
“How do you know?” asked Burn. “For all we know, we could be living in an alternate timeline right now.”
“If I or my people caused any changes in the timeline, we would have been the first to know when we got back.” Ranzo looked to Eenar.
“Why do they always say that?” he sighed before turning back to Delmox. “So, Mazzu was arrested.”
“That’s right, but instead of being taken to the brig, he and the other fighters that weren’t Gobots were brought in for questioning.”
“I want to know who started it,” Galvatron demanded of everyone. No one said a word. “…I’m waiting.” He turned to Mazzu. “Who started it?”
“I don’t know, Sir,” replied Mazzu.
“…All right.” Galvatron turned to Galen. “Uncle Galen, I know you. You said something before throwing the first punch.”
“I didn’t throw the first punch,” replied Galen.
“Who did?”
“…I don’t know, Galvatron.”
“‘I don’t know, Galvatron’.” Galvatron addressed the fighters again. “I want to know who threw the first punch. …All right then, Llyra, step forward.” Llyra came forward. “You were supposed to PREVENT trouble, Councilor.”
“Yes,” confirmed Llyra.
“Who threw the first punch?” Llyra hesitated. “…Llyra.”
“I started the fight.” Galvatron arched an eyebrow.
“You? What caused it?”
“Cop-Tur insulted us, Galvatron.”
“Must have been some insult.”
“It was. My spouses wanted to start it, but I held them back.”
“You hel…? Why did your spouses want to start a fight?”
“Well, er…is this off the record?”
“No, this isn’t off the record! I want to find out why!”
“Well…Cop-Tur called me a dictator with delusions of godhood.”
“Really?”
“Yes, then he compared me to a Slime Dog.”
“I see.”
“Then he-!”
“I get the picture!” Galvatron then cycled some air through his olfactory apparatus. “And when he said all that, that’s when you hit him.”
“No, Galvatron.” Galvatron twitched at Llyra’s answer.
“…No?”
“No, I didn’t. You told us to avoid trouble.” Galvatron lost patience.
“When did you hurt Cop-Tur?!”
“He, of all Gobots, said that mages should be sold off as sex slaves for inbred mongrels!”
“…Cop-Tur said that?”
“Yes, Galvatron.”
“Cop-Tur, a mage in his own right, said that mages should be sold off as sex slaves?”
“You have to understand, this was a matter of pride! I couldn’t let that one go!”
“…I see. …While I DO understand your position (trust me, Cy-Kill and Cop-Tur WILL be punished for that), that fight could have been avoided. You’re all confined to quarters until I file a report. Dismissed.” Everyone filed out of the room.
Mazzu went down a corridor, looking for some way to continue his search on the Nemesis. Just then, someone yanked on his ear. It was a disappointed Delmox Prime. Her lower set of arms were folded just under her chest. Sandra and Annus were with her. “That was way too close!” she hissed into the ear she grabbed. “You almost blew our cover!”
“What were you thinking?!” growled Annus. “Now we’re sure to get a visit from the Temporal Investigations Committee!”
“Can’t you just leave that out?!” gulped Mazzu.
“No, we can’t just leave that out!” hissed Delmox. “I’m appalled at you! You even lied to Galvatron!”
“…Sweet Rings, I DID lie to Galvatron!” Just then, they all heard a Nebulan roar, followed by multiple Poozits screaming. Delmox released Mazzu’s ear as they looked around the corner to investigate. Rev was the one roaring and the reason for that was that the corridor was lined with agitated Poozits, all screaming at him! Mazzu joined in the roaring as they both retreated. Delmox tried to contain her laughter.
“There’s a reason we roar at a Poozit,” Ranzo interrupted. “Those things are a menace!”
“Well, I stopped laughing once the infestation got worse,” replied Delmox. “During such time, Azzax and Searchlight successfully got ahold of our Crasher, and they returned to the ship.
“Welcome back to the Enterprise, Crasher!” growled Azzax.
“The pleasure is all mine,” replied the elderly Gobot.
“I hope you realize you’ll be facing some very serious charges,” remarked Searchlight.
“You wouldn’t dare throw a Hero of the Renegade Gobots into the brig!”
“The Gobotron Government,” said Azzax, “doesn’t recognize you as one!” Crasher scoffed.
“You mean the Guardians? Weak creatures that have no place in ruling Gobotron! It was supposed to be the Renegades ruling our world and our world ruling the galaxy! But no, we had to lose just as the Decepticons lost their war with the Autobots! All because Megatron didn’t have the hardware to kill Optimus Prime! Well, I do! I’ve been thinking about my Statue in the Hall of Heroes! I wanted to capture my essence! Let me be the first to admit that our statues can be so mundane!”
“I’m guessing you’ve already set your plan in motion?” asked Searchlight. Crasher laughed wickedly.
“You ARE quick! I see myself holding Optimus’ head in one hand and a Poozit in the other!”
“Did you send someone to kill him?!” snarled Azzax.
“Nothing so generic. I decided on a little…poetic justice.”
“She planted a bomb in a Poozit?!” asked Delmox once Azzax and Searchlight gave their report.
“It’s her revenge,” replied Azzax. “Originally, Optimus saw how a Poozit reacted to Crasher and realized she was one of Cy-Kill’s goons. She didn’t say where this Poozit was, but it was set to go off within the hour.”
“It could be anywhere! The Poozits are overrunning the ship!”
“Prime, I think we need to risk going to the bridge,” suggested Sandra.
“She’s right,” agreed Annus. “If we use the internal sensors, we can scan for explosives within seconds.”
“…Mazzu, swap places with Searchlight, then you and Azzax use the Enterprise’s sensors to search the station for a general approximation for the explosive and guide Searchlight and Annus there. Sandra and I will search the ship.”
“Hold on, search the station without the boys?!” protested Searchlight.
“I know it’s inconvenient, but I’m trying put as much distance between the boys and the Poozits.
“The more distance, the better,” agreed Mazzu.
“We’ll get underway once Mazzu gets here,” said Azzax.
“But each section must have thousands of Poozits!” hissed Searchlight.
“Hundreds of thousands,” remarked Sandra.
“One million seven hundred seventy-one thousand five hundred sixty-one,” said Annus. “That’s starting with one Poozit with an average litter of ten every twelve hours up to three days-”
“Thank you,” interrupted Delmox. “You have your orders, everyone. Prime out.”
Delmox and Sandra made their way to the bridge, the area was as infested with Poozits as the rest of the ship. They got to the necessary station and started working. Galvatron then entered the bridge. Shockwave manned the science station, Blackarachnia was at the helm, Megatron manned the comms, and Optimus was at Tactical. Galvatron sat down, then sharply stood up as a Poozit yipped in fear from under his rear end. He picked the Poozit out of the seat, then looked around the bridge. He then activated the comms. “Dr. Ratchet, would you mind coming up to the bridge?” Sandra then made her way to Delmox as Galvatron went to Megatron.
“Nothing on the bridge,” Delmox reported to Sandra.
“Thank goodness!” sighed Sandra. “When Galvatron sat on that Poozit, I almost expected it to explode!”
“Shockwave,” called Galvatron, “how did all these Poozits get on the bridge?”
“Unknown at this time,” replied Shockwave.
“You know, you SHOULD be asking the bot who brought them onboard!” snapped Blackarachnia.
“Excuse me?!” snarled Megatron. “I only brought ONE onboard!”
“And did you have it neutered?! Cause that’s how I was able to keep Fwuffy, rest his furry little soul!”
“How was I supposed to know that they weren’t sterilized in that fashion?!”
“You COULD have asked the guy you bought yours from!”
“Guys, guys!” protested Optimus. The two bots then looked at him. “…Let’s not start a third war between Autobots and Decepticons, please. We’re still making reparations on the previous two.”
“Captain Galvatron,” called Ratchet as he entered the bridge. “You wanted to see me?” Galvatron showed him the Poozits. “…Well, don’t look at me, it’s the Poozits that are breeding. If we don’t get them off the ship, we’re gonna be hip deep in them.”
“Mind explaining?” asked Galvatron.
“Well, since there isn’t that much in the way of Poozit reproductive behaviors, the nearest Shockwave and I could figure out is that they’re born pregnant. A time-saver that must be an evolutionary answer to predators capable of hunting them to extinction.”
“Logically,” remarked Shockwave, “that would mean that they reproduce at will.”
“Well, they certainly have a lot of will,” muttered Galvatron.
“Galvatron,” continued Shockwave, “I’ve been running computations on their rate of reproduction and the figures are taking an alarming rate. They’re consuming our supplies and returning nothing.”
“But they DO give us something, Shockwave,” interjected a voice from the ceiling. Everyone yelped as they looked up to see Nightbird walking on the ceiling and stroking a Poozit. “They give us love.”
“Dear, must you do that?!” protested Megatron.
“Yes,” replied Nightbird. “Besides, didn’t you hear Arakujos’ spiel? A Poozit is the only love money can buy.”
“Mom, too much of anything, even love, isn’t a good thing!” argued Galvatron. He then shoved armfuls of Poozits onto the rest of the Bridge Crew, even Delmox and Sandra. “I want round the clock cleanup crews on every deck of the ship! Then contact Mr. Teenak and tell him I’m coming over. Have him find Arakujos and hold him!” Nightbird then fell from the ceiling as she tried to hold the new number of Poozits. “And get these Poozits off my bridge!” As he left, the crew began cleanup operations. Delmox spoke to Sandra.
“I’ve scanned every deck. The bomb’s not on the ship,” she said.
“Then it must be on the station,” muttered Sandra.