The Energon Pub

Hopefully, I've done this right. Please forgive my typing skills. I'm way better at writing on paper than I am typing.

They were the dream--mechanical beings able to transform their bodies into vehicles, machinery, weapons, and various creatures. For millions of years, war raged between Heroic Autobot and Evil Decepticon.
That war has ended. The Autobots were victorious. The tools of war had become instruments of construction, becoming a variety of energy generating facilities, recycling plants and even areas created for entertainment, commerce, and recreation.
Scientific advancement, particularly in the Micromaster and Pretender technologies had helped to increase energy efficiency and it was hoped that through these, even more breakthroughs would be made, allowing the Cybertronians to take a more active role in galactic affairs. Cybertron, to nearly all of its people, had become a paradise where it seemed "all were one" at last. Unfortunately, like so many paradises before, a serpent would rear its ugly head.
While, the vast majority of the Decepticon Army were content to with draw to the Planet Charr (especially after the disappearance of their leader) there were a number of Decepticons who refused to lay down arms. Fleeing to a small planet known colloqially as "Planet X", this offshoot group had lay in wait for the day they could re-conquer Cybertron and return to glory. Most recently, however these rogues have begun launching attacks on Autobot outposts at the far end of the galaxy.
Thanks to the dilligence of the Autobots who still remained in active service, as well as the Autotrooper Security Forces, the attacks had done little damage to the galactic infrastructure. These minor attacks however were just the beginning. A new war looms on the horizon.

The story of the Transformers is far from told. A new chapter has begun.




END PROLOGUE




The red and orange Autobot arrived at Autobase Iacon to find his former comrades scattering about. A few of them were gathereing their weapons.

"Hot Rod--or is it Rodimus now?" asked a short yellow and black robot.

"Rodimus--yea," was the reply.

"You're late. We expected you back a week ago."

"Bumblebee, what's going on?" Rodimus asked.

"No time for that now," Bumblebee responded. "Grab a weapon. I'll explain on the way."

Before Rodimus could act any further, a white mechanoid handed him a pistol. He placed a hand on Rodimus' shoulder and smiled.

"Don't take it personally kid," the white mech told him. "He's just dealin' with the pressures of command, dig?"

"Yea...thanks Jazz."

"Autobots, transform and roll out," Bu,blebee ordered.

As the small group of Autobots headed out, Rodimus spoke up.

"Well? What's going on Bee? Where are we going?"

"Cristalis Plaza," Bumblebee replied curtly. He paused for a second then told Rodimus: "it's a shopping and entertainment facility."

"You brought us out here for a trip to the mall?"

"Didn't you hear?" said a large green armored vehicle. "There's been a Decepticon attack!"

"Of course he didn't hear it Bulkhead!" Bumblebee snapped. "When has he ever looked before leaping...so to speak."

"But the war is over--finished!" Rodimus said, trying in vain to mask his embarassment, while only adding to his ignorance. "the Cons wll went to Charr, right?"

"Wow," a speedy blue sports car responded. "You have been gone a long time haven't you? These Decepticons are rogues. They aren't affiliated with the group on Charr. They've been attacking Autobot interests in the Outer Rim territories for months!"

"And you of all mechs should know," Bumblebee said. "For some of us at least--it never ends!"

Bumblebee sped up to catch the blue car.

"Blurr, go on ahead. Try and find Red Alert so we can get a sit rep," he ordered.

Without a word, Blurr sped away.

A few minutes later, the Autobots arrived to Cristalis Plaza. They could see Blurr in the background rapidly retrieving several injured mechs from the damaged buildings. Red Alert was talking to one of the victims when Bumblebee and his team arrived. He helped load the injured robot into an ambulance and appraoched Bumblebee.

"While several bots were injured, between the emergency force field generators I ordered installed and Blurr arriving when he did, there were no fatalities," Red Alert told the group.

"Guess it pays to be paranoid," Rodimus said.

"It isn't paranoia if someone's really out to get you," Red responded. "In fact, we believe there are still two Cons still causing havoc. We just haven't seen them with all the commotion. I think they're toying with us."

"Right you are Autobot!" shouted a voice. "We were just waiting for more playmates!"

Two Decepticons, a large purple bot with wings and a smaller one armed with missle launchers appeared from the rubble and flew into the air. Without a word, Bumblebee and his crew opened fire on the new arrivals who flew through the air, dodging the blasts with relative ease. The smaller Decepticon let loose with a barrage of missles.

"I've never seen these Cons before Jazz," Rodimus noted as he barely escaped one of the missles' explosion. "Any idea who they are?"

Another missle flew towards Jazz, who grabbed a piece of rubble and tossed it towards the missle, throwing of its trajectory. It landed in abandoned part of a parking lot and blew up.

"The cat with the launchers is called Hailstorm," Jazz replied. "He's mostly known as a grunt. But the big dude looks like Lugnut, one of Megatron's most loyal and powerful soldiers."

"Lugnut? If he's one of Megatron's loyalists, how come I've never heard of him?"

"He was thought to be offline around the time the Nemesis left Cybertron," Jazz answered. "That's a few million years before your time."


"Hnn!" cried Bulkhead as he took a blast from one of Hailstorm's missles. "We're sitting ducks down here!"

"How'dtheyevengethere?" Blurr asked. His speech patterns becoming faster, as they always did when he was nervous. "Theirhideoutisattheotherendofthegalaxy! Nowaytheymadeithereundertheirownpower!"

"I've got a theory," said Bulkhead. "But without proof--"

Bumblebee rushed over to Red Alert who gave him his rifle. He then activated his jetpack and took off.

"I'll ask em," Bumblebee said.

Lugnut was big, but he was rather slow. Bumblebee's small size and relative speed allowed him to get close to him. He eventually got close enough to climb on his back.

"Get off of me weakling!" cried Lugnut as he tried to shake Bumblebee loose. Bumblebee was holding on tight however and managed to point Red's rifle at Lugnut's head.

"Spill it boltbrain!" Bumblebee commanded. "Why are you back on Cybertron? Why now? How the hell did you even get here?!"

"I will tell you nothing, Autobot scum!" Lugnut said. "aside from this fact--what we have done here today...is just the beginning!"

Lugnut motioned for Hailstorm who retreated. The large Decepticon's arm began to glow red. Bumblee's optic's grew wide.

"Everyone! Fall back!"

The Autobots ran away as far as they could. Lugnut pulled back his arm as Bumblebee too attempted to flee. Lugnut shouted to the heavens.

"Decepticons forever!"

Lugnut let fly with an explosive punch. The force created a massive energy blast which utterly destroyed the remaining shopping complex and much of the surrounding area. Bumblebee was sent hurtling through the air, his jetpack having been damaged in the blast. Bumblebee was thrown towards a building. Before impact, he managed to convert to vehicle mode and used his momentum to drive down the side of the building without causing further structual damage. When he landed, he transformed and caught up with Red Alert and his team, some of whom were being looked at by a field medic.

"Everyone alright?" the diminutive Autobot asked.

"Hot Rod--er--Rodimus and Jazz sustained minor injures," Red Alert told him. "Fortunately, Bulkhead's armor and Blurr's speed kept them safe."

"Any sign of Lugnut or Hailstorm?"

Bulkhead looked towards the enormous crater that had once been the shopping complex.

"Sorry, bossbot," he lamented. "They're gone."

"Dammit..."

"I think I know how they got here--and left-- so fast," Bulkhead told his commander.

The large Autobot opened a compartment in his arm and retrieved a small remote. He pressed a button and pointed it towards the sky. A small area revealed a glowing yellow vapor.

"See that?" Bulkhead asked rhetorically. "It's residual transwarp energy."

"You think they transwarped here?" Blurr inquired. "How though? The closest space bridge is in Simfur and our satellites would have detected a transwarp ship in orbit."

As Jazz and Rodimus returned to the group, Bulkhead turned to Bumblebee.

"Ever heard of a transwarp shunt?"

"A portable device which can transport matter to and from any destination in the galaxy. It's like a hand held space bridge."

"That may be over-simplifying a bit, but essentially...yea," Bulkhead answered.

"But that tech is still in the theoretical stage isn't it," asked Jazz. "Realistically, it's still a few vorns away."

"Well...it was. Clearly someone's been busy."

"Even if the technology is real," Blurr began. "There's no way the cons would have it. Or, if they had they equipment, that they would know how to build one."


"It's obvious that they had help," Bumblebee said. "We just need to find out who..."

"Do we take what we know to the Council or High Command?" Bulkhead asked.

"No," said Bumblebee. "Prowl would sit on it, Magnus would want full disclosure, which would be just as bad. Omega Supreme is holed up in his fortress for the time being, and Alpha Trion seems to have his own agenda of late."

"So, what's the plan chief?"

"There's still one bot we can go to--"




Inside the Autobot Guard headquarters, a lone mech sat, chomping on a cy-gar and humming an old tune. He stopped when he noticed a group of mechs in a reflection of a computer screen.

"Thought you could sneak up on ol Kup did ya?" the old mech said. "Figured with the Insecticon Civil War on Hiveworld, the coup on Junk and today's attack at Cristalis you'd come here eventually."

"It gets worse Kup," Bumblebee said. He and his group then explained to Kup their discovery of the transwarp energy and their fears of the rogue Decepticons having gotten their hands on advanced technology.

"Yea," Kup said. "Things are heating up faster than even I thought they would."

"You can see why we brought this to you and not the Council then."

"Yea, that would be opening up a whole new can of cyber-worms," Kup responded. "Fortunately Prime has me to make the hard decisions."

"So what's the game plan old timer, " Rodimus asked.

"You five will be heading to Charr. Can't requisition a transwarp ship without someone noticin' and we definitely wanna keep this quiet as long as possible. Chances are, if anyone has that sort of tech...or knows who does, they will be hidin out there."

The group nodded in agreement.

"In communications use only my special frequency. We need to find out what we're dealin' with before we tell the council. I'll have a ship ready for you in the hour. Remember, this mission is off the books. From this moment on, you are all....Lost Bots!"