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        "Whoa, bro, look at that!"

        Sunstreaker looked up from where he was polishing himself to see, ahead of them, four Autobot cruisers approaching from the direction of Cybertron. Built since the Unicron crisis, the cruisers were simply standard Autobot shuttles outfitted with heavier armor and weaponry. From what Sideswipe and Sunstreaker could tell, this was a respectable portion of the new Autobot space fleet.

        Hound stepped into the cockpit from the rearmost areas of the ship. "What is it?"

        "We’ve got company. Four cruisers." Sideswipe replied.

        The communications console crackled to life with static, followed by the sound of Hubcap’s voice. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Hound, come in. Over."

        Hound walked over and activated the two-way frequencies. "Hubcap, how are you? What are four cruisers doing out here?"

        On the viewscreen, the Autobot, who looked very much like one of Hound’s older allies, Bumblebee, shrugged. "Rodimus ordered us out here to scout around for more Decepticon activity. I tell you what, Hound, if we find any they’re gonna be real sorry. We’ve got about fifty bots on these four ships, and we’re armed to the teeth, I tell you that!"

        "Wow. So Rodimus isn’t sparing any effort on hunting down the creep that did this, eh? When did the orders come down?"

        "About two hours after you left Cybertron, Hound. Rodimus was fairly confident you’d find traces of Decepticons, and he wanted us to be here to spread out and find the Decepticon base. He figures that their early targets will be closer to their base, because they’re probably running out of energon."

        "Good thinking."

        "Yeah, that’s what I said. I tell you what, this fella can hold his own, now." Hubcap leaned back in his chair, putting his arms around the back of his head. "I tell you, when he first came along, I wasn’t sure about him—too used to him being Hot Rod, you know? But I like ‘im. He’s an all right bot."

        Hound nodded. "I feel much the same way. Tell me, anything exciting happen on Cybertron while I was gone?"

        "In the two hours of difference between when we left, no. But I’d say we’re due for something—you know Cybertron, always something going on."

        "True enough." Hound felt the deck under his feet shiver as their shuttle passed the cruisers, the large engines of the four warships creating a backwash that caused more than a little turbulence. "Well, best of luck on your search, Hubcap. Primus be with you."

        "And you, Hound."

        Rodimus entered Command and Control and saw there was very little more than the normal level of activity in the heart of Autobot operations on Cybertron. He passed several of his Autobot comrades, nodding to them in greeting, feeling their judgmental optics examining him very carefully. Let them. He was in his element, now—there was a threat to Cybertron, to Earth, to the entire universe, and he would end it. The Decepticons had been no match for him before, they wouldn’t be a match for him now.

        Rodimus stepped up to the bank of windows on the far side of C-and-C, where Ultra Magnus was already standing. Magnus was slightly taller and much bulkier that Rodimus, who resented having to look up so far at someone who had been proven unworthy of wielding the Matrix of Leadership. They watched the stars over Cybertron, no longer accompanied by the head of the Chaosbringer, in silence for a time.

        Then: "Looks like we’ve got a fuel transport coming in." Magnus said, pointing at a squarish speck that was moving in over the horizon.

        Rodimus nodded. "Looks like." Then, for no reason at all, he decided to magnify his optics to get a better look at it. He didn’t know why, really—it just came to him that this would be a fine thing to do, and almost before he realized he was doing it, his vision magnifiers descended from his helmet and focused in on the freighter. Maybe it was a memory of Autobot City that triggered him to do it, or perhaps even the Matrix. He preferred to think it was the Matrix, just a little bit more evidence that he was meant to lead.

        "Wha—?" Whatever the reason for his action, he quickly decided it was a fortunate decision. He saw the tracks of laser scarring along the side of the freighter’s hull, saw the destroyed weapon emplacements, and knew almost immediately that this was a Decepticon trick.

        "What’s wrong, Rodimus?" Magnus asked as Rodimus retracted his macrobinoculars.

        "That freighter’s been through one heck of a fight," Rodimus replied as he turned to face the rest of the Autobots in Command and Control. "Put Cybertron on alert! We’ve got an incoming freighter with heavy battle scarring. It might be a Decepticon trick."

        Rodimus nodded, smiling faintly to himself as he saw the Autobots get moving so quickly.

        "It would have to be on schedule, though, wouldn’t it?" Ultra Magnus mused partly to himself, partly to Rodimus. "After all, if it weren’t, Bumblebee would have alerted us when it came in."

        Sudden dread clenched around Rodimus. The Matrix felt suddenly cold inside him, and he pointed to Jazz. "Jazz, radio Moon Base One. Ask Bumblebee about this transport."

        "Roger that, Rodimus." Jazz nodded, then turned to the microphone on his console. "Jazz to Moon Base One, Jazz to Moon Base One, do you copy?"

        When Jazz switched his fingers from the "send" button to the "receive" button, all that came over the speakers was static. Rodimus and Magnus looked at each other, and then Magnus rushed out the door to C-and-C while Rodimus turned back to Jazz.

        "The Decepticons are attacking. Scramble the Autobots, put Cybertron on full alert. Send out a signal to all our ships. Tell them Cybertron is under attack. Inform Earth, as well—but tell them to send no reinforcements until I give the order. They may be trying a double-pronged attack. When you’re done here, Jazz, get out on the battlefield. That goes for the rest of you, as well. Primus be with us."

        And with that, Rodimus Prime transformed and drove out of C-and-C to get to the battlefield as quickly as possible.

        "Uh-oh. Looks like trouble!" Rumble called from inside the bridge of the tanker.

        "What is it?" Only half of Dirge’s face was visible through the doorway onto the bridge. The Decepticons had hollowed out the tanker once its cargo had been consumed, and now the entire Decepticon army was stuffed awkwardly inside it awaiting Galvatron’s command to attack.

        "I’m seein’ a lot of Autobot movement all of a sudden, and the perimeter guns around their Iacon base are swiveling into position toward us."

        "I’ll inform Galvatron." Dirge disappeared, and Rumble first backed up a few steps, then turned to dash out of the human-sized room, almost slipping on the slick debris on the floor.

        Rodimus Prime, out on the open road outside Iacon, watched as the enormous perimeter guns moved into position over him. Each had two barrels, and they ringed Iacon so that any four turrets could fire at a threat on any single side. He looked back at the freighter, then back at the guns, which were now all aimed directly at the incoming ship.

        "Well, they aren’t anti-ship cannon, but they’ll do," Rodimus sighed. He raised one arm. "Ready. . ."

        The arm dropped. "Fire!"

        The cannons bucked backward with the force of their attack, sending flattened orbs of green light hurtling toward the battle-scarred freighter.

        "Mighty Galvatron, the Autobots are onto us!" Dirge pushed his way through the crowd of Decepticons to face his leader directly. He found Galvatron standing next to the cargo hatch, the only door in the ship large enough to permit free access to the Decepticons. "They’re moving into attack position!"

        "Really?" Galvatron’s eyes flashed maniacally, and his face broke into an insane grin. "Well, then," he said, kicking out the door panel in the side of the ship, "Decepticons, scramble!" He flew out of the freighter, his cannon arm aimed at the Autobots below him, and fired, screaming. "Attack!"

        Rodimus stood, stunned, as the Decepticons began streaming out of the freighter. Were they being led by Galvatron? Yes, it certainly seemed so. As the main highway to Iacon exploded and began to collapse into the bowels of Cybertron from Galvatron’s single shot, Rodimus found himself having to fight a wave of memories and fear from his fight with Galvatron inside Unicron. He had almost died there; if not for the Matrix, he would have.

        The Matrix—that half-mystic spark of life that he even now carried within him. He was a part of the Matrix now, the Matrix was a part of him. Galvatron was outmatched, no matter how he had managed to survive his ordeal in deep space.

        Rodimus smiled and rushed forward, firing at the Decepticons descending on Cybertron. The freighter, ignored now that the real target had left its confines, continued on overhead, belching thick, black smoke where its hull and engines had been opened by the perimeter cannons.

        "This is where the signal came from," Sky Lynx said, stretching out his sensors to their maximum range. "Unfortunately, there’s no sign of the Big Mac or its attackers."

        "Well isn’t that just Prime." Cliffjumper said, frowning.

        "Don’t blame me for it. My engines are the fastest around, and I keep my sensors in Prime condition." Sky Lynx said, defending himself proudly.

        "I know, I know, it’s just that—"

        "Wait—I’ve got something coming in fast from vector 06917. It’s moving almost as fast as I can. Scanning now—"

        "Well, what is it?"

        Sky Lynx paused for a few moments more, reading the energy signature and sensor silhouette of the incoming ship and matching it against his records. "It’s Skyfire!"

        The white-and-red Cybertronian slowed as he approached them, then transformed. "Sky Lynx! Cliffjumper!" Skyfire’s joy at seeing his fellow Autobots was suddenly dampened as he looked around, then frowned at Sky Lynx. "Let me guess—you got here too late."

        "We both did, it looks like," Cliffjumper replied.

        "I’ll hunt down the transport—you two are wanted back on Cybertron." Skyfire looked around, apparently trying to guess which direction the Decepticons would have gone with it.

        "We haven’t heard anything about that," Cliffjumper replied.

        "Yeah—Jazz told me you weren’t answering his signal. Where were you guys, on the opposite side of a nebula, or something?"

        "Something like that," Sky Lynx broke in.

        "Forget that. I told Sky Lynx not to accept the hail. I want that Decepticrumb to myself." Cliffjumper said. "You didn’t see it, Skyfire. This bot deserves to be torn into his digital components for what he did to those humans. The Decepticons’ fight has always been with us, not with the humans, and there was no excuse for that kind of slaughter."

        "As you can see, he is very passionate about this. I am a hostage within my own frame." Sky Lynx added, his tone one of only half-humor.

        Skyfire nodded. "I understand. But that’s no reason to ignore orders. If Rodimus Prime wants you on Cybertron, then you go to Cybertron."

        "May I interject that we didn’t actually know what our orders were—" Sky Lynx started.

        "Then why did you ignore the hail?"

        "Well, technically—"

        "Sky Lynx." Cliffjumper returned to the conversation.

        "Yes?"

        "Shut up."

        "He tells me--well, I've never been so insulted." Sky Lynx shrank into a sullen silence.

        "Look, we’ve got to hunt this guy down, pronto. If we don’t, then who knows what he could be doing to other people elsewhere in the galaxy?"

        "An order’s an order, Cliffjumper. Rodimus may not be Optimus, but he is our commander. Go on, return to Cybertron. I’ll hunt down Cyclonus. And if you’d like, when I find him I’ll let you know first thing. Okay?" Skyfire had long ago learned that Cliffjumper was too hard-headed to accept common sense at its face value. He only hoped that he would think this was a decent compromise.

        Cliffjumper sighed. "Why are we needed so urgently back on Cybertron, anyway, huh?"

        "I hate to interrupt. . ." Sky Lynx said, the tone of his voice making it clear that he really didn’t, "But I think you should both hear this." He switched to broadcast mode, and suddenly the voice of Jazz was coming out of his speakers. "Hello, hello, Autobots! Cybertron’s under attack. We’ve got Decepticons swarming all over the place. Come on home! We’ll let you know if we need reinforcements from Earth. Everybody on patrol, come on down! This is Jazz—Autobots, we need you to come on back to Iacon, pronto! We’ve got ourselves one heckuva situa—"

        The transmission abruptly cut off, replaced by static.

        "Well, it looks like we’ll all be returning to Cybertron," Skyfire said, transforming back into his vehicle mode and taking off for Cybertron at his top speed. Sky Lynx followed.

        "Hurry, Sky Lynx. Cyclonus will be there, I can feel it!" Cliffjumper was practically on the edge of his seat with anticipation. He could just picture all the different ways he might destroy Cyclonus. He would start with the Decepticon’s arms, to keep him from fighting back. His arms and his legs, just to be safe. Then he would be able to get to work.
 

       To Chapter Eleven