Back in space after their hiatus on Earth, the crew of the Starcruiser sat gathered around the center of the ship's bridge. The Autobots were looking intently at the five cards each of them held in their hands, concentrating on the possibilities presented by the combinations dealt to them. Then Air Raid looked up and lifted the rest of the deck. "Okay, who wants what?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"Two," Trixter said, placing two cards face-down on the floor and sliding them towards him. Air Raid handed her two from the deck in his hand and she arranged them in her hand.
"Four," Afterburner muttered, giving Air Raid all but one of his cards.
"Two," Strafe said, offering two of his cards.
"None," Upstart said, smiling, with a hint of smugness.
"Ooo, you da man, Upstart!" Trixter laughed. They took a few seconds to arrange their cards one more time.
"Okay, anybody want to raise the stakes?" Air Raid asked, gesturing to the small pile of energon chips in the center of the circle.
"Aw, slag," Afterburner mumbled. "I fold."
Suddenly they heard an alarm from the front of the ship. "I'll get it," Trixter sighed. She stood up, taking her cards with her, and leaned over the ship's main control panel.
"What is it?" Strafe asked.
"Guys, you have to come take a look at this!" Trixter exclaimed. As her teammates got up from the floor, she pressed a button and the monitor that comprised most of the front wall of the ship came to life. On the screen was massive scorpion-like starship, vastly larger than their own Starcruiser.
"What is that thing?" Upstart asked in an awed whisper.
"It looks vaguely like a Decepticon warship," Air Raid commented. "Maybe we should report it to Headquarters."
"What good will that do?" Afterburner said. "It's not like they can do anything about it!"
"I think Air Raid's got the right idea, guys," Trixter chimed in. "It's standard procedure to report any Decepticon activity to Autobot HQ, and this ship's too small to defend itself against that thing anyway. We're better off just reporting it and getting as far away from it as we..." Just then the ship shuddered and Trixter was interrupted by the blaring of another alarm. She looked over the sensor readings again, then gasped. "Oh slag, they've got us in a tractor beam!" She quickly shut off the autopilot and slammed the engines into full reverse. Then the screen blacked out as their communications, including their external cameras, were jammed.
"About how long do we have?" Air Raid asked Trixter as she bent over the sensor readouts.
"Only a minute or two, so if you have some great idea, get to it!"
"Well, not really a great idea. C'mon, everyone get something out of the arsenal. We need to be ready for whatever's inside that thing." The four others disappeared into the back as Trixter continued to struggle with the controls.
As the rest of the Firestormers returned to the bridge, Trixter abandoned the controls and joined them by the door. Upstart handed her a sonic concussion rifle and the five of them listened to the sounds outside the ship as the warcraft swallowed them into it. As soon as he heard the ship being set down on the shuttle bay's floor, Air Raid punched the button beside the door.
"Everybody out!" Trixter exclaimed as the door whooshed open. The five Autobots lept out, guns set for non-lethal force but still cocked and ready. They found the Starcruiser surrounded by a small group of green and white robots holding guns on them. The robot in the center was unarmed, but in one hand he held a small silver box. There was a moment of silence as the two groups sized each other up. Then, with a shout, Strafe fired on one of the guards. But instead of shooting, his gun just made a fizzling sound.
The robot in the center of the group laughed. "Your weapons will do you no good, Autobots." He gestured with the box in his hand. "They have been neutralized. Welcome to the Decepticon flagship Twilight. I am Rook. I have been given orders to deliver you to my commander, Jhiaxus. He then turned to the guards beside him. "Restrain them." He returned his attention to the Firestormers as the guards approached them. "My orders are to deliver you alive, but it is in your best interest not to struggle."
The Firestormers' hands were bound and they were led down an unadorned, well-lit hallway to the bridge of the ship. The walls of the cavernous bridge were lined with monitors and control panels, each tended by one of the ubiquitous green and white soldiers. In the center of the room was a throne-like captain's chair. Seated in the chair is another of the strange Decepticons, this one bigger than the rest and with red coloring in addition to the uniform colors of the others. They were brought before him.
"The Autobot Firestormers, Lord Jhiaxus," Rook announced, bowing slightly.
Jhiaxus looked them over with an expression of amusement. All the Autobots save Trixter glared back at him. Trixter had a vacant gaze as she concentrated on finding a way to wrest free of her bonds. As he noticed her quietly working at her cuffs, he smiled menacingly. "How interesting! A female Cybertronian!" Trixter looked up with a start, then glared at him hatefully. "Your sort is quite scarce in the Empire, you know."
"Empire? What Empire?" Air Raid whispered, as much to himself as to anyone else.
"The Cybertronian Empire, of course," Jhiaxus answered with a touch of pride. Then he turned to his lieutenant. "Rook, I want you to take a shuttle and personally escort the female here to the Hub. The Liege Maximo may be interested in such a rarity."
"And the others?" Rook inquired.
"Put them in a holding cell for now. I'll see to their execution later. The more of these pesky Firestormers I can get rid of, the better off we'll be."
"They have a whole empire, Upstart!" Air Raid whispered excitedly as they were led down another hallway to the holding cells. "Do you realize the implications of that?"
"Uh, we're gonna die?" Upstart ventured nervously.
"It means there are legions of Decepticons we never even knew about!"
"They aren't very creative with their colors," commented Strafe.
"And Jhiaxus called it the Cybertronian Empire! There could be other Autobots, too!"
"Do you think they all have the same color scheme, too?"
"The war could be over here!"
"With the reception we're getting?" Afterburner pointed out as they reached a room lined with prison cell doors. A guard opened one of the doors and the four were shoved inside.
Later, in the back of a Decepticon shuttle in transit between the flagship Twilight and a place called the Hub, Trixter sat quietly. She knew, being a special cargo of sorts, that her life was in no immediate danger, so she used the time to carefully think out an escape plan. "The Liege Maximo," she mutters to herself. It does sound imposing, she thinks, but one thing I've learned is that you can never overestimate the overconfidence of Decepticon commanders. And that Jhiaxus guy seems to be one of the worst. "That pompous jerk!" This she says out loud, her voice filled with anger. "Of all the indignities I've endured at the hands of Decepticons, this has to be one of the worst. He's taken my ship, he's taken my friends, and now he's sending me to be gawked at by his superior officer! And, as if that wasn't enough, he only sent that Rook guy to guard me. Like I'm not gonna put up a fight!" Her anger vented, she looked around the back of the shuttle, returning her attention to escaping. The side walls were both lined with benches of the same dull grey metal as the wall itself. On each end wall was a large reinforced door, one leading to the tiny bridge and the other leading outside the ship. Trixter got up and sat down on the opposite bench right beside the door to the bridge and waited.
"Having any luck?" Afterburner whispered to Air Raid as the Aerialbot examined the door to their holding cell.
"Nope, 'fraid not," he responded disappointedly.
"Wouldn't it be better if we just do a diversion or something?" asked Upstart. "If we just start picking at the door the guards might get suspicious."
"I know!" Strafe said, keeping his voice down. "Upstart, start shouting like you're hurt or something and when the guard opens the door, we rush him!"
"Yeah!" Upstart dropped to the floor , clutched his chest, and started wailing.
Within seconds the guard appeared. "What's wrong with him?" he asked gruffly, looking through the bars in the top half of the door.
The other Autobots rushed to Upstart's side and acted concerned. "He's got, uh, acute hypochondria!" Strafe attempted, struggling to keep a straight face despite Upstart's overdramatic screaming.
"Yeah, and if we don't get him out of this inclosed space, he'll start, uh, convulsing!" Air Raid added enthusiastically.
The guard eyed them suspiciously, then pushed a button beside the door. As it slid open, Afterburner transformed to vehicle mode and rammed him. The force sent the guard flying into the wall, where he slid, unconscious, to the floor. The guard's gun flew across the room and clattered into a corner. "That had to have been the stupidest guard..." Afterburner commented as he transformed back to robot mode and retrieved the gun.
"Cliche, but effective," Air Raid smiled as they left the cell. "Now we lock him up, right?"
"That's how they do it in the movies!" Strafe grinned as he and Upstart dragged the unconscious guard into the cell and closed the door. "So now what do we do?"
"We find the Starcruiser, rescue Trixie, and get on with our vacation plans!" Upstart answered. "Anyone remember how to get back to the shuttle bay?"
"Yeah, follow me," said Air Raid. He opened the prison's main doors and looked out into the hall to make sure the coast was clear. The passage was deserted, so they all walked quietly down the hall to the doors of the shuttle bay.Looking inside, they saw the Starcruiser swarming with Decepticon guards.
"We'll never get past all of them!" Strafe whispered.
"Sure we will," replied Upstart, spying a communications panel a little further down the hall. "We just need another diversion!" He ran over to the panel and pushed some buttons on it, then picked up the handset and shouted, "The Autobots have escaped! All guards to the prision area immediately!" They stood against the wall away from the door as the Decepticon guards ran out, then rushed inside the bay to their ship. Afterburner wounded the two guards left with the ship and the team quickly boarded.
"I call the pilot's seat!" Upstart cried gleefully, running over to Trixter's usual position.
"I don't think so," Air Raid said, coming up behind him as he plunked down in the chair at the front of the bridge. "I'm the official back-up pilot. You can have my position for now."
"Aw, man!" Upstart exclaimed, relinquishing the pilot's seat with disappointment. "I never get to fly the ship."
"That's right," Afterburner smiled, "and there are reasons for that." He pushed some buttons on his co-pilot's control panel and turned to the others. "According to the tracking system, Trixter's not too far from here, but the ship she's on is going pretty fast. If we fly at full speed, we might be able to catch up with her before it reaches that Hub place. If not, well, Trix can take care of herself."
"Well, let's get going then," Air Raid responded as he started the ship's engines. "Upstart, blast open the bay doors."
"Should I use the laser cannons or the missle launchers?" Upstart asked as he looked over the weapons console.
"Either one! Just get us outta here before the 'Cons figure out what's going on!"
"Okay, here goes nothing!" Upstart pushed a button and there was a loud explosion outside as laser fire ripped through the shuttle bay doors. The ship rose off the floor and Air Raid guided it carefully through the ragged hole and out into space.
Trixter deduced from the change in the pitch of the shuttle's engines that they had arrived at the Hub. She stood up from her seat by the door and positioned herself against the wall directly beside it. A knife-blade slid from her wrist above her left hand and she retracted her wings so they wouldn't get broken if Rook put up a fight. Within moments the engines died altogether and, not long after, the door slid upward. She grabbed Rook from behind as he entered and held the knife-blade to his throat. "Consider yourself my prisoner now, Rook," she hissed. "What was that you said before, 'It is in your best interest not to struggle'? Well, it applies to you now."
"I will cooperate," he said calmly, "but I feel I should warn you that the ship is surrounded by armed guards. The Liege Maximo is anticipating our arrival."
"Slag the Liege Maximo! I'm taking this shuttle and going back to the Twilight for my ship and my friends." She shoved him back on the bridge. "And you're coming with me whether you want to or not."
"But they'll pursue us!" he warned her as he was forced into the co-pilot's seat. A frightened whine crept into his voice. "The most insignificant of the Hub's warships could vaporize this shuttle in a microsecond!"
"Even with you aboard?" She thought that remark over for a moment as she restarted the engines. "Of course, I'm dealing with Decepticons here, no matter how strange you guys may look. They'd kill one of their own without a second thought just to get rid of an Autobot." As the shuttle lifted off the bay floor she heard alarms going off outside it. On the viewscreen she could see more green and white Decepticons scrambling into the shuttle bay in response to the alarm. She expertly turned the ship around and flew it through the closing bay doors. "That's another reason I need you here, besides the hostage thing. I may need some help flying this thing. I may be an ace in my Starcruiser, but I'm a bit rusty with Decepticon shuttles." A light on the console in front of her started flashing rapidly. "You can start by telling me what that means."
"It means we are being followed," Rook answered stiffly. "I would recommend you surrender now."
"Of course you would. And of course I'm not going to. Punch the rear cameras into the main viewscreen so I can see what's going on back there." Rook tapped a few buttons on his own console and the viewscreen changed to show a cluster of five battle cruisers pursuing them. "They're really sending the heavy stuff after us," Trixter muttered. "There's no way we can outrun those. This crate got any weapons?"
"Two small laser cannons, but they're for forward assault only."
"Nothing on back?"
"Nothing on back."
"Slag. Guess I'll just have to face them head-on and hope I'm the better pilot." She turned the shuttle around and flew straight into the cluster of ships. She shot at the first one as she passed it, but before she could see if she had done any damage the second battleship fired on them and the shuttle shuddered under the impact.
"How bad are we hit?" she asked worriedly.
"The left engine has been disabled," Rook answered nervously. "Surrender now, or the next hit could destroy us!"
"And what if I do? Do you think they'd allow me to live after this? Do you think they'd even accept my surrender? They may blow us out of the stars anyway!" She struggled to keep the ship stabilized as it was rocked by laser fire from all five ships. As she tried to fire back, the panel in front of Rook exploded violently and he was thrown against the back wall. Trixter winced as she was hit by shrapnel, but kept her optics glued to the viewscreen. "Are you okay?" she shouted back to him. The only reply was more laser blasts from the battleships. She took her gaze from the screen just long enough to glance behind her. It was apparent that Rook was beyond help. Numbly, she turned her attention back to the battle.
Then, as she watched on the screen, one of the battleships blew up. Then another, then another, until she could see only one ship left intact: the Starcruiser.
"You can take over for a while," Trixter told Air Raid wearily as they returned to the bridge of the Starcruiser. "I've done enough flying for a while." She sat down hard in Upstart's usual seat in the middle of the bridge as everyone rushed to their positions. "What happened to you?" Afterburner asked as they flew full speed away from the Hub. "And that dead 'Con on the shuttle...that was Rook, wasn't it?"
"Yep, that was him. I ended up hijacking the shuttle and taking him as a hostage, but these 'Cons don't believe in saving hostages any more than the ones we're used to."
"Slag, Afterburner, when you said Trix could take care of herself, you weren't kidding!" Air Raid said with a grin. "You really okay, Trixter?," he asked with concern. "You do look like you had a rough time."
"Well, almost getting killed can do that to you. I'll be fine, really. I just need that vacation more than ever now!"
EPILOGUE:
"How many cards?" Air Raid asked as they sat in a circle in the middle of the bridge.
"Three," Trixter said. As she put her discards on the floor, a buzzer on the pilot's console went off. "I'll get it," she said, standing up.
"Every time I get a good hand..." Upstart huffed.
"Oh joy. Looks like we may be putting off that vacation for a little longer. It's an emergency message from HQ on Cybertron." She routed the incoming message to the main screen and an image of Prowl, the Autobot's Security Chief, resolved itself.
"Greetings, Firestormer Team Beta-5. We've got a special mission for you guys," Prowl said. "There is an Autobot research camp on a planet near your present position that has uncovered something that the Decepticons might have an interest in. I need you to go for backup. Dharma and Skids are in charge of the project there, so report to them when you arrive. I'm transmitting the planet's coordinates to your computer. Prowl out."
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