From LetheRvr@aol.com Wed May 1 21:33:05 2002 Received: from imo-m02.mx.aol.com (imo-m02.mx.aol.com [64.12.136.5]) by grex.cyberspace.org (8.6.13/8.6.12) with ESMTP id VAA16159 for ; Wed, 1 May 2002 21:33:01 -0400 From: LetheRvr@aol.com Received: from LetheRvr@aol.com by imo-m02.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v32.5.) id z.18.1e89ade6 (4314) for ; Wed, 1 May 2002 21:31:38 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <18.1e89ade6.2a01f0f9@aol.com> Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 21:31:37 EDT Subject: Chronicles of Brawn, part 1 To: suz@cyberspace.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 139 Status: RO X-Status: The Transformers: Chronicles of Brawn By Nigel Tristan Bradley Prologue... It was a Dark Age of despair on the far away world known as Cybertron. Energy resources, spent without regard by former leaders, had stripped the planet bare so that nothing but a cold husk of a world remained of its once golden glory. The planet's inhabitants consisted of two mechanical life forms: Autobot and Decepticon. For many, many years the two races had coexisted peacefully on the world of Cybertron. However, as situations took a turn for the worse, their philosophical differences brought the two factions into direct conflict. The Decepticon leader, Megatron, favored an assault on nearby worlds--to steal their resources--to return Cybertron to its former glory. The Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, felt that waging war on other worlds was not the solution, and would only bring more suffering to Cybertron. He and his Autobot followers favored peaceful trade and negotiation with the other planets to sustain their home land. War soon broke out. And it was a war that the Autobots were ill equipped to fight. The ruthless Decepticons quickly conquered and drained the nearby worlds of all their energy, destroying their Eco-systems, killing the planets. At every opportunity, the Autobots tried to stop the Decepticon threat, but not having the warrior instinct programmed into them, as the Decepticons had, more times than not they were defeated. The Autobot numbers dwindled, till only a scant few remained. Optimus Prime realized that if there was going to be any hope for his kind, they would have to leave Cybertron and start anew. Secretly, he gave orders to begin construction of a spaceship the size of which had never been conceived to search through deep space for an energy rich, uninhabited world, far from Cybertron, where the Autobots could regroup. He called this ship the Ark and invited the strongest, the smartest, and the bravest warriors to join him on his search. Using the last of the energy available to them, the ship was launched. The Decepticons had known about the Ark for some time, however, and had let its construction continue without interference. Taking the flag ship of the Decepticon army, the Nemesis, Megatron followed the Ark into space with his own army. The Ark was fast, however, and eluded the Nemesis for many millions of miles. Optimus Prime thought he had lost them for good, but it was not to be so. When the Autobot ship was slowed down by an uncharted asteroid field, the Decepticon ship moved in to attack. Rather than destroy the ship from the safety of the Nemesis, Megatron ordered that the Ark be boarded. As battle broke out on the Ark, and it became clear that the Autobots were destined to loose once more, Optimus Prime decided to crash the Ark on closest planet available, thus taking his enemy with him. That planet was Earth. Millions of years later, the war would begin again on Earth as Autobot and Decepticon alike awoke from their dormant rest. The stories of the Transformer war on Earth are well known. After twenty years of battle, the Autobots had successfully driven the Decepticons away from Earth, establishing their own bases there and also building bases of their own in space. It is now the year 2005. Though the valiant Autobots have yet to reclaim their home land, they make plans to do so from secret staging grounds on two of Cybertron's moons... Part 1-A Secret Run Brawn picked his targets carefully, then fired his new photon laser accelerator at them in quick succession, hitting only seven out of ten. "Worthless piece of junk," he muttered, tossing the gun aside. "Can't Mirage at least steal some decent weapons for a change." Grimlock laughed, towering above the small, but able soldier. "Me Grimlock see better shooting in 7-11 video arcade." "Laugh it up Dino-breath. You've heard reports on how the Decepticon's weapon upgrade project has been going. When once they were barely able to send an Autobot back for repairs after being hit multiple times, single blasts are taking off arms, legs... some time's even lethal." Grimlock nodded, "Yes. Me remember what happened to Huffer. But that not change the fact that you lousy shot." At this point, Brawn's anger got the best of him. "It's not me, you dimwit! It's these weapons! Not only are they too weak to do any real damage, but they're all balanced wrong, I don't care how energy efficient they are. At this rate, I'll have to pummel Megatron to the ground with my fists, tear his arm off and beat him with the blunt end to do any damage." The Dinobot leader thought about this momentarily, then replied, "Me Grimlock think you would have made good Dinobot, Brawn. But you just not have the brains for it." "Why you little..." The small warrior was interrupted from whatever remark he might have made by a comlink communication. Stopping momentarily to access the receiver on his arm, he heard: "Cliffjumper to Brawn. Come in Brawn." "This is Brawn. What's up, old buddy?" "Prime's ordered a shuttle be sent out to Earth on an energon run, and wants you to accompany Ironhide, Ratchet and Prowl on it. Wants to speak to you privately about it, too." "By the spires, he knows I can't stand Earth," he replied gruffly, "Why can't he send Hound, that's his dig, not mine." The image of Cliffjumper on the comlink shrugged. "Hey man, ours is not to question why..." "Just to do and die. Gotcha. Where's the big cheese at now?" "Home in on my coordinates," the robot suggested. "Understood. Out." Quickly, Brawn transformed to vehicle mode, though one could hear him muttering curses to himself. Earth. By Primus, how he hated Earth. Forget the fact that he had spent four million years on the planet in a deep sleep and life as he knew it had changed in all those years. Forget the fact that it was inhabited by soft fleshy organic creatures-humans--only a few of which were worthy of any note. No, no... he could take all that. What really irked him was what had become of the Autobot force on Earth. They were once the cream of the crop--the strong, the brave. Now, it was made up of weak bunch of newly built upstarts like that kid Hot Rod and the annoyingly idiotic bafoon Blurr. He knew that he was being irrational. His internal monitoring system told him so. Just because he hadn't bled oil with them on the field like the others didn't mean they weren't okay. But they were young... they didn't understand war the same way he did. The countless injuries, the large numbers of lost battles before things began to turn around. All they knew, being born into an era of relative "peace" was the results of victory, not the agony of loss. The last thing he wanted was to hear stories of chess games and fishing trips while he was out here, in middle of the real war. He soon arrived at the building where Cliffjumper's coordinates had led him, and he recognized it as AB-121, another one of the many Autobot bases around the moon. While the Decepticons were not much of a threat on Cybertron's moons, it was still smart to keep moving the headquarters constantly to keep the threat of attack down. The Autobots were finally beginning to win the war, but that didn't mean they could afford to be sloppy. The fact that Prime wanted to meet with Brawn in person, rather than giving orders over the comlink was another part of that security. There was something that Prime wanted him to hear, something that couldn't be risked overheard by anyone who might "accidentally" be listening in. The sensors scanned his presence, and recognizing the energy signature from his form, admitted him into the building. Had it not recognized him, there were twenty odd guns out there that would quickly have fixed upon him and melted him to scrap. But he didn't even think about this, it was part of routine. Optimus Prime was in the command center, scanning over reports that flickered in view screens around him. The word that came to Brawn's mind was "regal," though obviously the Autobots had never had a king. There was an aura about Prime though, something that demanded respect and commanded authority. He was taller than Brawn... many Autobots were, so this was no big deal, but he was also stronger than Brawn, something which many Autobots weren't. It went beyond strength though... Brawn was a soldier, would never be anything more than a soldier, this he knew. Prime was more than a soldier though, he was a leader, and it was the leader quality that shined as Brawn looked at him. "You wanted to see me, Optimus?" he said, returning to robot mode. He nodded. "The shuttle is about to launch, so I'll make this brief. It has come to my attention through sources I can't explain that there is a traitor or traitors among us on Earth, and possibly up here on the Moon Bases. Too many times information that was supposedly secure has fallen into enemy hands, and it must stop. The shuttle's mission to retrieve energon is nothing but a cover, and in order to safe guard the true mission of the shuttle, only you and I will know about this." Brawn's eyes narrowed. A traitor? The thought made him feel uneasy, but he didn't voice this. Instead, "I understand... But what about Ironhide, Prowl, and..." "They are to know nothing, and you are to tell them nothing," Prime said, his voice curt, full of command. Then, it softened. "Listen Brawn, I don't like this any more than you do. The thought of a traitor amongst us all this time, someone maybe we may have trusted for millions of years makes me ill at the thought. I know you, though. You haven't got an ounce of guile in you. You speak your mind and your thoughts as readily as you process them. There's no way you could be the traitor without going against every bit of programming you have. You're also suspicious-and that makes you the perfect candidate for this mission." Suspicious? Oh yes... Brawn had his suspicions about traitors before, and he had his suspicions even now. So many of his fellow Autobots had a certain sneakiness about them... Smokescreen and Mirage with their abilities to disappear when things got tough... Hound with his ability to make things appear that weren't really there. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were as cocky as they came, and as for the new triple changer Springer... well, triple changers had a history of switching allegiances when they felt the need. "What do you want me to do when I find the traitor, Prime? Bring him here for trial?" Optimus Prime looked right at Brawn, deep into his optics. Time passed. Then, "No, not this time. For too long I have been soft in this war, and as a result Autobot lives and human lives have been lost. I cannot allow that to happen any longer, especially with the Decepticons as powerful as they are now. If you are sure about the identity of the traitor or traitors, if there is no doubt whatsoever, and I do mean no doubt, Brawn... I give leave for you to take them out by any means necessary." Brawn stood there for a moment, letting the order wash over him. He knew that such an order was hard for Prime to give, it went against most of his beliefs. For many years, Prime had been against the use of destructive force, trying instead to appeal to the Decepticons to change their ways and political beliefs. He held life, all life, as sacred. And yet... here was an order to kill. His face became grim, and he nodded his head. "I... I understand, Optimus Prime." Prime sat back in his command chair and let down the security field that had shielded the conversation. "Good, though Primus forgive me. Get to the shuttle now, and fast." * * * * * "Took ya long enough, shorty," Ironhide commented as Brawn entered the shuttle. "Sorry, rusty-pants, had some things to take care of first," he replied, taking a seat at the gunnery station and strapping himself in. "How's conditions look for the trip out to Earth?" "Awe, there's another one of those asteroid fields in the middle of the pathways, but nothin' that can't be handled. Still, would be nice if there were still space bridge links around. All this back and forth between planets, and I'm not even getting frequent flyer miles." "I've announced our readiness to Prime," Prowl broke in, as serious as ever. "And they've begun the countdown." Brawn overheard the voice of Cliffjumper over the shuttle's comlink counting down the numbers. Funny, he thought... he never realized till then how much Cliffjumper sounded like that Earthen disc jockey Casey Kasem. Ignition hit the ship, and soon they were clear of the slim atmosphere and gravity of Moon Base 1. Ages ago, the trip to Earth by starship would have taken a lot longer, but Cybertron itself had been moved much closer than before in a failed attempt to destroy the Earth by Megatron. Now it was nothing more than a long, inconvenient flight through several star systems, taking perhaps a day with current technology. "Hey Brawn, have you seen the work that's been done to Autobot City?" Ratchet asked. "Wheeljack says that once Prime comes down with the creation matrix, he'll be able to make it into a living Transformer, the biggest of all time!" Brawn was anything but impressed. "Yeah, I'd heard about that. Seems to me though that the bigger they build 'em, the dumber they get. Just look at Omega and Devastator-they don't have a whole brain between the two." "That's not fair," Prowl replied, "Omega was once one of the Guardians, he had his personality stolen from him. I'm sure he was just fine back in the old days." "Awe nuts... none of you guys knows how to kid around." And that ended the discussion. Truth was, Brawn was too deep in thought to have a proper conversation, let alone a battle of wits. Though he would often insult them, call his fellow warriors names, it was all in good fun. He liked them, for the most part, and his gruff manner was his way of expressing his feelings in a way that didn't make him feel... mushy. And yet... one of them, one of the others right here on this ship, might be a traitor. Or even all of them. It left a bad taste in his gut and it left him sullen. After being around someone for a few million years, the most basic thing that you have to fall back on, in your darkest hour, is trust. "Hey guys, come over here a second," Ironhide said once they were out into space properly and no longer had any need to be strapped in. "I want you to see something." "What is that thing?" Ratchet asked as Ironhide pulled out a small box. "It's a ring... I plan on giving it to Chromia as a symbol of our relationship. Kind of stole the idea from the humans, but it seemed like a good idea and I think it'll make her smile. She's a hard headed fem-bot, but underneath she's a softy for stuff like that." "There's not many female Autobots left, Ironhide. Good to hear that you respect her friendship after all this time," Prowl said. "Yeah, I know I surely wouldn't wait around four million years for your ugly face," Brawn muttered. Ironhide laughed, and then replied in his slow smooth way "I think you're kinda jealous. What do you think, boys?" "Later Ironhide... that asteroid field you were talking about is closing in," Brawn said, looking behind him at the monitor. "Back to positions, everyone," Ironhide commanded. "Blast those things out of the way for us Brawn, I'd like to get this ship down to Earth in one piece." "Already on it..." he replied, letting the targeting computer guide him from the biggest threat to the next, making sure that none of the large ones had a chance of striking the ship. The shuttle wasn't equipped for heavy firepower, but it did have enough gunnery to take out small threats such as these. His hands flew over the controls swiftly, moving from one target to the next, blasting them out of the sky with no other thought in his mind... And then he saw an unusual blip on the targeting computer from behind the ship... "What the..?" A large thump hit the side of the ship then, causing it to shake violently. "Blast it Brawn, you let one of them through..." Ironhide began, but he was quickly silenced as he saw the explosion. That was no asteroid that hit the ship! The tall warrior came through the ruptured hole in the ship, shining silver and black metallic, menacing... a warrior of such violence and power as had never before been noted ever in the chronicles of Cybertronian history. A creature born out of the gladiatorial games, he shined with polish, his eyes red and intense as they gathered in battle details quickly, surveying the area with deadly awareness... time seemed to slow down... Brawn felt himself unable to move, unable to react quick enough so much in shock was he at the sudden arrival. As troops began to file in through the hole in the shuttle, finally he was able to stand up and raise an alarm. "Megatron... Decepticons!" "Die Autobots!" the fierce Decepticon leader screamed back, transforming himself into his powerful gun mode, held by his second in command, Starscream. Starscream quickly took aim at Brawn. Then without even a second thought, fired mercilessly on him at close range. Still in shock at the sudden appearance of all these Decepticons, he felt the full blast of Megatron's fusion cannon right in his shoulder and out the other side. Internal systems shut down automatically to keep himself from self-destructing... he felt himself loosing consciousness. No! Can't go down now... not after just one shot... not when everyone needs me the most... Brawn fell flat on his stomach, his mind fading, smoke billowing out of him as the rest of the Decepticons quickly dispatched his friends quickly and mercilessly. The void quickly swallowed up his consciousness. * * * * * How long was I out? he thought to himself suddenly, as his systems slowly began to come back online. He did an internal check--a few hours. And yet, here he was still alive... he dared not to activate his eyes, or move, so instead just listened... and heard the sounds of Decepticon voices all around him. "They all must think I'm dead, or something," he thought to himself. "Well, I'll show them..." And then he thought better about it. Brawn was definitely no coward, and he did not fear death, but there was nothing he could do at this point that would help. Leaping up to attack the Decepticons when he was already heavily damaged would only earn him a quick death. How had they sneaked up on us so easily? How had they even known that we were sending a shuttle out to Earth? An ambush of this sort would have taken planning ahead of schedule, not something that was spur of the moment. And then he remembered. Prime was right... there is a traitor among us. But what were they up to? If this was a hit and run tactic, the Decepticons would have left already, destroying the ship. Why were they still on it? "Shuttle Tiberius... please transmit authorization code now," a voice on the ship comlink commanded. "This code your "friend" gave you better work, oh mighty Megatron, or we will have come a long way for nothing," Starscream raged quietly, his very tone pompous. "Ever the trusting sort, I see, Starscream," Megatron said in his husky voice. "The code will work, I assure you. And once we're by their early warning systems..." "Yes, yes... the Autobots will be vanquished forever. Forgive me if I don't clap my hands with glee, but I think I've heard that speech before." Brawn restrained himself from grinning. It was forever the curse of Megatron that when he converted the Autobots best scientist and warrior into a Decepticon, his personality had become as unstable in the conversion process. But then he sobered up. They were talking about a full scale assault on Earth! The Autobots left there were too green to be a real threat against Megatron and his bunch... if Megatron's code did really work... "Shuttle Tiberius, you are cleared to land at Autobot City, landing site AC-26. Have a nice day." "Oh, I will... trust me, I will," Megatron laughed menacingly. Moments passed, and Brawn clenched his hands to contain his rage. "Hey Scrapper, over here... I think this one's still alive," said a deep voice near him, and then he felt a kick right in the stomach. Brawn tried to play dead, but if they were on to him... The shuttle began to shake and quiver in Earth's atmosphere. "Stop playing with that thing, Skywarp, we're being fired upon!" "Who dares!" Megatron yelled, firing shots back at the ground. "Whoever that Autobot is down there, I want his head--Decepticons, attack!" Brawn waited a moment for the enemy to clear out, and then opened his eyes. Wreckage all around him... bits of metal, debris... a sight beyond belief. He tried to stand up... felt it painful to move, but realized he had to anyways. Once before, he had felt a full blast from Megatron when he was powered by the Heart of Cybertron... that had hurt, and he'd had to have repairs, but nothing like this... "Well, lookie here... the Autobot is still alive," Frenzy said from behind him. Brawn let his reflexes take over, no matter the pain, and swiftly turned to take a swipe, hitting the punk right in the face. He fell backwards, and then, grabbing his leg, he dragged Frenzy over to the hole in the shuttle. "Hey! Lemme go, lemme go!" "Go join your friends!" Brawn replied, and threw the Decepticon outside. He let himself catch his breath then, surprised that such a small fight had quickly worn him out. Staggering back inside, he was given the opportunity to really look around. Ironhide was completely gone, there'd be no coming back for him... someone had been gruesome enough to blast his whole head off. Ratchet and Prowl had several gaping wounds, so he wasn't so sure about them. One had just about killed him, so things definitely didn't look good. He tried to rouse Ratchet first, shaking him out of it. "Come on old buddy... I need your help right now." There was a brief glimmer in Ratchet's eyes... a moment of recognition... and then it was gone. The Autobot surgeon began to loose color, his whole tone darkening... going gray... and then totally black. Dead. "Nuts!" Brawn swore. So full of anger right now... and no one to release it on. For a moment he wished he hadn't thrown Frenzy out so quickly, he needed someone to pound his frustrations out on. He felt so helpless... to think that a moment before he was doubting these, his closest friends. And now they were dead, as if his doubts in them had murdered them. No... not me. Megatron. He did this... "Br... Brawn...?" a voice sputtered from his side. "Prowl! Thank the matrix, you're alive. I was starting to think I was the only one who had made it." "Not.. not so easily... destroyed... ha..." he managed. "What's our... status?" Brawn looked at the screens, and then quickly jumped into the flight chair only so recently occupied by Ironhide. "Loosing altitude... fast... can't land at Autobot City without wrecking the place... and too many mountains around for us to get back into space..." "How ironic... to survive the attack... only to die in the crash after... wards..." "Not yet, we're not..." he said, helping Prowl into a chair and strapping himself in. "Hold on tight, I'm going to try to crash land amongst all those trees... let's hope they're soft." "If not... nice serving with you... Brawn..." he sputtered back through broken vocals. "I hate mush," he replied, as the trees came up around them... End Part 1