Where to begin? At the beginning? Oh no, far to much that would be repeated needlessly. Perhaps at the beginning of that one fateful day? No, far to much planning that is needless when you see the results right before your eyes.

Let's start with the explosion. Everyone likes explosions. This wasn't even a dangerous explosion. The directed energies were all from the inside, forcing their way out through the skylight. No harm done, save for taking out a heavily armored section of roofing.

The explosion might have been considered out of place, in the grand scheme of things. The battle was going on some distance away, with the dull throb of the more deadly explosions being barely perceptible here.

Mechanoid endostructure and servo processors performed flawlessly, and the villian of our little drama managed to leap out of the ruined structure. He turned with a self righteous scowl at the structure, and inadvertantly at his two comerades. This destruction was beneath him. He loathed that he had been forced into such a desperate gambit, no matter how flawlessly his plan was proceeding.

"Pass it to me." He said, laying himself flat on the rooftop and reaching down into the poorly lit corridor. His companion passed him the unassuming devise. It was boxy, no bigger than his head, with a series of handles at one end, and a slightly convex projection dish on the other. They had stolen the optional tripod mount as well, but his second for this mission had that strapped over her shoulder. The main devise was much bulkier and harder to carry.

Once he pulled the goal of this clandestined assault into his grasp his two loyal compatriots lept up to the rooftop as well.

"Always knew how to make an entrance." She laughed, looking at the precision destruction she had caused. "Or in this case an exit."

The third of the party found no humor at all in this. He pulled himself out and surveyed the surroundings, letting out only a dissatisfied grunt.

"We'd better hurry." The commander of the three said. His red and white armor gleaming in the dull street lights. He cradled the prototype with his silver armored arms as he started to run for the nearest roadway. Still chuckling to herself in a maniacal way his black and red comanion followed.

The rooftop service entry flew open and two security guards shouted for them to stop. The otherwise silent third member of these thieves reached over his shoulder with one hand and to his hip with his other. Their warning given, the guards opened fire. Coherant plasma arched from condensation points mere inches in front the guards clenched fists. Housed in their forearms was a standard issue generator of a magnetic bottle. Why carry a gun when you could generate all the nessisary parts of the gun from the thin air around and in front of your hands?

The stoic silent rearguard of the escaping thieves however had solid weapons. From over his shoulder he drew a flat blade. The blade itself was less of a concern, it was an outdated an anachronistic weapon at best, no longer even used cerimonially and utterly ineffective in a world where ranged weapons ruled.

Yet somehow he parried the lightning bolt the guards had launched at him. Both guards in their navy and silver uniforms paused, their optical array cycling as their minds refused to accept what their sensors told them. It was a moments confusion that the blue and white armored figure used. The hand that had reached for his hip had withdrawn a second weapon. Small and bladed, he threw it like a disk. The center of it activating as his silver claw released and simplistic gyroscopic computers. With a slight buzz the blade flew through the air, causing the guard to duck aside. The blades were razor sharp, and could have caused damage to certain surfaces, but mostly it just bounced and clattered off the guards armor.

The distraction of the thrown blade was enough that even the silent fighter turned and ran. His two companions had already made it to the road way and were fleeing into the maze of overpasses and service roads that criss crossed the expanses between structures.

The guard gave one more long ranged shot. The plasma blast would have been nonlethal but extremely painful and disabling had it connected. Some how, again, it was blocked by the sword of the skyblue thief. In truth, the sword itself was meaningless, the angle he held it at just a ridiculous bit of posturing. To say the sword wasn't functional was entirely false. It was just as razor edged as the throwing blade, and even more capable of carving into opponets. Built into the four fold blade was a repulsion field generator. Originally intended for other uses, the wielder had found to his great delight that by overclocking the field he could use it to deflect projected energy assaults. It made him look unique, it gave him a psychological edge.

These were, of course, more than simple thieves. They were high profile commanders of the rebelious forces that gripped the world in civil unrest. Tradition would have me declare their names Megatron, perhaps Blackarachnia, and perhaps SoundWave, had this been a traditional Cybertronian story. But this was not Cybertron, though the similarities were mindboggling.

Even to the point that the black and red female, once on the open road, threw her body into a twist, and collapsed it down. She struck the pavement on what had been her back. Now she was a four wheeled racing vehicle. She drove up next to her commander, offering to take his burden, and he dropped the stolen prototype onto her. She wasn't built for this kind of burden, the projector not fitting easily into her storage bay, but it was as good as they could manage.

The commander himself didn't jinx himself by telling her to be careful. She was just spiteful enough to take one corner to fast and throw the projector off the roadway. Besides, as crazed as she often liked to appear, he knew her tendancy for reckless abandon had to be at least in part an act. She wouldn't have lived this long, or as well, had her adreniline junkie additude not been matched by a strong sense of self preservation.

Instead he converted his body as well. Within moments he had switched to a secondary array of visual sensors and was balancing on two large wheels. The front for guidance, the rear for propulsion, which was aided even further by the thrusters built into what had been his ankles. He paused, leaning to one side and swerving around to look behind him.

The third of their team had converted as well, but rather than a land vehicle he had launched himself skyward. The muffled whisper of his rotors could be heard as he fled the scene of the crime. The sky was clear of interferance, thanks to the decoy attack they had arranged. Only a small private security force, and of course the scientists who sometimes were even worse when it came to being armed and dangerous, had been left at the lab. And none of them were equiped with the ability of flight.

They were equipped with ground patrolling modes however. Their alert lights on the vehicular forms were flashing and a siren wailed in the otherwise silent section of the megacity. The commander of the trio snarled in annoyance. It was a planned annoyance, but still an annoyance. He channeled his own energy through the front of his cycle-like form and a beam of heat and light lanced forth. For several moments he focused it on the road way, with nothing happening. The patrolling vehicles were getting nearer, they only had a few seconds lead time. Most of his underlings scoffed at his weapon being a 'primative' radiation amplification system. Still, mounting the biggest easily concealable laser on the planet had it's advantages. It might not have been efficent, but he quite litterally carved his name into this caper by melting enough sections of the road way that the secuirty guards would have to double back.

Once into the depths of the underpasses and free of pursuit the trio headed back to their base. They took their own routes of course, but each knew how to get there easily. It was their home since the rebellion had started, and for some since before that time. The seeds of this rebellion had been planted long ago, and these rebels took over a number of military outposts, along with converting most of the rank and file to their way of thinking. It had been a better way. It still was to many of them. Unfortunately they hadn't planned enough.

The world was dying. Slowly but steadily they were exhausting resources and outstripping what they once had. The cometary strike had started it, tearing their world until it no longer even resembled a world. It looked like a floating mineral encrusted applecore. Only the two poles were industrialized. Some would consider it fortunate that this planet was quite large, and the inner core of the world was still inhabitable, though primal and unindustrialized, a throwback from when the intelligent inhabitance had started becoming truely civilized.

From the turmoil and strife that arose from the Impact a single united civilization had formed. A parlament had been elected, and had in turn elevated the best and the brightest to positions of power. Through this way they survived the immediate destruction.

Then the parlament became domineering, shackling these great minds and charismatic leaders, refusing to accept their advice. Thus, most of them rebeled. Of these prominate leaders it was nearly a 50/50 split down the middle. Some felt that they had a duty to the parlament who were leading the way to reconstruction. Others felt this was stagnation at best, and at worse merely delaying the inevitable. Both sides were supported by numerous studies, and so it deadlocked. Finally it had become war, with the military and the most prominate scientists joining the rebelion. Unfortunately, the civilian forces of the parlament were left with just enough charismatic leaders and untapped geniuses that they not only managed to survive the initial coup, but actually rallied and fought back. From there it was only a matter of time that the civilian industrial corps would eventually out shine the military stockpiles.

"I see your back from your fools errant." He was armored in red black and silver, yet his frame was angular and hard rather than the female of the same colorizations sleek curves. He also was blessed with an alternate form that could fly. Both the sword wielder and the prototype holder turned away from him, letting their commander deal with this issue.

"We have returned, and successfully I might add." The Commander intoned. This red and black flier was scarred with recent damage, and he sat with one arm removed. A new cybernetic was being fitted to him. "Which in turn means that your mission was a success."

"Yes, it does." The second in command said. "I would be more glad of it, had we not lost still further resources in our decoy attack."

"Trust me, with this devise we will be able to restock those supplies and many more." The commander took the prototype and lovingly rolled his blunt mechanoid fingers over it's controls. They had been built precisely so someone like him could program and activate it.

"I've read the reports just as you have." The one armed warrior said. "The devise is worthless. A brilliant breakthrough in instantaneous transportation of materials... with some drawbacks that defy logic."

The commander looked at his second for several moments. "Simply because you do not understand the principle behind the science..."

"I know, I know." Until now the second in command had effected a grim face, the strain of the failing rebellion being felt on his shoulders when his commander seemed still confident despite all obstacles. Now he softened his expression. "The projector will allow you to summon any of us over vast spaces instantaneously. I can understand how that would be useful, to you. However, we will be limited on how long we may remain spacialy displaced, and after our time with you ends we will once more return here. That means the projector is worthless for transporting goods or materials. At best it will supply you with temporary troops and news from home."

"That is why we have prepared the ship." The Commander said, his own expression softening as he was no longer being challenged. That, and the room had cleared, others were making preparations while the two commanders spoke. "We will be returning the same way, with ample resources."

"I'm sorry commander, but I find that hard to believe. This whole scheme of yours, that you've hinged the last of our forces on, seems to revolve on the astronomically low chance that you'll encounter something out there in space worth sending back to us. Even when Thruster-One's prototype faster than light drive we don't know..."

"My dear second in command," The grand commander interupted, "there are things I have anticipated that you haven't yet begun to comprehend. How many troops did we lose today?"

"None." The second in command said proudly. "A few injuries, some more serious than my own, but nothing dramatic. No deaths, and none captured."

"I am impressed." The commander admitted. "I forsaw at least one captured in that raid. You will make me proud to leave you in charge of this planet until my return. But tell me, after I've left, how many captured do you expect?"

"All of us who live." The second in command stated wearily. "Not immediately, but we can not hold out indefinetly. Eventually we will break, there is no alternative. Even with our secret weapon..."

"He must remain unused for now." The Commander said. "I fear I may require him if things go wrong. Should none be captured, should our intelligence remain unbreached and my secrets kept you will have him under your command. Should I be followed to my destination, I will need his power."

"I understand as well as I am able." The second in command said. "You have not yet told me just what you think to find out there in the depths of space."

"It's not what I hope to find..." The commander smiled, clasping the one good hand of his second in command and taking his leave. "It's who has already found me."

For out there in the depths of space there was a small, lush gem of a planet. Very much like theirs had been, before the great expansions, and certainly before the Impact. The vast resources of this planet were just now being tapped by the native inhabitance. Inhabitance who had already made an effort to answer the question if there was life out in the endless void of space. Very soon the Renegade Commander would show these humans there was indeed something out there... and it was comming for them.

"First Commander, your recent actions allowing the rebelous forces to continously strike at our civilian centers has become..."

"Senator." The somewhat portly senator stopped as the First Commander held up a warning hand. The First Commander was tall, and by the local standards quite handsome. He cut a dashing figure, with the coloration of his armor almost uniformly grey. "Does this hold any baring on our current counterstrike plans? Will what you are about to tell me actually give me reason to halt a counter atack against the Renegades that might end their threat to our peace once and for all? If not, it can wait until after I've returned."

"Well... I..." The senator sputtered as the First Commanders security chief came up beside him.

"What's the hold up? The Mobile Command Center is waiting on you." The two marched off, leaving the senator behind. After they'd rounded a corner in the corridor the chief leaned over to his commander. "You really mean it about ending the Renegades once and for all?"

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst." The First Commander sighed. "We know enough that it's possible. All known rebel forces have been falling back and consolidating. They're on the run and desperate. We have a chance to take them all out with one stroke."

"But you don't believe it, huh?"

"I know my... counter part." The First Commander remembered before the Second Commander had defected to lead this rebelion. Before most of his forces had defected. It always hurt thinking that so many he had trusted to defend and protect the rights of those less powerful would willfully abuse their own power and turn their backs on such responsiblity. "He has something in mind. I don't know what, but it's just not in him to hole up when he could be striking back."

"Maybe he can't strike back?" The chief said as they entered the Mobile Command Center.

"We can hope." The First Commander said, heading to the controls.

"Wait!" It was a young, almost effeminate voice. The security chief turned back and saw the little fellow running for the airlock. "I need to talk to the First Commander! I have important information on..."

"Kid, anything you have to say comes through me first, got it." The chief said, blocking the door.

"The Renegade attack, it was a decoy... what they were after..."

"We know kid." The security chief sighed and shifted as the scientist tried to slip past him. "The Renegade Command struck a research facility and stole some scientific doodad. We read the reports too."

"The Astro Projector." The scientist corrected. "Do you even know what it does?"

"You have less than a moment to impress me before I put you in the Command Centers brig until we're done."

The scientist had been one of the bright young faces to fill the ranks after the rebellion had stripped most of the forces. Surprisingly, this had led to a number of breakthroughs as fresh new minds took science in new directions. They hadn't solved all the problems they had set out to, but they had made advancements that hadn't been dreamed of. He wasn't a hardened fighter however, and the thought of even spending a little while in the relatively comfortable brig of the Mobile Command Center gave him pause.

"Imagine being able to instantly summon an army from a distant planet." The scientist said. "Instantanious transportation between world, able to teleport yourself anywhere you want, or able to teleport anyone else from where ever in the universe they are to where you are."

"The Astro Projector can do that?" The security chief was trying to consider the possiblities of this new technological horror in the wrong hands.

"Well... at the moment it's effects are noticably less dramatic..." The young fellow said, figuring that now that he had their attention he could start pointing out the limitations of the devise. "You'd need to have that army on a distant planet before you could summon them. And at the moment there is a limitation on the amount of mass the Astro Projector can transport, roughtly enough for two people if you were to push the safty... and because it works by folding space and holding that fold in place, those transported have only a limited time before they are returned to their original location and nobody else can be transported while the projector is holding a target at it's new location."

"Okay kid, you've got my attention. You're going to ride up front with the First Commander."

"Up front?" The scientist blinked. "Doesn't the Mobile Command Center stay back and support the troops?"

"Hell no!" The security chief beamed. "Heaviest armor and most guns we can field in a fight, this baby is at the front of the line leading the charge."

The young scientist gulped again fearfully, wondering what he'd just gotten himself into.