***The Pub***

The CR Chamber door slowly opened, and Barricade saw that he was surrounded by total strangers. “Where am I? The Empire will have your heads for this capture!” He armed his weapons, ready to fire at the unfamiliar faces looking at him suspiciously.

“Barricade, relax!” Starscream ordered. “You're safe here, and amongst friends. These are good people,” he glanced briefly at the Daughters of Soundwave, and narrowed his optics at Virus, then returned to Barricade, “most of them anyway.”

Barricade lowered his weapons as he looked around and began to recognize faces. “Star-Starscream?” He looked from him to the other members of the Legend crew. “Ironhide? Blackout?” He was still a bit disoriented from the damage he had sustained, and was very nearly in shock that he was speaking with the crew of The Legend.

“Yeah, it's us pal,” Ironhide nodded. “You feeling all right buddy? You were hurt pretty badly when we found you.”

“It, it's really you.” Barricade was starting to sound happier. “Thank the Matrix, you're alive! Where's Megatron? Is he here?”

Starscream sighed. He didn't think now as the time to tell Barricade of the recent events. H was in too much shock to hear of Megatron's passing. “There are more important things to discuss right now. When we found you, you said something about Cybertron. That it has been taken over. What has happened since we were last home?”

Barricade nodded. “I think we better sit down.” Barricade and the entire assembled party sat down at a single huge table. Barricade looked around from person to person, getting familiar with his new settings. “I don't know how long it has been for you and the crew, Starscream, but it has been more than a century since you all vanished without a trace.”

“What!” Rattrap shouted. “We were exploring' the galaxy only a month ago, an' you're telling' me it's been a hundred years back home!”

“Shut up, Rattrap!” Starscream shouted. “The effects of time travel are irrelevant right now. Please Barricade, continue.”

Barricade nodded in appreciation and continued. “It all started with the Imperialtrons.”

“Wait, hold on,” Roadbuster held up a hand. “what the slag is an Imperialtron?”

Rhinox cleared his throat so as to call attention to himself. “The Imperialtrons are a small faction of Cybertronians who believe that as the most powerful Empire in the galaxy, all other systems should be under the flag of Cybertron. The members were made up of Cybertronians of all ancestries, Autobots and Maximals included.”

“If you want to see their emblem,” Barricade interrupted, and peeled off the insignia on his arm, “Take a look.”



Rhinox watched as the Fnordees passed around the symbol and continued. “The Cybertronian Council completely apposed to the idea of controlling governments other than their own, particularly Emperor Optimus Prime, and so they rejected all military proposals from the Imperialtrons. After that they remained together but faded into obscurity. They were a small group and a poorly organized one at that. Or at least, so we thought.”

“so everyone thought,” Barricade agreed. “After Cybertron lost all radio contact with The Legend a full investigation was formed to search for you. Chief Detective Depth Charge, a personal friend of mine and veteran of the Beast Wars, was placed in charge of the investigation. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find anything at all.”

“I suspected foul play was behind the disappearance, and Depth Charge agreed with me. However, we had no legal evidence to support that theory, so we decided that I would infiltrate the Imperialtron organization as an unofficial spy. Needless to say my Decepticon background made it easy for me to join them.”

“Upon joining the Imperialtrons, I learned that an individual had risen from their numbers and taken command of their organization. To this day no one knows who he is or where he came from, as there are no records of his creation or anything. It's as if he simply appeared from nothing and rose to power without effort. The only thing known about him, is that he calls himself Galvicron.”

There was a moment where everyone shared glances of confusion, fear, and concern. Barricade nodded, knowing all too well what such a name would imply. “Such a name is all too fitting for him. He is a massive entity, with skeletal wings, and three horns that form the shape of a crown. His hands and feet are claw like, his entire right arm formed into a massive cannon. His face is dark and twisted, with razor sharp teeth forming an insane and terrifying grin. His eyes, as red and violent as the deepest pits of hell itself.”

Starscream put his face in his hand, and breathed a heavy sigh. Things were all ready looking bad. “So, a demonic and unknown being is in charge of a militaristic society bent on galactic conquest. Well this has 'hostile takeover' written all over it.”

Barricade chuckled a little. “The takeover was not as violent as one would think. While I was infiltrating the Imperialtrons, things became harder and harder for Cybertron. Our economy declined, and the populous began to grow frustrated with the government. Not only that, but somehow our enemies began to unite. With so much grief and strife, the Imperialtrons gained a lot of popularity and support from the Cybertronian people. With Galvicron now making his presence known, the people believed that the Imperialtrons would be able to restore order to the growing chaos.”

“That's when the Imperialtrons made their move. In a battle that lasted only a single day, the Imperialtrons struck at the heart of the Cybertronian Government, slaughtering the Cybertronian Council. While his forces dealt with the Council and security forces, Galvicron engaged Emperor Optimus Prime in single combat. The fight was brief and hopeless, the Emperor being crippled within moments while Galvicron didn't receive a scratch. It is, regrettably unknown if Optimus is still alive or not.”

The looks on the faces of the Legend crew were those of shock, disbelief, and horror. Silverbolt shook his head. “Optimus, defeated. How can this be?”

Barricade continued on, not wishing to dwell on the defeat of Optimus. “With the defeat of the Emperor and the Cybertronian Council, Galvicron became the new Emperor, and began moving his forces across the galaxy. He knew that the people greatly admired Optimus Prime's benevolent nature, and so Galvicron implemented it as well. He lead the people to believe that the Imperialtron's goal was to have all known worlds united under one flag, peacefully coexisting together as one. However, Galvicron's tactics were far from friendly. As I rose through the ranks, appearing to be a loyal member of the Imperialtron forces, I learned that they had been the ones who organized Cybertron's enemies together, promising them power and conquest. This became most evident in the conquered worlds. Within every system there is now at least one colony of Marro warriors, all of them government sanctioned as 'peace keeping forces'. In addition to the Marro, the armies of Ares himself aided in the conquest of the galaxy, laying waste to all opposition.”

“However, the people of Cybertron were oblivious to these actions. Galvicron was wise, and highly skilled at ensuring that no one knew the true nature of his methods and intentions. All they knew was that the Empire was prospering more than every, and growing by leaps and bounds every day. All of the people were happy, not even caring as Galvicron reshaped Cybertron itself to be as it was during the time of the Spark Wars, devoid of all organic life and purely technological. Our culture still remained diverse and even became more so as new nations became part of the Empire, but technorganics became a thing of the past.”

“There were some who became wise of Galvicron's evil, my friend Depth Charge being most prominent among them. He had been one of the few constables to survive Imperialtron's attack on the government, and the only one to evade imprisonment. I continued to relay him all the information that I could gather, most important of all being that our original suspicions had been correct. It was Galvicron himself who had arranged for the destruction of The Legend, relying on the efforts of the Krikkit War Fleet to do his dirty work. Unfortunately, even the Imperialtron's did not know what had become of The Legend, as the Krikkit War Fleet had gone missing at the same time as The Legend. With our suspicions confirmed, and Galvicron's dark empire expanding with every passing moment, Depth Charge and I began to form an underground rebellion. Depth Charge led resistance, while I continued to function as a spy. Our efforts to form a full resistance were meager though, as most people were happy with the way things were going, and those who were wise enough to see Galvicron's true evil were either too terrified of his wrath to try and resist him, or shared in his dark vision. Unfortunately, Galvicron learned of the rebellion and set out his armies to find and destroy the terrorists. Depth Charge escaped though, and went into hiding. Even I don't know where he went.”

Rattrap raised an eyebrow. “If ya don't know where he went, how do ya know he's even alive, eh?”

Barricade narrowed his eyes at Rattrap. “Because I was the one who found him, and made sure he was able to flee. I had been part of the army sent to destroy the rebellion, and it was for the best, as I was thus able to ensure the survival of my friend. Thankfully, no one ever suspected that I was a double agent.”

Starscream took a deep breath, pondering on the events. “So how did you finally find us? And why did you suffer so much damage before doing so?”

Barricade nodded. “I have finally reach that portion of the story. With our insignificant rebellion crushed and the Imperialtron's goal of total galactic conquest nearly complete, Galvicron turned his attentions back to another goal long since forgotten by the others. He wanted to know what precisely had happened to The Legend and it's crew, and so he assembled a task force to investigate their disappearance. This was met with confusion from the other Imperialtrons. The Legend had gone missing over a century ago, and not a single word had been heard regarding whereabouts in all that time. When his decision was met with question, Galvicron reacted with unrestrained violence and aggression. It was clear that for some reason, Galvicron was adamant that the crew of The Legend was gone and done for, though no one knew why.”

“For the first time in decades, I was met with a stroke of luck. I had been one of the ones chosen to take part in the hunt for The Legend and the missing Krikkit War Fleet. Our search went on for several years with no success. Finally, something came up. We found the debris of the Krikkit War Fleet. It appeared that they had all been destroyed, most likely by themselves. So we knew what happened to the fleet, but still knew nothing about The Legend. however, did find what appeared to be the after effects of a pan-dimensional gateway. This was enough for me to hold on to what little hope I had left that i would succeed in finding The Legend. Me and a group of scientists ran analysis after analysis on the after effects, trying to learn where the gateway had opened to. At long last, we arrived at a solution. We developed the technology to reopen the gateway and use it to follow the path of The Legend, and finally learn of it's true fate. Now having everything that I needed, I seized the information and the gateway device for myself and opened fire on the rest of the task force. I destroyed their labs, their records, their engines, and at least half of their command bridge, so they would not be able to tell Galvicron of their findings. Feeling satisfied with my destruction, I made a run for it, and was attacked by the surviving Imperialtrons. It was a long and difficult battle, but I was able to escape just barely with my life, and destroyed the rest of the Imperialtron ship. With the gateway device in my hands, I opened the gateway and used it myself, arriving in orbit around this planet. I launched a probe to see if I could find anything, and when it returned i learned that The Legend was here, in tact and fully functional. So I began planet fall and found all of you a few moments later. I still cannot believe that I found you all, alive and well.”

The group sat silent for a few moments, taking in the wealth of information that Barricade had burdened them with. Ironhide cracked his knuckles. “Well, this all sucks.”

Barricade nodded in agreement. “Indeed. Now, I've told you all everything that has transpired, so I need to know,” he looked to Starscream, who looked as if he knew what question was coming, “where is Megatron? He needs to know what is happening and we must all return to Cybertron. Megatron and your crew are the last hope we have of defeating Galvicron. Where is he?”

Starscream sighed with pain, his voice sounding as if on the brink of tears. “Megatron, is dead.”

“No.” was all that Barricade managed to say.

Starscream nodded in confirmation. “He unleashed a chaos wave that saved the entire space time continuum, and in the process his entire spark was extinguished. I'm afraid, that Megatron is gone, forever.”

“Then Primus help us.” Barricade hung his head in despair. “Our last hope of victory is lost.”

Dreadnought and Onslaught glanced to each other sharring a knowing smile as they listened to Barricades story of the Imperialtrons conquest of their Cybertron. Besides the look the Emperor expressed no emotion at the news simply sipping from his drink every so often until the tale had run it's course.

The silence was almost palpatable and Dread had to force himself not to break it with 'looks like the mall trip is out of the question.' Which would have been tactless and inacurrate, after all Barricade HAD said the people were still happy, just oblivious.

Dreadnought swiveled in his seat to face the crew of the Legend. "So what now Starscream? Stay here where it is safe and where you can be happy and content or return to a Cybertron you nolonger know and face a monolithic government that can only want you dead?"

Virus had sat on the edge of an oversized console (for him...) to listen to all of this, leaving everyone be for the moment. When Barricade made his final despairing comment, the Temporal Judge reached out his foot, and poked Starscream with his shoe. He did this repeatedly, in short bursts, even after Starscream had already looked at him, while Dreadnaught spoke. Choosing to stop at some random time, Virus nodded toward Barricade. "So are you going to tell him about your prophecy or not?"

The four Daughters of Soundwave were watching the reactions everyone was making rather than Barricade as he told his story. And so they adopted the approriately horrified expressions, the indignation, the ill at ease look of tension, each almost on cue.

JaggedWing was much less impressed. He was hearing nothing bad in this news. Most of it not news at all. Really, aside from it being told from the perspective of a traitor to his nation and mass murderer, all the news actually seemed positive.

"I wouldn't say they could 'only' want him dead." JW% said looking at Dreadnought. "True, they probably want him dead. The Legend and her crew represents a hold back from the former Empire. That means, in the mind of this 'Galvicron', it needs to be dealt with. Destruction is the most expedient course, but if the crew could be turned and sided in support of the new regime I'd think that'd be good publicity." He paused to soak in the looks he was getting.

"What? Okay, true, Barricade is going to be a sticking point. If your certain that none of your taskforce survived to report that you'd decided to kill anyone in your path, then I suppose we could come up with a cover story..."

((Positive? I spent months trying to create a truly cataclysmic series of events to set up for an epic war, and JaggedWing thinks this is all positive? Sheesh, I feel like I've spent the last 6 months or so busting my ass for nothing.))

Barricade gave JW% the dirtiest look possible. "I blew up the entire ship, there's no one left. I was the only thing alive in that sector before I passed through the gate." He slammed his fist on the table. "You make me sound treasonous."

Starscream did not speak. He sat still, his fingers folded together with his thumbs supporting his chin. his optics moved from person to person as they spoke, showing that he was in fact paying attention, but was deep in thought as well.

"Publicity!" Dinobot shouted. "Our world has been taken over by a hostile force, and you're concerned with publicity!"

"Stand down, Dinobot!" Rhinox shouted. "JW% does have a point. If this Galvicron could talk us into joining his side, it would seal his place as the beloved Emperor of the Galaxy. It's not much different than what happened with that Palpatine guy over in their galaxy, except more hopeless for us."

"Galvicron doesn't want you on his side." Barricade shook his head. "He was the one who arranged for your destruction a century ago. When people asked why we were going off to chase after something long gone, he met their inquiries with brutal violence. There is something about you all that has Galvicron scared out of his mind. But what that is, I don't know."

"Prophecy!" Chamberlain shouted over the crowd. "It is the prophecy that scares him, yes!"

The bouncer moved to force the Skeksis back outside.

"Let him speak!" Starscream nearly roared with the same force and authority that Megatron spoke with.

The bouncer let the Skeksis go, and the Scroll Keeper took center stage. “A dark force shall spread across a universe, while intrepid groups search for the Great Chaotic Power. Once the groups join forces, they will find that which they seek, and then travel to what was once a Utopian Paradise now twisted by evil. One of their ranks will reveal himself as a spy, while another will fall in battle. The once great traitor will defeat the mad devil, while his once equally traitorous companion will become the ruler of titans. United, these great forces will emerge triumphant. Divided, all of them will meet their demise.”

The General nodded. "Galvicron knows that he is the Dark force, and that you are the ones destined to defeat him."

"That is why Megatron will return, yes!" Chamberlain circled the table. "He will return, for he must fulfill the prophecy!"

"All right, hold up!" Rattrap shouted. "You think that Galvicron wants us dead, because he heard some loopy prophecy, and now Megatron is going to raise from the dead, because he has to fulfill this prophecy?"

The Ritual Master nodded. "That is precisely what we believe, and know to be true."

Rattrap brushed them off. "Ya know what? Galvicron can kiss my shiny metal ass. I, am gonna sit right here, an' let him have the galaxy if he wants it. It's not home anymore, so why should I care? Besides, the people are happy, so who are we ta tell 'em they can't have what they want?"

Barricade stood up as he leaned closer to Rattrap. "The people are only happy because Galvicron has covered his tracks! He knew that the only way to insure success in his takeover of Cybertron was to keep the people happy! But if you were out on those worlds that he conquered, you would see what a monster he truly he is. He's no better than Galvatron. You think things are at peace? Every world is guarded by Marro, and only the most trusted of Imperialtrons are granted authority over each system. Even Earth is in ruin, and ruled by Apocalypse now. He's begun to implement his philosophy of 'survival of the fittest', and I believe that Galvicron is planning to do the same."

"Apocalypse." Rhinox fell to his seat. "Can things really be this bad?"

Rattrap shrugged. "It's like i said. If we go back, we're all gonna die."

"Rattrap is right." Blackout spoke unexpectedly. "Here we can be happy and live comfortable lives. If we go back, only certain death awaits us."

The crew went silent for a moment, thinking over what Rattrap and Blackout had said, and considering it.

"How dare you." Starscream finally spoke. "How dare you put shame to Megatron's memory."

"Put shame!" Rattrap shouted. "Megatron sacrificed himself so we wouldn't die! Embarking on a suicide mission is gonna make his sacrifice pointless!"

"No! He gave his life so we could live!" Starscream rose from his seat and began to circle the table. "We are the Heroes of Cybertron, and as such, we have a duty to fight for freedom, peace, and justice! We can not stand by and allow Galvicron to destroy everything that we stand for! If Megatron were here you know that he would stand up against Galvicron no matter how grim the odds! He would not sit idle and let a tyrant deepen his grasp not only on our home world, but the entire galaxy itself! We must fight back. We must liberate our universe!"

Rhinox nodded. "So what do we do, Starscream? you're in charge now, so what course of action do we take?"

Starscream smiled at Rhinox's support. "we fight. We return home, and we free our galaxy, one system at a time if necessary. We did not give up when time itself was at stake, why should we give up when only one galaxy has been taken over? I for one am going to do everything in my power to defeat Galvicron and restore peace, justice, and freedom to our galaxy. If anyone else will take a stand with me, I will be proud to have you at my side."

Silverbolt stood and saluted. "We are with you, as always."

Starscream looked to the others. "And what of you, FnorDoM? Will you aid us in freeing our home world from Tyranny?"

"And this Galvicron fears the prophecy because heard it from... where?" JaggedWing asked. Really, he was not impressed, this being the first time he'd heard anything about such a prophecy, though also not surprised that this crew was getting worked up. It would be far to easy to manipulate them, and unfortunately he couldn't think of any useful jobs to manipulate them into.

Barricade was, admittably, a mass murderer and probably wanted for treason by the Imperialtrons. The fact that he didn't realise that was a disturbing suggestion that he too was a patsy for some larger force.

Barricades story in turn basically stated that Cybertron had started to decline in power under Emperor Optimus. Galvicron took power in the traditional Cybertronian way, and turned their standard of living back upwards, as well as relatively peacefully absorbing former threats to the Empire into it.

JaggedWing was about to agree with Rattrap and Blackout. The Legend would be better off lost to that Empire. As for the Empire itself, there seemed nothing wrong with it either. Even the treasonous murderer admitted that the citizenry was happy and that the current Emperor was good at covering his tracks when it came to the less savory aspects of ruling a sprawling multisystem Empire. That these war torn worlds were in such a state of disrepair simply meant that Galvicron hadn't yet covered these smudges on his Imperial Resume, and he would either get around to it or these mistakes would come back to haunt him very swiftly.

Then he noticed the Children of SoundWave were all giving him a look that said "you still owe us a favor." He wasn't going to like this one bit and he knew it. He couldn't speak for FnorDoM as a whole, in fact he was willing to bet that a majority of them would say 'have fun, send us postcards' assuming they didn't try to kill Starscream on the spot again. But it looked like he was going to be drug along anyway.

((Was gonna say something, then changed my mind.))

((Answered "Mostly character perspective, talk about it with him in character." before you edited your comment.))

((Typical, just when I wanted to have Daniel make a comment, he's off facing the machinations of a devious force (not currently intended to be Gaviscon, but who knows how the story will play out). Anyway, I rather like the set up Megatron has created (sans the whole prophesy thing, but that's neither here nor there to my mind. I can easily be forgotten as part of the overall story, or be referred to only at the end as explaining how things fell into place. It's not any different to my mind then "people were bored" that sparked the first shared story with the Transfandom/AUG crew uniting for the first time.

Anyway, I think what Megatron has created is an interesting ground for a story.
We could have the more "heroic" characters fighting to liberate everyone, the more amoral characters (and the more "differently moral'd" characters like Daniel and it seems JW%) there for the hell of it, and so forth.

Megs, what you're getting worked up at is the fact that we've at least characters from three different universes, each being written from different points of view.

The Legend crew's obviously going to be horrified. And be off to solve the problems.

Daniel would be appalled at what's happened, but would also see the financial possibilities for a "master thief".

Dreadnought would admire the skill of Gaviscon in order to conquer the better parts of a universe.

JW%, as we've discovered is a bit of a dark horse - he's on the dark side, but morally on the side of the angels. Most times.


Will everyone "muck in"? Of course, at the very least out of boredom or a desire to do something different (ie Virus). Daniel'll, as has been said, will rock up eventually. I've got something wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey planned for him, and his exact realtionship with the "sinister figure" in his current story.

Panic not, my friend, we'll be playing in your universe, just remember that everyone's going to play their way))

((Well, the prophecy is in no way a driving element. However, it will play out as true, and it is in fact the reason Galvicron is so terrified by The Legend. He knows that Megatron and Starscream are the "former traitors" spoken of, and that he himself is the "dark force".

Originaly though, i was going to leave the prohpecy as something only a select few know about. However, it seemed like it might laso be a good idea to tell all of the characters about it. It will of course be brushed off as all prophecies are, but also like most prophecies, it will hold true.))

((I figured you were already well-acquainted with JW%'s narrative style, Megs. It's just his way of looking at the world, I wouldn't take it personal...))

Virus jerked his thumb toward Lazorbeak. "I'm really just stalking the four lovely ladies at the moment. If they end up coming with you, so will I." He did a little cat-stretch with a yawn. "Terrible business, and all that. Just be glad you're not from... eh, I'm going to make up a nomenclature on the spot here. Dimension 41112345. Now that place is messed up. Optima Prime is one psycho... well nevermind. Galvicron, right. Tally-ho and all that."

He continued lightly kicking his legs alternately off the edge of the console, waiting for what happened next.

((I've nothing nice to say about JaggedWing, though his points do, in a way, make sense. Aside, so far seems intresting Megs. And I promised to at least cameo in this one also, so here goes.))

"Jag, I'm sure there have been millions on prophices in the unimangiable number of universes in the multiverse that you've never heard. Quit acting like you know everything. Besides, the Skeksis seem to have a prophecy for just about everything that happens." Star grumbled. JaggedWing's paranoia could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. If he knew everything like he pretended to, just to impress BMS and other young girls he flocked after in his pedophilia, he wouldn't be so paranoid. It's amazing he didn't spend most of his time at night hiding from ghosts come back from the dead to avenge themselves, or worry about volcanoes on dead planets... the list goes on, the fact he got out and roamed about was simply amazing. "And don't bother with the reply of 'since when do I act like I know everything' because its a constant thing, show some humilaty and be quiet."

If Star knew JW% was thinking about whether or not Barricade had escaped through force as he said, or had simply beeen made to believe such a thing, as to draw Megatron home for an ambush, he would have been more willing to agree with him, though.

"We can't just blast back to your world, guns ablazing. We need a plan, we need enemy position info, conditions reports, what places are safe, which are not. We'll need a port for the Legend. More importantly, we need data on this... Galvicron. What is he capable of doing? Does he have any weaknesses? What's his personality like? We need more than visual descriptions. Stealth will be a better ally for us than brute force."

"You should o't make a habit of asking the "fnorDoM as a whole if they are going to do something, the answer is almost always no," informed Dreadnought finishing the last of his vodka and setting the bottle down to be attended to by the nanites. "The FnorDoM is more a confedracy of powerful parties then a union of purpose, no one here, not even Roady speaks for the FnorDom as a whole."

"Then what of you all here, specifically," continued Starscream with an extra edge of venum to his voice.

Dreadnought smilled as he rose frm his chair and stretched in a truly organic fashion not too dissimular from Virus. "Help a bunch of rebels overthrow a government, would not be the first time. I'm in."

Onslaught began to rise and Dread just through him a quick glance. The golden warrior seemed to sigh dejectadly and sat back down. For reasons the emperor was not specifying the bodyguard was to sitthis one out.

"But Star raises a good point, you will need alot more then bravado to pull this off. And I a gonna do the thing you do not want me to and ask you the hard question. What do you do if you suceed?"

"Excuse me?" responded Starscream in obvious surprise.

"Are you prepared," continued Dreadnought. "To bring galactic war to your people, to destroy their happiness and fight your own armies in a conflict that could last decades or centuries. Are you prepared to ruin your homeworld in order to de-throne this tyrant Because if you are NOT then give up now because your resolve is to frail to get the job done.

"Oooh, you, like, wanna stalk us?" BuzzSaw asked, giving a little wiggle as she came over to sit beside Virus. It had taken quite a bit of practice to get just the right sway to her body while she was flying. Particularly since bee wings didn't work with standard aerodynamics, rather they created a vortex above the user making it all the more interesting to learn.

"Whatcha gonna do when you catch us?" Steeljaw asked from his other side, closing in as well.

JaggedWing spread his hands as if to wash them of this whole mess. Dreadnought was asking basically the same question pressing his mind: would it be worth it? The citizenry were being kept content, that's better than most Empires could claim. It would likely be an unpleasantly large amount of work, possibly for no gain save Barricades vengance.

"Intelligence gathering sounds like a good start." JaggedWing agreed with Captain Hinara. "Clearly we all have alot of questions. Except for those of us who know everything, of course."

The Skeksis have a prophecy for just about everything that happens, or so said Captain Hinara. Which meant that it was the Skeksis behind the whole thing. They were the ones that organized the breakout of the Time of Legends, which happened so conviently the moment Megatron stepped into their tower, and they were friendly with Star The Wanderer who was now supporting them in pressing their word as fate. An understandable position for Captain Hinara. This Galvicron probably was one of their pawns. Or perhaps he believed he was masterminding the whole thing, having broken free after conviently overhearing the Skeksis prophecy. Which meant Galvicron was probably a 'true believer' and was driving to his own destruction intentionally simply to fulfill the prophecy. Lunatics were always the worst kinds of foes. Either way it was starting to fall into place. Which of course meant JaggedWing would have to throw it all out as new evidence came to light.

Still, trusting the Skeksis seemed the height of foolishness. Plus every self preservation system in his being screamed at JaggedWing to break this prophecy rather than fulfill it. Always a difficult propsition when they were worded so vaugely. But not impossible, and not the first time he'd done such.

***Space, near to where the Legend arrived in this universe***

A sleek, ivory spaceship, that resembled a Concorde from Earth's 1980's. On it's wings were emblazened a logo that would have been familiar to many Transformers, the Decepticon symbol. Underneath the Decepticon symbol, was a pair of crossed bones, emulating the infamous pirate "jolly roger", again from Earth.

If anyone had looked at it's interior, they'd have assumed that the vessel's owner's had an Eathern fetish. Unless they looked beneath the so black as to absorb the light robes and face concealing hood, and then they'd seen that he was in fact human. Or looked human at the very least. He only wore the robes when "conducting serious business". He'd just terminated the transmission to his agent trailing "the infamous Saint" (at this thought, he chuckled softly, displaying more humour then his apparently humourless, and dangerous "work" persona would usually project).

He leaned back in his chair, and look a deep breathe. Sitting at a desk and looking sinister would look suitibly imposing to his underlings, but now he was contacting someone who considered himself his superior. So he stood, flicked an imaginary speck of dust off his robe, and then activated the transmission through the minor gap in the walls of reality that Megatron's arrival caused.

"Ah, Gaviscon" the robed figure purred.
"That's Gavicron" the daemonic figure rumbled.
"Yes, it is isn't it. My agent has secured the crystal. We'll be able to open the rift in due course"
"Good, I am rather eager to meet such Legendary individuals" Gavicron barked a laugh at his own joke.
"As long as payment is forthcoming, you can meet whomsoever you wish" the robed figure said suavely.
"You'll be getting your payment soon enough" Gavicron said severing the link.

"Of course I will. And no doubt it'll be a knife in the dark, you loathesome machine"
the robed figure walked over to a mirror, and cast back his hood. He smiled at his reflection. Despite the dark robes, and the dimmed light, he was a rather jovial indivdual, smiling as he reached for a toothbrush and the toothpaste.

****

Now out of his robes, he sat at his desk, enjoying a fine cigar. The joys of an enhanced technoganic metabolism, wrapped in a pretender shell, and enhanced by the powers of some passing Elder Gods, he thought. Eventually, he fished out his glasses, and set about reading his novel, as in space, his ship continued on it's way.




((Who is the ominously Bond Villainesque character? Why does he have a spaceship that looks a lot like Generation 1 Silverbolt (a clue there)? What are his plans? Who knows... well *I* know, but I'm not telling))

Virus lounged back leisurely. Since the entire premise of their approach was to tease him, he didn't bother trying to touch either of them. He gave BuzzSaw a decidedly content smile, but Steeljaw earned a dryly amused smirk. "Why yes, I do, indeed, BuzzSaw. You're so cute, I can't resist. Really, I think that's something to brag about. You have one of the most powerful beings known to this dimension wrapped around your little fingers, but then, I suppose, I'm easy that way. Steeljaw, my dear, if the catching ends up being part of what you let me do, I'd sincerely enjoy a warm cuddle."

He laughed at himself. "Pathetic, yes? But honest. I see Lazorbeak has left me to the pair of you, however. Have I annoyed her even more than before? Or did you two simply volunteer first this time?" He snapped his fingers, as if realizing something. "Oh! I do so love having a beautiful woman run her hand back through my hair. Entirely delightful experience, when performed properly. But who's to say anyone would want to. No, no. I'm also enjoying the show you four put on so consistently. Your brothers, no offense, are dreadfully dull."

Then Virus tossed a wave toward the gathered crew and old 'friends'. "So what do you think of all this mess, ladies? Does it seem promising for your amusement, or just another ego-stroking bonanza for the various men-bots?"

"Ooooh, cuddles!" BuzzSaw giggled. He seemed disinclinded to touch them, but the girls had no such compunction. They were quite tactile and within moments BuzzSaw was pressing her soft curves against Virus.

"B is good at cuddles." Steeljaw smiled, not far behind her sister. The little yellow and black predacon was certainly rounder than Blackarachnia, and just as short. Not nessisarily round in the same way however, as no one could say that BuzzSaw had an hourglass waistline.

There was the sound of buzzing wings as Virus got his cuddling. BuzzSaw usually pulsed her wings in short bursts like that as a display of her emotions. This particular rythm was annoyance and disgust. But the wingbeats also were a bee's way of warming their hive, and between BuzzSaw squirming her body and the wings, it certainly was getting warmer.

Steeljaw's hands were metallic, but her wrists mounted the front feet of her beastmode, and so leathery scales ending in wicked claws seemed the order of the day as she reached up and rolled her hand through Virus' hair as she snuggled up close. There was no sign at all that she wanted to flinch from touching his hair. Now she was starting to understand why RamHorn had wanted to throw up however.

"We all have our parts to play." Lazorbeak said, approaching him straight on while her two sisters flanked. She had set her path before her, and was going to make it good. If RamHorn could do it, she could do no less. "Our brothers included."

"An' y'know, I think it's, like really terrible what happened." BuzzSaw said, and then nuzzled into Virus' neck, pressing her warm face against his flesh. While BuzzSaw did this, Lazorbeak was climbing onto his lap.

"We'd like to help out, of course." Lazorbeak said, wrapping her legs around Virus' torso and putting her hands on his shoulders. She concentrated on the show, trying to ignore how her skin wanted to crawl off of her body at the touch. "Doing whatever we can..."

"But, like, what can we do, y'know?" BuzzSaw cooed, glancing back at the rest of the crew. Steeljaw gave a little tug to Virus' hair. "We're all, y'know, harmless, an' stuff."

"Oops, maybe I need practice before I 'perform properly'." Steeljaw purred. "I'll try harder... maybe try a little more than just hot foursome... hmm... cuddle..."

"So it looks like our little trip to the mall is going to be canceled." Lazorbeak continued. She flexed her shoulders and pushed out her flat chest. Mostly just showing the nearly exposed faux servomotors that appeared to be half collarbone half shoulderpads, as the lower back and tail of her 'dactyl body was not nearly as shaply as BuzzSaw or Blackarachnia. Her flight systems were active, not putting any weight on Virus. All three of them seemed to expect him to blink out any moment. All three rather hoped he would sooner rather than later. "It's just terrible, what happened, isn't it? But we're not heroes. And we're not mentioned in that Prophecy at all. Maybe it's best if we stay here. I'm afraid we'd just get in the way. We'd hate to be a burden, having those big strong 'bots protecting us through a war." She hit the perfect inflection that said the word scared her for reasons she had only read about and never experienced.

JaggedWing, quite aware of what was going on through the perifery of his visor and of course his audio recievers listening to every word, wasn't directly watching Virus get his lapdance, and more as Steeljaw had started nibbling on his ear and they were going to try to push Virus a bit further in a moment. The Last Blenditron, for his part, was doing what he could to restrain himself from doing a little happy dance. Being drug along to return the favor he owed the Children of SoundWave was the only reason he had at the moment to go along for this madness, and it looked like they wern't going to go after all.

"Are you prepared," continued Dreadnought. "To bring galactic war to your people, to destroy their happiness and fight your own armies in a conflict that could last decades or centuries. Are you prepared to ruin your home world in order to de-throne this tyrant Because if you are NOT then give up now because your resolve is to frail to get the job done."

Starscream breathed heavy for a moment as he thought, but he didn't really need to think much to give Dreadnought and answer. "From what Barricade has told us, it sounds like our world is all ready ruined, so what do we really have to lose? I for one am immortal, so time is not really an issue for me, and as long as the rest of us are not killed in battle, As for our peoples happiness, if Galvicron truly is a tyrant, they won't be happy for much longer. So to put it shortly, the answer is yes."

Dreadnought smiled. "Excellent. You'll need that dedication to pull this off."

Starscream smiled, and turned to Captain Hinara. "As for stealth, I could not agree more." He turned to Barricade. "So tell us, what are some safe locations?"

Barricade nodded. "Any unpopulated planets should be safe, as well as unpopulated areas of insignificant systems. As long as we can avoid being noticed by the Marro, we should be fine. The Imperialtrons view themselves as being too important to waste time patrolling unpopulated areas. Desert areas will work best, as there isn't anything there for the Marro to consume. Alternatively, Shopertainmentia would also make for a good hiding place. The planet is so diverse that even with being us, we should be able to hide in plain sight."

"so we should be safe in barren wastelands and the mall." Starscream began drumming his fingers together. "Excellent. And what of Galvicron? What can you tell us about him?"

"Unfortunately, that is where we will run into problems. He's extremely cunning, and if he feels something is important enough, he's not afraid to deal with it himself. He can solve almost any problem with ease, and he is also a brilliant strategist. With nearly Jedi like reflexes, he can react with immense speed and out think nearly any opponent. Further more, he has Loki to help him strategies, not to mention Ares."

Starscream's optimism faded quickly. "Ares and Loki. Slag."

Barricade looked solemn as well. "In combat, he is deadly in every sense of the term. He defeated Optimus Prime with ease after all. He's a great fighter, nearly invulnerable, and has both incredible strength and devastating fire power. Do you remember Galvicron's canon? That doesn't even come close to Galvicron's canon."

"Ah geese," Rattrap put his hand to his forehead, "so he's pretty much a god, right?"

Barricade nodded sadly. "That would be a fairly accurate analogy, yes."

"Yep, we're all gonna die."

Just as the Legend crew made their decision, and Rattrap had made his doomlaiden pronouncement, a hologram flickered into existence.
It was a short figure, dressed in light absorbing black robes, his face concealed by a hood.

"Well, isn't this nice" the figure said, as various and incredibly dangerous weapons cycled into full power.
"Don't shoot the messenger," the figure said "but you should know - Galvicron has agents already here. I should know. They're attempting to build a device to open the crack in reality your fine crew created Starscream. Good luck!" The figure waved merrily and then faded away.

"Well, that's the start of this merry chase then" JW% said with a sly grin.
"It seems we have an ally" Starscream said.
"I don't trust him" Ironhide said.
"What happened to my wallet?" Dreadnought asked.
Everyone looked around in shock "no wait, here it is" Dreadnought said waving the elusive wallet for all to see.

Starscream thought to himself. "We can't let Galvicron become aware of Rroo'tah. We'll have to return to our dimension, and make our presence known. If we're lucky, He won't try comming here if he knows where we are. At least for a little while."

Blackarachnia walked up to Starscream. "There's just one thing that concerns me. Whoever that was, he said that Galvicron all ready has agents here. If he's as smart as he's supposed to be, whoever these agnets are, they're probably spies." She narrowed her optics at Barricade.

Starscream shook his head. "I don't want to wast time second guessing everything we or the enemy does. For now, we need to move fast."

((I have the first couple of encounters with the villains planned more or less, so I guess it's time to get back to Universe 24601 before Galvicron arrives on Rroo'tah and conquers the FnorDoM!))

***Space, above the Pub***

The Concorde was cloaked. It's owner smiled to himself, he was rather pleased with himself. He'd ensured that Galvicron couldn't make it here, not before his plans had moved further into action. He wanted to flush out any other spies that Galvicron had here.

He had already identified one, and it was time to have them dealt with. And, as luck would have it, he smiled with a wry grin at the thought, "the infamous Saint" was about to encounter them. He looked above his head for a moment, as he signaled the ship to move on, before the rather powerful sensors below located him. Even though he had a feeling they already had.

***Meanwhile, back with Daniel the Saint...***

Daniel snuck into the Princess' stateroom. Inching the door open, he rolled into the room, banging his head on a table. Noisily. Sending one of the Princess' carefully placed misleading clues flying. Rubbing his head, he tripped over the rug, this time crashing into the desk, sending paperwork, and clues flying.

Daniel stood stock still. Dreading the return of the Princess or one of her lackeys. He heard a noise in the hallway, and dove over the counter.

Out in the hallway, the maid shuffled down the hall, intent on her lunch-break.

Daniel rose, dusting himself off.

Only to end up face to barrel with a large weapon, held in the steady hands of a large, and very annoyed looking Wallacian. His tusks vibrating in a rather intimidating fashion.
"Ohh bollocks" Daniel said.


Daniel ducked. This occurred at the exact moment the Wallacian stepped fowards to prod Daniel in the chest with the gun. So instead, the gun pocked him in the face. His hands went straight to his eyes with a melodramatic cry. The Wallacian had no idea what was going on, and held the gun loosely in confusion. Daniel chose this moment to strike out with his fists, and hit the Wallacian on the chin. It stumbled.

Daniel scrambled for the door. Which was kicked open by a pair of Vitruvian Boxers.
"This just keeps getting worse" Daniel muttered.

The boxers chuckled, and one began to take his jacket off to have freer use of his arms. Daniel chose this moment to lunge forward, and scuffle with him, in an attempt to reach the door and escape.

This failed miserably. Instead Daniel had gotten tangled up in the Boxer's jacket, with the boxer still with one arm in a sleeve and Daniel in the other. Daniel's struggles sent the boxer reeling, his free arm swinging.

Swinging into the face of the other boxer. In retaliation that boxer struck out, but again due to Daniel's frantic attempts to extricate himself, he had spun away from the blow, bringing the other boxer's head into line with the fist. This caused them to spin in the other direction. This time Daniel's flaying fist struck the free boxer's face, the force of the blow flowing back on Daniel and the trapped boxer sending them spinning again in the other direction, the free boxer again swung at Daniel's head, but only stuck his stuck allies head.

Around and around they went, the only people being hit where the boxers.

Eventually, both boxers were out cold, and Daniel was left wearing the boxer's jacket. He looked, dizzily, to see the Wallacian aiming his gun at Daniel. It was when he fired that Daniel's body chose to collapse from dizziness.

Daniel's hand dug in his pockets. And then in his own pockets for the teleport braclet. Triggering the recall mechanism, he was whisked away to safety.

"I don' think the bosses goin' ta be happy wit' this" the Wallacian said, as the boxer's got groggily to their feet.

((you guys never start off anything quietly, do you... scrambled and read all the posts from the whole two days...))


Pub

Roadbuster nodded, "Well, it seems we're off then. Though... I question the wisdom of unleashing the FnorDoM on an unsuspecting Cybertron." he arched his optic at Dreadnought, who was calmly thumbing one of his rifles.

At that moment, two others walked into the Pub with a cold gust of darkened air. Starshooter and Icefang looked around at the gathered crowd.

The small ice-kitten grumbled, "This place used to be so nice and quiet." While Starshooter waved at the assembled, "What's going on?"

Roadbuster smiled, "We're going to the mall, wanna come?"

Icefang growled, but Star lit up, "Yes!! Which mall?"

"One on Cybertron... a Cybertron run by an evil dictator called Galvicron. Oh, we might have to trash him first, that ok?"

With a cold ring of steel, Starshooter's swords were out in a flash, "Sure, I'm set!"

Icefang shrugs, "Yeah, whatever. We're in."

((Why? Doing things quietly isn't any fun.))

Hinara sat and listened as everyone spoke. He was partially paying attetnion to the Daughters of Soundwave also. "Harmless my ass" he whispered quietly in reply to thier attempts to seduce Virus, for what ever reason. As previously noted, he didn't care much for them, nor the Skeksis.

"I'd prefer more info before we go dashing off on any quest." He spoke up. "Doing hit and runs from the mall, isn't going be all that effective at winning a war quickly, and civilians are likely to be injured that way."

"It sounds that Galvicron's biggest weakness, at least currently known to us, is his faith in this ancient prophcey. No doubt he expends heavy resources on that one pursuit. The pursuit of finding Megatron. No doubt, they lost contact with Barricade's ship, they sent someone to investigate. They'll pick up the trail. Time passes faster there than it does here, how many years have gone past since Barricade left that realm? A century passed in a month, a few hours would be at the least, several days if not months. What? About 3 years would pass in just one day here?" He looked at Jaggedwing and Dreadnought to see if either could confirm his estimate.

Star frowned, normally he'd rush in head first to things, but this was war. He'd been in war many times in the past. He didn't want to just jump right in. Despite his misgivings, he was no more a puppet of the Skeksis as JaggedWing was, and JaggedWing being one of the few people in the room aware of Star being a renegade dimensional guardian, should have just made the rather intelligent descison that Star was aware of the Skeksis due to his former job. For what reasons, he might not know, but no doubt one of the guardians might have to go there to check up on prisioners, or even to deliever them. Though, anyone in the Pub could easily tell that Star didn't care for the Skeksis as he had avoided them most of his time in the Pub. Besides, what did he have to gain for siding with anyone present in the room? Other than a few very minor trade deals with Jaggedwing himself, he had nothing to gain for fighting with or against the Fnordom, The Legend crew, the Skeksis or Dreadnought. He wasn't overly willing to join in, anywhere, just yet. He still had questions to ask.

"When dealing with ships that are equipped with Transwarp it smooths out that time passing differently issue. That was the point of the technology, time travel. We could appear before Galvicron rose to power, or several centuries after Barricade left and Cybertron has been reduced to a metallic applecore." Best estimate he could give without plotting the course himself.

JaggedWing picked up the payphone again and dialed a number. You could almost hear the voice on the other line screaming "I told you I was busy!"

"Hrm. Figured Phil would pick up." JW% shrugged. "Doc, we've got what appears to be forewarning of a class five threat."

"Class fives don't give warnings." Archeville Rex growled back.

"Like I said, appears. I wouldn't bet on it being much higher than a class three myself, but..."

"Are we even using the same scale of measurement here? Nevermind. Yes yes, I suppose I'll get on it." Doctor Archeville grumbled. "Do you need anything ELSE?"

"From the looks of it we've got Roadbuster, Dreadnought, Starshooter, and Icefang along for the ride. Plus guests." He glanced at the Skeksis, Captain Hinara, Virus, the Daughters of SoundWave, Kradia, and BMS. "Standard guests."

"Then it had better at least be class four or higher." Doctor Archeville snapped and some how, despite the fact that the Emperor was speaking to thin air and letting remote microphones pick up his voice, he still managed to slam the phone down.

JaggedWing still wanted to stay here. But if the Mall was actually going to be their best bet for hiding, there was no way they'd keep all the Daughters of SoundWave away.

"It would probably be easier to gather any information we need from the home dimension of the Legend," notted Dreadnought. "Also, in my experience, time-dialation is an uncommon occurence between neighboring realities. More likely that the Legend was knocked back through time then the realm of its' home moves at a greater pace."

Dread paused in consideration, "that does pose something of a question. There has been a century of advancement since you all left, you could all very well be outmodded. On the other hand given the 'upgrades' you experienced earlyer you may be markedly more powerful then the native sciences of your home world. Barricade should be able to answer that question either way."

"Barricade," began Dreadnought with a Wry grin. "If your exit from your millitairy has not yet gone detetcted do you suppose you could arrange a meet between some of us and Galvicron, or at least some of the higher ranking Imperialatrons."

"On what basis?" asked Barricade.

"Why, an alliance of course, it is easiest tyo assassinate a man while you are shaking his hand."

Starscream walked over to Icefang and Starshooter. "Thank you both greatly for your assistance. Any help we can get in this war, the better." He offered his hands to each of them.

"You want, to ally with Galvicron?" Barricade asked, utterly perplexed by Dreadnoughts idea.

Starscream rejoined the planning comity after thanking Icefang and Starshooter. "It is a fact that an inside assassination is far easier than an outside one. Also, that would give us the opportunity to collect evidence that will be able to prove that Galvicron is in fact the peoples enemy, and not their savior as they foolishly believe. Then again, if it proves that Barricade's information is false," Barricade looked dejected, "No offense, we'll all ready be on his side, and so we'll be able to simply drop our plans and go with the flow. However, I don't think we can simply rely on joining his side. There does exist the possibility that he will be smart enough to realize that we're setting him up, or that someone from our side may inform him of our plans. Now, i do not suspect anyone at this point, but we should keep the possibility of one of us being a spy in mind at all times while planing."

"Dread also raises a good point about our power levels." Rhinox chimed in. "With a century passing, we may be out gunned. Barricade, why don't you take a look at our current power levels and see how strong we are compared to everyone back home." Rhinox handed Barricade a data pad.

Barricade took it, and looked over. His mouth fell agape. "These readouts are amazing!" He continued to scroll through the readouts, reading what the information had on each member of the Legend crew, and the Fnordees. "You're definitely all more powerful than any civilian, and most military troops. However, the higher ranking members of the Imperialtron forces are on equal footing with you, some of them being higher. As for Galvicron himself, his power levels are off the charts. And that's simply what he allows people to see. Chances are, the readouts he provides fro himself are an understatement to hide his true power." He brought up Galvicron's technical readouts on a holo-projector. All of his information was displayed, but no models of Galvicron himself. "He hates taking pictures. also remember that these are his 'official' readouts, and not his actual ones. It's impossible to get a scan of him without him either killing you, or jamming scanners. He's very secretive."

A few people gasped, Ironhide spitting out his drink, and Rattrap falling out of his chair. Rattrap regained his footing and looked at the readouts again. "What the slag is he, Unicron!?!?"

Barricade chuckled. "He's not as big, and far more of an intellectual individual than a simple devourer. Ah, and if you need them, I do have readouts of every Imperialtron Military Instillation. Security systems, secret entrances, the number of soldiers and their relatives strengths, all of it. I don't have anything on the Marro though. They keep their information to themselves and Galvicron."

Dread nodded. "That should help."

"Now what of time travel?" Silverbolt asked. "It seems to me that traveling to back before Galvicron rose to power would be our most effective plan."

"No." Starscream stated firmly. "You have to consider the myriad of paradoxes that would create. For example, if we go to that point in time, Then Barricade would never travel through time to warn us of whats happening, which would then mean we wouldn't know about it and therefore wouldn't travel back to that point in time, so thus everything would happen, and Barricade would come to warn us, leading us to go through with the plan again, leading to an endless cycle that would probably warp if not totally destroy the space time continuum. That is unless Barricade is willing to condemn himself to an eternity of traveling back in time to warn us over and over again."

BOOM!

The group looked to see Inferno's head explode from his attempts to keep up with Starsceam's description of the effects of time travel. Starscream shrugged. "As I was saying, it would be far too dangerous to time itself to go with that plan. I still believe that our best bet would be to return to our dimension, and set up base there so we can gather more information, and possibly alert Galvicron to our presence so he doesn't try coming here to find us."

Barricade nodded. "We should be safe here." His holographic projector changed to a projection of the galaxy, which zoomed in on an Earth sized barren planet. "It's a remote planet, too far from any civilized world to be of concern to the Imperialtrons, and it has no atmosphere, so the Marro won't be there. As long as we have atmospheric shielding, we should be able to build a base there."

Starscream smiled. "Excellent. That should do nicely. And if we establish a gateway between Castle Fnord and The Legend's computers, we can get whatever supplied we need from here. Our computers are capable of opening small portals between locations, in any time period, in any location. It's how we keep in contact with Megatron's friends on Earth. Not entirely sure what year the Wacky Gang of Doom lives in, as it bares a resemblance to 1999, but there are plenty of things there that didn't exist until later in Earths history, or was long gone before that year. Anyway, as long as Castle Fnord, or really anyplace in the FnorDoM has computers and computer monitors, we can travel back and forth at will. Sound like a plan?"

JaggedWing leaned in, interested to see exactly what readouts Rhinox had on him. He gave a nod when he read them, and turned his attention more to Galvicron's generals.

Just as Inferno's head exploded JaggedWing muttered "alternately we could copy Barricades mind into his younger self and send him through again to find us with all the memories he has now, even though Galvicron has already been eliminated a century ago, thus sidestepping that particular paradox and creating a dozen more..."

Doc wasn't going to like Phil being hijacked by The Legend and used as a pizza delievery boy, but that wasn't JW%'s concern anymore. Instead he was looking at the barren planet.

It looked like a dead world.

Great. Now JaggedWing was worrying about a volcano or series of earthquakes taking out this base they hadn't even set up yet. All it would take was a simple orbital bombardment or translocating suitable explosives into the inactive planetary core. With the ability to transport materials 'in any time period, in any location' he certainly would do something like planting explosives beneath their base to remove his enemies. Could Galvicron do no less?

(99% percent of this actually written by JW%, based on some ideas of mine, just giving credit)

At first, Virus had given a soft sigh of appreciation as BuzzSaw began to embrace him. As Steeljaw moved in, his signs of appreciation faded. By the time Lazorbeak had climbed into his lap, he was frowning at their intimate attention.

Virus sat through the attention a bit longer, but finally blinked his body away, appearing crouched about a meter higher then the three of them on the console, down on all fours, like a perched cat. This left the three of them tangled in their own limbs.

"I see you're not ones to take measures halfway." Virus spoke with a dry tone. He'd had enough physical contact from them for the moment. "Perhaps we should turn our attentions to this... council of war that's formed. After all, you did want to go along, and while it would be simplicity itself to remove this Galvicron from being a threat, perhaps it will be more interesting if I merely offer you the promise that those who do come along will not be harmed."

Virus sprang from his crouched position, twisting in midair as he flipped over the three Daughters of SoundWave, and landed before Starscream and the rest. "I will protect your crew," A glance at those not really part of the crew but who were coming along anyway, such as Starshooter and BMS, "All of your crew, from lethal harm, while at the same time allowing you the freedom to make any and all the choices to resolve your problems without my intervention. Watching from that perspective should provide me with suitable amusement to uphold my end of the bargain."

"Is this acceptable?"

The Daughters of SoundWave seemed to release a soft sigh as they fell into their tangle of limbs happily. Without Virus in their midst, they simply transfered their attentions to each other. RamHorn even aproached her sisters, providing a large mass behind them, as if to imply she was about to give them a big group hug.

Lazorbeak managed to turn around, BuzzSaw hanging off her sisters arm and Steeljaw leaning against her shoulder. They were all studying the technical readouts with the same intent interest JaggedWing had displayed. For them however it was more as if they were trying to plan asassination attempts on these targets.

"Well... we do want to help." Lazorbeak said, addressing Rhinox, since Starscream seemed to be in conferance. "If you think we can."

"And, y'know, if you say the mall is, like, still one of, y'know, the better places to, like, stage from, we're, like, all for it." BuzzSaw said. Her wings had slowed down to a simple fanning motion after Virus left. "If it helps to, like, blend in, and, y'know, have some faces that, like, Galvicron won't, y'know, identify as, like, part of your, y'know, crew," a gesture at Jessica, Icefang, Roadbuster, and Starshooter. "Looks like, y'know, you've, like, got that edge here, yknow."

"But if you think we'd just be in the way," Lazorbeak looked down at her lap, and her three sisters started to disengage from their hold. "It's alright. We wouldn't want to be any trouble."

It was a fabulously appointed estate. Built into the side of a mountain and patrolled by specially created drones. The sinister figure sat at the heart of this complex, like a spider at the centre of it's web.

Around him hung a number of computer screens, each displaying various pieces of information and video feeds. Including the construction of the Rift Manipulator, his vessel hanging in space over the estate and the "council of war" between Starscream and the others. He smiled at the thought that Galvicron's spy had established their presence already, but he scowled at the fact he still didn't know who it was. Galling in fact. As was the thought that the feed wasn't in fact from the spy, but actually from one of the more devious Fnordomese.

Putting those thoughts aside, he watched as "the Princess" walked towards his sanctum. He was dressed in his fine suit, rather then his robes (he was tiring of that particular image), so to preserve his identity, turned his chair away from the desk, so when she entered, she'd see only the back of the chair.

"Ahh my dear" he said "I see that you both failed and succeeded to provide the information the charming Saint needs."
"How do you think that?" she said with a scowl in her voice.
"He took one of your thug's jacket. I made sure that they had the suitable information in their pockets, just in case"
"You didn't trust me?" she was offended.
"No, no I didn't" the figure said, smoothly "your muscle, are they here as well?" he asked.
"Yes they are" she said, confused about his intentions.
"Bring them in" he commanded.

As the Wallacian and the two boxers strutted into the office, they walked past a lush internal garden. The air was rich with the heady scent of thriving plants. The large pond rippled gently, it's depths obscured somewhat by the light reflecting off it.

"Ah, so there you are. My rather defective bouncers" the figure said, his voice cool.
"He was a better fighter then she.." one of the boxers said, rubbing his sore face.
"SILENCE!" the figure roared. His hand raised in command.
They quietened down. The Princess smiled, she knew what was coming next, her superior's wrath was something to behold, or so she had been told.

"I do not tolerate one thing in my employees" he started "and that is constant failure. An occassional failure is a learning exercise. Constant failure is a sign that you're too stupid to learn. So you ... well I expect you can work the next bit out yourselves" he said. His hand hovvered near a control panel.

"However, I do not employ people who are motivated solely by money. They can't be trusted. And ANYONE" he began to bellow "who betrays their ENTIRE universe, they obviously can't be trusted either" The Princess began to pale.

"Now, this is a lesson to you" Daniel said.
"I do not tolerate people who betray others for money" the Princess began to back towards the door "now, get out" he roared, the boxers and the Wallacian scuttled away quickly, but the Princess, emboldened somewhat by the fact he'd killed noone so far, remained.

"You, on the other hand, Traitor" he turned his chair so to face the Princess. She was shocked at what she saw. The figure smiled, "surprised?" he then pressed the switch, and she tumbled into the water below. She thrashed, and was attacked by the creatures that lived there.

The figure stood, dusted himself off, and wandered out of hte room. He stopped, as another figure, this one short, completely bald and carrying a white cat walked into the room, the figure smiled and said "my dear Bloefeld, thank you for the use of your office" he then turned and walked off, "ohh by the way, I fed your snapping turtles"

"What is gain without risk," asked Dreadnought as he directed his focus to Virus. "Let others choose as they would but do not use your abilities to protect me."

Of course it had never been stated exactly that Virus would protect Dreadnought but the emperor knew to be clear when dealing with demigods.

"Looks like we can split into two groups," notted Dreadnought. "Those Galvicorn can expect, the Legend for instance, and those he should not such as myself. We could thusly split our forces between infilttration, sabotauge and assault."

Dreadnought paused glancing to the Daughters of Soundwave, "and I think you lovely ladies would be quite apt at infiltration, if for no other reason but I doubt the Imperialtrons will suspect a few more pretty faces that want to tag along with the big power in charge. Such a powerful faction in a world of the blissfully ignorant has GOT to have groupies."

"So, yes, seams both the mall trip and a litttle meet between dignitaries is still on the agenda. That is, if Barricade can get me a meeting with some one of note in the Imperialist movement. Another consideration is your Optimus. We should take steps to determine his fate conclusivly. If he is alive we can rescue him, if dead we can use him as a martyr and manufacture a new one. The people, if you whish to incite a rebellion, will need a rallying point a figure they can attach their ideals to."

((Right, I'm having a hard time writing for "the figure" given that I can't think of a title for him.

I'd like to do a big reveal, but before I do, has anyone worked out who he is? I rather think I've been heavy handed with it.

And, seeing as I'm having more fun writing for this character at the moment, we'll follow him for a while, rather then "the infamous Saint" Daniel))

((If you're wanting it to be a big reveal, you might want to remove this line:

"Now, this is a lesson to you" Daniel said.

Which is 'the figure' speaking.))

<_<
((ohh sod it. Cat. Out. Of. Bag.
I hope it entertained you, trying to work out who the figure is. He's Daniel, roughly a year into his own future. He's discovered the threat of Galvicron, courtesy of a message from someone on Starscream's war council, and then traveled backwards in time, set up a network of agents, and employees to seek out and neutralise that threat in a serupticious manner. He's also seeking Galvicron's agents in this universe, as you've seen, he's already identified and taken out one.

He's also a bit more of a "dark horse" then Daniel is usually written. A bit more "dangerous" I think, he cold-bloodedly just fed someone to snapping turtles after all.

This is, after all, something alluded to in past stories, the "affable buffoon" being a mask that slipped ever so often to show a rather cold, dangerous individual.
This is actually another mask, for what it's worth.
But something that happened between him and Galvicron occured that made Daniel incredibly angry (please note - there's no Chela the Mew with Daniel. He's still got his Timeship, it's aboard the Silverbolt styled ship).

He's also set up a network of contacts and agents in Galvicron's universe (given that he's able to easily slip between universes with the Timeship).

To use a Doctor Who metaphor - Daniel the Saint is the "Cosmic Hobo" version to this Daniel who is the "No Second Chances" version. Soon enough one will become the other again, Daniel is, after all, rather easily bored))

"What a horrible picture of me, who took that?" Star said with disgust as he looked at his own profile thing. "Deemed highly dangerous, exceptionally reckless, untrustful, quick to overreact, great piloting skills with a supremely attractive first-mate. But most importantly, a rather useful ally, signed Megatron." He smiled.

"Sabotage, I can deal with that, if you'll allow me. I'm pretty good with explosives, and I've still got this" he pulled out another of the vortex implosion grenades from his coat. JaggedWing pulled back as if in fear. "Its the last one, and I'm sure Jag won't mind me setting it off on an alien world if need be. I'm good at sneaking about when I want too also." He stuffed the grenade back into his coat pocket. The coat was unique as all the pockets were unspace pockets. well for a smuggler it was unique. "Of course, I'd need different and better grenades for different jobs, and quite a few special tools." He grinned looking at Barricades map, "That'll be my first target" he grinned and pointed at a deep space observation relay. "That'll blackout scanners for that whole section of space, allowing us free travel to get supplies in without being detected. No doubt I can make the explosion look like a power overload in the main generator. Most of those relays are unmanned and not that high on the importance list of being replaced or repaired, but if a ship was detected near by before it went offline, they'd send an armada to investigate."

Already the shortest creature present, Virus sat down on the floor with folded legs, tilting his head in a canine-curious gesture as he scanned the data with his black eyes. Dreadnaught's point about not being protected had been accepted with nothing but a nod. Little more was necessary, after all. When Star finished speaking, Virus only added, "No matter how secretive you are, and assuming complete success, a silent scanner station will attract it's own kind of attention. A zealous tyrant like Galvicron would be so paranoid at this point, he would likely send an armada just to escort the repair or replacement of the installation. His resources would allow such extravagance."

Popping his neck from side to side, Virus continued, "It might be far more useful to simply alter the programming in the fundamental structure of the observation station. Like the old 'looped footage' trick with video-cameras, or image echo signals for security holo-imagers. No point using weapons until we need to kill something."

He scratched his nails across his shirt, and then looked at them, seeming mildly annoyed by the specs of dirt on them. "Of course, if you just want to blow it up in secret, go right ahead."

"The problem with looping footage is, we never know exactly what they are going to observe. Its not going to pick up everything its capable of picking up all at one time, its probably got several thousand different types of relays on it. Its not just a scanning station. Ones for infared, ultraviolet, radio waves, optical, X-rays and so on and so forth, then you got various things such as zoom, pictures, who knows what all else it can do, and finally it monitors that entire end of the galaxy. Its possible they could just randomly choose to observes some quasar they've never observed and when you feedback the same info from the last one, well scientists tend to notice subtle details quickly. Once they realize that, they'll know its looping, but if it looks like a power overload, well, they won't jump that quickly. Besides, it'd take a lot more work to reprogram and feed in false info than to blow it up. Admittly you could do it very easily, but then again your powers make it pointless for the rest of us to even bother getting off of our asses and chat with these guys. And not to mention, its not secret otherwise it wouldn't be on Barricade's map out in plain site for all to see. Galvicron would never tell his troops where the secret ones are anyways. Though its hard to hide a scanning station because the scan waves and radiation give it away easily. And yes, we could just change the info for where we are at to a loop, but since it sees so much and certain traveling bodies, such as comets suddenly jump back into place then fly forward and radiation and cosmic dust levels don't pass through the system properly, then'll the scientists will notice that also. And if I had to guess, most of the computer stuff is done remotely from the planet or a ship, the array just serves as an amplifier for certain scanners."

Virus casually shrugged, remaining seated. The properly programmed loop for the various data-flows would still last longer in secret than blowing the thing up completely. An accidental explosion would still demand immediate response... but he'd made his point already, there was no reason to repeat it a second time.

((Sorry I fell off the face of the earth again. Lemme read through and I'll start up again tomorrow))