They were a legend... A myth...
Deep in the African jungle they slumbered, exhausted from their eons long war...
Until they were woken by humans, desperate for something to believe in...
A force of good to combat the worst evil Earth had ever seen...
They are...

Earth, 2345

The planet is radically different to how it was in the early 21st century.

In the year 2054 a malevolent alien race known as The Quintessons invaded, using their robotic army of Sharkticons, Jaguarcons and Raptorcons to completely subdue the human race.

Since then they have ruled with an iron fist, and crushed any opposition to their rule.

But humanity is loath to remain under the control of tyrants for long, and a rebellion began. The rebels named themselves after a legendary force that The Quintessons talk about in hushed voices, a force that subdued and almost wiped them out...

The war-cry of many a rebel leader was one that struck fear into the hearts of the Quintessons...


“We need weapons if we are to continue this...”

“General Quinn we have limited resources, we need to focus on supporting the free humans.”

“Councillor Marie, we need to free more humans for this fight, and we need to recall those explorer teams you sent out.”

“No, those teams are our last hope, our only hope...”

“You’re really placing the hopes and dreams of the whole of humanity on some ancient legend we don’t even know is real??”

“Yes.”


Somewhere deep in the African jungle an exploratory team was excavating the ruins of an ancient city.

“What was this place Professor?”

“Why Charley, you know exactly what it was, it’s the place of First Impact...”

“Humanity’s first encounter with an alien race?”

“According to the inscriptions on this wall, yes.”

“So you think it’s possible that this is where we might find them?”

“Yes, he does,” the tall dark skinned man at the door answered for the frail looking explorer.

“Professor! We found something!” came a cry from further in the cavern.

“What is it?”

“It... It’s the Rebellion Symbol!”

“No, that’s the symbol of them...”

“Them? They really existed??”

Charlene “Charley” Morris looked around at the Professor, “I believe the Professor is about to find out...”

“Yes...” Professor James Cain slowly made his way forward. There on the wall, in red was something that brought hope to the hearts of humans everywhere.

“Professor! Energon!” Akira Sino, the professor’s assistant screamed, her red hair glowed like the sun.

“Damn!” the dark skinned man swore as he turned and rushed out of the chamber.

“What is it?” Charley asked worriedly.

“If Akira has sensed Energon, it means that the Quintessons will have detected it too, and they’ll dispatch a retrieval team of Raptorcons,” the Professor answered her, “We have to find that glyph, there will be another one near the Rebel Symbol, it should look like a cog, about the same size as the Rebel Symbol...”

“Professor! I found it!”

“Akira! You know what to do...” With a sigh he sat down on the nearest rock. After seventy years of slavery and ten years as a rebel, he was worn out. James Cain envied the young rebels around him, they’d been born free, some of the first, yet still they fought, tried to find things to rebel against, both on the human side and the Quintesson side...

The red haired Akira, her hair still glowing, moved towards the glyphs on the wall. As her hands came closer to them, it seemed almost as if her hands were glowing too...

Charley moved forward, it wasn’t her hands glowing, it was the glyphs!

“Yes, now you see, the true power of Energon...” the professor breathed, “Life, death, the continuation of our species, with Energon it will all happen...”

“But not before the Quints get here!” their dark skinned guard cried as he ran into the chamber, “They’re less than ten minutes away!”

“Too late!”

Akira’s hands touched the two glyphs at the same time.

A voice echoed round the chamber.

“Systems Restart Initialised”

“Engaging Fortress Defence System”

“Detecting Enemy Forces Approaching”

“Assigning Attack Code”

“Engage”

Suddenly the chamber came alive with glowing lights and display consoles appeared, sliding out from beneath the stone tablets embedded in the walls.

The consoles light up, displaying tiny red blips converging on one medium sized blue blip.

“Defence Shields Up”

Suddenly the blue blip was surrounded by a thin yellow circle.

“Professor...” Akira’s voice trailed off.

“What is it?”

“There’s more to this place...” As her voice trailed off again the wall behind the professor rumbled then slowly split in two.

Beyond was another, much larger chamber, unlike the outer chamber, this one was much, much more modern, metal gleamed from the walls and floor, phosphorescent lights beamed from the ceiling.

“Biological Entities Detected In Control Chamber”

“DNA Scan Is Negative”

“Awakening Sequence Begun”

“Professor, look!” Charley pointed to a series of huge cylinders against the far wall. Whereas they had originally been the same color as the wall, now they pulsed with yellow energy.

“Professor, they’re using Energon!”

“Ark III Revival Protocols Triggered”

“Computer AI Initializing”

“Physical Appearance Scanning Complete”

“Form Absorption Complete”

“Reproducing Complete”

A small door to the left of the chamber slid smoothly up to reveal...

“Akira!” Charley cried, “How did you get in here?”

“I am not Akira, I am The Ark III, you are within me, this form is simply to give you a focal point when you converse with me.”

“Then what...?”

“The Akira you knew is gone.”

“Akira? Gone?” the Professor breathed.

The Ark/Akira looked the Professor over, “You are dying, do you need assistance?”

“I...” the Professor’s voice trailed off as he slowly slumped to the floor.

“Professor!” Charley rushed to his side.

The Ark/Akira looked up towards the ceiling, “Medical Droids to the Command Center.”

At her voice several doors in the walls opened and emitted several weird looking robots, one shaped a bit like a table with wheels and another two that looked like octopuses on pedestals, the robots moved the Professor onto the table like one, then moved towards a 4th door in the wall.

“You may go with them Charley, they will guide you to the medical bay, where they will repair him.”

“But...”

“Go, we’ll keep an eye on things here,” the tall dark skinned man told her.

“Mabuto? Are you sure?”

“Perfectly,” His gravely voice rumbled from his chest.

Once Charley, the robots and the Professor had left the room, Mabuto turned to The Ark/Akira.

“Why her?”

“She was here, she was receptive, Akira was one of the few that had been chosen to potentially awaken us.”

“Us?”

The Ark/Akira turned and gestured to the cylinders near the wall, which were now transparent, each one held a different robot, the smallest was at least ten feet tall, the largest, who had a torso that looked like it was a truck cab, was over thirty feet tall. On all of them was the symbol of the rebellion...

Mabuto let out a breath, “The Autobots...”


Introduction

Chapter 2

Prepare for war, but strive for peace.
- Fortress Maximus