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
“You mean the legends of a race of robots who fought off the Quintessons are true?” Mabuto Tuku was shocked, he’d never dreamed of encountering legends for real.
“You know the Quintessons?” The Ark asked, still wearing the face of Mabuto’s girlfriend Akira.
“They control this planet, and they’re coming here now, your defence system said it was defending against them...”
“Activate external monitor systems, show us the attacking forces...”
Holographic display systems kicked into action, real time footage of the outside of the city as well as radar like displays were projected into the air in front of The Ark.
“They have the Terrorcons again...”
“No, those are Raptorcons, the fastest of their attack and recon forces.”
“Their Terrorcons have evolved? How many evolutions do they have?”
“Three, Raptorcons, Jaguarcons and Sharkticons, each one they use for a different reason...”
“Three... Have you ever heard of the Decepticons?”
“No, should I have?”
“It’s a long story... Basically, the Autobots and the Decepticons were the first and second generations of Quintesson armed forces...”
Quintesson Production Planet C – Cybertron, 14 million years ago
“I dislike this, the Alpha models are too trusting, too into the preservation of life...”
“Alpha Q you know as well as we do that the Delta series more than makes up for the flaws in the Alphas...”
“The Deltas are the complete polar opposite of the Alphas...”
“They worry me too, these models have too much free will, they will cause problems...”
“No, they won’t, we installed the standard security clauses... Isn’t that right Megatron?”
“Yes... Master,” The large grey robot standing beside the Quintesson nodded, before grinning and blowing the faces off the Quintesson he was standing beside, “Decepticons! Attack!!”
The windows around the room suddenly shattered at the sonic boom of the flying Decepticon aircraft.
“Megatron?? What are you doing?” Alpha Q cried.
“Taking our rightful place... As rulers of the universe!”
“Stop right there Megatron,” a voice from behind him cried out.
Megatron spun round to find himself faced with 4 robots, the lead a red one with a large plasma rifle aimed at him, “And you would be?”
“I am Optimus Prime, head of Cybertron Security...”
“And then?”
“Basically, Optimus and Megatron spent centuries fighting each other to a standstill, eventually the Quintessons created the first of the Terrorcons, who fought both the Autobots and the Decepticons, it was then that the Autobots turned on the Quintessons, it took them another thousand years to almost wipe them out, longer still to destroy the Terrorcons...”
“Then we turned our attention to the Decepticons...” a deep voice echoed around the chamber.
Mabuto turned slowly to see the tallest of the Autobots, the one with a truck cab for a torso, standing just out of his cylinder.
“Ah, Optimus, you’re awake...” The Ark’s voice trailed off.
“The Quintessons are here?” the huge robot asked The Ark.
“Yes, they appear to have detected the Energon stores.”
“Of course, they’ll be using the Terrorcons to sniff it out... And the humans?”
“Subjugated, the Quintessons have controlled this planet for... How long?” The Ark turned to Mabuto.
“We’re not sure, they invaded about the middle of the 21st century...”
“Impossible,” Optimus’ eyes held the confusion that Mabuto felt at the reply, “We went into hibernation here on Earth in the Earth year 2105, a hundred years after the last battle in the Cybertonian Wars.”
“But then...”
“Ark, what year is it?”
“According to the celestial sensors it’s currently October 12th, 4675.”
Mabuto could only stare open mouthed at The Ark.
“It would seem the Quintessons are up to their old tricks Prime,” a new voice sounded from the cylinders, this one from a yellow robot, who’s torso looked like the top half of a Volkswagen Beetle.
“About time we stopped it huh?” a slightly larger robot whose torso was mostly yellow/gold with green highlights.
Prime looked at his comrades, “Brawn, Bumblebee, see to the process of reinitialising the others, start with Wheeljack and Perceptor, get them to look at the Ark systems, I want it all at 100%, we need to stop the Quintessons.”
“Aye Prime,” the two answered in unison before heading off to study a bank of computers.
Prime looked down at Mabuto, “What is your name?”
“I’m known as Mabuto, is there something we can do to help? We have been fighting the Quints for a long time too...”
“Yes, we need to ascertain the status of the entirety of the Quintesson forces, you have leaders in your rebellion?”
“Yes, but I do not know how to contact them, it’s a security measure...”
“Of course, each cell is to be kept separate and unconnected, but that method does require that one person in each cell can contact another cell...”
“The professor...” Mabuto paused, “James Cain, the head of this expedition, he has to know...”
“I must speak to him,” Prime said, “Where is he?”
“The medical bay Prime,” The Ark informed him, “He is gravely ill.”
“Can the medi-droids heal him?”
“Unknown, his illness is age related.”
“We need that contact...” Prime turned and strode towards the door that lead further into The Ark, “Are you coming?” he called back to Mabuto.
Unsure what to do, Mabuto ran to catch up with the giant robot.
“Report,” Prime demanded as he strode into the medical unit.
“Physical damage is being repaired, mental stress is detected and cannot be repaired, calcium deterioration in the bone system detected, unable to repair.” The medical computer passed a scanner over the Professor one last time, “Long term prognosis, terminal. Estimated lifeforce remaining, 36 hours.”
“So... It’s nice to know how long one has to live...” the Professor said softly as he sat up, looking round, then up at Optimus Prime, “You exist...”
Prime nodded, “Yes.”
“The story was passed down, father to son, from my ancestor, Spike Witwicky...”
“Spike...” Prime breathed, “He returned to Earth?”
“Yes, the story went that he heard that you had disappeared, thinking he was the Last Autobot he returned,” the Professor coughed before continuing, “To combat a terrible evil that had landed on Earth, an evil they called Galvatron...”
“No... He survived?” Prime was shocked, “But I saw him, saw him die...”
“He must have survived somehow, but the story goes that he was deranged, insane, attacking anything that moved...” the Professor paused, taking a few deep breaths, “The story has it that Spike used a giant robot somehow to stop Galvatron, but it cost him... He never returned...”
“He... Used a robot?” Charley asked looking from the Professor to Prime.
“Yes, Spike was a Super Headmaster, he became the head of an Autobot, Cerebros, who in turn became the head of a giant Autobot known as...”
“Fortress Maximus,” a new voice said from the doorway.
“Prowl, good to have you back online, how is the Ark’s security system holding up?”
“Good Prime, the Terrorcons are putting up a good fight, but the defense system is still in good operating form.”
Mabuto looked up at this new robot, it’s chest looked like the front end of a car, and the wings off his shoulder had the word ‘Police’ across them.
Prime nodded, then turned back to the biobed, “Professor, please continue...”
“That’s the story as far as it goes, it was passed down through the male line of our genetic tree...”
“We need to know if you have any contacts within the resistance,” Prime paused looking at the old man, “We must contact them.”
“I... I...” The Professor’s breathing was beginning to become labored, as if his lungs weren’t quite working right.
“Professor!” Charley cried as she moved to his side.
“Ark?”
“His internal organs are shutting down, we are unable to halt this process, logistics programs are attempting to resolve the conflict with our earlier diagnosis.”
“Professor... Please.”
“Taylor...” the Professor gasped, “His name... Is Taylor...”
