Author's Notes: Ah; a reviewer how nice to see that someone has expressed curiosity upon this...
To adress some of your questions Agent-G yes, those were Autobots in the flashback sequence; what they were doing was actually unimportant to the primary plot I originaly envinsioned for Repirt Part One, I've written a series of stories that take place before Rebirth, which I probably should have posted in the first place, but I started by rereading Repirth and growing interested in persuing it yet again.
The Decepticons that were changed with Galvatron into Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps were Bombshell, Kickback, Shrapnel, Skywarp and Thundercracker to be precise... None of whom I mentioned as being still active in the prologue.
You see Rebirth takes place after the two parter The Return of Optimus Prime, which in itself was the end of Season Three of the original Transformers series; then came a three part story titled Rebirth, which featured primarily the Targetmasters and Headmasters of both Autobot and Decepticon sides.
I've decided to write up my own version of the Rebirth, taking the characters that were still alive at the end of season three and adding a handful of new characters most of whom are from the Headmasters and Targetmasters subsets in the toyline proper. I don't know if anyone will actually enjoy the story, but perhaps by shedding a bit of light on the plans for it people will be more interested in seeing me continue it... This first part will deal primarily with what happens between the Decepticons and the Quintessons; The Decepticons in essence begin a war against the Quintessons.
Oh yes and before I forget; about Galvatron being Insane, that is an established part of Transformers canon, the third season of the Transformers depicted Galvatron as sane in certain respects, but at times he did tend to fly off the handle and start raving... It was even revealed in one episode that he had suffered damages to his systems within his cerebral circuitry which was the cause of his insanity, so to speak.
The scene with Galvatron and Megatron together was actually Inside Galvatron's mind; perhaps I didn't clarify that very well, it was meant to be a symbolic event showing how Galvatron's fractured mental state resulted in his previous forms re-appearance inside the mindscape so that symbolicaly when Megatron and Galvatron clasped hands to join forces it was simply an elaborate means to reveal that Galvatron had finally re-taken control of his senses and healed himself from those damages.
Man; talk about your long winded speeches, but hopefully that clears a few things up, what those Autobots were up to will probably seem more telling once I get Rebirth Part Two started and focus primarily on the Autobots Vs. Starscream and his new warriors. Anyway; I hope I've cleared things up, and I hope you'll continue to check in on this to see if I'm doing a good enough job, and now the update.
The burnt out world that has been dubiously dubbed Quintessa, for all worlds that serve as the home world are thus named, has become a place of celebration. As the mighty tyrant Galvatron is dragged from the flagship and bodily hauled to face the thronging masses of Sharkticons and the smaller amount of Quintessons. Cheers flow as cheap wine and the servants of the One cry out en masse for the death of the greatest threat known to their existence. Galvatron does not show his inner emotions; instead he stands head held high in defiance and boldly marches after his supposed captors.
Magistrate Sithicus fears they have all made a grave error for the special gift he was bestowed with reveals that the essence of the One can no longer be detected. Magistrates Arthinicohl, Protanus and Prosecutor Deionychus await their arrival with malicious and contempt smiles on their faces. General Anthrax, Liege Gnaw and Executor Krallox are heralded as heroes to the divine One, but Sithicus knows deep down in his twisted organ that serves as a heart, that capturing Galvatron was not the right thing to do.
"You have done well General." Arthinicohl praises waving his tentacles in glee. "For now we can enact vengeance for the fallen this demented freak has terminated."
"I look forward to prosecuting." The one-faced multiple-tentacled Deionychus remarked as coldly as his predecessors.
"You Quintessons have made a grave error this day." Galvatron shot back his voice no longer tinged with the madness he had expressed in the past. It was now dark, matter of fact and clearly representative of the intelligence behind it. His voice sent shivers down Sithicus' spine.
"Bring him and his loyal retainers to our supreme one." Protanus ordered with a wave of dismissal.
Rebirth Part One,
Chapter One
The great antechamber, throne room of the supreme magistrate Violenijer, it is here that the small procession of captors and prisoners arrive. Galvatron takes note with some satisfaction that it is not as opulent as he would have expected, the vast chamber is in fact barren save for the throne shrouded in the shadows caused by the odd placement of the lights. It is all one uniform color, a rather bland and hideous orange strikingly similar to some of the armor plating the great Unicron once wore before the Matrix tore his body apart.
Twin crimson eyes stare out from the shadows, a strange color for organic pupils, Galvatron muses. The immense form of this supreme magistrate chooses to emerge from his hiding, presumably to better gloat over Galvatrons' failings. He is at least twelve feet tall, making him the largest Quintesson Galvatron had ever seen, with a rather regularly proportioned body, two arms ending in five digit hands, two legs ending in feet remarkably similar to Unicrons mechanical ones. But he is obviously all Quintesson, eight tentacles whip about his person while a large cloak-like skin hangs from his shoulders and covers his body; well keeping the rest of his markings hidden from sight.
Twin bone like wings jet out from his back and his head is graced with five points matching the exact shape of a star protruding from the white-washed skull that serves as his head. Violenijer regards Galvatron with a bemused smirk or at least as close to one as a skull is capable of.
"You are very privileged Decepticon, not many have seen the face of the father of all Quintessons and were destined to live afterwards." He stated.
"You do not plan to execute him?" Sithicus demanded fear clear in his tone.
"Not until the One can reclaim the Pit, which you let this fool insert into his body." He snarled. "It is not so easily removed."
"Anthrax is to blame, not I." Sithicus argued.
"SILENCE!" Violenijer bellowed shaking the rafters of the room. "I will brook no failure, not from anyone nor for any reason." His bony countenance grimaced in as close to a pleasant smile as he could muster just before the uppermost left-hand tentacle unleashed a bolt of crimson energy shattering the five faces of the Magistrate and extinguishing his life force. "Now that, that is out of the way we can attend to business."
"Before you say anything I have no intention of relinquishing my new-found powers." Galvatron began. "And furthermore I shall kill you before this day is done and ensure the end of your miserable race."
"A bold statement for a doomed mechanoid." Violenijer chuckled.
"I would hardly call the bearer of the Pit doomed." Galvatron scoffed a dark glint in his optics. "It has opened my eyes to see past the lies your race told me on our first encounter."
"Naturally, it was present for those events as part of Unicron." The supreme one remarked almost as though he suspected something like this.
"With this knowledge I can easily eliminate your accursed race and unlock the secrets of Cybertron." The Decepticon exclaimed.
"Doubtful, you would need the Matrix for that and I doubt Prime would so readily surrender it." Violenijer stated.
"I shall pry it from his cold dead hands." Galvatron proclaimed optics gleaming confidently.
"Another bold statement, Megatron failed in terminating Prime outright. What makes you think you could fair better?" Violenijer inquired with an air of sinister mirth. Galvatron did not reply instead his lips spread wide in a knowing grin and his thoughts turned inward briefly. For he had a second chance at terminating Prime and this time he would not falter at the last instant to gloat as he mistakenly did when last they met when he was merely Megatron. Suddenly alarms began to blare and Violenijer looked up in shocked surprise as the General listened to the frantic report of one of his underlings.
"Supreme one." He breathed flinching involuntarily with the thought of what he had to report. "Incoming."
"Incoming what?" Violenijer barked making quite clear that he did not enjoy playing games.
"Decepticons." Anthrax whispered barely audible over the blaring alarms Galvatron smirked victoriously.
The large almost garishly colored green, grey, orange and purple city; sealed for space travel hovered above the lifeless husk of a world its' twin towers gleaming as they caught the orbiting suns rays. Shadow smiled darkly as thoughts turned to a brutal massacre of the pathetic organics' and he turned to face Fasttrack and Triggerhappy.
"Time to have some long deserved fun." He stated bemusedly.
"Indeed." Scorponok chuckled. "Horrorcons, Decepticons begin the assault." He ordered.
As hoards of Sharkticons and smaller attack craft rose up to defend their world five cybertronian style jets blasted from the city banks and took up attack patterns. A seeker and a small seemingly harmless robot also leapt into the void and hovered next to the mighty fortress as it began it's terrifying transformation. Panels shifted, buildings vanished only to form the massive pillar-like legs of the mighty robot that had led his small band off of Cybertron in search of new battles. The arms were formed from the towers, ending not in hands, but twin pincers indicative of his mechanical scorpion form, which he had chosen to forego for this assault.
Where once hovered a mighty fortress there now seemingly stood, for there was no actual ground in the cosmos. The mighty Scorponok in all his horrendous glory, at the sheer sight of this massive warrior many of the Sharkticons scattered in fear. But Shadow knew it would take more than that to dissuade the Quintessons and their lowly cannon fodder storm troopers, and he also knew that the six warriors and Fasttrack were more than up to the challenge.
"Time to let this play out, I can't let his high and mightiness become aware of my presence just yet, not until I'm certain his threat has been eliminated." He muttered to himself as he held back and watched the beginnings of the massacre a twisted smile on his lips.
The swarm of Sharkticons was cut to pieces as Misfire and Slugslinger zipped through them and assaulted one of the Quintessons' cruisers strafing across her flank before moving over the blind side and streaking down into the planets' atmosphere. Triggerhappy and Snapdragon blew through the crippled cruiser at top speeds eager to commence the slaughter of those Quintessons trapped on the surface. Apeface had picked up Fasttrack by now allowing the smaller Decepticon to remain within his cockpit as he covered the descent of his comrades, his weapons screamed as one Sharkticon after another was torn asunder. Scorponok was given a wide berth; after he crushed two of the war cruisers with his claws the Quintessons had learned the error of attempting assault.
"Where is that Shadow character?" Fasttrack wondered as Apeface initiated a barrel roll to lose one of the pursuing assault craft.
"Does it really matter? Scorponok and I should be able to hold our own while Triggerhappy and the others locate Galvatron and his lieutenants." Apeface replied even as a target lock warned him of another assault craft on his tail.
"Annoying Quintessons." Fasttrack muttered.
"I think those are manned by drones, the actual species is growing dangerously close to extinction, at least according to Defcon." Apeface remarked.
"You trust that Autobot tracker." Fasttrack scoffed.
"All I know is he was never part of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, besides better to be on his good side than under his sights." Apeface stated blowing the pursuing drone ship away after looping up and over the ship.
"Whatever, I just hope those four misfits can find Galvatron before we get vaporized." Fasttrack admitted a slight tremor in his voice.
Within the throne room of the supreme magistrate Violenijer; chaos was unleashed as Galvatron broke free of his shackles and fired on Arthinicohl incinerating the smug magistrate instantaneously. Gnaw ordered his guards to seize him, but they were no match for the raw strength now possessed by the despot.
"Cyclonus, Scourge it is time to take our leave of this pathetic planet." He stated blowing apart their shackles and taking to the air.
"Stop them!" Protanus cried his tentacles waving about in chaotic fashion. The three Decepticons burst from the bowels of the planet just as a new horde of assault vessels and Sharkticons were launched as reserve troops. Among them was five more war cruisers, hovering above the floor of the bridge of the lead cruiser was magistrate Exodius a twisted smile on his lips.
"Time to test out our new improvements." He stated. "Sharkticons! Assault Drones! Begin merger sequence!" Upon his cry each squadron broke away from the group and took up positions at a designated spot above the planet; before the countless optics and eyes watching this strange new tactic, each squadron of assault drones began to transform and merge into the form of a larger ship. While each squadron of Sharkticons shifted into robot mode and then merged into a much larger robot reminiscent of Unicrons robotic form albeit extremely less imposing than the monster planet.
"What do we do now?" Cyclonus wondered.
"Pray." Scourge suggested.
At precisely that same moment Slugslinger, Misfire, Triggerhappy and Snapdragon arrived in the planets lower atmosphere bearing witness to the dangerous new ploy of combined Sharkticons and assault drones. Triggerhappy couldn't help himself he burst into laughter at the sight of the pudgy little Sharkticons now merged into a pudgy giant Unicron knock-off.
"If that's supposed to be a threat I'm a slagging Autobot in disguise." Slugslinger stated chuckling as he took up the forward position.
"This is going to be fun." Snapdragon exclaimed transforming into beast mode and grinning hungrily.
"Let's have a demolition derby." Misfire suggested leveling off and charging his cannons.
"Yeehaw!" Triggerhappy cried for lack of a better word and then the battle was joined.
Slugslinger opened fire strafing the first assault cruiser unfortunately his blasts failed to tear through the armor plating. Slugslingers' follow up blasts managed to knock the cruiser out of control, but it failed to detonate and now it was out of range for Misfires' blasts.
"Who are they?" Scourge wondered.
"I don't recognize them." Cyclonus admitted as he converted into vehicle mode and initiated his own strafing run, Scourge shifted alongside him and rocketed up to the three newcomers.
"We have to put all our firepower into one attack on one cruiser at a time; it's our only hope of destroying them." Triggerhappy was saying.
"Agreed." Slugslinger stated. "We'll start with the one on the far left."
"Count me in." Scourge added as he pulled up alongside the unknowns.
"Excellent timing, all right form up on Misfire." Triggerhappy ordered.
"Why do I get point this time?" Misfire complained.
"Because you're expendable." Triggerhappy snapped. "Now get going!"
"Jerk." Misfire muttered as he initiated the attack run. He came in sharp and fast running over the bow of the combined drones ship, Triggerhappy counted down from five and all four opened fire targeting one specific spot near the drones that had formed the engine. They were quickly rewarded with a massive explosion as the engines detonated tearing apart the numerous drones instantly.
"All right!" Slugslinger whooped circling the flaming wreckage as it plummeted from the sky.
"Unprofessional punks." Cyclonus remarked as he joined the four flyers, Slugslinger cursed under his breath while Misfire made a startling revelation.
"What happened to Snapdragon?" He asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" Triggerhappy exclaimed just before one of the Sharkticon gestalts screamed and Snapdragon burst out of its chest gnawing on several assorted body parts. The giant exploded, as it could no longer sustain itself and Snapdragons' optics gleamed with a wild light as he set his sights on the next giant.
"Enough of this." Scorponok called over the communication line. "Get Galvatron and come on I'm running low on energon and we can't hold them off indefinitely."
"Sure thing." Triggerhappy called back. "You heard him guys lets' move we can finish these creeps off another day."
"A sound observation." Cyclonus remarked. "Mighty Galvatron; come it is best we postpone our desire for revenge for when we have more forces to consolidate our power."
"Agreed Cyclonus." Galvatron observed as he joined the others in the air. "Lead the way warriors." Triggerhappy pulled up first vectoring in on Scorponoks' location above the planets' atmosphere while Slugslinger converted into robot mode and bodily dragged Snapdragon away from his next meal before he got left behind. As the assorted group of Decepticons rose into the vast interstellar cosmos Galvatron literally gasped in surprise at the sight of Scorponok.
"A mighty warrior indeed, he shall make an excellent addition to my forces." He exclaimed even as Scorponok shifted back into his awesome city, space cruising mode.
"All aboard." Fasttrack called as he and Apeface landed inside the hangar.
Meanwhile; as Scorponok was making good his escape, someone else was approaching a puny looking satellite orbiting the remains of a once proud world, he landed before the entranceway to a primitive looking laboratory complex and a cold chill began to creep through the construct harboring his arrival. The puny little simian-like creature seated before the massive control panels stirred from his rest as that chill startled him into wakefulness, whirling around he faced a lumbering brute of a form cobbled together from mismatched parts. And he let out a tiny screech as he was bodily picked up in the hand-like appendage.
"Greetings Primacron I have need for your remarkable talents." Unicron stated bringing the puny flesh creature to eye level.
"Of course, of course a new planet devouring body?" Primacron inquired.
"No, such a lumbering form is too dangerous to take at this moment, something smaller will suffice." He replied unceremoniously dropping the little fool.
"I shall get right to work, my greatest creation shall not want for anything." Primacron muttered to himself as he began contemplating a bunch of plans that he called up on the monitor.
"I am no ones creation worm." Unicron snarled. "Remember that well or you may find yourself floating through the void without a spacesuit."
"Ah…of course, of course. My apologies oh great one." Primacron stated as he continued his work, Unicron sneered in contempt of the beast as soon as his new body was finished he would terminate the little gnat and this time make certain he didn't miss.
He rested as best he could, having managed to hitch a ride onboard Scorponok in a secluded area of the great city-con. His mind reeled with the awesome though terrifying presence of Galvatron not more than a few levels above him and he shuddered as that minds' dark thoughts centered on one new goal, the complete eradication of the Quintesson race. Shadow was usually not so capable of reading his thoughts, but the nearness of Galvatron coupled with his seething rage at the Quintessons bore into his mind penetrating the limitations of his odd gift and granting him a clear look at the very essence of the tyrant.
Shadow chose to block out these unwanted thoughts the only way he knew how, by focusing deeply and searching out the mind of one other who was meandering around this vast void called a Galaxy. When he finally found her he was amazed at the situation she had gotten herself in and decided to continue observing her to see just how this little game played out, you never could tell. It might prove useful or at least serve as an amusing distraction for the long trip back to Shockwave.
The deadly assassin stumbled in her headlong flight from her former quarry, several energy blasts ripped across the sky in her general direction and she was hard pressed to avoid them all. Ever since the fall of her savior and his treacherous abandonment at the hands of the annoying Starscream she had been on the run using her newfound capabilities to track down his body. She held no disillusionment that he had somehow survived despite the damages; however she knew he deserved a proper funeral pyre to commemorate all he had stood for and honor his memory.
Unfortunately her pursuer at the moment was one who did not want to see her succeed, in fact he was determined to bring her back to her planet of origin and be forced to return to the enslavement of her original bodies' creator.
"You have no hope of outwitting me this time little one, surrender or die." He called racing heedlessly through the dense jungle of the alien world.
She had thought that if she found him first and terminated him she could continue on her own little quest, however things were not proceeding to plan. Leaping over the nest of some long gone creature she managed to at last find several clumps of trees so packed together as to offer shadows to hide in.
Leaping swiftly above the ground and into their branches she waited for what seemed like an eternity, her pursuer was no fool and he would not miss such an obvious place of ambush, but perhaps she could manage to throw him off with some brilliant strategy or other. She might have succeeded in this if not for two factors that threw off her concentration, first was the sudden inexplicable burst of searing heat; the second was the onrushing wave of pain and disorientating dizziness. She tumbled from her perch and fell flat on her back in the noonday sun of this primitive world looking up at the brilliant orange glow of the sky she at first thought the sun had gone supernova. It wasn't until she sensed the first licking tendrils of auburn flame that she realized something had started the organic life to burst aflame.
"By the great smelter." Her pursuer cursed. "How is this possible?" His shadow fell over her as he backed away from the encircling flames; glancing up at his face she caught sight of his bewilderment and knew that he was not the cause of this. Although she had already suspected some outside source, machines, great hulking land devastating abominations began to appear in the sky launching bursts of flames to encompass the acres of land this jungle rested upon. They were of a type alien to her memory banks, but, she shuddered uncontrollably and knew she was in great peril, soon assault chariots appeared above them both unleashing hordes of walking mechanical shark-like beasts and they scurried about devouring the native animal life.
"That is good, continue my pets we must harvest this world and reformat it to suit our needs." A five-faced creature urged from atop his chariot.
"Look." A thin and reedy looking version of the five-faced demon called indicating the twin forms of hunted and hunter. "Cybertronians."
"We shall collect them for study." The first one stated waving several shark-beasts to their location.
"No, they have stumbled upon a world the Quintessons are beginning to decimate to create another factory world for their miserable race." Shadow cursed. "But they are too important to lose, Galvatron may have need of the female sooner than he could possibly imagine. And the Autobot tracker has a destiny to fulfill; I must do something before it is too late… But what?" He needn't have worried, for even as he thought this several blasts streaked from the sky obliterating the assault chariot and the drones they carried as well as the two unknown Quintesson overseers.
"Who?" Defcon wondered before the drab looking fighter jet swooped out of the sky to strike at a second chariot leaden down with Sharkticons. "Blitzwing."
"Defcon you fool transform and lets' get out of here already." The renegade Decepticon argued.
"But my prey?" Defcon inquired turning to regard the patch of grass she had rested upon mere moments ago.
"Already fled, come on already Optimus needs to have a word with you. I am getting so sick of him using me as a messenger boy." Blitzwing complained even as he joined Defcon in escape velocity.
"Then bring it up with him at your next session." Defcon quipped banking towards the distant planet of Cybertron.
"Yeah right and risk having the Autobots banish me from Cybertron, fat chance." Blitzwing shot back annoyed even as he inwardly considered the possibility.
Shadow turned away from the two wayward souls and refocused on finding the third part of this little drama, finally locating the form of a sleek dark purple space faring vessel. She was heading in the opposite direction towards the distant star where surprisingly enough Scorponok was also enroute.
"And thus all the major players are drawing towards one another, well almost. Prime and his forces are just now preparing to attempt to deal with Starscream and his followers, and Galvatron will soon lead the Decepticons on a universal campaign that should end in Violenijers' downfall." He mused contemplatively. "Ah, but this little part of our ongoing struggle is but a small footnote for the greater climax still to come concerning the secrets still buried on Cybertron and the obsessive dark one." He added with a knowing smile.
To Be Continued: Have I managed to explain some things? Have I piqued your curiosity enough that others will read & review to let me know if I should bother continuing? I fear only one further chapter remains before I run out of material to post surrounding my Rebirth trilogy, for indeed a trilogy it is; Rebirth, Part One's focus will be on the Decepticons. Part Two is mainly upon the Autobots and to a lesser extent Starscream, and as for Part Three... Well let's just say Unicron won't be going quietly I can promise you that.
So let me know what you thought of my little tale; I'll take a look at what I wrote as a pro-prologue to Rebirth story wise and see if anything needs to be changed and then maybe I'll start posting them as part of a new story called Transformers Referandum set in the years prior to events depicted in Transformers The Movie... And for those of you wondering who the Female Decepticon is, well her identy will be made clear in the next chapter, IF I get more reviews telling me to continue.