Among the tall skyscrapers and charred skies of Chicago, a war was being waged between Maximal, Quintesson, and the Human. Where there had once been a beautiful city, there was a battlefield scared with blast craters, missile debris, and fallen buildings. Fortunately, most of the inhabitants had fled to bomb shelters in various sections of the city, escaping the wrath of the invaders. Their ultimate fate, however, had yet to be decided.

As various Cybertronian ships bombarded the Quintesson fleet, one of the larger vessels opened fire, taking out several of the newly arrived Maximal fighters. Suddenly, the Quintesson vessel exploded, its energon core vaporizing in a blue cloud. A shadow entered the sky, swooping past the ravaged Sears Tower. It flashed in a ball of light, revealing itself to be the DarkStar.

Inside the Predacon vessel, Coyotek howled with delight. "Hooooow-Yeeeeeaah!" he cheered, "Shove that in your tailpipe!" He manned the weapons and flew the DarkStar in huge circles about the city, whipping out handfuls of Quintesson vessels with every pass.

The DarkStar swooped past one of the many damaged skyscrapers, shaking it to its foundation. Optimus Primal, Megatron, and most of the other Maximals were perched upon it, observing the battle from a lofty post.

Megatron growled at the sight of the DarkStar. "Agh! I can’t believe you talked me into giving that mangy canine control of my ship!"

"He’s a better pilot than any of us Megatron. He’ll make good use of the DarkStar while we try to infiltrate the command ship."

Even with Optimus’ assurance, the Predacon still growled under his breath. "All I shall say is that is better be worth the effort…" he mumbled.

Without warning, a disruptor blast hit the building they were standing on. Glass and metal shattered, the whole structure shaking. A large chunk of the top floor cracked, breaking away and smashing into the streets below. The Maximals and Megatron backed away, trying to keep on the remaining portion, but that proved to be difficult as the building began to shake uncontrollably.

Ursacon, well aware of the severity of the situation, grunted, "Me think this no look good!"

From behind, another sizeable chunk of the building broke away, smashing into a row of cars on the pavement. Gold Blade slipped, tumbling backwards. She screamed. Immediately, RazorLeaf reached out to her, lashing out a fibrous plant tendril. It latched onto Gold Blade’s arm, stopping her just a few meters from the broken ledge. But it was only momentarily….

RazorLeaf’s grip wasn’t very tight. Gold Blade’s arm started to slide out. She shrieked, "I’m slipping! I’m slipping!" RazorLeaf tried to get a better grip, but his sister fell from his grasp in mere nano-clicks. Gold Blade started to fall again, screaming in terror.

"NO!" RazorLeaf yelled, still trying to reach his sister.

NightScream, standing just behind Megatron, pushed the large Predacon aside and dove over the edge. "Hang on Gold Blade!" he shouted. He folded his arms and wings against his body, allowing himself to plummet faster. Soon, he was at Gold Blade’s depth, the pavement below closing in fast.

The flying Maximal quickly grabbed onto Gold Blade and held her to his chest. His wings then opened, slowing him down. NightScream started flapping, gradually ascending along the building’s side. Gold Blade sighed in appreciation, putting a hand on the bat-bot’s shoulder. "Thanks." she said to NightScream.

"Anytime, tree-bot!" NightScream replied.

A shadow swept by the building. NightScream and Gold Blade found themselves caught in darkness. Then, as they looked up, a long, oblong spacecraft pulled alongside the building. Its primary weapon emerged from beneath, glowing bright blue-green. The weapon rotated about, searching for a target. Its search was not in vain, for it quickly found two Maximals that would suit it just fine.

NightScream groaned, "Oh great! Just when I thought things were looking up…."

The weapon charged, growing brighter and brighter until….

It exploded in a ball of plasma. NightScream and Gold Blade turned to their left as a meteor shower of plasma blasts hit the underside of the Quintesson vessel. A large helicopter charged toward the ship, pulling every ounce of energy into blasting it.

"RedStreak!" NightScream and Gold Blade cheered.

The helicopter came near the two Maximals’ position, hovering in midair. As its canopy popped open, RedStreak’s voice asked the two, "Care of a lift up?"

Readily, NightScream and Gold Blade jumped in. "As if we’d think otherwise, Red." Gold Blade said. It was a tad cramp inside RedStreak’s cockpit, but the two passengers tolerated it so long as they remained safe. RedSteak shifted gears and flew upwards.

The Quintesson vessel, damaged but far from disabled, wasn’t finished just yet. Various cannons emerged from slots in the hull shielding, pointing upwards. The moment each had a target lock on the flying Maximal, they fired. RedStreak was pelted by disruptor blasts, impeding his escape.

"Ugh! Agh!" he grunted, trying hard to dodge the blasts, "I can’t fly under…ugh…these conditions!"

"Oh great!" muttered NightScream, putting a hand to his face, "We’re back to square one again!"

As the situation seemed hopeless, something big came into view. A dark vessel came at them fast. It was the DarkStar!

At the controls inside, Coyotek stared at the image of the Quintesson vessel hounding his friends. "Trying to make a fur coat out of my fellow canine friend? I think not!" Coyotek declared. He clicked on a near-by monitor screen. "Computer," he commanded, "Fire quantum torpedoes, maximum blast yield and target that floating monolith!"

In response, the computer beeped, "Compliance."

The bomb bay doors of the DarkStar opened. Two dozen silvery missiles were blasted out, each one’s warhead glowing like a dazzling comet. Each one streaked past the hapless helicopter, flying straight for the Quintesson ship. They hit the side of the ship hard, blasting through both the force fields and the dense armor beneath. Explosions carved out the leading edge of the ship, scarring the once perfectly black and smooth hull.

"SWEET!" Coyotek yelled.

Suddenly, one of the quantum torpedoes got a little too close to RedStreak. It exploded, taking off RedStreak’s rotor entirely. With only a spinning stub left to keep him aloft, he started plummeting towards the ground with two other Maximals.

"AHH! COYOTEK YOU IDIOT!" RedStreak hollered.

"Oops," Coyotek squeaked. He stumbled about the controls of the DarkStar, trying to figure out what to do exactly. "Um…hang on Red! I’ll save you!"

The DarkStar swooped down toward the falling helicopter. On top, a huge pair of canopy doors opened. RedStreak was caught, swept into the interior of the starship like a worm into the mouth of a fish. Once inside, RedStreak hit the floor with a big bang. Still in vehicle mode, RedStreak tipped to a side, his cockpit opening up. NightScream and Gold Blade stumbled out, feeling dizzy beyond belief.

Coyotek glanced from the command chair. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he breathed out. "Phew! That was too close!"

His problems didn’t stop there. The Quintesson ship, now powerless and unable to function, lost complete control of its flight, no longer able to hover effortlessly. It drifted off to the right, coming towards the building. With a tremendous crash, the entire ship exploded, taking with it a little over half of the building’s lower section. The remaining support beams bent, the weight of the whole structure too great. The entire building began to sway.

Finally, the building started to fall. On the top floor, all the remaining transformers were flung into the air. Tumbling uncontrollably, even flying units like Optimus and Megatron were unable to save themselves. Coyotek’s sensors picked this up, an alarm blaring in the command chamber. On a monitor, Coyotek saw the chaos.

"Oh no! Not this again!" He grabbed a flight controller and manually steered the DarkStar. "In some parts, it rains cats and dogs…others frogs…" The DarkStar came closer, just inches away from the swarm of falling transformers. "But in my case, it rains robots all day long!"

The whole lot of bots came falling into the DarkStar. NightScream looked up and gasped. All at once, Ursacon, RazorLeaf, and Megatron fell right on top of him. A muffled voice beneath the pile screamed, "Medic!"

Coyotek collapsed in his chair, passing out from exhaustion.

At the city’s edge, an earthquake began to tremble. But the oddest thing was that it came from the oddest of places. A minor mountain, not much bigger than a hill actually, was the focus of the quake. It was of no geologic significance, and yet it was shaking like an awakening volcano.

The rocks at the top of the mountain began to sizzle. In a matter of minutes, they became soft, like butter over a skillet. Finally, they turned molten, bubbling with a subtle stench of sulfur. As the mountain continued to tremble, the magma began to swirl and ooze over the mountain’s sides. Energy was building up from within the mountain, turning it from a tranquil peak into a boiling volcano.

In a tremendous explosion, the volcano erupted. No longer was it a mere hill, but a real volcano. Lava was thrown out, pummeling the surrounding ground with red-hot debris. Lava covered over the ground, turning a once pristine piece land into a burning wasteland.

Amid it all, something screamed. A huge streamer of hot magma blasted out of the caldera like a red comet. The molten rock fell away, revealing something as dark as obsidian. It hovered above the volcano, laughing proudly. The creature stretched its arms and wings out, a shimmering sickle held in one hand.

"I LIVE AGAIN!" the creature exclaimed.

Gasping for air, Scaleblade looked out over the expanse of Chicago, eyeing the various ships fighting over it. Somewhere out there, she knew he was hiding. "I’m coming for you…dear brother." she muttered. Scaleblade transformed, becoming a dragon. She headed for the city on her broad wings, seeking out her revenge.

Rattrap awoke, shivering from the intense cold. Botanica, just a few feet away, was still very much unconscious. He gave her a slight shove. "Come on shrubs," he told her, "We’ve gotta get moving again."

The two Maximals struggled to march over a snow-covered hill. They were cold, their technorganic bodies nearly frozen solid. The winds comforted them little, if at all. Looking back, their trail of footprints could be traced to a small, metallic sphere some distance away; the escape pod they landed in was barely half-a-mile away, which didn’t say much to their four-day trek across these frozen lands.

Botanica collapsed at the summit of the hill, her body frozen and pale. Immediately Rattrap went to her side, trying to pick her up. Botanica looked up to her lover with yellow eyes that begged for release. "Rattrap…I…won’t make it. Save yourself."

Rattrap refused. "Uh-uh! No way am I going to let you die in this popsicle stand!" he told her, "We just gotta find cover!" The rodent grunted as he hoisted Botanica over his shoulder. He tried to move through the snow, but it was incredibly difficult. His wheels spun, but it only kicked up snow. "Come on!" he muttered to his wheels. He spun them up even faster, hoping for some result.

Finally, Rattrap’s wheels freed themselves from the snow. "Hoo-hoo!" Rattrap cheered.

However, a problem developed. Once he got started, he couldn’t stop. "Hey, what the?" he mumbled. The snow slipped under his tires, even when in reverse. He was caught in the middle of a huge snowdrift! Before the rodent knew it, he was buried beneath over a foot of snow along with Botanica as both were sent tumbling down the hill.

The winds of the moon Chillarus blew the snow like waves in an ocean. Before either of the Maximals knew it, they had been transported over two hundred kilometers southeast. They had been taken to a shrouded portion of the moon, one hidden from sight by dense clouds that perpetually swarmed over the region for no apparent reason.

The next thing Botanica remembered was the cold dampness of snow enveloping her body. Groaning, she pulled herself free of the cold snow. Something then brushed her in the face. Botanica pushed it aside, but a second later it hit her in the face again. She opened her eyes and grabbed it. Much to her surprise, there was a fern leaf in her hand.

All around her, there was greenery. "I…I don’t believe it," she told herself, "How could so much plant life exist on such a desolate world?" The next question that popped out her mouth was, "How did I get here?"

Behind her, there was a large pile of snow, with Rattrap’s body stuck in it. Behind that, in turn, was a very steep mountainside of ice and snow at least one hundred meters tall. Looking at it more closely, Botanica noted a trail leading down the edge of the cliff, ending just behind her. She deduced that a huge avalanche must have brought them down into this gully that was somehow protected from the frozen winds and snow that dominated this planetoid.

"Rattrap," she said to the half-buried rodent excitedly, "Look! This place is…is incredible!"

After shaking him into consciousness, Botanica set Rattrap down and set about exploring this strange new place. Botanica was naturally thrilled at the sight of so many kinds of ferns, trees, flowers, and shrubs thriving in this unique environment, her mind almost completely fixed on the environment surround them.

On the other hand, Rattrap was becoming suspicious. The scientist within him knew there was something wrong here. "I’m telln’ ya shrubs, this don’t make sense. This whole moon’s little more than an ice ball, an artic winter land." he stated, "How can tropical jungles just…show up in the middle of nowhere?"

Botanica held a broad fern leaf in her hand, examining it closely. "Maybe there’s something in the atmosphere that makes this place…different from the rest of this moon." she hypothesized.

Rattrap wheeled himself about, looking for more concrete evidence. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something glow red. Pushing aside a dense mass of fern leaves, he discovered a large stone. What made him gasp was a strange little symbol that glowed brighter when he got closer.

In an instant, he turned around and yelled, "BOTANICA! WATCH OUT!"

Just a few meters from where Botanica stood, a large catapult loaded down with a heavy rock began to tremor. The female Maximal was too distracted to even notice when it sprung. Rattrap yelled and leapt for his beloved, tackling her and shoving her out of harm’s way.

"Rattrap! What are you doing?" Botanica scowled at him. A nano-click later, a heavy rock smashed the very spot Botanica was standing. Her eyes widened, and she looked at Rattrap in amazement. "How…did you know?" she asked him.

Breathing heavily, he pointed to the stone with the symbol craved upon it. "Look there. There’s all the answers you’ll ever need about this place…."

Botanica saw what he referred to. "You’re saying," she asked, "That there’s…an intelligence at work here? That someone…some alien…created this ecosystem?"

"Yeah. An intelligence we encountered during the Beast Wars." replied Rattrap, "They sent all kinds of things to try and vap us; a flying island, a space pod, even a planet-blasting death ray!" Looking out to the jungle, Rattrap made a query. "Now…what on Cybertron have they created here?"

High above the jungle, above the canopy of the countless trees in this paradise valley, everything seemed tranquil. In the distance, toward the eastern edge of the jungle, a single obelisk stood its ground, watching over the entire valley. At its summit, a purple crystal began to pulsate, awakened after untold eons by the presence of two stray Maximals.

Higher still, the main Quintesson battle station, the Octas, was making its lowest pass as it orbited Chillarus. Aboard it, the commander of the Quintesson patrol, Kahhar, was watching over the Quintessons’ home domain while the fleet was engaged at Earth.

One of the minor ensigns in his command chamber noticed one of the monitors flashing. Out of curiosity, he checked it out. Wrapping one of his tentacles around a controller crystal, he examined the read-out in full detail. His cybernetic eyes widened in amazement.

Kahhar was surprised when a measly little ensign came screaming to him. "Commander Kahhar! Commander Kahhar!" he kept hollering, "I’ve found something! I’ve found something!"

Kahhar lashed out with a long tentacle, grasping the overexcited ensign by the neck. "This…had…better…be…important." mumbled Kahhar. After setting the ensign back down, he hovered his way over to the same monitor the ensign was working at just moments ago. He saw the very same thing that the ensign saw…and he was dumbfounded.

"By all the lords of Quintessa," he muttered, "There’s something down there! But…how can this be? There’s nothing but ice down there!"

Kahhar knew everything there was to know about this place, being the first Quintesson to visit and map out this region of space just a few centuries ago. The mother planet, Photoneron, obviously had its importance as both command nexus and energon supply to their empire, but Chillarus was a radically different case. It was an ice-covered wasteland completely inhabitable to Quintessons, absent of any resources useable to them. Chillarus was utterly useless, despite its proximity to Photoneron.

Huddling near his commander, the ensign tried to speak. "If I am not mistaken, Lord Kahhar, these readings seem to indicate a massive store of energon-based power…."

Kahhar rudely interrupted. "No. Not just energon you imbecile! There are Maximal signatures down there, at least two! No doubt there are many more hiding, preparing for an ambush. The energon readings are no doubt their weapons’ signatures…or possibly a pitiful attempt to lure us in!"

Kahhar called for a station-wide alert. "All stations: code one readiness. Activate emergency shields. Prepare to power all weapons to maximum!"

All over the station, Quintessons were preparing for total war. Airlocks were sealed shut, quantum torpedoes readied, plasma and disruptor cannons powered up. Just as the mysterious, clouded region of Chillarus passed directly underneath; the Octas was already in its battle configuration. Every weapon of every form was trained on the ice moon.

Onboard, the region was projected onto an entire wall with a targeting grid imprinted on it. Two tiny dots, indicating Maximal signatures, neared the bull’s-eye of the grid. Kahhar threw out a tentacle and hollered, "OPEN FIRE!"

The battle station Octas blasted a meteor shower of plasma toward Chillarus, not an ounce of energy held back. In less than a single cycle, they penetrated the cloud layer, appearing in the overcast skies of Chillarus. The screams of falling missiles were heard over the lush jungles, Botanica and Rattrap startled at the sound.

The two Maximals looked up and gasped. "Look out!" yelled Rattrap. He and Botanica scrammed as fast as they could. Barely a nano-click later, a dozen missiles hit the ground a few meters away, carving up the tropical soil in a blast of fire. Both Maximals were thrown into the air, landing in a different part of the jungle.

All over the jungle, energy blasts and missiles pelted the ground, whole chunks of the landscape reduced to ash in mere moments. Trees were set ablaze and the few creatures that dwelled in them made their escape. It was as if the gods decided to unleash their wrath on this paradise for their own pleasure.

The garden had a sentinel watching over it. As fire rained down upon Chillarus, the obelisk began to glow a bright orange. The crystal eye, watching as all life was consumed around it, decided that enough was enough. The obelisk gathered together its power, humming loudly as its crystal became a blazing sun. Then, in one burst, it unleashed a ray of light into the sky.

A moment later, the battle station Octas was struck by the obelisk’s ray. A quarter of the Octas exploded, debris flying from it. Its shields flickered on and off, power in all sections dropping rapidly. The Quintessons were in a frenzy trying to repair and stabilize their systems, trying to save themselves.

"What was that?" blared Kahhar.

One of his underlings reported in. "An unknown form of energy directed at us, commander. Heavy damage taken: primary weapons down, life-support failing in twenty chambers and corridors, and shields down to ten percent."

As the Octas continued to shake from the blast, Kahhar took action. "Reroute all auxiliary power to shields! Get control of whatever weapons we have left and target the source of that beam!" In addition, Kahhar ordered, "And open a communications link to Scavix on the fleet! We need back-up!"

In time, the Octas turned back to Chillarus and reciprocated. On the ground, over a hundred blasts were aimed at the obelisk, most missing and blasting the ground surrounding it. The obelisk was struck only occasionally, and the blasts did marginal damage to it. Automatically, it responded, firing a second beam at the orbiting battle station.

Botanica and Rattrap watched the chaos from afar, behind a large boulder at the opposite end of the gully. "Oh man! Talk about a fireworks show!" Rattrap laughed.

"By Primus," uttered Botanica, "That obelisk is trying to protect the forest!"

A stray missile exploded not far from them. As Rattrap and his friend ducked for cover, he turned to Botanica with a weird grimace. "You’re kidding me? You’re actually rooting for that death machine over there?"

"Clearly it was designed and built by beings that wanted to protect this ecosystem!" Pointing an arm to the obelisk, Botanica stated, "Didn’t you see how it only fired after the forest was attacked? Clearly its nature is defensive!"

"I dunno shrubs," said Rattrap, "But I’m getting a vibe that nothing good will come of this!"

Back on Earth, it appeared the Quintessons were winning despite the arrival of the Cybertronian fleet. Over twenty ships bearing the Maximal symbol were burning on the ground amid the rumble while many a Quintesson ship continued to fight. It seemed that would be a matter of hours before the human city was theirs, and after that, both Earth and Cybertron.

The DarkStar flew in tandem with a quartet of flying transformers. While Coyotek manned the DarkStar’s guns, NightScream, RedStreak, Optimus, and Megatron unleashed their individual powers against the Quintessons. As one Quintesson ship fell, two more took up position behind them. They scattered, regrouping at a higher position.

NightScream and RedStreak transformed to robot mode and hovered in mid-air, observing the battle. It became increasingly obvious that they were on the losing side. Even with the full fury of the Maximals, the Quintessons and their technology seemed unstoppable.

"It’s no use!" RedStreak declared, "Not even my powers can stop them all!"

NightScream was still confident. "Hey! I’ve been a general protecting Cybertron for the past thirty stellar cycles! We’ve been through much worse than this!" he told RedStreak.

The fox-bot turned to NightScream with a bitter face and attitude. "Name two incidents that would qualify as ‘worse than this’." he requested.

Before NightScream could reply, however, a bolt of lightning struck him down. He was thrown back, rendered instantly unconscious. RedStreak watched as poor NightScream crashed into a building, his body covered by glass and bits of metal.

Scaleblade flew into view, wielding her sickle confidently. With energon still sizzling in her palm, she raised up her hand and blew the smoke from her fingers. "Not even worth the effort," she mumbled.

With a twitch of her wrist, she pointed her sickle at RedStreak. "However," she stated, "You will only fare slightly better…DEAR BROTHER!"

Scaleblade charged straight at the flying Maximal, swinging her weapon wildly around. RedStreak broke out his sword and prepared to defend himself. Scaleblade’s sickle clashed with his sword, sparks flying off the two blades.

Grunting, RedStreak said to his evil sister, "How…did you survive that…avalanche? You should of…been crushed!"

Scaleblade, forcing her sickle closer to RedStreak’s neck, replied arrogantly, "I was already dead before you came along, fool!" She broke free from him, flying backwards for a moment. Scaleblade then resumed the fight, raising up her sickle for a tremendous power blow.

A pair of arms wrapped around Scaleblade before she could make her move. It was Megatron! As he held Scaleblade around her torso, restraining her arms, he yelled to RedStreak, "Now! Finish her before she escapes!"

RedStreak’s sword glinted in the light of the evening sun, a weapon designed to be lethal. With a single, swift blow, he could quite possibly kill Scaleblade. Her chest plate was wide open, the corrupted spark within her defenseless. RedStreak raised his sword up…but he hesitated.

"No…I can’t," he sighed, throwing his sword away.

"DO IT!" demanded Megatron.

In that instant, Scaleblade jutted her elbow directly into Megatron’s face, literally cracking his skull. The Predacon immediately lost his hold, which Scaleblade used to her advantage. She turned around and blasted him with a large shot of anit-energon.

Once finished with Megatron, she returned her attention to RedStreak. "And now…for you…dear brother!" she said.

Suddenly, Scaleblade’s eyes turned bright white. She screamed in pain, sparks and lightning jumping from her head. The same thing happened to RedStreak, causing him to fall. He and Scaleblade felt something in the midst of that pain, a compulsion to do something. When it stopped, Scaleblade looked to RedStreak, and then to the Quintesson fleet. Without reason or hesitation, she withdrew her sickle, transformed into a dragon, and flew off.

Coyotek, aboard the DarkStar with Gold Blade, RazorLeaf, and Ursacon, also noticed the exact same thing. Just as Coyotek finished a single round, the Quintesson vessel he’d been attacking veered away, heading skyward. The sensors registered a massive movement of Quintesson ships…all of them withdrawing from the city and its airspace.

The Maximals blinked twice, rubbing their eyes. "Holy slag!" said Coyotek, "Is it just my own eyes, or are the Quintessons actually retreating?"

"It’s not just you," replied Gold Blade, "I see it too! The Quintesson fleet…down to the last vessel is retreating!"

"A good thing for us then!" Ursacon grunted merrily, "They know we too tough for them!"

Gold Blade shook her head. "No. This isn’t part of any Quintesson strategy. They would never withdraw from a battle that is clearly in their advantage."

Coyotek checked another set of scanners, noting something else. "We’ve got other problems too. NightScream, Megatron, and even RedStreak are down. We’ve gotta retrieve them quickly." He maneuvered the DarkStar over the building RedStreak had landed on, hovering over his body.

Before drifting off to sleep, RedStreak caught one final glimpse of Scaleblade flying off into the distance. Watching her delicate wings flap, he whispered, "Amanda…."

It was megacycles before RedStreak awakened again, finding himself stuck in one of the DarkStar’s technorganic regeneration chambers. A minute later, the special restoration fluid drained away, and the cylinder opened. Before him stood Megatron, Optimus Primal, Coyotek, and Gold Blade.

Still groggy from the restoration process, RedStreak just managed to mumble, "What…what happened?"

Optimus Primal came up to RedStreak and put his hand on his shoulder, helping to support his lumbering body. "We retrieved you, as well as NightScream and Megatron, just as the Quintesson fleet retreated. You were lucky that…."

RedStreak interrupted Optimus. "Quintessons? Retreating? Where are they now?" For a moment he struggled, ready to dash off again, but Optimus stopped him before he blasted off again.

"Whoa there!" Optimus laughed, "Where do you think you’re going? Even with restoration, you’re still in no condition to pick a fight just yet!"

"But…Quintessons! Must…" RedStreak gasped.

Eventually, the group managed to force RedStreak to calm down and take a seat. It was a particularly difficult task, given the fact that RedStreak was roughly twice as tall as any of the Maximals and as strong as Megatron. Still, when he finally calmed, they explained everything…and also brought up a few questions of their own.

"You’re aboard the DarkStar again," explained Gold Blade, "And we’ve already plotted an intercept course with the Quintesson fleet, near the transwarp gate leading back to the galactic core. We’ve joined with the main Cybertronian fleet to engage…but there are…many unresolved issues."

"Like, oh say…" Coyotek rolled his eyes, "Why you keep calling Scaleblade your sister, even though she’s tried to kill you every time the two of you meet!"

Megatron chuckled lightly. "Even I’m left to ponder myself…Maximal."

RedStreak looked down for a minute, then back at his comrades. "It is very difficult for me to explain. I…still possess the memories of Adam, my human component. I remember that I had a sister, many years ago. She died roughly seven years ago…during Omegracon’s attack on Autobot City."

Optimus still was curious. "But…how can Scaleblade be your sister? After all…she was long gone before the Quintessons…."

"It WAS there! I swear on my spark!" shouted RedStreak, "The Quintessons stole her body and managed to…reactivate it to put it one way." As his fellow transformers looked to one another in disbelief, RedStreak tried to make another point. "The Quintessons brought back Optimus Prime! Surely they have the same technology to reanimate a human! They took my sister and…and twisted her soul like they did me!"

From across the table, Megatron smashed his fist down and bluntly said, "That thing is not your sister! She’s a bionic zombie!"

"No! I won’t believe it!" RedStreak firmly stated.

"But you gotta admit," Coyotek tried to say, "They are just using your sister’s body! What was once your sister…Aman-Amanda, or whatever, is truly dead! She’s just a walking, talking drone with a personality program wired in for…."

"You believe what you want, and I’ll believe what I do!" RedStreak said, the hair on his neck rising up, "I simply can’t make my own sister go offline, whether or not she’s a freaking monster!"

Finally, Optimus raised his own voice up. "Fine RedStreak! It is your freedom, but because of your emotions toward Scaleblade, you’re off this mission!"

All the Maximals, RedStreak included, turned to Optimus with big eyes, blurting out, "WHAT?"

"RedStreak," sighed Optimus, "We can’t have you engage either the Quintessons or Scaleblade from here on in! We can afford to let you sympathize with the enemy like you’ve done twice already! In a battle it would prove disastrous!"

RedStreak’s eyes narrowed toward the Maximal commander. With teeth showing, he sternly muttered, "Believe me, Primal, I may ‘sympathize’ for Scaleblade, but as sure as the Pit burns, I will NEVER SYMPATHIZE WITH THE QUINTESSONS!"

"ENOUGH!" Optimus shouted, "RedStreak, report to your quarters immediately! You will remain there until called upon or when we return to Earth! Understand?"

The fox-bot was as angry as a swarm of hornets, with both Optimus and the others for mistrusting him, to the verge of going into a rage. His spark was glowing a bright orange, filled with the anger, but somehow…he suppressed it all. RedStreak got up and walked by Optimus Primal, shoving him in the shoulder on the way out. All he muttered was, "Fine."

As the DarkStar and the Cybertronian fleet entered one end of the transwarp conduit, the Quintessons and their own fleet were exiting at the opposite end. They left the conduit while flying at maximum velocity, heading straight for their base. Many vessels were heavily damaged, a few even leaking energon fuel, but every Quintesson that was guiding them was utterly determined to return to Photoneron above all else.

Scavix and Lor-Gavvon attempted to contact Kahhar aboard the Octas, but had no luck. Even with their advanced communications equipment, not a beep was detected from the direction of their battle station. There seemed to be only one logical assumption.

"The battle station has been destroyed," said Lor-Gavvon, "It is the only remaining possibility, unless their communications system has been destroyed."

"Impossible!" Scavix insisted, "The Octas and its defense shields are impenetrable! Absolutely nothing could get through them; nothing could damage it!"

Lor-Gavvon, gazing out at the moon Chillarus through a view screen, had other thoughts on his mind. "There is one…remote possibility." Turning to a near-by underling, he commanded, "Set scanners for far-infrared on sector twelve-sixty-three on Chillarus, maximum resolution!"

The underling obeyed, manipulating various control crystals to his master’s specifications. The cloud-enshrouded region of Chillarus came into view, the scanners zeroing-in on it. As the screen switched to infrared sensors, the terrain was revealed in red outlines. In a tiny gully, Lor-Gavvon’s eyes caught sight of something pointed standing out above all else.

The Quintesson Scientist analyzed the incoming data. "Elevated thermodynamics? Increased oxygen emissions? Chlorophyll-based life forms?" he muttered to himself, "Not possible. How could we have missed something as big as this on our first expeditions here?"

Scavix noted the new findings, but was more concerned with the strange structure that seemed to give off energon radiation. "That structure! It’s clearly artificial! And…radiating energon!" he gasped. Turning to Lor-Gavvon, Scavix said, "Do you realize what this means?"

Before Scavix said another word, Lor-Gavvon knew it. "The Vok. It makes so much sense now. Only they and their energon-emanating powers could have destroyed the Octas so…effectively. It appears they’ve set up one of their…experiments on Chillarus."

"Then we must destroy it, now! We mustn’t give them another chance to distract us from our own goals!" said Scavix.

"But Scavix!" Lor-Gavvon said to the Overlord, "The Vok are extremely aggressive, and even more deadly! If we were to destroy one of their bases, more would be…."

Scavix shoved Lor-Gavvon aside and got to the main weapons array. The command ship deployed its primary weapon, aiming towards Chillarus. In conjunction, all of the other Quintesson ships did the same, readying their own arsenals. They began to power up, humming in unison.

The combined energies of over twenty vessels surged through space in one green beam of light. It flew through hundreds of kilometers of empty space, through the thick atmosphere of Chillarus. Entire clouds evaporated, clearing a hole above the mysterious region. The hidden gully was at long last revealed, green and pristine, its tall guardian watching over it. In one strike, the Quintessons took down the guardian, just as it took down their battle station.

Botanica and Rattrap saw the obelisk being hit by a giant laser beam, a shockwave of heat and debris radiating out at the speed of sound. In the midst of the blast, Botanica saw the base of the obelisk being blown apart. The entire structure started to collapse, breaking apart into a million-odd pieces. Only the very apex of the obelisk remained intact as it crashed into the ground.

A single piece of polished granite landed near Botanica. She cautiously crawled over to it, and picked it up in her hands. There were alien hieroglyphics carved onto it, beautiful and elegant in design. It was all that remained of the obelisk.

Moments later, the clouds above began to disperse, no longer held by the obelisk’s power. Botanica looked up, and watched snow begin to fall. The temperature began to drop, the air becoming frigid and cold. Then, looking to the beautiful jungle, she gasped. The trees, ferns, and beautiful flowers were becoming coated by snow, slowly shriveling up as they froze. Over a period of a few minutes, the entire forest lost its unique shade of green, turning a sickly dull yellow.

"Oh no!" Botanica cried. She leaned down to Rattrap, weeping on his shoulders. "They destroyed it! This place…the beauty…none of it deserved this!"

Rattrap, at a loss for words, just patted his girlfriend on the back. "There, there. It wasn’t our fault at least! Sometimes…good things just come to a terrible end."

As the jungle died, so did its guardian. The obelisk’s purple glow faded, just as the color of the plants did. Its purpose, its mission, a failure, there was only one last thing for it to do. In its last moments, the crystal adorning the obelisk turned a deep blue. A weak beam of blue light was sent into space. The obelisk’s last gasp vanished, it crumbled into pieces.

The Quintessons above watched as the beam went deep into the surrounding nebula, where it went completely unknown. Everyone became worried. On the command ship, Lor-Gavvon looked to Scavix scornfully. "You shouldn’t have done that." he told Scavix.

The Overlord’s reply was, "I did what had to be done!"

"Yes…so you did." said Lor-Gavvon, "But because of your actions, the signal was sent out. That tower’s masters will receive it, and know where we are. And after that…you know what will happen…."

Deep inside the nebula, lightning flashed between the thick particles of hydrogen and dust. A storm was brewing in space, a storm of tremendous power. Just beyond the veil of ionized gas, a wave was moving toward Chillarus and Photoneron. Entire rows of spinning, flower-shaped vessels hurtled through space autonomously. In addition, they were accompanied by swarms of transparent and luminous creatures resembling jellyfish with humanoid skulls.

They were coming to avenge a crime. They were coming by the millions. They were coming to destroy….