The EL TF Saga
By Eliot Lefebvre, AKA Jacknife

Part One
"Once more into the breach"
also titled
"And awayyyy we go!"

	EL TF Spoda lept high into the air.  Legs folded, head turned,
muzzle extended, and she finally came back down in howitzer mode.  EL
TF Eliot grabbed her and blasted round after tound at his target.

	"You'll never stop - urk!" spat out CS TF Casmire as he was
mowed down by Eliot.  Getting up, he decided a change of strategy was
in order, and switched into tank mode.  "Any last words?" he asked as he
rotated his massive cannon towards EL TFs Eliot and Spoda.

	"Leave him alone!" shouted EL TF Peter as he fired his venom
beam at CS TF Casmire.  "He's an innocent person!"

	"Innocent?" asked Casmire angrily.  "In case you hadn't noticed,
he's trying to kill me!"  He tried to transform into robot mode, but he
could not.  *Great,* he thought to himself.  *Peter and his damn venom
beam.*

	EL TYs Rhinox and Megatron lept on top of CS TF Casmire and
began pummeling him, Rhinox with his high-speed rotor and Megatron
with his powerful shoulder cannon.  With a roar, Casmire lurched out of
the venom-induced stupor and raced forward, knocking EL TYs Rhinox
and Megatron off of him.  They both tumbled to a stop behind him, and
Megatron transformed to tank mode, throwing Rhinox inside the pilot
seat.

	CS TF Shamus roared down in Seeker mode, his wing-mounted
acid-pellet guns melting small holes into the ground.  "Die, Autobots!" he
called out as Megatron and Rhinox tried to avoid his shots.  Megatron
managed to turn enough to keep from having his armor destroyed
outright, but not enough to keep from having his side armor sheared off
by the corrosive acid.  Swinging his cannon around, Megatron aimed at
Shamus and fired, the massive mortar blast headed straight towards the
navy blue-white-brown Seeker.  Shamus was not expecting a
counterattack, and had to roll fenetically to avoid getting blasted to
smithereens.  The blast still tagged his left wing, and he had to hover
down to the ground in robot mode.

	"You gonna pay fo that, foo!" shouted Shamus in his heavily
accented voice as he let loose his acid blasters now mounted on his
arms.  Megatron could not turn away fast enough, and the acid blasted
into him, digging a deep scar across his front end.  He screamed in pain.
Rhinox jumped outside, and quickly converted into rhino mode, charging
towards Shamus.  Shamus sidestepped and prepped to blast Rhinox, but
was cut short as EL TF Peter raked him with venom beams as he lept out
of Toyota mode.

	CS MSs Alley Viper and Mace sprang at EL TF Peter, but were
cut short as EL TF Cealia came down in gerwalk mode, her large gatling
gun firing away.  "Don't even try it," she said to the two as they began to
stand up.  "It's two of you - who can't transform - against one TY and two
TFs."  As if to accent her point, Cealia came down and transformed, not
into robot mode, but past that into human mode, her long blonde hair tied
into a ponytail.  She raised her arm-mounted cannon on her battlesuit
and pointed it at them, almost as if to ask them how powerful they really
thought they were.  Mace and Alley Viper looked at each other, then
rushed at Cealia and Peter.

	Mace only made it halfway there before Rhinox charged into him,
sending him sprawling.  Alley Viper raised his launcher and gave a battle
cry, then charged full speed.  Cealia aimed her blaster as if to blast him,
then suddenly ducked low and brought her right arm up quickly, grabbing
his shield arm.  She flipped him over behind herself, where Peter fired a
venom beam at his head.  His body twitched as the venom beam took
effect, then stopped moving, though continued breathing.  "Nice work,
Cealia," he said.  "We make a good team."

	"Of course we do," she said, smiling at him.  "You designed me.
I should fight well with you as my wingman."

	"You mean wheelman, don't you?" asked Peter.

	"Hey, I'm a Terran Seeker.  I meant wingman."

	Peter shrugged.  It wasn't really important as what was about to
happen.  "Here comes trouble," he announced in a less-than-thrilled tone,
switching to truck mode.  Cealia nodded and transformed into gerwalk
mode.

	EL TF Christopher came barreling into the battlefield in train
mode.  His wheels digging furrows into the ground, he knocked CS TFs
Cohna and Pat to the ground, then sprang into the air and tranformed to
robot mode.  "Eliot!  I'm here!"

	Eliot groaned inwardly as he watched his younger brother race
out.  *Oh, no,* he thought.  *Chris has all the tactics of a wad of gum.*
He looked down at the howitzer in his hand.  *So does Spoda, for that
matter...  Why won't Chris ever stay put like I tell him to?*

	Put off by worry from his younger brother, Eliot was knocked to
one side by CS TF Casmire.  Spoda rolled out of his hand, and
transformed into robot mode.  "Eliot stay from away you!" shouted
Spoda.  As always, her mind was working faster than her language
module, garbling the order of her words.  However, what Spoda lacked in
basic brains and grammar, she more then made up for in loyalty...and
firepower.  Twin assault cannons flipped onto her back, and she blasted
at Casmire, who transformed and rolled out of the way of the blasts.

	"Thanks, 'Pode, but I'm on it," said Eliot, drawing his multigun out
of subspace.  Bringing it on-line, he fired at Casmire with lethal
accuracy.  Casmire's chest was riddled with holes, and he cried out in
pain.  Spoda ripped a razordisk launcher out of subspace, and then fired
at Casmire repeatedly.  Her aim had not improved, and the disks clipped
her target's shoulders and arms, doing minimal damage.  On the other
hand, when you're getting blown apart, anything seems like major
damage.

	Casmire growled.  "We WILL meet again, Autobot!  Count on
that!"  He transformed into tank mode.  "Decepticons, retreat!!!" he
shouted.  All those who could retreat did, taking the ones that couldn't as
well.

	"Yeah, yeah, yeah," growled Eliot as he watched Christopher
blast his rail gun after Carmire.  He shoved his multigun back into
subspace.  "You'll be back, all right."

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Two
"No man is an island"
also titled
"Don't suppose I could interest you in a used mantle?"

	EL TF Christopher tried to climb down from the vaulted chamber
above the command chamber of the Magnus.  Unfortunately, Christopher
had still not fully developed his control over his Transformer body, and
instead of climbing gently down, he tumbled in a tangle of limbs.  Picking
himself up, he dusted himself off and walked over to EL TF Eliot, sitting at
a console.  "Watcha doing?" he asked, an inquisitive grin on his face.

	Eliot barely glanced over his shoulder.  "I'm studying the last few
attacks Casmire has been making.  Looking for some sort of pattern."

	Chris studied the plan.  "I think he keeps attacking the Autobots,"
said Chris, seeming to thinkthis was a massive revelation.  Eliot sighed.

	"Chris," he said, in a patronizingly slow voice, "have you ever
stopped to consider that there's a reason that I don't let you on to any of
my senior staff meetings, despite the fact that your my brother?"

	Chris said nothing for a moment.  "I always thought it was to give
me time with Spoda, but now that you mention it, there might be another
reason..."

	Eliot sighed.  "Chris, you have all the tactical savvy of a bathtub,"
he said, exasperated.

	"Good thing or bad thing?"

	"Bad thing if you ever want to be a tactician."

	"Oh."  Chris was bored with the conversation already.  It didn't
seem like it would wind up doing something interesting, like giving him a
chance to train with EL TF Spoda.  "I'm going to go into my quarters," he
said.  He began to climb back up into the high loft, fell down again, then
gave up and went to find the stairs.

	Eliot sighed.  He wondered if Christopher would ever get used to
his Transformer body.  Or if he would, for that matter.  He still
remembered the day the Magnus crashed...how the whole mess got
started...

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	[Begin flashback]

	Jacknife brought up his left arm with blinding speed, blocking
Battalion's hammering blow.  Bringing his leg around, he knocked
Battalion away with one of his trademark roundhouse kicks, then lunged
over to the computer where Chaingun was stationed.  "Report!" he called
at her, perhaps slightly louder than needed.

	"News good shields red not is more any," she replied, with her
standard garbled speech.

	"What's the bad news?" he asked.

	"Gone red is down because shields are," she replied.

	"Well, this is just Prime," replied Jacknife.  "Anywhere we could
land this thing?"

	"M planet class near one is okay land is," she replied.

	"Then land!" he called back.

	"Errr...mention I did gear out landing is?" she asked, somewhat
sheepishly.

	"No.  It slipped your mind," replied Jacknife.  "Take us down
anyways."

	"Best do I will," she said, and her fingers began flying across the
keyboard.

	*Dumbest bot in the world, but a damn good pilot,* thought
Jacknife as he kicked Crashtime in the chest.  Wading through the sea
of beings, he walked over to the comm and flipped it on.  "All hands,
brace for impact!  I repeat, brace for - ah, slag it.  We're going to hit
something; prepare or don't."

	The Magnus tumbled into the atmosphere like a bat out of hell.

	[End flashback]

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	*Then, we had to bond with organics,* thought Eliot morosely.
*At that point, we weren't exactly Transformers anymore, nor were we
humans -* he watched as Spoda walked across the room in dog mode *-
or animals, for that matter.  It wasn't as if we had taken on a mode - it
was an all-out bonding, just to make sure we could survive.  Our bodies
were so badly damaged - the only way to repair them was to bond with
self-repairing beings.*

	He blamed himself, really.  This was even worse then the
Headmasters.  At least THEY could be un-bonded - painfully, but it was
still possible.  Now, nobody under his command was really a Transformer
anymore - they were more human than anything else.  Some, like Cealia
and Peter, retained more of their Transformer personalities than others,
like Christopher - but all in all, it was a bad idea.

	Therefore, they renamed themselves EL TFs.  Then, there were
the TYs, the MSs, and the EL TF QATs.  All just to feel as if they were
still Transformers, still bonded by common abilities.  The Decepticons
had done the same, only they were CS TFs, not EL TFs.  But all in all, it
meant nothing.  It was just reasoning for all of the facets that had sprung
into play after landing on this planet.

	"What's wrong, Eliot?" asked Cealia of her elder brother.

	"I'm not entirely sure," he replied.  "I just can't shake the feeling
that everything that's happened is my fault.  That if I hadn't told Spoda - I
mean, Chaingun - er - you know who I'm talking about."

	Cealia nodded.

	"I mean, creating the TYs and the MSs... preserving the QATs...
what have I done to us as Transformers?  As people?  What...ARE we?"

	Cealia shrugged.  "I don't know, either.  All I know is that we'll find
out sooner or later.  When we transferred the memory banks of others
into the TYs...?  When we constructed the bodies for the MSs...?  We
were doing what was needed to survive.  That's not evil, it's just...human."

	"I think that's what has me worried," replied Eliot.

	Cealia was about to say something, but she was cut short as EL
TY Splashdown walked into the room.  "If I may, sir...?" he asked
respectfully of Eliot.  Eliot nodded and gestured for Splashdown to
continue.

	"Well, I dinnae want to upset ye, but there's some of the crew -
well, mostly Starscream, really - is starting to question ye as a leader if
ye dinnae show up for the meetings ye schedule yerself."

	Eliot slapped himself in the forehead - a habit his organic form
had acquired.  "Slag!  I forgot.  Tell Peter and Jetfire to start the meeting
without me.  I'll be there as soon as I shut this down."

	"Aye, sir."  He began to walk out of the room, then stopped and
turned to face Eliot.  "Sir...it may nay be my place to say it, but I think ye
are doing a good job of leading, considering what ye've been handed."

	Eliot nodded.  "Thanks, Splashdown.  It means a lot to me."

	Splashdown nodded as well.  Eliot turned the console off - they
had to save as much as energon as possible.  Yet another reason why
they bonded with organics.  "Will you join me, sister?" he asked Cealia
as he stood up.

	"Certainly," she replied.  She transformed from human mode to
robot mode, and the two of them walked down to the confrence hall.

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Three
"Carrying out old threats"
also titled
"I shall be avenged, Autobots. You hear me? I shall return!"

	"If he can't even manage to show up for one lousy meeting, I
doubt we should be following him," said EL TY Starscream, his arms
folded across his chest.  "A more capable leader, such as myself, would
have destroyed the Decepticons a long time ago."

	EL TF Eliot shook his head as he stood outside the door, allowing
himself a brief moment to appreciate the irony of the situation.  *I wonder
what the REAL Starscream would think if he heard that,* he thought.
*Considering that it's exactly what he would have said if he was an
Autobot.*

	Eliot finally pressed the small admittance button near the door.
"Pardon me, Starscream, but I fail to see you making tremendous
progress in getting us off this planet."

	"How can I?" he replied.  No doubt about it, EL TY Starscream
was the same old Starscream.  "You've made me little more than an air
commander."

	"That's your function," said Eliot.  "If I thought it was a good idea
to have you in a higher position, then I would put you there.  At the
moment, I feel that you're doing just fine where you are."  He beckoned
his sister, EL TF Cealia, into the room.  She entered, her body a more
slender-looking version of EL TY Jetfire's.  Eliot walked up to the seat at
the head of the table, Cealia to the opposite end.  The crew stood in
respect.  Eliot waved his hand, and they all sat back down.

	"Now," said Eliot, leaning slightly back in his chair in a rather
unofficial way, "if nobody else cares to back Starscream up, are there
any other orders of business?"

	"Well, one," EL TF David said.  "We're having some trouble with
the computer systems.  It might be a virus, but I doubt it - I've surfed the
computer, it seems normal.  I think that the electromagnetic storms are
affecting the hard drive."

	"Any proposed solutions?" asked Eliot.

	"We could construct a few EL TYs to act as backup.  Our
memory banks seem to be unaffected," suggested EL TF Tammis.  Her
eyes flickered as she spoke.

	"Good idea.  I'll get right on it," said EL TF Christopher.  Eliot
was a little worried about Chris - he seemed to be adjusting rather poorly
to his Transformer body.  However, Chris still demonstrated a massive
intellect, and he had proved himself useful enough to merit Eliot keeping
from getting overprotective - something that Tammis had warned him
about.

	"Anybody else?" asked Eliot.  Nobody replied.  "Good.  Then I
can get to the main point of this meeting.  As you may or may not know,
Casmire has been stepping up his attacks recently.  I've been looking
over the pattern of attacks, and he seems to be leading us in an
increasingly tight circle.  The only thing is, I'm not sure why."

	"Perhaps he's trying to further disable the Magnus," suggested
EL TY Rad.  "Without the resources it does offer us, we would be much
weaker in the face of opposition."

	"Yeah, but he couldn't take down the security systems," replied
EL TY Rhinox.

	"Perhaps he's trying to make us second-guess ourselves.  Lose
our confidence," EL TY Cavewing offered.

	"When we keep beating him?  I think by this point he would've
given up on that," replied Peter.

	"Maybe he's attacking right now," suggested Cealia as the
Magnus rocked from an assault.

	"Maybe you state the obvious too often," said Starscream as he
sprang out of his seat.  "I don't know what the rest of you are doing, but
I'm going to try and find the gestalt members."  He transformed and
rocketed out.

	"Starscream!" shouted Eliot, but it was already too late.  "Slag,"
he muttered to himself.  "Everyone!  Scramble!" he called into the comm
link.  He then transformed into weapons truck mode and raced out of the
Magnus.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	CS TFs Shamus, Pat, and Jared dove down at the Magnus.
Shamus fired his acid pellets, Pat and Jared their sonic pulse cannons.
The Magnus's hull erupted in a series of explosion from an assault.

	"Yo, man, that's some funky slag," said Shamus, rolling as he
fired his pellets in a wide arc.

	"Heah heah heah heah heah," laughed Jared, hovering
pointlessly above the Magnus.

	"What the slag is your problem?" asked Pat angrily.  "You're
some stupid Seeker, that's for shocking sure."  Turning around, he fired a
pop shot at Jared, who rolled away from the blast, barely.

	"Ha!  You blast him, Pat.  Get that dumb slag," said Shamus,
spewing his acid pellets at Jared.  Crying out, Jared dove lower to avoid
his teammate's assault.

	"What are you guys doing?" asked Jared in his harsh,
screeching, whiny voice.  He hardly needed his sonic cannons to cause
sound damage.

	"Shooting at you, Einstein," replied CS TF Cohna, flying in
between the trio of Seekers.  "Now all of you, cut it out.  We're here to
destroy the Autobots, not each other."  She punctuated her statement by
bringing her concussion beam cannons to bear and firing on the Magnus.
The powerful beams lashed out and slammed into the hull.

	"Excuse us, miss high-and-mighty Cyclone," said Jared, using
the generic term for Cylonus-styled jets.  The words fell harsh on Cohna's
audio receptors, not because it was insulting, but because his voice was
like listening to nails on a chalkboard.

	"Jared, shut up now and stay that way or I'll dispose of you
myself," growled Cohna.

	"Oh, yeah?  I can take you!" insisted Jared, spinning towards
Cohna.  She sighed and darted below him, then turned up and around to
aim at Jared's underbelly.  Her concussion cannons lashed into Jared,
sending the olive-black Seeker spinning out of control.

	"Nice slagging shot, leader-lady!" exclaimed Pat.  "You really
stuck it to that Go-bot!"  Pat was about to say something else, but was
cut short as four laser bursts blasted through his torso.  He spiraled
towards the ground, smoking.

	Cohna twirled around in the air.  Behind her, she could see
Cealia and Jetfire screeching towards them.  Jetfire was still in his fighter
mode, while Cealia was already switched to gerwalk mode.  "I've got the
female!" exclaimed Cohna, whirling towards Cealia with her concussion
cannons raging, illuminating the sky with violent flashes.  Cealia dropped
a few feet, the aimed her gun pod at Cohna and blasted twice.  Cohna
transformed in mid-air, then twisted to one side, making the shots
harmlessly slip past her.  Bringing her cannons back to bear, she fired at
Cealia.  Cealia couldn't dodge fast enough, and her left side erupted in
shards of metal and fuel.

	"Let's play CHICKEN!" exclaimed Shamus as he flew straight at
Jetfire.  Jetfire banked to one side, and Shamus raced past him.
Turning, Jetfire aimed his two nosecone lasers at Shamus's right acid-
pellet chaingun, and fired exactly.  The chaingun erupted into a fountain
of acid, melting away most of Shamus's right wing.  Shamus began to
spiral down, then transformed and used his natural flight abilities to hover
in front of Jetfire, blasting his chaingun.  Jetfire began to dive, but
Shamus tracked his dive and adjusted his line of fire.  The pellets erupted
on Jetfire's chest, boring small holes into it.

	On the ground, Casmire watched the battle, smiling.  Everything
was going swimmingly.

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Four:
"Into the heart of the battle"
also titled
"We're all gonna die"

	EL TF QAT Oliver bounded down the hallways of the Magnus in
cat form.  Normally, he was easily mistakable for a run-of-the-mill cat.  At
this point, however, the fact that he was shouting at the top of his lungs
was a bit of a dead giveaway.

	"Scramble!  Scramble!  Decepticons!  Decepticons!  Battle!
Battle!  Chaos!  Chaos!  Ragnarok!  Ragnar -"

	"Oliver!" shouted EL TF QAT Emily as she ran down the hall in
robot mode.  "You can stop now.  We get the idea."

	Oliver looked at her and transformed to robot mode.  "I suppose
that was a little overdone, wasn't it?"

	"A little?"  Emily gave him an odd look.  "You just don't get it, do
you?"

	"Nope!" he announced cheerfully.

	Emily sighed and transformed to jet mode.  "We'd better get out
there.  Double-check all of the other QATs and get a move on."  Oliver
nodded, and Emily flew out of an access hole.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF Cealia's gatling gun spoke twice, thundering chains of
bullets at CS TF Cohna.  Cohna growled in anger as the bullets tore into
her side, and lashed out with her concusion cannons again.  With a gasp,
Cealia cut her engines entirely, dropping like a stone - and barely slipping
past the twin concussion beams.  Switching over to fighter mode, Cealia
reactivated her engines and raced at Cohna, firing her wing-mounted
missiles, fluid leaking out of the massive gash in her side.  Cohna
corkscrewed towards Cealia, with metal flying out the torn gashes in her
flank, and her concussion cannons raging.  Both intended to fly past the
other one, strafing them into crashing into the ground.

	Unfortunately, what happened was that Cohna drilled into Cealia's
left air vent, smashing deep into Cealia, barely missing vital internal
circuitry.  Cealia felt her left leg completely cut out, and a searing pain
shoot up from there.  "I - I - I'm stuck!" exclaimed Cohna, trying to fire
her retrothrusters to escape.

	"Then let me free you," offered Cealia.  She transformed into
robot mode, joints grinding with Cohna lodged in her leg.  Grabbing
Cohna around the sides roughly, Cealia tore Cohna out of her leg,
rupturing Cohna's transformation cog.

	"I can't transform!" exclaimed Cohna.

	"But you can fall," replied Cealia, hurling Cohna towards the
ground.  Cealia whipped out her gatling gun and fired relentlessly towards
Cohna.  The Cyclone screamed in pain for a suprisingly short time
before she hit the ground.  Shoving her gatling gun back into subspace,
Cealia drifted towards Jetfire as best she could with only one leg still
functional.

	EL TY Jetfire pounded CS TF Shamus with yet another round.
Shamus, crying out in anger, charged head-on towards Jetfire.
Remaining calm, Jetfire continued to fire on Shamus, only now without
any resistance on Shamus's part.  Shamus wobbily continued to fly, then
finally dropped down until he simply tumbled like a brick.

	"Jetfire..." began Cealia, gesturing towards her severely wounded
leg.  He leaned closer to inspect it.

	"Don't relax just yet!" called out CS TY Scourge as he zoomed
towards them.  Behind him, CS TFs Jade, Nathan, Ryan, and Alex wove
in and out in a dizzying flight pattern.  Myriad blasts spewed forth towards
Jetfire and Cealia.  They split apart, converting back to fighter mode.
Cealia felt her joints grind further as she converted.

	"Back off!" shouted Emily as she strafed the four Seekers.
Almost as if of one mind, they split off and around, screaming towards
Emily.  Emily converted from jet to robot mode and dropped low, but
instead of falling, she grabbed Jade's underbelly.  Drawing her arm back,
she extended her claws, then plunged them deep into Jade's body.  Jade
exclaimed in anger, the spun downward.  Emily transformed into jet mode
and swung back into the sky.  The other three Seekers, angered at the
loss of their comrade, pitched up after Emily.

	Cealia dived close to the ground, withdrawing her wings and firing
her retrothrusters, causing her to hover slightly above the ground.  "You
want a fight, Scourge," said Cealia, anger in her voice, "then you'll damn
well get one."

	Scourge smiled and lurched forward, lasers flaring.  Cealia
ignored the searing lasers, and instead zoomed forward.  *Odd,* thought
Scourge.  Nervous, he began to aim with slightly less resolution.  She
continued to charge him head-on.  He fired with less and less confidence.
Finally, he transformed when she was a few feet away.  *She'll stop,* he
thought.

	She didn't.  Scourge was sheared in half as Cealia flew through
his body, splitting him across the midsection.  *She didn't stop...* was
the last thought in his mind as he went into stasis.

	Cealia was beginning to feel giddy.  She had lost a lot of fluid
from running head-on into Scourge.  The world was beginning to drift out
of focus.  She flew towards the Magnus.

	"Cealia!" cried EL TF Christopher as he watched his elder sister
wobble towards the Magnus.  "Come with me.  We'll get you to Res-Q's
repair center.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	"BANZAI!!!" shouted Oliver as his motorcycle form bounded out
of the Magnus.  He was one of the few QATs who had a ground-based
transform.  The others always chided him about only being able to fly in
robot mode.  He never really cared.  His motorcycle form was the mode
he wanted.

	As he hit the dirt, he noticed some movement near the base of
the Magnus.  *Odd,* he thought.  *Why would anyone be working over
there at a time like this?*

	Curiosity got the better of him, and he went to investigate.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	With accustomed ease, EL TF Spoda sprang into the air and
converted to howitzer mode.  EL TF Eliot caught her easily.  "Is Cealia
going to be okay?" he asked EL TF Tammis.

	"She'll be fine.  Cohna didn't do all that much damage," replied
Tammis.  "You and Spoda go kick some 'Con slag."

	"Don't have to tell me twice," muttered Eliot under his breath.  He
sprang out of the base and began to fire at the multitude of targets that
presented themselves.

	"Comin' through!" shouted Chris as he plowed trough a group of
Decepticons.

	*Oh, slag,* thought Eliot.  "What are you doing here?" he asked
Chris, slightly annoyed.

	"Helping you out, brother," replied Christopher, whipping out his
rail gun and firing at the Decepticons.

	Eliot sighed.  *Every little bit helps, I suppose...* he thought as he
mowed down another group of Decepticons.  *And we're going to need a
lot of help.*

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Five
"House of Pain"
also titled
"Now THIS is a sport!"

	The Magnus rocked under another blast from the exterior.  Tiles
snapped, Transformers fell, and EL TF QAT Ramesh had to grab the
console she was standing at to avoid toppling.

	Looking back at the console, she checked the Magnus's status.
*Slag,* she thought.  *The Magnus is being ravaged by the Decepticons.
Each 'con we keep away, two more open fire.*

	Another blast sent Ramesh sprawling.  EL TF Tammis grabbed
her and helped her to her feet.  "I'm going to activate the shields," said
Tammis, walking over to the console.

	Ramesh grabbed Tammis by the shoulder.  "No!  The others will
be trapped outside!"

	"What will it matter if there's no inside to return to?" growled
Tammis.  Ramesh said nothing.  Satisfied, Tammis hit the button.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF Eliot did a blackflip, then grabbed EL TF Spoda and
blasted through CS MSs BATT and Cobra Eel.  Spinning away from an
acid blast from CS MS Alien Queen, he tossed Spoda into the air and
transformed into truck mode.  Spoda unfolded from howitzer mode into
robot mode and landed on Eliot's weapons trailer.  The two of them
trained their arsenal of weapons forward, blasting away at the massive
Alien Queen.  The Queen stood, hissing, for a few moments, then
exploded.

	"Million go to a down one," said Spoda, bounding off of Eliot's
back.

	"Something like that," replied Eliot, folding back into robot mode.
"I'm going to call Tammis for backup."  He flipped on his wrist comm.
"Tammis, come in!  We're getting our tails kicked out here - we need
backup!"

	"Negative, Eliot," replied Tammis on the other end.  "The force
fields are up.  No-one can go in or out."

	"What?  Tammis, you're going to kill us all!"

	"I'm making sure that the Magnus survives!" replied Tammis.
The comm winked out.

	"Slagging bitch," muttered Eliot.  *Then again, as chief security
officer, I suppose she is doing the right thing.*  He nodded at Spoda, who
transformed back into howitzer mode, and sprang into the amassing
army, firing furiously.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF QAT Oliver continued rocketing towards the small figure
near the base of the Magnus.  Bringing his weapons systems on-line, twin
turrets emerged from his side, flipping forward.  The person might be
friendly, but that was unlikely - besides, discretion WAS the better half of
valor.

	As he drew closer, he noticed a small purple sigil on the robot's
shoulder.  He growled, then began charging his weapons to fire.

	CS TF Casmire was very pleased with how things had gone.
Just as he had predicted, Tammis put up the Magnus's shields.  He
planted the small device CS TF Myron had devised near the ship, then
continued fiddling with the bomb.

	"I don't recall YOU having a visitor pass!" called Oliver as his twin
cobalt ion cannons erupted towards Casmire.  Casmire rolled to one side,
and sprang into tank mode.

	"I don't recall you Autobots being quite this STUPID!" replied
Casmire.  He rotated his massive cannon towards Oliver, and it spoke
twice, thundering into Oliver's flank.  Oliver cried out in pain as it burnt on
his side, but continued to advance.  "What the...?  No QAT has that kind
of endurance!"

	"I'm not your run-of-the-mill QAT, pal!" replied Oliver, flipping into
robot mode.  His twin cannons, now mounted on his shoulders, blasted a
long beam at Casmire.  Casmire backed up as fast as he could, and the
ground where the beam hit erupted into a swirling mist of sand, blinding
him.  Oliver drew his mace out of subspace and charged forward,
smashing it into Casmire's front end.

	Casmire looked back at the device and the bomb.  *No point in
continuing this battle," he thought, and drove awaiy from Oliver at full
speed.

	"Come back here!" shouted Oliver.  He glanced over at the
bomb, missing the well-hidden device that Casmire had planted.  *I
wonder what that is...*

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF Cealia groggily rose off of her repair bed.  "What
happened?" she asked, flexing her leg.

	"You got banged up pretty bad," replied EL TY Res-Q.  "Your leg
was completely shot - I had to replace it."

	Cealia flexed her leg again.  "It feels alright," she said tenatively.
She stood up, balancing her weight on the leg, testing it.  *Not bad,*
thought.  *I'd better get back out to the battlefield.*

	"Are you alright?" asked EL TF Peter as Cealia walked out of the
room.

	"I'm fine," she replied.  "We've got to get back out on the
battlefield."

	"We can't," replied Peter.  "Tammis activated the shields."

	"Then she'll have to deactivate them!" replied Cealia.  "I'm getting
out of here, even if I have to blow a hole in the Magnus!"

	"I agree," said EL TY Hotspot as ran towards them.  "Starscream
got all of us GSTs together - well, except for Onslaught."

	"I'm sure that if we simply observe for a while, the solution will
present itself -" began EL TY Skydive.

	"Who CARES?!?  Let's just go blow these 'cons apart!!!"
bellowed EL TY Brawl.

	"We COULD take these 'cons ourselves -" began EL TYs Blast-
Off and Slingshot simultaneously.

	"QUIET!" shouted Peter.  Everyone quieted down.  "We've got to
figure out a PEACEFUL way to get into the field."

	"And fast," added Cealia, glancing outside.  "Otherwise, there
may very well be nowhere to go."

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TY Jetfire and EL TF QAT Emily steeply climbed, then
banked apart, turning back around.  As they dove down, they opened
fire, sending the CS TF Seekers scattering to avoid the hailstorm of fire.

	Emily twisted off to one side to attack CS TF Nathan.  However,
the black-tan Seeker was prepared.

	<FEAR.>

	The emotion suddenly echoed through Emily.  Terror froze her,
kept her from firing her lasers.  She veered away from a collision course,
the emotion beginning to wear off.

	<FEAR.  DEPRESSION.>

	More emotions shot through her mind.  She broke off her assault
again.  *What's the point?* she thought, drifting along haplessly.  *We're
all going to die anyways.*

	<DEPRESSION.  SUICIDE.>

	Emily glanced down at the ground, strewn with wreckage.
Somehow, it looked so welcoming to her.  *A quick, honorable death,*
she thought.  *So much easier...*

	She suddenly jerked out of it.  *Nathan's abilities!* she thought,
the realization shooting through her mind.  She had encountered them
once before.  *God, that was stupid.*  She turned back towards Nathan,
full speed.

	<FEAR.  HOPELESSNESS.>

	Emily felt the emotions invade her mind, but ignored them.  She
shoved them out of her head, out of her thoughts.  She banked slightly
lower, preparing to hit Nathan's fuel tanks.

	<AVERSION.  TERROR.>

	Nathan began to fire his retrothrusters, backing away from
Emily.  Her mind steeled against the emotions flooding into it, and she
leveled off her descent, charging her lasers.

	<TERROR.>

	Emily finally had a clear shot.  Terrified, Nathan tried to back up
out of range.  Emily tilted slightly upward, then fired her lasers at
Nathan's vulnerable fuel tanks.  The shot hit dead on, and Nathan
plummeted to the ground, flames trailing from his back.

	Emily climbed back up, high into the sky.  A joke about a flaming
ass came to mind, but she shoved it out of her mind, rolling back.  There
was much to do, and an ever-narrowing window in which to do it.

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Six
"Blown away"
also titled
"Okay, give me the bomb."

	EL TF QAT Oliver leaned closer to the small, black orb that CS
TF Casmire had placed.  *Funny,* he thought, *those ticking red
numbers make it look just like a -*

	"Uh-oh," he said aloud.  He looked at the ticking numbers.

	1.00.

	Oliver grabbed the bomb and began running away from the
Magnus at top speed.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	"Tammis!" shouted EL TF Peter as he entered the command
room.  EL TF Tammis looked up as the large white-black robot walked in.

	"What do you need?" she asked.

	"Shut down the shield.  We need to get out there to help them."

	Tammis shook her head.  "No can do.  As the chief of security,
I've determined that deactivating the shield would be hazardous to our
survival."

	"For you, so is leaving it up!" growled Peter, drawing back a fist
menacingly.

	"Cut it out!" shouted EL TF Cealia as she walked in the room.
"Beating each other up won't do anything."

	"Yes it will," replied Peter.

	"Nothing we want it to do, anyways," Cealia snapped back at
him.  "There has to be a solution that will satisfy everyone."

	"Such as?" asked Tammis, scowling.

	Cealia shrugged.  "I don't know WHAT it is, I just know that it
exists.  And that we need to find it before we don't have a chance."

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	0.55.

	Oliver continued to bound over the field, springing over badly
injured Seekers and the like.  Two Seekers dived for him, and he lashed
out with his twin cobalt ion cannons.  One of them fell to the ground, but
the other veered off and transformed, then landed.

	0.50.

	Oliver would have loved to engage the Seeker in combat, but he
didn't have that luxury.  He fired his ion cannons in the Seeker's general
direction, then turned and continued to run.  He vaguely heard the
Seeker fall as he ran off.

	0.45.

	Bounding over the damaged CS TY Scourge, Oliver's foot hit a
loose patch of ground.  Instead of gracefully landing, he slipped, and
tumbled to one side.  He lost his grip on the bomb, and it spun away,
landing a few feet away.

	0.40.

	Lunging for the bomb, Oliver saw CS TF Cohna raise wobbily
from the ground, her jet mode heavily damaged.  He desperately rolled
away as she drunkenly fired her concussion cannons.  Dirt and metal
flew into the air as her shot slammed into the ground.

	0.35.

	"I don't have TIME for this!" bellowed Oliver.  He lashed out with
his mace at Cohna, and she slammed back into the ground limply.  He
lunged back over for the bomb, lifting it up and cradling it in his arms.
Turning, he continued desperately dashing away from the Magnus.

	0.30.

	Looking up, Oliver saw CS TF Nathan plummeting to the ground
in a flaming cartwheel.  Jumping back, he managed to avoid the
damaged Seeker as it slammed into the battlefield.  Flaming shards flew
loose, and Oliver shielded the bomb with his body.  He felt the shards dig
into his back, but he repressed a scream, simply proceeding to continue
away from the Magnus.

	0.25.

	He was beginning to reach the outskirts of the battlefield now.
The sight gave him renewed energy, and he sped up his pace, trying to
get to the edge.  CS TF Shamus slammed into Oliver's back, tackling
him.  Oliver lost grip of the bomb, and it slid along the ground.

	0.20.

	Bringing up his mace, Oliver knocked Shamus off of him, then
got to his feet.  Shamus fired his remaining functional acid blaster at
Oliver, and Oliver felt his back melt away as the acid burnt.  Turning
around, Oliver fired his cobalt ions cannons, smashing into Shamus and
knocking him over.

	0.15.

	Oliver ran towards the bomb frenetically, his mind racing with
fear of what might happen if he didn't get it.  CS TFs Alex and Ryan
strafed Oliver, but he barely even noticed them.  Ignoring the shots as
they bit into him, Oliver continued to run from the battlefield, bomb in
hand.

	0.10.

	The sounds of the battlefield were beginning to grow distant.
Oliver bounded along at top speed, deactivating his internal safegaurds
and pushing his speed to dangerous levels.  *I've almost made it,* he
thought.

	0.05.

	"You probably are out of range to hurt the Magnus," said Oliver
to the bomb, continuing to run.

	0.04.

	"But you still could hurt the rest of us," he continued.  "I have to
try and stop you from doing that."

	0.03.

	Oliver skidded to a halt and tossed the bomb like a discus.

	0.02.

	The bomb wobbled slightly as it flew through the air.  Oliver
began to turn and run away.

	0.01.

	"Remember me," he said softly as he began to dash back
towards the battlefield, knowing he would never make it.

	0.00.

	The bomb blasted apart in a massive explosion.  Oliver turned to
face the explosion, watching the wave of fire sweep over the landscape.
He only had nanoseconds to appreciate the terrible beauty of it before it
was upon him.

	"Until...all...are...one..." hissed Oliver as he was consumed by the
explosion.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	"OLIVER!" screamed EL TF QAT Emily as she watched the
explosions.  A hot wind swept over the battlefield from the explosion, but
nothing more.  He had saved his teamates.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	The small black box Casmire had placed in a small crag was
counting down as well.

	0.04...0.03...

	Casmire saw the explosion.  "Damn!" he said.  That was half of
his plan.  Still, Oliver picking it up must've disrupted its internal timer.
Even without the bomb, the box would work.

	0.02...0.01...

	"Houston, we have lift-off," he muttered to himself.

	0.00...

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	The entire Magnus shook.  "What in Inferno..." gasped Peter.

	Tammis went over to the console.  "They just overloaded our
shields," she said, terror in her voice.  "We've got to shut them down, or
the ship will explode!"  She hit the button.

	"We've got to get out there," said EL TY Hotspot, beckoning the
other EL TY GESs to follow.  They all headed outside.

	"Wait!" said Tammis.  "I'm coming with you all."

	"Tammis..." began Cealia.

	"Don't even try to stop me," snapped Tammis.  "My job is to
defend this ship, even at the cost of my own life."  She pulled her
pressure cannon out of subspace.  "Let's go make them very sorry they
attacked."

	Peter was about to say something, but he bit his tongue.  "Let''s
go!" he shouted, and they all headed towards the exit.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	Casmire stood in front of his army, smiling.  "Decepticons, now
is your moment of glory!" he exclaimed to the assembled troops.

	"Which mean..." drawled CS TY Grimlock.

	"Show no mercy!  ATTACK!"

	The Decepticons surged forward.

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Seven
"Death March"
also titled
"Let the slaughter begin!"

	CS MS Flying Alien Queen hovered over the battlefield, spitting
her highly corrosive acid at the Autobots.  One of them took a shot at
one of her wings.  She rolled to one side, then spat more acid at him.  He
toppled over from the damage.

	"Currently, that MS is putting us at a signifigant disadvantage,"
said EL TY Skydive, standing next to EL TY Hotspot.

	"Then let's level the playing field!" said Hotspot to the assembled
gestalt members.  "Merge to form...MYRIAD!!!"

	Instantly, the five sprang into action.  Hotspot retracted his arms
and legs, preparing for the gestalt merge.  EL TYs Blast-Off and Brawl
reformed and slammed into Hotspot's side, and EL TYs Skydive and
Slingshot latched onto his legs.  Hands and feet appeared and latched on,
the chestplate swung up, and Myriad's head swung up.

	Activating the thrusters lodged in his boots, Myriad launched
skyward, slamming into the Alien Queen.  Hissing, the Queen swiped at
him, her claws digging deep into his side.  Myriad swung his sword at the
Queen in return.

	The giants backed away from each other for a moment, then
raced towards each other again.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF Eliot tumbled behind a large rock, holing up with EL TFs
Christopher, Spoda, and Cealia.  "This is not good," he said, gasping for
breath.

	"Really?  We thought the Decepticons beating us was a good
thing!" said Cealia sarcastically.

	"No time for sarcasm, sister," said Eliot.  "Chris, you go with
Spoda.  Cealia, you're with me."

	"Sir yes," nodded Spoda.

	Cealia folded into fighter mode.  Eliot switched to human mode
and jumped in the cockpit.  "Just a slagging minute!" said Cealia.  "Who
said you'd be piloting?"

	"I did," he replied.  "Did you forget who's Prime around here?"

	"How could I?  You remind me every ten minutes."

	Eliot sighed and strapped himself in.  "Let's go blow something
up."

	Cealia smiled as only a jet can.  "You don't have to tell me twice,"
she replied, and screeched off into the sky.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF QAT Emily glided down, dodging a multitude of blasts.
Landing, she flipped on her wrist comm.  "Ramesh, come in.  This is
Emily.  Come in, slag it, come in!!!"

	"What is it?" asked Ramesh.

	"Oliver is dead," said Emily slowly.

	Ramesh was stunned.  The QATs were a six-member gestalt,
and the death of a gestalt member was like losing a part of herself.  She
said nothing for a moment.

	"Ramesh?" said Emily, diving out of the way of another blast.
"Ramesh, if you're going to go comatose all of a sudden, could you at
least TELL me?"

	Ramesh looked up.  "Sorry," she said.  "I'll get the other QATs
out there to help you."  She winked out.

	*Fat lot of good that does me at the moment,* thought Emily.
She sprang back into the sky and transformed, screaming over to EL TY
Jetfire.  "You okay?" she asked.

	"Yes," he said.  "But if I were you, I'd get behind me."

	Emily nodded - well, she was in jet mode, so it was more like a
odd flip than a nod.  She flew around and behind Jetfire, and he flipped a
switch on his arm.  CS TFs Ryan and Alex were suddenly caught up in a
funnel of electromagnetic interference, careening around without any
input from exterior sources.  Jetfire shut off the funnel, and the two CS
TFs plummeted to the ground.

	"Nice," said Emily, mowing down a battalion of MSs.  "Let's just
hope that we can hold the tide back."

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	"Have we met?" asked Chris of a CS MS.  The MS looked at him,
suprised.  Chris shrugged and clubbed him over the head.  "I'm not going
to be accomidating if you won't even answer me."

	"Going battle not is good," said Spoda.  She sprang into the air
and folded into howitzer mode, mowed down a bunch of Decepticons,
then transformed back to robot mode and landed.

	"I know," replied Chris morosely.  Raising one of his arms, he
fired his razordisk launcher at CS MS Mace.  The disk dug into Mace,
and he fell.

	Before Spoda could reply, three CS TYs rose from the
battlefield.  "It Shrapnel is!" shouted Spoda as she blasted away with her
back-mounted cannons.

	Two of the Shrapnels banked away, but one was caught in the
blast and exploded.  The other simply laughed and duplicated themselves.
The four Shrapnels dove towards Chris.

	"This is not good," said Chris.  "If they keep doing this, next we'll
have six.  Then ten.  Then eighteen.  Then thirty-four.  Then sixty-six.
Then one hundred thirty.  Then two hundred fifty eight.  Then -"

	"Correlation can understand I the!" shouted Spoda as she
mowed one down.  True to Chirstopher's calculations, the three
remaining doubled to six, and once again dove at the two of them.

	"...Then 1026.  Then 2050.  Then 4098.  Then..."

	"Enough!" growled Spoda as she tried to destroy yet another
Shrapnel.  "Day written this long has all it over."

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF Tammis banked to one side, firing her thrusters.  Her
cargo carrier form was powerful, but about as nimble as a brick.  Another
round of blasts from the wing-forward CS MS jet sent her into a full-
fledged fall as she desparately tried to avoid the missiles.

	"Scat!" she shouted, aiming her particle cannon.  Before she
could fire, however, CS TFs Dan and Spencer slashed past her and fired
at her weapons.  Transforming, she dropped, then activated her thrusters
and flew back up.

	Two large cannons raised out of her back.  "Get scrapped," she
said, her cannons thundering.  Dan started to activate his scramjets, but
was cut short as the cannons blasted through his hull.  He spiraled to the
ground, smoke clouding around his shattered body.

	Tammis drew her particle cannon out of subspace and cradled it
in her arms as the Python jet screeched past her again.  Two heat-
seeking missiles launched off of it's wings and trailed towards her.
Tammis spun away from the missiles, and they adjusted to track her.

	*Damn,* she thought.  *Thrusters are still going full force, and
weapons still hot from usage... have to confuse the damn missiles.*
Banking away, she blasted at a Seeker's engines.  The engine erupted in
flames, and and the missiles hovered for a moment without a clear target,
then shot back towards Tammis.

	*Slag!* she thought.  *Those things must have Class 9 trackers.
This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.*  She noticed a small
antenna array on the back of the Python jet as she banked away from
another pass of the missiles.  *Unless they're just high-class drones with
an external guidance system...*

	Spinning away from the missiles again, Tammis rocketed over
the Python jet and landed on it's back.  She grabbed the array and
yanked the panel off, revealing several fuel pumps and pipelines.  Aiming
her particle cannon, she blasted the jet and sprang off as it novaed into a
fireball.  The missiles blasted into the jet, and it was further consumed by
explosions.  The ignited fuel exploded and the large jet consumed itself
with explosions.

	Turning to face Spencer, Tammis shoved her particle cannon
back into subspace.  She raced towards him, then shot straight up.
Confused, Spencer hovered in place for a few seconds, then was
slammed downwards as Tammis dove into him.  Her back-mounted
cannons were extremely painful at long range.  Now, however, at point-
blank range, they were devastating.  Spencer was torn asunder as the
cannons smashed him in two, and without so much as a scream, the two
halves fell like stones.

	She turned her attention back on the unfolding battle.  *He's
finally playing his hand,* she thought to herself.  *And we're powerless to
stop him.*

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Eight
"Never Surrender"
also titled
"To the end!"

	CS MS Flying Alien Queen scrreched as she tore loose another
panel of armor from EL TY GES Myriad.  The massive gestalt, trailing
wires from the heavy damage he had taken, recoiled away from the Alien
Queen.  Lifting up his right arm, his fist transformed into a massive
cannon.  The cannon spoke twice, and the Alien Queen barely avoided
getting completely destroyed by the blast.  Instead, it spun into a
desperate twist, making the blast simply slam into its arm, shattering a
great deal of the forearm.

	<Yeah!  Offense is the key!  Keep hitting it!> urged Brawl.

	<That's not going to work,> replied Skydive.  <We need to hang
back for a little while.  Study its plan of attack.>

	<We KNOW the plan of attack!> snarled Brawl, trying to take
control of Myriad.  <It's attacking and smashing us up!  Now let's quit
studying and kill the damn thing!>

	Blast-Off lashed out with remembered pain and agony.  <Both of
you shut up!> he snarled.  <Neither of you has a successful strategy.
You've managed to nearly kill me, but not the alien.  I'm taking control of
Myriad.>

	<But -> began Brawl.

	<SHUT UP!> bellowed Blast-Off as he took control of Myriad.
Glancing quickly at the Queen, he dove towards the ground, extending
his left hand into a sword and retracting his cannon.  The Queen looked
at the fleeing gestalt, gnashed her teeth, then dove after it.

	Roaring over the battlefield, Myriad, began to slow down slightly.
The Queen did not, and continued to advance towards Myriad.

	<She'll catch up!> exclaimed Slingshot in worry.  <What are you
doing?>

	<Watch and learn,> replied Blast-Off.

	With a mighty flip, Myriad swung himself up and looped over the
Alien.  Barreling along at high speed, the Queen was unable to adjust her
flight path in time.  Leveling off again, Myriad's engines roared to life, this
time chasing the Queen.

	Beating her wings, the Queen began to climb upwards.
Roatating his fist, Myriad slammed into the Queen, sword first.  The
massive blade slammed through the Alien, and Myriad sent a powerful
burst of energy through the blade into the Queen.  With a scream, the
Alien exploded in a mess of bones and blood.

	<I told you,> said Blast-Off, climbing Myriad back up to a higher
altitude.

	Hot Spot took control back from Blast-Off.  <Nice work.  But
we've got other things to think about at the moment.>

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF QAT Ramesh transformed to tractor trailer mode and
rotated the massive cannons on her trailer to face CS MSs Vector and
Lamprey.  The two MSs raised their weapons to try and stop the QAT,
but were cut short as two massive blasts oblitherated them.

	"About time you got out here!" said EL TF QAT Emily, gliding
slowly down to the ground.  She looked over the other three QATs.
Endora was slinking along in cat mode, as usual.  Coomilk was in ATV
mode, in Ramesh's trailer, eager to get out and fight.  Keisha was simply
resting in SST Concorde mode atop Ramesh, patiently.

	"Sorry if we kept you waiting," replied Endora.  In a flash, she
converted to her slender robot mode, her arm cannons fully charged.
"Keisha was Primus knows where, and we had to track her down."

	"Forget that!" said Coomilk.  "Let me go at 'em!!!"

	Reluctantly, Ramesh let him out of his trailer.  "All RIGHT!!!" he
said, thundering off.  "BANZAI!!!"  He bounced along the bumpy terrain,
blasting away.

	Emily turned back towards Ramesh.  "Oliver's death hasn't quite
hit him yet, has it?" she asked morosely.

	"No," replied Endora, sadness in her voice.  Oliver had been sort
of a mentor to the shy and reclusive Endora, and his death was a major
blow to her.  "At least he died saving the rest of us."

	"Not that it may make any difference," said Keisha, launching
herself into the air.  "At the rate this battle is going, there won't be any of
us to save."

	None of the QATs replied to that.  They simply transformed to
vehicle mode and streaked off.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	Lancing out with another photon pulse, EL TF Peter mowed down
five CS TY Shrapnel clones.  *By this time, the real Shrapnel is probably
long gone,* he thought, somewhat dejectedly.  *Since the clones can still
clone themselves, there's no reason for Shrapnel to stick around.*

	EL TF Spoda glanced over Peter.  "Peter!  You okay are?"

	"Yes," he replied.  "Any idea where Chris is?"

	"Heeeeeeere's Chris!" shouted EL TF Chris as he rolled through
a group of MSs in human mode.  Springing up, he converted to robot
mode and stood in front of Peter, saluting.  "Ready, sir!"

	"What do you think I'm going to tell you to do?" asked Peter
irately.  "It's not like you don't have an objective."

	"Yes, sir!" replied Chris, blasting his rail gun at the Shrapnel
clones.  Peter and Spoda also resumed their assault on the clones.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	"Bank left!" said EL TF Eliot, pulling left on the yoke in EL TF
Cealia's cockpit.  A useless gesture, to be sure - the yoke had no affect
on her flight unless she wanted it to - but it was purely an instinct
reaction.

	Compliantly, Cealia banked left, then lanced out with a pair of
laser beams from her nosecone.  "We hit another one!" she exclaimed,
her voice filled with a certain malicious pleasure.

	The sky erupted around her as CS TFs Myron and Byron weaved
through the sky after her.  "Company!" said Eliot, pulling right on the
yoke.  Cealia complied, weaving away from the laser fire.

	Myron transformed and hovered in midair.  Aiming his CAM
cannons mounted on his arms, he blasted after Cealia.  "Designate:
Byron!  Query: Can you hit them?"

	The large Seeker transformed as well, firing his disk launchers.
"Me not know," said the bulky Byron.  "Me think she good fly.  Me Byron
no fly good like she fly good."

	"Analysis: Cealia's flight capabilities as a Terran Seeker body
design are at least 150% that of Designate Byron," said Myron, tracing a
path of shots after Cealia.  "Reasoning: Currently, Cealia is above our
skill level of flight."

	"Me know that," said Byron, lunging at Cealia clumsily.  "Me think
we cut her off.  Pink... pinsh... pimc..."

	"Suggestion: Pincher maneuver is stratagem suggested.
Analysis: Has a 69.8% chance of success."  Myron dodged in one
direction, and Byron began to dive in another.

	"I'm having trouble avoiding their shots!" shouted Cealia to Eliot,
diving down to try and throw the two Seekers off.  Twisting back up, she
lanced out with the four lasers mounted on her underside and blasted
through Byron.  Byron let out a guttural cry, then plummeted to the
ground as so many other Decepticons had.

	Unfortunately for Cealia, that gave Myron a clear target lock.

	Much to Cealia's credit, she did not scream as his CAM cannon
blasted through her body frame.  She spiraled dwonward, smoke trailing
from her.

	"Cealia!" said Eliot, seeing that she was going to die in the crash
unless somebody did something.  "Transfer control to the yoke!"

	He tried to pull her up.  He could not.

	"Cealia, please!  If you don't give me this control, you're going to
die!"

	Still nothing.

	"Cealia, I know you're weak.  But you have to do this last thing.
For me.  For Spoda.  For Chris.  For all of us.  Then you can rest, you
can stop fighting this battle.  But please, do this one last thing I ask of
you!"

	Pulling back desperately, Eliot finally felt the plane tilt up as they
dove downward.  The body scraped along the ground as it landed.  Wings
snapped off, deep gouges cut into the underbelly of the craft.  But she
survived.

	Getting out of her, he stroked one hand against her nosecone.
"I'll make sure you live," he said, then transformed into truck mode and
thundered towards Casmire.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	CS TF Casmire glanced over his shoulder and saw Eliot
thundering towards him.  *Looks angry,* he thought.  *Then again, I
would be too if my forces were getting cut to ribbons.*

	Putting his shoulder cannon onto a narrow beam setting, he cut a
small entryway into the Magnus.  *Now, to end this,* he thought, stepping
inside.

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Nine
"Fight!"
also titled
"Get ready to RUMBLE!!!"

	EL TFs Peter, Spoda, and Chris slammed through another wave
of the CS TY Shrapnel clones.  "There are too many of them!" said
Peter, splitting one open.

	Explosions came from the other side of the sort of wall of
Shrapnel clones.  "Need a hand?" asked EL TF QAT Emily, blowing away
another clone.

	EL TF QAT Ramesh, a few feet back, observed the way all of the
clones were rising.  *Odd,* she thought.  *It seems as if they have a
definite pattern...*

	The thought sprang to her mind.  "Guys!" she called out.
"They're making an electrical grid with the clones!  When they complete
it, they'll destroy us!"

	Peter looked up.  Slag!  He had let himself be careless.  He
should have seen what they were doing.  Lancing out with his twin photon
beams, he blew away several of the clones, fighting a sense of
hopelessness.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	CS TF Casmire strode throught the halls of the Magnus, using
the maps placed to lead him to the computer center.  Finding the room
he wanted, he blasted the door to smithereens.

	Before he had a chance ot fire again, he was blown back by EL
TF David's sonic burst rifle.  "You aren't going to get this computer!" said
David.  He converted quickly to radio form, then let out a wailing sonic
pulse.

	Gripping his audio receptors, Casmire growled and walked over
to David.  Transforming, David tried to leap away, but before he had the
chance, Casmire gripped him by the shoulder and slammed him into the
wall.  David slid down into a crumpled heap, fluid leaking out.

	Turning back to the computer, Casmire smiled and began to
send a series of commands to the Shrapnel clones waiting outside.
Then, he activated the loudspeaker of the ship.  Gripping the
microphone, he began to speak.

	"Autobots!  This is Decepticon commander Casmire.  In slightly
less than twennty seconds, all the Decepticons present will telport onto
this ship, and all entrances will be blocked."

	Pausing, Casmire leaned over to check the instruments.  The
Decepticons were being teleported already.  He smiled and resumed
speaking into the intercom, laying in a series of commands.

	"The Shrapnel clones will begin to emit an energy field that will
drain you until you die.  The drained energy will be fed into the clones,
which then will be converted into a ship to travel off of this planet.  I hope
you have enjoyed your lives -" with this he sneered "- because they will
end momentarily."

	He smiled as his lieutenant, CS TF Cohna, limped into the room,
heavily damaged but okay.  "Reporting for duty, sir," she said as she
hopped in.

	Casmire threw back his head and laughed.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	Peter growled as he heard Casmire's announcement, but even
then he could feel the drain on him begin to take effect.  He dropped to
his knees from energon drain.

	"N-n-no," said EL TF QAT Endora desperately before she too
collapsed.  "You... won't..."  She fell to the ground.

	Peter's vision was dimming.  In desperation, he took a shot at
one of the clones.  It novaed into a fireball, but the one next to it cloned
itself and reestablished the grid.  With a last cry, Peter fell to the ground.

	Hovering in the sky, EL TY Jetfire and EL TF QAT Emily doubled
over from the power of the drain.  "Can you use that energy - nggh -
funnel to get rid of these clones?"

	"No," he replied, trying to hover down slowly.  "The clones don't
have an active brain pattern I can lock on to and jam."  His engines
flickered as he strained to keep them going.

	The engines cut out.  Jetfire plummeted to the ground, falling
limply from lack of energy.  The impact thundered as the massive
Autobot slammed into the surface.

	Emily desperately tried to keep her own engines going, but she
could not.  As the engines cut out, she felt the rush of air past her head.
*Hope this works...* she thought as she converted to cat mode.

	The cat mode slammed into the ground on its feet.  Emily felt the
shockwaves travel up her legs, shattering the bones in them, and she felt
her paws tear open.  But she was alive.  She complimented herself on
managing that, then collapsed.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF Eliot barely felt the drain of energon as he stepped inside
the shielded Magnus.  Glancing at CS MSs Spectron and Countdown, he
activated his shoulder cannons and blew them into the wall.  Countdown's
suit was ripped open, and his innards sparked with damage.

	Spectron moved a little faster, twisting to one side and blasting
his sword blade at Eliot.  Diving, Eliot dodged the blade, but his flank was
ripped into by Spectron's razor claw.  Now angered, Eliot opened fire on
Spectron with his shoulder cannons.  Spectron's armor was not powerful
enough to resist the assault, and he smashed into the wall, his armor
shattered.

	Eliot transformed to truck mode and began barreling down the
hallway, roaring out with his twin side-mounted cannons, oblitherating
anyone who stood in his way.

	He finally found the room he was looking for.  Transforming to
robot mode, he grabbed his multigun out of his subspace pocket and
cradled it in his arms, then stepped into the room.

	EL TF Kelley stood there, her rifle in her hand.  "Eliot," she said
disdainfully.  "You're alive."

	"Yes," he replied.  "I have a job for you.  I'm going to find
Casmire and try to stop him.  When I give you the signal, I want you to
CUT ALL POWER.  Understand?"

	She nodded and transformed to her car mode.  "May your defeat
be honorable," she said to him, then drove towards the power center.
Jacknife transformed as well, then headed towards the computer center.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	As Cohna stood, Eliot fired.  The bursts of ammunition shattered
Cohna's frame, blowing her back and away from Eliot.  Before him,
Casmire stood, his frame standing menacingly.  "You've come," he said
flatly.

	Eliot stood tall.  "I will not allow you to dominate this planet,
Casmire.  Even if my own death is required."

	The Decepticon commander grinned and balanced on the balls of
his feet.  "Then let's see if you can match your words with your actions,"
he snarled, bouncing at Eliot.

	WIthout so much as a sound, Eliot sprang aside, landing in a low
crouch.  Casmire skidded to a halt, then aimed his arm cannon and
blasted twice.  The blast utterly destroyed a bank of computers, but Eliot
dove to the ground and fired his multigun at the Decepticon.  He reeled
away, shocked by the damage.

	"My turn," said Eliot, twisting into a low sweep kick.  Casmire
sprang up to the ceiling, grabbing on, then aimed at Eliot with a powerful
downward kick.  Eliot was knocked across the floor, and had to dig his
hands into the floor to avoid spinning out of control.  Casmire brought his
shoulder launcher on-line now, and blasted directly at Eliot.

	The arrogant grin on his face melted into an expression of shock
as Eliot's trailer slammed into his back.  Smiling, Eliot lept forward at the
trailer.  It folded open, and Eliot slammed into it.  Shifting, it reconfigured
itself to an armor, locking in around Eliot's body.  "I'm not what you'd
expect," he said with a grin.

	Casmire did not reply verbally.  Instead, his arm cannon lanced
out at Eliot.  With a mighty leap, Eliot activated the thrusters of the twin
rockets on his back, and hovered above Casmire.  Aiming the two
razordisk launchers on his arms, he blasted away at Casmire with the
razorbladed disks.

	Casmire barely paid any attention to the disks, batting them
away with a wave.  Grabbing a large computer, he hefted it into the air
and hurled it at one of the warheads on Eliot's rockets.  He tried to roll
away, but it was too late to change his course, and the warhead
exploded, tearing up his left side.  Eliot collapsed to the ground, his back
smoking from the damage.

	Reaching over, Eliot slammed down on a communications
button.  "Kelley!  Cut power!"

	The entire roomed dimmed sharply.  Eliot struggled to try and
establish a lock on his enemy, then jumped back up and prepared to
continue the attack.

	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-	-=-

Part Ten
"Judgement Day"
also titled
"All good things..."

	The two opponents circled one another in the darkness, neither one moving, each waiting for the other.  *This has to work right,* thought EL TF Eliot desperately.  *It has to!*

	CS TF Casmire finally exploded with a fusion blast, melting a bank of computers behind Eliot.  While Eliot's shoulder was melted slightly, it also gave his thermal scanners an easy target.  Raising his multigun, he fired at Casmire's heat signature relentlessly.

	A faint pinging sound could be heard as the bullets reflected off of Casmire's angular chest.  Laughing, Casmire lobbed out shells from his shoulder cannon, sending the other side of the room into a furious commotion of sound and light.  Eliot transformed into hoverskiff mode and darted away from the blasts, shuddering slightly from the shockwaves.  Transforming back to robot mode, he slammed into Casmire with a full-body tackle.

	Decepticon commanders are well-known for their physical strength, and Casmire was no exception.  Lifting up Eliot, he slammed him into a bank of computers.  Glass exploded from the monitors into a glittering cloud, bursting out.  Eliot felt the sharp edges dig into his back, and could feel one of them rubbing dangerously close to a fuel line.

	Eliot's shoulder cannons roared to life, smashing into Casmire.  Casmire was somewhat suprised, and Eliot decided to use the advantage to his fullest.  Flipping his remaining missile onto his shoulder, he let it loose from its docking clamp and blast into Casmire.  The explosion tore into Eliot as well, ripping into his already-damaged right shoulder.  Eliot was blown back, hurling him through a wall of computers.  The jagged metal tore through his armor, and Eliot wobbily stood on the other side.

	Casmire screamed at the damage wrought to him.  His chest was blow away, revealing the assortments of wires and pumps inside of him.  Narrowing his eyes to slits, he tore aside the computers Eliot had been hurled through and picked up the damaged Autobot commander.  He smashed Eliot into the wall, and Eliot felt the servos to his right shoulder snap off entirely as Casmire's thumb punched through his armor plating.

	"I probably shouldn't do this," said Casmire, grinning like a cat playing with a mouse.  He steadily increased the pressure on Eliot, slowly crushing him.  "But I just can't resist the chance to torture you before you die.

	"I don't care who I have to kill to get where I'm going.  As far as I'm concerned, everyone is simply an obstacle to be countered later one.  I've destroyed your entire force, I'll destroy you, and I still won't feel a thing.  I can kill all of you without any pain on my part.

	"You Autobots made a mistake a long time ago.  You let yourself be moral.  You decided that you would rather protect another innocent race while we annhiliated you.  There's nothing *wrong* with that per se.  You just can't win a war like that!  And that's why we WILL win this war!"

	Eliot would have loved to spit in Casmire's face right then, but the pressure on him was too great to even think clearly, let alone to spit.  He felt his higher brain functions begin to shot down as he prepared to rejoin with the Matrix...

	Perhaps it was instinctive.  Perhaps it was that Casmire's grip loosened slightly.  Perhaps a minor tremor hit the Magnus.  Or perhaps it was none of the above.  But whatever it was, it caused Eliot to blast his multigun into the mess of wires in Casmire's chest, hurling him back.  Eliot stumbed to the ground, fluid leaking out of his various wounds.

	Almose immediately, he rolled to one side to avoid a mortar blast.  The blast tore out chunks of the wall from behind Eliot, and Eliot could only aim his razordisks and fire them at Casmire's wiring.

	The disks cut deep into the cavity, slashing through an array of tubes.  Now, Casmire's chest was leaking with energon and mech fluid from damage.  He snarled and fired his fusion cannon at Eliot, who barely slid away from the blast.

	Angrily, Casmire continued to trace a path of fire after Eliot.  The blasts tore away huge chunks of the floor, and sent Eliot scurrying to avoid the shots.  "Give it up, Autobot!" he bellowed after him.

	"NEVER!" replied Eliot, barreling into Casmire.  The unexpected slam hurled Casmire backwards, shattering a pair of computers.  "You're WRONG!  The Decepticons will NEVER win!

	"You can't win because you're trying to fight a cause, not an army.  An army has a definite size, defenite weapons, definite everything.  You know how to destroy an army.  But you can't fight a cause.

	"So instead, you try to destroy the armies that fight for the cause.  And yet they always resurface, led by someone else.  A cause NEVER dies!  You can't stop that!"

	Casmire did not respond.  Instead, he lobbed a series of mortar shells at Eliot.  Eliot pushed off against the wall and gracelessly propelled himself to the other side of the room, where his smashed multigun lay in pieces.  "I hope you don't mind, David," said Eliot to the comatose form of EL TF David as he grabbed his sonic rifle, "but I think I need this more than you do at the moment."

	Rising from behind the computers, Eliot flipped off the safety gaurd on the rifle and let out a wailing sonic wave at Casmire.  Screens shattered, and Eliot was forced to kneel from the intense waves of force hitting him.  Casmire was blown back from the energy, and glass flew from his optics.

	"My - my - my EYES!" yelled Casmire.  Getting up, he activated his MSIVED system and advanced towards Eliot.  Before the Autobot could spring away, Casmire had grabbed his arm, and swung him into the wall.  Picking up the rifle, Casmire almost broke it against his knee, but decided that the usefulness of the weapon was better than wasting it with theatrics.  He cradled the rifle in his arms and focused the energy to a pinpoint blast, then blasted Eliot's shoulder.

	Much to his credit, Eliot made no sound as his arm was torn from his shoulder.  Instead, he picked up his arm and used his wrist laser to fuse it back onto its socket.  He tested the arm for a few seconds, then was cut chort as he had to roll away from another blast.

	"You will not escape!" shouted Casmire.  He tossed the rifle to the side and made a lunge at Eliot.  Eliot parried with a roundhouse kick, then tried to grapple with Casmire.  "Pitiful," he announced, forcing Eliot back.

	Eliot felt his arm start to give way as Casmire applied ever-increasing pressure.  He glanced down at his chest.  The opening mechanism was already destroyed.  Bracing himself for the pain, he disabled his internal saftey restrictions and let loose with his missiles.

	The first blast ripped the holding plate away, and blew through Eliot's chest in the process.  He staggered slightly, but by that point the missiles were already on their way towards Casmire.  The missiles blasted into Casmire, blowing away his left arm and leaving charred patches all over his body.  Casmire wobbled slightly for a moment, then toppled forward.

	Eliot almost collapsed as well, but instead, he limped over to the one still-functional computer.  Pressing in a few keys, he began to disable the lock-in of commands to the CS TY Shrapnel clones.

	[PROCESSING DATA...]

	[DEACTIVATING COMMUNICATIONS STRING 'En476294']

	[DEACTIVATING ENERGY DRAIN SHIELDING]

	[PREPARING TRANSPORTER...]

	[TRANSPORTER PREPARED.  ENTER TRANSPORT CRITERIA]

	['Decepticons' ACCEPTED.  PREPARING COORDINATES...]

	"I must stop you!" yelled Casmire, lunging towards Eliot.

	"Not unless the computer's still working!" replied Eliot.  Smashing his fist into the computer, he yanked out a live wire and shoved it into Casmire's leaking chest.  The energon ignited, and the flames surrounded Casmire, framing him in a demonic sort of halo.

	"You'll kill us both!" screamed Casmire, lunging at Eliot again.

	Eliot was slammed to the ground by Casmire's tackle, and enrgon leaked out of his mouth.  "You're proabaly right," he replied, shoving Casmire off of him.

	The next few moments were impossible to remember except in brief flashes....

	...Casmire crunching Eliot's leg at the knee...

	...Eliot ripping the twin concussion cannons off of CS TF Cohna and fusing them to his arms...

	...a computer bank exploding...

	...Eliot's arm finally snapping off...

	...Casmire's leg getting blown off...

	...Casmire smashing Eliot's head into the wall, shattering his left optic...

	Exactly how long the battle continued, neither was sure.  But when the battle finally ended, Eliot was the victor.  His left optic was shattered, and that side of his head was smashed in.  His chest had a gaping cavity in it.  His left arm was gone.  His right leg was a mangled mass of crushed metal.  Wires and tubes trailed out of his sides.  Every cubic millimeter of his body ached.  But he was alive.

	He painfully pulled his body along the ground, reconnecting the wire he had shorted out in the console.  He painfully reached over and pressed the last button to save his ship.

	[TRANSPORT ENGAGED]

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	EL TF Peter rose slowly.  "What the hell...?" he asked in puzzlement.

	The Shrapnel clones still hovered there, but the field had been shut down.  They simply seemed to be waiting for orders.

	With a roar of both anger and anticipation, Peter released a furious barrage of photon blasts on the clones.  Unsure of what to do, the clones began to drift apart.

	"Unnnh..."  EL TF QAT Emily slowly transformed from her shattered cat mode to her robot mode and stood up wobbily.  Looking around, she saw other EL TFs and TYs raise to their feet.

	"What's happening?" asked Emily, confused.

	The damaged Decepticons finished their teleport, a few feet away from the recovering Autobots.  "I don't know," said EL TF Tammis, "but I'd say at the moment we've got other concerns."

	CS TF Julie rose from the chaos, and quickly assessed the situation.  "RETREAT!" she screamed to the Decepticons.

	At the moment, no-one was going to point out that Julie was by no means next in line for the leadership, considering how her suggested plan of action was similar for everyone.  They gathered up their wounded warriors, then screamed off into the sky.

	EL TF QAT Coomilk raced after them, lancing out with beam after beam.  "Damn!" he shouted.  He glanced to one side.  "Well, they'll be back."

	"What makes you say that?" asked Emily.

	Coomilk gestured towards CS TF Jared.  "They left one of their warriors behind."

	"No, I think that one they intended to leave behind."

	Jared came to and transformed.  "Where is everybody?" he said in his screechy, whiny voice.

	Coomilk recoiled from the harsh noise, then blasted through Jared's head, melting his memory circuits.  "Yup.  They left him behind for a reason."

	EL TF QAT Ramesh looked back towards the Magnus.  "Where's Eliot?" she asked.

	The commanders looked at each other, then began heading for the battle-ravaged Magnus.

	*	*	*	*	*	*

	*I am in pain.*

	*I barely remember my name, my reason for being here, or anything else.  All I can think of is the pain that premeates my body.*

	*I slump away from the computer.  I was... saving someone from the... Decepticons...*

	*Yes!  Did I save them?*

	*I check the monitor.  Yes.  I did.  I fall back to the ground as my arm shatters.  I can rest now.*

	*There is a light.  A bright light.  A soft, blue light.  The Matrix.*

	*I reach for the light, twirling my fingers around in it.  Silly, I know, since I no longer have arms, but I still can do it.  How sweet that light seems... how forgiving.*

	*I begin to move towards the light.  It seems so nice, a chance to return to the place of my birth...*

	*"Eliot!"*

	*I do not know who it is, but I know the voice.  I can not place the name it mentions, but I know the name.  I stop moving towards the light, moving back to the world of reality.*

	*A tall, white figure moves over me.  I recognize her markings and her body, but I cannot place the name.  Somehow, though, I know that it means I am safe.*

	*"You're all right," she sayys, picking me up.  "I'd better get you to Res-Q."*

	*As she carries me along, I slip back into sleep.  I realize that I have more to do on this planet.*

	*So very much more.*

	*I smile slightly, through my shattered faceplate.  I know I don't belong up in heaven just yet.*

	*But maybe... I can make this world its own heaven.*

THE END

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