Cybertron

Cybertron was a world of hexagons. Hexagonal girders, woven together to form so many hexagonal holes. A forest of mostly dark green, and some moderately dark gray. A fair amount of this had been reprogrammed, creating roads, plazas, and buildings, among other things.

Two mechanical men stood upon one of many hexagonal plazas, within the shadow of a nondescript space scraper, deep in conversation.

One of them almost blended into their surroundings. Most of his armor was a silver gray. The underlying machinery was an almost mint-like green. A pair of gray horns protruded from his temples, and curved forward and up. A pair of orange optics burned in the darkness.

The other was a very dark, almost black, gray. He was somewhat boxy, with some thin, inset, lines of softly glowing yellow orange light. A small sort of elongated grill rose from his forehead, and was framed by a pair of smallish, inward-bent horns. A long blaster barrel was attached to his back, and offset a bit to the right.

"Our fellow Cybertronians have refused to realize their true potential," the longer-horned one, Liege Maximo, was saying. "We have the power to build a great empire, one which could span this entire galaxy. The organics would worship us as gods. And compared to those pathetic mortals, that is exactly what we are. But our fellow Guardians, Megatronus, fear greatness, they believe it will inevitably lead to corruption.

"But what is corruption?" Maximo asked, rhetorically. "Is it some inner strength. Some realization about the nature of morality. Or something more, something deeper. Greatness is suspended there before us like some forbidden fruit. All we need to do is partake."

"And we will," Megatronus Prime assured him. "My watch with Solus Prime at the Sacred Chamber begins soon. That's when I'll take the Allspark. We'll place it within this his tower beside us. We'll use the Force, rather than fear it. The nature of my relationship with Solus means she will not be suspicious when I get close to her. Close enough that she will be unable to defend herself."

"I pity you, Megatronus. Having to betray the woman you love," Maximo said.

"What other choice is there? We both know she would never accept your words of enlightenment. She is so devoted to the traditions of the Quintessons that she shares their fear of the power of the Force." Megatronus let out an electronic sound of disgust. "She follows the ways of a vanquished enemy!"

"The Quintessons were also our creators."

"Unicron's demonic horns, Max! They were monsters, and we should not honor them."

"I only bring light in order to illuminate the truth," Maximo replied calmly.

"My outburst was not directed at you," Megatronus apologized.

"Think nothing of it, brother. You are faced with a difficult situation."

"I should depart," Megatronus said, wanting to put an end to this conversation. "When I return, the... Decepticons will have the power of the Force."

Maximo frowned slightly at the mildly ridiculous name. "I prefer 'Destron'," he suggested.

"Either is fine," Megatronus allowed. His upper legs expanded, allowing the lower legs to fold up into them. The feet reconfigured themselves into cowlings for the engines in his calves. His arms became wings, each with a weapons pod. A sort of cockpit formed around his head, and the blaster barrel repositioned itself beneath him. Megatronus rocketed away from the plaza even as he finished the final stages of his transformation.

Sacred Chamber

"You are a bit late, 'Tronus," commented Solus Prime, standing in the doorway off the chamber. She was the most beautiful being he'd ever seen. Her optics were a vibrant gold-yellow. Most of her armor segments were outlined in a vibrant purple-pink, around a light, almost white, violet. There were also some finer details in a medium blue. The machinery beneath was a gold-bronze color, along with some medium blue tubing.

Her right hand possessed eight long, slender fingers, resembling spider legs. On the forearm was an energy weapon. In place of a a left hand was a gold-bronze colored hammer, the Star Hammer. There were three crests, each of which tapered to a small point, down the back of her head. And on Solus' back was a pair of magnificent wings, each with a small pair of energy weapons at the ends.

Megatronus recalled his first few minutes of consciousness. It was odd, suddenly being conscious, after not being before. It was mildly traumatic, like being awoken from a great slumber. But he supposed every sentient being had a moment like that.

There were twelve others with him. Beings of alloy armor and complex machinery. They all unique, but one stood out far more than the others. This one was different. This one's armor paneling was more curved, and the waist was a bit narrow. Megatronus did not understand the significance at first. Eventually, it dawned on him that this being to whom he found himself so drawn was a female. This truth, for some odd reason, did not seem to register to the others.

That had been the first time he'd seen her. And this would be the last.

"I came across a potential anomaly I had to investigate. It turned out to be nothing. But we all know if I hadn't taken a closer look that it would have happened to be an entire Quintesson war fleet."

"Of course," Solus said, with a laugh. Megatronus suddenly embraced her, and kissed her. She pulled away a short moment later. "We are at work, my love," she softly scolded.

"Give me something to look forward to, and I'll do my job even better."

"Very cute, 'Tronus. Now get to work." The beautiful Cybertronian woman turned to head to her station... A great bolt of energy suddenly leapt from the muzzle of his shoulder-mounted energy weapon. The energy beam tore through her. She let out an electronic shriek of agony as she was separated at the waist, and shrapnel and machinery sprayed out in all directions. Her optics flickered, and then went dark, as her broken body fell to the floor.

Megatronus stared at Solus' broken body for a long moment. He could scarcely process the fact that he'd just murdered the woman who'd been his spark mate for thousands of years. He hated to imagine an eternity without her, but he'd had no choice. If the Cybertronians were to become the gods they had been created to be, then sacrifices would have to be made. Megatronus' lover had been the first.

Tearing his optics from Solus' corpse, Megatronus Prime turned to the Allspark, sitting upon its pedestal. He could feel its power, radiating almost like heat. His chest irised open as he picked up the glowing bronze-gold cube. Megatronus placed it within his chest; all sorts of machinery began connecting to the Allspark as his chest closed up.

The incredible power of the Force began to burn through Megatronus' mechanized body. He quickly morphed into his vehicular form, and silently blasted out of the airless chamber, into Cybertron's lack of an atmosphere. Already, he could sense that his fellow guardians knew someone had united with the Allspark. They would be obligated to kill him.

Megatronus hated himself for what he had done. He allowed his emotions to bleed out into the Force, and they came back to him in the form of raw power. So he focused on these negative emotions, amplifying them, and feeding them back into the Force.

His speed increased as the Force flowed through him. He put up a deflector shield to guard his aft. And as with everything else, it was more powerful with the Force. Why the Pit were most of his fellow Cybertronians so afraid...

Megatronus' musings were interrupted as he felt several impacts against his shield. To his mild surprise, this caused no damage. He continued to pull ahead. In a few minutes he'd be out of their sensor range, and then he'd head to that space scraper. There the Allspark could be hidden from his and Maximo's fellow Guardians.

He was aware that something had gone wrong when the burning of the Force's power started to become... painful. A fire seemed to be spreading throughout his body, and he began to fear suffering a catastrophic overload. The pit slagging Allspark was fighting back!

His shield generator sparked as the cube sought to kill him. As much as Megatronus hated to let go of this power, he'd hate even more to be destroyed by it. So he allowed his chest to iris back open, and ejected the cursed cube back out into space. He positioned himself in front of the Allspark, knowing his pursuers wouldn't risk destroying it with their own fire.

Megatronus changed course, now heading out of Cybertron's mass shadow. He had murdered the woman he had loved for thousands of years for... absolutely slagging nothing! The others would still have the Allspark, and now it would be guarded even more heavily. All Megatronus had done was make things worse. It would be so easy to just end it all. To lower his deflector shield, and let them kill him. His deflector shield heaved violently as the other guardians of the Allspark opened fire.

No! Unicron torment them all! Megatronus would fight like the Pit to save himself. He shouldn't have to die for doing, or at least trying to do, what was necessary.

Megatronus' energy reserves were running dangerously low. One more hit could end it all. He felt himself leaving Cybertron's mass shadow. He suddenly deactivated his deflector shield, and engaged his hyperdrive. But before he could enter the safety of hyperspace he suffered a hit to his port engine. It exploded, and he was gone.