So, here it is, me venturing into new territory with a brand new fanfic.

I'm not sure why, but I just really felt a strong urge to write this fanfic after re-watching the Beast Wars series on Netflix, and after reading a series of incredible, awesome Beast Wars fanfics written by LAXgirl. I really suggest you give her fanfics a look, because she has just done an INCREDIBLE job.

Now, before we begin a few things I want to cover. First off…this fanfic will be following a modified version of canon. There will be original arcs and twists and such, but I will not be completely diverging from canon.

Second, I'll be including four OCs. However, said OCs will not dominate the fanfic. They simply will be part of the adventures and sides they are affiliated with. So please do not worry about some OC being overpowered or taking over or something like that. Unless it's in their personality to try and take over. *Looks at the Predacons who are trying to look innocent*

Third…this fanfic will be including a genderbent version of Dinobot, known as Sauria. Yes, that's crazy, I know. But…well…when I read it in LAXgirl, I enjoyed the concept. And I wanted to try my hand at it. I hope you all enjoy the concept, and if you don't…well please feel free to stop reading. But I'd appreciate it if flames or other such remarks about the idea being stupid did not make it into the reviews.

Well, I'm not sure if there's anything else I really need to cover here. So I guess it's on with the show! Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beast Wars: Transformers. It is the property of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. The only thing I own is the enjoyment I get from writing this.

Chapter 1

A Simple Mission

Space, considered by many to be the final frontier. It's vast, tranquil, beautiful, yet also deadly and unforgiving. It was something that could never be tamed, never be conquered.

However, in orbit of one planet in one system within the galaxy known as the Milky Way, the tranquility of space was interrupted by a massive technological structure. A space station, an outpost used by its occupants to repair and resupply ships that constantly entered and exited the system. One such ship was a sizeable vessel docked alongside one of the docking rings encircling the main structure of the space station. The ship had very aesthetic lines, staring in a narrow rounded forward section, and curving back into a larger rear section, with a pair of engine pods currently retracted close to the ship's hull along the sides of the rear of the ship. The bottom of the ship's hull was skirted by large panels, with the only real deformation of the ship's lines overall being a large sensor dish and antenna located along the rear of the top of the ship and a few mounts along the ship's hull that clearly housed weapons of some type. Decorating the side of the hull near the bridge was an emblem, a red fox or wolf head. This ship was the Axalon, an older class of exploration starships employed by a race of sentient robots known as the Maximals.

The Maximals were descendants of a race of autonomous robots known as the Autobots, massive building sized robots that populated a metallic planet known as Cybertron, which was said to be the body of their creator known as Primus, whose essence now resided as the core of Cybertron. Centuries earlier, the Autobots had been attacked by a splinter faction of robots known as the Decepticons, who were led by a brilliant but cruel robot named Megatron. Megatron and his Decepticon forces started a war that initially devastated the Autobot population, until a hero arose known as Optimus Prime. The war between Autobot and Decepticon eventually came to an end on a backwater planet known as Earth, where the native population, known as humans, helped Optimus and his fellow Autobots defeat Megatron and the Decepticons. A treaty known as the Pax Cybertronia was established, leaving the Autobots in charge while the Decepticons were heavily penalized and restricted on Cybertron

Now, three hundred years later, the Maximals existed in a still uneasy peace with the descendants of the Decepticons, known as Predacons. While the main Predacon government attempted to keep the peace with the Maximal Imperium, rogue factions stirred up trouble, seeking to overthrow the Maximals.

However, none of this was of any concern to the crew of the Axalon. Instead, they had more pressing matters to worry about.

On the bridge of the Axalon, a small bronze and silver colored robot growled from under the console he was working on, which was currently shorting out. "Man, I tell yeh dis flying hunk of junk needs to be retired already," he said in a high pitch voice. He grunted, squinting his flat red optics as the wires he was working on sparked, before he heard the satisfying beep of the console coming online. With a grunt he pulled himself out from under the console and tapped a few keys. "Whoo-hoo, got it! Trapper to Rox, yeh reading me big guy?" He called over the ships internal communications. (1)

The subject of his query was farther back in the ship, in the engine room. Rox was a large, stocky robot, who was colored metallic green on his faceplate and helm, along with his upper arms, hands, and upper legs. The rest of his form was colored metallic brown. Like Trapper, he had red optics, only his had small lighter colored pupils. His helm had gold protrusions lining his jaw, the crown of his head, and along the centerline of his scalp, making it appear as if he had a gold beard, Mohawk, and eyebrows. He grunted as he leaned forward, tapping a key to respond. "Loud and clear Trapper," he spoke in a low, gravelly voice.

"I finally got da slaggin' engineering console back online. Yeh can reroute it back up here whenever yer ready," Trapper said, before cutting communications. Rox simply sighed, tapping a few keys on the engineering console in front of him, before turning to the other presence in the engineering room, which was currently running a scanner over a series of crystals inside the main engine reactor. "NightWing, how are those new Energon Crystals holding up?"

NightWing slowly moved out from behind the reactor, revealing a female chassis colored metallic black on her helm, forearms, shoulders, lower torso, and calves and midnight blue everywhere else. She had a pair of down swept wings on her back, with the nose and cockpit of a jet making up her torso. Her midnight blue servos had three delicate fingers and a thumb. A pair of purple optics with lighter colored pupils looked up from the scanner as she answered him in a somewhat low pitched female voice. "All reading in the green Rox. Engines are at one hundred percent and we're ready to fly. Whenever Optimus finally gives us the order," she muttered, tossing the scanner onto a nearby tool bench.

Rox sighed, turning back to his console. "Trust me Wing, this is important," he said, only to blink as he felt her arms wrap around him from behind.

"Awww, c'mon big green, you can tell me," she said in a flirtatious voice, grinning. NightWing and Rox had been friends for decades, ever since they had both been assigned to the engineering team of a Maximal cargo ship. Said cargo ship had been caught in an ion storm and had its propulsion knocked out, leaving the crew stranded for days until the duo had finally been able to get their engines back online. Since then, they had practically been inseparable, with NightWing constantly teasing and flirting with Rox.

Rox sighed, slowly lifting her arms and servos off him. "Sorry Wing, I can't tell you. Trust me on this," he said quietly, causing her to blink.

"That serious huh?" She asked, before shrugging. "Oh well, I'll find out soon enough. I always do," she said with a grin as she went to work, while Rox shook his helm.

Meanwhile, back on the bridge, Trapper sighed as he turned to the only other presence on the bridge. "Man, I tell ya, I could be sitten at O'Malley's tossing back a radium blitzer right now. But instead, I'm stuck here like a good little school bot," he muttered.

The other mech just grinned at him. "Awww, come on Trapper. Big Bot said we'd be heading out soon," he said in a young sound male voice, denoting that despite being taller than Trapper, he was significantly younger. Said mech was a few inches taller than Trapper, with almost the entirety of his frame being yellow in color. Only his faceplate was an alternate color, being metallic blue, with flat golden optics. His helm was also gold, with cheek guards and a pair of prongs sticking up on his forehead, with a smaller piece jutting up between them. Much like the other bots on the ship, his servos consisted of three fingers and a thumb.

Trapper rolled his optics at the young mech. "Listen kid, even when we do leave dis flying bazaar, we ain't going anywhere special. Just da aft end of da galaxy to study anomalies and stuff. So don't get yer circuits charged up."

The mech was about to respond when they heard the whirr of machinery behind them. Both mechs turned to see one of the bridge's elevators rising up with two more mechs on board.

The first had a frame that was of medium build, with it being gray in the shoulders, forearms and servos, chest, and lower legs, and white in upper arms and upper legs, with some red trim on the white areas. His face plate was white around the mouth but grey around his red pupil optics. His helm had two narrow side fins that swept up and forward in a curve, with a central protrusion rising up on the forward part of his helm. Overall, the bot bore a striking resemblance to the famous Autobot leader Optimus Prime. Even his name, Optimus Primal, was similar to that of the great Autobot hero.

Behind him was a mech slightly taller than him in height, but a little slimmer in build. The mech was colored metallic black on his forearms, shoulders, calves and pedes, lower torso, and the helm that covered his head, shaped similar to a helmet worn by an ancient Earth warrior known as a samurai. The remainder of his frame was grey in color, including his face plate, with flat red optics slowly glancing around the semi-circle shaped bridge. His servos each had three fingers and a thumb, which seemed to be the standard design for most Cybertronians.

Optimus nodded to the two mechs on the bridge. "Trapper, Speedtor," he said, as the yellow mech perked up when he said Speedtor, indicating that was his name. "I'd like you to meet Lok. He's been assigned to us as the ship's weapon and security officer," he said, indicating the mech behind him, who nodded at them.

Trapper's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What da slaggin heck we need him for? Something goin' on Optimus?" He asked in suspicion.

Lok raised his servos in a placating gesture. "Hey, no need to firewall me," he said in an easy going voice. "I'm just here to make sure everything runs smoothly. There's been some Pred activity flaring up recently is all," he said.

Trapper still stared at him suspiciously, until Optimus cleared his vocal unit. "Is everything ready to go here?" He asked.

Speedtor quickly answered. "Sure thing Optimus! Just need to check in with Rox down in Engineering," he said, turning to his console. "Rox, everything ready?" He asked.

Rox's gravelly voice soon answered over the comm. "Everything check outs. The ship is ready to depart as soon as Optimus is."

"Good to hear it old friend," Optimus said, moving to the large circular table in the center of the bridge. "Lok, your station is right there," he said, pointing to one of the consoles lining the forward part of the bridge.

Lok nodded and quickly moved to the console, sitting in the backless chair that automatically adjusted to let him comfortably reach the controls. As he began activating his console, Optimus opened the comm unit at the command table. "All hands, this is the captain speaking. I think it's about time to explain why exactly we were delayed for so long in our departure. We received orders from Maximal Command to head into the Alpha Quadrant and deposit some special cargo there." (2)

Trapper, sitting at the pilot console, spun his chair around. "Da Alpha Quadrant? Why da scrap we heading there?"

"It's remote, and the best place to deliver the cargo we've been entrusted with," he said. "Now prep the ship for departure. Speedtor, contact flight control and request departure clearance and flight vectors."

Speedtor nodded and turned back to his communication console, while Optimus turned to Lok. "Status of tactical?" He asked.

Lok turned to him. "All weapon systems online, shields operating at optimal efficiency," he said.

"We've been cleared to depart along vector 030 by 127," Speedtor said from his position.

Optimus grinned. "Alright then Trapper…take us out," he said.

The two engine pods slowly extended outward from the Axalon's hull, as the two engines lit up. As the last of the docking clamps disengaged the ship began to slowly push forward away from the space station, altering its course to follow its flight plan out. Within seconds the ship was accelerating, now free from potential traffic, and heading off into the depths of space.

Onboard, Optimus smiled at the successful launch. "Alright then. Once we're fifty thousand klicks out, ready for Transwarp jump to-."

"Optimus, getting an urgent communication from Maximal Defense Command," Speedtor said, turning from his console.

"Patch it through," Optimus said, as the bridge crew all perked up. A few seconds later, a voice came through over the speakers.

"Axalon, this is Maximal Defense Command. We have a Priority One Situation. Confirm," came the voice over the communication.

Optimus immediately moved to Speedtor's console. "This is Optimus Primal, commander of the Axalon. Confirm Priority One," he said.

"A rogue Predacon group has stolen a high security relic and is currently evading capture. Escape is imminent. Your ship is currently the only one close enough that is capable of locking onto their signature and following it. Transmitting the warp signature of Predacon ship Darksyde, as well as all information on the relic stolen and the Predacons involved," the voice said, before a data stream began to flow across the screen.

"Trapper, scanners on full and locate that Predacon ship. Lok, I want all weapons and defensive systems online and at full power," Optimus said, while moving to the command table and activating the comm. "Rox, we're going to need full power to the engines. I want every bit of speed you can give us."

Shutting down the comm, Optimus began going through the data that had been transmitted to them. There had been three robots that had entered the archives, and had stolen the relic from it, disabling one security mech in the process. A second security mech had reportedly been in pursuit, seeking transport to follow the Darksyde.

However, when Optimus reached the data on the stolen relic, his eyes widened. "Oh Primus no," he said softly, causing the three mechs on the bridge to turn. Lok's optics widened when he saw the relic, while Trapper and Speedtor looked confused.

"Yo Optimus, what's da deal?" Trapper asked. "It's just a hunk of gold."

"It's far worse than that Trapper. Have you located them yet?" Optimus said, moving up next to him as Trapper turned back to his screen.

"Ehh I got a faint echo. They're moving pretty fast Optimus, but I think we can get em," Trapper said.

Optimus nodded, turning to Lok. "Ready the weapons," he ordered.

Lok turned to his screen. "Uhhh yeah, about that…sir, this ship is not exactly combat grade material. How are we supposed to stop a Predacon ship?"

"We don't necessarily need to stop them, just slow them down long enough for reinforcements from Cybertron to arrive," he said, as the Axalon surged ahead, its engines straining from the amount of power coursing through them.

In the engine room, NightWing nervously glanced at a display screen. "Rox, we've got a temperature spike in the number three heat exchange. It's not serious, but if that goes, we could lose the port engine."

Rox just grunted. "Keep an eye on it. We'll shut down the engines if things get too much worse," he said. NightWing nodded, watching her displays carefully.

Up ahead, on board the Darksyde, a massive armored mech stood on a central platform in the middle of the wiped open space that made up the command area of the Predacon ship. Dark silhouettes stood in front of large screens and keyboard consoles, monitoring the ship's systems and the space around them.

One of the figures spoke in a voice that sounded like the buzzing of a flying insect. "Lord Megatron, Maximal ship approaching," they said, as on their screen there was a radar image with a blip approaching them.

The massive armored figure let out a growl, turning to another of the figures on the bridge and speaking in a deep voice. "More power to the engines! Quickly!"

On the bridge of the Axalon, the four mechs were tense as they drew closer to the Predacon ship. They had gotten close enough to get a visual of the ship, and Trapper had opened a second window on his display so they could see it.

The Darksyde was a dull metallic greenish-grey in color, and was shaped like a reverse trident, with two crooked swept back wings and the main hull/tail section making the central point. They could see the engines flare, as the ship tried accelerating away from the Axalon.

Optimus turned to Speedtor, nodding. "Hail them," he said. With a nod, the young mech sent a hail to the ship. After a few moments, he shook his head. "No response Big Bot," he said.

"Try it again," Optimus said. Speedtor did so, with the same result. With a soft growl, Optimus turned to Lok. "Are we within weapons range?"

"Just barely. Want me to target their engines?" The black colored mech asked.

Optimus shook his head. "Put a warning shot over them. See if we can't get their attention."

With a nod, Lok input the commands into his console. On the forward part of the ship, one of the weapon pods containing a pair of cannons rotated into position, the cannons elevating a bit. One of them fired, launching a concentrated ball of energy towards the fleeing Predacon ship. The round narrowly shot over the top of the Predacon ship, a clear warning shot.

On board the Darksyde, a gravelly female voice spoke from a fairly tall robot standing at another of the consoles. "They have fired upon us and are gaining. We should turn and destroy them."

"An excellent suggestion. Come about and prepare to destroy that ship," the massive figure known as Megatron.

On the Axalon, the crew watched as the Predacon ship finally slowly, before it started to bank towards them. Lok's eyes widened as his console flashed red. "They're locking weapons on us!" he shouted.

"Everyone brace!" Optimus shouted, as several batteries along the front of the Darksyde opened fire. The Axalon was slammed by several rounds, its shields flaring as they tried to absorb the damage. Onboard the ship, the crew was knocked around a bit as the internal stabilizers struggled to compensate for the explosions.

Optimus grunted, moving to Lok's station. "Open fire on all batteries! Try to target their weapon systems," he said, only to be thrown back as a second barrage from the Darksyde slammed into the Axalon.

The Predacon ship smoothly sailed over the Axalon, starting to bank for a second pass at them while it's rear guns peppered the shielding on the rear of the Maximal ship. Almost immediately, the Axalon's own batteries opened up, and now the shields of the Darksyde began to flare.

Trapper let out a yell as the Axalon was rocked again. "Oh man, what da scrap are we doing?!" He yelled, trying to maneuver the Axalon to give Lok a better shot.

Speedtor winced, gripping his console to steady himself as his console flashed. "Secondary sensor grid is overloading Optimus!"

The Darksyde now had maneuvered underneath them, firing at their ventral shielding. The Axalon rolled, bringing its guns to bear and fired a barrage into the Darksyde's dorsal shielding, as the two ships passed. Lok grunted, trying to stay in his seat. "Ventral shielding is down to thirty percent! We can't take another barrage like that!"

Optimus moved to Lok's console, pointing to a few points on a diagram of the Darksyde. "I recognize that class of warship. Their shielding along the ventral plating is weaker, right where the main power conduits to their propulsion systems are. Trapper, get us underneath her. Lok, target here and here, it should take out their engines," he said.

The Axalon and Darksyde both were now charging at each other, their forward batteries laying into each other. As they neared, the Axalon dove down, rolling on its starboard side as the port side batteries all opened fire along the underside of the Darksyde. The shields flared, fluttering briefly, and along the underside of the ventral hull there were a few small explosions as power conduits overloaded. The engines of the Darksyde fluttered and died, as the ship began to simply drift.

On the Darksyde, the Predacons had been flung from their posts when the power conduits exploded, and the engines cut out. A short, stocky robot quickly got back to his console, before speaking. "Lord Megatron, they've knocked our engines out! We're dead in space!"

Megatron growled, pointing to the robot who spoke. "Get those engines back on line. And you two, go help him," he said, pointing to two other Predacons, who nodded and quickly followed the third to go repair the engines.

On the Axalon, Speedtor cheered at the sight of the Darksyde adrift, as Optimus smiled grimly, only for Trapper's voice to wipe the smile away. "Another ship coming in! It's another Pred ship!"

The Axalon was rocked from weapons fire as a smaller, second ship, this one with delta shaped wings bristling with weapons and an engine mounted in its tail slightly above the hull, shot over them.

In the engineering room, sparks shot out of overworked power conduits as steam erupted from a pipe. Rox grunted, stumbling a bit as his consoles were all flashing red and alarms were going off. "We just lost power to the weapon systems! NightWing, get them back online!"

"I'm on it!" The femme said, grabbing a tool kit and rushing to a nearby access panel, yanking it off to work on the damaged circuitry and wiring within.

On the bridge, Lok cursed. "Weapons are completely offline! We're a sitting cyber duck," he said.

Optimus turned to Trapper. "Head straight for that second ship, make them think we'll ram them. It might buy us some time," he said.

The Axlon lunged forward towards the new, smaller ship, which had banked around sharply for another pass at them. The smaller ship easily slipped under the Axalon, launching a barrage of laser fire all along the underside of the ship. The ventral shields, already badly damaged from the Darksyde's earlier barrage, couldn't handle the strain and buckled, causing some of the shots to connect with the vulnerable hull underneath. An explosion rocked the ship, as its engines sputtered and died.

In the engine room, Rox was thrown off his pedes by the explosion, while the access panel NightWing was working on blew up in her face, causing her to scream in pain as she was thrown back. At the same time, a support beam on the ceiling was broken by an explosion from a power conduit above it, and the severed beam shot down towards the floored femme.

Rox shot up, staring in horror as NightWing weakly struggled, her servos grasping the broken beam lodged in her body, almost completely severing her torso in half. Rox rushed to her, grasping the beam only for her to shriek in pain. He quickly let go, kneeling next to her as she weakly looked at him. "R-Rox…I-I can't feel my legs," she whimpered out, only to cough up a bluish liquid; Energon, the life blood of Maximal and Predacon alike.

Rox gently took her hand. "Don't worry. I'll take care of this," he said.

The dying femme shook her head. "No…this is it for me, isn't it?"

Rox closed his eyes, before they snapped open. He moved to one of the still functioning consoles. "Not yet. I can remotely download your spark into one of those blank protoforms in the stasis hold," he said.

Exploration ships like the Axalon served two functions. Besides their primary mission of deep space exploration, they also could carry entire crews of un-activated protoforms that could then be launched at a planet in stasis pods. The stasis pods, upon landing on the planet, would scan the nearby area for a suitable alternative form for the protoform inside to take, a second form that could be used to disguise the protoform, as well as allow them to make internal repairs when damaged and shield them from harmful energies and radiations that might exist on the planet. All it required as a simple transformation from the protoforms normal robotic form into their alternate form.

However, some of these protoforms were known as blanks, protoforms which were not given a spark, the heart and soul of any Cybertronian. They were instead empty shells, unconsciously waiting for their own sparks.

NightWing weakly looked at him. "Has that…been done before?"

"A few times. There's a risk of damage to your memory core due to the transfer, but considering the alternative," he said, only to be interrupted by Optimus.

"Rox, we need those weapons back online now!" Optimus shouted, as on the bridge was chaos. Several of the consoles had gone offline, and the main lighting was offline, leaving the bridge shrouded in shadows, the only illumination being the few remaining consoles and alarms.

"It's going to take me a few cycles to get them back online!" Rox shouted, as he finished inputting the codes, glancing at NightWing. "Don't worry. I'll bring you back online as soon as I can," he promised.

She just weakly grinned at him. "I know…you will," she said, before her optics dimmed and shut off completely, her helm slumping back on the deck. Her entire body shut down, as her spark was downloaded from her failing frame and into one of the various blank protoforms within the stasis hold. (3)

Rox glanced at his console, and let out a sigh of relief when it was confirmed her spark had been downloaded successfully. Not having time to celebrate, he immediately rushed to repair the power conduits to the weapon systems.

On the bridge, Optimus could only watch as the small Predacon ship swung around to make a third pass. The Darksyde was drifting; its crew was probably busy making repairs to their engines. It wouldn't matter though, as their ally would finish them off here in a matter of moments.

However, at the last moment, laser fire slammed into the smaller ship, which darted away as a second small ship shot over the Axalon. At the same time, Speedtor's console beeped. "Optimus, that ship is hailing us!" Sonic said.

Optimus activated the comm at the command table, as a female voice echoed through the speakers. "This is the Chromia 10 to Axalon. Looks like you boys could use a hand."

"That's putting it mildly," Optimus said. "We've sustained severe damage to our engines and weapons. We need time to get them back online."

"Take your time. We'll handle the Preds. Chromia 10 out," the femme said, before the line went dark, as the Chromia 10, a small two man ship with long triangular wings and a short stubby tail surged after the smaller Predacon ship.

Optimus immediately opened a channel to the engineering room. "Rox, we need weapons and engines back online as soon as possible. Best estimate," he ordered.

"I need at least five cycles to find the break in the weapon power transfer system. Another ten for the engines," Rox responded over the system. "NightWing is out of commission, and I'm working alone down here."

Optimus nodded at that. "Do your best Rox. We're counting on you," he said, before turning back to the screen to watch the battle raging outside.

The Chromia 10 and the smaller Predacon ship were busy dancing around each other, each trying to maneuver into a position to fire. Unlike the Axalon and Darksyde, the smaller ships weapons were fixed in their positions, requiring the craft to be pointing at each other. The Chromia banked hard to the left, following the Predacon ship in a tight spiral, only for the Pred ship to roll suddenly to the right and pull up, moving into the Chromia's blind spot as the Maximal ship rolled to the right as well. The Predacon ship looped over, diving and firing on the Chormia which sustained several hits before banking and pulling up as the Pred ship diving past. The Chormia rolled to the left, trying to follow it into the dive, and managed to get several shots off on the Pred ship, causing a stream of superheated plasma to trail from a rupture in its right wing.

Onboard the Axalon, Rox growled softly in annoyance, reaching inside the access panel NightWing had been working on, and prying a fried circuit board out. Tossing it aside, he grabbed a new one, slotting it into place before grabbing a soldering tool to secure it in place. With a grunt of satisfaction, he finished, and the power transfer system began to hum with power again. Rox gave out a sigh of relief, before getting up. "One down, one to go," he said, carefully stepping past NightWing's body to start work on the engines.

The Chromia 10 was forced to roll to the right to dodge a burst of laser fire from their Predacon adversary, with a couple bolts grazing their ventral shielding. As they came out of the roll, the pilot of the Chromia 10 braked while pulling up, flaring the ship. An unexpected move that caught the Predacon ship off guard, as it had been banking to get on the tail of the Chromia 10. As the Pred ship shot past, the Chromia 10 went nose down; its laser cannons now peppering the shields and stern of the Predacon ship.

The Predacon ship tried to outmaneuver the Chromia, escaping its laser blasts for a few moments, only for the Chromia to be on it again in seconds. The shields of the Predacon ship were faltering, as the Chromia 10 moved in for the kill. And that's when the Predacon ship braked, pulling up slightly so the Chromia 10 shot underneath them. Almost at the same moment, a pair of missiles fired from the underside of the Predacon ship's wings.

The Chromia 10 was banking when the missiles smashed into it. The first overloaded the shields, as the second ripping into the hull of the ship, ripping the stern completely off. The Chromia 10 began spinning in space, plasma flames licking the rear of the ship.

Onboard the Axalon, the crew stared in horrified silence at the wreck that had been the Chromia 10. Optimus immediately moved into action. "Trapper, scan the Chromia for any signs of life! Lok, do we have weapons?!"

"We've got forward batteries, but that's about it. It'll take a few cycles for the other weapons to come online," Lok said, as Trapper was frantically working his console.

"Then take that Pred ship out!" Optimus said, as Lok nodded and turned back to his console.

The small Predacon ship was moving in on the Chromia, preparing to unleash another blast of laser fire, when the Axalon's forward batteries fired. The small Predacon ship didn't stand a chance, as energy blast after energy blast ripped through the shielding and hull, disintegrating the ship in a fiery explosion of Energon and metal fragments.

Optimus let out a sigh, before turning his attention to Rox entering the bridge form one of the two hallways leading up. "Rox, damage report?" He asked.

"Weapons should be fully online in the next couple of cycles. Engines are back to full, but engineering is a mess," he said quietly. "NightWing took a bad hit…I had to transfer her spark to a blank Protoform," he said quietly.

Optimus just nodded sadly, placing a servo on Rox's shoulder. "She'll be fine Rox. We'll get her online as soon as we can."

Rox just nodded, and was moving to the engineering console when Trapper spoke up. "Optimus, I got two signals on da Chormia, but they're really faint. And da Chromia's reactor's going critical. We're gunna lose dem," he said.

Optimus looked to Rox. "Looks like you're going to be doing it again Rox. Download their sparks to blanks in the stasis hold. They saved our lives, and we'll do the same for them," he said.

Rox nodded and set to work from his console as Trapper carefully maneuvered the Axalon. An antenna slowly extended from the Axalon, as Rox set about preparing the remote transference.

On the Darksyde, the three mechs sent to repair the engines returned. One of them spoke in a relatively high pitched voice, his tone showing he was a suck up. "Lord Megatron, we've got the engines back online. We're ready to move out, on your command."

Megatron smirked, as he pressed a few buttons on his armor, and it suddenly hissed, before cracking open, as a slightly smaller but no less imposing figure stepped out of the armor. "Excccellent. Open a channel to the Maximal ship. I think it's about time they met their future conqueror. Yyyyeeessss," he said with a self-satisfied grin.

Onboard the Axalon, Rox sighed as he finished the remote download. "They've both been safely transferred to new bodies. However I'm worried what kind of damage they might have suffered beforehand. I'd like to-."

"Optimus, the Predacon ship is hailing us! They want to communicate visually with you," Speedtor suddenly said from his station, turning to Optimus. The Axalon's captain glanced at his young communication officer, before nodding.

On Trapper's screen, the image of the Darksyde was replaced by that of the faceplate and helm of a mech. His helm was a purplish black in color, and was shaped much like a bucket, with a diamond in the center of the forehead that held the Predacon emblem, a yellow insect head. The mech's face plate was metallic purple in color, with black lining around his optics, and a black block like nose. His optics were a darker shade of purple then his face plate, with lighter colored pupils.

The mech smirked as his optics took in the battered bridge of the Axalon, and its crew. "Maximals, I am Megatron, leader of the true Predacons," he stated arrogantly. "I've contacted you so that you may know the face of your soon to be master."

Trapper crossed his arms. "tch. Someone's got a high opinion of demselves," he said, while Optimus stepped forward.

"Megatron, I am Optimus Primal, commander of this ship. By order of the Maximal Defense Command, you are to stand down immediately and prepare to be boarded," Optimus said.

Megatron merely scoffed. "It is you who should stand down, Optimus Primal. Yes. For while you may have damaged our engines, my weapons are still fully online, while our scans show yours are barely functioning. You have no chance against us. No. Run back to your precious Maximal Elders and let them know that soon, all will bow before the Predacons."

With that, Megatron cut communications, and on the screen, they could see the Darksyde's engines activate, as the ship began pulling away. As it did so, space in front of the Darksyde began to fluctuate.

"Awww scrap, they're about to go to Transwarp!" Trapper said.

Optimus dimmed his optics for a moment, as if in thought, before they flared online again. "Trapper, lock onto them and match their Transwarp vector and follow them in," he said.

Trapper looked at him like he was crazy before groaning. "Alright, fine, scrap it all," he muttered, as he did so. "And dis was supposed ta be a simple mission. Feh."

The Axalon surged ahead, as the Darksyde approached the fluctuations. Said fluctuations suddenly opened into a portal like rupture, through which the Darksyde entered, disappearing form view.

On the Axalon, Optimus had returned to the command table, and now gripped it. "All hands, brace for Transwarp jump," he said.

The Axalon shot into the rupture, following the Darksyde into the unknown, as the Transwarp portal closed behind them.

And here we are, my first Beast Wars chapter. I have to say I'm really nervous about this, though I think it's mostly me stepping into a new category and fandom for my writing.

I hope you all really liked this, and that you'll keep reading. And if you don't, I understand, but I ask that you don't leave behind hateful or snide comments. Though if you do, thank you for buffing my review count.

Major thanks go out to Kyuubi123 for betaing this for me and to LAXgirl for listening to some of my ideas and giving me her honest input on them.

Until next time readers!

1. I've never found what Rattrap's name was before they arrived on Earth, so he and some of the others will be briefly referenced by these names until they take their new designations. Which will probably be next chapter.

2. No I'm not referencing Star Trek. This is apparently the orders the Axalon received before she launched: Head into the Alpha Quadrant to drop something off.

3. Okay then. We actually saw something like this happen in the show, at the beginning of Season 2. However, after doing research, I found that both Airazor and Tigertron's sparks also were remotely downloaded into blank protoforms. You'll see it coming up here, but if you look up Airazor and Tigertron on the Transformers wiki site, you'll see that they also had this done to them due to their original bodies being too badly damaged. So I'm not just pulling this out of nowhere. ^.^