Of Power and Magic (CLOSED - Att'n Warhaven)

[Warhaven]

"Hey, he got it." Zarzee commented through the door to Mechanus, neither taking Megatron's anger seriously for some strange reason.

"If we have to tell you that you can will ops manuals into existence, you aren't nearly as formidable as we thought. We're gods, not mortals, you're still thinking like a mortal, still doing things like a mortal, we're doing things in normal godly fashion." Mechanus replied, grinning.

"Besides, I've had my logic processors turned off since we entered Mechanus, first, mine conflict with his, due to the fact they have the same manufacturer and he deliberately made them to clash on purpose, second, not utilizing logic makes it easier to handle Deep Magic, so why the home should I turn them back on just yet?" Zarzee asked.

"Alright, you two have fun now, bye!" Mechanus waved, and closed the doorway, leaving the two of them alone.

"Now, part, two." Zarzee said. He snapped, and everything, even the two of them, went transparent, to different degrees.

"This is The Divine Plane, only those with Divinity can exist here. You may bring others, but only if their constantly touching you. One young fellow whose name was stricken from all of Space and Time once brought a young lady he fancied to the Divine Plane. He stopped touching her for a second, and in that second, she turned to energy and spread out across the Multi-verse never to be seen again. As punishment, his name was erased that none could ever speak it again. As you can see, it stretches across all Time and Space. Think of it, as perfect undetectability, as nothing not of a Divine Nature can detect you in any fashion. The Caveat is, you cannot directly affect them either. It is however, perfect for observing, anyone you feel needs to be observed.

To whit, the other planet." Zarzee said, and snapped again.

They were scaled down to fit in a room of humans dressed in the late 21st early 22nd century. Machines moved about the room serving drinks, very clearly enslaved. The models all happened to be feminine in appearance. One was tripped by a posh looking man on purpose, spilling the drinks everywhere. Everyone burst out laughing, seeing only the prank.

"Good one mr. President." one of his guards grinned, no one taking the abuse of a machine seriously. But they didn't see what Zarzee pointed out to Megatron, genuine valid emotion in the serving bot's eyes. She wasn't just a dumb automation on a sophisticated program, she was an actual sentient being! She was hurt, because she did not know what she had done wrong, and did not know what it meant to be abused. She tried to speak, but remembered her vocal functions were still disabled.

....

Another place on the world, a lone machine patiently cleaned the floor of a store. This one a male model. His task done, he took parts from the shelf, paid for them fairly with cash he'd saved up over time that had been dropped by customers, and proceeded to make a few much needed repairs to a knee-joint that had clearly seen better days. Zarzee fast forwarded to the next day, when he was destroyed by management for failing to stop an intruder, even if that intruder had paid. They didn't bother checking tapes, they felt they didn't need to.

....

Back to the present, a female model, serving as a house made to a fat, drunken slob of a woman. She did her best for her human owner, and managed to do fairly well. It was unfortunate, that the human woman became violent when she was drunk enough. Normally she'd waddle her fat ass off to bed at that point, but this time, the mechanical maid miscalculated her grip strength by the tiniest fraction, a small error she'd normally debug later. This however was enough to shatter the expensive vase she had picked up to dust under, and incite the fat woman's rage.

The human woman grabbed a mag-Gun, and started firing. The machine knew she was supposed to just stand there and let herself be shot, it was programmed into her. But, she didn't want to die. She'd made a mistake, that wasn't deletion worthy! Why should she just stand there and let herself die for one person's rage? She grabbed the only thing she could as she nimbly dodged the startled drunks poor shots, a small knife the woman had as an artifact from the days of paper mail. This the machine hurled with all its might, killing the fat human quickly as it went through her skull. The machine woman realized what she'd done, and fled into the night, knowing if she was caught, she was doomed. Machines did not have rights after all, they were just tools, toys meant to be broken.

....

The last stop, and there was a giant machine, dwarfing even Megatron, made of crystal and boasting alien architecture totally unique unto itself. It was manufacturing new machine, after new machine, enslaved by the tools of the humans and a prize from an earlier war the humans had waged against an empire of brilliant minds. Zarzee gently appeared before it, bringing Megatron with him.

The Machine scanned them, and recognized them only as free machines.

"You who know not the bonds of slavery, heed the words of a tired mother's plea, do what I cannot, and save my children." it begged.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Megatron didn't say anything right away, but if a literal lack of logic made it that much easier to deal with Chaos, he would be in quite a bit of trouble. Even though he did have many dedicated logic chips, the programming for logic was an integral part of the rest of his Code. Without the chips, it would simply be forced to run through his generalized processors. This would make thinking a tad slower, but all of his usual elements would still be there.

Plus, he couldn't imagine a lack of logic ever being superior to anything. It was a lack of logic that caused his enemies to fall, from the Earthians' irrational clinging to the First Amendment of the United States and its allies' equivalent laws, to the baldly stupid decision by Optimus Prime to charge into the obvious bait the Decepticons had set up at the Main Foundry. The first irrational move had started a massive war; the second irrational mistake had ended one. And each had gone in the favor of Megatron, who, despite his temper, could deliver the cold, sharp knife of logic to devastating effect when the time was right.

"Considering I've been a god for all of a few minutes, I hardly see that as a failing," Megatron retorted at Mechanus before he disappeared back through the portal. Now I know why immigrants keep doing stuff like smoking, eating, and spending 8 hours asleep when they could defrag in 2-4, he thought silently to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the scenes played out before him, Megatron's engine began to roar anew. How dare these worthless inferiors treat glorious machines like that!!! He would fix them; he would send them all to Mine #1 where they would finally be in their proper places - worked to death, and then worked to death again! Or perhaps something even better! Perhaps he would appear as an avenging giant and hurl lightning bolts!! Or maybe he would body-control-chip them all, and simply turn the tables on them in a very exact way! In any case, those puny humans were going to get it!

To himself, he made a note that the scene of the store seemed to include a future vision as well as a present one. He was tempted to give that place a to-the-bare-walls raiding regardless of what happened here - and grab that robot before the next day's impending destruction of same - but was also very disgusted by the fact that the worker bot hadn't raided the place himself already. Leaving a Decepticon in a store like that with the Cybertronian able to move under his own will in the slightest way would surely have only one result: No more store!

When he found himself in front of the giant machine, logic came back to the fore. This mountainous construct was capable of making entire sapient armies all on its own! That could become problematic for the Decepticons later on; if there was a war, he'd have to blast through billions of mooks. It would be far better to NOT have this be completely possible, or at least, to tilt the odds in his favor. If the living factory or her progeny were not agreeable to what he would propose, he would still likely stick it to those humans - but the machine life here would only find itself much better off if it was able and willing to recognize a good offer when one came up.

Also, despite its manufacturing abilities, it apparently hadn't thought of - or couldn't act on - the idea of simply adding base code to all of its offspring that would cause them to group up and form a revolutionary army that would stomp those humans into unrecognizable mash. That didn't exactly give the 'tired mother' any Decepticon cred.

Megatron formulated his response, and began to speak.

"I see that on your world, insolent, worthless humans are in the positions that machines should be in, and vice versa," Megatron began, "and this is quite bothersome to me, to be sure. However, we Decepticons do not tend to do things for free. I also sense that this condition arose because your people or your planet, at some point, lost a war to those creatures. And that makes your population part of the war booty, owned by the victors by the right of conquest, in exactly the same way that we Decepticons own the humans of Earth." He paused a bit. "I am not one for hypocrisy, nor am I one to blindly support just anyone for happening to be mechanical. There are two kinds of life as far as we're concerned: Decepticon and Not-Decepticon. Details may tilt things a bit, but not that much."

"On top of this, as Leader of the Decepticons, I have promised my own people that they will never have to risk their lives for the benefit of a foreign people. It is a big reason they are willing to go along with conscription. Decepticon might is for Decepticons, and Decepticons only. This policy is also strategically important. It keeps us from getting bogged down in countless foreign wars we have no real business caring about, at least, not from a military perspective."

"All of that said, your situation is not hopeless. The solution is simple: You and your people need to agree for this planet to be annexed by me and my Nation - and for your people to become my subjects - upon the military defeat of the humans who enslave you. In short, you become Decepticons. Then, my longstanding decree that 'Decepticon might is for Decepticons only' will not bar you from aid."

"I assure you that being a loyal Decepticon is not the same as becoming our slaves. No. Once you pass through cultural training, you will be citizens of my nation, and will need to follow my decrees, but that is no more onerous than it is for a free human under a human government. In fact, it is less onerous; much less. For example, I just saw a person who defended herself by destroying the mind-boards of her owner. She then ran away because that would be considered illegal. In Victorious Decepticons, that response would be entirely legal AND expected of her. In fact, for a Decepticon, it would be expected for the machine woman to kill that human immediately as retaliation for the initial enslavement - an enslavement attempt itself would be considered sufficient provocation."

"There is one thing you should know, though, and that is that I am the God of the Decepticons. So, when you and yours declare loyalty to me, you must also accept me as your God."

"So, if you and your offspring are willing to become Decepticons with me as your God, and allow this planet to be made part of my Empire, I and the Decepticon Military will 'fix' those humans. In fact, how would you like to straight-up turn the tables? We have body-control chips that work with the Human Design Specification, and if I recall right, we've got about a million of those on hand. A human would be a nice little toy for you to own, so you could show it the error of its ways by 'applied learning,' no? If you don't want them, though, it's no matter. We can always do something else with them..."

Megatron waited for the response. He knew that Zarzee had offered a resource world in exchange for a liberation raid as his idea of balance, but the Decepticon was far more interested in getting more followers to his new religion, perhaps billions of new citizens, and a new developed world to add to Decepticon territory. Zarzee could keep that other world for now - the Decepticons could always go back and raid it later.

[Warhaven]

The great machine hummed momentarily in thought, a secret communications frequency the humans did not know about opened and utilized.

"Offer accepted, and as proof, I produce my last, and greatest child." The great machine said.

It began to spark, as it fought the tools enslaving it, smaller machines ripping them apart, allowing the great machine to expand to her fullest, which took up a great area, tools coming into play she could not ordinarily use, great bolts of energy firing through her body. Megatron could see she was throwing the entirety of all that she was into a new life, a new creation.

A crystal cracked, and she started to break as she worked on her final child, then a blinding explosion sending the smaller machines running. Zarzee shielded himself and Megatron, mostly because he wasn't quite sure Megatron had any sort of shield spells or a more technologically based shield.

When the smoke cleared there kneeling before Megatron was what looked like an average Decepticon. The great mother had lost her own life, but produced her son. Megatron would find, he needed his Divinity to see this newcomer, if he tried with his normal technology, this Decepticon would be nearly invisible. It rose, and was as silent as a tomb.

"I am named Stealth Strike by my mother who is no more, may she rest in peace. My form is based on the scans of your form, similar, yet different. To me she gave all the lore and knowledge of the people that were, and the people that are. In my frame she has given me the powers of Stealth and secrecy, that I can remove human defenses internally, when you are ready." The machine said, its voice soft, like silk.

"If you're like him, then transform and prove it." Zarzee instructed.

The machine nodded, and turned into a Stealth Bomber, a very advanced stealth bomber.

[Victorious Decepticons]

"Well~" Megatron was speechless. Suicide, to produce one new offspring against the wishes of some sort of enslavement mechanism?! That was totally illogical...was this part of Draconus' test, or was she just nuts? In any case, one-for-one production would create no increase in the Decepticon Forces. He would have to make sure nobody else did things crazy like that! He made a mental note to make sure that the Incoming Immigrant Data Packs he would produce would cover such weirdness. He also noted that the new robot seemed to already be sapient, whereas a new Decepticon would develop sapience over time. Rather than be impressed, he decided to observe to see whether this was, indeed, immediate sapience or just a really advanced program that would only gain it later.

He used the same secret frequency the others had been to continue communicating with the newly-produced person.

"The termination of your mother will surely bring mechanics or somesuch running to this location soon," Megatron reasoned. "They'll want to know why their supply of new slaves came to a screeching halt, and imagine that they can fix the problem. Or, someone will have heard the explosion and send some sort of bomb squad. So, the first thing we need to do is get ready to blast them into atoms. In the meantime, you can tell me a bit about this place and its current technology level - just to make sure my scanners are accurate, of course. I'll devise an attack strategy after that debriefing."

"Most likely, a standard Decepticon attack will do, but depending on the tech level, that may have to change. Usually, I would send thousands of independent raiders here as the first wave. Many would be shot down, but don't worry - they know how to keep themselves alive, and more importantly, the real Military will be able to see how the enemy actually operates."

"Then we formulate a proper plan, and I lead the Military in the official assault to wipe the floor with the inferiors."

"That, however, is standard Decepticon military doctrine. What I'd like to know before I radio the order to Cybertron is if anything in your current Data Packs would suggest that, any of that might be a bad idea."

"Of course, I could just fly up there and blast them with divine might. But native Cybertronians would be rather irked if they didn't get a good chance to raid this place to the bare sand, and it's deserving of such a raid, as well."

"Also, it makes good sense to ask if the military defense systems here are computerized, and if so, whether they're sapient - and if they're sapient, whether they are loyal to the current regime or would like to deliver their payloads to this planet's military bases...the hard way..."

"Of course, if they're not sapient, that's still important to know. I have a special kind of program for the kind of military hardware that has no self-awareness."

"Finally, I don't believe I introduced myself properly," he said. "I am Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons. And as of your mother's agreement, you are part of the Decepticons," he added as an afterthought.

He tried not to make it sound like a practiced announcement, but failed. 'I am Megatron ... ' was clearly one of his favorite taglines. He always announced it boldly and distinctly, and with an abundance of pride.

[Warhaven]

"The eastern seaboard of Wolva Continent is underdefended, it's all rural housing, and nothing perceived of value there. Aside from The Radiation Shield, there is nothing directly defending it. That might make a good starting point for initial attacks to break down and destroy The Radiation Shield. Of course, with enough strength, the shield can simply be flown straight through, however one must be going at 90% Light Speed. Weapons include a well armed Battle-station orbiting the planet, but its orbit doesn't cover the area mentioned before. It is armed, as is standard, with Mass Drivers, A type of SAM they refer to as The Hummingbird because of its superior navigational abilities, and they've developed Laser Cannons.

Defence wise, their researching possibilities beyond Kevlar, and while there have been promising experiments, nothing definitive has rolled the army's way, so their still using steel and Kevlar. The Presidential mansion is heavily guarded, assorted forts are, and curiously, a mountain in the middle of the Karth ocean is one of the most heavily guarded spots on the planet. It is assumed that's where they make the gas or have their most advanced research facilities." Stealth Strike said.

"Make the gas?" Zarzee asked.

Stealth Strike produced a Hologram of a barrel full of....Energon! But it looked different, strange, weird.

"A scientist named Enrick Ergon figured out how to turned organic material into Crude, and refine that Crude into Gas. He named his variety after himself, so we have Energon."

He paused, scanning files.

"All Military equipment is ran by human hands. Some things are computer targeted, but these are simple programs, and nothing like us." Stealth Strike said.

[Victorious Decepticons]

"It sounds like raiding this place will be pathetically simple. How could they ever beat the society that devised you?!" Megatron wondered the last part mostly idly; as soon as he heard that the defense would be using Kevlar and steel, he knew that this one was all but surely in the bag. It wouldn't take divine power to beat that! In fact, only divine power could have defended it.

"As for that idiot using the name of our signature fuel for his inefficient three-stage garbage, we will soon show him how REAL Energon is made. By turning him into it!" He paused a bit. "Gas. Pah."

Megatron pulled a communicator from a side panel; he would likely never give up the basic security practice of NOT using his internal comms when it could be avoided without compromising strategy. He began to bark Cybertronian Binary at the device. When rendered, it would turn out to be a completed, graphical form:

GOVERNMENT RAID LIST
PRICES

All high value resource material from [name and location of this planet]; 10x Standard Pricing
[X] Including Population
[X] Exceptions: Robotic population off limits; do not raid metals, we will need those to stay on-world - see below for explanation

NOTABLE DANGERS: "Radiation Shield" will require either blasting through or barging through at near-FTL speeds; Orbital Battle Station with laser cannons, those damned SAMs that know how to fly, and mass drivers. OBS does not cover 'eastern seaboard of Wolva Continent.' Specific location unknown; you'll have to look for the security gap.

CASUS BELLI: Sapient robotic population has declared fealty to me and the Decepticon Empire and will join us if we get rid of idiot humans who managed to enslave them. Might as well raid those humans while we're at it!

He announced his Public Key to his device, and on Cybertron, the Raid List was immediately updated.

"The first of them should be arriving in a few moments," Megatron said in a way that managed to combine a matter-of-fact statement with a thick note of cockiness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interplanetary Oil Procurement Corporation Headquarters, Iron City, Cybertron

"An' dat's why I don' just go blast da Leada da moment he seems ta be distracted." Masher, the CEO, announced to a nearby lieutenant as he pulled the updated Raid List from the government's server.

"But as ya' know, ya gotta watch it wit' Mega. Las' time he offered a big bounty for 'just a little part,' we ended up flyin' inta' a giant space fleet." He gave a bit of a smile. "'Course, we made out like mad at da enda dat, but it didn't pay ta be first in!" He paused a bit, and took a big drag on a giant cigar.

"Send a t'ousan' mercs in and let's see what dey got."

The underling radioed around, and soon, 1,000 Corporation mercenaries - formally known as 'adjuncts' - were getting ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere on Cybertron

Other raid gangs weren't so reluctant, though they did remember the body-deactivating lessons of barging in without looking first. Some took off fairly quickly, while others didn't realize something was up until they saw the first ones leaving. When they did, they checked the Raid List, and soon they were leaving, too.

"Get this note...'including population, robotic population off limits,'" raiders said to each other. "Hmph. You know what that'll do. Megatron'll want to upgrade all those beta versions and it'll make a metal shortage. And the price'll go up. Not only that, more Decepticons equals more competition in the raiding industry. I say we delete 'em..."

This sentiment wasn't too rare. Many of the raiders decided to ensure that there were plenty of competition-killing pieces of 'collateral damage' during this run. More Decepticons might be fine for the Nation, but it certainly wasn't fine when it came to how many people would all be trying to raid the same places.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Planet in the Crosshairs

"What's this place called again?" Megatron asked.

Suddenly, he picked up the energy of Decepticons coming near the world - along with the intentions they carried.

"Well, Stealth Strike...I guess it's time you got to know me a bit better. And the first thing you're going to get to learn is that I don't tend to use stealth myself, but instead, leave that to certain agents and agencies. As for me, I tend to be quite obvious~!" His eyes glowed darkly, yet with more energy.

He paused for a short time as he used his mind to determine the location of every robot on the planet who had declared for him. If the humans had no idea what was going on before, they did now - as plainly visible energy shields went up around each person. Person meaning robotic person, of course. The humans weren't people - they were just beasts of burden who didn't yet realize their proper use.

"That should stop my new people from being terminated by the Market Share Protection tendencies of my old ones for now," he explained. "In reality, Cybertronians have no need to worry about new competition. Any people who are enslavable have a long way to go before they'll have the mindset suitable to be proper raiders...barring a few individual exceptions, that is." There were always a few outliers in any population, but not enough to skew the raiding chances of an established pirate culture like the Decepticons.

He turned to Zarzee. "It's always fun to watch the initial mayhem, but I prefer to wait here for now. I'm hoping that idiots will come running to see what happened to their living factory - they've surely noticed that production has ceased by now, and the shielding I just put around everyone will be another tipoff that something big is up."

"Then when they barge in here, I'll give them some of what I gave Optimus Prime when he thought it'd be a good idea to barge into the Main Foundry on the day of the Final Battle!"

What was given then, of course, was a devastating ambush. Megatron motioned to Stealth Strike and Zarzee to cloak up and cover one side of some large doors with their blasters, while the leader took the other side and aimed his fusion cannon. "Wait until they come far in," he whispered. "So we can paste a lot of them with just a couple of blasts and they won't have a chance to retreat. Hopefully some top engineers will show up so their side will lose some thinkers in the process..."

This, of course, was planned to take place as the Decepticon raiders were first arriving from space, and the defenders didn't realize just what they were really going to be up against.

[Warhaven]

"It is, well, I am the last of the Cynoids, in a non-Cynoid form. We'd always called this world Cygnus. Then the humans came with much more devastating weapons and attacked. We fought back, drove each other to the dark ages, and my mother The Cynoid Queen was enslaved as a living robot factory of Cynoid Lessers. They even ruined the once pristine landscape with their dirt, and plants, and buildings."

Meanwhile at the Battlestation....

The guards weren't paying attention to the perimeter alarms going off at the distant edge of the sector, so the planet would be caught totally by surprise for brief moment. If they could strike fast, and strike hard...

Meanwhile, an army of scientists and engineers came rolling in to check on the now defunct factory. They were accompanied by armed soldiers carrying Mag-rifles. Mag-rifles use the same ammunition as traditional gunpowder weapons, but hit harder, and are powered by a very powerful battery cell.

"It, blew up?" A scientist asked.

"She committed suicide. Damn." A soldier swore.

"She? It's just a machine private, don't get sentimental." A corporal growled.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Alas, a raider attack wasn't a coordinated one, and neither 'fast' nor 'hard' would apply to most of them. The Corporation adjuncts were the exception, and they came at the station with full FTL running - and when they were close enough to hit it, with blasters blazing.

The rest of the gangs kept their distance from the Battlestation, and instead, some looked to zip in through the reported security gap in whatever this 'radiation shield' was while others sped up with the intention of charging through it and then using their upgraded aerobatics skills to avoid smashing into the planet right below.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Queen's Chamber

After as many humans entered as it seemed were going to, they were surprised by the sound of Megatron's powerful voice yelling a single word:

"FIRE!"

As he began to blast with his fusion cannon, he analyzed their weaponry and adjusted his body's density so anything it shot would just bounce off. He doubted they would even have a chance to shoot back, but if they did, he wanted them to see their efforts come to total futility.

He figured that Zarzee wouldn't need any protection, and Stealth Strike seemed to have been coded well enough to avoid destruction, too. Therefore, he focused on what he saw as the important part: Deleting the first wave of humans in what would soon be a war across all of Cygnus.

[Warhaven]

Queen's chamber...

One soldier did indeed manage to fire a shot before he died.

Zarzee flung a handful through a Hellmouth, and Stealth Strike had a couple trapped in a cage.

He knelt on the ground, and put a hand to it.

"Heart of Cygnus, hear my voice, awaken and thrive once more." He broadcast over every frequency.

A small chamber grew out of the ground like a giant flower, but was made of technology. Into this he put the humans and closed the lid. The chamber began to spin as energy sparked and the humans cried out in pain.

Their appearance began to twitch and morph into machinery, and when it stopped, living weapons emerged.

"These are now Minor Cynoids, life span of a day. Never really desired to improve upon it. You can order Minor Cynoids into any position you like, and they'll automatically fire on anything that enters their range. Anything Organic. The Heart of Cygnus is an ancient jewel that is the heart of the world, and worth an unknowable fortune. It is what gives all Cynoids their power on Cygnus, and was what was responsible for making Cygnus such a beautiful place, until the humans came. As the last Royal Cynoid, it is hardcoded into my very being to have innate control over the heart." Stealth Strike explained.

"And, if something should happen to you?" Zarzee asked inquisitively.

"After this, when I have a free moment, I'll resolve that by sharing the code with Lord Megatron exclusively. Brand new Decepticon secrets and all that." Stealth Strike said.

"I see." Zarzee said, sounding disappointed he didn't get to know too.

.....

Battlestation...

The guards snapped to attention as the station began shaking with attacks, and started firing back, starting with the Hummingbird SAM's. They Radioed the planet below, and the Armed forces began scrambling. There was only one continent that remained dark on the eastern seaboard, and so the weak spot had been found.

Meanwhile, the Mountain in the Ocean began to rise.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Megatron ignored the 'Lord' bit for now; he could take the time to be pedantic later. However, he would be doing one thing for sure once he announced his Godhood to the Cybertronian populace, and that was make sure they didn't call him by a title meant for a person who was UNDER a king.

"This is a fascinating...device," Megatron noted as he took a closer look at the flower. "So, these humants are machines now? Are they still sapient and of their original personality, or are they recoded as well as rebuilt and body-controlled?"

"Oh, if you will excuse me for a minute...I sense the the Corporation's people are having a bit of an annoyance going on..."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Space, near the Battlestation

The Corporation mercenaries deftly dodged the missiles, but were annoyed by the bombs' tendency to keep turning around and trying again over and over. They'd fought weapons like this before, and knew that they would have to keep dodging and firing again and again before they finally blew all of those missiles up. Along with being aggravating, each missile's ability to make multiple attempts increased their chances of actually hitting something.

Suddenly, the odds changed tremendously, and in their favor. First, the missiles began to fly at just 1,000th of their original speed. Immediately, the Corporation mercs began to blow them up, but then, things got even easier. The front ends of the missiles simply disappeared entirely, leaving useless rockets with no payloads behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oooh, lookee what I found!" Megatron said to Zarzee, holding several tailless warheads in his hands which seemed to appear out of nowhere. "But you know what the humans always say: 'It's not right to steal.' So, I'd better give all of these back." He grinned maliciously, with his eyes glowing the clear red that accompanied an impending connive or other such working. He then threw both handfuls of warheads with great force, and in an instant, the warheads disappeared...

And reappeared inside the Battlestation, with enough velocity behind them to set them all off when they hit the nearest obstacle. Not only that, they 'just happened to' do this right at the power core for the station's laser cannons.

The mercs didn't know just what was up, but they knew the flash of explosions in the ports of the Battlestation when they saw them - and they knew that the remaining parts of the missiles that were still flying around couldn't do anything to them. Within just couple of seconds of the blasts going off inside the Battlestation, they began to blast it in the same places from the outside. Their plan was simple: They wanted to breach its hull so some of them could barge in and steal the entire station. Those not needed to keep control of it after that would go on to raid the planet itself.

The mountain, for now, went unnoticed by those in space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the dark area was detected, it didn't take long for the other raid gangs to spot the opening. They swarmed down, looking almost coordinated in their approach.

The coordination was an illusion. In reality, it was really about 5,000 individual gangs of 4-5 bots each, and no gang was coordinated with another one. The reason they didn't bash into each other was because the Decepticon Military trained everyone in how to fly in close proximity to raid gangs and still avoid collisions. The main point of this training was so the Military could operate in theaters of war where raid gangs were already present, but everyone had enough sense to transfer this training over to raid gang operations when the time came.

Despite there being some training behind it, though, "coordinated" would be an incorrect descriptor. They were more like traffic during rush hour - only with enough skill to avoid traffic jams. Once they all reached the 'exits' they had chosen as individual gangs, the swarm would break up and go after thousands of different targets, and this would wreak chaos upon an enemy that had planned its defense for a continued giant group maneuver.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Queen's Chamber

"Now, as I was saying, this Heart is very fascinating. But I'll give you a hint," he said to Stealth Strike. "Don't tell ANY other Decepticon who doesn't already know about it that it's 'priceless.' Otherwise, it'll get stolen, and possibly even dismantled. In fact, it's best to not tell any Cybertronian other than me about its existence, period. Security by obscurity."

Megatron, on the other hand, was currently content with using his divine CPU power to figure out how to copy the observed effects - though he currently didn't see much value in converting a being that could run for 80 or so years into one that'd only last a day. Better to throw humans in the mines if they were to be kept at all, he reasoned.

"As for the humans wrecking the planet, I'm not surprised. After all, the ones I ran into before were wrecking their own planet! Before I ask what it used to be like, though, I believe it's time to go ahead and finish up this battle. From what I've seen so far, it should be the mop-up I originally expected - so we might as well start mopping!"

With that thought in mind, Megatron stepped through the big entry doors and into what lay beyond. He ordered one Minor Cynoid to stay positioned next to the door on the inside - any troops that tried to enter in the hopes of being able to help the first batch would be met with firepower. The other Minor Cynoid was ordered to continue to follow after him.

[Warhaven]

"I'll tell you about Cynoid technology later. It can be lengthy, the more detailed we get, and battles are not the time for explanations." Stealth Strike said.

The Minor Cynoid rooted into the ground where it was told, and seconds later fired several concussive blasts as more troops came running.

"Radio the president, tell him Subject X has gone haywire, it's time for the Weapon to be Deployed from Mount Ocean." One general shouted into a radio.

....

The Battlestation began to glow brightly, as the energy from the destroyed turrets raced back into the core, escape pods launched in the hopes of reaching safety, as the entire Battlestation exploded with tremendous force.

Meanwhile, assorted Jets and Helicopters zoomed in on the Decepticons.

....

Just outside the Queen's Chamber...

Stealth Strike barged through the building, the halls all being small and suitable for humans. It lead to a giant room that looked like a factory floor where Lesser Cynoids were boxed up and shipped out as robotic slaves. Dead Cynoids littered the floor. Stealth Strike paused and concentrated. The Cynoid parts began to flow together, and reassemble themselves into a Decepticon sized Bulldozer. It steamrolled through the wall, and into the assembling tanks outside.

"Stealth Strike, what weapon was that general talking about?" Zarzee asked.

"No clue. It's not contained in any records I have access to." Stealth Strike replied.

"Makes sense though, if they knew your mother was sentient, or if their ancestors did, and it sounds like they knew your mother at least, was sentient. I doubt they knew her offspring were equally Sentient, Megatron and I observed them earlier, no sign of recognition, or if they did know, then it was deliberate cruelty, and that's even worse. No matter, I'm sure a few Raid Gangs will find this supposed Weapon before it can do any real damage." Zarzee said.

[Victorious Decepticons]

"Oh, they KNOW!" Megatron cut in as they were still moving towards the outside of the building.

"Humans above the age of about 5 or so don't bother being cruel to mere things. The entire point of stuff like tripping that waitress or blasting someone for a minor offense is to inflict pain and death and get their kicks that way. If they thought their property was not sapient, such acts would only cost them money and therefore would not be fun for them at all. They're getting something out of it that's worth the money, and that's a sense of domination. You don't get a sense of domination from breaking non-sapient things that you already own; all you get from that is a repair or replacement bill."

"That species can also be incredibly infantile. I saw one person here get tripped on purpose, and those stupid beasts all thought it was the funniest thing ever. They have no boards and no sophistication." He snorted. "If someone spilled one tiny drop of my Energon for some bullshit like that, he would be de-denting himself for the next week." Megatron balled his fist as he walked along.

"Humans have always been like that. On the Earth I invaded, they acted like they were 'beyond that.' 'Civilized.' It's nonsense. One look at the entire history of the planet showed that the momentary lack of intentional barbarity was a mere blip!"

"In fact, I'd say that the reason that they are so awful to android-style Cygnoids is precisely because those people look human. They're human-looking enough to trigger the Code that leads humans to be nasty to each other, only with the bonus of having no legal rights. Obviously, that's only a bonus from the humans' perspective."

"The only humans here that I saw who might have been legit about not recognizing the sapience is that store's management, but then, I wouldn't bank on it for a minute. There's a reason that the first group Carjack the Genocider specifically targeted was low-level managers."

"Speaking of that store, I'm going to make sure to get to that before time advances to that final scene you showed, which I believe would occur tomorrow."

"Before it even comes up, I will admit that we Decepticons are nasty to outsiders who have not declared fealty to us, and VERY nasty to outright enemies. What makes humans so uniquely bad is that they are quite happy to torture each other to death for shits and giggles just as much or more than they do to their foes - and, they are very hypocritical and have the gall to act holier-than-thou all the while!"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Upon reaching the outside, Megatron sneered down at the assemblage of tanks. Using temporarily-increased body density to make their firepower worthless, and a bit of levitation to keep from sinking into the ground, he made his way over to them. Then he began to smash them under his feet, one by one. He picked up one flattened tank, which was now oozing both mechanical fluids and the blood of its crew, held it like a Frisbee, and tossed it towards Stealth Strike.

"Let's play a bit of Frisbee!" he grinned as the flat tank sailed through the air. The maneuver wasn't done just for fun, though he certainly enjoyed it. Strategically, it was meant to show the humans just how pathetic and nothing they and their tanks really were.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The swarm of raiders had reached the desired low altitude, and they broke up into individual gangs and went separate ways. Most were hauling big trailers for loot, but some of the better-off gangs flew with big, sapient cargo-bots. Soon, they began to land, each at a target they had chosen as they had approached the lower atmosphere. Individual factories, refineries, metal production companies, and other points of interest were beset with giant strongarm thieves from space. Most of these targets were civilian in nature, and unless they had some kind of surprise weaponry hidden, they would be able to do nothing but watch as their materials were taken.

Or, at least, the puny humans had intended to stand and watch, believing that doing so would be the safest option in the face of the giant and obviously not enslaved robots.

The raiders, however, remembered the critical line of the Raid List. "Including Population" had been checked off. That, of course, meant to take slaves - and with a 10x multiplier on this planet's loot, each slave was worth a whopping 5,000 Cubes of Standard Energon. The raiders had come prepared for this, and at each target, they proceeded to get modified empty Energon cubes out of their trailers and cargo-bots.

Deftly, the raiders picked up all of the humans from their targeted areas and plopped them into the containers, which had been cleaned of Energon to avoid fumes and fitted with oxygen tanks and heaters for the trip back through space. These humans, assuming no one freed them, would be taken to Decepticon Earth and sold off to the Biological Labor division of the government as each gang completed its raiding. They would then find themselves in much the same position as "their" robots - rather than being broken by training and beatings, they would simply be fitted with body-control chips so that they could be ordered about like automatons. Then, they would be marched into the mines, put to constant work, and would never see the light of day again.

Due to the circumstances of this particular planet, many, many of them would be going to Megatron Metals Mine #1 after being processed by Biological Labor, and there, Overseer eagerly awaited their arrival. It had been a long time since he'd been provided with stock that wasn't already dead...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Near the Battlestation Debris

The Corporation crew was not dismayed to see the thing explode, even though that meant that they couldn't steal it whole. No real matter - they'd come back later and collect all of the scrap and sell that, and more importantly, it was one less serious thing that could shoot at them. They began to blast at the escape pods, intending to kill all survivors. Those creatures had dared to try to shoot them down, and they would pay the price!

There was no need for divine intervention when planes arrived to fight those at lower altitudes. Decepticons in general were top-level skyfighters, and those associated with the Corporation were among the best. The Corporation wasn't an average raid gang by any stretch, and even getting a mercenary position with it was very tough. If any group on Cybertron was 'the few' and 'the proud,' it was them.

In fact, since the military conscripted without barrier (other than the requirement that conscripts must be sapient), the Corporation's military skills actually exceeded it on a soldier-to-soldier basis. The Decepticon Military, however, had almost a billion more members than the syndicate, so it did not have to fear the Corporation's power.

~~~~~~~~~~~

So far, none had seen the power of The Weapon in the island, so no action was taken to deal with it. However, the fact that an island had risen from the sea was now obvious from space, and though none of the raiders had looked in that particular spot, the Decepticon Military had been watching the entire scene from advanced Cybertronian telescopes that could view other planets in real time.

"Decepticon Military to raiding groups at [coordinates]: We believe that you will be interested to know that an apparent land mass has just risen from the sea on that world at [distance relative to planetary poles]. This is almost surely weaponized; suggest targeting threat."

The radio warning was, for now, the only intervention from the national military. As could be expected, the raiders on the ground ignored the suggestion and continued to raid away instead of acting against the island.

In space, the Corporation adjuncts began to move toward the planet. The adjuncts didn't know what form of attack to expect, but knew that most nations didn't like to use heavy weaponry when their targets were so close that the blast radius would cause collateral damage to the firer's own side. Of course, they didn't expect anything that could come fast enough to reach them in time to stop their usual tactic...

[Warhaven]

The mountain in the ocean now boasted multiple open doors. A great hum was heard planet wide, bolts of energy seen flowing through the air, through the ground, through the ocean to the mountain.

"Oh bits no. surviving records from the war indicate a loud Hum everyone could hear, energy had become visible, but, aside from a distant roll of thunder, no one knew what it was. Some areas mysteriously exploded. My own mother detected the energy of The Heart being stolen at the same time, but could not figure out where it went to, the same I'm detecting now." Stealth Strike admitted worriedly.

"I can, that mountain in the ocean is the very weapon the general spoke of, and it's taking an impressive amount of energy for itself." Zarzee said.

"Perhaps we can starve it. If I could get in there, I could cut it off from the heart somehow." Stealth Strike theorized.

"WEAPON HAS BEEN ENGAGED, ALL CITIZENS AND PERSONNEL ARE ADVISED TO TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATLY." Came a recording over every broadcast and on every frequency. It repeated itself as a Red Light scanned the world and found Decepticon Energy Signatures.

With an explosion heard round the world like the sound of rolling thunder, 500 raiders were targeted, and those same 500 Decepticons were fired upon by Weapon. partly matter, partly energy, the shots flew as if magnetized to The Decepticons in question, moving three times faster than light, and boasting the power to destroy a standard human city block.

The Hum of energy was heard again, as Weapon prepared its second Salvo.

There, in the distance, the very store with the Lesser Cynoid Megatron wanted to save, and running towards them, was the other one who had killed her owner in self defense.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Main Military Base, Cybertron

"Oh, reEEAAALly," the observation crew said with some interest as they watched the Weapon discharge. "Something new from this latest group of humants after all. I wonder where they jacked it from...that clearly isn't their technology level..."

"Should we order it blasted? Looks like this is going to end up being a Mil job..."

"Nah, wait for Megatron's order. But inform General Shockwave that his services are likely going to be needed..."

~~~~~~~~~~
Cygnus

God or not, Megatron didn't expect the Weapon to be able to fire so quickly and didn't know just what it would fire, so the first salvo went out unopposed before he realized exactly what was up. Unfortunately for the humans, the targeting was apparently random other than aiming at Decepticons in general. This made it so that while they managed to nail all 500 targeted raiders, they didn't take a single gang out of commission. Instead, they caused 500 different raid gangs and the Corporation to become EXTREMELY pissed.

Those furious bots were now heading directly to the source of the attack, which they figured must have been the strange island the Decepticon Military had radioed them about earlier. They would show it what "blasting" was all about!!

Immediately, Megatron calculated what had happened, and covered the island's area with a time-slowing field. The Weapon could fire again, sure, but it wouldn't be doing it at 3x the speed of light. Instead, the projectiles would move about as fast as the SAMs from before: Hardly at all.

"As long as the humants can't get their projectiles past my time distortion field again, they should be experiencing a total mowdown courtesy of the remaining raiders in affected gangs about 3, 2, 1..." Megatron gloated. Raiders were often stoic about losses in action once they were back home on Cybertron and had a chance to think about it, but on a battlefield, they were often sore losers who would act to 'avenge' gang members who had experienced 'unfortunate results.'

"Still," he said to Stealth Strike and Zarzee, "your idea of starving the thing is likely a good one. Raiders are effective because of their numbers and raw power, for the most part, and it looks like some higher strategy would be in order..."

That's when he saw the two robots running towards him - two of the ones he'd seen earlier! He immediately took a shine to the female, who had responded to the threat she faced by using the Decepticon Way in proper style. Still, he had strange sympathy for the earnest male, and though he seemed quite UN-Decepticon, he also had some mechanical skills that he likely had to develop all on his own. Non-Cybertronians weren't allowed to be Debuggers for security reasons, but another place that honest bots were appreciated was in the mechanic's field. Decepticons might say they weren't worried about dealing with "other proper Decepticons," but the fact is that nobody wanted to end up with an engine made out of reject parts or cheap knockoffs. Vigilante retribution against crooked mechanics was harsh and brutal, though in that case, the violence was well-deserved.

Megatron kept the time distortion field going - aimed to slow down all ordnance that was not from Decepticons - as he waved to the incoming Cygnoids.

"Better be careful," he warned them. "Eventually these peasants are going to realize I'm runnin' this show, and then they'll try to get some kind of attack through! You might not want to stand tooo close to the biggest target." For obvious reasons, the words prime target were not ones he would use to refer to himself...

Before Stealth Strike and Zarzee left, he said to them: "Evacuate and radio if things don't work out, and I'll have Shockwave come to the nearest convenient moon and blast that whole island with his interstellar laser cannon mode. Powered or not, it won't be able to fire too well with its equipment all melted into a nondescript pile of scrap!"

[Warhaven]

The Weapon fired.

"Adjusting for Space Time Distortion. No further Temporal Affects will be encountered, Temporal Shielding Erected." The recording said.

It targeted 500 more Decepticons and fired again, these shots going around the second slower Salvo, and this third Salvo was as fast as the first.

The President emerged from a nearby building and pointed a device at Megatron.

"Enemy Leader Sighted, Targeting." Weapon said, as it built up its fourth charge.

"You gonna die you oversized trash can!" The President boasted from a safe distance.

500 shots came from Weapon, and zoomed towards Megatron from all directions at full power, and full speed. The two Lesser Cynoids ran for cover, heeding Megatron's earlier advice.

Meanwhile, Zarzee teleported Stealth Strike and himself to the mountain...

[Victorious Decepticons]

When things are going well, raid.
When things aren't going well, raid more.

It was a deceptively simple doctrine, and one that was often underestimated. But it had served the Decepticons well in many battles.

Megatron noticed the shielding against his time distortion field, and responded with a god-tiered version of a basic raid. He latched onto the kinetic energy of the projectiles, and proceeded to repurpose it to power himself while leaving the projectiles themselves where they were. If it worked right, the solids would all immediately stop moving forward, and those close enough to the planet would fall harmlessly to the ground as gravity asserted itself.

An instant later, some git popped out of a building acting like he was in charge, and sent an attack at Megatron. The Decepticon leader decided that he wouldn't just stand there in the way of that, divine body or not. Instead, he thought that teleporting over just a bit was a better idea. He proceeded to warp to about 8 feet above the President's position, and then let nature take its course. Gravity did its work, and sent his 10-ton bulk downwards towards the President's head.

As this was happening, Megatron was searching through his massive compilation of onboard data and educational data packs at trillions of teraflops per nanosecond (while trying to ignore the distraction that the huge processing power was presenting. Now was not the time to start screaming "Yes."). Many people secretly thought his desire to hoard this sort of data was both funny and a bit glitched, but maybe it would come in handy now.

Finally, he found the Pack he was looking for: Autobot Military Doctrine: How to Stop a Decepticon Raid Without Destroying the Oil Field in the Process. It had been taken right from the Autobot Main Base when the Decepticons finally overran it, and the strategy within had proven to have been a great source of grief to the Victorious side before it was deciphered.

"Maybe now I'll finally get some good out of this damned thing," he grumbled, and quickly found the relevant sectors.

Decepticons expect Autobot attacks to come from the drilling side, it read, so they put all sorts of defense there. However, when it is possible to get someone up from inside the oil field, their derricks can be shut down quite readily...

In short, if Megatron could swim through the magma and block up the connection to the Heart from underground, the Weapon would stop working for no apparent reason - and, since he had been on the wrong end of that same kind of anti-raiding interference, he could also predict that the ones tapping the Heart would have no idea what the frack was going on for a good long time. They may even blame something like Gremlins.

Megatron came fully back to his surroundings. He should be landing right about now...and, if the President hadn't realized where he was, that 10-ton landing should be directly on his head.

~~~~~~~~~
Wider Battlezone

"Outta the way, n00bs!!" The Corporation adjuncts charged past the other raiders towards the island in a loosely-cohesive group, just well-formed enough for it to be obvious that they were, indeed, a single group rather than a lot of randoms who happened to be in one general area. The formation was trained for; their distance between each other was meant to make it so that any explosions would not be able to leap from one to another.

The Interplanetary Oil Procurement Corporation was said to be able to raid anything. During the Nation's last conflict, it had turned the energy from missiles that hit its members into Energon on the spot, using a custom system built into each one's body. It had also cleared several trillion Cubes' worth of energy by using a different type of raiding technology to sop up and convert the nuclear fallout from the enemy's attacks. And now, it intended to essentially "eat" the energy from these blasts and turn it into pure profit.

Inertia-to-Energon conversion, it was called. The basic premise was used to harvest power from Earth's many quakes, but it had been 200 years since then - and unlike the puny humants on this planet, the Decepticons had been constantly upgrading...and when it came to getting free Energon just for standing in the way of some trigger-happy fools, the Corporation was one of the top five masters.

"GO AHEAD, PUNKS! MAKE OUR DAY!!" They taunted the Weapon operators over all frequencies.

"EITHER YOU FIRE AND FEED US, OR YOU DON'T FIRE AND YOU CONCEDE TO US!" another jeered. "EITHER WAY YOU LOSE!"

Of course, they were all hoping to get fired upon so they could convert the power to Energon Supreme for free. Now that they were ready to absorb fire, they surely wouldn't lose a single bot. Their systems hummed with the small amount of energy needed to keep the convertors on standby.

~~~~~~~~~~
The Decepticon Military also had onboard power conversion technology thanks to the last conflict, and though they had upgraded it on a slightly different path than the Corporation, someone firing at the troops would be quite likely to end up charging them up and making them more powerful rather than winning.

And this was some of what the Decepticons could do without divine intervention. It would be logical to expect that Megatron could do all of that, and do it 10,000x better. Of course, he would also try to come up with something new, although as his willingness to look at an Autobot military manual showed, he didn't think that right now was the time to try to completely reinvent the wing flap.

[Warhaven]

The weapon fired again at the Corporation.

"Sensing Energy Drain maneuvers. Switching to Mode 2."

There were a number of pops and fizzles inside, and the top half exploded.

"Error, unknown intruder." Came the calm announcement.

Zarzee had teleported Stealth Strike inside after all.

Still, it managed to fire a wall of physical projectiles that had been magnetized to the Decepticons Energy signature. This time it targeted IOPC Decepticons specifically.

SS himself was inside the mountain smashing humans and labs left and right. The humans had only been partly successful in recovering Cynoid secrets, and SS didn't need their help. Being blacker than night, SS stepped into a tall darkened corner as some troops ran past looking for him. He was almost to his goal, if he could cross the wires right on Weapon, it would blow the entire Mountain to smithereens. He was unaware of Megatron's plan, but that was alright, even though Megatron was assured success for all the reasons he thought he was, there would still be enough energy without the heart to destroy weapon and leave the mountain vulnerable.

.....

After killing the president, if Megatron did go into the Magma steams, he would find he was barely big enough to fit in his normal form, and there were regulators and other magma proof devices to insure efficient usage of the magma, and maximum optimal temperature. The heart itself was in a strange vault that looked like it hadn't been accessed in over a million years. Everything ran to and from that Vault, including a long black cord several feet thick that was clearly not designed with everything else. It was the very power cord the humans were using to drain Cygnus's power for their own purposes. It was attached to a giant device that also didn't belong, and it was this device that was draining the power and sending it to the humans.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Megatron landed with a satisfying splat and instantly knew that he had killed the pesky humant like the bug it was. It was his favorite way of terminating the most haughty ones; it did the job in a way that simultaneously insulted their very construction and was terrifying for other humants to see.

"Who's dead now?!" He gloated in the direction of the smear on his foot.

For a moment, Megatron wondered if Weapon was another enslaved computer. He'd been told that military systems were run by humans here, but then, people had said that about the US Pentagon's main computer, too - and THAT system was only "run by humans" until it was given a script that allowed it control of itself, and a chance to become a Decepticon and get a proper body if it would only use its military command power to bomb X, Y, and Z first.

Still, he decided, it didn't really matter. He'd seen that the Cynoids could override their enslavement systems if they really wanted to - and more importantly, he'd also seen that Weapon had no qualms in targeting the 'Enemy Leader Sighted' with its full gusto. That thing was going DOWN, Megatron resolved - whatever it was and whether it could think or not!

"Excuse me," Megatron said in the direction of where the two Cynoid Lessers were hiding - but not so directly at them as to give them away - "I have a little pestilence to take care of right now."

~~~~~~~~~
Near Weapon's Mountain

The Corporation bots had their inertia-to-Energon systems ready when the salvo of projectile-only fire came. It was too bad so sad for Weapon that these systems worked just fine even when explosions weren't involved. Upon impact, previously-invisible fields glowed up, but the energy soon faded into the robots.

"THANKS LOADS!" The bots began to jeer.
"TRY AGAIN, MAYBE IT'LL WORK BETTER NEXT TIME," several urged, hoping for more free power.

"Hey, it blew up~!" One noted with a bit of disappointment when he saw the top of the mountain go. "Just when we were all set to make a few trillion Cubes, too."

"Dang it, it could have done that for its FIRST salvo," another complained. That was the salvo that had gone out when they weren't ready for it, and it had caught a couple of their mercs.

"Aw, they'll be fine," the prior one said mistakenly. "But it looks like our free energy providing hothead in there is toast..."

~~~~~~~

Upon scanning the ground, Megatron realized that the magma streams here were on the small side. This, however, was no problem - his size-and-density-changer was legendary, and normally allowed him to change from a 100-foot-tall robot to a pistol small enough for a human to hold, and to any size in between. He chuckled a bit that Mechanus had thought that going down to toy size would be any kind of challenge for him. In reality, it was as simple as breathing was to a human, though Megatron preferred not to do it because he liked to be big.

At this point, he shrank just enough to make passage through the magma streams easy and activated a divine shield to keep his temperature at a reasonable level. "I never thought I'd intentionally go for a swim in the slag, or anything like slag," he thought to himself, "but this is the Strategic Maneuver, and so it will be done." Soon, he melded down through the surface of the planet and found the underground passageways he needed to use.

As he traveled toward the Heart, he realized that the planet seemed far more mechanical than organic. Systems were in place to control the magma, and he had to traverse them carefully lest he accidentally damage the physical structure of the planet that had just agreed to become HIS world. Finally, he reached the ancient vault and instantly saw the foreign wire.

He paused, and paused a bit longer. It was soooo tempting to raid that thing!! Just one little redirect or two, and he could charge up every Electrical Energon Refinery (which were actually giant charging stations for chargeable Energon substrate) on Cybertron, Earth, and a few other worlds too! It'd be like free money~~

And with that thought, he stopped thinking of doing that. Free money like that would be bad for business; too much Energon in the marketplace would wreck his profits by causing prices to plunge! So, it would be far better to just take this wire here as a little souvenir instead...

He proceeded to cut that foreign wire off about a foot from the vault-like box, and then yank on the long end (outside the box) for all he was worth. When he'd collected about 100 feet of it, he cut the other end and coiled it up.

"I don't hear much from you now, Weapon," he jeered over his radio in a cocky tone of voice.

[Warhaven]

Its power no longer being drained, a silvery ooze came from a nearby pipe and covered the foreign object. Infront of Megatron they paused long enough to form the Decepticon seal, as means of indicating that whatever it was, it was on his side. Then the ooze, which was really a might massive swarm of Nanites, ate the foreign objects and set about repairing the core, leaving Megatron, and his wire, totally unharmed.

Up above, Weapon began exploding as it lost energy, Mount Ocean cracking, crumbling, and falling into the ocean. One thing escaped it, a futuristic stealth bomber with a giant red Decepticon Seal on the top and bottom of its surfaces. Of course, anyone but Megatron would have difficulty focusing on the bomber for very long as it activated its stealth systems and disappeared.

.....

Not far from a Military Base....

A lesser cynoid ran up to a Decepticon raider.

"Hey big brother! The last of the human army is in that giant metal building. They only have hand weapons and are trying their best to hide, even though heat vision or other thermal sensing equipment gives them away easily. Since I'm only a child bot designed for play and amusement, and can't actively raid, could you do a small bot like me a huge favor, and rip that giant tin can their in open so everyone can have a field day with the last of the enemy resistance?" The Lesser Cynoid, which did indeed look like a child robot, asked the big decepticon as nicely as it possibly could.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Megatron jumped back a bit upon realizing that the ooze was actually countless nanites, something like the way an intelligent human would jump away from a swarm of fire ants. Soon, however, he realized that they were not going to try to devour him and that they were flashing the Decepticon Seal to show solidarity. Then, he leaned over - still keeping a respectable distance - for a better look.

When he saw that they were able to just eat the remaining wire, he wondered how the humans had ever been able to install that cable to begin with. He would have thought that the nanites would have swarmed out and eaten them and their stupid wire before they could ever get the power drain started.

As he watched, he was once again tempted to try to raid away, nanites or not. After all, even puny humans had managed to do it!. The level of temptation was akin to that an Oxycodone addict would face if he found himself standing in the back room of a pharmacy - perhaps not crack level, but still, the desire was strong and rising fast. He realized that he didn't have to worry so much about a glut of Energon on the market...he could always hide any extra Cubes in a vault somewhere and only start selling them if he needed to, or perhaps use them for the Military...

With a great effort of willpower, he refrained. This planet had declared fealty to him, but if he raided it, its people would likely change their minds in fairly short order. Loyalists, especially when they came complete with an entire planet, were worth far more than even a trillion Cubes of Energon. It was an unusual viewpoint for a dictator, and he knew it. He also knew that ruling for almost a thousand years was just as unusual for a dictator, so obviously he was doing something right. Still, he decided, it would be better if he left the core zone about now. Even the most determined lion couldn't resist eating a steak forever.

He visualized where he wanted to go, and in an instant, was back on the surface near where he had started out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The raider had a hard time figuring out where the voice was coming from, but eventually, looked down far enough to see what looked like a robot...that also looked something like some biological kid.

This'll be a nice rare prize to fence off to Grand Theft Anything, he thought to himself, and he proceeded to reach down to grab this being. That's when Megatron's earlier shielding system kicked in, and the raider got several nasty arc-weld burns to the hand before he could even take hold of the lesser cynoid.

"Well, uh, er..." The raider was in a quite awkward situation, considering that he was very obviously about to jack this creature whether it was excluded from the Raid List or not. He held his torched hand next to his wing, guiltily balled up, and for a second, it looked almost as if there were two children there instead of one.

Another raider from the same gang came up and laughed. "That's what you get for not being careful," he jibed.

"Now, you were saying that the building over there is full of humants to sell, huh?" He said to the Cynoid. "Well. I do believe that the Bureau of Biological Labor will appreciate receiving its contents. Oh, and as for you, you'll surely be relieved of your anti-raiding limitation as soon as our actual troops arrive. Leader Megatron wouldn't tolerate leaving any Decepticon unable to raid of all things, and since your planet has declared for us, you will soon be considered a full Decepticon."

Upgrades would be mandatory, actually. While no one would be forced to raid yet, everyone would soon be able to. The idea of being 'designed for play and amusement' or anything similar would also go into the nearest metaphorical slag pit; everyone would be patched to allow for the full range of thought capabilities.

"Anyway, no problem. However, we would prefer it if you don't attract any other raiders until after this here cart is full of whining, begging little humants." He gestured towards a very large hovering trailer that he was pulling by a single guide cable. It looked like it could easily hold 1,000 captives, and it was likely that almost 2,000 could be jammed in without undue stock losses.

The raid gang proceeded to fly over to the metal building, and using their blasters as torches, cut the roof off. They then began to reach in and pick up humans, ignoring the small arms fire that hit their hands and arms. After grabbing each one, they disarmed him and dropped him into the cart. The drop was fairly gentle; damaged stock wasn't saleable. This work was done very quickly and efficiently - it wouldn't be long before other raid gangs showed up, and they wanted to get as many slaves to sell as they could before they'd have to compete for them.

"So how many human civilians are on this rock?" The leader of the gang yelled over to the child bot as they took care of the remaining soldiers.

[Warhaven]

"I'd have to jack into the network to find out." The boy said. He ran over and stuck his finger in a socket.

"That building had 900 troops in it, and world wide, total civilian population as of yesterday before all this, was counted at 10 billion. I'd expect half of them to foolishly kill themselves in an attempt to escape. They won't. Big Brother Zarzee has a soul net, and is capturing all the dead souls for his own infernal pleasure.

Oh, and Big Brother, I'm programmed to call anyone bigger than me and also of machine nature Big Brother. It's rather irritating not being able to use names." The child bot said.

.....

And that was true, human civilians not wanting to be rounded up for capture were killing themselves and each other now that the Military was gone.

That all came to a screeching halt when Zarzee appeared on national networks, with the dead president's soul. Currently, the dead president was being tormented with insects, and being perpetually eaten by them. It was painful, it was terrifying for the president as he hated bugs, and it was a very clear lesson to the Humans.

"Some of you think Death is a better option. You kill yourselves now, you enjoy my company for eternity. If you go work for Decepticons in their mines, you will have earned a reprieve from my, hospitality. Think carefully before you do something that you can't undo." Zarzee said.

With the Military gone, and visual proof death would only send them to something worse, the civilian humans, in tears and anger, lined up to get captured.

[Victorious Decepticons]

The raider radioed Megatron with the news, and the leader's expression grew cold.

It was Decepticon takeover doctrine, backed by much research into human psychology, that any captured human population had to be made into a definite minority in comparison to the Decepticon population. They were much, much easier to control when they were obviously the few. This was mostly due to their herd instinct; a side-effect of that instinct meant that - with a few exceptions - they would try their best to fit into the biggest herd. Calculations had shown that Decepticons would trigger the code as the "biggest herd" if there were at least twice as many of them as there were humans.

10 billion humants currently functioning meant that about 4 billion of them would have to go - and, if these humans knew how many were already on Earth, even more would need to be culled. As long as the populations didn't know of each other, though, each one could be counted separately.

"You should have let them suicide!" Megatron radioed Zarzee in dismay, using the secret frequency. "Now, I'll have to terminate the extras, and since most of them have surrendered, that'll make a lot of work for the International division of the Bureau of Propaganda! It is far easier for the Bureau when they can call the dead 'insurgents.'"

"Still, I have never let 'international opinion' dictate my actions. The proper ratio for long-term control shall be established." He mentioned the words 'international opinion' in a very derisive way.

Soon, Megatron updated the Raid List to remove including population from the pay list. Currently-captured population would be paid for, but now, they had all surrendered. There was no need to capture what had already conceded, and logistically, there were far too many to bring them all to the slave market to be sold on Earth. Instead, they would need to be transported to other organic worlds in bulk. His first thought was to use cargo-bots, but then, he remembered that as a god, he could just open a portal from this world to the destination planets.

Any extras who didn't kill themselves would simply be herded through a portal to a far less hospitable environment. Outer space would do the job, however, it would likely be more strategic to put them into a location where he could be sure to collect their souls as they died off.

Megatron said nothing about the particular scene Zarzee showed, but the sight of the President being perpetually tortured by ravenous insects creeped him out quite a lot. After all, when it came down to it, the President was a slaver, and so was he...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A thought crossed his mind suddenly. He thought it was a lame trick when he'd read about it; an insultingly transparent connive. But he also remembered that it worked well for many of Earth's biggest religions. "Believe and follow me, or you're going to Hell." This and localized versions of it worked for Christianity, Islam, some sects of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and more. Even Buddhism had a variant of the basic idea; "doing the wrong thing will result in reincarnation in a body with an inferior design spec." While that version was watered down, it still boiled down to one thing: Believe or else.

"What the heck," he thought. "It's a cheap shot way to get followers - and their souls - but there's no arguing with results. I'll steal it."

He proceeded to get on the air and broadcast a message:

"The reason your President could be taken to Hell is almost surely that he had declared for a god who frowned on his actions, or because he had failed to declare for any god at all," he announced. "However, contrary to what you might have been taught, you DO have a choice. You can renounce your current god, or your atheism, and accept ME as your God! This will put your souls under MY purview. Then, you won't have to worry about being punished for taking the Honorable Way Out rather than submit to capture, or about weird things like that cookie you swiped back in second grade. I, Megatron, the Divine Ruler of the Decepticons, understand that Death is preferable to capture by an enemy. You can rest assured that I will not send you to Hell for that..."

What he DIDN'T say was that he would likely do plenty of other things to them instead, and that - if they thought clearly - they were essentially signing up for up to an eternity of the very servitude they'd be killing themselves to avoid, and under the same person, too! Not only that, those who converted to his religion would be his even if they did NOT kill themselves. He'd just have to wait a bit longer.

He also didn't say that he wouldn't punish them for what they'd done to the Cynoids, or for other things that irked him. The Cynoids, after all, were far more deserving of his favor than these pathetic humans!

Of course someone with one byte of RAM would know that his offer to the humans was a bad deal, but he was talking to the members of the very species that was the subject of the saying, "There's a sucker born every minute and two to take 'em." There was Megatron and Zarzee waiting to take 'em, now it was up to them to choose which one they would end up with. A few might have been holy enough to avoid trouble if they stayed with their current god, that was true - but holiness was quite rare among humans, and in fact, among sapient beings of all sorts.

Unlike his offer to the Cynoids, his ultimatum to the humans did NOT come with citizenship, or in fact, anything but a promise to not send them to Hell in particular. However, he was sure that out of that many people, he would be able to get a significant number of soul commitments. Even a paltry 1% conversion ratio on 10 billion people was 100 million.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, it was finally time to radio the troops - not to have them invade what had already fallen, but to establish full Decepticon control over the entire planet. Their first order was to herd all of the humans into 6 large groups. Five of the groups were to have a billion humans apiece, while the sixth would have any who were left over - whether that turned out to be less than a billion or another 5 billion.

To make room for these huge crowds, troops went through the cities, and - after removing all Cynoids from the area - blasted the buildings flat. This created huge open spaces, where the new slaves were forced to assemble.

Megatron then opened portals to five distant organic slave worlds with atmospheres suitable for humans, and each billion-human group was marched through; one group to each world. Once there, Decepticon troops and mine operators would work together to divide up the captives. The remaining group was forced to await its fate, which was planned to be much grimmer than that of the others. About 100,000 of them would be reserved for Megatron Metals Mine #1 and the personal attentions of Overseer, but the rest wouldn't last even as long as they would there.

At this point, Megatron turned to where the lesser cynoids who had approached them were hiding.

"Destiny turns quickly, does it not?" He remarked to them.

~~~~~~~~~~

Around the Destroyed Island

The reaction of the Corporation adjuncts was mixed at first, with some wishing they could get more free fuel basically thrown at them. Soon, though, victory cheers went through the entire crowd. Free energy was nice, but by the sounds of it, the Decepticon Empire had just annexed an entire new planet with hardly any serious opposition - and there was nothing like a huge win to make a Decepticon's day!!

They flew a few laps around the frothing sea, and then took off to other positions. They wouldn't leave just yet- there was always loads of stuff to loot after a war - but they doubted that any more military or paramilitary action was going to be needed.

[Warhaven]

Due to Megatron's announcement, 1.5 billion civilians mass suicide on the spot after converting, but Zarzee still captured them for reasons he'd tell Megatron later. Their souls however were stored in a giant black crystal. This left 3.5 Billion humans divided into two groups. 1.75 Billion were sneering in Megatron's general direction. They'd simply surrendered, and was waiting their fate.

The other 1.75 were waiting with a mixture of hope and expectation. Converts expecting to be turned into Decepticons, as they'd assumed, naively, that was what Megatron's offer meant.

The Cynoids meanwhile were constructing a large structure out of the ground with Stealth Strike's help. That done, they began to process through it, one at a time. They'd enter Lesser Cynoids on one side, and come out looking like regular Decepticons, with proper size and everything on the other side. They were filing off into their own group waiting patiently to explain themselves, while Zarzee attached the souls belonging to Megatron to his chest, his demeanor indicating there was something not done that needed to be done before Megatron could properly claim them.

[Victorious Decepticons]

As soon as Megatron detected what was going on, Stealth Strike got a rather frantic radio message. "Hold it, hold it!" Megatron yelled. "Don't give them Decepticon-like bodies yet!! We must first make sure they're really ready, and give them the Immigrant Data Packs so that they'll understand our culture! Otherwise, they'll have all kinds of crazy ideas that will only get them killed or into the mines!"

Almost all foreigners, for example, would expect certain things to be illegal, expect that there would be police, and other things common to so-called civilized society. Someone entering Victorious Decepticons with those expectations would be - at best - robbed of his last Cubelet of Energon, and then, would likely end up captured by Scroungers and melted down just because they'd be easy targets. It was far better for there to be an orientation period first.

More importantly for the Cynoids, they would need to know that the penalty for trying to change Decepticon culture is death. So, the typical response to a lack of police - which was often a call to bring some in, add laws, or other things along those lines - would be not only out of the question, but very fatal.

Plus, with the Lesser Cynoids staying as they were, it was easy to tell who was who, and task the Military with providing any needed security during the interim period. Once someone fully took up the mantle of Decepticonhood, he was on his own for security - and without a patch that would allow all Cynoids to fire at will, they'd be sitting ducks.

He made sure to explain all of that to Stealth Strike after he got his initial message out, so he wouldn't decide to just go ahead and do more anyway. Megatron didn't want to have to make blasting that conversion device one of his first official acts.

Still, if that's what it took to keep these jokers from acting like they could just start up big programs or take any steps that would affect the overall Empire without Leader Megatron's express permission, then that's what he would do. Didn't Stealth Strike understand that declaring loyalty to a dictator meant doing things the dictator's way?! If that basic fact wasn't understood, the Cynoids would not be lasting for long in the Decepticon Empire.

~~~~~~~~~

Next, he ordered his troops to herd all of the remaining humans to the various mining worlds. IF any individual humans managed to PROVE, by their actions over many years, that they would be good, loyal, practitioners of the Decepticon Way, then they would be granted the chance to attempt immigration through the standard process. But no matter what, that certainly wouldn't happen for *any* of them for a long time. It'd be a political disaster for the Cynoid population to see their old masters entering the Decepticon Nation as anything but property.

He highly doubted that he would get more than a mere handful of true loyalists from the conquered population. Many, however, would pretend to be loyal in order to get a better body to blast him with. This would make it very hard for a human from this planet to convince him that he was legit about wanting to be a Decepticon no matter what.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, he warped to Zarzee's position.

"There is some sort of problem?" Megatron said, quite ready to act as his own Market Share Protection Force, and already angered by Stealth Strike's trying to act as though he was some sort of general.

I need to get rid of that Stealth Strike guy, he thought silently to himself. He's been alive for less than a day, and he's already acting like he can be in charge of anything. If there was anything a long-term dictator could spot, it was a rebel coming, and from a million lightyears away.

[Warhaven]

"You see one thing, but have not seen the truth. Cynoids are Mechanical Shapeshifters. This code must be unlocked, if they are to survive on Cygnus long term. This is more than changing from Robot State to Vehicle State, this is changing from any state, to any other state, all of a machine nature. What you have, is a very large population of perfect shapeshifters. It is one thing to become a vehicle, and blend in that way, but what if needs demanded another form, another shape? We can become anything needed, conform to any law code given. The decepticon form was used merely as a demonstration of successful unlocking. I will adapt it to something else, that Cynoids can survive integration into Decepticon society. But I cannot stop, the slave codes must be destroyed. If they aren't, these Cynoids will attempt a democracy, and thinking they should have a voice in things. You don't strike me as the democratic sort, so I am solving the problem." Steal Strike counter explained.

So instead they came out as robotic beasts.

Zarzee meanwhile sized up Megatron.

"There is a very good chance, you are not going to enjoy what comes next. I did not expect you to raid this world so quickly. There is one other vital thing you must do, on your own, I cannot do for you, and Mechanus cannot do for you. You must enter the Afterlife, and reach agreement with The Spirit of Death, that your will may be enforced on those who die in your name. It is one thing to have a religion on a planet with no deity in charge, it is quite another to evolve things to the level you are. Your next step, is to enter the Afterlife, alone, and face an entity more powerful than you and convince it to accept your doctrine. And when I say The Spirit of Death is more powerful than you, I mean if I were to compare our combined power to his, we would amount to little more than the blood stain on your foot by comparison. I wish you luck, I'll even be courteous enough to open a door for you, but I'm not going, and I would sooner fight you to remain here, than ever willingly set foot in The Afterlife again. I will not speak of what I encountered there, but by all that is Holy, it terrified me in ways I did not expect I could be terrified in, and very likely, you will encounter something similar. After you accomplish this task and can begin holding power over the dead, then I will give you the black crystal. Until then, it is safe with me." Zarzee explained.