An Exploration Mission (Closed; Att'n Vallermoore)

[Vallermoore]

(OOC-Again, sorry for the delay due to real life. I feel bad making you wait.)

Cybertron

IC-When Fire Eater shuddered for a couple of seconds it made an audible noise as he was in a full size body and it was a big shudder of a kind rarely made by a Decepticon.

When Fire Eater let out perhaps the biggest Priestly Secret of all, Loyal Star said "He is right to only protect us as a whole from the very biggest threats-those if any even exist in the universe that could bring an end to the Decepticon Nation-although as we are the strongest in the universe, that would be very hard to do-or those with a very real chance of destroying Cybertron. Otherwise as you say in the short term it would be great but in the long term our piratical culture would corrode from inside, the nation would become weak and...and if anything bad did happen to our God, the nation would fall to the biologicals as it would have ceased to wage war, much like certain birds have become flightless on islands over time and then fallen victim to introduced cats and rats. That should never happen to the Decepticons. There are two things I'll never regret-becoming a Decepticon, and living the religious life."

Silently in his mind boards he thought I suppose I can thank my parents for my love of religion, not that I regret blasting them after they treated me. Just then he got a short message over the radio from no less a bot then High Priest WarFire. "Loyal Star, you have one week off, and then you are to report to the Main Temple for your first missionary mission. And may all go well for you."

After some more talking with Fire Eater and Energon drinking, and making sure all was ready for when he went, putting various items in a secure vault, Loyal Star brought and played games for hours at a time, defragged, went to where no bots would object and did loop the loops and other acrobatics and had some much needed Decepticon fun, as he would soon be hard at work spreading Megatronism. He didn't have to use his blasters in anger, as he didn't bother other bots and most bots knew better then to attack a Full Priest for fun. In the earliest days of the Priesthood, a few Decepticons had thought the Priests would be weak like biological priests were in other nations. A few burnt out bodies later, they had learned their lesson. A Priest that didn't start trouble was almost immune to average blaster fire. Of course, from time to time Loyal Star studied his Megatronist scriptures as well, just as his pony self had once studied the scriptures of Ponyism before he even knew of the existence of Decepticons. His book, rich as he was now, was a very ornate volume with a gold cover and elegant foil pages, and like all books made in the Empire was Decepticon sized. A human would not even have been able to turn the metal pages, such was their size, but scaled up for a Decepticon, it was a normal book size. Finally, he radioed Fire Eater to say he was going off on a holy mission and might be some time, before reporting on time to the Main Temple to be given his first mission as a Full Priest.

*****
Carjack Agriculture - Destra Branch

One of the nanites found it's way into a joint of a Decepticon body. By itself it was harmless, but if it was self replicating, it had the potential to cause trouble for Decepticons by acting as a slave chip and spreading like a biological germ to other Decepticons nearby.

*****
Underworks

As SolarTempest was a popular, clever gang leader, his friends did not hesitate. Six of them picked him up with the rest as bodyguards in case any Fists or Scroungers were around and they took him back. They did pass a small Scrounger gang on their way, but one look at the CBA bots and the Scroungers let them go unchallenged, not wanting to lose their powerful main bodies to try and get a single body. Soon enough he was back at the mansion and mind transferred in a direct cable hook up, and emptied his old body's panels of anything of use, also removing the blasters as they were undamaged, before taking his own body to a foundry and selling it. Unlike biological bodies that either rotted or were cremated and either way were no use, Decepticon bodies would in the end become new Decepticon parts. As the CBA wet out in groups of two or three looking for the Fists, the surviving Fists were in the Underworks wondering what to do now that Cybertron was becoming a bit hot for them and sharing various ideas. They knew SolarTempest wanted them all dead as a warning to the other gangs not to mess with him or the CBA.

Buzz, who had left the Fists before they and the CBA became enemies, decided to try and join the CBA. Surely his buzzing abilities might be of some use to them? He was kept waiting whilst a bot asked SolarTempest if he would be given a chance to prove his worth or not. On one side, every extra member strengthened the CBA, on the other, it was at the size when it could be picky. Every gang had different internal policies on recruitment. Some would be very open to new members, especially if they had suffered permanent losses and needed a replacement. Some were much more picky and only wanted the best. A very few stable and long lived gangs had become as close as human families. Trying to get into one of these gangs was like a human or sapient pony going to another family of humans or sapient ponies and trying to join it-almost impossible. The CBA was not the pickiest of gangs-and the battle with the Fists helped matters-but it was not as open as it had once been either. If the Fists recognized Buzz as one of MasterBlaster's gang, things could get awkward and perhaps violent very fast.

[Victorious Decepticons]

First Temple of Megatronism, Cybertron

When Loyal Star arrived to get his first assignment as a full priest, he found that two others had also been ordered to the location that day. They had been ordained at the same ceremony as himself and had also requested missionary assignments.

Soon, they were ushered into Warfire's office and the door was closed. Warfire gave them all a quick greeting, but soon got down to business.

"All of you have requested and been granted the status of Missionaries of the Temple, and today, you get your first assignments. Even though you have proved yourselves through some arduous tests, we are giving you relatively easy assignments as your first ones as full Priests. This is because you will now be working on your own, with no undercover Temple agents to bail you out and no mentors accompanying you."

"Each one of you will be going to a different one of the planets that was, until very recently, under the thumb of the Galactipol Federation. Most of the people on these planets hated the Federation. It had threatened them with invasion if they did not implement the laws the Federation demanded. Even worse, many of these laws governed their domestic policies rather than interplanetary relations - and on top of that, they reflected Galactipol's ideas of justice and morality rather than those of the local populations. This stirred huge amounts of resentment in all but a few of the countries on these planets."

"Now that we have defeated that Federation, wiping one of its planets out completely and putting the others to slavery, these outlying worlds have recognized our existence AND have a big interest in our religion. To them, we are saviors who broke Galactipol's iron grip on their people and cultures. Because of this, three of the nations on three separate planets have contacted us and outright asked us to establish Temples in their territories."

Now, Warfire spoke to each priest individually. He sent the first one to a small planet with only two major nations, saying that the one that had invited him would be quite eager to hear the message. The other nation on that planet, alas, had been 'corrupted' by Galactipol and was now trending toward the Autobot Way. "You are not only to set up a Temple," Warfire told that priest, "but you are to start preaching against that other nation right away. The end-goal on that planet will be to incite a Great War and wipe out that proto-Autobot nation. You will help lay the psychological groundwork." The priest he had given this order to bowed with military precision and went on his way.

The next priest was sent to a world full of marshes and plagued with disease. "Galactipol had made them agree to an 'environmental protection' treaty that forced them to stop draining their marshes. Marsh insects then proliferated exponentially and spread vast plagues to the population. Despite the obvious solution being to drain the swamps, Galactipol threatened war if this was done. To the Federation, bio-diversity was more important than the health of its sapient species. One of their mid-sized nations has promised that if we drain their marshes, they will convert to Megatronism. Your job is to establish that nation's First Temple, teach the religion, and send reports on whether or not you think they'll really convert. You are not to drain any marshes yourself unless they end up on your property; if we agree, it will be done as a Miracle of Megatron rather than through plain hard work."

The priest given that order bowed in acknowledgement, though not so militarily as the other one. He was clearly happy with this assignment, which matched his more spy-like personality.

~~~~~~~~

Finally, Warfire addressed Loyal Star.

"Your assignment also deals with a planet that had been oppressed by Galactipol. You will be going to the most piratical country on that world. It is the nation that drew Galactipol's ire to its planet in the first place. It's quite advanced, with many of its people owning spacecraft, and was once very much in agreement with the general thrust of the Decepticon Way. However, after losing some major battles against Galactipol, its government agreed to enact laws against piracy. Then, Galactipol began to demand more and more laws, including ones against domestic raiding, syndicate-style enforcement and bill collection, and finally, even against 'assault.' In their case, assault refers to simple fist fighting." Warfire clearly thought that the last law was especially daft.

"Its government first protested, but before long, realized that this gave it a monopoly on force - and it was too much power for them to resist. They began to propagandize that this was actually a better Way, and managed to fool the youngest generation of adults into buying it. They did this by filling the schools with propaganda while that generation was still too young to know better." Warfire hmph'd with disapproval. "Most of the people, however, remember what their nation was like and how things are supposed to be. It was one of these people who contacted us to get a Temple, clearly in hopes that they can restore their Way with the backing of our religion."

"Your mission, Loyal Star, is to go to that nation and set up that Temple. But there's more. As soon as Galactipol fell, the aggrieved older people stormed their nation's government in a huge mob and brutally massacred them. No new government has yet formed. This leaves a power vacuum that you are to help fill. Position your Temple as the Authority, and once you can identify true believers, do what you can to make sure that they end up being the new government."

"The other thing you have to do is 'take care of' those who have been convinced of the correctness of the Galactipol culture. I believe that the best way to do this is through social engineering. Begin to send the message that those people are not truly of the nation, but instead, are subversive elements. They are not patriotic, they are not looking out for the good of the country...they should be seen as rabid animals, beyond hope...and finally, as scum to be eradicated. Then, of course, it will be time for the new government to simply authorize the people to take action against the 'pro-Galactipol traitors.' Since the majority of the people are Decepticons-in-Spirit, the riot-genocide should take care of itself after that."

"If this infestation of Galactipol-brainwashed scum is not eliminated now, they will take over the nation within a couple of generations. Then they will turn the entire place into another Galactipol, or at best, pussify it beyond redemption and make it into an Earth-like goo of spineless, yet moralistic, idiocy."

~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere on Cybertron

After some discussion, the Fists decided that Cybertron - or at least, the part of it they usually occupied - was too hot for them to remain. Yet, they didn't want to leave the planet entirely just yet. Finally, one suggested a gritty little suburb about 1/4 of the planet away. "It's big enough to get services, but backwater enough to not be an obvious place to go. There's also a decent-sized city only a 15-minute flight away, so once we get set up, we can get upgrades there and perhaps finish this in a more favorable way," the one suggesting it said.

Since nothing else came to mind, the others agreed. They began to pack some things into a glider-trailer in preparation for the evacuation. The main thing they would have to do now would be to avoid being spotted by the CBA while they were in flight and hampered by hauling that trailer...

~~~~~~~~~

At SolarTempest's house, the sound of a knock was not at all welcome. Instead of answering the door, they rushed to the gun-ports in its fortress-style walls, ready for battle. Only after everyone was in position did SolarTempest look at a screen that revealed a single bot standing outside.

~~~~~~~~~~

Carjack Agriculture, Destra

The v.1 nanite did not yet have replication abilities coded in, and instead, could only spread by infested slaves (or their bodily products) coming into sufficient contact with susceptible creatures. There was another layer of protection on top of that: The nanites had been made to work inside of wet, biological cells, not dry wiring or computer chips. They were also made to influence cellular signal transmission - which was quite low-powered on the scale of a single cell - rather than the relatively high-powered, electricity-only signal transmission of robots.

Thanks to these and other design incompatibilities, the single micro-robot simply sat there inert. Eventually, it would either fall back out of its spot or would be burned up when the overseer made a re-entry maneuver after some future interplanetary space flight.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Bureau of Impossible Physics, Cybertron

General Shockwave was uncharacteristically excited today. He had just gotten the order to militarize the Biological Research Division's new invention.

The current nanites weren't replicants, but under General Shockwave, this was slated to change at some future point. His first task would simply be to figure out how to do it and NOT have the things simply devour everything in their paths and turn it into more of themselves. They would have to reproduce only in certain situations and at carefully-prescribed rates.

The next specifications were also security-minded. They would have to remain physically unable to affect robots. "This part must be absolutely physical," Megatron's work order emphatically stated. "It must not be something that a hacker can change under any circumstances."

Other specifications were simpler. It wouldn't matter if the nanites infected everything biological on a planet; the military version would have to be able to spread itself to its intended targets at rampant rates, yet also be able to avoid detection by normal medical testing; they must not become lethal, either by incompatibility with their targets or by their sheer numbers; and they had to have no way for someone to recode them by remote means (so as to prevent enemies from hacking into them).

All in all, it was a somewhat tall order. However, the preliminary groundwork had already been done by Biological Research, so the work would go much faster than would otherwise be possible.

"We'll be able to take over entire planets by simply crop-dusting them with these things in just a few years," Shockwave enthused to his top scientists. With that, the newly-formed Nanitical Research Team got to work on figuring out the exact details.

[Edit: Removed accidental mention of Soundwave.]

[Vallermoore]

First Temple of Megatronism, Cybertron/Arfon

Loyal Star felt excited as he flew to the Temple for his first ever assignment as a Full Priest. After the two others had got their assignments, he was given his, to bring a former piratical and in fact quite Decepticonish nation back to what it used to be, and to help deal with the pro Galactipol elements, as well as helping to set up a suitable government on Decepticon lines. After memorising these instructions in an internal "Orders from High Priest WarFire" file and politely bowing to his superior to show respect, he was soon on his way to the planet, an Earth sized one named Arfon with a red gas giant that was fist sized when seen from the planet's surface. Not a flicker of a thought of disloyalty went across his mind boards, nor did he tarry. When his mission was over but before he returned to Cybertron, then would be the time for a quick fly around in the gas planet's upper level, not before. Since before he even became a bot and was just a foal without even a cutie mark, he had been taught the importance of discipline and that had travelled over when his mind transferred to his first robot body. He was slightly cautious in case someone fired a SAM at him but he didn't have to worry. All the same he kept all his cameras on just in case.

When he flew to the capital of the country, a country named Arfon, he saw a major building flying the flag of Galactipol and it was under siege from a mob armed with anything from guns to sticks and carving knives. He flew in, transformed and blasted open one of the barricaded doors with his normal blasters, not needing to call on holy fusion fire to do so. He was able to speak in the speech of the country through a (virus checked first) Temple chip. "I am against Galictipol and you who are besieging it have nothing to fear from me. I will give you some covering fire but you need to do the hard work yourself to prove yourself worthy of my help. If you are killed as a Megatronist loyalist, at the least you won't go to hell or to enslavement in the afterlife." Soon enough the large crowd who had panicked at first went back to the fight, dealing with what turned out to be the last holdout of elements of the last government, helped by a few blasts of the upper floors by Loyal Star. No prisoners were taken-clearly the last government had been heartily hated by a lot of the population. Loyal Star scanned the crowd. Most were humans, although maybe a tenth were sapient ponies, one of the most common races of the universe. If there were any changelings around, he didn't see them but put up his anti changeling shielding just in case, very happy to have it. Where there were ponies there were often changelings who would love to drain the rare and fiery love of a Decepticon.
When the dead bodies of the besiegers were brought out Loyal Star blessed their remains, which would be a heads up to the Decepticon angels in the afterlife that these were loyalists who should not have to suffer, and he claimed the souls of the other side for Leader Megatron.

He asked the crowd who it's leaders were and what the normal way on their planet was for disposing of the bodies of the dead. Once he knew who the leaders were he could start helping to form a strong and stable government from them.

SolarTempest's Mansion

Given that the CBA was in the middle of a gang war with the Fists, and given that the last lone robot that showed up duelled SolarTempest, a lone bot was unlikely to get a good reception. With the gang ready to blast the stranger into scrap at the gunports, SolarTempest turned on an outdoor microphone. "To the bot outside, who are you and why are you here? If you don't come in peace you'll be leaving in pieces."

Buzz replied "I'm Buzz. I'm a scout with good cloaking and a special buzz combat ability, I was no friend of MasterBlaster, and I'd like to join you and offer my services as part of the Cybertronian Business Association. Is this not a good time?"

Like many bots, the Fists liked Cybertron too much to leave it outright and had decided to relocate somewhere far away where they could buy new bodies and rename themselves. But getting there would possibly be a challenge.

The Bureau of Impossible Physics, Cybertron

The making of the new nanos would happen on one of the most remote-and secret-asteroids under Decepticon control. That meant that if they went rogue by sheer bad luck or there was another Meng who wanted to use them against Decepticons, the very worst that could happen would be a few dead scientists and a small amount of contamination to clean up, rather then a plague of dangerous nanos raging through Cybertron that would need Megatron's godly powers to clean up. In case anyone had any nasty Meng-like ideas, Megatron made it very quickly that they were not to be used against robots, and should not be hackable either.

Carjack Agriculture, Destra

The overseer never knew the horrible thing that could have happened to him if these nanos had been slightly different.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Arfon

The anti-government people were ecstatic when a real Decepticon landed and helped them storm the final holdout of the pro-Galactipol government. "They shall destroy this nation no longer!" The crowd yelled as it rushed inside. Sounds of violence were then heard from the interior, but before long, cheers of victory rose up. Loyal Star, being far too big to get into a building made for much smaller biologicals, listened from outside. He grinned when the shot-up carcasses of the failed defenders were brought out, and gave a suitable grimace and sad look at those of the besiegers. Soon, he used some of his field kit wiring to hang the dead government people's bodies up from the building's porch beams for all to see. There was no need to use nooses since they were dead already, so he simply suspended them from under their arms. Now, there would be no doubt that the Galactipol culture was effectively extinct on this world.

When Loyal Star asked to meet with the leaders of the winning side, a few humans and a couple of ponies were ushered out of the throng. Everyone was happy and cheering, and the leaders came forward with the swaggers of the victorious. To them, there was nothing bad about being "reactionaries," despite what the pro-Galactipol government's propaganda lapdogs had claimed. Instead, they believed they had saved their nation from an ever-accelerating path of destruction. Now, they would finally be able to restore their honor and vigor - and go raid other nations and planets once again!

"We're glad you've come!" The most dominant-seeming one said. "By your paint, we presume that you're a Priest of Megatron! I'm so relieved our message got through. Perhaps you would meet with us in the park - there's enough room there for you to sit down as we talk. Then we can familiarize you with what's going on. You surely have an overview, but you'll need to know about details. Or perhaps you already have a plan, and you can let us know what you need to build a temple that will help us wipe out the vile ideas that our old traitor government tried to spread!"

~~~~~~~~~~

SolarTempest's Mansion

Slowly, SolarTempest slid a panel in the door open, mainly to see if this "Buzz" guy would try to take the opportunity to stick his blaster through it. When no attempt at violence happened, he cautiously opened the door. Immediately, the other gang members backed away from the small wall openings and paid attention to the door just in case hostilities erupted.

"We're currently in the middle of a war," SolarTempest said. "And if you know MasterBlaster, it's likely that you were part of one of his gangs. The first one, perhaps? We noticed that he lost many of those members, and word on the street is that it was because he had bad plans for me. But he didn't lose all of them. How do I know you aren't an active member of the Fists?!" SolarTempest had not raised his blaster, but his engine sound indicated that he was ready for anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Research Asteroid

Unlike the Biological Research Division, the military arm of the Bureau of Impossible Physics had excellent vetting procedures in place. This project was given the highest level of security thanks to the military potential of the nanite project. Ever since Replicator had penetrated the Bureau's Paranormal subdivision, the procedures for this level of classification had been made even stricter. Now, a code-read was required not only to ensure that scientists weren't traitors in a direct sense, but to make sure that they wouldn't sell out for Replicator's bribe money either.

"Do you think Biological Research might start up a nanite project of their own?" One of the chosen few asked General Shockwave. "They did come up with the working prototypes, after all..."

Shockwave gave the possibility good consideration, and came to the conclusion that they probably would do that. "I doubt that they're foolish enough to make replicants, though," he said. "Even they won't want to be eaten alive by other machines. However, I will consult with Leader Megatron about increased security at their division and emphasize the need to ensure that they are all completely bug-free. After all, it wouldn't be the first time one of their people turned out to be coded out of glitches." He remembered the incident with Meng and wanted to be sure that nobody else there was that enamored with the idea of finding interesting new ways to crash the livestock - or Decepticons.

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

Later, the Biological Research Division was dismayed to get a direct order from Megatron for everyone to submit to thorough checks by Debugging on a monthly basis. His order stated that this was to ensure the integrity of "sensitive" technologies, but did not get specific. Not all of the division's personnel even knew the details of the nanite work, and he made sure his order didn't include details that would clue them in. Even so, he wanted everyone tested on the accelerated schedule just in case. Biological Research, after all, was not used to the extreme level of hierarchical information restriction typical of military research, so it was entirely possible that everyone already knew a bit about their division's nanite work. Testing everyone right down to the janitors would ensure that this would not become a problem. If anyone failed the tests, they would be "dealt with" in a very subtle, but permanent, way.

[Vallermoore]

Arfon

The anti-government rebels were really pleased that a real live Decepticon had shown up, which made a pleasant change to biologicals either running away screaming, launching SAMs at Loyal Star or both. Although Loyal Star was too big to directly fight with them after blasting the doors open, he didn't need to as the crowd was armed with anything from guns to cleavers and ready to do what needed to be done. Soon enough the dead were brought out. After blessing the bodies of the besiegers and claiming the souls of the other side for Leader Megatron and stringing up the bodies of the ex government supporters as a gruesome warning, he asked to talk to the leaders of the throng. Seven humans and two ponies, one with a Decepticon seal cutie mark and one with a pony skull and crossbones cutie mark, came out, weapons at their sides and smiles on their faces. The most dominating one was a tall red headed human, although the second most dominating was the Decepticon sealed pony. " We're glad you've come! By your paint, we presume that you're a Priest of Megatron! I'm so relieved our message got through. Perhaps you would meet with us in the park - there's enough room there for you to sit down as we talk. Then we can familiarize you with what's going on. You surely have an overview, but you'll need to know about details. Or perhaps you already have a plan, and you can let us know what you need to build a temple that will help us wipe out the vile ideas that our old traitor government tried to spread!"

"Both of those things are true. I plan to build a Temple and help wipe out those foul..."he screwed up his nose "Galactipol ideas, and teach you Megatronism and the Decepticon Way, but I also want to hear the details from you, who know what your planet was like once and what was imposed upon you. What was your culture and religions and your laws or lack of them like before Galactipol occupied your planet?" He sat down in the park, happy to be amongst Decepticons in Spirit. Who better then those who lived there to tell him what things used to be like both under Galactipol and before? Around them humans and ponies were partying and singing in pure joy at being free after what had clearly been an oppressive regime that they had suffered under, humans and ponies alike. Little children and foals gawped at him in amazement.

*****
SolarTempest's Mansion

SolarTempest's eyes were slightly dim. "We're currently in the middle of a war, And if you know MasterBlaster, it's likely that you were part of one of his gangs. The first one, perhaps? We noticed that he lost many of those members, and word on the street is that it was because he had bad plans for me. But he didn't lose all of them. How do I know you aren't an active member of the Fists?!" He was ready to snap into battle in a second, but at the same time he didn't dismiss Buzz at once. If nothing else Buzz either had a lot of naturel bravery or had Bravery Up at unhealthily high levels. "Oh, I knew him and was part of his gang, yes, and I don't deny he seemed good at first and gave us good upgrades, but even for a Decepticon, he was extremely brash and arrogant in the extreme and he and I soon fell out. Since he had some of the best publically gettable mods I couldn't kill him myself. I understand you are wary, rightly so. How can I prove that I'm not trying to infiltrate you for the Fists as a spy or worse?"

*****
Research Asteroid

Whilst no bot was about to openly grumble against a Megatron order, there were groans, dimmed eyes and engines running in a low tone for a little, as frequent Debugging checks were a pain. One bot was quietly wondering if he could get around it for reasons of his own.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Arfon

Once everyone got situated, they began to describe their country and life under the old regime. It had been similar to a monarchy in that all of the rulers were of one Line, but instead of passing directly to the eldest son (or daughter, if there was no son), the warlord would actively choose his successor. It also gave its ruler the title of "warlord" rather than king.

Instead of choosing one of the eldest sons, he had instead gone with a very young one. This was because his eldest son was only 18 years younger than himself, and he believed that it would be better for the country if it didn't have to go through another regime change so soon.

It turned out to be a horrible mistake. The 30-year-old new warlord was soft from a lifetime of pampering and was not psychologically prepared for any of the gritty realities of raiding and warfare. When his private contingent of pirates was soundly defeated by Galactipol, the new warlord was deeply scarred by the sights and sounds of the carnage. With that fresh in his mind, he caved easily when the "Galactic Police" demanded that he institute laws against piracy.

As might be imagined, the change from a brash, fearless raider government to a wimpy, law-stricken one did not go over with the people. Minor revolts started immediately, and some rioting took place. Instead of turning back toward the people's will, the "warlord" added thousands of police of both the regular and the riot varieties. Rebel leaders were disappeared, and the secret police force was also greatly expanded. At first, this was done mainly to keep the nation from plunging into anarchy.

As time went on, the regime became more and more oppressive. The warlord realized that the more laws he put into place, the weaker the people seemed to become. He soon succumbed to the temptation to weaken his people more in order to make their revolution attempts less likely to succeed. Propaganda was added to the school systems, more and more laws were made, and finally, it became almost impossible to NOT break some law or other - and face disproportionately-harsh penalties - just by going about what the people considered daily life.

In describing this, the revolution leaders presented a large variety of horrific scenarios of people who had been subject to the forfeiture of all they owned, sentenced to decades of heavy labor, and otherwise abused by the State for relatively minor crimes. Loyal Star did silently think that the crimes mentioned were indeed crimes in most places (though they had been legal here until this new warlord started his "no crime" program) - but the punishments were way out of proportion. A petty shoplifter, for example, would face all-asset seizure upon conviction, and someone who got into a minor fight could spend 10 years at hard labor. Someone who did what most nations would consider a serious crime, such as grand theft, would receive the death penalty with only one chance of appeal.

Convictions were also problematic, the revolution leaders explained with fire in their eyes. "Most of them were doubtful at best, and all too often, totally bogus. Prosecutors were considered to be above questioning, while defense lawyers were thought of as almost accomplices in crime. Even being a defense attorney was enough to get a person constantly investigated, and often, they were falsely convicted right along with their clients. It goes without saying that not many were willing to be defense attorneys after that happened a few times. But that didn't get the government to change its policy. Instead, it took advantage of the situation by forcing people to stand trial even if they couldn't find a lawyer. Needless to say, the prosecutors rolled right over almost everyone who had no legal help."

In the end, the situation was clear: The government itself had, over time, become the most serious problem the people of this nation faced. That situation angered enough of the people to finally allow the rebels to amass the numbers needed for a serious revolutionary action. Arms were smuggled in from other countries, some of which donated them in the (mistaken) belief that a democracy would be installed next. Once they had enough arms and fighters, the civil war - which they referred to as the War to Restore the Honor and Glory of the Nation - was on.

To the government's dismay and the revolutionaries' delight, the regime quickly found that only a tiny fraction of the country actually supported it. Not only that, this fraction was the police, secret police, narks who had been living off of informer's fees, and the beneficiaries of cronyism - none of which qualified as hardened or even well-armed fighters. The military, to the warlord's horror, immediately turned its guns against the government.

The government had frantically radioed Galactipol for backup, but instead of a response, all their radios picked up was static. They figured that jamming was in effect and pumped up their speakers, and this did allow them to hear something. What they heard, however, was worse than their most fearful imaginings: Binary.

At first, they hoped that maybe someone was mistakenly broadcasting the binary of mere digitized files, but soon, they could not deny what they were really listening to. The clicks and caws were being spoken. There were voice inflections, and each voice was distinct. On top of that, they had a triumphant feel to them. The warlord and his top cronies all had the same sick feeling in the pits of their stomachs. They knew exactly what this had to mean. Galactipol had fallen, and even worse for them, it had fallen to the Decepticons.

The warlord, already losing the civil war, knew that it was surely over now. He feared that the rebels would now contact the Decepticons and get them to come and swarm his last positions. Alas, his regime didn't last long enough for that to happen. With 90% of the country wanting him out, the revolutionaries had no need for military aid.

It was right at the end of this war when the Restoration Army had radioed Cybertron for help from the Temple of Megatron, and right at the end when Loyal Star arrived to see the final victory.

"It was all done to try to prop up the regime," said the most dominant man, who went by the name of Dimeth. "Galactipol had demanded only basic laws, and for the most part, it amounted to 'don't mess with them.' The bastard warlord took it further and further as discontent increased, seemingly never really realizing that that's precisely what was causing the discontent in the first place."

One of the ponies stepped up and made sure to tell Loyal Star that he wouldn't have to worry about freeing prisoners or recovering the property the government had seized. "We already opened all of the prisons as we marched on the capital, and we've already 'reappropriated' all of the materials we found at government installations," he said. Loyal Star noticed that this pony was sporting a very nice-looking silk cape, which was surely looted from some rich government stallion.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Daily life was very hard thanks to all of the harsh legal penalties for everything. It seemed like every week, a store closed because its owners had been hauled off or because all of its inventory was seized. Many of us are hungry only because of this stuff constantly going on. We've also become poor because companies can't stay in business when their owners, major customers, or both have been thrown in jail for bogus charges. Many of the houses here stand empty and in disrepair because their owners were either jailed or had been fined to the point that they couldn't afford the payments. And, of course, many houses officially belonged to the government. But the government didn't rent them out - they would leave them empty and then arrest anyone who tried to start living in them! Living on the street, though, was also illegal. The government would round up all of the squatters and the homeless and use them as slave labor! It was nothing but a racket!!" Dimeth went on.

"To add insult to injury, all of the products produced by prison labor were exported. The profits from the exports went right to the warlord. That coward was still raiding after all, only from US instead of proper targets!" Someone in the crowd chimed in.

With this information, Loyal Star knew he would have his work cut out for him. The prior government had pretty much devastated the entire country, looting it of not only its wealth, but the vitality of its population. He would also be expected to provide his opinion on who should be the new ruler, and he didn't know anyone well enough to guess whether they would be as good at governing as they were at warfare. Many generals, he knew, were not like Leader Megatron and wouldn't be very good at politics.

~~~~~~~~~~

SolarTempest's Mansion


Everyone in the Cybertronian Business Association immediately distrusted Buzz, but SolarTempest also knew that if Buzz was telling the truth, he'd be a great asset. He likely knew enough about the Fists to predict where at least some of the remaining Saves and Spares were, and perhaps, what the group would be likely to do next. But first, SolarTempest would have to be absolutely certain of Buzz's loyalty, and there would be only one way to do that for sure: get a code read on him.

"I understand that nobody is willing to let just anybody see his Code," SolarTempest said, "but only a reading of yours will allow us to trust you enough to allow you to join under these circumstances. Our organization has the funding needed to 'increase the cooperativeness' of a DomIntel investigations expert in that regard. Would you be willing to come with us to their local office and let them have a look~? All we want to know is whether you really want to join us or if you're some kind of mole."

Normally, code-reading was the province of Debugging. However, Debuggers - at least those available to the public - would refuse to divulge anything they found. That left DomIntel, which had the ability to read someone's code but didn't do debugging. DomIntel also did not officially do code-reading for outsiders, but SolarTempest correctly figured that for 10,000 Cubes or so (delivered discreetly through the back door), an investigative agent would make an exception. This, of course, assumed that Buzz was willing. The agency would not hack someone for a bribe - that would motivate rebellion, and the penalties for that were far too high for someone to risk it for a few Cubes.

[Vallermoore]

Arfon

Some Decepticons might have tried to set themselves up as the leader in such circumstances, but the thought did not even enter Loyal Star's mind boards. He was here to spread Megatronism and the Decepticon Way, not set himself up as a tyrant. "Largely because of Galactipol, along with sheer bad luck, your dictatorship was perverted. Part of that is because the weak warlord took over because of who his father was. Clearly what you have had is a monarchy, which over time lacks quality control after the first monarch. Leader Megatron rules our nation because he is the toughest, and because he is the ideal Decepticon who embodies the Decepticon Way. When it comes to who leads raid gangs, from the very small ones to the mighty syndicates, the bots have combat to prove who is the toughest and the toughest and strongest rules the gang. For now you seven should work together, to end chaos and at the same time root out Galactipol supporters, but when things are more organized, a new Warlord will be needed. I suggest that those of you seven who really do want to be the Warlord duel over it...to the death. Electioneering and using democracy would just get the one who promises the most things in, and sly murders would destroy trust amongst you totally. And if I was to appoint one of you Warlord I might choose the wrong one, so when things are ready, open duelling would seem to be the right way to go. None of you will end up in hell should you lose. But for now you should stay together in a coalition until you feel ready to duel each other."

"I want to set up a Temple here and run it until I have trained willing acolytes to take my place when my mission is done. Not as a Full Priest or Assistant Priest as only Decepticons in Decepticon bodies can hold those ranks, but one can reach Chief Acolyte without needing to immigrate to Cybertron. I will advise you on how to rule wisely and help you as much as possible but I will not be directly ruling over you. As allies you deserve to rule yourselves and although all the universe will one day fall to the Decepticons, Decepticon allies are at the back of the queue to be taken over and will not be harshly treated and enslaved when they are as long as they surrender quickly. We need to axe most of those laws-except the one about treason. And we will need a secret police to deal with dissenters, but after an investigation is over it should be made public so we know it is not arresting people for fun."

*****
SolarTempest's Mansion

"As long as it is only to test my loyalty rather then find out where my vaults are...and as long as it's not a trick to enslave me, I agree to your conditions, as I really do want to join you. One of the reasons I am really pleased that MasterBlaster is dead, is that when he broke into my house, he tried to destroy my unborn offspring that I was making for when the time is right. What sort of bot would do that?" He went with SolarTempest and a few other bots and allowed himself to be code read, and the results, when SolarTempest read them, would indeed prove his loyalty to the Association and a genuine desire to join it's ranks and hunt down and destroy the Fists, as well as a strong hatred of MasterBlaster and a hope that he could find his Save Discs and blast them.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Arfon

In most lands of this level of advancement, the suggestion to duel would be seen as barbaric, or at best, backwards. Here, it was met with applause.

"You truly do understand our ways!" Members of the audience yelled out. The leaders of the rebellion were also pleased, but they were quite understandably nervous as well. By watching their reactions carefully, Loyal Star could tell that at least two of them probably would not end up contending for the Warlord position. They backed off ever so slightly, showing their initial thought that the leadership position was not such a risk to their lives.

Meanwhile, three of those in the main group stepped up just a bit, along with someone in the throng of onlookers. These would certainly contend, including the one who had not admitted to having any special standing in the group. Loyal Star remembered the words of the Book of Megatron: "In any crowd, someone wants to kill the leader and take over. Be wary of these, for they may attack at any time, with or without honor." The one who took that slight step forward would be one of the ones for the other contenders to keep an eye on.

All of the current leaders were a bit disgruntled at the idea of having a coalition government before the dueling. Loyal Star had to explain that it would be a better idea to wait because that way, the country could be stabilized first. "It sounds like you have a lot of work to do just to bring the nation back to a reasonable level of prosperity," Loyal Star said, "and since you were all working toward the same ideals, it makes more sense for you to work together for now. The nation won't be able to improve much while you're fighting each other, but as long as everything is stable, a slight pause in progress won't be a big problem. Plus, you should all have some time to practice your personal combat skills. A duel is far different from a war in terms of tactics." Loyal Star explained.

If Loyal Star wasn't a big robot representing the God of Megatronism, he wouldn't have been listened to. Some of the leaders already had their hands on their hips, where they carried pistols, and were ready to duel right there in the park! However, they held off at the Priest's request.

The most dominant human stepped forward a bit more - intentionally this time - and asked a question.

"How should we handle the issue of succession? Unless I am granted eternal life by our new god, the day will come when the Sword of Leadership must pass on. Though the idea of handing it to a future son sounds great, we've seen what happens with monarchy. And you're right about democracy - in our glory days, we targeted democracies often because we could do a raid and be gone before they even agreed on a response."

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

After discussing this, it would be time to select a site for the temple. Many buildings had been burned up during the war, so there were many lots where all Loyal Star would need to do is clear the rubble. That job might be a pain for a human or pony, but to Loyal Star, it would be like shoving a burnt dollhouse aside. Then, a nice, large, First Temple of Arfon could be constructed out of suitably-impressive materials. Other, smaller Temples would eventually pepper the landscape.

Of course, there was another issue that would need to be taken care of: Energon. Loyal Star would need some before long.

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

Cybertron

The results given to SolarTempest were sparse, containing only the information Buzz had agreed to reveal, but they were enough to prove that he wasn't secretly still a Fist. Buzz's explanation for his hatred of MasterBlaster seemed to leave out some details, but it at least sounded like something MasterBlaster would have tried to do.

"I think he has a glitch where he can't stand the idea of offspring becoming sapient!" SolarTempest grumbled. "Once he realized that it's all but inevitable, he probably gained an urge to genocide all new builds! In any case, it's payback time now. We have the Fists on the run. Let's go back to the Manor for a bit..."

Upon returning, SolarTempest held a hasty meeting. In it, he explained that Buzz had passed the code-read test, but that he knew nothing about Buzz's fighting skills or much else about him. Even so, he reasoned, it was best to delay the normal trials-by-combat until after the end of the gang war. "In the hours we spend determining his rank, the Fists could disappear all over Cybertron. We need to track them down right now and turn them all into slag!"

There were some protests, but after more discussion, it was decided that they would go ahead and track down the Fists with Buzz. Then, once the need to act fast was over, they would consider whether or not to allow Buzz to stay. If they decided to keep him on, they would do ranking duels at that time.

Soon, they began to search for the remaining Fists by fanning out in several directions around the city. It wasn't long before one radioed back that he had spotted them - pulling a glider-trailer that appeared to be quite full based on the way it (and they) were flying. Before long, the entire Cybertronian Business Association came to the reported location. In the distance, they could see the few functional Fists flying off with their trailer in tow. It would be easy to get at least a few initial shots in, and if the Fists didn't quickly disconnect their towing cables and let the trailer fall, they would have a very easy victory.

At this time, the CBA didn't know that there were any more Save Discs belonging to MasterBlaster. They would have to either get a tip or fluke in on the location somehow.

~~~~~~~~~~

Research Asteroid

So far, all of the research on militarized nanites was done on computer screens and foil-paper. There was no need to build betas until at least one design was finalized. Working in this way was no problem for the engineers, who routinely visualized and drew out plans for all sorts of mechanical things.

The bot who was intending to dodge his Debugging check would be in for a surprise: Debuggers would be sent to the asteroid, and if he conveniently wasn't there, MilIntel would be sent to fetch him. He would then be investigated not only to check his Code for glitches, but to determine whether or not he should keep his security clearance. Because of this, he would have to think of a really good con to avoid being checked out.

[Vallermoore]

Arfon

Those who were quietly watching, both humans and ponies, suddenly broke out in applause and yells of "You truly do understand our ways!" Of the seven rebel leaders, one of the sapient ponies and two of the humans seemed unlikely to want to duel for the Warlord position but one sapient pony with a skull cutie mark and three humans were not put off by this. They wanted to duel there and then, but didn't want to risk annoying the giant war robot with a shimmering multi-coloured paint job that was towering above them.

"You people and ponies were clearly once similar in many ways to Decepticons, until a combination of a weak Warlord clearly unfit to rule and..." here he wrinkled his nose as a sign of disgust "Galactipol, got in the way. To answer your question about what would happen when a Warlord dies of natural causes or becomes so old and ill that ruling is impossible, the leading members of the government who really wanted to rule would duel to the death, and the one who came out alive would be crowned as Warlord, if they have a crown or the equvilent. That is the Decepticon Way-rule of the Strongest bot. Ultimately, that is what Leader Megatron's power is based on. What matters is that your Warlords are strong and can tell any future Galactipol where to go instead of folding like paper." He knew saying that was not going to get him thrown into a smelting pit when he returned to Cybertron, because it was just a fact of Decepticon life, just like Decepticon Steel was hard, and no secret was made of it. "When things are ok again here, and the party is over, you should start raiding other countries or even if you have enough spacecraft for it, other planets, to replenish your treasury without excessive taxation of your people. Those of you who own shops and the like should reopen them. Does anyone have a lawbook for me to look at and see if any laws are indeed useful and do need to be kept?"

Soon enough somewhere was found that had not been a place where people were living, and Loyal Star cleaned the rubble, careful not to drop it on the spectators who were friends not foes. He drank and Energon Cube he had brought with him, but within a day or so, he would need to refine some more Energon so as not to starve and have to mind transfer, something that would be embarrassing to him.

Cybertron

SolarTempest was now convinced of Buzz's loyalty, and MasterBlaster's attempted abortion of Buzz's long term offspring project made his eyes dim and his engine run roughly for a little when he heard of it. "I think he has a glitch where he can't stand the idea of offspring becoming sapient! Once he realized that it's all but inevitable, he probably gained an urge to genocide all new builds! Good riddance to him! In any case, it's payback time now. We have the Fists on the run. Let's go back to the Manor for a bit..." When SolarTempest said that there was not enough time to figure out where Buzz should be in the gang, for the first time since it formed, there were several dissenting members, but he won them round by making clear it was only like this because of the war against the Fists and Buzz would certainly need to duel once things went back to normal, like any other bot who might join them in the future. Soon enough they were closing in on the Fists, and Buzz decided after the battle he would show them where three MasterBlaster Save Discs were that he knew about so they could be destroyed. He would destroy two himself and give one to SolarTempest to destroy. When the aerial battle started two Fists tried to block the way so the others had a chance of escaping with their trailer, even though they were hugely outnumbered.

Research Asteroid

The bot thought he had a clever con, as he found a room without cameras, destroyed a few bugs he found there, then hid a mind board in his leg with the thoughts on it that he didn't want Debugging to find. If he was caught out in this he would-at least-lose his job and his security clearance-and an unwanted swim in a smelting pit was quite likely.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Arfon

"We don't have crowns for leaders," the head of the rebellion explained. "Instead, the sitting Warlord gets the Sword of Leadership, a very fancy - but functional - sword. It traditionally is mounted on the wall behind the throne. The Warlord used to actually use it if someone attacked and managed to make it to the throne room, but in this day and age, he would use his pistol for personal combat outside of war. Speaking of that pistol, it usually goes to his named successor upon his death, but in the case of his overthrow, whoever kills him takes it."

Loyal Star noticed that there was a fancy pearl-handle sticking out of the man's hip holster. The holster itself was of fine leather, and both things were far more posh than the working-man's clothing the man wore. It was clear that he had been the one to kill the warlord and take his weapon and holster as his victory prize.

While the man didn't have the Sword of Leadership, it was very likely that someone else did - it would be irresistible war loot. A replica would need to be made if the ascension ceremony was to be done in the traditional way.

~~~~~~~~~

The shops that could reopen did, as did several new ones that had obtained their stock by looting the government's massive warehouses full of things that it had confiscated from people throughout the years. However, many remained closed, either because they'd been severely damaged during the war or because their owners - current or former - didn't have the money to buy merchandise. Making matters worse was the fact that many of the manufacturers that existed before the prior Warlord ascended were no longer in business thanks to that warlord's awful policies.

"There simply aren't enough goods available!" People complained to Loyal Star. "We need to go raiding again, like proper Arfonese, and relieve some suckers of their loot! But we don't have the weapons we need because that last warlord took them away and sold most of them to some other countries. The old military people still have theirs, and they're on our side, but we'll need them here if we do things that make other places want to take over. We need you to help us get properly armed!"

Loyal Star knew that this sort of thing would naturally fall into the purview of the new government. Since this government would be made of people who already had experience with arms smuggling due to the preparations for the war, it would be especially good at getting the rest of the people properly armed once more. That, however, would take time - and the people needed to restock the stores now. Loyal Star would need to do, or at least say, something before this was done in order to build goodwill and cement his own position in the society.

The one thing he could not do to improve this situation was order in guns from Cybertron. It was illegal for Decepticons to sell any Decepticon-made weapons to foreigners. Not even a human-scale slingshot made within the Empire was legally sold to a foreigner, lest the buyer end up trying to use it on some Decepticon later on. Many Decepticon syndicates would, if given the opportunity, go ahead and ignore that rule if the weapons in question were too weak to ever stand a chance - but as a Priest of Megatron, Loyal Star would have to obey this stricture.

~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, volunteers came together to fix the damaged Capital Building enough that the new government would have a place to meet. Since it was still a coalition, instead of a single person, it didn't make sense to put the seat of government in the palace. Fortunately, aside from the bashed-down doors and a lot of broken windows, it was mostly intact. Blood stains from the fighting had ruined the flooring forever, but it would be a simple matter to rip out the tile and carpet and replace it either with new versions of the same thing or to put down a hardwood overlay.

The biggest problem here was the fact that many untrained people were volunteering. In order to get decent results, skilled carpenters and other experts had to be found and then convinced to lead the restoration efforts.

The old warlord's palace had been burned to the ground, and its property was littered with scorched, toppled statues and broken granite statue bases. It would take a while to put even a house back there, let alone anything palatial. Even so, there would likely be a suitably-grand structure commissioned and built before the government switched back to having a single leader.

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

Research Asteroid

The bot would have easily gotten away unnoticed if he had been on Cybertron or one of the regular outworlds. DomIntel was used to people removing its bugs to gain some privacy, and unless the Supercomputer flagged the remover as suspicious, it usually wouldn't take any action other than to replace the lost equipment every so often. But this was not Cybertron - and it was not just a random area.

Instead, the bug removal had been done in a room a highly secure military research asteroid - so secure that it and its work were under the highest level of classification - and fully under the watch of Decepticon Military Intelligence.

The MilIntel Supercomputer set off loud alarms at the Main Base's MilIntel Operations Room the moment it detected a complete lack of transmission from its bugs in one of the areas in the asteroid's research center. Instantly, live agents were on it and reviewing footage of the area outside the affected room in order to see who had gone in there. The fact that there were no cameras in that room was also because it was a honeypot. MilIntel had taken the idea off of DomIntel, which made many busts by pretending to have left areas uncovered by surveillance - and then surveilling the hell out of all of the surrounding areas to see who hid in the "uncovered" zones. Then, if such people seemed suspicious, they were to be put under active investigation.

Career DomIntel agents were often bored, though, and missed much of the action taking place in its honeypot areas. Decepticons soon were able to find out just which areas were no longer being watched very well, and used these spots for all sorts of shady deals they didn't want anyone knowing details about. Alas...MilIntel was not DomIntel. Its agents were put on duty when they had enough training to be effective, and transferred out as soon as they got too bored to hold their edge. The military agency constantly ran surprise tests to make sure everyone was right on the ball, for - at least in its view - the true security of the Nation rested on its shoulders.

MilIntel indeed did not see what the researcher was doing in that room, but within 5 minutes, there was a new file chip on everyone's desks. Researcher HotWax's entire personal history, known beliefs, and known behavior patterns would soon be known to everyone in the part of MilIntel that was even authorized to know the asteroid existed. Educated speculation instantly commenced, and decisions were soon made.

The most important decision, from HotWax's perspective, would be the change in how the Debugging checks would be done. Instead of being tested by regular Debuggers from the Main Debugging Center, the checks would now be performed by an expert working directly for Military Intelligence. This would strip the researchers of the privacy protection that would have accompanied a standard check. It would also ensure that the debuggers had the legal ability to physically force the researchers to submit if necessary. Legally, the researchers gave up their right to refuse when they agreed to be part of a top-secret military project.

Of course, MilIntel did not know that the memories HotWax was hiding had been offloaded. They only knew that what he had done with their bugs was extremely suspicious given the fact that he was in an area that was meant to be ultra-secure - suspicious enough to escalate the response to the highest level. One of the first steps at this level was to yank the suspect in for a code-read.

While the data HotWax was worried about was hidden, the memory of doing the hiding was, at least currently, still in his mind. It was unknown whether he had mastered the art of knowing himself well enough for him to offload that information as well, and still be able to just figure out what he'd done and recover the data chips later on. It was also unknown whether he had sufficiently deleted the original data, or if it could be forcibly recovered by MilIntel using forensic techniques.

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

Cybertron

The two unhindered Fists were no match for the small horde of CBA bots, and they were quickly damaged to the point where they had to land or else come crashing down. The other Fists, now frantically bringing single arms out of plane mode to try to unhitch their trailer without losing their aerodynamic qualities, were nearly helpless against the initial onslaught of CBA blaster fire. It wasn't long before the trailer was detonated as a blast hit the Energon they had brought along, but this caused the cables attached to three of the Fists to snap - freeing them from the load. These Fists immediately returned fire on the CBA, aiming specifically for SolarTempest because they knew he was the leader.

Meanwhile, two more Fists were quickly dragged toward the ground by the now-very-unaerodynamic remnants of the exploded trailer, which was now also spilling scorched goods out of the top and sides. They fully transformed into robot mode at a dangerous height and frantically disconnected their cables, but would now have to pull off some expert maneuvers to avoid hitting the ground at full speed.

In the distance, an impressed DomIntel agent sat on a rooftop watching the show. He made quick mental notes of all of the bots' markings, recognizing the CBA's logo from his "up and coming syndicates" file. He noticed that they seemed to have another member now as well. "It won't be long," he thought to himself, "before those guys are significant contributors to the strength of Cybertron. I wonder what they'll expand into when they decide that oil isn't enough?" After thinking this, he simply watched the action.

[Vallermoore]

Arfon

"What you need are enough new weapons to be able to go out there and raid other countries which will distract most of the domestic raiders enough for your own damaged economy to get back on it's feet. I can't directly bring or sell to you weapons from Cybertron, as that breaks one of the few laws we have-and would be committing treason. And if I did that, it is very likely that Domintel would melt me down. But I think I will buy high grade forged money from the Decepticon Interplanetary Bank with some of my own Energon, then get some weapons-and a new Sword of Leadership, a sharp one, for you, and then we can get things going. After that I will get a formal Temple of Megatron set up and as soon as things are strong and stable, the coalition will end and those of you seven who want to be the Warlord will duel to the death. I have no objection to the bodies of the losers being either buried or cremated, depending on your traditions with disposing of the dead. I should be back within days, and with a month at most, you can get a new Warlord and I will just watch the duel or duels without interfering. Last of all, we must and will fully restore the old ways. By talking if possible, but by force, deadly force, if we have to. And new Acolytes can be appointed. I will be back as soon as possible. Fare you well. Oh, someone find a lawbook so when I get back we can keep the one or two useful laws-even Decepticons must follow a few laws on Cybertron, and formally and publically repeal all the rest."

He took off and soon went into FTL to Cybertron. Within hours he had purchased with the needed Energon from his own vaults the Credits belonging to a warlike nation named Brins on good terms for now with the Decepticons. Most unconquered nations refused to have anything to do with Decepticons, but a few traded at least a little, swapping oil, metals, slaves and the like for non-military tech, and computer games. He then purchased AK 47 type guns, swords, both in large quantities, huge numbers of bullets and a good looking and sharp sword to serve as the Sword of Leadership. To get all those things there, he went to the Cargo Zone, where the vast bots watched him somewhat suspiciously with long camera-eyes on stalks.Once he had paid for two up front and assured them that they would not be carrying anyone or anything biological, they were slightly more friendly. Cargo bots were infamous for being even less friendly then most Decepticons which was saying something. Once the deal was done and the weapons loaded up, he headed back to Arfon with the weapons and the good news. Soon enough, it's people would be raiding as in days of old.

Research Asteroid

The bot, who went by the name of HotWax, had not considered just where he was. A lot of the time, a more or less blind eye was turned to the destruction of Domintel bugs. If every single bot who interfered with them faced a treason charge, there would be daily executions instead of an average of two a year (plus a few killed resisting arrest) and the Decepticon Nation would not like that level of punishment. Milintel, Military Intelligence, took things more strictly, much more so when it was down in such a high security area. Soon enough he was grabbed by dark eyed Milintel bots with extra strong arms and yanked off for a security code read. Although he had tried to hide the thought, it was soon uncovered and with it, the hidden mind board in his leg that was taken out with the aid of a crowbar. When examined, it revealed a plan to weaponize the nanos against Decepticons so that he could enslave vast numbers of bots, use other nanos to eat bots until nothing was left, and, he hoped, take over as the new Leader. It was deemed serious enough to tell General Soundwave about, and he passed the news of such vile treason plots up to Leader Megatron. HotWax was very likely to meet a foundry bit very soon. If his plot had not been stopped it would have endanged the Decepticon Nation.

Cybertron

Unknown even to Domintel as they did their planning far from Cybertron, a group of sapient ponies (who didn't know about Save Discs) were planning to explode a bomb complete with jamming activated in a Raid Games Centre for the very young bots aged one to two years. The planet they came from was one of the few Ponyist planets left in the universe, and they worshipped in a very militant and twisted way.

******

Buzz blasted at one of the transformed Fists to make a small crack in his armour, then grabbed him from behind and started vibrating hard enough to shake the Fist's body apart. If the Fist did not break free quickly he would start taking major damage.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Arfon

Upon his return, Loyal Star realized to his dismay that there was no obvious place for the cargo-bots to land. Due to their massive weight and size, they couldn't just plop down anywhere like Decepticons 1/10 their size. Instead, they needed long, solid airstrips so they could land in shuttle mode.

Only after much flying around and circling did they locate a military base in the country that still had a long, intact airstrip. Then, they had to wait for the soldiers to move their planes before the cargo-bots could come in. This, needless to say, fouled the mood of the cargo-bots. Their moods got even worse when they saw humans and ponies coming to unload them. Loyal Star ended up having to do all of the unloading himself because the cargo-bots refused to have "a bunch of horrible little ants crawling around" in their holds.

Finally, all of the cargo was unloaded and the bots flew away grumpily. "Next time be sure all of this stuff is taken care of in advance!" One yelled down just before he fired his massive jets.

While those on the ground were taken aback by the testy tone the cargo-bots' Binary was spoken in, they couldn't help but admire the way they took off as though they were far lighter than they looked. Like all Decepticons, cargo-bots had flying as a natural ability, and it showed. Around them, a contingent of fighters flew just as effortlessly. They hadn't landed, and easily parted when their charges came up to rejoin them. Soon enough, the mini airshow was over, and it was time to pass out the weapons.

The AK-style guns were grabbed up with ease, but few were interested in swords. "Those were made obsolete a hundred years ago," the Arfonese explained. "Now, we only keep the Sword of Leadership, and that's for ceremonial purposes. If someone manages to get too close to just drill him -" he held up the AK he'd just gotten - "We use a set of these." He took a set of brass knuckles out of his pocket. These weren't just the usual metal knuckle covers. Instead, they had been modified to have sharpened spikes that stuck out about two inches from each knuckle. "But we have plenty of those. The guns are what we really needed. Force projection is essential in modern raiding, even for biologicals."

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

Megatron Mansion

Leader Megatron was aghast when he received the report on HotWax. He wasn't all that surprised about someone wanting to take over; that was just part of the job for a dictator. What shocked him was HotWax's idea of turning the entire Decepticon Race into a bunch of drones! "What would even be the point of that," he mused with frustration. "If he's satisfied with people who have to have their every move directed, he could go to some barren planet and just build himself a bunch of mindless constructs! Yet he was going to attack us instead! Agh!"

While he thought plenty to himself in private, his official response was much more succinct:

"Melt him down. Slowly."

~~~~~~~~~~~

As a member of a highly-classified military project, HotWax was safe from the public humiliation most of his ilk would suffer. This was ONLY because divulging the details of his crime would compromise the secrecy of the project.

Other than that, he would find no mercy at the hands of Military Enforcement. First, an Enforcer activated a device that produced a small but powerful jamming field. If HotWax tried to mind-transfer away, he would now just dissipate into nothing. Then, he was blasted in the joints, bound for good measure, and a jammer was attached directly to his body. After this, he was thrown roughly into the hold of a military cargo-bot.

Then, he was taken to the Main Military Base on Cybertron. There, mechanics soldered his pain-detection circuit on so that he could not turn off the sensations from his impending meltdown. They also torched their way into his neck and ripped out his voice chip with painful brute force so that he could not spill any secrets before the molten metal claimed him.

Finally, he was taken to one of the base's smelting pits. The small foundry facility had been blocked off so no one without the right security clearance could get in, let alone know who was about to leave the realm of the living the hard way or why this was happening.

Inside, HotWax saw that the pit was almost empty. This indicated that his executioners considered his would-be crime so heinous that his Metal would not be returned to the Stream, but instead, chucked on some asteroid or otherwise permanently disposed of. He didn't have much time to think about it, for they immediately hooked him up to a suspension chain. The chain was then lowered, ever so slowly, toward the already-existing molten material in the bottom of the pit. Just as his feet were about to make contact, he realized that the molten material that was keeping the pit from cracking wasn't even metal. It was literal slag. This very clearly showed that they didn't even think he was worth spending any actual metal on.

"Nothing of value will be lost." An executioner stated flatly when he saw HotWax appraising the material he was about to become part of.

Two days later, HotWax's mind-boards finally got close enough to the heat to shut down.

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

Megatron Metals Mine #1

HotWax was shocked to find that his deactivation did not lead to either oblivion or the Realm of Punishment. Instead, he saw through barely-working eyes that he was in a mine. As a swirl of confusion left him, he felt a new pain all through his body, but one that was far different from anything he had experienced before. He also realized that his body was moving, somewhat jerkily, toward an unknown destination. HotWax tried to stop the motion, only to realize he had no control over his form. Then, he realized it wasn't really his form at all. It was a biological body - and worse yet, a rotten one!

For the next 500 years, he would reside in a zombified body and carry out the labor assigned to such creatures in Mine #1. When one body rotted beyond redemption, he would be automatically and forcibly mind-transferred to a newer one. Each time, Megatron's voice would ring in his mind: "You like the idea of totally controlled Decepticons, so enjoy being a zombie slave!"

Once the 500 years were over, he would not be sent to a better place. Instead, he would be sent to a new, but equally-awful, scenario. This was simply so he would feel the torture with full freshness. Megatron had nothing but hatred for this traitor, and it was unlikely that he would be allowed any degree of relief after the traditional 1,000 years. While eternal punishment was still unlikely, HotWax would definitely suffer longer than the average traitor. He, unlike others who had been executed after Megatron's deification, had wanted to effectively reduce the entire Decepticon Race to mere equipment, unable to decide even how to move - and taking the people to a level below even what they endured before the Revolutionary War against Cybertron's original owners. HotWax would pay most dearly for this desire, and he would pay for a very long time.

Meanwhile, on Cybertron, the combination metal/slag ingot left from HotWax's original remains was crudely formed into a crumbly ball. It was then loaded onto a one-way nonsapient rocket and fired into the sun.

Elsewhere, MilIntel was moving with great speed. Soon, it had found and destroyed every one of HotWax's saves, ensuring that he could not be rescued from Megatron's punishment by any outsiders. After that, it deactivated all of HotWax's spares. These were quietly recycled at nearby foundries - the rejection of the Metal of the body he had been in at the time of his execution satisfied the cultural and psychological requirement to fully eject him from Decepticonhood, and the government did not see the need to waste the metal from the other ones.

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

Foreign Intelligence did have spies on the planet where the ponies were making their plans, but since that planet wasn't known to have the intent to outright attack Cybertron, the agency hadn't outright infested it with agents. Instead, it kept taps on the phones of key government officials, media leaders, and other such people. Therefore, it missed the would-be terrorist cell's plans and intentions.

Despite this oversight, the malevolent ponies would have a VERY hard time even staying alive on Cybertron, much less getting into a Raid Games center. They were, after all, biologicals - and ones of a species generally thought to be fairly wimpy. This would make them massive targets the moment they stepped hoof on the Metal Planet. There was also the more basic difficulty of staying alive in the low-oxygen, high carbon monoxide, water-free environment.

~~~~~~~~~~

Buzz began to do damage to the transformed, falling Fist almost immediately, but both now had to contend with that "falling" part. With Buzz attached to him, the Fist couldn't transform back into plane mode to avoid a crash, but unless Buzz let go, he too would soon be bashing into the street at high velocity.

[Vallermoore]

Arfon

The cargo bots were as grumpy as even, and with raised cannons made it VERY clear that there was no way they would let humans and ponies, even ones that were Decepticons-in-Spirit crawl around inside them. Loyal Star had to do all the heavy work of unloading but he didn't mind. As a Priest he was used to that sort of thing and it was just part of serving his God. The Arfonese rather disdained the swords, although a few liked them-for close combat it turned out they had very useful spiked knuckledusters. But they were very happy to get the guns which were just what they needed. After a short but warlike sermon, urging them on for both their own glory and the glory of Megatron, Loyal Star helped them in their first raid to make sure it was a success. Afterwards they had the strength and confidence again to raid well without his help for money, slaves, ore and consumer goods as well as weapons. Partly through slave labour, partly through the Arfonese themselves, and with a bit of help from Loyal Star, the damaged buildings were repaired, the economy recovered, the shops reopened, and general happiness was restored.

Once a week on Wedsneday nights Loyal Star made sermons telling the Arfonese about Megatronism and trying to win converts. Soon enough he started to get some, and one, a sapient pony who had been a priest of a certain warlike kind of Ponyism before encountering Megatronism, ended up studying to become an Acolyte, the first possible step on the road to the Decepticon Priesthood. Loyal Star found out that the kind of Ponyism that before the conquest of Equestria had been common amongst Arfonese ponies was a very militant kind. There were those who having worshipped other gods or goddesses in the past were worried that they would automatically be regarded as traitors if they became Megatronists because of their past religions. "It's not like that at all. If it was, Megatronism could never spread beyond the Decepticon Nation. What happened beforehand is not cared about, but those who leave Megatronism after they have joined it will face the horrors of the Realm of Punishment."

Things were getting very close to when the duels, between three humans and one of the ponies, would take place for the Warlord position. An arena was made ready, and they made their final preparations for victory or death.

**********
HotWax may have been spared public humiliation but he would have plenty of time to suffer for having attempted to endanger the entire Decepticon Nation as a hacker, the most despised kind of bot there was.
********
Cybertron

Buzz had to let go just before they hit the ground, and the injured Fist was able to transform just in time to avoid losing a body.

Little Equestria

The planet of Little Equestria was a rather nasty theocracy with a very warped and warlike version of Ponyism that was rather like the nastier forms of Islam that had existed before the takeover of Decepticon Earth, and it was ruled by a council of clerics. It was not these who were planning to attack Cybertron, but a small terrorist cell that was below the level of Forintel. The malevolent ponies faced several problems. Whilst one was wealthy enough to afford the ship needed to get there, there were two major problems. First, the Decepticons had a specially poor opinion of ponies made much worse because of Equestria's stupid attack as well as the mere fact that they were biologicals. Second, was the fact that Cybertron just by itself was very unfriendly to biological life, waterless and with air that was unbreathable. Third, despite the lack of most weapon controls on their planet, getting an explosive big enough to destroy Decepticon bodies was a problem. One of them owned a quarry, but their plan would take a while to have even a hope of success.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Arfon

During the months of reconstruction, the serious contenders had been doing plenty of practicing. They had also started to make their positions known and had each gained a decent core of political followers.

These contenders made their intention to duel known to Loyal Star:

Jack Doweling, who believed that the nation should take over all of the other countries on the planet before getting too serious about space

"Blitzmark" Mark Jannenus, who thought it would be better to focus entirely on space so as to avoid enemies on the country's terrestrial borders

MissingApples, a pony with a cutie mark of a sticky hand, who thought it was best to raid everything, but in a sneaky manner that left the targets unsure of who to blast

and Grizzly Bronson, a rough-and-tough pirate leader who had been in prison for beating a fairly strong man to death over said man's encroachment into his gang's territory, and who had been busted out of that prison along with other inmates during the revolution. He didn't espouse a clear plan on what to raid, but instead, was focused on restoring the overall glory of the nation and ensuring that no one would be able to stop its people from living they way they wanted to (which is to say, as pirates) ever again.

For the terms of dueling, however, position statements did no more than help get fans into the stands at the arena to cheer on their favorites. Instead, physical prowess, battle skills, the willingness to kill one's opponent, and personal bravery would determine who would rule.

In this regard, Doweling seemed to be the weakest, with a runner's body, but he would likely be able to dodge many incoming attacks. Blitzmark was decently strong, but this was unlikely to be where his power would lie. It was obvious that underneath his outfit, he was packing many technological wonders. Bronson was a brute-force fighter, built up from many steroids, but unlikely to be able to dodge. He would have to either shoot faster than the other guy as well as be strong enough to endure damage. MissingApples looked quite unassuming, and even cute, but always wore an expression of being up to something. It was clear that his opponents would have be very watchful for dirty tricks, which he would use without qualm or restraint.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Cybertron

The Fist thought he had succeeded when Buzz released him and he was able to avoid crashing. Now, he thought, he could fly up behind Buzz and give him what-for with both blasters! However, as he made the turn to start the dogfight, he felt a horrendous rip along the weld lines where his wings were attached to his body. Almost immediately after, the weld lines on his right wing failed, and the wind velocity around him caused that wing to disassemble into two big panels with a horrible tearing sensation. The pain, however, was not what the Fist was concerned about. He was now about as anti-aerodynamic as possible, and within a minute, his earlier success at staying aloft was reversed. He now careened to the ground with the horrible noise of roaring air all around him. In desperation, he transformed back to robot mode and fired his foot jets to attempt to cushion his landing, but it was too late. His velocity ensured that he crashed hard enough to send parts flying into the fronts of the nearby buildings.

"Obviously he was too 'buzzed' to keep himself together!" Buzz taunted over the radio. "Anyone else like a demo?"

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

Little Equestria

"Maybe we could use our spaceship as the bomb," one of the would-be terrorist suggested.

"I don't know..." another said hesitantly. "Decepticons are supposed to be made out of steel, and I've heard that jet fuel can't melt steel beams."

"Where did you hear that nonsense?!" The others laughed. "It does just fine as long as you can get the air currents to heat up the fire enough. But that's not what's important anyway. They're computers. If we can heat up their mind-boards enough to melt their components, we won't have to deal with the bodies. They'll be corpses."

After a pause, one said, "In that case, we really don't have to worry about getting a big boom, per se. An incendiary bomb that gets fire through their vents would take out plenty of them. We'd only need a regular bomb to provide some scary flash for the ones outside to look at."

Discussions would continue in this vein for quite some time, as they considered the massive logistical issues involved in getting such a thing to Cybertron and in avoiding getting killed or captured before they could even do anything.

[Vallermoore]

Arfon

As well as doing a lot of private practise, the four publically stated what they wanted to do as Warlord if they were still alive at the end of the deadly duel, a little like politicians in democratic countries would set out their manifestos. Jack Dowling was all for building up a huge military and taking over the whole planet and favoured universal conscription. Mark Jannenus was all for raiding other planets instead. Loyal Star gave him a helpful map so he wouldn't end up raiding the Decepticon Empire by mistake, leading to the conquest of Arfon far too soon and assured him that it was in fact genuine. Grizzly Bronson wanted the nation to regain it's glory as well as raiding. A sapient pony, a unicorn named MissingApples whose magic was as good as hands for picking things up, with an unusual human hand cutie mark on his flank, wanted to raid covertly. Loyal Star laid an equal blessing on the four, which although it wouldn't get them into the Realm of Pleasure, would at least make it unlikely that they would end up in the Realm of Punishment if they lost the duel and bolstered their morale. Since the invention on the planet of modern guns, duels were by pistol although it was common to have a spiked knuckleduster as well, just in case it was needed. Before the invention of guns, swords had been used. Loyal Star was too big to fit into the arena but was able to tower over it and look in that way, and the human arena owner, tough as he was, was not about to argue with a massive war robot about being paid. It was decided by drawing straws that Jack Dowling would duel Grizzly Bronson and Blitzmark would duel MissingApples, and the winners would then take each other on.

The day before the duels they arranged their funerals, said goodbye to relatives and had one last talk as friends with each other. Beforehand they had helped each other in the revolution, but they all knew only one could be the Warlord-long term coalition government would not work.

**********
Cybertron

The Fist who crashed was still alive but barely, and mind transferred away to a spare. Another Fist came at Buzz in plane mode blasting away. The members of the Association were pleased to see Buzz was far from weak-although he would still need to prove himself in the traditional way later.

Little Equestria

The pony terrorists, having come up with a way to deactivate Decepticons, carried on planning, without taking a couple of things into account. First, they were trying to kill small children, something which most terrorist groups avoided as it made them look bad. Second was how the Decepticons would react to biologicals who set bombs off on Cybertron. Cybertron was a very violent place, and under certain circumstances biologicals could fight Decepticons there without the Government interfering. When it had a political motive that made it terrorism and that, even more so if it targeted new build's- was likely to get a very public response from the Decepticon Military and indeed Megatron as a warning to anyone else who thought they could terrorize giant war robots and attack their special core world. Eventually they came up with a way to do the bombing and at least try to survive in a small craft that could serve as an escape pod and get back home. They had to decide if they would go through Decepticon Customs or not. Whilst very few things could be considered contraband as such on Cybertron, the discovery of a bomb of the kind they were planning might well not go down well to say the least. If they sneaked in and were discovered, the border guards and indeed the civilians might take that as an act of war. Eventually they decided to get the craft to a Raid Games centre though advanced teleportation magic.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Arfon

Media representatives had set up in a small ringside section dedicated to them and were broadcasting as MissingApples came out to fight. Boos filled the stadium immediately. This pony was seen as a complete wimp for his platform of wanting to only do sneak raiding. While the usefulness of that tactic was not entirely discounted, it was seen as something done mostly to avoid combat with superior foes. Because of this, advocating it as a national policy sent the message that he thought the nation as a whole was an inferior force, while most of the people figured that they could take on anything weaker than Galactipol had been and win.

When Blitzmark came out, the arena became quieter, though his clear fans cheered loudly. He had been responsible for destroying the government's communications systems during the war, and had also been able to mess with its weapons systems in interesting ways. On top of that, he had a good handle on where the centers of military power and government loyalty were, and had guided many attacks on them. In the process, he had gained a reputation for being able to figure out - and figure out how to destroy - advanced technological items.

Upon being given the "go" command by Loyal Star, the two started their duel with pistols. Both guns were fired at almost the same time, and for an instant, the spectators thought that both duelists would fall dead in the next moment. This, however, is not what happened at all. A loud CLANG emanated from Blitzmark's chest as his body armor deflected the shot, while on MissingApple's side, the bullet just disappeared entirely - stolen right out of the air and placed into his saddlebag through the use of mild teleportation magic. De-energization magic simultaneously robbed the shell of its kinetic energy, and it came to rest in his bag without incident. Loyal Star smiled, enjoying the very Decepticon-like way they both defeated the common weapons with seeming ease.

Of course, like duels on Cybertron, the defeat of the initial shots did not mean the duel was a draw. It simply meant that the combatants would need to try something else. MissingApple decided to go for a headshot next since Blitzmark didn't seem to have anything on his head. Blitzmark, on the other hand, had reached into his shirt and pulled out a new device.

MissingApple's bullet reached Blitzmark before he could do anything with his device since MissingApple only had to re-aim in order to get the shot off. A bright yellowish flash went off around Blitzmark's head, blocking the view for a couple of feet around it. As this happened, a loud bug-zapper noise was heard all the way to the midway point in the stands. When the light went away, Blitzmark was fine - apparently, he had some sort of destructive force field to vaporize projectiles that otherwise would have hit his head.

Blitzmark now had his new weapon ready, and while MissingApple was still temporarily blinded by the afterimage of the flash, he pushed its button. Electricity jumped from it over to MissingApple, and in moments, the pony was twitching on the ground. It seemed likely that the pony was dead, but just to be sure, Blitzmark then drew his gun and fired another shot. The pony's body jumped a bit more, and then came to rest limply.

To a combination of cheers and gasps, Blitzmark took a deep bow in multiple directions and then strode out of the arena, victorious. A slight intermission was called so that arena personnel could collect MissingApple's body.

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

In the backstage area, Blitzmark began to trash-talk the other two possible opponents, telling them that they'd both better have planned their funerals because he was going to win. In the process, he made it known that he had not planned any funeral for himself because he was sure of his upcoming victory. This aggravated the other opponents and almost led to an unofficial duel between him and Grizzly right on the spot, but arena personnel stepped in and managed to calm them down a bit.

Off to the side, a few workers began to make bets. Many of them put their money on Blitzmark because he was the only one confident enough to think that he wouldn't need a funeral. "Planning a funeral is planning for your own defeat," one said, "and I trust these losers' self-assessments." A few, however, put their money on one of the other remaining challengers, thinking that Blitzmark was just cocky. Similar activity went on in the stands, with employees of newly-opened bookmakers milling among the seats and taking bets.

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

Cybertron

Buzz quickly transformed as he activated full cloaking and disappeared from his challenger's radar and vision. Before the Fist could get his heat detection going to try to "see" Buzz that way, he found himself being blasted from behind by the now-invisible scout. Then, as he swiveled his blasters to face backwards and return fire, Buzz stopped shooting so there would be nothing to get a bead on. A few seconds later, the Fist felt someone land on him in robot mode like a daredevil. To his horror, he then got an alert from his system that jamming was active. That's when awful vibrations began to tear through his body.

The jamming was very low range, extending only far enough to affect the one Fist that Buzz was now attacking, but it was very powerful. When the connections between the Fist's chips and his mind-board substrate began to let go, his attempt to mind-transfer away under amplified radio power was futile. His body careened out of control and plummeted toward the ground as his mind dissipated into nothing amongst Buzz's strong jamming transmissions.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Little Equestria

Teleporting their ship and bombs into a Raid Games center wasn't a bad idea, though it risked them being detected by the Bureau of Paranormal Research, the Military's Paranormal Battalion, General Carjack, random paranormally-sensitive people, or some combination of the four. This, however, wasn't the immediate problem. In order to even try this, they would have to find out the exact location of a Raid Games center to begin with. Somehow, they didn't think that warping to a random place on Cybertron and then asking around would bring them favorable results...

[Vallermoore]

Cybertron

The terrorist ponies knew that if the Queen's Guard found out what they were planning they would at once be arrested and cast into prison or worse. Although the version of Ponyism on this world was much more warlike and the ponies had no liking at all for Decepticons, they also wanted to stay alive and unenslaved, and knew that even a small scale strike at Cybertron would have catastrophic consequences for every pony on their planet. They spoke to the only pony that they knew had been to Cybertron, pretending to just be very interested in Cybertronian culture. The pony that they talked to , Brave One, had a cutie mark that indicated getting into danger. "I have surfed huge waves, hung out with the Iron Hooves and played cards with them, was fined five hundred bits for being caught for BASE jumping in one of our national parks, but Cybertron is more even dangerous then that. One misstep and being blasted or captured and enslaved is quite likely. Only one hotel, the Excelsior, is not a trap." He was referring to the hotel set up to catch Auric Harroldsson that became so popular with tourists that it made more money as a hotel then as a trap. It was now in the hands of the ICC who once a month collected Energon for it and used average Decepticons who did not hate biologicals to run it.

They went to their craft, checked that the blasters on it worked and that the bomb was ready, and that their escape shuttle would work, and then cloaked and teleported within three miles of their target, as close as they could get as asking exactly where the Raid Games centre was could attract the wrong kind of questions from Brave One. General Carjack was in his office playing a shooting game on a non sapient computer when an alarm went off in his mind boards. Biological beings had teleported just five miles from his office and they were as malevolent as demons. He didn't know exactly what their intentions were yet-he would have to actively concentrate on that which could cost time, but he knew they meant great harm. On the other side of the military base some scientists at the Paranormal unit also detected the same sort of thing, but again didn't know their target.

The ponies carefully went along the street unaware that angry military bots and General Carjack the Genocider were converging on their initial location, and found what they were looking for-a Raid Games centre. Inside, happy young bots played paintball games, chatted in little groups with each other, and played other games general only played by bots who were one to two years of age in Decepticon years. There was a crèche for bots even younger who had only just stopped taking random things apart. Here, real blasters were banned, to prevent small children accidentally killing each other, and only the staff were armed. No bot attacked a Raid Games Centre because it would be pointless to kill the new builts inside as well as the revenge their Coders would take if they found out the identity of the culprits. The ponies landed their craft, activated the bomb, designed to fry computers, activated the jammer, which did attract attention, got into the shuttle and flew outside only to be caught firmly in one of General Carjack's hands. Seconds later the bomb exploded, outright killing nine child bots including two in the crèche, and injuring five more. At once the staff started radioing the Coders about what had happened. If it were not for Save Discs, nine Coders would have had their young children killed. In human or pony terms, it would mean small children or foals without their cutie mark being killed. Even on Cybertron, this sort of thing didn't generally happen.

General Carjack snapped the blasters from the craft and broke it's engine but for now left the inhabitants alive, looking in to see who it was. He radioed Leader Megatron. "Some sapient ponies set off a jammer and a bomb inside a Raid Games Centre for new builds. I could have killed them at once but then we would not know who else was involved. If we didn't have Save Discs they would have killed very young Decepticons, too young even to raid yet."

On another part of Cybertron, SolarTempest, Buzz and the rest of the Cybertronian Business Association were very close to wiping out the surviving Fists outright. Destroying them would sent a very strong message to other smaller raid gangs not to mess with them, and to the bigger gangs that they could hold their own and were capable fighters, not to be attacked without a good reason.

Arfon

From his place outside the arena, Loyal Star zeroed in with his telescopic optics on the ponies in the crowd, who had distinctly violent or theft related cutie marks with not a big mouth mark to be seen. Boos and jeers greeted MissingApples , who held a gun in his magic. This was not because he was a pony-many of the ponies were booing too and there were almost as many ponies as humans, but because his policy plans were greatly disliked. If he had been in an election, he would not have got many votes. His opponent, Blitzmark, held a pistol in his hand. Loyal Star spoke. "On the count of three, open fire until one is dead. One, two, three!" Both pistols roared, but Blitzmark had a bulletproof vest on whilst MissingApples used pony magic to decelerate and then steal and place in a saddlebag the bullet fired at him. Another shot roared out but hit a forcefield, temporarily blinding MissingApples with the flash, and Blitzmark used an electroshock weapon and then his pistol to fry and shoot MissingApples. The body was carried away and would later be buried by Loyal Star who did a short prayer over the grave. His soul would end up in one of the better areas of the Neutral Zone as he had been successful up until his death and had never informed on anybody. As MasterBlaster now knew, the better areas of the Neutral Zone were-sort of-heavenly.

After the body had been cleared away, and Blitzmark had gone to rest-for now-and hammer out any dents in his armour, Grizzly Bronson and his seemingly weak foe came out. Loyal Star sensed that if Bronson got really overconfident, it might be him who ended up in the Neutral Zone.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Cybertron

Carjack glared into the tiny spacecraft, his scowl and angry mouth conveying what eye panels did not. Then, without a word, he began to march - craft in hand - toward the Foreign Intelligence office. There was plenty that he wanted to say, but he remained silent so that the captives wouldn't realize that they were about to be code-read. He figured that if he gave that information out, the captives might decide to commit suicide rather than have the data be known. Carjack also knew that biologicals tended to stew or freak out if they didn't know what was about to become of them, and he enjoyed turning the "terror" back on those who intended to spread it.

As he left the area of the Raid Games arena, the would-be terrorist captives realized that the rumors they'd heard were actually true: The Decepticons were not remotely terrorized by their deed. Instead, they looked aggravated if anything, and by the tones of the voices they heard, they were being cussed out. There hadn't been a single scream even as the bomb went off and flames entered the vents of their targets. Instead, one of the kids had splatted their ship with a paintball before he deactivated, and it was very clear that this child had intended to shoot them with full-on blaster fire instead.

The wannabe-terrorists (thought of as wannabes because the Decepticons weren't scared at all) tried to teleport away similar to how they came in, were dismayed to find a psychic jamming field preventing it from working. If they had been observant, they would have noticed Carjack's fans had sped up as his system produced the needed mental energy. Alas, they were too busy worrying about the fact that they were truly caught to notice details like that.

~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Foreign Intelligence office, agents were already waiting for Carjack's delivery. They beckoned him into the back, and soon, the craft was being forcibly held down to a massive work table. An agent came along with a powerful torch, and in one deft motion, cut the roof off of the pod.

"All you managed to do was piss a bunch of people off," the agent sneered down at the violent little ponies. Just as he finished saying this, another agent came along with a clear container that had a set of compartments already set up. This was banged down on the table with a scary amount of force.

Soon, the agents had plucked the captives out of their pod, relieved them of any weapons, and dropped them into the compartments in a one-per-unit fashion. After that was done, a lid was placed on it to prevent escape. General Carjack, still present, continued to block magical escape attempts. Before long, he ordered that a soul gem be brought to him so he could enchant the makeshift jail with a self-sustaining blocker and stop using his own energy for that.

~~~~~~~~~

After the prisoners were completely secured and magic-blocked by the enchantment, a Domestic Intelligence agent arrived with an ominous package. Soon, the captives saw what was inside: Several sets of mind-boards and a portable mind-transfer device.

"Now let's see which planet we're going to destroy," the DomIntel agent said with an ominously-evil grin. Of course, he didn't have the authority to order a bare-sand raid, but the captives didn't need to know that. He plucked one out, strapped him into a tight pony-shaped cage, and began the operation to remove the captive's skull so he could insert the pickup leads into his brain. Pony screams soon filled the room, and Carjack notably smiled at this. The other failed "terrorists" soon were the ones feeling the terror.

Through all of this, nobody bothered to ask the attackers even one question. Questioning such hostile beings was considered useless. The information would all be gleaned through code-reads instead. To the attackers' dismay, the agents seemed almost happy to do this. The agents actually were happy, too - biologicals could not encrypt, delete, or disguise their data like Decepticons could, so the process of gaining the data would be much simpler.

Of course, once the data was gained from each captive, the mind-boards they had been transferred to would be melted down, resulting in the captives' executions. A fairly large, but still portable, smelting cauldron was set up to take the board sets as they were done with them.

In the sky, Leader Megatron was already in flight. He would arrive just in time to see the code of the first captive - and sneer at the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere

After just a bit more dogfighting, the main part of the gang war was over. The last Fist's body fell to the ground, where scroungers were now waiting to grab the scraps.

This, however, wasn't the true end of the war. Immediately, the CBA bots split up to take care of the mopping-up operation, which involved finding and deactivating the Fists' last few spares and saves. Only when these were destroyed could total victory be declared. If any Fists survived, there would be the possibility of that one (or ones) gaining new gang members and then coming back to seek revenge. No CBA members wanted to deal with that potential hassle.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Arfon

Grizzly Bronson charged out into the arena with a bull-like aggressive stance, while Jack Doweling came out rather slowly and wimpily. It seemed that Bronson would surely win, and many bets were in his favor. The bookies, however, gave Doweling a slight advantage.

Soon, Loyal Star gave the count and the guns came out. In just an instant, the duel was over. Doweling gave a slight nod in the direction of his opponent, and after confirmation of his victory, headed back out. In the middle of the arena oval, Bronson oozed blood from two shots: One to his chest and one to his head. Bronson had plenty of muscles, but alas, bulk was neither intimidating to bullets nor good for speed. His bent right arm hinted that he had only gotten his pistol to half-ready before Doweling secured the victory.

[Vallermoore]

Cybertron

The ponies realized too late that they were being cursed out in Binary. They could not understand the words, but from the hostile tone, they were anything but PG 13. Instead of being in any way terrified by their bomb, like their fellow ponies had been when they recently bombed a Sapphire Shores concert, killing several foals, the Decepticons who had seen the bomb attack were angry, scowling, their engines running roughly. When the bomb had gone off, one of the children had seen through their cloaking and blasted them with a paintball gun. Had they been almost anywhere else they would already be dead. They tried to teleport out of their, but their magic was blocked. They were marched off to Forintel, who had been told in advance and were looking forward to finding out where they came from. If their country supported the attack, it would soon be added to the Decepticon Empire. Even if it didn't, it would be in at least some sort of trouble for not stopping the terrorist cell, although in that case it might be able to buy the Decepticons off like Vallermoore had done. After the ship was cut open and the ponies were trapped, an agent said in perfect Equine "All you managed to do was piss a bunch of people off." By now the ponies were terrified, their tails between their legs. One by one they would go through the agony of code reads and would soon be trapped in mind boards with nothing connected to them, able to feel and hear but nothing else. Before that, Megatron himself showed up. One of the ponies begged for mercy but to no avail. Rarely, Megatron had showed mercy which was why a certain forger bot was not a memorial ingot by now, but there would be none here for these scum. Soon enough they would be cooked alive.

Afterlife

The normal destination for a non traitorous dead Decepticon was the Neutral Zone, but these little kids had been killed in a place where blasters were banned for no apparent reason and could not fight back, so until they were brought back through Save Discs they were allowed to be in the Realm of Pleasure.

As for their killers, there would be places in the Realm of Punishment for them for at least the next thousand years.

Elsewhere

Only three of the Fists were still alive and they were considering abandoning Cybertron with just what they could fit into their panels.

Arfon

The second duel was quickly over and Bronson lay dead in the arena. The final duel for the Warlord position would be between Blitzmark and Jack Doweling after a short time for final preparations. Soon enough all was ready. A replica Sword of Leadership was brought out to be handed to the victor at his de facto coronation.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Foreign Intelligence Office
When Megatron arrived, the first captive was already being transferred to boards and his Code was scrolling up a screen in real-time. The Leader wedged his way between the agents who were reading it so he could see what it said as well.

"So," he shouted to the others over the sound of the first pony's screaming, "It appears that the universe will be getting another barren ball soon: One that, for now, is called Little Equestria!" Megatron was smugly confident.

Not long after, however, the Code reached the part where it showed all of the precautions they had taken to evade detection by Little Equestria's own law enforcement. It also gave away that the group didn't think that the government of their planet would be happy with their actions. Megatron's face fell. Now, instead of being able to simply put a high bounty on everything on the planet and let the population raid it to the bare sand - no military needed - he would have to send spies to see if the place was deserving of total destruction, invasion, or at the least, the precision assassination of further would-be terrorists. He scowled with aggravation at this.

Eventually, the screaming from the transferee stopped. His Code was still in the process of transfer, but the part that had the instructions for making noise was now in the board set, inactive.

"Ahh," Megatron said. "You biologicals and your ridiculously loud error noises! What's the point of that, anyway?! All it does is let all of your enemies know where you are. Not that it matters here, but if you were in the wilds, you'd draw a bunch of animals to you with that racket. Evolution really isn't worth a damn at coding. It should have selected for a noise that only your own species could hear, or at least, was very quiet in comparison to that. Sort of like..."

Megatron took the board set, which now contained all of the captive's Code, and tossed it into the smelting cauldron. One of the boards emitted a relatively quiet error beep as it overheated. "...that." He finished.

The other ponies, who had thought themselves terrorists not that long ago, now knew the meaning of true terror. Not only did they see their first comrade killed before their eyes, they saw the pain on his face and heard it in his screams before the transfer process was complete. His body now sagged in its restraint cage, dead, with its agonized expression still on its face.

This was only part of the reason for their terror. Megatron's complete nonchalance about throwing the now-occupied boards into the smelting cauldron, seemingly just to show them what he thought error noise should sound like, is what put the final icing on the effect. From what they could tell, he couldn't care less about biological pain or fear and instead ran almost purely on stone cold logic. The only emotion they could detect from him was a smug certainty of his absolute superiority over them.

One of the rest began to beg for mercy with far more urgency than before, but Megatron dismissed his pleas with a wave. "You all attacked Cybertron, taking the position of 'warrior' upon yourselves in the process. The least you could do now is show the bravery associated with that position." He chided them. The rest tried to look stronger and more noble for now, but the act wouldn't last long.

Megatron picked the next one at random with one hand, and with the other, opened up the restraint cage and flicked the dead body within to the side. He then got the living one in position and locked the cage closed.

Soon enough, the process of transferring the next one began, and involuntary screaming filled the air once more. Megatron turned down his audio sensitivity, not wanting to listen to the racket.

~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere on Cybertron

It wasn't long before the Cybertronian Business Association caught up with one of the three remaining Fists. He simply had the bad luck of having his only remaining spare close to where the battle took place, and they nearly bumped into him as he walked out of the small warehouse he had hidden it in. With a few blasts, they deactivated his final body. Since the war with the Fists was pretty much over now, a couple of CBA bots went ahead and grabbed the deactivated carcass by the arms and started dragging it along. Its destination was whichever foundry they came to first - the 3,000 Cubes its Metal was worth would be a nice tip for them.

The last two Fists reactivated further away and at random places, and they independently decided that it would be best to make themselves very scarce. One decided that it would be a good idea to take an extended vacation on one of the Empire's outworlds, perhaps taking a job as an overseer while he looked around for another gang - one operating from the outworld - to join.

The other, however, was much more well-off - and was fortunate enough to have had his spare on the other side of Cybertron. He quickly made his way to a body shop and bought a blank that looked nothing like his current body. Right there in the back room of the shop, he mind-transferred to his newly-bought body. The other body was left there as part of his payment to the shop owner. He went out the door into the town, soon disappearing amongst the pedestrians. Now, no one would know his identity unless he or the shop owner gave it away - and the shop owner would not be so foolish as to undermine a friendly, paying customer.

SolarTempest turned to Buzz as the entire group enjoyed the rush of victory. "You were saying that you know where some other Saves of MasterBlaster's are~?" He said to the small but deadly scout.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Arfon

The final combatants came out and eyed each other up and down. Doweling already knew that he'd need something other than his pistol to get through Blitzmark's armor and electric shielding, but did not know if Blitzmark had any other defenses - or offenses - hidden on him. Blitzmark, on the other hand, was calmly confident. His opponent looked quick, but at that range, he wouldn't be faster than a bullet or the aiming of one. The well-armored human could already picture sitting beneath the plaque bearing that Sword of Leadership...

Loyal Star dramatically gave the countdown as the audience went wild. As soon as it was go time, Doweling fired off three shots straight at Blitzmark's head. While the energy of the electrical shielding flared up, Doweling shielded his eyes with his hand as he quickly run much closer. He then fired again, making sure to protect his eyes once again. Now, he was within melee range.

Blitzmark laughed in an annoyingly jovial way. "So you want to die by having your neck snapped," he said, as if he was some kind of Santa and that was going to be the present he'd leave.

To Blitzmark's surprise, Doweling made a roundhouse kick, aiming for his opponent's neck rather than his head. Doweling was the immediate recipient of a counter-move, and he found his ankle grabbed before he could make contact. Blitzmark then easily lifted Doweling's leg enough to flip his now-unbalanced opponent onto his back.

By the time Doweling's eyes refocused toward Blitzmark, he was looking up the barrel of a downward-pointing pistol.

The audience gasped as it saw Doweling jerk his head in a random direction just in time to beat Blitzmark's trigger speed, barely avoiding what was meant to be the fatal bullet. Now, Blitzmark jumped on top of him to hold him still, and the two began to wrestle with a variety of moves. Both turned out to be competent no-rules melee fighters, and it became an MMA-type battle that involved wrestling, punching, knee-jabbing, and more. Blood stained the sand as they rolled around, each determined to be the only one to ever get up again.

Finally, after several minutes, one got the other in a grip that put dangerous pressure on the neck. The rest of the motion stopped, and there was silence in the arena as the audience waited to see if there would be a fatality. It became clear that Blitzmark had gained the upper hand as Doweling now fought for breath with a red face.

With the silence in the stands, the sickening crack of Doweling's neck was easy for all to hear. Doweling's body got stiff for just a moment, and then went limp in Blitzmark's strong grip. It was over.

"People of Arfon," Loyal Star announced once his hearing confirmed that there was now only one heartbeat coming from the fighting oval, "you now have a new Warlord!"

[Vallermoore]

Forintel Headquarters

The captured ponies could only watch what happened to their friend, has he was mercilessly code-read and downloaded into a mind board, that was soon melted down. Megatron scowled as what he was expecting did not show up. This little cell had gone to great lengths to hide what they were doing from Little Equestrian law enforcement and the Little Equestrian government, and whilst it showed their were other cells, there were very few of them, at least that this particular pony knew about. If the government truly not only knew nothing of it but also didn't like it, then totally destroying the entire planet was a bit over the top. The ponies started begging for mercy in Equine and Megatron replied to them, also in Equine so they could understand it. You all attacked Cybertron, taking the position of 'warrior' upon yourselves in the process. The least you could do now is show the bravery associated with that position." All begging for mercy did was bring utter contempt from Megatron. One of the few mortals who had accepted his fate and just asked not to be tortured to death was the Popa, and this had been a pleasant surprise, so much so that he had let the Popa's soul pass on to the afterlife rather then seizing it. These ponies were like most biologicals, cowards when they faced their death. One of them blabbered everything out without being asked anything but he too ended up being code read and melted down. When they died, it would be the Realm of Punishment for them.

*****
Cybertron

The Coders had been informed what had happened, and had flown home to download the latest Save Discs into spares to bring their offspring back, highly angry that biologicals thought they could terrorize Cybertron by targeting them and very grateful for Save Discs. Raid Games places were generally one of the few places on Cybertron, along with large acrobatics shows and Debugging chambers, that were reasonably safe. Very young bots generally had no real enemies yet and were much more forgiving towards each other then bots aged four and up.

*****
"I know where three of them are. He hid one of them under a tile in a Raid Games centre, placed one on the very edge of the forbidden sector of the underworks, you know, where your internal alarm warns you that you are very close to a forbidden sector, and the third he hid on an asteroid not far away. If he has others, I genuinely don't know where they are. I want him perma-dead at least as much as you do after that walking glitch tried to destroy my project for my yet to be born offspring," Buzz told SolarTempest.

*****
The last Fist still on Cybertron decided to take on a new name, and try and join a new gang so he could raid again. He hoped the Cybertronian Business Association would give up the hunt for him in time. With new bodies being reasonably easy to pay for, DIY witness protection was common on Cybertron.

Arfon

Loyal Star started the last duel and watched with interest as the two biologicals proved to be capable fighters for their size. All too soon it was over, and above the cheers Loyal Star announced, having to turn his voice chip up a bit to be heard above the din "People of Arfon, you now have a new Warlord!" The Sword of Leadership was given to the new ruler who had proved his worth, and it would probably be only about a month until everything was back to how it should be. One very important thing remained. The new pony who had expressed interest in becoming an Acolyte needed to be interviewed and if he were serious enough, trained just like the pony Loyal Star had been. Loyal Star noted that he had a cutie mark like his own had been when he was a pony, indicating a liking for the religious life, which was a plus. "So, what's your name, and who did you worship before you decided to be a Megatronist? Don't worry, worshipping other gods or goddesses in the past before you knew of Megatronism, won't doom you to the Realm of Punishment, which would be unfair.You have not taken the oath yet after all."

Little Equestria

The two Forintel agents in pony bodies specialized in spying on the pony race, so soppy songs and the like wouldn't bother them. They had two average cutie marks that wouldn't get them in trouble or shunned. The city they were in, Alicorn City, was full of ponies going about their business when a unicorn police patrol of five stopped several ponies. "Sorry to bother you, but this is a random cutie mark check." Two of the ponies tried to gallop away but one was tazered by a tazer held by unicorn magic and the other was grabbed by unicorn magic. A small machine was taken out and the mark, a bar of musical notes, was checked on the first pony. It flashed red and the mark was proved to be a fogery and peeled off. This was easy as it was just a sticker, and underneath was the real mark, a history book. "So, we have a forger, a faux-mark. You know what the penalty is."

"I just wanted to be a singer," the mare said, "I'm no threat to the state or public order. Beat me, fine me, jail me if you must, but you don't have to kill me!"

"You have to die for breaching the cutie mark law." The earth pony mare was begging to live, promising to do anything, when the police pony drew a revolver with his magic and shot her dead. Then they turned to the other pony, a unicorn, and his mark too was proved to be fake. It was a jewel, but when it was peeled off, a gleaming, perfect Decepticon Seal was revealed. "How could you support those robots from Hell, who hate ponies?" The policeman drew a baton with his magic and again and again he brought it down on the furry Seal, bruising it badly and no doubt causing the pony great pain before tazing the Seal for good measure. Rather then squealing, the pony took the beating silently and then said "I may be doomed to the Neutral Zone for getting caught, but when death comes to you, you will go to the Realm of Punishment as a cop and a hater of my kind. And no, I won't be a grass in exchange for my life, find a big mouth pony for that." The agents wanted to open fire on the police pony, but it would blow their covers, so they let the police pony shoot dead the Megatronist in front of them, and then produce a blade and cut the Seal off. That would certainly be in their report.

The device showed everyone else's marks in the check, including the two Forintel agent's marks, as genuine and they were allowed to go.

The place seemed to have an aura of unhappiness, fear and suppressed anger about it. Just then a trumpet was heard that turned out to be a call to prayer. Many of the ponies who trooped into the temple clearly didn't want to be there. The altar, of fine gold embossed with jewels, had three dried up Seals on it, an anarchist Seal and two Megatronist Seals, that had clearly been cut from pony bodies. The priest, who had a religious symbol for a cutie mark, made a short but to the point sermon, starting by saying "There are three Unforgiveable Sinners who are Tartarus bound. First is the rebel, second is the faux-mark with ideas above his or her station, but the very worst of the worst is the Megatronist who would side with the robots who destroyed the original Equestria."

[Victorious Decepticons]

ForIntel Headquarters

Megatron now had all of the data he was going to get from this group. Most of it was fairly useless from his perspective, but some would be important both for spying and for retribution. One of the members, who surprisingly wasn't the boss, knew who the "coordinations operator" of the sect was and had even seen him. This pony was a buff-colored stallion with a sledgehammer as a cutie mark, and his "day job" was working in a mine. Megatron thought that was sort of humorous since if he invaded, such a pony probably would be sent to a mine as a matter of course - that is, if he wasn't known to be a person of interest. Since he was known, he would have a much more decisive fate to worry about.

Other important information included the fact that this sect was not actually part of the already-extreme one that ruled the nation, but instead, an even more extreme and hard-line variant. In fact, if Celestia were still alive, she would probably excommunicate it because it was so far off from the original tenets of Harmonism.

Soon, two spies were dispatched to take a look around and make initial reports. Not long after, there would be far more. At least 1,000 agents would infiltrate the country, with 100 of them actively working to weasel their way into government offices, and a good 10 who would try to sneak into the actively-hostile cult. This would likely take some doing since so little was known about the group even among its own members. Simply asking the contact guy would surely bring nothing but denials, and since the contact would want to maintain his own cover, he might even call the police. The 10 spies would instead have to present themselves as such rabid hardliners that they would be approached by the cult.

Depending on how the initial infiltration went, more spies could be deployed later - up to several thousand, if it was deemed best to have a subtle presence in every major town.

The ForIntel agents were glad to get their orders. Their agency was constantly doing low-level work, but it was rare that they got to be part of a huge operation like a small army of spies. For that, DomIntel usually had all the fun. They all promised, with eager dutifulness, to complete their mission for the glory of the Decepticons.

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

Little Equestria

The ForIntel agents were, at first, a bit impressed with how the government people could just walk up to regular people and shoot them in the street without fear of repercussion. "They've got a strong dictatorship goin' on," one of them thought silently, his head nodding a bit in approval. Then, however, they shot the Megatronist. That changed the agent's mood instantly, and he had to restrain himself from popping his blasters out of his sides and showing them the power of Decepticon might.

Later, they followed a crowd into a temple after a horn blew. There, they heard a sermon where not just the one, but two, Megatronist cutie marks were displayed. They made sure to act like everyone else during this speech and avoided the temptation to exchange smirky glances when the priest said that the Megatronists would go to Tartarus. The souls were surely in the neutral zone right now, and a good part of it at that, since they were pioneers of Megatronism in such a hostile land. As for the other souls, they might indeed have been bound for Tartarus, but since Megatron owned the afterlife too, their experience there would be nothing like this priest was expecting.

After the obviously-mandatory service was over, the spies went on their way and observed the general conditions of the area. They found that the all-pervasive feeling of unhappiness and fear were well-founded. Armed patrols were basically roaming death squads, and civilians kept both their heads and their tails down around them. The spies made sure to expertly copy the body language so as not to attract attention to themselves.

In the stores, the goods were sparse and very utilitarian. There were no apples on the shelves; these were deemed too decadent for "true" Ponyism, and therefore were banned. Many other things had suffered the same fate. Others had been made with inferior materials, but good workmanship, showing that there was a belief - at least in the government - that "fancy" materials were bad.

Over time, the spies would learn that society itself was very regimented. Everyone was to do what their cutie mark indicated, and ONLY what it indicated. As they had seen, those trying to escape this rule were shot dead upon detection.

Later, once in private, the spies made their report. One described the area as being under the government's near-complete control, and was clearly impressed by the lack of revolutionary action. The other, however, described it as a dystopia with a deep, simmering resentment that could easily be brought to a boil through the use of the right spies, saying the right things, at the right times. This one also mentioned that there were surely many more Megatronists than the government thought, and suggested that perhaps an invasion would be in order.

Back on Cybertron, Leader Megatron gave the next command he had already planned. With it, the 1,000-spy intelligence group made their way to Little Equestria, split up and landed in a wide variety of places while under full cloaking, and began to insert itself into society. They made sure to be dispersed enough that no particular area would get a population boom.

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

Cybertron

To SolarTempest's slight surprise, Buzz's info turned out to be right on. It took a long time to reach the restricted area that was mentioned thanks to there being no direct vents to the outside there, but even that location was accurate. With each find, SolarTempest made sure to not only melt the Save Disk but to stir the molten material as well so the data could not be recovered.

The Domestic Intelligence Supercomputer noted all of the activity, and silently made a notation to a particular file. MasterBlaster's record would now show a big red Deactivated tag at the top whenever it was displayed or printed. Meanwhile, it noted that SolarTempest had done the deactivating, and this became part of his file.

Thousands of other calculations were made by the Supercomputer in response to recent events. The relative strength of the Cybertronian Business Association was updated, the Fists were marked as Defeated and the winners were credited, SolarTempest was credited with a higher hardness rating and battle tactics rating, Buzz was given a 90% chance of becoming a CBA member, and more. All of this was done in the background, and sapient DomIntel agents would only find out if they pulled the file of a relevant person. For the Supercomputer, it was but one set of updates out of trillions that it would do that day.

[Vallermoore]

Cybertron

With the Fists now vanquished, SolarTempest said to Buzz "I think you have proved your loyalty and your worth, but you now need to come back to our headquarters to face the others in a series of duels to see just how good a fighter you are, until you either lose one or, and this is extremely unlikely, face me in combat, which you won't get to do unless you are unless you are a High General in disguise. That is our Way of determining status after all." The others heartily agreed. Unlike earlier, they were now happy to have the new member and only his status needed to be fixed. Soon he would find himself facing the lowest member of the gang, one Laser Pen, so called because he was a very good forger but his blasters were only just strong enough to be considered Standard Blasters. If he won, and defeated a few other bots, he would then face bots like SteelHard and Lightning Dust.

Little Equestria

It was quickly very clear that Little Equestria was an iron hard dictatorship whose police were as ruthless as Domintel and as ready as Domintel to shoot enemies down in the street. It also did not take very long to find out that much like Masher had found Coltan was like under King Coal, there was a seething pool of discontent amongst most of the population. Whilst in most pony societies cutie marks were important, here your cutie mark determined your entire working life and there was no freedom of choice. If your mark was a mining one for example, then you would be sent down a mine (although Little Equestrian miners were paid rather then being outright unpaid slaves like the ponies in Decepticon mines and could leave at the end of the day as long as they returned.) There were very few occasions where a pony could change their mark, except for big mouth ponies who had a special permission to wear fake marks as long as they served as police informers, and pony spies of the Grey Hooves, the planet's secret service. Anarchist cutie marks and Decepticon cutie marks, if uncovered being worn either openly or concealed, got the pony executed on the spot. Being caught with a fake cutie mark without a legal excuse got the pony executed on the spot. Rebels and those who would change the system, if caught, were normally executed on the spot. Those with cutie marks that were seemingly useless for work, generally had to serve as messenger ponies and post office ponies.

Apples were banned except for three Holy Days of the year when they were legal to buy, sell and eat, but there was a secret black market trade in apples that was not quite as strictly policed -or punished as harshly-as political dissent was, although the whip was there for those who were caught with the forbidden pony delicacies.

It would take a while, but it was found in time that up to 70% of ponies hated their system-and their leader, a unicorn stallion Prince by the name of Fancy Horn, who wore fake wings to look like an alicorn, which some ponies found ridiculous. They disliked so many things-the near total ban on apples, the being forced to go to the temples to worship dead goddesses that most no longer believed in, the lack of job choice, the low pay for many of them and the high taxes, public whippings and street executions without trial, the common use of the hated Big Mouth ponies, and more. It was only the brutal police and secret police and the hated informers that kept society stable. Whilst Domintel was just as strict in dealing with dissent, it was far more then just Domintel and Megatron's godly powers that kept Megatron in power. Megatron was popular with the vast majority of Decepticons. Fancy Horn was loathed by the vast majority of ponies here. It would not be all that hard to start a revolution, if weapons could be provided.

The general thoughts about the Decepticons amongst non Megatronists was of great fear, tempered with the fact that given what Princess Luna had done, it was no real surprise that the Decepticons did what they did as she tried to crush Cybertron.

Those who had the right cutie marks to infiltrate the government found it to be almost as corrupt as their own. Government ponies feasted in private on apples, embezzled tax money and lived in secret luxury. One thing they did not find was support for outright terrorism, and certainly not for attacking Cybertron. But they had invented a spell to turn humans into ponies and used it in a war twenty years before on their human neighbouring country. As far as they knew, it didn't work on robots.

Infiltrating the cult who started this was a bit harder, but after a few days one of the "extremist Ponyists" was given a link to one of the cult cells, who had some really warped and twisted views.....

[Victorious Decepticons]

Cybertron

Buzz was clearly glad to be accepted and he looked eager to begin the process of determining his rank. He even gave a couple of little boxer-like bounces, though these weren't just for show - and as a robot, it surely didn't mean he was warming up. Instead, he had sent an undetectably-tiny little buzz out through the ground, and like a sort of sonar, it caused slight but undamaging reverberations throughout the body of the one who would soon be his opponent. In an instant, his systems picked up the echoes and had pinpointed all of Laser Pen's internal weak points.

Soon, they returned to SolarTempest's house, and after drinking a couple of cups' worth of Energon to top up, they went out back to begin the actual duels. Buzz and Laser Pen both talked a bit of trash about each other to pump themselves up and try to make each other nervous. This generally took the form of digs about each other's build quality, but suddenly, Laser Pen got a strange look on his face. It was only there for an instant, but that was long enough for the others to know that Buzz wasn't just talking random noise. He was actually pointing out some parts that were close enough to failure that Laser Pen surely knew it, and thereby showing that he had somehow gotten a look at the inside of Laser Pen's body.

As Buzz planned, this caused Laser Pen to make extra efforts to protect these parts once the blasting actually began. However, Buzz hadn't named off all of the weak points - just enough to cause Laser Pen to move in a specific way when on defense. This, however, didn't give Buzz an immediate win. He soon found himself under fire, taking a couple of hits in quick succession and finding out that what appeared to be small blasters were actually at full Standard strength. Buzz's armor absorbed most of the damage, but the power of the strike knocked him backwards a bit. Suddenly, he fell over and appeared to have some kind of internal error.

"Ha ha, I'm not falling for that!" Laser Pen laughed at the obvious acting. However, before he could chide Buzz more, Laser Pen found himself being blasted right in the weak spots he'd been trying to protect. These blasts weren't very strong, but they were enough to make Laser Pen concentrate fully on defense instead of continuing to fire. As soon as he moved to totally protect his named weak points, Buzz hit him with both blasters in the ones he hadn't mentioned. After a couple of full-power strikes, sparks and smoke came from Laser Pen's side. Soon, Laser Pen had no choice but to either concede or lose the body entirely. Since it was not a duel to the point of total destruction of a body but only to the point of decisive victory, Laser Pen took a submissive pose and gave only the slightest and most grudging little hand motion to indicate his acceptance of defeat.

Unlike humans in such a situation, the others did not chide Laser Pen for having been lax in his repairs. He had learned his lesson the hard way, by being forced to stay as the Omega member unless there was another shake-up further down the line. He would surely be at the parts store this very night, not only to replace the destroyed parts, but to get new versions of his other worn-out aspects.

"Okay, who's next?" Buzz yelled out, his voice brimming with confidence.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Foreign Intelligence Division

An rare aura of excitement filled the main office of this Division now. While it usually processed many reports, they came from many different planets and typically only had a few tidbits of top-secret government information. Now, they were getting a steady stream of highly detailed reports from Little Equestria from their initial team of 1,000 spies.

Leader Megatron and General Soundwave stood in the main operations room at the mission watching aggregated reports scroll across large screens. These reports were produced by the DomIntel Supercomputer, which was making them by aggregating all of the other project reports. It was the most work it had done for a single ForIntel project in a long time. Around them, several mission command agents sat at terminals looking at reports from individual cities and larger towns and occasionally highlighting something of special note so it would be sure to be weighted as more important by the Supercomputer.

"It looks like it'll be very easy to take out that government," Megatron said to Soundwave. "All we should have to do is release a good set of photos of those government ponies enjoying all of the things that nobody else can, and doing so on days when they are officially prohibited. Then follow it up with a live feed so everyone can see that it's the real deal - preferably pirate-broadcasted smack in the middle of the official government denial that will surely come after releasing the still pictures."

Shockwave nodded slightly and responded. "Yes. Stills, then they deny, and while they're in the very midst of denying, we override that with live proof. It'll be wonderful. But the malcontents will still need to be armed, or they'll just get mowed down by the death squads and the bigger police forces."

Megatron kept staring at the reports as he thought about this, and finally gestured to scroll to a specific section of the main national overview.

"It says here that they have 10,000,000 standard police, but you still haven't pinned down how many are in the Grey Hooves. We will have to know this before we act. For now...do you think you can find a million suitable DomIntel agents to transfer to this project, or aren't there that many who could pass as biologicals well enough..."

Soundwave knew exactly what Megatron was thinking. He'd worked with him since the dawn of the Nation, and was well familiar with this sort of machination. Megatron was surely intending on replacing the entire law enforcement bureau of Little Equestria with Intelligence agents. Then, they would have all of the civilian firepower.


"DomIntellers are mostly too anti-police to be able to replace the actual police there," Soundwave reported. "They're also not used to pretending to be biologicals, and especially not ponies. The quadruped format takes time to get used to, even with the program we use for the calculations. It takes about two months of practice for them to gain a natural-looking gait and overall way of moving. For now, our already-trained agents useful for such a project are all in ForIntel. There are about 20,000 ForIntellers that could be sent out today. To send more, we would have to have a massive hiring spree. With the known combined Little Equestrian police force numbering 10,000,000, it would cause too much a depletion of DomIntel power to send that many without compromising all of our other operations."

Megatron carefully considered what Soundwave told him. Meanwhile, the desk agents had diverted about 50% of their processing threads to listening in on the two top commanders.

Megatron finally spoke. "We'll have to come up with another plan then. It's too bad. It's always so hilarious when some law-bound planet finds out that all of their police are suddenly actually Decepticons. For now, I want you to do assassinate-and-replace operations on the top 100 largest police departments on the planet. Put our agents in as the chiefs and lieutenants of those departments. Then, slowly begin compromising their effectiveness until the populations there start to get bolder. Simultaneously, slowly begin making their actual enforcement actions a bit more arbitrary. This will slip under the radar as simple operational SNAFUs, but anger the population over the random police brutality. The best way to do this is to hire a handful of loose cannons and sprinkle them throughout each department's operating area. Then just let them do their jobs as they see fit once they pass a basic training program. Make sure to underfund parts of the program that deal with conflict de-escalation, handling with mentally ill and mentally handicapped ponies, handling different types of ponies, and things like that. Also put the least-competent trainers in charge of these modules. That should be enough to make plenty of headlines and amp up the discontentment to just under the boiling point. Also, always be sure to have an agent as the guy just under the chief at all times. Some of your chiefs will be fired, and you want another agent right in line so they just get more of the same for their efforts."

Soundwave nodded. It was a great plan. Intentionally duplicating the effects of police forces on the other side of the Transdimensional Warp Point as a deliberate destabilization operation would be a nearly-undetectable method.

Megatron returned to staring at the screen. Soon, there would surely be a report on the main reason the spying force had been deployed: The cult that attacked Cybertron...

[Vallermoore]

Cybertron

The next bot was one named Fine Print. Whilst he was relatively weak by Decepticon standards when it came to combat power, hence his low standing in the gang, he was a very good con-bot, able to con all kinds of biologicals and even having a chance of conning Decepticons-the mark of a true con artist. He had recently updated his body with things like chest mounted hidden blasters and grenade throwers. Whilst not from Ultimate Mods-he was not at that level of riches quite yet, they were pretty deadly. Again Buzz did that trick of his and again he found the weaknesses and also the hidden weapons. When the combat began, out popped two extra blasters of Standard Strength from Fine Print's chest, and even knowing they were there Buzz was barely able to get out of the way. Rather then use his four blasters to blast Buzz to bits, he used his grenade thrower, and Buzz buzzed enough to in effect bounce the grenade back at him, where it blew up his two chest blasters, snapping them off and making small cracks in his outer plate. The rest of the battle was largely conventional, but Buzz was able to buzz here and there to open the cracks. He took a blast or two, but it was clear his foe would be destroyed before he was. Fine Print surrendered, feeling rather unhappy that his new blasters had been temporarily ruined.

The next bot to step forward was the former Miltorg, Lightning Dust, who imagined to himself (to make him fight harder) that Buzz was Vallermoorian. Lightning Dust had a special hatred of Vallermoore because of the suffering he had been through as a sapient computer in an immobile body. "You Vallermoorian villain, I'm going to reduce you to a buzzing pile of parts on the floor!" Buzz had taken some damage by now and if he took much more would no longer be able to buzz much longer without damaging himself, but although Lightning Dust's armour was tough, his main advantage was that it was near impossible to hack or even chip him. When an alicorn had tried to hack him and flip his loyalty to Ponyism, the bot he had been with, Steel Hard, had to fully concentrate on maintaining his loyalty to Megatron, but Lightning Dust had no such problems. Having seen Buzz fight he would not make the same mistakes as Fine Print had done.

Foreign Intelligence Division

By now the numbers of the Guards Army, 150,000 soldiers, were revealed, and then the numbers of the Grey Hooves were revealed-only a few above 25,000. It was not unknown for the Grey Hooves to attack those in other countries with a loud publicly expressed hatred for sapient ponies and turn them into sapient ponies with a potion. The secret book of big mouth informer ponies was found as well as well as what fake cutie marks each Big Mouth was wearing. With a device of their own that uncovered (only to the user) fake cutie marks, 1000+ Megatronist ponies were uncovered, a few of them in surprisingly high places, although none were in the police force.

Although replacing the entire police force was tempting, not all bots could use pony bodies without some sort of training. To most of them, using four legs was like crawling around on hands and knees. Also, there were neither enough sapient pony bodies for them, nor quite enough Domintel bots who would be good at pretending to be open uniformed police, even corrupt police. Whilst Domintel was a secret police force it was very different to an open police force. And non-Forintel/Domintel bots loathed police too much to pretend to be them point blank. So the replacement of certain officers would have to do for now.

Little Equestria

At last, contact had been made with the nasty little cult that started this. After the initial contact asked a few questions about what the agents thought of equis sapiens and how pleased they were to be sapient ponies, they were welcomed to a "Cell of the Herd" ten strong of stallions and mares, that embraced and in the case of the mares kissed the new arrivals, sang them a welcoming song and introduced them to the HQ, that had a big map of Equestria on the wall. They were then told about the more secretive activities, like using potions to turn non-pony biologicals into humans, and the latest attempts to Ascend as alicorns. These ponies thought of non-ponies the way Decepticons thought of biologicals in general-as basically deeply inferior beings. "Our latest plan involves the sacrifice of one of our worst foes-a captured pony who bears the satanic symbol of the bots that destroyed the original Equestria and banished the alicorns to the afterlife."