An Exploration Mission (Closed; Att'n Vallermoore)

[Victorious Decepticons]

Glorious Equidae
Changeling Hives

At first, the changelings were happy that their hives seemed to be growing at higher-than-normal rates. However, it didn't take long for some of the queens to deny having generated more new offspring than usual. Even so, with the population of each hive, it was impossible to know for sure what was going on. Perhaps their queens lost count, or had written off people who had just been traveling?

Of course, they were actually being infiltrated by Decepticons - but after spending their lifetimes doing the infiltrating, the changelings didn't expect to ever end up on the defensive side of such operations. Therefore, the new additions were able to blend in quite well...until they began to spirit away the money, gold, and other items some changelings used to bribe people into silence when they were discovered by outsiders. Some of the robots were very good at this, making up an excuse for each withdrawal, but others weren't so smooth. For this reason, some hives began to actively hunt the "parasites" they had clearly acquired.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere, the Decepticon presence also turned out to be both good and bad. The Military Construction bots were liked by everyone - after all, they were getting things fixed far faster than any pony operation could. It also didn't take long for all of the High Generals to become like stars even though they left the planet soon after visiting. Underneath all of this, however, there was an influx of con-bots who didn't take long to begin relieving Glorious Equidae and its people of seemingly everything that wasn't bolted down. Of course, the oil pipelines were also tapped in short order, and soon, the price of gas started to go up. This resulted in ponies beginning to tap the lines in order to circumvent the apparent gouging.

The people were quite dismayed at the "lack of law enforcement" against this wave of scammers, and it was a good thing that they didn't realize they were losing their money to Decepticons. Megatron, however, didn't take but a moment to spot the problem - and know exactly what it was - when his latest Megatron Energon financial ledgers showed that he was losing money.

Soon, menacing red Megatron Energon Asset Protection Force troops were stalking alongside of the pipelines, and Military Construction bots followed behind patching all of the taps. Anyone found tapping was summarily blasted by the Asset Protectioners, yet only one Decepticon fell to their weaponry. Many ponies, however, were unaware that this force would arrive so soon, and found out only in the instant before being struck by the energy fire.

Later, Leader Megatron would find out that this had led to his troops having a reputation of being ruthlessly for law and order. He immediately issued a correction through the Pathway to Greatness Program that explained the difference between an Asset Protection Force and police. The main takeaway was that an APF only cared about the assets of the company it worked for, and in fact was prohibited from trying to expand its agency power to anything else.

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

General Carjack heard the pony seemingly asking for a ride and quickly shut that down. "If there are spaceships here capable of reaching Cybertron, it's up to you to jack one," he said. "It's not like the old government is here to care, and our own isn't interested in such things since they'd be built for tiny creatures like you, with maybe enough cargo space for a satellite to ride along with the intended crew. We don't even pay that sort of thing any attention when we come to a new planet. If any are already fueled up, all you'll need to do is sneak in and hotwire one...or hack it, if it's completely computerized. The only exception is if you keep your ships in a military base. If so, you'll have to be a lot sneakier. We do take over bases so that their actual military equipment can't become a bother to us later on..."

[Vallermoore]

Glorious Equidae

Carjack said "You seem to be a Decepticon in spirit, so I'll give you one important thing to remember; Decepticons, all the way down from our Leader at the top to a bot who is barely maintaining their body at the bottom, hate giving rides to biologicals, even for pay, and don't do it willingly. Partly it's beneath them, and partly it makes their mechanical insides crawl with disgust. It's like you giving a ride to a fly or a maggot. And if you tried to sneak on board one of any size, they would feel it and either blast you outright or enslave you and sell you to a mine. Find a starship and steal it, your theft won't count against you at all at Immigration. Now, I have things to do. Good luck." And he transformed and left the area. If the pony could not get to Cybertron, he was not fit to join the Decepticons in the first place. How he got there didn't matter. Stealing a starship counted as a minor plus. Being the "right kind" of criminal on other planets counted as a major plus. Whilst other nations wanted honest, law abiding immigrants, Cybertron wanted pirates, armed robbers and other such people.

The pony would start planning how to jack a starship.


Changeling Hives

At first the Decepticons fitted right in without damaging their hosts, and the lings didn't even know they had been infiltrated. Soon enough they started stealing changeling money, and whilst con-bots were good at this, others were not. The lings started hunting down the parasites. Finding them was quite easy-their body could only do one or at most two different transformations unlike the lings. Dealing with them was not. Since their first encounters with changelings had led to stolen love and lost bodies, they now had anti-changeling shielding and their blasters could still burn through web and changeling chitin. In their small android bodies however they were not invulnerable. Magic blasts, particularly from the Queens, could bust up their joints, and enough changelings could pile onto them to pin them down. If they did find themselves trapped, they would generally mind transfer back to Cybertron. A Queen asked one of these near-captured Decepticons if the bot would consider selling any of it's love willingly. "Your love is so rare and so hard to get that it has great value to us."

*****
When Megatron found out that people were confusing his Asset Protection Force with police he made it clear at once that they were to protect the company rather then being law enforcement in general. He didn't want his APF getting the wrong kind of reputation.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Little Equestria Bureau of Space Exploration

The sign outside this complex still looked quite new thanks to the location being of no use for any side during the civil war, and it still bore the nation-planet's old name. Pesticide made his way to it and cased it from the outside, and could see that some minor looting had taken place. A hole had been cut into the security fence and a few doors hung open, but that seemed to be the extent of the damage. That night, he returned and slipped through the fence hole. As a matter of habit, he turned around and grabbed the few hairs that had been snagged on the jagged cyclone fencing; there would be no obvious proof that he had been there.

Very carefully and stealthily, he made his way to where the ships were. Immediately, he saw why they hadn't been looted or stolen yet: The doors were about 20 feet above the ground, and there were no obvious ladders to use. He began to look all over the complex for the ladder or staircase that must go with these ships. It took a long time, but finally, he found a rolling staircase like the type used to board airplanes. It had been stripped of a few of its metal steps, likely by those looking to sell them as scrap metal. Apparently, scroungers weren't just a Cybertronian thing.

With much effort, he rolled the staircase into position, and after hopping past the blank spaces, got to the door of the craft he had chosen. He opened the door with ease, and soon, was inside the cockpit. Apparently nobody bothered to lock spaceships because it had been believed that a random person wouldn't even try to steal them. A look at the control panel made the reason for this belief clear:

He stared at the baffling array of controls without any idea how they worked. How would he ever get it off the ground, let alone to Cybertron?! In desperation, he got out a tablet computer and hit Glorious Equidae's main search engine, hoping beyond hope that somehow, some site would explain all of this.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Changeling Hive

The captured infiltrator tried to resist, but under the weight of so many piled-on changelings, his android body couldn't move much. When he heard the queen's offer, he held back a laugh. That would be like a Decepticon offering to buy sweet light crude! Surely if he dropped his shield against love-raiding, he would be drained instantly. Or at best, the 'ling queen would pay with counterfeit goods. They were very much like Decepticons, and only under the rarest of circumstances did Decepticons buy things from foreigners. One who had been caught trying to connive the Decepticons would certainly never see any legitimate cash.

That said, he wasn't going to give up so easily, either. He activated his no-emotions patch so that he could go ahead and drop his shielding as if he was willing to sell, but with that on, there would also be nothing for them to raid from him. He could, however, artificially generate "love" through a special module - one that was physically sequestered from the rest of his system except for its internal on/off responsiveness. He had made this module special before coming, knowing that he might need it at some point. Once his system had responded to the split-second commands, he asked what she was offering.

His guess about the queen had been correct, though this wasn't yet obvious. She had intended to pay with counterfeit oil or perhaps low-grade steel, never expecting the Decepticon to be able to generate counterfeit love in return. The chess game of high-level connivery was on.

[Vallermoore]

Changeling Hive

The captured infiltrator wanted to snort in derision and giggle. He knew the Changelings well, having for a few Standard Energon Cube brought a chip containing everything publicly known about changelings including even declassified Forintel reports that had once been highly secret. Changelings were very like Decepticons rendered down into a weak but still dangerous biological form. They would much rather raid him dry of the love that was like the changeling version of Megatron's Private Reserve and send him back as data packets to a spare on Cybertron minus his expensive android body. He knew that if a biological tried to connive Decepticons they would be at best conned and at worst killed and so it was with the changelings.

"So what could you offer me?" he asked, his no-emotions patch protecting his love for Cybertron and the Way from changeling greed. The Queen wiggled her torso a little.

"We have metal not far away that in the distant past we used to make katana swords from."

He knew what that was, iron sand, that made very poor metal that would not be worth very much even in a large amount. It was worth something at a Foundry, but it was very low grade and, even if the changelings were honest, was hardly worth giving any of what to them was the highest , rarest grade of love in the entire universe for. He knew he might be captured, so had a way of generating counterfeit love. It wasn't outright poisonous, but it was the equivalent of very Low Standard Energon that was used to feed slave Decepticons, or naughty not yet fully sapient Decepticons who deeply annoyed their Coders, rather then the true love that nearly every bot had in a small amount. If love was a liquid, the amount in a full-sized Decepticon body would have been the same size as a small car. Before they developed shielding against raid attempts, this was what had made even full sized bots so vulnerable to being drained.

Little Equestria Bureau of Space Exploration

After a long period of looking online, Pesticide found out how to take off and fly the craft, although to enter Cybertron without random raiders blowing up his ship he would need to practise first. Also the ship had no cloaking device which made entry perilous in the extreme. To get in, he would have to be both careful and lucky or his first look at Cybertron would be his last. He would have to get in without being killed or captured, get to the Immigration Ministry, again without getting killed or captured, and then past some gruelling tests and a code read. If he got through that and served his first Military stint he would have one more test-impressing General Carjack enough to get into the Genocide Battalion.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Changeling Hive

The Decepticon saw the torso wiggle and snickered a little. Clearly this one was used to getting her way by flirting and trying to look sexy! It was funny to the robot, who had no coding, base or otherwise, that would cause him to feel anything in response. In fact, he only thought it was funny because he'd gotten a data pack on biological habits, and from that, recognized what the quick wiggle was meant to do.

"Katana metal...I'm not sure that'd hold up to being made into a blaster, or perhaps handling the strain of re-entry," he said, acting as though he was negotiating like he would for any other deal. "Perhaps we should get an appraisal from the new foundry that just opened in town?"

Of course, he suggested this with an angle in mind. If she accepted and let him out to go to the foundry together, he could just blast his hidden jets and take off faster than any changeling could hope to fly.

~~~~~~~~~

Space

Pesticide was happy when the ship made it up into the sky and then to outer space. Its life support systems automatically kicked in, and fresh air circulated throughout the cabin. All seemed well, though the pony was quite nervous about the prospect of trying to get onto Cybertron without being intercepted.

He was thinking of this as he passed several planets, but suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a shrill alarm. A flashing light let him know what was wrong. "LOW FUEL," the rectangular warning red in glaring red letters. Further checking revealed that he would only have enough fuel to make it to the planet closest to him, which was not Cybertron.

To his surprise, activating the ship's cameras showed that there was some activity on what his school had taught him should be a barren world. Derricks were plainly visible, and zooming in revealed what appeared to be several rough-looking green-eyed Decepticons wandering around the oil field. A large flag displaying a stylized, futuristic derrick was on a pole a short distance from this installation.

Something told him that these were not really Decepticons, but some other group, and that perhaps he should stay away. However, with his low fuel problem, he wouldn't be able to go too far. He stayed high in the air until he cleared that immediate area, but then, he had to land...

Glorious Equidae

Loyal Star was walking back to his First Temple when he heard the sound of rifle fire. At first, he didn't think much of it - battles were common to Cybertron, and he'd grown used to the noise of various ordnance going off in the distance. After a second, though, he remembered that he was on a biological world where that should still be uncommon. He hurried towards his building to see what was up.

Before he got too close, he was shocked to see that his Temple had been taken over. It was now in full fortress mode, with its blast shades down and gun ports open. Apparently whoever had seized it didn't know how to work its defensive blaster system, though, so instead of blaster barrels coming from the ports, ponies had stationed themselves there and were shooting outwards with decent-looking civilian-style rifles. Meanwhile, another group had positioned itself out front and was shooting back. Bystanders were staying at a serious distance, though some had stopped where it seemed to be safe and were videoing the event.

It only took a couple of seconds to recognize what was going on as gang warfare. With the scarcity of police, both gangs had become emboldened to go ahead and fight it out. As of yet, though, there was no way for Loyal Star to know what the fight was about or which gangs were involved. Because of this, he couldn't yet choose one to root for. He resisted the urge to automatically root for the one that hadn't invaded his Temple - it could well have simply been a matter of the other gang having gotten to it first.

In the few seconds during which he thought about this, his audio circuits registered a little over 100 rounds being fired. Whatever the fight was about, the battle was definitely hot.

[Vallermoore]

Glorious Equipage

Loyal Star, seeing his Temple under attack, backfired and then placed himself directly in the way of the fight whilst firing but aiming for near misses to panic the ponies rather then kill. He was certainly ready to kill if he had to but he was willing to try and talk things out, and try and find out what was going on. "GREAT CYBERTRON! What are you-and that goes for both sides-attacking/fighting in a Temple of Megatron for? My Temple. Noone can get in to worship if you're fighting in it, not to mention possible damage. I would prefer to settle things verbally, but if I have to I am willing to use force, up to and including deadly force. I'm not angry at you for fighting, that is your privilege, but my holy Temple should not be used as an arena." He used his eyes to scan the ponies he could see, looking for cutie marks that might indicate hostility to the Decepticons or priests and priestesses of Ponyism. If this was an attack by Ponyists or other anti-Decepticon types, a few would need to die as an example.

If the gangs were criminal, some strict warnings and orders should be enough. If it was an intra-Megatronist struggle of rival acolytes fighting for the lesser Temple positions, it would be a bit more complicated, as he could hardly start killing them all. He knew what it was like to be a pony acolyte after all. If that was the case he could have them read their Megatronist Books about what acolytes should not do in a Megatronist Temple.

Changeling Hive

The Decepticon snickered. He had no sexual instincts and didn't want or need them, although he did have non-sexual wants. When he made his suggestion, the Queen kept him there and sent two changelings out to ask the foundry boss about the metal. She came over and lightly kissed his forehead, something that far from feeling sexy for him, made him feel a little repulsed at even a little wetness on his body. The Decepticon kiss equvilent was to press palms together and even that was generally not common in the least. When it did happen it was normally between Coder and offspring and signified great affection.

Space/?

Pesticide wondered where this was. It wasn't the unfriendliness-looking of the bots that worried him so much, that was to be expected. It was their deep green eyes, ranging from bright green to a deep sea-green. He managed to land without crashing, but his fuel was gone and he could hear the footsteps of one of the bots. As he got out, a bot came walking up towards him at great speed and tried to scoop him up.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Glorious Equidae

Leader Megatron used remote viewing to see what was going on at the Temple there as soon as he registered battle energy coming from an area that was dedicated to him. He now watched with interest, seeing the activity not only as NOT unseemly, but instead, rather fitting for an edifice that was also a symbol of the Decepticon Way. Someone has finally realized that those are forts, he thought with a smile. He took a sip of Private Reserve as he continued to watch the show with his mind. He would surely bless the winners...

On the ground, it didn't take long for Loyal Star to see that the ones outside the Temple were all tough criminals. Their cutie marks were highly varied, but they all depicted some sort of weapon, drugs, fake money, or other suchlike dead-giveaway as to their inclinations. He also saw that along with their natural marks, they each had applied insignia in a cutie mark-style format. These seals were identical to each other and took the form of a heavy-looking sledgehammer.

"We're just followin' da Way," a few of them said, forming a semi-circle near Loyal Star's feet. "I think you call it...breakin' up a monopoly. Those gits in there have the monopoly. But not for long." The one speaking patted an expensive-looking high-powered rifle. Behind him, another pony held what appeared to be a full-on rocket launcher. "We're the Sledges. We think it's about time someone else ran the 'pharmaceutical' trade on this here rock. As for them..." He looked toward the Temple... "They call themselves the Doctors. Because they 'prescribe drugs.'" He snorted. "We say that drugs are better off being prescribed by US."

"As for talkin', we're done with talkin.' They refuse to honor Sledge Hammer. So we're gonna kill 'em all and 'expand our market share' as you robots like to put it. If you want to do something good, drive them outta there so we can drill 'em without having to shoot through those little ports."

Sledge Hammer, Loyal Star figured, had to be the street name of the leader of the Sledges. If he was present, he wasn't making himself obvious.

~~~~~~~~~~

Almost as soon as the first gang member stopped talking, a message came from the Temple loudspeaker. The speaker hadn't yet been used for anything official, but somehow, it had obviously been discovered. It was likely that it and some other Temple features (such as its fortress mode) had been found simply by the Doctors taking a good look around the back rooms of the building.

"We're the 'Market Share Protection Force' of the Doctors!" The voice came. "These idiots want to take over our business! They chased us in here, but now, we're making them pay for that foolish mistake!" With that, a long salvo of machine gun fire came down and took out a few Sledges. The Sledges fired back, but it was useless. Most of the bullets missed the tiny gunport openings and pinged harmlessly off of the Temple's armored walls. The few that did make it inside hit nothing of much note - the Doctors had already gone back to ducking. It was clear that the Sledges would not only NOT be able to penetrate the Temple on their own, but if they stayed within range for too long, they would all eventually be killed by the rival gang.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Changeling Hive

The Decepticon laughed at the idea of sending two changelings to the foundry. "Get real," he said dismissively. "No matter what the foundryman really says, those two will say your offer is worth more than gold on Earth! I won't believe it unless I hear it from him myself, and not in here where he'd be afraid to talk straight, either!"

While he still had the angle of getting out of the hive, what he said was true. Even not-yet-sapient
Decepticons had that one coded right into them. It was typically called the "Unverifiable Verification" and every Decepticon knew to watch out for it. If their Coders hadn't hardcoded how it worked right into their offspring, the SEDP informed them of how it worked.

He was also quite aware that the queen might not intend to ever let him go or pay anything at all. She could, he figured, just be hoping to get him to take his shielding down so that she could get her hooks into what she thought was his love...and then drain it dry. He was very glad he had invested in the fake love generator just in case she tried that. Gorging on the counterfeit stuff would surely cause some sort of errors for the changelings - sort of like if a human tried to eat a whole bag of chocolate-scented wax - and even better, it wouldn't bother him at all.

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

Unknown Planet

Pesticide let off a magical blast of energy that gave the oncoming hand a stiff sting. As expected, the robot jerked his hand back quickly, and during this time, Pesticide ran far away and hid behind a little hillock. While he was still quite visible, the smallish mound of dirt made it so that grabbing him would take at least a bit more than simply reaching down.

"What's dis damn t'ing doin' in our oil field?!" The robot complained in Binary after emitting an error noise that clearly conveyed surprise. His accent was much like that of the one who led his planet - Masher. That said, Pesticide would only know this if he understood Binary well enough to know how it was supposed to go and be able to spot the differences.

The bot looked hard at the unexpected foreigner and made sure not to take his eyes off of him. He also got out a radio and called what seemed to be someone important, most likely to get specific instructions.

[Vallermoore]

Unknown Planet

Feeling very lucky that he was a unicorn and not a near defenceless earth pony, Pesticide blasted the huge hand reaching for him with a blast of pony magic strong enough to kill a human, and it stung the bot enough to make him jerk his hand away. He then galloped behind a hillock. Rather then launching an all out attack on the pony, the bot radioed someone and very soon two other bots showed up, one in fluted dark red armour with light green eyes, and the other a slightly dusty orange robot with Decepticon seals and red eyes. The red bot spoke in the language of Equis Sapiens. "You're a brave little pony, stinging a bot who could kill you with ease. This here is our ruler, Masher. If you can-somehow-get him to like you, you won't end up dead or a slave for the rest of your life." The red bot stood aside to let Masher speak to what to Masher was a tiny biological.

Changeling Hive

"You have a point. We also have an oily bog near here that might be of some interest to you, but obviously you won't take our word for it. Web his feet together and then we'll take him to see the bog. Perhaps he will think it of enough value to part with a bit of his love." And she gave him another kiss and gently touched his neck with a hoof. The Decepticon was pretty sure that the bog was not of much value but decided to at least see it, just in case it was indeed worth a lot. Even if it was, he knew that dropping his shielding was extremely dangerous and might lose him a body-unless these changelings had some way to jam him in which case his very life would be at stake. To changelings, he was like a nut with a very tough shell.


Glorious Equidae

Loyal Star thought a little. "This time, I'll let you gangs fight it out, for a few hours, but when the next sermon is due, the defending gang will be granted ten minutes to leave or they will have ME on the side of the attackers. If there are any acolytes in there, let them out unharmed. NOW. I really should arm my acolytes so they can defend my Temple in future. Not all Priests share my view-many would kill both gangs and display the bodies as a warning. The reason why I am not doing that is because I feel Megatron would admire battles and because I should have got this Temple a Protection Force." Three pony acolytes were released. Unarmed, they had no chance to defend the Temple when the gang burst in. Loyal Star made sure they were safe and no other acolytes were in there, and then watched the fight. If it looked like the Temple would be really badly damaged, he would get involved. "My fault, I should have armed you three but I thought noone would dare invade a Temple of Megatron. I will pay for the damage with my own Energon and then get a force up and running so that if this happens again when I am away you can slay the attackers yourself."

[Victorious Decepticons]

Unknown Planet

Masher leaned over and looked at the pony, who was now wearing a space helmet and an oxygen tank, with a bit of curiosity.

"You at least seem ta have da RAM ta not be tryin' ta jump my claim! But what ARE you doing here?! I can see ya jacked dat ship. O'tawise yous would'a known dat dose t'ings can't fly too far. Where were yous tryin' ta get ta?!"

Masher had his hands just above his hip connection. He strongly suspected that the answer would be "Cybertron."

Pesticide had an inkling that these bots weren't exactly friendly with Cybertron, yet there were Decepticon Seals on Masher's wings. Finally, he stammered out the word..."Cy...cyber...tron" with much hesitation.

"I just knew it!" Masher exclaimed. "Dat explains why yous had da guts ta fight back against someone so much bigger 'n you. You t'ink ya can be a Decepticon..." He sneered the word.

"Lemme tell ya what yer really gettin' inta if you join doze hunksa obsolete steel. Ya get a leada who never changes how he does t'ings. Stagnation, your types call it. An' when ya get a big gang up, and decide dat it's time for a Change...bam. Megatron tries ta shut ya down. But d'ere ain't no shuttin' down da Inta'plana'tary Oil Procurement Corpa'ration. And dat's who we are. Da I. O. P. C." He pronounced each letter of his corporation's initials with emphasis. "We's just based somewhere else now. And we already gotta betta design spec for our new builds." He waved his hand toward the green-eyed ones, who Pesticide could now clearly see were newer models. Masher's body, however, was still obviously more powerful and with many upgrades that he surely didn't want to get rid of.

"So whaddya want wit' da Decepticons, anyway?" Masher asked Pesticide.

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

Changeling Hive

It didn't matter to the captured Decepticon whether they went to a foundryman or an oil bog - all he needed was to get within direct flight range of open sky. As soon as he got outside the hive, he activated his servos at full power and snapped the ropes around his feet. Then he fired his jets and blasted off into the air like a missile. Stabilizing wings popped out of his sides to assist his flight. Before long, he would attain Mach 1 and there'd be no hope of the non-jet-powered changelings catching up to him. He readied his FTL drive, intending to activate it as soon as he was above Glorious Equidae's other air traffic.

"That was way too close, ha ha ha" He thought to himself, now enjoying the cat-and-mouse game once again. Behind him, changelings began to take flight in an attempt to catch up.

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

First Temple of Glorious Equidae

Loyal Star was loyal, but he was no military strategist. The attackers, on the other hand, immediately saw how they could turn this into a guaranteed victory for themselves. All they'd have to do is blockade the defense inside the temple until it was time for the next sermon. Then, Loyal Star would barge in and hand them the victory!

Immediately, the Sledges took up defensive positions that would minimize the Doctors' ability to get them out of the way. They took careful aim at all of the means of leaving the Temple, and in the process, left the Doctors with no realistic option but utter defeat. If the Doctors tried to vacate the temple, they would be mowed down by the Sledges; but if they stayed inside, they would be slaughtered by the Temple Priest. As long as Loyal Star didn't change his mind, it looked certain that there would soon be a gang of new dealers for the area: Sledge Hammer and his followers.

Off near the back, one pony seemed to suddenly be more confident. On his knife-scarred flank was a genuine sledgehammer cutie mark. Still, he did not smile, but instead maintained an angry and tough gangster demeanor. He had been in many gang wars in his life, and had learned not to smile or relax until he had his hoof victoriously planted on the carcass of the last member of an enemy group.

[Vallermoore]

Unknown Planet

Masher was rather surprised to see a pony show up on one of the planets near Colton.

"You at least seem ta have da RAM ta not be tryin' ta jump my claim! But what ARE you doing here?! I can see ya jacked dat ship. O'tawise yous would'a known dat dose t'ings can't fly too far. Where were yous tryin' ta get ta?!" He strongly suspected that this pony wanted to become a Deception.

Pesticide hesitated, but he was not going to consider lying to the mighty bots that towered over him. ..."Cy...cyber...tron."

"I just knew it!Dat explains why yous had da guts ta fight back against someone so much bigger 'n you. You t'ink ya can be a Decepticon..." Despite being a Decepticon, he didn't seem to like other Decepticons much. The bots with him were renegade Coltanis who had left Coltan for good rather then live under Megatron's rule, and their light green eyes darkened to a dark sea-green, their engines running roughly. "Lemme tell ya what yer really gettin' inta if you join doze hunksa obsolete steel. Ya get a leada who never changes how he does t'ings. Stagnation, your types call it. An' when ya get a big gang up, and decide dat it's time for a Change...bam. Megatron tries ta shut ya down. But d'ere ain't no shuttin' down da Inta'plana'tary Oil Procurement Corpa'ration. And dat's who we are. Da I. O. P. C.e's just based somewhere else now. And we already gotta betta design spec for our new builds. So whaddya want wit' da Decepticons, anyway?"

"I want to join General Carjack's Genocide Battalion. I want to slaughter humans and other ponies and alien life and whoever the General sends me against. I want to pluck life from wherever it hides and slaughter it." The Coltanis looked rather coldly at the pony. Whilst they didn't particularly like biological life very much, this pony, it was clear, would happily destroy any life including robotic life that fell foul of the Decepticons.

*****
Changeling Hive

Although the Decepticon did get blasted a couple of times by Changeling magic, his Faraday cage was intact and saved his innards from being fried. On bots with damaged Faraday cages, magic could easily free their circits as Jackboots had found. The Decepticon decided to fly away rather then destroying the changelings. After all, they had been defending their Hive when they jumped on him and he had started the trouble, not them. He was glad his love was safe and not in the gullets of hungry changelings.

First Temple of Glorious Equidae

Loyal Star said to the Sledge unicorn leader, gently scooping him up without hurting him in the process "Why don't you just let the Doctor's go and then go after them and finish them off?" Deeply insulted at being scooped up like this, the pony leader knew at this height there was little he could do . If he stung Loyal Star's hand he would fall hundreds of feet down, and Loyal Star was enormous. Unknown to Loyal Star this was once a refugee from Equestria and he knew pony magic could fry Deceptions, but only ones that had already taken damage first. He wanted revenge-he had killed ponies and humans in the past for disrespecting him, but he also knew Loyal Star could squash him like a human might squash a maggot.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Unknown Planet

Masher's engine instantly ran roughly and his eyes went very dark at the mention of the Genocide Battalion.

"A Genacida! You wanna be one'a doze custa'mer-killin' freak jobs?! Do you know how much money dey destroy inna matta of HOURS?! One minute, yer mentally countin' da cash from all dem depressed, scared peeps who'll be just beggin' fer yer dope ta make 'em feel betta...willin' ta pay anyt'ing ya ask...and da next minute Da damned Genacidas show up! Den a couple-a hours latah...you got nuttin'. NUTTIN'! Ya know who I'd like ta genacide? Da Genacidas!!" Masher roared out with a combination of frustration and fury.

In an instant, he began to lower his massive blaster - not to be peaceful, but to take aim at this would-be Genocider standing on the ground in front of him. The artillery-sized barrel moved with surprising speed, and Pesticide wouldn't have long at all to dodge. In less than a second, it would be in close enough position for a wide-angle blast to vaporize the little pony.

Pesticide knew that he'd have to get away from that, and either hide or get out of range of further attempts, or it'd be all over. In a flash, he decided which type of magic he would need to use...

~~~~~~~~~~

First Temple of Glorious Equidae

Sledge Hammer didn't look at all intimidated by being held by the massive machine. Instead, he seemed just as bold as he was before - perhaps even bolder!

"If we withdraw now, we could lose what may well be our only chance of victory!" He stated, with his tone of voice showing that he thought this - and its unacceptability - were obvious. "I say we ask Divine Leader Megatron if THAT is something we, who are engaged in the active practice of the Sacred Decepticon Way at this very moment, should accept! I am absolutely certain that the Divine Leader will bless our plans!"

The statement didn't seem all that bad to Loyal Star. After all, the Priest was just trying to protect his Temple~! Still, Hammer seemed awfully confident, with his muscles tight and vibrating with the desire to kick his ass.

Loyal Star considered this for a few moments, but then agreed. Together, the two prayed for Megatron to send a message as to just who should stand down. For a long while, there was no response. The skies stayed blue with peaceful white clouds, the ground remained stable, and no fires erupted.

And then it happened. A loud, booming voice came from all around them: Megatron's voice. It clearly sounded angry...

"DOCTORS AND SLEDGES! GIVE YOUR OPPONENTS NO QUARTER! FIGHT THEM TO THE DEATH AND CLAIM THEIR SOULS FOR ME!"

"PRIEST! SET THAT PONY DOWN GENTLY, NOW!"

Loyal Star was shocked, but immediately complied and stood back. Instantly, Sledge Hammer galloped back into battle position, dodging Doctor fire along the way. The siege would go on, and now, only time would tell whether his calculations would be correct or if the Doctors would find a way to get out of what was actually a terrible predicament for them.

Loyal Star's internal communicator suddenly alerted him to new orders. He was to appear at the Main Temple on Cybertron for possible disciplinary action for [/i]interfering with proper Decepticon activity.[/i] At best, the order said, he would be forced to take remedial education in the matter of Handling Hot War Between Decepticon Gangs.

Dark Side of a Moon of a Planet Near Glorious Equidae

A small transport plane idled on a makeshift airfield here, and only perked up when he saw a tiny bit of swirling blue light in the sky above. His partner-in-crime had arrived!

Soon, the Decepticon "changeling" slowed to normal flight speed and landed after making a couple of circles as he decelerated to a near-crawl. He landed very gently with his little form; it was nothing like the loud clunk or clang Decepticons usually made. Tiny bodies required more care with their equally-tiny legs and somewhat-delicate flight systems.

"You pulled that off for a long time!" The larger plane said as he let his cockpit cover slide back. "We got a lot of loot back to Cybertron before they caught on!"

The faux-changeling jumped into the other bot, powered by a little blast from jets in his hooves. "It took some doing to avoid ending up in a cocoon!" he laughed as he pulled a few last pieces of double-stolen jewelry from inside a panel in his flank. "I had to try two different lines to get them to let me outside of the hive after they caught on. But sure enough...they did. Then it was just a matter of outflying them!"

All the way back to Cybertron, he regaled his long-distance getaway flier with tales of the changeling hive and all of the cons he had worked on them. His demeanor was excited, like a biological who had just gotten away from a police chase and was now enjoying the victory. This scam may have run its course, but he - and his criminal friend - would clearly get up to others in the near future. Perhaps next time, he would be the one with the plane form; or perhaps they would both pretend to be a cargo service and then fly away with the goods. Whatever they'd do, they'd surely enjoy it.

[Vallermoore]

Unknown Planet

As soon as he heard the name of the Genocide Battalion, Masher's red eyes darkened to a very dark red indeed, whilst his engine ran roughly. "A Genacida! You wanna be one'a doze custa'mer-killin' freak jobs?! Do you know how much money dey destroy inna matta of HOURS?! One minute, yer mentally countin' da cash from all dem depressed, scared peeps who'll be just beggin' fer yer dope ta make 'em feel betta...willin' ta pay anyt'ing ya ask...and da next minute Da damned Genacidas show up! Den a couple-a hours latah...you got nuttin'. NUTTIN'! Ya know who I'd like ta genacide? Da Genacidas!!" If he had been an earth pony, Pesticide would have died then and there-even as a pegasus, he wouldn't be able to get very far unless he had the speed of Rainbow Dash. As a unicorn, he had just enough time to work out how to get away. He cast two spells, an invisibility spell would shield him from the normal cameras which were Decepticon eyes, and a short burst of teleportation to get away from the blaster fire before it could connect and cremate him alive. If Masher ran infer-red or other such things, the pony would be revealed to still be alive, but Pesticide hoped that Masher and the other bots would think he was dead and ashes and would not sweep the area. As it turned out, one bot noticed his trick but said nothing. With certain exceptions such as when fires happened or for truly dire and immediate danger, grassing was very much frowned on, and if anything even more so amongst the IOPC. If he thought Pesticide was a threat to Masher or the other bots it would be different, but the bot didn't feel that one pony was a threat and secretly admired his cleverness.

Pesticide teleported half a mile away and then started looking, still hidden by magic, for a way out. He came across a huge ship, which turned out to be a cargo-bot from Cybertron which was transporting certain goods to semi-hidden shops that were still de facto IOPC controlled. They sold nothing illegal by Decepticon
standards so were tolerated. He fought of going inside, but wondered if the ship was alive and would feel him So he used his magic to make a few blades of grass land just inside the hold like they had been blown by the wind. At once a camera and a blaster, both on long metal struts, came out, and the blaster lightly scratched it's barrel against the area for a second or two and flicked out the grass, stopping the minor itch it had caused. Just walking or teleporting in there would be fatal, as the cargo-bot would feel his hooves and most likely blast him. When a couple of bots came up with some crates, lightly grumbling about having to do the work themselves as the crates were too big to be moved quickly by biological slaves, he teleported to the top of a most certainly not alive crate and was carried into the cargo bot, With the crate between himself and the cargo bot, he would not set off it's floor sensors. And as long as it didn't use non-visual modes to search for him, the invisibility spell made him unseeable by the inside camera-eyes. How deceptive and conniving I am to fool this ship's mind and ride within it and for free too he thought, and wondered to himself if the Great God Megatron knew he was sneaking in. He cast a smallish force-field around him when the ship reached Cybertron that had air that was breathable in it. Now he had to find the Immigration Ministry without being stepped on or otherwise killed before he got there. He wondered what Cybertron would look like from his pony-eye's view, as the cargo bot opened it's hold sending gasses poisonous to him all around-except within his little force-field bubble.

First Temple of Glorious Equidae

Sledge Hammer knew he couldn't directly harm Loyal Star-but there was one thing he could do which was to pray to Megatron. "If we withdraw now, we could lose what may well be our only chance of victory! I say we ask Divine Leader Megatron if THAT is something we, who are engaged in the active practice of the Sacred Decepticon Way at this very moment, should accept! I am absolutely certain that the Divine Leader will bless our plans!"

Loyal Star saw nothing wrong in that. The two sent up their prayers, and the voice of Megatron-Megatron's angry voice, soon was heard. And it came down on the side not of the Decepticon Priest but on the side of the pony.

"DOCTORS AND SLEDGES! GIVE YOUR OPPONENTS NO QUARTER! FIGHT THEM TO THE DEATH AND CLAIM THEIR SOULS FOR ME!"

"PRIEST! SET THAT PONY DOWN GENTLY, NOW!"

Loyal Star gave a tiny jump of shock. "Yes Sir." He put the pony down with great care and stepped well away, and just then he was radioed by High Priest Warfire ordering him to report to the Main Temple on Cybertron at once for retraining-and possible disciplinary action. Loyal Star at once set off, a bit worried. He doubted he would be outright executed; but from the anger in Warfire's voice he was certainly going to be in at least some sort of trouble. Perhaps he would get a mildly unpleasant new posting somewhere that rained a lot; or would end up serving penal time with a temporary slave virus for a bit, or would have a lot more doctrine training. Normally he loved the sight of Cybertron, but now he was worried. He had angered his God. Again. Maybe he'd be demoted to Assistant Priest or even Acolyte.

High Priest WarFire, who had certain insignia painted on that was the Megatronist equivalent of a papal tiara, was waiting with a Face of Megatron and some Enforcers and his eyes were dim. Loyal Star transformed into robot mode, landed and bowed. "Loyal Star, I am disappointed in you today and so is our God. You more then most should know that biological Decepticons who were unlucky and were born rather then built do exist and should not have their proper practise of our Way interfered with just because they are not made of our Metal. I want you to kneel before this Face for a few seconds." Loyal Star did so. One part of the face smiled and the other was sad, in a way that was not possible with biological faces.

"You are clearly very much a Megatronist, and will not face execution, but you are in error in some things. Your former Ponyist taint is still there like slag in a good sheet of Decepticon Steel. I wonder....what to do about you?" Warfire ran his internal fans for a few seconds, indicating deep thought, and spoke again.

Dark Side of a Moon of a Planet Near Glorious Equidae/Space

"If I had to...yuck...be a biological a Changeling is not bad to be. They transform like us, they are deceptive and conniving like us, and share at least some of our values. They hate grasses like we do," the faux changeling said to his friend who had known him almost since he was activated.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Cargo Zone, Cybertron

All the way back to Cybertron, the cargo-bot wondered where that grass had come from. He hadn't been to any planets with organic life on them! Luckily for Pesticide, "from a magical pony who is now in standing on a box in the hold" did not come to his mind.

Soon enough, he landed, still in shuttle mode, in the Cargo Zone. When he opened his hold doors, dock workers moseyed over to do the unloading. They made little chit-chat with the giant bot - just enough to cement that they were friendly - and got to work. That was enough talk for the cargo-bot, who found this part of the process (as well as being loaded) to be somewhat unnerving. He didn't like not being able to handle such things himself, and like most, couldn't wait for his term of employment to be up so he could get back into a proper body and go spend the considerable amount of money he was being paid for doing this job.

As all of this was going on, Pesticide sneaked out - and into a scene he had never imagined. All of the bots here were huge! There were 1,000-foot-tall giants standing around leaning on buildings and tough-looking 200-foot-tall dockers strolling to and fro as if daring anyone to try to tell them to hurry up. Many of the latter had crane alt modes, making them look unusual in robot mode, while others had winching equipment bolted to their arms as modification parts. Meanwhile, he could see shuttle-mode bots coming and going, both in the air and on the ground. It was clear that the Cargo Zone was actually a huge industrial space port, and at least at this time of day, it was very busy despite everyone's unwritten, but unanimous, refusal to do any "hustling and bustling."

The tiny biological had to be very careful to avoid being stepped on. Even at a mosey, the Cargo Zone's giants were moving at between 50-100 MPH thanks to the huge size of their strides. Pesticide had to quickly dodge several times and even teleport once to avoid being splattered. It was only after several minutes that he made it out of the area.

There was no doubt when he left the Zone, and this wasn't just because of the amazingly giant cyclone fence. He easily walked through just one of its openings, and in an instant, found himself on a street with plenty of normal-sized Decepticons. In the air in this area, cargo planes, which were much smaller than the others, arrived to drop off loads for shipments to other planets within the Empire. He now noticed that occasionally, some transport planes came out of the area as well.

He stopped and gave one last look around, noticing that most of the transports bore company logos. Most were foreign to him, but he did notice one that he'd seen before: that of Carjack Agriculture. It was the same logo as was on the apples that the False Alicorn had desperately distributed to the stores before his regime fell.

Another plane also had familiar markings. He'd seen even smaller ones going to a ghetto area on Glorious Equidae where drugs were rampant. This one had a symbol that looked like a chemistry model of a molecule along with its Binary, and on the ones that had come to his planet, the Binary was missing. His eyes tracked the cargo plane as it headed off into the distance, not knowing that it was going in the direction of an ICC warehouse.

As he walked around alternately gawking at the sights and avoiding being accidentally turned into a smear on the pavement, he realized that he had no idea how to get to Immigration from here. He'd only heard rumors of the Cargo Zone, and they were full of tall tales instead of directions.

Suddenly, he heard a startled backfire behind him and then an eager rev. When he turned around, a giant hand was coming right for him. This bot clearly knew exactly what and where Pesticide was - and he didn't intend to use that information for good. Pesticide warped over to the roof of a building to evade capture, and fortunately, he was successful at this.

After several minutes, he stopped crouching and began looking around again. Off in the distance, he could see a huge, tall factory. He got out a small translation pad he had brought along and entered it in. "Decepticon Parts Company Headquarters" came the interpretation. Now, Pesticide at least had some idea of where he was. He knew that this company's HQ was somewhere at the outskirts of the city of Decepticon Headquarters - the same city as the Immigration Office. However, by the looks of it, he was at least 10 miles away from that building. Even worse, the Immigration Office was in the "second ring" - close to downtown but not actually in it - while Decepticon Parts' headquarters and the attached main factory were known to be almost out to the suburbs.

He was likely 50 or more miles away from his actual destination. Thanks to the size of Decepticons, their cities were far larger than biological ones of equal population. In fact, if it wasn't for his new vantage point on top of a 1,500-foot-high building, he wouldn't have been able to even see the DPC building. Even from there, he could not make out the downtown area of the capital. He could, however, see that there were planes in the air all the way out to the horizon, and they seemed to be more congested in the direction of the city. It was likely that the most congestion would be smack over the most popular part of the metropolis...but whether or not that would be the downtown remained to be seen.

~~~~~~~~~~~

First Temple of Megatron

Loyal Star arrived with much nervousness, and soon, an usher somberly led him into Warfire's study. He was immediately taken before the Face of Megatron, and to his relief, cleared of the crime of intentional heresy. He was lucky - the Inquisition was now running at full steam, to the point that Religious Intelligence had stopped bothering to destroy all of the spares of the convicted and instead just slapped magnetic jammers on them to make their executions permanent.

It seemed as though about 1% of the population would be culled, and while the relative percentage was small, it amounted to millions of heretics. Rumors had it that Carjack the Genocider was directing the operation, however, these rumors were false. It was all under General Soundwave's direction thanks to the requirement for carefully sorting through the population instead of just wiping out everyone who got in the way.

Inside Warfire's study, the mood was grim. "It seems as though you have forgotten much of the Decepticon Way. Our Divine Leader provided video and audio of what happened at your Temple, and it doesn't look good at all." He shifted his weight as he remained standing behind his desk, then leaned forward with slight aggression.

"First, you left your Temple in a position where it could be overtaken by common biological street gangs even when it was not open for services. I have already ordered this to be rectified. There shall now be 10 elite Decepticon Military troops stationed there with orders to kill any attackers on sight."

"Second, when you found out that the building had been seized, you forgot the Way. Of course we can't just hand over our forts to whoever happens to get lucky, but we do not indicate a desire to avoid violence. You should have either just watched the show, or started blasting immediately. The 'peaceful priest' is not a Megatronist one. Do you really think our Divine Leader would be trying to find a diplomatic solution?! NO! He'd either watch the events like a spectator at a gladiatorial match, or he'd show them his power and run both gangs off - unless, that is, he chose to side with one of the gangs."

"Even worse, you threatened the gang that was on the winning side and demanded that they lose on purpose!! This is heresy on a level that will result in your punishment. You must never order a Megatronist or a Decepticon to lose! The Doctors had thought they were winning by taking over the Temple and activating its fortress features, but in reality, they'd locked themselves into a jam. Thanks to you, it took Megatron's direct intervention to ensure that the Doctors end up having the tables properly turned on them, and that the populace sees that taking over a Temple is a Very Bad Idea even when no Decepticons interfere."

Warfire slid a wall panel back and revealed a holovision that was showing the current scene at the Temple. He waved his hands a bit and the view switched to the inside. Just then, one of the inside gang was asking about what they would eat...

"They will die embarrassingly of their own foolish plan." Warfire said with just a hint of a snort. "All of their serious members are in there, so they have no way to break the siege. And it's going to get even worse for them..." He waved his hand again, and the external view came back. He then zoomed in on one truly little pony who was sneaking around the back. Soon enough, that pony had turned off the water valve to the building. Behind him, some Sledges took position with rifles and aimed at the valve's area. "Thirst will drive them to seek water within just a few hours, but now, they have no way to get any."

"The Sledges must not be deprived of this win by outside forces. If the Doctors cannot find a way out of this, it is their destiny to perish and the Sledges' destiny to become the Strong in the local drug trade. Their only chance shall come from their own abilities - if they turn out to be smarter or trickier than the Sledges, or figure out the Temple Building's artillery abilities, they can turn the tables and claim the victory."

"It is not different for them than it is for us. They are all Decepticons-in-Spirit, and they had all chosen to fight. And yet there you were, trying to infect the Religion of Strength with PEACENIK GARBAGE!" Warfire actually pumped his arms in an enraged gesture with his engine revving and eyes dark. He was clearly restraining himself from showing Loyal Star some strength of his own.

"Finally, you had unarmed acolytes in there. What could have been the matter with you?! It is flatly against the Decepticon Way to go around unarmed. You should have ordered them to arm themselves the nanosecond they tried to present themselves to the Temple without weapons. The same goes for the rest of the congregation. This is MEGATRONISM you're supposed to be promoting. We will not allow any of our Temples to be filled with 'harmless, innocent' IDIOTS. Trying to attack our installations should have been a death sentence for the Doctors BEFORE they ever got one hoof through the doors, or at worst, the second their intentions became known."

Warfire made some more enraged gestures, but a look of grim disappointment had also come onto his face. He collected himself and then began to speak sternly.

"Priest Loyal Star, you are relieved of your position as the High Priest of Glorious Equidae as of now. You will return to missionary work as a standard Priest after serving a penal sentence, and you will be reassigned to another planet after that time. We cannot allow Glorious Equidae to get the idea that we tolerate weak, 'innocent' churchgoer types within our Grand Religion, let alone give the impression that it is okay for one of our top-ranking people to outright try to order such things. It is Megatronism's goal to not just spread belief in Megatron's divinity, but to glorify the Sacred Concepts of Strength and Wiles. A gang war is a sanctified expression of some of the Temple's core values thanks to its combination of those two things, the Decepticon Way in general, and its dampening effect on the very things you were out there trying to promote. Glorious Equidae shall now see - by learning of your fate - that trying to Ponify, Christianize, or otherwise contaminate our religion with pacifistic "churchy" practices brings strong punishments."

"You will also suffer an extra punishment. You shall perform slave labor for one month at Megatron Metals Mine #90 doing pre-processing. It's an asbestos mine, so they need every robotic worker they can get. As you know from your SEDP, we make heavy use of asbestos for some types of insulation, so you'll be doing a lot of work. "

"Finally, you will be repainted in plain colors for the duration of your mine assignment. A priest on penal duty is not deserving of the automatic respect one gets while showing Blessed Paint."

"Once this assignment is over, you will be re-presented to the Face to see if you have re-earned the privilege of wearing the Blessed Paint once more, or if there are other things you need to do to regain standing in the Temple hierarchy."

Just when Loyal Star was feeling like the universe was crashing down on him, Warfire resumed speaking. "We are only being this light on you because of your prior work, which was far more in line with Divine Leader Megatron's Way. You also have somehow earned those gold stripes, and that shows special favor from our Leader. If you had acted this way on your first assignment, you would surely have been slowly melted down for blasphemy. It is blasphemy for your acolytes to have been helpless due to lack of arms, rather than any true superiority on their opponents' part! Blasphemy for them to not have defended the Temple with its inbuilt arsenal! And blasphemy for you to have responded to the result of this failure by trying to chase away the very people who are, right now, making the Doctors regret ever having seized that building!"

"Attempting to re-seize the Temple, in and of itself, wouldn't have been a bad thing. It is OURS, after all, and the owner of a building has the inherent right to attempt to take it back. However, you should have done it by barging in and fighting against the ones who had actually taken it. This would have been an acceptable expression of the Way, and since you are physically far superior, a glorification of it and a demonstration of why the Ultimate Upgrade is such a good idea. Yet you stood outside talking to Sledge Hammer, and worse, doing it in a way that made him feel humiliated. This could cost us the loyalty of the entire gang if they get the idea that the Temple organization is okay with this sort of thing. Already, I am told that he wants to smash you up, so if he does stay loyal and get the Upgrade, you can count on a duel."

With that, Loyal Star was ordered to fill up with Energon and report to the basement for repainting before heading to Mine #90. Temple workers would be sent to Glorious Equidae to get his things and put them into the organization vault for the duration of the sentence; the loss of personal property would not be part of the punishment.

Finally, Warfire added one last comment: "If the siege does go on for too long - over a month - then we will have to reclaim our property. At that time, we will use the Temple Asset Protection Force for a forceful takeover, in the manner of the businesspeople, and show our vastly superior strength. No one will end up thinking that we talked first out of mental weakness or a lack of combat ability if it comes to this. However, by the strategy the Sledges have been employing, I would guess that this battle will end within three days. Biologicals don't last too long without a constant supply of water. Even if they go to extremes, such as drinking their own urine, they'll only be able to hold out for a few days longer..."

On the holovision set, Doctors could be seen pacing around inside. Outside, the Sledges had settled in for a long wait - and had brought out large water barrels and bags of basic survival food for their own needs.

[Vallermoore]

First Temple of Megatron

As soon as Loyal Star transformed and landed at the gates of the First Temple of Megatron, he turned off his itch sensors so that if he was fitted with a slave chip, at least he would not have to worry about unscratchable itches. He was feeling something rarely felt by a Decepticon worth his Metal-fear. When he was ushered into High Priest Warfire's study, Warfire was not looking happy in the least. The Face of Megatron cleared Loyal Star of outright and deliberate heresy, so execution was off the table, but Loyal Star was still in deep trouble. Biologicals who were angry had eyes bright with anger but with Decepticons it was the opposite. As Warfire spoke, his eyes grew dimmer and darker until by the end, only tiny slits of red light glowed in them, whilst his engine was running like it had grit inside it. Clearly he wanted to blast Loyal Star personally.

"It seems as though you have forgotten much of the Decepticon Way. Our Divine Leader provided video and audio of what happened at your Temple, and it doesn't look good at all."

Leaving the Temple in a position to be taken by street gangs in the first place had been a stupid thing to do. Talking instead of blasting or just waiting to see what happened had been worse. Leaving both the congregation and the acolytes unarmed and defenceless to the point where they had to put up with the invasion of their Temple was a serious error. As a High Priest of a planet, Loyal Star had been the equvilent of a bishop or even a cardinal, but his rise through Megatronism was about to be halted on the spot.

"Priest Loyal Star, you are relieved of your position as the High Priest of Glorious Equidae as of now. You will return to missionary work as a standard Priest after serving a penal sentence, and you will be reassigned to another planet after that time. We cannot allow Glorious Equidae to get the idea that we tolerate weak, 'innocent' churchgoer types within our Grand Religion, let alone give the impression that it is okay for one of our top-ranking people to outright try to order such things. It is Megatronism's goal to not just spread belief in Megatron's divinity, but to glorify the Sacred Concepts of Strength and Wiles. A gang war is a sanctified expression of some of the Temple's core values thanks to its combination of those two things, the Decepticon Way in general, and its dampening effect on the very things you were out there trying to promote. Glorious Equidae shall now see - by learning of your fate - that trying to Ponify, Christianize, or otherwise contaminate our religion with pacifistic "churchy" practices brings strong punishments."

Warfire told Loyal Star that he would now be demoted to the rank of a standard Priest-after a month of slave labour mining asbestos and after painting over his Priestly Paint-and that Glorious Equidae would be informed of his downfall, which showed how serious things were. Normally a badly behaved bot was only publically named in cases of execution. If bots could blush, Loyal Star's cheeks would be red with embarrassment. He had truly messed up and angered Megatron in a big way this time. As he felt that his life was collapsing, WarFire got angrier still. Loyal Star had blasphemed the Holy Faith of Megatron, and it was only because of his earlier service and his double Gold Stripes-a very rare award indeed-that he was not melted down and his soul sent to the Realm of Punishment. Clearly if it were up to Warfire, that would have been Loyal Star's fate. Just before he was dismissed, Warfire said, "A bot you know is waiting for a-quick-talk with you. Go now-get out of my sight."

Outside the study, to Loyal Star's surprise, was Fire Eater, looking very unhappy.

"Fire Eater-how good to see you!"

"You have let me down, you have let Megatronism down, you have let our God down, and worst of all, you have let yourself down. Clearly you have the foul slag of Ponyism or even worse, Christianity, in you, and if I had known that earlier I would have kept you as a pony until you were mentally ready. You were spared this time, but even double Gold Stripes are not a permanent get out of the furnace free card. If you can't purge your inner Ponyism, then Warfire will get the OK to purge you. It's possible that your soul would be given to Tartarus and the pony demons-if not, the Realm of Punishment would certainly claim it. I have been reassigned to take over on Glorious Equidae from you. Go now to face your punishment."

With a bow, Loyal Star did so, and the paint waiting for him was in the colour of the Neutral Realm, whilst the Energon was Low Standard. After painting himself and getting the paint dry, Loyal Star was grabbed by Enforcers and chipped with a slave chip. Soon enough he was in Mine #90 toiling away with other chipped bots ,many of who would never be freed. As a bot who was not to be enslaved indefinitely, he wore an armband. He found that his religious files were not sealed away by the slave chip, so his mind boards could study them and learn how a Priest of Megatron should behave. He felt to himself that his punishment was just. He had allowed Ponyist elements into Megatronism and in doing so had damaged it's reputation. An average Megatronist had known the faith better then he. He thought of how he could end up if he were not careful-tied up and lowered into a pit of molten metal-and of the possible tortures awaiting his soul. As a pony and a Ponyist he had once had to clean the whole temple after letting moths get at and chomp his Bishop's most holy robes, but Megatronist punishments were far more severe.

Glorious Equidae

It took just three days to force out and kill the Doctors and claim their souls for Leader Megatron, but before then Sledge had heard on the radio of the punishment and re-assignment of Loyal Star and grinned.

Cargo Zone, Cybertron

Pesticide started warping himself from building to building. It was tiring, and his air was nearly at and end by the time he warped himself to his destination and made himself known to Scope and Gatekeeper, who filled the room with air that he could breath. Biologicals could hardy fill in papers or answer questions whilst choking to death after all. He bowed low to the two huge robots.

[Victorious Decepticons]

First Temple of Glorious Equidae


Fire Eater and the contingent of elite troops arrived here with solid landings, and just by looking, those who were close enough to see knew that things were about to change. The new High Priest bore a stern no-nonsense expression, and the troops had looks that were even more serious. Said troops all had red background paint and yellow stripes, and these "uniforms" marked them out as different from the rank-and-file of the Decepticon Military. Their blasters seemed to be a bit bigger than the norm as well.

The new High Priest went inside the large door meant for Decepticons, and to his dismay, he was met with a scene of carnage. Blood was everywhere along with dead, looted Doctor bodies. Wordlessly, he got out a big bag from his side panel and began piling the bodies in. He knew that there might be some "leftovers" from the battle, and came prepared. When he got the last one in, he then put all of the bloodied seat cushions and other contaminated fabrics inside. Finally, he tied off the bag and chucked it out of a top window. It landed on the ground 10 biological stories below with a sickening, wet-sounding thud. No pony outside dared to check what was in it.

Once that was done, he went outside and got the hose. After turning the main water valve back on, he dragged the business end inside and opened up the high-pressure spraying end. Only a few minutes later, the bare metal surfaces gleamed once again. Blood-filled water poured out of the big door, and thanks to the way blood can color a huge volume of water, it seemed as though a thousand ponies had been slaughtered instead of the 15 or 20 who had actually met their ends here.

Despite this macabre scene, many of the Doctors had actually been killed outside. As predicted, they had eventually gone for the water valve, only to meet the firing squad of Sledges who had set themselves up to cover that area. Others had tried to sneak out of the windows and smaller doors, and they were both shot and rocketed by the other Sledges. The battle had been fast, easy, and brutal for the Sledges once the Doctors' basic biological drives forced them to seek water. These drives overrode everything else since if they couldn't get it, they would die in a way that was more horrible than being shot. They had already started to become delirious when they'd made their final break.

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

Once the cleanup was complete and new textiles were brought in, the Temple was back in business. At his first sermon, Fire Eater sternly introduced the 10 new troops and made it clear that they were true Decepticon Military personnel instead of Asset Protectioners. "Though it was decided to allow that battle to come to its natural end, it is also natural for a proper Decepticon to protect his assets - especially when it has been proven that said assets face jeopardy. Know that these troops, and I as well, will now be defending this Temple from invasion through the use of immediate and lethal force." Fire Eater warned.

After this, he went through a list of requirements that were to now be enforced. No one was to enter the temple without showing his Megatronism in practical ways, most importantly by being properly armed. Anyone who was uncomfortable with carrying a lethal weapon, he said, was not a true Megatronist and would have to stay home and pray to overcome his reluctance to embrace the full Way. He also announced that weapons training would be provided. "No point in having a gun if you're only going to shoot yourself in the hoof with it," he quipped as a way to lighten the mood a bit.

Over time, Fire Eater would transform the First Temple from what had been a fairly feel-good location to one dedicated to excellence in the true aspects of the Decepticon Way. Loyal Star's children's rooms were changed from ones adorned with cartoon pictures to places in which to practice target shooting, the learning of Decepticon military-heroic legends, and physical exercise. A field trip to a circus was cancelled and replaced with one to a re-enactment of one of Glorious Equidae's big battles from 100 years prior to its unification. This caused some confusion at first, but the foals didn't take long to catch onto the new-to-them martial focus of the Temple and its religion. In fact, they took to it rapidly - amazingly so - and quickly threw their hearts and souls into the adoration of their Divine Leader, Megatron.

Meanwhile, Fire Eater worked on undoing the damage with the adults. Loyal Star may have meant well, but the adults now had the idea that "getting help from the Temple" would involve the organization doing things like taking care of bills in hard times. Many people were disappointed, and some even left for now, when they learned that the official doctrine was for the Temple to help by suggesting connives and dropping hints about robbery targets. If a person failed at both of those, then the suggestion was usually to "get a real job until you can think up a proper solution." That said, those who did take Fire Eater's advice were often pleased to find that when caught, there were no police to report them to - and the Ponyism-infested culture meant that they were also in little danger of being shot.

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

Parents all over Glorious Equidae were amazed, and mostly dismayed, at their foals' eager acceptance of the Decepticon Way now that all interfering influences were gone. Conspiracy theories began to circulate, but these were expertly countered by secret Bureau of Propaganda efforts. Nobody, however, guessed the truth: Megatron had "written the Decepticon Way onto the hearts" of all new souls when he took over that controller soon after his ascension to divinity. Everyone born or built since that day was naturally inclined to be a Decepticon unless they were defective. This caused an ever-widening gulf between the older generations who ran Yahweh's scripts and the newer ones, who ran Megatron's version.

One thing was immediately clear: Now that the planet's social services were all cancelled as being "for wimps," those who let their foals "find" food and money to bring home using the Decepticon Way were doing MUCH better than those who did not. The foals were naturals at it, needing only some practice to get very good at it in the current mixed-ideology environment.

In fact, those who didn't embrace the Way were often parted from what they had by "delinquents" who would come in packs and loot their houses to the bare walls. The old guard realized that if it were to avoid being robbed of everything they owned, they, too, would have to get willing to take matters into their own hands - and fast.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mine #90

Loyal Star's arrival was greeted with a big grin by the overseer, who quickly ordered him to an understaffed part of the complex. To his surprise, his job didn't involve collecting the raw materials. Instead, it was to pull the fibers apart.

A huge container of what appeared to be furry rocks was right there next to the worktable that he and about 20 other bots were positioned in front of. From it, a conveyor belt ran to the other end of the table. None of the "pre-processors" like Loyal Star had to - or got to - stop what they were doing for even a moment. Rocks would be taken to the belt and fibers put back onto a separate section of that belt that ran in the same direction.

At the far end of the table, one bot - the packer - quickly compressed the fibers into big shipping crates and sealed them up. These crates would be sent to Cybertron once there were enough to fill an entire cargo-bot. Loyal Star could hear a slight creak with every move the packer's elbows made. Grease, it seemed, was rarely if ever given to him.

No matter how much the pre-processors worked, the supply of asbestos rocks was neverending. After thinking about this for a while, he realized that more must be being brought to the big bin all the time - far more than were coming back from the far end of the conveyor. For a long time, he couldn't figure it out. No big robots were appearing with bins!

Eventually, he heard it: Human footsteps, constantly coming and going around the bottom of the big bin, along with the sound of small buckets of rocks being tossed into some kind of intake hopper. There were humans in here after all, and they brought the bulk of the materials in an endless stream that never slowed down. His hearing perked up now, and he could hear that some of them seemed healthy enough, with steady breathing and good gait, and others wheezed and coughed while staggering along. He could not, however, turn his head to look over and down to see these doomed workers. The enslavement program kept his eyes squarely on his work and his hands busily removing the industrially-important fibers.

Loyal Star could see no other areas of the mine, but in the distance, he could hear everything from the roar of straining Decepticon engines to the soft clink-clink of human-sized tools. Down one tunnel, there was the occasional muffled sound of a cargo-bot taking off or landing from the surface far above.

Immigration Office, Cybertron

The Immigration agents were surprised to see a biological arrive with no ship. He did still have his space suit, but the air gauge read "empty" - he had to be using some other means of breathing. Pesticide had to ask them to turn the air purifier on since they didn't realize that he was still running out of air.

"It looks like you've had a rather harrowing trip!" Gatekeeper said. "How did you manage to get here without a vehicle - and without ending up as someone's property?"

[Vallermoore]

Immigration Office, Cybertron

After cancelling his force field and several deep breaths to fill his lungs Pesticide explained "I stole a spaceship from Glorious Equidae but it didn't have enough fuel and I ended up on an unknown planet where I met a Decepticon who called himself Masher and the head of an organisation called the IOPC. He was with bots his size but their eyes were not red like yours but green. He asked me why I was there. When I told him I was trying to join you so I could become part of the Genocide Battalion he tried to kill me, and I had to make myself invisible " here he did so before becoming visible again" warp away and then hitch a ride to Cybertron on top of a piece of inert cargo in a cargo bot, before using magic to trap air for myself, warp over here, nearly getting grabbed on the way and introduce myself. I know the tests for biologicals are long and hard to protect the Nation itself. You wouldn't want a weakling, a spy or worse a rebel getting in after all. Although any biological body is weak compared to yours but I can't help being born as a foal rather then being built as a bot. I will turn side on now so you can see my cutie mark easier." He did so.


Mine #90

Loyal Star considered his punishment just and at least his mind and religious files were free. So he was able to mentally study his mistakes. Elements of Ponyism, or worse, Christianity did not react well with Megatronism any more then water tipped into molten metal. Fire Eater was now having to clean up his mess on Glorious Equidae and no wonder he was angry. It was probably his loyalty and his rescue of Megatron which had spared his life-but if he coulden't purge his Ponyism himself, he would be purged by fire. He opened his Afterlife file and then the Realm of Punishment file and didn't like at all what awaited blasphemers-and blasphemy was what he had done. He looked for his Ponyism and found it in a file of it's own, created a Blasphemy file, moved the Ponyism inside and set a silent alarm to go off if he even seemed like repeating his earlier mistakes. He wondered to himself why the human slaves ended up here. The packer had no punishment band so he must have been hacked by a slaver and sold here and might be insane by now. When his virus had an hour left to go, he was taken from the mine, as bots had been known to open fire when their pre-set punishment viruses ran out. He was checked by a mechanic and then sent back to the First Temple of Megatron where as he landed his virus expired and he could move freely again.

Warfire was waiting with a Face that Loyal Star had to kneel in front of again to see if he had been punished enough or needed still more punishment. Loyal Star hoped very much that he would pass and made a secret, silent prayer that he would do so.

First Temple of Glorious Equidae

Fire Eater showed up, cleaned out the dead bodies, hosed the place down and then got the acolytes to do the general low level tidying up. New textiles were brought in from Cybertron and in his first sermon, Fire Eater made it clear things would change and critized Loyal Star for rusting Megatronism and that any raiders of the Temple would be met with lethal force. Guns were to be purchased by all except the young foals-young foals didn't understand firearm safety protocols properly-and even foals should get swords or knives to get them used to being armed. Soon enough the foals got used to the new ways. When a foal got a cutie mark Fire Eater had a look at it. Most were Decepticon Seals but a non Seal didn't automatically mean enslavement or execution. A pony who could sing well or build things or was good at romance was perfectly ok. Until one day a foal gained a banned Big Mouth mark-which would mean major trouble for the luckless foal and also the parents who were called up in front of the congregation.

Fire Eater also had to sort things out with adult ponies and encourage both raids and upgrades-stronger muscles, faster wings, better spells. Under his capable stewardship things were prospering.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Mine #90

When the Temple people came for Loyal Star, the overseer was clearly saddened at the loss of the worker. Of course, this is the precise reason Temple people had come: To ensure that they got their priest back! While this particular overseer hadn't pulled anything, it wasn't unheard of for a temporary slave to "disappear" when it came time for the return. By coming in person, the Temple staff helped to ensure that there would be none of that happening.

"If you ever need a job, you know where to come," the overseer said to Loyal Star. "If you come as a free bot, it's 200,000 Cubes for 6 months' solid labor." Cheap. Iron mines usually paid almost twice that. If Loyal Star could have responded, it would have been with a snort. He couldn't wait to get home and throw his 95%-clogged air filter into the garbage with one hand while drinking a big glass of Supreme with the other! Alas, he was still under the control of the virus, so he could only go silently with the Temple staffers.

~~~~~~~~~~~

First Temple of Megatron, Cybertron

Back at the Temple, he was freed of the virus and checked over by one of their mechanics. This mechanic had an air filter all ready to go since he knew that mine dust always destroyed that part first. Then, he went over Loyal Star's body with a grease gun and greased every single joint, bearing system, servo system, and all other grease-loving parts there were. Though the work was done very perfunctorily given Loyal Star's status as one who was coming off of punishment, it felt heavenly to the freed slave. It took over two hours in total to wipe away all of the easily-reached mine dust and regrease all of those parts, and throughout the process, Loyal Star could feel his grit level - which his bio-based system interpreted as inflammation - dropping.

"All of that grit represents the corrosion you had brought to the Religion," came Warfire's voice. "Hopefully your time in the mine gave you enough of an opportunity to reflect and remove that corrosion from your own ways of thinking."

Loyal Star realized then that he'd better not ask about the hapless humans he had heard in the mine that was surely deadly to them. It might be seen as a sign of weakness to care at all about such insignificant creatures.

When he was brought before the Face, it seemed to already be smiling just a little before returning to a neutral expression. "Divine Leader Megatron," Warfire intoned, "Are you pleased with Loyal Star's reformation, or is there more for him to do?"

In the Megatron Mansion, the actual Divine Leader groaned a little. His responsive Faces were impressive and helped cement faith in his religion, but he was always getting asked things through them. Soon, he decided, he would put some of the answers into an automated program. This answer, however, needed his direct attention. Loyal Star had brought him back from the afterlife once, but now, he had been straying from the Way. This had to be caught before it got any worse, lest if a next time came, Loyal Star might turn and be the one to destroy his last Save "for the greater good" instead of installing it into a new form.

The Face assumed a skeptical expression, and in a very rare event, the lips began to move. "This one is still too concerned about the condition of mere beta creatures, and by extension, hopeless weaklings in general." Megatron's voice stated flatly. "My next order is not a punishment per se, but an exercise to build the proper attitude. Loyal Star, you are to report to the Main Military Base for further orders. Your new deployment will last for one month."

After that, the Face returned to its inert form, clearly now disconnected from the Spirit of Megatron.

Warfire looked shocked. Rarely had Megatron actually spoken through the Face! He was, however, worried about what this deployment may be - though he said nothing about it.

"It is best that you be repainted in something other than Neutral Gray, and that you have some proper Energon before you report. Soldierly duties are not done well on Low Standard, and gray just isn't the color of someone who is battle-ready."

Loyal Star nodded his assent, but inside, was disappointed that he would not yet be able to have a big glass of Supreme. At least he now had a clean air filter and full grease job...

Main Military Base

Upon arrival, Loyal Star was immediately checked over by a mechanic once again - this time, a military one. To his surprise, he was given a few new parts; his finger joints and other fine-mobility aspects were deemed too damaged by his time without grease to risk them failing in a hot battle situation. Then, he was sent on, with orders to report to the second-floor office of the general in the Seventh Administration Building.

As soon as he got to that building, there was no doubt which general he would be serving. The black, shadowed skull-and-wrenches were burned into the main door, apparently by the careful application of blaster fire, and the thick metal door itself was foreboding. Loyal Star worked the latch, which opened with an equally-foreboding clunk though it was mechanically perfect. This sound was clearly engineered into its operation.

Upstairs, he easily found a door that was adorned similarly to the main one and opened it up. It, too, clunked, though not nearly as loudly. He gained his bearings as the heavy door closed behind him, and found himself in the stern gaze of the Genocider himself. Carjack was showing his own skulls-and-wrenches, and his golden, etched blasters gleamed in the light from the ceiling fixtures.

"I am not at all pleased that you have been assigned to my Battalion, and for a month, no less! My job now is to knock the wimp out of you by taking you on a proper extermination mission!" Carjack looked both angry and ready to facepalm. He saw this former pony as wholly unsuited for committing even one murder, let alone a massacre or a genocide. Carjack worried that Loyal Star would end up wimping up his Battalion instead of it working out properly.

"I will warn you right now that ANY attempts to soften my Battalion, act mealy-mouthed, or otherwise interfere with its Mindset and Purpose will result in your immediate deactivation by whatever means are handy, and damn the consequences!!" Carjack threatened with full seriousness. "The Genociders are my work; my pride and joy, each one carefully vetted and trained! It will be only over my dead body and regiment of Spares that this gets tarnished!" He aimed his blaster, not directly at Loyal Star, but close enough to it to show his desire to wipe him out on the spot.

"You will install these Fast Integration Data Packs and practice using these Mission Simulation Exercises upon reaching your quarters. It should take you all night and into the day. Then defrag from 9-noon. You and the others will receive your mission briefing then, and training for that mission shall begin."

Carjack directed him to a certain room in the barracks across the street and sent him off. The General's somewhat dimly-lit hard eyes lingered in his mind. Would he be ordered to massacre a bunch of helpless civilians? The answer was almost surely yes: He hadn't been assigned to Carjack's wider division, but the Genocide Battalion in particular...

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

Immigration Office

Gatekeeper and Scope turned even more processing threads to Pesticide when he mentioned that he wanted to be a Genocider. But first, Scope responded to the mention of the IOPC.

"So Masher's still active after all!" He laughed a little and was obviously pleased. "We knew he wouldn't just go away so easily! We've long suspected that some stores here are still run by his syndicate through front operators! Ha ha ha, so he's running with some Coltanis now. Obviously he hasn't quite built himself his own army yet. I'm sure one's coming, though!" The response was something like that of people who watched news of exploits of notorious criminals in biological lands. It was all fun since it was just reports and rumors from his perspective. Pesticide, who'd looked down the barrel of one of Masher's blasters, was not nearly as excited about this guy.

"And he hates the Genociders," Gatekeeper added. "Well, it makes sense. Every time we invade a place, the IOPC would want to set up drug distribution in the cities. But big cities are usually the most insurgent-filled places, so Megatron orders the Genociders in to 'pacify' it in the most permanent way possible. Then, boom. No more customers for Masher. It must frustrate the slag out of him."

"Speaking of Carjack, though, he wouldn't have happened to give you some kind of card or something~?" Gatekeeper asked. He didn't quite hold his hand out, but was clearly hoping that'd be a "yes."

[Vallermoore]

]First Temple of Megatron, Cybertron[/b]

It was a great relief for Loyal Star to finally be free of the virus and to be fixed and oiled again. He decided that once his punishment was over a visit to Debugging would be called for to make sure that it had not left him mentally ill. Warfire radioed him, still annoyed with him even now. "All of that grit represents the corrosion you had brought to the Religion. Hopefully your time in the mine gave you enough of an opportunity to reflect and remove that corrosion from your own ways of thinking."

"It most certainly did, Your Holiness," Loyal Star politely replied. He was brought before a Face again to see if his punishment had been enough and the Face spoke out loud. Megatron was privately worried about the state of Loyal Star's loyalty. Eternity was a long time and there was always some freak chance waiting out there that might send him back to the afterlife-and if that ever happened, he wanted to make sure Loyal Star would restore him again and not turn traitor. "This one is still too concerned about the condition of mere beta creatures, and by extension, hopeless weaklings in general. My next order is not a punishment per se, but an exercise to build the proper attitude. Loyal Star, you are to report to the Main Military Base for further orders. Your new deployment will last for one month." Before Loyal Star could say "Yes Sir" the face was inert once more. Warfire said "It is best that you be repainted in something other than Neutral Gray, and that you have some proper Energon before you report. Soldierly duties are not done well on Low Standard, and gray just isn't the color of someone who is battle-ready."

Main Military Base

Denied his Priestly paint yet, Loyal Star was painted green and brown with his double Gold Stripes, and had some average level Energon to get his strength back, and flew over to the Main Military Base. No military bot accused him of trespassing when he entered the military-only areas of the base and reported to the office of General Carjack. The General was anything but happy to see him. His eyes were a dim red of coals that were nearly cooled into ash, and his engine was running like it needed a mechanic to check it for damage. Loyal Star being born as a pony as such was not the cause of his anger; instead he thought Loyal Star was very much the wrong pony for his Genocide Battalion.

"I am not at all pleased that you have been assigned to my Battalion, and for a month, no less! My job now is to knock the wimp out of you by taking you on a proper extermination mission! I will warn you right now that ANY attempts to soften my Battalion, act mealy-mouthed, or otherwise interfere with its Mindset and Purpose will result in your immediate deactivation by whatever means are handy, and damn the consequences!! The Genociders are my work; my pride and joy, each one carefully vetted and trained! It will be only over my dead body and regiment of Spares that this gets tarnished!" Carjack didn't know how Loyal Star had got those Gold Stripes but even if he had known it would not have made a difference at all. Even if both his blasters had somehow failed, he would have torn Loyal Star apart with his bare hands if need be to protect the mindset of his Genocide Battalion. Even a human who knew nothing about Decepticons could have seen that General Carjack was angry. He wanted to blast Loyal Star but restrained himself-Loyal Star had neither done or said anything wrong to his Battalion and if he blasted Loyal Star right now, Megatron would not be pleased at His orders being foiled. He did give Loyal Star a close up view of his blasters though. "You will install these Fast Integration Data Packs and practice using these Mission Simulation Exercises upon reaching your quarters. It should take you all night and into the day. Then defrag from 9-noon. You and the others will receive your mission briefing then, and training for that mission shall begin."

Loyal Star bowed low before the angry General. "Yes Sir." He went to the area he was sent to, virus checked what he had been given and then installed them. After a history of the Genocide Battalion and why it was formed it mentioned that as far as immigrants were concerned, the policy was "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Immigrant bots were to keep their biological origins a secret, and bots were not to ask other bots if they had been born rather then built. After a bit more info, Loyal Star activated the Mission part, and found himself in space flying with the rest of the battalion, General Carjack in front. Loyal Star was careful to keep within his place in line behind his General. Unlike civilians, military bots that had been trained were strictly disciplined. A large planet that had both humans and sapient ponies living on it was coming up in front of him. The cyber-General Carjack turned to give the Battalion it's orders.

Immigration Office

Gatekeeper and Scope found Pesticide's brush with death amusing. When they asked him about the card he used his magic to pull it from a saddlebag, and a hand came down from Gatekeeper. Two thin metal bits came from a finger to hold the tin card and an eye put on magnification to read it. "Well, this card is genuine. What's that cutie mark of yours on your flank and how did you earn it?"

[Victorious Decepticons]

Carjack's Office

Unknown to Loyal Star, the training sim was broadcasting images and sounds from its operation right from Loyal Star's internal radio as it ran. Carjack hawkishly watched a holovision in his office, waiting to see the new draftee's response to the situations it would present. A couple of trainers were there with him so they'd know exactly what they'd need to work on to try to bring this weak-sauce greenhorn at least somewhat up to snuff.

"The Temple says he was sent here so that he may either harden up, or show his true colors as a cultural corroder," Carjack explained to the trainers. "If it was up to me, I'd have deactivated him on the spot. He must have kissed a lot of ass somehow. His file shows that he's far more into things like charitable help and preserving life than showing people proper Decepticon ideals. Personally I think he's a crypto-liberal." The General swiveled around in his chair to face the trainers. "If he makes one false move - one un-Decepticon statement - add him to the Battalion's Score."

The trainers nodded with severeness.

At this moment, the holovision sprang into action, and Carjack returned his attention to it...

~~~~~~~~~~

Barracks

It didn't take long at all for sim-Carjack's voice to come through the "game."

"See that planet there? It's full of even more iron than Earth. That'll make it easy to turn into a wonderful, Cybertron-like environment. Next door, there - " the view shifted to a much larger planet which held many cities, but which wasn't quite advanced enough to field a space military - "THAT planet holds over 10 trillion barrels of oil within very easy reach. Our goal is to take this first planet and use it as a base from which to drain the second. Oil will be processed on the one we take, while the second one's population will be put to labor pumping up even more oil for us."

"The problem is that this planet we're coming up on is infested."

All of the other sim-Genociders acted as if they knew exactly what that meant, and they began to move with purpose. They moved into an attack formation that was used to create fast, widespread, and devastating damage. Loyal Star recognized the pattern, which had only been mentioned in passing during his first stint in the Military, but had never taken part in exercises that used it.

Across the fully-immersive scene Loyal Star was seeing, the words came up: "GOAL: WIPE OUT ALL SAPIENT LIFE ON THE PLANET OTHER THAN YOUR OWN GROUP."

If it had been a video game meant for the immature, such a mission would have been nothing but fun. Wanton destruction that doesn't include realistic levels of detail tends to be thrilling and cathartic. Military sims, however, were quite different in this regard. Once the Genociders were even spotted by the sim-targets below, Loyal Star would see expressions of great fear, hopelessness, confusion, and more. Then, when the firing started, he would see their faces contort into agony, the "why me" look, and other disturbing expressions. Misses with the blasters would bring about good views of people with burnt-off limbs or even full-body char, with the latter walking around zombie-like as they screamed.

It would be gory, it would be gritty, and it would spare no aspect of what it really looks like to be on the committing end of a genocide.

Normally, applicants to the Genocide Battalion who could not go through with it with at least a neutral attitude, and preferably one of some eagerness, would be cashiered into wider Division as regular troops. The protocol, however, had been secretly altered for Loyal Star. He would not be able to avoid Genocider service nearly that easily, especially since he was only to do one real-life mission.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Immigration Office

Even as Loyal Star was likely wishing he could be in any other military group, a pony stood here with no other goal than to get into that very one.

"My Mark came after I had successfully gained revenge on someone," Pesticide said proudly. "His carcass had just hit the ground when I got it. It's a sawtoothed boomerang, and it represents how I avenge myself in lethal ways. The concept is that an enemy throws a weapon, but I send it right back at him in a very lethal way."

"I realized early on that society in general had treated me badly, and it got even worse after I got my Mark. Everyone wanted to be able to pull stuff on me and not get any payback! They tried to pretend I was bad when I took vigilante action. Needless to say, that just made me want to kill the entire lot of them. I couldn't see a way to do it, though...at least, not until the Decepticons came to my planet. Then, I met one who called himself Carjack the Genocider, and word came fast that he wasn't only a mass murderer himself, but has an entire Battalion dedicated to the art of payback on a grand scale. And so I talked to him, and he gave me his card."

"I know that not all of his targets are personally known, but I know enough about coward ponies and braggart humans to know that I'd have no problem with wiping out any particular population of them. So, here I am. The General says I have to be a citizen before I can join what is surely the best Battalion in the universe. Even other groups who have been dedicated to genocide haven't had the guts to stand somewhere and outright say so, and they always start out limiting themselves to local targets, too. With the Decepticons, I can see the universe - and paint it with my rage as well."

Glorious Equidae

If the False Alicorn was still in charge, the wrong cutie mark would mean certain death. This was not the case for the new Big Mouth, though he necessarily received a hostile reaction to its appearance. In fact, Fire Eater's first thought was indeed to deactivate him, and he only held back because he understood that the arrival of a cutie mark was, at least somewhat, an automatic biological process for the species.

Of course, the Decepticons had NO use for a standard nark or someone who would blab their plans to the wrong people. Instead, after secretly consulting with the First Temple on Cybertron, it was decided to attempt to get this pony to spill other people's beans TO the right Decepticons.

"There are many things that can be done with one of those if we can be sure he's on our side!" Came Warfire's secret response. "He can be channeled into being a ForIntel agent, a corporate spy, a financial markets mole, a mole at an oil exploration company...there's all sorts of ways we can use people who can't keep a secret. The hard part is ensuring that he keeps his own status, and our secrets, secrets! This will require plenty of intense training, with punishments like painful shocks for telling the wrong person the wrong things."

"Big mouths should, of course, be officially held as second-class beings at all times. Not that you tell him that yet. Just don't say anything around him that he doesn't absolutely need to know, at least not until he is properly disciplined in the art of espionage against our rivals. We will, in effect, brainwash him into being an excellent spy - and as a Big Mouth Mark bearer, he will have no right to decline. As of now, he is effectively the property of the State. By the time we're done with him, he should be as loyal to us and Divine Leader Megatron as someone who was raised in a Cybertronian Raising Center. I'll get the details of how to do it as soon as I can."

Despite these orders, it was still important for the congregation to know that it was not acceptable to raise a foal in a way that'd lead to him acquiring a Big Mouth mark. The parents and him were brought to the front of the Temple, and the parents berated for their inability to stamp out the desire to nark. They were placed on a sort of probation and "branded" as untrustworthy, and no Megatronist (outside of a spying conspiracy) would tell them or their foal any secrets ever again. In fact, they would be outright shunned by the average person, who wouldn't speak to them AT ALL.

The foal, however, was given the chance to "redeem himself" by entering the State raising program Warfire had spoken of. If he declined, he would face deactivation as defective. While harsh, he at least had an opportunity to avoid death - something the False Alicorn had never given to anyone in his position.

[Vallermoore]

Immigration Office

Gatekeeper smiled and extended his hand. "Jump up on here please. Don't worry, you won't be killed or hurt or enslaved. I just want to look at you a little more closely." He gently touched the cutie mark and looked at it with greater magnification, treating the pony like a human would treat an insect that he or she did not want to hurt, before putting him back on the table. "That is one impressive cutie mark, and you clearly seem to be the right kind of pony to immigrate. But it isn't easy; we don't want weaklings and even more so, we do not want rebels. Although in many ways we are freer then most because of a lack of many laws, we are a military dictatorship. We do have a few treason laws, and those who break them are normally punished with death. Here is a questionnaire to take-it's a long one but you will be granted enough time to finish it. Don't lie-it is to see if you would be able to live in our piratical society without being melted down for treason. If you pass it, there is a survival test where you can choose a place on Decepticon Earth to live for three months without dying, being killed, or being captured. If you survive that and still want to join us, you will take the oath as a biological, and then and only then be downloaded into a Decepticon body. Which hurts until it is over. After that you get a token Cube of Energon from the Government-unless Cybertron is suddenly attacked at that moment in which case you get an extra two Cubes to ensure you don't starve to death defending the Metal Planet-and a quick lesson in flying safely before you are on your own until your first conscription stint a month later. After that is over, you are free to do your own thing as long as you don't break the treason laws. You'll have a treason file in your mind boards so you don't accidently commit treason by mistake."

"One more thing-if you are some kinds of spy or traitor, your mind will be read as it is ported to a Decepticon body, and if we find out those thoughts are there, your mind boards will be melted down instead of being installed and your soul sent to the Realm of Punishment, our Hell." The papers were handed over to Pesticide to fill in.

Glorious Equidae

Fire Eater's first instinct was to blast the unicorn foal with it's hated Big Mouth cutie mark, but if he did that he would be no better then the False Alicorn-whose rule had crumbled into dust because he purged so many ponies that they threw him out. He wanted to avoid being so cruel that the ponies who had willingly joined the Decepticon Empire were pushed into rebellion. Perhaps some use could be made of at least certain Big Mouths. If they could be trained properly, they could be spies. They could be used changeling style to replace anti-Decepticon leaders with the right disguises. They could be moles. They could be inspectors of their fellow ponies if such were needed. Those who could not be trained properly would be killed instead. The parents would not be killed, but instead they would be slightly hurt and deeply shamed. Fire Eater called them up to the front of the Temple and berated them, his eyes dim with anger and his engine running roughly. "How could you??! You have brought your foal up as an anti-Decepticon nark!! Under most circumstances, a nark is killed, but I am better then the False Alicorn. He will be taken from you, and either trained properly in which case you will get to meet him again so you know he is OK-or he will be killed and cremated and his ashes scattered in water or something as unpleasant. As for you two, you will bear the Mark of Shame for this disgrace." And he picked up the parents lightly, and used a weak blast from his blaster to X out their cutie marks with great care, causing a burn wound that would heal in time but forever scar the marks of which sapient ponies were so proud.
As for the foal, he was temporarily scooped up and caged in a slave cage awaiting transfer for training which might or might not lead to his execution.

Carjack's Office

Unknown to him Loyal Star was being watched by a couple of Genocide Battalion Trainers and, for now at least, General Carjack himself. If he messed up in this sim in any major way (small things like accidental friendly fire in the heat of combat could be overlooked) he would not be merely reassigned but had a very real possibility of execution, unless Megatron intervened and spared his life. Carjack was serious about protecting his Battalion from corrosive talk or behaviour, deadly serious.

The Sim

Loyal Star was trained enough to avoid a crash and take up his place in the formation. As they moved in, only a few cannon batteries opposed them. Loyal Star easily dodged but the bot behind him went down. Because of their slow speed, cannon balls were a real threat to Decepticons in plane mode who found it hard to dodge properly. A few blasts took out the cannon batteries, and the ponies attempted over a loudspeaker to surrender. "No surrender is to be accepted-KILL THEM ALLLLL!" the sim-General Carjack said, and as they landed Loyal Star acted how he was supposed to. Any pony in the streets or squares or flying along he blasted or stamped on. He pulled down houses and Ponyist Temples, killing anyone inside, and did his bit. When a pegasus with a Decepticon Seal flew up, protesting he was a Megatronist, Loyal Star replied "Megatron will know His own," and blasted the pegasus dead. Looking at the body, he quickly peeled off the Seal which proved to be a fake, revealing a Ponyist cutie mark underneath. He got back to it, setting fire to a forest which burned very quickly and faster then a pony could run, then sat on a manhole to fill the sewer with poisonous exhaust and kill the ponies inside.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Immigration Office

Pesticide had no trouble filling in all of the paperwork, and he passed quite easily thanks to all that he had learned to do in order to hide his hoofprints in regards to the "unexpected" deaths of two of his targets. He had even managed to talk his way out of serious punishment for the one he did get busted for, and this all but negated the negative points gained from having been busted at all. However, due to his great success at avoiding a lifetime prison sentence or execution, and at hiding his other activities, the Immigration agents wanted to see proof that he wasn't just outright making up his claims.

After much deliberation, Pesticide revealed the name of one of his now-dead targets. Soon, ForIntel agents were on the way to Glorious Equidae to secretly dig up the body so it could be examined by Biological Research. They came in the middle of the night under cloaking so as to not cast any suspicion on Pesticide regardless of the results. After retrieving the corpse of the earth pony, they even made sure to put down sod so that the digging would look, if not undetectable, at least as if it had been done by the cemetery management.

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

Biological Research Division, Earth

It was rare that this division was asked to do a proper autopsy on a body where the means of death was unknown (rather than resulting from its research), and even rarer for the body to have had years to decompose before it was done. However, thanks to embalming and a generally dry burial site, there was some non-bony tissue left to check. The Division also checked the bones and hair, just in case there was some chemical sequestered there that was undetectable in the soft tissue.

Soon, they rendered their report. Despite never being told the circumstances surrounding the death, so that their report wouldn't be biased, it was right on the first line:

Cause of Deactivation: Murder
Means: Likely addition of [i]Senecio sp. mix to standard grain-based silage
Notes: Disease cluster likely in area of feed distribution[/i]

The Biological Research Division didn't have any specific reason to assume that the contamination wasn't a mistake. They were simply Decepticons, and in Decepticon lands, such things just did not happen by accident. Robots, after all, would have no problem remembering what plants not to put into food meant for Equus species once they learned that information - so if any such plant was there, it was surely meant for someone unwanted, or at best, was added by someone who just wanted to see the world burn.

~~~~~~~~~~

Immigration Office
The Next Day

"So how'd you get that poison weed into the target's food?" Pesticide awoke from a makeshift bed to Scope asking this question with a somewhat impressed look on his face.

After becoming completely awake, Pesticide explained that the despised pony was a regular - but very rude and aggravating - customer of a food production company he'd been working at. Over the course of several months, he'd driven Pesticide to a blind rage with his rudeness, personal insults, and unreasonable demands. Yet, the company owner wouldn't agree to tell this guy to take his business elsewhere - and worse, kept Pesticide assigned as the sales contact for him.

This was a wholesale customer, and by his weight, Pesticide knew that he must typically sample a whole lot of the goods before putting them up for retail sale at his own store. Pesticide had figured, correctly, that the infuriating stallion would therefore eat far more of this food than any of his own customers except, perhaps, for one or two. He realized that he could use a toxin that would kill someone who ate too much of it, but leave most ponies in decently good shape, and nail the target with little collateral damage.

After researching, he came across the name of the needed species of plant. They grew wild along the roadsides, and it was easy for him to collect them and dry them out. Then, he was, after quite some time, able to convinced the boss to transfer him from sales to production for a few months "so that he could go back and explain the process better." Needless to say, he used his new job in the factory as an opportunity to toss some dried Senecio leaf flakes into every single batch.

Soon enough, the rude pony was buying the tainted food, and true to form, eating as much of it as he could hold before putting the rest up for sale. With this type of plant, liver damage doesn't show up until it's already too late, so for about 6 months, it seemed like nothing was happening.

"And then his warehouse was suddenly 'under new management.'" Pesticide concluded with satisfaction.

Research showed that two other ponies, not even known to Pesticide, had indeed succumbed to the poison. They hadn't eaten as much as the target, but they had still consumed an amount highly above average. As non-genociders, Scope and Gatekeeper were a bit put off by the method Pesticide had used and the collateral damage he had accepted as fine, but they also knew that the willingness to kill anybody who happened to get in the way would be a positive in the eyes of a Battalion dedicated to wiping out entire populations...

~~~~~~~~~~~

"It is an interesting method you chose, and definitely slick enough to qualify as an expert instance of the Decepticon Way," Scope announced. "Your test results are also well into the passing range. The only question now is which part of Earth you would like to use to take your test."

As usual, the agents offered a variety of major biomes and continents to choose from.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Sim

Loyal Star could hear the cries and pleas of the ponies trapped below his deadly exhaust first get loud, and then turn to moans, and then go entirely silent with the perfect clarity of someone who was actually in such a scene. He was surprised that it didn't bother him more, but figured that's because he knew it was a sim despite its extreme realism.

Within what seemed to be a couple of hours, the sim was over. The view faded to black, and the message "MISSION SUCCESSFUL: SCORE 80%" shined up. When this faded out, it was replaced with a glowing red-and-white image of the skull-and-wrenches. Finally, a new scene arose, but this one was obviously just an image. It showed Decepticon troops now constructing large refineries and cargo-bot landing strips. The camera panned over to the larger planet, which was now a sitting duck and helpless before the raiders that would soon be coming there. Swells of hopeful, patriotic music played as this wide-open oil world filled the view.

Loyal Star was then dumped back into reality as the program shut itself off. He then went onto reading the basic manual-chips for the Battalion that had been provided.

~~~~~~~~~~

Carjack's Office

"He did much better than I expected," Carjack said with a small amount of pleasant surprise in his voice. "He only lost 20% for bothering to see if that one pony was a real Megatronist. But good training will teach him to keep his momentum during a mission."

Despite this assessment, he and his Trainers were skeptical. Practically anyone could do a genocide in a game. On Earth before the Invasion, series like Rome: Total War were bestsellers, and GTA was also a hit - but most of the players were actually wimps when it came time for them to engage in any of the depicted acts. They discussed their misgivings, but would not pre-reject Loyal Star now.

~~~~~~~~~

Training Field

Training for the Genocide Battalion was, in some ways, like any other Decepticon military training - but in other ways, it was quite different. Loyal Star found himself not with those who were new to military service, but instead, with a group of about 100 bots who were either eager to make the cut or who had, essentially, been drafted due to murderous acts that had been detected by DomIntel. The latter looked somewhat pissed, yet they also clearly wanted to learn about methods that would take their deadliness levels up by orders of magnitude.

When the General arrived to give his welcome speech, all came to attention. The speech itself was like nothing Loyal Star had heard before, with the General talking about how these troops were the best in the Military and how they would cleanse the Universe of as many beta creatures as possible in as short of a time as possible. "When we come in, our enemies know that it is ALL OVER FOR THEM! WE, not the rest of the Military, are the ones who ensure permanent results! WE make it so there are no insurgencies! WE get rid of the infestations of resistors that would otherwise fester! It is US and ONLY US who make it so a Decepticon invasion doesn't just go smoothly, but has trouble-free results in the centuries to come!"

"Each kill you make on a Battalion mission is a glory to yourself, the Empire and to Megatron! Each one shows the universe what you really think of the beta creatures that infest it! What you think about their inferior ways! The way they waste the resources that make up their very cells! Each kill proves your undeniable superiority over the inferiors who would have us consider them our equals!!"

"To refine metal, you have to get rid of the impurities! The inferiority! We are the skimmers of the Foundry; we are the ones who cleanse the Pit so that good Decepticons may be forged! WE ARE THE GENOCIDERS!"

A giant cheer came up even though nobody knew what training held for them. Carjack went on for several minutes more, getting everyone completely roused up and ready to blast whatever they were pointed at. Then, they were all taken to a large, open-field range. There, they found what appeared to be a population of human civilians in a city, all of whom were going about their business as if they had no clue what was to come. There were even cars and buses in the streets and pedestrians on the sidewalks.

Here, the size difference between the humans and the Decepticons was extremely apparent. There would be no close-up looks at the faces of these people without zooming in one's optics, and revving one's engine could drown out all but the loudest of screams. They really were a bit like mice - remote due to their size difference even though they were right there in plain sight.

"This is the scenario!" Carjack shouted out. "We've landed outside of this city and walked up, and Megatron has decreed that it is to be returned to vacant land! So - make it vacant using the methods in Training Manual Tactics 1!"

This scene was, in ways, more realistic than the sim since it had no dramatic close-ups or other such touches. If Loyal Star didn't remember that humans can't live on Cybertron without breathing apparati, he would have sworn that the Decepticons had actually imported an entire city full of them.

There was no time to think about it other than that. The trainees were moving into position, forming a semi-circle around one side. On the other side, trainees stood further back. First, the semi-circle of troops would begin their work, blasting and then stomping. Then, the ones off to the back would pick off any targets that managed to run or drive out of the rear of the city.

"You all should have this undefended city of 100,000 humants wiped out in 10 minutes. GO!" Carjack ordered.

It all seemed straightforward, but of course, this was just the very first exercise. Later on, the General would introduce the concept of plans not surviving contact with the enemy...

[Vallermoore]

Training Field

After reading the manual chips and defragging Loyal Star went to meet his fellow Genociders in training. There were about a hundred or so, most of which seemed very happy to be there, along with a few disgruntled looking conscripts. When General Carjack showed up his speech was interesting and new and praised his unit promising glory. Even the conscripts were impressed. He made no public sign of his anger towards Loyal Star. Soon enough they found themselves on a large range facing a miniature human city with what seemed like real humans even though there was not the air for them to breath. "You all should have this undefended city of 100,000 humants wiped out in 10 minutes. GO!" Carjack ordered. Loyal Star went in with the rest, blasting and stomping, chasing humans into buildings and destroying them, and generally doing his best until the human city was wrecked and it's inhabitants killed. This first phase of training was relatively easy. Afterwards one of the bots took a good look at Loyal Star's gold stripes but didn't say anything for now either friendly, neutral or hostile. He clearly thought he recognised Loyal Star though.

Immigration Office

When the Immigration bots found out that Pesticide was not just making stuff up but really was a genuine cold blooded killer, and one who had managed to escape pony justice, they were impressed. He had passed his paperwork test as well but there was another important test coming up. He would need to pass a survival test, but could choose where to be set down. After finding out what month it was first-it was May, he chose to be set down on the plains of what was South Dakota. As a sapient pony he could eat grass and there was sure to be plenty of that on the plains. His saddlebag had a few luxury food items in, as well as an AK 47 and plenty of ammunition, and he had his pony magic as well. Soon enough a slightly annoyed Forintel FNG bot would be sent to take him there. The fact he put a blanket down on the seat pleased the bot slightly.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Genocider Training Program

Carjack looked at the 3-D sim carnage with guarded satisfaction. They had perfectly executed the maneuver in the training manual, but he knew that some of them had no direct experience with deactivating actual other creatures except for a few personal enemies they'd done away with. A few had no kills at all. Still, he was confident in the incoming for as a whole. In order to even get here, all but one had passed rigorous psychological testing.

~~~~~~~~~~

Before there were any more mental fitness evaluations, there was the matter of a far more mundane manner of training. The Battalion had several of its own flight formations, and these all needed to be practiced in order to bring the "efficiency" into what would become the ruthlessly efficient group that flew under the Skull and Wrenches. Training would also include plenty of work on dodging a variety of ordnance types since the Genocide Battalion tended to draw what Carjack called "desperation fire" when it flew with its insignia in full view.

"In some cases, we will hide our unique insignia to avoid this fire, but sometimes, the benefit of coming in our full regalia is such that it's worth the danger. When we do that, and the target knows who we are, they will typically unload everything they have into the sky in one last bid to stay alive. In most cases, this only happens after the regulars have already been through - and in those instances, the enemy may not have much left to shoot at us. But there are also times when we come in first, or are the only official Military to come in at all. Then, we must be ready for the full force of the enemy's national defenses." Carjack explained. "Such will be the case for your matriculation exam."

None of the would-be Genociders looked the least bit worried about the thought of going into a hostile area without the support of the wider Military, but secretly, some were a bit less brave. The next stages of training would provide the foundation of practical skills needed for full confidence in whatever operations the group would get into.

As most expected, the flight formation part of the training was rather boring, just like it was when they were training to be regular soldiers. There was no disobedience or general anarchy, though, since they'd all been in the forces at least once. They found that Carjack's formations were mostly designed to enhance their ability to mass-strafe targets, either in patterns of concentrated fire or to create wide-ranging, chaos-inducing hails of blaster power.

In the second phase of this training, the trainees went out with more-experienced troops and honed their ability to hit tiny targets while flying at high speeds. "It induces a lot of fear and chaos when we go over a crowd and precisely vaporize individuals," Carjack said. "Every other person in the crowd then knows and fears that he may be next. The goal here is to get them to stampede over each other in unstrategic and even deadly ways instead of hiding properly and becoming hard for us to get later. When it works, we just take another pass and blatantly wipe out everyone who has been injured in the original chaos."

When it works. When it didn't, the Battalion would be spending many hours prizing their targets out of buildings, sewers, and other such places. This limited the value of the tactic, but it was still good to know how to do it.

After many days of what was rather uneventful drilling of the new patterns, it was time for the next phase: Advanced dodging.

"We generally don't go in as anti-SAM'd troops, though we do have a bit of anti-SAMming on these builds," Carjack said, referring to the standardized bodies the Genocider troops had gotten (or had theirs modified to) upon entry. "What we do have is a lot of extra anti-energy blast armor since those blasts usually come too quickly to dodge them. Not only that, I prefer 'tanking.' It's much more foreboding for an enemy to see us just keep coming after they've used what they think of as their best weaponry." The General laughed forebodingly.

At first, the dodging drills were quite simple, with dummy SAMs, other artillery fire, and even dummy cannonballs being shot up into the sky as the group flew over. Then, the new would-be Genociders found that they would now need the extreme toughness against adversity that was often overlooked by outside observers - but was very much a part of the group.

"Today we switch to live-fire practice. Make yourself fresh Saves and be back here in an hour." Carjack's order was quick and simple, but it said volumes. They would actually have to risk deactivation now, and that was just for drills!

Upon returning, they were met by a Trainer and more was explained. It was indeed full-on live fire that they would be trying to dodge, and some would surely lose their bodies. The only thing really "drill-like" about it was that they had a guaranteed shot at getting to the Main Save Vault with their current iterations and also had their freshly-made Save discs sitting safely in the Military's Alternate Restoration Rooms. The ones firing also would be sure to aim for parts that would NOT deactivate them too fast for mind-transfer.

The Trainer looked hard at Loyal Star before walking over. "I'll enjoy shooting the soft out of you," he growled under his breath so only Loyal Star could hear.

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

South Dakota

The ForIntel bot landed and Pesticide jumped out, eager to explore this new terrain. To his surprise, the grassland he'd been delivered to didn't go very far. Instead, they segued into the Black Hills, a beautiful and rugged stretch of small tree-covered mountains. From the woods, he could hear someone whistling and the peaceful hum of a Decepticon engine. Occasionally, there was a light splash. Was one of the big, powerful raiders actually in there fishing?

[Vallermoore]

South Dakota

Despite knowing the danger he could be in, Pesticide cast an invisibility spell on himself that would shield him unless he was being deliberately looked for with radar pings and the like and went to the scene. The bot was one that was coloured a deep red apart from back hands and feet and a black faceplate and he was indeed fishing in a lake. Pesticide wondered to himself what was big enough in that lake so far from the sea that could possibly interest a bot so large. A hoof of his struck against a stone and the bot turned it's head in Pesticide's direction and started to radar ping the area, perhaps thinking a cloaked Decepticon who wished him harm was in the area.
Pesticide prepared a teleportation spell, knowing many, perhaps most bots would likely enslave biologicals or worse.

Genocider Training Program

Having passed his first test, Loyal Star went with the others into flight training without incident, learning new patters of flight not used by most military units and how to shoot tiny targets whilst flying. Then it was time for the dodging tests, at first with fake ammunition such as rubber cannonballs, fake SAMs ect to build up confidence before after making Saves and leaving them in a safe, tamper proof room, they were to go through live fire tests. When a trainer quietly told Loyal Star that he would enjoy shooting him he knew it would be extra dangerous training. First came cannon balls-Loyal Star found these easy to dodge unlike many bots, and had to bite back the urge to open fire on the cannon batteries. Destroying Deception Military property, even when under fire, would surely mean some hard penal time. The cannons had been looted from Equestria.

After that the weaponry types got bigger and faster and more dangerous until first Loyal Star took some damage and then found himself in the Main Save Vault downloading room. He was allowed to repaint his twin Gold Stripes. That evening when they had a short time to themselves another bot, one in copper-coloured paint, came to talk to Loyal Star in his room. "You're Loyal Star, aren't you? Very few bots indeed have Double Gold stripes."

"Yes, I am." Loyal Star was rather guarded. Perhaps this bot genuinely wanted to befriend him or was even a fan. Perhaps this was the start of some sort of connive attempt to steal his Energon or worse. Perhaps being a Genocider the bot wanted to get nasty, and as they were under Military discipline Loyal Star couldn't just open fire at once if that happened.

"How did you earn those Stripes?"

"It's classified, but I can say that Megatron publically said when I got them that it was for an act of almost unimaginable loyalty. I wish I could tell you about it."

Then the bot said something that made Loyal Star stiffen up and expect trouble. "You ponies fit your names so well. You bear a pony name."

"Where we are now, don't ask, don't tell applies," Loyal Star said. The bot was making him feel worried. What if he went about telling other bots of the Battalion that Loyal Star had been born, not built? He comforted himself by knowing that Milintel would almost certainly detect that and the bot would then be in trouble for narking on another bots secrets to try and get him hated by all the other bots. Narking, with a very few exceptions for foreign invasions, fires that might otherwise ignite much of Cybertron, and formal Domintel or Milintel investigations, was so disliked that it was itself a form of treason.

"I bet you know pony magic, the sort of magic that can fry any Decepticon whose Faraday cage is damaged by blasting, even slightly. I want to learn it, and I would be willing to pay you well." Checking his treason file, Loyal Star found that teaching pony magic was not illegal, but he was suspicious.

"I don't know you, and as we both know, we are both Decepticon bots and proud of it." Loyal Star was using a round-about, indirect, not deliberately insulting way of suggesting that the other bot was perhaps a con-bot and at least for now, he didn't trust him one bit.

[Victorious Decepticons]

South Dakota

As Pesticide advanced into the woods, he found a scene that looked so unexpected that even he was taken aback. A giant bot, with colors signifying danger and deadliness, was calmly fishing - not for some wayward whale, but regular-sized fish. He had a bucket with about 100 that had been caught, and compared to himself, it seemed like a child's sandbox toy. Soon, he hauled in another, and delicately unhooked it with his finger extensions.

Then the Decepticon heard a noise.

Instantly, he began pinging the area, but his pings were aimed at the height that one would expect another Decepticon, or perhaps a flying DomIntel agent, to be. Pesticide found himself quite literally under the radar...at least for now. The bot could decide to look down at any time and aim his pings along the ground. Pesticide noticed that the bot was also now exposing extra insignia in a way that was ironically reminiscent of how a dangerous wild animal might flash bright red skin flaps to warn off a potential enemy. These insignia, however, came in the form of logos and wording on the wings. The logo was of a simple pickaxe, and the words, if Pesticide could read Binary, simply said "Mineral Extraction, Inc."

The company was a known slaver of other Decepticons -or at least, it was known to citizens - and typically had well-guarded mines to prevent the recovery of its metalstock. However, like most mining firms, it found that it couldn't get enough robotic slaves to do ALL of the work. Therefore, it also held humans, and supplemented their diets with whatever edible animal flesh its employees could find. Pesticide was in little danger of being enslaved since the company wasn't currently paying bonuses for unengineered livestock - but if the robot found him and decided that he didn't like ponies, he did run the risk of becoming ground horse meat for whatever mine this low-level worker was attached to.

Genocider Training Program

As Loyal Star was considering this offer, he remembered something he'd learned back when he did his first stint in the Military. He pulled up the relevant part of the Military Manual in his mind...

Basic Training Manual, Chapter One, Paragraph 95.


"Never release details of any technology, whether learned or onboard, that you do not know how to defeat if it is used against you," the Manual stated simply. There were some notes and examples, but the bottom line was clear. If he didn't know how to counter his own magic, preferably even if taken by surprise, he should not teach it.

Of course, there was another matter: The one attempting to buy the tutorial might not be internally capable of working magic anyway. That, however, was a gamble, and the Manual was clear that anyone who divulged information should expect that it WOULD INDEED be used against him.

The next chapter was also of some note. It spoke of how any technology that became known, such as by being used in war, would eventually be reverse-engineered by someone. "Therefore, it is essential to be able to win against our own ordnance, for even if we do not 'give away' details, they will eventually be found and used by the enemy."

Loyal Star could do nothing about the fact that pony magic was already known about - that much had been leaked all over the universe long before he was even born. However, he now knew to give a lot of thought to whether he really wanted to explain how it worked to this suspicious and at least somewhat hostile bot.