Lithone: Chapter 6

7/31/2019 Lithone: Chapter 6

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Lithone: Chapter 6 This third encounter in the Lithone conference room managed to have adifferent mood than either of the prior two meetings, and Thesys attributed itto two factors. First, Unicron was now reborn in the body of the planetoid,

and this cast a pall over the Lithones and Autobots. Second, Rodimus Primewas in attendance; he had taken a seat at the opposite end of the table fromCyclonus, who still sat beneath the Lithonian seal. Above Rodimus, though,was only a blank viewscreen.Thesys did not know much about the Autobot leader personally, butwondered why he picked that seat, rather than sitting with the rest of theAutobots in their usual spots. He was not directly across from the Lithonesnow, which was psychologically friendlier. He was also directly opposite theDecepticons, probably indicating his opposition to them. And perhaps theviewscreen symbolized a window of opportunity for the Lithones to escapetheir predicament.Or maybe Rodimus just wanted to be as far away from the Decepticons aspossible.Krellix, accompanied this time by Arxia as well as Tarsen and Zurell, stood upto begin the proceedings. Oddly, the director was no longer as panicky as hewas earlier. Because of the new and frightening circumstances affecting theProject, we are compelled to take action. I ask here and now for yourproposals. One of the proposals will be accepted before this congressconcludes. I ask General Cyclonus to begin.As the Lithones sat, Cyclonus stood, and began with an air of con dence.Thank you again, Director. I shall be brief, for my proposal is simple. Icontinue to assert the Decepticon claim to this system, and I have previouslyoutlined an arrangement whereby this great Project may proceed as a jointventure between the Lithones and the Decepticons. The intrusion of Unicron,although a serious development, need not fundamentally alter this offer. Wecan certainly devise some means of expelling Unicron from the planetoid before he grows any stronger or absorbs more of the planetoid, and return theProject to a normal state. Indeed, it is in everyone's interest that we preservethe safety of the planetoid, to reduce the risk to the Project. The Decepticonsand Lithones, together, can determine how to solve this problem. Thegeneral sat down and gazed over at Rodimus Prime with mild interest.Rodimus now stood up in turn. Director, I am a practical robot. From mystandpoint, this Project is a miracle in many aspects. Perhaps there are moremiracles in store that can yet save it. I do not believe that the Decepticons canconjure any miracles great enough to destroy Unicron and return the Projectto anything representing what it was before, to anything 'normal'. This isfrankly not a practical, or even believable, idea. The Deceptions have never been interested in anything other than conquest and dominion over thegalaxy, and I have no reason to believe that their aspirations have changed.However, I do agree that Unicron must be stopped. I say he must be stopped by any means necessary, because he is a threat to all of us. The Decepticons donot have the knowledge or the resources to defeat him. The Autobots have far

superior research facilities and vast amounts of resources available. Together,we can stop him and save all Lithones, Autobots, and even Decepticonseverywhere. I hope that you accept our help. Rodimus sat.


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Rodimus. With a look of resignation, Kup returned to his seat. Meanwhile,Cyclonus was murmuring into his commlink.The Lithones nished their deliberations after a few louder bursts ofwhispering. When they turned to face the table, Thesys could tell that Zurellwas very annoyed, while Tarsen seemed quite satis ed.Krellix stood again and addressed the room. Cybertronians, I thank you onceagain for your concern for our plight. We have considered your proposals, both of which are very generous and do credit to your magnanimity andwillingness to help those in need. We have decided at this time to accept theproposal of General Cyclonus and the Decepticons, because of our sharedvision for the restoration of the Project. However, if the Autobots wish, theymay remain in the system for one gigacycle to monitor the unfolding of theDecepticons' plans. We do this to allay their concerns about this system, sinceUnicron is indeed a threat to us all, as well as a token of our gratitude. Onceagain, I thank you all. General Cyclonus, please contact me at yourconvenience to begin formulating our strategy. At that, the Lithones all rose,and the meeting was at an end.At rst, as Krellix delivered the decision, Cyclonus beamed with delight, butwhen Krellix spoke of Autobot monitoring, his smile vanished. After Krellixleft, he again started talking into his commlink, but angrily. On the otherhand, Rodimus seemed completely unconcerned about the verdict, much tothe other Autobots' surprise. The crew got up and headed over to him, talkingamongst themselves. Kup waited until the Decepticons left before getting intoit.I don't know where you learned negotiation skills, lad, but I'm glad I neverattended that class. You blew it!Relax, Kup, Rodimus replied, with a tone suggesting he was used to thissort of criticism from the old codger. I didn't think they would go for itanyway, not after hearing Cyclonus's load of waste oil about the Decepticonplan. It would have been nice to be able to work with the Lithones on this, butit isn't strictly necessary. Plus, even if they had chosen us, do you think theDecepticons would have just walked away, shoulders drooping? No way!They would still be poking their platinum probosces around and hinderingour efforts.So now the tables are turned. But more about that later. Right now, you allshould head back to the Alafexand pilot her over to the Bazgaron. We'll talk

then, OK?"All right, lad, Kup sighed. We'll see you in a few breem. The crew madetheir way out of the room. The last thing Rodimus heard was Natalie askingThesys, What's a breem?Before Rodimus left, Arxia approached him. Rodimus Prime, it is a pleasureto nally meet you. Although we have not chosen to accept your proposal, Iam still con dent that you will be the key to saving our planet-mother. I believe you will nd the path to our salvation, although you will face greatdarkness on the way. Thank you for being here.The Autobot leader grinned, although he was a little put off by the darkness

bit. I thank you, Your Excellency. I appreciate your support, and hope I can be worthy of it.


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You will be, Rodimus Prime, Arxia said ominously. It is prophecy. Youshall save Lithone from destruction and allow her to be reborn. Thank you,thank you again. With a bow, the bishop turned and left Rodimus alone,pondering his words.

Rodimus nally made his way towards his shuttle, ambling through thecorridors of the command ship. He liked these quiet moments; as the leader ofthe Autobots, he had very few of them. His thoughts drifted, back to peacefultimes, back to shing with Daniel outside Autobot City. That was the lasttruly relaxing time he could remember, before the whirlwind of events thatcame with the appearance of Unicron and ended with the monster'sdestruction and his own ascendancy to leadership.Make that Unicron's rst appearance, before now. What a mess. But, theMatrix defeated him once before, and so it should again. Hopefully.Otherwise, he wasn't sure what to do. But he had to remember that all the

Autobots were behind him, and together they would make it. They had to.He was pulled back quickly from his reverie by the sight of a Sweep, walkingtowards him in the hallway. Even though Rodimus could handle a Sweep inhis sleep mode, he didn't want to get into any confrontations right now. Hedecided to turn at the next right into another hallway, before he met up withthe Sweep, and take the long way.He reached the intersection and turned to the right, but stopped. There wasanother Sweep approaching from that corridor. Oh, he thought. I get it. Helooked behind him and spotted the third Sweep coming up from behind.I ought to be insulted , he thought. This is almost childish. I've been throughtoo much to be concerned about a Decepticon shakedown. He took a step backwards, away from the intersection, and waited blithely for the Sweep infront of him.The Decepticon approached, emerging from the shadows with a determinedgait, sts clenched, eyes gleaming. His expression grew ercer with eachquickening step, and his shoulders hunched a little. The seconds ticked by,with Rodimus relaxed, but focused on the assassin.Barely ten steps away, the Sweep reached behind his wings and unsheathed avicious blade, curved and serrated. He started running, footsteps clonking onthe metal oor, and held the blade up, ready to slash. At last he leaped at

Rodimus, letting out a battle cry."Eeeyyaaaaaahhhh UKKKKHH!!"The Sweep jolted to a stop in midair. Confused, he looked at his sword arm,grasped securely by the Autobot. Rodimus's other hand was embeddedsquarely into the Sweep's chest, having punched through his chestplate.Sparks jumped out from the wound. Rodimus continued his steady gaze intothe Sweep's optics.Behind the Autobot leader, the third Sweep had been stopped only a couple ofcycles after the rst, but for a different reason. His head fell to the oor with aclang, leaving a fountain of energon discharge at his neck. The headless body

staggered for a couple of steps, twirled and crashed into the wall, and thencollapsed.


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The rst Sweep then looked to the side, just in time to see the second Sweepsevered in two at the waist. The dismembered torso fell forward into the oor;the legs, which kept walking, managed to trip over it and fall on top, oozinglubricants over the heap of metal. The bottom tips of the Sweep's wings,severed by the same force as the torso, bounced noisily about the hallway

before coming to rest.The remaining assassin, suspended in mid-air, was now terri ed. He lookeddown at the silver piping on the red arm in his chest. Rodimus Prime had notso much as twitched as the other Sweeps had been dispatched. Rodimuspulled him closer, still aloft, and spoke quietly to him.Tell Cyclonus that he will not get rid of me by sending pathetic grunts like you to nish me off. I am going to keep coming, and keep coming, until he is asmoldering pile of slag orbiting a neutron star, and I won't stop until thereisn't a single Decepticon left processing, here or anywhere else in theuniverse. He paused, staring into the Sweep's now very muted eyes. Gotit?The Sweep nodded jitteringly. Good, Rodimus responded. Fire eruptedfrom inside the Sweep as Rodimus activated his arm blasters, blowing a holethrough the Sweep's back. Rodimus lowered his arm and let the Sweep slideoff into a smoking heap. Without another word, he continued at his formerpace directly to his shuttle.

Back on the Bazgaron , Rodimus disembarked from his shuttle. Behind him, apair of glowing box outlines drew themselves into the ether, and within eachan Autobot appeared. One was bright red, the other an even brighter yellow,and both had similar sleek lines. After the outlines vanished, the two robotsstarting comparing notes.The red one spoke rst. I've gotta say, Sunstreaker, you cut that Sweep in halfcleaner than a muon-collated plasma torch! And the wingtips? Nice touch!You've got to teach me that one!Thanks, bro, I thought you might like it, the yellow one said smugly. It's alittle something I've been working on. And I saw that you went for thestandard Unicron Special. You know, I was really hoping for something with a bit more ... panache.Well, you can't go wrong with the classics, right? Still, I was trying to ...

Sideswipe! Sunstreaker! Rodimus interrupted. Come on, you two, talk shop later. Let's get to the bridge. I'll need your help summoning the eet.The brothers stopped. Whoa! All right, Rodimus! Sideswipe exclaimed. The bodyguards caught up to their boss as they headed for the bridge.

It was not long before Perceptor, Kup, and the rest of the Autobots werecrowded into the bridge on the Bazgaron. The Aerialbots were in attendancepersonally, while Jet re, who was too big to t inside, observed from aviewscreen.

Rodimus began. OK, here's the plan, 'bots. It doesn't matter that the Lithonesdidn't accept our proposal, we're going to do the same thing now that we


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would have done otherwise. We're heading down to the planetoid, and oncewe nd the right location, I'm going to release the Matrix. That should nishoff Unicron for good. By that time, the eet will have arrived, and we'll kick the Decepticons clear out of this system.But what about the Lithones and their Project? Perceptor asked. Is there away that we can stop Unicron without risking their work?I don't know, Captain, but that's where you come in, Rodimus replied. I'veasked the Technobots back on Cybertron to collaborate with you to determinethe best way to use the Matrix. If you can nd a way that doesn't involvedestroying the planetoid, great. But no matter what, the primary goal here isstill destroying Unicron, quickly. Understood?Yes, sir, Perceptor said with resolution. I shall do my best! Heimmediately headed for a communications station to contact the Technobots.Excellent, Rodimus smiled. Now, I need to select a small landing party outof the rest of you. I'm assuming that the environment will be hostile, but notso much so that we will have to punch through any major defenses, sinceUnicron is still forming. Still, I'd like Starstreak to come along, plus the twins.Oh, and Thesys, you should come too, to act as a liaison between me and yourtech-babbling captain over there. We'll all ride down in Jet re, in, say ... threemegacycles. The rest of you stay on patrol. If anything comes up, coordinatewith Kup. Questions? ... All right, let's do it! At that the Autobots dispersed.Thesys headed back towards the Alafexwith Natalie. Natalie was still tryingto get a handle on the situation. OK, this is good. You guys can just get rid ofUnicron, and then get rid of the Decepticons with a really big eet with lotsand lots of guns! And then we can go back to our nice, safe, boring job ofcataloguing star systems. Good. This'll be over in no time. And hey! I bet Bikawill be impressed with you, heading down to destroy the 'big demon'Unicron, right?Thesys was barely listening. Yeah, he uttered. He was heading on a covertmission with four seasoned warriors onto an unstable planetoid whichUnicron was converting into his new body, in order to actually destroyUnicron, and maybe the planetoid itself, all while hundreds of Decepticonswere watching them. No illusions of bravery this time: he was petri ed.

Lithone: Chapter 6 2006, 2011 Bill Havanki

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Lithone: Chapter 6