The Inexorable March
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| "The Inexorable March" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive) | ||||||||||||
| First published | December 28, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| By | Jim Sorenson and David Bishop | ||||||||||||
| Art | Guido Guidi | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Beast Wars: Uprising | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | Circa 2391 | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 23pp | ||||||||||||
In the wake of the Grand Uprising, Cybertron tries to pick up the pieces.
Synopsis
Stiletto calls for order among the gathered representatives of Cybertron, twenty five solar cycles after the destruction of the Grand Mal, the Grand Uprising, the Fourth Great Cybertronian War is over. All agreements have been made and accounts settled. She declares it Unity Day. Once the applause dies down, she promises that as the chair of the newly minted Cybertronian parliament to do her best and maintain the peace. She states that while she has no illusions the peace will last forever, every moment they maintain it is a victory.
One solar cycle later
Bisk's been having a grand old time to himself, exploring the ancient tunnels beneath Cybertron, now that the MOBs chasing after him have gone. Already he's found all kinds of neat encounters, and puzzles, not to mention giant rats, leeches, bats, and those weird nigh-invulnerable sentry-things. Drawing on his experience with the MOBs, he manages to create a distraction for the sentries and slips by. After a decacycle, and an encounter with the giant spider endboss, he's found the final dungeon, and the loot inside: A strange golden disc, covered with runes. Pocketing it, Bisk has a feeling he's got a lot more adventures ahead...
One deca cycle later
Galvatron, now alone in his hidden base in the Rad Zone, stands triumphant over his work: Three remastered Vehicon drones. He thinks of his former partners, Doomshot, Krunix, and Nucleon, whose expertise helped bring him his triumph, but who sadly had to go. The future belong to him, and his Vehicons. Of course, Galvatron has no use for puppets, especially not if someone steals his generals just as he did. So, using the three sparks he has to hand, Galvatron brings them to life. As Tankor, Thrustor, and Jetstorm activate, Galvatron, already formulating plans within plans, promises they will do great things, and laughs...
One orbital cycle later
At the new Constructicon training ground, Buckethead speaks to the potential Constructicon recruits, to replace her fallen comrades. She's not looking for wannabe-entertainers, she's looking for hard 'bots, and smart ones, and preferably ones who can hold their drink. After getting them to transform, she already determines some who won't make the cut. She's not looking for 'bots who want to break things, but for those who want to build. In the post-war Cybertron, Devastator is needed, especially by those who want to build things. She's almost tempted to call it off. No-one will replace Bone Crusher, Hightower, and Long Haul. But then she sees the hope on their faces...
Later, former Throttlebot Wideload is beaming with pride. He's made the team, along with Road Hauler, and Steam Hammer. The ceremony swearing them in is closing, with a speech from Hot Rod himself, something Wideload finds odd, given Hot Rod was the reason he'd left the Autobots, so long ago. His train of thought is broken at the sight of his old C.O., Goldbug, watching from the stands. Overcome by emotion at seeing the 'bot whose last words to him had been to call him a traitor, Wideload says hello, and gets a musical reply back. Then, he helps form the new Devastator, a smarter Devastator, who drinks in the cheers of the Builder crowd, determined to do them proud.
One stellar cycle later
In Shockwave's secret lair in Ultrix, an elderly Deluge finds himself with a visitor, his "son", Rampage. The decaying scientist knows from the off Rampage is there to kill him, but that the proto-former has questions he wants answered first, such as "why?" Deluge answers with Unicron. It had been the height of the Great War when the Chaos Bringer arrived, and all Cybertronians had united to fight it off. And most of them had died, but there were some who managed it, a few with unique Sparks. Those Sparks had inspired Deluge's curiosity. Using the war, he acquired living specimens to study their nature. And he was so certain he'd been close to a breakthrough when peace had been enforced, and with that it had been declared "unseemly" to experiment on folk. But as time passed, and the Maximals and Predacons had arrived, Point One Percenters had just stopped appearing, and the Cybertronian race became quieter. Reasoning a cataclysmic event would one day happen again, Deluge took it upon himself to try and create new ones all the same. And those two were Rampage and Trans-Mutate. He asks after Rampage's "sister", only for Rampage to state she is none of his concern. But still, he reasons, the two of them were all that was needed. Rampage is appalled at the suggestion that the Vehicon Apocalypse justifies what Deluge did. Deluge shoots back that what he did was give Rampage power, and he should be grateful.
Rampage retorts that he'll never know the sheer hell he put Rampage through. Though Deluge wants to, he realizes his drink has been poisoned. Cyber-venom. Even as he suffers from the effects, he congratulates his creation on his choice of revenge. A cyber-venom death from a 'bot like him would take mega-cycles. Rampage, however, has other plans, and shoots him point blank. Deluge dies thanking him.
Rampage leaves the burning laboratory, and the twisted remains of Deluge's last experiments on some captive Vehicons, behind. As he gets clear, Trans-Mutate gets back in contact, asking if it's done. He confirms it is, but when she asks if he thinks it'll make a difference, he bluntly replies it won't. But it had to be done. Trans-Mutate, still thinking of the data she'd found on the experiments, can only agree.
One decade later
At Dinosaur City on Metascan Omega, Longrack's told he's got an incoming call. Dinosaur City is flourishing, not just home to Cybertronians, but visitors of all kinds, including tourists. The Maximal can't help but feel pride at what he's done. Watch officer Randy calls in, saying they've caught someone coming through customs, but he's cut off before he can say who. Before Longrack can demand his call comes back, he sees some newcomers: Three strange, skull-like aliens descending. The Vok have arrived. They declare that Metascan Omega was never meant for mortals, and the Cybertronians are going to have to prove their "cosmic worth", or else.
Panicking, Longrack tells Dnavi to call everyone and anyone she can. As he wonders who else to call, a newcomer asks if he can help, and then Longrack realizes what Randy had been trying to tell him.
Lio Convoy has arrived too.
One century later
The human ship The Problem of Infinities is under attack from the Shi-Lai, who are dramatically violating the Treaty of Prismos, and taking a pounding. Captain Una refuses to surrender. Psychal B-Tom informs her they'll be getting a call in seventeen seconds. Salvation comes in the form of a ship disabling one of the Shi-Lai in one shot. It's Cybertronian, the Rusty Mace, captained by a mech named T-Wrecks. Crewmember Ne'll is dubious of Cybertronian rescue, but Una tells her to roll with it, before telling T-Wrecks they owe him one. T-Wrecks asks if they're willing to repay that right now. His ship's moment of heroism has gotten it a little beaten up. Deciding there are some things a little more important than regulation, Una assures him she'll send someone over, just so long as it's not a trick.
That someone is Ne'll, who quickly determines it's not a trick, as she sees (and smells) the damage done. She's quickly introduced to the chief engineer, a bot called Rapticon, and is surprised to find he's... interesting. She quickly finds Rapticon's intelligence and unorthodox methods intriguing, the two quickly establishing a rapport as they discuss human culture and history. And then they're interrupted by the realization they've finished repairs. In their moment of triumph, Ne'll wonders what she's doing. Cybertronians and humans are enemies, have been for centuries, even after the last few decades...
And then she and Rapticon make history.
One millennium later
On the edge of the Triangulum Galaxy, the Terrastar bursts into existence again, breaking the Convoy Council's rule about departing the Milky Way. Not that the Maladroid crew care about that sort of thing. Just as the ship's captain, a droid named Lockjaw, starts talking about their new freedom, crewmech Ragtop detects they've been followed. Acting quickly, Lockjaw orders them to hide behind the nearby planet. None of them are going back home. As the ship moves, Ragtop expresses his opinion: They're all gonna die.
The Commandron colony ship Hyperborea emerges into realspace, in hot pursuit of the Terrastar. Ship captain Astral Knight is uneasy, what with that hold full of crystalline control crystals filled with memory engrams, but his orders are clear. Going extra-galactic risks bringing the attention of things "beyond mortal ken", as Rhetoric Convoy put it. Science officer Deep Blue detects their target going over to the nearby planet, a gorgeous thing of blue and green, with two moons orbiting it. A quick glance at his console suggests there's something... off about one of them. And more pertinently, he's detecting angolmois, which is alarming given how far out they are. He orders Blue to contact the Terrastar, but there's no response. As they 'round the moon, the ship comes under attack, and not from the Maladroids. Deep Blue complains as the ship's blasted. They're just a science vessel! As Astral Knight orders them to fight back, they're hailed by the locals, who call themselves the Skriix. They're not too happy about the visitors. Energoa and its sacred Mother Computer are theirs, and these intruders dare contaminate it with their impure technorganic bodies. So naturally the Skriix are going to kill them.
The Commandrons aren't taken with dying, and fight back, but they can't tell if they're even damaging the attacking ship. Another shot takes out the stasis hold, and sends them plummeting down to earth. Astral Knight orders all the crystals launched in orbit, where they'll be safer than they will on a crashing ship, with a Skriix closing fast. Then, they read the Terrastar attacking the other ship, their crew hailing to say they're helping out while the Commandrons set down for repairs.
The ship doesn't manage to set down gently. And as they crash, they notice another ship falling through the sky, the Terrastar. Astral Knight thinks to himself on how he's out of his depth. He's not qualified to deal with a new world, hostile aliens, a weird moon, a dangerous power source, some mysterious ruins and a band of criminals all at once. But he vows to try his best to get his crew home.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Maximals | Predacons | Builders | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Notes
- And thus the saga of Beast Wars: Uprising comes to a conclusion.
- Apparently in this universe, its the autobot deluge that is the mad scientist this time instead of his decepticon counterpart.
Errors
Continuity notes
Transformers references
Real-world references
References
External links
- "The Inexorable March" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club
