The Monster of Kaon (Transformers Si): Chapter 65

The Autobots gathered along with the humans, and the older generation stared down at them, disappointment clear in their optics.

Meanwhile, Fowler continued looking through the documents he recently received from his higher-ups. Documents that detailed the information about their decision and the new secret organization that is to be set up soon.

“So, as you guys can see. Those guys at the Pentagon are not happy that the USA lost its most valuable intel because one of you guys exposed your existence so blatantly to the world.”

Optimus Prime gave a somewhat amused look at the grumbling agent, knowing that he was only complaining as a matter of principle.

“I will be sure to convey your words to Maximus, Agent Fowler, when he gets back.”

“I still don’t like this, Optimus. Why are you so ready to hand over leadership to someone else?”

At Cliffjumper’s grumbling, Elita gave him a slight glare while standing beside her spark-mate, making the younger bots instantly cower.

Optimus thought for a little bit before speaking again.

“It is because I trust Maximus with my life, Cliffjumper. I understand that you and the others are mistrustful of him and only want me as the leader since that is what you have known since birth, but try to understand where I am coming from.”

“To me, there is no logical choice aside from Maximus to fill the role of a leader. He is old, wise, and has seen and done things that I cannot even imagine. He is powerful beyond measure and has turned even the most dire of circumstances to his advantage. He was also a philosopher, a scholar, and the one who created Neocybex. Simply put, he is someone who is so accomplished that there is simply no equal.”

Arcee simply sighed tiredly at those words and leaned against the wall.

“So, you mean to say that the 4 million years we fought against the Decepticons now mean nothing? We are just going to act buddy-buddy from now on because Maximus said so?”

“Hold on! 4 million years!? All of you guys are that old!?”

Miko’s sudden outburst distracted the Autobots from their discussion, making them look towards the humans, who all shared the same shock as Miko, which was understandable.

The Hominin species came into existence only 7 million years ago, and modern humans evolved over only 300,000 years or so. For such a species, it would be mind-boggling to know that a mere civil war had raged on for far longer than their modern evolution.

Bulkhead sat down beside his human partner and stared at her gently.

“Miko, Cybertronians are a near-immortal species. Our culture dates back billions of years, so far back that even we don’t know how old our civilization is. That is why we do not calculate our timeframe in the form of years, but rather, cycles and Ages.”

“Cool!”

Jack walked towards his own two partners, Arcee and Cliffjumper, and sat down with them just like Raf did with Bumblebee, leaving the adults to stand at the platform, alongside the older bots.

Jack turned towards Optimus and asked the question that had been bugging him for a while now.

“Optimus, just how old is Maximus? And why does it seem like all the Decepticons and you guys either see him as an equal or a father figure? Elita said that he was the one who fought for your rights back on Cybertron and that his organization was the one that birthed the Autobots and Decepticons. But she never elaborated on it.”

“The answer to your question is very complicated and personal to most of the bots and cons, so you will have to ask them yourself later on. As for the other question, Maximus is old, Jack. So old that the only ones still alive from his generation are Ratchet, Shockwave, and a handful of others. As Bulkhead said, we divide our flow of time into ages.”

The teenager just nodded while the adults stared at Optimus as he gave the impromptu history lesson.

And while they did not look like it, even the younger bots were paying attention.

“First came the Age of Primes, the origin of our history, shortly after Unicron was defeated. While the theories vary, we believe that this age lasted for at least a few million years. During this age, we lost most of our original Thirteen Primes with only Alpha Trion and Alchemist Prime remaining on Cybertron.”

“Immediately after the loss of the Primes, we entered the Age of Evolution. The time when the first Cybertronian civilization, known as the Ancients, came into existence.”

“This age also lasted for a few million years and came to an end when a rogue Red Giant star passed through our star system, bringing extinction to the Ancients and most of life on Cybertron.”

“Then came the Age of Origins, the most turbulent time period in our history.”

Optimus took a deep breath, watching as the younger Autobots and the humans paid a great attention to him.

“Much of this time period was filled with all kinds of strife. But the most important event of this time period, which lasted nearly a billion years, was the Quintesson War, which marked its end.”

“Right, Megatron mentioned something about the Quintessons, right? Just what are these Quintessons?”

Raf’s words made the older bots grimace while making Ratchet snort coldly, startling the humans.

“The Quintessons are a monstrous race. A species of parasitic mechanical creatures that only know how to destroy entire civilizations, manipulate them, and then take over their worlds for their own.”

The sheer anger within Ratchet’s voice made the humans flinch in fear while the Autobots gave him sympathetic gazes.

Optimus turned back to the humans.

“As he said, the Quintessons are a race of conquerors that came to conquer Cybertron during the Age of Origins. Truthfully, they nearly succeeded in subverting our race completely. The only reason they failed was because Ratchet here discovered their plots and lies shortly after he was born, which was shortly followed by a war against the invaders spanning millions of years.”

Optimus turned towards Jack.

“Maximus, then known as Armorbite, was born during this time and fought in the Quintesson War alongside Ratchet and Shockwave.”

“.....How long ago did this war happen? Optimus?”

Optimus looked at Fowler and answered.

“Given that the Age of Origins was followed by the Age of Wrath, which lasted millions of years and is named for the Quintesson War, and then it was followed by the Golden Age, which lasted for a few more million years, then followed by the Age of Rust, which was only a few thousands years long, and finally followed by the unofficial time period known as Age of Hope which was subsequently named the Great War, thanks to the Autobot-Decepticon war, I would say he is nearly a billion years old, maybe even more given that a lot of the time between the Age of Rust and the Age of Hope was lost from the records and we have no idea how much time passed between them.”

The humans felt their heads overload with the information that Optimus gave them.

“So, you are saying that the big guy is older than anything on Earth?”

Optimus simply nodded at Miko’s words, making the girl whistle in awe.

“Damn! He is a grandpa! Wait! Did he see the dinosaurs!? Does he have pictures!?”

The excitement from the girl made the humans and younger bots chuckle as the mood lightened a little bit, but Fowler was still frowning.

The Agent soon walked towards the Prime and spoke in a hushed tone.

“Prime, tell me the truth. How much of a threat is Maximus to humanity? And is there any possibility that he will turn hostile?”

“Agent Fowler. Let me reassure you once again, Maximus is not one to ever make the first move in terms of violence. He would rather engage in Diplomacy than in war. That is how he has always been. And even if he does go against your people, rest assured that he will never target civilians or innocents. It goes against his very nature to do something like that.”

“You can never be too sure, Prime. I have seen a lot of good soldiers go rogue over the simplest of things.”

“I understand your logic, but like I said, he will never do that. Trust me in this.”

“....Fine. I’ll omit this history lesson from the reports. Don’t want those idiots at Pentagon to go ballistic over an imagined threat.”

The Agent’s words made the Prime nod in appreciation, knowing that Fowler was taking a huge risk by omitting a lot of details from his reports recently, showing his loyalty towards the Autobots, which made the Prime respect the human even more.

However, before they could do anything else, the comms of their base rang out, showing the ID to be none other than a familiar wrecker.

“Jacky! Finally!”

Bulkhead’s words made the older Autobots look at him with suspicion before Ratchet opened the comms, only to come face to face with an image that made them speechless.

The contact really did come from Wheeljack, the former Wrecker, and he was not alone.

But what made the Autobots speechless was his beat-up form, along with Ultra Magnus, the second-in-command of the Autobots, who lay prone on the floor.

The reason for their current pathetic state was, of course, none other than Maximus, who was glaring down at Wheeljack, who gave a wry smile at Ratchet through the video feed.

“..A little help? Guys!?”

“So, this was your plan? Younglings? To call in reinforcements from outside the system to try and oppose me? I will give you credit for the strategy, but the execution was pathetic. Orion, you and I need to have a good talk about keeping an eye on your forces.”

With that, the feed cut off, followed by Wheeljack’s ship signature moving in towards Earth.

“...Well, there goes that plan.”

Bumblebee found no response to his words.