The Great Schism chapter 2

The aftermath of the battle revealed who the victor was. Bodies littered the clearing that was the bombing site and the battlefield. It was quite clear that the Autobots were victorious, although both sides suffered casualties; none were as great as those suffered by the Decepticons. The initial bombing runs had taken out a large portion of their forces, and then they suffered more losses at the hands of Aquila, Skyfall, and Talonwing. The jungle was silent; the wildlife that populated the area had long since vacated the chaos. However, they were beginning to return to their homes, only to find uprooted trees and charred remains of vegetation and Decepticons.

The Autobot base itself was in an uproar of celebration. Their victory against the invading Decepticon forces was no small feat. However, amidst the celebration, medic ‘Bots scrambled to treat the wounded…and prepare the dead.

Aquila sat next to Skyfall’s operating table. He had vehemently refused treatment on a separate table, insisting that he stay by Skyfall’s side. Any attempts from the staff as well as the guards on duty failed as Aquila had managed to best all of them in short combat despite his injuries. While medics scrambled to repair Skyfall, some of them patched up Aquila’s abdominal wounds as he watch the others operate on Skyfall. After many cycles of operation, one of the medics approached Aquila, “I have good news, flight leader Aquila. It looks like Skyfall will make a near full recovery. The damage done to her spark chamber is minimal, but it can be repaired.” Aquila was overjoyed after hearing the good news but managed to keep a calm expression on the outside,

“I see. Thank you so much doctor.” However, something was nagging at the back of his head. If the Autobot forces could see that something was wrong with the initial attacks, how come they did not intervene when the situation was beginning to get out of hand? However, that would have to wait. For now he had a reason to not see the Autobot commanding officer about the issue. Skyfall was alive; he had to be by her side. Aquila placed a hand on her cheek, “Thank Primus you’re going to be okay.” A single tear rolled down his cheek, dropping onto Skyfall.

“What’s…wrong?” she asked weakly, just barely out of stasis.

“Idiot. Don’t worry me like that okay?” Aquila smiled as he wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. Skyfall’s eyes drifted over to the side of his head, but then they closed as she too embraced Aquila.

“I promise,” Skyfall smiled.

Within a dimly light room sat the commanding officer. The numerous screens clumped together showed footage of the battle, but more specifically the Yellow Squadron. However, the commanding officer appeared slumped over, in stasis. There was no visible sign of activity in the room aside from the footages being shown on the screens. Behind the seat of the commanding officer stood something invisible, a single red optic flashed, but then vanished. The body of the commanding officer moved slightly, as if something behind him connected something to his head and then disconnected. He groaned as he awoke, and went back to reviewing the battle data as if nothing had happened. He stood up from his seat, deactivating all of the screens as he had completed review of the battle footage. He exited his quarters. However, whatever was in his quarters with him had also gotten out. It then quickly moved to one of the elevators leading to the main power generator of the base. There, it hacked and altered the crew that had entered the elevator along with it. Once it reached the site of the power generator, it quickly moved towards it, setting up something quite large behind the generator. Since it had already hacked the crew working with the generator, the crew ignored it.

The stasis pod chambers contained many weary Autobots that had been in the battle. While they rested to recuperate from their wounds and battle fatigued, something connected itself to the main control terminal. It began to hack all of the sleeping Autobots and alter bits of their programming and mindsets. As soon as it arrived, it left, completing its covert task in as little time as possible given the magnitude of the task, leaving the chambers silently.

The unknown being exited the base without any detection, scaling its walls to the top. It had already taken care of the guards stationed on top of the base, as well as the crew monitoring the detection and communications systems and the automated defenses of the base. The being shimmered and became visible. He was entirely black. His true face was hidden behind a combat mask which included a single red optic allowing him to view a large amount of data during combat and peacetime as well as assisting him in targeting among many other things. He sent out a heavily encrypted transmission via vox.

-[Lord Megatron. This is ShadowBlitz reporting. Hacking operations have been completed. The bomb has been set up at the base of the main power generator. All that needs to be done is corner the target.]-

-[Excellent Agent ShadowBlitz. The plan is proceeding smoothly. We can begin operations as soon as you wish. Megatron out.]-

Once the transmission channel closed, ShadowBlitz activated the sleepers he had hacked. They all began to move into position, for what would be something terrifying and marvelous to behold.