The Monster of Kaon (Transformers Si): Chapter 37

I walked through the lab that Shockwave and I once called our base of operations outside the Ascenticon base.

The colossal hallways and rooms made to accommodate the ancients, teeming with ancient technology that even Shockwave could not comprehend fully, gave me a sense of home as I once again walked this place after so long.

And yet, instead of just happiness, I also felt bitterness as I saw large chunks of the place falling apart thanks to a combination of various issues.

“How much have we lost? Shockwave? How much knowledge? Technology? Innovations that we were working on for the sake of bettering the lives of our people.”

“….The majority of our old projects have been lost. The Energon Regenesis project, including the entire prototype batch of Ores 1 through 14, was completely destroyed during the bombing of Ascenticon base, with Ore 13 being the only exception.”

The Energon Regenesis project was something that Shockwave and I were working on for a long time, even before we formed the Ascenticons.

It was a project that we created to seed the colonies of Cybertron with self-sustaining Energon sources so that they could exist independently of Cybertron should the need ever arise. It was because of this research that I was able to create my Synth-En in the first place, since that research laid the groundwork for nearly everything that I created on Caminus.

Unfortunately, by the time of the Rust Plague and the collapse of the Space Bridge network, the project was in its infancy and could no longer serve its true purpose as the Colonies were cut off from Cybertron.

But still, we never gave up on the project, hoping that we could one day bring it to the colonies through traditional space travel and use it as a gift to reestablish communications and diplomatic relations with each other.

And then, Alpha Trion happened, and everything went to hell.

Shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I glanced at my old friend.

“Ore-13 huh? So the so-called Ultra-Energon survived?”

“They call it ‘Red Energon’ now.”

This time, I really felt surprised.

If there is an official name for it now, it means that it moved out from being a prototype and into a full-fledged variant of Energon, the last stage of our project that I never hoped to ever see after everything I heard about.

“You mean-?”

“I did it. I managed to seed Cybertron and a few other planets with it during the war. Primarily, I planned to use it to empower the Decepticons, but its crystallization process was much slower than anticipated. By the time the seeds grew enough Energon ores to be harvested, the war was already nearing its end, and Cybertron was already a barren world with Primus going dormant, causing the Red Energon on Cybertron to stop growing, and what remained of it was a heavily contested resource between both factions.”

I see. That makes sense. A type of Energon that can boost everything about a bot and make them move at speeds far too fast for even our brain modules to track? That would be considered a coveted resource during a war.

“….Well, I guess there is that bit of good news. And the rest of the projects?”

At the shake of his head, I felt the little hope I felt flicker out.

Damn it! There were a lot of Projects we were working on that would have come in real handy at a time like this. It is truly unfortunate that we’ve lost all of them like that.

Soon, we finally arrived at the main reason why we were exploring our old lab in the first place.

A colossal terminal, one of the countless nodes spread across the plant that once served as the main hub of our entire species’ collective knowledge, now reduced to a hunk of metal of little use than spare parts.

“To think there would come a day when even the great Teletraan-1 would be lost to us like this.”

I could not keep the disappointment and despair from entering my voice, making my old friend flinch a little, showing that even his partial Shadowplay was not enough to keep the guilt within him contained.

However, I could not be bothered to care about him at this point.

Especially as I walked towards the terminal and tried to activate it with my power, only to receive no response from it, even after injecting it with my Energon.

This fact alone was enough to break my heart.

Teletraan-1 was the pinnacle of what our species could do when brought together for a singular goal. A colossal computer network that spanned the entire plant, similar to what the Internet was for the humans from my old life, but even better, as this network was created for the sake of all bots with no restriction in place.

A digital library that housed all sorts of knowledge that we, as a species, stored within it for the sake of those that would come after us. There was no censorship, no hiding information, even during the times of Sentinel and his council.

It was a sacred library that was maintained by the Iacon hall of records, one that no one, not even the monsters like Sentinel, would dare to mess with lest they incur the wrath of the entire planet.

And now, it is gone forever. Taken by the Autobots when they exiled themselves from the planet.

Out of everything that happened during the pointless and painful war, there are few things that I blame the Autobots for, but the theft of Teletraan-1 is the one that I simply cannot condone.

It was the core of our culture, our identity as a species. Our collective knowledge that I personally oversaw the construction of alongside the old guard for the sake of our entire species.

And I cannot accept the fact that the Autobots simply appropriated such an artifact for themselves, as if it were their right to do what they want with it!

I forcefully suppressed the anger and pain that rushed to the surface and turned to the side of the terminal, the main reason why I was here today.

What’s done is done. There is no use thinking about that. The only thing I can do now is do my best to prepare everything before Silverbolt returns with the Allspark.

Which means I need the production capabilities of our people from before the war.

Transforming my arms into the necessary tools, I got to work on removing the panels of the Molecular Forge while Shockwave got to work on repairing the terminal and its software.

Between the two of us, it only took a few minutes for the patchwork of modifications to be complete.

“Send through the emergency override code. Authorization level: Alpha. Use my codes from the Quintesson War Council.”

“Affirmative. Codes confirmed. Admin access has been granted to this terminal. But I see a lot of problems here, Maximus. There are a lot of Energon channels missing within the Molecular Forge, along with its primary fabrication arms.”

“Hmm, that could be a problem. Try checking its database for the blueprints.”

“Negative. The local database has been wiped. The authorization ID shows an Autobot callsign.”

“Damn it! So everything is really gone, huh!? Guess we will have to satisfy ourselves with just the Molecular Forge blueprints. Copy the Forge data and its blueprints. They should be black boxed behind the old guard’s authorization by design.”

I felt a sneer form on my face as I imagined what that bastard of a Prime, Alpha Trion, must have felt when he realized he can’t replicate the Molecular Forges of the Teletraan network even with all his power because the old guard specifically black boxed all that data and functionality behind a digital labyrinth of access codes, C.N.A. authorizations, and traps that would fry the network should someone try to brute force it.

Needless to say, Shockwave was also included in the creation of this maze, so he knew about its existence.

However, we were not foolish enough to think that none of us would turn on each other in the future. That is why we deliberately compartmentalized the knowledge of the security system, with no one but I and two other bots ever knowing its full structure.

Even then, Ratchet, Soundwave, and I willingly had our memories of that knowledge locked within our brain modules in such a way that we know of its existence, but cannot access that memories without all three of us coming together as one and unanimously voting to remove those restrictions.

That being said, I never mentioned to the others that such a memory lock was child's play for me to unlock with my powers. Mainly because I never intended to access those memories unless absolutely necessary.

Like I told Windblade before, my mind holds many secrets of our species, things that not even I am supposed to know, hence the necessity of such blocked memories so that no other bot with outlier powers like Soundwave or those with technological means could ever access these secrets.

“The system is ready, Maximus. Go ahead.”

I nodded my head and closed my optics, sifting through the sea of locked memories within my brain module, looking for the one I needed.

Barely a second later, I found the lock and opened it with a tug of my power, letting those memories rush through my mind.

With another tug, I accessed the Terminal’s systems and started navigating the digital labyrinth, avoiding all the traps and misdirections while giving the proper authorization codes when required.

It was only at the final step of the process that it required me to give it my C.N.A code for final authentication.

Once the final lock was removed, I heard Shockwave’s confirmation.

“I am in. Accessing schematics of the Teletraan-1 node structure and main hub. Access granted. Downloading. Download complete. Accessing schematics of the auxiliary system. Granted. Downloaded. Accessing schematics of the Molecular Forge system. Granted. Download complete. All core system schematics and support software package downloads are complete. You can disengage now.”

I simply nodded as I retraced my steps in the labyrinth, putting the locks and traps back in their place as I slowly exited the system.

Once the last lock was in place, I released my control over the systems and opened my optics again.

“With this, you can start working on recreating the Teletraan network. But keep in mind, Shockwave. Do not experiment with anything without my supervision.”

“…Acknowledged. What about the sparkling?”

“Windblade? She will continue with her task of looking for the entrance to Vector Sigma. Since the damned thing always relocates itself whenever the supercomputer it houses thinks that it is in danger, she is the only one who can locate it as of now thanks to her optics.”

My old friend simply nodded at my words before hesitantly speaking again.

“What about you?”

“….I am heading underground.”

“….Is it for the Insecticons?”

“Yes.”

I stared out into the distance, thinking back to the times when I first met Hardshell and his hive, bringing them into the fold with the promise of giving them a place on Cybertron once we overthrew Sentinel.

A promise that I suspect no longer matters to them now.

But still, I cannot give up on them just like that.

“Be warned, Maximus. They are no longer what they used to be. Especially after Grimlock and his peers from the so-called Lightning Strike Coalition Force destroyed their main hive during the war.”

“Shockwave, no matter what has happened in the past. It does not change the fact that they were my friends, our friends. And I will not give up on them, not yet.”

With those words, I turned around and started heading out of the place with my old friend following me silently.

No matter what has happened to them, no matter how much things have changed. It is a fact that I gave them my word. I promised them that they would have a place on Cybertron to call their own. And I never go back on my promise.

That is why I will meet my old friends again. And if they are willing, I would ask them for help once again, so that we can finally bring this pointless war to an end and bring life back to our world.

And finally, keep my promise to Hardshell that I made all those eons ago.

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Shockwave: