Transformers : The Phoenix War story by M Sipher Part One Deception, Subterfuge, Treachery and Other Methods of Getting Your Way or (Since You Joined) The Corporation ********** We have red alert! We have red alert! Klaxons wailed throughout Mining Station 48. The planetoid was a valuable source of numerous metals used in Cybertronian armor plating... metals mined by what was politely referred to as Non-Wage-Earning Labor. Otherwise known as slaves. The stocky, humanoid mine workers came from the planet Juliwa, and were perfectly suited for backbreaking labor in the planetoid's thin atmosphere... valuable resources. The guards at the mouth of the mine shaft tried desperately to keep the workers from swarming out... with very limited success. A missile streaked towards the mine, slamming into one of the guards, the force of the explosion knocking another to the ground. This is not a drill! Invaders attacking mine entrance... Windrazor stepped up behind the intercom officer. While numerous Cybertronian troops scrambled frantically in near-panic, Windrazor kept his air of cool confidence and unshakable calm. As the second-in-command to Governor Strahl's Cybertronian Power Corporation, the SkyScorcher commander had arrived a few breems ago on an inspection tour. The base's commander groaned and shook his head. This would *not* look good in his review.... Status report. The comm. officer looked at several screens briefly, then turned. An Autobot raiding party has landed just outside the base's defense perimeter. So far, there's only been damage to the outer defenses... How many intruders? Windrazor ignored the whimpers of the base commander. *Pathetic office jockey.* Count ten. Five aerial, five ground troops. One of each guarding the dropship. Windrazor leaned closer, his single optic studying the video screens. Watching the Autobots' advance... the airborne Autobots were doing little more than covering the ground troops... who were headed for the asteroid's mine entrance. Deploy as many air units as you can spare... and have them guard the mine. Be sure to order them to avoid killing workers... they're not easily replaceable. The commander finally looked up at Windrazor in fear. But... but what about the main base? If the Autobots were to attack us here... Despite the inexperience of your troops... this base is in no danger. The Autobot's target is the mine. He watched the screen : a fire engine, loaded down with workers, bolted towards the Autobots' dropship. Order the troops to leave their dropship alone. The Autos are here merely to free workers and escape quickly... if we destroy their escape route, then they're going to change that objective... to destroying everything they can before we finish them off. He checked another screen... the airborne Autobots were ripping through the first wave of Cybertronian Thunderjets. Windrazor simply watched in stony silence as the comm. officer repeated the orders. *Excellent.* ********** You know, I was never really impressed with the Cybertronian troopers... Powerglide mused as he corkscrewed through yet another Thunderjet formation, But this is downright pathetic! Tell me about it. Dunebuster replied, as she ramped a blast crater in her dune buggy mode. She reached a pair of the green-skinned Juliwan miners and screeched to a halt. The two clambered in, desperate to get away from the Decepticon guards. Dunebuster u-turned and peeled out, narrowly dodging blaster fire. She'd made it to the mines and back to the dropship five times now... without a scratch. Of course, the air cover helped.... Now you see why I insist on rigid training procedures!! Scattershot barked out, sending another jet screaming into the ground. Technobots, keep it tight!! Inferno, Dunebuster, one last run... it looks like they're beginning to get organized!! Cosmos, Dogfight, Strafe... return to the dropship!! Hup hup hup!! The larger Juliwan in Dunebuster's seat turned his head back towards the mine and yelled desperately in his native language. Huh? What? I can't understand- then Dunebuster saw. Using her rearview optics, she checked about a mile back... a much younger Juliwan ran desperately after her, as a Thunderjet sprayed laser fire around it, merely for sport. Allright, slaghead, *now* I'm upset! Dunebuster turned hard, nearly throwing her passengers out her left side. Her rollcage-mounted photon rifle trained on the jet and let loose a barrage of energy, throwing the Cybertronian off-target. It took Powerglide a few seconds to realize his partner wasn't following him anymore. The female Juliwan leaned out the right side of Dunebuster's seat and grabbed the young one before they had even come to a stop. The Thunderjet snarled to himself, turned, and fired a rapid stream of laser fire, barely missing the foursome as Dunebuster hit the accelerator back to the dropship. Embrace oblivion, Autobot scrap! The jet turned hard, and brought his weapons to bear... only to slam headfirst into a stream of laser fire from Powerglide. He watched the Thunderjet's cockpit explode into a mass of twisted and scarred metal, then got bored with the sight and turned back to the dropship. The flying knight in shining armor, he laughed, has saved the day again. Thenk yew, thenk yew... Uh hunh... Dunebuster snickered. Thank you, Sir Bites-A-Lot. Any time, Beautiful... now let's concentrate on getting the frak outta here. ********** *How* many miners did we lose? Fifty-six, Sir... five of which were killed by our own troops. And how many troops did we lose? Thirty-eight. Mostly grunt troops... Governor Strahl stood up, slamming a large fist on his desk. Dammit, Windrazor, those troops *cost*! Those miners *cost*! *Plus* we're losing credibility with several of our business contacts... if these raids continue, it will look like we can't even hold on to our own territories! Windrazor took Strahl's ranting calmly. If you remember, Sir, I have been stressing that we improve the military training we put our guards through... Increased training is not going to repair the damage done by this latest attack by a hot-shot Autobot blitz-gang! Perhaps it would if we linked such training to retaliating to the latest incident.... Strahl paused a for a moment... he had never really cared for combat, preferring the power of material wealth... but he had to do something to stop the raids. What kind of retaliation? Windrazor crossed his arms, striking a pose of concentration. Say we find a planet the Autobots inhabit... something lightly guarded, and with a fair degree of human life... nothing highly important in the grand scheme. We simply let the troops have at this planet... give them a chance to improve their skills, get a better feel for battle. Pull out, and than make a general announcement stating something to the effect of 'This is what we shall do to another planet if the raids continue blah blah blah'... that should help us establish that we simply will not sit back and take losses from Autobot terrorists... and has a more profound effect than simply imposing economic sanctions to Primus-Knows-Where. Strahl stood silently (much to Windrazor's relief), mulling over the costs of such an operation. This would be a low-risk military objective? Of course. I even have a plan on how to get inside city limits without being detected. And to reduce losses of our more inexperienced troops, I know where I can get some more... hardened forces. At a low cost, too... several of them have been inactive for a few years, and are dying to take some anti-Autobot action. This is not an anti-Autobot action!!! We would take these same measures against *any* who would threaten our holdings!!! Of course... I merely used that phrase to describe the anxiousness of those forces in question. That seemed to placate Strahl some. Time for the clincher... And just think of the image our business partners will have of our company... a force truly to be reckoned with... especially if you were to take command of the operation. The room got *very* quiet. Strahl had stopped moving, his optics opened wide in suprise. Without turning, barely audible, he gasped If... *I* lead the operation? Windrazor could see equal parts fear and greed in that statement. Just perfect. Of course, Sir. Your personal involvement in this would only strengthen your image as a leader in the eyes of both the business world, and our own troops. I know that there are several bands of Transformers throughout the galaxy who would join any group that showed powerful leadership. *It's at times like this that I'm glad I don't have a humanoid's facial features. There's no way I could keep a straight face through this.* Strahl slowly smiled. Yes... yes indeed. Prepare the attack, Windrazor. How long will it take to contact these combat units you mentioned? Not long sir... we could be ready to start the operation in under one Earthen week. Very well. I leave the planning of this operation to you, Windrazor... I fully trust your skill in these matters. Dismissed. Yessir. ********** Eagle Eye, Afterburner and Terradive were waiting outside Strahl's office when Windrazor silently marched out. He walked by the trio without a word, only barely acknowledging them. Afterburner shrugged and followed, and the other two followed suit. Afterburner almost started to speak when Windrazor turned towards them. Eagle Eye, contact the docking bay... I want our personal transport ready by the time we get there. So, then, I assume this means we're going to pick up our reinforcements? Correct. Now make the call, and then shut up. I want to think, and I don't need you three blathering behind me. The other three SkyScorchers stopped in their tracks. Windrazor continued on without pause. What's up his tailpipe? Afterburner growled. Really, Eagle Eye concurred. I know he ain't been real happy these last couple months, but... I mean, what the hell did *we* do? Terradive stayed quiet. All he knew was his commander was not happy with them... and if he was, there was probably a good reason for it. Windrazor was, in fact, extremely upset with himself. A few years ago, he would never have put up with Strahl's pompousness. In fact, he would have taken his reluctance to shoot down some Autobots as an act of cowardess and treason... and had Strahl shot then and there. But he could not act that way. For the moment, Strahl was his best chance at re-forming the once-glorious Decepticon Empire... a truly depressing concept. For a worthless pint-pusher to be pivotal in the formation of the greatest regime ever.... Once the Liege Maximo's Cybertronian Empire had been all but destroyed, most of the surviving Transformers had taken to colonizing, forming trading or construction companies... basically, abandoning their design as warriors. So while most of the Decepticons were out playing Pilgrims, Windrazor and the SkyScorchers were out looking for opportunities to return to the glory days. After passing numerous tiny survivalist paranoid groups, they finally found Strahl's Cybertronian Power Corporation. One of the only bastions of the Cybertronian Empire not touched by the purge... a vast repository of energy and materials, plus the business contacts to acquire even more... all of which could be used to fuel the Decepticons' return to power. But there were two major problems. First of all, while Strahl had a relatively large number of troops, without the Maximo's mental link, they were not the most ideal warriors... the fact that they were very inactive for a century or two didn't help either. The second problem was Governor Strahl himself. Having been mostly a corporate leader instead of a military leader most of his existence, Strahl was more interested in material gain through corporate strength than military conquest. Windrazor figured that there would be no way to convince him to simply up and blow away the Autobots... so Windrazor joined Strahl's corporation, managed to work his way up to the number-two position. From this position of power, Windrazor started to formulate a plan... a plan to use the Corporation's resources in his fight against the Autobots. With or without Strahl. And, a few months ago, Windrazor decided that the plan was to go without Strahl. ********** To be continued... ********** Transformers are the property & copyright of Hasbro/Takara/Kenner, and this fanfic (and the characters created by the author) are in no way intended to infringe on this copyright. This fanfic and the characters in it are considered free to use as one wishes, you are a child of the universe, copyright infringement is your best entertainment value, it's just a post, you should really just relax, and all that jazz. So there. Adam West is one of the coolest people on Earth. M Guilty! Guilty Guilty Guilty GuiltyGuiltyGuilty!!! Sipher **Bibliography** N/A Words: 2100