Tales of the Intermezzo - Head and Heart
                       A Transformers Universe Story
                     copyright 2002 by Dave Van Domelen
                     based on properties owned by Hasbro
===========================================================================

     "intermezzo - n. A brief entertainment between two acts of a play."
          - American Heritage Dictionary

     "Well, talk to you later, baibai!" Minerva cheerfully signed off.
     The almost frozen smile vanished from my face as the visiscreen went
blank.  I knew she thought keeping in touch was good for both of us, but it
only drove home how much she was a complete person, the real Minerva, while I
was just a copy, half a person without her.
     It had been a little over ten of her years since Devil Z separated the
two of us, returning Minerva to her normal life and sending me off to
Cybertron to try and muddle through as best as I could.  She'd grown up,
gotten married...she'd called today to talk about the impending birth of her
first child.  She had a full life.
     And I had a hollow life.
     Go-Shuta, Cab and Lightfoot were too shallow to be bothered by the
nature of their new, independent lives.  The rest, though, had started to
feel the gnawing emptiness of their parthenogenic "births" through
separation.  Ginrai was lucky, he'd found completeness now as Victory Leo,
merging with Star Sabre.
     But that had been a one of a kind procedure.  Not something I could
try.  
     A sudden, overwhelming feeling swept over me.  I had to get away.  Go
somewhere far, far away, at least for a little while.  Get out of
communications range for a year, maybe a decade.  Or Minerva's well-meaning
attempts to stay close would drive me to share Ranger's fate...official
records called it a heroic death in the line of duty, but everyone knew he'd
thrown himself into that melee in hopes of never coming out.
     "Sky Garry," I commed.  
     "Yes, Minerva?"  I winced at the use of the name she and I shared.
     "You're heading out on a deep probe mission, right?  Want some company?"  

               *              *              *              *
     
     Shortly before I was "born," the Autobot leader Rodimus Prime had led a
force out to the rim of the galaxy to investigate reports of a renewed
Decepticon presence.  Frankly, I think he was just looking for an excuse to
get away from the pressures of leadership...but he never returned.
     And this was why.
     "Some battle," Sky Garry commented, trying to fill the grave-like
silence of the airless world.
     And some battle it had been.  Bodies, and parts of bodies, were strewn
all over the landscape, perfectly preserved by the vacuum and darkness.  A
pale white dwarf held this planetoid in orbit, but was barely distinguished
from any other star in the dark sky.
     I looked down to the ground, to the body that lay in pieces at my feet.
The body of Rodimus Prime.  My sensors showed no spark of life in him.  No
life at all on the entire battlefield save mine and Sky Garry's...which made
one and a half lives, I supposed.
     "Garry, you go check out the rest of the planet, see if there's any
survivors.  I'll stay here and see if any of these poor souls can be saved."
     "But, maybe..."
     I cut him off, raising a weary hand.  "Garry, there's nothing dangerous
here that your presence would make less dangerous.  I promise to look out for
traps, and to call if there's any trouble, okay?"
     Sky Garry paused.  He towered over me, and felt a natural paternal
instinct for the "little girl" he'd carried to this desolate rock.  But he
had enough empathy to know when someone needed to be alone, which had been a
blessing in the years of this survey voyage.
     "Very well," he leapt from the ground and folded into his gigantic
spacecraft mode, quickly leaving my sight.

               *              *              *              *

     Nothing lived, nothing was even revivable.  The strange drones with
Decepticon-like markings didn't seem to have ever truly been alive.  
     Two of the fallen resembled historical records of Skywarp and
Thundercracker, but those two had died during the Unicron incident.  These
must have been posers, adopting the look of more famous Decepticons.
     And there were those strange emblems again.  Decepticon symbols, but
with large stylized X's in the place of the "collar" pieces.  The reports of
a new Decepticon faction must have been true.
     I looked over at Rodimus's remains.  The reports had been a little too
true.  When Optimus went missing, it took four million years, but he came
back.  Rodimus had only been gone a few decades, but he would not be
returning.  He never seemed to have the kind of luck Optimus did when it came
to surviving the unsurvivable.
     "Come here..." a voice whispered.
     I looked around, panicked for a moment.  Had a Decepticon survived?  I
pulled my carbine from its subspace pocket and cranked my sensors to maximum
gain.
     "Who are you?  Where are you?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as scared
as I was.
     "Come here..." the voice repeated, and it seemed to be coming from
inside my head!
     Then I noticed the glow.
     "Rodimus!" I gasped, racing over to the dismembered corpse.  I couldn't
believe it...the laser core had been totally extinguished, cold and dead.
But if he'd managed to inherit some of Optimus's talent for survival, I
wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
     His eyes were still dead, but the glow from his chest was getting
brighter.  Could it be...the Matrix?
     I scrambled to open his chest compartment, my fear and hope overriding
any guilt I may have felt.
     The Matrix of Leadership glowed feebly inside the shattered and burnt
chest cavity of the dead Autobot leader.  It had been drained during the Hate
Plague, but Rodimus had taken it back soon afterwards when Optimus had
seemingly died in the Plasma Energy Chamber.  Where once there had been
millions of years of wisdom and power, now there was a scant human lifetime's
worth.
     "Minerva, take the Matrix."
     The voice was finally clear enough I recognized it.  "Rodimus Prime!
You survived?"  I frantically started hooking up diagnostic tools and trying
to find and fan the faint embers of life.
     There was a pause, and Rodimus continued, sadly.  "No, Minerva, I did
not.  I have joined the Matrix, and cannot long speak to you like this.
Please, I implore you, take the Matrix from my chest and place it within your
own." 
     I paused.  I wanted to protest that I wasn't a leader, had never been
built with that special compartment intended for possible installation of the
Matrix.  And the current leaders of the Autobots used the Zodiac Energon
instead of the Matrix, so the modifications weren't even needed anymore.
     But I did have a hole in my heart where the Matrix could fit.  The place
where once Minerva...the real Minerva...had ridden in my vehicle mode.
     I nodded gravely and took hold of the Matrix casing.  Cast from two
mighty dies, it was hardly scratched by the attacks that had torn Rodimus
Prime into pieces.  I could carry it safely until Sky Garry and I returned to
Cybertron, then it would be Dai Atlas's problem.
     I placed the Matrix in my chest and sealed the compartment.  Its cold
light dimmed, and the seams of my torso faded back to black.
     "AUTOBOT!"
     I whirled to face this new voice as...something...smashed into the
ground near my feet, ripping and tearing it into oblivion.  Atop a ridge, I
faced a ghost from the past.
     "Megatron?  But..."
     "But what?  I was changed into Galvatron?  Pah!  A pale copy.  But I do
not care what you think of me...I only want your ship, Autobot!  I have been
stranded on this world far too long, and my mission has been interrupted.  I
must be about my business," Megatron snarled, emphasizing his point by
launching another attack at the ground nearby.  My sensors identified the
projectile as a miniature black hole.  I had definitely stepped in it this
time.
     "Garry!  Get out of here, bring back an army!" I commed, desperately
trying to figure out a way I could survive the next few minutes without
helping Megatron escape.  Garry might be strong enough to beat the Decepticon
tyrant, but if he wasn't, his corpse would fly Megatron off this planetoid.
     A powerful laser blast seared into my side, causing me to reflexively
flinch back and almost fall.
     "Enough delays, Autobot!  Tell me where your ship is, or I will kill you
and find it myself!  I would rather not have to waste the time on a search,
but what's another few cycles?" Megatron threatened.
     "Go to hell, Megatron!" I shouted back.  It was an easy choice...half a
life against millions.  He could kill me, but he'd never get my help in
leaving this hecatomb.
     A cold sneer crossed Megatron's face.  "You sound like a *human*,
Autobot scum.  I'm doing you a favor by killing you before you forget your
origins."
     He raised that terrible weapon again, and fired a single massive
projectile that warped spacetime around it like a shroud.  I flung up my hand
reflexively, as if that could ward off such a potent missile.
     And it did!
     A shimmering cross of crimson force sprang into existence at my
fingertips.  The singularity slammed against it, straining it terribly, but
the shield held and the radiation of the black hole's death was hurled back
against Megatron.
     "How?" I muttered.
     Then a powerful voice, no longer sorrowful, cried out in my head.  
     "Arise, Athena Prime!" Rodimus shouted out.  "Rise, and take what power
the Matrix can give you, then fill it once more with the wisdom that always
must balance strength!"
     Energy flooded my limbs, and I felt my body shifting, changing...
growing!
     "What trickery is this?" Megatron scowled, lowering the barrel of his
cannon briefly.
     "No tricks, Megatron!" I shouted back, my soprano voice having dropped
to a powerful alto.  "It's time to end a battle that was interrupted decades
ago!  What did the history vids say...oh yes.  One shall stand, one shall
fall!"
     And it wasn't just bravado.  For some reason, I really did feel that
confidence.  I dismissed the energy field, my Aegis Cross, and leapt into the
air to transform.
     Megatron stood his ground as I raced towards him, my more powerful
vehicle mode like a bullet train on wheels.
     "I've crushed two Primes already, and I'll crush YOU!" he retorted,
bracing for impact with his arms spread wide.
     We slammed together, Megatron grasping my cab and cracking the glass as
his heels threw up sparks against the stony ground, my momentum being too
much for him to stop.
     Then we hit an outcropping and slammed apart, Megatron leaping away
while I rolled on my side and transformed back to robot mode.  I drew my
rifle and stood, reflexively throwing up the Aegis Cross to deflect another
miniature black hole.
     "You're part of the past, Megatron!" I shout.  "You should have stayed
there!"  
     With that, I fired.  To give him credit, Megatron was a canny combatant,
and was only singed by a glancing strike.  He had millions of years of
fighting experience over me, and I wasn't a fighter to begin with!
     The initial rush of confidence started to fade.  I may have been ten
times as strong as I was at the start of the day, but that still wasn't not
strong enough.
     Megatron smiled cruelly, having come to the same conclusion.  He'd taken
my measure.  "You lack Prime's courage, Autobot.  And that will be your doom,
no matter how long it takes me to batter down your shield."
     And then fire fell from the sky, battering Megatron to the ground in
stunned amazement.
     "YEEEEEEEEEEHAAA!" shouted Sky Garry as he pulled out of his dive,
strafing Megatron as long as he could bring his cannons to bear.
     Inwardly furious at Garry and overwhelmingly relieved at the same time,
I steeled my voice and snarled, "THAT is my ship, Megatron!  Care to try and
take him?"
     Megatron took a few useless shots at Sky Garry and then paused, as if
hearing his own internal voices.  He frowned and looked first at me, and then
at the sky, as if evaluating his options.
     "I have just been offered...other transportation, Autobot.  We shall
meet again," he took flight, racing away from the battleground.  "And you
shall share the fate of Optimus and Rodimus!"
     Then he vanished in a burst of dark flame.  I had no illusions that he
had been destroyed by that flame.
     I nearly collapsed, leaning against a nearby bluff for support.  "Garry,
you idiot!  I told you to get out of here!  What if Megatron had...oh, never
mind," I sighed.  Obviously, Megatron had escaped without help from either
Autobot after all.
     Sky Garry transformed and landed nearby, smirking.  "And since when are
you in command...whoa, what happened?" he did a doubletake, suddenly noticing
my new appearance.
     I cracked open my chest compartment to reveal the dimly glowing Matrix.
"I think this answers both questions, Garry."

               *              *              *              *

     The trip back to Cybertron was long, but not long enough.  Garry had
stayed quiet...more out of reverence than respect now, though...but I wasn't
just a carrier of the Matrix, I was Chosen by it.  My life would change
immensely on my return to Cybertron, and I hoped I could convince Dai Atlas
to stay in overall command.  I wasn't a leader!  Hell, I wasn't even whole,
for all that the Matrix now filled me.  
     And that was the real killer.
     That empty ache was still there.  In fact, the emptiness of the Matrix
made it even worse.  Two halves did not make a whole, it made a hole.
     "That was my big mistake, you know," Rodimus whispered in my head.
     "What was?" I blurted out in surprise.
     "Thinking that the Matrix would make me different...inside.  I kept
waiting for it to turn me into a better leader, a better PERSON.  But I was
still me inside, even though my body had been rebuilt.  But...once the Matrix
was emptied, I think I stopped expecting so much of it, and I started to grow
up.  Too bad Megatron came back from the dead before I could finish my
lessons." 
     "So, there's nothing the Matrix can do to help me?" I asked, silently.
I didn't want Garry to think I had gone insane, talking to the air.
     Rodimus chuckled.  "Ask not what the Matrix can do for you, but what you
can do for the Matrix.  Minerva...Athena, you're not half a person.  You're
just young, you're a nearly empty cup waiting to be filled up.  Just like the
Matrix.  You're wise enough to see how much you lack, but not wise enough yet
to see that this doesn't make you less of a person."  He paused, as if trying
to pick the right words.
     "The Autobots don't need a war-leader, Athena.  I can see in your
memories that Dai Atlas does a great job of that.  But they need wisdom, and
so do you.  I think that's why the Matrix chose you, and not Sky Garry.  Who
better to fill the Matrix with wisdom and experience than someone desperately
in search of those things for herself?"  He chuckled.  "If nothing else, now
that you have the Matrix, the Autobots aren't going to let you just wallow in
self-pity and teenage angst.  Trust me, Matrix-holders are NOT left alone.
Sorry about that...."

               *              *              *              *

     It had been an exhausting first day back on Cybertron.  All the news had
been transmitted well in advance, but everyone seemed to want my opinions and
observations and to press leadership into my hands.  I finally got free of
all the well-wishers and concerned generals and went back to my old quarters,
now a bit cramped for my new size.  I had a call I needed to make.
     "Hello, Minerva?"

=============================================================================

Author's Notes:

     This story picks up from ideas in "X", my Megatron X story, and throws
in other aspects of Japanese continuity to create a sort of weird alternate
Battlestars (the abandoned cartoon that would have followed Transformers
Zone) setting, which I'm calling Battlecross (given that Megatron X and
Athena Prime both have cross symbols of various sorts).  I play a bit fast
and loose with the links between U.S. and Japanese continuity, but you've
probably gotten to expect that sort of thing from me.
     You'll notice that Minerva/Athena Prime doesn't use Cybertronian jargon
much, if at all.  That's because I take the view that the Transtectors had no
life before joining with humans, and when Devil Zarak pulled out the humans,
their minds and personalities were copied into the new purely mechanical
lifeforms.  So Minerva-the-TF still thought like a human, in terms of days,
years, generations, etc.  And she told Megatron to go to hell, not to the Pit
or whatnot.
     http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/drawings/athenaprime.GIF and
http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/drawings/athenavehicle.GIF are pictures
of Athena Prime.  I drew them first, then decided to put together a story
about her to kick off 2002.
     Maybe I'll do more stories in Battlecross, maybe not.  I make no
promises.  }->