Tales of the Intermezzo - SB-1 A Transformers Universe Story copyright 2006 by Dave Van Domelen based on properties owned by Hasbro =========================================================================== "intermezzo - n. A brief entertainment between two acts of a play." - American Heritage Dictionary "Hey, Tote?" "Yeah, High Jump?" "You know how Xaaron said we needed to warn the people of this world that the Decepticons might be coming?" "Yep." "Well, he can shove it up his reactor linkage!" High Jump snarled as he ducked another barrage of energy weapon fire from the ever-increasing number of small transorganics surrounding the Space Bridge.... * * * * (Several Orns ago) It was a ring made of some strange metal. Rather, two rings, one able to move within the other. Strange symbols covered the inner ring. "THAT thing is why we got rebuilt in these 'Micromaster' forms?" Powertrain said incredulously. "What are we supposed to do with it, throw it at Shockwave?" Mudslinger added. "And wouldn't that have been easier in our old bodies? Or did Glyph here just want to hang around with someone smaller 'n her for once?" "Please, gentlemen," Emirate Xaaron held up a calming hand. The members of the new Off-Road Team backed up a little, still unaccustomed to how everything was now huge to them. "Officially, the Micromaster project is a fuel conservation measure, and it does have that advantage, as well as others. But this ring is the true impetus for your conversion, and notably for your vehicle modes with their ability to handle unimproved terrain." "Does this have to do with the new space exploration program, then?" Tote asked. "Not a lot of 'off-road' on Cybertron, after all." "In a way, yes. We discovered this ring on a nearby uninhabited world three deciVorn ago. Glyph here," he gestured to the Mini-Bot who now stood head and shoulders over the Micromasters, "managed to decipher the writing found on artifacts nearby, and deduced that the ring is a sort of bridge between starsystems. This 'Space Bridge' is apparently part of a network of such devices spread across the galaxy." "As far as I have been able to tell, the Space Bridges were created at least a thousand Vorn ago," Glyph added. "And, clearly, by a race of somewhat smaller stature. Although I suppose they could have also been built along a horizontal body plan, longer than we are tall. Or..." Xaaron interrupted, "Yes, yes. There will be a more complete briefing on theory later. Suffice to say, a Micromaster can easily pass through this Space Bridge where even a smaller Autobot like Glyph has difficulty. And, being optimized for this new size, you have a greater combat capability than Glyph does." "You expecting enemies on the other side?" High Jump asked. "We...have reason to believe the Decepticons have acquired one of these Space Bridges as well. With their greater resources and thirst for conquest, our analysts think they will attempt to reverse-engineer the technology and create a Space Bridge capable of carrying full-sized Decepticons, although they will not be able to take advantage of the existing network with such super-Bridges. It is entirely possibly they have developed their own Micromasters to establish beachheads and construct new super-Bridges on the other side." "We are so hosed," Mudslinger sighed. "Not necessarily," Glyph countered. "By splitting their efforts, even with greater resources, the Decepticons will be slowed. Additionally, I don't think anyone on their side is even capable of deciphering the writings that accompanied the Bridge, assuming there were any to decipher near the Bridge the Decepticons found...were the legendary Soundwave still here, he might have been capable of it, but he isn't. I expect they will have to start from first principles. So you will have time to warn the others." "What others?" Tote asked. "We found this Space Bridge on an uninhabited world, but Glyph has found the 'addresses' of several other worlds, not all of which are uninhabited. You will need to warn them that the Decepticons are coming...." * * * * (Back to the present) Powertrain fired a microgrenade into a cluster of the metal-headed transorganics, the explosion scattering them. "I don't get it! This world was strictly low-tech! They could barely work iron, how come they have blaster sticks that can put a hole in our armor?" "I just wish Glyph's linguomatrix was a little more complete," Tote groused as he took several precision shots at enemies blown into the air by the explosion, killing them before they could hit the ground. "Apparently, 'Jaffa kree!' means something like 'Kill the interlopers!'" "Anyway, something tells me these guys don't need warning. Too bad, the villagers seemed nice enough, in a squishy sort of way," High Jump noted, grabbing an enemy who had gotten too close and ripping its head off. To reveal another head. "Hey, they're not transorganics!" Mudslinger shouted. "Just organics wearing metal heads!" "They're still a lot tougher than organics, though," Tote replied as he shot a couple of targets who had gotten up after being shot earlier. "I have a theory, maybe the natives here are kept low-tech by whoever's running the whole 'Jaffa kree' deal. Easier to keep them enslaved." "Tell it ta Glyph," Mudslinger snarled as he transformed into his huge- wheeled alternate form. Driving around in a tight circle, he bowled over most of the enemies still between them and the Space Bridge. "It's clear, Tote! Spin us some rings!" * * * * (0.103 Vorn later) "Okay, Space Bridge Patrol One, this is a first contact mission, and a big one," Glyph said from the control booth. "So big that I'm coming along once you secure the other end." "Great, a babysitting mission," Mudslinger sighed. "Hey, at least it means we probably won't be seeing the Constructor Squad on the other side," Tote pointed out. "Man, I hate those guys." "I think you speak for all of us," Powertrain nodded. "If you're done gossipping," Glyph said, "I think this may be the world where the Space Bridge builders originally came from. Now, there's got to be a reason they aren't using the network anymore, and that reason could be hazardous. So be very careful when you go through, there could be anything from a post-war radioactive wasteland to a natural disaster aftermath waiting for you." "Or an army of Goa'uld," High Jump suggested. "Possible," Glyph agreed. "I don't think they destroyed the Bridge builders, everything you and SB-2," the codename for what was publically known as the Astro Squad, "have found suggests the Goa'uld came along hundreds of Vorn after the end of Bridge-building activity. Nothing to stop them from having found this world since then, of course, so make sure your armor harmonics are sequenced for Zat'nikatel." The deceptively small weapons were designed to kill organics, but several shots could disintegrate even an Autobot. The gate started to spin, the symbols locking into place one after the other. Finally, with a rushing sound the shimmering interface formed, indicating that the Space Bridge was now connected to a similar ring a vast distance away. Unlike the Decepticon version, it sent no telltale beam of light into space to let the other side it was in operation. "Okay, guys, standard protocol. Send in the drone," Powertrain said, stepping aside so that the small, wheeled robot could pass through the interface. They'd found out the painful way that if the other end of the Bridge was covered, you couldn't get out. And would have an awful hard time surviving the resulting...whatever the technojargon was that Glyph had used. Thankfully, the defense they'd devised against Zat'nikatel had also let them survive their first "bounced" trip. "It's a go," Glyph said from the control booth. "No Goa'uld on the other side, but there are some sort of entities of the same size and shape as Jaffa...." * * * * Ernest Littlefield picked himself up off the floor with all the awkwardness one would expect from a man in a modified diving suit. "What was THAT?" he demanded. "It wasn't us," Dr. Langford averred. "We'd only gotten to the third symbol, it activated on its own. In the future, I recommend ducking when it does that," he added, a brittle smile covering his concern. "Suppose 'Heaven' wants to come visit us instead?" Littlefield referred to the name given to the device by hieroglyphs on accompanying artifacts. The Doorway to Heaven, they had called it. Ernest nearly fell over again as he scrambled to get out of the way of something emerging from the Doorway. "What in God's name...?" Dr. Langford spat. "It looks like a sort of cart, six wheels but no place for a driver," one of the techs observed. "Yes, but what is it doing? Ah, hello?" Dr. Langford raised his hands in greeting. "Are you one of the people who built this?" he gestured at the Doorway. "Maybe someone's inside it?" Ernest suggested, pulling off his diving helmet. "They didn't know what would be on the other side after all this time, so they took precautions," he tapped the helmet. "The ring was buried for thousands of years, after all." "I sincerely hope they're friendly," Dr. Langford said nervously. "Catherine's a grown girl now, but I'd still rather not she become an orphan just yet." Suddenly, what appeared to be nothing less than a metal man stepped through the Doorway, followed by three more similar in design. "Robots!" another tech gasped, nearly falling from his perch on the power supply. The first one said something unintelligible. "I'm sorry, I don't understand you?" Dr. Langford replied. Another robot tried to communicate. "That sounds like Latin," Ernest noted. "But I couldn't really tell what he was trying to say. I think I caught something like 'pax' in there, though...." * * * * "Greetings, we come in peace," Powertrain said to the assembled Jaffa. Well, they looked like Jaffa. Possibly a lost colony that developed its own culture, he'd seen that before. One of the Jaffa babbled something incomprehensible. Tote tried again, in the language of the Bridge builders. "They seem to kinda get that," Mudslinger noted. "Glyph, you able to figure out this crazy squishy language of theirs?" he asked over the radio link. "Doesn't look like they have any weapons that can hurt us," Powertrain said in Cybertronian. "But they could still have Zat'nikatels, so guard up." "Keep them talking," Glyph said. "I'll try to run some matches, in case they're talking a dialect. Otherwise, it may take a while to really communicate with them." "Um, guys?" Highjump interrupted. "I'm picking up a weak distress signal. Cybertronian. ANCIENT Cybertronian. I think...I think it's the Ark." * * * * (0.627 Vorn later) "Welcome to Cheyenne Mountain, Dr. Jackson." "Thank you, Dr. Langford," the somewhat geeky man nodded. "Please, call me Catherine. Come this way, we need to get you through security." "Of course, Doc...Catherine. But why am I here? This is a military base, and I'm just an archaeologist. Well, I used to be an archaeologist, I teach ESL now. For that matter, why are YOU here?" "You'd be surprised at the military applications of archaeology these days, Daniel. You don't mind if I call you Daniel?" "No, no of course not. Military archaeology? Does this...oh, don't tell me. It's about my theories that the Pyramids were constructed by extraterrestrials." His face fell. "Someone in the Pentagon is on a UFO kick again, and decided to call in anyone who had made any serious studies of..." "Not again, Daniel. Still. The Pentagon has been interested in extraterrestrials for over fifty years now, for very good reason. All very hush-hush, of course, with plenty of fake UFO nonsense created as a... smokescreen," she chuckled at what Daniel decided must have been a private joke. "Every so often, someone stumbles onto part of the truth, and once it's been decided they can be trusted...my apologies for what happened to your career, but it's standard procedure...we recruit them. I'm recruiting *you*," she added. "Welcome to Space Bridge Command, Daniel, I've got some giant extraterrestrial robots I'd like you to meet. One of them is particularly interested in talking to you, her name is Glyph...." =========================================================================== Author's Notes: Okay, more of a crossover than a proper intermezzo, but the idea seized me and I just had to do something with it. :) And doesn't the Space Bridge look kinda like a larger cousin to the Stargate? Plus, wouldn't discovering a Stargate logically lead to a new reason to make Micromasters? Maybe Scraplets are really Replicators cut off from their main intelligence.... For those who don't know any Stargate stuff, check out Gateworld at http://www.gateworld.net (it's kinda slow-loading, but comprehensive). Oh, and 1 Vorn is about 83 years. :) G1 comic timekeeping. An Orn is a Cybertronian lunar day, on the order of a month I believe.