Tales of the Intermezzo - Sunset A Transformers Universe Story copyright 1998 by Dave Van Domelen based on properties owned by Hasbro =========================================================================== "intermezzo - n. A brief entertainment between two acts of a play." - American Heritage Dictionary I try not to move too much these days. Every time I so much as budge, I can *feel* the grit working into my joints, feel my finish getting duller and grimier. My brilliant, beautiful golden body is a dull brown from dirt and grime and neglect, and I HATE it. My shining silver faceplate is a mottled grey, and one eye has been replaced with a too-large optic piece. Once I would have never worn any sort of covering to hide my beauty, but now I'm glad for the tarp-like shawl and drooping hat I managed to scavenge. Not only do they help hide my identity, they help hide my hideous condition. So I sit here, along a side street in a small mining town on the edge of nowhere, a motley community of mechanoids and organics passing through and trying to make their fortunes...or steal someone else's. The mix of structures is almost comical, with the tiny dwellings of organics butting up against the larger establishments catering to those of my size. It's almost fitting that I have ended up here...the juxtapositions suit my current condition. Plus, of course, no one needs to know your name, which makes it a good place for me to stay. For a while, at least. As I watch the dust lazily blow across the pitted metal roadway, that old familiar memory plays itself back for, what, the sixth time today...? * * * * "Hey, bro! Sensors picking up an incoming ship," Sideswipe called out from the monitor station. "It ID's as Autobot, but they're not transmitting the verification code." "Bringing weapons online," Sunstreaker replied. "After that Autobot City debacle, I don't want to take any chances." "Afraid they'll scratch your finish?" Sideswipe mocked. "Hmph. At least I have one worth protecting. You just had to go and put on that gauche black 'stealth' coating." "It makes me look sleek and dangerous." "Goth and pretentious, more likely. Weapons armed and trained on the shuttle. It's showing no signs of locking on to us." Sideswipe touched a few keys and brought up some tactical displays. "No signs of battle damage on the shuttle either. Not that the Cons would try the exact same trick twice. They're transmitting a request to talk." "Might as well bring it up. Tactical shows they aren't packing enough weaponry to hurt us inside the listening post." The commscreen lit up, showing an unfamiliar orange figure. His alternate mode was obviously that of a sportscar, but the land/air vehicle distinction had gotten rather muddied in recent years, starting with the Stunticons and Aerialbots. "Greetings, Autobots. I am Skystalker, Autobot Micromaster commander. I bring you both good news and bad." "Please transmit verification code," Sunstreaker interjected. There was a pause. "Therein lies some of the bad news, I'm afraid. Most of the Autobot command structure has passed beyond the Matrix...died," he amended when he noticed the confused look on Sideswipe's faceplate. "No..." Sideswipe whispered. Sunstreaker kept his silence. "The good news is that the War is over and the Autobots have won, but at terrible cost. Few of the older Autobots are left, and we Micromasters fear that there may be hidden pockets of Decepticons which plan to swoop down and retake Cybertron at any time. I was sent out to locate Autobots stationed at remote locations such as this, relieve you with members of my own crew, and bring you back to Cybertron to help defend it. After all, a Micromaster can watch the scanners as well as a full-sized Autobot, yes?" Sideswipe turned to Sunstreaker. "They need us, bro. If it's as bad as they say, they'll need every Autobot who can carry a pulse rifle." Sunstreaker merely stared into Skystalker's image. "Please transmit verification code." The Micromaster shook his head. "I don't have it. All of the Autobots who knew it perished, and a last-ditch assault on our computers by the Decepticon cyberspace warriors destroyed a great many records. We do have an Ident-Code message from Primelock, but as you know, that method of verification is only valid in person, not over comm." "Primelock? Grimlock is the best leader we have left?" Sideswipe goggled. "We really ARE in trouble." Sunstreaker put the communicator on mute, to talk privately. "It does have a ring of truth to it...if this were a trick, they could have picked a more plausible Autobot leader. Let's put the station on autodefense and go see his proof. If it *is* a trap, the autodefense grid will make sure they don't get out of here alive." Sideswipe nodded. "Sounds like a plan." Sunstreaker unmuted the comm. "I've set the base autodefenses to run in our absence until we get this verification. We'll be out in a few astroseconds." Moments later, they were out on the surface of the desolate asteroid into which the listening post had been built. A half dozen or so unarmed Micromasters were standing outside the ship, which seemed to have been positioned rather oddly in its landing. Something about it nagged at Sunstreaker, but he filed it away for later. "Hey," Sideswipe interjected just before Skystalker could welcome them. "It doesn't look like the doors on your ship are big enough for us to fit inside. We don't have a ship here, so how will we get back in yours?" Skystalker pondered this point for a moment, then grinned widely and evilly. "We'll just have to cut you into small enough pieces. FIRE!" Sunstreaker cursed, his rifle out of subspace and into his hand even as he dodged the first shots from the ship's cannons. Now he saw why it was positioned the way it was...the autodefense guns couldn't hit the Micromasters without going through the ship first, and it seemed to have some kind of forcefield. "Sideswipe, let's get out of here!" Sunstreaker turned to see why his brother wasn't responding. He saw that his brother could not respond, having had his faceplate shattered by a plasma bolt. Another blast had opened a hole through his chest. Sideswipe's hands worked feebly, firing random shots from his rifle as the Autobot's body slowly fell forward in the low gravity. "NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!" * * * * Things got hazy for a while...my next clear memory was of cradling my brother's body in the middle of a pile of Micromaster parts. I buried him there on that asteroid and cobbled together a ship from pieces of Skystalker's craft, just enough to get me to the nearest inhabited world. The base's autodestruct system ensured a proper hero's pyre for my brother. They came for me again a vorn later, trying to claim the war was over. They even had the verification codes this time, but I knew it was another trick. The damn Micros took my eye, but I killed them all. Now I wander from world to world, staying ahead of the Decepticons and their Predacon and Maximal lackeys. I... "Hey, punk! This is a toll road! Time ta pay the toll." I look up from my shaded corner to see a hulking organic about half my size shaking down a smaller organic humanoid. "Wh-what's the toll?" the victim asks. "What ya got?" laughs the brute. Maybe I need to keep a low profile, but I'm still an Autobot. "It's a public road, toll-troll. Move aside," I say from under my slouch hat, not moving a servo. "Shaddup, ya old bum, or I'll see what I can get for ya in salvage!" roars the toll-taker, waving a large energized sword in a manner he thinks is menacing but which is merely pathetic as far as I'm concerned. He barely has time to register the flash of my rifle coming out of subspace before I've put a hole neatly between his eyes. Then, for good measure I put a few more holes in his torso, in case his species doesn't keep anything important in the head. "I paid your toll, move along," I say to the would-be victim. He stammers something in thanks and fear and runs away. Within minutes the authorities, such as they are, will be asking questions I don't want to answer, so it's time to high-tail it out of town. Too bad, I kind of like the place. Still, it's best that I get moving along. I need to find the rest of the Autobots that survived the War, get involved in retaking Cybertron, keep the faith. As long as one Autobot lives, the War isn't really over. And I can't be the only one left, can I? Can I? ============================================================================ Author's Notes: Normally, I don't set out to write about major characters. Too much chance I'll forget something important about them and get fans annoyed at the mistake. Plus, I generally prefer working with the more obscure characters, it's just in my nature. If I get an idea for a story with a major character, I'll probably write it, but I don't go looking for one. However, after posting "Planet Brawn," I got a half dozen or so requests for a Sideswipe/Sunstreaker story (among other requests). And while I explained to each of them why I probably wouldn't do such a story, keeping the characters in my mind so much just caused my subconscious to kick out an idea: what if vain Sunstreaker was forced to hide behind a layer of grime as he kept fighting a war which had ended years before? Please don't take this to mean I *want* to be deluged with more requests. }-> There *are* certain characters I simply will NOT do Tales of the Intermezzo about, either because A) I don't think they can be treated well in 150 lines or less, B) I think their story would duplicate one I already wrote (for instance, I see the Dinobots meeting much the same fate as either Omega Supreme or Sunstreaker) or C) the canon is likely to address it. This is not to say I don't have ideas for these characters, just that I doubt I'll turn those ideas into stories.