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Re: The G1/BW Gap
G1 Razorclaw: could no longer stand idly by and serve another inept leader. Megatron, Galvatron, Shockwave, Soundwave, Starscream, Scorponok… All had had their time at the helm but none had succeeded in destroying the Autobots and winning the War; they seemed more interested in doing each other in. And dissent was not limited to he and his fellow Predacons. Whispers in the ranks, rumours and ripples. Galvatron’s insane ambitions were turning many off, so Razorclaw had to act. It began as merely a splinter group to quietly gauge numbers of support, but the response was overwhelming. Quiet plans began to be formulated. A target was chosen. The Predacons, as a separate fighting force, disconnected from the Decepticons, would soon announce their arrival.
The Autobots stationed on Earth were no match for the Predacon Armada which smashed into the planet, decimated its forces, and then detonated powerful explosives crammed into the Earth’s crust. Billions dead in a single day, and the Predacon faction had arrived! Razorclaw simply smiled when he saw Earth’s debris spattered through the solar system. This was just the beginning.
The Autobots, now fighting the War on two fronts, responded to the new Predacon threat with a new force of their own - the Maximals. Smaller, yet still formidable warriors, whose bodies were created from the new Proto-Matter technology that had been developed (its origins in the Mini-Bot technology). Autobot scientists were making leaps and bounds with the development of new technologies, and it was proving decisive on the battlefield. The Decepticons stagnated in their refusal to develop new Energon-efficient technologies; Galvatron believing their sheer size over their smaller foe would deliver results. Razorclaw would not be so naïve.
But the Predacons were so far behind in the development. So they did what they did best - smash and grab. A supposed secret Autobot research facility was attacked, and a leading Autobot scientist was kidnapped. Csirac, who had led the Autobot research into TransWarp technology, was taken to a Predacon installation to be ‘questioned’ about his work. The Autobots/Maximals had unsuccessfully tested an early TransWarp engine design, at the cost of many lives, including that of Csirac’s partner. The failure, and her passing, haunted Csirac.
The War continued to rage on the surface. New Predacon Generals proved themselves in battle. Four rose quickly through the ranks. Magmatron - a powerful but young and brash Predacon, and three brothers - Cinder, Seethe and Rampant, whose origins were a blur of myth and hype, but their skills were without question. Magmatron never saw eye to eye with the brothers.
In the final battle for Cybertron, long after the Decepticons had withdrawn from the War, with Shockwave signing an armistice as Leader after Megatron’s death, and with the countdown to a test flight of an Autobot TransWarp ship happening above, Razorclaw was killed on the frontline of combat. The battle had looked to be going exactly as Razorclaw had envisioned, but Magmatron was stretchered out, mortally wounded, and the Autobot ranks were bolstered by the miraculous, darkest-hour-lighting return of four mighty warriors - Ironhide, Silverbolt, Prowl… and Grimlock! This turned the tide. Razorclaw fell, his optics skyward but dark, as the Xelor made the 1st successful test of a TransWarp engine.
With Razorclaw dead and Magmatron possibly too, the Tripredacus Brotherhood took command of the Predacon forces and ordered an immediate ceasefire. The Autobots/Maximals now had at their disposal a weapon of the greatest power, a weapon that could vanquish an enemy before it even existed - the control of Time.
Razorclaw’s Predacons had their rights signed away by the now Tripredacus Council, self-appointed heads of the fledgling Predacon Government. With the Decepticons defunct, and the Autobot name retired, Cyberton’s future would be played out between Maximals and Predacons.
Megalith: was a genius - intelligent, creative, persuasive and cunning. But he was one thing above all others: a Predacon. He saw the capitulation by his Decepticon forefathers, and pandering to the Maximals by his current leaders, as a personal insult. He believed that their race had only one true place - in control of Cybertron and of a great empire. If those in authority refused to act, he saw it as his obligation as a proud Predacon to do so, and seat himself at the throne of command.
Opportunities were sparse for Predacons on this new Cybertron. One that did present itself however, was within the Maximal Command Security Force, whose job is was to protect Cybertron’s interest both on and off world from dangers originating from both on and off world.
As a condition of the Pax Cybertronia, the Predacons were not permitted to have a standing army. As such, any Predacon with identified potential was allowed to apply for the Maximal Military Academy. They could graduate and serve, but only ever ascend so far in the ranks of the Security Force before hitting the glass ceiling no Predacon could break through.
Fully aware of the limited scope of progression, Megalith enlisted nonetheless, studied and graduated with outstanding marks in all fields, but specialised in data analysis. He was headhunted by and subsequently joined the Maximal Security Force, an action that gained him no respect amongst Predacons, but Maximal and Predacon leaders hoped he would be an inspiration for other gifted Predacons to put their talents to good use.
He served without incident, but after years of seeing less experienced Maximals pass him into positions of higher standing, he could no longer put himself through it. Or that’s what he told the Maximals upon his resignation anyway. In truth, he’d spent the years in service learning Maximal processes of intelligence gathering and had found ways of accessing classified information, much higher than his security clearance allowed. He’d accessed information the Predacons would have done anything to see, but he’d done it all without raising a single eyebrow. He’d always been held in a suspicious gaze by some Maximals in the Force, but they couldn’t make anything stick to him.
Megalith had never abandoned his desire of leading the Predacons to domination over their enemy. Years of research and analysis had shaped many plans for the revitalisation of their second class race, but his departure was for one reason only.
However, before he could act on any plans, he was contacted by a representative of the Tripredacus Council, who wished to meet with him. They offered him a position within a Predacon organisation that simply didn’t exist. In all his years of stealing Maximal intelligence, never did he hear a whisper about the outfit. Whatever this organisation was, the Maximals had no idea it even existed.
Work on stealth capabilities, advanced weapons research, recruitment and training of soldiers - all of which pointed to a Predacon uprising in the near future. No wonder all this was done on distant off world Outposts, far from Maximal sensors. But the one thing that interested Megalith the most, and where he requested to be assigned, was the TransWarp research department. He had never been able to crack the Maximal intel on their TransWarp technology, and this, above all else that was illegal under the Pax Cybertronia, was the big one. The Maximals garnering the ability to traverse time and change the outcome of the future was that which prompted the Predacon surrender at the end of the Great War, but if the Predacons also had this capability, then they were back on a level playing field.
Megalith paused his own designs for the moment and threw himself into his work. The TransWarp cells were highly unstable, and research was slow going but progress was being made.
Then one day, it worked.
Stellar cycles of research and testing yielded a successfully tested and stable TransWarp cell. The day of uprising would be soon.
But it never came. The Tripredacus Council refused to act. The weapon to retake power of the universe was in their hand but they refused to wield it. Megalith was astounded at the sheer refusal to move. His own plans suddenly came roaring back into motion.
Taking absence from his work, he returned to Cybertron and sought out a crew - skilled, willing, but ultimately controllable to his own ends, and expendable. He found a loyal second in command, two pilots, a deranged engineer, and, from the dirty underworld of the Gladiatorial Arenas run by Cryotek, some muscle. All of them were ready to throw off the shackles of Maximal oppression, but needed a bit of convincing that it was possible. One small data track would change all their minds.
From the Hall of Cybertronian Antiquities, they stole a relic of Earth origin, an object that had been surrounded with myth for centuries. A Golden Disk. And on this disk, a message.
As their stolen ship, fitted with TransWarp cells, broke orbit, and pursued by incoming Maximal ships, the squawking red robot at the helm turned and said “You better be right about this, Megalith”, which was greeted with the reply “My dear Terrasaur, you will address me as Megatron…”
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