EDITED 12/15/2017 Changed Breakaway, Landquake, and Topspin's names to their SG counterparts. Kept Skyfall to prevent continuity errors and Heatwave since he's the only one who doesn't share his name with someone else.
SPECTRUMS OF MORALITY
Timeline: Cycle 9614 (AD 1814) (200 Years Ago)
-
It's great to be alive.
Quakebreak grinned as he observed the empty battlefield. Thanks to the Aerialbots' air support, the Autobots had managed to scare off the Decepticon forces on Urtusk and liberate the natives.
Of course, none of it could have been done without him.
Quakebreak moved away from the scenery and found his commanding officer, Silverbolt, speaking with the Urtuskian leader.
"Think nothing of it, High Shaman," the Aerialbot leader said. "We're simply doing what we can to protect other worlds from our war."
"We greatly appreciate it," the Urtuskian said, his face-trunk curling up. "However, I understand that the Galactic Council has recently put you on their blacklist."
Silverbolt frowned. "Indeed. Either way, I do hope the Nebulon Republic will tolerate our presence in their territory."
Quakebreak grinned as he interrupted the conversation. "They certainly will if they know that it was Quakebreak who saved the day!"
Silverbolt rolled his eyes at Quakebreak's outburst. "All you did notably was save those younglings."
"Which we greatly appreciate, by the way," the High Shaman said.
Quakebreak nodded, still grinning. "And by saving those younglings, I've saved the futures of millions. I'm sure the Nebulons will greatly appreciate that!"
"Just get back to the Darkstar, Quakebreak," Silverbolt snapped.
The Aerialbot saluted his commander and made his way back to the ship. He simply loved being an Autobot; saving lives, preserving futures, laying out the foundations for peace....
Nothing could make him happier.
* * *
Nothing could have made Landfall any more upset than he already was.
As the Kalis' Lament traveled through hyperspace, having made a fast getaway from Urtusk, he deeply wished that he was back in the city the ship was named after, working at the energon refineries.
It wasn't like he hated fighting- he had always carried an interest in combat. But the constant in-fighting and back-stabbing that occurred within the Decepticon ranks was quickly growing tiresome. He never knew when or if one of his comrades would kill him just to accomplish a personal goal.
Seated in the Thanatos-class ship's passenger bay, Landfall glanced at his fellow Decepticon Oil Slick, whose domed helmet reflected the light of his messaging device.
"Who are you messaging, Slick?" Landfall asked.
"A pal of mine," Oil Slick replied. "Name's Spinaway."
"What's he messaging you about?"
"He's got some guy leaking him data from the Autobots. Most of it is chemical formulas. He's the one who leaked the Gideon's Glue formula."
"Ah." Landfall repressed a shudder as he recalled that horrible day on Babu Yar. Despite being one of the Decepticons who had served under Gideon, he couldn't help but pity the Autobots that had fell then.
Some days, though he would never vocally admit it, he almost wish he wasn't a Decepticon.
* * *
There was never a day that Spinaway wished to be anything but a Decepticon.
Seated at his station on Ijurn, his fingers flew across his keypad, accessing encrypted Autobot channels and hacking into terminals in mere seconds. He couldn't have found a better pastime than this.
"Incoming call," a monotonic voice said. "Source: Fireball."
Spinaway accepted the call. The text on his monitor was soon replaced by a silhouetted face. A heavily modulated voice spoke.
"Spinaway. I have another formula that may interest you."
Spinaway smirked. "Another one, Fireball? Going by the last one you sent, I must say that you Autobots came up with some pretty scary stuff."
The silhouetted Fireball tilted his head. "Well, a good majority of these were ones rejected by the Ethics Committee. Anyway, I'm sure your commanders will find this one interesting... specifically Thunderwing."
Spinaway lifted a brow. "Thunderwing?"
Fireball nodded. "We- the Autobots have been keeping optics on him ever since that Dark Energon incident on Ijurn a few centuries ago... not to mention the one on Styx when we were nearly two decades into the war."
"I see. So this formula involves Dark Energon?"
"I've... reworked it slightly so that it could."
Spinaway smirked again. "Very well. Thank you for this info, Fireball."
The Autobot traitor nodded while Spinaway downloaded the data before ending the connection. He then got out of his seat and headed for his commander's office.
If this data was legit, it could be what the Decepticons needed to win this war.
* * *
The data was legit. He had no doubt that it would ensure the Decepticons' victory.
Skyfall slumped in his chair. This was his breaking point; he had to stop leaking info to the 'Cons, for it was becoming clear that he would not be getting anything out of it anytime soon.
It had started with Ironfist's formula for mycopropelene- better known as Gideon's Glue. He was not sure what had compelled him to leak it- or the formulas that followed- but he had always regretted it whenever he ended the call.
There was only one sure way to end this; he had made so many mistakes and he could not bear to spend his life in prison or even through spark extraction. He had to ensure that he would never cause any more trouble again.
He unclipped his blaster from his hip. He aimed it at his head. He pulled the trigger.
* * *
He had pulled the trigger.
Heatwave looked down at the unconscious form of Skyfall. Kimia's security personnel had traced an encrypted call sent to the Decepticons to this office, and had dispatched Heatwave to handle him. As he bent down to pick up Skyfall's body, Heatwave shook his head in mild disgust.
There was one in every faction: an Autobot who was pure good; a Decepticon who was pure evil; an Autobot swayed by the side of evil; and a Decepticon swayed by the side of good. And then there were bots like himself.
Who just wanted it all to end.
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