“I was more referring to his disdain for one of our number here.” Firestorm says.
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“Oh! Well, I’m not sure that’s my place to explain…” Beta Max responds, nodding toward Kitai. He knew what the hybrid quintesson was, but he also wanted to show Kitai respect and give him the opportunity to disclose his identity on his own terms.
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Axis nodded.
“I understand. Though the next time I try to reach you, try not to be such a stranger. I’ll solve your puzzles if that’s what you wish. But there’s no need to be such a recluse.”
With that the Prime turned and walked through the necropolis. She approached the 12 gathered Primes. She acknowledged LD-L1 and Honeycomb who were already there. But she decided this was more important than whatever was on their minds.
She looked to the 12 spirits, addressing them respectfully and as a group.
“My esteemed predecessors, I require your guidance. All of you. Sentinel has warned me that my actions have lead me down a dangerous path. One that he himself fell to. One where the Matrix would reject me. Such a possibility… it frightens me, to say the absolute least. So I ask you, what can I do to avoid this fate? What must I change to keep the Matrix with me?”
She asked. While she tried her best to stay calm and composed, there was a noticeable level of desperation could be heard in her voice.
With Axis having gone to speak with the 13, Maximus looked to Sentinel.
“So… was there anything else big you did while you were Prime? Or is the whole Great War fiasco the only notable thing you did?”
He asked casually.
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Ld-l1 took a breath, he knew what was coming. Ever since the primes had properly come back to be with the common folk, even in a limited way, it had caused a schism among the believers. Many lost faith, and left their order, calling them frauds and crazies, leasing to their current, rather depleted numbers. For those that remained, the Adjunct Deificus had made a decree. She would continue in her works, even if the Primes claimed to no longer be deities. Faith was good for the soul, even if that faith was proven to be false. She would not require any to join with her, but would welcome any to join her.
In the years that followed doctrine had been changed, through careful debate and discussion, until the current state had been reached. The old records were a simple misinterpretation of the Prime’s current state. The Primes, while functionally immortal, were not divine. Primus however was, and thus the thirteen, as his children were equivilent to demigods and worthy of honor regardless. Some chose to reject this, insiting that they were divine, and they too left the order forming their own.
LD-L1, after a few moments, spoke something that all of his order had memorized, just in the off chance that they found themselves in this circumstance. “I am… aware of our history, lord Trion. But, much has changed since your passing, and we have become well awakened to the truth, well, most of us. We realize now that neither you nor your siblings are divine, despite your apparent immortality. But Primus still is, or rather, as close to divine as one can be. So we keep the faith, and we retain our old trappings, as you and your siblings have still done much worthy of emulation and honor. You are not divine, mortal and fallible, but that does not mean we cannot attempt to emulate your successes. And so, we keep ourselves true to our old teachings and myths. I hope I am clear?”
———-
“Right, I’ll be there in a jiffy.” He answered, before taking off to find the place.
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Solus Prime, Megatronus, Alpha Trion, Onyx Prime, and Micronus Prime are still engrossed in their conversations with LD-L1 and Honeycomb. Optimus Prime, though, steps forward. Due to his unique situation, his form is much more opaque, more “solid” than the other spirits the Matrix has summoned into the Tomb. It almost looks like one could reach out and touch him.
“If your primary concern is to cling to your power, Axis, then the Matrix will take it from you anyway,” he warns Axis. “It will leave you to seek another host one day, regardless of what you do- that is the way of it. Focus on becoming a better leader first and foremost, as Sentinel advised, not on appeasing the Matrix.”
“I understand,” Alpha Trion says after a moment of consideration. “I do not agree with you, but I understand. Faith has long been a pillar of our civilization- my fellow Primes and my companion Beta Maxx knew this, and thus encouraged it. I, however, have always put more value in historical truth. That is the purpose that Primus made me for- I’m sure you understand that.”
“The Great War, and all that has transpired since, is all there is to my legacy,” Sentinel Prime tells Maximus with a sad smile. “Early in my reign, I thought I could use the knowledge contained within the Matrix to redevelop technologies lost after the Golden Age. I even considered telling my people the truth about the War of the Primes and the Prime Colonies- reunification was an ambition of mine, though of course it would be an eon before the right people came along to make it real. As I peered deeper into the Matrix’s collective memory, and saw why the Thirteen hid such knowledge, I abandoned those projects. I decided that the time was not right, that my people were not ready. I have often considered that I may have been mistaken.”
The bridge is located at the front of the Pulsar. Salvage is currently hunched over the security console, scanning various holo-screens linked to the ships security cameras.
“If we’re gonna keep this thing, we need to install some interior defenses,” he remarks. “Like tripwires, or immobilizer rays, or just good ol’ fashioned turrets.”
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"So. You tried to make a lot of people gods and those people cast you down for it because they didn’t want to be. Very simple,very straight forward. I think you have a ego the size of a moon, and a god complex, and so on and so forth. To be brutally honest with you, everyone, including the matrix, saw that you,and only you, were being an absolute steaming pile of egotistical mania,and everyone showed you signs that maybe what you were doing was wrong. And now you’re dead and have to deal with the consequences of being a terrible leader. My advice, is that if you cant at least cope, and change your opinions about what you did, and get your head out of the clouds of ridiculous imagery that cybertronians are the most supreme beings in the universe, you are going to spend the rest of eternity, sulking in a corner about “Ooohh,I couldn’t get my people to ascend, so i have every right to complain.” " Kitai said with a stern tone.
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“I’m not entirely sure I understand.”
Axis replied.
“This is an active problem. I’ve already felt the Matrix lash out against me. I’m afraid that this might happen soon. But it sounds like you’re telling me to solve the problem, by not worrying about the problem?”
“I think you’re worrying too much about the symptoms of the problem, rather than the cause of the problem.”
Honeycomb interjected.
Axis looked to the insecticon with a confused and bewildered expression.
“Excuse me?”
“Ah! I-I’m sorry, Axis Prime, miss- I uh- I just- I spoke without thinking. I’m sorry.”
Honeycomb sputtered out in a nervous panic.
“Relax. I am not above criticism. If you or any of my subjects believe they have something to say to me, they are free to say it.”
Axis replied calmly.
“Okay, well… I don’t have all the context obviously, but to me it sounds like the Matrix isn’t judging you based on super specific details or anything, but on the overall quality of your work. Its like a hive manager.”
“I’m sorry, I’m not very familiar with insecticon culture. What is a hive manager?”
Axis asked.
"Oh, right. That makes sense. See back home in the Below, every insecticon has some sort of job they’re supposed to do. For example I used to work in resource organization before my friend and I transferred to food gathering so we could spend more time outside. But the thing is there are a lot of insecticons that live in the Blow. Way too many for queen Pterygota to manage on her own. So she has a whole bunch of hive managers. Their job is to look over a big group of insecticons and make sure that they’re doing their job well. Then those managers report back to the queen. Or maybe to Gossamer. I’m not super sure.
“Anyway, my point is that hive managers don’t fuss over the little details. All they care about is that you’re doing a good job. And to me, it sounds like this Matrix thing might be a similar situation. You’re looking for specific changes to make for a really specific outcome. But that’s not what the Matrix cares about. All it cares about is the overall quality of work. So if you spend all your time worrying about the problem and nothing else, then you miss the point entirely.”
Honeycomb paused for a moment as she realized she had been rambling. She turned and looked up to Optimus Prime.
“Did I get that right?”
She asked.
“Huh. Well that’s definitely unfortunate.”
Maximus replied. He waited another quiet moment before he spoke again.
"Do you really think Axis has been that rough on the job? I mean she’s still pretty new to the whole thing, but I’ve seen her work. I’ve been by her side every day since she was chosen by the Matrix. And she’s done a pretty good job. Managing the colonies, handling the occasional minor crisis, even meeting with interspecies delegates and laying out all the groundwork for rejoining the F.A.S. She’s had to handle way more than any other cybertronian lesder in a long, long time. She’s brought our people to a better place than they’ve been in millions of years. A reunified empire and free from exile. And as far as I’ve seen, the public don’t have any problems with her. Most of them anyway.
Maximus sighed.
"I’m not saying she’s perfect. She definitely has a problem with shouldering more work than she needs to, and she gets overwhelmed. And yeah, she probably does jump to violence a little to quick sometimes. But we’re from Eukaris, it’s kinda built in. Hard to work out of your system.
“My point is that she’s had way more responsibilities to worry about than a lot of other leaders before her. Definitely more than you did. Yeah she has problems, but she’s also still new. I just feel like you’re being a bit harsher than what she deserves.”
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“Of course, I understand well Lord Trion. And if I may be so frank, I agree with you in many ways. If I had the ability, I would gladly cross-reference our legends and parables with your knowledge, so we may correct them. It has been several thousand years, and anything will become twisted over such time. Faith in Primus and our traditions do not necessarily preclude accuracy, and I do wish the Adjunct Deificus would consider such a matter. This may interest you, and perhaps you could offer suggestions so as to improve our studies.” LD-L1 reaches into his cloak, revealing a small pendant.
The Pendant was a triangle shape with three spheres on the points. In the center was a stylized data disc, representative of knowledge. “This medalion is meant to represent yourself, lord. It is given once an initiate has mastered the lessons that we attribute to yourself, and your siblings all have one as well. You virtues of self-research, the protection of knowledge and as of recently, the understanding that many of our stories are parables, lesson tools, not fact. No initiate may be considered a full member of our order until they have shown understanding these virtues, though if you have suggestions for further refining our teachings, please, tell me. I am a more than willing pupil.”
LD-L1 hoped both to satisfy Trion’s dislike of the whole ordeal, as well as potentially gain new knowledge.
Ivory was not entirely surprised of the level of paranoia Salvage had. “I think that might be a bit overkill.” He commented, offering a human-sized hand to shake.
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Nova Prime steps back, shocked. He hadn’t expected to take such a verbal lashing from what he believed to be simply another quintesson drone. Unable to come up with a satisfactorily -scathing rebuttal, the disgraced Prime simply snarls and storms off, draping his mechanical wings around himself like a cape. Some of the nearby spirits of other past Primes snicker as he passes them, pleased to see Nova humbled yet again.
“That is not entirely correct,” Optimus Prime says to Honeycomb, shaking his head. “The Matrix of Leadership will respond to specific actions it disapproves of. In Axis’s case, I suspect it lashed out at her for endangering innocents and comrades in some of your most recent battles, and for killing the leader of the thieves at the Hall of Records when the hybrid quintesson in your company had already incapacitated him. The Matrix does not take kindly to such recklessness, which is what Sentinel tried to explain.”
“The demands of leadership are great, young predacon,” Sentinel tells Maximus. “And those chosen to bear this burden must be held to higher standards- that is the way of it. I serve as an example of what can happen when a leader does not meet those standards in times of crisis. Something dark and powerful looms on the horizon- you all have felt it- and the consequences of failure will surely be terrible.”
Alpha Trion curiously inspects the pendant, stroking his beard as he did so. After a moment, he looks back up at LD-L1.
“If you wish to sway your ‘Adjunct Deificus’ to change her rulings on this matter, perhaps the word of Alpha Trion himself could help convince her,” he suggests, clearly unaccustomed to flaunting his quasi-divinity so. “It also sounds as though whatever Sentinel Prime buried on Lacuna will provide a few more historical revelations if discovered- I think your order could use it, if you have the opportunity.”
Salvage turns around, and upon seeing nobody at eye-level, he looks down to see Ivory approach in his human form. The red Junkion kneels down and kinda awkwardly bumps fist with the detective, moving his arm slowly and carefully so as to avoid injuring the Silent Shroud. Of course, Salvage doesn’t know that this man is somewhat more than meets the eye…
“Eh, maybe,” he says. “They’d be a real glitch to install, too, I’ll bet. We’d be better off trying to pull some strings and get ourselves another ship- something actually built to be in a fight.”
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“I suppose I do tend to jump to quickly to violence. I will readily admit that I let things get terribly out of hand at the space port, and killing the terrorist leader was a foolish and impulsive decision. I promise I will work to be more careful in future, and I will be sure to only use as much force as is necessary, and only when it is necessary.”
Axis replied to Optimus Prime.
“I mean obviously. It’s just… agh. I don’t know. I’m not the best with all this big Prime stuff. I get that we got a lot coming up ahead. I just feel like you’re not giving Axis the credit she deserves. Or any credit at all really.”
Hoping to escape the conversation, Maximus looked around the chamber to see if there were any Eukarian Primes present among the specters.
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“Quintesson?” Firestrom asks Optimus over non verbal comms. The prime could hear his voice but he wasn’t speaking out loud for everyone to hear. The Lost Knight looks at Quintus Prime, “are they your progeny?” He asks the Prime of Life in the same manner.
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Defender sees Oreo enter the room.
“Welcome, stranger,” he says quietly. “I assume you are with the Prime’s party?”
“Yes, I am,” Oreo replies. He looks around the room, amazed and somewhat nervous at the sight of all the Primes filling the room.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” Defender says. “My name is Defender. I am one of the few surviving fighters from the Great War, as I- well, I got put in stasis upon arrival, and so I missed the whole thing. I was woken up about fifty years ago when my vehicle form was sent to Cybertron as a gift to the Prime from the humans of Earth. Their gift was a whole lot better than they had imagined, as I had been assumed dead. So now I’m just touring the Galaxy, learning what I missed and catching up on the recent developments. And you are?”
“I’m Oreo,” Oreo says. “I’m a case of cold-construction, from here on Cybertron. My friend Razor should be around here somewhere. She’s a Mini-Con, about six feet tall, has two wheels on her shoulders – have you seen her?”
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“If you believe it would help, please do so. The Data disk in the center is functional, if relatively low capacity.” LD-L1 told the Prime. He didn’t tell him it was meant to be used to record last words, but he figured this was somewhat more important.
“That seems much more doable, though I’m not sure how many combat-grade freighters are flying around. Maybe a Corps scale transporter?” Ivory posited, fully aware that keeping the bot talking was the best way to keep someone company.
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“You needn’t make that promise to me,” Optimus Prime tells Axis. “Swear it to yourself and to your allies.”
Optimus looks away from Axis and cocks his head to one side as he somehow receives Firestorm’s transmission, despite his physical form being on the other end of the galaxy on Trecedim. Firestorm would hear a strange ringing sound through his communicator- some kind of feedback, maybe, as the circumstances of this encounter prevented Optimus from responding on the nonverbal comms. He waves to get Quintus Prime’s attention, and the spindly Prime of life drifts over to the old Knight headmaster.
“The quintessons are not my progeny, no,” Quintus says quietly. "Nor are they in any other way related to our people, as far as anyone has discerned. Our similar names and appearances are purely coincidental- at least, I hope so.
“Ah, but, I believe it is rude to talk about people behind their backs,” he adds, nodding toward Kitai as the ghost of Nova Prime storms off. (@MakutaOisli)
“What she has done thus far is impressive, yes- but whatever is to come may very well be what truly defines her as a Prime,” Sentinel says to Maximus as the predacon leaves. With our heroes having dispersed to speak to the specters of the other Primes while they can, the 1316th Prime turns his attention back to his empty sarcophagus. Where his body truly rested was far less glamorous, and his death had been painful. He has long-since accepted that final humiliation as penance for his failures as a leader.
Maximus wouldn’t find any Matrix-bearers from the Prime Colonies, apart from Axis. Those worlds had been isolated from the galaxy until only five thousand years ago, and so the lineage of the Primes had consisted almost entirely of people from Cybertron and the original colony planets. Among the many hundreds of specters are figures like Armax Prime, a tall red woman holding a similarly-enormous spear; Bombasticus Prime, the neon-colored Junkion who had shouted down Nova Prime earlier; Duplicitous Prime, a minicon with a featureless black visor for a face and no discernable alt-mode; and Manos Prime, famous for losing his left hand in a duel with a human warlord- his spirit even lacks the appendage.
The Knight guardians and the Angelicon stewards keep silent and out of the way as our heroes go about their business, with the other visitors having been cleared out. The Tomb of the Primes strangely feels both very empty and somewhat overcrowded at once, because of the ghostly inhabitants that temporarily occupied it. They will leave, and the Tomb will return to its prior darkened state, whenever Axis sees fit to dismiss them.
A ripple of pink and yellow light washes over the pendant, then disappears. “There you go,” Alpha Trion says. “A few documents that you and the other Followers may find interesting: some long-lost records from the Golden Age, a few theological texts written by my fellow Primes, and Solus’s original schematics for your vehicle. It isn’t much, given the limited capacity of your device, but I hope it can be put to good use.”
With the necropolis temporarily brightened by whatever strange energies pulled the spirits of the Primes here, searching for Razor shouldn’t be too hard.
“Hey, we’re traveling with the Prime, two Knights of Cybertron, and Beta Maxx,” Salvage says. “Maybe even a god, if that walking scrap-pile’s somehow not completely insane,” he adds with a short laugh. It’s clear he doesn’t buy that story, either.
“We have strings to pull, man. We could probably hitch a ride on Excalibur II if we asked nicely. My best friend also happens to be the President-Czar-God-King of Junkion, and I helped save the universe a few millennia back. We’ve got resources.”
Outside the bridge’s main viewport, the civilians who had been escorted out of the Tomb of the Primes have now redirected their attention to the Pulsar. None are approaching the ship, though many are watching it ponderously- and examining its battle damage, in particular. The two Knights guarding he Tomb’s entrance have been dissuading the onlookers from taking pictures or videos, but some may have been able to steal a few quick photos when they weren’t looking.
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Axis Prime smiled and nodded her head.
“Of course. Thank you Optimus. Your wisdom never fails to inspire me with confidence.”
Maximus was at first disappointed by the lack of Primes from his home world. But as he thought about it, that fact made him a bit happy, as it made Axis all the more special for being the first.
He decided to speak with the junkion prime. She certainly had a very distinct style which Maximus appreciated, and he liked the way she was able to tell off Nova Prime the way she did.
“Hey there.”
Maximus said cheerfully as he approached.
“So, what’s your deal?”
He asked.
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Razor walks out from behind one of the pillars. Seeing Oreo in conversation with Defender, she walks over to them.
“Where were you,” she asks Oreo. “You almost missed this! It’s- it’s the only time this has ever happened.”
She describes how Axis had summoned the spirits of the other Primes with the Matrix, as Oreo listens. After a few minutes, Defender interrupts.
“I believe you might want to listen to the conversations, little one. If you are with the Prime on her mission, there is much that you can learn here and now.”
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Firestorm starts connecting the dots…”how bad are the Quintessons?” He asks, a little worried.
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“The honor is mine,” Optimus replies, nodding in return. “It is not often that I am able to leave Trecedim, even in a limited form such as this.”
“Who, me?” Bombasticus Prime asks innocently as Maximus approaches. “Eh, nothing much. The ol’ crystal ball thought I had what it was looking for a few eons back, and I guess I didn’t do too bad of a job.”
“The Junkions still throw parties in your honor, Bombasticus,” the minicon Prime with shovels for hands comments. Bombasticus shrugs her shoulders.
“They’re Junkions. They’ll find any excuse to throw a party- ask me how I know.”
“Only so much can be learned from merely listening,” the spirit of a Prime with a featureless face and smooth white armor marked by black circular patterns remarks, drifting near the three. “Experience and action are great teachers. Pain, as well, though it is often more unpleasant.”
“They were our greatest enemy during the Golden Age, after Unicron,” Quintus tells Firestorm. “And for eons afterward, remnants of their forces terrorized this galaxy. They are invaders who live deep within transwarp space, pursuing objectives still largely unknown, even to us. But the one you travel with now seems… different. He may be a powerful ally.”
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Something more dangerous and a bigger threat than Unicron himself…Firestorm’s Brian module has a mild crash. His optics turn blue and Dark shows up and looks. Yup, Firestorm blue-screened.
He winds up his arm and then slugs Firestorm, forcing a reboot.
“Ooookay, that is gonna take a bit to process.” Firestorm says.
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“I shall guard it carefully lord Trion, and I will deliver it to him as soon as fair opportunity presents herself. However, I would not wish to take any more of your time. I’m sure the Young Prime requires your wisdom at the moment.”
“Looking like it might be a good idea to close the hatch. Don’t want any of the curious wandering onboard and calling problems.” Ivory comments, noting the crowd outside.
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