"Laserbeak to Megatron! I have a report!"
	"Speak."
	"Octane approaches in tanker mode, carrying the former
prisoners of the Autobots. Your command?"
	"Have them quarantined once they disembark. I want them
scanned for any explosives, traps, or computer viruses the Autobots
might have used. And I want full maps made of their personality
matrices. It's all too possible one of them might not be who he
seems."
	Megatron rose from his command chair, his massive green form
causing the base to rumble slightly as he moved. Not only were some of
his finest warriors defeated, but they were saved, if the reports
could be believed, by *Autobots*! Prime knew that this indignity would
gall him no end...that must be the only reason he did it. At some
point, Prime, I will take great pleasure in crushing your personality
matrix to dust in my hands.
	"Well, Megatron? What have you to say about your *latest*
failure?"
	"Starscream...be quiet, before I silence you
permenantly. Whatever this force is we are fighting, it is powerful
beyond the scope of your meagre intellect. Yet, the must be a way to
contact it, to make it ally with us against our foes...there *must*
be!"
	"Or perhaps the Autobots will turn it against *us*! We must
destroy it now!"
	Megatron smiled. "I would not object to you proving your
courage and loyalty in such a manner, Starscream. When next we face
this foe, I will be sure that *you* lead the assault! Now, be gone!"
	Starscream said nothing, but slunk out of the room. You'll
regret that mockery Megatron...when the time is right, you will see
there is more to me than meets your eyes!
	Megatron watches his lieutenant depart. Then he turned to the
communicator board. "Onslaught, can you hear me? I want your personal
impression of this matter."
	"Yes, I hear you, Commander Megatron." Onslaught
hesitated. Can I go through with this? Prime's voice seemed to echo in
his mind....'You remember the *first* Civil War, don't you...General
Onicrax.' How had Prime known *that*? It was so incredibly long
ago...Onicrax...yes. That had been him, hadn't it? Hero of the
Revolution. Victor of the Battle of Jaxion.  Slayer of the Tyrant
Arcanus. Yes.
	"Commander, my recommendation will both shock and anger
you. But I request that you listen to it and consider it
carefully. The future of our kind depends on this."
	Megatron listened. He was, indeed, shocked and angered. But
after a dozen scans and tests showed that Onslaught was uncontrolled
and in sound mental health, Megatron began to ponder. Plugged into his
simulator, he ran scenario after scenario, using all the data gleaned
from his troops' encounter with the Borg. Time and again, blazing red
letters would appear over the projection, reading:"Total Destruction
of all Decepticon Forces".
	Even so, simulators were not reality. This was not a decision
to be made lightly.
	"Shockwave, Starscream,Onslaught, Motormaster, Hook. Report to
the main meeting room *immediately*."
	Each came, in their own fashion. There was a delicate balance
in the action. Arriving too quickly was the mark of a toady, and
Megatron distrustes those who were too eager to please. Arriving late
could be seen as an act of definace, and the grim necessities of the
Decepticon cause permitted little individual freedom, at least during
the war. So, even the simple act of arriving for a meeting became a
complex game of politics and alliances. Megatron personally didn't
care nearly as much as he let on, but that would remain forever
unknown. In his mind, his personal sacrifices to his cause were far
greater than he had ever asked his subordinates to make.
	Motormaster was first to arrive, with a shriek of tires and a
cloud of noxious fumes. Soundwave was next, quiet and aloof, but
flanked by his rowdier "children", who were there to record all for
posterity. Onslaught had been waiting for the summons and arrived
exactly at the appointed time.  Hook was last, as if this meeting was
an inconvenience pulling him away from more important duties. Lastly
was Starscream, arriving late and entering the room with the air of a
king arriving at his court...an attitude not lost on Megatron. He
glared angrily at Starscream, then began.
	"I sent all of you the summaries of the recent...events. You
are aware of what we face. Our might is nearly unlimited...but there
are mightier things which exist."
	"Perhaps, oh 'mighty' Megatron, this enemy merely has better
*leadership*!  With the PROPER leadership, the Decepticons could
have...."
	A fusion blast sheared Starscream's left arm clean off. He
screamed in shock, then fell to the floor as sparks crackled from the
wound. He looked at Megatron with genuine fear and surprise...that
wasn't supposed to happen! Megatron always *missed* on the first shot!
What was going on here?  Megatron looked as if he had intended to
wound him, not just silence him!
	"Starscream, ordinarily, I permit you your folly in return for
your undeniable skills as a warrior. Not this time." He turned to the
other assembled leaders, as a din of conversation began. "Be silent,
all of you!  This isn't some simple Autobot or fleshling ploy we are
dealing with! This could well be the greatest crisis our army has yet
faced."
	He lowered his weapon, and continued, his voice filled with
power and command. The normal megalomaniac ranting was gone, replaced
by something far more terrifying. "We have no time for games, no time
for politics, no time..." he looked intently at Hook, Onslaught, and
Motormaster,"...for intergroup squabbling. Total and absolute
obedience and coordination will be necessary. *Any* deviation, no
matter how slight..." and now he looked at Starscream, who, for once,
said nothing but simply stared back sullenly, nursing his shattered
limb, "...will be punished by immediate termination.  Are there any
questions?"
	There were none.
	"Now then. After consultation with my chief strategist,
Onslaught.....and careful, and painful, consideration of all
options...." Megatron hesitated.  His vocal circuits seemed to want to
short themselves out rather than say what he was about to say. He
tightened all of his polyfibre muscles, then relaxed them. He
continued. "...my orders are to declare an immediate, and total,
cessation of all hostilities with the Autobots, for the duration of
this crisis. We are to rendezvous with them in four Terran hours, at a
neutral site...one of our abandoned bases. We will work together to
defeat this enemy. Any hostile action taken against an Autobot, or one
of their allied fleshlings, for the duration of this truce, will be
viewed by me as an assault upon one of our own kind and *dealt* *with*
*accordingly*.  Further...." and he smiled grimly, "the *commanders*
of each subgroup will be held *personally* accountable for the actions
of their subordinates!"
	He waited for their responses, carefully watching each
one. The first to make a hostile move would die, instantly. No one
did.
	"Good. Go now, and alert the troops under your command. Anyone
with any complaints about these arrangements can meet with me,
personally, to discuss them."
	Megatron waited for them to depart, then sat back down. In
four hours, he would be face-to-face with his greatest foe...and
unable to attack! No matter, he mused. There will be ample opportunity
to both gain the assistance of the Autobots and to betray them when
the foe is defeated. In four Terran hours...
	Of course, in three and three quarter Terran hours, it all
became rather moot.

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