Later that cycle, Sentinel Prime and his small contingent of dedicated troops watched the Autobot shuttle land at Cybertron's main space port, located above the Hydrax Plateau, from the main terminal lookout balcony. The team had just returned from its important mission to Athenia. Once the shuttle had docked at one of the landing platforms, its doors opened and passengers disembarked.
The Prime dismissed his team with instructions to go down and greet them ahead of him as he hung back for several moments, contemplating the new partnership that had just been established with the two worlds of the G Nebula. As he stepped back and turned to leave, he noticed the large figure of a mech leaning against the wall at the far end of the balcony, arms crossed and glowing red optics staring back at him. The leader of the Autobots did not fail to recognize him immediately. "Ah, Megatron! Fancy seeing you here, and on a momentous occasion such as this."
Megatron walked towards him, until they stood face-to-face. "Momentous occasion, indeed," he repeated sourly.
Sentinel ignored his disparaging remark. "You know, I never could quite figure out how you've always managed to evade our space port's security protocols," he said, snapping his fingers in a casual manner as if the issue was of no more importance for him than a passing thought.
"Your security protocols do leave a lot to be desired," Megatron replied, unimpressed.
"Hm. Yes, well, it's such a shame then that all the combined knowledge and wisdom of my best officers simply pales in comparison to yours," Sentinel flattered him, offering him an insincere smile. His shoulder-mounted cannon and well-armored form were a not-so-subtle reminder to all who dared challenge his authority. When his former military advisor displayed no favorable response, he prompted, "But, greeting our states-mechs upon arrival is not the reason you are here, I gather."
"Correct," Megatron replied, inching closer towards the Prime, his own powerful form a testament to his determination and strength of will. "I have come here to make it clear that we will not simply stand by and do nothing while you Autobots give away our planet's most precious resources to off-worlders, who ultimately don't give a slag about what happens to us."
The Prime seemed unperturbed by Megatron's candidness. "We?" he enquired, feigning ignorance.
"Yes, we: the Decepticons, and a multitude of Destrons who will be faced with an uncertain future if you allow this new agreement to go forward," Megatron answered him. "It is a direct violation of their territorial claim, and of the peace treaty that you and I have established."
Sentinel's expression hardened with regret. "I have no say in civilian matters, or diplomatic missions. I only command the Autobot army, and must do as I am ordered!"
Megatron quickly rebutted him. "I have known you for much longer than that, Sentinel Prime. You have far more influence over Autobot Command and their decisions than what you are willing to admit. This new agreement that has been made for our resources – it is more than just a civilian matter; it affects us all." He paused briefly as he gazed steadily at the Prime. "If you are not willing to put a stop to it, then I will," he warned.
Sentinel stood his ground, raising his voice in anger as he replied. "Our existing supply of crystals would not have lasted us another two days! At least now we have avoided an imminent shutdown. And consider this: even if we would be fortunate enough to locate a new deposit, it will already be too late! But now with both plenty of fuel to spare, and extraction equipment that is far superior to our own, our new partners will be able to locate any untapped reserves with ease – and not only on Cybertron, but also within the Gamma Sector – so that all worlds may benefit."
But Megatron remained unconvinced. "So, you are willing to hand over control of our only supply of cybertonium to foreigners who seem to have no qualms in taking advantage of a race that is currently in dire need?" Sentinel looked back at him stoically, unwilling to consider the full repercussions of what Megatron was implying. "Understand this, Sentinel Prime: you will do what you must, but know that I, too, must do what is best for Cybertron, and the Decepticons." And with that, he made his way back out through the entrance to the balcony and was gone.
The five Combaticons, accompanied by the two Constructicons, Hook and Scavenger, as well as several dedicated recruits, had headed out to Kaon's titanium mine, where they'd been assigned to find a way to safeguard it from the off-worlders, as best they could.
Upon returning from scouting the area surrounding the small mine that was located in the midst of the flat oil plains of Kaon, a triplet of recruits reported that the mine looked to have been abandoned for some time, most likely due to the current energy shortage, and that there was not another living mech around.
"There's a sign that says 'Closed for business' at the entrance. All the equipment's still there. We even spotted an abandoned truck half-loaded with the rocks, but there's nobody around," one of the triplet scouts explained, pointing back across the mine. All three scouts looked almost identical – a blue and white color scheme offset by a green chest component – except for the one who had just spoken, who also had a lens and shutter assembly in his torso.
Onslaught nodded and then gave the signal for his team to lead the way into the mine. Once inside, he began to come up with a plan that might enable the Decepticons to defend the mine against intruders whilst expending the least amount of energy or weapons fire. It would be difficult to accomplish, but not altogether impossible. He turned to the Constructicons' mining and salvage expert with an idea, pointing to the abandoned truck. "Scavenger, scan the composition of those rocks. Do they contain anything of worth, other than titanium – unusual minerals or elements, anything?"
Scavenger walked over to the truck, transformed into his excavator mode and initiated a general scan of its contents using his ultra-sensitive sensor shovel. "No, not really. They just contain the usual: titanium dioxide, iron compounds, zirconium, scandium…" He paused uncertainly before continuing. "Of course, there's other stuff in them, too, but the concentrations are so miniscule that they'd be practically useless for–"
"Never mind the concentrations," Onslaught told Scavenger, walking over to join him. "What's the rarest and most valuable substance you can detect – even if it is only a couple picograms?"
"Oh, okay." Scavenger carefully retraced his shovel over the pile of rocks loaded into the tray of the truck. This time, he took much longer. When he was finished, he transformed back into robot mode and gave Onslaught his findings.
While Shockwave, Scrapper, Mixmaster and Bombshell stayed behind in the lab to complete their work, Starscream led a team into Kalis that consisted of Skywarp, Thundercracker, Soundwave, Dirge, as well as a number of others – a tag-along mob of Destrons who sympathized with the Decepticon cause. Their goal was to stop the Autobots' new off-world allies from taking control of the cybertonium.
Flight-capable Decepticons filled the sky as they followed Starscream towards the main cybertonium deposit in Kalis, while the ground-dependent Destrons made their way steadily after them along the main route that headed north-west out from Kaon, until the two groups met up at the mine.
All about them, a multitude of miners and other workers – some Autobots, but most of them Destrons – hurried about their business in a state of great urgency. As one of them dashed past Starscream, the seeker reached out to grab his arm, stopping the mech in his tracks and jolting him out of his busy thoughts. "What's going on here?" he demanded.
The mech; a small, blue and green Destron, pulled away from his grasp in annoyance. "Haven't you heard?" He glanced about impatiently, not waiting for a reply. "We're making preparations to welcome our new allies–" he said, stopping suddenly as he noticed the large group that accompanied Starscream. "None of you work here, do you?"
"No," Starscream replied bluntly.
"Oh, okay. Well, it's probably best that you all leave then. Only authorized workers are allowed here," the mech said, and was about to turn away and head off when Starscream spoke to him again.
"Tell me what's going on," Starscream replied, ignoring his advice. "What allies?"
The Destron hesitated, meeting the seeker's gaze. "A new order just came in from Autobot Headquarters. Our new partners from Daros and Jarr are going to supply us with an entire shipment of crystals. Not only that, but they're going to help us locate new energon deposits – help secure our future," the Destron explained ecstatically. "Don't you get it? We've just managed to avoid another Great Shutdown!"
"Is that what they told you?" Starscream asked him, exchanging unsettled glances with his trine mates, but before he could return his attention to the mech to ask him some more questions, he had already gone, disappearing into the crowd on his way to join his fellow workers.
"Looks like Autobot Command's conveniently failed to mention the part about our so-called allies being given controlling interest in our cybertonium," Dirge said in a disgusted voice.
"Hm, yes… either that, or they are conveniently glossing it over," Starscream added.
"Better to gloss it over than face an imminent shutdown, right?" Thundercracker agreed.
Starscream watched as the workers and citizens of Kalis all gathered in anticipation of the arrival of their new allies. "So, what do we know about Kalis that might be of help to us?" he asked his team of Decepticons, but they only looked back at him blankly.
Kalis was the seat of their planet's primary energon reserves, though none of them had had much to do with it in the past. Only a specific sub-section of the Destron population had worked here their entire lives, and would know the ins and outs of the place better than anyone. Fortunately, however, they were in luck – two Destrons who had accompanied them; a small, light green mech, and a much larger one, stepped forwards. The smaller one pointed towards the depleted primary energon reserves nearby.
"There's an old fusion reactor right beneath the network of tunnels. It was abandoned long ago by our ancestors after they developed more efficient means of energy production," he informed Starscream. "Other than that, there's a long-held belief that Kalis still contains unexplored energon reserves, but these are supposedly inaccessible because of the vast channels of magma that completely surround them – not to mention the Primordial superstitions that've got everyone shaking in their berths at night."
Drawing upon all of his scientific expertise, Starscream considered the information the Destron miner had just shared with him. "Well, Primordial superstitions aside, what would happen if we were to reactivate the reactor?"
The small Destron looked back at him dumbfounded. "Ah, well, even if you managed to get it back online somehow… I have serious doubts that you could get it to work properly." He paused, his unspoken admiration for the Decepticon Air Commander conflicting with his capacity for rational thinking. "But why would you even want to do that, sir?"
Starscream was unperturbed by the mech's lack of faith or vision. "Who says we have to get it to work properly? What if, with slight modification, we could make the Autobots and their alien allies believe that we have, in our possession, oh, say – a neutron bomb?" he clarified carefully. "Of sorts."
"You want to blow 'em up?" Skywarp reacted in surprise.
"No – just make them think we do," Starscream corrected him, smirking. "But if they can be persuaded to return to their home world and leave our cybertonium deposits alone, then we won't be compelled to detonate our bomb, will we?"
Thundercracker turned to them both and inquired doubtfully, "Think they'd fall for it?"
His trine leader simply shrugged. "We won't know unless we try."