Chapter Text
On a distant planet in the Cybertronian commonwealth, a shuttle breached the gaseous clouds surrounding it. The shuttle descended into the atmosphere, suddenly finding itself above clear blue skies, hovering above a vast forest. Aboard it, Star Convoy and Dion sat behind Sky Lynx as he piloted a shuttle.
“We sure we didn’t take right turn to Eukaris?” Dion said. “There’s so much green.”
“Precisely!” Sky Lynx responded. “Would this look like the training grounds of the Autobots to any dastardly villains seeking us out?”
“And I thought that gas nebula was enough.”
The shuttle descended down, landing near a large facility. Outside, various bots of all ages were training, overseen by various faculty. Star Convoy stepped out of the shuttle as soon as the boarding ramp was down to see for himself.
“ALRIGHT, CADET DEVARON, CADET VANGUARD, GOOD SPARRING!” yelled Roadbuster, a large orange and green armored bot. “CADET COUNTDOWN, CADET CHAINCLAW, YOU’RE NEXT. SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!”
Star Convoy watched a yellow and red bot with an ursanoid alt and a white and red lunarbot walk into an arena as a pair of blue bots walked out. Star Convoy smiled as he caught site of the pair holding hands. He then looked to the other side to see a dusty green bot addressing more cadets, standing in front of a basic arena.
“ALRIGHT CADETS, TODAY WE WILL BE CONDUCTING THE “HEROES VS VILLAINS” EXERCISE,” the bot, who he recognized as Char Pax, declared. “IN THIS CASE, EACH GROUP HERE WILL BE DIVIDED AMONG TWO TEAMS!”
Star Convoy looked at the arena. Squinting, he thought it might be a mocked up city. Definitely needed more work though. Star Convoy finally caught sight of Elita-1 and Codex talking, heading over to join them, leaving Dion to listen to Sky Lynx’s… educational introduction.
“Elita-1, Mistress Codexa,” Star Convoy approached, addressing the two.
“You are a Convoy, now” Codexa chuckled, amused. “I think we can drop the Mistress at this point, can we not?”
“My apologies” Star Convoy replied. “I must say, you’ve hidden this place well.”
“Well, with the actions of the senate, it was a worry on what their response would be to this place,” Elita-1 said. “I do worry if Megatron were to discover it…”
“We’ll keep it safe. That being said, I’m surprised. I wasn’t expecting it to be… well, a boot camp.”
“Our members do need to be able to defend themselves… though I sense you may have some suggestions.”
“I think” Star Convoy mused, stroking his chin. “I think that this needs to be overhauled. If we want our Autobots to be protectors- to be heroes- we need them to not just be physical ready, but also to be understanding. To know when to act, and to understand the history and ways of anywhere they would act. And to be ready for any situation, whether it be fighting villains, stopping disasters, or simply averting them before they can start.”
“I could not agree more,” Codexa replied. “Retool the current infrastructure to become a self-contained eduworld.”
“We would need to hire on additional support then” Elita mused. “Not to mention someone to oversee it, though I have someone in mind. Do you know of Pious Maximus? He was once a general in the Primal Vanguard, transition to teaching once his tour of duty was over, but was fired due to his association with the league. He understands the balance between training, education and allowing his students time for themselves. Above all, he’s a kind man.”
“Then I would like to meet him as soon as possible” Star Convoy smiled. “Kindness is a facet I will happily welcome to the new age. We should also look at amenities. Possibly set up a small village for both the students and faculty. Shops, entertainment, allow them somewhere to unwind so we don’t push them too hard.”
Star Convoy noticed out of the corner of his optic the two blue bots from earlier sharing a kiss, unaware that they had been noticed.
“So that they can be people, rather than soldiers.”
“I can oversee that” Codexa volunteered.
“I see no better candidate for this worlds first Prime Minister.”
“It is quite the undertaking. But I know we can see it through. Elita-1, Codexa, one day, one day soon, we will be standing on the site of the new Autobot Academy!”
---
"We failed," Megatron declared, "We had our boots on the throat of Cybertron's elite. We could have won, if we opted to step down hard enough."
"Don't be like that, Megatron," Stonecrusher replied, "I mean, sure, we're not in charge of the world these days... but neither is the Senate."
"What do you mean?" Megatron asked.
"Apparently, the new Convoy is making some changes," Stonecrusher explained, lifting up a datapad, "Something about a Council of Worlds having more power then Cybertron's senate?"
Megatron examined the datapad with narrowed eyes.
"This... this can't be right," Megatron replied, "He can't just set that up that quickly. Do the people have a say in this?"
"Monitored information datastreams," Soundwave answered, "Many are either interested in seeing where this goes or are apathetic."
"This... isn't acceptable," Megatron growled.
"...Why not?" Stonecrusher asked.
"Because it wasn't put to a vote. Because the people weren't given the option to decide that change," Megatron explained, "And because this... fool is putting everyone's lives into his hands based on a fancy bauble and half a dream."
"Well, looks like people are voting with their attention rather then anything else," Stonecrusher snickered.
"Get out," Megatron snapped.
"Okay, yeah, that was a little-"
"GET." Megatron emphasized, "OUT."
Stonecrusher, raising his hands, walked backwards out the door.
"...So, what's the plan now?" Soundwave asked, his monotone vocoding modulating a bit in what Megatron thought sounded like concern.
"The plan..." Megatron sighed, "Was to wipe out the senate and take over the government a week ago. We set up a system where people can voice their ideas for how Cybertron should be led, and people can make votes on such ideas. The people make the decisions rather then haughty elites, and the universe basks in justice."
Soundwave stood quietly.
"But we both know how that went," Megatron sighed, his head drooping.
"Observation," Soundwave answered, "We don't know what Star Convoy's new system is going to be like. Hypothesis; It could be fragile and crack under pressure."
Megatron's optics widened.
"Yes..." Megatron replied, "It could, couldn't it?"
Soundwave nodded.
Megatron's head rose up, his widened optics soon matched by a wicked grin.
"It really can crack under pressure," Megatron's grin widened, "So let's stress-test it."
Soundwave nodded.
"We'll make Star Convoy's new order face every possible challenge, hit every corner of it systematically," Megatron uttered wildly, "Find the weak spot we can exploit. And once we find that spot, not even the holder of the Matrix can stop our plans!"
Soundwave nodded, almost giddy.
"The people of Cybertron will be free," Megatron declared, "And the rest of the universe will bow before us!"
Megatron laughed at the sheer elation of his new plan. Soundwave echoed his sentiment. And outside the door, Stonecrusher chuckled.
"Guess this Age of Heroes is going to be only as good as its villains," Stonecrusher remarked.