THE GREAT BATTLE OF AUTOBOT CITY
On October 5, 2005, Megatron and his Decepticons decided to destroy
the Autobot presence on Earth once and for all. Learning that Optimus
Prime was sending a supply mission to Autobot City from one of the
Autobots' Cybertronian moonbases, he led his elite strike force, much
the same one he had controlled on Earth, aboard the supply mission's
shuttle, sneaking aboard during preflighting and then slaughtering the
unprepared crew in flight. The Autobot City defenses, and the
shuttle's own WDF escort pilot (Commander Benjamin D. "Gryphon"
Hutchins, WDF Executive Officer, who had personally requested the
assignment), were unaware that anything was amiss, and the shuttle
penetrated all of Autobot City's air-defense nets but one before being
detected by a sharp-eyed infantry soldier named Hot Rod. The
Decepticons then abandoned the shuttle.
Pitched ground and air battles resulted in a net Autobot loss; the
badly outnumbered Autobot forces were driven back and back. Their
only real airpower were the Aerialbots and the single WDF pilot; the
Decepticon air warriors downed two Aerialbots (killing neither) and
Commander Hutchins (who in his crippled Valkyrie Veritech fighter
fought the rest of the battle in battroid mode as a ground soldier,
earning himself an Autobot Valor Medal for distinction and an Autobot
commission), achieving air supremacy and forcing the remaining
flight-capable Aerialbots to put down for their own safety.
The Constructicons then formed Devastator, and with him at the
spearhead, the Decepticons laid siege to Autobot City. Autobot
communications officer Blaster did manage to get a message out before
the booster antenna array was destroyed, but no one knew if it had
been heard. Inside Autobot City, the Autobots and their one WDF ally
hunkered down, fought back as best they could, and waited grimly to
die.
The next morning, just after dawn, Devastator penetrated Autobot
City's inner curtain. Megatron gave the order for the slaughter to
begin, and just as he did so, an Autobot reinforcements shuttle
arrived. Grimlock and his Dinobot special operations team disembarked
in the air and, using drop packs, descended directly into the combat
zone, engaging and defeating Devastator, while the shuttle landed just
outside Autobot City and an Autobot reinforcement team including
Optimus Prime himself disembarked. |