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[Insidious]

While the Sweeps carried out their duty and informed the captain, Galvatron had not wasted any time. His sense of something more palpable laying deep within the surface of this planet could not be shaken. Even if it turned out to be a small deposit of rarefied energon, the significance was still there: this planet had been exploited by their kind before the crew of The Nova ever set foot here.

Galvatron occasionally stuck his hand out as he walked, continuing to check the surface of his surroundings even as his internal sensors attempted to do the same. Nothing, no matter how advanced, could quite replace the feel of something and what it could ultimately reveal.

After trekking what seemed like an infinity in to the depths of this world, not having encountered a single, sentient life form, Galvatron's internal sensors at last registered a warning. They were approaching an open space. The Cybertronian City-Commander came to a stop just at the edge of a vast cavern. He immediately scanned the new area, but the lights of his eyes and body could not find either a bottom to the vast chasm below or a ceiling to the far-reaching chamber above. Here, there appeared to be more of an intentional...design...if it could be called that. Engraved markings lined the walls nearby. Markings that were distinctly Cybertronian in nature.

"The energon...I can almost taste it."

[Gatkowski]

The darkness, however uneasy the shady mist it had cast between the walls of the pathway, was strangely delighting. A chill sparked across the entire edifice, dissipating the gloom of the unchanging blacks and grays and replacing it with a sense of purposefulness.

Nova Prime's azure optics lit up like electro-torches inside the black corridor, and his sensory was already at maximum. He felt... like he had not for many, many millennia. The walls, the coherent symbols carefully articulated throughout them, the overwhelming precision with which they were lined out and erected pulsated with something ancient, something with means and intentions the captain of the Ark-I and his crew mates, even with all the experience of their journey behind them, could only hope to begin to fathom.

Touching the wall surface here and there, Nova felt a sudden surge race through his receptorial web. They found something of great significance, he was sure of it.

"So can I..." he whispered as he arrived at Galvatron's side. "What is this place?"

[Insidious]

((OOC-NPCing for the time being))

Cyclonus continued to attentively watch the onboard monitors of the Ark-I. He could not immediately identify why, but he had not expected the mission here to proceed this smoothly. If the energon readings were truly as unique as the sensors had originally seemed to indicate, surely there would be an entire civilization built around it. That there seemed to be no such thing only puzzled him more.

He would remain vigilant however. His superior had commanded him to remain aboard and he would carry out that duty, regardless of how much it pained him for both the captain and the first officer of a ship such as this to be in the field without him.
___



"So can I......what is this place?"

The purple mech did not immediately answer his captain's question. Largely because he did not have an answer. Nova's presence did not surprise him. Galvatron fully expected their austere commander to catch up with them eventually, regardless of how far ahead they had originally been. It spoke well of Nova Prime's ambition and innate curiosity as much as it did of Galvatron's own.

"It...."

A tremor reverberated through the entirety of their surroundings. Nothing great and tumultuous. A shudder. Small, but noticeable. Galvatron instinctively paused, his hand once more reaching for the carvings on the metallic walls.

"It is unlike anything I've seen, captain," Galvatron responded truthfully. It was not the most thorough report a first officer would typically wish to provide their captain, but it was all he had for now.

"Sirs," a grayish Sweep by the name of Toil said as he approached his superiors, nodding to Scourge, Galvatron and Nova Prime respectfully, "the signals grow stronger. You were right, Master Scourge, this---energy---is unlike anything we've ever encountered."

"Go forward then, Sweep. Don't stop until you've reached the end of your scent trail," Galvatron commanded. Toil seemed to look at Scourge for confirmation before heading off, deeper in to the caverns. If there were something more dangerous than tremors awaiting their arrival, Galvatron preferred that it be triggered by someone expendable.

[Gatkowski]

(OOC: Grabbing Scourge for NPC purposes in this thread, until his players returns)

"What are you waiting for? You have your orders!" Scourge barked at the slightly hesitating Toil and waved his long nailed hand at him. One of his tracker crew disobeying an order from their second in command of the entire exploration would shed bad light on him, especially after breaking protocol aboard the ship, even if no disrespect had been intended on his part.

"Yessir," Toil saluted tensely, then lifted off the ledge and descended deep into the immense chasm below them with his wingmates. Their winged forms were soon enveloped by the thick blackness, and disappeared out of sight and sensor range.

There was light in the direction they left. Not shining, not bright, not the vivid white streaks that blinded the optic and washed over the body warmly, but rather, a tense, almost solid shade of grey, barely different from the darkness crust over everything around.

Nova let out a sigh and backed to a wall. He brought his palm up to his cranial unit and buried his face in it.

"Can you hear it, Galvatron...?" he asked, his voice weakened. "No, not hear... can you feel it...? As if my spark, my entire being was drawn towards something... that lies below, in the heart of... these caverns."

"It calls to me," Nova looked up, his optics narrowing.

[Insidious]

Galvatron knew that Nova Prime must be experiencing many of the same reactions that he himself was right now. He could see it in the physical reaction that his commanding officer was having to this place. He could hear it in his words.

"Can you hear it, Galvatron...? No, not hear... can you feel it...? As if my spark, my entire being was drawn towards something... that lies below, in the heart of... these caverns."

"Yes. It is so....so....familiar," Galvatron affirmed, his curiosity growing with every moment that passed without the satisfaction of the knowledge it sought. It almost felt like home. Inside this mountain, at least. And yet this planet was so far away. How had they ever managed to detect those faint readings in the first place?

"It calls to me," Nova said.

"It calls to us all," Galvatron agreed. What other explanation could there be?

Toil had done as his superiors had ordered, which now gave them a direct signal to follow, in addition to their already guiding, but vague, sense of familiarity with this location. Through darkened turns and twists, the crew walked. When they needed to take to the air to cross a deep canyon, they did so. They did all of this until Galvatron noticed that Toil's signal beacon had stopped moving.

>>"Galvatron to Toil, your signal has stopped. What is the meaning of this? Answer!"<<

>>"...I...I don't..."<<

As Galvatron examined the signals more closely, he noticed that not only had Toil's stopped in its tracks, but that the energy signals were clear now. Far more clear than they had ever been up to this point. Such a revelation only quickened Galvatron's pace all the more, until at last he and the others had managed to catch up with their fellow crewman. As Galvatron entered the vast chamber, he could not help but pause.

"By Cybertron..." he gasped, staring onward in amazement. The markings that had been sparingly evident throughout their journey in to this mountain were now on full display within this cavern. Galvatron was perfectly capable of reading the symbols contained within, but there were so many. Jagged veins of what Galvatron could surely identify as rarefied energon pulsed along the walls, some areas more brightly than others, before the vein likely traveled deeper in to the mountain. In in the center of the massive structure, an equally massive device, seemingly rooted from all sides to the mountain itself. Galvatron's interest was immediately drawn to it. It looked like a giant...cog...composed of metal and stone. Again, unlike anything Galvatron had ever seen.

The mountain shuddered again. Only here, the effect was much stronger, causing Galvatron to almost lose his footing, reaching for one of the anterior walls to maintain his balance until the tremor passed.

[Gatkowski]

Nova braced himself as the cavern around them was shook once more, waves of the rumbling passing through the mass of stone and metal around them.

"By Cybertron..." Galvatron gasped, and Nova could not help but, too, freeze in shock of the sight before them. The complex, yet apparently crude-looking mechanism erected in the chamber they had just entered towered higher than their visual sensory could track, lines of parts striking outwards from it and in a thick web, entangling their surroundings. Cogs, wires, pressure containers interlocked and stretched out, as if they were holding the walls in place. The markings and symbols that trailed along the rocky surface appeared to follow the same pattern, slipping over to some of the platings covering the slowly moving machinery.

And in the center lay a gigantic cog, a strange miscellany of the smooth rock and sturdy metal.

The pair of azure optics lit up on Nova's faceplate as he turned towards the nearest wall, as the rumble had dissipated. In deep claret striae, the energon pulsed and illuminated some of the symbols along the crevices the flowed through.

"It is in ancient Cybertronian!" Nova exclaimed as he examined the carvings. During the long vorns of his studies as an upcoming, young scholar, he had on numerous occasions, come in contact with this particular form of scribal knowledge. It was known only in fragments, even to the most practised researchers who devoted their entire function cycles to exploring this ancient legacy, to better understand the early history and evolution of the Transformers race.

"He who shall pass..." Nova began to read, "...prepare...for what lies within..." he followed the line of writing with his digit, "...oblivion...way to the void...the gate to salvation..." he went on, leaving out some of the words. Partially, because they were obscured on the surface and partially because he could not interpret them.

"Unfortunately, I do not understand enough to make sense. But it appears to be a verse of some kind," he than said, but just couldn't shake the feeling of how odd it was to find such text and symbolics at a place like this. And the purposefulness that radiated from it, even with the writing as meaningless as it seemed.

Gently, his massive manual actuator touched the wall where an energon crevice connected to some machine parts leading back to the central cluster. He felt a sudden sting on the tip of his digits. Hissing silently, he pulled his hand away and looked at his palm.

"What in the name of creation...?!" he groaned. Small black streaks raced from the end of his fingers toward his forearm, than his upper, shoulder, and quickly they engulfed his whole torso.

"What is happening?" he asked aloud and twitched, his voice filled with pain.

[Insidious]

The Ark I--Bridge

New readings slowly but steadily crept across the console in front of Cyclonus. The planet appeared to be undergoing some form of seismic activity that had not occurred--at least as far as Cyclonus had seen--prior to their arrival. Granted, such data was limited to begin with, so it could be nothing at all. Still, it was worth keeping an eye on, as it was the only thing of consequence that had occurred since their orbital arrival to this barren world.

>>"Macabre--are you able to identify the source of the tremors I'm detecting on the surface and interior of the planet?"<<

>>*Bzzt*....ehhhh...uh, no sir...others have traveled further in, but communications with them are almost impossible from the surface."<<

Cyclonus slammed a fist on the console. Not hard enough to do any damage, but it expressed his frustration just the same. The other members of the bridge crew turned to look at him before quickly resuming their various duties. He wanted to know what was going on beneath the planet's surface, where Nova Prime and the others were.

Patience....answers will be forthcoming soon enough, Cyclonus consoled himself internally. It was the best he could do for the time being, until some definitive informaiton came back to him.

[Insidious]

"It is in ancient Cybertronian!" Nova began, coming to the same conclusion that Galvatron had. The Ark's captain then began reading what he could. "He who shall pass...prepare...for what lies within......oblivion...way to the void...the gate to salvation..."

Galvatron stepped closer, seeing if he could discern anything to support what his captain had already managed. He was not a translator or linguist by neither trade nor training, but he had received a cursory overview of their world's scattered, ancient dialects in his youth. None of it was coming in handy at the present time. In Galvatron's estimation, the writing sounded like vague, garbled nonsense. The sort of thing one had to endure when in the presence of the Council of Ancients. No doubt it had some great, ethereal meaning that Galvatron didn't have the patience for right now.

Soon, however, Nova Prime's attention turned to the same thing that held Galvatron's: the energy veins pulsing through the cavernous walls. The readings were nearly off the scale. These must have been what the ship's sensors had detected. It...

"...captain, no!" the first officer suddenly belted out, but it was too late. Nova Prime had already reached out to examine this rarefied energon firsthand.

Have you lost your mind? Galvatron thought.

"What in the name of creation...?!" Nova stuttered.

Galvatron took a cautionary step backward, taking in with his own optics what was now happening to his superior officer.

"What is happening?" Prime groaned, now in obvious pain. One of the Sweeps quickly moved to assist. No sooner had he made contact with Nova Prime, then the inky, dark energy began to slither its way across the Sweep's hand and arm as well. He then turned back to Galvatron and began to approach, one arm outstretched. The first officer, in turn, leveled his arm cannon at the Sweep. It was the fool's own fault for getting that close without knowing exactly what they were dealing with.

"Come no further," Galvatron commanded the Sweep while he watched the scene play out in front of him. According to legend, rarefied energon was the lifespark. It was what an individual spark was composed of, in any event. Was this what they were now dealing with? Or had something--somewhere--become corrupted?

[Gatkowski]

"Wha...*krzrzkkk*....what izzzz...happening...*brrttzkktt*...to...ussss?" the Sweep that just came in contact with Nova Prime cawed, his vocal unit notably under heavy strain. His hand reached out towards Galvatron, as if a single touch could relieve him from his misery. Suddenly, a massive arm folded around his neck from behind and across his chest section, down to his armpit.

"Stand," Nova Prime said, his voice rattling and distorted, "and bear the pain."

Fear flared in the Sweep's optics, but he dared not resist the captain's grip. His internal gauges screamed from overflows and energy discharges, his joints vibrated ever deeply in red and his vocalizers released raspy, inarticulate noises. As his pain grew, his reason fell behind his survival instinct and he attempted to free himself of Nova's grip, plunging his sharpened nails into his thick arm plates, but his strength was insufficient to do so.

Then as swiftly as the streaks of dark energy engulfed his frame, the suffering came to an end. Nova released the Sweep, and rose to full height, standing next to him. The captain's optical unit glew like a flare in complete blackness, the same vivid, almost blinding azure light that radiated from under his joints. The Sweep looked similarly overenergized, with small bolts and discharges coursing through both their frames here and there.

"Have no fear of it," Nova said, turning to Galvatron and the rest of the crew present. "It is power. Raw, unrestrained power."

His optics still shone ever so brightly, but there was a streak of oddity behind the brightness.

[Insidious]

Galvatron relaxed, if only slightly, as Nova Prime seized the hapless Sweep and held him within his iron grip, preventing him from exposing any of the others to whatever energy was coursing through his system at this moment.

"Have no fear of it. It is power. Raw, unrestrained power."

The other Sweeps who were present needed no more encouragement than that. They exchanged a brief glance with one another before rushing to the walls themselves, exposing themselves to the veins of coursing energy and allowing it, in turn, to begin coursing through them as well. Galvatron, however, was not as eager as his comrades in arms. Nova Prime, for all intents and purposes, appeared as composed as ever. The Sweep, though calming, did not appear nearly as composed. Something flickered behind his optics. Something that had not been there before.

"It may be, my captain. But it may also be more than that. I...," Galvatron stammered. Forces inside him were wrestling even now. What harm could there be in acquiring more power? None of them knew what else this world had to offer. And yet, if this was not pure, rarified energon, Galvatron did not want it in his system. Even if it did turn out to be, the first officer would prefer to see how it affected his fellow crewmen, and his captain, before he exposed himself to it directly.

"Acquire a sample," Galvatron commanded, motioning to Turmoil even as the other Sweeps present went through the same throes of torment that had befallen their colleague upon first exposure. "Have it taken to Jhiaxus for immediate analysis. We need..."

"IT WAS NOT MEANT FOR YOU," a deep, gravelly voice echoed through every chamber of this vast system of caverns. Galvatron immediately paused, even though there was nothing to see. Nothing that had not already been there.

So....this planet was not as barren and lifeless as it had otherwise appeared.

[Insidious]

"IT WAS NOT MEANT FOR YOU," an unrecognizeable voice reverberated through the Ark's communications console.

The transmission immediately caught the attention of Cyclonus, along with everyone else on the bridge. They had been out of radio contact with the key members of the expeditionary force for some time now. To suddenly have an unknown vocal signature suddenly register on their systems made the bridge crew immediately more wary than they already had been.

>>"Captain? Galvatron?"<< Cyclonus tried again, but to no avail. The regular static-ridden signal had returned.

What in Primus' name was going on down there? Honestly, he was not sure how much longer he could obey the captain's orders to remain aboard the ship.

[Gatkowski]

"IT WAS NOT MEANT FOR YOU," an otherworldly voice spoke as almost every mech of the landing crew had been overloaded with the discharges eminating from the energon veins.

Nova looked up, his optics scanning the darkness, as if to find the source of the voice. If it was not meant for them, then who was it meant for? They were Cybertronians, conquerors of galaxies, their destinies were to hold stars in the plam of their hands.

"I understand now," Nova said, totally undisturbed by the strange phenomenon. "This... planet has been altered, reconstructed from the very core, by an entity far more ancient and knowledgable than all of us. These interconnecting energon-lines are the veins for the immense mechanism that is this place. A mechanism that drains a tremendous amount of energy."

He turned and walked to the gigantic cog in the center of the chamber.

"This is the center of the entire construct. It was set up with spectacular precision, to function even long after its creator was gone. What purpose it serves, I do not know. But it was intended to remain hidden, away from prying optical sensory."

Nova's optics flickered.

"But we Cybertonians found it. We found it because we were destined to. For what other reason could we discover what was hidden for vorns, perhaps even millenia?"

[Insidious]

"I understand now. This... planet has been altered, reconstructed from the very core, by an entity far more ancient and knowledgable than all of us. These interconnecting energon-lines are the veins for the immense mechanism that is this place. A mechanism that drains a tremendous amount of energy."

Galvatron's gaze shifted from that of his commanding officer to the vastness of the chamber that surrounded them. An entity that thrived on...energon? That would mean that it was not only a...cog...that they were looking at. It was a critical component--to one of the Thirteen.

The Executive Officer's mouth opened just a little more, his amazement continuing to grow.

"This is the center of the entire construct. It was set up with spectacular precision, to function even long after its creator was gone. What purpose it serves, I do not know. But it was intended to remain hidden, away from prying optical sensory."

Yes. Nova Prime was on to some of the same thoughts that raced through Galvatron's mind even now. Could this be some great construct? Or, could it be...

"LEAVE...THIS...PLACE," the voice rumbled again, shaking the cavernous walls.

"Identify yourself!" Galvatron shouted, stepping forward now. His level of awe was now dwindling, and it was being quickly replaced with a sense of indignation. "We come here in peace!"

"I HAVE BEEN KNOWN BY TWO NAMES, THE FIRST--GIVEN TO ME BY MY CREATOR, PRIMUS--IS NEXUS MAXIMUS. THE SECOND, FAR LATER, WAS THAT OF NEXUS PRIME. NOW...I AM NEITHER."

Galvatron stood in awe. It was, indeed, one of the original Thirteen. Nexus Maximus. Stories of this individual went as far back as Galvatron could remember and long before that. This was no construct. Somehow...somehow they were now inside one of the most reknowned Cybertronians in history.

Amazing.

"We just...," Galvatron started.

"THE SOURCE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO, NOVA," the voice rang out once more. Galvatron noted that Nexus had conspicuously addressed his captain simply as Nova. Did not Primes have some sort of mystical connection. Did he not know that he himself was in the presence of another Prime?

[Gatkowski]

"I HAVE BEEN KNOWN BY TWO NAMES, THE FIRST--GIVEN TO ME BY MY CREATOR, PRIMUS--IS NEXUS MAXIMUS. THE SECOND, FAR LATER, WAS THAT OF NEXUS PRIME. NOW...I AM NEITHER."

Nova Prime turned and his gaze settled on the cog, in the middle of immense chamber. His optics narrowed, his mind battled itself whether to believe what he had just heard or not.

"Nexus... Prime... " he then spoke, uttering the word very silently, his voice trailing off from confusion and shock. At the first moment, his psyche could not grasp the concept of actually standing inside one of the most ancient leaders of his race.

He could recall countless legends and parables from his studies, all depicting Nexus Prime as a self-sacrificing hero whom Primus sent away from Cybertron to safeguard the universe itself. A role he accepted dutifully, without hesitation. But as to what the universe needed safeguarding from, the scrolls gave only the faintest hints at. Anyway, these were just legends, weren't they?

"THE SOURCE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO, NOVA."

"How do you know me?" The captain of the Ark-I asked, but realized it was most probably an unnecessary question. If this entity truly was Nexus Prime and was anything like described in the legends, he could read a Transformer's spark just by looking at them.

"What source lies here? What is this place?" he then asked aloud, trying to settle the confusion that had suddenly arose in his cranial chamber.

[Insidious]

"How do you know me?"

"I KNOW...MUCH. WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE, HOWEVER, HAS COME MUCH PAIN. IGNORANCE, IN MANY CASES, REMAINS BLISSFUL. I KNOW THAT YOUR JOURNEY IS SIMILAR TO THE ONE WE BEGAN, SO VERY LONG AGO: THE BETTERMENT OF CYBERTRON...OF PRIMUS. THE HIGHEST ACT OF NOBILITY. YOU WERE NOVA PRIME. YOU HAD CYBERTRON'S GREATEST HOPE IN YOUR HANDS. NOW......" the great voice trailed off.

"...CORRUPTION HAS FOUND YOU."

"What source lies here? What is this place?"

"THE COVENANT WERE THE FIRSTBORN. CREATED TO DEFEND PRIMUS AGAINST HIS OPPOSITE. THE CHAOS BRINGER. THEY FAILED. AND IN THEIR FAILURE, THE THIRTEEN WERE BORN. THOUGH WE DROVE CHAOS AWAY, IT WAS AT GREAT COST. WE LOST ONE OF OUR OWN. WE STABILIZED OUR HOME, MADE IT FRUITFUL AS OUR CREATOR HAD INTENDED AND EVENTUALLY I WAS SENT IN PURSUIT, TO ENSURE THAT THE EFFECTS OF CHAOS ON THE UNIVERSE WERE LIMITED. IT DID NOT TAKE LONG BEFORE MY PRESENCE WAS FELT. IN THIS REGION OF SPACE, OUR BATTLE BEGAN ANEW. THOUGH I WAS CONTAINED WITHIN MANY BODIES, I SHARED THE SAME FIERCE SPARK BESTOWED UPON ME BY OUR CREATOR. REGARDLESS, THE BATTLE WAS LOST. THE CHAOS BRINGER MOVED ON, AND I HAVE BEEN IMMOBILIZED WITHIN THIS WORLD EVER SINCE."

In one of the adjacent caverns, stony/metallic columns--which slowly began to resembled that of a Cybertronian actuator--ripped themselves from the walls and formed a massive fist.

"I AM THIS PLACE. THIS WORLD IS MY PRISON...AND FOREVER IT SHALL BE. THE SCARS OF MY DEFEAT RUN THROUGH EVERY JAGGED CRACK IN THIS MOUNTAIN. MY ENERGY, ONCE PURE, HAS NOW BEEN TAINTED WITH CHAOS. SO, TOO, HAS YOURS."