Hello all, sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I've been busy cranking away for both this story and Beast Wars Prime. Now, I took some creative liberties with this, namely using a Prime from IDW as opposed to the one in the actual Covenant of Primus. To say nothing of using the titans. Anyway, it's time to read up on The Age of Wrath.
Arcee looked at her class. She knew this next lesson wasn't a proud part of Cybertrons' history, but it still needed to be told. "Before we begin, does anyone have any questions about what we covered so far?" She asked the collected students.
A couple days ago the Maximals had been testing a converter that Ratchet had developed to convert complex liquids into energon. While the experiment had been a success, the kids and the Wreckers had been set upon by the original Predacon, the 2.0 Predacons and the Mayhem attack squadron. They won, but it was a close thing. Arcee decided to help take their minds off the battle by scheduling their next lesson.
"I just want to know the truth you hinted at about the cataclysm." Alllison reiterated. She had been curious about it after the last lesson. Something about how it happened seemed far too coordinated for her liking.
Arcee gave her a sad smile. "To know that." She began. "You have to know about a race of beings known as the Quintessons."
She activated the hologram projector and in front of the class appeared a being that looked like a Naga. A hunched body was held up by a serpentine tail and had two thin arms that branched into four lower arms and hands. The thing that drew their attention though was the head. It kept spinning and switching between five distinct faces.
Miko squinted at the figure. "As frag ugly as they are, why do they seem familiar?" She asked.
Taking a breath, Arcee began her lesson. "I'll explain in a moment. Once the worst of the cataclysms' effects had passed, the remaining Cybertronians came out of stasis and began the arduous process of recultivating their world. A great number of feuding tribes formed and began fighting over territory and resources." She explained.
"So, Beast Wars two only without the beasts?" Vince asked. He was fascinated by the early war. Despite not liking Earth history, he found Cybertrons' history to be riveting.
"Not quite." Arcee replied, looking at him. "Those battles never reached the Beast Wars level of violence. Though with what came after, some may wish it did."
Turning back to the rest of the class, Arcee continued. "Before the fighting could escalate into a full-blown war, the Quintessons emerged from space. They claimed that their goal was to bring Cybertron into the greater galactic community."
Arcee turned to Miko. "The reason they may look familiar to you is the fact that Alpha Trion mentioned in the Covenant of Primus that he recognized them as the work of Quintus Prime and his Emberstone."
"Emberstone?" She questioned. "What does it evolve certain beings when they touch it?" She joked. The similarity to Pokémon evolution stones was uncanny to her.
"Yes actually, albeit it can do it without touching a lifeform." Arcee answered, causing the Maximals' jaws to drop.
"To prove their word and good intent, they 'gifted' the Cybertronians with the wonderous ability to transform." Arcee continued. "Apparently, the Quintessons knew about the dormant T-cogs in our bodies and how to activate them." She looked at Raf. "Like I said last lesson, the Primes decision to hide that capability came back to bite everyone in the aft." The young Maximal nodded in agreement.
"Despite the warnings from Alpha Trion, the Cybertronians bowed down to their new, 'benevolent' saviors." Arcee rubbed her optics. "The Quintessons took over almost overnight, claiming to be readying Cybertron for galactic integration. Society went through a complete transformation and globalization. Under their guidance we built infrastructure, mastered spaceflight, learned astrophysics, and created a new government and court of law based on functions and industries. This was also when the title of 'Prime' became a political one." She explained.
"While that doesn't sound too bad." Jack spoke. "I'm guessing that there was an ulterior motive."
Arcee nodded. "The Quintessons' true goal, was to sell the entire population of Cybertron, into slavery." This got several gasps from the Earthlings in the room. The Camin members of the class already knew this.
"The Quintessons had planned this from the beginning and were funneling the planets' gross domestic product into projects off world 'for the future' and into secret projects across the planet." Arcee explained. "The worst aspect of their new government was the 'supreme court'." She said using air quotes around the words. "The closest example for Earth I can think of would be the witch trials in Salem."
"So, any bot could accuse anyone else without any actual evidence." June asked. She'd studied that entire farce in High School. "And I'm guessing it was like a circus in the same way our witch trials were?"
"Yes." Arcee admitted. "Although a verdict of 'innocent' usually meant imprisonment or death. The court was mostly used as means to execute those who rebelled against the planets' 'Benevolent Saviors."
"This is starting to sound like a bad science fiction movie." Sierra quipped, getting a laugh from the rest of the class.
"Well, the worst thing about the Quintesson occupation was that the well of all sparks stopped producing Cybertronians with fully formed personalities or even names. They simply emerged as blanks, defined by what jobs they were meant to take in the new social structures." Arcee explained. "To this day we don't know why."
"There, there had to be a resistance." Jack spoke in sheer stunned terror. This seemed too dystopian to be real.
Arcee nodded. "There was. The recently elected leader of the planet Nova Prime. He, under Alpha Trions' guidance, began to quietly have the Quintessons' secret projects investigated. His agents discovered that the biggest project was a series of space bridges, which would be used to ship the population into the slave labor market. The Quintessons had stolen the technology and didn't quite understand it themselves."
"The second biggest was a vast army of metal eating Sharkticons who were built to act as a way to control the population. They'd been using them as a means of execution in their 'supreme court'." She switched the projector to an image of the piranha like Sharkticons.
"Now those are some ugly motherfu-"
"Vincent!" June scolded.
Giving her notes a quick check, Arcee continued. "Nova Prime and his council realized they needed to mobilize the population against the Quintessons. However, he had two problems. The first being that most of the planet still saw them as saviors. Second, was the Sharkticon horde."
"Thankfully, the first problem was relatively easy to solve." Arcee began. "Sneaking into the well of all sparks, Nova Primes' agents intercepted a young bot by the 'name' of D-16. With the help of the world class doctor Remedy, and his apprentice Ratchet." She paused as recognition hit the class, the Camins didn't even know this. "They discovered that the T-cog was always a part of Cybertronian anatomy."
"When this revelation was made public, the entire planet rallied behind Nova Prime." Arcee continued. "Knowing that he'd unintentionally started the revolution, D-16 joined Nova as a leader in his army, becoming something of a figurehead. However, the Quintessons set the Sharkticons on the rebelling populace. As video of Cybertronians being slaughtered by Sharkticons hit the airwaves, the resistance grew exponentially."
Arcee took a breath. "Nova knew that while they would ultimately drive out the Quintessons, he knew the loss of life would be horrendously high." She explained. "So, with Alpha Trions' approval, Nova journeyed to the well of all sparks again, and begged Primus himself for help." Arcee smiled. "And Primus answered."
She switched the hologram projector from the Sharkticon image she'd put up, to five colossal bots. "From the planet itself arose five massive Cybertronians that we now call the titans." Arcee explained. She focused in on a pair of near physically identical titans, one was black and white, the other blue and orange. "First came the twins Metroplex and Vigilem."
The image switched to a giant golden bird which brought looks of awe from the class. "Next came Chela, the great golden warrior." The image shifted to a purple and acid green titan with pincers and a red visor. "Scorponok, the Insecticon King came next." A grey, blue and red titan appeared. "And Maximus emerged last, completing the group."
Smiling, Arcee decided to conclude the lesson on a high note. "With the aid of the titans, the Sharkticons went from slaughtering to being slaughtered. Between them, Nova Prime, and D-16s' courage and might, the Quintessons were rousted from Cybertron, fleeing on a cloaked starship. Sadly, Nova Prime perished in the final battle."
The titans themselves, returned to where they emerged and in a final act of vindication against the Quintessons; Metroplex, Vigilem, Chela, and Scorponok transformed into what would become the starting points for the cities of Iacon, Kaon, Paradon, and Tarn." Arcee continued. "Maximus however, transformed into a flying fortress, and left Cybertron in hopes that he could stop the Quintessons from victimizing other worlds, and perhaps even stop them all together."
"Years later, it was discovered that the Quintessons caused the great cataclysm themselves by destroying their own home world of Quintessa, and their creator Quintus Prime with it." Arcee finished.
There was a ringing silence in the classroom. Some of those details were unknown even to the members of the class from Caminus. "So, what happened after that?" Raf asked.
"The golden age of galactic expansion, followed by a cosmic rust plague and an age of decline and stagnation." Arcee explained. "However, that will be covered in our next lesson. Dismissed."
Arcee gave a sigh as the last of her class left. She knew that, while bad, the Quintessons and the Age of Wrath weren't the worst part of Cybertrons' history. The time before the war really began was definitely worse. She shuddered as she rubbed at her neck, even millions of years later she could still feel Galavars' servos on her throat. Hopefully the group would understand that, while it did take a long time, things would change for the better.
A/N- I said I would be blending the aligned and IDW continuities, and I hope this was a good mix of the two. My rendition of the Prime universe Quintessons is actually based on Alpha Q from Transformers Energon, only I gave then the head/faces of their G1 counterparts. I also wanted to return Fort Max and Scorponok to their city-former roots. I didn't include Trypticon in the titans because I kept his 'Aligned' origin.
And for the record, Sentinel Prime does come up in this story, There's just a couple more Primes ahead of him. Mostly because I plan to have 'Sentinel' and 'Zeta' be separate primes.
Next lesson-The golden age- Boom, Rust, and Bust and the rise of the Senate.