Coalescence

“They’ve spotted us!”
Cyclonus scowled more than usual, “I said not to get too close!”
“I’ve never driven a space ship before, I don’t know how close is too close! I was just
following your steering!” Darkwing complained in a frump.
Cyclonus crossed his arms, tossed his head, and replied with spite, “Don’t blame my
navigation. My course would have had us at a proper distance the whole way…If the
engines weren’t set too fast.”
“Maybe if Mr. Stoic said things with his words, I’d have known to slow down.” The
white Decepticon at propulsion sulked. “I’m not a mind scanner over here; No matter
how much I need to know what you’re thinking.”
“Boys… This is cute and all, but maybe we should stop fighting among ourselves and
worry more about getting weapons ready.” Crasher raised her brow.
“I have to stay at navigation. And Darkwing at propulsion. So…” Cyclonus waved a
hand at Crasher and then pointed to consoles across the command deck. “It’s all up to
you. Lasers are there, torpedoes over there.”
Her eyes bulged. “On opposite sides of the bridge? Who designed that?”
Cyclonus sneered. “There’s supposed to be a crew of a dozen up here at any given time.
Two dozen in combat situations. The symmetrical stations shouldn’t have been an issue.”
Crasher converted into her new heavy cruiser mode and rolled for the laser controls.
“Oh smelt me. It was you, wasn’t it?”
“The Constructor Squad thought that is was sensible.” Arching his back triumphantly,
Cyclonus put on a smug face. “They mentioned so twice.”
Now back in robot mode, Crasher shot back, “The Constructor Squad who just pranked
you?”
Cyclonus winced and let his posture deflate slightly. Before he could reply though,
Darkwing spoke up.
“Uh guys… We might not need the weapons.”
Following Darkwing’s gaze, Cyclonus saw the same object appear on the monitor.
It was a cube floating in space. Each side was made of a stacked golden lattice, each
layered until it looked like a convoluted mess of metal. It also seemed to glow; a faint
amber aura encircled it completely. The other ship was headed directly for it.
“They’re going to get there before we’re in weapons range.” Crasher explained with
frustration in her voice. “What do we do?”
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