(This is a novella-isation of the opening issue of the US Generation: 2 comic book. Anything which isn't speech or a title is my own inferior descriptive text. Transformers are copyright Hasbro/Kenner/Takara, the script is copyright Marvel Comics. No infringement whatsoever intended, just the enlightenment of those who can't get hold of it.)

'Many billions of light years from our galaxy... THE K-TOR CLUSTER.'

The Decepticon flagship glided through space. Onboard, the imposing form of Commander Jhiaxus paced the bridge. "Report."
The duty clone saluted his superior. "Sir! The exo-structuring party on Outpost B-67 has been attacked."
"Survivors?"
The clone remained silent.
"Hhhn. Tell me... Every detail!"

"A raiding party of four -- Firestormers! They arrived on outpost B-67 via personal warp gates. They were not taking prisoners!"

The Autobots Hound, Broadside and Sideswipe emerged just above the planet's surface from warp gates, already pumping shots into the defence droids. Sideswipe shouted to his fellows "Maximum force team! Hit 'em where it hurts!"
Another droid shrieked as its head was blown from its shoulders.

On the Decepticon flagship, the Cybertronian Empire commander raged his displeasure. "AUTOBOTS! If I exist beyond my ten millionth cycle I will never understand them! Why -- why do they continually seem to frustrate us?" (he thumped his fist onto the table) "To expand, to grow, to colonize -- this is simply the Decepticon way! What would they have us do? Stand still? Stagnate?"
A clone said hesitantly, "Commander Jhiaxus. You must forgive my ignorance, but... Autobots? They are cybertronians... Transformers, just like us. Autobot -- Decepticon. I do not understand the distinction."
His leader spoke harshly, "They are thowbacks, Rook. Anachronisms. A race out of time! It therefore falls to me... to bring them screaming into the present day!"

Prime's counsel was his own, "(Why indeed, Hot Rod? Grimlock's sudden request for a meeting sounded urgent, but then the Dinobot commander is well known for his sense of... the dramatic! Am I here on the basis of some unspecified future apocalypse, or is it my own restlessness that drives me in search of my scattered Autobot army?)" The mighty Autobot leader... unsettled. "(The war is over, finished. Four million years of conflict, stretching between Cybertron and Earth, and finally ... all the old ghosts laid to rest! Unicron. Bludgeon. Megatron. Shockwave. Scorponok. Galvatron. Gone now, and in their place, peace. And yet, though many Autobots chose to down the tools of war, many others chose to fight on, forming small combat units of their own. Have I become like them? Actively seeking conflict ... where none exists?)" An internal warning system jolted his body back into sudden activity. "Huh? Kup, what-- ?"
The old soldier gently rebuked him, "Prime! Quit daydreaming... We've got company!" Decepticons with reptilian forms lumbered out of the thick grey smoke, each blasting away at the Autobot strike-force with multiple lasers. "Not quite the dead world we though, huh? Ah well..." He opened fire.
Hot Rod darted forward with the words, "Later, guys..." His upper body spun as he transformed into a sleek sports car and screeched away. "I'm outta here!"
Prime shouted after him, "Hot Rod! Blast you, come back! Come --" His voice trailed off. "Gone! And no sign of Grimlock and the others anywhere, even though these are the exact coordinates he gave us! Some days...", he transformed, "You have to do everything yourself!" Engines roared as his nucleon-saturated truck form charged.
The Decepticons were easily flung aside. "He's coming through!" yelled one, still standing. His partner's eye glinted greedily. "Let him! He will not get past us. The legendary Optimus Prime... what a trophy he will make!"
Suddenly, his partner grasped the truth. "No! Look -- the other one -- coming back! It's a trap! We're caught in a-- AAAAA!" The first also screamed "EEAA!" as he was torn apart by Optimus and Hot Rod's combined firepower.
Moments later the Autobots stood triumphant. Prime stood alongside the daring youth. "Well done."
"Heh. It's strange, isn't it? The old moves ... you never lose 'em!" the one-time brat reflected. His caretakership of the matrix had settled a semblance of maturity upon his shoulders and he spoke like a seasoned soldier.
A Decepticon city loomed out of the swirling gray mists. As the Autobots watched, Grimlock emerged. When he spoke, his tone was grave, "Good. 'Cause we going to need every move in the book!"

'SOON.'

As the autobot shuttle began to take off, the Dinobot commander apologised. "Me sorry. We not know Decepticons had left a unit here... Probably guards. Stop looters from picking place clean before everything stripped and shipped out. Must have picked you up on their security net as you near the city."
Prime was speculative. "This place..."
"Decepticon outpost. Conquered and colonized year or so ago. Miscalculated -- eco-system collapse under strain."
Prime's voice sounded strained. "Then... this place was alive? Inhabited?!"
Grimlock's voice remained sombre. "Once. Pattern seem to be same in all cases. Decepticons target likely world, subdue any resistance and then send in eco-structuring team to re-create in own image. (points to screen) Little Cybertrons. All over galaxy! Found seventeen so far, but suspect this only tip of iceberg."
"Seven -- TEEN?! But how.. How can this be? Even if Bludgeon lied about his plans, he had neither the work force nor the resources to accomplish all this! It can only mean..." Prime's voice temored. In orbit, the Cybertronian flagship had appeared, poised for the kill. He concluded, "...the problem's a lot bigger than we realized!"
Jhiaxus needed only one syllable. "FIRE!!" Heavy weapons bombardment rained down upon the planet's surface. The entire city was wracked with explosions and the autobot ship seemed to explode under the concussion of heavy laser fire.

A military jeep careered flat-out over rough terrain. It's special agent passenger fought for control of the wheel whilst he simultaneously radioed in. "Mainframe... We have visual confirmation from Tunnel Rat. DO IT!"

'Though it is usually Earthbound terrorism that concerns the members of the elite military unit known as G.I. Joe... As once before, they must take arms against a threat from the far reaches of space!'

The agent codenamed Mainframe picked up, "Yessir!" He brandished a piece of hardware at his female laboratory assistant. "I want this encoded and sent. The coordinates are preset into this amplifier unit. Tell them. Tell the Autobots..." Deep down inside the Ark, agent Tunnel Rat ran for his life from the mighty green and purple metal form of the most brutal Decepticon known to the humans, and perhaps the galaxy. "...MEGATRON IS BACK!"

An Empire clone, pushing the prisoners forward into the sight of his leader, roughly grasped a metallic shoulder and ordered, "MOVE!" Prime and Grimlock were compelled to kneel before the fascist Decepticon leader.
He grinned smugly. Tendrils of smoke rose lazily from the vents in the back of his cranium. "Welcome. I am Jhiaxus. And, as you are no doubt aware, your lives are in my hands. Had I wished, I could have simply pulverised you all from space. I chose instead... To educate you! To show you the true nature of the war you are fighting. A war that has been over for nearly four million years! You are surprised. That is only to be expected. For you fought on in a strange microcosm -- a tiny universe within a universe. Set apart from the natural flow of events since our one-time leader, Megatron, attacked you on the Ark and rather than accept almost certain defeat... You chose instead to crash your craft into a small, only partly-evolved world that would come to be called Earth. You lay there, deactivated, while we -- having none of your sentimental attachment for our homeworld -- abandoned the used-up husk Cybertron had become... Leaving only a token administrative presence in the form of small-minded tyrants unfit for the future empire! So you see... We had progressed far beyond the tiny, small-minded war you awoke to on Earth. We are one race now, and the tools of destruction have become tools of construction." He paused, anticipating a reaction from his captives.
Prime struggled with his emotions. "I... I... No! NoNoNo! It all sounds very wholesome, but however your dress it, it is still conquest and oppression! You... and this new regime -- are as evil and contemptible as Megatron and his Decpticons ever were!"
Jhiaxus' response was an arrogant snort. "Hhh. How can I simplify this for you? It is not a question of Good or Evil -- lesser beings simply have no value to us. Only you Autobots -- that strange offshoot from our race -- attach any significance to them! If life forms cannot coexist with us, they are simply -- and without malice -- eradicated. You are a relic, Prime -- part of an age long past. Autobot, Decpticon -- these are outmoded concepts. The war is over, and it is time for you and your kind to take their place in the new, glorious Cybertronian Empire!" His fists clenched with a malicious pride.

'SOON.'

Prime sat on a storage container with his hands in his lap. The shoulders of his noble robotic body were slumped in defeat. "I tell you, Grimlock, I suddenly feel very small. It's like discovering your entire world is but one blade of grass in an Earthen forest. We're a joke, and everybody knew the punchline except us. Relics, that's what Jhiaxus called us... and he's right."
Grimlock spoke softly, but there was unmistakable steel in his voice. "Me not believe I hear this! Maybe we guilty of not seeing big picture. But Decepticons guilty too. See too big a picture! Time on Earth help us look down. See what we trample on. It life no matter what it size or form. We watch it struggle, fight for existence. We helped it then --", his voice rose, "-- why not now? If Decepticons not see that their way wrong, it up to us to educate them..." His thrown punch almost shattered the wall. "THE HARD WAY!"
Prime's eyes burned with the fire of new-found resolve and purpose. Grimlock grabbed the head of the nearest guard and twisted it free. Prime grabbed its rifle. Together they surprised the drone guarding the remaining Autoboats. It only had time to stutter, "Hey, what--", before its brain circuitry burst out of the back of its head from Prime's unnervingly fast shot.

'THE HOLDING CELL --'

Prime spoke shortly to his imprisoned Autobots. "We're leaving."

'THE ARMORY --'

Blades forced open the door to the weapons store, the adrenalin of nucleon pumping through his system. For his part, Hound began to tear knives, grenades and shotguns from their wall mounts. Swoop swiftly set an explosive with a six minute timer, "Load up and move out. Okay, Boss -- let's get this show on the road!"

'THE HANGAR BAY --'

Hot Rod and Kup easily downed the force of guards surrounding the light personnel shuttles. The grizzled mentor had his usual string of advice, "You two take the smaller pursuit ships -- and move it, Hot Rod... The clock's running!"

'MAIN ENGINEERING --'

Sideswipe slid in a fusion grenade. Only one clone reacted, "What in the name of--", before it exploded and threw them all aside. Sludge and Sideswipe made short work of the concussed guards, bludgeoning them barehandedly into non-functionality.

'(EN ROUTE TO) CARGO DECK #2 --'

As the re-united Autobots made their way down a narrow access tunnel, they were confronted with a mass of cloned guards. Prime led the assault, "Ah well..." he reflected, as the Autobots unleashed an awesome battery of firepower, "SO MUCH FOR SUBTLETY!"

'THE ARMORY --'

Deep within the bowels of the ship, the bomb planted by Swoop went off. The explosion ripped out the port side and jettisoned many Decepticons into the harsh void.
On the bridge, a clone reported, "Sir -- massive hull breach! Primary and secondary weapons systems off-line. Main engineering is not responding. Power levels dropping. We're losing speed..."
Another supplemented, "Security reports unscheduled launch from cargo dock number two, sir. It's the captured Autobot shuttle."
Jhiaxus mused to himself, "So. The choice is made. What is that, I wonder? Fleeing from reality?"
The first clone continued, "Sir. Auxiliary weapons are powered up and ready. Awaiting your orders..."
"Hold your fire... the matter is in hand." The leader's settled into a cruelly self-satisfied, leer. "One of the pursuit craft I saw fit to launch earlier will track them back to their nest -- AND THEN I WILL DESTROY THEM ALL!"

Prime sat slumped in his chair, his mind in turmoil as he contemplated the new situation facing them. "(The war we thought over goes on. Only now our task seems boundless, endless! I am troubled, and not simply by the sheer enormity of the problem. My eyes have been opened, the scale of the threat revealed. And yet still the visions of dark apocalypse persist. Something else waits for us.)" The Autobot leader cradled his face in his hands, "(Something far worse that the Decepticons.)"