Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, copyright Hasbro, Seibertron's Heavy Metal War game, or War For Cybertron, just the characters that I created for my own usage on said games. I'm not making any money off of them, I just play the games for fun. The idea of using gravimetric technology to pull an exploded planet back together actually comes from "ExoSquad", so I'll add that to the list of intellectual properties being disclaimed while I'm at it.

-o0O0o-

"Dramatis Personae"
'Reconstitution'
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

Martian Flagship Exodite
Martian Debris Field, formerly planet Mars, Sol system
A.D. 2012, human Gregorian calendar

Stormmaster paced the bridge, silent anger boiling under the surface, until he paused to look out the front viewport of the Exodite's bridge at the Debris Field that had been the world he and his brethren called home, "Damned Micron best hope Fortress and his Autobots find him before we do..."

"He's in a mood," Soundcaster muttered.

"Wouldn't you be?" Athena answered back softly, "Even if we left Cybertron, it was still the homeworld - now Zarak's caused the destruction of both our homes, Cybertron and Mars; I'm surprised he's letting the Autobots be the ones to face him."

Stormmaster, though, had heard them, "I've changed since we left Cybertron. I'll destroy him later, right now, rebuilding takes priority."

'The sad thing is,' Athena thought to herself, 'He really has gotten better control since the Sundering. Before then... no, even before Darkmount, he would have destroyed Zarak, the rest of the Battlefleet, and five surrounding star systems just to make sure he hadn't missed anyone.'

Stormmaster, in the meanwhile, had turned to the mech standing at one of the nearby science consoles, "You're certain this will work, Uplink?"

"Certain, no... But I believe it has a high probability of success, Commander."

Had he been human, Stormmaster would have sighed as he stopped pacing and spoke without turning, "And the probability of failure?"

"At worst, a gravimetric inversion that will propel the remnants apart to the point where nothing will be able to be done to restore the planet... but most likely, if it fails, it will simply be a case of nothing happening," the former warehouse worker-turned-scientist answered.

Across the Exodite's bridge at the communications station, Soundcaster turned and looked at Uplink carefully, "You're certain about your figures?"

"Do you want me to take you through the entire set of calculations?"

"Not really," Stormmaster shook his head before raising his gaze to the main viewer that was showing the Martian Debris Field and the projected effects of Uplink's plan on it.

"Depends, is this like back on Triplex III when your science division's first calculations were off by seventeen percent and there was actually a greater chance of us all dying in a supernova than you first thought?" Soundcaster countered.

"Thirty-two... point seven," Uplink answered, "I even had Hardwire and Perceptor both double-check it just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Thirty-two point seven per cent chance of nothing happening, Seven point three per cent chance of catastrophic failure... and an even sixty per cent chance of success.

"Sixty per cent is a high probability of success?" Soundcaster shook his head, "I find that... insulting."

"Don't take it so personally, it's strictly a matter of mathematics," Uplink responded.

"It's a matter of our world," Soundcaster countered.

"Mars is one of our worlds, correct," Uplink looked at the other Exodite Decepticon, "As are Masterstar, Sydnea, Triplex-III and, if one so choses to involve the Battlefleet in the equation, Charr, just to name four."

"And none of those are our home," Soundcaster countered, then turned a nervous look towards Bodge-Job, "No offense."

The green-armored Maintenance Engineer shook his head, "I am as much a Martian as I am Triplexian, perhaps more. It is my home too."

"Mars is destroyed now," Athena interjected, "What do we really lose if Uplink's plan fails? Nothing... but we have everything to gain."

"We thought that thousands of vorns ago, too," Soundcaster remarked almost petulantly, "and we learned just how much we really had to lose back then..."

"There was a third party factor in the equation to contend with then; us, the population of Cybertron and the High Council itself and its forces. Now, it's just the Debris Field and our hope that the plan to create an artifical gravity field and pull it back together into a planet works."

"There is a saying among certain humans," Stormmaster spoke up, "They say 'hope is the first step on the road to disappointment'. Tell me, all of you, how disappointed will we be if this fails?"

"We're not humans," Athena reminded him, "Hope might lead them to disappointment, but disappointment, failure, defeat... those are merely reasons for us to adapt and try again. We are Cybertronian, our people drove off the Quintessons; despite the mistakes that were made, the corruption of the High Council and the Caste system are no more; we've faced Unicron and Cybertron lived, even with what came later from Zarak's treachery... if it fails, we may be disappointed, but we'll find another way... and if it fails, we'll find another, and another, until we find one that works."

Soundcaster chuckled, "Why do I get the feeling that the two of you have been practicing this?"

Stormmaster's shoulders slumped slightly, "What gave it away?"

"Her speech," Soundcaster pointed at Athena, "It sounded more like something you'd say. She does straight and to the point, you're the one with the habit of speeches. But I give the speech an eight-point-five out of ten anyway."

"Standing by, Commander," Uplink added with a faint look of approval.

"Well, then... all hands to operational positions. Prepare for first attempt at planetary restoration," Stormmaster ordered.

"Here goes.." Soundcaster cycled air through his cooling systems, "Everything."

-o0o-

Even in his past on Cybertron, before joining the Decepticons in the fight against the High Council, Uplink had been skilled with gravimetric manipulation; he had been equipped with a pair of gravimetric projectors that he had used to load or unload large cargos from his flatbed transport alternate mode or otherwise move objects around the warehouse where he had worked. It had actually been trying to make them more efficent, constantly tweaking hardware and software both, that had started him on the path towards being the part-medic/part-digital warfare operator that he had become over the course of the war.

Now he was about to attempt what would perhaps be the greatest feat of gravimetric manipulation in the recorded history of the known galaxies; not simply moving crates or restraining enemy combatants or even repelling asteroids and other space debris. There had been incidents where rogue satellites were moved into orbit around planets or into their Lagrange Points so that they would be held by the planet's gravity; as well as incidents of asteroids and similar objects being brought together and connected to form clusters for use as space stations or colonies. If the sixty per cent chance of success held out, though, this would be the first known instance of creating an artifical source of gravity resulting in the creation - or recreation, to be precise - of a planetary body; the intent was to create a small gravity well to hold them as he used gravimetric projection - amplified by the Exodite's own systems - to move the larger pieces of Mars back together. They would have to worry about the smaller pieces and the gaps their lack might leave in the planet later, while trying to find some way to restore the planet's core, but it held the potential of reforming the outer layers of Mars.

The idea was exciting and terrifying both. Like all 'Marti-cons', as some more waggish beings had dubbed them, he had been horrified by the planet's destruction. The chance of possibly undoing Zarak's deed was exciting. It was the other side of the situation, the potential for misuse or even simply accidents, that made Uplink partially uncomfortable with what he was about to attempt. A wise human philosopher had once said 'With great power comes great responsibility'; the scientists of Mars had added their own addendum, that 'great power' also brought with it great risk, because they had learned over the vorns that no matter who creates a scientific advancement or for what reason, it would eventually end up in the possession of those who would use it as a weapon. The idea of weaponized gravity wells was a frightening one as if control was lost one could draw in anything in its vicinity, destroying or consuming and growing larger as it did. It might have seemed somewhat hypocritical for a being who used gravimetric manipulation as a tool and a weapon to have such an opinion, but Uplink - despite what some thought of him - did know that there was a point where common sense had to take precedence over scientific, technological or military advancement. Gravity as a weapon easily reached that point. Even humanity had realised that, albeit in the form of an entertainment program, but they realised it.

It would have been fair for any outsider to ask if rebuilding Mars from its largest fragments would be worth the threats that could eventually develop from the technology, but none of the former residents of Valles Marineris were of a mind to do so. From the Commander himself to the smallest Micromaster, they were all willing to pay the consequences to see the red planet restored for one simple reason; no matter where they had been created - Iacon, Polyhex, or anywhere in between - all of them had called Mars 'home'. And if all went as desired, they all would again.

Closing his air vents to prevent the vacuum from damaging any internal systems, Uplink cycled the airlock and stepped out onto the hull of the Exodite, after walking for several dozen meters, he transformed into his tertiary communications relay mode and extended the connections to the ship's own systems. It wasn't the first time he had linked up - and considering his name, he'd gotten used to remarks over the concept - to the Exodite or, before Mars' destruction, to Valles Marineris itself's systems; in those cases, however, it had been to boost his communications range or clarity, never before his gravimetrics. It would be a new experience.

With no optics, there was no way to see it, but through his sensors he could feel himself extending his presence throughout the ship, turning it into a massive gravimetric focus as he began to project that power outwards into space...

-o0o-

Gravity was an interesting thing; it couldn't be seen, only experienced. One knew it existed only by its effects, making it - as much as many scientifically minded beings hated the application of the term - a matter of faith in its own way; faith in universal laws and universal constants. Humans had an saying regarding faith, one that the Martians had learned over the years, they said that faith was the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. It was something even more when it was combined with love. Love didn't have to be for another sentient being; it could be love for an ideal or love for a place. Faith and love, they could hold things together when every logical reason, every visible force in the universe said they should be falling apart. They were a power all their own, one that surpassed understanding. That power, faith in gravity and love of an adopted world, was beginning to have an effect as all of those gathered on the Exodite watched. They couldn't see the actual gravity working, but the effect of the planet coming back together was as clear to see as the explosion that had blasted it apart, if infinitely slower. It took hours to be visible, days to be notable, and weeks before enough of 'The Red Planet' had been restored to be considered safe to land on once more; months would pass before recolonisation could begin, but eventually the Martians would return home...