More Machine.. than Man

“It wasn’t a long time ago, as time really didn’t have any meaning, and it wasn’t a galaxy far far away as space itself also had no meaning,” intoned the mechanical voice of Huyang the droid professor of the enigmatic Jedi. “This was a place known as the World Between Worlds and within we find three figures, dark and mysterious, in pitch battle. Each wielding a long blade of red light, powerful and full of energy. With each blade swung, the energy involved would make a swooshing noise as if the very molecules of the air were being cut in two, whilst when a blade clashed upon one of the two other red blades, a mighty ‘clack’ would resonate.”

Professor Huyang was many things to the Jedi, but one of them was a simple historian. His knowledge and tales of Jedi history were well known. His audience, a varied group of droids, listened intently as he took his turn to tell a story. All the droids present had stories to tell and occasionally they would meet to pass on those stories. Huyang looked around and although mechanical forms and faces looked back to him, he could tell he had their attention. A blue and white R2 astromech, a similar red and white R5 astromech variant. An older dilapidated C1 unit, a far more modern double spherical BB unit. Either side of Huyang there was an older box like B2 droid and a tall golden protocol droid.

Huyang took his pause, then continued his tale as various optical receptors twitched or opened wider;

“The three forms circled each other, cautiously testing the other’s experience. Then, once confident they had determined their position, they would strike, waving their red blade wildly, whilst the other two figures parried. Although three individual forms, they had a similar appearance. In fact, arguably they had the same appearance, being the same person but from various points in their own timeline.

Darth Vader.”

There were a few coos and whistles from the astromech units, whilst the golden protocol droid simply said, “Oh my!”

Huyang continued, embellishing his tale;

“One Vader had his classic sinister form, the angular form of his helmet catching the red light from the three blades. A second, had the same outfit with a significant difference to the helmet, as the left hand side of the helmet was clearly damaged, revealing a human eye, red-ringed with evil intent. The human face of what was Anakin Skywalker, now transformed by the dark side of the mystical Force into the being known as Vader with the honorific Sith title of Darth. The third had no helmet, revealing the full human head of Vader; bald, badly scared and seemingly much aged compared to that visible in the opening cutout of the other one.

The three battled aggressively, though the two helmeted versions were more dynamic than the third that had his head revealed, with this version being older and more weary with age. As they battled and their bright red lightsabers clashed, with each clash the air around them stared to crackle with energies mysterious and unknown though highlighting the air like charged particles with miniature lightning strikes of red and white. From the shadows, a dark form appeared. A fourth Vader, though this time his body was more mechanical than the others. His helmet different, smaller, and proportioned with that robotic torso. His hand had three large black metallic fingers and in one of those hands a large lightsaber seemed to be held, not by the hand but some other form of connection. The body also had the occasional small cylindrical nodules on to which the letters ‘L-e-g-o’ were visible on the top of each. The other Vaders assumed this was a mechanical form that had been created by a droid company with an acronym that they had not prior heard of.

Curiously, as well as the large functional lightsaber protruding from the right hand, another smaller red lightsaber lit and glowing was attached to the robotic form’s back. This seemed to serve little purpose, especially as this robotic Vader threw his own laser sword into the middle of the battle creating an even larger crack and pulse of energy with each successive hit with the existing three.

From the corner of their field of visions, the three existing humanoid Vaders perceived yet another form beginning to appear through the mist of the electrically charged particles that surrounded them. This too was seemingly another Vader, recognisable by the iconic helmet though the form was much larger, at a least twice maybe three times the humanoid forms of themselves. It was also another robotic version though this Vader had far more mechanical sections than the fourth Vader that had joined. Two of the Vaders recognised elements of the new Vader’s form specifically in place of his cloak, what seemed to be a panel from a fighter starship. Or rather, the two soon noted, a panel from their <em>very own </em>customised Tie-Fighter. The side panels of their Tie-Figher being angled rather than flat per the traditional craft. Plus, whilst the right arm was carrying its own version of the lightsaber, the left arm was covered by a shield, made from the second panel of Vader’s Tie-Fighter. This Vader did indeed seem to be made from parts of their own starship.

As the new Vader approached, either by some optical illusion or some physical change the new Vader became smaller, more the size of the other Vaders. This allowed it to also join the lightsaber duel and as the additional fifth lightsaber was swung and clashed with the existing four others, an enormous crack of energy pulsed from the centre of the connecting blades. The energy pulse almost knocking each Vader off its feet, it radiated outwards and rapidly spread beyond the five figures pulling red electrical charges in its wake.”

Huyang paused again for effect, with the four droids of non-humanoid form beeping and whistling excitedly, whilst the fifth golden human form droid simply said, “Oh yes, I agree, and what next?”

—————-

Huyang looked at each droid slowly then began again with, “It was a strange looking ship in deep space that caught the attention of Jedi Anakin Skywalker. The ship seemed to have an appearance similar to a Sith Infiltrator with a long angled nose section and pointed side panels. Anakin noticed distinct differences from what he’d researched in the Jedi archives of the typical Sith Infiltrator form, with the side panels seemingly have a shape more akin to the recently launched V-wing fighters that the clone troopers were beginning to use in the war.

Yet, there was another element that was causing him some concern, resulting from checking his sensor reading on his fighter’s dashboard and he chose to discuss with his loyal astromech droid docked in a socket in front of his cockpit, the familiar blue and white of Artoo-Detoo.”

At this, the very same blue and white astromech droid shook himself from side to side emitting a long stream of varying beeps and whistles, interrupting Huyang. The golden droid, See-Threepio despite a mechanical expressionless face, seemed to have an air of confusion. “What do you mean ‘you remember’ ?” he remarked, “you never had a master in the Clone Wars!”

Artoo’s high-pitched beeps changed tone and additional noises emanated from his blue and silver spherical dome. Although still mechanical noises in nature, something about the tone suggested unpleasant comments. Threepio took a step back and raised his angled golden arms in a defence. “Your language is getting worse!” he retorted.

Huyang patiently looked at them both then returned to his story. “Anakin asked of Artoo, ‘Are you getting any life signals from this ship?’ Artoo beeped his response of negative. This concurred with the sensors of the ship and his own feelings by reaching out with the power of the Force, the ability that trained Jedi’s could utilise in harmony with the galaxy around them. Anakin was concerned, if this was a Sith vessel and possibly a newer form, the Sith inside could be hiding himself from the Force. That would be a worrying development indeed. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ he added.”

The red astromech, Arfive-Defour took this moment to interrupt and add his own comments. Artoo sounded a few beeps in response and Arfive responded with a single sound. Threepio translated for himself that Arfive had challenged how Huyang knew what Anakin said, to which Artoo responded that it was all true. Arfive noting his acceptance of the response with an “oh!”

“Anakin’s concerns seemed confirmed when, as they approached in their yellow Jedi Starfighter, the other ship suddenly came active and launched into hyperspace.

Anakin asked of Artoo if he could track it, to which Artoo responded he’d noted the trajectory the ship entered hyperspace and could calculate possible destinations on route. ‘It will have to do. Let’s get the docking ring and head after’.

The Jedi manoeuvred around to fly into the circular metallic section of the ship, hosting two large engines that would allow them to similarly enter into hyperspace with the small fighter craft.

No sooner had they entered hyperspace, than Artoo started to speak out with numerous urgent sounding whistles. Anakin checked his panel for the translation. ‘What kind of substance phenomenon?’ he queried the droid. Artoo’s responses having an air of defeat and uncertainty. ‘Never seen anything like it? And going to hit us whilst we’re mid-hyperspace? Artoo cut the engin-’ but Anakin never got to finish his sentence. At that moment, an energy wave pulling charged particles sending out enormous strikes of red lightning engulfed the small yellow craft.”

Around Huyang, there was stunned silence.

—————

“Anakin awoke to find himself lying down on some strange metallic surface, with multiple complex mechanical components embedded within it. It was not something that he recognised. Around him it was dark and in the distance he could hear a faint beeping, screeching noise. He looked to himself and noticed parts of the yellow Jedi starship all over him. He must have crashed, Anakin thought, with the ship being destroyed and he was trapped by the wreckage. Strangely he didn’t see signs of damage in the ship nor any signs of fires or smoke that he would expect with a crash.

He tried to use the Force to move the sections of the ship off his legs. But nothing happened. He tried reaching out within the Force, but he had no sensation of connection. The Force wasn’t there. Instead, his head was filled with computer data signals, coding and numerical messaging. He must be injured and hallucinating he thought.

He looked to his hands and started to puzzle. His hands had been mechanical ever since they were cut off by the traitor Count Dooku. But the mechanical fingers he now saw were larger, far more mechanical than the thin skeletal forms he’d been given by the medical droid which he covered had with black gloves. There were no gloves here. Plus his arms also seemed to be mechanical, quite boxy and not the usual flesh and bone he would expect. He would also expect, being crushed by his ship, to be in pain. But he felt nothing. Nothing except- cold and metallic?

He tried again to move his legs and noticed the sections of the ship moving with them. But not dislodged because of moving his legs, but more like the sections moving with his legs. Then a sudden realisation- he’s not under the ship, he is the ship! He’s a droid created from parts of his ship. Anakin cried out, ‘Noooo!’ in anguish and horror. He started hearing a voice echoing around him from outside of time and space saying, ‘More machine now, than man…’ over and over. He tried to recognise the voice as it seemed familiar and struggled to hear the rest of the sentence, but it was too faint.

Through the darkness he sensed a figure approaching. But this wasn’t the heightened senses as he was used to with the Force, this was more like his ship’s proximity sensors sending a message. A tall figure appeared, large and mechanical, a huge complex droid unlike any he’d seen before. And Anakin knew his droids! This one was different, firm in structure and he started to notice that this droid had elements of the ship he had been following. His chest-plate contained a section he’d seen on the top of the Sith Infiltrator. The distinct side-panels now neatly folded behind the droid’s back. Like himself, this droid seemed to be made from a ship. The figure approached.

‘Hello there! Anakin Skywalker.’

Anakin was able to find his voice, a metallic computerised version of his normal voice, ‘Who - who are you? What are you? Where even am I?’

The figure raised his arms in an effort to calm Anakin. ‘My name is Vector Prime. I am the guardian of the Multiverse for my people, my race. To answer your question, you are on the planet Cybertron, home to the beings known as the Transformers. Mechanical life forms with a great deal of sentience and a unique ability to camouflage ourselves into various objects such as spaceships. You, Anakin, have become a Transformer.’

Whatever classed now as Anakin’s mind was racing. This was a lot of information to comprehend and accept. Vector Prime’s voice reminded him of that of his old friend and mentor Qui-Gon Jinn which he found a little reassuring. He knew of Vulture droids and how they had an ability that allowed them to walk around on a surface, whilst folding upon themselves to fly. Though they never seemed this complex and he never thought of them as having such a level of sentience.

After a while, ‘How did this happen?’ was all Anakin could manage to say.

‘I believe the element you call The Force from your galaxy, your universe has interacted with the mystical elements in our universe we call The Creation Matrix. From that, you seem to have been created- or born, if you wish.’

‘You mean I have been converted into, this- this robotic form?!?’ Anakin spat with angst. ‘I was human, flesh and blood! I was a Jedi!’ he continued with great emphasis on the Jedi role he now felt was lost.

‘And you still are- from a certain point of view. You are an echo, Anakin, like a shattered fragment of an image of the original carbon-based life form. The carbon-based Anakin still exists back in your universe.’ With that, Vector Prime projected an image from the blue dome on his chest plate showing the aftermath of human Anakin’s flight through hyperspace and the interaction with the spatial anomaly. Despite the turbulence of being forcefully knocked out of hyperspace, plus the frustration of losing the mysterious Sith Infiltrator, the human Anakin seemed perfectly fine.

Anakin took some comfort from the fact that he, the original he, existed. He turned his attention back to this new world, this new universe and new form he now inherited. Vector Prime held out his hand and helped Anakin to his robotic feet. Anakin was a little unstable at first, adapting to the full form of his Transformer torso and his hand casually brushed a small metallic cylinder magnetically attached to his right thigh. He recognised it immediately and took it into his hand, sliding an activation mechanism and marvelling as a familiar blue blade of pure energy appeared. A lightsaber. His lightsaber! As he looked, he noticed a second lightsaber attached to his left thigh and activated that.

‘Your weapon of choice transitioned as well and are as part of you as they are part of your starship when you are in that mode’. Anakin nodded even if he didn’t quite understand yet what they truly meant. ‘Sadly we don’t have time to discuss this further. More personas from your universe were hit by the spatial anamoly. Many have transitioned to our universe becoming Transformers just like yourself. I will need your help to determine friends from foe. There are others on our world who will also be searching and looking to recruit them to their cause. The Transformers race has a devastating war that has lasted for many thousands of years. The malevolent faction, the Decepticons, are cunning and would do anything to recruit new beings to their cause. We must be cautious. And to hurry, we need to ensure we get your friends to connect with my own. It is time for you to meet the honourable Autobots.’

Anakin set out to follow Vector Prime. Suddenly a new thought in his head caused him to pause on the spot. He reached out and grabbed Vector Prime by the shoulder. ‘Wait! What happened to Artoo?’

‘Your robot companion? You are of robotic form now. Your companion already was. Your essences have combined. He is with you. You speak his language now. You just need to listen.’

Anakin concentrated on his inner thoughts, using his older Jedi techniques in an attempt to quieten his new mind. The beeping, screeching noise in the distance got louder, more distinct. He could focus on it better. And recognised it- the familiar beeps of Artoo shared his head, then subtly changed to become a voice he could understand. A voice, very aggrieved shouting, ‘What the hell just happened?!?’ ”

Back in the room with Huyang, Artoo started to emit a sound, like a mechanical giggle. See-Threepio looked from Artoo to Huyang and back, then shrugging his shoulders and wobbling his head he blurted out, “Oh this is ridiculous! A race of sentient droids that can change into spaceships? I have never heard such nonsense. Huyang, I believed you were telling us a tale from the Jedi archives, not this made up rubbish. Come on Artoo, we’re going!” and turned to leave.

Artoo gave his mechanical giggle sound once more then followed it with a low pitched “oooooo” noise before extending his third leg, transitioning to his rolling mode, spinning one-hundred and eighty degrees and following his golden friend.

Huyang patiently watched them go then looked to the three remaining droids. “The Epilogue,” he added.

————

Artoo was happy to be back in his old familiar astromech socket in the white snub X-wing fighter of his master. It had been some time since they’d travelled together. Being stuck on the planet of Ossus whilst his master built a Jedi temple wasn’t overly interesting. Admittedly his master wasn’t really the one doing the building as this was tasked to numerous droids that Artoo was asked to keep a sensor on. Here, though, in his socket on the X-wing, this was Artoo’s demain. He felt back in control, a key component once again.

They’d received a message from their old friend Ahsoka and Master Luke had immediately grabbed his X-wing flight-suit and instructed Artoo to prepare the X-wing. Which was no mean feat as the ship hadn’t been used for some time and had become covered by the planet’s local vegetation. Artoo had been really keen to tell Master Luke all his old stories he knew of Ahsoka. She was Artoo’s friend long before being Luke’s. But without a translator droid it was extremely difficult to relay. Plus Master Luke was not proficient in Artoo’s binary language even if he’d developed awareness of some words and phrases over the years they’d been together. Which was frustrating to Artoo being stuck on the planet with him.

Artoo happily monitored the ship’s computer and used his own sensors to scan the surrounding galaxy.

And then he saw it.

A signal he had seen before.

A signal identifying a mysterious spatial anomaly of highly charged particles.

Artoo beeped one of his infamous droid language profanities.

(Note: originally posted 4th May 2024).

This story actually started out not as one of my prequel stories at all, but planned solely as a picture. I had an idea in my head to do an image of the three different versions of Vader (normal, damaged mask, no mask) duelling and utilising the brilliant Black Series figures to do so. I thought the image would look quite dramatic (I think it does!). In parallel, I had an idea of another image for all the main line “nice” droids coming together. Somehow from this image an idea came of Huyang narrating a story, yet this was still nowhere near a Star Wars / Transformers crossover nor one of my prequels. Then, with the seed planted, the idea grew for a 4th May released prequel story and utilising the Darth Vader Transformer.

The Star Wars / Transformers crossovers range first came out many many years ago and for myself it was before I moved to Switzerland. I had to dig out of the attic my Darth Vader Transformer and thankfully he was still in relatively good condition even if the rubber of his helmet is starting to degrade and some parts starting plastic yellowing (which I managed to hide by darkening the image).

Despite loving the concept of the crossover, I was always frustrated that there was no supporting media release (comics, books or cartoons) and thus no real backstory as to why Star Wars characters now became Transformers, so I invented my own. Recently I’ve seen some backstory text on the final wave of the SW/TF crossovers but by that time I’d already come up with my own (which I think is better anyway!).

Of course, this is a prequel to my planned “The Alternates” storyline and the tenuous link here is the introduction of Vector Prime, a character that will be key in “The Alternates” due to his multiverse abilities across time and space- which I thought had been grossly underused until the recent official reveal of Transformers Generations Legacy United version of Vector Prime and supporting blurb doing exactly that! However, it does mean Vector Prime is currently in focus and I note those commenting upon his proposed new toy version, versus his original. I would agree that his original was just one of the most brilliant Transformer toys when first released and this story is deliberately using a specific redeco of the original if lacking some of its functionality. It’s still a better toy than what looks to be coming this year, sadly.

Rumours too of a new Star Wars / Transformers collaboration soon, so will be interested to see what that may bring.

The Lego Star Wars Darth Vader is a late addition with a kiss to my wife whom got me this as a gift for Valentine’s Day and I decided it had to be included. Especially due to his “mech” nature that I thought was a nice red-herring prior Transformers Darth to be revealed.

I’ve seen today a new proposed Star Wars Lego release of a “mech” Luke Skywalker, utilising his X-wing fighter to form his “mech” suit; dove-tailing very well with the epilogue!

Having completed this tale, I’ve completed my New Year plan of prequels each month at least until May and now I may take a pause (no pun intended). I still have a few prequels in mind- one being the first I wrote that is set during the autumn grapes harvest in the vineyards (so it’ll come a year late to my original plan!) plus a plan for Halloween (and Groundhog Day). I also had a larger more specific prequel planned, though the recent reveal of the trailer for the upcoming Transformer One film shows a storyline that may well overlap, so I may hold off on mine not to upset any industry folks.

That means I may focus instead on chapter one of the actually story! Set at Montreux Jazz Festival (for chapter one anyway), I’ll need to start working on this if I want to release over the summer.

My usual disclaimer: Transformers franchise is ownership of Hasbro / Takara Tomy. Additionally Star Wars is ownership of Lucasfilm and now Disney. This is purely a piece of fan fiction, for fun (and no profit). All text is my own, images my own though some backgrounds have been created using AI photo-creating technology (with my models photo-manipulated into the image).

Phew, that’s almost as big as the story itself! Until next time, whenever that will be- May the Fourth be with you!