Operation: Firestorm
From Transformers Wiki
Operation: Firestorm was the battle the Autobots, NEST, and the United States military waged against the Decepticons for possession of the Matrix of Leadership in 2009. The Decepticon objective was to seize the Matrix and activate the Star Harvester that the Dynasty of Primes had built thousands of years ago, while the Autobots and NEST sought to use the Matrix to resurrect Optimus Prime, the last of the Primes and the only one who could defeat The Fallen.
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Fiction
Revenge of the Fallen film
Thousands of years ago, the Dynasty of Primes came to Earth and tried to build a machine which would harvest Energon, a process which would destroy the star Earth orbited. When the Primes discovered that the planet was inhabited by the humans, the majority of the Primes decided to uphold their law regarding the sanctity of life and not proceed. One of the Primes, however, despised the humans as filthy insects and sought to activate the machine. A great battle took place, but the Dynasty eventually prevailed and stole the Matrix from their treacherous brother, giving their lives to seal in a tomb made of their own bodies. The rogue Prime was forever known as The Fallen, and his followers became known as the Decepticons.
In the present, Optimus Prime, the last descendant of the original Primes, gave his life to protect Sam Witwicky, who subconsciously knew where to find the Matrix from the AllSpark, from the clutches of Megatron, the Decepticon commander and disciple of The Fallen. Unable to find the boy on their own, the Decepticons made overt attacks in order to compel the humans to turn Sam over to them. In response, the United States government shut down NEST and ordered the Autobots with them detained. When Sam learned what he was carrying from Jetfire, a former Decepticon who had been sent to find the Matrix by The Fallen, he theorized that the Matrix might be able to resurrect Optimus. Setting out with his girlfriend Mikaela Banes, roommate Leo Spitz, former Sector Seven agent Seymour Simmons, and the Autobots Bumblebee, Skids and Mudflap, Sam managed to contact Major William Lennox of NEST and arrange for Optimus Prime's body to be brought to the Gulf of Aqaba, which held a clue to where the Matrix was hidden. Sam eventually managed to find the Tomb of the Primes in Petra, but the Matrix seemingly crumbled to dust. Sam continued his belief that the Matrix could still work and gathered up the dust, then headed out with his companions while NEST airdropped into the Gulf.
Unfortunately, Starscream was in Egypt following an earlier lead on Sam. Finding the convey, Starscream began strafing Bumblebee's group. Heading into a nearby quarry, Sam and Mikaela split off from the rest of the group, while Simmons and Leo took the Twins as a diversion. Before NEST could make contact with the Pentagon, Starscream released an electromagnetic pulse that disabled their communication, also noting Prime's body. Soundwave, watching events from orbit, quickly disabled all the other satellites above the region, convincing General Morshower to launch UCAVs over the region, while also contacting the governments of Egypt and Jordan to request an assist in confirming visuals.
As the Twins took Simmons and Leo to a quarry in Giza, it quickly became apparent that Starscream was no longer following them. As Simmons considered how to proceed, Megatron arrived and landed on the Great Pyramid of Giza. Starscream informed Megatron of the presence of Prime's body, and Megatron surmised the boy's intentions. As Starscream flew off, Megatron ordered the Decepticons to begin their assault. At his command, thirteen Decepticons landed in transition forms between the NEST landing site and the Pyramids, beginning a search for Sam. Major Lennox explained the situation to his colleagues, then ordered a group of volunteers to accompany Ironhide and Arcee up through a set of pillars to find Sam and get him to Optimus. At the quarry, the Constructicons arrived to form Devastator, who would not actually be joining the main group.
Making their way to NEST's position, Sam and Mikaela were forced to duck into an abandoned house as Starscream made a fly over. The two humans intended to wait until it was clear, but Starscream had detected their presence and led a group of Constructicons and Protoforms in search of Sam. it didn't go very well, to the point Starscream began shooting the ground in frustration. As Sam and Mikaela tried to wait out the Decepticons, an Insecticon entered the hut the two teens were hiding in. Sam destroyed the small Decepticon before he realized what it was, but not before it sent out a transmission. Starscream tore off the roof of the hut and tried to grab Sam, but his efforts brought down part of the wall, allowing the teens to escape. Scrapper nearly crushed the two teens with his flail, and Starscream tried the less subtle method of firing missiles at the humans, but they managed to evade the Decepticons. Before Starscream's group could proceed, Sideswipe and NEST soldiers opened fire on the Decepticons, preventing them from pursuing Sam. Ironhide's team then rolled out with Arcee providing escort.
Back the quarry, the presence of the Twins compelled Devastator to activate his Vortex Grinder and begin swallowing up everything in sight. Simmons was nearly swallowed, but was saved by Leo. Mudflap was less fortunate, and was swallowed whole, which seemed to stop Devastator. Simmons realized that the only safe place was underneath Devastator, and the group made their way to him. At that point, Mudflap, who had survived, burst out of Devastator's head. Mudflap then began a furious assault on Devastator, who was unable to return fire due to his target being on his head. Skids climbed up Devastator and fired a grapple to his brother, allowing Mudflap to reach him. Unfortunately, Mudflap then accidentally shot Skids in the face, sending the two Autobots to the ground below.
As Sam and Mikaela continued to make their way to Optimus Prime's body, Starscream saw them on an flyby. Deciding to use a less forceful method, Starscream ordered Rampage and Ravage to use their back up plan. Rampage forcibly ejected Ron and Judy Witwicky, who had been captured following the Decepticon attack on Paris. Rampage held the two humans at cannon point and made it clear he wanted Sam to turn over the Matrix to him. However, Bumblebee had made his way back to Sam's position, and Sam distracted Rampage long enough for Bumblebee to drop kick the Decepticon away from the Witwickys. Reacting quickly, Rampage began laying into the smaller Autobot, but Bumblebee was faster and managed to pin Rampage, trying to break his arm. Ravage then attempted to jump Bumblebee from behind, but Bumblebee managed to grab Ravage by the tail and tear out his spine! Focusing his attention back on Rampage, Bumblebee tore off Rampage's arms and overextended his neck, killing the Decepticon. Bumblebee then tried to escort the humans to NEST's position, but the heavy amount of fire forced Sam to order Bumblebee to take his parents away from the battlefield, as he continued with Mikaela.
Back at the village, the Decepticons had positioned themselves among the pillars, and were overpowering the Autobots and NEST soldiers protecting Prime's body. A pair of Jordanian helicopters made their way to the village, but one was shot down by Long Haul. The other made its way to the Great Pyramid, and was downed with a blast from Megatron's fusion cannon. The helicopter survived both the shot and the crash, and Leo and Simmons began removing the survivors from the copter. Simmons took a radio from one of the soldiers and began following Devastator. By this point, the UCAVs that the Pentagon had launched had reached the village, and General Morshower ordered pretty much every available asset to the area.
Meanwhile, Sam and Mikaela finally made contact with Ironhide's team, with Arcee informing Sam that Optimus was beyond the pillars. Before the group could leave, they were set upon by Starscream, a protoform, and another Decepticon. Arcee's pink and purple components were quickly downed while Ironhide and Arcee's blue component provided cover fire. Ironhide urged Sam to get to the pillars and reach Prime's body. At the Great Pyramid, Devastator began to scale the massive structure, and Simmons realized that the pyramid was built over the harvester the Decepticons sought to activate. Using his radio to contact the U.S.S. Stennis, he informed Captain Wilder of Devastator's presence and to relay a ready order for the crew of a destroyer carrying a rail gun.
At the village, the reinforcements finally made their way to NEST's position, and began unleashing their firepower on the Decepticons, downing several protoforms. Sergeant Epps was able to contact the Air Force fighters and bombers en route, with two B-1 bombers carrying heavy ordnance authorized to attack. The NEST soldiers of Ironhide's team relayed that they had made contact with Sam and pointed him in the right direction. Sam and Mikaela were able to make their way past the Decepticons, who were too busy returning cover fire to search for the humans. Unfortunately, Megatron also arrived, unleashing his considerable fire power on the humans. Major Lennox and Sergeant Epps managed to make their way to Sam and Mikaela, but were unable to run for Prime's body, as Mixmaster began using the ruins they were hiding in as cover to attack the tanks. As he continued his assault, Jetfire then arrived and sliced Mixmaster in half, then killed the Decepticon by crushing his torso. However, Jetfire in turn was attacked by Scorponok, fatally wounding the Seeker before having his head crushed.
At the pyramid, Devastator had managed to expose the harvester by the time U.S.S. Kidd was in position to fire. Simmons relayed target coordinates to the Kidd, which fired the rail gun, blowing Devastator apart. At the village, the Air Force contingent was almost ready to launch their first strike. Unfortunately, Sergeant Epps did not toss very well, with the orange smoke canister mere feet from the humans. As everyone ran for cover, the F-16s launched their strike, hitting a few protoforms and Long Haul. Ironhide soon ran out of the smoke, heavily damaged and ejecting one of his cannons. Once the B-1s arrived, they dropped their 2000 pound JDAMs on the Decepticon position, eliminating Scrapper and the last of the protoforms. As this was going on, Sam made a mad dash from Prime's body, only for Megatron to emerge from the smoke and fire his fusion cannon at Sam's feet. The boy was caught in the blast and thrown through the air, landing near Prime's body. Megatron then continued firing on the heavy weaponry, but with him being the only apparent survivor, they turned all their weaponry on him. Under constant fire and brought to his knees, Megatron was forced to retreat.
As medics made their way to Sam, it appeared as if the boy was dead. In truth, he was in another plane of existence, where he encountered the Dynasty of Primes. They told him that he had been destined to discover the Matrix, but it could not be merely found, instead earned. Sam's courage and sacrifice in his fight to help Optimus made him worthy of the Matrix, and they returned him to life, restoring the Matrix in the process. Filled with new life and resolve, Sam made his way to the shell before him and drove the Matrix into the empty spark chamber. The plan worked, and Optimus Prime was reborn.
Just then, The Fallen teleported in using a space bridge, knocking the Autobots to the ground and killing a few humans before he stole the Matrix. Heading to the machine, The Fallen placed the Matrix into its slot and activated the star harvester, declaring revenge was finally his. The humans launched a volley of missiles from their heavy weapons, only for The Fallen to raise it with his telekinetic powers and drop it above the pyramid. Optimus tried to stand, but was still injured from his previous fight with Megatron. Seeing this, Jetfire offered his parts to Optimus, then killed himself by ripping out his spark core. Ratchet then ordered Jolt to use his electric whips to begin transplanting Jetfire's afterburners and weapons onto Optimus. Once it was complete, Optimus was left with a powered-up form, and flew off for the pyramid.
As F-22s tried to make a bombing run against the machine, The Fallen raised some of the rocks Devastator had smashed aside to block their line of fire. One of the fighters was unable to move out of the way and impacted on a rock, exploding. Fortunately, Optimus Prime was able to fly through the rocks, knock the Fallen and Megatron off the pyramid, and fire a rocket at the machine's spire, causing the star harvester to explode. Once they reached the ground below, Optimus and The Fallen fought each other, though it quickly became apparent that Optimus was strong enough to face The Fallen. Megatron quickly came to the aid of his master, and Optimus crashed the group through some ruins, before Megatron dragged him away from The Fallen. Megatron then began to lay onto Optimus, only for Prime to break off his sword and force Megatron to eat a blast from his own fusion cannon. Damaged, Megatron tried to counterattack, but Optimus used his Energon sword to slice off Megatron's fusion cannon, then used his afterburners to send the Decepticon flying through some ruins. Badly damaged, Megatron could barely call for Starscream.
With Megatron dispatched, The Fallen and Optimus Prime re-engaged. Optimus briefly pinned The Fallen against a wall, slicing off his chin and a few of his fingers with his sword. Infuriated, The Fallen counterattacked Optimus, managing to tear off his sword and one of his rocket thrusters, using them to strike Prime in the face. However, Optimus soon grabbed The Fallen's spear and impaled him with it, then used it to tear off his face plate. As The Fallen tried to flee, Optimus Prime punched through his abdomen and crushed his spark core, finally killing The Fallen. Though horrified by the loss of his master, Megatron still looked as if he was ready to continue, until Starscream pointed out that cowards sometimes survive. Injured and unable to continue the fight, Megatron acknowledged Starscream's advice but vowed that the war would continue.
With the Fallen dead and the star harvester destroyed, NEST and the Autobots had won. Optimus reunited with them, and the group then made their way home aboard the Stennis. Following a return to the states, Sam resumed his time at college, while Optimus Prime sent a message into space detailing past events, further proclaiming that Humanity and the Autobots would face the unknown future together, as their ancestors did once before. Revenge of the Fallen
IDW movie comics
Unknown to both sides, the body of Ravage was recovered by the mysterious group known as the Initiative, who used it in their own plans to acquire energy to power their own "infant". Tales of the Fallen #5 The Autobots and Soundwave did not discover this until February of 2010. By this point, Megatron was still not combat ready. Nefarious #1
Notes
- The events of Operation: Firestorm proceeded differently in the novelization and comic adaptation based on earlier scripts. Those differences include:
- Megatron joined Starscream in strafing Bumblebee's group, but in his interstellar jet mode.
- Ironhide and Arcee never took a team to look for Sam, instead staying with the main NEST/Autobot group during the entire battle.
- Instead of shutting down the satellites above Egypt, Soundwave transmitted doctored video to the Pentagon.
- Simmons contacted Captain Wilder before the UAV transmitted information of the battle to the Pentagon. Additionally, Wilder was Captain of the Roosevelt, and the rail gun was located on the Zumwalt.
- Jordan and Egypt provided additional military support to the United States once it was confirmed that the Decepticons were attacking.
- Devastator was destroyed just before Optimus made his initial attack on the harvester.
- Megatron and Starscream abandoned the Fallen to his death when Optimus exposed the lie in The Fallen's promise to make Megatron a Prime, as Primes were born, not made.
- Optimus recovered the Matrix.
