Optimus Primal's History
Optimus Primal was once a member of the Maximal Security Forces but was removed from his post and eventually promoted to become captain of the Axalon, a job he bemoaned as meant to keep him in line with its monotony. En route to H'nkshanaar-4 to "deliver scientific experiments", the crew of the Axalon were ordered by Ironhide to pursue a band of Predacons who stole an artifact and a transwarp-capable ship. Elated by the prospect of some adventure, Optimus Primal and his crew followed the other ship into a transwarp portal, ending up in orbit of a mysterious planet. The following battle caused both ships to fall to the planet, disabling both crews. The computer of the Axalon detected dangerous levels of energon radiation and outfitted the comatose Maximals with new techno-organic beast modes. Primal awoke to the form of a native gorilla.
As repairs progressed, Primal received a status report from Nyx before he sent her out to do an aerial recon of the land. When Cheetor groused that Primal had just cost him tiny servos that could fit into access panels, Primal told him to go ask Rattrap. When night fell and Nyx did not return, Primal ordered Cheetor to stay on the ship when the younger Maximal suggested they organize a search effort. When Nyx was still overdue to return, Primal repurposed a data collection shell to connect with the orbiting stasis pods to expand their search radius and find Nyx. When the reworked array came online, Primal cursed himself for not ordering rescue sooner when he saw how slow Nyx was moving. When Nyx approached the Axalon, Primal led his crew outside to keep watch, being greeted by the Predacon Dinobot carrying the prone pilot and formally requesting to defect to the Maximals.
After Dinobot had been locked in a holding area for malfunctioning protoforms, Optimus briefly interrogated him before a repaired Nyx asked to speak to the prisoner. Soon afterwards, the rest of the Predacons marched on the Axalon, whose defenses had yet to be repaired. Ordering Rattrap to stay behind and repair them, Optimus led his crew into battle, facing off against Megatron. As the battle continued, Megatron steadily began to overpower Primal, and attempted to crush him with his beast mode head only for Optimus to break the hold, being saved from a blast when Nyx threw Terrorsaur into its path. As Optimus and Dinobot prepared to take on Megatron together, Rattrap finished repairs on the defenses, the force field coming online and ejecting all Predacons from the perimeter, including Dinobot. When the Predacons began beating the turncoat to death, Primal fired the point defense cannons to scare them off.
Days later, Optimus confessed to Rhinox some of his doubts about his leadership capabilities only for his friend to warm him against second-guessing himself before a wounded, but operational, Dinobot thanked Optimus for the repairs and announced his intent to leave the Maximals. Seeing potential in the defector, Primal reminded him of the heritage of the Dinobots and invited him to stay.
Confident that the ship's fully operational force fields would keep the Predacons out and allow the Maximals to dictate the terms of conflict until a transwarp beacon could be constructed, Primal spared with Dinobot in the gymnasium to get a feel of the Predacon's fighting style and how he was healing. That evening, the Maximals engaged in card game while Dinobot described the Predacon ranks. When Cheetor had a weird feeling, he went off to poke around the ship, later shooting off a garbled message to Primal. When Cheetor didn't answer Primal's hails, the Maximals raced to his location, finding him bound by webbing. Recalling that Tarantulas had broken into the Lab during the battle, Rattrap noted that the intruder was likely a corrupted protoform. Though Primal ordered the ship placed on lockdown, Blackarachnia managed to escape the Axalon while having managed to corrupt 51% of the stasis pods while calling all of them down. Cursing himself for his complacency and overcautious attitude, Primal ordered the Maximals to prepare for an attack on the Darksyde. As the Maximals prepared for battle, Skold appeared outside the Axalon, bringing them the wounded Razorbeast. After confirming Skold's intentions, Primal brought the Maximal into the ship for medical care.
After Dinobot explained the origins of the Golden Disk, Primal led his crew to a retrofitted escape shuttle. While in flight, Primal designated Nyx and Rattrap to destroy the Darksyde's transwarp drive and steal the Golden Disk respectively while the rest of them would engage the Predacons in battle, ordering Razorbeast to try and talk down Skold. After Dinobot announced their arrival via a missile barrage, Primal landed on the battlefield. With Megatron absent from the battlefield, Primal first fought Waspinator before he fought Skold whereupon Razorbeast intervened, trying to talk down his friend only for Terrorsaur to swoop in and kill the red Maximal. Noticing Megatron about to kill Dinobot, Optimus lunged at the Predacon leader. As Optimus kept Megatron's attention, he was informed by Nyx that Rattrap was trapped behind an impregnable door. Impaling Megatron's beast mode head, Optimus managed to disable the Predacon long enough to rescue his comrade only to be caught unawares by a security force field. Confronted by Megatron, Primal demanded to be released, offering the safe return of the Golden Disk. If not released, he bluffed to destroy the Disk, highlighting that the disabled Darksyde and the booby-trapped Axalon would make the Predacons unable to steal another version of it. After a furious Megatron agreed, Primal revealed to the bluff to his crew while Megatron swore to claim Primal's spark.
Following a battle at a field of energon crystals, Cheetor remained unresponsive in the medical bay despite his perfect health and overactive processor. When Cheetor awoke, he warned Primal of the Vok before an outside force triggered a hard reboot on Cheetor that left him with no memory of the Vok.
When installing new sensors, Optimus and Dinobot were attacked by Tarantulas and Blackarachnia who infected Primal with a hyper-aggression virus. After a loaded suggestion from Dinobot, Primal broke out of the Axalon and made his way to the Darksyde. As he leapt through the jungle, Primal was ambushed by Polar Claw whose superior strength easily overpowered Primal's blind rage.
Awakening face-to-face with Megatron, Primal leapt at his foe only to bounce off a force field, the backlash burning the virus from his system. As Primal tested out the strength of the field and grilled Megatron for information, their captors made themselves known. Introducing themselves as the "Children of the Vok", the five wayward protoforms informed the two captains that the Vok had grown tired of Cybertronian interference on the planet. As a defiant Megatron raged, Primal observed the field block the discharge of his weapon but not the dust and their captors reverting to beast mode to exit the cave. Gambling that the force fields were only designed to work on robot modes, Primal proved his theory and offered Megatron an alliance to survive. No sooner had the two exited the cave did the Children attack again, Optimus engaging Tigatron and Airazor in battle. After Megatron had killed Polar Claw and Saberback, the Vok finally arrived, Pakak using Polar Claw's corpse as a medium. As Optimus spoke to the alien, Megatron blasted the corpse, prompting the trio of angered Vok to show their true forms and begin killing the Predacon leader. Coming to his foe's defence, Primal offered the Vok the chance for a new experiment: seeing how the Maximals and Predacons would work together when confronted with a larger threat. Agreeing, the Vok gave the Cybertronians seven unobserved cycles to prepare.
Upon being returned to their ships, Primal and Megatron agreed to an officer exchange to better develop strategies. Optimus deposited Rhinox and Dinobot at the Darksyde and brought Waspinator, Skold and Blackarachnia to the Axalon, outfitting them with restraining bolts. Optimus was later summoned by Skold and Nyx who theorized that the Vok, based on earlier readings that matched the energy clinging to Primal, were from unspace. Cheetor then entered, warning that the Darksyde was under attack. Leaving Rattrap and Waspinator behind to complete the repairs, Primal led the others to the Darksyde, finding it under attack by the totality of the Children of the Vok. Optimus engaged Tigatron once again, having another philosophical discussion as they fought before the Vok arrived. Deciding that Cybertronians were too disruptive, the Vok immobilized all as they prepared to fire their reversion device only to be fired on by the Axalon, now firing unspace blasts that dissipated the alien entirely. After Optimus failed to convince Tigatron to join them, Megatron lunged at the Maximal leader only to be struck by the unspace beam, sending him forward in time. In the aftermath, Optimus offered to extend the truce with the Predacons, promising to put in a good word for them if they helped capture Tarantulas and Megatron only for the Predacons to refuse. Wearily, Optimus led his crew back into the Axalon, though warning Blackarachnia that the Maximals would not be so understanding when next they met.
