Axalon (BW)

The Axalon is a Maximal exploration vessel whose mission was to explore and survey uninhabited worlds, seeding them with stasis pods so that those Transformers within could adopt the appearance of local lifeforms and conduct research undisturbed. However, it was called upon to intercept and pursue a stolen Predacon starship, and was subsequently never heard from again by its superiors.

Beast Wars cartoon
When Megatron's band of Predacon criminals stole the Golden Disk and escaped in their ship, the Maximal science vessel Axalon was the only vessel close enough with the Transwarp engines needed to pursue him.

The crew of the Axalon at the start of the Beast Wars appears to have been newly assembled and the captain, Optimus Primal, was new to command.

The Axalon engaged the Predacon warship in battle as soon as both starships came out of transwarp, chasing it to a primitive world that would later be revealed as Earth. Outgunned, the Axalon ' s engines were severely damaged and it was slowly dragged towards the surface by the planet's gravitational pull. Realizing their ship would not survive, their cargo of stasis pods were launched into safe orbit from the rear docking bay. Despite this grim setback, Optimus Primal was not willing to allow their enemies to escape, and so he ordered the forward plasma cannon to be fired. Landing a well-targeted shot that crippled the Predacon vessel, both ships soon crash-landed.

After crashing on Earth, the Axalon became the Maximals' base of operations. Unlike the Predacon ship, it was still flight worthy (although only just), allowing the Maximals to repair it with salvaged parts when it seemed that the Predacons had destroyed themselves in an energon explosion. Unfortunately, the Predacons had merely faked their destruction to try and commandeer the repaired Maximal ship, and subsequently attacked the Axalon as it was preparing to take off. Although the bulk of the villains were defeated and the ship was able to take to the air, Megatron was able to board and jab his tail weapon into a key console, destroying the Axalon ' s transwarp drive and sending it back to the ground. The ship and its occupants landed in one piece thanks to Optimus' last-minute intervention, but the Axalon would never fly again.

After Megatron's attempt to alter history, it was further destroyed by Predacon forces, as Rampage and some of Tarantulas's spider drones pulled it off the cliff that it was straddling. The ship's forward quarter, including the command center, split off and fell first, landing on dry land. The remainder, including its drives and primary computer center, fell afterward and sank into the lake, finally destroying the Axalon. The remains of the command center were salvaged to help fortify the Ark against Predacon attack. Rattrap would later undertake a dangerous mission below the lake's surface to salvage the Sentinel shield control module; during the mission, an underwater battle between Rampage and Depth Charge sent the ship's remains plummeting even further into the lake's depths.

As the Maximals packed up their stuff for leaving Earth, they were hauling many large crates, some of which had pieces of the Axalon ' s command center dangling out from them.

3H comics
Following the Maximals' evacuation of Earth, the Vok returned, intent on putting a stop to Tarantulas and his plans. At this point in time, both the Axalon 's salvaged bridge and the rest of the wrecked, sunken ship remained exactly where they had been abandoned.

Timelines
Before leaving in earnest for its stated mission of interplanetary exploration, the Axalon was parked at a Maximal space station for a few weeks while it picked up its secret cargo. Finally, its impatient crew were able to leave, but subsequently were contacted by Maximal Defense Command Center about a rogue ship of Predacons in their area who had stolen the Golden Disk. The Axalon was ordered to pursue it.

A spectacular battle followed between the Axalon, the Predacon ship, another mysterious Predacon ship, and the Chromia 10. The latter two ships were destroyed, and the former two ships flew through a transwarp portal.

Beast Wars Metals manga
The Axalon was badly damaged during a space battle with the Predacons and left floating in the orbit of Energoa. It eventually crashed into the ocean when Protoform X broke free. Using the ship's still-active armaments, the Maximals blasted Rampage into space.

Beast Machines toy bios
The Dinobot Airraptor served aboard the Axalon as interplanetary surveyor and navigator.

United
Fear blossomed as the news of Unicron's return spread. Optimus Primal and his crew tried valiantly to battle his new "Ark Unicron" form, but they were quickly defeated. In their darkest hour, the Axalon started glowing blue and revealed a previously unknown power: transforming into a super robot lifeform. Born again with a new living spark of its own, this powerful ally gave the Autobot army a hope of finally defeating Unicron.

IDW Generation 1 continuity
The Axalon was a Eukarian starship under the command of Domitius Major. Twenty thousand years ago, Onyx Prime sent the ship to find the Enigma of Combination for him. Believing that his Talisman would offer them protection against an unidentified threat, he entrusted it to the crew, who duly stored it inside a specialized plinth on the ship's bridge.

As the ship's energon supplies ran low, Domitius chose to send their vessel off-course in the hopes of refueling; some ten thousand years ago, they arrived over prehistoric Earth, drawn to its abundant supplies of Ore-13. As they prepared to set down, however, they picked up odd transmissions... unbeknownst to them, those transmissions had been sent by Shockwave, who had also come to Earth, and, aboard an oddly familiar ship, shot down their vessel. Knocked out by the crash and with their memories scrambled by the Talisman, the crew would be used as experimental subjects by Shockwave, and the Axalon itself was eventually buried by glaciers and forgotten by all. Unknown to the crew, "Onyx Prime" was in actuality a future version of Shockwave who had sent them to Earth so as to ensure history unfolded as he had remembered.

In 1944, Centurion — the last surviving member of the Axalon — had broken Shockwave's brainwashing that caused him to believe that he was Bumblebee, and attempted to return to the wreck of the Axalon to die in peace. Though the Talisman had vanished long ago, some of its energies remained in the ship's storage unit. In a battle against Domitius' reanimated corpse and the creations of the Talisman, those energies briefly surged again, causing the ship, and its occupant Sgt. Savage, to vanish, seemingly to parts unknown...

...or rather, fifty years in the future, when the next activation of the Talisman by Garrison Kreiger and Atomic Man caused Savage and the Axalon to rematerialize in the year 1994.