Transformers: Retribution Read Free

on Cybertron. There were those among the naysayers who hinted at disaster …
    Thundercracker had no such qualms. He was quite happy to follow Megatron wherever he might lead, particularly since remaining on Cybertron with Shockwave had few attractions. The scientist-regent was about as unpredictable as a Decepticon could get, but if past was prologue, it surely involved experiments on his own kind with little regard for the end result. Thundercracker privately hoped that Shockwave would meet with a reckoning when Megatron returned home in triumph. But those were concerns for another time indeed.
    Because now an alarm was sounding throughout the ship.
    Thundercracker glanced at the others in the room. Suddenly they were all on edge, like athletes waiting for the signal to go. The intercom buzzed to life.
    “This is Air Commander Starscream. All Seekers, prepare for orbital assault.”
    An excited buzz ran around the wardroom. Surely that meant the Autobots had been found. Thundercracker stood up and spoke to the room in tones that rang down the corridors and that (he hoped) were overheard by their glorious leader.
    “It’s time to do what we do best! Thanks to Megatron for delivering us this chance at battle! All hail Megatron!”
    The answering shout would have deafened anything that wasn’t metal.
“ALL HAIL MEGATRON!”
    S OUNDWAVE SNAPPED TO ATTENTION AS M EGATRON strode onto the
Nemesis
’s command deck.
    “Status report,” Megatron barked.
    “We’ve isolated the transmission’s location, Lord Megatron.” Soundwave quickly set the ship’s viewscreens to display all the information he’d obtained regarding the mysterious system and the signal emanating from it. Megatron frowned.
    “And your personal analysis, Soundwave?”
    “The signal is of Autobot origin. That being said, I still cannot locate the exact position of the Autobot Ark. The debris serves as effective cover, complicating any effort at triangulation—”
    “Yes, yes, yes. I understand.” Megatron smiled as he stared at the screen. “Well played, librarian, well played indeed.”
    “What should we do, my lord?”
    “Starscream has volunteered to attack immediately. We will bring the
Nemesis
to the system’s edge and prepare to support him.”
    Soundwave hesitated. “Do you think it wise to send so small a detachment in first, sire?”
    “This is what Starscream and his Seekers were built for,” Megatron said. “They’ll be on top of that signal faster than the Autobots will be able to react. Optimus will have to reveal his precise location, and then we’ll move in with the main force and strike.”
    That made sense to Soundwave. Exposing Starscreamto the brunt of the enemy made even more. If he’d had a sense of humor, he would have giggled.
    Fortunately for those around him, he didn’t.
    D OWN IN ONE OF THE
N EMESIS
’ S FORWARD LOADING bays the Seekers got ready. Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Thrust, Dirge, and Ramjet were finishing their final weapon checks.
    “So let me get this straight,” said Ramjet, shrugging his blue steel shoulders. “We’re going to go in there and spring what may very well be a trap?”
    Thrust laughed. “Feeling nervous, Ramjet?”
    “No, I’m just wondering why we have to stick our head into the meat grinder,” Ramjet said. “Surely we should lead with a decoy. It hardly seems like the kind of assault work we Seekers merit.”
    “A far cry from when we ruled the skies of Cybertron,” Dirge added. “This sounds almost like we’re being used as cannon fodder. I wish to protest—”
    “Wish all you like!” Starscream bellowed. He’d resigned himself to the situation—there was no choice other than to get with the program and hope for the best. “We’re going in first because we’re the elite, okay? When you want something done right, you deploy your finest troops. Agreed?”
    “Agreed,” said Thundercracker. “Anyway, who wants to sit around here when there’s the