Chương 52: INTERCEPTED DATA-006. TARN.

Music. Soft. Gentle. Eloquent. Unfortunately not quite loud enough to drown out the frantic struggling of a cybertronian slowly being smelted alive, her faceplate contorted into a warped visage of terror, desperation and sheer, unfiltered anguish as her systems slowly, painfully began to shut down. The mech shut off his own crimson optics for a moment, merely focusing on the dulcet tones playing through his speakers. Slowly but surely, the muffled, gurgled screams began to slow, before fading entirely.

The thumps of deformed servos futilely punching against their container cutting off as well. She had been a loyal Decepticon Seeker, once. And yet like so many others, she had broken the rules. And that... had earned her a position on The List. Of course, being smelted down into her component parts, and then finally converted into a simple mixture of energon and material rich in various metallic particles had only been the end of her punishment. But that was neither here nor there.

As the final chorus reached its crescendo and slowly began to fade, the mech let out a pleased hum, bringing his optics back online just in time to catch the rest of his team regrouping into the abandoned outpost they'd eventually tracked the deserter to.

Nodding to himself, the Decepticon glanced to one of his larger subordinates, just as the massive cybertronian finally ejected the contents trapped in his smelter of a torso, allowing the viscous material to slosh down onto the ground in a rather pathetic looking puddle.

"I trust you're satisfied?" A nod. Excellent. Helex had been getting ever so antsy thanks to their lack of activity. Not something that could truly be helped. Space was vast, after all. And their vessel could only travel so quickly to their next destination, ever on the hunt for those who broke the rules. Regardless, the now offline Seeker was another name they could finally remove from The List. Kaon would redirect them to their next target.

If he wasn't mistaken, the mech in charge of their datakeeping would pipe up on the comm in three... two... one-"Commander, do you read?" Sighing, the Decepticon waved away the curious looks of his subordinates, instead bringing a servo up to the side of his helm.

"Yes Kaon, I'm here. We've just finished up with dispatching our little runaway flier. Prepare to bridge us back up." A pause. The Decepticon's optics narrowed slightly. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Kaon?"

"We're gonna need to have a meeting as soon as you all get back, Commander." One of his digits twitched.

"Is there any particular reason why? If Nickel is complaining about the distinct lack of salvage again, you can tell her-" He paused as Kaon spoke back up.

"Nothing like that. Just... get back up here. I'm sending down a groundbridge now." Well. This would be certainly be interesting.

They were assembled, each member of their little company taking up their own spot aboard the command bridge of the ship. The Peaceful Tyranny had taken moderate damage these past few cycles, yet still the venerable vessel continued to function. In no small part thanks to the diligent efforts of its chief engineer.

Nonetheless, the Decepticon's attention was drawn away from his own thoughts as the closest thing he had to an intelligence officer stepped forward, prompting the rest of his fellows to turn to him as well.

"Alright. There's no real way to ah... explain this quickly. Nickel, mind displaying it up on screen?" The miniscule colonist they'd rescued just nodded silently, faceplate unusually tense. His spark thrummed slightly. That was never a good sign. The medic getting mad? Par for the course. But tense? Worrying. Very worrying. Regardless of his inner doubts, the main monitor within the bridge lit up, information scrawling across it in what he recognised to be a particularly information dense packet of cybertronian.

He couldn't help but lean forward slighty, optics narrowing.

"... What is this?" Kaon glanced up at the screen, before crossing his arms over his chestplate.

"Well, to make a long explanation short, it's an emergency tightbeam transmission." Raising a digit, the intelligence officer gestured to the lines upon lines of glyphs.

"Which is already strange, considering the only real place you could send one of those from is Cybertron. Or maybe a well developed colony. Likely by stringing some of the remaining comm satellites together. But it's the sender and the contents that you really won't like, Commander." A momentary pause, before the vessel's commander let out a soft sigh, waving at the monitor.

"I will have to ask that you dispense with the mystique, Kaon. Lay it out for me as plainly as you possibly can." The subordinate mech nodded once, tilting his helm toward the screen.

"Well for one, it's a message from Soundwave." Glances around the bridge. It wasn't very often that the Decepticon Justice Division had any form of contact with what could be considered to be one of Lord Megatron's most loyal followers, and for good reason. Loyal Decepticons didn't warrant the attention, nor the presence of the DJD, after all. Laying a servo against the ship's command throne, he leaned forward.

"Surprising. Not something that I would have expected, to be certain. And quite possibly worrying. What does Lord Megatron's most esteemed spymaster require of us?" Kaon opened his mouth, closed it, then shook his helm and gestured to the screen once more.

"Right. According to Soundwave, Lord Megatron was 'temporarily disabled thanks to a compromised flaw found in his processor.' During that time... Shockwave has apparently usurped command of most of the local Decepticons and took power for himself." Silence. Complete and utter silence. Save for the slow, ominous creaking of a servo tightening into a fist.

"Also, and get this-he's allied himself with Optimus Prime and is working to restore Cybertron-" Crack. The mech flinched as his commander's servo tore through the metal plating of the upper half of the command throne.

"... Tarn?" The crew collectively flinched as the mech in question glanced down at the damage he'd inflicted, slowly loosening his grip and allowing several metallic shards to fall to the ground. Looking back up at his team, the Decepticon slowly brushed off what remnants remained embedded in his armoured servo, before nodding firmly.

"... Treachery. Of the most vile, obscene sort." The servo rose, clenching into a fist once more.

"... The Decepticon Empire will stand or fall on the strength of its internal administration. We have been called to help resolve this issue. As loyal Decepticons, we must answer." Sweeping his servo forward, Tarn's optics pulsed with the steely focus of his processor and the vacuum cold fury of his spark.

"Set course for Cybertron. And add Shockwave to the top of The List."