The defensive architecture of the Nemesis, outside of its modular hull plates forged from rare Cybertronian alloys, was anchored by an advanced energy shield generator.
The generator was housed within a prominent, reinforced ridge along the spine of the dreadnought.
When activated, it projected a dense, honeycomb-shaped forcefield capable of absorbing the kinetic shockwaves of a localized stellar explosion.
Because its primary design classification was that of a super-dreadnought, the weapon systems of the flagship were exceptionally complex.
Beyond its external laser arrays and automated defensive batteries, the vessel boasted two distinct planetary-scale strategic implements: a heavy tractor beam emitter and an orbital bombardment cannon.
The tractor beam emitter, mounted directly beneath the prow, could deploy a massive mechanical claw to ensnare and secure enemy capital ships at close range.
Historically, the Decepticons had utilized this exact mechanism to deal catastrophic structural damage to the Autobot flagship, the Ark.
The orbital bombardment cannon was a hyper-velocity particle rail gun extending from the main spine of the dreadnought, capable of melting straight through a planet's crust with a single fully charged burst.
To Skygnaw, this weapon represented a true orbital cannon, rendering the primitive artillery systems he had encountered in the United States completely laughable by comparison.
The humans' weapons held the title in name only, completely lacking the raw destructive reality of Cybertronian science.
---
Meanwhile, orbiting high above the home world sat Cybertron's primary moon, Hecate.
The celestial body measured roughly one-tenth the scale of the main planet, yet its metallic surface was heavily crowded with Cybertronian infrastructure.
The terrain held countless military fortifications, defensive emplacements, and several ruined lunar metropolises left behind from the pre-war eras.
The moon had also served as the primary industrial shipyard for the global empire, anchoring multiple massive drydocks engineered to construct deep-space starships.
Although these orbital yards had been abandoned for centuries, restoring them to full operational status was merely a question of securing a stable influx of raw resources.
But because the satellite lacked any extractable mineral reserves within its core, the Decepticons viewed the territory as worthless scrap metal, never bothering to station a military garrison on its surface.
Today, however, this thoroughly neglected moon unexpectedly welcomed a handful of Decepticon visitors.
They belonged to a highly specialized black-ops unit within the faction, the Cassette Division.
---
"Curse it, Slugfest! Why are you burrowing into the scrap heaps again?"
Laserbeak screeched in annoyance, glaring down at his mechanical comrade the moment they touched down on the hemisphere directly facing Cybertron.
A mechanical Stegosaurus was currently burying his snout into a massive pile of structural debris, his forward legs churning the dirt into a violent blur.
The primitive-looking mechanoid was Slugfest, a specialized courier within the Cassette Division who was primarily assigned to surveillance and signal interception tasks.
While the other members of the division were universally sharp, cunning, and highly efficient operators, Slugfest had been secretly branded by his peers as a completely dim-witted liability.
Of course, the mechanoid hadn't always possessed such a glitched processing core.
An operative with a broken processor would be entirely unable to decipher complex data transmissions, let alone extract high-value intelligence from a secure line.
Slugfest's obsessive compulsion to constantly dig holes was the direct result of a catastrophic battlefield injury sustained during the civil war, when an Autobot blast shattered several key logic components inside his skull module.
The trauma left him prone to severe paranoia, constantly calculating that any intercepted data transmission was a personal threat targeting his own spark, driving him into violent fits of mania where he would systematically destroy everything around him.
Before the injury, Slugfest could contract his chassis into a micro-cassette form, serving as one of the most flawless couriers and spies in Soundwave's network.
Today, however, his higher cognitive subroutines were gone, leaving him operating purely on the primitive survival instincts of his beast mode.
In his mechanical Stegosaurus configuration, a row of razor-sharp, serrated alloy plates ran along his spine, while dual plasma-vibration cannons anchored his flanks.
The heavy spinal plates could slide back and forth like a high-speed chainsaw to carve through reinforced armor plates, while his cannons unleashed destructive acoustic frequencies capable of shattering a target's internal framework.
Despite the obvious risk of him triggering a sudden processing error, Laserbeak had still included him in the deployment roster for this campaign.
Unfortunately, the beast had managed to cause an immediate disruption the moment they landed on the moon.
---
"I must have suffered a severe system failure to allow this glitched beast to accompany our unit," Laserbeak muttered to himself.
Beyond Laserbeak and the digging Stegosaurus, Ratbat hovered silently in the thin atmosphere above, while Rumble and Overkill held the perimeter nearby.
Overkill served as the primary archivist for the Cassette Division, his micro-cassette form capable of logging massive streams of raw historical data.
大量 Yet under standard combat operations, his contracted state was merely a tactical deception engineered to mask his true capabilities.
He would slip into a secure coordinate in his harmless tape configuration, waiting patiently for a strategic opening before instantly expanding into a massive mechanical Tyrannosaurus to ambush the enemy.
His personal creed was simple: *Destruction knows no terminal phase.*
He was a flamboyantly aggressive warrior driven by an insatiable thirst for structural devastation.
Compared to the towering beast profiles of Slugfest and Overkill, the compact, bipedal frame of Rumble looked entirely unthreatening.
But anyone foolish enough to underestimate his presence on the field was making a fatal miscalculation.
While his small stature left him at a severe disadvantage in a raw physical melee, Rumble possessed the unique capability to generate localized tectonic fractures, serving as the division's primary heavy support asset.
He could generate low-frequency seismic waves through his specialized frame, deploying dual ground-pounding pile-drivers to trigger massive earthquakes and kinetic tidal waves, shattering the terrain to disrupt enemy operations.
Compared to the intelligence-gathering specializations of Laserbeak and Ratbat, the rest of the crew primarily filled tactical support and heavy enforcement roles.
These five specific operatives represented the absolute entirety of the Cassette Division left behind by Soundwave to anchor the home world's surveillance grid.
The complete mobilization of these hidden assets proved that their current mission was of monumental importance to the high command.
---
"We have already picked the surface of Cybertron completely clean, and both Shockwave and Skygnaw are tracking our telemetry," Ratbat said, gliding down to hover beside Laserbeak. "I calculate that our efforts will yield a definitive trace this time."
He and Laserbeak served as the primary investigative anchors for the deployment.
"Maintain your focus, Ratbat," Laserbeak replied, shifting his gaze away from the Stegosaurus.
Thanks to a swift, brutal intervention from Overkill, Slugfest had finally recovered his baseline focus.
The disciplinary solution was elegant in its simplicity: a sharp blow to his skull plates usually cleared the glitch.
"My tracking systems are registering a distinct instinct," Laserbeak's optics flared with a brilliant crimson light as he scanned the bleak landscape. "Hecate will yield the variables we need."
"You truly calculate that the Autobots are lurking within this dead sector?" Ratbat asked, casting a doubtful glance toward his colleague.
Ratbat's internal sensors were specifically calibrated for deep-range fuel tracking, leaving him less naturally attuned to information patterns than the spy bird.
His chassis housed dual specialized radar arrays capable of casting free-electron laser frequencies, allowing him to flag targets as microscopic as an organic insect.
Furthermore, his wing segments were integrated with structural sensors built to register hidden energy matrices, mapping out their precise coordinates and volume metrics with absolute precision.
His diagnostic sensitivity was unmatched within the ranks.
---
"Correct. Even if the resistance hasn't established a permanent sanctuary inside these craters, the residual data trails will track exactly where they fled."
"By the way," Laserbeak shifted the topic smoothly. "Frenzy's latest log mentioned that Ravage was permanently deactivated on that organic world?"
"The file states he was terminated by a joint task force of Autobots and those primitive bipedal natives?"
Laserbeak's vocal arrays carried zero trace of sorrow or grief as he delivered the words.
To him, the loss was simply a minor data point in an external log.
Although the Cassette Division operated under a single unified banner and had fought alongside each other for uncounted eons, internal harmony was entirely nonexistent.
Every operative constantly plotted to override his peers, aiming to secure a higher percentage of favor before Soundwave's optics.
"Confirmed. Ravage has been dismantled," Ratbat replied neutrally, bypassing the obvious bait.
As an airborne scout holding limited physical melee specs, he harbored a natural contempt for a colleague who could do nothing but sprint across the dirt.
"Haha! I calculated that outcome vons ago," Laserbeak sneered, his vocalizers twisting into a mocking hiss. "That arrogant beast was destined to overplay his hand, always flaunting his proximity to our master's spark."
"Laserbeak, focus on the grid. It is time to initiate the sweep," Rumble interrupted, striding over to break up the conversation.
"Very well," Laserbeak cut his vocal feed, remembering their primary operational parameters.
"I will dictate our search vectors. Ratbat, you and Rumble will map the western quadrant..."
---
Meanwhile, deep within a hidden underground fortress anchored on the dark side of Hecate.
The remaining forces of the Aerialbots and the Wreckers guided a small, ragged group of wounded and elderly Autobots through the blast doors of the sanctuary.
Following the total collapse of their recent ambush, they had immediately executed an emergency transit to the moon to evade the Decepticons' pursuit.
To prevent the capital's radar networks from tracking their exit vector, they had spent several painful solar cycles navigating a fractured route across the dead zones before reaching the base.
"Silverbolt, is it verified? Was Ultra Magnus truly terminated by that Decepticon named Skygnaw?"
The moment Silverbolt cleared the primary threshold of the command deck, an Autobot stepped forward to press for confirmation.
It was Hound.
As the absolute final fallback coordinate for the resistance, this secret lunar outpost was bound to be anchored by a high-tier veteran.
Hound, a decorated elite warrior, served as the absolute commander of the facility.
His chassis was exceptionally thick and heavily armored, and though his physical height barely cleared five meters, his frame packed a massive amount of weight.
His left optic was covered by a heavy tactical visor, a deep blast scar pitted his right cheek, and his helmet displayed a distinct historic designation: M-80.
The serial code matched the heavy armored truck configuration he had utilized during an ancient world war fought across the stars.
Eons ago, Optimus Prime had deployed Hound away from Cybertron to map out unharvested resource sectors across the cosmos, leading to his accidental discovery of Earth.
After surviving on that distant world for a set duration, he had fallen completely in love with the planet, choosing to obscure his flight logs to protect its coordinate data.
But his time living among the organics had left him with a handful of foreign habits that contrasted sharply with standard Cybertronian culture.
For instance, a thick, metallic bullet-cigar was permanently clamped between his dented grill plates, the ember at the tip fading and burning with every heavy breath he drew.
Furthermore, his exposure to human warfare had driven him to modify his weapons array, packing an arsenal comprised almost entirely of oversized ballistic firearms.
A massive Gatling repeat-blaster was mounted to his waist, a heavy bandolier of high-explosive ordnance and grenades crossed his chest armor, and a colossal shotgun was secured right next to a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher along his back.
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