The Monster of Kaon (Transformers Si): Chapter 38

At the edge of the galaxy, in deep space, the starship known as the Peace Seeker moved at superluminal speeds as it tracked a fresh quantum anomaly that sprang up on their radar.

Tarn, formerly known as Glitch when he was part of the original Ascenticons, stared at the data on the screens as his subordinates worked on the various systems.

“Are we sure this trail belongs to Sunder’s craft? Because the last few leads have proven to be dead ends.”

Dominus Ambus looked up from the star charts and nodded at his leader.

“I am positive it is him. Especially after our recent experiments have yielded results in unexpected ways.”

Tarn could not help but feel disgusted as he remembered what the experiments had revealed.

He had known that Sentinel Prime was a monster. He and his council were responsible for a lot of atrocities throughout their existence in various ways, including the Institute.

However, he never would have imagined that the bot was so unhinged that he would do something so insane.

“…..Speaking of, how is Airachnid doing?”

“….Not all that good. I think it would have been kinder to just let her die.”

Tarn sneered underneath his helm at those words.

“And let her become one with the Allspark that easily? No. She deserves to suffer from her guilt.”

Dominus sighed at his leader’s words.

“Tarn, I know you are angry. Believe me, I am just as angry. Her and her associates' actions are what brought low the Ascenticons, and any hope that Cybertron ever had of building a peaceful and utopian society. However, you must also consider the alternative, especially after what we learned recently-“

“What we learned, Dominus, is that she and her compatriots may or may not have been manipulated through parasitic rust worms within their spark. However, the key term here is ‘Manipulated’, not ‘Mind controlled’. Which means that their actions were their own.”

“Then, what about-“

“Dominus, enough. Don’t try to change my mind about it. I will never give Airachnid and the rest of the traitors that easy a death for what they did and what they cost us, cost me. No. Before they are judged by Primus in the afterlife, they must first be judged by us. And I judge Airachnid guilty of all her crimes. Especially after what she has done during her time running from the Decepticons, which goes completely against everything Maximus and the original Ascenticons stood for.”

“Still-“

“Enough of that broody stuff! Do you two plan on arguing for the whole day or something!? Because I can’t stand staying in the same room as you two when you are arguing like this!”

At the sudden intrusion into their intense discussion, the two bots looked down at the Minicon known as Nickel, their emotions softening at her annoyed look while Thunder simply walked to the other side of the room and connected himself to the data stream, going through the trail to make sure their accuracy was as high as possible.

As the bonded minicon of Maximus, he had picked up a lot of things during their time together in terms of technological know-how.

Thunder sighed as Dominus chuckled, making Nickle grin, knowing that she had succeeded in stopping another verbal fight between the two.

“What are you doing here? Nickel? Didn’t you say that you were going to get some rest along with Tesarus after your previous assignment?”

“Well, I was planning to rest for a bit, but I could hear you two fighting from all the way to the quarters, so I decided to stop you two myself.”

Seeing her Boss give her the flattest stare possible, the minicon simply grinned and headed off towards the other bots, intending to busy herself with any task that caught her fancy.

However, the peace within the control room did not last long as the sensors of the Peace Seeker went haywire.

“We are getting a large spike in energy readings and a lot of anomalous space-time readings. The database says that it is a Quantum Tunneling event!”

Tarn stared at Thunder with pure shock at those words.

“That’s impossible! the only ship that was ever equipped with a functional Quantum Drive was the Lost Light, which went missing a long time ago! We never developed another Quantum Drive after that, thanks to Sentinel and his council’s meddling.”

“And yet, the proof is right in front of us!”

Tarn ruthlessly crushed the rush of questions that flooded his mind and turned to his crew.

This was not the time for Glitch, the genius student of Senator Shockwave and Operative Elita-1’s star pupil, to let his curiosity get the better of him.

No, this situation called for the cool and apathetic mind of the war veteran known as Tarn.

Turning to Dominus, he started issuing commands.

“Dominus, take us close to the predicted emergence point. Bring all our weapon systems online, but do not fire unless we are fired upon.”

“Confirmed.”

“Thunder, I want you to hack into whoever comes through and get their IFF. I want to know exactly who we are dealing with.”

“Got it.”

“Nickel, head to the medbay and join the rest of the medical crew. If conflict breaks out, I expect you and your crew to be ready to treat any potential patients.”

“You got it, Boss!”

One after another, orders flowed through his mouth as his crew rushed to fulfill their duties.

However, since it was only a few seconds of warning that they received, no matter how much of a strategic and military genius Tarn was, he still would not be able to respond in time should the newcomers attack them outright.

Thankfully for him and his crew, the newcomers were decidedly not hostile as their ship did not do anything the moment it emerged from its jump.

“Dominus! Give me something! Who are we dealing with!?”

The old scientist could not respond properly as awe filled his optics.

“….See for yourself.”

With a few clicks, the ship’s image was enlarged, showing the ancient Cybertronian script that was etched onto the ship’s hull.

“Unitex-1?”

“…How is this even possible-“

“Attention, unknown vessel! This is Commander Silverbolt of Cybertronian Research Vessel Unitex-1. We have detected multiple weapons lock on our vessel from your own. Respond to our hail before we both do something we might regret.”

“Tarn, we are receiving a hail on open frequencies along with their IFF signature. By Primus! it really is the Lost Light!”

Suppressing the shock running through his mind at the familiar name of the bot that his mentor used to talk about, Tarn turned towards the minicon who stared with nostalgia towards the screen.

“Thunder?”

“Dominus is right. The IFF checks out, and so does the Quantum Drive signature. I am also picking up the auxiliary blackbox code from the ship, as was standard during Lost Light’s time. There is no doubt about it. This really is the Lost Light.”

That was all the confirmation that Tarn needed.

With a nod, he activated the communication systems and returned the hail.

“Unitex-1, this is Tarn, the Captain of Peace Seeker. We mean you no harm and only activated our defenses in case you proved to be hostile.”

Taking a deep breath, Tarn felt something he had not felt in a long time.

Hope.

“And, I would like to welcome you back to the world of living, Commander Silverbolt. My mentor, Maximus, used to tell me a lot about you.”

The line went silent for a little bit before a video feed came through, showing the old Eukarian bot who gave a curious look towards Tarn and the others.

“Hmm, I don’t recognize any of you, so I can’t say anything for now. However, since you claim Lord Maximus was your mentor, I will give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Tarn felt relief and happiness, knowing that he had been right to use his mentor’s name to diffuse the situation.

Sometimes, Tarn wondered just how much reach Maximus’s name had within their species.

However, this was no time to think about such things, so he focused back on the task.

“Commander Silverbolt. If you are willing, I would like to invite you on the Peace Seeker for a debriefing. I would like to know what you are doing all the way out here, at the edge of the galaxy.”

The knowing look and somber attitude in the older bot did not fill Tarn with confidence, and neither could he explain the strange mix of dread and hope he felt when Silverbolt replied.

“Trust me, Sparkling, that will be one hell of a debriefing. I’ll be leaving for your ship momentarily.”

As the communications cut off, Tarn felt trepidation as he looked at his crew, an emotion that he was feeling a lot of these days, ever since his run-in with Elita-1 on Earth.

“….Dominus? Call the others. I want them to be present for the debriefing.”

“Alright-“

“You too.”

“….Ok.”

With that, the Tarn, the captain of the Peace Seeker and the leader of the new Ascenticons, left the room, heading straight for the hangar.

Not knowing that the revelations that would follow would crush his and his crew’s morale while simultaneously giving them hope for the first time in Eons.