Retribution

by David J. Williams

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “Let’s say I was looking for one artifact in particular.”

  Wreck-Gar didn’t reply; instead, he suddenly closed the distance between them while pulling his shield and ax clear of their shoulder mountings. Axer switched his arm to a laser cannon, but Wreck-Gar had already spun past him like an orange steel tornado and slashed his ax through the two Star Seekers who had been creeping up from behind them. They fell to the ground, twitched, and lay still. Wreck-Gar turned back to Axer.

  “You were saying?” he asked.

  Axer recovered his poise and steadied himself as the ship changed heading suddenly. “If I was looking for a specific artifact, could you show me how to find it?”

  Wreck-Gar mulled this over. “Depends on the artifact, guv’nor. One that hasn’t been activated for years would be no joke to tease out.”

  “Say it gets used all the time.”

  “Then that shouldn’t be a problem.” Wreck-Gar suddenly realized what Axer was up to. “Wait a minute.”

  “Beginning to get the picture now?” Axer had to yell as the Tidal Wave’s backup drives suddenly came online, powering the ship through a particularly sharp turn. “Hurry up and dial more power into the system. We don’t have much time.”

  “I’d say we’re fresh out of it already,” Wreck-Gar told him.

  Chapter Four

  COMBAT RAGED ACROSS THE SYSTEM. VEHICONS AND Star Seekers weaved in and out of the asteroid field, blazing away, chasing one another even as they tried to shake off pursuers. Fleet order on both sides had broken down rapidly, giving way to hundreds of furious dogfights. Clouds of debris testified to the losses both sides had suffered.

  But at the center of the mayhem were the two flagships. The Nemesis and the Tidal Wave unleashed withering broadsides at each other, each ship pounding away at close range, maneuvering furiously to gain an advantage. Any shot that missed inevitably hit one of the myriad asteroids, sending pieces of rock flying in all directions, crushing friend and foe alike. It was the same for any lesser vehicle caught in the path of one of the behemoths. Both ships smashed everything in front of them into road-kill in their eagerness to get at each other.

  “Show these cretins no quarter!” Megatron yelled. Soundwave said nothing; he was too busy piloting the Nemesis, doing his best to keep it out of the arc of the Tidal Wave’s larger guns. The catamaran was larger than the Nemesis and possessed significantly more firepower. But the Nemesis was more agile, particularly with Soundwave at the helm, coaxing maximum performance from the craft’s computers. The Tidal Wave was clearly trying to get close enough to board the Decepticon warship, but Soundwave wasn’t about to oblige it. Once the two ships locked together, anything could happen. And winning these kinds of duels was all about calculated risk.

  “Cowards!” Thundertron yelled from his perch atop the Tidal Wave. “Are you afraid to face me, Megatron?”

  “What do you call this?” Megatron said as the Nemesis spun past the Tidal Wave, riddling it with a series of energy blasts.

  “I call it not taking things personally enough! Let’s do this, Megatron! Right here, right now, and may the best bot win!”

  “You’re on,” Megatron said. A hatch behind the Nemesis’s bridge opened, and he roared out in spaceship mode, his disklike shape a stark contrast to the metallic lion that now careered toward him. Thundertron’s alt-mode was enough to strike fear in even the hardiest bots: A giant laser protruded from his mouth, and his claws rippled with energy. Blasts ripped past Megatron as he zigged and zagged toward Thundertron. In the background he caught a glimpse of Starscream and his jet troopers conducting strafing runs on the Tidal Wave, knocking out gun emplacements and engines. Dueling pirates and Decepticons were everywhere, the battle spilling onto one of the larger asteroids. Megatron landed on that rock, reverted back to his humanoid form, and let fly with his fusion cannon at Thundertron. But Thundertron was nothing if not fast; he dodged the fusillade and alighted nearby, switching out of his lion mode as he charged his foe, swinging his cutlass. Limbs and heads flew as he carved a path straight to the Decepticon leader, who beckoned him forward.

  “So glad you could join me,” Megatron said.

  “This is the way it should be,” Thundertron screamed. “You and me, face to face!”

  “Do you have to yell so loud?”

  “Prepare to have your spark extinguished!” Thundertron’s cutlass met Megatron’s fists. Sparks flew as the two clashed; lesser bots backed away in all directions to give the main contenders some space. Megatron’s expression was one of contempt.

  “You may have done well against low-rent stellar trash,” he told Thundertron, “but now you’re facing Cybertron’s greatest gladiator. There’s more than a few lessons for you to learn today. And I think we’ll start with—”

  But he broke off as Thundertron suddenly intensified the speed of his attack. His cutlass was a blur; Megatron was barely able to parry the ferocious onslaught. Thundertron drove him steadily backward, snarling the whole way.

  “You Decepticons think you’re the only warrior race. But there’s a reason your empire collapsed. The universe wrote you off, Megatron, just like I’m going to do now.” He drew his cutlass back for the killing blow. But as he did so, Megatron stepped past him, grabbed his one good leg, and flipped him onto his back. The Star Seeker leader tried to pull himself to his feet only to realize that Megatron hadn’t let go—he was still holding on with one hand while he brought a fist down toward Thundertron’s head. The pirate took the shock of the blow with his sword, then swung the weapon in a quick arc; Megatron released his grip, jumping back to save his own arm.

  “So quick,” said Thundertron. “So far from enough.”

  “So try this,” Megatron said, catching the hilt of Thundertron’s cutlass and sending it hurtling from his grasp. But Thundertron grabbed Megatron’s wrists, pulling them apart, getting him in an armlock, and twisting.

  “How does it feel, Megatron? To know that yours is the setting sun? Would you like to know where I’m going when I’m done here? I’ll tell you: Cybertron itself. Your planet will pay for all its crimes. It’s just too bad you won’t be alive to hear the screams.”

  “Such an active imagination,” said Megatron, surging power into his arms—pulling himself free, then whirling back on Thundertron and smashing him in the face so hard that pieces of metal flew. Thundertron staggered backward, and Megatron closed in.

  “Let’s get back to that lesson,” he said.

  He grabbed the pirate leader’s body and hurled him headlong to the rocky surface, then moved in for the kill. But before Megatron could deliver a killing blow, Thundertron reverted to his lion mode and rolled clear of Megatron’s mighty kick. Megatron swung his fusion cannon around for a clear shot, but Thundertron kept moving, staying one step ahead of Megatron’s shots and then leaping in, shifting back to his robot form and smashing the side of Megatron’s head with the side of his cutlass, sending the Decepticon leader reeling backward.

  “What’s the matter, Megatron? Not used to fighting a real warrior? That’s because you’re weak.” Thundertron raised his glowing blade and swung it at Megatron.

  “Don’t make me laugh!” Megatron brought his arms up, fending off a dizzying rain of blows.

  “What’s that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of me beating you senseless!”

  Megatron dropped to one knee as a particularly vicious swipe passed over his head. “I’ll give you this, pirate: You’ve lasted longer than most of my opponents.”

  “But you’ll last only a few more minutes,” said Thundertron.

  “GET US IN CLOSER!” CANNONBALL YELLED. THE TIDAL Wave rocked as rocket and laser fire impacted all along its armored hull. The main viewscreen displayed hundreds of warrior robots darting in and out of the asteroid field. Cannonball cursed under his breath as Sandstorm wrestled the Tidal Wave around the Nemesis’s flak envelope. Cannonball had lost his leader’s signal in the swarm of
activity. On the one hand, he admired Thundertron’s boundless courage. On the other, sometimes he wished the pirate king would place a greater premium on teamwork than on personal glory.

  Brimstone was too busy to ponder such abstractions. His throat was almost hoarse as he barked ceaselessly into the shipwide com, directing damage control teams to where they would do the most good. Frankly, he wasn’t sure how much more of this assault the Tidal Wave could take. With the Requiem Blaster no longer a factor, the flagships were just too evenly matched and he was acutely aware that the Star Seekers would be doomed without their ship. He turned to Cannonball.

  “We can’t take much more of this kind of punishment!”

  “No surrender!” Cannonball shot back. “No retreat!”

  “If we lose the ship—”

  “We will not lose the ship!”

  “We will if we don’t withdraw!”

  Cannonball took a hard look at the tactical display. The only way they could win was to get close enough to the Nemesis for a killing broadside. But the Decepticons were far too disciplined to let them attempt such a move. The only way to destroy them utterly would be to sacrifice the ship in a suicide play, a call that Cannonball was in no position to make. There was only one thing for him to do.

  “Transfer reserve power to the communications array. I need to cut through this interference and talk to the captain! Now!”

  MEGATRON SIDESTEPPED ANOTHER ONE OF THUNDERTRON’S wild swings with his cutlass.

  “You can’t beat me, Megatron!” the pirate leader snarled. “You can’t win!”

  Megatron sent Thundertron flying with a solid head butt. “You have delusions of grandeur, my soon to be disintegrated friend!”

  But Thundertron changed back into his lion mode and sprinted at full speed, knocking Megatron off his feet. As Megatron struggled to get back off the ground, Thundertron’s tail extended a few meters and wrapped itself around Megatron’s neck, and then Thundertron’s mighty front paws smashed him in the chest and pinned him to the ground. Megatron’s vision was filled with teeth. The giant lion’s mouth opened wide to engulf him, but at the last moment, the Decepticon leader managed to jam his forearm under the robot lion’s throat, keeping the snapping jaws at bay. Thundertron pushed as hard as he could, straining to shear off the Decepticon’s faceplate with his teeth. The two bots strained desperately for advantage, and then suddenly Thundertron heard a familiar ping in his ear. His personal communicator—and with it the panicked voice of his first mate, Cannonball.

  “Captain! We can’t keep up the fight against the Nemesis! There’s too great a chance we’ll lose the ship!” The words sent a chill down the pirate leader’s spine. Without the Tidal Wave their operations would be fatally impaired. There would be no way to complete his life’s mission of wiping the universe free of the Cybertronian scum he loathed. But to have Megatron at his mercy was an opportunity that might not come again for so long … Yet his ship was in peril … Even as Thundertron contemplated his options, Megatron twisted in his grip and got loose. Thundertron whirled to face him.

  “Luck has favored you today, Megatron, but mark my words, we will meet again!” And with that, he fired his thruster jets and sped off back toward the Tidal Wave. Megatron rose to his feet and carefully aimed his fusion cannon at the departing Star Seeker. As he pulled the trigger, Thundertron darted behind an asteroid, fouling his shot. All Megatron could do was laugh at the irony.

  “Yes, pirate,” he said, “lucky indeed.” Shifting to spaceship mode, he surged back toward the duel between the flagships. The Tidal Wave was clearly getting the worse of it. Flame was spewing from multiple points on the pirate flagship’s armor. For a moment, Megatron wondered if he should follow Thundertron and finish this. But then he realized that there was still enough gunnery on the Tidal Wave to keep lone bots like himself from getting too close. Plasma bolts tore past him; he ducked and weaved and then turned away altogether, speeding back to the Nemesis. As he switched back to bot form and stormed onto the bridge, Starscream and Soundwave saluted.

  “Congratulations, lord,” said Starscream. “You have won a glorious—”

  “Shut up, idiot. I won nothing. The craven fool retreated.”

  “Their fleet is, too,” said Soundwave.

  He was right. The Tidal Wave was breaking off from the combat, turning away from the Nemesis, its swarms of Star Seekers adjusting course to follow while several of the lesser surviving warships moved to provide rearguard cover.

  “Shall we pursue them?” Starscream asked.

  “No,” said Megatron. “Let them go.”

  “Let them go?” Starscream was incredulous.

  “Would you care to pursue them single-handedly?”

  Starscream shook his head.

  “My lord,” Soundwave said, “the Tidal Wave is hailing us.”

  “Put them through,” Megatron said with a wave of his hand. A battered Thundertron appeared on the screen. In the background Cannonball and Brimstone could be seen coordinating damage-control efforts.

  “I’m surprised you’ve got the guts to show your face,” said Megatron.

  “You think you’ve defeated me?” Thundertron asked.

  “You’re the one who’s running away, aren’t you?”

  “And I’m the one who’ll be back to finish this! You haven’t heard the last of the Star Seekers, Megatron! You can count on that!”

  “Just tell me one thing, Thundertron.”

  “What?” the pirate leader snarled.

  “You didn’t really kill Optimus Prime, did you?”

  Thundertron broke the connection. The Tidal Wave accelerated out of the system, and the Decepticons watched it go. Megatron glanced around the bridge. He knew what they were all thinking: that they should be pursuing the Tidal Wave and exterminating every last pirate aboard. He understood the feeling; it ran against every Decepticon instinct to let an opponent survive unscathed. But that was why they were taking orders and he was giving them. Sometimes a leader had to make tough decisions. Not only were the Star Seekers an annoying distraction, they were tough opponents, meaning that crushing them utterly would exact a heavy price with no strategic gain. No, thought Megatron, he’d shown those pirates who was master of the spaceways, and despite Thundertron’s inflated rhetoric, he doubted he’d be seeing the pirates again anytime soon. And even though he hadn’t destroyed Thundertron, he’d certainly shown him who was superior in hand-to-hand combat. He sat back in his chair on the bridge.

  “What are our casualties?” he asked.

  Starscream snapped to attention. “The Vehicons suffered heavily; however, no essential personnel were lost. But the med-lab is full of wounded, sire.”

  “And the Nemesis?”

  “Damaged, but nothing we can’t fix while in transit.”

  “Good. I want to get back on the hunt as soon as possible.”

  Soundwave stepped forward and double-clicked on a schematic. “This was how they simulated the Autobot distress signal, my lord.”

  Megatron studied the readout. “I’m disappointed in you, Soundwave. They manipulated a Junkion’s circuitry? Which one of them was it?”

  “The most annoying one of all,” said Starscream. “Wreck-Gar. If it’s any consolation, he seems to have perished in the battle.”

  “Good riddance,” Megatron muttered.

  “Actually, he’s very much alive,” a voice said. Megatron turned to see Axer entering the bridge, flanked by two of Starscream’s jet troopers. The traitor bot looked as sly as ever. “You see, I helped him escape.”

  “You helped him escape?” Starscream was incredulous.

  “Easy, Starscream,” Megatron said. “Axer can’t help it if he’s not as … subtle as you or I. I have a feeling there’s something he wants to tell us. Certainly he’s not here to announce that not only is he a traitor but that he helped one of our enemies make his getaway. I’m sure he has something more than that to say. Something that might actually save his miserable
hide. Please, Axer, do continue.”

  Axer had looked progressively more uncomfortable during this soliloquy. It was only with the greatest difficulty that he kept his voice steady. “I have brought you vital information, my lord. I helped Wreck-Gar escape in exchange for the knowledge of where the Autobots went.”

  A wash of relief flooded Megatron. “So Thundertron really was lying,” he said.

  “No doubt he claimed he’d destroyed them merely to throw you off guard,” said Axer. “He was looking for them, just as you were, my lord. But he found you first.”

  “And how did the Junkion come across this information as a captive?”

  “The space bridge inside the Star Seekers’ flagship. Before Wreck-Gar used it to get back to his homeworld, he jury-rigged its systems to locate the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. As you know, the space bridges are very sensitive to Cybertronian artifacts.”

  “And the Matrix—the current position of the Ark—you have those coordinates?”

  “I do, my lord.”

  He reeled them off to Soundwave, who fed them into a grid. A light in the middle of that grid began flashing.

  “That’s not far away,” Starscream said. “Only a few days’ warp.”

  Axer looked pleased. “You see, my lord? What is the fate of a single miserable Junkion against the acquisition of such priceless information?”

  Megatron nodded. “Your logic is sound.” And then without warning he let loose a mighty backhand, smashing Axer into a bulkhead. As Axer sprawled on the floor, Megatron turned to his guards. “Take him below. Soundwave, you know what to do.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “You don’t have to torture me!” Axer yelled. “I already told you where they went!”

  “Probably. But torture is the only way to be sure you aren’t lying just to save your miserable parts.”

  As Axer was dragged off wailing, Megatron stared at the screens showing the receding asteroid field. So Thundertron had been dissembling after all. The librarian lived. All was not lost. He looked up as Starscream stepped in front of him.