Aside from Hound, who served as the only active elite warrior on site, this hidden sanctuary housed another critically important Autobot.
It was the chief scientist of the resistance, Wheeljack.
Before the civil war tore the planet apart, Wheeljack was an academic scholar who deeply despised warfare, working as a research fellow at the Cybertron Academy of Sciences.
Even after joining the Autobot cause, he remained entirely consumed by his scientific pursuits.
In the early cycles, he held absolute zero interest in engineering offensive weapons, focusing his intellect solely on defensive arrays and non-military utilities.
But the sheer cruelty of the shifting war eventually forced him to adapt his calculations.
He realized that choosing not to resist the Decepticons would only result in absolute termination.
He chose to stand alongside Optimus Prime, utilizing his brilliant mind to forge an endless array of munitions for the resistance.
His inventions were often bizarre and highly unconventional, yet they consistently provided the tactical variables the Autobots needed to survive.
Because of his contributions, he became the absolute backbone of the Autobots' global logistics network.
To ensure his survival, Wheeljack was among the very first group of refugees deployed to this secret lunar base, and he had remained hidden within its vaults ever since.
He spent his cycles running isolated experiments and refining new hardware prototypes.
However, his primary directive on Hecate was leading the engineering cells tasked with reconstructing their fallen flagship, the Ark.
Following the catastrophic structural damage inflicted by the Decepticons, the Autobots had covertly routed the shattered dreadnought to this moon.
The satellite provided a perfect sanctuary away from Shockwave's tracking grids, and its abandoned industrial shipyards offered the heavy equipment required to mend the hull.
Wheeljack's physical chassis looked completely disorganized, a natural side-effect of his chaotic research cycles, leaving him looking constantly unpolished.
At first glance, any observer would instantly calculate that this bot was entirely unsuited for a physical melee.
He was easily categorized among the fragile, non-combatant classes of the resistance.
---
Following Hound's initial inquiry, Wheeljack and the surrounding technicians pressed for data, eager to understand the disaster that had unfolded on the surface.
There was no method capable of permanently obscuring a major defeat.
Although Skygnaw had executed Ultra Magnus without any external observers present and only notified Blackarachnia, the high command held zero reason to hide the result.
Whether to boost their own political influence or to systematically break the fighting spirit of the remaining resistance, Shockwave was bound to broadcast the termination across every open frequency.
"Confirmed," Silverbolt said after a long, heavy silence, slowly nodding his head to deliver the brutal reality.
"Our intelligence was compromised, and we marched straight into a coordinated Decepticon ambush."
"Beyond the loss of Ultra Magnus, the combined frames of Superion, Defensor, and Raiden have all been heavily compromised."
As the technical reports were parsed, a wave of profound sorrow washed over the faces of the gathered Autobots.
More refugees began filtering into the lower decks, creating a tight circle around the battered survivors of the Aerialbots and the Wreckers.
Only Blaster and his specialized intelligence cell, the Stereo Force, were missing from the gathering.
Blaster carried a heavy burden of guilt, calculating that his network's flawed data had indirectly steered Ultra Magnus into his execution.
Although his crew had reached Hecate a full solar cycle ahead of Silverbolt's group, he had immediately led the Stereo Force out of the subterranean bunker the moment they landed.
As for their current coordinates or operational objectives, no one on the command deck held any data.
But given the extreme crisis threatening their survival, no one had the processing power to worry about their location.
The resistance hadn't just sustained a painful blow; a single miscalculation now would mean the absolute extinction of their species.
---
"What is our next course of action?" an Autobot asked from the crowd.
Having resisted the Decepticon regime for uncounted millennia while watching their comrades fall cycle after cycle, the survivors were mentally prepared for loss.
Yet losing Ultra Magnus, the solitary independent commander left to anchor their global network, left them deeply fractured.
More critically, they were now facing the exact systemic failure that haunts any army when its leadership is suddenly erased.
They lacked a clear calculation tracking where to go or how to survive the next cycle.
"What is there to fear? This is nothing but a temporary tactical setback; we simply calculate a new vector and strike back!"
Suddenly, a loud, defiant voice cut through the despair of the room.
Hearing such an arrogant declaration amidst a total disaster, the gathered Autobots turned their optics toward the speaker.
Spotting Leadfoot, the hyper-aggressive enforcer of the Wreckers, the crowd naturally chose to completely ignore the outburst.
Strike back?
With what forces?
Using what resources?
Their current calculations needed to focus entirely on how to survive Shockwave's inevitable follow-up campaign, not plotting a suicidal counter-offensive.
Although this subterranean facility was heavily shielded, if the Decepticons dedicated enough resources to a global sweep, their detection was mathematically guaranteed.
They were running on borrowed time.
"The Decepticons have just secured a massive victory, meaning their processors are currently flooded with arrogance, dropping their guard parameters; it is the perfect window to execute a surprise strike," Leadfoot continued, thrusting his heavy midsection forward, completely dismissing the threat of the enemy.
"Sufficient, Leadfoot," Silverbolt interrupted, shifting his stance to cut the enforcer off.
Compared to the reckless, uncalibrated bluster of the Wrecker, Silverbolt moved with absolute stability.
He gently calmed the anxieties of the technicians before invoking the name of the true leader and spiritual anchor of their entire race.
"Have we not successfully re-established a secure data link with Optimus Prime?"
The single title acted like a system reboot, instantly restoring the flagging morale of the gathered survivors.
Correct, they still answered to Optimus Prime.
Whether they had originally chosen the badge because of the Prime's immense personal integrity, or simply because they harbored a deep hatred for the Decepticons' methods, their loyalty to his spark was absolute.
Every warrior held profound respect for a commander who would personally anchor a rear guard to ensure his troops could escape the field first.
---
Hecate, Sector Five.
The geographic layout of the moon was cataloged into distinct operational zones outside of the primary orbital grids, divided into various sectors.
Sector Five comprised a vast, desolate expanse of cratered badlands.
Across the silent plains of this sector, a mechanical lion moved with quiet, measured strides.
The beast was Steeljaw, an elite tracker belonging to Blaster's specialized Stereo Force.
Steeljaw was a magnificent intelligence asset, but he also packed an exceptionally aggressive combat layout, featuring razor-sharp teeth and a back-mounted thruster cannon.
However, his structural limitations were prominent, as his restriction to a beast mode severely hampered his operational mobility across complex urban terrain.
Seated securely along Steeljaw's armored spine were three compact Mini-Cons.
"Boss, what is our target destination?" Rewind asked, his vocalizers transmitting a bored frequency.
He was the secondary anchor of the Stereo Force, and it was his node that had intercepted the corrupted Decepticon manifest, inadvertently steering their army into a meatgrinder.
As the division's chief archivist, Rewind possessed a brilliant processing core, maintaining absolute mastery over every electronic data matrix and physical document retrieval method in existence.
His frame was integrated with a specialized internal light-matrix memory vault, packing a storage capacity that was nearly infinite, allowing him to parse massive blocks of raw data within a single millisecond.
Unfortunately, his core programming was driven by an impatient temperament, backed by an unyielding obsession with data gathering.
Regrettably, his curiosity usually focused on trivial social records, such as running endless queries to deduce exactly how Optimus Prime and Arcee had first crossed paths during the early eras.
---
"Boss, are we truly planning to abandon the main base without a formal notification?" Rewind asked.
He idly tossed a specialized rifle capable of launching structural adhesives from servo to servo, glancing at Blaster, who remained locked in a heavy silence.
"Absolutely not," Blaster finally spoke, his optics clearing as he addressed the two Mini-Cons looking up at him expectantly.
"This represents the absolute first intelligence failure recorded in the history of the Stereo Force; we are mathematically obligated to execute a counter-measure to balance our ledger."
"I have a strategy ready to deploy!" Eject announced, his vocalizers buzzing with sudden excitement.
If one required a precise description to map Eject's personality, he was best defined as a master of theoretical tactics.
While he excelled at monitoring sub-space frequencies and breaking complex encryption arrays, his favorite pastime was delivering elaborate commentaries on military operations.
Unfortunately, his processing usually resulted in magnificent boasts before an engagement or obvious observations after the dust had settled.
Consequently, before he could even lay out his tactical parameters, Rewind, who understood his programming perfectly, cut him off with a sarcastic click.
"Save your processors, Eject."
"Your strategic models have a zero percent success rate; let us listen to the boss's calculation instead."
Steeljaw moved like a disciplined worker, ignoring the internal banter as he kept his stride locked onto their transit vector.
"The plan is simple; I intend to..."
*Whish! Whish!*
Before Blaster could detail his parameters, a volley of heavy rockets dropped out of the thin atmosphere, screaming toward their coordinates.
Sensing the threat, Steeljaw executed a massive kinetic leap, clearing the zone to touch down safely a dozen yards away.
*BOOM!*
As the dust cloud billowed into the vacuum, Blaster locked his optics onto the silhouette circling above their position.
"Decepticons."
He identified the airborne scout tracking their signatures instantly.
"Boss, it is Laserbeak from Soundwave's network," Rewind reported, raising his adhesive rifle to secure a lock.
Up in the air, seeing his initial strike miss the target, Laserbeak let out a cold hiss of amusement, calmly transmitting their exact coordinates to the rest of his division.
The Autobot Stereo Force was completely trapped.
Fate had a strange way of balancing the logs; he had simply been executing a routine sweep of the sector before shifting to his next coordinate.
He never calculated that a casual glance across his lateral scanners would register a cluster of active Autobot signatures moving through the craters.
"Boss, his sensors have logged our position; do we initiate an active counter-engagement?" Eject asked.
He deployed his electronic overload rifle, aligning his targeting reticle directly onto the predatory bird circling above.
"Bring him down!"
Blaster issued the command without a single millisecond of hesitation, ordering his Mini-Cons to unleash their weapons.
The two intelligence cells had clashed across uncounted centuries, their mutual hatred burning hotter than molten energon.
Furthermore, Blaster's processors tracked a deeper strategic threat: if Laserbeak was operating in this sector, it meant Shockwave already possessed the data proving the resistance was hiding on the moon.
He needed to terminate the spy bird immediately before executing a rapid retreat to warn Wheeljack and Silverbolt.
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