The Palace

Thunderscream flew fast and low in vehicle mode over the dusty streets of the capital city, his bodyguards following close behind. He barely noticed the terrain below as he passed, intent instead on his destination.

The past few solar cycles had been a busy time for him. Aside from his usual duties, he was going over mission reports of his Special Forces units. Since the return of the Eisen Dragoons, four more teams had reported back with successful missions. There was still no word from the remaining three, and though he knew their missions had taken them to the far reaches of Transformers space, he was considering sending a search party to find them.

Even with the remaining teams unaccounted for, the unprecedented success of the others had silenced most of his critics in the Destron Senate. Thunderscream took particular pride that the Dragoons' accomplishment – arguably the most difficult of them all – had severely embarrassed his most vocal detractors, though there were those who were trying to find some fault. Of course, he hadn't divulged all the details of the Dragoons' mission; he knew legislators couldn't resist blabbing to journalists. Cybertron would learn who had been behind the breakout in time, but for now, it was more amusing to let speculation run wild

If the results of the missions were enough to lift his spirits, then recent reports from the border patrols has made him ecstatic. The inattentiveness of his predecessor had left the frontier vulnerable to raids by privateers hired by Destron's neighbors who were eager enrich themselves at the expense of Gigatron's empire. Thunderscream's efforts to reinforce and upgrade the border outposts had paid off immensely; piracy was down nearly ninety percent. Thunderscream snickered quietly; if that didn't convince the Senate to invest more resources into the military, he didn't know what would.

He turned his thoughts back to the present and the reason he was flying out here. Gigatron had called a conference and Thunderscream's presence was required. He had no idea who else would be there, but he knew what subject the meeting would broach and had downloaded the information he knew he would need.

Thunderscream noticed a low slung building resembling a Mayan pyramid off to his right, located in the center of a small park at the heart of the capital. He banked towards it, recognizing it the Central Palace. It had been constructed to be a place of both work and residence for the ruler of the Destron Empire, but Gigatron only used it to conduct official business, preferring to use a small bungalow outside the city as his residence.

The palace was the tallest building in the capital, but not by very much. Few structures on Destron were much taller than a five-story building; the high spires and columns common to city planets like Cybertron and Charr were absent here. Most were dome-shaped and constructed so that the main chambers were buried deep underground, not too dissimilar to a termite mound. They had to be built this way; Destron's high-powered winds could easily reach four times the strength of Earth's strongest tornado, easily strong enough to level any skyscraper. The unique construction of Destron's buildings ensured that these gusts couldn't simply tear it from its foundation.

As Thunderscream and his guards transformed and landed outside the palace's main entrance, they could see a massive red wall on the horizon. It was a dust storm of massive proportions, kicked up and driven by the hurricane-force winds. Thunderscream knew how powerful such storms could be; Transformers the size of Trypticon could be lifted and tossed as if they were constructed of balsa wood. The winds could also force the fine red dust of Destron into any crack or crevice; he'd seen the damage caused to the internal workings of Decepticons unfortunate enough to get caught in a dust devil.

"Looks likes there's quite a storm out there," one of his guards observed.

"It's heading to the northeast," the other guard said. "There shouldn't be any concern."

"Perhaps not with the weather," Thunderscream said. "But Gigatron isn't known to tolerate tardiness. Let's go." He led his escort into the palace.

The Decepticons entered into a long, brightly lit corridor lined with flags and marble sculptures that were as tall as Sentinel robots. The main corridor of the palace was known as the "Hall of Heroes" and the statues represented the greatest generals and leaders of the old Cybertronian Empire. Thunderscream strode down the hallway, glancing at the monuments as he passed, noting several empty podiums scattered along the walkway. This had been by design, an attempt to leave room for future warriors and leaders. There was one leader missing from the collection: Gigatron; he wouldn't allow any monument to his honor so long as he functioned, preferring instead to let history decide where his place was. The Senate had the power to override him, but thus far, they hadn't – not for a lack of trying.

As he made his way down the corridor, Thunderscream saw a small crew of technicians working near one of the statues. Curious, he moved towards them, wondering what they were up to. He noticed they all had large tanks strapped to their backs and were spraying a fluid along the base. One of the techs noticed him approaching and waved cheerily.

"Good morning, General!"

Thunderscream nodded. "Hello, Scavendrill. I see you've been keeping busy."

Scavendrill smiled slightly. He was thickly built Decepticon, slightly shorter than Thunderscream, yellow-green in color with a silver faceplate and a black visor over his optic sensors. His abilities in construction and maintenance were well known; it was said he could build the strongest fortresses from nothing but scrap metal, repair any damage no matter how severe, and even get machinery working better than what regulations required.

"If there's work to be done," Scavendrill said, "I'm there. They couldn't stop me if they tied me down with deuterium."

"What are you up?"

"We're replacing the old steel fittings on some of the monuments with electrum. Some of the old bolts have come under attack from an infestation of scraplets, so we're spraying down everything with a mixture of hydrogen dioxide and sodium chloride before we replace the fittings."

Thunderscream looked at Scavendrill with a thoughtful look. "So you're using sea water," he said matter-of-factly.

Scavendrill shrugged slightly. "Works better than plain. The little spawns of Unicron shrivel up and expire faster than slugs on a salt flat."

"And the electrum?" Thunderscream asked.

"More resistant," Scavendrill answered. "Little buggers don't seem to like any metals above neutronium. And aside from adamantium and deuterium, electrum's the strongest alloy in the known galaxy."

Thunderscream glanced at the base of the closest monument, asking, "Should we be worried about a break out on Destron?"

"I wouldn't be too concerned," Scavendrill said. He thumped his chest lightly. "We're built out of more durable alloys than what our ancestors were constructed with. Things like scraplets and cosmic rust aren't really a threat anymore, though reports of either do require some investigation. Though I'm not telling Xedrethor anything – that defective idiot would quarantine the whole slagging system if he heard about this."

"And Gigatron would overrule him," Thunderscream said. "I suggest you do submit a report to your immediate superior about this; Gigatron wouldn't be too pleased if a scraplet infestation went unreported."

"Who do you think ordered the repairs?" Scavendrill inquired. "If you'll excuse me, General, I do have to get back to work. We have other fittings to check before this solar-cycle's done."

"By all means, don't let me interfere," Thunderscream responded. Checking his internal chronometer, he said, "I need to get going myself."

"Later," Scavendrill said, tipping an imaginary hat. Thunderscream only nodded before heading down the hall.

Thunderscream continued walking down the Hall of Heroes until he came upon the entrance into a smaller corridor on his right. He turned down the smaller hall and continued on until he came to a large set of doors located at the end. Turning to his guards and said, "Wait here," before moving towards the doors. They slid open automatically as he approached and closed once he was through. He found himself in a large room with a large semi-circular desk in the center, outside another set of double doors. A single Predacon was seated at the desk reading something on the terminal in front of him. The room had few decorations, had a few simple chairs for guests to sit in while they wait, as well as a short tables where a few data pads were stacked – as sterile as the inside of a nuclear reactor.

This was the reception area for Gigatron's office, located behind the second pair of doors, where he spent most of his time whenever he was in the palace; that or the conference room down the hall. Thunderscream couldn't recall a time when he had met with Gigatron in the throne room. Then again, the memory might have been buried somewhere in the portion of his processors the mechanics hadn't been able to fix.

Thunderscream walked up to the reception desk and asked, "Excuse me, is Gigatron in his office?"

The Predacon looked up at him with an expression that suggested he thought the general wasn't worth the time. "He's in a meeting," he said curtly.

"In his office?" Thunderscream asked politely.

"He's in a meeting," the Predacon repeated. Thunderscream's optics narrowed; he wasn't about to take this kind of attitude from a unit that had proven to be of no other use.

"Rude little meat bags, isn't he?" Thunderscream turned towards the source of the voice and saw a black and dark gray colored Decepticon standing near the doors into the reception area. It was slightly taller than Thunderscream, even considering the latter's crest, and possessed organic parts, though not to the degree of the new "trans-organic" units Archanubis mentioned. The 'con bore a large bird's head on one shoulder, the hindquarters of some sort of feline on the other, a set of large black feathered wings, and the talons of a bird-of-prey on its feet. A pair of bright red glowed like a set of beacons over a dark grey mouth plate set in a black head.

Thunderscream nodded, saying in a neutral tone, "Hello, Venomous."

Venomous Prime nodded slightly; if he had a mouth, it'd probably be curled into a sly smirk. Venomous was the head of intelligence in the Destron Empire and had served as a spy for Gigatron long before Thunderscream was recruited. He was also the leader of a small group of Transformers known as the Disciples of Unicron, well known for their aptitude in infiltration and assassination and based on the Destron's forested sister moon Mu. He had been one of the first warlords to join Gigatron's campaign to reunite the remains of the Cybertronian Empire; that such a feat had been done without violence was either a tribute to the latter's skill as a negotiator or the former's sense of the practical. There were also rumors that Venomous carried a Matrix with a part of Unicron's essence within him, though the rumors were unsubstantiated.

Although Venomous Prime was one of Gigatron's top advisors, Thunderscream didn't trust him, and knew he wasn't alone in his opinion. Venomous exuded the personality of someone who was acting out a holo-play of his own creation. He was charismatic and manipulative, both excellent qualities that could serve a spy well, but those attributes weren't didn't exactly inspire anyone's confidence. If that wasn't enough, it well known fact that Venomous also worked as an agent for Neo Kaon and reported directly to that Decepticon world's chief warlord. Only Venomous himself – and possibly Gigatron – knew exactly where his true loyalties lay, though Thunderscream had his suspicions.

He was just glad that this devious Transformer wasn't Gigatron's only source of intelligence.

As Venomous approached, he said, "These Predacons believe that they are entitled to special treatment as they are our 'successors' to the Old Cause. This has made them a bit… difficult to work with at times."

"Some of them are not so egocentric," Thunderscream said. "In fact, it's been my experience that most of them make good soldiers. Of course, there aren't many Predacons in the empire, and your experiences may be different than my own."

Venomous stopped a few decimeters distance from Thunderscream, nodding thoughtfully. "Perhaps," he said. "However, I think this Predacon is giving you the cold shoulder."

"That much is obvious."

"To answer your question, Gigatron is indeed in his office."

"The crankshaft here tell you that?"

Venomous made a slight noise that sounded like electronic static. "Trying to get information out of that unit is like trying to squeeze oil from crystalline ore. Actually, I was in here earlier talking with Gigatron when he got a call from our embassy on Neo Kaon."

Thunderscream arched an optic slightly. Venomous was usually reliable with his information, but he remembered an old quote from his younger days: "Deception works better when sprinkled with hints of truth."

"You know what the call was about?"

Venomous shrugged. "I haven't been back to headquarters yet to find out. I do have my suspicions, though."

"And they are?" Thunderscream inquired, crossing his arms in front of him.

"I have no confirmation of this," Venomous said. "But it may have something with Colonel Baal's recent success along the border."

"According to the initial reports, Baal captured some pirates trying to smuggle valuable ore across the border near the Lycek Sector. I don't see how that pertains to the Decepticons on Neo Kaon."

"You mean he didn't tell you whom he captured?"

"Is there a reason he should have?"

Venomous looked at Thunderscream incredulously. "I would think so, considering he has supposedly captured a celebrity."
Thunderscream shrugged. "Baal's not exactly the most boastful of my commanders. His reports rarely mention participants; just events."

"Well, according to what I've heard," Venomous said, "the commander of the smugglers was Omega Destroyer."

Thunderscream angled his head slightly. "Don't believe I'm familiar with that designation."

"He's the second in command for the Tactical Division," Venomous said. When Thunderscream gave him a blank look, he added, "Edgecrusher's command."

Recognition flashed in Thunderscream's optics. "Ah, I see now. Yes, that would be an interesting catch. It could certainly warrant a call from the ambassador. If true, no doubt this debacle would have Dynamax, forgive the expression, seeing red."

"Dynamax has been a little short tempered as of late, anyway," Venomous said. "It's said that the smallest of setbacks touches off an explosion from him. And Edgecrusher hasn't exactly been on his good side as of late."

"And you would know this because…"

Venomous' optics gleamed with apparent glee. "It's my job to know these things. Though I admit to being a bit astonished that Baal was able to catch OD. According to my spies, he's not the easiest unit to beat."

"Baal may have a few circuits crossed in his processor," Thunderscream said, "but he's good at carrying out whatever task is placed before him. And it doesn't hurt that he's in command of one of our new stealth destroyers."

"You know, I've never seen one of those ships," Venomous said thoughtfully.

"You're not supposed to," Thunderscream said, his optics narrowing into slits.

"Well said, General," a new voice said. Thunderscream and Venomous turned towards the sound and saw another Decepticon entering the room. He was tall and thinly built, painted with a combination of white and a shade of violet so deep that it was almost black. Like Venomous, the legs of his robot mode bore a resemblance to those of a bird of prey, but his organic parts were more reptilian in nature. He bore a pair of bat-like wings on his back, each tipped with three fingers on the wrists, and his right arm consisted of a dragon's head and neck. His head was as narrow as his form and his faceplate was twisted into a disapproving scowl.

Thunderscream groaned and lowered his head into his hand. "Oh, just great. The protoform nurse has arrived."

"That's Chief of Security protoform nurse to you, General," the Decepticon said testily.

"Ah, yes, silly me," Thunderscream said blandly.

If he didn't trust Venomous Prime, he absolutely despised Xedrethor, the head of Destron's internal security. He had a reputation of being an overbearing micromanager and extremely paranoid, neither of which earned him many friends. He'd been with Gigatron since the very beginning and many believed it that his experiences since that time had contributed to his behavior. He didn't trust anyone he considered an "outsider" and rarely bothered to hide it, even in front of Gigatron; Thunderscream and Venomous Prime were targets of his intolerance on more than one occasion.

Xedrethor was joined by a pair of massive beasts that hovered on either side of him; in relative scale, they were to Transformers what a Great Dane would be to the average human. They were a sand color; bore the muzzles of dogs, the stance and gait of a leopard, the teeth of a Smilodon, and the rough skin of a reptile. Thunderscream and Venomous both regretted possessing olfactory sensors; the creatures had the combined scent of used oil and rotten eggs, while saliva dripped freely from their jaws, pooling into small puddles on the floor. Thunderscream always found himself amazed that these animals could survive on Destron, until he remembered that they breathed carbon-dioxide like a plant.

"I wasn't asking the general to show me a picture," Venomous told Xedrethor. "I merely stated a fact."

"You were fishing," Xedrethor said darkly. "It is not your place to know what ships are in development or service with our military forces. You don't see me requesting information on Thunderscream's activities, do you?"

Thunderscream stifled a sarcastic guffaw.

"No," Venomous said. "Generally, your messages to the military consist of 'For Primus sake, do something!' I'm sure the general is buried up to his optics in your requests."

Thunderscream took a step back from the others; an indication that he had no intent on joining the argument that he knew was coming. Venomous loved to bait Xedrethor, usually standing back, arms crossed with satisfaction whenever he reduced the dragon-con into a full blown explosion.

But Venomous was right on one thing; Thunderscream's office was often flooded with requests from Internal Security whenever there was the slightest hint of danger to the empire, even to Gigatron himself. With every request, he had to devote resources to pin down Xedrethor's "ghosts", resources that could haven been put to better use. Though he knew Gigatron liked Xedrethor, perhaps even considered him a favorite, Thunderscream had sent him a letter of complaint. He had no idea if anything had been done, but he had sent it not that long ago, so he could be patient.

"You should concern yourself less with our internal workings and more with the workings of our enemies," Xedrethor was telling Venomous.

"In case you have forgotten, intelligence is my business, whether it is internal or external. You yourself have pointed out that some of the Empire's enemies reside among us."

"And I don't have to look too far to see who those are."

"Entertaining another one of your unsubstantiated theories again, Xedrethor?"

Xedrethor's expression twisted into barely contained rage. "It's not paranoia to suspect someone who has never so much as taken an oath of allegiance to Destron."

"And yet you still question my loyalty," Thunderscream said. "Even though I have taken the oath."

Xedrethor glared at him. "A Decepticon in your position is always suspect, Thunderscream. After all, Starscream was second to Megatron."

"As Cyclonus was to Galvatron," Thunderscream pointed out, but he knew it was to no avail. Once Xedrethor set his mind on a theory, it was nearly impossible to convince him otherwise. The best way to deal with him was to ignore his delusions and focus on whatever task was at hand – which was not always the easiest thing to do around him.

"You just don't like Thunderscream because he's from Hylion Prime, not Destron," Venomous said. "How positively like an Autobot."

Now Xedrethor exploded. "How dare you insinuate that! I have supported Gigatron and his cause long before your sparks were even ignited! I would have protected him with my life back them and I will continue to protect him and the empire he has built so long as my spark ebbs with power!"

Thunderscream heard a sound behind him and glanced to see Gigatron exiting his office. The Destron leader stopped just outside the door, which hissed closed behind him, and stood a moment, listening to the tirade. Venomous noticed his presence as well, but Xedrethor did not, and continued his rant.

"… The security of the empire is my business! I protect this empire from those who would seek to destroy it…"

"You mean your organization protects the empire from the criminal element," Gigatron corrected.

Xedrethor whirled around and finally realized saw him. "My liege!" he exclaimed, bowing extravagantly. "Forgive me, I did not know you where there."

Gigatron stared at him with no expression. "I have told you before; the military is responsible for dealing with threats from foreign armies and rebellions. Your organization is in charge of dealing with those who break the laws of this state."

"Of course, my liege," Xedrethor said, bowing again. "Forgive my impertinence."

Gigatron said nothing, glancing first at Venomous, then to Thunderscream. "I see everyone is present," he stated.

"Well, we all know how much of a stickler for punctuality you are," Venomous said rather glibly.

Gigatron smiled slightly. "Of course. I apologize for my own delay; our ambassador on Neo Kaon seems to have become the whipping unit for Dynamax today."

"Any particular reason?" Venomous inquired, flashing a knowing gaze at Thunderscream, who ignored him.

Gigatron shrugged lightly. "The ambassador didn't elaborate. For all I know, Dynamax was activated on the wrong side of his charging station this morning."

"He will submit a report, won't he?" Xedrethor inquired.

"She will, yes," Gigatron said. "In the meantime, we have more affairs closer to home to deal with. I do believe I have a conference scheduled?

"Of course, sir," was the response.

"Very good." Gigatron walked past the others, indicating that they follow. They did and the group walked out of the reception area. As they walked towards the conference room, Gigatron looked down and noticed the beasts at Xedrethor's heals.

"Xedrethor, I would appreciate that in the future, you leave your pets at home."

"I have tried, my liege, but they simply will not obey."

Gigatron was unsympathetic. "Then lock them in a kennel or something. I am not against keeping animals – or whatever those things are – but I will not tolerate their owners dragging them along when they're supposed to be working."

"Understood, my liege."