Epilogue:Instrument

In the deep cold above Char, Soundwave drifted in a silent orbit. The Decepticons retreated to this planet after the destruction of The Fallen - for a while, anyway. He would have much preferred to stay near Earth, if for no other reason than its proximity to its sun. But even Soundwave's near-invisible espionage was too dangerous. Megatron was smarter than to unnecessarily risk one of his most powerful officers. Unfortunately, it meant there was some significant delay between a transmission from Earth and its reception on Char.

The powerful transmission arrived before the humans' recent bandwidth cacophony - clearly it was an Autobot who sent this blanket announcement. It did not take him long to break through the encryption, and Soundwave commed his master. "Lord Megatron, I have intercepted an Autobot transmission. It is from Prime."

Surprised, the Decepticon leader sat up on his berth. "Send it to me at once." He listened closely to the short message, and his optics narrowed suspiciously. "That's rather morbid for you, Optimus," he murmured. He knew the spark of the mech who had once been his brother, and the long vorns of battle had only honed that insight. This went far beyond the brooding Optimus was prone to, and whatever catastrophe Prime was contemplating, those maggots were part of it. He opened the channel again. "Something has changed, Soundwave."

"My lord?"

Smirking now, he said, "I believe Prime is willing to sacrifice the humans for whatever he's planning next. The survival of our race wasn't a good enough reason for him to abandon his convictions. I am curious what is. Something has changed," he decisively repeated. "Find out what!"

"Yes, Lord Megatron."

The warlord made himself more comfortable on the medbay berth, letting the repair micro-drones continue their work on his damaged helm. "Very curious indeed."