stonecrandall Chapter 133 Ironclad Dragon Space Station
Chapter 133 Ironclad Dragon Space Station
When the Decepticons intercepted the outer beacon of the Iron Dragon space station, there was an unusually quiet window of opportunity outside Cybertron's orbit.
Judging from the orbital diagram, it is an ancient and massive military space station, hovering outside Cybertron's outer defense orbit. Multiple areas of its outer shell are in low-power hibernation mode, the external lights are flashing intermittently, and the defense systems are operating at a minimum.
The first beacon intercepted by the sound waves had a short, low-pitched signal, like the beating of a metal heart buried in deep space.
Shockwave quickly retrieved the structural scan: "The main structure of the space station is intact."
He stared at the massive outline on the screen: "Outer turret dormancy rate 63%. High-energy sealing reaction present in the core area. Abnormal energy waveform."
Red Spider leaned against the wall, glancing at the space station: "Is it worth us going there ourselves?"
The sound waves nodded.
"We can seize control of the space station," Shockwave quickly added, "and confirm the nature of the core stored energy."
The sound waves retrieved specific data.
The outer beacon can be tracked. Ironforge is unaware of it.
Megatron raised his eyes and ordered, "Then let's take this opportunity to capture it."
Red Spider's wings fluttered slightly: "Finally, a proper orbital battle is about to begin."
Megatron raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.
Red Spider lowered his head slightly, his tone carrying a familiar, slightly frivolous quality: "I will tear through the outer defenses."
-
The outer defenses of the Ironclad Dragon space station are more difficult to deal with than anticipated.
It looked old, but each turret turned with remarkable precision. One after another, the railguns lit up from their dormant state, their cold white beams sweeping across deep space, shredding the two foremost Decepticon assault ships into pieces.
The debris scattered along the tracks like a pile of thrown metal sand.
Red Spider is directing operations on the Tracker channel.
"The second formation will approach the outer ring of the space station and circle around into their blind spots."
An uproar immediately erupted: "That route is too close!"
"That's why it's called a blind spot," Starscream said coldly. "Are you planning to negotiate with the turret?"
Jingtianlei was calmer than Naofantian, and led a group of pursuers flying towards the lower outer ring: "I'll circle around from the west."
"Very good," said Red Spider. "Make a scene, stop complaining in the channel, and keep up."
He cursed and made a scene, but still followed along.
Red Spider personally led the first squadron.
The silver-gray and red silhouettes darted rapidly between the beams of the railguns, skimming close to the outer shell of the space station. Each turn left gaps in the barrage of fire, the wings carving out airflow with precision, beauty, and considerable risk.
While the armored dragon space station's turrets appear evenly arranged, due to its long period of dormancy, there is a delay in the seventh and eleventh sections of the outer ring. If these turrets are forced to track two directions simultaneously, a temporary blind spot will appear on the lower western ring.
"Now," Starscream commanded.
The trackers approached simultaneously from both sides, forcing the outer turrets to disperse and lock onto each other. Thunderclap led the team into the lower ring blind spot, with Chaos closely following behind, dropping armor-piercing bombs before the turrets could complete their turn.
The explosions lined up along the outer ring of the space station, and all three gun emplacements were extinguished simultaneously.
Red Spider swept over the firelight and sneered.
The acoustic intrusion program also infiltrated at the same time, burrowing down along the maintenance protocol left by the beacon and distributing erroneous instructions.
The space station reacted a fraction of a second too late, giving Megatron the opportunity to lead his assault team ashore.
The Decepticons broke through the outer entrance, and alarms echoed through the corridor.
Automatic sentry guns popped out from within the wall, the remaining defense system activated, and heavy hatches slid down one by one. A red light illuminated the depths of the corridor, accompanied by a low tremor as energy flowed again.
Megatron stepped into the space station, and the first batch of sentry planes opened fire.
He directly blasted through the front line with fusion cannon fire, the metal walls were ripped off by the explosion, and shrapnel grazed his shoulder. Barricade led the team to clear the flank passage, Sonic Wave remotely locked down the counterattack program, and Shockwave provided heavy artillery support from the rear.
Red Spider entered through another breach, folded its wings, landed, stepped over the wreckage of a destroyed sentry aircraft, and scanned the interior of the space station.
Deep within the space station, more defense systems are being activated.
The turret rises from beneath the floor, its traction field attempting to lock onto the intruders, while the Decepticon assault team engages in firefights with automated guards in the narrow corridor.
Megatron advanced while suppressing the enemy, asking, "How far is the core area?"
The sound wave responded: [Three isolation doors.]
Megatron raised the booming muzzle of his cannon: "Clear the way."
-
The core storage area was opened, revealing only a huge sealed frame in the center, with several dark-colored energy containers fixed inside.
The liquid in the container was not pure black, but a deep purple, almost inky, with a subtle dark purplish-red sheen at the edges. It flowed very slowly, and each ripple caused brief noise in the surrounding instruments.
Shockwave stepped forward, and data rolled past his optical mirror.
"Abnormal energy density. Obvious contamination characteristics. Unstable energy source. Incompatible with conventional high-purity energy fluids."
The red spider stood at the entrance of the storage room, staring at the containers, its wings slightly folded.
Shockwave continued, "Forcibly connecting to conventional energy systems could cause corrosion, loss of control, or reverse pollution."
Megatron approached.
The dark energy within those containers seemed to sense something, and its flow seemed to quicken slightly.
Starscream glanced at Megatron, then at the container: "I suggest you don't touch it."
Megatron ignored him.
The sound waves entered the space station's archived data repository from the other side. Lines of damaged documents appeared on the screen; many records were incomplete, with only serial numbers, warning labels, and incomplete ancient archived agreements remaining.
[High-risk energy storage.]
Direct access to the Fire Seed Core is prohibited.
Source of pollution: Unknown.
[Suspected residual high-level energy.]
Subsequently, the sound waves dragged more data from the deep archives: damaged test patterns, corroded metal samples, and several irreparable warnings.
Shockwave continuously retrieves the comparison model, matching the dark energy in the container with the Decepticons' existing energy database item by item.
First match failed.
The second match failed.
In the nth iteration, the model flashes a similar item with an extremely low probability.
Starscream glanced at the almost forgotten term on the screen and raised an eyebrow slightly: "Dark Super-Energy Entity?"
Megatron's gaze was gloomy and obscure.
The shockwave recalibrated the scanning parameters and then allowed the sound waves to retrieve the sealed records from the bottom layer of the space station. Several sets of data were superimposed, and the deep purple energy was broken down into countless spectral layers in the center of the screen.
After a long pause, Shockwave finally spoke: "No."
"This sample does not meet the core characteristics of the legendary dark super-energy entity. It lacks stable high-level activity and does not possess a verifiable energy waveform."
Red Spider sneered, "It's really starting to look more and more like a charlatan's experiment."
Shockwave ignored his taunts.
"But it does show a similar pattern of pollution to the related legends. More accurately, it is a residue left after being affected by the source."
Megatron looked at the records.
The residue suggests that the source may exist, and the legend is not entirely fictitious.
Shockwave raised his hand and created a temporary number on the screen.
[Pollution Energy Sample: A-0]
[Tentative Common Name: Energy-Eroding Body]
Megatron's gaze remained fixed on the energy body capable of corroding.
If residues alone can achieve this energy density, then what is the real source?
What, then, is the true dark super-energy entity?
Blood of the Cosmic Emperor.
That word, floating in ancient legends, seems absurd.
But when Megatron looked at the contaminated residue samples, he realized that absurdity did not necessarily mean non-existence.
The red spider noticed his expression and straightened its wings.
"You're not starting to believe in those ancient myths, are you?"
Megatron did not answer, and a seed was quietly planted.
-
After capturing three Starmoons from the Ironclad Dragon Space Station, Starscream went to Crystal City.
Officially, he was just passing by.
The neutrality agreement granted him access, and the inner door opened.
Inside the hibernation chamber, Rumble and Chaos were scrambling on the hibernation pods, one gently tapping on the pod, the other swinging its legs.
They saw the red spider and immediately looked up.
The red spider glanced at them: "Even the sound waves are starting to break down?"
The booming iron hammer arm rose, baring its teeth in a menacing manner.
Red Spider, observing the situation, gave a short snort: "His temper is more obvious than his master's."
Despite saying that, he didn't provoke them any further.
He approached the hibernation pod, his gaze falling on the gravitational vector.
She looks taller, and her features have been smoothed out beautifully.
Red Spider stared for a moment, then spoke with her usual critical tone: "Why are you the only one lying here so comfortably?"
After he finished speaking, his gaze shifted slightly, and he noticed the old silver-gray nameplate on the side of her neck.
Red Spider knew perfectly well whose it was, and his lips twitched: "Terrible taste."
He didn't touch it, but the thing made him uncomfortable.
Megatron left behind a number that he had long since consigned to history, yet it was still attached to her, like some kind of annoying declaration.
Starscream hated this, especially since it involved Megatron and was a declaration he couldn't simply tear off.
He looked away, as if nothing had happened.
"The Ironclad Dragon Space Station has been taken over by the Decepticons."
He said, "The outer railgun is troublesome, but it's not that complicated."
After a pause, he added leisurely, "The squadron of trackers I led took a third less time than expected."
If she were awake, she might understand.
She would ask about the risks and why he dared to take such a risk, and before he was about to mock her for not understanding aerial combat, she would say—"Well done."
It's possible that she'll be looking down at the documents, casually mentioning something, without even necessarily looking at him.
...This really annoyed me.
It wasn't flattery, nor was it a command, nor even the fancy nonsense uttered by those who wanted something from him—which made it all the more memorable.
It's no secret that Starscream craves power.
He wanted command, he wanted the legion to bow down, he wanted Megatron to disappear from that position, and he never intended to deny it.
He wanted to hear reverence, and he also wanted to hear flattery.
Even if most of the flattery is fake, he doesn't mind.
But what she gave him was not these things.
When she praises him, she often doesn't realize it's a compliment.
"This was handled beautifully."
"You're very efficient."
"I definitely wouldn't have thought of this solution."
It was so catchy that he couldn't refute it, and so sincere that he couldn't categorize it as flattery.
Red Spider hated that she remembered it so clearly, and she hated even more that she had slept for so long. She had actually left the audience standing there alone after throwing out those words.
He lowered his optical glasses and said in a softer voice, "It's incredibly stupid outside."
"Shockwave is still the same old logic-obsessed idiot. Megatron is getting more and more... haha."
He stopped, before he could finish speaking.
"There's also that newly discovered energy-corroding body."
"Currently, the sample appears to be contaminated. Shockwave is very interested, as is Megatron. It seems all machines are drawn to dangerous things."
The hibernation pod remained quiet as always. Red Spider stood there, finally forced to admit to himself that he was indeed not going that way.
He hates this kind of place.
Crystal City is clean and neutral, like an old dream that has not been swallowed up by war.
And she lies here, and all the machines come here to say things they wouldn't say outside.
Megatron, Optimus Prime, Soundwave... there are too many to count, even the miniature Transformers are reluctant to leave.
Red Spider could laugh at them, and he could laugh at himself, but he refused to leave his feet.
"Don't sleep."
He finally spoke.
"When you wake up, if you still remember how to evaluate a brilliant orbital raid, start with mine."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Starscream leaves the Crystal City Medical Tower and connects to the Decepticon channel.
Beyond orbit, the energy pulse deep within the space station, like a long-dormant spark, flickered gently for a fleeting moment.