SABOTAGED IDENTITY

			By Raksha



	"Every silver lining has a dark, dark cloud;
	Always after sunshine comes the rain.
	They say that after night
		the dawn is sure to be bright;
	But don't forget the night will come again."
				--Star Trek the Next Generation
				  Annual #1, D.C. Comics



			Part 1

	Sabotage crept down the narrow, steeply slanting tunnel that 
had been cut deep into Cybertron's metal crust.  It was almost entirely 
black, except for irregularly spaced pads of radioactive luminescence 
that had been inlaid into the uneven ceiling.  It was suffocatingly hot, 
and condensation ran down the walls, dripped from above, and made 
footing treacherous.  More than once, Sabotage had to stop and brace 
herself against the walls to rest.  No wonder they call this place Hellpit 
Territory, she thought as she crept forward again, ignoring the painful 
throbbing in her right leg and shoulder -- her old battle wounds, never 
fully repaired, that were aggravated by her slow and awkward progress 
downward.
	Every so often she passed other tunnels branching off to both 
sides, some darker, some a bit more brightly lit.  These mining tunnels 
honeycombed the subsurface of Hellpit Territory, the only place on the 
planet where valuable quadrilithium for laser weapons crystallized 
naturally below ground.  Sabotage had studied her route well, and was 
not fooled into following the wrong pathways.  It would be easy, 
dangerously easy, to get tempted into following a brighter, more even 
tunnel, and get lost down here.  If they found her, the overseers in 
charge of the mining slaves would make short work of her.
	Up ahead, she sensed the illumination growing just 
perceptibly brighter.  She was getting close.  Taking care to move 
soundlessly, she concentrated on what lay ahead, sending her mind 
ahead of her . . . sometimes it worked, sometimes she could get a 
telepathic sense of how many opponents she would have to deal with 
when she turned the last corner . . . yes, she was getting the definite 
impression of thought-wave patterns now, many, jumbled together....  
She stopped, let her one working optic sensor dim to black in 
concentration.  Above the muddle of minds steeped in exhaustion and 
despair she picked out two that were clearer than the rest, alert, with a 
hostile tint to their thought-waves ... not that she could ever delve 
deeper than that, much as she had tried, to pick out actual thoughts 
and images from another robot's mind.  A vague general impression 
was all she could achieve, if anything at all; her telepathic abilities 
were too weak and sporadic to be heavily relied on.  Not like those of 
her long-dead creator, she thought with a shudder of bitterness and 
pain -- he had been a true, powerful telepath, and he had died along 
with her beautiful home city, long ago in this senseless Autobot-
Decepticon war.
	Sabotage's city had been one of Neutrals, innocent bystanders, 
thoughtlessly ruined in the clash of two great armies that happened to 
meet head-on in that particular location.  She had never known, or 
cared, which side won that battle.  She only knew that she had lost 
everything and everyone she had ever cared for, and from that moment 
on, the Autobots and Decepticons both were her enemies.  She had 
traveled alone across the planet, from territory to territory, destroying 
what she could, and, as her name proclaimed, sabotaging the military 
operations of both sides.  She despised all warriors too much to have 
formed any friendships along the way -- she had, when her survival 
was at stake, entered into temporary alliances, though her "allies" later 
found they had made a fatal mistake in trusting her, after their 
usefulness was ended.  In all, Sabotage was a dangerous, elusive, and 
solitary robot who lived to destroy, knowing well that her hours were 
numbered and hoping only to take as many of her enemies as possible 
with her when she was finally caught.
	Today, however, she did not intend to die.  Only two 
overseers stood against her in this section of the mine, and two she 
could handle easily.  She tried to get as precise an idea as possible of 
their locations by concentrating on their thought-waves, and then leapt 
around the final bend in the tunnel, firing the lasers on both her arms 
simultaneously -- one at each guard.  Her guess at their locations had 
been precise, and they were taken completely by surprise.  As one, they 
fell to her paralysis bolts -- weapons she had developed which allowed 
her to keep her victims alive long enough to extract any useful 
information they might have.  These two, however, had none.  
Sabotage wasted no time and fired a point-blank laser blast through 
each of the guards' optics, to melt down the vital circuitry of their 
brains.
	Behind them, separated by a glowing containment field, the 
first of the mining slaves were staggering dazedly to their feet with the 
realization that something unusual was going on.  Quickly Sabotage 
picked out the control box on the wall that kept the containment field 
in place.  She could blast it and destroy the field that way, but it would 
set off alarms.  She pulled open a panel and expertly disconnected the 
necessary wiring, disabling the alarm system, and then sent a charge 
of energy into the controls.  The containment field failed with an 
electronic crackle.
	The mining slaves stood staring at her -- Autobots, 
imprisoned here so long that they had lost all hope of escape.  The 
horror of Sabotage's physical appearance probably had something to 
do with their shocked expressions as well, she thought ironically.  
"You're free, you idiots!" she snapped at them.  This seemed to jolt 
them into awareness of their situation, and they rushed forward, nearly 
running her over in their eagerness, streaming out into the tunnels.  
Sabotage grabbed hold of one of the last, one of the smaller ones, and 
slammed him up against the wall of his former prison.  "Tell me, 
where is the nearest pocket of quadrilithium?" she demanded.
	"This tunnel leading off to the right," he gasped.  "Follow it 
down, and take the third tunnel going left.  But -- there are guards--"
	"How many?"
	"Three or four, it depends--"
	Sabotage shoved him aside and darted into the tunnel, leaving 
the Autobot to stagger after his companions.  Some of them would no 
doubt get lost in the maze of corridors and be recaptured, but that was 
no further concern of hers.  Enough of them would escape to make 
things inconvenient for the Decepticon mining operation.  Sabotage 
would, however, make even more trouble for them while she was here.  
She burst out of the tunnels into a more spacious chamber, firing as 
she came out, again catching the guards by surprise.  But there were 
four of them this time, and she hadn't known their exact locations, and 
they managed to dodge her blasts.  Behind them, slaves clambered 
over outcrops of multicolored quadrilithium crystals that were 
imbedded in the metallic stone.  They stopped their work and dove for 
cover as well, for Sabotage's firing was random.  She leapt aside as the 
closest Decepticon guard opened fire on her.  At that moment her 
damaged leg gave out and she stumbled, barely managing to pitch 
herself forward behind a cover of crystal outcrop.  But the blast caught 
the edge of her foot, and immediately a searing pain raced up her leg.  
Neurocircuit inhibitor!  Clamping her jaws shut over her cry of pain, 
Sabotage dragged the paralyzed limb after her as she pulled herself 
further behind the crystals, then balanced on her good leg to fire over 
the top of her barricade.
	The four guards were closing in on her, and she couldn't fire 
on all of them at once.  Worse, as soon as her first laser burst had 
struck the quadrilithium, a wailing alarm siren had gone off, and more 
guards would arrive any moment now.  The neurocircuit inhibitor 
blast was starting to wear off, and Sabotage was beginning to get some 
feeling back in her leg.  Quickly she set her weapons to produce a 
sonic wave capable of shattering the quadrilithium crystals -- lasers 
bounced harmlessly off them -- and fired up and outward at the sides 
of the chamber.
	A deep, grinding, rumbling sound drowned out the high-
pitched shatterings of the quadrilithium as the crystals sprang into 
multifaceted shards.  The entire unstable ceiling of the chamber came 
down with a tremendous roar.  Sabotage sprang for the cover of the 
tunnel behind her and ran as fast as she could, still limping, up the 
steep incline.  A plume of rock and metal fragments and pulverized 
crystal dust blasted her from behind and she almost fell, but kept 
going.  Soon she was past the empty holding cell where she had 
released the Autobots, and back in the original corridor that led 
upward and out of the mines.  It was a straight run to the surface from 
here, if only she encountered no more guards.
	As soon as she had this thought, Sabotage heard them coming 
at her from an intersecting corridor.  Laser weapons and neurocircuit 
inhibitor blasts flashed toward her out of the darkness of the tunnel.  
She released another sonic wave, a short pulse, enough to cave in a 
section of the ceiling behind her.  Through a hail of sharp-edged 
fragments, she ran for the opening up ahead, transforming into her jet 
mode and streaking away into Cybertron's dark sky.
			* * *
	Siege-Gun waited in the dimly lit entrance chamber to his 
commander's throne room, letting his optics adjust to the darkness.  It 
was not good form to go tripping and stumbling into Shadowlord's 
presence, he had found over the years, and so always gave himself 
some time to get used to the lack of illumination before entering.  
Besides, these few minutes were often vital for gathering one's 
courage, especially when bearing unpleasant news.  Like today.
	Siege-Gun steeled himself and entered.  The throne room was 
even darker than the entrance chamber, but a single torch burned 
beside the door.  Straight ahead, Shadowlord's throne rose on a pillar 
of darkness, its edges rimmed with a faint silver network of thin, 
shimmering lines:  Shadowlord's remote sensor system, to which he 
directly plugged himself in and personally observed his entire 
territory.  Shadowlord himself was, at first glance, difficult to pick out 
on his throne, though the leaping flame of the torch cast eerie outlines 
of his wings and horned helmet onto the wall behind him.
	Siege-Gun came forward, stopping at a respectful (and safe) 
distance.  "Commander," he began, "there's been--"
	"A problem.  I know," Shadowlord interrupted.  Of course, 
Siege-Gun thought, he *would* know.  Shadowlord's huge, luminous, 
cold-white eyes stared out at him unflickering from the shadows of his 
face, and Siege-Gun resisted the urge to squirm.  The ruler of Hellpit 
Territory continued inflectionlessly, "Earlier tonight, someone 
bypassed the security alarms and entered the North Mine, whereupon 
she killed two of my overseers, released 57 of my slaves, and collapsed 
a ceiling on 28 more, as well as four more guards, to say nothing of 
utterly destroying a valuable outcrop of quadrilithium.  A small 
outcrop, to be sure, but it represents a loss for me, and I'm not 
pleased."
	"Uh ... yes, Commander," Siege-Gun murmured.  Light from 
the torch danced faintly over the strands of the sensor-net.  Nothing, 
absolutely nothing that happened in Hellpit Territory escaped 
Shadowlord's notice, and it wouldn't have done any good to try and 
downplay the facts.
	"Furthermore," Shadowlord went on, "after all this mayhem, 
the perpetrator escaped.  I am familiar with this female's activities -- 
her name is Sabotage, and she has caused trouble in these parts before 
-- but never within the borders of my realm.  She made fools of you 
and your guards -- and with Megatron due for an official visit 
tomorrow, I have no intention of letting your incompetence reflect 
badly on me."
	He fell silent, pinning Siege-Gun with his luminous gaze.  
The shadows flickered behind him, and seconds passed like eternities.  
"Find this vigilante and kill her," Shadowlord said finally, "before she 
causes any more trouble."
	"As you command, Shadowlord," Siege-Gun said, offering 
the Decepticon salute of the closed fist against his chest, and turned to 
go.
	"And, Siege-Gun--?"  Shadowlord added, freezing him in his 
tracks.  "If there should be a problem while Megatron is here ...  I 
assure you, *you* will be the one to pay for it.  Now go."
	Siege-Gun nodded and hurried out of the throne room, 
relieved to be away.  It was only after the doors had closed and he 
stood in the entrance chamber, that the full meaning of Shadowlord's 
words came to him.  If he did not succeed in this mission, his own life 
was forfeit -- even after all his years of loyal service.  Fighting a sense 
of betrayal, Siege-Gun hurried off to organize a search troop.
			* * *
	This was the worst of all possible outcomes, Siege-Gun 
thought as he led a troop of guards at a run down the fortress corridor.  
Some hours ago they had flushed Sabotage out of hiding among the 
ruins of Hellpit City, forming a net-like pattern to close in on her.  
They had been close, so close -- and then she had vanished, right from 
between their grasp.  They picked up the trail a few minutes later, but 
by then it was too late -- she was heading for Shadowlord's fortress, 
and they couldn't reach her in time to head her off.  So here they were, 
Siege-Gun thought, playing hide-and-seek in the hallways, with 
Shadowlord and Megatron elsewhere in the very same building.  If 
only they could trap her and kill her before disaster stuck, he thought 
desperately.
	Sabotage.  Her reputation preceded her -- she did 
indiscriminate damage to Decepticons and Autobots alike, now and 
again managing to kill a high-ranking military commander or 
territorial ruler.  And now, here, she undoubtedly saw her chance to 
assassinate the one Decepticon who commanded all others:  Megatron.  
No wonder she had fled toward the fortress!  Even an unsuccessful 
assassination attempt, here in what was supposed to be a secure 
stronghold, would make Siege-Gun look like an inept bungler, since 
he was in charge of security -- and by extension, would undermine 
Shadowlord's power.  Siege-Gun cursed himself for his lack of 
foresight, but there was nothing to be done now.  Only blind chance 
could still save him from Shadowlord's retribution.
	Chance, one last chance, it seemed, was on his side.  Up 
ahead, he caught a flash of silver-white as Sabotage broke cover and 
dashed across an intersecting cross-corridor.  "After her!" Siege-Gun 
commanded, dodging into the intersection to follow.  But Sabotage 
had too great of a lead, and it seemed that, as fast as he ran, he 
couldn't close the gap.  But at least he could see her now, up ahead, 
and keep track of her twists and turns.
	She dodged into a wide hallway leading off to the left.  With a 
sudden, sickening horror, Siege-Gun realized she was heading for the 
throne room.  There was perhaps one final opportunity to corner her in 
the entrance hall before she blasted her way into the main chamber.  
As she disappeared through the entrance, Siege-Gun put on a final, 
desperate burst of speed and surged in after her, all lasers ready to fire.  
He skidded to an abrupt stop at the sight that met him -- a sight that 
made his fuel run cold.  The guards rushing in behind him nearly 
collided with him.  Siege-Gun stood oblivious to them.
	Shadowlord stood in the entrance chamber with one hand 
wrapped around the vigilante's throat, holding her up and away from 
him so that she struggled in the air, clawing frantically at the vise-like 
grip that held her.  Shadowlord's impressive wings were unfurled 
behind him, framing him as he turned his head slowly to regard Siege-
Gun with his icy, dispassionate gaze.
	"Your efficiency, and I use the term loosely, leaves much to 
be desired," he said.  As he spoke, he slammed Sabotage down and 
brought up one knee to gouge the venomous spike at its tip into her 
stomach.  Indifferent to her shriek of agony, he threw her forcefully 
against the wall.  She crumpled to the ground and convulsed into a 
tight ball, pulling her legs up against her.  "I gave you specific 
instructions," Shadowlord continued to Siege-Gun, and kicked 
Sabotage viciously so her head snapped back from where she had 
curled it against her chest.  "I told you, no incidents were to occur 
while Megatron was here."  He punctuated this with another kick.
	"But -- she didn't get in," Siege-Gun pointed out.  "She didn't 
do any more damage...?"
	"Yes."  Another kick, even harder, though Shadowlord's 
expression never changed.  "And that is the only reason why you still 
function.  But you've failed me, Siege-Gun, and I won't forget it."  One 
final kick.  "Now, take her and melt her down.  I assume you can do 
that much, at least."
	"Of course, Commander," Siege-Gun assured him quickly, 
and turned toward Sabotage.  She lay against the wall, knocked nearly 
senseless.  This was the first time Siege-Gun had gotten a close-up 
look at her.  She was in bad shape, not only from the beating she had 
just taken, but from older injuries as well.  Her right arm and leg were 
dented and battered, her shoulder-joint torn open so that some of the 
internal wires showed.  These gave off intermittent sparks -- 
something deeper inside was torn loose as well.  Her left wing had an 
entire chunk missing, the edges ragged and coated in corrosion.  It was 
amazing that she could have caused so much damage in her time, or 
moved so quickly to elude the guards.
	Siege-Gun reached down and pulled her up by her 
undamaged shoulder, and her head lolled backwards.  The ruined face 
had been beautiful once, but now the entire right side and part of the 
helmet was molten into a shapeless mass.  An empty, malformed 
socket took the place of her right eye-lens.
	He placed the gunbarrel on his arm against her throat, and 
prepared to fire.
	"Drop her!" came a sharp command from behind him.  Siege-
Gun jumped, but kept his grip on Sabotage's shoulder; this was not the 
voice of Shadowlord, and Shadowlord had given him different orders.  
He turned to see Megatron striding towards him out of the open 
doorway of the throne room.  "I said let her go!" growled the 
Decepticon leader, letting his eyes flash dangerously.  Megatron was 
perhaps the only Decepticon of Siege-Gun's acquaintance who was not 
in the least bit intimidated by Shadowlord.  That said a great deal for 
his personal power.  With an apologetic glance at his commander, 
Siege-Gun let Sabotage sink back to the floor.
	Shadowlord's expression remained indifferent.  The matter 
was closed to him -- the vigilante was Megatron's problem now.
	The Decepticon leader crouched down on the floor next to 
Sabotage, cupping her chin in one hand to tilt her ruined face upward.  
"*Selenia*," he murmured.
	Her one working eye-lens flickered dimly back on.  "M-
Megatron?" she whispered uncertainly.  Then the light faded back to 
black.
			* * *
	Sabotage/Selenia lay in the repair ward, too stunned by her 
own churning emotions to do any more than passively let the 
repaireons swarm over her.  Up until the moment she had struggled 
back from the brink of unconsciousness in the entrance hall, she had 
known exactly who she was, exactly what she wanted.  What she had 
wanted was Megatron's death.  This was her perfect opportunity, she 
remembered thinking as she had maneuvered out of Siege-Gun's trap 
and toward the fortress -- her big chance to take out the driving force 
behind the Decepticon army, and possibly Shadowlord as well, a likely 
successor.  When she was caught in the entrance hall -- when her 
electronic defense field had failed to activate, as it sometimes did, to 
ward off Shadowlord's touch -- she had known it was all over.  She 
had failed in her mission, and it would cost her her life.
	And then -- Megatron.  Seeing him, hearing the name he 
addressed her by.  Something had snapped inside her, some barrier 
broken by a flood of memories that seemed at once alien, not her own, 
but also familiar, undeniably true.  The shock, more than her injuries, 
had overwhelmed her and caused her to lose consciousness again.
	The next thing she knew, she was lying on a table in the 
repair ward.  She barely noticed the hum and whine of equipment, the 
hissing of blowtorches and clatter of replacement parts that went on 
around her.  Without protest she sat up when she was told to do so, for 
a new left wing to be fitted into place; again without a word she lay 
back down for continued work on her new right eye.  She felt none of 
it -- the repaireons had given her a destimulant that deadened all pain, 
though even without this, she probably would barely have noticed.  It 
had been centuries, millennia even, since she had allowed another 
Transformer to touch her for repairs.  Now she hadn't the strength to 
protest, even though the repaireons were restoring her and already she 
felt physically more powerful than she had in a long time.  But her 
external senses were numb, her reeling thoughts focused inward.
	The repaireons were adding a final coat of polish, moving her 
unresisting limbs as they lubricated the joints, then coaxed her to a 
sitting position again.  She let her legs dangle from the table and 
stared blankly ahead as they filed out of the room, leaving her alone.  
For a moment she floated in a void of dead silence, her surroundings 
fading around her.  Then her attention focused forward.  Megatron 
had entered the room.
	He regarded her for a long moment, then nodded approvingly.  
"Much better.  We couldn't have let Soundwave see you like *that*."
	She caught her breath, hearing another name that triggered a 
rush of indefinable emotion.  "Soundwave lives?" she said.  "After all 
this time?"
	"But of course.  What's more, you have a whole flock of 
siblings that you've never even met."
	Siblings.  She'd had a brother, Ravage--
	"You were too busy cutting a swath of destruction through my 
forces," Megatron interrupted her thought, his tone suddenly cold, his 
eyes like hard crimson shards.  "*Sabotage*."  Megatron spat the 
name derisively.  "What was the meaning of all that?  Who were you 
getting back at?  *Do you know how many times I sent out the order to 
have you killed?*"  He had moved forward and seized her wrists, 
pulling her off the table and to her feet, his eyes burning into hers.
	She tried to pull away, but his grip was unyielding.  As 
Sabotage, she loathed his touch -- he was everything she hated most, 
the ultimate embodiment of the warrior, who would stop at nothing, 
who would overrun entire cities, to get his way.  As Selenia, she 
shivered with the remembered thrill of his effortless power, the 
unexpected delight of being so close to him again.  The mental conflict 
was too much.  She twisted desperately, crying out, "I don't know, 
alright?  I don't know why I did what I did, why I lived the life I did!  
I'm not even sure who I really am!"
	Her voice had risen in panic, and Megatron let her go.  She 
pulled back from him, pressing herself back against the repair table, as 
far away from him as possible.  "Alright," he said, taking a more 
soothing tone.  "We'll try another approach.  When you were captured 
by the Autobots, Soundwave said you started a self-destruct sequence.  
Shortly thereafter, he lost his mental link with you.  We assumed you 
were dead.  Obviously you were reactivated at some later point.  Why 
didn't you come back to us then?  Why did you take on this Sabotage-
persona?"  It ended up sounding like an accusation.
	Selenia shook her head.  "I don't remember any of that.  I just 
don't know."
	Megatron regarded her skeptically for a few moments.  
"Fine," he said.  "We'll let your creator sort this out.  Come on."  The 
door to the repair ward slid back as he stepped through.  Selenia 
hesitated for a fraction of an instant, and then followed.
	A small, armed shuttleship was parked before the entrance to 
Shadowlord's fortress.  Siege-Gun and a troop of guards were there to 
see Megatron off, and they snapped to attention when the Decepticon 
leader appeared.  Shadowlord himself was nowhere to be seen -- an 
implied hint of disrespect, Selenia wondered?  Before she followed 
Megatron into the shuttle, she gave Siege-Gun a defiant look, worthy 
of Sabotage:  she had survived.  But once inside the shuttleship, she 
was Selenia again, and lost.  She curled herself into the co-pilot's seat 
and stared fixedly out the window while Megatron lifted off.  On the 
journey to Polyhex, halfway around the planet, she didn't say one 
word.  Megatron glanced at her oddly now and again, but she was 
grateful that he let her be and did not attempt conversation.
			* * *
	The Black Fortress at Polyhex was the home base of the 
Decepticon high command.  Impregnable and bristling with 
armament, it was here that the war against the Autobots had its true 
origin; even when Megatron was off-planet, he filtered most of his 
orders through whomever he had placed in command of these twisted 
spires.  The base had vast underground reserves of stored energon, 
immense labs and test-facilities for the ongoing development of ever-
more-deadly weapons, and a computer and surveillance system second 
only to Shockwave's computer at Watch Central, the Guardian's 
residence.
	Selenia had never been within the dark walls of the Fortress.  
Megatron ushered her without ceremony from the landing bay and 
through a maze of narrow corridors, finally leaving her in a small, 
partially empty storage room.  "Wait here," he instructed, and was 
gone again.
	Selenia looked around.  Assorted pieces of machinery and 
weapons littered the floor and shelves.  Almost instinctively she sifted 
through some of the equipment, picking out, with a skill born of long 
practice, those pieces she might at some point be able to use.  
Surreptitiously she stashed them in her chest-compartment, behind the 
now-repaired opaque glass of her cockpit.  Her fingers brushed the 
new, shiny-purple Decepticon symbol that had been burnt onto its 
surface.  For some reason it bothered her.  Some feeling she could not 
explain protested that it was a badge she ought not wear.
	The mental confusion that threatened to overwhelm her again 
was cut short by the sound of the door sliding back behind her.  
Megatron entered, followed by Soundwave.  The Decepticon leader 
barely glanced at her, but instead stood aside and watched Soundwave 
closely.
	For a moment Selenia stood transfixed.  What could she say 
to her creator, after all these centuries?  Then she felt his thoughts 
reach out to her -- the old, familiar telepathic touch, carrying with it 
the sense of everything he was -- his calm self-assurance, loyalty and 
courage, warmth, wisdom, and patience.  The mental link, which had 
been so violently snapped, re-established itself with surprising ease; 
the frayed connections mended themselves.  Selenia barely realized 
that she rushed forward and flung her arms around Soundwave's neck 
-- barely noticed when Megatron, apparently satisfied that she was 
truly not an impostor, left them alone -- she knew only that 
Soundwave held her tightly and, at this moment, all the pain and 
confusion that tormented her vanished into insignificance.
			* * *
	For a while, Selenia thought her joy could have no bounds.  
Soundwave took her down to a huge, complex laboratory facility that 
doubled as a repair bay, for a tempestuous reunion with Ravage.  Her 
older brother, usually so reserved and aloof, practically climbed all 
over her in his delight, and threatened to lap off her entire new coat of 
polish with his raspy tongue.  Selenia sat on the floor and hugged him 
and laughed until she was out of breath.  She found, after she and 
Ravage had regained some measure of composure, that their telepathic 
mind-link had re-established itself as easily as it had with Soundwave.  
Selenia felt a new completeness inside, as though a few missing pieces 
had been returned to her soul.
	Soundwave introduced her to her other siblings.  Megatron 
hadn't been exaggerating when he'd described them as "a whole flock":  
Selenia's eyes went bright with amazement when it seemed there was 
no end to the cassettes that leapt out of Soundwave's chest 
compartment and transformed into small robots or animals.  Selenia, 
who had gone up against some of Cybertron's deadliest warriors, found 
herself suddenly at an uncomfortable loss for words under the 
skeptical, yet curious, scrutiny of her brothers.  "I'm -- I'm your sister," 
she stammered finally.
	"We don't have a sister," said the little blue robot whom 
Soundwave had introduced as Rumble.  He and the others had 
apparently never known about her.  He glanced uncertainly at 
Soundwave.  "But we don't *have* a sister...?"  Meant to be a 
statement, it came out as a question.
	"You certainly do," Soundwave replied.  "We thought she was 
destroyed long ago, before you were created.  I did not know otherwise 
until today."
	Selenia reached out mentally to Rumble's mind, to all of 
them.  She didn't know for certain if she'd get through --
	"Hey!" another one, Frenzy, yelped in amazement.  He and 
the others looked at Soundwave, at each other, at Selenia.  They had 
all felt her telepathic contact.  After that, their initial shyness 
dissolved, and they all came crowding around her, all seemingly 
talking at once.
	Selenia found that she had a limited mind-link with each of 
them -- not as clear as the one she had with Ravage, and not anywhere 
near as strong as her link with Soundwave -- but she could send and 
receive thoughts and emotions, in a general way, quite easily.  
Soundwave, as was his custom, stood back and let events take their 
natural course.  Finally, though, he interrupted and ushered his entire 
brood out of the lab, assuring them they could get together with their 
newfound sister again later.  "You too, Ravage," he added when the 
robotic feline remained firmly rooted at Selenia's side.  "Selenia and I 
have much to discuss."  Slowly, with unhurried elegance, Ravage rose 
and padded noiselessly after the others, who left the lab amidst half-
hearted protests and complaints.
	"Amazing," Selenia breathed when the doors slid shut behind 
them.  "However do you keep them from driving Megatron crazy?"  
She giggled at the thought -- the Decepticon leader was not known for 
his patience, and she couldn't imagine him happily enduring a horde 
of laughing, shouting, rambunctious children.
	"Sometimes it's not easy," Soundwave admitted, but smiled 
fondly.
	Selenia, too, smiled and clasped his hands in spontaneous 
happiness.  "I didn't know I had such a large family."
	Abruptly the expression in Soundwave's eyes turned serious.  
"You didn't know you had a family at all, for the past four million 
years," he corrected.  "Come over here."  Selenia felt a vague sinking 
sensation inside as Soundwave led her to the diagnostic equipment in 
the repair ward part of the lab.  "I want to check you over," he said.  
"Make sure that Shadowlord's repaireons did a good job."  Obligingly 
Selenia hopped up on the table.  She felt suddenly tense and wary.
	Soundwave began by testing her right shoulder, where some 
of the worst damage had been.  She relaxed a bit under his touch -- in 
addition to being a communications and computer expert, and third-
in-command of Megatron's forces, Soundwave was also a highly 
skilled repairs specialist.  Selenia let him move and rotate the shoulder 
joint.  He then brought out a tiny diagnostic scanner, which he ran 
closely over the newly repaired surface.  The scanner hummed an 
almost inaudible, soothing tone.
	"Sabotage," Soundwave mused, almost casually.  "How did 
you end up that way?  Tell me what you remember."
	Just beyond the newly healed fragments of her soul, Selenia 
sensed a yawning black chasm of terror.  Her happiness had been a 
superficial thing, a veneer that chipped and flaked away at the 
slightest provocation.  "I don't remember anything," she whispered, 
her body gone rigid.
	"Yes you do," Soundwave persisted calmly.  He tilted her 
head up so she met his eyes.  "You're just afraid of facing it."  
[Selenia], he said, and she realized he was no longer speaking, that the 
words formed in her mind, "[Selenia, remember, you're safe now.  
Whatever happened, however painful it might be to remember, you 
need to face it so it can no longer hurt you.  I'm here -- I'll travel into 
your memories with you.  I won't let anything harm you]."
			* * *
	

	Selenia restlessly prowled the perimeter of the great 
chambered cavern which had been hollowed out deep beneath the 
Bismuth Mountains, and served as a temporary base camp.  The others 
had all gone off into battle -- she was the only one there.  She was 
frustrated, verging on angry.
	She circled back to the conglomeration of hardware and 
software that had been strung together to form a makeshift 
surveillance computer, in an alcove of the main chamber.  "Stay 
behind and guard the computer," Megatron had said, "it's the only 
equipment we have." 
	Guard -- from *what*?  Their base was so well hidden, with 
both entrances holographically disguised, that an entire army of 
Autobots couldn't find it -- let alone the ragtag rebel bands that 
crawled around this sector of the planet, and spent almost as much 
time fighting each other as they spent fighting the equally ragtag 
Decepticon bands.  But Megatron had said stay behind, and stay 
behind it was.  He made her angry sometimes, with his imperious 
manner, as though he were already Supreme Commander of all 
Decepticons instead of just a minor warlord.  But Soundwave and 
Ravage were convinced that was merely a temporary situation, and 
Selenia found that she had to agree.  With his driving ambition, 
fearlessness, power, and cunning intelligence, Megatron was already 
beginning a meteoric rise through the Decepticon ranks.  His latest 
ploy was to unite the scattered and feuding Decepticon bands that 
roamed these mountains, and consolidate them under his command; 
he had already systematically gained the loyalty, or at least the sworn 
allegiance, of much of the Decepticon-controlled southern hemisphere 
and equatorial regions.  Now, having left the bulk of his army camped 
on the equator, he was pushing his influence north.  Even Straxus, 
from his fortified position in Polyhex, had reason to be wary of the 
fiery young warlord who would, no doubt, soon challenge him for 
power.
	Selenia found it hard to stay angry with Megatron when she 
thought of him like that.  He was, after all, the most exciting and 
attractive male she had ever met; he had introduced her to pleasures 
she hadn't thought possible, both physical and emotional.  When his 
attention was fully focused on her, she felt like the luckiest female in 
the galaxy.  And then again he could be so -- so condescending.  
"Guard the computer, indeed," she muttered, her annoyance flaring 
again.  Megatron just didn't think she could hold her own on the 
battlefield.
	And Soundwave -- Soundwave was just as bad.  Selenia loved 
her creator dearly, but he could be so overprotective that she 
sometimes felt suffocated.  She'd been amazed and pleased that he had 
even condoned her relationship with Megatron; but then, Soundwave 
thought the world of Megatron.  And, like Megatron, he didn't think 
she could hold her own in battle.  "You don't have enough training 
yet," he'd say, to which she'd shout back, "How can I ever *get* 
training if you never take me along?!"  Even Ravage had to put his two 
chips in, trying to tell her how dangerous things were, out there, and 
she'd only be injured.  "Chauvinists!" she screamed at them, 
"chauvinists, that's what you are!"  And she'd stalked away to sulk in a 
corner of the cave.  Later she'd felt guilty for screaming, realizing 
intellectually that Soundwave's, Megatron's, and Ravage's reluctance 
to let her join battle was motivated by concern, not malice -- but, that 
didn't make it emotionally any less frustrating.  Finally they had 
reached an uneasy compromise, with Selenia being given bombing 
missions that usually kept her at high altitude or only within enemy 
firing range for the briefest possible time.  It still wasn't what she 
wanted, but at least it was a start.
	And this time they'd left her behind again.  One step forward, 
two steps back.  She sighed and sat down at the computer, letting her 
wings droop dejectedly.  There was movement on the surveillance 
screen, but that was nothing unusual, and she turned her eyes to it 
with little interest.  A small band of Autobots poked around in the 
vicinity of one of the disguised entrances.  They suspected there was a 
base around here somewhere, but they didn't know exactly where.  
They'd never find it.  They were already turning away, heading in the 
wrong direction.
	Selenia suddenly straightened in her chair as a thought struck 
her.  "Guard the computer," Megatron had said.  So, what if those 
Autobots turned back, and by chance did find the entrance?  What if 
they came down here and destroyed the computer, or captured the 
base?  Wouldn't it be much better to destroy them now, before they 
even got close?  Selenia grinned.  When the others got back, she would 
lead them to the corpses of the Autobot squadron that she had 
destroyed all on her own.  *She'd* show *them*!
	But she had to hurry.  Soundwave periodically "checked in" 
with her mentally, not in an intrusive way, but just to make sure she 
was alright -- though at such moments he could usually tell what she 
was doing.  Hopefully he would be otherwise occupied for a while.  
Selenia quickly powered up her lasers and leapt out the aerial access 
portal, out into the night sky.  Engines howling, she raced off in 
pursuit of the Autobots, who had already moved out of visual range.
	She swooped low, between the jagged mountain peaks that 
glimmered with eerie flickers of color.  She rounded a ridge and saw 
the squadron up ahead.  She closed on them quickly and released a 
barrage of laser fire that concentrated on the unsuspecting robot 
nearest her.  He managed to turn halfway toward her, cried out, 
staggered, and exploded into a brilliant fireball.  The others had 
whipped out their weapons, lighting the dark sky and metallic peaks 
with a criss-cross of multicolored beams.
	Selenia spun out of their path, climbing high, twisting, and 
diving toward them from a new angle.  Her first, effortless kill had 
exhilarated her, and she was ready to do more damage.  She activated 
her electronic force field, which sparked and crackled around her, and 
shot high-voltage electrical bolts from its perimeter.  Two found their 
mark -- one Autobot damaged, the other incinerated beyond repair.
	Again she climbed clear of their return fire.  What was so 
difficult about all this?  Autobots died easily -- even Megatron had said 
so.  A snatch of argument drifted through her mind:  "You always say 
they're not real warriors," Selenia had protested, "so why can't I help 
you fight them?"  "Not real warriors, no, but treacherous, and 
sometimes they get lucky," Megatron had replied.
	She dived, firing electric bolts and lasers.  Something clipped 
past her wing, rattling her balance; an instant later she felt a searing 
pain along the edge, which startled her into ceasing fire.  She pulled 
out of her dive.  Another bright bolt flashed past her, narrowly missing 
-- not from the ground, but from halfway up the nearest mountain!  
While the main group had kept her busy, one or two others had 
scrambled to a new vantage point.
	Selenia peppered the dark mountainside with laser fire, 
randomly hoping to hit something.  Fire from the ground increased, 
making it necessary for her to respond.  Her attention was being 
divided, making it hard for her to fully concentrate on either target.  
Her exhilaration had vanished, replaced by anger and a growing spark 
of fear.  She realized she had lost control of the situation, and logic 
told her to pull out -- but she so desperately wanted to prove herself 
that she decided to forge ahead.  These Autobots weren't so tough, they 
were just---
	An impact struck her in the back with such force that she lost 
engine power.  A moment later there was searing pain, like before, but 
over her whole body.  Fighting a blackness that threatened to close in 
over her, she forced herself upward in the air, tilting her wings back.  
Her engines made an unhealthy whining sound as she continued to 
drop in altitude, despite her efforts.  She realized with a shock that the 
bolt which struck her had come from yet a third angle, halfway up the 
opposite mountain.
	"... treacherous, and sometimes they get lucky...."  Selenia 
lost consciousness an instant before she crashed to the ground.



	[Continue],  Soundwave told her, running his scanner over 
her newly-replaced left wing.  [What's the next thing you remember?]



	Selenia found herself held immobile to a smooth vertical 
surface, locked in place by magnetic clamps.  The laser-impact on her 
back burned like liquid fire.  She flickered her eyes carefully to 
brightness, afraid of what she would see.  She had barely glimpsed 
light, and behind it shadow, when the back of a fist slammed across 
her face.  She cried out with the shock and pain, then mentally cursed 
herself for having made a sound.  She brightened her eyes fully and 
stared unwaveringly ahead.
	A bright light-source hung above her, though behind it 
gathered the formless shadows of a subterranean cavern, much like 
that of Megatron's base.  To both sides of her, computer equipment 
and machinery hummed and blinked.  A large green-and-silver 
Autobot stood before her, menacing and powerful.
	"Welcome back to consciousness," he said coldly.  "You're a 
bit young to go ambushing my warriors, aren't you?"  He slammed his 
fist across her face again, once, twice.  "That's for Torque and Fusion," 
he snarled.  Selenia had this time forced herself to make no sound.  
Even through the bright haze of pain that pounded behind her eyes, 
she took pleasure in the Autobot's confirmation that she had indeed 
taken out two of their number.
	"You've bitten off more than you can shred, little female," the 
Autobot continued.  He leaned very close to her, grasping hold of her 
chin and turning her head roughly from side to side.  "I didn't think 
the Decepticons could turn out such attractive females."  He laughed 
unpleasantly, reaching up with his other hand to caress the side of her 
helmet.
	Selenia felt a surge of revulsion at his touch, but there was 
something chillingly familiar about his manner.  She had seen 
Megatron treat prisoners in similar ways, worse even, switching back 
and forth between violence and almost kindness during the course of 
an interrogation, toying with them, enjoying it.  Watching him, she'd 
thought it fascinating; finding herself on the receiving end now was 
altogether different.  She barely managed to clamp down on the panic 
that rose within her.
	"Commander Typhon," came a voice from the shadows.
	The green-and-silver Autobot snatched his hands away from 
Selenia with an annoyed snarl.  "What is it, Circuit?"
	A slender, bright yellow Autobot with cyan accents moved 
into the light.  "Don't you think we should extract information from 
her first, before you -- uh, damage her?  She won't be able to tell us 
anything once she's dead or traumatized beyond sanity."
	"I won't tell you anything anyway!" Selenia hissed.
	Typhon clamped his hand around her throat.  "Oh, but you 
most certainly will," he said, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous 
anticipation.  He tightened his grip painfully.  "For starters, where is 
the entrance to your hidden base?"
	"Stick it in your audial sensor," Selenia replied.
	The grip tightened.  "One more time.  Where is your base?"
	"Go find it," Selenia gasped.  Her vision was going black.  
Furious, Typhon pulled his hand away, and Selenia gulped air.
	"Circuit," Typhon ordered,  "go bring me that blowtorch you 
were using earlier."
	Circuit looked vaguely uncomfortable.  "Sure, Commander," 
he said, and disappeared into the shadows.
	As Typhon regarded her with a twisted smile, Selenia 
realized for the first time that she would very probably die.  They 
would have to kill her, since she would tell them nothing.  The 
realization that she would never see her friends and family again was 
as painful as any damage that had yet been inflicted on her.  She 
suddenly felt a poignant affection for her fellow warriors, even 
Starscream with his obnoxious attitude, and Shockwave with his 
infuriating logic, and Ruckus who rattled and clanked and leaked all 
over the floor ... and Ravage, and Megatron, and Soundwave, the 
males she loved most in all the galaxies.  She regretted all the time 
wasted in friction and arguements, and fought back tears -- she would 
not fall apart in front of her enemies.
	Circuit returned, carrying a blowtorch in one hand and an 
unusual-looking helmet with dangling wires in the other.  Typhon 
eagerly reached for the blowtorch, but Circuit spoke up quickly, "Why 
don't we just hook her up to the mental probe?"  He held out the 
helmet.  "Once activated, the probe will display any of her thoughts 
visually on the computer screen, and she can't lie or refuse to answer.  
It would save a lot of time -- and energy."  He watched his commander 
hopefully.
	Typhon glowered at him.  "You're so damn practical 
sometimes, Circuit," he growled, and reluctantly reached for the 
helmet.
	Selenia's fuel pump raced with a renewed burst of panic.  She 
would have preferred the blowtorch.  Now, because of her own 
stupidity and recklessness, because she had foolishly defied orders in a 
vain attempt to prove herself, she would end up costing the 
Decepticons far more than just the loss of one warrior.  The Autobots 
would be able to pick and choose among her thoughts and ferret out 
the minutest details about Megatron's plans, the strength of his forces, 
and their exact location.  She had perhaps doomed them all to 
destruction.
	Circuit was helping Typhon connect the helmet's dangling 
wires to the blinking outlets in the computer.
	There was one thing, Selenia realized, that she could do to 
prevent this.  Dimming her eyes, she activated a complicated series of 
mental commands.  When she brightened her eyes again, she felt 
rather than heard the beginning of the steady countdown deep inside 
her, felt the heat slowly building in her power core as the overload 
gathered.  She only hoped she had begun the self-destruct sequence in 
time.  There was no way to speed up the countdown.
	The helmet was hooked up, and Circuit was keying up a 
diagnostic program while Typhon waited impatiently.
	Selenia almost gasped aloud as she felt a familiar mental 
touch.  Soundwave, "checking in," casually at first; there couldn't have 
been a worse time for it.  Selenia tried to pull away from the contact, 
but it was too late -- he knew immediately that something was wrong, 
and intensified the link.  Selenia felt his start of horror when he sensed 
the countdown and realized what was going on.  Swiftly his thoughts 
entered her neural pathways to abort the sequence.  Selenia tried to 
block him, but against his telepathic skill her untrained efforts were 
less than useless.  Nevertheless it was too late -- the countdown was 
past the point of no return.
	Typhon approached her with the helmet.  Selenia barely saw 
him.  Despite all her efforts, tears streamed down her face.  
"Soundwave I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she whispered.  She tried to pull 
away from his mental contact, to spare him what came next.  She 
never knew if she was successful, for the heat that had built inside her 
exploded outward to envelop her entire perception in a molten red 
fireball.  It shrank quickly into blackness and utter silence.



			* * *
	Selenia leaned against Soundwave, shaking, drawing strength 
from his presence.  It seemed a long time before she could pull back 
and look up at him.  "You were still in contact with me, weren't you, 
when I -- when the sequence ended," she asked.
	"That is unimportant now," he replied.  Selenia saw the barest 
flicker of remembered pain flash through his eyes.
	"I can't believe I could have been that stupid," Selenia said 
angrily.  "To attack a whole squadron by myself--!"
	"No more recriminations," Soundwave stopped her.  "It was 
long ago."
	"Yes," Selenia sighed.  "But that still doesn't explain how I 
became Sabotage."
	"I think I know.  Obviously the Autobots were able to 
reactivate you after your power core overloaded.  You were, for all 
intents and purposes, dead for at least a few minutes, since our mental 
contact was broken ... but tell me, what's the earliest memory you have 
as Sabotage?"
	"It's not all that clear anymore.  But I can still vividly see the 
ruins of the city in front of me, the city that was -- that I *thought* 
was, my home.  I remember dragging myself through the smoking 
rubble, coming across the bodies of my neighbors and friends, finding 
my creator half-buried under tons of steel, dead, and vowing at that 
moment to spend the rest of my life destroying those who had caused 
this.  Even when I think of it now, it feels like a true memory -- I can 
still smell the acrid smoke from the fires.  It's as though there are two 
entirely separate beings living inside my body, each of whom lived her 
own life."
	Soundwave nodded thoughtfully.  "But think for a moment, 
Selenia.  What was the name of your city?"
	She looked at him blankly.  "I -- I don't know."
	"Did you ever know?"
	"No -- no, isn't that strange?  I guess I never thought of the 
city by any particular name.  It was just 'my destroyed home city'."
	Soundwave was putting holes into her "true memories," 
pointing out places where the logic didn't fit.  "Your 'dead creator'," he 
continued, "what was his name?"  
	Selenia shook her head in confusion.  "I don't know that 
either.  But you know, Soundwave, when I picture him, he looked like 
you.  When I remembered him, as Sabotage, he was a skilled telepath, 
like you.  The pain of losing him was real.  Isn't it strange, though, 
that I never questioned why I didn't have names for anyone or 
anything in my past?"
	"Not so strange," Soundwave replied, "when you're dealing 
with false memories that were programmed into your mind.  In such 
mental manipulation it's always more effective to add real events to the 
false memories, to make things ring true.  Real emotions are used as 
much as possible, and bonded to the false memories.  But to use real 
names can endanger the whole process, because real names can trigger 
real memories and lead the subject back to their real identity."
	"So basically, I was implanted with a command to sabotage 
any military operation -- only I thought I was doing it for my own 
sake, for the sake of vengeance!  Soundwave, I can't believe how many 
years I wasted trying to vindicate a false set of memories!  It's as 
though someone took my whole life away from me and manipulated 
me into living an enormous lie!"  It seemed to Selenia, at that moment, 
the most heinous of crimes.  She remembered living with the 
vengelust, the bitterness, the painfully friendless and solitary life she 
had led as Sabotage, and felt utterly violated.
	An unpleasant suspicion took shape in her mind, something 
that she didn't even want to think about ... but she had to know.  "How 
do you know so much about this process," she asked softly, hardly 
daring to voice the question.
	"I've used it," he answered matter-of-factly.
	For a moment she was horrified, to think that her creator 
could have done this deplorable thing to someone else that had been 
done to her.  But it made sense, in a twisted sort of way.  For all his 
empathy and gentleness, Soundwave believed strongly in the 
Decepticon cause, and could be a ruthless fighter -- a fact that never 
failed to surprise his fellow Decepticons, some of whom mistakenly 
considered him almost a pacifist.
	Soundwave was not currently reading her thoughts, but he 
guessed at what was going through her mind.  "This is war," he said.  
"We do what we have to."
	Selenia nodded and dimmed her eyes for a moment, ridding 
herself of the revulsion.  "You think you're an individual," she 
muttered, more to herself than to Soundwave.  "You think you're 
secure in your personality, that this is who you are.  And then to 
realize how easily it can just be blanked out---"
	"It's not always so easy.  In some individuals, their original 
inclinations can't be totally overridden -- merely expanded.  For 
instance in your case.  You attacked Autobot installations as well as 
ours -- that was your original nature coming through.  No doubt the 
Autobots who programmed you realized you would do some damage to 
their own side, but felt it was worth the cost, in return for the damage 
you would do to our side."
	"Now that I think about it," Selenia mused, "I don't remember 
hating one side any more or less than the other, but I do seem to 
remember attacking more Decepticon installations than Autobot ones.  
At the time, it seemed like those just came up more frequently in my 
random path -- but maybe it wasn't so random?"
	"That makes sense," Soundwave agreed.  "Memory 
manipulation can be very subtle, so you never suspect you're acting on 
someone else's instructions.  In fact, you may still not be entirely free 
of it.  I'm still sensing mental blockages in your mind.  But I think the 
worst is over, and we can deal with any other problems as they come 
up."
	Selenia offered him a shaky smile.  She very much wanted to 
believe that the worst was indeed over.



			Part 2

	In the next few days Selenia explored the base, 
marveling at the immense size and maze-like diversity of the 
Black Fortress.  Her younger siblings were only too eager 
to lead her into all their favorite haunts and corners, and 
Selenia enjoyed their company -- but found she learned 
more about the actual lay-out of the base when she explored 
on her own.  She learned quickly that Soundwave could 
almost always be found either in the weapons lab/repair bay 
deep below ground, or in the upper-level communications 
center that could link up with almost all the Decepticon 
troops on the planet, and even had interplanetary capability.
	Besides this huge and sophisticated center, there 
were innumerable smaller communications consoles 
scattered throughout the Fortress, most linking up only 
within the base or within the province of Polyhex, but some 
having planet-wide capability as well.  Selenia found herself 
strangely drawn to these outreach points -- often she found 
herself standing in front of one of the screens and consoles, 
unable to remember arriving there, and not sure why she 
was staring at a dark screen.  A dozen times she'd been on 
the verge of telling Soundwave about these disquieting 
lapses of memory -- but, Soundwave was actively involved 
in helping Megatron plan a major assault, and she didn't 
want to distract him.  Maybe her lapses were merely after-
effects of getting her identity back, she reasoned.  And, she 
felt she had caused Soundwave quite enough worry already, 
without adding to it further.  So, when she heard footsteps 
behind her and turned around, startled, to realize she was in 
the main communications center, she dismissed it without 
much further thought.
	She had turned to face someone she had known long 
ago.  "Starscream!" she exclaimed.
	"Selenia," he replied coolly, looking her up and 
down.  "Rumor had it you were back from the dead.  I 
guess it's true."  He didn't sound especially pleased.  They 
had never much cared for each other, even in the beginning.  
When Selenia's relationship with Megatron had become 
more intimate, she and Starscream had found themselves 
vying in some sense for Megatron's attention.  And later, 
when Starscream began to be constantly, and sometimes 
violently, at odds with Megatron, their initial dislike of each 
other had deepened into something that approached enmity.
	"You do realize this is a restricted area?" Starscream 
persisted.
	"I was looking for my creator," Selenia snapped 
defensively.
	"Well he's not here," Starscream stated the obvious, 
"so you can go now."
	She fixed him with a level glare.  "I'll go when I'm 
good and ready."
	Starscream, to her annoyance, laughed.  "So, you're 
not the fluffy bit of tinfoil you used to be."
	"From anyone but you, I would almost take that as a 
compliment," Selenia answered sarcastically.
	Starscream shrugged.  "Take it any way you like."  
He wandered around her in a casual circle, looking her over.  
"You going to pick up where you left off with Megatron?" 
he asked, his tone taking on a subtly needling quality.
	Selenia whirled on him.  "I don't see what possible 
business that could be of yours!"
	Starscream held out his hands in a gesture of utter 
innocence.  "Hey, I was just attempting to make 
conversation.  You were always so touchy."
	"And you were always such an arrogant jerk, always 
looking to stir up trouble--!"
	"What's going on in here?" demanded a voice from 
the entranceway.  Megatron strode into the huge circular 
room.  "Is he bothering you, Selenia?"
	"Yes," she stated emphatically, as Starscream 
simultaneously voiced an indignant "No!"
	"But then again," he continued with a smirk at 
Megatron, "seeing as you two are, shall we say, *close*, I 
don't suppose you'd believe me over her."
	"Get out of here," Megatron snarled at him, "while 
you can still walk."
	Grinning to himself, but nevertheless keeping 
Megatron at a safe distance, Starscream left the chamber.
	"I can't believe he's still around!" Selenia exclaimed.  
"I thought for sure, after you two had that massive falling-
out, that it was only a matter of time before you twisted his 
head off."
	"I've been on the verge of doing just that a thousand 
times," Megatron said.
	"But surely he's not your Subcommander anymore," 
Selenia said.
	"Well, actually, he is."
	"What?!" Selenia exclaimed.  "But why?"
	"Quite simply, he's good at it," Megatron told her.  
"And don't ever tell him I said that."
	"Not to worry."  She regarded him skeptically.  
"But, I remember all the trouble he tried to make for you, 
shortly before I -- was captured.  If he's still the same--"
	"Worse," Megatron interrupted with a touch of 
annoyance.
	"Then how can his abilities outweigh the risk of 
keeping him around -- and in such a high-ranking position?"  
She had a sudden flash of insight.  "That's a lot of 
sentimental value to attach to a dead friendship, Megatron."
	"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped.  "What are you 
doing in here, anyway?  This is a restricted area--!"
	"Okay, okay, I'm sorry I brought it up.  I was just 
looking for Soundwave.  I know you're planning some kind 
of major assault on the Autobots.  I want to know how I 
can help."
	The anger in his eyes slowly faded.  "Alright," he 
said.  "We've discovered a weak spot in the defenses of 
Iacon -- a way to attack the city from an ancient 
subterranean tunnel system that doesn't even show up on 
most of the maps...."  He continued to outline his plan to 
her in detail.  Iacon was the Autobot equivalent of Polyhex, 
the stronghold of the enemy forces, the seat of command.  
For a while it was just like old times, Selenia thought -- 
Megatron explaining his grand plans to her, his optics 
flashing with the anticipation of success, and Selenia herself 
getting caught up in the excitement.  But when he finished, 
saying, "The destruction of Iacon, Selenia, will rip the fuel 
pump out of the Autobot resistance" -- he closed his fist 
over empty air in a crushing motion, and reached out with 
his other hand in an unconscious gesture, to lay an arm 
around her shoulders -- she pulled back from his touch.  
Megatron, far more concerned with his anticipated victory 
than with her, barely noticed.  But for Selenia, the 
excitement had abruptly ended.  Despite Starscream's 
needling insinuations, she could not see herself "picking up 
where she left off" with Megatron.  What she had admired 
in her youth as his idealistic ambition, she saw now as 
boundless greed; what she had formerly thought of as his 
indomitable courage, now seemed to her pure ruthlessness.  
He was, without question, as physically attractive now as he 
had been then.  But Selenia was no longer attracted to him.  
Or -- was it some vestige of Sabotage, she wondered, that 
was responsible for her changed viewpoint?  Deep in 
thought, she drifted from the communications center.
	"Selenia!"  She heard Megatron call her as though 
from a great distance.  He followed her, grabbed her by the 
shoulders and spun her around to face him.  "Where are you 
going?  I thought you wanted to help."
	"I -- I do."  She forced herself not to pull away from 
him just then.
	"Then you obviously weren't listening.  I just told 
you I want you to join us in the attack."
	"Me?"  She gaped at him.  There was a time when 
she would have given anything to hear those words.
	"Of course -- we might have use of your talents.  I 
know you've managed to get in and out of places that were 
thought to be impregnable.  I also know you've become a 
highly skilled fighter.  It would be a waste to leave you 
behind."
	Selenia did her best to muster a facade of 
enthusiasm, that she somehow did not feel.
			* * *
	Typhon leaned back from the computer screen and 
stretched his creaking joints.  Three times he'd been 
transferred into new replicas of his original body, after that 
blasted Decepticon female had nearly killed him in her self-
destruct overload.  Some freak aftershock of the damage 
had caused his neural pathways to deteriorate rapidly in the 
first two bodies; in the third, the pathways held, but he was 
forever after plagued with a painful grinding in his joints, for 
which no rational cause or cure had yet been found.  A 
fourth transfer, he was told, would probably kill him.  So 
he'd lived in this body, letting its imperfections feed his 
hatred for the Decepticons.
	But moments such as now made it worthwhile.  He'd 
received some important information, so important that he 
had not hesitated to pass it on to Iacon.  A strange bunch, at 
Iacon -- while they pretended to deplore his methods, they 
always appreciated his results.  And his results, this time, 
would be that the Decepticons would not get even halfway 
to Iacon.  He'd already arranged to have the powerful 
motion-sensor explosives planted along the subterranean 
route.
	He thought of the Decepticon female, as always, 
with two simultaneous and divergent sets of emotions.  He 
often fantasized about getting her back into his clutches, just 
one more time, and doing unspeakable things to her.  He 
pictured her dying at his hands, a defeated and broken thing, 
and smiled wistfully.  Perhaps some day he would give her 
the order to seek out his base and return.
	On the other hand, she was like a creation to him.  A 
kind of love/hate obsession writhed and twisted itself 
around his mental image of her.  He had made her over, in 
countless hours, weeks, months of mental manipulation, into 
someone so different that she might as well have been a 
newly-created robot.  Better yet, the personality she 
assumed was only the top layer of a set of implanted 
instructions and impulses that were buried much deeper.  It 
made little difference that she had now discarded Typhon's 
carefully constructed surface-layer personality; she was, if 
anything, even more dangerous now.  The truly delicious 
part was that he had made her over into an Autobot -- and 
she didn't even know it!
			* * *
	"I'm not certain she's ready for this," Soundwave 
was saying.  He and Megatron stood alone in the huge 
audience chamber that doubled as a throne room.  "There's 
still a lot of confusion in her mind, a lot of impenetrable 
blockades in her thoughts, that even I am unable to reach.  
With time, perhaps, but as things stand--"
	"I don't see the problem," Megatron countered.  
"She knows her own identity again.  Isn't that the most 
important part?  And she's certainly proven that she has the 
battle and survival skills that we're going to need on this 
mission.  She's far too valuable to leave behind."
	"She may not be as valuable as you think, right now.  
Sometimes it seems she's at war with herself.  Her own 
confusion may hinder her effectiveness and thereby 
endanger her."
	"I doubt it.  She survived too long, alone and against 
all odds, to make a fatal mistake now.  Like any good 
warrior, her reactions have become instinctive.  We need 
those reactions, those instincts, against the Autobots."
	Soundwave still looked skeptical.
	"Alright," Megatron added, "If it makes you feel any 
better, I'll keep her in sight at all times.   I promise you, 
Soundwave, I'll bring her back safely."
	At that moment the large, heavy entrance doors slid 
open, and Starscream walked quickly into the chamber.  
"Megatron, I--"  He stopped upon seeing Soundwave.  "I 
need to talk to you.  *Alone*."
	Megatron's optics flickered in annoyance.  
"Anything you have to say to me can be said--"
	"--in front of Soundwave, I know," Starscream 
impatiently finished the familiar sentence.  "Have it your 
way, then.  But *he's* not going to like it."
	When had Starscream ever cared what Soundwave 
liked, Megatron wondered.  Starscream had always seen 
Soundwave as a rival, a target of intense and irrational 
jealousy, even though Soundwave was not the least bit 
threatened by, or threatening to, Starscream.  Starscream 
took every opportunity to try and incite trouble, and 
delighted in making nasty little needling remarks that 
Soundwave rarely ever condescended to answer.  But this 
time, Megatron could see, Starscream was not playing his 
little games.  He was dead serious.  "Well, what is it, then?" 
Megatron demanded.
	"Call off the attack on Iacon.  I'm convinced we're 
walking into a trap," Starscream told him.
	"Don't be stupid," Megatron said dismissively.  He 
had planned everything to the smallest detail.  Even as they 
spoke, many of his best warriors were assembling in the 
Fortress' lowest sublevel and preparing for the assault.  "The 
Autobots have no idea we're coming."
	"I think there's a good chance they do," Starscream 
argued.  "Haven't you been keeping track of our outgoing 
shipments lately?  Weapons, fuel, replacement parts, sent 
from Polyhex to our warriors all over the planet.  In the last 
week alone, four out of five emergency shipments were 
intercepted by Autobots -- who weren't supposed to know 
about them!  Of those four intercepted shipments, we were 
only able to salvage one.  That's a pretty abysmal record, 
considering what our security procedure is supposed to be 
like!"
	It was true -- Megatron had seen the reports.  He'd 
been momentarily angry about them, but he'd been so 
involved in planning his assault that he'd quickly put the 
failures out of his mind.  And what did this have to do with 
Iacon, anyway?
	"I think we have a traitor in our midst," Starscream 
said, as though answering Megatron's thought.
	"You mean, other than you?" Megatron laughed.
	"I'm loyal to the Decepticon cause!" Starscream 
exclaimed indignantly.  "But someone is leaking information 
to the Autobots.  If they knew about our emergency 
shipments, they probably know about our attack plans, too."  
An expression of malicious pleasure flickered across his 
face.  "And you know, it's funny, but all the trouble started 
right around the time Selenia arrived."
	Soundwave took a step toward him.  "If you're 
going to make accusations, you'd better have some proof," 
he warned.
	"Merely an observation," Starscream replied, with 
his classic expression of such innocence that it was 
obviously meant to be fake.
	*Now* he was playing his little games, and they 
never failed to make Megatron angry.  He knew what 
Starscream was doing.  By accusing Selenia of treason, he 
was merely trying to get to Soundwave -- it was the only 
subject that could rattle Soundwave's composure.  Perhaps 
there *was* a leak inside Polyhex, but Megatron would 
never believe it was Selenia.  True, she had been somewhat 
distant and cold since her return, but then, she'd been 
through a great deal.  "That's enough out of you," he 
snapped.  "Now, let's go.  We have Autobots to destroy."
	He strode out of the chamber, followed by 
Soundwave and Starscream.
	"Okay, fine," Starscream muttered to himself, just 
loudly enough for Megatron to overhear.  "I'll just sit back 
and watch your plans fall apart.  But don't say I didn't warn 
you." 
			* * *
	Selenia checked her weapons one more time, making 
sure they were fully powered.  She looked around at this, 
the lowest sublevel of the Black Fortress, where a sizable 
fighting force of Decepticons had assembled.  Many were 
re-checking their weapons, as she was; some were silent and 
intense, focused on the upcoming conflict; some were loud 
and talkative, bolstering their courage with a final show of 
bravado.  Selenia herself felt strangely empty.
	"Hey, Selenia!"
	She turned to see Rumble standing beside her, with 
both guns in his hands.  He grinned up at her.  "Ain't this 
great?"
	She usually had to smile at the tough-guy accent he 
tried to affect, but this time she wasn't amused.  "What are 
*you* doing here?" she demanded.
	"What d'ya mean?  I'm attacking Iacon, same as 
you."
	"You can't be serious!  The others too?"
	"Sure."  Rumble gave her a puzzled look.  Overkill 
and Frenzy disentangled themselves from the surrounding 
crowd and joined him.  They too were armed for battle.
	A horrible sense of foreboding gathered inside her.  
Frantically she scanned the crowd for Soundwave, spinning 
around to find he had come up behind her.  He held a 
concussion grenade out to her.  "Some extra firepower," he 
said.  "Just in case."
	Selenia took the grenade and slipped it into her chest 
compartment, along with the other odds and ends that she'd 
stashed there -- when had she picked up some of this stuff, 
she wondered absently? -- and gestured at her brothers.  
"Surely you're not letting them come with us?"
	"Of course," Soundwave said.
	"But they're much too young!" Selenia protested.  
"When I was their age, you wouldn't even let me go out 
alone at night!"
	"They've had to grow up quickly, at least in some 
ways," Soundwave said.  "Don't worry, they're competent 
warriors.  If I learned anything from what happened to you, 
I found that it's better to teach them to look after 
themselves than try to shield them from dangerous 
situations.  They'll be fine."  He squeezed her shoulder 
reassuringly.  "What about you?  Are you alright?"
	"Yes of course," she answered automatically, 
dropping her gaze so Soundwave would not see the doubt 
in her eyes.
	"Decepticons!" came the voice of Megatron.  He 
stood by the doors that led out into the subsurface shaft.  
"The downfall of Iacon will mark a turning point in the war.  
With the decimation of the Autobot high command on 
Cybertron, conquering the rest of the planet will be easy.  
This battle is no mere border-skirmish.  It will determine the 
future of the Decepticon empire.  I expect each of you to 
use full destructive force.  We take no prisoners, and we 
destroy everything.  Decepticons forever!"
	"Decepticons forever!" echoed the assembled 
warriors.  "Hail Megatron!" shouted others.
	A ruined city flashed vividly and painfully through 
Selenia's mind.  She felt an irrational surge of hatred for 
Megatron, and checked herself.  These were Sabotage-
thoughts, not Selenia-thoughts.  After this mission, she 
vowed, she would tell Soundwave that too much of 
Sabotage still lurked within her, and also about the memory-
lapses.  Yesterday, for instance, she had found herself 
before this very same subterranean entrance, alone, as 
though she'd just come through from the other side, but 
unable to remember anything more.  Yes, as soon as this 
was over and they were safely back in Polyhex, she would 
tell him, first thing.
	The army moved forward as the huge doors slid 
open.  A yawning, straight-sided chasm gaped behind it and 
the Decepticons dropped down into the open void, 
activating their flight-engines, many transforming to aircraft 
modes.  It was a vertical drop for some distance, until an 
equally large square-sided horizontal tunnel met the shaft at 
a right angle.  Megatron led his warriors through a maze of 
tunnels so large that the whole army could easily remain in 
flight.  These were the main service-tunnels that ran beneath 
the subsurface of Cybertron -- before the war they had 
housed a network of transportation systems which had long 
been dismantled for spare parts.  They were large enough to 
make traveling to distant Iacon quick and easy -- but they 
were also well-known, reasonably well mapped, and, close 
to the enemy province, well guarded.  The tunnels that 
Megatron intended to use to transport his forces directly 
below Iacon were much older, much smaller, ran deeper, 
and were all but unexplored.  Selenia had the uneasy 
sensation that she recognized the spot where Megatron 
landed and pulled up a metal plate in the floor of the large 
tunnel, to expose a much narrower shaft that dropped down 
into the old tunnel-system.
	Once within the tangled maze of the old tunnels, the 
Decepticons often had to proceed single-file.  Selenia kept 
near the head of the column, close to Soundwave, who 
stayed close to Megatron.  Starscream, as Subcommander, 
also stayed near the front.  "I don't think Megatron knows 
where he's going," he smirked to Selenia once, but she 
ignored him.  Megatron knew exactly where he was going -- 
more and more she had the feeling that she recognized the 
route.
	For instance, there should be an open area up ahead, 
large enough for most of the army to gather together.  From 
this there were three tunnels leading forward, of which they 
would have to take the central one, as well as several other 
tunnels leading off to the sides and back the way they'd 
come.  When they arrived at just such a place, Selenia began 
to be seriously concerned.  Why did she know this place?  
Had she been here as Sabotage?  If so, when?  She wished 
fervently that the mission was already over, that she was 
back at the Fortress and could have a long talk with 
Soundwave about her confusion.  Now was certainly not the 
time or the place.
	"I don't believe this!" Megatron exclaimed angrily up 
ahead.
	Selenia came forward and saw that the central tunnel 
leading toward Iacon was blocked by a great mass of 
twisted and shredded metal that had collapsed from above.  
"Soundwave," Megatron demanded, "when was the last 
time Ravage came through here to double-check the route?"
	"Three days ago," Soundwave replied, as Ravage 
melted out of the shadows behind him and seated himself at 
his creator's feet.  "The tunnel was clear at that time.  The 
cave-in must have occurred within the last few hours."
	"Looks more like a bombing," Starscream observed 
casually.  "But then, what do I know?"  He offered 
Megatron an innocuous look.
	The Decepticon leader glared at him.  Annoyed at 
the delay, he immediately assigned a group of warriors, 
including Starscream, to clear the tunnel.  It was obviously 
going to take some time.  "Ravage, Soundwave, see if you 
can find another route through this tunnel to the left," he 
ordered.  "Selenia, you and I will explore the one leading to 
the right."
	Selenia followed him in.  Without the light from the 
many glowing eyes of the other Decepticons, the narrow 
tunnel was almost completely dark.  Megatron was 
impatient and moved quickly; Selenia realized they would 
soon come to a more open dead end that sported a few dim 
light-banks in the ceiling, that had not yet burned out over 
the millennia.  She was inexplicably both relieved and 
startled when they did arrive at just such a place.
	There was an outline of a removable panel in the 
ceiling at the other end of the small room, which looked like 
it would lead to another tunnel above.  "What do you bet, 
that's an alternate route past the blocked tunnel?"  Megatron 
said.  "Next stop, Iacon."  He grinned like a predator who 
had enjoyed the hunt and was about to close in for the kill.
	Another surge of pure hatred washed over Selenia.  
"Yes, I'm sure that's the alternate route," she said.  "Open 
it."
	With an air of confident satisfaction, Megatron 
strode toward the panel.
	Suddenly a shadow soared into the room.  
"Laserbeak!" Selenia gasped.  Her brother's mind touched 
hers briefly, communicating his anticipation, his eagerness 
to enter the alternate route and leave behind all the delay.  
He flew straight toward the panel.
	Selenia leapt forward, shot past Megatron, and 
snatched Laserbeak out of the air.  But he'd already gotten 
too close to the motion sensor.  With an earthshattering 
blast, the ceiling panel blew inward, along with most of the 
ceiling.  Selenia spun so her back was toward the blast and 
threw herself forward, covering Laserbeak with her body.  
He screeched in panic and transformed into his cassette 
shape, additionally shrinking down to a much smaller size.  
Even as sharp-edged shrapnel tore into her from above, 
Selenia shoved Laserbeak into her chest compartment.
	The first blast had set off the others, strung in a 
chain around this section of the tunnels.  The floor was 
heaving, and Selenia found it hard to struggle to her feet.  
Smoke and flames poured in around her from all sides.  She 
felt a powerful grip on her arm, and saw the silhouette of 
Megatron outlined against the smoke.  He pulled her 
forward and they ran back the way they had come.
	They rejoined the army to find them in heated battle 
with Autobots who poured in streams out of most of the 
side-tunnels.  Soundwave and Ravage burst out of the last 
forward-leading tunnel, with smoke and flames close 
behind.  All three forward-leading routes had now been 
blocked off by the chain of explosions.
	And the Autobots were trying to cut off their route 
back to Polyhex.  Selenia fought side-by-side with 
Megatron, matching his furious, desperate determination.  
What had been planned as a battle of conquest had become 
a fight for survival.  Selenia used all of her skills, all of her 
weaponry, and slowly, very slowly, they fought their way 
toward the one tunnel that would lead them back to base.  
And it was blocked by a squadron of Autobots!
	"Cover me for a moment!" she shouted to 
Megatron, and snapped open her cockpit, snatching the 
grenade out of her chest compartment.  Laserbeak was still 
there, safe, and the knowledge gave her added courage.  
She activated the grenade, darted forward until she was 
within range, and flung the explosive into the center of the 
group of Autobots.  The blast threw them in all directions.  
Those who managed to recover were felled by Selenia's 
electric bolts -- she had hurled herself at them even before 
the aftershocks of the explosion had died.
	The way back to Polyhex was clear.  The 
Decepticons streamed toward it, clawing and fighting and 
pushing past one another to enter the narrow tunnel, with 
few keeping the presence of mind to cover the retreat.  
Their losses were staggering.
	At some point during the mad flight back toward 
base, Selenia began to feel the shrapnel that had torn into 
her back, began to sense the fuel that was leaking out of 
her, began to falter with a sudden, sickening weakness.  She 
had only the vague sensation that someone took hold of her, 
someone very powerful, and carried her the rest of the way 
back to the Fortress.
			* * *
	The area that had formerly served as the repair bay 
had spread to include not only the entire weapons lab, but 
several adjoining rooms.  Damaged Decepticons were laid 
out everywhere, even atop lab tables and on mats on the 
floor.  Soundwave and the repaireons under his command 
labored to attend to those first who were most critically 
damaged, but for all their efforts, Megatron could see as he 
entered the repair bay that many would leak to death before 
they could receive attention.  A cold fury crystallized inside 
him.  Everything had been planned, everything would have 
been perfect.  Even terrible casualties such as these would 
have been worthwhile, if only the objective had been 
accomplished.  But this way, it was all wasted.  Good 
warriors, dying for nothing  ... there was only one way 
things could have gone so badly wrong.
	He looked around for the closest repaireon.  He 
caught sight of Repairs Specialist Talon, second in rank and 
skill only to Soundwave, and the "second in skill" part was 
debatable.  Megatron motioned him aside.  "Where do I find 
Selenia?" he demanded.  After handing her over to the 
repaireons, he'd lost track of her in the tumult of returning 
to base.  "Has she been repaired?"
	Talon shrank back from the barely restrained fury in 
Megatron's voice and eyes.  "Yes, she's been repaired," he 
answered.  "She's still resting.  You'll find her along the far 
wall of the weapons lab, where the pulse cannons used to 
be.  Now, if you'll excuse me, Commander--"  He hurried 
off to tend to his next patient.
	The experimental pulse cannons had been moved out 
into the hallway to create more space.  Megatron moved 
swiftly toward the spot along the far wall where they'd 
stood, and rounded a lab table -- fuel pooled at its base, the 
Decepticon stretched out on top was already dead -- and 
against the wall, amidst many others that were occupied, lay 
a vacant mat.  "Damn," Megatron snarled, and hurried out 
of the repair ward.  She couldn't have been gone long.  
Chances were that she would make for one of the above-
ground exits, but which one?  Taking a chance on a snap 
decision, Megatron headed for the nearest air-access portal.
	She was there, waiting for the lock on the portal to 
cycle open.  She hadn't even turned on the lights in the small 
dim chamber.  She whirled, startled, as Megatron entered 
and slammed down the lever on the portal controls, which 
reversed the unlocking cycle and kept the hatch firmly shut.  
She backed away, slowly and warily, but her gaze was 
steady.  Megatron made sure to keep himself between her 
and the doorway to the corridor.  "Why are you in such a 
hurry to leave us?" he asked.  He tried, and failed, to keep 
the icy anger out of his tone.
	Selenia said nothing, only watched him.  Her eyes 
gleamed in the dimness, accentuating her delicately beautiful 
face.  For a moment Megatron saw her as she had been long 
ago.  He had been fond of her -- hadn't loved her, exactly, 
but she'd been available, eager to please, and amusingly 
naive.  She was none of those things anymore.  She was the 
worst of all possible things.  Even worse than that, 
Starscream had been right -- *again* -- and would not soon 
let anyone forget it.
	"I know what you are," Megatron growled, 
advancing on her.  "I knew the moment you pulled 
Laserbeak back from that blast.  You knew it was coming 
because you planted it -- or informed someone who did, it 
makes no difference.  You're a traitor, and you know that I 
know -- and that's why you're trying to sneak away into the 
night.  Because you remember that the one thing I hate most 
in all the galaxies is a traitor."  He reached out and grabbed 
her arms, pinning her forcefully back against the wall.  He 
tightened his grip until he could feel his fingers gouging into 
her metal.  He wanted to shake her until she snapped in half.
	A moment later he pulled back from her.  She had 
activated her electric force-field and sent bolts of pain into 
his hands.  The field sparked and crackled around her body, 
making it impossible for him to touch her.  He snapped up 
his right arm, aiming his fusion cannon right at her head.  
"Save your power," he snarled.  "You know my fusion 
cannon can puncture your force field like paper."
	The electric crackle faded into blackness.  "Do it, 
then," she said.  Her look was an odd mixture of defiance 
and sadness.  "Get it over with and be rid of me, even 
though you don't know why I did it, even though *I* don't 
know why I did it, even though neither one of us has all the 
facts.  But you're not one to let facts stand in your way, are 
you?
	"You told me about what you hate ... well, what *I* 
hate is Transformers like you, who have turned this whole 
planet into a wasteland, willing to destroy everything that 
gets in your way.  You don't care about anything or anyone 
except yourself and your own mad quest for power!"
	Megatron held his aim steady, though he could feel 
himself tremble with fury.  "Is that what the Autobots told 
you, you filthy traitor?!"  In a moment, he reminded himself, 
she would be gone -- molten to a pool of bubbling metal and 
singed circuitry, and if he could control himself just a little 
bit longer, he would be able to truly savor her death.  If only 
her self-destruct sequence back in the Bismuth Mountains 
had been successful, today's disaster would have been 
avoided.  Right at this moment he might have been at Iacon, 
overseeing the execution of whatever Autobots remained 
there--
	His thoughts stopped short as he suddenly 
remembered how Soundwave had lost contact with Selenia, 
that first time.  All the light had gone out of his eyes.  He'd 
seemed on the verge of collapse, and Megatron had taken 
hold of his shoulders to steady him -- and the light had come 
back on in his eyes, but dimly.  "She's gone," he'd said, very 
quietly, "Selenia is dead."  And he'd walked away, and spent 
a lot of time by himself after that, but never discussed 
Selenia again.  Soundwave's absolute silence on the subject 
had disturbed Megatron far more than if he had openly 
displayed his grief.  Those who did not know him well, 
might have said that Soundwave must not have felt the loss 
very deeply; Megatron knew that nothing was farther from 
the truth.  He thought it significant that, of all the children 
Soundwave created later, not one of them was female.
	Slowly, very slowly, Megatron lowered his fusion 
cannon.  "You're wrong, Selenia," he said.  "I'm not going 
to kill you, because Soundwave would feel you die.  I 
would have to explain to him not only that I killed his 
creation, but also why.  I will not be responsible for putting 
him through that much pain again."  He stepped to the 
controls for the air-access portal and keyed in the unlocking 
sequence.
	A few moments passed before the hatch cycled 
open.  Selenia drew a shuddering breath.  "You -- you're not 
going to tell Soundwave that I was the -- the--"  She 
couldn't bring out the word.
	"The traitor," Megatron finished.  "No.  It would kill 
him.  But don't ever cross my path again, Selenia, or so help 
me, *I* will kill *you*.  And if I ever hear of Sabotage 
again, I'll come after you myself."
	Selenia edged toward the open portal.  "Don't 
worry, Megatron," she said quietly.  "Sabotage is dead."  
And so is Selenia, she added to herself as she turned away 
and stepped out through the portal.  She hovered for a 
moment as her flight engines kicked in, then transformed 
and streaked away into the velvet-black star-flecked sky.  
What identity she would assume now, and where she would 
go, she could not even begin to guess.

			END