Flashback: On Earth, Optimus Prime and Jetfire receive a haunting transmission: a series of videos from crewmembers of the Lost Light—Nautica, Chromedome, Rewind, Nightbeat, Minimus Ambus, Whirl, Rung, and Velocity—explaining that they are about to die and leaving individual instructions for how they wish to be interred. The broadcast also reaches Cybertron, Luna 1, and the Weak Anthropic Principle, but the Lost Light remains silent, unresponsive to any hailing requests. Optimus Prime proposes using the space bridge to go to their rescue, but Jetfire reveals the awful truth... the message claims the speakers have six hours left to live, but it was sent three weeks ago.

Present: Three weeks earlier, the Lost Lighters help liberate the planet Miliarium from the clutches of the Rust Giants, with the super-strong Tailgate taking out their biggest, meanest member. Megatron—remotely supervising the battle from the ship on account of his newfound pacifism—is a little prickly when he discovers that everyone hid from him the fact that Millarians are organic, but softens when Rodimus lets him give the "roll out" order.

A little later, after everyone has returned to the ship, Megatron holds the latest in a series of classes on the Knights of Cybertron, and focuses his attention on the mysterious, gear-like hieroglyph that the crew have come upon several times in the course of their quest. Pooling their knowledge, the class concludes that the symbol is a kind of "coat of arms," representing just one of multiple clans that existed within the Knights' ranks. The discussion is interrupted, however, when Megatron suddenly reels in pain, clutching his head; when Minimus Ambus attempts to go to his aid, the ex-Decepticon reflexively lashes out, punching Minimus across the room. Horrified at his own actions, Megatron retreats to his quarters, where Velocity checks him over and administers his latest dose of Fool's Energon. She worries that the sedative could be the reason for Megatron's actions, as it has been known to cause fluctuations in a 'bot's personality, but he explains that he was bombarded with agonizing, screaming voices in his mind—an experience, it soon turns out, that a handful of other crew members also underwent at the same time, each hearing their own unique horrific sound. Blaster and Mainframe are able to trace the signal of this "psychic attack" back to its source, and plans are quickly made to go and investigate.

The group all piles into the Rodpod: Rodimus, Magnus, the victims of the attack (Megatron, Tailgate, Rewind, Chromedome, Rung, and Swerve), their partners and friends (Ten, Ravage, and Cyclonus), "Team Rodimus" (Nightbeat, Skids, Brainstorm, and Nautica), and team doctor Velocity, who is convinced by Mainframe to bring Whirl along for extra muscle. Quantum jumping to the signal's point of origin, the pod materializes in utter blackness, which the team soon realize means they have jumped inside a huge, hollow object. One more small jump to the object's surface, and they discover they have returned to the Necrobot's planet... but no sooner have they stepped out of the Rodpod than a squadron of attack craft suddenly appears in the skies and opens fire on them! Totally outnumbered, everyone boards the pod again and tries to quantum jump away, only to discover the teleport engines are dead. The team sets course for the Necrobot's fortress, but the Rodpod is shot down right in front of it; everyone manages to survive and haul themselves out of the wreckage before the Rodpod finally explodes.

Taking cover inside the fortress, the team discovers the Necrobot's dead body in the middle of the floor. While Ravage sneaks out to examine the single enemy fighter they managed to bring down during the escape, Nightbeat snaps into analytical mode, and he and Brainstorm piece together what has occurred: the "psychic attack" was originally an ordinary transmission sent by their attackers to lure the group to the planet, but the fatally-wounded Necrobot, with the last of his strength, corrupted the signal in a failed attempt to warn them off. Using the Necrobot's computer, Rodimus re-establishes contact with the Lost Light... but is shocked when the 'bot who answers his hail turns out to be Getaway! The escapologist explains that he has been freed from his cell by the entire crew, who have finally tired of Rodimus's leadership and the way in which Megatron has been accepted into their ranks, and are staging a full-blown mutiny. Getaway and Atomizer have been planning this since before the ship left Cybertron, having identified all "Megatron sympathizers" through judicious questioning and application of Getaway's nudge gun, and have now isolated and trapped them on the Necrobot's world, so that the rest of the crew can actually get on with their quest to find the Knights and save the Cybertronian race. Even the mystery attackers are part of their plan—attackers whose identities Megatron has already figured out, making him severely doubt Getaway's promise that nobody but Megatron will be harmed. As Getaway shuts off the comm-link, a wounded Ravage limps back inside to confirm his leader's suspicions: the Decepticon Justice Division has arrived... and everyone is going to die.

---