IDW - Revolution #3

Title: O Ship of State

Written by: John Barber & Cullen Bunn

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B Long

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

In Microspace, the Heliopolis is at the centre of the Entropy Cloud, and the ship approaches the planet sized (to their point of view) body of Micronus Prime, the progenitor of Microspace itself, and is now being used as Baron Karza's base of operations to try and save Microspace,

Karza contacts the crew of the Heliopolis and explains that he has been in the cloud for many years now, trying to learn how to save the universe, and explains that time works differently in the cloud. He asks for the crew's help in saving the universe along with him, which they reluctantly agree to do, despite his evil past.

In the Macroverse, Matt Trakker returns to Governor's Island and confronts Scarlett about not telling him and his team about the Cybertronians being sentient, and accidentally reveals that Miles has captured one of them, without her knowledge. Miles turns up and escorts Matt away, to speak with him.

Elsewhere, Kup is hooked to a torture device and watched by Sly and Vanessa of MASK, and Vanessa tricks him into revealing all he knows about Ore-13 and the reason it is exploding, along with the knowledge of the stash of Ore-13 under Autobot City.

Rom has been taken back to Autobot City for both parties to explain their actions to eachother, and Rom explains how he only killed Dire Wraiths, and warns the Autobots about them infiltrating the planet's infrastructure, and are using Ore-13 to cloak themselves from his analyzer. Windblade reveals her recent finding that the Titan has a connection to another universe where Micronus Prime lies, dead, and explains that the Microspace is dying as well. Optimus is sympathetic to the situation, and decides that they must prioritize Earth's safety over another universe's, which Windblade agrees to, disgruntledly.

Aileron returns to Autobot City and reports that Kup has been captured, and he the Ore-13 is being sent away through a spacebridge to another universe, causing it to detonate. Aileron is prepared for repairs, whilst Rom looks at the spacebridge and begins thinking about things...

Back at Governor's Island, Scarlett is wondering if they can trust Manheim since he's hiding things from her and his own team, when suddenly Doc enters the room and reveals that the Joe corpses weren't humans after all, including Colton. The group are unnerved by this revelation, and wonder if the alien infiltrators are their allies, or enemies.

Scarlett gets in contact with an "old friend" to try and solve this issue out once and for all...

In Microspace, Karza receives  communication from his ally in the Macroverse, who tells him to not take any more Ore-13 yet, as the transport is causing the Ore to explode on Earth. Karza doesn't care however, as he sees the safety of Microspace to be more important than one planet, so he activates the spacebridge regardless.

On the Heliopolis, a Time Traveler suddenly appears and informs the crew that their true mission is about to begin, just as the spacebridge is deployed from Micronus' chest...

At Autobot City the Autobots try to figure out the link between Aileron's report and Rom's mission, when Rom examines the spacebridge and gets shocked when his suit reacts to it, and the Ore-13 around the room...

Back in Microspace, the spacebridge is opened, and to Karza's shock Ore-13 begins shooting through it, and starts detonating in the space around Micronus, he believes that his ally has turned against him. Elsewhere, the Time Traveler tells Oz and the crew to head through the portal so they can save the universe, including Microspace, which they agree to...

Back on Earth, Rom has taken control of the spacebridge in Autobot City, and the Ore-13 and is the one sending it through the portal to Microspace, justifying it as sacrificing an unknown universe to save this planet. Windblade stops him however when she points out to both him and Optimus that sacrificing anyone for their own mission is just wrong.

Rom surrenders, and shuts down the spacebridge, and allows himself to be restrained by the Cybertronians, and agrees that they must fight to protect both Earth and Microspace.

Unnoticed by anyone else, the Heliopolis flies through the portal and the Micronauts find themselves in a large metallic maze, unaware that they are tiny in this universe. They look for a way out of the metallic world they're in when they run into what they believe to be a giant version of Baron Karza, but is actually a human in a black ninja suit...Snake-Eyes...who is preparing for battle....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Kup - Pick Up Truck In MASK Captivity

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt

Arcee - Sports Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Other Cybertronian

Micronus Prime Maybe Dead in Microspace

Metrotitan - Autobot City

GI Joe

Scarlett

Mainframe

Doc

Snake-Eyes

M.A.S.K.

Miles Manheim

Matt Trakker

Vanessa Warfield

Sly Rax

Other Human

Madame President (Mentioned)

EDC (Mentioned) Absorbed into GI Joe

Matt Trakker's Dad (Mentioned) Dead

Dire Wraith

Example Wraith (Projection Only)

Joe Colton (Mentioned) Dead

Other Dead GI Joes (Mentioned) Dead

Micronaut

Oz Rael

Phenolo-Phi

Larissa

Biotron

Acroyear

Microtron

Other Microspace Denizens

Baron Karza

Time Traveler

Other Biotron Units Dead

Other

Rom, the Space Knight

Karza's Ally

Notes

• The start of this issue retells and continues on from the end of the Micronauts Revolution one-shot
• Despite Micronus being believed to be dead, his optics are still lit up, indicating that he is probably still alive in some manner
• It's explained that Ore-13 is being used by Karza to suppress the effects of the Entropy Cloud
• Rom resolved his issues with Optimus and the others pretty quickly huh? Last we saw them they were still fighting
• Windblade reveals that she learned about Micronus creating Microspace and now lays there "dead" during the Till All Are One Revolution one-shot...this issue hasn't been released yet...SPOILERS!!!!
• Aileron is identified as "Autobot Idealist" here, marking the first official point where she is identified as an Autobot...then again she could just be idealistic towards the Autobot cause without being one of them yet.
• Why does Scarlett have Snake-Eyes on her phone as "classified"? Is it just for the end of the issue cliffhanger? That's dumb...
• The identity of Karza's ally is unidentifiable here, but I would guess it's Miles Mayhem, as he contacts Karza right after his agents learn about the Ore-13 detonating when being transported elsewhere, and he is pretty much one of the only other villains in the series so far...
• Micronus' spacebridge ejects from his body from his chest, out of the detailing that resembles a Mini-Con powerlinx port.
• Rom mentions that spacebridges were thought to be lost. Before the resurgence of the Titans in modern issues, the only spacebridges being used were Nova Prime's ones from the Dead Universe, and the ones created by Bombshell and Shockwave in All Hail Megatron and the Costa Ongoing.
• Rom's armour has an affinity with both Ore-13 and the Titan spacebridges, implying that his armour could have connections with Cybertron.
• Rom confirms his dislike for Cybertronians is due to the galactic opinions of the species, but also appears to accept that they are trying to make up for their "crimes" now.
• Despite their smaller size, the Micronauts ship appears to be visible to Snake-Eyes.