IDW - Transformers (2019) #12

Title: Nautica: Home

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

A short while ago, Sentinel Prime receives word from Cybertron about the recent murders, and cuts his colonial tour short. He orders the ship to return home, once any aliens or Colonists, who are not planning to return to Cybertron have left the ship.

Starscream tries to have a conversation with Nautica about the recent Cybertronian murders, but she is more worried about the murdered Voin, as some of their deaths matter more than others, and this could cause some future problems. Starscream isn't interested, but shows Nautica some footage about the Thraal diplomatic party, as he wants to know what they are saying. Nautica gets worried and rushes away, calling for her bodyguard, Road Rage to join her.

Road Rage meets with Nautica, and they head towards the Thraal's quarters, and Nautica explains that she heard the Thraal address each other strangely, and using odd terminology, and she just wants to look into a possible problem, but doesn't want to inform security yet, in case it's just a mis-translation.

After meeting with the Thraal, Nautica notes that one of the odd-acting Thraal is not a part of the delegation, and is therefore unaccounted for, she asks Lightbright on the ship's bridge to scan the ship for any unusual organic signatures on the vessel, just in case. She notes one in the cold storage area for food for the organic species, so Nautica decides to investigate.

In the cold storage, they find some bisected animals, that are supposed to be used for ceremonies by the Thraal, and realise that the animals must have been used for smuggling some smaller parts to create a larger weapon. The duo find a hatch and follow the Thraal's trail, eventually finding him, and a device heading through a tunnel leading to an air-hatch.

Road Rage attacks the Thraal, crushing him, but not before he can order the device, a mobile explosive to teleport outside. Road Rage calls security to warn them of the terrorist attack on the hull, and soon the duo make it outside, and try to stop the explosive, but find that it has a one-tracked A.I. to make it's way to it's destination and detonate.

Road Rage follows the explosive as it passes over an area that has been pressurized by Lightbright, causing a blow out, sending the explosive flying away from the ship, Road Rage fires on it, causing a massive explosion, leaving Road Rage floating away into space...

Later, Nautica meets with Sentinel, and confirms that Road Rage will be okay in short time, but that the Thraal is going to die following his crushing. She also insists that the Thraal Delegate did not know about the attack, but that she is upset by what happened, with Nautica comparing the Thraal to Cybertronians for having factions. 

Sentinel asks Nautica whether this will cause any future problems, and reminds her that he doesn't want any more problems on top of the current murder spree and rallies on Cybertron. Nautica simply states that they will need to take some actions to hide this attack, and to place extra security to monitor the Thraal and others, but it shouldn't be of any notice, since this was always a possibility.

And with that, the shuttle heads towards Cybertron....

Characters

Cybertronian

Sentinel Prime - Shuttle

Nautica - Submarine

Road Rage - Flying Car

Starscream - Tetrajet

Hound - Jeep

Lightbright

"Giant Woman" - Senate Shuttle

Colony Tour Staff

Thraal Delegate's Guard

Crosscut (Flashback Only)

Novastar - Car (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Killed by a Rise Member

Rubble (Mentioned) Killed by Quake

Senate Shuttle Security (Mentioned)

Close-Defence Drones (Mentioned)

Two Teleporting Cybertronians (Mentioned)

Thraal

Thraal Ambassador

Thraal Ambassador's Four Secondaries

Thraal Saboteur Crushed by Road Rage

Thraal A.I. Explosive Destroyed by Road Rage

Other Alien

Voins

Voin Enslaved Organics 

Frems Dead in Cold Storage, Intended for Meals

Bioluminescent Aeglus IV Species (Memory)

The Occulted Dremdens (Flashback Only)

A'ovans (Mentioned) Mostly Culled by the Thraal

Murdered Voin (Mentioned) Killed by Quake

Notes

• So with this issue we can see a pattern in this series' format, five issue long stories, followed by a one-off side story. We know the next story is another five issue deal, but with the release of Galaxies, an anthology series, coming this week, we'll have to see if this continues as well.
• As mentioned in the issue itself this story is set before the end of issue ten, when Sentinel and his crew return to Cybertron.
• Nautica is revealed to be the Head of Xenorelations (ie dealing with aliens). Road Rage is a bodyguard, and Novastar and Hound are part of Colonial Security. I think that's everyone from the Senator's crew we saw in issue ten now identified career-wise.
• Amongst the alien species mentioned in the prelude are the "Occulted Dremdens", a species that hasn't appeared in the franchise before now, whilst the others mentioned are previously introduced species from this series, or a prior one. We even get a brief cameo from them in a flashback! I'm guessing they're going to be important down the line!
• The "Giant Woman" shuttle is still unnamed, and still unconfirmed as a Titan, so I'm keeping my name for her from issue ten.
• One of the porthole paintings looks like a speedway. My guess is that this is our first brief look at Velocitron in this universe (Let's hope this version doesn't get destroyed like it has in the old IDW and Cyberverse recently!)
• Some Voin shown on the Senate ship have crustacean organics attached to them, showing that the ape-like ones aren't the only species they enslave.
• There's a nice bit of hypocrisy in this issue, Nautica and Road Rage ignore the enslaved organics attached to a Voin, but are later horrified at the idea that the Thraal have an A.I. installed in a bomb, as it is an enslaved inorganic consciousness.
• It's unclear if Road Rage is a triple changer, or if her car mode just has pop-out wings like the original did
• It's outright implied this issue that the A'ovans on Cybertron are the only ones left in the universe following a genocide caused by the Thraal
• It's also implied that the ruling party of the Thraal are not interested in continuing the genocide of the A'ovan, and that it is a vocal minority who want it.
• Nautica mentions that she only knows of two teleporting Cybertronians, we can assume that one of Skywarp, but who is the other?