Chapter 596: The Final Battle Begins 3

No one would have guessed that another decisive battle between the two great races of the planet Cybertron, the Autobots and the Decepticons, which had been going on for millions of years, would take place on Earth, light-years away from Cybertron.

And the ones who fired the first shot of this decisive battle were not the Autobots or the Decepticons, but the United States military.

Ten thousand meters above the southern part of Jordan, an RQ-4 Global Hawk was circling over the Petra Mountains.

This was a special Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft that had been modified by Sector 7; its ISS (Induction Sensor Suite) was different from a Normal Mode Global Hawk, consisting of a detection system specifically designed to detect special electromagnetic and energy reactions.

When the NEST unit still existed, it belonged to NEST and often cooperated with United States military satellites to scout and locate Decepticons.

Three days ago, an elite United States military reconnaissance squad dispatched from the Qatar Special Operations Command completely lost contact shortly after infiltrating the Petra Mountains in Jordan.

The final distress call transmitted by that reconnaissance squad indicated that they had encountered a squad of Decepticons.

A United States military satellite later photographed the annihilated squad, and fearing that Decepticons might still be there, the Qatar side called off the recovery of the fallen soldiers' remains.

In the end, it was the Jordanian authorities who discovered them, helped recover them, and handed the remains over to the United States military stationed within their borders.

Days later, following the completion of the NEST unit's refit and their deployment to the Tabuk Air Base in Saudi Arabia, coupled with the main force of the Fifth Fleet setting out and entering the Red Sea, the entirety of Jordan had entered the strike range of the United States military.

Only then did a special Global Hawk, formerly equipped by NEST, fly out from Tabuk Air Base, enter the Petra Mountains within Jordan, and begin to meticulously investigate the local situation.

It was not that the United States military did not want to use satellites, but some time ago, following the Decepticons' unscrupulous reveal to the world, the Pentagon soon realized that their own communication satellites might have been hijacked.

Since communication satellites could be hijacked, military satellites could not guarantee their safety either.

In fact, their guess was correct.

Soundwave was currently controlling a space-based surveillance satellite of the United States military, continuously collecting various intelligence from the United States military.

He knew the news that the NEST unit had been re-conscripted, transported, and deployed to the Tabuk Air Base in Saudi Arabia; he also knew that the main force of the United States Fifth Fleet had set out, leaving Bahrain for the Red Sea region.

Even the intelligence transmitted back from Severodvinsk by a CIA agent, stating that the Matrix of Leadership was somewhere in the Petra Mountains of Jordan, was easily filtered out from the massive amount of information by him, as he monitored the United States.

This Global Hawk that took off from Tabuk Air Base was naturally also under Soundwave's surveillance.

"... Laserbeak, go take care of it!"

Starscream had already reported the situation here to The Fallen, although Soundwave was very clear that this guy had hidden it from the other party for at least three days; it was obvious that he only told The Fallen that the Matrix of Leadership might be hidden here because he hadn't found it.

But Soundwave would not be foolish enough to go and complain to The Fallen; he was loyal to Megatron.

One could tell just by looking at how, after they brought back Megatron's head, the other party did not order Starscream to quickly build a New Body for him and re-awaken this commander of the Decepticon Legion, but instead ordered all Decepticons to continue searching for the Matrix of Leadership and Optimus Prime.

Clearly, to The Fallen, the entire Decepticon Legion was nothing more than a useful tool.

Laserbeak had recently been circling over the Petra Mountains, observing and monitoring Barricade and the others.

Upon hearing his command, he immediately responded, "As you wish, my master!"

Immediately, he spread his wings and flew up from a mountain peak near the Nameless Temple, rushing rapidly toward the Global Hawk ten thousand meters above.

The special reconnaissance device equipped on this Global Hawk soon captured Laserbeak's special energy and electromagnetic reactions.

At the same time, inside the Tabuk Air Base hundreds of kilometers away, alarms began to sound continuously.

"Warning... Warning... Global Hawk has captured special energy and electromagnetic reactions; a suspected Decepticon is rapidly approaching the Global Hawk..."

Major William was in the command center; this dispatch of the Global Hawk to enter the target area first to investigate the situation was precisely the latest order from the country, and it had been well executed by him.

After all, the NEST unit had cooperated with the Autobots to deal with the Decepticons many times in the past, and once the Pentagon gave the order, they would likely be deployed into battle as the only ground combat unit.

Naturally, it was necessary to collect as much intelligence on the Decepticons as possible before the battle began.

Upon hearing the alarm, Major William hurriedly leaned toward the command console, and while craning his neck to look at the images transmitted back by the Global Hawk, he ordered.

"Increase flight altitude... immediately compare with the database to determine the target's identity..."

Because many of the Decepticon Cannon Fodder warriors were mass-produced duplicate warriors, NEST had established a database for this situation shortly after its founding.

Decepticons in flight mode were very rare; currently, the only ones they had experienced were Blackout, Surfboard, Starscream, Megatron, and a few others.

So, once the database compared it, its identity was quickly determined.

"Sir, database comparison complete, target identity confirmed--Laserbeak!"

"Damn it!"

Major William couldn't help but curse upon hearing this.

Laserbeak, one of the more special ones among the known Decepticons.

It was one of the very few beast-type Decepticons to come to Earth, yet it possessed very high intelligence.

The Autobots had once warned the NEST unit that Laserbeak, like Frenzy, came from the Decepticon Legion's intelligence gathering squad--the Cassette Corps.

Its appearance here meant that the commander of the Cassette Corps--Soundwave--must also be nearby.

"Fire the Missile, return immediately!"

Seeing that Laserbeak was getting closer and closer to the Global Hawk, Major William hurriedly ordered the technicians controlling the Global Hawk in the back to return.

A Normal Mode Global Hawk did not possess any offensive capabilities, but this Global Hawk of theirs was different; because the Autobots had helped modify it, it could carry two small Combat Missiles, which could be used at critical moments to protect this expensive, high-value drone.

"Yes, sir!"

After receiving the order, the technicians controlled it to lock onto Laserbeak, and at the same time, ejected two Combat Missiles from the drone's bay, firing them toward it.

"Whoosh!"

The missiles, trailing two long plumes of smoke, shot toward Laserbeak, which was now less than two thousand meters away from the Global Hawk.

However, Laserbeak showed a trace of mockery.

One could see a squirming motion between its wings, and two small Machine Guns immediately popped out, strafing the incoming missiles and quickly causing the two missiles to explode.

Immediately after, he was seen spreading his wings and accelerating, and before long, he caught up to the Global Hawk and blew it up in mid-air.

"Damn it!"

Hundreds of kilometers away, Major William stared with an ugly expression at the backend controller that had turned into static.

There was no need to say what the fate of that Global Hawk was; they already knew.

Just as he was thinking about how to report the loss of a Global Hawk to his superiors, suddenly, a piercing alarm sounded.

Captain Robert rushed in from outside, covered in sweat, and brought bad news the moment he opened his mouth.

"Major, the Pentagon has sent an emergency notice from NASA's 【Planetary Defense Office】... They have suddenly detected a strange meteor shower composed of thirty-seven meteorites that has entered Earth's outer space... According to the calculated trajectory of these meteors, they will crash into the Red Sea region in 47 minutes..."

This terrible news left the Nest unit command center in dead silence.