Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or Mass Effect

Here it is, the next update, a break from all the action but plenty to get people thinking I hope.

Transform Effect 1: Rise a Prime

Chapter 27: Fractured

Ultra Magnus walked with Que and Wheeljack through the corridors of the ship. They had come to a blast door guarded by two Autobot soldiers, nothing in comparison to what was beyond the door. They gave the guards their identification codes, and in addition Que input additional codes into the console beside it. Ultra Magnus opened his chest area as a scanner came down from the ceiling. It scanned over his very spark, verifying it was he who wanted the door open. Every step was taken to ensure that the room was secure on the inside and out. The room was located in the heart of the ship, a fair distance from the generators, and far from any escape pods or ships.

"I never thought I would actually meet him," Que muttered.

"Technically we aren't meeting him, I don't think we ever will," Wheeljack said.

"Perhaps," Magnus closed his chest as the blast door slid open.

The locks on it rotated, then the door split apart, revealing bars that slid up and away from an additional blast door, which began to rise. Drones floated in front of the three Autobots, scanning them again as they walked into a dome shaped chamber. On each side of the room were auto gun emplacements, pointed at the prisoner. Then there was the ten armed and heavily armoured guards. Like the guns, they had their weapons pointed at the prisoner. He was contained in a glowing blue circle that worked like a magnet, binding his legs to the floor. Then there was the gravity generator above him, covering him in a red light that kept him bound to the spot. Over his frame was a type of 'straight jacket' as the organics called it, not just keeping his arms linked together but placing within his body digital locks on his nervous systems. Beyond these other locks were energy beams shooting from the floor to the ceiling, acting as bars of a jail cell.

"Hello Nemesis," Magnus said.

"I remember, not everything but enough, everything makes sense now," Optimus said, lifting his head up and looking at Ultra Magnus. "Part of me wondered where I was from, why my memories conflicted with one another. How could I have been a record keeper, yet be such a good fighter, how could I have had such a hatred of slavery, if I hadn't experienced such a thing first hand?"

Magnus crossed his arms together and nodded his head.

"We had to block certain things, in put artificial memories, a bot of humble origins makes for a good leader," Magnus said.

"What of your origins Magnus, what is it that turned you into such a bot?" Optimus asked.

"Significant things do not have to occur to define someone, I am a soldier, that is the singular purpose of which I was formed for. Que is a scientist, and Wheeljack crosses the threshold of both scholar and fighter, so you see I am a result of the caste system of our world, and a supporter of new systems. But that does not change what you are Nemesis," Magnus explained.

"From your point of view I'm a monster, a bot whom plunged Cybertron into a civil war that to this day still reverberates through Cybertronian society," Optimus said.

"Actually from my point of view, you are a tragic waste, if only you had worked within the system, had earned your freedom in the arena. You could have become a valued part of Cybertronian culture, have earned accolades and even a seat of power through your fame, we perhaps could have even fought side by side," Magnus shook his head as he spoke, turning away from Optimus.

"If only," Optimus muttered, making Magnus turn.

His eyes narrowed in anger as he moved, causing lasers on the autoguns to activate and point at him.

"If only we could fight together, but I thank Primus," he snarled, looking at Magnus. "That I did rebel against our planet's unjust system, and I thank Primus I killed our corrupt leaders. There is one thing I do remember, and it is a memory I cherish, killing the bots who created such a system, the pleasure I felt when I ended their lives. How could I not feel such a thing?"

Magnus squeezed his hand into a fist as he took a step forward.

"You feel no remorse for what you have done?" he demanded.

"For the chaos it created yes, but for killing them? Of course not," Optimus huffed.

"I see, then I pass judgement Nemesis, you will be returned to Cybertron, where you will be torn apart and put to use in destroying the Decepticon rebels. May Primus have mercy on you, for our mercy has run out," Magnus turned and walked towards the door.

"The reapers, they are real Magnus, you have to convince the council of that," Optimus said.

Magnus looked over his shoulder and lowered his head for a moment, his expression indicating he was thinking about it.

"If we were to give these people our technology, they would inevitably destroy themselves, there are certain directives we need to follow," Magnus explained.

"What are you talking about?" Optimus asked.

But Magnus just walked away, and Optimus crashed his head into the barrier in anger.

"TELL ME MAGNUS! What are you planning for this galaxy?" he demanded.

Que and Wheeljack too lowered their heads as they walked away from Optimus's cell. The bot continued head butting the barrier, yelling out all of the frustration and despair that now infected his systems. His roars echoed through the hallways of the ship.

Normandy

There were regulations against what she was doing, but Shepard was a council Spectre, that gave her certain exemptions. And after the day she had, she didn't care anyway. She'd gotten beer from a department store in the wards, the kind she sometimes bought on her days off. Chora's Den, Flux and the entertainment districts were places she would go with people, or when she had the credits saved. She didn't have the latter, and the former she wanted to be away from. Instead she bought beers, went into the Normandy's cargo bay and began working on the Mako. She was underneath the massive vehicle, pulling out components underneath it with her Omni-tool. When she started out in the alliance, one of her CO's told her to find something that would help her relieve stress. To be a soldier, especially in command, you had to be able to maintain professionalism. Emotions could be your own worst enemy and if you didn't find way to relieve stress it could build up inside. For some it was boxing, unleashing frustrations in one moment, for Shepard it was the peace of tinkering. She rolled out from underneath the Mako and took a few swigs from her bottle.

'Sacrifice, it is a soldier's duty, and sometimes breaking the law, even the laws that keep society from falling apart is necessary,' she thought, going back under the Mako.

'But when everything comes to light, someone should be accountable,' was her last thought before a voice echoed through the speakers.

"Hey Shepard!" Joker's voice shocked Shepard so much she hit her head against a pipe.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered. "Joker, what the hell are you still doing on board?"

"I don't go to many places on my day off, I can't walk around those markets listening to advertisements and people whine about the economy or what shows they're binging," Joker explained.

"I completely understand," Shepard said as she rolled out of the Mako and stood up with her bottle.

"I heard about what happened, it's bull shit right Commander? What they're saying about Optimus!"

"Not complete bull shit," Shepard sighed, pouring more beer down her throat.

"Shit, man, I thought we had a Paragon of virtue on our ship, should have known he had just as much crazy in him as the rest of the Autobots," Joker said.

"The kind of mission we're on, I don't think a 'sane' person could do it Joker. Not the people who sign on then sign off when their duty is done. Probably not even those who just go the extra mile for others. Mostly everyone on the ship has a chip on their shoulder, some issue that drives them," Shepard explained.

"Speak for yourself, I consider myself the sanest person on the ship, and when you've taken crap for having brittle bones your entire life that's saying something," Joker chuckled.

"You face prejudice?" Shepard asked.

"Assumptions mostly, or pity, that's worse in my opinion. But I agree with you Shepard, we aren't going to save the galaxy by keeping our hands clean," Joker said.

Shepard nodded. Just because Joker was on the ship, piloting all the time did not mean he didn't face danger. Though the choices were on her, her crew, from her squad mates to the engineers and CIC had to face consequences and danger as well. They all had to live with how their missions came out and the ripples Shepard's choices created.

"Still, we shouldn't abandon morality," she said.

She didn't know whether she was saying it to Joker, or to herself. As someone who came from the streets, she was no stranger to struggle. She didn't delude herself into believing it came close to whatever torment Optimus had endured in Kaon. But to a degree she understood what being stepped on by authority felt like.

"Shepard, I think you should know that we aren't the only ones on the ship," Joker said.

"Who else is here?" Shepard asked.

"Go up to Liara's quarters and see."

Shepard lowered her head and sighed, she wasn't someone built to comfort others. But she had come to consider Liara a friend. In hindsight she realised she should have spoken to her sooner. On top of losing her mother, someone Liara heavily admired had been revealed to be a fraud. She walked to Liara's quarters and when she stepped in, she saw Liara sitting at her desk. The young Asari looked over her shoulder and quickly stood.

"Is there something you wanted to talk about Commander?" she asked.

At first glance she seemed fine, but Shepard knew compartmentalisation when she saw it. She liked to think of it as simply another version of taking everything in, holding in your emotions. To her it was like a boiling pot with a lid on it, everything seemed fine, until the lid got knocked off.

"Benezia, Ratchet and Optimus, or Orion, or whatever we should be calling him, Nemesis? Who knows? I wanted to know how you were feeling about it all?"

"I want to remember my mother as she was, not what the Fallen had turned her into. So I remember the days on Thessia, when she would lecture me for digging in the dirt, when she would buy me history books. She was kind, she liked wearing yellow and I thought she was the wisest and most beautiful woman in the world," Liara explained. "I want to live half the life she did, a life of helping others."

"You still had a parent Liara, some people don't get that experience. This isn't me saying 'poor me', I've come to terms with the kind of life I've lived. One thing that made me want to be better, is the promise and the ideals of the alliance, being better, being part of something," Shepard explained.

"We all had something that inspired us," Liara said.

"Yes, or someone...Optimus, he inspired me, when he stood he actually made me want to believe in his ideals, to stand by them!"

"None of us knew," Liara commented and Shepard chuckled.

"Soldiers should struggle to understand what their CO's feel. But everyone of those Autobots wore their hearts...sparks on their sleeves, they could because of who Optimus was, I think. I've always understood and accepted how things are, humanity has a long path to walk before we can be on the council, and even then we are going to struggle to have our voices heard. But I want to believe that the Optimus we knew, wasn't a fabrication, that we actually saw his true self, that he isn't the monster they've tried to convince us he is."

Liara nodded his head and for a moment her eyes shined with tears.

"I believe that he is who we think he is, a leader, a hero, and our friend," she said.

"For once in my life Liara, I find myself wanting that more than anything," Shepard said.

"Shepard, got a message for you, from Nihlus, he wants to talk to you on a private channel," Joker said.

"Sure thing Joker," Shepard said. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked Liara.

"I will be," the Asari said, the tears were gone and there was a new determination in them.

Shepard took the elevator back up to the CIC deck. Once there, she walked into the briefing room and activated the communication hologram. Nihlus's form appeared, bound to his chair.

"Shepard, I heard about what happened on the Citadel, any idea whether the Cybertronians will be occupying the Citadel?" he asked.

"I would, but it's too early to say, I get the feeling our opinion didn't matter that much to them," Shepard stated.

"I heard about Optimus, how is your team?"

"The news hit heavy, but we're all willing to keep going."

"Good to hear, because I chased a few leads and I think I may have found something, a facility on one of Thessia's moons. The 'paper' trail I got from Illium and you from Noveria, led to a shipping company, it has a site on the Extranet, and reviews," Nihlus explained.

"But they're all faked," Shepard assumed and Nihlus nodded his head.

"And guess who is one of the leading share holders?" he asked.

"Benezia!"

"Or at least she was, as we know, Benezia, Irrissa and Tevos had some involvement in an Asari conspiracy involving Cybertronian technology, it also became apparent that they've concealed what they've learnt from Prothean beacons. Wheelie's statement matches the possibility that the Asari have been hoarding Cybertronian tech, that same tech was given to Cerberus, probably by Irrissa, her politics do involve unlikely and traditionally unwanted alliances," Nihlus explained.

"And I also assume that their shipping company was behind the clean up on Feros," Shepard said.

"Yes, I've got coordinates but there is another matter, Tevos and Irrissa, from what I know Irrissa is on Thessia and Tevos..."

"You think we have enough to confront them about it, maybe put it to the rest of the council?" Shepard asked.

"That depends on whether you think it is worth pissing off our new guests, we reveal that one of the council races has been taking young Cybertronians to experiment on, and we might be opening the door to a conflict with them. Then we have either two things, we lose badly, because we don't stand a chance against them in open war. Or, we use the Asari's own advancements in their tech, maybe we win, maybe we don't, but the point is they're proven the good guys because their preparation saved us," Nihlus explained.

"Yeah, I understand Nihlus, this could blow up in our faces, everything else has..."

There was a beeping on Shepard's console and Shepard raised her eyebrows.

"Another call?" Nihlus asked.

"The council's channel, wonder if Tevos's ears were burning," Shepard huffed, the Turian looking at her in confusion over her metaphor. "We'll have to discuss this later Nihlus, stay safe and watch your back."

Again Nihlus nodded his head and cut the communication feed. The holograms of the councillors appeared and Shepard stood to attention.

"Commander Shepard, we understand your crew has been in need of some shore leave, but I am afraid we have a situation that requires immediate investigation," Valern explained.

"What situation?" Shepard asked.

"We deployed a Special Tasks Group into Sentry Omega, the Hoc System," Tevos said.

"Sounds a little too close to Terminus space," Shepard quipped.

"It was secretly deployed to investigate places Saren has been," Sparatus said.

Shepard understood now where her leads on Saren had been coming from. STG was another arm of the council, though a Salarian organisation, it carried out covert ops. Though they didn't have the celebrity status some Spectres had, they had a degree of leniency, to do what needed to be done to get the job done. Spectres though acted with some independence, STG was specifically deployed on missions by the council.

"What have they found?" Shepard asked.

"We lost contact with them on Virmire," Valern said.

Shepard knew it, Earth like atmosphere, lots of jungle islands but a few land masses ideal for colonisation.

"I'll see what my team and I can find, any possible Cybertronian presence?"

"Ultra Magnus wishes for some of his men to accompany you," Sparatus said.

"I think an investigation mission will require something more discreet," Shepard said.

"It isn't an option I'm afraid Shepard," Tevos said.

Shepard nodded her head, but narrowed her eyes. She knew this was one of Tevos's political moves, and possibly one of Magnus's too. Personally, she also didn't want to work with any Cybertronians besides those she had already worked with.

"Fine councillors, I'll put my crew together, but first, I want to make an inquiry concerning the rest of the Autobots who served on my ship, what happened to Ratchet and Ironhide?"

The Autobot medic stood behind a shield wall, Ironhide on the other side. There was an uneasy silence between the two. Much of Ratchet's colouring had been removed, as had his armour. Ironhide leant against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

"So you really have nothing to say," Ratchet huffed.

"Plenty Ah'd like to say, but we know that there's no point in saying them, we both did things we shouldn't have done. Both believed in things we shouldn't have, you believed that your work could do some good, and ah believed in a monster," Ironhide explained.

"Hide, you didn't choose wrong, Optimus was not a lie..." but the door opened before Ratchet could elaborate.

Ultra Magnus walked into the room, leading a few armed guards. Ironhide turned away from the wall and saluted the commander.

"Ironhide, you relieved the guards, don't do that again," Magnus said.

"What's going to happen to him?" Ironhide asked, looking over his shoulder at Ratchet.

"Transfer to Cybertron, to carry out the work we intended for him, integrating Nemesis's fighting savagery into a controllable drone force," Magnus stated.

"You're going to create replicas of Prahm...I mean Nemesis?"

Ratchet heard the shock and fear in Ironhide's voice. It matched his own, and perhaps for the same reasons. He had already manipulated Nemesis's neural network, his memories and even his will at one point. But now he was expected to create duplicates with Nemesis's experience and mindset, for that was where much of his skill came from, but answerable only to a controller. A force of drones with the potential to be so much more, but reduced to a slave race.

"And if I refuse?" Ratchet inquired.

"You don't have a choice in the matter," Magnus said.

"I would rather spend an eternity locked away, than do such monstrous work again," Ratchet walked up to the wall, glaring at Magnus defiantly.

"We do what we must in this war, and if we must force you to do the work that must be done, then we will!"

Magnus motioned for the guards to take positions either side of the cell. He then had Ratchet follow him through the door.

"Sorry to put you back into the fire, but we need to deploy you again with the racer team," Magnus stated.

Ironhide followed behind Magnus, but kept his optics on the floor. He still thought about what the Autobot chain of command had become. The things they were allowing to happen, the things they commanded to happen. As a soldier on Cybertron, he believed in the righteousness of the things the military did. But then he saw that they weren't so righteous, and for many cycles he had given up on his ideals. Serving with Orion/Optimus gave him something to believe again.

"Ironhide, are you listening?" Magnus asked.

The weapon's specialist stopped and sighed, looking up at the slightly taller Magnus.

"Can't I just find the members of my current unit, they're young bots sir, Jazz can't lead them alone," Ironhide said.

"No, there is a more pressing matter to attend to, the organics believe they have found a base belonging to their renegade Spectre Saren, we believe this may be where he has been studying Indoctrination," Magnus explained.

"So, its definitely a place we'll want to bomb to dust," Ironhide said.

"Exactly, confirm that it is the place, then aid the organics in destroying it. You'll be working with Shepard's team again, we need you in order to coordinate with them," Magnus stated and Ironhide smiled.

"It will be good to be with friendly faces," but the smile fell when Magnus held his hand up.

"You will be on a shuttle with your new team, allow me to introduce them," Magnus opened the door, revealing five Autobots.

Two were identical in size and shape, female Autobots with silver and blue armour. Roulette however had a yellow helmet, and yellow armour on her right shoulder that resembled the front of a bike. Likewise her sister Shadow Striker had a black helmet and black left shoulder armour. Behind them stood a larger Autobot, black armoured with a silver engine design on his back, he had a silver face and a black helmet, with a red visor covering his optics.

"Roulette and Shadow Striker, reconnaissance, Trailbreaker, demolitions," Magnus directed his fingers at each member, then coming to two Autobots in the corner of the ship.

One was short, with red and silver armour. There was a type of cannon on his shoulder.

"Sideswipe, team leader," Magnus introduced him.

Which left the taller Autobot next to Sideswipe, he had yellow armour, black gauntlets and a helmet.

"Sunstreaker, intelligence," Magnus said and Ironhide nodded his head, walking into the room.

All five Autobots stood to attention, saluting Ironhide.

"Welcome to your new crew, Commander Ironhide," Magnus patted Ironhide on the shoulder.

He knew it was supposed to be some form of encouragement. Or perhaps even manipulation, Ironhide didn't understand Magnus. He didn't understand any of the leaders he had known. His faith in any of them was lost, just as his faith in himself was too.

"This is Khalisah al-Jilani with Westerlund News, reporting just outside the Citadel council building where a protest has broken out in opposition of the arrival of a Cybertronian occupation force, the council has not yet released a statement, but witnesses confirm that previous Cybertronian representative Optimus had been arrested by Autobot authorities, wait, here are two of Shepard's crew now."

"Excuse me, we really need to..."

"Khalisah al-Jilani, Westerlund news, I understand you are both part of Commander Shepard's crew, can you confirm that the Autobot ship came here to arrest Optimus and his crew?"

"No, we cannot, now get out of the way!"

"Optimus had many supporters on the Citadel, a few are saying he was the only one to speak out against the council, is he right, has the council tried to obstruct efforts to help human colonies, word has gotten around on what occurred on Feros and Noveria, did the council prioritise Cybertronian research over human lives?"

"Any commands the council may have given to the commander have no relation to what occurred on Noveria and Feros, now please, we do have somewhere to be."

"Just one more question, there are a great deal of people who suspect that Optimus was a sleeper agent for the Autobot leadership, that he was part of a mission to gradually seize control of the Citadel, is there any truth to this?"

"That's it, get out of my way!"

Ashley and Kaidan walked away from the unconscious reporter, the chief rubbing her knuckles.

"That will probably come back to haunt us," Kaidan said.

"She pissed me off," Ashley growled.

"I can't say she made me happy either, that last part especially, maybe because part of me wonders if it's actually true," the biotic sighed as he and Ash got to their sky car.

Kaidan slid into the driver's seat, Ashley taking the passenger side and looking out of the window. People, human and alien alike were displaying holographic signs with their Omni-tools. They included the likes of 'The Quarians didn't welcome the Geth, why should we?', 'Go home or to the scrap heap' and 'Organics unite, protect the Citadel,'. There were a few more, some reasonable, others just stupid. Ashley looked away and focused on the traffic ahead. She and Kaidan had tried to clear their heads in the diplomatic lounge. But they couldn't escape the gossip. The last time they were here the hot topic was the Asari consort. Now, people talked about the fear of an Autobot occupation, some supported it, holding Optimus up as a hero against the current authority. Others felt that there needed to be no contact between the Autobots and organics full stop, that now that the Cybertronians had their crew, they needed to go home and take their problems with them.

"What do you think of all this?" Ashley asked the Lieutenant.

"I remember a time when people were afraid of Biotics, you get kids in your class accusing you of cheating at sports, or trying to read their minds," Kaidan explained.

"That's ridiculous," Ashley scoffed.

"Kids can be like that, then you had adults, hesitant around you because your biotics made you stronger than them," Kaidan explained.

"I can rip men in half too Kaidan, I just don't glow blue when I do it," Ashley smirked.

"I remember a few years ago there was this young recruit, Kira, Kara...something Harper I remember," Kaidan frowned and shook his head. "She could crush a tank with her biotics, even though she would have made a great soldier, she got transferred to an Asari training program, the time of diplomatic handouts. We get insight into Asari training methods and they get a powerful biotic operative, win, win, I can't help but wonder if the same thing is happening here."

"The Autobots are trying to rebuild a relationship with the Citadel, so they decide to throw Optimus and Ratchet under the bus," Ashley said.

"It isn't like there isn't a moral reason to do it, what Ratchet did, that's messed up," Kaidan said and Ashley nodded her head.

"Do you think it was all a lie? Everything that Optimus, no Nemesis was?" she asked.

"About him starting the war with the Autobots and Decepticons, or the personality he showed us?"

"Both!"

"I think there was more to the war than either side can tell us, no war has ever been as clear cut as simply pointing a finger and saying 'they started it'," Kaidan explained.

"I could name a few," Ashley muttered.

"As for Nemesis, I want to believe he was real, Optimus that is, that Nemesis was a nightmare in his life he wanted to forget, that Optimus is who he truly is," Kaidan rubbed his forehead as he drove, another ache.

"Me too Alenko, me too," Ashley said.

Watchful guardians, or invaders?

Yesterday at 02:45, Alliance ships patrolling the borders of the Terminus system would usually be bored out of their minds. But yellow alert alarms blared on the ship at that moment, and for once, the SSV Brazil was prepared for a potential battle. Usually tasked with patrolling, the Brazil was a witness to an attack on a Terminus settlement. Sources indicated that the alliance had long suspected the 'Midgard' of being a front for a trafficking operation. Reports indicated that the group attacking the settlement consisted of 'metallic giants that transformed into jets'. Folks on the Citadel are familiar with the Cybertronians, the Autobots, a race of a sapient machines capable of transforming into vehicular forms.

This is but the first of many sightings that have taken place over the past few weeks. Alliance marines raided a Batarian slave ring, recovering a witness, a former slave who will remain anonymous for their own safety, though they did release a statement. 'All should transform and rise up!'

A statement that has begun to circulate across the Extra-net, even being used by biotics who kidnapped the Chairman of the Parliamentary Subcommittee for Transhuman studies on the MSV Ontario. Other sites have also been hit by a group suspected of being Cybertronian, sites hit include biotic cults on Klendragon and Chohe, both of which resulted in heavy casualties and few civilian survivors. This has led to the military beginning to regard these attacks as hostile assaults on organic populations, and in the wake of the Geth attack on Eden Prime they have increased patrols in colony areas.

A day ago however, the facility built on Meteor X57 was taken over by Batarian terrorists. Fusion torches were used to push the meteor towards the Terra Nova colony. Witnesses however stated that the torches were destroyed by a type of cannon fire. Terra Nova satellites took distorted images of a silver armoured giant pushing the Meteor away from Terra Nova. Again, civilian casualties were high when the Batarians were killed, but Alliance logisticians confirmed that had the meteor hit, the colony and its inhabitants would have been completely destroyed. The question remains though: Is this lone Cybertronian and his allies vigilantes, protecting people where official authorities cant, or a hostile force attacking without regard for those caught in the crossfire?

By Emily Wong

Garrus put aside his data pad and the news article. He took a drink and looked over his shoulder at Wrex. The Krogan was finished head butting a group of Vorcha.

"And that's for making fun of the Autobots, they're true warriors, idiots," Wrex muttered over his shoulder, walking back to Garrus. "Shouldn't you be arresting me?"

"I'm not C-sec anymore, what did they say about the team?" Garrus asked, sipping his drink again.

"Made a joke about half the team being killed off before they even did anything," Wrex grumbled.

He ordered a Krogan drink and tapped their cups together.

"Lot of panic on those streets we passed, lot of shouting too," he muttered.

"Giant transforming ship outside the Citadel, that would do that," Garrus said.

"Yeah, seen a lot of war in my time, seen a lot of warriors, I'm not gonna believe for a second what they said about Optimus, Nemesis, Orion, these are just names, I've seen who that bot is," Wrex explained.

"I don't know about seeing it in battle, but I saw when they took him in, there's something about the eyes of Cybertronians that's very similar to organics, they're more expressive than they should be," Garrus explained.

"So what did you see in his eyes?" Wrex asked.

"Guilt, but not for being arrested, probably not even for what they accused him of, but somewhere inside he feels guilt. I don't pretend to be an expert on Cybertronians, but I would like to think in their minds they're the same as us, that the reasons they have for doing things are the same," Garrus finished his drink and put the glass down.

"Fear and hatred, that's all I know about it, we all have the same reasons for fighting and betraying one another. Nemesis betrayed his council because they created a system that, for hundreds of years meant there was a caste of Cybertronians used and abused by those above them. When it was time for the council to protect them, they were used as bait, after all they had done to make Cybertron great. Just like my people were sterilised by the council," Wrex explained.

He slammed his cup onto the bar.

"I'm still going to fight for Shepard, Saren needs to be stopped, so does the Fallen and the Reapers, whatever Nemesis may have been, he wasn't wrong about them," the Krogan said as he stood up.

"Yeah, best get to Shepard, I hope Saren is on this planet we're going to, so we can finally finish this!"

In deep space, Tali and the young Autobots flew in the Junk ship towards where they believed the team would gather. Tali looked at her Omni-tool, seeing a light flare on it.

"The Normandy's frequency, Blaster, can you boost the signal?" she asked the communications expert.

Blaster transformed, and a connection formed between him and the Omni-tool.

"Tali, are you there? Tali?"

"Liara, it's me, I have the others here with me too," Tali said.

"Thank the goddess, is everyone all right?" Liara asked.

"We all took some damage, Blaster is awake now, and...Cliff Jumper didn't make it," Tali explained.

"No, things just keep getting worse and worse!"

"What do you mean?" Arcee asked.

"I'm not using the Normandy's comm. Tali, the team, I don't even think we are a team anymore. We managed to stop what was going on at Noveria, but when we returned to the Citadel to regroup, an Autobot ship was waiting, Ultra Magnus has come," Liara explained.

"So, the conflict has finally drawn the main force here," Prowl said.

"Liara is right, things are going to get worse," Jazz muttered.

"Where are you now Liara?" Tali asked.

"On a shuttle with Wheelie and Sparkplug," Liara said.

"I don't remember there being a minicon designated Wheelie!"

"That's because Wheelie isn't a Minicon, it's complicated Tali, but I believe we've come upon a conspiracy involving the Asari and the Cybertronians. But that isn't even the worse of it, I need your help with rescuing Optimus."

"Wait, WHAT!"

"Who is that?"

"Wreck-Gar, just ignore him, look Liara, what do you mean rescue?"

Unbeknownst to Liara, and the Autobots and Tali, their conversation had a third party listening. The ship had been passing what appeared to be a satellite orbiting a nearby planet. What they didn't know was that the blue armoured machine had actually been tailing them for some time, transforming when necessary to avoid detection. When the ship had passed, an antenna extended from the back of the satellite.

"Nemesis location confirmed, Soundwave to Megatron, Nemesis location confirmed!"

Next Chapter 28: Rescue

Uh oh

Hope this satisfied everyone, we'll be splitting into two parts for the coming arcs, Shepard and Ironhide's new team on Virmire and Liara, Tali and the Autobots trying to help their fallen leader.