Author's notes: Hi, thanks for checking out my story! (This is a re-upload, as the original came out really weird.) This is set in the Transformers Prime universe and starts after 'Operation Breakdown' and before 'Crisscross'. I originally planned to write the whole thing, then upload it, but realised that it would take ages, so I decided to upload the three chapters I wrote and see what people thought. For now, I'm going to upload this, then wait a few days to upload the other two chapters. (Please review to tell me what I did well/ could do better, as this is my first fanfic! Also, expect new chapters to be few and far between, as I only write when I want to/ when I get bored, sorry!) I hope you enjoy it!

The Edit (as of 4th of July, 2019): After a fairly lengthy discussion with Sci-Fifan95, involving a lot of messages, I have been educated in the mysteries of... FORMATTING! Hopefully this will make the story easier to read, so thank you Sci-Fifan95. I am currently going through the story, formatting it and editing it in parts, which is taking a long time as I aim for around 3000 words per chapter. I'm also sorry that I haven't updated after chapter 8. I basically drained my brain of ideas, so started another (non-transformers) story... then another. Basically, I have three stories on the go, including this one, and I like to aim for around 3000 words per chapter, so I'm sorry that I've been absent. I am switching between them, but chapter 9 is coming, as is the first chapter of my second story! Thank you for your patience, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own my OC and this story.

Chapter 1: Crash

Miko was bored. Ratchet had sent out Bumblebee and Arcee to an abandoned energon mine over a tiny reading on his scanner and she, Jack and Raf came along, not wanting to miss an opportunity to get out of the base with the bots. What had they found? Nothing. Miko sighed and paced back towards Jack as Bumblebee and Arcee emerged from the mine's mouth.

"The mine's cleared out. This was a waste of our time." Arcee complained, looking over at Bumblebee.

"I'm getting a signal though! A faint signal. And it's definitely in this area." He looked back, his scanner beeping rhythmically.

"Um… guys?" Jack called, pointing up at the sky. "What's that?" A large, bulky shape was plummeting through the sky, fire licking the metal surface.

"Cool!" Miko yelled, standing up to see the falling object and snapping a photo with her phone. It was then that the sonic boom reverberated through their respective ears and auditory sensors, rolling through the landscape, shaking the trees.

"It looks like some sort of falling… ship?" Bumblebee commented, zooming his optics onto the descending craft. A pause followed as Arcee also locked onto it, tracking its trajectory. Then her optics widened.

"And it's falling this way..." She turned to the others. "We need to go! NOW!"
The two Autobots swiftly transformed, metal parts detaching, shifting, interlocking in coloured blurs as the ship hurtled towards them, flaming chassis groaning from the structural load.

"COME ON!" Arcee yelled over the thunderous noise.

The humans didn't need to be told twice. They ran to their guardians faster than a panicking Starscream would and boarded the bots. Wheels spinning, the Autobots pulled onto a nearby road and accelerated hard, as the ship, glowing cherry red and charred from its atmospheric entry, slammed into the former mine with colossal blue explosions, caused by energon igniting uncontrollably in two of its three engines. Dust and rock mixed with molten metal was thrown into the sky from the impact as Arcee and Bumblebee raced from the crash, engines firing on all cylinders. It was only once the Autobots had put a few kilometres distance between themselves and the wreck that they stopped. As the climbing masses of rock remembered that they weren't weather and plummeted back to earth, the bots made 180⁰ turns, transformed and surveyed the carnage.

"Whoa" exhaled Jack and Miko together.

"Whoa is right" Bumblebee confirmed, eying the flaming wreck and various rocks tumbled back down, making still audible dings and clunks against the surface of the ship, despite the distance.

"That's definitely a cybertronian spaceship. The energon explosion proves it" observed Arcee. "What model do you think it is Bee?"

"Hmm." He eyed the ship warily. "It's fairly big, so I'd guess… a frigate, but most of its scrap now and the engines are toast. We need to call this in. This is big."

"Agreed" she replied, pressing a finger to her audio receptor. "Ratchet, we've found a crashed cybertronian ship and we're going to investigate."

"Understood Arcee, proceed with caution." The medic replied, concerned. "I'll continue to monitor your progress from here."

"Can we go look up close?" Miko pleaded, giving Arcee the big wide eyes she always did when she wanted something.

"It would kinda be interesting to see" Jack agreed. "You know, if it were-"

"Safe? Jack, Miko, that ship could be ready to blow at any moment. We don't even know what's on board and it would be a massive risk to us all!"

Bumblebee interrupted, worry in his optics. "Arcee? I've got a life sign from that ship."
Shocked, she could only stare at him.

Ratchet cut into the silence. "Looking at the images, how could anyone even survive that crash?"

Bumblebee shrugged. "I have no idea, it that changes things. We need to look for survivors."

After a brief internal conflict, the two-wheeler turned to Jack, sighing. "Just don't tell anyone" she said. He smiled up at her gratefully.

Upon reaching the site, they saw everything was torched. The ship's steaming surface- well, the solid parts of the ship's steaming surface, was blackened and charred so much it was impossible to tell what its original colour was. There were gaping holes with jagged edges in the hull and fires everywhere, lapping over the ship, the surrounding trees and thrown debris. The metal was ticking and steaming from its chaotic crash landing. Miko was enthralled by it all, snapping pictures of the wreck, while Arcee and Bumblebee shifted through the rubble, looking for the source of the life signs. Jack stood by, watching. At the other end of the wreck, a loud bang reverberated from the sealed airlock.

Everyone whipped their respective heads and helms up at the noise, then exchanged nervous glances. The bang sounded again; the metal reverberated like a gong. The two Autobots raised their servos, transforming them into blasters. The third time, the metal split open roughly, revealing a large red, white and black mech, around Optimus's height- about eight and a half metres, who barged his way out into the open and collapsed backward with a painful crunch, blue dribbles of energon leaking from multiple wounds. The Autobots ran over to the fallen bot, the children following close behind. Upon reaching him, he looked up at them weakly and groaned, his blue optics flickering sporadically in his dented red helm. He had a large, bulky yet graceful build, with folded wings on his back, and had wheels in his arms and legs.

Jack saw his helm bore a striking resemblance to a Spartan helmet from Halo, except with two upward facing prongs where ears on a human would be, which were the mech's audio receptors. He also lacked the visor or mouthguard, which presumably folded out as a battle mask.

"A triple changer!" exclaimed Bumblebee in surprise.

"What's a triple changer, Bee?" Raf asked, to no reply.

"Ratchet, open a groundbridge" Arcee ordered, bending over the mech. "We have an injured bot."

"Who is he?" Jack queried.

"How bad is it?" The medic asked.

"Bad. Multiple energon leaks and punctures. If I had to guess, possibly internal damage too. I don't even know who he is" she replied, looking the strange bot over for any other injuries as a yawning portal swirled into existence, green light flickering inside it. "Let's get him out of here Bee." The scout gently picked up the massive mech in his arms, who let out another groan of pain. "Come on you two" Arcee said to Miko and Jack.

Upon seeing the portal, the injured mech mumbled deliriously "Chevron 7… locked in place… opening Stargate".

"What's he talking about?" demanded Miko, angry at being ignored.

"I have no idea." Jack replied as they walked into the green vortex.

As soon as Ratchet saw the mech he sighed, shifted to a pained expression and helped Bumblebee carry the red, white and black bot through to the medbay, muttering "It's going to be a long day". Bulkhead paused his TV show, ran over to the controls and shut down the groundbridge after Arcee and the two other children entered the base.

"Who's that?" asked Bulkhead, as he looked after their new guest.

"You know as much as we do Bulk" replied Arcee, walking towards him. "He managed to survive a spaceship crash, so whoever he is, he's tough." That statement alone made Bulkhead's mouth fall open.

"A spaceship crash?"

"Yup" confirmed Jack, climbing up to greet him, Miko following behind. "It's fried now though and most of it is in flames."

"Wow… will he be okay?"

"Knowing Ratchet's skills, I'd say so" Raf supplied, throwing himself down onto the old sofa and switching on their battered, old Xbox.

"I agree with that" Arcee said, leaning against the side of the raised area as Bulkhead walked over. "Ratchet can fix pretty much anything and triple changers are resilient bots.

Miko scowled. "What even is a triple changer?"

Arcee spoke. "Triple changers are cybertronians with two alt modes, usually a ground vehicle and a flyer. They're really rare too. The question is though, who is that mech, and is he a friend or foe?"

Bumblebee emerged from the medbay five minutes later, asking "Where's Optimus?" Bulkhead jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the surface tunnel. "Patrol? Do we tell him now or when he gets back?"

"I'll tell him when he returns." Arcee decided. "We would only distract him. Besides, there's nothing worth salvaging from the wreck given its condition, and the triple changer will be in medbay for a couple of hours. We'll talk later, with everyone here."

The afternoon wore on slowly. Bulkhead drove the children to watch a movie at a drive-in theater while Bumblebee took over groundbridge duty. Ratchet had requested Arcee's help in repairing the new arrival. Optimus was still on patrol. The hours dragged by uneventfully. The only highlight of the day was Ratchet accidentally standing on one of his tools, crushing it with a sharp, self-loathing cry of "I needed that!". Bulkhead returned to base around six o'clock, with the humans in tow with a captive pizza.

When Bee asked Raf how the movie had gone, the only response was "loud", accompanied by a small smile. Miko turned on the TV and entered 'Alien' into the DVD player as Jack cut the pizza. Later, Optimus pulled in and transformed just as the chestburster lived up to its name, prompting a scream from all three children. Noticing Optimus was back, Jack paused the film and gave him a shaky grin and a "Hi" as the others turned around and the Autobots, except Ratchet, entered the main room. Arcee was the first to speak.

"Optimus, something's come up that requires your attention. Earlier today, as Bulkhead, Jack, Miko and I were scouting the mine, a cybertronian ship crash landed practically on top of us." She led the way to the medbay as everyone followed.

"Were there any survivors?" the Prime asked.

"Only him" she replied, gesturing to the repaired mech lying in stasis on the examination table.

"A triple changer?" Optimus asked, noticing the wings and wheels of the bot.

"Yes" Ratchet confirmed, looking up. "Though I don't know if he's an Autobot or Decepticon. He has no symbols on him except this" he said, worriedly pointing to an insignia on the bot's chest, directly above his spark. It looked like an orb wreathed with lightning. "I've cross-referenced this with every cybertronian in our database and it only comes up four other times, with no explanation to why."

Suddenly, the mech onlined, reflexively sitting bolt upright, blue optics snapping open, looking around, disorientated and panicked, making everyone jump. "Where? What? Who?"

"Steady there! Calm down! Everything's fine." Ratchet reassured. "What's your name?" The mech still looked panicked but focused on the medic.

"I'm… Sparkmaker. What… happened?" he said, as he lowered himself back onto the berth.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Ratchet asked gently.

"Ship… crashed. Lots of fire… Explosions. Those two." Sparkmaker replied weakly, pointing at Bulkhead and Arcee. "Everything else… lost. Damaged. Corrupted." He put a servo to his helm, rubbing it. "Hurts… It's scary… forgetting. I don't remember anything… except my name, and… the crash and... vague images and emotions."

Optimus entered Sparkmaker's field of view as the mech looked up at him. "Sparkmaker, do you know who we are, who I am?"

The mech looked at him, squinting from the light above him. "Optimus… Prime? You're… Autobots?" Optimus smiled and nodded. Sparkmaker eyed the others, eyes skimming over them as he put his helm in his hands. "I don't remember... who the others are… Sorry. I only remember fragments… The war… and evacuation of Cybertron."

Optimus clutched the bot's shoulder. "That's not your fault Sparkmaker" he said, kindly smiling down him. "Losing your past may be daunting, but know that we Autobots will help you to not only reclaim that past, but forge a future. Any questions you have, we will do our best to answer, my friend."

"Thank you Orion- Optimus, I... mean." the triple changer said, offlining his optics and falling into recharge as the other Autobots looked at Optimus with wide optics. Then everyone started speaking at once.

Ratchet looked incredulous. "He… He knew who you were? How?"

"Who's Orion? Is he a con-crusher too?" Miko asked excitedly.

Raf looked troubled. "He's lost his memory?"

Arcee turned to Optimus. "Do you know him?"

The Prime turned and raised his hand. Silence fell again. "To answer your questions, I do know him, now he has reminded me who he is. I met him before I was a Prime, when I was a clerk in the Iacon Hall of records, named Orion Pax. Sparkmaker was one of my more distant friends, always creating, building, experimenting." Optimus smiled at the memory. "I believe he is telling the truth of what he remembers, as he made the connection between me and my former self without prompting. He is not our enemy, but an old friend who needs our help."

"Very well Optimus, I'll watch him for tonight" said Ratchet. "He's still very weak."

"You have my thanks, Ratchet" replied Optimus. "Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, I believe that, though it is not late, you should return Jack, Miko and Raf to their homes. We will need you three early tomorrow to help accustom Sparkmaker to the customs of Earth." The humans nodded, happy to be a help. "But first, you may need to witness this." Turning back to Sparkmaker, Optimus pressed the Insignia on the mech's chest. Everyone watched in amazement as the symbol glowed a brilliant gold light, that slowly faded and began pulsing, at a more tolerable luminosity. "Before he left Cybertron, he made me promise that if anything happened to him and I found him, that I would do that." Optimus explained. He continued "Though I do not know what task it performs, he said that it would light his darkest hour".