This is a sequel to my other story Trine Me. If you haven't read that, I suggest you stop and go read that first. For everyone else who has already read Trine Me, welcome! As always, Transformers isn't mine and I don't make money off it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Despite the fact Thundercracker knew that they were leaving Cybertron, it never felt so real until they were standing outside the fully repaired ship and about to launch off.

Skywarp gave a long appreciative whistle, putting his servos on his hips as he gazed upon the spacecraft.

"We did it TC."

"I'm sorry, 'we'? I did all the work. You just spray painted it."

"I know, it looks awesome."

Truth was, the ship looked like scrap even before Skywarp went crazy with the paint. It was all a jumbled mess of mismatched parts welded together, the sunlight exposing all its imperfections in plain sight.

It was a monstrosity of a spacecraft, but Skywarp was beaming with pride at his work, and Thundercracker just couldn't bring himself to burst his bubble.

"It's functional." He finally said. "That's all that matters."

Skywarp rolled his optics. "Yeah, yeah, you're just jealous of my artistic talent."

"...Right. Now let's go over the plan again."

"Again? We've done it like a million times. I know the plan."

Thundercracker crossed his arms. "Oh really? I told you the plan this morning. What is it?"

"The-the plan?"

"Yes, the plan. The one you should know already because we've gone over it 'a million times.'"

"Uh…"

"Exactly. So, we'll go over it one more time, and for the love of Primus, pay attention this time."

Skywarp's optics immediately tore away from admiring his so-called art. "Ok, I'm totally 100% focused."

"Now, we're going straight to Target Planet, to find Megatron. No detours. No stops. No 'scenic routes'. Just from Point A to Point B. Got it?" It was an extremely abridged version of the actual plan, one last ditch effort to get his trinemate to grasp at least the basic point. Emphasis on basic.

Thundercracker could see the cogs slowly turning in Skywarp's CPU, before he nodded. "Yeah, I got it. Can we go now?"

He took a deep breath. "Ok. Let's go."

"Finally!" Skywarp whizzed past him, wings nearly smacking the blue Seeker in the faceplates.

He barged into the ship and plopped down on the captain's seat.

"Woohoo! Target Planet, here we come!" He waited for Thundercracker to order him to get out of the seat. When nothing happened, he looked around the make-shift cockpit, and realized that it was empty.

Thundercracker was still outside, staring at the open access hatch to the ship. The longer he looked at it, the more it looked like the maw of a giant scraplet, waiting to devour him. The illusion was shattered when Skywarp stuck his head out and hollered.

"Hey TC! C'mon, get moving, I'm starting to rust over here!"

No response.

His red optics narrowed in suspicion. "Wait a nano-klik, are you stalling?"

Thundercracker's wings slightly rose and stiffened. "No. I'm just trying to be as prepared as possible."

"You are! What's the big hold-up? Leaving Cybertron was your idea."

"I know." He was taken aback at how strongly he said that, and cleared his vocalizer before repeating, "I know, but it might be a long time until we come back, and I wanted to take a moment before we go."

Skywarp sighed. "Fine. I'll wait inside."

Left alone, Thundercracker gazed out to the horizon and saw the barren, war-ravaged surface of Cybertron. The dead planet looked like scrap, but it was still their home. It would be a long time until they'd come back, if they ever did. Either way, he wanted to take this final image of it.

He shut his optics and for a moment listened to the quiet thrum of his spark.

It was time.

He turned around and marched towards the ship, heavy steps echoing in the silence.

He climbed aboard, then frowned. "Skywarp, get out of the seat."

The purple Seeker threw his helm back against the seat, making a sharp clang. "Ugh, I knew you were gonna say that."

He shifted over to the passenger seat, allowing Thundercracker to sit down on the captain's seat and push a button on the control console. They strapped themselves in, hatch door locking with a definitive click. This was truly the point of no return.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this." He muttered and gripped the sides of the steering wheel.

The spaceship rumbled to life as he pushed the correct sequence of buttons. The vessel was so ancient it still had multicolored glowing buttons instead of the modern sleek interactive screen.

"We only have one shot, but according to my math, we should be able to make it."

Skywarp took a double take, for the first time looking like he was having second thoughts about the plan. "Hold up, should?"

The engines ignited at full force and the ship launched off. They were thrown back against their seats, escape velocity slamming into them mercilessly. The steering wheel throttled, Thundercracker struggled to keep it steady. He had to, or they wouldn't make it past the stratosphere.

Just a little longer, he thought, or maybe screamed, it was hard to tell, we're almost there, hold on just a little longer.

"We're not gonna make it!" Skywarp wailed, slapping his servos over his audial receptors to block out the sound of the ship screaming as it tore through the denser part of the atmosphere.

Warnings popped up in Thundercracker's vision, which suggested transforming to alt-mode in order to better handle the crushing pressure. He shut the pop-ups immediately.

The sky darkened, faintly shining stars manifesting. The rattling ship blasted through the ever thinning atmosphere. Finally, it broke free. Thundercracker yanked a lever to reverse the thrusters and reduce speed before they shot off in the wrong direction. In the cabin, they began to float, held back by the seat restraints. The blue Seeker started looking for the button to activate artificial gravity when he caught a glimpse outside the viewing glass and paused.

An infinite quantity of stars, shimmering light years away. Everything, from the distant galaxies to the smallest chunk of ice, moved with a mathematically precise order. Yet amidst order, was chaos. Though he couldn't see it, stars were destroyed, meteorites scarred planets, and black holes devoured everything within reach. Side by side, these two forces were locked in a timeless battle and the universe was the result of it.

Seeing space in person for the first time was very humbling, and naturally, the moment was ruined by Skywarp's perpetual screaming.

"Skywarp, we're here."

"We are?" He cracked open an optic, and uncurled from his fetal position with an awkward cough. "Yeah, see? I told you we were gonna make it."

He resisted the urge to roll his optics and instead pressed another button to activate artificial gravity. They both plunked down, the odd weightless sensation instantly gone.

"It's been a long time since we last saw the Decepticons and Autobots. We don't know what's happened in the war since. It's imperative to be cautious." He quietly said, running once again the stats in his CPU and coming to the same conclusion. In the event of an attack, their spaceship only had its small size and maneuverability as an advantage. It was not a comforting thought.

"Heh. I'll pound any Auto-dorks I see to scrap." Skywarp slammed a fist into his open palm.

The blue Seeker turned the wheel in the direction towards Target Planet, and started their journey.

Skywarp kicked his pedes up on the dashboard. "So, what exactly am I gonna do again?"

"Nothing. Just sit there and don't touch anything important. Also, get your pedes off the dashboard."

"Why? Dashboard isn't important."

"Skywarp-" He began in a low, warning tone.

"Ok, I'll do it. Geez, don't get your wires in a twist." The purple Seeker set his pedes down as loudly as possible. "There, happy?"

Thundercracker merely sighed.

"One. Two. Three."

"What are you doing?" Thundercracker had to keep his gaze firmly ahead, and was unable to see what his trinemate was up to now.

"I'm counting everything I see outside." He replied before seamlessly resuming his count. "Four. Five. Six."

"Can you do it in silence?"

"Seven. Eight - Fine."

Not even a whole klik passed before Thundercracker heard the first melodramatic sigh. Truth was, it didn't initially bother him, and he barely noted it. But then it happened again. And again. And again. He did his best to ignore it, but Skywarp kept sighing.

Sigh.

Sigh.

SIGH.

Each one was longer and more exaggerated. His wings flinched with every blasted sigh, rising higher bit by bit with tension. He didn't have to look to know that Skywarp had an obnoxious smirk all over his faceplates.

The purple Seeker took a deep vent. He bristled, waiting for the inevitable.

One nano-klik passed. Two nano-kliks. Three. Four. He knew it was coming, it was only a matter of time.

SSIIGGHH.

"Would you stop it?"

The purple Seeker blinked with a faux innocent face. "Stop what? I'm just venting. What, I can't do that anymore?"

Not even a whole cycle into their voyage and Thundercracker was almost bashing his helm against the steering wheel out of desperation.

This was going to be a long trip.

It was only a matter of time before the unavoidable happened.

"TC?"

"What?"

"I'm bored."

"You could always check whether the ship needs an oil change." Thundercracker offered.

"There's nothing to do on this tin can." He said, completely ignoring the suggestion.

"Or count the rations."

"There's nothing to do..." Skywarp slouched on his seat with a sigh.

"You have no idea what it feels like to be this close," He brought his index and thumb nearly touching, "to losing your processor."

"Oh, I might have some idea…" Thundercracker quietly said.

"TC! We're not talking about you, we're talking about my problems and how you're going to fix them."

"Alright, fine." He held the steering wheel with one servo, and dug into his sub-space for his datapad. "If you break it, I will not hesitate to offline you."

"Got it." Skywarp carefully took the datapad like his life depended on it, which… it did actually.

"The access code is 1-0-1-8-1-9."

The purple Seeker tapped in the numbers. "Nice, I get to read all your logs."

"No, that code only grants you limited access to several audio logs the Decepticons left behind." He corrected. "There's enough content to last the whole trip."

Skywarp made a face like he had a bad cube of Energon. "Seriously?"

"It'll serve as entertainment, won't it? Plus, you might even learn something."

"But I don't wanna learn stuff!"

"Very well, then hand my datapad back and wait in absolute silence until it's your turn to drive." The blue Seeker extended a servo expectantly, palm up.

"Rise Up, huh? I think I'll start with that." He selected that file.

"CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING!" Megatron's booming voice echoed throughout the ship.

Thundercracker couldn't help but smirk. It was rare when Skywarp got annoyed for a change, and it felt fantastic.

"It's your turn to drive."

Skywarp pumped a fist. "Yes!"

This was literally the only reason Skywarp was on board with the plan. The obsolete ship lacked an auto-pilot system, requiring it to be manually navigated at all times.

In theory, he could drive by himself. Except they'd have to pause for him to recharge, which would double the time it'd take to reach Target Planet. Furthermore, he knew that trying to stop Skywarp from touching the steering wheel, and assuming he'd listen for once, was a mistake which would only lead to disaster.

"Remember, you're only driving whenever I have to recharge, which will be in very limited occasions for exactly 6 cycles each time."

"Yeah, yeah, 6 cycles, whatever." He reached out for the wheel in a gimme-gimme motion.

"Not so fast. This isn't like flying in alt-mode. I'm going to give you a few pointers. First off, you need to hold the steering wheel with both servos."

"Got it."

"Check the screen frequently to make sure you stay the course."

"Uh huh."

"Never accelerate or brake too hard, or the ship will get out of control."

"Ok."

"Oh, and-"

"I said I got it!" Skywarp snapped. "Now are you gonna let me drive or what?"

"Right, of course." His limbs were stiff and creaked with every movement as he stood up and stepped back. The purple Seeker immediately hunkered down on the captain's chair and clutched the steering wheel with both servos.

Thundercracker lingered a moment longer, waiting for the ship to explode, or for Autobots to materialize out of thin air and attack, or for Unicron himself to pop in. Something. Anything. But no. Other than some mild turbulence as Skywarp got the hang of it, everything was fine. Surprisingly, disaster didn't strike the instant he allowed Skywarp to pilot the spaceship.

He stretched his arms over his helm, back struts cracking. He sighed, feeling the built-up pressure and tension dissipate. It was a good thing the berths weren't far. They were located just a bit behind the cockpit, one on either side. He shambled towards them when he realized there was a giant pile of…something on one of them.

It was a hodgepodge of bits and pieces of unrecognizable things scattered throughout. In any other circumstance, he would have called out Skywarp for bringing his useless junk aboard. Instead he turned to the other berth and collapsed face-down.

Ba-bang! Or tried to. There was a problem. His wings didn't fit. Every tiny movement had them hitting against the berth and confined walls. He ended up on his side facing the dull gray wall, wings folded flat parallel to the berth. It wasn't a very comfortable position, but it was the only one that worked in such a confined space.

He propped himself up on his elbow, ignoring his wings that smacked against the berth for the umpteenth time, and lifted his head up.

"Skywarp, are you sure you can handle it?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Nothing bad is gonna happen." The purple Seeker assured with a carefree wave, the last thing Thundercracker heard before lying back down and slipping into a long overdue recharge.

In an unidentified place, it was pitch black. Sinisterly shadowy. In other words, dark. Suddenly, a bright red dot popped up on a screen.

"Unidentified spacecraft detected. Readings are confirmed to be Decepticon." The computer's flat, monotone voice rumbled throughout the bridge.

"That so?" There was the sound of quick tapping, sending a command into the system. "Well, I say that merits some further investigating."

Well, I really hope you all liked the first chapter to the story.

I imagine the ship to look like the Jackhammer and that it works like a car, with a steering wheel and a gas pedal. I don't really know how spaceships work.

Who do you think the mystery transformer is? It's not an OC, and could be anyone from any TF universe. You can leave your guesses in the reviews, or just wait until the next chapter. I won't judge. (Secretly judges)