A/N: At long last, I updated. Everyone is searching for answers to the questions they face, be it on an alien planet, on Cybertron, on the Ark, in our dreams... And the future? And we finally meet... Looks like you will have to read the story to find out!

As always, constructive criticism is welcomed, reviews are given much love. And I appreciate everyone being so patient with me!

Story Arc 8

Chapter 18 – Communications Breakdown

Thundercracker had not been back to the small Neutral town where he had taken up short-term residence for a few days. He had been following leads about people who worked with the Xeno-archaeology department before the destruction of the Academies, hoping to find someone who might know what was behind that door in the Library, but his search was far from fruitful. Many of the leading scientists had been killed in the bombings; the rest either went into hiding under assumed aliases or joined the Autobot forces. The handful he had found that were willing to give him a little information would only say that some of the objects behind the door were brought back to Cybertron from a dead world in the Deneb System.

It had been a long flight back to the Neutral town and he only wanted to have a nice relaxing drink and review the information he collected, but from the moment his feet touched the street Thundercracker knew something was wrong. Usually the area was a bustling hive of mechs getting off from work, but today everyone kept their heads down and shied away from him. Something had the residents spooked badly. Decepticon sweeps probably came through the town, he thought to himself, but he turned his sensors on high alert just in case. If there were danger in the area, he would find it before it found him.

The bar was unusually empty, save a couple of mechs at the counter and a booth. He opted to sit at the counter instead of his usual corner, and it was painfully obvious how unnerved the bartender was when she set his high-grade down in front of him.

Leaning in close, she whispered to him, "Those mechs in the booth have been asking about you, TC."

"Oh? Like what?" Thundercracker hid his words behind a sip from his cube.

"Like when you're here, if you come alone and if I know where you're staying at," Her hands shook as she scrubbed at an invisible stain on the counter.

He checked the muted reflection of the booth on the wall behind the bar. "I'll take care of them. Do you have a way out of here for yourself if things get ugly?"

"Yeah," She rubbed at the stain harder. "There are people nearby that can help. But, this bar is all I have, TC. If I lose it..."

"I'll get them outside if they try anything. Just keep your optics open and get out at the first sign of trouble. Okay?" His radar pinged as the three mechs stood up, "You should go check on your other patrons, Luna."

She gave him a fear-filled nod and hurried to the other end of the counter.

Thundercracker did not look up from his cube as one of the mechs sat down in the bar stool next to him while the others stood directly behind his wings. Groundpounders. He wanted to laugh out loud at their idiotic attempt to box him in like that. Did they really believe they had even the smallest chance in a fight with him?

The smarmy mech that sat down beside him gave him an oily smirk. "Thundercracker, my old friend! How have you been?"

"We did business once, Swindle. That does not make us friends."

The purple-visored mech leaned casually on the bar and steepled his fingers, "True. But now would be an excellent time for us to become friends. Really good friends, as a matter of fact."

Thundercracker lifted his cube and took a bored sip, "And why is that?"

"You haven't heard?" A mischievous flicker danced across Swindle's greasy smile, "There's a hefty bounty on your head. Seems Megatron doesn't like his senior officers going AWOL."

The dark blue Seeker snorted loudly, "AWOL, huh? Nice try, Swindle. Tell me another one."

"I'm telling the truth, my winged friend," Swindle pulled a data pad out of his subspace and slid it over for him to see. "Six million credits for your capture and return to Shockwave. Alive. Considering how bad the Cybertronian economy is right now, that's too tempting of an offer to go unnoticed."

"Is that why you're here, Swindle? A few credits for an officer that isn't hiding from his lack of duties?" He didn't bother to look at the smarmy mech as he pushed the data pad back, "If Shockwave wanted me back at Decepticon Headquarters that badly he'd just have one of his patrols pick me up."

"But he didn't. And now we have this highly attractive bounty for one Decepticon Lieutenant Air Commander, issued and signed by Shockwave himself." Swindle laced his fingers together, "So, tell me Thundercracker. Do you feel safe being alone and friendless in this Neutral pit without the rest of your trine?"

"So out of the goodness of your spark, you decided to track me down and 'offer' me your friendship?" He laughed and took a swig from his cube, "You should win 'Mech Of The Year' for such kindness."

"I am not joking, Thundercracker," Swindle's smile disappeared. "Your life is at stake and you're not taking this seriously. Do you have any idea how many bounty hunters and persons of ill-repute wander Cybertron's cities?"

"And I'm sure you know most of them," Thundercracker cycled an annoyed huff of air through his intakes.

Swindle put his hand on his arm, "You need friends that you can rely on, Thundercracker. Friends that will take care of you. That will protect you, if need be."

Thundercracker growled and flicked the intruding appendage away from him in disgust, "Don't touch me, groundpounder."

The smarmy mech backed off, holding his hands up in a non-threatening position, "No need for name calling, my friend."

He was quickly losing patience, "Okay, Swindle. I'll be your 'friend'. What do I get out of our 'friendship'?"

"Are you insinuating that I want something from you to cement our friendship, TC? Swindle mocked being offended, "Mind if I call you TC? Because I thought true friends looked out for each other."

Crossing his arms over his chest plate, Thundercracker turned to face Swindle and nearly smacked one of his silent goons with his right wing. "That's exactly what I'm insinuating. What do you want?"

The oily smile returned, "Well, now that you mention it TC, I wouldn't mind more of that neucleon. You have no idea how surprised I was when you gave me that entire canister for a simple trinket. I never knew a mech of your position had access to it."

"Neucleon for your friendship?" Thundercracker laughed, "That doesn't seem to be a very fair trade to me. Slag, I could pay a drone a handful of credits to be my best friend and I'd be absolutely certain that he wouldn't, oh say… stab me in the back for a bag of energon goodies."

"My friendship is worth more than energon goodies, TC. I could protect you! Keep people from stabbing you in the back! Keep the bounty hunters at bay! All that for just more of the neucleon."

Thundercracker turned back to the bar and picked up his energon cube, "So you're offering me protection in the guise of friendship."

Swindle's visor flashed maliciously, "What else are friends for?"

Thundercracker took a long drink from his cube. "Get lost, Swindle."

There was the briefest moment of surprise before the smarmy mech was able to school his features. "Aww, TC! Don't be like this. We could be good friends. Great friends, even."

The dark blue Seeker scoffed, "I don't need 'protection' from a couple of lowlife groundpounders."

"I'd think carefully about this before I'd make any rash decisions, Thundercracker. An offer of my friendship only comes once-"

A black hand shot out quickly, knocking Swindle off his stool and sprawling across the floor. Blood red optics flashed dangerously, "What part of 'get lost' did you not understand?"

"Have it your way, Thundercracker. I'd keep a wide optic on my back, if I was you." Glaring daggers, Swindle stood up, " It would be a real shame if you or your little fan club got... hurt."

He didn't take his optics off of Swindle or his silent goons until they fully exited the bar. He knew he would see them again before the night was over. Swindle probably had the bar under surveillance all day and already had a trap set in place for him.

Six million credits for his return to Decepticon Headquarters. Why would Shockwave set up a bounty for him when he could have simply contacted him? There was only one way to find out for certain. "Thundercracker to Shockwave. Respond."

All he received was dead air.

Come on, you one-optic freak. "Thundercracker to Shockwave. Respond."

He was jostled out of his attempt to communicate with Decepticon Headquarters by a dark blue mech who drunkenly stumbled into him. Thundercracker growled and tried to push the mech away, "Watch where you're going!"

The mech fumbled at the counter as he tried to haul himself to his feet all the while grinning madly at him. He pointed with a wobbly finger at the Decepticon insignia on his wings and made a mock salute. Scowling, Thundercracker tried shooing him away but the inebriated mech slid something across the counter that landed next to his drink. Thundercracker glanced between his drink and the still saluting mech curiously. Nodding his head once, the drunken mech stumbled toward the end of the bar where another mech shot him a knowing smirk.

The object was a small message card and Thundercracker glanced back at the mechs before he activated it. "You take care of Swindle. We'll take care of everything else." An Autobot insignia flashed at the end of the message and then the card sizzled as its memory chip fried.

Thundercracker turned to glare at the two Autobots at the bar, but they had disappeared. Great, I'm being watched from all sides.

He drained the rest of his cube and set a few credits down on the counter; the barkeep was nowhere to be seen and, hopefully, her Autobot friends had made sure she was safe. Thundercracker stood up and stretched his wings. Might as well get this over with now. He walked out of the bar and into the completely empty street and swept the area with his sensors. There were a handful of people just barely inside his sensor range, but they weren't moving. Just as he had figured, Swindle had set up a trap. He hadn't seen any real fighting since he had returned to Cybertron, but as he walked at a leisurely pace down the street he made sure his weapons systems were charged and online. The greasy trader probably had a bunch of armed thugs at his disposal; maybe a handful of bounty hunters who knew the ins and outs of catching elusive prey, but he was certain that they were in a big surprise for messing with a Seeker.

A shadow scurried out of the edge of his vision with a soft clatter and Thundercracker smiled at the silly attempt to bait him into looking towards the noise.

You want to play, huh? Lets play then. Continuing his casual pace, he turned left into a side alley and chuckled at the sound of footsteps that followed him.

"This is exactly what I meant when I was talking about needing friends, TC," Swindle grinned icily as he stepped out of the shadows with his two goons.

Thundercracker smirked, "We both know that you would have sold me out to Shockwave the moment my back was turned."

Swindle shrugged as half a dozen well-armed mechs materialized from the shadows, "Six million credits is too tempting to turn down."

The dark blue Seeker's grin took on a wicked twist as he held up one hand and beckoned the other mechs to 'bring it'. "Too bad that it's not going to be enough to pay your medical costs."

The sounds of multiple weapons firing in a shootout rang out through the streets before one single solitary sonic boom shook the area. Thundercracker walked out of the alley dusting his hands off. Not even worth the effort, he thought as he walked back to the room he rented. He doubted Swindle would try to come after him again tonight, but he would need to keep an optic open for any more bounty hunters or Autobots that were watching him.

--

He was unaware of the condition of the small system until the boomerang shaped ship exited the strained light from the Warpgate. Clawed hands gripped at the control panels as ripples of shock raged through his body. He knew he was working against time, but he did not realize how close this race would be.

"Show me," his voice was barely a whisper as the optical monitor spread out in front of him, dividing like cells in mitosis until the screen revealed the entire system. He bit back a gasp as he surveyed the area, glancing between a screen of scrolling information on the system and the view he beheld on the monitors; this relatively young system should not have changed this much. There should not have been so much… missing.

"Are they here?"

A detailed map of the inner planets was brought to the main screen as a musical disembodied voice filled the room, "Presence confirmed. Two locations: one in stable orbit around third planet, the other nearing fourth planet. Shall I make contact?"

"No. Not yet. Scan for viable harmonizing radiation."

There was a pause as the ship ran the scans and he held his breath in the failing hope that what he was feeling was wrong. A smaller screen that divided from the optical monitor averred his worst fear.

"Two signals detected: one on third planet shows numerous life signs, one on fourth planet in final stages of extinction. Initiating inter-solar tesseract jump, now."

He shut his eyes and bowed his head as if in prayer and sent out a short telepathic message throughout the system. I am here.

--

The stare down of the millennium was occurring inside Jetfire's cargo bay when Starscream opened the comlink to his wingmate. "Wake up."

He received the painful sound of unending boredom from Skywarp, "I am awake, 'Screamer."

"You could have fooled me since you're slouching in such an undignified manner." He sighed over the comlink, "Once we get the information from this planet's sources, I want you to keep the other Autobots busy while I disable Jetfire. Then we can return to Cybertron to search for TC without any Autobot interference."

The black and purple Seeker shifted and tried to be vaguely interested in the heated show off, "Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Starscream did not twitch an aileron, but his voice was thick with his trademark snarky tone.

A martyred sigh answered, "Why disable him?"

The red Seeker's words were heavily clipped. "... So. They. Won't. Follow. Us."

Skywarp's optics went out of focus, "Why? The Autobot ship can't travel as fast as we can and Jetfire won't put Rachel and the other human in danger just to pursue us. Think about it, 'Screamer. The Autobots are more concerned about what is happening on Earth with that Allspark. They're not going to follow us."

Starscream scowled, "They interfered with the artifact on Earth."

There was an abrupt change from Skywarp's bored tone to one sharp and pointed. "They wouldn't have interfered if you hadn't told them about it."

"It's their fault that it was destroyed!"

"It wouldn't have been destroyed if you hadn't told them!" Skywarp glared heatedly at Starscream from the corner of his optics, "If you hadn't decided to 'compare notes' with Jetfire, I never would have been smeared like an oil stain across the ground when Megatron decided to blow up the artifact!"

The stark reminder that Skywarp was nearly killed kept Starscream from verbally retaliating.

The black and purple Seeker powered down his optics and leaned back against Jetfire's hull, "Now unless you want to complain and try to blame someone else for your screw up, I am going to try and get some recharge. Wake me when we get there."

--

Had I known what I was getting myself into on this mission, I probably would have declined the invitation and stayed back on the Ark. "This is going to be one long ride."

"Y' could have stayed here wit' me, Rach."

"I'm wishing I had stayed."

Will walked into Jetfire's cockpit and slumped down in one of the oversized seats with a loud sigh, "Are we there yet?"

I turned my head to look at him, "Does it look like it?"

"No, but, I can't stay back there with them." He glanced back at the cargo bay. "Antarctica in the middle of winter is warmer than back there."

"My environmental controls are reading a constant 68° Fahrenheit," Jetfire's disembodied voice filled the air.

"I didn't mean temperature cold," Will looked at Jetfire's control panel. "They're just sitting there staring at each other. They aren't talking. They're not moving. It's hard to tell if they're even alive."

I peeked over my shoulder at the inhabitants of the cargo bay and smirked. Will was right, the tension back there was heavy and frigid. Ironhide sat on one side of the bay with his massive arms crossed over his chest plate, while Sideswipe and Bluestreak sat strangely quiet next to him - all three were poised and looked ready to pounce on the Seekers if given the chance.

Starscream glared at them from across the cargo bay with a cold sneer plastered over his face, silently challenging any of them to say or do anything. Skywarp may have been scowling at one point, but now he only looked bored with his optics half-glazed over as if he was moments away from falling into recharge. Wheeljack seemed to be the only one not concerned with the tension ready to boil over as he idly flipped through a data pad.

"They seem normal to me." Will gave me an incredulous look and I shrugged, "How would you react if you had to work with your enemies? And we're not even half-way through our trip."

He just shook his head, "This is going to be one long-assed trip."

I nodded and went back to quietly talking to Jazz through our own private channel and studying the hieroglyphics. With my newly constructed wireless Teletraan 1, I didn't need to know what each glyph represented, but I wanted to be an asset to Jetfire and not the hindrance that Starscream insisted I was.

Once again, I wondered how the gentle scientist was ever able to stand being around, let alone work with, that horribly snarky Seeker. Jetfire was infinitely patient and Starscream… Well, the words 'Starscream' and 'patient' did not belong in the same sentence together. Yet, that wasn't entirely fair for me to say – Jetfire had told me that Starscream had changed so much since their days at the Academy together.

If the war had changed the Seekers that much, then how much had the war affected the Autobots? I looked back over my shoulder again at the others: the Seekers, the Twins, Bluestreak, and Bumblebee were young according to Cybertronian standards – what would they have been like if the war had not happened? How much had Jazz changed because of the war… I wanted to ask him, but I didn't think Jazz would appreciate Will and Jetfire listening in on our conversation.

Then I realized that there were things I still did not know about Jazz – like what he did before the war or what he wanted to do if there had not been a war. Granted, if the war had not occurred, we never would have met. And Jazz knew almost everything about me and my life, yet, he was still a mystery to me. Some things he could not tell me, and I had accepted that as part of what he had to do, but some things I should have asked about.

"Y're quiet all of a sudden, Rach. Somethin' wrong?"

I smiled at the sound of his voice, "Just thinking about some things."

"Like?"

A sudden burst of static across the mini Teletraan 1's screen interrupted my thoughts. Scowling, I flicked the screen with my fingers in an attempt to clear it. "Hang on a sec, Jazz. My wireless is acting funny."

"Something wrong with your solitaire game?"

I turned to glare mildly at Will, "Why don't you count the stars if you're that bored?"

He ignored me and slid across the large seat to peer over my shoulder, "What are you doing, anyway?"

"I'm reviewing the hieroglyphics we found on Earth," I turned the wireless slightly so he could see the screen. "We found them on the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacán just outside of Mexico City."

"What are they for?"

"It seems to be a doomsday prophecy, of sorts." I pointed out the glyphs as I read them. "'At the end of time…the greatest twelve must come together and fight…the keys lie within and the guide awaits those who seek…if they should fail…the stars shall spin fast and the great eye of chaos will open and turn all lands into ash… the twelve must prevail over chaos.' There was a part about Mars and a star chart on the artifact as well."

Another wave of static filled the screen and I smacked the side of the wireless Teletraan 1 in irritation, "Jazz? You still there?"

"Is something wrong, Rachel?" Jetfire's calm voice filled the cockpit.

"I keep losing the signal to the Ark." I rummaged around in my bag that held some extra flash drives, my digital camera, and some various sundry items until I found my multipurpose tool. "I rushed getting it ready, and obviously I didn't get something connected properly."

"You could use my systems if you like."

I laughed lightly and blushed, "Thank you, Jetfire, but I doubt that you would appreciate listening to Jazz and I talk."

His disembodied voice chuckled, "True. As much as I like you both as friends, I do not want to be privy to your personal conversations."

"So, uh," Will glanced at me. "You and the Special Ops guy?"

"Jazz." I did not look up at him as I popped the case for the wireless open, but I had a feeling as to where this conversation was going.

"Jazz. You and him are an… item?"

It was hard to conceal a smile as I checked the connections on the motherboard, "You could say that."

Will was silent for a moment, but I could tell he wanted to ask more about it. "How does… that work? You're a human and he's an…"

"A giant alien robot?" I lifted my head to peer at him, "What about it?"

"Well, uhm…" He gestured with his hands as if they could pluck the words out of the air.

I gave him a level look, "Have you ever been in love, Will?"

"Yes, but-"

"Love has no boundaries." I turned back to the bare internals of my mini Teletraan.

"Rachel. I do not believe your wireless is malfunctioning," Jetfire's voice broke into our strained conversation. "I have lost all contact with the Ark."

I dropped the pieces of my mini Teletraan 1 in my lap. "Huh? How? Did we pass through the solar wind, or maybe a flare?"

"All of my diagnostics are normal and outside scans are not reading any variance in radiation levels."

"Are we still on course?" I stood up on the large seat and peered at the console.

"According to my readings, we are still on course and ahead of schedule." Jetfire sounded as calm as ever.

Icy fingers of panic wrapped around my stomach. "Do you think the Ark was attacked?"

"I don't know. My long-range scanners are unable to locate the Ark, but I am intercepting radio signals from the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. And… how curious."

Will stood up alongside of me and looked at Jetfire's console. "What's curious?"

"I am not receiving any signals from Earth either." The normally calm and cool tone to Jetfire's voice had disappeared. "It's as if something has blocked all forms of radio communications coming from Earth."

I did not like where this conversation was going. "You think the Decepticons are behind this?"

"Doubtful. But we can ask Starscream if he knows anything about this."

"Knows something about what?" Snarkiness personified loomed over Jetfire's seats.

I grabbed my wireless Teletraan 1 and pulled Will out of Starscream's way as the snotty Seeker sat down in the seat we had been occupying.

Jetfire's heads-up display blinked to life. "I've lost communications with the Ark."

"Oh, what a shame," Sarcasm dripped from Starscream's words as he tapped on the display. "Your precious Autobot friends can't come to help you if something goes wrong."

Jetfire's disembodied voice showed no reaction to Starscream's attitude, "I am also not receiving any radio signals from Earth. Other than the rovers on Mars, we are in a complete communication blackout."

I looked up at Starscream, "Do you think Megatron is behind this?"

He shot me a nasty scowl then went back to studying the display, "No. There isn't a Decepticon left on Earth that is intelligent enough to design something to block out communications. Most likely we have passed through a coronal mass ejection and the subsequent radiation has disrupted his sensors."

"There hasn't been any change in radiation since we left the Ark, and diagnostics of my systems report optimal performance."

"Nonsense," Starscream began typing on the display. "You do not stop receiving communications from just one direction. Your sensor array must be malfunctioning."

"I assure you that my sensors are working," Jetfire's ever-patient tone tried to convince the red Seeker otherwise with no effect.

"Then you're doing this on purpose," Starscream grumbled as he reached under Jetfire's console and opened a panel. "Don't expect me to be gentle while I find the problem with your diagnostics and scanners."

I watched in horror as the red Seeker grabbed a handful of cables from the open panel. "Jetfire, are you sure this is a good idea?"

He chuckled and Starscream threw me a dirty look. "I trust him implicitly, Rachel. I know he wouldn't damage me on purpose."

Ruby red optics narrowed and Starscream stopped yanking the cables apart. A pained sigh escaped from his intakes and he pulled a field medics' scanner out of subspace, "Have you input your flight path?"

"Yes. I designed this flight path on the day we found the harmonizing radiation signatures. All of my long-range scans still reveal near-ideal flight conditions to Mars and our planned touchdown area on the Cydonia Mensae by the D&M Pyramid. There is a thirty-nine-percent chance for a dust storm with gusts up to forty kliks-per-joor. There has not been a change in atmospheric pressure since we left the Ark and the temperature has remained a constant 18 solar-joules. Other than the lack of communications, we should have no foreseeable problems and arrive in two-point-six joors."

Starscream sighed loudly and carefully traced the connections to Jetfire's sensors, "We'll see if your assumed calculations are correct. I wouldn't be surprised if we're headed in the opposite direction with your scanners offline."

One very long flight, indeed.

--

The doors to the Ark's bridge opened swiftly and determined footsteps announced the arrival of an irritated Ratchet. He stopped next to Jazz at Communications and waved for Optimus Prime to join them. He held a tiny device slightly smaller than a message card for them to see, "Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."

Jazz carefully took the device and scanned it, "Well, it isn't a fancy paperweight if that's what y're worried about. Where did y'd find it?"

Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest plate with a scowl, "Jacked into Cliffjumper's backup systems. The energon poisoning damaged relays on his CPU. It will be awhile before I get everything flushed."

"There should be a couple lines of source code that look innocuous. Most likely embedded wit'in a secondary system." Jazz prodded a tiny bundle of wires on the device, "Might contain some type of long-range override protocols."

"Already found them and sent them over to Red Alert. He's having a fit that I didn't scan Cliffjumper when he was first brought back to base." Ratchet snorted, "Trying to explain to that mech that some things aren't always seen by the scanners on a preliminary glance…"

"Do you think our security has been breached, Jazz?" There wasn't a hint of worry in the deep baritone tone of Optimus Prime's voice, but it was underlined in the question.

"Doubt it. I'd be worried if he wasn't in stasis." The saboteur looked up at Ratchet, "Y've still got him under watch?"

"Yes. What kind of doctor would I be if I let an injured mech wander around freely? Especially with the severe energon poisoning that Cliffjumper has."

"Are we being recorded right now?" Optimus peered at the device from over Jazz's shoulder.

Jazz turned the device over in his hand and pointed to a tiny lens. "I'd say yes." He cocked a smile and waved, "Hello in there!"

Optimus Prime glanced between Ratchet and Jazz, "Do you think the Decepticons are behind this?"

"There ain't a 'Con left on Earth that could make something like this. Now if Soundwave or the Constructicons were still functional." Jazz paused for a moment with a frown, "Or Shockwave."

The Autobot leader looked at Ratchet directly, "Is there any way to ask Cliffjumper who did this?"

The medic shook his head, "Not for awhile. His systems are still compromised and I don't dare bring him online without cleaning them up."

"Wit' y're permission, Optimus?" Jazz casually threw the device up in the air.

"Be my guest."

In one swift movement, Jazz caught and crushed the device. "Problem solved."

A warning light flashed to life on Teletraan 1, which immediately caught the attention of all three mechs. Jazz's fingers glided over the console swiftly, "Incoming message from Cybertron. It's usin' the latest security codes."

"Put it on the main screen."

The image of a blue and white mech saluting crackled to life on Teletraan 1's main screen, "Good to see you, Optimus!"

The Autobot leader saluted him back with a warm familiarity coloring his voice, "Good to see you, too, Ultra Magnus."

The signal wavered in and out in waves of abrupt static marring the mech's visage, "As much as I wish this were a social call, Optimus –brrzzz –But we've received information –brrzzz Thundercracker. Seems Shockwave has issued –brrzzz –bounty for the Seeker's return to –brrzzz headquarters. We've had him –brrzzz under surveillance since –brrzzz –direct contact with agents and –brrzzz –Neutral territory –brrzzz –searching for something –brrzzz –scientists in Praxus –brrzzz."

Jazz glanced up at Optimus, "We've lost the transmission."

"Any way to reconnect?"

"I could try and use Jetfire's communication system t' bounce our transmission… Wait." Jazz frowned as he typed, his systems hitching suddenly and his naturally cool demeanor disappeared, "I've lost contact with Rachel and Jetfire."

Optimus Prime sat down in front of the scanner console, "How far out were they before we lost radio contact?"

"Seventy-million kliks was the last readings I received from Rachel." There was no melodic tone to Jazz's voice, only a cold and calculated edge that made Prowl seem warm in comparison.

The Autobot leader's brow furrowed as the results from the scanner scrolled down the screen, "They are not appearing on long-range scanners."

Ratchet scowled as he leaned over Optimus's shoulder, "How quickly can we get to their position?"

Jazz's fingers flew over the keyboard rapidly, "Couple of joors, but I think we might have a bigger problem than that…"

"What is it, Jazz?" Kindly, but worried, optics glanced over to the Communications screen.

"We've lost all communications. Even from Earth. We're in a complete blackout."

--

He opened his optics to find himself in the middle of a large party with crystals cube of golden energon in his hands. Where am I?

A familiar voice behind him blew the fog from his processors and he turned to see Starscream and Optimus Prime laughing. He looked at the three cubes of energon – he had offered to get them something to drink. Weaving in and out of the crowd carefully, he finally made it in time to hear Starscream launch into the details of his latest project. He handed one cube to Optimus and threatened to drink the one he retrieved for Starscream, "I'm not drunk enough to listen to another lecture about space barnacles, 'Screamer."

"They are not space barnacles," A martyred sigh flushed from the red Seeker's intakes. "As I was saying, the sulfur crustaceans show signs of an organized social hierarchy-"

He interrupted the conversation and looked pleadingly at Optimus Prime, "Do you see what I have to deal with constantly?"

Rich, baritone laughter belied the humor of the situation just as Jetfire joined the group, "Good evening, Optimus." The Veritech shook hands with Optimus Prime, "Did you see the latest readings from our control group, Starscream? The control group is now mimicking Group A's building structures..."

Just what he needed - another voice joining in on the boring cacophony, "I think I hear another cube of energon that is begging to be drank."

On his way to the table where the service drones were filling cubes, he caught a glimpse of something strange across the room and his curiosity was instantly piqued. Maneuvering through the party again, he found the source of his interest at a far table laughing with a handful of mechs that looked vaguely familiar. The fragile looking creature's outer covering was red and it did not have any body armor that he could see. It was fascinating to look at and he found it difficult to quit staring. Whatever it was, it strangely… alluring. The creature turned and looked at him, returning his stare with a curious one of its own. It then smiled and he noticed its murky purple optics were wet and just as fragile looking as the creature was. They were odd but somewhat familiar…

Wait. That creature is not a 'what', but a 'who'. And somehow, he knew who she was. He lifted his energon cube up to her and smiled. Aliens visiting from the nearby systems weren't unheard of here; he must have seen her over at the Science Academy or something.

The sound of a massive explosion ruptured the air followed by a violent ground-shaking quake. The party stopped and a deathly silence filled the entire room. Tense moments passed until Optimus' strong baritone voice cut through the hushed air, "It was probably a core tremor. There's nothing to worry about."

No, this was not right. It was not a core tremor and he knew it. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. And the feelings of déjà vu were spark-wrenching deep. He locked optics with the small alien as if searching for the answers through her… And then he was hit with intense clarity. Everything was familiar because he had been here before – and he knew what was going to happen.

Pushing his way through the crowds, he called out for Optimus Prime. "We've got to get out of here now!"

Kindly blue optics peered at the highly agitated Seeker. "What is wrong, Skywarp?"

Before he could open his mouth, another blast shook the building. "You have to order a planet wide evacuation now!"

"It's just a core tremor -"

"NO! IT'S NOT!!" He shouted for full emphasis. "We have to leave Cybertron right now!"

Starscream gently took his arm, "You've obviously had way too much to drink, 'Warp."

"I'm not over-energized!" He shook off Starscream's hand and glared at the others until another moment of pure clarity hit him. He thrust a shaking finger at the windows. "Look outside! Next major conjunction is what, in eighty vorns?"

Starscream and Jetfire turned just in time to watch the planets align. Except it wasn't just the planets that fell into a conjunction: Cybertron's moons eclipsed and sent an eerie shadow across Iacon. Two sets of blue and one pair of violet optics looked at him, "How did you-"

"It doesn't matter anymore! We failed! And now we have to leave before it's too late!!" He rounded on Optimus Prime. "Please! You have to get everyone out of here! They'll listen to you!"

Lightning exploded in the air like a hot energon blade through titanium sheeting, as the skies above Cybertron were ripped open. Something angular and black as the Pit exited through the rift and sent a burst of searing yellow energy into the blue sun. The surface of the star expanded abruptly then began to collapse in on itself. Immense solar flares punctured the layers of Cybertron's atmosphere and vaporized the air into plasma and ozone. The doomed star began to spin rapidly, furiously ejecting its stellar matter from both of its magnetic poles into the system in blinding flashes of explosive energy. In a matter of nano-seconds, the blue star was dark, its core now cold and empty, leaving just the misshapen metal remnants from its final fusion burn behind.

It was a ship, a large ship, that was leaving the rift and now attacking the planet, sending core-shattering pulses of energy deep into Cybertron's crust. The deep baritone voice of Optimus Prime resounded over the city and through countless communication lines. "This is not a drill. I am ordering a planet wide evacuation. Report to the nearest shuttle depot and head for Coeliaxis. I repeat: This is a mandatory planet wide evacuation. Report to the nearest shuttle depot and head to Coeliaxis. This is not a drill."

Panic filled the room as everyone rushed for the doors. Thundercracker suddenly appeared with the golden winged femme and he bellowed at the top of his vocalizer. "Make some room!" His hands barely touched the glass and it shattered as he focused a sonic boom into the material, instantly making more room for the fleeing crowd.

"Head for Coeliaxis!" Optimus Prime ushered everyone through the newly made exit. "Starscream! You lead the fliers off planet! We'll meet up there!"

The red Seeker nodded and started to push everyone with wings out through the destroyed windows. "Already sent the message to the Guardian fliers!"

In a detached haze, he watched himself from the outside as he helped sending mechs and femmes into the air. Familiar faces flashed by him in a distorted fog. People he recognized. People who should not be here. People who should be dead…

Then he heard her scream. Abruptly turning to the sound of her cries, he caught a glimpse of her; her arms were over her head, cowering in the middle of the room as people ran past. One wrong step by the fleeing crowd and she would be killed.

Two sets of strong hands grabbed his arms and pulled him to the window. " Come on 'Warp!" He looked upwards at the violent lightning raining down on the planet as the femme screamed again. He couldn't leave her here to die.

He yanked his arms free of his wingmates grasps and dove through the crowd, scooping the crying femme up in his hands. Starscream and Thundercracker were already in the air and heading into the stratosphere as he transformed and tucked the femme inside his body.

"Skywarp! What's going on?!" She shrieked, trembling inside his cockpit.

"We have to get out of here, Rachel!" Even his voice sounded strained over the roar of his engines as he over taxed them to exit the heated atmosphere.

"What about Jazz!?" She thrashed in his seat trying to look out the canopy.

"We don't have time to get him! We have to leave NOW!"

A final sub-sonic push and they were speeding away from the attack on Cybertron. Other fliers struggled to keep up with him and he could see Starscream, Thundercracker, and Jetfire up ahead surrounding the numerous transport shuttles. A boomerang-shaped ship as white as a streaming comet snapped into being from a point of light , dodging back and forth through the shuttles and dragging them inside of it with what looked to be a tractor beam.

A sleek flier emerged from a purple flash of light off to his right and started barking orders at him. "Turn and fire at the gliders! We have to buy some time for the others!"

Starscream, Thundercracker, Jetfire, and this new black flier, turned and fired on the alien ship. He banked to his right and tightened the belts that held Rachel securely inside of him. "Hang on, Rachel!"

Like a disturbed swarm of cybernetic flies on a drone husk, the angular ship shed a blackened wave of fast moving gliders that flew straight at them. His first shot took out five gliders in an incredibly easy fireball. What the slag? What was the point of fighting these drones when he could be attacking the main ship? He teleported behind the lines of the gliders, "I'm going in!"

"SKYWARP! GET BACK HERE, YOU IDIOT!"

He didn't heed the voice of the black flier, instead opting to strafe the side of the angular ship and causing a series of small explosions bursting forth from the docking bays for the gliders.

"SKYWARP!"

He was suddenly surrounded on all sides by the small gliders, and as if it were orchestrated by some higher power, they exploded all at once. He was thrown into the side of the angular ship by the blast; warning alarms blared at him to focus his attention on the situation instead of blacking out. It took all of his control to stay conscious until Rachel screamed inside his cockpit. "SKYWARP! LOOK OUT!"

He didn't think in the moment – he just reacted, and luckily teleported in the nick of time away from the next explosion caused by the gliders. He reappeared some distance away from the fight and listing on his side, drifting in and out of the edge consciousness as he floated like a derelict piece of scrap metal. Warnings were flashing in his peripherals: energon and coolant leaks; radar and scanners, both long and short-range were offline; multiple holes and instances of shrapnel piercing his body; one wing was shredded…

"Wake up! Skywarp, wake up, please! You have to wake up!" Her voice sounded so far away until she shrieked as a painfully searing burst of heat shot over his canopy, cracking the already damaged glass. The angular ship had turned and fired on him.

"Skywarp, please wake up."

"…Rachel…" The modulator on his vocal processor buzzed with pure static as he croaked her name.

"Damnit, Skywarp!" She was tearing through control panels inside his cockpit, cursing at him as she dug for his internals. "Damn you! Do you have enough energy to teleport again? Skywarp? Answer me, damnit! Do you have enough energy to teleport?!"

"… Rachel…" Consciousness flickered again. Where was he?

She was crying now and he could feel her hot tears slide down his circuits. Why was she crying?

"Skywarp? Answer me. Can you teleport?"

Answer her? What was the question?

He felt her small hands wiggle past his laser core and briefly scrape the edge of his spark chamber. Oh, that tickled. He tried to laugh and the noise hitched in his vocal processor. Why did it do that?

Another shot tore through his left turbine and he screamed in agony, all of his remaining systems coming online in a sudden rush of power and pain. He didn't have time to focus on the clamor of his systems as another shot ripped off his tail fins and sent him into an uncontrolled spiral.

"Can you teleport?!" She screamed at him as she hung onto the cage around his laser core.

"NO!" He roared back at her. He was completely immobile and trapped inside the spin if his scant read-out was by any means correct – and all of his weapon systems were offline.

He was going to die. They were going to die. One more shot and there would be nothing left for the others to find… that is if the others got away. Raw and agonizing remorse filled his spark. She should not have been here with him. She didn't deserve to die like this. The femme had helped repair him and helped him keep his sanity while being stuck among the Autobots. She offered her friendship willingly to him. And he – he never got to thank her for any of it.

"…Rachel?" He had to fight the vocal modulator if he wanted to tell her in their last few nano-kliks of existence. "I-I'm sorry, Rachel…"

Another shot singed his underbelly and she cursed; she was arm deep into his internals and not paying attention to him. He couldn't tell what she was trying to accomplish, but he was keenly aware of the sensation of her tears falling on his circuits. "Rachel, listen to me…"

She muttered more curses and crawled halfway into his chest cavity, balancing in the small space between his laser core and spark chamber. "Rachel, we don't have much time before they fire again, and I want to tell you something."

"SHUT UP!" She screamed from inside of him and the reverberation from her voice shook him to his very core.

"There isn't anything you can do! I've lost too much energon."

"SHUT UP! Shut up! Shut up!" He felt her hands wrap around a main energon line and his teleportation device. "I'm not…" He felt her redirect wiring to it as she ground out the words. "…letting them…" She smacked the main energon line into a direct connection. "…kill you! You're too important for this!"

He was stunned. He had thought she was crying for her own survival – not for his. He did not understand what she meant by 'too important', though. However, her efforts were going to be futile, even with the small boost of energon. "It's not going to work. I don't have power to-"

"Shut up, Skywarp! I don't want you to die!" She sobbed as she pounded on the line with her fist until he heard the fragile bones in her hand break.

"Rachel!" He shouldn't care that she was damaging herself in this fruitless attempt, but he couldn't help the fact that he did care. She was trying to save him after he failed to save her. "Stop it!"

"Can you teleport?!" Her sobs were wracking her entire body, and the sensation of her tears falling on his internal systems… tears for him.

He roared as the next shot tore his shredded wing from his body. The hit brought them out of the spin, but it knocked her out of his chest cavity and into his cockpit where the back of her head struck the glass canopy with a sickening crack. She fell limply into his seat, her blood now freely mixing with her tears.

"Rachel?" Oh, Primus, no.

"Rachel?!" She had tried to save him.

"Skywarp!" It was the black flier's voice echoing over the radio.

"I need transponder coordinates, NOW!" He howled into the comsystem. If he got her back to the others quickly…

A pure white light engulfed him, and for a moment, he thought the final shot from the angular ship had gone straight through his spark and sent him to the Matrix. Then the light dimmed and there were hands all over his body. Someone was removing the canopy glass and reaching inside of his cockpit, gently lifting Rachel up and into the light. He transformed painfully, and nearly fell prone on to the floor. There were more hands that helped him stand up and muted voices in the background that he could only focus on certain important words: "Gone… Entire planet… Too many lost… Gate was opened… Coeliaxis is our only hope."

When he was finally able to lift his head, he met the gaze of swirling sad indigo eyes. The being the eyes belonged to held Rachel in its arms, and its gaze followed his when he looked at her. Her body hung limply within the cradled grasp of the being – her tear-stained cheeks only belied the emotion in the melodic voice. "Her LifeSpark is with the Creator now."

No. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. None of this was! They were supposed to stop this from ever happening! They were supposed to save Cybertron from this! She shouldn't even be a part of this! She had fought along side him, fought for him… and she died while fighting to save him.

He reached out to her broken body, "I'm so sorry, Rachel…"

--

Skywarp's optics shot open, the image of Rachel dead in the arms of the swirling-eyed being burned in his vision. She wasn't supposed to die. No one was supposed to die. Where did that thought come from? Except he knew it was true. It was up to him to stop the death and destruction of Cybertron – him and the others. Faces he knew swam in front of his optics: Starscream, Thundercracker… and the Autobots? That can't be right. Can it?

"We're here. Get up." Starscream kicked his foot and stepped over him, heading to Jetfire's cargo bay doors.

He glanced around as he stood up, taking note that the Autobots had already exited except for the trigger-happy Ironhide, who was scooping up Rachel and the other human in his oversized hands. The other human was laughing and fussing over Rachel's squishy armor; she looked less than pleased about it, but Skywarp felt relieved that she was okay. The moment he could either get her alone or hack into her comsystem, he was going to tell her 'thank you'. There was no way he would try saying that in front of the others. Starscream would never let him live it down.

--

A flash of deep blue light brought the boomerang ship into a low orbit of the barren red planet.

"Tesseract complete." The disembodied musical voice announced their arrival. "Cybertronians in final decent: Planet-fall in two breems. Shall I make contact?"

"There is no time. Are we invisible to them?" Kestral pulled a golden bracer out of his subspace pocket and snapped it around his left wrist. He activated the device and a giant sphere appeared around his body; in an instant, it shrank and sealed him inside an invisible protecting skin.

"Exo-cloak is operative. Localized systems blackout ready on your command."

"Begin blackout." He tapped the bracer twice and it shimmered briefly before blending perfectly into his golden-scaled skin. "Land three kliks outside their visual range."

"Initiating final landing procedures." The musical voice took on an emphatic quality, "Kestral?"

He looked at the control panel in mild confusion, "Yes?"

"Good luck."

Kestral caressed the side of the panel with his claws, "Creator watch over you."

--

"You need to stay close to me, Rachel. And you need to pay close attention to the heads-up display." Will tapped the left side of my helmet. "Tell me immediately if you feel light-headed or cold, because that could mean a leak or tear in your suit."

I struggled inside the oversized suit, trying to find a semi-comfortable way to shoulder the extra weight I was carrying. Even the level-5 hazmat suits I had worn in the laboratory weren't this bulky. "You need to keep up with me, Will. I need to search for the hieroglyphics."

"Yer both stayin' wit' me."

I squeaked as Ironhide plucked me off of the ground, and Will started to laugh before I could scold the black Topkick, "Looks like you've been over-ruled, doctor."

"Fine. But I need some freedom to- move. Ugh." I tried very unsuccessfully to shoulder my wireless Teletraan 1, but the suit was too big to accommodate the strap. "Great."

Will laughed again and took my arm like I was an invalid, "You search, and I'll make sure you don't trip and fall."

I tried to tug my arm out of his grasp, but he held tight. Resigning myself to being handled like a china doll, I activated the wireless Teletraan and confirmed my radio connection with Jetfire and Wheeljack. "Final comlink check. Can you guys hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Rachel."

Ironhide carried us past Skywarp who was last in getting up from his seat in the cargo bay. He had an unreadable look on his faceplates, but his optics held a disturbed pale-red glow. I gave him a questioning look and he answered by shaking his head slightly. Something was bothering him, but we weren't in proper company to talk.

"Doctor Milne? Are you listening to me?"

I blinked in confusion at Will, "What?"

"I said you need to keep an eye on your radiation sensors. It will change to a deep green color when you've reached the threshold of a normal reading." Will tapped at a circular plate on my wrist. You need to pay attention to that and tell me before that happens."

"Tell you when it turns green. Gotcha." I fumbled in frustration with my wireless again; my gloved fingers were just too big to handle the keyboard. I gave up trying to use it manually, instead opting to use my secondary command systems. "Commence vocal command protocols: Milne-two-nineteen-eighty-Autobot-Jazz. Begin recording."

Will patted my shoulder, "Are you ready to make history, Rachel?"

I glanced up at him and then at the rust-red landscape that opened before us as Ironhide carried us down Jetfire's cargo bay ramp. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"One large Autobot-sized step, one giant piggyback for mankind."

I giggled, "Are you going to bring a handful of Mars rocks back?"

"At least one." Will patted a pocket in the side of his suit that I had not seen before. "I've got enough room for a handful of pebbles."

Ironhide stopped next to Wheeljack as Jetfire pointed out the weather-worn landscape. "Radiation signatures are the strongest coming from the pyramidal-shaped structure."

Scowling, Starscream scanned the strange rocky architecture spread out before us. "The other mounds also have trace amounts, but the artifact will most likely be housed in the pyramid." He strode off towards the pyramid with Skywarp on his heels. "You can investigate the other signals if you want to, but our concern is the artifact."

"Wait up, Starscream." Jetfire grabbed the red Seeker's elbow. "You have no idea what may lie inside that structure."

"I don't care. All I want is the artifact."

Wheeljack had wandered off to the side while the Jetfire tried to talk some sense into the snarky Seekers. He leaned down over a darker patch of ground, pulling a scanner out of his subspace as he examined the area. "Jetfire! You should come here and see this." His vocal processor flickered animatedly as he waved the group over and pointed at the oddly colored soil in front of him. "I believe I just discovered life on this little planet."

The group huddled around the scientists to see the greenish patch of 'life'. Starscream's interest was even piqued and he shoved his way through the others to examine small plot.

Jetfire knelt by the colored soil, "Carbon based algae with a strong root system that reaches into the trapped ice in the permafrost. Except… its dying at an alarming rate."

Wheeljack leaned down beside him. "Are we responsible for that?"

"No. They were dying before you arrived." A voice that sounded like wind chimes swaying in a soft breeze lilted behind them.

Weapons powered to life instantaneously as the mechs swung around to face the stranger that had quietly snuck up.

"Weapons are not needed." A golden-scaled creature with swirling violet eyes appeared out of the ether. "We must hurry. We only have a handful of moments left before this planet dies." He walked towards the pyramid, calling over his shoulder to the group. "We want answers, and the only way we will find the truth is to enter the temple."

No one moved or lowered their weapons. "Who are you?"

The strange creature stopped and turned to face the group. "My name is Kestral."

--

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