The space station was coming along smoothly and plans were in the works to revisit the other planets in their galaxy. The moon, in particular, was in the works of exploration.

As James had noted with some interest, the only manned launch to the moon that was publicly documented was the one the Americans made.

The rest were mostly space satellites, and he had noted that the dark side was never documented in length.

Something he planned to fix within the next year or so.

Hermione had even given him some good news for the entire family to celebrate.

Narim had asked her to marry him, and she had said yes. It would be a big step forward for the inter-planetary relations, and it meant Hermione wouldn't be bored out of her mind in the relationship.

Ron had already married Hannah Abbot, so there was really nothing to hold her back.

James read the report with some irritation. For the past five months, all the preparations for the moon launch had been stalled. Someone or something was sabotaging the project, making the cost go beyond the original specs.

He frowned.

The cost shouldn't be this high for such a short hop. And they were mostly researching their natural satellite in hopes that they could create a moon base later.

His plans for the space station was a hit, and his idea to ease some of the burden of overpopulation had been met with approval. The only problem was the set backs and the bizarre high cost.

So the only solution he could see was to take the entire process off world entirely, and set it off in secret.

It wouldn't be that hard to set a Stargate on Mars and launch from there.

James made a note of that idea and sent it through the appropriate channels.

The idea was bounced around for an entire month...before it landed back on his desk.

"Rejected?"

Later he heard rumors that the moon launch was going to be put off indefinitely unless they could cut the costs down.

Which made absolutely no sense because he was personally funding the mission. If they were successful and documented the dark side of the moon, then Dragonfire would get a massive boost in sales within a month.

So James decided to try to find what was really causing the delay. And he enlisted the only two he trusted to get to the bottom of it all.

Fred and George. They were more devious than anyone every really gave them credit for. And they were armed with veritaserum and the newly developed Neuralizer. No one would be aware of their questions until after the fact.

"Let me get this straight. There is something on the dark side of the moon that is being covered up?"

"Someone is working with the Decepticons to keep the dark side under wraps."

James grinned evilly.

"Well if that is the case...then who's to say we have to make a planned mission to the moon? The space station is more than equipped to handle a small team to investigate it."

A week later supplies were sent in secret to the space station. Supplies that had nothing to do with building it. No one but the pilots knew about it.

In three months, the one sabotaging the moon launch took notice that certain people were being sent into space...and not returning with the ship.

It wasn't until the last person was on the station that James went up himself...and broadcasted to the entire world that the moon launch was changed from an earth orbit to a space orbit launch.

His stock holders wouldn't be happy, but James wanted it to be a surprise.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Earth, it is with warm tidings that I speak to you now on the Space Station Hope. Tomorrow, we shall be sending a manned mission to the moon directly from space. We hope to document our natural satellite to further our understanding of space, and to give humanity a new reason to try and bring peace on Earth. As the world once united with the sole purpose of putting a man on the moon, I hope that this endeavor will help in putting old grudges and complaints aside for one common goal.

"Next year, a select group of individuals will be chosen to join a heroic mission to colonize a small part of space. These people will be using an up til now unknown device which will take them to the Pegasus galaxy, where we hope that a colony can be established. Dragonfire, the company which has spearheaded a massive amount of improvements in the field of astrophysics and mechanics, will be funding this project. And now, I give to you and unbiased picture of the moon. Tomorrow, we will be broadcasting a full picture of our natural satellite as a show of good faith towards man!" said James proudly.

Anne looked at him once the camera was off.

"You sure it was smart to announce to everyone about the expedition to Atlantis?"

"It was either that or deal with idiots. Besides, this sends a clear message to the fools who tried to stop us from looking at the moon. And...I'm trying to give our allies a reason to help us. If they see that we are trying to unite our world, then maybe it might put them in a better mood towards us," said James.

It was true that their allies were having trouble trusting them with anything big. James hoped that by showing a sign of unity, like exploring their natural satellite, they would show a bit more trust in Earth in return. They would make a scouting mission to the moon in an hour to ensure that the fact aliens were around stayed hidden.

James was one of the few that were cleared to investigate the moon. He took only those he could trust explicitly, and they were all armed with magic. They could look as long as needed with the heating, bubble head and light charms fully active.

That was mostly a safety precaution since if anything went wrong with the rather outdated suits NASA used, they would be screwed over without magic. Because of that, they went in charms active.

"Everyone reading me okay? Ratchet?" asked James.

"We read you loud and clear James. Any trouble and we'll rescue you before those charms run out of energy," said Ratchet.

"Copy. Alright folks, let's get a move on. Remember, any robots we find are out of our hands, so let's just find what we can and leave. This is a recon only mission, so ask me before we take anything...though if you pick up a few moon rocks I'll pretend not to notice," said James with a grin.

The twins chuckled at that, and they set off.

Fifteen minutes later, they were all staring. Before them was a ship manned by familiar robots, who were either all dead or their spark was so low it made little difference. Since the children had absorbed the Matrix (in an almost identical way their father absorbed the All Spark), they had found an unusual power come forth whenever they joined hands. Fortunately Hermione and Narim had data when they were analyzing James after the incident in Mission City to go off on, so there weren't too many accidents of awakening bots.

Those that did wake up were almost immediately shipped off to another planet so they could absorb large quantities of other world technology and grow.

It had come as quite a shock to Ratchet at the time to learn that any bot awakened by James or his children qualified as hatchlings, despite their origin.

"Ratchet, I need to ask you something. Are there any missing autobot ships that may have fallen in this region of space?"

"There is only one ship on record, and it had taken heavy damage the last time it was seen on Cybertron. What have you found?"

"We found a large ship full of either dead or comatose bots, and I'm hoping they aren't Decepticons Do we have your permission to start removing a few things? We'll leave anything that even remotely appears to be a weapon up to you and Optimus once we return."

"I'll ask Optimus... He said he doesn't mind, but to be careful. We'll retrieve the bodies once we get a better ship working," said Ratchet.

James grinned. Inter-world communication through the magibots was so useful! It made talking to Optimus on Earth a hundred times easier.

Even if he would have a hell of a time fitting through the Stargate, no matter what form he was in. He was just too big.

James carefully crawled into a small hole, and found a life support system working at minimum capacity. Inside were odd long devices that didn't appear to be weapons of any kind. Considering the drag marks they had seen on the way in, and the fact that one of these same devices was partially crushed under the ship, he didn't think it was a weapon at all.

Megatron didn't need any weapons to kill Autobots...they had a numbers advantage on them from the start.

James silently turned off his communicator and looked at his comrades above him.

"Can any of you help me lift this to the surface? I'm getting a real bad feeling just leaving these here."

"Maneuver it so we can use our magic, and we'll see if we can't lift it up!" shouted Fred.

James turned on the communicator as he slowly lifted up the device. The red one in particular gave him a nasty feeling about it. Or a warning from his magic that it was extremely dangerous.

Half an hour later, James and his team were returning to their brooms. It had taken extensive testing, but they found that the brooms did in fact work in space. They were just a lot faster without the wind and gravity dragging them.

Between the ropes James had and the twins keeping an eye on their progress, they returned to the station to find Ratchet waiting for them.

"What have you got there?" he asked.

"I have no idea, but they gave me a real bad feeling. They're too small to be convention weapons, and somehow I think if they were the Autobots on board would have used them. There were a lot of drag marks on the ground too. We even found a crushed one under the ship, and managed to bring that back with us."

"How many dead?"

"I have no idea. We counted at least thirty, with one in suspension."

Ratchet nodded. At least they had confirmed that there were in fact bots on the moon. How many lay there he didn't know.

Two years later...

Hermione looked up from the readings, her eyes alight with interest. Her belly was swollen with the new life that was growing in it.

"What have you found love?"

"Something very fascinating. These 'pillars' as Optimus called them appear to have been based off the Stargate...only they seem to be connected to one central control unit. Perhaps if we could study this, we could solve that problem the Autobots have been having with the Stargate."

Narim chuckled. Almost all the Autobots (except for a few of the smaller ones) had great difficulty even getting into the Stargate without knocking it over. Optimus in particular had seemed unhappy with the fact that he had to take the long way around because he simply couldn't fit no matter what they tried.

On the other hand, thanks in part to the Matrix and a lot of help from some magical mechanics (and quite a few trades with the Tollans for parts) over twenty new Autobots had been reactivated.

Optimus and the other Autobots were scheduled to make another trip to the moon, this time to see if they could bring back Sentinel Prime. The only reason they had waited so long was to help the recently revived bots adjust to the rules of Earth.

Well, that and to keep Sentinel from blowing a gasket when he found out that the pillars had not only been recovered, but were so far away that he couldn't form a space bridge to the world where they were kept.

James, in a flash of wisdom and foresight, had ordered them devices to be moved off world the moment he learned that they possibly held the same ability as the Stargate combined with the strange Space Bridge ability some of the older Autobots had.

So far their allies had discovered quite a bit about the technology involved, and plans were being made to create portable versions that worked with the Stargate mapping systems. The Asgard were contributing a lot to this, seeing as how they were one of the few with the largest map of the galaxy.

Within a week Hermione had devised a small prototype to use. Depending on the results, they could very well be making these for longer trips.

Unfortunately, they still had no luck finding Atlantis, despite the fact that O'Neill had brought back an Ancient battery which powered the old outpost.

A few days after that they learned from James (courtesy of the All Spark memories) that the Autobots had traded extensively with the Ancients before they returned to Earth.

James was the one to come up with an interesting theory about why the All Spark had been sent in Earth's general direction. Perhaps the All Spark had been sent to the Ancients in hopes that they would at least keep the memory of Cybertron alive?

Though the dark hints the All Spark had given him of an ancient enemy on par with the Gatebuilders themselves had curbed most of the discovery.

Hermione handed the device to one of the Nox. She slipped it on her hand and walked close to the Stargate. If it worked, then it would hopefully land the girl close to the test site's Gate.

She tapped the address into the console, and a small pillar of light a little taller than she was appeared. She walked through it...and sent a message back. There were only two words, but they spoke volumes on what had just been accomplished.

"It works."

The celebration of that news lasted a good two days before they sent the message to Earth that the first prototype was successful.

Sentinel awoke very quickly. The power that the Matrix held had rebooted him fast enough for him to strike at Optimus.

Somehow he knew that the bot was holding something from him, but he didn't know what.

"What of the pillars?!" he demanded.

"Gone," said James.

"What do you mean gone? We had hundreds on that ship!" demanded Sentinel.

"When we finally managed to get up there for a good long look, we found numerous drag marks near the crash site, and over thirty Autobots in a perilous stasis mode that we've been trying to help get settled in," said James.

He wasn't totally lying, but he felt something off about the old Autobot. Why was he so concerned about the pillars? He should have been worried more about the condition of his men.

"That's impossible, everyone other than me had already died when the ship crashed. At the very least it was barely sustaining autopilot before that went out when I went into the cargo hold."

"We have a few allies that helped us to patch up the Bots remaining on that ship, and we used a combination of All Spark energy and the power of the Matrix to reactivate them. They seemed to take the news that the war had been lost fairly well, considering they were on the losing end to begin with."

Sentinel narrowed his optics. He knew the men on his ship were dead. He had watched them go down one by one as the ship fell apart around them.

"Are you certain that the pillars were taken?" he demanded.

"Like I said, the pillars are gone. You wouldn't be able to find them anywhere on Earth or on the nearest Gate addresses. We have absolutely no idea where they are," said James honestly.

Sentinel didn't need to know he ordered them off planet and out of the outlying planetary systems as a safety precaution. Hermione had already told him that the 'pillars' as they were called were only able to activate under the energy signature of one Autobot. Even Optimus couldn't use them.

And that had rung several alarms in his mind, which is why he asked the Tollan to check them out. After he had wished Hermione a congrats for her first child.

Sentinel had appeared rather angry over that. Clearly he had taken the control pillar with him on purpose.

"We did find an odd device half crushed under the ship, if that makes you feel any better," admitted James.

Sentinel took one look at it and knew that it was one of the lesser pillars, not the one he wanted. Which begged the question...why was he so upset that the control pillar was lost?

A week after the reawakening of Sentinel, they found a slight snag with the old bot. He recognized the energy being emitted from the newly delivered prototype that James was testing on Earth. He had expressed an interest in the Stargate program so James let him watch as he tried the new device.

"I thought you said the control pillar was gone?" he asked angrily.

"It is gone. Like I told you before, it's nowhere on Earth or the outlying planetary systems. It hasn't been here in two years now," said James pleasantly.

"I demand that you return it to me this instant! You humans don't have the necessary skills to use them, let alone actually activate them!"

"You are right when you say humans couldn't figure out how to activate and control their ability. However we didn't hand them over to humans. We handed them to the Asgard."

Sentinel, if he had been made of flesh would have paled. Instead his optics went very wide.

"The Asgard? They're a myth!"

"No, Thor and the others are very much real and have been helping us complete the space station that allowed us to find you and your ship. They found the pillars to be a fascinating achievement and have recently started to make portable models for everyday use. Why are you so desperate to get the control pillar back?"

"If you or these...allies...managed to activate it you could do untold damage. The pillar would activate all the others!"

"How the hell can it activate the others from several trillion light years away?"

"A space bridge can cross over a trillion miles at max," said Sentinel annoyed.

"Huh, good to know. Anyway even if it does get activated by accident, the Tollan would most likely figure out how to turn it off without it destroying the Earth," said James with a shrug.

James, in a fit of annoyance, finally returned the control pillar to Sentinel just to shut him up about the subject. What Sentinel didn't know was that James didn't trust him at all. He placed a shut down switch inside the pillar in a place Sentinel wouldn't notice unless it was pointed out.

A few weeks later, a series of murders across the world caught his attention. Each person was a very interested party in the entire Moon fiasco a few years ago.

James had made a point to keep an eye on people who showed too strong an interest in what his team had found. And now they were dying one by one within days of each other.

As a result, he sent a specialized team to infiltrate the job that Sam had gotten in Accuretta Systems. If the Decepticons were involved with Sentinel, James wanted to be on top of the boy just in case.

A few days into the infiltration Sam was attacked. Luckily the twins got the kid out in time.

"Hello Sam. Haven't seen you since that Fallen fiasco," said James.

"I see you've been busy," said Sam. His girlfriend right behind him.

"Dragonfire doesn't change the world unless the evil paperwork is done. So I heard you were attacked again," said James.

Relieved to finally be taken seriously, Sam told him everything he knew.

"We knew there was something going on at the moon, that was why a specialized team went up to investigate. Recently there have been several murders of people involved heavily in the moon program."

James told Sam everything he knew about what was likely going on. The kid had a good head on his shoulders, most of the time, and for some odd reason he seemed to attract Decepticon trouble like he did the world ending kind.

"Tell you what, we'll leave some Magibots with you and your girlfriend and if you find anything important you need to share with Lennox and the military, you have them contact me. I'm afraid the Director of National Intelligence doesn't take well to civilian interference," said James.

Sam left with two of the senior Magibots, both disguised as watches. His girlfriend Carly didn't seem to like the idea of her boyfriend getting into trouble again, but at least felt some comfort that someone actually cared about what Sam said.

James looked up from the reports. Something big was happening and he had a nasty feeling Sentinel was the cause of it all. Everything started to happen after he gave the bot that control pillar, despite his wishes.

Sam was going to be in the center of this mess again, he just knew it. He had already gotten Simmons back in the game, to his annoyance.

Because of his bad feeling, James was personally in the new Autobot hangers that were in DC. For some odd reason most of the Decepticon activity kept happening around Sam, and therefore in the US.

He looked at his new first generation personal space bridge. The Tollan had cleared it for those in the know of the Stargate (and the Autobots by extension) to test on Earth for emergency evacuations.

The Stargate command was using them in the field and so far they had yet to find more than a few odd glitches.

James was glad that they had rigged a special satellite around Cybertron to prevent the Decepticons from using any space bridges to return. Only those with a special, magically created code, could even get there now. They had placed it there when the Tollan found a bizarre preset in the pillars set to Cybertron. If they hadn't placed a seal to keep space bridges from forming near the planet, they could easily teleport the planet to anywhere in the solar system if a bridge was open long enough.

Lennox walked up to James worried.

"We just sent another magical team to the Moon. They were picking up a large amount of energon signatures all over the damn thing, and not anywhere near the ship."

"How big?"

"Big. As in massive. There were multiple signatures all over the moon, close to the dark side. And I don't think they're friendly either," said Lennox.

"The question I have is how long have those things been buried in the moon?" asked James.

"No idea. However, if things go south it might be a good idea to get most of the Autobots evacuated from Earth. You know Megatron will pull something to get rid of them."

"Luckily he only knows about Autobots. Magibots are registered with the Ministry, so none of the governments can touch them without outing the magical communities. All the bigger ones are off the planet anyway."

James grinned at that. Magibots were littered all over the planet now, in key points around the world. They were being used as sentient communication devices and computers. The Magical Communities had undergone a serious overhaul when he introduced the Magibots.

If magic shorted out regular electronics, then those that ran on their own Spark would have to be the next best thing to electricity. As an added bonus, the Pure Bloods had started to give so-called Dark creatures second looks after being chewed out by their new laptops about their abuse.

Why? Because the laptops and other common devices absorbed any spell sent at them, even ones geared at shorting out electronics. It only made them stronger, and Magibots tended to combine and cause destruction if mistreated.

A lot of Pure Bloods had to relocate their things after the Magibots destroyed their mansions. Though for some odd reason books were left alone.

James fully blamed that on Hermione's influence. It was the only logical explanation to it.

Sam was coming into the NEST base with Simmons, with new information. Hundreds of pillars had been taken from the crash site long before Apollo 11 even made it to the moon. Since Autobots were never around in 1963, it was assumed that the Decepticons had the pillars.

The million-dollar question was, why hadn't they activated them when they first found the ship? If the Tollan and others could partially awaken the control pillar without Sentinel's help long enough to make smaller versions, then why hadn't Megatron or his lackeys attempted the same thing? They were used to that technology.

James could only speculate that there was something big Sentinel Prime wasn't telling them. When he heard Sam was coming in with Sentinel Prime behind him, thinking the bot needed to be protected from the Decepticons, James had other ideas.

"I want all active personnel ready for a fire fight! Something tells me Sentinel is lying to us about something and I don't want to be caught with my pants down! Medics, be ready for injuries and for Merlin's sake people, get ready to repair any Autobots!" shouted James, once he hung up on Sam.

"We have an Energon Alert. Energon readings detected on the D.C. Parkway. Currently tracking three black Suburbans."

James swore. Something was definitely wrong, and he didn't want casualties on his watch. The one thing on his mind was the fact that there was a very real possibility that Sentinel had switched sides.

If an old bot like Jetfire could change from being a Decipticon to Autobot, then there was every chance that an Autobot could become a Decepticon without warning. And Sentinel wasn't a fool. The way he acted was not how Optimus had told James. He acted far too shifty, and he was too concerned about the pillars for it to be normal.

"I want eyes on Sam and Sentinel! Magibots, transform and roll out!" James called out to the bots on base.

In unison, ten of the aerial Magibots transformed and went straight to the Parkway.

It had become a battleground, with Bumblebee doing most of the damage. The others flanked him, and Sentinel had gone on slightly ahead. James only felt slightly sorry for the people of the cars that were getting flipped over and could only hope that they were wearing seat belts.

The three cars tried to strike at Bee but not once did they go after Sentinel, who was easily the biggest threat.

James' eyes narrowed, and he immediately cleared the base of all personnel. If Sentinel was a Decepticon, then it was better to let him have the pillars and attack from behind later. They didn't need the control pillar that much anyway.

"I want three medic teams sent to the Parkway to heal the people in those cars!" barked James.

Three Magibots rolled out with full teams of medics. James did not like have civilian deaths on his watch when a medical team could have been sent to prevent it.

Sentinel's optics narrowed when he noticed the distinctive lack of humans in the base. Ironhide and Dino were outside taking care of the last two Decepticons that had attacked them on the Parkway, but aside from that the place was empty. Something was up.

When the human boy Sam mentioned that he was apart of some plot the Decepticons had for the pillars, he knew his time had come.

Sentinel leveled his weapon at Ironhide. He would try to stop him, and that was something he would not tolerate.

"REFLECTO MAXIMA!" screamed James, leveling his wand at Ironhide. It was a spell Hermione had created when they learned a simple shield charm simply wouldn't cover a staff weapon or consecutive hits from a Za'at gun.

The blast hit the new reflective shield charm and barely saved Ironhide.

Sentinel gave James a cold look, and went into the base to retake his control pillar.

James was immediately on the radio screaming at them not to engage the Bot, but to retreat until a plan could be made.

The amount of destruction Sentinel was causing just to retake the pillar was ridiculous.

Mearing was pissed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Sentinel?!" she demanded.

"I am a Prime! I do not take orders from you!" Sentinel answered.

Lennox got her out of the way before the former Prime tried to kill her. She had been less than respectful to him after all.

"Do not engage Sentinel! I repeat, do not engage the bot! Fall back and wait for further orders!" James kept repeating.

He had to fight every instinct he had to go in there and stop the raging Decepticon. Sentinel would tear him to pieces if he went in there, as was demonstrated by his ability to rip the planes, helicopters and various vehicles inside to bits just to get his control pillar.

When Sentinel got what he wanted, he left.

Optimus couldn't believe that Sentinel had left. That he had betrayed the cause. Mearing was blaming him for the fact that Sentinel had destroyed the base. Finally James had enough.

"Mearing, shut the hell up!"

James went to Optimus.

"Optimus, look at me. This is not on you. You had no idea that your friend had turned against you. Against your allies. Obviously Sentinel believed Megatron had already won. Maybe he was tired of being on the losing side. The point is, that it is not your fault. We are going to get the control pillar back or destroy it. Sentinel might be salvageable, but right now we have bigger problems. If Sentinel is siding with Megatron, then there is every chance that they will turn the humans against the Autobots. We need to get you off Earth and put body doubles just in case."

"Sentinel is my responsibility," said Optimus firmly.

"I'm not saying he isn't. But if we are going to stop whatever plan Megatron and Sentinel have concocted, then we need all hands on deck," said James.

"If Sentinel truly has turned, then we will need the assistance of the Magibots under your command. How many are still on Earth?" asked Optimus.

"Most of those are Civvies, we don't need to call them in. Not to mention the fact it would take at least half of Britain to form a decent sized bot. No, we need those that aren't working as tech for the magicals. And those are currently off world at the moment. It would take a day or two for them to get back and under proper wards," said James.

"How do you plan to get them here when most of those can't even fit through the gates?" asked Optimus.

"I forgot to tell you...thanks to those pillars you let us borrow we got a working teleport system that allows gate travel. You can go off world like the smaller bots. We also have a satellite system around Cybertron after we noticed an odd preset in the control pillar. I think Sentinel's plan is to bring Cybertron here and make the humans rebuild it."

"Sentinel could work around that," said Ironhide. He was still a bit shaken up by the near miss with Sentinel's weapon.

"With a magically generated code?"

"Autobots and Decepticons can work around human technology. Chances are fairly high that he would find a way," Ironhide pointed out.

James thought that over. It was possibly, just very unlikely. He swore. There was only one method that would insure Sentinel could never bring Cybertron to Earth's orbit...and it would involve sending the twins to a satellite and inputting scramble codes the entire time until the pillars were taken out.

"Sometimes I hate my life."

"Daddy, why are we on the Shield Satellites?" asked Lily. Much like her grandmother, she was sharp as a tack.

"Remember the bot that had those devices sleeping with him? He turned out to be bad. I don't want anything to happen to you or our friends."

"You want us to insure whatever he's planning doesn't work?" asked James. Harry patted his son on the head.

"I suspect Sentinel might attempt to bring Cybertron to our home, and we can't let that happen. If the computers tell you about an incoming space bridge from Earth without a magical signature, I want you and Lily to do everything you can to stop it. I don't care if you have to use the Matrix Power, you keep that bridge from connecting."

"And if we can't?" said James.

"James, Lily, I have every confidence that you can and will stop that bridge. I think it's time we sent a message to those Decepticons that humans are not as weak as they assume. That we can outsmart and outmatch them without the Autobots helping us."

"We'll do it daddy," said Lily.

"I know you will sweetie. I believe in you. And just so we're clear, if you succeed you get a full week of whatever you want. No missions, no Stargate, just time between you, me and mommy. Amusement parks, staying up late, you name it."

Now he knew he had them hooked. Because of his job, he rarely got to spend a lot of time with his kids. But he never once put the work before them. He was always there to tuck them in, even if it meant waiting until they fell asleep before sneaking out to do work. So an entire week with just them was a luxury.

James came back to find 'Optimus' and the Autobots being forced to leave. 200 Decepticons had come through the smaller space bridge thanks to Sentinel's doing. Energon detectors had been going nuts for days.

While a trip to Cybertron was possible within three days, it took several minor jumps in order to get there.

During that time, Sentinel had sent the UN a single message.

"Defenders of Earth. We have come for your natural resources to rebuild our damaged planet. When we have transported all we need, we will leave your world in peace. For such peace to exist, you must immediately exile the Autobot rebels you have harbored. Nonnegotiable. Renounce the rebels. We await your reply."

James was immediately called in by the Queen as a consult once she heard it.

"What do you think, Sir James?"

"Honestly? I think it's a load of codswallop, if you'll pardon my language. Renounce the Autobots, when they have done nothing but help us? When they have stood by our side through every conflict?"

"We agree. This demand is preposterous, and We do not agree to negotiate with terrorist and monsters. This Sentinel Prime shall find that there is one country that shall stand by Our allies even if it means going against an Alien threat."

"In all likelihood your Majesty, I believe this Sentinel seeks to bring Cybertron here and turn us into a work force to restore it. He never specified what the natural resource was that he would need, and if there were such a thing I believe Optimus would have mentioned it sooner. We have already moved Optimus and the other Autobots to the nearest planet with a gate so that we can retrieve them once the Deceptions had made their true plan clear."

"We see that you have everything in hand. Have you alerted the Americans?"

"Not in the least!" said James a little too cheerfully.

"Explain."

"The Americans have a rather bad history of being fickle. Yes, they have harbored the Autobots and restarted the gate program before everyone had a chance to do so, but their government is full of greedy, corrupt politicians who are more concerned with their posts than they are about protecting others. I would sooner trust a copper from a small town than I would their government. While their democracy is admirable, placing the election of those to serve in their stead directly in the people's hands, the sad fact is that the average American could care less about who they vote into office, and they rarely double-check their facts until after that person has screwed up."

The Queen wisely said nothing. It was clear that while James admired certain people in the military, he had no faith in the government as a whole.

"What of the Witwicky boy?"

"I haven't seen Sam in three days. And something tells me that the enemy will use him against us."

"We wish for you to oversee the 'Autobots' leaving orbit. In the event that the enemy betrays Us, we want you on the scene. Take whomever you need," said the Queen.

"Yes, your Majesty. I am, as always, your humble servant and knight," said James bowing.

James was the only one to notice Sam acting strangely. He went with the boy to the Xanthian, the Autobot ship which brought the second wave in. He didn't tell Sam that the Autobot he was speaking two was a cleverly made fake that was voice by the boys several billion miles away.

"Optimus?"

"What your leaders say is true. This was all my fault. I told them whom to trust. I was so wrong."

"No, you weren't. I told you before Optimus Prime. You couldn't have known that certain facts were beyond your notice," said James firmly.

He would inform them later that the Queen had never agreed to send them off. If need be, she would have granted them a hiding place under many magical wards if they had asked. Unfortunately, Energon detectors spoke of Decepticons in Europe, which would have made hiding impossible.

"That doesn't make it your fault. It just makes you human for a change."

"Remember this. You may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves."

"I need to know how you're going to fight back. I know there's a strategy, I know you're coming back with reinforcements, something. I know there's a plan. You can tell me. No other human will ever know."

"There is no plan," Optimus lied.

Sam had no idea Optimus was a fake, and in order for the ruse to work he could never know until after the fact.

"If we just do what they want, how are we ever going to live with ourselves?"

"You are my friend, Sam. You always will be. But your leaders have spoken. From here, the fight will be your own."

"Not all our leaders agree with the Americans," said James firmly.

Optimus passed by Bumblebee, and he said "Make it short. We're loading up."

James left Sam and 'Bumblebee' to talk. He noticed the watch on the opposite arm, and knew that the Decepticons had definitely forced him to try to expose any plans the Autobots had.

Simmons wheeled his chair next to Sam and said "Years from now, they're going to ask us, 'Where were you when they took over the planet?'. We're going to say 'We just stood by and watched.'"

"Sadly, I happen to agree with that sentiment," said James.

James stood there and watched as Starscream attacked the shuttle right after launch. He was recording the entire thing for later as a way to show the UN what a monumental mistake they had made. How they had made the worst possible decision. The Queen would feel vindicated when the English Ambassador pointed out that among the countries in the UN, they had stood behind the Autobots the entire time. Europe had been the only continent that had argued against Sentinel Prime's demand.

"Wait, so let me get this straight...they decided to stage the end of the world in Chicago?" said James in disbelief.

"What does it matter where they decided to set up shop?"

"Nothing...just that I'll be making a lot of fantasy nerds very happy once we start the counter attack," said James amused beyond reason.

The reason for that was simple. Once they started the offensive, James, no he would go by Harry for this attack, would be riding in on Grimlock playing polka music.

(If you don't know the reason why, then you are not a true sci-fi fan!)

It was a good thing Grimlock and the others could handle the standard charms that would put them on the same bracelet that once held Nightfire.

"Are you sure you want to do this Sam?" asked Harry. (About the only time he went by his first name was when his son was around.)

"She's done nothing but try to help me, I can be there in 15 hours," said Sam.

"You're not going alone," said Epps.

"Damn straight he isn't going alone. No way in hell am I sending you out there without backup. Dogstar, I want you to follow him," said Harry.

"You got it partner," said the wolf robot hybrid.

Out of all the Magibots who were awakened by Harry, the only one that remained by his side the entire time was Dogstar. Even Nightfire hadn't remained on Earth once the Tollan and Asgard learned of him. He was currently working with Thor.

"Also, there isn't a chance in hell I am letting you go into what is definitely going to be an all out war zone with out dated weaponry. Guns don't really damage bots," said Harry.

"What you got in mind?" asked Epps.

Harry grinned.

"You gather your team, and meet me before you hit Chicago. I'll get your unit outfitted and ready to cause all hell to those Decepticon bastards."

"Welcome back to Stargate Command, General Black. What can we do for you?" said Jack.

"I assume you heard the news about the Autobots?"

"I heard they were 'taken out' by the other guys. What do you need?"

"I need the collapsible Jaffa staffs. I know the prototypes are ready for testing in the field and I plan to...test them...for you, said Harry grinning.

"Think anyone will mind if we help you...test...them?" asked Jack. He liked the Autobots, they had a good sense of humor and they helped a lot when the Gou'ald attacked.

"I don't think anyone will question it. Sam will need all the help he can get to take those bastards out," said Harry.

"In that case, let me make a call to the off duty teams."

Epps and Sam met up fifteen miles outside Chicago. The place was a disaster area.

"Where is he?"

"Right behind ya," said Harry.

"Who are they?" asked Epps.

"These guys are your back up. I have to get Grimlock and the others off the island in order to really bring the pain down on these jerks. But before you lot head in, we'll give you a basic run down of these new toys we've been developing off world."

"Off world?"

"What, you thought the Autobots were the only aliens out there? We've been developing Earth as a force for the general universe to take serious for years now. Now, before you say anything take this," said Harry.

He handed Sam a short, tube-like object about the size of a standard tonpa weapon.

"This, gentlemen, is the first generation collapsible Staff weapon. It fires an energy blast known to penetrate Mecha armor like the Deceptions, within one to two hits. This switch here activates and turns it into a weapon. Flip it again, it returns to the size of a tonpa. This here is the firing mechanism, hit this and the staff shoots at anything it's aimed at. Unfortunately we haven't found the maximum distance yet, but it will go for a good five yards at least. Do not aim this at anything human, because short of a sturdy shield spell this can and will kill anything you hit with it. It doesn't have a set limit to shots, but the cool down time is ten seconds for each shot. Got me?"

"What's that other thing?" asked Epps. Each of the former NEST operatives took a staff each.

"This is a Magibot. It's the term we used for the bots I wake up or the twins do. These are the communication models, so they can't fight. But they can't be blocked, traced or tampered with. Their range far exceeds normal radios so you can stay in contact with Lennox and the others. You need directions, you call it in."

The tiny bird-like robot (think about the same size as Pigwidgeon or Gylfie) chirped once before turning into headgear. Epps put his around his neck where it settled around like a necklace.

"Before you ask, the Autobots will be in route soon enough. They just have to walk through the portals and get through the streets to your location. And they will keep track of you through the Magibots," said Jack.

Four off duty teams from the SGC were with them, each armed to the teeth and ready to deal with Sentinel. This was nothing new to them. They were used to being out-manned and outgunned by aliens.

This was just the day they took payback. They didn't let the Gou'ald take Earth, and they sure as hell weren't letting some jumped up robot take it.

It was time...to show the universe Earth can and will defend itself.

WHOO! Sorry it took so long to update folks! This will be a two-parter, and the next chapter won't be nearly as long as the previous ten. In fact, it will be the conclusion of Prongs.

However I do have the Sequel in the works which is going to be called the Revival of Cybertron. It will be under the Stargate Atlantis category as well as the Transformers. Any new Transformers movies will be picked up in that one. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!