Chapter One:

I stared into the darkness of the room I was now in, panting as pain wrecked through my sore and aching frame. I couldn't move, nor did I want to because if I did, he would bring more pain onto me. But I had to get away. I had to get away from this forsaken place that I once called home. I cannot stay here any longer.

A whimper escaped my sore and swollen lips as I felt a talon trace my jawline, reaching under my chin and lifting my helm up to meet my master's crimson red eyes. I stared into them, knowing if I looked away, he would not be pleased. I couldn't stop my frame from shaking as I stared into those cold red eyes.

"You belong to me…and no one else." Those words would forever plague my thoughts until my time cease to exists.

The echo of footsteps falling onto the metal settlements of the ship was one of noises that were heard from the ship as the mechs made their way to their destinations throughout the whole area of the ship, doing their duties that needed to be done.

In one of the many hallways of the ship, a lone mech was leaning against the wall, his servos crossed against his chassis as he waited for his fellow comrade.

"Hey Starscream. What's going on?" Starscream's helm went up and turned to where he had heard a familiar voice from the entrance of the ship. A smirk crept onto his face as he saw his friend.

"Nightshadow…it's been awhile." Starscream lowered his helm in acknowledgement of the other mech as the slender, but toned form appeared from the shadows.

"I came as soon as I got the news. I cannot believe that the All Spark has been destroyed. How in the name of Primus are we going to collect Energon?" Nightshadow sighed as the news hit him dead on and his bright red optics dimmed as he became worried about what they were going to do for their source of energy. Their energon supply was running extremely low and now that the All Spark gone, how can they survive?

"The Fallen has a plan that can get us all the energon we need. You know why you were called here and I am sure you know what had happened in mission city."

"Yes I know. Though I still cannot believe that we just didn't loose the All Spark, but Megatron as well. Those Autobots will pay for what they have done," the faded black colored mech growled as he clenched his fist as he continued, "because of them, our species will soon be extinct." Nightshadow could not contain his anger that was boiling inside his systems, that he extended his servo, punching the wall that was closest to him. However, during his tantrum of rage, he did not see how close he had come to killing a sparkling that was still cradled in a pod.

"Be careful, Nightshadow!" Starscream hissed as he placed a hand onto his comrade's shoulder, moving him away somewhat and trying to calm the young mech down. "These sparklings are very fragile and delicate. We do not want them harm as they are the future of our army."

"I did not realize we had hatchlings." Nightshadow blinked his optics as he glanced around at the area that was filled with numerous of pods filled with tiny sparklings. It would warm any spark of any Cybertronian once they cast their optics at the room, seeing the sparklings sleeping in their pods. Nightshadow could only imagine what they would be like once they had hatched or actually, if they hatched. Without energon, the hatchlings would die…one by one.

But then the question popped up; whose hatchlings were these?

That question was long gone as Nightshadow felt a sting of pain in his closed fist and he raised it to his optic level as he examined the freshly open wound on his knuckles. He must have hit harder than he thought.

"It has been a long journey for you. Go to the med bay and have a full check up to see if you are fully capable and functional to do this mission." Starscream said as he turned, walking away. Though, he turned to stare at Nightshadow, continuing, "You should get some rest. Tomorrow, we are going over the plans."

Nightshadow nodded his helm as he watched Starscream exit the hatchery and he cast his gaze onto the pods for one last time before making his way to the med bay.

As Nightshadow began to walk towards the med bay, he heard a faint familiar voice and nearly fell flat on his face as someone had jumped onto his back. He straightened himself and turned his helm to the side as a smile crossed his lips.

"Sideways," Nightshadow greeted the smaller mech as Sideways got off of Nightshadow's back and stood on his own two pedes now as he stared up at his friend.

"It has been way too long, brother." Sideways said as he was glad to see his companion once again.

"I don't know why you two call each other brothers. You're not even brothers." The two mechs heard as another Decepticon interrupted their small reunion. They both stared at Hook as he strode towards them, stopping in front of them and crossing his arms as he stared at Nightshadow, an annoyed look on his face as he continued. "And Nightshadow, you are suppose to be in the med bay."

"How did you know I was here?" Nightshadow said to the so-called Decepticon medic as he too crossed his arms over his chassis and wondered why Hook had even bothered to come and get him.

"Starscream COM linked me and said that you were going to the med bay for a full check up. Now if you don't mind, can we please get going? I don't have all day." Hook said as he turned away and started walking to the med bay.

Nightshadow turned to look at Sideways and a small, but sad smile was now on his lip components.

"I'll see you later, Sideways." Nightshadow told his brother as he started to run to catch up to the medic who was now turning the corner into another hallway.

Nightshadow entered the med bay and turned to look behind him as he heard the hissing noise of the door being shut and the thud of it being fully closed. He then looked up and noticed that Hook pointed to a berth and Nightshadow sighed as he made his way to the berth and laid down onto the berth.

"How long is this going to take?" Nightshadow muttered as he really didn't feel like doing a check, much less be in the med bay especially when he was finally able to see his friend.

"It's going to take a while. You may recharge if you like as I don't need you up for this check up." Came the annoyed reply from the Decepticon medic.

Nightshadow nodded in acknowledgement of what Hook had said and he offlined his optics as he drifted off to sleep while Hook examined him.

However, Nightshadow was barely into recharge as he suddenly heard someone shout, "That's impossible!" It felt like he had just started going into recharge when he heard Hook.

Nightshadow sat up slowly as his frame was a bit stiff from being in recharge for a short while and he stared at the medic.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked as he wondered why the medic looked like as though he was going to have a spark attack.

Hook glanced up at Nightshadow before calming himself down and shook his head, raising a servo as he rubbed the side of his helm as though thinking.

"No, there's nothing wrong. You're free to go."

"Am I fit for the mission?"

"Yes, yes. Just go." Nightshadow raised an optic ridge as the medic seemed to be acting a bit strange but didn't want to annoy the mech any longer. Plus, he was glad to be out of the medical bay sooner than what he thought and that he was fit to do the mission.

As soon as Nightshadow was out of the medical bay and out of hearing range, Hook made a call to one of the seekers.

"What is it, Hook?" A hiss was what greeted Hook as Starscream seemed to be in a fowl mood. What ever did Hook do to deserve a greeting like that? Hook could care less about the greetings or Starscream's tone at the moment as there was something more important than that.

"You need to come to the med bay now. I need to talk to you about Night."

"Is there something wrong with him? Are you not suppose to fix him since you are the medical bot?" Hook ignored the last question as he was not in the mood to be mocked or even degraded.

"Just get over here." Hook nearly growled out as he was growing impatient.

"All right, all right. I'm coming."

Starscream stopped what ever he was occupied with to go see what in the name of Primus that Hook wanted to speak with him about Nightshadow. All Hook was suppose to be doing is to see if Nightshadow was able to do the upcoming mission or not.

Starscream let out an annoyed sigh as he made his way to the medical bay, though he wasn't in the greatest moods right now as he had to cancel a very important meeting about the upcoming mission and he didn't want to postpone it, but now he would just have to get over it, wouldn't he?

"Star?" The seeker turned around as he heard he was being called and his optics gazed upon the smaller form of Nightshadow. "I thought there was going to be a meeting today."

"It's been cancelled." Starscream stated bluntly.

"For what?" Nightshadow wondered why in the world this meeting would be cancelled. They had to get started on the mission as soon as possible and he was aching to get out of this ship again as he didn't like being encased in a place that you couldn't roam around to stretch out your frame.

"Hook wants to talk to me about something important."

"It's not about me, is it?" Nightshadow asked, curious to see if Hook didn't tell him anything that he needed to know.

"No," the seeker lied and he felt a ting of guilt for lying to his companion. Though that feeling quickly went away as Starscream was a Decepticon, not an emotional Autobrat. And with that last word said, Starscream turned and started to head to his destination.

"So, what is so important that you couldn't tell me later and that I had to cancel the meeting?" Starscream emphasized the "so important" as though he didn't think what ever Hook had to say was that really important. Starscream stared at the Decepticon medic with annoyed and narrowed optics as he waited for his answers.

"I…don't know how to tell you this." The seeker raised an optic ridge at the quietness of Hook's voice and that the old fool was baffled over what ever he had to tell Starscream. But Starscream was getting more annoyed by the astrosecond. (1 second)

"Just tell me already. You are wasting my time." Starscream snapped.

"All right…When I was scanning Night I found something…"

Starscream couldn't help but interrupt as he was concerned for his comrade. "is he all right? Can he do the mission?"

"If you stop interrupting, maybe you will find out what I am trying to tell you." Starscream rolled his eyes as the Decepticon medic seemed to be annoyed as well.

"Anyway…Nightshadow has a reproductive system." Hook continued in a low, stern voice.

"What?" Starscream couldn't believe what his audio receptors were picking up. It couldn't be possible could it?

"He can reproduce sparklings." Hook just said dryly as though he also couldn't believe it himself.

"How…how is that possible?"

"Well, I research on how he was born and he was suppose to have a twin sister. Unfortunately, his twin died inside the femme that carried them. It is rare, but I have heard this happen once before. When his twin died, he combined with the twin, the femme. That's why he is slimmer than the rest of us mechs." Hook explained to a still bewildered seeker.

"So, he is a femme?"

Hook shrugged, replying, "Not really. He is all mech, but just has a reproductive system."

"Did you inform him of…this?"

"No, I wanted to tell you first. I thought that it would be best if you told him." Starscream didn't know what to think as he processed what Hook had informed him of. So many questions flooded through his processor that it was starting to ache and his worries started to soar as one question came up: What would happen if everyone knew about this…about Nightshadow?

Starscream moved his helm up to stare at the Decepticon, his ruby red optics turning hard and unemotional as he spoke. "Tell no one about this. Not even him. I don't need Nightshadow freaking out about this. He is too good of a soldier to lose and I do not need all the mechs trying to make him produce sparklings. Delete everything about this."

Starscream then started to turn as he growled out that last statement or actually it was more of a command, but Hook would understand his reason for being protective of Nightshadow, but Starscream hoped that Hook would keep his mouth shut about this.

He was rewarded when Hook spoke up. "I will and do not worry so much about it. Only you and I know about this, Starscream. I swear on my spark that I will not tell anyone." Starscream gave a small nod in acknowledgement as he started to walk out of the medical bay, while Hook went to work on deleting all the files about Nightshadow and his rare and unique condition.

Starscream barely had any time to himself when he heard an eerie, but demanding voice through his COM link.

"Starscream, meet me in my quarters." Starscream let out a small sigh as he heard his leader's voice and started to head towards the Fallen's chambers.

"Yes, my lord." He muttered into his COM link, notifying his leader that he was on his way.

Making his way through the hallways of the ship, he finally entered the Fallen's quarters and as he walked close to where the Fallen had seated himself, he kneeled before the true leader of the Decepticons.

"Why did you cancelled the meeting?" came the smooth, yet harsh voice that filled Starscream's audio receptors. Starscream stared at the ground for a moment, not wanting to show that he was trying to think of something quickly to not give any hints that he was about to lie to his leader to keep Nightshadow safe. Unfortunately, as Starscream tried to jumble through his processor, he did not know that the Fallen could read each and every thought that plagued the seeker's mind and one specific thought peaked the Fallen's interest very much.

"Is there something wrong, Starscream?" The Fallen smirked as he realized why the seeker was so silent and he couldn't wait to give one of the Decepticon soldier a surprise of their life.

"No. I cancelled the meeting to have Hook check up on the soldiers to see who is fit for the upcoming mission, my lord." Starscream spoke up, interrupting the Fallen's thoughts, which made the Fallen frown slightly. Though his smirked was smeared across his lip components once again as he stared at the seeker.

"No wonder Megatron chose you to be second in command. Always making sure everything is well, given us a better chance of winning. You may go now." The Fallen said, gesturing with his servo that the seeker was no longer needed now. But before Starscream made it out of the door, the Fallen spoke again. "Starscream, didn't we have a new soldier come in yesterday?"

Starscream stopped and turned to face the Fallen yet again before speaking. "Yes. His designation is Nightshadow."

"I would like to meet this…Nightshadow. Bring him here immediately." There was something in the leader's voice that Starscream didn't like. It was like the Fallen knew something about Nightshadow as there was a strange flicker in the Fallen's optics, but Starscream turned to go and locate where Nightshadow was, not knowing that the Fallen was indeed looking forward to meeting the new member that had came aboard this ship and how lucky the Fallen was that this new soldier was not only a good and obeying soldier, but a unique one that could carry sparklings.

How interesting this is going to be…