Chapter 1 –The Probe

It had been several weeks since Optimus Primal's 'gorilla warfare' on the Predacon base. The Maximal commander had made a full recovery and was back to being in full command. Skirmishes had come and gone in the passing time, minor battles as Maximal or Predacon stumbled upon one another out in the field while either side ran their patrols or searched for useable energon.

Ruby was granted a bit more freedom, though she would catch Primal studying her as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle. Though she wouldn't admit it to him openly that she was a puzzle, just not a safe one to figure out at the moment. While she sat with him during his recovery they had played chess, a strategy game that the humans had brought with them to Cybertron and was commonly played among the commander class and higher for training purposes, Primal had asked her many questions to get to know her better. Understandably so, since she was new under his command now, but she had measured her words like she measured her moves on the board.

She had learned the game directly from a human. The first human ambassador she worked with had brought his own head of security detail with him. Captain Cirus Nelos was a charming older human, despite the battle scars from Earthen wars, and had taught her the game during their many long nights on watch. It was a friendship she would cherish her whole life, despite it being cut short due to the short human lifespan.

Primal was very good at the game as she remembered, but he raised more than one optic ridge at how often she put him in 'Check mate'. Even after he had been fully recovered they still played in the quiet of the night on the bridge when it was one or the other's turn for monitor duty. Rhinox often watched or joined in.

Since her arrival Ruby knew that Megatron would have the other Predacons observing her to add her information to his database, the Pred leader was well known for his many layered plans. More than once she had caught Waspinator peeking over a far ridge while she was out on patrol, alone or with others, and as soon as she'd look in his direction the giant insect would quickly hide behind whatever was handy.

No, Megatron was very good at the live game of chess that they all were pieces of. Ruby was going to have to keep it ever present in her mind. There were always going to be pieces lost in the game and she knew exactly which ones they were. She just had to make sure that the game played the same.

As she sat at the window in her quarters that overlooked the mountain terrain that the Axalon had crashed into and the river that cut through it, Ruby was enjoying the actual quiet that reigned in the ship at the moment. Optimus Primal had taken Dinobot, Rattrap, and Cheetor with him on a small mission late in the afternoon the day before, leaving Ruby and Rhinox the run of the base. Ruby stayed on the ship because it had been her night for monitor duty. Her Grand-sparker was on the bridge of the ship, having requested to stay behind, and had relieved her only a mega-cycle ago.

Looking down, she saw the four slowly returning from their mission and couldn't help but smile when she saw Cheetor and Rattrap take off from the other two. She knew what he was planning when Primal transformed and flew in front of his scout, a lesson in paying attention to one's surroundings. One that Cheetor made sure to pass to her while she was under his training.

Knowing Primal would be expecting her report before she shut down for recharge, Ruby left her room as the Sentinel shield lowered. When she reached the bridged, everyone was either looking over Rhinox's shoulder, or working at another station to aid him. The flying squirrel had to shake her head at Rattrap's coaxing of the computer system as she stepped up to the table directly behind him and Cheetor's stations as the rodent spun in his chair.

"Strip my gears and call me a floor-lamp!" the copper colored bot exclaimed, "Is that what I t'ink it is?"

"Yep," Rhinox said, his voice gaining an edge of excitement, "a temporal probe. Cybertron's found us!"

Ruby closed her eyes, recalling the story in her head as the others acted and reacted to the scenario. She knew how this day was going to end, but she had to keep a hopeful façade. It hurt to hear their disappointment when the probe was unable to detect their signal, her spark going out to them. Then Rhinox spoke up.

Turning to Optimus, Rhinox looked over at his shoulder at his commanding officer to answer his question. "You know how probes work. They hone in on the trans-warp signature of the missing ship."

"But," Rattrap started, "our trans-warp engine's been offline since the crash."

"That's why the probe moved on," Rhinox stated, his excitement building back up as everything fell into place in his head, "but it'll be back just before it leaves this system."

"So, if we can duplicate our trans-warp signature," Primal caught on to what his engineer was thinking, along with his excitement, "before it returns and send it to the probe…"

"We'll be on our way home," Rhinox finished the statement.

As the other two began to celebrate, Ruby watched Dinobot carefully. No, he was not as excited as the others, and she knew why.

Dawn was just breaking over the horizon as the Maximals began to build their communications array. Since she was a 'delicate little thing', despite being slightly bigger than Rattrap, Ruby had to laugh to herself as the guys practically pushed her aside so they could do all the heavy work. Giving a roll of her red optics at three of the four trying to impress her, she had told Optimus that she was going to go help Tigatron scout for possible attackers.

Transforming into her beast mode, Ruby gave a running start before she leapt off of the cliff side that they were building the array on in Predacon territory. Also, being away from them meant that she could give into the sorrow she felt at the knowledge that this day would not end in favor for the Maximals. Catching a wind current, she glided up higher before turning slightly to the right to follow the ridge that way. Picking an ideal vantage point, Ruby made a gentle landing before turning to watch the Maximals below.

It was just over a mega-cycle later that a firefight began to echo off of the rocks from the direction that Tigatron had taken. Ruby, who was still in beast mode at this time, looked off in the direction the sounds were coming from. "So it begins," she spoke quietly to herself as she watched Cheeetor run off in that direction.

Megatron had been going over the data his 'loyal' troops had gathered for him on the newest Maximal. Placing all the data they had collected on her into his own computer system, which had dug up nothing on her. She had no record in any of Cybertron's databases, but there was a possibility she could have come from one of the colonies that had been set up several hundred stellar cycles ago. Information always seemed to be slow to come from those who had set up far away from their home world.

Then there was the matter of the ship she had crashed in. It had taken Scorponok from the time she had crashed up until two solar cycles ago to gather even the smallest information on the ship. It was nothing that the Predacons had in their arsenal to use, despite having the markings of a Predacon ship. Sitting back in his chair, Megatron gave a thoughtful frown as he thrummed his fingers on the armrest. "You are an enigma, aren't you Ruby? Yeess, and I don't like enigmas."

The Predacon leader's thoughts were interrupted when Tarantulas came dragging in the two Maximal cats, the news of the scientists latest project being a full success. But before the spider could gloat too much on his success, Terrorsaur flew into the base at full speed with the data orb Scorponok had sent with him in his beak. With the cats secured in cages, the Predacons gathered around the viewing monitor as they tried to figure out exactly what the Maximals were doing in their territory.

Upon learning about the probe, Megatron had taken his subordinates with him. There wasn't much time to assure that the Maximals wouldn't be able to contact the probe, and thus not able to receive aid from Cybertron.

Ruby watched as Optimus, Rattrap, and Dinobot finished the last bits of the array. It was everything she could do to not swoop down there and warn Primal of the danger heading their way. She could very easily win the Beast Wars on this day if she gave into the urge to bend time, but that would still be failure of her mission.

"I know who you are, Maximal," said a dark voice behind her, "and you don't belong here."

Startled, the flying squirrel turned around, poised to attack in her beast form, until she realized exactly who it was. The once magnificent red and gold dragon had become lack luster over the many stellar cycles of his imprisonment, his colors dulled and tarnished. The disturbing fact was, as long as he stayed still and kept his eyes closed, he was hard to distinguish from the landscape. She had landed practically right on top of Megatron and she didn't even notice. Now she literally was looking down the gullet of the dragon.

"Neither do you," she replied, relaxing a bit. "This is your victory in the first place, why are you here?"

The dragon lifted its head more to look down at the beginnings of the battle below. "To relish in my victory." He turned his head back towards the tiny bot, "I know you were not originally a part of the Beast Wars. I also know whom you come from that was. Do you believe you will succeed in your mission, little one?" He gave her a vicious smile, "Do you honestly believe that you can defeat me?"

Ruby swallowed thickly at the sharp, pointy teeth right in front of her. "All I can do is try."

"I can end it right now, yeess." Ruby had to fight a smirk as he began to gloat, "I can chew you up right now and my problem would be solved."

"You and I both know that you would only enjoy that until I start to rust in your systems," she countered, "and we both know that you wouldn't back away from a challenge."

"A challenge?" he laughed before looking back at her with a deathly serious gleam in his optics, "my dear, you are hardly a challenge, nooo."

"See it as you may," she shrugged calmly, "but let us play this game. And if you do win, you can gloat to all that the Maximal's only hope in stopping you was one, tiny fem." Seeing that she fanned his pride, she knew that she gave herself a tiny edge. Megatron's pride had cost him much before and she was hoping that it would work in her favor.

"You have spirit, yeess," the massive dragon head nodded, "I will enjoy breaking it."

Looking back out at the battle below, she watched as Optimus was forced into his beast mode due to the beam from the Lock-lenses device that Tarantulas had created. Not wasting any time, she ran and leapt from her perch with the dragon Megatron's laughter echoing in her ears.

Down below, Megatron was pressing his heel into the silver back of the gorilla, breaking connecting wires and spinal structures with the force. Ruby transformed, aiming her weaponry at the Predacon leader as she rolled, only to be swatted away with the tail attached to his arm. The Lock-lenses quickly trapped her in beast mode before she hit the rocks. It was enough to knock the cooling air out of her, but not black her completely out. Still, she lay there as if dazed; knowing she couldn't stop what was going to happen.

Despite giving it their best effort, Megatron still succeeded in destroying the array. It was thanks to Tigatron and Cheetor's swift intervention that that loss didn't cost the Maximals more than their chance to go home.

Even though being knocked into the rocks didn't knock her out, the array exploding did knock Ruby offline. She awoke after a little while, finding herself being gently rocked as she rested on Tigatron's back. Lifting her head, Ruby looked around to find Rhinox carrying the injured Primal on his back as the Maximals retreated back to the Axalon. The day's loss weighing heavily on all, making them all travel in silence. With much of her own to think on, Ruby rested her head back on the large cat's shoulders.

Author's Note: I don't own the show. I own DVDs of the show, but not the show itself.

Cirus Nelos belongs to Cyrex.

Thanks for reading!