Author's Notes: Welcome one and all to another G1 story! I'm really excited about this one, since it's been so long since I've done a story with any true mystery elements. Of course my readers are smart, so you guys will probably figure out who the culprit is before the big reveal. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to any comments you may have to share about this story :)

Chapter 1

Subterfuge

The medbay aboard the Ark was quickly crowding with patients as Ratchet and Wheeljack did their best to accommodate them all. It had been a hard fought battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The Autobots had actually been forced to retreat after nearly losing Warpath to one of Megatron's fusion cannon blasts. Overall morale was at a low point, and the worst part was...

"I can't believe they got it," Prowl muttered to himself, "I can't believe Megatron and his goons got the ionic destabilizer. Prime, with that weapon he could bring earth to its knees! We have to get it back!"

"And we will, Prowl," Optimus replied shakily; his intakes damaged in the battle, "For now though we must tend to our own. How is Warpath, Ratchet?"

"He'll pull through. He's a tough little fragger," Ratchet replied without looking away from his work.

"Hey! I could use some help over here!" Powerglide shouted irritably as he held his wing in his arms, "Hello!?"

"Ugh, Wheeljack can you handle him?" Ratchet snapped at the engineer.

"No can do, Ratchet," Wheeljack replied, "I'm working on Bluestreak right now. Hey Sparkplug, could you fix Powerglide? Your small hands are better equipped for those tiny wires in his wings anyway."

"Sure thing, Wheeljack," Sparkplug replied.

The human mechanic then strode over to Powerglide with his toolkit, and Powerglide looked offended that one of the top medics wasn't rushing to his aid. It wasn't that Sparkplug wasn't good at his job, it was just that Powerglide like most fliers was arrogant and thought he deserved better.

Prowl meanwhile went to sit next to Prime's medical berth to continue their conversation. The Prime had suffered more damage than usual, but it didn't seem to be life threatening. A cracked face mask, exposed wires in his chassis, leaking energon from his shoulder joint...yeah, he'd live.

"Prime, there is still something that is bothering me about today's incident," Prowl muttered softly so only Prime could hear, "The building that housed the ionic destabilizer was password protected and reinforced with electrum siding. The only way the Decepticons could get inside was with the passcode."

"It appears Laserbeak is up to his old tricks again," Optimus surmised.

"I would think so too, except we discussed this situation in the new war room downstairs," Prowl pointed out, "Only our senior staff members know the passcode, there are no climate control vents since no humans are allowed inside, and even the dates of our meetings are classified to all except Autobot personnel. Therefore, there was only one way for Megatron to get his greedy servos on it..."

"You think someone gave it to him?" Prime stated rather than asked.

"It's the only way," Prowl replied gravely, "I don't know if it was logic-washing or if we truly...Prime, I don't want to say it, but we may have a traitor in our midst."

"You sound like Cliffjumper," Optimus remarked in amusement.

"This is serious, Prime," Prowl replied sternly, "If the Decepticons have a mole in our own ranks, then we must find out who it is and why they have turned on us. Our list of suspects only includes the senior staff, but to keep them from getting suspicious I would suggest opening an all-inclusive investigation. That way the real culprit won't know we're onto them."

"Now you sound like Red Alert," Prime said wryly.

"Who is a suspect," Prowl pointed out, "I will conduct the investigation alone, but I will request increased security so that no listening devices or Decepticon weapons are smuggled in. I know this seems extreme Optimus, but we must protect the Ark and Autobots secrets at all costs. If Megatron can use our own people against us, then we don't stand a chance against the Decepticons. We'll have enough trouble retrieving the destabilizer as it is, but if there's a spy among our own we're as good as dead."

"Prowl, what you claim is very serious," Prime told him; all traces of good humor gone, "We have worked with every Autobot aboard this ship for eons. If one of them is guilty, it could undermine the trust of this unit for generations to come."

"It is better to condemn one guilty spark and save our people than to leave this alone and doom us all to destruction," Prowl countered, "I promise to be thorough and to not arrest anyone until I am certain I have a credible suspect. When everyone is repaired, I request that the Ark go on temporary lockdown."

"That seems rather extreme," Prime replied hesitantly, "However, if that is what it will take for you to do your job, then I grant it."

"I won't disappoint you, sir," Prowl replied with a slight bow of his helm, "Now, I need to see if someone can repair my pede."

With those words Prowl limped away to where Sparkplug was working on Powerglide. Optimus Prime only hoped he was doing the right thing by giving Prowl so much freedom over this investigation. After all, logical as Prowl was he did have a tendency to go overboard when given free reign. Prime also hoped Prowl's investigation revealed that there was another explanation besides a traitor among them. After all, the senior staff wasn't just a group of Autobots to Prime, they were his friends.

After his pede was repaired Prowl went back to his office to try to figure out where he should begin his investigation. The only member of the senior staff that wasn't a suspect was Optimus Prime himself, yet Prowl would still need someone to check for mind control devices. Virtually every member of the medical staff was also a suspect, so Prowl would use Hoist to check for insidious mind control chips since he was the most experienced medic with low security clearance.

Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Perceptor all had the password that had been given to the Decepticons. The other suspects included Ironhide, Red Alert, Blaster, and Prowl's own best friend Jazz. Jazz was actually a likely suspect since he was the head of the special ops division of the Autobots. If anyone could smoothly transfer a code to the enemy, it was Jazz.

Prowl poured over his suspect list to see which ones were the likeliest candidates to start with. Red Alert has actually betrayed them once before to Starscream, but to be fair his processor had been glitched at the time. He was usually an overzealous security chief that suspected everyone else of treason (or just trying to take his job). Could that passion merely be a front to cover up the fact that he was working for the Decepticons this whole time?

Then there was Blaster, the newest member of the senior staff. He was in charge of communications between the Ark and all other incoming transmissions. If the Decepticons contacted them directly Blaster would be in the best position to hide that fact. Prowl didn't have a motive, especially since Blaster seemed to hate Soundwave so much, but Blaster certainly had means.

Ironhide and Ratchet were both highly trusted due to their age and the fact that they had been Optimus Prime's personal friends for milli-vorns. Could either of them be coerced into betraying their cause? Ironhide loved to fight and wasn't the most intellectual of the group, but to underestimate him could be costly. Ratchet was highly intelligent and was in charge of keeping everyone patched up for the next battle. Could he be tired of the fighting and willing to surrender to Megatron in exchange for leniency for the crew?

Wheeljack and Perceptor were both mechs of science. All Perceptor wanted to do was sit in his lab all day, culture samples for research, and repair chips. All Wheeljack seemed to want to do was drive Ratchet crazy with his finicky inventions that always seemed to blow up in his faceplate. Could either one of them really turn against the faction that valued their talents most?

Then there was Jazz. Smooth talking fast acting Jazz. Jazz was friendly to a fault and seemed loyal to the Autobot cause. That being said, he was a master spy and would be the best one at keeping his composure under pressure. Prowl hated to admit it, but Jazz would probably be the most likely to get away with it if he was to turn to the dark side. Prowl would need to be especially careful when investigating Jazz.

Heaving a heavy intake, Prowl got out of his office chair and set to work. His first stop, the control room. He would have to enforce lockdown before he could begin his investigation. It was a risky move to alert the suspect they were under suspicion, but it was necessary to keep them from running away from the scene.

To say the news of the lockdown had not gone over well was an understatement. Red Alert was outraged that he had been kept in the dark and would not be participating in the investigation. He had even accused Prowl of trying to overthrow him. Everyone else however was upset for the more obvious reason that they were trapped in the Ark indefinitely.

Prowl put Inferno in charge of searching every member of the Ark that had to be called back in from patrol duty, which only made Red Alert even madder.

"This is an outrage!" Red Alert fumed, "I am chief of security, not him! Also, if everyone is a suspect then so is Inferno! I want answers! I want justice! I want more cameras for my office!"

"Settle down, Red Alert," Prowl replied calmly, "Inferno has already been cleared. I have already looked into his activities and have concluded that he is not a suspect in this case."

Of course Prowl was lying. He never cleared Inferno because he never had to. Inferno didn't rank highly enough to have the password that had been passed along to the Decepticons, so he was never a suspect. Red Alert and Ironhide were however, so Prowl couldn't afford using them for security detail.

"So Inferno, who has yet to return from patrol?" Prowl asked Inferno; ignoring Red Alert giving him the skunk-optic.

"Just Grimlock and Bumblebee, sir," Inferno replied, "I'll just tell you though, I do not look forward to frisking Grimlock. He's gonna try to bite me."

"I'll be right here with you the entire time," Prowl assured the firetruck-former.

"Why did Ratchet and Wheeljack invent those blasted Dinobots anyway?" Red Alert groused with his arms crossed over his chassis, "All they do is cause trouble! Last week Sludge and Slag got into a fight in the hallway and broke three of my cameras! Those monsters should be deactivated!"

Prowl didn't dignify the rant with a response. He wondered if Red Alert was trying to distract him from his search. After all, what kind of Autobot would wish deactivation on an established member of their own team? Even if that member was dumber than dirt and broke everything.

The first member of the patrol to return was Bumblebee, with Spike and Carly riding in his front seats. The yellow beetle opened his doors for the teens to get out and then transformed back into robot mode.

"Hey guys, I got the message," Bumblebee told Prowl, Inferno, and Red Alert, "Are we really under lockdown? What happened?"

"I am investigating a possible mole in our ranks," Prowl replied unabashedly, "You will submit to Inferno's search of your subspace and interior."

"Oh, um, okay," Bumblebee stammered awkwardly, "I'll do whatever it takes to cooperate with you guys. I hope you're wrong though. If there actually was a traitor here on the Ark, then nothing is sacred anymore."

"You gonna be okay, Bumblebee?" Spike asked in concern.

"I'll be fine, but this might take a few minutes," Bumblebee told them, "If you wanna go ahead and meet up with Sparkplug, I'll catch up in a few."

Spike and Carly then said goodbye to Bumblebee and made their way to their separate destinations on the ship; Spike to go look for his father and Carly to go visit Ironhide in the weapons room. That just left Bumblebee to be scanned and his subspace searched by Inferno and Prowl.

Red Alert continued to fume and watch as Inferno performed the routine search on Bumblebee. Prowl found it suspicious that Red Alert insisted on keeping the investigation team within his line of sight. Then again, it was Red Alert, and if he were innocent he might still act this way. Further analysis was required.

When Carly made it to the weapons room Ironhide and Jazz were going over the features on a new plasma rifle together. Apparently it was an import that Chromia had sent from Cybertron as a gift to Ironhide, and he was showing it off like a proud sire shows off a new sparkling.

"My Chromia sure does know what I like," Ironhide was going on, "A heavy trigger to prevent accidental discharge and keep me on top of my game. A wide barrel to spray fire over a large area, and nine chambers to release a shower of plasma fire. Yep, my baby knows just what I needed."

"Sounds like it," Carly said from her place by Ironhide's foot, and the two mechs looked down to regard their new arrival.

"Hey, Carly," Ironhide greeted her warmly, "You wanna see the specs for my new toy?"

"Sounds great," Carly replied amiably.

Carly knew that most 'Bots didn't consider Ironhide to be so much smart as seasoned, but after spending long hours conversing with him about weapons and tech specs she knew he was more intelligent than most gave him credit for. The college student loved learning about Cybertronian technology, and when she wasn't talking to one of the scientists like Perceptor or Wheeljack she was talking to Ironhide.

"So Carly, did you have to go past the TSA on your way in here?" Jazz asked with an easy grin.

"The what?" Ironhide asked, not in on the joke.

"The TSA: Transforming Security Afts," Jazz joked, earning a laugh from both Carly and Ironhide.

When Carly finished laughing she asked, "So, what exactly is Prowl investigating? Things seem to be shut up pretty tight, and Bumblebee said something about a traitor on the Ark. What did he mean, Jazz?"

"That's what's got me bugged about all this," Jazz replied contemplatively, "Prowler normally tells me what's goin' on, but not this time. All I know is for some reason Prime suspects there's a Decepticon sympathizer in here, but I don't know why and I got a bad feelin' crawlin' through my spinal struts. Prowl would've added me to the team of investigators, but he didn't this time, which means I'm a suspect."

"A suspect of what?" Carly asked, "What did the Decepticons do? Why does Prowl think there's a traitor here?"

"I have no idea, sparklet," Ironhide replied as he clenched his fist at his side, "But if there is a fraggin' 'Con turncoat in this base, then they better hope Prowl finds 'em before I do, 'cause if I ever get my servos on them I'll..." His sentence ended in a growl and lifting his cannon threateningly to demonstrate his feelings on the matter.

"It's gotta be a mistake," Jazz insisted, looking fidgety and troubled in a way Carly wasn't used to seeing in him, "We're all Autobots. We've been together for more vorns than I care to count. I mean, how can anyone live here and wanna go off and join the 'Cons? Also, what intel did the 'Cons even get to cause all this fuss?"

"Who says it's intel?" Ironhide posited, "Maybe one of our guys was attacked and the mech who did it was answerin' to Megatron. Errgh! I'll tell you guys, this really grinds my gears! We could have a fraggin' Megatron lover right in this base, and I can't even shoot 'em 'cause I don't know who it is! First our new weapon gets stolen, and now this!"

"Calm down, Ironhide," Carly replied as she placed a delicate hand on his leg, "You guys will find out if anything is wrong. Prowl is the best tactician you have, and if anyone can find the traitor it's him."

There was silence in the room for a few moments, but then suddenly Jazz got an impish looking smirk on his face plate, causing Carly and Ironhide to look at him in confusion.

"Hey guys," Jazz said slowly, "I just figured out the best way to punish the traitor."

"How?" Ironhide growled; ready to rip into something.

"We change his name in his official records to Starscream," Jazz replied with a slag-eating grin.

This elicited another laugh from the group, and Carly couldn't help but feel better about the situation. She was sure that there was no way Ironhide or Jazz could be the traitor. She only hoped that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. She didn't want one of her friends to secretly be evil. She couldn't imagine any of the Autobots harming humans and inflicting pain the way a Decepticon would. Surely none of them were true traitors...right?

Spike watched as his dad helped Ratchet and Wheeljack repair Warpath's arm; the tank-former watching their every move as they worked. Fortunately the other patients had been cleared to go, but poor Warpath was going to be stuck with the cranky medic and insane engineer for a few more days.

"I don't get it, Dad," Spike said to Sparkplug, "A fink in the Autobot ranks? That's impossible! Hm...maybe it's another clone, like that time Megatron made an Optimus Prime lookalike to try to trick us."

"We can only hope, son," Sparkplug replied wearily, "Though I doubt the Autobots would fall for that trick twice."

"What are they even POW investigating?" Warpath asked helplessly, "Prowl didn't even BOOM say what the BLAMMO incident was."

"I'm sure we'll all be informed in good time," Ratchet sighed gruffly as he attached more wires from the new arm to Warpath's shoulder joint, "Frankly I think joining the Decepticons would be an idiotic idea. They have no care for life, and their medics are all trained so poorly it's a wonder there are any Decepticons left at all."

"Amen to that," Sparkplug replied as he climbed up the ladder to Warpath's berth, "Hey Warpath, I'm gonna work on some loose wiring in your left pede. It'll pinch a little but you'll regain full mobility by tomorrow morning."

"Gee, thanks Sparkplug," Warpath replied gratefully, "I can't wait to ZAM BLAST POW those Decepticons."

"Hey, don't get over eager, or Prowl might start investigating you," Ratchet admonished as he half-heartedly waved a wrench in front of Warpath's faceplate, "Just focus on getting better, alright?"

"Yeah, alright," Warpath grumbled dejectedly; looking forward to kicking 'Con tailpipe.

"It just doesn't make sense," Ratchet muttered again to his companions, "What could the Decepticons have that would tempt an Autobot to defect and act as a spy?"

"Absolutely nothing," Wheeljack replied with a firm nod of his helm, "Decepticons are jerks with no sense of love or loyalty. The Autobots have great medics, great scientists, and a leader that would shave off part of his own spark for a chance at peace. The Decepticons can't compete with that."

"No kidding," Sparkplug replied agreeably.

"Maybe Bombshell planted a cerebro shell or something," Spike tried to rationalize, "Maybe whoever it is isn't aware they're doing it. Maybe the 'Cons found a way to remote control one of our friends."

"I wouldn't put it past Megatron," Ratchet replied bitterly, "It wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes I wonder if there are any free thinking Decepticons left. There can't be, because Megatron doesn't want free thinkers. He wants obedient drones. That's what I can't stand about the Decepticons. With the Autobots we all have the freedom of choice, and we care for each other and for the lives of others. That compassion was what drew me to the Autobot cause in the first place, because I could see how much our side strives to end the war and bring about peace."

"Wow, that was beautiful Ratchet," Spike replied sincerely, "What about you, Wheeljack? Why did you join the Autobots?"

"Well it's been so long ago I could hardly remember the why, but I do know what I love about our faction the most," Wheeljack replied fondly, "We Autobots have the right to fail."

"Um...huh?" Spike asked; confused.

"You see Spike, scientific breakthroughs don't happen overnight," Wheeljack explained, "They require trial and error. Especially for someone as klutzy as I am, I'm afraid to say. Well, thanks to being given time and resources I've been allowed to cause a few explosions and fail in a few experiments, but it's led to some truly remarkable inventions. The sonic destabilizer, the dual frequency pulsar cannon, the Insecticon repellant, and my greatest creations of all; the Dinobots."

"You call that your greatest creation?" Ratchet snorted sarcastically, "Why did I help you build those abominations again?"

"Because anatomy is your thing?" Wheeljack replied sheepishly, and Ratchet snorted again at the innocent wide-optic look Wheeljack was giving him, "But my point is that Decepticons don't have that. If a Decepticon fails they get beaten within an inch of their life, and that makes them jittery when they work or fight. You'll notice that Starscream has taken more potshots from Megatron than Mercury has from asteroids. That's why the Decepticons will never win, because they're too busy trying to meet this perfect standard they can never reach. In a way, I pity them."

"Well I don't," Ratchet replied with his arms crossed over his chassis, "Because of the Decepticons we're on total lockdown, and you know what that means."

"Um, no. What does it mean?" Spike asked dumbly.

"It means I'm trapped in this orange tin can with the twins!" Ratchet shouted dramatically, and everyone else laughed, "It's not funny! Do you know what a bored Sunstreaker and Sideswipe will do to this place?

"Paint it?" Wheeljack asked with mock hopefulness.

"Oh, shut up and go work on building a new nozzle for Warpath's cannon," Ratchet grumbled as he turned back to his work on the tank.

"Can do!" Wheeljack replied cheerfully before disappearing in the back room.

Spike laughed at their antics and then turned to where his dad was working on Warpath's pede. For all of their sakes Spike hoped Prowl was wrong about there being a traitor. After all, if a mech was willing to betray kind sparks like Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Wheeljack, then what else would such a twisted processor be capable of?