Author's Note: Alright, just to clear up some confusion, this is an alternate universe, if you haven't figured that out. What this means is, no Beast Machines, everyone's back together again, and it will be a totally different story from here on out. Also, the Beast Wars don't take place a bazillion years after the Great War and such. Read on to find out more.

SIDE TRIP

It was about thirty-seven stellar cycles since the Beast Wars had ended and things were starting to return to a slight sense of normality. The Maximals, beginning to return to their former name as Autobots, had recently come across a small fragment of the Allspark that reacted strangely to the group. Shining furiously, the massive power of even that small piece went through the events of the war and, on its own, brought back those that had been lost. Though, using this as a distraction, Megatron was able to escape Autobot custody to an unknown destination.

So the Maximals were forced to continue back to Cybertron without their main POW, leaving the rest of the reborn Predacons to wait for judgment in the holding bay of the Autobot ship. The prisoners, all except three, mostly bickered and argued amongst themselves while Terasaur and Waspinator stayed unusually quiet.

The strangest of all, though, was Rampage who stayed mostly silent and stared off even when spoken to. This troubles Depth Charge greatly, for he was the one who knew the murderous crab the best. He had also known him longer than anyone else on the ship. Years ago, Depth Charge had been Chief of Security on the colony installation of Rugby; a place where he had lived for most of his life as well as a place where Rampage had killed all of its inhabitants.

All except Depth Charge, of course.

Ever since the day Rampage had let him live, Depth Charge had been chasing after him, seeking what he called justice and Rampage called revenge. The Autobot had come to Earth and had inevitably joined the Beast Wars after picking up on the Protoform X signal and following it there.

Now the ray bot sat in the ship's bridge, watching the security monitors with narrowed optics. "Why does he just sit there?" he asked to himself and anyone else who cared to answer.

"Eh, maybe he finally learned to shut up and sit still, huh?" came a reply from Rattrap who spun around in his seat in front of another monitor. Though he had denied it, the Maximal technician had been overjoyed when Dinobot had been brought back to life.

"Not likely..." Depth Charge grumbled, watching the screen even closer. "From what I know of the Protoform X Project, all those who had come out of it were war machines programmed to kill and Rampage is no better. I highly doubt he would settle down so suddenly." As if hearing the conversation, Rampage looked up from where he was and directly at the surveillance camera, his emerald optics seemingly matching Depth Charge's red ones.

Scowling slightly, the Security Chief stood up. If he couldn't find the answers on his own, he'd just have to ask Rampage himself. Leaving the bridge in the direction of the holding bay, Depth Charge's thoughts raced.

Tigetron, who was very grateful to be back with the living, sat at the entrance to the holding bay, watching as the ray bot came down the hallway. "Can I help you?" he asked with an inquisitive stare.

"I need to speak with a prisoner."

"Ah, of course. Rampage, I presume?" He stood up, watching the larger bot closely.

Depth Charge's optics narrowed ever so slightly as he grew more impatient. "Yes. Now let me through."

The feline Autobot shrugged, turned, and began punching numbers into a key pad by the door. "The answers you seek may not be the ones you expect to hear though, my friend." The door to the holding bay hissed open as he continued. "You're asking about Protoform X..." he turned to face the other's stare. "...but he's Rampage now."

"Right," Depth Charge scowled, walking forward and practically pushing Tigetron out of the way. "Don't act like you know everything, cat."

As he stepped through the doorway, the bickering in the holding back quieted. The first to speak up was Tarantulas, who narrowed the multiple eyes of his beat form at the Depth Charge. "So the great and powerful Chief of Security has come to grace us with his presence yet again. What, come to torment us some more?"

"Tch." Depth Charge ignored the spider bot and walked down the row of cells towards the back where Rampage's was. He paused only briefly to glance into the cell that held Inferno, who glared at him from the back. Depth Charge had met him once before a few years ago on a space colony called Tenok. This was before the Beast Wars and before Inferno had been forcefully converted into a Predacon. Now, because of the crash of his Stasis Pod and Tarantulas' faulty programming, he was a complete opposite of the noble, independent Autobot he used to be. He knew that Optimus, as well as many back on Cybertron, hoped desperately that they would be able to restore Inferno to his former state, or at least restore his memories. This included another Security Chief back on Cybertron named Red Alert who had apparently fallen in love with him.

He continued walking, shaking his head to himself. Love was such an odd thing. In his opinion, love was just a nonessential waste of time that got in the way; a glitch in one's processors. And it always found a way to turn its back on you.

Rampage sat at the back of his cell in his robot mode, giving a yawn that soon turned into a mischievous smile as Depth Charge stepped up. "Why, hello there, Captain Minnow. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"What are you plotting, X? It's unlike you to just sit by quietly without having something up your sleeve."

Giving a short chuckle, the crab stretched his arms behind his head. "You know me all too well, friend. But I assure you, I have nothing up my sleeve at this moment in time."

The ray narrowed his optics , watching Rampage closely. "I don't believe that for an instant. You–" He was about to say more when Optimus' voice came in over the intercom, instructing everyone to come to the bridge. Depth Charge frowned, shaking his head, then looked back at Rampage. "I'll find out what you're thinking sooner or later."

"Mmhm." He watched the ray bot walk away and laughed quietly to himself. "Same as always, old friend... Same as always..."

The bridge was already filled with the other shipmates as Depth Charge stepped through the doorway and Optimus, towering above them all in his Optimal form, nodded to him. "Everyone here?" he called. "Good. Now I have a bit of bad news... I know you've all been anxious to get back to Cybertron, but our arrival is going to have to be a little delayed..."

There was a rush of comments and questions, but Rinox then cleared his throat, silencing them all. "It seems the computer miscalculated the amount of fuel and energon that we have, and we're going to have to make a stop on a near by planet called Reclarion to re-supply."

"What kind of planet, Rinox?" asked Cheetor, looking a bit nervous. "I mean, do you know what's there? What if it's hostile?"

"We've done our research and they seem fairly welcoming to outsiders...except not so much to cybernetic organisms..."

"Oh, well that's just great, ain't it?" Rattrap frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, they're friendly to all life forms...except for us, is that what you're sayin'?"

"Well, technically, yes. They don't like the idea of machines thinking for themselves... But all that means is we can't let them know what we are. Which means," he started, cutting off questions from the others, "we'll have to take new forms. Forms of their more common residents." He flipped a switch and multiple imaged appeared on the monitor in front of him.

Dinobot huffed, studying the imaged, his arms crossed in front of him. "They all appear rather human to me."

Nodding, Optimus said, "They're very similar to humans, so it shouldn't be too hard to fit into society there. Once the Axalon enters Reclarion's atmosphere, your scanners should pick up the DNA signals from its inhabitants and you'll be able to transform. They'll probably want to know who we are, so when asked, say we're a group of travelers with no real home planet."

"Hold on a second, Optimus," said Blackarachnia, frowning. "These aren't like our normal beast forms. These have parts that will need to be covered. What are we going to do about clothes?"

"Ah," he laughed. "You don't have to worry about that. Once you transform, you'll automatically be wearing clothes based slightly on your beast form, age, and personality."

"And what of the prisoners, Optimus?" Depth Charge asked, thinking.

Optimus nodded, saying, "They'll take on the new forms as well and stay on board. We'll all take turns guarding them."

Depth Charge nodded, thinking to himself, 'A planet that dislikes cybernetics that can think for themselves... This will be interesting...'