So, we all wondered what happened to Soundwave and Airachnid, right? My take on it. :)

I do not own TF:P.

Enjoy!

Arcee's life had finally stabilized. The war was over, though the occasional Decepticon (or even Autobot with a grudge) cropped up. By and large, there was peace. There were other bots in charge. The weight of civilization had been removed from her shoulder pads. She was free to work, free to live her life to the fullest.

For a long time, that meant joining the Law Enforcement squad. As much as she wanted a peaceful life, it was hard to envision a life without the war. She was slowly starting to get used having a normal life, seeing energon splash in fountains and not from gushing wounds, and seeing sparklings play happily rather than seeing their tiny, curled up frames litter the ground.

Arcee was also a young femme (by Cybertronian standards, anyway), with a stable income. This meant that she was eligible to adopt a sparkling. For the longest time, she desisted, for the simple reason that she didn't think that she'd be able to take care of one. Loud noises still occasionally frightened her into thinking of bombs and gunfire. Plus, being in the Quick Strike Force meant that she had long and unpredictable shifts; it simply wouldn't have worked. She wouldn't have been able to give the sparkling the care and time it needed and deserved.

Then she'd had an accident. The chords in her pede snapped, sensory nodes were burnt off permanently, the works. Ironic that it'd happened after the war, really. She was transferred to Emergency Response and walked with a bit of a hobble. The suggestions to adopt became even stronger. Finally, she caved in. She was given a choice amongst several sparklings. Her choice was obvious and easily made.

"Appasa! Appasa! Guess where we're going solar cycle-after solar cycle-after solar cycle-after tomorrow! For a field trip!"

"When is that?" Arcee asked, confused by the little whirlwind that had emerged from the door and flew straight over to her where she was sitting on her berth in their small apartment. Space was expensive in now crowded Iacon. She placed her digits on his young shoulders. "Appasa! Guess."Tailgate wailed impatiently. Yep, he was exactly like his former self.

"Ah... The energon refinery? The Hall Of Records?" Tailgate frowned. "No, we've been there before. Guess again." He widened his optics and placed the ends of the joints of his servos upon her pede joints. She thought about it for a moment. "Maybe...Optimus' conference building?"

"No!"His optics widened further. "I'll give you a hint: It's out of this world." She lifted him properly onto her lap. Primus, it seemed like he got heavier every solar cycle. "I don't know." She admitted. "Where?"

Tailgate grinned triumphantly, that same old Tailgate smile. She smiled back. "We're going to Moon Base Two!"

Arcee stared. "Moon Base Two?" Tailgate nodded, reveling in her surprise. But she was not excited like Tailgate expected her to be. Not at all. "Isn't that just an old ruin now? Is it even safe for you to be there? You're a little young, 'Gate, to be exploring Moon Base Two." Tailgate scowled. "I want to go." He said resolutely.

"We'll see about it." She said, trying to pacify him. "Are the consent forms downloaded onto your datapad?"He nodded, brightening a little, now that she was willing to give it a chance. He pulled his own datapad out of his subspace. "Here."

Arcee went through it. There would be two instructors, a medic and an expert with them, and they would make sure that the sparklings didn't go to any dangerous areas or cause any trouble. With Cybertron's restoration pending, nobot had given much thought to the restoration of Moon Bases One and Two. She was certain that some parts were pretty unstable. There was a proposal pending with the Council to restore it. Maybe, in fact, that was why now was the right time for the sparklings to go. To see a bit of old Cybertron's broken glory.

And yet... He was still a sparkling. Just seven vorns old. Much too young to be going off-world. But if his instructors thought that he was old enough, then who was she to argue? Was she just being over protective, like Jack's mom had been? Miko had called her a 'helicopter mom', she recalled. Arcee snorted and shook her head. Old stories.

She looked at Tailgate again and he stared impatiently back at her. Always impatient. Just then, she felt her comm. buzz. She put a digit to it. "Hey, 'Bee. What's up?" She could feel Tailgate's curious stare, with his odd, golden optics.

:Guess why Flora asked me to comm. you.:

Arcee smiled and raised an optic ridge. "Why?"

:She says that I make decisions faster because you always persuade me to say yes.:

Arcee snorted. Flora was Bumblebee's adopted sparkling. Though he'd adopted earlier than Arcee had, Flora had been very young at the time, and was now more or less the same age as Tailgate. Bumblebee had named her Flora, or flower, in English, but he realized too late that in older Cybertronian, flora was another word for acid rain, and as a result, older Cybertronians looked at her and 'Bee a little oddly whenever she introduced herself. Flora was of small to medium build, like Tailgate, and was mostly violet with yellow highlights, in contrast to Tailgate's white and orange.

"Well? What decision do you have to make? Are you hung up on the field trip thing as well?"

There was a slight pause. :Yes.:

Arcee sighed. "I feel partly like 'Gate's too young to go... But I also feel like I'm being overprotective..."

:Me too.: Bumblebee admitted. There was silence for a moment. The pause was too long for Tailgate to stand. "I want to go. I'll be fine. I'm seven vorns old already. It's just for a day-"

"Be quiet." Arcee commanded. Tailgate made a face but complied. "Well, 'Bee? Do you think they should go?

:I guess they could...: There was cheering at both ends of the lines. :But they have to promise to listen to everything their instructors say during the trip. And they're not allowed to wander off. You have to stick with the group, Flora.:

"That goes for you too, Tailgate."

"So I get to go?"Arcee smiled. "Yes.

"Yes!"He grinned and hugged her. That just made her more nervous about the whole thing. He was still so young...

The solar cycle of the trip finally arrived. Arcee gave Tailgate a dozen instructions. "Be careful."

"Yes, Appasa."

"Don't wander off.

''Okay."

"Listen to everything the instructors and the expert tell you. And the medic. Though, hopefully, he shouldn't have to tell you anything."

"Ye-es."

"I mean it, Tailgate. If I hear a single complaint-"

"Okay, okay! I will. Bye, Appasa!"

"Bye-"

She watched him run out of their apartment to the school, a mere fifteen mechanometers away. Something told her to pull him back. He was still too young, much too young. And... She couldn't shake off the intense feeling that something was about to happen. War had told her to listen to her instincts. Yet, she shook her helm. She had to let him go. It was no use being overprotective like this. Besides, there were two instructors, a medic and an expert going with them. They would make sure that the sparklings would be all right... Right?

Tailgate grinned as he caught up with Flora. "Hey!" She smiled back at him, excited. "We're going to the moon! How awesome is that?"

"Oh, Primus, are we going to have to deal with their yelling the whole trip?" Tailgate looked up to see a crimson mech staring irritably at him. A little confused, he made a silly face at the mech, sticking his glossa out as far as it would go, before running along to join his other friends. The mech rolled his optics.

The cyan instructor standing next to him eyed the former 'Con apprehensively. He hadn't been her first choice for a medic – that had been Ratchet, as he was one of the older mechs in Iacon and had likely been to Moon Base One. But Ratchet was naturally busy as one of the most skilled doctors in the city. So he'd sent a mech named Knockout. She hadn't known that he was a 'Con, but the optics gave it away, even if he now sported a shiny new Autobot badge. His 'reformed Decepticon' status made her uneasy, and he knew it, which was why he tried to act like a 'Con as much as he could just to annoy her.

"Well, ah, Tranquil, is it? When are we leaving?"

"In half a breem. When they're done saying their prayers."

The former 'Con snorted. "Prayers, smayers. They don't make you anymore holy than sitting in a garage makes you a car. You'd think the High Council would've learned that from the war, but now, really, when does the bureaucracy learn anything?"

Tranquil frowned. "What's a garage?" Knockout sighed. "Never mind. Forget I said it." The tone of his voice indicated that he thought her too ignorant to understand anything. Okay, she had been sparked after the war had ended and she was much younger than him. But the condescension in his voice got her gears in a grind. She itched to vocalize it, but she steeled herself and remembered that Knockout would only be staying for the solar cycle. After that, she was completely free not to associate with him.

The mech smirked, as though he knew that he'd agitated her sensors.

To Tranquil's relief, the sparklings soon streamed out of the academic building. They were followed by Tipoff, their other instructor. "Pilot ready to go?" He yelled. She nodded. The sparklings cheered. "Okay, then. Tell her to bring the craft here." She put a servo to her comm. link. "Diffractal, we're ready."

"Bringing the Artemis over." Diffractal said and cut off the link. She was yet another War veteran. Tranquil was glad that she'd been able to make the time to show some young sparks a bit of Cybertron's old glory. "Where's the expert?" Tipoff asked. Tranquil shuttered her optics. "Oh, he said that he'll be coming in a few moments. There's a bit of traffic at Vector Crossing.

In a little while, a dark brown and yellow four-wheeler zoomed up to the gates and promptly transformed into a bulky looking mech. "I'm not late, am I?" He wondered nervously. "It's okay, the Artemis isn't here yet." Tranquil reassured him. The mech beamed. "Good. These are the sparklings, are they? Hello, young sparks!" He called out to all of them. "I'm Magnify, the only surviving expert on Cybertron's two moons."

"Were you in the war?"A sparkling asked. Beside her, she heard Knockout sigh. For once, she agreed with him. To some extent that was all the sparklings cared about. Well, it was only expected. It had been twenty-six vorns since Megatron had left for his exile, yet, traces of the war could be seen everywhere. It was something the sparklings still had trouble understanding. The War loomed over them all like the dark shadow of a cloud.

"No, I was a Neutral, actually."

"But you have blue optics!"Another sparkling, Flicker, protested. "That means you're an Autobot." Magnify laughed. "Never judge a bot by their optic color." He chided.

There was a loud whirring sound and they all looked up to see the Artemis descending in the large school grounds. She was a large, dark craft with silver highlights on the sides. It seemed to be the very embodiment of stealth and speed. Tranquil was surprised that such a sleek, expensive looking ship had been chosen for their mission. As she examined it a bit more, she realized that she was, in fact, pre-war.

Some of the sparklings hooted. "Everybot quiet," Tipoff commanded, "Or you won't get to board." The ship slowly slipped down from the sky. Finally, it docked and settled on the ground. After a moment, the door opened and a spunky violet femme with an angular frame strode out. The class oohed. "Well? What're you waitin' for?" She demanded. They rushed forward. Tipoff's admonitions and pleas to be quiet, enter one at a time and in a straight line were all forgotten as all the sparklings tried to be the first to enter the craft. Diffractal saw Tranquil staring at the craft and laughed. "Don't gape. Looks are all she's got. She runs way too slow and loud for a stealth ship now, so they lent her to me."

Tranquil nodded and followed the last few sparklings into the ship. Knockout boarded behind her, and as she caught his smirk she found herself wishing that she'd applied to the local clinic for a medic instead. Frag him. On second thought, no, don't frag him. That would be disgusting. Slag it all.

So how was the first chapter? Like it? No? Yes? Tell me in a review!