Thanks to all of those who read and reviewed the first chapter. I am glad you all found this story interesting and worth reading. Many thanks go to my wonderful beta, Lament of Meow for looking over and correcting my grammar, punctuation and spelling, and also for her encouragement and inspiration. Further thanks go to Phoenix13 ("Scent of the Future"), Litahatchee ("Night Fire"), Lady Tecuma ("Sparks and Plasma") and Karategal ("Youngling") for permission to use some of the ideas they originated later on.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or any of the other cannon characters. They belong to Hasbro, IDW, Michael Bay, etc. I do own Rachel O'Bryan, the non-cannon characters and the plot.

"blah" conversation in English

"blah" comm. conversation

:blah:conversation in Cybertronian

And without further ado, here is chapter two…

Chapter 2 Discoveries

The American government had graciously given the Autobots a base to operate from after the battle at Mission City in appreciation for their aid in countering the threat the Decepticons represented. Optimus Prime knew it was also a subtle means of keeping tabs on the new residents of this world. All the surveillance devices had been located and removed soon after the Autobots had taken up residence and so far no attempts to install more had occurred.

Located at a remote, unused edge of a weapons testing range in California called China Lake, the base came with an air strip, a human sized barracks building, and a pair of very large hangers. Researching on the web, he had learned that the hangers were once used to house blimps, a type of slow and cumbersome aircraft no longer used by the US military. However, these obsolete hangers were ideal for their needs. The huge, arching clear span structures could easily accommodate even his size with room to spare. At nearly 140 feet tall, 300 feet wide and 800 feet long there was plenty of room to construct facilities proportioned to mech size without any outward evidence to give them away. Reinforcing the structures had been simple and construction was well under way in the first hanger with the medical bay, command center, and several sets of quarters complete. An area at the front of the hanger had been left relatively free as a rally area with a partially partitioned space used as a social gathering area for both the mech and human inhabitant of the base. At the rear, wash racks were under construction and a second level was being added down the center of the hanger where there was adequate height. The second hanger was still pretty much a blank slate except for crude laboratory and workroom facilities.

A couple of miles away from the hangers and up a blind canyon, Ironhide had put together a weapons range. He could often be found there along with several of the recently promoted MajorWilliam Lennox's Rangers, blasting away at mock Decepticons. The Rangers, as the only US military unit with experience fighting Decepticons, were also residences of the base. Optimus had only agreed to their presence if it was acknowledged that he was in overall command of all personnel, human and mech.

Glen Whitmann and Maggie Madsen, the hacker and signals analyst that had detected the Decepticon infiltrations of the US military computer network, split their time between the base and the Pentagon, searching for any more attempted intrusions. Optimus knew it was only a mater of time before the Decepticons reappeared. Three were unaccounted for after Mission City: Barricade, Scorponok, and Starscream. Barricade had disappeared and Scorponok was still somewhere in the sands of the Middle East. Starscream had fled the battlefield, but Optimus was sure he would return, and with reinforcements. The Autobots had yet to locate the Decepticon vessel, Nemesis, even though it was probably hidden somewhere in the solar system. Their own scout ship, Ark, was half buried and disguised as the low hill behind the hangers. Sam and Mikaela were also frequent visitors to the base when they could get away from their educational institute.

Several Autobots had arrived in the months after he had transmitted his message and their ranks had doubled. He was very grateful for the presence of his 2IC and tactician, Prowl. The other arrivals had included Hound, Wheeljack, and the twin terrors Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Optimus was sure that Ratchet would have preferred to go another millennia or two without seeing the prankster twins, but they were fine warriors and would be a much needed strike force when the Decepticons returned.

Jazz had been revived with the remains of the Allspark and a great deal of diligent work by Ratchet. Optimus had been so relieved when he had found that last remaining shard in Megatron's chest after Ratchet and Ironhide had brought him the sundered body of the saboteur. However, re-energizing Jazz's spark had drained whatever energy had remained in the shard and it was now nothing more than a piece of scrap. Jazz would be the last bot ever re-sparked, or sparked, by the Cube. The original source of life for his kind was gone and their home could never be restored to what it was. Nevertheless, Optimus considered it a blessing to have his lieutenant and dear friend back. The mech could lighten the mood no mater how dire the situation.

Jazz currently occupied a seat at the large computer that filled one wall of the command center tangent the open door of the office Optimus currently occupied. Teletran II monitored the globe for Decepticon activity using a pair of recently launched satellites courtesy of Wheeljack. The engineer was currently constructing several more so as to increase the amount of the globe Teletran was able to monitor. There were dangerous gaps in the coverage that the Decepticons could easily slip through.

Optimus grabbed the data pad with the duty roster for the next several days and stood up from his desk. He'd had to make a few changes do to the unexpected absence of the team medic, but they were minor and would not cause difficulties. He walked across the room to post the new schedule.

The voice of the mech to cause the roster changes came across the comm channel.

"Ratchet to Optimus Prime."

"Optimus, go ahead Ratchet."

"Is Major Lennox currently at the base?"

"Yes, why?"

At this point Jazz decided to join the conversation. "Yo, Ratch man. How's it hangin' with that little femme that picked you up last night?"

Ratchet chose to ignore Jazz's question. "I have made a discovery. I need Major Lennox to see if he can find out more information about this woman."

"What have you discovered Ratchet?" Optimus asked.

"The woman, Rachel, has a healing wound that was inflicted by a Cybertronian weapon, but it is too old to have happened at Mission City."

Optimus and his lieutenant exchanged a look. Jazz hurried off to find the Major, bringing him back to the control room a few minutes later. He opened the comm. channel so the human could converse with Ratchet as well.

"Who is this woman Ratchet?" Lennox asked, Jazz having brought him up to speed.

"Her name is Rachel. She is a civilian medic with a local search and rescue team."

"Send me the address and I'll get Maggie to pull up some information on her."

"How bad is the wound?" Concern colored Optimus' voice.

"It's a graze. Anything more would have killed her but she has other multiple injuries about the same age."

XX--XX

"She not a civilian, well, not exactly." Lennox came into back into the control room an hour later accompanied by Maggie. They had used his office in the barracks building to track down information on the search and rescue worker. Epps had joined Jazz and Optimus in the control room while they were away. Maggie went over to the human-sized computer terminal and started pulling up the information she had on a portable flash drive. Jazz contacted Ratchet so he could also listen to the information to be presented.

"What do you mean?" Optimus asked, his curiosity piqued.

"She's a guardsmen," Lennox explained. "Army National Guard. Staff Sergeant S. Rachel O'Bryan, Delta Company, 123rd Area Support Medical Battalion." Maggie pulled up a photo of Rachel in uniform on the main screen. "Guardsmen are civilians that serve in the military on a part time basis. Most of the time National Guard units are called up to aid in natural disasters or other emergencies in their home states, but they can also be mobilized to augment regular military units."

The two bots present nodded their understanding.

"She is also a civilian paramedic with the Tulare County Fire Department. Last year, Sergeant O'Bryan's platoon was called up and deployed to Bargam Airbase in Afghanistan. Ten months ago that base was attacked. Rachel O'Bryan was one of two survivors."

"That would have been three months before the attack in Qatar," Epps noted.

"It would also correspond to the time when her injuries most likely occurred," Ratchet pointed out over the comm.

Maggie spoke up at this point, "I contacted Defense Secretary Keller and he obtained these photos of the aftermath of the attack." Several photos appeared on the screen; some taken from the air, others from the ground. Not a single building was standing intact. On the airfield, the various types of aircraft were in pieces alongside rows of armored personnel carriers, humvees, trucks and MRAP vehicles in similar states. A pair of fuel tankers still burned in one photo and bodies could be discerned in all. "The base was leveled. No one ever claimed responsibility."

One particular photo drew Optimus' attention. "Maggie, please enlarge the third photo in from the lower right."

Maggie obediently enlarged the photo to full screen on Teletran's monitor. It showed a small group of damaged vehicles off to the edge of the base, largest of which was a M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle. Disguised amongst the mottled camouflage was a symbol.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Lennox.

"I'm afraid so. This confirms that the Decepticons hit that base."

"Why would one stick around though?" was Epps' puzzled question.

"Unknown," was Optimus' answer. "He appears to be damaged. Some of your weapons have proven effective against our kind and the Decepticons are known to leave fallen comrades behind."

"I did find out that there was some type of prototype weapon being tested at the base," Maggie added. "I'm still working on getting more information."

"Huh, looks like that Decepticon may have been a guinea pig," Jazz speculated.

"His self repair system should have had plenty of time to work by now," Ratchet observed over the still open comm.

"Well ain't that just dandy. Now we have a fourth Decepticreep unaccounted for."

"Yes, and one of unknown designation." Optimus' voice was heavy with foreboding.

A/N: I am drawing from events in the Target exclusive movie prequel comic #2 that came with the movie in the transforming DVD case. I also know that there is a discrepancy between the movie and the prequels about the location of Tranquility. Iam placing Tranquility and the new Autobot base in California. Specifically, the base is at northern edge of the China Lake Naval Weapons Range and the mountainous area Ratchet was exploring in chapter one is around Sequoia National Park.

A note on the blimp hangers. They are one of the few structures around I felt suitably large enough for the 'bots to not feel cramped in and generally no longer in use. Here is a little except of information on one located at Naval Air Station Tillamook in Oregon.

"Blimp Hangar B deserves recognition as the largest free-standing wooden

structure in the nation. Built in 1943, the hangar measures 192 feet high

and 296 feet wide, and is 1,072 feet long. Over seven acres of land is enclosed

inside, of which the sizeable museum barely takes up half."

I've not been there yet, but in pictures the thing is huge.