Sari stood in the ante-room for the Autobot High Council Chambers. It was beyond all words. It made Sumdac tower look like some child's play house. Even for Cybertonian architecture it was massive, more massive than anything she has ever seen in all her life. Omega Supreme could stand in this room with ease.

She knew this as fact, since there was a life sized statue of him standing over the exit. Statues of the great Autobots of the past lined the walls, standing a final guard over the entrance to the seat of Autobot power. At the entrance into the Chamber itself stood the greatest of them all. As big as Omega Supreme, yet somehow even grander in stature, Primus stood guard over the door itself. His face, the very symbol of the Autobots, inspired fear, awe, and pride all at once.

She could barely look beyond that mighty stare. Then her eyes lifted to his hands, and she gasped as the recognized the Allspark, held Above everything.

"This, this is..... I just don't know what to say." Ted said beside her, still entranced by the statue of Omega Supreme.

"That would be a first." Sari shot back, but there was nothing behind the words. He was right, it was beyond words. It reminded her of church, but this was beyond even that. In church, it was a story, and even the parts that people believed with all their heart they thought of as something that was distant from them were it not for their faith.

This place was history. Mt. Rushmore, the Great Wall, the Pyramids, Geronimo, all of that was nothing but a footnote compared to this place. It makes sense. The Autobots and the Decepticons have been around so long that their last war was fought and ended before man kind even came into being. And both had been at peace for endless ages before that.

The thought of war brought her mind back from the depths of billions of years. She looked toward the massive doors of the Council Chambers. Optimus had gone in to address the Council about the very real and growing threat that the Decepticons presented.

He had been in there for three hours. Suddenly, the doors opened and Optimus strode out. His face showed anger and hurt. Oh hell, I take it things didn't go well.

Bumblebee noticed his commanders dismay, and asked the question everyone was thinking, "They didn't listen to you, did they?"

"They didn't listen to me?" The Autobot Prime said increadulously, "THEY HARDLY EVEN GAVE ME A CHANCE TO SPEAK. They are DEAD set against the very IDEA that the Decepticons would dare come out now, LET ALONE the notion that Megatron HIMSELF is leading them."

Autobots throughout the Anteroom stared at him. Sari and the rest of the team were stunned. Very seldom did Optimus get angry, and right now he seemed downright furious.

He noticed their shock and sighed. "There's nothing that can be done about it. Alright, Autobots, lets go ho......"

"So, Optimus wasn't exaggerating when he said you were different. And there are two of you." Ultra Magnus stood in the doors. Sari was couldn't believe that the bot was even still standing. Even after weeks of recovery and repair he was still more damaged than she could have thought possible.

Despite it all, he was no less majestic than when she had first seen him. Even using his hammer as a cane, his steps were smooth and confident. She could only imagine the courage and pride it would take to do such a thing.

He strode up to her and knelt before her. She knew it wasn't ceremonial, but somehow she felt as though he wouldn't do this for just anyone. "The Council will see you now."

He looked to the others. "Alone."

She turned and looked at her friends. Ted looked a little uncomfortable, and Bumblebee looked for the world as if he would fight Ultra Magnus himself to stand beside her in there. Even Optimus looked a little taken aback by this. Only Ratchet seemed calm, and he nodded to her confidently.

Sari returned the nod, and Ultra Magnus rose to his feet. She followed him as the walked beneath the massive figure of Primus and through the great doors of the Autobot High Council Chambers.

Ultra Magnus led her to a narrow beam of light in the middle of the room. Save for the light cast in from the room was entirely dark besides. They stopped dead center in the beam and the doors behind them closed.

As soon as they were sealed, beams of light illuminated the seats of the High Council. She noted that one chair was empty.

"Brother and Sister Autobots of the Council. I present to you Sari Sumdac, the one that we have been told about. The one for whom we are now assembled."

The ground she stood upon rose into the air, until she was about shoulder level with Ultra Magnus. She looked around her at the many faces, the many shapes. Somehow, this was more than even the Antechamber. But where that place was grandeur and worship, this place was simple power.

"Well, Small One. Are you in capable of speech?" One of them said.

She started to panic, she had no IDEA what one said to the ruling body of the most powerful beings in the universe. Then calm came over her. For some reason, she knew exactly what to say.

"I am Sari Sumdac." she began. "You see me as an organic. Distant, strange, alien.

"But like you there is more to me than meets the eye. For two years of my life, I have been a friend to the Autobots on my world. I have grown to depend on them, for advice, for protection, for companionship. And I they have come to depend on me as well, as a friend.

"It is my hope that you, too, may come to depend on me. Maybe not as a friend, but perhaps as a bridge between our two worlds."

She touched the jewel on her chest, and revealed her cybertronian Spark to them, bathing the room in its blue glow. "I am Sari Sumdac, Daughter of Earth, Daughter of Cybertron."

******

Optimus stepped into the empty Council chamber slowly. He walked along the path of light from the door and stopped just inside the circle at the center of the room.

Ultra Magnus stood in the middle of that circle, and he waited for the doors to close before he turned to face Optimus Prime.

"You wanted to see me, Ultra Magnus."

"Yes, Prime. Our attempt to reason with the council has failed." The great Autobot leader turned and hung his head. "I have failed."

"Sir, just because the council...."

"The Elite Guard is strained to the breaking point. Our forces are stretched so thin that the Space Bridge Nexus is being guarded by raw recruits and their instructors. We have had to abandon many worlds, and have bee forced to destroy dozens of Space Bridges, just so we can consolidate our defenses enough to defend what we haven't left for the Decepticons."

He turned again to Optimus and looked at the Autobot with eyes filled with pain. "We have been back on our heels since the Decepticons returned. Not one action did we plan, not one move was ours to make. All we have been doing is reacting.

"And now you come to me with news that Omega Supreme, our last, best hope for victory, is currently in the hands of the rouge Starscream."

He collected himself, then continued. "And the council has refused to declare a state of war."

"If you don't mind me saying sir," Optimus interrupted, "Perhaps we should tell the council Omega's whereabouts. They may agree to mobalize if they know that at any moment, starscream could come here and attack us."

The older Autobot simply shook his head. "No, that would only cause a panic. We must find our salvation elsewhere."

"I don't understand, sir."

Magnus turned to face the Prime once more. "I have personally selected a unit to go to earth and establish a base there. They will build a fortress, the likes of which the universe has never seen before. It has been devised by our greatest engineers.

"Perceptor, Wheeljack, and a teem of highly skilled engineers will acompany you back to earth. After that, we will send three ships. Nova Prime will arrive first. Some time after that, Rodimus Prime will arrive. Finally Sentinel Prime will go directly for earth if the Decepticons attack Cybertron."

Ultra Magnus' face became dark, and sadness, pain, anger, and pity all filled his voice at once. "If Cybertron falls, that will be our new home.

"If I am destroyed, YOU must lead our people out of these dark times."