So this is also the same chapter except without the extra Autobots. Enjoy and review

(Washington DC, NEST Base)

A yellow Camaro, followed by a red Ferrari and silver Corvette Stingray entered a building of the Department and Health. But unknown to everyone else was actually the new base of NEST. The three cars entering the base were Autobots, Bumblebee, Mirage and Sideswipe.

Inside the base were the rest of the Autobots, minus Optimus Prime and Ratchet. The others there were Ironhide, the team's weapon specialist and Wheeljack, the inventor and designer of the team's equipment. Wheeljack was currently giving Ironhide a pair of autocannons, that could shift between penetrating and exploding bullets swiftly, to go along with his cannons. Along with them were the Twins: Skids and Mudflap, the youngest of all the Autobots there and were currently playing some game which would soon turn into an argument. The young Jolt, Ratchet's assistant, was there too, the blue bot's electric whips sparkling as he walked around. The sisters, Elita-One, Chromia and Arcee, were at the shooting range doing some target practice. The revived Jetfire was merely grumbling about something, like not enough open space for him. The 1st lieutenant Jazz was hanging out in one of the hangars and finally the Wreckers, Roadbuster, Leadfoot, Topspin and Leadfoot's pet dog, Steeljaw, who were usually kept at the space center with their ship, the Xantium, were talking to each other, while Steeljaw just merely sat by his master.

Jolt walked up to Bumblebee and Sideswipe while Mirage went to chill somewhere away from the humans. Even after being here for a few months, the red bot was still not comfortable working with the humans. "So did Optimus tell you guys why we were called back here?" Jolt asked Bumblebee and Sideswipe.

Jolt barely talked since he arrived on Earth, mostly standing beside Ratchet when the medic was on the field or at the base. If not then he would be with one of the other Autobots, either helping with something or just being there for company. He didn't talk a lot with the humans, since he was uncomfortable with them, but had no problem talking to his fellow Autobots.

The yellow bot shrugged while the silver one replied, "He didn't tell us but the way his voice sounded that it was something important, did you ask Ironhide or Jazz?"

Jolt nodded, "I did, even asked Elita-One too. They all said to wait and not to even think about asking Prime himself when he gets here."

"That's because he an't in a good mood kid." The weapon specialist said from behind the three grouped Autobots. "I've known Prime longer then anyone of you. And trust me, the way he was talking, its better not to ask him any questions until he's ready."

"Not even if it was from his own sparkmate?" Sideswipe asked. His question went unanswered when the sound of two familiar engines were heard. "Yo Autobots! The big boss is here." Jazz shouted as he started walking towards the center of the hanger. "Autobots form up!"

All sixteen Autobots, including Steeljaw, lined up as their leader and medical officer arrived, the latter transforming as he went to greet the others. But Optimus stayed in vehicle mode and kept on driving all the way to the back of the hangar, not saying a word. To the humans, they would either have raised eyebrows in curiosity or just ignored it.

But to the Autobots, they knew better. They could sense the anger within the Prime as he passed them. Some like Jolt, Bumblebee, and the younger mechs, shuddered a little at the anger Optimus gave off, not even Skids or Mudflap dared to make some kind of bad joke. But the ones like Ironhide and Jazz showed signs of concern or wonder as to what could've made the Prime so mad. Elita-1 had enough courage to zoom on over to her sparkmate's side, communicating through their sparkbond.

While she was doing that, Ironhide and the others walked over to Ratchet. "What exactly did you find there to make him so piss off? I've never seen him this mad before."

Ratchet lowered his face as he pulled out something, "I believe this" He said as he revealed the engine part "is the source of his anger."

Ironhide gasped as he recognized the part, along with his mate Chromia, Wheeljack and Jazz. The others just looked at it, trying to figure out what it signified. Before any questions could be asked, the loud voices could be heard entering the building.

Walking towards the center of the hangar, where Ratchet had decided to place the device on a desk, were Colonel Lennox, already out of his field uniform and into more suitable attire, and Director of National intelligence Charlotte Mearing and National Security Advisor Theodore Galloway, who the Colonel was talking too.

"Oh slag, not them again." Sideswipe groaned as he watched the humans. Though he was no longer the official liaison for NEST, Galloway still had some access if it involved national affairs. Mearing wasn't a bureaucrat or anti-Autobot like Galloway was, but she had a thing for being in control, everyone following her rules and sometimes impatient.

"Probably asking about that little incident we did in the middle east." Wheeljack suggested as he remembered how he, Sideswipe, Mirage and Bumblebee took down an illegal nuclear facility just a few weeks ago.

From what their receptors heard, Lennox was making up an excuse, poorly, about the Autobot's coming and going. There were few humans that the Autobots fully trust and Lennox was one of them. He was the few who didn't see the Autobots as just talking machines, but sentient beings with feelings and lives as well as reliable allies too. They respected his courage and willingness to take the heat from the world leaders. They were also thankful, to their amusement, that his six-year old daughter, Annabelle, was able to find a soft spot in Ironhide, though the mech threatened anyone who dared say that to him.

When the two government officials were done talking to Lennox, they came up to the desk that the device was resting. "Okay, so what the hell is this and why was it so important that our presence was required?" Mearings asked, looking at Optimus. The Autobot leader said nothing, just remained in vehicle mode.

"He's in a bad mood." Mirage warned the human. "He's a not talking to anybody."

Unimpressed Mearing glared at the Autobots before asking sarcastically, "What is this, the silent treatment?"

"We've seen that and this is not that." Ironhide answered plainly.

"Definitely not that" Agreed Wheeljack

"This" Ironhide said, pointing at Optimus, "Is worse"

"Well whatever it is, can you tell your emotional leader to tell us why the hell he wanted us here." Galloway exclaimed harshly, to be met with a loud stomp from Roadbuster. "Oi, wanker! Watch who you're talking to you!"

As if realizing that the three Autobots were there, Mearing shouted, "What are you three doing here? You didn't get any permission to leave the space center."

Leadfoot did a spit. "The big boss called us here woman, and if he calls, then the Wreckers come!" He replied while Steeljaw gave a "Woof" in agreement.

"So, here we are." Topspin finished as he crossed his arms.

The red on Mearing's face was visible while Galloway snapped back, "As long as you're on this planet, you follow our rules-"

His rant was cut off when Optimus let out a loud noise from his horn, nearly shattering all glass inside the base. All eyes and optics were now on Optimus as he move forward and then transformed. As he did Ironhide commented, "He's pissed"

And it was the truth as Optimus slammed his fists down, glaring at the two humans. The look in his optics could be nothing but anger, hurt, betrayal and who knows what else. This was backed-up when he said four words.

"You lied to us. Everything humans know of our planet and our kind we were told it had all been shared," he growled out before pointing an accusing digit at the engine part on the desk that stood between them. "So why was this found in human possession?"

"We were in the dark on this also," answered Mearing with brutal honesty. "It was 'Director Only' clearance at Sector Seven, until now." She then looked to her assistant who was carrying several different handbags like a pack mule. "The bag."

The young woman fumbled with the multitude of handbags before whispering: "Which bag?"

Mearing narrowed her eyes and growled out: "Hermes Birkin, green ostrich!"

Mearing shook her head in sympathy as her assistant trotted over with the correct handbag, while apologizing profusely.

Theodore rolled his eyes as Charlotte took the handbag from her aide, which she then opened up and pulled out what looked like a manual before saying: "This is a secret that a few men knew, and fewer still remain alive. Please allow me to introduce you to two of NASA's founding mission directors and astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot onto the Moon after Neil Armstrong."

Galloway waved his left hand out to present the retired Colonel in his old USAF Service Dress Uniform, along with NASA's two mission directors in business suits as they walked into the hangar. As the three men approached, Mearing strode up to the latter. "Sir? Optimus Prime."

Buzz craned his head upward to look at the 'Bot in question, staring open mouthed as amazement and fascination gripped him.

"From a fellow space traveler, it's a true honor," said the retired astronaut with clear awe in his voice.

Optimus had seemed to have calm down considerably, and so greeted the man with a humble nod. "The honor is mine."

"Our entire Space Race of the 1960s and '70s, it appears, was in response to an event," said Galloway as Charlotte strode up to the scaffold.

"In 1961, our VLA Radio Observatory in New Mexico detected an alien ship crashing onto the dark side of the Moon's surface. Sector Seven at the time had already been in the works on reverse-engineering NBE-1 since the '50s and we had developed ships that could carry us from Earth to the Moon with that tech," said McCandless, one of NASA's mission directors. "We investigated the ship, but no survivors were found on board."

"Me and my team were sworn to secrecy by our Commander-in-Chief," said Buzz tiredly.

"A total of thirty-five people knew of the real plan at NASA," added Johnson, the second NASA mission director.

"When Apollo 11 landed, we discovered that the Soviets had gotten there first by sending unmanned probes. Somehow, they must've picked up that fuel rod," said McCandless as he gestured at the engine part.

"We believe the Soviets deduced that the rod was a fissionable fuel assembly," continued Mearing from the top of the scaffold. "And believed they had it mastered and tried to harness it at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986, with disastrous consequences."

"We landed six missions in all, took hundreds of photos and samples, and locked them away forever when the Apollo Program was shut down when it was deemed too expensive to continue after the success of Apollo 17 in 1972," finished Johnson.

"Well, did you search the crash-vault?" asked Ironhide.

All the former NASA personnel shook their heads. It even made Lennox wonder how big this ship is if they couldn't explore all of it with six missions' worth of exploration.

"The ship's name was the Ark," began Optimus. "I watched it escape Cybertron myself. It was carrying an important Autobot technology that could have won us the war. And...its captain..."

"Who was its captain?" asked Mearing.

"The great Sentinel Prime," answered the Autobot Leader as his faceplates got close to Charlotte's. "The technology's inventor. He was my mentor and commander of the Autobots before me. It's imperative that I find itbefore Megatron and the Decepticons learn of its location. Our Autobot spacecraft has the ability to get there. And you must pray that we reach it first before the Decepticons do."

(Outside...)

Unbeknownst to them, outside the building was a police car, or more specifically, the Decepticon scout Barricade. When Megatron had executed the plan, Barricade was assign to spy on the base and report anything that he finds useful.

There were two problems to that however. Multiple energon detectors made it difficult for Barricade to move as much and he was mostly outside the city. Also new high tech satellites were set up and since Megatron was on the other side of the planet, a message that long a range might pick up his message.

Fortunately, the Decepticons who were still on the planet had managed to create a loose communication system, by transmitting messages to one another, in order for Soundwave's more advance communication abilities to lock on too.

Later in the evening when it was dark, Barricade backed up as he saw Optimus, Ratchet and three NASCAR vehicles with machine guns leave the building, heading somewhere. Before that he had managed to pick-up words such as "Apollo", "Ark", "Sentinel", and "Xantium"

Barricade decided this was something that should be reported. Waking up Frenzy to begin transmitting. "Autobots, know about Ark, preparing to go to moon to retrieve Sentinel Prime, may have space transportation."

Once he was done he began transmitting the message. He got word from Sideways that the message was received and is being resent. Before going into recharge he was told to wait for new orders

(Africa)

In Namibia, Africa, Megatron transformed from his M915 Line-Haul truck form to his robot mode, a hood covering the damage on his head done by Optimus in Egypt. He growled at the local animals, prompting them to flee in terror.

"All hail Megatron." He said as he walked towards his makeshift camp. The only ones there were Soundwave, Starscream and Igor, a creature he created from the remains of Long Haul, along with three crates of hatchlings. Blackout was also around, circling over him. The Constructicons had managed to acquire an Energon convertor for Megatron and the Hatchlings, making it easier to produce energon for the little ones. It was necessary, for when his plan succeeded, a new generation of Cybertronians would be needed and this batch would be the vanguard of that generation.

As he dropped scraps of loose material he found to the hatchling, his second in command Starscream landed, the second Con to greet him after Igor, with Blackout behind him. Ever since that Allspark shard had been used to revive him, Megatron's been able to use a small fraction of its power to revive some of his more valuable soldiers. Unfortunately the power to revive the key figure for his plan was too much for the shard to handle as it soon lost power. "Oh my poor master" The Seeker began, speaking with his deceiving tongue, "How it pains me to see you so wounded, so weak."

This caused the Decepticon leader to snap back, "Spare me you gaseous sycophant. You know what you are told, which is nothing" Then he turned his attention to his trusted hound. "Blackout, anything to report?"

The Con nodded as his drone, Scopornoks, came out of the ground. "Grindor reports that our hidden forces have gone into stasis lock until the signal is given out. Brawl reports that he and Bonecrusher have found several good alt modes for them as well."

A sound of weapons being activated and a small fragile body hitting the ground, causing him to turn around to see his loyal Lieutenant and Communication officer Soundwave, with his winged drone and one of the Decepticon's loyal assassins, Laserbeak, perched on his arm. "Soundwave reporting, Lord Megatron."

"And what news does your little assassin have for me?" Megatron asked as he got up to his full height, looking down at his troops.

"The Autobots have taken the bait; they've learned of the Ark and have set off to recover its cargo." The drone hissed.

Megatron nodded with satisfaction, everything was coming into fruition, only a few more things had to be set into place. He was aware of the new Autobots who had arrived and new that separating their forces was necessary in order for his plan to succeed.

"You've done me great honor in tracking that ship to the moon." Megatron said to Soundwave. The communication officer did a bow as Megatron continued, "Your human operatives have served their purpose."

Soundwave turned to Laserbeak, "Kill them all." He said to his drone.

"With pleasure" The drone hissed with sinister delight before taking off.

"Soundwave you shall return to your post back in the U.S, Starscream you will continue to patrol the sky. Blackout go and meet up with Brawl and Bonecrusher and away my orders." Megatron stopped to think for a moment, "And contact Barricade, tell him I need him to do something that will keep the Autobots distracted."

As his officers left, Megatron looked up into the sky, "Soon Cybertron shall be restored."


The only major difference with this story are really the battles and such. Review

Wacko12