Chapter 4-Light in the Dark part 2

It would be another two days before the Autobots got another chance at Optimus again. It was by chance that sky-spy had managed to capture footage of a Decepticon raid on a remote oil refinery in Estovakia. It happened in the dead of night, but the satellite images were clear enough that they could see the profiles of Barricade, Knockout and Optimus Prime. Seeing the normally peaceful Optimus tear into a refinery like a savage was deeply unsettling for the Autobots who knew him for many centuries. It only confirmed their fears that the Cons were going to use Prime as a political tool to increase their army's morale and abuse his power for their own nefarious deeds. Optimus and Megatron were powerful forces all on their own. Together, they would be impossible to fight alone.

"This isn't good." Bulkhead said. "With Optimus on their side, we'll never be able to take 'em."

"Thank you for the obvious statement, Bulkhead. Your powers of perception are riveting." Prowl said. Bulkhead growled and punched Prowl in the shoulder, almost knocking him over.

"Don't get snippy with me because you screwed up when it mattered most!"

"Are you really going to go down that route?" Prowl retorted. "You try taking one of Nightshade's arrows head on and try getting up again."

"Don't start bickering you two, we need to focus here." Arcee said.

"Like getting Prime back and curing him of that plague." Ironhide said.

"How are you going to do that?" Kevin asked. "I thought the hate plague had no cre."

"It doesn't. We're just hoping that Ratchet can find a cure by studying Optimus." Wheeljack said. "Not like we can do anything now unless we can get Optimus himself back."

"Like that's gonna happen." Skyfire grumbled.

Debbie stood to the side watching the Autobots slowly fall apart, their morale sinking faster than the Titanic. She knew from her grandfather's old war stories that some military units would fall apart after losing their commanding officer. From what she learned from the kids and Minicons, Megatron was a brilliant tactician as well as a warrior, and having the Autobots tear each other apart over their missing leader joining the enemy would seem like something he would do.

Having had enough of their bickering and loathing, she put her fingers to her mouth and gave a sharp whistle that caught everyone's attention. "Guys, could you all just stop and breathe for a second? This is what Megatron wants, for you all to fall apart as a team and start fighting amongst yourselves. I know Optimus isn't here to lead you and that Prowl isn't the ideal commander to have-no offense."

"None taken." Prowl said.

"But I'd expect you to know how to operate without Optimus commanding you. I doubt he'd be pleased to see his team acting like this just because they couldn't rescue him once." She scolded them.

Everyone looked down at her in surprise, even Prowl was shocked at the dressing down the elder Radcliffe gave them. And surprisingly, he found himself agreeing with her.

"You're right," He said, giving her a small smile. "We should know better than to be acting like this. We're a military unit with centuries of experience under our belt, we should know how to operate under these conditions."

"Better not let Kup know you said that." Skyfire remarked.

"But what do we do?" Bulkhead asked.

"Wait for the Cons to make a move again and ambush them." Jazz said. "We'll have to grit out teeth and deal with the factors involved."

"Sounds like a plan that's bound to go up in flames." Penny muttered.

"It's not like they can really do anything short of storming the Decepticon headquarters, and we don't know where that is thanks to the dolems trying to kill us." Darren said. "Let's just see how things go from here and help out when we can. Right, Gina?"

Darren's voice couldn't reach her, as Gina was stuck in her own world. She was closed off to the world as her vision was assaulted by a wave of vivid colors and her senses thrown off balance as her perception of time became irrelevant. She couldn't see anything aside from the bright collage of colors and the high pitched ringing in her ears. The ringing grew louder and louder in Gina's ears to the point where it was deafening. She put her hands over her ears but she could still hear that unholy sound.

'Stop it!'

She couldn't even hear herself think as her head felt like it was about to split open. She tried to scream, but she couldn't even hear her voice.

'STOP IT!'

As quick as it started, the ringing stopped. Gina hesitantly opened her eyes to find that everything was calm again. No longer was she in a flood of colors, she was now floating in space. She had no idea where she was, but as she looked up she saw a large silver planet positioned above her. It was a metal world…a machine world.

The ringing was now just a dull hum in her head as she stared up at it. Then she heard a soft voice whisper in the back of her mind.

'Cybertron.'

"Gina!"

Her eyes snapped open again and she found herself staring up at the worried eyes of Darren, Sara and Debbie. The Autobots stood over them, looking just as concerned, with Ratchet at the front checking her over. It took a moment for Gina to realize that she was lying on the floor with tears running from her eyes.

"W-What happened?"

"That's what we would like to know, gold digger." Penny said, looking just as worried despite her crude words. "You just froze then fell to the floor screaming to stop the noise."

"I did?" Gina cleared her sore throat and stood up wiping the tears off her face. "Did…any of you hear a noise just now?"

"What noise, Gina?" Debbie asked.

"A loud noise, like a high pitched ringing that was just…pounding in my head. It went on for what felt like forever before it stopped. None of you heard it" She looked at her friends and they all shook their heads. Gina looked to the Autobots. "What about you? Did you guys hear anything?"

"There was no ringing, Gina." Arcee said, kneeling down. "Just you screaming."

Gina sighed and rubbed her forehead. Ratchet noted that she looked tired and didn't seemed to really be surprised that no one heard the ringing.

"Gina, have you been getting any sleep, lately?" Ratchet asked.

"Not really. I've just been having these little nightmares that would keep me up at night." Gina said. "Sometimes I would get little episodes like the one that just happened. I don't know how to explain it."

"Gina, this is something that you should've told us about." Darren said. "Why didn't you tell us you were having nightmares?"

"I didn't think they were that important to worry about. In fact, I never had nightmares before until I…" Gina's eyes widened and she reached into her pocket to pull out the silver key-card." Until I got this thing."

"Gina," Jazz whispered, looking down at the card in her hands with a look of surprise, shared by Ratchet. "Where did you get that?"

"Optimus gave it to me before you guys went off to fight Megatron. He asked me to keep it safe for him." She said. "Said that it was a memento from his friend, Alpha Trion."

"Gina, that relic is the Key to Vector Sigma. It's a very ancient and valuable relic that belongs to a Prime." Ratchet told her. Gina looked up at him in shock."

"Wait, if that's the case, then one of you have it." Gina held the key up, but no one took it. "What's wrong?"

"I'll take it if you guys are gonna be pansies about it." Skyfire said and reached down to take the card.

"Skyfire, wait!" Jazz moved to stop Skyfire, but as soon as her fingers touched the key card, she reeled back with a pained cry, holding her hand as her fingertips burned.

"What the hell was that?!" She yelled.

"The key card can only be held by a Prime, or one chosen by a Prime. Trying to touch it otherwise would cause it to burn hotter than ionized plasma." Ratchet said.

"You could've mentioned that sooner you old gasket!" Skyfire yelled at him.

Annie looked at the little object in Gina's hand warily. "Gina isn't going to burst into flames, is she? We've had enough near death experiences in the past few days thank you very much."

"No, when Optimus gave her the key, it was linked to her biosignature. Only she can touch it without harm." Ratchet hummed and rubbed his chin. "This relic grants access to Vector Sigma, the source of all life on Cybertron from which we were born. Every cybertronian-Autobot, Decepticon, neutral or colonist, is born from it, and when we die, our Sparks return to it."

"That's…I don't even know how to describe it." Penny shook her head. She never really heard how Cybertronians were born, though this seemed rather fantastical to believe completely.

"In technical term, it's a supercomputer, though little is known about exactly what it is." Ratchet said. "But that's beside the point. The key could grant us a way to save Optimus."

"Excuse me?" Jazz said.

"Jazz, the key is the only way to access Vector Sigma, not to its location, but also the supercomputer itself. The legends state that the Matrix was a fragment of Vector Sigma, so if we download its energy into the key card, we can use it to purify the Matrix…"

"And cure Prime of the plague." Prowl finished, already knowing where this was going. "You might have something here, Ratchet, but it's an ambitious theory. Not a lot of concrete information to go on."

"I know, but it's all we have at the moment." Ratchet said.

"So," Darren began. "You're saying that the only surefire way to cure Optimus of the plague is to get Gina and the key to Vector Sigma. And to do that, we would have to-"

"Go to Cybertron." Gina gasped.

"Hope you're up for a road trip, little lady." Skyfire said. "You're taking a trip to the stars."

"Whoa, you guys are shipping Gina off to your home planet? That's beyond dangerous for a plan built on a lot of what ifs." Kevin said. "Couldn't you guys just take the Ark, fly off to Cybertron with the key and find Vector Sigma yourselves?"

"We can't just take the Ark and leave Terra to the Cons." Prowl said. "Not only will we give our position away upon take off, we still need to monitor their activities to avoid them causing more damage."

"Even if that wasn't the case, it's all in Gina's hands now. That ringing Gina is hearing is the Omega Frequency. This means that only she can operate the key and use it on Vector Sigma." Ratchet said.

The humans went silent at that. All this meant that Gina would have to go to Cybertron, a planet the Autobots have mentioned was already dead. Debbie was certainly not fond of the idea.

"No, you people are not sending her to another planet!" Debbie yelled. Annie put a hand on her shoulder.

"Debbie…"

"These kids have done enough for you already. Why make her go when one of you can do it?" She glared up at them.

"Debbie, it's not our choice." Arcee said softly. "Believe me, we wouldn't put this on Gina if there was another way, but it's out of our hands. But don't think for a second that she'll be going alone. Gina will have us backing her up, as well as Sureshock and Sara."

Debbie shook her head, unable to believe that another dangerous mission was thrust upon these kids once again. As if fighting that monster three weeks ago wasn't enough, now they were shipping Gina to another planet. Someone took her hand and she saw Gina staring up at her with a determined look on her young face.

"Debbie, please don't blame them." Gina said. "I know you're scared for us, I'm terrified of all this too. But the Autobots have risked their lives to protect this planet, and they're not even human. The least we can do is help them in their greatest time of need, just like they've done for us numerous times. I'm sure Optimus would do the same if we were in trouble."

The Autobots looked down at Gina with a new sense of respect for the girl. Gina was a hardcore fighter like Annie or a superpowered esper like Darren and Kevin, or even a rich girl with money at her hands like Penny. She was just a normal girl with a strong love for history, nerdy things, and the Autobots. They knew she was scared, but she was willing to put everything on the line to save their leader. To go to another planet to save a life from a different species took some courage.

Debbie saw that too and it was hard to deny her. Gina planned on seeing this through whether she liked it or not. That look in her eyes was the same look Debbie saw in Julia's whenever she was about to tackle something difficult or painful. Like mother, like daughter.

"You Autobots better keep her safe, you hear me?" Debbie said, smiling down at the girl. "She's one of a kind. You won't find someone like her in a million years."

"We know." Ratchet smiled.

"Wait, if we aren't using the Ark, how are we going to get to Cybertron?" Ironhide asked.

"The stargate!" Wheeljack exclaimed. "It still has all the components the Cons used to build it. I can easily repair it for us to use."

"But we aren't sure the gate alone can reach Cybertron accurately. If we're wrong, we could miss the planet and send them careening into space entirely." Ratchet said.

"We could use my transwarp drive." Skyfire suggested. Everyone turned to look at her with blank faces.

"Transwarp drive?" Wheeljack blinked.

"Yeah, that super-secret experimental teleportation drive Preceptor and Brainstorm made based off Skywarp's teleportation powers. It's how I got to this planet in the first place." She said. "They hooked it up to my innards and that mission I took was to test how far I could go. Pretty far apparently if I crashed on this rock."

"And you never mentioned this to us because…?" Bulkhead said slowly.

"It's dead. I used up all the power just to warp to this solar system. I didn't think it was worth mentioning since I couldn't use it anymore, so I just forgot about it." She shrugged.

"Okay we can work with that." Wheeljack nodded. "I can hook that drive up to the stargate and use it to pinpoint Cybertron more accurately. You'll be there and back in the blink of an eye, faster than a starship!"

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Jazz grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Then it's settled. Let's get to work, people! Boss bot needs us and we're going to need to help Gina every step of the way!"

XXXXXX

The site of the Nemesis was abuzz with activity as the Decepticons were hard at work with repairing the ship, mainly using materials pilfered from human facilities raided over the past few days. It took top priority above all else, since Megatron wasn't going to have his flagship waste away on a backwater planet like Terra. Their energon stores were slowly increasing back to previous levels with constant scouting and recollection on the Seekers' part, and work was beginning on repairing the Nemesis' power grid once the outer hull was fixed. Despite the work being done, for a Decepticon, it was a sorry sight for the ship that tore apart countless Autobot regiments on Cybertron. But Megatron wasn't too angry about his situation anymore, he just dealt the Autobots a serious blow and all he needed to do now was keep the pressure on them until they broke.

Megatron would never admit it openly, but it felt nostalgic, walking with Optimus as comrades instead of enemies. It reminded him of the days before the war, back when they had a common goal of achieving freedom and independence for all Cybertronians. Back when they shared the dream of reforming Cybertron into a world free of restrictions and classifications. Before Optimus betrayed their shared ideals…and took everything away from him. If only she were here to see this. He knew she'd be proud to see them fighting together once more.

"As you can see, repairs are coming along slowly. The attack from that damned Cardinal had nearly destroyed the ship and us along with it." Megatron said as he and Prime walked the empty halls of the Nemesis.

"I see that you've also encountered the dolems. We've also had our fair share of encounters on the other side of the fence." Optimus said. "Perhaps after we conquer this world, we'll check out what else this planet has to offer. I'd like to spread our name across the cosmos without competition from outside forces."

Megatron smirked. "I like how you think, Optimus."

"Lord Megatron," Thundercracker said as he walked up to them. "We've managed to repair the outer hull near the engines, but the reactor is running low on energon. It's not maintaining a steady power level."

"Take your Seeker and raid the research facility in Ozark. They have a solar array large enough to power the reactor long enough for Soundwave to work on modifications." Megatron ordered.

"Yes, my lord." Thundercracker nodded and went to carry out his orders, but Optimus stopped him to give his own orders.

"Be sure to have Knockout work on that fragging ground bridge," Optimus said firmly. "I won't have myself thrown into space because that moron is busy admiring his reflection."

Thundercracker glared at Optimus, unwilling to take orders from a Prime of all people, but a discreet nod from Megatron forced him to reign in his temper before walking away. Once the Seeker was gone, Megatron turned to Optimus.

"Optimus, here on this island, I am the commander, and thus I give the orders around here. As long as you stand on this island, you answer to me. Are we clear?"

Optimus simply stared at Megatron, not the least bit intimidated by the warlord's command. Megatron returned his stare and they held gazes for a few minutes before Optimus nodded, breaking the tension.

"I understand…Lord Megatron." Optimus said. "It won't happen again."

Megatron smiled and nodded, letting Optimus be on his way. As Prime walked away, Megatron's smile fell and he glared at the retreating Prime before turned to return to the bridge to check up on Soundwave, only to be met with Nightshade's stern glare.

"We need to talk." She said curtly. It was clear that she wasn't taking no for an answer.

Megatron resisted the urge to snort at her attitude. This should be good. "Well then, let's talk."

Megatron and Nightshade went to his quarters, which miraculously survived Sapientia's assault on the ship. Once the door slid closed, Nightshade let her calm façade drop and whirled around on him.

"What the frag is this?" She hissed. "Bringing an enemy commander, a Prime, into our base and giving him a place on the team? Are you out of your mind?!"

"Watch yourself, Nightshade. I assure that I'm still within my right mind." Megatron growled. "This is why I withheld this information from you. You're a fine warrior, but you're prone to letting your emotions get the better of you at inappropriate times."

"Don't start listing my flaws and not expect me to compare them to your own." Nightshade said. "Who did you tell? I know you couldn't have planned this by yourself."

"Only Soundwave and Leader-1 were privy to my plans, not that it's any of your business. It was thanks to Laserbeak's reconnaissance that we even know of Prime's condition." He said.

Nightshade's face scrunched up in a sneer so full of scorn that he wondered if she had ever been this mad at someone who wasn't Starscream. "Leader-1? You included that little troll on your plan instead of your lieutenant?"

"Yes, I did. Having someone as powerful as Prime on our side will do great damage to enemy morale, much easier than wasting energon trying to kill him in this new, more ruthless state." Megatron replied, staring down at her unblinkingly. "I don't regret that decision, Nightshade. We've dealt the Autobots a serious blow this week. Know that everything I do is so we can win this war, or have you forgotten that after all these years of service?"

Nightshade was quiet at that. She used the uncomfortable silence between them to calm herself and return to her usual composure. But that didn't stop her from giving one last scathing comment to rattle Megatron's cage.

"You do remember what he did that day, don't you?" She asked softly. "What he took from you?"

"Don't be a fool, Nightshade," Megatron said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. He went to his desk and reached into a hidden compartment, taking out a smooth white feather and holding it up to the light. "I have never forgotten the day he betrayed our noble cause. The day he took the only thing that mattered to me. And don't you forget that!"

XXXXXX

Optimus made his way to the Nemesis' armory searching the gun stocks for something that he needed. He wasn't looking for a weapon, just a few specific components that were built into the blasters. It was slightly harder to do since many of these guns hadn't been used very often and suffered from a lack of energy. The fact half the armory was almost destroyed didn't help either.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

Optimus looked over his shoulder to see Flamewar leaning in the doorway. She smirked and sauntered into the room.

"You may have the others fooled, but I know just what you are." She said.

"And what is that?" Optimus turned to face her fully.

"Don't play coy. I know a conspirator when I see one." Flamewar laughed. "I just want to talk, no need to get so tense, hmm?"

Seeing that he was now giving her his full attention, Flamewar gave her offer. "You know, you're a big, strong mech with clearly better battlefield skills than Megatron. Your skills are wasted here fighting for his half-assed cause."

"Get to the point."

"What I'm trying to say is that we should join forces. With my cunning and your leadership abilities, we can easily ditch the Cons and Bots to rule this planet ourselves." Flamewar stepped up to him. "What do you say?"

Flamewar held out her hand for him to shake. Optimus looked at her, looking like he was actually considering it.

"You have an interesting offer, and you make a good point…if I had any intention of joining you!"

Optimus snatched Flamewar up by the neck and slammed her against the wall. He pinned her arm to the wall, almost breaking her wrist as he leaned in to glare at her.

"I know your kind, scavenger. You're not the kind to adhere to any authority, not Megatron's and certainly not mine. You'd stab me in the back as soon as Megatron's dead." He growled. "So here's my counteroffer; you will help me gain control of the Decepticons, you will heed my orders and if you even think about squealing I will do your former lover a favor by ripping out your Spark core and making you eat it. What do you say to that?"

"I-I'd say we have a deal." Flamewar stammered. She knew a real threat when she heard it and he wasn't kidding about making her suffer.

"Good."

Optimus dropped her to the floor like a lump of coal and went back to the weapons rack. Why should he share the power with anyone? He was a Prime, the face of Primus himself. A god among men. Autobots and Decepticons were nothing but scrap for the mill in his ascension to greatness. He wasted far too many opportunities to kill Megatron in the past, and it cost him too much. He was standing next to the devil himself and he'd be a fool to squander a chance to run him through.

Unseen in the shadows, Laserbeak narrowed his eyes as he recorded everything. This is something Soundwave needed to hear.

XXXXXX

It took two days for the Autobots to get the Stargate operational again. In truth, the technical team working nonstop were almost done fixing the machine in a single day, but the rest of the time was spent making sure everything looked okay and no malfunctions would happen during transport. In the meantime, Prowl contacted a trusted ally off world about the situation and informed them of the operation to Cybertron. Gina and her team would need all the help they could get on Cybertron.

Activating the Stargate itself was too risky, as the energy dispersion used to create the portal would draw the Cons' attention. Prowl and Ratchet decided to play it safe and have Skyfire transport their friends to Cybertron, limiting the danger of being detected. Because of the smaller size of the transwarp drive, only two other people would be able to go with Skyfire. Gina was going of course, and Arcee was the second choice, her smaller size would put less strain on the drive's teleportation abilities. Sureshock and Sara wanted to go along with Gina, but they understood the technical limitations. The less mass transported, the easier the stress will be on the transwarp drive.

As for Gina, she was busy preparing for what could be the most dangerous mission in her life. According to Ratchet, Cybertron once had a breathable atmosphere rick in oxygen and hydrogen for carbon-based life forms, though by the time of The Fall, its ecosystem was in a severe decline. Thus, Wheeljack enabled Gina's pilot suit to be usable in zero-G conditions, keeping her safe if her talos' cockpit was breeched.

After a tense wait, it was time for the mission to start. Wheeljack and Bulkhead, who had a surprising amount of knowledge on how to build and repair ground bridges, headed the technical operations with the Stargate, with Ratchet acting as a third hand along with Liftor and Roll Bar's help.

"Ratchet, hook up the reactor to the E.F. module and set the energon flow to 78%," Bulkhead instructed. "But do it slowly or you'll cause the pumps to overload."

"Energon flow is stable." Ratchet reported, lying on his back as he hooked the tubes to the main generator. "I'm increasing the percentage."

"Prowl, are the coordinates locked in?" Bulkhead asked. Prowl's task was to download information from Teletran-1 to the computer used for targeting the location in space.

"Teletran just downloaded the coordinates. We're good here." Prowl said.

"Good. Now all we need to do," Bulkhead turned to Skyfire and Wheeljack. "Is hook up the Stargate to your transwarp drive."

Skyfire was standing at the center of Stonehenge with Wheeljack fiddling around with the small component in her lower abdomen. She was wiggling in place, giggling a bit as Wheeljack rooted around in her torso.

"Skyfire, could you please stand still? I'm trying to work here." Wheeljack said.

"You try having someone poke around in your hood and try to stand still." Skyfire said. "Usually the guy would ask the girl out on a date before doing this."

"Skyfire, honestly." Comettor shook his head at his partner's behavior.

Arcee, who was waiting anxiously on the side, walked over to Bulkhead tapping her foot impatiently. "Bulkhead, are you done yet?"

"We're doing a few more system checks, Arcee, just hold on." Bulkhead said.

"This is murder." Arcee muttered. If this worked, then she'd be one of the first Autobots to step foot on Cybertron since the mass exodus. Going to the planet she watched slowly die…to the place where her sister was killed…the stress was starting to get to her.

"Arcee," Jazz walked up to her and gave her a calming smile. "Relax and clear your mind. Don't let your fears and worries cloud your thoughts. Just focus on getting the job done. Keep thinking bad thoughts, then what you're worried about happening will happen."

"I know." She smiled and nodded. "Always with the sayings. Where did you get that one?"

"Yoketron. It's his motto, clear your mind and focus on the task at hand. Succeed and you will succeed, fail and you will fail." He grinned. "In times like these, you don't have the luxury of worrying about the what-ifs."

Arcee chuckled and hugged Jazz. He was always there for her when she needed saving and even now he was still watching over her. Was there any way to pay him back for all of his help? She felt something rub against her ankle and she looked down to see Emulator snuggling against her leg in her beast mode.

"I'll miss you to, Emulator." Arcee rubbed her fingertip along the Minicon's back.

"You better come by or I'll scratch up your room, nya." Emulator said and shifted into robot mode. "I'm serious. My claws are sharp enough to do the job, nya."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"Okay, we're all set over here." Wheeljack said, standing up.

"We're good on our end too." Bulkhead said.

Ratchet nodded and looked at Prowl. "Send the others over."

The ground bridge appeared and Sparkplug, Sureshock and Sara appeared with the rest of the humans. Gina was in her talos, Athena, walking over to the Stargate next to Skyfire and Arcee. Once she got her talos into position, she left the cockpit and went over to her friends to say goodbye.

"You take care of yourself, you hear? I don't want Penny tearing ranting endlessly because her rival died on an alien planet." Kevin teased.

"Shut up, Kevin!" Penny pouted and turned to Gina. Look, I know we haven't always been on good terms, nor have we spent that much time together, but I hope you come back safely. I'm still pissed that you're going to be the first human to step foot on an alien world, but considering the circumstances, I'll concede this victory to you. Just this once."

"That's a first." Kevin whistled. Penny punched his shoulder.

Gina smiled and hugged them both. "Thank you both for everything."

Annie stepped up and grinned at her best friend. "I don't think I need to say what a cool best friend you are. And don't think this is me saying goodbye, because I know you're coming back. Now get out there and represent our planet! In the name of science!"

"You bet!" Gina fist bumped Annie and they shared a hug.

Then she turned to Darren, who looked just as nervous as her to see her off. He gave her a small smile and shrugged.

"What can I say?" He said. "You've done a lot of cool things since meeting the Autobots and you're making history here. I'm happy for you, but…it's hard seeing you go and not be able to come with you."

"I know, Darren, but you're strong. A lot stronger than me, at least." Gina said.

Darren looked at his feet before taking a deep breath and looked back at her. "Gina, I-"

She put a finger to his lips to stop him there. "Don't. I'll lose my nerve."

Darren smiled sadly and they hugged each other tightly, this hug lasing a little longer than the others. They parted as Sureshock and Ratchet walked up to them and Gina hugged her Minicon friend tightly.

"Arcee better keep you safe or there'll be hell to pay." Sureshock vowed.

"Don't worry, I've got some of the best ladies in the galaxy watching my back. In the meantime, keep watch over Sara, she'll get lonely too, even if she doesn't show it." Gina said.

"I won't be sad, Ms. Gina. I know you will come back." Sara said, sounding assured with her decision. She didn't hug Gina, but they did clasp hands, which meant more than a hug for the android. "Stay safe, Ms. Gina."

"I will." Gina said and then looked up at Ratchet. "Are you going to start crying too, Ratchet?"

"I doubt it'll change anything if I could cry. Just stay close to Arcee and Skyfire." Ratchet said. "And be sure to make the most of your trip. I don't think you'll get another chance like this anytime soon."

He knelt down and Gina hugged his finger. When she stepped back, she said something that would stay with Ratchet for a long time. "Ratchet…if something does happen, I want you to know that…you were like the grandfather I never had."

Ratchet didn't have anything to say to that, shocked speechless by her admission as Gina ran over to her talos and climbed back into the cockpit after giving everyone a final wave. Debbie ran up to Arcee and Skyfire and gave them a stern look.

"Take good care of Gina, okay? It's hard enough trying to keep this from her mother. The last thing I need is telling her that her daughter is lost in space." Debbie said.

"We'll take good care of the brat, Debbie. Don't get your panties in a twist." Skyfire said carelessly. Arcee, as per her duty, elbowed her in the chest.

"Don't be crass, Skyfire." Arcee scolded her.

"And you be careful too, Arcee." Debbie smiled. "It'd be a shame to lose you after all this trouble."

"I've managed to survive this long, haven't I?" Arcee said. She leaned down and patted Debbie on the back, allowing the young woman to hug her large hand.

With their goodbyes said and done, the trio stood in the center of the site waiting for Bulkhead to give the all clear. A few cables were connected to Skyfire's torso, leading to the targeting computer where Wheeljack was managing the console. They had to make sure the team made it to their destination, or at least the general vicinity. Arcee gave a thumbs up for the all clear and Wheeljack powered up the reactor. Skyfire then activated her transwarp drive when the power level reached over seventy percent.

The drive inside her body gave a low hum as it activated and a dome of energy projected from her body to encase Arcee and Gina as well. Surrounded by a warp bubble, they were at the heart of a storm of energy as the drive teleported them through space from Terra in a process that only took a few seconds to those watching from the sidelines. As quick as it began…it was over.

The stargate released a powerful energy discharge that lasted only a second with a loud boom. When the energy levels returned to normal, all that was left in Stonehenge was dust in the air.

Wheeljack took a moment to see if they reached their destination. After a few tense seconds, he sighed and nodded. "They made it."

Everyone breathed sighs of relief as they released the breaths they were holding. Debbie gave a little "thank god" and hugged Darren and Annie.

"Now all that's left is to wait." Prowl said.

"Yes," Ratchet nodded and looked up at the sky. "It's all in their hands now."

XXXXXX

The transwarp sequence was very disorientating to Gina, even more so than going through the ground bridge for the first time. One moment she was standing in the middle of Stonehenge, the next there was a bright flash of light that nearly shorted out her talos' camera sensors, followed by the feeling of being squeezed through something like a tube. She had no idea how transwarp travel worked, only that it was like space folding on a smaller scale, which didn't help since she had no idea what folding felt like.

When the light vanished, she found herself flying through the air out of control. A quick twist of the joysticks allowed the Athena to right itself in the air, but she still hit the ground harder than she wanted. Gina braced herself as her talos slid through the ground before coming to a stop.

"Damn it that was a bad landing." Gina groaned and sat back. When she got her talos upright, she was greeted by a vast plain of rock and metal before her, an alien landscape stretching as far as the eye could see under a starry sky. "Jinkies…"

"Gina!"

Gina looked over to where she heard her name and saw Skyfire waving at her from atop a hill with Arcee. She smiled and glided over to the two Autobots, taking in the surreal environment, which was composed of an odd fusion of rock and metal. The hill they stood on overlooked a deep canyon, which had a forest of tall spiraling towers of steel reaching at least twenty feet into the air.

"Gina," Arcee said as the girl flew over to them. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just a bit dizzy from the warping. I didn't have an easy landing."

"Neither did we. Someone forgot to mention how violent the transwarping would be." Arcee glared pointedly at Skyfire, who waved her off.

"Get off my back, how do you think I crashed into Terra? Told you this thing was experimental." Skyfire muttered, rolling her shoulders to work out the stiffness in her joints. "At least we're in the right star system."

Gina looked around, marveling at the strange environment she found herself in. There weren't any visible signs of life, or any settlements for that matter, which was strange. "This is Cybertron? It's…not what I was expecting for your home planet, Arcee."

"This isn't Cybertron, Gina. This is Solomus, the smallest of our two moons." Arcee pointed at the sky. "That's Cybertron."

Gina looked to the sky and gasped upon seeing the massive planet hanging above them. Cybertron, the homeworld of the cybertronian race. It was larger than Gina thought possible, larger than Terra, probably matching Saturn in size alone. But it was different from the planet she saw in her dreams; it was an amazing sight to see, a world made of metal, with continents divided by deep canyons that made the land look like a jigsaw puzzle. However the planet lacked the signs of life she saw in her dream. Everything was dark, lifeless, and the planet felt a little cold now that she saw it in person.

"Jinkies, I'm staring at an alien planet." Gina breathed. "My god, I can't believe I'm doing this! We're here, guys!"

"Not exactly." Arcee crossed her arms and glared at Skyfire. "Why are we on Solomus, Skyfire?"

"We've must have misfired." Skyfire sighed. "The transwarp drive isn't very accurate when you're using it to go to a specific place. I only made it to Terra because I had external help from Perceptor and his fancy gadgets. That stargate isn't very accommodating for cybertronian tech."

"Skyfire, you do realize that the Autobot team Prowl called in thinks we're on the planet that we completely missed in our transwarp jump." Arcee said.

"Sorry, love." Skyfire shrugged.

"Can you at least fly us to Cybertron?" Gina asked. She wasn't sure how far it was between Solomus and Cybertron, but her talos could only fly for so long before needing to recharge.

"I'm low on fuel, kid. The transwarp drive needs to cool down and I'll go into stasis lock if I try using that thing again." Skyfire said. "If I push it, we'll get stuck halfway between Cybertron and the moons."

"Maybe I can fly there." Gina suggested.

"Not without us you aren't. You'll get shot out of the sky by lingering Decepticon warships, and that's if your talos can even handle Cybertron's gravity." Arcee said.

"So what are we supposed to do?!" Gina yelled, getting frustrated.

Arcee pressed the Autobot symbol on her chest. "I activated my emergency locator beacon. When the Autobot team gets here, hopefully they can detect my signal before they make planetfall."

Skyfire groaned. "I knew this was a crappy idea."

"Shut up, Skyfire."

XXXXXX

They haven't even started looking for Vector Sigma before things started going wrong. Arcee, Gina and Skyfire wandered the wilderness of Cybertron's second smallest moon. In order for the signal to be detected, they had to keep the planet within their sights so it wouldn't be lost or blocked by magnetic interference. In the meantime, Gina learned more about the moons themselves.

Arcee told her that the moons were primarily the home of the Minicons. They were about half the diameter of Terra and had about the same level of gravity as well. Tring to explore the entire moon was pointless without any vehicles and they had to conserve as much energy as possible. What wayward settlements they found were mostly destroyed from space debris and previous raids that left much of the former Minicon territory in shambles.

It was only after seeing the desolate homes and buildings that it truly hit Gina that these moons were once the homes of Sparkplug, Sureshock and the others. They were born here, lived here, and were forced to leave it all behind. These moons once harbored life and now it was as dead as the planet they orbited.

'I wonder what this place looked like before the war reached it.' Gina thought, thinking back to Mugen and what she had gone through. 'Did Mugen's home survive? What would she say if she saw her home like this?'

"My first visit to an alien planet and I get stranded on its moon." Gina sighed. "Nothing like your typical "lost in space" scenario to kick things off."

"Give me a break, girl, it's not my fault I got stuck using outdated hardware to get here." Skyfire grumbled. "You bozos were the ones who wanted to get here fast."

"Don't argue, guys." Arcee said, sitting on a boulder. "Let's rest up before we try to fly to Cybertron."

"Fly? I told you, Cee, I don't have enough energon to-"

"We don't have a choice! It's already been half an hour and still no response to my signal. We have to reach Cybertron now, even if you have to float the rest of the way there." Arcee said. She was getting sick of Skyfire's whining and she felt like punching the femme at this point.

"Guys, quiet!" Gina hissed. "I think I hear something."

Arcee and Skyfire listened and also heard a noise-a faint buzzing that was growing louder as it drew closer. They took out their weapons and stood in a circle with Gina as the buzzing increased in volume until it was loud enough that they could barely hear each other.

"What's that noise?" Skyfire asked.

"Trouble." Arcee said.

In the distance, a swarm of large purple metal insects that looked like giant robot Hercules beetles flew over the horizon like a biblical plague, zeroing in on the girls. Each bug was about the same size as Optimus and had a hard metal carapace that looked like it could take a great deal of damage along with curved steel horns. Gina recognized their designs from an earlier encounter with a similar creature back on Terra.

"Insecticons!" Gina switched on her flight mode and flew back, shooting pulse blasts at invading bugs. Her powerful beams shot down a couple of Insecticons, but more quickly replaced their fallen brethren to swarm them.

Arcee and Skyfire shot down as many as possible, but some Insecticons landed and charged at them. One Insecticon transformed into a large, hulking brute with sharp teeth. It gave a bone chilling howl as it ran at the Autobots and attacked. Arcee ducked under its large claws and stabbed her swords into its chest, slashing upwards to sever its arms in one go before stabbing it in the head. Another rushed at her from behind and she flipped over it, spinning in the air to behead it in a single swing.

Skyfire took a couple down with her photon cannons before switching to her bayonet and slashing away at the Insecticons that got too close. She tried to fly for some air support, but the sky was full of those bugs and she didn't want to get ambushed in midair.

"There's too many of them!" Skyfire yelled, jumping back to avoid a couple of lasers shot at her. "We got bail!"

"Where? They're coming from everywhere!" Gina fired her agni cannon in an arc that destroyed two dozen Insecticons in the air, but more charged at her. She tried to fly away, but an Insecticon slammed into her talos and knocked her over.

"Gina!" Arcee cut down another bug and turned to Skyfire. "Help her!"

Skyfire nodded and transformed, hovering high enough that she could fire two missiles at the Insecticon. They hit their mark, blasting the brute apart and allowing Gina to get back to her feet. Another Insecticon that looked like a dark brown robotic ant-lion leapt onto Skyfire and tore into her wing with its pincers before being forced off. Skyfire transformed and hit the ground near Gina, who helped her up.

"We're being overrun!" Arcee said as she drove over to them. She transformed and carved out the chest of another Insecticon before jumping over to the girls.

Gina cursed and charged up her agni cannon again. She was using it too much, but she needed to create an opening for them to escape through. Just a she prepared to fire the cannon, the swarm around them was suddenly attacked by a rain of fire.

"What the…" Gina gasped as the Insecticons surrounding them were destroyed in a rain of missile fire from above. She and the two Autobots looked up to see a large lavender space shuttle hovering over their positon, unleashing a storm of incendiary fire on the Insecticons. The sudden assault was enough to frighten the surviving Insecticons into retreated, and they scattered, flying or running away.

"Who just saved us?" Gina wondered.

She got her answer as the ship landed on the ground and the landing hatch swung open to reveal two figures. They were femmes, Autobots; the first femme was bright blue with wheels on the backs of her shoulders and legs and stood at sixteen feet. The other femme was a mix between red and orange, with a slender frame and a head of flames emulating hair.

"Chromia, Firestar!" Arcee exclaimed, though Gina could barely understand her words. The girl realized that Arcee had switched to speaking cybertronian.

"Arcee." Chromia, the blue femme, grinned. Her voice sounded rough and hard, reminding Gina of a grizzled war veteran who's been through tough times. "You've been busy lately."

"You have no idea." Arcee laughed, relieved at seeing a familiar face.

Firestar looked at Skyfire and Gina and smirked. "And it looks like you brought some friends over. Well let's get them back to the Avenger before more of those bugs come back."

Arcee smiled and nodded. All her earlier worries were sitting at the back of her mind now as she reunited with her old friends, people who helped her after her sister's death. Now she felt like she was home again.