I'll be moving next weekend and have no idea when I'll be online again, so I've decided to just dump the rest of this on you and be done with it – don't hesitate to review, though ;)

Thanks again to everyone who's left their comments so far.

V. books and their covers

Ambling along the orange corridors on her way from Ratchet's lair, Scully found the bridge unusually full. Prime, Ironhide and Prowl were standing behind someone sitting in front of the big monitor, and Prime did have Captain Lennox sitting on his shoulder.

"Look, only because I know what an algorithm is doesn't mean I understand one," she overheard Lennox saying.

They were doing programming? Scully veered off her course an approached the group.

"It's just the quarantine program," an exasperated voice said. It took Scully a moment to place it. Sideswipe. "It's the easy part. We're teaching your networks to recognize Decepticon signals. Once a computer is infiltrated, it will shut down all connections, so the virus can't spread."

"Ah. I guess that's good." Lennox sounded doubtful.

"You bet," Ironhide interjected.

Scully chose that moment to clear her throat, and the 'bots turned to look at her.

"Dr. Scully," Prime rumbled curtly.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. May I listen further?"

He considered her for a moment. "That would be up to Captain Lennox to decide."

"It's a matter of national security," Lennox offered. "But then, so're you 'bots. Make yourself comfortable, doc. This is going to take a while."

As she found a convenient spot of wall to lean against, Sideswipe continued. "The quarantine program is relatively small, it should easily fit on one of your home computers."

"If you could convince Microsoft to disguise it as one of their updates, you'd create a reliable security net," Prowl said.

"Otherwise I'll just reprogram it as a virus," Sideswipe added. "Anyhow,this is the really big baby."

Obviously, he'd called something on the screen that was examined in silence for several minutes.

"Well," Ironhide said.

"It does look sound," Prowl said. "Are you sure the Decepticon codes won't do any damage?"

"Yes," Sideswipe hissed. "Ratchet had a look at it. 'Jack had a look at it. And I ran it twice on my station, with the new virus and an old one. Everything's fraggin' peachy."

Scully shifted at his tone. Obviously he was used to questions like that, and he didn't like them.

"Um," Lennox piped up. "Would you mind terribly to explain what this thing does?"

"Right." She heard Sideswipe tapping the screen. "It mimics a Decepticon program. Basically, it will tell whatever virus they plant to desist and erase itself. It also notes any changes to the Decepticon signals and incorporates them into its own signal so that it looks legit."

"Well," Lennox echoed Ironhide's earlier reaction. "That's brilliant." She heard his smile. "You're a genius."

"Eh. It's pretty simple, actually," Sideswipe said.

"Yeah. But no one thought about it before, right? That makes you a genius."

Sideswipe made an indecipherable noise.

"It's deceptively simple, so to speak. It's also much smaller than Secretary Keller requested, which is very good," Prowl interjected. "We should try and bargain a little more."

"Definitely. You should milk this for all it's worth, really," Lennox said.

"'s good work, kid," Ironhide grumbled. "Never thought you'd have it in you."

There was a slight pause. "Yes," Prime eventually offered. "Well done, Sideswipe."

This was followed by another pause that was much more awkward.

"Well," Lennox said, "I'm really sorry, but I need to contact the SecDef about this now. If you'd excuse me…"

"I'll drive you back," Prime said. He turned and walked out. Prowl followed after patting Sideswipe on the shoulder.

Ironhide lingered for a moment. "You know how they suck at the emotional slag, kid. You shoulda heard Prime when he thought Jazz was dead. Spouted a load of frag. Don't take it too hard."

There was something akin to a sigh from Sideswipe.

Ironhide, too, patted him on the shoulder and walked out.

It took only a moment for Sideswipe to go from rigid to hunched over and start muttering something in Cybertronian. It didn't sound complimentary.

Scully cleared her throat, and he swiveled the chair around so he could glare at her.

"You still here?"

"I'm afraid so. I gather you worked on a defense program for the Pentagon?"

He blinked at her. "Not only for them, but yeah."

"It sounds to be rather effective."

He nodded. "'s gotta be."

"Of course. After the communications blackout, I'm sure it will be highly appreciated."

He gave her a bitter grin, but didn't say anything.

"I'm positive Captain Lennox will mention that it was your idea."

"If you're trying to make me feel better, you're not succeeding," he told her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be patronizing. I just had the impression that Prime doesn't like you much."

"Heh." He gave her a wry smile. "That's the understatement of the vorn."

She raised her eyebrow, hoping he'd elaborate.

"Sunny and me, we joined up as grunts. The command element don't like when the grunts show intelligence."

"But Prime seems like he does value independent thought," she objected.

"Yeah. But we're a bit more dangerous than the average Autobot."

She nodded. "Bluestreak said you were gladiators."

"Yeah," he said. "That, too."

He blinked at her again and turned around to face the screen.

Obviously, the audience was over. She shrugged and walked off. She'd find out eventually.