Long-ish chapter once again. They just seem to be getting longer and longer with each update…

Chapter Seven: Coming Out

To say the rest of the Axalon's crew was surprised by news of Dinobot's pregnancy would have been the understatement of the century. When Optimus gathered them together for another emergency meeting earlier that evening, he could have told them that the Beast Wars were over and that Megatron and the other Predacons were going to retire to a life of peaceful oil farming and it would have been less shocking. Blackarachnia was still trying to make her head stop spinning from the sheer ludicrousness of it. All of them had had their suspicions concerning Dinobot and Rattrap for quite some time now. But to find out that not only were the two of them romantically involved, but that at some point during their relationship their secret trysts had sparked the creation of another spark was just too much for a normal bot to take in all at once.

Blackarachnia walked through the corridors as though in a daze from the Axalon's main bridge back to her quarters. She needed time and space to try and make her motherboard compute everything Optimus had just told them. She was still having trouble accepting some of it. While many of the other Maximals had warmed up quickly to the idea of another bot soon joining their ranks - some of them (namely Airazor) even getting openly excited at the prospect - Blackarachnia couldn't help but feel almost… disappointed in Dinobot.

Since joining the Maximals the black widow had come to respect the other femme in a way she never had another bot before. Dinobot was the only one on Primal's crew she felt comfortable taking orders from or following into battle. The warrioress was cunning and reliable, but not steeped with the same nauseating, sappy ideals as the rest of the crew. She did not go on and on about righteousness or fair play like the other Maximals did, nor try to change her personality to coincide with their frustratingly passive ways. If she wanted something done she didn't stand around talking about it like Primal or the other Maximals did; she went out and fought until she got it. Simple as that. With Dinobot on the crew Blackarachnia didn't feel quite so much like an outsider. Although the two of them hadn't shared more than a few passing words between them since she'd joined the crew, Blackarachnia felt like she had at least one kindred spark amongst the Maximals - someone who could understand her own ways of thinking and her aversion to some of the Maximals' more idealistic views of the world. If it hadn't been for Dinobot, Blackarachnia wasn't sure how she would have made the transition from Megatron's crew to the Maximals. With Dinobot around she knew exactly what she could get away with and what was expected of her in return.

But then to find out the tough-as-nails warrioress she'd come to respect had allowed herself to get impregnated - by the smelly little smart-aleck Rattrap of all bots! - had thrown Blackarachnia for a complete loop. Never would she have thought Dinobot would allow such a thing to happen. Dinobot was not a femme to forget about something as basic as flux barriers while interfacing and accidentally get herself pregnant. Perhaps the conception of a second spark wasn't really what was so shocking to Blackarachnia as Dinobot's willingness to actually continue carrying it. Dinobot was not what Blackarachnia would call maternally suited. Spark-rearing just didn't seem conducive to her nature. How the warrioress was going to care for and raise a sparkling, especially in the middle of a war, was beyond Blackarachnia's scope of imagination.

Shaking her head in bewildered mystification for possibly the hundredth time since Primal's emergency meeting, Blackarachnia continued her trek towards her quarters. It was times like these she really wished she had a secret stash of high grade hidden somewhere to help ease the stress of living with these Maximals…

As Blackarachnia turned the last corner to the ship's personnel wing she was slightly startled to see another bot standing at the far end of the corridor in front of the door to her own rooms. The mech stood in the middle of the hallway with his arms crossed and frame tense with nervous energy. His body language practically screamed impatience. Blackarachnia smirked and slowed her already easy pace to a languid stroll if only to savor the look of puppy-like excitement on Silverbolt's face when he looked up and saw her a little bit longer. His wings visibly perked as she sashayed closer.

"Any particular reason you're standing outside my quarters like a lost little stray?" she asked in a coquette voice as she came within the last few feet of Silverbolt and stopped. Although she'd never admit it to anyone, ever since Silverbolt rushed out in the middle of battle to rescue her, Blackarachnia's originally cold attitude towards the fuzor had thawed considerably. No longer did she see him as the stupid hero-wannabe she once did. Instead, over the last few weeks, she's begun to notice more of Silverbolt's redeeming qualities: most notably his honesty, his chivalry, his perpetually respectful demeanor not only to Optimus but everyone on their crew. But more than anything she'd come to enjoy his painfully obvious infatuation for her. It was only after his chivalrous rescue that she'd begun to actually pay attention to him whenever he approached her to talk. But in doing so and letting the do-gooding fuzor close she'd unwittingly opened the doors for her to fall just a little bit for him in return.

Silverbolt returned her smirk with an open smile. "I noticed that you left the meeting a little abruptly just now. I just wanted to made sure everything was alright with you before you retire for the night."

Blackarachnia snorted, all the child-like giddiness of finding Silverbolt waiting for her outside her rooms evaporating almost as quickly as it'd come. "Everything's fine with me. It's this whole mess with Dinobot that's got my wires in a twist."

"You mean her and Rattrap's impending sparkling?" Silverbolt said. "I admit I was more than a little surprised when Optimus told us about the situation, but I think this news is cause for celebration. The creation of new life is always a welcome event."

Blackarachnia rolled her optics in disgust. "Why am I not surprised? That's exactly what I'd expect one of you soft-sparked Maximals to say."

"You don't find the news of a new spark coming online a joyful occasion?" the fuzor asked as though truly confused by Blackarachnia's thinly veiled contempt.

"Not in the middle of a war," she spat. "And especially not when the carrier of this sparkling is Dinobot. She's our best fighter and she'd been removed from all long-range patrols and scouting missions until she delivers. What are we going to do if Megatron suddenly decides to attack us with another bomb - or worse! - when she's too far along in her pregnancy to help fight? What are we going to do then? We don't have the resources or manpower to fight Megatron and his men off and protect her at the same time. Not to mention he now has one of the golden disks back. Who knows what he's planning to use it for."

"We'll figure something out and make due with what we have if and when that time ever comes," Silverbolt calmly replied. "Optimus does not seem immediately concerned about it and thus we should follow his lead. For the moment we should be happy for Rattrap and Dinobot and share in their joy of expecting a new spark amongst us."

Blackarachnia would have laughed at the dopey look of wonder in Silverbolt's eyes if she wasn't so sickened by his simplistic sparkles-and-sunshine view of what they all now faced. "I highly doubt Dinobot is feeling anything close to 'joy' at the moment. You must not have been looking at her when Optimus told the crew about her and the rat's impending little bundle of circuits. She's anything but happy about this. I could see it in her eyes." Shaking her head in helpless frustration, the black widow speared Silverbolt with a scathing glare. "You know, it's so easy for mechs to make spark-bearing sound like a magical thing. Mechs aren't expected to carry other sparks like femmes are. Mechs aren't expected to care for the sparking once it comes online. It's all the femme's responsibility. Not to mention the physical dangers spark-bearing poses for the carrier. We're stranded on a primitive alien planet with no medical equipment or fully trained medics. We have no way of radioing for help or even getting detailed data files on what to do if something goes wrong. The chances of Dinobot dying from complications are high. From a purely strategic standpoint we can't afford to lose her. Especially when we might only end up swapping her life for a tiny sparkling that will only eat up more of our already limited resources taking care of it, and not offer us any kind of strategic advantage in return."

"Surely Rattrap won't expect Dinobot to take on all the responsibilities of caring for a sparking herself," Silverbolt argued. "Nor will Dinobot be in any grave danger with Rhinox overseeing her pregnancy-"

"You are missing the point," Blackarachnia harshly cut him off. "Dinobot's a fighter, a warrior. It's not in her programming to spark-bear. No matter how this turns out she will never be the same afterwards. This situation is backing her into a position she should never have been put in to begin with."

"I have not known Dinobot for that long, but she does not strike me as a bot that would ever be forced into any position she did not wish. She's decided to continue carrying, which means she and Rattrap must have come to some mutual agreement concerning this sparkling."

Blackarachnia didn't answer, and instead stood with both arms crossed and stared angrily away from Silverbolt into space.

Silverbolt's optics narrowed as he studied the black widow. "Why are you so upset about this?" he asked, taking a half-step closer. "What is this really all about? You've never struck me as someone who'd take such a personal interest in another bot's affairs if there wasn't some reason for it." Blackarachnia refused to answer or even look at him. Silverbolt pressed on regardless. "Are you so upset over this because, perhaps, Dinobot's situation makes you wonder what you yourself would do if you were in her place?"

Blackarachnia heaved a heavy sigh. Why did the big dope have to be so perceptive and put all her unnamed emotions and concerns into such sharp, simplistic words? Mustering her courage she lifted her head to meet Silverbolt's concerned optics. "I don't know what I'd do…" she admitted softly under her breath. "It's not something I ever want to know. The whole thing just seems so unfairly stacked against the femme. Carrying, spark-bearing, taking care of the brat once it comes online… It just seems like so much work with no real reward in the end except a lifetime of sacrifice and cageless imprisonment. I don't know how that stupid lizard's ever going to do this. She'll probably end up eating it before the thing even sees its first stellar cycle."

Silverbolt chuckled and smiled at Blackarachnia as though truly amused by her fatalistic pessimism. "I highly doubt spark-rearing is as horrible as you seem to think it is. I know it is difficult, but I'm sure it has its own rewards. You might have been looking at Dinobot while Optimus explained the situation, but I was looking at Rattrap and saw the look on his face. Dinobot will not have to go through this alone. He and Dinobot might not share any official bond yet, but I know he will act as her sparkmate in every sense of the word and claim his share of responsibility for this sparkling." Taking a slow, measured half-step closer so that he stood within Blackarachnia's immediate space he went on, "But if you still worry for Dinobot, perhaps it is time for you and her to get to know each other better. After all, you are both ex-Predacon femmes. I think you would have more in common with Dinobot than she would with Airazor. And given Dinobot's condition, despite whatever she might say to the contrary, now is the time she needs another femme like herself by her side to help see her through this."

Blackarachnia held Silverbolt's gaze for a moment of quiet, contemplative silence before finally letting the sneer she'd been holding back spread across her face. "Please don't tell me you believe that gooey crud, because I might just have to purge my tanks if you seriously expect me to listen to any more of it."

Silverbolt gave a good-natured chuckle and smiled fondly down at the taciturn black widow. "Forgive me, but I'm afraid it's my Maximal programming. Whatever worries you have for Dinobot and her sparkling I have a feeling everything will work out in the end."

"There you go again with that annoying Maximal optimism of yours," Blackarachnia snorted Her expression softening, she leaned closer to Silverbolt until she was almost pressing right up against him and gazed up into his optics. "You're just lucky you're so cute or I'd have to never talk to you again for all the sentimental crud you like to spew."

"Then I am truly lucky Primus blessed me so, because I'm not sure what I would do if you suddenly no longer wished to indulge me with your attention."

Blackarachnia stared deeply into the fuzor's yellow optics, as though trying to see all the way inside him to his core. As if seized by the same intense urge they leaned closer to each other, their optics locked together. Silverbolt craned his head down towards her. Blackarachnia could feel the gentle puff of his intakes against her cheek and warmth of his core against her breastplate he stood so close. His face loomed closer, his lips pursed together in anticipation for what could only be a kiss.

Blackarachnia inwardly smirked. Silverbolt really was a sweet mech, but completely naïve if he though she was going to yield to his boyish charms so easily. Just before Silverbolt could cover the last few inches separating them Blackarachnia abruptly leaned back away from the fuzor's questing lips.

Upon meeting nothing but empty air, Silverbolt blinked in surprise and stared at Blackarachnia in open confusion. Blackarachnia returned the fuzor's stunned look with a coy grin.

"Well, goodnight, fly boy." With a seductive glance, she edged around Silverbolt with a smooth roll of her hips and disabled the locks to her door. It slid open with a quiet woosh. She stepped through and turned back to give Silverbolt once last saucy grin. Then promptly shut the door in his face.

Talon stood stiffly at attention: her shoulders firmly squared and spinal column painfully straight. Her rigid posture pulled at the newly reformed protomatter of her stomach. Her latest encounter with Dinobot had forced her to spend more than four hours in the CR tank to repair the damage. Despite repairs, her stomach still throbbed with the dull ache of remembered pain. It would be several days before the tenderness completely disappeared, but Talon refused to let any kind of discomfort show. To do so would be a sign of weakness. And weakness of any kind was not tolerated - whether it was from her or anyone else on the crew. Weakness was a death sentence for any who fought under the Predacon battle standard, and she was not about to do anything to lower herself in her Lord's eyes if she could help it.

Megatron sat in the Darksyde's command chair studying the gold disk Talon had brought back to him. He turned it over slowly between his hands, back and forth again. The raised alien hieroglyphs caught and reflected the bridge's murky light in sharp little flashes, like mysterious snatches of code from another dimension. His face was an unreadable mask, his optics narrowed in intense focus. Talon wished she could move or at least do something to alleviate some of the anxious energy that was steadily building inside her, but she dared not. Fidgeting was not becoming of a warrior or a loyal servant of the Predacon warlord. Megatron had yet to say anything since she'd presented the gold disk to him just a few short klicks before. She wasn't sure what was going through her master's head, nor was she sure she really wanted to. The consequences should he be displeased were not something she necessarily wanted to think about…

Finally, Megatron raised his optics to look at her. "I thought I ordered you to bring me both disks back." The warlord's voice was a deep, ominous rumble.

Talon immediately dropped to one knee, her head bowed in supplication. "Forgive me, my Lord. I failed you. Dinobot landed a grievous blow to me in battle, making me unable to retrieve the second disk from her. I retreated with the one for fear she would overpower me and take it back."

Megatron growled under his breath. "That means she's probably taken the other disk back to the Maximals. It will be protected even more closely now with Primal and the rest of his crew looking after it."

Talon bowed her head lower, her insides burning with shame. "Forgive me, my Lord…"

Megatron ignored her. He continued to turn the disk back and forth in his hands. The hieroglyphs flashed cryptically in the light. "Unfortunately, without the other disk there's no way for me to test these disks' power. I have an idea for how they might be harnessed, but it is too dangerous to do anything without knowing the outcome of what those actions would be first." His optics narrowed. "We will have to get the second disk before we can proceed any further."

Talon raised her head just enough to see Megatron's seated profile. "How shall we do that, my Lord?"

"By a direct attack on the Maximal base. If that traitor's given the disk to Primal, then nothing less than an all out assault will force them to reveal its whereabouts." Leaning back in his chair, Megatron dolefully stared at the gold disk in his hand. "That treacherous raptor… No longer on my crew and she still manages to foil my plans. I should have forced a sparkbond on her sooner when she was still in my control. Then this entire fiasco with the gold disks never would have happened and I would already be back on Cybertron building my army to bring the Maximal Imperium and Tri-Predacus Council to their knees…"

Talon had to call upon every ounce of warrior stoicism in her to keep the volcanic surge of hatred and jealousy from showing on her face at the almost wistful look of desire in Megatron's optics. Her one hand involuntarily clenched into a shaking, bladed fist overtop her knee. That disgusting traitor… Even now, weeks after losing Dinobot to the Maximal's rescue party, Megatron still openly yearned for the treacherous warrioress, regardless of the fact he had made Talon to take her place by his side. Talon's fuel lines literally boiled to hear Megatron speak about Dinobot like that while she - a perfect living copy of the warrioress! - knelt right there in front of him. Didn't he see she would do absolutely anything for him? Didn't he know she would lay down her life for him in a spark-pulse if he but asked it of her? What did she have to do to win the warlord's attention? Dinobot didn't deserve the processing power Megatron wasted on her. Not after she willingly turned her back on her own race and Megatron's dreams of galactic conquest. If anyone deserved Megatron's affections it was her: Talon. No one - not even Inferno! - could claim to be as devoted to Megatron's cause or the warlord himself as she was. She would lay siege on the very gates of the Pit and take on Unicron himself to prove herself to Megatron if that was what it took. But no matter how hard she tried, nothing had yet to sway Megatron's interest away from Dinobot towards her where it rightfully belonged.

Megatron by now had returned from his wistful musings and once again adopted the cold battle mask of the Predacon general he was. "Send word to Terrorsaur and Waspinator," he said, not even glancing in Talon's direction. "Tell them to begin scouting the Maximal's outer perimeter for the best place from which to launch an attack on their base. I want detailed aerial layouts of their security points by the end of the day."

"Yes, my Lord," Talon said. With one last scrapping bow she reluctantly turned away from the warlord and moved towards a waiting hover-platform. Megatron had returned his attention to the gold disk and continued to turn it back and forth in his hand as though trying to scry some hidden meaning from its alien markings.

Talon longingly watched him for a moment out of the corner of her optic before activating the platform's controls. Oh yes, she thought as she guided it away from the bridge to carry out her Lord's commands. She was going to prove herself worthy of Megatron's attention and earn her place by his side. Even if she had to kill her genetic originator, Dinobot, to do it…

Stop the tele-feeds. Halt all unnecessary communications. It was possibly the single most shocking event of the Axalon's entire trans-dimensional voyage thus far:

Rattrap - Maximal spy, demolitions expert and all around death-allergic slacker - was on monitor duty and not trying to sneak a round of one of his notorious computer games. If his great-aunt Arcee were there she probably would have keeled over dead from shock. Rattrap inwardly smirked at the thought. What he wouldn't give to see that happen. From his earliest days she'd always scolded him for not taking anything seriously and always shirking his duties. Who would have ever thought he'd one day become the responsible mech she'd always lectured him he should be?

He knew his newfound sense of responsibility wasn't going to last indefinitely however. Nobody changed their nature that quickly no matter what was the catalyst for it. In any event, he had been inspired to improve himself, and for the last several days he'd had no desire to try and thumb his nose at authority and basic protocol like he'd always done before. For the moment he was flying high - seized by a previously unbeknownst sense of glee. In less than another month and a half he was going to be father. The mere thought of being a creator still threatened to send a huge grin spreading across his face.

Who would have ever thought he - him, Rattrap, of all bots! - would someday be a creator? Before leaving Cybertron and coming to this primitive alien planet he certainly never had. Before Dinobot dropped her unexpected bombshell on him, he would have laughed at the mere idea of him someday siring a sparkling. For in what universe could he ever be a good creator? Back on Cybertron he'd never wanted the responsibility of raising a sparkling. He'd had no desire to be responsible for screwing up a member of the next generation.

But now… now that he was about to be the creator of a sentient being that would forever after and immutably be his, he could barely contain his giddiness at the prospect of soon holding his own genetic progeny in his arms. What would his sparkling look like? Who would it take after more? Him or Dinobot? Would it have his sense of humor? Dinobot's combative skills? Her height? (For his sparkling's sake he seriously hoped so in that one aspect at least.) These and so many other questions constantly filled his processor, making him even more anxious to meet his creation. The possibilities were endless and enticing in their mystery.

The entire thing still felt surreal to him, like a dream he was about to wake up from at any minute. But there was no denying the excitement he felt. Nor was he the only one excited about welcoming a new spark online. There was a noticeable aura of anticipation amongst the crew ever since Optimus had gathered everyone together and announced his and Dinobot's expected progeny. At first, everyone had been duly shocked to learn the true extent of his and Dinobot's relationship (which Rattrap didn't fault them in in the least.) But almost immediately afterwards as that shock faded from their processors Rattrap's own excitement seemed to spread to everyone else.

Airazor had been the one most outspokenly thrilled by the news. So caught up in her excitement at one point she'd actually darted forward and drew both Rattrap and Dinobot into an unexpected embrace. Rattrap had accepted the gesture well enough, but Dinobot had stiffened and stood there awkwardly until the female flier finally released her. Looking back on it now, Airazor was probably lucky Dinobot hadn't reacted more badly to such a intimate display of happiness and dismantled her for her breech of space. He supposed it just went to show how much the warrioress had come in her stunted understanding of interpersonal relationships since joining the Maximal crew…

Tigatron, Cheetor and Silverbolt had also come to express their happiness quickly enough. Blackarachnia had seemed mostly indifferent to the news and spent the entire meeting with a mild sneer plastered on her facial plates. Not that Rattrap cared much what the black widow thought of his and Dinobot's relationship in any case. She was still too new to the crew and mired in her former faction's ways for him to trust her that much. If anything, he'd already decided that if he had to keep a watch out for any potential threats towards his lover and unborn sparkling from within the ship, they would most likely come from the black widow. He hadn't liked the way he'd seen her staring at Dinobot while Optimus announced Dinobot's pregnancy to the crew. Until she truly proved herself a loyal member of the Maximals he was going to be keeping a close optic on Blackarachnia…

The only other one who hadn't seemed happy with the news was Rattrap's longtime friend, Rhinox. Even before Optimus formally announced the news for them, he'd known the engineer wouldn't approve of his involvement with the ex-Predacon femme. Rhinox hadn't said or done anything to display his displeasure, but Rattrap could feel the disapproval radiating off the burly mech as Optimus explained the situation. He was still waiting for Rhinox to corner him and give him the lecture of his lifetime. Oh well. It wasn't like he could do much more than that. Whether he liked it or not, Dinobot was carrying his sparkling and nothing Rhinox said or did was going to change that now. He was just going to have to accept it and come to terms with his relationship with the raptor. Because Rattrap was damned if he was going to let Rhinox ruin his moment of being the expectant father.

The sound of another bot entering the bridge made Rattrap look up from the monitors. He grinned at who he saw.

"Hey, Choppa'face," he called as Dinobot ducked through the hatchway into the room. Behind him, Optimus, Rhinox and Silverbolt also looked up from what they were doing and nodded their greetings to her. Blackarachnia didn't even look away from her computer screen.

"Vermin," the warrioress coldly replied and stalked towards the nearest bank of computer monitors on the other side of the bridge near Blackarachnia. Airazor and Tigatron had left base earlier that morning for a long-range patrol to the north. Dinobot was to monitor the communication lines in case either of them tried to radio to base.

Rattrap frowned slightly. Even though their relationship was no longer a secret in any respect, the warrioress still went out of her way to act unsociable towards him whenever they were together in front of others. He wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to maintain an aura of professionalism while on duty or if it was because of something else. In either case, Rattrap wasn't sure he liked Dinobot's pointed coldness towards him in public. Everyone already knew they were involved. They were expecting a sparkling together for Primus sake! So what was the point of this continued charade? Who was Dinobot trying to fool anymore?

Heaving a disgruntled sigh, Rattrap returned his attention to the monitors. He supposed he'd just have to wait and ask her about it after they were relieved of duty. Primus only knew how hard it'd be to get Dinobot to talk about anything so personal as their relationship outside of closed quarters…

Despite the small distraction of Dinobot's appearance, the status quo of busy silence was almost immediately reestablished on the bridge; everyone deeply engrossed in their assigned tasks. Minutes ticked by and before too long Rattrap found himself getting bored. Since Airazor and Tigatron left for patrol earlier that morning, nothing had showed up on his security feeds - not even a mouse! He began to drum his fingers absentmindedly against the armrest of his seat. He knew he'd decided to try and be more responsible since finding out about his impending fatherhood, but surely one game of five-card stud wouldn't hurt anyone…

Alarms suddenly wailed to life around the bridge. Red lights began to flash. Everyone tensed in their seats and looked up in confusion.

"The security perimeter's been tripped," Rhinox called over the drone of the alarms. His beefy fingers pounded at the keyboard. "Coming in from the southeast. I'm picking up Predacon energy signatures."

"How many?" Optimus said.

Rhinox punched in another series of code into the computer and a 3-D topographical image of the Axalon and the surrounding area appeared on the holo-table. A small group of blinking red dots appeared in the far right corner of the readout. "Four of them," Rhinox said. "It doesn't look like a large attack party."

"Activate Sentinel," Optimus said. "I don't want a head-on confrontation with Megatron if we can avoid it."

Silverbolt swiveled around in his seat to do so, but before the flier could even bring up the ship's auto-defenses Rattrap's own security sensors began to chirp in alarm. "Whoa, whoa whoa!" he called over the computer's shrill beeps. "I got enemy fliers comin' in at two o'clock! Looks like Terrorsaur an' Waspinator."

Just as he said, his computer screen showed the black-and-white image of the two Predacons zooming in fast over the ship's starboard side. As he watched Terrorsaur and Waspinator sped side-by-side between the Axalon's forward gun turrets. Before he or anyone else could understand what the two were planning, Waspinator and Terrorsaur both dove low and threw what appeared to be high-tech grenades at the ship's outer hull. There was a brilliant flash of light which made the video feed cut out and the screen fill with static. The bridge's lights flickered and dimmed. All the computer screens on the bridge went black and the holo-image on the table blinked out of existence. The security alarms abruptly went silent as the bridge was thrown into sudden, complete darkness. There was a momentary pause before the low hum of the ship's backup generator kicking on sounded and the auxiliary lights flickered on, bathing the bridge in an eerie red glow.

"What happened?" Dinobot demanded, springing to her pedes with a growl.

"Looks like they used EMP charges," Blackarachnia said as she uselessly pounded at her dead computer station. "They've knocked out the ship's main power grid. All security programs and onboard systems have been deactivated. Sentinel's offline. Right now we're all sitting ducks."

"Looks like Megatron wants a head-on confrontation after all," Rhinox deadpanned.

"Most likely he's come for the second gold disk Talon was not able to take from me," Dinobot said. With a snarl she unsheathed her sword from her back. "If it's a battle he wants, then that is what he shall get."

"No," Optimus said, stepping towards her. "Megatron will get a fight, but not from you." Dinobot stiffened and looked ready to argue, but Optimus cut her off before she could speak. "You are in no condition to be charging recklessly into battle. Right now I need you to go to the ship's core and manually reboot its main systems and Sentinel. There's no way we can keep Megatron from storming the Axalon without any automated defenses."

"Send somebody else," Dinobot snarled. "I can still fight. I am in no way incapacitated by my 'condition.'"

"I know that," Optimus soothed, "but you have to think about the welfare of the sparkling you're carrying. And running headlong into battle isn't how you do that."

Dinobot still looked ready to argue, and stood quivering with tension. But then with a brief glance in Rattrap's direction, the warrioress reluctantly re-sheathed her sword. "Fine," she hissed. "But I want it understood that I can still fight no matter what weaknesses you seem to think I now possess."

Optimus nodded. "I'll comm. Cheetor and tell him to meet you there to help. Rhinox, stay here on the bridge and activate Sentinel once Dinobot and Cheetor reboot the systems. The rest of you," he said, sweeping his optics around the bridge, "prepare for battle."

Everyone instantly jumped to obey. As the crew hurried for the lifts, weapons drawn, Rattrap edged his way to Dinobot's side for one last brief moment with her before he followed them. "Choppa'face…" he murmured. Almost subconsciously he reached out and pressed his hand to the base of Dinobot's breastplate. He didn't know why he'd felt the need to touch her just now, but the gesture felt inexplicable right. Maybe it was an instinctual need to try and somehow reassure the tiny new spark of life growing there; or maybe it was an unspoken promise to his lover that he would return shortly. He didn't know. All he knew for sure was the warm, agitated pulse of his lover's spark beneath his palm.

The warrioress glanced down and held his gaze with her own. A multitude of unspoken emotions they could have never verbally expressed even if they'd wanted to passed between them: worry, panic, frustration, hesitation, devotion, fear. There was no way this attack on them could lead to any good. Who knew if all of them would still be alive when the smoked finally cleared. "Go," she ordered, sharply turning away from him and breaking his hold on her. "I will do what I can to get Sentinel back online as quickly as possibly."

"Yea," Rattrap nodded. He hesitantly turned to follow the others. As the lift descended the last thing he saw of his lover was Dinobot speeding off the bridge into the red-lit belly of the ship.

Predacon laser-fire almost instantly greeted them as he and his fellow Maximals left the safety of the ship. Roughly a hundred feet to the south of the lifts, Megatron and his men had stationed themselves behind a convenient outcropping of rocks. From what Rattrap could tell, it looked like Megatron, Inferno, Quickstrike and Talon. High above, he could hear the drone of Terrorsaur and Waspinator running aerial sweeps back and forth across the now defenseless ship.

"An' here I thought it was just gonna be another borin' day at da office," Rattrap darkly quipped as he ducked a fusion blast and bolted for the nearest form of cover behind one of the Axalon's landing struts.

"Never a dull moment, is there?" Silverbolt humorlessly called back. He and Blackarachnia had both taken refuge behind a small stand of rocks several yards away. Beside them, Optimus took point and opened heavy return fire. Somewhere to Rattrap's right a bomb exploded in a brilliant flash of light and flames.

"Nope. Der isn't," Rattrap agreed. The sound of laser-fire and bullets drummed the air. Plumes of flames sizzled and cracked around him, followed closely by the echo of Inferno's insane laughter. This definitely wasn't how Rattrap had been expecting to spend the day…

"Megatron!" Optimus called over the drone of battle. "Care to explain what brings you out our way today?"

From the other side of the battlefield, the Predacon warlord stepped into view from behind the laser-scorched outcrop of rocks he and his minions had entrenched their battle line. Immediately to the tyrant's right Dinobot's clone, Talon, appeared just where Rattrap had half-suspected he'd find her. No good, back-stabbing she-raptor… Rattrap's internal gears ground together just at the sight of her. He still had yet to forget the bloody, shredded state he'd found Dinobot in after her first encounter with the clone. Given the opportunity, he'd happily plug a bullet right between the femme's optic and her external laser fixture…

Megatron stood proud and tall, a smug grin plastered across his facial plates. "I think you know why I'm here, Primal," he called across the distance. "I want that other gold disk Dinobot stole from me back."

"Sorry, Megatron, but that's Maximal property now," Optimus called back. "Dinobot brought it to me specifically with the intention of keeping it from ever falling into your hands again."

Despite what Rattrap expected, Megatron did not seem surprised or even upset by this. Instead he smirked condescendingly. "I expected she'd do as much after losing the one disk to Talon. That's why I decided to take the fight directly to you as the saying goes. Tell me, where is my little wayward warrior? I was hoping to meet her in battle. I was almost sure she'd try to seek revenge against Talon for her last embarrassing defeat. I can't help but wonder if my ex-lieutenant's too ashamed to show her face again on the battlefield…"

Rattrap had to physically restrain himself from opening fire on the Predacon warlord. His hand involuntarily tightened around his pistol's grip. That slimy slagger… How dare he talk about Dinobot like that as if she had anything to be embarrassed about. Rattrap also did not care for Megatron's repeated use of the word 'my' whenever he referred to Dinobot with a descriptive phrase. Dinobot hadn't been "his" for a very long time now, and never in the way he knew Megatron wished she'd been.

"Hey, Grapeface!" Rattrap yelled, drawing Megatron's attention away from Optimus towards himself. He ignored the poisonous look the warlord leveled at him as he leaned out from behind his cover, and returned Megatron's glare with one of his own. "Dinobot ain't hidin' from anyone. An' definitely not because of any fight she had with yer pet knife drawer over der. She's not here 'cause it's not safe fer her ta be on a battlefield. Ya wanna know why?"

"Rattrap, don't!" Optimus yelled. Rattrap ignored him. All he could focus on was Megatron and the intense desire to permanently wipe that cocky grin off Megatron's facial plates.

"It's 'cause she's carryin' a second spark. An' guess what, Mega-dip. It ain't yer sparkling she's carryin'. It's mine."

Rattrap wished he had a camera right then to capture the almost comical look on Megatron's face. The warlord stood motionless, his expression first one of thunderstruck shock, then dawning devastation. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in Rattrap's opinion could have topped that reaction. Rattrap couldn't stop a vindictive grin from slithering across his facial plates. It probably wasn't something to be proud of, but there was no denying the satisfaction he got from finally being able to brag directly in the warlord's face how in the end - after everything Megatron had done to keep Dinobot for himself - it'd been Rattrap who ultimately got to claim the warrioress as his own. Oh revenge was a sweet, sweet dish even better served cold.

"No," Megatron said, firmly shaking his head back and forth in denial. "Impossible. I don't believe it…"

"Believe it," Rattrap hissed. "Dinobot's mine."

"Filthy rodent," the warlord snarled, his lips curled back from his teeth in a ricktus of near-mindless rage. "You've tainted her."

"If dat's what ya call siring a sparkling with her den, yea, I tainted her." Oh, how good it felt to finally be able to throw the news in Megatron's face and enjoy the look of helpless rage blossoming in his optics. Because there was nothing Megatron could do to change the truth. He grinned even wider with malicious glee.

With a fearsome roar, Megatron opened fire on Rattrap. The spy barely had time to duck back behind the ship's landing strut before several fusion blasts exploded against the other side of it. Rattrap hunkered down low. Megatron was firing in such quick succession there was no opening him for to move or return fire.

Frag. Maybe I shoundn' ov tried ta slag him off so much… Rattrap winced as a particular vicious blast exploded against the ground barely inches to his left. A smoking half-foot deep crater was left in its wake. Around him, the sounds of explosions and machine gun fire continued to drone.

There was suddenly a brief lull in fire from Megatron's direction. Most likely the tyrant had to wait for his fusion coils to cool down a bit before he could continue his assault. Rattrap was just about to swing out and give some return fire of his own when suddenly above him he heard the low-pitch hum of the ship's main power cells coming back on. At different points around the Axalon's perimeter, defensive guns swiveled around on their turrets towards the Predacon forces.

"Sentinel's back online!" Optimus called. "All Maximals, back inside the ship! Now!"

No one had to be told twice and made a mad dash for the lifts. Rattrap squeezed inside the closest one next to Silverbolt and Blackarachnia. Just as the lift began to rise back towards the bridge, the Axalon's security program locked onto each Predacon energy signal and opened fire. Somewhere in the distance over the muffled pomph pomph pomph of Sentinel's laser blasts, Rattrap thought he heard one last roar of defeat from Megatron as the Predacons scurried to retreat, and grinned victoriously to himself.

His exuberance didn't last long, though. For immediately after the lift finished it ascent and the plexiglas doors slid aside, Rattrap was viciously batted upside the back of his head by something hard. He stumbled out of the lift, holding his helm with one hand.

"Ow! Wha' da heck?" he cried, rounding back on Silverbolt and Blackarachnia. "Which one ov ya-"

"You idiot!" Blackarachnia screeched and swung her pincher at him for a second hit. Rattrap just barely managed to dodge it in time. "Why did you go and tell Megatron Dinobot was carrying?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rattrap said, quickly backing away from the enraged femme before she could lash out at him again. Silverbolt reached out to try and hold her back but the black widow easily shook him off. "Wha' I do?"

"Rattrap, don't you have any idea what you just did?" Optimus said, unfolding his transmetal frame out of the other lift. His expression was pinched and grave.

"What's going on?" Rhinox demanded, getting up from his seat next to Sentinel's controls. He glanced between Optimus, Rattrap, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, waiting for an explanation. But no one answered.

"Wha's got all yer gears in a twist?" Rattrap growled, glaring at Optimus and Blackarachnia interchangeably. "I didn't do anything!"

"'Didn't do anything,' my aft," Blackarachnia venomously parroted. "You've just put Dinobot in the worst kind of danger you could!"

"Put me in what kind of danger?" another voice said from the bridge's entrance. Everyone looked up to see Dinobot with Cheetor standing directly behind her in the doorway. Both of their superstructures were painted with thick smears of black grease and oil from their time in the ship's main core.

Blackarachnia was the first to answer. "Your boyfriend here-" she sent a pointed glare in Rattrap's direction "-just went and told Megatron directly to his face that you're carrying his sparkling. Tall, Dark and Ugly now knows you're carrying."

Dinobot stood for a moment of complete silence. Then, as though finally translating Blackarachnia's words into processed code, turned to stare at Rattrap in open horror. "You did what?" Her expression fluidly morphed into one of outrage. "You fool!"

Rattrap cringed back under the warrioress's fury. "Look, I wasn't thinkin,' okay? It just kinda came out."

"Something like that doesn't just 'kind of come out.'" Dinobot snarled. "Do you realize what you've done?"

"It was just a lil' slip!" Rattrap protested. "It's not like ol' Mega-dip can do anything ta change it."

Optimus heaved a frustrated sigh from the other side of the bridge. "Rattrap, we could have hid the sparkling's existence from Megatron, but now he knows Dinobot's carrying. He's going to be targeting both her and the sparkling now."

A cold chill of realization shot down the length of Rattrap's spinal column. Oh no… What had he done? He'd just sworn to himself he'd do anything to protect his lover and unborn sparkling, and what did he go and do but put them both in even greater danger because of his big mouth. Some great father he was turning out to be…

Still shaking his head in disappointment at Rattrap, Optimus turned to Dinobot. "Unfortunately, because of this I'm going to have to confine you to ship for the remaining duration of your pregnancy, Dinobot. The Predacons now know you're carrying, and you're going to start showing soon. You've already begun to show symptoms of fatigue and they'll only get worse the closer you get to delivering. You're too much of a liability in the field now even for short-range patrols. There's no guarantee you'll be able to defend yourself if you're suddenly attacked."

Dinobot's optics widened. "What? No!" She vehemently shook her head. "You can't do that! I can still fight! I am not some helpless invalid just because I'm carrying a second spark."

"I'm sorry," Optimus firmly shook his head. "But it's for the best. You have to think about the safety of your sparkling now even more so than your own. It'll only be for a few more weeks and then I can return you to active duty once you recover."

"No!" she cried, glaring Optimus down. "You can't do that. I won't let you!"

"I can and I will because this is a direct order from your commanding officer."

Dinobot stood literally quivering with rage. Both her hands were balled into shaking fists by her side. For a moment she looked as though she was going to try and argue with Optimus more, but then grudgingly swallowed back her protests as if realizing it would ultimately do her no good. Optimus had pulled rank on her and there was nothing she could do to forcefully make him change his decision. No one said anything to break the suffocating tension suddenly filling the bridge.

Openly livid, but unable to do anything more to plead her case, Dinobot turned and glared at Rattrap. "This is all your fault, you treacherous little rat!" Then, turning her back on everyone she stormed off the bridge. Cheetor had to throw himself against the doorjamb to get out of her way fast enough. Rattrap had no doubt she would have physically body slammed him out of the way if he hadn't.

Leaden silence descended over the bridge.

Blackarachnia was the first to speak in the wake of the warrioress's departure. "Idiot," she spat one last time in Rattrap's direction with narrowed optics, then turned to follow the other femme out the door.

Left behind to stare in the direction his lover had disappeared, Rattrap had the decency to finally look sheepish for his mistake. Primus only knew when Dinobot would let him share her berth again after this. Because he was definitely going to be sleeping alone for the next few days, if not until their sparkling finally came online…

To be Continued…

I was originally going to have a scene with Megatron's own reaction, but the length was getting to long. So more on that next chapter.

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