Hot Shot winced as Red Alert accidentally nudged a sensitive neural cable in his arm.

"Hey, careful!" He spat.

Red Alert frowned, but shook his head. "Sorry."

Normally, the third-in-command and resident CMO would be put off if the young Autobot shot him a barb like that. But, in a way that only he could, Red Alert had noticed that, since Optimus disappeared, Hot Shot's personality had been becoming somewhat… nasty.

It was because Optimus was gone.

Normally, Optimus' mere presence was enough to keep Hot Shot's darker personality quirks under control. But with their leader missing, all the angst and rage that had been quietly festering away inside him was slowly seeping out.
The medic looked up at Hot Shot as the yellow mech tilted his face towards the ceiling and sighed wistfully.

"Don't worry Hot Shot." He said, causing the Autobot to look at the medic curiously. "We'll find him eventually."

Hot Shot blinked his sky blue optics a few times. "How did… I didn't say anything about…"

Red Alert smiled. "You don't need to. Don't you think I've seen you enough times since 'it' happened to notice? You only sigh like that when you're thinking about him."

Hot Shot looked down at his feet and frowned. "I didn't think I had slipped into a pattern."

"Everyone has them, Hot Shot." Red Alert said, continuing to repair the electronics in the mech's arm. "Jetfire goes for a long flight. Sideswipe plays with the humans and Minicons. Scavenger hits something. Smokescreen has too much High Grade and passes out. And that's only what they do when they're upset."

Hot Shot frowned. "Hey, you didn't say what Blurr's pattern is!"

"He made me promise not to tell anyone when he realised I'd figured it out."

"Aww, come on!"

"I swore I wouldn't!"

Hot Shot frowned, but the faintest hints of a smile were beginning to show.

"You're good at this." The warrior said finally.

"This?" Red Alert questioned.

Hot Shot smiled. "Making me feel better. Thanks."

Red Alert closed the final seam in Hot Shot's arm and smiled.

"Any time."

- - -

Sideswipe leant back in his chair with a sigh, and brought a hand up to cover his optics.

"I just don't understand it…" The young code breaker muttered. "I've gone over this data again and again… nothing seems to make sense."

A set of heavy footsteps alerted him to the presence of someone else, but Sideswipe did not move.

"Still at it, Sideswipe?" The tall white mech asked.

"Yeah. No matter how many times I look at it, this data always says the same thing; he was there, then he vanished, completely. It's no different than what anyone else would be able to get. Ughh… I feel like such a rookie."

Jetfire grimaced and stepped forward to lean a hand on the code breaker's shoulder.

"It's not your skills that's the problem 'Swipes." He said, the uncommon use of his nickname making the young mech look up in surprise. "I think it's the data you're using."

Sideswipe blinked. "What do you mean? I've got data from everyone at the time of the incident. How could the data be wrong?"

Jetfire held out a data disk, which Sideswipe promptly took from him.

"You could have done a better job of it than I did, but, I managed to pull the data from after he vanished… when I managed to get him on the comm. for those few seconds. It's not much, but maybe you can do something with it."

Realisation dawned on Sideswipe's face.

"Jetfire, if this works, we might be able to finally find him!" He said, putting the disk into the computer console and running over the raw data with his sharp optics.

"Don't get too hopeful kid; it's probably not very good quality data, and there ain't a lot of it. But…"

"No… this is good, Jetfire. Data from when you were in contact… I might be able to pull a location from this… perhaps even coordinates!"

Sideswipe began typing madly, his ice blue optics reading and comprehending lines of data at a speed that Jetfire couldn't, even after this long, believe.

"I'll, ah… leave you to it then." He said, turning and exiting the room.

I wonder if Smokescreen needs a drinking buddy… He thought.

- - -

After his conversation with Red Alert, Hot Shot decided to make it is personal mission to discover exactly what Blurr did when he was upset. Too bad for him that he wasn't all that good at being stealthy; the sniper found Hot Shot stalking him almost right away.

"Why are you following me?!" Blurr demanded.

Hot Shot recoiled. "Ahh… I'm not!" He attempted.

Blurr's optics burned angrily. "I've been moving erratically on purpose for the last half hour! You ARE following me!"

"Oh! Umm… ahh…"

"AAAAARRRGGGHH!!!" Blurr cried in frustration. "You're worse than Sideswipe!!!"

"Oh, snap." Hot Shot said.

- - -

Sideswipe worked solidly on Jetfire's data for days, hardly noticing as Autobots came and went, going on missions, heading on their way or returning. It was all just too fascinating to tear his optics away from. After a week, he thought he had some solid, useable data, even if it didn't make any sense.
Bundling his findings onto a data disk, he left the Command Centre and headed for the med bay.

The medic was fixing a few of his older tools when the young mech came in.

"Oh, Sideswipe!" He exclaimed, seeing him.

"Hiya Red Alert. I gotta talk to you about this data that Jetfire gave me."

Red Alert nodded. "Jetfire mentioned that he gave you data from when he spoke to Optimus last. What did you find?"

"Well," Sideswipe said, strolling over to the med bay's main computer console and inserting the disk. "I'm not quite sure what I found. They look like coordinates, but I've double and triple rechecked, but they don't seem to be coordinates for anywhere on Earth. They're not coordinates for… anywhere."

Red Alert looked at the Data on the screen, although he wasn't sure why he bothered. This sort of thing was Sideswipe's speciality, not his, so if the young mech didn't get it, his chances of doing so were pretty slim.

"Hmm… Coordinates to nowhere." The medic mused. "That's odd. Have you tried putting them into the warp gate?"

"Several times. It just sputtered and blinded me with error messages before wiping the coordinates from itself."

Red Alert looked over the data again. True, most of it did look like coordinates. But, near the bottom, was another string of data, which looked much different. He pointed at the data.

"What about this here?"

"Oh, that is a old style IFF code… or, at least that's what it looks like. It looks like an Autobot code, but the numbers are more like a Decepticon code. It's all muddled."

"Have you tried this in the warp gate?"

Sideswipe blinked. "But… it's not coordinates!"

"You should know better than anyone, Sideswipe, 'Try Everything.' That's what makes code breaking… it's what make science. And it couldn't hurt just to try, right? I can always fix the warp gate."

Sideswipe looked at what he thought was an IFF code and his brain instantly went to the task of seeing if it could be rearranged into a set of useable coordinates. He smiled.

"You just might be right Red Alert!" He said excitedly. "I guess I still have a bit to learn."

Red Alert shook his head. "You're still young Sideswipe. You have a long way to go before you've experienced as much as me, even longer till you get to Scavenger's level. You may already be the best, but you can always find new ways to improve."

Sideswipe nodded, and ejected the data disk from the console. "I guess so. I'll take this down to the Warp Gate Station and see what I can do."

"I'll be down later." The medic said, returning to his tools. "If they are coordinates, then the others and I will want to see where they lead."

- - -

Meanwhile, far away from the Autobots' base, something strange was happening. Just past the outskirts of a large city, a large portion of the area bulged and contorted, as if something was squashing it, before going back to normal.

An hour later, it happened again. Then again. And again. And then, a long, thin vertical crack, ripped open, in the middle of nothing.

- - -

The other Autobots piled into the Warp Gate Station just as Sideswipe finished entering the last number of the IFF code into the gate.

"Did'ja get it Sideswipe?" Hot Shot asked.

Sideswipe turned to look at them. "I'm not sure yet bro'. But we're about to find out."

The blue Autobot turned back to the computer and hit a large red button labelled 'ENGAGE'.

The warp gate whirred to life, and the Autobots cheered. It looked like a success.

But then, nothing happened.

Quickly, Sideswipe double-checked the numbers he had used, but everything was correct. He frowned and shook his head.

"No…"

The Autobots looked at him curiously.

"Something… something is not right…"

"What's not?" Jetfire asked, watching as the younger mech walked away from the computer and into the middle of the Launch Dock at the other end of the room.

Sideswipe looked up at the end wall, where an image of their destination was normally displayed.

"Everything was correct." Sideswipe said quietly as the others walked over to stand closer to him. "All the data was accurate, the warp gate is working perfectly… yet we can't get this to work."

Blurr folded his arms and sighed. "There's something we're not seeing."

Sideswipe blinked. "Something… we're not… Hmmm…"

The young mech was suddenly graced with an idea, and he transformed. The other Autobots stepped back in surprise.

"Sideswipe?" Hot Shot said cautiously.

"Yeah?" The blue car answered. "What?"

"Why are you…?!" Hot Shot cut off as Sideswipe's outline shimmered and turned white. He was engaging the warp gate!

"Sideswipe!" Red Alert said in surprise. "What are you doing?!"

"Trying everything."

And then, Sideswipe was sucked into the warp gate and disappeared.

- - -

It was half an hour before the Autobots heard from Sideswipe again. He gave them all a start when his voice suddenly crackled over the Command Centre's speakers.

/You guys? Hello? Can you hear me yet?\

"S-sideswipe!" Hot Shot exclaimed happily.

"You're not dead!" Blurr added.

/Oh thanks. I've been trying to contact you for ages! There must be some interference out here…\

"Where are you 'Swipes?" Jetfire asked.

/America, I think. There's a city nearby, but it's seems to be okay, and none of the humans have noticed what's out here… or me, so…\

"What is out there, Sideswipe?" Red Alert asked. "What did you find?"

/Well, to be honest, this doesn't fall in my field any more, Red Alert. Perhaps… perhaps you guys should come out here and have a look for yourselves. If the warp gate hasn't been touched, then you should be able to just warp over. \

"But there's no destination set!" Smokescreen argued.

/Sure there is! \ Sideswipe said jovially. /You just can't see it. I really think that…\ Sideswipe trailed off.

"Sideswipe?" Hot Shot urged. "Sideswipe! You still there?"

/Whoa that was weird. Yeah, I'm still here bro'. Now, I'm not kidding; you guys need to get out here…because I have no idea what's going on…\

"Right. Sit tight Sideswipe! We're on our way!" Jetfire said, standing up and heading for the Warp Gate Station with the other Autobots not far behind.

- - -

When the Autobots exited the warp gate they were instantly greeted by an excited Sideswipe, who looked like he had fallen into several bushes, which was likely.

"There you all are!" He said, rushing over to them. "See I told you it would be okay!"

The Autobots grunted and looked around. Yes, they did indeed seem to be okay. And they also did seem to still be on Earth. Bonus!

"So, what's this thing that you don't know what it was?" Scavenger asked grumpily.

"It's over here…" Sideswipe said, pointing, before leading the way.

The Autobots followed, unsure what it was they would be seeing, when they stopped in their tracks.

There was a crack in the air.

"The… air is cracked?" Red Alert stuttered in disbelief.

"Mmmm… well that's what I thought." Sideswipe said, walking closer to it. "It looks the same no matter which direction you look at it from. But, if you come over here and look…"

Red Alert shuffled over and looked at it closely as Sideswipe indicated. His optics widened.

"There's… there's something in there!"

"What?!" The other Autobots' interest was sparked, and they all came close to look.

"Not just something… a whole lot of somethings!" Hot Shot exclaimed.

"A… a whole world!" Jetfire finished.

"But, how could there be a whole world inside this little crack?" Smokescreen asked, looking at Red Alert.

"Maybe there's not…" The medic suggested. "Maybe, there is another world, a parallel world to this one, and… I don't know, what are you asking me for?"

"You're the smartest." The orange mech said matter-of-factly.

Red Alert sighed.

"We got to this place using the data Jetfire gave me from when he was talking to Optimus last." Sideswipe said. "Perhaps this as close to Optimus' location as the warp gate could get us."

"So then, Optimus is around here somewhere!" Hot Shot said hopefully.

"Well maybe." Sideswipe returned. "But, really? I think he's in there." He pointed to the crack.

There was a silence.

Then, Hot Shot looked at the sky and sighed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Wah wah Waaaaaaah!

Yay! Armada boys chapter! And Sideswipe gets his moment in the sun! I like Armada 'Swipes, he is teh awesome.

Just so we're clear, codes, math, science and all that sort of stuff that Red Alert and Sideswipe do is completely beyond me, so, whenever that is going on, there will be mass ambiguity. And if it doesn't make sense (like how 'Swipes got coordinates from this 'data' Jetfire gave him) let's just pretend it works and move on, because I won't be able to make it make any more logical sense than I have already. I do try my hardest for this stuff to make sense though.

And I had to think of something semi-plausible. This semi-works, so it's all good.

Reviews of Fun:

Blue Storm Lightning Saix – And now, even more!

Whitefang4ever – Will do.

SpartanCommander – Heh, no much for no comments!

Yeah, Roller, as far as I understand is only a scout. But, seeing as I have never seen him before, there probably won't be any of him in this. Unless I see him before the end I guess.

As for Blaster and the Dinobots… yeah, something interesting could happen there.

Kaekokat – Glad to hear it! It wasn't actually my original intention to make Armada Prime younger; When I was writing the chapter that mentioned how long that Prime had been fighting for, I seemed to recall from the series Optimus telling the humans that the battle had been going on for four million years, but then, in one of the later episodes (that I have only just gotten possession of) Starscream mentions the war having lasted for over 10 mil, which would make it longer than the G1 war!

But Armada Prime sounds younger than G1 Prime, so it all works out in the end. Yay for accidental occurrences!

Emily – I'm happy to hear it!

Thatredcar – Heh heh heh… I feel sorry for Prowl. Well, at least he's not like Shockwave; Shockwave would physically implode I think. And don't worry, Soundwave will have his moment. XD

JML – Ah yes well, spelling and grammar are one of those touchy subjects you see, not because I'm bad at it, because I most certainly am not, but where I live, this is how it is done. Of course I will occasionally churn out the odd spelling error that Word misses, but that happens to the best of us.

About paragraphing, sorry if I've made it difficult for you. FanFiction does something to my paragraphing when I upload my documents, and this is my lame attempt to put it back the way it was. I'll just leave it from now on, and see if that's any better.

I wasn't aware that FanFiction 'nixed' reviewer responses in this way, and I have not read anywhere in the submitting guidelines that this is so. I know that we are not allowed to devote whole chapters to said responses, nor to Author notes. But as far as I know, this sort of thing done this way is permitted. However, if I am wrong, may the staff come and tell me so, and I shall stop.

And the title will make sense… eventually.

All hail the CMO!

Fk306 animelover – Oh, well good. At the rate things are moving, it won't be too much longer. Yes, Hot Shot is training Swipes, and yes, the poor mech does cop the most torture from the little guy. XD

Tahalli – Wait no more!

On a side note, thankyou to everyone who has pointed put my misspelling of the word 'gestalt'. Just to clarify, my weird little brain, when I first saw this word, pronounced it 'gesault' and then in turn, that's how I spelled it. Nowadays, I know better. Thanks for that, everyone.

Oh, and before I forget, a big apology to Ruby Autobot. I said that the Armada bots weren't going to have much to do in this story, but, thanks to a more recent brilliant idea, there's gunna end up being a lot more of them in here than I had first indicated. Sorry for the miss-leading information.

Well, that's all I have to say for now,

Ja Mata!