Author Note: Many thanks to Dragon Force Ranger and XLizardXQueenX for now following this story and to I'm Yu, Gamoora, McCrane55, anonex and Xireana Zetsubou for having set this story as their favorite.

I'm a little sad that no one took a moment to leave a review. Reviews not only provide feedback for an author, they're also incentive to write more.

– chapter ten –

Deceivers

Previously on Transformers Prime: Stardust…

A bright reddish energy beam cut through the sky –

– and hit the Ark's stern dead center, immediately blowing up what remained of the ship's engines. Jazz and Ironhide stood frozen, staring in disbelief when the explosion raced along the hull until the entire Ark was covered in a huge fireball. A tower of smoke rose heavenward while the ship-turned-fireball quickly lost height. A spark pulse later, whatever remains of the Ark survived the engines' detonation crashed onto the ground, erupting in a second, even bigger explosion.

And now the conclusion…

"Sweet Lady Liberty!" Agent Fowler shouted in alarm.

The man's exclamation broke the ban. Jazz ordered Wheeljack, "Safeguard that sword, whatever ya do." Then, not caring about his injuries, he jumped into alt-mode and raced toward the crash site. Out of his peripheral, he noticed Ironhide followed him.

Not far from the crash site, he met the squad he'd taken down to fight off the enemy. They were all headed for the Ark's wreck as well. Jazz immediately opened a comm on all Autobot frequencies and urgently asked, /Did anybot get out before the explosion?/

Trailbreaker immediately sent back, /Sureshot thought he'd seen something but wasn't sure if it was protoforms or fire particles. He took Lightspeed and Windcharger to the projected landing site to investigate./

Jazz mentally nodded to himself, satisfied. At least somebot was thinking ahead.

When he and Ironhide reached the outer edge of the crash site, they stopped and transformed back into bipedal mode. Trailbreaker caught up with them not a moment later. "Inferno and Hosehead went in to check out the situation," he explained as soon as the transformation into bipedal mode was complete. "If anybot can find the way in the conflagration, it's them."

"Indeed," Ironhide agreed.

In that moment, the comm cackled to life. /Found two emergency escape pods,/ Windcharger sent, /with Fireflight and Skydive in stasis./ There was a moment's silence before he added, /From the look of it, they look worse for wear but the systems indicate they're stable for the moment./

So Hoist must have ejected them, Jazz thought. On instinct? Or on order? Had Prowl's processors come up with that scenario and he took precautions? He tried the command frequency. /Jazz ta Prowl, come in./ Next to him, Ironhide sent him a curious look but didn't say what was on his processors, instead waiting what would happen.

The only reply they received was silence, but it wasn't complete. The frequency cackled with static and buzzing noises, and in a rhythm that let Jazz frown. He wasn't a communications expert like Blaster and his symbiotes, but he knew enough about it thanks to his specs and upgrades to be considered a pro by usual standards. And to him the repetitive patterns not only sounded familiar but artificially created. Could it be that Blaster's still alive ta scramble the frequency? he wondered. But why? Not finding an answer to his questions, he once more sent on the command frequency, /Prowl, Blaster? If ya can hear me, answer./ But once again there was no verbal response.

However, the frequency briefly upped to a higher tone, with whistles added to the already running rhythm, before dropping back to the lower level. Jazz was now certain that somebot was deliberately distorting the signals – he only didn't know yet who. He knew, however, they wouldn't answer until they were secure.

He turned toward Ironhide. "Let's call back Inferno and Hosehead. No bot could have survived those explosions."

Ironhide frowned before his expression turned into a scowl. "So you're giving up on them?" he hotly demanded.

"No," Jazz replied, "but we have no other choice but to retreat for now." He jabbed over his shoulder toward the Decepticons' fortress. "Staying here is too dangerous. The 'cons'll use us for target practice sooner or later."

The warrior grunted, making it obvious that he agreed with his assessment but didn't like it one bit. "So what do you suggest we do now? We do not know this world. We have no place to go."

At the same time, Trailbreaker asked, "If you haven't given up on them, you intend to come back, don't you? But how are we going to look for them without Megatron and his ilk noticing?"

Forcing a grin onto his faceplate, Jazz pointed at the helicopter that had been following him and Ironhide and was now about to land. Answering both their questions at the same time, he said, "We don't. When Inferno and Hosehead come back out, they'll declare everybot lost. We then go with our new allies."

That stunned everybot to silence. "What?" Flak asked, speaking up for the first time.

The fake grin turned sly. "Ah believe somebot took precautions." Because Prowl's processors would have been working overtime with simulations, and there was no way that he wouldn't have factored in the Nemesis shooting down the Ark.

Ironhide's grim expression suddenly lit up in epiphany. "Shuttles. They must have taken the shuttles."

While Flak looked skeptic, Trailbreaker and everybot else looked up, searching the sky. Other than the pillar of dark gray smoke, there was nothing to be found, however. Jazz met Ironhide's smirk; it seemed to spell out 'invisibility shielding' as clear as a starlit night. The shuttles would never be found, no matter how long you looked, unless the ones inside chose to drop the cloaking.

Jazz relaxed a little in relief. The others were still alive, even though they didn't answer to his hails. He knew, however, that if the bots really were dead, the command frequency wouldn't be cackling with patterned static but be completely silent on the other end. Besides, of course Prowl would see to it that the enemy didn't find out that their supposed killing shot had been ineffective, and the disruptions must be Blaster's handiwork to mislead Soundwave. He had successfully used a similar method in the past. Jazz grinned at the irony; believed offlined yet still kicking warriors were the most valuable weapon Megatron could have handed his enemy.

He switched the command frequency to passively running and even added a noise-filter. He would still be able to hear if something changed without getting distracted by the white noise. Only then did he address the bots surrounding him. "Everybot, keep the info that our comrades most likely are still alive off the radio channels. I s'pose they tricked the 'cons inta believin' they're still aboard when the Ark was lit up." The bots surrounding him nodded, some looking determined, the rest skeptic.

He and Ironhide then turned around in time for Agent Fowler to arrive at their position. Flexing his arms enthusiastically, the warrior mumbled, "Let's get to it then." Deceiving the Decepticons was his second most-favorite pastime.

Jazz automatically took command. He crouched down to be less intimidating and negotiated with Agent Fowler for a couple of breems, explaining their situation and the plan he'd come up with of how to go forward. Then he listed what they needed for the moment. (Of course, he wouldn't be Prime's ever-charming lieutenant if he didn't know how to sweeten their demands with an attractive offer of assistance in fighting their mutual enemy.)

"Let me make a couple of calls and see what can be arranged," Agent Fowler concluded the discussion and pulled out his cell phone.

It took about three breems for the human to discuss things with his superiors – and the man proved he could be discreet about sensitive information –, but in the end, they had a deal. Jazz immediately rallied up three of the strongest bots and sent them to Wheeljack's position to retrieve both the Wrecker and Prime's sword, Trailbreaker among them; Jazz foresaw that not only his strength but his protective shield too would be invaluable. In the meantime, another squad under Ironhide's command went to recover the two escape pods. As a parting, all were told to follow Jazz's beacon and that they would meet again at the human base.

When turning around, Jazz caught Agent Fowler signaling for the human jets to separate and follow the two teams. "Just in case you guys need assistance," was his defensive explanation when the man noticed Jazz was looking at him, though his guarded tone suggested there was more to it than just succor.

The saboteur's visor brightened at the realization that their two species didn't seem overly different. As a commanding officer, he would have issued the same orders were he in the human's position. He therefore made sure to positively acknowledge the man's decision.

Agent Fowler coughed. "All right, anything else?" he then asked, thus conveniently changing the topic.

Jazz shook his helm. "For the moment we're set. Thanks. Ah'm curious about the hangar ya mentioned. It sounds like a great place ta chill."

The man snorted. "You're the craziest Autobot I've ever met."

"Ah take that as a compliment," Jazz replied, grinning. He liked the human and was looking forward to the alliance.

"Whatever," was the grunted reply. Agent Fowler walked back to his helicopter, got in and quickly powered it up. When the vehicle slowly took off, Jazz transformed and followed, the rest of the Autobots mimicking him.

They didn't want to look like they were running, but in truth they were. The sooner and farther away from the Decepticons they got, the better. Jazz put the pedal to the medal and raced after the helicopter as if Unicron himself was after them. It meant that some of the sturdier built models had their difficulties keeping up with their lighter built comrades, but they overall crossed a fair distance in a relatively short amount of time. Good thing too; when Jazz scanned the area to check on the convoy behind him, a new party registered on his sensors.

Cursing when he recognized the signal, he braked hard and swerved out of the line before transforming, his battle protocols automatically snapping into place, consequently onlining his weapon systems. When the mechs behind him wanted to do the same, he ordered with a fierce snarl, "Everybot, keep going!" He waited only long enough until the last bot was by, then he dropped back into his alt-mode and followed suit, urging the others to drive even faster. He prayed that Trailbreaker's and Ironhide's teams remained unharmed.

Just when the Decepticon fortress was about to vanish behind the horizon, Jazz's visual sensors picked up the Tidal Wave sinking out of the cloud carpet before coming to hover directly above the ruins of the Ark. Another moment later, it opened fire, strafing the Nemesis and Cybertronian construction. A small part of him regretted he couldn't stay to watch the battle between the Decepticons and Star Seekers, but for the most part Jazz was glad about being able to stay out of that firefight.

…

They drove for about a quarter joor until Jazz's sensors picked up the signal of many indigenous life forms. Humans. Perking up, he scanned the area ahead of them; apparently, they were closing in on a human settlement. Even though night had fallen by the time they reached the settlement's outskirts, Jazz made out lots of housings by vision alone. The majority of the dwellings as well as the streets were ablaze with light and in various colors too. What his vision didn't grasp, his sensors picked up more than readily, and he was able to piece together the picture of a large settlement covering quite a large area. It was of course nowhere near comparable with one of Cybertron's cities, yet it somehow seemed to have an air of familiarity around it. Strangely, he was heavily reminded of Centurion, only he couldn't explain why. And if the increasing exclamations of surprise on the main Autobot frequency were anything to go by, he wasn't the only one having this impression.

Before homesickness could mar his spark, he brushed the thoughts and memories aside, instead concentrating again on the transmissions Agent Fowler steadily sent and received – the number of which had only increased once they neared the human settlement. He found it a good practical source to learn about how the human command dynamics worked. Most enlightening was the moment he realized they had in that regard more in common than initially thought.

They passed through the settlement without really driving into it, staying on the well-developed highway. Jazz nonetheless used the time to scan whatever he could. The others apparently did so as well because after only a breem, Pipes asked over the comm, /Jazz, do you mind if we scan the local vehicles to better fit in? 'Cause we do stand out right now./ Various voices of approval followed the query.

The answer was easily given. /Nope. It's actually a splendid idea, mechs, so have at it./ Jazz then followed his own words and scanned the area in search of a vehicle, couldn't find one that fitted both his specs and taste, though. A 'glance' back at the convoy following him, however, told him most of his comrades found what they were looking for.

Soon enough, the helicopter lost height until it – more or less – lead the convoy over the highway. They were headed toward human constructions enclosed by a high fence. Signs on the road and next to a gate read 'Nellis Air Force Base.' Agent Fowler landed the helicopter in front of the gate and was immediately approached by two men wearing weapons similar to the Autobots' laser rifles, only in a much smaller size of course. Jazz slowed until he came to a halt half a mechanometer away from the helicopter, his comrades following his example.

Agent Fowler got out of the helicopter and spoke with the men for a couple of moments, then, together, all three walked around it, heading for Jazz's position. "Major McKinley, sir, if I may introduce? The Autobots."

"Holy crap!" the younger one of the new men warily exclaimed when he laid eyes on the Autobots for the first time. "A couple look alien all right." He glanced at Agent Fowler. "If you hadn't called in beforehand… well, let's just say you might not have passed with such an entourage."

Agent Fowler was ignoring him, however, instead staring at the convoy with a bewildered expression. "Didn't you guys look… different earlier?" he asked Jazz although he pointed loosely in Pipes' direction.

If Jazz were able to shrug while still in alt-mode, he would have. "We're hardcoded ta fit in," he explained, without missing the momentary pause in the men's breathing when he started speaking. "If ya local vehicles look like that, we'll scan 'em for our uses." He also registered the increased rhythm of the two unknown men's fuel pump.

"I see…" Agent Fowler allowed before shaking his head once. Turning back to his fellow humans, he said, "This is only the first group. Two more will follow, though they're less in numbers."

The man that had yet to say anything – Major McKinley – gave the convoy another look over. It seemed critical, like a commander contemplating his troops. "And you're absolutely certain they're on our side?" he asked Agent Fowler after several moments. "I saw the feed from Jasper. Looked quite dangerous to me."

Agent Fowler nodded. "And they can be, but these guys here fight the same enemy we do. I guess that makes them our ally."

"Point taken," the major replied. He scrutinized Jazz once again, let another glance glide across the convoy, then turned back toward Agent Fowler. "All right, they can come in. Hangar E has been cleared."

"Thanks," Jazz said before Agent Fowler could.

The major threw him another look, this one suspicious. "If you get out of line, rest assured we know how to stop you."

The Autobots behind him responded with growling engines, but Jazz cut them off with a barked, "Quiet. I'll handle that." He then transformed, immediately kneeling down to not appear threatening. "Ah give ya mah word that none of my warriors will cause harm to anyone or anything. We appreciate your assistance."

"You're their commander?" the major demanded.

"Until we can reunite with our team already on Earth, yes, Ah command them." Jazz knew he may be the commanding officer for the moment, but he was far from being a true commander. There was a difference and he had to make that clear, even though the humans might not understand.

"Name?"

"The designation's Jazz."

The major nodded brusquely. "Very well, Commander Jazz, you listen carefully: It's not my idea to grant you access to this base. But some people high up are willing to take a risk at an alliance between your faction and us humans. Betray us, and you'll find out that us puny squishies will be able to defend ourselves against your kind."

Narrowing his optics – which the major couldn't see thanks to his visor –, Jazz repeated, "Nothing will come to harm, be it humans or your equipment, shelter included." He had no idea where from the major had the impression he would regard humans as squishies, though he could envision a couple of his Autobots would. He would address that as soon as the other two teams had arrived to suppress such unbecoming behavior right away.

"Then we have a deal." The major turned. "Agent Fowler, I'd appreciate if you could wait here with me until the other two groups you mentioned arrive."

Agent Fowler nodded. "Of course, sir."

Major McKinley then gestured at the soldier. "Corporal, open the gate and take our guests to Hangar E. Tell Lieutenant Finley and Sergeant Walt they have the first shift, then come back here."

The soldier saluted. "Yes sir." He swiftly did as commanded before climbing into a vehicle. Jazz collapsed back into alt-form and followed, the Autobots hot on his tailpipe.