,A/N: Reviews are appreciated. :-( I've been suffering from a killer case of writer's block so your input helps. Hell, if any of you have any ideas or input, that even helps. Sorry to sound so lost but since I've gotten back to the states, I have too many distractions!

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Heatseeker managed to get to her appointed duty with only nanokliks to spare. Thankful to still be in one piece, she is now deeply immersed in the monitors before her. She studies the communications with the what resembles obsession more than duty. She needs to know more about them, more than she already does. She relays info here and there to Soundwave as she sees fit. Nothing too valuable, just enough to hopefully keep her in the safe zone from raising any suspicion from the telepath. It has been quiet and calm in the large, dark room. He hasn't tried to read her and she almost finds that fact unnerving. It's unlike him to not attempt it at least once. But right now, she is too busy trying to educate herself to worry about him. She has her psych barrier up anyway, so she figures she's safe.

Lying on the ledge in front of her are two data pads on which she has written down various notes. These aren't only notes collected from what she knows of the Autobots activities, but also notes she has collected of the Decepticons as well as some facts about Iacon. Sitting back from the monitor and rubbing the side of her face, she needs a break. She picks up one of the data pads and glances over some of the notes she had taken earlier back on Iacon's history, importance and strategic advantage, when suddenly her subconscious seems to kick her out of her chair. What the pit am I looking at? She peers closer at the data pads as if that alone will help her understand them better. She tries to decipher the text, taking a few breems to do so... turbines?Massive ones at that. Huh? What on creation are massive turbines doing under Iacon? She searches data banks and finds nothing speaking of massive turbine engines under the city. She puts the data pad down in frustration, crinkles up her nose and rubs her face.

Why would a planet need massive turbines, engines, whatever they are? The history of this world is skewed. Is there a standing possibility that the planet was a space craft at one point? Primus, that would have been a huge craft. Her mind can barely fathom it's size. She takes a moment to imagine what such a large craft could do. The red femme looks over to Soundwave for a moment wondering if she should show him what she has. She turns back to the data pad and thinks about the age of such a structure. Surely it can't still be capable of functioning. She searches further for more information to help her try to shape the info in front of her into a solid idea and finds nothing. She taps her fingers on the ledge and then spins the stylus from her data pad around in her hand before making a decision. She transfers all of the useful notes to the data pad that doesn't have private data or sensitive info on it and turns around. Without speaking aloud she breaks the silence between the two of them.

Soundwave?

Yes?

You want to take a look at this and see what you can make of it? She leans over and hands him the data pad and turns back to her monitor, not giving it another thought. It's almost the end of her shift and her optics are just about spinning from the amount of data that they have gone over today. Primus, I'm never going to recharge with this slag in the back of my brain. She watches the clock while slowly sifting her way through her collected info, craving the flavor of some good, aged, high grade.

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The day had been too busy, too hectic. She had survived yet another training session, supposedly almost ended Skywarp and then numbed her logic circuits in front of the monitors in the comms room for cycles on end. Heatseeker was beat but first she needed to unwind and stop her racing logic circuits before she could slip into blissful recharge. She makes her way down to the crew mess where it is unusually quiet for once. Then again, it is late and most of the others have gone off to recharge. The red and black femme grabs a cube of high grade and sits down in her usual seat. She leans her head back on the back of the chair and closes her optics for a moment to clear her mind. She snaps out of her trance like state when she hears someone pull a chair up next to hers.

Heatseeker opens her optics and turns her head to the left, shocked to see Thundercracker has claimed the seat next to her. She says nothing to the blue mech but instead gives him a curious look while rubbing her optic ridge.

Thundercracker doesn't look at her as he rests his cube of high grade on the table in front of them, "Looks like you had one pit of a day." For once he doesn't sound as gruff and angry as usual.

The red femme's face registers surprise and unease as he speaks to her. She glares at him suspiciously but still does not answer him.

He chuckles lightly as he leans back in the chair, "You're always giving me the strangest looks."

"Um. Yeah. Because you're talking to me. You never talk to me. So forgive me for being a little suspicious." She sips her high grade, continuing to give him the same suspicious glare. She raises a hand at him as if to fend off what ever idea he may have, "If you're plotting some sort of revenge for Skywarp, it's pointless. He'll just try to pummel it out of my aft later. I'm sure you already know that, though." She sips carefully on the drink in her hand.

Thundercracker laughs at the thought. He studies the smaller Seeker beside him. Heatseeker is very uncomfortable right now and it's extremely obvious. The red & black femme looks as if she is about to bolt from her chair and she's increased the rate at which she is sipping her highgrade. "Calm down, femme. I didn't sit down next to you to fulfill some need to avenge 'Warp. I sat down to talk."

She sits back, surprised, one optic ridge raised much higher than the other. He wants to talk. To me... Oh kay. What the slag is in this drink? She eyeballs her drink suspiciously as well. Thundercracker's nonchalant attitude is so odd. Even for him. He's acting as if this conversing between the two of them is a normal, everyday occurrence. While she's never had a problem with the usually loud and rumbly mech, the recent attention he's been paying her seems off kilter and makes her very uncomfortable.

She tries reading him to see if she can get a clue as to what he wants. She finds no malice or hate in him at the time. Nothing even remotely close. He seems calm and almost amused by her in a non-threatening manner. She senses something else that she can't quite get a handle on. Something indecipherable and buried deep or something, maybe he isn't even aware of yet. In-ter-est-ing. How odd. Now she's curious. What exactly is going on in his logic circuits that she isn't picking up? She calms down a bit and relaxes. She knows her body language is giving her away because he smiles at her as she does so. Okay, this is really wierd. "Alright, since when have we started talking?" She laughs nervously at the end of her sentence and shifts into her chair a little.

"Since I started to notice that it seems that we have something in common." Thundercracker watches Heatseeker's response to his words with interest. He opened the door either she'll take it or leave it. Judging by the look of dull surprise on her face she's going to take it.

"Being?" The femme puts her high grade down on the table and then leans cooly back into her chair, arm's crossed, amusement written all over face.

He smiles at her again, the kind of smile you give someone when revealing a secret. "A general lack of interest in work. In this life. In what goes on around you. Heatseeker's face goes blank. Bingo, nailed it, he mentally pats himself on the back.

"What would lead you to believe that?" She looks guilty, there's no way around it.

"I know the signs. I know what to look for. You may be able to pull off innocence and looking like part of the team to others but I know indifference when I see it." He sips his cube and watches her reaction intently. The red femme lowers her silver face and appears to mull over what he just told her. She looks as if she's just been sold out in front of everyone they know. Slowly, anger begins to filter into her face. He interrupts her before she reacts to him. "Heat," She raises an optic ridge at him as he uses her nickname, he continues on anyway, "I know you don't have anyone to talk to about it. The only one you do talk to is second in command of us all. Not the best place to be in when contemplating your purpose."

"So what are you saying?" The anger in her voice growing more evident with each uttered word, "That you can be my shoulder to cry on? Please. Like me, you're a 'con." She throws both hands up in the air and looks away before turning back to him," Can't be trusted. So I have to know what is it you really want T.C.?" Since they're using nicknames, she decides to use his on him. Surprisingly enough he grins upon hearing her speak it. For the first time she notices that under his permanently scowl, he's actually not that threatening looking. About as fast as that thought enters her mind, she pushes it away. I'm loosing my fragging mind here.

Thundercracker leans toward as he swishes the liquid in the cube back and forth, "I don't want anything. Hard to believe I'm sure. But I don't. You don't have any friends, Heatseeker. You have plenty of enemies both inside and out but not many friends."

"So what. Are you volunteering for the position?" She looks confused but defiant. The conversation doesn't seem to be going where she thought it would not that she knew or had an idea where it should go. What point is he trying to get too?

Thundercracker looks at the lone drop of energon in his cube and sighs to himself,"Slag, you're difficult." He places the cube down and stands up, "No. Just now you know that you aren't alone." He turns to walk away as she watches him, trying to think of something to say. Mildly surprised, her mouth opens but nothing comes out. Just as he gets to the door, she speaks up.

"Thundercracker?"

"What?" He doesn't turn around, the gruffness is back in his voice. He hears her sigh behind him.

She mumbles a small but questionable, "Thanks."

He grunts something that may be a "yes." and she watches him exit. Heatseeker stays in the room for a while thinking about yet another encounter with Thundercracker. She still doesn't understand why he has any amount of interest in what she thinks or feels. Why did he stop Skywarp from trying to slag her butt earlier? What is he up to? Maybe he's not that bad after all? Riiiight. Shame he's friends with the moron. She rolls her eyes at the thought of Skywarp. How the pit? Now they want to be my friends. What the frag?

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Skywarp was giving her that look. That look that said "watch your aft." She hates that look. Primus, why won't he just go away. Thundercracker on the other hand gives her a slight nod, which much to his surprise, she returns, causing Skywarp to look at them both in confusion.

The black and purple mech points a finger at the small femme walking past them, "Since when have you started acknowledging her?" The sound in his voice balanced perilously on the ledge of jealousy.

Thundercracker chuckles at his friend's reaction, "She's not that bad, 'Warp." The blue mech says as he reaches for one of the data pads displaying their plan.

"Not that bad? That femme is vile." Skywarp's voice sounds as if he is about to spew forth the contents of his reservoir. "She's got a nasty attitude, a superiority complex and need I mention her tendency to do whatever Starscream asks of her. Forgive me if I don't trust or like her. She's no different from him."

Heatseeker apparently heard Skywarp's comment and shoots him a glare that could split armor. The red femme turns on her heel and heads his way, looking towards Thundercracker in a manner that says, "...nothing to do with you," before seriously invading Skywarp's personal space.

Pointing her finger in the taller mech's face, she finally lets him know how she feels, "I don't care if you like me. I'm not here to be your buddy, but one thing is for sure, I watch your aft and make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Or just fall at that. I expect the same, fragger, get it? I'm tired of fighting with you. Personally, I don't like you but unlike you, I'll provide cover and do my best to ensure your annoying aft doesn't end up in enemy hands. Which is a lot more than you do for me, Skywarp." She turns around and goes back to reading her datapad. Skywarp's jaw is slack from shock at her public belittling of him. She's never done that before. His mouth still open in surprise, he curiously turns to Thundercracker who only shrugs and continues to read his data pad, not raising his optics from it.

The black and purple con looks curiously at his friend," Is there something I need to know about?"

Thundercracker still reads his datapad but nods his head towards the pad in Skywarp's hand,"Yeah and it's in your hand."

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Heatseeker carefully reads over her data pad, three times. She's having a hard time understanding what she's looking at. She decides its time for a little help. "Starscream." She looks over to the Air Commander expecting to him to look up but he doesn't. He's deeply immersed in whatever self loving nonsense he's managed to concoct this time. She tries again, clearing her vocal circuits this time, "Starscream." he looks up and turns his attention to her.

"Yes?" He sounds midly annoyed, not to her surprise.

Heatseeker looks down at her datapad, confusion crosses her face as she looks back up and asks,"Permission to speak to you in private, sir."

Everyone else in the room stops at the tone of her voice. She sounds serious, unusually serious at that. The air commander nods at her even though he looks irritated at her request, as he motions to a set of doors leading to the room adjacent the one they are all standing in. "Make it quick." She nods obediently.

The two Seekers walk through the doorway, Heatseeker stares at the door impatiently as it closes behind them. She waits until she hears the locking mechanism engage before speaking, looking up at Starscream with troubled optics. When she speaks, her voice is peppered with apprehension. "Screamer, is there something you need to tell me?"

Starscream peers down at is partner and friend in the most benign way he possibly can without saying the truth, "No. Why?"

Heatseeker lifts the data pad in her left hand up and appears to read over it again. "I'm chasing Autobots amongst the sparklings? Why am I going there? What am I supposed to be doing?"

Starscream looks away for only a split astrosecond and appears to stumble over his words as he does so, not a trait often associated with him. At least with her," Check their status, inform us, look for any potential candidates."

The curious femme reads him for a moment, gauging his reaction she decides he's hiding something, "Starscream, why?" The look on her face plates conveys genuine curiosity and worry.

"Just look. Thats all. No worries, just see what you can find."

"Why me?"

"You are a femme." He says in a matter -of-fact tone.

Heatseeker crinkles her faceplates up at him, "A femme? What does that have to do with it? Whats going on? There's something you're not telling me." She says shaking her head. She knows there is much to the survival of their growing empire than he tells her. After the last 2 million vorns, she has grown accustomed to it but usually she does not ask. But on most occasions, what ever those secrets are, they do not involve the lives of innocent sparklings and their caretakers. This time, she has an inkling that that is the exact problem. It does involve the lives of those innocent sparklings and their caretakers.

Heat' was never a sparkling. Created for a purpose in which a sparkling would not suit, she came into existence as a preprogrammed adult femme. Unfortunately, the programming of a typical femme was as present in her processors as was that of her personality. War or not, it should not extend into the realm of the innocent and young. She still has a small amount of care and concern for the well being of sparklings in her own spark.

She sighs, trouble vibrating through her frame, she's trying her best to appear detached from this mission. "Sparklings? You've sent me on a sparkling sitting job?" She tries her best to look angry and not worried.

"Not me, Megatron" His grey face convey's how serious he is.

The red femme shakes her head upon hearing that name and looks up at him, she rubs the back of her neck with her right hand, worry radiating from her, "Sparklings... Please tell me you need me to recruit and that is it." She feels sick to her reservoir. She knows how demented Megatron is. The War was is in its infancy. Their scouting mission of Iacon a few deca-cycles ago had triggered the first strike. For five deca-cyles now, things had been getting more difficult for them all. While Decepticon forces had managed to gain the upper hand they were still losing soldiers and not gaining many. The Autobots seemed to have a never ending supply of recruits. The sparklings, cared for by Autobot nurses, teachers and caretakers, were not joining the Decepticon side. Well, a few were, but they literally were a few. The 'Cons were grabbing those few new loyalists or rebels as they were known, when possible.

Starscream reads the worry in Heatseeker's face. He finds it interesting considering she was never a conscious sparkling. Onlining in adult hood, she came into the world similar to an amnesia patient. Unaware of her surroundings, she only needed to be reacquainted with the world around her. Not a hard task considering she had him to usher her into this new world. But still, the red femme retained what it was that made the femmes, femmes and mechs, mechs, the will to continue the race even if it was someone else's sparkling.

He places one arm on her shoulder as she looks up at him with the need for answers flooding her face, "Go, check out what you can and find any recruits thats all."

She nods obediently, then speaks up again,"But I want to fight."

"I know. But right now, we need you to do this." Something crosses his faceplates for a astrosecond, something he isn't telling her. For once, he looks as troubled as her.

"Sceamer," She steps closer to him, close enough to see the intricate pattern of his optics focusing behind the small hexagonal shields that protect them,"theres more..."

He manages a small smile at her, "Later."

She nods again, still unsure but willing to go further. Who knows what she may find upon arriving there. Heatseeker lifts her left arm up, activating her comms immediately. She speaks clearly, " Sunstom, are you ready?"

The orange seeker returns her inquiry with a sense of distaste to which she chuckles while looking back at Starscream and shaking her head,"Okay. Lets go." She gives him a quick glance backwards, same worry on her faceplates as she joins her wingmate ready to fly off to whatever insane mission they are on. Primus and Megatron know why they're doing it.