A/N: I didn't like some parts of this, so they got rewritten.

'Bots are not happy about the situation. Skywarp shows some of his true colors and Rachel is such a smart-ass.

As always, constructive criticism is welcomed, reviews given much love.

Story Arc 7

Chapter 14 – Minutes to Midnight part three

"What's going on?" The sullen Seeker glared at Ratchet and Wheeljack.

The grouchy medic growled as he worked on securing his lesser-used tools, "Moving day, hoped you packed your bags."

Skywarp huffed in boredom as he sat on the edge of his table, "Where's the femme? She's not helping with your 'moving day'?" He drummed his fingers loudly on the metal table and gave a long-suffering sigh when neither of the Autobots answered him. The femme would at least talk to him if she were here.

"I've got two empty shelving units in storage, Ratchet." Wheeljack brought a rather large container out of the side room and set it on the nearest table. "For the life of me I can't remember what was stored there."

"The two by the corner?"

"Yeah. You remember what goes there?" Wheeljack rummaged around in the container removing a fistful of bent and broken tools and setting them on the table.

Ratchet grumbled from across the room, "Paint."

"Paint?"

"Yes."

The fins of the mech's vocal processors lit up with laughter, "That much room just for paint… Sunstreaker is not going to be happy to find out you're out."

"He'll have to deal with it. I don't have time right now to fix every little imagined scratch on his skidplate."

Skywarp snickered evilly, drawing attention the attention of the medic and engineer.

Ratchet shot the Seeker a glare, "I don't have time or materials to fix your paint either, so don't even think about asking."

"I wouldn't dream of it." He smirked. "I just find it amusing that the glitch whines about his appearance."

Ratchet shook his head and opened a cabinet in the wall, securing bins of cogs and bolts inside.

The Seeker leaned back on his hands with bored sigh; even trying to irritate the grouchy medic was proving futile. "So do I get to be shoved onto a shelf as well or are you going to let me go?"

"Though the rest of the ship thinks we should shove you out an airlock, you're coming with us."

Skywarp glared at the orange titanium ceiling, "Bleh. Where are you- we going and why?"

There was an evil tone to Ratchet's voice, "Don't worry your empty little cranial unit, Skywarp."

He shot Ratchet a dirty look, "Anyone ever tell you that you're as charming as Starscream on a good day? And where's the femme?"

"Don't push it, Seeker. Or you will spend the next few days in stasis." Ratchet dropped some restraints on the table next to Skywarp.

Bright red optics widened as he looked between the restraints and the medic. "You're going to strap me down to the table?"

The med bay doors opened and the twin terrors entered, "Hey, Ratchet –"

The grouchy medic didn't even look up at them, "No. Get out."

An irritated Sideswipe frowned at him, "I love you too, Ratchet. But Prowl wants you to meet him in the brig."

He glanced up at the sour looking Twins curiously, "Who's in the brig?"

They glared at the pouting Seeker before Sunstreaker answered, "You'll see when we get there. Prowl said to tell you to prepare yourself for an escape artist."

An optic ridge was raised, "An escape artist?"

"Ratchet," Sunstreaker's patience was wearing rather thin. "Just get your stuff and come on."

The grouchy medic opened a comlink to Prowl. The Twins looked serious, but they could look serious and deadly when they were pulling pranks too. "Ratchet to Prowl."

"Prowl here. Are you on your way down here? He's nearly broken through all the restraints I put him in."

"Who?"

"Jazz."

"What? Why is Jazz in the brig?"

"He wants to go after Rachel."

"You put him in the brig because he wanted to go find Rachel?"

"Optimus relieved him of duty when he disobeyed a direct order to stay on the Ark. Jazz was given the option to stay in his quarters or the brig. His numerous attempts to escape an escort to his quarters necessitate time in the brig. Unfortunately, he has deactivated the energy bars of his cell no less than eight times, he has destroyed all of Red Alert's security cameras and motion sensors on level A-1, and has managed to break free of every restraint we have attempted to use. The current circumstances demand stronger measures to keep him from leaving the Ark and exacerbating the situation with the humans."

"In other words, hurry up and get down here." Ratchet sighed and looked at the ill-tempered Lamborghinis. "Let me get some sedatives and I'll be right there. Ratchet out."

The grouchy medic roughly unlocked a cabinet he had just secured and nearly pulled the door off its hinges. He grabbed three phials of a strong energon sedative and the equipment he would need to sedate the mech highly versed in subterfuge. If they could hold him still, he could just inject the sedative into Jazz. But if Prowl was having enough trouble keeping him in restraints how were they going to keep him from lashing out? He scowled. If it became necessary, he could always shoot him. Ratchet filled a couple of syringes and a handful of darts full of the energon sedative and stashed them in his subspace. "So which one of you is feeling like a lucky shot today?"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at each other in disbelief before turning back to Ratchet. "You're the one with the good arm, Ratchet."

Sideswipe rubbed his hand over his helmet, "I have the dents to prove it."

"Fine." Ratchet walked into his office and came out with his gun.

"Can you even fire that?" Skywarp snickered and received two icy glares and a 'shut it or I'll weld your skidplate to the ceiling' glare. "Looks dusty, maybe you should check it for steel spiders before you use it."

Sunstreaker growled and started for the Seeker, until Ratchet put his hand on the golden warrior's shoulder. "Ignore him. I'm going to need both of you to help."

Dirty looks were exchanged between the three warriors as Ratchet led the Lamborghinis out of the med bay, "Let's just get this done so I can go back to work."

Skywarp stared at the door as it closed. Riling those two up was entertaining… as long as they stayed in the med bay for him to pester. Ratchet had a very dry humor and wasn't as easy to harass. Wheeljack would just laugh good-naturedly at his jokes and barbs. But the femme would banter with him and she was very adept at slinging insults. The Seeker's lips twitched into a wide smirk - the femme had told Starscream to shove it up his afterburner not too long ago and that had sent the red Seeker into a spluttering frenzy. No one talked to 'Screamer like that; but she did, and to top the insult off she emptied her fuel tank in him. Now that was slagging hilarious.

His smirk faded and he leaned back on his hands again. Stupid Auto-slags. The femme said they had tried to contact Megatron to send him back to the Decepticons, but received no answer. He glared at the ceiling; I bet they didn't even try. But what about the reports that Starscream hadn't been seen in any battles since the one when Megatron destroyed the artifact? The Decepticon warlord had left him out there to die, maybe Starscream did die in the blast. Skywarp snorted. Screechy slagger was too hard to kill. He should have been dead a hundred times over by the hand of Megatron, but the red Seeker had Primus' luck on his side.

Wheeljack came out of the storage room again with another crate. At least he was someone the Seeker could get a few answers out of, "So where are you moving to that needs everything strapped down?"

"Not sure really." The engineer's vocal processors flashed absent-mindedly, as he pulled more bent and twisted tools from the new crate. "It won't be for very long."

His optics narrowed at that. "For very long? The Autobots are leaving the planet?"

"Naw. Just moving the Ark."

"Why?"

The engineer shrugged and went back to sorting the broken tools into piles that could be salvaged and piles that would be scrapped.

Blood red optics narrowed at the oblivious mech, "Why are the Autobots moving?"

The distracted engineer barely acknowledged the Seeker. "Hmm?"

Skywarp crossed his arms over his half completed cockpit. "I asked why are the Autobots moving."

"Hmm? Oh," Wheeljack glanced up at the mech. "We do it from time to time. Seemed like a good time right now since things are quiet."

Skywarp grunted at the boring answer. Great. He was going to get strapped down to the table while the Autobots look for a new neighborhood. "When is the change of address happening?"

"When everyone is ready." Wheeljack pushed the huge pile of scrapped tools into one of the crates and picked up the smaller armful of tools that could be repaired. He retreated to the doors of the med bay and pushed through. The mirth in the engineer's vocal processors made Skywarp frown. "Now be a good little Seeker and don't go anywhere."

"My intakes are quivering in anticipation for your return." He shot back as the laughing Wheeljack exited the med bay.

Two scowling Lamborghinis flanked the grouchy medic as they headed for the brig.

Sunstreaker stalked alongside his twin and Ratchet, "I can't believe Optimus threw Jazz in the brig."

"You should have seen him in Communications, Sunny. When Optimus relieved him of duty, Jazz said he was resigning."

"It still isn't right that he's in the brig." The golden warrior's faceplate was twisted into the identical glower his twin wore.

"Optimus had to do it." Ratchet entered the security code into the panel to open the door to the brig. "You can't blame Jazz for wanting to go get Rachel back, but an order is still an order, even if you don't agree with it."

The door slid open to reveal a frantic Red Alert trying to recalibrate his cameras and security systems, while Prowl struggled to get the wily mech back into restraints as Ironhide held his arms back. Ratchet shook his head sadly and pulled out a syringe of the mild sedative. "I hate to do this to you, Jazz, but you're not helping yourself or Rachel by behaving like this."

"Slag off, Ratchet."

"Now come on, Jazz. Th' doc is jus' followin' orders." Ironhide had to readjust his grip on the Saboteur's arms as he tried to wiggle free. "We ain't the bad mechs here."

Jazz glared at Ratchet before sliding his icy cold stare at the Twins. "I can't believe y're takin' Optimus' side in this and jus' let them have her. Have any of y' read what this government does t' people they think are traitors?"

Ratchet readied the syringe and pushed Jazz's head to one side to get at a main energon line, "I know, Jazz. I read it too. We'll find a way to get her back before that happens."

"When? When Optimus says so? Or right before they kill her?"

Ratchet injected the sedative into Jazz's neck, "Hopefully sooner than that."

The bright azure visor flickered and dimmed, his body going slack under Ironhide's grasp. "He shouldn't be a problem to handle now. But I'd rather him in the med bay like this."

Prowl secured Jazz's wrists behind his back with energy cuffs and instructed Ironhide to put him into the newly repaired cell. "Would you please put him into stasis, Ratchet."

Four sets of blue optics widened at Prowl's request. "Why? He's got enough sedative in him to keep him out cold for twelve joors."

"As I said before, the current situation demands stronger measures to keep him restrained. Please put him into stasis."

Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Prowl, "I think I'm going to take that up with Optimus first. I can understand that you are concerned that he'll break out and go after Rachel, but no mech is going to wake up from that much sedative any time soon and be a threat."

"Until you have that discussion with Optimus, I am requesting that you put him into stasis."

"As Chief Medical Officer on this ship, my word outweighs yours, Prowl. Jazz does not need to be put into stasis while he is sedated for two," Ratchet held up two of his fingers in front of Prowl's face for emphasis. "Two reasons. ONE, it is NOT medically necessary, TWO, he has enough sedative in him to keep unconscious for joors, and THREE, I do happen to have more than one syringe with this sedative if you would like to test its effects."

Prowl activated the energy bars for Jazz's cell. "We will take this up with Optimus then."

The grouchy medic had never wished for his arc welder more than he did at that moment to knock some sense into Prowl. "I'm also going to put in the request to Optimus that he be transferred to the med bay. He needs to be under reliable supervision in this state, and I'm sure Red Alert has more important duties right now than repairing cameras in an empty brig."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you."

Ratchet growled and left the brig with the Twins in tow. The three were quiet on the trip back to the med bay, each with a sour scowl plastered across their faceplates. The grouchy medic pushed the doors open intent on sending his request to Optimus before finishing securing the med bay while his two large shadows followed him in and leaned against a table covered with crates near his office. The red warrior stared at the grouchy medic's back as he went into his office. "This is just wrong, Sunny."

The golden warrior glared at the floor. "I know, 'Sides."

"We should do something."

"Like?"

"I don't know… Let me think about it."

"Look, 'Sides." Sunstreaker turned to face his twin, "We don't know even know where she is."

Sly azure optics and a smirk spread across Sideswipe's face. "… We could always hack into the government's systems to figure out where they're keeping her."

"You lost the femme?" Narrow bright red optics stared at the Twins

They turned around to glare at the Seeker. The golden warrior snarled at Skywarp, "We didn't lose her."

The red terror rested his hands on the table and glowered at him. "The human government took her."

The Seeker raised an optic ridge at them. "Well, go get her back."

"We would if we could."

"But it's not that easy."

Skywarp looked at them incredulously. "Why not? Hack the systems, find her and bring her back. How slaggin' difficult can that be?"

"It's not that easy, Skywarp. There are other things that need to be taken into consideration," A sour looking Ratchet came out of his office and crossed his arms over his chest plate.

"Like?"

"We're caught in a difficult situation-"

"Wait. This is why you're 'moving'? You're running away from the slaggin' meatbags!?" The Seeker stared in disbelief at the three mechs. "You let the little sacks of flesh take the femme and then you run away with your tailpipes between your legs!? This is why you Autobots are weak!"

Ratchet gave Skywarp a cold look as he walked across the med bay, "Looks like it's time for your nap."

Skywarp snapped at him, "Fix my armor now and give me a weapon!"

The grouchy medic stopped. He had been expecting the Seeker to throw a fit about being offlined again, but he didn't expect him to say that. "I beg your pardon?"

"Do you need your audio receptors cleaned?" Skywarp spat at him. "I said fix my armor and give me a frakkin' weapon! I'll go get the femme back since none of you slagging cowards will do it."

"Even if I could fix you right now, which I can't, we can't let you run amok with weapons searching for Rachel."

"And why not? You afraid I'll damage the worthless meatbags? You're more worried about what happens to the slaggin' humans than what happens to the femme!? Are your processors running at full capacity!?"

"That's enough, Skywarp." Ratchet went to the monitor to send the enraged Seeker into stasis.

Skywarp slid off the table onto his one whole leg, pulling the monitoring cables taut and snarled in Ratchet's face. "The femme was the one redeeming factor out of this entire Autobot circus!"

Two weapons were subspaced and aimed at him. The ranting Seeker grabbed the muzzle of Sunstreaker's gun and thrust it at his chest. "Do it Auto-slag! Let's see the big bad Autobot pull the trigger! You won't lift that finger to save the femme, let's see if you can pull a trigger with it!"

Ratchet's hand came up and slowly took the gun out of both mech's hands. The grouchy medic's voice was like ice. "Enough. Put your weapon away, Sideswipe." He handed Sunstreaker's gun back to him, "Put it away. And you," He pointed at the seething Seeker. "Back on the table. I don't need you falling over and breaking anything else."

Three sets of optics continued to glare daggers at each other until Ratchet intervened. He pushed the Twins back away from the Seeker, but Skywarp hadn't budged and was still glowering at Sunstreaker. Ratchet herded the Seeker backwards to his table, hooking his fingers into his open shoulder joint and pulling the mech back onto the table. "I realize you want to help, Skywarp, but we won't fix the situation by jumping in with guns blazing. And you two," He turned his attention to the growling Twins. "I don't want you two to even think about a way to sneak off and find Rachel." All three mechs started to bicker again and he just held up his hand. "No. Optimus has stated very clearly that there is to be no contact with the humans. End of story."

Starscream landed on a mountain peak and surveyed the area. He was near the Autobot base, but far enough outside of their sensors to avoid the neighborhood welcoming party. The location was impossible for any groundpounder to reach, but the perfect spot for one gifted with wings like himself to land and contemplate existence without being bothered. The area was abundant with steep inclines, blind grottos and winding canyons that twisted through the area - a playground for young Seekers just like the Towers of Iacon were...

The red Seeker stood alone on the mountain. A veritable king in his domain with the open night skies above him his realm, the millions of stars it held were jewels in his crown, the Earth below him was his throne, and all that he could see his kingdom. A ruler of dirt and alien skies with sniveling insects as my court, he thought sourly.

He opened a long forgotten radio channel and sent a simple message. Starscream didn't wait for a verbal reply from the recipient; if Jetfire wanted to know why, then the Veritech would need to come to him for the answer.

Jetfire was the last person he had any connection to on Earth, and it was because of that connection that Starscream was finally willing to talk to him. They had been friends and colleagues over seven million years ago. Before the war, before the destruction of the Academy, they jumped for each mission offered to explore different star systems. Both driven by their quest for knowledge, they would travel through space to be the first to map out the systems and covertly catalogue any life they found. Jetfire went purely for the science while Starscream went for the science, the excitement and the prospect of finding any artifacts. He only discovered three artifacts on these outings and two if them were odd start charts and what seemed to be prophesies. But the third one held detailed instructions on the science behind mass displacement - proof that the technology described in the text was truly alien and not something an unknown Cybertronian scientist created.

The red Seeker pulled the scanner he had created to locate the harmonic radiation signatures from his subspace and turned it over in his hands absently. It had undergone many transitions and upgrades over the years... and then fell by the wayside when the Decepticons arrived on Earth. It wasn't just because of the war, or the plans to drain this star system of its energy, or even the fact that he had not found any signatures here previously...

They were the best. They were the best either faction would ever see, and yet their strength and prowess was wasted with the narrow minded Megatron leading them into ill-planned battles and retreating at the first sign of failure - and their faith in their skills was starting to wane. On Cybertron, their presence was feared and respected. On Earth, they were grunts expected to carry out meaningless and degrading tasks. Other than the meager time they were able to secret away for 'training', there was little use for the Seekers other than being Megatron's favorite targets for blame.

Starscream crossed his arms over his cockpit and frowned at the sun peeking over the horizon sending pink tendrils of its light across the mountains. The star mocked him and his rule over the land. Mocked him like Megatron mocked him. He was small and insignificant compared to the sun, hardly worth the effort to cast its warming glow onto his wings. How many times had the Decepticon warlord said that to him and the others? His blood red optics flashed in the growing light and a knowing smirk crossed his lips. Stars can be destroyed just as leaders like Megatron can be dethroned.

He turned to look in the direction of the Autobot base and scanned the area for the Veritech. He should have received the message and been on the way if not already here, unless he was letting the Auto-jerks abuse him like some civilian transport vehicle. The Seeker scowled. Waste of my time thinking I would get any answers from him. He leapt into the air and started to transform when his sensors picked up a flier headed towards his location: a Veritech. He settled back down onto the mountain outcrop and waited for Jetfire.

Maybe this wasn't a waste of his time after all.

Jetfire entered the bridge of the Ark searching for Optimus Prime. He still couldn't believe the message he had received and replayed it for the sixth time

-I want to talk.

The Veritech wasn't sure if he was surprised that Starscream had sent him a message or if he was surprised that he never expected Starscream would speak to him besides on the battlefield. It made him feel slightly ashamed that he had unconsciously given up hope on his once friend and any hope that the friendship could be mended.

The Autobot leader was over by the Ark's navigational systems discussing something with Ironhide. Jetfire approached the two and waited somewhat impatiently for them to finish their conversation.

Kind blue optics turned to look at him, "Is there something I can help you with, Jetfire?"

"I don't mean to intrude on your conversation, but may I have a moment of your time, Optimus?"

"Of course, Jetfire." Optimus looked back to Ironhide. "Did you have any other concerns about the storage holds?"

"Nah. But ah'll let ya or Prowl know if ah find anythin' else."

"Thank you, Ironhide."

"Naut a problem, Optimus." The Weapons Specialist grinned at Jetfire and left the bridge.

"What can I help you with, Jetfire?"

"I just received a radio message and I would like a joor free to investigate it." He knew he was supposed to be helping prepare the Ark for lift-off, but this was too important to pass up.

"A message? From who?"

He wasn't sure how Optimus would react to the situation considering the timing of the message. "Starscream. He wishes to speak to me."

The kind blue optics looked at him curiously. "Did he say why he wants to talk to you? Did you tell him about Skywarp?"

"No. He sent his coordinates and the simple message." He looked at Teletraan 1 and the mechs working around the bridge. "I know that you need my help here, but I can't allow a chance to speak to him go unanswered. He's sitting alone on one of the nearby mountaintops far enough outside the remaining sensors to avoid detection. It's in a place that only a flier could reach."

The Autobot leader thought on this before answering. "If you wish to go then I will allow it, but we cannot come to help you if you get into trouble at that location."

Jetfire nodded, "I understand, Optimus. Thank you."

No matter how hard I yelled at Jazz, he still fought to get to me no matter the cost to him. Then the military came and caught him, and strapped him down on the flight deck of the giant ship sitting in the middle of mountaintops. I found a plane with strange feathered wings and I flew through cloudy skies to get to him. Hang on, Jazz. I'm coming to rescue you…

"Doctor Milne?" I blinked away the strange dream as Will gently shook my shoulder. "Doctor Milne?"

I yawned and gazed blearily around trying to find my bearings. A plane. We were still in the plane and flying.

"Doctor Milne? We need to know how much farther."

"Hmm? Oh." I looked up at Will. "Where are we?"

"Mornin', Sunshine." Cujo looked back at me with a crazy grin, "We're about thirty minutes out of San Francisco. We still going north?"

"Yeah, keep going."

I yawned and peered out the window. Something flashed in the dark and I blinked thinking my sleepy eyes just caught a reflection. It flashed again and I sunk into the seat in fear. "Something is out there."

Will looked out his window, "Where?"

It flashed again; it was so close to the plane. "There. Do you see it?"

"No."

"You don't see the flash?"

Will turned around and grinned at me. "That's the Blackbird's wing."

I glanced at him and then back out the window to catch another flash, "I thought he couldn't do that."

"We're in international waters now."

I gave Will a pointed look. "'Waters'? As in we're over the ocean?"

"Exactly."

I looked between him and the crazy pilot, "Dare I ask why we are over the ocean? Because there shouldn't be an ocean north of San Francisco."

"We still need to fly under radar and that's hard to do over populated areas."

"Oh." I peered back into the dark at the rhythmic flash from the Blackbird. This was all so surreal. Me in a plane with some off-kilter military guys flying over the ocean supposedly on the way back home. I ran my hand through my hair and curled up in the seat, wrapping my skirt around my legs and pulling my knees to my chest. My head still hurt but not as bad as it had been; that icepack should still be around here somewhere. I started to count the flashes and let my mind drift.

Was I making a huge mistake by telling them where the Autobots are? Granted north was a pretty vague direction, but it didn't squash the protective feelings I had about keeping my friends safe. At some point the world would find out about them and that was supposed to happen in a controlled setting a few days ago, but every thing had changed since then. Which brought to mind a question I should have been asking myself all along: why was I taken prisoner? Why go to the effort to fly me out to the ship just to arrest me? The plan was for Jetfire to drop me off on the ship and come back later. Why didn't they arrest me then? And then no one came in to question me while I was in the cell. At least as far as I could remember, I was fairly certain the only person who talked to me was Kidder. The more I thought about the whole situation, the less inclined I was to helping. For all I knew this was ruse to lead the military to the Autobot's front door. The whole wrap me up in the blankets and the long drive to 'nowhere' just to get me to trust my 'rescuers' situation was starting to feel a little too convenient. Will said they had been called to help, but I didn't even know who had called them.

"Will?"

He was focused on something on the console and didn't look at me, "Yeah?"

I watched him and Cujo out of the corner of my eye, "Who called you guys?"

"What do you mean?" This wasn't a good sign.

"You said earlier that you had been called in to help. Who called you?"

"I can't tell you that right now." His focus was still on the control board.

"And why not?" What on Earth was I going to do if this was another trap?

"It's a long story."

"Good, I like long stories."

"That will have to wait until later, Doctor Milne."

I reached out and poked the back of his seat. "You know you did say you would explain everything once we were in the air. And since we're in the air, now is a perfectly good time to start explaining."

"Now is not a good time. I'll tell you later."

"I see," I looked back out the window at the blinking light. "Have you ever been to Antarctica?"

"No." He was flipping through some of the controls on the console now.

"Hope you brought your parka then, because we're taking the long way to go penguin watching."

Cujo glanced back at me and Will sighed loudly. "Must we go through this again, Doctor Milne?"

"That depends solely on whether you start telling me the truth about what is going on and who called you."

"It can wait untillater."

"All right," I went back to looking out the window.

A pointed 'thank you' was directed towards me and everything was quiet in the cockpit for a few minutes. "You know, this is the time of year when the eggs start to hatch."

Will turned around and glared at me. "Has anyone ever told you, Doctor Milne, that you're a pain in the ass?"

I countered with a level glare. "And Prince Charming doesn't have to worry about losing his day job. I asked politely. It wouldn't kill you to live up to your promise of telling me what was going on."

He sighed. "I can't tell you who called us yet. It will all become clearer when we get to where you are supposed to lead us to. So please stop asking me."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "Okay. Why were you called in then?"

He rubbed at his temples. "We were called because there is a situation between the United States government, Russia and China over something the environmental group you belong to found in the ocean. We're to go in and extract whatever it is you found out of the water before an international incident occurs. Happy now?"

I think my jaw dropped at that point.

"Now if we are done with the questions, Doctor Milne, will you please let me get back to work?"

I was so stunned that I couldn't answer him.

Will swiveled around and went over the controls again.

I don't know if it was the lack of sleep, the concussion, the very elaborate lie or the whole situation that started it. I tried valiantly to stifle the giggles, my shoulders hitching up and down in silent shakes. But the more I thought about what he said, the harder it became to keep the giggles bottled up.

Cujo turned to look at me as I shook with silent laughter. "Are you okay, Doctor Milne?"

My attempts to keep the giggling to myself failed and I started to laugh out loud. Will turned to look at me then in curiosity. "Doctor Milne?"

I snorted loudly and doubled over in my seat laughing. In a strange and very stretched sense, I guess you could see the Autobots as an 'environmental group'. They were trying to protect our environment from the Decepticons. It was a stretch, but in a very roundabout way somewhat true. My sides started to hurt and I tried to rein my laughter in. With a lot of difficultly, I was able to gasp out another question.

"And how are you planning to remove the artifact?"

"We have gear to bring it to the surface and have Swifty airlift it or we can tow it to shore."

I started to giggle again. "And what are you going to do with the artifact after you retrieve it?"

"We were to contact the caller and he would have it removed and stored at a secure location."

I snorted with laughter again and it took me longer this time to calm down. "And what about the 'environment group'? What are you to do if they get involved?"

Will and Cujo glanced at each other in confusion. "It was supposed to be a predetermined operation with their assistance…"

My sides hurt so much from laughing that it was getting hard to breathe. "That's what you were told? That's what you were told by whoever sent you?"

"Yes…"

"Oh wow. Oh, that is… wow. That has to be the best lie I have ever heard."

The two men looked at me like I had grown a third head forcing me to stifle another fit of laughter. "You have no clue about what you're getting yourselves into, do you?"

Will and Cujo shared a wary and unsure look.

I grinned as I forced back more laughter. "So, besides a scapegoat, why would an 'environmental group' need an engineer?"

"An engineer?"

"Yes," I looked between the two thoroughly confused men. "An engineer and supremolecular chemist. What's the correlation between an engineer and an environmental group? That sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn't it?"

"You've lost me completely, Doctor Milne."

I smiled at Will. "What kind of doctor do you guys think I am?"

"A biologist," The crazy pilot looked at Will. "We were told that you're a biologist."

I leaned back in the seat grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "I hold two Doctorates. One in Electrical Engineering and the other in Supramolecular Chemistry. Not biology. Matter of fact, I didn't like biology at all." They didn't say anything, so I continued. "Now feel like telling me who set you up for this?"

The radio beeped with Kidder's voice. "Anyone at the wheel? Where are we going?"

I couldn't help but giggle again, "We're going to Oregon, to meet up with my 'radical environmental group'."

Cujo relayed the message to all three fliers.

I ran my hands through my hair. So this wasn't as bad as it seemed before. "Do either of you have a cell phone?"

Will gave me a strange look, "Who are you going to call? Anyone could pick the signal up and then we'd have more than the B-2 escorts."

"Technically, I'm not going to make a call. We need access to a topography map so I can tell you guys where to land and I need to send a message to the 'environmental group' so they can find us." I was having way too much fun with this.

"And how do you plan to do that?"

I smirked at Will, "Easy. Access a satellite." He gave me another strange look. "So do you have a cell phone or not?"

"Back in my gear by the Hummer."

"Excellent." I rubbed my hands together. "I'm assuming there is a toolkit somewhere about as well?"

Will stood up and motioned me to follow him, "I'll show you where."

We walked into the belly of the plane and he pointed me in the direction of Cujo's tool chests while he went to get his cell phone. I opened the neatly organized chests and pulled out things that I would need: soldering iron, wire strippers, wire cutters, needle nose pliers, snips and two screw drivers. I also found a nice large metal funnel, a spool of insulated copper wire, a spool of 24-guage wire and a handful of screws. Will came over with the phone and picked up the tools I had set on the floor, "Science fair project?"

"Hmmm, kinda." We went back up into the cockpit and I cracked the phone open, looking over the tiny circuit board inside. "Did this have a full charge?"

"Yes."

"Good. I don't need it dying on me in the middle of the upload." Cutting a few lengths of the 24-guage wires, I stripped the insulation from the ends off and then proceeded to attach the wires to corresponding circuits in the phone. Once I had that completed, I took the funnel and started making cuts in it until I had four 'flaps'. I flattened it as best I could then took a screwdriver and punched a hole in each flap just below the rim. I pushed a screw through each of the holes and tied a length of stripped copper wire around the top and the bottom of each screw, firmly holding it in place. When all four were done, I bent the wires together and wrapped them around a fifth screw. Finally, I attached the wires from the bottom side of the flattened funnel to the 24-guage wires and ran a quick battery test on the phone. I turned the device off and checked the welds and connections carefully, "Not very discrete or fashionable, but you'll work."

I crawled further into the cockpit and held my new 'phone' up to the windows, carefully tilting it in my hand while watching the screen of the cell phone.

Will glanced at the device, "What is that?"

"Satellite phone." I didn't look up at the odd looks Cujo and Will passed back and forth. "Now you truly have unlimited long distance service."

It took a few moments before the cell phone beeped with the familiar signal. "Gotcha! Now let's see if you're in a talkative mood, Sky spy." Since cell phones weren't designed for Cybertronian text messaging, I had to vocally activate the linkup with Sky spy. I held the cell phone to my ear and enunciated the access codes to the mini-satellite vocally. It took a few minutes to gain access, but Sky spy sent a welcome beep when I finally made the uplink connection.

I accessed an area map and found a fairly flat space ten miles east of the Ark. "How much room do you need to land, Cujo?"

"I can land my baby on a dime."

I held the phone up to him with the information on the space, "Is that too small?"

"Naw. My baby and I can make that easily."

"All right, I'll send a message for them to meet us there."

Prowl and Optimus Prime were standing on the bridge of the Ark going over final preparations before take off when Teletraan 1 acknowledged a forced transmission being sent from Sky spy. Worried that it was a hacking attempt, Prowl isolated the incoming file and ran it through all of Red Alert's virus and trojan scanners.

"What do you make of it, Prowl?" The Autobot leader stood over his Second in Command's shoulder watching his work on Teletraan 1's main screen.

"Someone used Sky spy to send us a message file. I've scanned it thoroughly for any viruses and it appears to be clean."

"Any idea who sent it or where it came from?"

"No. The security codes used are the most recent. Shall I open it?"

Optimus Prime nodded, "Let's see who wants to talk to us."

Coordinates 7852-621. Arr Time Approx 0630. 3 planes. 1 helicopter. 6 humans. Flying under radar. Do not reply. Rachel.

Bright blue optics widened in complete surprise, "How in the name of Primus… Can we verify this information with Sky spy, Prowl?"

The Tactician accessed Sky spy's long-range sensors, "Yes. I'm reading three planes on the edge of sensor range. Two are human-built stealth fighters and one is a C-17." Teletraan 1 beeped. "And the message is being sent again on a different frequency."

"Do you think it's a trap?"

Prowl went over Sky spy's long range sensors again looking for more of the stealth aircraft or any readings that seemed out of the ordinary. "It's unknown. It could be a ruse to lure us out, but there is nothing else appearing on Sky spy's sensors minus a few commercial aircraft from New Portland."

The Autobots were to leave Earth's surface in under a joor, but the arrival of the strange message and the appearance of the three aircraft made the Autobot leader pause and think. A slight delay would not be detrimental to their launch window. An investigation of the situation could reunite the Autobots with their human friend and allow him to release his officer from the brig. And the other humans on the military aircraft might be able to explain the situation with their government better.

Prowl looked up expectantly at him. "What do you want to do, Optimus?"

"Gather a force and have them meet us at the entrance."

Baron's voice came over the radio, "There is nothing out here. I don't even see any back roads. Are we sure someone is going to meet us out here?"

I was literally sitting on the edge of the seat. Four days away from Jazz was bad enough, but these last few minutes until we set down was agonizing. "Don't worry. They'll be here." Actually, I wasn't sure if they would be here. I sent the uplink message five times before the batteries to the satellite phone died.

Kidder and the Nighthawk were on the left of us while Baron and his Blackbird were on our right. Both B-2 Bombers were slightly above the C-17 and all three planes were flying incredibly low to the ground. According to Will and Cujo, that was how you hide something as big as a C-17 from radar. The Silver Stallion had gained some time and was only fifteen minutes behind us.

The Nighthawk swooped lazily over the landscape. "Pretty out here, but all I see are trees and hills. Great place to hide the birds, but shitty place to land. You sure about this, Doctor Milne?"

"We should be coming up on it in the next few minutes."

Alarms started screaming and Cujo swore loudly. "Something's got a lock on me! Taking evasive maneuvers!" The giant C-17 banked to the right hard, and I clung to my seat tightly. The B-2's shot past looking for the source of whoever was targeting us.

There was loud beeping coming over the radios along with Baron's calm voice. "Coming from that mountain ridge on your side, Kidder!"

"I got it."

Something was wrong. "They shouldn't be out this far. They were supposed to meet us at the flats."

"You didn't mention that they were armed, Doctor Milne!"

I looked up at Will slightly stunned, "How else are they supposed to protect themselves?"

Kidder's jovial voice took on a strange tone, "… Baron, will you confirm what's on the ridge for me."

"It's… just a truck?"

"Where?" I couldn't see where the B-2's had gone or what part of the scenery they were talking about. "What kind of truck?"

I saw one of the B-2's swoop over the hills like a deadly raptor circling its prey as Kidder's voice came over the radio. "What do you mean what kind? It's a truck!"

"What color is the truck?"

"Black! And it's got missile lock on me!"

"I've got it, Baron!"

I gripped the headphones tightly. "NO! WAIT! NO!NO!NO!NO! DON'T FIRE ON HIM!"

"It's going to fire on Baron, Doctor Milne!" Will started flipping switches as the alarms went off again. "Shit! We're being targeted again! If this is who we're supposed to meet, they sure don't seem like they want to meet us!"

"Hey! I sent the messages that we were coming in, I didn't think they'd react like this!"

There was more beeping over Baron's radio, "I've got missile lock and I'm preparing to fire."

"NO!" I screamed into the headphones. "Don't fire! Disarm your weapons and don't shoot at him!"

The C-17 pitched again as Cujo banked to the left. "Are you insane, woman!?"

"Disarm, drop your weapons! Whatever! JUST DON'T SHOOT AT HIM!"

"Cujo! Get out of here, we've got him."

Will grabbed my arms and planted me in the seat, "Buckle up!"

I tried to push back at him. "Will! Tell them to stop!"

"Doctor Milne! They've got missile lock on us!"

"Baron and Kidder are about to meet the business end of plasma cannons! Please, Will! Tell them to stop!"

He looked at me and Cujo kept looking back and forth between the controls and us.

I pleaded with him. "Please!"

Kidder's voice rang over the radio. "HOLY SHIT! WE'RE BEING TARGETED FROM ALL OVER THE AREA!"

"Please, Will! Tell them to stop!"

He swore. "Baron! Kidder! Do not engage. Break off and fall back to our position!" He shot me a dangerous glare. "Hope you're right about this, Doctor Milne."

I nodded. "I am. You'll see."

The B-2's reappeared at our sides. "They aren't tracking us now. How did they pick us up on radar?"

"They have things other than radar. Their long range sensor array picked us up at least an hour ago." I pushed my hair behind my ears. "Can we circle back to those coordinates from the east? They'll meet us there."

The Nighthawk took front point. "And you think they won't attack us there?"

Will gave me a deadly serious look. "You want to tell us who we're dealing with that has that much technology and firepower?"

"Now is not a good time." I held my hand up when he started to swear at me. "I'm not kidding. This is something you are going to need to see first hand to believe."

Will gave me a level glare. "Try me."

"Fine." I sighed and sat back in my seat. "Well…" I stopped and thought for a moment. I don't think I really considered exactly how to explain the Autobots. 'Giant Alien Robots' didn't cut it. It was like trying to pound a square peg through a round hole. "Do you feel like you have a good grasp on what your existence entails and what is more or less going on in the world?"

"I've been around, if that's what you're asking."

"What if one day you awoke to find everything had changed? That in the blink of an eye, everything you knew and were comfortable with disappeared leaving you to stand there gaping at a much bigger picture that you never would have dreamed existed?"

Will's answer was cutoff by Kidder. "Whoa…. Look at those cars, Baron!"

"Pay more attention to that crazy truck coming right for us!"

Charging through the dirt flat was a black Topkick, a red and blue semi truck and a silver and black Mustang. This time there were no alarms going off or evasive maneuvering. The B-2's peeled away from protecting us a final time as Cujo started to land the C-17.

His 'landing on a dime' was more quarter-sized and we rolled for a while before the plane actually stopped.

I glanced at Will and grinned before giving some parting advice over the headphones, "Please try not to freak out and don't call the truck 'crazy'." I looked over to Cujo who was gazing out the windows at the assortment of vehicles. "It's been nice flying with you, but can we get out now?"

Will released the door and slowly descended the steps. I tried to run past him, but he put his hand out and grabbed me, pushing me behind him. "Will, what's going on?" The were two clicking noises and I looked over my shoulder to see Cujo standing on the steps holding a very big gun and eyeing the line of vehicles warily.

I socked Will in the back hard, "You lied to me, you bastard! You said you were called in to 'help'!" I pushed at him to get away only to have Cujo's hand on my shoulder. I glared back and forth at them. "All I have to do is yell it's a trap and they'll take you down." My threat and blatant lie didn't see to faze either of them so I went back to struggling. "Let me go!"

Will's voice was very low as he scanned the group of Autobots in their alternate forms. "Doctor Milne, we don't know who these people are. If they are your friends then why did they target us?"

"Probably to make sure we weren't a trap!" I snarled quietly to him, "Now let me go!"

"I can't do that until we're certain they are who you think they are. For all we know some one stole their cars and is pretending to be them."

I had to put my hand over my mouth to stifle a grin before I succumbed to a nasty fit of giggles as I realized how it must look from their viewpoint.

Will's voice was low again as he suspiciously continued to watch. "Now is not the time for jokes, Doctor Milne."

"If you will let me through and put the guns away, I will show you how I am sure these are the people that I say they are."

"In this light, I can't see who's at the wheel of any of the cars, Will." Cujo leaned forwards slightly.

"I can't either."

I sighed loudly and shook my head, "You wouldn't see them anyways."

One of the B-2's had circled around the flat and was coming to a stop behind the C-17 slowly. Optimus had pulled to the front, with Prowl and Ironhide off to his sides. Mirage, Bluestreak, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe were spread around them. Jazz wasn't among them and I wondered where he was as the strange dream I had fluttered to the surface of my mind. None of the Autobots made any move to transform or to come any closer and Will refused to budge from the bottom steps. It was a tense situation with neither group talking, just staring each other down. It was becoming ridiculous. There was only one course of action to take. "Optimus! Come closer so I can explain to them please!"

Will shot me a poisonous glare, "What did you do that for!?"

"Because you're acting like a scared child. They are NOT here to harm you. And this will be a lot easier to do if you two would lower those weapons!"

"Did you forget that they nearly shot us out of the air?"

The Autobot leader rolled closer but still kept at a healthy distance. "Are you all right, Rachel?"

"I've had better days, but I'm fine." I tried to push at Will again, but he still wouldn't move. "How should I explain to them what is going on?"

"Just tell them the truth."

"Will, can you get Kidder and Baron over here?" He gave me a reproving look and I sighed in defeat. "Okay. Lets go collect them then. You can use me as a hostage or a shield or whatever and we'll go together. They aren't going to follow us and I promise not to make a run for it."

"Just tell us what is going on."

"Fine." I glanced in irritation between the two men. "Do you believe in aliens?"

Cujo gave me a quick look before returning to watch the Autobots. I sighed loudly and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I just wanted to find Jazz and curl up in his arms. "All right. In a nutshell, there is a war happening on Earth between two different factions of a highly advanced alien race from the planet Cybertron. The Decepticons, who are the bad guys, are trying to suck the planet and solar system dry of its energy. The good guys, the Autobots, are here to protect us and the Earth from the Decepticons." I pointed to the red and blue semi truck in front of us. "Will. Cujo. I would like to introduce you to Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Optimus. Meet Will and Cujo, my uh, rescuers."

The sound of well-tuned pistons and rotating gears filled the air as Optimus Prime transformed in front of the two soldiers' eyes. I was pressed back into the steps as the two gaped at the giant Autobot standing where the semi once was. He knelt down and held out one of his massive hands to Will. "It is very nice to meet you, Will."

"Holy shit…"

A/N: Like it? Hate it? Let me know, please!