Chapter 20

I'd like to say right now the Forge of Solus Prime does not exist in the universe I've created for Deafening Silence. The forge seemed too much like a cheat in the show - no spacebridge? BOOM spacebridge for the bots! Broken star saber? FIXED. DONE.

Too easy. Here it does not exist, it was never found as a relic.

"Whoa, what happened to you guys?" Smokescreen snorted at Arcee as team Prime appeared through their groundbridge: They were all filthy, covered in thin layer of grime and dust, dented plating adding to the effect. The rookie immediately dropped the humor with a salute when Optimus came through, standing at attention until their leader had paced past him.

"Nothing we couldn't handle without you." Arcee quipped right back at the mech with a grin, and Smokescreen's fell into a pout. Satisfied, The motorcycle turned to get out of the way and knelt down next to Jack, who stood by the railing waiting for her. "How'd it go with destiny's child?" She asked softly, indicated Smokescreen with a tilt of her head.

"Like it usually does." The human shrugged a shoulder. "But what about you? You guys okay? Ratchet said you got slammed."

"Yea, It was Dreadwing. Coward never even showed his face." the femme made a fist, optics narrowing. "We'll get him next time."

The sound of the groundbridge activating echoed through the base once more as Bulkhead came through, immediately stretching his limbs and nearly knocking Bumblebee over in the process. "Oops!" He mumbled, "Sorry Bee. it was cramped in there."

Bumblebee just chirped good-naturedly, letting the larger autobot past.

Everyone seemed to just stand around, The base holding an air of unease as Ratchet shut down the bridge and turned his scanner on Optimus, grumbling to himself with a brief 'Hold still' directed at the autobot leader. Arcee shifted on her feet, hands on her hips as usual.

Rafael peeked up at them from the 2nd floor expectantly, standing on his toes to see over the railing. "What is it?" He asked Bumblebee, prompting the autobot to hunch over so they could talk. "You guys are okay, right? So why is everyone so... jumpy?"

'The Decepticons finally made a move again.' Bumblebee explained in their base cybertronian language, 'It's been a while.'

"Oh." Raf sighed softly, reaching up to re-adjust his glasses. "Well, what Ratchet and I found will cheer you all up. Right Ratchet?"

Rafael looked to the medic with a slight smile, but he seemed distracted fussing over Optimus and didn't acknowledge the human.

"What is it?" Arcee asked, suddenly taking interest. "Another relic?"

Her guess was spot on, yet not. Raf's little face brightened, eager to tell the story. "Yea! Kind of. Ratchet made it sound really important. We didn't really find it - someone on the internet had posted pictures, and when Ratchet recognized it, we had agent Fowler clear the area where it was found. Some workers from a pit mine came across it, I think..."

"And what was this relic you found so important, Ratchet?" Optimus chimed in, for of course he'd been listening intently to his troops' chatter. The Prime was not one to let his mind wander.

Ratchet huffed in disapproval: he'd been hoping to finish his work on their leader before discussing the matter at hand, having known the Prime long enough to predict the mech would not allow time to be wasted on repairs once he knew what was at stake.

"The Star Saber." The medic finally said slowly, almost hesitantly, and he watched his leader's faceplate color with shock. Not a sight he saw often.

"The sword forged by Solus Prime?" Smokescreen asked, his young voice colored with sudden excitement. "Aw man, you've got to be kidding! Ya should have said something sooner!"

"Indeed." Optimus found himself saying, realizing it was rare of him to agree with Smokescreen. "We must recover it now, before the Decepticons catch wind of it's existance here." He stood up quickly, making Ratchet frown as the medic was denied access to his frame.

"The Decepticons don't know it's there, Raf and I deleted the data from the human network. Why would the Decepticons be on it anyway?" Ratchet shrugged. "Allow me finish your repairs Optimus."

"Later. Set the groundbridge for the coordinates." Optimus said pointedly, making it clear this was an order. Ratchet grumbled but complied, tapping on the groundbridge controls only briefly before activating it.

Smokescreen danced back an forth on his pedes, excited. Arcee shot him a glare.

"Autobots, roll out!"

Knockout strolled across the Nemesis's bridge, trying for everything not to look like he was shaking on his pedes. His swaggered gait suggested a mech with a secret, powerful knowledge that he could easily turn into blackmail. That wasn't all that true of course, but it paid to look confident. The vehicons made a point of not straying from their stations, acutely aware of the situation as Dreadwing led the medic to face the wrath of their Lord.
"My Liege." Knockout bowed low, stopping a respectful - but certainly not safe - distance from the warlord. Dreadwing took up a position behind him, not so subtly blocking off any means of escape. The medic almost chuckled: there would be no need.

He hoped.

Megatron slowly turned to face him with hands laced behind his back, yet ruby optics shone with barely contained fury.

"How DARE you leave your post!" The gladiator hissed, not even giving KO a chance to speak. The medic faltered: this was already not going well. "I ORDERED you to stay in the medical bay. And you leave to plan treason with STARSCREAM!" Megatron roared, and every living thing on the bridge flinched. Even Dreadwing. "And even WORSE! You leave a DRONE in charge of - !" the warlord took a step forward, and Knockout shrunk back, momentary terror making him stammer as he tried to turn the tide.

"M-my lord please!" He keened desperately, voice rising about an octave. "I was not planning - Starscream simply -"

Megatron heeded him little, his optics flickering to a dangerous purple.

"If you don't listen to me Optimus Prime will win the war!" Knockout blurted, snapping back to a more steady stance when a flicker of surprise shot through Megatron's rage.

"That's right." the medic all but purred, a smug grin making its way onto his faceplate. He couldn't help it. "Starscream had some very juicy information for me."

"Speak now medic, or I will rip your helm from your chassis and extract the information at my leisure." Megatron hissed, and Knockout's smirk instantly fell.

"The Star Saber." The sport car stammered out quickly, before Megatron could decide to rip his head off regardless. "The Star Saber is on this planet."

The warlord froze, digesting this information as shock slowly twisted his expression into something the medic had never seen before, and did not really wish to see again.

"No... NO!" Megatron bellowed, and Knockout took a step back to very nearly collide with Dreadwing's chassis. The blue jet glared down at him with a sour frown, indicating he would not hesitate to move the medic out of his personal space himself.

"WHERE?" The warlord commanded Knockout's attention once more, and dread seized his spark.

"I-I don't know-!" KO fumbled, and as fury colored the warlord's stare again he continued; "Dreadwing interrupted before I could extract that little tidbit!"

The jet started, surprised to have the blame thrown his way. Yet he remained stotically unconcerned.

"AHHRG!" Megatron howled again, "We must locate it before Optimus does-! He MUST NOT be allowed to have it!"

"Starscream said he found the information on the human internet." Knockout offered, still hoping to cast himself in a more favorable light when this was all over.

"Soundwave-" Megatron whirled to face the communications console, intending to assign his third-in-command the task of locating this information... only to be abruptly and painfully reminded Soundwave was not on the bridge.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments, the vehicons shocked by the warlord's slip-up and the two officers hoping he would not take it out on them.

Megatron slowly turned back to Knockout, his jaw clenched. "Return to the medical bay." He said slowly, and the mech quickly bowed and moved to oblige, watching his pace so he didn't look too eager to be leaving the bridge.

Dreadwing stepped aside for a moment to allow him passage, re-assuming his position a moment later. Megatron took a few heavy steps in his direction, expression twisted in deep thought.

"The location of the Star Saber matters not." The warlord mused, and Dreadwing raised an optic ridge. Had he not been screaming a moment ago they must find it at all costs? "It would do us no good to locate it - We could not take it. Only the hand of a Prime may wield the sword." He continued, a barely perceptible hint of jealousy in his voice as he paced in front of the officer. "Power of that magnitude..."

Megatron trailed off and Dreadwing chose to simply watched his leader pace, eternally patient, waiting for orders.

"Set a new course!" The gladiator suddenly snapped, whipping around to shout at the vehicons hovering over their stations. Most jumped. "Take us into space."

Starscream sulked. His meeting with Knockout had NOT gone according to plan. When did anything, ever, go according to his plans? He was still flightless, and worse, the medic had not even finished patching up the damaged he'd caused attempting to rectify that very problem!

The jet snarled, feeling the need to lash out at one of the bulkheads in the Harbinger's lab, leaving long and jagged claw marks in the metal as if it were made of paper. A noise of frustration escaped him as he fumed, grabbing at the air in sheer annoyance.

At least Knockout had patched up the vital issues with his frame he'd accumulated over the time he'd been alone. The rest would be taken care of by his self-repair systems...

But he'd wanted so badly to fly.

After seeing his traitorous clones take off and leave him standing in the dirt, the need had gripped him so tightly he could barely recharge, pacing the harbinger's lab and threatening the walls with a painful death simply because they existed, stifling him.

So close. Yet so far.

Starscream stopped his furious pacing as his optics landed on the communications console. He could go to the autobots... again. The thought honestly repulsed him, but... he could trade the very same information he'd given Knockout to them, and watch the fallout as both factions scampered to grab the Star Saber first.

Yes, he thought, perfect. After all, why make it EASY for Megatron?

Knockout hurried on the way back to the medbay, still a little jumpy from his confrontation with Megatron and even more jumpy at the realization Soundwave was in all likelihood ALONE in the medbay. No doubt Megatron had scrapped the drone he'd left there in a fit of rage. Knockout felt no sympathy for the thing - it was sparkless drone after all, but if anything had happened to the visored mech in his absence... He would be scrap himself.

The medic rounded the corner, the medbay doors opening automatically at his presence His optics immediately flickered to the monitors that lit the room as he entered, frantically reading them for any anomaly or...

His gaze had jumped to the berth for a split second, but the mech did a double take. Soundwave still lay there of course, dark visor giving no indication he even knew Knockout had entered. But beside the table stood a visored drone, regarding the medic quietly while twiddling his fingers in apparent nervousness.

Knockout blinked his optics. "Are you... eighty-eight? The same drone I left here?" He asked incredulously, and the vehicon nodded.

He couldn't believe it. The drone was still functioning.

"I did as you ordered sir. Nothing on the monitors changed, so..."

"I-I see." Knockout said, brushing aside the information. He could see that. "Didn't Megatron come in here?"

"Yes sir."

"And... he was furious?"

"Yes sir."

"And... he did not rip you in half?"

"Um... I suppose not sir, no."

"Well then... ah..." Knockout paused. "You may go." He murmured, finally deciding on an order to dismiss the lucky drone. He decided to keep its designation in mind - after all, it would be a shame to see it blown to bits in the next conflict after surviving Megatron's legendary rage.
"Yes sir." 88 answered automatically, stealing one last glance at Soundwave before moving swiftly for the door. He couldn't wait to tell Stan and Ben about this - well, after a little recharge. They'd never believe him.

Pretty pleased with this chapter. It was much easier to write than the last, my writing muse has finally come home. As I said at the top, the forge of solus prime does not exist. This is an AU clearly. Also I know the Vehicons are NOT sparkless drones (the spark extractor worked on them after all) but KO views them that way.

The spacing might look a little different in this chapter because I can no longer use Microsoft word to type, my sub ran out and for some reason wordpad pastes differently. *shrug*

Anyway hello new followers, you fluster me with kind reviews /o\ I think my writing is slowly getting better, I almost feel like going back to fix the first few chapters... they're not as good.

A quick shout-out to Soundwave'sGirl180, Bokehblue, and Girl Supersonicboy for reviewing on almost every chapter. You're too kind!

Crazy stuff will start happening soon, so prepare yourselves XD

-Kaini